Fabyans cronycle newly prynted, wyth the cronycle, actes, and dedes done in the tyme of the reygne of the moste excellent prynce kynge Henry the vii. father vnto our most drad souerayne lord kynge Henry the .viii. To whom be all honour, reuere[n]ce, and ioyfull contynaunce of his prosperous reygne, to the pleasure of god and weale of this his realme amen

THE PROLOGE

WHan I aduertyse in my remembraunce The manyfolde storyes, in order duely sette Of kyng•• & princes, y^e whilom had gouernaūce Of Rome and Italye, and other further fette As of Iewes & Grekes, the whyche haue no let But that men may se in order seryously How longe they reygned, & how successyuely.

Of Fraunce and other I myght lykewyse reporte To theyr great honour, as of them doth appere, But to Englande yf I shall resorte Ryght mysty storyes, doutfull and vnclere Of names, of tymes, and of the duraunt yere That kynges or prynces ruled that famouse yle Almoste vncertayne how I shuld guyde my style.

And for of cunnynge I am full destytute To brynge to frame so great a mystery: I nyll presume wythout other refute To ioyne suche a worke, or yt to rectyfye To me yt semyth so farre sette awrye In tyme of yeres, to other dyscordaunt That to my dull wytte yt is not atteynaunt

To brynge in order a thynge of suche weyght And cause yt to agre wyth other olde storyes,

But yt to remytte to them that ben sleyght And sharpe in lecture, and haue kepte theyr studyes And sought the bokes of many olde hystoryes And haue in cronycles full experyence To frame suche a worke by theyr great prudence.

And I lyke y^e prētyse, that hewyth the rough stone And bryngeth yt to square wyth hard strokes & many That the mayster after may it ouergone And prynte therin his fygures and his storye Any so to worke yt after his proporcynary That yt may appere to all that shall yt se A thynge ryght perfyte, and well in eche degre.

So haue I now sette out this rude warke As rough as the stone not cōmen to the square That the lerned, and the studyed clerke May yt ouer polyshe, and clene do yt pare Flowryshe yt wyth eloquence, wherof yt is bare And frame yt in order, that yet is out of ioynt That it with olde authours may gree in euery poynt.

Besechynge hym, that wyll so take the payne Or any other, that lyste on this to loke where any errour in this by hym is sayne It to correcte and mende this rude boke For by hym that neuer yet any order toke Or gre of scole, or sought for great cunnynge This worke is gaderyd wyth small vnderstandynge.

Not for any pompe, nor yet for great mede This worke haue I taken on hande to compyle But onely bycause that I wolde sprede The famouse honour of this fertyle yle That hath contynued by many a longe whyle In excellent honour wyth many a royall guyde Of whom the dedes haue sprong to the world wyde.

But of those dedes me lyste not here to shewe For in the sequele they shall well appere And in shorte processe, and in as wordes fewe As I goodly may, I shall lynke in fere The storyes of Englande, and fraunce so dere That to the reader yt may well be say••e what kynges to gyder ruled these landes twayne.

And in the pryncypyll of the reygne of euery kyng

As well of one and other more and lesse what yere of the worlde he toke begynnynge To guyde his realme: and farther besynesse I wyll eke take, to shewe and expresse what terme of yeres euery prynce dyd reygne. And in what honour he dyd his tyme maynteyne.

The tyme also how longe the Brytons ruled, And how by Saxons they lastely were put oute. Then of Danes / whyche both landes defoyled By theyr outrage / and of theyr fury stoute: Of whom both nacyons stode longe in great doute, Tyll Fraunce wyth them allyed by maryage And Englande lastely voyded that lynage.

Then how the Normayns, by wyllyā cōquerour, Entrede this lande, and helde the seygnory A certayne of tyme, tyll the hygh gouernour Restored the blode of Saxons enterly And of the Scottes, that neuer coude apply To kepe theyr allegeaunce / but many a tyme rebelled And to be true were full often compelled.

The fatall warre, that hath dured so longe Twene Fraūce and Englande, to both theyr damage And of the peace, that hath ben vnderfonge Both by great othes / and eke by maryage. Of walys geryshenesse / and of theyr lyght dotage How they were scourged for theyr vnstedfastnesse, wyth dyuers other, whyche I shall after expresse.

