Arthur of Britain who was the Son of Geossry John's Eldest Brother as all the Histories of that time do observe and lament And therefore wanting that Title which God Nature and the immutable Customs of this Realm give to the Right Heir he was constrain'd to pray in Aid of the People and to patch up a Title from them by Election The Story is this as I have extracted it out of Matthew Paris a learned Monk who lived in that time and who became afterwards Chronologer Royal to King Henry the third Son of the said King John John saith the Monk upon the Death of his Brother King Richard the first was advanced to the Throne by the favour and help of the great Ministers of State and at his Coronation in the presence of the Clergy Nobility and Populace Hubert Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England a Man of profound Subtilty and Reach tells them all in a very fine Harangue That no Man whatsoever was to succeed in the Kingdom here upon any previous Reason unless he were freely Elected by the universality of the People with consideration had of his Moralities and other personal Vertues after the Example of Saul's Election and then he added That John was a well qualified Person in that kind and that therefore they ought to choose him for their King But when the said Hubert was afterwards demanded why in so great an Assembly he durst broach so notorious a falshood viz. That the Monarchy of England was Elective O saith he this I did out of certain Revelations and Prophesies that I have received That John will at some time or other endanger the Realm and bring all into confusion Et ne haberet liberas habenas hoc faciendi ipsum Electione non Successione haereditaria eligi debere affirmavi for so are the Historian's Words And that I might curb him with this Bridle from effecting these things I did pronounce him admitted to the Crown by Election not by hereditary Succession So then we see here that the pronouncing the Monarchy of England to be Elective was done only by way of Umbrage and Dissimulation and to serve a turn at a certain Crisis and juncture of time And the truth is the People did accordingly afterwards check this unfortunate King with the same Bridle and reduc'd him to a very low condition and they chose Lewis the French King's Son their King And this was the consequence of King John's Election by the People and Invasion of the Right of his Nephew which Tenure was good only so long as he could maintain it with his Sword and so likewise is the Tenure of Pyrats and Robbers when they have ravish'd the Properties of other Men. Secondly For King Henry the fourth he was likewise King de facto only and not de Jure for he laid violent hands upon the Crown by the treasonable and barbarous Deposition and Murder of his natural Lord and Soveraign King Richard the second after whose Death without Issue the legal Title remain'd in the House of Clarence being the elder Line and so King Henry the fourth was constrain'd to truckle under an Election by the People and their Establishment in Parliament which Establishment was ipso facto void and null in Law against the House of York which married afterwards with the said House of Clarence as I have evidently proved by the Roll of Parliament of 39 o of Henry the sixth recited by me at large here in the beginning of this Discourse And indeed this very King Henry the fourth well knowing how much a Title to the Crown by the Common Law and Inherent Birth-right exceeded a Title by Statute and Suffrage of the People made his solemn Claim to the Crown in Parliament by Descent from King Henry the third which though it was the meerest figment and pretence that ever was as all the World knows yet he thought he might with more security rely upon that though fictitious than popular Establishment though real The Story is considerable and therefore I shall extract my Account thereof from the Roll of Parliament of that time Forthwith saith the Record upon vacancy of the Realm by Deposition of King Richard the second Henry Duke of Lancaster rising from his Seat and standing up so that he might be well seen by the People and humbly crossing his Forehead and Breast calling upon our Saviour's Cross he claim'd and challeng'd the Realm of England thus void in his Mother-Tongue under this very form of Words In the Name of Fader Sonne and Holy Gost I Henry of Lancastre challenge this Rewme of Ynglonde and the Crown with all the Membres and Appurtenances al 's I that am descendit be Ryght Lyne of the Blood comynge fro the gude Lord King Henry therde and thorghe that right that God of his Grace hath sent me with helpe of my Kin and of my frends to recover it and which Rewme was in poynt to be ondone for defaut of governance and un endoying of the gude Laws So we see here that the Title he laid stress upon was Al 's descendit be right line of the bloud comynge fro the gude Lord King Henry Therde he meant from Edmund second Son of King Henry the Third from whom the same Henry the Fourth by