Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	authority_n	king_n	kingdom_n	1,417	5	5.6187	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05354	A treatise tovvching the right, title, and interest of the most excellent Princess Marie, Queene of Scotland, and of the most noble king Iames, her Graces sonne, to the succession of the croune of England VVherein is conteined asvvell a genealogie of the competitors pretending title to the same croune: as a resolution of their obiections. Compiled and published before in latin, and after in Englishe, by the right reuerend father in God, Iohn Lesley, Byshop of Rosse. VVith an exhortation to the English and Scottish nations, for vniting of them selues in a true league of amitie.; Defence of the honour of the right highe, mightye and noble Princesse Marie Quene of Scotlande and dowager of France. Selections	Leslie, John, 1527-1596.	1584 (1584)	STC 15507; ESTC S108494	94,307	147

statute are omitted the same is vitious and voide in the lawe So likewise the statute made in Anno 32. 32. H. 8. 6. 1. H. 8. geueth authoritie to dispose landes and Testamentes by last VVil and Testement in writing If a man do deuise his lande by his last VVil and Testament nuncupatiue without writing this deuise is insufficiēt in law not warrāted by the said statute VVe leaue of a number of like cases that we might multiplie in the prooff of this matter wherein we haue taried the longer bycause the Aduersaries make so great a countenance therevpon and bycause all vnder one it may serue for the answere also touching the Kinges royal assente to be geuen to Parlamentes by his Letters Patentes signed with his hande which is nothing else but a declaration affirmance of the common lawe no newe authoritie geuen to him to do that he could not doo before or any forme prescribed to bind him vnto Bisides that in this case there is no feare in the worlde of forging and counterfeyting the Kinges hande whereas in the Testamētarie cause it is farre otherwise as the worlde knoweth and dayly experience teacheth And so withall do we conclude that by reason this surmised will was not signed with the Kinges hand it can not any way hurt or hinder the iuste right and clame of the Queene of Scotland to the succession of the Croune of England Now supposing that neither the L. Paget nor Sir Edward Montague and VVilliam Clarke had testified or plublished any thing to the infringing ouerthrowing of the Aduersaries assertiō touching the signing of the said will yet is not therby the Queene of Scotlandes title altogether hindred For she yet hath her iust and lawful defence for the oppugning of the said assertion as well against the persones and sayings of the witnesses if any shall come foorth as otherwise shee may iustly require the said wil to be brought forth to light and especially the signing of the same with the Kings hande to be duely and consideratly pondered weyghed and conferred She hath her iust defence and exeptions and must haue And it were against al lawes and the lawe of nature it selfe to spoile her of the same And all good reason geueth that the said original will standing vpon the triall of the Kings hande be exhibited that it may be compared with his other certaine and well knowen hand writing And that other things may be done that are requisite in this behalfe But yet all this notwithstanding let vs nowe imagine suppose that the King him selfe whose hart and hand were doubtlesse farre from any such doings lette vs yet I say admitte that he had signed the said will with his owne hande Yet for all that the Aduersaries perchance shal not finde no not in this case that the Queenes iuste Title right and interest doth any thing fayle or quayle The supposed vvill can not preiudice the Quene of Scotlād though it had ben signed vvi h the Kinges ovv e hand Or rather lette vs without any perchance say the iustice and equitie of her cause and the inuincible force of trueth to be suche that neither the Stampe nor the Kinges owne hande can beare and beate it downe VVhiche thing we speake not without good probable and weightie reasons Neither do we at this time minde to debate discourse what power and autoritie and how farre the Parlament hath to doe in this and like cases VVhiche perchance some other would here do VVe will only intermedle with other thinges that reache not so farre nor so high and seeme in this our present question worthy and necessarie to be considered And first before we enter into other matters we aske this reasonable and necessarie question whether these general words wherby this large ample authoritie is cōueied to king Henry must be as generally and as amply taken or be restrained by some manner of limitation and restriction agreable to such mind and purpose of the Parlament as must of very necessitie or great likelihod be construed to be the very mind and purpose of the said Parlament Ye wil say perchance that the power and authoritie of assignation must be taken generally and absolutely without exception sauing for the outward signing of the wil. Trueth it is there is nothing els expressed but yet was there some thinges els principally intended and yet for all that needed not to be specified The outward manner was so specially and precisely appointed and specified to auoyde suspitious dealing to auoide corruption and forgery And yet was the will good and effectual without the Kinges hande Ther must needes be some qualification and restraint of the general vvordes of the statute Yea and the assignation to had ben good had not that restrainte