complaints made to the King by the Subjects of the King of France and of Denmarke which was well expedited Anno Regni 2. That Treatie of Peace and League with Scotland began before was continued and finished by Commissioners sent from Iames the fourth King of Scotland and by other Commissioners delegate for the King of England those for Scotland were Coli Earl of Argile Chancellor of Scotland N. Bishop of Aberdene the Lord Lisle the Lord Dromonde of Stobhall Master Archibald Quhitlaw Arch-Deacon of Lodion Secretary to the King Lion King at Arms and Duncan of Dundas they came to Nottingham in September Anno Domini 1484 and were honourably receiv'd in the great Chamber of the Castle the King sitting under his Royall Cloth of State Master Archibald Quhitlaw stepping before the rest addrest a very Eloquent Oration unto him in Latine which reflected upon the praise of Martial men Art Military including much to the honour and praise of King Richard This Treatie aimed partly at a Truce and Peace partly at a Marriage betweene Iames the Prince of Scotland and the Lady Anne Daughter of Iohn de la Poole Duke of Suffolke and Neice to King Richard Commissioners for the King of England were Iohn Bishop of Lincolne Richard Bishop of Asaph Iohn Duke of Norfolke Henry Earle of Northumberland Master Iohn Gunthorpe custos privati sigilli Sir Thomas Stanley Lord Stanley Sir N. Lord Strange Sir N. Lord Powis Sir Henry Lord Fitz hugh Sir Humphry Lord Dacres Master Thomas Barrow Master of the Rowles Sir Richard Ratcliff William Catesby and Richard Salkeld The other for the Treatie of Alliance and Marriage were Thomas Arch-Bishop of Yorke Iohn Bishop of Lincolne Iohn Bishop of Worcester Iohn Duke of Norfolke William Earle of Nottingham Iohn Sutton Lord Dudley N. Lord Scroope of Upsall Sir William Hussey Chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench Sir Richard Ratcliffe and William Catesby But the successe of that and many other good intendments were interposed by the inconstancy and contraste of the times The Lady Anne de la Poole upon the the breach thereof resolving to accept no other motion forthwith tooke a religious habit in the Monastery of Sion There was another Treatie of Peace and Truce in this second yeare betweene him and the Duke of Brittaine or at the least given out for peace yet was indeed but a part and pretext of the Treatie for the maine negotiations on the Kings side was how to get the Earle of Richmond out of his custody into his owne or be as well secured of him there as his Brother King Edward was And for this Treatie the chiefe Negotiators were the Bishop of Lincolne and Sir Thomas Hutton for the King the Bishop of Leon and others for the Duke The Treatie began Anno Domini 1484. and was finished and ratified in the yeare following but the Duke violated his part immediately by giving ayde to the Kings Enemies In the same yeare there were Letters made which are yet extant in the Treasury of the Exchequor that moved a Peace and Truce beweene King Richard and Charles the eighth King of France wherein it must be understood the tribute before mentioned was Articled Also in this yeare and the yeare before there was a private Treatie which we must not passe by for the Marriage of the Lady Elizabeth with King Richard himselfe what the successe of it was and how farre it proceeded will more aptly present it selfe in another place Wee are now to take notice of the Duke of Buckinghams revolt for this was the preparative and fourrier of the rest And to give it the more taking feature and specious pretence it must be given out That the cause was the Reformation of an ill Government and Tyranny under which species for Treason is ever fairely palliated and seldome wants the forme of some plea though at the Barre they must take up Armes against the King And here as some Rivers deriv'd from the Sea cannot suddenly loose their taste of saltnesse they discovered their ancient taint and inconstancy which the Prince wisely suspected from the first For the Duke of Buckingham how affably soever he trim'd his countenance it should seeme departed male-content from Court yet made not that generall publick pretended cause of the Kings Crimes all his quarrell but challenged him by some private grudges as denying to give or restore to him the Earledome of Hereford and Constableship of England for they went together a long time which he alledged belonged to the Partage that fell to his great Grand-mother the Lady Anne Daughter and Heire of Thomas Plantagenet alias Woodstock created by King Richard the second Duke of Glocester and Earle of Buckingham and of his Wife Elianor daughter and co-heire of Humphry de Bohun Earle of Hereford and Constable of England Which claime had he considerately look't upon could not rightly revolve to him but rather was for the Kings part For Humphry de Bohun Earle of Hereford of Essex and Northampton Lord of Brecknock and Constable of England in the time of King Edward the third and the last Earle of the Family of the Bohuns had by the Lady Iane his Wife Daughter of Richard Fitz-Allan Earle of Arundel two Daughters and Heires Elianor and Mary Elianor was Married to the same Thomas Plantagenet alias de Woodstock youngest Sonne of King Edward the third Duke of Glocester and Earle of Buckingham Mary the second Daughter was Married to Henry Plantagenet Duke of Lancaster and after King of England by the name of Henry the fourth and the Earledome of Hereford fell to his Wife In favour whereof he was Created Duke of Hereford by King Richard the second and the Earledome now a Dutchy and the rights therof remained in the King and in the Kings Heires and Successors untill the death of King Henry the sixt who dyed without Issue then all the Estate of Lancaster especially that of the Royall Family of Lancaster escheated to King Edward the fourth and from him it came to King Richard as Heire to his Brother and all his Ancestors But the Duke of Buckingham pretended Title to that Earledome by his said Grandmother Anne who was one of the Daughters and Heires of the aforesaid Lady Elianor Wife of Thomas de Woodstock Duke of Glocester and the Wife of Edmond Stafford Earle of Stafford and Grand-father to this Henry Duke of Buckingham who the rather presumed to make this Claime because the Issue of the other Sister Mary being extinct he tooke himselfe also to be her Heire But King Richard relishing something in this neare the disposition and inclination of Bullingbrooke answered That the Earledome of Hereford was of the inheritance of Henry the fourth who was also King of England though by tort and usurpation and will you my Lord of Buckingham Claime to be Heire of Henry the fourth You may then also happily Assume his spirits and lay Claime to the Crowne
Strelley and was so constant in his Affection that although she dyed in his best Age he made a Religious Vow and became a Knight of the Rhodes his Armes are yet to be seene in the Ruines of the Hospitall of Saint Iohns neaâ—e Smithfield and in the Church of Alhallows at the upper end of Lumbard Street which was repaired and enlarged with the Stones brought from that demolished Caenoby he lived sub rege Edvardo filio Regis Henrici as I have seene by the date of his deed in Herthilâ— Anno 1 Ed. 1. Anno 22. Ed. 1. From this Knight of the Rhodes descended Sir Iohn Bucke who for his too much forwardnesse in charging a Fleet of Spaniards without the leave of the Earle of Arundell Lord Admirall was committed to the Tower testified by the Records there Anno 13. Richard the second Lawrence Buck his Son followed Edward Plantagenet Duke of Yorke and was at the Battel of Agin Court with him when he was slaine Iohn Bucke Knight the Sonne of this Laurence married a Daughter and Heire of the House of Staveley out of which are descended the Barons Parres of Kendall and Rosse Queene Katherine the last wife of King Henry the eighth the Lord Parre Marquesse of Northampton and the Herberts Earles of Pembrooke and Montgomery These Bucks residing for the most part at West-Stanton and Herthill in Yorkeshire and matched into the Families of Strelley or Stirely of Woodhall Thorpe Tilney then of Lincolnshire and Savill by which we have much Noble kindred Sir Iohn Bucke for his service to the House of Yorke especially at Bosworth lost his head at Leicester he married the Daughter of Henry Savill by whom he had Robert Bucke and other Children who were brought into the Southerne parts by Thomas Duke of Norfolke where they have remained ever since for the Children being Orphans were left in miserable estate by the Attainder of their Father But the Duke bestowed two Daughters in marriage one with the Heire of Buck The other with the Heire of Fitz-Lewis very Ancient Families from which Matches divers honourable and Noble Persons are descended The Sonnes were one a Souldier the other a Courtier the third a Priest afterward the Duke bestowed Robert Bucke the Eldest Sonne at Melford Hall in Suffolke and married him into the Families of Higham and Cotton as also did the Blounds of Elwaston the Talbots of Grafton from whom the Barons of Monioy and the late Earles of Shrewsbury descended one of the Daughters of this Bucke