sonne Ochosias that died without issue shee put to death all the blood roiall to wit the posterity of Nathan Salomons brother to whome by right of succession the inheritance of the crowne appertained to the end that shee might install her selfe into the kingly diademe after this cruell butchery of all the roiall male children except Ioas who by Gods prouidence was preserued aliue shee vsurped the crowne and scepter of Iuda full seuen yeeres at the end of which date Ioas was exalted to the crowne and she not onely deposed but slaine by the hands of her guard that attended vpon her Brunchild whome histories call Brunhault a Queene of France by marriage Aimon Nic. Gil. vol. 1. but a Spaniard by birth was a woman that bred much mischiefe in her age and that wrought many horrible and death-deseruing crimes for partly with her subtill deuises and partly with her owne hands shee murdered ten kings of France one after another shee caused her husband to slay his owne brother she procured the death of her nephew Meroueus whome against all equity and honestie she had secondly espoused for her husband for he being hated of his father for that vile incest and perceiuing himselfe in danger of taking made one of his owne seruants thrust him through After shee had committed these and many other foule factes shee went about also to defraud Clotairius the sonne of Chilpericke of the right of the crowne which pertained vnto him and to thrust in another in the roome Whereupon arose great warre in the which as shee dealt more boldly and manfully then the condition of her sexe would beare so she receiued the due wages of her braue and vertuous deeds for shee was taken prisoner with three of het nephewes whose throats she saw cut before her face and after her selfe was set vpon a camell and led through the host three daies togither euery man reuiling mocking reproching and despiting her and at last by the award and iudgement of the princes and captaines of the army shee was adiudged to be tyed by the haire of her head one arme one foot to the taile of a wild and vntamed horse and so to bee left to his mercy to be drawen miserably to her destruction which was no sooner executed but her miserable carkasse the instrument of so many mischiefes was with mens feet spurned bruised trampled and wounded after a most strange fashion and this was the wofull end of miserable Brunchild Let euery one both great and small learne by these examples to containe themselues within the limits of humanitie and not to bee so readie and prompt to the shedding of humane blood knowing nothing to be more true than this That he that smiteth with the sword shall perish with the sword CHAP. XV. Of such as without necessitie or conference vpon euery light cause mooue warre AS in surgerie so in a commonwealth we must account warre as a last refuge and as it were a desperate medicine which without very vrgent necessity when all other meanes of maintaining our estate against the assaults of the enemy faile ought not to be taken in hand and indeed the chiefe scope and marke that all those that lawfully vndertake warre Cic. Off. lib. 1. ought to propound to themselues should be nothing els but the good and quiet of the commonwealth with the peace and repose of euery member thereof And therefore so oft as any reasonable offers and conditions of peace are propounded they ought to be accepted to the end to auoid the masse of euils as ruines bloodsheds robberies which alwaies accompany warre as necessary attendants for whosoeuer doth not so but vpon euery light occasion runneth to armes and to trie the hazard of battaile they manifest their owne foolish and pernicious rashnes and their small conscience in shedding humane blood Amongst the good kings of Iuda Iosias for piety zeale in the seruice of God was most renowmed for hee purged the realme from all drosse of idolatry repaired the decaied temple and restored it to the first glory and yet for all this for committing this one crime he lost his life for as Nechao king of Aegypt was passing with an army towards the king of Babylon in Charcamis beside Euphrates to bid him battaile he would needs encounter him by the way 2. Chron. 35. and interrupt his iourney by vnprouoked warre yea though Nechao had by embassage assured him not to meddle with him but intreated onely free passage at his hand yet would not Iosias in any wise listen so opinionatiue and selfe willed was he but gaue him battaile in the field without any iust cause saue his owne pleasure which turned to his paine for he caught so many wounds at that skirmish that shortly after he died of them to â—he great griefe of the whole people and the Prophet Iereâ—â—e also that lamented his death King Iohn of France for refusing reasonable conditions of peace at the English mens hands was ouerthrowen by them two miles from Poytiers with a great ouerthrow Froiss vol. 1. Nic. Gil. vol. 2. for the Englishmen in regard of their owne small number and the huge multitude of the French to encounter with them timorously offered vp a surrender of all that they had either conquered taken or spoiled since their comming from Bordeaux and so to be sworne not to beare armes against him for seuen yeeres so that they might quietly depart But the king that crowed before the conquest affying too much in the multitude of his forces stopt his eares to all conditions not willing to heare of any thing but war war euen thinking to hew them in pieces without one escaping but it fell out otherwise for the Englishmen intrenching themselues in a place of aduantage and hard of accesse inclosed with thicke hedges and brambles disturbed and ouerthrew with their archers at the first onset the French horsemen and wounded most of their men and horses with multitude of arrowes it tarried not long ere the footmen also were put to flight on the other side the whole army of threescore thousand men by bare eight thousand English discomfited diuers great lords were found slaine in the field and diuers others with the king himselfe carried prisoners into England which was a great shake to the whole Realme and the occasion of many tumults and disorders that ensued afterwards Moreouer as it is a rash part to hazard the doubtfull euent of battaile indiscretely and without cause so it is a point of no lesse folly to thrust ones selfe voluntarily into any action of war without charge not being particularly called and bound thereunto or hauing a body vnsufficient and vnfit for the same And this was also one of the warlike points of discipline which the ancient Romans vsed That none should presume to fight for his countrey before hee had beene admitted by some captaine by a solemne oath Of all the histories that I euer read I know none
