out of England: and caused it forthwith by publike proclamation to be written out, learned, and obserued throughout all the prouinces of the Pictes: defacyng the errours that had bene vsed there by the space of. vij. C. and. iiij. yeares. For all the ministers of the altar and all monkes were shauen on the crowne. And all the people reioysed for the new discipline of the most blessed prince of the Apostles S. Peter which they had receaued.

MarginaliaA note to admouishe the reader. ¶ By this Monkish letter aboue prefixed, voyde of all Scripture, of all probation and truth of history, thou mayest note, gentle Reader: how this vayne tradition of shauen crownes, hath come vp, and vpon how light and triflyng occasion: whiche in very deede was none other, but the dreamyng phantasies of Monkes of that tyme, falselye groundyng vpon the example of Peter: whom by no old monument of any aūcient record they can euer proue, either Peter or Symon Magus to haue beene shauen. Moreouer in the sayd letter also is to be noted, how the Scottish Clergy at that season, did weare no such Priestly crownes, as our English Churchmen then did.

But to cut of this matter of shauyng, more worthye to be laught at then to be storied, let vs now agayne returne, where as we left at king Iue, of whom W. Malmesbery, & Fabian in his Chronicle do recorde,MarginaliaFabia. ca. 141.
Guliel. Malmesb. de Reg. that whē the foresaid Iue had ruled the Westsaxōs by the terme of. 37. yeares, by the importunate perswasion, and subtile policie of his wife Ethelburga, was allured to go to Rome, and there to be made a Monke.MarginaliaAn. 724. which Ethelburga, after she had a long tyme laboured hym to leaue the world, and could not bryng about her purpose: vpon a seasē when the kyng and she had rested them in a fayre palace richly behanged, and were vpon the morrow thence departed: she by her commaundement caused the palace to be replenished with all kynde of filth and doung, and hogges and vile beastes therein to be layd, as well in the chambers, as other houses of office. And in their owne chamber where they did lye, there was a Sow layd w^t her young pigs.MarginaliaEthelburge the Queene perswadeth her husband to be a Monke. And whē she knew that this palace was thus deformed, beyng a certeine space out of the towne, she besought the kyng to visit the sayd palace. And when she had brought him thereunto, she sayd to him:MarginaliaThe crafty head of a woman. I pray you, my Lord, behold now this house: where are now the rich tappets, and clothes of gold and silke, & other rich apparell, that we left here this other day? And where be the delicacies & pleasaunt seruitours, and costly dishes, that you and I lately were serued with? Be not all these passed and gone? My Lord, (saith she) in like maner shall we vanish away as sodainly, as ye see these worldly thyngs bene passed. And our bodyes whiche now be delicately kept, shall fall & turne into the filth of the earth. Wherefore haue in mynde my wordes that before tyme to you I haue often shewed and told, and busie you to purchase that palace that euer shal endure in ioy without transmutation.

MarginaliaKyng Iue resigning his kyngdome, went to Rome and became a monke. By meane of these wordes and other, the Queene turned so the kinges mynde, that shortly after he resigned the gouernaunce of his kingdome vnto Ethelardus his neuew: & for the loue of Christ tooke vpon him the habite of a poore man. And settyng a part all the pompe & pride of this wicked world, associated himselfe in the felowshyp of poore mē, and trauailed to Rome with great deuotion, when he had bene kyng of Westsaxons, as before is sayd. 37. yeares. After whose departyng, the foresayd Ethelburga his wife, went vnto Barkyng vij. miles from London,MarginaliaEthelburga the Queene made Nunne of Barkyng. where in the Nunry of Barkyng before of Erkenwald foūded, she cōtinued & ended the rest of her lyfe, whē she had bene Abbes of the place a certaine time. The saide Malmesbery in his story also testifieth,MarginaliaPeter pence first graunted and payd to Rome. that this Iue was þ^e first kyng that graūted a peny of euery firehouse through his dominion to be payd vnto the court of Rome: whiche afterward was called Romescot, of Peter pence, and long after was payd in many places of England.

MarginaliaThe lawes made by kyng Iue to his people. This Iua, like as for his tyme, he was worthy and valiaunt in his actes: so was he the first of the Saxon kinges (that I reade of) which set forth any lawes to his countrey: the rehearsall of which lawes, to the number off. 80. & odde, were not vprofitable here to be inserted together with other lawes of the Westsaxon kynges after him, before the tyme of William Conquerer: in case it were not for the length and prolixitie of this present volume. And thus much concernyng the raigne of kyng Iue, kyng of Westsaxons by the way. Now to repayre agayne to the course of Northūberland kynges somethyng intermitted.

MarginaliaCelulfus kyng of Northumb. Next vnto the foresayd Osricus, followed Celulfus, whō he had adopted, brother to Kēred aboue specified. This Celulfus, as he was himselfe learned, so were in his tyme diuers learned men then florishyng in England, among whō was Beda:MarginaliaBede. who vnto the same kyng Celulfus, offered his story, intituled Anglorum Historia, not onely to be ratified by his authoritie, but also to be amended, as Malmesburiensis writeth, by his knowledge and learnyng.

