A Manual of British and Irish History

Front matter

A MANUAL OF BRITISH AND IRISH HISTORY A MANUAL OF BRITISH & IRISH HISTORY; ILLUSTRATED WITH ittap0, <£ngr<ibuttj0, AND STATISTICAL, CHRONOLOGICAL, & GENEALOGICAL TABLES. BY THE REV. THOS. FLANAGAN, Professor at St. Mary's College, Oscott. " What is it that hath been ? the same thing that shall be." Eccles. i. 9. LONDON: T. JONES, 63, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND WRIGHTSON & WEBB, NEW STREET, BIRMINGHAM. 1847. Printed by J. & H. Cox, Brothers, 74 & 75, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn Fields. TO THE REV. JOHN LINGARD, D.D., THE jfollottiiitg irllanual IS DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, AS AN HUMBLE TRIBUTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND RESPECT.

Preface

. The object of the present volume will require but little ex planation : it is, to supply what is believed to be an acknowledged deficiency. We already possess, it is true, several histories of England written by Catholics; and those of Miss Young, Mylius, and Mrs. St. George, have earned, as they deserve, the approbation and gratitude of the Catholic public. To keep pace, however, with the increase of historical research and accuracy, as well as to insure a due pre paration for the London University, something more, at least for collegiate purposes, was still a requisite. Sadler's abridgment of Lingard was therefore eagerly welcomed. Unfortunately its useful ness was found to be impaired by the omission of the chapter on the manners and customs of the Anglo-Saxons, and by the partial omission of similar notices in other parts of the work.

In consequence, chiefly, of such omissions, it became necessary to adopt other means of conveying instruction : it was felt in several, and probably in all, the colleges, that a text-book was still wanting. The students had either to be taught with much additional cost, both of time and labour, from the notes and lectures of their pro fessors, or to adopt as their manual, Keightley's History of England, a work replete with details, but displaying prejudices, not only shocking, but almost incredible. The former alternative could be justified only by necessity ; the latter was not to be endured : why not then publish the notes that had been collected in the course of our teaching, and publish them in such a form as might be available to all the colleges, and to the Catholic public in general ?

Failure in such an attempt could hardly be discreditable, and would be worth the risk were it only to provoke to a more successful exertion. Such was the course of reasoning that led to the publication of the present manual.

PREFACE.

. The reader will perceive that it is greatly indebted to the researches of Dr. Lingard. Many other modern works, however, have been put under contribution , and amongst the rest Palgrave's Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth, Thierry's Norman Conquest, Hallam's Constitutional History, Lord Mahon's England, Alison, Tytler, Plowden, Lanigan, Madden and Petrie ; and for some interesting details of manners and customs, Brand, Meyrick, Strutt, and the Pictorial History of England. The contemporary historians, on the other hand, have not been overlooked ; and on some points, as the lives and times of St. Anselm and St. Thomas of Canterbury, and the state of the Church in the thirteenth century, as well as for some portions of the seventh, eleventh, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, have been almost exclusively followed.* The arrangement would perhaps appear more systematic had the materials been grouped together under the various heads of civil and military events ; constitution and laws ; literature ; and the manners and customs of the people.

Such a plan, however, would involve much repetition, and after additional labour on the part of the student, would probably leave on his mind only a disjointed impression. It has, therefore been thought preferable to interweave the events, as nearly as possi ble, in their natural order. The literature of history is often useful ; and for those that would refer to the original sources, is indispensable. A brief literary introduction has, therefore, been appended. It has been compiled from Ware, Nicolson, Dibdin, Lappenberg, Wright, and the prefaces to the various editions of the ancient writers. The work, having been written, and the printing corrected, under the pressure of other occupations, will no doubt contain some inaccuracies, and perhaps some minor omissions ; with respect to these, the writer trusts that he will find indulgence.

If, sometimes, his views appear distorted, he hopes that it will, at least, be found, that the facts themselves are fairly stated. St. Mary's College, Oscott, June 15, 1847. * The reader that is inclined to doubt the correctness of the view taken of the thirteenth century, will find the question more fully stated by the author, and some of the authorities produced, in an article in the Dublin Review (No. XXXIV.—" The Church and Empire in the Thirteenth Century "). The history of the Ancient Britons is necessarily imperfect. Till its close we have no native authorities, while the few coins that are called British have but few legible inscriptions, and are mostly of doubtful authenticity. In the works of Pliny, the naturalist, of the two geographers, Strabo and Ptolemy, and of a few other writers, we find occasional notices of the early trade, produce, and geographical divisions of the island.

