THE FLOWERS OF HISTORY ESPECIALLY SUCH AS RELATE TO THE AFFAIRS OF BRITAIN. FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE YEAR 1307. COLLECTED BY MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER. PREFACE. WE have thought fit to set forth the chief accidents of the times, and the series of events from the beginning of the world to the present hour, and also the successions of certain kingdoms and monarchs, for the instruction of future ages; in order that an attentive reader may, from our brief notices, be led to gather a fuller knowledge of the facts related. But what are we to say in reply to certain dull auditors, who, in a spirit of detraction, say, "What occasion is there to commit to writing the lives and deaths of men, and different events which happen to mankind? Why perpetuate by written records the recollection of prodigies in heaven and earth, or those which affect the other elements?" Let them know that the good lives and virtuous manners of men of old time, are recorded to serve as patterns for the imitation of subsequent ages; and that the examples of the wicked are set forth, not that they may be imitated, but that they may be shunned. But prodigies and portents, in past time, threaten the faithful VOL. I. B with famine, or mortality, or other sources of supreme vengeance. Therefore, the recollection of these events is handed down in books, that if at any time similar occurrences should take place, sinners who recollect that they have by any means incurred the wrath of God, may flee to the remedy of repentance, and appease God by such means. It is on this account, therefore, (not but what there are other sufficient reasons likewise) that Moses, the lawgiver, sets before us, in his Divine History, the innocence of Abel, the envy of Cain, the simplicity of Jacob, the craftiness of Esau, the malice of the eleven sons of Israel, the goodness of the twelfth, to wit, Joseph, and the punishment of the five cities which were consumed by fire and brimstone; in order that we may imitate the good, and avoid being followers of the wicked, and by shunning all temptations to sin, we may radically weaken it; and this is the effect produced in us not only by Moses, but by all the authors of the Holy Volume, both in their historical and moral works, where they commend virtue, and show their detestation of vice, and so teach us at the same time to fear and to love God. Those men, then, must not be listened to, who say that books of Chronicles, and especially those published by Catholics, ought to be neglected; since by the study of them a diligent enquirer may be able to discover by his memory, to understand by his intelligence, and to set forth, with eloquence, all that is necessary for human life, and for human safety. BOOK I. THE FIRST AGE OF THE WORLD. FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD TO THE DELUGE. B.C. 4004-2349. THE CREATION-ADAM IS DRIVEN FROM PARADISE-CAIN AND ABEL-NOAH. CH. I.-The Creation of the World. IN six days God accomplished the creation of the world. On the second day he poised the firmament of heaven in the midst of the waters: the waters themselves, and the earth, together with the upper heaven, and those virtues which enabled them to praise their maker, having been created before the beginning of these six days. On the third day, having collected the waters, which had previously covered everything, into their place, he bade the dry land appear. On the fourth day he placed the stars in the firmament of heaven, and that day, as far as we can now collect, by a calculation of the equinox, was the twelfth day of the calends of April (March 21). On the fifth day he created all swimming and flying and breathing creatures. On the sixth day he formed the terrestrial animals, and the man Adam himself, in the district of Damascus; and from the side of Adam, while he was sleeping, he produced Eve, the mother of all living. And the day on which he did this, was, according to the most credible conjecture, the tenth of the calends of April (March 23). From which circumstance, it is deservedly believed, (unless some more probable opinion shall be maintained hereafter,) that on this same tenth day of the calends of April the Lord was crucified. For God appointed that on one and the same day, not only of the week, but also of the month, the second Adam, having been con demned to the sleep of death, for the object of the life-giving salvation of the human race, and having produced the heavenly sacraments out of his own side, shall sanctify to himself the church as his spouse, on the same day on which he had originally, himself, created Adam, and, taking a rib out of his side, had formed a woman, by whose assistance the human race might be propagated. CH. II.-Adam is driven out of Paradise. ADAM having been transferred into Paradise, from whence the four rivers arise, after he had given names to his wife and to all the other animals and things, yielded to his wife in the matter of eating the apple. After this, having made girdles because of their feelings of shame at their nakedness, they are driven by the Lord out of Paradise, and in the sweat of their brow do they seek bread out of the earth, which has been cursed. After this, cherubim armed with a flaming sword are placed by the Lord before the gate of paradise, and not only our first parents, but their whole posterity, are driven out from the delights of paradise. CH. III.-The birth of Cain and Abel, and the death of Abel. ADAM knew his wife, not indeed while in Paradise, but after he was guilty, and banished from it. And although the lawgiver Moses has given us a brief list of the generations of Adam, as he was hastening on to the times of Abraham, the father of the Hebrews, still he has passed over the names of many sons and daughters of Adam. But Methodius, the martyr, when he was in prison, prayed to God, and the revelation which he prayed for, concerning the beginning and end of the world, was given to him by the Holy Spirit. And he has left us a written statement, (drawn up indeed in a simple style) saying that they both, to wit, Adam and Eve, were virgins when they departed from Paradise. 1 The names of these rivers are thus given in the Bible, Genesis ii. 11-14. "The name of the first is Pison, that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah: where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Æthiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates." B.C. 3000. THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN. And in the fifteenth year of the life of Adam, Cain was born to him, and also his sister Calmana. Fifteen years later, Abel was born to him, and also his sister Delbora. Then in the hundred and thirtieth year of his (that is of Adam's) life, Cain slew Abel, and Adam and Eve mourned for him a hundred years, and then Seth was born to him in the thirtieth year of the first Chiliad, that is to say of the first age.3 CH. IV.-Cain becomes a Wanderer. CAIN the husbandman, grieving that his own offerings were rejected, while those of Abel were not, slew his brother, although for the action he was reproved by the Lord, and destined to be punished by a sevenfold sin. Subsequently he was made a vagabond and a houseless man upon the face of the earth, after he had been cursed by the Lord. 6 CH. V.-The Descendants of Cain. CAIN knew his wife Calmana, and she brought him forth Enoch; Enoch begat Irad; Irad begat Mamael; Mamael begat Matusael; Matusael begat Lamech; Lamech had two wives, to wit, Adah and Zillah. By Adah he had a son named Jabaal; by Zillah he had Tubalcain and Naamah. This Lamech was the first man who introduced bigamy; and when he had slain a man to his wounding, and a young man in his envy, he foretold to his wives that on this account there was a seventy-fold punishment due to him." 2 The date of Cain's birth as at present believed, and inserted in the margin of the Bible, is the year after the Creation of the World, viz. 4003. Abel's birth is supposed to have followed immediately; the death of Abel is by the same authority placed in the year 3875. 3 This is not very plain; the year of Seth's birth is usually given as 3769 B.C., 235 A.M., and, by the account of our author himself, it would be the two hundred and thirtieth, or thirty-first of Adam's life. 4 This seems to refer to Gen. iv. 15. "And the Lord said unto Cain, therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." See note on chap. v. 5 The name in the Bible is Mehujael. 6 The Bible tells us that Adah had two sons, Gen. iv. 20, 21. "And Adah bare Jabal; he was the father of all such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ." 7 This refers to Gen. iv. 23, 24. "And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech; for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt if Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and seven fold." : |