complaints made to the King by the Subjects of the King of France and of Denmarke which was well expedited Anno Regni 2. That Treatie of Peace and League with Scotland began before was continued and finished by Commissioners sent from Iames the fourth King of Scotland and by other Commissioners delegate for the King of England those for Scotland were Coli Earl of Argile Chancellor of Scotland N. Bishop of Aberdene the Lord Lisle the Lord Dromonde of Stobhall Master Archibald Quhitlaw Arch-Deacon of Lodion Secretary to the King Lion King at Arms and Duncan of Dundas they came to Nottingham in September Anno Domini 1484 and were honourably receiv'd in the great Chamber of the Castle the King sitting under his Royall Cloth of State Master Archibald Quhitlaw stepping before the rest addrest a very Eloquent Oration unto him in Latine which reflected upon the praise of Martial men Art Military including much to the honour and praise of King Richard This Treatie aimed partly at a Truce and Peace partly at a Marriage betweene Iames the Prince of Scotland and the Lady Anne Daughter of Iohn de la Poole Duke of Suffolke and Neice to King Richard Commissioners for the King of England were Iohn Bishop of Lincolne Richard Bishop of Asaph Iohn Duke of Norfolke Henry Earle of Northumberland Master Iohn Gunthorpe custos privati sigilli Sir Thomas Stanley Lord Stanley Sir N. Lord Strange Sir N. Lord Powis Sir Henry Lord Fitz hugh Sir Humphry Lord Dacres Master Thomas Barrow Master of the Rowles Sir Richard Ratcliff William Catesby and Richard Salkeld The other for the Treatie of Alliance and Marriage were Thomas Arch-Bishop of Yorke Iohn Bishop of Lincolne Iohn Bishop of Worcester Iohn Duke of Norfolke William Earle of Nottingham Iohn Sutton Lord Dudley N. Lord Scroope of Upsall Sir William Hussey Chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench Sir Richard Ratcliffe and William Catesby But the successe of that and many other good intendments were interposed by the inconstancy and contraste of the times The Lady Anne de la Poole upon the the breach thereof resolving to accept no other motion forthwith tooke a religious habit in the Monastery of Sion There was another Treatie of Peace and Truce in this second yeare betweene him and the Duke of Brittaine or at the least given out for peace yet was indeed but a part and pretext of the Treatie for the maine negotiations on the Kings side was how to get the Earle of Richmond out of his custody into his owne or be as well secured of him there as his Brother King Edward was And for this Treatie the chiefe Negotiators were the Bishop of Lincolne and Sir Thomas Hutton for the King the Bishop of Leon and others for the Duke The Treatie began Anno Domini 1484. and was finished and ratified in the yeare following but the Duke violated his part immediately by giving ayde to the Kings Enemies In the same yeare there were Letters made which are yet extant in the Treasury of the Exchequor that moved a Peace and Truce beweene King Richard and Charles the eighth King of France wherein it must be understood the tribute before mentioned was Articled Also in this yeare and the yeare before there was a private Treatie which we must not passe by for the Marriage of the Lady Elizabeth with King Richard himselfe what the successe of it was and how farre it proceeded will more aptly present it selfe in another place Wee are now to take notice of the Duke of Buckinghams revolt for this was the preparative and fourrier of the rest And to give it the more taking feature and specious pretence it must be given out That the cause was the Reformation of an ill Government and Tyranny under which species for Treason is ever fairely palliated and seldome wants the forme of some plea though at the Barre they must take up Armes against the King And here as some Rivers deriv'd from the Sea cannot suddenly loose their taste of saltnesse they discovered their ancient taint and inconstancy which the Prince wisely suspected from the first For the Duke of Buckingham how affably soever he trim'd his countenance it should seeme departed male-content from Court yet made not that generall publick pretended cause of the Kings Crimes all his quarrell but challenged him by some private grudges as denying to give or restore to him the Earledome of Hereford and Constableship of England for they went together a long time which he alledged belonged to the Partage that fell to his great Grand-mother the Lady Anne Daughter and Heire of Thomas Plantagenet alias Woodstock created by King Richard the second Duke of Glocester and Earle of Buckingham and of his Wife Elianor daughter and co-heire of Humphry de Bohun Earle of Hereford and Constable of England Which claime had he considerately look't upon could not rightly revolve to him but rather was for the Kings part For Humphry de Bohun Earle of Hereford of Essex and Northampton Lord of Brecknock and Constable of England in the time of King Edward the third and the last Earle of the Family of the Bohuns had by the Lady Iane his Wife Daughter of Richard Fitz-Allan Earle of Arundel two Daughters and Heires Elianor and Mary Elianor was Married to the same Thomas Plantagenet alias de Woodstock youngest Sonne of King Edward the third Duke of Glocester and Earle of Buckingham Mary the second Daughter was Married to Henry Plantagenet Duke of Lancaster and after King of England by the name of Henry the fourth and the Earledome of Hereford fell to his Wife In favour whereof he was Created Duke of Hereford by King Richard the second and the Earledome now a Dutchy and the rights therof remained in the King and in the Kings Heires and Successors untill the death of King Henry the sixt who dyed without Issue then all the Estate of Lancaster especially that of the Royall Family of Lancaster escheated to King Edward the fourth and from him it came to King Richard as Heire to his Brother and all his Ancestors But the Duke of Buckingham pretended Title to that Earledome by his said Grandmother Anne who was one of the Daughters and Heires of the aforesaid Lady Elianor Wife of Thomas de Woodstock Duke of Glocester and the Wife of Edmond Stafford Earle of Stafford and Grand-father to this Henry Duke of Buckingham who the rather presumed to make this Claime because the Issue of the other Sister Mary being extinct he tooke himselfe also to be her Heire But King Richard relishing something in this neare the disposition and inclination of Bullingbrooke answered That the Earledome of Hereford was of the inheritance of Henry the fourth who was also King of England though by tort and usurpation and will you my Lord of Buckingham Claime to be Heire of Henry the fourth You may then also happily Assume his spirits and lay Claime to the Crowne
Strelley and was so constant in his Affection that although she dyed in his best Age he made a Religious Vow and became a Knight of the Rhodes his Armes are yet to be seene in the Ruines of the Hospitall of Saint Iohns neaâ—e Smithfield and in the Church of Alhallows at the upper end of Lumbard Street which was repaired and enlarged with the Stones brought from that demolished Caenoby he lived sub rege Edvardo filio Regis Henrici as I have seene by the date of his deed in Herthilâ— Anno 1 Ed. 1. Anno 22. Ed. 1. From this Knight of the Rhodes descended Sir Iohn Bucke who for his too much forwardnesse in charging a Fleet of Spaniards without the leave of the Earle of Arundell Lord Admirall was committed to the Tower testified by the Records there Anno 13. Richard the second Lawrence Buck his Son followed Edward Plantagenet Duke of Yorke and was at the Battel of Agin Court with him when he was slaine Iohn Bucke Knight the Sonne of this Laurence married a Daughter and Heire of the House of Staveley out of which are descended the Barons Parres of Kendall and Rosse Queene Katherine the last wife of King Henry the eighth the Lord Parre Marquesse of Northampton and the Herberts Earles of Pembrooke and Montgomery These Bucks residing for the most part at West-Stanton and Herthill in Yorkeshire and matched into the Families of Strelley or Stirely of Woodhall Thorpe Tilney then of Lincolnshire and Savill by which we have much Noble kindred Sir Iohn Bucke for his service to the House of Yorke especially at Bosworth lost his head at Leicester he married the Daughter of Henry Savill by whom he had Robert Bucke and other Children who were brought into the Southerne parts by Thomas Duke of Norfolke where they have remained ever since for the Children being Orphans were left in miserable estate by the Attainder of their Father But the Duke bestowed two Daughters in marriage one with the Heire of Buck The other with the Heire of Fitz-Lewis very Ancient Families from which Matches divers honourable and Noble Persons are descended The Sonnes were one a Souldier the other a Courtier the third a Priest afterward the Duke bestowed Robert Bucke the Eldest Sonne at Melford Hall in Suffolke and married him into the Families of Higham and Cotton as also did the Blounds of Elwaston the Talbots of Grafton from whom the Barons of Monioy and the late Earles of Shrewsbury descended one of the Daughters of this Bucke Married to Fredericke Tilney of Shelley Hall in Suffolke his nearest Kinsman by the Duchesse his Mothers side But some perhaps must call this my vanity I shall but answer them that I thinke my selfe bound by all the bloud and memory I claime from them to pay them my best Relations and endeavours acknowledging with the great Consulare Philosopher Parentes charissimos habere debemus quod ab ijs vita patrimontum libertas Civit as tradita est And I should thinke there is none who hath an interest in the quality of Gentile or Noble for all is one but lookes backe which some delight to their first Commemoration and finds a strong engagement due to the Vertues and worth of their first Fathers for that expresse charge to honour Father and Mother is not to be understood only of our Parents superstits and living here with us but our forefathers that is beyond our great Grandfather for we have no proper word for them above that degree but Antecessours vulgò Ancestours whom the Romans called Majores and comprehendeth all our Progenitours departed sooner or later for the word Pater and Mater as also Parens Parentes extend very largely and reach up to the highest Ancestours The Ancient Roman Jurisconsults deliver in their Law for an Axiome that Appellatione Parentum omnes in infinitum majores utriusque sexus significantur and the word Parentes yet spreadeth further comprehending all Kinsfolkes and Cosins of our Bloud and Linage being used in that sense by AElius Lampridius by Iulius Capitolinus and other the best Writers in the times of the declined Empire as Isaac Causabonus hath well observed in his Annotations The Italians Spanish and French whose Language is for the most part Romanzi mongrell Latine and broken and corrupted Romane Language use Parenti Parentes and Parents for all their Kinsfolkes and Gentilitious Cosins We English-men being more precise follow the Ancient and Classique Latine Writers holding Parent strictly to the simple signification of Pater and Mater the present and immediate Parents But the using of the word Parentes as those Imperiall Historians use it serveth better for our purpose here And I could most willingly imitate the Pious Gentlemen of Italy Spainâ— and France in their Religious and Charitable indeavours to advance the happinesse of their Parents defunct if those desires could besteed them But where I should crave pardon I become more guilty and extravogant it is time therefore to know good manners and returne home to our proper taske which will be to refell the grosse and blacke Calumnies throwne unjustly upon the Memory and Person of King RICHARD And falls within the Circle of the next Booke Explicit Liber Secundus THE THIRD BOOKE OF KING RICHARD THE THIRD The Contents of this Booke THe Defamations of King Richard examined and answered Doctor Morton and Sir Thomas Moore malevolent to the House of Yorke Their frivolous exceptions against his gestures lookes teeth shape and birth hie vertues depraved The death of King Henry the sixth and his Sonne Edward Prince of Wales The Actors therein The offence of killing an anointed King Valiant men hate treacheries and bloudy acts King Richard not deformed The Slanders of Clarence translated to King Richard The Cause of Clarences execution How the Sonnes of King Edward came by their deaths King Richard Exculpable thereof The story of Perkin VVarbeck compared with Don Sebastian King of Portugall who are Biothanati Counterfeit Prince detected young Prince marvellously preserved Many testimonies for the assertion that Perkin VVarbeck was Richard Duke of Yorke his honourable entertainment with forraigne Princes vox populi Reasons why it is not credible King Richard made away his two Nephewes the force of Confession The evill of Torture the guilt of attempting to escape out of prison what an escape is The Earle of Oxford severe against Perkin and his end The base Sonne of King Richard the third secretly made away The Sonne of the Duke of Clarence put to death The power of furies Demones Genii Apollonii Majestas Quid tibi non vis alteri ne feceris THE THIRD BOOKE OF KING RICHARD THE THIRD THere is no story that shewes the planetary affections and malice of the vulgar more truly then King Richards and what a tickle game Kings have to play with them though his successor Henry the seventh play'd his providently enough with helpe of the standers by yet even those times which had promised the happiest example of a
