first so published that all men might plead it for their advantage but a Charter was left in deposito in the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time and so to his successours Stephen Langthon who was euer a Traytor to the King produced this Charter and shewed it to the Barons thereby encouraging them to make warre against the King Neither was it the old Charter simplie the Barons sought to haue cōfirmed but they presented vnto the King other articles and orders tending to the alteration of the whole common-wealth which when the King refused to signe the Barons presently put themselues into the field and in rebellious and outragious fashion sent the King word except he confirmed them they would not desist from making warre against him till he had satisfied them therein And in conclusion the king being betrayed of all his Nobility in effect was forced to graunt the Charter of Magna Charta and Charta de Forestis at such time as he was invironed with an Army in the meadowes of Staynes which Charters being procured by force Pope Innocent afterward disavowed threatned to curse the Barons if they submitted not themselues as they ought to their Soueraigne Lord which when the Lords refused to obey the King entertained an army of strangers for his own defence wherewith hauing mastered beaten the Barons they called in Lewes of France a most vnnaturall resolution to be their King Neither was Magna charta a law in the 19 th of Henry the 2◠but simply a Charter which hee confirmed in the 21 ◠of his reigne made it a law in the 25 th according to Littletons opinion Thus much for the beginning of the great Charter which had first an obscure birth from vsurpation and was secondly fostered shewed to the world by rebellion IVST I cannot deny but that all your Lordship hath said is true but seeing the Charters were afterwards so many times confirmed by Parliament made lawes that there is nothing in them vnequall or prejudicial to the King doth not your Honour thinke it reason they should be obserued COVNS Yes obserued they are in all that the state of a King can permit for no man is destroyed but by the lawes of the land no man disseized of his inheritance but by the lawes of the land imprisoned they are by the prerogatiue wherē the King hath cause to suspect their loyaltie for were it otherwise the King should neuer come to the knowledge of any conspiracy or treason against his Person or state and being imprisoned yet doth not any man suffer death but by the law of the land IVST But may it please your Lordship were not Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins imprisoned being no suspition of treason there COVNS They were but it cost them nothing IVST And what got the King by it for in the conclusion besides the murmure of the people Cornewallis Sharpe Hoskins hauing greatly ouershot themselues and repented them a fine of 5 or 600 l was laid on his Maiesty for their offences for so much their diet cost his Maiestie COVNS I know who gaue the advice sure I am that it was none of mine But thus I say if you consult your memory you shall finde that those kings which did in their own times confirme the Magna Charta did not onely imprison but they caused of their Nobility and others to bee slaine without hearing or tryall IVST My good Lord if you will giue me leaue to speak freely I say that they are not well advised that perswade the King not to admit the Magna Charta with the former reseruations For as the King can neuer loose a farthing by it as I shall proue anon So except England were as Naples is and kept by Garrisons of another Nation it is impossible for a King of England to greaten and inrich himselfe by any way so assuredly as by the loue of his people For by one rebellion the King hath more losse then by a hundred yeares observance of Magna Charta For therein haue our Kings beene forced to compound with Roagues and Rebels and to pardon them yea the state of the King the Monarchie the Nobility haue beene endangered by them COVNS Well Sir let that passe why should not our kings raise mony as the kings of France doe by their letters and Edicts only for since the time of Lewes the 11 th of whom it is said that hee freed the French Kings of their wardship the French Kings haue seldome assembled the States for any contribution IVST I will tell you why the strength of England doth consist of the people and Yeomanry the Pesants of France haue no courage nor armes In France euery Village and Burrough hath a castle which the French call Chastean Villain euery good citty hath a good Cittadell the king hath the Regiments of his guards and his men at armes alwayes in pay yea the Nobility of France in whom the strength of France consists doe alwaies assist their King in those leavies because them selues being free they make the same leavies vpon their tennants But my Lord if you marke it France was neuer free in effect from ciuill warres and lately it