To agricultural societies, which in other parts of the kingdom have been productive of great and extensive benefit, Suffolk is perhaps less indebted than any other county. The only institution of this kind, is the Melford Society, which meets alternately at Bury and Melford. On its first establishment, some of the members read memoirs of experiments, which appeared in the Annals of Agriculture; but for some years this has been dropped. A few premiums were offered, but never claimed, for which reason they have likewise been discontinued.

COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES.---The commerce and manufactures of Suffolk are inconsiderable in comparison with those of many other counties of England; and even those are, from various causes, upon the decline.

The imports are the same as in all the other maritime counties: and corn and malt are the principal exports. Lowestoff is celebrated for its herring fishery, which was formerly more productive than at present; and of which farther notice will be taken in treating of that town.

The principal fabric of the county was, till lately, the spinning and combing of wool, which extended throughout the greatest part of Suffolk, with the exception of the district in which the manufacture of hemp is exclusively carried on. In the year 1784, the woollen fabric was estimated by Mr. Oakes, of Bury, to employ 37,600 men, women and children, whose earnings amounted, upon an average, to 150,0001. per annum. The Norwich manufacture alone employed nearly half of the above number. At present this fabric is far from being so flourishing in this county, having been chiefly transferred to Yorkshire.

At Sudbury there is a manufacture of says, and also a small silk manufactory; and some calimancoes are still made at Lavenham.

GENERAL HISTORY---Suffolk, so called from the Saxon appellation Sudfolk, or southern people, in contradistinction to the Nordfolk, or northern people, constituted, at the time of the invasion of the Romans, part of the district belonging to the tribe, whon those conquerors denominated Iceni, or Cenomanni. Their history

history has already been given in preceding volumes of this work*. In the Roman division of the island, it was comprehended in the province of Flavia Cæsariensis.

When the Romans, after a possession of four centuries, abandoned Britain to its fate, and the Saxons, on the invitation of its pusillanimous inhabitants, had made themselves complete master's of the country, Suffolk, constituted with Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, one of the seven petty kingdoms, into which these new masters parcelled out the island. It was denominated East Anglia. To this state the German Ocean formed a natural barrier on the east and north-east; the Stour divided it from the kingdom of the East Saxons, or Essex, on the south; and on the west and north-west it bordered upon Mercia. The boundary on this side has not been accurately ascertained; but it is the general opinion, that the stupendous effort of human labor, known by the name of the Devil's Ditch, on Newmarket Heath, was formed as a line of demarcation and mutual defence. This opinion is encouraged by the account of Abbo Floriacensis, who says, that " on the west part is a ditch and mound like a lofty wall." By subsequent monastic writers it has been termed St. Edmund's Ditch; and many antiquaries and historians have adopted this appellation.

From the various and contradictory statements of ancient writers, the precise period of the establishment of the monarchy of the EastAngles by Uffa, cannot be fixed with certainty; but we shall not probably be far from the truth, if we assume the year 530 of the Christian era as the date of that event. Uffa, after a long reign, died in 578, and was succeeded by Titil, whose history is involved in the darkest obscurity. His death is supposed to have happened in 592, when his son, Redwald, inherited the kingdom, and was the first East-Anglian monarch who embraced Christianity; but the influence of his queen occasioned his relapse into the doctrines of paganism. His son, Eorpwald, who ascended the throne in 624, also professed the Christian religion, though the greater part

C4

See Vol. II. p. 3. Vol. VII. p. 325; and Vol. XL. Norfolk, p. 7.