a Prince and his owne Brother upon so horrid a thing or he indure to heare it Sir Thomas Moore holds King Edward would not ingage his Brother in so butcherly an office there being many reasons that he durst not neither doe his adversaries charge him directly by any credible Author of that time or discover by whom this murther was onely the Prior of Croyland maketh it somewhat suspitious Hoc tempore inventum est corpus regis Henrici sexti exanime in turre Londinarium Parâ—at Deus spatium poenitentiae ei donet quiâ—unque sacrilegas manus in Christum Domini ausus immittere unde agens tyranni patiens gloriosi martyris titulum mereantur Tyrannus in the proper construction being Rex for whosoever is Rex is Tyrannus according to the ancient signification for amongst the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was used for a King simply good or bad and this some hold makes against King Edward Richard being Duke of Gloucester then yet so doubtfully as may be refelled by good authority for it is the opinion of very grave men Henry the sixth was not murthered but died of naturall sicknesse and extreame infirmity of body Rex Henricus sextus ab annis jam multis ex accidente sibi aegrituâ—ine quaâ—dam animi incurreret infirmitatem sic aeger corpore impos mentis permansit diutius this considered with the aggravation of his griefe and sorrow in the losse of his Crown and liberty being then a prisoner the overthrow of all his friends and forces in the Battaile of Teuxbury but above all the death of his Sonne the Prince might master a stronger heart and constitution then his in a shorter time which opinion is received and alleadged by a learned and discreet Gentleman The occasion of the murther of King Henry the sixth hath no other proofe but the malitious affirmation of one man for many other men more truly did suppose that he died of meere griefe and melancholy when he heard the overthrow of his cause and friends with the slaughter of the Prince his Sonne And Iohannes Majerus saith it was reported King Henry the sixth died of griefe and thought Concerning the slaughter of the Prince his onely Sonne it is noted to be casuall and made suddaine by his owne insolence not out of any pretended malice or premeditated treachery and so it cannot be called wilfull murther for the King demanding him why he invaded his Kingdome his reply was he might and ought to doe it in defence and preservation of the right which the King his Father and his heires had in the Crowne and maintained this lofty answer so peremtorily and boldly the King in rage strooke him with his fist as some say armed with a Gantlet and instantly the Noblemen attending as George Duke of Clarence Marquesse Dorset the Lord Hastings and others drew their swords upon the Prince and killed him which they would make the particular fact of Duke Richard But to the contrary I have seene in a faithfull Manuscript Chronicle of those times that the Duke of Gloucester onely of all the great persons stood still and drew not his sword the reasons to credit this are first it might be in his meere sence of honour seeing so many drawn upon him there was no need of his or in his respects to the Princes Wife who as Iohannes Majerus saith was in the roome and neare akinne to the Dutchesse of Yorke his Mother and to whom the Duke was also very affectionate though secretly which he soone after demonstrated in marrying her nay this Duke bore such a sence of noble actions in his bosome that mislikeing the obscure and meane buriall of Henry the sixth this Princes Father he caused his corps to be taken from Chertsey and to be Honourably conveyed to the Royall and stately Chappell of Windsor ordained for Kings And Sir Thomas Moore saith further he was suspected to have the contriving part in the Duke of Clarence his Brothers death yet confesseth it was commonly said Richard opposed himselfe against the unnaturall proceedings of the King both privately and publiquely and the truth is it was the Kings owne immoveable and inexplorable doome who thought it justly and necessarily his due for Clarence stood guilty of many treasons and great ones and by his ingratidude had so forfeâ—ted himselfe to the Kings displeasure that no friend durst move in his behalfe this the King did afterward acknowledge with some discontent when his wrath had cooled as we may guesse in this expression of his O infaelicem â—ratrem pro cujus salute neâ—o homo rogavit yet Polidor Virgil doth not rightly understand here as I conjecture by the sequell but let us interpret that a little and take up another accusation which puts into the way That Richard Duke of Gloucester should scandall the birth of the King his Brother with basterdy and alleadge it for a speciall matter in Doctor Shawes Sermon that he should fame King Edward the fourth a bastard and that the Dutchesse his Mother had wanton familiarity with a certaine Gentleman this he might erroneously scatter in the Pulpit and take it up on the like intelligence by which in the same Sermon he called her to whom King Edward was betrothed before his marriage with the Lady Grey Elizabeth Lucy whose name was for a certaine Ellenor Butler alias Talbot so called by King Richard and written in the Records This drift had been too grosse for King Richard to lay an imputation of whoredome upon his owne Mother a virtuous and honourable Lady being it cast also a shame and basterdy upon himselfe for if she offended in one she might as likely offend in another and in the rest And to quit him of it Sir Thomas Moore Richard Grafâ—on Mr. Hall say that King Richard was much displeased with the Doctor when he heard the relation which the Duke of Buckingham also affirmed in his speech to the Lord Mayor of London That Doctor Shaw had incurred the great displeasure of the Protectour for speaking so dishonourably of the Dutchesse his Mother That he was able of his owne knowledge to say he had done wrong to the Protectour therein who was ever known to beare a reverend and filiall love unto her and to cut of all farther doubt and question it was proved and is testified upon records that George Duke of Clarence onely raised this slander in an extreame hatred to the King his Brother many jarres falling between them by which the King had a just cause to take notice of his malice Visus est dux Clarentiae magis ac magis a regis praesentia desuâ—trahere in consilio vix verbum proferre neque libenter bibere aut manducare in domo Regis When Richard even in that calamitous time Henry the sixth had overthrowne King Edward in a battaile recovered the Kingdome and proclaimed Edward an usurper so faithfull was his Brother that
to your Father-hood by the Passion of Jesus Christ this man is truly the King Don Sebastian he hath all the markes on his body without failing in any one as he had in his infancy only the wounds excepted which he received in that Battel at Affricke he gives the reason of his life account of all his passages c. He is knowne and re-known by the Conciergres by the Judges by the greater part of the Senate and by his owne Confessor c. and a great deal more of him upon knowledg he justifies as much witnesses Ion de Castro Sonne to Don de Alvaro de Castro one of the four Governours that ruled the Kingdome Conjunctly with the King Don Sebastian who in his letter the same man sayes thus The King Don Sebastian whom the enemies call a Calabrois is the very same which is detained here as certainly as you are Fryer Ioseph and my selfe Don Ion. He departed alive from the battaile but very sore wounded God having so delivered him with some other of his company amongst whom was the Duke Anegro c. as for the Exterior marks of his body he wants not one of them he is wounded on the brow of the right eye and on the head as many witnessed when they saw him in the Affrick Battell His hand-writing is still the same observing the very same method as is very well remembred by divers There might much more be instanced in the behalfe of this Sebastian but this may serve for better intelligence to which I may adde that men experienced in the Affaires and policy of State know it a rare thing to find in any History the examples of a Prince being seised and possessed of any Signiory or Principality how unlawfull soever who hath resigned them or any part to the true heires Have we not instances at home where the Sonne hath taken the Kingdome from the Father and would not let it goe againe but rather endeavoured to hast his Fathers fate Much after that manner when Henry Duke of Lancaster had got the Kingdome he held it and would not resigne to the right Heyr Richard the second nor after his death to the Earle of March though these were no Impostors neither was Edward Earl of Warwicke yet King Henry would not let his hold goe and the Cardinall Favourite finding he could not compasse his aymes one way contrived it another By the Machivilian advice he gave to Ferdinand King of Castile not to conclude the treaty of the Marriage betweene Prince Arthur and his Daughter Katherine untill this Earle and Perkin were disposed of which Ferdinando followed and urged the King pretending it the security of his Estate and Issue In briefe it is not possible to perswade a private man though wrongfully possessed to acknowledge the true proprietary hath a better title then he How unjustly have the Kings of Spaine detain'd sundry Signeuries and Principalities from the lawfull Heirs yet if the wrong done by such another disseising Lord be put to this former Usurper Malafide as the Imperiall Iurisconsults will terme him his sentence will be such a Rapinous Prince doth wrong But let us now take a more particular view of those witnesses who stood for Perkin And having formerly mentioned Sir Robert Clifford a Knight of the Noble Family of the Barons Cliffords I will proceed with that which may be the more remarkable in him because hee was of a Family that long hated the House of Yorke from the Battaile of Wakefield when and where they resolved an enmity so deadly as was not to bee reconciled or satisfied whilst one of them remained yet became followers againe of the White Rose family and this Sir Robert Clifford served King Edward very neare and in good credit so could not but have an assured knowledge of the Kings Sonnes and was therefore the more particularly sent to certifie his knowledge who certainely affirmed him to bee the younger sonne of Edward 4. and confirmed many with him such as had likewise served King Edward and had been acquainted with the Prince his conveying beyond Sea though much was done to alter Sir Roberts opinion the Lord Fitz-Walter was of the same beliefe and avowed Perkin the true Duke of York most constantly unto death as resolute was Sir William Stanley though he were Lord Chamberlaine to Henry the seventh and in great favour with Sir George Nevill Brother to the Earle of Westmorland Sir Symon Mountford Sir William Daubeny father to the Lord Daubeny Sir Thomas Thwaits Sir Robert Ratcliffe of the house of the Baron FitzWalter Sir Iohn Taylor Sir Thomas Chaloner Thomas Bagnall with many other Gentlemen of quality all maintaining him to be the Duke of Yorke sonne of Edward the fourth sundry of the Clergy who had beene Chaplaines to the King his Father or otherwise occasioned to attend the Court as Doctor Rochford Doctor Poynes Doctor Sutton Doctor Worsley Deane of St. Pauls Doctor Leyborn Doctor Lesly with many other learned Professors of Divinity who would not endure to heare him called Perkin The Lord FitzWater Sir William Stanley Sir Simon Mountford Sir Robert Ratcliffe Sir William Daubeny as martyrs of state confirmed their Testimonies with their bloods So did the Kings Serjant Ferrier who left the Kings service and applyed himself to Perkin for which he was executed as a Traitor and one Edwards who had served this Duke Richard was cut in pieces for the same cause also Corbet Sir Quinton Betts and Gage Gentlemen of good worth with 200. more at least put to death in sundry Cities and Townes particularly in Kent Essex Suffolke Norfolke and about London for their confidence and opinions in this Prince There were some great men though they made noe profession of their knowledge of him could whisper it one to another which in generall words is confessed by all our better writers who say that as well the Noblemen as others held the said Perkin to be the younger Sonne of King Edward the Fourth And Sir Thomas Moore after Doctor Morton thus writeth The man commonly called Perkin Warbeck was as well with the Prince as with the people held to be the younger Sonne of King Edward the Fourth Richard Grafton affirmeth the same in Flanders saith he and most of all here in England it was received for an undoubted truth not onely of the people but of the Nobles that Perkin was the Sonne of King Edward the Fourth And they all swore and affirmed this to be true The learned and famous Mr. Cambden averreth there were many wise grave and persons of good intelli gence who liued in that time and neere it That affirmed considently this Perkin was second Sonne to King Edward then both the Brothers were not made a way by King Richard and sarely it was little reason or policy to cut off the one spare the other neither indeed was there ever any proofes made by Testimony Argument or Presumption
