“Brutus, under the setting sun, beyond the Gallic realms, there is an island in the ocean all inclosed by sea; there is an island in the ocean, once inhabited by giants, now indeed desert, fit for thy tribes. This seek, for it shall be to thee a perpetual abode; Hence shall arise another Troy to thy sons; Here from thine offspring shall Kings be born, and to them shall all the earth be subject.”
Brutus, comforted with such a reply, and having prepared a fleet, steered with his people into the Island Albion which is now called England, and began to reign therein, in the xxxvth year of his age; who in the xxiiijth of his reign is buried at London. In the year one thousand two hundred and forty five, after the death of Brutus, king Lucius flourishes. In the year of grace cxxiiij was the coronation of Lucius the first Christian king, who after reigning lxvij years, was buried at London. From the death of Brutus until the reign of Arthur, there reigned in England separately C kings, of whom sixteen were Christians. In the year dxvj, was the coronation of king Arthur, who reigned xxvj years; concerning whose death or burial, histories do not relate anything certain. In the year diiijxxvj from the Angles, Albion is called Anglia, divided into eight kingdoms; that is, Kent, Suthsex, Westsex, Mercia, Estsex, Estanglia, Derram, and Bervic. In the year dc and one, began to reign king Sebert the renovator of the church of Westminster, which he then dedicated to the blessed Peter, in which the king himself in the xvth year of his reign is entombed. In the year dcxxxv, the coronation of king Oswald, who after reigning nine years is crowned with martyrdom. In the year dcxxxvj the coronation of king Oswyny, who in the ixth year of his reign being martyred, lies at Tynmouth. In the year dcclxxvj the coronation of king Ethelbrist, who in the viijth year of his reign being made a martyr, was buried at Hereford. In the year dcccxxj the coronation and martyrdom of king Kenelm, who was buried at Wynchecombe. In the year dccclv the coronation of king Edward at Bures, who after xv years obtaining the laurels of martyrdom, rests in the same place. In the year dccclxxj the coronation of king Alfred, the first monarch of England; who in the xxixth year of his government was buried at Wynton. In the year dcccc and one, the coronation of Edward the first, son of Alfred, at Kyngeston; he governed xxiiijor years, and is buried at London. In the year dccccxxiiij, the coronation of king Athelstan at Kyngeston; he after xvj years was buried at Malmesbury. In the year dccccxl, the coronation of king Edward the second, son of Athelstan, at Kyngeston; he in the sixth year of his reign is buried at Glastonbury. In the year dccccxlvj, the coronation of king Edred at Kyngeston, who in the ixth year of his reign was buried at Wynton. In the year dcccclv, the coronation of king Edwyn at Kyngeston; he reigned four years; and was buried at Wynton. In the year dcccclix, the coronation of king Edgar, who reigned xvj years; he lies at Glastonbury. In the year dcccclxxv, the coronation of Edward the second, son of Edgar, at Westminster, who in the iiijth year of his reign adorned with martyrdom, is buried at Septon. In the year dcccclxxix, the coronation of king Ethelred at Kyngeston, and in the xxxviijth year of his reign he is buried at London. In the year one thousand xvj, the coronation of Edward the third iron-side, at Kyngeston, and his burial at Glastonbury. In the year one thousand xvij, the coronation of king Knute at Westminster, and in the xixth year of his reign, his burial at Wynton. In the year one thousand xxxv, the coronation of king Harold the first; he in the fifth year of his reign was buried at London. In the year one thousand xl, the coronation of king Hardeknute, and in the second year of his reign, his burial at Wynton. From the nativity of Jesus Christ until the reign of Edward the second, king and confessor, there passed separately in England a hundred kings, and lxty and five kings; of whom Oswyn, Oswald, Ethelbert, Kenelm, Edward, Edward, were martyred; and Constans, Cedwall, Sebert, Wynfrid, Ethelred, Edbert, Offa, and Kynred were buried in monks’ orders. In the year of grace one thousand xlij, the coronation of saint Edward king and confessor, at Wynton; who in the xxvth year of his reign is honorably inshrined in the church of Westminster, which he himself had made to be erected. In the year one thousand lxvj, the coronation of duke Harald at Westminster, and his burial at Waltham. In the year one thousand lxvij, the coronation of William the first, duke of Normandy, at Westminster; who in the xlvijth year of his reign caused England to be described in a volume called Domusday; and in the iiijth year after, is buried at Caen. In the year one thousand lxxx, the coronation of William Rufus at Westminster, and in the xiijth year of his reign, he is buried at Wynton. In the year one thousand C the coronation of king Henry the first, brother of William Rufus, at Westminster, who after reigning xxxv years, was buried at Redyng. In the year Mcxxxv, the coronation of king Stephen at Westminster, he in the xixth year of his reign was buried at Feversham. In the year one thousand cliiij, the coronation of the emperor Henry the second at Westminster, and in the xxxvth year of his reign, his burial at Fontevrault. In the year one thousand clxiiij, was the translation of saint Edward king and confessor, at Westminster, on the third of the Ides of October, by the blessed Thomas archbishop