IN the former Section I have presented you with a general brief Account of our first English Saxon Christian Kings limited Power and Prerogative, being obliged to govern their English-Saxon Subjects, not arbitrarily, but justly, according to their known Laws, and totally disabled, to alter, repeal any old, or enact any new Laws; to impose any publique Taxes, Tallages, Imposts, Customs whatsoever, on their people, upon any real or pre­tended [Page 2] necessity; to m [...]ke any War, Peace; or to alienate the Lands or ancient Revenues of their Crowns, to any pious, publique or private uses whatsoever, without the common consent of their Nobles and Wisemen in general Parliamen­tary Councils; together with a Summary of the Laws of Ethelbert, the first Christian Saxon King, wholly pretermitting the Names, Acts, Kingdoms, of our first Pagan Saxon Usurpers, rather than lawfull Kings: who, though many and great in their generations, were ve [...]y speedily brought to nothing their See Mat. Westminst. An. [...]86, &c. Malmesbury, de Gest. Regum Anglo [...]um. l. 1. Hen. Huntin­don Hist. lib. 2. Ethelwerdi Hist. lib. 1.2. Fox Acts and Monum. Vol. 1. p. 148. Speeds Hist. of Great Britain, p. 209, &c. Kingdoms begun, e­rected by blood, conquest, and meer power of the Sword, standing not long unshaken by civil wars among themselves, each King envying his equals greatness, and seeking to in­large his own Dominions upon the next. In which Combu­stions few or none of them came to the Grave in due time, but were either slain in war, or treacherously murdered in Peace, or expelled their Realms by, or forced to resign their Crowns to others, after all their former prosperous succes­ses and reigns wholly spent in Wars, Troubles, Seditions, Rebellions, Rapines, affording nothing worthy memory for their peoples good, the Kingdoms settlement, or imitation of Posterity. Whence Henry Huntindon in the close of the 2 Book of his Histories, p. 320, hath this Observation concerning them, very seasonable for our present times; Vide igitur Lector, & perpende, quanta Nomina quam cito ad nihilum devenerint; Attende quaeso & stude, cum nihil hic du [...]et, ut adjuiras tibi regnum, & substan­tiam illam, quae non deficiet, Nomen illud & honorem qui non pertransibit, monimentum illud & claritatem quae nullis saeculis veterascet. Hoc praemeditare, summae prudentiae est, acquirere summae, caliditatis, adipisci summae faelici­ta [...]is.

I shall now in this Section proceed in my inten­ded Chonological Method, to their next succeed­ing Christian Saxon Kings reigns in England, till the reign of King Cnute the Dane, Anno Domini, 1017.

[Page 3]It is recorded of Aethelbert Ch [...]onic. Wil. Thorne: col. 1760, 1761 1762, 2123. Spelman Con­ [...]il. p. 118. to 129. [...]h [...]onicon Ioh [...]n. Brom­ [...]on, col. 733. the first Christian An. Dom. 605 Saxon King of Kent, that keeping the Fea [...]t of our Sa­viours Nativity at Canterbury, with his Queen, Ead bald his Son, Arch-Bishop Augustine, and the Nobles of the Land; he there held a Parliam [...]ntary Council with them, on the 5. of Ianuary, in the year of our Lord 605. Which Thomas Sprot thus expresseth (in the Language of his age rather than of that) Convo­cato ibidem communi Concilio tam Cleri quam Po­puli, die quinto [...]anuarii, Proposition 5 [...] 6 [...] 10. he did then and there, Omnium & singulorum approbatione, & consensu, as he relates; or cum consensu Venerab [...]lis Archie [...]is­copi Augustini Ac Principum meorum, & cum Aedbal­di filii mei, aliorumque Nobilium optimatum meo­rum Consilio, as his Charters reci [...]e, give, grant and confirm to the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Canterbu­ry for ever, sundry Lands, pretious Utensils, Privileges and Immunities by his Charters, made and ratified in this Council. In which (it is most probable) he likewise made those Iudicial Decrees and Laws, with the advice of his Wise men, for the bene [...]it of his people in his own Country Saxon Language, Which our venerable Ecclesiast. Hist. lib [...] 2. c. 5. Beda, De G [...]stis Reg. Angl. l. 1. c. 1. William of Malmesbury, Hist. l. 3. p. 226. Huntandon, Chron. col. 738. Bromton, and Mr. Sel­dens Ti [...]les of Honour, part. 2. c. 5. p. 602. others mention only in the gene­ral, and Bishop Spelman. Concil. p. 127. Enulph hath registred to posterity in his famous manuscript, intituled Textus Rosfensis, of which I have given you some account before. Section 3. p. 50, 51, 52. on which you may reflect.

In the year of Christ 627 Beda Eccles. Hist. Gentis Anglo­rum l. 2. c. 12, 13, 14. See Mat. Westm. An. 626, 627. Malmesb. de gest. reg. l. 1. c. 3. Hen. Huntindon, hist. l. 3. p. 327, 328. Chron. Iohannis Bromton, col. 781, 782. Simeon Dunelmensis Epist. de Archiepiscopis Eborum, p. 77. Radulphus de Diceto, Abbreviationes Chron. col. 438. G [...]rvasius Acta Pon [...]ificum Cantuar. col. 1634. Godwin in the life of Paulinus, Polychronicon, Fabian, Graf [...]on, Holinshed [...] Speed, Fox in the life of Edwin. Seldens Titles of Honour, part. 2. c. 5. S [...]t. 6. p. 632. Paulinus perswading Edwin King of Northumberland to b [...]come a Christian, [Page 4] to avod eternal torments, and to be made a partaker of the Kongdom of Heaven; The King answered, That he was both willing, and [...]ught to receive the faith which he taught, but he ought first to confer with his Friends, Princes, and Counsellors concerning it, th [...] so, if they concur­red in ju [...]gement with [...]im, [...]ey might all be bap [...]ized to­gether. Assembling therefore his Wisemen, and advising with them, he [...]emanded severally of them all, What that Doctrine, which they never heard of till then, and that new worship of God which was preached by Paulinus, seemed to t [...]em? Proposition 5, 6. To whom Coyfi the chief of the Priests presently answered: Do thou consider, O King, what that Religion is which is now preached to us; I profess unto thee, that which I have most certainly learned, that the Religi­on we have hitherto imbraced, hath no virtue at all in it; whereupon it remains, that if those new things which are now preached unto us, shall appear to thee upon examination, to be better and stronger than our Religion, let us hasten to embrace them without any delay. To whose wise perswa­sions and words, Another of the Kings Nobles giving his Assent, spake something concerning the brevity and incertainty of this life, and of their ignorance and incertainty of that life which is to come, concluding, That if this new Doctrine brought any thing to them more certain, than that they formerly imbraced, it ought to be deservedly followed: The rest of the Elders and Kings Counsellors, prosecuting the like things, by Divine ad­monition, Coyfi added; that he desired to hear Pauli­nus preaching concerning God, more diligently than before; which when he had done, by the Kings command; he cryed out (having heard his preaching) I heretofore understood, that what we worshipped was nothing, because by how much the more diligently I sought the truth in that worship, the less I found it. But now I openly professe, that in this preaching, the truth shines forth, which is able to give unto us the gifts of eternal life, salvation, and happi­ness; Whereupon, O King, I advise thee, that the Temples, [Page 5] and Altars we have consecrated without any fruit or bene­fit, we should now presen [...]ly execrate and burn. Upon [...]his, without more debate, the King openly gave his assent to the preaching of Paulinus, & renouncing Idolatry, confessed [...]hat he did imbrace the faith of Christ. And when the King de­manded of Coys [...] his Priest, who ought [...]irst to prophane and destroy the Altars & Temples of the Idols, with the rails & and bounds wherewith they were inclosed? He answered, I, who have worshipped them through foolishness. And pre­sently renouncing his Superstition, he demanded Arms and an Horse of the King, ( Fox Acts and Mon. Vol. 1. p. 156. which by their old Law Priests might not use:) which being granted him, he mounted the Horse, with a Sword and Lance in his Hand, and riding to the Idols thus armed (the people deeming him to be mad) prophaned the Temple, and commanded his Companions to destroy and burn it, with the Idols, and all the Hedges about it, which they did. Whereupon the King, with his Nobles, and ve­ry many of the people, embraced the Christian Religion, and were baptized by Paulinus, in the Church of St. Peter at York; (which the King there speedily commanded to be built of Wood, and afterwards enlarged) or­daining Paulinus Bishop of that place, who converted, baptized him and his people; as Beda and others more largely record the History. From which memorable president we may observe these particulars.

• 1. That the King himself could not then alter the established Laws or received Religion of this Realm, though false; nor introduce new Laws, or set up the true Religion, without the concurrent Assent of his No­bles and Wisemen in a general Parliamentary Council
• 2. That the Princes, Chief Priests, Nobles, an [...] Ae [...] ­dermen of the Realm, were the Parliament Mem­bers in that Age.
• 3. That every one of them in these Councils had freedom of Vote and Debate; and gave their voices severally, for the bringing in of Christianity, and de­ [...]truction of Idolatry.

[Page 6] De Gestis Regum Anglor. l. 3. c. 2. p. [...]8. See Fox Acts and Mon. vol. 1. p. 157. William of Malmesbury gives this Character of this Kings Government, after he became a Christian, and of the vicissitude of humane affairs, worthy our present observation, he being suddenly slain in battle, together with his Son, after all his former conquests and felicity.

‘Nullus tunc Praedo Publicus, nullus latro domesti­cus, insidiator conjugalis pudoris procul; Exp [...]lator alienae Haereditatis exul: Proposition 4. Magnum id in ejus [...]audi­bus, & no [...]tra aetate [...]plendidum. Itaque Imperii sui, ad eos limites incrementa perducta sunt, ut Iustitia & Pax liben [...]èr in mu [...]uos amplexus concurrerent os­culorum, gratiam grata vicissitudine libantes; & faeli­citer tunc Anglorum Respublica procedere potuisset, ni­si mors immatura, [...]emporalis beatitudinis Noverca, turpi fortunae ludo, virum abstulislet Patriae. Aetatis enim 48. Regni 17. Rebellantibus Regulis, quos [...]ub jug [...]m miserat, Ceadwalla Britonum, & Penda Mer­ciorum, cum Filio interemptus, mi [...]erabile varietatis humanae fuit exemplum: nulli prudentiâ inferior, qui nè Christianam fidem, nisi diligentissimè inspecta [...]â ra [...]ione, voluit suscipere, susceptaeque nihil existima­re comparabile,’

Anno 673. Anno 673 Beda Ec­cles. Hist. l. 4. c. 5. Mal. Westminst. & Florentius Wi­gorniensis An. 673. Gervasi­us Doroberni­ensis. Actus Pontif. Cantu­ar. col. 1639. Matthew Pa [...] ­ker Antiq. Ec­cles. Brit. p. 15. Spelmani Con­cil. p. 152, 153. Fox Acts and Mon. vol. 1. p. 161. Proposit. 5, 6. Theodor Archbishop of Canterbury, held a great Council at Hertford; presentibus Episco­pis Angliae, ac Regibus, & Magnatibus universis; the Bishops of England, and Kings (to wit, King Lotharius and Easwine) and all the Nobles being present at it. In this Council, they made ten Canons or Laws, which they all subscribed and ra [...]ified with their hands; the 7th. whereof was, That a Synod (or Parliamentary Assembly) should be assembled twice, or (because divers causes hindred) Placuit omnibus in commune, they all a­greed in common, that in the Calends of August, in a place called Clov [...]sho [...]n, a Synod should be congrega­ted, at least once every year. The rest of them you may [Page 7] peruse in the marginal Authors at leisure, being mee [...] ­ly Ecclesiastical, and not so pertinent to my Dis­course.

Evidentiae Ecclesiae Chri­sti. Cantuar. col. 2207. Ceadwalla King of the West-Saxons, Anno 680. In the year of our Lord 680. granted to Bishop Wilfrid certain Lands, with their appurtenances, called Pagaliam; cum consensu & devotâ con [...]irmatione omnium Optimatum meorum; with the consent and devout confirmation of all his Nobles (assembled in a Parliamentary Coun­cil) the grant of his Crown Lands to him, Propos. 10. being not valid to bind his Successours without his Nobles con­current confirmation.

De Gestis regum Angl. l. 1. c. 2. p. 14. Mr. Seldens [...]istory of Tithes, c. 10. sect. 1. p. 269. William [...]f Malmesbury writes of him; That though before his conversion unto Christianity, he addi­cted himself to wars, and to plunder and spoil his neigh­bouring Kings; yet he conscientiously dedicated the tenth of all his spoils to God. Inter haec arduum memo­ratu est, quantum etiam ante Baptismum inservierit pietati, ut omnes manubias quas jure praedatorio, in suos usus transcripserat, Deo Decimaret. In quo, et si approbamus, affectum, improbamus exemplum; juxta illud; Qui o [...]fert sacrificium de substantia Pauperis, quasi qui immolat [...]ili­um in conspectu patris.

If all the Plundering, warring Saints of this Age would imitate his example, in giving the Tenths of all their spoils and plunders to God & his Ministers, instead of spoi­ling them of their Tithes and antient Church-Revenues, men would deem them as good Saints as this plunder­ing conquering Saxon King; of whom it is likewise storied, that Beda Eccles. Histo­riae l. 4. c. 16. Camdens Bri­tannia [...] p. 275. Thomas Stubs Actus Pontif. Eboracensium col. 1691. & Malmesbury de Gestis Pontificum Angliae. l. 3. in Wilfrido. Chron. Iohan. Bromton, col. 742.757. Spelman. Concil. p. 181. Speeds Hist. p. 227. before he turned Christian, intending to invade the Isle of Wight, and unite it to his Kingdom; he vowed to give the 4 th. part of the Iland, and Prey, to Christ, if he should vanquish it: Whereupon he con­quering the Isle, slew the Natives in it, being Pagans, with a Tragical slaughter; and in performance of his vow, [Page 8] gave to Bishop Wilfrid and his Clerks (for their main­tenance and encouragement) the possession of 300 [...]-Hides of Land, being the fourth part thereof. When our new Conquerours shall be so bountifull in bestow­ing the fourth (or but the [...]enth) part of all the pre­tended conquered Lands they have gotten on Christs Church and Ministers, instead of invading and purcha­sing the Churches antient Lands, Gl [...]bes, Tithes and Inhe­ri [...]ance, they may demerit the Name and praise of Saints, as well as Ceadwalla; who, before he came to the Crown, as he was unjustly banished from his Country, through the envy of others, only for his vertues and wor­thiness, which first caused him to take up armes and in­vade the South-Saxons, two of whose Kings he slew successively in the field, after which he twice in­vaded, and afflicted Kent with grievous wars (taking advantage of their civil discords) wherein he shed abun­dance of Christian blood: So when he had reigned but two years space, after all his victories, out of meer devotion, he voluntarily left his Crown, Kingdom, Con­quests, and went in Pilgrimage to Rome (where he was baptized) to bewail and expiate the guilt of all his former wars, bloodshed, plunders, rapines, perplex­ing his Conscience, and there died.

An. Dom. 616.The first Charter and grant I find extant of any Lands given to the Church, after those of Ethelbert King of Kent, forecited, is that of Evidentiae Ecclesiae Chri­sti Cantuar. col. 2207. King Eadbaldus his Son and successour, Anno Dom. 616, who being by Gods mercy, through the admonition of Archbishop Law­rence converted from the pravity of his life, for the Sal­vation of his soul, Propos. 1.10. and hope of a future reward, gave to Christ-Church in Canterbury, and to the family serving God in that Church, his Lands called Edesham, with the Fields, Woods, Pastures, and all things thereunto of right ap­pertaining, free from all secular services, & Fiscal tributes; except these three; Expedition, Building of Castle and Bridge.

[Page 9]The next in time, An. 679. is the See Chro­nica VVil. Thorne, & E­videntiae Ecclesiae Chri­sti Cantuar. col. 2207.2225. where all these Grants and Charters are recorded: & Monasticon Anglicanum, published by Mr. Doddes­wel, &c. since this was penned. [...]rant of Lotharius King of Kent, Anno 679. of certain Lands in the Isle of Thannet, to the Monastery of Raculph, free from all secular services, except these three, Expedition, Building of Bridge and Castle: To which I might annex these ensuing Grants and Charters, which I shall only name; The Grant of King Egfrid, and his Queen Etheldrida, of Hestodesham to Bishop Wilfrid, Anno 674.

The Charter and Grant of Ceadwalla aforesaid, and Kendritha his wife (of 4 plough-Lands to Archbishop Theodor, and the Family of Christ-Church in Canterbu­ry, free from all secular services, but those 3 forementioned) An. 687. of Withrid King of Kent, Anno. 694, of King Offa, An. 774. of King Edmund, An. 784. of King Kenewlfe, An. 791, 814, 815, 822. of King Wilof, An. 829. of King Athulfus, An. 832, 833, 834. of King Ethelstan, An. 927, 940. of King Edred, An. 941, 948, 949. of King Egered, An. 979, 980. and of King Cnute, An. Dom. 1016. To pretermit others of this kind.

All which Grants being for the most part, only of their own private Lands gotten by Purchase, Proposit 1.10 [...] or Con­quest, not of the Lands, or Demesnes of their Crowns, passed by their own Charters alone, without any con­firmation or assent of their Nobles in a Parliamentary Council, not mentioned at all in them. But no grants of any Lands, Rents or Revenues o [...] their Crowns, to pious or other uses, were then either valid in Law, or obligatory to their successors, without common con­sent and rati [...]ications of their Nobles in Parliamentary Councils, which for this reason is still mentioned in all their Charters and donations of such Lands and Rents to pious uses. Neither could they exempt those Lands from any of these three forenamed pub­lick charges (for the common defence and bene [...]it of their Realms) by their own royal Char [...]ers alone, un­less ratified by the Nobles in their great Councils. Whereupon in all these forecited Charters, and o­ther [Page 10] grants of Lands by particular persons, ratified by these Kings, they exempted them only from all secu­lar services, exceptis Expeditione, Pontis & Arcis con­structione, which they could not discharge them from, but by special Grants in General Parliamentary As­semblies, as subsequent Presidents will more ful [...]y de­monstrate.

Anno 685. Simeon Dun [...]lmensis Historia Du­n [...]l. Eccl [...]siae, l. 4. col. 57, 58. Ge [...]vasius Doroberniensis, Actus Pontif. Cant. col. 1639. Florentius Wi­go [...]n. An. 684. p. 254. God­wins Cata­logue of Bi­shops in the life of Cu [...]bert. Theodor Archbishop of Canterbury, Anno 685. held a Council at Twyford, in the presence of Egfrid King or Northumberland, who going in person to St. Cutbert (when as he neither by Le [...]ters nor Messengers could be drawn out of his Iland Lindesfarne to the Sy­nod) brought him to it much against his will: where; by the command of all the Synod, he was constrain­ed to take upon him the Office of a Bishop: Whereupon King Egfrid by the advice of Archbishop Theodor, Bishop Trumwin, & totius Concilii, and of the whole Council, for the salvation of his and his successors souls, by his Charter gave to St. Cutbert and all his successors, the Village called Creic, and 3 mile in circuit round about it, together with the City called Lugabadia, and 15 miles circuit round about it, Proposit. 10. to have to him and his successors, for the service of God for ever, as freely and quietly as he himself enjoyed them, and to dispose thereof at his pleasure; which Charter the Arch-Bishop and Bishops present in the Conncil, confirmed with their Subscriptions. What other Councils and Synods were held under this Arch-Bishop Theodor at Hartford, Clovesho, Ethelwerdus Hist. l. 2. c. 8. calls it Leth­lege. Heathfield, (or Hatfeild) and what Canons were made in them, for the confirmation of the Christian faith, the 5 first General Councils, &c. you may read at leisure in Gervasius [...] Do­roberniensis, Matthew Parker, and Godwin in his life, where they are recorded; and in Matthew Westminster, An. 880. Chronicon Iohannis Bromton, Col. 741, 756, 799, 780. Radul. de Diceto Abbreviationes Chronic. Col. 441. Chronica Wil. Thorne, col. 1770, Henry Hun­tindon, Historiarum lib. 3. p. 335, Spelmanni Conci­lia, [Page 11] p. 152. Beda Ecclesiasticae Historiae, l. 4. c. 5, 17, 18. Mr. Fox Acts and Monuments vol. 1. p. 160, 161. To which I shall re [...]er you.

‘About the year of Christ 692. Anno 692. Ch [...]o [...]. Io­hannis Brom­ton col. 759. to 767. Lam­bardi Archai­on. Spelmanni Concil. Tom. 1. p. 122. to 136. Mr. Seldens Titles of Ho- p. 632. Fox Acts and Mo­numents, vol. 1. p. 164. Ina King of the West-Saxons, who succeeded Ceadwalla, by the exhor­tation and advice of Cenred his Father, Hedda and Erkenwald his Bishops, and of all his Aldermen (or Se­nators) and of all the Elders and Wisemen of his Realm, in a great Assembly of the Servants of God, for the salvation of his peoples so [...]ls, and the com­mon conservation of his Realm, Enacted sundry Ec­clesiastical and civil wholsom Laws, that by them just judgements might be founded and es [...]ablished, throughout his Dominions, and that from thence­ [...]orth it might be lawfull for no Alderman, Senator, or other person living within his Realm, to abolish these his Laws; Proposit. 1, 2, 4, 5. tending all to advance Piety, Justice, Peace, and preserve his people from violence, rapine, oppression, and all Punishments, Taxes, Fines, but such only as were imposed, ascertained by his Laws and Parliamentary Councils, as you may read at large in the Laws themselves, especially Lex 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 51, 73, 74.’

In the year 694 Anno 694. VVilliam Thorne Evi­dentiae Eccle­si [...]e Christi Cantuar. col. 2208. Spelm. Concil. p. 189. to 199. Withred King of Kent summoned Brithwald Archbishop of Canterbury, Toby Bishop of Rochester, with the other Abbots, Abbesses, Priests, Deacons, Dukes and Earls to a great Council at Beccanceld (or Baccanceld, as others write it:) where consulting all together concerning the State of the Churches of God, within that Realm, how they might establish and perpetuate to them to the end of the World, those Lands and Reve­nues which their pious Kings and Ancestors had granted and appropriated to God and his Church, Proposit. 4, 6, 10. as their perpetual inheritance, without substraction or diminution, They thereupon enacted, decreed, and in the name of God Almighty commanded, that all their successours, both Kings and Princes, with all other Laymen whatsoe­ver, [Page 12] should not invade the Righ [...]s, La [...]ds or Dominions of the Churches, which they then confirmed; nor presume to viol [...]te the Privileges granted to them, and specially by king Withreds Charter, which they ratified in this Council with all their subscrip [...]ions; wherein he and they exempted Churches from all s [...]cular services and Tribu [...]es, but such as they should voluntarily and freely render without compulsion, which should not be drawn into custom to their prejudice; wi [...]ne [...]e this Clause of the Charter, and ex­emption then confirmed; & ab omni debito vel pulsa­tione Regalium Tributorum, [...]isi suà spontanea vo­lu [...]tate, ex la [...]gitate beneficiorum quid facere velint; ta­men hoc imposterum non servetur, nec habeatur in malam consuetudinem.

Anno 697.The same Spelm. Concil. p. 194. King Withred, in the Parliamentary Council of Berghamsteed, Anno 697. by the advice and common consent of his Bishops, and other Ecclesiastical Or­ders, cum viris qui [...]usdam militaribus; Proposit. 5. enacted sundry Ecclesiastical and civil Laws, to be added to the former Laws and customs of Kent: the first whereof is this, That the Church shall be free, and enjoy her Iudgements, Rents, and Pensions.

Anno 700.And Spelm. Concil. p. 198. Evidentiae Ec­cles. Christi, Cant. col. 2208, 2209. Antiqu. Eccles. Bu [...]. p. 34, 35. Anno Dom. 700. this king Withred, unâ cum consensu Principum meorum, together with the con­sent of his Nobles and Bishops (who subscribed their names to his Charter) granted to the Churches of God in Kent [...] th [...]t they should be perpetually freed ab omni ex­actione publica tributi, atque dispendio vel laesione, à praesenti die & tempore, &c. From all publick exaction of Tribute, and from all dammage and harm: rendring to him & his posterity, Proposit. 1.10. such honour and obedience as they had yeelded to the Kings h [...]s antecessors; under whom Iustice and Li­berty was kept towards them. Anno 678. to 706.

About the year of our Lord 678. VVill. Malmes. de Gest. Pontif. Angl. l. 3. p. 264. to 269. Chron. Ioh. Brompt. col. 791, 792, 793, 794. Sim. Dunelm. de Archiepis. Ebor. col. 78. Spelman. Concil. p. 200. to 206. Ma [...]. Parker, Tho. Stubs, Godwin in the lives of Archbishop Theodor, VVilfrid [...] and Bri [...]wald. Mat. VVestm. Anno 692, 711. Hist. Anglicanae Scriptores antiq. An. 1652, col. 78, 294, 295, 296, 440, 441, 1691, 1741. Fox Acts and Monunments, vol. 1. p. 160, 161 [...] Propos. 2, 4, 5, 7 [...] Wilfrid Arch­bishop [Page 13] of [...]ork [...]eing in a Council unjustly depri [...]ed of his Bishoprick by Theodor Archbishop of Can [...]erbury, who envied the greatness of his Wealth, Power, and Diocess, which he would and did again [...] Wilfrids will, in that Council divide i [...]to [...] more Bishopricks, was after that time exiled the Realm, through the malice of Eg­frid king of Nort [...]umberland, and Emburga his Queen, (whom he would have perswad [...]d [...]o become a Nun, and desert her Husband, as some Authors write, and others deny in his favour) without any just and lawfull cause; and after that about the year 692. being again deprived of his Bishoprick and right by the Iudgement and sentence of another Council held under Aldrid king of Northumberland, and Bertuald Archbishop of Can­terbury; he thereupon ma [...]e two successive appeals to Rome against their two unjust sentences, as he concei­ved them: The first to Pope Agatho, and a Council of 150 Bishops, held under him; who decreed, he should be restored to his Bishoprick and make such Bishops under him (by advice of a Council to be held `by him) as he should deem meet; with which decree against his first s [...]ntence, he returning from Rome to king Egfrid, to whom he de­livered it, sealed with the Popes Seal; the king upon [...]ight and reading thereof, in the presence of some of his Bishops, tantùm à reverentiâ Romanae sedis abfuit, was so far from obeying this Decree of the Roman See, that he spoiled Wilfrid of all his Goods and possessions, and committed him prisoner to a barbarous and cruel Gover­nour; who thrust him into a dark dungeon for many days [...] and after that committed him to another more cruel Gaoler than he, called Tumber, who endeavoured to put him in­to Fetters by the Kings command; which he could no ways fasten upon his Legs, but they presently fell off again, through a Miracle. Whereupon wickedness giving place to Religion, he was loosed from his Bonds, detain­ed in free custody, and afterwards released, but not resto­red. After which, about the year 693. he appealed a­gain [Page 14] to Pope Iohn, against the proceedings of the second Council, which refused to re-admit him to his Archbi­shoprick, unless he would submit to the decrees of Archbi­shop Theodore, and Brithwald his successor; which he refused to do, unless they were such as were consonant to the decrees of the holy Canons, which he conceived theirs not to be, because they would order him to condemn himself with­out any Crime objected to him. Upon which appeal, this Pope, wi [...]h his Bishops, pronounced Wilfrid, free from all Crime, and ordered him to return to his A [...]chbishoprick; wri­ting Letters to Ethelred King of Mercians, and Alfrid King of Northumberland to restore him thereunto. Al­frid receiving the Popes Letters by Wilfrids Messengers, altogether refused to obey the Popes commands in this Case; Proposit. 7. saying, ‘Quod esset contra rationem, homini jam bis à toto Anglorum Concilio damnato, propter quaelibet Apostolica scripta communicare:’ That it was against reason, to communicate with a man already twice condemned by the whole Council of the English Nati­on for any writings of the Pope (so little were the Popes authoritie and decrees then regarded in England, con­tradicting the kings and English Councils proceedings) neither would he restore him all his life. After his death Edulfe usurping the Crown by Tyranny, Wilfrid re­paired to him to restore him to his Archbishoprick, upon this account of the Popes Letters; Whereupon he was so inraged with him for it, though formerly his great friend, that he presently commanded him to depart the Realm forthwith, unless he would be sp [...]led of all his goods, and cast out of it with disgrace. But this Usuper being deprived both of his Realm, Crown, and Life, in little more than 3 Months space, and Osred son of king Alfrid, being restored to the Crown by the Nobles, as right heir thereunto; at last Wilfrid was re-invested in Anno 705.his Bishoprick by the decree of a Council held under him in Northumberland, at a place called Nidden, An. 705. not so much in obedience to the Popes command, [Page 15] as king Alfrids, attested by Elfleda his Sister, then Ab­bess of Streneshash; witness these words of Berfride, ‘Ego jussionibus Papae obediendum censeo, prae [...]er [...]im cum eorum ro [...]ori, accedat Regis nostri Iussio [...] & no­strae necessit atis sponsio, &c. Puer in Regem levat [...]s, hostis abactus, Tyrannus extinctus; est igitur Regiae voluntatis ut Episcopus Wilfridus revestiatur.’ Upon which he was accor [...]ingly restored: whereupon all the Bishops embraced him, and reconciled them­selves to him.

This Bishop Wilfrid procured to the Church of Ha­gustald, which he founded, and was Bishop thereof, many privileges, and that [...]or one miles circuit round about, Proposit. 10. none should be arrested going or coming, bu [...] injoy inviolable peace. ‘Quod in [...]titutum authori­tate & privilegiis Romanae sedi [...] Apostolicorum, & Archiepiscoporum, & Episcoporum, & Regum & Prin­cipum tam Scotiae quam Angliae confirmatum est. Quod si aliquis De Stat. & Episcopis Hagus [...]alaensis Ecclesie, l. 1. c. 5. col. 29 [...]. temerarius insringere audebit, & magnae pecuniae damno obnoxius erit, & perpet no Anathematis gladio ab ecclesi [...] seperabitur; as Ri­cha [...]d Prior of Hagustald records. An. 708, 709, 712.’

Anno Domini 708 Antiqu. Ecclesiae Brit. p. 20. Balaeus script. Brit. Centur. 1. c. 91, 94, 99. Centur. Magdeb. 8. c. 9. Spelm. Concil. p. 209. to 217. Egwin Bishop of Worcester, procured king Kenred and Offa by their Charters, to grant and confirm many Lands and Privileges [...]o the Abbey of Evesham; which Pope Constantine likewise ratified by his subscription at Rome, as well as [...]hese kings, in the presence of many Archbishops, Bishops, Princes and Nobles of divers Provinces, who commen­ded and approved their Charters and Liberality. In purs [...]ance whereof, Pope Constantine writ a Letter to Brithwald Archbishop of Canterbury, to summon Conci­lium totius Angliae, Proposit. 5, 6, 10. a Council of all England, to wit, of the Kings, Bishops, Religious persons of Holy Orders, Optimatesque Regni cum proceribus suis, with the No­bles and great men of the Realm; who being all assembled together in the name of the Lord; The Archbishop should [Page 16] in their presence, read the Charters of these Kings and the Popes confirmation of them, that they might be confirmed by t [...]e favour and assent of the Clergy and the people, and consecra [...]ed with their Benediction. Whereupon king Ken­red and Offa, after their return from Rome, assembled a General Council in a place called Alne, where both the Archbishops Brithwald and Wilfrid, with the rest of the Bishops, Nobles, and these two Kings were present: wherein, Donationes omnes confirmatae sunt, all these their Donations and Charters were confirmed; and like­wise in another Synod at London, An. 712. A most pr [...]gnant e [...]idence, that these kings Charters and Do­nations, though ratified by the Pope himself, were not valid nor obligatory to their successors or people, with­out their common consent to, and confirmation of them in a general Parliamentary Council of the Pre­lates, Nobles, Clergy and Laity, even by the Popes and these kings own confessions and practice in that age.

An. 716.In the year of our Lord 716. Ingulph. Hist. p. 851, 852. Ethelbald king of M [...]rcians, by his Charter gave to God, the blessed Virgin, Saint Bartholomew & Kenulphus, the whole Isle of Croyland, to build a Monastery; and confirmed it to them for ever, free from all Rent and secular ser­vices; & inde Char [...]am suam in praesen [...]ia Episcopo­rum, Proposit. 10. Procerumque Regni sui securam statuit; all his Bishops and Nobles of his Realm assenting to, and ratifying this Charter of his, both with the subscriptions of their nam [...]s, a [...]d sign of the Cross, as well as the King; that so it might be firm and irrevocable, being his demes [...]e Lands, which Charter is at large recorded in the Hi­story of Ingulphus.

An. 720.About the year of Christ 720. L [...]g [...]s Ed. Confessoris c. 25. Spelman­ni Concil. p. 219. See Polychronicon, l. 5. c. 28. Mat. VVestminst. An. 586. some (fabulously) write, that king Ina took Guala daughter of Cadwalla­de [...], last king of the Britons to wife, with whom he received Wales and Cornwal, and the blessed Crown of [Page 17] Britain. Whereupon, all the English that then were, took them wives of the Britons race, and all the Britons took them wives of the illustrious blood of the English and Saxons, Proposit. 5, 6 [...] which was done, Per commune Concilium et assensum omnium Episcoporum ac Principuru [...], Pro­cerum, Comit [...]m, et omnium Sapientum, Seniorum, et populorum totius Regni, (a [...]emb [...]ed [...]o [...]her in a General Parliamentary Council) Et per praeceptum Regis Inae; whereby they became one Nation and Peo­ple: Af [...]er which; they all called that, the Realm of Eng­land, which before was called, the Realm of Britain, and they all ever after stood together, united in one, for common profit of the Crown of the Realm, and with a una­nimous consent most fiercely fought against the Danes and Norwegians, and waged most cruel wars with them, for the preservation of their Country, Lands and Liber­ties.

An. 705. King Spelman. Concil. p, 227, 228, 229. &c. Chron. Iohan. Brom [...]on. col. 758. & Mo­nasticon Angl [...] Ina by his Royal Charter, Anno 725. grant­ed and confirmed many Lands to the Abbey of Glaston­bury, endowing that Abbey and the Lands thereto belonging, with many large and great Privileges, ex­empting them from all Episc [...]pal Iurisdiction, and from all regal exactions and services, which are accustomed to be excepted and reserved; to wit, from Expedition and build­ing and repairing of Castles or Bridges; from which they should inviolably remain free and exempted, Proposition 6, 10. and from all the promulgations and per [...]urbations of Arch-Bishops and Bishops: which privileges were formerly granted and confirmed by the ancient Charters of his Predecessors Kenewalcus, Kentwin, Ceadwalla and Baldred. This Charter of his was made and ratified by the consent and subscription, not only of king Ina himself; but also of Queen Edel [...]ur [...] [...] king Baldr [...]d Adelard, the Queens B [...]o [...]her [...] consentientibus etiam omnibus Britanni [...] Regibus, Archiepiscopis, Episcopis, Ducibus, atque Abbatibus, all the Kings, Archbisho [...]s, Bishops, Dukes, and Abbots of Britain, consenting likewise thereunto [...] ma­ny [Page 18] of which subscribed their names unto it, being as­sembled in a Parliamentary Council for that end.

An. 727.King Matthew Westminst. An. 727. p. 765. Ina, In the year 727. travelling to Rome, built th [...]re a school, for the English to be in [...]tructed in the faith; gran [...]ing towards the maintenance of the Eng­lish Schol [...]rs there, a penny out of every house within h [...]s Realm, Proposi [...]. 1, 5, 6. called Romescot, or Peterpence; to be paid towards it every year. All which Things and Tax; That they might continue firm for perpetui [...]y, Statutum e [...]t ge­nera [...] [...]ecre [...]o, &c. were confirmed by a general decree of a Parliamentary Council of [...]is Realm; then held for that purpose; of which Part. 2. p. 71. before more largely.

In the year of our Lord 742. There was Evid [...]n­tiae Eccles. Christi Cantu. col. 2209. Spelmanni Concil. p. 230, 231. Antiqu. Eccles. Brit. p. 21. a Great An. 742. Parliamentary Council held at Clovesho (or Clyffe) where Ethelbald King of Mercia sate President, with Cuthbert Archbishop of Canterbury; the rest of the Bishops sitting together with them, diligently examined things neces­sary concerning Religion, and studiously searched out of the an [...]ient Creeds and institutions of the holy Fathers, how things were ordered according to the rule of equity in the be­gin [...]ing of the Churches birth in England; whiles they were inquiring after these things, and the antient privileges of the Church, at last there came to their hands, the Liberty and Privileges which King Withred had gra [...]ted to the Churches in Kent: Proposit. 5.10 which being read before all, by King Ethelbalds command; they were all very well pleased therewith, and said unanimously, That there could not be found any so noble and so prudent a Decree as this, formerly made, touching Ecclesiastical Discipline; and therefore, Hoc ab omnibus firmari sanxerunt, decreed that it should be confirmed by them all. Where­upon King Ethelbald for the salvation of his soul and stability of his kingdom, confirmed and subscribed with his own munificent hand, That the Liberty, Honour, Authority, and security of Christs Church in all things, should be denied by no person, but that it should be free from all secular services, with all the lands pertaining there­unto, [Page 19] except Expedition and building of Bridge and Castle. And like as the said King Withred himself ordained, those privileges should be observed by him and his, so he and this Council commanded, they shall continue irrefragably and immutably in all things. And if any of our Successors, Kings, Bishops, or Princes shall attempt to infringe this wholsom Decree, let him render an account to Almighty God in that terrible day; But if any Earl, Priests, Clerk, Deacon or Monk shall resist this Decree, let him be de­prived of his degree, and sequestred from the participation of the body & blood of the Lord and alienated from the king­dom of God, unless he shall amend with due satisfaction, what he hath unjustly done, through the evil of Pride.

Ingulph. Histor. p. 853. Will. Malmsb. de gest [...] Reg. l. 1. c. 4. p. 29. Antiqu. Eccl. Bri. p. 22. Spel. Conc. p. 242. to 258. Mat. Westm. An. 748. Malmesb. de gestis Pont. l. 1. in Cuth. p. 197. Anno 747. An. 747. There was another Parliamentary Council held at Clovesho, or Cly [...]fe, under king Ethelbald, where the king himself, with Cuthbe [...]t, Archbishop of Canterbury, eleven other Bishops, cum Principibus et Ducibus, with the Princes and Dukes, were pre­sent.

In this Council were some Ecclesiastical Laws and Ca­nons made, the last whereof was, for Prayers to be pub­likely made for Kings and Princes incessantly; that the People might live a Godly and peaceable life under their pi­ous protection. In this Council king Ethelbald renewed and enlarged his former Grant of Privileges to the Chur­ches, recited at large in the Marginal Authors, the sum whereof is this, Proposit. 1, 5, 12.

‘Plerumque contingere solet, pro incertâ futurotum temporum vicissitudine, ut ea quae prius multorum fidelium personarum testimonio consilioque roborata fuissent, ut fraudulenter per contumaciam plurimorum & machinamentis simulationis, sine ullâ considera­tione rationis, periculos [...] dissipata essent, nisi aucto­ritate Literarum, & testimonio Cyrographorum ae­ternae memoriae inserta sint. Quapropter Ego Ethel­baldus Rex Merciorum, pro amore caelestis patriae, han [...] donationem me vivente concedo; Ut omnia [Page 20] Monasteria & Ecclesiae Regni mei, A publicis vecti­galibus, & ab omnibus operibus, oneribusque absolvantur, nisi in instructionibus Arcium vel Pon [...]ium, quae nulli unquam possint laxari,’ (as Ingulph. renders it, or as other Copies; ‘ nisi sola quae communiter fruenda sint, omni (que) populo edicto R [...]gis, facienda jubentur, id est, instru­ctionibus Pontium, vel necessariis defensionibus Arcium contra [...]ostes, non sunt renuenda:) Sed nec hoc praetermit­tendum est, cum necessarium constat Ecclesiis Dei. Prae­terea habeant famuli Dei propriam Libertatem in proficuis Sylvarum, in fructu Agrorum, in captura piscium; nec munuscula praebeant Regi, vel Principibus, nisi voluntaria, sed liberi Domino serviant, in contempla­tione pacificâ per totum regnum meum us (que) in aevum. Sed cunctas rribulationes quae nocere vel impedi­re possint in Domo Dei, omnibus Principibus sub meâ potestate degentibus, demittere & auferre praecipio; Quatenus sublimitas Regni mei prosperis successibus polleat in [...]erris, & meritorum manipuli multiplici­ter maturescant in coelis. Qui vero haec benigna men­tis intentione at que in-laesâ cogitatione custodierit, aeternâ claritate coronetur, ornetur, glorificetur; Si quis hoc, quod absit, cujuslibet personae tyrannica cu­piditate instinctus, contrà hanc donationis char [...]ulam saeculari potentiâ fretus venire nititur, sit sub Anathe­mate Iudae Proditoris Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Ad confirmandum verò hoc nostrae beneficentiae munus, Hi Te [...]es adfuerunt, & Nostri Magistrarus, Optimates, et Duces, fidelissimique amici concesserunt et scripse­ruut:’ Then follow the subscriptions of the King, Bi­shops and Nobles, with, Ego his statutis consentiens subscripsi, confirmandoque signum crucis aravi.

