his synguler grace and benefite so freely offered what then maie bee thoughte in vs Ought not then all good men thynke as thei dooe in deede that all the mischiefe effusion of bloud hūger and other miseries ensuyng of warre fall vpon vs morthely and by deserte Yes verely And surely in this parte I must desire you my countreymen bothe of pardon and pactence when I shall disclose the cause of this mischief and the long continuaunce thereof to come rather of vs thē of the cōtrary parte whiche iudgemente God is my witnesse procedeth neither of adulacion to English men nor of malice to any estate but as my conscience moueth me and as the truthe to al wisemen maie appere BVT afore I will stirre that vnsauery sinke of tresō and trecherie as one that intendeth to make a greate lepe I muste bee forced to ronne backe to fetche my course wherefore omittyng the mattiers of the tyme presēt I muste repete the estate of this island from the beginnyng and what were the causes of this diuision at the firste and by what waies it hathe continued from tyme to tyme and how it is yet norished to the ende that vpon the causes opened and the persones detected that bee workers therof the remedies maie be the soner founde and simple people beware of those that with fayned fables and lies haue ledde them long blindfold so would kepe them to the perdicion both of their soules and bodies and then shal we se whether this saiyng of Christ afore recited maie not be wel verefied in vs of Britayne In the discourse whereof because the right title whereby the kynges of Englande claime to be superior Lordes of Scotland is incidētly touched I wil vse for the more parte the testimonies either of Scottish chronicles or forein writers and litle of the Englishe onlesse where bothe Scottishe and Englishe do agre or where by apparaunt reason the truthe standeth more on th one side then on the other and all to aduoyde the common cauillacion of suche as say how the Kynges of Englande proue their title to Scotlāde onely by Englishe aucthors THE opinion of moste writers and specially of Latins at whom aswell for auncientie as indifferēcie I take my ground is that this islande of Britayn whiche cōteineth bothe realmes of Englande and Scotland as I saied afore was at the firste called Albion that is to saie the white lande hauyng that name Ab albis rupibus that is to saie of the White Rockes and Cleues whiche appere vpon the sea costes of thesaied islande euen as we at this daie call the countrey from whence the Brasill wood cōmeth Brasilia whiche opinion is more probable then the deuise of a late Welshe Poete ymaginyng how it was called Albion of one Albina eldest of the fiftie daughters of one Dioclesian kyng of Syria whiche hauyng killed fiftie kynges beyng their husbandes wer for the same exiled And after long wanderyng in the seas arriued at laste in this Islande where thei ingendered with spirites brought furth .l. Giaūtes whiche wer Gog Magog and his felowes with suche poeticall fables not onely without good foundacion but also mere cōtrary to all auncient stories and welnere against al possibilitie of nature But as the be ginnyng of all nacions for the more part be fabulous and vncertain some fetchyng their pedegre frō the Goddes and some from the deuils as the Grekes from Iupiter the olde Gaules from Pluto God of helle so the better opinion aswel of the latre writers as also of Gildas a Britayn is that this island was inhabited from the beginnyng by those that were borne in thesame afterward as the world multiplied grewe vnto a greate people and from a people vnto a Kyngdome and gouerned by Kynges as by stories is to bee seen of whom the firste that wee finde was one Brutus whiche whether he came out of Italy or not is not muche materiall but certain it is that suche a one reigned and was firste Kyng of the whole islande whiche beginnyng of the people dooth make muche more with the honor and glory of this islande then to beduce a pedegree either from an outlaw of Italy or a tirauntes sister out of Egipt as Welshe Scottishe Poetes haue phantastically fayned For if wee accompt nobilitie by auncientie of yeres length of tyme as some vse nowe a daies what can bee more auncient more noble more high or honorable then to haue a beginnyng beyond all memory and in processe of yeres from small families to growe into a greate Monarchie kyngdom In whiche poynt the old latins of whom the Romaynes discended sette a greate parte of their glory callyng themselfes Aborigines