the Mother's side lineally derived and who would fain have fac'd down the World that the said Edmund was elder Brother to King Edward the First contrary to his own knowledge and that of all Mankind in that Age and the express Testimony of Matthew Paris who was Chronologer Royal to the said King Henry the Third at the time of the Birth of the said Edmund and Polydore Virgil and all our Historians Thirdly For King Henry the Seventh he was also King de facto but not de jure the legal Title abiding at that time in Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of King Edward the Fourth with which Elizabeth the same King Henry did afterwards marry Now because the Claim of the same King Henry the Seventh to the Crown is not generally understood and it will conduce much to my present purpose to clear that matter I shall crave leave here briefly to open it It is to be known then that King Henry the Seventh laid claim to the Crown as descending in a right line from John Duke of Somerset eldest Son to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster by his third Wife Katharine Swinford by which Katharine the same John of Gaunt had Issue the said Duke of Somerset and other Children before Marriage with her and during his Marriage with his second Wife the Lady Constance Daughter and Heir of Peter King of Castile So the said Children were plainly all Bastards by our Law and by consequence not capable of inheriting any thing After the death of his second Wife John for the passionate affection which he bare to his Children by Katharine married her and some time after procured them by Act of Parliament
Persons and their Rights that in any wise may or might claim an Interest to the same Crown in Possession or otherwise shall during the Life of the Queen's Majesty be judged a High Traitor and therefore the same Queen had little reason to scruple the passing a Bill of this Nature But I much doubt whether a Common Law-Prince who owes his Title only to God Nature and the immutable Customs of the Nation unless under like Circumstances with King Henry the Eighth would have assented to an Act so derogatory to the Regalties for the manifest Inconveniencies that might insue to himself and posterity by such Assent and Condescention Some of which I have discovered in the beginning of this Discourse in my second Reason why the Succession of the Crown is annexed to Proximity of Blood Secondly Wise men do not only consider Things that are acted but more especially the Season and Junctures of Time when those things were acted and Sir Edward Coke a great Master in the Science of our Law doth frequently admonish us That the true Scope and Design of our Statute-Laws are oftentimes not at all intelligible without the help of the Chronicles and Memoirs of that Age wherein the said Statute-Laws were made Of which there cannot be a more pregnatn Instance than this here And therefore I will in Charity believe That the Contrivers of this Objection did never rightly inform themselves of the History and true Reason of making this Statute which in Truth was this Some time before this Statute Mary Queen of Scots Dowager of France and the Mother of our King James being discomfited in Battel by her own rebellious Vassals of Scotland she like a Dove pursued by Vultures fled into the bosom of her Kinswoman Elizabeth of England for Protection Elizabeth who inherited her Father's Malaversion to the House of Scotland and contrary to those Royal Sympathies which one Sovereign Prince ought to have for another in Distress and indeed against the Rules of common Hospitality commits Mary to a loathsom Prison The Pope with some of the Catholick Princes and others of her Friends thought this was no very kind Treatment and therefore endeavour not onely to set her at liberty but also to advance her to the Throne the generality of Mankind in that Age looking upon the said Mary's Title to be much clearer than that of the Queen in possession the later being bastardiz'd and render'd incapable of the Crown by solemn Act of Parliament which still stood unrepeal'd and therefore valid in Law at leastwise but a Statute-Queen as I prov'd before And the former deriving as is shew'd above by the Common Law and a direct true line from Margaret the eldest Daughter of King Henry the Seventh and Elizabeth his Queen And besides in the very year this Statute was made there was a Marriage warmly prosecuted between the said Queen Elizabeth and Henry Duke of Anjou who afterwards became King of France upon the death of his Brother Charles the Ninth and no small care was then taken for Establishment of the Succession upon the Issues proceeding from the same Marriage And there is a remarkable Clause among others in the same Statute of 13 viz. That every person or persons of what Degree and Nation soever they be shall during the Queen's Life declare or publish that they have any right to enjoy the Crown of England during the Queen's Life shall be disenabled to enjoy the Crown in