as he was hunting within the New-Forrest before he had made experiment of his worth He was buried at Winchester with this inscription Hic jacet Richardus filius Wilielmi senioris Berniae Dux To Henry the King gave at the time of his death five thousand pounds out of his treasure but gave him neither dignity nor Lands foretelling that he should enjoy the honour of both his Brothers in time and far excell them both in dominion and power He succeeded his Brother William in the Kingdome of England and wrested Normandy out of the possession of Robert When William the first drew near his end he commended the Kingdome of England to his second son William with many blessings admonitions and prayers for his prosperous success He dispatched him unto England with Letters under his own Seal to Lanâ—rancke then Archbishop of Canterbury whose authority was great with the Clergy and people of the Realm It was conjectured by some that the King was guided in this choice no less by his judgment then by his affection because he esteemed the fierce disposition of his son William more fit to govern a people not well setled in subjection then the flexible and mild nature of his eldest son Robert Cambden saith he was berest of the Kingdome of England because he was born before his Father was King Milles gives two reasons why the Conquerour preferred his younger son unto the Kingdome before his eldest Partly for his disloyalty and disobedience and partly doubting lest through the facility of his nature he should give occasion unto the English men to take heart unto them and to rebell against him whereas William his younger Brother was a man of more rough and harsh nature and therefore fitter as his Father thought to bear rule and command over a warlike and new conquered people Sir Iohn Hayward in the life of William the second discusseth that controversie whether Kings may prefer younger sons and quite disinherit elder sons of the Kingdome and resolves it negatively The Glossographer upon the Decrees noteth that the son of a King may be called King during the life of his Father as wanting nothing but administration A little before his Fathers death William journeyed toward England and quickly arrived at the Port called Whitesand where he received the first report of his Fathers death Hereupon with all speed he posted to Lanfrancke delivered his Fathers Letters and forthwith was declared King and not long after was crowned at Westminster His hair was deeply yellow by reason whereof he was called Rufus say Polyd. Virgil and others He doubted of some points of Religion then professed namely of praying to Saints worshipping of reliques and such like He endeavoured to abate the tumorous greatness of the Clergy at that time and attributed not so much to the See of Rome as divers Kings before him had done He restrained his Subjects from going to Rome and withheld the annuall payment of Peter-pence and was often heard to say that they follow not the trace of St. Peter they greedily gape after gifts and rewards they retain not his power whose piety they do not imitate Albeit he promised to the English whilest his first fears and jealousies continued that they should enjoy free liberty of hunting yet did he afterwards so severely restrain it that the penalty for killing a Deer was death During Lanfranckes life he so lived that he might have been a mirrour of Princes though afterwards he gave himself to sensuall lust and covetousness Matthew Paris condemns him much It is reported that when his Chamberlain upon a certain morning brought him a new pair of Hose the King demanded what they cost and the Chamberlain answered three shillings hereat the King grew impatient and said What heavy beast dost thou take these to be convenient Hose for a King Away beggar and bring me other of a better price Then the Chamberlain departed and brought a far worse pair of Hose for a better could not at that time be found and told the King that they cost a mark The King not only allowed them for fine enough but commended them also as exceeding fit He walled the City of London and built the great Hall at Westminster which is two hundred seventy foot in length and seventy four foot in breadth He set forth a Proclamation that none should go out of the Realm without his license by which he drew much money from many From thence the custome or Law of Ne exeas Regno seems to have taken its beginning His usuall Oath was by St. Lukes face Malmesb. Coming to imbarque at Dartmouth the Mariners told him the weather was rough and there was no passing without imminent danger Tush said he set forward I never yet heard of King that was drowned Answerable to that of Iulius Caesar which enforced a poor Pilot in the like case to launch forth and in the rage of the storm comforted him with saying Caesarem Caesaris fortunam veâ—is Charles the fifth in the Battell of Tunis when he was advised by the Marquess of Guasto to retire his person when the great Ordnance began to play said Marquess thou never heardst that an Emperour was slain with a great shot Sir Walter Tyrell aiming at the Deer where the King was hunting within the New-Forrest with an Arrow and looseing his Bow either too carelesly at the Deer or too steadily at the king saith Polydore Virgil struck him therewith full upon the brest The King having so received the wound gave forth a heavy groan and presently fell down dead So much of the Arrow as was without his body was found broken whether with his hand or by his fall it is not certainly known He raigned in great variety of opinion with his Subjects some applauding his vertues others aggravating his vices twelve yeares eleven moneths wanting eight dayes and was at his death forty and three years old Sir Iohn Hayward in his life p. 219. CHAP. XIII King Henry the first sirnamed Beauclerke HE apprehending the opportunity of Duke Roberts absence did forthwith seize upon the treasure of the King and thereby also upon his State and so was crowned at Westminster by Maurice Bishop of London because Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury was then in exile For his learning he was called Beauclerke fair Clerk or fine Scholar brought up in the study of the liberall Arts at Cambridge He was sirnamed Leo justitiae in all Stories one of the most noble Princes that ever raigned in this Realm Sir Thomas Eliots Governour Cambden urgeth this against him as if his justice was by the common people deemed cruelty Cambd. Rem He was excellent in wit eloquent in speech and fortunate in Battell and for these three he had three notable vices covetousness cruelty and lechery Stowes Chron. By his example the young Nobility of the Realm began to affect a praise for learning insomuch as
