MarginaliaThe lawe of king Ethelstang concerning tythes.The sayd Ethelstane besides, prescribed other constitutions also, as touching tythes geuing: where he sayth and proclaymeth. Ego Ethelstanus rex, consilio vlfelmi Archiepiscopi mei & aliorum episcoporum mādo præpositis omnibus in regno meo, in nomine domini & sanctorum omnium, vt inprimis reddant de meo proprio decimas deo, tam in viuente capitali, quàm in mortuis frugibus terræ: & episcopi mei similiter faciāt de suo proprio, & Aldermanni mei & præpositi mei, &c. That is. I Ethelstane king, charge and commaund all my officers through my whole realme, to geue tythes vnto God of my proper good, as well in liuing cattell, as in the corne and fruites of the ground, and that my bishops likewise of their proper goods, and myne Aldermen, and my officers and headmen shall do the same. Item this I wil: that my bishops & other headmen do declare the same, to such as be vnder their subiection, and that to be accomplished at the terme of S. Iohn the Baptist. Let vs remember what Iacob sayd vnto the Lorde: MarginaliaTythes.Of all thinges that thou geuest to me, I will offer tythes vnto the Lord, &c. Also what the Lord sayth in the Gospell of S. Mathew. To him that hath, it shall be geuen: and he shall abound. We must also consider how terriblye it is written in bookes, that if we will not offer our tenthes, from vs nyne partes shal be takē away, & onely the tēth part shalbe left vs, &c. And in the same place, after that he hath assigned the churchrightes to be payd in þ^t place, wherto they belong: it followeth thus. MarginaliaThe kyng would vsurpe no mās goods wrongfully.Facite etiam vt mihi mea propria cupiatis, quæ mihi poteritis recte acquirere. Nolo vt aliquid mihi iniuste conquiratis. Sed omnia vestra cōcedo vobis eo tenore, quo mihi mea similiter expotetis. Cauete simul & vobis, & eis quos admonere debetis, ab ira dei et transgressione mea.

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Among his other lawes & ordinaunces, to the number of. xxxv. diuerse thinges be comprehended pertayning as well to the spirituall, as also to the temporall iurisdiction.

MarginaliaThe law of K. Ethelstane concerning fealōs stealing aboue xii pence.Out of the lawes of thys king, fyrst sprange vp the attachment of theues, such as stole aboue. xij pence and were aboue. xij. yeares olde, should not be spared.

MarginaliaEpitap. in Ethelt. Sol illustrauit bisseno scorpion ortu. Cum regem caudā percutit ilie sua.And thus much briefly touched, concerning the historye of king Ethelstane, and thinges in hys tyme done: who reigned about the space of, xvj. yeares. And because he dyed without issue, therfore after him succeded hys brother Edmunde, the yeare of our Lorde. 940. who reigned. vj. yeares.

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MarginaliaAn 940
Edmūdus king of England.  

EDmunde the sonne of Edward the elder, by his third wife (as is declared) and brother of Ethelstane, being of the age of. xx. yeares, entred his reigne: who had by his queene Elgina, two sonnes, Edwine, and Edgarus, surnamed Pacificus, which both reigned after hym, as followeth. This Edmunde continued hys reigne. vj. yeares and a halfe. By him were expulsed the Danes, Scottes, Normandes, and all foren enemyes out of the land. Such cities & townes which before were in þ^e possessiō of strangers: as Lyncolne, Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, & Laycetour, he recouered out of their hands. Thus þ^e realme being cleared of foren power, for a time: then the king set his studie and minde in the redressing & maintaining the state of the church: which all stoode then in building of monasteries, & furnishing of churches, eyther with new possessions, or with restoring the olde which were taken away before. In the tyme of this Edmunde, this I finde in an old written story, borowed of W. Cary: MarginaliaEx historia Cariana.a citizen of London, a worthye treasurer of most worthy monumentes of antiquitie. The name of the author I can not alleage: because the booke beareth no title, lacking both the beginning, and the latter end. But the wordes therof faythfully recited, be these: Huius regis tempore, facta est dispersio monarchorū Eusha-mensis cœ nobij, cum substitutione canonicorum per Althelmum, & Vlricum laicos, & Osulphum episcopum, &c. That is: In the tyme of this king, MarginaliaMonkes out of Eusham, the yere of our Lord. 941.there was a scattering or a dispersion made of the monkes, out of the monasterye of Eusham, and canons substituted in theyr place: through the doing of Athelmus, and Vlricus laymen, and of Osulfus bishop, &c.

