THE MANSION of Magnanimitie WHEREIN IS SHEWED THE most high and honorable acts of sundrie English Kings Princes Dukes Earles Lords Knights and Gentlemen from time to time performed in defence of their Princes and Countrie set forth as an encouragement to all faithfull subiects by their example resolutely to addresse themselues against all forreine enemies Published by RICHARD CROMPTON an Apprentice of the common Law 1599. Whereunto is also adioyned a collection of diuerse Lawes and Statutes meete to be knowne of all men with a briefe Table shewing what munition ought to be kept by all sorts of her Maiesties subiects for the defence of her Highnesse Realmes and Dominions LONDON Printed for VVilliam Ponsonby 1599. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE ROBERT EARLE OF ESSEX AND EWE EARLE MARshall of England Viscount Hereford Lord Ferrers of Charâ—ley Bourchier and Louaine Knight of the most noble order of the Garter Maister of her Maiesties Horse and Ordenance Chauncellor of the Vniuersity of Cambridge and one of her Highnesse most honorable Priuy Counsell RICHARD CRVMPTON desireth eternall felicitie THere is no kingdome Right honorable so strongly seated or with Castles so fortified or that so aboundeth in wealth which without valiant men trained vp in martiall discipline can be defended from the force of the enemy for the stronger or richer the countrey is the more are the snares and sleights prepared by the enemy to compasse and conquer the same for which cause and for that also occasions of warre are often offered vpon the sodaine it is necessary that some number of men should be trained vp continually in martiall actions as in other countries is vsed and so much the rather where long peace hath bene had which often taketh away the feare of warre causeth men to liue too securely and without regard of forreyne danger whereby they are vnskilfull in warres affaires and that such trained men may be alwaies ready and able to informe and leade others vnexperieÌ„ced in that seruice for it is not the number of men that alwayes obtayneth the victory in battell but such as are couragious and well exercised in martiall skill as Erasmus sayth well Erasmus Non refert quà m numerosum militem ducas in praelium sed quà m fortem quà m exercitatum Homer in these few verses following Homer setteth forth the whole military discipline which resteth in the valour of the souldiers and their obedience to their Captaines and Leaders Graeci fidentes animis audacibus ibant Ductorum quamuis premerent formidine vocem VVhere he sayth that they trusting in their couragious minds went against their enemies there he commendeth and extolleth their valours in armes and where he sayth they feared the commandement of their Captaines there he highly praiseth their great discretion and modesty VVhat bred such fame to the ATHENIANS who being but ten thousand ouerthrew great numbers of the PERSIANS in one battell in that time when they most florished in their conquests and did rule ouer many nations but valour and skill in the souldiers and obseruation of orders in battell By order all things are preserued and maintayned and without order all things come to ruine and confusion as the Scripture sayth Vbi nullus ordo ibi est confusio And as these things are requisite in the souldiers so is experience valour and skill also in the Captaine for if the blind leade the blind both fall into the ditch as the Gospell witnesseth therefore such Captaines are alwayes highly to be honoured imbraced aduanced and rewarded according to their places callings and deserts as the defenders in the time of warre of the Prince and state of the kingdome and common-wealth that they may be incouraged in that seruice and such as lightly esteeme these men or preferre them which liue idlely and daintily afore them are enemies to the Common-wealth as Osorius writeth and to be taken as the destroyers thereof in that they doe as much as in them lyeth to lay open their Countrey to the force of the enemie And because the matter of this Treatise concerneth the defence of our Prince and Countrey against the enemie which seruice appertaineth most properly to men of honour who ought to hold nothing more deere to them then the safety of the same of which they be the chiefe props stayes defenders and mayntainers vnder her Maiestie I haue thought it conuenient to dedicate this little Treatise to a man of such state and vnto your honour chiefly to the ende you may therein see the notable actes of Chiualrie performed in that seruice that thereby you may be incouraged to followe their steppes and increase the fame honour and renowme which you haue attayned in your late valiant seruice at CALES in SPAINE and else where Humbly beseeching your honor to accept this my small labour as a token of my desire to coÌ„mend your Honourable name to posteritie At your Honors commaund RICHARD CROMPTON AN ORATION TO BE MADE BY THE GENERAL TO THE WHOLE ARMIE AFORE THE BATTEL ALthough Warres are by all good meanes to be eschued for the auoiding of the great effusion