[1]
“Inde vagos Vaga Cambrenses, hinc respicit Anglos;
Qui cum jam ad ostium fere devenerit _Chepstow_ præterfluit, id est,
si è Saxonico interpreteris forum vel negotiationis locus Britannis,
_Castle Went_, oppidum hoc est celebre quondam mœnibus nunc solum
Castro firmum, cujus domini fuerunt è Clarensium familia nobiles, à
proximo Castro _Strighull_, quod incoluerunt _Striguliæ_ et Penbrochiæ
Comites dicti quorum ultimus Richardus.”
[2] Longitudo ecclesiæ _prioratus_ Chepstow, 50 virgæ. latitudo eccl.
prædictæ, 33 virgæ.--_Will. de Worc._ 133.
[3] Longitudo pontis de Chepstow, 126 virgæ.--_Will. de Worc._ 133.
[4] From the form of the British Channel, says De la Beche, and the
absence of a free passage for the waters, such as exists at the Straits
of Dover, in the English Channel, westerly winds force up and sustain
a great body of water, thereby raising the sea above the mean level
several feet. During such phenomena, it is said, the body of water in
the river assumes a convex surface. In the great storm of 1703, the
tide flowed over the top of Chepstow bridge, inundating all the low
land, and washing away whole farm-yards and incalculable stock.
[5] Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell, vol. ii. p. 278.--_Note._
[6] See CASTLES AND ABBEYS, vol. i. of this work, Carisbrooke, Isle of
Wight. Upon the death of the renowned Fitzosborne, Dugdale, quoting the
Monk of Utica, thus moralizes:--“After this short life of nature, there
is a long life of Fame, who will blow her trumpet aloud to posterity,
and plainly lay open to the world as well the bad as good actions of
the most potent that shall be in their highest pitch of worldly power.
‘Veré ut gloria mundi flos feni,’ &c. Certainly the glory of this world
fadeth and withereth as the flowers of the field; yea, it passeth
away and vanisheth even as smoke. What,” he continues, “is become of
<g>William Fitzosborne</g>, Earl of Hereford, vicegerent of the king,
sewer of Normandy, that most warlike general! Was he not, in truth,
the chief and greatest oppressor of the English, and he who cherished
an enormous cause by his boldness, whereby many thousands were brought
to miserable ends! Lo! the just Judge, beholding all things, rewardeth
even man according to his demerits. Alas, is he not now slain? Hath not
this hardy champion had his desert? As he slew many with the sword, so
he suddenly received his death by the sword.”--_Baronage, 67, quoting
Orderic Vitulis._
[7] _Richardus_ vir infracto animo et projectissimis brachiis
_Strangbow_ cognominatus, quod arcu intentissimo uteretur, et
nihil levi brachio ageret. Hiberniam Normannis primus sua virtute
aperuit.--_Camden._
[8] “A full and particular relation of the manner of the late besieging
and taking of Chepstow Castle, in Wales, by the forces of his
Excellency the Lord Fairfax, expressed in a letter from Colonel Ewer
to the Honourable William Lentall, Speaker of the House of Commons.
The governor to the said castle within, that betrayed it to the
King’s forces, was slain in this service; as also all the rest of the
commanders and soldiers killed and taken. London: printed by Mathew
Simmons, for Henry Overton, in Paper Head Alley, 1648.”
[9] Historical and Descriptive Account, &c., of Chepstow Castle, 1808;
Heath; Burke’s Commoners, &c.
[10] The family of Kemeys is one of the most ancient in Monmouthshire.
The late William Kemeys, Esq. of the Maindee, and the present J.
Gardiner Kemeys, Esq. of Pertholy, are descended from the same family.
[11] This report is somewhat different from that given by another
authority, already quoted.
[12] If such be the fact, it would almost lead to the conclusion that
there was some truth in the story of the Parliament party having
disposed of his remains in some unusual way; although, otherwise, the
story seems very improbable, as that was not the form in which their
cruelty was wont to show itself. They were likely enough to have seized
his estate, his goods and chattels, and to have turned his family out
of doors; but they had no respect for dignities or titles, and cared
little for churches, churchyards, and dead bodies.
[13] This lady showed Mr. Heath a document of Oliver Cromwell, of which
the following is a copy:--
<g>Oliver P.</g> It is our will and pleasure that you permit and suffer
Colonel Edward Coke, with his company and hounds, to hunt, kill, and
dispose of a Brace of Staggs, this season, in our Parke or Woodes neer
Chepstowe, and that you, and every of you, be aydeing and assisting
to him herein; and for your soe doing this shall be your sufficient
warrant.
