\
43uAi
ARCHAEOLOGIA:
OR
MISCELLANEOUS TRACTS
RELATING TO
ANTIQUITY.
PUBLISHED BY THE
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON.
VOLUME XVIII.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY BENSLEY AND SON, BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET .
SOLD AT THE SOCIETY’S APARTMENTS IN SOMERSET-PLACE; AND BY MESSRS. WHITE, N ORNAYILLE AND FELL, NICOL, LEIGH AND - SOTHEBY, BICKERSTAFF, CADELL AND DAVIES,
EGERTON, AND TAYLOR.
M DCCCXVII.
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Direction to the Book-hinder.
The Title Page, with the Table of Contents and List of Plates, to Part I. of Vol. XVIII. are to be cancelled.
TABLE
OF
CONTEN T S.
Page.
I. A Description of a large Collection of Pennies of Henry II. dis¬ covered at Tcalby , in Lincolnshire. By Taylor Combe, Esq. Director , Sec. R. S. - -- -- -- -- -- - 1 — 8
II. On the word Proctor , as employed in the Will of Richard Watts
the Founder of the Rochester Alms-Houses. By Francis Cohen, Esq, F.S.A. - -- -- -- -- -- g — 1 1
III. Observations on the History and Use of Seals in England. By
Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary , in a Letter to Samuel Lysons, Esq. F. P. F.R.S. - - - . 1 <2 — 20
IV. Two English Poems of the time of Richard II. Communicated by
the Rev. J. J. Conybeare, M. A. Professor of Poetry in the University of Oaf or d, in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- qj — og
V. Two Original Papers. One , a Letter containing an Account of
the Reception of King Charles the Second , xvhen Prince of Wales , at Cambridge, in 1641. The second, the Appointment of Sir Ralph Hare, Baronet, of the County of Norfolk, to be one of the Hostages to the Kingdom of Scotland in 1646. Com¬ municated by Sir George Nay ler, Knt. F. S.A. in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary - - - - Qg — 32
VI. Account of a Tract, from the Press of Richard Pynson , relating
to the Espousals and Marriage of Mary, daughter of King
vi CONTEN T S.
Page.
Henry the Seventh, with Charles Prince of Castile. By Henry Ellis, Esq. F. R. S. Secretary , in a Letter to Samuel Lysons, Esq. V. P . F. R. S. ------- 33 — 39
VII. Some Remarks on the Original Seal belonging to the Abbey of
Hilton. By Francis Douce, Esq. F.S.A. - - - - 40 — 54
VIII. On “/S'/. Martins Rings." By Francis Cohen, Esq. F.S.A. 55, 56
IX. Copy of an Original Letter from Cardinal JFolsey, immediately upon his Disgrace, to Gardiner, afterwards Bishop of Win¬ chester. Communicated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F. R. S. Secre¬ tary, in a Letter to Nicholas Carlisle, Esq. Secretary 57, 58
X. A Letter from W. E. Rouse Bougliton, Esq. F.R.S. to the
Rev. Stephen Weston, B. D. respecting some Egyptian An¬ tiquities -------------- - 59 — 72
XL Copy of a Paper in the Hand-Writing of King Edxvard the Sixth, entitled, “ A Summary of Matters to be concluded .” Com¬ municated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary, in a Letter to Samuel Lysons, Esq. V. P. F. R. S. - - - 73 — 76
XII. Copy of a Letter from Archbishop Cranmer to Mastyr Haw- kyns , relating to the Queens Catharine of Arragon and Anne Boltyn. Communicated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F. R. S. Secre¬ tary, in a Ixtter to Samuel Lysons, Esq. V. P. F.R.S. 77~- 82
XIII. Some Observations on a Monumental Inscription in the
Parish Church of Landulph, Cornwall. By the Rev. Fr. Vyvyan Jago, F.S.A. Rector of Landulph - - - 83 — 104
XIV. Remarks on the Antiquity and Introduction of Surnames into
England. By James FI. Markland, Esq. F.S.A. 105 — 111
XV. An Account of the Remains of several Roman Buildings and other Roman Antiquities discovered in the County of Gloucester .
By Samuel Lysons, Esq. V. P . F. R. S. - - - - 112 — 125
XVI. Extracts from the Proceedings of Privy Council, from the Year 1545 to the Year 1558. Communicated by Henry Ellis,
Esq. F.R.S. Secretary, in a Letter addressed to Samuel Lysons, Esq. V.P. F.R.S. - -- -- -- - 1 26 — 185
CONTENTS. vii
•Page.
XVII. Observations upon some Sepulchral Monuments in Italy and France. By T. Kerrich, M. A. F. S. A. Principal Librarian to the University of Cambridge - -- -- -- - 186 — 196.
XVIII. Copy of an Entry on the Clause Roll 31 Hen. VI. relating to the Bell-Savage Inn. Communicated by Samuel Lysons,
Esq. V.P. F. RE . in u Letter to Nicholas Carlisle, Esq. Secretary - -- -- -- -- . 197 — 198
XIX. Account of some Saxon Antiquities found near Lancaster. By
Taylor Combe, Esq. F. R. S. Director. In a Letter to the Earl o/'Aberdeen, K. T. President ----- 199— 202
XX. Account of the Remains of a Roman Villa , discovered at Big - nor, in Sussex, in the Years 1811, 18152, 1813, 1814, and 1815.
By Samuel Lysons, Esq. V. P. F. R. S. - - - - 203 — 221
XXI. Observations upon the Composition of the Colours found on the Walls of the Roman House discovered at Bignor in Sussex. By Sir Humphry Davy, Knt. F. R. S. in a Letter to Samuel Lysons, Esq. V. P. - -- -- -- -- -- - 222
XXII. A Letter from the Rev . Edmund Ferrers, F.S.A. ad¬
dressed to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary , accompanying an authenticated Copy of the Will of King Janies the Second, with an Inventory of the Goods and Chattels belonging to that Monarch at the time of his death ------- 223— 239
XXIII. Queen Elizabeth's Remarks on the Conduct of those who pressed her to name a Successor to the Crown in 1566. Com¬ municated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary, in a Letter to Samuel Lysons, Esq. V. P. - - - - - 240-— 242
XXIV. On the Topography of Ancient Babylon: suggested by the recent Observations and Discoveries of Claudius James Rich,
Esq. By M^jor Rennell. - -- -- -- - 243 — £62
XXV. Remarks on Gog and Magog, as they are mentioned in
Genesis, chap. x. v. in Ezekiel, chap, xxxviii. ; and in the Revelation of St. John the Divine ; in a Letter from the Rev. Stephen Weston, B.D. F.R.S. and S. A. to the Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. F.R.S. President . - - - - - 263^-266
via
CONTENTS.
Page.
XXVI. Description of a Coin of the Emperor Vitalian , in a Letter from the Rev. Stephen AVeston, B. D. F.R.S. and S.A. to the Earl of Aberdeen, K. T. F. R. S. President. - 9,67, 268
XXVII. Copies of two Letters preserved among the Lansdowne Manuscripts in the British Museum ; one from the Lady Jane Grey , the other from Queen Elizabeth ; communicated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary , - - - - 969 — 271
XXVIII. Obseiwations on the Discovery of Part of a Sarcophagus at Reading Abbey , in Berkshire, supposed to have contained the Remains of King Henry I. in a Letter from the Rev. Robert Nares, B. D. F.R.S. and S.A. to Henry Ellis,
Esq. F.R.S. Secretary. - -- -- -- -- 272 — 274
XXIX. Regulations framed in the Reign of K. Richard II. for
the Government of the Tower of London ; communicated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F. R. S. Secretary, in a Letter to Matthew Raper, Esq. V. P. - -- -- -- 975 — 280
XXX. An Account of some Customs in Husbandry, and the Prices of various Articles relating thereto , in the time of K. Richard II. Communicated by William Bray, Esq. Treasurer , in a Letter
to Samuel Lysons, Esq. F.R.S. Vice President. - 281 — 286
XXXI. Sir Martin Forbisher’s Instructions, when going on a Voy¬ age to the North West Parts and Cathay , t. Qu. Eliz. Com¬ municated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary, in a Letter to Samuel Lysons, Esq. F.R.S. V. P. - - 287 — 290
XXXII. A Letter to the Mayor and Jurats of the Toxvn of Win - chelsea, respecting the Choice of Officers in that Corporation ,
A. D. 1609. Communicated by William Bray, Esq. Trea¬ surer, in a Letter to Nicholas Carlisle, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary. - -- -- -- -- -- -- 29 1 — 293
XXXIII. An Account of the Charges of certain Prisoners in the Tower, t. Hen. VIII. Communicated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary; in a Letter to Samuel Lysons, Esq.
V.P. F.R.S. . 294—297
CONTENTS.
ix
Page.
XXXIV. Instructions for the Survey of Church Goods , A. D. 1 532. Communicated by John Caley, Esq. F. S. A. from the Origi¬ nal preserved in the Augmentation Office; in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq . F.ll.S. Secretary. - - - - 298 — 301
XXXV. A Viezv of the Opinions of various Writers on the identical Place where the Ark of Noah rested. By (he Rev. Stephen Weston, B.D. F R.S. in a Letter to the Right lion, the Earl of Aberdeen, K. T. F. R. S. President , Sqc. Sqc. 302 — 305 XXXVI. An Account of an ancient Gold Ring found in Coventry Parkin the Year 1802. By Thomas Sharp, Esq. of Coventry , in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F. R. S. Secretary. 306 — 308 XXXVII. On the Origin and Antiquity , Use and Advantage of Cufic Coins. By the Rev. Stephen Weston, in a Letter to the Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. F.R.S. President. - 309 — 312 XX XVI 1 1. Observations on the Christmas Diversions formerly given by the Lord of Misrule, and on the King's Office of Revels and dents: chief y from Papers preserved at Losely, near Guild¬ ford, in a Letter from William Bray, Esq. Treasurer, to Samuel Lysons, Esq. Vice President. ----- 313 — 332
XXXIX. Copy of an Appointment of a Lord of Misrule: communi¬ cated by William Bray, Esq. in a Letter to Samuel Lysons, Esq. F. R. S. Vice President . ----- 333 — 335
X L. Observations on the Origin of the principal Features of Deco¬ rative Architecture: by Samuel Ware, Esq. F.S.A. in a Letter addressed to Nicholas Carlisle, Esq. F. R. S. Secre¬ tary. . - . 336—339
X LI. Observations upon some Celtic R email: s, lately discovered by the Public Road leading from London to Cambridge , near to the Village of Sawston, distant seven miles from the University \ by Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.D. Professor cf Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge. Communicated by the Rev.
Thomas Kerrich, M.A. F.S.A. . 340 — 543
XLII. Some Remarks on a Coin of Basilis, a City in Arcadia. By
Taylor Combe, Esq. Sec. R. S. Director. - - - 344—351
VOL. xviii. b
X
C O N T E M T S.
Page.
XLIII. Original Letters of King James I. to Sir George More , Lieutenant of the Tower, respecting the Trial of the Earl of Somerset. Communicated by William Bray, Esq. Treasurer, in a Letter, to Samuel Lysons, Esq. F. R. S. V. P. 352 — 358
XLIV. Observations on the Bay cuv Tapestry, by Hudson Gurney,
Esq. M.P. F.S.A. in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary. - -- -- -- -- -- -- - 559 — 370
XLV. The Engraved Gems, brought from Babylon to England by Abraham Lockett, Esq. Secretary to the Council of the College of Fort William in Bengal, considered with respect to early Scriptural History. By John Landseer, Esq. F.S.A. En¬ graver to his Majesty , and Member of the London Royal Academy of Arts, in a Letter addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B. F.R.S. <§x\ 8$c. - 371 — 384
XLV I. An Account of the Ancient Constitution, Discipline, and Usages of the Cathedral Church of Ere ter : by John Jones,
Esq. F.S.A. in a Letter to Charles Baratty, Esq. F.S.A.
385— 4l6
» ■ /
Appendix . . . - . 417 — 448
List of Presents - -- -- -- -- . 449 — 454
List of Works published by the Society ------- 4 55 — 464
Index . 465— 476
LIST OF PLATES.
Pt.ate. Page.
T " *\
“* t Fragments of Egyptian Manuscripts - - - -- --72
III. Specimens of the Coptic, Egyptian, Zendish, Sassanidian,
and Phenician Alphabets ---------- 72
IV. Gold Idol from Dendera; Gold Ear-ring found at Athens;
and Hieroglyphics from the Foot of a marble Image - -72
V. Plans of Roman Buildings discovered at Rodmarton and
Cherington in Gloucestershire -------- 114*
VI. Plan of the Remains of a Roman Villa discovered at With-
ing;ton in Gloucestershire -118
O
VII. Figures on a Mosaic Pavement discovered at Withington
in Gloucestershire . 120
VIII. Fig. 1. Fragment of a Corinthian Capital found at Ciren¬ cester. Fig. 2, 2. Coins found at the Kingsholm near Gloucester - -- -- -- -- -- - - - 124
IX. Monument of Peter Earl of Richmond, in the Collegiate
Church of Aquabella in Savoy --------187
X. Details of the Monument of Peter Earl of Richmond - - 187
xii LIST OF PLATES.
Plate. Page.
XI. Parts of 'the Monument of Peter tie Aquabella, Bisliop of
Hereford, in the Collegiate Church of Aquabella in Savoy ---------------- 188
XII. Monument of Bernabo Visconti in the Church of St. Gio¬
vanni in Conca at Milan - -- -- -- -- - 196
XIII. I p)etajis 0f the Monument of Bernabo Visconti - - - 1 Qo
XIV. J
XV. Fig*. 1. Details of the Monument of Bernabo Visconti.
Fig. 2. Monument of Matteo Visconti in the Church of St. Eustorgio at Milan . . . - - 196
XVI. Lewis Earl of Evreux, from his Monument in the Domi¬
nicans Church at Paris ---------- - 196
XVII. Saxon Antiquities found at Halton Moor near Lancaster 202 XVIII. Silver Torques found at Halton Moor ------ 202
XIX. Plan of the Remains of a Roman Villa discovered at
Bignor in Sussex - -- -- -- -- -- - 203
XX. Sketch of the Site of Ancient Babylon ------ 243
XXI. Section through the Nave and Aisles of St* Paul’s Ca¬
thedral -------------- - 336
XXII. Section of the Temple Church through the Columns and
Buttresses . ------ - 336
XXIII. Section of Ilenry the Seventh’s Chapel, Westminster,
taken through the Piers and Buttresses ----- 336
XXIVA
XXV j Celtic Remains discovered near Cambridge - - - - 341
XXVI. Figures in Wood at Wooburn in Buckinghamshire, sup¬ posed to represent Itinerant Masons - - - - - - 421
XXVII. An Urn found under a Tumulus upon Newmarket
Heath - -- -- - . . 436*
LIST OF PLATES.
:xm
Plate.
XXVIII. Roman Urns found in the Parish of Merkeshall, near Norwich --------------
XXIX. Seal of Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford - - - - -
XXX. Head of an ancient Crozier, purchased in France - -
XXXI. Plan and Section of an ancient Crypt, upon which the
Abbot’s Hall, now demolished, stood, adjoining the Cloisters of Chester Cathedral -------
Page.
436 4 39 442
442
At a Council of the Society of Antiquaries, May 31 , 1782.
Resolved,
That any Gentleman, desirous to have separate Copies of any Memoir he may have presented to the Society, may be allowed, upon application to the Council, to have a certain number, not exceeding Twenty, printed off at his own expense.
At a Council of the Society of Antiquaries , May 23, 1792.
Resolved,
That the Order made the 31st of May, 1782, with respect to Gentlemen who may be desirous to have separate Copies of any Memoir they may have presented to the Society, be printed in the volumes of the Archaeologia, in some proper and conspicuous part, for the better communication of the same to the Members at large.
At a Council of the Society of Antiquaries , May 12, 1815.
Ordered,
That, in future, any Gentleman desirous to have separate Copies of any Paper he may have presented to the Society, which shall be printed in the Archaeologia, or Vetusta Monumenta, shall be allowed, on application in writing to the Secretary, to receive a number not exceeding Twenty Copies, (free of all expense,) of such Paper1, as soon as it is printed.
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ARCHAEOLOGIA;
OR,
MISCELLANEOUS TRACTS,
§C.
A Description of a large Collection of Pennies of Henry IL discovered at 'Tealby , in Lincolnshire . By Taylor Combe* Esq. Director . Sec.R.S .
Read 24th February, 1814.
A very considerable number of English Silver Pennies having been lately found in Lincolnshire, it may not be uninteresting to the Society of Antiquaries to receive a short account of them. The whole collection consisted of more than 5700 coins, which were all of the same type, namely, that usually attributed to Henry II.
Obverse — The king’s head, full faced, and crowned ; a sceptre with a cross patee is held in the right hand, and the crown is ornamented with fleur-de-lis.
Reverse — A cross potent, with rays issuing from the centre, and a small cross of the same kind in each quarter.
They were found in the year 1807 by the side of a road which crossed a ploughed field at Tealby, near Rasen, in the north of Lin¬ colnshire. They fortunately came into the possession of - Tenison,
Esq. by whom they were forwarded to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, who caused them to undergo the most minute examination.
The best specimens of all the varieties of towns and mint-masters were selected for the collections of Mrs. Banks, the British Museum, and also of a few private individuals; the rest, to the number of 5127, were melted at the Tower.
The chief advantage to be derived from the discovery of these
VOL. XVIII*
B
0
Description oj a large Collection of Pennies of Henry
11.
coins is, first, the great probability they afford that they were struck in the reign of Henry II. ; and, secondly, the additional information they supply, with respect to the number of places in which mints were established under that king.
The circumstance of so great a number of coins being discovered together, all of them having the same type, though minted in towns situated at a great distance from each other, is a proof that the whole were struck by the same king, and that the king, whoever he was, used only one device upon his coins. As the pennies of Henry III. are sufficiently known, it is evident that these coins must belong either to Henry I. or II. If we were to assign the present coins to Henry I., it would follow that all the other coins which have been usually appropriated to that king, and which are distinguished by the diversity of their types, must have been struck by Henry II., which is not at all probable. Henry I. was much more likely to have struck coins with different types than Henry II. He reigned after William II. and before Stephen; and the coins of William II. and Stephen, as well as those of William the Conqueror, are remarkable for a great variety of types. It is nearly certain, therefore, that these coins were struck in the reign of Henry II., who, differing in this respect from his pre¬ decessors, determined to have only one pattern represented on his coins, in which particular usage he was followed, with very few excep¬ tions, by his successors.
The greatest number of Pennies of Henry II. which have been hitherto published, are those engraved in Withy and Ryall’s Plates of English Silver Coins, in 1756. They were found on Bramham Moor, near Leeds, and were minted at the following towns :
Canterbury,
Cardiff,
Gloucester,
Ipswich,
St. Edmundsbury,
Stamford,
Winchester,
York.
Lincoln,
London,
Newcastle,
Norwich,
To this list, which includes twelve towns, no additions have been since made in any medallic work. The present discovery, however, not only presents us with the names of the above towns, but has added seventeen other towns to the number, namely,
3
Description of a large Collection of Pennies of Henry II.
Bristol,
Chester,
Colchester,
Durham,
Exeter,
Hereford,
Ilchester,
Lancaster,
Leicester,
Newark,
Northampton,
Oxford,
Salisbury, Thetford, Wain fleet, Wallingford, and Wilton.
The whole number consists of twenty-nine towns, of which twelve have been already published ; seven others were known to exist in private collections, though not published; and ten are now added to the list for the first time.
The following is a copy of the legends which occur on the reverses of the coins, arranged in the alphabetical order of the towns in which they were respectively minted.
Bristol.
ELAF . ON . BRISTO. RICARD . ON . BR. . . ‘RICARD . ON.BRIS.
T. ...D.ON.BRI
W1LLELM . ON . CA. WIVLF . ON . CAN. WIVLF . ON . CANTO. WIVLF . ON . CATO.
Cardiff.
Canterbury.
GOLDHAVC . ON . CA.
GOLDHAVOC . ON . CAN. GOLDHAVOC . ON . CA.
GOLDHAVCE . ON . IA. (a blunder for CA.) RICARD . ON . CAN.
RICARD. ON. CANT.
RICARD . ON . CANTO RICARD . M. ON . CAN.
RICAB D . ON . M . CAN. (a blunder for
[M . ON.)
RICARD . MC . ON . AN. (a blunder for
[M . ON . CAN.) RICARD . MI . ON . CAN.