of bloud that thereby often doth ensue yet when intollerable wrongs and iniuries are offered either by a forreine Prince or his subiects no recompence is made for the same The cause of the war must be published that it may appeare to arise vpon iust occasions which much doth encourage the souldier to fight warre must be taken in hand and Bodinus saith Bella non nisi propulsandae iniuriae ac pacis causa suscipienda sunt that is Warres are to be entred into to withstand iniuries and to procure peace The causes which haue drawne vs at this present into the field against these our enemies are knowne to many of you namely how these our enemies most violently and in warlike maner with Ensignes displayed in the time of peace without anie proclamation of Warre first made according to the lawes of Armes haue entred into our territories and countrey burned some of our Churches defaced the auncient monuments of our elders put multitudes of her Maiesties people to the sword yea women and children wasted their dwellings with fire despoiled them of their goods and rauished most shamefully their wiues daughters kinswomen euen afore their faces to be short there is no cruelty or tyrannie whatsoeuer which might be deuised but they haue afflicted her Highnesse subiects therewith without all pitie or mercie For which due recompence hath bene diuerse times by her Malesties Embassadours required and yet none is made Therefore either we must with sword and fire be reuenged of these most extreme dealings or otherwise they will be encouraged to attempt the like yea they will account vs men of no courage but cowards and base hearted a name which to our nation hath bene alwayes most odious in that it hath bin accounted valorous in armes in all countries as one writeth Anglia Bistonio gens semper inclita Marte Euerie man is borne
s. which amounted to an inestimable sum Holinsh f. 11. Graft abridg An. 1085. when it came all together into his exchequer And did not he shortly after cause all mens goods and chattels to be valued and raised thereof also a maruelous great masse of mony to the great greife and impouerishment of our people who so sore lamented the miserable case wherein they were thrawled that they hated the Normans in their hartes with deadly mallice howbeit the more they spake and séemed to grudge against such sore touls tallages and cruell oppressions as were daily deuised to their vtter vndoings the more they were burdened after the manner of the bondage which the children of Israel sometime suffered in Egipt for on the other side the Normans perceiuing the hatred which the Englishmen did beare towardes them were sore offended in their mindes and therefore sought by all manner of waies how to kéepe them vnder In like sort did not Wil. Rufus ouerthrow diuers and sundry townes Holinsh 313. parishes villages and buildings for the space of thrée miles together to make thereof a Forrest which to this day is called the new Forrest for wilde beasts and deare whereby no small member of the poore lost their houses their lands and liuings for the maintenance of sauage beasts Nevv forrest Camden 188. of whose hard dealing in this case Doctor White Bishop of Winchester hath these verses written as Camden affirmeth fo 198. B. of Win. Templa adimit diuis fora ciuibus arua colonis Rufus instituit Beanlensi in rure forestam Rex ceruum insequitur Regem vindicta Tirellus Non bene praeuisum transfixit acumine ferri Did not he cause a greiuous paine to be ordained insomuch that who so euer did kill any of the same deare he should haue his eies put out Eies put out for hunting wherevpon many refusing to sustaine such an intollerable yoke of thrauldome as was dayly laid vpon them by the Normans choose rather to leaue both lands and goods and after the manner of outlawes got them to the woods with their wiues children and seruants meaning from thenceforth wholy to liue vppon the spoyle of the Countries adioyning and to take what so euer came first to hand wherevpon shortlie it came to passe that no man might in safetie trauel from his owne house or towne to his neighbours and euery quiet and honest mans house became as it were a hould or fortresse and was furnished for defence with Bowes Arrowes Billes Pollaxes Swordes Clubbes and Staues the dores kept locked and strongly boulted and namely in the night season for feare to be surprised as it had bin in time of war and amongst publique enimies Prayers were made also to almighty God by the maister of the house to saue and defend them as though they had bin in the middest of the seas in some stormy tempest by meanes of these hard dealing towards the English nation The people in the North parts of this Realme did rebell whome the Normans suppressed Hands cut off for rebelling and caused some of their hands to be cut of in token of their rebellious dealings and others by death to be punished and tooke so great a displeasure with the inhabitants of those parts that he wasted all the land betwixt Yorke and Durham so that for the space of 90. miles there was left in