The furniture of our houses also exceedeth, and is growne in maner euen to passing delicacie: and herein I doo not speake of the nobilitie and gentrie onelie, but likewise of the lowest sort in most places of our south countrie, that haue anie thing at all to take to. Certes in noble mens houses it is not rare to sée abundance of Arras, rich hangings of tapistrie, siluer vessell, and so much other plate, as may furnish sundrie cupbords, to the summe oftentimes of a thousand or two thousand pounds at the least: whereby the value of this and the rest of their stuffe dooth grow to be almost inestimable. Likewise in the houses of knights, gentlemen, merchantmen, and some other wealthie citizens, it is not geson to behold generallie their great prouision of tapistrie, Turkie worke, pewter, brasse, fine linen, and thereto costlie cupbords of plate, worth fiue or six hundred or a thousand pounds, to be deemed by estimation. But as herein all these sorts doo far excéed their elders and predecessors, and in neatnesse and curiositie, the merchant all other; so in time past, the costlie furniture staied there, whereas now it is descended yet lower, euen vnto the inferiour artificers and manie farmers, who by vertue of their old and not of their new leases haue for the most part learned also to garnish their cupbords with plate, their ioined beds with tapistrie and silke hangings, and their tables with carpets & fine naperie, whereby the wealth of our countrie (God be praised therefore, and giue vs grace to imploie it well) dooth infinitelie appeare. Neither doo I speake this in reproch of anie man, God is my iudge, but to shew that I do reioise rather, to sée how God hath blessed vs with his good gifts; and whilest I behold how that in a time wherein all things are growen to most excessiue prices, & what commoditie so euer is to be had, is dailie plucked from the communaltie by such as looke into euerie trade, we doo yet find the means to obtein & atchiue such furniture as heretofore hath beene vnpossible. There are old men yet dwelling in the village where I remaine, which haue noted Thrée things greatlie amended in England. three things to be maruellouslie altered in England within their sound remembrance; & other three things too too much increased. One is, the Chimnies. multitude of chimnies latelie erected, wheras in their yoong daies there were not aboue two or thrée, if so manie in most vplandish townes of the realme (the religious houses, & manour places of their lords alwaies excepted, and peraduenture some great personages) but ech one made his fire against a reredosse in the hall, where he dined and dressed his meat.
The second is the great (although not generall) amendment of lodging, for (said they) our fathers (yea and we our selues also) haue lien full Hard lodging. oft vpon straw pallets, on rough mats couered onelie with a shéet vnder couerlets made of dagswain or hopharlots (I vse their owne termes) and a good round log vnder their heads in steed of a bolster or pillow. If it were so that our fathers or the good man of the house, had within seuen yeares after his mariage purchased a matteres or flockebed, and thereto a sacke of chaffe to rest his head vpon, he thought himselfe to be as well lodged as the lord of the towne, that peraduenture laie seldome in a bed of downe or whole fethers; so well were they contented, and with such base kind of furniture: which also is not verie much amended as yet in some parts of Bedfordshire, and elsewhere further off from our southerne parts. Pillowes (said they) were thought méet onelie for women in childbed. As for seruants, if they had anie shéet aboue them it was well, for seldome had they anie vnder their bodies, to kéepe them from the pricking straws that ran oft through the canuas of the pallet, and rased their hardened hides.
Furniture of household. The third thing they tell of, is the exchange of vessell, as of treene platters into pewter, and wodden spoones into siluer or tin. For so common were all sorts of tréene stuffe in old time, that a man should hardlie find foure péeces of pewter (of which one was peraduenture a This was in the time of generall idlenesse. salt) in a good farmers house, and yet for all this frugalitie (if it may so be iustly called) they were scarse able to liue and paie their rents at their daies without selling of a cow, or an horsse, or more, although they paid but foure pounds at the vttermost by the yeare. Such also was their pouertie, that if some one od farmer or husbandman had béene at the alehouse, a thing greatlie vsed in those daies, amongst six or seuen of his neighbours, and there in a brauerie to shew what store he had, did cast downe his pursse, and therein a noble or six shillings in siluer vnto them (for few such men then cared for gold bicause it was not so readie paiment, and they were oft inforced to giue a penie for the exchange of an angell) it was verie likelie that all the rest could not laie downe so much against it: whereas in my time, although peraduenture foure pounds of old rent be improued to fortie, fiftie, or an hundred pounds, yet will the farmer as another palme or date trée thinke his gaines verie small toward the end of his terme, if he haue not six or seuen yeares rent lieng by him, therewith to purchase a new lease, beside a faire garnish of pewter on his cupbord, with so much more in od vessell going about the house, thrée or foure featherbeds, so manie couerlids and carpets of tapistrie, a siluer salt, a bowle