most deutifull manner that I can deuise I humblie beseche your Maiesties at no time to suffer the accustomed heat of your mutuall loue in any one point to coole but that it take such deep holde and daily encrease so muche within your graciouse brestes as it neuer be extinguished eyther by treason of false detractors by the cruell ficklenesse of fortune or by any flagitiouse meanes that the malice of this world may procure So vse the matter as this louying coniunction of your two hartes may be vnto you a brasen wall defend you this wall stoutlye that double tongued Sycophantes may dreed it let this woorke suche an effect in you as all those be out of your fauoures whiche carie in their mouthe a flatteringe woord and in their hand a cruell weapon suche as pretend peace by woord practise warre by deed such as in peace vse deceit and in warre outragiouse violence and so by deceit kill mennes soules and by violence destroye their bodyes Now as touching the exceding tender loue and zeale of mothers towardes their children it is of suche force as hath wrought very much profitt not only to priuate families but also to whole common wealthes yea and to the greatest Empyres Herevpō arose the honorable fame of Eurydice of Dalmatia for that being a banished woman in Illyria well stroken in aige she applyed her mynde wholy to learnyng to the ende she might better instruct her owne children But to come somewhat nearer to your Maiestie my deare Soueraigne ladye if the care of this woman ouer her children and of all other mothers whosouer be compared whith your woonted singular loue towardes your sonne so muche further shall you exceede them all as it hath bene harder in this yron age constantlye to holde that course of vertueouse loue which your Grace with continuall care and great fortitude hath kept and performed towardes his Maiestie But how carefull you haue bene for his safetie beinge your only sonne well beseemyng such a mother as your selfe and right woorthie to be your best beloued your motherly affection hath bene declared many wayes in your owne persone As your great instancie earnest trauaill in commendinge hym to the tuition of such as were thought most faithfull hath giuen good proofe thereof Euen so when those horrible broyles were begonne in your Countrie all thinges by seditiouse tumultes ouerturned and the face of your common wealthe with the administration thereof by violent expulsion of a laufull authoritye and by iniuriouse intrusion of others transeformed and deformed then alas what fear and dreed possessed your tendre hart what anguishe and vexation your carefull mynde endured for his sake that is to you most deare all the worlde may easely iudge and they best of all that knowe what it is to be a mother of an infant beinge vnder the warde of his mortall enemyes But with what faithfull diligēce your Grace dealt for his safetie aswell with the nobilitie as with those whiche had the custodye of hym not by letters onlye but by messengers also and by great rewardes aswell as by other gentle intreatye I my selfe am a present witnesse and as I think no man eyther can better testifie or ought more plainly to manifest the same For at that tyme I was by your Maiesties appointment made priuie to all those matters and in the execution of my commission they passed throughe my handes yea I haue oftentymes with great compassion pitie beholden your Grace shedde abundance of deuout teares kneeling vpon your knees in deuout prayer to God for his wellfare And afterwarde when the matter came to this issue that you might haue bene deliuered vpon certeyn conditions you preferred the honour of your sonne and the aduauncement of his Royall dignitie before all worldly thinges and as I may well saye before your owne lyfe In so muche as euen then you dyd most constantly affirme that you wolde neuer gyue your consent to any thinge that myght be hurtfull or preiudiciall vnto hym albeyt you had bene oftentimes solicited and sore vrged to the contrary An honorable sayeng truely well beseemyng your motherlye pietie and Royall descent and a speciall good proofe of your singular good will towardes your sonne And as to your maiestie most noble kynge of whom the worlde conceyueth so great hope and whose iudgement surmounteth your age when you shall well wegh these and many other greate argumentes of this your mothers naturall loue and pure good will wherof you should haue bene aduertysed long before this time by most trusty messengers and many letters if oportunitie had serued you shall finde good cause to saye to your selfe Doeth neyther Mothers loue nor vertue of thy kynde Force thy desire to treade her steppes aright To bear lyke loue lyke faith lyke pietie in mynde And trust her best aboue eache mortall vvyght But at the least considering your selfe to be so infortunately bereft of so good a mother you may applie vnto your selfe as a dolefull Swannes song that distiche whiche Homer verie fitlie vseth in the persone of Thelemachus bewaling the losse of his brother as a great calamitie in this sorte And me poore youth hathe Ioue so left alone That of my stocke there novve remaines but one Yea more occasion you haue thus to complayn than Thelemachus had For the nearer in bloode a mannes mother is than a brother somuche dearer ought she to be vnto hym Therfore to th ende you maye more reddelye performe such offices as are expected in you ponder with your selfe I humblie beseche you beside her pietie and naturall kyndenesse towardes you what mightie kyngdomes what ample Regions what populous prouinces may by right of successiō fall vnto you from her only and vnder her title if God graunt you that happie longe lyfe whiche we dailye praye for And to make a playne demonstration hereof omitting to speake of your right to the Croune of Scotland whereof no man at home or abrode putteth any doubt at all I thought it mete and that not without good cause to sett downe in writing what maye without cause of offence iustlye and laufully be hoped touching your right and interest to some other kyngdomes and prouinces Now therfore because some men perchaunce bothe forrayners and inhabitantes of the same Countries are kept in suspense and dowbt what to thynke touchinge the succession of so great dominions to the ende that none may be Ignorant of the right title interest which your noble mother before all others and your selfe her Graces onlye sonne and heyr after her hathe to the inheritance and succession of the Croune of England and of all the dominions thereunto annexed or belonginge vpon the decease of the now Quene thereof without laufull yssue of her bodie I present vnto your two Maiesties this Treatise wherein is sett downe the state of the whole cause and the right Title due order course and processe of that succession with a playn confutation of all those
ere the first yere of his vsurped reigne turned about he was spoiled and turned out of both Croune and his life withal Yea his vsurpatiō occasioned the cōquest of the whole realme by VVilliā Duke of Normandie bastard sonne to Robert the sixt Duke of the same And may you thinke al safe sound now from like dāger if you should tread the said wrong steppes with Harolde forsaking the right and high way of law and iustice VVhat shal I now speake of the cruel ciuil warres betwene king Stephen and king Henry the second whiche warres rose by reason that the said Henry was vniustly kept from the Croune dew to his mother Maude and to him afterwardes The pitiful reigne of the said Iohn who doth not lamēt with the lamentable losse of Normandie Aquitaine the possibilitie of the Dukedome of Britanie and with the losse of other goodly possessions in France whereof the Croune of England was robbed and spoiled by the vnlawfull vsurping of him against his nephew Arthur VVell let vs leaue these greuouse and lothsome remembrances let vs yet seeke if we may finde any later interpretatiō either of the said statute or rather of the common law for our purpose And lo the great goodnes and prouidence of God who hath if the foresaid exāples would not serue prouided a later but so good so sure apt mete interpretatiō for our cause as any reasonable hart may desire The interpretatiō directly toucheth our case I meane by the mariage of the Lady Margaret eldest daughter to King Hēry the vij vnto the fourth king Iames of Scotland and by the opinion of the same most prudent Prince in bestowing his said daughter into Scotlād a matter sufficient enough to ouerthrow all those cauilling inuētiōs of the aduersaries For what time King Iames the fourth sent his Ambassadour to King Henry the seuenth to obteine his good will to espouse the said Lady Margaret Polid. 26. there were of his Counsaile not ignorant of the lawes and Customes of the Realme that did not well like upon the said Mariage saying it might so fal out that the right title of the Croune might be deuolued to the Lady Margaret and her children and the Realme therby might be subiect to Scotland To the whiche the prudent and wise king answered King H. 7. vvith his Counsaile is a good interpretor of our present cause that in case any suche deuolution should happen it would be nothing preiudiciall to England For England as the chief and principal and worthiest parte of the I le should drawe Scotland to it as it did Normandie from the time of the Conquest VVhich answere was wonderfully well liked of all the Counsaile And so consequently the Mariage toke effect as appereth by Polydor the Historiographer of that Realme and suche a one as wrote the Actes of that time by the instruction of the king him selfe I say then the worthy wise Salomon foreseeing that such deuolution might happen was an interpretour with his prudente and sage Counsaile for our cause For els they neaded not to reason of any such subiection to Scotlande if the children of the Ladie Margaret might not lawfully inherite the Croune of England For as to her husband Englād could not be subiect hauing him selfe no right by this mariage to the Title of the Croune of that Realme VVherevpon I may well inferre that the said newe Maxime of these men whereby they would rule and ouer rule the successiō of Princes was not knowen to the said wise king neither to any of his Counsaile Or if it were yet was it taken not to reache to his blood royall borne in Scotlande And so on euery side the Title of my Soueraigne Lady Queene Marie is assured So that now by this that we haue said it may easely be seen by what light and slender cōsideration the aduersaries haue gone about to strayne the worde Infantes or children to the first degree only Of the like weight is their other consideration imagining and surmising this statute to be made bicause the king had so many occasions to be so oft ouer the sea with his spouse the Queene As though diuers kings before him vsed not oftē to passe ouer the seas As though this were a personal statute made of a special purpose and not to be taken as a declaration of the common law VVhiche to say is most directely repugnant and contrary to the letter of the said statute Or as though his children also did not very often repaire to outward Countries The mariages of King E. 3. sonnes as Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancastre that Maried Peters the king of Castiles eldest daughter by whose right he clamed the Croune of Castile as his brother Edmund Erle of Camhridge that maried the yongest daughter as Lionell Duke of Clarence that maried at Milaine Violant daughter and heir to Galeatius Duke of Milan But especialy Prince Edwarde whiche moste victoriously toke in battaile Iohn the French King and brought him into England his prisoner to the great triumphe and reioysing of the realme whose eldest sonne Edward that died in short time after was borne beyond the seas in Gascoine and his other sonne Richard that succeded his grandfather was borne at Burdeaux And as these noble King Edwardes sonnes maried with forainers so did they geue out their daughters in mariage to foraine Princes as the Duke of Lancaster his daughter Philip to the King of Portugall and his daughter Catherin to the king of Spaine his Neece Iohan daughter to his sonne Erle of Somerset was ioyned in mariage to the king of Scottes Iohan daughter to his brother Thomas of wodstocke Duke of Gloucester was Queene of Spaine and his other daughter Marie Duchesse of Britānie Now by these mennes interpretation none of the issue of all these noble women could haue enioyed the Croune of England when it had fallen to them though they had bene of the neerest roial blood after the death of their Aūcestours VVhich surely had bene against the auncient presidentes examples that we haue declared and against the common Lawe the whiche must not be thought by this Statute any thing taken away but only declared and against all good reason also For as the kings of England would haue thought that Realme greatly iniuried if it had bene defrauded of Spaine or any of the foresaid countreies being deuolued to the same by the foresaid Mariages so the issue of the foresaide noble women might and would haue thought them hardly and iniuriously handled yf any such case had happened Neither suche friuolous interpretations and gloses as these men nowe frame and make vpon the statute woulde then haue serued nor nowe will serue A fond imagination of the Aduersaries of the statute of 25. E. 3. But of all other their friuolous and folish ghessing vpō the clause of the statute for Infantes de Roy there is one most fond of all For they would make vs beleue