In this Chron. W. Thorne, c. 3. sect. 7. col. [...]77 [...]. Council, amongst other Synodal Decrees subscribed by the Bishops, It was decreed, That the Feasts of St. Gregory the Pope, and St. Augustine the En­glish Apostle, should be perpetually observed with great­est solemnity, Proposition 5 [...] King Ethelbald, with his Nobles, [Page 21] being there present, and approving it.

In the year of Grace 752. Anno 752. Cuthred king of the West-Saxons being unable to endure the proud Exactions and insolencies of king Ethelbald, for vindica [...]on of his own and his peoples Liberty from his oppressions, raised an Army, and fought a bloody Batt [...]l wi [...]h him at Beorford; where through Gods assi [...]ance (who gi­veth grace to the Humble, and resisteth the Proud) he routed him and his whole Army, and after, An. 755. slew him in a second battel (he disdaining to fly) by the Treachery of Bernred, his Captain, the chief Author of his death.

King Matthew Westm. p. 273. Chron. Iohan­nis Brom [...]on, col. 769, Hun­tindon. Hist. l. 4. p. 341. See Holinshed, Speed, Graf­ton in their lives, VVil. Malmesbury de gest. reg. l. 1. c. 4. p. 28. Cuthred deceasing, Sigibert his kinsman who succeeded him, growing insolent and proud by his Pre [...]e­cessors great successes, Proposit. 1, 2, 4. became intollerable to his Subiects, treating them very ill in every kind, Depraving or altering the Laws of his Ancestors, Anno 756. for his own pri­vate Luere, Matthew Westminst. An. 756. p. 274. Chron. Iohan. Brom [...]on, col. 770, 796. Wil. Malmesb. de Gest. Reg. l. 1. c. 2. p. 15. Hen. Hun [...]indon, Hist [...] l. 4. p. 34 [...], 342, Floren [...]. Wigorn. An. 755. p. 274. Polychr [...]n, l. 5. c. 25. Cap­grave, F [...]bian Holinsh [...]d, Speed, Graf­ton in his life, and the life of Kenulphus, Hoveden, An­nal. pars prior. p. 408. Propos. 1, 2, 4. and exercising exactions and cruelties upon his Subjects, setting aside all Laws. Where­upon his [...]aithfull Counsellor Earl Cumbra, ovingly ad­monishing him to govern his people more mildly and just­ly, that so he might become amiable to God and men; he was so incensed with him, that he commanded him most wickedly to be slain, and became more cruel and Ty­rannical to his people than bef [...]re. The Pe [...]r [...] and Com­mons hereupon seeing their Laws and Liberties thus violated, and their Estates and Lives every day in danger, being incensed into fury, assemb [...]ng themselves together, did all unamimously rise up in Arms against him and upon mature prudent deliberation, by the unanimous consent of all, expelled him the Kingdom for his Ty­ranny and mis-governmenr. Upon which Sigebert flying into the woods for shelter, like a forlorn per­son, was there slain by Cumbra his Swine-herd, in revenge of his Masters murder. Florentius Wigorniensis relates, that after his expulsion from the Realm by the Nobles, for the multitude of his unjust deeds; Ke­nulphus, [Page 22] allotted him the County of Hampshire for his maintenance, until he slew Earl Cumbra (such was the Charity and Humanity of those times, even to an ex­pelled, deposed Tyrannical King, now quite out of date) with whom Ethelwerdus, Hist. l. 2. c. 17. and Polychronicon, l. 5. c. 24. accord. Some of our Histori­ans (especially E [...]helwerdus and Wigorniensis) relate; that Kenulphus usurped the Crown by meer force of Arms, first drawing the Nobles and People to rise up against, and expell Sigebert for his exorbitant actions, and the multi­tude of his unjust deeds, and then usurping the Throne, be­ing not of the blood Royal (as Malmesbury relates) though of a Noble family: But they all Malmesb. de Ges [...]is Reg. l. 1. c. 2. p. 16. Ethelwerdus Hist. l. 2. c. 17, 18. Hen. Hun­tindon, Hist. l. 4. p. 343. Mat. Westm. An. 786. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. col. 110. Chron. Iohan. Bromt. col. 770. Hove­den Annal. pars prior, p. 409, 410. Po­lychron. l. 5. c. 17. Fabian, Capgrave, Grafton, Ho­linshed, and Speed in his life. Florentius Wigorn. p. 278.279. unanimously record, that he came to a miserable end upon this occasion. When he had reigned 31 years with honour and good success, being puffed up therewith, and fearing lest Ki­near [...]us (Sigiberts Brother) who began to be potent, should revenge his Brothers death upon him, and dispossess him or his posterity of the Crown, he banished and compel­led him to depart his Kingdom. Who thereupon giving way to the time, voluntarily sled out of his Domini­ons. But soon after secretly drawing together (through private Conventicles) a band of desperate men, he found an opportunity to fall upon Kenulphus, when he went with a few followers to visit his Paramore at Merton, where he besetting the House round, slew the King, with all his followers. The fame of which Act coming to his Nobles and Souldiers not far from the place, They upon Exhortation of Esric, the chiefest of them, not to let pass the death of their Lord unrevenged, to their notorious and perpetual infamy, furiously [...]ncountred Keneardus and his Complices, and notwithstanding all their fair promi­ses of Mony, & preferments to them, and all intreaties, after a sharp bloody incounter, put them all to the sword, with the loss of some of their own lives. ‘Ecce quomodo Dei Iu­stitia, non solum futuro saeculo, Proposition 2. verum etiam in isto, digna meritis manifesto judicio recompensat, Proposit. 8. &c.’ Add [Page 23] Henry Huntindon, Roger Hoveden, Iohn Bromton, Malmes­bury, and others, as a Corollary to this History of Sigi­bert; and Kenulphus. Which all Traitors, Tyrants and Usurpers treading in their exorbitant foots [...]eps, may do well advisedly to consider.

In the year of our Lord 758. An. 758. Mat. West. An. 758. p. 274. VVil. Malmesb. de gest. reg. l. 1. c. 4. p. 28. Sim. Du [...]elm. Hist. col. 105. chron. Io. Bromt. col. 770, 776, Hen. Huntind. Hist. l. 4. p. 3 [...]2, 346. Hovedon. Annal. pars 1. p. 408. Speeds Chron. p. 254, 368. See Polyc. Fabian, Graft. Holinshed in his and Offa his life, VVi­gorn. An. 755, p. 274. The people of the Realm of M [...]rcia rising up against their King Bernred because he governed them not by just Laws, but by Ty­ranny: a [...]embled all together in one, as well Noble as Ignoble; and Offa being their Captain, t [...]ey ex­pelled him out of the Kingdom, and then [...] by the unanimous consent of all, as well Clergy as people, they crown­ed Offa King. This Bernred, (as Malmesbu [...]y, Spee [...], and Simeon Dunelmensis write) treacherously mur [...]hered King Ethelbald his Soveraign, whose General he was, and thereupon usurping his Throne, and turning a Tyrant, (as most Usurpers do) was in the very [...]irst year of his u­surped reign, expelled the Realm, and soon after slain by Offa; and so dignum sinem insidiarum tulit, being Au­thor necis of his Sovereign, King Ethelbald, à suis tuto­ribus fraudulentèr interfectus, as our His [...]orians ob­serve. A good Memento for other Traitors and Usur­pers treading in his footsteps; ‘Qui Regnum Tyran­nus invasit, & per modicum tempus in parvà laetiti [...] & jocunditate tenens, Regnum cum vitâ perdidit, as Wigorniensis writes of him. Prop. 1, 2, 4, 5.’

The Ma [...]. West. p. 278, 279, 290. VVil. Malmesb. de gest. reg. l. 1. c. 4. p. 32. Spel. Concil. p. 315. English complaining to King Offa, An. 775. in the year 775. of the great exactions in forein parts under Charls the Emperour, they being then at variance, so as their trading and merchandize was every where prohibi­ted in both their Realms, thereupon King Offa, by gifts sent to the Emperour, obtained this Grant and Pri­vilege from him for his Subjects. That all Pilgrims pas­sing through his Dominions to Rome for piety and devotion sake alone, Proposit. 1, 4 [...] should have free and peaceable passage without a­ny molestation or Tribute. That all Merchants and others in the company of Pilgrims passing only for gain, not devo­tion, [Page 24] should pay only a certain established Tribute in sitting places. That all English Merchants and Traders should have lawfull protection, by his command, within his Realm, and if in any place they were vexed with unjust oppression, that upon complaint to him or his Iudges, they should have full justice done unto them.

An [...] 780, 781In the year 780. Aethelred, or Adelred, king of Northumberland, Mat. West. p. 280. Hen. Huntind. Hist. l. 4. p. 346, 347. Malmes [...]. de gest. reg. l. 1. c. 3. Hov [...] ­d [...]n Annal. pars prior, p. 409. Polychr. l. 5. c. 17. was deposed by his Subjects after he had reigned 3 years, and quite driven out of his Realm by his Nobles; who the next year after assaulted and burnt a certain Consull (or Earl) being their justice in his [...]wn house, plus aequo saevientem, for tyrannizing be­yond the Bounds of Law and Right. I shall not insist up­on the manifold Insurrections of these Northumber­landers against their kings, nor their disloyal depositi­ons, expulsions, Murders of most of them, upon pre­tended oppressions and Exorbitancies in Government, rather than [...]eal: Propos. 1, 2, 4. nor on the strange, general, bloody, frequent depredations, wars, devastations, Plagues, Judgements, Invasions by Danes, Normans, Scots, and others, inflicted justly on them for the same by Di­vine Justice, more than on all other parts of this I­land, since I have touched some of them Part. 2. p. 56 to 64. before, and shall glance at more of them hereafter; all which the studious may read at leisure, in Maslmesbury, Huntindon, Hoveden, Aethelwerdus, Matthew Westmin­ster, Bromton, Florentius Wigorniensis, Simeon Dunel­mensis, Radulphus de Diceto, Polychronicon, Holinshed, Speed, and others: Only I shall give you the sum of them about this age in the words of Sim [...]on Dunelmen­sis, and Richardus Hagulstaldensis In Hi­storia de exordio Christianitatis & Religionis totius Northumbriae, & Richardus Hagustald [...]n­sis, de Stat. & Episcopis Haegustaldensis Ecclesiae, col. 300. See Antiqu. Ecclesiae Brit. p. 32, 33, 34. Sim. Dunelmensis Hist. de Gestis Regum Angli [...], co [...]. 199. Chron. Ioh. Bromton, col. 966. Tho. Stubs Acta Pontif. Eboracensium, col. 1708. Hen. de Knyghton de Event. Angl. l. 2. c. 3. VVil. Malmesb. de Gest. [...] l. 3. p. 103. Hen. Huntind. Hist. l. 7. p. 306 [...] Rog. Hoveden, Annal. pars pri [...]r, p. 451, ‘Crudelis exinde Barbarorum manus innumeris navibus in Angli [...]m [Page 25] transvecta, omnia quaqua versum depopulans, Nor­thunhymbrorum autem provincias atrocius devastans, omnes Ecclesias, omnia Monasteria ferro, & incen­dio delevit, adeò ut nullum pene Christianitatis signum post se discedens reliquerit. Monachi qui lo­ci reverentia confidentes remanserunt de Ecclesià extracti, alii in mare sub hostibus submersi, alii Cap­tivi abducti, alii detruncati, alii aliis tormentis mi­serabiliter affecti, omnes simul interiêrunt. Et indè prosiliens slammà et ferro, in exterminium omnia duxit, &c.’ After which sad successive devastations for sundry years by the Danes, they were so totally depopulated, and extirpated by Famine, Sword, and Pe­stilence by the Normans, An. 1069. that the whole Country was reduced into a desolate Wilderness, without an inhabitant, and lay untilled for nine years space; besti­arum tan [...]um & latronum latibula; being only Dens of Beasts and Theeves. And how many times it hath been wasted, de populated with fire and sword since this, by the Scots, and what barbarous cruelties they have exercised therein, you may read in the Continu­ation of Simeon Dunelmensis by the Prior of Hagustald, col. 264. in Historia Ricardi Prioris Hagustaldensis de Gestis Regis Stephani & bello Standardi, col. 315, 316. and other Chronicles since that time. The Lord in Mercy divert the like judgements from that Northern part, and the whole kingdom now, for the like trans­gressions of a later date.

In the year of Christ 787. Anno 787. (as most account) Hen. Huntindon Hist [...] [...]. 4. p. 343. [...] Matthew Westminster An. 789. p. 281. Antiqu. Eccles. Brit. p. 26. Cent. M [...]deburg. Cent. 8. c. 9. Hoveden Annal. pars prior, p. 410. Florentius VVigorn [...]sis, An. 785. Spelmanni Concil. p. 292, to 395. Malmesbury de gestis regum [...] [...] c. 4. & de gestis Pontif. l. 1. p. 198, 199. Matthew Parker, and Godwin in life of Iambert. Chre [...]ica VVil. Thorne, col. 1774. Gervasius Dorobern. Actus P [...] ­tif. Cant. col. 1641. Radulphus de Diceto Abbrevi. Chron. col. 445. Polychron. l. [...]. c. 17. Pope Adrian sent Legates into England, Proposit. 5.6. to confirm the faith which Augustine had preached: who being honoura­bly [Page 26] received both by the Kings, Clergy, and People: thereupon held a great Parliamentary Council at Cal­chut, Chalchuthe, or Cealtide (as Henry Huntindon stiles it.) In this Council Offa king of Mercians, and Ke­nulphus king of West-Saxons [...] with all their [...]cclesiasti­cal a [...]d secula [...] Princes, Nobles, Elders, Bishops, Abbots [...] Proposit. 5, 6. were pr [...]sent; who all subscri [...]e [...] and con­sented to the Ecclesiaestical and Temporal Laws and Canons therein made and published, being 20 in Number; The principle whereof rela [...]ing to my Theam, I have for­merly recited. In this Parliamentary Council King Offa caused Egfrid his eldest son, to be solemnly crowned King, who from thenceforth reigned with him, And in it Iambertus (or Lambert) Archbishop of Canterbury, much against his will, resigned part of his Arch-Bishoprick to the Arch-bishop of Litchfield, by the command and power of King Offa; who envying the [...]ower and Pride of the Archbishop of Canterb. deprived him in this Council (notwithstanding all Iamberts appeals to Pope Adrian) of all Lands and Iurisdiction within his Realm of Mercia, erecting a new Arch-bishoprick at Litch­field, to which he subjected all the Bishops of Mercia, (being then six in number) [...]ill by another Council they were reunited to Canterbury, after the decease of Offa.

Anno 788. Hen Hun­tindon, Hist. l. 4. p. 349. Hoveden An­nalium, pars prior, p. 409.410. Florenti­us VVigorni­ensis, Anno 781, 787, 788, 789. Spelman. Concil. p. 303, 304. Simeon Dunelm. Hist. 110. Mat VVestm. Anno 789, 791. Richardus Prior. Ha­g [...]stald. de Stat. & Episc. Hagust. Eccl. l. 1. c. 17. col. 297. About the year 788. (there being some diffe­rence amongst Historians in the year) there was a great Council held at Ade, and after that ano [...]her Council kept at Wincenhale or Pincanhale in Northumberland, now called Finkely. Sir Henry Spelman conceives, that these Councils were principally summoned to prevent the incursions of the Danes, who in the year 787 [...] came in [...]o Britain with 3 ships; to discover the Coasts and prey upon it, slew King Bricticus his Provost, and after that many thousand thousands of the English at sundry [Page 27] times. Proposit. 6, 9. After this there was another Parliamentary Council or Synod held at Aclea, or Aclith [...]; at which time Duke Sigga by wicked Treason slew his Sovereign Alfwold, king of Northumberland, and was, not long afterwards, slain himself by the Danes, (who miserably wasted and destroyed that rebellious kingdom of Nor­thumberland with fire and sword) as a condigu pu [...]ish­ment for their treasons, Rebellions and Regicides of their Kings.

Matthew VVest. p. 282. Mamesbury de gest. reg. l. 1. c. 3. Huntind. Hist. l. 4. p. 343, 344. Hoveden An­nal. pars prior, p. 410. Flo­rent. VVigorn. An. 792. E­thelredi Hist. l. 3. Anno 792. Anno 792. there was a Council held at a place called Fincale, where the Archbishop with his Suffragan Bishops, and many others were present: What the occasion of it was, appears not: only our Histori­ans relate, That Osred king of Northumberland, was this year chased out of his Kingdom by his rebellious sub­jects, when he had reigned but one year, and Ethelred, son of Mollo substituted King in his place. Whereupon Osred gathering forces together to expel Ethelred, which had expulsed him out of his Realm, was in his march into it again taken prisoner and slain by this Usurper at Tymmouth. Upon occasion of which Insurrections and Wars, I conceive this Council was most probably sum­moned. Soon after this usurping Regicide Ethelred, was slain himself, even by those seditious Subjects who expelled and slew Osred, Proposit. 5, 9. to advance him to the Throne. The common fate of bloody Usurpers, espe­cially in this kingdom of Northumberland, as our Hi­storians observe.

Matthew VVestm. An. 794. p. 287, 288, 289. Spel. Conc [...]l. p. 300. to 316. Chron. Ioh. Bromt. col. 754, to 757. Polychron. l. 5. c. 17. King Offa, in the year 793. Anno 793. called a Provincial Parliamentary Council, Proposit. 5.10. where Archbishop Humbert, and his Suffragans, with all the Primates and No­bles were present; wherein he treated with them a­bout founding the Monastery of St. Albane, the first Martyr, in the place where his Corps was found: en­dowing it with lands and Privileges. Placuit omnibus Regis propositum. Whereupon they concluded, the King should go to Rome in person, and procure from the [Page 28] Pope the Canonization of St. Albane, and a Confirmation of Privileges to the Abbey he intended to build. He re­pairing to Rome accordingly, the Pope commending his Devotion, gave him his full a [...]ent, both to found a Monastery, and endow it with all such Privileges as he desired: enjoyning him, that returning to his Coun­try, ex Consilio Episcoporum, & Optimatum suorum, Proposit. 6, 10.by advice of his Bi [...]hops and [...] to the Monastery of St. Albane, what Possessions or Privileges he would: which he [...] grant or con­firm to it by his special Charter first, and afterwards he would confirm his original with his Privilege and Bull. The king hereupon receiving the Popes Benediction, returned home, and held two great Councils for the set­liug of the Lands, Privileges and Liberties of St. Albanes: The one at Cel [...]yth, where were present, 9 Kings, 15 Bishops, and 20 Dukes (as Iohn Stow relates in his Chro­nicle) who all subscribed and ratified his Charter of Lands and Privileges granted to St. Albane. The o­ther Council was held at Verolam, which Matthew Westminster thus expresseth. Congregato apud Verola­mium Episcoporum & Optimatum Concilio, unanimi omni­um consensu & voluntate, beato, Albano Amplas contu­lit terras, & possessiones innumeras, Quas multiplici Li­bertatum privilegio insignivit. Monachorum vero con­ventum ex Domibus bene Religiosis ad Tumbam Martyris congregavit, & Abbatem eis Nomine Willegodum prae­fecit, cui cum ipso Monasterio, Iura R [...]galia concessit. This king then reigning over 20 Shires, at the same time (by the unanimous assent of the Bishops and No­bles) See Radol. de Diceto Ab­brev. Chron. col. 446, & Spelm. Concil. p. 310. to 314. gave out of all those Counties to the English School at Rome, Peter-Pence, in English called Romes­cot. Yet he privileged the Church of St. Albane with so great Liberty, that this Church alone should be quit of the Apostolical Custom and Tribute called Romescot, when as neither the King nor Archbishop, nor any Bishop, Abbot, Proposit. 1.6. or Prior, or any other in the Realm was exempted [Page 29] frow this payment. And likewise granted, that the Church of St. Albane should faithfully collect the said Romescot, from all the County of Her [...]ford, wherein the said Church is situated, and receive the money col­lected to that Churches own use. And that the Ab­bot thereof, or a Monk constituted his Archdeacon under him, should exercise Episcopal Authority over all the Priests & Laymen within the possessions belonging to the Abbey, and that he should make subjection to no Archbishop, Bishop, or Legate, but only to the Pope himself. So as that Church hath omnia jura Regalia; and the Abbot thereof for the time being, Pontificalia ornamenta. And that by the great Charter of this king then made, with the una­nimous consent of all his Bishops and Nobles in this great Council. What Lands he gave to the Monastery of St. Augustines and Christ-church in Canterbury, and the Archbishops there, you may read at large in the Chronicles of William Thorne, col. 1775. and Evidentiae Ecclesiae Christi Cantuariensis, col. 2203, 2219.

Mat. West. Anno 797, p. 290, 291. Alcuini Epist. Osbert. Speeds History p. 371. Chron. Iohan-Brom. col. 752, 754, 776. King Offa deceasing An. 797. his Son Egfrid, Anno 797. so soon as he was settled in his Fathers kingdom, imita­ting the pious footsteps of his Father, devoutly confer­red many Lands and possessions on the Church of St. Albanes, and confirmed them by his Charter an [...] Pri­vilege; with all those other Lands, Privileges and Royal Liberties which his Father had conferred on the said Church, to enjoy them in the freest manner. Of ejus Do­natio, ut perpetuae firmitatis Robur obtineret, jux­ta morem Romanae Ecclesiae, omnium Episcoporum Comitum et Baronum totius imperii sui (assembled in a general Council of [...]he Realm) Subscriptionem, Proposit. 10. & signum crucis apposuit, Causing all his B [...]shops, Earls, and Barons of his whole Realm to subscribe and ratifie his Charter and Donation with the sign of the Cross, after the manner of the Roman Church, That it might be of perpetual force and validity. Moreover declining his Fathers covetousness in all things, whatever he for [Page 30] the exaltation of his Kingdom, had diminished out of the possessions of divers Monasteries, he, out of a pious devo­tion, restored and confirmed with his Privilege (or Char­ter) to all who desired it.

This pious King Egfrid, (as our Historians observe) and let others note it who gain their Kingdoms, Pow­ers, Possessions by Bloodshed and Treason ( was taken away by sudden death on the 141 day after his Fathers de­cease (which gave great cause of grief to all the people of his Realm) not for his own sins, which is not to be sup­posed; but because his Father (pro Regni sui confir­ma [...]ione sanguine [...] [...] effudit) for the confirma­tion of his Ringdom shed much blood. For he See Mat. VVestm. Mal­mesbury, Hun­tindon, Hoved. Radulph. Ca­s [...]ensis, Ethel­werdus, VVi­gorn. Speed, Graston, Ho­linshed, Fab [...] in his li [...]e. Ch. Io. Brom. col. 750.751, 752. Ra­dulph. de Dice­to Abbreviat. Chron. col. 445, 446. Polichron. col. l. 5. c. 16, 17. came to the Cro [...]n by the sla [...]ghter of King Bernred, fore­mentioned; deposed and slain by him for his usurpati­on, Tyranny, and Mis-government, then he invaded and slew with his own hand Alrick King of Kent, routed his forces, and reduced that kingdom under his own: After this, marching from South to North, even be­yond Humber, he made Havock of all that stood in his way: Whence returning in Triumph, he set upon the West-Saxons, and vanquished them, forced their king Kenwolf to fly into Wales to the Britons for aid; then en [...]red into Wales, routed their King Mar­modius, for breaking his Truce; made a great slaughter of the Britons & after ten years prosperous wars to conquer others, returned victoriously into his own territories. After his return thither, to compleat his bloody Tragedies, E­thelbert King of East-Angles coming upon solemn invi­tation to his Court in great state, to marry his Daugh­ter, was there treacherously murdered by his Wife Quen­dreda's solicitation and practice, with his privity and con­sent, who caused a deep pit to be digged in his Bed-cham­ber, under his Chair of State, or Bed, into which he fal­ling was there treacherously murdered, and his head [...]ut off by Gaymbertus, who presented it all bloody to King Offa; who (to colour the business) seeming to be sor­rowfull [Page 31] [...]or this murder, shut himself up in his Chamber, and there fasted 8 days space, but then, sending a great Ar­my into the Kingdom of this murtherea Prince, seised on & united it to his own Empire. But Gods exemplary venge­ance pursued this hainous bloody Treachery (not­withstanding all his seigned magnified Saintship, and works of Charity and Piety) for, within one year after this bloody fact committed, both Queendreda, Offa, and their Son Egfrid (the only joy and pride of his Pa­rents) all died, and his very kingdom it self was translated from the Mercians to the West-Saxons, whom he had con­quered and oppressed, O that all men of blood, and un­just invaders of others Crowns, Realms, Possessions by war, bloodshed and Treachery, would seriously consider this President, with all others of this nature both at home and abroad, collected to their hands by Sir Walter Raughly, in his excellent Preface, before his famous History of the World.

About the year of Christ 797. An. 797. Bonif. Mo­gunt. Ep. 112. Mr. Seldens Titles of Ho­nour, part 2. c. 5. p. 632. Cynwolfe (or Ke­nulph) King of West-Saxons held a Council, wherein he with his Bishops, una cum caterva Satraparum, and likewise with a great company of his Nobles, there as­sembled, writ a Letter to Lullus Bishop of Mentz touching some matters of Religion then in Deb [...]e. Proposit. 5, 6.

In the Tho. Stubs, Actus Pontif. Ebo. col. 1697.1698. Simeon Dumelm. Hist. [...]ol. 114, 115. Rog. de Hove­den, Annal. pars prior. p. 406. year 798. Anno. 798. (the third of King Kenulph his reign) there was a great Parliamentary Synod assem­at Pinchamhalch, wherein Eanbaldus, or Embaldus, Archbishop of York sate President, with very many wise and great Men; by whose Wisdom and Iustice the King­dom of Northumberland was then much advanced and re­nowned: Who after they had debated many things con­cerning the benefit of holy Church, and profit of all the Pro­vinces of the People of Northumberland; the observation of Easter, and of Divine and secular Laws, the increase of Gode service, Proposit. 5, 6, and the honours and necessities of the ser­vants of God, rehearsed and ratified the faith o [...] the 5 first General Councils, concerning the Trinity, in brief and pi­thy [Page 32] expressions, sit now to be revived in these times of Heresie and Blasphemy.

The Evidenti [...] Eccl. Christi Cantuar. col. 2211, 2212. Sp [...]lm. Concil. p. 317. Mat. VVest. Anno 798. same year, there was another Great Council held at [...]acanc [...]ld, wherein Kenulph King of Mercians sate President, Athelardus Archbishop of Canterbury, 17 other Bishops, sundry Abbots, Arch-deacons, and other fit persons being there likewise presen [...]; Wherein, by the command of Pop [...] Leo, it was decreed; That from thence­forth no Laymen should exercise Dominion over the Lords Inheritance and Churches; but that they should be govern­ed by Holy Canons, and the Rules of their first founders and possessors, under pain of Excommunication: and that Christ-church in Canterbury, Propos. 5, 8, 9.10. should be restored to its an­tient Metropolitan Iurisdiction. Which all the Prelates and Abbots confirmed with their Subscriptions. And this year this King consecrated the Church of Winchel­cumbe, endowing it with great gifts and possessions, in a kind of Parliamentary Assembly of 13 Bishops, and 10 Dukes, where he manumitted and set free at the high Altar, Edbert King of Kent, surnamed Pren, whom he had taken prisoner in Battel. Moreover Eanbaldus Archbishop of York, this year assembled a Synod at Fin­chale; most likely for the assistance of Eardulfus King of Northumberland against Duke Wadus, and other Con­spirators, who rose up against him, whom he vanquished and utterly routed, after a long and bloody battle at Bilin­geho, where many were slain on both sides; which Hi­story Matthew Westminster couples with this Synod, An. 798.

An. 799. Evid. Ec­cles. Christi Cant. col. 2212. King Kenulph in the year 799. By the con­sent of his Bishops and Pri [...]ces, at the request of A­thelardus Archbi [...]hop of Canterbury, restored to Christ-Church in Canterbury, four parcels of Land which king Offa had formerly taken from it, Proposit. 4, 10. and gave to his Ser­vants, free from all secular service and Regal Tribute: ra­tifying this restitution by his Charter, signed with the Cross, that it might remain inviolable by their concurrent as­sent.

[Page 33]There was a Provi [...]cia [...] Council held at Cloves [...]o (or An. 800. Clyffe) In the year of our Lord 800. by Kenulf king of Mercians, Spelmanni Concil. p. 318, 319, 320. E­vident. Eccl. Christi Cant. col. 2212, 2213 Gervasius Do­rob [...]rn. Actus Pontif. Cantu [...] col. 1642. and Godwin in the life o [...] At [...]elar­dus. Athelwerdus Archbishop of Canterbury, and all the Bishops, Dukes, Abbots & [...]juscunque dignita­tis vi [...]os, and men of all sorts of [...]ignity; where after some inquity, how the Catholique Faith was kept, and Christian Religion practiced amongst them? The Lands which king Of [...]a and [...]ing Kenulph had forcibly taken away from Christ-Church, with the Nunnery of Cotham, and the Hides of Land called Burnam, were Synodali Iudicio, by the Iudg [...]me [...]t of the Council, resto­red to Christ-Church. Et omnium voce Decretum est, and, It was decreed by the voice of all the Council, upon sight of the Books and Deeds there produced before them by the Archbishop, that it was just Cotham should be resto­red to Christ-Church (being given to it by King Aethel­bald, Propos. 4, 5, 6 [...] by his Charter) of which it had, for a long time unjustly been spoiled, notwithstanding the frequent com­plaints made by Archbishop Bregwin and Iambert in every of their Synods. In hoc Concilio annuente ipso Rege, Athe­lardus recuperavit dignitates & possessio [...]es quas Offa R [...]x Merciorum abstulerat Iamberto: writes Gervasius. Af­ter which the Archbishop in this Council made this Ex­change with Cynedritha, then Abbess of Cotham; that she and her successors should enjoy all the Lands, and Nunnery of Cotham, in lieu whereof she should give to him one hundred and ten Hydes of Land in Kent, lying in Fleot, Tenaham, and Creges, together with all the writings thereto belonging, which exchange was made before, confirmed and attested by this Noble Synod; that so no Controversie might arise betwe [...]n them, their Heirs and Successors, or King Offa 's, in future times con­cerning the same, but that they might peaceably in [...]oy them without interruption, for ever. And moreover the Archbi­shop gave unto Cynedrytha the Monastery called Preta­nege, which king Egf [...]id gave to him & his heirs. Which proves the Great Councils and Synods in that age to be [Page 34] Parliaments; and that they judicially restored Lands u [...]jus [...]ly taken away by Kings, upon complaint, exami­ [...]a [...]ion an [...] due proof made ther [...]of, as well as inqui­red o [...] errors and abuses in Religion,

In [...]his Council [...] conceive i [...] was, that [...]. Malmsbury de gest. Reg. l. [...]. c. 4. Sp [...]l. Conc. p. 320. to 324. Antiq. Eccles. Brit. p. 27, 28, 29, 30. Mat. West. An. 797. Kenulph, with his Bishops, Dukes, et omni sub nostra Ditione Dignatis gradu, comp [...]ed and [...] Letter to Pope Leo the third; promising obedience to his commands; re [...]uesting [...] that the ancien [...] Canons might be observed, and the Iurisdiction and Power of the See of Canterbury ( which King Of [...]a and Pope Adrian had diminished and divided [...]to two Provinces or Archbish [...]pricks) might be restored and united again thereto, to avoid Scisms: and craving the Popes answer to these their request: which he re­turned in a special Letter to the King, restoring to Athe­lardus and his successors the Bishopricks substracted from his Province, with the Metropolitan Iurisdiction over them, as amply as before.

An. 802. Spelman. Concil. p. 324, 325, 326. See Mat. Westm. An. 797, to 805. Hereupon, in the year 802. or thereabouts, there was another Parliamentary Council assembled at Clove­sho; wherein the Archbishoprick of Litchfield was dis­solv [...]d, the See of Canterbury restored to its former ple­nary Metropolitical Iurisdiction (according to Pope Leo his Decree) By the advice and Decree of the whole Coun­cil: which commanded in the name of God; That no Kings, nor Bishops, Proposit. 5, 6. nor Princes, neque ullius Tyrannicae pote­statis Homines, should diminish the honour of the Me­tropolitical See, or presume to divide it in any particle what­soever, under pain of an Anathema Maranatha; which Decree the Archbishop, with 12 other Bishops, subscri­bed and ratified with the sign of the Cross (as they formerly did in the Council of Bechanceld, An. 798.) And in this Council divers controversies concerning the Lands, Limits and Iurisdictions of other Bishops & Bishopricks were likewise decided and setled; as you may therein read at large.

[Page 35] Matthew West. An. 802, 854. Asserius Mene. de gest. Alfredi Regis, Wil. Malmesb. de Gestis Reg. l. 2. c. 3. p. 46. Florentius Wi­gorn. An. 855. Polychron. l. 5. c. 27. Speeds Hist. p. 230. Mr. Seldens Titles o [...] Ho­nour, part 1. c. 6. p. 166. Sim [...] Dun [...]lm. Hist. de Gest. Reg. Angl. col. 118. Fox Ac [...]s and Monuments, vol. 1. p. 170, 171. Eadburga Daughter to King Offa married Brith­rie King of the West-Saxons: Anno 802. proud of her parentage and ma [...]ch, she grew so ambitious, [...]sole [...]t, and Tyrannical that she becam [...] od [...]ous, not only to all the Prelates, No­bles, and Courtiers, but to the people l [...]kewise. For be­ing incited with malice and tyranny, she usually accused and execrated to the King all the Nobles of the Realm, Or­dinaries, Bishops, and Religious persons, and so overcame him by her flatteries, that those whom she began to accuse, aut vit [...] aut Regno privaret, she would either deprive of Life, or banish them the Realm; and if she [...]ould not ob­tain this from the King against them, she accustomed to destroy them priv [...]ly wit [...] poison. At last, An. 802. She preparing poi [...]on, to destroy a rich and noble Favourite of the Kings, whom he extraordinarily lov'd; so as she could not banish or destroy him by her false accusati­o [...]s; the King casually drinking of [...]he Poison (contra­ry to her intention) as well as his Favourite, they were both therewith suddenly poisoned and d [...]stroyed. Where­with this wicked woman being tetrified, sled with all her invaluable Treasures b [...]yond the Seas to Charles the Great: who for her Lasciviousness, in making choice of his Son for her Husband before himself, (though much inamoured with her transcendent beauty) thrust her into a Monastery, Proposit. 2, 4. where soon after, she abusing her bo­dy by uncleaness, in lying with a lewd man, was expelled thence, forced to beg her bread, and ended her days in ex­treme misery. A just judgement of God, both upon a Tyrannical Queen, and unrighteous King, seduced to banish and condemn his Nobles and Subjects unjustly by her solicitations. For this her most hainous crime the West-Saxons ordained a Law, to the Grand preju­dice o [...] all thei [...] succeeding Queens: That none of them should have ei [...]r Title, Majesty, or place of Royalty or Queen: ‘No [...] [...] West-Saxones Reginam, vel juxta Regem [...] [...]ginae appellatione insigniri pati­untur, [...] Eadburg [...]e, quae virum [Page 36] s [...]um Brithicum v [...]neno perdidit, & juxta Regem [...]e­dens, omnes Regni Nobiles accusare solebat, & quos accusare non po [...]uit, potu eos venenifero necare consu­e [...]it. Itaque pro Reginae maleficio omnes conjurave­runt, quod nunquam se regnare permitterent, qui in praedictis culpabilis inveniretur:’ as William o [...] Mal­m [...]sbury, Asserius Menevensis, Matthew Westminster, Florentius Wigorniensis, and others out of them re­l [...]te,

Spelman. Concil. p. 327, 328, 329. There was a Parliamentary Synod, or Council, held at Celiohi [...]h, in the year 816. Anno 816 [...] at which, not only Wulfred Archbishop of Canterbury, with all his Suffra­gan Bishops, but likewise Kenulf king of Mercians, with his Princes, Dukes, and Nobles, and sundry Abbots, Pri [...]sts, Proposit. 4, 5, 6. Deacons, and other sacred Orders were present, wherein they enacted 11 Constitutions, the 6th. where­of was this in substance. That the Iudgements and De­crees of Bishops made in Synods should not be infringed, but remain firm and irrefragable, being ratified with the sign of the holy Cross (by the Kings and Nobles Subscriptions) un­less perchance the King or Princes deemed the subscriptions of their Antecessors of no force, and feared not to re [...]rm, or cease from this error, which shall rest and bring a Curse on them and their heirs. The 7th. That no Bishops, Ab­bots or Abbesses shall alienate or part with the Lands, wri­tings and evidences of their Churches and Monasteries, w [...]i [...]h they are intrusted to keep, nisi rationabilis cau­sa poposcit adjuvari, contra invasionem famis, & De­praedationem Exercitus, & ad Libertatem obtinendam: which causes they reputed reasonable.

Anno 822.In [...]he year of our Lord 822. there was a Parliamen­tary Council assembled at Clovesho, Evident. Eccles. Christi Cont. col. 2213, 2214. Spelm. Concil. p. 332, 333, 334. Flo­rentius Wigorn. Anno 822. p. 287. Ethelwerdi Hist. l. 9. c. 2. wherein Beornulph King of Mercians sate President, at which Wu [...]fred Arch­bishop of Canterbury, with the rest of the Bishops, Ab­bots, omniumque dignitatum Optimatibus, Ecclesi­asticarum scilicet & saecularium personarum, were pre­sent, [Page 37] debating things both coneerning the benefit and re­gulation of the Church, and defence and safety of the Realm (the proper subjects of our present English Par­liaments) a [...] these words import, ‘Utilitatem & ne­cessitatem Ecclesiarum, Monasterialisque vitae Regu­lam et observantiam, stabilitatem quoque Regni pertractante [...].’ In this Parliamentary Council, the Proceedings in 3 precedent Councils, Proposit. 5, 6 [...] touching the Com­plain [...]s of the Archbishops of Canterbury, of the Injuries done unto them, in taking away the Lands of the Church by their Kings and Officers, with the proceedings thereupon are at large recited, which I shall here transcribe, be­cause generally unknown to most, and best di [...]cove­ring the proceedings of our antient Parliamentary Councils in Cases of this nature; of any Council I have met with in that Age, and those which next pro­ceeded, or succeeded it.

To all which things the Arch­bishop gave his consent, upon this Condition, that the names of the afore said Lands should be rased quite out of the An­cient Privileges which belong to Wincelcumbe, lest in after times some controversie should be raised, De hoc quod Sy­nodall authoritate decretum est, et signo crucis firma­tum: concerning this which was ended by authority of the Council, and confirmed with the sign of the C [...]oss. By this, and the precedent Councils of Clove­sho, it is apdarent; first, That the Injustice, Rapine, and oppression of our Saxon Kings themselves, was then examined and redressed in and by our Parliamen­tary Councils: 2ly. That Tittles to Lands, Jurisdicti­ons, Privileges unjustly taken from the Church and o­ther men, by our kings, or other great persons and [Page 41] complaints touching the same, were usually heard, determined and redressed in the great Parliamentary Councils of that Age, upon complaints made thereof, and that to and before the whole Council, not to any pri­vate Committees, not then in use. 3ly. That restitution, reparations and damages in such Cases, were usually awarded in such Parliamentary Councils, not only a­gainst the Kings & Parties that did the wrong, Nota. but like­wise against their heirs; as here against Abbess Cenedritha, Daugher and heir to king Kenulph, After the decease of her father the Tort Feasor. 4ly. That the same cause and complaint was revived, continued, ended in suc­ceeding, that rested undecided, and unrecompensed in former Councils. 5ly. That Agreements, Exchan­ges, and Judgements given upon Complaints in Parli­amentary Councils, were conclusive and final to the Parties and their Heirs. 6ly. That Injuries done by the power of our Kings or great Men in one Parlia­mentary Council (as in dividing the Archbishoprick of Canterbury, &c.) were examined & redressed by ano­ther subsequent Council. 7ly. That Parliamentary Councils in that Age, were very frequently held, at least once or twice a year (if not interrupted by wars) and that usually at Clovesho, according to the Actus Pon­tif. Cantu. col. 1639. Spelm. Concil. p. 334. De­cree of the Council of Heartford under Archbishop The­odor, That the Bishops once a year should assemble together in a Council at Clovesho; as Gervasius Doroberniensis records; there being 4 Councils there, and elsewhere, held in King Beornulfs 4 years reign.

