Part 6

King Arthur at his returne into Britaine, found that Mordred had [Sidenote: Rather Cerdicke as _Leland_ thinketh.] caused himselfe to be made king, & hauing alied himselfe with Cheldrike a Saxon (not him whome Galfride, as ye haue heard, supposeth to haue béene wounded & slaine before) was readie to resist his landing, so that before he could come on land, he lost manie of his men: but yet at length he repelled the enimies, and so tooke land at Sandwich, where he first arriued, and ioining in battell with his enimies, he discomfited them, but not without great losse of his people: speciallie he sore lamented the death of Gawaine the brother of Mordred, which like a faithfull gentleman, regarding more his honour and loiall truth than néerenesse of bloud and coosenage, chose rather to fight in the quarrell of his liege king and louing maister, than to take part with his naturall brother in an vniust cause, and so there in the battell was slaine, togither also with Angusseli, to whom Arthur afore time had committed the gouernment of Scotland. Mordred fled from this battell, and getting ships sailed westward, and [Sidenote: Gawaine buried at Douer.] finallie landed in Cornwall. King Arthur caused the corps of Gawaine to be buried at Douer (as some hold opinion:) but William Malmesburie supposeth, he was buried in Wales, as after shall be shewed. The dead bodie of Angussell was conueied into Scotland, and was there buried. When that Arthur had put his enimies to flight, and had knowledge into what parts Mordred was withdrawne, with all spéed he reinforced his armie with new supplies of souldiers called out of diuerse parties, and with his whole puissance hasted forward, not resting till he came néere to the place where Mordred was incamped, with such an armie as he could assemble togither out of all parties where he had anie friends. ¶ Héere (as it appéereth by Iohn Leland, in his booke intituled, "The assertion of Arthur") it may be douted in what place Mordred was incamped: but Geffrey of Monmouth sheweth, that after Arthur had discomfited Mordred in Kent at the first landing, it chanced so that Mordred escaped and fled to Winchester, whither Arthur followed him, and there giuing him battell the second time, did also put him to flight. And following him from thence, fought eftsoones with him at a place called Camblane, or Kemelene in Cornwall, or (as some authors haue) néere vnto Glastenburie.

[Sidenote: _Richard Turner_.] This battell was fought to such proofe, that finallie Mordred was slaine, with the more part of his whole armie, and Arthur receiuing diuers mortall wounds died of the same shortlie after, when he had reigned ouer the Britains by the tearme of 26 yéeres. His corps was buried at Glastenburie aforesaid, in the churchyard, betwixt two pillers: where it was found in the daies of king Henrie the second, about the yeere of our Lord 1191, which was in the last yéere of the reigne of the same Henrie, more than six hundred yéeres after the buriall thereof. He was laid 16 foot déepe vnder ground, for doubt that his enimies the Saxons should haue found him. But those that digged the ground there to find his bodie, after they had entered about seuen foot déepe into the earth, they found a mightie broad stone with a leaden crosse fastened to that part which laie downewards toward the corps, conteining this inscription:

"Hîc iacet sepultus inclytus rex Arthurius in insula Aualoniæ."

This inscription was grauen on that side of the crosse which was next to the stone: so that till the crosse was taken from the stone, it was vnséene. His bodie was found, not inclosed within a toome of marble or other stone curiouslie wrought, but within a great trée made hollowe for the nonce like a trunke, the which being found and digged vp, was opened, and therein were found the kings bones, of such maruellous bignesse, that the shinbone of his leg being set on the ground, reached vp to the middle thigh of a verie tall man: as a moonke of that abbeie hath written, which did liue in those daies, and saw it. ¶ But Gyraldus Cambrensis (who also liued in those daies, and spake with the abbat of the place, by whom the bones of this Arthur were then found) affirmeth, that by report of the same abbat, he learned, that the shinbone of the said Arthur being set vp by the leg of a verie tall man (the which the abbat shewed to the same Gyraldus) came aboue the knée of the same man the length of three fingers breadth, which is a great deale more likelie than the other. Furthermore the skull of his head was of a woonderfull largenesse, so that the space of his forehead betwixt his two eies was a span broad. There appéered in his head the signes and prints of ten wounds or more: all the which were growne into one wem, except onelie that whereof it should séeme he died, which being greater than the residue, appéered verie plaine. Also in opening the toome of his wife quéene Gueneuer, that was buried with him, they found the tresses of hir haire whole and perfect, and finelie platted, of colour like to the buruished gold, which being touched, immediatlie fell to dust. The abbat, which then was [Sidenote: _Henricus Blecensis_ seu _Soliacensis_. _Io. Leland_.] gouernour of the house, was named Stephan, or Henrie de Blois, otherwise de Sullie, nephue to king Henrie the second (by whose commandement he had serched for the graue of Arthur) translated the bones as well of him as of quéene Gueneuer, being so found, into the great church, and there buried them in a faire double toome of marble, laieng the bodie of the king at the head of the toome, and the bodie [Sidenote: _Dauid Pow._ _pag._ 238, 239.] of the quéene at his féet towards the west part. ¶ The writer of the historie of Cambria now called Wales saith, that the bones of the said Arthur, and Gueneuer his wife were found in the Ile of Aualon (that is, the Ile of Alpes) without the abbeie of Glastenbury, fiftéene féet within the ground, & that his graue was found by the meanes of a Bardh, whome the king heard at Penbroke singing the acts of prince Arthur, and the place of his buriall.