Given at Whitehall, the 12 July, 1683.
To Major Blethan, or, in his absence, to
Lieutenant Phillips, or any other of the
keepers of Chepstow Parke or Wentwood
Chase.
[14] See Burke’s Commoners, vol. iv.
[15] This connection of the two Cromwells, through the Kemeys family,
is worth notice.
[16] Of the Tynte family, Burke gives the following account:--
“The family of _Tynte_ has maintained for centuries a leading position
in the west of England; of its surname, tradition has handed down
the following derivation:--‘In the year 1192, at the celebrated
battle of Ascalon, a young knight of the noble house of Arundel,
clad all in white, with his horse’s housings of the same colour, so
gallantly distinguished himself on that memorable field, that Richard
Cœur-de-Lion remarked publicly, after the victory, that the maiden
knight had borne himself as a lion, and done deeds equal to those of
six crusaders; whereupon he conferred on him for arms, a lion _gules_
on a field _argent_, between six crosslets of the first, and for motto,
_Tynctus cruore Saraceno_.’”--_Commoners._
[17] C. J. Kemeys-Tynte, Esq., M.P., F.R.S.--whose father, C.
Kemeys-Tynte, Esq., succeeded to the estates of his great-uncle, the
last baronet--is coheir to the barony of Grey-de-Wilton; and in July,
1845, was declared by a committee for privileges of the House of
Lords, to be senior coheir of the whole blood to the abeyant barony of
Wharton.--_Dod’s Parliam. Comp._, 1847.
[18] With regard to the tower called “Longine,” the tradition ran, that
“it had been erected by one Longinus, a Jew, father of the soldier
whose spear pierced the side of Christ. He was condemned either for
some crime of his own, or for having given birth to a criminal, to
repair to Britain, and there to erect a religious edifice on the
river Wye. That edifice was the Chapel of our Lady in the castle; and
although a Jew, the said Longinus appears to have had a fine Gothic
taste.”
[19] Of the supposed chapel, Mr. Williams says--“This is not in
the usual style of such a building: the windows, arches, and other
decorated parts were extremely rich, and in the finest Gothic taste.
There are, however, several traces of plain Saxon arches filled up in
the wall [arches of construction], which indicate a higher antiquity
than the general decorations of the castle.”
[20] By him the vote was proposed, that the King’s statues at the Royal
Exchange and other places should be taken down, and the following
inscription substituted:--“_Exit Tyrannus, Regum ultimus, Anno
Libertatis Angliæ Restitutæ primo_, A.D. 1648.” When
it was proposed, “that the House of Peers in parliament was useless
and dangerous, and ought to be abolished,” Marten proposed that the
word _dangerous_ should be omitted, and that _useless_ alone should be
retained, and that it should be declared that the Lords _were useless,
but not dangerous_.--_Parl. Hist._
[21] Sir Henry Marten, his father, was one of the brightest ornaments
of the age in which he lived. He was principal Judge of the Admiralty,
twice Dean of the Arches, a Knight, and, in 1684, Judge of the
Prerogative Court, in all of which offices he was allowed to be one of
the most eminent civilians that ever filled them. He was in high favour
with his sovereign, King James, who jocularly used to remark on Sir
Henry, “that he was judge over the dead and over the living.” He died
the 26th of September, 1641, aged 80, and was buried at his seat at
Longworth, near Abingdon, in Berkshire.--_Heath._
[22] On the contrary, it is said by other writers that he was
affectionately attended by his wife and daughters during his
incarceration in Chepstow Castle.
[23] This anecdote does credit to Marten’s spirit, and very little to
Mr. Lewis, “who first violated the rules of good breeding towards a
man who, at the very time, was expiating what power had made a crime,
and then revenged himself by a petty inhospitality. It was punishment
enough, surely, for poor Marten to have been imprisoned for twenty
years, without having to accept a dinner on such terms.”
[24] Old Antony Wood was not likely to speak well of any regicide, and
from the hypothetical way in which he speaks of Marten’s penitence, he
seems to have known of the anecdote with Mr. Lewis, or, at least, as
much as it indicates.--See his character as given by MR. CARLYLE.
[25] As no such epitaph was at all likely to be permitted to be
engraven, on the tombstone, if Marten was even allowed a tombstone,
until after the Revolution, which took place nine years after his
death, is it not more likely that these lines were composed by some
quaint “Old Mortality” of the Cromwell school, than by the subject of
them?--_Correspondent._
[26] How Mr. Seward or Mr. Heath could have applied this quotation to
Marten, it is difficult to imagine.