Married to Fredericke Tilney of Shelley Hall in Suffolke his nearest Kinsman by the Duchesse his Mothers side But some perhaps must call this my vanity I shall but answer them that I thinke my selfe bound by all the bloud and memory I claime from them to pay them my best Relations and endeavours acknowledging with the great Consulare Philosopher Parentes charissimos habere debemus quod ab ijs vita patrimontum libertas Civit as tradita est And I should thinke there is none who hath an interest in the quality of Gentile or Noble for all is one but lookes backe which some delight to their first Commemoration and finds a strong engagement due to the Vertues and worth of their first Fathers for that expresse charge to honour Father and Mother is not to be understood only of our Parents superstits and living here with us but our forefathers that is beyond our great Grandfather for we have no proper word for them above that degree but Antecessours vulgò Ancestours whom the Romans called Majores and comprehendeth all our Progenitours departed sooner or later for the word Pater and Mater as also Parens Parentes extend very largely and reach up to the highest Ancestours The Ancient Roman Jurisconsults deliver in their Law for an Axiome that Appellatione Parentum omnes in infinitum majores utriusque sexus significantur and the word Parentes yet spreadeth further comprehending all Kinsfolkes and Cosins of our Bloud and Linage being used in that sense by AElius Lampridius by Iulius Capitolinus and other the best Writers in the times of the declined Empire as Isaac Causabonus hath well observed in his Annotations The Italians Spanish and French whose Language is for the most part Romanzi mongrell Latine and broken and corrupted Romane Language use Parenti Parentes and Parents for all their Kinsfolkes and Gentilitious Cosins We English-men being more precise follow the Ancient and Classique Latine Writers holding Parent strictly to the simple signification of Pater and Mater the present and immediate Parents But the using of the word Parentes as those Imperiall Historians use it serveth better for our purpose here And I could most willingly imitate the Pious Gentlemen of Italy Spainâ— and France in their Religious and Charitable indeavours to advance the happinesse of their Parents defunct if those desires could besteed them But where I should crave pardon I become more guilty and extravogant it is time therefore to know good manners and returne home to our proper taske which will be to refell the grosse and blacke Calumnies throwne unjustly upon the Memory and Person of King RICHARD And falls within the Circle of the next Booke Explicit Liber Secundus THE THIRD BOOKE OF KING RICHARD THE THIRD The Contents of this Booke THe Defamations of King Richard examined and answered Doctor Morton and Sir Thomas Moore malevolent to the House of Yorke Their frivolous exceptions against his gestures lookes teeth shape and birth hie vertues depraved The death of King Henry the sixth and his Sonne Edward Prince of Wales The Actors therein The offence of killing an anointed King Valiant men hate treacheries and bloudy acts King Richard not deformed The Slanders of Clarence translated to King Richard The Cause of Clarences execution How the Sonnes of King Edward came by their deaths King Richard Exculpable thereof The story of Perkin VVarbeck compared with Don Sebastian King of Portugall who are Biothanati Counterfeit Prince detected young Prince marvellously preserved Many testimonies for the assertion that Perkin VVarbeck was Richard Duke of Yorke his honourable entertainment with forraigne Princes vox populi Reasons why it is not credible King Richard made away his two Nephewes the force of Confession The evill of Torture the guilt of attempting to escape out of prison what an escape is The Earle of Oxford severe against Perkin and his end The base Sonne of King Richard the third secretly made away The Sonne of the Duke of Clarence put to death The power of furies Demones Genii Apollonii Majestas Quid tibi non vis alteri ne feceris THE THIRD BOOKE OF KING RICHARD THE THIRD THere is no story that shewes the planetary affections and malice of the vulgar more truly then King Richards and what a tickle game Kings have to play with them though his successor Henry the seventh play'd his providently enough with helpe of the standers by yet even those times which had promised the happiest example of a
allatum est id sibi relatum esse putant And if their injustice suffer under the same lash they must know this doome hath the credit of an Oracle quale verbum dixisti tale etiam audies But so much gall and envy is thrown upon King Richards story as cannot possibly fall into the stile of an ingenuous and charitable pen all his virtue is by a malitious Alchymy substracted into crimes and where they necessarily fall into mention either scornefully transmitted or perverted with injurious constructions not allowing him the resemblance of goodnesse or merit If his disposition be affable and curteous as generally it was which their owne relations cannot deny then he insinuates and dives into the peoples hearts so where he expresses the bounty and magnificence of his minde it is a subtle tricke to purchase friendship let him conceale the knowledge of his jujuries and his patience is deepe hypocrisie for his mercy and clemency extended to the highest offendors as to Fogge the Atturney who had made a Libell against him besides the counterfeiting of his hand and seale they were but palliated and his friendship meerely a Court brow They have yet a more captious and subtle calumny reproaching the casting of his eyes motions of his fingers manner of his gesture and his other naturall actions I confesse with Cicero that status incessus sessio occubatio vultus oculi mannum motio have a certaine kind of decorum but he makes it not a vice to erre in any of them nor that any errour committed in them was a vice although in him it must be so defined by the Lawes of Utopia nay they will dissect his very sleepes to finde prodigious dreames and bug-beares accidents frequent to themselves which they dresse in all the fright and horrour fiction and the stage can adde who would have sung Peans to his glory had his sword brought victory from Bosworth field but now their envy is borne with him from his mothers wombe and delivers him into the world with a strange prodigy of Teeth although I am perswaded neither Doctor Morton nor Sir Thomas Moore ever spake with the Dutchesse his Mother or her Midwife about the matter But if true it importeth no reason why those earely and natalatious teeth should presage such horrour and guilt to his birth when we shall remember those many Noble and worthy men who have had the like without any imputation of crime as Marcus Curius sirnamed thereupon Dentatus Cu. Papiene King of the Epirots a Prince much renowned for his victories and virtues Monodas Sonne of Prusias King of Bithynia borne with an intire semicircular bone in their mouthes instead of Teeth then they aggravate the pangs of the Dutchesse in her travaile with him which had not been sufferable without death if so extreame and intolerable as they would have them thought for Quod ferri potest leve est quod non breve est But she overcame them and lived almost fifty yeares after others have died in that Bed yet the children not made guilty of murther Iulia the daughter of Iulius Caesar Wife to great Pompey Iuliola the deare daughter of Marcus Cicero Wife of Dolabella and Iunia Claudilla the Empresse and Wife of Caligula died all of the difficulties and extremity of their childe-bearing so did Queene Elizabeth Wife of King Henry the seventh and since the Mother of that most towardly and hopefull Prince Edward the sixth in travaile of his birth with many thousands more whose deaths much lesse their paines were never imputed to their children The next objection is somewhat of more regard but as farre without the certainty of a proofe which is the pretended deformity of his body controverted by many some peremtorily asserted he was not deformed of which opinion was Iohn Stow a man indifferently inquisitive as in all their other affaires after the verball relations and persons of Princes and curious in his description of their features and lineaments who in all his inquiry could finde no such note of deformitie in this King but hath acknowledged viva voce that he had spoken with some ancient men who from their owne sight and knowledge affirmed he was of bodily shape comely enough onely of low stature which is all the deformity they proportion so monstrously neither did Iohn Rouce who knew him and writ much in his discription observe any other and Archienbald Qhuitlaw Ambassador unto this King from Scotland in his Oration saies he had corpus exiguum not otherwise so to my conceit Philip de Comines and the Prior de Croyland who had seen and knowne this Prince seeme to cleere him implicatively for in all their discourses of him they never directly nor indirectly covertly or apertly insinuate this deformity which I suppose they would not have passed And by his sundry Pictures which I have seen there was no such