I find Anno. 824. Spelm. Concil. p. 334, 335. another Council held at Clovesho, in the year 824 the 3. of the Calends of November, under Be­ornulf King of Mercians and Wulfred Archbishop of Can­terbury, where this King, which all his Bishops and Ab­bots, and all the Princes, Proposit. 5, 6. Nobles, and many most wise men were assembled together. Amongst other businesses debated therein, there was a sute between Heabere Bishop of Worcester, and the Nuns of Berclea concerning the inheritance of Aethelfrick Son of Aethelmund, [Page 42] to wit the Monasterie called West-Burgh, the Lands whereof, with the Books, the Bishop then had, as Ae­thelfrick had before commanded, that they should be restored to the Church of Worcester. This Bishop, with 50 Mass Priests, and 160 other Priests, Deacons, Monks and Abbots (whose names are recorded in the Manuscript) swore, that this Land and Monastery were impropriated to his possession and Church; which Oath with all these fellow swearers, he was ordered to take at Westminster, and did it accordingly, after 30 nights re­spite. Whereupon, It was ordained and decreed by the Archbishop, & all the Council consenting with him; that the Bishop should enjoy the Monastery, Lands, and Books to him and his Church; and so that sute was en­ded, and this Decree pronounced thereupon.

Then follows the Archbishops Subscription and con­firmation in like words; with the subscriptions of sun­dry Bishops, Abbots, D [...]kes and Nobles, being 32 in number, all ratifying this D [...]cree.

An. Dom. [...]33. An. 833. Ingulphi Hist. p. 855, 857. See Mat. Westm. Anno 833, 834, 835. Spelm. Concil. p. 337, 338, 339. Egbert, King of West-Saxons, Athel­wulfe his Son, Witlasius king of Mercians, both the Archbishops, Abbots, cum Proceribus majoribus toti­us Angliae, with the greatest Nobles of all England, were all assembled together at London (in a National [Page 43] Parliamentary Council) pro consilio c [...]piendo contra Proposit. 5, 9, 10. Danicos Pir [...]tas Littora Angliae assidne infestantes: to take Counsel what to do against the Danish Pirates, dayly infesting the Sea-Coasts of England.

In this Council the Charter of Witlasius king of Mer­cians, to the Abbey of Croyland (where he was hid and secured from his enemies) was made and ratified; where­in he granted them many rich gi [...]ts of Plate, Gold, Sil­ver, Land, and the Privilege of a Sanctuary, for all offenders flying to it for shelter; which grant could not be valid without a Parliamentary confirmation; for he being elected Ki [...]g, omnium consensu, after the slaughters of Bernulf and Ludican (two invading Ty­rants cut off in a short time; qui contra fa [...] purpuram in­duerent, & regno vehementet oppresso, totam militi­am ejus, quae quondam plurima extiterat, & victorio­sissima, sua imprudentia perdiderant, as Ingulphus writes) was enforced to hold his kingdom from Eg­bert king of West-Saxons under a Tribute. And there­upon conferring divers Lands by his Charter to this Ab­bey for ever, to be held of him, his heirs and Successors, Kings of Mercia, in perpetual and pure Frankalmoigne, quietae & solutae ab omnibus oneribus secularibus, ex­actionibus, & vectigalibus universis quocunque nomi­ne censeantur. That his grant might be sound and valid, he was necessitated to have it con [...]irmed in [...]is Parlia­mentary Council, by the consent of King Egbert and his Son, and of all the Bishops, Abbots [...] et Proceribus Ma­joribus Angliae, and the greater Nobles of England the [...]e present; most of them subscribing and ratifying this Char­ter with the sign of the Cross, and their names.

About the year of Grace 838. Anno. 838. there was a Parliamen­tary Counc [...] held at Evident. Eccl. Christi Cantuar. col. 2217, 2218. Spelm. Concil. p. [...]40. Kingston, in which Egbert king of the West-Sa [...]ons, and his Son Aethelwulfe, Ceolnoth Archbishop of Canterbury, with the rest of the Bishops and Nobles of England were present. Amongst many things there acted and spoken, Archbishop Ceolnoth sh [...]wed be­fore [Page 44] the whole Council, That the foresaid Kings Egbert and Ae [...]helwulfe had given to Christchurch the Mannor called Malinges in Su [...]ex, free from all secular service and Regal Tributes, Proposit. 5, 6, 10. excepting only these three, Ex­pedi [...]ion, building of Bridge and Castle: which foresaid Mannor and Lands King Baldred g [...]ve to Christchurch; Sed quia ille Rex cunctis Principibus non placuit, no­luerunt donum ejus permanere ratum; But because this King pleased not all his Nobles, they would not that this his gift should continue firm: (To which Sir Henry Spelman adds this Marginal Note, Rex non potuit distrahere pa­trimonium Regni, sine assensu Procerum) Wherefore the foresaid Kings (in this Parliamentary Council, with [...]heir Nobles assent) at the request of the said Archbishop, regranted and confirmed it to Christchurch; with this A­nathema annexed against the infringers of this grant, If any shall presume to violate it, on the behalf of God, and of us Kings, Bishops, Abbots, and all Christians, let him be separated from God, and let his portion be with the Devil and his Angols.

Anno [...]47. Hist. Angl. l. 5. Spelman. Concil. p. 343. Polydor Virgil, records, that King Athelwulfe, in the year 847. going in pilgrimage to Rome, repaired the English School (there lately burned down) and in i­mitation of King Ina, made that part of his Kingdom which Egbert his Father had added, Tributary towards it; Legeque sancivit, Proposit. 1. and enacted by a Law (made in a Parliamentary Council) that those who received 30 pence rent every year out of their possessions, or had more houses, should pay for those houses they inhabited, every of them a penn [...] a peece to the Pop [...] (for the maintenance of this School) at the Feast of Peter and Paul, or at least of St. Peters bonds; which Law some (writes he) though false­ly, ascribr to his Son Alfred; which act others refer to the years 855, or 857, and that more truly.

Anno 850. Ingulf. Hist. p. 858, [...]59. Spelm. Concil. p. 344. Mat. Westm. An. 849, 85 [...]. Abbot Ingulphus in his Hist. of the Abby of Croyland, records; that Bertulf usurping the Crown, by the trea­cherous [Page 45] murder of his Cosen St. Westan (tantâ ferebatur ad regnandum ambitione) passing by the Abbey of [...]roy­land, most wickedly and violently took away all the Iew­els, Plate and ornaments of the Church, Prop. 2, 4, 5, 9.10. which his B [...]other Withlasius and other Kings had given to it; together with all [...]he mony he could find in the Monastery; and hiring Souldiers therewith against the Danes, then wasting the Country about London, he was vanquished and put to flight by the Pagans; Whereupon this King soon after, holding a great Council at Benningdon, An. 850. with the Pre­lates and Nobles of his whole Realm of Mercia there as­sembled (about the Danes invasions, how to rai [...]e for­ces and monies to resist them, as is most probable by our Historians.) Abbot Siward, and the Monks of Croy­land therein complained before them all, by Askillus their fellow Monk, of certain injuries malitiously do [...]e unto them by their Adversaries, who lying in wa [...]t in the utter­most banks of their Rivers, did seise upon their servants (being such as fled thither for Sanctuary) in case at any time they went out of their precincts never so little way (ei­ther to fish, or bring back their stragling Sheep, Oxen, or other Cattle) as infringers of their Sanctuary, and subject­ed them to the publick Laws, to their cond [...]mnation and de­struction; to the great dammage of the Abbey, by the loss of their service; Of which complaint, the King and all the Council being very sensible, and desirous to provide for the peace and quiet of the Abbey, and to declare and en­large their Privileges; The King thereupon comman­ded Radbott Sheriff of Lincoln, and the rest of his O [...]fi­cers in those parts, to go round about, describe and set forth the bounds of their Isle of Croyland, and of the Mari­shes thereunto belonging, and [...]aithfully and clearly to de­monstrate them to him and his Council, wh [...]rever they should be, the last day of Easter next ensuing; Who ful­filling his command, openly presented an exact description of their Boundaries to the King and his Council, (which bounds are recited at large in Ingulphus,) keeping their Easter at Kingsbury.

[Page 46] Anno 851.Anno 851. Whereupon the king in this Parliamen­tary Council at Kingsbury, Ingulphi Histor. p. 858. to 863. Spelm. Concil. p. 344, &c. in H [...]bdomada Paschae, pro Regni negotiis congregati; In Recompensationem tamen aliquam pecuniae direptae; to make some kind of Recompence of the Mony he had formerly taken from the Abbey, by the Common Council of his whole Realm, by his Charter made and ratified in this Council (wherein he makes this recital touching this money, as if they had freely lent it to him in his necessities; though the Hi­storian relates, Proposit. 1, 4. he took it away by fo [...]c [...]: ‘Gratias Debitas vobis omnibus dignissimè reddo pro pecuniâ quâ me per vos dudum praetere untem, in me à maximâ indigen­tiâ contra Paganorum violentiam gratissimo & libe­ralissimo animo defovistis) granted unto them,’ That the bou [...]ds of their Sanctuary and liberties should extend 20 foot in breadth beyond the farthest banks of their grounds compassing their Iland; And 20 foot from the water it self; where ever their fugitive servants should ascend, to draw their nets, or do their other necessary businesses; and that this Sanctuary for fugitives should extend to all the Marishes where they had Common for their Cattle; and that if their Cattel through tempest, theft, or other misfor [...]une, stray­ed beyond these limits into the fields adjoyning, their fugi­tive servants might pursue and fetch them back thence, without any seisure or danger; ‘sub multilatione membri magis dilecti, si quis istud privilegium meum in ali­quo temerè violaret.’ After which, he confirmed all the Lands and privileges formerly granted to this Abbey, by Kings, Earls, or other persons, particularly recited in this Charter; which was made & granted by the common consent, sent and advice of this whole Parl. Council, & of the Bishops and Nobles of the Realm, as these Clauses in the Char­ter abundantly attest. ‘Cum communi concilio toti­us Regni mei concedo. Nota. Consentientibus omnibus Praelatis & Proceribus meis concedo; cum communi Concilio, Prop. 5, 6, 10. gratuitoque consensu omnium Magnatum Regni mei co [...]cedo; complacuit unanimiter mihi, ac [Page 47] universo Concilio vestra omnia loca mei authoritate Regii Chirograpi confirmare. Unanimo con [...]ensu [...]o­tius presentis Concilii, hic apud Kingsbury, Anno in­carnationis Christi Dom. 855. feria sexta in hebdo­mada Paschae, pro Regni negotiis congregati, istud meum Regium Chirographum sanctae crucis signo sta­biliter & immutabiliter confirmavi.’ After which the Archbishop of Canterbury, with other Bishops, 3 Abbots, 2 Dukes, 3 Earls, with O [...]lat Ambassadour of King E­thelwulf and his Sons, in their Names, and the Name of the West-Saxons, subscribed and ratified this Charter, affixing the sign of the Cross, and their names thereto, as you may read at large in Ingulphus.

That this Parliamentary Council, and the former at Beningdon were principally summoned for the defence of the Realm against the invading Danes, who See Ingulf. p. 858, 862, 863, 864, 865, Mat. Westm. Florent. Wi­gorn. Ethel­we [...]dus, Ra­dulf. de Dice [...]n, Huntingdon, Hoveden. Brom. An. 851. then incessantly molested it; and that this was the chief of those Regni negotiis for which they were assembled, is evident by this publick prayer of the Kings, then sub­scribed under this Charter.

‘Ego Bertulphus Rex Merciorum palam omnibus Praelatis & Proceribus Regni mei, divinam deprecor Majestatem, quatenus per intercessionem sanctissimi Confessoris sui sancti Guthlaci, omniumque sancto­rum suorum, dimittat mihi, & omni populo meo, peccata nostra, Propesit. 9. & sicut per aperta miracula sua digna­tus est misericordiam suam; sic super Paganos hostes suos dare nobis dignetur omni certamine victoriam & post praesentis vitae fragilem cursum in consortio san­ctorum suorum gloriam sempiternam, Amen.’

After which Hist. p [...] 861, 862. Ingulphus subjoyns this Monkish miracle, relating the order of the proceedings in this Council, the sole end for which I cite it.

‘God wrought in this Council to the honour of his most holy Confessor Gut [...]lac, a most famous miracle, whereby the devotion of the whole Land, now more lukewarm than ordinary, to goe in pilgrimage to [Page 48] Croyland, might thenceforth become more frequent, and by all ways, through all Counti [...]s might day­ly be revived; for whereas a certain disease like to a Palsie, this year afflicted all England; the Nerves of Men, Women, and Children, being smitten with a sudden and excessive cold (their veins swelling and growing harder, the which no remedy of cloathes could prevent) and especially the Arms and hands of men being made useless, and altogether withred; in which disease, like a fore-running most certain Messenger thereof, an intollerable pain pre-occupa­ted the Member so growing ill. It hapned in this Council, that many, as well of the greater as lesser ranck, were sick of this Malady, & cum regni nego­tia proponerentur,’ and when as the busine [...]es of [...]he Realm were to be proposed, Lord Celnoth Archbishop of Cant [...]rbury, who was vexed with this disease, openly counselled; Nota. Divina negotia deberi primitus proponi, & sic humana negotia Christi suffragante gratia, finem prosperum posse [...]ortiri; Prop. 5, 6. Assentientibus universis, &c. That D [...]vine businesses ought first of all to be proposed, and so humane business, through the suffrage of Christs grace, might obtain a prosperous end. All assenting thereunto, when Lord Siward, then Abbot of Croyland was inquired for; because in Councils and Synods for his great eloquence and holy Religion, he had been, as it were, a divine inter­preter for many years, and the most gratious Expositor and Promotor of innumerable businesses of the whole Clergy; who by reason of his great old age, was not present; but by Frier Askillus, his fellow Monk, he excused his absence with a most humble Letter, by the burden of his long old age; King Bertulph himself remembring the former com­plaint of the Church of Croyland, open [...]y related before the Council, the Injuries frequently done to the Lord Abbot Siward, and to his Monastery of Croyland, by the foolish fury of their Adversaries; and commanded, that Remedy should be provided and Decreed by com­mon [Page 49] advice. When as therefore this business was in agi­tation amongst them, & Petitio Domini Siwardi, (the first Petition I meet with of this Nature to and in our Par [...]iamentary Councils) and the Petition of the Lord Abbot Siward concern [...]ng the same, delivered by the foresaid Frier Askillus, had run from hand to hand of the Prelates and Nobles of the whole Council, and one advised one thing, another another: Lord Ceolnoth Archbishop of Canterbury cried out with a loud voice, that he was healed of his disease, and perfectly recovered by the me­rits of the most holy Confessor of Christ, most bles­sed Guthlac, whose businesses were then handling in their hands: likewise many other most potent men in the said Council cryed out, as well Prelates as Nobles, that they had been sick of that disease, but now by Gods Grace, and the merits of most holy Guthlac, they felt no pain in a­ny of their Members, through the said malady: And all of them presently bound their Consciences with a most strict vow, to visit the most sacred Tomb of most holy Guthlac at Croyland with devout pilgrimage, so soon as they could. Wherefore our Lord King Bertulf, commanded the Bishop of London (who was then accounted the best Notary, and most eloquent speaker, who being more­over touched with the same disease, now predicated, with greatest joy, that he was healed) to t [...]ke the Privi­leges of Croyland into his hands, and that he should insist to honour his Physicitian S. Guthlac with his hand writing, prout consilium statueret, as the Council should ordain; which also was done; Therefore in the Subscriptions of the Kings Charter (afore-mentioned) the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ceolnoth, confesseth himself whole and sound: Propos. 6. St. Swithin Bishop of Winchester, rejoyceth con­cerning the Lords Miracles. Alstan Bishop of Sher­burn, and Orkenwald of Lichenfeld, give thanks for the successes of the Church; and Rethunus Bishop of Leice­ster, professeth himself a Servant to St. Guthlac so long as he lived: Uuniversique Concilii Optimates, And [Page 50] all the Nobles of the Council, with a most ardent affection, yeelded obedience to the Kings benevolent affection towards St. Guthlac In all things.

From all which precedent passages in these two Coun­cils, it is apparent.

First, That the Parliamentary Councils of that Age, consisted only of the King, spiritual and tempo­ral Lords and Peers, without any Knights of Shires, or Burgesses, of which we find no mention in this, or any other former or succeeding Councils, in the Sax­ons times; though sometimes Wise-men of inferior quality, both of the Clergie and Laity, were particu­larly summoned to them, without any popular electi­on, by the Kings special direction, for their advice.

2ly. That all Divine and Ecclesiastical matters, touching God, Religion, and the Church, and all af­fairs of the Realm of publique concernment, relating to war or peace, were debated, consulted of, & setled in Parliamentary Councils. 3ly. That the businesses of God and the Church, were therein usually first deba­ted and setled, before the affairs of the kingdom, of which they ought to have precedency. 4ly. That all private grievances, injuries and oppressions done by the King, his Officers, or other private persons, to the Church, or other men, were usually complained of, and redressed in Parliamentary Councils, by the ad­vice and judgement of the King and Peers; and that either upon the parties Petition, setting forth his grievances, or a relation made thereof by the King, or some other Prelate or Nobleman, before the whole Council. 5ly. That what could not be redressed in one great Council, was in the next succeeding Coun­cil revived and redressed, according to the merits of the cause. 6ly. That no Peer nor Member of the great Coun­cil might absent himself in those times, but upon just and lawfull excuse, which he ought humbly to signifie to the King and Council by a special Messenger, and [Page 51] Letter, as Abbot Siward did here. 7ly. That all Mem­bers of the Council had free liberty of Debate and Vote, in all businesses complained of, or proposed [...]o them; and a negative, as well as an affirmative voice. 8ly. That all businesses then were propounded and debated before all the Council, and resolved by them all, not in private Committees. 9ly. That our Kings in those days, in Cases of necessity, could not lawfully [...]eise their subjects monies and plate against their wills, to raise Soldiers to resist invading forein Enemies, but only borrow them by their free consents, and held them­selves bound to restore or recompence the monies lent or taken by them in such exigencies, with thankfull ac­knowledgment. 10. That our Kings in that age, could not grant away their Crown lands, create or inlarge San­ctuarie [...], or exempt any Abbies from Taxes and pub­lique payments, or impose any publique Taxes on their Subjects, but by Charters, or grants made and ra­tified in and by their great Councils.

Anno 854. An. 854. Mat West. An. 854, 878. Mr. Seldens Hist. of Tithe [...] ch. 8. p. 208, 209. Malms­bury de Gest. Reg. Angl. l. 2. c. 2. Flo­rentius Wigor­niensis Anno 855. Ingulphi Hist. p. 862. Polychronicon, l. 5. c. 30. H [...]n. Huntindon, Hist. l. 5. p. 348, Ethelwerdi Hist. l. 3. c. 3, p. 841, Roger Hoveden Annal. pars prior, p. 413. Chronicon Iohannis Bromton, col. 802. Ethelredus Abbas, de genealogiâ Regum Angliae, col. 351. Simeon Dunelm. de Gest. Reg. Angl. col. 121. Radul [...]us de Di­ceto Abbrev. Chron. col. 450. Speeds Hist. p. 377. Spelmanni Concil. p. 348. to 353. King Aethelulf gave the tenth part of his Realm to God and his Saints, free from all secular ser­vices, exactions and Tributes, by this Charter, made and confirmed, by the advice and free assent of all the Bishops and Nobles throughout the Realm then assembled in a Great Council, to oppose the invading plundering Danes.

‘Regnante in perpetuum domino nostro Jesu Chri­sto, in nostris temporibus bellorum incendia, & di­reptiones opum nostrarum, & vastantium crudelissi­mas hostium barbarorum paganorumque gentium multiplices tribulationes, a [...]ligentium usque ad in­ternecionem cernimus, tempo [...]a incumbere pericu­losa; Quamobrem ego Aethelulfus, Rex Occidentali­um Saxonum, cum Consilio Episcoporum, ac Prin­cipum [Page 52] meorum, Consilium salubre arque uniforme re­me i un a [...]irmavi, ut aliquam portione [...] Terrae meae Deo & beatae Mariae & omnibus sanctis [...] Iure perpetuo possidendam concedam, Proposit. 1, 5, 6, 9.10. Decimam scilicet par [...]em terrae meae, u [...] sit tuta mu [...]eribus, et libera ab omni­bus servitiis secularibus, nec non Regalibus Tributis Majoribus et Monoribus, seu Taxationibus, q [...]ae nos Wi [...]teredden appe [...]lamus, Or Winterden as Ingulsus hath it. Sitque omnium rerum libe­ra, pro remissione animarum & peccatorum meo [...]um; ad [...]erviendum soli Deo, sine expeditione, et pontis constructione, arcis munitione, u [...] eo diligenti [...]s [...]ro nobis preces ad Deum [...]ne cessatione fun­dant, quo eorum servitutem in aliquo le vigamus.’

The Copies in our Historians vary in some expressi­ons, and in the date of this Charter; some placing it in Anno 855. others Anno 865. This Charter, as Ingul­phus records, was made at Winchester, Novemb. 3. Anno. 855. praesentibus & subscribentibus Archiepiscopis Angliae universis, nec non Burredo, Merciae, & Edmun­di East-Anglorum rege, Abbatum, & Abbatissarum Du­cum, Comitum, Procerumque totius terrae, aliorum (que) fidelium infinita multitudine. Dignitates vero sua nomi­na subscripserunt. After which, for a greater Confirma­tion the King offered the Written Charter up to God upon the Altar of St. Peter, where the Bishops recei­ved it, and after sent it into all their Diocesses to be pub­lished: and hereupon the Bishops of Sherburne and Winchester, with the Abbots and religious persons, on whom the said benefits were bestowed, decreed, That on every Wednesday, in every Church, all the Fri­ers and Nuns should sing 50 Psalms, and every Priest 2 Masses; one for the King, and an other for his Captains, It is observable, first, That the Parliamentary Coun­cil wherein this Charter was made and ratified by common consent, and this exemption and tenth gran­ted, was principally called to resist the invading plunde­ring Danes. 2ly. That this King and Council, in those [Page 53] times of Invasion and necessi [...]y, were so far from taking away the Lands and Tithes of the Church, for defence of the Realm, or from imposing new unn [...]ual Taxes and Contributions on the Clergy for that end, that they granted them more Lands and Tithes than for­merly, and exempted them from all former ordinary Taxes and Contributions, that they might more cheer­fully and frequently pour [...]or [...]h prayers to God for them, as the best means of defence and security, against these forein invading enemies.

History of Tithes. ch. 8. p. 208, 209. Mr. Selden recites another Charter of this King of the same year (different from it in month and place) out of the Chartularies of Abbington Abbey, to the same effect, made by Parliamentary consent of that time, & per consilium sa [...]ubre cum Episcopis, Comi [...]ibus, ac cun­ct [...]s Optimatibus meis, which Char [...]er is s [...]bscribed by this King and his two Sons, with some Bishops and Ab­bots; ratified with their signs of the Cross, and this an­nexed curse, Si quis verò minuere velmutare nostram donationem praesumpserit, noscat se ante tribunal Christi redditurum rationem, nisi prius satisfactione emendaverit, usual in such Charters.

Af [...]er See Mal­mesbury, Hun­tindon, Hove­den, Matthew Westm. Ethel­werdus, Sime­on Dunelmen­sis, Wigornien­sis, Speed, Po­lychron [...] Fabi­an, Holinshed, Grafton, and others in his life. which, this King going to Rome, carried Alfred his youngest Son thither with him (whom he most loved) to be educated by Pope Leo; where con­tinuing a year, he caused him to be crowned King by the Pope, and returning into his Country married Iudith, the King of France his Daughter, bringing Alfred and her with him into England. In the Kings absence in forein parts, Alstan Bishop of Sherburne, Eandulfe Earl of Somerset, and certain other Nobles making a Con­spiracie with Ethelbald the Kings eldest Son, conclu­ded, he should never be received into the Kingdom, upon his return from Rome, for two Causes: One, for that he had caused his youngest son Alfred, to be crowned King at Rome, excluding thereby, as it were, his eldest Son, and others from the Right of the Kingdom. Another, for that [Page 54] contemning all the w [...]men of England, he had married th [...] Da [...]gh [...]er of the Ki [...]g of Fra [...]ce [...] an alien et contra mo­rem et Statuta Regum West-Saxonum, and against the use and Statu [...]es of the Kings of the West-Saxons, called Ju [...]ith, ( the King of France his Daughter, w [...]om he lately esp [...]used) Queen, and caused her to sit by his side at the Ta­ble, as he [...]easted; For the West-Saxons permit [...]ed not the Kings Wife to sit by the King at the Table, nor yet [...]o be cal­ [...]ed Queen, but the Kings Wife: Ma [...]. W [...]st. An. 802, 854. Huntindon, Hoveden, Bromton, Speed, Holin­sh [...]d, Asser. Flor. Wigorn. Radulf. de Di­ce [...]o. Sim [...]on Dunelm. Polyc [...]ronicon, Fabian, Mr. S [...]ldeas Titles of Honour, pa [...] l. 1. c. 6. p. 116, 117, 118. See here p. 35. Which Infamy arose [...] Eadburga, Daughter of King O [...]fa, Queen of the s [...]me Nat [...]on, who destroyed her Husband King Brith­r [...]ic with poison, and sitting by the King, was wont to accuse all [...]he Nobles of the Realm to him, who thereupon de­p [...]ived them of l [...]fe or banished them the Realm [...] & whom she c [...]uld not accus [...], she used to kill w [...]th poison: Therefore [...] for this mis-doing of the Q [...]en: they all conjured and swore, that they would never permit a King to reign over them who should be guilty in the premi­ses: W [...]e [...]eupon King Aethelulfe returning peaceably from Rome, his Son Aethelbald, with his Complices, attempted to bring their conceived wickedness to effect, in excluding him from his own Realm and Crown. But Al­mighty God would not permit it; for lest peradventure a more than civil war should arise betw [...]n the Father and t [...]e Son, the Conspiracie of all the Bishops and No­bles ceased, though the King Clemency, who divided the Kingdom of the West-Saxons ( formerly undivided) with his Son, Proposit. 2, 4, 7, 8, 10. so that the East pa [...]t of the Realm should go to his Son Ethelbald, and the West-part remain to the Father. And when tota Regni Nobiliras, all the Nobility of the Realm, and the whole Na [...]ion of the West-Saxons, would hav [...] fought for the King, thrust his Son (Ethelbald) from the right of the Kingdom, and [...] him and his Complices out of the Realm, qui tantum facinus perpe [...]rare ausi sunt, & Regem à regno [...]rop [...]io re [...]ellerent (which Wigorniensis, Anno 855. [...]le [...] Facinus, et inauditum omnibus saeculis ante in­fortunium) if the Father would have permitted them to do [Page 55] it. He out of the nobleness of his mind, satisfi [...]d his Sons desire; so that where the Father ought to have reign­ed by the just judgement of God, there the obstin [...]te and wicked Son reigned. The King Matthew VVestm. An. 857. Speeds Hist p. 376, 377. Chron. [...]o. Bromton, c [...]l. 820. and the rest [...]o [...]eci­ted. Aethelulfe before the death of Egbert his father, was ordained Bishop of Win­chester, but his Father dying, he was made King by the Prelates [...] Nobles, and People, much against his will, cum non esset alius de Regio genere qui regnare de­buisset, because there was none other of the Royal Race who ought to reign: Haeredibus aliis deficientibus, po [...] ­modum necessitate compulsus, gubernacula Regni in se suscepit, as Bromton and others expresse it.

At his death (Anno 857.) Anno 857. he did by his will (lest his Sons should fall out between themselves after his decease) give the kingdom of Kent, with Sussex and Ess [...]x, to Ethelbert his second son, and left the kingdom of the West-Saxons to his eldest son Aethelbald; then he de­vised certain sums of Money to his Daughter, Kindred, Nobles, and a constant annuity for ever, for meat, d [...]ink, and cloths to one poor man or pilgrim, out of every 10 Hides of his Land, & 300 marks of mony to be sent yearly to Rome, to be spent there in Oyl for Lamps, & Almes: which sums I never find paid by his Successors, as he prescribed by his Will and Charter too, because not confirmed by his great Parliamentary Councils, of Prelates and Nobles, as his forcited Charter, and Radulph, de Diceto Ab­breviationes Chron. col. 450. Chron. Iohan, B [...]om. col. 802, 806. Polychron. l. 5 [...] c. 30. Peter-pence (likewise grant­ed by him) were; upon this occasion (as some record) that he being in Rome, and seeing there outlawed men doing penance in bonds of Iron, purchased of the Pope, tha [...] Englishmen after that time should never out of their Country, do penance in Bonds.

About the year of our Lord 867. Chron. Io. Bromton, col. 803. Speeds History. Osbrith King of Northumberland (as Bromton records) residing at York, Anno 867. as he returned from hunting, went into the house of one of his Nobles called Bruern Bocard; to eat; who was then gone to the Sea-coasts, to defend it & the Ports against Theeves and Pirates, as he was accustomed; His Lady [Page 56] being extraordinarily beautifull, entertained him very honorably at dinner; The K. enamored with her beau­ty, after dinner taking her by the hand, leads her into her Chamber, saying he would speak with her in private; and there violently ravished her against her will: which done he presently returned to York, but the La­dy abode at her house, weeping and lamenting the deeds of the King; whereby she lost her former colour and beauty. Her Husband returning, and finding her in this sad condition, inquired the cause thereof; wherewi [...]h she fully ac [...]uainting him; he thereupon cheered her up with comfortable words, saying, that he would not love her the lesse for it, since her weakness was unable to resist the Kings power; and vowed by Gods assi­stance, speedily to avenge himself & her of the King, for this indignity. Whereupon, being a Noble and very po­tent man, of great Parentage, he called all his kins­men, and the chief Nobles of his Familie to him, with all speed, and acquainted them with this dishonour done to him by the king, saying, he would by all means be avenged thereof; and by their Counsel and Consent, they went all together to York, to the king, who when he saw Bruern called him courteously to him; But he, guarded with his kinred and friends, presently defying the King, resigned up to him his Homage, Fealty, Lands, and what ever he held of him, saying, that he would never hold any thing of him hereafter as of his Lord: And so without more words, or greater stay, instantly depar­ted, and taking leave of his friends, went speedily in­to Denmark, and complained to Codrinus king there­of, of the Indignity done by King Osbrith to him and his Lady, imploring his aid and assistance, speedily to revenge it, he being extracted out of his Royal blood. The king and Danes hereupon, being exceeding glad that they had this induc [...]ng cause to invade England, pre­sently gathered together a great Army to revenge this Injury done to Bruern, being of his Blood, appointing his [Page 57] two Brothers, Inguar and Hubba, most valiant Souldi­ers, to be their Generals; who providing Ships and o­ther Necessaries, transported an innumerable Army into England, and landed them in the Nothern parts; This being the true Cause why the Danes at this time invaded England in this manner. In the mean time, the Parents, Kindred, and Friends of Bruern, expelled and rejected King Osbrith, for this [...]njury done to him and his Lady, Proposition 8, r [...]fusing to hold their Lands of, or to obey him any longer as their Soveraign, and advanced one Ella to be King, though none of the Royal bloud. Our other Florent. Wigorn. Mat. Westm. Anno 867 Sim. Du­nelm. Hist. de Dunelm. Eccl. c. 6. Huntingd. Hist. l. 5. p. 349. Roger, Hoven­den, An. pars prior, p. 415. Ethelwerdi Hist. l. 4. c. 2. p. 842. Poly­chron. l. 5. c. 32. Hist. de Sancto Cuthberto col. 70. Sim. Du­ne [...]m. de gest. Reg. Ang. col. 123, 142. Tho. S [...]ubs. A­ctus Pon [...]if. Ebor. col. 1608 Speeds Hist. p [...] 24 [...]8. See Ho [...] ­linshed, Fabian [...] Grafton. Historians, who mention not this fact of Osbrith, and occasion of these Danes arival to revenge it, write, that the Danes upon their Landing marched to the Ci­ty of York, wasting all the Country before them with fire and Sword unto Tinmouth. At that time (they write) by the Devils instinct, there was a very great discord raised between the Northumberlanders, Sicut [...]emper populo qui odium incurrerit evenire solet: For the Northumberlanders at that time had expelled their lawfull King Osbrith out of the Realm, and advanced one Ella, a Tyrant, not of the Royal bloud, to the Regal Soveraignty of the Kingdom [...] By reason of which division, the Danes taking York, ran up and down the Country filling all places with bloud and Grief, wasting and burning all the Churches and Monaste­ries far and near, leaving nothing standing but the Walls and ruines of thom; pillaging, depopulating, and laying waste the whole Country. In which great necessity and distress the Northumberlanders reconciling their two Kings, Osbrith and Ella, one to another, gathered a great Army together against the Danes; which their two Kings and [...]ight Earls marched with to York; where [...] long fight, with various success, both the said Kings with most of the Northumberlanders were all slain [...] A [...]ril 11. Anno 867. The City of York consumed with fire, and the whole Kingdom made tributarie to the Danes: Hist. de Dunelm. Eccles. c. 6. col. 14. & Hist. de Sancto Cuthberto col. 70. Simeon Dunelmensis relates, that both [Page 58] these kings had violently & sacrilegiously taken away cer­tain Lands from S. Cuthberts Church in Durham, Proposit. 3, 4. for Os­brit had by a sacrilegious attempt taken away Wircewood and Tillemouth; and Ella, Billingham, Heclif and Wigeclif & Creca from S. Cuthbert: tandem cum maxi­mâ parte suorum ambo praefati Reges occubuerunt, & In­jurias quas Ecclesiae sancti Cuthberti aliquando irrogave­rant, vitâ privati, & regno persolverunt; Which the Author of the History of St. Cuthbert, observes and re­cords more largely, as a punishment of their sacrile­gious Rapine: The Danes hereupon made Egbert king of Northumberland, as a Tributary and Viceroy un­der them: Sic Northumbria bellico jure obtenta barbaro­rum dominium multo post tempore pro conscientiâ liber­tatis Ingemuit, writes Malmesbury de Gestis Regum Angliae, l. 2. c. 3. p. 42.

These rebellious Northumberlanders about 7 years after, Proposit. 8. uno conspirantes consilio, expelled Egbert the Realm by unanimous consent, together with Archbishop Wilfer, making one Richius King in his Place; the Danes both then and long after possessing and wasting their Coun­try, and slaughtering them with fire and sword (as the See [c] be­fore p. 57. Marginal Historians record) more than any other parts of the Iland, by a just divine punishment for their manifold Treasons, Seditions, Factions, Rebellions against, and Murders of their Soveraigns.

Anno 868.In the year Sim [...] Dun [...]l. Hist. de Gest. Reg. Ang. col. 123, 124, 146. Mat. VVestm. & [...]lorentius VVigorn. An. 868, [...]69. E­thelwerdi Hist. l. 4. c. 2. Huntingd. Hist. l. 5. p. 349. Hoveden Annal. pars 1. p. 416. Ingulph. Hist. p. 863, 864. Chron. Ioh. Bromtom, col. [...]07. Polych. l. 5. c. 32. Fabian, Holinshed, Grafton, Speed in the life of [...] and [...]thelred. 868. a great Army of these vi­ctorious plundering Danes, marched out of the King­dome of Northumberland to Nottingham, which they took, and there wintered; Whereupon Beorred (or Br [...]thred) King of Mercians, omnesque ejusdem gentis Optimates, and all the Nobles of that Nation as­sembled together, Where the King, Consilium habu­it cum suis Comitibus, & comilitonibus, & omni po­pulo [Page 59] [...]i [...]i subjecto, Qualiter inimicos bellicâ virtute exuperaret [...] sive de Regno expelleret; held a Council with his Earls and fellow Souldiers, and all the people sub­ject to him, Proposit. 5, 6, 9, how he might vanquish these Enemies with mi­litary power, or drive them out of the Realm: By whose advice, he sent Messengers to Ethel [...]ed King of the West-Saxons, and to his Brother Elfrid, humbly re­questing them, that they would assist and joyn with him against the Danish Army; which they easily condescen­ing to, gathered a very great Army together out of all parts, and joyning all together with Beorred and his forces, marched to Nottingham, unanimously, with a a resolution to give the Danes battel; who sheltering themselves under the works of the Castle and Town, refused to fight with them; whereupon they besieged them in the Town, but being unable to break the Walls, they concluded a Peace at last with the Danes, upon condition, that they should relinquish the Town, and march back again in [...]o Northumberland, which they did; where their Army continued the whole year following, in & about York, debaccha [...]s & insaniens, oc­cidens & perdens perolurimos viros & muli [...]res.

Hist. p. 863 [...] 864. Abbot Ingulphus records; that during the siege of Nottingham, King Beorred, (as he stiles him) at the re­quest of Earl Algar the younger (who was ve [...]y gracious with him and the other Kings [...] causâ suae nobilis militiae) granted a Charter of Confirmation, not only of all the Lands, Advowsons, Possessions, Proposit. 10.1. which this Earl, with other particular persons and Kings had given to the Abby of Croyland, but likewise of all their former Privileges, confirming all their Ilands, Marishes, Churches, Chapels, Mannors, Mansions, Cottages, Woods, Lands, Meadows, (therein specified) to God and Saint Guthlac for ever, Libera & Soluta, & emancipata ab omni onere [...]erreno, & servitio seculari, in Eleem [...] ­synam aeternam perpetuo possidendam. Which Char­ter hath [...]is memorable exordium, expressing the mo­tives [Page 60] inducing this King to grant it.

‘ Beorredus la [...]giente Dei gratia Rex Merciorum, om­nibus provinciis, & populis earum universam Mer­ciam inhabitantibus, & fidem Catholicam conser­vantibus salutem sempiternam, in Domino nostro Jesu Christo. Quoniam peccatis nostris exigentibus, manum Domini super nos extensum, quotidiè cum virgâ ferreâ cernimus cervicibus nostris imminere, Necessarium nobis & salubre arbitror, piis sanctae matris ecclesiae precibus Eleemosynarumque liberis largitionibus iratum Dominum placatum reddere, et dignis devotionibus ejus gratiam in nostris necessita­ [...]ibus auxiliariam implora [...]e, Ideoque et ad petitionem stren [...]i Comitis, mihi meritoque dilectissimi, concessi regio Chirographo meo Theodoro Abbati Croyland, Tam donum dicti Comitis Algari, quam dona aliorum fi­delium praeterit orum ac praesentium, &c. And it concludes thus. Istud Regium Chirographum meum, Anno Incarnationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, 868. Calendis Augusti apud Snothingham coram fratribus, & amicis, & omni populo meo in obsidione Paga­norum congregatis, sanctae crucis munimine confir­mavi [...]’ Then follow the subscriptions and confirmati­ons of Ceolnoth Archbishop of Canterbury, 5 Bishops, 3 Abbots, Ethelred king of West-Saxons, and Alfred his Brother, Edmund king of East-Angle, 2 Dukes, and twelve Earls, who all ratified this Charter.

After which Charter confirmed, this king Beorred renders special thanks to all his Army, for their assistance against the Danes, especially to the Bishops, Abbots, and other inferior Ecclesiastical Persons, for their voluntary assistance of him in those wars against these Enemies, nor­withstanding his Fathers exemption of them by his Char­ter from all military expeditions and secular services: thus recorded by Hist. p. 864, 865. Ingulphus, and most worthy ob­servation.

‘Ego Beorredus Rex Merciorum, Intimo animi af­fectu, [Page 61] totisque praecordiis gratias exolvo specia­les, omni exercitui meo; maximè tamen Viris Ec­clesiasticis, Episcopis & Abbatibus, aliis etiam in­ferioribus status & dignitatis. Proposit. 1, 3, 8. Qui licèt piis­simae memoriae, Rex quondam E [...]helwulfus pater meus, per sacratis [...]imam Chartam suam, ab omni ex­peditione militari vos liberos reddiderit, & ab omni servitio saeculari penitus absolutos; dignis [...]ma ta­men miseratione super oppressiones Christianae ple­bis Ecclesiarumque, & Monasteriorum destructio­nes luctuosas, benignissimè compassi, contra nefan­dissimos Paganos in exercitum domini prompti & spontanei convenistis, ut tanquam Martyres, Chri­sti cultus sanguine vestro augeatur, & barbarorum superstitiosa crudelitas effugetur.’