wise shift but that the Acte without it muste perish and be of no valewe then say they wee vndoe whole Parlamentes aswel in Queene Maries time as in kings Henry the eightes time In Queene Maries time bicause she omitted the Style appointed by Parlamente Anno Henrici octaui tricesimo quinto An. H. 8.35 An. H. 8.33 21. In kinge Henries tyme by reason there was a statute that the kinges royal assent may be geuen to an Acte of Parlamente by his Letters Patentes signed with his hāde though he be not there personally And yet did the saied king supplie full ofte his consente by the stampe only This yet notwithstanding the said Parlamentes for the omission of these formes so exactely and precisely appointed are not destroyed and disannulled An ansvver by the vvay of reioinder to the same After this sorte in effecte haue the Aduersaries replied for the defence of the said pretensed will To this we will make our reioynder saye Firste that our principal matter is not to ioyne an issewe whether the saide kinge made and ordeyned any sufficient will or no. VVe leaue that to an other time But whether he made any Testamēt in suche order and forme as the statute requireth VVherefore if it be defectiue in the said forme as wee affirme it to be were it otherwise neuer so good and perfect though it were exemplified by the great Seale and recorded in Chancerie and taken commonly for his VVil and so accomplished it is nothing to the principal question It resteth then for vs to cōsider the weight of the aduersaries presumptions whereby they would inforce a probabilitie that the Testamēt had the foresaid requisite forme Yet first it is to be considered what presumptions and of what force number do occurre to auoide and frustrate the Aduersaries presumptions and all other like Diuers presumptions reasons against this supposed vvill VVe say then there occurre many likelyhoddes many presumptions many great and weightie reasons to make vs to thinke that as the king neuer had good and iuste cause to minde enterprise suche an Acte as is pretended so likewise he did enterprise no such Acte in deede I deny not but that ther was such authoritie geuen him neither I deny but that he might also in some honorable sort haue practised the same to the honour and wealthe of the Realme and to the good contentation of the same Realme But that he had either cause or did exercise the said authoritie in suche strange dishonorable sort as is pretended I plainely denie For being at the time of this pretēsed will furnished and adorned with issue the late king Edward and the Ladies Marie and Elizabeth their state and succession being also lately by Acte of Parlament established what neede or likelyhod was there for the king then to practise such newe deuises as neuer did I suppose any King in that Realme before and fewe in any other byside And where they were practised commonly had infortunate and lamentable successe VVhat likelyhode was there for him to practise such deuises especially in his later daies when wisdome the loue of God and his Realm should haue bene moste ripe in him that were likely to sturre vppe a greater fier of greeuouse contention and wofull destruction in England then euer did the deadly faction of the read Rose the white lately by the incorporation and vnion of the house of Yorke and Lancastre in the person of his father through the mariage of Ladye Elizabeth eldest daughter of King Edwarde the fourth moste happily extinguished and buried And though it might be thought or said that there vould be no such cause of feare by reason the matter passed by Parlament yet could not he be ignorāt that neither Parlamēts made for Hēry the fourth or cōtinuance of twoo Descentes which toke no place in geuing any Title touching the Croune in King Henry the sixt nor Parlamentes made for King Richard the third nor Parlaments of attainder made against his father could either preiudice his fathers right or releaue other against such as pretended iust right and title And as he could not be ignorant therof so it is not to be thought that he would abuse the great confidence put vpon him by the Parlament and disherite without any apparent cause the next roial blood and thinke all thinges sure by the colour of Parlamēt The litle force whereof against the right inheritour he had to his fathers and his owne so ample benefit so lately and so largely sene and felt And yet if he minded at any time to preiudice the said Lady Marie Queene of Scotland of all times he would not haue done it then when all his care was by all possible meanes to contriue and compasse a mariage betwene his sonne Edward and the said Lady and Queene Surely he was to wise of him selfe and was furnished with to wise Counsailours to take such an homely way to procure and purchase the said mariage by And least of all can we say he attempted that dishonorable disherison for any speciall inclinatiō or fauour he bare to the French Queene his sisters children For there haue bene of his neere priuie Counsaile that haue reported that the King neuer had any great liking of the mariage of his sister with the Duke of Suffolke who maried her first priuily in France and afterward openly in England And as it is said had his pardon for the said priuy mariage in writing Howesoeuer this matter goeth certeine it is that if this pretensed will be true he transferred and transposed the reuersion of the Croune not only from the Queene of Scotland from the Ladie Leneux and their issue but euen from the Lady Francis the Ladie Eleonour also daughters to the Frēche Queene whiche is a thing in a manner incredible and therefore nothing likely I must now gentle Reader put thee in remembrance of two other most pregnant and notable cōiectures and presumptions For among all other inconueniences and absurdities that do and may accompanie this rash vnaduised acte by this pretensed wil inconsiderately mainteined it is principally to be noted The supposed vvill is preiudicial to the Croune of England for the clame of the Croune of France that this Acte geueth apparent iust occasion of perpetual disherison of the Style Title of France incorporated and vnited to the Croune of England For whereby do or haue the Frenchemen hitherto excluded the kinges of that Realme claming the Croune of France by the title of Edward the third fallen vpon him by the right of his mother other than by a politike and ciuil law of their owne that barreth the female frō the right of the Croune And what doeth this pretensed Act of king Henrie but iustifie and strengthen their quarel and ouerthrow the foundatiō bulworke wherby the kings of England maintene their foresaid title and clame For if they may by their municipial lawe of England
obiections whiche your aduersaries pretend to the contrarie And this trauaille longe agoe whiles I was Ambassadour in England I dyd willynglye take in hand aswell thereby to wynne the good willes of many vnto you as for the honour and generall commoditie of your Countrie VVherein at that time I had muche conference with some of the most expert and skillfullest Iudges best practized counseilers towardes the lawes of that land and after many discourses and muche debatinge I clearly sifted owt their opinions and Iudgementes touching this matter And not longe after vpon mature deliberation whē I had well reuolued these thinges in my mind I thought it euery waye agreable to my deutie towarde your Maiesties your Countrie to contriue in some litle volume what I had learned in so longe tyme being also hereunto induced by the persuasion of diuerse Christian Princes whome after my departure out of England coming to visit them I had made acquainted with this matter whiche they were glad to hear and for their better instruction desirous to be infourmed therof at more length by writing VVherevpon first to satisfie the honorable meanynge of those noble personages I compiled and published a Treatise of this matter in latin And now further to accomplishe my deutie in defence of your Royall Dignities and to setle the myndes of the wauering communaltie and for the generall commoditie of all suche as haue any interest in this matter I haue sett forthe this Treatise in English And I verilye hope suche is your princelie good meanyng my most vndoubted Soueraignes that you will accept in good parte this my trauaile as a testimonie of my duetifull good will reuerence seruice to your Maiesties and that you will construe my intention and aduise to this attempte as in your iudgement agreable to the weight of so great a cause and allowe thereof for the manyfold commodities that therehence may arise Now then as a right and laufull combination of manye Regions by iust title of succession belongyng to you most manifestlie argueth and conuinceth a Regall Soueraigntie deriued vnto you by many famouse kynges your Maiesties Auncestors so doeth the same require and exact of you an vnion and coniunction of mindes and a full consent in the vertue and religion of your forefathers For nothinge can be more agreable with the name and title of a king and with the honour and renoume of so noble a successiō as so fortunatly procedeth from suche a mother to suche a sonne than that with suche an vndoubted title right to rule a kyngdome there be annexed an vniforme profession in sincere Religion To whiche ende as the mother hitherto most religiouslie foloweinge the vertue faith and pietie of her noble progenitoures hathe euermore showed suche constancie as that Sexe scarsely beareth so the yong kyng her sonne in succession goeng with her must diligently foresee that in a sincere profession of one selfe same Catholik religion he be not behynd her but that as he hath truely imitated all her other vertues wherein she woonderfully excelleth her own selfe so he resemble her in true faith and in vniformitie of the Catholique Religion And thus the mother can haue no occasion offered her to remitt any part of her true loue and affection towardes her sonne but by daily encrease of naturall affectiōs betwene them she will so answer hym in courteouse kyndnesse as thoughe she be forestalled of his presence yet shall she enioye great comfort of hym in his absence in so muche as all the world at home and abrode shall admire and wonder at their laudable emulation in offices of naturall zeale and pietie Yea thus it will fall out that your own people moued by your example will induce one an other to peace and amitie and freely of their own accorde without any contention will offer vppe vnto you suche kyngdomes regions prouinces as are or shal be due vnto you by right and desire nothinge more than to be vnder the dominion of them whome they see in one mynde faythe and religion with good lawes and true Iustice moderate their common wealthe VVhiche kyngdomes and the Subiectes thereof God the kynge of all kynges which ruleth the hartes of all Princes graunt you grace well to gouerne to the glorye of his holy name to the propagation of his holy churche and to the maintenance of common peace and tranquillitie Amen A PREFACE CONTEYNING THE ARGVMENT OF THIS TREATISE VVITH THE CAVSES mouyng the Author to wryte the same THE deepe prouidence of Almightie God who of nothinge created all thinges most euidently in this poynt showeth it selfe that by his power ineffable he hath not onlye created all thinges but by the same power hath also endewed euery liuyng creature with a speciall guyft grace to continue to renewe and to preserue eache his owne kynde But in this consideration the condition of man