perhaps against his Consent chose themselves a Leader against their Enemies as it was not justifiable nor yet approved by all the Britains many of which took not well this advancing of the Son against the good Liking of the Father so was it fatal to Vortimer himself who having six years enjoyed this Dignity lost both that and his Life being poysoned by the Procurement of Rowena After his Death Ambrosius returned again into Britain in France Hengist and his Saxons who under Pretence of a Treaty of Peace had slain three hundred of the British Nobility and by detaining Vortigern Prisoner had extorted from him the Counties of Essex Sussex Surrey Norfolk and Suffolk for his Ransom growing daily more and more powerful whilst Vortigern lurkt ingloriously in his Castle Generâ— amidst the inaccessible Mountains of the Countrey now called Cambria or Wales and the middle Provinces of the Realm left without any Defender being exposed to the fury of the Enemy the Britains deserted by their King were forced to seek one abroad They directed therefore Messengers into Little Britain to Ambrosius and his Brother Vter Pendragon beseeching them with all speed to quit that Country and repair into their own to the end that expelling both the Saxons and their hated King Vortigern they might receive the Crown of Britain The Princes upon this Invitation returned attended with Ships and armed Souldiers and being arrived here had a great Battel with Hengist wherein tho the Britains were worsted yet the Saxons received such Loss that they both gladly continued quiet The Fury of the Saxons thus allayed Ambrosius marched into Wales where setting fire to the Castle of King Vortigern he consumed both him and his to Ashes After whose Death by Consent of the Nobles he assumed the Crown Anno CHRISTI 481. In the Year of our Lord 496. Pascentius the Son of Vortigern with an Army of Germans came against Ambrosius by whom being discomfited he fled into Scotland Whence about five years after returning with an Army and understanding that Ambrosius lay sick he hired a certain Saxon named Copa who feigning himself to be a British Monk and a Physician poysoned the King Pascentius in the mean time and all his Captaines being slain by Vter Pendragon who in the head of the Kings Forces marched out against him The Line of Vortigern being thus extinct and Ambrosius now dead the Realm was without any Competitor governed by Vter Pendragon under whom and his Successors the Britains had continual Struglings with the Saxons by whom being at last outed of the best part of their Country they retired beyond the River Severn and in those parts fortified themselves a Period being put to the British Kingdom in the Year of our Lord 688. about two hundred seventy eight years after that Honorius had by Letters of Discharge quitted the Britains of the Roman Jurisdiction two hundred and fifty from the Reestablishing of the British Monarchy by the Election of King Vortigern two hundred thirty nine after the first Arrival of Hengist and his Saxon Auxiliaries and in the third Year of Cadwalladar who was the last that was dignified with the Title of King of Britain his Successors being stiled Kings and Princes of Wales CHAP. IX Of the Restauration of the British Monarchy by King James His Descent from Cadwalladar The British Monarchy restored by King James THe conquering Saxons having possest themselves of all the Southern parts of the Isle except what lies beyond the Severn and the mountainous Countrey of Cornwall whither they had forced the Britains to retire gave to the Countrey held by themselves first the Name of East Saxony beyond Sea and afterwards that of England That Part of the Island which was still enjoyed by the Britains they called Wales the Inhabitants Walsh or Welsh-men and their chief Governours Kings and Princes of Wales Hereby was the Name of Britain banished as it were the Island for above nine hundred years till such time as the Line of Henry the VIII th whose three Children Reigning successively died Issueless being extinct the Crown of England by indubitable Hereditary Right fell to James the VI th King of Scotland whose Great Grandmother was Margaret eldest Daughter to Henry the VII th King of England This famous Monarch as is manifest by his Genealogy hereunto annext lineally descending from Cadwalladar the last King of the Britains not only restored the British Line to the Throne but the Name of Britain also to the Island causing himself immediately upon his Coming to this Crown to be stiled King of Great Britain The KINGS And Princes of WALES Descent of King James fom Cadwalladar from whom is Lineally descended the Royal Family of the STVARTS now actually swaying the Scepter of GREAT BRITAIN CADWALLADAR King of Britain driven by the Saxons to forsake his Native Country sojourned with his Kinsman Alan King of Little Britain in France whence designing again for Britain he was by an Angel admonished in a Vision to go to Rome where he ended his dayes Anno Domini 688. With him died the British Monarchy Edwal Ywrch left by his Father at his Departure for Rome in Little Britain with his Cosen Alan who sent his Son Ivor with a Navy into Britain where he was the first King of Wales 1. Roderick Molwynoc who in the Year 720. succeeded his Cosen Ivor the Son of Alan in the Kingdom of Wales 2. Fermael who died without Issue in the Year 763. RODERICK MOLWYNOC King of Wales had Issue 1. Conan Tindaethwy King of Wales Esylht Queen of Wales married to a Nobleman named Mervyn Vrych descended in the right Line from Belinus Brother of Brennus King of Britain His Mother was Nest Daughter to Cadelh Prince of Powys whose Father was Brochwel Yscithroc Prince of Powys that in the Year 617. fought against the Saxons at Bangor 1. Roderick Mawr King of Wales who by his Wife Engharad Daughter to Meyrick Prince of Cardigan had a numerous Issue He divided Wales into three Talaiths or Kingdoms Giving to Anarawd his Eldest Son to whom the other two were Tributaries Gwyneth or Northwales to Cadelh his second Son Dehevbarth or Southwales to Mervyn his third Son Mathraval or Powys 1. Anarawd King of Northwales and Soveraign of all Wales died in the year 913. leaving behind him two Sons 1. Edwal Voel King of Northwales and Sovereign of all Wales who had a numerous Issue 2. Elise slain with his Brother King Edwal Voel in the year 940. Conan who died without Issue Trawst a Daughter married to a Nobleman named Sitsylht 2. Cadelh King of Southwales and after the Death of his Brother Mervyn of Powys from whom descended the Kings and Princes of Southwales 3. Mervyn King of Powys who being slain in the year 900. was succeeded by his Brother Cadelh King of Southwales 2. Gwyriad who together with his Brother King Roderick was slain in the Year 877. 2. Howel who rebeling against his Brother was by him overcome