[27] Here follows a disquisition on the genuineness of the picture,
which concludes:--“Such is the account attached to this picture,
which, after what has been said, does not positively prove it to be
the portrait of Henry Marten; but I am the more inclined to assent to
the traditionary evidence, because it has all the character of such a
man. It further seems to have been taken while he was in the army, from
his wearing armour, being Cromwell’s major-general over the county of
Surrey, in which command his conduct was marked by the most flagrant
rapacity; so that the picture must have been brought to St. Pierre, and
not painted during his residence in Monmouthshire. If, therefore, the
picture must be received as the portrait of Harry Marten, I am led to
believe that, when his family came to share in his confinement, they
brought it with them to Chepstow, and, after Marten’s decease, gave it
to Mr. Lewis’s ancestors. It is in the finest preservation.”
[28] The Lords of Striguil were entitled to the prisage and butlerage
of all wines brought into the ports of Swansea and Chepstow.
[29] Tradition relates that an officer actually made his escape from
this castle in the manner described, and, crossing the river by
swimming, joined the Protector’s army on the Gloucester heights, where
a battery was established.
[30] During the siege, as the tradition runs, a barge lay at anchor
immediately under this window, by means of which, if driven to
extremity, the governor at least, and part of the garrison--desperate
as the attempt must have been--might be enabled to make their escape.
This becoming an object of suspicion, a soldier of the republican army
volunteered to deprive the governor of this last resource. Throwing
himself at midnight into the river, he swam to the barge, and there
with a knife, which he had carried in his teeth for that purpose,
severed the cable, sent the boat adrift, and then swam back to his
comrades in triumph.
[31] In 1696, the castle was garrisoned by the royal troops, the daily
expense of which may be estimated by the following examples:--The
governor, in addition to six captains’ pay, had 2s. a day; the
gunner, 20d.; a mathorse, 10d.; fire and candle for the guard, 8d.;
a company of foot, consisting of a captain, 8s.; a lieutenant, 4s.;
two sergeants, at 1s. 6d. each, 3s.; three corporals and a drummer,
at 1s. each, 4s.; sixty-two soldiers, at 8d. each, 41s. 4d. = £3. 5s.
6d.--_Hist. of Chepstow._
[32] Fosbroke--Local History and Guide.
[33] His history is short and melancholy. In the course of the
American war, he was appointed governor of the island of St. Vincent,
where he expended a large sum from his own private resources in its
fortification. Upon its fall, the minister of the day disavowed his
claim for compensation. His creditors became clamorous, and he was
cast into the King’s Bench prison, where he languished for twelve
years. When released from his confinement, he was broken in health
and spirits--suffering most of all from the domestic calamity which
his fallen fortunes had produced in the insanity of his wife; and
shortly after he died at the house of a relative in London. He was a
generous and benevolent man, as the poor of his neighbourhood could
well testify. On his departure for the West Indies, they came in
troops to bid him a tearful farewell; and the muffled bells of the
neighbouring church rang a funeral knell as he left the home of his
love, and the scenes which he had embellished both by his taste and his
life.--_Roscoe’s South Wales._
[34] Chepstow Guide.
[35] “It may almost be said,” remarks the same writer, “that the
last happy moments Gray knew in this world were spent upon the
Wye; for, a few months after, we find him a prey to ill health and
despondency--complaining of an incurable cough, of the irksomeness
of his employment at Cambridge, and of ‘mechanical low spirits.’ He
died in the course of the following summer, æt. 55.”--P. M. August,
1835.--See his Life by Mason.