for wine (if not an whole neast) and a dozzen of spoones to furnish vp the sute. This also he taketh to be his owne cléere, for what stocke of monie soeuer he gathereth & laieth vp in all his yeares, it is often séene, that the landlord will take such order with him for the same, when he renueth his lease, which is commonlie eight or six yeares before the old be expired (sith it is now growen almost to a custome, that if he come not to his lord so long before, another shall step in for a reuersion, and so defeat him out right) that it shall neuer trouble him more than the haire of his beard, when the barber hath washed and shauen it from his chin. And as they commend these, so (beside the decaie of housekéeping whereby the poore haue beene relieued) they speake also of thrée things that are growen to be verie grieuous vnto them, to wit, the inhansing of rents, latelie mentioned; the dailie oppression of copiholders, whose lords séeke to bring their poore tenants almost into plaine seruitude and miserie, dailie deuising new meanes, and séeking vp all the old how to cut them shorter and shorter, doubling, trebling, and now & then seuen times increasing their fines, driuing them also for euerie trifle to loose and forfeit their tenures (by whome the greatest part of the realme dooth stand and is mainteined) to the end they may fléece them yet more, which is a lamentable hering. The third thing they talke of is vsurie, a trade brought in by the Iewes, now perfectlie practised almost by euerie christian, and so commonlie that he is accompted but for a foole that dooth lend his monie for nothing. In time past it was "Sors pro sorte," that is, the principall onelie for the principall; but now beside that which is aboue the principall properlie called "Vsura," we chalenge "Fœnus," that is commoditie of soile, & fruits of the earth, if not the ground it selfe. In time past also one of the hundred was much, from thence it rose vnto two, called in Latine "Vsura, Ex sextante;" thrée, to wit "Ex quadrante;" then to foure, to wit "Ex triente;" then to fiue, which is "Ex quincunce;" then to six, called "Ex semisse," &c: as the accompt of the "Assis" ariseth, and comming at the last vnto "Vsura ex asse," it amounteth to twelue in the hundred, and therefore the Latines call it "Centesima," for that in the hundred moneth it doubleth the principall; but more of this elsewhere. See Cicero against Verres, Demosthenes against Aphobus, and Athenæus lib. 13. in fine: and when thou hast read them well, helpe I praie thée in lawfull maner to hang vp such as take "Centuū pro cento," for they By the yeare. are no better worthie as I doo iudge in conscience. Forget not also such landlords as vse to value their leases at a secret estimation giuen of the wealth and credit of the taker, whereby they séeme (as it were) to eat them vp and deale with bondmen, so that if the leassée be thought to be worth an hundred pounds, he shall paie no lesse for his new terme, or else another to enter with hard and doubtfull couenants. I am sorie to report it, much more gréeued to vnderstand of the practise; but most sorowfull of all to vnderstand that men of great port and countenance are so farre from suffering their farmers to haue anie gaine at all, that they themselues become grasiers, butchers, tanners, shéepmasters, woodmen, and "denique quid non," thereby to inrich themselues, and bring all the wealth of the countrie into their owne hands, leauing the communaltie weake, or as an idoll with broken or féeble armes, which may in a time of peace haue a plausible shew, but when necessitie shall inforce, haue an heauie and bitter sequele.
OF CITIES AND TOWNES IN ENGLAND.
CAP. XIII.
Six and twentie cities in England. As in old time we read that there were eight and twentie flamines and archflamines in the south part of this Ile, and so manie great cities vnder their iurisdiction: so in these our daies there is but one or two fewer, and each of them also vnder the ecclesiasticall regiment of some one bishop or archbishop, who in spirituall cases haue the charge and ouersight of the same. So manie cities therefore are there in England and Wales, as there be bishopriks & archbishopriks. For notwithstanding that Lichfield and Couentrie, and Bath and Welles, doo séeme to extend the aforesaid number vnto nine and twentie: yet neither of these couples are to be accounted, but as one entier citie and sée of the bishop, sith one bishoprike can haue relation but vnto one sée, and the said see be situate but in one place, after which the bishop dooth take his name. It appeareth by our old and ancient histories, that the cities of this southerlie portion haue beene of excéeding greatnesse and beautie, whereof some were builded in the time of the Samotheans, and of which not a few in these our times are quite decaied, and the places where they stood worne out of all remembrance. Such also for the most part as yet remaine are maruellouslie altered, insomuch that whereas at the first they were large and ample, now are they come either vnto a verie few houses, or appeare not to be much greater in comparison than poore & simple villages. Antoninus the most diligent writer of the thorough fares of Britaine, noteth among other these ancient townes following, as Sitomagus. Sitomagus, which he placeth in the waie from Norwich, as Leland Nouiomagus. supposeth (wherin they went by Colchester) to London, Nouiomagus that lieth betwéene Carleill and Canturburie, within ten miles east of Neomagus.
