sort to excuse them They are the best that your starued both cause and conceipt can possibly affoord and you haue also some fellowes in your folly Heliogabalus did solemnely ioyne the statues of the Sunne and of the Moone in mariage together Nero was maried to a man and tooke also a man to his wife The Venetians doe yearely vpon Ascention day by a ring and other ceremonies contract mariage with the sea But now in earnest men do dye whensoeuer it pleaseth God to call them but it is a Maxime in the common law of England Rex nunquam moritur The king is alwaies actually in life In Fraunce also the same custome hath bene obserued and for more assurance it was expresly enacted vnder Charles the fifth That after the death of any king his eldest sonne should incontinently succeede For which cause the ParliameÌ„t court of Paris doth accompanie the funeral obsequies of those that haue bene their kings not in mourning attire but in scarlet the true ensigne of the neuer-dying Maiestie of the Crowne In regard of this certaine and incontinent succession the Glossographer vpon the Decrees noteth That the sonne of a king may be called King during the life of his father as wanting nothing but administration wherein he is followed with great applause by Baldus Panormitane Iason Carol. Ruinus Andreas Iserna Martinus Card. Alexander Albericus Fed. Barbatius Philip Decius Ant. Corsetta Fra. Luca Matthe Afflict And the same also doth Sernius note out of Virgil where he saith of Ascanius Regemque requirunt his father Aeneas being yet aliue But so soone as the king departeth out of life the royaltie is presently transferred to the next successor according to the lawes and customes of our Realme All Writs go foorth in his name all course of iustice is exercised all Offices are held by his authoritie all states all persons are bound to beare to him alleageance not vnder supposall of approbation when hee shall be crowned according to your dull and drowsie coniecture but as being the true Soueraigne king of the Realme He that knoweth not this may in regard of the affaires of our state ioyne himself to S. Anthony in glorying in his ignorance professing that he knoweth nothing Queene Mary raigned three monâ—ths before she was crowned in which space the Duke of Northumberland and others were condemned and executed for treason for treason I say which they had committed before she was proclaimed Queene King Edward the first was in Palestina when his father dyed in which his absence the Nobilitie and Prelates of the Realme assembled at London and did acknowledge him for their king In his returne homeward he did homage to the French king for the lands which he held of him in France He also repressed certaine rebels of Gascoine amongst whom Gasco of Bierne appealed to the court of the king of Fraunce where king Edward had iudgement that Gasco had committed treason and therupon he was deliuered to the pleasure of king Edward And this hapned before his coronation which was a yeare and nine monâ—ths after he began to raigne King Henry the sixth was crowned in the eighth yeare of his raigne and in the meane space not onely his subiectes did both professe and beare alleageance but the King of Scottes also did sweare homage vnto him What neede I giue any more either instance or argument in that which is the cleare lawe the vncontroulled custome of the Realme Against which notwithstanding your weather-beateÌ„ forehead doth not blush to oppose a blind opinion that heires apparant are not true kings although their titles be iust and their predecessors dead This you labour to prooue by a few drye coniectures but especially and aboue all others you say because the Realme is asked three times at euery coronation whether they will haue such a man to be their king or no. First wee haue good reason to require better proofe of this question then your bare word secondly although we admit it to be true yet seeing the aunswer is not made by the estates of the Realme assembled in parliament but by a confused concurse necessarie Officers excepted of all sorts both of age and sexe it is for ceremonie only not of force either to giue or to increase any right Another of your arguments is for that the Prince doth first sweare to gouerne well and iustly before the subiects take their oath of alleageance which argueth that before they were not bound And further you affirme that it happened onely to king Henry the fifth among his predecessors to haue fealtie done vnto him before hee was crowned and had taken his oath I confesse indeed that Polydore and Stâ—w haue written so but you might easily haue found that they write not true the one of them being a meere straunger in our state the other a man more to be commended for indeuour then for art King Iohn being in Normandie when his brother dyed