conjectured to be about Coway Stakes neer Oatlands where Cassibelan having caused the Bank to be set with sharp Stakes and the Ford knockt full of them covered with Water had drawn up his men in great numbers to oppose the Passage of the Romans who having notice of this Stratagem by their Captives with greater Circumspection entred the River first the Horse then the Foot wading up to the Neck in Water so resolutely and so fast that the Britains having bestowed a few Darts upon them retiâ—… into Woods and secret Coverts where lining with their Horse and Chariots the Roads through which Caesar was to pass and driving the Inhabitants and their Cattel into places of security within the Woods with continual and unexpected Sallies upon the Roman Horse cutting off some and terrifying others they compel'd them so close together that they could not fetch in Prey or Booty without ill success The Affairs of Caesar who had nothing left in his way but empty Fields and Houses had now but a bad Aspect his Army whose Horse durst not stir out of the Protection of their Foot being almost starved when a Dissention arising among the Britains brought them joyful News of a Supply The Trinobantes one of the most potent States amongst the Britains out of an old Grudge against Cassibelan who had slain their King Immanuentius and forced his Son Mandubratius called also Androgoriâ—… and Androgius to secure his Life bâ— Flight into Gallia sent Ambassadour to Caesar imploring his Protectionâ— promising Obedience to the Roman State and desiring Mandubratius who was then with Caesar to be sent to take Possession of his Fathers Crown Caesar granted their Request having first demanded fourty Hostages and Provisions for his Army which they sent in and had their Confines protected from the Souldier By their Example did several otheâ— States also submit themselves from whom Caesar having learnt that Cassibelians chief Seat supposed to be Verulam near the now St. Albans was not far off fenc't about with Woods and Marshes and full of Men and Cattel went thither assaulted it in two Places and after some Dispute forced the Britains to fly out at a Postern Gate and leave the Plunder of the Town to the Enemy by whom many of them were cut off in their Flight Yet did not Cassibelan desert himself but sending into Kent directed Cingetorix Carvilius Taximagulus and Segonax four Kings reigning in those Countryes who still kept faithful to the Union to raise what Forces they could and assault the Camp where the Roman Shipping was entrencht but these Kentish Souldiers being raw and unskild not able to endure one Sally were totally routed and Cingetorix made Prisonor Cassibelan informed of this Defeat and seeing the treacherous Defection of so many States for the Preservation of himself and Country by the Mediation of Comius of Arras sent Ambassadours to Caesar who having enjoyned him not to Molest Mandubratius and the Trinobantes setled the Annual Tribute to be paid by the Britains to Rome and received Hostages with a great number of Captives put off to Sea having at twice embarkt his whole Army Returning to Rome he offered to Venus Genitrix the Patroness of his Family a Corslet of British Pearles as a Testimony of his Glorious Enterprize Julius Caesar having now taken his last Farewell of Britain the Romans hindred partly by Civil Dissensions and partly by other more urgent Affairs had not the least Thoughts of making any farther Attempt against it for twenty Years together when Octavius Augustus now setled in the possession of the Roman Empire having advanced as far as Gallia in order to the reducing of Britain was diverted by a Revolt in Pannonia as he was seven Years after by the unsetledness of Gallia and the coming of the British Ambassadours thither to him and the Year following by new Commotions arising in Spain Being so often crost in his Designs upon Britain he no more bent his thoughts that way being satisfied with the Respects paid him by the British Princes who courted his Friendship with Gifts offered in the Capitol and other obsequious Addresses The like amicable Correspondence they held also with his Successor Tiberius whom more highly to oblige they courteously entertained and sent home the Souldiers of Germanicus cast by Tempest on their Shore Caligula indeed to whose Protection Adminius Son of Cunobelyn banished by his Father had betaken himself making semblance to invade Britain brought down all his Army to the Belgick Shore where being informed that the Britains having levyed the Strength of their Nation stood ready to oppose his Landing if he should make any attempt upon them he commanded his Souldiers whom he supposed to have Lyncean Eyes to take a full view of the British Forces and having encouraged them not to fear their great Numbers with unmatchable Valor rowed a Stones cast or two from the Shore where resolutely defying the Britains he caused the Engines of Battery to be set up the Trumpets to sound a Charge and the Souldiers to fall on but no Enemy appearing he ordered them to plunder the Ocean of its Shells and therewith fill their Helmets and Laps and that the Memory of so Heroick an Enterprize might not be lost he erected in the same place an high Tower wherein Lights were set to direct Mariners in their Courses by Night the Ruins whereof sometimes seen at Low-Water on the Coast of Holland are to this day by the Inhabitants ealled Briten-huis Conquest The Britains for well-near an hundred Years after the departure of Julius Caesar had been governed by their own Princes unmolested by the Romans to whom after the first breaking out of the Civil War they paid not any Tribute except such easy Customs as were levied on the Commodities wherewith they traded into Gallia when intestin Divisions among themselves making way for a Roman Conquest Claudius Drusus now the third time Consul instigated by the perswasions of Bericus of whom there is no farther knowledge and other Fugitives whom the Britains demanding he had refused to deliver up and they for that cause had denied farther Amity with Rome resolved upon an Invasion of Britain sending Orders to Aulus Plautius the Praetor to transport thither the Legions lying in Gallia who complaining that they must now be put to make War beyond the Worlds end were at last with much difficulty prevailed upon and from three several Ports set sail for Britain but meeting with cross Winds were driven back and disheartned till in the Night a Meteor darting Flames from the East and directing as they fancied their Course for this Island they again put to Sea and landed without opposition the Britains who had heard of their Unwillingness having neglected to provide against them and now retiring into the Woods where they intended to wear them out with Delayes as their Predecessors had formerly done Caesar The British Armies were commanded by two young Sons of the deceased Cunobelyn who keeping their Forces separate were
slew with the loss only of four hundred Romans and as many more wounded the Grief of which Defeat assisted as some say by Poyson put a Period to the Life of Boadicea Britain which was wel-nigh lost being thus by one Battel recovered the vindicative Nature of Suetonius who tho otherwise a very worthy person over-proud of his Victory gave too much way to his Anger against the Britains caused those that were yet untamed to stand out encouraged the rather thereunto by the Differences between him and the new Procurator Julius Classicianus But Suetonius being recalled his Successor Petronius Turpilianus set himself wholly to quiet the Province without making any new Attempts so that thenceforward the Britains who lived unmolested beginning to suck in the Pleasures of Vice were more enslaved by the Roman Luxuries than ever they had been by their Arms. In this posture Affairs continued here till that Vespasian having taken possession of the Empire sent hither Petilius Crealis who had many Battels with the Brigantes over whom tho he obtained some Victories yet he had alwayes enough of War His Successor Julius Frontinus subdued the stout and warlike Nation of the Silures But Julius Agricola sent into Britain in the last year of Vespasian extended the Roman Limits beyond all his Predecessors For at his very entrance into this Government he overthrew and almost extirpated the whole Nation of the Ordovices and gained the Isle of Mona from the Possession whereof the Rebellion of the Britains had called back Suetonius After which by proportionating with Equality the imposed Tribute removing the Exactions and