manner no habitation for the people by reason whereof it laie waste and deserte by the space of nine or tenne yeares so that no greater misery in the earth could happen then that into the which our nation was now falne Likewise did not he take from the Towns and Citties from the Bishops and Abbies all their ancient priuiledges and frée Customes to the end they should not onely be cut short and made weaker but also that they might redéeme the same of him for such somes of money as it pleased him to appointe to obtaine their quietnesse and made protestation that as he came to the gouernance of this Realme by plaine conquest so he would and did seize into his hands the most parte of euerie mans possessions causing them to redéeme the same at his handes againe and yet retained a parte in the most parte of them so that they that shoulde afterwardes inioy them shoulde acknowledge themselues to hold them of him in yéelding a yearely rent to him and his successors for euer In like manner when the Spaniards by violence possesthe sed Crowne of Portingall Booke of the estate of Fugitiues did not the king of Spaine vse the authoritie of a Conqueror and the tyrannicall cruelty of an vsurper altring their Lawes confounding their priuiledges ouerturning the whole estate of their gouernment strangling some of their Nobilitie and other of them beheading imprisoning and banishing some other of them with many other horrible and pittifull actions These are also other miseries which followe where the enemy doth get the vpper hand and shall we looke for any other dealing if they should ouercome vs ¶ That we shal preuaile against our enimies by faithful praiers to God wherof diuers examples are here set down out of the Bible also diuers other good perswasions to withstād the enimy and how that euery man is bound so to do whereby great fame is attained and left to posterities Chap. 4. IF we wil consider how valiantly our forefathers haue alwaies resisted forren forces prepared against our countrey 6. cause of incorragemēt and what great renowne and same they haue gotten for their valour in Armes which is spread amongest all Christian Nations of whom it is written Anglia Bistonio semper gens inclita marte England a Nation euer famous in battell Bysto is a coūtrey of valiāt people in warres in thrace Camd. fol. 7. Of whome Iohn Wheathamsted sometime the Abbot of S. Albons in his Granario writeth Sufficiat igitur Britannis pro nobilitatis suae orgine quod sint fortes potentes in praelijs quodque vndique debellent aduersarios nullumque penitus patiantur iugum seruitutis It is sufficient for the Britaine 's of whom we are descended for the beginning of their Nobility that they are strong mightie in battell and that they doe euery where beate downe their enimies and cannot suffer by any meanes the yoke of any bondage If we will remember that no Nation sithence the Conquest of this lande which is about 529. yeares past coulde yet ouercome vs praised be God therfore notwithstanding sundry attempts made to that end if we will call to mind the notable ouerthrowes which king Richard the first gaue the Infidels with a few Englishmen Foxe 245. Hol. 1191. and made the king of Cypres to doe him homage for his kingdome and besides him diuers other valiant kings and people haue we brought into subiection and made them stoope to the Crown of England as by our Chronicles is euident we haue nowe then great cause to be mightily incouraged in
Spaine by ciuill warres when it was deuided into many kingdomes The Mores did ouercome it on the one side the French and the Englishmen deuoured it on the other side And Hungarie which had valiantly resisted the Turke almost two hundreth yeares together Hungarie was at the length subdued by them by the diuisions that happened amongst themselues What a great slaughter was there of the Nobilitie of Fraunce Fountaine at the battell of Fountaine neare to Anserre by the ciuill warres that were betwixt Lithargus Lewes and Charles the Bald What ciuill warres and bloudsheds did ensue of the diuision betwixt the houses of Yorke and Lancaster here with vs in EnglaÌ„d The houses of Yorke Lancaster which being beguÌ„ in king Henrie the fourth his dayes continued till Henrie the seueÌ„th who maried the eldest daughter and heire of Edward the fourth by which the said two houses were vnited together and so all ciuill wars then ceased These sactions continued diuerse yeares in which time there died in sundrie battels and skirmishes Camden 474. as Philippus Comineus saith aboue foure score of the bloud royall with the floure of the Nobilitie of England besides a great number of the Lords Knights Esquires and Gentlemen and infinite thousands of the common people And to passe ouer manie examples of like sort Fraunce in what pitifull state doth Fraunce now stand which hath bene one of the most flourishing realmes of Europe by ciuill warres and dissention which hath afflicted that kingdome aboue thirtie yeares wherof hath ensued not only the slaughter of manie noble persons but also infinite thousands of