From these last Passages, it is apparent: first, That in those days our Saxon Kings made War and Peace by the advice and consent of their Nobles and Parliamen­tary great Councils. 2ly. That in cases of common in­vasion and danger by forein Enemies, all the for­ces raised, and ways and means to resist them, were concluded on by advice and consent of these great Councils, and not by the kings absolute power. 3ly. That all, or most Church-men and their Church-lands, in those days, were absolutely freed and discharged from all military expeditions, Contributions, Aids and Assistance against Enemies, by express Charters, but only such as themselves voluntarily an [...] [...]reely contri­buted in cases of incumbent great Danger and Necessi­ty, without compulsion; for which their kings ren­dred them special and hearty thanks; acknowledging and confirming these their Immunities, not violating them upon such Necessities, as this Notable passage of Ingulphus attests, together with that of Pag. 312. & Malmesb. de Gestis Regum. l. 2. c [...] 2. p. 37. Mat. West. An. 867. Concerning Alstan Bishop of Sherborne, [Page 62] a man of very great Power and Counsel in the Realm: Contra Danos quoque qui tunc primò insulam infestabant, Regis Aethelulfi saevitiam exacuit; Ipse ex fisco pecuni­am accipiens, P [...]opos [...]t. 1.3. ipse excercitum componens, Martiis felix eventibus contra hostes bella plurima constanter peregit: receiving Mony out of the Kings Exchequer (not the Peoples Purses or Contributions) to manage these Wars and not warring on his own expences. 4ly. That the Nobles, Gentry, and People of the Realm, were the only standing Milit [...] in that Age, to defend it against forein Enemies in times of danger or actual invasion; when they marched out of their own Coun­ties against them, voluntarily and freely adventuring their lives for defence of their King, Country, Religi­on, Liberties, Properties; as they did at this siege of Nottingham, and during all the long-lasting Danish Wars, Invasions, and Depredations both by Land and Sea. 5ly. That our Christian Kings, Nobles, and great Councils of those days, in times of greatest danger, Invasion and Wars, held it most seasonable and neces­sary to confirm and enlarge the Churches Patrimony, Liberties, and Privileges, thereby to stir up their Clergy-men more earnestly to assist them with their Prayers; An. 870. not to diminish, invade or infringe them, un­der pretext of Real inevitable necessi [...]y and danger (the practice of late and present times) Whereupon they granted and, confirmed this forecited Charter in the very Armie during the siege of Notingham, be­fore all the Kings, Princes, Prelates, Dukes, Earls, and people there present.

Ingulphi Hist. p. 865 to 869, Mat. Wes [...]m. Wigorn. Huntingd. Ho­veden, Brom. Radulf. de Di­ceto. Sim. Du­nel. Polychron. Fabian, Graf­ton, Holinshed, Speed, Ethel­werdus in the life of Ethel­red and An. 870. In the year 870. Inguar and Hubba, with the rest of the Danes comming into Kesteven in Lincoln-shire, wasting and slaying all the Country with fire and sword, thereupon Earl Algarus, Osgot Sheriff of Lincoln, and all the Gentry and People in those parts, with the Band of the Abby of Croyland (under the Command of To [...]us a Monk, formerly a Souldier) consisting of 200 stout [Page 63] men, (most of them Fugitives thither for Sanctuary) uniting all their forces together in Kesteven, on the Feast of St. Maurice, fought with the Danes, and slew 3 of their Kings, with a great multitude of their for­ces. That night the other Danish Kings (dispersed abroad to pillage the Country) with a great booty & many cap­tains, coming to the tents of their routed Companions, with a numerous Army, were inraged with the slaugh­ter of their Confederates, in their absence: Whereup­on most of the English secretly fled away from the Earl and their Captains in the night through fear: who early in the morning having heard divine Offices, and recei­ving the Sacrament, resolved not to retreat, but manfully to fight with the Danes (though not above 700 to their many thousands) being most ready to die for the defence of the faith of Christ and of their Country: Whereupon the Danes assailing them with great mul­titudes and fury, they all standing and fighting close together, valiantly susteined their assaults from morning till evening, without giving ground. Upon which the Danes to sever them, purposely feigned a Flight, and began to leave the Field [...] Hereupon the English, contrary to the commands of their Captains, dissolving their Ranks, and dispersing themselves to pursue the Danes, they suddenl [...] returned and slew most of the English, who fought gallantly with them to the last gasp, some few of them only escaping; After which the Danes marching to the Abby of Croyland, put the Abbot with all the Monks and Persons they there found (one Child excepted) to the Sword, after they had extremely tortured them to discover where their Trea­sures were; broke up all the Tombs, pillaged and burnt the Abby, with all the Edifices thereof, leaving it a meer ruinous heap; then marching on, laying all the Country waste before them with fire and Sword, spa­ring neither person, age, nor sex, they cast down, burnt, destroyed, and levelled to the Ground the goodly [Page 64] Monasteries of Bradney, Peterborough, Huntingdon, E­ly, with sundry others, murthering as well all the Monks as Nuns therein, which their merciless Swords, after they had first polluted them. To avoid whose barbarous rape, Mat. VVestm [...] An. 8 [...]0. p. 313. Speeds Hist. p. 383. Ebba Abbess of Coldingham and her Nuns (by her example and perswasion) cut off their upper Lips, and Noses, to deform themselves to their lasci­vious eyes; which bloody Spectacle preserved their Chastity from their Lust; but not their Monasterie or bodies from their Cruelty, they burning them and their Nunnery to Ashes. Anno 870.

Mat. VV [...]s [...]m. Anno 855.870. VVil. Malm, de gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 3. v. 13. Hunt. Hist. l. 5. p. 349. Hov. Annal. pars 1. p. 416. Eth [...]l. Hist. l. 3. c. 1. Chron. Io. Bromton. col. 745, 754.804, 805, 806. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. de Eccl. Dunelm. l. 2. c. 6. et de gest. Reg. Ang. col. 124, 143. Po­lychron. l. 5. c. 42. Fab. Gra [...]t. Hollinshed, Caxton, Speed in the life of St. Edmund. Fox Acts and Monuments vol. 1. p. 140, Proposit. 2.4,After which, the same year Inguar and Hubba mar­ched against St. Edmund, who in the year 855. was chosen King of the East-Saxons Ab omnibus Regionis illius magnatibus et populis, by all the Nobles [...] and People of that Realm (being sprung from the antient Royal blood of the Saxons) and compelled to take the Government on him much against his will, being then but 13 years old, and consecrated King by Bishop Humbert in the Royal Town called Bury. The reason of their malice to this King, (as some of our Historians write) was this, that he was maliciously accused to have murthered their Father Lothbroc, driven by a sudden storm in a small boat into England as he was hawking at Fowl, by this Kings Faulkoner: who ha­ving murthered himself out of meer malice, was by judgement of the Knights and Lawyers banished the Realm, and put alone into Lothbrocs Boat, without O [...]re or Sails for murthering him, and so sent to Sea; being driven in it into Denmark, to excuse himself, he maliciouslie accused the King of this Murther, to these his Sons; Who thereupon invaded England with an Army to revenge their Fathers death. And the Reason why they at this time so ex­traordinarily prevailed, a [...]d over-run the Land, was the Civil Discords; Wars, and Emulations amongst the Saxon kings; who either out of Malice or Ambition to advance their own Dominion, or base unworthy [Page 65] fears, would rather induce these common Enemies to over-run them, than assist one another against them; which De gest. Reg. l. 2. [...] [...]. p. 42. William of Malmesburie thus expresseth. Me­minerit interea lector, quod interim Reges Merciorum et Northanimbrorum, captata occasione [...]dventus Dano­rum, quorum bellis Ethelredus i [...]sudabat, a servitio West-Saxonum respirantes, domina [...]ionem suam penè asseruerant. Ardebant ergo cunctae saevis popularibus provinciae, unusquisque Regum inimicos magis in suis sedibus sustinere, quam compatrio [...]is Laborantibus o­pem porrigere curabat: Ita dum maluit vindicare, quam praevenire injuriam, socordiâ suâ exanguem red­diderunt Patriam. Dani sine obstaculo succressere; dum et provincialibus timor incresceret, et proxima quaeq, victoria per additamentum Capti [...]orum, instru­mentum sequentis fieret, &c. Northanimbri jamdud [...]m civilibus dissentionibus [...]luctuantes, adventante hoste correxerunt discordiam. Itaque Osbirthum Regem quem expulerant, in solium reforma [...]tes, magnosque mo­liti paratus, obviam proc [...]dunt; sed facilè pulsi, infra Urbem Eboracum se includunt: quâ mox à victoribus succensâ, cum laxos crines effusior flamma produceret, tota depascens maenia, ipsi quo (que) conflagrati, patriam ossibus texêre suis, Mercii non semel obtriti, obsidatu miserias suas levaverunt. At vero Ethelredus multis laboribus infractus obiit: Orientalium Anglorum pagi, cum ur­bibus et vicis à praedonibus possessi; Rex eorum sanctus Edmundus, ab eisdem interemptust Anno Dominicae In­carnationis 870. 12 Calendas Decembris, temporaneae mor­tis compendio regnum emit aeternum.

The manner of King Edmunds Martyrdom See those forecited at (m) and Cap­grave, Surius, and Ribadeni­era, Antonius in the life of St. Edmund, Malm. De Ge­stis Reg. l. 2. c. 3. Histo­rians thus relate. An. 870. Hinguar King of the Danes invading King Edmunds Realm with a great Power sent a Messenger to King Edmund to demand the half of his Treasure and Wealth, and that he should hold his Realm under him; threatning otherwise to waste his Kingdom and extirpa [...]e him and his P [...]ople. Sed nimis fraudulen­tèr [Page 66] Hinguar thesauros exigebat, qui Clementissimi Regis caput potius quam pecuntas sitiebat, writes An. 870. p. 370. Matthew Westminster. Where upon Bishop Hum­be [...]t advising him to fly [...]rom the Danes (who approach­ed with their forces towards him) to save his life, The King wishe [...]; Would to God that I might preserve the lives of my Subjects, for whom I desire to lay down my life; for this is my chi [...]fest wish, that I may not survive my faithfull Subjects, and most dear friends, which this Cru­ [...]l Pirate hath th [...]evishly slain; neither will I stain my glory by sl [...]ght, who never yet sustained the reproaches of Wa [...]re. The Heavenly King also is my Witness, that no fear of the Barbarians shall separate me from the Love of Christ, whether living or dead. Then turning to the Messenger of Hinguar, he said, Thou art worthy to suffer the punishment of death, being w [...]t with the blood of my people; But imitating the example of my Christ, If it should so happen, I am not afraid wil­lingly to die for them; Return therefore speedily to thy Master, and carry my answers to him: Although thou takest away my Treasures and riches whi [...]h the Divine Cle­mency hath given me, by thy power; yet thou shalt never subject me to thy infidelity: for it is an honest thing to de­fend perpetual liberty, together with purity of Reli­gion for which also, if there be need, we think it not un­profitable to die: Therfore, as thy proud cru [...]l [...]y hath begun, after the servants slaughter cut thou the Kings throat [...] because the King of Kings seeing these things, Proposit. 8. will translate me into Heaven, there to reign eternally. The Messen­ger departing, the King commanded his Souldiers to run to their Arms, a [...]firming [...] that it was a worthy thing to fight both for their Faith and Country, Nota. le [...]t they shou [...]d prove de [...]er [...]ers of their Realm, and betray­ers of the people. And being incouraged by Bishop Humbert, his Nobles, and fellow Souldiers, he march­ed against the Enemy, and near Thedford fought a bloody battel with the Danes, from morning to night, [Page 67] the place being all dyed red with the blood of the slain. A [...] which grievo [...] [...]ight King Edmund was much grieved, not only for the great slaughter of his own So [...]ldiors [...]ight [...]ing for their Country & native liberty, & the faith of Iesus Christ, & so alre [...]dy [...]rouned with M [...]rtyrdome: But likewise for the death of the Barbarous Infidels, sent down to Hell in great numbers; which he overmuch lamented. After which battel, retiring to Hegels­dun with his forces that were left, he immutably re­solved in his mind, never to fight battel with the Enemies more. saying only this; that it was necessary that he a­lone should die for the People, and not the whole Na­tion perish. Soon after Hinguars Army being recru­ted by the access of Hubba to him, with ten thousand men, he marched to Hegelsdun, and surrounded it, that none might escape thence; Whereupon King Edmund flying to the Church, and casting down his temporal Armes, humbly prayed the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to give him constancy in his passion: Then the Danish Souldiers seising on him, brought him from the Church before Hinguar, by whose command he was tyed to a tree hard by, cruelly whipped a long time, then shot through with Darts, wherewith his Body was stuck full; after which, being taken from the tree, his Head was cut off from his Body, with a bloody sword by the Barbarous Executioner appointed for that purpose; and so he died a most glorious Martyr for his Kingdom, Country, Subjects, and Religion: to whose memory a famous Monastery was after built; Of which William of Malmesbury de Gestis Regum, l. 2. c. 13. p. 89. gives this Relation; ‘Quibus Artibus Edmundus ita sibi omnis Britanniae de vinxit incolas, ut beatum se in primis astruat, qui Coenobium illius, vel nummo vel valenti illustraret. Ipsi quoque Reges aliorum Domini, servos se illius gloriantu [...], & coronam ei re­giam mis [...]itant, magno si uti volunt redimentes com­mercio. Exactores vectigalium qui alibi Bacchan­tur [Page 73] fas nefasque juxta metientes ibi supplices, Proposit. 1. ci­ra [...] sancti [...] [...]ondi [...] litigationes sistunt, ex­perti multorum paenam, qui perseverandum puta­runt; which I wi [...]h our Tax-Exactors, and Exci [...]ers wou [...]d now remember.’

Anno 870.Whiles the Danes were thus wasting the Kingdoms of Northumberland and the East-Saxons with Fier and Sword, and martyring King Edmund Ingulphi Hi [...]t. p. 868, 869, 911. Beorred king of Mercians was bu [...]ed in warring against the Britains, who infested the Western parts of his Realm: But hearing the Danes had invaded the Eastern part of his Kingdom, he came to London, and gathering a great Army [...]ogether, marching wi [...]h i [...] through the Eastern quarters of his Realm, he applyed the whole Isle of Ely to his Exchequor, taking into his hands all the lands formerly b [...]longing to the Monastery o [...] Medehamsted, Proposit. 1, 4. lying between Stamford, Huntindon and Wisebeck, assigning the Lands more remote, lying scattered through the Country, to his Souldiers [...] The like he did with the Lands of the Monastery of St. Pega of Rikirk; retaining certain of th [...]m to himself, and giving some of them to his Souldiers. And the like did he with the Lands of all other Mona­steries, destroyed totally by the Danes: whose Lands by Law 7 E. 4.11, 12. Brook Escheat 19. esch [...]ated to the Crown, and those Lords, whose predece [...]ors founde [...] and endowed [...]hem, by the slaughter and chasing away of all the Monks & Nuns & burning of the Monasteries; whose Lands thereupon were re [...]umed and confi [...]cated to the Kings Exche­quer: Et cum caetera Monasteria per Danorum fe [...]ocita­tem funditus destructa, Regali fisco fuerant ascripta, denuo et assumpta, omnibus Monachis eoru [...] neca­tis, perditis, seu penitus fugatis, as Ingulphus in­forms us of the Rea [...]on; yet many of the Monks of Croyland escaping the Danes fury, and returning soon after thither again, electing a new Abbot, and repair­ing their Monastery by degrees, as well as that exi­gency would permit, thereupon they enjoyed the sight [Page] of the whole Abby, and the Isle of Croylan [...], with the self same Liberties and Privileges they had from the b [...] ­ginning, dischardged from all secular services, during all the time of this their desolation, & the Danish wars, till the time of its restoration; & after that till Ingulphus time, as he records. Nothwithstanding, because many of the Monks were slain, and the Abby burnt down & demolish­ed by the Danes, King [...]eorred thereupon seised some of their lands into his own hands, & gave other of their Lands more remote from the Abby to his stipendiary Soldiers.

And although venerable Abbot Godric, took very much paines, frequently demanding restitution of them both from King Beorred & his Souldiers, and very of [...]en shewed the Charters of the Donors, & the confirmations of fo [...]mer Kings, together with, his own proper Charter, to this Kings, yet he received always nothing but empty words, from & him them: whereupon he at last utterly despaired of their restitution. Perceiving therefore the overmuch malice of the times, et Militiam Are not the Souldiers now sick of the same disease. Regis Terrarum cupidissimam, and the Kings Militia, and Soldiers most covetous of Lands, he resolved with himself in conclusion to passe by these Royal Donations Surdo Tempore [...] in a deaf time; being over-glad & re­joycing, that the Kings grace had granted the whole Island lying round about the Monastery unto it, free and dischar­ged from all Regal exactions, much more specially to him then at that time, which had not happened to many oth [...]r Monasteries. There departed therefore at that time from the Monastery of Croyland these possessions which never retur­ned to this present day: The Mannor of Spalding given to Earl Adelwu [...]fe, with all its appurtinances: The Mannor of Deeping given to Lang [...]er a Knight, Propos. 4. (or Souldier) and the Kings Baker, with all its appurtenances; The Mannor of Croxton given to Fernod a Knight (or Souldier) the Kings Ensign-bearer, with all its appurtenances; The Mannors of Kerketon and Kimerby in Lindesy, with all their appurtenances, given to Earl Turgot; but Bukenhale and Halington, then appropriated to the Exchequer, [Page 70] were afterwards restored to the said Monastery by the In­dustry of Turketulus Abbot of Croyland; and the gift of most pious King Edred, the Restorer of them [...] with 12 other Mannors (named by Ingulf.) belonging to Croyland; quas Rex Beorredus Fisco suo a [...]sumserat, Which King Beorred had then assumed in his Exchequor. After which K. Beorred passing with his Army into Lindesey, Latissimas Terras Mon [...]sterio Bardney ( totally ruined by the Danes) Du­dum Pertinentes [...]isco suo accepit, remotas vero in diversis patri [...]s divisas [...]acentes, Militibus suis dedit. But mark the issue. At last Mattew Westm. Floren. VVigorn. An. 874. p. 313. Chron. [...]oh. Brom [...]. col. 779, 810. Sim. Dun [...]lm. Hist. de Gest. R [...]g. Ang. col. 127. VVil. Malm. de Gest. Reg. l. 1. c. 4. p. 33. Huntin. Hist. l. 5. p. 349. Hove­den Annal. pars prior, p. 417. Speeds Hist. p. 256. the Danes returning into Mercia Anno 874. wasting and spoiling all the Country with fire and sword, and destroying all Churches and Monasteries, King Beorred, when he beheld all the Land of England, in every corner thereof, wasted with the slaughters and ra­pines of these Barbarians, vel de victoriâ desperans, vel [...]ot laborum Labyrinthum fastidiens, either despairing of victory, or loathing the labyrinth of so many troubles, left the Kingdom, and went to Rome, where he died few days after, and was there buried in the English School, and his Wife following after him, died in her way to Rome; Some write, Anno 874. he was driven out of his kingdom by the Danes.

Hereupon the Ingulphi Hist. p. 869, 870. [...]o [...]ent. VVigorn. An. 874. p. 313. Chron. Ioh. Bromt. col. 810. Simeon Dun [...]lm. de Gest. R [...]g. Ang. col. 127. VVil. Malmesbury de Gest. Reg. l. 1. c. 4. p. 33. Huntind. Hist. l. 5. p. 349. Hoveden Annal. pars prior p. 417. Danes, Anno 874. substituted in his place in the Realm of Mercia, one Ceolwulfus, a servant of King Beorreds, an Englishman by Nation, sed Barbarus impietate; but a Barbarian in impiety. For he swore fealty, and gave pledges to the Danes, Quod tri­buta imposita eis [...]idelitèr persolveret, that he would faithfully pay unto them the Tributes they imposed, and that whensoever they would redemand the Kingdom committed to him, He would resign it without any Resistance, under pain of losing his Head. Whereupon he (as Ingulphus records) going round about the Land, paucos Rusticos relictos excoriavit, Mercatores absorbuit, Viduas & Orphanos oppressit, religiosos omnes tanquam con­scios thesaurorum innumeris tormentis afflixit; plucked o [...]f the Skins of the few Countrymen that were left; swallowed [Page 71] up the Merchants, oppressed the Widows and Or­phans, and afflicted all Religious Persons, P [...]oposit. 1.4 [...] as con­scious of hid [...]en Treasures, with innumerable tor­ments: whence amongst very many evils he did, Impo­posing a Tribute of a thousand pounds u [...]on Godric, the venerable Abbot of Croyland, and his miserable Freers, he almost undid the Monastery of Croyland. ‘For no man after that, by reason of the overmuch Poverty of the place, would come to conversion; Yea Abbot Go­dric being unable to sustain his professed Monks, disper­sed many of the Monks amongst their Parents and other Friends of the Monastery through all the Country, very few remaining with him in the Monastery, [...]nd protra­cting their life in greatest want. Then all the Cha­lices of the said Monastery except 3. an [...] all the silver Vessels, besides the Crucible of King Withlasius, and other Jewels very precious, being changed into Mo­ny, or sold for Mony, were scarce able to satisfie the unsatiable covetousness of Ceolwulfe, the Vice-roy: who at last, by his Lords the Danes, most just in this, ( after all his Rapines and Oppressions of the People by un­just Taxes and imposts) was deposed and stripped na­ked of all his ill-gotten Treasure, even to his very Privities, and so ended his life most miserably.’ And the Kingdom also of the Mercians at this very time, (King Alfred prevailing against the Danes) was united to the Kingdom o [...] the West-Saxons, and remained so united ever after, when it had continued a Kingdom from the first year of Penda (the first King thereof) to the last times of this miserable Viceroy Ceolwulph, a­bout 230 years: Of which Kingdom De Gest [...] Reg. l. 1. c. 4 [...] William of Malmesbury thus concludes; Ita Principatus Merci­orum, qui per tumidam gentilis viri insaniam subitó efsloruit, tunc per miseram semiviri ignaviam omninó emar­cuit, Anno Dom. 875. though Speed post-dates its pe­riod in the year 886. Whence it is observable, that unjust Rapines, Taxes, Oppressions speedily & sud­denly destroy both Kings and Kingdoms.

[Page 76]The next year following Anno 876. An. 876. Mat. VVestm. & VVigorn. An. 876. Hun­tingd. Hist. l. 5. p. 329. Hove­den, Annal. pars prior p. 417. Eth [...]l. Hist. l. 4. c. 3. p. 844. Sim. Du­nel. Hist. de Dunel. Eccles. col. 14, 17, 21. Hist. de San­cto Cuthherto col. 70. & de Gest. Reg. col. 155. Halden king of the Danes, seising upon the seditions kingdom of Northumberland, sibi eam, suis (que) Ministris distr [...]buit, illam (que) ab exercitu suo coli fecit auobus Annis; totally dispossessing the seditious, murtherous Northumber­landers thereof; who but a little before had expelled both their King and Archbishop out of their Realm. This Halden and his Souldiers miserably wasted and destroyed the Churches of God in those parts, for which the wrath of God suddenly f [...]ll upon Halden; who was not only struck with madnesse of mind, but with such a most loathsome disease in his body, which much torment­ed him, that the intollerable stink t [...]ereof made him so odious & loathsome to [...]is whole Army, that being contem­ned and cast out by them all, he fled away from Tine, only with three Ships, and soon after perished with all his Plundering, Proposition 4. Sacrilegious Followers; The Danes elected Guthred king in his stead, possessing this seditions Realm of Northumberland till di [...]posse [...]ed of it by king Edmund An. 944. who then annexed it to his kingdom.

Our Noble Saxon King Florentius Wigorn. & Mat. We [...]m. An. 871 to 900. See Malmes. Huntingd. As­ser. Fab, Hol­inshed, Speed, and others in his life. Lamb. Arch. Spelman concil. p. 360, 362. Ingulph. Histor. p. 870, 871. Chron. Io. Brom. col. 809 to 832. Proposit. 3, 5, 6, 7, 9. Alfred the first anointed king of England, Anno 877. (as glorious for his most excellent Laws, transcendent Justice and civil Government, as for his Martial Exploits, Victories; and for his incom­parable Piety and extraordinary bounty to the Cler­gy and Learned men) comming to the Crown Anno Dom. 87 [...], in the years 873, 874, and sundry years fol­lowing, by common consent of his Wise men, com­manded long Ships and Gallies to be built, throughout the Realm, and furnished with Mariners, to guard the Seas and eucounter the Danish Ships and Pirates, which then infested and wasted the Realm, from time to time: whose forces he often encountred, as well by Sea as by Land, with various success. At last having obtained the [Page 73] Monarchy of all England, and received their Homages and Oaths of Fealty to him, he appointed special Guar­dians to guard the Seas and Sea-costs in all places; Where­by he very much freed the Land from the Danes devast [...] ­tions. Abou [...] the year 887. Anno 887. (even in the midst of his wars, when Laws use to be silent) he compiled a body of Ecclesia­stical and Canon Laws out of the sacred Scriptures, and t [...]e Laws which his pious predecessors, Ina, Of [...]a, and Ethel­bert had religiously made and observed; antiquating some of them, retaining, reforming others of them, and adding some new Laws of his own, by the advice and counsel of his wisemen, & of the most prudent of his Subjects; the obser­vation of which Laws was enjoyned by the consent of them Propos. 5, 6. all. Wherein certain fines and penalties were prescribed for most particular offences, which might not be al [...]ered or exce [...]ded: Amongst other Laws, (as Mirrour of Iustices, c. 1. s [...]ct. 3. p. 10. c. 5. sect. 1. Cooks Preface to his 9 Repo [...]s 1 Institutes, [...]. 110. See Spel. Concil. p. 347. Andrew Horn, and others record) this King and his Wisemen ordain­ed: That a Parliament twice every year, and oftner in time of Peace, should be called together at London, that therein they might make Laws and Ordinances to keep the People of God from sin, that they might live in peac [...], and receive right and Iustice by certain customs and Holy Iudgements; and not be ruled in an arbitrary manner, but by stable known Laws. Proposit. 5.6 [...]

And it was then agreed [...] that the King should have the Soveraignty of all the Land unto the midst of the Sea invironing the Land, as belonging of Right to the Soveraign Jurisdiction of the Crown. ‘This King, See Mat [...] VVestm: An. 892 Ingulphi Hist. p. 870.871. Chron. Iohan. Bromp­ton col. 818 819 Chron. VVill. Thorn cap. 5. Sect. 4 Col. 1777. by appointing Hundreds and Tithings through­out the Realm, with Constables and Tithing men, who were to take sureties, or pledges for the good behaviour of all within their Jurisdictions, or else the hundred to answer all offences & injuries therein committed, both to the party and king, caused such a general peace throughout the Realm; and such security from Robbers and plunderers even in those times of war, That he would hang up golden bracelets in the [Page 74] High-ways, and none durst touch them, and a Gir [...] might have travelled safely, laden with Gold, from one end of the Realm to the other, without any vi­olence, Mat. VVestmn. An. 888 Florent. VVigorn. An. 887 p. 326.327. Matthew Westminster, and Florence of Wor­cester record, That he spent a great part of his time in Compo [...]tione le [...]um, Quibus Milvorum Rapacita­tem Reprimeretur, & [...]mplex [...];’ And amongst many other m [...]morable acts of his Ju [...]ice, as he frequently examined the Iudgements and Proceedings of his Iudges and Iustices, severely checking them when they gave any illegal Iudgement a­gainst Law and Right, meerly out of Ignorance, of which they were to purge themselves by Oath, that they could judge no better: so he severely punished them when they thus offen­ded out of Corruption, Partiality and Malice. Mirrour of Iust. cap. 5. Sect. 3. p. 296. to 301. An­drew Hor [...] in his Mirrour of Iustices records, That he hanged up no less than 44 of his Iudges and Iustices in one year, as Murtherers and Capital Offenders, princi­cipally, for their false Iudgements, in condemning and ex­ecuting sundry of his people against Law, without any lawfull tryal by their Peeres, Proposit. 2. or Uerdict and Iudge­ment by a sworn Iury; or upon in sufficient evidence, or for Crimes not Capital by the Laws. The names of these Iudges with their several offences, you may read at large in Horn. Had those pretended Judges of a ne [...] edi­tion, who of late arraigned, condemned, executed the King, Nobles, Gentlemen and Freemen of England in strange new arbitrary Courts of high Iustice, without any legal Indictment and Tryal by a sworn Jury of their peers; and many of them, for offences not Capi­tal by any known Lawes or Statutes of the Realm, and upon very slender evidence, lived in this Iust Kings reign, they might justly fear he would have hanged them all up, as Murtherers and Capital Malefactors, as well as these 44 Judges, not altogether so peccant in this kind as they: this form of tryal by sworn Juries of their Peers then in use, being since confirmed by the [Page 75] Great Charters of King Iohn and King Henry the 3, some hundreds of subs [...]quent Statutes, and the Pe [...]i [...]ion of Right not known in Alfreds days.

I find in the Pr [...]face to King Alfreds Laws (of which Laws Abbot Ethelred gives this [...]rue encomium, De Gen. Reg. A [...]g. col. 355. Leges Christianissimas & scripsit, & promulgavit, in quibus fides ejus et devotio in deum, sollici [...]udo in subdito [...], [...]ambardi Archaion [...] Spel [...]manni Conc [...]l p. 362. misericordia in pauperes, Iusticia ci [...]ca om [...]es cunctis legentibus pate [...]) this observable passage: That the A­postles & elders assembled in a Synod at Jerusalem, Acts 15. in their Epistle to the Churches of the Gentiles, to ab­stain from things offered unto Idols; added this Summa­ry of all Laws: And what ye would not to be done to your selves, that doe ye not to others: from which one precept it sufficiently appeareth, unicuique ex aequo jus es­se reddendum; that right or Law is of Iustice to be ren­dred to every one; neither will there be need of any other Law or Law-book whatsoever, i [...] he who sits Iudge upon others, shall only remember this, that he would not himself should pronounce any other sentence against others than what he would should be pas [...]ed against himself in their Case. But when the Gospel was propa­gated, many Nations, and amongst them the English, em­braced the faith of Gods word, Proposit. 5. [...] 7. there were then held some Assemblies and Councils of Bishops, and other most il­lustrious Wise men, throughout the World, and like­wise in E [...]gland: and these being throughly instructed by Gods mercy, d [...]d now first of all, Impose a pecunia­ry Mulct upon Offenders; and without any Divine Of­fence, delegated the Office of exacting it to Magistrates, leave being first granted: Only on a Traitor and Deser­ [...]er of his Lord (or King) they decreed, that this Milder punishment (by pecuniary Mulcts) was not to be in­ [...]licted: because they thought just, that such a man was not at all to be spared; both because God would have Contem­ners of him unworthy of all mercy, and likewise because Christ did not at all compassionate them who put him to [Page 76] death, but appointed the King to be honoured above all others: These therefore in many Councils singulorum scele­rum paenas constituerun [...] ordained the punishments of every kind of offences, and commit [...] them to writing.

From whence it is apparent, First, That all capital, coporal, and pecuniary Mulcts and penalties for any ci­vil or Ecclesiastical offences whatsoever, inflict­ed on the Subjects of this Realm, in that and all former ages since they embraced the Gospel, were only such as were particularly defined and prescribed by their Parliamentary Councils, and the Laws there­in enacted, and not left arbitrary to the King, Judges, or Magistrates, as it appears by [...]he forecited passages of Beda, Malmesbury, Huntindon and Bromton concern­ing King Ethelberts Laws, part 2. p. 50. by the Laws of King Ina, Lex 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 46, 47, 48, 49, 54, 57, 58, 64, 73, 75, 76, 80. & more specially by the Laws of King Alfred him­self, Lex 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 [...] 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 48, 51. with the Laws of our other Saxon kings, prescribing par [...]icular fines, pecuniary, corporal and capital punishments for all sorts of offences and injuries, to avoid all arbitrary proceedings and censures in such Cases, 2ly. That no imprisonment Corporal, Capital, or pecuniary Mulcts, or punishments whatsoever, justly might, or legally ought to be then inflicted upon any Malefa­ctors or Trespassers whatsoever, but when, where, and for such offences only, as the known Parliamentary and common Laws then in force, particularly warrant­ed and prescribed: which penalties and Laws could not be altered nor abrogated, but by Parliamentary Councils only. 3ly. That Common right and Justice, were then to be equally dispensed to all men, by our Kings, Judges, and other Magist [...]ates, according to the Laws then established, in such sort as they would [Page 77] have them administred to themselves in the like Ca [...]es. 4ly. That [...]ilfull Traitors and Deserters of their law­full Lords & Soveraigns, were not to be spared or par­doned by [...]he Laws of God or Men, nor yet punished only with fines, but put to death without Mercy: W [...]e [...]ce [...]his Law was then enacted by king Alfred and his Wisemen. Chron. Io­han Brom [...]on, col. 822, and L [...]mb [...]rd. [...]r­cha [...]on. Lex 4. Si [...]uis vel [...]er [...]e ve [...] suscep [...]am vel suspectam [...]e [...]sonam De morte Regis tractet, vitae suae reus sit, et omnium quae habebit, and [...]f any fought or drew any weapon in the Kings house, and was apprehended, sit in arbitrio Regis, sit vita, sit mors, sicu [...] ei condonare voluerit, Lex 8. because it might endan­ger the kings person.

This king Alfred made two special Laws for secu­ring even Leets, and Inferiour Courts of Iustice from armed violence and distu [...]bances by fighting, which I shall recite.

Chron. Ioh Bromt. col. 825, & Lam­bardi Archai. Sp [...]lmanni Concil. p. 369. which some­ [...]hat deprives the s [...]nse of it in the transla­tion, and make it Lex 51. Lex 41. Si quis coram Aldermanno Regis pug­net. In publico, emendet Weram & Witam sicut rectum sit, & supra hoc CXX [...]. ad Witam.

Lex 42. Si quis Folemot id est populi placitum. Ar­morum exercitione turbabit, emendet Aldermanno CXX s. Witae, id est foris factu [...]ae.

What Fines and punishments then do they deserve, who not only fight before, and disturb Aldermen and Leets with their Armes, but even disturb, fight, and use their Armes against our Aldermen themselves, yea, all the Aldermen, Peers [...] and Great men of the Realm, assembled in the highest, greatest Parliamentary Coun­cils, and over-awe, impri [...]on, secure, seclude, and for­cibly dissolve them at their pleasures? as some of late times have done, beyond all former Presidents.

During the reign of this Noble king Alfred, Gythro the Dane, Anno 878. (sometimes stiled Godrin, or Guthurn) See Mat. Westm. Florent. VVigorn. Simeon Dunelm. Bromt. Huntindon, Hoveden, Polychronicon, Fabian, Holinshed, Speed, Asser. Ethelwerd, Fox an [...] others, An. 878, 879. Anno 878. with an invincible Army running over [Page 78] all the Coa [...]s of England, wa [...]ing the Country, and de­populating all sac [...]ed places wheresoe [...]er he came, quicquid in auro et argento rapere potest, Militib [...]s e­rogavit, and [...]e [...]ng upon loca quaeque m [...]nita, [...]or­ [...]ed [...]ing Alfred (being so dis [...]ress [...]d [...]hat he knew not what to do, nor w [...]ither to turn himself) to r [...]tire and save himsel [...] in the Isle Aethelingie, for a sea [...]on; [...]ill recol­lecting his scattered Subj [...]cts and Forces together, he vanquished Gi [...]hro and his Army in a set battel at E­t [...]end [...]e, and then besieging him and his remaining forces [...]5 dayes in a Castle, to which they sled, com­ [...]elled th [...]m by Famine and the Sword, to make peace with [...]im upon this Condition; ut Regni et Regis infe­stationem perpetuo abjurarent; That they should per­p [...]tually abjure the infesting of the King and Realm, and th [...]t they should [...]u [...]n Christians: which they accordingly performed, Githro, with 30 of the choicest men in his A [...]my being baptized at Alve, 15 days after, king Alfred being their Godfather, and giving him the name of Aethelstane. After which Alfred feasting him an [...] his Captains 12 days in his Court, gave Gi­thro Eastengland to inhabit, wherein king Edmund reigned, to be held of and under him: Whereupon Gi­thro and his Danes An. 879. leaving Cirencenster marched into the East parts of England, which he divided a­mongst his Souldiers, who then began to inhabit it by Alfreds donation.

U [...]on this accord, or some time a [...]ter, King Alfre and Gythro, by the Common consent of their Great Councils and wise men, made and enacted certain civil and Ecclesiastical Laws, for the government of their People and Realms, recorded in Bromton, Lambert [...] and Spel­man, where those who please may pernse them: the Prologue and 2 first Laws whereof, I shall only re­cite, as both pertinent to my purpose, Proposit. 5. and seasonable for our times, much opposing the Magistrates coer­cive power in matters relating to God and Religi­on.

[Page 79] Chron. Io, Brom. col. 829. Spelman. conc. p. 375 [...] 376, 390, 391. Pro [...]osition 6. ‘H [...]c est consili [...]m quod Alred [...]s Rex et Godrinus Rex eligerunt, et condixerunt, quando Angli e [...] Da [...] ad pacem et concordiam plenè convenerunt, e [...] Sapientes, et qui [...]osteà successerunt, saepiùs Hoc e [...] assi [...]è renovantes, in bonum semper adduxe­runt.’

Cap. 1. Inp [...]imis est, ut unum Deum diligere velint, et omni Paganismo sedulo renunciare: et instituerunt se­cularem Iustitiam, pro eo quod sciebant, quod non po­terant multos ali [...]èr castigare: plures ve [...]ò Nolebant ad Dei cultum sicut deberent ali [...]è [...] Inclinari [...] et secu­larem emendationem instituerunt, communem Chri­sto, et Regi, ubicunque Recusabitur Lex Dei justè ser­vari secundum dictionem Epis [...]opi. Et hoc est primum edictum Ecclesiae, Pax intra parietes suos, ut Regis Hand­gri [...]h, semper inconvulsa permaneat.

Cap. 2. Siquis Christanitatem suam malè mutat, vel Paganismum veneretur verbis vel operibus, reddat sic Weram, sic Witam, sic Lashlyte, secundum quod factum sit: that is, Let him be fined, and ransomed accor­ding to the quality of his off [...]nce.

This Noble King Alfred (who fought no lesse than 46 bloody Battels with the Danes by Land and Sea for his Countries Liberties) Although he was in­volved in perpetual Wars and Troubles wi [...]h the Danish Invaders all his daies, as our Hi [...]orians and this his Huntingd. Hist. l. 5. p. 352 Asser. Aelerce­di R [...]g. Gest. Ch [...]on. Io. Br. col. 819. Camb. Britan. p. 224. Epitaph Demonstrates,

Yet Mat West. Wig. As. Men. An. 888, 898. Ae hel. Abbas de Gen. Reg. Ang. col. 355. Chron. Io. Brom col. 814, 818. Sim. Dunel [...]. Hist. de Gest. R [...]g. col. 132, 133. Wil. Mal. de Gest. Reg. l. 25. c. 4. In­gulph. Hist. p. 870, 171. Hov. Annal. pars 1. p. 420, 421. Ethelwerdi Hist. l. 4. c 3. Polychron. Fab. Caxton, Hol­linshed, Grast­on, Speed in the li [...]e Alfred. o [...] Camd. Brit. p. 378, 379. Spel­man concil. p. 354 to 380 [...] Antiq. Eccl. B [...]t. p. 43. these things are remarkable in him. 1. That he most exactly and justly governed his people by and according to his and his Predecessors kn [...]wn Laws, in the midst of all [...]is Wars; not by the harsh Laws of Conquest and the largest Sword. 2. That he advanced Learning and all sorts of Learned Men, erecting Schools of Learn­ing, and the famous University of Oxford; which he founded, or at least refounded when decayed, in the heat of all his Wars and Troubles. 3. That he was so far from spoyling the Church and Churchmen, or any o­ther his Subjects of their Lan [...]s, Tithes or Reve­nues to maintain his perpetual Wars against the im­pious Pagan Danes, who destroyed all Churches, and Religious, as well as other Houses, where ever they came; that he not only repared, adorned, endow­ed many old de [...]ayed Churches and Monasteries, but likewise in the year [...]88, he built two new Mona­steries of his own, at Ethelingei and Shafftesbury, and en­dowed them with ample riches and possessions; and by sundry Charters gave several Lands to the Churches of Durham, Worcester, and Canterbury. Moreover he not only duly paid Tithes and other Duties to the Church himself, but also by his Laws, enjoyned all his Subjects under sundry mulcts, justly to pay Tithes and Churchels to their Priests and Ministers, with all other Duites and Oblations belonging to the Church for the maintenance of the Ministers and Gods worship: together with Peterpence for the maintenance of the Eng­lish School at Rome; prohibiting all men to invade the Churches Rights and Possessions under severe penalties. 4. ‘That he equally divided all his annual Revenues in­to [Page 81] two equal parts: The first moity was for Pious u­ses, which he subdivided into three parts. The first parcel he bestowed in Almes, [...]o relieve the poor both at home and in forein parts; The second, he be­stowed on Religious Houses and Persons; The third, he gave towards the maintenance of Schools, Scho­lars, Doctors, and learned Men of all sorts, resort­ing to and liberally rewarded by him according to their merits. The other moity was for civil uses, which he likewise divided into 3 equal portions. The first he gave unto his Souldiers; whom he divi­ded into 3 Squadrons: The first Squadron, which were Horse, waited one month on him at his Court, ( as his Life-guard) whiles the other two were im­ployed in military expeditious in the Field: And when their month expired, they all returned from the wars, and then another new Company succeed­ed them; And when their Month was ended, they returning to their Houses, the other Company succeed­ed them. And so they successively kept their monthly courses during all his Reign, being one month in actu­al service, and two months at home about their own affairs. The second part he gave to his Workmen and Artificers of all sorts, skilfull in all Worldly af­fairs. The third part he gave to Strangers in Royal Gifts and Presents, and that as well to the Rich as Poor. Besides, he had a very great Care Ne à Viceco­mitibus et Ministris pauperes opprimere [...]tur, et indebitis exactionibos gravarentur; That the poor people should not be oppressed by Sheriffs and other Offi­cers, nor bur [...]hened with unjust Exactions or Con­tributions; Yea by his large A [...]mes and Gi [...]s he [...]ent to Rome [...] Propos. 1. he procured the English School to be fréed from all Taxes and Tributes by the Popes special Bull.’ And we never read he imposed the least pub­lick Tax upon his Subjects during all his wars and Ex­igences, by his own Regal Power, upon any pretext [Page 28] of publick Necessity, Danger, Defence or Safety of the Realm against the Numerous Invading, plundering Danish forces both by Sea and Land; Which our late and present Aegyptian Tax-masters may do well to consider. Anno 894.