proceeding from the vanity and obstinacy of the Prince the other from the peoples opinion of him and his vices And then he must neither raigne nor live any longer Ennius said with Cicero quem oderunt perijsse expetunt And soe all that was practised upon the fortune fame and person of King Richard was by this rule though in the judgment and equity of the most knowing in those times their cunning translatio Criminis could take noe hold of him neither appeares it probable that the Earle of Richmond himselfe when he had got all justice and power in his hand did hold King Richard guilty of the murder and Subornation of those fellowes nor them the Assasines for doubtlesse then being so wise and religious a Prince he would have done all right to the lawes divine and humane And that I beleeve in the extreamest and publick'st way of punishment to make it more satisfactory and terrible to the people and times but they freely inioyed their liberty with security to naturall deaths without any question or apprehension Tirrell excepted who suffered for treason not long after committed by him against King Henry himselfe Neither was Iohn Greene named a party in this murder ever called in question nor doe the Historians of those times though meere temporizers charge him with this practise against his Nephewes untill after his Coronation some say they survived King Richard and giveing this respiâ—e of time there was no cause why after that he should make them away being then secure in his Throne and Title and they longe before pronounced uncapable First by the ecclesiasticall Iudges then by the Barons and Parliament and where was the cause of feare but if King Richard had beene of that bloody constitution the man whose life could be most prejudiciall unto him was the Erle of Warwicke lawfull Sonne of George Plant agenet Duke of Clarence Elder Brother to King Richard now there was a necessitie for the Lancastrian faction if they must have a King of that family to take those Princes away not to leave King Richard or his Sonne nor yet any legitimate issue of Lancaster for all those were before any of the house of Beauforts in the true order of Succession and stood in their way so did the Progeny of Brotherton of Woodstocke of both the Clarencies Glocester c. Though they feared few or none of those Titulare Lords being modest men not affecting Soveraignty but content with their owne private fate and feudall estate when all was one with the Lancastrians who were so vehement in their royall approaches that besides King Edward the Fourth and his two Sonnes King Richard and his Son the Prince of Wales there was afterward and as occasion served The Earle of Warwicke and Duke of Suffolke and others both male and female of that princly family laid in their cold vrnes and it must be so else there could be no place for the Beauforts and Somersets their turnes being last the Kings of Portugall of Castile and other being before them if not excluded by Act of Parliament In this Tragedy there was a Scene acted by Iohn de Vere Earle of Oxenford which may be worthy of our observation for example sake and makes not against the cause of Perkin This Earle of Oxenford much affected and devoted to King Henry the Seventh was a great enemie to this Richard Alias Perkin and I thinke the onely enemie he had of the great Nobility how this dislike grew I cannot say whether out of ignorance or incredulity or out of malice hateing King Edward and all that had a neare relation to that family or else to applyhimselfe to the honour of the King but he and the Cardinall are said to be the châ—ife vrgers of Perkins dispatch and hee being high constable pronounced the sentence against the young Earle of Warwicke which much distasted the Country and ne're to Heveningham Castle that was his cheifest Seate there lived in the woods an old Hermit a very devoute and holy man as the fame of those times admit him who seem'd much troubled to heare this newes for the love he bare to the ancient and Noble family of Oxenford of much anguish of Spirit saying the Earle and his house would repent and rue that guilty and bloody pursuite of the innocent Princes for the event of which prophesy this hath bine observed Not long after the Earle was arrested for an offence so small that no man considering his merit and credit with the King could have thought it worth the question for which he was fined at thirty thousand pounds in those dayes a kingly sum after this he lived many yeares in great discontent and dyed without issue or any child lawfully begotten by him and in much shorter time then his life time that great and stately Earldome of Oxenford with the opulent and Princly patrimony was utterly dissipated and como sal in agna as the Spaniard saith in the refran yet this Earle was a very wise magnificent learned and religious man in the estimation of all that knew him and one more like to raise and acquire a new Erledome But it thus fell and was wasted the Castles and Mannors dilapidated the Chappell wherein this Iohn de Vere and all his Ancestors lay intombed with their monuments quite defaced to the ground their bones left under the open Aire in the feilds and all this within lesse then threescore yeares after the death of the said Earle Iohn about the same time these unhappie Gentlemen suffered there was a base sone of King Richard the Third made away having beene kept long before in Prison The occasion as it seemeth was the attempt of certaine Irishmen of the West and South parts who would have got him into their power and made him their cheife being strongly affected to any of the house of Yorke were they legitimate or naturall for Richard Duke of Yorkes sake sometimes their viceroy and thus much in breife of that Now to resolve a question why the King deferred so long the death execution of the Earle of Warwick Perkin and tooke so much deliberation after he had resolved it one reason and the cheifest brought by some is That in regard Perkin was an Alien and in the allegeance of a Forraigne Prince therefore he could not be condemned nor executed for felony nor treason by our lawes which is a ridiculous evasion for we have frequent examples in our stories that the naturall subjects of France of Scotland Spaine Portugall Germany and Italy have had judgement and execution by our lawes for felony and treason as Peter de Gaveston a French man Sir Andrew Harcley a Scot and lately Dr. Lopez a Portugall therefore apparantly that was not the cause the King so doubtfully and as it were timerously deferred their Arraignments Executions The Heathens perhaps would have defined it some inward awe or concealed scruple such as they called Eumenides and
Eurinnies and beleeved haunted those men that had purposed or acted a wickednesse upon which the Poet said well Patiturque unos mens saucia Manes And assigned to every man his protecting Spirit whom the Greekes called Doemones the Latines Genios concluding that when the Genius of him against whom the mischiefe aimes is stronger and more active then his who is to act it there the Plot hardly taketh effect For example produce the mortall enmity betweene Octavianus Caesar and M. Antonius in which Anthony could never prevaile by any Attempt who consulting with his Soothsayers they give the reason to beethe power of Octavians Genius above his It is reported the great Philosopher Appollonius had such a secret protection and so strong that the Emperour Domitian had no power over his life though hee studied meanes to take it Suidas adding that this Philosopher in confidence of his Genius when he left the Emperour added this verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Me non occides quia fataliter protectus sum which is that Flamius Vopiscus calleth Majestatem Apollonij as I ghesse and with it the Profestors of Christian Religion agree in the effects not in the causes for those whom the Heathen call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemones c. Genios the Christian Theologues call Angels or Spirits whereof they hold good and bad But to returne to the matters further Allegate Probate The industrious Antiquary Master Iohn Stow being required to deliver his opinion concerning the proofes of this murther affirmed it was never proved by any credible evidence no not by probable suspitions or so much as by the Knights of the Post that King Richard was guilty of it And Sir Thomas Moore being puzelled with his Equivocations sayes that it could never come to light what became of the bodies of these two Princes Grafton Hall and Hollinshead agreeing in the same report that the trueth hereof was utterly unknowne Then where is their farre seeing knowledge that will have them transported into Forraign Countreyes or drowned or their giganticke proofes that say peremptorily they were both murthered and buryed in the Tower by those foure named before if so we need go no further for the truth But these are splenitick reaches and the Parachronisme is too groste as the Comaedian said Quod dictum indictum est Quod modo ratum irritum est Besides if Perkin were not the second Sonne of King Edward he must bee nothing for the Flemish French and Wallons acknowledged no such Noble young man to be borne in Warbecke or in Tourney but make honourable mention of a young Sonne of the King of England who was brought to the Dutchesse of Burgundy his Aunt being then in Flanders and how hee was in France and in other Kingdomes And surely so many Noble and discreet English if they had not knowne him to be the same by most certaine tokens and evidence would not so confidently have laid downe their lives to confirme their knowledge of him or hazarded their judgements and honours upon an Imposture or vanity especially those who had places of Quality and Eminency neare the King then living and were in favour at Court Therefore I would be resolv'd from our Anti-Richards what aim those Noble-men could have in averring him the Son of Edward the Fourth by the hazard of their lives and Estates if the KING pleased and how could they expect lesse for though they were enough to justifie it a truth they were too few to maintaine it against him there could be no aime or hope to super-induce young Richard to be King but meerly I am perswaded in point of truth and honour as they thought themselves bound to doe they freely tendred their lives to make good what their Conscience knowledge witnessed for it would be an Imposture of a miraculous Deception so many worthy and wise persons both of the Nobility and Clergy some of them having served the King his Father and himselfe that they all in their particular and generall intelligence and understandings should be mistaken and cheated I say it was a strange delusion if it could bee so but indeede those that would have it so leave it in question and know not well what to make of their own relations or how to resolve his History and if wee marke Sir Francis Bacon in the life of Henry the Seventh though his speculation be tender and as favourable as hee can that way touching the History of this young Duke hee gently slides from it Explicit liber tertius THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORY OF KING RICHARD the Third The Contents UPon what occasion the sentence of Bastardy was given upon the Children of King Edward the 4 th and why The sundry Loves Wooings Contracts and Marriages of King Edward the Fourth His divers Concubines His device of the Fetterlock and the Faulcon His wooing the Lady Elianor Talbott alias Butler the Lady Bona of Savoy and the Lady Elizabeth Gray widdow his marriage with her His former Marriage or Contract with the said Elianor her wrongs and her death Kings must not marry the daughters of their Vassalls nor other without the consent of their Barons Doctor Stillington Bishop of Bath Imprisoned for speaking of King Edwards Marriage with the Lady Elianor Talbott Spuria vitulamina How King Edward might have salved those Errors and prevented all the mischiefes following them The Children of King Edward the Fourth declared and adjudged illegitimate King Edwards death suspected by poyson the mortality of the Plantagenets The Authority of Parliament Parliaments how so called and derived Parliaments against Parliaments The first Parliament of King Henry the seventh what Treason is whether Soveraigne Princes may be said to commit Treason against their Subiects The treaty of Marriage between K. Richard the third and the Lady Elizabeth Plantagenet and cheifely sought by her selfe and the Queene her Mother The entertainement of the Lady Elizabeth at the Court the first Libell of Divorse the scruples of the Lady Elizabeth King Richard never meant to marry her The marriages of Neeces allowed by the Pope and usuall the true cause of Sir Thomas Moores Condemnation and execution The FOVRTH BOOK OF King Richard The Third THe Title King Richard the Third had to the Crown acâ—rued to him by the illegitimacie of the Children of King Edward the Fourth and the Attainder of the Duke of Clarence with the Corruption of his Blood and forfeiture of the Title in him and in his Heirs of which there was no question but of the forfeiture and disheritage of the sons of Edward the Fourth there hath been much The true cause hath not nor cannot be well known without the Narration of King Edward's sundry Loves and Wooings specially his Contracts and Marriages I shall not need to intimate how amorous and wanton this King was his many Mistrisses or Amasia's he kept in several private places whereof the most famous was Katharine de Clarington
