After hir also no small numbers of attendants came in with Edward the
Confessour, whome he preferred to the greatest offices in the realme,
in so much that one Robert a Norman, became Archbishop of Canturburie,
whose preferment so much enhanced the minds of the French, on the one
side, as their lordlie and outragious demeanour kindled the stomachs
of the English nobilitie against them on the other: insomuch that not
long before the death of Emma the kings mother, and vpon occasion of
the brall hapning at Douer (whereof I haue made sufficient mention in
my Chronologie, not regarding the report of the French authors in this
behalfe, who write altogither in the fauour of their Archbishop
Robert, but following the authoritie of an English préest then liuing
in the court) the English Peeres began to shew their disliking in
manifest maner. Neuerthelesse, the Normans so bewitched the king with
their lieng and bosting, Robert the Archbishop being the chéefe
instrument of their practise, that he beléeued them, and therevpon
vexed sundrie of the nobilitie, amongst whom Earle Goodwijn of Kent
was the chéefe, a noble Gentleman and father in law to king Edward by
the mariage of his daughter. The matter also came to such issue
against him, that he was exiled, and fiue of his sonnes with him,
wherevpon he goeth ouer the sea, and soone after returning with his
said sonnes, they inuaded the land in sundrie places, the father
himselfe comming to London, where when the kings power was readie to
ioine with him in battell, it vtterlie refused so to doo: affirming
plainelie, that it should be méere follie for one Englishman to fight
against another, in the reuenge of Frenchmens quarels: which answer
entred so déeplie into the kings mind, that he was contented to haue
the matter heard, and appointing commissioners for that purpose; they
concluded at the vpshot, that all the French should depart out of
England by a day, few excepted, whom the king should appoint and
[Sidenote: Archbishop of Can. exiled, and the rest of the French.]
nominate. By this means therfore Robert the Archbishop, & of secret
counsell with the king, was first exiled as principall abuser &
seducer of the king, who goeth to Rome, & there complaineth to the
Pope of his iniurie receiued by the English. Howbeit as he returned
home againe with no small hope of the readeption of his See, he died
in Normandie, whereby he saued a killing. Certes he was the first that
euer tendered complaint out of England vnto Rome, & with him went
William Bishop of London (afterward reuoked) and Vlfo of Lincolne, who
hardlie escaped the furie of the English nobilitie. Some also went
into Scotland, and there held themselues, expecting a better time. And
this is the true historie of the originall cause of the conquest of
England by the French: for after they were well beaten at Douer,
bicause of their insolent demeanour there shewed, their harts neuer
ceased to boile with a desire of reuenge that brake out into a flame,
so soone as their Robert possessed the primacie, which being once
obteined, and to set his mischéefe intended abroch withall, a
contention was quicklie procured about certeine Kentish lands, and
controuersie kindled, whether he or the Earle should haue most right
vnto them. The king held with the priest as with the church, the
[Sidenote: Erle Goodwine slandered by the French writers.]
nobilitie with the Earle. In processe also of this businesse, the
Archbishop accused the Earle of high treason, burdening him with the
slaughter of Alfred the kings brother, which was altogither false: as
appeareth by a treatise yet extant of that matter, written by a
chaplaine to king Edward the Confessour, in the hands of Iohn Stow my
verie fréend, wherein he saith thus, "Alfredus incautè agens in
aduentu suo in Angliam a Danis circumuentus occiditur." He addeth
moreouer, that giuing out as he came through the countrie accompanied
with his few proud Normans, how his meaning was to recouer his right
vnto the kingdome, and supposing that all men would haue yéelded vnto
him, he fell into their hands, whome Harald then king did send to
apprehend him, vpon the fame onelie of this report brought vnto his
eares. So that (to be short) after the king had made his pacification
with the Earle, the French (I say) were exiled, the Quéene restored to
his fauour (whom he at the beginning of this broile had imprisoned at
Wilton, allowing hir but one onlie maid to wait upon hir) and the land
reduced to hir former quietnesse, which continued vntill the death of
the king. After which the Normans not forgetting their old grudge,
remembred still their quarell, that in the end turned to their
conquest of this Iland. After which obteined, they were so cruellie
[Sidenote: The miserie of the English vnder the French.]