disproportion in his person or lineaments but all decently compacted to his stature his face of a warlike aspect which Sir Thomas Moore calleth a crabled visage of all the children being said to be most like his Father in favour and composition of shape who though not tall was of an even and well disposed structure And Sir Thomas Moore himselfe doth not certainely affirme the deformity but rather seemes to take it as a malitious report for saith he King Richard was deformed as the fame ranne by those that hated him habemus reuâ— consitentem and surely it had been a strange kinde of confidence and reason in Doctor Shaw to disclaime a thing which must be so palpable openly in the Pulpit at Saint Pauls Crosse whilst the Protector was present before many hundreds of people who had seen and known him before and might then better view and note him In these words the Lord Protector is a very noble Prince the speciall patterne of Knightly prowesse as well in all Princely behaviour as in the lineaments of his body and in the favour of his visage representing the very face of the Noble Duke his Father this is the Fathers owne figure this is his owne countenance the very sure and undoubted Image and expresse likenesse of that Noble Duke Now what can malice extract out of this to upbraid or stigmatize his honour if men of blemisht persons may containe a wise valiant learned liberall and religious soule and be in every part most absolute exampled to us in many famous men and at our home as well in this present age as in the more ancient we have had men of a harsh fabrick most nobly furnisht in the composures of their mindes But because these cavils could not fetch blood from him they will make him guilty of other men and first of King Henry the sixth whose murther they say and very favourably his Brother Edward contrived but wrought him to act it an accusation of very harsh credit that either King Edward so truly noble and valiant a Prince should put
a Prince and his owne Brother upon so horrid a thing or he indure to heare it Sir Thomas Moore holds King Edward would not ingage his Brother in so butcherly an office there being many reasons that he durst not neither doe his adversaries charge him directly by any credible Author of that time or discover by whom this murther was onely the Prior of Croyland maketh it somewhat suspitious Hoc tempore inventum est corpus regis Henrici sexti exanime in turre Londinarium Parâ—at Deus spatium poenitentiae ei donet quiâ—unque sacrilegas manus in Christum Domini ausus immittere unde agens tyranni patiens gloriosi martyris titulum mereantur Tyrannus in the proper construction being Rex for whosoever is Rex is Tyrannus according to the ancient signification for amongst the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was used for a King simply good or bad and this some hold makes against King Edward Richard being Duke of Gloucester then yet so doubtfully as may be refelled by good authority for it is the opinion of very grave men Henry the sixth was not murthered but died of naturall sicknesse and extreame infirmity of body Rex Henricus sextus ab annis jam multis ex accidente sibi aegrituâ—ine quaâ—dam animi incurreret infirmitatem sic aeger corpore impos mentis permansit diutius this considered with the aggravation of his griefe and sorrow in the losse of his Crown and liberty being then a prisoner the overthrow of all his friends and forces in the Battaile of Teuxbury but above all the death of his Sonne the Prince might master a stronger heart and constitution then his in a shorter time which opinion is received and alleadged by a learned and discreet Gentleman The occasion of the murther of King Henry the sixth hath no other proofe but the malitious affirmation of one man for many other men more truly did suppose that he died of meere griefe and melancholy when he heard the overthrow of his cause and friends with the slaughter of the Prince his Sonne And Iohannes Majerus saith it was reported King Henry the sixth died of griefe and thought Concerning the slaughter of the Prince his onely Sonne it is noted to be casuall and made suddaine by his owne insolence not out of any pretended malice or premeditated treachery and so it cannot be called wilfull murther for the King demanding him why he invaded his Kingdome his reply was he might and ought to doe it in defence and preservation of the right which the King his Father and his heires had in the Crowne and maintained this lofty answer so peremtorily and boldly the King in rage strooke him with his fist as some say armed with a Gantlet and instantly the Noblemen attending as George Duke of Clarence Marquesse Dorset the Lord Hastings and others drew their swords upon the Prince and killed him which they would make the particular fact of Duke Richard But to the contrary I have seene in a faithfull Manuscript Chronicle of those times that the Duke of Gloucester onely of all the great persons stood still and drew not his sword the reasons to credit this are first it might be in his meere sence of honour seeing so many drawn upon him there was no need of his or in his respects to the Princes Wife who as Iohannes Majerus saith was in the roome and neare akinne to the Dutchesse of Yorke his Mother and to whom the Duke was also very affectionate though secretly which he soone after demonstrated in marrying her nay this Duke bore such a sence of noble actions in his bosome that mislikeing the obscure and meane buriall of Henry the sixth this Princes Father he caused his corps to be taken from Chertsey and to be Honourably conveyed to the Royall and stately Chappell of Windsor ordained for Kings And Sir Thomas Moore saith further he was suspected to have the contriving part in the Duke of Clarence his Brothers death yet confesseth it was commonly said Richard opposed himselfe against the unnaturall proceedings of the King both privately and publiquely and the truth is it was the Kings owne immoveable and inexplorable doome who thought it justly and necessarily his due for Clarence stood guilty of many treasons and great ones and by his ingratidude had so forfeâ—ted himselfe to the Kings displeasure that no friend durst move in his behalfe this the King did afterward acknowledge with some discontent when his wrath had cooled as we may guesse in this expression of his O infaelicem â—ratrem pro cujus salute neâ—o homo rogavit yet Polidor Virgil doth not rightly understand here as I conjecture by the sequell but let us interpret that a little and take up another accusation which puts into the way That Richard Duke of Gloucester should scandall the birth of the King his Brother with basterdy and alleadge it for a speciall matter in Doctor Shawes Sermon that he should fame King Edward the fourth a bastard and that the Dutchesse his Mother had wanton familiarity with a certaine Gentleman this he might erroneously scatter in the Pulpit and take it up on the like intelligence by which in the same Sermon he called her to whom King Edward was betrothed before his marriage with the Lady Grey Elizabeth Lucy whose name was for a certaine Ellenor Butler alias Talbot so called by King Richard and written in the Records This drift had been too grosse for King Richard to lay an imputation of whoredome upon his owne Mother a virtuous and honourable Lady being it cast also a shame and basterdy upon himselfe for if she offended in one she might as likely offend in another and in the rest And to quit him of it Sir Thomas Moore Richard Grafâ—on Mr. Hall say that King Richard was much displeased with the Doctor when he heard the relation which the Duke of Buckingham also affirmed in his speech to the Lord Mayor of London That Doctor Shaw had incurred the great displeasure of the Protectour for speaking so dishonourably of the Dutchesse his Mother That he was able of his owne knowledge to say he had done wrong to the Protectour therein who was ever known to beare a reverend and filiall love unto her and to cut of all farther doubt and question it was proved and is testified upon records that George Duke of Clarence onely raised this slander in an extreame hatred to the King his Brother many jarres falling between them by which the King had a just cause to take notice of his malice Visus est dux Clarentiae magis ac magis a regis praesentia desuâ—trahere in consilio vix verbum proferre neque libenter bibere aut manducare in domo Regis When Richard even in that calamitous time Henry the sixth had overthrowne King Edward in a battaile recovered the Kingdome and proclaimed Edward an usurper so faithfull was his Brother that
