the peace and common harmony of the church was broken, the synod provoked and resisted, the holy people of the Lord divided into parts and tumults, contrary to the office of good and circumspect men, whose duty were rather to nourish concord, and to seek tranquillity. Declaring moreover in the said epistle, the first origin and occasion of their contentious dissension to rise upon vain and trifling terms, vile causes and light questions, and pieces of questions; about such matters as are neither to be moved, nor being moved, to be answered to, more curious to be searched, and perilous to be expressed, than necessary to be inquired. Wherefore by all means he entreats them and persuades them, not only with reasons, but also with tears and sighing sobs, that they would again restore peace to the church, and quietness to the rest of his life (which otherwise would not be sweet unto him) and that they would return again to the communion of the reverend council. Thus much I thought summarily to comprehend, whereby the divine disposition and singular gentle nature of this meek and religious Constantine, might more plainly appear to all princes, for them to learn by his example what zeal they ought to bear toward the church of Christ, how gently they ought to govern it, and how to be beneficial to it.

Many other edicts and epistles written to other places and parties, are expressed at large in the second book of Eusebius's Life of Constantine," wherein the zealous care and princely beneficence of this noble emperor toward the church of Christ may appear; a brief recapitulation of which here follows. (Sozo. lib. i. cap. 8, 9.)

First, he commanded all them to be set free, who for the confession of Christ had been condemned to banishment, or to the mines, or to any public or private labour. Such as were put to any infamy or shame among the multitude, he ordered to be discharged from all such ignominy. Soldiers which before were deprived either of their place, or their wages, had liberty given them either to serve again in their place, or to live quietly at home. Whatever honour, place, or dignity had been taken away from any man, he commanded to be restored to them again. And that the goods and possessions of them that had suffered death for Christ, however they were alienated, should return to their heirs or next of kin, or for lack of them should be given to the church. He commanded, moreover, that christians only should bear office; he charged and restrained the heathens, that they should neither sacrifice nor exercise any more divinations and ceremonies of the Gentiles, nor set up any images, nor keep any feasts of the heathen idolaters. He corrected moreover and abolished all such unlawful manners and usages in the cities as might be hurtful to the church.

Among the Romans was an old law, that such as had no children, should be amerced of half their goods. Also, that such as being above the years of twenty-five were unmarried, should not be numbered in the same privileges with them that were married, neither should be heirs to them, to whom notwithstanding they were next in kin. These laws, because they seemed unreasonable, he abrogated and took away. There was also another law among the Romans, that they which made their wills being sick, had certain prescribed words appointed to them to use, which unless they followed, their wills stood of no effect. This law also Constantine repealed, permitting every man in making his testament to use what words or what witnesses he would. Likewise among the Romans he restrained and took away the cruel and bloody spectacles and sights, where men were wont to kill one another with swords.

Where no

churches were, there he commanded new to be made; where any were decayed, he commanded them to be repaired; where any were too little, he caused them to be enlarged, giving to the same, great gifts and revenues, not only out of the public tributes and taxes, but also out of his own private treasures. When any bishops required any council to be had, he satisfied their petitions; and whatever they established in their councils and synods, that was godly and honest, he was ready to confirm.

He inscribed the armour of his soldiers with the sign

of the cross, that they might learn the sooner to forget their old superstitious idolatry. Moreover, like a worthy emperor, he prescribed a certain form of prayer, instead of a catechism for every man to have, that he might learn how to pray, and to invoke God. Which form of prayer is recited in the fourth book of Eusebius's" Life of Constantine," as follows:

"We acknowledge thee to be our only God, we con. fess thee to be our King, we invoke and call upon thee our only Helper, by thee we obtain our victories, by thee we vanquish and subdue our enemies, to thee we attribute whatsoever present benefits we enjoy, and by thee we hope for good things to come unto thee we direct all our prayers and petitions, most humbly beseeching thee to preserve Constantine our emperor and his noble children in long life, and to give them victory over all their enemies, through Christ our Lord: Amen."