exorbitant Fees of Officers and bridling the Extravagance and Licentiousness of his Domesticks and Souldiers he brought the People to be in love with Peace which before seemed no less formidable to them than War it self So that having first by many Inrodes terrified the Enemy and then by his gentle Demeanor allured them several Cities which hitherto had refused to bend voluntarily submitted to him gave Hostages and received Garisons for which he providently chose Places of such advantage that never any of them was either forced yielded up or quitted Then encouraging the Britains who before lived rude and scattered to build Houses Temples and Places for Publick Resort he taught them the Institutes and Customs of a Civil Life causing their Noblemens Sons to be instructed in the Liberal Sciences and by preferring the Wits of Britain before those of Gallia bringing them who before hated the Roman Language to be in love with the Latin Eloquence Now likewise came in the Gown and other Fashions of the Romans and by Degrees all those Incitements of Vice and Voluptuous Living which the Luxurious miscall Civility Glota and Bodotria called at this day Dunbritton and Edinborough Friths two opposite Arms of the Sea disjoined only by a Neck of Land with all the Creeks and Inlets on this Side being now held by the Romans and the Enemy shut up as it were in another Island Agricola passed over into and subdued Nations till then unknown supposed to be the Orcades and other Scotch Isles and placed Garrisons likewise in that part of Britain which faced Ireland at the Conquest whereof he also aimed courteously entertaining for that purpose one of the Irish Kings driven out of his Country by Civil Wars whom he kept with him for a fit Occasion But an Apprehension of a general Rising of the Nations beyond Bodotria called him away from this design for understanding that they had forelaid the Passages by land he commanded his Fleet to bear along the Shores and up the Friths and Harbors himself with even Marches keeping up close to it so that both Land and Sea Forces joined commonly at night with Shouts and loud Greetings Which much daunted the Britains not accustomed to see their Sea so ridden Yet the Caledonians generally taking Arms and attacking sundry Castles strook no small Terror into several of the Roman Commanders who concealing their Fears under the Name of cautious Counsel advised the General to retreat on this side Bodotria But he whose Resolutions were otherwise having Intelligence that the Enemy would fall on in many Bodies divided also his Army into three parts Which the Britains learning changed Counsels and with all their Forces assailed by night that part of the Roman Army which they knew to be the weakest whom surprizing between Sleep and Fear they had now begun some Execution when Agricola who was informed of their March following them at the Heels commanded the lightest of his Horse and Foot to charge on their Backs the whole Army soon seconding them with a Shout So that by approach of Day the Caledonians finding themselves encompast with the glittering Roman Ensigns after a sharp Fight betook themselves to their old Refuge the Woods and Boggs or else that day had probably made a total End of the War The Romans reencouraged with this Success and now boasting who but ere while trembled with one voice cried out to be led on as far as there was any British Ground Nor did the Britains who imputed that Dayes Victory not to the Valor of their Enemies but to the Policy of their General abate any thing of their Stoutness but arming their Youth and conveying their Wives and Children to places of Safety with solemn and sacred vows bound themselves to mutual assistance against the common Adversary In the mean time a Cohort of Vsipians here in Britain having slain their Centurion and other Officers in a Mutiny fearing Punishment fled to Sea without any Pilot in three Pinnaces and being driven at random about the Coast used Piracy where they landed till after various Fortunes taken first by the Suevians afterwards by the Frisians they were sold into Britain where being known they first discovered to the Romans that Britain was an Island The Summer following Agricola having gained this Knowledge sending forth his Navy to scour the Coasts and by various and uncertain Landings to divert and disunite the Enemy with a flying Army wherein were many Britains whose Courage and Fidelity he had long experienced came as far as the Mountain Grampius where the Caledonians to the number of thirty thousand were assembled under the command of Galgacus whom both his Birth and Merit made their chief Leader He by his rough Oratory in detestation of Servitude and the Roman Yoke having augmented the Eagerness of his Followers and Agricola having incited his by exhorting them to Glory and Victory the Armies joyned Battle where after a vehement and various Contest the Romans clearly wan the Day ten thousand of their Enemies being slain and the rest so totally discomfited that the next day there was not a Man of them to be seen all being fled none knew whither Agricola informed hereof by his Scouts Summer being far spent and it being now no fit Time to divide his Forces leads his Army amongst the Horesti thought to be the Inhabitants of Eskdale in Scotland from whom having
another Wall of Stone twelve foot high and eight broad traversing the Island in a direct Line from East to West where Severus had walled before between certain Cities placed as Frontiers to keep off the Enemy and along the South Shore from whence Hostility was also feared they erected Towers at certain distances for safety of the Coast This done having instructed the Britains in the Art of War leaving them Patterns of their Arms and Weapons and exhorting them manfully to resist the Invaders of their Countrey they took their last Farewel never purposing to return The Romans being finally departed and their Resolution of not returning known the Scots and Picts more confidently than ever issuing out of their Holes seized upon all the North part of the Island even as far as the Wall which not fearing to be dispossest they as natural Inhabitants planted and manured Not content herewith they assaulted the Garrison on the Wall whence with their Hooks and Engines pulling down some they put the rest to flight themselves taking possession of the Frontier Cities and having with such ease broken into the Province pursued the Britains into the Inland Countreys bringing destruction still along with them The better to withstand the frequent Inroads of these cruel Enemies the Princes after the example of their Ancestors in the dayes of Julius Caesar resolved to choose a General Captain of the whole Nation and to establish the Kingdom in his Line For this high Dignity there were two considerable Competitors Aurelius Ambrosius descended of a noble Roman Family and as it is supposed Son of Constantin who in the dayes of Honorius pretended to the Roman Empire and Vortigern Prince of the Damnonii or as some write Consul of the Gevissei Inhabitants of the South-Western parts about Cornwal or South-Wales Which Principality it seems he had governed well enough to be esteemed not unworthy to be preferred above his formerly Fellow-Princes Ambrosius therefore with his Brother Vter Pendragon retiring into lesser Britain in Gaul quitted both his Pretence and Country to Vortigern who the Choice thus falling on him was in the Year 438 anointed King For that in those ancient times of British Government the solemn Ceremony of anointing their Kings was in use in this Island is clear from the Testimony of Gildas Vortigern thus advanced to the Throne governed a while his Principality