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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 • 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 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.

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 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.

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 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, 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 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, 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 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 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 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.

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 • 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 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, 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, 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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, 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 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.

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.