other subiects and in the end the shamefull murther of their owne naturall liege Lord and King Murther of their Prince These miseries may be examples to vs to beware of such like sedition and diuision and happie are they that can beware by others dangers as the wise Cato saith Foelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum Sedition is perillous Cato although it shew to haue neuer so good a countenance of honest cause and it were better for the authour of such sedition to suffer anie losse or iniurie then to be the cause of so great an euill Bodynus lib. 4. fol. 168. Vt morbi ac vulnera ipsaeque animae egritudines ac perturbationes tum corporibus tum mentibus noxiae sunt ita quoque bella ciuilia rebus publicis ac ciuitatibus pestifera sunt ac perniciosa As diseases wounds and the griefes and troubles of the mind both to the bodie and mind are hurtfull so likewise ciuill warres to the common wealth are pestiferous and daungerous For ciuill warres bring forth and nourish want of reuerence towards God contemneth authoritie lawes and gouernment without which Nec domus vlla nec ciuitas nec gens nec rerum natura nec ipse mundus stare potest No house no nation no citie nor the nature of things nor the world it selfe can stand The fruits of sedition Sedition causeth change of lawes contempt of iustice base estimation of sciences it procureth horrible reuenge forgetfulnesse of pareÌ„tage consanguinitie and friendship it causeth extortions violence robberies wastings of countries sacking of townes burning of buildings coÌ„fiscations vanishments sauage murthers alterations and ouerthrow of pollicies with other infinite and intollerable miseries pitifull to behold sorowfull to expresse and lamentable to thinke of Non Virgil. mihi silinguae centum sunt oraque centum Ferrea vox omnes scelerum comprendere formas Possem If I an hundred tongues and mouthes had for to tell And voyce as yron hard expresse I could not well The perils to a state and kingdome that may fall By ciuill warre which makes to strangers bond thrall SeditioÌ„ armeth the father against the son brother against brother kinsman against kinsman men of the same nation prouince and citie one against another Hereupon the fields which before were fruitful are left vntilled corne groweth where townes did stand there the ground with bloud of men is made ranke which before was barren that a man may say as Ouid writeth of Troy Iam seges est vbi Troia fuit resecandáque falce Luxuriat Phrigio sanguine pinguis humus What doth not the fire and furie of sedition ciuill wares bring with it as one writeth well Quid non discordia frangit Epist 1. Dissipat eneruat fera cum dominatur Erynnis What doth not discord breake waste and make weake when Erynnis which is fayned by the Poets to be the Lady of dissention and strife doth rule Erynni 1. And in the ende the bodies thus dismembred and the parts thereof infected with the same poyson of discord 2. Reg. cap. 24. destroy themselues Dauid the Prophet iudged war worse theÌ„ either famine or pestilence he did rather chuse a plague amongst his subiects then ciuill warres and tumults Pythagoras saith that three things are by all meanes to be remaued a disease from the body ignorance from the soule and sedition from the city Plato affirmeth that no euill is worse in a city then that which diuideth and of one maketh it twoÌ„ and that nothing is better then concord which tyeth and vniteth it together Concordia res paruae crescuâ—t discordia antem maximae dilabuntur By concord small things do increase but by discord great things come to confusion Let vs heare what the noble Orator Tully sayth Senten lib. 1. fol. 190. of the miseries which ensue by ciuill wars Omnia sunt misera in bellis ciuilibus sed miserius nihil quà m ipsa victoria quae etiamsi ad meliores venit tamen eos ipsos ferociores impotentiorésque reddit vt etiamsi natura tales non sunt necessitate tamen esse cogantur multa enim victori eorum arbitrio per quos vicit etiam inuito facienda sunt All things are miserable in ciuill warres but nothing is more miserable then the victory it selfe which although it happen to the best sort yet it maketh them cruell in so much that though they be not so by nature yet of necessity they are compelled so to be for many things by the ouercommer at the pleasure of such by whose ayd he doth ouercome euen against his will are to be done King Henrie the fift When king Henry the fift not hauing aboue fifteene thousand men gaue a great ouerthrow to the French king at Agincourt in Fraunce where he had assembled to the number of forty thousand of the flower of all his countrey had taken many prisoners of the french Hol. 1181. both Nobles and others the french as they are men of great courage and valour so they assembled themselues againe in battell array meaning to haue giuen a new battell to king Henry which king Henry perceiuing gaue speciall commaundement by proclamation that euery man should kill his prisoners whereupon many were presently slaine whereof of French king hauing intelligence dispersed his army and so departed
