Volume 1

The works of Sir Thomas Browne / edited by Simon Wilkin.

  • Thomas Browne
Date:
1890-1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The works of Sir Thomas Browne / edited by Simon Wilkin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    burning their bodies, or acme sacrificing place unto the manes, which was properly below the surface of the ground^ as the (Era and altars unto the gods and heroes above it. That these were the urns of Romans from the common custom and place where they were found, is no obscure conjecture, not far from a Eoman garrison, and but five mUes from Bran caster, set down by ancient record under the name of Branodunum. And where the adjoining town, containing seven parishes, in no very difl'erent sound, but Saxon termination, still retains the name of Burnham, which being an early station, it is not improbable the neigh- bovir parts were filled with habitations, either of Eomans themselves, or Britons Romanized, which observed the Roman customs. Nor is it improbable, that the Romans early possessed this country. For though we meet not with such strict particulars of these parts before the new institution of Con- Btantine and military charge of the count of the Saxon shore, and that about the Saxon invasions, the Dalmatian horsemen were in the garrison of Brancaster; yet in the time of Claudius, Vespasian, and Severus, we find no less than three legions dispersed through the province of Britain. And as high as the reign of Claudius a gi'eat overthrow was given unto the Iceni, by the Roman lieutenant Ostorius. Not long after, the country was so molested, that, in hope of a better state, Prasutagus bequeathed his kingdom unto Nero and his daughters; and Boadicea, his queen, fought the last decisive battle with Paulinus. After which time, and conquest of Agricola, the lieutenant of Vespasian, pro- bable it is, they wholly possessed this country; ordering it into garrisons or habitations best suitable with their secu- rities. And so some Roman habitations not improbable in these parts, as high as the time of Vespasian, where the Saxons after seated, in whose thin-filled maps we yet find the name of Walsingham. Now if the Iceni were but Gammadims, Anconians, or men that lived in an angle, wedge, or elbow of Britain, according to the original etymo- logy, this coimtry will challenge the emphatical appellation, as most properly making the elbow or iken of Icenia.^ • Nou if Oie, <fcc.] That is to say, if ikeii (as well ayKwv) signified
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