ROGIER . ON . CAN.
ROGIER . ON . CANT.
ROGIER .ON . CANTO.
WILLEM . ON . CARD. WILLEM .ON . CARDV. WILLELM . ON . CAR.
Chester.
ANDR . . ON. CEST. . ON . CES.
Colchester.
ALWIN . ON . COLE. ALWIN . ON . COLEC. RIC ... ON . COLE. P....ON. COL.
Durham.
TOHAN . ON. DVNHE. WALTIER . ON. DVN. WALTIER . ON . DVN. .
1 The Red letters in this list represent those parts of the legend which have not received the impression ot the die, And have been supplied by conjecture.
D 2
4
Description of a large
Exeter .
EDW . . ON.EXCES. GVNCELIN . >N . EXC. GVNCELIN . ON . EXCS. GVNCELIN . ON . EXCE. RICARD . ON . EXCES.
RICARD . ON . EXSE.
. ON . XSE.
ROGIER .ON .EXCES.
Gloucester.
RADVLF.ON . GLOE.
RODBERT . ON . GLOE.
SA . . . . ON . GLOECE.
SA . . . . ON . GLOECES.
Hereford.
S _ ON. HEREF.
STE . . .ON . HERFOR.
Ilchester.
RICARD . ON . IVE.
RO . ON . IVELCE.
. ON . IVEL.
Ipswich.
NICOL.ON. G1PEV.
NICOLE . ON . GIPES.
ROBERT . ON . GIP.
ROBERT . ON . GIPE. RODBERD.ON .GIP.
RODBERD . ON. GIPE. BPDBERD .ON .GI.
TVRSTAIN . ON . GI.
TVRSTAIN . ON . GIP.
Lancaster.
W . LANST.
Collection of Pennies of Henry II.
Leicester.
RICARD . ON . LERC. RODBERT. ON. LERC.
RODBE RT . ON . LERE.
Lincoln.
GO >RIC . ON.LINC.
GOTHA. ON. UNCO. LAFRAM .ON .LI. LAFRAM.ON.LIN.
LAFRAM. ON . LINCO. RAVEN . ON . Lf\iO.
RAVEN . ON . LINCOL.
SVEIN . ON . LINCOL.
. . . HAM . ON . LIN.
London.
ALWI . . .ON . IVNDE ALWIN . ON . LVND. ALPINE.ON.LV.
ALWINE . ON . LVN.
ALWINE .ON .LVND.
DE .... ON . LVN DENE. EDMVND . ON . LVN. EDMVND.ON.LVND.
GEFF . . . ■ »N . LVN.
GODEFREi. .ON. LVN. GODEFREI .ON .LVN.
G )E1 REI.ON.L.
GODEFEI . ON.LVNDEN. GODEFFI . ON . LVND.
HVMF. . ON. LVN. IOHAN.oN.LVN.
IOHAN . ON . LVND.
IOHAN . ON . LVNDEN. LEFWINE . ON . LVN. LIWINL .ON . LVN.
MARTIN . ON . LVN. MARTIN . ON . LVND. RICARD . ON . LVN.
5
Description of a large Collection of Pennies of Henry II.
RICARD .ON . LVNDE. RODBERT . ON . LVN.
S PET MAN . ON. LV. SPETMAN . ON . LVN. SWETMAN . ON . LVN. PERES . ON . LVND.
PIRES . ON . LVND.
PIRES . ON . LVNDE.
PIRES . SAL . ON . LVN.
. . ES . ON . S . LV.
PIERES . M . ON . LVN. PIERES . ON . LVN.
PIERES . ON . LVNDE.
WID . ON . LVN DEN.
WIT . ON . LVNDEN.
Nexvark.
WILL AM . ON . NE.
Newcastle.
WILLEM . ON . NIVC. WILLEM . ON . NIVCA. WILLELM . ON . NIVCA.
Northampton.
Eli . . ND . ON . NORHA. INGERAS . ON . NORAM. RE . . . ON . NORHA. PIRES . ON . NORHA. . ON . NOHA.
Norwich.
REIN... ON. NOR.
RICARD . ON . NOREV.
RICA D . ON . NOREC.
PICOT . ON . NOR.
PICOT. ON . NORWI.
PICOT . ON . NOREV.
WILELM .ON .NO.
WILLELM .OH . NOI'W.
Oxford.
ADAM . ON . OXENE.
ADAM . ON . OXENFO.
ASC ... ON . OXEN.
ROGIER . ON . OXENF.
St. Edmundsbury.
HENRI . ON . S. EDM.
HEN . 0* . S. EDMV.
RAVL . S. ED.
RAVL . ON . S. EDM.
ROVLF . ON . S. EDM.
WILL AM . S. EDMVN.
PILLAM . S. EDMVN.
WILLEM . ON . SC. ED.
WILLEM . SC . ON , ED. (a blunder for
ON . SC . ED.)
WILLELM . ON . S. EDM.
Salisbury,
DANIEL . ON . SAL.
DANIEL. ON. SALE.
LEVRIC . ON . SALEB.
AGELHAN . ON . NORW. GILEBERT . ON . NOR. GILEBERT . ON . NORW. HERBERT . ON . NORVI. HERBERT . ON . NORWI. HEREBER . ON . NOR. HWE . ON . NOREWIC. HW. ON. NORWI.
NIC . . ON . NORW.
Stanford.
COLBR. N D . ON . STAF. W [.LEM . ON . STA.
Thetford.
SIWATE . ON. TED. SIWATE . ON . TEFFO. SIWAT.ON.TIEF.
6
Description of a large Collection of Pennies of Henry II.
Winchester .
TVR STAIN . ON . TC. TVRSTAIN . ON.TE. TVRSTEIN . ON . TE. TVRSTEIN . ON. TEF. TVRSTEIN . ON . TEFF. TVRST . EN . ON . TI. WILLAM . ON . TE. WILLAM . ON . TEFO. WILLEM. ON . TETFO. WILLELM . ON . TEF.
1 Vain fleet.
WALTIER . ON .WAIN.
Wallingford.
FVLCHE . ON . VAE I. . ON . WALL
Wilton .
ASCHETIL . ON . WILT. LANTIER . ON . WILT V. WILLEM. ON. VILT.
HERBERT .ON WI. HERBERT . ON . WIN. HERBERT. ON . WINC. HERBERT. ON . WINCS. RICARD . ON. WIN. RICARD. ON .WINCS. RICARD . ON . WINCE. RICARD . ON. WINCE ST. _ SHERT . ON . WIN.
York.
GODWIN . ON . EVERW. HERBERT . ON . EVER. HERBERD .ON . EVE. IORDAN . ON . EVERWI. LVD ... ON . EVEWI. WVLFSI . ON . EVERWI.
. . . IFFI . ON . EVEWIC.
Uncertain.
NICOLE . ON . W1W. ROBERT . ON . WIW.
The above list, which shews the names of the officers who were employed in the different mints, likewise shews the very unsettled state of the orthography of that time, both in the names of per¬ sons and places. In the coins of Canterbury, the name of the same person is written goldhavc, goldhavoc, and goldhavce; in those of London, we find weres, wires, and wieres; in those of St. Ed- mundsbury, willam, willem, and willelm ; and in those of Thet- ford, tvrstain and tvrstein. Ipswich is expressed by gipes and gipev; Northampton, by noha, norha, and noram ; Norwich, by norwi and norewic ; and Oxford, by oxene and oxenfo. But this remark is not peculiar to the coins of Henry II. it may be applied with equal truth to all the early pennies of this country, as well before as after the Conquest.
The coins were as fresh as when they were first issued from the
7
Description of a targe Collection of Pennies of Henry II.
mint, yet their execution was so very bad, that on many of them scarcely two letters could be discerned. The workmanship of these coins can, indeed, confer no credit on the state of the arts in the time of Henry II ; yet it is deserving of attention, that the weights of them, though apparently regulated by a pair of shears, were adjusted with extraordinary accuracy. As few opportunities, if any, have been offered of making experiments on the weights of such a considerable number of ancient English pennies belonging to one king, I shall close my account of these coins by a statement of the following facts with regard to their weights, for which I am indebted to the kind assist¬ ance of the officers of his Majesty’s mint.
50 pieces were weighed separately, and found to be 22 grains each.
100 were weighed against 100, the difference was 6 grains.
100 were weighed against 100, the difference was 14 grains.
200 were weighed against 200, the difference was 11 grains.
500 were weighed against 300, the difference was 13 grains.
400 were weighed against 400, the difference was 22 grains.
500 were weighed against 500, the difference was 19 grains.
bOO were weighed against 600, the difference was 6 grains*
700 were weighed against 700, there was no difference. Half a grain turned the scale.
800 were weighed against 800, the difference was 14 grains.
900 were weighed against 900, the difference was 2 grains.
1000 were weighed against 1000, the difference was 14 grains.
100 weighed 4 oz. 11 dwt. 17 grains.
100 weighed 4 oz. 11 dwt.
100 weighed 4 oz. 1 1 dwt. 14 gr.
100 weighed 4 oz. 1 1 dwt. 6 gr.
100 weighed 4 oz. 11 dwt. 3 gr.
100 weighed 4 oz. 11 dwt. 16 gr.
100 weighed 4 oz. 11 dwt. 23 gr.
100 weighed 4 oz. 11 dwt. 18 gr.
100 weighed 4 oz. 11 dwt. 18 gr.
100 weighed 4 oz. 11 dwt. 8 gr.
5
Description of a large Collection of Pennies of Henry IT.
5127 weighed 19lb. 6 oz. 5 dwt.
They should have weighed 19 lb. 6 oz. 19 dwt. 18 gr.
The difference is 14 dwt. 18 gr. which, divided amongst the whole number, makes each coin to have weighed nearly within -rxr of a grain of its proper weight.
British Museum, Feb. 24, 1814.
9
II. On the word Proctor , as employed in the Will of Richard Watts, the Founder of the Rochester Alms-Houses . By Francis Coiien, Esq. F. S. A.
Read 27th January, 1814.
Some time in the reign of Elizabeth, Richard Watts Esq. built the alms-houses in the city of Rochester which continue to bear his name: and he afterwards devised the greater part of his property for the support of the charitable establishment which he had founded. Amongst the directions which he gives for the management of the alms-houses, he desires that there shall be provided “ six good mat- “ trices or flock-beds, and other good and sufficient furniture, to har- “ hour and lodge poor travellers or wayfaring men, being no common “ rogues nor proctors, and they the said wayfaring men to harbour “ and lodge therein no longer than one night.”
This employment of the word Proctor has given rise to much mis¬ apprehension. In general, it has been taken for granted that the founder used it according to its modern and familiar acceptation ; and a story is current, that the villainous treatment which he experienced from a proctor on the continent was the motive which induced him to exclude the practisers in the ecclesiastical courts from the benefit of his charity, — a supper, — a night’s lodging, — and four-pence for viatics on the following morning. It has also been suggested, that “ the word “ Proctor, or Procurator, was the designation of those itinerant priests “ who, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, had dispensations from the “ Pope to absolve the subjects of that princess from their allegiance.” This attempt at explanation possesses less probability than the vulgar opinion. There was little necessity for prohibiting the reception of VOL. XVIII.
c
10
On the word Proctor.
these emissaries. If in disguise, the provider* of the hospital could not have easily distinguished them from other travellers; if discovered, they would have been denounced as traitors, and consigned to the gallows.
In this, as in many other instances, the Statutes of the Realm will afford us a satisfactory elucidation of the language and customs of antiquity. By the act 1 Ed. VI. c. 3. sect. xix. it is enacted, that “ all “ leprous and poore bedred creatures whatsoever they bee, may, at “ their own libertie, remaine and continue in such houses appointed “ for leprous or bedred people as they now bee in, and shall not be “ compelled to repaire into anie other countries or places by virtue of “ this act. And that it shall be lawful unto the sayde leprous and <c bedred people, for their better relief, to appointe their Proctor or “ Proctors , so there bee not appointed above the number of two persons “ for any one house of leprous or bedred people to gather the charitable “ alms of all such inhabitants as shall be within the compasse of foure “ miles of any of the sayde houses of leprous and bedred persons. ’’ A similar saving clause is inserted in the “ act touching the punishment “ of vagabonds and other idle persons,” (3 and 4 Ed. VI. c. Id.)
It seems, from a passage in Decker’s Honest Whore, that these proctors were the mendicant lepers, the bearers of the clap-dish so often alluded to.
You’re best get a clap dish, and say You are a Proctor to some spittal house.
Honest Wh. part the id.
These privileged beggars were deprived of the immunity which the statutes of Edward the 6th had bestowed upon them, by the “ act for “ the punishment of rogues, vagabonds, and sturdie beggars,” (39. Eliz. c. 4.) It declares that “ all persons that bee, or utter themselves “ to be Proctors , procurers, patent gatherers for gaols, prisons, or
a The officer who was charged with the reception of the inmates, See.
On the word Proctor.
11
“ hospitals, all fencers, bearewardes, common players of enterludes, and “ minstrelles,” are to be adjudged rogues and vagabonds.
The reasons for refusing admittance either to a true Proctor of a lazar bouse, or to a simulated one, are sufficiently obvious.
FRANCIS COHEN.
c
O
12
III. Observations on the History and Use of Seals in England. By Henry Ellis, Esq. F. R. S. Secretary , in a Better to Samuel Lysons, Esq. F. P. F. R. S.
Read 10th February, 1814.
DEAR SIR,
British Museum, Feb. 9th, 1814.
1 beg, through your hands, to transmit to the Society of Antiquaries the first of a short series of Papers on the History and Use of Seals in England.
Numerous and large works on Seals have appeared upon the Con¬ tinent, but in England, with the exception of Mr. Lewis’s Treatise, they have only been incidentally illustrated.
The observations which I propose to lay, from time to time, before the Society, will perhaps be found to contain some curious facts; but they are rather intended to produce inquiry than offered on my own part, as even approximating to a complete Memoir.
I am, dear Sir,
Very truly,
Your’s,
HENRY ELLIS.
Samuel Lysons, Esq. V. P. &c. &c. &c.
On the General History of Seals it may probably be sufficient to say that Signet Rings , at least, were known among the earliest nations of antiquity ; and though, at a period less remote, Pliny repre¬ sents them as in use in the Roman empire only,3 abundant proofs are
a ■ Nullosque omnino anulos major pars gentium hominumque, etiam qui sub nostro ** degunt, hodieque habeat. Non signat Oriens jEgyptus etiam nunc, litteris contenta solk.” Plin. Harduin. ii. 604. 1. 19.
13
Observations on the History and Use of Seals in England.
furnished by Heineccius, from classical authority, to shew that they were employed at the same time by other nations beyond the reach of the Roman power.b
That they were used for sealing wills and letters by the Romans is clear, as well in the provinces as within the circuit of the domestic empire. The numerous gems and rings which have been found at all periods in England/ make any reference on this subject to old autho¬ rities superfluous. The Romans, however, had no publick Seals, and the edicts of their emperors went forth to the world unattested by those peculiar appendages which seem to distinguish the instruments and contracts of modern from those of antient Europe.
The origin of such seals as were most in use in the middle ages, and which have been continued to our own time, Heineccius ascribes to the Byzantine emperors. He considers the Franks to have been the first people who adopted them in the western part of Europe: d and, afterwards, makes it the business of his work to trace their history among the Germans.
On the period of time when the use of seals was first introduced into England historians differ.
John Ross, by whose misinformation our antiquaries have been
b Jo. Mich. Heineccii de veteribus Germanorum aliarumque Nationum Sigillis, eorumque usu et praestantia, Syntagma Historicum. fol. Franc. & Lips. 1709.
c See instances in Blomef. Hist. Norf. vol. v. p. 994, fol. edit. Phil. Trans. No. 257. Gough’s Camden, edit. 1789, vol. i. pp. 142, 347- vol. ii. pp. 9. 116*'. 281. 29].
d Sir William Dugdale, in the History of Warwickshire, p. 672, makes it appear from the testimony of Preuue, in his Hist, des Contes de Poictou, Sec. Par. 1 047, p. 155, that a seal was used by Charlemagne.
“ Karolus Dei gratia Rex Francorum, &c. Notum sit omnibus. Sec. qualiter vir illustris Rogerus Comes fidelis noster. Sec. Monasterium, Sec. in loco nuncupato Karrofum, &c. in pago Fictaviense construxit, &c. Et ut haec presens auctoritas nostris et futuris temporibus inviolata perdurare valeat manus nostrse signaeulis earn decrevimus roborari et de Annulo nostro jussimus SIGILLARI.” Circa ann. dom. 769.
Ibid. p. 18. “ In nomine domini Dei & Hludovicus divina ordinante dementia Imperator " Augustus, Notum sit, &c. Hsc vero authoritas, ut nostris futurisque temporibus melius " credatur, &c. manu propria subscripsimus, et de Annulo nostro subter jussimus SIGILLARI. " dat. &c. A. D. 8 14.” See also Mabillon de Re diplomat, ed. 1O8I. p.127.
14 Observations on the History and Use of Seals in England.
deceived in other points, speaks of Henry the First as the earliest of our kings who used a seal of wax.'
The editors of Du Cange’s Glossary (tom. vi. col. 487) attribute the introduction of seals to William the Conqueror; and appear to have been supported in their opinion by Ingulphus, who states in his History, in general terms, that before the Normans came in, deeds were confirmed by crosses and other signatures only.
Waving the principal question in the present place, it may be curious to observe that foreign antiquaries speak of English seals of a date considerably more remote than the Norman Conquest.
The learned Peiresc, writing to Camden, the English historian, says : “ I forgot to tell you that I gave a copy of the seal of Offa, “ which I took at St. Denys, to M. Cotton ; the seal was about as “ large as a jacobus of gold, the face represented on it was without a “ beard, and resembled the portrait of the Emperor Trajan.” f
Doublet,2 who wrote the History of the Abbey of St. Denis, is also particular in noticing not only the seal of Offa, but that of Ethel- wulph, asserting that the images of those princes were respectively represented upon each.
He also mentions a charter from Berthwald, an English duke of the time of Offa, bearing a waxen impression with the figure of the donor in relief. h
The authors of the Nouveau Trait6 Diplomatique say : “ The
“ learned men of England did not know that seals of the Anglo-Saxon 11 princes were preserved in France. We have, in the archives of the
e “ Iste etiam rex Henricus primus regum habuit Sigillum de cera.” J. Rossi, Antiq. Wavw. Hist. Regum Anglias. ed Hearne, p. 138.
f The letter is dated Paris, 21 Aug. 1018. “ J’oubliois de vous dire, que je bailly autre-
“ fois a Monsieur Cotton l’empreinte d’un Seau du Roy Offa ; j’avoir tiree de St. Denys, ou “ estoit son visage bien represente. Le Seau estoit grand comme un Jacobus d’Or environ, la (t visage estoit sans barbe, et ressembloit aucunement a l’Empereur Trajan. Je ne s$ay pas “ comment il l’a oublie.” Gul. Camdeni et illustr. Virorum ad G. Camd. Epistolse, p. 2 55.
8 “ Antiquitezet Rccherches de l’Abbaye de Sainct Denys,” 4*. 1024, pp. 721. 78 5. 832.
h “ Cette charte scellee d’un seel de cire sain et entier, auquel est empreinte l’effigie de relief du dit Prince Berthauld apres le naturel.” Doublet, p. fig.
Observations on the History and Use of Seals in England. ] 5
“ church of St. Denis, a charter of Edgar, half a foot in width and tl two feet in length, bearing date the second year of his reign, A. D. l( 960. The seal appended to the parchment is of brown wax, and <c represents a bust in profile.” The charter, it is added, bore every mark of truth and authenticity that could be desired.1 Nor have writers been wanting, even in our own country, who have asserted the existence of charters passed by Anglo-Saxon princes sub proprio Sigillo.
Sulcardus, in his Collection of Charters granted to Westminster Abbey, specifies not only a seal of Edgar, but one of Dunstan Arch¬ bishop of Canterbury, as formerly appendant to a grant.
The learned Selden, in his Treatise on the office of Lord Chan¬ cellor, gives into the idea that no less than three seals were appended to a charter of King Edgar to Pershore Abbey.