kynde amonge and aboue all earthly thinges hath a pearlesse prerogatiue of witt and reason wherewith he onlye is of God graciously indued and adourned Man by the guyft of vvitt reasō hath a greate fresight of thinges to come For by theese excellent guiftes and graces of witt and reason he doeth not onlye prouide for his present necessitie and sauegarde as doe naturally after their sort all brute beastes and euery other thinge voide of reason but also pregnantlie discoursinge from cause to cause and prudentlie applyeng their seuerall courses euentes he gayneth a greate foresight of the daungers and perilles that many yeres after may happen either to him selfe or to his Countrey and then by diligence and carefull prouision doeth inuent some apt and meete remedies for the eschewinge of suche mischiefes as might outragyously afterward occurre And the greater the fear is of more imminent mischief so muche more care and speedier diligence is vsed to preuent and cutt of the same And it is most certaine by the confession of all the world that this care whiche I speake of ought principally to be imployed of euerie man as oportunitie serueth to this ende that therby the Authoritie of the Prince may be kept whole and sound the publik weal of his countrey assured and the cōmon peace tranquillitie of bothe preserued Subiects ought to loue their kinge and to knovv the heyr apparent to the Croune For the obteining whereof as there are many braunches of policie to be desired so one special parte is for subiectes louinglye and reuerentlye to honour and obedientlie to serue their Soueraigne which for the time hath the rule and gouernement the next to foreknowe to whome they owe their alleageāce after the deceasse of their present prince and Gouernour VVhiche being once certain and assuredly knowen procureth when tyme doeth come readie and seruiceable obedience with great comfort in the mean while and afterwarde vniuersal reast and quietnesse of all good Subiectes as on the contrary part throughe discord variance and diuersitie of mindes and opinions about a Successour the
touching the Succession They putte their whole trust vpon the King as one whome they thought most earnestly to minde the wealth of the Realme as one that would and could best and most prudently consider and weigh the matter of the Succession and prouide for the same accordingly If the doinges of the King do not plainely and euidently tende to this ende and scope if a Zealous minde to the common wealth if prudence wisdome did not rule measure all these doinges but contrariewise partial affection and displeasure if this arbitrement putteth not away all contentions and striffes if the mind and purpose of the honorable Parlament be not satisfied if there be dishonorable deuises assignements of the Croune in this will and Testament L. 1. ff qui TestameÌ„ta facâ—re if there be a new Succession vnnaturally deuised finally if this be not a Testament and last will such as Modestinus defineth Testamentum est iusta voluntatis nostrae sententia de eo The definition of a Testament quod quis post mortem suaÌ„ fieri velit then though the Kinges hand were put to it the matter goeth not altogether so wel so smothe But that there is good and great cause further to consider and debate vpon it whether it be so or no let the indifferent when they haue wel thought vpon it iudge accordingly The Aduersaries them selues can not altogether denie but that this Testament is not correspondeÌ„t to such expectation as men worthely should haue of it VVhiche thing they do plainly confesse For in vrging their presumptions whereof we haue spoken and minding to proue that this wil whiche they say is commonly called King Henries VVill was no new VVil deuised in his sicknes but euen the very same wherof as they say were diuers olde copies they inferre these wordes saying thus For if it be a nevve vvill then deuised vvho could thinke that either h m selfe vvould or any man durst haue moued him to put therin so many thinges contrary to his honour Much lesse durst they them selues deuise any nevv succession or moue him to alter it othervvise then they found it vvhen they savv that naturally it could not be othervvise disposed VVherein they say very truely For it is certaine that not only the common lawe of that Realm but nature it selfe telleth vs that the Queene of Scotland after the said Kinges children is the next and rightful Heire of the Croune VVherefore the King if he had excluded her he had done an vnnatural act Ye will say he had some cause to doo this by reason she was a forainer and borne out of the Realme Yet this notwithstanding he did very vnnaturally yea vnaduisedly inconsideratly and wrongfully and to the great preiudice and danger of his owne Title to the Croune of France as we haue already declared And moreouer it is well to be weighed that reason and equitie and Ius Gentium doth require craue that as the kings of that Realm would thinke them selues to be iniuriously handled and openly wronged if they mariyng with the heires of Spaine Scotland or any other Countrey where the sucession of the Croune deuolueth to the woman were shutte out and barred from their said right due to them by the wiues as we haue said so likewise they ought to think of womeÌ„ of their royal blood that marie in Scotland that they may wel iudge and take them selues muche iniuried vnnaturally and wrongfully dealt withall to be thruste from the succession of that Croune being thereto called by the nexte proximitie of the royal blood And such deuolutions of other Kingdoms to the Croune of England by foraine mariage might by possibilitie often times haue chaunced and was euen nowe in this our time very like to haue chanced for Scotland if the intended mariage with the Queene of Scotland that nowe is and the late King Edward the sixt with his longer life some issue had taken place But now that she is no suche forainer as is not capable of the Croune we haue at large already discussed Yea I will now say farther that supposing the Parlament minded to exclude her and might rightfuly so doe and that the King by vertue of this statute did exclude her in his supposed will yet is she not a plaine forainer and incapable of the Croune For if the lawfull heires of the said Ladie Francis and of the Ladie Eleonour should happen to faile whiche seeme now to faile at the least in the Ladie Katherin and her issue for whose title great sturre hath lately ben made by reason of a late senteÌ„ce definitiue geuen against her pretensed mariage with the Earle of Herford then is there no stay or stoppe either by the Parlament or by the supposed VVill but that she the said Quene of Scotlande and her Heires may haue and obteine their iust Title and clame For by the said pretensed will it is limited that for default of the lawfull Heyres of the said Ladie Francis Elenour the Croune shall remaine and come to the next rightful Heires But if she shall be said to be a forainer for the time for the induction of farther argument then what saye the Aduersaries to the Ladie Leneux borne at Herbottel in England and from thirtene yeares of age brought vppe also in England and commonly taken and reputed as well of the King and Nobilitie as of other the lawefull Neece of the said king Yea to turn now to the other sister of the King maried to Charles BraÌ„don Duke of Suffolke and her children the Ladie Francis and the Ladie Eleonour why are they also disherited Surely if there be no iust cause neither in the Lady Leneux nor in the other it seemeth the King hath made a plaine Donatiue of the Croune VVhiche thinge whether he could doe or whether it be conformable to the expectation of the Parlament or for the Kinges honour or for the honour of the Realme I leaue it to the further consideration of other Nowe what causes should moue the Kinge to shutte them out by his pretensed will from the Title of the Croune I minde not nor neede not especially seeing I take no notice of any suche will touching the limitation of the said Croune here to prosecute or examine Yet am I not ignorant what impedimentes many doo talke of and some as well by printed as vnprinted Bookes doe writte of VVherein I will not take vpon me any asseueration any resolution or iudgement This onely will I propound as it were by the way of consideratioÌ„ duely depely to be wayghed and thought vpon that is for as muche as the benefitte of this surmised will tendeth to the extrusion of the Queene of Scotland and others altogether and to the issue of the French Queene whether in case the King had no cause to be offended with his sisters the Frenche Queenes Children as the Aduersaries them selues confesse he had not and that there was no lawfull impediment in them to
common bond of loue among all Princes generallye I may not herein ouer passe that godlye father which sittethe in the holy Seat and as it is well knowen like a second Samuel will not anoint with holye oyle that is to say confirme by his authoritie any other to be rulers ouer Christians than suche Princes as might well seme to be Sauls and Dauids whiche represented the persones of all laufull Kynges For beside her vndoubted right of Succession which is accounted a kynd of diuine callyng and choyse to a Kyngdome this may speciallie persuade hym to defend her as his daughter whiche neyther by straitnesse of prison nor by any kinde of affliction could be hitherto seduced from honoring him as her father VVhat nede is there to call vpon the most sacred Emperour and other Kynges and Princes in particular sith they are all allied vnto the sayd noble Queene eyther by a sure knot of amitie and frendship or by a most fast bond of consanguinitie and kynred Neyther is it necessarie to proue this by genealogies and pedegrues seing the world allredye knoweth that she is descended both by father and mother from the most noble Princes Kynges and Emperours of the whole Christian worlde As for the nobilitie and Commons of England this should moue them to loue her that she is come so many wayes of English blood and had her great Grandmother out of the Princelie house of Somerset and had for her Grandmother the Lady Margaret eldest daughter to King Henrye the seuenth And is not this muche to moue them further that she was by this meanes so muche affected toward the Englishe Nation as in her troubles afflictions at home she rather hoped for relefe at their handes and therfore trusted the now Queene of England vpon her promises so farre as she made her choyse rather to come for succoure to the Englishe where now she liueth in prison than to other Princes her speciall freends of whome she was assured to haue found relefe and succour Adde this withall that before all other Christian Princes she choase an Englishe man to be her husband and by hym brought foorthe a sonne heyr to the same Kyngdome VVhat should I report of the signes and tokens of her pietie wiche now she showeth in England or of her Courtesie good will and loue towarde the English Nation how freendlye she thinketh of them how honorably she speaketh of them and how nobly she writeth of them yea how that by long conuersing with them she hath now so perfectlie lerned their manners their language and their customes as hauing almost forgot all other fashions she seemeth to be brought in to this world by the prouidence of God iustlie to gouerne the people of England VVherefore sithe this our Queene is the woorthie heir and the righteous heir of the English Croune it standeth agreablie with your charitie whiche you as Kinges are wont to vse toward Queenes and vith those offices of courtesie and kyndenesse whiche you owe as Allies to your freendes or as Cosaines to your kynsewomen to prouide by all possible meanes that she be not defeated of her right nor barred from that dignitie whiche by many titles is due vnto her lest that the harmes whiche fall vpon her by suche losses doe procure great perilles to you and youre posteritie And the better to auoyde all stoppes whiche might brede in you by any obscure or breefe relation I here present vnto your Maiesties with all humilitie this booke conteyning a full discourse of the whole cause whiche during my abode in England about the affaires of my sayd Soueraigne I caused to be published in Englishe to the vse of Englishe menne and haue now augmented it with a Genealogie of the Competitors whiche by discent from two Princelie families in that Realme to wit Yorke and Lancastre pretend title to the Croune And herein the cauilles and surmises of the aduersaries