suræ, vel iniusti ponderis. Sed conuenit vt per cōsilium & testimonium eius, omne legis rectum, & burgi mensura, & omne pondus sit secundum Marginalia* alias dictionē.* ditionem eius, institutum valde rectum: ne quis proximum suum seducat, pro quo decidat in peccatum.

Et semper debet Christianis prouidere cōtra omnia, quæ prædicta sunt, & ideo debet se de pluribus intromittere: vt sciat quomodo grex agat, quem ad Dei manum custodire suscepit, ne diabolus eum dilaniet, nec malum aliquod superseminet. Nunquam enim erit populo bene consultum, nec digne Deo conuersabitur, vbi lucrum impium & magis falsum diligitur. Ideo debent omnes amici Dei quod iniquum est eneruare, & quod iustum est eleuare, nec pati vt propter falsum, & pecuniæ quæstum homines se forisfaciant erga verè sapientem Deum, cuj displicet omnis iniusticia.

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Christianis autem omnibus necessarium est, vt rectum diligant, & iniqua condemnent & saltem sacris ordinibus euecti iustum semper erigant, & praua deponant.

Hinc debent Episcopi cum iudicibus, iudicia dictitare & interesse, ne permittant (si possint) vt illinc aliqua prauitatū gramina pullulent. Et sacerdotibus pertinet in suo Diocesi, vt ad rectum sedulò quēcumq; iuuent, nec patiantur (si possint) vt Christianus aliquis alij noceat, non potens impotēti, nō summus infirmo, non prælatus Marginalia* alias minoribus.* subditis, non Dominus hominibus suis, seruis, aut liberis. Et secundum Marginalia* alias scriftes dictionem.* ditionem, & per mensuram suam, cōuenit per rectum, vt necessaria Marginalia* alias serui testimentales.* serui operentur super omnem scyram cui Marginalia* vel, cui insunt.* præ est.

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Et rectum est vt non sit aliqua mēsurabilis virga longior quam alia. sed per Marginalia* alias scriftes mensuram.* Episcopi mensurā omnes institutæ sint, & exequatæ per suamMarginalia* in sua scryft scyra. * diocesin. Et omne pondus cōstet secundum dictionē eius, & si aliquid controuersiarum intersit, discernat Episcopus.

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MarginaliaA law how that maisters ought to condiscend and beare some time with their seruants.Vniuscuiusq; Domini propriū est & necesse, vt seruis condescendat, & compatiatur, sicut indulgentius poterit: Quia Domino Deo viuēti sunt æque chari seruus, & liber. Et omnes vno & eodē precio redemit, & omnes sumus Deo necessario serui: Et sic iudicabit nos, sicut ante iudicauimus eos, in quos potestate iudicij in terris habebimus. Et ideo opus est vt eis parcamus, qui nobis parere debent & tunc manutenebimur in Dei omnipotentis proprio iudicio. Amen.

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MarginaliaThe lawe of kyng Ethelstane concerning tythes.The sayd Ethelstane besides, prescribed other constitutions also, as touchyng tithes geuyng: where he sayth and proclaymeth. Ego Ethelstanus rex, consilio Vlfelmi Archiepiscopi mei & aliorum Episcoporum mando præpositis omnibus in regno meo, in nomine Domini & sanctorum omnium, vt inprimis reddāt 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 kyng, charge & commaunde all my officers through my whole Realme, to geue tithes vnto God of my proper good, as well in lyuyng cattell, as in the corne and fruites of the groūd, and that my Byshops likewise of their proper goodes, and myne Aldermen, and my officers and headmen shall do the same. Item this I will: that my Byshops and other headmē 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 Lord: MarginaliaTythes.Of all thyngs that thou geuest to me, I wil offer tithes vnto the Lord, &c. Also what the Lord sayth in the Gospell of S. Mathew. To him that hath, it shal be geuen: and he shall abound. We must also consider how terribly it is written in bookes, that if we will not offer our tenthes, from vs ix. partes shall be taken away, and onely the x. part shalbe left vs, &c. And in the same place, after that he hath assigned þ^e Churchrightes to be payd in the place, whereto they belong: it followeth thus. MarginaliaThe kyng woulde vsurpe no mans 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 & transgressione mea.

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Amōg his other lawes and ordinaunces, to the nūber of. xxxv. diuers thynges be comprehended pertainyng as well to the spirituall, as also to the temporall iurisdiction.

MarginaliaThe law of kyng Ethelstane concerning fealons stealing aboue xii. d.Out of the lawes of this kyng, first sprang vp the attachement of theeues, such as stole aboue. xij. peace and were aboue. xij. yeares old, should not be spared.

