CHAP. I.

(1) WEe are now come unto the latter part of St. George's Historie; a part wher­in wee shall finde many friends, and few enemies: for now wee are to deale with those, that speake for us; [Page 124] and will not sticke to justifie the Storie of this blessed Martyr, upon their oathes. But first wee will dilate a little on his Name, lest else mista­king there, wee may perchance have all our pro­cesse overthrowne; and this wee will the rather, because the name doth seeme to carry with it, the Osse or Omen of good lucke; and in a manner did presage him for a Martyr. The Name of GEORGE, not to proceed in it more Gramma­tically, is originally Greeke: derived' [...], which is; To till the Earth, or to play the Plough-man. It signifieth an Husband-man; and therefore Suidas doth expound the name by [...], a Tiller, or labourer of the Earth. So Camden, in his Remaines, George, gr. Husband-man, the same with Agricola: and thereunto the famous Spencer thus alludeth in the wordes be­fore recited;

To this the learned Doctor Reynolds hath allu­ded also, as before I noted; where hee informes us, That all true Christian people, ( Quos [...] Dei appellat Apostolus, 1. Cor. 3.) whom the Apo­stle calls GODS Husbandrie, ought to make warre against the Dragon, mention'd in the Apoca­lypse. [Page 125] But this allusion or conceit, noted before him, by George Wicelius, In S. George. in these wordes. Esto tu quicunq, censeris Christianus, Georgius; id (que) reipsa. Pater enim Coelestis [...] est, inquit Evangelista: Nos huius mystici Agricolae [...] sumus, sicut ait Apostolus. Bee thou (saith hee) whoever thou art that art called a Christian, be thou a GEORGE: and not in Name onely, but in very deed. For as wee have it in the Gospell, Our heavenly Father is an Husbandman: And wee, as the Apostle tels us, are Gods husbandry.

(2) But of the Name inough. The Storie of our Martyr, wee have made choyce to borrow out of Simeon Metaphrastes. For notwithstanding that wee find the Historie set downe at large, by others of the later times; and that not few of those that went before him both in time and lear­ning, have touch'd at it: yet wee have taken him to speake first for us, to open as it were, our Bill; reserving all the rest as seconds, to make good his assertions. I know we might with greater glory, and more seeming shew of Antiquity, haue cast this burthen upon him, that calls himselfe Saint George's servant, Pasicrates by name: the first which did commit to writing, the Death and Actions of St. George; and one (if such a one there was) which might relate the Storie with most assu­rance, as being alwayes with him even unto his suffering. But since the credit of Pasicrates, and of the storie written by him, dependeth onely on [Page 126] the word of Metaphrastes, who ascribes it to him: We may as well immediatly report it out of Me­taphrastes; in whom there is not any thing omit­ted worth our reading, which is found extant in the other. Of whom, and of the time in which hee liv'd, and that opinion which he carrieth in the world, wee will speake a little: because we have made choyce of him, to declare first for us; and it concernes us, not to have our businesse o­pened by a man suspected, by one of no esteeme and credit with the learned. When that is done, we will not beg you to beleeve him any further; than in Sir Walter Raleigh's judgement, we may give credit unto Annius and his Authors: name­ly so farre, as others writing on the same Argu­ment, concurre with him; and justifie his words as warrantable and historicall.

(3) And first, the Age in which hee lived, is diuersly reported. Bellarmine on the credit of Baronius, Descrip. Eccl. hath placed him in the middle of the ninth Centurie; Iohn Vossius in his Booke De Gr. Historicis, Lib. 2. cap. 26. hath ranked him in the yeare 1060! Oraeus Volaterran, our learned Iewell, and Helvicus, make him a babe of yesterday; a writer of the fourteenth Centurie, no older. Of this last com­putation more hereafter: the other two, being the worst of them, more probable than this; though but one true. These two both built upon the same ground, the time of Michael Psellus; and therefore if wee can resolve upon his time, wee have found the other. By Bellarmine it is affirm'd [Page 127] that Psellus was alive, anno 850. Michael the third▪ together with his Mother Theodora, then ruling in the East: which Psellus made a funerall Orati­on in the praise of Metaphrastes. This last ac­knowledg'd to bee true by Vossius; but then he tells us, and that upon the credit of Cedrenus, that Michael Psellus, [...], as that Author calls him, was Tutor unto Constan­tinus Ducas, who began his Empire in the yeare 1061. But in the sifting of the businesse, it may perhaps appeare, that Vossius is not ledde to this by any argument, more than his owne opinion. Non negare possum (saith hee) ijs temporibus ( viz. sub Mich. 3.) vixisse quendam Michael. Psellum; Iu [...] quo supra. nam id apertè testatur Iohannes Curopalates: sed nego istum nobilem illum esse Philosophum, cuius permulta hodie (que) supersunt. He cannot choose but grant, that Michael Psellus flourished in the time of Michael and Theodora: but that this was the Michael Psel­lus whose writings are still extant, this he deni­eth. So then, it being so farre granted, that Mi­chael Psellus was aliue, according to the time as­signed by Bellarmine; we will according to that computation resolve of Sim. Metaphrastes, that he flourished in the ninth Centurie. When we see better reason to inforce the contrary, wee shall not thinke it any shame, to alter our opinion. As for the name of Metaphrastes, it was given our Author in reference unto a worke of his, tou­ching the Lives of Saints and Martyrs: which lives he had collected with indefatigable industry, [Page 128] out of severall Authors, himselfe retayning the sense and matter of them, but otherwise delive­ring the Stories in wordes more proper and ex­pressive. So witnes [...]eth Aloysius Lippomanus in his Preface; Ideò (que) & Metaphrastae nomen fuisse adeptum: [...] enim Graecè, Latinè est Scripturam aliquam dilucidioribus verbis, sensu ta­men & materia retentis, interpretari.

(4) This worke thus brought together, be­came of good esteeme and credit in the Easterne parts: the reputation of the Writer, and the o­pinion had of his good performance in that kind, cōcurring both together, to further the admission of it in their Churches. For of the man himselfe, it is affirm'd by Lippomanus, In Praefac. that by the Grecians hee is honour'd as a Saint: the 27. of November, being assign'd him for his Feast-day. Psellus, a man of speciall qualitie himselfe, hath played the Pa­negyrist in his commendation: and therein added to the fame of Metaphrastes; Adeò bonum est lau­dari à laudato viro. And not he onely, but all the Fathers of the great Councell of Florence, the greatest in the later Ages of the Church; have magnified his Name, and extoll'd his Learning. For vouching him and his authority, in that great point, De filio (que) then debated; hee is summon'd thus: Imprimis ergo Sim. Metaphrastes vestris in Ecclesijs celebarrimus, Concil. Flor. Anno 1436. accedat, &c. Sess. 7. But what need more bee sayd than that of Theod. Bal­samon, in his Commentaries on the Canons of the [Page 129] sixt Synod. For there was great complaint made in that Councell, how hideously the lives of Saints were falsified by Heretickes; §. 6. which 63. Ca­non, together with the resolution of the Fathers, wee have recited in the second Chapter of the former part of this Discourse. Hereupon Balsa­mon takes occasion to congratulate the felicity of the Church, in those latter times; and to com­mend withall, the paines and excellent perfor­mance of our Author, in that Argument. Mag­na ita (que) B. Metaphrastae agenda est gratia, qui marty­ricas pro veritate fossas, non sine multis laboribus & sudoribus repurgavit, & exornavit; ad Dei lau­dem, & S. Martyrum perennem gloriam. So hee, or rather his Translatour: for I have not the origi­nall now by me.

(5) Bellarmine giveth this note of him, De Scrip. Eccl. and the note is good: Videri aliquas historias Sancto­rum, additas à posterioribus; That many Histories were added to the worke of Metaphrastes, by some of lesser standing; those namely which were added to the Catalogue of Saints, after the death of the first Author. Which note of his, together with the testimonies of Balsamon, and Psellus, doe most abundantly refell their errour, which make him such a Puisné: and in part also satisfie it. The first of those, that did disparage thus our Author; Raphael Volaterran: and in him wee reade it thus. Lib 19. p. 234. lu. S. Simeon Constantinopolitanus lu­di magister, circiter annos abhinc 200. composuit [Page 130] Graecè Metaphrastas. Id est, Sanctorum vitas, quae sin­gulis mensibus proprie leguntur, habentur (que) in Biblio­theca Vaticana. I thus translate it in the wordes of Byshop Iewell, ‘This Simeon Metaphrastes, whom Mr. Harding calleth a greeke Writer, Art. 14.6.7. was a poore Schoole-master in Constantinople, and wrote Saints lives, which may well be called, The Legend of lyes, and lived Two hundred yeares agoe, and not above.’ Thus hath Helvi­cus placed his Simeon Constantinopolitanus, in the yeare 1306. which was two hundred yeares ex­actly, before the time of Volaterran: And so O­raeus in his Nomenclator, Simeon Metaphrastes, Con­stantinopolitanus, scripsit de vitis Sanctorum, Sec. 14. So they, but this can nothing prejudice our Sime­on Metaphrastes, extoll'd so highly by Michael Psellus, who liv'd, in their account which speake the least, Anno 1060. so highly praised by Balsa­mon, who wrote about the yeare 1191. above an hundred yeares before this Scoole-master was talked of. Likely it is, this Schoole-master, might adde those Lives unto the worke of Metaphrastes; which by the Cardinall are noted to bee of later date, and a lesse standing. And this I thinke the rather, because Nicephorus, who liv'd then with this Schoole-master, if such there was; hath told vs touching Simeon Stylites, the latter of that name, how that one Simeon Magister (Some Schoole-master perhappes) had written of him; but not so learnedly as the occasion did require. Hist Eccles. Lib. 18. cap. 14. Ea huc vs (que) (de Sim. viz. Stylite) sermone omnium cele­brantur; [Page 131] à Simeone Magistro, quanquam non ita doctè ut magnitudo rerum postulavit, conscripta. But be he what he will, and even as ignorant as a Pedant may be in nature, it is no matter: certaine I am, hee cannot be that Metaphrastes, so much fam'd by Psellus, Balsamon, and a whole Councell; not that, whom wee haue chosen to report the storie of St. George, and is now readie to re­late it.

(6) Of Metaphrastes hitherto. We now pro­ceed unto the storie, which hee tell's vs, thus. Georgius in Cappadocia, non obscuro loco, e Christia­nis parentibus natus; in vera pietate iam inde edu­catus fuerat. Hic cum ad pubertatem nondum perve­nisset, patrem in certamine pietatis egregis pugnan­tem amisit; è Cappadocia (que) cum matre in Palestinam, vnde erat oriunda, se contulit: vbi multae illi possessi­ones, et ingens erat haereditas. Ob generis igitur no­bilitatem, cum iam et corporis pulchritudine et aetate ad militiam aptus esset; Tribunus militum est con­stitutus. Quo quidem in munere, cum virtutem suam in bellicis certaminibus, sé (que) strenum militem osten­disset; Comes à Diocletiano constitutus est, antequàm christianus esse cognosceretur. Cum autem eo tempore mater é vita discessisset, maioris cupidus dignitatis, maximam e divitijs sibi relictis partem accipit, et ad Imperatorem profectus est. Tunc annum vicessimum aetatis annum impleverat. So farre the words of Metaphrastes, which I haue therefore here put downe at large, because it is the ground worke [Page 132] of the whole businesse. I translate it thus. ‘St. George was borne in Cappadocia, of Christian parents, and those not of the meanest qualitie: by whom he was brought up in true Religion, and the feare of God. Hee was no sooner past his Childhood, but hee lost his father, brauely encountring with the enemies of Christ: and thereupon departed with his afflicted Mo­ther into Palestine, whereof she was a native; and where great fortunes and a faire inheritance did fall unto him. Thus qualified in birth, and being also of an able bodie, and of an age fit for employment in the warres, hee was made a Colonell. In which employment hee gaue such testimonies of his valour, and behav'd himselfe so nobly: that forthwith Dioclesian, not know­ing yet that he was a Christian, advanc'd him to the place and dignitie of his Councell for the warres: (for so on good authoritie, I have made bold to render Comes in this place and time) About this time his Mother dyed: and hee aug­menting the heroicke resolutions of his mind, with the increase of his revenue, did presently applie himselfe vnto the Court and service of his Prince; his twentieth yeere being even then compleat and ended.’ This is the first part of St. Georges historie, according unto Metaphrastes. In affirmation of the which I will adde onely for the present, a rowle or catalogue of such, which make St. George to bee by birth a Cappadocian; which is the thing first doubted. As viz. The [Page 133] Martyrologie of the Greeke Church, Vincentius Bellovacensis, Nicephorus Callistus, Iacobus de Vo­ragine, The Breviarie of the English Church, See Vsum Sarum, Edward the third of England, in his Charter of the Foundation of the Church in Windsore, Antoninus Florentinus, Hermannus Sche­dell, Phil. Bergomensis, Ralph Volaterran, the Mag­deburgians, and Oraeus: twelve honest men, be­sides their fore-man; and true most of them; besides all those of the Romish partie also, which are peremptorie in it. The severall places, and the words therein alleaged, unto this purpose; we shall see hereafter. Which being so, I cannot choose but wonder at the boldnesse of one Fryer Anselme, Descript. terr. Sanct. apud. Ca­uis. antiq. lecti [...]. of the Order of St. Francis; who makes St. GEORGE a Native of Palestine, or Syria: and tells us that the house in which he was borne, is still standing; and call'd commonly S ^t. GEORGES De Acon versus orientem (these are his words) ad quin (que) Leucas occurrit Casale quoddam, quod S. Georgius dicitur; quia ibi natus fuit: & situm est inter montana in Valle. But more I marvaile at Sir Walter Raleigh, that on such weake and shallow grounds should so report it. ‘Five miles (saith he) from Ptolemais (which is the same with Acon) towards the East, is the Castle of St. GEORGE, where he was borne; the Valley adjoyning bea­ring the same name.’ This last indeed we grant, that there is such a Valley, and that it is so call'd; and that there is a Castle and an Oratorie in it, consecrated to our Martyr. Yet this, not in rela­tion [Page 134] to his birth, which none besides themselves have thought on: but on as weake and faultie grounds, his conflict with the Dragon, said by the Natives to be slaine by him in this place; which before we noted from PATRITIVS, and ADRI­COMIVS, in the latter end of our first Chap­ter. §. ult.

(7) Before we travaile further in the Storie of St. GEORGE, we must a litle looke upon the state of the Roman Empire: govern'd by Diocle­tian, in the East; and in the West by Maximini­an, surnamed Herculius. For Diocletian beeing made Emperour by the Army, upon the death of Carus; and finding that the burden was too weigh­ty for him to sustaine alone; he joyn'd unto him in that honour, one of his fellow-Soldiers, this Maximinian: reserving to himselfe the Easterne parts, at that time daily wasted by the neighbou­ring Persians; and sending his Copartner into the West, where the Barbarians of the North and Westerne Marches, were no lesse troublesome. But things not rightly yet succeeding to their wish; as well to keepe in quiet that which was peaceable, as to regaine such Provinces as had beene lost: they tooke unto themselves two CAE­SARS (for so the next Successours were then cal­led;) viz. Galerius Maximinianus, and Constan­tius Chlorus. Of these the latter was by his Pa­rentage and birth, of Illyricum, and by AVGVS­TVS MAXIMINIAN employed in Brittaine, which [Page 135] was then revolted: The other was of Dacia, a neighbour by his Country unto Diocletian; by whom hee was sent out Commander of his Ar­mies against the Persian. Those thus engaged in the common service of the State, and the affaires thereof in better order than before: the Empe­rours now out of action, converted all their force and furie on the Christians; whom they afflicted with the greatest and most savage Persecution of all others. For now not onely some part or other of the Church, was harassed and depopulated; but all at once a prey unto the Sword and Tor­tures of the publike Hangman: no corner of the Empire so farre distant from the Seates Imperiall, wherein there was not havocke made of Gods beloved. Hist. lib. 7. Interea Diocletianus in Oriente, Maximi­nianus in Occidente, vastari Ecclesias, affligi, inter­fici (que) Christianos praeceperunt: quae persecutio omni­bus ferè anteactis diuturnior, & immanior fuit. So PAVL OROSIVS, briefly, according to his man­ner.

(8) The Persecution thus resolv'd on, and begun already in the Court and Seates Imperiall: and not so onely, but warrants granted out unto the Officers and Rulers of the Provinces, to speed the Execution; and that done also in a frequent Senate, the Emperour DIOCLETIAN there him­selfe in person: St. GEORGE, though not yet Sainted, could conteine no longer, but thus ex­posed himselfe unto their fury, & his owne glory. [Page 136] For thus it followeth in the Storie. Cum igitur primo statim die tantam in Christianos crudelitatem animadvertisset, &c Omnem pecuniam & vestem celeriter pauperibus distribuit, &c. & tertio Conci­lij die, qua Senatus decretum confirmandum er at, &c. ipsi omni foi midine reiecta, &c. in medio consessu ste tit, & in hunc modum locutus est. Quous (que) tandem O imperator, & vos Patres Conscripti, furorem ve­strum in Christianos augebitis▪ leges (que) adversus eos iniquas sancietis? &c. Eos (que) ad eam quam vos an vera sit religionem ignoratis, eos qui veram didicere compelletis? Haec Idola non sunt dij, non sunt inquam. Nolite per errorem falli. Christus solus Deus est, i­dem (que) solus Dominus in gloria Dei patris. Aut igitur vos item veram agnoscite religionem, aut certe eos, qui illam colunt, nolite per dementiam vestram pertur­bare. His verbis attoniti▪ & inopinata dicendi liber­tate perculsi, oculos ad Imperatorem omnes converte­runt, audituri quidnam is ad ea responderet, &c. ‘When therefore GEORGE, even in the first be­ginnings, had observ'd the extraordinarie cruel­ty of these proceedings, hee presently put off his military abiliments, and making dole of all his substance to the poore: on the third Sessi­on of the Senate, when the Imperiall decree was to be verified, quite voide of feare, he came in-the Senate-house, and spake unto them in this manner. How long most noble Emperour, and you Conscript Fathers, will you augment your tyrannies against the Christians? How long will you enact unjust and cruell Lawes against [Page 137] them? Compelling those which are aright in­structed in the faith, to follow that Religion, of whose truth your selves are doubtfull. Your Idols are no Gods, and I am bold to say againe, they are not. Be not you longer couzned in the same errour. Our Christ alone is God, he one­ly is the Lord, in the glory of the Father. Ey­ther do you therefore acknowledge that Religi­on which undoubtedly is true: or else disturbe not them by your raging follies, which would willingly embrace it. This said, and all the Senate wonderfully amazed at the free speech and boldnesse of the man; they all of them turn'd their eyes upon the Emperour, expecting what hee would reply: who beckoning to Magnen­tius, then Consull, and one of his speciall Fa­vourites, to returne an answere; hee presently applyed himselfe to satisfie his Princes plea­sure.’ Further we will not prosecute the storie in our Authors words, which are long and full of needlesse conference: but briefly will declare the substance of it, which is this. Vpon St. Georges constant profession of his Faith, they wooed him first with promises of future honours, and more faire advancements: but finding him unmove­able, not to bee wrought upon with words, they tryed him next with torments; not sparing any thing which might expresse their cruelty, or en­noble his affliction. When they saw all was fruitlesse, at last the fatall Sentence was pro­nounced against him in this manner; that beeing [Page 138] had againe to prison, hee should the following day be drawne through the City, and beheaded. Reclusus ergo in carcere, Vincent. spec. Hist l. 12.128. sequenti die tali sententia damnatur▪ ut per totam Civitatem detractus, demum capite puniretur. Which Sentence was according­ly perform'd, and GEORGE invested with the glorious Crowne of Martyrdome, upon the 23. day of April, Anno Domini nostri 290.

(9) For this the yeare and day of S. GEORGE his death, we shall have proofe enough hereafter; of the day chiefly in the Martyrologies, and of the yeare thereof in severall Histories. Proofe also store inough for this, that he was beheaded: in which particular, all Authors which have de­scended to particulars, agree joyntly. Onely the old Franciscan, Fryer Anselme, whom I lately mention'd, will have him end his sufferings in a flaming fire, De script. terr. Sanct. ut supr. at Rama in the Holy-Land. For so it followeth in his text. In Beryth autem occidit dra­conem: in Rama autem, quae distat à Hierusalem per 20 miliaria, fertur fuisse combustus. 'Tis well they are so link'd together, his Martyrdome by fire, and his encounter with the Dragon; being both of them of the same medley. I had almost for­got the doughtie Authour of the Seaven Cham­pions. Who as hee makes the first atchievement of Saint GEORGE, to bee the killing of a bur­ning Dragon in the Land of Egypt, whereby hee sav'd from death the Princesse Sabra: so doth he make his last, to be a dangerous combate, which [Page 139] hee had with a poysonous Dragon upon Duns­mere Heath; wherein the Dragon lost his life, and the poore Knight return'd to Coventrey, his owne Citie, so extreamely wounded, that hee shortly after dyed. And yet the foolish Author tells us expresly in his Title, that there wee have the true and certaine manner of his Death. But as good lucke would have it, hee left behind him to comfort his afflicted people, no fewer than three Sonnes: and one of them, a matter of no com­mon knowledge, was GVY that famous Earle of Warwicke; the other two being preferr'd to place in Court.

(10) To returne then to METAPHRASTES, (for wee will heare him speake no further of St. GEORGE:) wee now dismisse him, to re­late the rest that followes, unto them that dare beleeve him. Wee have already shewne you, how hideously the Heretickes had falsified the lives of Saints and Martyrs, to countenance their cause: and with what little choyce of argument the Church-historians had compiled their Mar­tyrologies, and Actes Ecclesiasticall. Both obser­vations verified in the storie of our Martyr, and the collections of this Author. For in the rest that followes, wee have the Arian tale of George and Athanasius the Magitian; together with the strange Conversion of the Empresse AREXAN­DRA: both which before have had my blessing. These intermingled with the horrible and most unsufferable torments which are there said to be [Page 140] applyed unto our Martyr: so great, so farre a­bove the strength of nature to indure; that wee must needs reject the very naming of them, as things so short of Truth, that in the greatest cha­rity they may not be reputed possible. And for the close of all, a cheate or couzning tricke of his, put by him on the Emperour: whom hee per­swaded after many of his torments, that hee was now content to sacrifice unto the Roman Idols. Which done, the Church made trim, the Priests in readinesse, and many of the people gathered there together to behold the alteration: hee calls upon the LORD, and presently upon his pray­ers, downe came a fire from Heaven; by which both Temple, Priests, and many of the people, were consumed. This last, accounted as an Er­rour (or a Fable rather) in the common Legends, by Antoninus Florentinus: who guessing at some reasons for which the passion of St. GEORGE was judged Apocryphall, Summa histor. part. 1. tit. 8. §. 13. makes this for One, Quòd Daciano dixerit, (for so hee calls him) para­tum se Sacrificare, si faceret populum ad Templum con­gregari; quo facto, oratione eius, igne coelesti totum Tem­plum &c. concremavit. This last accounted also one of the principall excesses of this Writer, in the composition of his Stories; and for that noted by the Cardinall in his censure of him.

(11) These passages in Metaphrastes we ad­mit not in our Storie; and therefore leave the proofe thereof, to such as thinke they may be­leeve [Page 141] them. But for the rest, wee doubt not but to make it good by witnesses of speciall ranke; and many of them of authority undeniable, in points Historicall. The rest, I meane, which is of principall moment, and most necessary to the cause in hand; as viz. his Countrey, and Martyr­dome in generall; the manner of his Death, the time and place of it: all these wee doubt not to make good, by such variety of Evidence, and strength of testimony, as may suffice to make the Storie free from all further question. But for the greatnesse of his Parentage and Fortunes, toge­ther with his Honourable place about the Empe­rour: this wee will take upon the word of Meta­phrastes, untill wee finde some evidence not yet discovered, which can prove the contrary. Nor shall it be sufficient for any of the adverse party, to say, that no such circumstance may bee found in Eusebius, who largely wrote the Story of that last and greatest Persecution: no nor in Bede which mentions him; nor in Vincentius or Anto­ninus, both which are large inough in the expres­sion of his History. For wee know well inough that Argumenta ab authoritate negativè, are shame­fully exploded in the Schooles of Logicke: that the argument would bee ridiculous, should any one conclude, that all the Silvian Kings reckoned in our Chronologies, are to bee rejected; because so many Writers of the history of Rome, have spa­red to name them. I know indeed, in points of Faith and Morall duties, wee may resolve it with [Page 142] the Fathers, Non credimus quia non legimus; and therefore I restraine my selfe to Cases of this qua­litie: and that no further, till I see evidence of reason to convince me of an Error; where proofe of testimony failes. Which ground thus layd, wee will proceed unto the justification of the history in METAPHRASTES; so much thereof as wee have taken, and is most materiall. But we will first make cleare our passage, in the remo­ving of one doubt, and commenting a little upon one memorable circumstance therein; the better to explaine the meaning of the Author, and con­tent the Reader: and having pointed out the scene of this great Action, descend unto our evidence.

CHAP. II.

(1) THree thinges there are then, which are to bee dispatch'd, before wee come to the producing of further Evi­dence on our party: viz. A doubt to bee remooved, a notable circum­stance [Page 144] to bee explained; and the designment of the place or scene of this great Action. Of these the doubt to bee removed, is that particular pas­sage touching Magnentius, said then to be a prin­cipall Favorite of DIOCLETIAN, and at that time Consul: and this may well be call'd a doubt, be­cause in all the Consular tables, which I have sear­ched and seene; I cannot meete, during the whole Empire of Diocletian, a Consul of that Name. But if wee can finde out the man; I hope we shall agree with case inough about his being Consul: and for the finding out the man, wee must make two enquiries. My first enquiry is, whether Magnen­tius there mentioned, might not be hee, which af­terwards slew Constans, Sonne unto Constantine the Great, and tooke unto himselfe that part of the Roman Empire, which Constans then comman­ded. To make this probable, (for wee aspire no further) we must first understand, that Diocletian when hee associated Maximinian in the Empire, did take unto himselfe the name from IVPITER; the other his from HERCVLES: Aurel. Victor. de Caesar. c. 39 §. 2. the one, being thenceforth call'd, Diocletianus Iovius; the other Maximinianus Herculius. But not content with this, to make their memory in these adjuncts, more eternall; they rais'd two severall Compa­nies of selected Souldiers, whom they call'd Io­vij & Herculij. Of these selected Companies Magnentius was at that time Captain or Comman­der, ( Comes Herculiorum & Ioviorum, hee is called in the Latine storie:) when hee made slaughter of [Page 145] Prince Constans: and therefore not unlikely, but he may be the Favourite of Diocletian, mentio­ned in Metaphrastes; and by him rais'd unto this honour. If any thing may bee objected against this, it is, that if Magnentius were at that time Con­sul, when Saint George was made a Martyr: ey­ther he had beene dead, before the murther of the young Emperour Constans; or else too old to undertake such enterprises. Of his decease be­fore that time, I thinke there can bee nothing proov'd; unlesse by way of possible conjecture. And for his age, allowing him for twenty, anno 290. when our Martyr suffered, about which age, and sooner, many had beene advanc'd upon spe­ciall favour, to that Dignitie: and it will then ea­sily appeare, that he could bee no lesse than 80. yeares of age, at his usurping of the Empire. This I confesse for true, but yet I must affirme with­all, that age is hardly able to keepe under, eyther ambitious desires, or noble resolutions. For Bretannion, who at the same time with this Mag­nentius, assum'd the purple habite in the Coun­tries of Pannonia, was exceeding ancient: and in the later dayes, Venieri, Admirall of the Venetian Fleet, in the great Battaile of Lepanto, was close upon fourescore; yet of that haughty Spirit that he contested with Don Iohn the Spanish Admirall, even to a Challenge for the Field, who then was in the prime and gallantrie of his youth. A grea­ter age than this, was that of Andreas Auria, Ad­mirall to Charles the fifth; who lived till 94. no [Page 146] lesse: and held unto the last, a man of notable undertakings, and of brave performance. And if we looke on former times, we find that most of Alexanders great Commanders, attain'd unto the age of 80. yeares, or not much short of it; and yet contended with each other, even till their la­test gaspe of breath, for the sole Empire, and chiefe Soveraignty of Greece and Asia. So stir­ring is the fire of glory and ambition, that it will kindle and enflame the coldest appetite of age. Our next enquirie is, whether the name bee not mistaken in the Author, or the Translatours, for Maxentius. Which if it may bee granted, as the mistake is very easie: then will it be a matter of farre lesse difficultie than before. For who so litle conversant in the Histories of those times, but may remember, that Maximinianus Hercu­lius had a sonne so named; and that upon the death of Constantius Chlorus, hee was proclaim'd Augustus, and saluted Emperour by the Praetorian bands at Rome. An honour hee enjoyed not long; being first undermined by his owne Father, the old tyrant; and after slaine, with the discom­fiture of his whole forces, at the Milvian bridge neere Rome, by Constantine the Great. Now if it may be granted, that the name may possibly bee mistaken; as we see dayly worse mistakes, in the editions of the best Authors: how easie is it to beleeve, that this MAXENTIVS, the sonne of the one Emperor; might be made Consul, and in especiall favour with the other? But then it is [Page 147] objected, that we meet not with his name in any of the Consular-Tables. This we affirme, and yet withall that notwithstanding this, Maxentius might be Consull. For besides the Consuls Ordina­rie, appointed for the yeare, whose names one­ly occurre in the publicke Tables: there was another sort of Consuls, call'd Consuls honourarie, appointed onely for a Moneth, and sometimes longer, as it pleas'd the Emperours. Of this See Dion. A custome taken up, upon the end of the Civill Warres, Cum helli civilis praemia festinari coe­perunt, as it is in Tacitus: when now the Empe­rours had many men to gratifie, and could not speed them all in ordinarie Course. Of the which kind of Consuls, Maxentius might be one; so also might Magnentius, though wee find nothing of them in the common Calendars. Of this kind al­so might there be some other Consull of the lat­ter name; although no further mention of him in the Histories of that age and time.