[36] The historian of the abbey here quoted has probably made some
mistake in the name; as it was to _Neath_ Abbey, not Tinterne, that
King Edward retreated.--_See Append._
[37] In 1210, when <g>King John</g> summoned all the ecclesiastics
and religious orders to meet him at London, he levied fines, which
were computed to amount to £100,000. The White or <g>Cistercian</g>
Monks alone paid £40,000 of silver additional; and their order, for
a time, became so much reduced, that it was dispersed throughout all
the other monasteries of England. From this condition, however, they
speedily recovered; and of the seventy-five religious houses of this
order that flourished at the Dissolution, _thirty-six_ were superior
monasteries.--_Ecclesiast. Hist._
[38] 1287.--Conventus Ecclesiæ Beatæ Mariæ de <g>Tynterna</g> intravit
dictam ecclesiam ad celebrandum in _nova_ ecclesia. Et quinto nonas
Octobris in anno sequenti Conventus intravit in choro, et prima missa
celebrata fuit ad magnum altare. Dedicacio Ecclesiæ Tynterniæ, 28 die
Jullii. F. littera.--_Will. de Worc._
[39] Citeaux--now Gilly-les-Citeaux--so famous for its abbey. “L’abbaye
de Citeaux,” says a French tourist, “chef d’ordre d’où dependaient
3,600 couvents de deux sexes, fut fondée par Saint Robert, Abbé de
Molesme en 1098. <g>Saint Bernard</g> y prit l’habit en 1113, et y
jeta la même année, les fondements de l’abbaye de la Ferté sur Gròne;
de celle de Pontigny en 1114; de celles de Clairvaux et de Morimont en
1115, appelées _les quatre filles de Citeaux_.” Yet Citeaux, afterwards
so famous, was a miserable desert at the arrival of St. Robert and
his disciples:--“Qui locus (_Cistercium_) et pro nemorum, et spinarum
tunc temporis opacitate accessui hominum insolitus, a solis feris
inhabitabatur. Ad quem Viri Dei venientes locumq. tantó religione quam
animo jamque conceperant et propter quam illuc advenerant, habiliorem
quanto secularibus despicabiliorem et inaccessibilem intelligentes,
nemorum et spinarum densitate prescissa et remota, Monasterium ibidem
construere cœperunt.--_Mon. Angl. art. Cister._ v. iv. 695.
[40] Quia etiam beatum Benedictum non in civitatibus, nec in
Castellis aut in villis, sed _in locis à frequentia hominum et
populi semotis_, Cœnobia construisse sancti viri illi sciebant,
idem se æmulari promittebant. Et sicut ille monasteria constructa
per _duodenos monachos adjuncto patre_ disponebat, sic se acturos
confirmabant.--_Monast. Angl. ii.; art. Cisterc._
Exuti ergo veterem hominem, novum se induisse gaudent: et quia nec
in regula nec in vita Sancti _Benedicti_ eundem doctorem tegebant
possedisse ecclesias, vel altaria seu oblationes aut sepulturas vel
decimas aliorum hominum seu furnos vel molendinos aut villas aut
rusticos, nec etiam fæminas monasterium ejus intrâsse, nec mortuos
ibidem excepta sorore sua sepelisse, ideo _hæc omnia abdicaverunt_,
dicentes--ubi beatus _Benedictus_ docet ut monachus à secularibus
actibus se faciat alienum, &c., &c.--_Monast. Angl. iv._ 699.
[41] It is added that, when Cœur-de-Lion was about to start for the
Holy Land (A.D. 1191), Folgius, a bold confessor of
the church, exhorted the monarch to dismiss his three daughters
before joining the Crusade. “Hypocrite!” said the king, “well thou
knowest that I have no daughters.” “My liege,” rejoined the confessor,
“you have three--Pride, Avarice, and Luxury.” “Aha!” exclaimed
Richard, “why, then, the Templars shall have Pride--the Cistercians,
Avarice--and as for Luxury, let my bishops and clergy share her
among them, and then they will all be well provided for until my
return.”--_Thomas’s Tinterne._
[42] They became so powerful at last, that they were said to “govern
all Christendom;” but, if they did not govern, they had at least an
influence in every government and kingdom of Europe. Cardinal de Vetri
says, they neither wore skins nor shirts; never ate flesh, except in
sickness; and abstained from fish, eggs, milk, and cheese; lay on
straw-beds in tunics or cowls; rose at midnight to prayer; spent the
day in labour, reading, and prayer; and in all they did, exercised a
continual silence.--_See Monast. Angl._
[43] In quo _regula_ sine ulla mitigatione ad apicem
servaretur.--_Mabillon_, quoted by Fosbroke.
[44] _Brit. Monachism_, p. 69.
[45] Dev. Vie Monastique.--Brit. Monachism, _note_, page 70.
[46] De Orig. et Progr. Monach., p. 313, quoted by Fosbroke, p. 70.