They remēbred not that the Fowlers whistle soundeth swéetly when he deceiueth the bird most cunningly according to the saying Fistula dulce canit volucrem dum decipit auceps Neither Cato lib. 1. that faire words make fooles faine and that vnder the gréene grasse often lurketh the suttle serpent nor that in the fairest floure a man may soonest find a canker Poemata Ciceronis 249. fol. 161. Nullae sunt occultiores insidiae quà m quae latent in simulatione officij aut in aliquo necessitudinis nomine Tully de amicitia saith Apertè enim adulantem nemo non vidit nisi qui admodum est excors callidus ille occultus ne se insinuet studiosè cauendum est They had also forgotten the counsell which Vicount de Melloir a Frenchman gaue to certaine of them in his sicknesse at London Holinsh 603 Booke of Martyrs fol. 214. which was as followeth I lament saith he for your destruction and desolation at hand because you are ignorant of the perils hanging ouer your heads for this vnderstand that Lewes and with him sixtéene Earles and Barons of Fraunce haue secretly sworne and vowed that if fortune should fauour him so much as to conquer this realme of England The oth of Lewes the French kings sonne with other his Earles ◠Barons and to be crowned king to kill banish and consume all those of the English Nobilitie which now do serue vnder him persecute their owne king as traitors and rebels and furthermore to dispossesse all their linage of such inheritance as they now hold in England And because saith he you shall not haue doubt hereof I which lie here at the point of death do now affirme vnto you and take it on the perill of my soule that I am one of those sixtéene that haue sworne to performe these things and therefore I aduise you to prouide for your owne safeties and also of your realme which you now destroy and that you kéepe this thing secret which I haue vttered vnto you After this he shortly died but the curteous offer of Lewes to the Barons as is aboue remembred so lulled thē on sléepe as it were Holinsh 601. that they regarded not this good aduise for after this diuerse of those which before had taken part with king Iohn as William Earle Warren William Earle of Arundell William Earle of Salisburie William Marshall the younger and diuerse other supposing verily that the said Lewes should now attaine the kingdome reuolted to Lewes but after that Lewes was setled Note here what followed by trusting of faire words and had gotten the tower of London diuerse other holds Castles defencible places of this realme into his hands and thought himselfe in maner sure of the kingdome then the Frenchmen began to shew their inward disposition and hatred towards the Englishmen and forgetting all former promises such is the nature of strangers whē they are become Lords of their desire they did manie excessiue outrages in spoiling robbing the people of that country without pitie or mercie and bare little good will towards the Engish men as it appeareth sundry wayes and first of all in that they had them in maner in no regard or estimation but rather sought by all meanes to spoyle and kéepe them vnder Booke of Martyrs fol. 257. not suffering them to beare any rule nor putting them in trust with the custodie of such places as they had brought them in possession of Secondly they called them not to counsell so oft as at the first they vsed to do neither did they procéede by their directions in their businesse as before they were accustomed and thirdly in all their conuersation neither Lewes nor his Frenchmen vsed them so familiarly as at the first comming they did but shewed more loftie countenance towards them whereby they greatly encreased the indignation of the English Lords against them who might euill abide to be so ouerruled To conclude Holinsh 602. where great promises were made at their entring into the land they were slow enough in performing the same so as the expectation of the English Barons was made quite voyd for they perceiued daily that they were despised and scoffed at for their disloyalty shewed towards their owne naturall Prince hearing now and then nips taunts openly by the Frenchmen saying that as they had shewed themselues false and vntrustie to their owne lawfull king Note so they would not continue anie long time true to a stranger Hereupon the Barons better considering the words of the sayd Vicount of Melloit and withall the great daunger that the realme was brought in by their dissention and opposition against their soueraigne Lord and the litle account the Frenchmen made of them Booke of Martyrs 247. gaue them iust occasion to take a better course and so they reuolted to king Henrie their naturall Liege Lord for King Iohn shortly after the comming of Lewes into England departed this life and they ioyned with the King in battell against Lewes where he had a great ouerthrow whereupon he and all his companie departed into Fraunce and king Henrie possessed the Crowne after that in quiet Caesar was wont to say of such as were false to their Prince and countrey Caesar that he