was endangered either to be conquered by the Spaniard or to be cantonized by the rebellious French themselues since that freedome of Wardship But my good Lord to leaue this digression that wherein I would willingly satisfie your Lordship is that the kings of England haue neuer receiued losse by Parliament or preiudice COVNS No Sir you shall find that the subiects in Parliament haue decreed great things to the disadvantage and dishonour of our kings in former times IVST My good Lord to avoide confusion I will make a short repetition of them all and then your Lordship may obiect where you see cause And I doubt not but to giue your Lordship satisfaction In the sixt yeare of Henry the 3 rd there was no dispute the house gaue the King two shillings of euery plough land within England and in the end of the same yeare he had escuage paid him to wit for euery knights fee two markes in siluer In the fifth yeare of that King the Lords demaunded the confirmation of the Great Charter which the kings Councell for that time present excused alleadging that those priviledges were extorted by force during the Kings Minoritie and yet the King was pleased to send forth his writ to the Sheriffes of euery county requiring them to certifie what those liberties vvere and hovv vsed in exchange of the Lords demaund because they pressed him so violently the king required all the castles places which the Lords held of his had held in the time of his Father vvith those Manors Lordships vvhich they had heeretofore vvrested from the Crovvne vvhich at that time the King being provided of forces they durst not deny In the 14 th yeare he had the 15 th peny of all goods giuen him vpon condition to
again the reuenue kept vp vpō that which is superfluous Is it a losse to the K. to be beloued of the Commons if it be revenue which the K. seekes is it not better to take it of those that laugh than of those that crie Yea if all bee content to pay vpon a moderation and chaunge of the Species Is it more honourable and more safe for the King that the Subject pay by perswasion then to haue them constrayned If they be contented to whip themselues for the King were it not better to giue them their rod into their owne hands than to commit them to the executioner Certainly it is farre more happy for a Soveraigne Prince that a Subject open his purse willingly than that the same bee opened by violence Besides that when impositions are laid by Parliament they are gathered by the authority of the lawe which as aforesaid rejecteth all complaints and stoppeth every mutinous mouth It shall ever be my praier that the King embrace the Councell of honour and safety let other Princes embrace that of force COVNS But good Sir it is his Prerogatiue which the K. stands vpon and it is the Prerogatiue of the kings that the Parliaments doe all diminish IVST If your Lordship would pardon mee I would say then that your Lordships objection against Parliaments is ridiculous In former Parliaments three thinges haue beene supposed dishonour of the King The first that the Subjects haue conditioned with the King when the King hath needed them to haue the great Charter confirmed the second that the Estates haue made Treasurers for the necessary and profitable disbursing of those summes by them given to the end that the kinges to whom they were giuen should expend them for their owne defence for the defence of the common-wealth The third that these haue prest the King to discharge some great Officers of the Crowne and to elect others As touching the first my Lord I would faine learne what disadvantage the Kings of this Land haue had by confirming the great Charter the breach of which haue served onely men of your Lordships ranke to assist their owne passions and to punish and imprison at their owne discretion the Kings poore Subjects Concerning their private hatred with the colour of the Kings service for the Kings Majestie takes no mans inheritance as I haue said before nor any mans life but by the Law of the land according to the Charter Neither doth his Majestie imprison any man matter of practice which concernes the preservation of his estate excepted but by the law of the land And yet hee vseth his prerogatiue as all the Kings of England haue ever vsed it for the supreame reason cause to practise many thinges without the aduice of the law As in insurrections and rebellions it vseth the marshall and not the common law without any breach of the Charter the intent of the Charter cōsidered truely Neither hath any Subject made complaint or beene grieued in that the Kings of this land for their own safties and preservation of their estates haue vsed their Prerogatiues the great Ensigne on which there is written soli Deo And my good Lord was not Buckingham in England and Byron in France condemned their Peeres vncall'd And withall was not Byron vtterly contrary to the customes priviledges of the French denyed an advocate to assist