Our principal guides, however, are Cæsar and Tacitus. The former describes the state of the country at the time of his invasion. His knowledge of the Britons, acquired during two harassing campaigns, cannot be expected to prove either sound or extensive ; while his love of fame ought to render us cautious when listening to his account of his own exploits. Tacitus, who lived at the end of the first and beginning of the second centuries, describes the progress and completion of the Roman conquest. Much of what he wrote he undoubtedly learned from the lips of his father-in-law, the renowned Agricola. Suetonius, Dion Cassius, and several other authors, both Greek and Roman, refer to the same period. The fortunes of Britain when, at length, reduced to a Roman province, become still more obscure : we depend almost entirely upon the incidental notices of Ammianus Marcellinus, Zozimus, and such others as chose to bestow their attention upon so distant and unim portant a province.

St. Gildas, a British monk of Bangor, in the sixth century, witnessed the struggle between the natives and Saxons. The brief account (De Excidio Britt.) which he has furnished is not so much a history as an expression of bitter grief for the crimes and misfortunes of his country. The narrative (Historia Britonum) of Nennius, a Welsh monk of the ninth century, although confused and mutilated, should not be over looked ; it probably embodies the chief traditions of the Ancient Britons. In his chronology, Nennius followed Eusebius, although he seems to have used a mutilated or unfaithful copy. Saxons. — The description of the Cimbri by Pliny and Tacitus is perhaps equally applicable to most of the northern Germans. The Ecclesiastical History of Venerable Bede, from the invasion of Julius Cæsar to the year 731.

The scanty Chronicle of Ethelwerd a X the Ealdorman. Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Charters, Biographies, and Epistles, still exist in abundance. The grotesque imagery that borders the illuminated MSS. is invaluable for the insight into the customs of the age which it everywhere affords. Welsh or later British Writers. — Jeffrey ap Arthur, better known from the place of his birth, as Geoffrey of Monmouth, was born probably before the close of the eleventh century, and a little before his death became bishop of St. Asaph's. His friend, Walter Calenius, archdeacon of Oxford, brought over from Brittany some of the romantic histories, or rather traditions, of that country, and requested Geoffrey to translate them. Soon after he was asked by Alexander, the bishop of Lincoln, to translate Merlin's Pro phecies.

Geoffrey took a singular way of complying with both requests at once, by blending all the works together, in what he entitled his " Historia Britonum." This work is a good specimen of the Latinity of the age. As, however, it consists in great measure, of traditions which are sometimes wild to excess, and are generally thrown together without any kind of method, it is no wonder that many have rejected his authority, and that some, like William of Newburgh, have uttered their indignant protest against the presumption, that could dignify with the name of history, an undigested mass of intermingled truth and fable. After all, we may yet believe with Lappenberg, that some portions of Geoffrey's History are strictly true, being supported by earlier writings, of which some are still extant. In support of this asser tion, Lappenberg tells us that " Eumenius is the only one of the ancients extant, who gives the circumstances of the destruction of Allectus, with whose account Jeffrey of Monmouth agrees so closely, that we must suppose this extraordinary writer to have used ancient works no longer in existence."

Among the earliest of those that made extracts from Geoffrey, are Odericus Vitalis, and Alured, of Beverley. The latter does not conceal his doubts of the cre dibility of the " Historia Britonum." Nicolson tells us that Geoffrey was long disappointed of the bishopric of St. Asaph's, and therefore attacked with bitterness every thing Welsh. The edition of Geoffrey, by Parker, is considered extremely faulty. Girald Barri, better known as Giraldus Cambrensis, was the fourth son of a powerful Norman baron, settled in South Wales. He was born about 1146, and became archdeacon of Brecknock. He accompanied Prince John to Ireland in 1185, and during a few months' stay in that country, collected materials for a description of the country. These he digested into a work in three parts, called " Topographia Hiberuia."