Sim. Dunelm. Hist. de Dunel. Eccl. c. 13, 14. col. 22, 23.In the year of our Lord 894. this King Alfred and Guthurn the Dane, gave to the Church of St. Cutbert in Durham, all the Lands between Weor and Tyne, for a perpetual Succession, free from all Custome and secu­lar Services, Propos. 10. with all Customes, Saca, and Socua, and infaugtheof thereunto belonging, with sundry other Privile­ges, which they ordained to be perpetually observed, Non solum Anglorum sed et Danorum consentiente et col­laudante exercitu; by the consent and approbation of the ARMY, not only of the English but Danes also: Has Leges & haec Statuta (which proves that it was done by a Parliamentary Counsell then held in both their Ar­mies,) Quicunque quolibet nisu Infringere praesumpserint, eos in perpetuum, nisi emendaverint, Gehennae Ignibus puni­endos, anathematizando, Sententia omnium contradidit.

I pretermit the Spelman concil. p. 381 to 387. Welsh Synods held under the Bi­shops of Landaff during King Alfreds Reign (as Sir Henry Spelman conjecture [...], in whom th [...] Reader may peruse them) wherein the Bishop of Landaff and his Clergy excommunicated some of their petty Welsh Kings for Murder, Perjury, violating the Churches Patri­mony; and Injuring the Bishops family; who upon their Repentance and Reconciliation gave all of them some parcels of Land to the Church of Landaff. The rather because I conceive them fabulous, there being no such form of Excommunication used in those daies, as Spelman. Concil. p. 353, 379, 3 [...]0. Sir Henry Spelman proves, nor any such Episcopal Synods held in England under King Alfred himself. ‘The barbarous Danes having throughout all England with fire and sword utterly wasted and destroyed all Cities, Towns, Castles, Monasteries, Churches, put most of the Bishops, Abbots, Clergy to the Sword, and almost quite deleted the knowledge of Learning and Religi­on [Page 83] out of the whole Nation; insomuch that there were very few spiritual persons on this side Humber, who could either understand the Common prayers in the English tongue, or translate any writing out of latine into English; yea so few, that there was not so much as one man on the South-side of the Thames that could do it, till King Alfred ( after his Conquest of the Danes in the latter part of his Reign) restored Learning and Religi­on [...]gain by Degrees;’ as this King himself records in expresse terms, in his Epistle to Bishop Wulsug, by way of Preface to his own Translation of Gregories Pastorals into the English Saxons Language.

King Alfred deceasing, his Son Edward sur­named the Elder, Anno 901. Ethel. Hist. l. 49. c. 4. Mal. de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 5. Matth. Westm. Florent. Wigorn. Sim. Dunelm. Hun­tingd. Hov. Ethel. Bromt. Polychon. E­thelr. Abbas. Fab. Holin­shed, Grafton, Speed in the life of Ed. the Elder and An. 901 to 925. succeeding his Father in the year of Christ 901, thereupon Prince Aethelwald his Uncles Son, aspiring to the Crown without the consent of the King and Nobles of the Realm, seised upon Ox­lie and Winburne: whereupon King Edward marching with his Armie against him to Bath, he fled from Win­burne to the Danes in Northumberland for assistance: who being glad thereof, they all make him King and Prince over all their Kings and Captains: Whereupon they invading Essex and Mercia, King Ed. raised a great Army, chased them into Northumberland, and harrowed the whole Country to the Lakes of Northumberland; where the Kentishmen remaining (contrary to the Kings Command, and Messengers sent to them) after the retreat of the rest of the Army; The Danish Army upon this advantage setting upon them, they gallantly defending themselves, slew their new King Aethel­wald, with King Eorit, and sundry of their chief Com­manders, and many of their Souldiers, though they lost the field. This King and Edelfled his Sister, Queen of Mercians, to prevent the frequent eruptions, plun­ders the Danes, repaired many old ruinated Towns, and built many new ones in convenient places, which they re­plenished with Souldiers, to protect the Inhabitants and re­pell [Page 84] the Enemies, whereby the Common people we [...]e so incou­raged, and became such good Souldiers, that if they heard of the Enemies approach, they would fight and rout them, Rege etiam & Ducibus inconsultis in certamen rue­rent, Proposit. 3. eisque semper numero & scientia praeliandi prae­ [...]arent, it a hostes contemp [...]ni militibus, Regi risui e­rant, as Malmesbury writes. The Country people themselves sighting with the Danes at Ligetune, put them to flight, recovered all the prey they had taken [...] and likewise the Danes Horses, as they likewise did in some other parts. Amongst other places, this King repaired the walls of Colchester, put warlike men in it, & certum eis stipendium assignavit; and assigned them a certain stipend, as Mat [...] Westm. records, neither he, nor other our Historians making mention of assigned wa­ges, to any other Garrisons or Souldiers in that age; At last the Danes in most places throughout England, per­ceiving King Edwards power and wisdom, submitted themselves unto him, elected him for their King and Pa­t [...]on, and swore homage and fealty to him; as likewise did the Kings of Scotland, Northumberland, and Wales.

An. 905.In the year of Grace 905. This VVil. Malmesb. de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 5. p. 47, & 48. Mat. VVestm. An. 905. An­tiq. Eccles. Brit. p. 45. Gervasius Do­robern. Act. Pont. Cant. col. 1644. Godwin in the life of Plegmund, Spelm. Concil. p. 387, 388. Ingulphi Hist. p. 877. [...] 5. King Edward assembled a Synod of the Senators of the English Nation, as Malmesbury, or a great Council of Bishops, Abbots, and faithfull people (as Matthew Westminster, and others s [...]ile it) in the Province of the Gewisii; which by reason of the Enemies incursions had been desti­tute of a Bishop for 7 years space. Whereupon the King and Bishops in this Council, taking good advice, made this wholsom constitution; That instead of 2 Bishops, whereof one had his Sea at Winchester, the other at Schireburn, 5 Bishops should be created; ne Grex Domini, absque cu­ra Pastorali, luporum incursionibus quateretur: Where­upon they in this Council elected 5 Bishops; to wit Frithstan, for Winchester; Athelin for Schireburn; Aedul [...]e for Wells; Werstan for Crideton, and Herstan for Corn­wal; assigning them their several Sees and Diocess; and [Page 85] two other [...]ishops [...]or Dorchester and Cirencester, all consecrated by Archbishop Plegmond at C [...]nterbury in one day. Wil. of Malmesb. and some others write, that this Council was summoned upon the Letter of Pope Formosus, Propos. 5, 6. who excommunicated king Edward with all his Subjects, for suffering the Bishopricks of Winton and Scireburn to be void for 7 years space together: But this must needs be a great mistake, since Pope Formosus was dead ten years before this Council, and before these Bisho­pricks became void, and his pretended Epistle to the Bishops of England makes no mention at all of the king, as Sir Henry Spelman well observes.

In the year 906. An. 906, 921. Lamba [...]di Archaion. Spel. Concil. p. 390, to 400. Mat. Westminster, Wigorn. Hunt. Hoveden, Sim. Dunelm. Brom. and others. An. Dom. 906, 910, 918, 921. king Edward made a Peace and firm agreement with the Danes of Northumberland, and East-England, at Intingford, when (as some think) he and Guthurn the Dane reconfirmed the Civil and Eccle­siastical Laws formerly made and ratified by his Father King Alfred and Guthurn. But Guthurn dying in the year 890, full eleven years before this Edward was king, could not possibly ratifie these Laws at the time of this Accord, being 16 years after his decease, as the Title and Prologue to those Laws in Mr. Lambard and Spel­man erroneously affirm; wherefore, I conceive, that this confirmation of these Laws was rather made in Propos. 5. the year 921. when all our Historians record; that after king Edward (Anno 910. had sent an army into Nor­thumberland, against the perfidious and rebellious Danes, slain and taken many of them Prisoners, and miserably wa­sted their Country for 4 days space, for breaking their for­mer Agreement with him: after his Sister Aegelfled, An. 919. had forced the Danes at York to agree, and swear, that they would submit to her and her Brothers pleasure in all things; and after Edward had vanquished the other Danes, Scotch and Welsh in many Battles; thereupon, in the year 921. the king of Scots, with al [...] his Nati­on, Stredded king of Wales, with all his people, et Reg­naldus (or Reginaldus) Reginald King of the Danes, with all the English and Danes inhabiting Northumber­land [Page 86] (of which Reginald then was King) comming to King Edward, An. 921. submitted themselves unto him, elect­ed him for their Father and Lord, and made a firm Cove­nant with him [...] And therefore I conjecture that Guthur­nus in the Title and Preface of these Laws, is either mistaken, or else mis-written for Reginaldus, then King of these Northern Danes, who had no King in the year 906, that I can read of in our Historians.

De Gene­alogia Reg. Ang. col. 358. Abbot Ethelred, gives this Encomium of this Kings transcendent modesty and justice, Rex Edwar­dus, vir mansuetus et pius, omnibus amabilis et affabilis, adeò omnium in se provocabat affectum, ut Scotti, Cum­bri, Walenses, Northumbri, et qui remanserant Daci, eum non tàm in Dominum ac Regem, quam in Patrem eum omni devotione eligerent. Tanta dehinc Modestia regebat Subditos, tanta Justitia inter proximum et proximum iu­dicabat, ut contra veritatem non dico nihil velle, sed nec pos­se videretur; unde fertur quibusdam iratus dixisse; di­co vobis, si possem vicem vobis redidissem, Quid non posset Rex iu Subditos, Dominus in Servos, Potens in infirmos, Dux in milites? Sed quicquid non di­ctabat aequitas, quicquid veritati repugnabat, quic­quid non permittebat Justitia, quicquid Regiam mansuetudinem non decebat, Sibi credebat impossi­bile.

I wish all our modern domineering Grandees would imitate his presidential Royal Example. Yet I read of one injurious Act done by him, Huntingd. Hist. l. 5. p. 354 Hov. An. pars posterior. p, 422. Mat. VVestm. VVigorn. Sim. Dunel. Anno 920. Chron. Io. Bromton col. 835. After the decease of his renowned Sister Elfleda, Queen of Mer­cia, Anno 920. he dis-inherited her only Daughter Alfwen (or Elwyn, his own Neece) of the Dominion of all Mercia, who held that Kingdom after her Mother, seising and Garrisoning Tamesworth, and Nottingham first, and then disseising her of all Mercia, uniting it to his own Realms, and removing her thence into West-Sex. Magis [...]eurans an utilit [...]r vel inutilitèr, Quan an justè vel injust [...]; Propos. 4. Writes Henry Hunting [...]o [...]. [Page 87] which in [...]rious action, Si violanda sit fides regni ca [...] ­sâ violandae, will not excuse.

The Chronicle of Bromton records, that King Edward as he inlarged the bounds of his Kingdom more than his Father; Col. 831, 835, 836, 837. So Leges condidit, he likewise made Laws to gove [...]n it: which are there registred to Posterity in two parcels, as made at several times, but in what year of his Reign this was, it informs us not, The first of these Laws, declaring his zeal to publick Justice, according to the Laws then in Force, is this.

Edwardus Rex mandat et praecipit omnibus Praefectis et Amicis suis, ut Justa [...]udicia judicent, quam rectio­ra possint, Et in judicial [...] Libro stant [...] nec parcant nec dissimulent [...]pro aliquâ Re Populi Rectum et jus publicum recita [...]e; et unumquodque placitum terminum habeat quando peragatur, quod tunc recitabitur.

The first Chapter of the second part of his Laws inti­mates, that they were made by his W [...]se men assembled in a Parliamentary Council at Exeter; witness the con­tents thereof.

Edwardus Rex admonuit Omnes Sapientes quando fuerunt Exoniae, Proposit. 5. ut investigarent simul et quaererent; quomodo pax eorum melior esse possit quàm anteà fuit; quia visumest ei, quod hoc impletum sit aliter quam deceret, et quam ante [...]praecepisset, Inquisivit itaque qui ad emendationem velint redire, et in societate permanero quâ ipse sit, et a­mare quod amat, et nolle quod nolit, in Mari & in Terrâ. Hoc est tunc, Ne Quisquam rectum difforceat alicui. Siquis hoc faciat, emendet sicut supra dictum est (In his first Laws then either made or rehearsed) prima vice 30 s. secundâ fimilitèr, ad tertiam vicem 120 s. Re­gi.

The last Chapter, being the VIII in Bromtons translation, (but the XI. in the Saxon Coppy) is this. Volo ut omnis Praepositus habeat Gemotum (an Hun­dred Court) semper ad quatuor hebdomadas; et efficiat [Page 88] ut omnis homo rectum habeat, et omne placitum capiat terminum quando perveniat ad finem; Siquis hoc excipiat, emendet, sicut antè dictum est.

Anno 924.King Edward deceasing, Wil. Mal. de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 6. Mat. VVestm. VVig. An. 925 to 940, Hunting. Hist. l. 5. p. 334. Hov. Annal. pars prior, p. 422. Ing. Hist. p. 877, 878. Chron. Iohan. Brom. col. 8 [...]8. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. Reg. Ang. col. 134. to 154. Ethelw. Hist. l. 4. c. 5. Aelr [...] Abbas de Ge­neologia Reg. Ang. Pol. l. 6. c. 6. Henry de Knighton, de En. Ang. l. 1. c. 5. Speeds Hist. p. 393, 396 [...] Fab. Holin­shed, Gra [...]ton, Caxton in his life. Aethelstan his eldest Son ( designed by his Fathers Will to succeed him) was elected King at Winchester in the year 924. Magno Optimatum consensu et omnium favore; and so [...]emn­ly Crowned at Kingston, only one Alfred, and some factious ones opposed his election, pretending he was illegitimate and born of a Concubine, whereupon they would have set up his Brothe [...] Edwin being legitimate and next heir as they pretended; whom the Generali­ty of the Nobles rejected, nondum ad regnandum prop­ter teneros Annos Idon [...]o. Aethelstan after his Coro­nation knowing his Brother to be born in lawfull Ma­trimony, and fearing Ne per ipsum quando (que) Regni solio privaretur, lest he should be some time or other deprived of his kingdom by him, hated him extreme­ly; and at the sollicitation of some Parasites, where­of his Cup-bearer was the chief, to be rid of him and this his fear, he caused young Edwin, attended only with one Page, to be put into an old broken Boat in the midst of the Sea, without Sail, Oare, or Pilate, that so his death might be imputed to the waves; out off which Boat the young Prince in discontent cast himself head-long into the Sea (or rather the Page threw him head-long over-board,) and so was he drowned [...] But the Page recovering his body, by rowing with his hands and feet, brought it to Land where it was in­ [...]erred. The King was hereat so [...]roubed with a real (or feigned) contrition for this barbarous bloudy fact, Propos. 2. that he did seven years voluntary penance for this his fra­tricide, and adjudged his Cup-bearer to a cruel death, who gave him this ill advice; and to pacifie his Brothers [...]host and his own Conscience, built two new Mo­nasteries at Middleton and Michelresse, and there [Page 89] was scarce any old Monastery in England which he a­dorned not either with buildings or Ornaments, or Books or Land [...], to exp [...]ate this his bloody crime.

‘In this king Aethelstans reign In the year 927. There were fiery Beams and Meteors seen throughout all the Northern parts of Eng­land; soon after which Athelstan resolved utterly to extirpate the perfidious Nation of the Danes, and treacherous Scots, which had violated their Agree­ment made with his Father, whereupon he marched with a great Army by Land, and Navy by Sea into Northumberland and Scotland, wasted and harrowed the Country without resistance, forced Guithfrith King of Northumberland out of his kingdom, uniting it to his own Realm, vanquished and overcame Howel king of Wales, Constantine king of Scots, Anlafe the Dane, and others in a set battel, drove them out of their Realms, and forced them to submit to him: Who upon their submission, knowing the chance of war to be variable, and pitying the Cases of these down-cast Princes, restor'd them presently to their former estates, with this Princely Speech, That it was more honour to make a King, than to be a King: yet these petty Kings, Princes rebelling afterwards, & siding with Anlafe against him, were all rou [...]ed by A­thelstan [...], King Constantine of Scotland, with five more of these Kings, 12 Dukes, and most of their Army slain in one battel, principally by the valor of Turketulus, and the Londoners, An. 837: Whereupon the petty Kings of Wales, contracted to pay him a yearly tribute of 20 pound weight of Gold, and 300 of Silver, and 25000 head of Cattel, with a certain number of Hawks and Hounds, which no King of England ever exacted or received from them before.’

De Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 6, p. 49. William of Malmes [...]ury (who exceeds in his praises) writes, that it was truly reported of him amongst the English, Quod nemo Legalius vel literatius rem­publicam [Page 90] administraverit; That no king governed the Com­mo [...]we [...]l [...]h more legally or learnedly than he, being as Ingulphi Hist. p. 817. In­gulphus records, guided and directed by Turketulus, his Chancellour, a man of great integrity, honesty, and piety, of prof [...]und judgement, whose decrees upon debate were irrefra­g [...]ble. This king Athelstan, for the better admini­stration of Jus [...]ice, enacted sundry excellent, civil, and ecclesias [...]ical Laws, recorded in Bromt. Lamb. & Spelm.

Anno 928.The first of these his Laws, were made and enact­ed in the famous Chron. Io. Bromt. col. 840, to 856. Spelman. Con. cil. p. 396, 397, 405, 406. L [...]mbardi Ar­chaton. [...]oun [...]il of Grately, about the year 928, in which the king himself, Wulfehelm Arch­bishop of Cante [...]bury, and the rest of the Bishops, and all the Nobles and Wisemen which King Ethelstan could assemble, were present, who all ordained and confirm­ed these Laws in this great Council, as the last Chap­ter [...] in [...]orms us in [...]hese words.

Proposit. 5.6. Totum hoc institutum est et confirmatum, In magno Synodo apud Grateleyam, cui Archiepi [...]co­p [...] [...] et omnes Optimates, et Sapi­entes, quos Adelstanus Rex potuit Congregare: Or, Cum [...] Optimates et Sapientes ab Aethe [...]tano evo­ca [...] frequentissimi, as another Copy renders it [...] which proves, that all the Members of this Council were summoned to it by this kings writ, and not elected by the peoples suf [...]rages. And although the Archbishops, Bishops, and other Clergy men were the chief advisers of the Ecclesiastical L [...]ws, made in this Council, as this Pro­logue to them attests: Ego Aethelstanus Rex ex pru­denti [...]l [...]elmae Archiepiscopi, aliorumque Episcoporum et Servorum Dei consilio mando; yet they were all ena­cted and confirmed by all the Nobles and Wisemen in the Council, as the premises evidence. In this Council, the king commanded [...] by his Laws, all his Officers, that they should demand and exact from his Subjects such things and duties only as they might justly and lawfully receive, Proposit. 1. adding this memorable reason for it; ‘Nunquam enim erit populo bene consultum, nec digne Deo conser­ [...]abitur, [Page 91] ubi Lucrum impium et magis falsum dili­gitur, Ideo [...]e [...]ent omnes amici Dei quo [...] miquum en, enervare, quod [...]ustum est elevare; non pa [...]i ut prop [...]er falsum, et pecuniae quaestum, se forisfaciant homines, er [...] [...]ere [...]apientem Deum cui displicet omnis injustitia:’ Which I wish all our unrighteous covetous [...]x-ma [...]ers, Excisers and Exacters would now seriously consider: ‘Af [...]er which it follows, Chris [...]ianis autem omnibus neces [...]arium est, ut re­ctum diligant, ut iniqua condemnent, et saltem sa­cris Ordinibus erecti justum semper erigant et pra­va deponant: Hinc debent Episcopi cum saeculi Judi­cibus interesse Judiciis, ne permittant, si possint, ut illinc aliqua pravitatum germina pullulaverint.’ And to avoid all arbitrary proceedings, oppressions, and In­justice in all things, this Council by positive Laws as­certains all fines, amerciaments, imprisonments, and cor­poral punishments for criminal offences, from which the Iudges might not vary. And withall defines, what Armes every man should [...]ind in those times of war, against the Danes and other Enemies by his positive Law, Lex 21. ( Sax. 16.) Omnis homo habebit duos homines cum bo­nis equis de omni Carucâ. Proposit. [...], 3.

King Ethelstane after this Council at Grately (what years is not expressed) assembled several other Parlia­mentary Proposit. 5. Councils at Exeter, Fevresham, and Thunder­feld; wherein he and his Wisemen, by common consent, confirmed the Laws made at Grately, altering some of them in certain particulars, and adding some new Laws un­to them, as you may read at large in Brom [...]on, and as the first Chap [...]er, and this Prologue to those Laws as­sure us.

‘ Chron. [...]oh. Brom [...]. col. 850. `Haec sunt Judicia quae Sapientes Exon [...]ae consi­lio Adelstani Regis instituerunt, & iterum [...] Fe­vresham [...] et tertia vice apud Thundresfeldiam ubi hoc de­finitum simul et confi [...]matum est; et hoc imprimis est, Proposit. 5, 6. ut observentur om [...]ia Judicia quae apud Gratel [...]y­am [Page 92] imposita fuerint, praeter mercatum Civitatis, et Diei Dominicae.’

The Cause of making these new Laws, and confirm­ing the old, was, a Complaint to the King in the Coun­cil at Exeter, that the Peace and Laws made at Grate­ley, were not so well kept as they should be; and that The [...]ves and Malefactors abounded; as this Prologue manifests, Chron. Ioh. Brom. col. 850. ‘Ego Adelstanus Rex notifico vobis, sicut dictum est Michi, quod pax nostra pejus obser­vata est quam Michi placet, vel apud Grateleyam fue­rit institutum: Proposit. 5, 6. Et Sapientes Michi dicunt, quod hoc­diutius pertuli quàm debueram; Nunc inveni cum il­lis Sapientibus, qui apud Exoniam fuerint mecum in sancto Natali Domini, quod parati sunt omnino quando velim, cum seipsis & uxoribus, & pecunia, & omni re suâ ire quo tunc voluero, nisi malefacto­res requiescant eo tenore quo nunquam deinceps in patriam istam redeant, &c.’

In the Council of Fevresham in Kent, the King by some of his Wise-Counsellors sent thither to it, propoun­ded some things for the weal and peace of the Country, to­gether with his pardon for fore-past offences; which they upon debate assenting to, and drawing up into sundry heads, returned to the King for his Royal assent, with this me­morable Gratulatory Prologue; which most truly re­presenting unto us the proceedings in the great Coun­cils of that Age, I thought meet entirely to tran­scribe.

Chronicon Ioh. Bromt. [...]ol. 850, 851. ‘Karissime, Episcopi tui de Kent, & omnis Ken­tescire, Thayni, Comites, & Villani, tibi Domino dile­ctissimo suo gratias agunt, quod nobis de pace nostra praecipere voluisti, & de commodo nostro perquire­re & consulere, quia magnum opus est inde nobis di­vitibus & Egenis. Et hoc incepimus quanta diligentia potuimus, consilio horum Sapientum quos ad nos misisti, unde Karissime Domine, primum est, de nostrae decim [...], ad quam valdè cupidi sumus & voluntarii, & tibi sup­plices [Page 93] gra [...]ias agimus admonitionis tuae. Secundum est, de pace nos [...]r [...] quam omnis popul [...]s teneri desi­derat, sicut apud Grateleyam Sapientes tui posuerunt, et sicut etiam nunc dictum est in Concilio apud Fef­resham. Tertium est, quod gratian [...] omnes miseri­corditur Hermerum dominum suum, [...]e dono quod forisfactis hominibus concessi [...]i; hoc est, quod pardo­natur omnibus forisfactura de quoc [...]nque furto quod antè Concilium de Fefresh [...]m factum fuit, eo tenore quo semper deinceps ab omni malo quiescant, et om­ne latrocinium confiteantur, et emendent hinc ad Augustum. Quartum, Ne aliquis recipiat hominem al­terius sine licentia ipsius, cui prius folgavit, nec in­tra marcam, nec extra, et etiam ne Dominus libero homini hlasocnam interdicat, si rectè custodierit eum Quintum, Qui ex hoc discedat sit dignus eorum quae in scripto pacis habentur, quod apud Grateleyam insti­tutum est. Sextum, si aliquis homo sit adeo dives, vel tantae parentelae quod castigari non possit, vel il­lud cessare nolit, ut efficias qualiter abstrahatur in a­liam partem regni tui, sicut dictum est in occiduis partibus, sit alterutrum quod sit, sit Comitum, sit Villanorum. Septimum est, ut omnis homo teneat homines suos in fide jussione suâ, contrà omne fur­tum. Si tunc sit aliquis qui tot homines habeat quod non sufficiat omnes custodire, praepositum talem prae­ponat sibi singulis villis qui credibilis ei sit, & qui concredat hominibus. Et si praepositis alicui eorum hominum concredere non audeat, inveniat XII ple­gios cognationis suae qui ei stent in fide jussione, Et si Dominus vel praepositus, vel aliquis hoc ins [...]ringat, vel abhinc exeat, sit dignus eorum, quae apud Gra­teleyam dicta sunt, nisi Regi magis placeat alia justitia. Octavum, Quod omnibus placuit de scutorum opere, sicut dixisti. Precamur Domine misericordiam tuam, sit in hoc, sit in alterutrum, vel nimis, vel minus, ut hoc e­mendare Iubeas juxta velle tuum. Et nos devotè parati [Page 94] sumus ad omnia quae nobis praecipere velis, quae unquam a­liquatenus implere valeamus.’

After this there was another kind of Parliamentary Council held at London, & not long after that, another at Thithamberig, wherein many consultations were had, & propositions made for suppression & punishment of Theeves and keeping of the peace, which the Iustices, Commissio­ners, and others appointed to keep the peace, and to take sureties of all men to the keeping thereof, concluded up­on at London, and after submitted to the Kings Council, to enlarge or alter, as he should see cause; Who thereup­on made some alteration and mitigation at Thithamberig, of what the King thought over-severe, in putting to dea [...]h those who were above 12 years of Age, for 12 d. value, as these passages attest, declaring the proceedings of that Parliamentary Council.

‘ Chron. Ioh Bromt. col. 852, 855, 856. Hoc consultum est, quod Episcopi et praepositi qui Londoniensi Curiae pertinent, edixerunt, & jure­jurando confirmaverunt in suo Fridgildo; Comites & villani in adjectione judiciorum, quae apud Gra­teleyam & Exoniam instituta sunt, & iterum apud Thundresfeldam.’

Cap. 1. ‘Et est imprimis haec, non parcatur alicui la­troni supra 12 Annos et supra 12 d. de quo verè fu­erit inquisitum quod reus sit, quin occidatur, & capi­atur omne quod habet, &c.’

Cap, 14. ‘Nec tacendum est vel praetereundum, si do­minus noster vel praepositorum nostrorum aliquis ul­lum Augmentum excogitare possit, ad nostrum Frid­gildum; ut hoc gratanter excipiamus, sicut nobis om­nibus convenit, & nostrum necesse sit, & in Deo con­fidimus, et regni nostri Domino.’

Cap. 15. ‘Si totum hoc ita complere volumus, res totius populi meliorabitur contra fures quam an [...]e [...] fuit, & si remissius egerimus de pace & vadiis quae si­mul dedimus, & quam Rex nobis praecipit, timere possumus, vel magis scire quod fures isti regnabunt, [Page 95] plus quam antè fecerunt, si fidem teneamus, et pa­cem sicut domino nostro placeat, quia magnum opus est ut insistamus et peragamus quo [...] ipse velit, et si amplius praecipiat cum omni jocunditate et devotione parati sumus.’

Cap. 17. Item quod Sapientes omnes dederunt vadium suum, insimul Archiepiscopo apud Thundresfeldam quando Ealpheagus, Scyb, et Brithnodus Odonis [...]ilius veneruut ad Concilium ex ore Regis, ut omnis praepositus vadium capiat in suo comitatu de pace servandâ sicut A­delstanus Rex apud Fefresham, et quartâ vice apud Thun­dresfeldam coram Archiepiscopo, et Episcopis, et Sa­pientibus, quas ipse Rex nominavit qui interfuerunt et judicia conservaverunt Quae in hoc Concilio fue­runt instituta, &c.

Cap. 18. Item quod Adelstanus Rex praecepit Episcopis suis et praepositis omnibus in toto Regno suo, ut pacem ita custodiant sicut recitavit, et Sapientes sui.

Cap. 19. Item Rex dixit nunc iterum apud Thitlan [...]birig Sapientibus suis, et praecepit ostendi Atchiepiscopo et caeteris Episcopis, quod ei miserabile videtur, quod ali­quis tàm juvenis occidatur, vel pro tàm parvâ re sicut inno­tuit ei quod ubique fiebat; dixit itaque, Quod ei vide­batur et eis cum quibus hoc egerat, ne aliquis occida­tur junior quam quindecim Annorum, nisi se defende­re velit, vel aufugere, et in manus ire velit, ut tunc deducatur, sir major sit minor, qualiscunque sit, si se de­derit ponatur in Carcere, sicut apud Greateleyam dictum est, et per idem redimatur &c. Praecepit Rex ne aliquis occidatur pro minori precio quam 12 d. nisi fugiat vel repugnet, ne dubitetur tunc licet minus. Si haec ita conservemus, in Domino Deo confidimus quod pax nostra melior erit quam antea fuit.

As these passages demonstrate the proceedings of the Parliamenrary Councils in that Age, (unknown to most, for which end I have transcribed them at large) [Page 96] so they clearly prove, that Theeves or Felons (much lesse other English Freemen) could not be imprisoned, killed, put to death, fined or ransommed, but by speci­al Acts, Propos. 2, 4, 5, 6. and Laws made in General Parliamentary Councils, nor any Laws made, enacted, or altered in such Co [...]ncils, but by the Kings Royal Assent thereto, who then frequently summoned th [...]m, and all the Mem­bers of them, by writ and nomination, without the Peoples Election.

Henry de Knyghton, de Eventibus Angliae l. 1. c. 5. an [...] See the Hi­story of Guy o [...] Warwick. some other fabulous Authors relate, Anno 932. that in the eighth year of King Aethelstans reign, Olaus King of Denmark, Golanus King of Norwey, and the Duke of Normandy, with 8 Dukes and 5 hundred thousand Soul­diers, arived in England, Propos. 5, 6, 9, 10. bringing with them out of Africa, A Giant called Colybrand, the strongest and most famous at that time throughout the World; Whereupon King Aethelstan hearing of their com­ming, Congregavit Magnates, assembled his Noble­men at Winchester, to advice with them, how they might resist the Enemies and fight with them in Battel; Tha [...] whiles king Aethelstan vacaret tali Coneilio et congrega­tione po [...]uli sui in Wintonia, the foresaid kings came up­on him with their Army, and besieged him Cum Baro­nia sua with his Batons, in that City for two years space. Neither durst the English fight with them by reason of their multitude and Power. In the mean time they made this Agreement, that king Aethel­stan, should find out one Champion to fight a single Duel with Colybrand; that in all future times the Realm of England should be held of the King of Denmark under a Tribute, and if Colybrand were conquered by Aethelstans Champion, rhen Olaus should forfeit and disclaim the Realm of England for him and his Heirs for ever, and no King of Denmark should afterwards lay claim to the Realm of England, nor yet molest it. That the king in near one whole years space, could not find [Page 97] out a Champion to encounter Colybrand; whereupon he and his Nobles were very much troubled. At las [...], God by an Angel from Heaven, directed the King to find out Guy of Warwick, comming thither as a Pil­grim, who undertook to encounter Colybrand; and af­ter a sharp battel with him in the view of both kings and their Armies, cut off one of his hands, and after that his head. ‘By which Victory the whole Land of Eng­land enjoyed the unviolated privilege of rest and Li­berty from the Danish king, untill Cnute king of Denmark gained the Realm of England from Edmund Ironside.’ But this Relation being contrary to the truth of History, and the Stream of all our Historiogra­phers, I shall repute it meerly fabulous; though I could not well omit it, for that Relation it hath to this my Theame an [...] precedent Propositi­ons.

De Gest. Reg. Ang. l. 2. c. 6. p. 52. Spel­man. conc. p. 407, 408. Speeds Hist. p. 396. See In­gulph. Hist. p. 378. William of Malmesbury and others out of him re­cord, that Elfrid (a Noble man) who opposed Aethel­stans Title to the Crown, though in vain, intended to have seized on him at Winchester, and put out his eyes; but his Treason being discovered before it came to the Accomplishment, he was taken and sent to Rome to purge himself by Oath; where before the Altar of St. Peter and Pope Iohn the 10 th, he abjured the fact, and thereupon fell suddainly down dead to the Earth, and being carried from before the Altar by his Ser­vants to the English School, he there died within three daies after. Proposit. 2, 4, 5, 6, 10. Upon this the Po [...]e [...]ent to [...]he king, to advise what he should do with him, and [...]hether he should allow him burial with other Christia [...] C [...]rps. ‘The king hereupon assembling a Council of his Nobles, to ad­vise about it; Optimates Regionis [...] the Nobles of the Realm with a great Company of Elfrids kindred, ear­nestly requested of the King with great humility, that his body might be committed to Christian Burial.’ The King consenting to their Request, acquainted the [Page 98] Pope therewith; who granted him Christian Burial, though unworthy. Hereupon the Nobles adjudged all his Lands and Possessions great and small, to the King; who by their consent, [...]ropos. 2, 4, [...], 6.10. granted and confirmed them all to the Ab­by of Malmesbury by his Charter, wherin he recites; Sci­ant Sapientes regionis Nostrae, non has praefatas terras me injustè Rapuisse, Rapinam (que) Deo Dedicasse, sed sic eas accepi Quemadmodum judicaverunt omnes Optimates Regni Anglorum. Insuper et Apostolicus Papa Romanae Ecclesiae Johannes; After which, reci­ting the Treachery, perjury and death of Elfred, with his Condescention to his Nobles and friends request aforesaid, he concludes thus. ‘Et sic Adjudicata est mihi tota possessio ejus in magnis et modicis. Sed et haec Apicibus praenotamus literarum, ne quamdin Chri­stianitas regnat, aboleatur; unde mihi praefata pos­sessio, quam Deo et Sancto Peiro dedi, donatur; nec Justius novi quam Deo et sancto Peiro hanc possessio­nem dare, q [...]i aemulum meum in conspectu omnium cadere fecerunt, et mihi prosperitatem Regni largiti sunt.’

To which Malmesbury subjoyns. In his Verbis Regis sa­pientiam, et pietatem ejus in Dei rebus suspicere par est: Sapientiam, eo quod animadverterat, juvenis presertim, non esse Dei Gratiosum de Rapinâ Holocaustum. Pietatem, eo quod Munus ultione divin [...] collatum, Deo potissimum non ingratus rependeret.

From whence I shall only observe, that Elsrid be­ing a P [...]er of the Realm, dying perjured as a [...]oresaid, was ad [...]udged to forfei [...] all his Lands for Treason after his death only by his Peers in a Parliamentary Council, and that i [...] the king had seized on them without their judg [...]ment, it had been an unjust Rapine, by his own Confession; but being legally confiscated to him by their Judgement, it was no Rapine, but Iustice for him to seize [...] and Piety to dispose of them at his pleasure to this Church. What Churches and Monasteries [Page 99] he built and repaired throughout the Realm; What Lands he restored to St. Augustines Church at Canterbury on the day of his Coronation (by the Assent of his Bishops and Nobles) though long detained from it; and how he gave the Lands of Folcastan, in Kent, e [...]cheated by the Danes destruction of the Nunnery there, to Christ-church in Canterbury, you may read in the Ingulph [...] Historia. p. 878. Chronic [...] VVill. Thorn, Col. 1778. Evi­dentiae Eclesiae Christi, Cant. Col. 2220. &c. Margi­nal Authors.

de Gest: R. Ang. l. 2. c. 6. p. 51. See In­gulp. [...]ist. p. 877, 878. William of Malmesbury informs us, that Bald­win Earl of Flanders, sent Embas [...]adour by Hugh King of France, to King Ethelstan, to demand his Sister for his Wife, brought over with him divers rich presents, and Reliques (Amongst others, the Sword of Constan­tine the Great, the Lance of Charls the Great, and one of the 4 Nails that pierced our Saviours body, set in plates of Gold; A piece of our Saviours Cross inclosed in a Christal Case &c. all which he presented to the King and Lady) cum in Conventu Procerum, apud Abin­donium proci postulata exhibuisset: Which intimates, that this King consulted with an assembly of his Nobles a­about his Sisters Marriage to the King of France, as a mater of Parliamentary consideration.

Ingulphus Hist. p. 876, 877, 878. records, that Tur­ketulus was his Chancellor and chief Counsellour, who affected not Honors and Riches, refu [...]ed many Bishop­ricks offered him by the King, Tanquam [...]endiculas Sa­tanae ad animas evertendas; and would never accept of any Bishishoprick all his life, being Content only with his own Lands and Wages: That all his Decrees were so just and legal, that they remained irrevocable, when once made: That he was a great Souldier, and fought most valiantly against the Danes, and often gloried and said, He was most happy in this, that he had never murdered nor maimed any one, Cum pugnare [...]ro patria, & maxi­mè contra Paganos licite quisque possit; He esteem­ing the slaughter of such Pagan Enemies in defence [...]f his Country, lawfull, and no murther nor maim.

[Page 100] Anno 940.King Aethelstan, deceasing without i [...]ue, his Bro­ther Edmund succeeded him An. 940. who upon the false suggestions of some of his Souldiers and Courtiers, Malmesb. de G [...]st. R [...]g. Angl. l. 2. c. 7. Hoveden An­nal. pars prior, p. 422. Ingulp. Hist. p. 878. Huntindon Hist. l. 5. p. 355. Ethelwer­di Hist. l. 4. c. 6. Chron. Io­han. Bromton, Col. 856, 857, 858. Mat. VVestm. et Wi­gorn. [...]n. 940. to 946. de­deprived Dunstan (whom he had made his Chancel­lour, and one of his privy Con [...]cil, year ranked amongst the Royal Palatines and Princes of his Realm) of all his digni­ties and Offices. The very next day after, being like to break his Neck as he rod a hunting over a steep Rock, had not his horse miraculously stopped at the Rocks brink in his full carier, he immediatly sent for Dunstan; and to repair the injury done him, rod pre­sently [...]o Glastonbury, and made him Abbot thereof. Presently after, Anla [...]fe King of Norwey, whom Ae­thelstan had driven out of the Kingdom of Northumber­land, came with a great Navy and Army to York, being called in by the persidious and rebellious Northumberlan­ders, who instantly revolted to him, and elected him for the [...]r King. Whereupon he marching Southward wi [...]h a puissant Army, purposing to subjugate the Realm of England to himself, King Edmund gathering his forces together, encountred him, and after a bloody battel fought a whole day between them at Leicester, with great loss on both sides, Proposit. 4. Odo Archbishop of Canterbury and Welstan Archbishop of York perceiving the danger on both parts, and the Destruction of the Realm, made this A­greement between them; that Anlaffe should quietly enjoy the whole Northeast part of England, lying North of Wat­lingstreet; and Edmund all the Sou [...]hern part thereof, du­ring their joynt Lives, and the Survivor of them enjoy the whole Realm after the others decease: B [...]t Anlaffe soon after wasting the Church of St. Balter, and burning Tivinagham with fire, was presently seised on by Gods a­venging Iudgement, and miserably ended his life.