Niomagus. London, and likewise Neomagus and Niomagus which take their names of their first founder Magus, the sonne of Samothes, & second king of the Celtes that reigned in this Iland; and not "A profunditate," onelie, as Bodinus affirmeth out of Plinie, as if all the townes that ended in Magus should stand in holes and low grounds: which is to be disprooued in diuerse cities in the maine, as also here with vs. Of these moreouer sir Thomas Eliot supposeth Neomagus to haue stood somewhere about Chester; & George Lillie in his booke of the names of ancient places, iudgeth Niomagus to be the verie same that we doo now call Buckingham, and lieth farre from the shore. And as these and sundrie other now perished tooke their denomination of this prince, so there are diuerse Salisburie of Sarron. causes, which mooue me to coniecture, that Salisburie dooth rather take the first name of Sarron the sonne of the said Magus, than of Cæsar, Caradoc or Seuerus (as some of our writers doo imagine) or else at the least wise of Salisburge of the maine, from whence some Saxons came to inhabit in this land. And for this later not vnlikelie, sith before the comming of the Saxons, the king of the Suessionenses had a great part of this Iland in subiection, as Cæsar saith; and in another place that such of Belgie as stale ouer hither from the maine, builded and called Sarronium.
Sarronsburg. diuerse cities after the names of the same from whence they came, I meane such as stood vpon the coast, as he himselfe dooth witnesse. But sith coniectures are no verities, and mine opinion is but one mans iudgement, I will not stand now vpon the proofe of this matter, least I should séeme to take great paines in adding new coniectures vnto old, in such wise to deteine the heads of my readers about these trifles, that otherwise peraduenture would be farre better occupied in matters of more importance. To procéed therefore. As soone after the first inhabitation of this Iland, our cities began no doubt to be builded and increased, so they ceased not to multiplie from time to time, till the land was throughlie furnished with hir conuenient numbers, whereof some at this present with their ancient names, doo still remaine in knowledge, though diuerse be doubted of, and manie more perished by continuance of time, Greater cities in times past when husbandmen also were citizens. and violence of the enimie. I doubt not also but the least of these were comparable to the greatest of those which stand in our time, for sith that in those daies the most part of the Iland was reserued vnto pasture, the townes and villages either were not at all (but all sorts of people dwelled in the cities indifferentlie, an image of which estate may yet be seene in Spaine) or at the lestwise stood not so thicke, as The cause of the increase of villages. they did afterward in the time of the Romans, but chéefelie after the comming of the Saxons, and after them the Normans, when euerie lord builded a church neare vnto his owne mansion house, and thereto imparted the greatest portion of his lands vnto sundrie tenants, to hold the same of him by coppie of court roll, which rolles were then kept in some especiall place indifferentlie appointed by them and their lord, so that the one could haue no resort vnto them without the other, by which means the number of townes and villages was not a little increased. If anie man be desirous to know the names of those ancient cities, that stood in the time of the Romans, he shall haue them here at hand, in such wise as I haue gathered them out of our writers, obseruing euen their manner of writing of them so neare as to me is possible, without alteration of anie corruption crept vp into the same.
As for Cair Dorme (another whereof I read likewise) it stood somewhere vpon the Nene in Huntingdon shire, but now vnknowne, sith it was twise raced to the ground, first by the Saxons, then by the Danes, so that the ruines thereof are in these daies not extant to be séene. And in like sort I am ignorant where most of them stood, that are noted with the star. I find in like sort mention of a noble citie called Alcluid ouer and beside these afore mentioned, sometime builded by Ebracus of Britaine, as the fame goeth, and finallie destroied by the Danes, about the yeare of Grace 870. It stood vpon the banks of the riuer Cluda, to wit, betwéene it and the blanke on the north, and the Lound lake on the west, and was sometime march betwéene the Britons and the Picts, and likewise the Picts and the Scots; neuerthelesse, the castell (as I heare) dooth yet remaine, and hath béene since well repared by the Scots, and called Dombrittain or Dunbritton, so that it is not an hard matter by these few words to find where Alcluid stood. I could here, if leisure serued, and hast of the printer not require dispatch, deliuer the ancient names of sundrie other townes, of which Stafford in time past was called Stadtford, and therfore (as I gesse) builded or the name altered by the Saxons, Kinebanton now Kimbalton. But if anie man be desirous to sée more of them, let him resort to Houeden in the life of Henrie the second, and there he shall be further satisfied of his desire in this behalfe.