more manifest I will briefly reckon vp a catalogue of the cheifest of them In the yeare 1275 Lewline Prince of Wales rebelled against King Edward the first and after much adoe was taken by Sir Roger Mortimer and his head set vpon the tower of London In like sort was Dauid Lewlines brother serued Ries Madok escaped no better measure in stirring the Welchmeâ— vp to rebellion No more did the Scots who hauing of their owne accord committed the gouernment of their kingdome to king Edward after the death of Alexander who broke his necke by a fall from an horse and left no issue male and sworn feaulty vnto him yet dispensed with their oth by the Popes commission and Frenchmens incitement and rebelled diuerse times against King Edward for hee ouercame them sundrie times and made slaughter of their men slaying at one time 32000 and taking diuerse of their Nobles prisoners In like manner they rebelled against King Edward the third who made three voiages into that land in the space of foure yeares and at euerie time ouercame and discomfited them in so much that well neare all the nobilitie of Scotland with infinite number of the common people were slaine Thus they rebelled in Henry the sixts time and also Henrie the eights and diuerse other kings raignes euer when our English forces were busied about forraine warres inuading the land on the other side most traiterously And thus it is to bee feared they will euer doe except they degenerate from their old natures and therefore it ought to bee a Caueat to vs how wee trust them in any extremity but neuerthelesse they euer yet were whipped for their treason as the histories of our English Chronicles doe sufficiently record â—â—nquet In the raigne of king Henry the fourth there rebelled at one time against him Sir Iohn Holland D. of Excester with the Dukes of Aumarle Surrey Salisburie and Gloucester and at another time Sir Thomas Percie Earle of Worcester and Henry Percie sonne to the Earle of Northumberland at another Sir Richard Scroope Archbishop of Yorke and diuerse others of the house of the Lord Moubray at another time Sir Henry Percie the father Earle of Northumberland the Lord Bardolph And lastly Ryce ap Dee and Owen Glendour two Welchmen all which were either slaine as Sir Hendry Percie the yoonger or beheaded as the rest of these noble rebels or starued to death as Owen Glendour was in the mountains of Wales after he had deuoured his owne flesh In the raigne of Henry the fift Sir Richard Earle of Cambridge Sir Richard Scroope treasurer of England and Sir Thomas Gray were beheaded for treason No lesse was the perfidious and vngratefull trecherie of Humfrey Banister an Englishman towards the duke of Buckingham his Lord maister whom the said duke had tenderly brought vp exalted to great promotion For when as the duke being driuen into extremity by reason of the seperation of his army which he had mustered together against king Richard the vsurper fled to the same Banister as his trustiest friend to be kept in secret vntill hee could find oportunity to escape This false traitor vpon hope of a thousand pounds which was promised to him that could bring forth the duke betraied him into the haÌ„ds of Iohn Mitton sheriefe of Shropshire who conueied him to the citie of Salisbury where king Richard kept his houshold where he was soon after put to death But as for vngrateful Banister the vengeaÌ„ce of God pursued him to his vtter ignominy for presently after his eldest son became mad died in a bores stie his eldest daughter was sodainly stricken with a foule leprie his second sonne marueilously deformed of his lims and lame his yoongest sonne drowned in a puddle And he himself in his old age arraigned and found guiltie of a murder and by his clergie saued And as for his thousand pounds king Richard gaue him not a farthing saying that hee which would bee vntrue to so good a master must needs be false to all other To passe ouer the time of the residue of the kings wherein many examples of treasons punishmeÌ„ts vpon them are extant to come nearer vnto our own age let vs consider the wonderfull prouidence of God in discouering the notorious treasons which haue ben preteÌ„ded so often so many against our soueraign now liuing Queen Elizabeth protecting her so fatherly from the dint of them all First therefore to begin with the chiefest the Earle of NorthumberlaÌ„d Westmerland in the eleuenth year of her raign began a rebellioÌ„ in the North pretending their purpose to bee sometimes to defend the Queens person gouernment from the inuasion of strangers and sometimes for conscience sake to seeke reformation of religion vnder colour whereof they got together an army of men to the number of sixe thousand souldiors against whom marched the Earle of Sussex leiutenant of the North and the Earle of Warwick sent by the Queen to his aid whose approch stroke such a terror into their hearts that the two Earles with diuerse of the Archrebels fled by night into Scotland leauing the rest of their companie a prey vnto their enemies whereof threescore and sixe or thereabout were hanged at Durham As for the Earles one of them to wit of Northumberland was after taken in Scotland and beheaded at Yorke Westmerland fled into another countrie and left his house and family destroied and vndone by his folly A while after this what befell to Iohn Throgmorton Thomas Brooke George Redman and diuerse other Gentlemen at Norwich who pretended a rebellion vnder the colour of suppressing strangers were they not discouered by one of their owne conspiracy Thomas Ket and executed at Norwich for their paines The same end came Francis Throgmorton to whose trecheries as they were abominable touching the Queens owne person so they were disclosed not without the especial prouidence of God But aboue all that vile and vngratefull Traitor William Parry vpon whome the Queene had poured plentifully her liberalitie deserueth to bee had in euerlasting remembrance to his shame whose Treasons being discouered hee paied the tribute of his life in recompence thereof What shall I say of the Earle of Arundell and a second Earle of Northumberland Did not the iustice of God appeare in both their endes when being attainted for Treason the one slew himselfe in prison and the other died by course of nature in prison also Notorious was the conspiracie of those Arch-traitors Ballard Babington Sauadge and Tylney c. yet the Lord brought them downe and made them spectacles to the world of his iustice Euen so that notorious villaine doctor Lopus the Queens Phisitian who a long time had not onely beene an intelligencer to the Pope and King of Spaine of our English counsailes but also had poysoned many Noblemen and went about also to poyson the Queene her selfe was he not surprised in his trecherie and brought to suddaine destruction In summe