of the Kinges hande bene added by the Parlament But for the qualification of the person to be limited and assigned and so for the necessarie restriction and limitation of the wordes were they neuer so large ample there is though nothing were spoken thereof an ordinary helpe remedie Otherwise if the Realme had ben set ouer to a furious or a madde man or to an idiote or to some foraine and Mahometical Prince and to such a one as stories testifie that King Iohn would haue submitted him selfe his Realme or to any other notorious incapable or vnhable person Matthaeus Parisieusis in Iohan. the generalitie of the wordes seeme to beare it but the good minde and purpose of the Parlament and mans reason doe in no wise beare it If ye graunt that these wordes must nedes haue some good and honest construction and interpretation as reason doth force you to graunt it yet will I aske further whether as the King cutte of in this pretensed will the whole noble race of the eldest sister and the first issue of the yongest sister so if he had cutte of also al the ofspringes as wel of the said yongest sister as of the remnante of the royal blood placed some being not of the said blood perchāce otherwise vnable this assignation had bene good and vailable in lawe as conformable to reason and to the mind and purpose of the Parlamēt It were surely to great an absurdity to graunt it There must be therefore in this matter some reasonable moderation and interpretation as wel touching the persones comprehended within this assignation their qualities for the persons also hauing right yet excluded as for the manner of the doing of the act signing the wil. For the king as King could not dispose the Croune by his will was in this behalfe but an Arbiter and Cōmissioner VVherefore his doinges must be directed and ruled by the lawe according to the good minde and meaning of those that gaue the authoritie And what their minde was it will appeare well enough euen in the statute it selfe It was for the auoiding of all ambiguities doubtes and diuisions

most deutifull manner that I can deuise I humblie beseche your Maiesties at no time to suffer the accustomed heat of your mutuall loue in any one point to coole but that it take such deep holde and daily encrease so muche within your graciouse brestes as it neuer be extinguished eyther by treason of false detractors by the cruell ficklenesse of fortune or by any flagitiouse meanes that the malice of this world may procure So vse the matter as this louying coniunction of your two hartes may be vnto you a brasen wall defend you this wall stoutlye that double tongued Sycophantes may dreed it let this woorke suche an effect in you as all those be out of your fauoures whiche carie in their mouthe a flatteringe woord and in their hand a cruell weapon suche as pretend peace by woord practise warre by deed such as in peace vse deceit and in warre outragiouse violence and so by deceit kill mennes soules and by violence destroye their bodyes Now as touching the exceding tender loue and zeale of mothers towardes their children it is of suche force as hath wrought very much profitt not only to priuate families but also to whole common wealthes yea and to the greatest Empyres Herevpō arose the honorable fame of Eurydice of Dalmatia for that being a banished woman in Illyria well stroken in aige she applyed her mynde wholy to learnyng to the ende she might better instruct her owne children But to come somewhat nearer to your Maiestie my deare Soueraigne ladye if the care of this woman ouer her children and of all other mothers whosouer be compared whith your woonted singular loue towardes your sonne so muche further shall you exceede them all as it hath bene harder in this yron age constantlye to holde that course of vertueouse loue which your Grace with continuall care and great fortitude hath kept and performed towardes his Maiestie But how carefull you haue bene for his safetie beinge your only sonne well beseemyng such a mother as your selfe and right woorthie to be your best beloued your motherly affection hath bene declared many wayes in your owne persone As your great instancie earnest trauaill in commendinge hym to the tuition of such as were thought most faithfull hath giuen good proofe thereof Euen so when those horrible broyles were begonne in your Countrie all thinges by seditiouse tumultes ouerturned and the face of your common wealthe with the administration thereof by violent expulsion of a laufull authoritye and by iniuriouse intrusion of others transeformed and deformed then alas what fear and dreed possessed your tendre hart what anguishe and vexation your carefull mynde endured for his sake that is to you most deare all the worlde may easely iudge and they best of all that knowe what it is to be a mother of an infant beinge vnder the warde of his mortall enemyes But with what faithfull diligēce your Grace dealt for his safetie aswell with the nobilitie as with those whiche had the custodye of hym not by letters onlye but by messengers also and by great rewardes aswell as by other gentle intreatye I my selfe am a present witnesse and as I think no man eyther can better testifie or ought more plainly to manifest the same For at that tyme I was by your Maiesties appointment made priuie to all those matters and in the execution of my commission they passed throughe my handes yea I haue oftentymes with great compassion pitie beholden your Grace shedde abundance of deuout teares kneeling vpon your knees in deuout prayer to God for his wellfare And afterwarde