About the year 940. Spelman. Concil. p. 408, 411. &c. Hoel Dha, Prince of all Wales, Anno. 940. sent for six Laymen, eminent for authority and knowledge, out of every Kemut, or hundred of his Realm, and all the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, & Priors of his Realm, digni [...]ied with a Pastoral staff; who continuing all tog [...]ther, [Page 101] in prayer, fasting and consultation all the Lent, did in this Welsh Pa [...]liament, make and enact many Civil and Ec­clesiastical Laws, which they divided into 3 parts and books, Propos. 5.2 [...] [...]or the better Government of the Realm and Church; which you may read in Spelman. In the 22 Law whereof they thus determine: Tres autem sunt hom [...]nes quorum nullus potest per Legem impignora [...]e contra ali­quod Iudicium: Primus est Rex, ubi non poterit se­cundum Legem in Lite stare coram judice [...]uo agendo vel respondendo, per dignitatem naturalem, vel per dig­nitatem terrae, ut Optimas, vel alius. So that by the Laws of those times, nor only the Kings of England, but even the petty Kings of Wales were by their very Natural and Royal Dignities, exempted from all per­sonall Tryals and Iudgements against them in any Courts of Iustice, seeing they had no Peers to be tryed by.

In the year 940 Simeon Dunelm. Hist. de Dunel. Eccl. c. 16. col. 23. c. 24. Reingwald [or Reginald) the Dane comming with a great Navy into Northumber­land, slew most of the best Inhabitants of that Realm, or drove them out of it. He likewise seized upon all the Lands of St. Cutbert, and gave his Lands to two of [...]is Souldiers; one of them called Scula, who afflicted the mi­serable Inhabitants with Grievous aud intollerable Tri­butes; whence even unto this day, the Yorkshire-men as often at they are compelled to pay Tributum Regale, Propos. 1, 4. A Royal Tribute, endeavour to impose a pecuniary Mulct on the Land which this Scula possessed, for the easing of themselves. Scilicet Legem deputant, quod Paganus per Tyrannidem fecerat, qui non legitimo Regi Ang­lorum, sed barbaro et aliegenae Regis Anglo­rum hosti militabat, Nec tamen quamvis multum in hoc Laboraverint Pravam Consuetudinem huc usque Sancto Cuthberto resistente Introducere potuerunt; writes Simeon Dunelmensis. ‘The other part of those Lands one Onlasbald seised upon; who was much more cruel and oppressive to all men than Scula; extra­ordinarily vexing the Bishop, Congregation, and [Page 102] People of Saint Cutbert, and particularly seising upon the Land belonging to the Bishoprick;’ Whereupon the Bishop oft endeavouring by perswasion to draw him to God, and entreating him to lay aside the obstinate ri­gor of his mind, and refrain himself from the unlaw­full Invasion of the Churches Lands, else if he con [...]temned his admonitions, God and St. Cutbert would severely avenge the Injuries done by him to them, and others. ‘He with a diabolical mind contemning his admonitions and Threats, swore by his Heathen Gods, that he would from thenceforth be a more bit­ter Enemie towards St. Cuthbert and them all, than e­ver he was before; Whereupon the Bishop with all his Monks falling prostrare on the earth, earnestly prayed to God and his holy Confessor, to annul those proud Tyrants Threats; who was then comming into the place where they were praying, having one foot within the Door, and the other without; in which posture he stood there immovably fixed, as if both his feet had been nayled, being able neither to go out nor come in, but standing immovable, till being long thus tortured, he there gave up his mi [...]e­rable soul in the place: with which example all others being terrified, would no further presume by any means to invade the Land, nor any thing else belon­ging of right to the Church.,’

Anno 941. Mat. West. e [...] Wigorn. An. 941. to 946. Hu [...]t [...]ngd. Hist. l. 5. p. 355, Hov. Annal. pars prior p. 421. Ethelw. Hist. l. 4. c. 6. VVilliam Malmesbury, De Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 7. Simeon Dunelm. Hist. de Dunelm. Eccl. c. 18. col. 26. et de Gest. Reg. Angl. col. 134, 155, 156. Ethelr. Ahbas de Gen. Reg. Ang. col. 358. Pol. l. [...] c. 7. Fab. Caxt. Grast. Holinsh. Speed in the life of king Edm. Anno 941. ‘the Rebellious o Northumberlan­ders preferring disloyalty before the Fealty which they owed unto Magnificent Edmund King of England, elected Anlaff (King of the Nor [...]eyans) for [...]heir King, Son to the former Anlaff; who pe­rishing suddenly for his Sacrilege (as aforesaid) he and Reginald, the Son of Garthfrith, after their Bap­tism, breaking their faith and Agreement with [Page 103] King Edmu [...]d, by invading his Dominions. Edmund thereupon by force of Armes expelled them both out of the Realm of Northumberland, and united it to his own kingdom; and wrested Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, and Stamford out of the hands o [...] the Usurping, insolent, oppressing Danes, with all Mer­cia; subduing and reducing the Monarchy of all Eng­land unto himself; extirpating all the Pagan Danes with their infidelity; restoring Christianity to its Lustre, and the English to their Possessions and Liberties.’ The year following he wasted and subdued all Cumberland, and pillaged the people of all their goods: And because the people of that Country were perfi­dam & legibus insolitam, perfidious and unaccustomed to Laws, so that he could not totally subdue and civilize them, having harrowed it with his Army, and put out the eyes of the two sons of Dummail, Propos [...]t. 3, 7. King thereof, he gave the Country to Malcolm King of Scots, to be held of him­self, upon this Condition, that he should assist him, and de­fend the Northern parts of England by Land and Sea from the Incursions of invading Enemies.

This King Edmund after the Conquest and Expulsi­on of his Enemies, An. 944. by the advise of Dunston and his Chancellour Turketulus, Chron. Ioh. Bromt. col. 858. to 862. Spelm. Concil. p. 415. to 428 [...] Lambardi Ar­chaion, Poly­chron. l. 6. c. 7. Malmesb. de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 7. In­gulphi Hist. p. 878. made good Lawes, and ordi­nances, Ecclesiastical and Civil, for the Government of his Realm; for which purpose, about the year of our Lord 944, he as [...]embled a Parliamentary Council of the Clergy & Laity at London, to consult and advise with them in the making of his Lawes. Which the Proems to them, thus expresse. Edmundus Rex ipso solenni Pascatis festo Fre­quentem Londini tam Ecclesiasticorum quam Laicorum Caetum celebravit, as one version out of the Saxon; Or [...] Congregavit magnam Synodum Dei ordinis et saeculi; as ano [...]her [...]anslation renders it, cui interfuit, Odo, et VVulstanus Archiepiscopi, et alii plures Episcopi [...] ut a­nimorum suorum, Proposit. 5 [...] et, [...]orum omnium, qui eis curae sunt con­suleretur saluti; And this Proem of King Edmund, him­self [Page 104] thus seconds, Bromt. Spel. Lamb. [...]uo supra. Ego Edmundus Rex omnibus qui in d [...]tion [...] ac potestate meâ sunt, senibus & juvenibus, clarè sig­nifico, Me à scientissimis Regni mei in celebri Ec [...]le [...] ­sticorum quam Laicorum frequentiâ, studiose requisi­visse, quo tandem pacto Christiana proveheretur fides, &c. Or, Mando, & praecipio omni populo Seniorum & Iunio­rum qui in Regione mea sunt, Ea quae Investigans Investi­gavi cum Sapi [...]ntibus Clericis & Laicis: In this Coun­cil there were three parcels of Laws made; the one, meerly Ecclesiastical; the other, meerly Civil; the third, mixt of bo [...]h [...] And in this Council, I conceive, the Constitu­tions of A [...]chbishop Odo were read and ratified. The greatest par [...] of the Civil Laws there made, were a­gainst Murder, bloodshed, fighting, breach of Peace, Theft and Perjury: In the last parcel of these Laws, cap. 5. The King gives God and them thanks, for assisting him in making these Laws, in these words; Maximas an­tem & Deo & vobis omnibus ago gratias, Qui me auxilio vestro in hac pacis quam nunc ad prostigandos fures sancivimus, P [...]oposit. 5. Lege adjuvistis; ac vehementer con­ [...]ido, eo vos propensius Nobis in posterum opitulatu­ros, quo hujus Decreti observatio magis vi [...]ebitur ne­ces [...]aria.

About the same year, 944. Chron. Iohan. Bromt. col. 859. this King assem­bled another Parliamentary Council of his Bishops and Wisemen at Culinton, where they enacted 7 other Laws, Principally against Theeves, together with an Oath of Allegiance to king Edmund, Proposit. 5, 4, 7. thus prefaced. Haec est Institutio quam Edmunds Rex, & Episcopi sui, cum Sa­pientibus suis instituerunt apud Culintoniam de pace & Iuramento faciendo. The two first of these Laws I shall transcribe as pertinent to my Theam.

Cap. 1. Imprimis, ut omnes jurent in nomine Do­mini, pro quo sanctum illud sanctum est, fide [...]i [...]atem Edmuudo Regi, Sicut Homo debet esse fidelis Domi­no suo, Proposit. 7. sine omni controversiâ & seditione, in mani­festo, in occulto, in amando quod amabit, Nolendo [Page 105] quod, noluit; et antequam Iuramentum hoc dabitur, ut ne­mo concelet hoc in fratre vel proximo suo plus quam in ex­traneo.

Cap. 2. Vult etiam, ut ubi fur pro certo cognoscetur Twe [...]fhindi et Twifhindi (that is me [...] of 600 or 200 s. Land by the year) consocientur et exuperent eum vivum, vel mortuum, alterutrum quod poterunt; [...]t qui aliquem eorum infaidiabit, qui in eâ quaestione fuerint, sit inimicus Regis et omnium Amicorum ipsius. Et si quis adire negaverit, et coadjuvare nolit, emendat Regi cxx s. vel secundum hoc pernegat quod nescivit, et hundredo xxx s.

From whence it is apparent, That all Oaths of Al­legance; and Laws against Theeves and other Malefa­ctors, were then made and enacted in Parliamentary Councils assembled for that purpose, and all fines, for offences imposed, and reduced to a certainty only by Parliament. And by the last parcel of King Ed­munds Laws in Bromton, it seems, the manner of contra­cting Marriage was then prescribed and setled by a Par­liamentary Council.

This King Chron. VVil. Thorn. col. 21. c. 25. E­vid. Eccles. Christ. Cant. col. 2221. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. de Eccles. Du­n [...]lm. l. 2 [...].19. col. 25. Edmund, as he gave and restored by his Charters to Christ-Church and St. Augustines in Canterbury several Lands unjustly taken away from them by his Predecessors, free from all secular services, except expedition and building of Bridge and Castle; and ratified the Laws and Privileges of St. Cutberts Church at Durham, by consent of his Bishops and Nobles; So likewise, Malm. de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 7. Sp [...]lman concil. p. 4.27. Anno 944. he granted by his Charter, (written in golden Characters) sundry large Liberties, together with the Mannor of Glastonbury to the Ab­bey of Glustonbury, Consilio et consensu Optimatum meorum (then assembled in a Paliamentary Council at London) ratifying the Privileges granted to the Mo­nastery by King Edmund his Father, Propos. 4.10. E [...]frid, Centwine, Ina and Cu [...]hred, et nè quisquam mortalium, scu E­piscopus, vel Dux aut Princeps, aut quilibet ministrorum [Page 106] eorum audeat eam omnino intrare caus [...] placitandi, vel c [...] ­piendi, vel quidquam faciendi, quod contrarium fore possit imbi Deo Servientibus, Dei indictone prohibuit.

An. 945. Mat. W [...]st. An. 945. p. 366. Chron. Ioh [...]n. Brom. col. 8 [...]8. In the year 945. this King Edmund gave many Lands and Privileges to the Monastery of St. Edmunds­bury, by his Charters; quam subscriptione Episco­rum, Comitum et Baronum piâ devotione roboravit, (most probably in the Parliamentary Council, of London, Proposition 10. at Culington where they were all assembled.)

Anno 946. Mat. West. Wig. Malm. Hunt. Hov. In­gulph. Sim. Du­nelm. Brom. Wil. Thorn. Polch. Aelredus, Fab. Gra [...]t. Caxton, Holinsh. Speed, An. 946. and in the life of Edmund. King Edmund, in the year 946. celebrating with great Solemnity [...]he Feast of St. Augustine (which the English accustomed to celebrate every year) at Can­terbury, as some, or at Pulcherkirke (now at Puckel-Church in Glostershire) as others, or Michelesberith, as M [...]tthew Wes [...]minster stiles it) as he was fitting at Dinner in the Hall amidst his Nobles and Courtiers e [...]pyed a notable Thief c [...]lled Leoff (whom he formerly bani [...]hed for his theft) stand in the Hall: Whereupon he not enduring his sight, commanded his Butler to thrust that Thief presently out of the Palace: who refusing to depart upon the Kings Command and resisting the Butler, Proposit, 2, 8. the King therupon in a rage rising suddenly from the Table, took the Thief by the Hair, and threw him to the Ground: whereupon the Traitor feeling himself hurt, and the King lying upon him, presently drew out his Knife; which he carried secretly about him, ript up the Kings bowels and slew him with it; which the Knights and Souldiers perceiving, rushed all upon the Thief, and with their Swords and Knives chopped all his fl [...]sh and bones into small pieces. Some [...]istorians write, that he slew some of the Kings followers like­wise, and wounded more of them, and so escaped in the midst of the Tumult, Sicque clarum regalis Convi­vii principium, nebulosus rerum Gestarum exitus termi­navit. Communi ergo decretum Concilio: It was thereupon decreed by a Common Council, that his Body should be interred in Glastonbury Abby. Abbot Ethel­red [Page 107] gives this Encomium of him. De Gen. Reg. Ang. col. 358. ‘Erat autem pat [...]is Edwardi in omnibus imitabitor, homo simplex & re­ctus, et timens Deum, et usque ad sinem vitae suae permanens in innocentiâ suâ.’

Mat. West. VVig. Sim. Du­nelm. Hunt. Hov. Malm. Brom. Aelred. Polyc. Fab. Ho [...] Speed An. 946. and in the li [...]e Edred, E [...]helw. Hist. l. 4. c. 8. Edred his Brother, Anno 946. &c. succeeded him the same year in the Throne, and was crowned King at Kingston by O­do Archbishop of Canterbury; Edwin and Edgar King Edmunds Sons, being put by, because of their Infancy; quia tepugnante legi [...]i [...]â [...]tate pa [...]ri succedere non valebant, as Matthew Westminster renders the reason.

No sooner was he crowned, but entring into Nor­thumberland, with a great army, he subdued the rebelli­ous Northumberlanders, who refused to bear the yoak of his government, reducing them all under his obedience. Wher­upon Wulstan Arc [...]bishop of York, and all the Nobles of the Northumberlanders swore fealty to King Edred, which they did not long observe. After which King E­dred en [...]red with Banners displayed into Sco [...]land, P [...]opos. 8. whereupon the Scots, strucken with a fear, without any resistance, or war, swore homage and fealty to him as to their true Lord, as well as the Northumberlanders; which Oath they soon violated: For no sooner was Edred returned with his Army into the Southern parts, but Anlaff who was chas [...]d out of Northumberland, retur­ning thither again with a great Fleet, was joyfully recei­ved by the Nor [...]humberlan [...]r [...], [...]nd restored by them to the Throne of the Kingdom, which he kept by force near four years. But in the fourth year the Northumberlanders using their accustomed treachery aud disloyalty, chased away their King Anlaff, and received Hirc or E [...]icus s [...]n of Harald, [...]or their king, who held the kingdom but a short time; ‘for the People of the Country, not long enduring any king as they ha [...] lightly received Hirc for their king [...] so in the third [...]ear of hi [...] Reign, they as lightly rejected him [...] and calling king E [...]red to them of their own accord, recei [...]ed him again for their Soveraign, and s [...]t him in [...] [Page 108] others relate; That king Edred Anno 948 was so in­censed with the Northumberlanders for their treache­ry towards him, in chusing Hirc for their king, against their Oath of Allegiance sworn to him; that he wa­sted all Norshumberland with fire and sword and famine, et penè ex hominibus delevit;’ But some of the Northumberlanders in his return from thence, sal­lying out of York with their forces, cut off some of the Rear of his Army ar Cesterford; wherwith king E­dred was so enraged, that he resolved presently to re­turn, et totam illam terram penitus desere, and ut­utterly to destroy all that Country. Which the Nor­thumberlanders hearing, they were so terrified, that they rejected their new King Hirc, and received Edred for their Soveraign, satisfying the King with Honors, and the Damages and Wrongs they had done unto him, with Gifts, and no small Sums of Mony. These treacherous Rebellious Northumberlanders after E­dred and Hirc, had no particular King at all to rule over them, but only Dukes, whose names and successions Anno 951. (with their Treachery towards and Rebellions against them) you may read at leisure in Roger Hoveden, who sub­joyns the History of them immediately to this relati­on.

‘This King Edred (about the year 951. Mat. West. An. 951. p. 357. Malm. de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 7. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. col. 356. Flor. VVig. An. 952, 954 Ro­ger Hov [...] An­nal pars prior, p. 42 [...], Thomas Stubs, Acta Pontif. Ebor. c. 1669. Godw. Catalogue of Bishops, p. 443, Antiq, Eccles. Brit. p. 49. Propos. 2, 3. close imprisoned Wulstan Archbishop of York in Withau­brig, and suspended him from his Archbishoprick, near a whole year, for certain causes of which he had been frequently accused to him; but especially for coun­tenancing and harbouring the rebellious perjured Northumberlanders and the Danes, a Heathen people, who not only sought to destroy his Native Country, but also to root out Christian Religi­on, for which he deserved a thousand deaths: and exciting them both against his Soveraign King Edred, contrary to their Oath; and for killing the Citizens [Page 109] of Thetford in a tumultuous manner, in revenge of the death of Abbot Adelm, whom they had causelesly murdered.’ Norwithstanding all which, about a year after he was enlarged and restored to his Bishop­rick; Malmesbury and Abbot Eth [...]lred, record of king Edred, that he made his Palace altogether a School of Vir­tues, obeying Dunstans Counsels in all things, et Justissi­mis Legibus subdi [...]os Regens, and governed his Sub­jects by most just Laws.

I read only of one Great Parliamentary Council held under King Edred, Anno 948. and that was at Ingulphi Hist. p. 874, 875, 876. Hoveden An­nal. pars prior. p. 423. Mat. Westm. An. 948 Spelm. Concil. p. 428. Mr. Seldens Titles of Honour, part 2. ch. 5. p. 633. London, in the year 948. in the Feast of the Virgin Maries Nativity; Cui Universi Magnates Regni, per Regium edictum Summoniti, tam Archiepiscopi, & Episcopi, & Ab­bates, quam Caeteri totius Regni Proceres & Optima­tes, Londini convenissent, ad tractandum de negotiis publicis totius Regni; as Ingulphus and others re­cord.

In which Parliamentary Council, when all the pub­like affairs were finished (which as it seems concerned the making and carrying on of that war against the Rebellious, Treacherous Northumberlanders, who brake their faith with King Edred, Propos. 5, 8, 9. and set up a King of the Danish race, as aforesaid,) the King in the presence, and by the consent of them all, restored, granted and re-confir­med by his Charter (dictated by Abbot Turketulus here­tofore his Chancellour) all the Lands and Liberties for­merly granted by Kings and others to the Abbey of Croy­land, with sundry Mannors then given to it by Turketu­lus himself: wherein (amongst other Liberties) he granted to the Monks; quod sint qui [...]ti & soluti ab omni Scotto, Geldo, auxiliis Vicecomitum, Hydagio, & ab Secta in Schiris, Wapuntakis, Hundredis, Thrichingis & omnibus omnibus aliis curis & saeculi oneribus universis. Proposit. 1. This Charter was subscribed and ratified with the sign of the Cross, by all the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots a [...]d No­bles, who gave both their Counsels and Assents thereto, as [Page 110] their subscripti [...]ns testifie, that [...]o it might be firm and perpetual. In the beginning of which Charter, this King, to shew, that he held his Crown only from and un­der God, thus stiles himself. Ego Edredus Rex terre­nus sub imperiali potentia Regis saeculorum aeterni­que Principis, Magnae Britanniae gerens Imperium, &c.

About the year of Christ 950, Spelman. Concil. p. 429, 430, 502, 530. Nogui a Welsh King, An. 950, 955. being overmuch incensed with one Arcoit, wa­sted his Lands, and with too much fury, violated the Sanctuary, to which he sled. Whereupon Pater Bishop of Landa [...]fe assembled all the Clerks of his Diocess in a Synod, Proposit. 2, 4, 6, 10. to punish this Sacrilege and breach of Sanctuary: Which the King hearing of, desired pardon of the Bishop and whole Synod, for these offences in the Church of Main­non, restoring all the things of the Church he had taken a­way, with satisfaction, and effusion of Tears. Whereup­on, to obtain pardon and absolution for the penance they enjoyned him, he gave the parish of Guidcon, with all the Lands, Liberties and Commons apper [...]aining thereun [...]o, to God, and the Bishops of Landaffe for ever, to be held in Frankalmoighne. Some five years after (Anno 955.) Ily a Deacon slaying one Merduter, and slying into a Church for Sanctuary; thereupon his kins­ [...]olk, and some of king Nogui his family, forcibly en­tring into the Church, flew Ili before the Altar, sprink­ling his blood both upon the Altar and Walls of the Church; Whereupon Pater Bishop of Landaffe, assembled a Sy­nod of all the Priests, Deacons, and Ecclesiastical persons within his Diocess, to excommunicate the Delinquents; which King Nogui and his Nobles hearing of, fearing the Malediction of the Church, the weight whereof they du [...]st not undergoe, sent for the Bishop, and upon con­ [...]ultation, by advice of the Doctors of both sides, delivered up the Murderers into the Bishops hands, who sent them to the Monastery of St. Teliavi, where they were kept 6 Moneths in Iron Chains. Aft [...]r which they were excom­muuicated. [Page 111] Synodo quoque Judican [...]e defini [...]um est, unusquisque eorum suum agrum, suamque totam sub­stantiam, insuper & pretium animae suae (id est) sep­tem Libras Argenti, redderet Ecclesiae quam macula­verat, determinantibus omnibus Divino Judicio, &c.

The Bishop rising up in the mid [...] of them, holding the Gospel in his hand, said to Nogui, lay thy hand upon this Gospel: Whereupon Nogui laying his hand upon it, said; ‘Sit haec terra cum incolis suis, in sem­piterna consecra [...]ione Deo, &c. & Patri Episcopo, & omnibus Episcopis Landaviae, Libera ab omni Laicali servitio, nisi tantum in oratione quo [...]idianâ in per­petuo.’ It seems the petty Welsh Kings, and their Courtiers, were all subject in those dayes to the Cen­sures and excommunications of their Synods, for their Sa­crilege, and other unrighteous Actions infringing the Churches Liberties. That their Synods had a Iudiciary Power, and that they could not convey Lands to the Church, but by the Consent and Iudgement of their Synods, which attested and ratified the same, as you may read in Spelman. Who likewise informs us, of another Welsh Synod held at Landaff [...], about the year 988. wherein Arithmail Son of Nogui, King of Guenti, slaying his Brother Elised, was for this execrable Fratricide ex­communicated by Gucan, Bishop of Landa [...]fe, and all the Synod, who thereupon submitting to the penance therein enjoyned him, gave certain Lands for ever in Frankal­moighne to God and all the Bishops of Landaffe, to purchase his absolution.

King Wil. Mal­mesbury de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 8. de Gestie Ponti [...]icum, l. 1. p. 20. Mat. Westminster & VVigorn. An. 955, 957, 958, &c. Hoveden Annal. pars prior, p. 427. Ethel [...]re [...]us Abbas de Genealogia Reg. Angl. col. 358, 359. Chronicon Iohannis Bromton, col. 862, 863. Simeon Dnelmensis de Gestis Regum Angli [...], col. 156, 157. Hyg­den Po [...]ychron. l. 6. c. 8. Fabian, Caxton, Holinshed, Grafton, Speed in the life of Edwin, Osburn, Gervasius Dorobern. Capgrave, Mat. Parker, and Godwin in the Lives of Odo and Dunstan. Fox Acts and Mon. vol. 1. p. 196. Antonini Chron, pa [...] c [...] Tit. 16. c. 6. Edred deceasing to the great grief of all hi [...] Anno 957. [Page 112] Sub [...]ects, his Nephew Edwin (formerly put by the Crown for his Nonage) was thereupon (though young) crowned King at Kingston by Archbishop Odo, An. 955. but in the second year of his reign 957. the Mer­cians an [...] Northumberians wholly cast off their obe­dience to him, and conspiring alltogether by unanimous con­sent, rejecting him from being their King, elected his Brother Edgar for their Sovereign Lord, Deo dictante & annuente populo: VVhereupon the kingdom was di­vided between them by the bounds of the River of Thames.

VVhat was the true Cause of this deposition and re­jection of Edwin is very do [...]btfull: William of Malmes­bury, Hovedeu, Matthew Westminster, Dunelmensis, Brom­ton, Henry de Knighton, Abbot Ethelred, Hygden, Florence of Worcester, and most of our old Historians being Monks, and over-much devoted to their Arch-Patron Dunstan, record: That the true Causes thereof were, First, His ill lascivious Life and Incontinency with Alfgiva his Concubine (as they write) and near kinswoman, from whom Archbishop Odo divorced him; and likewise with sundry other Concubines which he entertained in his Court, whom Odo excom­municated and banished thence. 2. His Indiscret and Tyrannical Gvernment contrary to his Laws. Proposit. 2, 4. 1.

But Histor. l. 5 [...] p. 356. Henry Arch-Deacon of Huntington, an antient, judi­cious, impartial old Historian, flourishing in the year 1148 [...] mentions none of these particulars, in his life, but gives this honorable Testimony of his Govern­ment, tha [...] it was both prosperous, [...]lourishing and lau­dable. Rex Edwi non illaudabiliter Regni infulam tenu­it; Anno R [...]gni sui Quiuto, cum in principio Regnum ejus decentissimè [...]loreret, prospera et laetabunda ex­ordia mors immatura perrupit. And therefore Archbi­bishop Antiq. Ec­cles. Brit. p. 47 [...] to 54. Parker, Catologue of Bishops in the lives of Odo & Dunst. p. 19, 20, 21, 22. Bishop Godwin, History of Great Brittain. p. 403, 404. Speed, and Spelm. con­cil. p. 429, 430. others conceive, that the true cause why the Merci­ans and No [...]thumbrians, (& those only, not the rest of his subjects and kingdom) rejected him, and s [...]t up his Bro­ther Edgar (whose lasciviousness was more excessive, and vices more extorbitant in some degrees than Edwins, which yet our former Monkish Historians blanch or excuse) was the Malice of Dunstan, and Odo (the Pil­lars and Oracles of the Monkish Clergy;) ‘who stirred up the Merciaus and seditious rebellious Northumbri­ans, against him, to set up Edgar in his stead, who was totally devoted to them and Dunstan, by whose Coun­ [...]els he was afterwards wholy guided, and built no less than 47 new Monasteries for the Monks, besides all those he repaired, in [...]ending to build three more had he lived, to make them 50 compleat; and likewise cast out the secular and maried Priests out of all Mona­steries and Churches unless they would become Monks, re [...]lenishing all Monasteries & Churches with Monks alone.’ They likewise inform us, that the true causes of kings Edwins banishing Dunstan, ejecting the Monks, and seising their Lands and Treasures was, ‘That Dunst [...]n had so bewitched Edmund, Edward, Athelstan, and Aedred his Predecessors, with the [Page 114] love of Monkery, as that they no [...] only took vio [...]ent­ly from maried Priests [...]heir livings to erect monaste­ries, but also lavishly wasted much o [...] their own Roy­al Treasures, Lands and Revenues upon them, which they should have rather employed in resisting the common Enemies of God and their Country, the Danes: whereupon Edwin percei [...]ing that all the wealth of the Land was crept into Monasteries, not on­ly refrained to bestow more on them, but recalled di­vers of those prodigal Gifts his Predecessors had gran­ted them, which the Monks refusing to ren [...]er upon demand, he seize [...] upon them by armed Officers, as ha­ving indeed cheated his Predecessors and defrauded the Kingdom of them. They adde hereunto, that King Edrid had committed all his chief Houshold-stuff, Plate, Records, and t [...]e Treasures of all the Realm, with all the Magazines he had gotten, to Dunstans custody, and laid [...]hem up in [...]he Monastery at Gla­stonbury; yea, he committed his Kingdom, body and Soul unto him, So as all was wholly in Dunstans pow­er, who alone managed all the publick affairs of the Realm, and exercised Regal Authority. And when King Edred in his sicknesse demanded all his Hous­holdstuff, Jewels, Monies and Treasures from him, Dunstan pretending to fetch them, before he return­ed with them, Dustan heard a voice ( as our Monkish Writers fable) that Edred was dead in the Lord; and thereupon detained them in his and his Monks custo­dy, being unwilling to part with them to young King Edwin his Successor, whereupon he seised on them by force, as of righ [...] belonging to him, and expelled Dunstan with his Monks. And so much the rather, because Dunstan presumed most impudently and vio­lently, to rush into his Bed-chamber, and pull him out forcibly thence on the very day of his Coronation (contrary to all Christian and Princely [...]odesty) from the embraces of his beautifull and beloved Alfgina, [Page 115] which some Monks and these Historians report, to be his lawfull wife [...]not his Concubine, and not content there­with, he excited Odo Archbishop of Canterbury, pub­lickly to divorce her from him; some say, for con­sanguinity only, and others for other Reasons. Whereupon the king betaking himself to his Concu­bines, Odo suspended him from the Church, ex­communicated all his Concubines, caused one of them whom the king best affected, to be violently fetched out of the Court with armed Men, branded her in the forehead with an hot Iron, and then bani­shed her into Ireland.’

After which she returning into England, Odo apprehen­ded her the second time, and cut off her Sinews at the Hock-bone. All which intollerable Affronts so incensed Edwin, that he banished and spoyled Dunstan with his Monks as aforesaid, and threatned Odo with severe punishments; none others in the Realm but these daring then to oppose him: hereupon they formerly and then bearing the greatest sway, by way of revenge, and to preveut Edwins further fury against them, stirred up the Mercians and Northumbrians to reject him, and that in a tumultuous manner, by force of Arme, in which Uproar Edgar gained possession of half his Kingdom. Antiq [...] Eccl. Brit [...] p. 4, p. 153. Spelm. concil, p. 431. n [...]onius in his life. Matthew Parker and Sir Henry Spelman out of him, subjoyns, that by these civil dissentions raised between King Edwin and his Brother Edgar, they much weak­ned the forces of the Realm in many set Battels fought between them; till at last Edgar getting the better; Con­vocato ad Branfordiam Regni concilio, Fratris Ed­wini acta et decreta rescendit. Assemblong a Council at Brandford, he repealed all the Acts and Decrees of his Brother King Edwin, restored to the Churches and Mo­nasteries the Treasures he had taken from them, Propos. 5. recalled Dunstan from his former banishment, and made him first Bishop of Worcester, then of London, and last of all of Canterbury.

[Page 116] De Even­tibus Angliae, l. 1. c. 5. col. 2312, 2313. Henry de Knyghton, a Canon of the Abbey of Lei­cester, relates, out of the History of Leicester Abbey; ‘That Edwin being expulsed and shamefully thrust out of his kingdom, for his evil life, and exorbitant acti­ons done against the Church, the Monarchy of Eng­land continued void above a year. Whereupon, many murders and wickednesses were committed, and infinite mischiefs happened amonst the people for want of Government, until holy men, both of the Clergy and People deeply affected therewith, hum­bled themselves, and uncessantly repented of their sins, and prayed day and night to God, that he would hear them, and mercifully relieve them in so great necessity, giving them such a King who might govern the Realm of England in such sort, as might redound to the honour of God, and profit of the Realm. That God beholding their prayers from on high, in the night silence, this voice was heard from God;’ That they should crown Edgar King, though but then a youth; who rejoyced with this Divine Oracle, (most likely by the Monks and Dunstans Legerdemain, the Divine Oracle that uttered it) speedily advanced Edgar to be King, being but 16 years old; and so he was elected and crowned King by a divine Oracle, which never hapned to any King of England in former times.

Anno 959.Upon Edgars Coronation Ma [...]. [...]est­minst. Wigorn. Et Sim. Du­uelm. Anno 859. VVil. Malmesb. de Gest. Regum Angl. l. 2. c. 8. Ethelredus Abbas d [...] Ge­nealogi [...] Reg­num Angl. col. 359 [...] 360. Graft. Chron. p. 154 [...] and Dunstans restitution, An. 959. K. Edwin reigning in a decayed Estate, living in little Esteem, and wi [...]hout being desired, for very grie [...] thereof (as some write) he died, after he had for 4 years space, Libidinosiè simul & Tyrannicè, lustfully, and also Tyrannically depressed the Realm of England: Others a [...]firm, that he was deprived both of his Life and Kingdom, by the Rebellion of his Subjects: But his Monkish O [...]po­si [...]es record, that he was taken away by an untimely Death by Gods Iust Iudgement, in the year of our Lord 959. Whereupon his Brother Edgar, ab omni populo electus, being elected king by all the people, united [Page 117] the kingdom into one, and obtained the intire Monar­chy of the Realm, the kings of Cumberland, Scotland, and Wales [...] voluntarily submitting, and doing homage to him, without any effusion of blood, or war.

King Edgar Chron [...] Io­han. Bromton, col. 867. Mal­mesb. de G [...]st. Reg. Angl. l. 2. c. 8 O [...]burn. Capgrave, Mat. Parker, & Godwin in the life of Archbishop Dunstan, Fox Acts and Mon. vol. 1. p. 200, 201. Speeds History, p. 407, 408. About the year of our Lord 963. Anno 963. contrived the death of Earl Ethelwald, who (as some Authors aver) against his trust, had cheated him of Elfrida, only Daughter of Ordgarus, Duke of Devon­shire, the Paragon of her Sex, by disparaging her beau­ty to the king, and marrying her to himself. After which the king being extraordinarily ravished with the true reporr and sight of her transcendent beauty, thereup­on (as Bromtons Chronicle relates) statim post octo dies, Rex Parliamentum suum apud Sarisberiam convocavit, Ubi cunctis suis Proceribus congregatis, de custodia terrae Northumbriae qualiter contra ingressum Danorum melius posset custodiri, tractaverunt; inter quos Ethel­wolfus ad Custodiam Eboraci & patriae adjacentis, in illo erat Concilio deputatus. A clear Evidence, That Matters of defence against Common Enemies, and Guar­dians of the Sea-coasts against the Danes Invasions, Proposit. 5, 9, 4. were then debated and setled by the King and his Nobles in Parl. then usually summoned by our Kings for that end. Hereup­on Earl Ethelwolfe travelling through the Forrest of Werewell towards his new VVardship, was there cru­elly assaul [...]ed and murdered by some unknown armed per [...]ons, there placed in ambuscado by the king, as was commonly reported, and as some relate by king Ed­gar himself, who shot him through with an Arrow, as they were there hunting together. The slain Earls Ba­stard-Son being [...]here present, beholding his dead Corps, the king demanded of him, how such a hunting pleased him? who answered, very well my Lord and King; for that which please [...]h you ought not to displease me: which answer [...]o pacified this kings swelling mind, that he loved no person more entirely all his life than this Young man. Tyrannici facti offensam in Patrem se­dulitate [Page 118] Regiâ in filium allevans, writes Malmesbury. This being done, the king with great joy bringing Alfrida to London, there espoused her, and the same day both of them wore a golden Crown, adorned with precious pearls, on their heads. Hereupon Arch­bishop Dunstan, the next morning, boldly rushing in­to the kings Bedchamber, whiles they were both in Bed together, demanded of the king; what Woman he had lying in bed with him? who answered, that it was his Queen; Dunstan by way of rebuke replyed; ‘That he could not marry or retain her as his wife, with­out offending God, and the Laws of the Church, be­cause he had been Godfather to her Son, often admo­nishing the king, that he would put her away, and be divorced from her:’ VVhich he by reason of his ar­dent love towards her, and unsatiable lust with her, would by no means hearken to.

Anno 964.Anno 964. King Edgar heating of a Nun of incom­parable beauty in the Monastery of Wilton, Malmesb. de Gest. Reg. l. c. 8. Osburn, Capgrave, Surius, Matthew Par­ker, and God­win in the life of Dunstan, Fox Acts and Mon. vol. 1. p. 201, 202. Speeds Chron. p. 407, 408. Spelm. Concil. p. 481.482. named Wil­frida, a Dukes Daughter, took her out of the Nun­nery, and frequently admitted her to his Bed: VVich being commonly blazed abroad, Arch-bishop Dunstan understanding of it, with great passion, and i [...]dignation of mind came to the king; who seeing the Archbishop, arose from the Royal Throne to take him by the hand, and give him place. But Dunstan refused to take him by the hand, and with a stern countenance, bending his Browes, spake thus unto him. ‘Thou that hast not feared to corrupt a Virgin, espoused to Christ, presumest thou to touch the consecrated hands of a Bishop? Thou hast defiled the Spouse of thy Maker, and thinkest thou by flattering service to pa­cifie the Friend of the Bridegroom? No Sir, his Friend will not I be, who hath Christ for his Enemy, &c.’ The king terrified with these and other thundering words of Dunstan, and compuncted with inward re­pentance for his perpetrated sin, fell down at Dun­stans [Page 119] [...]ee [...] weeping: who raising him up again from the ground, began to relate unto him the hainousness of the fact: And finding the king ready to undergoe what ever satisfaction he should lay upon him, injoyned him this following Penance for 7 years space. ‘That during these seven years he should wear no C [...]own; That he should fast twice every VVeek; That he should liberally distribute the Treasures left him by his Ancestors, to the poor; That he should build a Mo­nastery of Nuns at Shastesbury; That as he had robbed God of one Virgin, through his transgression, so should he again restore many to him in time to come. Moreover, That he should expel Clerks of evil lives, (meaning secular Priests who had VVives and Chil­dren) out of Churches, and place Covents o [...] Mon [...]s in thei [...] room; That he shoul [...] enact just Laws, & such as were acceptable to God: and command the people to observe them through all parts of the Realm.’ VVhich the king promising effectually to perform, was thereupon absolved, and vigorously set himself to execute what he had promised. Anno 966.

Hereupon, in the year 966. Spelman­ni Concil. p. 435, to 444. Mat. VVestm. & VVigorn. An. 963, 964, & Monasticon. Anglic. King Edgar foun­ded the Monastery of Hyde near Winchester, filled it with Monks, endowed them wi [...]h large privileges and possessions, exempting them from all secular services whatsoever, but these; rata expeditione, Pontis Arcis­ve constructione; praescribed several Laws and Canons for the Monks thereof to observe, made by advice and consent of his Bishops and Nobles, and ratified by his Royal Charter, [...]ub [...]cribed by himself, his two sons Prince Edmund and Edward, his Queen, Grandmother, both the Archbishops, Proposit. 1, 10. 9 Bishops, 5 Abbots, 3 Dukes, and sundry others, with the sign of the Cross annexed to their names. In which Charter there is this solemn curse donounced against all the infringers and perver­ters thereof. ‘Si quis autem hanc nostram Donatio­nem in aliud quam constituimus transferre voluerit, [Page 120] privatus consor [...]io sanctae Dei Ecclesiae, aeternis Ba­rathri incendiis lugubris jugiter cum Juda Christi pro­ditore, ejusque complicibus puniatur, si non satisfa­ctione emendaverit congrua, quod contra nostrum deliquit decretum.’

The same year King Edgar by his regal Charter (re­corded at large by Histor. p. 880, 881, 882. Abbot Ingulphus) confirmed all the Lands and Privileges of the Abby of Croyland, Proposit. 6, 10. formerly granted and confirmed to them by King E­dred and his Nobles, in the presence of both the Archbishops [...] Bishops, and Nobles assembled in a Council at London: who re [...]ned it with their fub [...]criptions, the [...]ign of the Cross, and a solemn ex­communication (denounced by the two Archbishops and three Bishops more in Pauls Church London, in the presence of King Edgar his Prelates and Nobles, in Octavis Pentecostes] against al [...] Infringers [...]f this Char­ter and of their Liberties.

Anno 967.Abo [...]t the year 967 as some, or 969. as others compute, King Edgar in a Great Senate or Council, Chron. Io. Brom. col. 870, 871. Lambardi A [...]chaion Spel­man concil. p. [...] 443 to 476. by advise of his Wisemen, enacted divers civil & Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons, for the Government of the State and Church, thus pre [...]aced. Leges quas (or, hoc est Institutum quod) Edgarus Rex, freqenti Senatu, Consilio Sapi­entum snorum, Proposit. 5. a [...] D [...] gloriam [...] Regiae [...] ornam [...]tum, et Reipublicae utilitatem sancivit, or constituit. Propos. 2, 3, 4. The 7 and 8 of his secular Laws in the Latin, but 1, 2, 3. in the Saxon Copy, I shall only transcribe.