The fathers shal not be put to death for the children nor the children for the fathers but euerie man shall beare his owne sinne 2. King 15. Neither did Shallum that slue Zacharia king of Israel prosper any better for he raigned but one month in Samaria wheÌ„ Menahim the sonne of Gadi rebelled against him and slew him as he had done his maister Amon the sonne of Manasseh was slaine by his owne seruants but the Lord stirred vp the people of the land to reuenge his death to kill all them that had conspired against their king But to let passe the holy histories of the sacred scripture wherein euer after any treason the Holy-ghost presently setteth down the punishment of traitors as it were of purpose to signifie how the Lord hateth all such rebels that rose vp against his owne ordinance Let vs consider a little the consequents of these in prophane yet credible authors and applie them vnto our purpose Iâ—lian lib. 1. Archelaus King of Macedonia had a mignion called Cratenas whome he loued most entirely but he againe required him not with loue but with hatred and stretched all his wits to enstall himselfe in his kingdome by deposing and murthering him which though he accomplished yet his deserts were cut short by the vengeance of God for he continued not many daies in his roialtie but he was serued with the same sauce that he had made Archelaus before him to tast of euen betraied and murdered as he well deserued Ludouicus Sfortia to the end to inuest himselfe with the dukedome of Millain spared not to shed the innocent blood of his two nephewes the sonnes of Galeachus togither with their tutors and one Francis Calaber a worthy and excellent man But the Lord so disposed of his purposes that he in stead of obtaining the kingdome was taken prisoner by the king of France so that neither hee nor any of his offspring enioyed that which he so much affected When Numerianus was to succeed Carus his father in the Empire Phil. Melanct. chron lib. 3. Arrius Axer his father in law to the end to translate the Empire vnto himselfe entred a conspiracie and slew his sonne in law that nothing mistrusted his disloialty But the Pretorian army vnderstanding the matter discharged Arrius and elected Dioclesian in his roome who laying hold vpon his competitor laid an action of treason to his charge and put him to death in the sight of the multitude Theodericke and Fredericke conspired against their owne brother Thurismund king of the Visigothes Chron. Sigebert to the intent to succeed him in his kingdome And albeit that nature reclaimed them from the act yet they slew him without all compassion But after thirteene yeres raigne the same Theodericke was requited by his other brethren with the same measure that hee before met to his brother Thurismund And so though vengeance slept a while yet at length it wakened Aelias Antonius Gordianus the third Emperour of Rome Phil. Melanct. chron Aventin lib. 2. though so excellent a young prince that hee deserued to be called the Loue and Iewell of the world yet was hee slaine by one promoted by himselfe to high honour called Philip Arabs when hee was but two and twentie yeere old after whose decease this Philip got himselfe elected Emperour by the band confirmed by the Senat. Ingratitude punished All which notwithstanding after fiue yeeres Decius rebelled and his owne souldiers conspired against him so that both he at Verona and his sonne at Rome were slaine by them about one time Aâ—entin lib. 2. After the death of Constantine the Great his three sonnes deuiding the Empire betwixt them succeeded their father Constantine the eldest had for his share Spaine France the Alpes and England Constance the second held Italy Africa Graecia and Illiricum Constantine the younger was king and Emperour of the East But ambition suffered them not to enioy quietly these their possessions for when the eldest being more proud and seditious thâ—n the other not content with his alotted portion made warre vpon his brother Constance his prouinces and stroue to enter Italy hee was slaine in a battell by Aquileia when he was but fiue and twentie yeere old by which meanes all the prouinces which were his fell to Constance and therewithall such a drowsinesse and epicurisme for want of a stirrer vp after his brothers death that he fell into the gout and neglected the gouernment of the Empire Wherfore in Auspurge and in Rhetia they created a new Emperour one Magnentius whose life before-time Constance had saued from the souldiers Notable ingratitude punished and therefore his treachery was the greater This Magnentius depriued and slew Constance but was ouercome by Constantine the third brother in Illiricum yet in such sort that the conquerour could not greatly brag for he lost an infinite company of his men and yet missed of his chiefe purpose the taking of Magnentius for he escaped to Lyons and there massacring all that he mistrusted at last growing I suppose in suspition with his owne heart slue himselfe also And so his traiterous ingratefull and ambitious murder was reuenged with his own hands Ritius lib. 1. regib Hispan Victericus betraied Luyba king of Spaine and succeeded in his place seuen yeeres after another traitor slew him succeeded also in his place Mauritius the Emperour was murdered by Phocas togither with his wife fiue of his children he seating himselfe Emperor in his Rome Howbeit traitours and murderers can neuer come to happy ends for as hee had slaine Mauritius so Priscus Heraclianus and Phorius three of his chiefest captaines conspiring against him with three seuerall armies gaue him such an alarme at once at his owne dores that they soone quailed his courage and after much mangling of his body cut him shorter by the head and the kingdome at one blow In the time of Edward the second and Edward the third in England Lanquet one Sir Roger Mortimer committed many villanous outrages in shedding much blood and at last king Edward himselfe lying at Barkley castle to the end that he might as it was supposed enioy Isabell his wife with whom he had very suspitious familiarity After this hee vniustly accused Edmond Earle of Kent of treason and caused him to be put to death therefore and lastly he conspired against king Edward the third as it was suspected for which cause he was worthily and deseruedly beheaded Among this ranke of murderers of kings we may fitly place also Richard the third vsurper of the crowne of England Stow. and diuers others which he vsed as instruments to bring his detestable purpose to effect as namely Sir Iames Tirrell knight a man for natures gifts worthy to haue serued a much better prince then this Richard if he had well serued God and bene indued with as much truth honestie as he had strength wit also Miles Forest Iohn Dighton two villains fleshed