In his own palace he set up an house for prayer and preaching, and used to pray and sing with his people. Also in his wars he went not without his tabernacle appointed for the same purpose. The Sunday he commanded to be kept holy by all men, and free from all judiciary causes, from markets, fairs, and all manual labours, husbandry only excepted: especially charging that no Images or monuments of Idolatry should be set up.

any

He gave men of the clergy and of the ministry in all places special privileges and immunities, so that were brought before the civil magistrates, and wished to appeal to the sentence of his bishop, it should be law. ful for him to do so, and that the sentence of the bishop should stand in as great force as if the magistrate or the emperor himself had pronounced it.

But here it is to be observed, that the clerks and ministers then newly coming out of persecution, were in those days neither so great in number, nor in order of life of like disposition to these now living in our days.

Constantine also had no less care and provision for the maintenance of schools pertaining to the church, and for the encouragement of the arts and liberal sciences, especially of divinity: not only furnishing them with stipends and subsidies, but also defending them with large privileges and exemptions.

Besides this, so far did his godly zeal and princely care and provision extend to the church of Christ, that he provided books and volumes of scripture, to be plainly written and copied out, to remain in the public churches for the use of posterity. Whereupon writing to Eusebius bishop of Nicomedia, in a special letter, (Euseb. De vita Constant. lib. iv.) he desires him with all diligence to procure fifty volumes of parchment well bound and compacted, wherein he should cause to be written out of the scripture in a fair legible hand, such things as he thought necessary and profitable for the instruction of the church, and allows him for that business two public ministers, &c.

In perusing and writing this history, and in considering the christian zeal of this emperor, I wish that either this our art of printing, and plenty of books, had been in his days, or that the same heroic heart towards the christian religion, which was in this excellent monarch, might something appear in inferior princes reigning in these our printing-days.

The liberal hand of this emperor born to do all men good, was no less also open and ready towards the need and poverty of such, as either by loss of parents, or other occasions, were not able to help themselves: for whom he commanded, a due supply both of corn and raiment to be ministered out of his own coffers, to the necessary relief of the poor men, women, children, orphans, and widows. (Euseb. de vita Constant. lib. 4.)

Here it will be requisite to say something of the donation of Constantine, whereupon, as their chief anchorhold, the bishops of Rome ground their supreme dominion and right over all the political government of the western parts, and the spiritual government of all the other sees and parts of the world. Many arguments

might here be adduced, if leisure from other matters would suffer me to prove that Constantine never gave this donation, and that the history thereof is false, and a forgery.

First, No ancient history, nor yet doctor, makes any mention thereof.

Nauclerus reports it to be affirmed in the history of Isidorus. But in the old copies of Isidorus, no such thing is to be found.

Gratian, the compiler of the decrees, recites that decree, not upon any ancient authority, but only under the title of Palea.

Gelasius is said to give some testimony thereof, (Dist. 15. Sancta Romana), but the clause of the said distinction touching that matter, is not extant in the ancient books.

Otho Phrysingensis, who was about the time of Gratian, after he has declared the opinion of the favourers of the papacy, affirming this donation to be given by Constantine to Pope Sylvester, also mentions the opinion of them that favour the empire, affirming the con

trary.

How could Constantine have yielded up to Sylvester all the political dominions over the west, when the said Constantine at his death, dividing the empire to his three sons, gave the western part of the empire to one, the eastern part to the second, the middle part to the third?

Is it likely that Theodosius after them, being a just and a religious prince, would or could have occupied the city of Rome, if it had not been his right, but had belonged to the pope ?-and so did many other emperors after him.

The phrase of this decree, being compared with the phrase and stile of Constantine, in his other edicts and letters above specified, does not agree with them.

Seeing the papists themselves confess that the decree of this donation was written in Greek, how agrees that with the truth, when it was written, not to the Grecians, but to the Romans; and also Constantine himself, not understanding the Greek tongue, was obliged to use the Latin, in the council of Nice?

