fortifie her self agrinst the Designs of Pope Urban had adopted Lewis Duke of Anjou Brother to Châ—rles the fifth King of France for her Heir and he endevoured to vindicate and extort the Crown from Charles of Duras by Dint of Sword but the latter did so vigorously sustain all the Impressions of the House of Anjou that he not onely asserted and fixed the Right of the Crown to himself but likewise transmitted a peaceable Possession of it to his Successors which were first Ladislaus his Son and Heir who Deceased without Issue and Joan his onely Daughter and then Heir who upon the Death of Ladislaus ascended the Throne of Naples by the Name of Joan the second who for Disorders and irregular Excesses and holding a scandalous Familarity with one Caracciolo as likewise for her ill Administration of the publique Affairs was Degraded from the Regal Dignity by Pope Martin the fourth and Lewis of Anjou Grandchild to Lewis Duke of Anjou above mentioned named by him to wear the Diadem of Naples in her place but she disdaining to be thus devested to secure her self against the attempts and pretences of this Lewis Adopted Alfonsus King of Aragon and Sicily for her Heir but being a Woman of a volatile and inconstant Temper upon pretence of some ingrateful Affronts put upon her by Alfonsus abovesaid Cancelled her first Adoption and by a second Instrument declared Lewis the fourth Duke of Anjou Son to Lewis abovesaid for her Heir and this Lewis having wrung the Crown from the House of Aragon enjoyed it joyntly with this Queen Joan in a fixed serenity of Government for some years but dying without Issue before her she to preserve her self from the Eruptions of the Aragonian Faction Adopted Rene Duke of Anjou his Brother for her Heir and soon after she had declared and effected this she her self was disrob'd by Death of all Earthly Glory But this Rene being then Captive with the Duke of Burgundy was debarred from amassing those Forces together which might adjoust his Title to the Crown of Naples indeed his Dutchesse Elizabeth attempted to retrive it but being overlaid with the Faction and Force of Alfonsus She and the House of Anjou were utterly supplanted and Alfonsus upon a pretence extracted from the first Adoption of Joan which was supported by Conquest upon the Ruines of this Family step'd up to the Throne of Naples and he more to ennoble his Family by an Additional Augmentation of Revenue enstated this Kingdom on his Natural Son Ferdinand who being thus invested in it transmitted it to his Son Alfonsus the second and he had Issue Ferdinand the second who likewise wore the Diadem of Naples but a Tenure very volatile and unfixt attended the Soveraignty and made it rest but loosly on his Temples for Charles the eighth King of France Espousing the Title and Quarrel of the House of Anâ—ou so vigorously supported their Interest that he supplanted this Ferdinand and forced him to abandon the Neapolitan Scepter but the French upon the Departure of Charles the eighth managing both the Civil and Military Affairs of this Kingdome with much Impetuousnesse and Inadvertency excited the Neapolitans to resent their sway and Government with so much Regret and Passion that Frederick Brother of Alfonsus the second regained it with as much Facility as his Nephew Ferdinand had cheaply lost it But Lewis the twelfth Successor and Kinsman to Charles the eighth upon the Decease of this Charles who dyed suddenly at Amboise as he was preparing for a second Eruption upon Naples Collected a Powerful Army to vindicate his pretences and Title to that Kingdome so that Frederick finding himself too weak to sustain the weight of so mighty an Opposition threw himself into the Protection of Ferdinand King of Aragon and Castile who in stead of asserting his Interest against the Onsets of the French by an unworthy Compact with Lewis the twelfth disserted his Kinsman and had the Moiety of the Kingdome assigned him as the price of this Dereliction but not long after the French and Spaniard entering into Contention about the Bounds and Limits of the Lands divided their Animosities were improved to that heighth that they blazed out in the Flame of a publique War which was managed with that Vigor and Prudence by Gonsalvo the Spanish General that after many Encounters the French were wholly disseised and their Interest they had in this Kingdome extorted from them and though in Ages subsequent to this the French did not tamely abandon their pretended Concernment here but sought to retrive it by the Bloody Umpirage of the Sword yet were their Designs so ill managed and their Arms so unprosperous that their Disastrous successe did but more fasten the Crown and Scepter of Naples to that of Spain to whose Diadem the Interest and Title of this Kingdom hath remained ever since so firmely linked that it is still united to the Hereditary Patrimony of Philip the fourth now King of Spain Milan MILAN is shut in on the East with Mantua and Parma on the West with Piemont and Switzerland on the North with the Province called Marca Anconitana and on the South with that Chain of Hills which is styled the Appenine The Ancient