fared till king Charles the sixt sent an army of men to his succour Cap. 125 126. for he was his subiect by whose support he ouercame those rebels in a battaile foughten at Rose Be◠to the number of forty thousand the body of their chieftaine Philip Arteuill slaine in the throng hee caused to bee hanged on a tree Nic. Gil. vol. 2. And this was the end of that cruell Tragedy the countrie being brought againe into the obedience of their old Lord. A while before this Froiss vol. r. cap. 182. whilest king Iohn was held prisoner in England there arose a great cōmotion of the cōmon people in France against the nobilitie and gentilitie of the realme that oppressed them this tumult began but with an hundred men that were gathered togither in the countrey of Beauvoisin but that small handfull grewe right quickly to an armefull euen to nine thousand that ranged and robbed throughout al Brie along by the riuer Marne to Laonoise and all about Soissons armed with great bats shod with iron an headlesse crue without gouernour fully purposing to bring to ruine the whole nobility In this disorder they wrought much mischief broke vp many houses and castles murdered many Lords so that diuerse Ladies and knights as the Dutchesses of Normandy Orleance were faine to flee for safegard to Meaux whither when these rebels would needes pursue them they were there ouerthrowen killed and hanged by troupes In the yere of our Lord 1525 Sleid. lib. 4. there were certaine husbandmen of Souabey that began to stand in resistance against the Earle of Lupsfen by reason of certaine burdens which they complained themselues to be ouerlaid with by them their neighbors seeing this enterprised the like against their lords And so vpon this small beginning by a certaine contagion there grew vp a most dangerous and fearfull commotion that spread it selfe almost ouer all Almaine the sedition thus increasing in all quarters and the swaines being now full fortie thousand strong making their owne liberty and the Gospels a cloake to couer their treason and rebellion and a pretence of their vndertaking armes to the wonderfull griefe of all that feared God did not only fight with the Romane Catholikes but with all other without respect as well in Souabe as in Franconia they destroied the greater part of the nobility sacked and burnt many castles and fortresses to the number of two hundred and put to death the Earle of Helfestin making him passe through their pikes But at length their strength was broken they discomfited and torne in pieces with a most horrible massacre of more than eighteene thousand of them During this sedition there were slaine on each side fifty thousand men The captaine of the Souabian swaines called Geismer hauing betaken himselfe to flight got ouer the mountaines to Padua where by treason hee was made away In the yeere of our Lord 1517 in the Marquesdome of the Vandales the like insurrection and rebellion was of the comminaltie especially the baser sort against the nobilitie spirituall and temporall by whom they were oppressed with intollerable exactions their army was numbred to stand of ninety thousand men all clownes and husbandmen that conspired togither to redresse and refourme their owne grieuances without any respect of ciuill magistrate or feare of Almightie God This rascality of swaines raged and tyranized euery where burning and beating downe the castles and houses of noble men and making their ruines euen with the ground Nay they handled the noble men themselues as many as they could attaine vnto not contumeliously only but rigorously and cruelly for they tormented them to death and carried their heads vpon speares in token of victory Thus they swaied a while vncontrolled for the Emperour Maximilian winked at their riots as beeing acquainted with what iniuries they had bene ouercharged but when he perceiued that the rude multitude did not limit their fury within reason but let it runne too lauish to the damnifying as well the innocent as the guilty hee made out a certaine small troupe of mercenary souldiers togither with a band of horsemen to suppresse them who comming to a city were presently so inuironed with such a multitude of these swaines that like locusts ouerspread the earth that they thought it impossible to escape with their liues wherefore feare and extremitie made thē to rush out to battel with thē But see how the Lord prospereth a good cause for all their weake number in comparison of their enemies yet such a feare possessed their enemies hearts that they fled like troupes of sheepe and were slaine liee dogs before them insomuch that they that escaped the sword were either hanged by flockes on trees or rosted on spits by fires or otherwise tormented to death And this end befell that wicked rebellious rout which wrought such mischiefe in that countrey with their monstrous villanies that the traces and steppes thereof remaine at this day to be seene In the yeere of our Lord 1381 Stow Chron. Richard the second being king the commons of England and especially of Kent and Essex by meanes of a taxe that was set vpon them suddenly rebelled and assembled togither on Blackheath to the number of 60000 or more which rebellious rout had none but base and ignoble fellowes for their captaines as Wat Tilour Iacke Straw Tom Miller but yet they caused much trouble and disquietnesse in the realme and chiefly about the citie of London where they committed much villanie in destroying many goodly places as the Sauoy and others and being in Smithfield vsed themselues very proudly and vnreuerently towards the king but by the manhood and wisdome of William Walworth Maior of London who arrested their chiefe captaine in the midst of them that rude company was discomfited and the ringleaders of them worthily punished In like manner in the raigne of Henry the seuenth Stow Chron. a great commotiō was stirred vp in England by the commons of the North by reason of a certaine taxe which was leuied of the tenth penny of all mens lands good within the land in the which the Earle of Northumberland was slaine But their rash attempt was soone broken and Chamberlaine their captaine with diuers others hanged at Yorke for the same Howbeit their example scared not the Cornish men frō rebelling vpon the like occasion of a taxe vnder the conduct of the lord Audley vntill by wofull experience they felt the same scourge for the king met them vpon blacke heath and discomfiting their troupes tooke their captains and ringleaders and put them to most worthy and sharpe death Thus we may see the vnhappie issue of all such seditious reuoltings and thereby gather how vnpleasant they are in the sight of God Let all people therefore learne by these experiences to submit themselues in the feare of God to the higher powers whether they be lords kings princes or any other that are set ouer them CHAP. VI. Of Murderers AS