his defence for where lawes forecast cannot prouide remedies for future daungers Princes are forced to assist themselues by their prerogatiues But that which hath beene ever grievous and the cause of many troubles very dangerous is that your Lordships abusing the reasons of state doe punish and imprison the Kings Subiects at your pleasure It is you my Lords that when Subjects haue sometimes neede of the Kings prerogatiue doe then vse the strength of the law and when they require the lawe you afflict them with the prerogatiue and tread the great Charter which hath beene confirmed by 16. actes of Parliament vnder your feete as a torne parchment or wast paper COVNS Good Sir which of vs doe in this sort breake the great Charter perchance you meane that we haue aduised the King to lay the new impositions IVST No my Lord there is nothing in the great Charter against impositions and besides that necessity doth perswade them And if necessity doe in somewhat excuse a private man a fortiori it may then excuse a Prince Againe the Kinges Majestie hath profit and increase of revenue by the impositions But there are of your Lordships contrary to the direct letter of the Charter that imprison the Kinges Subjects and deny them the benefit of the law to the Kings disprofit And what do you otherwise thereby if the impositions be in any sort grievous but Renovare dolores and withall digge out of the dust the long-buried memory of the Subjects former intentions with their Kings COVNS What meane you by that IVST I will tell your Lordshippe when I dare in the meane time it is enough for mee to put your Lordship in minde that all the estates in the world in the offence of the people haue either had profit or necessity to perswade them to adventure it of which if neither bee vrgent and yet the Subject exceedingly grieved your Lordship may conjecture that the House will bee humble suitors for a redresse And if it bee a Maxime in policie to please the people in all thinges indifferent and neuer suffer them to bee beaten but for the Kinges benefit for there are no blowes forgotten with the smart but those then I say to make them vassals to vassals is but to batter downe those mastering buildings erected by King Henry the seaventh and fortified by his Sonne by which the people and Gentlemen of England were brought to depend vpon the King alone Yea my good Lord our late deare Soveraigne kept them vp and to their advantage as well repaired as ever Prince did Defend mee and spend me saith the Irish churle COVNS Then you thinke that this violent breach of the Charter will be the cause of seeking the confirmation of it in the next Parliament which otherwise could neuer haue bin moued IVST I knowe not my good Lord perchance not for if the House presse the King to graunt vnto them all that is theirs by the lawe they cannot in justice refuse the King all that is his by the lawe And where will bee the issue of such a contention I dare not divine but sure I am that it will tend to the preiudice both of the K and subiect COVN If they dispute not their owne liberties why should they then dispute the Kings liberties which wee call his prerogatiue IVST Among so many so diverse spirits no man can foretell what may be propounded but howsoeuer if the matter be not slightly handled on the Kings behalfe these disputes will soone dissolue for the King hath so little neede of his prerogatiue and so great advantage by the lawes as
confirme the great Charter For by reason of the vvars in France the losse of Rochell hee vvas then enforced to coÌ„sent to the Lords in all they demanded In the 10â—â— of his reigne hee fined the citty of London at 50000 markes because they had receiued Lewes of France In the 11 th yeare in the Parliament at Oxford he revoked the great charter being granted vvhen he vvas vnder age gouerned by the Earle of Pembroke the Bishop of Winchester In this 11 th yeare the Earles of Cornevvall Chester Marshall Edward Earle of Pembroke Gilbert Earle of Gloucester Warren Hereford Ferrars Warwicke others rebelled against the King constrained him to yeeld vnto them in vvhat they demaunded for their particular interest vvhich rebellion being appeased he sayled into France in his 15 th yeare he had a 15 th of the temporality a disme a halfe of the Spirituality and vvithall escuage of euery Knights fee. COVNS But what say you to the Parliament of Westminster in the 16 th of the king where notwithstanding the wars of France and his great charge in repulsing the Welsh rebels he was flatly denyed the Subsedie demaunded IVST I confesse my Lord that the house excused themselues by reason of their pouerty and the Lords taking of Armes in the next yeare it was manifest that the house was practised against the king And was it not so my good Lord thinke you in our two last Parliaments for in the first euen those whom his Majestie trusted most betrayed him in the vnion in the secoÌ„d there were other of