are so refuted their sleightes so discouered and auoided and their argumentes whiche they leane vpon so ouerthrowen as the scruples and dowbtes whiche before neuerthelesse to menne of equall and indifferent iudgementes were playne enoughe may well seme to be remoued and pulled out of the hartes and myndes of the aduersaries I humblie therfore beseche your Maiesties to accept that freendly whiche I present vnto you to mark that attentiuelie whiche in writing I sett downe before you and to performe that Iustlie whiche best beseemeth you So fare ye well and fauour the cause of a most laufull Queene TO THE MOST EXCELLENT AND MOST GRACIOVSE QVENE MARIE AND TO THE MOST noble king Iames her sonne Quene and kyng of Scotland his vndoubted Souereignes Iohn Lesley Byshop of Rosse wisheth all true felicitie O FALL the most excellent guyftes and benefites which God of his goodnesse hathe bestowed vpon mankynde I knowe not whether there be any one for profit more fruitfull or in estimation more excellinge than is the inclination among menne to mutuall loue and amitie For suche is the force thereof in matters of greate importance as the persone in whome it is once well establyshed can not be at any time eyther by counseil seduced by iniquitie of time imbased by fortunes frowning disquyeted nor by any violence shaken muche lesse ouerthrowen or destroyed In somuche as I must nedes saye that whosoeuer wanteh this guyft of nature he is not onlye farre from all commendation of constancie and wysedome in greate affaires but also putteth of all humanitie and is become impious wylde and sauage And this sense or feling of loue and amitie although it be naturally planted in euery man and woman yet is it most especiallye in them that are by blood and kynred most neerly conioyned together VVherfore so often as I consider the tender loue of parents toward their children the pietie of children toward their parents I alwayes acknowleige this naturall inclinatiō to loue and amitie without whiche no common wealth can endure nor any famylie stand to be a speciall benefit of God bestowed vpon mankynde And so often also most graciouse Princes I fynde iust cause to moue me in the behalfes of your Maiesties and of your subiectes to reioyse and to gyue God thankes for that these lawes of nature and guyftes of grace in you by God singularlye planted you haue reserued and kept whole and inuiolate from the iniurie of the time and from the malytiouse stinges of peruerse detractours in suche sorte as you could not by any other occasion haue gyuen a better testimonie of honorable courtesie and vertue nor haue raised in the hartes of your subiectes a more assured hope of the best mean to preserue yea and to enlarge also and amplyfie your kyngdome For to me and to all your louinge subiects nothing can be more gratefull than this firme and fast loue and agrement betwene you nothing that ought to be more acceptable to your selues nothinge more agreable to the generall wellfare of all men Ernestlie therfore and in the
is set foorth VVherein it may appearo at first sight how by the Mariage of King Henry the seauenth and Queene Elizabeth his wyfe the vndoubted title of that Croune was shut vp in them two in their issue How they lost but thre children hauinge yssue to witt King Henry the Eight Margaret their eldest daughter wyfe of Iames the .4 King of Scot. And mary wyfe of Charles Duke of Suffolk And that after the decesses of K. Henry the .8 and of his issue the right of succession of the said Croune is to remayn to the yssue of the sayd Margaret before all others And that is to the most gracious Lady Mary now Queene of Scotland and from and by her to the sixt King Iames of Scotland her Graces most noble sonne To the wellwilling Reder Here thou haist wellwilling Reder the cōtinuall Rase processe of Succession of the triumphāt Croune of England set forth before thy eyes not so muche thereby to gratifye my vndoubted Soueraignes as to dissolue all doubtes touching the laufull succession of that Croune to shew some aduise for the dignitie peace and weale publique of the whole yle of Britaine to the ende that all matter of sedition may be extinguished Farewell and take in good parte this my trauail IOHN LESLEY Byshop of Rosse VVilliam Duke of Normandie subdued and slewe in battail at hay stinges Herold the vsurpor in the yere of our lorde 1066. and obteined the kingdome to hym selfe whose posteritye hath enioyed the same till this daye 1. Kyng VVilliam Conquerour 2. Kyng VVilliam Rufus 3. Kyng Henry 1. Maried to Maude daughter of Malcom 3. K. of Scot. Maude daughter of Henry .1 maried to Henry .5 Emperour first husband of Maude Geoffrey Plātagenet second Husband of maude 5 King Henry 2. sonne of maude by G. Pl. 6. Kyng Richard 1. Called cuer de Lyon 7. Kyng Iohn Ioan wyfe of Alexāder .2 Kyng of Scotlād Alexander 2. Kyng of Scotland Alexander 3. Kyng of Scotland 8. Kyng Henry the third The house of Lancastre Edmond Erle of Lancastre Henry Erle of Lancastre Henry Duke of Lancastre Blāche heir of Henry D. of Lancastre vvife of Iohn of Gaunt Margaret wyfe of Alexāder .3 Kyng of Scotland 9. Kyng Eddward the first 10. Kyng Edward the second maried to Isabel daughter of Philip le beau Kyng of France Ioan wyfe of Dauid de bruise king of Scotlād Dauid de bruise Kyng of Scotland 11. King Edward the thyrd Iohn of Gaunt D. of Iāc in right of his wife Philip wyfe of Iohn 1. Kyng of Portugal Edward Kyng of Portugal The line of Poratugl Ferdinand Emanuel Kyng of Portugal Isabel the eldest daughter of Emanuel and vvife of Charles 5 Emper. Philip Kyng of Spayn D. Iames. D. Philip. Eleonor wyfe of Frederik Emperour Maximilian .1 Emperour Philip king of Castill in right of his wife Catharin wyfe of Henry .3 Kyng of Castil The lyne of Castil Iohn Kyng of Castil Elizabeth heyr of Castil vvyfe to the Kyng of Aragon Iohn Quene heir of Castil wyfe of Philip. Charles .5 Emperour and kyng of Spayn Ferdimand Emperour and Archeduke of Austriche Maximilian Emperour Archeduke of Austriche Mary daughter of Charles and vvife of Maximillam Emperour Rudolphe Emperour archeduke of Austriche Anne wife of Philip kyng of Spayn 13. Kyng Henry the foworth 14. King Henry the fift 15. King Henry the sixt Edward Iohn Erle of Somerset Ioan wyfe of Iames .1 king of Scotland Iames .1 Kyng of Scotland The lyne Iames .2 Kyng of Scotland Iames .3 Kyng of Scotland Iames .4 king of Scotland maried to Iohn Duke of Somerset Margaret maried to Edmond Erle of Richemōd 19. Kyng Henry the seauenth maried to Margaret first maried to King Iames 4. and after to Of Scotland Iames .5 Kyng of Scotland Marye Queene of Scotlād maried to Archebald Erle of Angus secōd husbād to Queene Margaret Margaret wyfe of Mathew Erle of Leneux Henry Stuart second husband of Mary Queene of Scotland Iames .6 Kyng of Scotland Mathew Stuart Erle of leneux Charles Stuart maried to Elizabeth Canendish Arbella 20. King Henry the eight 21. king Edward the sixt 23. Queene Elizabeth 22. Queene Marye Edward called the blacke prince 12. King Richard the second Lionel Duke of Glarence Philip maried to Edmōd mortimer Erle of marche The house Edmond of langley Duke of Yorke Richard Erle of Cambridge maried to Anne mortimer Anne mortimer maried to Richard Erle of cambringe Roger mortimer and Eleonor hys sister died vvithout yssue Rogermor timer .4 Erle of marche Edmond mortimer .5 Erle of marche died without isse of Yorke Richard Plantagonet Duke of Yorke 18. King Richard the third Edward dyed without issue George Duke of Glarence Margaret Countise of Sarisbury maried to R. Pole Reinald Pole Cardinal and Geffrey Pole Henry Pole Baron of Montague The house of huntingdon VVenefride wyfe of Barington knight Catharin maried to Frācis Erle of hūtingdon Henry Erle of huntingdon George hastings others Arthur Pole Mary wyfe of Iohn Stannay Margaret wyfe of tho fitzherbert 16. kyng Edward the fowerth Elizabeth maried to king Henry the seuenth The howse of Suffolke Mary daughter of K. Henry 7 maried to Charles Duk of Suffolk Francise wyfe of marques dorcet 1. Iane wyfe of Guilford dudley 2. Catharin Henry sonne of Catharin by the Erle of hereford Edward 3. Mary Eleonor maried to George Erle of cūberlād Margaret maried to the Erle of darby Ferdinand VVillyam Francis 17. Kyng Edward the fyft Adela wife of Stephan Erle of Bloys 4. Kyng Stephan A FVRTHER PROOFE OF THE SAYD TITLE OF SVCCESSION VVITH A RESOLVTION OF the obiections of the Aduersaries VVE SAY THEN and affirme that the next right Heire Successour apparent vnto the Croune of the Realme of England is at this time suche a one as for the excellent guiftes of God and nature in her most princely appearing is worthie to inherit either that noble Realme or any other be it of much more dignitie and worthines But nowe I clame nothing for the worthines of the persone whiche God forbid should be any thing preiudiciall to the iust title of others Yf most open and manifeste right iustice and title do not concurre with the woorthines of the persone then let the praise and woorthines remaine where it is and the right where God and the lawe hath placed it But seing God Nature and the lawe doth call the person to this expectation whose interest and clame I do now prosequute I meane my vndouted soueraine Ladye Marye Queene of Scotlande I hope that when her right and iuste title shal be throughly heard and considered by the indifferent Reader if he be persuaded already for her right he shal be more firmelye setled in his true and good opinion and that the other parties being of a contrarie minde shall finde good causes and groundes to remoue them from the same and to geue ouer and yelde to the truthe Her Graces Title then as it is
we suppose they are ouer wise to goe about Bysides this I haue hard some of the aduersaries for further helpe of their intention in this matter say that king Henry the second was a Queenes childe so king by the rule of the common lawe Truely I know he was an Emperesse childe but no Queene of Englandes childe For although Maude the Emperesse his mother had a right and a good title to the Croune and to be Queene of England yet was she neuer in possession but kepte from the possession by king Stephen And therefore king Henry the second can not iustly be sayed to be a Queene of Englandes childe nor yet any kynges childe vnlesse ye would intend the kinges children by the wordes of Infantes de Roy c to be children of further degree descended from the right line of the king for so ye might say truely that he was the child of king Henry the first being in deede the sonne and heire of Maude the Emperesse As touching Arthur King Richardes nephevve Vt autem pax ista suÌ„ma dilectio tam multiplici quam arctiori vinculo connectatur praedictis curiae vestrae magnatiê° id ex parte vestra tractantibus Domino disponeÌ„te condiximus inter ArthuruÌ„ egregium DuceÌ„ Britanniae nepoteÌ„ nostruÌ„ haeredeÌ„ si forte sine prole obire nos coÌ„tigerit filiaÌ„ vestraÌ„ matrimonium coatrahendum c. In trastatu pacis inter Richa 1. TancreduÌ„ RegeÌ„ Siciliae Vide Reg. Houeden Richardum Canonicum S. Trinitatis Londiu daughter and heire of kinge Henry the first VVhereby the saide rule of the aduersaries is here fowly foiled And therefore they would for the maintenance of theyr pretensed Maxime catche some holde vpon Arthur the sonne of Ieffrey one of the sonnes of the saide Henry the seconde They say then like good and ioly Antyquaries that he was reiected from the Croune bycause he was borne out of the Realme That he was borne out of the Realme it is very true but that he was reiected from the Croune for that cause it is very false Neither haue they any authoritie to proue theyr vaine opinion in this pointe For it is to be proued by the Cronicles of that Realme that king Richarde the first vncle vnto the sayd Arthur taking his iourney toward Hierusalem declared the said Arthur as we haue declared before to be heire apparent vnto the Croune which would not haue bene if he had bene taken to be vnhable to receaue the Croune by reason of foraine birth And although king Iohn did vsurpe aswell upon the said king Richard the first his eldest brother as also vpon the sayd Arthur his nephewe yet that is no proof that he was reiected bycause he was borne out of the Realme Yf these menne could proue that then had they shewed some reason and president to proue their intent whereas hytherto they haue shewed none at all nor I am wel assured shall euer be able to shewe Thus may ye see gentle Reader that neither this pretensed Maxime of the lawe set forth by the Aduersaries nor a great nomber more as general as this is whiche before I haue shewed can by any reasonable meanes be stretched to bind the Croune of England These reasons and authorities may for this time suffice to proue that the Croune of that Realme is not subiecte to the rules and the Principles of the common lawe neither can be ruled and tried by the same VVhiche thing being true all the obiections of the Aduersaries made against the title of Marie the Queene of Scotland to the succession of the Croune of that Realme are fully answered and thereby clearly wiped away Yet for further arguments sake and to the ende we might haue all matters sifted to the vttermost and therby all things made plaine let vs for this tyme somewhat yeelde vnto the Aduersaries admitting that the Title of the Croune of that Realme were to be examined and tried by the rules and principles of the common lawe and then let vs consider and examin further whether ther be any rule of the common lawe or els any statute that by good iust construction can seeme to impugne the said title of Marie the Queene of Scotland or no. For touching her lineal descente from king Henry the seuenth and by his eldest daughter as we haue shewed there is no man so impudent to denie VVhat is there then to be obiected among all the rules Maximes and iugements of the common law of that Realm Only one rule as a general Maxime is obiected against her And yet the same rule is so vntruely set forth that I can not well agree that it is any rule or Maxime of the common lawe of the Realme of England Their pretensed Maxime is whosoeuer is borne out of the realme of England and of father and mother not being vnder the obedience of the king of England A false Maxime set forth by the aduersaries 7. E. 4. fol. 28. 