Succession Inheritance or otherwise after the Queen's Death Which Clause was most apparently contriv'd against the same Mary and her Son King James So that the plain scope and design of this Statute was utterly and for ever to exclude and disinherit the same Mary Queen of Scots and all her Posterity and to extinguish absolutely that Right to the English Crown which the Laws of God and Nature and the Common Law of England had given to her and them And therefore how any man that pretends Loyalty or Allegiance to His Gracious Majesty that now is who derives his Title lineally from the said Mary Queen of Scots can object this Statute was a Precedent for Exclusion of the next Heir by Act of Parliament I cannot understand And the Objector may do well to consider how far he may enforce this Objection without hazard to his Person and Estate for no man can maintain the validity of this Statute without manifest Derogation and Injury unto his Majesty's Title Thirdly To affirm that the Parliament hath no Power to bind the Succession of the Crown in point of Descent and to affirm that the Parliament hath no power to exclude the next Heir of the Bloud Royal is the same Proposition Now I have proved above That the Succession of the Crown is annex'd to Proximity of Bloud by the Laws of God and Nature and that Acts of Parliament contrariant to those Laws are void So then the Case is no more than this An Act of Parliament ordains that no Person under a certain Penalty shall dare to affirm That Statute-Laws contrary to those of God and Nature are null and void I think no man ever did or doth or will doubt but that such Act of Parliament is absolutely void in it self and that the Judges are oblig'd to expound it so when ever it comes before them in Point of Judgment Lastly This Act of 13 being a Law made as I have proved above in diminution or rather in open and hostile Defiance of the Title of Scotland to this Crown it was by tacit and implied consent of the Law and the whole Nation utterly abrogated upon the first moment of the happy Union of the two Crowns in the person of King James or at leastwise by the solemn and express Repeal here of all hostile and unkind Laws between England and Scotland of which I am sure this of 13 was none of the least I shall draw towards a Conclusion with a certain apposite Note which one of our Latin Historians makes upon the nine days Reign of Jane Grey and the easie Admission of Queen Mary to the Crown Tali constanti veneratione nos Angli legitimos Reges prosequimur ut ab corum debito obsequio c. Such and so constant a Veneration saith he have we Englishmen for our lawful Princes that we are not to be drawn from our Allegiance and Loyalty to them by any colours or specious pretences whatsoever no not with the Bait even of Religion it self of which matter this Case of Jane may be a memorable and plain Instance For though the Foundations of her Government were laid as firm as was possible and the Superstructure also wrought with all the Art and Cunning in the world yet as soon as ever the lawful and undoubted Heir of the Crown appear'd and shew'd her self to the People all this fine and curious Frame presently fell to the ground and was ruin'd as it were in the twincle of an Eye and that principally by the
Liege Subjects And the Fidelity which the Subject owes to the Crown Natural Obedience And this more clearly appears in Indictments of Treason which of all other Law Process are pen'd with the greatest Niceness and Certainty And therefore in the Indictment of the Lord Dacre upon the Northern Rebellion 26 H. 8. it is said Predictus Dominus Dacre debitum fidei Ligeantiae suae quod prefat Domino Regi Naturaliter de jure impendere debet minime curans c. The said Lord Dacre not regarding the Faith which he did Naturally and of Right owe to the King c. And Reginald Poole a Cardinal of the Church of Rome was Indicted 30 o H. 8. for committing Treason contra Dominum Regem supremum Naturalem Dominum suum Against the Lord the King his supreme and Natural Lord. And the constant form of the Indictments against the Persons lately executed for the Popish Plot is That they as false Traitors against the most Illustrious most Serene and most Excellent Prince Charles the Second c. their Supreme and Natural Lord the cordial Love and natural Obedience which faithful Subjects should and of right ought to bear to our said Soveraign Lord the King wholly withdrawing did compass c. And therefore as the Common Law is more worthy than the Statute so the Law of Nature is more worthy than both So then no Human Power can hinder the Descent upon the Right Heir of the Crown The Descent makes the King Allegiance is due to the King by the Law of Nature the Law of Nature cannot be abrogated by Human Power ergo The right Heir of the Blood cannot be excluded by Parliament which is a Human Power Secondly It is evermore a certain Vestigue or Footstep of a Law founded in Nature when a Thing displac'd is seldom or never in a State of