The contents of this donation (whoever was the forger thereof), betrays itself: for if it be true which there is confessed, that he was baptized at Rome, by Sylvester, and the fourth day after his baptism this patrimony was given, (which was before his battle against Maximinus, or Licinius, (A. D. 317), as Nicephorus recordeth) how then accords this with that which follows in the donation, for him to have jurisdiction given over the other four principal sees of Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Jerusalem? when as the city of Constantinople was not yet begun before the death of Maximinus, or Licinius, and was not finished before the eight-andtwentieth year of the reign of Constantine, (A. D. 339), or if it be true, (as Jerome counted, it was finished the three-and-twentieth year of his reign, which was A.D. 334, long after this donation, by their own account. Furthermore, where in the said Constitution it is said that Constantine was baptized at Rome by Pope Sylvester, and thereby was purged of leprosy, the fable thereof agrees not with the truth of history, (Eusebius, lib. 4. de vita Constantina. Hieronymus in Chron. Ruffin. lib. 2. cap. 11. Socrates, lib. 1. cap. 39. Theod. lib. 1. cap. 31. Sozomenus, lib. 2. cap. 34.) For all the historians agree that he was baptized, not at Rome, but at Nicomedia; and that moreover, as by their testimony

appears, not by Sylvester, but oy Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, not before his battle against Maximinus, or Licinius, but in the thirty-first year of his reign, a little before his death.

Again, whereas Constantine in this donation appointed him to have the principality over the other four patriarchal sees, that makes Constantine contrary to himself, who in the council of Nice, afterwards agreed with other bishops, that all the four patriarchal sees should have equal jurisdiction, every one over his own territory and precinct.

Briefly to conclude: whoever desires to be more abundantly satisfied touching this matter, let him read the books of Marsilius Patavinus, intitled, Defensor pacis, (A. D. 1324); of Laurentius Valla, (A. D. 1440); of Antoninus archbishop of Florence, who, in his history plainly denies that this donation is to be found in the old books of the decrees. Of Cusanus Cardinalis, lib. 3. cap. 2., writing to the council of Basil, (A. D. 1460); of Æneas Silvius In dialogo; of Hier. Paulus Cattalanus, (A. D. 1496); of Raphael Wolateranus, (A. D. 1550); of Lutherus, (A. D. 1537), &c. All which, by many and evident proofs, dispute and prove this donation not to proceed from Constantine, but to be a thing untruly pretended, or rather, a fable imagined, or else to be the deed of Pepin or Charles, or some such other, if it were ever the deed of any.

And thus I have briefly collected the narration of the noble acts, and heavenly virtues of this most famous Emperor Constantine the Great; a singular spectacle for all christian princes to behold and imitate, and worthy of perpetual memory in all congregations of christian saints whose fervent zeal and piety to all congregations, and to all the servants of Christ, was notable; but especially the affection and reverence of his heart toward them who had suffered for the confession of Christ in the persecutions before, is to be admired; he had them principally in veneration, insomuch that he embraced and kissed their wounds and stripes. And if any bishops, or any other ministers brought to him any complaints one against another, (as they often did) he would take their bills of complaint and burn them before their faces; so studious and zealous was his mind to have them agree, whose discord caused more grief to him than it did to themselves. To commit to history all the virtuous acts, and memorable doings of this divine and renowned emperor, would be matter enough of itself to fill a great volume; therefore we must be content with the above brief account, as it is impossible to say, enough of him, I shall not pursue his history any further.

And here is an end of the lamentable persecutions of the primitive church, during the space of three hundred years from the passion of our Saviour Christ, till the coming of Constantine; by whom, as by the elect instrument of God, it has pleased his Almighty Majesty, by his determinate purpose, to give rest after long trouble to his church, according to that which St. Cyprian declares before to be revealed by God to his church that after darkness and stormy tempest, should come peaceable, calm, and stable quietness, meaning this time of Constantine. At which time it so pleased the Almighty, that the murdering malice of Satan should at length be restrained, and he chained up for a thousand years, through his great mercy in Christ, to whom, therefore, be thanks and praise, now and for ever. Amen.

By these persecutions it may be understood that the fury of Satan, and rage of men, have done what they could to extinguish the name and religion of christians; for all that either death could do, or torments could work, or the gates of hell could devise, was to the utmost attempted. And yet, notwithstanding, all the fury and malice of Satan, all the wisdom of the world, and strength of men, doing, devising, and practising, what they could, the religion of Christ has had the upper hand, which I wish to be greatly noted, and diligently pondered, in considering these histories, which I trust will not be found unworthy the reading.