9. E. 4 fol. 5. 11. H. 4. fol. 25. 14. H. 4. fol. 10. cannot be capable to inherite any thing in England VVhiche rule is nothing true but altogether false For euery stranger and Alien is hable to purchace the inheritance of landes within that Realm as it may appeare in 7. 9. of king Edward the fourth and also in 11. 14. of king Henrie the fourth And although the same purchasse is of some men accounted to be to the vse of the king yet vntill such time as the king be intitled there vnto by matter of Record the inheritance remaineth in the Alien by the opinion of all men And so is a very Alien capable of inheritance within that Realme And then it must nedes fall out verye plainlye that this generall Maxime where vpon the aduersaries haue talked and bragged so muche is now become no rule of the common lawe of that Realme And if it be so then haue they vtered very many woordes to small purpose But yet let vs see further whether there be any rule or Maxime in the common lawe that may seeme any thing like to that rule wherevpon any matter may be gathered against the title of the said Marie Queene of Scotland There is one rule of the common lawe in woordes some what like vnto that whiche hath bene alleaged by the aduersaries VVhich rule is set forth and declared by a statute made anno 25. of king Edward the third VVhiche statute reciting the doubt that then was whether infants borne out of the allegeance of England should be hable to demaund any heritage within the same allegeance or no it was by the same statute ordeined that all infantes inheritours whiche after that time should be borne out of the allegeaÌ„ce of the king whose father and mother at the time of their birth were of the faith and allegeance of the king of England should enioy the same benefittes and aduantages to haue and holde heritage within the said allegeance
the woord nepos A nephevv that is to say a sonnes sōne or daughters sonne though not by the propertie of the voice or speache L. Filius de S.C. Maced L. Senatus de ritu nupt L. quod si nepo tes ff test cū notatis ibid. Infantes in Frenche coūtervaileth this vvorde liberi in lat yet by interpretation admittable in all suche thinges as the lawe disposeth of And as touching this word Infants in French we say that it reacheth to other descēdantes as well as to the first degree VVherein I do referre me to suche as be expert in the saide tongue There is no worde in English for the barennes of that tongue to coūterpaise the said French word Infantes or the Latin word Liberi Therefore doe they supply it as wel as they may by this worde Children The Spaniardes also vse this worde Infantes in this ample sense when they call the nexte heire to the heire apparent Infant of Spaine euen as the late deceased Lord Charles of Austrich was called his father grandfather then liuing Yf then then the original woord of the statute declaring the said rule may naturally properly apperteine to all the Descendants why should we straine and bynde it to the first degree only otherwise than the nature of the worde or reason will beare For I suppose verely The grand fathers call their nephues sonnes L. Gallus § Instituens ff de liber Et post I. ff C. de impub. Aliis substan c. 1. q. 4. Father and son cōpted in person flesh in maner one that it wil be very harde for the Aduersarie to geue any good substantial reason why to make a diuersitie in the cases But touching the contrarie there are good and probable considerations which shall serue vs for the second cause As for that the grandfathers call their nephewes as by a more pleasant plausible name not only their children but their sonnes also for that the sonne being deceased the grandfather suruiuing not only the grādfathers affection but also such right title and interest as the sonne hath by the lawe and by proximitie of blood growe and drawe al to the nephew who representeth and supplieth the fathers place the father and the sonne beinge compted in person and in flesh in manet but as one VVhy shall then the bare and naked consideration of the external and accidental place of the birth only seuer and sunder suche an entier inwarde and natural cōiunction Adde there vnto the many great absurdities that may hereof spring and ensue Diuerse of the kinges of the Realme of Englād as well before the time of King Edwarde the third in whose time this statute was made as after him gaue their daughters out to foraine and sometimes to meane Princes in mariage Great absurditie in excluding the true right successour for the place of his birth onely VVhich they would neuer so often times haue done if they had thought that whyle they went aboute to set fotth and aduaunce their issue their doinges should haue tended to the disheriting of them from so great large and noble a Realme as that is whiche might haue chaunced if the daughter hauing a sonne or daughter had died her father liuing For there should this supposed Maxime haue ben a barre to the childrē to succede their grandfather This absurditie would haue bene more notable if it had chaunced about the time of Kinge Henry the second or this King Edward or King Henry the firste and sixte when the possessions of the Croune of that Realme were so amply enlargid in other Countries beyond the seas And yet neuer so notable as it might haue bene hereafter in our fresh memorie and remēbrance if any such thing had chaunced as by possibilitie it might haue chaunced by the late mariage of King Philippe and Queene Marie For admitting their daughter maried to a foraine Prince should haue dyed before them she leauing a sonne furuiuing his father and grandmother they hauing none other issue so nigh in degree then would this late framed Maxime haue excluded the same sonne lamentably and vnnaturally from the succession of the Croune of Englande and also the same Croune from the inheritance of the Realmes of Spain of both Sicilies with their appurtenances of the Dukedom of Milan and other landes and Dominions in Lumbardy and Italie as also from the Dukedomes of Brabant Luxemburg Geldres Zutphan Burgundie Friseland from the Countreies of Flādres Artois Holland Zealand Namurs and from the new found lands parcel of the said kingdome of Spaine VVhich are vnlesse I be deceiued more ample by dubble or treble than all the Countreies now rehearsed Al the whiche Countreies by the foresaid Mariage should haue bene by al right deuolued to the said sonne if any such child had bene borne If either the same by the force of this iolie new found Maxime had bene excluded from the Croune of England or the saide Croune from the inheritance of the foresaid Countreies were there any reason to be yelded for the maintenance of this supposed rule or Maxime in that case Or might there possibly rise any commodity to the Realme by obseruinge there in this rigourous pretensed rule that should by one hundred part counteruaile this importable losse and spoile of the Croune and of the lawfull inheritour of the same But perchāce for the auoiding of this exceptiō limited vnto the blood roial some wil say An euasion auoided pretending the priuilege of the Kīgs children not to be in respect of the Croune but of other lādes that the same was but a priuilege graunted to the kinges children not in respect of the succession of the Croune but of other landes descending to them from their Auncestours VVhiche although we might very well admit allowe yet can it not be denied but that the same priuilege was graunted vnto the Kinges children and other descendantes of the Blood royall by reason of the dignitie and worthines of the Croune whiche the King their father did enioy and the great reuerence whiche the lawe geueth of dewtie therevnto And therefore if the aduersaries would go about to restraine withdraw from the Croune that priuilege which the law geueth to the kings childrē for the Crounes sake they should doo therein contarie to al reason against the rules of the Arte of Reasoning which saith that Propter quod vnumquodque illud magis Beside that I would faine knowe by what reason might a man saye that they of the Kinges Blood born out of the allegeance of England may inherite landes within that Realme as heires vnto theyr Ancestours and yet not to be able to inherite the Croune Truly in mine opiniō it were against all reason But on the contrarie side the very force of reason muste driue vs to graunt the like The royall blood beareth his honour vvith it vvhereso euer it be Yea more great and ample priuilege and benefit of the lawe
in the succession of the Croune For the Roial blood where so euer it be found will be taken as a pretious and singular Iewell and will carie with it his worthie estimation honour with the people and where it is dew his right withall Vide Anto CorsetuÌ„ de potest et excell regi q. 100. By the Ciuill lawe the right of the inheritance of priuate persones is hemmed and inched within the bandes of the tenth degre The Blood Roial runneth a farther race so farre as it may be found therfore the great mightie Conquerors are glad faine to ioyne in affinitie with the blood Roial OoÌ„querors glad to ioine vvith the royall blood Henry the first euer fearing the weaknes of their owne bloddie sworde in respect of the greate force and strength of the other For this cause was Henrie the firste called for his learning wisedome Beauclerke glad to consociate and couple him selfe with the auncient Roial blood of the Saxons whiche continueing in the Princely succession from worthie king Alured was cutte of by the death of the good king Edward and by the mariyng of Mathildis being in the fourth degree in lineal descent to the said king Edward was reuiued and reunited From this Edward my sayd souueraine ladie the Queene of Scotland taketh her noble auncient Pedegrue These then and diuers other reasons causes mo may be alleaged for the weighing setting foorth of the true meaning and intent of the said law Now in case these two causes and consideratioÌ„s will not satisfie the aduersaries we wil adioine there vnto an other whiche they shall neuer by any good and honest shift auoid And that is the vse and practise of the Realme as wel in the time foregoing the said statute as afterward VVe stand vpon the interpretation of the common law recited and declared by the said statute L. fin ff de legibus how shal we better vnderstand what the law is therein then by the vse and practise of the said lawe For the best interpretation of the law is custome Common vse and practise the best interpretation of the lavve EodeÌ„ anno Rex cuÌ„ in diebus suis processisset AeldreduÌ„ VigornenseÌ„ EpiscopuÌ„ ad RegeÌ„ Hungariae transmittens reuocauit inde filium fratris sui Edmundi Eduardum cuÌ„ tota familia sua vt vel ipse ver filii eiê° sibi