(2) The circumstance to be explain'd, is that St. George before he came into the Senate, put off His military abiliments! A circumstance not express'd rightly in the Author, where we find onely vestem pauperibus distribuit, that he distribu­ted his garments to the poore; and therefore have rather chosen to expresse it in the words of Vincentius: where it is said, that having made a dole of all his riches, militarem vestem exuit, hee put off his military habit, and so address'd him­selfe [Page 148] to speake in the behalfe of his poore bre­thren. Which putting off his militarie habili­ments, is not, as I conceive it, onely (nor per­haps at all) the disroabing of himselfe of his sol­diers coate, or cassocke: but rather the abando­ning of his militarie or Knightly belt; the hono­rarie marke of his well-deserving. For in the times of the Roman Empire, it was a custome of the Prince, to honour such which were of greatest merit, with a degree above the rest: which was perform'd by investing them with a military belt or girdle; the Ensigne of a Knight. This was call'd, Cingulo militiae honestare: and hereunto it is alluded by St. Chrysostome, in his 26. Homilie on the Corinthians, viz. [...]. Let none (saith hee) which is an Officer, presume to come before the Prince, without his belt, and other military ha­biliments. This militarie belt thus given, was an ingagement of the party so invested, unto the service of the Prince: and that in termes so neere and close, that such as had receiv'd the faith, and made a conscience of their wayes, used commonly to cast it from them; because of the incompatibili­ty, that was betweene their holy profession, & that Knightly order. A matter frequent in the use of it, in the times of Persecution; in such especial­ly, who could not patiently conceale their holy callings, and dissemble their Religion. The [Page 149] meaning then is this, that George no longer wil­ling to continue in the service of the Emperour, unto the hazard of his Soule, enounced his or­der: and being so degraded, went up into the Se­nate; no longer now a Soldier of the Emperour; but of IESUS CHRIST.

(3) As for the Scene, or Stage, on which this great and famous Tragedie of St. George was acted: it is generally said to be in Lydda, a Towne of Palestine, in the Tribe of Ephraim. A Towne made famous by St. Peter, who there, virtute Christi non sua, Acts, 9.33. restored Aeneas to his health; Who had kept his Bed eight yeares, and was sicke of the Palsey. Knowne also in the Writers both of former and of middle times, by the name Diospolis, or the Towne of Iupiter; because that Idoll-god was there worshipped. In this Towne, that St. George receiv'd the Crowne of Martyr­dome, is evident out of the testimonies of those severall Authors, which have made mention of our Martyr: whose words I shall deferre untill the next Chapter, where they are produced at large. Two onely proofes I have made choyce of for the present. First, that his sacred body was there reverently entomb'd, by the devout and pi­ous inhabitants thereof: his Sepulcher beeing there extant to be shewne, even in the dayes of Will. of Tyre, Hist. bell. sacri, l. 7. cap. 22. about the yeare 1180. For so hee testifieth himselfe, In hac urbe ( Lydda viz.) us (que) hodiè egregij Martyris Georgij gloriosum Sepulchrum [Page 150] ostenditur; in quo secundùm exteriorem hominem in Deo creditur conquiescore. Next, that in latter times, the Christians hereabouts, call it St. George's: the other names thereof not to be found unlesse in Authors, or old Mappes. So witnesseth Iacob. de Vitriaco, Hist. Hiorus. cap. 57. who liv'd about the yeare, 1240. that Lydda civitas, quondam Diospolis appellata, nunc ad S. Georgium nuncupatur. Both circumstances, that of his buriall, and this other mention'd last, to­gether, in old Fryer Anselme: Des [...]ri [...]. [...]err. Sancta. quarto miliario à Modyn est Lydda, civitas qu [...] Diospolis dicitur, in qua corpus B. Georgij testantur fuisse; & S. Georgius vulgo dicitur. Shall we have more? Roger de Ho­venden in his Annals, Par [...] Post. in Richard. 1. recyting there the names of such great personages, as dyed in the Christian Campe at the seige of Ptolemais; gives us among the rest three Byshops; viz. N [...]vus Episcopus de Acon, Episcopus de Baru [...]h, Episcopus de S. Georgio. For at that time, the Christians had made this Towne a Byshops Seate; V. cap. 5. §. 7. as we shall see heere­after.

(4) Onely in such a generall consent of Au­thors, Will▪ the Monke of Malmesbury doth seeme to differ from the rest: who seemeth to make the Scene hereof to be Rama, Hist. de Reg. Angl. l. 4. or Ramula, a litle City not farre distant. Ibi a dextra dimittentes mariti­ma, pervenerunt Ramulam, civitatulam muro indi­gam, B. Georgij, si famae credimus, martyrij consci­am: We came (saith he) leaving the Sea-shore on the right hand, to a little Citty, unwall'd, [Page 151] knowne by the name of Ramula; guilty, if we may trust report, of St. GEORGES Martyrdome And hereupon perhaps it is, Vt supr. that Fryer Anselme, who as before we noted, hath made St. GEORGE to end his dayes in a burning fire; hath chosen Ra­ma for the place of Executiō: his ashes being after­wards transferr'd (sd. he) to Lydda, & there buried. To reconcile w ^ch difference, we must conceive that these two: Cities were not very farre asunder; and their Feilds or Territories close together: so that an action done in one, without great errour might be reported of the other. Cap. 8.28. St. MATHEVV in his holy Gospell, tells us of a myracle done by our Saviour, in the Country of the Gergezens: whereas St. LVKE and MARKE affirme, that it was the Country of the Gadarens. Yet may it not be therefore thought, that the Holy Spirit is at difference with it selfe; God forbid: nor that we should conceive the Gadarens and Gergezens to be the same; which is not so. But rather we must reconcile the places thus, according to the truth of storie, and the scituation of the Coun­try; that the two people mention'd in the Gos­pell were conterminous: their Townes at no great distance, and their fields bordering one upon another. Therefore that miracle, done in the fields betweene them both; might without any wrong or errour, bee made good of ey­ther.

(5) To make the reconciliation more exact, [Page 152] and the case more parallell, wee must also note, that with the ancients there was nothing more unlawfull, than to put any man to death within their Cities. Thus in the state of Rome, the Ve­stall Virgin having committed fornication, was buried quicke within the Campus Sceleratus; and other malefactors throwne headlong from the Tarpeian Rocke: both situate without the Towne. So also had the Thessalians a place of Execution, from the praecipice of an Hill, which they called the [...] or Corvi: from whence arose the Proverbe, [...], Away with him to the Gallowes. Thus the Iewes also, when they cru­cified our Saviour, led him out of their Citie to Mount Calvarie: and thus St. LVKE reports it in the Execution of St. STEPHEN, Act [...] 7. that they cast him out of the Citie and stoned him. A custome which continued long, even till the times of Persecution were all past: and of the which, our publike Gal­lowes which we see every where without our Townes, are some remainders. Which being so, no executiō in those times permitted in their Ci­ties; it must needs be, that our St. GEORGE did suffer in the open fields. Which granted, it will then appeare that Malmesbury might not unjust­ly say of Rama, or (as he calls it) Ramula, that it was guilty of, or rather had a hand in Saint Georges death; though in the generall voyce of Writers, it be affirm'd of Lydda: because the fields were common, or close adjoyning, and the Townes but litle distant.

[Page 153](6) These matters thus dispatch'd, we now proceed to verifie the former Storie out of the words of such as have concurr'd with Metaphra­stes in the maine and substance. And first we will attempt to justifie the whole narration out of Eu­sebius; whose countenance herein, will I am sure be worth our seeking. And I would gladly know what part or circumstance there is in all our Hi­story, for the defence whereof, we may not use his testimony. L. 8. c. 21.24. Is it, that any Cappadocian was ad­judg'd to suffer for the Gospell? He tells us there, that one Seleucus, Iulian, and others of that Coun­try, receiv'd the Crowne of Martyrdome, during the Persecution rais'd by Diocletian. L. 8. cap. 21.19.12. &c. Or is it that the Persecution ever did extend to Palestine? He hath a Chapter at the least, of such as suffered in that Country. It is not, I am sure, that any of the militarie men abandoned their advancements, or yeilded up their lives, to testifie how litle they e­steem'd them in comparisen of CHRIST. Hist. Eccles. l. 8. c. 4.7. For this he hath expresly, that many of them, when the Persecution first began, did willingly forsake their honourable Offices; and some their lives: [...]. Nor can it bee that that the Impe­riall edict did not extend to such as were of his retinue, and did belong immediately unto his per­son. For in the same booke he mentions Dorotheus [Page 154] and Gorgonius, [...], with many more of Caesars houshold. Wee grant indeed, that no such name as that of George ▪ occurres in all that Author: but we af­firme withall that he confesseth it an infinite and tedious businesse, to recount the names of all that suffered, or capitulate those severall torments they endur'd; and therefore purposely omits them. L. 8. [...]. [...]6. [...], &c. as he there hath it. So then, Eusebius doth affirme that Cappadocia had its Martyrs, that the Persecu­tion raged in Palestine, that it extended to the mi­litary men, and to those also that attended in the Pallace; and lastly that it is impossible to tell the names of all that suffered. Put this together▪ and it will amount to this; that George one of those many Martyrs whom Eusebius could not name, a Cappadocian by his Country, a Soldier by profes­sion, and one that waited in the Court; was put to death in Palestine by torments not to be ex­press'd, because he constantly continued in the Faith of CHRIST.

(7) In the next place we have the testimony of St. Ambrose, if at the least, the words be his: a Reverend Father of the Church, and a chiefe or­nament thereof, who dyed about the yeare, 397. The words are these: Georgius Christi miles fidelis­simus, dum Christianismi professio tegeretur, solus [Page 155] inter Christicolas intrepidus Dei filium confessus est: Cui tantam constantiam gratia divina concessit, ut & tyrannicae potestatis praecepta contemneret, & innume­rabilium non formidaret tormenta poenarum. Id est. ‘ George the most faithfull Soldier of IESUS CHRIST, when as Religion was else every where dissembled, adventur'd boldly to cōfesse the name of GOD: to whom it pleas'd the Lord to give so much of Heavenly grace, that he not onely scorn'd the tyrants, but contemned their torments.’ This I find cyted by Hermanus Sche­del, in his Chronica Chronicorum; and out of him by Bergomensis; since by Molanus jn his Anno­tations upon Vsuards Martyrologie: Iacobus de Vo­ragine relyeth also, in one passage, on the autho­rity of Ambrose; so doth Vincentius, and Anto­ninus Florentinus. The treatise out of which his testimonie is avouch'd, is by them call'd, Liber praefationum; In Georgio. not now extant. Wicelius, who doth also build on the authoritie of this Reverend Fa­ther, saith that the booke is long since perish'd▪ so perish'd, as it seems, that there is nothing left of it, but the name, and some scattered remnants. Whether St. Ambrose, were or not, the Author of that treatise; I cannot easily determine: because in Possevin, I find no mention of this tract, who yet hath tooke upon him, to marshall all the Workes of that excellent man, even those also which are lost. Yet on the other side, his testi­mony vouch'd by Authors of that antiquity, as those before recyted; assure mee at the least so [Page 156] farre, that such a worke was in their times, re­ceiv'd as his. Adde unto this, that Vossius recko­neth him with the Latine Historians, D [...]l [...]t Histor. part. 4. c. 3. in his late booke of that argument; as having writ the lives of many of the Saints: of Theodora namely, of St. Celsus and Nazarius, of St. Gervase and Pro­tasius, and as the Papists say, of Agnes. Which being so, I must crave longer time, before I shall reject these words, ascribed unto him, or not e­steeme them true, and worthy to be credited: though not so fully, as to build upon them alto­gether.

(8) But of our next witnesse, there is lesse doubt, and a larger testimonie; though in his words we meet with somewhat which requires a Commentarie. A witnesse which hath beene ex­amined on the adverse part already, where he was able to say nothing: I meane Gelasius Pope of Rome, and his so memorated Canon. This Pope began his Papacie, Anno 492. and dyed in 96. some foure yeares after. About his time, and long be­fore it; the Heretickes had busily employed them­selves to falsifie the publike Acts and writings of the Church: w ^ch thing they had effected so accor­ding to their wish, that now it was high time to have a carefull eye upon them; or else it may be, they might have growne too potent to be easily suppress'd. For this cause, Pope GELASIUS ha­ving assembled 72. of his neighbour Prelates unto Rome; did then and there, with their advise and [Page 157] by their diligent assistance; contrive a Catalogue of all such dangerous writings, as were thought fit to be rejected: giving to those which they ac­counted true & orthodoxe, the place and honour due unto them. Which Canon, since it is allea­ged against us, thereby to overthrow the History of our St. GEORGE; we will in this place bring into the open view, as much of it as concernes the businesse now in hand: that so we may encounter them with their owne weapons. The Canon is as followeth. Pet. Crabbe. Conc. tom. 1, p. 993. Gesta S. Martyrum qui multiplicibus tormentorum cruciatibus, & mirabilibus confessionum triumphis, irradiant; quis ita esse Catholicorum du­bitet, & maiora eos in agonibus esse perpessos, nec su­is viribus sed dei gratia & adiutorio universa tole­rasse? Sed ideo secundùm consuetudinem antiquam, singulari cautela in Sancta Rom. Ecclesia non leguntur, quia eorum, qui scripsere, nomina penitus ignoran­tur; & ab infidelibus idiotis superfluè vel minus aptè, quam rei ordo fuerit, scripta esse putantur: Sicut cu­iusdam Quiriaci, & Iulittae matris eius, sicut Geor­gij, aliorum (que) passiones huiusmodi, quae ab haereticis perhibentur conscriptae; propter quod (ut dictum est) ne vel levius subsannandi occasio oriretur, in S. Roma­na Ecclesiâ non leguntur. No [...] tamen cum praedicta Ecclesia, omnes Martyres at (que) eorum gloriosos ago­nes, qui Deo magis quam hominibus noti sunt, cum omni devotione veneramur. So farre the very words and letters of the Canon.

(9) By this it doth appeare, that as the Saints [Page 158] in generall, so also particularly St. GEORGE, had beene abused and counterfeited in his Story: in the close of the same Canon therefore, it is reckon'd as Apochryphall; as were a great many others of the same temper. The reason why it was so reckon'd, is by our latter writers diversly related. Raphael Volaterran makes it to bee reje­cted, onely so much of it, as concernes St. Geor­ges combat with the Dragon: which also is assign'd by Antoninus, amongst other causes; but by neither rightly. For in those times, and ma­ny hundred yeares behind them, the fable of the Dragon was not so much as thought of in the Church Christian. Histor. Lomb. in S. Georgio. Iacobus de Voragine more nearely to the truth, Ex eo quòd Martyrium eius certam relationem non habet: because the storie of his death is told us in most perplext and uncer­taine manner. In Calendario n. Bedae, &c. For in the Calendar of Bede, we find (saith he) that he was martyred in Diospolis, a Towne of Persia; in others, that he lyeth buried in Diospolis not farre from Ioppe: In some that he did suffer under Di­ocletian and Maximinian, Emperours; in others, under Diocletian King of the Persians; no lesse than 70. tributarie Kings being in presence. Some­what, I say of this was rightly aym'd at by this blind archer: but Bede is brought in by him some­what too early, as beeing a Post-natus, scarce borne within two centuries of yeares succeeding. But what need more conjectures, or what use in­deed is there of any: since the same Canon which [Page 147] hath decreed the History of George (then extant) to be Apocryphall; hath also told us, that it was generally beleev'd to have beene writ by Here­ticks. This is inough to make the History of any S. suspected▪ & Apocryphall: and that it was so written; may easily appeare by that which was related in it touching Athanasius, and the Empresse Alexan­dra; not to omit that terrible massacre which by a cheating tricke, he made of many of the people, branded by ANTONINUS, as before we no­ted.

(10) Hitherto have we spoken of GELASI­US Canon, and nothing all this while, which may redound from thence to St. GEORGES credit. Nothing indeed in that which hath beene spoken hitherto, because we were to lay our ground, be­fore we rais'd our building. But that now done, and the full meaning of the Canon duely ponde­red: it will appeare for certaine, that though Gelasius taxed the storie of St. GEORGE as dange­rous and Apocryphall; yet he hath done the Saint himselfe all due respects, and confirm'd him to us. This I did note before ou [...] of the words of Bellar­mine, V. chap. 3. §.8. in a reply to Dr. Boys; who needs would have both Bellarmine and Pope Gelasius speake for him, in making our St. GEORGE to be a meere Chimaera, or thing of nothing; which God knowes they never meant. This I say, we did note before from Bellarmine: but now we note it out of Ge­lasius himselfe, and the very letter of his Canon. [Page 160] For having told us, that the actions of many of the Saints were writ by Infidels, or rather Mis­beleevers; and in particular that the passion of St. GEORGE was compos'd by Heretickes; hee states it thus: that notwithstanding this, he, and the Church with him, did reverence all those sa­cred Martyrs, and their glorious sufferings for the Truth; knowne better unto God, than any of his people. Nos tamen cum praedicta Ecclesia, omnes Martyres, at (que) eorum gloriosos agones, qui Deo magis quam hominibus noti sunt, cum omni devotione veneramur: So saith Gelasius. So saith Gelasius, and that we doe not mis-report his meaning, is easie to be seene, by the concurrent suffrages of Beda, Antoninus, Hermannus Schedell, Bergomensis, Notgerus, and Vsuardus; all which, as we shall see in the next Chapter, doe so conceive it. But we might well have say'd this labour. For Doctor Reynolds also cannot but acknowledge, Dr. Reyn. de Idol. Rom. l. 1. c. 5. §. 21. that with­out further question, Gelasius did beleeve Saint GEORGE to be an holy Martyr; although hee found the storie had beene writ by Heretickes: Gelasius etiam, tamet si fraudem hanc olfaceret, ipsum putabat in hilominus sanctum fuisse Martyrem. If so, then I perswade my selfe it were much safer to give credit to Gelasius, who liv'd so neere the time of St. GEORGES suffering; than any Do­ctor, of what eminent ranke soever, above a thou­sand yeares below him. To bring the matter nee­rer home, Gelasius in that Canon, hath reckoned as Apocryphall, the Itinerarie of St. Peter, the Actes [Page 161] of Paul, and Thecla; the Recantation of Adam, Origen, and Cyprian; and many others. What then? Shall therefore wee conclude, that Peter never travail'd, or that there never was a woman of the name of Thecla; or that St. Cyprian, or Ori­gen, or Adam never recanted their impieties and errours? Nay, we conclude from hence, that questionlesse St. George is to be reckon'd as a Mar­tyr; because the storie onely is condemn'd, and not the Saint; just as we may resolve that there was such a noble Prince as Arthur; because the Monke of Malmesburie hath told us, how much his famous deeds were over-acted by his Country men, the Brittons.

(11) For certainly had there beene any mea­ning in Gelasius to have exploded the Martyr, to­gether with his History; he might as easily have done it, as have spoke the word. Hee might, I say, have done it with as much ease, as have spoke the word, by adding onely this of Doctor Rey­nolds to the Canon; Loc. quo supr. Fuit enim hic Georgius homo improbus, haereticus Arianus. This had for ever beene enough, to have made his memory as odi­ous, as his Storie was suspected: and to have razed his name, not onely out of the publicke Calendar, but out of the good opinion of all ho­nest men. Nor is it to be thought, that George the Arian Hereticke could bee so cunningly inser­ted into the Calendar, and passe so currantly a­mong the Saints; so soone upon his most deserv'd, [Page 162] though cruell execution: the Church especially keeping an eye so watchfull over them and their designes; that all their practises were assoone brought to light almost, as they were conceiv'd. For frō the death of George unto the Popedome of Gelasius, are but 130. yeares or thereabouts; too scant a time to have his Villanies forgotten, and himselfe reputed for a Martyr. Likely indeed it is, that if the Arians had prevail'd, they would have given their George a principall habitatiion in the Heaven of glories; above Eusebius of Nicode­mia, or Maris, or Theognis; and perhaps next un­to their founder Arius himelfe. But that, the Christian Church should in so short and small a space, ranke him among the Saints; this I can hardly be perswaded: unlesse perchance we may beleeve, that in the same times she could condemne the Heresie, and adore the Heretickes. I know it was a frequent custome with the ancient Romans, to honour and adore the Gods of those many na­tions which themselves had vanquish'd; Religio­nibus servire victis, Minut. Felix. & captivas eas post victorias a­dorare, as Octavius in the Dialogue. But this they did not on mistake, or any couzinage put upon them by the vanquish'd Nations. No. It was onely on a superstitious conceit, that having in their Citie all the GODS whose people they sub­dued; and placing them in their most rich and sumptuous Temples: they might by their assi­stance, the better bring the residue of the world under their subjection. Sic dum universarum gen­tium [Page] sacra suscipiunt, etiam regnare meruerunt: So saith Cecilius in the same Author. Not to say more, I thinke it as impossible altogether, that in so small a tract of time, if at all ever, the Arian George should bee reputed for a Saint, amongst the Orthodoxe Professours, now victorious: as that our Reverend Praelates Cramner, Latimer, and Ridley, should in an equall space of time, bee taken into the Roman Martyrologies: or that their Henry Garnet, Iames Clement, or Nicholas Sanders, by them honoured, should be accounted Martyrs in the Churches Protestant; in case that eyther side prevaile and suppresse the other.

(12) To bring this Chapter to an end, it is the last of Doctor Reynolds two Conclusions, Nullius Georgij Cappadocis ut Martyris, De Idol. Rom. l. 1. c. 5. §. 22. nisi Ari­ani, mentionem ab ullo idoneo auto re fieri; that ne­ver any GEORGE of Cappadocia was reputed as a Martyr, in any Author worthy credit, but George the Arian. In generall answer to which generall chalenge, I have thought good, before we fur­ther labour in particular proofes; to draw toge­ther in a Table, the names of all such Authors cited in this worke: by all of which St. GEORGE is reckoned as a Martyr; by many of them said to be of Cappadocia. Most of them, I perswade my selfe worthy of credit: and the ornament of the age in which they lived. Yet lest, their affir­ma [...] should be question'd and controu'ld by our choycer judgments; I have tooke care to mingle [Page 164] with them, such famous Princes, and Prelates ce­lebrated for their goodnesse, as have done him publicke honours: all which I have digested ac­cording to their severall times and ages, in the forme that followeth.

• 374 SAint Ambrose, if at the least the worke be his.
• 492 Gelasius Pope of Rome.
• 515 Childebertus R. Francorum.
• 527 Iustinianus Imp. Procopius Caesariensis. Sidonius Archbyshop of Mentz.
• 570 Venantius Fortunatus.
• 596 Gregorius Turonensis.
• 600 Greg. 1. Pont. Rom.
• 660 Hildericus R. Austrasiae.
• 698 Cunibertus R. Longobard.
• 730 Beda Venerabilis.
• 752 Zacharias Pont. Rom.
• 774 Paulus Diaconus.
• 812 Vsuardus Monachus.
• 835 Rabanus Maurus.
• 837 Aimonius Monachus.
• 850 Simeon Metaphrastes.
• 912 Notgerus Monachus.
• 963 Nicephorus Phocas Imp. Const.
• 975 Tribunus Mevius, D. Venetorum.
• [Page 165]996 Hedinge, Ducissa Bavariae.
• 1005 Henr. 2. Imp. Germ.
• 1043 Ioh. Euchaites, Ep. Orient.
• 1070 Geo. Cedrenus.
• 1074 Rob. D' Oyley nob. Anglus.
• 1098 Godfrey of Bouillon.
• 1120 Robertus Monach.
• 1130 Gulielm. Malmesburiens.
• 1141 Gualt. Ep. Augustae Vindelicorum. vulgo Auspurg.
• 1180 Gulielm. Tyrius.
• 1250 Vincentius Belvacensis.
• 1273 Radulphus Imp. Germ.
• 1282 Iacobus de Voragine.
• 1305 Nicephorus Callistus.
• 1330 Niceph. Gregoras.
• 1344 Edwardus 3. R. Angl. Thomas de Walsingham.
• 1354 Ioh. Contacuzenus Imp. Const. Idem (que) nob. Histor.
• 1390 Froissard. Autor Fasciculi temp. Anselmus Frat. Francisc.
• 1410 Iustinianus Patr. Ven.
• 1411 Sigismundus Imp. Germ.
• 1445 Antoninus Florentinus.
• 1448 Fredericus Imp. Germ.
• 1472 Bapt. Platina.
• 1484 Coccius Sabellicus.
• 1488 Maximilianus 1. Imp,
• [Page 166]1490 Hermannus Schedell, autor Chronicorum.
• 1494 Phil. Bergomensis.
• 1499 Bapt. Mantuanus.
• 1506 Raphael Volaterranus. Ludovicus Patritius.
• 1550 Seb. Munsterus. Polydorus Virgilius. Hist. Magdeburgica.
• 1571 Michael ab Ysselt.
• 1593 Comus Ep. Alexand. Suf­fragan unto the Patriarke Hospinian.

All these, besides the publike Martyrologies both Greeke, and Roman: besides also the publike Liturgies of those Churches; the learned men, all of them of the Romish partie; and many of the Churches of the Reformation, whose names would fill a Catalogue. If among these we have not one of credit, neither Author in his relation, nor Prince nor Prelate in their actions: hard is our hap, and let the adversaries have the honour. But what one ranke of these have said, and what the rest have done in St. Georges honour: we shall now see, in their severall places.

CHAP. III.

(1) THere is an old tradition that the world should last 6000. yeares, and no longer: two of them before the Law; two under it; and two, af­ter. Which though it hath not beene exactly true, of the two first, and that the third is doubtfull: yet the conceit is tollerable; and for as much of it as is past, somewhat neere [Page 168] the computation and account of time, recited in it. We will be therefore bold, to take for gran­ted, that the Christian Chu [...]ch is of two thou­sand yeares continuance: which granted or sup­posed, we will resemble it, or the state of learning rather in it, unto two naturall dayes▪ each, of a thousand yeares, apeece: and this the rather, be­cause the Lord hath said, that in his sight, a thou­sand yeares are but as one day. The first of these, we take to have begun even at the first rising of the Sunne of Righteousnesse: and for the morning of it▪ allow the first three Centuries, even till the time of CONSTANTINE. The noonetide watch there­of, we make to be of three Centuries ensuing: of which, and especially the first, the Magdebur­gians give this censure, Cent. 4. c. 4. Habuit haec aetas si quae un­quam alia, plurimos praestantes & illustres doctores. And certainly there never shined more glorious lights in the house of GOD, than in those ages: the Sun of learning being then in the very height, and Zenith of it. Long it continued not in that full glorie, till it declined into an evening; to which we doe allot the two next ages: when as the beames thereof grew low, and the light ob­scurer. And now at last we are benighted, even covered over with a Cymerian darknesse of igno­rance; a darknesse no lesse grosse and palpable, than that of Egypt. Chronol. Bellarmine call's it, Seculum infelix, in quo Scriptores illustres nulli, nulla Concilia; A most unhappy age, wherein were neither fa­mous Writers, nor frequent Councels. Sabelli­cus [Page] as rightly, Ennead. 9. mirum est, quanta omnium bonarum artium oblivio, per id tempus mortalium animos ob­repserit: a prodigie it was to see, how generall forgetfulnesse of all good literature, had at this time invaded and possessed the mindes of men. Which night continued, till the yeare 1050. those writers which we meet with from the yeare 850. untill then, as they were few, so were they but as a few smaller Starres in the darkest midnight. This night once past, the dawning of the second day at last appeared; and we extend the morning of it even to the first beginning of the last Centu­rie: in which there was at first a strugling between light and darknesse; but afterwards the light of learning got the better, and by degrees made way to usher in the second noone-tide. Which second noone-tide we begin about the yeare 1500 and hitherto it hath continued: the light of lear­ning never shining with more perfect glorie, than at the present. How long it will continue thus, is above our knowledge: Praefat. in scho. Mathem. but as it is, we may al­most affirme with Ramus; Maiorem doctorum ho­minum & operum proventum, seculo uno vidimus, quàm totis antea quatuordecem maiores nostri vide­rant. One age hath brought us forth more wor­thy workes, and famous Writers, than all that went before us.