that is to saie a people from the beginnyng BRVTVS the first Kyng of this whole Islande by whom it was called Britayne the people thereof Britaynes reigned the yere after the creacion of the worlde foure thousande C C. and xlii and as writers affirme had three sonnes Locrinus Albanactus and Camber emong whō he diuided the whole island assignyng the supreme empire with the greatest and moste fruitful part toward the Southe vnto Locrinus his eldest sonne of whom it was called Logres and now England To the second sonne named Albanactus he assigned another part towardes the Northe whiche at this day the Scottes possesse by which Albanactus the coūtrey was called Albania and the people Albanactes as shal be shewed hereafter The .iii. part liyng West towardes the seas of Gaule whiche nowe is called wales he gaue to Cāber his yōgest sonne by whō it was called Cambria the people Cambrians as thei cal thēselfes to this day AND though the island was thus parted betwene the three brethren yet the supreme power and kyngdome remained alwayes in the eldest to whom the other twoo were obedient as to a superior kyng The prose wherof if any bee so curious to require I aunswere that the same histories whiche speake of this particion declare in likewise of the subieccion So that admittyng them in the one thei muste likewise bee admitted in the other For the more corroboraciō wherof the histories bothe of Britōs and Romaines agre that the Islande was vnder kynges at the beginnyng whiche as thei were called Kynges of Britayne so was the general name of the people Brytons neither was there any other state or Kyngdome in the Islande at those daies but onely of Britons In so muche that the Romaines beyng most diligent reporters of the names of Princes by thē subdued and countreys conquered whereas thei make particular menciō of diuerse kynges of the Britaines and of sūdery cities in Britain yet do thei neuer name any people called Scottes ne make mēcion of any suche Princes as is pretended to haue ruled ouer thē whiche if thei had been so glorious bothe in warre and peace as thei be set furthe how should their actes haue been hidden to the Romaines which contended with all men for glory for thirst whereof thei
neither came in by conquest ne reigned ouer any people but occupied a wast part of the land not beynge inhabited as in the thirde Chapiter of his Chronicle appereth But how standeth that with reason that Britayne beyng inhabited by the space of vi C. yeres afore their comyng suche a countrey shoulde lie desert and especially vpon the sea costes Whiche liyng open to other landes and sonest sene by theim that saile muste of likelyhode haue inhabiters before the inner parte of the countrey I saie no more but Mendacem oportet esse memorem He that should tell a lye had nede to haue good memory least his matter appere like a Meremaide beginnyng with a woman and ending with a Fishe as when the ende of the tale is repugnauÌ„t to the beginnyng and the middes agreable to neither of bothe And doubteles it is no smal masterie to hide a lie for apparrell hym neuer so faire his ragges will appeare packe him neuer so close the buÌ„dell will breake write hym or speake hym and his aucthor is bewraied as a Ratte is by squekyng And though he bee allowed for a ceason yet at the ende tyme will trie hym whereof ensueth greate preiudice to the author For though he saâ—e afterwardes true none will beleue hym IF I shoulde here entre into declaracion of the righte title wherby the kynges of England claime to be superior lordes of Scotland I should of some be noted rather a confouÌ„der of our liberties and fredomes then a conseruator which name I had late But for somuche as the same is so exactelie set furthe in an Englishe boke put in Printe in the yere of oure Lorde .1542 at the beginninge of these warres called A DECLARATION conteynyng the iust causes and consideracions of this presente warre with the Scottes wherin alsoo appereth the true and right title that the kynges most royall maiestie hath to the souerayntie of Scotlande as nothynge can be sayde more in so fewe woordes I will referre all indifferent readers to the same booke thinkinge it nedelesse to speÌ„de any more time in a matter so well proued Neuerthelesse I will somewhat touche a point or two to geue occasion to all suche my contreymeÌ„ as minde the honor and quiet of Scotlande to conferre my saiynges with our histories and to iudge the matter without affeccion Whereof settinge a parte the order