with Moderation In the eighth year of his Reign the Picts who after their miraculous Discomfiture by St. Germanus had for the most part kept within their own Territories now breaking in afresh miserably wasted all those Provinces of Britain which had formerly been subject to the Romans and this Invasion they continued the year following with such violence that after much Bloodshed and horrible Devastation of the Countrey the Britains having no other Refuge wrote to Aetius then President of Gallia this short but lamentable Epistle recorded by Gildas To Aetius the third time Consul the Groans of the Britains The Barbarians drive us to the Sea the Sea beats us back upon the Barbarians Between these two we are exposed either to be slain with the Sword or drowned and to avoid both we find no Remedy But in vain were these Supplications the Romans who could scarce secure the heart of their Empire infested with the Huns and Vandals not being able to afford them any assistance Many therefore of the Britains seeing themselves thus rejected wearied with flying from place to place and spent with the terrible Famin which had long afflicted them yielded themselves Slaves to their Savage Enemies but others more resolute taught by their Miseries to seek aid from Heaven retired to inaccessible Mountains and Caves whence with Courage and Success they often assaulted these ravenous Spoilers recovering from them their Booty and driving them back to their own Quarters These hostil Invasions therefore a while ceasing the Britains set themselves to cultivate their Ground which with scarce credible Plenty abundantly recompenced their Labors No sooner were their Enemies departed and their pinching Hunger allaid but their Piety likewise vanished in the room whereof succeeded excessive Luxury accompanied with all sorts of Vices infecting not the Laity only but the Clergy also who ought to have been Guides to others And altho GOD sought to reclaim them by his Scourge of Pestilence by which such Multitudes perished that the Living were not sufficient to bury the Dead yet were they with this Severity nothing at all amended but like Solomons Fool tho scourged yet they felt it not GODs Patience therefore being spent towards a People which grew worse both by Prosperity and Adversity he so far infatuated their Counsels that they themselves invited from a remote Country Enemies far more savage and barbarous than either the Picts or Scots The Northern Spoilers whom fear of the Contagion had kept within their own Borders the Infection now beginning to cease readvanced into the Inland Countrey against whose Incursions the better to provide King Vortigern summoned a general Councel where by common Advice it was resolved that Ambassadors should be sent into Germany to hire the Saxons to their assistance an Army of which in the year 449 landing in Britain under the Conduct of Hengist and Horsa the Britains by their Help overcoming their Enemies who were come as far as Stamford in Lincolnshire gave them great Possesions in that part of the same County now called Lindsey where they built Thong-Castle King Vortigern falling in love with Rowena Daughter to Hengist divorced his Queen a vertuous Lady by whom he had three Sons named Vortimer Catigern and Pascentius to make his Bed vacant for this Pagan whom he bought of her Father with the Kingdom of Kent who soon after taking advantage at the Discontent of the Britains for this Act of their King pickt a Quarrel and making a League with the Picts laid wast the Countrey The Saxons Power increasing by the coming over of fresh Supplies the British Laity first and afterwards the Clergy represented their Danger to the King whom either not believing or not regarding their Complaints they in the sixteenth year of his Reign deserted and followed his Son Vortimer choosing him as some say for their General or as others for an Associate to his Father in the Kingdom under whose Conduct they had many Conflicts with the Saxons and that with various Success in one of which the Vant-guard being led by Aurelius Ambrosius newly come out of Little Britain to assist Prince Vortimer the main Body by Vortimer himself and the Rere by his Brother Catigern Catigern was slain and buried at Alestrew now called Aylesford in Kent where a Monument erected for him is at this day corruptly called Keith-Coty-House This Proceeding of the Britains tho the more excuseable in that they did not presume to depose their King which yet Parker in his Antiquities of the British Church not only affirms they did but like a true Calvinist commends them for so doing but only without or
at Cork in Ireland Anno 1381. EDMVND MORTIMER Earl of March had Issue Roger Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster Lord of Wigmor Trym Clare and Connaght who married Elianor Eldest Daughter and one of the Heirs of Thomas Holland Earl of Kent 1. Roger Mortimer died without Issue 2. Edmund Mortimer died without Issue 3. Anne Mortimer married to Richard Plantagenet Earl of Cambridge by whom she had Issue Richard Plantagenet Duke of York Earl of Cambridge March and Vlster Edward the IVth King of England and France and Lord of Ireland 1. Edward the Vth. King of England and France and Lord of Ireland murthered in the Tower left no Issue 2. Richard Plantagenet Duke of York murthered with his Brother King Edward left no Issue 3. Elizabeth eldest Daughter to Edward the IVth married to Henry the VIIth King of England and France and Lord of Ireland ELIZABETH eldest Daughter to King Edward the IVth by her Husband King Henry the VIIth had Issue 1. Arthur Prince of VVales died before his Father and left no Issue 2 Henry the VIIIth King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith 1. Edward the VIth King of England France and Ireladd died without Issue 2. Mary Q. of England France and Ireland died without Issue 3. Elizabeth Queen of England France and Ireland died without Issue 3. Margaret eldest Daughter to Henry the VIIth married to James the IVth King of Scotland by whom she had Issue James the Vth. King of Scotland Mary Queen of Scotland who was by her Subjects infected with Calvinism of which it is truly observed that it never entred into any Country but by Rebellion expelled her Kingdom and forced to fly for shelter into England where so implacable is Presbyterian Malice they never left persecuting her till they had brought her after eighteen years Imprisonment to end her dayes upon a Scaffold By her Husband Henry Lord Darnley Son to Mathew Stuart Earl of Lenox she had Issue James the VIth King of Scotland who after the Decease of Elizabeth Queen of England as next Heir enjoyed the Crown of this Realm whereof he was no sooner possest but he reassumed the Title of Great Britain 1. Henry Prince of Wales died before his Father and left no Issue 2. CHARLES the Ist King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith a Prince of incomparable Vertues and Endowments who was on the 30th of January 1648. barbarously and inhumanly murthered before the Gates of his own Royal Palace by a traitorous Crew of villanous Phanaticks so secure in their own Thoughts of having thereby extirpated Monarchy out of this Island that they insolently set up on the Royal Exchange in the place where his Statue which they maliciously decollated had been erected amongst those of his Predecessors this Inscription Exit Tyrannus Regum ultimus 1. CHARLES the IId by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith now reigning Whō GOD long preserve 2. The Illustrious Prince James Duke of York and Albany 3. Mary Mother to the present Prince of Orange 4. Henrietta Mother to the present Queen of Spain 3. Elizaheth married to Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine by whom she had a numerous Issue CHAP. X. Of the present Government of Great Britain in general OF Monarchies some are Hereditary the Crown descending either only to the Heirs Male as has long been practiced in France or to the next of Blood without Distinction of Sex as in Great Britain and Spain Others are Elective where upon the Death of every Prince another is chosen to succeed without any respect to the Heirs of the Predecessor as is used in Poland Of Hereditary Monarchies some are dependent holden of earthly Potentates to whom the Princes are obliged to do Homage for the same as is the Kingdom of Naples holden at this day of the Pope by the King of Spain Others are independent whose Princes acknowledge no Superior upon Earth but hold only of GOD and by their Sword Of this latter sort is the Empire of Great Britain being an Hereditary Monarchy consisting of two Provinces or Kingdoms governed by one Supreme Absolute Independent Undeposable and Unaccountable Head according to the known Laws and Customs of each Kingdom It is a Free Monarchy challenging above many other Europaean Kingdoms an Exemption from all Subjection to the Emperor or Laws of the Empi to which as the Northern Part of the Island or Kingdom of Scotland was never subject so the Southern part since called the Kingdom of England being abandoned by the Romans who had by force obtained the Dominion thereof the Right of Government by all manner of Laws reverted to the ancient Inhabitants to the last of whose Kings viz. Cadwalladar our present Sovereign is as appears by the precedent Genealogy by Lineal and Legitimate Descent the true and unquestionable Heir And as it is exempt from all forreign Jurisdiction and Dominion so likewise is it free from all Interregnum and many other Domestick Mischiefs whereunto Elective Kingdoms are ordinarily subject It is a Monarchy wherein the Grace and Bounty of its Princes rendring the subordinate Concurrence of the three Estates necessary to the making and repealing of all Statutes or Acts of Parliament in either Realm have afforded so much to the Industry Liberty and Happiness of the Subject and made the Yoak of Government so easy and its Burden so light that were it not for those malevolent and Fanatical Spirits which by sowing Jealousies amongst the People and raising Animosities in their Minds against their Prince endeavor to deprive us of the benefit of our Parliaments by rendring their Meetings unpracticable our Condition might well be envied by all other Nations of the Universe CHAP. XI Of the Monarch of Great Britain and therein of his Name Title Arms Dominions and Strength Of his Person Office Prerogative Soveraignty Divinity and Respect TO the Monarch of Great Britain is given in English which is the Language most generally spoken through his whole Dominions the Name King which hath its Original from the Saxon Word Koning and intimateth that Power and Knowledge wherewith every Soveraign should especially be invested The Modern Title used by the Monarch in all Treaties with forreign Princes and in all publick Affairs relating to his whole Dominions and stamped upon his Coin is By the Grace of GOD King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith but in all Writs and other publick Instruments referring to the particular Concerns of either Kingdom of England or Scotland the two Kingdoms are distinctly named that Kingdom having the Precedency in such Instrument which is therein particularly concerned To the King alone belongs Dei Gratiâ taken simply and in the strictest sense as holding his Regal Dignity by the Favour of none but GOD the Archbishops and Bishops to whom that Title is also sometimes given must understand Dei Gratiâ Regis For tho their Character and
Spiritual Function be from GOD alone yet their Baronies Dignity and Interest in the State and even that external Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which they exercise and that legally in their own Names within his Majesties Dominions are from the Grace and Bounty of the Prince Defender of the Faith was as appears by a Charter of King Richard the IId to the University of Oxford anciently given to the Kings of England and therefore not so much conferred upon as confirmed unto King Henry the VIIIth by Pope Leo the Xth. for a Book written against Luther in Defence of some Points of the Roman Faith and since the ejection of that Religion continued in the Crown by Act of Parliament The Title of Grace since appropriated to Archbishops and Dukes was first given to the King about the Time of Henry the IVth as about the Time of Edward the IVth that of High and Mighty Prince since also given to Dukes To Henry the VIIIth was given first Highness since the Stile of all the Princes of the Blood then Majesty and now Most Excellent and Sacred Majesty The King of Great Britain in his publick Instruments and Letters uses as his Predecessors have ever done since the Time of King John Nos We in the Plural Number but before his Time Kings used the Singular Which Custom is still practiced in the Ends of Writs and Patents Teste meipso The Word Syr answering to the Latine Dominus and supposedly the same with Cyr an Abbreviation of the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which prefixt before the Christian Name is given only to Baronets Knights of the Bath and Knights Batchelors is the ordinary Appellation used in speaking to all persons of the better Rank from the King to the Gentleman tho in France the Word Syr or Syre is reserved only for the King as is with us Great Syr. Arms. Arms are Ensigns of Honor born in a Shield for Distinction of Families and descending as Hereditary to Posterity yet not generally fixt unless in the Kings of Europe in Great Britain or France till after the Time of the Holy War about four hundred years ago Our first Christian King and the first Christian King of the whole World Lucius bare Argent a Crosse Gules in the first Quarter a Crosse Patee Azure After the Desertion of this Island by the Romans King Vortigern bare Gules a Crosse Or. Aurelius Ambrosius bare Gules a Griffin Sergreant Or. Vter Pendragon bare Or two Dragons endorsed Vert crowned Gules King Arthur bare Vert a Crosse Argent on the first Quarter Our Lady with her Son in her Arms. Cadwalladar the last King of the Britains bare Azure a Crosse Patee on three parts and fitched on the fourth Or. The Soveraign Ensigns Armorial of the King of Great Britain since the Uniting of the two Crowns of England and Scotland are as followeth In the first place Azure three Flower-de-Lys Or for the Regal Arms of France quartered with the Imperial Ensigns of England which are Gules three Lyons Passant Guardant in pale Or in the second place Or within a double Tressure counter-flowered de Lys a Lyon Rampant Gules for the Royal Arms of Scotland In the third place Azure an Irish Harp Or stringed Argent for the Royal Ensigns of Ireland All within the Garter the chief Ensign of that most Honorable Order above the same an Helmet answerable to his Majesties Soveraign Jurisdiction upon the same a rich Mantle of Cloth of Gold doubled Ermin adorned with an Imperial Crown and surmounted for a Crest by a Lion Passant Gardant Crowned with the like Upon a Compartment placed underneath in the Table whereof is his Majesties Royal Motto Dieu mon Droet stand the Supporters being a Lion Rampant Gardant Or Crowned as the former and an Vnicorn Argent Gorged with a Crown having thereto a Chain affixt passing between his Fore-legs and reflext over his Back Or. The Arms of France are placed first because France is the greater Kingdom and also for that those Arms from their first Bearing have