(2) If it be asked, to what use serves this ob­servation: we answere that it is to this. First, that it may appeare, that never any age hath beene so voyd of learned, or barren of good men; that is [Page 170] not able to produce some testimony of good cre­dit, in the behalfe of GEORGE the Martyr. Next, that in all times we expect not, eyther an equall number of witnesses; or equall parts, in such as are produced to give in evidence: but that wee looke for them, and judge of them, according to their times and ages. Already wee are past the noonetide of the first of these two dayes: in which referring other of our witnesses to their proper places; we have made use of Ambrose onely, and Pope GELASIUS. In the next place and time, we meet with Venerable Beda, who died about the yeare 734. A man that saw as cleerely, as any whomsoever, that liv'd in any part of the whole evening: and one who for the excellencie of his endowments, and pietie, obtain'd that adjunct. Camden entituleth him, In Brigant. the singular glorie and or­nament of England: and Malmesburie affirmes more fully, that he was one, more fit to bee admired than praised; who being borne in the extreamest corner of the world, did yet enlighten all of it, with the beames of his learning. Hist. de regib. Angl. l. 1. Vir erat (saith he) quem mirari faciliùs, quàm dignè praedicare pos­sis: qui in extremo natus orbis angulo, doctrinae co­rusco terras omnes perstrinxerat. Whom lest wee should suspect, as partiall in his praises, we have a German Poet thus speaking unto Brittaine.

Debemus. The sence imperfect, but thus to be conceiv'd▪

(3) The witnesse being such, his testimony will be taken with lesse scruple: the rather, because there is not any thing of his which hath beene justly question'd, but his English Historie; as ha­ving in it more of the myracles so common in the peoples mouthes, than may be well allowed of. But even that peece also, Ganus l. 11. c. 6 modestè & circumspecto iudicio, is censured sparingly, and with great tem­per. His testimonies of St GEORGE are two: the one of them in his Martyrologie; the other in his Ephimerides. Tom. 3. First in his Martyrologie, on the 23. of Aprill; or in the Latine Computation, on the 9. of the Calends of May, we reade it thus. Natale S. Georgij Martyris, qui sub Daciano Rege Persarum potentissimo, qui dominabatur super 70. reges, mul­tis miraculis claruit, plurimos (que) convertit ad fidem Christi: simul & Alexandram uxorem ipsius Daci­ani, us (que) ad Martyrium confortavit. Ipse verò no­vissime decollatus, martyrium complevit; quamvis gesta passionis eius inter Apocryphas connumerentur Scripturas. Id est. ‘The Passion of St. GEORGE the Martyr, who under DACIANUS the most mighty King of Persia, Lord of no lesse than sea­venty tributarie Princes, was famous for his miracles, and for converting many to the faith of CHRIST; of which, the Empresse Alexandra the wife of Dacianus, continued constant in it even unto the death. This GEORGE, at last be­headed, [Page 172] received the Crowne of Martyrdome: although the Storie of his Passion be reckoned as Apocryphall.’ And in his Ephimerides, on the same ninth of the May-Calends; thus:

(4) The first of these two testimonies, as it affirmes the Death and sufferings of St. GEORGE: so are there in it, some things which require a fa­vourable Reader, and others which deserve to bee rejected altogether. Of the last ranke, there is the fable of the Empresse ALEXANDRA; of which wee have already spoken in the first part and se­cond Chapter: an old remnant doubtlesse of the Arian Legend, exploded by Gelasius. That of her Husband Dacianus, if it encounter with a favou­rable reader, without offence may bee admitted: although perhaps derived out of the same origi­nall. Derived (I say, out of the same originall perhaps) because I finde it in Baronius Annotati­ons on the Roman Martyrologie, Aprill, 2 [...]. that the Arian Legends made their George to suffer under Daci­anus King of Persia: onely the difference is, and [Page 173] that not much, that there the tributary Kings are five in number more, than heere in venerable Bede. This Doctor Reynolds useth as a closing argument, to proove our Saint to bee the Arian GEORGE of Alexandria: and this our selves alledg'd in the behalfe of Calvin, to shew what cause hee had, to make St. GEORGE a Coun­terfeit, or Larva. The processe was, that there was never at or about that time a King of Persia of that name, and greatnesse of Command; and that this Dacianus is in other of our Authors, made to bee President or Proconsul, under DIOCLETIAN: therefore in likelihood, our Authors not agree­ing, and no such King as hee in nature; the whole Story of St. George is false and forged. This is the maine of all that may be sayd against us, tou­ching Dacianus: and this I say a favourable Rea­der may admit without offence. For proofe of which, wee must looke backe a little on the con­dition of the Roman Empire, at the time of Saint Georges sufferings: The East parts of it govern'd, as before I said, by Diocletian; and the West by Maximinian. These two, the better to direct and manage the affaires of State, had tooke unto themselves two Caesars: whereof the one was named Galerius Maximinianus, assumed by Diocle­tian; and under him Lieutenant Generall, or Lord President of the Easterne Countries. Now this Galerius Caesar, was by birth a Dacian: and after­wards Successour unto Diocletian, in all those parts that hee commanded. That hee was borne [Page 174] in Dacia, is affirm'd by St. Hieromes Latine copie of Euseb [...]us Chronicon; where thus wee reade it: Galerius in Dacia haud longe à Sardica natus, that hee was borne in Dacia not farre from Sardica. That he succeeded Diocletian in the greatnesse and extent of his Command, (after that he and Maxi­minian had surrendred up the Empire;) is a thing so plaine in Story: that no man conversant in the Historians of those times, but exactly knowes it. Hereupon we inferre, that probably this Dacianus mention'd in the Story, was that Galerius Maxi­minianus, who afterwards was Emperour; and had the Easterne parts, all of them, of that Em­pire, under his subjection. And this we doe the rather fancy to be probable, because denominati­ons taken from the birth-place of their Princes, were not accounted novelties among the Romans. For Adrianus, w [...]e well know assumed that name from Adria, a Towne of Italie, where he was borne. Aurel. Victor. Ei [...]tome cap. 39. And not to seeke for more examples, we finde that Diocletian, borne in a Towne of Dal­matia, called Dioclea; added this termination to the place of his Nativitie: that so his name might bee more plausible among the Romans, whose governance he had then undertaken. Adde hereunto that this Galerius was alwayes a most bitter enemy of the Church of CHRIST, which he had persecuted from [...] his youth: and then per­haps he may more easily be beleeved, to be this DACIANUS.

[Page 175](5) But heere it may be question'd, how Da­cianus, admitting that he were the same, with Ga­lerius the Dacian, can be supposed to be a King of Persia: considering that the Persians had at that time, a Prince of their owne royall stocke, known by the name of Narses, who dyed about the yeere 307. To this we answere, that Venerable Beda spake according to the manner of the times, in which he liv'd: wherein the Persians, having subdued the Ro­man forces, were, and had so beene long before, the absolute maisters, of almost all those Countries, which Galerius once commanded. Which being so, the East parts of the Roman Empire vnder the command of the Kings of Persia; and in particu­lar, the Holy-Land, where Lydda is, being in their Dominions: those Countries did in common speech, passe by the name of Persia. Iust as at this day we call those severall parts of the Turkish Em­pire, once members of the Assyrian, Greeke, and Roman Monarchies, by the common name of Turkie: or as we call all Easterne Churches, the Greeke-Church; because they have communion at this time, with the Patriarch of Constantinople. So Bellarmine doth call the Cardinall Bessarion, a Grecian, De script. Eccl. borne at Trabezond; Bessarion, natione Grae­cus, patria Trapezuntius &c. as hee there hath it: whereas the Towne of Trabezond is farre inough from Greece, in the heart of Cappadocia. So also William of Tyre, doth call all those within the Land of Palestine, were enemies unto the Faith, [Page 176] and then possessours of that Countrie; by the name of Persae. And so the Monke of Malmesbury, shewing the difference betweene the East and Westerne Nations; hath told us, that the Occi­dentals being more stubborne and impatient of the yoke, have often chang'd their Masters: whereas the Easterne people being more dull and woma­nish, have beene continually the Vassals of the Persians. Hist. de Reg. Angl. l▪ 4. Romanum deni (que) imperium prius apud Francos, postea ad Teutonas declinavit: Orientale semper (understand him of the latter times) apud Persas durat. Which note of his, could not bee true, if taken of the Persians, as the inhabitants onely of that Province commonly call'd Persis; the Saracens having before expell'd the Persians, and themselves being in the time of Malmesbury, chased out of these Countries by the Turkes: therefore we must conceive that the name of Per­sian, was a common appellation of the Easterne people. Adde hereunto that Lydda or Diospolis, where St. GEORGE did suffer, is said in almost all our Authors, to bee a Towne of Persia; al­though well knowne to be within the Tribe of Ephraim, in the Land of Palestine: and there as we have found out Dacianus; so it may favoura­bly be granted, that wee have shewne some rea­sons, why he is called King of Persia; or ra­ther in the Authors Phrase, King of the Per­sians.

(6) Let this be also granted; yet what can be [Page 177] replyed to this, that Dacianus is there made the Lord of seaventy tributarie Kings: or what can be produced to reconcile those Authors, which make him not an Emperour; to these which doe affirme it? This I suppose wee may make good, without much difficulty. We reade in Scrip­ture that Ahasuerus King of Persia, Esth, cap. 1. had under his Dominion no fewer than 127. Provinces: most of which were first subjected by the Greekes; and after by the Romanes. We reade also in Tacitus, how ordinary a thing it was, De vit. Agric. in the height and pride of the Roman greatnesse; Habere servitutis instrumenta etiam & reges: to suffer Kings in ma­ny of the conquered nations, and to employ them as their engines, thereby to bring the people in­to greater bondage. Put this together, and wee shall see no inconvenience to ensue, if we should peremptorily affirme, that under the command and empire of Galerius Dacianus, sole ruler of the Easterne Countries; there were no lesse than 70. tributarie Kings and inferiour Princes. As for the pretended disagreement, which i [...] observ'd betweene our Authors; we doe thus reconcile it. viz. That those which make him President, or Leiutenant generall under Diocletian; speake of him, as hee was at the time of our Martyrs suffe­ring, Commander of the Imperiall armies, and the designed successour; and a chiefe agent in the Persecution. But Venerable Bede and those which call him King, report him as he was in power, though not in title; or rather call him King by [Page 178] way of anticipation: just as the Italian shores in Virgil, are call'd Laviná littora, before that name was given unto them; because in short time after in honour of Lavinia, they were so denomina­ted. Now, why the storie should be written of Galerius, by the name of Dacianus; or why the sufferings of our Martyr, imputed▪ rather unto Dacianus, than to Diocletian: this I conceive to be the art of those, who even whilest both the tyrants liv'd, committed it to writing; that so they might decline the envie of their underta­kings, and not incurre the high displeasure of the Persecutors. This, as I said before, may by a fa­vourable Reader be admitted, without the least offence to truth; and much unto the credit of the Venerable Author. If any thinke the contrary, and that this passage of the Persian Dacianus, must needs be reckoned as a fragment of the Arian Legend: I shall not strive with any other force, than that of probable conjectures to perswade him to it. When I perceive no hope to make him o­therwise conceited, I then must say to him, of Bede; as Bellarmine, of Damascenus, in the case of Falconilla: that he, though otherwise an under­standing man, did take the passage upon trust▪ not much solicirous to dispute the grounds of it, or to search it throughly. Sed fieri potest, quamvis alio­qui vir doctus & prudens, De script. Eo [...]l. ut istis narrationibus faci­lem fidem habuerit, ne (que) de veritate earum investi­ganda fuerit sollicitus. If any reason thus, the sto­rie is perplext, and full of intricate difficulties, [Page 179] and therefore nothing in it true, or therefore there was no such Martyr: how infinite are the Saints that must be degraded, whose stories are no lesse perplext than this of ours; though ne­ver quarrel'd?

(7) This difficultie over, we now proceed un­to the further examination of our witnesses; be­ginning first with those which are the first in time. All of them Authors also of the same kinde, viz. of Martyrologies; and two of them guilty of the same obscuritie, or errour, which we finde in Beda: Quis enim viam rectam teneret errante Cicerone? as Lactantius hath it. The first of those is Vsuardus, one of the Schollers of Alcuinus, who flourished in the yeare 812. and at the suite of CHARLES the Great composed his Martyrologi [...]. Martyrolo­gium satis accuratum & celebre, qu [...] multae Ecclesiae vsa sunt. A peece of good esteeme, and great dili­gence, and therefore used in many Churches. So saith the Cardinall. Loc. quo supr. The evidence which we receive from him, is this. 9. Cal. Maij. In Persid [...], civitate Diospoli; passio S. Georgij Martyris, glori­osi ante-signani, clari (que) miraculis: cuius gesta passi­onis, et si inter Apocryphas numerentur Scripturas, tamen illustrissimum ei [...]s martyri [...]m inter coronas Martyrum Ecclesia Dei venerabiliter honorat. ‘Vp­pon the 23. of Aprill St. GEORGE the Martyr, that glorions leader, but more famous by his myracles, did suffer in Diospolis, a Towne of Per­sia: the story of whose Passion, though reckoned [Page 180] as Apocryp [...]all, doth nothing prejudice the truth and glories of his Martyrdome so celebrated in the Church.’ In the next place, we have the te­stimony of Rabanus Maurus, Archbyshop of Mentz, who lived about the yeare 835. Vir aequè doctus & pius, A man (saith Bellarmine, and cer­tainly his workes affirme no lesse) both learned and religious. His testimonie is the same with Ve­nerable Bedes, viz. Nativitas S. Georgij Martyris, qui sub Daciano &c. Onely he ends it thus, Cuius vitam & passionem scriptam legi, that he had seene the life and death of George in writing. What copie of his life and death this was, I cannot say: likely it is that it was one of those then common, which had beene darkened and falsified by the A­rians. In the next place we have the Martyrolo­gie of one Notgerus, extant in the 6. Tome of Ca­nisius Antiquae lectionis, as also was the former. The Author of it, dyed about the yeare 912. and was a Monke of Sengall, or Monasterij S. Galli, a place among the Switzers. His evidence com­pounded equally out of Bede, and Vsuard; the first part taken from the former; the conclusion, from the latter: himselfe inserting this onely in the middle betweene both; that after many inexpres­sible torments, being at last beheaded, he perfe­cted that glorious worke, by the effusion of his bloud. In Perside, civitate Diospoli passio S. Geor­gij Martyris, qui sub Daciano Rege Persarum poten­tissimo, qui dominabatur supra 70. Reges, multis mi­raculis clar [...]t, plurimos (que) convertit ad fidem [Page 181] Christi, &c. hitherto out of Bede. Ipse verò post multos & inauditos agones novissimè decollatus, Mar­tyrium s [...]um sanguinis effusione consummavit. Then followes out of Vsuardus, Cuius gesta Passionis etsi inter Apocryphas, &c. as before we had it.

(8) In these the testimonies of Bede, Raba­nus Maurus, and Notgerus, we finde it mention'd of St. GEORGE; Plurimos (que) ad fidem Christi convertit, That hee converted many to the Faith of CHRIST. Specul. histor. lib. 12. c. 128. And answerable hereunto, Vin­centius Belvacensis, Ad eius praedicationem credidit. S. Vincentius; That by the Preaching of Saint George, St. Vincent who receiv'd the crowne of Martyrdome in Spaine, received the Gospell. Which doubtlesse must be understood of private reasonings, and friendly conference, with those whose soules hee chiefly tendred: not by the way of any publicke Ministery, wherein hee ne­ver was intrusted. And certainly the Faithfull of the times Primitive, especially during the heat of Persecution; did much promote the holy Gospell by such private and domesticke meanes, if I may so call it: passing from house to house, and from man to man; so to bring Peace unto the one, Salvation to the other. Wherefore perhaps Cecilius calls the Christians generally, In Minutio. Latebrosam & Lucifugam nationem, in publico mutam, in angu­lis garrulam: A slie and corner-creeping kind of people, active in private places, but still and quiet in the publicke. It seemes, that some not well [Page 182] acquainted with the calling and condition of our Martyr, have made him very famous in the arts of Preaching: as one that first converted the Ar­menians and Iberi, now call'd Georgians. For Mi­chael ab Ysselt a Low-Countrey-writer, telling what Honours by that people are afforded to St. George; relates it thus: Cur verò tanto in honore habeant D. illum Georgium, causam nonnulli afferunt, quòd ille primus ad fidem Christi Armenos Iberos (que) conver­tisset. [...]. 1577. But whosoever those nonnulli are, that so report it, they are no question in an errour: there being in the Ecclesiasticall historians, another and more likely meanes of their conversion; on which this Michael doth reflect in these wordes that follow; Licèt alij illud cuiusdam puellae miraculis & virtutibus tribuunt.

(9) In the next place wee have the suffrage of Vincentius, Bishop of Beau-vein in France, Anno 1250. A man of that deepe learning, that the great Schoole-man Thomas Aquinas is supposed (and Bellarmine can hardly save him harmelesse in it) to take a great part of his Prima secundae, and secunda secundae, word for word, out of the first and third bookes of this Vincents speculum morale. He in the 12 ^th. booke of his speculum historiale, doth report the story, Cap. 128. thus: Sub persecutione Da­ciani (in divers passages before, he call's him Da­cianus Praeses) venit de Cappadocia Georgius miles, Qui videns Christianorum augustias, erogatis omni­bus quae habebat, militarem vestem exuit, et indutus [Page 183] veste Christianorum, in medium sacrificantium se ob­iecit; atque in conspectu omnium exclamavit dicens, Omnes dij gentiū daemonia, Dominus autem coelos fecit. Cui statim Dacianus ira repletus, ait, Qua praesump­tione vel dignitate hoc audes, vt deos nostros daemones esse dicas? Dic tamen unde es, et quomodo vocaris: qui respondit, Christianus sum, Georgius vocor, genere et militia Cappadocus: sed cuncta deserui, vt liberiùs Deo coeli servirem, &c. ‘During the persecution rais'd by the President or Lieutenant generall, Dacianus; came George a Cappadocian Knight into the Court. Who seeing into what mise­rable streights the poore Christians were dri­ven, making a doale of all hee had, put off his military or Knightly habit; and manifesting that hee was a Christian, hee rush'd into the middest of the Idolaters: and in the hearing of them all, cryed out, that All the deities off the gentiles were but divels, and that it was the Lord onely which had made the heavens. To whom the President, With what presumption, or upon confidence of what high dignity, doest thou affirme, that our gods are divels? tell us thy name, and whence thou art. Who presently return'd this answere: I am (saith he) a Christi­an; my name, George; my countrey, Cappadocia, and there of honourable ranke: but I have wil­lingly abandoned all, to serve the God of hea­ven with greater freedome, &c.’ And in the close of all, martyrizatus autem est in Perside, civi­tate Diospoli: he suffered in Diospolis, a cittie of the [Page 184] Persians, on the 23. of April. To this agree's in the maine of it, Iacobus de Voragine [...] Georgius tribu­nus, genere Cappadox, &c. George one of the Tri­bunes, by birth a Cappadocian, &c. The next that followeth, is that doughtie storie of the Lybian Dragon: which told he closeth in with the rela­tion of Vincentius. The like doth also Antoni­nus Florentinus: Pars 1 tit. 8. §. 23. of both which I have spoke al­ready. Onely the last hath noted, that the histo­rie of George is reckoned as Apocryphall; not that he was no Martyr, but that there are some pas­sages there scarce worthie credit. Ponitur autem Legenda cius inter Apocryphas Scripturas, non quin verè Martyr fuerit pro confessione nominis Christi, sed propter quaedam quae notantur in ea de veritate dubia. V. Part 2. ch. 1. § 12. & chap. 2. §. 10. Which passages, I also have observ'd al­ready. To end this section, the booke entituled Fasciculus temporum, written by a Carthusian Monke of the 14 ^th. Centurie; and printed in the yeere 1476. by Conradus Hoemborche: ad Annum 291. pag. 33. doth ranke our George among the Martyrs of that yeere, between Pantaleon, and Iustus.

(10) The witnesse next to be examined is of Greece, Nicephorus Callistus: who liv'd about the yeare 1305. Andronicus the Elder, then reigning in Constantinople, to whom he dedicates his booke. Who being sworne and examined, Hist. Eccl. lib. 7 cap. 15. saith as follow­eth. Eisdem quo (que) temporibus (the time of DIO­CLETIANS [Page 185] furie) Georgius ille magni inter ceria­tores istos nominis, Hist. eccl [...]. l. 7. cap. 15. & agminis Martyrum Coryphaeus, laborum pro Christo toleratorum veros fruetus perce­pit. Hic in Cappadocia [ natus,] adhu [...] adolescens, forma praestanti, & qui nondum primani produxisset lanuginem; fortissimè certaminibus pro Christo perferendis, martyrium obijt. Captus enim quòd in daemo­nes acriter invectus esset, Imperatorum (que) impietatem derisisset; supra naturae captum perquam acerbos susti­nuit cruciatus. Nam post carcerem & vincula, un­gulae acutae cum excepare, mox calce ardenti est a [...] ­stus: fidiculis (que) rursum d [...]stractus, mucronibus mem­bratim disiectus, plurimis (que) alijs poenarum ma [...]hi [...]i [...] attritus; gener [...]sam animi constantiam, firmum (que) mentis suae propositum, satis declaravit. Ad [...]aec &c. The rest that followes is of the Empresse Alexan­dra; and of I know not what Glycerius and his Oxe. Tandem (que) ut virum decet, gladio percussus, ex ha [...] vi­ta migravit. ‘About these times (saith he) the so much celebrated GEORGE, chiefe of the Martyrs of that age, receiv'd the recompense of all his sufferings for his Saviour. Who be­ing borne in Cappadoce, (for so I reade it) as yet exceeding young, of special beauty, and his beard scarce budding; did nobly undergoe, the weight and paines of Martyrdome. For be­ing apprehended for inveighing against their I­dols, and scoffing at the irreligion of the Em­perours; he suffered such extremitie of tortures▪ as was above the strength of nature to endure. After a long imprisonment, and his legs even [Page 186] cramp'd with irons, he was first pierced and harrowed, as it were with the sharpest nayles. Afterwards being scorch'd with burning lime, and put upon the racke, and all his members se­verally hackt and hewne with swords: he per­fectly declared his noble constancy, and invin­cible resolutions; and at the last, being behea­ded, hee departed out of this life into a bet­ter.’

(11) But to returne unto the Latines, in the next place we meet with Coccius Sabellicus, Vir valde eruditus, a learned man (saith Bellarmine) a man of great integrity, saith Vives. He lived a­bout the shutting in of the 15. Centurie, and gives this testimony of St. GEORGE, that he was Mar­tyr'd at Diospolis, Ennead. 7. l. 8. a City of the Persians, during the Persecution rais'd by Diocletian. Passus est ea­dem tempestate Georgius Martyr in Perside apud Dio­spolin. In the same time and age flourish'd Herman­nus Schedell, Doctor of Physicke in the Vniversi­ty of Padua; the Author of the booke entituled Chronica Chronicorum, printed at Norimberge anno 1493. Act. 6. p. 240. His evidence is this. Georgius Cappadocus, Tribunus & verus Christi miles hoc tempore. Cum venisset de Cappadocia in Persiam, civitatem Diospo­lin, velut alter Curtius Romanus, & Codrus Rex A­theniensium pro patriae suae liberatione sese internecio­ni, ad draconis occisionem & martyrij tolerantiam, dedit. Quippe interfecto Dracone, post eculei exten­sionem, totius (que) corporis lacerationem, et viscerum ef­fusionem, [Page 187] nec non aliorum tormentorum perpessionem, ad ultimum, martyrium capitis abscissione complevit. Cuius gesta &c: as before in Vsuardus. ‘St. George of Cappadocia, a Tribune, and a faithfull Soldi­er of IESVS CHRIST, about this time suffered: who comming out of Cappadocia into Diospolis, a City of the Persians, like Curtius in the state of Rome, or Codrus King of Athens, exposed him­selfe to death, in the destroying of the Dragon, and his suffering of Martyrdome. (of this see somewhat, Part. 1. Cap. 5. Sect. 4.) For having kill'd the Dragon, after he had beene put upon the racke, his body torne in peeces, and the ef­fusion of his bowels, with divers other misera­ble tortures; at last hee finished his course by the loosing of his head.’ Philippus Berg [...]mensis, an Austin Fryer, who lived about the sametime, and made a supplement unto this Chronica of Sche­dels, repeates the storie in the same words: save that he addes et salis confricationem, the chasing of his wounded body with salt, unto the residue of his torments. And in the last place Volaterran, of whom we have already spoken, affirmes this for us, Georgius Martyr, genere Cappadox, Tribunus militum sub Diocletiano merebat: St. GEORGE the Martyr, a Cappadocian by his Country, serv'd as a Tribune of the Soldiers under the Emperour DIOCLETIAN.

(12) And now at last we come unto the Prote­stant Divines, from whom we may expect small [Page 188] favour; considering what leading men already have declared against us. Yet is St. GEORGE so confident of the exceeding truth and justice of his cause; that he despaires not to finde friends, e­ven amongst them. And first Illyricus, the foun­der of the stiffe or rigid Lutherans, as they use to call them; and a chiefe Author of that Ecclesiasti­call Historie, which we call the Centuries; compo­sed by him and other famous men of the Citie of Magdeburge, in Saxonie: is fully for us. For in the 4. Centurie, and 3. Chapter which is de Perso­cutione, St. GEORGE is reckoned among other Martyrs of that time, out of Fasciculus temporum: and in the 12. Chapter of the same Century, enti­tuled de Martyribus; more copiously thus. Cele­bris inter Martyres eius temporis, etiam Georgius fuit; natione Cappadox, adolescens in daemonas genti­lium acriter invectus erat, &c. as it followeth in Nicephorus, whose words and testimonie is there cyted. A proofe, as I conceive it, not to be que­stioned: considering, what bitter enemies the Au­thors of this Historie, doe alwayes shew them­selves against the Superstitions of Rome; how greedily they take occasion, as much as possibly they can, to advance their owne cause, and cry downe the Papist. What now, if to the Father of the stiffe and peremptorie Lutherans; I should here adde Melancthon, the founder, as they call him, of the moderate, or Lutherani molles? Sure if I did, I should not mis-report him, eyther in his words or meaning. For when he tells us, in the [Page 189] place before examined, V. Part. 1. c. 3. Sect. 3. that the Papists make St. Anne the Patronesse of Riches, St. GEORGE the GOD of Soldiers, and Sebastian a defence against the Plague; Vt nempè Georgius tueatur equites, Se­bastianus pestem arceat; &c. hee doth without all controversie, affirme St. GEORGE to bee a Saint; no lesse than eyther St. Sebastian, or St. Anne; which neyther Calvin, nor any one since him, have ever question'd. To draw unto an end, take here the testimonie of Oraeus, in his No­menclator; a Lutheran perhaps, but sure I am, no Papist: who rightly hath distinguish'd those three Georges, which the so famous Doctors, Reynolds and Drusius have confounded. We reade it thus. Georgius Episcop. Laodicenus, Lit. G. p. 64. Arianus, secul. 4. Geor­gius Alexandrin. haeret. Arian. anno 356. and last­ly Georgius Cappadox et Martyr, 289.