King on either side whereof was a close Gallery for the King Queen and Prince to be private sutable to the ancient mode Which triall of his if we consider all things the high nature of the Charge against him the pompous Circumstances and stately manner of the triall it self the time that it lasted and lastly of what moment and consequence the success of it must prove I may safely say that no Subject in England and probably in Europe ever had the like Mr. May his History of the Parliament of England l. 1. c. 8. See more there Sir Thomas Roe was Chancellor of the most noble Order of the Garter and of King Charles his Privy Councel and severall years Embassador to the Great Mogor Great Turk King of Sweden and lastly to the Princes of the Protestant Union in Germany Iohn de Montreul a Parisian was he that thinking thereby to do some good office to the King of England negotiated that he might be put into the hands of the Scots This unfortunate Prince of whom he hath since given this testimony that he never saw a man of greater spirit and more vertue delighted often to discourse with him and expressed a great deal of affection to him I learned from a friend of mine to whom he told it himself that he made use of a secret which the King of England had taught him in the long conferences which they sometimes had together 'T was a certain powder very rare which being cast on the paper made that which was before-hand written there with a white liquor to appear which without that was wholly imperceptible His Majesty had a fine stroke with his pen which he practised at all times of leasure By which means he became Master of a pure and elegant stile as both his intercepted Letters and those to Mr. Henderson at Newcastle in the point of Episcopacy and his Book entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Pourtraiture of his Sacred Majesty in his solitudes and sufferings do most clearly evidence Which Book is put into Latine by Dr Earle At King Iames his Funerall he attended the Herse as the chiefest mourner an action laudable and deserving better interpretation than some make of it He shewed great patience in his sufferings It argued a charitable temper in him in pardoning his enemies when he died and praying for them and charging the Prince his eldest son to pardon them also He was the hundred and tenth Monarch of that line that swayed the Scepter of Scotland successively Bishop Bramhall his Answer to Militiere his Epistle His Works are all in two Volumes Reliquiae Carolinae and Bibliotheca Carolina The Arsenals Store-houses and Ship-docks erected by him are so magnificent and universally usefull that they are become a principall pillar of the Nations support so far as they relate to the Navall defence of it and affords variety of imployment by the manufacture of Cordage as also by the carâ—ening and building of Ships The latter end of his life by reason of the Civil broyls was troublesome and painfull as the Book stiled Iter Carolinum shews Lewis the thirteenth the last King of France spoke ofttimes of the troubles of Great Brittain in his sickness and once he was over heard to say that it was a just judgement because his brother of England would have assisted his Subjects once against him Mr. Howels Corollary to the life of Lewis the thirteenth In his March after Essex to the West it happened that one of his Carriages brake in a long narrow Lane which they were to pass and gave his Majesty a stop at a time of a great showr of rain which fell upon him Some of his Courtiers and others which were near about him offered to hew him out a way through the hedges with their swords that he might get shelter in some of the Villages adjoyning but he resolved not to forsake his Canon upon any occasion At which when some about him seemed to admire marvel at the patience which he shewed in that extremity his Majesty lifting up his Hat made answer That as God had given him affliction to exercise his patience so he had given him patience to â—ear his afflictions Mr. Fords Panegyrick on King Charles the first Let his Conference with the Marquess of Worcester the Papers which passed betwixt his Majesty and Master Henderson and those others with the Ministers in the Isle of Weight testifie how great a Master he was of reason how well read in the Fathers the Councels Ecclesiasticall History and the customes of the Church in all ages Id. ib. He made an admirable Anagram of himself the day before his death Carolus Rex Cras ero lux Id. ib. His death saith the Author of the Additions to Bakers Chronicle was strange and unparalleld We may read saith he of many Kings who came to violent ends but never any that was so formally and solemnly first tryed for his life and then judicially executed in publick by his own Subjects Mr. Love in his Vindication of the London-Ministers against Price his Clerico-Classicum pag. 36. gives good reasons against putting the King to death and saith He was the first Protestant King in the world so put to death by his own Subjects pag. 55. he saith He could produce multitudes of Protestant Divines against the cutting off the Head of our King in particular as the Ministers beyond the Seas the Ministers of Scotland the Ministers of Essex and Lancashire and of many other places of the Kingdome besides the London Ministers who unanimously declared their abhorrency of that horrid fact of taking away the life of the King pag. 59. he saith That there is no president in all the Scripture that the Sanhedrim of the Jewes or Rulers of Israel did ever judicially arraign and put to death any of the Kings of Judah or Israel though many of them were most gross Idolaters and tyrannous Princes who shed much innocent blood and oâ—pressed the people sundry wayes This notwithstanding another Divine of our own hath presumed to publish a Defence of the Sentence passed upon the late King He quotes Gen. 9. 6. Exod. 21. 12. Lev. 24. 17. Numb 35. 30 31 33. Prov. 28. 17. and Mat. 26. 52. to prove the lawfulness of it That private person which sheddeth mans bloud wilfully by man that is by the Magistrate whose power is here stablished saith Ainsworth for killing all wilfull murtherers shall his bloud be shed And this saith Ainsworth there accordeth with the Law Numb 35. 29 30. but private men may not use the sword Mat. 26. 52. Rom. 13. 4. I have read that place Matth. 26. 52. strongly urged by some against Subjects taking up Arms against their Princes but never this way before These Scriptures though he think them of so express a tenour of such a pregnant import I conceive make little for the purpose he alleadgeth them When I consider with my self