bent to our vtter subuersion and ouerthrow, that in the beginning it
was lesse reproch to be accounted a slaue than an Englishman, or a
drudge in anie filthie businesse than a Britaine: insomuch that euerie
French page was superiour to the greatest Peere; and the losse of an
Englishmans life but a pastime to such of them as contended in their
brauerie, who should giue the greatest strokes or wounds vnto their
bodies, when their toiling and drudgerie could not please them, or
satisfie their gréedie humors. Yet such was our lot in those daies by
the diuine appointed order, that we must needs obey such as the Lord
did set ouer vs, and so much the rather, for that all power to resist
was vtterlie taken from vs, and our armes made so weake and feeble
that they were not now able to remooue the importable load of the
[Sidenote: The cause of our miserie.]
enimie from our surburdened shoulders. And this onelie I saie againe,
bicause we refused grace offered in time, and would not heare when God
by his Preachers did call vs so fauourablie vnto him. Oh how miserable
was the estate of our countrie vnder the French and Normans, wherein
the Brittish and English that remained, could not be called to any
function in the commonwealth, no not so much as to be constables and
headburowes in small villages, except they could bring 2. or 3.
Normans for suerties to the Lords of the soile for their good
behauiour in their offices! Oh what numbers of all degrées of English
and Brittish were made slaues and bondmen, and bought and sold as oxen
in open market! In so much that at the first comming, the French bond
were set free; and those that afterward became bond, were of our owne
countrie and nation, so that few or rather none of vs remained free
without some note of bondage and seruitude to the French. Hereby then
we perceiue, how from time to time this Iland hath not onelie béene a
prey, but as it were a common receptacle for strangers, the naturall
homelings or Britons being still cut shorter and shorter, as I said
[Sidenote: In this voiage the said Harald builded Portaschith,
which Caradoch ap Griffin afterward ouerthrew, and killed the
garrison that Harald left therein.]
before, till in the end they came not onelie to be driuen into a
corner of this region, but in time also verie like vtterlie to haue
beene extinguished. For had not king Edward, surnamed the saint, in
his time, after greeuous wars made vpon them 1063. (wherein Harald
latelie made Earle of Oxenford, sonne to Goodwin Earle of Kent, and
after king of England, was his generall) permitted the remnant of
their women to ioine in mariage with the Englishmen (when the most
part of their husbands and male children were slaine with the sword)
it could not haue béene otherwise chosen, but their whole race must
néeds haue susteined the vttermost confusion, and thereby the memorie
of the Britons vtterlie haue perished among vs.
Thus we see how England hath six times beene subiect to the reproch of
conquest. And wheras the Scots séeme to challenge manie famous
victories also ouer us, beside gréeuous impositions, tributs, &
dishonorable compositions: it shall suffice for answer, that they
deale in this as in the most part of their historie, which is to seeke
great honor by lieng, & great renowme by prating and craking. Indeed
they haue doone great mischéefe in this Iland, & with extreme
crueltie; but as for any conquest the first is yet to heare of. Diuers
other conquests also haue béene pretended by sundrie princes sithence
the conquest, onelie to the end that all pristinate lawes and tenures
of possession might cease, and they make a new disposition of all
things at their owne pleasure. As one by king Edw. the 3. but it tooke
none effect. Another by Henrie the 4. who neuerthelesse was at the
last though hardlie drawne from the challenge by William Thorington,
then cheefe Justice of England. The third by Henrie the 7. who had
some better shew of right, but yet without effect. And the last of all
by Q. Marie, as some of the papists gaue out, and also would haue had
hir to haue obteined, but God also staied their malices, and hir
challenge. But beside the six afore mentioned, Huntingdon the old
historiographer speaketh of a seuenth, likelie (as he saith) to come
one daie out of the North, which is a wind that bloweth no man to
good, sith nothing is to be had in those parts, but hunger & much
cold. Sée more hereof in the historie of S. Albons, and aforsaid
author which lieth on the left side of the librarie belonging now to
Paules: for I regard no prophesies as one that doubteth from what
spirit they doo procéed, or who should be the author of them.