(13) To summe up all, wee have here proofe sufficient, that GEORGE the Martyr, was by birth of Cappadocia: the thing affirm'd to be so, by Me­taphrastes, Vincentius, de Voragine, Antoninus, Her­mannus Schedell, Bergomensis, and Volatterran, a­mong the Latines; and by Nicephorus, of Greece; and by the Magdeburgians, and Oraeus, among the Protestants. More proofe of which there is to follow. His suffering, for the time of it, general­ly is reported under Diocletian, as the chiefe Per­secutor; in whose time he was made a Martyr; in termes expresse, by Metaphrastes, de Voragine, Volaterran, and the Greeke Martyrologie as yet to [Page 190] come; implicitely and in ordinary count of time, by Nicephorus Callistus, Fasciculus temporum, Sa­bellicus, Hermanus Schedell, Bergomensis, the Mag­deburgians, and Oraeus. And under DACIANUS, or GALERIUS rather, as a chiefe instrument of DI­OCLETIANS crueltie; by Bede, Rab. Maurus, Notgerus, Vincentius, de Voragine, and Antoninus. The yeare thereof, limited more particularly, by the Fasciculus temporum, ad ann. 291. and by Orae­us, to the yeare 289. to which wee will adjoyne Baronius, who places it in his Annals, and so re­ports it in his Annot. on the Calendar; ad ann. 290. A difference not observeable. And last of all, the day thereof assigned upon the 23. of Aprill. (9. Kal. Maij.) by Venerable Bede, Rabanus, and Notgerus; as also by Vincentius, and Antoninus; and by the Martyrologies both Greeke and Latine, not yet produced; the manner of his death being affirmed also, by the loosing of his head, by Me­taphrastes, Bede, Rabanus, and Notgerus; by Vin­centius, de Voragine, Nicephorus, Antoninus, Sche­dell, and Bergomensis. Which being so; wee may the better and with more justice, apply the old complaint of Canus, Lib. 11. cap. 4. to the businesse now in hand, Si nam (que) in duorum ore vel trium firmum stat omne verbum, cur adversus hanc legen [...], plurimis testibus rem tandem olim gestam contestantibus, fidem Theo­logus abnegabit? Since GOD (saith he) hath told us, that out of the mouth of two or three Witnesses eve­ry word shall be established; with what pretence of reason may a Divine oppose this Law, and not [Page 191] give credit unto many witnesses, affirming all to­gether the same Historie. For our parts, so confi­dent are we that our cause is just and true; that if the adversaries of St. GEORGE, are able to pro­duce one single testimonie, out of any ancient Au­thor or out of any Author borne before the time of CALVIN, to make good their affirmavit: we will forsake our colours, and revolt to them. But I am bold to say, they cannot. For had the thing beene possible, the learned Doctor Reynolds, who spared no labour in the search, would have produced it.

CHAP. IIII.

(1) THus have we drawne together the suf­frages of such which eyther posi­tively have affirmed, or Historical­ly related any thing, of St. George the Martyr. In which wee finde sufficient proofe, as of his Country, so of the time, and day, and manner of his death: and that so punctually, so agreeably both to their fore­man and themselves, that never any Iurie agreed bett [...]r on a Verdict. This done, we now addresse [Page 193] our selves, to make inquiry of the Church, [...], The pillar and the ground of Truth, as Saint Paul calls it: to learne of her, what she hath practically done in St. Geor­ges honour. For, to the positive affirmations of some men in St. Georges cause, and the historicall relations of some others; if wee can also get the countenance and practise of the Church: wee then may have some good assurance, that no man will hereafter stirre against us. Now in the pra­ctise of the Church, we may observe foure wayes or courses, whereby she hath continually endea­voured to keepe alive the memory of the blessed Martyrs: in none of which she hath beene wan­ting (such is her tender care and respect of him) unto our St. George. The first of these, is the common Martyrologie, or Calendar; in which their Names and Passion, briefly, but unto all e­ternity, are registred. The second is, by giving them some speciall place in her publicke Litur­gies: The third, by recollecting up their Re­liques, and laying them with all due honour, in some place fit for them. And last of all, the cal­ling of such Temples by the names of these most blessed Spirits; which she had solemnely erected to GODS speciall service, and Consecrated to his honour. How much the Church hath done in all and every one of these, to keepe the memo­ry of Saint GEORGE the Martyr, alive and flourishing; wee shall best see by taking of them, [Page 194] every one in their severall Order, and speaking of them in particulars.

(2) Beginning with the first, wee finde it on Record in Tullie, that in the very first beginnings of the Roman State, it was the Office of the chiefe Priest, or Pontifex Max. to keepe a Register of all publike occurrences; and to preserve them in some tables openly, that so the people might per­use them. Ab initio rerum Rom. (saith he) us (que) ad Publ. Mutium Pont. Max. res omnes singulorum an­norum mandabat literis Pontifex Max. efferebat (que) in album, De Oratore lib. 2. proponebat (que) tabulam domi, potestas ut esset po­pulo cognoscendi. Which Office discontinued in the time of Publ. Mutius, was afterwards reviv'd by Iulius Caesar, in his first Consulship, being at that time chiefe Byshop of the Romans. An institution of especial use & service in that state, as also in others: there being not a greater spurre to vertue and He­roick undertakings, than an assurance that the Fame of our atchievments & well-deserving shall not be buried in the same grave with us, & perish w ^th our bodies. For certainly the care both to live vertu­ously, and (if occasion so require) to dye noble­ly, must needs be much augmented in the minds of good and honest men: when once they know, that their performings shall not be folded up in silence; but openly presented to the eyes and eares of all the people. Vpon which grounds, it was the custome of the faithfull in the first times, and specially of those which were for place and [Page 195] power mo [...] eminent amongst them; to commit to publike memory, the sufferings of all them, which had confess'd the faith of CHRIST in the midst of tortures; and continued constant in it even unto the death. Not that they thought, to adde thereby unto their glories, who now were glorious in the Heavens: but by preserving in continuall remembrance, their infinite induran­ces, for the truth and testimony of Religion; to make the remnant of Gods people, yet alive, more apt to run that course; and so to runne it, that at the last they might attaine an equall guerdon. Of which kinde of memoriall or publike Register, is the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, extant in the fourth booke of Eusebius Historie; that of the Lugdunenses and Viennoys in the fifth; and lastly, that also of Dionysius Byshop of Alexandria, in the sixth and seaventh of the same Author.

(3) Of this kinde specially (I meane in refe­rence to the first times of Christian Religion) were the two publike Martyrologies of the Greeke and Latine Churches. The first originall of which, not to looke further, and perhaps fare worse; may be referr'd most probably unto An­terus, Byshop of Rome, about the yeare 238. at what time Maximinus, having first kill'd his ma­ster Alex. Severus; made havocke of the Church of GOD. Of him it is recorded, that hee first caused the Acts and Passions of the blessed Mar­tyrs to be diligently sought out, and enroll'd by [Page 196] the publike Notaries in the common Registers of the Church: lest else their memory might be de­termined with their lives. Anterus primus statuit (saith Platina) ut res gestae Martyrum diligentèr ex­quisitae à notarijs scriberentur: conscriptas recondi in aerario Ecclesiae mandavit; ne unà cum vita, bene a­gentium memoria aboleretur. As for the Roman Martyrologie now extant, as wee may well con­clude, that it was built upon that ground-worke or foundation of Anterus: So we can ill affirme for certaine, by whom the whole structure, as we now see it, Epist. l. 7. cap. 29. was raised and perfected. Onely we find in one of Gregories Epistles, that then the Roman Church had upon register, the names al­most of all the Martyrs, and a memoriall of their Sufferings; digested as the Martyrologies now are, according to their proper dayes: the time onely of their passions, and the place there­of assigned in them; but litle of the circumstance, and manner of their deaths. Nos penè omnium Martyrum, distinctis per dies singulos passionibus, collecta in uno codice nomina habemus, &c. Non ta­men codem volumine, quis qualiter sit passus indica­tur; sed tantùm dies & locus passionis ponitur. Which booke or register here spoke of, as it hath much resemblance in the forme and substance of it, with the Roman Martyrologie now being: so wee may happily resolve, that it is the same; augmented onely in the addition of such Saints, as in the times succeeding have had place, (and some of them unworthily) in the common Calendar. [Page 197] This Martyrologie, thus ancient, as it may bee well supposed, upon the Three and twentieth day of Aprill, gives us this testimony of our Martyr, viz. Natalis S. Georgij Martyris, cuius il­lustre martyrium Ecclesia Dei veneratur. The Pas­sion of St. George the Martyr, whose blessed martyrdome is in the Church of GOD, in espe­ciall honour. And this briefly and in a word, ac­cording to the use and nature of a Martyrologie.

(4) I have here rendred the Natalis in the Text, by the English word of Passion: because, as I con­ceive it, however it bee used in other Authors, yet it must so be taken in the construction of the Church; which did not use to solemnize the Birth dayes of the Saints, but the dayes onely of their departure. For they conceived it rightly, that the birth-day of a Christian, was his entrance into Glory by the gate of Death: and that the worldly-minded man reputed that to bee the day of his Nativity, by which hee entred into life. And therefore Origen hath noted of the Christi­ans of his time, and of the times before him; That they esteemed the day of Birth to be an entrance into anguish and temptation: but celebrated with a solemne Feast, the day wherein their friends and brethren were released from sinne and bon­dage. Nunc nos (saith hee) non Nativitatis diem celebramus, Lib. 3. in Iob. cum sit dolorum at (que) tentationum introi­tus: Sed mortis diem celebramus, utpote omnium dolorum depositionem, at (que) omnium tent ationum effu­gationem. [Page 198] Nay in his eighth Homily upon Levi­ticus, hee affirmes for certaine, that never any of the Saints did solemnize their Birth-day with good chee [...] and festivals: and not much after, Soli peccatores super huiusmodi Nativitate laetantur; That onely wicked men did so observe it. Much also to this purpose that of St. Bernard, in his E­pistle to and against the Canons of the Church of Lyons ▪ who had presumed to introduce into the Church a new festivall, The Feast of the Conception of the blessed Vigin. The Church (saith he) hath by a sp [...]ciall exception, Epist. 174. kept as holy, the Birth-day of our Saviour: of whom the Angels did affirme unto the Sheepe-heards, that his Nativitie was tidings of great Ioy unto all the people. Caete­rorum autem non Nativitat [...]m sed mortem Sancto­rum, i [...]dic [...]t & praedicat pret [...]o [...]am. But for the rest (saith hee) the Church hath taught us, that not the Birth-day of the Saints, but the day rather of their dissolution, is accounted precious. In which no doubt, hee did allude to that of DA­VID; Right precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints.

(5) If wee crosse over into Greece, and aske what Honours they affoord unto St. GEORGE, in their publicke registers: wee find the Church there little lesse devoted to him, than it is at Rome. For thus Wicelius hath observ'd for us; Veteres Graecos recensere in diario sub finem Aprilis, In Georg [...]. [...]: That the [Page 199] Greekes anciently in their Diarie or common Almanacke, about the end of Aprill, did celebrate the memory of St. GEORGE, and SABAS, as the Saints or Patrons of Military men. Which Saba (to note it by the way) hath a place also in the Roman Martyrologie, on the Foure and twen­tieth of Aprill: and is there called Ductor mili­tum, a Captaine or Commander. But not to stand alone upon the credit of Wicelius, we have the Greeke Menologie, (for so they call it) thus spea­king of him: and in the day agreeing with the Church of Rome. Baron. Annot. in Rom, Mart. Memoria Sancti & Gloriosi & Magni Martyris Georgij [...]gnomento Tropelophori. Fuit genere Cappadox, passus sub Dioclet [...]an [...] Imper. Id est, This day is celebrated in memoriall of that most holy, glorious and great Martyr, George; sirnamed Tropelophorus; a Cappadocian by his Countrey: who suffered under Diocletian. In which we finde two circumstances which adde much unto him and his honour; a sirname, and an adjunct. The adjunct is, that hee is here stiled Magnus Martyr, the great Martyr: and not here onely, but in divers other passages of Greeke wri­ters. For Metaphrastes gives this title to the Sto­ry of him, Vita S. Georgij magni Martyris, The Hi­story of George the great Martyr: So also doth Pasicrates. So also Comus, the Suffragan of Amba Gabriel, Patriarch of Alexandria, doth call Saint GEORGES Church in that Citie, Ecclesiam S. Georgij magni Martyris, the Temple of George [Page 200] the Great Martyr. But of this Comus, more anon, in the next Chapter.

(6) The sirname added in the Greeke Menolo­gie, unto Saint GEORGE; is, as Baronius reades it, Tropelophorus: for which hee is by Mr. Selden, in his Titles of Honour, Part. 2. cap. 11. justly tax'd; it being plaine (saith hee) that it should rather be, Tropaeophorus. For proofe of which, he hath produced a testimo­ny out of Iohn Euchaites, who flourish'd in the time of Constantinus Monamachus the Greeke Em­perour, about the yeare 1043. Which Euchaites, being at that time a Byshop of the Greeke Church, writing unto the Emperour above-named, thus calls St. George the Martyr:

And in another place, speaking as to St. George; [...], Illustrious Standard-bearer: for so the word Tropaeophorus, properly doth signifie. This name or adjunct if you will, noted before by George Wicelius also, In Georgio. to have beene attri­buted to Saint George, by the later Grecians; as well as that of the great Martyr. Et hodie D. Ge­orgij celebritas apud Graecos, prae caeteris perquam [Page 201] eximiae est; Appellant autem cum [...] & [...], id est. Vexillarium ▪ or Antient. In reference to which, no question but hee hath the title of Antesignanus, in the Martyrologie of V­suardus? and that of Signifer in Monke Robert; and in Mich. of Ysselt; of which two last, we shall see more hereafter.

(7) The second way or course, whereby the Church in ancient times endeavoured to preserve alive, the memorie of the blessed Saints and Mar­tyrs; is, as before we said, by giving them some speciall place in her publike Liturgies. For since that CHRIST hath not beene onely manifested great in himselfe, but great also and glorious in his Saints; the dayes of whose departure are to the Church of CHRIST, as are th'inauguration dayes of Kings and Emperours, unto their peo­ple: therefore especiall choyce being first had of them, there were some certaine times annually se­lected, to meditate upon our Saviour glorified in them; together with a forme of praise and pray­er, answerable to those times. In both which circumstances, both that of time selected for this service, and of the service destinate unto the time; the Church proceeded with exceeding tender­nesse of care, and soundnesse of advice. That so for every purpose, there might be a time and sea­son: and that the office or devotions of the time, being fitted to it; it might bee opus diei in die suo. [Page 202] This was the Commemoration of the Dead, in those pious times in use; before that commendable in­stitution became defiled by superstition, and as it were polluted with Idolatrie. Of which we have this testimonie of St. AVSTIN: Honoramus sanè memorias eorum tanquam Sanctorum hominum Dei, De civitate Dei, l. 8. cap. 27. qui us (que) ad mortem corporum pro veritate certarunt. Will you the reason of it? It is (saith he) that in the times of such solemnitie, we may both glo­rifie our GOD which hath given such guifts unto men; and by the annuall reviving of their memo­ries, we may the better be excited unto an imi­tation of their vertues. For so it followeth in the place, Vt ea celebritate Deo vero gratias de eo­rum victorijs agamus: & nos ad imitationem talium coronarum, eorum memoriae renovatione adhortemur. So then it seemes the Church proposed unto her selfe, in her publike Commemorations of the Dead, two severall ends: one, that GOD might bee prai­sed in his Saints; the other, that the noble and pious actions of the Saints, may bee a patterne unto us, to learne the better how to serve him in Righteousnesse and Holinesse all the dayes of our lives. For if the life and death of the Saints is precious in the sight of God: how precious should it be ac­counted in the eyes of all Gods people, that both the one and the other should be carefully remem­bred; especially upon the day and time most ca­pable of such remembrances? And on the other side, how is it possible that the recitall of their Christian lives & godly deaths, should be so often [Page 203] sounded in the eares of the more loose & dissolute men: and not provoke them at some time or other to cry out with Balaam, O that I might die the death of the Righteous, and that my end might bee like his! Iust so, the Tropheyes of Miltiades, startled such noble resolutions in Themistocles: and so did A­lexander emulate the glories of Achilles, recited in the workes of Homer. For which cause also, and thereby to indeere the memory of the Saints de­parted, with and amongst Gods servants: it was the custome of the Church, besides her publike mention of them in her ordinarie Liturgie; to suffer anniversarie panegyricks to be made in praise of such of them, as had notably deserved it. Sic & defunctis praemium, & futuris dabatur exemplum; as Minutius hath it.

(8) Afterwards, when the conceits of men, were raised unto a wonderfull admiration of their vertues; and throughly possess'd with this, how neere a place they held in the opinion and esteeme of Almighty GOD: it was not thought enough to commemorate their graces; unlesse we made some further use of their esteeme with their Cre­atour, in gracing our petitions. The rather, be­cause the Church had generally, and truely taught, that these celestiall Spirits now with God, did constantly commend unto him, the flouri­shing estate and safetie of his Vniversall Church: yea and some also of the faithfull in particular, so farre as possibly by revelation from their GOD, [Page 204] or any other meanes what ever; they might bee made acquainted with their severall wants. Which once conceived, as many times an ill use may be made of a sound doctrine; it was supposed to be a soloecisme in the way of pietie, not to commend our prayers and desires unto them. Vntill at last, as there is seldome any medium inter summa & prae­cipitia, no stoppe in tumbling downe an Hill be­fore we come unto the bottome: the Saints in Heauen against their wils, and besides their know­ledge, became the onely mediatours betweene God and man, in point of intercession. And this the processe of the Trent-Councell, in drawing up the Article of the Invocation of the Saints: Sanctos unà cum Christo regnantes orationes suas pro hominibus Deo offerre; Sess. 25. cap. 2. and therefore, bonum [...] at (que) utile esse simplicitèr eos invocare, & ob beneficia à Deo impetranda, &c. ad eorum orationes, opem, auxili­um (que) confugere. This said, we may more easily conjecture, what kind of Commemoration Saint GEORGE is like to finde, in the Roman Li­turgie.

(9) Let us looke then upon the Liturgie of the Church of Rome, and we shall find it very co­pious in St, GEORGE'S honour: the Liturgie of Rome as it is now corrected, and purged of almost all those Legendarie Fables, which before gave oc­casion of offence and laughter. And herein cer­tainly we find the Service very solemne; scarce any festivall there celebrated with more variety [Page 205] of prayer and divine offices. I will touch onely at some principall passages thereof: taking along with me yet the full course and method. The en­trance or Preparatorie, this. Protexisti me Deus à conventu malignantium: Alleluiah. A multitudine operantium iniquitatem. Alleluiah. Thou hast de­fended me O GOD from the Congregation of the evill doers. Alleluiah: and from the multitude of them that worke iniquity, &c. Then followes this Prayer. Deus qui nos B. Georgij Martyris tui & meritis & intercessione laetificas, concede propitius, ut qui tua per eum beneficia poscimus, dono tuae gra­iiae consequamur. O GOD, which by the merits and intercession of St. GEORGE thy blessed Martyr, dost rejoyce our Soules, grant we beseech thee, that those benefits which by him we crave, may by the favour of thy grace bee given unto us, through IESVS CHRIST our Lord. The Epistle taken out in part, out of the second unto Timo­thy, and the 3. Chapt. Where the Apostle telleth him, that he had knowne his doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, charitie, patience; Per­secutions and afflictions, which came unto him at An­tioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; out of all which, the LORD delivered him, &c. The Gospell taken out of the 15. Chapt. of St. IOHN, Ego sum vitis vera, I am the true Vine, &c. The close of all is this, after the whole Masse ended, which they call the Postcommunion: Supplices te rogamus omnipotens Deus, ut quos tuis reficis sacramentis, &c. Almigh­ty GOD, we humbly beseech thee, that we which [Page 206] are refresh'd by thy holy Sacraments, may by the intercession of thy blessed Martyr George, serve thee heereafter in all godly motions, &c. To which the Liturgie of the Church of Rome, I will here adde a Collect of the old Missall, (See Vsum Sarum:) which piously interpreted, hath nothing in it savouring of Superstition; and is withall more proper to St. Georges storie. Viz. Offerimus tibi Domine solenne sacrificium pro veneranda S. Geor­gij mart. tui passione, deprecantes clementiam tuam, ut per haec S. S. mysteria antiqui hostis tentatamen te tri­umphante vincamus, et aeternae remunerationis prae­mium te largiente sequamur. We offer unto thee O LORD the solemne Sacrifice (of praise and Thankesgiving) for the death and passion of St. George thy Martyr; beseeching thy divine cle­mencie, that by these holy mysteries, we may in thee subdue the manifold temptations of our old enemie the Divell, and be rewarded by thy grace with life eternall. The first of these two Prayers taken out of the Roman Missall, I finde also in the Breviarie, the Diurnum, and the Offi­cium B. Mariae Virginis: so copious is that Church in the memoriall of our Martyr.

(10) I doubt not but it will be here objected, that we are driven to hard shifts, when wee are faine to repaire to Rome; from thence to prove St. GEORGE'S Saint-ship. This wee expect to heare of, and are ready to reply, that this is hard­ly worth objecting. For here we draw no argu­ment [Page 207] to prove how lawfully St. GEORGE may be invoked; or that his intercession may be used, for the more quicke dispatch of our affaires in the Court of Heaven. Onely wee note from hence, that anciently, and in the purer times of the Ro­man Church; St. GEORGE was constantly com­memorated, and in his proper course; as a noble Martyr. Vpon which ground, which in it selfe is good and commendable, if they have built, out of their owne, Wood, and Hay, and Stubble; a dange­rous and erronious practise not warrantable in the Church: I hope, without offence, it may be law­full for me, or any else, to make the profitablest use out of their errours; and to verifie the truth and goodnesse of the ancient practise in this case, out of the faultie and erroneous corruption of the present. For I perswade my selfe, that in points onely of Historicall faith, wee may relie in part upon their publike Liturgies: and that we may conclude, that surely such a Saint there was, as GEORGE, or MAURICE, or SEBASTIAN, or the rest there honoured; because I finde them in the Missall, and the Breviarie; no man of this or any age, having as yet inform'd mee, that they have lately beene inserted into the bookes of Common-Service. Nay, as in nature, there must be first an habit, before we can admit of any pri­vation: and that in things corrupted, wee must suppose a true and reall being of that thing, thus fallen into corruption: so we may well inferre, upon a view of the corruptions in their Liturgies, [Page 208] that certainely there was some excellent use at first, of such a ceremonie, or such an institution; how ever that the foule corruptions of the pre­sent have polluted and defiled it. I would not wish me thinks, an argument of more validitie to prove the act of kneeling at the Lords Supper, to be of good Antiquitie in the Church of Christ: than from the adoration of it (or of the Hoste ra­ther as they call it) exacted in their Rituals; which is, no doubt, a superstitious, if not idolatrous cor­ruption, of that ancient and reverend use of Knee­ling. Nor would I choose a fairer way of dispu­tation, to justifie the honourable estate of the married Clergie, against the clamours of the Pa­pists; than to returne upon them, that in the pub­like service of the Church of Rome, it is reputed commonly, though falsly, for a Sacrament: which false conceit of theirs, is a corruption one­ly of the just and pious meaning of the Fathers; who therefore did extoll it in the highest mea­sure, the better to beate downe those Hereticks which had disgraced it. More might be said in affirmation of this manner of proceeding; had I now either place or leisure. At this time only this, that I should more relie in matters meerely Histo­ricall of being, upon the Liturgie of Rome, which certainly is not contrived upon no other ground, than lies and Fables: than upon any mans bare word which saith the contrary; or such weake arguments as are not able to conclude the matter controverted. And so farre I dare goe with Canus; [Page 209] conceive me still in matters of this qualitie: Lib. 11, cap. 5. Nul­las huiusmodi rationes, ab antiqua patrum traditione quam communis ecclesiae consuetudo, in divin [...] officio, hymnis, antiphonis (que) confirmavit; potuisse me mo­vere.

(11) Which being so, and that St. GEORGE had anciently his proper time and place of Com­memoration, how ever now that laudable and pi­ous custome bee degenerated: we may affirme more confidently, that he hath beene continually in especiall credit with the Church. In the Greeke Church we find him on record in their publike Calendar; where they have honoured him with the title of [...], or the great Martyr. Annot. in R. Mart▪ Apr. 23. Baronius tells us, that this Saint is ve­ry famous in the Countries of Galatia; In Gala­tia celebris fuit eiusdem Sancti memoria: more ge­nerally Wicelius, Celebritas D. Georgij apud Grae­cos prae caeteris perquam eximia est, that he is hono­red more than any of the rest among the Grecians. Ioh. Euchaites a Greeke Byshop hath given an ho­nourable testimony of him: and Cyrus Theodorus, (of whose time and qualitie I am yet to seeke) hath plaid the Epigrammatist, upon his portraiture cut in white stone; [...], as the title hath it. Adde hereunto Hierax, one of great power in the Greeke Empire, upon his reconciliation with Contacu­zenus; gave him in token of his future faith and [Page 210] loyaltie, L. 3. cap. 91. St. GEORGE his picture: Imaginem praeclari Mart. Christi, Georgij, fidei suae, sincerae (que) er­ga Imperatorem voluntatis, pignus quoddam dedit. The thing related by the Emperour Contacuzenus himselfe, in his booke of Histories, first published under the name of Christodulus. As for the Church of Rome, there is no question to bee made of her good affection. Her Missals, and her testimony of him in the Martyrologie; expresly say it. Nor need there any more be added, unlesse perhaps it be worth noting, that Vergerius Byshop of Iusti­nople in the Seigneurie of Venice, was called in question for his life: Exam Conc. Trid. Sess. 25. Eo quòd in Concilio Trident. Georgij Legendam sibi non per omnia probari ostende­ret, as Chemnitius hath it; because he had decla­med against some passages of the Storie of Saint GEORGE, in the Trent Councell. As for the Chur­ches Protestant, wee finde the Lutheran Doctors many of them, very favourable; and how wee stand affected to him here in England, we shall see hereafter. Which generall agreement of the whole Church, and so many famous parts of it, in the honour of our Martyr; may well be u­sed as a reply to Doctor Reynolds: De Idol. Rom. [...]. 1. cap. 5. §. 21. who makes this answere to the Cardinall, that George indeed may be accounted famous in the Church, and his memoriall celebrated; but so as was the memory of Catiline, ab hominibus audacissimis, domesticis (que) host [...]bus, onely by Ruffians, and by common ene­mies unto the State. If Bellarmine meane o­therwise, [Page 211] in saying Georgij memoria semper fuit ce­leberrima; hee tells him plainely that hee ly­eth. But I will not meddle with their quar­rells.

(12) To goe a litle further yet, it will bee found upon good search, that not the Christi­ans onely have had Saint George in speciall honour: but that the rude and barbarous Turkes, seeing it seemes, how much hee was esteem'd by them, conceive a like opinion of him? Title of honor, 2. part: cap. 11. This Master Selden testifieth, that the Mahometans doe honour him, as we, and that they call him Chederle: which name (saith hee) one expresseth by [...]. His Margine points us unto Contacuzenus, Apol. 3. Which I can­not meet with: and therefore take it upon cre­dit. The rather, because I finde in Master Sam. Purchas, Pilgrimage. lib 3. cap. 13. out of Busbequius, that the Turkes af­firme their Chederle, to bee the same with St. GEORGE: and that the Dervices (which are a kinde of Turkish Monkes) have a great Temple dedicated to his honour at Theke Thioy, not farre from Amasia, the chiefe Citie of Cap­padocia. And in the Turkish Historie wee reade that they have in Caire of Egypt, a Temple dedi­cated to Saint Barbara, and another to Saint George; which amongst those nations are of great Fame. So Knolles in the life of Selimus. All I finde of him in the rest of Contacuzenus, (I meane [Page 212] his Historie, is, that at his request, the Turkish Sultan did reedifie a ruinous Temple, consecrated to St. George's memorie. Lib. 4. cap. 14. Post haec petivit legatus ve­ster (saith the Sultan in his Letter to that Greeke Emperour) ut quoddam veteris templi ruinosum ae­dificium vicinum Romanis, S. Georgij, renovare­tur: id etiam fecimus. So great and po­werfull is the truth, that it pre­vaileth even among Turkes and Infidels.

CHAP. V.

(1) THis discourse of the bodies of the Dead, leades me directly to the third of those three courses, whereby the Church endeavoured to preserve a­live the memory of the Saints and Martyrs: collecting of their Reliques, and laying them with all due honours, in some [Page 214] place fit and worthy of them. Which pietie of theirs, extended at the first, no further, than to the pious and devout interrement of their bodies: the tyranny of those which first made havocke of the Church, extending in those times, no further than to death. So reade we of St. Stephen, the Protomartyr of the Church; that being stoned un­to death, certaine devout men carried him, (or his body rather, which was his Relique, all that was left of him) to the buriall, and made great lamenta­tion. But in succeeding times▪ as the Persecuti­ons grew more violent; so also grew the Tyrants more unmercifull, and barbarously cruell: no longer now contented with the simple death of those that suffered; but tearing of their limbs a­sunder, and scattering abroad their bones, and ca­sting forth their ashes into the winde, that so they might not have the honour of an honest buriall. So witnesseth Lactantius of Diocletian, Divin▪ instit. l. 5. cap. 11. under whom St. GEORGE was made a Martyr, Et non tantùm artus hominum dissipat (saith he) sed & ossa ipsa comminuit, & in cineres furit, ne quis ex­tet sepulturae locus. A desperate and raging tyrant, qui lucem vivis, terram mortuis denegabat; which neither would allow the benefit of life unto the living, nor buriall to the dead. In these and such like barbarous and cruell times, it was the com­mendable custome of the Christians, to recollect those bones which by the Tyrants had bin so scat­tered; and to interre them with due honour: that even the Bones also which were broken might reioyce; [Page 215] that so those precious Reliques of their deere Bre­thren, which were to meet together in a joyfull Resurrection, might not lye scattered, up and downe the fields, a scorne and laughter to the Gentiles.