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Where, as concerning this matter betwene monks and other of the clergie, first it is to be vnderstand: that in the realme of England, before this present tyme, aboute the beginning of Dunstane: the bishops sees and cathedrall churches were replenished with no monkes, but with priestes and canons (called then clerkes or mē of the clergie) MarginaliaThe difference betwene monkes & priestes.After this beginneth to rise a difference or a secte betwixt these two parties, in straitnes of life and in habite: so that they which liued after a straiter rule of holines, were called monkes, and professed chastitie: MarginaliaChastitie wrongly defyned.that was, to liue from wiues, (for so was chastitie then defined, in those blinde daies) as though holy matrimonie were no chastitie, according as MarginaliaHoly mariage by the definitiō of Paphnutius is chastitie.Paphnutius did wel define it, in the councell of Nice. The other sorte which were no monkes but priestes or men of the clergie called, liued more free from these monkishe rules and obseruaunces: and were then commonly (or at least lawfully) maryed, and in their life and habite, came nearer to the secular sort of other christians. By reason wherof great disdayne and emulation was among them: in so much þ^t in many cathedrall churches, where as priestes were before: there monkes were put in. MarginaliaMonkes how they differed frō priests, and they fyrst began in England.And contrarye, sometime where as monkes were intruded, there priests and canons againe were placed, and monkes thrust out: wherof more shall appeare hereafter (by the grace of Christ) when we come to the life of Dunstane. In the meane tyme, something to satisfie the cogitation of the reader, which peraduenture eyther is ignoraunt, or ells would know of the first cōming in of monkes into thys realme and church of England in the Saxons time: this is to be noted, according as I finde in olde chronicles, namely in the latin historye of Guliel de gestis pontificū Angl. recorded, touching the same. MarginaliaGuliel. de pontifi. lib. 3.That aboute thys tyme of king Edmunde or shortlye after, when hardnes and straitnes of life, ioyned with superstition, was had in veneration, and counted for great holynes: Men therfore, eyther to wynne publique fame with men, or merites with God, gaue themselues to lead a straite life: thinking therby the straunger their conuersation was, and farther from the common trade of the vulgar people, the more perfecte to be toward God and man. MarginaliaThe monatery of Floriake.There was at that time (& before that) a monasterye in Fraūce named Floriake, after the order and rule of Benedicte: from the which monasterye did spring a great parte of our english monkes. Who being there professed, and afterward returning into England, did congregate men dayly to their profession. And so, partly for straungenes of their rule: partly for outward holines of their straite lyfe: partlye for the opinion of holynes that many had of them, were in great admiration: not onely with the rude sorte, but with kinges and princes: who founded their houses, maintayned their rules, & enlarged them with possessions. Among the which order of monkes cōming from Floriake, especiallye was one MarginaliaOswaldus bishop of Yorke a great patrone of monkes
Guliel. lib. 3. de pont.Oswoldus, first a monke of Floriake, then byshop of Wiceter and of Yorke: a great patron and setter vp of monkerye. Touching the which Oswaldus, William in his booke, de pontific. writing of his historye, hath these wordes: Familiaris per id temporis Anglis consuetudo fuit, vt si qui boni afflati essent desiderio, in beatissimi Benedicti monasterio cænobialem susciperet habitum: a quo, religionis huiusce manauit exordium, &c. That is. It was a common custome at that time among enlish men, that if any good men were well affected or minded toward religiō, they went to þ^e monastery of blessed S. Benedict

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