when the matter came to this issue that you might haue bene deliuered vpon certeyn conditions you preferred the honour of your sonne and the aduauncement of his Royall dignitie before all worldly thinges and as I may well saye before your owne lyfe In so muche as euen then you dyd most constantly affirme that you wolde neuer gyue your consent to any thinge that myght be hurtfull or preiudiciall vnto hym albeyt you had bene oftentimes solicited and sore vrged to the contrary An honorable sayeng truely well beseemyng your motherlye pietie and Royall descent and a speciall good proofe of your singular good will towardes your sonne And as to your maiestie most noble kynge of whom the worlde conceyueth so great hope and whose iudgement surmounteth your age when you shall well wegh these and many other greate argumentes of this your mothers naturall loue and pure good will wherof you should haue bene aduertysed long before this time by most trusty messengers and many letters if oportunitie had serued you shall finde good cause to saye to your selfe Doeth neyther Mothers loue nor vertue of thy kynde Force thy desire to treade her steppes aright To bear lyke loue lyke faith lyke pietie in mynde And trust her best aboue eache mortall vvyght But at the least considering your selfe to be so infortunately bereft of so good a mother you may applie vnto your selfe as a dolefull Swannes song that distiche whiche Homer verie fitlie vseth in the persone of Thelemachus bewaling the losse of his brother as a great calamitie in this sorte And me poore youth hathe Ioue so left alone That of my stocke there novve remaines but one Yea more occasion you haue thus to complayn than Thelemachus had For the nearer in bloode a mannes mother is than a brother somuche dearer ought she to be vnto hym Therfore to th ende you maye more reddelye performe such offices as are expected in you ponder with your selfe I humblie beseche you beside her pietie and naturall kyndenesse towardes you what mightie kyngdomes what ample Regions what populous prouinces may by right of successiō fall vnto you from her only and vnder her title if God graunt you that happie longe lyfe whiche we dailye praye for And to make a playne demonstration hereof omitting to speake of your right to the Croune of Scotland whereof no man at home or abrode putteth any doubt at all I thought it mete and that not without good cause to sett downe in writing what maye without cause of offence iustlye and laufully be hoped touching your right and interest to some other kyngdomes and prouinces Now therfore because some men perchaunce bothe forrayners and inhabitantes of the same Countries are kept in suspense and dowbt what to thynke touchinge the succession of so great dominions to the ende that none may be Ignorant of the right title interest which your noble mother before all others and your selfe her Graces onlye sonne and heyr after her hathe to the inheritance and succession of the Croune of England and of all the dominions thereunto annexed or belonginge vpon the decease of the now Quene thereof without laufull yssue of her bodie I present vnto your two Maiesties this Treatise wherein is sett downe the state of the whole cause and the right Title due order course and processe of that succession with a playn confutation of all those

Queene of Scotland to the succession of the Croune of England The obiections of the aduersaries touching the pretensed vvill of King Henry the eight are clearlie auoided The statutes of King H. 8. touching the succession of the Croune IT doth appeare by the said statute of .28 of king Henry the eight that there was authoritie geuen him by the same to declare limite appoint assigne the succession of the Croune by his Letters Patentes or by his last VVill signed with his owne hande It appeareth also by the foresaid statute made .35 of the said King that it was by the same enacted that the Croune of that Realme of England should go and be to the said King and to the heires of his body lawfully begotten that is to say vnto his Highnes first sonne of his body betwene him and the Ladie Iane then his wife begotten for default of such issue then vnto the Lady Marie his daughter and to the heires of her body lawfully begotten for defaut of such issue then vnto the Ladie Elizabeth his daughter and to the heires of her body laufully begotten for defaut of such issue vnto suche person or persones in remainder or reuersion as should please the said king Henry the eight and according to such estate and after such manner order and condition as should be expressed declared named and limited in his Letters Patentes or by his last VVill in writing signed with his owne hande By vertue of which said Acte of Parlament the Aduersaries doo alleage that the said late King Henry the eight afterward by his last VVill in writing signed with his owne hand did ordeine and appoint that if it happen the said Prince Edward Ladie Marie and Ladie Elizabethe to dye without issue of their bodies lawfully begotten then the Croune of that Realme of England should goe and remaine vnto the heires of the bodie of the Ladie Francis his Neece and the eldest daughter of the French Queene And for the defaulte of suche issue to the heires of the body of the Ladie Eleonour his Neece second daughter to the French Queene lawfully begotten And if it happened the sayd Ladie Eleonour to dye without issue of her body lawfully begotten to remaine and come to the nexte rightfull heires VVherevpon the aduersaries do inferre that the succession of the Croune