And Sir Edward Coke says, in the first part of his Institutes/ that “ the charter of King Edwyn, brother of King Edgar, bearing date “ anno domini 9-56, made of the land called Lecklea, in the Isle of “ Ely, was not only sealed with his own seale, (which appeareth by “ these words, Ego Edwinus Dei gratia totius Britannia telluris rex “ meum donum proprio Sigillo confirmavi,) but also the Bishop of “ Winchester puts to his seale, Ego iElfwinus Winton’ Ecclesias divi- “ nus speculator proprium Sigillum impressi.” “ The charter of “ King Offa,” he adds, “ whereby he gave the Peter Pence, doth yet a remaine under seal."
Mr. Carte, in his History of England, has placed implicit confi¬ dence in several of these assertions; and he adds, that Matthew Paris
> “ Lcs Savans d’Angleterre n’ont pas sgu que la France possede encore des sceaux de leurs Hois Anglo-Saxons. Nous avons vu dans les archives de 1’Abbaie de S. Denis une charte “ originale d’Edgar, et nous l’avons examinee avec tout le soin possible. Elle n’a qu'un demi- “ pie de largeur sur deux de longeur. Elle porte la date de la seconde annee du regne d’Ed- “ gar et de l’lndiction iii : ce qui revient & 1’an §60. On voit au bas du parchemin une inci- “ sion pour faire passer une cire brune, sur laquelle le sceau est imprime. II est en placard et “ non suspendu. II represente un buste de profil. Ayant ete replie il a marque sa forme sur “ le parchemin. La charte au bas de laquelle il est aplique porte tous les caracteres de verite et d authenticity qu on peut desirer.” Nouveau Traite Diplomatique, tom.iv. p. 204. k Fol. T^ond. J628, 1. i. sect. i. fol./.
16
Observations on the History and Use of Seals in England.
affirms “ there were, in his time, several grants of Saxon Kings under “ seal preserved in other monasteries besides that of Westminster.”
To revert, however, to Offa’s seal, so minutely described by Peiresc and Doublet, it is not a little singular that Felibien, in a later History of the Abbey of St. Denis, mentioning Offa’s charter, speaks of it as signed only with the cross and the king’s subscription. Indeed, in the Appendix to his work, he gives the charter at length, which finishes in the usual style of Saxon charters, and has no allusion whatever to a seal.
Dr. Hickes, in the Dissertatio Epistolaris prefixed to his Thesau¬ rus, considers the charter of Edgar, recited by Sulcardus, as a fabri¬ cation, forged, in all probability, after the arrival of the Normans. The hand-writing in which the original deed is written, for it is yet preserved at Westminster, is of a date almost as late as the time of Henry the First : and it is a point of no slight consequence to notice, that the intelligent and laborious author of the Thesaurus, more con¬ versant perhaps with Saxon instruments than any writer of any pe¬ riod, deemed the circumstance of a seal being appended as fatal to the authenticity of the grant.1 11 He adduces other reasons to prove.
1 “ Ilia Tabula (Tab. c.) chartam Willelmi Conqu. exhibet, quae tam Saxonico quam
11 Normannico more; nempe tam signis Crucis, quam sigillo vel imagine cerea appendente, “ cujus nullus Anglo-Saxonibus usus erat, corroborate. Cujus, inquam, nullus Anglo-Saxo- “ nibus usus erat, scilicet ante S. Ed wardi Conf. tempora j in quibus tamen Sigilla ista ad- “ pendentia inolevisse vix did possunt. Quamobrem, Showere, Eadgari It. & S. Dunstani Chartae Westmonasterienses, quae supra non uno in loco fictae esse ostenduntur j hoc etiam “ nomine falsitatis damnandae sunt, quod ambae pariter, Sigillis (sic enim cereas laminas et “ impressiones vocamus) adpendentibus munitae esse finguntur. Eadgari quidem Chartae sigil- “ lum suum perditum non ostentat ; sed locus membranae, e quo per retinaculum pendebat, “ etiamnum cernitur ; et Sigillum pensile olim habuisse, haec ej us verba monstrant : Manus “ nostra; subscriptionibus subtus earn decrev'wius reborare, et de sigillo nostro (quae phrasis est “ Gallo-Novmannica, De noire sceau) jussimus sigillare. E charta autem Dunstani Sigillum “ adhuc ritu Normannico dependet, in cujus obvers3 facie impressa cernitur Dunstani effi- “ gies, scabello pedibus supposito sedentis, dextraque pedum pastorale, sinistra vero librum “ tenentis, in quo, PAX VOBTS, cum Epigraphe, quae in perimetro hie est : SIGILLUM “ DUNST. EPL LVND. In aversa autem facie cernitur icuncula impressa, circa quam in- <f scriptio haec: DUNST AN EPC VIGORN, Haec^ inquam, ritu Gallo-Normannico. Nam
Observations on the History and Use of Seals in England . 17
that the seal of Dunstan could have none other than a Norman origin.
** apud Normannos nostros mos hie erat conficiendi Chartas ; ut auctor donationis, qui duobus ff honorificis titulis gauderet, in utrnque Sigilli adpendentis facie, quae chartam muniebat, sui *f diversam effigiem exhiberet. Sic nobiiis ilia Charta Cottoniana, Latine et Saxonice, con- “ fecta ab Odone Baiocensi Epo & Comite Cantiae, qua Ecclesiae Cantuariensi quatuor Drn- <K nas, See. dat, adpendens Sigillurn habet ; in cujus obversa fronte Odo vestimentis Ponlificisj “ in adversa vero Comitis amictu indutus exhibetur.
“ Ob eandem etiam rationem, aut fraudis, aut inscitiae saltern arguendjas est Godefridus “ ille Archidiaconus Wigorniensis, qui summum pontificem Alexandrum tertium certiorem “ faciens de charta quadam Eadgari regis, quam, ut ceitissimas auctorit3tis fitleique scriptum, ** commendatum esse voluit, sic ad earn scribit : f Reverendissimo domino et patri A. snmmo ' Pontifici minimus sanctitatis suae servns Godefridus diet us Archidiaconus Wigorniensis. (a)
* Noverit itaque Sanctitas vestra verum esse, quod contrascripti hujus scriptum originale in ‘ virtute Sanctne Trinitatis Sigilla tria trium personarum autenticarum ad veritatem triplici r confirmatione commendant. Est autem Sigillurn primum ill ustris Regis Eadgari. Stcun-
* dum S. Dunstani Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis. Tercium Alferi Ducis Merciorum.’ Hat t( Godefridae literae ad summum Pontificem datae, sub charta amplissima Eadgari R. qua Mo- “ nasterio Perscorensi libertates et privilegia confirmat, agglutinatse cernuntur in collections “ Cottoniana quse inscribitur AUGUSTUS II. Charta ilia habet supra Scriptam notam nu- “ meralem [5,] eamque ipsam putat Johannes Seldenus, (£) & qui ilium ci tat Edvardus Stil- “ lingfletus, Decanus Londinensis, ( c ) honorifice semper ob maximam eruditionem suam no- “ minandus, quam Godefridus in literis suis ad summum pontificem scriptis, veram, ut quam iC tribus sigillis munitam vidisset, attestatus est. Earn autem ipsam esse id propter existimant, ,f quod tres incisuras totidem Sigillorum adpendentium indicia ostentat. Verum charta ilia cui “ in collectione Cottoniana, Godefridi Literce suffix® cernuntur, non tres (quod pace Seldeni “ dictum velim) sed quinque, quales ille memorat, incisuras habet, casu forsan factas. Quod “ si consilio fact® fuerint, id fraudi monachorum tribuendum est; qui de fallendis Normannis “ consultantes, qui chartas antiquas Sigillis non munitas in dubiura non raro vocare solebant, “ iis aliquando Sigilla pendula apponebant. Sic Chart® forsan istae Cottonian®, sive ilia “ eadem, sive alia est, de qua ad summum pontificem scripsit Godefridus, sigilla adposoerunt “ monachi, ut Normannis illam non sigillatam damnaturis palpum obtruderunt. Nam sigil- “ lationem chartarum cum pendulis Sigillis in usu non fuisse apud Anglos ante S. Edvvardi III. “ tempora, non Ingulphus tantuin adfirmat, cujus verba in alienum sensum distorquet cl. nos- et ter Stillingfletus : sed post eorum usuui ut illo rege introductum mos non erat simpliciura
(a) Hie erat archidiaconus Wigorn. ab an. 1148, ad annum 1167.
(J>) Of the Office of Lord Chancellour, ch. 2.
(c) In egregio opere suo Aaglice scripto, cui titulus Origines Britannic*.
VOL. XVIII.
D
18 Observations on the History and Use of Seals in England.
On the seals noticed in so decisive a tone by Sir Edward Coke, it may be remarked, that in the Saxon times Signum and Sigillum were, in many instances, synonimous. Among the Cotton charters in the British Museum1" is one of Edwy, dated in the same year with that which Sir Edward Coke quotes. It is a grant to Wulfric, one of his nobles, of seven cassates of land at Melebroce. It finishes with the names and crosses of the different witnesses ; and among them it is said,
rp Ego Eadwig Rex Anglorum indeclinabiliter concessi.
►P Ego Eadgar ejusdem Regis frater consensi
Ego Oda Archiepiscopus cum Signo Sanctas Crucis roboravi.
^ Ego JElfsinus presul Sigillum ague Crucis impressi.
And in the last sentence, a cross stands not only at the beginning of iElfsinus’s name, but there is another over the word Crucis. Sigillum agiae Crucis impressi.
The same expression occurs at the close of a charter of King Edred to the church of Winchester in the year g48. The mark of the cross is followed b}^the king’s name, who adds, “ Cum Sigillo saiictas “ Crucis confirmavi.”
It is also to be found at the close of several charters of Edward the Confessor.
None of these deeds have the slightest appearance of having ever had seals of wax appendant.
Mr. Carte’s assertion, that Matthew Paris notices several grants of Saxon kings under seal in other monasteries besides that of West-
,r donationum chartas, quibus personae, quotquot crant, contrahentes, Sigilla sua ordinc ad- ponebant.” Hickesii Diss. Epist. p. 71.
Dunstan’s Charter finishes, “ hanc libertatis cedulam impressione Sigilli noslri, et Anuli u iusuper, et agalmate sanctae Crucis, &c.”
B1 Cart. Antiq. Cotton. Brit. Mus. viii. 12.
Observations on the History and Use of Seals in England. ly
minster, is incorrect, Matthew Paris only stating that the seal of Edward the Confessor was to be found in that monastery."
The seal of Edward the Confessor then is the first, at least of the royal kind, with which our antiquaries are acquainted. Edward had received his education in Normandy, where he is said not only to have contracted many intimacies with the natives, but a singular affection for the manners of the country. His civil code has descended to us
' ,• /v .
in the Norman tongue, and the reader, who will take the pains to consult Mabillon de Re Diplomatica, (fol. 1681, tab. xxxix), or the Nouveau Traits Diplomatique, (tom. iv. p. 126), will see a remark¬ able coincidence in form, and size, and device, between the Confessor’s seal and that of Henry the First of France, who began his reign in the year 1031. I suspect the latter to have been the archetype of the Confessors.
On one side of his seal, King Edward the Confessor is represented sitting on a throne, bearing on his head a sort of mitre. In his right hand he holds a sceptre finishing in a cross, and in his left a globe. On the other side he is also represented with the same sort of head¬ dress sitting. In his right-hand, a sceptre finishing with a dove ; in his left, a sword, the hilt pressed toward his bosom. On each side is the same legend,
SIGILLUM EADWARDI ANGLORUM BASILEL
This seal of King Edward is mentioned several times in the Domes¬ day Survey.0 The substance of one of the most remarkable entries relating to it is given in the New Magna Britannia. i( The Record of “ Domesday, (say the authors of that work), mentions a manor in “ Sparsholt belonging to the monastery of Abingdon, and states that “ the men of the county said that Edric gave it to his son, a monk at “ Abingdon, for life, and they did not know that it ever belonged to
n “ Quod enim dicebant Regum Anglicorum nulla esse Sigilla, deprehensum esse falsum in <f quibusdam Monasteriis, nara apud Westmonasterium inveniebatur Sigillum Regis Edwardi.” Mat. Par, ed, 1684, p. 1027.
20
Obsecrations on the History and Use of Seals in England .
u the abbey, but the abbot claimed it as given to the convent in the
u reign ot Edward the Confessor, and showed the king’s charter with? “ his Seal, and the signatures of all the monks.” p
No public act, however, ; ppears to have made the use of this seal indispensable. A charter sanctioned by signatures and crosses only was equally as valid as the sealed deed. In Domesday, the words “ Pax “ manu Regis vel Sigillo ejus data," frequently occur.
It must not be passed by in silence, that another seal exists which lias an undoubted claim to an origin almost as remote as that of the Confessor. I will not say that it may not have even a higher claim. It represents the half-length figure of a female, and has this in¬ scription : “ Sigillum Eadgythe Regalis Adelphe.” I have reason to hope a Memoir upon it will soon be presented to the Society from the pen of a member far better qualified than I am to discuss its his¬ tory. The seal alluded to belonged to the abbesses of Wilton. It appears to have been preserved with peculiar care, and to have been used to the very time when the Monastery was dissolved.
p u De hoc CD scira attestat. qd Ed lie9 qui eu lenebat delibauit illu filio suo qui «rat in Abendone monach9 ut ad firma illud teneret. 7 sibi donee uiueret neces- saria uitic inde donaret. Post niorte a ej9 (D hab’et. 7 ido nesciunt hoes de scira
o
qd abbatiae ptineat. Neq ; enl inde uider breue regis t sigillu. Abb u testat"' qd in T. R. E. misit ille (CD ad aacciani unde erat. 7 inde ht breue 7 sigillu R. E. atte*- tantibj omibj monachis suis.” Tom. i. fob 59-
IV. Two English Poems of the time of Richard IT. Commu¬ nicated by the Rev . J. J. Conybeare, M. si. Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford, in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F. R. S. Secretary .
(Read 3d March, 1814.y
MY DEAR SIR, Oxford, August 12, 1813.
The two short Poems annexed, independently of the superiority they possess over most of the minstrel productions of their age, appear to present so lively a picture of the popular feeling towards the com¬ mencement of the weak and disastrous government of Richard the Second, that I am persuaded they will not be altogether unacceptable < to the admirers of our ancient literature.
Both of them occur in the latter part of an immense manuscript volume of English Poetry preserved in the Bodleian Library, and usually stiled, from* the name of its donor, the Vernon Manuscript. The contents of this remarkable volume are chiefly of a religious or moral nature. All the more prominent parts of the Old and New Testament, and the lives of most of the saints of the Romish Calendar, intermixed with a few tales of classical origin,3 one metrical romance of a reli¬ gious nature, b one pious treatise in prose, and the well-known poem of Pierce Plowman, appear (for the last article is imperfect towards the conclusion) to have formed the first and largest division of the volume. The second consists, for the greater part, of short poems on
a One of these, the well-known story of Damon and Pithias, commences with an entei- taining specimen of the versifier’s attainments in history and geography :
“ Sum time men reden that ther was In a cuntre clept Pitagoras.”
'* The King of Tars and the Soudan of Damas. Published by Mr. Ritson,
22
Elegy on the Death of
moral or religious subjects, usually in the metre of those now submit¬ ted to the Society, terminating, like them, in a Refrain, and much superior both in point of imagination and expression to those contained in the former part. One of the poems in this volume, a composition for its age of very singular pathos and beauty, lias, been published by Mr. Ritson in his Ancient Songs.0 I have little doubt, from the simi¬ larity of style, that the whole contents of the section from which it is extracted proceeded from the same hand.
Believe me,
Dear Sir,
With much esteem,
Your’s, &c.
J. J. CONYBEARE.
Henry Ellis, Esq.
ELEGY
ON THE
Death of King Edward III.
A ! Dere God ! what mai this be
That alle thing weres & wasteth awai.
Ffrendschip is but a vanyte,
Unnethe hit dures al a day.d
Thei beo so sliper at assai.
So leof to han 8c loth to lete,'
And so fikel in heore fai.
That selden I-seige is sone forgete.'"
I sei hit not withouten a cause,
And th’fore taketh riht good hede,
Ffor gif ye construwe wel this clause,
I puit you holly out of drede,*
c It will be found in the first part of his curious volume, and commences “ Nou brnes “ buirdes bolde & blythe.” l1 Unless it be durable. e So ready to take, and so lothe to forego. f That which is no longer seen is soon forgotten,
• Doubt.
23
King Edward III .
That for puire shame jor herte vvol blede.
And je this matere wysli trete,
He that was ur moste spede
Is selden I seje and sone forjete.
Slim tyme an Englisch schip we had,
Nobel hit was 8c heih of tour,
Thorw al Cristendam hit was drad.
And stif wolde stande in uch a stour.1*
And best dorst byde a scharp schour And other stormes smale 8c grete.
Now is that schip that bar the flour Selden sege & sone forgete.
Into that schip ther longed a Roothur,
That steered the schip, 8c governed hit:
. In al this world nis such a nothur
As me thinketh in my wit.
Whyl schip and Rothur togeder was knit,
Thei dredde nouther tempest driyge nor wete.
Nou be thei both in synder flit,
That selden seyge is sone forgete.
Scharpe wawes5 that schip has sayled,
And sayed all sees at aventur,
For wynd ne wederes never hit fayled,
Whyl the Rothur mihte enduir.
Thoug the sees were roug or elles dimuir Gode havenes that schip wolde gete.
Nou is that schip, I am wel suir,
Selden I sege 8c sone forgete.
This goode schip, 1 may remene k To the Chilvalrye of this londe.
Sum time thei counted nougt a oene.1 Beo al Ffrance Ich understonde
k Jn every danger.
s So the MS. waves ?
k So the MS. Quaere, if “ scmene compare.
1 They valued not France a single bean. ( Vid. Bene, in Glossary to lyrwhitt’s Chaucer.)
This expression, which appears to have been proverbial, is, I believe, now quite obsolete.
24
Elegy on the Death of
Thci tok & sloug hem with heore honde
The power oh Ffrance both smal and grete,
And brougt ther Kyng hider to bide her bonde.'*
And nou rigt sone hit is forgete.
That schip had a f ul sikern mast.
And a sayl strong and large,
That made the gode schip never agast To undertake a thyug of charge.
And to that schip ther longed a barge,
Of al Ffrance gaf nougt a clete.0
To us hit was a siker targe.
And now riht clone hit is forgete.
The Rothur was nouther Ok ne Elm,
Hit was Edward the thridde the noble kniht :
The Prince his Sone bar up his helm,
That never ’sconfited was in fill t.
The Kyng him rod & rouwed ariht.
The prince drad nouther stok nor strete,
Nou of hyoi we lete fill lilit*
That selde is sege is sone forgete.
The swift barge was Duk Henri That noble kniht & wel assayed,
And in his leggance worthili
He abod mony a bitter braid.
Gif that his enemys ougt outrayed fTo chastis hem wolde he not lete.
Nou is that Lord ful lowe ileyd.
That selde is sege is sone forgete.
This gode communes, by the Rode,
I likne'hem to the schipes mast.
That with heore catel and heore gode
Meynteyned the werre both furst & last.
-** To remain as their caDtive.
k
“ Firm, secure.
* 1 his expression l do not understand. Jt may possibly be an error of the transcriber.
King Edward III.
25
The wynd that bleuj the schip with blast Hit was gode preyers, I sei hit a trete,p
Now is devoutnes out i-cast,
And mony gode dedes be clen forjete.
Thus be this Lordes i-leid ful lowe.
The stok is of the same rote.
An ympe biginnes for to growe And jit I hope shal ben ur bote.
To hold his fomen under fote.
And as a Lord be set in sete.
Crist leve that he so mote,
That selden i-seje be not forjete.
Weor that Impe IT ally growe,
That he had sarr'1 sap 8c pith.
I hope he shulde be kud 8c knowe Ffor Conquerour of moni a kith.
He is ful lyflich in lira 8c lith
In armes to travayle 8c to swete,
Crist leeve we so fare hint with,
That selden seje be never forjete.
And therfore holliche, I ou rede,
Til that this Impe beo ffully growe,
That uch a mon up with the hede.
And mayntene him both heije 8c lowe.
The Ffrenschmen cune both boste 8c blowe And with heore scornes us to threte.
And we beoth both unkuynde 8c slowe That selden seje is sone forjete.
And therfore, gode Sires, taketh reward Of jor douhti kyng that dyjede in age.
And to his son Prince Edward That welle was of al corage.
* A trait. (Fr.) In my discourse, in earnest ?
* Sarr. — I am unacquainted with this word. Can it be a corruption of savour ? (Vid.
“ Sareless,” in Jamieson’s Scottish Diet.)
VOI.. XVI II.