alwayes been the Ensign of a Kingdom whereas the Arms of England were originally of Dukedoms having been brought to England from Normandy and Aquitain by William the Conqueror and Henry the IId and probably likewise that the French might be thereby more easily induced to acknowledge the English Title The Motto Dieu mon Droit GOD and my Right first given by King Richard the Ist to intimate that he held not his Empire of any but of GOD alone was afterwards taken up by Edward the IIId when he first laid Claim to the Crown of France Dominions The Dominions of the King of Great Britain are at this day in possession the Islands of Great Britain and Ireland containing three Kingdoms of large Extent with all the other Isles lying in the British Sea being above four hundred in all great and small some whereof are very considerable together with all the adjacent Seas even to the Shores of the Neighboring Nations As a Mark whereof all Ships of Forreigners have anciently demanded leave to fish and pass in these Seas and do at this day lower their Topsails to all the Kings Ships of War And therefore Children born upon those Seas as it sometimes happens are esteemed natural born Subjects to the King of Great Britain and therefore need no Naturalization as do those that are born out of his Dominions He hath likewise in possession the Isles of Jersey Guernsey Alderney and Sark being Parcel of the ancient Dutchy of Normandy besides the profitable Plantations of New England Virginia Barbados Jamaica Maryland Bermudos Carolina New-York and other places in America with some in the East Indies and upon the Coast of Africa The Strength of the Monarch of Strength Great Britain since the Union of the two Kingdoms has never yet been fully tried the Parliaments of the two last Kings infected with the pestilential Principles of Presbyterianism and Democratism having upon all occasions proved refractory to their Designs and rather catching at all Opportunities of diminishing the Royal Prerogative and augmenting the falsly so called Liberty of the People being to speak truly only a Priviledge to Tyrannize more uncontrollably over their Fellow-Subjects than any wayes endeavoring to support and maintain the Grandeur and Glory of the King and Kingdom insomuch that there was invented a most unnatural Distinction of Subjects into Royalists and Patriots as if any man could shew himself a Lover of his Country by braving and opposing the Father of it whereas the Relation between King and Kingdom is so great that their Wel-being is reciprocal And tho for some time after his Majesties Return the Parliaments of all his three Kingdoms seemed to vy which of them should most readily comply with their Soveraigns Desires and Designs yet the Fanatical and Antimonarchical Faction who ever since his Majesties happy Restauration have been secretly blowing the Coals of Rebellion and by their sly and false
that as their Persons were sacred and Spiritual so it was no less a part of their Duty to take care of the external Regulation and peace of the Church than of the Civil Government of their States Yet were there antiently none anointed but the two Emperors of the East and West the Kings of France England Sicily and Hierusalem amongst whom the Monarch of Great Britain may lay as ancient a Claim to this Holy Unction as any other Prince of Europe the very first Kings of this Island after it was freed from the Jurisdiction of the Romans having been anointed By reason of which Unction it was in the Reign of Edward the IIId declared that the Kings of England were capable of Spiritual Jurisdiction Of this Sacred Person of the King of his Life and Safety so singular a Care is taken that the Laws of both the Realms whereinto this Island is divided do herein agree that it is High Treason only to imagin or intend the Death of the King And because likewise by imagining or conspiring the Death of the Kings Councellors or Great Officers of his Houshold the Death of the Sovereign may ensue and is usually aimed at all such Conspiracies tho never taking effect are punished with Death tho in all other Capital Cases no man is put to Death unless the Act follow the Intent Nay in so high an esteem is the Kings Person had that to offend against those Persons and Things whereby he is represented as to kill some of the Crown Officers or any of the Kings Judges executing their Office to counterfeit the Kings Seals or his Moneys is made High Treason because by all these his Sacred Person is represented And so horrid is this Crime of High Treason that besides the Loss of Life and Honour the Criminal forfeits all his Estate Real and Personal his Wife loses her Dower his Children their Nobility and all their Right of Inheritance to him or any other Ancestor and are to be ranked amongst the Peasantry and Ignoble till the King shall please to restore them For so heinous is this Offence that the Law can hardly endure to see the Posterity of the Offender survive him And rather than Treason against the Kings Person shall go unpunished the Innocent shall in some cases suffer for if an Ideot or Lunatick who having no Will cannot possibly be said to offend shall during his Ideocy or Lunacy kill or go about to kill the King he shall be punished as a Traytor tho not being Compos mentis he can neither commit Felony Petit Treason or any other sort of High Treason So tender a Regard is moreover had of this most precious Person of the King that no Physick ought to be administred to him but what his Physicians prepare with their own Hands and not by the Hands of any Apothecary nor are they to use the Assistance of any Chirurgeons but such as are sworn Chirurgeons to his Person This Person of the King in his Natural as well as Politick Capacity is every Subject to defend with his own Life and Limbs For the King being Father of his Country it should seem a pleasant thing to every Loyal-hearted Subject to lose Life or Limb in defending him from Conspiracies Rebellions or Invasions or assisting him in the Execution of his Laws The Office of the Monarch of Great Britain and indeed of every Christian Prince Office was by the Holy Roman Bishop St. Eleutherius described to our first Christian King Lucius Which Description recorded in the Laws of St. Edward the Confessor King of England is as followeth A King being the Minister and Delegate of the Supreme King is appointed by GOD for this end that He govern this Earthly Kingdom and People of our Lord and above all that he govern and venerate his Church defending it from all who would injure it That he root out of it and utterly destroy all Evil-Doers For the better enabling themselves to discharge this great and weighty Office to the just and upright Performance whereof every King at his Coronation obliges himself by solemn Oath Prerogatives the Monarchs of Great Britain have reserved as inherent in their Crown certain extraordinary Powers Preeminences and Priviledges commonly called Royal Prerogatives some of the most remarkable whereof in which as being necessary for the Preservation of the Government and the Safety and Interest of the People the Laws of both Kingdoms agree do here follow The King solely and alone has by his Royal Prerogative without any Act of Parliament the absolute Power of declaring War making Peace sending and receiving Ambassadours entring into and concluding Leagues and Treaties with any Forreign Prince or State He has the sole Disposing and Ordering of the Militia by Sea and Land raising Forces Garrisoning and Fortifying Places setting out Ships of War and Pressing Men if need require He alone disposes of all Magazins Ammunition Castles Fortresses Ports and Havens and has the laying out and employing