of Canterbury. In the year one thousand clxxxix, the coronation of king Richard at Westminster, who when he had reigned xjen years, was buried at Fontevrault. In the year one thousand clxxxxix, the coronation of king John at Westminster; and in the xviijth year of his government he is buried at Wygorn. In the year one thousand ccxvj, the coronation of Henry, son of king John at Gloucester; who in the fourth year following was again crowned at Westminster; in the lvijth of his reign is interred at the same place. In the year one thousand cclxxiiij, the xiiij. kl. of September, the coronation of Edward the first after the Conquest, at Westminster, who in the xxxvth year of his reign is buried at the same place. In the year one thousand cccvij, the x kl. of March, the coronation of Edward the second at Westminster; who in the xxth year of his reign is buried at Gloucester. In the year one thousand cccxxvj, is crowned Edward the third, the flower of the Christian knighthood, at Westminster, in the xiiijth year of his age. Edward the third subjugated to his dominion the city of Caleys.In the year one thousand cccxlvj, on the third day of September, the same lord king Edward began to besiege the town of Caleys with the castle, and continued his siege until the third day of August, the succeeding year, on which day he subjugated the said town with the castle to his dominion. In the year one thousand cccxl, the viij kl. of July, the illustrious king of England Edward the third conquered the French at le Sclus in a naval engagement. In the year one thousand cccxlvj the vijth kl. of October, the French are vanquished by the English at Cressy, and the king of Bohemia is punished. David king of Scotland is taken.
The capture of John, king of France.In the same year, the xvjth kl. of November, the Scots are overcome by the English at Durham, and David king of Scotland is taken. In the year Ml. ccclvj the xiijth kl. of October, was the capture of John king of France at Peyters, by the excellent prince Edward the first-born of the gracious king Edward the third. In the year one thousand ccc lxxvj, the vjth of the Ides of June, died the same prince Edward, on which day fell the festival of the Trinity. In the year one thousand ccclxxvij, the xjth kl. of July, died king Edward the third, the flower of the Christian knighthood; and on the third of the nones of the same month, he was buried at Westminster, in the ljst year of his reign. Richard, son of Edward.
Henry iiijth. In the year one thousand ccclxxvij, the xvijth kl. of August, at Westminster, was the coronation of Richard the second, son of Edward prince of Wales, in the xjth year of his age. In the year one thousand ccclxxxxix, the third of the Ides of October, at Westminster, was the coronation of the illustrious king Henry the fourth. Henry the fifth died in France.In the year one thousand ccccxiij, the ninth day of April, at Westminster, was the coronation of the illustrious king Henry the fifth; who, at Boys Seynt Vyncent near Paris in France, ended his life on the last day of August, in the xth year of his reign, commencing. And afterwards his bones were interred at Westminster. In the year of our Lord one thousand cccc xxij, Henry the sixth king of England, then a child of not the age of one year, was crowned on the day of saint Leonard bishop and confessor, at Westminster, in the viijth year of his reign, commencing. And afterwards, the same king was crowned king of France at Paris, in the church of the blessed Mary there, on the xvjth day of December, in the commencement of the xth year of his reign.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
In the [36th page] of the preceding Chronicle it is stated that “In this yere (1295) the kyng [Edward the first] was defraunded of his lond in Gascoigne in this manner, sothly: the kyng hadde yoven the forseyd lond of Gascoyne to the kynges suster of Fraunce, for that she schulde be yoyned to hym in fre mariage: and be some of his counseill enfeffed here in the sayd lond of Gascoigne, whiche lond of Gascoigne sche yaf to Charles here brother, and to other; and the matrymoigne betwen here and kyng Edward sche sette at noughte, and wolde noughte stonden therto.”—That circumstance is the subject of the following Fragment of a curious Poem preserved in the archives of the Corporation of the City of London, in the MS. entitled Liber Custumarium, fol. 84; from which it has been extracted by the obliging permission of Henry Woodthorpe, Esq. the Town Clerk. The leaf which contained the concluding stanzas has been lost; but judging from the number of those which remain, it originally consisted of about nine more verses. It is written in the hand of the period in which the events to which it alludes took place, and as the documents in the volume from which it is copied end in the succeeding reign, there is every reason to presume that it was entered in the Records of the City of London within a short period after it was composed. Every line of each verse contains the same letter in the middle of the line, and every line ends with the same letter: these two letters are placed in the middle and at the end of each verse, separated from the words to which they belong, but connected with them by lines in the manner in which the first verse of the Poem is here printed, and which has been considered sufficient to show the singular manner in which it was originally written.
HIC INCIPIT QUIDA’ RISMUS F’TUS DE P’DIC’ONE VASCON’ ET DE RIUSD’ CONQUESTU P’ R’ E’ FILIU’ REG’ H’.