ought to go to the chyldren of the said Ladie Francis and to their heyres according to the sayd supposed will of the said king Henry the eight and not vnto Ladie Marie Queene of Scotlande that nowe is To this it is An ansvver to the foresaid statute on the behalf of my said soueraign Lady Marie Queene of Scotland among other things answered that King Henry the eight neuer signed the pretensed will with his own hand and that therfore the said will can not be any whit preiudicial to the said Queene The effect of the aduersaries arguments for the exclusion of the Queene of Scotlād by a pretēsed vvil of King H. 8. Against which answere for the defence and vpholding of the saide will it is replied by the Aduersaries first that there were diuers copies of his wil found signed with his own hande or at the least wise enterlined and some for the most part written with his owne hande out of the whiche it is likely that the original will commonly called King Henry the eightes will was taken fayer drawen out Then that there be great and vehement presumptions that for the fatherly loue that he bare to the common wealth and for the auoiding of the vncerteintie of the succession he well liked vpon and accepted the authoritie geuen him by Parlament and signed with his owne hande the said originall will whiche had the said limitation and assignation of the Croune And these presumptiōs are the more enforced for that he had no cause why he should beare any affectiō either to the said Queene of Scotlād or to the Lady Leneux and hauing withal no cause to be greeued or offended with his sisters the Frenche Queenes children but to put the matter quite out of all ambiguitie and doubte it appeareth they say that there were eleuen witnesses purposely called by the King who were present at the signing of the said VVill and subscribed their names to the same Yea that the chief Lordes of the Counsaile were made and appointed executours of the said VVill and that they and other had greate Legacies geuen them in the said VVill which were paid and other thinges comprised in the VVill accomplished accordingly There passed also purchases and Letters Patentes betwene King Edward and the executors of the said VVill and others for the execution and performāce of the same Finally the said Testament was recorded in the Chancerie VVherefore they affirme that there ought no manner of doubt moue any man to the contrarie and that either we must graunt this VVill to be signed with his hand or that he made no VVill at all bothe must be graunted or both denied If any will deny it in case he be one of the witnesses he shall impugne his own testimonie if he be one of the executours he shall ouerthrow the foundation of all his doinges in procuring the said will to be inrolled set forth vnder the great Seale And so by their dublenes they shall make them selues no mete witnesses Nowe a man can not lightly imagine how any other bysids these two kind of witnesses for some of them and of the executors were suche as were continually wayting vpon the kinges person may impugne this will and proue that the king did not signe the same But if any such impugne the will it would be considered how many they are and what they are it wil be very harde to proue negatiuam facti But it is euidēte say they that there was neuer any such lawful proofe against the said will producted For if it had ben it would haue bene published in the Starrechamber preached at Poules Crosse declared by Acte of Parlamēt proclamed in euerie quarter of the Realm Yea admitting say they that it were proued that the said pretensed will lacked the kinges hande yet neuerthelesse say they the very copies we haue spoken of being written signed or at least interlined with his owne hande may be saide a sufficient signing with his owne hande For seing the scope and final purpose of the statute was to haue the succession prouided for and asserteined whiche is sufficiently done in the said will and seing his owne hande was required but onely for eschewing euil sinister dealing whereof there is no suspicion in this will to be gathered what matter in the worlde or what difference is there when the king fulfilled and accomplished this gratiouse Acte that was loked for at his hādes whether he signed the wil with is owne hāde or no If it be obiected that the king was obliged and bound to a certaine precise order and forme which he could in no

wise shift but that the Acte without it muste perish and be of no valewe then say they wee vndoe whole Parlamentes aswel in Queene Maries time as in kings Henry the eightes time In Queene Maries time bicause she omitted the Style appointed by Parlamente Anno Henrici octaui tricesimo quinto An. H. 8.35 An. H. 8.33 21. In kinge Henries tyme by reason there was a statute that the kinges royal assent may be geuen to an Acte of Parlamente by his Letters Patentes signed with his hāde though he be not there personally And yet did the saied king supplie full ofte his consente by the stampe only This yet notwithstanding the said Parlamentes for the omission of these formes so exactely and precisely appointed are not destroyed and disannulled An ansvver by the vvay of reioinder to the same After this sorte in effecte haue the Aduersaries replied for the defence of the said pretensed will To this we will make our reioynder saye Firste that our principal matter is not to ioyne an issewe whether the saide kinge made and ordeyned any sufficient will or no. VVe leaue that to an other time But whether he made any Testamēt in suche order and forme