(2) At length according as the minds and thoughts of men were raised unto an high esteeme and admiration of the Martyrs: so did they with a greater zeale frequent their shrines; and set an higher price and estimate upon their Reliques. Not carefull onely to afford them all due respects, be­cause of those many myracles which it pleased GOD to worke in and about those places where they were intombed: but in short time, ascribing some divine and secret vertue to them; whereof, Heaven knowes, they were not guiltie. It is re­corded that the Turkes in the Sacke of Lyssa, fin­ding the tombe of Scanderbeg, did violently breake it open, and take thence his bones; every one somewhat, more or lesse, as they could divide them: vainely conceiting, that they should ne­ver have the worse in any action, as long as any Relique of that victorious Soldier was about them. So also that opinion, which the people of those devout and pious times, had first upon good grounds conceiv'd of any of the Martyrs; and that respect, which worthily at first, they bare unto their shrines and Reliques: degenerated at the last so farre, that they fell also into the same conceit and superstitious folly. Hereupon were [Page 216] the monuments and dormitories of the Saints againe opened: their bodies translated, some of them entire, into new Sepulchres; and o­thers dismembred peece by peece, and car­ried into farre Countries: that Church or Na­tion being conceived most happy, which had procured any the least bone into their pos­session, of such especially of the Saints, which were in greatest credit and opinion with the peo­ple. So that now the cruelty of the barbarous tyrants in the height of persecution, might seeme to be revived in the dawning of Superstiti­on. Which notwithstanding, there might per­chance bee somewhat said in their excuse: as viz. that the Reliques then by them so zealously affected, were most of them true and reall; not counterfeited by any cheating Mountebanke; and therefore worthy of all due respect and reve­rence. For who so cold in his affection to the Saints, that would not gladly give them honor, even in their dust? So much respect, no question, may be due unto the Reliques of the Saints, if true­ly such; as by Pope Leo was afforded to a parcell of the crosse, sent to him by the Byshop of Hie­rusalem: Epist. 72. of which he tells that Prelate in an an­swere to him, Particulam dominica crucis, cum eu­logijs dilectionis tuae veneranter accepi: That he re­ceived it with great reverence and thankes.

(3) Not to descend more downeward, we will looke backe into those former times, and [Page 217] therefore least corrupted; wherein we find first mention of the Reliques of St. GEORGE. And in the first place we meet with Gregory of Tours, who flourished in the next age after Pope LEO above-named, and dyed about the yeare 596. A man of speciall quality, a Byshop by his calling; and as he testifieth himselfe, Author of many se­verall books, Hist. Franc l. 9. prope finem ▪ and treatises. Quos libros licet rusti­ciori stilo scripserim, &c. Which though he wrote in a more plaine and homely stile, yet he doth earnestly conjure all those, which should suc­ceed him in that charge; per adventum Domini no­stri, &c. Even by the comming of our Saviour CHRIST, and by the dreadfull day of judgment; that neither they suppresse them, or cause them to be unperfectly transcribed: Sed ut omnia vobis­cum integra inlibata (que) permaneant, sicut à nobis re­licta sunt; but that they be preserved as uncorrup­ted and entire, as they were left by him. Of these bookes, seaven of them did especially con­cerne the myracles of the Holy Martyrs: and in the first thereof, he tells us in the generall, Multa de Georgio martyre miracula gesta cogn [...]vimus, De glor. Mart. cap. 101. that he had knowne of many myracles done by Saint GEORGE. And in particular, habentur eius reli­quiae in vico quodam Cennomannensi, ubi multa ple­run (que) miracula visuntur: Some of his Reliques also are in the Village of Le Maine, where often­times there were seene many myracles. There is a further passage in that Booke and Chapter, which though I shall relate, yet I will hardly take [Page 218] upon me to defend it: it is briefly thus. Huius reliquiae cum reliquorum Sanctorum à quibusdam fere­bantur, &c. ‘Some certaine men, that carried with them some of St. GEORGE'S Reliques, and of others also of the Saints; came once unto a place in the frontires of Lymosin: where a few Priests, having a litle Chanterie or Oratorie made of boards, did daily powre out their De­votions to the Lord. There, for that night, they begg'd for lodging; and were accordingly made welcome. The morning came, and they pre­par'd to goe forward in their jorney; they were not able to remove their Knap-sacks [ cap­sulas,] out of the place wherein they laid them. Loth to depart without their Reliques, it came at last into their minds, that sure it was the will of GOD, they should bestow some of them on their Hosts: which being done, the difficulty was removed, and they proceeded in their jour­ney.’ This storie, as before I said, I will not take upon me to defend. Onely I note from hence, that in this Gregories time, or before it rather, the Reliques of St. George were in especiall credit: and so by necessary consequence the Saint himselfe exceeding famous.

(4) Not to say any thing here of St. George's head, and of the Temple built of purpose by Pope Zacharie, in honour of it; which we shall speake of presently, in a place more proper: wee finde the Reliques of our Martyr mention'd with great [Page 219] honour in Aymonius. An Author of the middle times, anno 837. not long before the shutting in of the first day of learning, in the Christian Church: one of the Monks of St. GERMANS monasterie, in the Suburbs of Paris; and publike Notarie thereof, for the time being. Before we come unto his testimonie, we must first take no­tice, that Childebert Sonne of Clovis, the first Chri­stian King of France, who began his reigne about the yeare 515: did in the later of his time, anno 542. erect a Monasterie neere Paris, unto the ho­nour of St. Vincent. This monasterie thus foun­ded, as he endowed it with many Lands, and large immunities: so he enriched it with the Reliques of St. Vincent, and St. GEORGE, and part also of the Holy Crosse; all which he brought with him out of Spaine, whither he had before made two famous journeyes. Hist. de gost. Franc. l. 2. cap. 20. Witnesse whereof the Charter of the Foundation, copied out by Ay­monius: and is as much of it as concernes our pur­pose, this which followeth. Childebertus Rex Francorum, &c. In honorem S. Vincentij Martyris (this Vincent was converted by St. GEORGE as before is said) cuius reliquias de Spania apporta­vimus, ceu & sanctae crusis, & beatissimi Georgij, &c. quorum reliquiae ibi sunt consecratae, &c. In the same Author also, we have another story of St. Georges arme, given by Iustinian the Emperour unto St GERMAN, L. 3. cap. 9. then Byshop of Paris; as he return'd from his Pilgrimage to Hierusalem, by the way of Constantinople: Vná (que) brachium D. Georgij Mar­tyris, [Page 220] pro magno munere contulit, as mine Author hath it. Which Relique was afterwards by Saint GERRMAN, bestowed upon the Abbey of Saint Vincent; wherein he was interred: and which since then, hath beene call'd St. GERMANS. Thus much I finde recorded of the Reliques of our Mar­tyr (not to say any thing of his colours or his banner, preserv'd, as Schedell tells us, in Bamberge [...] City of Germany; magna cum solennitate, with great Solemnitie: and this enough to shew, that even from the beginning, his Reliques and him­selfe, were alwayes had in speciall honour.

(5) And now at last, we come unto the last of those foure wayes or courses, whereby the Church endeavored to preserve alive the memo­ry of the Saints and Martyrs: viz. the calling of such Temples by the names of those blessed Spi­rits, which she had solemnly erected to GODS speciall service, and consecrated to his honour. A custome which she long had practised, even in the very times and heate of Persecution; when, as it was more dangerous unto the Church it selfe, and more unpleasing to the tyrants; so was it also more full of honour and respect unto the Martyr. Witnesse whereof those many Temples erected in the Empire of Severus, Euseb. l. 8. c. 1. l. 8. c. 8. Gordian, Philip, and Ga­licnus; demolished after in the time of Diocletian: and reerected by the Decree and Licence of Max­iminianus. Which Temples so erected, were con­secrated, [Page 221] though in a second place, unto the me­mory of some or other of the more notable and famous of the Saints departed in those fierie times; as may appeare by that which wee have elsewhere cyted out of Marcellinus: as viz. how the Alexandrian people had cast the ashes of their Arian Byshop, George, into the Sea, ne aedes illis ex struerentur ut reliquis, lest else they should bee ta­ken by the multitude for holy Martyrs; and Temples erected to them, as unto others of that ranke, of which though falsly they conceived him. But in the time of CONSTANTINE, we find the practise of it very frequent in the Church: the Emperour himselfe dedicating one of his owne building, [...], unto the bles­sed memory of the Apostles. As for his Mothe [...] the most illustrious Helena, we find of [...] ­cting, a Temple dedicated to the Virgin [...], in the Towne of Bethlehem, another to St. Iohn the Baptist, in the Mountaines of Iudaea; another to St. Peter, on Mount Sion. Nor were those blessed spirits the Apostles thought worthy onely of these honours; but the rest also of the holy Martyrs and Confessours: the first of this ranke which I have met with in my reading, being that of Diony­sius in the Citie of Alexandria, whereof he once was Byshop, and there at first one of the Auditors of Origen. Built, as I doe conceive it, in the time of Persecution, by the Gentiles, and burnt as the Hi­storiā tells us, in the time & tumults of the Arians: [Page 222] [...] ( viz. Alexandriae) [...] So Sozomen. Sozom. lib. 3. cap. 5. Now the reason why it pleased the Church, to give the names of Saints and Martyrs to their Temples, was not (as our incomparable Hooker hath observed rightly) either that they should serve unto the worship of those glorious spirits, or that those blessed spirits now made glorious, should take upon them the protection and patronage of those places: but partly in respect that by the ministerie of those Saints, it pleased God there to shew some rare effect of his Power; and partly in regard that by their deathes, which there the Saints did suffer for the testimonie of the trueth, the places where they dyed were made more venerable.

(6) In these respects, St. George had many Churches built and consecrated, as to Gods service principally; so, as before I said, in a se­cond place unto his memory. The first, (for I will onely touch upon a few of speciall note) the first I say, of those which hitherto I have ob­serued; that in Diospolis or Lydda in the tribe of Ephraim: built by Iustinian Emp. who beganne his Empire Anno 527. over, or neere the place of our Martyrs sepulcher. Hist. bell. sac. lib. 7. cap, 22. Cuius ecclesiam, quam ad honorem eiusdem Martyris, pius et orthodoxus Princeps Rom. Augustus, illustris memoriae D. Iusti­nianus [Page 223] multo studio et devotione prompta aedisicari prae­ceperat &c. So Gulielmus Tyrius speaking of this our Martyr. This Church, was by the Turkes demolished, vpon the cōming of the armies of the Westerne Princes ▪ for the conquest of Hierusalem: the Church which now standeth, being built, after, as the natives say, by a King of England. The cause which moved the Turkes hereto, a feare, least else the timber of it, which was large and m [...]ssie, might be converted to some engines, for the battery of that Citie: Timentes, ne tra­bes ecclesiae, quae multae proceritatis erant, in machinas ad expugnandam urbem vellent convertere. As that Author hath it. Nor farre from Lydda is the little Citie of Rama, or Ramula, supposed to bee the dwelling of Ioseph of Arimathea: where our St. George was honoured with another temple, defa­ced by the Turkes also. Cuius ibi ab antiquo fun­datam ecclesiam, Turci nonnihil deformaverant, in the words of Malmesburie. Lib. 4. Hence I collect, that seeing one of these Churchs is called ancient, ab antiquo; and that the timber of the other was large and massie: that certainly St. George was anciently honoured with a Temple; by the mag­nificence of which we may coniecture at the [...]ame and credit of the Saint. These Churches were in times succeeding made by D. Godfrie, Gul. Tyrius lib. 7. cap. 22. and the Christians of the West, a Bishops see; both Cities, and the villages adioyning, appointed for his di­ocesse: Primitias laborum suorum cum omni devo­tione egregio Martyri dedicantes; those Noble prin­ces [Page 224] so consecrating the first fruites of their victo­ries, to our glorious Martyr. The first Byshop of them, was a Norman, of the Diocesse of Roan: his title, Byshop of St. GEORGE'S; of which see more in our second Chapter of this second Part; ¶. 4.

The second Church of note, erected in Saint GEORGE'S honour, which I have met with hitherto, was founded by Sidonius, Archbyshop of Mentz in Germanie, who flourished in the yeare 556, and after: but whether in the Towne of Mentz, or in some other place, I am not cer­taine. Of this Venantius Fortunatus Byshop of Poyctiers, Florens doctrina & sanctitate, (saith the Cardinall,) famous for piety and learning, hath in his Sacra Carmina composed this Epigram. He liv'd about the yeare 570. [...]i [...]lioth. [...]atrū [...]m.

(8) One Temple yet there is, ancienter, as I conceive, than any of the three yet mention'd; founded by whom, I cannot tell, nor in what place: but specified by Pope Gregorie the first, in an Epistle to Maurinianus then an Abbat; with great care, and in these particulars. The su­perscription of it, Gregorius Mauriniano Abbati; the subject of it, De Ecclesia S. Georgij restauranda, touching the reparation of St. George's Church: the Letter, this as followeth. Epist. lib. 9. cap. 68. Quia Ecclesiam S. Georgij positam in loco qui Ad Sedem dicitur, mino­rem quàm oportet diligentiam habere cognovimus: utile esse prospeximus, quoniam Monasterium tuum ei­dem Ecclesiae noscitur esse coniunctum, eius tibi curam [Page 226] committere: hortantes ut & sollicitudinem illic con­gruam studeas adhiberi, et Psalmodiae officium solenni­ter exhiberi facias. Et quia Ecclesiam istam repara­tione certum est indigere, volumus ut quicquid illuc accedere potuerit, ipse accipere, at (que) in eius reparatio­nem, ut praevideas, debeas erogare. ‘St. GEORGE'S Church, situate Ad sedem, not being lookt unto, with that diligence, w ^ch belongs unto it; & since it is so neere your unto Monasterie: we thinke it good to commit the care thereof unto you: Requesting that you would bestow your ut­most diligence upon it: and have a care the Psalmodie, or daily prayers, be solemnely per­formed. And since we have beene credibly in­formed, that it is out of reparation; it is our pleasure, that you gather up the profits of it, and lay them out upon the worke, so farre as you thinke it fit.’ So farre the letter. As for the writer of it; not to say any thing of his excee­ding industrie and learning, whereby hee gained unto himselfe, the attribute of Magnus: he di­ed about the yeare 604. before which time, the Temple of St. GEORGE was now growne old and ruinous; quite out of reparation. Which be­ing so, considering what durable Materials, Chur­ches are commonly composed of; and in what strong and lasting forme compacted: I am almost perswaded, that the Church here mentioned, was built immediately upon the death and dissoluti­on of our Martyr.

[Page 227](9) From Gregory, we will descend on one of his successours in the Chaire of Rome, by name Pope Zacharie; who entred on that Digni­ty, Anno 742. the founder of St. George's Church in Velo Aureo; or as some others call it, in Vela­bro; a part of Rome. The chiefe occasion of the building, was our Martyrs head: which precious Relique was given unto him by the Venetians; and by him here inshrined in a Church built onely for that purpose. Idem quo (que) (viz. Zacharias) Basilicam B. Georgij in Velabro condidit; eo (que) loci ca­put ipsius Sancti collocavit: So Platina affirme's it. I know indeed, that the later editions of that Au­thor, reade it B. Gregorij; but questionlesse they are mis-printed. For in an old edition of this booke, at Colen, anno 1529. & afterwards in that of Lovaine, corrected by Oniphurius, anno 1572. it is B. Georgij, Chronica Chron. Aetas. 6. Pag. 240. as before we read it. Herm. Schedell addes that besides the Church there was also built a Mo­nasterie; and that it did continue in great honour, even unto his times. Platina. Huius inelyti Martyris caput, cum postmodum Venetijs delatum fuisset; in eius ho­norem Monasterium et Ecclesia erecta fuit, quod nunc us (que) maxima veneratione perseverat. A Church, it seemes of great name and credit: such which of long hath beene a title, of some Roman Cardi­nall. For in the life of Alexander 6. we have there mention of one Raphael Cardinall of St. George's, Camerarius S. Ecclesiae, High Chamberlaine of the State Ecclesiasticke. And in the 5. Tome of the Bibl. S. Patrum, we have a [...]tract de Iubileo, written [Page 228] by Iames then Cardinall of St. GEORGES: Iaco­bi S. Georgij ad velum aureum Diaconi Cardinalis, de Iubileo, liber unus, as the title tells us. Which Iames was nephew to Pope Boniface the eighth, by him advanced unto that office, in his first call of Cardinals; anno 1295. So de la Bigne, the first Collectour of those Volumes, out of an ancient Manuscript of Alphonso Chicarelli.

(10) Hitherto our enquirie hath beene made, in Asia, and in Europe onely; we will now crosse o­ver into Africke: that so it may appeare, that e­very part of the knowne world (I meane knowne anciently) hath in it some memoriall of our Saint and Martyr. In this, we will content our selves with Alexandria, the Queene of Cities and Metro­polis of Africa, as Sir George Sandys calls her: where we shall find an ancient Temple dedicated to St. GEORGE. For thus the Letter of Ioh. Comus, the Suffragan of Amba Gabriel, Patriarch of Alex­andria, directed to Pope Clement 8. and dated on the 28. of December, anno 1593. Tres Alexandria sunt Ecclesiae Catholicae: una nomine principis Ange­lorum S. Michaelis; secunda S. Marci Evangelistae, ac tertia nomine Martyris magni S. Georgij, extra ur­bem, ad littus maris salsi: et omnes istae Ecclesiae in­digent aedificatione, vestitu et impensis pauperum et e­genorum. ‘There are (saith he) three Christian Churches in Alexandria, St. Michaels the Arch­angell, St. Markes the Evangelist; and thirdly, that of St. George the great Martyr, without the [Page 229] City, and neere unto the Sea; all which doe stand in need of reparation, ornaments, and mo­ney for the entertainment of the poore.’ I know that Mr. Sam. Purchas doth account this Letter, Pilgrimage. l. 6. cap. 5. §. 5. and the whole businesse handled by Baronius in his Corollarie, ad Tom. 6. where this Letter is; to be forged, and counterfeit: as having in it, a submis­sion of this Patriarke and the Church of Egypt, to the See of Rome; whereas indeed there was no such matter. But somewhat surely there was in it, which might occasion such an Embassie to Rome; and some dependance of the Christi­ans of this Country upon the Pope: ‘It being noted by G. Sandys, Rel. of his jorn. lib. 2. pag. 110. that multitudes of late have beene drawne to receive the Popish Religion, especially in Cairo, (the Seate of the Alexandri­an Patriarke of the Cophties, or native Christi­ans of that Country) by the industry of Friers; having had the Roman Liturgie sent them from Rome, together with the Bible, in the Arabicke language.’ As for the thing it selfe, it is affir­med by Mr. Phurchas, that there are three Chri­stian Churches in Alexandria; which is inough to confirme our purpose. Other Churches there also are, dedicated to St. George of good antiqui­tie, though of lesse note; as viz. that of Caire in Egypt; that of Beddi in the realme of Ethiopia: and lastly, that in Constantinople, built by Iustini­an the Emperour: De aedif. Iust. lib. 1. orat. 3. [...]. As Procopious hath it. What [Page 230] Churches have beene consecrated to his memo­rie, with us, in England; wee shall see hereaf­ter.

(11) If any thing may be objected, against ought that we have spoken in this present Chap­ter, and the last; it is in likelyhood, the case of Faustus Rhegiensis, and the Pseudo-Martyr in Sulpi­tius Severus: both which were held for Martyrs, although the one of them was a Theife, and the o­ther an Hereticke. Of Faustus Rhegiensis, who in the opinion of the ancient Church, was reckoned for a Semi-Pelagian; it is affirmed by Doctor Ab­botts, afterwards Lord Byshop of Salisburie, that he had place in the French Martyrologies, a Festivall allotted to him on the 17. of Ianu­ary, and a Temple dedicated to him by the peo­ple of his owne City. De veritat. & grat. Ch. lec. 1. Immò et in Martyrologie Gal­licano inter Sanctos numeratum; eo (que) nomine, ab Ecclesia Rhegiensi, erecta nominis eius titulo insignita Basilicae; et die festo, Ian. 17. honoratum, &c. It may be hence objected, that all which we have spoken hitherto, is of little value: those honors having beene communicated even to Heretickes; such as St. George is said to be by Doctor Reynolds. To this we answere, first, that this was onely a particular Act, of the nationall Church of France: their Faustus never being received generally, as St. George was, in the Church-Catholique. And therefore it is said by my said Lord of Salisburie, that these honours were accumulated on him, [Page 231] spectante orbe Christiano, tacente Rom. Ecclesia, con­tradicente nemine: not by the approbation of the Church in generall; but onely a connivence at it, in regard of those of France. Secondly, that Fau­stus, though accounted for an Hereticke abroad, might yet be otherwise an honest and religious man, and so reputed in his owne Citie, where afterwards hee had his Temple: For I have seene it somewhere cyted out of Chrysostome, [...], that even an Hereticke may have a very faire and commendable conversation. And last of all, that Faustus was not such an Hereticke, that his memo­riall should be blasted for it in all generations. Not such an Heretique, as aimed at the foundation of the Faith, as did the Arian; nor such as over­threw the vertue of Gods grace, as did Pelagius. Onely he is accused, that undertaking to confute the writings of Pelagius; he did not runne a course quite contrary to the other; but in some tollera­ble manner, and in some points of lesse conse­quence; did seeme to trench upon his tenets.

(12) As for the Pseudo-Martyr in Sulp. Severus, Second sonday in Lent. he is by Dr. Boys, brought in, to prove against the Papists, how much they have abused themselves & all the Church, in Canonizing those for Saints, who could be no better thā divels. And in the next words, the Papists adore others who were neither Saints in Heaven, nor men on earth, as St. Christopher, Saint [Page 232] George, &c. The cases here are Parallell: but sure it were a taske too weighty, either for him, or a­ny other, to prove this Pseudo-Martyr to have beene Canonized a Saint; or that hee was repu­ted one in the opinion of the Church. All which Sulpitius doth report is this; Not farre from Tours, whereof St. Martin then was Byshop, there was a litle Oratorie much frequented by some simple people, upon opinion that some holy Martyr had beene there buried. Saint Martin who suspected presently that there was some Imposture in it, repaires unto the Chap­pell: and calling upon GOD to manifest the truth, a certaine shape passed by them, who con­fessed that he was once a Theife, but by the simple people reckoned as a Martyr; there be­ing nothing in his life or death, to merit that o­pinion. Ille antem nomen edidit, Sulpit. Seve [...]. in vit. S. Mar­tini. lib. 1. de crimine confite­tur, latronem se fuisse, ob scelera percussum; vulgi errore celebratum, sibi nihil cum Martyribus com­mune esse, cumillos gloria, se poena retineret. This is the whole: and then a few poore simple peo­ple must bee reputed for the Church in gene­rall; or else this inference is nothing to the pur­pose.

(13) There is a rule in Lerinensis, that that is to be counted true in the Church Catholicke, which hath beene so beleeved by all sorts of men, Advers. haer. cap. 3. in all times, and in all places. In Ecclesia Ca­tholica illud magnopere curandum est, ut teneamus [Page 233] id, quod ab omnibus, quod semper, quod ubi (que) credi­tum est. Advers. haer. cap. 3. Vnles we can apply this rule unto the bu­sinesse now in hand; it is not our desire, that any man should thinke St. GEORGE to be a Martyr. And first, if we consult the testimonies of all sorts of men; we find St. George to bee thus reckoned, both by Turkes and Christians: by the West Chur­ches, & the Easterne; by the Papist & the Protestant: by Princes, Prelates, and their people; by writers ancient, and by moderne. If we expect the generall consent herein of all the times and ages since his death and Martyrdome: we have already made it plaine by way of a Chronologie, that there hath beene no age, no not that Seculum infelix, as it is call'd by Bellarmine; in which wee have not plentifull assurance of our cause. And for the close of all, looke into all parts of the world, and tell me which of all the three, hath not afforded honour to him, as an holy Martyr. His name commemorated in the Martyrologies of Rome, and Greece; his Reliques reverenced in Spaine, Con­stantinople, France and Germany: Temples erected to his honour, in Rome, Constantinople, Ramula, Diospolis, Alexandria, Caire, and Aethiopia, and in other places; by Prelates, Popes, and Empe­rours. Temples in Asia, Europe, and in Africa. And in the principall Cities also of the East, and West, and Southerne parts of the whole world. Then certainly we may affirme of our St. George, Datercul. l. 2. as the Historian did of Pompey; Quot partes terra­rum sunt, tot fecit monumenta victoriae suae. So then, [Page 234] the storie of St. George, and the opinion of his be­ing Martyr, having beene entertained by all sorts of men, in all the ages of the Church, and all the quarters of the world: we may maintaine, accor­ding to the rul of Lrinensis, that therefore it is to be counted true, De Idol. Rom. l. 1. c. 5. §. 22. without more disputing. The one affirmed by Doctor Reynolds, Georgius, quem Orientalis & Occidentalis ecclesia pro martyre colit; and in another place, universalem ecclesiam, hoc est, Orientalem & Occidentalem Georgium pro Marty­re coluisse out of which one so granted, we will without demanding leave, conclude the other.

CHAP. VI.

(1) HItherto have we spoken of Saint GEORGE, according as hee is esteemed and honoured as a Saint, in the generall opinion of the Christian world; and of the publike honours done unto him, in the Church of GOD, the ground and pillar of truth, as the Apostle calls it. Our method now doth leade us on, to marshall in those honours, which have beene also done unto him, by the Kings and Prin­ces of the earth: that so unto the testimony and suffrage of the Church, we may adde also the full authority and power of the civill Magistrate. But since the honours done by them unto Saint [Page 236] George, consider him, some of them as a Saint in generall; some, as a principall Patron of the af­faires of Christendome; and others, as the tutelary Saint or Guardian of militarie men: wee must in briefe declare the reason, why he was made the tutelarie Saint of Soldiers; & at what time he first began to be accounted, so principall a Patron of Christianitie; before we can descend unto particu­lars. And first, if we demand how our Saint George became to bee accounted the chiefe Saint of Soldiers: we answere, that he was himselfe a Soldier of chiefe ranke and qualitie, and there­fore in the superstitious times before us, concei­ved to be most worthy to countenance that cal­ling. For which cause also, it pleased the Church of Rome, who then did what she listed; to joyne with him in commission, although perhaps not with equall power, St. Maurice, and St. Seba­stian. So witnesseth Baronius out of the Roman Ceremoniall De divinis officijs; Annot. in Rom Mart. 23. Apr. Romanam ipsam Ec­clesiam ad expugnandos fidei hostes, hos praecipuè mar­tyres invocare consuevisse, Mauritium, Sebastianum, & Georgium. Which Maurice and Sebastian also, were both of them Soldiers of the same time with our St. George; and both of eminent place in their severall Armies: Rom. Martyr. Sept. 22. & Ian. 20. MAVRITIUS being one of the Chiefetaines of the Theban Legion, slaugh­tered by MAXIMINIANUS, in his expedi­tion towards Brittaine; SEBASTIAN, a Commander of the first ranke, [ Princeps primae cohortis] under DIOCLETIAN. This was [Page 237] the reason why they were first selected, to take upon them the defence of militarie men: Saint GEORGE, as chiefe upon the earth in birth, and honours; so also generally reckoned by the men of Warre, to bee of greater power, than eyther of the other, and therefore most devoutly prayed to. Hence is it, that the Poet MANTVAN calls him the MARS of Christians: MARS being at the first some notable swash-buckler himselfe; and afterwards the GOD of Soldiers, in the opinion of the Gen­tiles.

And in another place.

(2) Nor was St. George only reckoned as a chiefe Saint of soldiers; but after, and before, the English tooke him to themselves, esteemed a principall pa­tron of the affaire of Christendome. For, as before I noted, the Christians used to call upon him (being [Page 238] so lessoned by their superstitious teachers) as an advocate of victory: and did implore his helpe, ad expugnandos fidei hostes, in all their Warres a­gainst the enemies of our religion; as they did al­so pray unto St. Maurice, and St. Sebastian, though not so generally. Hence is it that St. Marke, St. Iames, St. Davis, St. Andrew, and the rest, be­ing once chosen the Protectors of particular States and Countries, were never importuned to take upon them the tuition and defence of any others. It may be, they were fastned unto those imploy­ments, as once the Tyrians chained the statua of Hercules, their especiall Guardian, to their Altars: for feare he might be wonne to take part against them, and give succour to their enemies. But of St. George, we finde not any such sufficient bond, by which he is obliged either unto particular places, or designes: as one whom they thought good to leave at large, that so hee might the better suc­cour the afflicted parts of Christendome. For which cause, howsoever in the latter dayes hee was conceived, to be a speciall fautor of the En­glish: yet have the Georgians, and the Genoese, al­wayes esteem'd him as their Patron; and by the German Emperours, he hath beene made Prote­ctour also of their military orders, V. Chapt. 7. of which more hereafter. How, and on what occasion, he came to have the generall patronage of Christianitie conferred upon him; at the least as I conceive it, I am next to shew: first making roome for that [Page 239] which followes, by a short, but necessarie di­gression.