report of the death of Britic he with great speed returned out of France where during the time of his abode he had served with good commendation in the Warres under Charles the Great by meanes whereof his reputation encreasing among his own Country-men he was thought worthy of the Government before he obtained it He first gave this Kingdom the name of England He ordained by publick Edict that the Heptarchy possessed by the Saxons should be called thence forward the Land of the English whence the Latines took also their name Anglia and the French that d' Angleterre There were three hundred years from King Egbert unto William the Conquerour He raigned over the West-Saxons thirty six years and seven moneths and Monarch of the whole Island seventeen Ethelwulfe The nineteenth King of the West-Saxons and the twentieth Monarch of the English men He being once himself nuzled in that order was alwayes good and devout to religious orders He was so well learned and so devout that the Clerks of the Church of Winchester did choose him in his youth to be their Bishop which function he took upon him and was Bishop of Winchester for seven years before he was King The History of Cambria by Lhoyd augmented by Doctor Powell p. 32. A Monk a Deacon and a Bishop yet elected King because they could not finde a fitter person for the Crown Necessitate cogente factus est Rex Roger Hoveden He ordained that Tythes and Church-Lands should be free from all taxes and Regall services Ethelwolphus Rex omnium historicorum consensu fide praestantissimus nec pietatis magis quà m rerumoptimé gestarum laude celebriâ— illustris Anti Sanderus Dialogo secundo Polyd. Virgil in the fifth Book of his English History saith of King Alfred Atqui Neotum inprimis monasâ—icae professionis virum sanctissimum ob eximiam eruditionem miro amore complexus est quo hortante Oxonij gymnasium instituit proposita mercede omnibus His second son by his Queen Iudith daughter of Charles the bald Emperour King of France Neote was much addicted to learning and was one of the first Divinity readers in the University of Oxford He was interred in the County of Huntington at a place then called Arnulphsbury and afterwards in regard of his interment St. Neots and now St. Needes This King was famous for having four sons who all of them were Kings of this Land successively He raigned twenty years one moneth and nine dayes Ethelbald The twentieth King of the West-Saxons and the twenty first Monarch of the English men He took Iudith his stepmother to be his wife this prodigious incest was soone punished by his untimely death He raigned five years Ethelbert The one and twentieth King of the West-Saxons and the two and twentieth Monarch of the English men The first Christned Prince of all the Saxon Nation Omnium Anglo-Saxonum regum Christi nominis primus hospes Twini Comment de rebus Brittanicis His name signifieth nobly-conceited or advised or of noble conceit or advisement Verstegan He raigned over the Kentish-South and East-Saxons ten years and was Monarch of the whole only five Ethelred The two and twentieth King of the West-Saxons and the twenty third Monarch of the English men Great was the valour of this King for in his short time of Raign as Malmesbury and other Writers record he fought no less than nine set Battels against the Danes in one year in most of them victorious At Wintburne in Darset-shire there is this Epitaph written on his Tomb. In hoc loro quiescit corpus S. Ethelredi Regis West-Saxonum Martyris qui anno Domini DCCCLXXII XXIII Aprilis per manus Danorum Pagâ—norum occuâ—â—uit He raigned in great trouble five years saith Malmesbury CHAP. V. Alfred Aelfred or Alvred THe twenty third King of the West-Saxons and twenty fourth Monarch of the English men He was the first annointed King of England as glorious for his most excellent Laws transcendent Justice and Civil Government as for his martiall exploits victories and for his incomparable piety and extraordinary bounty to the Clergy and learned men Of his great memory when he was young vide Asserium de Aelfredi rebus gestis He was accounted a good Grammarian Rhetorician Philosopher Musician and Poet. His Raign began with troubles and Warres in defence of the Land which the Pagan Danes intended to destroy and though his powers were small yet was he forced into the field within one moneth after his Coronation He fought no less than forty six bloudy Battels saith Spelman with the Danes by Land and Sea for his Countries liberties Vir in bellâ— per omnia strenuissimus Asserius He was once brought to that extremity that he was forced to leave his Companies and lurk in Somerset-shire Marshes The solitary place of his most residency was an Island inclosed with two Rivers Thane and Parret at their meetings in the County of Somerset commonly called Edeling seâ— where he in very poor attire disguised was entertained into a Cow-heards service where on a time as he sate by the fire in trimming of his Bow and shaâ—ts a Cake of dough baking on the hearth before him chanced to burn the Cowheardess coming in and seeing him minde his Bow more than his bread in a great â—ury cast away both his Bow and arrowes and checking him said Thou fellow dost thou see the bread burn before thy face and wilt not turn it and yet art thou glad to eat it before it be half baked Of the naturall dayes twenty four hours eight he allotted for devotion and contemplation eight for refection and recreation and the eight remaining for matters of the Commonwealth Iulius Caesar having spent the whole day in the field about his military affairs divided the night also for three severall uses one part for his sleep a second for the Commonwealth and publike business the third for his studies Peacham He translated Gregories Pastorals Bâ—les History and Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiae into the Saxon tongue and began to do the like with Davids Psalmes In divinis libris sacra lectione tam assiduus erat quod Davidicum Psalterium vel aliquem alium librum aedisicâ—â—torium in sinu suo semper ferret viros literatissimâ—s de terris exteris ad se accersens aliquandiu in Palatio suo secum pro sacris literis addiscendis retentos demum diversis praelatiis dignitatibus premoveret Ingulphi Historia p. 870. vide plura ibid. p. 871. He restored the decayed University of Oxford by fixing therein a Colledge now bearing the name of Vniversity-Colledge and annexed ample maintenance unto it He divided his Kingdome into Shires Hundreds and Tithings for the better ordering and administring of justice and for the abandoning of theeves which had formerly encreased by the meanes of long Warres whereby notwithstanding the multitude of Souldiers continually imployed