deuised by Brutus at the first concerning the diuision of Brytayne betwene his sonnes with the Superioritie supposed in the eldest and subiectioÌ„ of the other two pretermitting also the conquest of the whoole Islande by Romaines and the title deriued frome the greate Constantine letting passe also the sundry homages and recognicions of subieccion made to Arthur and other kynges of the Britaynes and after him to Osbright and the Saxon Kynges successiuely whiche be at large expressed in the Englishe and Briton histories and affirmed also by Marianus our countryman whose aurthoritie is not light if all these were of no credite as they must nedes be of great howe soeuer we esteme them yet in my iudgemeÌ„t our awn writers wherin they labor most to impugne the cause of England do moste aduaunce it and therfore in thys parte I will grounde me vpon them They agre al vpon .xviii. homages knowledges of subieccion and allegiauÌ„ce made by the kynges of Scotland successiuely vnto the kinges of Englande and many of them within late memorie Which homages though some of them either folowing their phantaseis or fearing to offende our kynges alledge to haue been done somewhiles for Cumberland somewhiles for the Erledome of HuÌ„tingdon Yet the time coÌ„sidered they declare that such actes were doone by oure kynges afore any of the sayde Erledomes were in their possessioÌ„ wherby they must be vnderstande absolutely done for the realme of Scotlande and in that pointe I referre you vnto the readinge of Marianus And of latter dayes synce that those Erledomes were taken from vs by EnglishmeÌ„ emong other kynge Iames the first did homage to kyng HeÌ„ry the fourthe of Englande The woordes and fourme of whose homage who so liste to peruse shall well perceiue the same to haue been made neither for any of those Erledomes neither yet for any other holde but merely for the crowne of Scotlande whiche aswel he as other knowledged to hold of the king of Englande as superior lorde The recordes remaine the seales subscriptions be so many so auncient and so faire as cannot lightelie be counterfaicte But some peradueÌ„ture will say that many of those homages were done by force and compulsion I aunswere thoughe it might be that some of theim were soo done yet all could not be For our Cronicles specifie that those .xviii. kiÌ„ges were in Englande which no maÌ„ can iudge to haue come all thither by force and all those dyd homage there and those homages well nere all appere to haue been made for the croune of Scotlande if we beleue the recordes of Englande And if any saye that they be counterfeited I thinke it soner said then proued And touching the compulsion and force I saye thoughe some of our kynges might be coÌ„ pelled by feare yet howe coulde all be or coulde an whole Parliament be compelled Is it not manifest that when question arose vpon the title of the croune of Scotlande betwene Balliol Brus and Hastynges was it not decided by Edward the fyrst king of Englande as competent iudge in that case But here it is sayde agayn that he was iudge in that case not of righte but by consente of the parties Then loke well to the woordes of the compromisse which nameth him superior lord of Scotland And this was done in Parliamente by consente of the thre estates which of likelyhoode could not be all compelled In which cause I am partely ashamed of the impudeÌ„t vanitie of our writers whiche raile without reason agaynst the iudgemeÌ„t of Edward in that plea as corrupte false This I saie that if the Iudgement were to be geuen agayne neither Mynos Lycurgus nor Salo mon whose iudgementes in histories be so celebrate dyd euer geue a more true a more perfect or a more rightfull sentence either by the ciuile lawes or by the practise and custome of Scotlande or any other reasonable lawe and take the case euen as they propone it But then we haue an other euasion which is to alledge prescripcion because those homages haue not been done within memorie To that I aunswere that thoughe prescripcion serued in that case as it doth not yet the warres made from tyme to tyme counteruaile a possession thereof In whiche pointe lette vs be well aduised what we saye leaste by fleynge the smoke we fall into the fyre For once admittinge hym superiour kynge no prescripcion wil serue agaynst hym The texte is common and no more common then allowed almoste in all lawes Nullum tempus occurrit Regi Time cannot preiudice a Kyng MOREOVER I note this that the Kynges of Englande would neuer make
