ANCIENT FVNERALL MONVMENTS WITHIN THE VNITED MONARCHIE OF GREAT Britaine , Ireland , and the Islands adiacent , with the dissolued Monasteries therein contained : their Founders , and what eminent Persons haue beene in the same interred .

AS ALSO THE DEATH AND BVRIALL OF CERTAINE OF THE Bloud Royall ; the Nobilitie and Gentrie of these Kingdomes entombed in forraine Nations .

A worke reuiuing the dead memory of the Royall Progenie , the Nobilitie , Gentrie , and Communaltie , of these his Maiesties Dominions .

Intermixed and illustrated with variety of Historicall obseruations , annotations , and briefe notes , extracted out of approued Authors , infallible Records , Lieger Bookes , Charters , Rolls , old Manuscripts , and the Collections of iudicious Antiquaries .

Whereunto is prefixed a Discourse of Funerall Monuments . Of the Foundation and fall of Religious Houses . Of Religious Orders . Of the Ecclesiasticall estate of England . And of other occurrences touched vpon by the way , in the whole passage of these intended labours .

Composed by the Studie and Trauels of IOHN WEEVER .

LONDON , Printed by THOMAS HARPER . 1631.

And are to be sold by Laurence Sadler at the signe of the Golden Lion in little Britaine .

TO THE SACRED AND IMPERIALL MAIESTIE OF OVR DREAD SOVERAIGNE , THE MOST MAGNIFICENT , ILLVSTRIOVS , AND PVISSANT MONARCH , CHARLES : BY THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE , OF GREAT BRITAINE , FRANCE , IRELAND , AND MANY ILANDS , KING .

THE MOST POWERFVLL PROTECTOR OF THE FAITH : THE MOST ROYALL PATRON , PRESERVER , AND FOSTERER OF THE VNDOVBTED RELIGION OF IESVS CHRIST .

THE PATTERNE OF TRVE PIETIE , AND IVSTICE , AND THE PRESIDENT OF ALL PRINCELY VERTVES .

HIS HIGHNESSE MOST LOWLY , AND MOST LOYALL SVBIECT IOHN WEEVER , IN ALL HVMILITY , CONSECRATETH THESE HIS LABOVRS : THOVGH FARRE VNWORTHY THE VIEW OF SO RESPLENDANT A GREATNESSE .

HAuing seene ( iudicious Reader how carefully in other Kingdomes , the Monuments of the dead are preserued , and their Inscriptions or Epitaphs registred in their Church-Bookes ; and hauing read the Epitaphs of Italy , France , Germany , and other Nations , collected and put in print by the paines of Schraderus , Chytraeus , Swertius , and other forraine Writers . And also knowing withall how barbarously within these his Maiesties Dominions , they are ( to the shame of our time ) broken downe , and vtterly almost all ruinated , their brasen Inscriptions erazed , torne away , and pilfered , by which inhumane , deformidable act , the honourable memory of many vertuous and noble persons deceased , is extinguished , and the true vnderstanding of diuers Families in these Realmes ( who haue descended of these worthy persons aforesaid ) is so darkened , as the true course of their inheritance is thereby partly interrupted : grieuing at this vnsufferable iniurie offered as well to the liuing , as the dead , out of the respect I bore to venerable Antiquity , and the due regard to continue the remembrance of the defunct to future posteritie ; I determined with my selfe to collect such memorials of the deceased , as were remaining as yet vndefaced ; as also to reuiue the memories of eminent worthy persons entombed or interred , either in Parish , or in Abbey Churches ▪ howsoeuer some of their Sepulchres are at this day no where to be discerned ; neither their bones and ashie remaines in any place to bee gathered . Whereupon with painefull expences ( which might haue beene well spared perhaps you will say ) I trauailed ouer the most parts of all England , and some part of Scotland ; I collected the Funerall Inscriptions of all the Cathedrall Churches of the one , and in some of the other , and euer by the way gathered such as I found in Parochiall Churches ▪ I likewise tooke view of many ancient Monuments not inscribed , demanding of the Church officers , or others the inhabitants , for whom such and such Tombes or Sepulchres were made and erected , which was told me according to that truth which was deliuered vnto them by tradition : after all this scrutinie , finding so few , or none at all in many Churches ( time , the malignitie of wicked people , and our English profane tenacitie , hauing quite taken them away for lucre sake ) I was altogether discouraged to proceede any further in this my laborious and expencefull enterprise ; vntill I came casually into the acquaintance of my deare deceased friend , Augustine Vincent , Esquire , Windsor Herald , & keeper of the Records in the Tower , who perswaded me to goe forward as I had begun , and withall gaue me many Church-Collections , with diuers memorable Notes , and Copies of Records , gathered by himselfe and others ; and by his meanes I had free accesse to the Heralds Office , to write out such antiquities as I could there finde for my purpose .