Eurinnies and beleeved haunted those men that had purposed or acted a wickednesse upon which the Poet said well Patiturque unos mens saucia Manes And assigned to every man his protecting Spirit whom the Greekes called Doemones the Latines Genios concluding that when the Genius of him against whom the mischiefe aimes is stronger and more active then his who is to act it there the Plot hardly taketh effect For example produce the mortall enmity betweene Octavianus Caesar and M. Antonius in which Anthony could never prevaile by any Attempt who consulting with his Soothsayers they give the reason to beethe power of Octavians Genius above his It is reported the great Philosopher Appollonius had such a secret protection and so strong that the Emperour Domitian had no power over his life though hee studied meanes to take it Suidas adding that this Philosopher in confidence of his Genius when he left the Emperour added this verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Me non occides quia fataliter protectus sum which is that Flamius Vopiscus calleth Majestatem Apollonij as I ghesse and with it the Profestors of Christian Religion agree in the effects not in the causes for those whom the Heathen call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemones c. Genios the Christian Theologues call Angels or Spirits whereof they hold good and bad But to returne to the matters further Allegate Probate The industrious Antiquary Master Iohn Stow being required to deliver his opinion concerning the proofes of this murther affirmed it was never proved by any credible evidence no not by probable suspitions or so much as by the Knights of the Post that King Richard was guilty of it And Sir Thomas Moore being puzelled with his Equivocations sayes that it could never come to light what became of the bodies of these two Princes Grafton Hall and Hollinshead agreeing in the same report that the trueth hereof was utterly unknowne Then where is their farre seeing knowledge that will have them transported into Forraign Countreyes or drowned or their giganticke proofes that say peremptorily they were both murthered and buryed in the Tower by those foure named before if so we need go no further for the truth But these are splenitick reaches and the Parachronisme is too groste as the Comaedian said Quod dictum indictum est Quod modo ratum irritum est Besides if Perkin were not the second Sonne of King Edward he must bee nothing for the Flemish French and Wallons acknowledged no such Noble young man to be borne in Warbecke or in Tourney but make honourable mention of a young Sonne of the King of England who was brought to the Dutchesse of Burgundy his Aunt being then in Flanders and how hee was in France and in other Kingdomes And surely so many Noble and discreet English if they had not knowne him to be the same by most certaine tokens and evidence would not so confidently have laid downe their lives to confirme their knowledge of him or hazarded their judgements and honours upon an Imposture or vanity especially those who had places of Quality and Eminency neare the King then living and were in favour at Court Therefore I would be resolv'd from our Anti-Richards what aim those Noble-men could have in averring him the Son of Edward the Fourth by the hazard of their lives and Estates if the KING pleased and how could they expect lesse for though they were enough to justifie it a truth they were too few to maintaine it against him there could be no aime or hope to super-induce young Richard to be King but meerly I am perswaded in point of truth and honour as they thought themselves bound to doe they freely tendred their lives to make good what their Conscience knowledge witnessed for it would be an Imposture of a miraculous Deception so many worthy and wise persons both of the Nobility and Clergy some of them having served the King his Father and himselfe that they all in their particular and generall intelligence and understandings should be mistaken and cheated I say it was a strange delusion if it could bee so but indeede those that would have it so leave it in question and know not well what to make of their own relations or how to resolve his History and if wee marke Sir Francis Bacon in the life of Henry the Seventh though his speculation be tender and as favourable as hee can that way touching the History of this young Duke hee gently slides from it Explicit liber tertius THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORY OF KING RICHARD the Third The Contents UPon what occasion the sentence of Bastardy was given upon the Children of King Edward the 4 th and why The sundry Loves Wooings Contracts and Marriages of King Edward the Fourth His divers Concubines His device of the Fetterlock and the Faulcon His wooing the Lady Elianor Talbott alias Butler the Lady Bona of Savoy and the Lady Elizabeth Gray widdow his marriage with her His former Marriage or Contract with the said Elianor her wrongs and her death Kings must not marry the daughters of their Vassalls nor other without the consent of their Barons Doctor Stillington Bishop of Bath Imprisoned for speaking of King Edwards Marriage with the Lady Elianor Talbott Spuria vitulamina How King Edward might have salved those Errors and prevented all the mischiefes following them The Children of King Edward the Fourth declared and adjudged illegitimate King Edwards death suspected by poyson the mortality of the Plantagenets The Authority of Parliament Parliaments how so called and derived Parliaments against Parliaments The first Parliament of King Henry the seventh what Treason is whether Soveraigne Princes may be said to commit Treason against their Subiects The treaty of Marriage between K. Richard the third and the Lady Elizabeth Plantagenet and cheifely sought by her selfe and the Queene her Mother The entertainement of the Lady Elizabeth at the Court the first Libell of Divorse the scruples of the Lady Elizabeth King Richard never meant to marry her The marriages of Neeces allowed by the Pope and usuall the true cause of Sir Thomas Moores Condemnation and execution The FOVRTH BOOK OF King Richard The Third THe Title King Richard the Third had to the Crown acâ—rued to him by the illegitimacie of the Children of King Edward the Fourth and the Attainder of the Duke of Clarence with the Corruption of his Blood and forfeiture of the Title in him and in his Heirs of which there was no question but of the forfeiture and disheritage of the sons of Edward the Fourth there hath been much The true cause hath not nor cannot be well known without the Narration of King Edward's sundry Loves and Wooings specially his Contracts and Marriages I shall not need to intimate how amorous and wanton this King was his many Mistrisses or Amasia's he kept in several private places whereof the most famous was Katharine de Clarington
words the names Shire-motts Eolmotts and Halymotts that is the meeting or assembling of the men of a Shire of a Town and of the Tenants of a Hall or Mannor had their beginning also Now as Sinoth is more used in the Parliaments themselves so Gemott is more familiar to the Historians And this Parliament of Anno 1 Rich. 3. could be of no lesse power and vertue witnesse the many and good Laws made in it albeit the second Marriage of King Edward was adjudged unlawful and the Acts of that Parliament for the most part repealed and abrogated afterward yet the evidence is clear enough that the Judges and Law-makers of that Parliament were wise and religious men and their Laws upright and just Therefore whatsoever was adjudged by them was to be received and held as authentick and inviolable how roughly soever it was afterward handled And in this case of the disabling of King Edwards sons there is least reason to suspect them the cause being so new so plain and notoriously known that no man could be ignorant therein Therefore to have given any other Judgement but according to the truth of evidence and certainty of knowledge it might justly have been censured an act of errour and ignorance or partiality and injustice For it was not the opinion of a few nor raised out of a weak judgement and perverted knowledge but a strong and general evidence by the ablest and best knowing If it be objected The case was obscure and doubtful That cannot be for the Estates had all substantial and ready means to inform themselves of the truth and every circumstance whereby they might be fully satisfied and cleared in all the niceties and doubts for all the witnesses and dealers in that cause and such persons as were acquainted with it were then living and they must and would have truely and certainly informed the Court of Parliament For the special and reverend care of this Court is The advancing of Justice and Right Therefore all Subjects by nature or grace are bound in their Allegeance to give pious and religious credit to Parliaments and to believe in their Authority and Power as the former times did in Oracles We must also confidently hold the high and transcendent quality and vertue of that Court to have all power and authority And no question to repeal a good and just Law made in Parliament is a wrong and scandal to that General Councel and to the universal wisedom providence justice and piety of the Kingdom In the Parliament 1 H. 7. there is an Act attainting the King R. 3. of high Treason for bearing Arms against the Earl of Richmond intituled The Soveraign Lord this was at his proceeding from Milford-haven into Leicester But when he came to fight the Battel he was then no King nor Soveraign but a Chief of such as made head against their Soveraign In which Paragraph there appears three grosse faults First Certain it is Richard during his Raign was a Soveraign therefore