Inhabitants were the Insubres the Bâ—ji the Cenomani and the Senones who were after diverse signal Contentions devested of their Possessions by the Romans and forced to surrender themselves as Tributary to their Dominion and Seignory and in that Demeasn which supported Rome as it was first the Head of a spreading Common-wealth and then secondly the Metrapolis of a spacious Empire did this Province lie folded up until the Government of this Province came to be Managed by Augustulus the last of the Western Emperours who being subdued and his Forces broken by Odoacer King of the Heruli and Thuringians this Province became the Guerdon of his Triumphs but the Possession being thus atchieved by an unjust Invasion was not long after extorted and ravished away from them by Theodorick K. of the Goâ—hs about the Year 495. but here the Title was as volatile and transient as formerly for Teyas his â—uccessor was about the Year 567. vanquished by the unâ—ted Forces of Alboinus King of the Avâ—res invited out of Hungary and Narses General for the Emperour Justinian in Itaâ—y the Goths being thus disieised this Province was consigned to Albâ—inus and his Troops by Narses Anno 568. as the price of his Successful Courage and meritorious Fidelity so visibly exhibited in the War commenced with the expulsed Goth and in himself and his Line did the Soveraignty of this Province by a Decursion and Series of Twenty three Kings remain uninterruptedly lodged until the Devolution of Descent brought the Scepter to be weilded by Desiderius who being about the Year 774. Discomfited by Charles the Great this Kingdome sunk in his Ruines and was afterwards incorporated as a Province into the spreading Demeasne of that Victorious Monarch After whose Raign this Province remained Imperial and
animated in that design by Soria who so managed and improved their increasing Hopes with Conquests and augmentation of Territory that about the year 870. he undertook the Command of Lord of Biscay and from him did the Title and Estate by the steps of several descents passe down to his Successor Lopez Diaz the third the first who assum'd to himself the Sirname of Haro borrowed from a Town of that name of that Foundation and from him did it descend to his Successor Nugno de Lara vvho determined vvithout Issue so that his tvvo Sisters and Coheirs Jean and Isabel vvere entitled to his Inheritance but vvere defrauded of the Possession by the forcible Intrusion of Pedro King of Castile Ferdinand the younger Son of Ferdinand de la Cerda King of Castile Matched vvith Jean Nugna the Edest of these tvvo Sisters and from this Conjunction Issued Jean Manuell espoused to Henry the second King of Castile likevvise and he had Issue John vvho vvas invested also vvith the Diadem of that Kingdome and he in Right of his Mother vvas planted in the Propriety of Biscay and from him did it devolve to his Successor Henry the fourth King of â—â—â—tile vvho dying vvithout Issue it came to confess the Title of his Sister and Heir Isabella vvho by Matching vvith Ferdinand King of Aragon placed the Propriety of it amongst those Flovvers vvhich adorned his Diadem vvhere it hath been so permanent and fixed that though several Revolutions have intervened in this Family yet still it acknovvledges it self to be an Appendage to the Crovvn and Scepter of Philip the fourth novv King of Spain GUIPUSCOA AS for the Fortunes of Guipuscoa they had this Aspect as they stood in their posture towards the Rest of Spain First the Vascones then the Cantabri subdivided into the Marbogi Caristi and other petty Colonies above-mentioned enjoyed the Possession of this Track and for sometime were disseised of the Propriety of it by the Invading Romans but having vindicatâ—â— their Interest from their Encroachments they were at last forced to bow to the Dominion of the Goths and from them was it torne by the Moors and being again rescued from their Slavery by the Kings of Navarre it was link'd to that Kingdome and remained a Member of that Crown untill it was wrung from Sancho the sixth King of Navarre by Alfonso the first King of Castile about the Year 1079. by whom it was entrusted to the Managery and Sway of Lopez Diez de Haro Lord of Biscay But after the Decursion of some Time it was again upon following Capitulations surrendred to the Kings oâ— Navarre to whose Scepter it continued fastned untill the Year 1200. when the People of Guipuscoa having by a just and equal Resentment tasted of both Governments and rellishing that of Castile better than that of Aragon they by a voluntary Resignation bowed their Heads to the Command of Alfonsus the fourth King of Castile who without the least Decision of the Sword received this Country into a full Subjection and left it thus setled and confirmed to his Successorâ— the Kings of Spain in whose Demeasne and Revenue the Seignory of it is yet constantly treasur'd up GALLICIA GALLICIA or Gallaecia is bounded on the East with Leon on the South with Portugall from which it is separated by the River Minio on the North with the Cantabrian Ocean and on the West with the Atlantick The Ancient Inhabitants were the