_Iohn Leland in his booke intituled Assertio Arthuri, hath for the woorthie memorie of so noble a prince, honored him with a learned epitaph, as heere followeth._

Saxonicas toties qui fudit Marte cruento _Who vanquisht Saxon troops so oft, with battels bloudie broiles,_ Turmas, & peperit spolijs sibi nomen opimis, _And purchast to himselfe a name with warlike wealthie spoiles,_ Fulmineo toties Pictos qui contudit ense, _Who hath with shiuering shining swoord, the Picts so oft dismaid,_ Imposuítque iugum Scoti ceruicibus ingens: _And eke vnweldie seruile yoke on necke of Scots hath laid:_ Qui tumidos Gallos, Germanos quíque feroces _Who Frenchmen puft with pride, and who the Germans fierce in fight_ Perculit, & Dacos bello confregit aperto: _Discomfited, and danted Danes with maine and martiall might:_ Denique Mordredum è medio qui sustulit illud _Who of that murdring Mordred did the vitall breath expell,_ Monstrum, horrendum, ingens, dirum, sæuúmque tyrannum, _That monster grislie, lothsome, huge, that diresome tyrant fell,_ Hoc iacet extinctus monumento Arthurius alto, _Heere liuelesse Arthur lies intoomd, within this statelie hearse,_ Militiæ clarum decus, & virtutis alumnus: _Of chiualrie the bright renowme, and vertues nursling fearse:_ Gloria nunc cuius terram circumuolat omnem, _Whose glorie great now ouer all the world dooth compasse flie,_ Aetherijque petit sublimia tecta Tonantis. _And of the airie thunder skales the loftie building hie_. Vos igitur gentis proles generosa Britannæ, _Therefore you noble progenie of Britaine line and race,_ Induperatori ter magno assurgite vestro, _Arise vnto your emperour great, of thrice renowmed grace,_ Et tumulo sacro roseas inferte corollas, _And cast vpon his sacred toome the roseall garlands gaie,_ Officij testes redolentia munera vestri. _That fragrant smell may witnesse well, your duties you displaie_.

¶ These verses I haue the more willinglie inserted, for that I had the same deliuered to me turned into English by maister Nicholas Roscarocke, both right aptlie yeelding the sense, and also properlie answering the Latine, verse for verse.

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_Vpon what occasion the graue of king Arthur was sought for, the follie of such discouered as beleeued that he should returne and reigne againe as king in Britaine, whether it be a fiction or a veritie that there was such an Arthur or no; discordance among writers about the place of Gawains buriall and Arthurs death; of queene Gueneuer the wife of king Arthur, hir beautie and dishonest life, great disagreement among writers touching Arthur and his wiues to the impeachment of the historie, of his life and death._

THE XIIIJ. CHAPTER.

The occasion that mooued king Henrie the second to cause his nephue the foresaid abbat to search for the graue of king Arthur, was, for that he vnderstood by a Welsh minstrell or Bardh (as they call him) that could sing manie histories in the Welsh language of the acts of the ancient Britains, that in the forsaid churchyard at Glastenburie, betwixt the said two pillers the bodie of Arthur was to be found sixtéene foot déepe vnder the ground. Gyraldus Cambrensis affirmeth, that the trée in the which Arthurs bodie was found so inclosed, was an oke, but other suppose that it was an alder trée, bicause that in the same place a great number of that kind of trées doo grow, and also for that it is not vnknowne, that an alder lieng vnder ground where moisture is, will long continue without rotting.