no Subject Next there was no enemy in the field who was then a Soveraign but all liege Subjects to the Crown And Richard being the King and Soveraign could not be adjudged a Traitor nor lawfully attainted of High Treason Then let it be considered whether a person of sacred Majestie that is an Anointed Soveraign may commit the Crime of Treason Also in this Parliament all the Barons Knights and Gentlemen that bore Arms in the field for the King were attainted of Treason their goods and lands confiscate and one Thomas Nan dickâ— a Necromancer and Sorcerer who with others had been condemned to die for using that hellish Art was in this Parliament pardoned the horrible things he had committed And it seemed he had not then left his black trade for he hath in that Act of Parliament still the style of Conjurer viz. Thomas Nandick of Cambridge Conjurer which had been a fitter style for his Gibbet then his Pardon although he had not by his Sorcery or Inchantment hurt or destroyed any humane yet for his renouncing and abjuration of Almighty God for it is the opinion of a learned and religious Doctor Magos Incantores saith he hominum genus indignum quod vel ob solam Dei O. M. abjurationem capitali suplicio afficiatur Other such things there be in that Parliament which detract it in the opinion of some those of the best and wisest repute Now let us come to examine that Treaty the King had about marrying the Lady Plantagenet which is censured to be a thing not onely detestable but much more cruel and abominable to be put in agitation Item That all men and the Maid her self most of all detested this unlawful Copulation Item That he made away the Queen his wife to make way for this Marriage and that he propounded not the Treaty of Marriage until the Queen his wife was dead That there was such a motion for the marriage of this Lady to the King is true and which is more and most certain it was entertained and well liked by the King and his friends a good while also by the Lady Elizabeth and by the Queen her mother who received it with so much content and liking that presently she sent into France for her son the Marquesse of Dorset that was there with the Earl of Richmond earnestly solliciting him to renounce the Faction and return home to the Kings favour and advancement which she assured him and sends the Lady Elizabeth to attend the Queen at Court or to place her more in the eye so in the heart of the King The Christmas following which was kept in Westminster-Hall for the better colour of sending her eldest daughter she sends her other four thither who were received with all honourable courtesie by the King and Queen Regent especially the Lady Elizabeth was ranked most familiarly in the Queens favour and with as little distinction as Sisters But society nor all the Pomp and Festivity of those times could cure that sad wound and languor in the Queens brest which the death of her onely son had left The addresse of those Ladies to Court albeit the feigned wooing of the King was in a politick and close way gave cause of suspition to the Earl of Richmonds intelligencing friends that the King had a purpose to marry the Lady Elizabeth which must prevent the Earl both of his hope to her and to the Crown by her Title a clause that made them mutter very broadly against it for indeed what more concern'd them therefore the King treats it more privately and coldly but the Queen-widow and the Lady stood constant in their desires and expectation onely the Objection was The King had a wife as though he could not marry another whilst she lived not remembring how usual it was not onely for Kings but private men to put away one wife and marry another for venial crimes as well as Adultery and Treason The Romanes might repudiate their
vires Major in exiguo regnabat corpore virtus In te enim sunt rei militaris virtus peritia foelicitas autoritas quae omnia in optimo exercitus principe Cicero requirit In te Serenissime Princeps praeclari Regis Imperatoris praecepta it a concurrunt ut nihil ad tuam Bellicam aut domesticam virtutem cujusquam oratoris verbis apponi possit Tu igitur Serenissime Domine Princeps de ineunda inter te nostrum Principem charitate amicitia sic age ut Angli Scoti dilectionis respectu nullum penitus discrimen habeatur sed in unum amoris benevolentiae vinculum videantur esse connexi sic numerabiles commoditates ex tui nostri populi dilectione dulci connubio unione Matrimonio Affinitate consurgent In freta dum fluvii current dum montibus umbrae Lustrabunt connexa polus dum sidera pascet Dum juga montis aper fluvios dum piscis amabit Dumque Thymo pascentur apes dum rore cicadae Semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt But what is this or more to malice and detraction that haunt him to his death and after that making the Catastrophe or last Tragical act of his life at Bosworth-field an immediate stroke of the divine vengeance for such offences as they please to particular from women or superstitious Clerks whose natures startle at the noise of War and Martial trial to whose fears and weaknesse such reasons would sound tolerable But if Bishop Morton and Sir Thomas Moor although they were men of the long Robe had considered with whom they conversed and where they most lived how could they forget That to die valiantly in the field for Countrey life and friends was always held a glorious farewel to the world or what infinite numbers of vertuous and most noble Captains have fallen so by the Sword and fate of War Lampridius affirmeth that all the best men have died violent deaths and what higher Quarrel could call any Heroical spirit then King Richard's fighting for a Crown kingdom and all his happie Fortunes here God hath many times taken away Princes and changed the Government of kingdoms for the iniquities of the people why then should not King Richard's fate be held in a modest Scale until we can better know or judge it Nor can it be safe to enquire or peremptorily to determine further after Gods proceedings in such cases He that owes him no malice things looked upon thorow judgement and charity may with more justice say he died valiantly and in a just quarrel when many of his enemies fell by deaths more vile and shameful Executions But he that hath but a reasonable pittance of Humanity will censure no mans life by the manner of his death for many good and holy men have suffered by violent deaths though it be this Princes fortune to fall under the ill affections of envious pens more then many that committed more publike and proved crimes then he which wanted much of his vertues and desert Examine him with Henry the First the good Clerk and learned Prince but so covetous and ambitious that he could not be content to usurp in this Kingdom the Right and Primogeniture of his elder brother Robert Courthose but by force took the Dukedom of Normandy from him and to make his injuries more exact and monstrous cast him into the Castle of Gloucester there kept him in cruel durance and caused his eyes to be put out so wearied him to most miserable death King Iohn by the general voice is charged with the murder of Arthur Plantagenet the son of his eldest brother and so the next Prince in right of blood to King Richard the First And it is written by good Authors that Edward the Third was not onely privie and consenting to the deposing the King his father a King anointed but also to his Massacre And because Edward Plantagenet Earl of Kent Protector and his Uncle moved him to restore the Crown to his father Edward the Second he called him Traitor and cut off his head at Westminster How King Henry the Fourth caused King Richard the Second the true and anointed King to be cruelly butchered at Pomfret is too notorious and this was Scelera sceleribus tueri King Edward the Fourth is accused of the murder and death of the King Saint Henry and of Edward Prince of Wales his son Ut supra King Henry the Seventh although amongst the best Kings in his general character is not thought guiltlesse of that Crimen sacrum vel regale in cutting off Edward Plantagenet Earl of Warwick an innocent Edwardum filium Ducis Clarenciae puerum infantem in suam suorum securitatem capite plexit And to secure his Estate had more then learnt other smart rules of Policie That reach of State upon Philip of Austrich Duke of Burgundy King of Castile and Arragon is not the least memorable This Prince Philip was by crosse Fortune put into the Kings hands purposing out of Flanders to go into Spain with the Queen his wife took shipping at Sluce and passing by the coasts of England was by a tempest forced for his safety to put into the Port of Weymouth in Dorset-shire the Queen being ill and distempered much with the storm was compelled to make some stay there Sir Iohn Carew and Sir Thomas Trenchard principal men in those parts gave speedy intelligence of this to the King who was glad of the accident and purposed to make good use of it as speedily returning his command to give them all honourable entertainment but not suffer them to depart until he had seen and saluted them The Duke ignorant of this as soon as the Queen and the rest had recover'd and refresht themselves thought he was onely to give those Knights thanks and take his leave which they by way of courtesie and request interpose in behalf of the Kings vehement desire to salute him and the Queen a motion the Duke much prest to be excused from as the necessity of his journey stood but the intreaty was so imperious he must stay and alter his journey for Windsor to meet the King who received him there in a magnificent manner and at the height of a Feast propounds a suit to the Duke for Edmund de la Pool then in his Dominions a pretender to the Crown of England and not so soundly affected to him a suit of a harsh exposition as the Duke apprehended it and to the blemish of his honour and piety as he nobly urged but no argument had vertue nor no vertue argument enough to excuse it the King must have him or the Duke must stay Cast upon this extreme and foreseeing what disadvantages were upon him some honourable conditions granted that he should neither lay punishment nor death upon him he gave his promise to send him and the King strictly and religiously bound himself to the exceptions