E
Poem on the Disturbances
Such two Lords of heigh parage
In r not in eorthe whon we schal gete. And nou heore los biginneth to swage. That selde i-sege is sone forgete.
POEM
OK THE
Disturbances and Calamities of the earlier part <f the Reign of
King Richard II.
Yet is God acurteis Lord,
And mekeliche con schewe his miht.
Ffayne he wolde bring til acord
Monkuynde to live in treuthe ariht.
Allas ! whi set we that Lord so liht,
And al to foule with him we fare ?
In World is no so wys no wiht,
That thei ne have warning to beware.
We may not sege but if we lyge
That God wol vengeaunce on us stele.
Ffor openly we seo with eye
This warnynges beoth wonder &, fele.*
But nou this wrecched worldes wele Maketh us lyve in sunne & care,
Of mony merveyles I may of mele,*
And al is warnynge to beware.
Whon the Comuynes bigan to ryse.
Was non so gret Lord as I gesse
That thei in herte bigon to gryse,u And leide her Jolyte in presse.
Wher was thene heore wwrthinesse ?
Whon thei made lordes droup & dare.*
Of all wyse men I take wytnesse,
This a warnyng to beware
* So the MS. * Many. * To speak. “ To trembl*.
* Q. As to this usage of dare ?
of the Reign of K. Richard IL
Bifore jif Menhedde had a graas/
Lordes miht wonder weel
Han let the rysing that ther was.
But that God thogte hit sum del
That Lordes schulde his Lordschup feel,
And of heore Lordschipe make hem bare.
Trust therto as trewe as steel.
This was a warnyng to beware.
And also whon this eorthe quolc.
Was non so proud he n’as agast.
And al his Jolite forsok
And thoujt on God whyl that hit last.
And alsone as hit was overpast
Men wox as wel as thei dude are.
Uche mon in his herte mai cast This was a warnyng to beware.
Fforsoth this was a Lord to drede So sodeynly mad mon aghast.
Of gold & selver thei tok non hede
But out of the houses ful sone thei past.
Chaumbres, chimeneys, al to barst,
Chirches St castels foul gon fare,
Pinacles, steples, to ground hit cast.
And al was warnyng to beware.
The mevyng of this Eorthe, I wys.
That schulde by cuynde 1 be ferm 8c etabele,
A pure veray toknyng hit is
That menes hertes ben chahgable.
And that to falshud thei ben most abul,
Ffor with good feith wul we not fare.
Leef hit wel withouten fabel.
This was a warnyng to beware.
This line appears capable of two interpretations :
1. “If men had had favour shewn them by the Deity. ”
2. If men had had benevolent and kind dispositions (towards their inferior*.
Naturally, by kind.
* 2
£S
Poem on the Disturbances , 8$c.
The rysing of the comuynes in Londe,
The pestilens, Sc the Eorthequake,
Theose threo thynges, I understonde,
Beo tokenes the grete vengeauce Sc wrake
That schulde fall for synnes sake.
As this clerkes con declare.
Now mai we chese to leve or take.
For warnyog have we to ben ware
Ever I drede, he my trouthe
Ther mai no warnyng stande in stede,
We ben so ful of synne Sc slouthe
The schame is passed the sched of bed.
And we lijjen liht hevy as led Cumbred in the Ffendes snare.
I leeve this beo ur beste red.
To thenke on this warnyng to beware.
Sikerliche I dar wel saye
In such a ply t thys world is in.
Many for wynnyng wolde bitraye Father Sc Moder Sc all hys kyn.
Nou were heih tyme to begin
To amende ur mis Sc wel to fare.
Ur bagge hongeth on a sliper pyn,
Bote we of this warning prepare.
Bewar for I con sey no more,
Bewar for vengaunce of trespas,
Bewar Sc thenk upon this lore,
Bewar of this sodeyn cas.
And jit bewar while we have spas.
And thonke that child that Marie bare,
Of his gret goodnesse Sc his gras,
Sende us such warnyng to beware.
2 9
V. Two Original Papers . One, a Letter containing an Account ■of the Reception of King Charles the Second, when Prince of Wales, at Cambridge, in 16*41. The second, the Appoint¬ ment of Sir Ralph Hare, Baronet, of the County of Norfolk, to be one of the Hostages to the Kingdom of Scotland in 1646*. Communicated by Sir George Nayler, Knt. F.S.A. in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F. R, S. Secretary .
Read U8th April, IS 14.
DEAR SIR,
Herald’s College, 30th March, 1814.
X beg to transmit to you the enclosed Papers, (which have fallen into my hands in the course of professional business,) conceiving that they may be interesting to the Society of Antiquaries. Should you coin¬ cide with me in this opinion, have the goodness to submit the origi¬ nals at your next meeting, and then return them to me. The copies which I have also enclosed are at your service.
Believe me to remain,
Very faithfully your’s,
GEO. NAYLER,
York Herald, Genealogist of the Eatk.
Henry Ellis, Esq. &c. &c. &c.
30
Account of the Reception of King Charles the Second ,
COPY.
Sr
I know you have expected Cambridge Newes er now ; & should have received it had a Messenger been at hand. On Saturday seaven- night the Prince came hither betwene 9 & 10 of ye Clock, attended wth ye Dukes of Lenox & Buckingham, his Tutor, ye Earl of Carlile, y' Ld Seimour, Ld Francis yc Duke of Buckingham's Brother, & divers other Gentlemen. The Vicechan: received him wth a Speech in our Regent Walk: thence he went & saw Kings Chappell, where at his entrance into ye Quire I saw him say his Prayers, of wh he was so little ashamed, that in the midst of that multitude he hid not his devocon in his hat: From thence he retired to ye Regent house, & sitting in his fathers place was saluted by ye publique Orator. Before he came in amongst us, a grace passed for his degree, with this addicon extra¬ ordinary, Ad sempiternu Academie honorem: toy' eternall honor of ye Univrsity. After ye Orators Speech, he was created Master in Arts; & then, by Comission from ye King, for all those whome his Sone should nominate: The Duke of Bucking: ye Earl of Carliel, ye Ld Seimour, & divers Gentlemen of y* Univrsity. His Tutor also ye Bish: of Salsbury, was admitted to ye degre he had formerly taken in Ox¬ ford. From ye Regenthouse his Highnes went to Trinity College, where after dinner he saw a Comedy in English, & gave all sighnes of great acceptance wh he could, & more then ye Univrsity dared expect. The Comedy ended, he took Coach in ye Court, & returned to New¬ market. The noble Duke of Lenox, a right worthy Friend to y' Uni- vrsity, we suppose ye Instrument of all this great favour shewn to it^ The Prince Elector came not wth our Prince, least (as we suppose) y* Prince of Wales should loose something of y' honorable entertainment by ye Company of one whoe could not honor him as ye rest did, fory' Duke of Lenox & all ye rest waited upon him ye whole day, & all y* Comedy while, bareheaded. The truthe is y' Prince wanted no cir¬ cumstance of honor wh ye Court about him, or y* Hnivrsity could give.
31
when Prince of Wales, at Cambridge, in 1641.
This so highly pleased ye King, that, ye Moonday after, he came hither himself, & whereas it was thought yl otherwise he would pri¬ vately have passed through, he then graciously turned in & staid a while. At his coming out of yc Coach, wh was before Trinity College, ye University being placed ready, saluted him wth isuch vehement acclamacons of Vivat Rex, as I never heard ye like noise heer before upon any occasion. The Vice Chan: met his Majesty, & wth a long Speech presented him a very fair Bible. After he entered Trinity College, ye Master saluted him wth another oracon, & presented (I think) a book also. The Speech ended he went into ye Chappell, & seemed very well to approve all their ornaments. As soon as he had seen that Chappell he walked to S. Johns, viewed their Chappell & Library, [and] took a travelling banquet in ye further Court, wh was presented to him upon banquet Chargers. He was their saluted by a speech from ye Orator, & another from Mr. Cleveland. He spake very kindely concerning Dr. Beal (whoe was absent) saying he would not belieue such as he to be dishonest Men, till he saw it so proved. At S. John’s Gate he took Coach & so went to Huntingdon. What he did there 8c what he did at Newmarket, printed Papyrs I sup¬ pose have already told you. At his parting one tells me that he spake thus to ye Vicechan. “ Mr. Vicechanc: Whatsoever becomes of me I will charge my Sonn, upon my blessing, to respect yc Univrsity.”
Sr, I would fain hear how you indured your Journey to London ; & how my Mother & Sister doe. My duty to your self & my Mother : & my love to ye rest : I take my leave.
Your obedient Sonn,
J c sep h Beaumont.
S. Peters, ye best day of my
life, March 21, 1641.
His Sonn ye Prince Elect", ye Duke of Lenox, & very few oilier Gentlemen came wth ye King.
To his very loving father Mr
John Beaumont at his house
in Hadlv this prsnt.
* * SufF.
52 Appointment of Sir Ralph Hare , Bart as Hostage to Scotland.
COPY.
Both Houses of Parliament have appointed you, with some others, to bee Hostages to the Kingdome of Scotland for the performance of certame Articles, aggreed upon betweene Comittees of Lords & Comons of the Parliament of England and Commissioners of the King- dome of Scotland, authorised thereunto by the Parliaments of each Kingdome respectively, and have referred it to Us, to give the said Hostages notice thereof, and to appoint the time and place where they are to meete for that Service. Wee therefore in pursuance thereof doe desire You not to faile to bee personally present at Yorke, upon or before the fiveteenth day of January next comming ready for the performance of that Service, As you shall bee directed by a Comit- tee of both Houses, that shall bee upon the place. By the Articles you are not to remaine Hostage above seven dayes at the most : So Wee rest
Darby house the 24th day of Decemb: 1646.
Your very loving Friends
N O RTII U MB ER LA N D.
Manchester.
War wick e.
W. Armyne.
W. Pierre pont. Gilbt Gerard.
H. Vane.
Ph. Stapilton.
Ro : Wallop.
For Sr Ralph Hare of the Countie of Norfolke Baronet.
33
VI. Account of a Tract, from the Press of Richard Pynson, relating to the Espousals and Marriage of Mary, daughter of King Henry the Seventh, with Charles Prince of Castile . By Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S . Secretary, in a Letter to Samuel LysonS, Esq. F. P. F. R. S.
Read 26tli May, 1814.
DEAR SIR,
Upon looking into some of the earlier volumes of the Archaeologia, I find that typographical antiquities have occasionally engaged the attention of the Society of Antiquaries. Allow me, through your hands, to transmit an Account of a Tract in the Library of the British Museum, printed by Pynson, of which, as far as I can learn, no other copy is known. It throws light on a transaction at the close of the reign of Henry the Seventh, on which the information of our histo¬ rians is, to say the least, scanty; and it has been noticed by no col¬ lector of the titles of English works printed in the sixteenth cen¬ tury.
Above the royal arms, supported by angels, with the rose and portcullis beneath, is the title :
“ The solempnities & triumphes doon & made at the spouselb and Manage of the Kyngj doughter the Ladye Marye to the Prynce of Castile Arched uke of Austrige.”
At the end is the imprint of Richard Pynson, followed, on the last leaf, by his device. The date of this tract is a desideratum which I have been enabled to supply from other sources.
On the reverse of the title it is said : “ Hereafter folowe and ensue suche honourable and notable act3, solempnyties, ceremonyes, & triumphes that were lately doon, made, & sheued as well for the receyuynge of the great notable Ambassade lately sent to the Kyngs
VOL. XVIII.
F
\
34 Espousals and Marriage of Mary, Daughter of Henry VII.
hyghnes frome the moost excellent Prynce his moost dere & entierly beloued Brother and cousyn Themperoure, and his good sone Charles the yonge Prynce of Castcll Archeduke of Austriche, for the spou- sell3 & mariage to be had and made betwixt the said Prynce and the Kyngs right dere & noble doughter the Ladye Mary nonce Pryncesse of Castyle, as also suche forme ordre and maner as was vsed and had in the solempnysation and contractynge of the sayd spouselles and ma¬ riage with the cherefull and honourable entretaignynge of the sayd Ambassadours durynge their abode within this Reame.”
The Tract opens with the mention of the Treaty concluded at Calais between the King’s ambassadors and those of the Emperor Maximi¬ lian,3 followed by an enumeration of the principal personages sent by the Emperor upon the mission.
“ Whereof the first was the Lord Barg3 Q,on of the gretest lords of those partes. The seconde was the gouern'our of Bresse a baron of grete honour. The thirde doctoure Fplonke in great fauour & aucto- rite with Thempoure. The fourth was the President of Flaudres, hau- yng grete wysdome lernyng & auctorite. The fyfthe Mesyr Andrea de Bui go, a Knyght of th Emperours Counsayll of great wysdome, lernynge, and experience. The sixth the Prouost of Cassell, a goodly personage, right discrete, sadde, and well lerned. The seuenth a Secretrrye. And the eyght a Kyng at armys called ToysoFi dore. All bcyng honourably appoynted and well accompanyed. In whose com¬ pany there camedyuerse great Lordes, as Monsyr de Beuers and Mon- sire de Walleyn and other gentylmen of those parties a good and honourable nombre.
“ For the metyng and conductinge of whiclie Ambassadours, at and from the see syde to the Kyngs presence, there were at sundrye places deputed and assigned many and dyuerse great Lordes bothe spi¬ rit uell and temporal!, and also Knyghts, squyers, and other gentyll men to a great nombre.
“ And first e, after that the sayd Ambassadours at the Kyngs townc
/
a See Kym. Fceil, tom. kiii. p. l/l,
with Charles , Prince of Castile. '25
of Calays had ben by Kyng’s deputie and the hedde officers with all the retynewe there goodly receyved, honourably lodged, cherefully en- tretaigned and presented, durynge theyr abode in the sayd towne, the Kyngssaid Deputie, well appoynted andaccompanyed, passed with them from thense to Dououre where the pryoure of Christs Churche atCaun- terbury and Sir Edward Ponyng’s receyved the sayd Ambassadours, and conductynge theym to the Cytie of Caunterbury lodged theym in the pryoure of Christes Churche lodgyng, where th’Abbot of saynct Augustines, the Mayer and Aldermen of that Cytie, welcomed theym and gave great presents and pleasures unto theym.
“ From thense they were conueyed by the sayde Pryoure, the de¬ putie of Calays, and Sir Edward Ponyngs.”
Here there is an hiatus in the tract of at least one leaf, and the thread of the narrative is resumed in a conference at court between the Emperor's ambassadors and the King, at the time the former deli¬ vered their credentials. Where the court was held does not appear, but it is probable it must have been either at Sheen or Greenwich.
“This doon, the Kynges Grace called the Ambassadours unto hym, and famylierly entred communycacion with them vpon many and goodly deuyses, bryngynge theym into his Inner Chambre ; where, after they had long contynued and talked of and upon many great & weyghty matiers they departed for that tyme to London accompa- nyed with the Lords and others before wrytten.
{C The daye folowynge Tharchebysshoppe of Caunterbury, the Bysshop of Wynchester, Th’Erll of Arundell, with dyuerse and many great Lordes and other of the Kyng’s counsayll, by the Kyng’s com- maundetnent reasortyd to the sayd Ambassadours to se and examyne suche commyssions and wrytyngs as they had brought with them for th'accomplisshement of all and synguler suche treaties & conclu¬ sions as were taken at the sayde towne of Calays. Whiche wrytyngs, by good deliberation well and substancially seen, the same were founde as pfyte & effectuell as coude be deuysed to be. So that for the corroboracion of the sayd amytie & manage there cannot by nvannes reason more be desyred to be had.
f 2
So Espousals and Marriage of Mary, Daughter of Henry VII.
“ For there is first Th Emperours acceptacion and Confirmacion by hymselfe of the said amytie, which is as large as can bethought, under his signe and seale.
“ There is also a confirmacion for the sayd Emperoure as tutor and manborne of the said yonge Prynce ioynctely togydre substancially made by the sayde Emperoure and Prynce with their signe manuelKs and seales.
“ There be also obligacions and bandes of the sayd Emperoure and yonge prynce aswell ioynctely as a parte and seuerally byndyng them¬ self, theyr heyres, landes, Sc subgietts under right great sommes of money for penalties whiche they shall forfayte in caas this mariage betwixt the yonge prynce and the kyngs doughter take not effect.
“ There is also an honourable dower assigned to the kyngs sayd doughter in the sayd yonge Prynces lands that he is nowe possessed of and that shall in any maner wyse discende unto hym herafter large- lyer thenne euer had any duchesse of Borgoyne, and good assurance made for the same.
“ The lands, countrayes, and subgetts of the sayd yonge Prynce by the Emperours auctorite and assent be also bounden in lyke pe¬ nalties.
“ The duchesse of Sauoye is also bounde in lyke wyse undre a great penaltie for hyr parte.
“ And over that a great nombre of the Lordes and townes under thobeissaunce of the said yonge Prince be semblably bounden in lyke penalties under theyr signes and seales.
“ And for thaccomplisshement of all the sayde matiers on the kyngs partie as well for the perfeccion of the Manage as the payment of the dote to be yeuen by his grace with his sayd doughter for hir mariage, which is right large and honourable, lyke bands and suerties be made vnder semblable penalties.”
Another hiatus in the Tract throws the reader abruptly into the account of the Entertainments given to the Ambassadors immediately before their return to the Emperor.
“ That daye,” it is said, “the Kings Highnes caused the Lord
37
with Charles , Prince of Castile.
Bareft and the Gouernoure of Bresse to dyne with hvm at his owne table, th’other ambassadours departyng to a nother Chambre next adioynynge where prouysion was made for them in moost honourable maner and there dyned accompanyed with dyuerse of the grettest Lords spirituell and tempore^l of the Reame.”
“ The dyner fynisshed, there were dyuerse grete Lords and va-
liaunt Knyghts armed and prepayred to juste in the honoure of that
feest, which to se the Kyng’s grace with the sayde Ambassadours
reasorted to his galarye beynge richely hanged and appoynted, and
whyther also came my saide lady Mary Pryncesse of Castile, and the
pryncesse of Wales, accompanyed with a goodly nombre of fayre
Ladyes. Howe well horsed and harneissed, howe richely appoynted
were the said lords and knyghts with pauylyons, trappers, bards,
and other ornaments & appareyll of goldsmyth werke, clothe of
goide, silke, and other ryche garnysshynge, and with belles of siluer,
and many diuerse deuises, it were to longe a processe to wryte. For
by the space of thre dayes these Justis continued, and day by day
every lorde and knyght had dyuersitie and chaunge of appareills every
dav richer than other.”
«/
“ Thus with dyuerse and many other goodly sports passed the tyme by the day ; and at night sumptuous Banketts were made. Where at some tyme the kyngs grace hauynge thesayd Ambassadours with hym accompanyed with a goodly nombre of ladyes were present. And at oon of the whiche Banketts the sayde Ambassadours delyuered thre goodly and right riche tokens and Juells to my sayd Lady Marye, oon from Th’emperoure conteinynge an orient rubye and a large and a fayre diamond garnysshed with great perles, the other from the yonge Pry nee, which was a k. for Karolus, garnysshed with diamondes and perles wherein these wordes were written : Maria optimum partem de- git que non auferetur ah ea, and the thirde from the Diichesse of Sauoye wherein was a goodly Balas garnyshed with perles. Att whiche banket there was no cuppe, salte, ne layer, but it was of fyne goide, ne yet noo plate of vessayll but it was gilte.
“ There lacked no disguysyngs, morisks, nor entreluds made and appareilled in the beste & richest maner.
38 Espousals and Marriage of Mary, Daughter of Henry VII.
r
“ That nyght the Lord Bargs, on the behalfe and by the comaunde- nient of Th’Einperoure and the Kyngs good sonne the yong Prynce, made instant request and desyre that it wolde please his grace to electe and make the sayd Prynce knyght of his noble order of the Gartier, whereunto the Kyngs grace with right herty wyll graunted. And not oonly hath caused hvm to be elected as oon of the companyons and knyghts of that ordre, but also entendeth within brief tyme to send vnto the said Prince the Gartier with all other ornaments belongynge to the sayd ordre.
“ And whan all matiers concerning the commyssion of the said Ambassadours were accomplished, for asmoche as the feste of Crist¬ inas approched, they desired to take theyr leve of the Kings Highness to retourne to their countrave.
<c And albeit the Kyngs grace was greatly desyrous that they should have lenger taryed, yet at theyr instaunte poursuyt his grace despeched them. And with meruaylous great and honourable gifts of goodly plate rewarded theym, besyds horses, hobies, hawks, hounds, and other goodly pleasures.”