loued Traitors to serue his turne but abhorred them as monstrous to the common wealth It is written of Alexander the Great Alexander who had conquered many countreys that he did long time séeke many wayes to winne a certaine countrey pertaining to Darius king of Persia and perceiuing that it was inuincible he dealt with a noble man that had the charge thereof vnder the king for a great summe of money to yéeld that countrey to his possession and so did Alexander giue good countenance in his Court to this noble man a good space and in the end entring into a déepe consideration of the matter and meaning thereby to make an example to such as hée might commit trust vnto to beware of such treasonable practises he suddenly commaunded execution to be done of this noble man who hearing thereof and litle deseruing the same as he thought desired to come to Alexanders presence which was graunted besought him to know the cause of this sudden execution who sayd thou hast bene false to thine own Prince how can I then trust thée or hope thou wilt deale truely with me or be my true subiect Tullie lib. 2. officiorum Alexander if I should credit thée with the like and so he was executed Philip king of Macedon did greatly blame his sonne Alexāder in an Epistle which he did write to him saying what occasion or consideration hath brought thée into this hope that thou shouldest thinke that they wil be and continue true and faithfull vnto thée whom thou hast corrupted with money I reade of one Christopher Paris Holinsh 98. Christopher Paris Irish Chron. that had the charge of a Castle in
be published in his or their custody contayning such matters as aboue are mentioned against the present order and gouernement of the Church of England or the lawfull ministers thereof or against the rites and ceremonies vsed in the Church and allowed by the lawes of this Realme that they and euery of them should presently after with conuenient speede bring in and deliuer vp the same vnto the Ordinary of the Diocesse or of the place where they inhabite to the intent they might be vtterly defaced by the sayd Ordinary or otherwise vsed by them And that from thenceforth no person or persons whatsoeuer should be so hardy as to write contriue print or cause to be published or distributed or to keepe any of the same or any other bookes libels or writings of the like nature and qualitie contrarie to the true meaning and intent of her Maiesties sayd proclamation and likewise that none after should giue any instruction direction fauour or assistance to the contriuing writing printing publishing or dispersing of the same or such like bookes libels or writings whatsoeuer as they tendered her Maiesties good fauour and would auoyd her Highnesse displeasure and as they would answere for the contrarie at their vttermost perils and vpon such further paines and penalties as by the law any way might be inflicted vppon the offenders in any of these behalfes as persons maintaining such seditious actions which her Maiestie affirmeth by that proclamation she mindeth to haue seuerely executed And if any person had knowledge of the anthors writers printers or disperers thereof that they should within one moneth after the publication of the sayd proclamation discouer the same to the Ordinary of the place where he had such knowledge or to any of her Maiesties priuie Councell as by the same proclamation plainly appeareth After that Martin Marprelate and his fellowes were restrained of setting foorth their seditious bookes they and such like vsed to assemble themselues in conuenticles where they had exercises as they termed them of religion contrary to the law whereupon a Statute was very necessarily made in the fiue and thirteth yeare of her Maiesties raigne to the effect following 35. El. cap. 1. If any aboue sixteene yeares of age shall obstinately refuse to come to some vsuall place of Common prayer to heare diuine Seruice established by the Queenes Maiesties lawes by the space of one moneth without lawfull cause or shall by printing writing or expresse words aduisedly and purposely practise or go about to moue or perswade any within her Maiesties dominions to denie withstand and impugne her Highnesse authority in causes ecclesiasticall vnited to the Crowne or to that end or purpose shall aduisedly and maliciously moue or perswade any whatsoeuer to forbeare or abstaine from comming to Church to heare diuine Seruice and receiue the communion according to her lawes or to come to or be present at any vnlawfull assemblies conuenticles or meetings vnder colour or pretence of any exercise of religion contrary to the Statutes of this Realme as afore is sayd euery person thereof conuicted shall be imprisoned without bayle or maynprise vntill they shall confirme themselues to come to Church and heare diuine Seruice according to her Highnesse lawes and make such open submission and declaration of their conformity as is there set downe If the offender aforesayd being thereof conuicted shall not within three moneths conforme himselfe in comming to Church