(3) After the yeare 600. the affaires of Chri­stendome began in all places to decline: the We­sterne parts beginning to be over-spread by su­perstition; the Easterne made a prey unto the Sa­racens, who in their conquests laboured what they could to advance the sect of Mahomet. By this meanes, as they inlarged their Empire; so did they also propagate the infinite impieties of that Impostour: whose irreligion had the fortune, not onely to be entertained by those poore wretches, whom the Saracens had conquered; but also to inveigle them, by whom they were subdued. For when the Turkes, under the conduct of Tangroli­pix, had made themselves masters of the Persian Empire; then in possession of the Saracens: they tooke upon them presently the Law of that sedu­cer, as if Mahometanisme had beene annexed inse­parably unto the Diademe. Proud of this victo­ry, and litle able to conteine their active spirits in an obedient Peace at home; they were employ­ed in severall Armies, and to severall purposes: one of them, under Cutlu-Moses, who turned his forces on the Christian Empire; the other under Ducat and Melech, two kinsmen of the Persian Sul­tan, who bent their strength against the Saracens of Syria and Damascus. In this designe, the issue prooved so answerable to their hopes▪ that quick­ly they became possessed of almost all Armenia, [Page 240] Media, and the Lesser Asia, inhabited in most parts of them then by Christians: as of all Sy­ria, the Holy Land, and therein of Hierusalem. So that in all the East, the Gospell of our Saviour was eyther utterly extinguished; or his name ce­lebrated onely in obscure and private places. Re­ligion being in this state, the Christian Princes of the West most of them then in peace and amitie with one another, joyntly and joyfully resolve upon the freeing of the miserable East, from thraldome. Perswaded thereunto, piously, by a Reverend Hermit, whose name was Peter; who had beene witnesse of those miseries which the Christians there endured: and cunningly by Vr­ban, of that name the second, Pope of Rome; who by employing such & so many Princes in those re­mote Countries, fore-saw a way to bring the Ro­man Prelates to their so-much-expected great­nesse. The Princes of most note which put themselves into the action, were Robert Duke of Normandie, brother to Will. Rufus King of Eng­land; Hugh, brother to the King of France; God­frey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorreine, with his two brethren Baldwin, and Eustace; Tancred, and Beo­mond, two noble Normans of the Kingdome of Naples: and he which for his spirit and magna­nimity, might have beene reckoned with the first; Ademar Byshop of La Puy en Velay, a litle territo­rie neere unto Auvergne in France, the Popes Legate. The Armie which attended them, amoun­ted to no lesse than 30000. fighting men; the [Page 241] time of this their expedition, an. 1096. or therea­bouts: their fortune so succesful, that they expell'd the Turks out of all Asia the lesse; compelling them into the Easterne parts of their dominions. Having no enemy at their backs, they passed the streights of Taurus: & entring into Syria which they quick­ly mastered; they sate them downe at last, be­fore the famous City of Antiochia. A place of chiefe importance for the assurance of their new conquests; and therefore very much desired.

(4) This famous City after a long and paine­full seige, was at last rendred to them: and the de­fence thereof, together with a large and spacious territorie, committed to Prince Bo [...]mund. But as they rested here for the refreshing of their troopes extreamly weakned in that tedious and lingring Leaguer; they were themselves besieged by an huge multitude of enemies: who though they came too late to raise the seige; were yet perswa­ded, that they came time enough to redeeme the Towne. This seige they kept so streight, that they within, not looking to bee so invested, became in short space utterly disheartned: their store of corne, consumed; their hor­ses dying every day for want of fodder; them­selves continually diminished, and forespent, by want and sicknesse. No other meanes of safety left, they are resolv'd to put it all upon the for­tune of a Battaile: which battaile had they lost, there had beene then an end of all their underta­kings. But out they must; a few weake men, [Page 242] against a multitude of able Soldiers, well horsed, and full of lusty spirits. Suppose the battailes joyn'd, and we will tell the rest out of Robertus Monachus, De Che. pr [...]ncip. bello &c. lib. 7. a Benedictine of the Monasterie of Rhemes, who flourished in the yeare 1120. and wrote the story of this warre. Dum sic certatur (saith hee) & tam longi certaminis prolixitas nostros fatigabat, nec numerus hostium videretur decrescere; Albato­rum militum innumerabilis exercitus visus est de montibus descendere, quorum Signifer & duces esse di­cuntur, Georgius, Mauritius, Demetrius: quos ut primùm vidlt Podiensis Episcopus, exclamavit magna voce, dicens, O milites, ecce vobis venit auxilium quod promisit Deus, &c. ‘Our Soldiers being weari­ed with the long continuance of the battaile; and seeing that the number of enemies decreased not, began to faint: when suddainly an infinite number of heavenly Soldiers all in white; des­cended from the Mountaines; the leaders of them being St. George, St. Maurice, and St. De­metrius. Which when the Byshop of La Puy (and not of Podie as it is commonly translated) first beheld; he cryed aloud unto his troopes, These are (saith he) the succours, which in the name of God, I promised to you.’ The issue of the miracle was this, that presently the enemies did turne their backs, and lost the field: there be­ing slain upon the place, and in the chase, 100000. horse, besides foot innumerable; and in their trenches, such infinite store of victuals and mu­nition, that served not onely to refresh the wea­ried [Page 243] Christians, but to confound the enemie. This memorable Feild is generally reported to bee fought upon Saint Peters eve, Anno 1098.

(5) If this may be beleeved, this were inough, for ever to entitle St. GEORGE unto the generall patronage of Christianitie: and yet there is one te­stimony yet to come. A testimony which I meet with, in Iacobus de Voragine; whom though I dare not trust too farre, on his owne word; yet I dare give some leave unto him, to report ano­thers. The evidence is this. Hist. Lombard in Georgio. Legitur in Historia Antiochena, quòd cum Christiani pergerent ad obsi­dendum Hierusalem, quidam Iuvenis speciosissimus apparuit sacerdoti cuidam, qui S. Georgium ducem Christi se esse dicens▪ monuit ut eius reliquias secum in Hierusalem deportarent, & ipse cum ijs esset. Cum autem Hierusalem obsedissent, & Saracenis resistenti­bus per scalas ascendere non auderent; B. Georgius armis albis indutus, et cruce rubra insignitus apparu­it, innuens ut post se securi ascenderent, et civitatem obtinerent. Qui ex hoc animati, civitatem coeperunt, et Saracenos occidere. ‘We reade (saith he) in the Chronicles of Antioch, that as the Christian ar­my march'd unto Hierusalem, a beautifull young man appeared unto a certaine Priest, saying that he was George, one of the Captaines of Christ Iesus; and telling him withall, that if they tooke along his Reliques with them, they should not doubt of his assistance. After, when now they had beseiged the Towne, and that none of them [Page] durst attempt to scale the wals; St. George arm'd all in white, and a redd crosse upon his breast, appear'd unto them: bidding them lay aside all feare, and follow him; which doing they pos­sesse the towne, and put the foe unto the sword.’Thus the old Legendarie: But whether hee re­port the passage, as he found it; or whether any such relation be at all, in the Chronicles of Antio­chia: I am not able to determine. Likely it is, that this may be the same with the former storie, a little altered in the telling.

(6) To returne therefore backe againe unto Robertus, or Rupertus, as some call him; and to his storie of the succours brought vnto the Christian armie by St. George: I dare not take upon me the defence either of him, or his relation. William of Tyre, a learned man, and a good historian, who liv'd about the yeere 1180. and wrote at large the storie of the holy warres; in the description of this battaile, tell's us no such matter. Onely we find, that at the ioyning of the armies, it plea­sed the Lord [...] to raine a sweete and gracious dewe upon the Christians: by which, their horses, and themselues, were very much refreshed. Yet not to cast it off for altogether as a Monkish fable; wee may discourse upon the possibility thereof, with diverse arguments. As first, that Tyrius in his si­lence, is not to be alleaged against anothers affir­mavit: and that, though silent in the present, he doth in other places make good mention of that [Page 245] miraculous assistance, which GOD sometimes vouchsafed the Christians in this warre. Particu­larly, that when they lay before the Towne of Antioch, and sent some Troopes abroad for for­rage; 700. of them put an huge multitude of the enemies unto the sword: their handfull seeming to the foe, Lib. 5. cap. 2. to be a large and gallant Army. Factum est divinitùs (saith he) ut nostri qui vix essent s [...]p­tinginta, infinita millia viderentur. He tells us al­so, that Prince Godfrey and the rest, erected Lydda famous for St. GEORGE'S Tombe, unto the dig­nity of an Episcopall See; Lib▪ 7. cap. 22. Primitias laborum suo­rum, cum omni devo [...]one, egregio martyri dedican­tes, so consecrating with all due devotion the first fruites of their labours to that glorious Martyr. Which pious act of theirs, might have perhaps some reference to that assistance which before he brought them: as also might their calling of the Tower of the two Sisters, in the City of Antiochia, by the name of St. GEORGE'S Tower; mentioned in the Turkish History. William of Malmesburie, who lived about the same time with Ro. Monachus, and I perswade my selfe had never seene his Story of the Holy Warres, but learnt it rather from some, who had commanded in that service; re­lateth also the same passage. For speaking of that slaughter, which beyond hope the Christian Army made of those that fought against them; he goes thus forwards. De gest. Angl▪ Reg. l. 4. Persuadebant (que) sibi vide­re antiquos martyres, qui olim milites fuissent, qui (que) mortis pretio parassent vitae praemia; Georgium dico & [Page 246] Demetrium (this Demetrius was Proconsul under Maximinian, by whom at last hee was made a Martyr) vexillis levatis à partibus montanis accur­rere: Iacula, in hostes; in se, auxilium vibrantes. ‘They verily beleeved (saith he) that they be­held those ancient Martyrs, which had once beene Soldiers, and were now possess'd of glo­ry, George viz. and Demetrius, to hasten from the Mountaines with displayed ensignes: ca­sting their darts against the enemie, and succou­ring the Christians.’ Nor doth he onely tell the story, but doth justifie the truth of it; and proove the possibilitie. Nec diffitendum est affu­isse martyres Christianis, sicut quondam angelos Mac­chabaeis, simili duntaxat causa pugnantibus. For why (saith he) might not God send his Saints to assist the Christians, as once he sent his Angell to assist the Macchabees; both-fighting in the same quarrell? Doubtlesse the arme of God is never shortned; nor is his love unto the Christians, and his care of them, lesse than it was to them of Iew­rie. That God which by an Angell destroyed that infinite Host of 100085. men, which besei­ged Hierusalem; and by a noyse of Horse and Chariots in the Ayre, did raise another: might not he also doe as much in the defence of those, which fought against the enemies of their Redee­mer? This might I say be urged, to prove the probabilitie of that storie related in Robertus; if any would assume unto himselfe the office of a Proctour in it: which I will not. Let it suffice, [Page 247] that on this ground, the Christian world beeing in those times throughly possessed with the truth of it, St. GEORGE became to be accounted a chiefe Patron of the affaires of Christendome: which was the matter to be proved.

(7) If any shall conceive these stories of the apparitions of Saint GEORGE, rather to bee Poeticall, than Historicall; I will not much con­tend with him. What may be thought, touching the apparition of the Saints departed, we shall see hereafter. But for the present, though I deter­mine not, that it is simply Poeticall; yet cer­tainly I dare resolve it to bee such, as may bee made the ground of an excellent Poeme: if a­ny darling of the Muses would vouchsafe to undertake it; Cui mens divinior at (que) os Magna locuturum. For my part, rather to leade the way to others; than out of any hope to prove happy in this kind my selfe; I will make bold to venture on it, by way of tryall, and essay: Tanquam si placet hic impetus, tametsi nondum recepit ultimam manum; as hee in PETRO­NIUS.

CHAP. VII.

(1) THe ground thus layed, we now pro­ceed unto those publike honours, which have beene done unto our Martyr, by the Kings and Princes of the earth: of which, some of them, as before I said, reflect upon him, onely as a Saint in generall; some, as the principall Saint or Guardian of the military men; and others, as an e­speciall Patron of the affaires of Christendome. [Page 260] With these, we shall upon occasion, intermingle such honours also, as have beene afforded to him, by some few Patriarches and Prelates, Princes Ec­clesiasticall, chiefe Rulers of their severall Chur­ches. Which we shall doe the rather, that so the pious actions of the King and civill Magistrate, may be abetted by the faire example of the Pre­lates: and the devout performances of the Pre­lates, may be defended by the power and coun­tenance, of their Soveraigne Princes. A mat­ter questionlesse of chiefe importance to the bu­sinesse now in hand: the Soveraigne Prince, as hee alone is the originall of Civill honour, and Poli­ticall nobilitie; so also not a little to be regarded, in his demeanor towards those above, whom he may honour, though he cannot make them honourable. We take it kindly, when those of lower qualitie, give us that worship and respect that is due unto us: but if we find an extraordinary regard at the hands of those to whom the Lord hath made us subject; we then conceive our selves, to be upon the very top and pinacle, of all worldly happi­nesse. It was a greater honour unto IOSEPH, Gen 41. V. 42. that PHARAOH tooke a ring from his owne hand, and put it upon Iosephs, arayed him in vestures of fine linnen, and put a gold chaine about his necke; than if the whole, united suffrages of the Common people had decreed, V. 43. to crie before him, bow the knee. Dan. 4, 8▪ More also did it adde to the esteeme of DANIEL that the great Emperour of the East, [Page 261] gave him the name of Belteshassar, Dan. 4, 8. according to the name of one of his especiall Gods: Than if that all his Subjects had studied to adorne him with the most glorious attributes, that possibly the wit of man could have invented. For if according unto ARISTOTLES affir­mation, Honour is rather seated in those, Ethic. l. 1. c. 5. which give it, than in them that doe receive it; ( [...]:) Then certainely by how much grea­ter and more excellent, the party is, who doth respect or honour us; by so much more may wee conceive, that wee are honoured and re­spected.

For which cause, Hest. ch. 6. v. 6. when King AHASVERVS, proposed this question unto HAMAN, What shall bee done unto the man whom the King delighteth to honour: That proud and haughty Favorite con­ceiv'd it rightly, that possibly a greater favour could not bee done unto a Subject; and there­upon concluded in his owne heart, thus; To whom should the King delight to doe honour, more than to my selfe, so highly raised and setled in his good opinion. A false Conclusion, though the premises were true; I meane the Maior, or the Proposition, as they call it. Popular spirits, are carried commonly about with popular reports; and, like a flocke of silly sheepe, are prone to take that way, which any [Page 262] better than themselves, have layd before them. But Kings haue Kingly mindes, and use not to relie upon uncertaine rumours: more like­ly to deny respects, where they may bee chal­leng'd; than to conferre them upon those, that have not truely merited.

(2) How much the honour done by Kings, ought to bee valued; wee may perceive in that which is related by IOSEPHVS, touching the Temple of Hierusalem. Those of Samaria, and some Schismatickes of Iewrie with them, Antiqu. Iud. l. 13. c. 7. had built themselves a Temple on Mount Gari­zim: which Temple they contended, before Ptolomie Philometor King of Egypt, to bee more ancient and more orthodoxe, than that so cele­brated by the Iewes. A question hereupon ari­sing; ANDRONICVS, a learned and religi­ous Iew, tooke on him the defence of the true Temple, as Advocate for those of Iudah: a­gainst Sabbaus, and Theodosius, Proctors for the Samaritanes. The day of hearing come, and Ptolomie in presence, Andronicus had licence graunted by his Adversaries; first, to proceed unto his proofes: themselves not yet resolved, so it appear'd, what might bee sayd in theyr owne quarrell. Hee did so, and hee prooved his cause by three sorts of Arguments; first, from the letter of the Law, then from the con­stant and continuall succession of the high Priests: and lastly, That the Kings of Asia [Page 263] had vouchsafed to Honour it with many cost­ly presents, and rich offerings. [...], &c. [...]. So farre the Storie. The application of it, this. Wee have already verified the Cause of our St. GEORGE, although not from the letter of the Law it selfe; yet from the practise of the Church, which is the fairest Commentarie that was ever made upon that letter: and wee have proved it, from the succession of so many seve­rall Authors, most of them Priests, and other publicke Monuments of antiquitie; which since his time, the severall ages of the Church suc­cessively have given us. It now remayneth, that wee make mention of those Honours, which have beene done unto him, by the Prin­ces of the most parts of Christendome: That so there may bee nothing wanting, by which Saint George may bee restored unto his Ho­nour, and his Historie asserted. The issue of the former businesse was this, that those of Counsell for the Schismatickes and Samaritans, had nothing to reply: and so the sentence was pronounced in favour of the Iewes. Our me­thod is the same, our evidence as faire, our [Page 264] proofes as pregnant: and therefore wee pre­sume of equall favour, in the judgement. Nam­que aequum reor (as Tullie hath it) ut qui in e­adem causa fuerunt, Orat. pro M. Marcello. in eadem etiam essent for­tuna.

(3) And first, not to say any thing of that which hath beene sayd already, or shall be sayd hereafter, touching those Churches, which by severall Kings and Princes have beene erected to his Honour: Wee will begin with those par­ticulars, of this last ranke of proofes, which come most neare it; and which reflect upon him onely as a Saint. Of this kinde are those many Monasteries, and Houses of religious persons, which have beene founded partly to his Ho­nour, and dedicated by his Name. The first of which, that built by Hildericus King of Lor­reine, or Austrasia, Anno 660. founded Ad de­serta loca montis Vosagi, the mountainous parts of the Province of Alsatia: and dedicated to the blessed Virgin, the two Apostles Saint Pe­ter, and Saint Paul, and to Saint George. Fun­davit ibi (sayth the learned and judicious Mun­ster) Hildericus Rex Austrasiae, Cosmograph. l. 3. Anno 660. monaste­rium & Abbatiam ordinis S. Benedicti, in honorem gloriosa virginis Mariae, & Apostolorum Petri & Pauli, at (que) S. Georgij. Yet notwithstanding, that such and so many blessed spirits were joyned with him in the dedication; it seemeth that the greatest [Page 265] honour of it, was conferred upon St. GEORGE▪ the whole adioyning Countrey being call'd St. George's valley. Vnde et locus ille at (que) vallis, vo catus est vallis S. Georgij, as that Author hath it. Lib. 3. P. 589. Wee reade also in the same Munster of two other Monasteries of that Order, entituled by his name, and both in Germanie; but the time of the Foundation not specified: one of them built by the Lord of Degernow; the other, by one WILLIAM, the Ab­bat of some other Convent of the same Order. The second Monasterie which wee meete with, dedicated unto Saint GEORGE, is that in Venice, De orig. Mon. l. 5. cap. 25. erected (as HOSPINI­AN tells us) by TRIBUNUS MEVIUS, once Duke of that State and Cittie, Anno 975. In which HOSPINIAN also, and the same Booke of his, wee finde Saint GEORGE'S Abbey, an house of Benedictine Monkes, foun­ded about the yeare 996. by the most excel­lent Princesse, HEDINGE, Duchesse of Bava­ria: Anno 1005, ab Henrico secundo Steinam tran­slatum &c. Which after, in the yeare 1005. was by the Emperour Henry of that name the second, translated from those unpeopled Mountaines where before it was; and setled in Stein­berg, a Towne of Suevia. Another of Saint George's Abbeyes, we reade of also in the same Authour; founded at Ausbourg a principall Cittie of those parts of Germanie, by [Page 266] Walter, Byshop of that City, anno 1142.

(4) Nor did the fruitfull devotion of those times, employ it selfe onely in consecrating hou­ses of Religious persons by his name, and to his memory: but sometimes the Religious folke themselves were dedicated to his name, and wore his livery. Of this kind were St. GEORGE'S Ca­nons, an order of new Regulars, Bellarm. in Script. Eccl. founded at Ve­nice: called by the Cardinall in his Chronologie, Ordo S. Georgij de Alga; by Pol. Virgil, Canonici D. Georgij in Alga. The founder of them, Lauren­tius Iustinianus, a Venetian by birth, and the first Patriarch of that City: famous for long time, doctrina, sanctitate, & miraculis, for learning, san­ctitie, and miracles. Borne in the yeare, 1381. and at the first a Canon Regular, as they use to call them, in opposition to those Canons which had forgot their name, and became Secular. Anno 1426. made Byshop of Venice: and after by Pope Nicholas the fifth, created, as before I said, the first Patriarch of that Citie, anno 1450. in which great dignity, hee continued five yeares longer, and than dyed. By Bellarmine, the institution of this order, Id in Chronologia. is referred ad annum 1410. when hee was yet a private man: no lesse than sixteene yeares before his consecration. Pol. Virgil ac­quaints us with the founder of these new Regu­lars, in which the Cardinall is silent; De Invent. rerum, lib. 7. c. 3. but tells us nothing of the time: and addes withall, that their habit is of blew or watchet. Canonici [Page 267] D. Georgij in Alga (saith he) Venctijs à Lauren­tio Iustiniano instituti, caeruleo utuntur habitu. Ho­spinian mentioneth two latter broodes, Hespin. de orig. Monach. l. 6. c. 47. of the same name and order: of which the one, candidus pla­nè est, is distinguished by their white habit; the other, Extra monasterium atri coloris chlamydem as­sumit, is apparelled all in blacke. They are obli­ged to no profession. Their Order, I meane that founded by Iustinian, was ratified by Iohn the 22 ^th. or as Balaeus, by Gregory the 12 ^th.

(5) In the next place, we are to looke uppon the honours done unto our Martyr, as supersti­tiously conceiv'd to be the Patron of the military men: the fighting Saint, as Mr. Purchas, though little reverently, Pilgrimage, l. 3. cap. 1 [...]. calls him. Reges enim in milita­ri conflictu S. Georgium invocare solitos, &c. For that the greatest Princes used to call upon Saint GEORGE in the day of Battaile; Baronius labors to make good by two examples; the one of Cuni­bert, a King of Lombardie; the other, of Nicephorus, an Emperour of Constantinople. Whether these instan­ces doe prove sufficiently, the matter to be veri­fied; wee shall best see by looking on them: though I must needes say, that in the first, there is small hope of finding much to the purpose. PAVLUS DIACONUS, who liv'd about the yeare 774. principall Secretarie of State to DESIDE­RIUS King of the Lombards; Hist. Longob. lib. 6. cap. 17. reports it of King CUNIBERT, one of the Kings of that Nation: that in a place, where hee had for­merly vanquished the Alahis, a barbarous [Page 268] people, hee built a Monasterie to the honour of Saint GEORGE. In campo Coronatae, ubi bellum contra Alahis gessit, in honorem B. Georgij Mo­nasterium construxit, sayth the Author. Where by the way it is to bee observed, That in the late Edition of this Author by Gruterus, wee reade not Georgij, but Gregorij; (which also is the errour of the new editions of PLATI­NA, as before I noted:) but yet hee tells us in his Annotations, that the old Bookes reade it Georgij; himselfe, none of Saint GEORGE'S friends, it seemes, not willing so to have it lon­ger. Which brings into my minde, that me­morable saying of old TIMON. Who bee­ing asked by Aratus, how hee might get the workes of Homer in the best Edition: retur­ned this answere, That hee must make enqui­rie after the most ancient Copies, and not for those which were last corrected. [...] (sayth Diogenes Làertius,) [...]. Whether this passage of this Longobardìan King, may bee sufficient proofe for this, that hee did call upon Saint George in the day of Battaile; is next to bee examined. For my part, I be­leeve it cannot: though the particular cir­cumstance of the place where, might unto one which were contentious so to have it, administer an argument of possibilitie. My [Page 269] reason is, because this CVNIBERT be­ganne his raigne over the Lombards, Anno 698. And I perswade my selfe, that in those ear­ly dayes, this superstitious invocation of Saint GEORGE, as a chiefe Advocate of Victo­rie, was not in fashion. Let it suffice, that though it proove not throughly what BARO­NIVS did intend: yet, is proofe sufficient, that Saint GEORGE was specially honou­red among the Lombards, as a Saint of more than common note; which is as much as I en­deavour to make from it.

In the next instance of NICEPHORVS, sirnamed PHOCAS, Emperour of Constanti­nople; the proofe, as I conceive it, is faire and pregnant: delivered thus, by GEOR­GIUS CEDRENUS, who flourished in and about the yeare One thousand and seventie, in his Compendium Historiarum.

NICEPHORUS PHOCAS, (hee be­ganne his raigne, in the yeare Nine hundred six­tie three,) had entred in a Warre against the Rossi, a Scythian or Sarmatian people borde­ring on his Empire: with whom encountring upon Saint GEORGE'S day, hee gave them a memorable Overthrow. Edit. Gr. Lat. pag. 556. And then it followeth; [...], &c. Id est, The Emperour having payed his vowes unto the most [Page 270] victorious Martyr, St. GEORGE, upon whose Festivall he had discomfited his enemies; went the next morning with his Army, unto Dorostu­lum. The greeke Phrase, [...], used in the Author; is found often in Demosthenes, and other Writers of those more elegant times, of the Greeke language: with whom it signifieth, Sacra facere ob partam victoriam, to sacrifice unto those Gods after the victorie, whose [...]avour they implored before it. I have here rendred it, the payment of his Vowes, more proper to the use and meaning of the word, in the Christian Church: the meaning of the whole passage beeing this, that he had vowed some speciall honour to St. George, [...], as hee there calls him, in case he should obtaine the victory: which afterwards according to the honour of his vow, he did religiously performe.

(6) In our last sort of evidence, which is next to follow; we must reflect upon St. George, as a chiefe Patron of the affaires of Christendome: though even in some of these, wee may consider him, as a chiefe Patron also of the men of Warre. Of this kinde was that military Order of Saint George in Austria, first instituted by Radulphus Habspurgensis, Emperour of Germany, and first Duke of Austria of this family; for the defence of Hungary, Edit. Paris, pag. 1464. Styria, and Carinthia. The Author des Estates du Monde thus hath it. Radolphe de Hab­spurg (he began his Empire anno 1273) pour de­fendre [Page 271] La Hongrie, la Syrie, (he meanes Styria) et la Carinthie, contre les armes de Turcs, institua l'ordre de St. Georges, &c. He also tells us, that he gave unto the Master of it, a Towne of Carinthia, well built and situate, for his ordinarie Seate: together with the Toparchie of Chranichberge, Trautmandorfe, Scharfeneich, and St. Patoville; for the revenue and maintenance of the Order. As also how he permitted the fellowes of it, La croix rouge de St. George, dans les armoiries des leurs maisons; to beare St. George's crosse in their owne Armes, the Armes belonging to their houses. In most of this we may beleeve him: but where he tells us that this institution was intended contre les armes de Turcs, against the forces of the Turke, in this we must be bold to tell him, that he is decei­ved. For in these times the Turkish Kingdome was suppress'd and ruined by the Tartars: nor had they ever any footing in the Continent of Europe, un­till the yeare 1358. when under the conduct of Solyman the Sonne of Orchanes, they surprised Callipolis in Thrace.

(7) In imitation of this Order, FREDERICK the third, Emperour of the Germans, and Duke of Austria, instituted the Order of Saint Georgen Schilts: if at the least, as BERNARD of Luxem­bourg conceives, it were not rather a restitution of the former Order then decayed. Of which thus Stumpsius in his historie of the Switzers, Lib. 13. c. 21. [Page 272] anno 1448, Caesar Fredericus communem fecit in Suevia pacem, omnium Ordinum confederatione, quae vocabutur St. Georgen Schilts. Nam omnes qui in ea comprehendebantur debebant gestare clypeum S. Georij, modò ex Nobilitate essent. ‘The Emperour Fredericke (saith he) anno 1448 established a firme Peace and League in Schwaben by a confe­deracie of all the States together. Which Or­der, had the name of Sanct Georgen Schilts; be­cause it was permitted unto such as were com­prehended in it, to beare an Escutcheon of Saint George in their owne armes, (so I conceive it;) if they were nobly descended.’ Fortie yeares af­ter, a new League and Confederacie was set on foote under the old name, but for ten yeares one­ly; at the request of MAXIMILIAN, sonne to the former Frederick, and afterwards his succes­sour in the German Empire: the most potent of the Princes and Imperiall Cities, being contained in it. Annal. Suevic. part. 3. l. 9. c. 1. Anno 1488, (saith MARTIN CRUSIUS) Suevi impulsu Maximiliani ob tuendam mutuam pacem & quietem, foedus quoddam Nortbergae ineunt inter se decennale, foedus dictum Clypei Georgiane so­cietatis: in quo foedere potentissimi qui (que) Principes, non modò civitates Imperij fuerunt. So hee.