WHETHER IT BE LIKELIE THAT ANY GIANTS WERE, AND WHETHER THEY INHABITED
IN THIS ILE OR NOT.
CAP. V.
Besides these aforesaid nations, which haue crept (as you haue heard)
into our Iland, we read of sundrie giants that should inhabit here.
Which report as it is not altogither incredible, sith the posterities
of diuers princes were called by the name: so vnto some mens eares it
seemeth so strange a rehersall, that for the same onelie cause they
suspect the credit of our whole historie, & reiect it as a fable,
vnworthie to be read. They also condemne the like in all other
histories, especiallie of the North, where men are naturallie of
greatest stature, imagining all to be but fables that is written of
Starcater, Hartben, Angrine, Aruerode, &c: of whom Saxo, Johannes
Magnus and Olaus doo make mention, & whose bones doo yet remaine to be
seene as rare miracles in nature. Of these also some in their life
time were able to lift vp (as they write) a vessell of liquor of 1000.
weight, or an horsse, or an oxe, & cast it on their shoulders (wherein
their verie women haue beene likewise knowne to come néere vnto them)
and of the race of those men, some were séene of no lesse strength in
the 1500. of Grace, wherein Olaus liued, and wrote the same of his
owne experience and knowledge. Of the giant of Spaine that died of
late yeares by a fall vpon the Alpes, as he either went or came fro
Rome, about the purchase of a dispensation to marrie with his
kinswoman (a woman also of much more than common stature) there be men
yet liuing, and may liue long for age, that can saie verie much euen
by their owne knowledge. Wherfore it appeareth by present experience,
that all is not absolutelie vntrue which is remembred of men of such
giants. For this cause therfore I haue now taken vpon me to make this
breefe discourse insuing, as indeuouring therby to prooue, that the
opinion of giants is not altogither grounded vpon vaine and fabulous
narrations, inuented onelie to delight the eares of the hearers with
the report of maruellous things: but that there haue beene such men in
[Sidenote: * _Esay. 30. vers. 25._]
deed, as for their hugenesse of person haue resembled rather[*] high
towers than mortall men, although their posterities are now consumed,
and their monstruous races vtterlie worne out of knowledge.
I doo not meane herein to dispute, whether this name Gigas or Nephilim
was giuen vnto them, rather for their tyrannie and oppression of the
people, than for their greatnesse of bodie, or large steps, as
Goropius would haue it (for he denieth that euer men were greater than
at this present) or bicause their parents were not knowne, for such in
old time were called Terræ filij; or whether the word Gigas dooth
onlie signifie Indigenas, or homelings, borne in the land or not;
neither whether all men were of like quantitie in stature, and farre
more greater in old time, than now they be: and yet absolutelie I
denie neither of these, sith verie probable reasons may be brought for
ech of them, but especiallie the last rehearsed, whose confirmation
dependeth vpon the authorities of sundrie ancient writers, who make
diuers of noble race, equall to the giants in strength and manhood,
and yet doo not giue the same name vnto them, bicause their quarels
were iust, and commonlie taken in hand for defense of the oppressed.