more strange in matter of warre than this which I now goe about to recite of Henry of Luxenbourge Emperour of Germanie who when he heard that his sonne Charles king of Bohemia was in the French army Froiss vol. 1. Cap. 130. and that Philip of Valoys king of France was ready to giue battaile to the English albeit hee was blind and consequently vnfit for warre yet would needs take part with the French And therefore commaunded his men at armes to guide him into the place where the field was to be fought that he might there strike one blow They as foolish as himselfe not willing to crosse his mind and fearing to loose him in the prease tied him fast to the raines of their bridles being by this meanes so coupled togither as if they meant al to perish togither if need were as indeed they did for they were ouercome in battaile and the next day found all dead horse and men fast bound togither This accident befell at Crecy neare Abreuile in which iourney the French king sustained an inestimable dammage for hee lost fifteene of his chiefest princes fourescore ensigns twelue hundred knights and about thirty thousand men In the yeere 1455 the Hungarians without any iust cause or pretence Theatr. hist. made war vpon the Emperour Otto only mooued with a desire of bringing vnder their subiection the Germane powers and the rather at this time because they supposed the Emperours strength of war to be weakened and his power of men lessened by those continuall troubles and warres which he had beene daily occupied in notwithstanding Otto as by his former deedes of armes hee deserued the sirname of Great so in this exploit especially for he conscribed eight legions of men out of Franconia Bauaria and Bohemia and with that small valiant handfull ouerturned and destroied the huge vnchristened multitude of his enemies for albeit the Bohemians being placed in the rereward were as suddenly and vnexpectedly assaulted by the enemy that craftily passed ouer the riuer Lycus to set vpon them behind as vnhappily put to flight with the losse of the carriages and vittailes which they were set to protect yet Otto with his other legions renuing the battell and encouraging his souldiers gaue the enemy such an encounter and repulse that he put them to flight and slew them with a miserable slaughter three of their kings hee tooke prisoners and few of that vast army escaped with their liues On the Emperours side died many worthy men among whome Conrade the Emperours sonne in law and Burghard duke of Sueuia were two beside many other In this successiue battaile it is to be noted aboue the rest how religiously the Emperor both began and finished it the day before the fight he inioyned a fast in his army and directed his praiers to the Almighty relying more vpon the presence of Gods helpe than his owne power After the conquest gotten he caused solemne thankes to be giuen in all Churches to God for that great deliuerance I would our moderne Generals and Captaines would learne by this example to follow his footsteps not to make their praiers quaffings and their thanksgiuings carousings as they vse to doe euen as it were purposely to tempt the Lord and to stirre vp his wrath against them Penda king of middle England Lanqueâ— Chron. making warre vpon Anna king of East Angles slew him in open field with which victory being puffed vp in pride he sent defiance to Osway king of Northumberland also who hearing of his approch proffered him great gifts and faire conditions of peace which when Penda obstinately refused he was slaine in battaile with thirty of his most noble captaines although hee had thrise the number of people which Osway had And thus the heathen and bloody Pagan ended his cruelty and paied deare for his too much forwardnes in warre CHAP. XVI Of such as please themselues ouermuch in seeing cruelties THe Romanes were so accustomed by long vse of warre to behold fightings and bloodshed that in time of peace also they would make themselues sports and pastimes therewith for they would compell poore captiues and bondslaues either to kill one another by mutuall blowes or to enter combat with sauadge and cruell beasts to be torne in peeces by them The first according to Seneca Seneca that deuised and put in practise this vnkindly combat of beasts and malefactours was Pompey who prouided an army of eighteene Elephants to fight with men and thought it a notable and commendable spectacle to put men to death after this new and strange fashion Oh how mens minds are blinded with ouermuch prosperity hee esteemed himselfe at that time to be higher in dignity than all other when he thus threw to wild beasts people of farre countries and in the presence of the people caused so much blood to be shed but not long after himselfe was betraied by the treachery of the Alexandrians slaine by a bondslaue a iust quittance for murdering so many of that condition thus much out of Seneca Now it is manifest that this was an ordinary pastime among the Romanes albeit it is strange that any pastime or pleasure could arise by seeing poore creatures interchangeably strike one another to death and humane blood to runne like water along the streets It was not then without cause but by a special will of God to reuenge cruelty Flor. that the bondslaues conducted by Spartacus the fencer rebelled against their masters in Rome after they had broken through the guards of Lentulus his house and issuing out of Capua gathered togither aboue ten thousand fighting men and encamped themselues in Mount Vesuvius where being besieged by Clodius Glaber they sallied so rudely and boisterously vpon him that the victory and spoile of their enemies tents remained on their sides after this they ran ouer all the land forraged the countrey and destroied many villages and townes but especially these foure Nola Nocera Terreneuae and Metaponte were by them sacked and spoiled with a strange and bloody ouerthrow after all which hauing encountred two Consuls they ouercame Lentulus on mount Apennine and discomfited Gaius Cassius here Modene all which victories and luckie proceedings did so embolden puffe vp the courage of captaine Fencer that he determined to giue an alarme to Rome and to lay siege vnto it but the Romans preparing and directing all their forces to withstand their practises gaue him his crew so sore a repulse that from Rome they were faine to flie to the vttermost borders of Italy there seeing themselues pent in on all sides and driuen to deep extremity they gaue so desperat an onset vpon their enemies that both their captaine they were all slaine And thus the Romans made iolly pastime with their fencers and bondslaues and more I thinke at this time than they either looked or wished for for four hundred of them being taken by the bondmen were enforced to shew them pastime at the