sent into England Hubert Archbishop of Canterburie VVilliam Marshall Earle of Strigvile and Geoffrie Fitzpeter Lord chiefe â—ustice who assembled the States of the Realme at Northhampton and tooke of them an oath of obedience to the new king Also king Henry the third caused the Citizens of London the Guardians of the Cinque-ports and diuers others to sweare fealtie to Prince Edward his sonne who being in Palestina when his father died the Nobilitie and Prelates of the Realme assembled in the new temple at London and did acknowledge him for their king And in like manner king Edward the third tooke an oath of all the Nobilitie of the Realme of faith after his death to Richard Prince of Wales and so did king Henry the first for his daughter Mawde and her yong sonne Henry After the death of king Henry the fifth that subiects did often sweare alleageance before the coronation and oath of the king you had neither countenance nor conscience to deny but it was neither of these two which did restraine you it proceeded onely from the force of truth which will manifest it selfe whatsoeuer art we vse to disguise it For otherwise what countenance what conscience had you to affirme that it is expresly noted by our English Historiographers That no alleageance is due vnto kings before they bee crowned Who are these Historiographers where doe they so write you that search euery dustie corner of your braines for a fewe ragged reasons to vphold your heresie should not either haue mentioned or omitted such pregnant proofes for in that you affirme and do not expresse them you condemne your selfe by your owne silence If you meane that which you alleadge out of Polydore and Stowe That an oath of fealtie was neuer made before coronation vntill the time of king Henry the fifth it is neither true nor to any such sence If you meane that of Polydore in tearming Henry the fift Prince and not King before he
delayed to come into England they all fell rather not to denie then to acknowledge Harold for their king Take now which of these reports you please for all do serue to your purpose alike Hardicanutus after the death of Harold came out of Denmarke into Englande and the people hauing their courages broken with bondage were easie to entertaine the strongest pretender But after his death diuers of the Nobilitie especially Godwine Earle of Kent rising into hope to shake off theyr shoulders the importable yoake of the Danes aduaunced Edwarde the sonne of Etheldred to the Crowne as being the next of the race of the Saxon Kings though not in blood yet at hand for Edward the outlawe his elder brother was then in Hungarie and feare being the only knot that had fastened the people to the Danish Kings that once vntied they all scattered from them like so many birdes whose cage had bene broken Edward being dead Harold the sonne of Godwine vsurped the kingdome for as Malmesburie saith By extorted faith frō the nobilitie he fastned vpon the Crowne a forceable gripe Henry Huntington also and out of him Polydore doe write that vpon confidence of his power he inuaded the Crowne which vsurpation gaue both encouragement and successe to the enterprise of the Normanes This short passage of Historie you doe defile with so many vntruthes that it seemeth you haue as naturall a gift to falsifie as to eate drinke or sleepe But where you write that William the Conqueror formed any title by cōsent of the realme you grow into the degree of ridiculous We finde that he pretended the institution of king Edward which had neither probabilitie norforce and that he was nearer to him in blood then Harold the vsurper but that hee euer pretended the election of the people it is your own clowted cōceit For whē he had rowted the English armie in the field when hee had sacked their Townes harried their Villages slain much people and bent his sworde against the brests of the rest what free election could they then make Your selfe acknowlede also in another place that hee came to the Crowne by dinte of sworde and at his death his owne conscience constrained him to confesse that hee tooke it without right And in that the Pope and the French King fauoured his enterprise it is not materiall this was not the first iniustice which they haue assisted Neither was it the Popes hallowed banner as you affirme but the bowe and the arrowe the only weapon of aduantage long time after to this Nation whereby hee did obtaine the victorie One helpe hee had also within the Realme for that King Edward had aduanced diuers Normans to high place both of dignitie and charge who gaue vnto him muche secret both incouragement and assistance in his attempt And thus in all these turbulent times you are so farre from finding fiue or sixe that you are short of any one who was made King by free authoritie of the people King William Rufus