And for that London, that auncyent cytye Hath euer perseueryd in vertuous noblesse To the great honour, as may consydred be, Of all this lande / in welth and great largesse Therfore I thynke somwhat to expresse Of theyr good order, and cyuyle polycy That they so longe haue ruled theyr cytye by.

And of theyr rulers / as they are yerely chosen To rule the cōmonte by theyr dyscrecyon, I shall you shewe, and to you dysclosen The names of mayres and shyryffes of that towne And all suche actes / as by reuolucyone In theyr dayes fyll / so that there shall appere The prynces actes, whyche chaunged yere by yere.

Of Fraunce also the cronycle shall ensew In his dewe order / so that ye may knowe, when they beganne theyr prynces to renewe And from the seruage when they were kept lowe Of the Romayns / whom they dyd ouerthrowe And of theyr names that they whylom dyd chaunge Of theyr fyrst baptysme, and of theyr names straūge.

Thus in this boke maye you here and se Of bothe landes the cronycles entyere, wyth other maters / whyche regystred be Of olde wryters, suche as wrote full clere Actes of prynces done both farre and nere, And them engrosed wyth great dylygence: wherby to theyr folowers myght growe experyence.

Into .vii. partes I haue this boke dyuyded So that the reder may chose where he wyll. The fyrste conteyneth, how the Brytons guyded This lande from Brute, Moliuncius vntyll. And from Moliuncius I have sette for skyll To the nynthe yere of kynge Cassibelan The seconde parte / for that the Romaynes than

Conquered Brytayne. And thens to Seueryne The thyrde parte I haue also assygned. The fourth endyth then at Constantyne. The fyfte at Cadwalader I haue also dyffned. At the conquest I have eke determyned The .vi. parte. And of the Seuenth or laste At our redoubted prynce I haue the ende caste.

Henry the .vii. whom god preserue and saue, And hym defende from all aduersyte, Besechynge them that wyll the laboure haue This boke to rede / or any parte to se That where defaute is / yt may corrected be wythout dysdayne / and that they wyll supporte And ayde this worke wyth all theyr comforte.

And for this boke includeth storyes fele, And to wchyth thynges done in sondry place So that one tyme muste wyth an other dele To kepe the yeres, the tyme, and the space Therfore this name yt shall now purchace (Concordaunce of storyes) by me prouyded The auctor sans nome fynally deuysed.

And for thys worke may haue the better spede To prayer me thynketh yt is ryght necessarye That I shulde fall, consyderynge my nede That I must haue, for lacke of due studye, where through that connynge and perfyte memory Of thynges taken, when I was yonge and hynde Ben farre sette of, and putte from my mynde.

By this is ignoraunce now comen in place And oblyuyon hath sette in hys fote So that knowlege from me they done race, wherby in olde auctours I myght fynde some boot In latyn and frenche, that in theyr dytees swoot These olde wryters haue so compendyously Sette the olde storyes in order dylygently.

But in this prayer I thynke nought to be vsed As dyddyn these poetys in theyr olde dayes, whyche made theyr prayers to goddes abused As Iupiter and Mars, that in theyr olde lawes, were named goddes, and fayned in theyr sawes, That they were goddes of batayll and rychesse And hadde in them great vertue and prowesse.

For what may helpe these fayned goddes all As Saturne or Mercury, or yet bryght Apollo, Bacchus, or Neptune, or Pluto the thrall, Eolus, Morynos, or blynde Cupido, Or yet that goddesse, the fayre Iuno, Diana, or Pallas, or Ceres the fre, Or yet the Musys that ben thryes thre?

wherto shulde I call vnto Caliope Moder of Orpheus, wyth swete armony That of eloquence hath the soueraynte, Or to Carmentis, whyche by her fyrste studye The latyne letters foūde out perfytly Syns all these were mynystres of god immortall And hadde in them no power dyuynall?

wherfore to the lorde, that is celestyall I wyll now crye, that of hys influence Of grace and mercy, he wyll a droppe lette fall, And sharpe my wytte wyth suche experience, That this may fynyshe wyth his assystence, wyth fauour of the virgyn, his moder moste excellent, To whom I thus pray, wyth mynde and hole entent.

Assit principio sancta Maria meo.

Moste blessyd lady, comforte to suche as calle To the for helpe, in eche necessyte, And what thou aydest, may in no wyse apalle But to the best is formyd in ylke degre: wherfore good lady, I praye yt may please the At my begynnynge my penne so to lede That by thyne ayde this worke may haue good spede