establish his Monarchy over England he endeavoured by all means to reconcile the English to him 1. By advancing some of the English Nobility to places of honour and trust 2. By granting to the English equall rights and priviledges with his Danes in consessu in consilio in praelio and advancing them both alike 3. By favouring and inriching the English Clergy and Church-men and manifesting extraordinary piety devotion bounty in repairing building endowing Monasteries and Churches throughout the Realm 4. By easing them of his Danish Forces 5. By ratifying all their former good old fundamentall Laws rights liberties priviledges which they used enjoyed under their Saxon Kings by enacting other good wholsome Laws repealing all unjust Laws and redressing all exactions and grievances A company of flatterers which extolled his greatness and power to be unmatchable he caused to place him in a chair where the Sea ebbs and flowes at South-hampton that by the disobedience of the Tide that would not stop at his command but presumed to dash his royall garments they might learn how low man is at the highest and not to applaud his fortune but fear his fall He acknowledged God alone to be King of this great Element because the Sea is his and he made it The flatterers of Alexander the great made him believe that he was the son of Iupiter but being one day sore hurt and seeing the blood gush out of his wounds What think you of this said he unto them Is not this blood of a lively red hew and meerly humane He was the greatest Prince of power that ever before him raigned over the English people England Denmarke Norway some adde also part of Sweden together with Scotland were wholly subject unto him Filiam suam Imperatori Romano cum ineffabilibus divitiis maritavit Hunting hist. l. 6. In a Parliament at Oxford he made good Laws whereof these were some that concern Religion First For the celebration of divine service it was ordained that all Ceremonies tending to the increase of reverence and devotion should be used as need required Secondly That upon the Sabbath day all publick Fairs Markets Synods Huntings and all secular actions should be forborn unless some urgent necessity should require it Thirdly That every Christian should thrice in the year receive the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper Fourthly That a married woman convict of adultery should have her nose and ears cut off Krantzius much extols him as the most famous of the Kings of Denmarke He was a just Prince in all saving his tyranny against the two young Princes the sons of Edmond The lustre of this new erected Monarchy had no sooner displayed its beams in Canutus but like an unthrifty Taper it began to glimmer in Harold and absolutely expired in Hard knute who dying issueless the current of royalty ran back again into the channell of the Saxon bloud which flowed in the veinsâ— of Edward sirnamed the Conâ—essor Philpot's Preface to his Villare Cantianum After he had in great glory reigned about nineteen years he deceased at Shafiesbury in the County of Dorset and was buried in the Church of the old Monastery at Winchester where Queen Emma made her abode ever after Harold The second Danish King raigning in England and the thirty fifth Monarch of the Land He was called Hare-foot by reason of his swiftness Canutus had him by a Concubine a Shoomakers daughter This base son of Cnute dispossessed his legitimate son Harde-Cnute of the Crown of England contrary to Cnutes will and contract banished and spoiled Queen Emma of her treasure and Jewels oppressed the people with taxes and was soon cut off by death without any issue He was an oppresser of his people and vitious He raigned four years and four moneths He was neither in Warres so hardy nor in Government so prosperous as his Father Canutus before him had been Harde-Canute The third Danish King that raigned in England and the thirty sixth Monarch of the English men For his noble courage he was called Harde-Canutus The first great Prince of the house of Burgundy was Philip sirnamed the Hardy His recalling his Mother Emma and half Brother Edward and entertaining them respectively deserves commendation His Epicurism left an ill custome to all posterity Four times a day his Table must be covered to invite men to intemperancy through which at a marriage he is thought to have choaked himself at Lambeth most rejoycing to be rid of him in memory whereof Hock-tide a Feast of scorning or triumphing was a long time continued after The English men learned of him their excessive gormandizing and unmeasurable filling of themselves with meates and drinkes At the death of this King died all rule of the Danes in this Land after they had miserably afflicted the Kingdome for the space of two hundred and forty yeares though in Regall government but only six and twenty under these three last Kings He raigned two yeares lacking ten dayes The Danes ruled in this Land almost thirty yeares and raged without all rule about three hundred and fifty Lamberts Perambulation of Kent CHAP. X. Edward the Confessor THe son of King Ethelred the thirty seventh Monarch of the English men He was born at Islip near unto Oxford and tenderly educated by Queen Emma his Mother and after his Fathers death for safety sent into France He was the last King of the Saxon race Such was the opinion conceived of his holiness of life as that shortly after his decease he was canonized amongst the Saints and named Edward the Confessour To gain the more love of his Subjects at his first entrance he remitted the taxe of forty thousand pounds yearly gathered by the name of Dane-gilt so grevous to the Commons Fertur Edwardus Confessor teste Ingulpho cùm se daemonem vidisse super dcervo Daingeldi exultantem protestatus esset aspectunique exhorruisset collecium illico restitui jussâ—sse retento ne iota uno feram exactionem perpetuum relaxasse Spelmanni Glossarium Danegaldi redditio propter pyratas primitus statuta est Hoved. dnnal pars posrerior p. 603. vide plura ibid. He collected the Laws of his predecessors into a body for the administration of justice which some say are the ground of our Common-Law though the pleading be altered since the Norman conquest He found the Realm governed by three different Laws the West-Saxon Law the Mereian Law and the Dane Law Out of these three Lawes partly moderated and partly supplied he composed one body of Law commonly called St Edwards Laws which were of so great equity that when they were abrogated by the Conquerour and the Crown fell into controversie between Maud the Empress and King Stephen the people alwayes inclined to favour that part who put them in fairest hope of restitution of those Laws And afterwards in many Civil dissensions the greatest demand of the people appeareth to have been the restitution of King