[47] “Critics who censure the west window as too broad for its height,
do not consider that it was not intended for a particular object, but
to harmonize with the general plan; and had the architect diminished
the breadth in proportion to the height, the grand effect of the
perspective would have been considerably lessened.”--_Coxe._
[48] The following are the ancient admeasurements of the church and
cloisters:--
Longitudo ecclesiæ _Sanctæ Maria Tynterniæ_ continet 75 virgas. _Item_,
in dicta ecclesia sunt ex parte australi 10 archus, et inter quamlibet
columnam sunt 5 virgæ longitudinis cujuslibet dictorum 10 arcuum:
item sunt in parte inferiori dictæ ecclesiæ ex parte australi 10
fenestræ de consimili operatione. Et 10 fenestræ principales ex parte
boreali ecclesiæ, et quælibet fenestra continet duas magnas panellas
fenestratas. _Item_, in _le ovyrhistorye_ sunt consimiliter 10 fenestræ
principales, et quælibet fenestra continet duas panas vitratas secundum
proportionem, quamvis non secundum quantitatem fenestrarum totius
ecclesiæ Westmonasterii apud Londoniam.--_Will. de Worc._
[49] Latitudo _orientalis fenestræ_ ante magnum altare, continet 8
pannas _glasatas_ cum armis ROGERI BYGOT, fundatoris. Et in orientali
parte duarum elarum orientalium, in earum duabus fenestris, quælibet
fenestra constat ex tribus panis vitreatis sine armis. Item longitudo
_Chori_ constat ex iiii. arcubus ultra quantitatem areæ quadratæ
campanilis principalis in medio Chori qua; continet ... virgas. Sic
in toto longitudo Chori cum area campanilis continet virgas. _Item_,
altitudo _voltæ_ totius ecclesiæ ab area ecclesiæ continet xi. Anglicè
_vetheyms_, et quilibet vetheym constat, &c.... pedibus seu ... virgis.
Longitudo de le _Crosseyle_, id est brachiorum ecclesiarum, tam ex
parte meridionali quam boreali continet 50 virgas, id est 150 pedes.
_Item_, quadrature spacia areæ campanilis in medio _Chori_ ecclesiæ
scitæ continet in longitudine 12 virgas. _Item_, dicta quadratura
campanilis continet in latitudine 12 virgas. _Item_, _fenestra_
principalis _meridionalis_ atque _Septentrionalis_ vitrea continet vi.
pannas glasatas magnæ altitudinis.--_Will. de Worc. ed. 1778, Cantab._
[with various blanks.]
<g>Cloisters.</g>--Ecclesiæ de Tynterna: Memorand.--_The Cloyster_
is 37 virgæ in longit. et in lat. 33 virg. _Item_, tota eccles.
continet 14 archus in una parte et 14 archus in altera parte. _Item_,
pars fenestra borealis principalis 14 panellas glasatas. _Item_,
latitudo dietæ fenestræ tam ex boreali quam oppositæ fenestræ ex parte
meridionali continet iii. virgas. _Item_ the _fermarge chyrch_ continet
in longitudine 34 virgas, id est 60 steppys meas--quæ sunt 34 virgæ--et
in latitudine viii. virgas. _Item_, capitulum in longitudine continet
18 virgas, in latitudine 9 virgas. _Memorand._, quod 24 steppys, sive
gressus mei, faciunt 12 virgas. _Item_, 50 virgæ faciunt 85 gradus,
sive steppys meas.--_Will. de Worc._ 83.
In all its parts, according to Dugdale, this church is a copy of
Salisbury Cathedral, built only a few years previously.
[50] Paper on the Abbey. Tinterne, which is coeval with
Westminster Abbey, has a remarkable similarity in its whole plan
and style of architecture, and was, in fact, a _repetition_ in
miniature.--_Dallaway’s Arts_, p. 36.
[51] A barge-builder at Tinterne severed the head from the trunk, and
defaced the features, legs, and shield, leaving it in its present
mutilated state.--_Tinterne and its Environs._
[52] In the early Church, “a fish was generally used by Christians as
a symbol of the Great Founder of their faith, the letters of the Greek
word, ιχθυς (a fish), forming the _initials_ of the most important
titles of our blessed Lord:”--Ι.Χ.Θ.Υ.Σ.--_Pompeïana._
Ίησους Χριστὸς Θεου Ύιὸς Σωτηρ
[53] The naturalist will not leave the area of the Abbey without
noticing an alder-tree in the northern transept, covered with
_aphides_, to which a long train of black ants have for some years
been observed continually coming and departing through the sacristy
door, and pacing along the pediment of one of the lofty columns to the
root of the tree. This is the only _procession_ now visible in the
Abbey, and is formed, not for devotion, but for a lowlier, yet not less
imperative purpose--the alder-tree is their _refectory_, and the sweet
_exuviæ_ of the plant-lice form their food.--_Thomas’s Tinterne_, p. 26.
_b_ He enumerates the following as indigenous in the fruitful vale
of Tinterne:--Delphinium consolida, Aquilegia vulgaris, Saponaria
officinalis, Eriophorum polystachion, Galanthus nivalis, Narcissus
pseudo-narcyssus, Allium Carinatum, Ornithogalum Pyrennaicum, Acorus
calamus, Euphorbia Cyparissias, Anemone pulsatilla, A. Appenina, A.
nemorosa.