the great ones ran counter But your Lordship spake of dangers of Parliaments in this my Lord there was a deniall but there was no danger at all But to returne where I left what got the Lords by practizing the house at that time I say that those that brake this staffe vpon the K. were ouerturned with the counterbuffe for hee resumed all those lands which hee had given in his minority hee called all his exacting officers to accompt hee found them all faulty hee examined the corruption of other magistrates and from all these he drew sufficient mony to satisfie his present necessity whereby hee not onely spared his people but highly contented them with an act of so great Iustice Yea Hubert Earle of Kent the chiefe justice whom hee had most trusted and most advanced was found as false to the King as any one of the rest And for conclusion in the end of that yeare at the assemblie of the States at Lambeth the King had the fortith part of euery mans goods given him freely towards his debts for the people who the same yeare had refused to giue the King any thing when they sawe hee had squeased those spunges of the common wealth they willingly yeelded to giue him satisfaction COVNS But I pray you what became of this Hubert whoÌ„ the King had favoured aboue all men betraying his Majestie as he did IVST There were many that perswaded the King to put him to death but he could not be drawne to consent but the King seized vpon his estate which was great yet in the end hee left him a sufficient portion and gaue him his life because hee had done great service in former times For his Majestie though hee tooke advantage of his vice yet hee forgot not to haue consideration of his vertue And vpon this occasion it was that the King betrayed by those whom hee most trusted entertayned strangers and gaue them their offices and the charge of his castles and strong places in England COVNS But the drawing in of those strangers was the cause that Marshall Earle of Pembroke moued warre against the King IVST It is true my good Lord but hee was soone after slaine in Ireland and his whole masculine race ten yeres extinguished though there were fiue sonnes of them Marshall being dead who was the mouer and ring-leader of that warre the King pardoned the rest of the Lords that had assisted Marshall COVNS What reason had the King so to doe IVST Because he was perswaded that they loued his person only hated those corrupt Counselours that then bare the greatest sway vnder him as also because they were the best men of warre hee had whom if he destroyed hauing warre with the French he had wanted Commanders to haue served him COVNS But what reason had the Lords to take armes IVST Because the King entertayned the Poictouiâ—s were not they the Kings vassals also Should the Spaniards rebell because the Spanish King trusts to the Neopolitans Portagues Millanoies and other nations his vassals seeing those that are governed by the Vice-royes and deputies are in pollicy to be well entertayned and to be employed who would otherwise devise how to free themselues whereas beeing trusted and imployed by their Prince they entertaine themselues with the hopes that other the Kings vassals doe if the King had called in the Spaniards or other Nations not his Subjects the Nobility of England had had reason of griefe But what people did euer serue the King of England more faithfully then the Gascoynes did even to the last of the conquest of that Duchy IVST Your Lordship sayes wel I am of that opinion that if it had pleased the Queene of Eng. to haue drawne some of the chiefe of the Irish Nobility into Eng. by exchange to haue made them good freeholders in Eng. shee had saued aboue 2. millions of pounds which were consumed in times of those rebellions For what held the great Gascoigne firme to the Crowne of England of whom the Duke of Espernon married the inheritrix but his Earldome of Kendall in England whereof the Duke of Espernon in right of his wife beares the title to this day And to the same end I take it hath Iames our Soueraigne Lord given lands to divers of the Nobility of Scotland And if I were worthy to advise your Lordship I should thinke that your Lordship should do the King great service to put him in mind to prohibite all the Scottish nation to alienate and sell away their inheritance here for they selling they not only giue cause to the English to complaine that the treasure of England is transported into Scotland but his Majesty is thereby also frustrated of making both Nations one and of assuring the service and obedience of the Scots in future COVNS You say well for though those of Scotland that are advanced and enriched by the Kings Majesties will no doubt serue him faithfully yet how their heires successours hauing no inheritance to loose in England may be seduced is vncertaine But let vs goe on with our Parliament And what say you to the deniall in the 26 â— yeare of his reigne even when the King was invited to come into France by the Earle of March who had married his mother and who promised to assist the King in the conquest of many places lost IVST It is true my