Gallaeci whence it assumed its Name broken into the several Tribes of the Bâ—dyi Suâ—ri Cilini Capori and Lemavi It was one of the last Provinces which resigned themselves up to the Power of the Romans encouraged to this Noble Defence and asserting of their Liberties by that Chaine of Cantabrian Mountains with which this Country is almost interlaced out of which Consideration it was selected as a Refuge or Sanctuary by those afflicted Christians who groaned under the Conquest of the Moors It was in Times of an Elder Inscription a Limb of Hispania Tarraconensis after it swelled it self into the Estimate of a Province and had the Name of Gallicia imposed upon it being augmented with the Asturia's and some part of Portugall and the Old Castile In the Eclipse of the Roman Power the Suevi a warlike Nation of Germany accompanying the Vandals and Alani in their Eruptions invaded Spain and atchieved the Conquest of this Province But not satisfied with their new Acquists they assaulted the Silings a Collateral Tribe of the Vandalls then invested in the Possession of Boetica whom they subdu'd and by a successful Province extorted that Province from them animated to this Conquest by the presence of Richila their second King They not long after improved their Victories by the Addition of Lusitania but their farther progresse was intercepted by Theodorick the second King of the Goths by whom they were discomsited and shut up within the Recesses of Gallicia which they enjoyed untill their final Suppression and Subversion by Lâ—uâ—igild King of the Goths about the Year 858. and then this Province was linked to the Gothish Scepter In Times subsequent to this it was incorporated into the Kingdome of Leon being Conqueted by retaile and in pieces from the Intruding Moors by the Kings of that Province It was first erected into a Kingdome by Alfonso the third sirnamed the Great Anno 886. and given to Ordogno his second Son who upon the Decease of his Elder Brother Garcia was entitled to the Crown of Leon likewise and so Gallicia became once more united to Leon but so as by particular Compact it was beheld as an independent distinct Realme of it self But this Connexion was not very permanent for in the Year 955. the Gallicians resenting with regret the ill Government of Raymir the third elected Veramund for their King who was Son of Ordogno the third and had the most manifest Title to the Diadem who being advanced to the Crown of Leon on the Death of Raymir once more incorporated the two Realms under one Scepter but it was torn off once more from Leon by Ferdinand King of Castile and Leon who gave it unto Garcia his youngest Son Anno 1067. But it was again reduced under the Sway and Dominion of Leon by Sancho eldest Son to Ferdinand above mentioned by whom the Forces of Garcia were broken and he himself made Captive in the Year 1081. never since broken off from Leon and Castile but when Leon was rent from Castile being still involv'd with Leon in those Distinctions till that disâ—nion of Leon and Castile was sodered together and Cimented in the Person of Ferdinand the second in the Year 1230. And being thus entwined they are by Successive Descent brought down to confesse the Diadem of Philip the fourth now King of â—Spain CORDUBA CORDUBA as it stood when it vvas by Conquest rent from the Moors by the Spaniards vvas thus environed On the Fast it vvas contiguous to Murcia and the Mediterranean on the West to Portugal and the Ocean on the
Tempest fall upon them Notice thereof being given to Alfonso the Fourth King of Portugall Lewis de Ordo was by that Prince designed to the conquest of them who being repulsed at Gomera Anno 1334. abandoned the enterprise and only left some foundation for the Portuguese to establish a future Claim upon But the News of this new discovery successively extending it self to the Court of Rome Pope Clement the sixth esteemed it convenient by a new Donation to transmit the Right and Title of them to Prince Lewis Son to Alfonso de la Cerda the indisputable Heir of Castile But nothing being effected by Lewis abovesaid in relation to the Popes concession some Adventurers of Biscay about the year 1393. furnishing out some Ships from Sevill to recruit their ebbing Fortunes at Sea fell amongst these Islands and having observed the number greatnesse and scituation of them after their Pillaging of Lanserote returned into Spain with a considerable Cargo of Wax Hides and other Commodities which did ennoble the Riches and Fertility of these Islands and did so excite the appetite of Henry at that Instant King of Castile that for the future he did resolve toinvest himself in the Possession of them but though his Design was by death made abortive yet Katharine his Queen Dowager during the Minority of her Son King John the Second pursued the enterprize and employed John de Betancourt an active daring Frenchman in the conquest of them with a condition annexed to hold them under the Soveraignty of the Crown of Spain and he so well managed the undertaking that four of them were subdued but attempting to attaque the remainder he perished in the Action In the year 