succederent in regnum Flor. histo 1057. But the Realme before the statute admitted to the Croune not only kings children and others of the first degre but also of a farther degre and suche as were plainely borne out of the kinges allegeance The foresaid vse and practise appeareth as wel before as sithens the time of the Conquest Among other king Eduard the Confessour being destitute of a lawful Heire whithin the Realme sent into Hungary for Edward his Nephew surnamed Out law son to king EdmuÌ„d called Ironside after many yeres of his exile to returne into England to the intent the said Outlaw should inherite that Realme whiche neuerthelesse came not to effect by reason the said outlaw died before the sayd king Edward his Vncle. After whose death the said king appointed Eadgar Adeling sonne of the said Outlaw being his next cosen to be his heire as he was of right to the Croune of England And for that the said Eadgar was but of yong and tender yeres and not able to take vpon him so great a gouernement the said king committed the protection as wel of the yong Prince as also of the Realm to Harold Earle of Kent vntil suche time as the said Eadgar had obteined perfit age to be hable to welde the state of a king Flor. bislo 1066. Aelredus Regional leÌ„f de reg AngloruÌ„ ad Regem Henr. â— VVhich Harold neuerthelesse contrary to the trust supplanted the said yong Prince of the kingdome and put the Croune vpon his owne head By this it is apparent that foraine birth was not accoÌ„pted before the time of the Conquest to be a iust cause to repel and reiect any man beinge of the next proximitie in blood from the Title of the Croune And though the said king Edward the Confessors will and purpose tooke no suche force and effect King Stephen and King H. 2. as he desired and the lawe craued yet the like succession tooke place effectuouslye in king Stephen and king Henry the second as we haue already declared Neither will the Aduersaries shift of forainers borne of father and mother which be not of the kings allegeance The aduersaries fond imagination that H. 2. should come to the Croune by compositioÌ„ not by proximitie of blood Rex Stephanus omni haerede viduatus praeter soluÌ„ modo DuceÌ„ Henricum recognouit in conueÌ„tu EpiscoporuÌ„ aliorum de regno Optimatum quod Dux Henr. ius haereditariuÌ„ iÌ„ regnuÌ„ Angliae habebat Et Dux benigne concessit vt Rex Stephanê° tota vita sua suuÌ„ RegnuÌ„ pacifice possideret Ita tamen confirmatuÌ„ est pactuÌ„ quod ipse Rex ipsi tunc praesentes cuÌ„ caeteris regni optimatibê° iurareÌ„t quod Dux Henr. post morteÌ„ Regis si illum superâ—iueret regnum sine aliqua coÌ„ntradictione obtineret Flor. histo An. 1153 The like fond imagination touching King Richardes nephevv Diuersitie of opinions touching the vncle nephue vvhetherof them ought to be preferred in the royall gouuernement help them forasmuche as this clause of the said statute is not to be applied to the kings children but to others as appeareth in the same statute And these two kings Stephen and Henrie the .2 as they were borne in a forain place so their fathers and mothers were not of the kings allegeance but mere Aliens and strangers And how notorious a vaine thing it is that the Aduersaries would perswade vs that the said King Henrie the second rather came in by force of a composition then by the proximitie and nearenes of blood I leaue it to euery man to consider that hath any maner of feling in the discours of the stories of that realm The composition did procure him quietnes and rest for the time with a good and sure hope of quiet and peaceable entrance also after the death of King Stephen and so it followed in deede but ther grew to him nomore right thereby than was due to him before For he was the true heir to the Croune as appeareth by Stephen his Aduersaries owne confession Henry the firste maried his daughter Mathildis to Henry the Emperour by whome he had no children And no dout in case she had had any children by the Emperour they should haue ben heires by successioÌ„ to the Croune of England After whose death she retourned to her father yet did king Henry cause all the Nobilitie by an expresse othe to embrace her after his death as Queene and afrer her her children Not long after she was maried to Ieffrey Plantagenet a Frenchman borne Earle of Aniowe who begat
exclude the said Queene of Scotland being called to the Croune by the Title of generall heritage then is the municipial law of France likewise good and effectual consequeÌ„tly the kings of England haue made all this while an vniust wrongfull clame to the Croune of FraÌ„ce But now to go somewhat further in the matter or rather to come neerer home and to touche the quicke we say as there was some apparent good cause why the king should the twentie and eight yeare of his reigne thinke vpon some limitation appointement of the Croune king Edward as yet vnborne so after he was borne and that the Title and interest of the reuersion of the Croune after him was the thirtie and fifte yeare by Parlament confirmed to the late Queene Marie and her sister Queene Elizabeth it is not to be thought that he would afterward ieoparde so great a matter by a Testament and will whiche may easely be altered and counterfeyted and least of all make suche assignation of the Croune as is nowe pretended For being a Prince of such wisdome and experience he could not be ignorant that this was the next and rediest way to put the state at least of both his daughters to great peril and vtter disherison This supposed vvill geueth occasion of ambitious aspiring For the Kinges example and boldnes in interrupting and cutting away so many branches of the neerest side and line might soone breede in aspiring and ambitious hartes a bolde and wicked attempte the way being so farre brought in and prepared to their handes by the Kinge him selfe and their natures so readie and prone to follow euil presidents and to clime high by some colourable meanes or other to spoile and depriue the said daughters of their right of the Croune that should descend and fal vpon them and to conuey the same to the heires of the said Ladie Francis And did not I pray you this drift and deuise fall out euen so tending to the vtter exclusion of the late Queene Marie and her Sister Queene Elizabeth if God had not repressed and ouerthrowen the same These reasones then presumptions may seme wel able and sufficient to beare doune to breake doune and ouerthrow the weake and slender presumptions of the Aduersaries grounded vpon vncertaine and mere surmises ghesses and coÌ„iectures as among other that the king was offended with the Queene of Scotland and with the Ladie Leneux VVhich is not true And as for the Ladie Leneux it hath no maÌ„ner of probabilitie as it hath not in dede in the said Queene And if it had yet it is as probable and much more probable that the king would haue especially at that time for suche cause as we haue declared suppressed the same displeasure Graunting now that there were some such displeasure was it honorable either for the King or the Realme or was it thinke ye euer thought by the Parlament that the king should disherite them for euery light displeasure And if as the Aduersaries confesse the king had no cause to be offeÌ„ded with the Frenche Queenes children why did he disherite the Ladie Francis and the Ladie Eleonor also Their other presumption which they ground vpon the auoyding of the vncertenty of the succession by reason of his will is of smal force and rather turneth against them For it is so farre of that by this meanes the succession is made more certaine and sure as contrarywise it is subiecte to more vncerteintie and to lesse suertie than before Succession to the Croune more vncerten by the supposed vvill than before For whereas before the right and clame to the Croune hong vpon an ordinarie and certaine course of the common lawe vpon the certaine and assured right of the royall and vnspotted blood yea vpon the very lawe of nature whereby many inconueniences manie troubles daungers and seditions are in al Countries politikely auoyded so now depending vpon the statute onely it is as easie by an other statute to be infringed and ouerthrowen and depending vpon a Testament it is subiect to many corruptions sinister dealinges cauillations yea and iust ouerthrowes by the dishabilitie of the Testatours witnesses or the Legatorie himselfe or for lacke of dewe order to be obserued or by the death of the witnesses vnexamined for many other like coÌ„sideratioÌ„s The Monuments of all antiquitie Much forgerie and counterfeyting of TestameÌ„ts the memorie of al ages of our owne age dayly experience can tel and shewe vs many lamentable examples of many a good lawfull TestameÌ„t by vndue and craftie meanes by false suborned witnesses by the couetous bearing and maintenance of such as be in authoritie quite vndone and ouerthrowne VVherefore Valerius Maximus crieth out against M. Crassus Valerius Maximus dict et fa. lib. 9. 6. 4. and Q Horiensius Lumina Curiae ornamenta Fori quod â—celus vindicare debebant inhonesti lucri captura inuitati authoritatibus suis texerunt This presuÌ„ption then of the Aduersaries rather maketh for vs and ministreth to vs good occasion to thinke that the king would not hasard the weight and importance of such a matter to reste vpon the validitie or inualiditie of a bare Testament only By this that we haue said we may probably gather that the King had no cause to aduenture so great an interprise by a bare will and Testament Ye shall nowe heare also why we thinke he did neuer attempt or enterprise any such thing It is well knowen the King was not wonte lightly to ouerslippe the occasion of any great commoditie presently offered And yet this notwithstanding hauing geuen to him by Acte of Parlament the ordering and disposition of all Chantries and Colleges he did neuer or very litle practise and execute this authoritie And shall we thinke vnlesse full and sufficient proofe necessarily enforce creditte that the King to his no present commoditie and aduantage but yet to his greate dishonour and to the greate obloquie of his subiectes and other Countries to the notable disherison of so may the next royall blood did vse any such authoritie as is surmised Againe if he had made any suche assignation who doubteth but that as he coÌ„ditioned in the said pretensed will with his noble daughters In this supposed vvill is no condition for the mariage of the heires of the L. Francis as is for the Kinges ovvne daughters to marie with his Counsels aduise either els not to enioy the benefitte of the succession he would haue tyed the said Ladie Francis and Ladie Eleonours heirs to the same condition Further more I am driuen to thinke that there passed no such limitation by the said king Henries will by reason there is not nor was these many yeares any original copy therof nor any authentical Record in the ChaÌ„cerie or els where to be shewed in all England as the Aduersaries them selues confesse And in the copies that be spread abrode the witnesses pretended to be preseÌ„t at the signing