‘Hoc est institutio secularis quam volo per omnia [...]eneri. Volo ut omnis homo sit dignus juris publi­ci, a [...]per e [...] dives quicunque sit; et eis justa judicia judicentur. Et sit in emendationibus re­muno venialis apud Deum. Et apud seculum tolera­bilis. Et nemo requiret Regem pro aliqua causa, nisi domi negatur ei omne dignum recti, vel rectum impetrare non possit. Et de nulla emendabili re foris [Page 121] faciat homo plusquam Weram suam (agreeable to our Kings Coronation oath, and Magna Charta) Et ju­dex qui injustum judicium judica [...]it [...]licui, det Regi Cxx s. nisi ju [...]a [...]e a [...]deat, quod rectius judicare ne­scivit. Et qui aliquem injuste superdicere praesumat, Unde vita vel commodo pejor sit, linguae s [...]ae reus e­rit, &c.’

Anno 969. Anno 966. there was Ethelre­dus Abbas de Gen. Reg. Ang. col. 360, 361. Sim. Dun [...]lm. De Gest. Reg. Ang. col. 158. Chron. Io. Brom. col. 768. Mat. VVestm. VVig. Hov. An. 963, 969. Polych. l. 6. c. 10. Osh. Ger. Surius. Mat. Parker, Godwin in the life of Dunstan, Oswald, & E­thelwald. Fox Acts and Mon. vol. 1. p. 197 to 203. Spelm. conc. p. 476. &c. Baron. Anno 969. a general Council assembled at London by king Edgar, at the in [...]iga [...]on of Pope Iohn, and Archbishop Dunstan; wherein (as I conceive) the King made that elegant Oration, a­gainst the vicious lives of the Clergy; thus expressing his own duty and supremacy over all Persons and cau­ses both Civill and Ecclesiastical. ‘Justum proinde est, ut qui omnia subjecit [...]ub pedibus nostri [...], [...]ub [...]ici­amus illi et Nos et animas nostra [...]; et ut hi, quos nobis subdidit ejus [...]ubdantur Legibus, non [...]e [...]niter el [...]oremus E [...] meae quidem in [...]eres [...] Laicos cum aequi­tatis jure tractare; inter virum et proximu [...] suum justum judicium facere, punire sacrilegos, rebel­ [...]es [...]upprimere, eripere [...]opem de manufortiorum ejus, egenum et pauperem à deripientibus eum. Sed e [...] meae [...]ollicitudinis est, Ecclesiarum Ministris, &c. et necessaria procurare et paci eorum et quieti con­sulere. De quorum omnium moribus ad Nos spectat examen: si vivunt continenter, si honeste se habent ad eos qui foris sunt; s [...] in divinis officiis sol­liciti, si in Docendo populo assidui, si victu sobrii si moderati habitu, si in judiciis sunt discreti, &c. Ego Constantini, vos Petri gladium habetis in mani­bus; jungamus dextras, gladium gladio copu [...]emus ut ejiciantur [...]extra castra leprosi, ut purgetur san­ctuarium Domini, et ministrent in Templo filii Le­vi, &c.’ After which directing his speech to Dunstan, Aethelwald, and Oswald, he concludes thus [...] Vo [...]i [...]istud committo negotium, ut Episcopali censura et authoritate [Page 122] Regia [...]urpiter viventes de Ecclesiis ejiciantur, & ordinatè viventes introducantur. Herupon there was a Decree made in this General Council, That all Canons, Priests, Dea­cons, and Sub-Deacons should live chastly (that is, Proposit. 4. put away their lawfull Wives, vow chastity, and become Monks) or relinquish the Churches they then held: The execution whereof was committed to Oswald and E­thelwald; Who thereupon compelled the Clergy in Worcester, Winchester, and other Churche [...] to become Monks, renuentes verò ab omni beneficio spoliarunt, de­priving those who refused of all their Benefices, and putting Monks into them, qui novo quidem splendore vniversam Insulam illustrarunt, as our Monkish Wri­ters record: or rather novo foetore contaminarunt, as o­thers write Chron. col. 868. Iohn Bromton informs us, that after the slaughter of the Nuns of Ely by Inguar and Hubba, the secular Priests enjoyed that Monastery one hun­dred years space; Propos. 4. whom King Edgar de Concilio be­ati Dunstani Archiepiscopi, & dicti E [...]he [...]waldi, ac m [...]gnatum Regni (in the forementioned General Council) expulit & fugavit for their dishonest conver­sation.

Bishop Oswald having ejected the married secular Priests out of his Church at Worcester, and introduced Monks in their places, did this year 969. as I conje­cture from the premises (not 964. as Sir Henry Spel­man computes it) Spelman. Concil. p. 432 to 435. See Mat. Westm. VVigorn. and Hoveden, An­no 966. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. De Gestis Reg. Angl. col. 158. p [...]ocure King Edga [...] by the Counsel and assent of his Princes, Nobles and Bi­shops (most probably in the forementioned General Council, or that of London next ensuing) to ratifie this their ejection, and confirm the Church of Worcester, with all the lands, Proposit. 4, 6, goods, ecclesiastical & secular things thereto belonging to the Monks of that Church for ever, free from all secular servi [...]es and exactions, hard or easie, and from all siscal duties great and small, known or unknown, as well of the King or Prince, as of their Officers [...] exceptis Ar­cis, & Pontis extructione, et expeditione c [...]ntra ho­estem. [Page 123] And that by the special Charter, called Os­wald Law, subscribed by the King, Queen, both the Archbishops, and 3 Dukes.

Mol [...]esb. de Gestis Reg. Angl. l. 2. c. 8. p. 57, 58. Spelman. Con­cil. p. 483, to to 488. Mo­nast. Anglic. King Edgar, Anno 970. Anno 970. or 971. in the 12 year of his reign held another Parliamentary Council at London, where himself, his Mother Alfgina, Prince Edward his Son, Kined King of Scots, Mascusius his Admiral, both the Ahchbishops, with the rest of the Bishops, and all the Nobles and great men of the Realm were present, By his Charters made in and ra [...]ified by this Council, this King granted and confirmed many and very magnificent Privileges to the Monastery of Gla­stonbury communi Episcoporum, Abbatum, Prin­cipumque concilio, et generali, assensu, Pontificum, Abbatum, Optimatumque suorum, exempting the Monastery and Monks thereof, not only from all Episcopal Iurisdiction, but likewise all their Lands from all Tributes and Exchequer businesses for ever, Granting them ‘So­cam & Sacam. &c. Toll & Te [...]me [...] Ita libere et qui­ete, sicut ego habeo in regno meo: Ean [...]m quoque Libertatem & Po [...]estatem quam ego in Curia mea ha­beo, tam in demittendo, quam in punien [...]o, & in quibuslibet omnino negotiis Abbas & Monachi praefa­ti Monasterii in Curia sua habeant.’ And which is a Privilege beyond all president, ‘Si autem Abbas, vel quilibet Monachus loci illius latronem, qui ad sus­pendium vel quodlibet mortis periculum ducit [...] in i­tinere obvium habuerit, potestatem habeat eripiendi eum ab imminen [...]i periculo in toto Regno meo.’ The old Charter begins thus.

‘In nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Quamvis Decreta Pontificum, & verba Sacerdotum inconvul­sis ligaminibus, velut fundamenta montium sixa sunt, tamen plerumque tempestatibus & turbinibus saecula­rium rerum Religio sanctae Ecclesiae maculis reprobo­rum dissipatur ac [...]ūpitur. Iccirco prosutu ū succeden [...] ­bus posteris esse decrevimus ut ea quae salubri Consilio [Page 124] et communi assensu definiuntur, nostris li­teris roborata [...]irmentur, &c. Hoc i [...]aque Dun­stano Doroberniensi, atque Oswaldo Eboracensi Epis­copo adhortantibus, Proposit. 6, 10. consentiente e [...]iam e [...] annuente Brithelmo Fontanensi E [...]iscopo, c [...]terisque Episcopis, Abbatibus et Primatibus: Ego Edga [...] divina di [...]po­ [...]ione Rex Anglorum, &c. And it concludes thus, Acta est haec Privilegii [...]a [...]ina, & confirma [...]a apud Londonium Communi Concilio omnium Prima­tum meorum:’ Then fol [...]ow [...]he su [...]criptions of King Egar, A [...]fgina his Mother, Prince Edward, Kinred King of Scots, Mascusius the chief Admiral, both the Archbishops, 6 Bishops, 8 Abbots, 3 Dukes, and other Officers: Which Charter and Privileges at the Kings request were ratified by Pope Iohn the 13 in a general Council at Rome, Anno Dom. 971. by a special Bull, that they might remain inviolable: yet both the Ab­bey it self, Lands, Privileges are long since demolish­ed, dissipated, annihilated, such is the mu [...]abili­unity of all sublunary things.

The self same year (Anno 970.) Ingulphi Historia. p. 883, 883. King Edgar by his Charter granted and confirmed sundry Lands and Privileges to the Monastery of Medeshamsted formerly demolished by the Danes, which Bishop Aethelwold had repaired, and named Burgh, perpetually exempting it from all Episcopal jurisdiction, yoak, and exaction; Quatenus nec Rex, nec Comes, nec Episcopus, praeter Chri­stianitatem attinentium Parochiarum, nec Vicecomes, nec ulla alia major minorve persona, ulla dominatione occupare praesumat, excepta moderata expeditione, & Pontis Ar­cisve constructione. VVhich Charter was ratified by the kings own subscription, both the Archbishops, sundry Bishops, Abbots, Dukes, and other chief Offi­cers, and the sign of the Cross after each of their Names.

Anno 973.In the year 973. Matt [...]h [...]w VVestm. VVigorn. Sim. Dunelm, Hoveden, Bromt. and others, An. 973. M [...]lmesb. de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 8, p. 10. Hen. Huntind. Hist. c. 5. l. 356. Hoved. annal. pars prior, p. 426, Malm. de gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 8. p. 56. Huntingd. Hist. l. 5. p. 356. Hov. Annal pars prior, p. 426. Mat. Westm. Flor. Wigorn. Simeon Dunel. An. 973, 974. Chron. Io [...] [...]r [...]m. col. 869. Ethel­ [...]edus. Geneal. R [...]g. Ang. col. 362. Polychron l. 6. c. 10. s. 238. He [...]. de Knygh­ton, De Even­ti [...]us Ang. l. 1. c. 1. VValsing. Hist. Ang. p. 51. Fox Acts and Mon. vol. 1. p. 200. Caxton, Gra [...]ton, Fab. Holinsh. Speed, Baker, and o­thers in the life of Edgar. Mr. Seldens Mare Clausum. l. 2. c. 11, 12 King Edgar after his seven [Page 125] years penance expired, on the Feast of Pen [...]ecost in the 30 [...]h year of his age, was solemnly Crowned, and con­secrated King [...] and wore his Crown with great glory at Akemancester, alias Bath, both the Archbishops Dunstan and Oswald, with all the rest of the Bishops of England, ac Magnatibus universis, and all the Nobles being there pre [...]ent at his Coronation, and received the accustomed Gifts usually given to the Nobles being at such inaugurations. Soon after the same year this King with a very great Fleet and Army sayling round about the Northern parts of England came to Westchester, where his eight tributary Kings or Vice-royes, (namely Kyneth king of Scots, Malcome King of Cumberland, Marcus king of Man, and many other Ilands, and the other 5 kings of Wales, Dufn [...]ll, Siferth, Howel, Iames, and Iu­chill) met him as he had commanded [...]hem, and swo [...]e [...] him in [...]he [...]e words: That they would be faithfull aud assisting to him both by Land and Sea. W [...]ich done, he on a certain day en [...]red wi [...]h them into a Barge, and placing them at the Oares, himself took the Helm, and steered the Barge very skilfully whiles they rowed it down the River of Dee from his Palace to the Monastery of St. Iohn Bapist, on the other side, all his Dukes and Nobles fol [...]owing and accompanying him in other Barges: where having made his Prayers, they all rowed him thence back again in like pompe to his Royal Palace; which when he had en [...]red he said to his Nobles: Anno 974. Tha [...] any of his Successors might then say he was King of England, when wi [...]h so many Kings following and subject to him, he should enjoy the Prerogative of the like pompe and power. Bu [...] Mr. Fox subjoyns; In my mind this king had said much b [...]tter: God [...]orbid that I should glory in any t [...]ing but in the Cross of our Lord I [...]sus Christ.

Mat [...] West. An. 974.374, 375. Hen [...] Hun­ [...]ingd. Hist. l. 5. p. 356. Chron. Io. Brom. col. 867. De Gest. Ang. l. c. 8. p. 58. I [...]gulphus, Histor. p. 884. The year following An. 974. Certain Merchants comming from York, arived in the Islle of Thanet in [Page 126] Kent, where they were presently taken by the Ilan­ders and spoyled of all their goods; which king Ed­gar being informed of, was so far incensed against these Plunderers, Prop [...]s. 2, 4. that he spoyled them of all their Goods, and deprived some of them of their lives; Which Huntingdon and Bromton thus record. Rex Edga­rus undecimo Anno Regni sui jussit praedari Insulam Te­net, Quia jure Regalia spreverant: non ut hostis in­sani [...]ns, s [...] ut Rex malo mala puntens. The same year as De Gest. Reg. l. 5. c. 8. p. 28. Ma [...]mesbu [...]y, Histor. p. 883. &c. Ingu [...]p [...]us and Spelman. concil. p. 488, 489. others write, king Edgar, by his regal Charter, caused the secular Priests to be removed out of the Monastery of Malmesbury and introducing Monks in their pla­ces, restored to them the Lands and Possessions of the monas [...]ery, which the secular Priests formerly enjoy­ed and had leased o [...]; [...] that upon a ful [...] hearing before the Wise-men, Propos. 4, 6, Bishops & others in his presence, most likely in a Par [...]iamentary Counci [...], as [...]his c [...]au [...]e in his Charter intimates. Haec a praedictis accommodata Cl [...]ricis, a con [...]ensioso possessa est Ed [...]no [...]: s [...]d supersti­tiosa, sub [...]il que ejus discept [...]tione a Sapientib [...]s meis au­dita, [...]t conflictatione illius mendosa ab eisdem me prae­sente convicta, Monasteriali a me reddita est usui. If the Council of Winchester (hereafter cited Anno 975.) was held in King Edgars life time, as Chron. of VVinton Spel­man concil. p. 491. some af­firm, most probably this debate here mentioned touch­ing these Lands, was held in and before that Counci [...], and this Charter therein made and ratified with the subscriptions of the Kings, Arch-bishops, Bishops, Ab­bots and Dukes thereto annexed, according, [...]o the custome of that age.

Although King Malm. de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 8. Athelredus. de Genealog. Reg. Ang. col. 359, &c. Polychron. l. 6. c. 9, 10, 11. Henry Knyghton de Eventi­bus Ang. l. 1. c. 2. Mat. VVestm. VVigorn. Ingulphus, Huntingdon, Hoveden, Brom. Sim. Dunelm. Wil. Thorn, Fah. Caxt. Holinsh. Graft. Speed, Baker in his life. Os­burn, Capgrave, Surius in the life of Dunstan, Spelman. concil. Mr. Seldens Mare Clausum. l. 2. c. 11, 12. and others. Edgar in his younger daies was subject to many Vices, and committed some injurious [Page 127] Ty [...]ic [...] A [...]s, recorded by Malmesbury, Fox, Speed, and others; yet repenting of these his youthfull, lust­full Vices, he proved such a just and prudent King, that Malmesb. de Gest. Reg. l. 2. c. 8. E­thelredus de Genealogia Reg. Angl. col. 359. &c. Po­lichron. l. 1. c. 9, 1, 11. Hen. Knighton de Eventibus Angliae, l. 3. c. c. 2. Mat. Westm. Wigorn. Ingulphus, Huntindon, Hoveden, Bromton, Si­meon Dunelm. Wil. Thorn, Fabian, Cax­ton, Holinshed, Graston, Speed, Baker in his life, Os­burn, Cap­grave. Surius in the life of Dunstan. Spel­manni Concil. Mr. S [...]lden. Mart. Clau­sum, l. 2, c. 11.12. Antonini Chron. p. 2. and others. our Historians of elder and later ages give these large Encomiums of his Justice, Prudence, Piety, Vertues, and poli [...]ique Government: wor [...]hy perpe­tual memory and immitation. So excellent was he in Iustice, So sharp was he in correction of Vices, as well in his Magistrates, Officers, and other Subjects; that never before his days was less felony by Robbers, nor less extor­tion or Bribery by false Officers; such as were wicked he kept under, them that were Rebels he repulsed, the godly he maintain [...]d, and the just and modest he loved; the learn­ed and vi [...]tuous he encouraged: He would suffer no man of wh [...]t de [...]ree or quali [...]y soever he were to elude or vio­late his Laws without condigne punishment. In his time there was neither any private Pilferer, nor publ [...]ke Theef, but he that in stealing other mens Goods, would ven­ture and suffer (as he was sure) the loss of his own Goods, and Life. He was no respecter of persons in [...]udge­ment; but judged every man according to the quantity of his Offence, and quality of his person. He united all the Nations under him, which were divers, by the Covenan [...] and Obli [...]tion of one Law: Governing them all with such Iustice, Equity, Integrity and Peace, that he w [...]s stile [...] Rex, [...] Edgarus Pacificus, t [...]e p [...]aceable King Edgar. In his days, not [...]orments, not Gibbe [...]s, not Ex [...]le, not banishment were so much feared, as the offending of so good and gracious a King. He built and endowed no lesse than 48 Monasteries, and restored many more, endowing them with large possessions, privileges, (out of Piety and Devotion, [...]s these times reputed it) & was a great honou­rer, lover, promoter of the vertuous and learned Clergy, and suppressor of the vicious and scandalous. There was scarce one year throughout all his reign wherein he did not some great and memorable necessary thing for the good of his Country and people, the honour of God, and advancement of [Page 128] Religion. All which made him so honoured and beloved by his Subjects at home, so far d [...]eaded by his Enemies a­broad; that Nullas Domesticorum insidias, nullum extermi­nium alienorum sensit: He never felt any homebred treache­ry, or forein invasion, but reigned peaceably all his days [...] without war or bloodshed, which none of his Predecessors ever did. He was so far from tollerating any violence or rapine in men towards each other, that he commanded all the Wolves and ravenous Beasts, greedy of blood, to be de­stroyed throughout his Dominions: And such an Enemy was he to Drunkenness (the Mother of Vices, Murders Quarrels, Thefts,) wherewith the Danes had much infect­ed the English, that to prevent and redress it, he caused Pins to be set in every Cup, prohibiting by severe Laws and Penalties, that none should force others to drink, nor yet d [...]ink below [...]hose Pins, in that moderate pro­portion which he prescribed them. Among other his Politick deeds, for the peace and safeguard of his Realm a­gainst pillaging Pirates, and Forein Invaders, he had al­ways in readiness 3600 (as most) or 4800 strong ships of War (as others record) to secure the Seas in the Sum­mer season, Proposit. 3, 9. which he divided into three Squadrons or Fleets: whereof he placed 1200 in the East Seas to guard them; 1200 in the South Seas; 1200 in the West Seas, ( and 1200 in the North Seas, as some write) to prevent Piracies, and repulse the invasion of Forein Enemies. These Ships immediatly after Easter met together every year at their several places of Rendezvous, wherewith the King sail­ed round about the Island and Sea-coasts, with a great force, to the terror of Foreiners, and exercising of his own subjects, sayling with the Eastern Navy to the Western parts of the Iland, and then sending them back with the Western Fleet to t [...]e Northern Coasts, and then sayling with the Northern Fleet to the South; pius scilicet explorator, ne quid Piratae turbarent. After his return from the Sea, in the Winter and Spring, he used to ride in Progress [...]hrough all the Counties of the Realm, diligently to search and inquire [Page 129] how his Laws, Statutes, Ordinances were kept and observed by his Princes, Great Men, and O [...]fi­cers, lest the Poorer sort of people should suffer pre­judice, or be oppressed by the Greater & Richer: And whether his Iudges or Iustices judged upright­ly, according to the Laws, or injured any through Bribery Malice, or Partiality, Violati Iuris severus Ul [...]or, being a severe Revenger of his violated Laws, sparing nei [...]er Rich nor Poor, but judgi [...]g him justly ac­cording to the quality of his transg [...]ession. In hoc Justi­tiae in il [...]o fortit [...]dinis, in utr [...]que Reipublicae & Regni utilitatibus consulens, as Wiliam of Malmesbury, and Flor. of Worcester repor [...] of him. Et ideo tempore suo la­trones nulli fuerunt, nec aliquis qui Guerram vel tur­bationem in Regno movere a [...]debat. Merito ergo non infirma inter Anglos fama est; nullum nec ejus, nec su­perioris aetatis Regem in Anglia recto & aequabili ju­dicio Edgaro comparandum: He being Flos et Decus an [...]ecessor [...]m Regum, non minus memorabils Anglis, quam Romulus Romanis, Cyrus Persis, Alex. Macedoniis Arsaces Parthis, Carolus Magnus Francis [...] as Malmes­bury, Abbot Ethelred, Florentius VVigorniensis, Simeon Dunelmensis, Henry Huntindon, Matthew VVestminster, and Polychron. l. 6. c. 11. others record of him, who are much more copi­ous in his prayses. Acts and Mon. vol. 1. p. 200. Mr. Fox closeth up his Encomi­ums of him with this Speech: As I see many things in this worthy Prince to be commended; so this one thing in him I cannot but lament, to see him like a Phoenix to fly alone, that of all his Posterity so few there be that se [...]k to keep him company.

Towards the end of his Reign the Polych. l. 6. c. 11. f. 239. Chron. Ioh. Bromt. col. 870. Speeds History, p. 406. Welchmen mo­ving some rebellio [...], [...]e thereupon assembled a mighty Army to suppress and prevent it; wherewith he en­tring into the Country of Glamorgan, sharply puni­shed the Ringleaders thereof: But his Souldiers doing great harm in plundering the Country, lading themselves [Page 130] with spoyls; the King out of his bounty, commanded them to restore to the People all the spoyls they had gotten; and more especially St. Ellutus Bell, that was han­ged about an Horses neck; whereby he purchased sin­gular love and honor from the Inhabitants. At length af [...]er he had reigned thus, 16 years and two months in great tranquillity and honor totum reg­num sanctis legibus strenue gubernantem, as Histor. Novo [...]um. l. 1. p. 1. Endmerus rela [...]es of him, he died happ [...]y o [...] Tuesday the 8 of Iuly, Anno 975. Nec potuit malè mori qui benè vixerat, qui tot Ecclesias Deo fundaverat, qui tot bona pe­rennia brevi tempore statuerat, as Histor. l. 5. p. 356. Henry Arch-Dea­con of Huntingdon observes, who bestowed this honourable Epitaph on him, remembred also by Io. Brom. Chron. col. 870. Fox Acts and Monume [...]ts vol. 1. p. 202. o­thers.

Immediately after his death, ‘Res et spes Anglo­rum retro s [...]blapsae sunt, totins Regni status e [...]t per­turbatus; et post [...]empus laetitiae quod i [...]ius [...]empore vigebat pacificè, caepit tribulatio un [...]ique advenire,’ as Malmesbury, Wigorniensis, Hoveden, Simeon Dunel­mensis, and Bromton observe: such an incomparab [...]e lo [...]s was the death of so just, pious, and prudent a King to the whole Nation, qui ju [...]entutis vitia, po [...]ea m [...]gnis virtutib [...]s delevit, when most others do quite contrary.

[Page 131] Ingulphi Historia, p. 889. Will: Malmsb. De Gestis Re­gum, l. 2. c. 9. Mat. VVestm. VVigorniens [...]s, Simeon Dunel­mensis, Huntin­don, Hoveden, Anno 975, 976. Chron Iohan: Bromton, col. 871, 872. Hen­ry de Knyghton de Ev [...]ntibus Angliae, l. 1. c. 1. Col. 23 [...]3. Eadmerus Hist. Novorum, l. 1. p. 1. Polychro­nicon, l. 6. c. 12. Fabian, Cax­ton, Grafton, Holinshed, Speed, in the Lives of Edgar and Edward. Fox Acts and Monuments, Vol. 1. p. 203.204. Mat. Par­ker, in Archbi­shop Dunstans life. Antonini Chron. pars 2. Tit. 16. King Edgar at the time of his decease leaving Anno. 975. behind him two Sons by two venters, Edward his eldest Son by Queen Ethelfleda his first Wife, then but 12. years old, and Ethelred his second Son by his second Queen Elfreda, then not much above 7. years of age; [...] arose [...] [...]re [...]t contention amongst the Nobles of the Realm about choosing of a new King. [...]or Queen [...] wi [...]h A [...]fe [...]us Duke of Mercia and many o­ther Nobles, siding with the maried Secular Priests a­gainst the M [...]nkish Clergy, combined to advance [...]oung Ethelred [...] electing him unanimously for their King, disavowing Edwar [...] as illegitima [...]e, and begot [...]en of an harl [...] before mariage; as Malmesbury de Gestis Re­gum, l. 2. c. 8. Osburn in the life of Dunstan, Nicholas Trivet, Iohannis Parisi [...]nsis, Vincentius, Antoninus, Mat­thew P [...]rker in the Life of Archbishop Dunstan, Mr. Fox and others repute him: though Ingulphus, Huntindon, Hoveden, Mat: Westminste [...], Florentius Wigornensis, Bromton, Abbot Ethelred, Simeon Dunelmensis, Radul­phus Cistrensis, and the generality of our modern Histo­rians, repute him Edgars lawfull Son, and right heir to the Crown: Whereupon the most of the Nobles elect­ed him to succeed unto his Father: The two Archbi­shops, Dunstan, and Oswald, with all the Bishops, Ab­bots, and Clergy of the Monkish faction, holding their new-gotten States dangerous, and their footing unsure, if in the nonage of the King, their Opposites should rule all under him, as they imagined they would, if Ethlred were elected by them [...] thereupon abetted the Title of Edward, as altogether wrought to their mould and treading in his Fathers footsteps, lawfully begot­ten in the nuptial bed of Queen Ethelfleda, right heir to his Father, and by him d [...]signed to succeed him. Their claimes thus banded amongst the Nobles, Duu­stan and Oswald foreseeing the danger, Proposit. 5, 6, 8. prudently assem­bled all the Bishops, Abbots, and Nobles together in a Great Council, to debate their rights and settle the ti­tle; [Page 132] Where Archbishop Dunst [...]n (as [...]ome write) com­ming in with his Cross and Banner, dum consecr [...]tionis ejus [...]empore nonnulli Patriae Optimates resistere vo­luissent; no [...] [...]taying [...]or further debating de Iure, pre­sen [...]ed Prince Edward in the mid [...]t of them de Facto, for their Lawfull King, as his Father had declared him at his death. Upon which, the Major part of the Council, being Clergymen, elected [...] anointed and consecra [...]ed Ed­ward for their King Quibusdam Optimatum murmu­rantibus, some of the No [...]les of [...]he contrary party murmuring at it, especially Q [...]een Elfrida, who thought to advance her young Son to the Throne, that so she might rule all things, and reign under the colour of his name, as Dunstan and the Monkish Clergy did under the colour of King Edwards, whose Counsels and admonitions he diligently followed in all things, and judgements acted by him.

During the Interregnum, and banding of these two parties about the right of the Crown, and immediate­ly after Edwards coronation, Malmsbur. De Gestis Re­gum. l. 2. c. 9. p. 61. Mat. West­min. Wigornien­sis, Ingulphus, Simeon Dunel­m [...]nsis, Huntin­don, Hoveden, Bromton, Ann. 975. Osburne, Capgrav [...], Mat. Parker, God­win in the Life of Dunstan, Ba­ronius & Spon­danus, Annal. Eccl. An. 975. n. 12. Surius Concil. Tom. 2. Fox Acts and Monuments, Vol. 1. p. 202, 203, 204, 205. there arose great con­troversies, tumults and civil Warrs between the Monkish Clergy, and maried Secular Pr [...]ests, and the Nobles siding with both parties. The marie [...] Priests presently upon Edgars death, complained to Queen Elfrida, Elfere, and the Nobles, That they were unjustly expelled out of their Churches by the Monks and their prevailing party; alle­ging, that it would be a very great and miserable dishonour to the Nation, and shame to them; ut novus advena ve­teres colonos migrare compelleret: hoc nec Deo gra­tum [...]utari, qui veterum habitationem concessi [...]set nec alicui probo homini, qui sibi idem timere poss [...]t quod a­liis praejudicio accedisse cerneret. Hereupon many clamours and tumults arising among the p [...]ople, they went to Archbishop Dunstan; Praecipue Proceribus, ut Laicorum est, succlamantibus praejudicium, &c. but especially to the Nobles, as the manner of Laymen is, crying out unto them; that the S [...]cul [...]r Clergy were pre­judged, [Page 133] and suffered unjustly, being expelled their a [...]tient posessions without cause: Proposit. 2.4. that they ought to be more mildly dealt with, and restored to their Rights. Dunstan giving a deaf ear to these their just complaints, many of the Princes and Nobles thereupon, in a tumultuous man­ner, expulsed the Abbots and Monks out of the Monaste­ries wher [...]in King Edgar had placed them, and brought in the maried Clerks with their wives in their places, as at [...]irst. Among o [...]hers, Alfere Earl of Mercia, gathering great forces, and using much insolence, overturned almo [...]t all the Monasteries King Edgar and Bishop Ethelwold had b [...]ilt in the Province of Mercia; quorundam Potentum assensu et factione, placing maried Priests in them. This they did magnis occaecati muneribus by the maried Clergy, as Hoveden, Simeon Dunelmensis, Florentius Wi­gorniensis, and our Monkish Historians as [...]ert. To which Historia, p. p. 889. See Fox Acts and Mon. Vol. 1. p. 203, 204. Abbot Ingulphus subjoyns. Cujus (Regis Ed­war [...]i) sancta simplicitate et innocentia tàm abusa est factio Tyrannorum, pe [...] Reginae favorem et potenti­am praecipue roborata, quod per Merciam Monachis de quibusd [...]m Monasteriis ejectis, Clerici s [...]nt inducti: Qui statim Monasteriorum maneria Ducibus terrae distri­buebant, ut sic in suas partes obligati eos contra Mo­nachos defensarent. [...]unc de Monasterio Eveshamensi Mon [...]chis expulsis [...] Clerici fue [...]unt introducti; Terrae­que Tyranni de terris Ecclesiae praemiati sunt: qui­bus Regina cum novercali ne [...]uitia stans cum Clericis [...] in Regis opprobrium favebat. Cum Mona [...]his Rex et sancti Episcopi persistebant: Sed Tyranni fulti Re­ginae favore et potentia super Monachos triumpha­bant. The Monks on the contrary to secure their in­tere [...]t (by like Bribes and means as is most probable, though our Monkish Historians conceal it) sti [...]red up Ethelwin Duke of the East-English, and Brithnorth Earl of Essex, (men of great dread and power) to a [...]ear in their quarrel and resist [...]he opposite party. Qui in Sy­nodo constituti; Proposit. 6. who assembled together in a Synod [Page 134] or Council for that end, protested, That they would ne­ver indure the Monks should be cast out of the Realm, who held up all Religion in the Kingdom. After which, they raised a mighty Army, defending with great valour the Monasteries of the Eastern English, keeping the Monks in possession of them. This fire between the Monks and maried Priests thus blown from a spark to a flame, was feared to mount higher, if not timely quenched. Wherefore by mediation of Wise men, arms being laid aside, the caus [...] was referred to be heard and decided between them in a Great Council of the whole Kingdom. For which end there was a famous Council summoned and held at Winchester; (which some Historians antedate in Edgars life, others place in the Interregnum, after his death; but the series of Story, and most judicious Antiquaries, evince it to be after Edwards Coronation, Anno 975.) In this Great Coun­cil, the King and Archbishop Dunstan sitting in their Thrones, as chief Judges of the Controversie, in the East-End of the Hall of the Refectory of Winchester Abby near the wall, (wherein there was a Crucifix immured just behind them [...]) Duces cum torius Regni Magnatibus; the Dukes with al [...] the Nob [...]es of the Realm, and the expulsed maried Clerks standing on the left side of the Refectory, and pleading for themselves, that they might be restored; and Oswald Archbishop of York, Athelwold Bishop of Winchester, with the Monks stand­ing all together on the right side of the Hall, plead­ing for their continuance in their Churches (as they Au­thor of the old Manuscript Chronicle of Winchester Ab­by relates, though he misdates the time of this Council, as h [...]l [...] Anno 968.) After much debate, the Nobles of the Realm fearing they should be overcome by d [...]spute ( [...] Monks) promising reformation of life on the Clergies behalf, most humbly intreated the King and Arch­bishop, That they might be readmitted into Monasteries, out of which they had been ejected. With whose prayers, tears & [Page 135] sig [...]s the mo [...] me [...]ci [...]u [...] King being much moved, was in a great streight, ruminating in his min [...], what he should doe in this business. At last purposing, and be­ing about to grant pardon to the Clerks, upon hope of their amendment, and to give them leave to return to the Monasteries and Churches whence they had been expelled; When he was ready to pronounce this his definitive Sentence; there was this divine Voice uttered, by the Cr [...]ifix i [...] [...]he W [...]ll. Cum plurium jam Suf­fragiis de Presbyteris restituendis decernebatur, as M [...]hew Parker relates it; Absi [...] ut hoc [...], &c. God forbid that this should be done; God forbid it should be done; You have judged well once, you would change [...]gain not well. Which articulate voice only the King and Archbishop who were the Judges of [...]he cause, heard, if the Chro­nicle of Winchester may be credited, when as another Monk relates, it was heard by all present; At which voice they being both astonied, fell to the ground on their faces; but all the rest hearing only the [...]ound of the Voice as of a great Thunder, fell down flat to the Earth very much affrighted. Some write, that both sides by Dunstans policy appealed to the resolution of the Crucifix in this case, in which Dunstan had placed a man with a Trunk in the wall behind the Image, who uttered this voice in and by the mouth of the Rood: which is most probable. Soon after, he King and Dun­stan heard this second voice from the Crucifix, Arise, be not afraid, because this day Righteousnesse and Peace have kissed each other in the Monks. In memory of this cheating Oracle and Monkish fable, (of which Hun­tindon, Hoveden, Wigorniensis, Ranul [...]us Cistrensis, Fabi­an, and other old Monas [...]ical [...]storians make no men­tion, and Malmsbu [...]y slightly relates it as An hear­say) the Monks of Winchester ingraved these Ver­ses over the head of this Crucifix in their Refe­ctory.

writing the words forcited under this Distick, as then uttered by the Crucifix, which asserted before all, That Dunstans way was true. Wherewith the Clerks and their Abettors were quite confounded, and put to silence. Sed adhuc non sedatis animis, &c. But the Nobles and Clerks minds being not as yet quieted by this Oracle (a clear evidence they suspected it as coun­terfeit) our Historians inform us, there were Proposit. 5, 6.three more great Councils soon after held to settle this Con [...]roversie between the married Priests and Monks. The first at Kerling, Kerding, or Cerding, or Kirking, as it is variously stiled, Anno 977. which Wigorn. An. 977. p. 360. Roger Hoveden An­nal. pars prior, p. 425. Ioh. Bromt. Chron. col. 870. Sim. Duuelm. Hist. de Gest. Reg. col. 160. An­tiqu. Eccles. Brit. p. 56. Spelm. Concil. p. 497. Wigorn. and Hoveden stile Magna Synodus, Anno 977. with­out recording what was done therein. Sir Henry Spel­man out of an old Saxon Note, calls it A great Coun­cil, affirmes it was held after East [...]r, and that Sideman Bishop of Devonshire died in it. That King Edward and the Archbishop therein or­dained; That every man should goe in pilgrimage to the Church of St. Mary at Abendune out of Devotion. And Matthew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury, in the life of Dunstan, superaddes: ‘Dunstanus ibi cum Mona­chorum labenti conditioni succurrete voluit, nihil profecit, Itaque hoc dissoluto Concilio, aliud in Regia Villa Wilteria quae Calne vulgo appellatur coegit.’

This Great Council held at Malmesb. de Gest. Reg. Angl. l. 2. c. 9. Mat. Westmin. An. 975. VVigorniensis, Simeon Dunelmensis, Hntindon, Hoveden, Bromt. An­no 975. Gervasins, Osburn, Capgrave, Matthew Parker, Godwin in the life of Dunstan, Polychronicon, l. 6. c. 12. Fabian, Caxton, Holinshed, Gra [...]ton, Ba­ker in the life of King Edward, Fox Acts and Monuments, Vol. 1. p. 204, 205. Speeds History, p. 411, 412. Baronius, & Spondanus An. 977. n. 2. Spelm. Concil. p. 494, 495. Camdens Britannia. p. 243. Calne (some stile it Cleve) was purposely called the same year. 977. to end the long continued Controversie between the [Page 137] Monks and married Priests, which the feigned Oracle of the Crucifix at Winchester, and the Council of Ker­ding could not determine. Proposit. 6. All the Senators and Nobles of England sitting together at this Council in an Upper room (the King being absent by reason of his tender age or sickness) the business being debated with great conflict and controversie; and the strong­est wall of the Monkish Church, Archbishop Dunstan, being assaulted with the Darts of many revilings, re­mained unshaken. The Disputants of both parties and orders defending their sides with greatest industry, in the midst of the dispute, the whole Floor, with the Rafters and Beams of the Room wherein they dis­puted suddenly brake in peeces, and fell to the ground, with all the people in it, except Dunstan, who esca­ped without any harm, standing firm on a beam that remained, of which he took hold-fast; the rest being either slain outright, or very much hurt and bruised with the fall, so as they languished ever after, hardly escaping present death. This miracle (as our Mon­kish Authors stile it) gave peace to Archbishop Dun­stan from the assaults of the English Clerks, and others, who thereupon from thence [...]orth submitted to his sen­tence and judgement, if William of Malmesbury, and Mat. Westminster may be credited; Whereas Florentius Wigorniensis, Iohn Bromton, and others out of them, assure us; that there was not long after another Parliamenta­ry Synod or Assembly held at Ambresbery, upon the same occasion, without recording the Proceedings or Event thereof. Some conjecture that this fall was on­ly a fiction of the Monkish VVriters, to adde reputa­tion to their languishing cause, as well as that of the Crucifix Speech forecited. Others conceive, it was wrought by Duustans sorcery, or Policy. Others, that it was casual, by reason of the weight of the People. But Henry Huntindon Hist. l. 2. p. 357. Bromton, col. 876. and Sir Henry Spelman out of them, p. 496. record, [Page 138] That this fall of the Nobles at Calne, was (not a Di­vine Judgement on them for their Opposition against, and injury to the Monks, as some interpre [...]ed it, but) signum videlicet Dei excelsi fuit quod Proditione et Interfectione Regis sui, Proposit. 8. ab amore Dei Casuri es­sent, et diversis gentibus digna contritione conteren­di; as they were soon after broke in pieces by the in­vading conquering Danes and Normans: And whether the late violent falls and ruptures of our Parliaments and Nobles portend not the like fate to England, by some other forein Invasions for the like Treachery, Apostacy, Regicide, or far worse, let those who are guiltiest of it, and others determine at their lei­sures.

Anno 978.King Matt. VVestm. VVi­gorn. Simeon Dunelm. Hun­tind. Hoved [...]n, Radul. de Dice. Ethelr. Bromt. An. 977, 978. Malmesbury de Gest. Reg. l. 8. c. 2. Po­lych. l. 6. c. 13. Antonius Chron. pars 2. Fabian, Cax­ton, Holiushed, Grafton, Speed, Fox and others in the life of King Edward. Edward imitating the footsteps of his Fa­thers Religion and Piety, was so circumvented by the flattering speeches of his Mother-in-law Queen Elfri­da, that although she opposed his Title, Election, Coronation, all she could, to advance her own Son to the Crown: yet retaining only the name of a king to himself, he soon after permitted her and his Brother Ethelred, his Competitor, to order all affairs of the Realm as they pleased. VVhereupon (as the Chro­nicle of Bromton relates) she began to plot how to de­throne this Man of God King Edward, and advance her own Son Ethelred to the Throne; Which when she had a long time meditated upon, she opened the Secrets of her heart to some of her chief Counsellours, advising with them concerning it, and earnestly intreating, yea conjuring them to assent to her therein, and to find out some means to effect it; Cui protenus in necem illius omnes conseuserunt, who all forthwith consented to his Murder, and contrived how they might most speedily accomplish it by some fraudulent de­vice, which they soon after executed in this manner.