It need hardly be added here that the King of Castile mentioned in this Tract was afterwards better known to Europe as the Emperor Charles the Fifth.
Among the Cotton Manuscripts, a copy of Henry the Seventh’s Letter to the Mayor and Aldermen of London is still preserved, announcing the conclusion of the marriage in 1307, and directing rejoicings with bon-fires and otherwise “ in the best manner b and another Letter is preserved in the same Collection, an original, with the King’s monogram at the top, addressed to John Wilteshire, the comptroller of Calais, ordering him to communicate with the Lady Margaret of Savoy, concerning the meeting at Calais to settle the marriage; dated Greenwich, May the 24th. c
For reasons, however, which are not explained, the marriage was broken off. In 1.513, the 5th of Henry the Eighth, another treaty
b MS. Cotton. Titus, B. i. p. 4. c MS. Cotton. Vesp. C. vi.
39
mill Charles , Prince of Castile.
was made, in which the union was again proposed ; but that failed also : and in the same year Mary became the wife of Louis the Twelfth of Fi ance. On the decease of her husband in 1515, she returned to Eng¬ land, and married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
For very obvious reasons there can be little doubt that the Tract I have here described was very carefully suppressed ; more especially as Mary is twice stiled in it Princess of Castile. From a stain on the margin of the leaves there is every appearance of their having once formed the interior of a book-cover, a circumstance to which it is probable we owe the preservation of this singular rarity.
Iam, dear Sir,
, , • ' *
Sincerely yours,
HENRY ELLIS.
British: Museum,
May 23, 1814.
Samuel Lysons, Esq.V. P. F. R. S. &cc, &c. &c.
40
VII. Some Remarks on the Original Seal belonging to the Abbey of Wilton* -By Francis Douce, Esq . F.S.A.
Read June 9th> 1814.
I have the honour of laying- before the Society some remarks on the original Seal belonging* to the abbey of Wilton; and when its great antiquity, the stile of its workmanship, and the quality and character of the person whom it represents, are considered, it cannot fail of being* regarded as an article of much interest and curiosity.
A wax impression of this seal is appended to a charter preserved in the Harleian collection ; and another to a deed remaining* in the Exchequer office: both of which are in some degree mutilated. Of the latter impression, an engraving had been made several years since by the laudable zeal of our worthy member, Craven Ord, Esq. ; and from these materials, which united furnish a compleat copy of the
✓
Re ?7i arks on the Original Seal belonging to the Abbey of i Fill on, 41
•seal, the drawing now exhibited has been constructed by the accu¬ rate and elegant pencil of Mr. Alexander.
The Harleian deed is prior in point of date, and purports to be a charter of confirmation from Matilda de la Mare, abbess of Wilton, to John Golewine, of two ferlings of land formerly held by his father in La Blakelaunde, in the parish of Widepole, temp. Edw. Ill/
The Exchequer deed bears date the 18th of September, 1526, and is an obligation on the part of the then abbess Cecily Willoughby to Thomas cardinal of York, for a visitation legantine.
The difficulty lies in appropriating this curious seal to its right owner, certainly an abbess of the monastery of Wilton, who is thus described on the face of the seal itself: SIGILL. EADGYDE. REGAL. ADELPIiE . She appears in the habit of her order, the Benedictine, and holds in her left-hand what seems to be a book, probably intended for the Gospels, whilst the right is uplifted as in the act of giving benediction.
As it is by no means requisite, on this occasion, to enter upon any details concerning the history of Wilton abbey, I shall beg leave to state, briefly, the substance of what Bishop Tanner has collected. He informs us, that King Egbert, at the instance of his sister Saint Alburga, v'as the first founder of a nunnery at Wilton for twelve religious virgins, besides a prioress ; that this building had originally been a college or chantry for secular priests, erected about the year ■775 by Wulstan Duke of Wiltshire ; that in 871, King Alfred built a new nunnery on the site of the royal palace at Wilton, and Removed •the nuns from the former to this new house, which consisted of twenty-six nuns, and \ras dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Bartho¬ lomew; and that King Edward the Elder and King Edgar were great benefactors to the monastery; the latter for the sake of his na¬ tural daughter Saint Edith, a nun, and, as some say, abbess here, who was afterwards canonized, and became the patron saint of tins abbevf
It will be proper, in the first place, to consider the claim to the
2 Hail. Charters, 45 A. 3.(5. MS. 43 6.
b Tanner, Not. Monast. Wilts, xxxvil, And see Leland, Coll. vol. I. p. 67.
VOL. XVIII.
G
42
Remarks on (tic Original Seal
ownership of the seal in question on the part of the above-mentioned Eadgitha or Edith, the natural daughter of King Edgar by the Lady Wulftruda, or Wilfrid. Of this latter person, Capgrave relates,, that preferring a life of chastity and retirement to the temporal ho¬ nours intended for her by the king, she was made a nun of Wilton by the hands of Saint Ethelwold,* and on account of her great sanctity and exemplary conduct, became afterwards abbess of that monastery/ Here she brought up and educated her daughter Edith, who likewise took the veil, and at the age of fifteen was appointed by her father to the government of three monasteries : but nothing could induce her to leave Wilton, at which place she preferred remaining* under Wilfrid’s maternal care. After founding the church of Saint Denis, she died at the age of twenty-three, A. D. D&f, leaving her mother surviving/
This Edith is usually denominated the younger, to distinguish her from her aunt Edith, the sister of King Edgar, and abbess of Polles- worth, in Warwickshire ; though some writers make this lady the sister, and even the daughter of King Ethelwold : so great is the confusion of history in Saxon times/
With respect to the monasteries of which Edith was constituted abbess by her father Edgar there is some uncertainty, and this proceeds from the discrepance of the accounts that remain. Capgrave has named two only of the three which he alludes to, and those are Winchester and Barking. Cressey, a diligent and too much neglected collector of Saxon ecclesiastical history, though he professedly follows Cap¬ grave in his account of Edith, has thought tit to substitute Wilton for
c It appears from a charter granted by Edgar to Wilton Monastery, A. D. 974, being the 15th of his reign and the 34th of his age, that Wilfrid was then abbess.. Harl. MS. 436.
<1 Capgrave, Nova Legenda Anglice, fo. cir. Bromton, speaking of the translation of the body of the murdered Saint Edward to Wilton, (in the text, by mistake, as I conceive, called Winton), states, that Wilfrid was at that time abbess of the monastery, her daughter Edith being with her. This was in 982. See Decern Script, col. 8 75. Capgrave relates the matter rather differently in his Life of Saint Edward the Martyr.
e She has also been made the daughter of King Egbert.
43
belonging to the Abbey of I Fit ton.
'Wmton;‘ but he is not the only writer who confounds these places. I have not had the means of collating any manuscript copy, if indeed any such remain in this country, of the life of Saint Edith by Gosce- lin, a writer in the reign of Henry I., whose work was literally tran¬ scribed and used by Capgrave without acknowledgment, and has been reprinted in the valuable collections of the Bollandists.8 There is extant, however, in the Cotton Library, a very long metrical compo¬ sition on the lives and actions of the founders and benefactors of Wil¬ ton abbey from King Egbert, and more particularly on those of Wil¬ frid and her daughter Edith. h It has been compiled with great in¬ dustry from various authors, by some anonymous monk in the reign of Henry VI. Leland has preserved some extracts from it, wherein mention is made of the three monasteries in question, which are stated to be Wilton, Barking, and Winchester.1 But let us hear the original author :
“ Wherfore the kyng her fader graunded also tfterto To sacre hurre Abbas of the Abbay of Wyuchestre,
Of Berkyng, &, of Wyllon also ;
And zet hur age nas tho bot ffyftene wyntre.
That mayde onswered tho full mekely To the kyng hur fader so dere.
And sayde, syrre, y nam not worthy
For to here so gret a cure
Bot the bysshopus nold turne non other weys,
Bot sayden that he k shuld be for any thyng Ben Abbas of thuse thre abbays.
And have the covent in hurre governyng The abbey of Wynchestre tho securly.
Seynt Adelwolde hymself repared that zere In the worshepe of owre lady,
r Cressey’s Church Hist. p. 8S(3.
s Leland has preserved an extract from him. See Collect. Vol. Ill, p. 1 08.
11 Cotton MS. Faust. B. III.
* Leland Coll. Vol. HI. p. 21Q.
k In this MS. the Saxon he is used for she.
G 2
44-
Remarks on the Original Seal
And made Seynt Ede furst Abbas tlier;
And therfore that niavde enrtevs & hend Durst not azeyn stond hurre godfadris hest,
Bot grauntede hym tho at the hend And sayde syrre, dothe by me as zow thyngyth best.
Seynt Adelwold sacrede hurre tho anon Of Seynt Alary Abhay of Wynchestre in to Abbas ;
Of Berkyng also, eke of Wylton ;l For of thuse thre Abbeys Abbas he teas This heyze state he toke mekelyche azeyn burr wyll And of thuse thre abbeys abbas ymade he ys :
Bot ever he dvvelte at Wylton sty 11,
He nold not from hurre moder depart y wys ;
Tor lever be liadde to abyde ryzt there Undur hurre moder chasteyssyng,
Then ony state gretter howherellys to her Of chesseresse or of heyze governyng :
Bot two sprytwall lady us he ordeynede. tho To ocupy that worshipfull state in hurre absens ,
And kepe the coventes of thuse Abbays tzvo ;
And of gode levyng hee zaf hem gret evident^
Bot he hurreself dwelte at Wylton sty 11 W* hurr moder, at y sayde zowe ere :
Tor hurr moder to serve was holyche hurr wyll Well lever then ony other gret state to here,
And also for he was norysshut up in that place And furst yordryd he was ther therto.”
It is to be observed that this manuscript account is unfortunately imperfect in that part which related to Wilfrid’s prior appointment to the abbacy of Wilton; but this chasm is supplied in the other ac¬ counts: and we may venture to conclude, on their authority, that Wilfrid was made abbess long before her daughter Edith’s death, and was so even at her entrance into the monastery. And although our monkish rhymester has provided substitutes for two only out of the
1 William of Worcester, in his Itinerary, says that Edgar made Edith abbess of Wilton, p, 81, edit. Nasmith, where the name is misprinted Edwina.
45'
belonging to the Abbey of JV'ilton ,
three monasteries, thereby leaving room for a conjecture that Edith’ assumed the government of that of Wilton herself; yet we have the fact stated otherwise hy Goscelin, an earlier and better authority, who says, that she provided three substitutes. In either case, we may infer that Edith could not actually assume the management of Wil¬ ton, both from her tender age and from her mother’s prior appoint¬ ment; and therefore, that her father Edgar could only intend to com¬ pliment her with a nominal and honorary title, or perhaps with the reversion of the office. But Wilfrid long survived her daughter, and: all the lives of her that I have consulted agree in calling her abbess of Wilton, generally. The Bollandvsts also, whose excellent discrimina¬ tion of fact from fable is at all times most worthy of attention, are- decisive in their opinion that Edith never actually presided as abbess of Wilton ; and that Wilfrid continued in office after the death of Edith is frequently demonstrated in the rhyming manuscript.
On some of the grounds stated in these authorities one might cer¬ tainly feel inclined to doubt whether Edgar’s daughter be the person: alluded to on the seal before us ; but on the other hand it is to be considered :
1. That the title of Abbess is not found on the seal, but merely that of royal Nun or Sister.
2. That the extreme regard and respect bestowed on this young’ person in her life-time, and the legendary accounts of what was sup¬ posed to happen after her decease, might have occasioned a prefer¬ ence in her favour as to the mode of perpetuating her memory on the abbey seal, contrary to the usual practice observed in the construction of monastic seals. She continued to be honoured long after her death: In many of the calendars prefixed to the English service books, and especially in those belonging to Salisbury, her name is inserted on the 17:th of September; but I believe never as an abbess: and in the Sarum missal there is an office appropriated to her.
3. That it would be extremely difficult, and perhaps impossible, to find any other owner for the seal. The only person, indeed, who can be adduced or thought of on the occasion, is the wife of Edward J
46
Remarks on the Oiiginal Seal-
the Confessor; and it may therefore be necessary to devote some small attention to any claim that she may he supposed to have.
Mr. Camden, in his account of Wilton, informs us that in the life of Edward the Confessor it is said that whilst he was erecting the monastery of St. Peter's Westminster, his wife Editlia began building an abbey of stone in lieu of the wooden one at Wilton, where she had been educated."1 To what life of the Confessor he here refers I have not been able to discover; but he also mentions, generally, from the annals, that King Edgar’s daughter Editha was abbess of Wilton. Speed, in his Chronicle, speaking of Editha’s separation from her husband Edward, states that he committed her prisoner to the monastery of Wilton ; but I conceive that this historian has, through some mistake, substituted IVilton for Warewell, to which place, and not to Wilton, all the early writers say she was sent by Edward. It is, however, no where pretended that Editha became a nun during any part of her life, being afterwards restored to her hus¬ band's favour; and consequently the title of royal sister on the seal is adverse to any claim to it on her part.
The next question is with regard to the antiquity of the seal before us ; and though I am not able to demonstrate that it is actually of the time of Edgar, I am unwilling to concede that it falls much short of that time ; and I am certainly disposed to maintain that it is the
original seal of Wilton abbev.
° *
It might, perhaps, be necessary on this occasion to enter at large on the interesting subject of the antiquity of the use of seals in this country, and to attempt something more than has already been done by others ; and though I am quite satisfied that without any great efforts a great deal more might be effected, it would very ill become me to venture on such an undertaking, which I shall therefore con¬ sign to abler hands. But it is incumbent on me at present to bring together a few facts and arguments for the purpose of shewing why the Wilton seal cannot belong to a period much later than the reign of King Edgar.
m Camden’s Britannia, edit. 1623.
4?"
Belonging to the Abbey of Wilton.
The very general use of seals or signets in some form or other among all the civilized nations of antiquity" would render it a very difficult matter to account for the total inattention to this practice in any one of them. We still have remaining the bulls of lead and other metals used by some of the first Christian pontiffs of Rome, who seem only to have imitated the temporal sovereigns of the Roman empire at a very early period ; for we have evidence of signets used by the Emperors Trajan, See.0 Many of the seals of the French kings, even of the first race, are also preserved; and although doubts and scruples- have arisen concerning the authenticity of the seal of Childeric found in his tomb at Tournay, and now in the royal library at Paris, every suspicion on the subject must instantly be removed from the mind of any skilful person who will take the trouble of examining, this curious relic, and who is aware of the numerous collateral evidences in its favour. As to the seal of Dagobert in Montfaucon, it is false on t lie face of it, and required not the arguments to prove it so that are quoted from Heineccius in the Nouveau Traite de Diplomatique , Voh IV. 103, The German emperors were likewise in the habit of sealing charters as early as the tenth century, and many of their seals of that and the ensuing centuries are still extant. The Counts of Flanders too began the same practice about the same period ; and I shall beg leave par¬ ticularly to notice the seal of Arnulphus Earl of Flanders, in the year 941, because it exhibits the word signvm, and proves that this term, though frequently used by the Saxon kings to express any mark or signature, a circumstance on which great stress has been laid by the adversaries of the Saxon seals, denoted also a real and common seal.p.
But to come more immediately to the point, which is the use of seals in England before the reign of Edward the Confessor. It is doubtless at once easy and convenient to maintain generally that all seals purporting to be antecedent to the above period are forgeries; but it would be extremely difficult to demonstrate the veracity of
* See many instances in the Old and New Testament.
" Ficoroni de plumbeis antiquorum numism. tab. II.&JV.
i* Urediusde Sigill. Comit. Flandriae, fo. 1. e.
48 Remarks on the Original Seed
such an assertion. It may be a good canon to suspect and examine every tiling; but it is certainly a bad one to reject entirely whatever may appear suspicious. We should rather feel surprised at the preser¬ vation of so many ancient seals, than conclude that others never existed of which we happen to know nothing. True it is, that very plausible ami ingenious arguments against the existence of seals in England during Saxon times have been brought forward by Spelman, Madox, Ilickes, and other persons whose opinions are deserving of the highest respect and attention ; but they have been answered, anti most satisfactorily, by other men as learned and skilful as themselves, and who had, besides, the advantage of seeing in foreign archives, which, for obvious causes, are generally richer than our own, multi¬ tudes of very ancient charters and other documents. I shall beg leave to notice a few sealed charters of very considerable importance on the present occasion. The first of these is preserved at the abbey of Saint Denis, and is a charter of Berthwold, Duke of Hastings and Peven- sey, who about the year 79 0 built a monastery at Riderfield in Sussex, and dedicated it to the above saint. Doublet, the historian of the abbey of Saint Denis, says, that this charter had a waxen impression of a seal, with the effigies of Berthwold appendeut to it, and entire9. At the same place was preserved a confirmation of this charter by King Offa, mentioned also by Doublet, as well as by Felibien in his account of the abbey/ The former speaks of a seal belonging to this deed with the king’s portrait, which was probably lost in Felibien’s time, who has not mentioned it; but it was seen by the learned and accurate Peiresc, who, in a letter to Camden, says that he had trans¬ mitted an impression of it, taken from the original, to Sir Robert Cotton. He describes it as of the size of a Jacobus, and speaks of the king’s face as without a beard, and bearing a resemblance to the por¬ trait of Trajan/ In the Harleian MS. N° 66, which seems to be a
<> Doublet Antiq. de l’Abbaie de S. Denis, p. J18.
r Doublet, p. 719- Felibien Hist, de l’Abb. de S. Denis. xAppend. XLII.
k Camden’s Epistolae, p. 255.
49
belonging to the Abbey of Wilton.
collection of ancient charters made by Sir Robert Cotton, many of which are copied in his own hand, this charter is mentioned with a note of the above communication by Feiresc, and a remark that the transcriber had chosen to place it under the year 791 rather than that of its date 797, because Ofifa was dead in 797, and because the thirty-third year of his reign, also a part of the date, corresponded with the former year. Now, though on account of this date a hasty argument might be raised against the authenticity of the charter, Sir Robert Cotton, who was an excellent judge in these matters, has not treated it with suspicion ; and, after all, the date might be a mis¬ take on the part of the transcriber : besides, there is some discord¬ ance in the historical dates of Offa’s reign and death. Neither of these charters has any reference to the seal, but such omission is no evidence against their authenticity. It were unreasonable to expect uniformity in charters ; and numerous instances of similar omission in later times, when seals were in common use, might be adduced.
There was likewise preserved at Saint Denis a charter of King Edgar, which is published by both the before-mentioned historians of that abbey. At the bottom was amincision for the wax to pass through the parchment, and thus to receive the impression of the seal, which was not suspended in the usual manner. The head is said to have been in profile, but it is not stated whether it was that of the king himself: it might have been from some antique gem. The very learned authors of the Nouveau Traite de Diplomatique , certainly as good judges as any of their predecessors in this sort of knowledge, relate that they exa¬ mined this charter with critical attention, and were quite satisfied with respect to its authenticity.1
The charters of King Edgar and Saint Dunstan given to Westmin¬ ster have been attacked with all the learning and ingenuity peculiar to Dr. Hickes; but their authenticity has been ably defended by the skilful foreigners just alluded to ; and I am persuaded, that if due attention be given to their excellent arguments, no doubt will remain
1 Nouv. Traite de Diplom. tom. IV. p. 204.
VOL. XVIII.
H
50
Remarks on the Original Seal
in the minds of every impartial inquirer. I shall beg permission ta hazard a single remark on this occasion. Edgar’s charter says : “ Ma¬ nus nostrce subscriptionis subtus earn decrevimus roborare et de sigillo nostro jussimus sigillare.” Dr. Hickes contends that “sigillo” refers to a monogram; but the use of monograms by our Saxon kings in charters may be doubted ; besides which, in Saint Dunstan’s charter the seal was evidently a ring.