as the statute requireth VVherefore if it be defectiue in the said forme as wee affirme it to be were it otherwise neuer so good and perfect though it were exemplified by the great Seale and recorded in Chancerie and taken commonly for his VVil and so accomplished it is nothing to the principal question It resteth then for vs to cōsider the weight of the aduersaries presumptions whereby they would inforce a probabilitie that the Testamēt had the foresaid requisite forme Yet first it is to be considered what presumptions and of what force number do occurre to auoide and frustrate the Aduersaries presumptions and all other like Diuers presumptions reasons against this supposed vvill VVe say then there occurre many likelyhoddes many presumptions many great and weightie reasons to make vs to thinke that as the king neuer had good and iuste cause to minde enterprise suche an Acte as is pretended so likewise he did enterprise no such Acte in deede I deny not but that ther was such authoritie geuen him neither I deny but that he might also in some honorable sort haue practised the same to the honour and wealthe of the Realme and to the good contentation of the same Realme But that he had either cause or did exercise the said authoritie in suche strange dishonorable sort as is pretended I plainely denie For being at the time of this pretēsed will furnished and adorned with issue the late king Edward and the Ladies Marie and Elizabeth their state and succession being also lately by Acte of Parlament established what neede or likelyhod was there for the king then to practise such newe deuises as neuer did I suppose any King in that Realme before and fewe in any other byside And where they were practised commonly had infortunate and lamentable successe VVhat likelyhode was there for him to practise such deuises especially in his later daies when wisdome the loue of God and his Realm should haue bene moste ripe in him that were likely to sturre vppe a greater fier of greeuouse contention and wofull destruction in England then euer did the deadly faction of the read Rose the white lately by the incorporation and vnion of the house of Yorke and Lancastre in the person of his father through the mariage of Ladye Elizabeth eldest daughter of King Edwarde the fourth moste happily extinguished and buried And though it might be thought or said that there vould be no such cause of feare by reason the matter passed by Parlament yet could not he be ignorāt that neither Parlamēts made for Hēry the fourth or cōtinuance of twoo Descentes which toke no place in geuing any Title touching the Croune in King Henry the sixt nor Parlamentes made for King Richard the third nor Parlaments of attainder made against his father could either preiudice his fathers right or releaue other against such as pretended iust right and title And as he could not be ignorant therof so it is not to be thought that he would abuse the great confidence put vpon him by the Parlament and disherite without any apparent cause the next roial blood and thinke all thinges sure by the colour of Parlamēt The litle force whereof against the right inheritour he had to his fathers and his owne so ample benefit so lately and so largely sene and felt And yet if he minded at any time to preiudice the said Lady Marie Queene of Scotland of all times he would not haue done it then when all his care was by all possible meanes to contriue and compasse a mariage betwene his sonne Edward and the said Lady and Queene Surely he was to wise of him selfe and was furnished with to wise Counsailours to take such an homely way to procure and purchase the said mariage by And least of all can we say he attempted that dishonorable disherison for any speciall inclinatiō or fauour he bare to the French Queene his sisters children For there haue bene of his neere priuie Counsaile that haue reported that the King neuer had any great liking of the mariage of his sister with the Duke of Suffolke who maried her first priuily in France and afterward openly in England And as it is said had his pardon for the said priuy mariage in writing Howesoeuer this matter goeth certeine it is that if this pretensed will be true he transferred and transposed the reuersion of the Croune not only from the Queene of Scotland from the Ladie Leneux and their issue but euen from the Lady Francis the Ladie Eleonour also daughters to the Frēche Queene whiche is a thing in a manner incredible and therefore nothing likely I must now gentle Reader put thee in remembrance of two other most pregnant and notable cōiectures and presumptions For among all other inconueniences and absurdities that do and may accompanie this rash vnaduised acte by this pretensed wil inconsiderately mainteined it is principally to be noted The supposed vvill is preiudicial to the Croune of England for the clame of the Croune of France that this Acte geueth apparent iust occasion of perpetual disherison of the Style Title of France incorporated and vnited to the Croune of England For whereby do or haue the Frenchemen hitherto excluded the kinges of that Realme claming the Croune of France by the title of Edward the third fallen vpon him by the right of his mother other than by a politike and ciuil law of their owne that barreth the female frō the right of the Croune And what doeth this pretensed Act of king Henrie but iustifie and strengthen their quarel and ouerthrow the foundatiō bulworke wherby the kings of England maintene their foresaid title and clame For if they may by their municipial lawe of England