noting for a circumstance by the way that the Broome in Hieroglyphicall Learning is the Symbole of humility and the Poets particularly Virgil the best of Poets give it the Epithet of humilis humilis genista and the Etymologists derive it from genu the knee the part most applyed and as it were dedicate to the chiefe Act of Reverence kneeling to which the naturall Philosophers say there is so mutuall a correspondency and so naturall a sympathy between genu and genâ—sta that of all other plants or vegitals it is most comfortable and medicinable to the paines and diseases of the knees Pliny a great Master amongst them saith Genista tuscae cum c. genua dolentia sanat But the considerable reason is as I conceive it from the use he was constrained to make of the twigges of Broome when he came to be scourged at Jerusalem the place necessitating the use of them to that purpose being as Strabo relates a stony sandy and barren soyle only naturall and gratefull to the genest as the watry and moist to the Birch Willow and Withy of which there could be none there for that reason And from hence it must most conjecturally take the beginning of that Honour which afterward his Princely and Noble Posteries continued for their sirname who became Dukes Princes in sundry places and some of them Kings of England France Scotland and Ireland and as the pious people of that Age verily beleeved by their observation were the more prosperous and happy for his sake For the continuance of the Name some who pretend to see further and better in the darke then others as cleare sighted would have it taken of late time and not used by the Kings and Princes of England of the Angeume race But there are many proofes to be adduced against them Let us looke into Master Brookes genealogies of England we shall find nothing more obvious and frequent in the deductions of those Princes of the House of Anjou then the addition and sirname of Plantagenet Edm. Plantagenet Geo. Plantagenet Iohn Plantagenet Edward Plantagenet Lyonell Plantagenet Humphry Plantagenet c. In the French Historians and Antiquaries Ion de Tillet Girard du Haillon Clande Paradin Iean Baron de la Hay we shall often meet with Geoffry Plantagenet Arthur Plantagenet Richard Plantagenet and diverse the like all of the first Age when the Angeume Princes first became English and some before Master Camden also in his Immortall Pâ—â—tannia mentioneth some very ancient as Richard Plantagenet Iohn Plantagenet c. And witnesseth that the forenamed Geoffry Plantagenet used to weare a Broome-stalke in his Bonnet as many Nobles of the House of Anjou did and tooke it for their chiefe sirname It might be added that these Earles of Anjou were descended out of the great house of Saxon in Germany which hath brought forth many Kings Emperors and Dukes and that they were of kindred and alliance to the ancient Kings of France and sundry other Princes But I will close here for the high Nobility of King Richard as the good old Poet did for another Heroicall Person Deus est utroque parente Ovid. And come to the other matters of his private story And first for his Birth and native place which was the Castle of Fotheringay or as some write the Castle of Birkhamsteed both Castles and Honours of the Duke his Father about the yeare of our Lord 1450 which I discover by the calculation of the Birth Raigne and death of King Edward his brother who was borne about 1441 or 1442. and raigned two and twenty yeares dyed at the age of one and forty Anno 1483. The Dutchesse of Yorke their Mother had five children betwixt them so that Richard could not be lesse then seven or eight yeares younger then King Edward and he survived him not fully three yeares This Richard Plantagenet and the other children of Richard Duke of Yorke were brought up in York-shire and Northampton-shire but lived for the most part in the Castle of Midelham in York-shire untill the Duke their Father and his Sonne Edmund Plantagenet Earle of Rutland were slaine in the battell of Wakefield Anno Dom. 1641 upon which the Dutchesse of Yorke their Mother having cause to feare the faction of Lancaster which was now growne very exulting and strong and of a mortall enmity to the House af Yorke secretly conveyed her two younger sonnes George and Richard Plantagenet who was then about some ten yeares old into the Low-Countries to their Aunt the Lady Margaret Dutchesse of Burgundy Wife of Charles Duke of Burgundy and Brabant and Earle of Flanders They continued at Utrich the chiefe City then in Holland where they had Princely and liberall education untill Edward Earle of March their eldest Brother had revenged his Fathers death and taken the Kingdome and Crowne as his right from Henry the sixth when he called home his two Brothers and enters them into the practise of Armes to season their forwardnesse and honour of Knighthood which he had bestowed upon them and soone after invests George into the Dutchy of Clarence and Earledome of Richmond which Earledome he the rather bestowed upon him to darken the young Earle of Richmond Henry Teudor Richard had the Dukedome of Glocester and Earledome of Carlile as I have read in an old Manuscript story which Creation the Heralds doe not allow But whether he were Comes thereof after the ancient Roman understanding that is Governour or Comes or Count after the common taking it by us English or others that is for a speciall Titular Lord I will not take upon me to determine but affirme I have read him Comes Carliolensis And after the great Earle of Warwicke and Salisbury Richard de Neville was reconciled to the Kings favour George Duke of Clarence was married to the Lady Isabell or Elizabeth the elder Daughter of that Earle and Richard Duke of Glocester to the Lady Anne which Ladies by their Mother the Lady Anne de Beauchamp Daughter and heire of Sir Richard de Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke were heires of that Earledome But Anne although the younger sister was the better woman having been a little before married to Edward Plantagenet Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall only Sonne of King Henry the sixth and was now his Princesse and Dowager by whom Duke Richard had a sonne called Edward created Prince of Wales when his Father came to the Crowne The imployment of this Duke was for the most part in the North as the Countrey of his birth so more naturally affected by him according to the Poet Natale solum dulcedine cunctos mulcet Ovid. And there lay his Appanage and Patrimony with a great Estate of the Dutchesse his Wife of which the Signiory of Penrith vulgò Perith in Cumberland was part where he much resided and built or repaired most of the Castles all that Northerne side generally honouring and affecting his Deportment being magnificent
what that purpose was and what they had in Agitation at that instant is not disertly said onely from other places of the Story And those which follow Sir Thomas Moore it may be conceiv'd they doubted him for his affectation of the Soveraigntie some practice against the King and his Brother for those be the charges they presse upon him although it is neither said nor made good by any direct and just proofe But admit he was now growne jealous of him and sent Sir William Catseby a man in great credit with the Lord Hastings to â—ound what opinion he held of that Title and Claime he might lay to the Crowne who presuming upon Catsebies gratitude and trust that had beene advanced by him without circumstance and even with indignation exprest an utter mislike thereof and engaged himselfe his uttermost power and abilitie against it peremptorily adding he had rather see the death and destructions of the Protector and Duke of Buckingham then the young King deprived of the Crowne Which reply Catseby being more just to his employment then honour in this poynt returnes the Protector who layd hold upon the next occasion to seize his head which is the greatest and bloodiest Crime that brings any proofe against him and yet not so cleare but that there may be some other State-mistery or fraud suspected in it Let us leave it up on that accompt and but consider how much more wee forgive the fames of H. 1. E. 3. H. 4. E. 4. H. 7. because they had their happy Starres and successe and then Prosperum scelus virtus vocatur there is applause goes with the Act and Actor Iulius Caesar was and ever will be reputed a wise and a great Captaine although his Emulation cost an infinite quantitie of excellent humane blood and his Nephew Octa. Augustus never ceased proscribing banishing and massacring untill he had dispatched all his proud Emulators Iulius Caesar thought it Crimen sacrum vel crimen Regale or Crimen sacrum Ambitio whoâ—e rule was Si violandum est jus regnandi gratiâ Violandum est ali is rebus piet atem colas If right for ought may e're be violate It must be only for a Soveraign State Drawing it from that rule though Apocrypha in Euripides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si injuste agere oportet pro tyrannide aut regno pulcherrimum est injuste agere in aliis pietatem colere expedâ—t And Antonius Caracalla alledged the Text to justifie the killing of his Brother Geta his Collegue in the Empire Polynicâ—s the Brother of Eteocles was of the same Religion and said A Kingdome could not be bought at too high a rate put in Friends Kindred Wife and Riches Via ad potentiam est tollere â—â—â—ulos premere Adversarios which the great Mâ—ster of Axiomes allowed hath beene countenanced by many great examples of State-reason and policie in all times even since the Ogygian Age for an old observation and generall in all forraigne Countries saith Regnum furto Et fraude ademptum antiquum est specimen imperii So King Atreus by his owne experience could say Vt nemo doceat fraâ—dis sceleris vias Regnum docebit But what those Ages call'd Valour Wisedome and Policy in those great Schollers of State who with credit practised their Artes Imperii and rules of Empire comes not under the license or warrant of our Christian times yet we may speak thus much for Richard to those who cry him so deepe an homicide that he had either more conscience or lesse cruelty then they attribute to him that by the same Act of power could not secure himselfe of others he had as just cause to feare especially Iasper Earle of Pembroke his Nephew Richmond and the subtill Doctor Morton who was extreamly his Enemy and the Chiefe Instrument that secretly mov'd against him And although the King had no certain notice which way his Engins wrought yet he knew enough to suspect him for and to remove him from the Councell-Table unto the custody of the Duke of Buckingham the man he had reason to suppose nearest to his trust though his expectation leaned on a broken Reed there for the Duke was now secretly in his heart defected from the King and become male-content Morton but toucht his pulse and knew how the distemper lay which he irritated into such sparklings as gave him notice where his constitution was most apt and prepared yea so subtilly mastred it that he had leave to steale from Brecknock Castle to Ely so for good store of Coine found safe passage into France whither his desires vehemently carried him in hope to fashion the Earle of Richmond to his Plot and under pretence of a Lancastrian Title to stirre him to take up Armes and invade England with the Assurance of many mightie friends here which would make the Designe of an easie and quick dispatch nor forgot he how much Artificiall and Eloquent perswasions adde to the Blaze of Ambition knowing the Earles temper like other mens in that and observing him with a kind of pleasure listen he gave such a studied glosse and superlation to the Text that the Earle was now so full of encouragement and hope for the invasion that their purposes spread as well into England as in France The Protector having also certaine intelligence of some particular Designes disposed himselfe in his actions more closely and knew what Friends and Confederates had engaged themselves to Richmond who yet kept a face of love and fidelitie towards him as did the Duke of Buckingham and the Countesse of Richmond who appeared at this instant an earnest Sutor to reconcile her Sonne into favour and that the King would bee pleased to bestow on him any of King Edward the fourth his Daughters But this took not the vigilancy of his eye from him and his partie the cause being of greater danger and apprehension now then in King Edwards time for the Earle had drawne unto him many of the English Nobilitie and Gentry and some Forraigne Princes had in favour to him promised their aydes But in the time of King Edward his Title and he was so little understood by his blood of Lancaster that the better judging-sort of the English Nobilitie and Gentry King Lewis the eleventh of France Francis the second Duke of Brittaine and other Forraigne Princes looked very slightly upon it And yet as Iohn Harding observed the King might be jealous of him being given out for an Heire of the House of Lancaster and Nephew to Henry the sixt With this he considered that some Forraigne Princes stood not well-affected to him or that some at home envying his House and Posteritie would catch at any sparke to trouble his peace and kindle a Sedition therefore he had good reason to thinke that as his libertie might make these beginnings more popular so their ends more dangerous and ingratefull the vulgar tasting all things by the eare and