good Lord that a subsidy was then denied the reasons are delivered in Enlish histories indeed the King not long before had spent much treasure in ayding the Duke of Britaine to no purpose for hee drew ouer the King but to drawe on good conditions for himselfe as the Earle of March his father in law now did As the English Barons did invite Lewes of France not long before as in elder times all the kings and states had done and in late yeares the Leaguers of France entertayned the Spaniards and the French Protestants and Netherlands Queene Elizabeth not with any purpose to greaten those that ayde them but to purchase to themselues an advantageous peace But what say the histories to this deniall they say with a world of payments there mentioned that the King had drawne the Nobility drie And besides that whereas not long before great summes of mony were giuen and the same appointed to be kept in foure castles and not to be expended but by the aduice of the Peeres it was beleeved that the same treasure was yet vnspent COVNS Good Sir you haue said enough judge you whether it were not a dishonour to the King to be so tyed as not to expend his treasure but by other mens aduice as it were by their licence IVST Surely my Lord the King was well aduised to take the mony vpon any condition they were fooles that propounded the restraint for it doth not appeare that the King tooke any great heed to those ouerseers Kings are bound by their piety and by no other obligation In Queene Maries time when it was thought that shee was with child it was propounded in Parliament that the rule of the Realme should bee giuen to king Philip during the minority of the hoped Prince or Princesse and the king offered his assurance in great summes of money to relinquish the government at such time as the Prince or Princesse should bee of age At which motion when all else were silent in the house Lord Dueres who was none of the wisest asked who shall sue the kinges bondes which ended the dispute for what bonde is betweene a king and his vassals then the bond of the kinges faith But my good Lord the king notwithstanding the deniall at that time was with gifts from perticular parsons otherwise supplyed for proceeding of his iourney for that time into France he tooke with him 30 caskes filled with silver and coyne which was a great treasure in those dayes And lastly notwithstanding the first denyall in the Kings absence hee had Escuage graunted him to wit 20 s of euery Knights Fee COVNS What say you then to the 28◠yeare of that King in which when the King demaunded reliefe the states would not consent except the same former order had bin taken for the appointing of 4 overseers for the treasure As also that the Lord chief Iustice the Lord Chancellor should be chosē by the states with some Barōs of the exchequor other officers IVS My good Lord admit the King had yeelded their demaunds then whatsoever had beene ordained by those magistrates to the dislike of the Common wealth the people had beene without remedie whereas while the King made them they had their appeale and other remedies But those demaunds vanished and in the end the King had escuage giuen him without any of their conditions It is an excellent vertue in a King to haue patience and to giue way to the fury of mens passions The whale when he is stroken by the fisherman growes into that fury that he cannot be resisted but will overthrowe all the ships and barkes that come in to his way but when he hath tumbled a while hee is drawne to the shore with a twind thred COVNS What say you then to the Parliament in the 29 th of that King IVST I say that the commons being vnable to pay the king relieues himselfe vpon the richer sort and soe it likewise happened in the 33 of that king in which hee was relieued chiefely by the Citty of London But my good Lord in the Parliament in London in the 38 yeare he had giuen him the tenth of all the revenues of the Church for three yeares and 3 markes of every knights Fee throughout the kingdome vpō his promise oath vpon the obscruing of magna Charta but in the end of the same yeare the king being thē in France he was denyed the aydes which he required What is this to the danger of a Parliament especially at this time they had reason to refuse they had giuen so great a some in the beginning of the same yeare And again because it was known that the King had but pretended warre with the king of Castile with whome he had secretly contracted an alliance and concluded a marriage betwixt his sonne Edward and the Lady Elenor. These false fires doe but freight Children and it commonly falles out that when the cause giuen is knowne to be false the necessity pretended is thought to be fained Royall dealing hath euermore Royall successe and