Hen. 7. and dies of greife 143. Elizabeth daughter of Ed. 4. desired by her letter to marry with Richard 3. 128. 129. Elianor Talbot alias Butler married to E. 4. 116. her wrongs death 122. Escape what the offence is 100. F. FAulcon Serrure a French devise of obseen signification 115. Faulconbridge a famous Pyrate apprehended by a wile 9. Flattery and Flatterers 52. 133. 78. Fortune inconstant 41. Vertuous Master of her 57. Fortitude a notable example in Rio. 3. 59. 60. 61. Friends and friendship 52 best known in adversity Ib. French King payes a tribute of 75000. crownes to K. Edw. 4. and rich pensions to diverse Noble men 29. G. GAston de Foix K. of Navarr 19. Gray Woodvile and others of the Reginists executed at Pomfret for treachery 13 Glocester City rewarded by Rich. 3. for their loyalty 28. Gâ—mot what it is 125. Genius or Angell Guardian 106. H. HAstings his affection to Edw. 4. his children 13. Is betrayed and executed in the Tower ibid. Henry 2. K. of England his great descent and spacious Empire 4. his penance for Tho Beckets death 5. Sirnamed du Court Mantea why 4. Henry 4. King of England caused his soveraigne Rich. 2. anointed King to bee Murthered 14. Entailes the Crowne to his heires 50. Henry 6. K. of England not murthered by Rich. 3. but dyed a naturall death of griefe and melancholy 80 81. Henry Teâ—dor Earle of Richm. borne in Pembrooke castle 16. His noble descent 144 145. by his mother 50. by his Grand-mother and Father Ib. His escape into France 16. And there detained prisoner 17 18 19. His various and doubtfull fortunes Ib. 43. 57. Is attainted of high Treason 30. A description of his Person and qualities 42 58. 144. A wise provident a religious Prince 58. 144. Laies claime to the Crowne of England 17. Made good by marriage 53. And the Popes Bull 55. And act of Parliament 145. His title de jure belli or of conquest confirmed by the Pope and distasted by the Barons 54 55. Invades England with ill successe 43. His 2. invasion by aid of the French 56 57. 59. Overthrowes K. R. 3. at Redmore heath and is crowned by the name of Henry 7 th 62. His vow at the high Altar in Vannes 42. Is very covetous 88. too partiall and credulous 51. Unkinde and severe to his Wife 143. And to the Wife and Children of Edw. 4. Ib. His pretence against the Ea of Warwick 105. 141. And Perk. Warbeck alias Rich. Plantag 95. His breach of promise 93. He feared 3. men specially Ib. His reach upon the Duke of Burgundy 142. His charge to his son upon his death-bed ib. Henry the first K. of England sirnamed Beauclerke 16. Or the good Clerk His ambition and covetousnesse 141. cruelty to his elder Brother ib. Heralds whence the name derived 138. a Colledg of Heralds founded by R. 3. ibid. Herbertus Chamberlaine to W. Rufus Ancestor to the Herberts of Pemb. and Mountgom founder of that name 16. Historians their great partiality 134 135. 143. The errours of vulgar Historians 41. Howards their great Nobility alliance and discent from Hewardus or Herewardus the story of him 66. signification of the name ib. of Hawardus 67. Tho Howard Barl of Surrey escapes Bosworth field 64. A notable speech of his showing his integrity ibid. Is advanced by Henry 7. ib. Triumphator Scotorum 67. Sir Charles Howard Lord Admirall in 88. His noble fame 67. I. IAmes the 4 th King of Scotland denies his tribute to England 10. An army is sent to recover it ib. But a Truce concluded ibid. James the 5 th of Scotland challenges Thomas Earle of Arundel in Campe fight 62. James King of Great Brittaine his Noble elemency to some regall Titulars 135. Jane Shore King Edw. 4. his Concubine 115. 135. Jerusalem a barren soile 6. Imperiall Ensigns of England their signification 26. Ingratitude ex 59 60. John King of England charg'd with the murther of his Nephew 141. K. KAtherin wife of Sir Otho Swinford Mother of the Beauforts 44. Kings have their bounds 29. Their prerogatives in Iudgments and Controversies 54. Cannot commit high Treason 63. May not marry their Subjects 119. A King deposed for so doing ib. Kings and kingdomes in Gods disposing 63. changed by him why 140. Two evils especially the overthrow of Kings and kingdomes 103. To kill an Anoynted King a sacrilegious offence p. 80. Knights and Lords created 25. L. LAncaster and Beaufort how they differ 30. 44. 47. Legitimation What the Popes legitimation is and what the Princes 47 48. Liars need of good memories 84. Lancaster escheated to Edward 4. 35. 47. Don Duart de Lancastro 45. Laws good Laws made by R. 3. Lawes against Bastards 48. Loyalty a rare example 64. M. MArgaret Plantag daughter of Geo. Duke of Clarence put to dearh 143 Matilda or Maud the Empress daughter and heir of H. 1. 4. Anglor Dom. ibid. Malice malitious 130. Height of malice 75. Marble stone or fatall stone prophesie of it 146. Brought out of Scotland into England by Edward the 1. And placed at Westminster ib. The stone that Jacob laid his head upon ib. Marriage not lawfull between those that have lived in adultery 45. Between Uncles and Nieces frequent in other Countreys 129. Monasteries supprest with the true cause of it 77. Monuments of the British Empirâ— 146 Sir Thomas Moore a great enemie of R. 3. 76. Came short of the learning is ascribed to him dyed scoffing ib. Lord Chancellor of Eng. 77. And a sworn vassall to the Pope 76. Morton Bishop of Ely a subtle man 15. A great enemie of K. R. 3. ib. 75 76 77. A temporizer 52. His extreame pride and covetousnesse 53. Lord Chancellor of Eng. 77. N. NAmes taken from Offices other occasions 5 6 66. Nandick a conjurer Parl. 1. H. 7. Natural Father natural sons daughters why so called Naturall daughters may take the sirname of France 46. Noblenesse of nature Examp. 61. c. O. OFficers of State 25. 32. Oxford Iohn de Vene Earl of Ox. fevere against nick-named Perkin Warb 105. he gave sentence of death gainst the innocent Earl of Warwick ib. Strange dissipation of a mighty estate ib. Oppression many examples of it 99. 141. and pastime alibi P. PArasites the nature of them p. 27. 78. Parliaments their power authority 124. From whence the word is derived ib. A Court of great antiquity 125. Called by the Saxons Witengemot the meeting of wise men ibid. The honour and obedience due unto them 126. Parl. 1. R. 3. Many good Lawes enacted Pater mater parentes or parents words of larger signification among other Nations then among us 69. Perkin Warbeck his story 84. Confirmed by many noble and learned men 100 101. Philip Duke of Burgundy K. of Castile driven by a storm with his Qu upon the coast of England 141 142. His entertainment ib. Plantaganest or Plantagenet original occasion of that
to your Father-hood by the Passion of Jesus Christ this man is truly the King Don Sebastian he hath all the markes on his body without failing in any one as he had in his infancy only the wounds excepted which he received in that Battel at Affricke he gives the reason of his life account of all his passages c. He is knowne and re-known by the Conciergres by the Judges by the greater part of the Senate and by his owne Confessor c. and a great deal more of him upon knowledg he justifies as much witnesses Ion de Castro Sonne to Don de Alvaro de Castro one of the four Governours that ruled the Kingdome Conjunctly with the King Don Sebastian who in his letter the same man sayes thus The King Don Sebastian whom the enemies call a Calabrois is the very same which is detained here as certainly as you are Fryer Ioseph and my selfe Don Ion. He departed alive from the battaile but very sore wounded God having so delivered him with some other of his company amongst whom was the Duke Anegro c. as for the Exterior marks of his body he wants not one of them he is wounded on the brow of the right eye and on the head as many witnessed when they saw him in the Affrick Battell His hand-writing is still the same observing the very same method as is very well remembred by divers There might much more be instanced in the behalfe of this Sebastian but this may serve for better intelligence to which I may adde that men experienced in the Affaires and policy of State know it a rare thing to find in any History