made no other title to the Crowne but the testament of his Father For often vse hath confirmed it for lawe that a Victor may freely dispose of the succession of that state which hee hath obtained by the purchase of his sword The conquerer disinherited his eldest son Robert for that knitting with Philip King of France he inuaded wasted and spoiled Normandie and ioyned in open battell against his father wherein the father was vnhorsed and wounded and brought to a desperate distresse of his life Herevpon he cast forth a cruel curse against his sonne which he could neuer be entreated to reuoke in so much as vpō his death-bed he said of him that it was a miserable countrey which should bee subiect to his dominion for that he was a proud and foolish knaue to be long scourged with cruell fortune And wheras you write that at the time of his fathers death he was absent in the warre of Hierusalem it is a very negligent vntruth But it is an idle vntruth that you write that Henry the first had no other title to the crowne but the election of the people He neuer was elected by the people he neuer pretended any such title Nubrigensis after him Polydore do report that he laid his title because he was borne after his father was king Malmesburie saith Henry the youngest sonne of William the great being an Infant according to the desires and wishes of all men was excellently brought vp because he alone of all the sonnes of William was princely borne and the kingdome seemed to appertaine vnto him He was borne in England in the third yeare after his father entred into it And this was the like controuersie to that which Herodotus reporteth to haue happened betweene the sonnes of Darius the sonne of Hystaspis king of Persia when hee prepared an expedition against the Grecians and Aegyptians because by the lawes of Persia the king might not enter into enterprise of armes before he had declared his successor Darius had three children before he was king by his first wife the daughter of Gobris and after he attained the kingdome he had other foure by Atossa the daughter of Cyrus Artabazanes was eldest of the first sort Xerxes of the second Artabazanes alledged that he was eldest of all the Kings children and that it was the custome amongst all men that the eldest should enioy the principalitie Xerxes alledged that he was begotten of Atossa the daughter of that king by whose puissance the Persians had gained not onely libertie but also power Before Darius had giuen sentence Demaratus the sonne of Aristo cast out of his kingdome of Sparta came vnto Xerxes and aduised him to alledge further that he was the eldest sonne of Darius after he was king and that it was the custome of Sparta that if any man had children in priuate estate and afterward an other sonne when he was king this last sonne should be his successor vpon which ground Darius pronounced in the behalfe of Xerxes The same historie is reported by Iustine and touched also by Plutarch although they differ both from Herodotus and one frō the other in some points of circumstance Hereto also agreeth that which Iosephus writeth in reprehending king Herod for excluding Alexander and Aristobulus his sonnes and appointing Antipater borne to him in priuate estate to succeed in his kingdome Many great Lawiers haue subscribed their opinions to this kinde of title and namely Pet. Cynus Baldus Albericus Raph. Fulgosius Rebuffus and Anto. Corsetta deliuereth it for a common opinion But with this exception if the kingdome be acquired by any other title then by succession according to proximitie in bloud for in this case because the dignitie is inherent in the stocke the eldest sonne shall succeede although he were borne before his father was King And therefore Plutarch writeth that after the
and Albert of Austria were elected Emperors wherupon eight yeers warre betweene them did ensue and as it often happened in the Empire of Rome when one Emperour was chosen by the Senate and another by the Soldiers and sometimes by euery legion one whereby such fiers were kindled as could not bee quenched without much bloude For these warres are most cruelly executed because the quarrell leaueth no middle state inter summum praecipitium betweene the highest honour and the deadliest downefall For these and diuers other respectes it hath bin obserued at most times in all nations and at all times in most that the roialtie hath passed by succession according to propinquitie of bloud We read that Ptolomie who after the death of Alexander the great seazed vpon Aegypt and part also of Arabia and of Africk left that state to his youngest sonne but Trogus saide and out of him Iustine that it was against the lawe of Nations and that vpon this occasion one of them did worke the death of the other And therefore when afterward Ptolomie surnamed