as the King was denied in the eight thirtyeth yeare so was he denyed in the nine thirtieth yeare because the Nobility and the people saw that the King was abused by the Pope it plainly who aswell in despite to Manfred bastard son to the Emperour Fredericke the second as to cozen the King and to wast him would needes bestowe on the King the kingdome of Sicilie to recouer which the King sent all the treasure he could borrow or scrape to the Pope and withall gaue him letters of credence for to take vp what he could in Italy the King binding himselfe for the payment Now my good Lord the wisdome of Princes is seen in nothing more then in their enterprises So how vnpleasing it was to the State of England to consume the treasure of the land in the conquest of Sicily so farre of and otherwise for that the English had lost Normandy vnder their noses and so many goodly parts of France of their owne proper inheritances the reason of the deniall is as well to be considered as the denyall CONS Was not the King also denyed a subsidie in the fourty first of his raigne IVST No my Lord for although the King required mony as before for the impossible conquest of Sicily yet the house offered to giue 52000 markes which whether hee refused or accepted is vncertaine whilst the King dreamed of Sicily the Welsh inuaded spoyled the borders of England for in the Parliament of London when the King vrged the house for the prosecuting the cōquest of Sicily the Lords vtterly disliking the attempt vrged the prosecuting of the Welshmen which Parlament being proroged did again assemble at Oxford was called the madde Parlamēt which was no other thē an assembly of rebels for the Royall assent of the K. which giues life to all lawes form'd by the three estates was not a Royal assent when both
maintaine so great an Armory or Stable it might cause me or any other Nobleman to be suspected as the preparing of some Innovation IVST Why so my Lord rather to bee commended as preparing against all danger of Innovation COVNS It should be so but call your observation to accompt you shall find it as I say for indeed such a jelousie hath been held euer since the time of the Ciuill wars ouer the Military greatnes of our Nobles as made them haue litle will to bend their studies that wayes wherefore let euery man prouide according as hee is rated in the Muster booke you vnderstand me IVST Very well my Lord as what might be replyed in the preceiuing so much I haue euer to deale plainly and freely with your Lordship more fear'd at home popular violence then all the forreine that can be made for it can neuer bee in the power of any forreine Prince without a Papisticall party either to disorder or endanger his Majesties Estate COVNS By this it seemes it is no lesse dangerous for a king to leaue the power in the people then in the Nobility IVST My good Lord the wisdome of our owne age is the foolishnes of another the time present ought not to bee prefer'd to the Policy that was but the policy that was to the time present So that the power of the Nobility being now withered and the power of the people in the flowre the care to content them would not be neglected the way to win them often practized or at least to defend them from oppression The motiue of all dangers that euer this Monarchy hath vndergone should bee carefully heeded for this Maxime hath no posterne Potestas humana radicatur in voluntatibus hominum And now my Lord for King Edward it is true though he were not subject to force yet was hee subiect to necessity which because it was violent hee gaue way vnto it Potestas saith Pythagoras iuxia necessitatem habitat And it is true that at the request of the house he discharged put from him those before named which done he had the greatest gift but one that euer he receiued in all his dayes to wit from euery person man woman aboue the age of fourteen yeares 4 ◠of old mony which made many Millions of Groats worth 6 ◠of our mony This he had in generall besides he had of euery beneficed Priest 12 d. And of the Nobility Gentry I know not how much for it is not set down Now my good Lord what lost the King by satisfying the desires of the Parliament house for assoone as hee had the money in purse hee recalled the Lords and restored them who durst call the King to accompt when the Assembly were dissolued Where the word of a King is there is power saith Ecclesiasticus who shall say vnto him what doest thou saith the same Author for euery purpose there is a time judgment the King gaue way to the time his judgmēt persweded him to yeeld to necessity Consularius nemo melior est quà m tempus COVNS But yet you see the king was forc'd to yeeld to their demaunds IVST Doth your Lordship remember the saying of Monsieur de Lange that he that hath the profit of the warre hath also the honour of the warre whether it be by battaile or retreate the King you see had the profit of the Parliament and therefore the honour also