and making submission and confession being required by the Bishop of the Diocesse or a Iustice of peace of the Shyre where the person shall be or be the Minister of the Parish the offender there so warned or required by a Iustice of peace where the offender shall be shall abiure the Realme by his oath afore the Iustice of peace at the quarter Sessions or Assises as was vsed by the Common law in case of fellony If he refuse to abiure or shall not go or returne without her Maiesties licence it is fellony and he shal loose his cleargie If any offender aforesayd afore they should abiure come to Church on some Sunday or Holy day and then and there heare diuine Seruice and make open submission and declaration of his conformitie to the lawes he should be discharged of all penalties and punishments appointed by this Satute And also if any after such submission refuse or forbeare to come to Church or come to such conuenticles as aforesayd he shall loose the benefit of this Act and be and stand in such case as though no such submission had bene had ne made Likewise if any keepe in his house or otherwise relieue any that shall obstinately refuse to come to Church and shall forbeare to come to Church by a moneth together euery person so doing after notice to him giuen by the Ordinary Iustice of Assise Iustice of peace Curate of the parish or Church-warden shall forfeit ten pounds for euery moneth that he doth retaine or relieue any such person The Satute extendeth not to mens wiues children father mother wards sisters not hauing houses of Popish recusants or feeme couerts shall not be compelled to abiure The persons that shall abiure or refuse to abiure vt suprà shall forfeit their goods and chattels and all his lands during his life This act was made to continue to the end of the next session of Parliament and now is continued in the Parliament holden in the fortieth yeare of her Maiesties Raigne THE FORME OF submission I A. B. do humbly confesse and acknowledge The submission that I haue grieuously offended God in contemning her Maiesties godly and lawfull gouernment and authority by absenting my selfe from Church and from hearing diuine Seruice contrary to the godly Lawes and Statutes of this Realme and in vsing and frequenting disordered and vnlawfull conuenticles and assemblies vnder pretence and colour of exercise of Religion and I am hartily sory for the same and do acknowledge and testifie in my conscience that no other person hath or ought to haue any power or authority ouer her Maiestie and I doe promise and protest without any dissimulation or any colour or meanes of any dispensation that from hencefoorth I will from time to time obey and performe her Maiesties Lawes and Statutes in repayring to the Church and hearing diuine Seruice and will euer hereafter do mine vttermost indeuor to maintaine and defend the same ¶ Of diuerse and sundry victories obtayned in former time by the English nation both by sea and land against their forreyne enemies to the great encouragement of the posterity to maintaine the honor gotten by their progenitors CHAP. 11. ANd now as in the last part of this encouragement The last cause of incouragement what notable victories hath our nation obtayned against the French and Scots aswell in their owne territories and countries as when they haue inuaded this Realme and how most gaciously Almightie God hath alwayes assisted vs in our rightfull causes against our enemies when they haue greatly
violence vpon paine of death and shortly after they fired the towne and tooke the seas and they brought also with them into England diuerse of the best sort of the Spaniards taken in the said Citie as prisoners to abide their ransome what the king will do being herewith moued I know not but no doubt her Maiestie will prouide to defend the worst as good pollicie willeth Salomon saith Beatus qui semper timet hoc est qui cautus prouidens est ad omnia mala quae possunt in illum incursare depellenda paratissimus How most graciously Almighty God hath dealt for her Maiestie to defend her her kingdomes from forraine forces inuasion you may sée in that in the beginning of winter about three yeares last past when the king of Spaine had gathered together as great a number of Shippes as he could furnish from all partes of his dominions or could recouer by imbarking all other shippes of seruice which came for trade into Spaine or Portugall intending to haue inuaded her Maiesties realme of England and yet such was the prouidence of God contrary to his expectation intētion by hastening of his enterprise in a time vnlooked for to surprise some place in England or Ireland before her Maiesty could haue had her owne force in readinesse she still prouiding to haue liued in peace which she professeth both to her self all Christēdome it pleased him who frō heauen with iustice beholdeth all mens purposes sodainly most strāgely to drowne make vnseruiceable diuerse of his best ships of warre being vnder saile comming from Lisbone and verie neare to the deffined hauen of Ferroll with destruction