¶ By the finding thus of the bodie of Arthur buried (as before ye haue [Sidenote: As for example in a caue néere a water called pond perilous at Salisburie, where he and his knights should sléepe armed, till an other knight should be borne that should come and awake them. _Will. Malmes. lib. 1. de regibus Ang._] heard) such as hitherto beleeued that he was not dead, but conueied awaie by the fairies into some pleasant place, where he should remaine for a time, and then to returne againe, and reigne in as great authoritie as euer he did before, might well perceiue themselues deceiued in crediting so vaine a fable. But yet (where it might otherwise be doubted, whether anie such Arthur was at all, as the British histories mention, bicause neither Gyldas nor Beda in their woorks speake anie thing of him) it may appéere, the circumstances considered, that suerly such one there was of that name, hardie and valiant in armes, though not in diuerse points so famous as some writers paint him out. William Malmesburie a writer of good credit and authoritie amongst the learned, hath these woords in his first booke intituled "De regibus Anglorum," saieng: "But he being dead [meaning Vortimer] the force of the Britains waxed féeble, their decaied hope went backward apace: and euen then suerlie had they gon to destruction, if Ambrosius (who alone of the Romans remained yet aliue, and was king after Vortigerne) had not kept vnder and staied the loftie barbarous people, that is to say the Saxons, by the notable aid and assistance of the valiant Arthur."

This is the same Arthur, of whom the trifling tales of the Britains euen to this day fantasticallie doo descant and report woonders: but woorthie was he doubtlesse, of whom feined fables should not haue so dreamed, but rather that true histories might haue set foorth his woorthie praises, as he that did for a long season susteine and hold vp his countrie that was readie to go to vtter ruine and decaie, incouraging the bold harts of the Britains vnto the warre, and finallie in the siege of Badon hill, he set vpon nine hundred of the enimies, and with incredible slaughter did put them all to flight. On the contrarie part, the English Saxons, although they were tossed with sundrie haps of fortune, yet still they renewed their bands with new supplies of their countriemen that came out of Germanie, and so with bolder courage assailed their enimies, and by little and little causing them to giue place, spread themselues ouer the whole Ile. For although there were manie battels, in the which sometime the Saxons and sometime the Britains got the better, yet the greater number of Saxons that were slaine, the greater number of them still came ouer to the succour of their countriemen, being called in and sent for out of euerie quarter about them.

[Sidenote: Gawaine where he is buried.] Héere is also to be noted, that where the British historie declareth, that Gawaine or Gallowine being slaine in the battell fought betwixt Arthur and Mordred in Kent, was buried at Douer, so that his bones remained there to be shewed a long time after: yet by [Sidenote: _Wil. Malm. lib. 3. de regib._] that which the foresaid William Malmesburie writeth in the third booke of his volume intituled "De regibus Anglorum," the contrarie maie séeme true: his woords are these. "Then (saith he) in the prouince of Wales, which is called Rosse, the sepulture of Gallowine was found, who was nephue to Arthur by his sister, not going out of kind from so woorthie an vncle. He reigned in that part of Britaine which vnto this day is called Walwichia, a knight for his high prowesse most highlie renowmed, but expelled out of his kingdome by the brother and nephue of Hengist, of whome in the first booke we haue made mention, first requiting his banishment with great detriment and losse to those his enimies, wherein he was partaker by iust desert of his vncles woorthie praise, for that he staied (for a great manie yéeres) the destruction of his countrie, which was now running headlong into vtter ruine and decaie. But Arthurs graue no where appéereth: yet the others toome (as I haue said) was found in the daies of William the conqueror, king of England, vpon the sea side, and conteined in length fouretéene foot, where he was (as some say) wounded by his enimies, and cast vp by shipwracke. But other write, that he was slaine at a publike feast or banket by his owne countriemen." Thus saith William Malmesburie.

¶ But heere you must consider, that the said Malmesburie departed this life about the beginning of the reigne of king Henrie the second, certeine yéers before the bones of Arthur were found (as ye haue heard.) But omitting this point as néedles to be controuerssed, & letting all dissonant opinions of writers passe, as a matter of no such moment that we should néed to sticke therein as in a glewpot; we will procéed in the residue of such collections as we find necessarilie pertinent to the continuation of this historie; and now we will say somewhat of quéene Guenhera or Guenouer, the wife of the foresaid king Arthur.

Some iudge that she tooke hir name of hir excellent beautie, bicause Guinne or Guenne in the Welsh toong signifieth faire, so that she was named Guennere or rather Guenlhean, euen (as you would say) the faire or beautifull Elenor or Helen. She was brought vp in the house of one Cador earle of Cornewall before Arthur maried hir: and as it appeareth by writers, she was euill reported of, as noted of incontinencie & breach of faith to hir husband, in maner as for the more part women of excellent beautie hardlie escape the venemous blast of euill toongs, and the sharpe assaults of the followers of Venus. The British historie affirmeth, that she did not onelie abuse hir selfe by vnlawfull companie with Mordred, but that also in Arthurs absence she consented to take him to husband. It is likewise found recorded by an old writer, that Arthur besieged on a time the marishes néere to Glastenburie, for displeasure that he bare to a certeine lord called Melua, who had rauished Gueneuer, and led hir into those marishes, and there did kéepe hir. Hir corps notwithstanding (as before is recited) was interred togither with Arthurs, so that it is thought she liued not long after his deceasse.