Having completed it in 1187, he gave three magnificent entertainments to the city and university of Oxford, on successive days, and on each day recited one part of his Topography. The first and second parts are filled with some descriptions of the country and its animals, and still more with its wonderful sights and productions, including not a few of its legends, and thus furnishing no scanty contribution to our knowledge of Irish fairy-mythology. The last part contains an account of the peopling of the island, and of its manners and general history. From the birth and position of Giraldus, and from the weakness of his judgment, so often displayed in the puerile self-commendations of his autobiography, we could hardly expect impartiality, even where he had full means of information. If he were not employed by Henry to vilify the state of the Irish church, as some have asserted he was, certainly he was not the man to sacrifice his hopes of royal favour to the impartial discharge of an historian's duty.

On the other hand, it must be remembered that he warns his readers in the Introduction to his Hibernia Expugnata, that he doubts and even disbelieves some of the statements in his work. Among his other productions may be mentioned his Topography and Itinerary of Wales, which display the same characteristics, and especially the same love of marvellous traditions, as his works upon Ireland. He lived long enough to aid, by his writings, the barons, who rebelled against John, and called in Louis of France. In the seventeenth century, Lynch, the learned Vicar- Apostolic of Killala, wrote his Cambrensis Eversus, in answer to Giraldus. Upon this attempted refutation, Lingard remarks : " I have attentively perused the Cambrensis Eversus of Lynch, a work of much learning and ingenuity. In several instances he may have overturned the statements of Girald ; in the more important points he has completely failed."

The chief of the remaining native authorities for Welsh history are, the Chronicle of Caradoc, a monk of Llancarvan, which is based upon the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and some earlier Welsh annalists ; the Cronicon Walliæ, from A.D. 444 to 954, and continued under the title of Cronicon Cambriæ, to 1286 : and the Chronicle of the Princes of Wales, which, to the end of the ninth century, seems no more than a translation of the Cronicon Walliæ, and which ends with the conquest of Wales by Edward I. Anglo-Saxon Writers.— Venerable Bede. Of this learned and saintly monk some account may be found in page 53. His Ecclesiastical History of Britain extends from the coming of the Romans, to the year 731, four years before the death of the saint, and is written in a clear and familiar style. For the first twenty-two chapters he is indebted to Orosius,* Gildas, and others ; but the bulk of the work is compiled from the traditions, oral statements, and epistles of the princes, abbots, bishops, and popes, whose names he mentions.

This history affords an insight even into secular affairs ; and not only into those of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, but also of the Irish or Scots, and Picts. His notices of the remote kingdom of Wessex are necessarily less complete than those of the northern states. Besides his great work, he wrote two lives of St. Cuthbert, one in hexameter verse ; a History of Five * A Spanish priest of the fifth century, who, at the request of St. Augustine, compiled an epitome of ancient history to A.D. 416. literary introduction. Abbots of Wearmouth, and a short Chronicle of the Six Ages of the World, "the Seventh being that of Repose and Celestial Life." This Chronicle has served as the groundwork of many subsequent compilations. The best editions of the Ecclesiastical History are those of Wyse, printed at Oxford, and of Smith, printed at Cam bridge, both in the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Stevenson has lately edited an edition of the historical works of the venerable monk of Jarrow, for the Royal Historical Society ; and Dr. Giles has published an edition of all his works. Though both these editions are extremely useful, opinions seem to be divided with respect to their degree of merit. The Saxon Chronicle extends from A.D. 449 to about 1154. It has been deemed by some the work of the monks of Peterborough ; but it appears to have been in reality a series of chronicles, written at different periods, and is thought by Lappenberg to exhibit traces of different dialects, as if written in different monasteries. That part of the Chronicle that extends from A.D. 449 to 597, contains valuable notices of Wessex, and therefore supplies, in some degree, the omissions of Venerable Bede.

Two of the manuscripts used by Ingram contain also the annals of the monastery of Abingdon, and of the cathedral of Worcester. From A.D. 851 to 887 it has many extracts from Asser's Life of Alfred. For about three centuries after the death of St. Bede the Saxon Chronicle is the only contemporary authority. Its notices are brief and undi gested. The short Chronicle of the Ealdorman Ethelwerd, ending with the year 975, is in great measure only a Latin translation of the Saxon Chronicle. It is one of the few works of that early period, that was not written by an ecclesiastic. The Encomiast of Emma contains some useful matter for the close of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty. Of the numerous lives of saints that throw considerable light upon history, we will only men tion those of St. Wilfrid, by his friend Eddius, and of St. Dunstan, by Bridferth, a contemporary.