[Sidenote: Antheus. _Lucane lib. 4 in fine._]
Examples hereof we may take of Hercules and Antheus, whose wrestling
declareth that they were equall in stature & stomach. Such also was
the courage of Antheus, that being often ouercome, and as it were
vtterlie vanquished by the said Hercules, yet if he did eftsoones
returne againe into his kingdome, he forthwith recouered his force,
returned and held Hercules tacke, till he gat at the last betwéene him
and home, so cutting off the farther hope of the restitution of his
armie, and killing finallie his aduersarie in the field, of which
victorie Politian writeth thus:
Incaluere animis dura certare palæstra,
Neptuni quondàm filius atque Iouis:
Non certamen erant operoso ex ære lebetes,
Sed qui vel vitam vel ferat interitum:
Occidit Antæus Ioue natum viuere fas est,
Estq; magistra Pales Græcia, non Lybia.
[Sidenote: Corineus. Gomagot.]
The like doo our histories report of Corineus and Gomagot,
peraduenture king of this Ile, who fought a combat hand to hand, till
one of them was slaine, and yet for all this no man reputeth Hercules
or Corineus for giants, albeit that Hanuile in his Architrenion make
the later to be 12. cubits in height, which is full 18. foot, if
poeticall licence doo not take place in his report and assertion. But
sith (I say againe) it is not my purpose to stand vpon these points, I
passe ouer to speake any more of them. And whereas also I might haue
proceeded in such order, that I should first set downe by manie
circumstances, whether any giants were, then whether they were of such
huge and incredible stature as the authours doo remember, and finallie
whether any of them haue beene in this our Iland or not, I protest
plainlie, that my mind is not here bent to deale in any such maner,
but rather generallie to confirme and by sufficient authoritie, that
there haue beene such mightie men of stature, and some of them also in
Britaine, which I will set downe onelie by sundrie examples, whereby
it shall fall out, that neither our Iland, nor any part of the maine,
haue at one time or other béen altogither without them. First of all
therfore, & to begin with the scriptures, the most sure & certeine
ground of all knowledge: you shall haue out of them such notable
examples set downe, as I haue obserued in reading the same, which vnto
the godlie may suffice for sufficient proofe of my position.
Neuerthelesse, after the scriptures I will resort to the writings of
our learned Diuines, and finallie of the infidell and pagane authors,
whereby nothing shall seeme to want that may confute Goropius, and all
his cauillations.
[Sidenote: _Cap. 6. vers. 5._]
Moses the prophet of the Lord, writing of the estate of things before
the floud, hath these words in his booke of generations. In these
[Sidenote: _Anti. li. 1._]
daies saith he, there were giants vpon the earth. Berosus also the
Chalde writeth, that néere vnto Libanus there was a citie called Oenon
(which I take to be Hanoch, builded sometime by Cham) wherein giants
did inhabit, who trusting to the strength and hugenesse of their
bodies, did verie great oppression and mischeefe in the world. The
Hebrues called them generallie Enach, of Hanach the Chebronite, father
to Achimam, Scheschai and Talma, although their first originall was
deriued from Henoch the sonne of Caine, of whome that pestilent race
descended, as I read. The Moabits named them Emims, and the Ammonites
Zamsummims, and it should seeme by the second of Deut. cap. 19, 20.
that Ammon and Moab were greatlie replenished with such men, when
Moses wrote that treatise. For of these monsters some families
remained of greater stature than other vnto his daies, in comparison
[Sidenote: _Nu. cap. 13. verse 33, & 34._]
of whome the children of Israell confessed themselues to be but
grashoppers. Which is one noble testimonie that the word Gigas or
Enach is so well taken for a man of huge stature, as for an homeborne
child, wicked tyrant, or oppressour of the people.
[Sidenote: _Deut. 3. vers. 11._ Og of Basan.]