to say that he had no purpose to keep a wife he must pay for a faculty to keep a wife if he would Quymund his Chaplain observing that unworthy men for the most part were advanced to the best dignities of the Church as he celebrated divine service before him and was to read these words out of St Iames 5. 17. It rained not upon the earth three years and six moneths he did read it thus It rained not upon the earth one one years and five one moneths The King observed this reading and afterwards rebuked his Chaplain for it But Quymund answered that he did it of purpose because such readers were soonest preferred by the King The King smiled and in short time after preferred him to the government of St. Frideswides in Oxford He died in the sixty seventh year of his age when he had raigned thirty five years and four moneths wanting one day He was buried at Reading which he had founded In him ended the line of the Norman Kings as concerning their heirs males after whom came in the French men by the title of the heirs generall CHAP. XIV King STEPHEN VIr solertis ingenii militaris artis peritissimus Polyd. Virg. He was of a comely stature of a good complexion and of body strong very skilfull in martiall affairs gentle courteous and exceeding bountifull not noted for any speciall vice but that upon an ambitious desire to raign he brake his Oath which he had made with Maud the Empress He was a most worthy Souldier and wanted nothing to have made him an excellent King but a just title And therefore hee was driven perforce to defend his usurped Authority by the sword which must needs procure him the hatred of many He was crowned at Westminster upon Saint Stephens day in presence of but three Bishops few of the Nobility and not one Abbot by William Archbishop of Canterbury with great solemnity Having his sword continually out and so many defections and rebellions against him he never put any great man to death Of Roger Bishop of Salisbury in this Kings Raign it is reported that he was so pressed with the miseries of a long imprisonment Vt vivere nolâ—â—erit mori nesciâ—rit That live he would not die he could not In his dayes flourished divers famous learned men but especially Historiographers viz. William of Malmesbury Henry Huntington Simon of Durham Gessrey of Munmouth and others Though his Raign were rough and tempestuous by reason of his perpetuall debates and contests with Maud the Empress and her Son concerning the title yet were there more religious Convents erected in his time then either before or after Although he had continuall Warres yet he required few or no tributes from the people He raigned almost nineteen years lived forty nine and was buried in the Abbey of Feversham in Kent which he had founded The Normans thus expiring give way to the Dynasty of the Plantagenets Before the division of the Houses of Yorke and Lancaster there run on evenly in an unquestionable line eight Kings in this manner 1. Henry the second 2. Richard the first 3. Iohn 4. Henry the third 5. Edward the first 6. Edward the second 7. Edward the third 8. Richard the second Henry the second The first King of this Island sirnamed Plantagenet from Plantagenista so called as some say for wearing a slip or stalk of Broom in his Cap or Hat toward his latter dayes in penance and contrition for his past sins He undertook to go to the holy Sepulchre in the poor and despised habit of a Broom-man and to signifie himself so bore a Broom-stalk in his Cap. Others say it was because he scourged himself with the stalks of Broom which grew upon the Plains where once the holy City stood Bucks Preface to his great Plantagenet Henry Duke of Anjou by his Father Geffery Plantagenet succeeded Stephen in the Kingdome of England by agreement whom he preceded by right as being son and heir of Maud sole daughter and heir of King Henry the first and was crowned at Westminster by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury and was a greater Prince then any of his Ancestors He was sirnamed Court-mantle because he was the first that brought short Cloaks out of Anjou into England He was wise and learned He never ware Glove except he bare a Hawk on his fist and never sate but at his meat and delighted in hawking hunting riding and in all honest exercises Our English Chronicles do blame him for refusing to take the protection and defence of the distressed Christians in Ierusalem offered unto him by Heraclins the Patriark the troubles that befell him at home are ascribed to that cause In his time there were eleven hundred and fifteen Castles in England He caused them to be demolished He first kept Lions and made of the Arms of Normandy viz. the two Leopards and of the single Lion Aquitain one Coat so Arms for England as it is yet worn He associated his son Henry in the Government an act without example in this Kingdome The young King shewed shortly after That a Crown was no State to be made over in trust At the Feast of his solemnity the King to honour his son would needs carry up the first dish to his Table Roger Archbishop of Yorke standing by and saying merrily to the new King Gaude optime filio non est enim alter in toto orbe Princeps qui talem habeat in mensa administrum What an honour is this to you to have such a waiter at your Table Why saith he what great matter is it for him that was but the son of a Duke to do service to me that am the son of a King and Queen Which the old King hearing began to repent him now it was too late of that he had done He loved women too much especially one Rosamond the fair daughter of Walter Lord Clifford This his Concubine was a very beautifull young Lady of unparalleld wit He usually termed her the Rose of the world his Rose The true Etymology of her name is Rosemouth and seemeth to have been given in regard of her sweetness or colour of the lips or it may have been in recommendation of sweetness and eloquence of speech King Henry had made for her a Labyrinth at Woodstocâ— so that no man or woman might come to her but he that was instructed by the King or such as were right secret with him It was commonly said that at last Queen Elenor came to her by a Clew of Thread or Silk and so dealt with her that she lived not long after But when she was dead she was buried at Godstow in an house of Nunnes beside Oxford In whose Epitaph a Latin Poet not understanding the true Etymology of the name makes Mund which here is mouth to be Mundus and so calls her the Rose of the world Hic jacet in tumba Rosa mundi non