Physcon at the importunitie of his wife Cleopatra would haue preferred his youngest son to the succession of his kingdom Iustine saith that the people opposed themselues against it but Pausanias more probably affirmeth that they reuersed his order after his death The same course was held in Italy by the Hetruscanes Latines and those Albanes from whome the Romanes tooke their originall Liuie writeth that Procas king of the Albanes appointed Numitor to succeede in his estate but Amulius his yonger brother did vsurpe it by force hereupon Dionysius Halicarnasseus saith that Amulius held the kingdome against right because it appertained to his elder brother Among the Graecians during the space of six hundred yeares wherein they were gouerned by kings we finde but Timondas and Pittacus who were elected the one of Corinth the other of Negropont the residue held their states by order of successioÌ„ as Thucidides affirmeth encouÌ„tring therein the opinion of Aristotle Liuy writeth that Perseus king of Macedon said that by the order of Nature the law of Nations and the ancient custome of Macedony the eldest sonne was to succeede in the kingdome Diodorus Siculus and Iustine doe report that by this custom Alexander succeeded his father Amyntas before his yonger brother Phillippe Herodotus declareth that the same order was obserued amoÌ„g the Troianes affirming that after the death of Priamus the kingdom was not to deuolue vnto AlexaÌ„der because Hector was before him in years The same also doth appeare by that which Virgil writeth Praeterea Sceptrum Ilione quod gesserat olim Maxima natarum Priami The Scepter vvhich Ilione vvhen she the state did stay The first daughter of Priamus vvith royall hand did svvay Out of which place Seruius Maurus doth collect that women also did vse to gouerne But more plainely this custome of the Troianes doth appeare by that which Messala Coruinus writeth that Troius had two sonnes Ilus and Assaracus and that Ilus by priuiledge of his age succeeded in the kingdome The Persians also who for a long time held the reines of all the nations neere vnto them had the same order of succession as Zenophon witnesseth which is also confirmed by two famous histories one between Artaxerxes Cyrus wherof Plutarch maketh mention the other between Artabazanes Xerxes reported by Herodotus Iustine wherin Artabazanes alleaged that it was a custome among all men that the eldest son should first succeed Agathocles out of him Athenaeus do write that the Persians had a golden water for so they terme it whereof it was capital for any man to drinke but only the king and his eldest son Whither this water were drawen out of the riuer Euleus which inuironeth the tower Susis the Temple of Diana wherof Pliny writeth that only the kings of Persia did drink or whether out of Choaspis whose waters Herodotus doth report to haue bin boiled caried after the king in siluer vessels or whether both these were one riuer I will neither determine nor discourse In Siria which is called Assiria as Herodotus writeth also Phoenicia Palestina Mesopotamia as appeareth by Pliny Eusebius diuers other the same custome is proued by that which Iustine L. Florus doe write that Demetrius hauing bin deliuered by his brother Antiochus king of Siria for an hostage to the Romanes hearing of the death of Antiochus declared to the senat in open asseÌ„bly that as by the law of nations he had giuen place to his elder brother so by the same law the right of succession was then cast vpon him The Parthians who being thrice attempted by the Romans in the time of their chiefest both discipline and strength were able to beare themselues victorious did alwaies acknowledge for their king the next of the bloud of their first king Arsaces Among the Germaines also who were of force to defeate fiue consulare armies of the Romanes Tacitus affirmeth that the eldest sonne did intirely succeede onely the horses did fall to the most valiant And that this was likewise the custome of the Iewes it is euideÌ„t by the whole history of their kings especially where it is said that Ioram succeeded Iosaphat the reason added because he was the eldest I should but burne day as the saying is in running further vpon particulars Herodotus doth aduow it to be a general custome among al men that the first in birth is next in succession Certaine ages after him S. Hierome said that a kingdom is due vnto the eldest In late ages our selues may see that the Tartars Turks Persians all the Asiaticks haue no other form of coÌ„stituting their kings No other is folowed in all the countries of Africk In the west Indies no other is yet discouered Insomuch as when Frances Pizaire in the conquest of Peru had slain Atibalippa the king therof the people brake into shew some of ioy all of contentmeÌ„t because he had made his