of no smal numbers of souldiers and mariners among which manie of those Irish rebels which were entertained in Spaine to haue accompanied either that Nauy or some part therof into Irelād were also cast away by which manifest act of Almightie God the Armie was so weakened as the same could not put to the seas according to his former purpose And here I protest that I write not anie thing to disgrace anie Prince or nation against whom our nation hath so often preuailed but that you may by the said examples sée that God giueth the victorie where it pleaseth him although the said other Princes be right couragious and valiant in armes That notwithstanding the difference of religiō or anie other cause whatsoeuer we ought all to ioyne together for the defence of our Prince and countrey against the enemie with a repetition of certaine lawes tending chiefly to the preseruation of her Maiesties person and the safetie and defence of the realme CHAP. 12. ANd though we be deuided for religion which God of his mercie bring to vnitie yet I trust that we will wholly Though we be deuided for religion yet we must ioyne against the enemie faithfully and as we are bound and belongeth to good and loyall subiects and naturall men to their countrey ioyne together in this seruice of defence of our Prince and countrey against the enemie following the good example of the Iewes who although great dissention and ciuill discord was among themselues as Iosephus writeth in his booke de bello Iudaico yet when the enemie did inuade their countrie Lib. 6. cap. 10 they ioyned together and valiantly defended thēselues So did the Romans as Bodinus writeth his words be these Bodinus 563 Cùm enim aliquando in visceribus vrbis Romanae patres cum plebe capitalibus odijs inter se contenderent hostis in Capitolium inuasit repentè ciues ad concordiam adducti hostem repulerunt rursus parta pace cùm ciuiles discordias relapsas intuerentur venientes Romanos agros vastare coeperunt repent è ciuilis motus conquieuit vt hostes propulsarent That is When the chiefe of the citie of Rome with the common sort of the Citizens there were at deadly hate the enemie entred the Capitoll wherupon sodainly the Citizens being reduced to concord they did driue away the enemie and by that meanes peace being obtained when they againe fell into ciuill discord the enemy that perceiuing they destroyed the fields at Rome whereupon the commotion ceased that they might repulse the enemie To that effect he writeth of the troubles of Spaine Ibidem 563. thus Nec verò motus ciuiles Hispanorum aliter sedare potuerunt cum absente Carolo quinto Imperatore nouum creauissent regem Gallorum exercitu in Cantabriam Nauarram tunc irruente quas regiones Galli occupauerant sed Hispani repentè conciliatis animis hostiles impetus represserunt amissa recuperarunt That is The ciuill warres and troubles in Spaine could not otherwise be appeased when Charles the fift Emperour being absent they made a new King at which time an armie of the Frenchmen entredinto Cātabrie and Nauarre and possessed the same but the Spaniards sodainely according within themselues did expell them and recouered againe those losses By these examples the naturall affection which these men had and euerie man ought to haue to the preseruation and safetie of their countrie doth euidētly appeare And whatsoeuer the cause be that moueth ciuill warres yet that ought not to worke such malice in them as the safetie and good of their countrie should thereby be endangered or neglected wherby the saying of the Poet Ouid may appeare to be true Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos Ducit immemores non sinit esse sui And because there are many good lawes ordained Diuerse lawes meet to be set downe and knowne in these dangerous dayes as well in the time of our most gracious Soueraigne Ladie that now is as also of her noble Progenitors by the authority of their high Courts of Parliament touching the securitie of her Highnesse person and the safety and defence of the realme which be necessarie at all times but especially now in these dangerous dayes to be knowne I haue thought good here to make mention of them to the end men should not be ignorant thereof although in truth the ignorance of the law doth not excuse German fol. 52. but of the déed as the saying is Ignorantia legis non excusat sed ignorantia facti And first touching her Maiesties person 25. E. 3. cap. 2 Compasse or imagine the death of the Queene it is ordained by a Statute made in the fiue and twentieth yeare of Edward the third which some hold to be but a confirmation of the common law that if anie compasse or imagine the death of her Maiestie whom Almightie God of his great mercy vouchsafe to preserue and to graunt her life with most prosperous health in high felicitie long to cōtinue and to raigne ouer vs to the ouerthrow of her enemies confusion of all traitors this is high treason Treason B. 24. 1. Mariae These words ompasse or imagine the death of the King or Quéene are large words for he that doth deuise how the Prince shall come