peace with vs perpetually neither as lawfull enemies but admitted a truce or an intermission of warr for a tyme alwaies exceptyng Lorne and Lundie and with a caution to saue their title and right Our awne Recordes and registers approue this howbeit let no man iudge that myne entent is herin to pleade the cause of Englande for that I neither can doo ne professe to doo but onely to geue light to suche as liste to seke that the matter is not so cleare on our side as oure writers would haue it seme and therfore I would that men should weigh the querell indifferently and without affeccioÌ„ and not to leane more on the one side then on the other For the title which I alledge is neither deuised vpon phantasie worne out with age introduced by conquest ne enforced with feâ—â—re or compulsion but grounded vpon truth dooen within memory wrought by consente and agreyng to all iustice equitie lawe pacte and promise not doen in priuate but openly and not by a â—ew but by a multitude vpon a greate deliberacion and that in parliameÌ„t whiche title enduceth no feruitude but fredome libertie concord and quietnesse and serueth aswell for Scotlande as Englande makyng equalitie without supertoritie AT the parliament holden at Edinbrough immediatly after the death of our last kyng wher al the lordes thother states and orders of our realme wer assembled sauing the Erle of Arguyle that appered there by his proctor sir Ihou CaÌ„mell The mariage betwene our Princes and the kynges maiestie of EnglaÌ„d kyng Edward the VI. then beyng prince was fully concluded by aucthoritie of the same Parliament al thassentes of the said states and Orders concurryng therunto The whiche for more faithe testimony of the thyng was also confirmed by writing vnder the greate seale of Scotlande Maie there be any thyng of greater aucthoritie force or euidence any title more righteous then this graunted not by our auncestors but by our selfes and to a prince now liuyng not in tyme oute of mynde but now these so fewe yers freshely paste not rashely or sodainly but by greate and deliberate aduisemeÌ„t and the same not of a fewe but of all the states of the realme asseÌ„bled not at al aduentures but soleÌ„pnely in parameÌ„t a thing no doubt instilled from the almightie and the same our moste merciful god into the mindes of the workers thereof to haue set an end to al the discord of bothe realmes by that vnion and knot of mariage And what madnes or deuill O moste dere couÌ„treimeÌ„ hath so moued or rather distracte our myndes eftsones to take weapoÌ„ in hand and the same against oure promises fidelities honoures and othes hauyng on oure side no good grounde honestie reason ne any iuste respecte but onely of the prouocacion of the deuil the pope and his rable of religious men as thei would seme to be specially those whom we cal our auncient frendes where their are in deede our auncient enemies the Frenchemen And when we shall haue well coÌ„sidered this attonement with Englande compared the same with the league of FrauÌ„ce and well weighed thententes endes of bothe we shall perceiue the the one calleth vs to an euerlasting peace quietnes and the other hath and will kepe vs if wee forsake it not in tyme in coÌ„tinual miserie and warres And that maie we easily iudge in repeting from the beginnyng the causes of the one and of the other The Frenchmen fearyng more and more the power of Englande whiche had so many tymes dooen theim so notable displeasures as not onely to haue wonne of them sundry battailes wherof for briefnes sake I reporte me to the stories but also for that the Englishemen haue as ye knowe these many yeres kepte foote and possession of ground in Fraunce did besides and emoÌ„g many other thynges deuise this one as a chief staye for theim to make vs of their faccion against Englande thinkyng therby at all tymes when either for iust causes Englande should haue to do with theim or thei with Englande wee should set on the backes of the English men or otherwise anoye theim either to force theÌ„ to withdrawe their armie out of Fraunce or els bee constreined for resisteÌ„ce or inuasions to diuide their power and so to be the weaker eueÌ„ as it hath come to passe that the Englishemen haue so been forced to doo when neuerthelesse it hath redounded to no lesse discomfiture of our nacion then of the Frenchemen their principall enemies An euident proife and triall whereof partely because thynges of farther tyme and memorie hauyng been so many and so ofteÌ„ nede not therin in to be