Furthermore, there is mention made also in the scriptures of Og,
sometime king of Basan, who was the last of the race of the giants,
that was left in the land of promise to be ouercome by the Israelits,
& whose iron bed was afterward shewed for a woonder at Rabbath (a
citie of the Ammonites) conteining 9. cubits in length, and 4. in
bredth, which cubits I take not to be geometricall, (that is, each one
so great as six of the smaller, as those were wherof the Arke was
made, as our Diuines affirme, especiallie Augustine: whereas Origen,
hom. 2. in Gen. out of whom he seemeth to borrow it, appeareth to haue
no such meaning directlie) but rather of the arme of a meane man,
which oftentimes dooth varie & differ from the standard. Oh how
Goropius dalieth about the historie of this Og, of the breaking of his
pate against the beds head, & of hurting his ribs against the sides,
and all to prooue, that Og was not bigger than other men, and so he
leaueth the matter as sufficientlie answered with a French countenance
of truth. But see August. de ciuit. lib. 15. cap. 25. & ad Faustum
Manich. lib. 12. Ambros. &c. and Johannes Buteo that excellent
geometrician, who hath written of purpose of the capacitie of the
Arke.
[Sidenote: _Cap. 17. ver. 4, 5, 6._]
[Sidenote: Goliah.]
In the first of Samuel you shall read of Goliah a Philistine, the
weight of whose brigandine or shirt of maile was of 5000. sicles, or
1250. ounces of brasse, which amounteth to 104. pound of Troie weight
after 4. common sicles to the ounce. The head of his speare came vnto
ten pound English or 600. sicles of that metall. His height also was
measured at six cubits and an hand bredth. All which doo import that
he was a notable giant, and a man of great stature & strength to weare
such an armour, and beweld so heauie a lance. But Goropius thinking
himselfe still to haue Og in hand, and indeuouring to extenuate the
fulnesse of the letter to his vttermost power, dooth neuerthelesse
earnestlie affirme, that he was not aboue three foot more than the
common sort of men, or two foot higher than Saule: and so he leaueth
it as determined.
[Sidenote: _Cap. 21. ver. 16, 17, &c._]
In the second of Samuel, I find report of foure giants borne in Geth;
of which Ishbenob the first, that would haue killed Dauid, had a
speare, whose head weighed the iust halfe of that of Goliath: the
second called Siphai, Sippai or Saph, 1. Par. 20. was nothing
inferiour to the first: the third hight also Goliah, the staffe of
whose speare was like vnto the beame of a weauers loome, neuerthelesse
he was slaine in the second battell in Gob by Elhanan, as the first
was by Abisai Ioabs brother, and the second by Elhanan. The fourth
brother (for they were all brethren) was slaine at Gath by Ionathan
nephew to Dauid, and he was not onlie huge of personage, but also of
disfigured forme, for he had 24. fingers and toes. Wherby it is
euident, that the generation of giants was not extinguished in
Palestine, vntill the time of Dauid, which was 2890. after the floud,
nor vtterlie consumed in Og, as some of our expositors would haue it.
Now to come vnto our christian writers. For though the authorities
alreadie alleged out of the word, are sufficient to confirme my
purpose at the full; yet will I not let to set downe such other notes
as experience hath reuealed, onelie to the end that the reader shall
not thinke the name of giants, with their quantities, and other
circumstances, mentioned in the scriptures, rather to haue some
mysticall interpretation depending vpon them, than that the sense of
the text in this behalfe is to be taken simplie as it speaketh. And
first of all to omit that which Tertullian Lib. 2. de resurrect.
[Sidenote: _De ciuitate Dei lib. 15. cap. 9._]
saith; S. Augustine noteth, how he with other saw the tooth of a man,
wherof he tooke good aduisement, and pronounced in the end that it
would haue made 100. of his owne, or anie other mans that liued in his
[Sidenote: _Iohannes Boccacius._]
time. The like hereof also dooth Iohn Boccace set downe, in the 68.
chapter of his 4. booke, saieng that in the caue of a mountaine, not
far from Drepanum (a towne of Sicilia called Eryx as he gesseth) the
bodie of an exceeding high giant was discouered, thrée of whose teeth
did weigh 100. ounces, which being conuerted into English poise, doth
yeeld eight pound and foure ounces, after twelue ounces to the pound,
that is 33. ounces euerie tooth.
