Chronicles (1 of 6): The Description of Britaine

by Raphael Holinshed; William Harrison; John Hooker

I could rehearse manie mo examples of the bodies of such men, out of Solinus, Sabellicus, D. Cooper, and others. As of Oetas and Ephialtes, who were said to be nine orgies or paces in heigth, and foure in bredth, which are taken for so many cubits, bicause there is small difference betwéene a mans ordinarie pace and his cubit, and finallie of our Richard the first, who is noted to beare an axe in the wars, the iron of whose head onelie weighed twentie pound after our greatest weight, and whereof an old writer that I haue seene, saith thus:

This king Richard I vnderstand,
Yer he went out of England,
Let make an axe for the nones,
Therewith to cleaue the Saracens bones,
The head in sooth was wrought full weele,
Thereon were twentie pound of steele,
And when he came in Cyprus land,
That ilkon axe he tooke in hand, &c.

I could speake also of Gerards staffe or lance, yet to be seene in Gerards hall at London in Basing lane, which is so great and long that no man can beweld it, neither go to the top thereof without a ladder, which of set purpose and for greater countenance of the wonder is fixed by the same. I haue seene a man my selfe of seuen foot in heigth, but lame of his legs. The chronicles also of Cogshall speake of one in Wales, who was halfe a foot higher, but through infirmitie and wounds not able to beweld himselfe. I might (if I thought good) speake also of another of no lesse heigth than either of these and liuing of late yeares, but these here remembred shall suffice to prooue my purpose withall. I might tell you in like sort of the marke stone which Turnus threw at Æneas, and was such as that twelue chosen and picked men (saith Virgil),
Vis vnita fortior est eadem dispersa.

(Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus)

were not able to stur and remooue out of the place: but I passe it ouer, and diuerse of the like, concluding that these huge blocks were ordeined and created by God: first for a testimonie vnto vs of his power and might; and secondlie for a confirmation, that hugenes of bodie is not to be accompted of as a part of our felicitie, sith they which possessed the same, were not onelie tyrants, doltish, & euill men, but also oftentimes ouercome euen by the weake & feeble. Finallie they were such indéed as in whom the Lord delited not, according to the saieng of the Cap. 3, 36. prophet Baruch; "Ibi fuerunt gigantes nominati, illi qui ab initio fuerunt statura magna, scientes bellum, hos non elegit Dominus, neque illis viam disciplinæ dedit, propterea perierunt, et quoniam non habuerunt sapientiam, interierunt propter suam insipientiam, &c." that is, "There were the giants famous from the beginning, that were of great stature and expert in warre, those did not the Lord choose, neither gaue he the waie of knowledge vnto them, but they were destroied, because they had no wisedome, and perished through their owne foolishnesse." That the bodies of men also doo dailie decaie in stature, beside 4. Esd. cap. 5. Plinie lib. 7. Esdras likewise confesseth lib. 4. cap. 5. whose authoritie is so good herein as that of Homer or Plinie, who doo affirme so much, whereas Goropius still continuing his woonted pertinacitie also in this behalfe, maketh his proportion first by the old Romane foot, and then by his owne, & therevpon concludeth that men in these daies be fullie so great as euer they were, whereby as in the former dealing he thinketh it nothing to conclude against the scriptures, chosen writers and testimonies of the oldest pagans. But see how he would salue all at last in the end of his Gigantomachia, where he saith, I denie not but that od huge personages haue bene seene, as a woman of ten, and a man of nine foot long, which I my selfe also haue beholden, but as now so in old time the common sort did so much woonder at the like as we doo at these, because they were seldome séene, and not commonlie to be heard of.

OF THE LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN THIS ILAND.
CAP. VI.