narowly sought for and partly because this example beyng freashest in mynd maie if it please God worke moste best effect did right well appere in the first voyage of Kyng Henry the VIII a Prince of mooste worthy famous memorie against Fraunce when we inuaded England to haue hyndered his enterprise and doen there some displeasure if wee had might supposyng to haue founde at home but shepherdes priestes and women At one time we lost the feld and our kyng beyng otherwise a noble Prince and a valeaunte Knight besides an infinite nuÌ„bre of our countreimen few of the Englishe part wantyng kyng Henry at the very self same time wonne the battaill in Fraunce at the iorney of the spurres and besides that woÌ„ne also by plain conquest Turwayn and Turney Now when wee shall haue bothe coÌ„sidered our league with the Frenchemen and all the successes that haue chaunced to vs syns the conclusion of the same we caÌ„not recken how to aduauÌ„t vs of any one thyng wee haue woÌ„ne but of infinite losses misfortunes slaughters spoyles and vtter ruyne come thereby to vs and our countrey vniuersal The honor and profite if any be coÌ„meth onely to the Frenchemen whiche serue theimselfes of vs for their money for thinordinate gain wherof we do alwaies hazard our honoures lifes and countrey and haue lost our frendes naye rather beeyng a membre of the selfe body with Englande haue suffered our self to be diuorced torne froÌ„ the same and haue so far passed our awne reason that we haue in that behalf atteÌ„pted to do hurte to a part of our awnselfes if Gods goodnes towardes Englande had not so prouided that our power could not bee hable to aunswer to our misaduised willes And so farre did we estraunge our selfes that wee could finde in our hartes to become seruile and to bee as coÌ„mon hirelynges to a forrein nacioÌ„ For what other thing do we but serue theim for their money to our awne vtter destruccions to the spillyng of our awne bloud to the burnyng of oure tounes and to the waste and spoyle of our whole natiue countrey And at this do the Frenchmen laugh thei take pleasure sittyng at home in securitie excepte peraduenture thei sende a few of their cast souldiors of whoÌ„ thei make lesse accoumptes or estimacion then of so many shepe or hogges Howbeit
sometymes sought enemies at the worldes ende And though it maie be said that Caesar and diuerse other neuer came so farre as Scotlāde by a great distaunce yet how could it be the Iulius Agricola whiche after the Southe partes of Britain was made a prouince to the Romayns inuaded vnto the Orcades which is the farthest part of Scotlād after .viii. yeres warres there at the foote of the mounte Grampius now called Grāzebē fought against Galgacus with ten M. Britaines whom he there ouerthrewe how I saie could he bee ignoraunt of the Scottes or of their warres So that it muste be graunted that at those daies either thei wer not in Britayne or if thei wer in Britayne their name and power was nothyng suche as we pretend For who so diligently considereth the course of the said stories shall well se the neither Pictes ne Scottes had any dominion in Britayn vntil about the declinacion of the Romain Empire and that the Pictes entered into Britayn before the Scottes in the tune of kyng Marius whiche was aboute the yere of Christe .lxxij. After whiche tyme with the helpe of the Irishe Scottes thei vexed the Britaines with cōtinuall incursions These Pictes wer a people of Scithia now called Tartarie driuen out of their countrey sought herberough emonges Irish Scottes who beyng nothing glad of such gestes procured theim to set foote in Brytayne as thei did in deede and ther continued many yers after This people wer called Pictes because in stede of garmentes thei vsed to paint their skynnes with sundery figures of beastes and birdes hauing collers of yron about their neckes and girdelles of the same aboute their wastes and specially the nobilitie of theim whiche estemed the same for a greate poynt of brauerie This doth Herodiā write in the life of Seuerus thempecor whiche came into Britayne and repaired the walle begonne afore by Adrian his predecessor by whiche walle the Prouince of the Romaynes was diuided from the residue of Britain and was made firste to resist the incursions of suche Britaynes as thei accompted sauage and barbarous The ruynes of this wal are to be seen at this preset wherefore it semeth to me that afore the time of thesaied Adriā the name neither of Pictes ne Scottes was neuer knowen in Britayne