He addeth farther, that the forepart of his scull was able to conteine
manie bushels of wheat, and by the proportion of the bone of his
[Sidenote: A carcase discouered of 200. cubits.]
thigh, the Symmetricians iudged his bodie to be aboue 200. cubits.
Those teeth, scull, and bones, were (and as I thinke yet are, for
ought I know to the contrarie) to be seene in the church of Drepanum
in perpetuall memorie of his greatnesse, whose bodie was found vpon
this occasion. As some digged in the earth to laie the foundation of
an house, the miners happened vpon a great vault, not farre from
Drepanum: whereinto when they were entred, they saw the huge bodie of
a man sitting in the caue, of whose greatnesse they were so afraid,
that they ranne awaie, and made an outcrie in the citie, how there sat
a man in such a place, so great as an hill: the people hearing the
newes, ran out with clubs and weapons, as if they should haue gone
vnto a foughten field, and 300. of them entring into the caue, they
foorthwith saw that he was dead, and yet sat as if he had been aliue,
hauing a staffe in his hand, compared by mine author vnto the mast of
a tall ship, which being touched fell by and by to dust, sauing the
nether end betwéene his hand and the ground, whose hollownesse was
filled with 1500. pound weight of lead, to beare vp his arme that it
should not fall in péeces: neuerthelesse, his bodie also being touched
fell likewise into dust, sauing three of his aforesaid teeth, the
forepart of his scull, and one of his thigh bones, which are reserued
to be séene of such as will hardlie beleeue these reports.
In the histories of Brabant I read of a giant found, whose bones were
17. or 18. cubits in length, but Goropius, as his maner is, denieth
them to be the bones of a man, affirming rather that they were the
bones of an elephant, because they somwhat resembled those of two such
beasts which were found at the making of the famous ditch betwéene
Bruxels and Machlin. As though there were anie precise resemblance
betwéene the bones of a man and of an elephant, or that there had euer
béene any elephant of 27. foot in length. But sée his demeanour. In
the end he granteth that another bodie was found vpon the shore of
Rhodanus, of thirtie foot in length. Which somewhat staieth his
iudgement, but not altogither remooueth his error.
[Sidenote: _Mat. Westmon._]
The bodie of Pallas was found in Italie, in the yeare of Grace 1038.
and being measured it conteined twentie foot in length, this Pallas
was companion with Æneas.
[Sidenote: _Iohannes Leland._]
There was a carcase also laid bare 1170. in England vpon the shore
(where the beating of the sea had washed awaie the earth from the
stone wherein it laie) and when it was taken vp it conteined 50. foot
[Sidenote: _Mafieus, lib. 14. Triuet._]
in measure, as our histories doo report. The like was seene before in
[Sidenote: _Mat. West._]
Wales, in the yeare 1087. of another of 14. foot.
In Perth moreouer a village in Scotland another was taken vp, which to
this daie they shew in a church, vnder the name of little John (per
Antiphrasin) being also 14. foot in length, as diuerse doo affirme
[Sidenote: _Hector Boet._]
which haue beholden the same, and whereof Hector Boetius dooth saie,
that he did put his whole arme into one of the hanch bones: which is
worthie to be remembred.
In the yeare of Grace 1475. the bodie of Tulliola the daughter of
Cicero was taken vp, & found higher by not a few foot than the common
sort of women liuing in those daies.
[Sidenote: _Geruasius Tilberiensis._]
Geruasius Tilberiensis, head Marshall to the king of Arles writeth in
his Chronicle dedicated to Otho 4. how that at Isoretum, in the
suburbes of Paris, he saw the bodie of a man that was twentie foot
long, beside the head and the necke, which was missing & not found,
the owner hauing peraduenture béene beheaded for some notable
trespasse committed in times past, or (as he saith) killed by S.
William.