But aboue all , I am most bound to loue the foresaid Vincents memory , for that he made me knowne to that honourable Gentleman Sir Robert Cotton , Knight and Baronet ; who forthwith apprehending the scope and drift of this my Argument ( his generous disposition being alwaies ready to afford his best furtherance to other mens industrious labours ) gaue me his able directions , and withall , lent me out of his inestimable Librarie , such Bookes and Manuscripts as were most fitting for my vse .

But alas , this worthy repairer of eating-times ruines , this Philadelphus , in preseruing old Monuments , and ancient Records : this Magazin , this Treasurie , this Store-house of Antiquities , Sir Robert Cotton , is now lately deceased , whose excellent good parts are well conceiued in a Funerall Elegie which hath happily come into my hands , and which I thinke fitting here to be inserted .

He died at his house in Westminster the sixt of May , about ten of the clocke in the forenoone , Anno 1631. being aged , threescore yeares , three moneths , and some few odde dayes : He tooke to wife Elizabeth , one of the daughters and heires of William Brocas Esquire , by whom hee had issue , onely one Sonne , Sir Thomas Cotton Baronet , now liuing ; who married Margaret , Daughter of the Lord William Howard , grandchild to Thomas Duke of Norfolke , by whom hee hath issue , one Sonne , named Iohn , and two Daughters , Lucie and Francis .

But to returne : I haue had many helpes , I confesse , from Sir Henry Spelman , Knight , and Iohn Selden Esquire , the most learned Antiquaries now liuing of our times : nor haue the helpes beene few which I haue long receiued from the well furnisht , and daily increasing Librarie of Sir Simonds D'Ewes Knight , whose iudicious directions , and ready assistance , were as often vouchsafed vnto mee , as I had occasion to request , and whose long studied , and still intended labours for the publique good , though in another kinde , may in due time make his memory and themselues deare vnto posteritie : Diuers of the Heralds haue much furthered these my intended designes ; namely , Sir Richard , and Sir Henry Saint George , Knights ▪ Iohn Philipot , and William Le Neue , Esquires , which I shall euer acknowledge , as occasion presents it selfe .

Venerable Bede , when hee compiled the Chronicles of the English Saxons , had all the helpe that might be of the Bishops and learned men of this Land . Cymbertus wrote vnto him all that was done in Lincolnshire : Nothelmus also sent vnto him all that he had gathered together in Sussex , Surrey , and Kent . Alcuinus gaue him his labours and collections for the Prouince of Yorke . Daniel of Winchester made him priuie of all that was done amongst the west Saxons : And from all other quarters of the Land , were Letters , Scrowles , and writings , directed vnto him by messengers , to aide and assist him in his enterprise , as he doth himselfe acknowledge in his Epistle Dedicatory to Ceolnulph , King of the Northumbers .

Now generous Reader , as hee had these helpes for the perfecting of his Ecclesiasticall Historie , and as I haue had the acceptable assistance of many of my good friends , studious in this kinde , for the finishing of this first part , and the rest of the worke now in hand , which is already in a good forwardnesse , let me intreate thy furtherance in the same thus farre , that , in thy neighbouring Churches , if thou shalt finde any ancient funerall Inscriptions , or antique obliterated Monuments , thou wouldst be pleased to copie out the one , and take so much relation of the other as tradition can deliuer ; as also to take the Inscriptions and Epitaphs vpon Tombes and Grauestones which are of these times ; and withall to take order that such thy collections , notes , and obseruations may come safely to my hands ; and I shall rest euer obliged to acknowledge thy paines and curtesie .

And I would earnestly desire the Tombe-makers of this Citie of London , and elsewhere , that they would be so carefull of posteritie , as to preserue in writing the Inscriptions or Epitaphs which they daily engraue vpon Funerall Monuments , from whom I shall expect the like kindnesse , and to whom I will euer remaine alike thankfull . For , I intend , God willing , hereafter to publish to the view of the world , as well the moderne , as the ancient memorialls of the dead throughout all his Maiesties foresaid Dominions , if God spare me life ; if not , it is enough for me to haue begun , as Camden saith in his Epistle to the Reader of his booke Britannia , and I haue gained as much as I looke for , if I shall draw others , when I am dead , into this argument ; whose inquisitiue diligence and learning , may finde out more , and amend mine .

It may seeme , peraduenture , vnpleasing to some , for that I do speake so much of , and extoll the ardent pietie of our forefathers in the erecting of Abbeyes , Priories , and such like sacred Foundations .