where he sate which being stayed miraculously so long as he was sitting as soon as he was up immediately fell upon the place where he sate able to have crushed him in pieces Fox Martyrolog Having prepared a great Fleet of Ships for a journey into Flanders and being at Winchelsey where the Ships were to meet it happened that riding about the Harbour his Horse frighted with the noise of a Wind-mill which the wind drove violently about scrambled up and leapt over the mud-wall of the Town so as neither the King nor Horse was to be seen but every one judged the King could not choose but be thrown and killed yet such was the divine providence over him that the Horse lighted upon his feet and the King keeping the Saddle returned safe He was crowned at Westminster together with his wife Queen Elenor by Robert Kilwarthy Archbishop of Canterbury He ingeniously surprized the Welch into subjection proffering them such a Prince as should be 1. The son of a King 2. Born in their own Countrey 3. Whom none could taxe for any fault The Welch accepted the conditions and the King tendered them his son Edward an Infant newly born in the Castle of Carnarvaâ— Wales was united to the Crown of England in the eleventh year of his Raign who thereupon established the Government thereof according to the Lawes of England A wise a just and fortunate Prince who in regard of his Princely vertues deserveth to be ranged among the principall and best Kings that ever were A right noble and worthy Prince to whom God proportioned a most princely presence and personage a right worthy seat to entertain so heroicall a mind For he not only in regard of fortitude and wisdome but also for a beautifull and personall presence was in all points answerable to the height of royall Majesty whom fortune also in the very prime and flower of his age inured to many a Warre and exercised in most dangerous troubles of the State whilest she framed and fitted him for the Empire of Brittain which he being once crowned King managed and governed in such wise that having subdued the Welch and vanquished the Scots he may justly be counted the second ornament of Great Brittain No Realm but did resound first Edwards praise No praise was ever won with more deserts And no deserts though great could counterpoise Much less out-balance his heroick parts Mars taught him Arms the Muses taught him Arts Whereby so great he grew that might there be A love on earth that earthly love was he Sir Francis Huberts History of Edward the second In the long Warres he had with Robert King of Scotland having by triall found how greatly his presence advantaged the success of his affairs and how he was ever victorious in any enterprise he undertook in his own person when he died he bound his son by solemn oath that being dead he should cause his body to be boiled untill the flesh fell from the bones which he should cause to be interred and carefully keeping the bones ever carry them about him whensoever he should happen to have Warres with the Scots as if destiny had fatally annexed the victory unto his limmes Mountaigne his Essayes l. 1. c. 3. Baliol King of Scotland came to Newcastle upon Tine where King Edward then lay and there with many of his Nobles swears fealty and doth homage to him as his Soveraign Lord. Afterward there grew a great dissention between him and the King and the two Nations which consumed much Christian bloud and continued almost three hundred years King Edward entered Scotland with a great Army King Baliol was taken prisoner The marble Chair in which the Kings of Scotland used to be crowned was also brought thence to Westminster and placed there amongst the Monuments where it still continues Ni fallat fatum Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem Except old sawes do fain And Wizards wits be blind The Scots in place shall raign Where they this stone shall find Of his Warres with the Scotch and his victories over them see Ayscâ— his History of the Warres Treaties Marriages and other occurrents between England and Scotland from King William the Conquerour untill the union of them both in King Iames. In his twelfth year the Justices Itinerants began In his time Iohn Baliol King of Scots builded Baliol-Colledge in Oxford Walter Merton Lord Chancellour of England and after Bishop of Rochester founded Merton-Colledge in Oxford One made this Epitaph of him Dum viguit Rex valuit tua magna potestas Frauâ— latuit pax magna fuit regnavit honestas He raigned thirty four yeares seven moneths one and twenty dayes and lived sixty eight years and twenty dayes EDWARD the second He degenerated wholly from his fathers vertues and esteemed not the good advertisements and precepts which he gave him before his death He granted the Charter to London to elect yearly one of the City at their own pleasure to be their Maior He was the first of the King of Englands children which bore the title and quality of the Prince of Wales Since whose time the eldest sons of the Kings of England were called Princes of Wales as the eldest sons of the Kings of Franâ—e are called Dolphins and of Spain Infants He was called Edward of Carnarvan for the Welch men after Leolines death were earnest with the King for a Prince of their own Countrymen the King told them they should have a Prince there born that could speak no English which they being contented with he named his Infant son who was born there the Queen being brought to Carnarvan He divided Wales incorporated into England into Shires and Hundreds His great affection to Pierce Gaveston and Spenser his Favourites was a means of stirring up the Barons against him It is thy sad disaster which I sing Carnarvan Edward second of that name Thy Minions pride thy States ill managing Thy Peers revolt the sequell of the same Thy life thy death I sing thy sin thy shame And how thou wert deprived of thy Crown In highest fortunes cast by fortune down Sir Francis Huberts History of Edward the second Nine Kings had raigned since the conquest here Whom I succeeded in a rightfull line My father all domestick tumults clear Did warre and win in fruitfull Palestine This Northern Sun even to the East did shine The French were fearfull hearing but his name French Scots and Turks aeternized his fame He married Isabel daughter to King Philip sirnamed le Bean the fair and heir to France all her brothers being dead without issue Gourney most barbarously caused the miserable King to sit on a Mole-hill whilest the Barber shaved him and to take cold water out of a ditch to wash him withall which the patient King seeing told them That in despight of them he would have warm water at his Barbing and there withall shed abundance of tears Being deposed from his Kingdome