the examples of a Prince being seised and possessed of any Signiory or Principality how unlawfull soever who hath resigned them or any part to the true heires Have we not instances at home where the Sonne hath taken the Kingdome from the Father and would not let it goe againe but rather endeavoured to hast his Fathers fate Much after that manner when Henry Duke of Lancaster had got the Kingdome he held it and would not resigne to the right Heyr Richard the second nor after his death to the Earle of March though these were no Impostors neither was Edward Earl of Warwicke yet King Henry would not let his hold goe and the Cardinall Favourite finding he could not compasse his aymes one way contrived it another By the Machivilian advice he gave to Ferdinand King of Castile not to conclude the treaty of the Marriage betweene Prince Arthur and his Daughter Katherine untill this Earle and Perkin were disposed of which Ferdinando followed and urged the King pretending it the security of his Estate and Issue In briefe it is not possible to perswade a private man though wrongfully possessed to acknowledge the true proprietary hath a better title then he How unjustly have the Kings of Spaine detain'd sundry Signeuries and Principalities from the lawfull Heirs yet if the wrong done by such another disseising Lord be put to this former Usurper Malafide as the Imperiall Iurisconsults will terme him his sentence will be such a Rapinous Prince doth wrong But let us now take a more particular view of those witnesses who stood for Perkin And having formerly mentioned Sir Robert Clifford a Knight of the Noble Family of the Barons Cliffords I will proceed with that which may be the more remarkable in him because hee was of a Family that long hated the House of Yorke from the Battaile of Wakefield when and where they resolved an enmity so deadly as was not to bee reconciled or satisfied whilst one of them remained yet became followers againe of the White Rose family and this Sir Robert Clifford served King Edward very neare and in good credit so could not but have an assured knowledge of the Kings Sonnes and was therefore the more particularly sent to certifie his knowledge who certainely affirmed him to bee the younger sonne of Edward 4. and confirmed many with him such as had likewise served King Edward and had been acquainted with the Prince his conveying beyond Sea though much was done to alter Sir Roberts opinion the Lord Fitz-Walter was of the same beliefe and avowed Perkin the true Duke of York most constantly unto death as resolute was Sir William Stanley though he were Lord Chamberlaine to Henry the seventh and in great favour with Sir George Nevill Brother to the Earle of Westmorland Sir Symon Mountford Sir William Daubeny father to the Lord Daubeny Sir Thomas Thwaits Sir Robert Ratcliffe of the house of the Baron FitzWalter Sir Iohn Taylor Sir Thomas Chaloner Thomas Bagnall with many other Gentlemen of quality all maintaining him to be the Duke of Yorke sonne of Edward the fourth sundry of the Clergy who had beene Chaplaines to the King his Father or otherwise occasioned to attend the Court as Doctor Rochford Doctor Poynes Doctor Sutton Doctor Worsley Deane of St. Pauls Doctor Leyborn Doctor Lesly with many other learned Professors of Divinity who would not endure to heare him called Perkin The Lord FitzWater Sir William Stanley Sir Simon Mountford Sir Robert Ratcliffe Sir William Daubeny as martyrs of state confirmed their Testimonies with their bloods So did the Kings Serjant Ferrier who left the Kings service and applyed himself to Perkin for which he was executed as a Traitor and one Edwards who had served this Duke Richard was cut in pieces for the same cause also Corbet Sir Quinton Betts and Gage Gentlemen of good worth with 200. more at least put to death in sundry Cities and Townes particularly in Kent Essex Suffolke Norfolke and about London for their confidence and opinions in this Prince There were some great men though they made noe profession of their knowledge of him could whisper it one to another which in generall words is confessed by all our better writers who say that as well the Noblemen as others held the said Perkin to be the younger Sonne of King Edward the Fourth And Sir Thomas Moore after Doctor Morton thus writeth The man commonly called Perkin Warbeck was as well with the Prince as with the people held to be the younger Sonne of King Edward the Fourth Richard Grafton affirmeth the same in Flanders saith he and most of all here in England it was received for an undoubted truth not onely of the people but of the Nobles that Perkin was the Sonne of King Edward the Fourth And they all swore and affirmed this to be true The learned and famous Mr. Cambden averreth there were many wise grave and persons of good intelli gence who liued in that time and neere it That affirmed considently this Perkin was second Sonne to King Edward then both the Brothers were not made a way by King Richard and sarely it was little reason or policy to cut off the one spare the other neither indeed was there ever any proofes made by Testimony Argument or Presumption
The Duke accordingly sent this de la Pool into England who upon his arrival was delivered to the Tower but his life not toucht until the King lay a dying then he equivocated his Vow by a Mental Reservation enjoyning his son after his death to cut off his head which was done when he came to be King and was held some taint to them both though the son held himself acquit warranted by the example of King Solomon who was made the instrument of such another subtil slaughter by his father David that thought he kept himself by equivocation examples not to be imitated by any Christian Prince being a sin and sins are to be avoided not imitated The eldest brother of these de la Pools Iohn de la Pool heir to the Duke of Suffolk and Head of this Family was slain casually at the Battel of Stoke and is he who as neerest kinsman to King Richard the Third was proclaimed heir apparant The sister of these Princely de la Pools the Lady Katherine was kept close prisoner in the Tower until grief and sorrow bowed her to the grave Nor is it much from our purpose to note that the chief Plantagenets namely the children of King Edward the Fourth had but cold influences then for the Lady Bridget was thrust into a Nunnery at Dartford chiefly as it was thought that she should live sterile and die without issue The Lady Cecily was married to a base fellow that so her issue might be ignoble and contemptible the wrong being the greater in regard she was offered Matches to her quality the King of Scotland propounding Prince Iames unto her and the French King Lewis demanded her for the Dolphin Charles of France It was observed too that this King was but an unkinde and severe husband to his Queen indeed they had all but short lives and our Stories report he picked a quarrel with the Queen-Dowager-Mother for an old and venial errour because she delivered her son Richard to the Protector for which there was a Confiscation upon all her Goods Chattels and Revenues and she confined to Bermondsey Abbey where she lived not long care and grief untwisting the threed of her sad fate And when death had seized him from all the glories and policies of this world his son succeeds and then Residuum Locustae Bruchus comedit residuum Bruchi comedit Rubigo for what remained of the House of York he gave the last blowe to and after the dispatch of the aforesaid Edmund de la Pool caused the Lady Margaret Plantagenet Countesse of Salisbury then daughter and heir of George Duke of Clarence to be attainted of Treason by Act of Parliament and condemned unheard being dragged to the Block barbarously by the hair of her head though above Threescore yeers in age Anno 33 Henr. 8. Not long after Sir Henry Pool her eldest son was put to death and her son Reynold Pool was attainted of Treason with her no man knowing what the Treason was but got suddenly out of the Kingdom into Italy where he became much favoured by the Princes there and by the Popes afterward made Cardinal and highly renowned in those times for his Learning Piety and other noble merits Richard Pool another son of the Countesse of Salisbury fled and lived a banished man in forraign Countreys yet at the height of a good reputation until he was slain at the Battel of Pavia These be sad pauses which my Pen but touches at to note the Partiality of some on one side and the malignity of some on the other side who have made King Richard the worst of all Princes when other of our own have had as great an appetite of Empire whose fames and sacred names we gratulate with honour Nor let my just and plain meaning be mistaken which urges nothing in dislike or exprobation that King Henry the Seventh had the Crown whom our age must acknowledge a wise provident and religious Prince The restorer of the ancient Line of the British Kings to their Raign and Kingdom Nephew of King Henry the Sixth by his Grandmother Queen Katherine widow of King Henry the Fifth and mother of King Henry the Sixth and of his brother Uterine Edmund Teudor Earl of Richmond the father of this King Henry the Seventh and so he