as he pleases of all Publick Monies or the Revenues of the Crown and Kingdom He appoints the Metal Weight Purity and Value of Money and may by his Proclamation make any Forreign Coin to be lawful and Current Money within his Dominions By his Royal Prerogative he may of his meer Will and Pleasure convoke adjourn prorogue remove and dissolve Parliaments and may to any Act passed by them give or refuse without rendring any Reason his Royal Assent without which a Bill is but a meer Cadaver a lifeless and inanimate Lump He may at his pleasure increase the number of the Members of Parliament by creating new Barons and bestowing Priviledges upon other Towns to send Burgesses to Parliament Yea he may call to Parliament by Writ any one whether Alien or Native whom he in his Princely Wisdom shall think fit and may refuse to send his Writ to some others that have sat in former Parliaments His Majesty alone hath the Choice and Nomination of all Magistrates Councellors and Officers of State of all Bishops and other high Dignities in the Church of all Commanders and other Officers at Sea and Land the bestowing of all Honors of the higher and lower Nobility the Power of determining Rewards for Services and Punishments for Misdemeanors He may by his Letters Patents erect new Counties Bishopricks Universities Cities Burroughs Hospitals Schools Fairs Markets Courts of Justice Forrests Chases and Free-Warrens He hath by his Prerogative Power to enfranchise an Alien and thereby to enable him to purchase Houses and Lands and to bear some Offices He hath Power to grant Letters of Mart or Reprisal Safe Conducts c. No Proclamation can be made but by the King Between which and a Statute as the Difference originally was not great the King making the latter by the Common Councel of the Kingdom whereas in the former he had but the Advice of his great Councel of the Peers or of his Privy Councel only So what Judgment Parliaments have formerly
other inferior Officers as so many Crystal Pipes he conveyeth to his People We will saith Edward the I st in his Book of Laws written at his appointment by John Briton Bishop of Hereford that our own Jurisdiction be above all Jurisdictions in our Realm so that in all manner of Felonies Trespasses Contracts and all other Actions Personal or Real We have Power to render or cause to be rendred such Judgments as do appertain without other Process whereever we know the right Truth as Judges All Jurisdiction say the Scotch Laws stands and consists in the Kings person by reason of his Royal Authority and Crown and is competent to no Subject but flows and proceeds from the King having Supreme Jurisdiction and is given and committed by him to his Subjects as he pleases The King then is the sole Supreme Judge all other Judges being his Deputies to whom whatsoever Power is by him committed yet is the last Appeal alwayes to be made to himself who may therefore as his Predecessors formerly have done sit in any Court and take Cognizance of any Cause but in Treasons Felonies c. the King being Plaintif sits not personally in Judgment but doth perform it by his Delegates From the King of Great Britain who being the only Supreme Head is furnished with Plenary Power and Jurisdiction to render Justice to every Member within his Dominions there lies no Appeal in Ecclesiastical Causes to the Bishop of Rome whose Authority ever since the Reformation has been here wholly abrogated nor in Civil Matters to the Emperor who for above twelve hundred years has not had the least Shadow of Pretence to any Jurisdiction within this Island nor in either to the people who both in themselves and by their Representatives in Parliament as well Conjunctim as Divisim are his Subjects and ow Obedience to his Commands To Legislation and Judicature which are solely and supremely in the King is necessary the Power of the Sword without which all other Power is nothing for forcing Obedience to the Laws and Judgments given both in Criminal and Civil Causes This having in virtue of their Soveraignty been alwayes indisputably enjoyed by the Monarchs of this Nation till the time of the late Rebellion was since his Majesties Restauration by a Parliament as truly zealous for the happiness of their King and Country as ever this Nation saw in proper and express Terms declared to be the Right of the King only without either of his Houses of Parliament the contrary Position thereunto asserted by the rebellious Members of the Parliament of 1640. having been the chief Means of overturning our Government and bringing Confusion and Misery upon this flourishing Kingdom Divinity So great was the Veneration shewn to the ancient Christian Emperors by their Subjects that they gave them tho imperfectly only and Analogically the Titles of Your Everlastingness Your Divinity and the like belonging essentially and perfectly to GOD alone Who to shew the great Power by him given to Soveraign Princes and to beget in the Hearts of their People an higher Esteem and more reverend Awfulness of them which failing all Confusion Impiety and Calamity break in upon a Nation is himself pleased as is manifest in Holy Writ to bestow upon them the Title of Gods as being his Vicegerents and representing his Majesty and Power upon Earth Nay so excessive was the Respect of the good Christians of those times that they were wont to swear by the Majesty of their Emperor as Joseph sometimes did by the Life of Pharaoh And this Custom seems to be justified by Vegetus a learned Writer of that Age being practiced only to create in the Subjects a greater Reverence for these Earthly Deities In like manner the Laws and Constitutions of this Monarchy attribute to the King whom they regard as GOD upon Earth divers Excellencies which belong properly to none but GOD. Thus as GOD is perfect so the Law will have no Imperfection found in the King No Negligence no Folly no Infamy or Corruption of Blood all former Attainders tho even made by Act of Parliament being ipso facto purged by the Accession of the Crown To the King is attributed Infallibility and Justice in the Abstract The King cannot erre The King can do no wrong To the King is likewise ascribed a Kind of Immortality The King never dies as being a Corporation in himself that lives for ever For all Interregna being unknown in these Kingdoms the same Moment that one King dies the next Heir is fully and absolutely King without any Coronation Ceremony or Act to be done The King is also in some sort said to be Omnipresent He is in a manner every where in all his Courts of Justice in all his Palaces Therefore it is that all his Subjects stand bare in the Presence Chamber wheresoever the Chair of State is placed tho the King be many Miles distance from thence He hath also a kind of Universal Influence over all his Dominions His Fatherly Care is extended to preserve feed instruct and defend the whole Commonweal His War His Peace His Courts of Justice and all His Acts of Soveraignty tend only to preserve and distribute to every person within his Territories their particular Rights and Priviledges By his Power of creating to the highest Dignity and annihilating the same at pleasure and much more by his Prerogative of pardoning those whom the Law has condemned he is invested with a kind of Omnipotency whereby he can restore to life those that are dead in Law And this Power of pardoning condemned Criminals is of such Benefit to the Lives and Estates of the People that without it many would be exposed to die unjustly The King alone in his own Dominions can say with GOD whose Representative he is Vengeance is Mine For all Punishments proceed from him in some of his Courts of Justice it not being lawful for any Subject to avenge himself The King alone is Judge in his own Cause tho he delivers his Judgment by the Mouth of his Judges But in nothing doth the King more resemble the eternal Deity than in the Plenitude of his Power to do what he pleases without being opposed resisted or questioned by his Subjects Nemo quidem saith Bracton de factis ejus praesumat disputare multo minus contra factum ejus ire Let none presume to search into his deeds much less to oppose them Nor is this a Priviledge belonging only to the King of Great Britain but a Prerogative inherent in every Soveraign Prince by vertue of his Soveraignty Where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him what dost thou saith the Spirit of God by the mouth of the Royal Prophet Salomon For Kingly Power being by the Law of God hath no inferior Law to limit it The Emperor saith Saint Augustine is not Subject to Laws who hath Power to make other Laws Accordingly it is delivered by the great Lawyer