Now, I propose, in this second book, to leave for a time the treating of these general affairs of the universal church, and to pursue such domestic histories as more nearly concern England and Scotland, beginning with King Lucius, with whom the christian faith first began in this realm, as is the opinion of some writers. And as here may and does rise a great controversy in these popish days, concerning the origin and planting of the faith in this realm, it will not be greatly out of our purpose to stay and say somewhat on this question, Whether the church of England first received the faith from Rome or not? which, although I were to grant, yet being granted, it little avails the purpose of those who would so have it. For even if England first received the christian faith and religion from Rome, in the time of Eleutherius their bishop, (A. D. 180), and also in the time of Austin, whom Gregory sent hither, (A. D. 600), yet it follows not that we must therefore still fetch our religion from thence as from the chief fountain of all godliness. And, as they are not able to prove this, so neither have I any cause to grant the other, that is, that our christian faith was first derived from Rome, which I may prove by six or seven good conjectural reasons. The first I take on the testimony of our countryman, Gildas, who, in his history, plainly affirms that Britain received the gospel in the time of the Emperor Tiberius, under whom Christ suffered. (Lib. de victoria Aurelii Ambrosi). And says, moreover, that Joseph of Arimathea, after the dispersion of the Jews, was sent by Philip the apostle from France to Britain, about the year 63, and remained in this land all

his life, and so with his companions laid the first fonndation of christian faith among the British people, whereupon other preachers and teachers coming afterward, confirmed the same and increased it.

The second reason is from Tertullian, who, living near the time of this Eleutherius, in his book (Contra Judæos) declares plainly the same thing, where, testifying how the gospel was dispersed abroad, by the preaching of the apostles, and reckoning up the Medes, Persians, Parthians, and dwellers in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Egypt, Pamphilia, and many other nations, at length comes to the coast of the Moors, the borders of Spain, and the nations of France; and there, amongst others, recites also the parts of Britain, which the Romans could never attain to, and reports the same now to be subject to Christ; and also reckons up the places of Sarmatia, of the Danes, the Germans, the Scythians, with many other provinces and isles unknown to him, in all which places (he says) the name of Christ reigns, which now begins to be common. Note here how, among other believing nations, he mentions also the wildest parts of Britain, and these in his time were christianised. Therefore Pope Eleutherius was not the first who sent the christian faith into this realm, but the gospel was brought here before his time, either by Joseph of Arimathea, as some chronicles record, or by some of the apostles, or of their disciples, who preached Christ before Eleutherius wrote to Lucius.

My third proof I take from Origen, who calls this island" Christian Britain," (Hom. 4. in Ezechielem). Whereby it appears that the faith of Christ was spread in England before the days of Eleutherius.

For my fourth proof I take the testimony of Bede, who affirms, that in his time, and almost a thousand years after Christ, Easter was kept in Britain after the manner of the eastern church. Whence it is to be collected, that the first preachers in this land came from the eastern part of the world, rather than from Rome.

Fifthly, I may allege the words of Nicephorus, (lib. ii. cap. 40), where he says that Simon Zelotes spread the gospel of Christ to the western ocean, and brought it to the isles of Britain.

Sixthly, may be here added also the words of Peter

abbott of Clugny, who writing to Bernard, affirms that the Scots in his time celebrated Easter, not after the Roman manner, but after the Greek. And as the Britons were not under the Roman order in the time of this abbot, neither were they nor would they be under the Roman legate in the time of Gregory, nor would admit any supremacy of the bishop of Rome.

For the seventh argument, moreover, I make my proof by the plain words of Eleutherius, by whose epistle, written to King Lucius, we may understand that Lucius had received the faith of Christ in this land, before the king sent to Eleutherius for the Roman laws; for so the express words of the letter manifestly purport, as hereafter shall be seen. From all which proofs it is more than probable that the Britons were taught first by the Grecians of the eastern church, rather than by the Romans.