[54]
If thou would’st view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight;
For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild but to flout the ruins gray....
Then go--but go alone the while--
And view <g>St. Mary’s</g> ruin’d pile;
Then, home returning, soothly swear
Was never scene so sad and fair!
[55] Beauties, Harmonies, and Sublimities of Nature.
[56] Prædictus conquestor dedit manerium de Wolleston et manerium de
Tudenham in parte; et similiter dedit ei licentiam conquerendi super
Wallenses postea, &c.--_Monast. Angl._ iv. 725.
[57]
Is bruder Sir <g>Gileberd</g>, that eir was of the londe,
He bitoke mid gode wille the eritage an hond.
--_Robert of Gloucester._
[58] Baronage, 208.
[59] “He died untimely,” says the historian, “on the nones of April,
1176, and was buried in the Chapterhouse at Gloucester.”
[60] Bar. Monast.
[61] In the “_New Temple_” or Temple Church, as recorded by Robert of
Gloucester:--
And Willam <g>Marchal</g> deide tho, that longe worth in mone,
And atte _nywe temple_ was iburied at Londone.--Vol. ii. p. 518.
[62] Mat. Paris, 1245.
[63] Bp. of Fernis, a Cistercian monk, and an Irishman by birth.
[64] William, eldest son of the above-named Earl Marshall, gave a
charter to the Abbey of Tinterne, dated March 22, A.D.
1223. Pro salute animæ meæ et pro animabus bonæ memoriæ Walteri filii
Ricardi, filii Guilberti Strongbow, avi mei, et Willielmi Mariscalli,
patris mei, et Ysabellæ Matrisque meæ et antecessorum, hæredum et
successorum nostrorum.
[65] Dugdale’s Baronage.
[66] His deeds, assassination, and burial, are thus recorded by Robert
of Gloucester:--
“As noble bodi in he smot, he nolde longe abide,
He slou to ground her and ther, vaste on either side,
More prowesse ne mizte of bodi be,
Than me mizte of <g>Richard</g> the <g>marschal</g> there ise.”
Then describing the nature of the wound given him by an assassin--“in
aboute the fondement as he vnarmed was,” adds--
“At Kildar he was aslawe that in <g>Yrlonde</g> is,
And at the <g>frere prechors</g> ibured, at Kilkenni, iwis.
Tho vr <g>Kyng Henry</g> hurde of is deth telle,
And of the prowesse that he dude, ar me him mizte quelle,
And he vnderstod of his wit, and of is wisdom,
Him thozte it was a gret love to al is kinedom,
Vor is deth he made deol inou, and for is soule he let do
Almes dede mani on, and mani masse al so.”
[67] Baronage. Mat. of Paris. Mat. Westm. “Being suspected of overmuch
gallantry towards the wife of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales (sister of
King Henry), he was by him subtilely invited to an Easter feast, but
after the entertainment was over, he was charged therewith, and cast
into prison, where he suffered death by a barbarous murder. Some say he
was hanged, and the princess with him.”--_Dugdale. Bar._ 419.
[68] <g>Rogerus Bygod</g>, Comes Norfolciæ, dedit ecclesiæ de Tynterna
dominium de Eccle ac ecclesiam S. Edwardi de Halbergate ē omnibus eorum
pertinenciis.
[69] The hospitaler was allowed to drink with any orderly person, for
the sake of sociality, at the direction and request of that person,
without asking leave.--_Licet hostilario, etc._
[70] <g>St. Bernard</g> induced all his brothers, five in number,
to follow his example of retirement. His only <g>sister</g> still
remained in the world; but coming to visit the <g>monastery</g> in
the dress, and _with the attendance of a lady of quality_, she found
herself treated with so much neglect, that, bursting into tears, she
said, “True it is, I am a sinner, yet, nevertheless, it was for such
that JESUS died.” Moved by expressions so truly evangelical, Bernard
remitted his severity, gave her directions suitable to the taste of
the age, and probably still better advice; but all that _Gulielmus_,
the writer here quoted, has thought fit to record, is, that Bernard’s
sister became a nun, and resembled her brother in piety.--_Life of St.
Bernard._
[71] BRIT. MONACH.: art. _Guest-Hall_.
[72]
“From due oblation, at the vaulted door,
The entering <g>monks</g> stood, each one with his mate,
At the two tables of the lowest floor,
Their looks directing to the spiry state
Of chair much sculptured, where the <g>Prior</g> sate;
To this, where transversely, a board was spread,
Inferior lordlings of the convent ate;
As passed the Prior, all depressed the head;
Loud rang a tinkling bell, and wonted grace was said.”