When Albane was martyred Asclepiodotus was legat in Britaine. It should séeme when these ancient cities flourished, that the same towne, which we now call saint Albons, did most of all excell: but chéefelie in the Romans time, and was not onelie nothing inferior to London it selfe, but rather preferred before it, bicause it was newer, and made a Municipium of the Romans, whereas the other was old and ruinous, and inhabited onelie by the Britons, as the most part of the Iland was also in those daies. Good notice hereof also is to be taken by Matthew Paris, and others before him, out of whose writings I haue thought good to note a few things, whereby the maiestie of this ancient citie may appeare vnto posteritie, and the former estate of Verlamcester not lie altogither (as it hath doone hitherto) raked vp in forgetfulnes, through the negligence of such as might haue deserued better of their successours, by leauing the description thereof in a booke by it selfe, sith manie particulars thereof were written to their hands, that now are lost and perished. Tacitus in the fouretéenth booke of his historie maketh mention of it, shewing that in the rebellion of the Britons, the Romans there were miserablie distressed, "Eadem clades" (saith he) "municipio Verolamio fuit." And here vpon Nennius in his catalog of Sullomaca and Barnet all one, or not far in sunder. cities calleth it Cair municip, as I before haue noted. Ptolome speaking of it, dooth place it among the Catyeuchlanes, but Antoninus maketh it one and twentie Italian miles from London, placing Sullomaca nine mile from thence, whereby it is euident, that Sullomaca stood néere to Barnet, if it were not the verie same. Of the old compasse of the walles of Verolamium there is now small knowledge to be had by the ruines, but of the beautie of the citie it selfe you shall partlie vnderstand by that which followeth at hand, after I haue told you for your better intelligence what "Municipium Romanorum" is: for there is great difference betwéene that and "Colonia Romanorum," sith "Colonia aliò traducitur a ciuitate Roma," but "Municipes aliundè in ciuitatem veniunt, suísq; iuribus & legibus viuunt:" moreouer their soile is not changed into the nature of the Romane, but they liue in the stedfast fréendship and protection of the Romans, as did somtime the Ceretes who were the first people which euer obteined that priuilege. The British Verolamians therefore, hauing for their noble seruice in the warres deserued great commendations at the hands of the Romans, they gaue vnto them the whole fréedome of Romans, whereby they were made Municipes, and became more frée in truth than their Colonies could be. To conclude therefore, Municipium is a citie infranchised and indued with Romane priuileges, without anie alteration of hir former inhabitants or priuileges; whereas a Colonie is a companie sent from Rome into anie other region or prouince, to possesse either a citie newlie builded, or to replenish the same from whence hir former citizens haue beene expelled and driuen out. Now to proceed.
In the time of king Edgar it fell out, that one Eldred was abbat there; who being desirous to inlarge that house, it came into his mind to search about in the ruines of Verolamium (which now was ouerthrowne by the furie of the Saxons & Danes) to sée if he might there come by anie curious peeces of worke, wherewith to garnish his building taken in hand. To be short, he had no sooner begun to dig among the rubbis, but he found an excéeding number of pillers, péeces of antike worke, thresholds, doore frames, and sundrie other péeces of fine masonrie for windowes and such like, verie conuenient for his purpose. Of these also some were of porphyrite stone, some of diuerse kinds of marble, touch, and alabaster, beside manie curious deuises of hard mettall, in finding whereof he thought himselfe an happie man, and his successe to be greatlie guided by S. Albane. Besides these also he found sundrie pillers of brasse, and sockets of latton, alabaster and touch, all which he laid aside by great heaps, determining in the end (I saie) to laie the foundation of a new abbaie, but God so preuented his determination, that death tooke him awaie, before his building was begun. After him succéeded one Eadmerus, who followed the dooings of Eldred to the vttermost: and therefore not onlie perused what he had left with great diligence, but also caused his pioners to search yet further, within the old walles of Verolamium, where they not onelie found infinite other péeces of excellent workemanship, but came at the last to certeine vaults vnder the ground, in which stood diuers idols, and not a few altars, verie superstitiouslie and religiouslie adorned, as the pagans left them belike in time of necessitie. These images were of sundrie mettals, and some of pure gold, their altars likewise were richlie couered, all which ornaments Edmerus tooke awaie, and not onelie conuerted them to other vse in his building, but also destroied an innumerable sort of other idols, whose estimation consisted in their formes, and substances could doo no seruise. He tooke vp also sundrie curious pots, iugs, and cruses of stone and wood most artificiallie wrought and carued, and that in such quantitie, besides infinite store of fine houshold stuffe, as if the whole furniture of the citie had béene brought thither of purpose to be hidden in those vaults. In procéeding further, he tooke vp diuerse pots of gold, siluer, brasse, glasse and earth, whereof some were filled with the ashes and bones of the gentils, the mouths being turned downewards (the like of which, but of finer earth, were found in great numbers also of late in a well at little Massingham in Norffolke, of six or eight gallons a péece, about the yeare 1578, and also in the time of Henrie the eight) and not a few with the coines of the old Britons and Romane emperours. All which vessels the said abbat brake into péeces, and melting the mettall, he reserued it in like sort for the garnishing of his church.