Perhaps Eleutherius might help either to convert the king, or else to increase the faith then newly sprung up among the people, but that he was the first cannot be proved. And if we grant he was, as indeed the greater part of our English histories confess; yet what do they obtain thereby, for to conclude this matter in few words, if the christian faith was first derived from Rome by this nation through Eleutherius, then let them but grant to us the same faith which was then taught at Rome, and from thence derived here by Eleutherius, and we will desire no more; for then there was neither any universal pope above all churches and councils (which did not occur before the time of Boniface, which was four hundred years after), nor any mention or use of the mass, the history whereof shall hereafter be seen. Neither was there any propitiatory sacrifice for souls in purgatory, but simply the communion was frequented at christian tables, where oblations and gifts were offered to God as well by the people as by the priests. Neither was there any transubstantiation heard of for a thousand years after. Neither were there then any images of departed saints set up in churches; for a great number of the saints worshipped in our time were not then born, nor the churches where they were worshipped built, but occurred long after, especially in the time of the Empress Irene, (A. D. 781), and the Emperor Constans. Neither were relics or pilgrimages then in use. The marriage of priests was then as lawful (and no less received) than at present, neither was it condemned before the days of Hildebrand, almost a thousand years afterward. Their service was then in the valgar tongue, as Jerome witnesses; the sacraments ministered in both kinds as well to laymen as to priests, as Cyprian testifies. Yea, and worldly men who would not communicate at Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, were not then counted for catholics, as the pope's own distinction testifies. At funerals priests did not then flock together, selling trentals and dirges for sweeping of purgatory; but a funeral concion alone was used, with psalms of praises and halleluiahs sounding on high, which shook the gilded ceilings of the temple, as Nazianzen, Ambrose, Jerome, &c. witness.

In the supper of the Lord, and in baptism, no such ceremonies were used, as have been introduced of late: both Augustine and Paulinus then baptized in rivers, not in hallowed fonts, as Fabian witnesses. Neither the ordinary of Sarum, of York, of Bangor, with the daily matins and even-song; nor the orders of monks and friars were then dreamed of for almost a thousand years after. So that, as I said before, if the papists would needs derive the faith and religion of this realm from Rome, then let them carry us back whence they found us, that is, let them suffer us to stand content with that faith and religion which was then taught and brought from Rome by Eleutherius (as now we differ in nothing from the same) and we desire no better. And if they will not, then let the reader judge where the fault is, in us, or them, which neither themselves will persist in the antiquity of the Romish religion which they so much boast of, neither will they permit us to do so.

And thus much by the way to answer the aforesaid objection, whereby we may now more readily return to the order and course of the history. Therefore, grant

ing to them what they so earnestly contend for, that the christian faith and religion of this realm was brought from Rome, first by Eleutherius and afterward by Austin; the chronicles thus write of the matter.

About the year 180, King Lucius, son of Coilus, king of the Britons, hearing of the miracles and wonders done by the christians at that time, directed letters to Eleutherius, bishop of Rome, desiring to receive the christian faith from him, although there is great difference in authors about the computation of the time. The good bishop hearing the request of the king, sends him certain preachers called Fagan and Damian, who converted the king and people of Britain, and baptized them with the baptism and sacrament of Christ's faith. They overthrew the temples of the idols, and converted the people from their many gods to serve one living God. Thus true religion increasing, superstition decayed, with all other rites of idolatry. There were then in Britain twenty-eight head priests who they called flamines, and three arch priests who were called archflamines, having the oversight of their manners, and as judges over the rest. These twenty-eight flamines they turned to twenty-eight bishops, and the three archflamines to three archbishops. After this King Lucius sent again to Eleutherius for the Roman laws, unto whom Eleutherius writes as follows:

"Ye require us to send you the Roman laws and the emperors, which you may practise and put in force within your realm. The Roman laws and the emperors we may ever reprove, but the law of God we may not. Ye have received of late through God's mercy in the realm of Britain, the law and faith of Christ; ye have with you within the realm, both the parts of the scriptures. Out of them by God's grace, with the council of your realm take ye a law, and by that law (through God's sufferance) rule your kingdom of Britain. For you are God's vicar in your kingdom, according to the saying of the psalm, O God, give thy judgment to the King, and thy righteousness to the King's son,' &c. He said not, the judgment and righteousness of the emperor, but thy judgment and justice; that is to say, of God. The King's sons are the christian people of the realm, which are under your government, and live and continue in peace within your kingdom, as the gospel saith, Like as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,' so doth the king his people. The people and folk of the realm of Britain are yours: whom, if they be divided, ye ought to gather in concord and peace, to call them to the faith and law of Christ, and to the holy church, to cherish and maintain them, to rule and govern them, and to defend them always from such as would do them wrong, from malicious men and enemies. A king hath his name for ruling, and not for having a realm. You shall be a king while you rule well; but if you do otherwise, the name of a king shall not remain with you, and you shall lose it, which God forbid. The Almighty God grant you so to rule the realm of Britain, that you may reign with him for ever, whose vicar you be in the realm."

After this manner was the christian faith either first brought in, or else confirmed in this realm, not with any cross or procession, but only by the simple preaching of Fagan and Damian, through whose ministry this island was reduced to the faith and law of the Lord, according as was prophesied by Isaiah, as well of this as of other islands, where he saith, "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law."-Isaiah, xlii. 4. The faith thus received continued and flourished for the space of two hundred and sixty-one years, till the coming of the Saxons, who then were Pagans.

But although Lucius, through the merciful providence of God was then converted and the gospel almost generally received in the land, yet the state thereof, as well of the religion as of the commonwealth, could not be quiet, for the emperors and nobles of Rome were infidels, and enemies to the same; but especially because Lucius the christian king died without issue. For thereby such

trouble and variance occurred among the Britons, that they not only brought upon them the idolatrous Romans, and at length the Saxons, but also entangled themselves in much misery and desolation. For sometimes the idolatrous Romans, sometimes the Britons reigned and ruled as violence and victory would serve; one king murdering another, till at length the Saxons came and dispossessed them both, as shall hereafter be seen.

Thus the commonwealth was miserably rent and divided into two sorts of people, differing not so much in country as in religion; for when the Romans reigned, the people were governed by the infidels; when the Britons ruled, they were governed by christians. Thus how little quietness was or could be in the church in so unquiet and doubtful days, may easily be considered.

Notwithstanding all these heathen rulers of the Romans, which governed here, yet (God be praised) we read of no persecution during all the ten above mentioned, that touched the christian Britons, before the last persecution of Dioclesian. This persecution, was the first of many that followed in the church and realm of England. The rage of Dioclesian (as it was through all the churches in the world,) was fierce and vehement in Britain, and all our English chronicles testify that christianity was destroyed almost throughout the land, churches were subverted, the scriptures burned, and many of the faithful, both men and women were slain.

Now concerning the government of the kings of Britain, although I have little or nothing to note which greatly appertains to the matter of this ecclesiastical history, yet this is not to be passed over. First, that Constantine the great and worthy emperor, comes in the order of these kings, who was not only a Briton born, by his mother Helena, being the daughter of King Coilus, but also by help of the British army (under the power of God) which Constantine took with him from Britain to Rome, he obtained the peace and tranquillity to the universal church of Christ in consequence of his taking with him three legions of chosen and able British soldiers, the strength of this land was not a little impaired and endangered.

:

After him Maximian, took with him all the remaining able and fighting men, in order to subdue France.

Thus poor Britain being left naked and destitute on every side, as a maimed body without might and strength, was left open to her enemies, unable to succour herself without the help of foreign friends; to whom the Britons were then constrained to fly, especially to the Romans, to whom they sent this message. "The groans of Britain -the barbarians drive us into the sea-the sea drives us back to the barbarians. Thus we have before us two kinds of death, we must be either butchered or drowned!" As the realm of Britain almost from the beginning was never without civil war, at length came wicked Vortigern, who cruelly causing his prince to be murdered, ambitiously invaded the crown; and sent over for the aid of the Saxons, who were then infidels; and not only that, but also married with an infidel, the daughter of Hengist, called Rowena. Whereupon Vortigern not long after was with like treachery dispossessed of his kingdom, and the people of Britain driven out of their country, after the Saxons, under Hengist and his chiefs, had slain their chief nobles and barons.