against them by any partie iudiciallye conuented for his better aduantage yet as the case standeth nowe L. Famosi ff and l. Tul. maies l. muliere ff de accusat there is no cause in the worlde to discredit their testimonie yea and by the waye of accusatiō also suche persons as be otherwise dishabled are in treason and other publike matters touching the state enhabled both to accuse testifie As for the eleuen witnesses the best of them Sir Iohn Gates we know by what meanes he is departed out of this life One other the said VVilliam Clarke is so gone from them that he geueth good cause to misdeeme and mistrust the whole matter Howe many of the residue liue I know not To whom perchaunce some thing might be said if we once knowe what them selues say VVhich seeing it doth not by authenticall recorde appeare bare names of dumme witnesses can in no wise hinder deface so solemne a testimonie of the foresaid L. Paget and Sir Edwarde Mountague Neither is the difficultie so great as the Aduersaries pretend Hovv a negatiue may be proued in prouing Negatiuam facti VVhich as we graunt it to be true when it stādeth within the limites of a mere negatiue so being restraigned and referred to time and place may be as well proued as the affirmatiue It appeareth nowe then by the premisses Gloss Doct. c. bona de elect that the Aduersaries argumentes whereby they would weaken and discredit the testimonie either of the witnesses or of the executours that haue or may come in against the said pretensed will are but of smal force and strength And especially their slēder exaggeration by a superficial Rhetorike enforced VVhereby they would abuse the ignorance of the people and make them beleue that there was no good and substātial prooffe brought foorth against the forgerie of this supposed will bycause the vntrueth of the same was not preached at Poules Crosse and declared in al open places and assembles through the Realm when they knowe wel inough that there was no necessitie so to doe And that it was notoriously knowen by reason it was disclosed by the saide Lorde Paget as wel to the Counsaile as to the higher and lower house of the Parliament And the foresaid forged Recorde in the Chancerie therevpon worthely defaced and abolished The disclosing whereof seing it came foorth by such in such sort order as we haue specified as it doth nothing deface or blemish the testimonie geuen against the said supposed will whether it were of any of the witnesses or executours so is ther no nede at all why any other witnesses bysides those that haue already impugned the same should be now farther producted Hovv and vvhen the later testimonie is to be accepted before the former I denie not but that if any suche witnesse or executour had vpon his othe before a lawfull Iudge deposed of his owne certaine notice and knoweledge that the said will was signed with the Kinges own hande in case he should afterward cōtratrie and reuoke this his solemne deposition it ought not lightly to be discredited for any suche contradiction afterward happening But as I haue said such authenticall and ordinarie examinatiōs depositiōs we find not nor yet heare of any such so passed Now cōtrariwise if any of the said witnesses or executours haue or shall before a competent Iudge especially not producted of any partie or against any partie for any priuate suit commēced but as I haue said moued of conscience onely and of a zeale to truth and to the honour of God the Realme freely voluntarilie discouer and detecte suche forgerie although perchance it toucheth them selues for some thing done or said of them to the contrary or being called by the said cōpetent Iudge haue or shall declare and testifie any thing against the same this later testimonie may be well credited by good reason and law VVhereas they would nowe inferre that either this pretensed will was King Henries will or that he made none at all I doo not as I haue said entende nor neede not curiously to examine and discusse this thing as a matter not apperteining to our principal purpose And well it may be that he made a will conteining the whole tenour of this pretensed will sauing for the limitation of the Croune and that these supposed witnesses were present either when he subscribed the same with his own hand or when by his cōmaundement the Stampe of which and of his owne hand the cōmon sort of men make no difference as in dede in diuers other cases there is no difference whiche these witnesses might take to be as it were his owne hand was set to the wil. This I say might after some sort so be And yet this notwithstanding there might be as there was in deede an other will touching the pretensed limitation of the Croune by the Kinges owne hande counterfeyted and suborned after his death falsly and colourably bearing the countenance of his owne hand and of the pretensed wittnesses names How so euer it be it is but to smal purpose to goe about any full and exquisite answere touching this point seeing that neither the original surmised wil whereof these witnesses are supposed to be priuy is extant nor their depositions any where appeare nor yet that it appeareth that euer they were as we haue said iudicially examined Seeing nowe then that if it so falleth out that the principal will and that whiche was by the great Seale exemplified and in the Chancery recorded had not at least touching the clause of limitation assignement of the Croune the Kings hand to it we neede not nor wil not tarie about certain scrolles and copies of the said will that the Aduersaries pretēd to haue ben either writtē or signed with his hand A kingdom is to heauy to be so easely caried away by suche scrolles and copies VVhen all this faileth the Aduersaries haue yet one shift left for the last cast They vrge the equitie of the matter and the mind of the Parlament VVhich is they say accomplished and satisfied by making this assignatiō for the establishing of the succession prouiding that the Realme should not be left void of a Gouernour And therefore we must not subuert the statute in cauilling for the defect of the Kings hand forasmuch as the Parlament might haue had authorised his consent onely without any hand writing VVhiche as I doe not denie so in these great affaires and so ample a commission in suche absolute authoritie geuen to him it was prouidently and necessarily foresene to binde the Acte to the Kings owne hand for auoyding al sinister euill dealing the whiche the Aduersaries would haue vs in no case to misdoubt or mistrust in this will VVhereas the notoriousnes of the fact the lamentable euēt of things do openly declare the same and pitifully crieth out against it Neither wil we graunt to them that the minde and
purpose of the Parlament is satisfied for such causes as we haue and shall hereafter more largely declare And if it were otherwise true yet doth this only defect of the Kinges hand breake infringe the whole Acte VVhy the stampe can not counteruaile the Kinges hand in this case For this is a statute correctorie and derogatorie to the commō course of the lawe as cutting away the succession of the lawfull true inheritours It is also as appeareth by the tenour of the same a most greuouse penal lawe and therfore we may not shift or alter the wordes of the lawe Neither may we supply the manner and doing of the acte prescribed by any other act equiualent So that albeit in some other thing the Stampe or the Kinges certaine knowen consente may counterpaise his hande yet as the case standeth here it will not serue the turne by reason there is a precise order and forme prescribed appointed VVerfore if by a statue of a Citie Ioan Andr in adit specul tit derequisit consul ad finem there be certaine persones appointed to do a certaine acte and the whole people do the same acte in the presence of the said persones the acte by the iudgement of learned Ciuilians is vitious of no valewe yea though the reason of the lawe cease yet must the forme be obserued For it is a rule and a maxime that where the law appointeth prescribeth a certaine platforme L. Si fundus ff de rebus eorum c. de rebus Ecclesiae in 6. whereby the Acte must be bound and tyed in that case though the reason of the lawe ceasse yet is the acte voyd and naught And whereas the Aduersaries obiecte against this rule the Parlamentes made by Queene Marie An ansvvere to the aduersaries touchinge Actes of Parlament alleaged to proue that the Kinges ovvne hād vvas not necessarie to the supposed vvil without the vsual style called somoned this obiection may sone be answered For it may sone appeare to all them that reade and pervse the said statute of Anno 35. Henrici octaui conteining the said style that by any especial words therin mētioned it is not there limited appointed that the forme of the style therin sette foorth should be obserued in euery writ And therfore not to be compared vnto the said statutes of 28. and 35. Henrici octaui wherein by special wordes one expresse forme order for the limiting of the succession of the Croune by the King is declared and set forth Bysides that the said writtes being made both according to the auncient forme of the Regester and also by expresse commaundement of the Prince vtterly refusing the said style could neither be derogatorie to the said Queenes Maiestie and her Croune nor meaning of the said statute Cōcerning the said style and for a final and ful answere vnto this matter it is to be noted that the writtes being the Actes of the Court though they want the prescript forme set foorth either by the cōmon law or statute yet are not they nor the iudgements subsequent ther vpon abated or void but only abatable and voidable by exception of the partie by iudgemēte of the the Court. 18. E. 3. fo 30. 3. H. 4 fol. 3. 11. 11. H. 4. fol. 67. 9. H. 6. fol. 6. 19. H. 6 fo 7. 10 35. H. 6. fo 12. 10. H. 6. fol. 16. 3. H. 6 fo 8. 33. E. 3. fo 13. Vide Prisot 33. H. 6. fol. 35. For if the partie without any exceptiō doe admitte the forme of the said VVritte and pleade vnto the matter whervpon the Court doth procede then doth the VVritte the iudgement there vpon following remanine good and effectual in lawe And therefore admiting that the said statute of 35. H. 8. had by speciall wordes appointed the said style to be put in euery VVritte and that for that cause the said VVritts of Somons were vitious wanting their prescript forme yet when the parties vnto the said VVrittes had admitted them for good both by theyr election and also by their appearence vpon the same the lawe doth admit the said VVrittes al actes subsequent vpon the same to be good and effectuall And yet this maketh no prooffe that therfore the said supposed will wanting the prescript order fourme should likewise be good and effectual in lawe For as touching specialties estates and conueiances or any other externall acte to be done or made by any person whose forme and order is prescribed either by the common lawe or by statute 9. H. 6. fol. 35. 35. H. 6. fo 34. 40. E. 3. fol. 2. if they want any part of their prescript forme they are accompted in law to be of no validitie or effect As for example the lawe doth appoint euery Specialtie or Deede to be made either in the first persone or in the third persone Therefore if parte of a Deede be made in the first person and the residue in the third person that Deede is not effectual but void in the Law Bysides that the lawe hath appointed 40. E. 3. fol. 35. 21. E. 4. fo 97 7. H. 7. fo 15. that in euery Deede mentioned should be made that the partie hath put to his Seale to the same If therfore any Deede doth want that special clause and mention although the partie in deede hath put his Seale vnto the same yet is that Dede or Specialtie void in law So lykewise the lawe geueth authoritie to the Lord to distraine vpon the land holden of him for his rentes seruices due for the same And farther doth appoint to carie or driue the same distresse vnto the pound there to remaine as a gage in lawe for his said rentes seruices 9. E. 4. fol. 2. 22. E. 4 fo 47. 29. H. 6. fo 6. 29. lib. Assis P. 64. If the Lord shal either distraine his Tenant out of his Fee or Seignory or if he shal labour and occupie the Chatles distrained the distresse so taken by him is iniurious wrōgful in law forasmuch as he hath not done according to the prescribed order of the lawe The statute made An. 32. H. 8. geueth authoritie vnto Tenant in taile and to others being seised of land in the right of their wiues or Churches to make leases of the same VVherin also a prescript order and forme for the same is set foorth If any of the said persons shal make any Lease wherin he doth not obserue the same prescribed order in all pointes the same lease is not warranted in any point by the said statute Likewise the statute made in Anno 27. 27. H. 8. 6. 10. Henrici octaui of Bargaines and sales of land appointeth a forme and order for the same that they must be by writing indented sealed and enrolled within six monethes next after the dates of the same writings If any bargaine and sale of land be made wherein any of the thinges appointed by the said
