our free iustificatiō by the faith of Iesu Christ. Because of the lacke wherof as well the builders and founders therof, as they that wer professed in the same, seme both to haue runne the wrong way, and to haue bene deceaued. For albeit in them there was a deuotion & zeale of mind þ^t thought wel in this their doing, which I wil not here reprehend: yet the end and cause of there deedes and buildynges can not be excused beyng contrary to the rule of christes Gospel, for somuch as they dyd these thynges sekyng therby merites with God, and for remedy of their soules, and remission of their sinnes: as may appeare testified in their own recordes, wherof one here I thought to set forth for the probation of the same. Reade this Charte (if it please the gentle reader) of kyng Ethelbald his donation, and charter geuen to Churches, and religious persōs: which Ethelbald was the builder (as is sayd) of Peterbrugh, the wordes of his record and instrument be these.

MarginaliaEx chronicis Guliel. Malmesb. lib. 1.PLærumq; contingere solet pro incerta temporum vicissitudine, vt ea quæ multarum fidelium personarum testimonio consilioq; roborata fuerint: fraudulenter per contumaciam plurimorum, et machinamenta simulationis, siue vlla consideratione rationis, periculose dissipentur, nisi autoritate literarum (testamento Chyrographorum) æternæ iuemoriæ committantur. Quapropter, ego Ethelbaldus Rex Merciorum pro amore cælestis patriæ, et remedio animæ, studendum esse præuidi: vt eam per bona opera liberam efficerem in omni vinculo delictorum. Quoniam enim mihi omnipotens Deus per misericordiam clementiæ suæ, absq; vllo antecedente merito sceptra reiminis largitus est: ideo libenter ei, ex eo quod dedit, retribuo. Huius rei gratia hanc donationem, me viuente, cōcedo, vt omnia monasteria et ecclesiæ regni mei, a publicis vectigalibus, et operibus, et oneribus absoluantur: nisi instructionibus arcium, vel pontium quæ nulli vnq̃ prosunt. Præterea habeant famuli dei propriā libertatem in fructibus siluarum et agrorum, et in captura piscium, ne munuscula præbeant vel regi, vel principibus, nisi voluntaria. Sed liberi Deo seruiant. &c.

By the contentes hereof may well be vnderstand (as wher he sayth pro amore cælestis patriæ, pro remedio animæ, pro liberatione animæ, et absolutione delictorū. &c,) howe great was the ignoraunce and blyndnes of these men: who lacking no zeale, onelye lacked knowledge to rule it with all: seking their saluation not by Christ onely, but by their owne deseruinges & meritorious dedes. Which I recite not here to any infamy or reprehension of them, but rather to put vs in mynde and memorye, how much we at this present are bound to God for the true sinceritie of his truth: hidden so long before to our foreauncitors, and opened now to vs by the good wyll of our God, in his sonne Christ Iesu. This onely lamenting by the way, to see them to haue such woorkes, and to lacke our fayth: and vs to haue the right fayth, and to lacke their workes. And this blinde ignorance of that age, thus aboue prenoted: was the cause not onely why these kings builded so many Monasteries vpon zealous superstition, but also why so many of them, forsakyng their orderly vocation of princly regiment, gaue themselues ouer to monasticall profession, or rather wylfull superstitiō. Concerning the names & number of which kinges that were professed Monkes, is sufficientlye in this story before declared: the names of whom we shewed to be seuen or eight, within the space of these. 2. hundreth yeares. Such was then the supersticious deuotiō of kynges and princes in that age: and no lesse also to be noted in queenes and kinges daughters, with other noble women, of the same age and time. The names of whom, it were to long here to recite. MarginaliaA briefe cata of quenes and kings daughters, which learuyng their estate wer made nonnes.
Hilda.
Erchengoda.As Hilda daughter to the nephew of Edmine king of Northumberland, abbesse of the house of Ely. Erchengoda with her systerMarginaliaErmenilda.
EdelbergaErmenilda daughters of Ercombertus kyng of Kent: which Erchengoda was professed in saynt Brigets order in Fraunce. Item Edelberga wife and queene to king Edwine of Northumberlande, and daughter of king Anna, which was also in the same house of Saint Briget made a nunne. MarginaliaEtheldreda.Item Etheldreda, whō we terme S. Eldred, wife to king Ekfrid of Northumberlande: who being maried to. ij. husbandes, could not be obtained to geue her cōsent to either of thē during þ^e space of xij. yeares, but woulde needes lyue a virgine, and was professed Nunne at Helynges. MarginaliaVVerburga, Kinreda, Kinesvvida, Sexburga, Elfrida, Mildreda, Milburga, Milguida, Kineburga, Elfleda, Alfritha, VVulfritha, Editha.Werburga was the daughter of Vlferus king of Mercians, and made nūne at Ely. Kinreda sister of kyng Vlferus and Kinswida her sister, were both nūnes professed. Sexburga daughter of king Anna king of Mercians, and wife of Ercombert king of Kent, was Abbesse at Ely. Elfrida daughter of Oswy king of Northumberland, was Abbesse of Whitney. Mildreda, Milburga, and Milguida all three daughters of Merwaldus king of west Mercians, entred the profession and vow of Nunnish virginitie, Kineburga, wife of Alfrid king of Northumberland, and sister to Ofricus king of Merciās, and daughter of kyng Penda: was professed Abbesse of the monastery in Glocester. Elfleda daughter of Oswy king, and wife of Peda, sonne of king Penda, likewyse inclosed her selfe in the same profession, and vowe of Romishe chastitie. &c. Likewise Alfritha wife to kyng Edgar. And Editha daughter to þ^e said Edgar, with Wolfrith her mother. &c. All which holy Nūnes with diuers mo, the Romishe catholickes haue canonised for saintes, & put the most part of them in their Calender, and onely because of the vowe of chastitie solemnlye professed. Concernyng the which chastitite, whether they kept or no, litle I haue to say against them, & lesse to sweare for thē. But whether they so kept it or not, if this gift of chastitie which they professed wer geuē thē of god, smal prayse worthy was it in thē to kepe it: If it were not geuē them, I wyl not say here of them so much, as hath bene sayde of some other, which sufficiently haue paynted out to the worlde, the demeanour of these holy votareis. But this wyll I say, that although they kept it neuer so perfectlye, yet it is not that which maketh sayntes before God, but onely the bloud of Christ Iesus, and a true fayth in hym.

Likewise remaineth, that as we haue declared the deuotion of these noble women, which professing monasticke life, haue cast of all worldly dignitie and delites: so we shoulde also intreate of suche noble men, who among the Saxon kinges in lyke zeale of deuotion, haue geuē ouer them selues from the world (as thei thought) to the contemplatiue life of moonkishe profession. The names of whō, as in the Catalogue of the Saxon kings before is described, be these: to the number of. ix.

MarginaliaKinges made Monkes

Of which kinges and of their doinges, what is to be iudged, looke gentle Reader before. Pag. 154. &. 155.

By these histories it is apparant: what mutations, what perturbations, and what alteration of state hath bene in this realme of Britaine, first from Britayne kinges, to Romaines, then to Britaines agayne, afterwarde to the Saxons. First to. vij. all together rayg-