woman to the Emperour Adrian is very worthy to be remembred Fulgos lib. 6. cap. 2. who appealing and complaining to the Emperour of some wrong when hee answered that he was not at leisure then to heare her sute shee told him boldly and plainly That then he ought not to be at leisure to be her Emperour which speech went so neare the quicke vnto him that euer after he shewed more facilitie and courtesie towards all men that had any thing to do with him The kings of Fraunce vsed also this custome of hearing and deciding their subiects matters as wee read of Charlemaigne the king and Emperour who commanded that he should be made acquainted with all matters of importance and their issues throughout his realme King Lewes the first treading the steps of his father Charlemaigne accustomed himselfe three daies in a weeke to heare publikely in his pallace the complaints and grieuances of his people and to right their wrongs and iniuries King Lewes sirnamed the Holy Aimo a little before his death gaue in charge to his sonne that should succeed him in the crowne amongst other this precept To be carefull to beare a stroke in seeing the distribution of iustice and that it should not be peruerted not depraued CHAP. XLVI Of such princes as haue made no reckening of punishing vice nor regarded the estate of their people IT cannot choose but be a great confusion in a common-wealth when iustice sleepeth and when the shamelesse boldnesse of euill doers is not curbed in with any bridle but runneth it owne swinge and therefore a Consull of Rome could say That it was an euill thing to haue a prince vnder whome license and libertie is giuen to euery man to doe what him listeth for so much then as this euill proceedeth from the carelesnes and slothfulnesse of those that hold the sterne of gouernment in their hands it can not be but some euill must needs fall vpon them for the same The truth of this may appeare in the person of Philip of Macedonie whome Demosthenes the oratour noteth for a treacherous and false dealing prince after that he had subdued almost all Greece not so much by open warre as by subtilty craft and surprise and that being in the top of his glory hee celebrated at one time the marriage of his sonne Alexander whome hee had lately made king of Epire and of one of his daughters with great pompe and magnificense as hee was marching with all his traine betwixt the two bridegroomes his owne sonne his sonne in law to see the sports and pastimes which were prepared for the solemnitie of the marriage behold suddenly a young Macedonian gentleman called Pausanias ran at him and slew him in the midst of the prease for not regarding to doe him iustice when hee complained of an iniury done vnto him by one of the peeres of his realme Plutarch Tatius the fellow king of Rome with Romulus for not doing iustice in punishing certaine of his friends and kinsfolkes that had robbed and murdered certaine Embassadors which came to Rome and for making their impunitie an example for other malefactours by deferring and protracting and disappointing their punishment was so watcht by the kindred of the slaine that they slew him euen as he was sacrificing to his gods because they could not obtaine iustice at his hands What happened to the Romanes for refusing to deliuer an Embassadour Tit. Liuius Plutarch who contrary to the law of nations comming vnto them plaid the part of an enemie to his own country euen well nigh the totall ouerthrow of them and their citie for hauing by this meanes brought vpon themselues the calamitie of warre they were at the first discomfited by the Gaules who pursuing their victory entred Rome and slew al that came in their way whether men or women infants or aged persons and after many daies spent in the pillage spoiling of the houses at last set fire on all and vtterly destroied the whole city Childericke king of France Paul Aemil. is notified for an extreame dullard and blockhead and such a one as had no care or regard vnto his realme but that liued idly and slothfully without intermedling with the affaires of the common wealth for he laid all the charge and burden of them vpon Pepin his lieutenant generall therefore was by him iustly deposed from his roiall dignity mewed vp in a cloister of religion to become a monke because he was vnfit for any good purpose albeit that this sudden change mutation was very strange yet there ensued no trouble nor commotion in the realme thereupon so odious was hee become to the whole land for his drowsie and idle disposition Paul Aemil. For the same cause did the princes Electours depose Venceslaus the Emperour from the Empire and established another in his roome King Richard of England amongst other foule faults which he was guilty of incurred greatest blame for this because he suffered many theeues and robbers to roue vp and down the land vnpunished for which cause the citizens of London coÌ„menced a high sute against him coÌ„pelled him hauing raigned 22 yeres to lay aside the crown resigne it to another in the presence of all the states died prisoner in the Tower Moreouer this is no small defect of iustice when men of authority do not only pardon capitall and detestable crimes but also grace and fauour the doers of them and this neither ought nor can be done by a soueraigne prince without ouerpassing the bounds of his limited power which can in no wise dispence with the law of God Exod. 21. whereunto euen kings themselues are subiect for as touching the willing and considerate murderer Dâ—ut 19. Thou shalt plucke him from my altar saith the Lord that hee may die thy eye shall not spare him to the end it may goe well with thee which was put in practise in the death of Ioab 1 King 2. who was slaine in the Tabernacle of God holding his hands vpon the hornes of the Altar for hee is no lesse abominable before God that iustifieth the wicked Prou 17. than hee that condemneth the iust and hereupon that holy king S. Lewes when hee had granted pardon to a malefactour Nich. Gilles reuoked it againe after better consideration of the matter saying That hee would giue no pardon except the case deserued pardon by the law for it was a worke of charitie and pittie to punish an offender and not to punish crimes was as much as to commit them In the yeere of our Lord 978 Egebrede the sonne of Edgare end Alphred king of England was a man of goodly outward shape and visage but wholly giuen to idlenesse and abhorring all princely exercises besides he was a louer of riot drunkennesse and vsed extreame cruelty towards his subiects hauing his eares open to all vniust complaints in feats of armes of all men most ignorant so