1417. young Betancourt the Son finding his Power not proportionate to the Conquest and reduction of Canaria the chief Island whither most of the Islanders had retired for Sanctuary fortified himself in Lanserote and assumed the Title of King which he transmitted to one Menault under whose Rule these Islands were reduced to the knowledge of Christianity having a Sea Episcopall established in the Isle of Lanserote But this new Commander having ravel'd and disordered the Government of these Islands by many irregular excesses by the clamorous Importunity of the Inhabitants in the Court of Castile Pedro Barva de Campos with three Ships of War was employed against him with whom Menault abovesaid being unable to grapple he with the approbation of the Crown of Castile conveyed his Interest in these Islands to Fernando Perez a Knight of vast wealth in Sevill from whom the Title and Propriety streamed down to his Successors but the posterity of this Perez were entitled to the possession of the four Lesser Islands only for Canaria it self Teneriffa and la Palma continued under the Scepter of their own Kings and so remained untill the rule of Ferdinand the Catholick who in the year 1483. under the conduct of Alfonso de Muxica and Pedro de Vera two eminent and prosperous Leaders obtained the Empire and Dominion of them and translated the Episcopall See from Lanserote to Canaria But as these Islands before this totall Conquest were by separation broken into two estates so do they remain at this Day though now one be subordinate to the other for Gomera Lanserote and Hierra or Ferro are resident in private hands but Canaria where the prime Seat of Justice is fixed to which all the residue resort as their occasions oblige them Palma Teneriffa and Fuerte Ventura are at this instant a Limb of that Demeasne which makes up the Patrimony of the Crown of Spain AMERICA is the next Subject of our Discourse which if you measure it by parts and proportions as to the principal Territory of it both for Wealth and Dimension it is now subservient to the Dominion of the Crown of Spain I shall now represent the first Discovery of those parts in the West-Indies that are now interwoven with the Demeasne of that Crown and first Cuba exacts our Consideration It was one of the first Islands which was discovered by Columbus who having almost tyred and tortured the Expectation of the Spaniards with increasing hopes first fell upon Guahanani by Florida one of the Lucaios to which he gave the name of St. Saviours and from thence â—ailed to Baracoa on the North of the Island which he styled Fernandina in Honour of Ferainand the Catholique King of Castile and Arragon The Inhabitants he found rude and ignorant not knowing the use of Money nor understanding the nice Intrigues of Meum and Tuum being Tenants in Common to those Blessings the Earth by a cheap and easie Birth produced and Coheirs of Nature After this about the year 1514. this Island was reviewed by Don Diego de Valasques by whose prudent conduct the Spaniards got such footing in it and made that footing good by so many Colonies that their Title and Possession was beyond dispute and so continues until this day Hispaniola was firâ—t Discovered by Columbus being conducted hither by some of the Natives of Cuba and having by his civil Compliance endeared the Affections of the Islanders he obtained license of one of the Kings or Caciques to erect a Fortresse here which he stiled Natividad which he Garrison'd with 36. Spaniards who upon his departure were butchered by the perâ—idious Natives and the Fort dismantled But on his return being better furnished for a second Plantation he erected the Town Isabella stiled so in honour of Isabella Queen of Castile near the Mines of Cibao which afterwards was also abandoned and the Colony transplanted to St. Domingo which was first built by Bartholomew Columbus Anno 1494. on the East bank of the Ozama and afterwards in the Year 1502. removed by Nicholas de Obando then Governour of the Island to the opposite shore After this the Spaniards so secured this Island with surplusage of Colonies and so immur'd and chain'd it up with Fortifications that notwithstanding the various Attempts of Forreigners it is still wrapp'd in the Patrimony of the Crown of Spain Porto Rico was first touched upon by Christopher Columbus in his second Voyage in the Year 1493. But being deserted by him it was first Planted and Inhabited by John Ponce de Leon in the Year 1510. who having by a fair deportment obliged Aiguabana the Chief Prince thereof established a Colony of Spaniards in the North part of the Island called Caparra from whence some ten years after the Colony was transplanted to Guarica and from thence drawn off to St. Germans nor did it fixe here for it was carried away to Porto Rico now become the Chief Town placed in a little Island on the North-side the greater which having been Fortified with two Castles by the Command and Influence of Philip the first Anno 1514. it ever since maugre the Assaults and Saccage of the English hath been rolled up in the Income of the King of Spain Jamaica lieth on the South of Cuba from which it is divided by a distance of