what other end had the king then to supply his wants A wise man hath euermore respect vnto his ends And the king also knew that it was the loue that the people bare him that they vrged the remouing of those Lords there was no man among them that sought himselfe in that desire but they all sought the King as by the successe it appeared My good Lord hath it not been ordinary in England and in France to yeeld to the demaunds of rebels did not King Richard the second graunt pardon to the outragious roagues murtherers that follovved Iack Straw Wat Tyler after they had murthered his Chancellor his Treasurer Chiefe Iustice and others brake open his Exchequer and committed all manner of outrages and villanies and why did he doe it but to avoid a greater danger I say the Kings haue then yeelded to those that hated them and their estates to wit to pernicious rebels And yet without dishonour shall it be called dishonour for the King to yeeld to honest desires of his subjects No my Lord those that tell the King those tales feare their own dishonour and not the Kings for the honour of the King is supreame and being guarded by Iustice and piety it cannot receiue neither wound nor stayne COVNS But Sir what cause haue any about our King to feare a Parliament IVST The same cause that the Earle of Suffolke had in Richard the seconds time and the Treasurer Fartham with others for these great Officers being generally hated for abusing both the King and the subiect at the request of the States were discharged and others put in their roomes COVNS And was not this a dishonour to the king IVST Certainly no for King Richard knew that his Grandfather had done the like and though the king was in his heart vtterly against it yet had hee the profite of this exchange for Suffolke was fined at 20000 markes 1000 ◠lands COVNS Well Sir we will speake of those that feare the Parliament some other time but I pray you goe on with that that happened in the troublesome raigne of Richard the second who succeeded the Grandfather beeing dead IVST That king my good Lord was one of the most vnfortunate Princes that euer England had hee was cruell extreame prodigall and wholly carryed away with his two Minions Suffolk the duke of Ireland by whose ill advice others he was in danger to haue lost his estate which in the end being led by men of the like temper he miserably lost But for his subsedies hee had giuen him in his first yeare being vnder age two tenths and two fifteenes In which Parliament Alice Peirce who was remoued in king Edwards time with Lancaster Latimer and Sturry were confiscate banished In his second yeare at the Parliament at Glocester the King had a marke vpon euery sacke of wooll and 6 d the pound vpon wards In his third yeare at the Parliament at Winchester the Commons were spared and a subsedy giuen by the better sort the Dukes gaue 20 markes and Earles 6 markes Bishoppes and Abbots with myters fixe markes euery marke 3◠4 d euery Knight Iustice Esquier Shrieue Parson Vicar Chaplaine paid proportionably according to their estates COVNS This me thinkes was no great matter IVST It is true my Lord but a little mony went far in those dayes I my selfe once moued it in Parliament in the time of Queene Elizabeth who desired much to spare the Common people and I did it by her Commaundement but when we cast vp
the subsedy Bookes wee found the summe but smal whē the 30 ◠men were left out In the beginning of his fourth yeare a tenth with a fifteene vvere granted vpon condition that for one vvhole yeare no subsedies should bee demaunded but this promise vvas as suddenly forgotten as made for in the end of that yeare the great subsedy of Poll mony vvas granted in the Parliament at Northampton COVNS Yea but there follovved the terrible Rebellion of Baker Straw and others Leister Wrais and others IVST That vvas not the fault of the Parliament my Lord it is manifest that the subsedy giuen vvas not the cause for it is plaine that the bondmen of England began it because they vvere grieuously prest by their Lords in their tenure of Villenage as also for the hatred they bare to the Lavvyers Attorneyes for the story of those times say that they destroyed the houses Mannors of men of lavv and such Lavvyers as they caught slevv them beheaded the Lord chiefe Iustice which commotion being once begun the head mony was by other Rebels pretended A fire is often kindled with a litle straw which oftentimes takes hold of greater timber consumes the whole building And that this Rebellion was begun by the discontented slaues whereof there haue beene many in Elder times the like is manifest by the Charter of Manumission which the King granted in haec verba Rich. Dei gratia c. Sciatis quòd de gratia nostrâ spirituals manumissimus c. to which seeing the King was constrained by force of armes hee revoked the letters Pattents and made them voide the same revocation being strengthened by the Parliament ensuing In which