by the same Titles This was as bitter as short and doubly ill taken First because it came with a Repulse Next because it seemed to proceed from a suspition and as a tax of his Loyaltie and begets another pretence of exception in the Dukes bosome which he called a breach of promise in the King for not joyning the Prince his Sonne in Marriage with the Lady Anne Stafford his Daughter but all those Colours were but to give complexion to the face of his defection the true cause was well devined and found out by the King his Ambition and aime to be Soveraigne rays'd by an overweening of that Royall Blood he supposed to be in his descent from the said Thomas de Woodstock c. Sonne of a King and yet he was not resolutely determined to make his Claime to the Crowne this way nor to attempt the Kingdome by Armes untill those embers which as it were lay but luke-warme in his thoughts were quickned and revived by the animation of Doctor Morton Bishop of Ely then a Privie Counsellour though he stood in some umbrage and disgrace in the Court with the King for his practises against him and was at this time in the custody of the Duke of Buckingham as a Prisoner more expressely for that being a Privie Counsellour he had given secret advertisement to the Earle of Richmond of what passed in the secret Councells of the King To this advantage he applyes that which he had wittily drawne from the Dukes discontent and passionate discourses at times passed By which perceiving the glance of his Ambition and that deriv'd from the great opinion of his Royall Blood he pregnantly tickles and feeds that humour untill he had soothed him past his owne strength or retyrement for his secret drift was to apt and prepare the Duke to a Rebellion at any hand though not to set his owne Title on foot yet layes open the advantage of the present times to it proposing flat usurpation and tyranny against the King Regnant and the strong likelyhood of his Deposing This lifts the Duke something higher in his owne opinion But comming to a pause and perceiving Richmond was the man they had aimed at for this great blow who had conditioned by Oath to marry the Lady Elizabeth for the Countesse of Richmond had by the meanes of Doctor Lewis conciliated the friendship of the Queene Mother to that Alliance and to draw as many of the House of Yorke into the Action as were at her Devotion that many Potent Lords and some Forraigne Princes had promised their ayds he began to retreat and conceive he had taken the wrong path to his journyes end for his Title and Claime must be nothing if those of Yorke and Lancaster were united And that the Earle who stood betweene him and his Aimes was not onely resolute to attempt but strongly ayded for it himselfe not able upon such an instant to raise a power able to encounter much lesse give check unto his violent Ambition therefore concludes all against himselfe and that it would fall out farte better to side with the times a consideration which doubtlesse would highly stirre a spirit where so much greatnesse of opinion and ambition was And the Doctor discerning this disgust and that he was startl'd in his hope and resolusion to recover him an intire man not let him stand by an idle spectator in so meritorious an action he opens a private way of honour and satisfaction suggesting him the first and greatest man the Kingdome was to know next the King And finding his particular distasts to King Richard of quickest sense and argument to him he freshly urges and as it were refricates each particle to the greatnesse of his spirit and discontent the Duke replyes not much at that time but busie in his thoughts leaves him and presently fashions a visite to the Countesse of Richmond a Lady of a politick and contriving bosome to know the credit of his intelligence which she insinuates with arguments so full of circumstance and honour besides her Sons indearment to him their hearnesse of blood affirming the Dukes Mother a Somerset the reciprocall affinitie betweene her Father and his and then the bravery and Religion in the Cause that the Duke now forsakes himselfe and fully gives up his resolution and promise to her thus prepar'd he finds out the Lord Stanley the Marquesse of Dorset Edward Courtney Earle of Devonshire and his Brother the Bishop of Exeter Sir Iohn Bowrchier Sir Iohn Wells Robert Willowby Edward Woodvill Thomas Arundel who had severally raised forces and intended their Rendezvous neere Glocester so to march for Dorsetshire there to receive the Earle and the Duke with his Welchmen But the King was early in his preparation to prevent them before they could unite or the Earle of Richmond arrive there else they had fastened a most dangerous Blow upon him And at this full stop in these progresses me thinkes wee may observe how uncertainely in our strongest valuations we are our owne and that our greatest Confidences and humane Policies are but heavie weights hung at trembling Wyers while our expectations are apt to be flattered and out-goe themselves but are overtaken in their Successe and Fates as was this great Mans for their Forces neither met by Sea nor Land the English being scatter'd by a suddaine and huge inundation that so dangerously over-flowed all passages they could not joyne nor passe the River Severne while the suddainnesse and strangenesse of it stroke the Souldiers with such alteration that most part of them forsooke the Duke and left him to himselfe The Earle of Richmond was as unfortunately met at Sea by a great tempest upon the coasts of England The King took the advantage this accident offered and pursued the Duke not only with a galloping Army but with Edicts Proscriptions that promised a thousand pounds in mony whereunto some Writers adde so much Lands as was worth one hundred pounds per annum to any that should bring in the Duke who was betrayed and brought to the King then at Salisbury by Humphry Banister an eternall brand having lived by this mans service and now thought treacherously to subsist by his Ruine The Duke being examined freely confessed all and for it lost his head in the field according to Marshall Law used by Armies in November An. Dom. 1484. An. 2 Rich. 3. And here if wee view him in the figure of his Ambition or Fate wee shall find Doctor Morton his Caput Argoll or the malignant Planet of his fortune who as Sir Thomas Moore confesseth and affirmeth by his Politick Drifts and Pride advanced himselfe and brought the Duke to this ruine The rest fled some into Sanctuaries others into Brittaine to the Earle of Richmond and some into Flanders all their Plots being now how to be safe And thus farre King Richard in the Voyage of his Affaires had a promising Gale wee will therefore here cast
which indeed struck a great discouragement in the expectation of all his Favourers and made his welcome the colder to the Duke of Brittaine the rather also because he had beene with the French King before he came to him which was taken but ill although the Earle could not otherwise doe being forc't upon the Coasts of Normandy And comming into the Road at Deipe landed to refresh himself and company From thence he intended to Roan which being so neare Paris ingaged him thither to the King being as Philip de Comines saith followed in a very honourable Port by 500 Englishmen In his stay there to shew us how much interest a provident and active spirit hath in fortune he so heightned and sweetned his behaviour to the Court as conciliated the favour and respect of the Greatest and Noblest Persons to him But most happily the faire opinion and esteeme of the Princely Lady Anne de France eldest Sister to King Charles the eight who had such an influence upon him in his minoritie that she out-pitched Lewis Duke of Orleance chiefe Prince of the Blood In envy or mis-like whereof he tooke Armes and raysed a Civill Warre in France as Iohn Tillet and others write she was wife to Pierce de Bourbon Lord of Beaujen after Duke de Bourbon but Beaujen being his most stately and honourable Signiory he was called Mounâ—ieur de Beaujen and this Lady had so flexible an inclination to the Earle of Richmonds Cause that she importuned the King to aide him with a good summe of mony and 3000 men but odde fellowes For Philip de Comines saith they were trois mille hommes les plus meschants que lux peut trouver no better then Rogues and Trewans men of base qualitie and as low courage Whilst these were Levying the Earle thriftie of all opportunities and as diligent to adde what advantage of time and ayde he could visits the Duke of Brittaine to the same purpose The Duke propounds it to his Councell which Peter Landois his Treasurer and chiefe Counsellour objects against with this reason That if the Enterpize succeeded well yet the event must fall out unhappily and ill to him the Earle having now interested himself to the favour and assistance of Charles King of France And this would be the first linke of so strong an ingagement that the Earle and his Confederacy must be lost to Brittaine when he came to be King being respectively tyed to lend the King of France ayde against them if any cause should happen which the King of France had a prepared stomack for and had not beene nice to seeke any provocation that might countenance a Quarrell against the Dutchy of Brittaine which was beyond his spanne so long as they continued in League with England that being untwisted and France and England Contracted how easie was it for the French to envade and swallow up both him and his Dukedome To make the present advantage therefore as profitable as safe his advice was to stay the Earle the Duke knowing his Coffers at that time very lanke and that the King of England would offer well for him approved the Counsell and resolved to be led by Landois whose respects notwithstanding were very affectionate to the Earle But whether by the secret caution of some friends or suggested to him by his better genius Sure it is by some unknowne meanes he had knowledge of it and yet this was determined but at night and designed for the morning But before midnight or the knowledge of their flight he and twelve Gentlemen his followers had left Vannes and recovered Aniow under the French Kings protection from thence to the French Court againe the King being still very pliable and constant to his promise concerning those French forces under his owne charge The next thing he works at is how to enlarge the Earl of Oxford out of the Castle of Hammes committed thither by Edward the fourth and in this he uses or rather followed indeed the contrivement of Doctor Morton who held good quarter with the Earle of Oxford and by his frequent visits had a familiar and easie doore open'd which the Earl readily tooke the opportunitie of least it might be shut againe by some miscarriage for Richmond thought or found the constitution of his Designe not a little strengthned by the Earle of Oxfords coâ—federacy nor did he mistake himselfe in his accompt when he set him downe of speciall use knowing him a man of an eminent power wisely and valiantly temper'd And to give him the stronger presumptions and confidence one that most mortally hated Edward the fourth and all the house of Yorke To begin therefore an Obligation the Earle of Richmond makes a Complementall journey to Hammes where the Earle of Oxford was then under the charge of Sir Iames Blound He finds all honourable and respective entertainment with fit libertie and occasion to propound himselfe unto the Earle who had beene partly prepar'd by Doctor Morton and therefore met him the nearest way engaging himselfe solely to the premises and by vertue of an indefatigable confidence sets upon his Keeper winnes him to the Faction and to Paris with them By which time all preparations were in readinesse and whilst they make this stay in the French Court the Earle of Richmond receives a faire excuse and protestation from the Duke of Brittaine with offer of Auxiliary Forces This supply came very acceptably and however he resented the Dukes late purpose upon him his wisedome told him he must now convert his anger into thanks which he returns with a reciprocall Protestation and Order to send the Troopes to Harflew where his Shipping lay and was the Rendezvous for his Souldiers In the end of July 1485. he tooke leave of the King and his most Noble Cousin Madam de Beaujen departing for the â—ort of Harflew in Normandy where he met with two thousand Brittaines from the Duke honourably accommodated But by the way he made some stay at Roven and had newes which much distemper'd him That the Lady Elizabeth was forthwith to be married to King Richard this quickned his hast for England presuming his landing would forbid the Banes otherwise he might sit downe with folded hands for upon this marriage insisted the maine hope and consequence of his Fortune without her all his great praetexts would faint yet seemed to heare it as a thing that could not concerne him so much having so present and provident a wit that in any chance he wanted not Councell and determination in himselfe for all Fortunes instantly resolving to apply his suit to her Sister the Lady Cecily but ere he could perfectly fashion these intents they were also counterchecked by the next packet which assured him the Lady Cecily was lately married neither did that after some Collection seeme much to discompose him but quickely varying his disposition to his fortune he would now fixe himselfe upon some choice in Brittaine Amongst his nobler friends for the most part