These Saxons coming in daily, filled the land with their multitudes, so that the Britons at length were neither able to hold what they had, nor to recover what they had lost; leaving an example to all ages and countries, of what it is to let foreign nations into their dominion, but especially what it is for princes to join in marriage with infidels, as this Vortigern did with Hengist's daughter, who was the mother of all this mischief; and gave to the Saxons, not only strength, but also occasion and courage to attempt what they did. The British lords and nobility being offended therewith, deposed their king, and enthroned his son Vortimer in his room. Vortimer, being a brave prince, the Saxons were repulsed, and driven again into Germany, where they stayed till the death of Vortimer, whom Rowena, daughter of Hengist, caused traiterously to be poisoned. Then Vortigern being restored to his kingdom, through the entreaty of his wife Rowena, sent into Germany for Hengist, who

came in with a navy of three hundred well appointed ships. The nobles of Britain hearing this, prepared themselves on the other side in all force, to resist them. But Hengist, through his daughter Rowena, influenced the king, and excused himself, saying, that he brought not the multitude to work any violence either against him, or against his country, and that he commits both himself and his people to him, to appoint how few or how many of them he would permit to remain within his land, and the rest were to return. And so it pleased the king to appoint day and place where they might meet and talk together of the matter, both he and his followers would stand to such order as the king with his council should appoint. With these fair words, the king and his nobles, well contented, assigned both day and place, which was in the town of Amesbury, where he meant to talk with them; adding this condition, that each party should come without any weapon. Hengist agreed, but gave privy commandment to his followers that each man should secretly carry in his hose a long knife, and a watch-word also was agreed on, which, when they heard, they were to draw their knives, and every Saxon kill the Briton with whom he talked. The British lords being slain, the Saxons took Vortigern the king, and bound him; for whose ransom they required the cities of London, York, Lincoln, Winchester, with other the most strong holds in the land to be delivered to them; which being granted, they begin to make spoil and havock of the nation, destroying the citizens, pulling down churches, killing the priests, burning the books of the holy scripture, and leaving nothing undone that tyranny could work, which was about A. D. 462. The king, seeing this miserable slaughter of the people, fled to Wales.

Aurelius Ambrosius, and Uter Pendragon, King Constans' brothers, whom Vortigern caused to be killed, were then in Little Britain. To them the Britons sent word, desiring their aid. Aurelius goes over to satisfy their desire, and being crowned as their king, seeks out wicked Vortigern, the cause of all this trouble, and the murderer of his brother Constans. And finding him in a strong tower in Wales, where he had immured himself, set his castle on fire, and thus Vortigern was burned to death. That done, he moved his power against the Saxons, with whom and with Elle, captain of the South Saxons, (who then was newly come over) he had several conflicts.

After the death of Aurelius, who was poisoned by order of Pascentius, the son of Vortigern, (who suborned a man in the garb of a monk, to pass himself for a physician, and to poison him); his brother Uter, surnamed Pendragon, succeeded to the throne, about A. D. 497, who fighting against Octa and Cosa, took them and brought them to London; but they breaking out of prison, returned into Germany for more aid. In the mean time, there was daily intercourse of the Saxons, from Saxony, with whom the Britons had many conflicts, sometimes winning, sometimes losing. Not long after Octa and Cosc returned again, and joined the other Saxons against the Britons. From this time the state of Britain began to decay more and more, while the idolatrous Saxons prevailed in numbers and strength against the christian Britons; oppressing the people, throwing down the churches and monasteries, murdering the prelates, and sparing neither age nor person, but wasting christianity almost through the whole realm. To these miseries it happened, moreover, that Uter their king was ill, and could not stir, but being grieved for the lamentable destruction of his people, he caused his bed to be brought into the camp, where God gave him the victory, Octa and Cosa being slain. Shortly after, Uter died of poison, put (as it is said) into a fountain whereof the king used to drink, about A. D. 516.

About this time the West Saxons came so violently upon the Britons, that they of the western part of the realm were not able to resist them. After this the merciful providence of Almighty God raised up for them King Arthur, the son of Uter, who was then crowned after him, and reigned victoriously. The old British histories ascribe to Arthur twelve great victories against the Saxons, which gave the Britons some peace during life, and that of certain of his successors.

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