the signal performances of Utilo gave him not only the Command of these Countries but the Propriety and possession of a considerable part of them likewise by the Title of Lord Marquiss of Antwerpe the fourth from whom called Araulph was the first Mayor of the Palace to the Kings of France made Hereditary to this Family and his â—uccessors By Dagobert the first â—ole King of the French that Branch of this Country which was 〈◊〉 â—ubjection to the Earls of Ardenne was by his Victorious Sword extorted from them and the whole Estate conâ—erred on Ansegisus Son of Arnulph with the Title of Duke of Brabant and from him did the Title and Estate descend to Charles Martell Base Son of his Son Pepin the first and this Charles had Issue Pepin the second surnamed the Short who having managed Successfully the Affairs of France at last Usurped that Diadem and solemnly receive the Crown at Soissons from the Hands of Boniface Arch-Bishop of Mentz in the year 751 The Dukedome of Brabant was by this means incorporated into the Revenue of the Crown of France where it 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ch â—â—ntâ— the partage of the French Empire amongst the â—ons and Kinsmâ—n of Lewis the Godly and 〈◊〉 â—t wâ—s link'd as an Appendage to the Kingdomâ— of Lorraine where it lay wrapped up until Lotharius the third King of France in whose share it was involved conferred it on Charles his younger Bâ—other with the Title of Duke of Brabant But this Donation little improved his Interest because the principal part of this and that Moiety of the Kingdome of Lorraine which obeyed the French was cut off by the Sucessful Sword of Otho the second Emperour of Germany and annexed to the Empire But this Otho considering that Charles above-said thus devested was his Cousin German as being Son to Lewis King of France surnamed the Transmarine who had Wedded Gerburg Sister to his Father Otho the first invested him in the great Dukedome of Lorraine which in spacious Latitude and extent of it circumscribed within its Precincts and perambulation Lorrain Gulick Brabant which had then the Denomination of Basse or Low Lorrain and the Lands of Luick But out of this spreading Patrimony thus enstated on Charles of France Otho the second above-mentioned reserved out of it for his Aunt Gerburg Mother of the said Charles the Towns and Territories of Lovain Bruxells Antwerpe and Nivelle as her Dower which with Reference to the Ancient Title he Honoured with the Dignity of Marquisate of the Holy Empire Annâ— 981. Gerburg the Sister and after the Death of Charles her Brother abovesaid without Issue succeeded in Lovain Antwerpe Bruxells and Nivelle by a Right transmitted to her from her Grandmother the first Gerburg aswell as from him though she had injuriously disseised of Lorrein and the Title to that large Demeasne by the Emperour Henry the second the Emperour which Territories of Lovain and the rest above-mentioned she conveyed in Marriage to Lambert one of the Sons of Reigner Earl of Hainault with the Title of Earl of Lovain Henry his Son reduced Antwerpe which it seems by an unjust Violence was detained from him and by this Atchievement obtained the whole Marquisate but still reserved the Title of Earl of Lovain Godfrey the sixth Earl having by several new Acquists much extended the Bounds and Marches of his Dominions was by the Emperour Henry the fifth to whom he was link'd in as near an Obligation of Affinity having Matched with his Sister as in Friendship in the Year 1108 Created the first Duke of Brabant and from him the Title flowed down with an undisturbed Channel to John the third of that Name Duke of Brabant by whose Daughter and Co-heir both the Title and Seignory was transported to Wenceslaus the first Duke of Luxenbourg by whom though she had no Issue yet on him and on his Posterity she enstated this Dutchy and Sigismund his second Son Duke of Luxenbourg setled it on Elizabeth his Neice Daughter to John Duke of Gorlitz in Lusatia and she by Matching with Anthony of Burgogne one of the younger Sons of Philip the Hardy annexed it to his Inheritance and being by this Alliance thus entitled to it it was transmitted to John the fourth Duke of Brabant who was eldest Son by his first Wife for this his second deceased without Issue Joan Daughter of Waleran Earl of S. Paul but he dying without Issue it devolved by Descent to his second Brother Philip who likewise expiring without Children Philip the Good Grandchild to Philip the Hardy Succeeded in this Dutchy as Heir to his two Kinsmen above mentioned and from him did the Clew of diverse Descents guide the Title down to Philip the second King of Spain and he lost a considerable proportion of it in the Fatal Defection of the Netherlands occasioned by the Bloody Impression made upon their Invaded and Injured Liberties by Ferdinand Duke of Alva though Bruxells Antwerpe Machlin and other Important peices do yet confesse the Scepter and Dominion of Philip the fourth now King of Spain The Seignory of Machlin consists onely of that City and some Eight or nine contiguous Villages The most eminent of