[73]
“The <g>Prior</g> gave the signal word; aloud
The reader ’gan the love of God reveal;
At the first stated pause, the holy crowd
Turned to the board in instantaneous wheel,
And solemn silence marked their instant meal;
The Prior to the reader bow’d, again
They turned; the <g>Sacrist</g> rang a tinkling peal,
Last grace was said; and, carolling a strain
Of David, two and two withdrew the hooded train.”
BRIT. MONACH.--_Monastic Æconomy_, 401.
[74]
“At noon-hour--did no fleshless day betide--
On posied trenchers the plain cates were spread,
The snow-white egg, the fish’s corned side,
Domestic fowl, by barn-door plenty fed,
And, best of nutriment, fermented bread;
No thirst was theirs but what that juice could pall,
The sugar’d ears of bearded barley shed;
An aged monk was marshal of the hall,
There walking to and fro, the servitours to call.”
--_Poem quoted._
[75]
Pinguia concedens quæ sunt _affinia carni_,
Sic tamen ut nunquam sit _manifesta_ caro.
--_Spec. Stultor._ BRIT. MON.
[76] “Nullus et monachus habeat colloquium cum maliere cognata aut
extranea, in temporibus indebitis, sicut, prandii, et coenæ, et horæ
meridianæ, aut tempore potûs assiguati.”--_MS. Cott. Jul. II. 2. f.
159._ Quoted by Fosbroke, p. 220.
[77] See _ante op. cit._
[78] Brit. Monach. new Ed. p. 287.
[79] Hutchinson, ii. 67.
[80] Usus Cistercienses.
[81] These rules, however, proved very ineffectual in the end, and
were only observed until the temptation to break them had become
sufficiently strong.--See _ante_, pp. 33, 36.
[82] See _ante_ pages 35, 36, 37.
[83] See note in this vol. _ante_ page 35.
[84] Annales Cistercienses.
[85] Morton, 200.
[86] Morton’s Monastic Annals, quoting Bibl. Cotton. Nero A. 121.
[87] Nicolson’s Engh. Hist. lib. quoted by Morton.
[88] West’s Furness, 1774.
[89] Mores Catholici, xi. 77.
[90] Ibid.
[91] Mores Catholici.
[92] Mores Catholici.
[93] See Account of the _Schism_ already given.
[94] Hist. Monast. Villar. apud Mor. Cath.
[95] Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.
[96] Annales Cistertienses, quoted by Morton, 209.
[97] _Annales Cisterc._ 1154, iv. 6. This varies but slightly from the
original. See also Monast. Annals, p. 210.
[98] In the grounds at Hawkestone, the seat of Lord Hill, and in those
of Fountains Abbey, some extraordinary hunters’-leaps are pointed out,
as having been taken in the heat of the chase; but that given in the
tradition of Lancaut, is one that will never be repeated.
[99] These objections, it is to be hoped, are no longer applicable to
Tinterne Parva. The “desecration,” so justly yet playfully complained
of, is a practice which cannot be too strongly reprobated; but to such
instances of negligence or “economy,” nothing but the progress of
Archæology can apply a final check.
[100] From the time of Henry the Second, to whom the land of Gwent
submitted, the royalty of Wentwood Chase was vested in the crown, and
its privileges were ascertained in the Charta Forestæ of Henry the
Third; but the rights of lords of manors, and free tenants, in times of
general confusion, became involved and disputable. In the assumption of
the Chase of Wentwood by the house of Somerset, after the Restoration,
the recognition of ancient customs and privileges involved it in
numerous controversies and processes of law.--_County History._ See
also Letter from Cromwell, supra.
[101] Striguil, or Strigul Castle, is quite distinct from that of
Chepstow, with which it has been often confounded, under the common
name of _Striguil_, or _Estrigoel_.
[102] Thomas, p. 62.
[103] Ibid. 63.
[104] Hard by are seene Wondy and Penhow, the seats in times past of
the noble family of Saint Maur, now corruptly named Seimor. For G.
Mareshall, Earle of Pembrock, about the yeere of our Lord, 1240, was
bound for the winning of Wondy, out of the Welshmen’s hands, to aide
William Seimor. From him descended Roger de Saint Maur, knight, who
married one of the heires of L. Beauchamp of Hach, a very noble baron,
who derived his pedigree from Sibyl, heire unto William Mareshall, that
puissant Earle of Pembrock, from William Ferrars, Earle of Derby, from
Hugh de Vivon, and William Mallet, men in times past highly renowned.