was Nephew also to Charles the Seventh King of France I onely conceive he took it by too violent a hand not staying tempus bene placiti And here I may fitly take occasion to make up a Defect or Brack covertly imputed to the Titles of the Normans and Princes of York by our vulgar Historians and Chroniclers And first we are to suppose If there be it grew by the errour of King Edwards Marriage by which they hold that Title was weakned at the least blemished but that could have no continuance being made sound again as soon as King Richard came to raign and after cured and confirmed by the mighty power of sundry Parliaments by which it was made as strong and firm as ever besides the aid of the Dispensations Apostolical in those times sacred and authentick And without that if need were our King now raigning hath other Royal Rights more then funiculusi Triplex some more ancient authentick and just therefore more secured and of more prosperous hopes then that Norman Title which was a violent acquest of the Sword and a purchase made by blood so consequently none of the best which was well conceived by that great Macedon when he said Non est diuturna possessio in quam gladio inducimus Neither would it avail in this behalf to cite or avouch the Donation of this Kingdom which the Confessor is said to have made to William the Conquerour being to no purpose because that gift or Legacy was disclaimed and disallowed by the Barons of this Land and found to be void Yet time now and prescription have also made that Title good for prescription hath power to ratifie and confirm the Titles both of Princes and of private men But our King is the immediate and sole lawful Heir of King Egbert who first gave the name of England to this Land and was absolute Lord of it from him by the glorious Kings Edgar Edmund Athelstan Alfred and many others as well Saxons and Angles as Anglo-Saxons the Right and Title of this Kingdom is duely descended and devolved to Edmund Ironside King of England who was father to the most Noble Clyto Edward sirnamed Exul whose fair daughter and heir a religious Lady the Princesse Margaret of England was married to Malcom Canmoire King of Scotland from which ancient and happie Alliance the King our Soveraign Lord is directly and certainly descended and is the true and onely Heir to the Rights and Titles which were without flaw so the most ancient and famous Title and Right of the first Kings of Britain are in him being the next Heir of our last British King Henry Teudor
of a thing Jnconcuss that cannot be shaken undaunted Bartlemies 63. Meant of the great and generall massacre of above 100000. Protestants in France chiefly in Paris and the Countrey adjoyning on Saint Bartholmews Eve Anno 72. whereupon S t. Bartholmews teares Bartholomaeus flet quia Gallicus occubat Atlas Como sal in aqua 105. Is meant of suddain wasting Monomachy 62. When two sight single without seconds Cadet 67. A younger brother Guerdonable worthy of reward 75. Aneu 45. An acknowledging or taking for his owne Geus saus adneu vagabonds that none will owne so Bastards are not admitted to their adneu 1 not acknowledged by their Fathers Rebus de Picardy Devises and representations of odd things by words mottoes which present one thing and by deviding the word in pronunciation signifie another Faulcon Serrure An abscene French device and presents the use of Italian lockes Authors quoted in this History AUgustine Aristotle Baleus Boetius Buchan Cambden Cicero Cambrensis Claudian Croyland Pryor Comineus Cooke Demosthines Dion AEsopus Euripides Ennius Erasmus Epictetus Fabian Fuchius Froisard Grafton Glover Guinsford Goodwin Du Hailon Hall Hollinshead Hyrd Dele-Hay Harding Hist. de Brit. Homer Julius Capital Juvenall Justus Vulterius Lib. Manusâ—r Apud D. Rob. Cotton Lampridius Lucan Maximus Moore Monstrolet Newbrigensis Nyerus Ovid Osiander Pliny Paradin Polidor virg Plutarch Seneca Sarisburensis Stow Strabo Socrates Stanford Suetonius De Serces Tacitus Terence Tillet Virgill Valla Walsingham With many Parliament Roules and Records FINIS The House and Title of Yorke The Linage of Edward 3. The Empire of K. Henry 2. Girald in Topog Hibernie Sariâ—bur in Pol. Newbrig Lib. â— Fulk Earle of Anjou Acoustre in criminall condemne Paradin From this example Henry 2. submitted his body to be scourged by the Monks of Canterbury for the death of Tho. Becket After this manner and long after K. H. 2 the heire and successour of this Earle Fulko was injoyned by the Pope to go to the Holy-Land and to fight against the Infidels Hovend Rival c. Leon. Fuchius Plin. Lib. 24. cap. 9. Strabo Lib. 16. Du Haillon In his Catalogue of Honour Deus i. Rex Lib. manus in quarto apud D. Rob. Cotton Comes i. Praesesâ— Camden in Cumberland Sir William Haward purblind Quasi part blind The Bastard Faulconbridge An Army sent into Scotland under the D. of Glocester Anno 24. Ed. 4. Chron. Croy. The doubtfull death of K. E. 4 vid. lib 4. The Duke of Gloucester made Lord Protector Phil. de Comines in Lud. 11. Sir Tho. Moore Chronic Abbat Croy. The insolency of the Queens Kindred Sir Thomas Moore in Edward 5. Rich. 3. Lord Hastings Sir Thomas Moore Ciâ— lib 3. de offic Suet. in viâ—a Iulâ—i Caesaris Eurip. in Phoeniss Axiom Polit. Senec. in trag Artes imperii The flight of Richmont with his Vncle Pembrooke The Earle of Rich. borne in Pembrooke Castle This slight of theirs was in Anno 11. E. 4. Iohn Stow. Earle of Rich. Prisoner in Brittaine The last D. of Brittaine who was Earle of Richmond possessed of the Earledome was Iohn de Montfort who flourished An. Dom. 1440 had sons but not Earles of Richmond as Rob. Glou. writeth now this Francis 1. renewed the claime which was about 30 yeares after Iohn de Montfort Duke of Brittaine Iac. Nyerus in Annal. Fland. lib. 17. King Edward treateth for the delivery of Richmond Ennius apud Cicer. ta Offic. K. â— 4 sends for Richmond Hist de Brit. D. Stillington sent for Richmond K. R. reneweth suâ—t to the D. of B. for the Earle of Richmond E. 4. Fulmen â—elli ut Seleac Rex inde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. fulmen dictus claud Paradin B. Mort. Sir Th Moore Hollingshed Graston Stow Hall Virgill c. Parliament The Duke of Buck. to the L. Protector in the behalfe of the 3 Estates The common published stories have Eliz. Lucy but that is false The Answer of the Lord Protector to the 3 Estates The bold and round conclusion of the D. of Buck. The Protectors Reply to the Dukes last Suit Lib. Abb. Croyl Cambden Monstrolet Coâ—ineâ— Anglici scriptoret Stile of the D. of Norff. In rotuliâ— in domo convers Signifying mercy Signifying Iustice to the Temporalty Iustice to the Clergy Peace Monarchy Moore Graston Polidore Hall Croyland Hollingshed Stow c. Chron. M. S. in Quar. apud D. Ro. Coâ—ton and Rob. Fabian Rich. the Bastard of the D. oâ— Gloc. Captaine of Calice Iohn Maierus Iean Tillet dâ— Tillet saith That that tribute or Pension was 75000 crowns or Escu's chacun Escu vallant trois souls The Q. Mother King Rich. reconciled The Parliament of R. 3. The friends confederates of the E of Rich. The sons of K. E. living in Jan Febr after the death of their Father Vice Constable of England Patents de anno 1 Rich 3. part 1. meâ— 2. Other Officers of King Richard 3. Treaties for League and commerce with Flanders c. In Thesauro Scaeccarij 1 R. 3. In Rowles Aâ— 1 R. 3. An. Dom. 1484. Eâ—gile in Record The Lady Anne de la Poole a Nun. Treaty with the Duke of Brittaine Ib. in Scaccaer Treatie with the King of France Treaty of marriage of King Rich. with the Lady Eliz. Revolt of the D. of Buck. The Duke of Buckingham first riseth in Rebellion The quarrell of the Duke of Buck. against the King The Title of the Earldome of Hereford of the Constableship of England Sir Tho. Moor. This Margaret Countesse of Richmond was Daughter and Heire to Iohn Beaufort Duke of Somerset Margaret de Beaufort Mother of the D. of Buck. was Daughter of Edmond D. of Somerset and thus were the E. of Rich. and the D. of Buck. a Kin. Rob. Glov in catal c. The Conspirators with the D. of Buck. for the E. of Rich. The overthrow of the Duke of Buckingham Polidore lib. 25 King Richard sharply reprehended Banister for betraying his Master which argued a noble mind The D. execucuted by Marshall Law Eurip. in heâ—a Valer. Max. l. 7 Virgill Iohn Froisard Paradin Hist. de Brit. The Duke had by this Lady his daughter and heir Anne who brought the Dutchy of Brittaine to France Hist. de Brit. The death of Edw. Prince of Wales Sonne of Rich. 3. Chron. Croyland Ibidem Seneca Iohn Earle of Lincolne and after Duke of Suffolke proclaimed Heire Apparant Iohn Sarisburiensis Ep. 85. Sir Tha. Walsin in Rich. 2. Parl. ann 20. Rich. 2. Don Duart de Lancastro a Noble Gen. of Portugall averred himself descended from the D. of â—â—â— Valodolid The peculiar Sir-names of the Bastards of the anâ—â— in Kings of England Armes of Bastards of the Kings of England Camd. in Surr. The. Gainsford Scarboucle falsly called Carbuncle Difference betweene the house of Lancaster and Somerset The Earles of Worcester from whom The civill and imperiall Law against Bastards Sir Edw. Cook Doctor Stephen Gardiner Sir Tho. Eger Chancellors of England