named Lucius whence the Title of Primogenitus Ecclesiae rightfully belongs to the King of Great Britain but given to the Church the first Christian Emperor even the famous Constantin here born of there-nowned British Lady St Helena by whose Example and Encouragement the Faith was generally received throughout the whole Empire The Independency and Absoluteness of his Authority holding of none but GOD and having in his own Dominions neither Superiour nor Equal The Eminence of his Royal Dignity State and Titles his Realm not having been only stiled an Empire and his Crown Imperial but this Island both in antient and later Times having been regarded as another World whereof the Monarch is sole Lord and Emperor The Martial Exploits and Achievements of his Ancestors abroad amongst whom is the first Christian Worthy and first Founder of Martial Knighthood the famous King Arthur in whose Heroick Acts there is Truth enough all that is thought fabulous being rejected to render him renowned to all posterity The Gallantry and and Stoutness of his People arising from their Freedom the Plentifulness of their Country and Generality of their Wealth His long-lined Royal Extraction wherein His Majesty now Reigning excels all the Monarchs of the Christian if not of the whole World The Hospitality and Magnificence of his Court than which no Court in Christendom is served with more punctual Attendance and State The Diversity of Nations and differing maternal Tongues subject to his Command The admirable Laws and Constitutions of his Government The Greatness of his Power by Sea and Land both Offensive and Defensive These and many other his Prerogatives considered We may well be permitted to affirm that besides the Preeminence he may challenge by his just Right to the Crown of France the Monarch of Great Brittain except the Precedency which he as all other Christan Princes acknowledges to the Emperor if he go not before yet at least ought not to come behind any King whatsoever CHAP. XII Of Succession to the Crown of Great Britain THE Monarch of Great Brittain has Right to the Imperial Crown of this Island by Inheritance according to the Laws of GOD and Nature and the fundamental Constitutions of the Realms of England and Scotland which both agree in this That upon the Death of the King the next of Kindred tho born out of the Dominions of Great Britain or born of Parents not Subjects of Great Britain is immediately King before any Proclamation Coronation Publication or Consent of Peers or People The Rule of Inheritance given by GOD himself to the People of Israel is this If a man dy and have no Son then he shall cause his Inheritance to pass unto his Daughter And if he have no Daughter then ye shall give his Inheritance unto his Brethren Agreeably to which Rule the Crown of Great Britain descends as an inalienable Heritage from the Father to the eldest Son and his Heirs for want of Sons to the Eldest Daughter and her Heirs for want of Daughters to the Brother and his Heirs and for want of Brethren to the Sister and her Heirs And so unalterable is this Course of Descent that no Act no Crime no Attainder of Treason can bar the next of Blood from being King in the instant of Time his Predecessor does not so much dye as by a State Metempsychosis transmit his Life his Breath or his Soul into the Nostrils the Body of his Successor For Hereditary Monarchy being as it has been clearly demonstrated an immediate Ordinance of GOD founded in the Prime Laws of Nature and the Laws of GOD and Nature being as all Christians acknowledge absolutely immutable it is a Madness to think that any Act of Parliament can change this unchangeable Law or with the least Color of Justice alter the Right of Succession This was well known to all our ancient Parliaments that were neither over-awed by any prevailing Faction seduced by designing Intreaguers nor yet vainly flattered themselves with an Omnipotent Power to create and annihilate Kings In one of which the States of the Realm unanimously answered King Edward the IIId asking their Advice in matters relating to the Crown That they could not consent to any thing in Parliament that tended to the Disherison of the King and his Heirs or the Crown whereunto they were sworn From whence Sir Edward Cook concludes That it is a Law and Custom of Parliament that no King can alien the Crown from the right Heir tho by consent of the Lords and Commons And elsewhere affirming King Johns Resignation of the Crown to the Pope to have been utterly void he alledges this Reason Because the Royal Dignity is an Inherent inseparable to the Royal Blood of the King descendable to the next of Blood to the King and cannot be transferd to another And altho by the Treasons and Conspiracies of ambitious disloyal and designing Persons the Crown has now and then been transferred from one Family to another yet does it appear in Story that since the time of the Norman Conquest the right Heir was never yet kept out beyond the second Descent And to the Honor of English Parliaments we can aver that never any Usurper tho armed with Power laid claim to the Crown in Parliament but by pretending to be of the Right Line nor did ever the Parliament allow of such Pretence if false but when awed by Fear and a vast Army And whenever the Terror of such armed violence being removed the true Heir was enabled to claim his Right the Parliament notwithstanding all such pretended Acts readily submitted themselves to their legitimate Prince as being bound thereunto by the Laws of GOD and Nature Thus altho Henry Duke of Lancaster backt by an Army of fourty or fifty thousand men under Pretence of a feigned Title from Edmund Crouch-back forced his Natural Soveraign King Richard the IId first to resign and afterwards to be deposed from his Crown which waving his former pretended Title he caused to be entailed upon himself his four Sons and the Heirs of their Bodies by Act of Parliament whereby he thought to have secured it to his Posterity for ever Yet notwithstanding these cautious Provisions seconded by the Valor and prodigious Success of that noble Prince Henry the Vth. when in the year 1460. this Entail was alledged against Richard Duke of York laying claim in Parliament to the Crowns of England and France as being the next Heir to Lionel Duke of â—larence elder Brother to John of Gaunt of whom the House Lancaster was descended the Duke of York unanswerably replied That if King Henry the IVth might have obtained the said Crowns of England and France by Title of Inheritance Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by that Act Which said he taketh no place neither is of any force or effect against him that is right Inheritor of the said Crowns as accordeth with the Laws