The nobility of all these, and of others besides, as may be evidently
shewed, hath met together in that right honourable personage, Edward
Saint Maur, or Seimor, now Earle Hertford, a singular favourer of
vertue and good learning, worthy in that behalfe to be honoured and
commended to posterity.--_Camden Silures_, 634.
[105] Rupis Aurea, eò quod aurei coloris saxa sole repercussa miro
fulgore sunt rutulantia: nec mihi de facili persuasio fieri posset,
quod frustratum dederit natura nitore saxis, quodque suo fuerit flos
hic sine fructu, si foret qui venas ibidem, et penitima terræ viscera
arte prævia transpenetraret.--_Gyraldus Cambrensis._
There is a hill near famed Caerleon,
Which, if the sun but dart a ray on,
It shines like gold; hence Goldcliffe hight,
But if there’s gold, ’tis not in sight.
--_Wonders of Wales._
[106] With regard to this tract Camden relates:--Beneath this lieth
spred for many miles together a _Mersh_, they call it the _Moore_,
which, when I lately revised this worke, suffered a lamentable losse;
for when the Severn sea, at a spring tide in the change of the moone,
what being driven back for three daies together, with a south-west
winde, and what with a verie strong pirrie from the sea troubling it,
swelled and raged so high, that with surging billowes it came rolling
and inrushing amaine upon this tract lying so low, as also upon the
like flates in Somersetshire over against it, that it overflowed all
subverted houses, and drowned a number of beasts and some people
withal. _Camden_, 635. See also _Note supra_, page 5. Neere to this
place there remaine the reliques of a _Priorie_, that acknowledge those
of _Chandos_ for their founder and patron.--_Ibid._
[107] County Hist. vol. ii. p. 57.
[108] Ibid.
[109] Neere Throgos, where we saw the wall of a castle that belonged
to the high-constables of England, and was holden by the service of
high-constableship.--_Camden Silures_, 634.
[110] See _ante_, page 32.
[111] _Mathern_ is “derived from Merthern Tuderic--or Martyrdom of
Theodoric.” When a Christian chief, who, like Theodoric, fell in
conflict with the Saxons, then pagans, he was admitted to the honours
of martyrdom.
[112] For the avouching and confirming of the antiquity of this place,
I think it not impertinent to adjoin here those antique inscriptions
lately digged forth of the ground, which the Right Reverend Father in
God, Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaffe, a passing great lover of
venerable antiquity, and of all good literature, hath of his courtesie
imparted unto me. In the year 1602, in a meadow adjoining Mathern,
there was found by ditchers a certain image of a personage, girt and
short-trussed, bearing a quiver--(but head, hands, and feet were broken
off)--upon a pavement of square tile in checkerworke; also a fragment
of an altar, with this inscription engraven in great capital letters
three inches long, erected by _Haterianus_, the lieutenant-general
of Augustus, and proprietor of the province of Cilicia--HATERIANUS
LEG. AUG. PR. PR. PROVINC. CILIC.--The next yeere following hard by,
was this table also gotten out of the ground, which proveth that the
foresaid image was the personage of _Diana_, and that her temple was
repaired by Titus Flavius Posthumius Varus, an old soldier, haply of
a band of the Second Legion--T. FL. POSTUMIUS VARUS V. C. LEG. TEMPL.
DIANÆ RESTITUIT. Also, a votive altar, out of which Geta, the name of
Cæsar, may seeme then to have been rased, what time as he was made away
by his brother Antonine Bassianus, and proclaimed an enimie; yet so as
by the tract of the letters it is in some sort apparent. PRO SALUTE
AUGG. N. N. SEVERI ET ANTONINI [ET GETÆ CÆS.] P. SALTIENUS P. F. MÆCIU
THALAMUS HADRI. PRÆF. LEG. II. AUG. C. VAMPEIANO ET LUCILIAN.--_Camden.
Silures. Britan._ pp. 637, 638.
[113] Hist. of Engl. quoting Bishop Godwin.
[114] See Speed’s Chronicle.
[115] Pict. Hist. of England: Ecclesiast. Affairs.
[116] Ibid.
[117] Pict. Hist. Book vi.
[118] Ibid.
[119] Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact.
vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.
[120] Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact.
vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.
[121] Headed in the North by Lord Darcy, Robert Aske, &c. See history
of that year, 1539, in Pict. Hist.
[122] Ellis’s Orig. Letters in Pict. Hist.
[123] On the 11th June, 1539.
[124] Wilkins’ Concilia, quoted in Hist. of Engl. Civil and Milit.
Transact. vol. ii. 403.
[125] In the taxation of 1291, being the nineteenth year of the reign
of Edward the First, the entries relating to the possessions of
Tinterne are thus given:--