Although a great deal more evidence and argument might be col¬ lected in favour of the use of seals in Saxon times, I shall content mvself with the mention only of two other ancient seals, which are, however, highly deserving of attention. rJ he first is that of the abbey of Saint Alban, cut in ivory, and still preserved in the British Mu¬ seum. This has every appearance of great antiquity, and may be regarded as one of the most curious original seals now extant. It is in all probability the seal alluded to by Walsingham, when he relates that during the disputes which arose under the reign of Richard II. between the townsmen and the abbot of Saint Alban, the former having forcibly compelled the abbot to execute a charter, the wax adhered to the seal in so miraculous a manner that it could not be detached; thereby indicating, that the saint was unwilling that the townsmen should have the mastery. He adds, that the figure of the saint on the seal, holding a palm in his hand, was of the most ancient workmanship, “ vetustissimo opere,” an expression that entirely accords with the stile and present appearance of this very curious relic.5
The other seal is that of Durham, published by Dr. Smith in p. 721 of his edition of Bede. It is very much in the style of the Wilton seal, and, I think, of equal antiquity; for though the Doctor has called it the seal of the Convent, in which case it cannot be older than the reign of William the Conqueror, I do not see why it might not have belonged to the cathedral itself in earlier times.
If Dr. llickes and the other objectors could have expected sue-
11 Walsingham, Hist. Angl. p. 261, edit. Camden.
belonging to the Abbey of Wilton. 51
eessfully to demonstrate that the Saxons used no seals, it was neces¬ sary for them to annihilate not only the numerous early seals of the German emperors and French kings, but even the gems and other sigillatory implements of the ancients. It would, indeed, have been a remarkable circumstance, that during a period wherein many of the European monarchs were continuing the immemorial practice of affix¬ ing seals to public instruments, the Saxon sovereigns of England, who were not inferior in knowledge and civilization to their contempo¬ raries, and who borrowed many of their customs from Italy and France, should have entirely suspended a practice so well known and established. It is much less extraordinary that a very small number of Saxon seals should be remaining, than that, all circumstances considered, they should not have been frequently used. All that the objectors have been able to prove is, that a great many Saxon instru¬ ments were destitute of seals; that some were forged with seals in Norman times, and that the words “ Signum” and “ Sigillum” were often used to express the mere signature of a cross, which nevertheless was the representative of a seal.
It is undoubtedly true that the Anglo-Norman monks did manage some of their forgeries with great unskilfulness, especially with respect to dates ; but it may be observed, that if there were no seals before the time of Edward the Confessor, they could not have been wholly ignorant of such a fact; and in that case it would have been at once useless and absurd to forge seals when it was so much easier to have affixed the simple form of a cross. But it were easy enough to reverse the argument: for when King Henry II. was examining the privileges of the abbot of Saint Alban, some of the bystanders objected to the validity of a charter of King Gffa, because it wanted a seal/ and this could not very well be ascribed to their ignorance of Saxon customs. Indeed, these reasonings have frequently a double edge, adapted to both sides of a question, and are therefore of little or no use in dis¬ cussions of this nature. It may likewise be observed, that the words
Matt. Paris, vit. Abb. S. Albani, p, 79.
H 2
X
Remarks on the Original Seal
of Matthew Paris, together with what is stated by Ingulplms concern¬ ing the usage of the Saxon kings to put the sign of the cross to their charters, by no means prove the custom to have been general and ex¬ clusive. Justice to Ingulphus requires that we accept his words, on which so much stress has been laid by the opposers of Saxon seals, in a confined and particular sense, and as applicable to the practice of his own times ; because the seal of Edward the Confessor, of which he could not possibly be ignorant, is in direct opposition to his state¬ ment, if otherwise taken. It might as well be contended that Ed¬ ward’s seal is a forgery, because many of his charters are without it; but the practice of executing charters and other instruments with the sign of a cross only is well known to have continued long after the Conquest, when the use of seals was firmly established.
I shall beg leave to finish this Memoir with a few remarks on some particulars that more immediately relate to the seal before us. And first of it as an abbey seal.
Mabillon confesses his ignorance when abbatial seals originally came into use, but he thinks they may be traced to the eleventh cen¬ tury/ The archives of the abbey of Fulda certainly supply many seals of that period.2 None that are of a pointed oval form are sup¬ posed to be older than the eleventh century ,a and therefore our seal of Editha being round, may have a claim to greater antiquity. This is the case also with the Durham seal.
Independently of the Saxon costume that is manifest in the figure of the female on our seal, the introduction of the word adelphe is a proof of its high antiquity. Every member of this Society who is conversant with Saxon charters will immediately recollect the fre¬ quent use of Greek words in them. We often meet with the follow¬ ing expressions, among many others of a similar nature : Edgar Ba- sileus Anglorum — Cosmi Christicoli — Totius cosmi fabrics conditor —
y Mabillon de re Diplom. p. 135.
1 Nouv. Traite de Diplom. tom. IV. p. 344.
* Nouv. Traite de Diplom. tom. IV. p. 53.
belonging to the Abbey of Wilton.
53
In onomate summi Kyrion — Regnante theomene Eoum — Hoc tau- mate agie crucis roboravi — Immunitatis syngrafa — Enarrihtmata li- quescunt caraxata. But this practice seems to have been borrowed from the bulls of the Roman pontiffs; not that the Greek language was unknown to the Saxon ecclesiastics, many of whom were great proficients in it. Theodorus, a Greek by birth, elected archbishop of Canterbury about 670, brought many Greek books into England, among which was a beautiful copy of Homer. He introduced the study of the Greek language; and one of his pupils was Tobias Bishop of Rochester, who is said to have been extremely well skilled in it.b Bede is another example of the kind, and it is well known that the Greek tongue was cultivated in France under the second race of kings/
The letters on the seal bear likewise ample testimony to its great antiquity. They are such as were commonly used during the reign of Edgar, and continued to be so to a short time after the Con¬ quest.
But there is a peculiarity which not only renders this seal ex¬ tremely interesting, but furnishes at the same time a strong argument that it was fabricated in Editha’s life-time. We usually find on mo¬ nastic seals either the figure of a patron saint, or of some abbot or abbess of the place; but here the inscription calls it the seal of Editha; not, according to usual custom, as abbess of the monastery, but merely as a nun belonging to it. This may be accounted for if we regard her rank as the daughter of a king, her father’s great love for her, and the singular attachment and protection manifested towards her by Saint Ethelwald and Saint Dunstan.
On the whole, therefore, I submit that this is not only the first seal ever used by the monastery of Wilton, but that for the reasons which I have had the honour of stating, it is the earliest monastic seal that
b Godwin de Prsesul. pp.4l, 42.521. edit. 1743, folio.
c The Abbele Boeuf has madesomevery interesting collections relating to the cultivation of the Greek and Roman Classics in France during the ninth century. See his “ Recueil de divers Ecrits pour servir d’eclaircissemens £ l’Histoire de France, &c." Paris, 1738. 12°. tom. II.
p. 10.
V
54 emarks on the Original Seal belonging to the Abbey of Wilton.
has hitherto been published ; that it furnishes materials for refuting the prejudices of many learned men against the antiquity of the use of seals in England, and that it is in all respects pre-eminently enti¬ tled to the consideration of this Society.
FRANCIS DOUCE.
June 9th, 1814-
55
VIII. On “ St. Mar tints Rings.” By Francis Coiien, Esq.
F. S. A.
Read June 16th, 1814.
In the passages collected by Mr. Brand in the following note, a term occurs, the signification of which does not appear to have been hitherto ascertained.
“In * Whimsies; or, a new Cast of Characters,’ 12mo. Lond. 1631, the unknown author, in his description of a pedlar, Part ii. p. 21, has the following passage: Can it allude to the custom of exchanging betrothing rings? * St. Martins Rings and counterfeit bracelets are commodities of infinite consequence : they will passe for current at a may-pole, and purchase a favor from their May Marian.’ a
“ In a rare Tract, entitled c< The Compter's Commonwealth,” 4to. 1617, p- 28, is the following passage : “ This kindnesse is not like alchimy or St. Martins Rings, that are faire to the eye, and have a riche outside; but if a man should breake them asunders, and looks into them, they are nothing but brasseand copper.” So also in “Plaine Percivall, the Peace Maker of England,” b. 1. 4to. no date, sign. B ij. 6, we read, “ I doubt whether al be gold that glisteneth, sith St. Marlins rings be but copper within, though they be gilt without, sayes the goldsmith.”
As the reputed author of the work which I have just quoted has not offered any explanation, I submit, that it is highly probable that these rings may have taken their name from the circumstance of the makers or venders of them residing within the precinct of the collegiate church of St. Martin’s-le-Grand ; a sanctuary which, as is familiarly known, possessed very extensive franchises and immu¬ nities. The gilding and silvering of locks, rings [firmalx, anelx], and other articles of a similar nature made of copper or latten [faitz de
“ Observ. on Popular Antiquities, vol. II, p. 2(5.
56
On f‘ St Martins Rings S
cupre on laton], haying been prohibited by the statute 5 Hen. IV. c. 13, under what was then a heavy penalty : the “disloj^al artificers,” against whom this enactment was made, appear to have taken refuge in that hallowed district, where they were enabled to labour in their vocation unmolested by the marshal or the sheriff. This may be inferred from 3 Edw. IV. c. 4, by which it was declared unlawful to import various articles of foreign manufacture, including 11 rings” of “ gilded copper or laten but with an express declaration that the act was not to extend to, or be prejudicial or hurtful to “ Robert Stylling- ton, clerk,” dean of the king’s free chapel of “ St. Martin le Graunt de Londres,” nor to his successors, nor to any <c persone ou persones demurantz ou enhabitantz, on qe en-apres demuront ou enhabitront deinz la seintuarie et procinct de mesme la chapell et specialement deinz la venelle apelle comunement St. Martiris Lane.” In the same manner another statute b made under the reign of the same monarch, which prohibits the gilding of certain silver wares, and the manufacture of articles of adulterated metal, contains a like reservation of the fran¬ chises of the dean of St. Martin’s-le-Grand, and of his colony of outlaws. And a more direct proof is to be drawn from the ordinance made in the Star Chamber in the 36th year of Henry the Sixth, for the regulation of that sanctuary, by which it is declared that “ no workers of counterfeit cheynes, beades, broaches, owches, rings, cups, and spoons silvered,” should be sutfered therein.
FRANCIS COHEN.
b 17 Edw. IV. c. 1.
57
IX. Copy of an Original Letter from Cardinal Wolsey , imme¬ diately upon his Disgrace , to Gardiner , afterwards Bishop of Winchester . Communicated by Henry Ellis, Ejv?. F. R.S. Secretary , <2 Letter to Nicholas Carlisle, Ejv?. Secre¬
tary.
Read 12th May, 1814.
DEAR SIR,
British Museum, May 10th, 1814.
Some time ago I had the pleasure of communicating to the Society the Copy of a Letter from Cardinal Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, immediately on his disgrace ; dated from Esher in Surrey. I have since laid my hand upon another of the Cardinal’s Letters, addressed to Gardiner, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, preserved among the Lansdowne Manuscripts in the British Museum. It adds another to the many proofs of which we are in possession, that Wolsey clung to life even with a fallen fortune and a broken heart.
Believe me,
Very truly your’s,
HENRY ELLIS.
Nicholas Carlisle, Esq.
Sec. S. A. &c. &c. &c.
MS. LANSDOWNE. ROYAL LETTERS, NUM. 12.
“ My owne goode Mastyr Secretary, aftyr my moste herty recom- mendacions, with lycke thanks for your goodness towards me, thes shalbe to advirtyse yow that I have beyn informyd by my trusty frende Thom as Crowmuell that ye have sygnyfied unto hym to my synguler consolacions howe that the Kyngs Hyghnes, mouyd with pity and compassyon, and of his excellent goodnes and cilery ti consyderyng the lamentable condicion and stat that I stand yn, hath wyllyd yow w' other lords and mastyrs of hys honorable cownsell to intende to the per- fygttyng and absolvyng, without further tract or delay, of myn end and appoyntment, and that my pardon shulde be made in the most ample
VOL. XVIII.
i
o8
Letter of Cardinal JV olsey.
forme that my Cownsell cowde devyse; for thys the Kyngs moste gracyous remembraunce, procedyng of hymsylf, I accompte my sylif not onely moste bowndyn to serve and pray for the preservation of hys moste Royal majeste, but also thancke God that ye have occasyon govyn unto you to be a Sollycyter and setter forth of such thyngs as do and shall conserve my said ende, in the makyng and compownyng whereof myn assuryd trust ys that ye wele shewe the love and affec- con wych ye have and here towards me your old lover and frende. So declaryng your sv If ther in that the world may perceive that by your good meanys the Kyng ys the better goode Lorde unto me; and that, liowe, newly in maner commyng to the world, ther may be such respect had to my poore degre, olde age, and longe conty- nuyd servys, as shal be to the Kyngs hygli honor and your gret prayse and laude, wych undowttydly shal folowe yf ye extendeyowr benyvo- lence towards me and mine, perceiving that by your wysdom and dexteryte I shalbe releuyd and in this my calamyte holpyn. At the reverens therfor of God, myn owne goode M. Secretary and refuge, nowe set to your hande that I may come to a laudable ende and re- posse : seyng that I may be furnyshyd aftyr suche a sorte and maner as I may ende my short tyme and lyff to the honor of Cryst’s Churche and the Prince : and, besydys my dayly prayer and true hert, I shal so requyte your kyndnes as ye shal haue cause to thyncke the same to be wel imployed, lycke as my seyde trusty frende shal more amply shewe unto yow to whom yt may please yow to give for me credens and loving audience. And I shall pray for the increase of your honor. Wry tty n at Asher with the tremylling hand and hevy hart of your assuryd lover and bedysman,
T. CAR1*3 EBORV*
To the rygth honorable and my synguler goode frende Mastyr Secretary."
59
X. A Letter from W. E. Rouse Boughton, Esq. F.R.S. to the Rev. Stephen Weston, B. D. respecting some Egyptian Antiquities.
Read 19th May, 1814.
Silt,
D uring my travels in Upper Egypt, in the course of the year 1811, I had the good fortune to meet with a mummy, in a catacomb near Thebes, which appeared never to have been opened before, contain¬ ing some writing upon papyrus in a state of perfect preservation ; and as these writings are but rarely found in mummies, I felt great anxiety to bring the one which fell into my hands safe to Great Bri¬ tain. For this purpose I had a tin box made for holding it, in order to prevent it from being crushed amongst my packages. I myself proceeded by land to Constantinople; but having sent my baggage by sea, it was unluckily soaked by salt water, and the tin case corroded, so as greatly to injure the manuscript. I have, however, collected some of the fragments, and made accurate copies of them (PI. I. II.), which I have now the honour of presenting to the Society of Antiquaries ; conceiving that they may afford additional specimens of the antient Egyptian character, of which I believe there are not many in Great Britain, and may possibly contribute to the assistance of scientific men, in various parts of Europe, who are giving their attention to that interesting country, established by all profane and sacred history to have been the birth-place of science and wisdom.
In offering this little tribute to the acceptance of the Society of Antiquaries, I am happy to accompany it with a Paper of remarks from the hand of a learned friend, who has allowed me to benefit by his extensive reading and correct research.
I send also two small sketches (PI. IV.): one, representing a gold ear¬ ring, I procured at Athens; the other, a beautiful Egyptian idol of gold,
1 2
CO
Letter from IV. E. Rouse Bought on, Esq.
with a hieroglypliical inscription at the bottom of it. This curiosity was found at Dendera, and appears to be different from any of those idols which have hitherto been exhibited by European travellers. Mr, Pallin, the Swedish minister at Constantinople, who has entered very largely into the study of Egyptian antiquities, held it to be unique, and in many respects unlike any he had ever seen.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble Servant,
13, Devonshire Place, April 24th, 1814.
W. E. ROUSE BOUGIiTON.
The fragments of papyrus, of which an exact cop)7 is here given, have suffered materially from an accidental injury, but have not therefore lost all their value, since they remain equally capable of affording specimens of the mode of writing, employed by the Egyp¬ tians, with more entire manuscripts, and, even in their original form, would not have been capable of being completely deciphered, in the present state of our knowledge of the subject. They exhibit two varieties of the old Egyptian character, which appear, however, to differ from each other rather in the size and distance of the letters than in their form: nor is it certain that the Egyptians ever employed more than one species of alphabetical characters, although there is great reason to suppose that these characters were more or less mixed with hieroglyphics on different occasions. In one of the manuscripts published by Denon (Voyage, pi. 137), the greater part of the cha¬ racters are manifestly compendious imitations of hieroglyphics, al¬ though it is not impossible that some alphabetical characters may be mixed with them : but this manuscript is sufficiently distinguished from others of the kind by the vertical direction of the lines, whicli is the most common form of hieroglyphic inscriptions, though they
61
respecting some Egyptian Antiquities.
frequently run from right to left, and sometimes, according to Zoega, from left to right. Specimens of other Egyptian manuscripts have been exhibited by Rigorde, Montfaucon, and Caylus, from linen bandages of mummies : Denon has published two others from papy¬ rus. There are two rolls of papyrus in tolerable preservation in the gallery of the British Museum, and one in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries; and it is said that many others have lately been brought to Paris. It may be observed, in the annexed extracts, that these manuscripts exhibit a greater diversity of characters than could be expected from the use of any one alphabet ; but Mr. Akerblad does not. hesitate to consider those, which he has seen, as written in the same character which is exhibited in the stone of Rosetta: and if we allow the truth of his conclusions respecting this inscription, it must be confessed that the letters employed in it have been combined and diver¬ sified in such a manner, as to present appearances of a much greater number. The specimens of the Zendish, the Sassanidian, and the Phe- nician alphabets, (PI. III.) which have been subjoined, on the authorities of Anquetil, Silvestre de Sacy, and Henley, will serve to show not only how nearly some of the forms, assigned to the different letters by Aker¬ blad, agree with those which are found in the oldest alphabets of the neighbouring countries, but also how great a diversity was allowed in these alphabets to the characters appropriated to each letter, and to the values assigned to each character. It is useless to enquire whether the common alphabet of the manuscripts and the inscription is more properly denominated the epistolographic, as most authors would pro¬ bably term it, or the hieratic, as Akerblad is inclined to call it; and the simple title Egyptian is sufficiently justified by the expression in the Greek inscription, in which it is mentioned as the character of the country. The opinion of Kircher, that the epistolographic alphabet resembled the more modern Coptic, appears, like many other opinions of this learned man, to be founded merely on conjecture. Mr. Biittner has assigned values to some of the characters, deduced from a comparison with the Phenician and other similar alphabets, but none of the results of this comparison are confirmed by Mr. Akerblad’s
62
Letter jrom TV, E. Rouse Bought on, Esq.
interpretation of the inscription of Rosetta. It had been remarked, that characters resembling the figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, occur in most of the specimens : the two latter are less observable in the inscription, but the 3 may possibly be a combination implying nte, of, the 2 and 4 the article p or ph, and the 1 an e or an r.
It may be alleged in favour of Mr. Akerblad’s alphabet, that it is applicable not only to a variety of proper names occurring repeatedly in the inscription, but also to some, in particular, which are so placed in connexion with a character supposed to imply son or daughter, that there is scarcely a possibility of their being erroneously interpreted. It affords us also a variety of words closely resembling some which are found in the later Coptic ; and there is another strong argument in its favour, which has not been noticed: the word Aetos, Mr. Akerblad observes, is repeated in the Egyptian, hut not in the Greek ; and he is disposed to attribute this circumstance to some accident; in fact, however, the word is repeated in the original inscription, though not in the incorrect copies of it which were first circulated. On the other hand, it is extremely difficult to account for the nonoccurrence of some Coptic words, which must unquestionably he in the inscription: for instance, the name of the month Mechir, which is mentioned in the Greek as a synonym of Xandicus or Xanthicus, and which, ac¬ cording to Kircher, answers in the Coptic to January, although the place which it ought to occupy in the inscription is easily ascertained by the context. 'Nor can we readily discover the Coptic months Thout and Mesore, which must also occur in a subsequent part, nor the term Pschent, implying a crown of a particular form ; at the same time that the exact coincidence of the names of the Egyptian months, with the later Coptic, strengthens very materially the evidence of the near approach of the two languages to identity. The frequency of occurrence of the different characters, in the inscription, by no means coincides with that of the Coptic letters, which Mr. Akerblad supposes to correspond with them, in other cases; and the difference appears to be too great to be wholly accidental.
