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portance to the nation, some of which shall be noticed hereafter.

During the disputes between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, or Maud, concerning the right of succession to the kingdom, Wiltshire was particularly distinguished. Roger, Bishop of Sarum, was the principal instrument in the elevation of the former to his usurped dignity; but having afterwards excited suspicion, on account of vindicating, with too great warmth, the interests of the church, he was ungratefully arrested, and deprived of his castle of Sarum, by the same prince for whom he had violated his oath of allegiance to the Empress, the rightful heiress of the English throne.

Clarendon, in this county, is remarkable for the laws passed there in the reign of Henry II. " whereby the king checked the power of the Pope and the clergy, and greatly narrowed the total exemption they claimed from the secular jurisdiction ;"t though the completion of his wishes was unhappily prevented by the injudicious murder of that proud and arrogant prelate, Archbishop Becket. These laws are still familiar to the legal antiquary, by the appellation of the Constitutions of Clarendon. At Marlborough, in 1267, Henry the third held a Parliament, or a general assembly of the "Estates of England," to provide for "the better state of the realm, and the more speedy administration of justice;" and here were consequently enacted those statutes for the suppression of tumults, which have ever since been denominated "The Statutes of Marlbridge."

During the contests between the houses of York and Lancaster, that continued so long to deluge England with blood, the inhabitants of Wiltshire were conspicuous for their attachment to the fortunes of the Henries. A great number of them were present at the battle of Tewksbury, and bore the brunt of that fatal day,

C4

• Hume's History of England, Vol. I. p. 478.

+ Blackstone's Commentaries, Vol. IV, p. 429.

day, which so much contributed to confirm the diadem on the head of Edward, *

In the no less deplorable events of the seventeenth century, this county was equally distinguished. Many actions between the decided within its bounda

parliamentary and royal forces were ries; particularly at Malmsbury, at Ludgershall, and at Rounda-way hill, in the neighbourhood of Devizes. Wardour-Castle and that of Devizes were besieged and taken by both parties, within one year. Warminster and several other towns of inferior note likewise stood sicges, and were taken and retaken at different periods of this unfortunate era. Accounts of these events will be found in the descriptions of the respective places at which they occurred.

Since the Restoration no transaction of historical importance has happened peculiarly relating to Wiltshire, unless the circumstance of James II. being first thoroughly convinced of the desperate condition of his affairs, while his headquarters were established at Salisbury, may be considered as such. This conviction resulted from the rapid desertion of the greater portion of his officers and army, to join the standard of the Prince of Orange. Among the former was the celebrated Lord Churchill, subsequently created Duke of Marlborough, whose defection was soon afterwards followed by that of the Princess Anne, and her husband, Prince George of Denmark. Thus abaudoned, the unhappy monarch had no alternative but to fly his kingdom, and seek refuge at the court of France +.

In the preceding narrative of historical occurrences we have endeavoured to display the manners and customs of the early inhabitants of this district, because it is conceived that a knowledge of those will tend materially to elucidate many of the ancient remains, which we shall have occasion to notice and describe in subsequent pages.

ECCLESIASTICAL

For an account of this battle, see Beauties, Vol. V. p. 689.

Hume's History of England, Vol. IX. p. 485.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. That the Christian religion was known, and pretty generally received in England, under the Roman government, is an opinion which admits of very little doubt. The devastations, however, of the Saxons, who still continued to worship idols, soon banished the benignant influence of the Gospel from our island; and paganism once more asserted, for a time, her degrading dominion over the minds of men. After the establishment of the heptarchy the first individual who attempted the conversion of the kingdom of Wessex was Birinus*. This person was consecrated a bishop by Asterius, Bishop of Genoa, and had left Italy at the instigation of Pope Honorius with the view of penetrating into the heart of Britain, and diffusing the light of revelation to the remotest boundary of the island. But having chanced to land in Wessex, and observing that its inhabitants were yet wholly devoted to the adoration of images, and altogether ignorant of the true attributes of Deity, he thought it unnecessary to proceed further, and accordingly commenced his spiritual labours here. His endeavours in the glorious cause of the Redeemer seem to have been rapidly crowned with success; for, in a very short period after his arrival, we find it recorded that King Cynigels, or Kinegislus, as well as the greater part of his subjects, renounced their heathenish creed, and embraced the doctrines of Christianity + Oswald, King of Northumberland, who had come hither in order to form a matrimonial alliance with the daughter of the West Saxon monarch, and had been previously converted, is said to have greatly contributed, by his influence, to this happy result. It was so ordered, (says William of Malmesbury,) and the sight was certainly a praise-worthy one, that the baptism of the King should take place the same day on which he gave his daughter in marriage to the Northumbrian prince. Hence

Godwin. De Præsulibus, p. 202.