of

of his subjects still continued in the rudest state of idolatry. After a short reign of six years, he was basely murdered by the hand of a relation. The honor of giving Christianity a permanent footing in East-Anglia was reserved for Sigbrecht, or Sigebert, the successor of Eorpwald. This prince was the son by a former marriage of Redwald's second queen; and finding that the popularity which his amiable qualities and accomplishments obtained for him, had excited the jealousy of his step-father, he retired to France. There he became a proficient in the literature of the age, and a zealous professor of the Christian faith. From this voluntary exile Sigebert was recalled on the death of his half-brother, for the purpose of being placed on the vacant throne. He brought over with him Felix, a learned and pious Burgundian priest, whom he appointed bishop of Dunwich, In consequence of the indefatigable exertions of this prelate, and the judicious assistance of the sovereign, the latter soon had the satisfaction of witnessing the general conversion of his subjects to the Christian faith. To this monarch the town of Bury was indebted for the germ of the ecclesiastical distinction to which it afterwards attained; for here Sigebert founded a monastery, and built a church, which he dedi cated to the Blessed Virgin, After a reign of seven yenrs, motives of mistaken piety impelled this prince to resign the cares of a crown to his kinsman Egric, and to become a monk in his own convent. The royal recluse was not destined long to enjoy the pleasures of retirement. Penda, king of Mercia, having turned his arms against the East-Angles, Sigebert was prevailed upon to quit his monastery, and to assume the command of their army. His attempt to oppose the invader proved unsuccessful, both himself and Egric being slain in 644. The crown now devolved to Anna, the nephew of Redwald, a prince distinguished for wisdom and valor, Notwithstanding these qualities, he was unable to cope with the superior power of Penda; and after an unequal contest of ten years, he bravely fell with his son Firminus, in an obstinate battle fought at Bullchamp, near Dunwich, in 655. The remains of the two princes were interred at Blithburgh, but after

afterwards removed to the abbey church at Bury. The assistance afforded to Penda by Ethelred, the unnatural brother of Anna, now procured his elevation to the throne of East-Anglia, which continued to be governed by its own princes till Offa, king of Mercia, about the year 792, basely assassinated Ethelbert, and seized his kingdom. Ravaged by contending armies, the country was converted into a scene of bloodshed and desolation, but in 828 it was obliged to submit to the preponderating power of Egbert, king of the West-Saxons. That monarch, instead of incorporating East-Anglia with his own dominions, suffered it to remain as a tributary state under its own sovereigns, the last of whom was the unfortunate Edmund, dignified after his death with the titles of Saint and Martyr.

The subsequent history of Suffolk having been already related in that of Norfolk,* it will be sufficient to remark, that among other districts laid waste by Sweyne, king of Denmark, on his invasion of England, this county suffered most severely from his ravages; neither towns nor churches being spared, unless redeemed by the inhabitants with large sums of money: but to compensate in some measure for this treatment, Canute, his son and successor, shewed it particular kindness,

When William the Conqueror had by his sword made good his claim to the English crown, and confiscated the estates of the Saxon nobility and gentry throughout the kingdom, in order to reward the valor or fidelity of his principal officers, the county of Suffolk was parcelled out among them in the following manner:

To Hugh de Abrineis, Earl of Chester, his sister's son, he gave

32 manors

To Robert, Earl of Morton and Cornwall

10

To Odo of Champagne, Earl of Albemarle and
Holdernesse

14

To William Malet, Lord of Eye in this county -
To Robert de Todenei, a noble Norman

- 221 manors

4

At the same time Ralph Waher, or Guader,* was by the conqueror constituted earl, or chief governor of this county, as well as Norfolk; but this nobleman having conspired against the king, was obliged to quit the country, upon which his titles were conferred on Roger Bigod.

In the reign of Henry II. about the year 1173, Robert, Earl of Leicester, having taken part with Henry, the eldest son of that monarch, whose ambition, inflamed by the king of France, tempted him to aspire to the throne of his father, invaded this county with an army of Flemings, and was joined by Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk. This force overran nearly the whole county; but being met near Bury, by the royal troops, under the lord chief justice, they were routed with great slaughter, and the earl himself taken prisoner. By these two armies Suffolk was at this time miserably laid waste, especially in the neighborhood of the place where the battle was fought:

During the first war between the barons and king John, Hugh de Boves, a French knight, not less remarkable for his valor, than for his arrogance, promised to bring over a strong army to the assistance of the latter. In consideration of this intended service,

• See Beauties, Vol. XI. Norfolk, p. 60.