Both lives are exact and impartial. Writers after the Norman Conquest. — 1. Ingulf (born A.D. 1030 ; died 1109) was an Anglo-Saxon, who became secretary to William the Conqueror, and afterwards abbot of Croy land. His History of the Abbots of Croyland exists only in the collections of Savile and Fell : no manuscript is known. The work, as thus printed, abounds with inaccuracies, both of fact and date. In some parts it agrees with William of Malmesbury, even to his mistakes. From this circumstance some have hastily concluded, that Ingulfs History is not genuine ; but of this supposition, the continuation of Ingulf by Peter of Blois in the twelfth century, is a sufficient refutation. Aware of this, Lappenberg takes a middle path, and supposes that the work published by Savile and Gale is not the real work of Ingulf, but a compilation from it, made at a very early period.

Lingard says, "that the History of Ingulf could not have come from his pen in the state in which we have it now, is plain. The original must have been adulterated with the interpolations of some later writers." The Cronicon Lambardi contains a useful contemporary record of the events of the latter part of the eleventh century. Osbern, a native and monk of Canterbury, is said, by William of Malmesbury, to have excelled all his contemporaries in his skill in music. His principal works are the lives of many of the Anglo- Saxon saints, among which that of St. Dunstan is perhaps the most famous. The Life of Edward the Confessor, ascribed to Osberu, is still in MS. in Corpus Christi college, Cambridge. He is deficient in judgment. He died about A.D. 1100. Florence of Worcester (died A.D. 1118) compiled a chronicle from the creation to the year of his own death.

He has interwoven with the general history of Marianus Scotus, a very faithful translation of some portions of the Saxon Chronicle, together with extracts from St. Bede and Asser, some genealogies, and various original notices. The work was ably continued by another monk of Worcester to the year 1141. The work of Florence appears to form the groundwork of that of Simeon, the precentor of St. Cuthbert's, Durham. Simeon, however, has inserted some useful information respecting Scotland and Northumbria. His History of the Church of Durham extends from A.D. 848 to 1129, the time, probably, of Simeon's death. His History of the Kings of the Angles (from A.D. 616 to 957) contains still more of the northern history ; but it is considered by Nicolson to be much inferior to his History of the Church of Durham.

Lappenberg supposes that, as far as the year 1097, the latter is only transcribed by Simeon, and that its real author was Prior Turgot, who in 1108 was consecrated bishop of St. Andrew's. Eadmer (died probably A.D. 1124), probably an Englishman, was a monk of Canterbury. He was the friend of St. Anselm, and the companion of his exile. His style is simple, his manner calm and interesting. He is highly esteemed by the best critics. His most valuable works are his History of his own Times (" Historia Novo rum ") and his Life of St. Anselm. These are the chief authorities for the greater part of the reigns, both of William Rufus and Henry I. He has also written the lives of three archbishops of Canterbury, — Saints Odo, Dunstan, and Bregwin ; and of two of York, — Saints Oswald and Wilfrid ; as well as the life of St. Peter, the African, the first abbot of St. Augustine.

These are useful and edifying works ; but they have not the value of contemporary documents. Ernulf, bishop of Rochester (died about A.D. 1124), collected a body of Anglo-Saxon Charters, relating to his see. This valuable work embodies a great number of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman laws, beside other important historical matter. It is known as the Textus Roffensis. It is printed by itself, and may likewise be found in D'Archery's Spicilegium. Odericus Vitalis, the author of an Ecclesiastical History, in thirteen a literary introduction. books, was born near Shrewsbury in 1075 : his father was a native of Orleans. In his tenth year, Odericus was removed to Nor mandy ; but returned to England several times in the course of his life, visiting, among other places, both Croyland and Worcester, — visits which of themselves, considering the distance of the places and the rate of travelling, would give an observer no slight acquaintance with the general state of the country.