To the which I answer with Camden , that I hold it not fit for vs to forget , that our Ancestours were , and we are of the Christian profession , and that there are not extant any other more conspicuous and certaine Monuments of their zealous deuotion towards God , then these Monasteries with their endowments , for the maintenance of religious persons , neither any other seed-plots besides these , from whence Christian Religion and good literature were propagated ouer this our Island . Neither is there any other act of pietie more acceptable in the sight of Almighty God , then that of building Churches , Oratories , and such like sacred edifices , for the true seruice of his heauenly Maiestie .

Ethelbert the first Christian King of Kent , hauing built S. Pauls Church London , and diuers other Churches and religious structures , as I shew hereafter , is thus commended to posteritie by this Epitaph following , which passed with applause no question in those dayes .

The pious care likewise and gracious intention of our late Lord and Soueraigne King Iames of famous memory , had , for the repairing of the foresaid Church of Saint Paul , and the earnest desire and purpose , which our dread Lord and Soueraigne now hath ( proceeding out of his zeale to Gods glory and his diuine worship ) for the repairing and vpholding , as his Father intended , of that venerable large Fabricke and goodly Pyle of building , will be had in remembrance to all generations , and their names will be registred in the booke of the liuing .

And the munificent allowance towards the said worke from William Laud , now Lord Bishop of London , of one hundred pounds by the yeare , while he doth contiune there Bishop , shall be commended , and had in remembrance of all his Successours for euer .

It may , perhaps , bee distastfull to some for that I write so fully of the fall and backsliding of Religious Persons from their primitiue zealous ardour of piety , making that the maine cause of the dissolution of Abbeyes : which I doe , for that some are of opinion , that because many of these Monasteries were built vpon the occasion of rapine and bloud , the Founders thereby thinking to expiate their guilt , and make satisfaction for their sinnes ( an errour in point of Diuinitie ) these sacred structures howsoeuer consecrated to the seruice of Almighty God , could not stand fast , nor continue in one and the same state for many ages ; therefore I thinke it meete and expedient to discouer and lay open to the world , the manifold enormities of the professed votaries residing in such religious foundations ; that it may euidently appeare that it was not the sinnes of the Founders ( of whose pious intentions we ought to haue a more reuerend opinion ) that their donations were of no longer continuance but that the delinquencies of the religious Orders themselues , were the sole cause of their owne vtter subuersion .

I may , perhaps , be sound fault withall , because I doe not chorographically and according as Churches stand , neare or further remote in one and the same Lath hundred or wapentack , emprint and place the Funerall Monuments in this my booke ; but slip sometimes from one side of a County to another before I emprint and Epitaph . To which giue me leaue to make this answer , that hauing found one or two ancient Funerall inscriptions , or obliterated Sepulchers , in this or that Parish Church , I haue ridden to ten Parish Churches distant from that , and not found one . Besides I haue beene taken vp in diuers Churches by the Churchwardens of the Parish , and not suffered to write the Epitaphs , or to take view of the Monuments as I much desired , for that I wanted a Commission ; which would greatly haue encouraged me ( and still it would ) as that of Henry the eight did Iohn Leyland , in the prosequution of this businesse .

I conclude the Epitaphs and Funerall inscriptions in this booke as I finde them engrauen , with a cuius anime propitietur Deus : or with God pardon his soule ; which some may say might haue beene as well left out of my booke , as they are in many places scraped out of the brasse : And I write the Latine in the same manner as I finde it either written or imprinted , as capud for caput , nichil for nihil , and the like ; as also E vocall , for E dipthong , dipthongs being but lately come into vse . And now I hope that neither the conclusion of the one , nor termination of the other will seeme any way offensiue to my intelligent Reader .

I likewise write the Orthographie of the old English as it comes to my hands ; and if by the copying out of the same it be any manner of wayes mollified , it is much against my will , for I hold originalls the best ; whereby some may obiect the simplicitie of my vnlaboured stile , and the rough hewen forme of my writing . To which I reply , that this my kinde of Argument is incapable of all eloquent speech .

When I cite Ouid or Lucan , I vse those exquisite translations of George Sa●dys , and Thomas May Esquires .

Some will say , that the Epitaphs of London are already printed , and true it is that some are , especially such as are of later times , with which I do not meddle at all , onely I set downe those of more antiquitie , which haue either beene omitted in the collection , or for which I haue some historicall elucidations , for the better vnderstanding of the qualities of the parties defunct and interred .

Hauing had the helps and collections of many , my Reader may finde errours in some , which hereafter I shall studie to amend ; intreating in the meane time a fauorable construction .

Many are the errataes , I am afraid , which will be found in the printing , the greatest I haue met withall I haue amended , not doubting but some also of consequence haue escaped mee ; and for those of lesser note , I haue passed them ouer , desiring my Reader to correct and pardon .

Thus , curteous Reader , submitting my selfe , and this worke , to thy learned and friendly censure , I take my leaue .