British. What language came first with Samothes and afterward with Albion, and the giants of his companie, it is hard for me to determine, sith nothing of sound credit remaineth in writing, which may resolue vs in the truth Small difference betweene the British and Celtike languages. hereof. Yet of so much are we certeine, that the speach of the ancient Britons, and of the Celts, had great affinitie one with another, so that they were either all one, or at leastwise such as either nation with small helpe of interpretors might vnderstand other, and readilie discerne what the speaker meant. Some are of the opinion that the Celts spake Greeke, and how the British toong resembled the same, which was spoken in Grecia before Homer did reforme it: but I see that these men doo speake without authoritie and therefore I reiect them, for if the Celts which were properlie called Galles did speake Gréeke, why did Cesar in his letters sent to Rome vse that language, because that if they should be intercepted they might not vnderstand them, or why did he not vnderstand the Galles, he being so skilfull in the language without an interpretor? Yet I denie not but that the Celtish and British speaches might haue great affinitie one with another, and the British aboue all other with the Greeke, for both doo appéere by certeine words, as first in tri for three, march for an horsse, & trimarchia, whereof Pausanias speaketh, for both. Atheneus also writeth of Bathanasius a capitaine of the Galles, whose name is méere British, compounded of Bath & Ynad, & signifieth a noble or comelie iudge. And wheras he saith that the reliques of the Galles tooke vp their first dwelling about Isther, and afterward diuided themselues in such wise, that they which went and dwelled in Hungarie were called Sordsai, and the other that inhabited within the dominion of Tyroll) Brenni, whose seate was on the mount Brenhere parcell of the Alpes, what else signifieth the word Iscaredich in British, from whence the word Scordisci commeth, but to be diuided? Hereby then, and sundrie other the like testimonies, I gather that the British and the Celtish speaches had great affinitie one with another, as I said, which Cesar (speaking of the similitude or likenesse of religion in both nations) doth also auerre, & Tacitus in vita Agricolæ, in like sort plainlie affirmeth, or else it must needs be that the Galles which inuaded Italie and Greece were meere Britons, of whose likenes of speech with the Gréeke toong I need not make anie triall, sith no man (I hope) will readilie denie it. Appianus talking of the Brenni calleth them Cymbres, and by this I gather also that the Celts and the Britons were indifferentlie called Cymbri in their own language, or else that the Britons were the right Cymbri, who vnto this daie doo not refuse to be called by that name. Bodinus writing of the means by which the originall of euerie kingdome and nation is to be had and discerned, setteth downe thrée waies whereby the knowledge thereof is to be found, one is (saith he) the infallible testimonie of the sound writers, the other the description and site of the region, the third the relikes of the ancient speech remaining in the same. Which later if it be of any force, then I must conclude, that the spéech of the Britons and Celts was sometime either all one or verie like one to another, or else it must follow that the Britons ouerflowed the continent vnder the name of Cymbres, being peraduenture associat in this voiage, or mixed by inuasion with the Danes, and Norwegiens, who are called Cymbri and Cymmerij, as most writers doo remember. This also is euident (as Plutarch likewise confesseth In vita Marij) that no man knew from whence the Cymbres came in his daies, and therfore I beleeue that they came out of Britaine, for all the maine was well knowne vnto them, I meane euen to the vttermost part of the north, as may appeare furthermore by the slaues which were dailie brought from thence vnto them, whom of their countries they called Daui for Daci, Getæ for Gothes, &c: for of their conquests I need not make rehearsall, sith they are commonlie knowne and remembred by the writers, both of the Greekes and Latines.

British corrupted by the Latine and Saxon speeches. The British toong called Camberaec dooth yet remaine in that part of the Iland, which is now called Wales, whither the Britons were driuen after the Saxons had made a full conquest of the other, which we now call England, although the pristinate integritie thereof be not a little diminished by mixture of the Latine and Saxon speaches withall. Howbeit, manie poesies and writings (in making whereof that nation hath euermore delited) are yet extant in my time, wherby some difference betwéene the ancient and present language may easilie be discerned, notwithstanding that among all these there is nothing to be found, which can set downe anie sound and full testimonie of their owne originall, in remembrance whereof, their Bards and cunning men haue béene most slacke and negligent. Giraldus in praising the Britons affirmeth that there is not one word in all their language, that is not either Gréeke or Latine. Which being rightly vnderstanded and conferred with the likenesse that was in old time betwéene the Celts & the British toongs, will not a little helpe those that thinke the old Celtish to haue some sauour of the Gréeke. But how soeuer that matter standeth, after the British speach came once ouer into this Iland, sure it is, that it could neuer be extinguished for all the attempts that the Romans, Saxons, Normans, and Englishmen could make against that nation, in anie maner of wise.

The Britons diligent in petigrées. Petigrées and genealogies also the Welsh Britons haue plentie in their owne toong, insomuch that manie of them can readilie deriue the same, either from Brute or some of his band, euen vnto Æneas and other of the Troians, and so foorth vnto Noah without anie maner of stop. But as I know not what credit is to be giuen vnto them in this behalfe, although I must néeds confesse that their ancient Bards were verie diligent in there collection, and had also publike allowance or salarie for the same; so I dare not absolutelie impugne their assertions, sith that in times past all nations (learning it no doubt of the Hebrues) did verie solemnelie preserue the catalogs of their descents, thereby either to shew themselues of ancient and noble race, or else to be descended from some one of the gods. But