all the benefits he could yea and given his own sister iâ— marriage he raised a most dangerous War and spoiled shamefully a great part of England under pretence of restoring the Commonwealth and maintaining liberty neither left he any thing undone to bring the King under to change the State of a Mâ—â—â—rchy to bring in an Oligarchy But in the 〈◊〉 after that fortune had for a good while favourably smiled upon him he was slain at Eveshâ—m in Worcestershire with many other of the Barons his Complices by the prowess of Prince Edward 〈…〉 〈…〉 Although the Kingdome endured great Crosses in the affairs of State under this King yet some have thought that it found as great a blessing in matters of Religion which in those dayes took so deep root in this our Land by the preaching of Iohn Wickliffe that the branches thereof did spread themselves even over the Seas Speeds Chronicle He was the onely Son of that famous Cheiftain the black Prince of Wales a renowned son of a renowned father but as a plant transplanted into a savage soyl in degree and disposition wholly degenerate retained a tincture of the light inconstancy of his Mother and the luxuriousness of his great Grandfather Edward the second and running his course came to his end He had in his Court a thousand persons in ordinary allowance of diet three hundred servitors in his Kitchin above three hundred Ladies Chamberers and Landerers His Apparel was sumptuous and so was it generally in his time he had one Coat of gold and stone valued at thirty thousand Marks One interview with the French King at Ards when his Wife Isabel was delivered unto him cost three hundred thousand Markâ— Queen Anne his Wife Daughter to the Emperour Charles the fourth first taught English women the manner of sitting on horseback which now is used whereas before-time they rode very unseemly astride like as men do The Civil Wars in England had their beginning from his bad Government Henry the fourth did first commence them and Henry the fifth suspended them but they again brake forth under Henry the sixth Wat Tyler the Master of the Kentish Rebels was slain with a Dagger by William Walworth Mayor of London close by the Kings side in the Kings defence who was therefore Knighted and the City since giveth for Arms the Dagger He was first deposed then slain Men are easily emboldened saith Guicciardine c. 3. of his History of Italy against a Prince that is fallen into contempt The most current report at that time went that he was Princely served every day at the Table with abundance of costly meats according to the order prescribed by Parliament but was not suffered to taste or touch any one of them and so perished of famine Mr. Fox saith he was at Pamfret Castle famished to death Sir Pierce of Extone at last killed him though he with an Axe wrested out of one of their hands first killed four of those which came with him to murther him At the point of his death he groaned forth these words My great Grandfather King Edward the second was in this manner deposed imprisoned and murthered by which means my Grandfather King Edward the third obtained possession of the Crown and now is the punishment of that injury powred upon his next successor Well this is right for me to suffer but not for you to do your King for a time may joy at my death and enjoy his desire but let him qualifie his pleasures with the expectation of the like justice for God who measureth all our actions by the malice of our minds will not suffer this violence unrevenged He lived three and thirty years raigned two and twenty and three moneths Thus far the Plantagenets have continued in an unquestionable right line now follows the division of the houses of Lancaster York three of each succeeding in their order Of Lancaster Henry the fourth sirnamed Bulling brook Henry the fifth of Monmouth Henry the sixth of Windsor Of Yorke three others succeeded upon a better title 1. Edward the fourth 2. Edward the fifth 3. Richard the third HENRY the fourth He was son to Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster from the loynâ— of whom the greatest number of the Kings of England Spain Portugall since his time as also several other persons of eminent dignity are descended Mr. Dugdalâ—s History of St. Pauls Cathedrall He was annointed with an oyl which a certain religious man gave unto Henry the first Duke of Lancaster Grandfather to the King by the mothers side when he served in the Wars of King Edward the third beyond the seas together with this Prophesie that the Kings which should be annointed therewith should be the Champions of the Church There was a great contest then between the white and red Rose the houses of Yorke and Lancaster The red Rose prevailed now he being the first renowned King of the house of Lancaster He first studied a popular party as needing all to support his titles There was in his Raign a Parliament held at Coventry called Parliamentum indoctorum the lack-learning Parliament either for the unlearnedness of the persons or for their malice to learned men During the time of this Kings Raign execution by fire was first put in practice within this Realm for controversies in points of Religion He shed the bloud of Gods Saints and raigned neither long nor hâ—pâ—ily Mr. Foxâ—aith â—aith his time was full of trouble bloud and misery He was the first of the Kings of England saith he that put out his hand to the shedding of the bloud of the Saints since the conquest Humphrey his son was by his brother King Henry the fifth created Duke of Glocester he was Protector of the Kingdome of England for twenty five years in the time of King Henry the sixth He was a man who nobly deserved of the Commonwealth and of learning as being himself very learned and a magnificent Patron and benefactor of the University of Oxford where he had been educated and was generally called the good Duke Speed This Duke Humphrey purchased a wonderfull number of Books in all Sciences whereof he freely gave to a Library in Oxford a hundred and twenty nine fair Volumes Bales Conclusion to Leylands New years gift to King Henry the eight One saith all the Henries of the house of Lancaster even to Henry the seventh were most eminent for great vertues Henry the fourth for his behaviour and courtesie Henry the fifth for his valour and magnanimity Henry the sixth for his justice and piety The renowned Prince King Henry the fifth during the life of his father was noted to be fierce and of wanton courage One of his servants whom he favoured was for felony by him committed arraigned at the Kings Bench whereof the Prince being advertised and incensed by light persons about him in furious rage came hastily to the Barre