The Greeke writers make mention of Andronicus their emperour, who
liued 1183. of Grace, and was ten foot in height, that is, thrée foot
higher than the Dutch man that shewed himselfe in manie places of
England, 1582. this man maried Anna daughter to Lewis of France
(before assured to Alexius, whome he strangled, dismembred and drowned
in the sea) the ladie not being aboue eleuen yeares of age, whereas he
was an old dotard, and beside hir he kept Marpaca a fine harlot, who
ruled him as she listed.
Zonaras speaketh of a woman that liued in the daies of Justine, who
being borne in Cilicia, and of verie comelie personage, was
neuerthelesse almost two foot taller than the tallest woman of hir
time.
[Sidenote: _Sir Thomas Eliot._]
A carcase was taken vp at Iuie church neere Salisburie but of late
yeares to speake of, almost fourtéene foot long, in Dictionario
Eliotæ.
[Sidenote: _Leland in Combrit._]
In Gillesland in Come Whitton paroche not far from the chappell of the
Moore, six miles by east from Carleill, a coffin of stone was found,
and therein the bones of a man, of more than incredible greatnes. In
like sort Leland speaketh of another found in the Ile called Alderney,
whereof you shall read more in the chapiter of our Ilands.
[Sidenote: _Richard Grafton._]
Richard Grafton in his Manuell telleth of one whose shinbone conteined
six foot, and thereto his scull so great that it was able to receiue
fiue pecks of wheat. Wherefore by coniecturall symmetrie of these
parts, his bodie must needs be of 24. foot, or rather more, if it were
[Sidenote: The Symmetrie or proportion of the bodie of a comelie man.]
diligentlie measured. For the proportion of a comelie and well
featured bodie, answereth 9. times to the length of the face, taken at
large from the pitch of the crowne to the chin, as the whole length is
from the same place vnto the sole of the foot, measured by an imagined
line, and seuered into so manie parts by like ouerthwart draughts, as
Drurerus in his lineall description of mans bodie doth deliuer.
Neuertheles, this symmetrie is not taken by other than the well
proportioned face, for Recta, orbiculata (or fornicata) prona,
resupinata, and lacunata (or repanda) doo so far degenerate from the
true proportion as from the forme and beautie of the comelie. Hereby
also they make the face taken in strict maner, to be the tenth part of
the whole bodie, that is, fr[=o] the highest part of the forehead to
the pitch of the chin, so that in the vse of the word face there is a
difference, wherby the 9. part is taken (I say) from the crowne
(called Vertex, because the haire there turneth into a circle) so that
if the space by a rule were truelie taken, I meane from the crowne or
highest part of the head to the pitch of the nether chap, and
multiplied by nine, the length of the whole bodie would easilie
appeare, & shew it selfe at the full. In like maner I find, that from
the elbow to the top of the midle finger is the 4. part of the whole
length, called a cubit: from the wrist to the top of the same finger,
a tenth part: the length of the shinbone to the ancle a fourth part
(and all one with the cubit:) from the top of the finger to the third
ioint, two third parts of the face from the top of the forehead. Which
obseruations I willinglie remember in this place, to the end that if
anie such carcases happen to be found hereafter, it shall not be hard
by some of these bones here mentioned, to come by the stature of the
whole bodie, in certeine & exact maner. As for the rest of the bones,
ioints, parts, &c: you may resort to Drurerus, Cardan, and other
writers, sith the farther deliuerie of them concerneth not my purpose.
[Sidenote: _Sylvester Gyraldus._]
To proceed therefore with other examples, I read that the bodie of
king Arthur being found in the yeare 1189. was two foot higher than
anie man that came to behold the same. Finallie the carcase of William
Conqueror was séene not manie yeares since (to wit, 1542.) in the
[Sidenote: _Constans fama Gallorum._]
citie of Cane, twelue inches longer, by the iudgment of such as saw
it, than anie man which dwelled in the countrie. All which testimonies
I note togither, bicause they proceed from christian writers, from
whome nothing should be farther or more distant, than of set purpose
to lie, and feed the world with fables.