way to the kingdom by murthering of his elder brother In Europe it is not long since all the Monarchies were successiue When the Empire of Almaine was made electiue it became in short time so either troblesom or base that diuers Princes refused to accept it of late it hath bin setled in one family but hath as yet litle increased either in dignity or in power The people of Denmarke Sweden Hungary and Bâ—eme doe chalenge to themselues a right of election but they accept their king by propinquitie of bloud So they did in Polonia vntill the line of Iagello was worne out and then they elected for king Henry duke of Aniou in France since which time they haue alwaies in the change of their kings exposed their state to faire danger of ruine Vpon this both generall and continuall custome Baldus saith that kingdomes are
in shew then in deede this shew began also to end when by the law Valeria L. Sylla was established dictator for foure and twentie yeares After this the empire did mightely encrease vntil the reigne of Traian◠at which time all authors agree that it was most large and yet far short of your wandring suruey not halfe fifteene thousand miles in compasse In your example of Caesar I neuer saw more vntruthes crowded together in fewer words you say he brake all lawes both humane and deuine that is one his greatest enemies did giue of him a most honorable testimonie You say he tooke all gouernment into his hands alone that is two the people by the law Seruia elected him perpetual dictator You make his death to be an act of the state that is three for they who slew him were both declared pursued by decree of the state for publicke enemies of whom not any one either died a naturall death or liued three yeeres after it was further decreed that the court where he was slaine should be stopped vp that the Ides of March should be called parricidium that the Senate should neuer be assembled vpon that day You say that Augustus was preferred in his place that is foure and all within the compasse of sixe lines Augustus was neuer chosen dictator Suetonius writeth that hee entreated the people vpon his knee not to charge him with that office But Augustus Antonius and Lepidus did first knit in armes by the name of Triumuiri to reuenge the death of Iulius Caesar whervpon a long cruell and doubtfull warre was set vp which continued the space of xx yeers first betweene these three and the murtherers of Caesar then betweene Lepidus and the other two lastly betweene Augustus Antonius and this was the sweet successe of the murther of Caesar. Augustus after his victorie was made perpetuall tribune as Suetonius hath written Dio. saith that he was freed from the power of the lawes as Pompeie also had beene before him Tacitus addeth that the people hauing their hearts broken with broiles permitted him to rise into rule and to draw by degrees the whole authoritie of the state into his handes And so it seemeth that the royall law was not yet established by which the people gaue ouer their power in gouernment wherevpon some make good the sentence which the Senate gaue against Nere because the soueraigntie was not then by any expresse act setled in the Emperour But where you bring the succession of Vespasian as a good successe of this sentence against Nero it is a vvilde and witlesse vntruth Galba succeeded next after Nero who was slaine in a sedition raised by Otho Otho againe was ouercome in field by Vitellius whervpon hee slue himselfe Lastly Vitellius was ouerthrowne and slaine by the Captaines of Vespasian who was the fourth Emperour after Nero. These intestine warres these open battailes fought to the full this slaughter of Emperours which you terme interludes vvere the immediate successe after the death of Nero. You furies of hell whose voices are lightening and thunder vvhose breathing is nothing but sword fire rages and rebellions the encountring of armies the butcherie of millions of men the massacre of princes you accompt enterludes These are your pleasures these your recreations I hope all christian common vvealthes vvill beare an eye ouer your inclination and keepe out both your persons and perswasions from turning their state into an open stage for the acting of these enterludes You continue your base bouldnesse in affirming that the senate procured the death of Domitian that they requested the soldiers to kil Heliogabalus that they inuited Constantine to come doe iustice vpon Maxentius this broken kinde of disguising is familiar vnto you to make such violencies as haue often preuailed against excellēt princes to seeme to be the act of the vvhole state And vvheras you bring the succession of Alexander Seuerus for a good successe of the murther of Heliogabalus being the rarest prince you say that euer the Romanes had you might haue alleaged any author