Marginalia729.The lyfe of Bede briefly described. And for as much as I haue here entered into the mention of Bede, a man of worthy and venerable memorie, because of the certifieng the truth of that man: and for that I see all writers (as touching his life) do not agree, some saying that he was no Englishman borne: I thought so much to reporte of hym, as I finde by his owne wordes testified of him selfe in the latter end of his Ecclesiasticall history of England, offered to the sayd Celulfus aboue mentioned, the wordes of whom be these:

Thus much, by the helpe of God, I Bede the seruaunt of Christ, and Priest of the Monastery of Peter and Paul at Wire: haue compiled and digested, concernyng the Britaine history. And so the same Bede proceedyng further in his narration, declareth that he beyng borne in the territorie of the sayd Monastery, beyng of the age of. vij. yeares, was committed of his parentes and frendes, to the tuition and educatiō of BenedictMarginaliaThis Benedict maister to Bede, was first that brought in the vse of glasse wyndowes into England. Also the sayd Benet brought from Rome wyth hym Iohn the Archchaunter who first taught in England to sing in the quire after the manner of Rome. (of whom aboue relation is made) and of Celfride Abbots of the foresayd Monastery. In the whiche place of Monastery he continuyng, from that tyme forth, all his lyfe long, gaue hym selfe and all his whole study to the meditatyng of holye scripture. Whatsoeuer time or laisure he had frō his dayly seruice in þ^e church, þ^t he spēt either in learning, or in teaching, or in writing somthing. About xix. yeares of his age, he was made Deacon: the. xxx. yeare of his age he was made Priest. From the whiche tyme, to the age of. 59. yeares he occupyed him selfe in interpretyng the workes of the auncient fathers, for his owne vse, and the necessitie of others:MarginaliaThe number of the workes & books written by Bede. and in writyng of treatises, whiche came in all to the number of. 37. volumes, whiche he digested into. 78. bookes.

Some say that he went to Rome, either there to defēd his bookes to be consonaunt to Catholicke doctrine: either els if they should be found fauty, to amende and correct the same, as he should therto be commaunded. Albeit the reporter of this his life dare not certeinly affirme that euer he was at Rome. but that he was inuited and called thether to come: both it is manifest in stories, and also this Epistle of Pope Sergius, doth sufficiently proue, declaryng moreouer in what price and estimation Bede was accepted, as well in the Court of Rome, as in other places besides. The Epistle of Sergius sent to Celfride, thus proceedeth, in tenor and forme as followeth in Latin.

MarginaliaAn epistle of Pope Sergius. S Ergius Episcopus seruus seruorum Dei, Celfrido religioso Abbati. Sal. Quibus modis ac verbis clementiam Dei nostri, atq̀ inenarrabilem prouidētiam possumus effari, & dignas gratiarum actiones pro immensis eius circa nos beneficijs persoluere: qui in tenebris & in vmbra mortis positos ad lumen scientiæ perducit? Et infra. Benedictionis gratiā: quam nobis per præsentem portatorem tua deuota misit relgio, libenti & hilari animo sicuti ab ea directa est nos suscepisse cognosce. Oportunis igitur ac dignis amplectendæ tuæ sollicitudinis petitionibus arctissima deuotione satisfacientes: hortamur Deo dilectam religiositatis tuæ bonitatē, vt quia exortis quibusdam Ecclesiasticarum causarum capitulis, noō sine examinatione longius innotescendis, opus nobis sunt ad conferendum artes literaturæ, sicut decet Deo deuotum auxiliatorem sanctæ matris vniuersalis Ecclesiæ obedientem deuotionem huic nostræ exhortationi non desistas accommodare: sed absq; vlla immoratione religiosum Dei famulum Bedam, venerabilē Monasterij tui Presbyterum, ad limina Apostolorum principum dominorum meorum Petri & Pauli amatorum tuorum ac protectorum, ad nostræ mediocritatis conspectum non moreris dirigere: Quem, satisfaciente domino sanctis tuis precibus, non diffidas prospere ad te redire (peracta præmissorum capitulorum cum auxilio Dei desiderata solennitate) Erit enim vt confidimus etiam cunctis tibi creditis profuturum, quicquid Ecclesiæ generali claruerit per eius præstantiam impartitum. &c.

MarginaliaThe famous learnyng of Bede. So notable and famous was the learnyng of this foresayd Bede, that the Church of Rome (as by this letter appeareth) both stode in neede of his helpe, and also requireth the same, about the discussyng of certeine causes and controuersies apperteinyng to learnyng. Moreouer the whole Latin church at that tyme, gaue him the maisterie in iudgement and knowledge of the holy Scripture. In all his explanations his chiefest scope and purpose did euer driue, to