MarginaliaEpitap. in Ethelst. Sol illustrauit bisseno scorpion ortu. Cum regē caudā percutit ilie sua.And thus much briefly concernyng the history of kyng Ethelstane, & thynges in his tyme done: who reigned about the space of, xvi. yeares. And because he dyed without issue, therfore after him succeeded his brother Edmund, the yeare of our Lord. 940. who reigned. vi. yeares.

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MarginaliaAn .940.
Edmundus king of England.  

EDmund the sonne of Edward the elder, by his thyrd wife (as is declared) and brother of Ethelstane, beyng of the age of. xx. yeares, entred his reigne: who had by his Queene Elgina, two sonnes, Edwyne, & Edgarus, surnamed Pacificus, which both reigned after him, as followeth. This Edmund continued his reigne. vi. yeares and a halfe. By him were expulsed the Danes, Scottes, Normandes, and all foreine enemyes out of the land. Such Cities and Townes whiche before were in the possession of straungers: as Lyncolne, Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, and Leycetour, he recouered out of their hands. Thus the Realme beyng cleared of foreine power, for a tyme: then the kyng set his study and mynde in the redressing and maintainyng the state of the Church: whiche all stode then in building of Monasteries, and furnishyng of Churches, either with new possessions, or with restoring the old which were taken away before. In the tyme of this Edmund, this I finde in an old written story, borowed of W. Cary: MarginaliaEx historia Cariana.a Citizen of Londō, a worthy treasurer of most worthy monuments of antiquitie. The name of the author I can not alledge: 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 Monarchorum Eushmensis cœnobij, cum substitutione Canonicorum per Althelmum, & Vlricum laicos, & Osulphum Episcopum, &c. That is: In the time of this king, MarginaliaMonkes out of Eusham, the yeare of our Lord. 941.there was a scatteryng or a dispersion made of the Monkes, out of the Monastery of Eusham, and Canons substituted in their place: through the doyng of Athelmus, & Vlricus laymen, and of Osulfus Byshop, &c.

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Where, as concernyng thys matter betwene monkes and other of the clergie, first it is to be vnderstand: that in the realme of England, heretofore before the time of Dunstane: the byshops seas and cathedrall churches were replenished with no monkes, but with priestes and canons (called then clerkes or men of the clergy) MarginaliaThe difference betwene mōkes & pryestes.After this beginneth to rise a difference or a sect betwixt these two parties, in straitnesse of lyfe and in habite: so that they which liued after a straiter rule of holinesse, were called monkes, & professed chastitie: MarginaliaChastitie wrongly defined.that was, to lyue from wiues, (for so was chastitie then defined, in those blynde dayes) as though holy matrimony were no chastitie, according as MarginaliaHoly mariage by the definition of Paphnutius is chastitie.Paphnutius did well define it, in the councell of Nice. The other sort which were no monkes but priestes or men of the clergy called liued more free from these monkish rules and obseruaunces: and were then commonly (or at least lawfully) maried, and in their life and habite, came nearer to the secular sorte of other christians. By reason wherof great disdayne and emulation was among them: in so much that in many cathedral churches, where as priestes were before: there monkes were put in. MarginaliaMonkes how they differed frō priests, & they first began in England.And contrary, sometyme where as monkes were intruded, there priestes and canons agayne 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, somethyng to satisfie the cogitation of the reader, which peraduōture either is ignorant, or els would know of the first comming in of monkes into this realme and churche of England in the Saxones tyme: this is to be noted accordyng as I finde in old chronicles, namely in the latine history of Guliel de gestis pontificum Angl. recorded, touching the same. MarginaliaGuliel. de pontifi. lib. 3.That about this tyme of kyng Edmund or shortly after, when hardnesse and straitnes of lyfe, ioyned with superstition, was had in veneration, and counted for great holynesse: Men therefore, eyther to winne publique fame with men, or merites with God, gaue themselues to lead a straite lyfe: thinkyng therby the straunger their conuersation was, and farther from the common trade of the vulgar people, the more perfect to bee toward God and man. MarginaliaThe monastery of Floriake.There was at that tyme (& before that) a monastery in Fraūce named Floriake, after the order and rule of Benedict: from the which monastery dyd spring a great part of our english monkes. Who being there professed, and afterward returnyng into England, did congregate men daily to theyr profession. And so, partly for straungenesse of their rule: partly for outward holinesse of theyr straite lyfe: partly for the opinion of holines that many had of them, were in great admiration: not onely with the rude sort, but with kynges and princes: who founded theyr houses, maintayned their rules, and enlarged them with possessions. Among the which order of monkes comming from Floriake, especially was one MarginaliaOswaldus byshop of Yorke a great patrone of monkesOswaldus, first a monke of Floriake, then bishop of Wirceter and of Yorke: a great patrone and setter vp of monckery. Touching the which Oswaldus, William in hys booke, De pontific. wri-

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