and being demanded what he ailed he halfe asleep answered That his friend Ausanius and his wife whome hee had slaine long agoe summoned him to Iudgement before God vpon which confession he was apprehended and after due examination stoned to death Thus though all witnesses faile yet a murderers owne conscience will bewray him Pipin and Martellus his sonne kings of France enuying prosperity and ease Casp hed lib. 6. cap. 17. fell into diuers monstrous sinnes as to forsake their wiues and follow whores which filthinesse when the Bishop of Tungria reprooued Dodo the harlots brother murdered him for his labour but he was presently taken with the vengeance of God euen a lousie and most filthie disease with the griefe and stinke whereof being mooued he threw himselfe into the riuer Mosa and there was drowned How manifest and euident was the vengeance of God vpon the murderers of Theodoricke hishop of Treuerse Martian Scotus Conrade the author of it died suddenly the souldier that helped to throw him downe from the rocke Hermanus contractus was choaked as he was at supper two other seruants that laid too their hands to this murder slew themselues most desperately About the yeere of our Lord 700 Geilian the wife of Gosbert prince of Wurtiburg Casp Hed. lib. 6. cap. 10. being reprooued by Kilianus for incest for she married her husbands brother wrought such meanes that both hee and his brethren were depriued of their liues but the Lord gaue her vp to Satan in vengeance so that she was presently possessed with him and so continued till her dying day A certaine woman of Millaine in Italy hung a young boy and after deuoured him instead of meat when as she wanted none other victuals and when shee was examined about the crime shee confessed that a spirit persuaded her to doe it telling her that after it she should attaine vnto whatsoeuer she desired for which murder shee was tormented to death by a lingring and grieuous punishment This Arlunus reporteth to haue happened in his time And surely howsoeuer openly the deuill sheweth not himselfe yet hee is the moouer and persuader of all murders and commonly the detector For hee delighteth in mens bloods and their destruction as in nothing more At Winsheime in Germanie a certaine theefe after many â—obberies murders committed by him vpon trauailers and women with child went to the shambles before Easter and bought three calues heads which when he put into a wallet they seemed to the standers by to be mens heads Theat histor Though strange yet not incredible since God can as well turne calues heads into mens as a rod into a serpent or water into blood Whereof being attached searched by the officers and found so indeed hee being examined how hee came by them answered and proued by witnesses that he bought calues heads how they were transformed hee knew not Whereat the Senat amazed not supposing this miracle to arise of naught cast the partie into prison and tortured him to confesse the villany whereof the Lord would haue him detected as hee did indeed and was worthely punished for the same and then the heads recouered their old shapes Another theefe at Tubing betraied his murder robbery by his own sighes 8. Mandat lib. 2 cap. 35. which were so incessant in griefe not of his fact but of his small bootie that being but asked the question he confessed the crime and vnderwent worthy punishment Another murderer in Spaine was discouered by the trembling of his heart for when many were suspected of the murder and all renounced it the iudge caused all their breasts to bee opened and him in whom he saw most trembling of breast hee condemned who also could not deny the fact but presently confessed the same At Isenacum a certaine young man being in loue with a maid not hauing wherewith to maintain her vsed this vnlawfull means he vpon a night slew his host 8. Mandat lib. 2. cap. 35. throwing his body into the seller tooke away all his money and then hasted away but the terror of his owne conscience and the iudgement of God so besotted him that he could not stirre a foot vntill he was appreheÌ„ded At the same time Martin Luther Philip Melancton abode at Isenacum were eie witnesses of this miraculous iudgement who also dealt with the murderer that in most humble and penitent confession of his sins comfort of soule he ended his life By all these exaÌ„ples we see how hard it is for a murderer to escape without his reward Nay rather then he shal go vnpunished sencelesse creatures and his owne soule riseth to giue sentence against him In the yeare of our Lord 1546 Iohn Diazius a Spaniard by birth liuing a student and professor in Paris came first to Geneua and then to Strasbrough and there by the grace of Gods spirit saw his Sorbonicall errors and renounced them betaking himselfe to the profession of the purer religion and the company and acquaintance of godly men amongst whome was Bucer that excellent man who sent him also to Nurnburge to ouersee the printing of a booke which he was to publish Sleid. lib. 17. Whilst Diazius liued at this Nurnburge a citie scituate vpon the riuer Dimow his brother a lawier and iudge lateriall to the inquisition by name Alphonsus came thither and by all meanes possible endeuoured to dissuade him from his religon and to reduce him againe to Poperie But the good man persisted in the truth notwithstanding all his persuasions and threats wherfore the subtile foxe tooke another course and faining himselfe to bee conuerted also to his religion exhorted him to goe with him into Italy where he might doe much good or at the least to August but by the counsaile of Bucer and his friends hee was kept backe otherwise willing to follow his brother Wherefore Alphonsus departed exhorteth him to constancy perseuerance giuing him also foureteeene crownes to defray his charges Now the Wolfe had not ben three daies absent when he hired a rakehell and common butcher and with him flew again to Nurnburge in post hast and comming to his brothers lodging deliuered him a letter which whilest he read the villain his confederate cleft his head in peeces with an axe leauing him dead vpon the floore and so fled with all expedition Howeit they were apprehended yet quit by the Popes iustice so holy and sacred are the fruits of his holinesse though not by the iustice of God for within a while after hee hung himselfe vpon his mules necke at Trent Duke Abrogastes slew Valentinian the Emperour of the West and aduanced Eugenius to the crowne of the Empire but a while after the same sword which had slaine his Lord and maister was by his owne hands turned into his own bowels Mempricius the sonne of Madan the fourth king of England then called Britaine after Brute Lanquet chron had a brother called Manlius