gloria gentis erat Dignus Apollineis lachrymis c. It is to this day a question both how this King died and where he was â—â—ried Queen IANE The Lady Iane Gray whom King Edward had declared for his next Successour was eldest daughter of Henry Lord Gray Duke of Suffolke Her mother was the Lady France's daughter and in fine one of the co-heirs of Charles Brandon the late Duke of Suffolke by Mary his wife Queen Dowager to Lewis the twelfth of France and youngest daughter of King Henry the seventh Grandfather to King Edward now deceased She spake the Latin and Greek tongues with as sweet a fluency as if they had been naturall and native to her exactly skilled in the liberall Sciences and perfectly well studied both kinds of Philosophy She was most zealously affected to the true Protestant Religion then by Law established She was urged by her near friends to accept of the Crown Her Raign was but nine dayes her life not twice so many years as she raigned dayes Ascham Annâ— Maria Schurman Master Fox and others speak of her rare accomplishments Queen MARY It is a question much agitated of the rule of women 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An licita Bodius on Ephes. 5. 22. dislikes it Bodin de Republica l. 6. c. 5. method Hist. c. 6. much opposeth it He lames us for suffering Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth to raign and saith we violated therein not only the Law of God but the law of nature and Nations knoxe also writes against it Danaeus a French man in his Book de Hâ—mine c. 33. saith It is lawfull He quotes Aâ—â— 8. 27. 1 King 10. and commends the Raign of Zenâ—bâ—ia Queen of the Arabians aâ—d Elizabeth Queen of England and Ioan Queen of Navarr as happy and lasting There is a choice Manuscript in Arch. in Oxford Library stiled A dutifull defence of the lawfull regiment of women written by my Lord Howard The Suffolk men first resorted to her promising her their aid and help so that she would not attempt the alteration of Religion established by her brother which she agreed unto but broke her promise and that Diocess tasted the sharpest persecution under her Raign So well inclined was she of her self that had not the zeal of her Religion and the authority of Church men overswayed her own disposition the flames of their consuming fires had not mounted so high She was crowned by Steven Gardiner Bishop of Winchester the Archbishops of Canterbury and Yorke being then prisoners in the Tower Within the compasse of less then four years continuance there died for the testimoniall of their conscience in this case two hundred seventy and seven persons without regard of degree sex or age In the heat of whose flames were consumed five Bishops one and twenty Divines eight Gentlemen eighty four Artificers one hundred Husbandmen servants and labourers twenty six wives twenty widdowes nine virgins two boyes and two Infants There being consultation at the Counsel-board what to do with the Lady Elizabeth Gardiner said My Lords we have but all thâ— while been 〈◊〉 ripping off the leaves and now and then lopped a branch but till such time as we strike at the root of heresie meaning the Lady Elizabeth nothing to purpose can be effected God forbid replied the Spaniards that our King and Master should once conceive a thought to consent unto such a mischief They thence solicited the King on her behalf and he favoured her and set her free at last The worst that can be said of her is this that she was ill principled and the best that she acted according to her principles Judge Morgan who in her Raign gave sentence of death against the Lady Iane Gray presently after her death fell mad and in his ravings continually cried Take away the Lady Jane from me and in that horrour shortly ended his life She was learned Ludovicus Vives A Spaniard was sometimes her Teacher He came to England with Queen Kahterine her mother She lost Calais which had been a long time before in the possession of the Engllish and said if she were opened they would find that next her heart pray it was that a paltry Town should lye where Christ should should have lain At the loss of Calai when a proud French man tauntingly demanded When will ye fetch Calais again An English Captain gravely answered Quâ—ndo peccata vestra erunt nostris gâ—â—viorâ— When your sins shall weigh down ours The Lord Corâ—â—s Governour of Picardy under the French King said That he would be content to lie in Hell seven years so he might win Calais from the English The keeping of it indeed was chargeable to the English but yet it was very advantagious to them While they kept it they had a door open into France upon all occasions and therefore it is commonly said That they carried the keyes of France at their Girdles Of all since the Conquest her Raign was the shortest only excepting that of Richard the Tyrant but much more bloudy then was his She raigned five years and four moneths wanting two dayes only She lieth buried in Westminster without any Monument or remembrance at all Queen ELIZABETH She was born at Greenwich on the seventh of September 15â—3 Her father was Henry the eighth King of England her mother Anne Bulloin whose love to the pure Religion cost her her life Amabat Regina puram verà mque Religionem haec illi res odium nox necem peperit Adolphi à Dans vita Elizabethae The Archbishop Cranmer her Godfather was every where chary and tender over her as one that at the Font had took charge upon him to see her educated in all vertue and piety What Prince was ever more sage in her Counsell or more solemn in her Government or more advised in her favours and fâ—owns Dr. Gaudens Eccles. Anglie Suspiria l. 4. c. 22. Before the age of seventeen years she was skilled in Latine French Italian and in the Greek indifferent well Neither did she neglect musick both singing and playing on instruments very sweetly and artificially for so much as became a Prince With Roger Ascham who governed her studies she read over Melancthons common places Cicero entire a great part of Livies History some select Orations of Isocrates whereof two she translated into Latine Sophocles Tragedies and the New Testament in Greeke by which means she both furnished her speech with elegant language and her mind with wholsome precepts referring her learning rather to practice and conversation then ostentation and pomp yet was she in a manner for learning a miracle among the Princes of her age In one and the same day she answered three Embassadors of great Princes the one in Latine the other in French and the third in Italian I have seen a Book which is in Sion-Colledge wherein divers sentences were turned out of English into Latine and Italian and some translated