in proofe thereof better then Herodian vvho vvriteth of him in this manner Alexander did beare the name and ensignes of the empire but the administration of affaires gouernment of the state did rest vpon wemen And further he vvriteth that by his slacknesse and cowardice the Romane Armie vvas defeated by the Persians finally that for his vvant of courage he vvas slaine by his owne soldiers By this vve may see that you goe blindfold being so far from caring that many times you scarce know vvhat you vvright Your markable example as you terme it of the change o◠the empire frō the west to the east frō Cōstantin the sixt to Charles king of France doth mark out nothing more vnto vs then your foūdred iudgemēt The questiō is not what one forren prince may do against another but what subiects may do against their soueraign this is the point of cōtrouersie heete you must cloase and not trauerse about in discourses impertinent The change of the kingdome of France from Childeric to Pepin your owne authour Girard affirmeth to be both an ambitious fraudulēt vsurpation wherin Pepin vsed the reuerēce of religiō as a mantle to couer his impietie rebelliō The matters which he obiected against Childeric were two first his insufficiēcie the ordinarie pretence of most rebellions but Girard saith that the auncient custome of the French was to loue honor their kings whether sufficient or vnable worthie or weake that the name of king vvas esteemed sacred by whomsoeuer it was borne Secondly he obiected that his subiects were condicionally sworne vnto him this also Girard writeth to be a forced and cautelous interpretation violently streining the words of their oath to his aduantage and in deede if the oath of the people had ben conditionall vvhat needed they to procure a dispensation for the same This vvas the first act saith he wherby the popes tooke occasion to set in their foot of authoritie for transporting of kingdoms from one race to another which growing to strength hath filled all christian countries with confusion and tumult Likewise the change of that kingdome from the line of Pepin to the line of Capet vvas a meere violence intrusion so vvas it acknowledged by Eudes earle of Paris the first of that family vvho did vsurp for that cause he was constreined after two yeares reigne to quit the crowne to giue place vnto Charles the lawfull heire And vvhen Robert brother vnto Eudes did enter into armes to recouer that vvhich his brother once held he vvas beaten downe and slaine by the faithfull subiects of king Charles Hugh the sonne of Robert nourished this ambition But Hugh Capet his sonne vvith better both opportunitie successe but no better right did accomplish the enterprise For Girard calleth him an vsurper Charles duke of Lorrane the
chaunge which twice hath happened in the whole race of the kings of France I haue spoken before you seeme also either to threaten or presage the third chaunge from the king who now raigneth and other Princes of the house of Burbon It was your desire you applyed your endeuour with all the power and perswasions you could make You knit diuers of the Nobilitie in a trecherous league against him you incensed the people you drew in forren forces to theyr assistance by which meanes the Realme fell daily into chaunge of distresse the men of armes making all things lawfull to their lust The good did feare the euill expect no place was free eyther from the rage or suspition of tumult fewe to bee trusted none assured all things in commixtion the wisest too weake the strongest too simple to auoyde the storme which brake vpon them the people ioyning to their miserable condition many complaints that they had bene abused by you in whose directions they founde nothing but obstinacie and rashnesse two daungerous humours to leade a great enterprise At the last when lamentable experience had made that knowne vnto them which they had no capacitie by reason to foresee they expelled as well your company as counsell out of the Realme and so the firebrands which you had kindled were broken vpon your owne heads hauing opportunitie by your iust banishment to enter into conscience both of the weakenesse and wrong of your aduice The partition of the Realme of France between Charles the great and Carlomon his younger brother and also the vniting thereof againe in Charles after the death of Carloman depended vpon the disposition of Pepin their father and not vpon the election of the people Girard saith that Pepin hauing disposed all things in his new Realme which hee thought necessarie for the suretie thereof hee disposed his estate leauing the Realme of Noion to his sonne Charles and to Carloman his other sonne that of Soissons that by the death of Carloman both his place and his power did accrue vnto Charles In this manner the first of a family