His Ecclesiastical History is a general history of the Church, from the birth of Christ to A.D. 1141, and contains the wars of the Normans in France, England, and Apulia, and ample information of most of the Norman and English bishoprics and monasteries. He is indebted for some portions to William of Poitou. The style is clear and vigorous, but the treatment wants method ; and its great value is somewhat diminished by the inaccuracy of its dates and minor details. " All panegyric, or all satire," is the severe judgment passed on Odericus by Nicolson. William of Malmesbury, an English monk of both Norman and Anglo-Saxon blood (died about A.D. 1142), is one of the few writers of the earlier part of the middle ages, who have abandoned the chronological order, to shew more clearly and forcibly the con nection of events.

He shared in the universal European fame enjoyed by Venerable Bede, and, though for very different reasons, by Geoffrey of Monmouth. His works are the Acts of the English Kings ; the Acts of the English Bishops ; and a History of his own Times (" His toriæ Novellæ "). In his History of the Civil Wars in the reign of Stephen, it must be borne in mind that William's patron was the earl of Gloucester, the rival of Stephen. It is true that he is still generally impartial; but few men can preserve the integrity of history when they record the deeds of an admired patron. Ailred, Ealred, or Ethelred, an abbot of Rievaulx, in Yorkshire, in the twelfth century, has collected short genealogical notices of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and a more ample account, or rather eulogy of David I. of Scotland. He has also written a life of Edward the Confessor, &c. Henry, archdeacon of Huntingdon (died about A.D. 1160), wrote an English history from the landing of Julius Cæsar to A.D. 1135.

This work is continued in the printed edition to A.D. 1154, and in manuscript to 1275. His chronology and genealogy are very confused, and he seems fond to excess of traditionary lore. In conformity with this bias, he has inserted large portions of Nennius's fables. His lively battle-pieces are generally taken from old poems. It may be remarked that he differs greatly in his account of Edwy from all previous historians that are now extant. Whether he had any authority for his statement cannot now be ascertained ; and, therefore, of course, even without considering Huntingdon's known love of the romantic, credit must be given, not to him, but to Edwy's contemporaries. Alured, or Alfred, a monk and treasurer of Beverley Minster in the middle of the twelfth century. The original matters contained in his annals are very trifling : they are compiled from Venerable Bede, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Simeon of Durham, occasionally from Florence of Worcester's continuator, and even, though more rarely, from the Saxon Chronicle.

Hugo Candidus was sub-prior of the abbey of Peterborough. His history of the abbey, from its foundation to a little before his own death (probably about A.D. 1160), is preserved in the "Liber Swaffham " in the present archives of the cathedral. It is compiled partly from the Saxon Chronicle and partly from local authorities, which are no longer extant. William, a monk of Newbury (A.D. 1136 — 1208), and a native of Bridlington, in Yorkshire, wrote, at the request of his patron the abbot of Byland, a history of England from the Conquest to the year 1197. The part that refers to the Norman kings is very brief: that which relates to Stephen, Henry II., and Richard, is much more ample. This work is not unworthy of the age of William of Malmesbury and Eadmer ; and is peculiarly valuable for the history of the North, and particularly for that of Yorkshire.

Benedict, abbot of Peterborough, after having been a monk of Canterbury, became chancellor of England, and died September, 1193. His Life and Acts of Henry II. and Richard I. extends from A.D. 1170 to 1192. It is a careful and laborious compilation, and abounds with official documents. Roger de Hoveden, probably a native of Hoveden or Howden, in Yorkshire. With the exception of epistles and some other valuable documents, his " Annals " are copied in the early part, from Simeon of Durham, from A.D. 1122 to 1143, from Henry of Huntingdon ; and in the later periods, from Benedict of Peterborough, and a few others. His work closes with the year 1201 : it seldom contains a reflection, or an epithet, but is a crowd of facts and dates. The Flowers of History (" Flores Historiarum "), are an anonymous work attributed to Matthew, a monk of Westminster Abbey.