Rest until it be compos'd again in its own Native Centre and Repository For though all human and written Laws may be worn out by Desuetude and tacit Consent yet the Institutions of Nature will never be abolish'd by the longest tracts and courses of Time but will always retain an Animum revertendi and will certainly at length attain it And of this kind is the Law of Succession to the Crown by the right Heir For we find in the Stories of all Nations as well Barbarous as Civil that during Usurpations and Invasions upon the Crown though countenanced even by public Establishments and Consent of the People that those States notwithstanding have always continued under Convulsion and Disease like a Magnetic Needle that never ceaseth to tremble and trepidate 'till it have found out its beloved North-Pole And in such Case it hath constantly far'd with those Bodies Politic as with a Body Natural upon Dislocation of a principal Bone they have breathed it may be and moved a little but still under Languors and Anguish and Feavorish Habits and Dispositions and never well 'till the Bone was set again and reduced to its right place I will rather choose to extract some short Instances of this kind out of the Memoirs of our own than foreign Nations as being Argumentum ad Hominem And shall for brevity ascend no higher than the Norman Conquest And the same Instances shall be of Usurpations upon the Crown contenanc'd by the Public Sanctions of this State The second William and first Henry usurp'd the Crown and thereupon this Realm remain'd constantly under inquietude and commotion until the Death of Robert their elder Brother and his Son William without Issue whereby the Right of the Crown centred in the said Henry The Usurpation of Stephen upon Maud the Empress Daughter and Heir of the said Henry was accompanied with Tragical Convulsions of this Nation which never ceased till the Restauration of the right Heir viz. Henry the second Son of the said Maud in which Henry the Saxon Bloud was likewise restor'd his Grandmother being next Heir of the Bloud to Edgar Atheling Upon the Disinherison of the House of York by that of Lancaster this State sustain'd a Convulsion not to be parallell'd in all the Stories of the World It is infinite to recount the Laniages the Butcheries the Rapines that were committed here There were fought in this Island during this Tempest of War as a modern Author hath observed 17 pitch'd Battels and no less than 8 Kings and Princes of the Bloud 40 Dukes Marquesses and Earls besides Barons and Gentlemen innumerable and 200000 of the Common People slaughter'd and destroy'd And though this Combustion continued 60 years for so long it was from the Usurpation of Henry the Fourth to the Expulsion of his Grandson Henry the Sixth yet the Body Politic enjoyed little ease till it had purged out the Usurpers like a Body Natural that having received into the Stomach matter inimical and contrariant to Nature is never at quiet till it have work'd out the same noxious and malignant matter by all the Passages of Evacuation though to the manifest hazard or destruction of the Man himself The Usurpation of Richard the Third determined in his own death and the Introduction of the right Heir some time after That of Jane Grey of the House of Suffolk was but an Offer of Usurpation as being a Quotidian Ague that lasted but nine days which ended upon the Restitution of Queen Mary Lastly it 's a matter of fresh and bleeding sentiment and experience what Agonies and Throws the English Nation sustained after that fatal and impious stroke given to King Charles the First of ever Glorious Memory Nature is wanting in adequate Metaphors and Similitudes to express so great a Calamity This State was like the Demoniac in the Gospel she was torn worried and shak'd together and of this there was no intermission untill the evil spirit was dispossessed and His Gracious Majesty that now is whom God long preserve restor'd to that Crown which God and Nature and the immutable Customs of this Nation had given him So then it doth most evidently appear by these Instances that the Succession of the Crown to the next of Bloud is a Law eternal and wrote with the immediate hand of God and Nature And that although Nature may for some time be repell'd and kept off with the Forks and Instruments of humane violence that yet it will sooner or later ever more recur and return with the greater swing and vigour And that therefore a Dominion obtain'd by Usurpation is like a vast and ponderous Globe of Iron supported in the Air by main strength of Arms which upon removal or withdrawing of the same force by fatigue or imbecillity of the Bearers will at length certainly attain its Centre of Gravity and with the fall crush and confound the Supporters And where ever this eternal Law and Rule of Nature hath been impeached and violated that hath evermore been done by the immediate and most visible act and finger of the Divinity it self who is King of Kings by whom they reign