The Colchester Book Of Days PDF Download

Excerpt from The Oath Book, or Red Parchment Book of Colchester There is singularly little light on general history. A list of Christian Kings of England is given (pp. 25 full of ecclesiastical fiction and inaccuracy. There is also the curious 14th century chronicle of the ever famous King Coel (pp. 27 with much strange medieval embroidery about it. But though the official records are reticent as to the more important incidents of national history, we can recognise the fact that Colchester was often - if not always - in sympathy with revolution. At an early period lollardry was existent in the borough (vide Red Paper Book, pp. 52 and One may even suspect some slight indication of friendly interest in Wat Tyler's rebellion. The reformation of religion was certainly welcomed. Probably no town in England had a larger proportion of Marian martyrs. It was anti - Royalist in the Civil War, though it had the curious fate of standing a siege against the Parliament army and suffering severely in consequence. In 1656 John Evelyn wrote of Colchester as a ragged and factious town, swarming with sectaries. This was from Evelyn's point of view. Looking back at the town's history, we need not be surprised that its own remarkable independence had fostered a spirit of independence in its free citizens. But so far as the Red Parchment Book is concerned there is not much evidence of the feeling of Colchester in periods of national excitement. The people may have been turbulent, but the rulers were careful burgesses. Their policy would seem to have been rather that of the Vicar of Bray - though with more honourable ambition - and whatsoever King might reign, their main object was to be masters in their own house. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.