he was proclaimed traitor for him and when Queene Margaret besiedged the City of Gloucester with the Kings power the Citizens stood at defiance with her Army and told her it was the Duke of Gloucester his Towne who was with the King and for the King and for him they would hold it his Loyalty bearing a most constant expression in this motto Loualto melie which I have seen written by his owne hand and subscribed Richard Gloucester The other was as constantly undermining at him after confederate with the Earle of Warwicke his Father Allie who had turn'd faith from the King and went into France solliciting for force against England which they brought in fought with the King and overthrew him and so fiercely pursuing the victory that the King was forc't to fly out of the Land Clarence not so satisfied unlesse he might utterly supplant him studied that slander of basterdy to bring in himselfe an heire to the Crowne which was proved and given in expresse evidence against him at his triall and attainder by Parliament amongst sundry other articles of high Treason Videlicet That the said Duke of Clarence had falsly and untruly published King Edward a bastard and not legitimate to Raigne that himselfe therefore was true Heire of the Kingdome the Royalty and Crowne belonging unto him and to his Heires these be the very words of the Record and enough to tell us who was the Author of that slander and what important cause the King had to quit himselfe of Clarens a bitter proofe of the old Proverbe fratrum inter se irae acerbissimae sunt and all the favour Clarence could at his end obtaine was to choose it as Iohn de Serres reporteth it so that it was not the Duke of Gloucester but the Kings implacable displeasure for his malice and treasons that cut him off who could not thinke himselfe secure whilst he lived Witnesse Polidor Virgil Edvardus Rex post mortem fratris se a cunctis timeri animadvertit ipse jam timebat neminem Next for the murther of the two sonnes of King Edward the fourth Edward the fifth King in hope and Richard of Shrewsbury Duke of Yorke and Norfolke his younger Brother they alleadge it in this manner That King Richard being desirous to rid those two Princes his Nephews out of the world imployed his trusty servant Iohn Greene to Sir Robert Brackenbury Lieutenant Constable of the Tower about the executing of this murther and by reason that plot tooke no effect Sir Robert not liking it The Protectour suborned foure desperate Villaines Iohn Dighton Miles Forrest Iames Tyrrell and William Slater to undertake it who as they further alleadge smothered them in their beds which done they made a deepe hole in the ground at the foote of the staires of their lodging and their buried them hiding the place under an heape of stones not after the antient manner of tumulus testis others vary from this and say confidently the young Princes were imbarqued in a Ship at Tower wharfe and conveyed from thence to Sea so cast into the Blacke deeps others averre they were not drowned but set safe on shore beyond Seas And thus their stories and relations are scatter'd in various formes their accusations differing in very many and materiall points which shakes the credit of their suggestion and makes it both fabulous and uncertaine one giving the lie to the other their malice having too much Tongue for their memories and is worth the noting how opposite and as it were ex Diametro repugnant they are In vulgus fama valuitfilios Edwardi Regis aliquò terrarum parteâ—migrasse atque ita supestites esse Thus Pollidor with which Dr. Morton and Sir Thomas Moore agree in one place The man say they commonly called Perkin Warbeck was as well with the Princes as with the people English and forraigne held to be the younger Son of Edward the fourth and that the deaths of the young King Edward and of Richard his brother had come so far in question as some are yet in doubt whether they were destroyed or no in the dayes of King Richard By which it appeares they were thought to be living after his death And as the act of their death is thus uncertainly disputed so is the manner of it controverted For Sir Thomas Moore affirmeth as before reported they were smothered in their beds with Pillowes but Pollidor saith peremptorily it was never known of what kinde of death they dyed Another Author and more ancient agreeth with them Vulgatum est Regis Edwardi pueros concessisse in sata sed quâ— genere interitus ignoratur one reason of this may be that they who held Perkin Warbeck and Richard Duke of Yorke to be all one give another accompt of his death whereas if it had beene certaine these foure before named for Assasines had murdered them then the place time and manner had beene easily known upon their strict examination they living freely and securely and without question long after this murdeâ— was said to be done Therefore there can be no excuse for this neglect of Examination much lesse for the suffering such to goe unpunished and at liberty which me thinks maketh much for the cleering of King Richard As for the burying of their bodyes in the Tower if that be brought in question certes the affirmative will be much more hard to prove then the negative For true it is there was much diligent search made for their bodies in the Tower all places opened and digged that was supposed but not found Then it was given out a certaine Priest tooke up their bodies and buried them in another secret place nto to be found hereunto but with better decorum for the more credit of this assertion they might have added it was done sub sigillo confessionis which may not be revealed Sir Thomas Moore seeing the absurdities and contrarieties of these opinions as a man puzeled and distracted with the variety and uncertainty thereof concludeth their bodies were bestowed God wot where and that it could never come to light what became of them Hall Hallingshed Grafton and the rest confesse the very truth hereof was never knowne And if there be a stricter inquiry into the mystery we shall discover that they were neither buried in the Tower nor swallowed in the Sea for the testimony and Relation of sundry grave and discreâ—te persons and such as knew the young Duke of Yorke will resolve us how he was preserved and secretly conveyed into a foraigne Country also alive many years after the time of this imaginary murder to which may be added strong authorities having layd downe some conjectures that may answer the iniquiry after the other And first whereas it is said the Lord Protector before his Coronation procured this murder To refell and contradict that there bee certaine proofes that the Princes were both living in the moneth of February following the death
of their Father which was ten moneths after for King Edward dyed in April before and this is plaine in the Records of the Parliament of Anno 1. Rich. 3. where there is mention made of this Prince as then living and Sir Thomas Moore confesseth that they were living long after that time before said But I conjecture Edward the Eldest brother lived not long after but died of sicknesse and infirmity being of a weake and sickly disposition as also was his Brother which the Queene their Mother intimated in her speech to the Cardinall Boursier and the weake constitutions and short lives of their sisters may be a naturall proofe to infer it probable enough this Prince dyed in the Tower which some men of these times are the rather brought to thinke certaine bones like to the bones of a Child being found lately in a high desolate Turret supposed to be the bones of one of these Princes others are of opinion it was the â—aâ—râ—asse of an Apekept in the Tower that in his old age had happened into that place to die in and having clamber'd up thither according to the light and idle manner of those wanton Animals after when he would have gone down seeing the way to be steepe and the precipice so terrible durst not adventure to descend but for feare stayed and starved himselfe and although hee might bee soone mist and long sought for yet was not easily to be found that Turret being reckoned a vast and damned place for the hight and hard accesse no body in many yeares looking into it But it is of no great consequence to our purpose whether it were the Carcasse of a Child or of an Ape or whether this young Prince dyed in the Tower or no for wheresoever hee dyed why should it not be as probable hee dyed of a naturall sicknesse and infirmity as for his young Cozen german the sonne and heire of King Richard many reasons conducing why the qualities and kinde of their death might be the same and neere one time being even parallels almost and in their humane constitutions and corporall habitude sympathizing of one Linage and Family of one blood and age of the same quality and fortune therefore not unlikely of the same Studies Affections Passions Distemperatures so consequently subject to the same infirmities to which may be added equall and common constellations the same compatient and commorient fates and times and then there is reason and naturall cause they might both die of like Diseases and infirmity and were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken away by violence secret or overt for it may with asmuch Argument bee suspected the son of King Richard being in the like danger of secret violence for the same cause as his Cozen was might suffer so But to open the circumstance a little neerer what danger could the lives of those two Princes be to Richard who was accepted King by a just title and his Nephewes declared illegitimate by the high Court of Parliament and whilst they were reputed such by so great and generall a conclusion why should he be lesse secure of them then Hen. 2. was of Robert E. of Glocester base sonne to Hen. 1. or Richard the first of his base Brother Geoffrey Plantagenet So although Iohn of Gaunt left base sonnes aspiring enough yet they were of no danger to the Lancastrian Kings neither did Henry 7. or Henry 8. stand in any jealousy of Arthur Plantagenet and surely Richard the third was as valiant wise and consident as any of his predecessors and had as little cause to dread his Nephewes as they stood adjudged or be more cruell and bloudy neither hath my reading found any Bastards of France or Spaine who have aspired so publickly onely except Don Eurique E. of Trastamara who was drawne into that action by the violent rages of the people and by the perswasions of the revolted states of Castile to put downe a monster of Soveraignty the hatefull tyrant Don Pedro Cruell But being Sir Thomas Moore and our best Chroniclers make it doubtfull whether these two Princes were so lost in King Richards time or no and infer that one of them was thought to be living many years after his death that might be enough to acquit him which opinion I like the better because it mentioneth the survivance but of one of them Neither doe our most credible stories mention the transportation of more then one into Flanders nor had they reason it will bee sufficient if one of them survived him more or lesse time we will follow therefore the examination of his story under the opinion of those times and the attestation of grave and credible men because it will be more conspicuous in the true and simple narration of this one Brother every story being fraught with reports concerning him and few or none of his brother finding no mention of the Elder Bothers being in Flanders but of the youngers much and of his other adventures The prudent and honorable care of sending away this younger Brother by some is ascribed to Sr. Robert Brakenbury by others to the Queene his Mother and it may well be the projection of them both though no doubt there was the advise and assent of other well affected friends And it is the more credible the Queen wrought in it for the story of Sr. Thomas Moore saith shee was before suspected to have had such a purpose which was objected to her by some of the Lords and the Cardinall Boursier told her the maine Reason which made the Protector and Nobles so urgeing to have him sent to his Brother being then in the Tower was a suspition and feare they had shee would convey Him forth of the Realme So then it may be cleerly supposed he was sent into a forraine Country and that Flanders as all our stories testify there commended to a liberall education under the curature of a worthy Gentleman in Warbeck a Towne in Flanders but kept very privately all the life time of his Uncle his Friends not daring to make him of the councell After his death knowing Henry Richmond a cruell enemy to the house of Yorke for his better safety was committed to the care of Charles of Burgundy and his Dutchesse the Lady Margaret Aunt to the Prince as formerly the Dutchesse of Yorke upon a like cause of feare and jealousy had sent thither her two younger sons George and Richard The Dutchesse being very tender to let this young Duke have all Princely and vertuous education in Tornay in Antwerp and after in the Court of the Duke of Burgundy as hee had bin in Warbeck c. And with the greater circumspection because the Dutchesse of Burgundy had as jealous an opinion of Henry the Seventh as the Queene Widdow had of Richard 3. Therefore as yet it was advised to conceale his Name and Quality being not come to the growth nor age to have experience in his own affaires much lesse to undertake an attempt