(8) We must now crosse the Alpes, and make over into Italie: where we shall finde St. GEORGE to be conceived as great a Patron of the Common-wealth of Genoa; as of the peace of Germanie. For as the Germans were secured [Page 273] from Warres without, and civill broyles with­in; by the Confederacie and Order of Saint George's Sheilds: so are the Geneose protected, and the ancient dignitie of that State preserved, by St. George's Banke or Treasurie. The first begin­nings of which Banke or Treasurie, and the ad­ministration thereof; together with that benefit which redounds thereby unto the publike: take heere, according as it is related by that great Statesman, Machiavell, in his Historie of Flo­rence. Post diuturnum illud bellum quod Genuenses multis ab hinc annis cum Venetis gessere; Lib. 8. cum pace iam inter eas respub. constituta, Genuenses civibus suis ob aes in bello concreditum, satisfacere non possent, &c. ‘After that tedious Warre betweene the Genoese and the Venetians was now ended, anno 1381. and the Genoese perceived themselves unable to repay those moneys, which they had taken up of their private Citizens, for the main­teining of the Warre: they thought it best to assigne over to them, their ordinarie taxes, that so in tract of time, the whole debt might be satisfied; and for that purpose allotted them a common Hall, there to deliberate and de­termine of their affaires. These men thus made the masters of the publike Taxes and Re­venew elect amongst themselves, a common Councell of an hundred; and over them, eight Officers of especiall power, to order and direct the rest, and to dispose of the Intrado: Vniversam verò administrationem titulo [Page 274] S. Georgij insignivere, which Corporation so e­stablished, they entitused St. George's Banke. It hapned afterwards that the Republicke, wanting more moneys, was glad to have recourse unto St. George; who now growne wealthy by the just and orderly administration of his stocke, was best able to releive them: and as before they released their taxes, so now [ ditionem su­am oppignorare coepit] they morgaged their do­maine. So that at last, St. George continually growing richer, and the State poorer: this Corporation became possess'd of almost all the Townes and Territories belonging to that Sig­neurie; all which they governe by their owne Magistrates, chosen by common suffrage from among themselves. It followed hereupon, that the common people respected lesse the publike, and chiefly bent their favours, to the Corpora­tion of St. George: this being alwayes pru­dently and moderately governed; that, many times inclining unto tyranny: this never chan­ging either their Officers, or forme of govern­ment; that subject to the ambitious lusts of e­very proud Vsurper, both Forreiner and Citi­zen. Insomuch, that when the potent families of the Fregosi, and the Adorni, contended for the Principalitie of that State; most of the peo­ple stood idle, looking upon them, as specta­tors of a quarrell, which did not any way con­cerne them: St. George not medling more in it, than to take oath of the prevailing faction to [Page 275] preserve his liberties.’ Rarissimo sanè exemplo, ne (que) à tot Philosophis, imaginarijs istis in rebuspub. suis, unquam reperto, &c. A most excellent and rare thing (saith he) never found out by any of the Philosophers in their imaginarie Common­wealthes; that in the same State, and the same people, we may see at once tyrannie and liber­tie, justice and wrong-dealing, civilitie and rudenesse: this onely Corporation preserving in the State, the ancient beautie and orders of it. Nay he perswades himselfe, that if St. GEORGE should in the end become possess'd of the remain­ders of the publike demeanes, quod omnino even­turum mihi persuasissimum est, of which he makes not any question: that certainly that State might not be onely equalled with the State of Venice, but preferred before it.

(9) From St. George's Banke or Treasurie, let us proceed unto St. George's Band or Regiment; both instituted neere about the same time, and much unto the same purpose: St. George's Banke, preserving the ancient dignitie of that Citty; his Regiment or Band reviving the decayed repute and credit of the Italian Soldierie. The Author of it, one Ludovicus Conius; the occasion, this. Af­ter the Norman and Dutch lines in the Realme of Naples; the French and Arragonians became competitours for that Kingdome; the Popes of Rome, having at that time, sundry quarrels with the Emperours; and many of the Townes of [Page 276] Italie taking thereby occasion, to recover liber­ty. By meanes of which, the whole Country was in a manner over-runne with forreine Sol­diers: the States thereof all jealous of each o­ther, and so not willing to employ theyr owne people. So that all Italie did swarme with French, and Dutch and Spanish Soldiers: the English also flocking thither, under the conduct of Sir Iohn Hawkwood, after the Peace made betweene our Edward the third, and the French King. At last, this Lodovicus Conius rightly considering, how ignominious and dishonourable a thing it was, that Italie should not bee able with her owne hands, to maintaine her owne quarrels; colle­cted a choyce band of Italian Soldiers, which he called St. Georg's Regiment: which shortly grew to such esteeme, that they eclipsed the glo­rie of the forreine Companies, and restored the ancient lustre, to their native forces. Is enim post­ea (saith the same MACHIAVELL) ex Italo mili­te exercitum conscripsit, Hist. Florent. lib. 1. sub titulo S. Georgij: cu­jus tanta fnit virtus & disciplina militaris, ut exi­guo temporis intervallo, omnem gloriam militibus ex­ternis adimeret, suam Italis restitueret, eo (que) solo usi sunt deinceps Italiae Principes, si quod inter eos bellum gerebatur. So he; and we will onely adde thus much, that out of this so famous Seminarie of St. GEORGE'S Regiment, came afterwards that Braccio, and Picennini, which had so much to doe in the affaires of Italie: as also that Francisco [Page 277] Sforza, which made himselfe Duke of Millaine, and left it to his Children.

(10) Our next journey must bee for Asia, where in the midland of it, wee finde a Coun­trey betweene Colchis and Albania, called an­ciently Iberia; but now Georgia: the reason of which new name is reported diversly. Mi­chael ab Ysselt is confident that they tooke their appellation from Saint GEORGE; Georgi­ani verò vocantur à D. Georgio, &c. Others, with better reason, at the least in mine opinion, that they are called so from the Georgi, the ancient inhabitants of these tracts: which ancient Geor­gians, Sir Walter Raleigh makes to bee denomi­nated, quasi Gordians, from the Gordiaei, a Moun­taine people of the Hill-Countries; and Stepha­nus in his Thesaurus, quasi Georgici, Husbandmen. Georgij Asiae populi ab agricultura nomen sortiti, as he there hath it. Betweene these two, we have one indifferent, Pilgrimage, l. 4. c. 1. §. 2. Master Samuel Purcha [...], who saith that ‘it is called Georgia, eyther from the ho­nour of their Patron Saint GEORGE, or haply because they descended of those Geor­gi which PLINIE nameth among the Caspian Inhabitants.’ Let it suffice, that though they take not their denomination from Saint GEORGE, yet they affoord him more ho­nour, than any other of the Saints: Ib. §. 5. the same Authour telling us, that when they goe into a Church, they give meane respect to other [Page 278] Images; but that Saint George is so worshipped, (we will permit him to make merry with him­selfe) that his Horses hoofes are kissed of them. Michael ab Ysselt more seriously, Hist. sui temp. ad Ann. 1577. though he erre somewhat in the derivation. Georgiani verò vo­cantur à D. Georgio, quem velut patronum praeci­puum, & in suis contra Paganos praelijs velut signi­ferum & propugnatorem ingenti honore vene­rantur. Quocun (que) enim tendunt, turmatim in­cedunt, vexillum D. Georgij insignitum circum­ferentes, cuius ope & auxilio, in bello maximè se iuvari credunt. The Georgians (saith hee) are so denominated from Saint GEORGE; whom as their principall Patron, and theyr Champion in their warres against the Pagans, they worship with especiall honour. For which way soever they employ their Forces, they carry with them a faire Banner, with the pi­cture of Saint George upon it; beleeving that by his assistance, they are much comforted and ayded in their warres. So the Histo­rian.

(11) But howsoever, we dare not say with him, that this Asian people had their appella­tion from Saint George their Patron: yet wee are confident of this, that many places both of Asia and Europe, have received denomination from him. For heere in Asia, wee finde a large and spacious Valley, not farre from Libanus, which is call'd St. George's Valley: and we have [Page 279] also noted, that the Towne of Lydda or Diospolis, was by the Christians called Saint George's, and that there is in Europe, a St. George's Vally also, in the midst of Germanie. Adde hereunto, that the Thraci­an Chersonesse is now called commonly St. George's Arme: which is remembred by Maginus in his Ge­ographie; and hath beene since observed by Sir George Sandys. The learned Munster, doth trans­ferre this appellation from the Land, Cosmograph. lib. 4. unto the Sea; from the Thracian Chersonesse, unto the narrow streight or Arme neere to it, which they call Bosphorus: Porrò Bosphorus appellatur brachium S. Georgij, saith hee; and like inough the name is fitted unto both. But why this Chersonesse was call'd Saint George's Arme, I can­not say: unlesse perhaps that Relique of Saint George was there in former times layed up; which after by Iustinian the Emperour was bestowed upon Saint German, as before I noted. Paulus Diaconus makes mention of Saint George's Ri­ver, Hist. Miscell. l. 2 [...]. cap. 29. neare to the Country of the Bulgarians: Coe­terùm Aprili mense (saith hee of Constantine the Sonne of Eirene) cum castra moveret contra Bul­gares, venit ad castellum quod dicitur Probati, ad rivum D. Georgij. Wee reade in our industri­ous CAMDEN also, that the Irish Ocean which runneth betweene Brittaine and Ire­land, is called by Sea-men at this day, Saint GEORGE'S Chanell. And lest that any part of the old World, should not have some place [Page 280] in it of this name, Lib. 7. cap. ult. PATRITIUS tells us in the booke of his owne Navigations, that one of the Azores, is call'd St. George's. Est & D. Georgij insula, &c.

(12) To draw up that together, which hath beene formerly alleaged in Saint GEORGE'S cause; I hope it will appeare, that there is no occasion, why hee should eyther bee reputed as an Arian, or a Counterfeit, a Larva: nay, why hee should not bee accounted, to have as high a place in immortalitie, as any of the other; those blessed Spirits the Apostles, excep­ted onely. For if antiquitie may bee thought worthy of any credit; wee have antiquitie to friend: or if the common suffrages of so ma­ny famous and renowned writers, successively in every age, may bee of any reckoning with us; Saint George may challenge as much inter­est in them, as any in the Calendar. Howe­ver, put case that they have erred in their rela­tions of Saint GEORGE; and that they tooke that evidence, which out of them wee borrowed, on trust from one another: yet what shall bee replyed to this, that in the Church of God, hee hath beene hitherto reputed, as an holy Martyr. Shall wee conceive the Church of God would bee so carefull to preserve his memorie in the publike Martyrologies; or give him place in their publike Liturgies, or take such heed unto his Reliques, or honour him with Tem­ples: [Page 281] had hee beene such a damnable and blou­die Hereticke; or (which, they say, is better,) if hee had never beene at all. Or if hee had beene such, may it bee thought, that both the Church, and all the learned members of it, for 1300, yeares almost, should be deluded; no man in all that time, able to see into the fraud: or that the Spirit of God, should quite abandon all the rest, and settle onely on some two or three of later times; who though they kept a­mongst themselves the Band of Peace, had not, as it appeares, the Spirit of Vnitie? Or, last of all, suppose the Monkes and Fryers should joyne together, to put a tricke upon the world; and that they had prevailed upon the Church, to give countenance unto it: shall wee conceive so poorely of the greatest Kings and Princes in the Christian world, that they were all of them abused; and drawne to do [...] such honours, to one which eyther never was a man, or was now a Divell? All this is hard to bee digested. And wee may well bee counted easie of beleefe, if onely on the ipse dixit of one man, and the conjectures of another, were they of greater reputation than they are; wee should give faith unto their sayings: (to one of them I meane, for both are not to be beleeved together:) when such a Cloud of Witnesses affirme the contrarie; Catalogus testium veritatis, a Catalogue of witnes­ses in all times and ages.

[Page 282]If men may be beleeved upon their bare assertion, why may not they be credited, which say Saint George was once a Martyr, and is now a Saint; as well as they which say he was not? Or if wee will not take up any thing on trust, without some reason for it: why rather should not they bee worthy of beleefe which have good proofe for what they say; than those that build upon con­jectures, ill-grounded, and worse-raised? Lastly, if that may be beleeved most safely, [...], in the words of Aristotle, which both the vulgar wits and more excellent spirits have agreed on joyntly: still we are where we were, and still St. George must be a Martyr. But I am now for England; where I am sure to finde as ample testimonies for St. George, as any other part of the world what ever.

CHAP. VIII.

(1) OVr course is now for England, di­visos orbe Britannos, as the Poet hath it; divided from the o­ther parts of the World, as in her situation, so in her felicities. Of which, and of the testimo­nies which she is able to afford [Page 284] unto Saint GEORGE, wee shall speake in se­verall; it being as the Panegyrick and Solinus call it, another world: the rather, because in the latter dayes, hee hath beene reckoned as the especiall Patron of this Nation; and as par­ticular to us, as is Saint ANTONIE to Ita­lie, Saint DENIS unto France, or any of the other to their proper places. I say, in the later dayes onely, for anciently we were not thought to have more right to him, than any other of our Neighbours: however it bee said by some, that hee hath alwayes beene the tutelarie Saint and Guardian of our Nation. Dr. Reynolds, Idol. l. 1. cap. 5. §. 22. For if wee will beleeve our English Fugitives, wee may behold the picture of Saint GEORGE in their Church at Rome, with this inscripti­on: Georgium Cappadocem Anglia sibi prote­ctorem elegit, & maximis beneficijs tùm pace tùm bello receptis, semper religiosissimè coluit. Id est: ‘This GEORGE of Cappadocia, the English chose to be their Patron, and for the ma­ny benefits received from him both in Peace and Warre, have alwayes very religiously worshipped him.’ Or if we will beleeve that the victorious Prince King ARTHUR bare him in one of his royall banners; which was a signe of speciall dependance on him, and re­lation to him: we finde in Master Selden, that so by some it is rep [...]rted; Annot. in Po­ly. Olb. p. 68. and HARDING (whom I have not seene) is cyted in the Margin. And first, to make reply to that which [Page 285] was first alleaged; if so our Fugitives of Rome, doe by their Semper understand, that ever since his Martyrdome, Saint GEGRGE hath beene esteemed and worshipped as the Pa­tron of the English: wee must needes tell them, that howsoever this may bee beleeved at Rome, it is not likely to bee entertained with us here in England: If by their Semper, they meane onely, that alwayes since the English chose him for their Patron, hee hath beene specially esteemed and worshipped by them: wee grant indeed that since that time Saint GEORGE hath alwayes beene especially ho­noured; though not religiously worshipped. As for King ARTHUR, wee reade in MAL­MESBURIE, that at the Seige of Bannes­downe [ mons Badonicus] not farre from Bathe, to which the Saxons had retyred, and thereon fortified: that in his royall Armes, hee bare the portraiture of the blessed Virgin. Postremò in obsidione Badonici montis, Hist. de gest. Angl. lib. 1. fretus ima­gine dominicae matris, quam armis suis insue­rat, &c. as he there hath it. Of any Image of Saint George, wee have ne gry quidem, ey­ther in him or any other of our Historians: Nor is it easie to bee credited, that in so small a tract of time, Saint George was growne so eminent in the opinion of the Brittaines as to be deem'd the Patron of their Armies, their tutela­rie Saint against their enemies.

[Page 286](2) If from the Brittaines we proceed unto the Saxons, I have not found as yet, that eyther in their Heptarchie, or after they became one entire state, a Monarchie; they had St. GEORGE in more than ordinary honour. Vnlesse perhaps we may beleeve, that Theobald one of the Saxon Kings, might take a speciall liking to him, upon the commendation of Cunibert, King of the Lom­bards; by whom hee was magnificently feasted, in his journey towards Rome. His diebus Theobald rex Anglorum Saxonum, De gest. Lon­gob. l. 6. c. 15. qui multa in sua patria bella gesserat, ad Christum conversus Romam prope­ravit; qui ad Cunibertum regem veniens, (this Cu­nibert as before we noted, had built St. George a Monasterie) ab eo mirificè susceptus est: saith Paul the Deacon. But in the Empire of the Normans, we have variety and store inough: some of it, even in their first entrance, before their state and affaires here were well setled. ‘For in the yeare 1074, Camden in Dobunis. (which was some eight yeares after the death of Harald) Robert D'Oyley, a Nobleman of Normandie, when he had received at the hands of William the Conquerour, in reward of his service in the Warres, large possessions in the County of Oxon, built a spacious Castle on the West side of the City [of Oxford] with deepe Ditches, Ramparts, an high raised Mount, and therein a Parish-Church unto St. George: un­to which, when the Parishioners could not have accesse, by reason that King Stephen most [Page 287] streightly besiedged Maud the Empresse, with­in this Castle; St. Thomas Chappell in the street hard by was built.’ ‘Afterwards King Edward the 3. that famous and puissant Prince, being borne at Windsore, erected there out of the ground a most strong Castle; equall in bignesse to a pretty Cittie; and in the very entrance of it, a most stately Church, consecrated B. Virgini Mariae & S. Georgio Cappadoci, Id. in Attr [...]ba­tijs. unto the blessed Virgin Marie, and St. George of Cappadocia: but brought unto that sumptuous magnificence, which now we see it carry, by King Edward the fourth, and Sir Reginald Bray.’ Of which, both Church and Castle, thus Draytons Muse in the 15. song of his Poly-Olbion.

Thus had we (as we finde in Camden) a Mona­sterie dedicated to St. GEORGE in the County of Derby; built by the Greyslayes, gentlemen of good ancientrie in that country. Thus have wee also a faire Church, consecrated to St. George's [Page 288] name, in Doncaster; a St. GEORGE'S Church, in South-werke, and in London: and not to travaile further in this enquirie, a St. GEORGE'S Church in Burford; where it pleased GOD to give mee, first, my naturalll being, and afterwards my edu­cation. In which regard, I hold my selfe bound in a manner, to vindicate St. GEORGE'S honour; having received such comforts in a place, where his memorie was anciently precious, and the onely Church in it, dedicated by his name.

(3) St. George thus generally honoured by the English, as a Saint; it was not long before they fastned (superstition being then in the very height) a more particular respect upon him: the first beginnings whereof, wee must referre un­to King Richard, of that name the first; accor­ding to the information, which, William Dethick, Garter, principall King of armes, gave to the lear­ned Camden, and is thus extant in his most excel­lent Brittannia. Richardo cum contra Turcas & A­garenos, &c. ‘When as K. Richard warred upon the Turks and Saracens, Camden in At [...]bat. Cyprus and Acon, and was wearie of so lingring delay; whiles the seige continued long, in wonderfull care and anxie­ty: at length, Illabente per D. Georgij, ut opina­tum est, interventum, spiritu, &c. Vpon a divine inspiration, by the comming in and apparition (as it was thought) of St. GEORGE, it came into his mind, to draw upon the legs of cer­taine choyce Knights of his, a certaine Garter [Page 289] or tacke of Leather, such onely as hee had then ready at hand. Whereby they beeing distin­guished, and put in minde of future glory pro­mised unto them, in case they wonne the victory; they might bee stirred up and provo­ked to performe their service bravely, and fight more valiantly. In imitation of the Ro­mans, who had such varietie of Coronets, wherewith militarie men for sundry causes were accordingly rewarded: to the end, that by these instigations (as it were) cowardise being shaken off, the valour of the minde, and courage of the hart, might shew it selfe more re­solute.’ Which passage I have therefore reci­ted at the full length, because that some there be, which have referred the institution of the most noble Order of the Garter, unto this King, and to this occasion: and are perswaded verily, that Edward the third did onely bring it againe in use, being awhile forgotten, or neglected. But here­in, as the learned Camden, who saw as farre into an­tiquitie, as any man either before his birth, or since his death; gives but a cold assent, or rather no assent at all: so neyther have I met with any of the more judicious sort, which doe affirme it; though the opinion bee related in many of them.

(4) However, though wee referre not unto this occasion, and those times, the Institution of the Garter: yet wee may warrantably bee per­swaded, [Page 290] that this occasion did much promote the reputation of that Saint among the English: whereby, in tract of time, that most heroicke Order was dedicated to him. As for the thing it selfe, because that all the apparitions of the Saints in these late dayes, are commonly suspected: wee will digresse a litle, to shew what may bee said in the generall defence of the thing questi­oned; that so wee may the better see, how much we may beleeve in this particular of King Ri­chard and St. GEORGE. And first if wee con­sult the Scriptures, Mat. 27. v. 52.53. we finde that at the Resurre­ction of our Saviour, the graves were opened, and ma­ny bodies of the Saints which slept, arose, and came out of the graves, and went into the holy Cittie, [...], and appeared unto ma­ny. This as it was an extraordinary dispensation and farre above the common Law and course of Nature; so was it for a speciall end: to verifie the Resurrection of our Saviour, on whom they did attend, and to assure the faithfull of the cer­tainty of their future Resurrection also. A signe it was, saith Reverend Theophylact; [...]: Chrysostome more particular­ly, [...], a token of the Resurrection; and for the close of all, Saint HIEROME, Vt dominum ostenderent resur [...]gentem. So then, although in ordinary course, the Saints are in the Heaven of glories; and [Page 291] that their bodies bee corrupted in the earth: yet upon speciall cause and at the pleasure of their GOD, they may assume an humane shape; and in that shape appeare unto their Brethren, according to the will of him that sends them. For if the Angels, to whom no bodies doe be­long, have appeared visible to many of GODS people, in execution of the charge committed to them: how much more easily may we beleeve the same, of the Saints departed; that even they also, at some times, and on some great occasions, have beene employed by GOD, in their owne or­dinary forme and shape? Potamiaena a Virgin Martyr, Eccl. Hist. l, 6. cap. 4. is reported by EUSEBIUS, that shee appeared unto BASILIDES her Execu­tioner, the third night after her decease, [...], putting a Crowne upon his head: foretelling so, that not long after hee should receive the Crowne of Martyrdome.

[...], &c. Nay, the same Author tells us, that many of the people of Alexandria (where shee suffe­red) were converted to the Faith, by the fre­quent apparitions of that Virgin. Other ex­amples also there are many; and of Angels al­so. Of the Archangell MICHAEL, Camden in Danmonijs. there are reports of severall apparitions, uppon Mount Garganus in Naples; uppon Saint MICHEL'S Mounts, in Normandie, [Page 292] and Cornewall: H [...]spinian. & alij and one unto King Charles the 7. on the bridge of Orleans, in his warres against the English, (illustri seu miraculo seu viso D. Michaelis, in praelio ad pontem Aurelianae civitatis, &c.) which was a chiefe occasion of the French Order of St. Michael. I know indeed, that in times of late, the Priests have dealt exceeding faithlesly, both with Church and people, in this kinde: theyr doctrine, in the point of Purgatorie, beeing such, as could not well subsist without many foule Impostures, and counterfeit apparitions of the Dead. Insomuch that as once Lyra said, In Eccle­sia Dei populus saepe decipitur à Sacerdotibus fictis miraculis, In 14. c. Dan. lucri causa; Gods people many times is couzened by the Priests with fained miracles: so we may say also, that for the sake of filthie lucre, they have as often beene abused with for­ged apparitions.

(5) But this, of all things else, cannot be well objected against this apparition of Saint George: King Richard having no such end proposed unto himselfe, in raising this report; as to a­buse his people, or to satisfie his avarice. And certainly were it recorded in any grave and serious Author, that such an apparition as this mention'd, of St. George; had beene seene gene­rally by the Armie, or by such others which might for certaine have affirmed it: I make no question, but the probability thereof might have [Page 293] beene easily defended. Bnt since it is related one­ly upon the credit of a private Register; and in that Register, with no more confidence, than opi­natum est, it is so thought: I must crave licence to declare my selfe herein, and how I doe conceive it. We have already in the prosecution of this Historie of Saint GEORGE; spoke of the appari­tion of this Saint, and many others, at the bat­taile of Antiochia: whereby the Christian Ar­mies, then ready for the fight, were so incouraged and revived, that they obtained a memorable victory upon the enemie. By meanes whereof, Saint George became so famous in all the parts of Christendome; and especially among those Sol­diers, which were continually (in those times) sent to pursue the Warres of the Holy Land: that possibly there could not be a greater spurre unto the military men; than to suggest unto them, that Saint George had lately shewne himselfe unto their Chieftaines, and promised them successe, or counselled them in their designes. Master de Bellay hath recorded, that IOANE of Orleans, so much commemorated in our common Chro­nicles; was not what shee appeared, but one­ly so disguised and prepared before hand, Discours de l'art milit. Pour faire revenir le courage aux Francoys: for to re­vive the drooping spirits of the French; so falne and broken, that they were not to bee raised, but by a miracle. Somewhat to this purpose is related by PLUTARCH, of AGESILAUS. [Page 294] Who to embolden his Soldiers to the fight, wrote with a certaine juyce, the word Victorie, in the palme of his hand: and after, being at the Sacrifice, hee layed his hand cunningly upon the heart of it, so leaving the word Victorie imprin­ted on it; which presently he shewed unto those a­bout him, as if it had beene there written by the Gods. I cannot say for certaine that this appari­tion to King Richard, was by him set on foot for the same purpose; and that it was no other than a Kingly fraud, to quicken and revive the spirits of his Soldiers: but I perswade my selfe, if I did say so, having no other testimony than an opinatum est against me; I might be pardoned for my boldnesse.

(6) This notwithstanding, the fame of such his apparition to that King, did, as before I said, exceedingly promote the reputation of that Saint among the English: so farre, that the most excellent Prince King EDVVARD the third, made choyce of him, for his Patron. So Ma­ster CAMDEN witnesseth in his Remaines, that ‘GEORGE hath beene a name of speciall re­spect in England, since the victorious King EDVVARD the third, chose Saint GEORGE for his Patron: and the English in all Encounters and Battailes, have used the name of Saint George in their cries; as the French did, Mont­ioy Saint Denis.’ The more immediate occasi­on was, that this Edward at the battaile of Callice, [Page 295] Anno 1349. being much troubled with griefe and anger, drawing his Sword, call'd earnestly upon Saint Edward and Saint George: whereupon ma­ny of his Soldiers flocking presently unto him, they fell upon the enemie, and put many of them at that instant to the sword. Tho. Walsingham Anno Regn. 23 Rex Edwardus pro­vidè frendens more apri, & ab ira & dolore turbatus, evaginato gladio, S. Edwardum & S. Georgium in­vocavit, dicens, Ha Saint Edward, Ha Saint George: Quibus auditis & visis, milites confestim Anglici confluebant ad Regem suum. Es facto impetu contra hostes, tam animose institerunt, quòd ducenti ex il­lis ceciderunt interfecti, &c. The next yeare after, followed the Institution of that noble Order of the Garter, dedicated unto Saint George also: by which he came possessed alone of that speciall pa­tronage, as the more military Saint; which in the former Invocation might seeme to be divided, be­tweene St. Edward and himselfe. Nor did the King stay here, but having chose St. George to bee the tutelarie Saint and Patron of his Soldierie; hee caused him to be painted as upon a lusty Courser, holding a white Sheild with a red Crosse on it, in his hand: and gave unto his Soldiers, to every one a white Coat or Cassock, with two red Cros­ses, on each side of them one; to weare upon their armour. Hist. Anglic. l. 19. Edwardus item (saith Pol. Virgil.) cum D. Georgium militia praesidem optasset, postea ei armato & equo insidenti, dedit scutum album, rubra a cruce per­insigne: dedit & militibus suis saga alba, utrim (que) bi­nis crucibus, item rubris, munita; quae illi super arma­turam [Page 296] induerent. So that (saith he) it is a seemely and magnificent thing, to see the Armies of the English, to sparkle like the ri­sing Sunne; the Soldierie of other Countries, ha­ving no habit, eyther to distinguish or adorne them. From henceforth therefore, we must not looke upon St. GEORGE, as a Saint in generall; but as conceived, (such was the superstition of those times) the speciall Patron of the English: of which, the Pilgrim in the Poet, thus prophe­cieth unto his Red-crosse Knight, as hee there calls him. Faery Qu. l. 1. cant. 10. n. 61.

St. George of merry England; the signe of victorie.

Song. 4.And hereunto alludes Mich. Draiton, in his Poly-Olbion; in a great controversie, questionlesse which was then hot, among some Nymphes of his in that Poem.

