ABSTRACT
AS in old time we read that there were eight and twentie flamines and archflamines in the south part of this Ile, and so manie great cities vnder their iurisdiction: so in these our daies there is but one or two fewer, and each of them also vnder the ecclesiasticall regiment of some one bishop or archbishop, who in spirituall cases haue the charge and ouersight of the same. So manie cities therefore are there in England and Wales, as there be bishopriks & archbishopriks. For notwithstanding that Lichfield and Couentrie, and Bath and Welles, doo seeme to extend the aforesaid number vnto nine and twentie: yet neither of these couples are to be accounted, but as one entier citie and sée of the bishop, sith one bishoprike can haue relation but vnto one see, and the said see be situate but in one place, after which the bishop dooth take his name. It appeareth by our old and ancient histories, that the cities of this southerlie portion haue beene of excéeding greatnesse and beautie, whereof some were builded in the time of the Samotheans, and of which not a few in these our times are quite decaied, and the places where they stood worne out of all remembrance. Such also for the most part as yet remaine are maruellouslie altered, insomuch that whereas at the first they were large and ample, now are they come either vnto a verie few houses, or appeare not to be much greater in comparison than poore & simple villages. Antoninus the most diligent writer of the thorough fares of Britaine, noteth among other these ancient townes following, as Sitomagus, which he placeth in the waie from Norwich, as Leland supposeth (wherin they went by Colchester) to London, Nouiomagus that lieth betwéene Carleill and Canturburie, within ten miles east of London, and likewise Neomagus and Niomagus which take their names of their first founder Magus, the sonne of Samothes, & second king of the Celtes that reigned in this Iland; and not “A profunditate,” onelie, as Bodinus affirmeth out of Plinie, as if all the townes that ended in Magus should stand in holes and low grounds: which is to be disprooued in diuerse cities in the maine, as also here with vs. Of these moreouer sir Thomas Eliot supposeth Neomagus to haue stood somewhere about Chester; & George Lillie in his booke of the names of ancient places, iudgeth Niomagus to be the verie same that we doo now call Buckingham, and lieth farre from the shore. And as these and sundrie other now perished tooke their denomination of this prince, so there are diuerse causes, which mooue me to coniecture, that Salisburie dooth rather take the first name of Sarron the sonne of the said Magus, than of Cæsar, Caradoc or Seuerus (as some of our writers doo imagine) or else at the least wise of Salisburge of the maine, from whence some Saxons came to inhabit in this land. And for this later not vnlikelie, sith tefore the comming of the Saxons, the king of the Suessionenses had a great part of this Iland in subiection, as Cæsar saith; and in another place that such of Belgie as stale ouer hither from the maine, builded and called diuerse cities after the names of the same from whence they came, I meane sucn as stood vpon the coast, as he himselfe dooth witnesse. But sith coniectures are no verities, and mine opinion is but one mans iudgement, I will not stand now vpon the proofe of this matter, least I should seeme to take great paines in adding new coniectures vnto old, in such wise to deteine the heads of my readers about these trifles, that otherwise peraduenture would be farre better occupied in matters of more importance. To proceed therefore. As soone after the first inhabitation of this Iland, our cities began no doubt to be builded and increased, so they ceased not to multiplie from time to time, till the land was throughlie furnished with hir conuenient numbers, whereof some at this present with their ancient names, doo still remaine in knowledge, though diuerse be doubted of, and manie more perished by continuance of time, and violence of the enimie. I doubt, not also but the least of these were comparable to the greatest of those which stand in our time, for sith that in those daies the most part of the Iland was reserued vnto pasture, the townes and villages either were not at all 320(but all sorts of people dwelled in the cities indifferentlie, an image of which estate may yet be seene in Spaine) or at the lestwise stood not so thicke, as they did afterward in the time of the Romans, but chéefelie after the comming of the Saxons, and after them the Normans, when euerie lord builded a church neare vnto his owne mansion house, and thereto imparted the greatest portion of his lands vnto sundrie tenants, to hold the same of him by coppie of court roll, which rolles were then kept in some especiall place indifferentlie appointed by them and their lord, so that the one could haue no resort vnto them without the other, by which means the number of townes and villages was not a little increased. If anie man be desirous to know the names of those ancient cities, that stood in the time of the Romans, he shall haue them here at hand, in such wise as I haue gathered them out of our writers, obseruing euen their manner of writing of them so neare as to me is possible, without alteration of anie corruption crept vp into the same.
Six and twentie cities in England.
Sitomagus.
Nouiomagus.
Ncomagus. Niomagu.
Salisburie of Sarron.
Sarronium. Sarronsburg.
Greater cities in times past when husband-men also were citizens.
The cause of the increase of villages.
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A legion conteined sixie centuries, thirtie manipuli, thrée cohortes.
* Cair Segent stood vpon the Thames, not farre from Reding.