statute are omitted the same is vitious and voide in the lawe So likewise the statute made in Anno 32. 32. H. 8. 6. 1. H. 8. geueth authoritie to dispose landes and Testamentes by last VVil and Testement in writing If a man do deuise his lande by his last VVil and Testament nuncupatiue without writing this deuise is insufficiēt in law not warrāted by the said statute VVe leaue of a number of like cases that we might multiplie in the prooff of this matter wherein we haue taried the longer bycause the Aduersaries make so great a countenance therevpon and bycause all vnder one it may serue for the answere also touching the Kinges royal assente to be geuen to Parlamentes by his Letters Patentes signed with his hande which is nothing else but a declaration affirmance of the common lawe no newe authoritie geuen to him to do that he could not doo before or any forme prescribed to bind him vnto Bisides that in this case there is no feare in the worlde of forging and counterfeyting the Kinges hande whereas in the Testamētarie cause it is farre otherwise as the worlde knoweth and dayly experience teacheth And so withall do we conclude that by reason this surmised will was not signed with the Kinges hand it can not any way hurt or hinder the iuste right and clame of the Queene of Scotland to the succession of the Croune of England Now supposing that neither the L. Paget nor Sir Edward Montague and VVilliam Clarke had testified or plublished any thing to the infringing ouerthrowing of the Aduersaries assertiō touching the signing of the said will yet is not therby the Queene of Scotlandes title altogether hindred For she yet hath her iust and lawful defence for the oppugning of the said assertion as well against the persones and sayings of the witnesses if any shall come foorth as otherwise shee may iustly require the said wil to be brought forth to light and especially the signing of the same with the Kings hande to be duely and consideratly pondered weyghed and conferred She hath her iust defence and exeptions and must haue And it were against al lawes and the lawe of nature it selfe to spoile her of the same And all good reason geueth that the said original will standing vpon the triall of the Kings hande be exhibited that it may be compared with his other certaine and well knowen hand writing And that other things may be done that are requisite in this behalfe But yet all this notwithstanding let vs nowe imagine suppose that the King him selfe whose hart and hand were doubtlesse farre from any such doings lette vs yet I say admitte that he had signed the said will with his owne hande Yet for all that the Aduersaries perchance shal not finde no not in this case that the Queenes iuste Title right and interest doth any thing fayle or quayle The supposed vvill can not preiudice the Quene of Scotlād though it had ben signed vvi h the Kinges ovv e hand Or rather lette vs without any perchance say the iustice and equitie of her cause and the inuincible force of trueth to be suche that neither the Stampe nor the Kinges owne hande can beare and beate it downe VVhiche thing we speake not without good probable and weightie reasons Neither do we at this time minde to debate discourse what power and autoritie and how farre the Parlament hath to doe in this and like cases VVhiche perchance some other would here do VVe will only intermedle with other thinges that reache not so farre nor so high and seeme in this our present question worthy and necessarie to be considered And first before we enter into other matters we aske this reasonable and necessarie question whether these general words wherby this large ample authoritie is cōueied to king Henry must be as generally and as amply taken or be restrained by some manner of limitation and restriction agreable to such mind and purpose of the Parlament as must of very necessitie or great likelihod be construed to be the very mind and purpose of the said Parlament Ye wil say perchance that the power and authoritie of assignation must be taken generally and absolutely without exception sauing for the outward signing of the wil. Trueth it is there is nothing els expressed but yet was there some thinges els principally intended and yet for all that needed not to be specified The outward manner was so specially and precisely appointed and specified to auoyde suspitious dealing to auoide corruption and forgery And yet was the will good and effectual without the Kinges hande Ther must needes be some qualification and restraint of the general vvordes of the statute Yea and the assignation to had ben good had not that restrainte of the Kinges hande bene added by the Parlament But for the qualification of the person to be limited and assigned and so for the necessarie restriction and limitation of the wordes were they neuer so large ample there is though nothing were spoken thereof an ordinary helpe remedie Otherwise if the Realme had ben set ouer to a furious or a madde man or to an idiote or to some foraine and Mahometical Prince and to such a one as stories testifie that King Iohn would haue submitted him selfe his Realme or to any other notorious incapable or vnhable person Matthaeus Parisieusis in Iohan. the generalitie of the wordes seeme to beare it but the good minde and purpose of the Parlament and mans reason doe in no wise beare it If ye graunt that these wordes must nedes haue some good and honest construction and interpretation as reason doth force you to graunt it yet will I aske further whether as the King cutte of in this pretensed will the whole noble race of the eldest sister and the first issue of the yongest sister so if he had cutte of also al the ofspringes as wel of the said yongest sister as of the remnante of the royal blood placed some being not of the said blood perchāce otherwise vnable this assignation had bene good and vailable in lawe as conformable to reason and to the mind and purpose of the Parlamēt It were surely to great an absurdity to graunt it There must be therefore in this matter some reasonable moderation and interpretation as wel touching the persones comprehended within this assignation their qualities for the persons also hauing right yet excluded as for the manner of the doing of the act signing the wil. For the king as King could not dispose the Croune by his will was in this behalfe but an Arbiter and Cōmissioner VVherefore his doinges must be directed and ruled by the lawe according to the good minde and meaning of those that gaue the authoritie And what their minde was it will appeare well enough euen in the statute it selfe It was for the auoiding of all ambiguities doubtes and diuisions
their clame being the will of such a Prince of so late and fresh memorie made neither the original nor yet any good and woorthy Recorde sufficiently authorised remaine of the same by what colour will they exclude the saide Queene They must clame either by proximitie of blood or by Charter For the first nature hath excluded theÌ„ Charter thei haue none to shew They wil perchaunce crie out coÌ„plain of the losse and imbeaseling of the same and say that such a casualtie should not destroye and extinguish their right This were some thing perchaunce if it were in a priuate mans case It were somewhat if their demaund did not destroy the common law and the lawe of nature also It were somewhat if their supposed Charter were perished or by any fraudulent meanes intercepted by the said Queene Vpon whome in this point it is not possible to fasten any the very least sinister suspicion It were somewhat if they did not aspire to take gaine and lucre or if the Queene sought not to auoide dammage For dammage it is when any person is spoiled of any right due to him by lawe and reason And there is a great oddes in the consideration of the lawe and reason betwene aduancing our gaine gaine wee do that that doth grow accrew vnto vs by more gifte or legacie as doth the Croune Non est parâ—â—â—io luâ—ra non capere damna sentire L. fin Câ—de odiâ—il I. Prâ—â—uiâ—â— ff de daÌ„no inject Inst de legat Si reâ— to these competitours and Heires of the Lady Francis and eschewing dammage and losse And losse the lawe accompteth to be wheÌ„ we are defeated of our Auncestours inheritance So that both being put in the indifferent balance of reason lawe conscieÌ„ce the dammage shall ouerweigh the mere lucre gaine Yea I wil say more that in case either the sayed Queene of Scotlande or any other were in possession of the Croune hauing no right to the same yet if the issue of the Lady Francis had no further nor better right than these pretended writings the defendants cleauing to the only possession were false and sure and were not bound to shew to them their Title For it is a rule of the lawe Liqui accusare C. de edendo Accommodumâ—inst de indict that if the Plaintife faile in his prooffe the Defendant shal be discharged yea though he haue no better right than bare and naked possessioÌ„ Neither could they any thing be releeued though the pretensed Recorde of the ChaÌ„cerie were yet extant not for such cause only as we haue specified but for diuers other For it may well be doubted though the said Recorde might beare a sufficient credit among the subiectes of that Realme whether it may beare the same against one that is no subiect L. si quis in aliquo documento C. de edendo Againe it is a rule that the publike Instrument making mention of an other doth nothing proue against the partie in respecte of any thing so mentioned vnlesse the original it selfe be produced If therfore these competitours haue lost their instruments and Euidences where vpon they must of necessitie build their demaund and Clame to the exclusion of an other notorious right and Title they must beare the discommoditie therof that sought thereby their lucratiue aduancement and commoditie and not the person that demaundeth nothing els but that to him lawfully and orderly is due Yea they and wee to haue good cause to think that this thing in case any suche will were is wonderfully wrought by Gods permission and prouidence For it is almost incredible to heare and beleeue such kinde of writtings and in so great weightie a matter as this pretensed will coÌ„priseth to be so sone extinguished and perished as it were for special purpose to preserue to that noble Realm the true and sincere succession of the next royal blood VVhich if it should by certaine I can not tel what interlined papers scrolles be deriued and transferred to any other wrongfull heires it woulde be a wonderfull and strange thing to the worlde to heare and too importable to that nation of England and their posteritie to beare it It will then be so farre of that that thing whiche the Parlament most regarded in this Commission shal by this pretensed will be procured and purchased to that Realm as to haue a certaine knowen vndoubted lawfull Gouernour and King to haue striffe contention diuisions for the Croune cut awaye that euen the very thing that the Parlament most feared is most vnfortunately most lamentably like soonest to chaunce He that remeÌ„breth the tragical procedings of the last by name and not by right King Richard needeth not greatly to doubt but that as he could finde in his hart to bastard his eldest brother and lawfull king and to defame his own natural mother as an harlot euen so now there will some be found that wil easely be enduced for aduancing setting forth of their supposed right and Title to the Croune to seeke meanes to wring them out that shal iustly sit in the royal Throne to seeke to extort the Croune from their possession VVhich vnhappy day if it should once chaunce as God forbid then may the English nation cri out and sing a woful doleful song then may the not without cause loke for the botomelesse Ocean sea of infinite troubles miseries and mischieffes to ouerwhelme that Realme The whiche my mind and harte abhorreth to thinke vpon and my penne in my hand trembleth to write thereof Finis AN EXHORTATION TO THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISHE NATIONS THAT AFTER SO LONG warres they wolde now at last agree and Ioyne together in one true league of fast frendshippe and amitie IF VVE VVELL REMEMBER the manifold hurtes and olde calamities of this our Ylande Britaine we shall finde that nothing therein hathe brought foorthe more harmes than hathe discorde And on the other side all auncient histories testifie that by concorde Cities haue bene builded many warres extincte and most inuiolable frendeshippes establyshed For suche is the force of Concorde as all thinges in the worlde therby doe as it were ioyne handes to gether with loue and lykinge amonge them selues Concorde dyd associate mankynd togither whiche before were dispersed and scattered So dyd she teache them to vse fidelitie one to an other and to lyue vnder a forme of policie and Gouernement In like manner Concorde keepith in a league of loue and amitie all nations as Frensh Spanishe Duche and the rest appointing to euerye one according to the diuersities of matter and place a seuerall Prince to maynteane amonge them one forme of a publicke weale and to Gouerne the same in peace and tranquillitie Therfore that wyse man Lycurgus being demaunded of his countriemen the Lacedemonians by what meanes they myght expell the violent inuasions and inrodes of their enemies aunswered very discreetlie if you wil lyue said he in amitie among your selues