traditory opinion more then justice and reason but equally examine his slanders they shall finde Malice and ignorance have been the Kings greatest accusers which can onely lay Suspition to his charge and Suspition in Law is no more guilt then Imagination for though Suspition many times lay a great blame upon a man men holding him to be guilty whom men suspect to be so though injuriously yet the Law holds it not a Crime because Suspition many times supposeth those to be culpable which are not for an Instrument may as easily be condemned as a Malefactor being an evil grown from the errour of men Wherefore Suspition of it self bringeth no sentence by Law Natural or Moral Civil or Divine according to that of the old Minographus Suspitio grave est hominibus malum And the Divine Chrysostome saith A good man hardly suspecteth another to be evil but an evil man scarcely supposeth any to be good far from the counsel of this Epigram Culparem quoquam quae non sunt nota malignum est Presertim si quam cognita sint bona sunt Non pateant faciles duris rumoribus aures Quae nescire juvat credere non libeat Linquantur secreta Deo qui quicquid opertum est Inspicit nullis indiget indicibus Accuse no man of faults to thee unknown And much lesse him from whom good fruits have grown Lend not thine ears to scandalous reports Believe not that which known nought thee imports Leave secret things to God who knows all hearts And hath no need of the Promoters arts But as Iulius Caesar who had many excellent Observations was wont to say Vir bonus tam suspicione quam crimine carere oportet That a good man must be as well without suspition as crime Yet none so innocent but may fall under the lash of the malicious for such like the Polypus will take any colour or make any tincture of a Crime to serve their ends Of such a vertue is the never-understanding Vulgar that like Kytes and Daws can digest nought but stench and filth their Ignorance being their Faith and that drawn from loose Pamphlets and the vomits of mercinary and mimick pens to which and their uncurable fits I leave them Explicit Liber quartus THE FIFTH BOOK OF THE HISTORY OF KING RICHARD the Third The Contents WHat a Tyrant is and how a Tyrant and King Richard differ The destruction of the Plantagenets The daughters of King Edward the Fourth how bestowed The death of the Queen their Mother The Vertues of King Richard the Third The Elogie of the three Brothers King Edward the Fourth George and Richard The Magnificent Publike and Charitable Buildings of King Richard the third His good Laws and other good works That to die in the Wars is no Dishonour but an Honour Artes Regiae Crimen regale His Comparison with other Kings accounted good King James his gracious demeanour to his Cousins A Character and Elogie of King Richard the third The title of the Norman Race and of York defended The sundry titles of King James The Wedding King of England Lapis Regno fatalis King Richards Sepulchre and Epitaph The Authors Scope Peroratio Votum THE FIFTH BOOK OF King Richard The Third WE will next endeavour to understand that Vocable or term Tyrannus that is a Tyrant or an evil King cast upon King Richard which indeed comprehendeth all scandals and impieties whatsoever Tyrannus est qui suis propriis Commodis studet publicis adversatur And Tyrannus est qui dominatu crudeliter abutitur A Tyrant is by another wise man compared to a Dragon who becometh not a Dragon until he hath devoured many Serpents of which Conceit this Epigram was wittily framed Post plures Coluber Serpentes Dracosit esos Gust at â humanâ carne fit homo Lupus The Dragon which doth many Serpents eat Becomes a Dragon of huge shape and strength And so the man which makes his flesh mans meat Transformed is unto a Wolf at length Another Philopher differeth not much from these who saith that of all tame beasts the flatterer is most pernicious and of all wilde the Tyrant who forbeareth not for any respect of good or ill but studies Oppressions Wrongs Exactions Robberies Sacriledges Blood-shed Murder Adultery Incest Rape Riot Gluttony Luxuriousnesse Prodigality and all manner of Excesses These be his arts of raigning and these be his vertues Invident Tyranni claris fortesque trucidant Another saith Tyrannus miserum vetat perire foelicem jubet So it was truely said by the famous Orator of Athens Liberalitas Tyranni nihil aliud est quam translatio pecunâ—arum a justis Dominis ad alienos idque indignos His thirst and covetousnesse for his largitious riots and lusts are so inordinate that nothing can quench it Non Tartessiaris illum satiaret arenis Tempestas pretiosa Tagi non stagna rubentis Aurea Pactoli totumque exhauserit Hermum Arde bit majore siti c. Quicquid conspicuum pulchrumque ex Equore toto Res sisci est c. These may serve for the notions of a Tyrant to any of which Impieties our King Richard was very little or not at all obnoxious For first Whereas a Tyrant imposeth many grievous Taxes and Oppressions upon his Subjects he took away such grievances and particularly by Act of Parliament a hateful Tax though disguised with the name of a Benevolence forbearing to impose any upon the people Then A Tyrant doth not onely rapine his Subjects but spoils and robs Churches and Church-men But King Richard did many good things both for the publike good advancing Gods service and maintenance of his Ministers and Church-men Tyrannum pium esse non est facile as Sophocles well observed And the Oracle pronounced Portae foelicitatis ad Tyrannidem clausae Tyrants be cruel and bloody but this King by the testimony of his enemies was very merciful and milde who confesse he was of himself gentle and assably disposed These be their own words Therefore where tyrannical acts be objected against him they must be conceived done by other men or by their practice or else before he was King and what he did then was not nor could be properly called Tyranny Amongst those they impute to him when he was King which are called Tyrannies the beheading Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham was the chiefest yet that act the cause and just motives of it being well perused cannot be censured Tyranny rather due and necessary Justice for if the King had not put down the Duke the Duke would have put down the King Then it is objected He bare a tyrannical hand over his nephew Edward Earl of Warwick True it is he sent him to Shery-Hutton a goodly and pleasant house of his own in York-shire where he had liberty large diet all pleasure and safety and if that were imprisonment it was a prison Curtoise as Iohn Froisard saith yet this must not be lesse
name 4 5. borne by the Earls of Anjou ib. Growes into contempt 46. Geoffery Plantagenet Earle of Anjou a Courtly Prince 4. Married Maud the Empress ib. Who was first founder of that name in England 45. Poole Edmund de la Poole commanded to be put to death by H. 7. contrary to his promise 142. Katherine de la Poole dyed in prison ib. Sir H. de la Pool put to death ib. All of the house of Yorke Reynold Poole after Cardinall fled beyond Sea ib. Iohn de la Pool Ea. of Lincoln proclaimed heire apparant to the Crowne of England 44. Popes their power anciently very great 124. Limited by Canonists 47. Cannot legitimate Bastards to inherit ib. That belongs only to the Magistrate 48. Their intollerable pride 53. Dispense with incestuous marriages 55. Their dispensations held sacred 144. Popes Bull 55. Their proud defiance to all Laws divine humane 1â—8 Prescription power of it 144. Prince formerly a title of Soveraigne power but now restrained 49 50. Prince of Wales Sonne to H. 6. barbarously murthered at Tewksbury 81. Rich. 3. cleare of it ib. Prophesie of a Hermite concerning de Vere Earl of Oxford the occasion event of it 105. Providence Divine providence worketh by conrtary meanes 43. Cannot be prevented 63. Q. QUeen Mother and Dowager of Ed. 4. reconciled to R. 3. 29. Confined to an Abbey and dyes of griefe 143. Quithlaw Commissioner for the K. of Scots an eloquent man 33. 139 140. R. RAcke and torture use of it condemned 94 95. and reasons ib. Restitution of ill-gotten goods a hard and rare thing 43. 99. Resolution a notable example in Rich. 3. 59 60. Ryot and riotous Princes 139. Richard 3. King of England his great and Noble discent page 3. Time and place of his birth p. 7. Brought up at Utricht in Holland p. 8. Is Knighted created Du of Glost. marries the Princesse Dowager of Wales ibid. 81. His wisedome courage constancy to his brother 9. makes a prosperous expedition into Scot. 10 11 is made protector ib. His care of his Nephewes and duty to the young K. in hope Edw. 5. ib. Is elected K. by the Lords and Commons in Parliam 20. 22. Is crowned with his Queene and anoynted with great Magnificence 24 25 26. Received at Yorke in great honour and crowned the 2 time ib. His title conferred 30. Is cleared from the death of his Nephewes 21 22 23. 31. 84 85 86. 101. 102 103 104 106 107. Of his brother Clarence 82. Of H. 6. Prince Edw. his son 81 82 of his own wife 107. 129. from the slaunder raised upon his mother and brother 82 83. Was no Tyrant 78. his mildnesse his ruine 61. 136 His great magnificence wisedome justice 8 9. 12. 15. 27. 28. His many eminent vertues 136 137 138. His pious workes 138 139. His vertues maliciously depraved 78. The partiality of his accusers 130. 135. His defamations examined and answered 75 76 77 78 79. His description and commendation 148. Was not deformed His politick woing the L. Eliza. his Niece 126 127. 129. His treaties with forraigne princes 32. 33. 34. His noble valour at Bosworth field Weares the Crowne Royall and why 59. 60 61. Invites Rich. to a single combat ib. Is slaine and barbarously mangled 62. Is buried at Leicester under a faire Marble 147. His Epitaph 149. attainted of high treason with his followers 126. Is compared with other Kings of England 141. Three Richards Kings of England compared an Epigram vpon them 150. Rowles domus conversorum or house convertits 139. S. SAnctuary great priviledge of iâ— 19. 92 93. Sebastian King of Portugal escaped the battell of Alcazar 97 98. After long travel gets to Venice is knowne ib. Is betrayed into the K. of Spains power charged for a counterfeit made away 99. Slander and Slanderers 77 78. 103. Sotbriquets nick-names or sir-nâ—mes examples 5 6. Somersets Earls of Worcester from whom descended 47. Sorcery witch-craft divers accused of 102. Subjects men are Subjects to that Prinâ— under whose protection they live 105. Suspition evill of it 30. Note of an evill minde ib. Honest mind nor suspitious Ib. T. TAlbot Elianor Talbot Widow of the Lord Butler forsaken of Edward 4 th which caused her death 122. Teeth many worthy men borne with teeth 79. Traitor reward of Traitors 37. 97 Treason and rebellion their pretext 34. Soveraign Princes cannot commit Treason 126. K. R. 3. attainted of Treason but unduely ibid. Tyrant what it signifies in the proper signification 80. 133 134. Torture vid. Racke V. VAlour a notable example 60 61. Valiana minds hate treachery and bloody acts 81. Vanity and uncertainty of humane States 36 37. 59. Upstarts 46. W. WAkefield battell 7. Warre between England and Scotland and the cause of it 9 10. 7. Warren Earl of Surrey 46. Warwick Richard Nevil the great Earl of Warwicke 117. Distasts K. Edw. 4. and takes up armes against him 118. Edward Earl of Warwick put to death 96. Wedding King of England 146. William Conquerour his noblenesse toward his dead enemy 61. Woolsey the great Cardinall his just commendations 78. Y. YOrke Edmond Plantagen alias de Langley first Duke of Yorke 4. The Title of that House to the Crowne of England 3. Richard Du of York and Father of K. R. 3. designed King by H. 6. And the High Court of Parliament 3. Crowne entailed to his Issue 20. 51. Richard Duke of Yorke 2 d son of Edw. 4. sent beyond sea and brought up privately at Warbecke in Planders for feare of the faction of Lancaster 85 87. Discovers himselfe 88. Is acknowledg'd by the English Nobility ib. Favoured of Forreign Princes 90 91. His various fortunes 92. Is proclaimed King 92. Is taken and sent to the Tower 93. His sufferings there 94. His offence forged for which he is hang'd at Tiburn 95. Duchesse of Yorke her speech to her Son King Edward 4. 119 120. Cruelty shewed to the remainers of the House of Yorke 143. A finall subversion of that house and name ibid. An Explication of some dark words and Sentences SOtbriquets or Sobriquets Nickenams 4. Angeume of or belonging to Anjou Naturall son i. a Bastard also a naturall Father Rodomantade p. 12. a brag or bravado Cloth of assuyance 27. Towel or napkin that wait on the cup. Contrast withstanding or repugnance Parergum 32. Something added that is not of the principall matter Tort 35. wrong injury and violence Vmbrage or Ombrage 35. Suspition also disgrace Disgust 36. Distaste Contrecar 44. A counter-strength c Filij populi 44. Bastards so called being children of common women in respect of the Father of uncertaine Parentage Ne Croix ny Pile 51. Neither cross nor pile not one title or jot of right c. Ambidexter a Iack on both sides Brother uterine 51. 1 by the mothers side Abbayance 53. In delay or dispute such as Lawyers use a term borrowed from another creature Apodixis 60. Plain demonstration