the Villages is styled Liest or Hiest situated on the pleasant Knob of a swelling Hill the residue of the adjacent Villages confining on the foot thereof Both Town and Villages were formerly enwraped in the Patrimony of the powerful Family of the Bertholts which Name expiâ—ing in the person of Gualter de Bertholt slain in the Battel of Worancan by John Duke of Brabant one Moiety of it devolved to the Bishop of Leige who again conveyed it by Sale to John the second Duke of Brabant and the other proportion accrued to ...... Duke of Gueldres and he in the Year 1333. passed it away to Lewis de Malain Earl of Flanders but he conveyed nothing away but a naked Title which was before denuded of its Revenue by the Successful Hand of John the third Duke of Brabant who tore it away to augment his own Estate since which this Seignory of Machlin with all its Perquisites and Appendages hath so constantly attended the Fate of Brabant and Flanders that it at this instant confesses the Interest of the Spanish Scepter Limbourg hath on the East the Dukedome of Gulick on the West the Bishoprick of Leige on the North Brabant and on the South the Dukedome of Luxenbourg The ancient Inhabitants of this Track were the Eburones when it was first advanced to the Title of an Earldome the Light which should be Collected from Ancient Records is so dim and faint that it cannot conduct us to any clear and positive discovery onely it is probable that it was Originally a Limb of the great Earldome of Ardenne from which it was rent to institute and make up a Patrimonial Inheritance for some Cadet or younger Son as Namur and Luxenbourg were or snatched away by the Violent hand of some For aign pretender as Gulick was when Godfrey and Baldwin
the so much Celebrated Tyrant who being General of the Syracusans made himself their King A Man of great Vices and as eminent Vertues 38. A. M. 3582. 5. Dionysius the second Succeeded his Father in his Kingdome and his Vices but not in his Courage or Prudence being first supplanted by Dion a Gentleman of Syracusa and secondly vanquished and made Captive by Timoleon of Corinth A. M. 3635. 6. Agathocles a Potter after a Souldier twenty years after the death of Timoleon made himself King of Syracusa 29. A. M. 3681. 7. Hiero the second of a Leader of their Armyes chosen King of Syracusa by a Party which he had pack'd amongst them In his Time broke out the first Punick War the Romans being called in by the Mamertones who held Messana against the Carthaginians 56. A. M. 3737. 8. Hieronymus Son of Hiero after whose Decease all Sicily became subject to the Dominion of Rome by the successful Conduct of Marcellus Being thus made Subservient to the Government of Rome it was wrapped up in the Fate of that City and of the Roman Empire until in the partition â—f the Roman Empire it was cast together with Apuglia and Calabria into the Power of the Greeks In the Declension and wane of whose Greatnesse this Island having been miserably depopulated and harrassed by Constans Anno 669. it became a prey to the Saracens from them rescued again by the Normans who held both this and the Realm of Naples in Fee of the Church under the Title of Kings of both the Sicilyes After that it fell under the Fortune of that Kingdome subject unto the Princes of the Norman and German Line until the Death of Conrade no discomposure or Interruption intervening After whose Exit when Manfred Base Son of the Emperour Frederick and Brother of Conrade had by a forcible Intrusion entitled himself to the Crown and Scepter of this Island it was offered by the Pope upon some Conditions knotted with many rugged difficulties to Richard Earl of Cornwal Brother to Henry the third a man according to the Standard of those Times of a most important Revenue upon whose waving this motion it was again offered to his Nephew Edmund second Son to Henry the third who was espoused to this Royalty by a Ring and Mony Coyned in his Name by the Popes appointment with the Impresse and Inscription affixed to it of Edmundus Rex Siciliae But Henry the third being not in any Capacity to pursue this Design the Civil Contests with his Barons having entangled him in more difficult Undertakings and the Pope having sufficiently by this Overture drained his Exchequer it was in the Year 1261. given to Charles Earl of Provence and Anoju Brother to Lewis the tenth of France To his Command this Island was subservient until the Year 1281. in which his Competitor Peter of Arragon justled his Title by a new Claim emergent from his Wife the Daughter and Heir of Manfred above mentioned and for the clearer decision of the Title invited him to the Commencement of a Duel before King Edward the first of England at Bourdeaux which defiance he tacitly declining Peter in the mean time by dark Stratagems and black Contrivances wherein he was aided by John de Prochita a Gentleman of the Kingdome of Naples from whom Charles of Anjou had violently snatched the Island of Prochita upon a Summons received from a Toll of a Bell sounded as it was pretended to give an Alarum to Sicily of the approach and onset of some Invading Sarazens the French were