(7) Of other honours done by the English [Page 297] to St. GEORGE, more than they call'd upon him, as their Advocate of victory; it may per­haps seeme litle necessary to dilate. But since our Invocation of God and St. GEORGE, is by some men conceived, Purelia [...]. Pil­grim. l. 3. c. 13 to bee rather Turkish, than truely Christian: wee will produce such evidence, as may be lesse liable unto offence. Of which kinde, I perswade my selfe, was that honour done unto him in a peece of gold, currant in those times, in this Kingdome, Camden in Reliqu. called The George-noble: which on the one side had the picture of Saint GEORGE upon it, with this Impresse; Tali dicata signo mens fluctuare nescit. Nor can it be of­fence, that many noble families in this Realme, had the name of Saint GEORGE: ‘an ancient family of Saint George, (out of which flou­rished many Knights, since the time of King Henry the first,) at Hatley; which is of them call'd Hatley Saint George, as I have found in lear­ned Camden: In Icenis or Cambr. Sh. another of them, as I conceive it, at Hinton, Saint GEORGE in Com. Sommer­set; the Baronie at this present, of the right ho­nourable the Lord Pawlet.’ But this I leave un­to Clarentieux, one of the Kings of Armes; as most interessed in it. I will not heere ob­serve that CHARLES of Burgundie, one of the fellowes of the Gareer, beeing in dis­content with EDVVARD the fourth for his Peace with France; Hall [...] Chron. brake out into this Passion, Oh LORD, Oh Saint GEORGE, [Page 298] have you done thus indeed, &c, or that the English used his name, as an ordinary oath among them, Par St. George dirent les Angloys, vous dites vray, &c. as Froissart notes it. Vol. 1. p. 141. These things, I say, I will not speake of, lest they may give offence to our ni­cer eares; nor of more honours of this lesser ranke or qualitie, afforded him in England: and therefore though the Sea bee very troublesome and unruly, we will passe over Saint GEORGE'S Chanell into Ireland. And here I shall observe that onely, which I finde in Master Seldens notes on the Poly-Olbion; as viz. ‘that under Henry 8. it was enacted, that the Irish should leave their Cramaboo, and Butleraboo, words of unlawfull Patronage: and name themselves as under St. George and the Kings of England.’ Which no­ted, since I must returne againe for England, there to behold the solemne institution of the Garter: it will not be amisse to note, that notwithstanding all the opposition made against him, both heere among our selves, and abroad with others. St. George doth still retaine his place in our common Calendars. Not in those onely, made for the state of every yeare, where commonly he shines in Festivall red letters; as doe no other of the Saints, but those whose Feasts are by the Church observed as Holy: but also in the Calendar prefix­ed before the publike Liturgie of our most bles­sed Church of England; where he is specially ho­noured with the name of Saint, as is not any of the rest, excepting those which saw our Saviour [Page 299] in the flesh. Excellent evidence; that as the state of England is much devoted to Saint GEORGE'S honour; so he doth still preserve his place and reputation, in the opinion of the Church. An argu­ment to me so powerfull and prevailing: that in Morbonium the meere word, or bare conjecture of every one, of what especiall fame soever; which guided by his private spirit, shall resolve the contrary.

(8) I said, the state of England is much devo­ted to Saint GEORGE'S honour: and if we looke upon the Institution of the most noble Order of the Garter, wee shall see cause inough to say it. An Order of that excellencie, that the migh­tiest Princes of Christendome, have reputed it a­mong their greatest honours to bee chosen and admit­ted to it: the names and dignities of whom, we shall see presently, in our Catalogue of this Or­der. A founder it had, of a most accomplish'd vertue, the Thunderbolt of Warre, as some call An­tiochus; and in the times of Peace, nothing inferi­our to any of the Law-makers of the best ages, so much celebrated. Briefly wee may affirme of him, Velleius Pater­tecul. l. z. as the Historian of Augustus; the fittest pa­ralell that I can finde for him, amongst famous Princes: Homo omnibus omnium gentium viris, mag­nitudine sua inducturus caliginem. This most ex­cellent Prince, the glorie of his times, and a chiefe ornament of Europe, having exceedingly pre­vail'd both against the French and Scottish Kings, [Page 300] discomfited their Armies, and taken one of them in person: ordained this most noble Order and societie of Knights, so to adorne their valour manifested in the Warres, with honour, the re­ward of vertue. Their number 26. no more; Vt pretium faciat raritas, lest being else communica­ted unto many, it might at last become despicable: nor ever have our Kings exceeded in the number, but still confined themselves unto the first inten­tion of the Founder. COVVELL, in his In­terpreter, printed at Cambridge Anno 1607. re­lates the Institution of it thus. In verbo Gar­ter. ‘EDVVARD the third, after he had obtain'd many great vi­ctories, King IOHN of France, King IAMES of Scotland, being both Prisoners in the Tower of London, at one time; and King HENRY of Castile the Bastard being expulsed, and DON PEDRO restored by the Prince of Wales: did on no weighty occasion first erect this Order, Anno 1350.’ Of the occasion afterwards; ob [...]er­ving for the present, how ill his Historie agrees with his Chronologie. For true it is, that this most noble Order was instituted on the 23. of this King, which falls out rightly, with the yeare 350. But then King IOHN of France, was but newly entred on his Kingdome: and the expulsion of King HENRY was the last act almost, of that tryumphant Prince of Wales; Don Pedro not comming into England, till the thirty ninth of King Edward.

[Page 301]As much is he mistaken also, in the name of the King of Scotland, who was then Prisoner in the Tower; which was not Iames, but David: there being no Iames, King of that Country, in more than fiftie yeares after. ‘For the occa­sion of it, it is received generally, that it tooke beginning from a Garter of the Queene, or ra­ther of Ioane Countesse of Salisburie, a Ladie of incomparable beauty, which fell from her as she danced, and the King tooke up from the ground. For when a number of Nobles and Gentlemen standing by, laughed thereat, he made answere againe, that shortly it should come to passe, that Garter should be in high honour and esti­mation: adding withall these words in French, Hony Soit qui maly pense, Id est, Shame bee to him that evill thinks; which after was the Motto or Impresse of the Garter.’ ‘Which were it so (saith Master Camden) it need not seeme to be a base originall thereof, Camden in Attrebat. considering as one saith, nobilitas sub amore iacet. He addes withall, that some report, how from his owne Garter given forth, as a signall of a battaile, which sped so fortunately; hee call'd them Knights of the Garter.’ But whatsoever the occasion of it was, likely it is that it tooke this name from the blew Garter, which the Fellowes of it weare on their left Leg: carrying the foresaid impresse wrought with golden Letters, and encha­sed with precious Stones; and fastned with a buckle of Gold, as with the Bond [Page 302] of most inward societie, in token of unitie and Concord; that so there might be a Commu­nion as it were of vertues, In verbo Knights of the Garter. and good will amongst them. Doctor Cowell reports in his Interpreter, that he hath seene an ancient monument, wherein it doth appeare that this most noble Order is a Colledge or Corporation, having a Common seale: consisting of the Kings of England as So­veraignes thereof, or chiefe Guardians of it; 25. Knights, fellowes (as they call them, or Com­panions) of the Garter; 14. Canons resident, bee­ing secular Preists; 13. Vicars, or Chorall Preists; and 26. of the inferiour sort of gentrie, militarie men, call'd commonly, Poore Knights of Wind­sore: (whereof indeed there are but twelve.) There belongs also unto this Heroicke Order, the Prelate of the Garter, which is the Lord By­shop of Winton, for the time being; a Chancellour; a Register thereof, which alwayes is the Deane of Windsore; an Vsher, which is one of the Vshers of the Kings Chamber, called Black-rod: and last of all a chiefe Herald, even the most princi­pall of all, GARTER first King of Armes, instituted by that victorious Prince King Henry the fifth; to attend chiefly on this Order and doe them service at their Funerals.

(9) The Kings of England, are (as I said be­fore) the Soveraignes of this noble Order: and either doe in person, or by their lawfull Depu­tie, by them nominated and appointed, elect the [Page 303] fellowes of the Order, and solemnize the Festi­vals, and hold the Chapters. To them it also ap­pertaines to have the declaration, reformation, and disposition of the Lawes and Statutes of the said most noble Order. Which Lawes and Sta­tutes were first instituted and devised, by the vi­ctorious Prince, King Edward, of that name the third; after revised and ratified by many the suc­ceeding Kings: And on the Reformation of Religi­on, much altered by King Edward, of that name the sixt. Pag. 143▪ About this time (saith Sir Iohn Hayward, in his Historie of that Prince) the Order was al­most wholly altered, as by the Statutes thereof then made it doth appeare. A thing not to bee wondred at. For even the Lawes of the most setled States and Kingdomes have beene often changed and va­ried; according to occasion and the Princes plea­sure. Vnto them also, to the Soveraignes, I meane, or to their Deputies, it appertaines to choose and nominate into the Order, whom they esteeme to bee most worthy of that honour; and like to bee the greatest ornament unto it. Yet so, that sixe at least of the said fellowes doe conveene at the Election, and concurre in it: the residue of them being all warned to bee there present, and such as faile of their attendance, without just cause, such as the Soveraigne shall approve, to bee a­merced. In their elections, two things there are, which they especially observe. First, that the partie nominated, bee a Gentleman of name [Page 304] and armes for three descents, both by the Fathers side and by the Mothers. Camd. Bliz. Anno 1563. For which cause, when the Garter was reproachfully taken from the Lord William Paget, by Dudley of Northumber­land, to give to Iohn his eldest sonne, the Earle of Warwicke: he used this colour to disguise that foule dishonour; that the said Lord, (as the first raiser of his house) was said to bee no gentleman of blood, neither by Father nor by Mother: as Sir Iohn Hayward tells the storie. Hist. of Ew. 6. pag. 143. The second thing to be observed, is that the partie nominated, bee without spot, or foule reproach: as viz. not con­vict of Heresie; nor attaint of treason; nor by his Prodigalitie and riot decayed in his estate, by meanes whereof hee is not able to conserve the honour of his Order; nor such a one that ever fled in the day of battaile, his Soveraigne Lord, or his Lieutenant being in the Feild. In all which ca­ses, a Knight elected and installed; may also, if it please the Soveraigne, be degraded. The par­tie chosen by the Prince, if he bee a stranger, is certified thereof soone after by Letters from the Soveraigne: and many times, the Statutes of that Order, have beene sent unto him, to consi­der of them, whether or no he will accept of this election. But this a matter meerely formall. For commonly our Kings are first well assured of the parties good affection to them, before they choose him; and as for forreigne Princes, it is a true note of Master Camdens, In Attrebat. that the most migh­ty of them have reputed it their chiefest honour to be [Page 301] chosen and admitted into this Companie: as we have said before, and shall see anon, in the ensuing Ca­talogue. If he accept it (as no question but hee will,) then doth the Soveraigne forthwith send unto him by his Ambassadour, and the chiefe He­rald (commonly) the whole habit of the Order, with the Garter and the Collar; wherewith they doe invest him. And on the other side, the Prince or stranger so invested, within convenient time, send their sufficient Deputie, with a mantle of blew Velvet, to be installed in their roome, at St. GEORGE'S Church at Windsore. But if the partie chosen be a Subject of the Kingdome, the Garter is delivered to him presently upon his ele­ction, to signifie that he is chose into the Order. Afterwards, in the Chapter-house, upon the rea­ding of his Commission before the Soveraigne or his Deputie; he is invested with his Robe and with his Hood. Then followes the Installment perfor­med with many grave and magnificent Ceremo­nies: which done, he doth receive the Collar of the Order. ‘These, at their installations, have alwayes an oath administred; that to their power, during the time they shall be fellowes of the Order, they shall defend the honor, quarrels, rights, and lord­ships of the Soveraigne; and that they shall endea­vor to preserve the honor of the said Order; and all the statutes of it, they shal well observe with­out fraud or Covin.’ Which oath is by the natives of the kindome, taken absolutely, and in termes; but many times, by strangers, relatively and by halfes, in reference to some former Order. So [Page 306] So when King Henry the third of France, was by the Earle of Darby, invested with the Garter, An­no 1585, Camden. in Elizab. he tooke his oath to keepe the Statutes of the Order in all points, Quae legibus Ordinis S. Spiritus, & S. Michaelis non adversantur; wherein they were not opposite unto the Order of St. Mi­chael, & the Holy Ghost, to which he had bin sworn before. Id. [...]n Anno 1582. Vpon which reason also, Frederick King of Denmarke, though he did joyfully accept the ha­bit of the Order; refused to take the oath at all: because he had beene sworne before (at his instal­lation in the Order of Saint Michael) to the King of France. Being thus solemnely installed, and seated in the place belonging to them in the Chappell, their next care is to fasten an Esco­cheon of their Armes and hachments, in a plate of mettall, upon the backe of their said stalls: which they remove, according as themselves, in Order, are advanced higher. And in that Order, doe they also change the places of their banners, swords and Helmets; which are continually set over their said stalls, during their being of the Order. This onely is the difference, that at the death of any of the Knights of this most noble Order, their Plate of Armes, is left for ever to that stall, where last they sate; to preserve their memory: whereas the Banner, Sword, and Hel­met, are all taken downe; and offered with all due solemnities; the Offering made by such of the surviving Knights, as by the Soveraigne shall [Page 307] be destinated to that service. I said before, that they remove their Plates, and Hachments, accor­ding as themselves in order are advanced higher. in this Order, they take place according to the antiquitie of their Creation; and not according to their dignities, titles, and estates: so that some­times a Knight Bachelour, hath place before an Earle or Baron; as not long since wee had ex­ample in Sir Harry Lea, Knight, keeper of the Armorie. Onely in honour unto strangers, which bee Dukes, or Sonnes and Brethren unto forreine Kings and Princes: it is permitted that they take their roomes and places, accor­ding to their qualitie. Hitherto have we spoken of the Election of Saint GEORGES Knights, and their admission to the Order. A litle would be said now of the meanes and wayes, whereby their roomes are voyded, and their places desti­tute; and they are three: for either they are voyde by Death, or by Degradation, or by Ces­sion and surrendrie. The second of the three (for here we will not speake of Death) is Degradati­on: a peece of Iustice more to bee commended where it may not, than where it may bee spared. The cases wherein Degradation is allowed of, I have shewne already: but the examples are but fewe. William Lord Paget, which was so scorn­fully degraded by Northumberland; was by Qu. Mary, Camden Eliz. Anno 1563. with great honour, restored againe unto his Order. And Sir Iohn Fastolfe, which for his [Page 308] valiantnesse had beene elected of the Order, was by the Duke of Bedford, Halls Chron. in Ew. 6. under whom hee served, and unto whom he was great Master of the House­hold; devested in great anger of his GEORGE and GARTER: because hee had departed from a battaile, (which the English lost) without stroke stricken. But afterwards by meanes of friends, and upon good excuse, and reason, by him alleaged in his defence, (as certainly he was a wise and valiant Captaine, however in the stage, they haue beene pleased to make merry with him) he was restored unto his honour. The third and last meanes of avoydance, is by Cession & Surren­drie: & the examples hereof also are but few. This I am sure of, (not to make further search into it) that Philip King of Spaine, beeing offended with Qu. Elizabeth, about the altering of Religion, and thereby alienated from the English: delive­red backe to the Lord Vicount Mountague, Camd. Eliz. Anno 1560. the robes and habit of the Order, wherewith he was invested on his marriage with Qu. Mary. By which his Act, as the Historian hath observed, Cum Anglis amicitiam visus est prorsus eiurare: he seemed to breake off utterly, all amitie and friend­ship▪ with the realme of England. 'Tis true in­deed, King Philip being once resolved to renounce his Order, was of necessitie to send backe the ha­bit. For so it is ordained amongst them, that e­ven such of them as depart this life, are to take care especially, that the Garter, bee restored unto the Soveraigne; by him and by the Company of [Page 309] the said Order, to be disposed of to some other. Examples in which kinde are infinite to bee rela­ted. Windsore, the fairest and most stately of our English Pallaces, was by King Edward who ador­ned and beautified it; conceived most fit to bee the Seate of that most excellent Order, which he had established. An house indeed, worthie of such inhabitants; and therefore worthily honou­red by them. For here, they alwayes leave in readinesse, the mantle of their Order, to be layed up for them; for any suddaine chances which might happen to require their presence at Saint GEORGES Chappell, or in the Chapter-house. Here doe they solemnize the Installations of their Brethren; and performe their obsequies. And lastly, such a reverend regard they owe the place, that if they come within two miles of it (except that they be hindered by some weighty and im­portant businesse) they alwayes doe repaire there­to; and putting on their mantles, which are there in readinesse, proceed unto the Chappell, and there make their Offerings. Nor doe they go at any time from out the Castle, if their occasions bring them thither; till they have offered in like manner. I should now from the Knights and from the Order, proceed unto the Patron of it: but that I first must meet an errour; by some reputed as a Law and Statute of the Order, and so delivered by tradition from hand to hand: Pol. Virgil lib. 19. viz. that those of this Heroicke Order, are by their Order bound, Vt mutuo se iuvent, that they defend each other, at all extremities and assaies.

[Page 310]But doubtlesse there is no such matter. Onely the Knights are bound, not to ingage themselves in the service of a forreine Prince, without li­cence from the Soveraigne: nor to beare Armes on one side, if any of their Fellowes bee already entertained upon the other. This is the ground of the report: for Omnis fabula (as the Mytholo­gists affirme) fundatur in Historia. Id. Angl. hist. 26. Yet hereupon, Alphonso, Duke of Calabria, sonne unto Ferdinand King of Naples; knowing that Charles, the eighth of France, threatned the conquest of that King­dome: did with great importunitie request, to be elected of this Order; as accordingly hee was. Conceiving, that if once he were Companion of that Order, the King of England, as the Sove­raigne thereof, would be obliged, to countenance and aide him in his Warres against the French. Which hopes, as they were built upon a false, and ruinous ground; so is it not to bee admired, if they deceived him. Polydore Virgil, who before accounted mutuall defence to be a Statute of this Order: doth, in this passage, overthrow his owne building. Concluding this relation, of Alphonsus and his investiture, with this note; Iampridem ea consuetudo ferendi auxilij obsoleverat: that long agoe that custome had beene out of use. Ibid. He might as well have said, and more agreeable unto the truth; it had never beene.

(10) Having thus spoken of the Statutes of this most noble Order, whereby they are and [Page 311] beene govern'd; wee will descend in the next place to give you notice of their Patron; which, after the opinion of those times, they chose unto themselves. Of which, thus Pol. Virgil in his English Historie, Ord [...] verò est D. Georgio ut bella­torum praesidi dicatus: Lib. 19. quare equites quotannis diem ei sacrum multis ceremonijs colunt. This Order is (saith hee) dedicated unto Saint George, as the chiefe Saint and Patron, of the men of Warre: whose Festivall they therefore so­lemnely observe with many noble Ceremo­nies. But what need Polydore have beene produ­ced unto this purpose: since from the Charter of the Institution we have a testimony more authen­ticall. ‘For there King Edward tells us, that to the honour of Almighty GOD, and of the blessed Virgin, our Ladie, St. Mary; and of the glorious Martyr Saint GEORGE, Patron of the right noble Realme of England; and to the exaltation of the holy Catholicke Faith: hee had ordained, established, created, and foun­ded within his Castle of Windsore, a Compa­ny of twenty sixe noble Knights, to bee of the said most noble Order of Saint GEORGE, na­med the Garter.’ 'Tis true indeed that Polydore hath well observed with how great Ceremonie and solemnitie, the Knights doe celebrate this Feast. Attending both on the Vespers, and the day it selfe, at divine Service; attired in the most rich and stately Mantles of the Order: and gallantly adorned with their most rich & sumptuous Collars, [Page 312] (which wee call of S. S.) the Image of Saint GEORGE, garnished with pearles and preci­ous stones, appendant to them. In which their going to the Church, and in their setting at the Table; they goe, and set, by two and two: e­very one with his fellow, which is foreagainst him in his stall. And if by chance it happen that his fellow be not present; he doth both goe, and set, alone. I say, if so it chance to happen: for all the fellowes are obliged, to be there personal­ly present, without a just and reasonable cause, acceptable to the Soveraigne or his Deputie, and signified by speciall Letters of excuse. Other the pompe and rich magnificence of this Feast, I forbeare to mention, as utterly unable to ex­presse it. The minde is then best satisfied in such things as this; when the eye hath seene them. But I proceed unto St. George. Of which their Patron, and of the noble Order it selfe, the Marriage of the Tame and Isis, a Poeme written some yeeres past; doth thus des­cant.

Hence is it, that the Knights of this most ho­nourable Order, are called in Latine Equites Geor­giani, St. George's Knights; and sometimes also in the English: as in that passage before noted out of the Poly-Olbion.

And in many others also of our better sort of Au­thors.

(11) The other ornaments and habit belon­ging to this Order, besides the Garter, are a Gown, a Kirtle, a Chaperon, a Cloak, a Girdle, & a Collar: all stately & magnificent both for stuffe & fashion; [Page 314] but worne onely upon dayes of extraordinary solemnitie. For ordinary use, besides the Garter which is for every dayes wearing, and their Cloake with the Sunne on the left shoulder of it, in his full glorie; which last was added by his most excellent Majestie now being: they have a blew Ribbon which they weare about their neckes; with the picture, or rather portraiture of the GEORGE, appendant to it. This portraiture, or GEORGE, as they use to call it, Sir Walter Ra­leigh, against the streame of most Writers, makes to be Historicall: Part. 1. cap. 1. §. 10. I say against the streame of most writers; because I have not met with any others, which doe so conceive it, but Wicelius onely; as before I noted. Sir Walters reason, this. ‘And though (saith he) for the credit of the killing of the Dragon I leave every man to his owne beleefe: yet I cannot but thinke, that if the Kings of England had not some probable re­cord of that his memorable act among many o­thers; it is strange, that the Order full of honor, which Edward the third founded, Hist. of the world, Part, 1 l. 2. c. 7. §. 3. †. 5. and his suc­cessours royally continued, should have borne his name: seeing the world had not that scarcity of Saints in those dayes, as that the English were to make such an erection upon a fable, or per­son fained.’ So hee: And this I well allow of in relation to the Saint; whose being, and whose being of a Saint of speciall eminencie, it justifies sufficiently. But I perswade my selfe, it cannot well be used in the defence of his killing of the [Page 315] Dragon: which being thrust into the Legends by Iacobus de Voragine, as before we noted, found af­terwards a generall entertainment in the Christi­an Church: and amongst other places here in Eng­land also.

(12) As therefore some have made the whole storie of St. GEORGE, to be symbolicall; so have some others made it to be also, of the same nature, in particular relation to this Order. Thus Doctor Reynolds in his first of the Idolatries o [...] Rome, Cap, 5. §, 22▪ Verùm illustres eius Ordinis Heroes, melius iam edocti at (que) cruditi, intelligunt Georgium suum non Cappadocem esse, sed symbolicum: quo excitan­tur & monentur, ut Draconem oppugnent, & bestiam, Id est, Romanum Antichristum. The Nobles of that Order, (saith he) instructed better than before, conceive it rightly, that this their GEORGE hath no relation unto him of Cappadocia; but meer­ly is symbolicall: by which they are advised and lessoned, to labour to destroy the Beast, and Dragon, mention'd in the Apocalypse; id est, the Roman Antichrist. And to this purpose Dr. Boys, late Deane of Canterbury; Gospell 5. Sun­day after Ea­ster. ‘I write not this (saith hee) to dishonour that noble Order of the Garter. For under correction, & salvo sem­per honore Ordinis, I take the GEORGE which adornes those right honourable Worthies, to be symbolicalll onely: signifying that a valiant Knight should alwayes be ready to fight against the Dragon; and other enemies of the Church [Page 316] and state whatsoever.’ Which words of theirs may bee approved also, so farre as that this use may commendably bee made of it: but if they were thus spoken, as in relation to the first in­tention of the founder; there is not any thing more false, nor lesse agreeable to the truth of sto­rie. I say, this use may commendably bee made of it. For by the Charter of the Institution it apppeares plainely, that this most excellent Or­der was first ordained unto the honour of Al­mighty GOD, and to the exaltation of the Holy Catholicke Faith. And in the Statutes of the Order, it is a cause sufficient for a Knight to be refused at the Election; yea, and degraded after his Installation: that hee hath beene convicted and attainted of Heresie, and errour, against the Faith Catholicke; or hath for any such offence, suf­fred any paine, or conviction publicke. Adde here­unto, that when it is appointed, that their Banners Swords and Helmets, shall bee placed above their stalls; it is to this intent and purpose: to signi­fie (so saith the Statute) that they doe beare them in defence of holy Church, as all true knighthood doth require. So that we see, that all the purpose of the Order is to instruct and lesson them; still to oppose the Divell, that old Dragon, and all his instruments what ever, in maintenance of the Gospell, and Gods true Religion. For which cause doubtlesse, doth Chaucer, in a Sonnet to the fellowes of the Order; thus counsaile and ad­vise them.

So farre our English Homer, the Father of our English-Muses. I am not able to affirme it, but possibly it may be so, that some such matter was intended; when it was ordered so precisely in the Statutes, that none of this most noble Order, shall be seene openly without his George: and that it may not be ingaged, aliened, nor sold, nor given away, for any need, cause, or necessitie whatso­ever. Whereas the other of the Ornaments, are for solemne dayes onely; and that the Garter may sometimes be layed aside, as in case of taking a­ny journey: for then it is sufficient to weare a blew ribband under their bootes, to denote the Garter. I say perhaps some such might bee pur­pose of it: but I affirme it not for certaine. This I am sure of, that this their constant and continu­all wearing of St. GEORGE'S Image, may be a faire instruction unto all of this Heroicke Order; never to lay aside St. GEORGE'S resolution, of encountring with the Dragon, that old Serpent; that so they may at last receive the blessed and immarcessible Crowne of Glorie.

(13) I said before, that many of the mightiest Princes of Christendome have reputed it among [Page 318] their chiefe honours, to be chosen and admitted into this fellowship. For proofe of which, and that we may behold what excellent Peeres and Princes of our owne and other Nations, have in all times successively, beene chosen into this most noble Order: wee have adjoyn'd a Cata­logue of all Saint GEORGE'S Knights, from the first institution of it till the present. Which Catalogue I have here layed downe, according as I finde it in the Catalogue of Honour, publi­shed by Milles of Canterbury; adding unto him, such as have beene admitted, since that publication. Hereafter, if this worke may ever have a second birth, and that I have ability to nde, or meanes to search into the publike Re­gisters of this Order: I shall annex to every of them, the time of their Creation; as wee have done in all of them since the first of Queene E­LIZABETH.

• [Page 319]EDVVARD the III. King of England.
  Edward 3. An. Chr. 1350.
• HENRY, Duke of Lancaster.
• PETER, Capit. de la Bouche.
• WILLIAN MONTACVTE, Earle of Salisburie.
• IOHN, Lord Lisle.
• IOHN BEAVCHMP, Knight.
• HVGH COVRTNEY, Knight.
• IOHN GREY of Codnor. Knight.
• MILES STAPLETON, Knight.
• HVGH WORTHESLEY, Knight.
• IOHN CHANDOS, Knight Banneret.
• OTHO HOLLAND, Knight.
• [Page 320]SANCHIO DAMPREDICOVRT, Knight.
• EDVVARD Prince of Wales.
• THOMAS BEAVCHAMP Earle of War­wicke.
• RAPH, Earle of Stafford.
• ROGER MORTIMER, Earle of March.
• BARTHOLM. de Burgherst, Knight.
• IOHN, Lord Mohun of Dunstere.
• THOMAS HOLLAND, Knight.
• RICHARD FITZ-SIMON, Knight.
• THOMAS WALE, Knight.
• NEELE LORENGE, Knight.
• IAMES AVDLEY, Knight.
• HENRY ESME, Knight.
• WALTER PAVELY, Knight.

Which Founders being dead, these following were in the time of the said Edward the third, e­lected in their places; according as their stalls became vacant, by the death of any of the others.

• RICHARD of Burdeaux, Prince of Wales; and after, King of England, of that name the second.
• LIONELL, Duke of Clarence.
• IOHN of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
• EDMOND of Langley, Duke of Yorke.
• IOHN, Duke of Brittaine, and Earle of Rich­mond.
• [Page 321]HVMFREY de Bohun, Earle of Hereford.
• WI [...]LIAM, de Bohun Earle of Northampton.
• IOHN HASTINGS, Earle of Pembrooke.
• THOMAS BEAVCHAMP, Earle of War­wicke.
• RICHARD FITZ-ALAN, Earle of Arundell.
• ROBERT VFFORD, Earle of Suffolke.
• HVGH, Earle of Stafford.
• GVISCARD of Engolesine, Earle of Hun­tingdon.
• INGELRAM of Coucy, Earle of Bedford.
• EDVVARD, Lord Despencer.
• WILLIAM, Lord Latimer.
• REYNOLD Lord Cobham, of Sterborough.
• IOHN, Lord Nevill of Raby.
• RAPH, Lord Basset of Drayton.
• Sir WAL [...]. MANNY, Banneret.
• Sir THOMAS VFFORD.
• Sir THOMAS FELTON.
• Sir FRANCIS VAN HALL.
• Sir ALAN BOXHVLL.
• Sir RICH. PEMBRVGE.
• Sir THOMAS VTREIGHT.
• Sir THOM. BANISTER.
• Sir RICH. LA VACHE.
• Sir GVY of Brienne.