O
It is not, however, impossible that future investigations may
63
respecting some Egyptian Antiquities.
remove all the difficulties which still embarrass this subject ; and at any rate the stone of Rosetta affords a far better prospect of fur¬ nishing us with some knowledge of the ancient characters of Egypt, than any other monument of antiquity, or than any elaborate specu¬ lations of a later date. Hermapion professed, in the time of Augustus, to be able to explain the inscription of the Flaminian obelise; his in¬ terpretation, which has been preserved by Ammianus Marcellinus, has no inconsiderable resemblance to the siyle of the Greek inscription of Rosetta, and mav have been a true version of some other hieroglv- phic inscription, but is evidently incapable of affording any explana¬ tion of the hieroglyphics on the Flaminian obelise. The voluminous dissertations of Kircher are founded on nothing more than gratuitous and even improbable hypotheses, respecting the nature and subjects of the hieroglyphic inscriptions which he examined; he has pro¬ duced no satisfactory evidence of the signification of a single character employed in them; and the learned but cautious Zoega has not even attempted to enter into any investigations respecting them, although he professes to have collected near a thousand different figures, which occur in the different monuments that he has examined. Wefindin Horapollo, that a month was represented by a palm branch, or an inverted cres¬ cent ; the god Vulcan, by a beetle; the Nile, by a lion, or three water jars ; Egypt, by a heart over a fire, and its language by the papyrus, with ink, and a sieve : but none of these symbols is to be found on the stone in question, although the corresponding ideas occur several times in the Greek. Bin Washih too, whose work has been published by Hammer, has informed us what were the hierogly¬ phic representations of God, Mercury, Gold, Silver, a Jewel, a Vine, and a Stone ; but none of the figures, which he has given us, occur in their proper places on the stone of Rosetta : while the character, to which he has attributed the signification Water, is repeatedly employed in every line; so that it seems to imply something like motion or action, or perhaps to assist in forming a verb from a noun, or in some other grammatical modification. It appears, therefore, to be hopeless to attempt to obtain any assistance from external sources, in deciphering
64
Letter from TV. E. Rouse Bought on, Esq.
this hieroglyphic inscription : though much may possibly be effected by a careful comparison of its different parts with each other, with the Greek version, and with the Egyptian, when it shall have been sufficiently deciphered. It is remarkable that several repetitions of greater and smaller portions of the characters occur in different parts of this fragment ; but unfortunately the same repetitions cannot be traced in the other versions, probably on account of the greater lati¬ tude of expression which the respective modes of writing allowed : thus the concluding phrase, amounting to nearly a quarter of a line, is found entire in the sixth remaining line from the beginning, while we seek in vain for any repetition of the corresponding part of the Egyptian, and the termination of the Greek is broken off. The con¬ cluding characters of the hieroglyphics occur in the whole seven times, and appear, by comparison with the other versions, to relate to the erection of a temple, while the part included within a parallelo¬ gram may possibly contain the name and titles of the king to whom it was to be dedicated. The three first numerals have been pointed out by Akerblad in the last line, and an analogous symbol may be ob¬ served in another part, where it may be supposed to represent the number five. These, and many other conjectures, would probably be confirmed or confuted, if any future traveller should have the good fortune to recover the remaining fragments of this invaluable relic, without which the comparison of the hieroglyphics with the corre¬ sponding passages of the other versions must be a work of great labour and uncertainty.
In copying the characters of the fragments of papyrus, it has often been found necessary to detach the particles of dust adhering to their surface with a hair pencil, sometimes moistened with a little rectified spirit, which has the additional advantage of rendering the characters temporarily more legible, without tending to efface them, or materially to injure the papyrus. A few parts, distinguished by dotted lines, appear to have been written in red ink.
The whole of these observations may be considered as preliminary to an attempt, which has since been made, to compare the three in-
65
respecting some Egyptian Antiquities.
scriptions of the stone of Rosetta minutely with each other: the gene¬ ral results of this comparison, as the first foundations of the know¬ ledge of Egyptian literature, may not be unworthy of some attention,, even in an imperfect state.
A conjectural Translation of the Egyptian Inscription on the Stone of Rosetta, obtained by Comparison with the Greek.
(1) [In the ninth year, on the fourth day of Xanthicus], the eight¬ eenth of the Egyptian month Mechir, of the young king, who received the government of the country from his father, lord of the asp bear¬ ing diadems, illustrious in glory, who has established Egypt, the just, the beneficent, the pious towards the gods, victorious over his ene¬ mies, who has improved the life of mankind, lord of the feasts of thirty years, like Vulcan the mighty king, like the Sun
‘2 [the mighty king of the upper and] lower countries, the off¬ spring of the parent loving gods, approved by Vulcan, to whom the Sun has given the victory, the living image of Jove, the offspring of the Sun, Ptolemy, the ever living, beloved by Vulcan, the god illus¬ trious, munificent, (the son of) Ptolemy and Arsinoe the parent loving gods : the priest of Alexander and the saviour god's and the
3 [brother gods, and the gods]‘ beneficent, and the parent loving gods, and the king Ptolemy, the god illustrious, munificent, being Aetus (the son of) Aetus : Pyrrha the daughter of Philinus, being the prize bearer of Berenice the beneficent; Areia, the daughter of Dio¬ genes, being the bearer
4 [of baskets of Arsijnoe the brother loving; Irene, the daughter of Ptolemy being priestess of Arsinoe the parent loving: it was this day decreed by the High priests, the Prophets, those who enter the sacred recesses to attire the gods, the wing bearers, and the sacred scribes, and the rest of the priests who came from the temples of
Egypt,
VOL. XVIII.
K
66
Letter from IF. E. Rouse Bought on, Esq .
5 [to meet the king, at] the assembly of the assumption of the lawful power of king Ptolemy the ever living, beloved by Vulcan, the god illustrious, munificent, succeeding his father ; and who entered the temple of Memphis, and said : Whereas king Ptolemy, the ever living, the god illustrious, munificent, (son of) king Ptolemy
6 [and queen] Arsinoe, the parent loving gods, has given largely to the temples of Egypt, and to all within his kingdom, being a god, the offspring of a. god and a goddess, like Orus the son of Isis and Osiris, who fought in the cause of his father Osiris; and being pious and beneficent towards the gods, has bestowed much silver and corn, and much treasure, on the temples of Egypt,
(7) [and has spent much] in order to render the land of Egypt tranquil, and to establish the temples properly : and in all things within his lawful power has been benignly disposed : of the military imposts and tributes of Egypt, some he has lowered, others he has remitted altogether, in order that private individuals and all other men may prosper in the days of his
(8) [reign] : and what was owing to the crown from the Egyptians, and from all under his dominion, he remitted altogether; those who were imprisoned, and who were strongly accused of crimes for many years, he pardoned : he ordered also that the properties of the gods, and the collections of corn and silver made annually,
(9) [likewise] also the portions belonging to the gods from the vineyards and the gardens, and all the other things which had been clue to them, as appointed in the time of his father, should remain unaltered: he ordered also the priests not to pay more for their sacer¬ dotal fees than what was required until the first year of his late father : he excused those
(10) [subject] to the power of the temples from the parade of the required voyage to Alexandria every year: he ordered also the press for the naval warfare to be omitted : two parts of the linen garments required to be made for the use of the king in the temples he ex¬ cused : what had been done improperly for many years he restored to proper
respecting some Egyptian Antiquities . 67
(] 1) [order:] being careful that due respect should be paid to the gods according to propriety ; and likewise that justice should be done to all, like the great great Hermes : he ordered also those who had come down, military persons and others disposed to hostility, in the tumultuous times of Egypt, to return
(12) [to] their own properties, and remain there: he too&.care to send foot, horse, and ships against those who had come by sea and land against Egypt, spending much treasure of silver and corn, in order that the temples and the inhabitants of Egypt might be tran¬ quil : proceeding against the city of Lycopolis
(13) [in] Busiritis, which had been hostilely occupied and forti¬ fied, with ample stores of arms, and all other things necessary for sustaining a siege, the hostility of the guilty persons collected into it having been long declared, they having done much mischief to the country, to the Egyptians, and to the sacred things : the king with exten-
(14) sive ramparts and ditches and walls approaching the city, surrounded it : the king collecting much silver and treasures for the purpose, set foot soldiers to guard them, and horse : the river Nile having overflowed in the eighth year, and the fields being usually injured greatly by it at that time,
(15) he restrained the rivers, securing their mouths in many places:* the king took the city in no long time by force of arms; the guilty persons collected into it he utterly destroyed ; as, in the times of his ancestors, those who were collected in the same place were destroyed by Orus the son of Isis and Osiris, and by Hermes :
(16) the leaders of the revolted and embodied troops, who had laid waste the country, and had done injury to the temples, fighting for his kingdom, for his father, and for the gods, when he came to Mem¬ phis, to the solemnity of the assumption of the lawful power, received from his father, he punished all severely : he remitted what to the
(17) crown was due from the temples, as far as the eighth year, amounting to much corn and treasure; and likewise the prices of the linen garments, tributary from the temples, which ought to have been
K %.
6S Letter from IF. E. Rouse Bough ton, Esq.
contributed for the use of the Icing, and those which were contri¬ buted for exhibition, from the same time: lie ordered also the annual artaba which had remained due from each arura of sacred land,
,(18) likewise the annual ceramium from each arura of the vine¬ yards, to be remitted to the gods : he gave largely to Apis, to Mneuis, and to the other sacred animals of Egypt ; taking care more and more beneficently than his ancestors for their honours at all times, and fur¬ nishing what was requisite for their funerals splendidly and gloriousty; the payments
(19) to his own temples, with assemblies, and sacrifices, and other honours, he appointed : the public ceremonies of the temples, and all the other rites of Egypt he established in order according to the laws: lie bestowed many treasures of gold, and silver, and precious stones, on the temple of Apis : and he founded temples of the first order, temples
(20) for the public, and altars, and founded chapels in addition to the primary temples of the gods: what was deficient he restored as was requisite, having the feelings of a beneficent god in things relat¬ ing to the deities : and having made inquiries, he renewed the most sacred temples in his kingdom, according to their usages : wherefore the gods all powerful have given him health, victory over all,
(21) strength, and all other good gifts, the power of his kingdom remaining to him and to his descendants for ever: and they shall re¬ main with good fortune. It is approved by the priests of all the temples of Egypt, that the honours at present paid to king Ptolemy, the ever living, the god illustrious and munificent, in the temples,
(22) those of his parents, the father loving gods, those of the pre¬ decessors of his parents, the beneficent gods, those of the predecessors of the predecessors of his parents, the brother gods, those of the predecessors of the ancestors of his parents, the saviour gods, be aug¬ mented greatly : there shall be erected an image of king Ptolemy the ever living, the god illustrious and munificent,
(23) which shall be called sacred to Ptolemy studious of the pros¬ perity of the country, to Ptolemy who has fought for Egypt ; and to
respecting some Egyptian Antiquities. 69
the image the greatest god of the temple shall offer the trophies of victory, in each and every temple, in the most conspicuous place in the temple: all which filings shall be arranged according to the custom of Egypt : the priests shall worship the images in each and every temple three times a day,
(24) and shall attach to them sacred ornaments, addressing them by name, with other legitimate rites, as is done to the other gods in assemblies and feasts from day to day : there shall be made a statue of king Ptolemy, the god illustrious and munificent, (son of) Ptolemy and queen Arsinoc, the parent loving gods, and a shrine of gold in each temple
(25) and every temple, and placed in the sacred recesses, with the other golden shrines ; and in the great assemblies, at the solemnity of the procession of the gods, the shrine of the god illustrious and munificent shall be placed : and in order that the shrine may be dis¬ tinguished both at this day and at future times, there shall be placed on it the golden ornaments of the king the ten asp bearing diadems, as is
(26') usual; the golden ornaments on the shrine shall be asp bear¬ ing diadems, as on the other shrines : there shall be placed in the midst of them the ornament which the king wore, upon his entry into the temple at Memphis, when he celebrated the rites of the assump¬ tion of the lawful power from his father, the crown Pschent, which ornament he then wore : and there shall be upon
(27) the golden ornaments the quadrangle of the ever living, and on it shall be placed with the asp bearing diadems* ample golden phylac¬ teries, projecting over the golden shrine ; there shall be placed on the asp bearing diadems ample phylacteries, declaring that they belong to the king who has rendered the upper and the lower country illus¬ trious : and since the 30th of Mesore, on which
(28) the birth day of the king is appointed to be celebrated with an assembly and feast in the temples, likewise the eighteenth of Me- chir, on which the robed festival of the assumption of his legitimate power is held, have been auspicious days for all men, being dedicated to the king ever living, and to the assumption of his lawful power: on
70
Letter from IV. E. Rouse Boughton, Es.j.
these clays, the 30th and the 18th, there shall be held an assembly every month in all the temples of Egypt, with sacri-
(29) ficcs, libations, and other lawful honours, as in the other assemblies, the monthly assemblies, and the usual offerings shall be made, with homages, and solemn worship in the temples: there shall be held an assembly and feast in the temples, and in all Egypt, to king Ptolemy the ever living, the god illustrious and munificent, every year, from the first of Thoyth for five days, on which crowns* shall be worn,
(30) with sacrifices, libations, and other honours : the priests living in the temples of Egypt, in every temple, shall be called priests of the god illustrious and munificent, besides the other sacerdotal names which they bear, in all edicts, and all acts belonging to the priesthood of the god illustrious and munificent: and it shall be law¬ ful that the festival be celebrated
(31) with proper honours by all other individuals, and that they may consecrate in like manner a golden shrine to the god illustrious and munificent, with due respect, keeping it in their houses, observ¬ ing the assemblies and feasts, as appointed, every year: which shall he done in order that it may be made manifest that the inhabitants of Egypt honour the god illustrious and munificent
(32) as it is just to do: and this decree shall be engraved on a hard stone, insacred characters, incommon characters, and inGreek,and placed in the first temples, and the second temples, and the third temples, wherever may be the sacred image of the king whose life is for ever.
- - — -
An Interpretation of some Parts of the Hieroglyphic Inscription on the Stone
of Rosetta, obtained by comparison with the Egyptian and Greek.
(1) Eg. 16? . . The leaders of the armed men who were
hostilely collected, and had laid waste the country .
(2) E. 17 . The prices likewise of all the linen cloths due
to the kin gfrom the temples and not made ; and of such as were made those which were proper for exhibition . .
(3) E. 18 ..... . Taking care of their honours more diligently than
• •••••
respecting some Egyptian Antiquities. 7 1
others, giving them sacred ornaments, carefully attending to them, giving what was required for their funeral cer -monies splendidly and gloriously : and the public contributions . .
(4) E. 19 . The ancient sacred riles he preserved entire: the
temple of Apis he adorned magnificently, collecting ample treasures and jewels he presented them to Apis : he founded altars and temples and shrines : he corrected .......
(o) E. 20 . According to the established rites in his king¬
dom : wherefore the great gods have given him health, victory, strength, and other good gifts; the royal power remaining to him and to his children for ever, with good fortune and prosperity. The priests have decreed unalterably .
(6) E. 22 . Of his ancestors the saviour gods, the honours
he increased greatly ; that there he erected an image of the young king Ptolemy, ever living, beloved by Vulcan, the god illustrious and munificent, which shall he called sacred to Ptolemy the protector of his country, to Ptolemy who has .
(7) E. 23 . Of Egypt : they shall worship each image three
times a day, and adorn them with sacred ornaments, and pay them other lawful honours, in like manner as to the other gods of the country, in the sacred assemblies, with the customary rites on all public occasions : and there shall be consecrated to the young king Pto .
(8) E. 24 . And a statue of gold, and placed in all the
temples of Egypt, in the sacred recesses with the shrines of the gods of the country : and on each of the days of the great assemblies in honour of all the gods, when the statues are carried in procession, also the shrine and statue of the god illustrious and munificent shall he carried : and in order that the golden shrine may he distinguished at this day . .
(9) E. 26 ..... .. The golden shrine, like to the asp hearing
diadems upon all the sacred shrines: and in the middle shall be the crown called P schent which in the temple of Memphis was worn by the king, when in that temple he assumed the royal power; there shall also he added to the sacred ornaments of the quadrangle oj' each of the divine crowns of .
72
Letter from TV. E. Rouse Boughton,. Esq.
(JO) E. 27 . Him who has rendered his country glorious >
the asp bearing diadem of him who has adorned the upper and the lower regions: and since the thirtieth of Mesore, the birth day of the god ever living, appointed to be celebrated by an ornamented assembly in the temples, and likewise the eighteenth of Mechir, on which the young king assumed the government of the kingdom of his father, have been days auspicious to the happiness of all men .
(11) E. 28 . Of his sacred father: on each of these days,
the eighteenth and thirtieth of every month, there shall be an assem¬ bly in the temples and in all the holy places , celebrated with sacrifices and libations, and with other lawful honours usual in each monthly assembly : and the offerings in the assemblies shall be observed , with the services performed in the temples .
(12) E. 29 • . Ptolemy the ever living, beloved by [Vul¬
can], the god illustrious and munificent, every year from the first of Thoyth for five days, celebrating the assembly with crowns and sacrifices and libations, with appropriate honours: and the priests of all the temples under the dominion of Egypt shall be called servants of the god illustrious and munificent, besides the other sacerdotal names by which they are called .
(13) E. 30 . The priesthood of the god illustrious and
munificent : and it shall be lawful that the festival of the king be celebrated by all private persons disposed to honour him : they may con¬ secrate likewise a shrine to the king illustrious and munificent, and keep it in their houses, performing all manner of sacred rites both monthly and yearly : in order that it may be manifest that all the inhabitants of Egypt .
(14) E. 31 . With due respect : and they have resolved
to engrave on a column of hard stone, in sacred characters, in the characters of the country, and in Greek, the present decree ; and to place it in all the temples under the dominion of Egypt, of the first, and second, and third order, wherever shall be the image of the young king Ptolemy, the ever living, beloved by Vulcan, the god illustrious and munificent.
Fla* I .
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73
XI. Copy of a Paper in the Hand-Writing oj King Edward the. Sixth , entitled, “ A Summary of Matters to be concluded .” Communicated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary, in a Letter /o Samuel Lysons, Esq . F. R. S. F. P .
Read 30th June, 1814.
Dear Sir,
From the same volume whence I transcribed a Letter of Cardinal Wolsey, among the Lansdowne Manuscripts in the British Museum, I transmit you the copy of a Paper in the hand-writing of King Edward the Sixth, dated in the endorsement 1552, and entitled, “ A Sum¬ mary of Matters to be concluded.”
1. How a masse of mony may be gotten to discharge the Sum me of o£’300,0()0, both for discharg of the Dettis, and also to get =£80,000 of treasur mony for al eventis.
2. Deminishing of the Charges of the Pensioners Table, the Lord Preuy Seals, the Physitions, and the Mrs. of Houshold, giueng the reasonable recompens
3. Redeming the Lesses partaining to the Liurees at YVestmynster, Whaltam, Reding, and Saint Albons.
4. Discharging in th’Admiralte.
5. Prouision to be made for the Wardrobe, whearby the charg may be the lesse.
6. Discharg of the Postes.
7. Discharg of certen Bulwarkes on the sea side wicli be thought superfluous.
8. Discharging 1000 men in Irlande mo than be yet.
vol. xvii r.
L
74
Copy of a Paper
9 . Discharg of 800 men at Barwike when the fort shall be rearid, and 200 at Guisness for this winter.
10. Bringing th’Augnientation Court into th’Exchequer and like¬ wise the Court of first frutes and tenthes, and sailing al thos fees that may be spared.
11. Examining whether by their Patentes they have portage mony alowed them, and, if they hav it, how they gat it.
12. D ischarging the superfluous fees in the Duchy and the Wardis.
13. Gathering and coining of the Church Plate.
14. Sale of certain landis of Chauntries, Colleges, Houses, and Beaumonts Landes to the some of =£5000.
15. Bringing in the remnant of the Dettis.
16. Taking accomptes of al thos that haue had to doe with mony sins the 36 yeare of K. Hen. 8th.
17. The stay of Lead.
18. The Sale of the Bel Metal.
19. Th’execution of penal Lawes, touching Horses, Ploughs, for Riotes, Oppressions, Planting, Grafting of Trees, for the seise of Wood and Billet, Forstalling, and Regrating.
20. The Offences and Forfeits of the Merchaunts of the Stilliard.
21. The calling of a Parliament, for to get some subsidie in re¬ spect of the defence of th’Englishmen that be robbed by French¬ men.
22. Sale of certein Jewels to the Sum of <£15,000.
23. Examining how the Sale of the Fustians is made, and also of the Copar.
24. The borrowing of the Stapullers.
25. Guidottes Obligations to be powrsewred.
26. Taking Ordre for the Mines in Ireland.
EOR RELIGION.
1. A Catechism to be set forth for to be taught in al Gramar Scholes,
In the Hand-Writing of King Edward VI. 75
2. An Uniformitie of Doctrine to wich all preachers should set their handes.
3. Commissions to he graunted to thos Bishops that be grave, learned, wise, sober, and of good religion for th’executing of disci¬ pline.