Assassinated in this Island which massacre so firmly riveted the title into the House of Aragon that it still continues incorporated into the Interest of Spain Sardinia THE Island of Sardinia lyeth West from Sicily from the nearest point thereof it is distant about Two hundred miles It is in length one Hundred and eighty Ninety in breadth and in Circuit Five hundred and sixty miles In the Time of Aristotle it was called Ichnusa and next Sandaliota from the Resemblance of a Shooe-sole or the Impression of a Mans Foot on the Earth and finally Sardinia from Sardus the Son of Hercules who coming out of Africk entitled himself to the Possession And that which more improves and fortifies this Narration is that the People in the Latine Tongue have still the Appellation of Sardi and the circumambient Sea the Denomination of Mare Sardoum And to this Name it hath remained so constantly ever since espoused that no following Plantations were ever able to extinguish or divorce it Some Companies of Attica were Conducted hither by Iolaus where they erected Olbion and Agrillis which Colonies to inforce and multiply the Memory of their Foundér assumed to themselves the Name of Iolatenses And after the Ruine of Troy some of the broken Reliques of that scattered Nation came and planted in the void places of this Island whose Successours are mentioned by Livie and Pliny under the Denomination of the Ilienses After these the Carthaginians by the nearnesse of their Habitation did attaque all Advantages to make as at last they did a full Conquest of it building therein the Cities of Carmis Calaris and Sulchi and asserting their Title to it it was unjustly wrung from them by the Romans at the end of the first Punick War at what time Carthage was in hazzard to be Ruined by the defection of her own Mercenaries and so in no Capacity to resist This Island being thus extorted from the Carthaginians by the Romans was immediately under the Signory of the Praefect of Rome but after by Junstiâ—an it was incorporated into his New Dioceâ—s of Africk and as an Appendage to it was Claimed Invaded and Subdued by the Sarazens Anno 807. who destroyed Calaris subverted by Gracchus and the Romans and again in more setled Times re-established But from them it was rescued by the Pisans who re-edified Calari and Genoese who made a partition of it betwixt them but the Genoese disgusted with their Portion as being lesse in Quantity and worse in Quality began to enter into Contest with the Pisans which at last ushered in an open War Anno 1324. In which having worried themselves with mutual Contests Pope Boniface the eighth to appease their Animoâ—ties and supersede all Quarrel for the future by a new Donation enstated it on James the 2d King of Aragon who had entitled himself to it by a specious Claim before upon pretence that it was a Limb or Appendix to Sicily and wrapped up in the Patrimony of that Diadem and the more to fortifie his new Acquists obtained the Papal Concession to support and improve his Interest here which before appeared to be but infirm and crazie and being thus doubly guarded with his own Title and the Pope's Grant he after some signal Decisions of the Sword wholly supplanted both the Pisans and Genoese and in the Year 1324. reduced this Island under the Dominion of the Aragonian Scepter And from him hath the Propriety ever since been conducted
Conquerour so disgusted his Allies and Relations that to decline the Tempest which menaced him he retired into this Kingdome for shelter and after many Conflicts commenced with the Sarazens by a Fortunate Managery of the Christian Quarrel he contracted their Power into narrower limits but being supplied with new Recruits the Sarazens not onely reinforced their Animosities but Hopes also until Tancred and his twelve Sons arriving out of Normandy with fresh Supplies after many signal encounters wholly supplanted the Interest that these Infidels had in Naples but though these Invaders were thus dissipated yet the Greeks remained dis-satisfied and gave new occasion of War and Trouble to these Norman Conquerours under the Command of Melorco Vicegerent of this Province under the Grecian Emperours but the Affairs of the Normans were so well swayed and ordered by the Care and Prudence of William Son to Tancred above mentioned that this new Emotion was extinguished by the Defeat of Melorco and the Troops marshall'd under his Conduct but this Discomfiture did not so totally dispel the Tempest but that there were new Clouds collected together to disorder and ecclipse the Glory of the Norman Conquests which in fine were so wholly dissipated by the active Courage of Robert Guiscard another of the Sons of Tancred that the Greeks being absolutely crush'd and subdu'd the Reliques of the Sarazens extirpated thrown out he justly merited in the Annals of succeeding Times the Title of the Conquerour of the Kingdome of Naples and he bequeathed this Province with all its Perquisits and Appendages to be enjoyed by his second Son Robert Guiscard Earl of Sicily who in the Year 1125. by the Favour and Influence of Anacletus then Pope had the Title of King of