the King had giuen him a subsedy vpon wools called a Maletot In the same fourth yeare was the Lord Treasurer discharged of his Office and Hales Lord of S Iohns chosen in his place In his fift yeare was the Treasurer againe changed and the Staffe giuen to Segraue and the Lord Chancellour was also changed and the staffe giuen to the Lord Scroope Which Lord Scroope was againe in the beginning of his sixt yeare turned out and the King after that he had for a while kept the Seale in his own hand gaue it to the Bishop of London from vvhom it vvas soone after taken bestovved on the Earle of Suffolke vvho they say had abused the king and converted the kings Treasure to his ovvne vse To this the King condiscended and though saith Walsingham he deserued to loose his life and goods yet he had the fauor to goe at liberty vpō good sureties because the K. vvas but yong that the reliefe granted vvas committed to the trust of the Earle of Arundell for the furnishing of the Kings Navy against the French COVNS Yet you see it vvas a dishonor to the K. to haue his beloued Chancellour remoued IVS. Truly no for the K. had both his fine 1000 lāds a subsedy to boot And though for the present it pleased the K. to fancy a man all the vvorld hated the K s passiō ouercōming his Iudgmēt yet it cānot be cal'd a dishonor for the K. is to belieue the general coūsel of the kingdom to prefer it before his affection especially vvhen Suffolk vvas proued to be false euen to the K for were it otherwise loue and affection might bee called a frenzie and a madnesse for it is the nature of humane passions that the loue bredde by fidelity doth change it selfe into hatred when the fidelity is first changed into falshood COVNS But you see there were thirteene Lords chosen in the Parliament to haue the oversight of the government vnder the King IVS No my Lord it was to haue the oversight of those Officers which saith the Story had imbezeled lewdly wasted and prodigally spent the Kings treasure for to the Cōmission to those Lords or to any six of them joyn'd with the Kings Counsell was one of the most royall and most profitable that euer he did if hee had bin constant to himself But my good Lord man is the cause of his own misery for I wil repeate the substance of the commission granted by the K confirmed by Parliament which whether it had bin profitable for the K. to haue prosecuted your Lordship may judge The preamble hath these words Whereas our Sovereigne Lord the King perceiveth by the greivous complaints of the Lords Commons of this Realme that the rents profits revenues of this Realme by the singular and insufficient Councell and evill gouernment aswell of some his late great Officers and others c. are so much withdrawen wasted eloyued giuen granted alienated destroyed and evill dispended that he is so much impoverished and void of treasure and goods and the substance of the Crown so much diminished and destroyed that his estate may not honorably be sustained as appertayneth The K. of his free will at the request of the Lords and Commons hath ordayned Williā Archbishop of Canterbury and others with his Chancellour Treasurer keeper of his privy seale to survey and examine as well the estate and governance of his house c. as of all the rents and profits and revenues that to him appertayneth and to be due or ought to appertaine and be due c. And all manner of gifts graunts alienations and confirmations made by him of lands tenements rents c. bargained and sold to the preiudice of him and his Crowne c. And of his iewels goods which were his Grandfathers at the time of his death c. and where they be become This is in effect the substance of the commission which your Lordship may reade at large in the booke of Statutes this commission being enacted in the tenth yere of the Kings reigne Now if such a commission were in these daies granted to the faithfull men that haue no interest in the sales gifts nor purchases nor in the keeping of the jewells at the Queenes death nor in the obtaining graunts of the Kings best lands I cannot say what may be recouered justly recovered and what say your Lordship was not this a noble acte for the King if it had beene followed to effect COVNS I cannot tell whether it were or no for it gaue power to the Commissioners to examine all the graunts IVST Why my Lord doth the King graunt any thing that shames at the examination are not the Kings graunts on record COVNS But by your leaue it is some dishonour to a King to haue his judgement called in question IVST That is true my Lord but in this or vvhensoever the like shall be graunted in the future the Kings judgement is not examined but their knavery that abused the K. Nay by your favour the contrary is true that vvhen a King will suffer himselfe to bee eaten vp by a company of petty fellowes by himselfe raised there in both the judgement and courage is disputed And if your Lordship vvill disdaine it at your own servants