who hath attained a kingdome hath ordinarilye directed the succession thereof The contention betweene Lewis le debonaire and his sonnes according to your owne Author Girard proceeded and succeeded after this manner Certaine Lords of France taking discontentment at the immoderate fauours which the king shewed toward Berard his great Chamberlaine conspired against him and for their greater both countenance and strength drew his owne sonnes to bee of their faction But Lewis brake this broile more by foresight then by force and doing execution vpon the principall offenders pardoned his sonnes Yet they interpreting this lenitie to slacknes of courage rebelled againe gathered a greater strength drew Pope Gregorie the fourth to bee a complice of their vnnaturall impietie whereby it appeareth saith Girard that they are either foolish or mischieuous who wil affirm that euery thing is good which the Popes haue done Afterward they tooke their father vnder colour of good faith and sent him prisoner to Tortone then at Compeigne assembled a Parliament composed of their owne confederates wherin they made him a Monke brought his estate into diuision share It is easie to coniecture saith the same Girard what miserable conditions the Realme then endured all lawes were subuerted all things exposed to the rage of the sworde the whole realme in combustion and the people extreamely discontented at this barbarous impietie In the ende Lewes by the aide of his faithfull seruants was taken out of prison and restored to his kingdome and his sonnes acknowledging their faulte were receiued by him both to pardon and fauour His sonne Pepin being dead he diuided his Realme among his other three sonnes Charles Lewes and Lothaire but Lewes rebelled againe and was again receiued to mercie lastly hee stirred a great part of Germanie to reuolt with griefe whereof the good olde man his Father died After his death Lewes and Lothaire vpon disdaine at the great portion which their Father had assigned to their brother Charles raised warre against him The battaile was giuen wherein Charles remained victorious reducing them both vnder such conditions as hee thought conuenient to impose Loe heere one of your plaine and euident examples which is so free from all exception But mindes corruptly inclined holde nothing vnlawfull nothing vnreasonable which agreeth with their passion Loys le Begue succeded after Charles not as you affirme by authoritie of the states but as in France at that time it was not vnusuall by appointment of his father And wheras you write that Loys at his first entrance had like to haue bin depriued by the states but that calling a Parlament he made thē many faire promises to haue their good will it is a very idle vntruth as appeareth by the Author whō you auouch At his death he left his wife great with childe who afterward was called Charles the simple But before he had accomplished the age of 12. yeares there stept vp in his place first Loys and Carloman his bastard brothers then Charles surnamed le Gros and after him Odo Earle of Paris Then Charles the right heire attained the Crowne and then againe were raised against him first Robert Earle of Angiers and afterward Ralph king of Burgūdie But where you attribute these mutations to the authoritie of the states Girard saith that they were by faction vsurpation of such who frō the weaknes of their Prince did make aduantage to their owne ambition affirming plainly that betweene the death of Loys le Begue Charles the simple not one of them who held the crowne of the Realme was lawfull king noting further that the first two races of Kings were full of cruel parricides murthers that in those times the Realme was oftē trauelled with tempests of seditiō Of the vsurpation of Hugh Capet I haue spoken before Girard writeth that althogh he sought many shadowes of right yet his best title was by force which is the cōmō right of first vsurpers And wheras you write that Henry the first was preferred to the crowne of France before Robert his elder brother First it was not by appointment of the states but of their father Secondly Girard maketh the matter doubtfull affirming that some said he was the younger brother Lastly it set vp a dangerous and doubtfull warre betweene them Further where you write that William being a bastarde succeeded Robert his Father in the Duchie of Normandie notwithstanding the saide Robert left two brothers in life it was at that time a custome in France that bastards did succeed euen as lawfull children Thierry bastard of Clouis had for his partage the kingdome of Austrasie now called Lorraine Sigisbert bastard of king Dagobert the first parted with Clouis the twelfth his lawfull brother Loys and Carloman bastards of king Loys le Begue raigned after their Father But in the third race of the kings