+ Warner's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I. p. 75. Folio, 1759. Bede, B. III. C. 7. Chron. Saxon, Chron. Ethelwerd. Savile Script.

Rer. Angl. p. 856.

Hence Oswald became in one hour both "the spiritual father and the carnal son-in-law of Cynigels."

These ceremonies being concluded, it now became proper to form a regular establishment for the support and further propagation of the new religion. Accordingly the two kings co-operated to erect a cathedral church at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, and Birinus was installed bishop, with spiritual jurisdiction over the whole of Wessex; also of some districts within the bounda ries of Mercia t. Notwithstanding these exertions, however, Christianity made very little progress in this kingdom for several years. The tumults and distractions attendant on war but ill accord with the mild precepts of the Gospel. The most obvious truths can only be inculcated by very slow degrees, when the mind has been long warped by prejudice, and debased to the lowest ebb of superstitious ignorance. To comprehend the attributes of Deity; to conceive the existence of a Being, who, without any local habitation or physical constitution, should yet live, and direct all the mighty operations of nature, is an elevation of thought which it requires leisure and steady reflection to attain. No wonder then, if amidst the horrors of invasion, Birinus found it impossible to go on in the accomplishment of his pious mission; and was forced at length to abandon his church, and seek shelter in East Anglia, along with Cenwalph, whose licentious conduct deprived him of his kingdom during a period of three years, when the death of Penda enabled him to regain it. In the school of adversity this prince had learned wisdom, and being now fully sensible of his errors, resolved to atone for them by the moderation and sanctity of his future conduct. Accordingly, to evince the sincerity of this resolution he immediately finished the cathedral church at Winchester, which

had

Wil. Malm. De Gest. Pont. p. 241. Savile Rer. Script. Edit. Franc. Chronica. Ethelwerdi. Anno. 635-639.

It may bere be proper to remark that Cynigels, though an independent monarch, paid tribute to Oswald for some portion of his territories. Warner's Ecclesiastical History of England, Vol. I. p. 75.

had been begun by his father; and, having annexed to it entire jurisdiction over all his dominions, assigned it to Birinus in lieu of the See of Dorchester, incorporated with the kingdom of Mercia.

At this period (A. D. 646) the Diocese of Winchester was probably the most extensive in England, comprehending no fewer than eight counties, viz. Hampshire, Somersetshire, Wiltshire, Devonshire, Huntingdonshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Cornwall *. King Ina, regarding this bishopric as too large to be under the spiritual jurisdiction of one prelate, wisely divided it into two, on the death of Edda. That of Winchester, which still retained two counties, he gave to Daniel; and the other which was fixed at Sherborne, and comprised all the remaining counties, he conferred on Aldhelm, one of the most learned and eminent ecclesiastics of his aget. Wiltshire was of course included in the diocese of the latter, which continued, without any alteration, in its extent or government, during a succession of thirteen bishops. The last of these was Ethelwald, at whose death the country was so disturbed by the inroads of the Danes, that this among other bishoprics, remained vacant for the space of seven years. These circumstances, as might naturally be supposed, produced great confusion in the church, so that upon peace being restored in the year 905, Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, perceived it necessary to exert himself with great energy to reestablish the ecclesiastical government under regulations better adapted to their object than had hitherto subsisted. With this view he consecrated seven additional bishops, and formed three of their dioceses out of the Bishopric of Sherborne. A fourth was soon afterwards established, which was confined to this county; but the seat of the bishops was not permanently fixed, for it

The Magna Britannia mentions Lincolnshire among the counties belonging to the see of Winchester at the period above alluded to; but this must certainly be a mistake, probably for Berkshire, which is omitted in the same werk. Magna Britannia. Wilts. p. 166.

+ See Beauties, Vol. IV. p. 488.

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