As their name indicates, they are a collection of other histories, either abridged or copied verbatim. A few of the works from which it was thus taken having perished, the Flores have a corresponding degree of value ; but as most of such works are still in existence, the Flores, after all, are of little importance, except for some events in the north. The dates are extremely erroneous. John Wallingford, abbot of St. Alban's (died A.D. 1214), is described by Matthew of Paris as a learned man, and is the sup posed author of a chronicle (from about A.D. 449 to his own times), the earlier part of which Gale has printed. In several parts of the work, there are some rude attempts at criticism. The work is principally composed from the History of the Normans, by William of Jumieges, and in some degree from Dudo de St. Quentin, and from lives of saints.* It contains, however, some account of the north of England, which is not to be found elsewhere. * Among the Continental writers frequently copied by native chroniclers, are Bonoit de Sainte-Maur ; Master Gaimar, who often quotes, but generally misin- LITERARY

Introduction

. Serlo. Of the various writers of this name, one, a monk of Fountains, and afterwards of Kirkstall, wrote a poem or chant upon the Battle of the Standard ; and another is mentioned as the writer of a history of Fountains, of which he himself was abbot. Richard of Devizes, a monk of St. Swithin's, Winchester, wrote a history of the beginning of Richard I.'s reign (from A.D. 1189 to 1192). Valuable : rather affected in its style. Geoffrey, a monk of Coldingham, in Scotland, which was a cell of Durham, wrote a history of the Church of Durham, from A.D. 1152 to 1214. He died soon after. Wharton and the Surtees Society have both published his work. Gervase, a monk of Christchurch, Canterbury, wrote several treatises connected with the history of the Church of Canterbury, and a valuable chronicle of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II., and Richard I. He also wrote a topographical description of England, divided into counties, with the sees and monasteries of each county : this is still in manuscript.

Gervase died probably in the earlier part of the reign of John. Although not always impartial, he has earned the character of a judicious and able " antiquarian." Radulf de Diceto, after travelling over the greater part of Europe, became dean of London, and wrote (about A.D. 1210) "Abridg ments of the Chronicles, and Images of History." The Abridg ments extend from the Creation to A.D. 1147; the Images from A.D. 1147 to the close of the century. Several other historical treatises were written by him, and published in Wharton's Anglia Sacra. His works are in great measure what they profess to be, mere abridgments ; but occasionally they afford an ample insight into the state of the Church in England. Roger de Wendover, a monk of St. Alban's (died A.D. 1237), wrote a " Chronicle or Flowers of History," from the Creation to A.D. 1235.

The greater part, of course, he has compiled from others, from Josephus, Methodius, St. Jerome, Marianus Scotns, the Byzan tine Historians, Venerable Bede, William of Malmesbury, Florence of Worcester, and Henry of Huntingdon. As his method of com piling is to copy passages almost word for word, his style, of course, is that of the author whom he is copying ; and that author, too, is the only voucher* for the genuineness of the material. In that portion of his history which includes his own life there is a marked distinction : of his character in this, the most valuable part of his work, let us hear the opinion of Coxe, Wendover's talented editor : " There is a plain, straightforward simplicity in what he says, cou pled with a fearless exposure of injustice and crime, that must gain for him the credit of impartiality from his readers ; whilst, at the same time, there is a kindliness of feeling evident throughout that terprets, the Saxon Chronicle ; Robert Wace, whose " Brut," and " Roman de Rou," contain much useful matter in the midst of much Norman prejudice ; and William of Poitou, archdeacon of Lisieux, whose work is extremely valuable, but whose unceasing desire to imitate Sallust, makes him sometimes forget that fidelity and perspicuity ought never to be sacrificed to a well-balanced period. does him credit.

In his History of the Life of John there is no indulgence in unnecessary abuse Neither as regards the style of the two historians, can I agree with the editor of Matthew Paris, in considering him as 'comptior ' or ' Latinior,' than our chronicler. On the contrary, we might safely affirm, that, where Paris deviates from the text of Wendover, his alterations are for the most part to a more bald and inelegant reading." After all, Wendover's account of the reign of John has been pronounced by Lingard as " very imperfect." Matthew of Paris, a monk of St. Alban's, patronized by Henry III. (died between A.D. 1250 and 1259). A chronicle of most for midable dimensions has passed current under his name from the days of Archbishop Parker almost to the present time. The far greater part, however, is no other than a copy of Wendover, slightly altered in some places, and continued from A.D. 1235 to within a short time previous to the death of Paris.