Naples conferred upon him and his Son William received the Crown with this Restriction that he should hold this Diadem as a Donative from the Pope and in Homage of the See of Rome and in the Hands of his Successors did the Neapolitan Scepter remain fixed until it came to be weilded by William the second who upon his Decease left Constance his Daughter his onely Lawful Issue and Tancred his Natural Son the Issue of unlawful Embraces and he by the concurrence and support of his Faction so managed his Designs that he invested his Head with the Crown of Naples to the prejudice and Disherision of Constance the Lawful Heir but disdaining to acknowledge the Pope for Soveraign of the Fee the Pope to retaliate this Affront Matches Constance to Henry the sixth Emperour of Germany and by opposing the Right of his Empresse to the distorted and Usurped Title of Tancred so crippled his Authority and Power that finally after many Contests and Bloody Decisions the Scepter of Naples came to be swayed by Henry the sixth abovesaid but his Successor Frederick the second embarquing in the former Contrast with the succeeding Popes in Relation to the Soveraignty of Naples disclaimed and renounced any Homage to the See of Rome which so inflamed that Bishop that he collected all supply that the Engins borrowed either from Strength or Art could contribute to vindicate his pretended Right to the Soveraignty of Naples yet was he thwarted in his endevours with such vigorous Opposition during the Government of Frederick the second abovesaid Conrade his Son Manfred his Natural Son and Conradine Grandchild to Frederick nothing was effected of Importance which might afford any support to the accomplishment of the Designs of the Popes for the time being so that Pope Innocent the fourth to Fortifie his Attempts with Forraign Succour presented the Kingdom to St. Lewis King of France for his Brother Charles Count of Anjou and Provence who had the Repute of an excellent Souldier and an experienced Commander and about the Year 1264. which was two years after Pope Urban the fourth invested him with it he to assert his Interest Commenced a War with Conradine King of Naples and having put his Title to the Umpirage of a Battel after a Bloody Debate took this Conradine Captive and made the forfeiture of his Head expiate its wearing that Diadem which the Popes Donation had before by a pretended Investiture entituled him to and having thus fixed the Scepter of Naples in his own Hand he left it to be swayed by his Son and Heir Charles the Lame who by Mary his Queen Inheritrix of Hungary had Issue Charles surnamed Martel who had his Mothers Kingdom assigned him for his Subsistence or Portion Lewis his second Son who assumed Holy Orders and Clowded all his earthly Glories in the Cowle of a Franeiscan Frier and afterwards was Bishop of Thoulouse Robert his third Son was by the Munificence of his Father entitled to the Inheritance of the Kingdome of Naples There were other Sons who had other Lands consigned them in Appennage for their future support and Alimony Robert abovesaid had Issue Charles who dying without Issue Male in his Fathers life time left onely a Daughter and Heir called Joane who after the Decease of her Grandfather Robert came to Manage the Neapolitan Scepter and this is that Joane so Famously Infamous in the Annals of Naples for the probable Assassination of her first Husband Andrew and other wilde Disorders which have cast so dark a Tincture upon her Fame that though some have endevoured to wrap up her Guilt in a modest Covering yet the Blacknesse of her Life is visible by an indelible stain through all those Veils the Industry of Flattery attempts to fold it up in But to proceed about the Expiration of the Raign of this Ioane which was about the Year 1378. the Church of Rome was Disordered by a remarkable Schisme for Urban the sixth being made Pope the Violence of a predominant Faction a considerable part of the Conclave of Cardinals Elected Robert Cardinal of Geneva by the Name of Clement the seventh Queen Joan being warped with Animosity against Urban who was born under her Dominion and Scepter made her self a Partisan in the Cause and Quarrel of his Adversary and Competitor Clement Her Crime contracted from the Slaughter of her Husband Andrew had been long entombed in a Pacification transacted in her Favour by Pope Clement the sixth with Lewis the Great King of Hungary Brother to Andrew abovesaid But Urban the sixth to recompense her for those Disservices with which she had disobliged him again raked into her Guilt and incensed Charles of Duras of the House of Hungary to expiate the former Murther by a just Revenge and this Prince inflamed by his Instigations came and Beseiged her in Castello del Ovo and having reduced her and that Fortresse to his Discretion strangled her in or near that place where she had acted her Barbarous Parricide on her first Husband Andrew Charles of Duras having thus destroyed this Infamous Princesse seised on the Neapolitan Diadem which did not sit so fast on his Temples but that it was shaken by a Concurrent Title for Joan not long before her Death to