Arthur had two wiues (as Gyraldus Cambrensis affirmeth) of which the latter (saith he) was buried with him, and hir bones found with his in one sepulchre, but yet so diuided, that two parts of the toome towards the head were appointed to receiue the bones of the man, and the third part towards the féet conteined the womans bones, apart by themselues. Here is to be remembred, that Hector Boetius writeth otherwise of the death of Arthur than before in this booke is mentioned, & also that Gueneuer being taking prisoner by the Picts, was conueied into Scotland, where finallie she died, and was there buried in Angus, as in the Scotish chronicles further appeareth. And this may be true, if he had thrée sundrie wiues, each of them bearing the name of Gueneuer, as sir Iohn Price dooth auouch that he had. Now bicause of contrarietie in writers touching the great acts atchiued by this Arthur, and also for that some difference there is amongst them, about the time in which he should reigne, manie haue doubted of the whole historie which of him is written (as before ye haue heard.) ¶ But others there be of a constant beléefe, who hold it for a grounded truth, that such a prince there was; and among all other a late [Sidenote: _Dauid Pow. pag. 238, 239_.] writer, who falling into necessarie mention of prince Arthur, frameth a spéech apologeticall in his and their behalfe that were princes of the British bloud, discharging a short but yet a sharpe inuectiue against William Paruus, Polydor Virgil, and their complices, whom he accuseth of lieng toongs, enuious detraction, malicious slander, reprochfull and venemous language, wilfull ignorance, dogged enuie, and cankerd minds; for that they speake vnreuerentlie and contrarie to the knowne truth concerning those thrisenoble princes. Which defensitiue he would not haue deposed, but that he takes the monuments of their memories for vndoubted verities.

The British histories and also the Scotish chronicles doo agrée, that he liued in the daies of the emperour Iustinian, about the fiftéenth yéere of whose reigne he died, which was in the yéere of our Lord [Sidenote: 542.] 542, as diuerse doo affirme. Howbeit some write farther from all likelihood, that he was about the time of the emperor Zeno, who began [Sidenote: _Aurea historia. I. Leland_.] his reigne about the yéere of our Lord 474. The writer of the booke intituled "Aurea historia" affirmeth, that in the tenth yéere of Cerdicus king of Westsaxons, Arthur the warriour rose against the Britains. Also Diouionensis writeth, that Cerdicus fighting oftentimes with Arthur, if he were ouercome in one moneth, he arose in an other moneth more fierce and strong to giue battell than before. At length Arthur wearied with irkesomnes, after the twelfth yéere of the comming of Cerdicus, gaue vnto him vpon his homage doone and fealtie receiued, [Sidenote: Westsaxon.] the shires of Southampton and Somerset, the which countries Cerdicius named Westsaxon. This Cerdicius or Cerdicius came into Britaine about the yéere of our Lord 495. In the 24 yere after his comming hither, that is to say, about the yéere of your Lord 519, he began his reigne ouer the Westsaxons, and gouerned them as king by the space of 15 yéeres, as before ye haue heard. But to follow the course of our chronicles accordinglie as we haue begun, we must allow of their accounts herein as in other places, and so procéed.

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_The decaie of christian religion and receiuing of the Pelagian heresie in Britaine by what meanes they were procured and by whom redressed: Constantine succeedeth Arthur in the kingdome, ciuill warre about succession to the crowne, the chalengers are pursued and slaine, Constantine is vnkindlie killed of his kinsman, a bitter and reprochfull inuectiue of Gyldas against the British rulers of his time, and namelie against Constantine, Conan that slue Constantine reigneth in Britaine, his vertues and vices, his two yeeres regiment, the seuere reprehensions of Gyldas uttered against Conan, discouering the course of his life, and a secret prophesie of his death._

THE XV CHAPTER.

In this meane while that the realme was disquieted with sore & continuall warres betwixt the Britains and Saxons (as before ye haue heard) the christian religion was not onelie abolished in places where the Saxons got habitations, but also among the Britains the right [Sidenote: The heresie of the Pelagians reuiued, _Hist. Mag._] faith was brought into danger, by the remnant of the Pelagian heresie, [Sidenote: Dubritius & Dauid lerned bishops.] which began againe to be broched by diuers naughtie persons. But Dubritius that was first bishop of Landaffe, and after archbishop of Caerleon Arwiske, and his successour Dauid, with other learned men earnestlie both by preaching and writing defended the contrarie cause, to the confuting of those errors, and restablishing of the truth.