the King might beleeve he was forward to come as near his desires as in honour could be he engaged himselfe to keep so carefull and vigilant a watch upon them that they should have no more power to endanger him then if they were in strict Prison This being returned though not agreable to the Kings hope and wishes yet bearing such a Caution of Honour and Wisdome he remained satisfied and so it paused for the space of eight yeares as I conjecture for the King made this demand in the twelfth yeare of his Raigne 1472 all which time he was very intent to preserve the League with good Summes of Mony and costly Presents In the twentieth of his Raigne 1480 he received intelligence that the Earle of Richmond had stird up fresh Embers and new friends in the French Court to blow them and that the French King had dealt by solicitation of the Earle of Pembrook and others privately to get the Earl of Richmond and offered great Sums to the Duke of Brittaine This gave new disturbance and the King must now by the best meanes he could renue his former sâ—te to the Duke of Brittaine for which employment he intrusts Doctor Stillington Bishop of Bath his Secretary a man of a Wise Learned and Eloquent endeavour of good acquaintance and credit with the Duke of Brittaine who gave him an honourable and respective entertainement The Bishop after he had prepared him by the earnest of a very rich present tenders the Summe of his Employment not forgetting what he was now to Act and what to promise on the Kings part And for a more glorious insinuation tells him how the King had elected him into the noble Society of St. Georges Order as the most honourable intimation he could give of his love to qualifie all exceptious too and jealousies assures him the King had no intent to the Earle of Richmond but what was answerable to his owne worth and quality of the Kings Kinsman having declared a propensity and purpose to bestow one of his daughters upon him The Duke well mollified and perswades delivered the Earle by a strong Guard to the Bishop at St. Maloes Port a change of much passion and amazement to him whose sufferings tooke hold upon the affable disposition of the Noble Peir de Landois Treasurer to the Duke who had the Earle in Charge and Conduct to St. Malo He urges the cause from him of his so altered and present condition with Protestation of all the aide he could The Earle thus fairely and happily provoked and perceiving the sparkles of his sorrow had hapt into a tender bosome freely exposed himselfe and with such an overcomming Countenance of teares and sighes framed his own Story and prest Landois that it so wrought upon his temper he perswaded the Earle to put on clearer hopes assures him there should some meanes be found to shift the Tempest thereupon writes a sad Relation to the Duke to move his compassion and favour and knowing the Baron Chandais a great man in credit with him well affected to the Earle by a long and reciprocall affection he repaired to his house neare Saint Malo and prevailed with him to use his power with the Duke for returning the Earle who posted to Vanes where the Court was then and tooke the Duke at such an advantage by suggesting his credulity abused and cunningly drawne into this contract by the King that there was a Post dispatcht to stay the Earle In that interim Landois had not been Idle to find a way to let the Earle escape into the Abbey Church of St. Malo where he claimed the benefit of the holy Asyle which was easily contrived by corrupting his Keepers But the Duke to stand cleare of the Kings suspition sent over Maurice Brumell to satisfie him that the Earle according to promise was sent to Saint Malo there delivered to his servants deputed whose negligence let him escape and that he had demanded him of the Covent who denyed to render him without security caution that he should be continued a prisonerin Vanes with as much courtesie as formerly Now being it was falne into those strict and peremptory termes and within the contumacie of such lawlesse persons where he could not use power he yet faithfully protested no suite from the French King or any other should draw him from his former promise All which he religiously performed whilst King Edward lived the space of twelve yeares after Phillip de Comines in which circle of time it may with admiration be observed through what changes and interchanges of hazards dangers and difficulties he was preserved Soone after King Edwards decease King Richard renewed and continued the Treaty by Sir Thomas Hutton of Yorkshire receiving the same satisfaction in Answer but was failed in the performance and so dishonourably that it then appeared the Duke had kept in with Edward more for feare then for love or honour the name of Edward and the Earle of March being indeed accounted terrible where his victorious sword was drawne which breach of the Dukes was not left unpunished at least as that age then guessed by a divine revenge for having married Margaret Daughter and Co-heire of Francis de Mountford Duke of Brittaine she dying without issue he married Margaret Daughter of Gaston de Foix King of Navarr by whom he had one only daughter Anne married to the French King Charles 8. Thus Duke Francis dyed without issue male the Dutchy being swallowed up and drowned in the Lillies or Crapands of France and with his Family of Brittaine irrecoverably lost and absorpted Thus much for the jealousie and feares of those two Kings now to the progresse of ouâ— Story where the Barons and Commons with one generall dislike and an universall negative voice refused the sonnes of King Edward not for any ill will or malice but for their disabilities and incapacities the opinions of those times too held them not legitimate and the Queene Elizabeth Gray or Woodvill no lawfull Wife nor yet a Woman worthy to be the Kings Wife by reason of her extreame unequall quality For these and other causes the Barons and Prelates unanimously cast their Election upon the Protector as the most worthiest and nearest by the experience of his owne deservings and the strength of his Alliance importuning the Duke of Buckingham to become their Speaker who accompanied with many of the chiefe Lords and other grave and learned persons having Audience granted in the great Chamber at Baynards Castle then Yorke-house thus addrest him to the Lord Protector SIR May it please your Grace to be informed that after much grave Consultation amongst the Noble Barons and other worthy persons of this Realme it stands concluded and resolved that the sons of King Edward shall not raigne for who is not sensible how miserable a fortune and dangerous estate that Kingdome must be in where a childe is King according to the Wise man Vaetibi
voce Richardus eram Tutor eram Patriae Patrius pro jure Nepotis Dirupta tenui regna Britanna fide Sexaginta dies binis duntaxat ademptis AEtatesque tulitunc mea Sceptra duas Fortiter in Bello certans desertus ab Anglis Rex Henrice tibi septime succubui At sumptu pius ipse tuo sic ossa dicaras Regem olimque facis Regis honore Coli Quatuor exceptis jam tantum quinque bis annis Acta trecenta quidem lustra salutis erant Antique Septembris undena luce Kalendas Redideram rubrae jura petita Rosae At mea quisquis eris propter commissa precarem Sit Minor ut precibus poena levata tuis Deo O. M. Trino Uno sit laus gloria aeterna AMEN EPIGRAMMA In Richardos Angliae Reges ex vet lib. M. S. transcriptum TRes sunt Richardi quorum fortuna erat aequa In tribus aescariis sua cujus propria sors est Nam Concors horum finis sine posteritate Corporis atque rapax vitae modus violentus Interitus fuerat sed major gloria primi Praelia terrarum qui gesserat redeuntem Tela Balistarum feriunt apud extera regna Alter depositus regno qui carcere Clausus Mensibus extiterat certis fame velle perire Elegit potius quam famae probra videre Tertius exbausto statim amplo divitiarum Edwardi cumulo proscribens auxiliares Henrici partes post annos denique binos Suscepti regni Bello confectus eisdem Mundanam vitam tum perdidit atque Coronam Anno milleno Centum quater octuageno Adjunctis quinque cum lux Sextilis adest Vndena duplex dentes apri stupuerunt Et vindex albae Rosa Rubra refloret in orbe FINIS A Table of the Heads contained in this BOOKE A. AMbition and Covetuousnesse the cause of unnaturall fends murders and infinite other mischiefes Example pag. 5. 12 13 14. 35 36. 98 99. 104. 141. c. Ambassadour of Scotland his speech to K. Richard 3. p. 139. 140. Angell Guardian Genius p. 106. Ann de la Poole a Nun. 35. Anjou Fulke Earle of Anjou sonne of Geofrey Grisegonnelle p. 4. his purjury and murder of his Nephew Drogo ib. his pilgrimage to the holy Sepulcher his penance ib. his great and famous posterity p. 6 7. Armes of France assumed by Ed. 3. p. 47. Armes of the ancient Earles of Anjou pag. 47. Armes of bastards differenced 46. Arrogation of royall rights 45. Arts Imperij and rules of policy in auncient times not warrantable p. 14. Ancesters or Antecestoures the duty and respect we owe unto their memories p. 69. Ambitious minds easily flattered 35. a sower sweet p. 30. B. BArrons of England their great priviledge 118. Bastards what they are 44. cannot inherit p. 45. not beare their fathers name or arms 46. without speciall indulgence p. 48. Take the mothers name 46. 47. The ancient custome of England and France herein ib. Great families discended from bastards p. 66. may bee capeable of offices and dignities 48. Battell of Bosworth 60. 61. Baynard Castle London formerly Yorke house p. 20. Beauforts naturall children of Iohn of Gaunt so called from a towne in Anjou 45. not permitted to the title of Lancas ib. A charter of their legitimation 48. 49. Benevolence the meaning of that word in Edw. 4. his time 133. in Margin Barwick recovered by the English 10. Bucking an auncient famly 67. how desended c. 68. of the name ib. Buckingham Henry Stafford D. of Buck. his speech to the Lord protector 20. 22. His revolt and rebellion 34. his pretended title to the Crowne 35. retires sides with Richmond 36 his forces are scattered himselfe betrayed and beheaded 37. D. of Brittaine chose Knight of the Garter 18. C. CHarter of Henry 4. entailing the Crown to his 4. sons successively 50. Camp-fight or single combates between Princes and Generalls and grounds of it 62. Catarhe to dye of a Catarhe what it meanes in France 123. Censure and censuring 63. K. Charles our most Gracious and dear soveraigne Lord his just undoubted right his many great and auncient titles to the Imperial Crowne of England 144 145 146. Clarence G. D. of Clarence rebells against his Brother Edward 4. is taken and beheaded 82 83. Clergy pride of Popish Clergy 53. Comlinesse of personage adds a grace to vertue 42. Comes or Count two fold signification of it 8. Constable-ship of England joyned to the Earledome of Hereford 34. Vice-Constable a new and politick institution 31. A coppie of their Commission ibid. Cole Harbour London at first Heralds Office 138. Conquerour and Conquest Licentious power of it 54 55. Titles by conquest not safe nor lasting 144. distasted of the people as tyranicall 54. Covetuonsness roote of all evill 5. c. as in Ambition Councel and Councellers 51 52. 55. 103 Counterfeit princes many examples p. 89. Cowardice Insolence over a conquered enemy a note of it 61. Crowne little pleasure in it 21. D. DEath the best men have dyed violent deaths 140. To dye in battell a glorious death ibid. Wee must not a mans life by the manner of his death 141. Decree of God not to be prevented 63. Deformity of body no blemish to vertue 80. Desires unlawfull alwaies unsatiable 5. 116. Detraction v. Slander Dimock Champion to K. Rich. 3. makes a challenge in defence of the Kings title to the Crowne 27. Divorce of Wives formerly usuall upon slight occasions 127. Copy of a Bill of divorse in use among the Iewes 128. Dux and Comes Ducatus and Comitatus were formerly Synonomies 4. Drogo Young Earle of Brittaine made away by his Vncle 5. E. EDward 3. King of England his linage 4. thought privie and consenting to his fathers deposition â—assacre 141. Edward Earle of March obtaines the Crowne 8. sends an army into Scotland to recover his tribute 10. received tribute of France 29. much feared for his prowess 19. His wantonnesse and many loves 115 116. His witty Leman 121. Had two wives at once 116 117. Ill consequences of his last marriage 118. His answer to his mother 120. Adjudged unlawfull the children illegittimate Parliam Anno 1. Rich. 3. p. 30. And refused by the Barons and Commons as incapeable of rule 20. 22. His daughters meane fortunes 143. His death supposed by treachery 11. by poyson 102. 123. Appointed his brother Ric. D. of Glocester protector 11 Edward 5. conveyed with an honorable conduct from Ludlow to London 11. reports of his death diverse but uncertaine 83 84. most probable that he died of sicknesse and infirmity 85. Edward Prince of Wales sonne of Hen. 6. Murdered 81. 141. Edw. Prince of Wales son of R. 3. dyed to the great griefe of the K. Q 44. Elianor Talbott alias Butler married to Edw. fourth 116. her wrongs and death 122. Elizabeth Gray her witty strengths against K. Edwards amorous assaults 117. Is marrid to him privately in a lodge 118. Is confined to an Abbey by