King Edward hunting for his disport in the Forest near VVarham, hearing that his Brother Ethelred [Page 139] whom he intirely loved) was near that place, residing then with his Morher at Corph-Castle,) some stile it Cornesgate) rode thither to visit him with very few at­tendants, who either casually, or of set purpose lin­gring behind him, sporting in the way, he came alone to the Castle gate. Queen Elfrida who had a long time waited for such an opportunity, being informed thereof, went presently to meet him with her bloody Assassinate,s and welcoming him with flattering Speeches, and a pleasant countenance, importuned him to lodge there that night, which offer he with thanks refused, saying he desired only to see and speak with his brother, but would not alight from his horse: Whereupon she commanded a Cup of Wine to be spee­dily brought him to drink, appointing one of her boldest Souldiers to kill him whiles he was drinking: VVho kissing the king, like another Iudas, under a pre­text of love, to take away all suspition, so soon as the Cup was at his mouth, stabbed him presently into the Bowels with a knife. King Edward feeling himself wounded, set spurs to his Horse, thinking to escape to his own faithfull followers; but the wound being mortal, he fell from his Horse dead, and one o [...] his feet hanging in the Stirrop, he was dragged up and down through the Mire and Fields, and at last left there dead near Cerf Gate. VVh [...]ch his wicked Stepmother hearing of, commanded her most wicked Servant to drag him by the Heels like a beast, and throw him in­to a little Cottage hard by, that the fact might not be discovered. After which she commanded his Corps to be privily taken from thence, lest this her most execra­ble work of darkuess should be discovered, and buried in an obscure bushy morish place, where it should no more be found by any. Most of our Historians write, that he was obscurely buried at VVearham, without any Royal State; Ac si cum Corpor [...] paritèr & Me­moriam sepellissent, invidentes ei sespidem, cui vivo [Page 140] inviderunt decus Regium; So Malmsbury; or as Ma [...]thew Westminster delcants on it [...] Invidebant enim mortuo Ecclesiasticam concedere Sepulturam Cni viden­ti decus Regium auferebant. And not content here­with, they made an [...]dict [...] than which nothing could be more cruel; That no Man should lament or speak of his death, thinking thereby utterly to delete his memory. But contrary to their expectation, God by a superna­tural light from heaven shining on the place, and sun­dry Miracles there wrought (if our Monkish Hi­storians may bee credited) frustrated this design. For though the Queen and her Complices out of their transcendent malice (which O that some of late times had not overmuch imitated,) Inimicitias quas viventi ingesserunt in mortuum protelantes, sepelierunt [...]um fine Re­gio honore apud Warham [...] ut sicut vitam ejus extinxe­rant ita et nomen ejus extinguerent: Proposit. 8. hic vero comper­tum est contra divinam providentiam non sufficere pra­vum cor hominis et inscrutabile: Quem enim perfidi terris abjicerant, Deus coelo gloriosè suscepit, et memoriae aeternae insignivit eum Dominus. cujus mentionem Proditores obnubulare studuerant. But mark the sad sequel of this prodigious Regicide, Proditione Gentis suae perfidae, thus registred by Histor. l. 5 [...] p. 357. Henry Huntindon, an impartial Historian. Inde Dominus iterum ad iram provocatus est, et plus solito irritatus, Genti pessimae malum inextri­cabile conferre cogitavit, et quod facere paraverat non distulit. Veneruntque Dani, et operuerunt Angliam quasinubes coeli. To which De G [...]stis Regum Ang. l. 2. c. 9. p. 61. William of Malmsbu­ry subjoyns. Creditumque et celebritèr vulgatum [...] quod propter Elfridae in Edwardum insolentiam multo post tempore tota patria servitutem infremuisset Barba­ricam. Take the summ of his Reign, Murther, Saint­ship in these words of De Genealog. Reg, Anglor. p. 362. Abbot Ethelred. Translato ad coelestia Regna Rege Eadgaro [...] in re [...]no terreno filius ejus Edwardus successit: Qui injuste ab imp [...]s interfectus, tum [...], tum ob mortis [...] tatem San­cti [Page 141] Nomen et Meritum Deo donante promeruit: being afterward translated to Shaftsbury, and there honoura­bly enshrined.

King Edward being thus treacherously murdered on the 17th day of April, Anno 979. Anno 978. when he had reign­ed only 3. years and 8. moneths by hereditary Successi­on, thereupon on the 8. of May 979. his half-brother Ingulphi Historia p. 889, 890. Mat. VVestm. VVig. & Sim. Dun [...]l. An 978, 979, &c. 1016. Chron. Inhannis Bromton, col. 877, 878. Will: Malmsbur. de Gestis Regum. l. 2 c 18. Ead­merus Hist. No­vorum, l. 1. p. 1. Hoveden An­nal. pars prior. p. 427. &c. Hen. de Knygh­ton de Eventi­bus Angliae, l. 1. c. 2. Polychron. l. 6. c. 12, 13. Caxton. Fabi­an, Holinshed, Grafton, Speed, Stow & others in the life of K. Ethelred. Ra­dulphus de [...]ce [...]o Abbrev. Chron. col. 46 [...] Ethelred was crowned King at Kingston, by both the Archbishops, Dunstan and Oswald, and ten Bishops more, in the presence of the Nobles, much against Dun­stans will. And although Ethelred so much lamented his Brothers murder, being then but a child of ten years old, not active to promote this Treacherous plot, and so detesting it, that his Mother Elfrida in a rage whipped him for it with candles for want of a rod, which made him abhor candles all his life; yet Dun­stan full of a propheticall Spirit, at the very time of his Coronation told him, that he and his Posterity, toge­ther with the whole kingdom, should suffer grievous tribulation all his reign, using these words then unto him; Be [...]ause thou hast aspired to the Kingdom by the death of thy Brother, whom thy Mother murdered; therefore hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord: The Sword and Bloud shall not depart from thy House, nor from the Nation, but shall rage against thee all the days of thy Life, slaying thy séed, until thy King­dom shall be translated to another Realm and Nati­on, whose Customs and Language that Nation over which thou reignest knoweth not; qu [...] eos in ul [...]im [...]m red [...]gat servitutem who sha [...] reduce them into the ex­tremest Bondage, for conspiring with thy ignomini­ous Mother against the Bloud of thy Brother. Nei­ther sha [...] thy fin, nor the sin of thy Mother, Nor the sin of those who were privy to her wicked Counsell, that they might stretch out an hand against the Lords a­nointed to slay him, Proposit. 8. be expiated, but by a long Re­venge, and much effusion of bloud. Which accor­dingly [Page 142] came to pass; and let all others whom it con­cerns most nearly, with our whole English Nation now seriously reminde it. This Prophecie was presently after seconded, with a prodigious Cloud, spread and seen over all England sundry nights, which appeared sometimes bloudy, other times fiery, and then chan­ging it self into divers sort of flashings and colours, vanished about the morning. The very next year fol­lowing the barbarous Danes invaded England, burnt Southampton, killing and carrying away Prisoners al­most all the Inhabitants thereof; after which they in­fested and wasted the Isle of Teneth, and City of West-Chester, invading England every year with new forces, til they had laid the whole kingdom desolate, expelled King Ethelred, with his Queen and Children, into fo­reign patts, and possessed themselves both of the Crown aud Realm, as absolute Soveraigns.

And here, before I proceed further, I cannot but take special Notice of Gods admirable retaliating Ju­stice inflicted upon some of our Saxon usurping Regi­cides and their Posterities, worthy our saddest con­templation.

See Mat. Westm. Malmsb. Huntindon, Hoveden, E­thelwerdus, In­gulphus, Wigor­niensis, Simeon Dunelmensis, Bromton, Poly­chronicon, Hen. de Knyghton, Fabian, Speed, Holinshed, Grafton, Dani­el in their lives. King Edgar (as I touched before) injuriously usurped upon his elder Brother King Edwyn; and by force of arms deprived him of half his Crown and king­dom at first, and of his whole Realm, if not life too, at last. But within few years after by Gods avenging hand, his best beloved eldest Son and heir, King Edward, to whom he bequeathed the Crown at his death, was first op­posed in his Succession, and soon after most treache­ [...]ously butchered by his own Queen and younger Son, who invaded the Crown by his slaughter. King Ed­gar treacherously slew Earl Ethelwold, (as you have read) to espouse his wife Elfreda, & Crown her for his best beloved Queen; who (no doubt) was consenting to, if not the contriver of his murder, as he was hunt­ing in Worel Forest. And she to requite this murder, kills [Page 143] his own Son and heir King Edward, as he came from hunting in a Forest, not very far distant from the same place. Elfere Earl of Mercia, the Queens chief Coun­seller and Instrument to murther and dethrone King Edward, (whom he stabbed to death with his own hands, as Malmesbury records,) though to expiate this crime, he soon after honourably translated his Corps from Warham to Shaftsbury-Minster; yet by Gods a­venging wrath, about a year after his whole body was ea­ten up of Lice and Worms, so that he died most miserably. Queen Alfrida the chief Plotter of this murder, soon af­ter the fact, was struck with such horror of conscience for this bloudy Regicide, that to pacifie the pangs thereof, and expiate the guilt of his crying bloud, she built two Monasteries at Almesbury and Warwel, and casting off her royal robes and State, entred into the later of them, where she afflicted her self with sack­cloth, fasting, weeping, and severe penance unto the day of her death, bewailing this bloudy crime all the remainder of her life. The whole English Nation, who were either consenters to, or overgreat connivers at their Soveraigns Murther (which they never publikely questioned nor revenged) were not only stricken, con­sumed with all sorts of Plagues and strange diseases, but uncessantly invaded, oppressed, spoiled, captiva­ted, conquered, murderated, and almost quite extirpa­ted by the barbarous Danes, who usurped the Sove­raignty over them for three Generations, being made a spectacle of divine Justice both to Angels and Man. As for King Ethelred himself, though then an infant, he purchased nothing else by his Brothers blood, but a Crown of Thorns and Cares, living in perpetual warrs, cares, fears, wants, distresses, being crossed in all his designs, warrs by Land and Sea, contemned, deserted, and frequently betrayed by his own Counsellers, No­bles, Commanders, Souldiers, Subjects; forced out of the Realm with his Queen, children, by the conque­ring [Page 144] Danes, all living like exiles in forein parts; dy­ing at last neither lamented nor desired; Some of his Sons after his death were treacherously murthered, (as Edmund Ironside by his own Brother-in-law, and E­th [...]lred his Son-in-law, Duke Edert) all his posterity renounced by the English, and the Danes preferred be­fore them, banished, betrayed, devoted to ruine by the usurping Danes, and his own temporizing English Pre­lates and Nobles. Of which more fully hereafter. Take bu [...] this brief Character of his unhappy reign out of De Gestis Regum, l. 2. c. 10. William of Malmsbury, and De Even­tibus Angliae, l. 1. c. 2. Henry de Knyghton; Ethelredus post occisionem frat [...]is sui Edwardi in Regem levatus 38. annis reguum potius obsidit, quam rexit. Nam vitae suae cursus saevus et infa [...]stus fuit; in principio, miser; in medio et fine, turpis et reprobus [...] Iste tenuit Regnum in magna angustia [...] Nec mirum, quia sic felonice et inju­ste intrusus est in Regnum, Rex suorum perfidia Du­cum avito ex terris solio, et opis egens alienae, in cujus ma­nu aliorum solebat salus pendere. E Normannia accerci­tus Londoniae agebat propter proditores, nunquam proce­dens, ubi animam laboribus et miseriis natam efflavit. Post cujus mortem Proceres Regni, cum Clero stirpem e­jus abhorrentes, Canutum recognoverunt Regem suum fore. All which calamities fell upon these Regicides, Traytors, and the whole English Nation, as our Hi­storians observe, for the murder of their lawfull Sove­raign. And have we not all now just cause to fear the very like, or some sorer Judgements for the selfsame cry­ing Sin, and other transcendent, bloudy, traiterous violences, oppressions of all kinds, farr exceeding this, and all o [...]hers in former ages? But to proceed from these Generals, to the most observable particulars du­ring his reign.

Anno 980.Anno Dom. 980. being the second year of King E­thelreds reign, the Mat. West. Malmsbury, Ingulphus, Huntindon, Hoveden, Simeon Dunelm. Bromton, Wigorn. Radulphus de Diceto, Polychron. Antiqu. Eccles. Brit. Fox, Holinshed, Grafton, Speed. Danes began their invasion and [Page 145] persecution of the English, wasting, depopulating with fire and sword Southampton, Chester, the Isle of Te [...]eth, Cornwall, Devonshire, and other places, continuing their depredations sundry years after, till they became Lords and Masters both of the Crown and Realm. All our Historians record, that the sins of the English Nation, (especially their Treason and Treachery against their in­nocent murdered Soveraign) were the original cause of this Danish invasion, and most fatal Judgement: to which Bishop Mat. Par­ker, Antiqu. Eccl. Brit. p. 63, 64. Lupus in his Oration, subjoyns these other sins, pertinent to my Theam, of which I fear our Nation is now farr more guilty than their Ancestors in that age: Ecelesiae vastantur, ordo Clericalis ludibrio habetur et contemptui; ima plebs proditorie è regno sumpto protio venundatur, Proposit. 1.4.8. infantes ab ipsis incunabilis ad mise­ram servitutem sumpti et redacti sunt, omnisque benigni­tas et eleemosyna perit. Ipsi denique liberi avita libertate frui, et in servili conditione constituti, bonis magnis par­tis laboribus aut aliu [...]dè concessi [...], uti prohibentur. Et quia haec gens perjuriis, Mendaciis Iuramenti, Fidei, Faederum atque Pignorum fractionibus crebris, [...]omi­cidio, turto, et quae ad Rempublicam l [...]befactandam summa sunt Proditione, falso atque Technis vaferrimis in ip­sos Domi [...]os atque Heros multifariam deliquit, cujus fuit indicium, Edwardi regis ipsis hostibus traditio, &c. The external causes principally inviting, incouraging the Danes to this invasion, as Antiqu. Eccl [...] Brit. p. 62. Matth [...]w Parker, and Acts and Monuments, Vol. 1. p. 207. Speeds Histo [...]y. Mr. Fox conjecture, were these: Quod à segnibus et torpentibus Monachis Regni facultates essent ab­sorptae; auctaque indies Dacorum vis ab Anglorum sub Monachis redactorum ignaviam, et civilia orta multa dis­crimina; quae Dacos e [...]ferarunt victores. And that the Danes perceiving the discords that were then in the Realm, and the hearts of the Subject to be withdrawn from, and set against their Soveraign, they thought it a sufficient occasion and advantage to forward their intend­ments, and omitting no time, arived on the Coasts of [Page 146] Kent, and spoiled the Country as aforesaid [...]

Anno 982.About the year of our Lord 982. One Lefsi bought lands in the Isle of Ily of Adelwold Bishop of Winchester, and not only denied to pay for them, but likewise for­cibly disseised the Bishop of 3. Manors, Burch, Undeles, and Kateringes, which the Bishop recovered by Judge­ment of the Earldermen, and Thames in the WITE­NAGEMOTE (Wittagemiot) or Parliamentary Assembly of that age, thus reported by the antient Ms. de O­peribus B. Edel­woldi, Episco­pi. Book of Ely, and by Titles of Hono [...], second part. c. 5. sect. 6. p. 693. Mr. Selden, out of it. ‘Edicitur placitum apud Londoniam, qu [...] cum Duces, Principes, Satrapae, Rethores et Causidici ex omni parte confluxerant, beatus Aedelwoldus praefatum Lefsium in jus protraxit, et coram cunctis suam causam et injuri­am, ac rapinam quam ipse Leofsius intulerat sanctae Ecclesiae ex ordine patefecit. Qua re benè ac a­pertè ab omnibus discussa, omnes Deo et beato Aethelwaldo per judicium reddiderunt Burch, et Un­deles, et Kateringes. Judicaverunt etiam ut Leofsius Episcopo totum damnum suum su [...]pleret, et Munda, Saxonice Pax dicitur: sed et Satisda [...]io, ut [...]ic, ni [...]allor, inte [...]pretatur. Mun­dam suam redderet, de rapina vero Regis forisfactu­ram emendaret, dato pretio genealogiae suae. Post haec infra octavum diem convenerunt iterum ad Northamtune, et congregata ibi tota Provincia, sive Vicecomitatu, Proposit. 4, 6, coram cunctis iterum causam supradi­ctam patefecerunt. Qua pa [...]efacta ac declarata, ut praejudicata erat apud Londoniam, judicaverunt et isti apud Northamtune. Quo facto omnis populus cum jurejurando in Christi Cr [...]ce reddiderunt Episcopo quae sua erant, scilicet, Burch, et Undeles, et Katerin­ges.’ By which President it is apparent, 1. That Par­liamentary Councils in that age held Pleas, and gave judgements of Disseisins and Titles of Lands. 2. That they had Lawyers to assist them, and plead such cases before them. 3. That the Judgement gi­ven in the Great Council at London, was confirmed, recited, and executed in the County-Court held at [Page 147] Northampton, and possession of the Lands accordingly restored to the Bishop.

King Matthew Westminst. An. 983, 986. VVigorn. and Sim [...] Dunelm. An. 986 [...] Ingul­phi Hist. p. 890. Wil. M [...]l­mesb. de G [...]stis Reg. l. 2. c. 10. Hoveden, An­nal. pars prior, p. 427. Huntin­don Hist. l. 5. p. 357. Ch [...]on. [...]o. Bromton, col. 818. Hen­ry de Knygh­ton de Eventi­bus Ang. l. 1. c. 2. col. 2515. Fox Acts and Monuments vol. 1. p. 20 [...]. Antiq. Eccles. Brit. p. 61. Godwins Ca­talogue of Bi­shops p. 394. Speed p. 144. Ethelred being incensed against the Bishop Anno 986. of Rochester, Anno 983. as some, or 986. as others com­pute it, besieged the City of Rochester for a long space; VVhereupon Archbishop Dunstan commanded him to give over the siege, lest he should provoke St. Andrew, Patron of that City, against him. The King notwith­standing continued his siege till he extorted one hun­dred pounds from the Bishop. VVhereupon Dunstan admiring at his covetousness, sent him this Message. Because thou hast preferred silver before God, Mony be­fore an Apostle, covetousness before me, the evils which the Lord hath denounced shall violently come upon thee. Upon which Matthew Westminster makes this observa­tion. Anno 986. Rex Anglorum Aethelredus qui pro­hibente beato Dunstano Centum libras ab Episcopo Roffe [...] ­si extorserat, pro pace brevissima pensionem 16 millium librarum persolvere compulsus est. VVhich fell not out till the year 994. as himself and others record: Mal­mesbury referrs it to the Tax of 10 thousand pounds, paid by him to the Danes. Anno 991. In this year 986. Alfric Duke of Mercians, son of Duke Alfere was banished England crudeliter, cruelly, without just cause, as Bromton recites, which made him afterwards prove treacherous to the King, he being one of those English, quos nullis causis extantib [...]s exhaeredabat Rex, et affecto crimine, opibus emungebat; which Malmesbury taxeth him for. Propos. 2, 4. His oppression and inj [...] ­stice, being the chief causes of his miscarriage and ex­pulsion by the Danes.

Anno 988. An. 988, 991. The Danes invading VVecedport, there­upon Goda Earl of Devonshire, Mat. VVestm. VVi­gorn. Hun [...]in­don, Hoveden [...] Bromt. Speed, Holinsh. Fox, Grafton. Strenwild, a most valian [...] Knight, and many others in defence of their Native Country and Liberties, fought with them, and were slain by them. And Anno 891. Brithnoth the most va­liant Duke of the East English, and his forces, fought [Page 148] a set battle with the invading Danes, who wasted Ipswich and the parts adjoyning: In which battel an innumerable multitude were slain on both sides, and this valiant Duke with many thousands of the English, in defence of their Country against these In­vaders. After which, by the Counsel of Gervasius Antiq. Eccle [...]. Brit. and God­win in the life of Spricius. Syricius Arch­bishop of Canterbury, Duke Aethelward, Alfric, and other Nobles (assembled no doubt in a Parliamenta­ry Proposit. 1. [...] as Malmesbur [...] his Duces et Proceres si quando in Concilium venissent, pars hic, [...] illud [...] and Henry de Kayghton his Proceres Regni, si quando ad Concilium congregati, &c. im [...]ort) ‘A Tribute of ten thousand pounds was given to [...]he Danes, that they might desist from their frequent ra­pines, and slaughters of men, which they frequently exercised about the Sea-coasts, pacemque firmam cum iis tenerent, and might hold a firm peace with them.’ Some of our Historians stile this Huntind. Hist. l. 5. p. 357. Chron. Io­han. Bromton, col. 879. Infaustum Concilium, an unlucky Council. Eadmerus Hist. No­vorum l. 1. p. 1. gives this verdict of it.

‘Regis desidia circum circa inno­tuit, Et ideo extevorum cupiditas opes Anglorum quam mortes affectans, hac & illac, per mare, terram invadere: & primo propinquas mari villas & urbes, deinde remotiores, ae demum totam Provinciam miserabili depopulatione devastare. Quibus cum ille nimio pavore perculsus, non armis occurrere, sed data pecunia pacem ab eis petere non erubuisset, Propos. 1, 5, 6, 9. ipsi suscepto pretio in sua revertebantur, ut, numero suo­rum adaucto fortiores redirent, ac praemia iteratae irruptionis multiplicata reciperent; Unde modo de­cem millia, modo sedecim millia, modo viginti quatuor millia, modo triginta millia librarum ar­genti consecuti sunt: omnia illis largiente praefato Rege Edel [...]edo. et gravi exactione totum Regnum opprimente. De Gestis Reg. Angl. l. 2. c. 10. p. 62. VVilliam of Malmesbury passeth this censure on it, and the unhappy consequence of it. Danis omnes portus infestantibus, & levitate pirati­ca [Page 149] ubique infestan [...]ibus, dum nesciretur, ubi eis oc­currere debent decretum à Syriaco Archiepie piscopo. &c. ut repelleren [...]ur argento qui non po [...]erunt fer­ro. Ita decem millia libra [...]um soluta cupiditatem Danorum exp [...]ere. Exemplum Infamiae et Uiris indignnm, libertatem pecunia redimere, quam ab invicto animo nulla violentia possit excutere. Et tunc quidem pa [...]isper ab incur [...]bus ce [...]arunt, mox ubi vires o [...]io resumpserunt, ad superiora re [...]i [...]um. Tantus timor Anglos invaserat, ut nihil de resisten­do cogitarent. Si qui antiquae glor [...]ae memores ob­viare, & [...]gna colligere tentassent, hostium multi­tudine, & sociorum defectione desti [...]ebantur’ whereby they became Vassals and Tributaries to the De Gestis Pontif. l. 1. p 203. in [...]ulting Danes. ‘Cujus Siricii consilio in gestis Regum dixi Ethelredum Regem animi libertatem Danis pretio [...]endicasse. Ut eo [...]u [...] pacem argento redime­rent, quod ferro repellere posset [...] nisi corde car [...]ret. Unde Importabilis Tributi pensio imposita Angliae, fortunas provincialium ad solum usque destruxit.’ Histor. l. 5. p 357. Henry Huntindon, and the col. 879. Chronicle of Bromton pass this verdict against, and deduce this memorable observation from this Tribute. ‘ Edelredi Regis, An­no 13. Proposit. 1, 6, 9. Primo statuerunt Angli (which intimates it to be [...] a Parliamentary Council) Conci­lio infausto Siricii Archiepiscopi, quod ipsi censum Dacis persolverent, quatenus à rapinis & caede [...] [...]ederum eis decem mille libras. Hoc autem malum usque in hodiernum diem duravit, et diu, nisi Dei Pietas subveniat, durabit: Regibus namque nostris modo persolvimus, ex consuetudine quod Dacis persolvebatnr ex ineffabili terrore.’ To which Bromton, Polychr. l. 6. c. 13. Ranulphus Censtrensis, and De [...] Ev [...]n­tibus Angliae, l. 1. c. 2. H [...]n­ry de Knyghton immediately subjoyn. ‘Dacis Tribu­tum annuum solvunt. Primo anno 10 milia librarum, Secundo anno 16 millia librarum, Tertio anno 20 millia librarum, Quarto anno 24 millia, Quin [...]o [Page 150] anno 40. millia librarum, donec tandem pecunia de­ficiente iterum tenderent ad Rapinas. Et tunc Nor [...]briam depraedantes [...] et Londoniam obsiden­te, Coegerunt regem tributum dare.’ Antiqu. Eccles. Brit. p. 64. Mat. Parker Arc [...]ishop of Ca [...]terbury, thus censures this ill advice of his Predecessor; Siricius pacem Christianis ab in [...]idelibus Dacis 10. librarum millibus redemit, Ad ignominiam sane, peneque perniciem totius Regni. Acts and Mon. Vol. 1 [...] 207. Mr. Iohn Fox informs us, That King Ethelred be­ing glad to grant the Danes great sums of money for peac [...], gave himself to polling of his Subjects, and disinheri­ting them of their possessions; and caused them to re­deem the same ag [...]i [...] with great sums of money; For that he paid great Tributes to the Danes yearly, which [...]as calle [...] Danegelt. Proposit. 1. 4. Which Tribute so increased, that from the first Tr [...]bute of 10000 l. it was brought at last in p [...]ocesse of 5. or 6. years to 40000 l. The which yearly Tribute (until the coming of St. Edward and after) was levied of the people of the Land: Moreover, for lack of Iustice, many Theeves, Rioters, and Bribers, were in the land, with much misery and mischief. To which sorrow moreover was joyued hunger and penury (besides a bloudy flux, feavers, mortality, murrain amongst cat [...]el, &c.) amongst the Commons, insomuch that every one of them was constrained to pick and steal from others. So that what for the pillage of the Danes, and what by inward Theeves and Bribers, this Land was brought into great affliction: Albeit the greatest cause of this affliction (as it seemeth to me) is not so much to be imputed to the King, as to the dissention among the Lords themselves, who did not agrée one with another; but when they assembled in Consultation together, either they did draw divers wayes, or if any thing were agreed upon any matter of peace between t [...]e parties, soon it was broken again; or else if any good thing were devised for the prejudice of the Enemy, e­ven the Danes were warned thereof by some of the same Council. Page 415, 416. Iohn Speed, in his Hist: of Great Britain re­lates, [Page 151] That King Ethelred could not redress the ev [...]ls oc­casioned by the prosperous Danes successes, who lay in the land like unto Grashoppers, his strengths be [...]ng small, and his Subjects affections l [...]ss. Proposit. 1, 6, 9. Therefor [...] calling to counsell the Statesmen and Peers, demanded their Advic [...], what was best to be done? Some few of these profe [...]ed the King their assistance, but more of them perswaded to a composition, whereof Siricius Archbishop of Canterbury was chief; and in fine, ten thousand pounds paid to the Danes for their departure. This golden mine once entred, was more eagerly digged into by those still-thirsting Danes, who finding the branch so beneficial at first, hoped the vein in following would prove farr more beneficial; and there­fore, regardless of promise, the next year prepared them­selves again for England, and with a great Fleet disp [...]tch­ed to Sea. The News whereof struck such terror into the English hearts [...] that despairing of hope [...] they accounted themselves the Bondslaves of Misery, and were enfor­ced to compound a peace with th [...]m, with the payment of 16000 pounds, which they at last mounted to 40000 ( or 48000) [...]ounds [...] till it emptied the Land of all her coin, the Kingdom of her Glory, the Nobility of their Cou­rage, the Commons of their Content, and the Sove­raign of his wonted Respect and Observation. (A pattern of our age and [...]imes.) A Collecti­on of the Histo­ry of England. London 1634. p. 16. [...]amuel Daniel gives us this Censure of this first unworthy hea [...]y Tax: E­thelred in the end was fain, seeing he could not prevail with the sword, to assail them with money, and bought a peace for 10000 pounds, which God wot, proved after a very dear pen­ny-worth to the Commonwealth: Shewing the seller t [...]e [...]eof, how much was in his power, and the buyer, at how bad a rate, his necessity was to be served, and yet not sure of his bargain, longer than the Contractor would. Who having found the benefit of this market, raised the price therof al­most every year. And yet had not Ethelred what he paid for, the land in one part or other being never free from spoil and invasion, but rather, were more oppressed both by [Page 152] the Dane, and by this Taxation, which was the first we find in our Annals laid upon the Kingdom, and with heavy grievance raised in a poor distressed State, continuing many Ages after the occasion was extinct; And in the end [...] became the usual Supplement in the Dangers of the Kingdom, and the Occasions of Princes. And hereby Et [...]elred enla [...]ged the means and de [...]ires [...] of the Enemy, so that at length came Swaine King of Denmark, and Anlafe King of Norwey in person, as if likewise to receive him for com­mitting outrage, and were both returned with great summs. And many years it was not ere Swaine returned again to raise new summs by new afflictions, and tormenting here this poor turmoiled people more than ever, receives a fee fo [...] bloudshed, Propoposition 1, 6, 9. to the summ of 48000 l. Granted in the General Assembly of the States at London; and a Peace, or rather paction of servitude concluded.

From these passages of our Historians it is most e­vident. 1. That this Tax of ten thousand pounds to the Danes, was the very first we find imposed on the Eng­lish Nation, An. Domini 991, being never subject to any publike Civil Tax til then, for ought appears by History. 2. That this Tax was then imposed, and after reimposed, augmented on the Nation, only by common advice, grant, and consent of the King, Prelates, and Nobles assembled in a publike and Parliamentary Council. 3. That the original ground of granting it was base degenerous cowardise, or unmanly fear, and sluggishness, both in the King, Nobles, and People, and that by the very unlucky, imprudent, ill Council and advice, of an Archprelate, Siricius Archbishop of Can­terbury being the p [...]inciple adviser of it. 4ly. That it was originally paid, not to a lawfull Native Soveraign king, for defence of the Nation, but to a forein invading prevailing, victorious Danish Enemy, to purchase peace, and be quit of future troubles and Invasions. 5ly, That when this was first imposed, it was with a [Page 153] belief and resolution never to reiterate or draw it a­gain into custom or president in succeeding ages: and that only to satisfie a covetous invading Enemy for the present, wi [...]hout any thoughts that [...]t would but streng [...]hen or encourage their Enemies to new inva [...]i­ons and Tributes of this Nature, doubled and tre­bled on the Nation afterwards. Yet loe the contrary sad effects of this ill president & advice. 1. It is within few years after, several times drawn into Use and Cu­stom again. 2. It is every time increased, augmen­ted more than other, till it amounted to 4 times as much as it was at first. 3. It did but impoverish, weaken the English themselves, and much strengthen, encou­rage their Danish Enemies, and keep them still under their Vassalage. Whereas so much mony or less raised and spent for their own defence against [...]he Danes, would probably have expulsed and beaten them home to their own Country with losse, and so have prevented their future invasion. 4ly After the Danes were quite expelled, and the occasion of this tax quite extinct, yet it then became a usual constant suppliment to our Kings for sundry ages after, upon all occasions, and was the only ground-work, pattern, of all the heavy publike Shipmony, Taxes, Aids, Impositions, Payments, under which the people have suffered in all succeeding ages, till this present. It is very dangerous therefore for Parliaments, or Statesmen, upon any extraordinary pressing Necessity, to lay any new Taxes, Tributes, or Imposts on the people, and most perillous for the people voluntarily to submit unto their payment; fo [...] being but once or twice granted, imposed, paid, and made a President, they are hardly ever abolished or conjured down again, but kept still on [...]oot upon some pretext or other; yea oft doubled, trebled, and qua­drupled by degrees, to the peoples grand oppression and undoing, as we may see by this old President of D [...]negelt; and the late sad Presidents of our new im­posed [Page 154] Exci [...]es, Imposts, Monethly Contributio [...]s, ra [...]ed from 20 to 30, 40, 50, 60, 100, and 120 thousand pounds, amonth, and the Excise from thousands to Millions; and so continued for sundry years, without hope of end, or ea [...]e: the only blessed lib [...]rty which we have hitherto purchased with all our Prayers, Tears, Fasts, Counsels, Treasures, wars and whole Oceans of Christian blood. I shall therfore desire our late and pre­sent Tax-Masters, Excise [...]s, if they be not now past all shame, sadly to consider, how much more burthensome and in [...]urious they have been & are now to their native Christ [...]an English Brethren, than the Barbarous Pagan, forein invading Danes were then to their predecessors; in that they by their own authority, without any law­full grant, or Act by a free Parliament, impose on their Brethrens exhausted purses and estates, no less than 60 or 120 thousand pounds every Moneth, besides Ex­cis [...]s, Imposts, Customes, amounting to much more; when as the barbarous, forein Danes exacted of them, only by their own common consent in free Parlia­mentary Councils, only ten thousand pounds in one year at first, and then 16000, 24000, 30000, 40000, or 48000 l. at the utmost for several whole years Tri­bute, without any Excise, Imposts, or other Customs. Which meditation me thinks should now induce them to mitigate, release, cease, our long continued unces­sant Taxes, Excises, Imposts, or at least to reduce them to the Danes highest annual proportion, of 48000 thousand pounds, lest the whole Nation and Posterity repute them more oppressive, barbarous, ty­rannical to their Christian Countrymen now; than the worst of the forein Pagan Danish Invaders were heretofore, and greater present Enemies to their Native Country, than the Danes then were to our Pro­genitors.

Anno 991.The self same year William Malmsbur. De Gestis Regum. l [...] 2 [...] c [...] 10. p. 64. Spelman. Concil. p [...] 503. there being some difference [Page 155] between King Ethel [...]ed and Richard Marquess of Nor­mandy, he thereupon slew and pillaged all the English passing through his Country, and affronted King Ethel­red with frequent injuries. Pope Iohn the 15. hereupon sent Leo his Legate, with exhortatory Letters to make peace between them: who coming with them to King Ethelred on Christmass day, Proposit [...] 6.9. Anno 9 [...]1. the King, u [...]on r [...]ceit of the Popes Letters Accersitis cunctis sui Regni fidelibus, utriusque ordinis Sapientioribus, Assembling all the Wisest men of his Realm of both Or­ders, for the love and fear of Almighty God, and St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, granted and estabished a most firm peace with all his Sons a [...]d Daughters, present, and to come, and with all his Lieges, without guile. In pursuance whereof, the King sent Edelfinus Bishop of Sherburn, with two other persons of quality into Normandy to the Marquess: Who, upon receit of the Popes Admonitions, and hearing of the kings Decree, with a willing mind, confirwed the said Peace with his Sons and Daughters present and to come, and with all his Subjects, upon this reasonable condition, That if any of them, or they themselves should perpetrate any unjust thing against the other, it should be exp [...]ated with eondign reparation. Which Peace that it might remain perpe­tually firm, was ratified by the Oaths of the Commis­sioners of both parts, at Rhoan, in March following. Here we have a Peace advised, ratified by the directi­on of a Parliamentary Great Council: recorded at large by Malmsbury: The last clause whereof was this, Et de hominibus Regis, vel de inimicis suis, nullum Ri­chardus recipiat, nec Rex de suis, sine Sigillo eorum.

King Florenti­us Wigornien­sis, Mat. Westm. Simeon Dunel­mensis, Hoveden, Huntindon, Hist. l. 5. p. 357. Chron. Iohan. Bromton. col. 879.880. Speed, Holinshed, Graf [...]on, Fox. Ethelred in the year 992. Anno 992. hearing that the Danes intended a new invasion of England, and that they had sent a great Fleet to Sea, contrary to their former Agreement the year before, assembled a Council of his [Page 156] Nobles to consult how to resist them. What the result of their consultation was, Florence of Worcester thus re­cord Consilio jussuque Regis Anglorum Ethe [...]redi, Procerumque suorum, Proposit. 6, 9. de tota Anglia robustrores, Londoniae congregatae sunt Naves. By the Counsel and command of Ethelbert king of England, and of his No­bles, all the strongest Ships were assembled together at London, out of all England; which the king furnish­ing with choice Souldiers, made Duke Alfric, Duke Thorold; Alstan and Aes [...]win (two Bishops) Admirals over them; commanding them, if by any means they could, to take the Danish Army and Fle [...]t by invi [...]oning them in some part. But Duke Alfric (formerly banished, for­given, and now made chief Admiral) turning Traytor, both to his king and Country, first sends a secret Mes­senger to the Danes, to acquaint them with the de­signs against them, intreating them to prevent the am­bushes prepared to surprize them, whereby they esca­ped the hands of the English. After which, when the English and Danes were ready to encounter each other in a Sea-fight, Alfric fled secretly to the Danish Fleet the night before, and by reason of the instant danger, fled away shamefully with them. The kings Navy pursuing them, took and pillaged one of the Danish Ships, flaying all the men therein. But the London ships meeting with the other Danish Pirates, as they were flying, fought with them, slew many thousands of the Danes; and took Duke Alfric his Ship, with the Souldiers and Armes, himself hardly escaping, as Wigorniensis and Matthew Westminster relate. But Hun­tind. & Bromton, write, that the Danes recruiting their Navy, met and fought with the kings Navy, slew ma­ny of the Londoners, triumphantly took whole armed Ships, and Duke Alfric who was in them; whom the king should not have trusted, according to the antient saying: Quem semel gravitèr laeseris, non facile tibi fide­lem credideris. For this Treason of Alfric, the king [Page] cau [...]ed the Eyes of his Son Algar to be put out, Un [...]e odium & infamia e [...]us [...]rudelitatis adaucta est, as Hun­ti [...]don and others observe.

The next year 993. Anno 993. the VVi [...]o [...] ­mensis, Bromt. Huntindou, Hoved [...]n, Mat. VVestminst. Malmesbury Simeon Du­nelm. Radul­phus Cestr [...]n­sis, Fabian, Ho­linshed, Speed, Danish Fleet entring Humber, wasted the Country of Northumberland and Lindesey, burning the Villages, slaying the people, and pillaging their goods. Whereupon great multitudes of the people of tha [...] Country, assembling together, resolved and hastned to sight with them: but when they were ready to gi [...]e [...]hem battel, Frena, F [...]ithgist and Godwin their Captains, being of Danish Progeny [...] proving treacherous to their followers, perswaded them to fly, and fled first themselves. Notwithstanding the Country (as Malmesbury, Speed, and others write) being unable to digest their intollerable insolence and plunders, fell upon the Danes, slew many of them, and chased away the rest to defend their Lives, Liber­ties, and Estates.

Anno 994. Anno 994. Swane king of Denmark [...] and Anlafe king of Norwey with 94 Ships sailed up to London, Florent. VVigo [...]n. S [...]m. Dunelm. Mat. Westm. Anno 994. William Malmes, de G [...]st. R [...]g. l. 2. c. 10. Hun [...]in­don Hist. l. 5. p. 358. Hov [...] ­den, Annal. pars prior, p. 428. Chron. Ioh. Bromt. col. 880, Po­lych. l. [...]. c [...] 13. Henry de Knyghton de Even [...]. Angl. l. 1. c. 2. Fabian, Graston, Ho­linshed, S [...]ow, Speed, Spelm, Glossarium, Tit. Danegelt, Radulph. de Diceto Abbrevi. Chron. 461, be­sieged and [...]iercely assaulted the City, thinking to take it; but the Citizens so manfully defended it, that they repulsed the Danes thence with great loss. Who thereupon turning their fury upon the Coun [...]ies of Es­sex, Kent, Sussex, and Southampton, so greivously wa­sted them with fire and sword, burning the Villa [...]es, and slaying the Inhabitants, that King Ethelred, Con­cilio Procerum suorum, by the Council of his No­bles (a [...]embled together for that end, as Wigorniensis Matthew Westminster, Hoveden, Simeon Dunelmensis and others write) sent Embassadours to them, promising to give them Tribute and Wages, and Money, upon this condition, that they should desist from their cruelty. Who thereupon condescending to the kings request, returned to their Ships, and drawing all their Army together unto Southampton, wintered there: To [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 158] whom a Tribute of fixteen thousand pounds, Proposit. 1, 6, 9. was gi­ven and paid out of all England, that they shou [...]d cease from their rapines and slaug [...]ters of innocent persons. Af­ [...]er t [...]is agreement King Anlaf [...]epaired to Andover, to King Et [...]elred, where he received bapti [...]m, Ethelred being his Godfather: and bestowing great gifts upon him; Hereupon Anlaf entred into a League with him, promising, to return into his own Countrey, and ne­ver after to r [...]turn into England with an Army; Which promise he faithfully observed. The Articles of the Agreement between King Ethelred and him, are at large recorded in the Chronicle of Bromton, Col. 899 [...] 900. being made by advice of all his Wisemen as [...]em­bled in a Parliamentary Council, as this Title to them intimates. Haec sum verba Pacis et Prolocutionis, quas Ethelredus Rex et omnes Sapientes ejus cum exer­citu sirmaverunt, qui cum A [...]a [...]an [...], [...]t Justino, et Gu­dermundo Stegiari filion venit. The Articles of the Peace between them are X. in the Saxon, but XI. in the Latin Copy.