betwixt whome was great strife for the soueraigne dominion but to rid himselfe of all his trouble at once hee slew his brother Manlius by treason and after continued his raigne in tyranny and all vnlawfull lusts the space of twentie yeares but although vengeance all this while wincked yet it slept not for at the end of this space as hee was hunting hee was deuoured of wild beasts In the yeare of our Lord God 745 one Sigebert was authorised king of the Saxons in Brittaine a cruell and tyrannous Prince towards his subiects and one that chaunged the ancient lawes and customes of his realme after his owne pleasure and because a certaine Nobleman somewhat sharpely aduertised him of his euill conditions he malitiously caused him to bee put to death but see how the Lord reuenged this murder hee caused his Nobles to depriue him of his kingly authority and at last as a desolate and forlorne person wandering alone in a wood to bee slaine of a swine-heard whose maister hee being king had wrongfully put to death In the yeare of our Lord 678 Childerich king of Fraunce caused a Nobleman of his Realme called Bolyde to bee bound to a stake and there beaten to death without the pretence of any iust crime or accusation against him for which cruelty his Lords and commons being grieuously offended conspired togither and slew him with his wife as they were in hunting In the raigne of Edward the second and Edward the third Sir Roger Mortimer committed many villanous outrages in sheading much humane blood but hee was also iustlie recompenced in the end first he murdered king Edward the second lying in Barkley castell to the end hee might as it was supposed enioy Isabell his wife with whome hee had very suspitious familiarity Secondly hee caused Edward the third to conclude a dishonourable peace with the Scots by restoring to them all their ancient writings charters and patents whereby the kings of Scotland had bound themselues to be feudaries to the kings of England Thirdly he accused Edmund Earle of Kent vncle to king Edward of treason and caused him vniustly to be put to death And lastly he conspired against the king to worke his destruction for which and diuerse other things that were laid to his charge he was worthely and iustly beheaded In the raigne of Henry the sixt Humfry the good duke of Gloucester faithfull protector of the king by the meanes of certaine malicious persons and especially the Marques of Suffolke as it was suspected was arrested cast into hold strangled to death in the Abbey of Bury for which cause the Marques was not only banished the land for the space of fiue yeares but also banished out of his life for euer for as he sailed towards France he was met withall by a ship of warre and there presently beheaded and the dead corps cast vp at Douer that England wherein hee had committed the crime might be a witnesse of his punishment As the murder of a gentleman in Kent called maister Arden of Feuersham was most execrable so the wonderfull discouerie thereof was exceeding rare this Arden being somewhat aged had to wife a young woman no lesse faire then dishonest who being in loue with one Mosby more then her husband did not onely abuse his bed but also conspired his death with this her companion for togither they hired a notorious ruffian one Blacke Will to strangle him to death with a towell as hee was playing a game at tables which though secretly done yet by her own guiltie conscience and some tokens of blood which appeared in the house was soon discouered and confessed Wherfore she her selfe was burnt at Canterbury Michael maister Ardens man was hanged in chaines at Feuersham Mosby and his sister were hanged in Smithfield Greene another partner in this bloody action was hanged in chaines in the high way against Feuersham And Blacke Will the ruffian after his first escape was apprehended and burnt on a scaffold at Flushing in Zealand And thus all the murderers had their deserued dewes in this life and what they endured in the life to come except they obtaine mercy by true repentance it is easie to iudge CHAP. XI Of Paricides or parent murderers IF all effusion of humane blood bee both horrible to behold and repugnant to nature then is the murdering of parents especially detestable when a man is so possessed with the deuill or transported with a hellish fury that he lifteth vp his hand against his owne naturall father or mother to put thē to death this is so monstrous and inormious an impiety that the greatest Barbarians euer haue had it in detestation wherefore it is also expressely commanded in the law of God that vvhosoeuer smiteth his father or mother in what sort soeuer though not to death Exod. 21. yet he shall die the death If the disobedience vnreuerence and contempt of children towards their parents are by the iust iudgement of God most rigorously punished as hath ben declared before in the first commandement of the second table how much more then when violence is offered aboue all when murder is cōmitted Diodor. Sic. Thus the Aegyptians punished this sin they put the cōmittants vpon a stack of thorns and burnt thē aliue hauing beaten their bodies before hand with sharp reeds made of purpose Solon being demanded why hee appointed no punishment in his lawes for Parricides answered that there was no necessity thinking that the wide world could not affoord so wicked a wretch It is said that Romulus for the same cause ordained no punishment in his Common-wealth for that crime but called euery murderer a Parricide the one being in his opinion a thing execrable and the other impossible And in truth there was not for 600 years space according to Plutarchs report found in Rome any one that had cōmitted this execrable fact The first Parricide that Rome saw was Lucius Ostius after the first Punick war although other writers affirme that M. Malliolus was the first and Lucius the second howsoeuer it was they both vnderwent the punishment of the law Pompeia which enacted that such offendors should be thrust into a sack of lether an ape a cock a viper a dog put in to accōpany them then to be thrown into the water to the end that these beasts being enraged animated one against another might wreke their teene vpon them so depriue thē of life after a strange fashion being debarred of the vse of aire water earth as vnworthy to participate the very elements with their deaths much lesse with their liues which kind of punishmēt was after practised and confirmed by the constitution of Constantine the great And albeit the regard of the punishmēt seemed terrible the offence it self much more monstrous yet since that time there haue ben many so peruerse exceedingly wicked as to throw themselues headlong into that desperat gulfe As Cleodorick son of Sigebert king of