4. To find faute with the slothfulnesse of the pastors, and to deli¬ ver them Articles of Visitation, willing and commanding them to be more diligent in their Office, and to keap more preachers.
5. Tlfabrogating of the old Canon Law and Establishment of a new.
6. The diuiding of the bishoprike of Durham into tow, and placing of men in them.
7. The placing of Harley into the bishoprick of Hereford.
8. The making of more Homelies.
9. The making of more Injunctions.
10. The placing of one in a Bishoprike in Ireland wich Turner of Caunterbury hath refused.
FOR THE STRENGTH AND WEALTH OF THE REALME.
1. The fortefieng of Portsmouth.
2. The fortefieng of Berwike to be accomplished.
3. The reparation of Beaucastel in Tyndal.
4. Fortification at the Blakbanke.
5. Amending the Peir of Douer.
6. Amending Sandwich Hauen.
7. Repairing of Dover Castle and Haven.
8. Amending the gitty at Cales.
9. Fortifieng of Neumanbrigg.
10. Making of Store-houses at Guines.
11. To strengthen the Hauens of Falmouth and Dertmouthe.
12. The making of more great Ordnance of the copar in the Tower and the Bel-metal.
l 2
76 Copy of a Paper in the Hand-Writing of King Edward VI.
13. Provision for more armure.
14. Provision for more piques, hagbutes, staues, bowstafes, billes, See.
15. Sending Commissioners to view the State of the Realme for keping of great horses, wether they do observe the Statute made con¬ cerning the same.
Id. The devise of tow Martes, one at Hul another at Hampton.
17. To bring more Artes into the Realme, so that al may not stand by elothinge.”
Such were the views of Edward the Sixth for the reformation of the realm. I know not that any of our historians have given us so minute a statement of his intentions.
I am, dear Sir,
Sincerely yourTs,
HENRY ELLIS.
Samuel Lysons, Esq. F. R.S. V. P. kc*
77
XII. Copy of a Letter from Archbishop Cranmer to Ma sty r Hawkyns , relating to the Queens Catharine of Arragon and
Anne Bo/eyn. Communicated by Henry Ellis, Esq. F. R. S . Secretary , in a Letter to Samuel Lysons, Esq. V. P.
F. R. S.
Read November 10, 1814.
British Museum, Nov. I, 1814.
DEAR SIR,
Among the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum is one, marked 6148, which appears to have been once archbishop Cranmer’s rough Copy-Book of Letters.
The transcripts are entirely in Cranmer's hand ; and there is one Letter, which, although the effect may be found chronicled by our historians, is too curious in the detail not to deserve the Society’s notice. It relates partly to the sentence of divorce passed between King Henry the Eighth and Queen Katherine, and partly to the coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn ; and decidedly refutes the slander that Henry and Anne Eoleyn were privately married by Cranmer himself.
This curious Manuscript, at a much later period than Cranmer’s time, appears to have fallen into the hands of some herald, who filled the spaces and blank pages between the different letters with coats of arms, genealogical matters, and a few historical extracts.
I am, dear Sir,
Very truly yours,
HENRY ELLIS.
78
A Copy of a Lettre sent vnto Master Hazvkyns Ambassadonr with the
Emprors Magestie.
In my most hartie wise I commende me unto you and even so woulde be right gladd to here of your welfare &c. Thes be to adver¬ tise you that inasmoche as you nowe and than take some paynes in writyng vnto me I woulde be lothe you shuld thynke your Labour utterly lost and forgotten for lake of wrytyng agayne, therefore and bycause I reken you be somedele desirous of sue he newis as hathe byn here with us of late in the Kyngis graces matters, I entend to enforme you a parte therof accordyng to the tenure and purporte vsyd in that behalf. Ande fyrste as towchyng the small determy nacion and concludyng of the Matter of devorse betwene my Lady Kateren and the Kyngs grace, whiche saiel matter after the Convocacion in that behalf hadde determyned and aggreed accordyng to the former con¬ sent of the Vniversites, yt was thowght convenient by the Kyng and his lerriyd councell that I shuld repayre unto Dunstable, w hich ys within iiij. myles vnto Amptell where the said Lady Kateren kepeth her bowse, and there to call her before me, to here the fynall Sen- tance in this said mateir. Notwithstandyng she would not att all obey therunto, for whan she was by doctour Lee cited to appe[ar] by a daye she utterly refused the same, sayinge that inasmoche as her cause was before the Pope she would have none other Judge, and therfore woulde not take me for her Judge. Nevertheless the viijth daye of Maye, accordyng to the said appoyntment, I came vnto Dunstable, my Lorde of Lyncoln beyng assistante vnto me, and my Lorde of Wyncehester, Doctour Bell, D. Claybroke, D. Trygonnel, D. Hewis, D. Olyver, D. Brytten, Mr. Bedell, with diuerse other lernyd in the Lawe beyng councellours in the Lawe for the King’s parte. And soo there at our commyng kepte a Courte for the apperance of the said Lady Kateren, where were examyned certeyn witnes whichc testified
79
Copy of a Letter of Archbishop Cranmtr.
that she was lawfully cited and called to appere, whome for fawte of apperance was declared contumax, procedyng in the said cause agaynste her in penam contumaciam as the processe of the Lawe thereunto belongeth, whiche contynewed xv. dayes after our cununyng thither. And the morow after Assension daye I gave final 1 Sentance therin howe that it was indispensable for the Pope to lycense any suche marieges.
This donne, and after our reiornyng home agayne The Kings Highnes prepared al thyngs convenient for the coronacion of the Queene, whiche also was after suche a maner as foloweth. The Thursdaye nexte before the feaste of pentecost the Kyng and the Queene beyng at Grenewyche, all the Craftes of London thereunto well appoynted, in severall bargis deckyd after the most gorgiouse and sumptuous maner, with dyverse pagiantes thereunto belongyng, repayred and wayted all together upon the Mayre of London, and so, well furnysshed, cam all vnto Grenewiche, where they taryed and wayted for the Queenes commyng to her barge; which so done they brought her unto the tower, tromppets, shambes, and other dyverse instruments all the wayes playng and makynggreate melodic, which, as ys reported, was as combly donne as neuer was lyke in any tyme nyghe to our rememberaunce : and so her grace cam to the tower on Thursdaye at nyghte abowte v. of the ciocke, where also was suche a pele of gonnes as bathe not byn harde lyke a great while before. And the same nyghte and Frydaye aldaye the Kyng and Queene taryed there, and on Frydaye at nyght the Kyngs grace made xviij Knyghts of the Bathe whose creacion was not alonly so strange to hereof, as also their garmentes stranger to beholde or loke on; whiche said Knightes, the nexte daye, whiche was Saturday, rydde before the Queene’s grace thorowte the Citie of London towards Westminster palice, over and besyds the moste parte of the nobles of the Realme whiche lyke accompanied her grace thorowe owte the said citie, She syttyng in her heere, upon a Horse Lytter, rychely appa¬ reled, and iiij knyghtes of the v. ports beryng a Canapye over her hedd. And after her cam iiij. riche charettes, one of them emptie and iij. other furnysshed with diuerse auncient old lades ; and after the[m]
80
Copy of a Letter of Archbishop Cranmer
cam a great trayne of other Lades and gyntillwomen : whyche said Progresse, from the begynnyng to thendyiig, extendid half a myle in leyngthe by estimacon or thereaboute. To whome also as she came alongeste the Citie was shewid many costely pagients, with diverse other encomyes spoken of chyldren to her, Wyne also runyng at cer- teyne C'ondits plentiously. And so procedyng thorowte the streats passid furthe vnto Westminster Hall, where was a certeyn Banket prepared for her, which donne, she was conveyd owte of the bake syde of the palice into a Barge and so vnto Yorke Place, where the I\y tig’s grace was before her comyng, for this you muste ever presup- pose that his grace came all way es before her secretiye in a Barge aswell frome Grenewyche to the tower as from the tower to Yorke place.
Nowe than on Soundaye was the Coronacion, which allso was of such a maner.
In the mornynge ther assymble[d] withe me at Westminster Churche the bysshop of Yorke, the B. of London, the B. of Winchester, the B. of Lyncoln, the B. of Bathe, and the B. of Saint Asse, the Abbote of Westminstre with x or xij moo Abbottes, whiche all re- yestred ourselfs in our pontificalibus, and, soo furnysshed, withe our Crosses and Crossiers, procedid oute of th’Abbey in a procession unto Westminstre Hall, where we receyved the Queene apareled in a Robe of pu[r]ple velvet, and all the ladyes and gentillwomen in robes and go w nes of scarlet accordyng to the maner vsed before tvme in such besynes : and so her Grace sustayned of eche syde with ijt0 bys- shops, the Bysshope of London ande the Bysshop of Wynchester, came furthe in processyon unto the Churche of Westminster, she in her here, my Lord of Suffolke berving before hcrr the Crowne, and ijt0 other Lords bervng also before her a Ceptur and a white Rodde, and so entred up into the highe Alter, where diverse Ceremoneys used aboute her, I did sett the Crowne on her hedde, and than was sono-e Te Deum, &c. And after that was song a solempne Masse, all which while her grace satt crowned upon a scaffold whiche was made betwne the Highe Alter and the Qwyer in Westminstre Churche, which Masse and ceremonyes donne and fynysshed, all the Assemble of noble men
relating to the Queens Catharine of Am agon and Anne Bolcyn. 8 i
broughte her into Westminstre Hall agayne, where was kepte a great solempne feasteall that daye, The good ordre therof were to longe to wrytte at this tyme to you. But nowe Sir you may nott ymagyn that that this Coronacion was before her mariege, for she was rnaried muche about sainte Paules daye last, as the Condicion therof dothe well appere by reason she ys nowe sum what bygg with chylde. Not- withstandyng yt hath byn reported thorowte a great parte of the realme that I marred her, wliiche was playnly false, for I myself knewe not therof a fortenyght after yt was donne. And many other thyngs be also reported of me, wliiche be mere lyes and tales.
Other newys have we none notable, but that one Fryth, whiche was in the tower in pryson, was appoynted by the Kyngs grace to be exa- myned befor me, my Lorde of London, my lorde of Wynchestre, my Lorde of SufFolke, my Lorde Channcelour, and my Lorde of Wylte- shere, whose opynion was so notably erroniouse, that we culde notdys- pache hym but was fayne to leve hym to the determynacion of his Ordinarye, whiche ys the bishop of London. Iiis said opynyon ys of suche nature that he thoughte it nat necessary to be beleved as an Article of our faythe, that ther ys the very corporall presence of Christe within the Oste and Sacramente of the Alter, and holdethe of this poynte muste after the Opynion of Oecolampadious. And suerly I myself sent for hym iij or iiij tymes to perswade hym to leve that his Imaginacion, but for all that we could do therin he woulde not applye to any counsaile, notwithstandyng nowe he ys at a fynall ende with all examinacions, for my Lorde of London hathe gyven sentance and delyuerd hym to the secular power, where he loketh every daye to goo unto the fyer. And ther ys also condempned with hym one Andrewe a taylour of London for the said self same opynion.
If you have not harde of our Ambassadors lately gone over, you shall understande that my Lorde of Northf’, my Lorde of Roche- forde, Maste[r] Paulet, Sir Francis Bryan, Sir Antoney Browne, &c. Doctour Gooderyche, D. Aldryche, and D. Thrylbey, be gonne into France to the Frenche Kyng, and as I suppose they goo frome hyme to the Pope unto .
VOL. XVIII. M
82 Copy of a Letter of Archbishop Cranmer.
Further you shall understande that ther ys many here whiche whyshe you to succede your uncle. Notwithstandyng I would you shulde not thynke the contrarye but that ther be a great sorte whiche woulde yt shuld not come to passe, nevertheless you be nether the nerar ne furder of thorowe suclie idyll communicacon.
Fynally I here sende unto you a Bill for the banke of iiijc Duckes de largo, whiche somme I woulde you shuld not take yt up before you have nede tlierof, and therfore I send yt for your commodite and necessite, for it ys none of the Kyngs graces money, nor his said grace knowethe nothyng therof, but alonelye of my benevolence to serve your purpose in caase (as I said) you shulde lacke the same. And thus farr’ ye well frome my manor of Croydon the xvij daye of June.
83
XIII. Some Observations on a Monumental Inscription in the Parish Church of Landulph , Cornwall. By the Rev. Fit. Vitvyan Jago, F,S.A . Rector of Landulph,
Read January 12th, 1815.
Whek we reflect on the political changes that have recently taken place in Europe, by the total obliteration of some states, and the dismemberment or new organization of others, the mind sickens at the view of the authors of these changes, usurping the thrones of her ancient sovereigns on no better claim than the right of conquest ; and we cannot but draw a mournful parallel between these and the events of darker ages, and imagine those days returned when Rome fell under the barbarous yoke of Alaric, and the usurping crescent of Mohammed the Second glimmered upon the throne and empire of Constantine the Great.
We cannot at the same time but feel a dignified pleasure in the consciousness that England, zealously attached to her own lawful sovereigns, has ever been ready to receive with open arms those of other states who have suffered from lawless usurpation. The family of the unfortunate Louis have been indebted to the loyal generosity of Englishmen for an hospitable asylum ; and it may be interesting to communicate a curious fact, perhaps not generally known, that about two centuries ago, in an obscure corner of the kingdom, lived and died Theodore Paleologus, the immediate descendant of the Constan¬ tine family, and in all probability the lineal heir to the empire of Greece.
In the parish church of Landulph, in the eastern extremity of
M 2
84
Observations on- a Monumental Inscription
Cornwall, is a small brass tablet fixed against the wall, with the fol¬ lowing inscription : —
“ Here lyeth the body of Theodore Paleologus, of Pesaro in “ italye, descended from ye lmperyal lyne of ye last Chris- “ tian emperors of Greece, being the sonne of Camiiio, ye “ sonne of Prosper, the sonne of Theodoro,the sonne of John,
“ ye sonne of Thomas, second brother of Constantine Paleo- “ logus, the 8th of that name, and last of y* lyne y* rayned in “ Constantinople until subdued by the Turks, who married “ w* Mary, yc daughter of William Balls, of Hadlye in “ Soufifolke, Gent, and had issue 5 children, Theodoro, John, u Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy; and departed this life “ at Clyfton, ye 21st of Jany, 1 636”
Above the inscription are the imperial arms proper of the empire of Greece — an eagle displayed with two heads, the two legs resting upon two gates ; the imperial crown over the whole, and between the gates a crescent for difference as second son.
(C The Paleologus dynasty were descended from the imperial race of the Comneni ; and the first of the family was Michael Paleologus about 1270; to whom succeeded Andronicus the First and Second, John I., and Emmanuel, who died 1425, leaving six sons. The eldest, John II., who was associated with his father in the government during his life-time, succeeded him. Andronicus, the second son, had the principality of Thessalonica, and died of a leprosy soon after the sale of that city to the Venetians. Some fortunate incidents had restored Peloponnesus, or the Morea, to the empire; and in his more prosperous days, Emmanuel had fortified the narrow isthmus of six miles with a stone wall and 153 towers. The wall was overthrown upon the first blast of the Ottomans; the fertile peninsula might have
in the Parish Church of Landulph , Cornwall.
85
been sufficient for the four younger brothers,. Theodore and Constan¬ tine, Demetrius and Thomas, but they wasted in domestic contests the remains of their strength, and the least successful of the rivals were reduced to a life of dependance in the Byzantine palace. On the death of John II., who survived four years the Hungarian crusade, the royal family, by the death of Andronicus, and the monastic pro¬ fession of Isidore (or Theodore), was reduced to three princes, Con¬ stantine, Demetrius, and Thomas. Of these, the first and last were far distant in the Morea; but Demetrius, who possessed the domain of Selybria, was in the suburbs at the head of a party. His ambition was not chilled with the public distress; and his conspiracy with the Turks and the schismatics had already disturbed the peace of the country. He would have supplanted his brother, and ascended the throne, but for his mother and the great men, who prevented him. His younger brother, the despot Thomas, also accidentally returning to the capital, asserted the cause of Constantine, who was crowned emperor.”3
“ Demetrius and Thomas now divided the Morea between them ; but though they had taken a solemn oath never to violate the agreement, differences soon arose, and Thomas took up arms to drive Demetrius out of his possessions; Demetrius hereupon retired to Asan, his wife's brother; by whose means lie obtained succours from Amurat, and compelled Thomas to submit the matters in dispute to the emperor’s (Constantine’s) arbitration. But that prince refusing to deliver to his brother the territories that fell to his share, Mohammed ordered Thuraken, his governor in the Morea, to assist Demetrius, and demolish the wall that shut up that country. Hereupon Thomas gave him the city of Kalamata, in lieu of the territory of the Skortians, which he detained. Immediately on this event, Mohammed be¬ sieged and took Constantinople, in defence of which Constantine was slain.” b
The dissentions of the two brothers may be considered a principal cause of the fall, of the Greek empire,
* Gibbon’s Hist. 4t0. vol. vi. page 45p. b Universal Hist.
*4.
86 Observations on a Monumental Inscription
After the capture of Constantinople, Mohammed makes war on Demetrius and Thomas, under pretence of recovering the tribute due to him from them as despots of the Morea; but he is obliged to retire, and soon after comes to agreement with them. At this time the Albanians, Thomas’s subjects, revolt, and attack Pattras, a city of Achaia, where Thomas resided, but are repulsed : they would have been, however, ultimately successful, had not Mohammed sent his general Thuraken to their assistance.
The two brothers again falling out, and endeavouring to supplant each other, Mohammed takes advantage of it, and in 1458 sends an order to the despots of the Morea to pay three years arrears of ten thousand ducats tribute, or quit the country. In spring following, he marched to attack the Morea, and reduced Corinth, without using force. At the first news of his appearance, Thomasf one of the despots, retired t-o Italy with his wife and children ; and Demetrius, the other, submitted of his own accord to the Solt&n, who carried him away to Constantinople.
Such is the account given in the Universal History from Dukas. The relation of Khalcondylas in the same work is more particular, as well as more favourable to the character of Thomas : “ Prince Tho¬ mas having retired from Pylos, repaired to the island of Korfu, where he left his family, and set sail for Italy ; at the same time, he sent an ambassador to know if Mohammed would give him a great extent of country along the sea-coast, in exchange for the city of Epidamnum. The Soltan, by way of answer, put the envoy in irons, but soon after sent him back. Thomas, arriving at Rome 1461, was lodged in the Pope’s palace, and had a pension of three thousand livres for his other expences.”
Rycaut, in his History, gives a still higher character of Thomas : “ Thomas getting into the castle of Salmenica, defended the same against the infidels a whole year, when, despairing of relief, he escaped into Italy , where the Pope allowed him a pension till the day of his death. Of him Mahomet gave this character: “ That he had found many slaves, but never a man in the Grecian province besides Prince Thomas.”
in the Parish Church of Landulph , Cornwall. 87
But Gibbon has a very contemptible account of the ultimate fate of this unfortunate family. He says, that Demetrius died at Constan¬ tinople in a monastic habit, and abject slavery ; that the misery of Thomas was prolonged by a pension of six thousand ducats from the Pope and cardinals; that he died leaving tzvo sons, Andrew and Ma¬ nuel, who were educated in Italy ; that Manuel the younger returned to Constantinople, where he was maintained by the Soltan, and died, leaving a son, who was lost in the habit and religion of a Turkish slave. The elder brother Andrew, contemptible to his enemies, and burthensome to his friends, was degraded by the baseness of his life and marriage, and sold his title to the empires of Constantinople and Trebizond to Charles VIII. in 1494, who assumed the purple and title of Augustus. And in a note, he says from Du Cange, that the Palasologi of Montferrat were not extinct till the next century, but they had forgotten their Greek origin and kindred.
So degrading is the account this historian gives us of the remains of this celebrated family. It is a grateful task to endeavour to prove his representation in some respects incorrect and undeserved ; as we shall then be authorized to hesitate upon what he tells us as to the rest, and to put a more liberal construction upon the whole.
From the inscription at Landulph it is clear Thomas had three sons: the third, called John , whose family, though we have no par¬ ticular mention of them, remained in Italy, at Rome probably, and Pesaro, till the time of Theodore. From the inscription it is also certain that this family was not extinct in 1636, and perhaps some of the de¬ scendants are still living in England at this moment.
The imputation thrown on the Montferrat Paleologi certainly does not apply to this branch, that they had forgotten their Greek