so that if thei had any possession there afore thei came to it rather by stelth then by any open force or conquest I speake not this to minishe the honoure and glory of my countrey nor to deface the nobilitie or the valeaūt actes of the Scottishe kynges but to shewe that the first inhabitors of this islād wer al Britaines more then .vi. C. yeres afore Scottes had any Kyngdō there and that thei had no suche originall as some haue phantasied but that thei are a people mixt with Britaynes come of Britaynes In prose whereof it is saied that the Armes of Scotlāde borne at this date the trace of the floure deluce except whiche was late put in is the self same armes that Brute bare yet wil I not affirme that Scottes be mere Britaynes or Englishe men mere Britaynes but that the more parte of bothe people bee discended of Britaynes For though the Islande hath been often inuaded by sundry naciōs as Romaynes Pictes Scottes Saxons Danes and lastely by Normaynes yet doth it not folowe that the whole bloud of Britaynes was so extincte thereby but that there must great numbre remain in euery parte of the island wherby it maie be sated that the race of thē is mixte but not merely fordoen and extirped for no countrey can bee so inuaded by straungers that the whole race of the olde inhabiters can bee worne all out but that the substaunce or more parte shall still remain As for example Italie hath been inuaded by Gothes Vandales Honnes and other barbarous nacions can it therfore be saied that the whole Romain blod is vtterly extinct no verely for of necessitie the stocke dooth still abide thoughe not wholy yet in the more part And likewise of Englāde and Scotlande I doubte not to saie and am able to proue that the great parte of bothe realmes is come of the old Britayns And thoughe me haue been mixed with foreyn nacions whereby the Britayne tōgue is chaunged out of vse pet doth the bloud and generacīo remain and as for the Irish toungue whiche thei speake in the North partes of Scotland dooth no more proue them to be mere Irishe then the Englishe toungue vsed in all the South partes of Scotlande proueth the people there to be Englishe BVT to resorte to our purpose how can it stand with reason that the Pictes and Scottes two strong naciōs should make great warres should so often infest and vexe bothe Brytains Romaines ye and ouercome thē and at length stablish two kingdomes in the Island and no remembraunce thereof founde in any story either of the Britains or Romaines nor in any other autentique or approued Cronicle For Caesar Tacitus Ptholomeus and Plinius Romayne aucthors thoughe we speake of no mo on the other syde Gildas mooste auncient writer of the Brytaines though euery wher in their histories they make special mēcion of all the people then dwelling in Britayne yet speake thei nothing of those twoo nacions whiche if thei were chefe strōgest as oure writers pretende how coulde their names be pretermitted of so many aucthors wherby one of these two thinges muste be graunted that either they were not then come into Britayne or els if thei were come they remayned subiectes to the Britaynes according to the English history Agaynst which though it may be obiected that Britayne was not alwayes frō the beginning vnder one Kyng or one Ruler but was gouerned somwhiles by one and somwhiles by mo as the Romayne stories declare whereby there should be no suche Monarchie and kyngdome nor any such order prescribed by Brute as the English stories specifie yet doth that make nothing to proue the Scottes not to be come of Britaynes ne enforceth any title for them to be no subiectes to England for it may stand together that the estate of Britayne was suche at the beginninge as the Englishe cronicles mencion as in time all thinges chaunge so by occasiōs ensuyng the first ordre might be broken and frō one intier Kyngdome to be diuided into partes as it should seme that it was about the coming of Caesar who writeth that at his arryuall in Britayne the cities by cōmon assente elected Cassibilanus to their King wherby it maye be gathered that the Monarchie therof was thē broken by some faccion within the Islande which caused it to be a more easy prey to enemies And this verefieth my woordes spoken afore that diuision and discorde of the people brought this Islande first into subiection of other nacions This is confirmed by the Romayn stories but namely by Cornelius Tacitus saiynge that Britaynes at the first were vnder Kynges and afterwardes by faccions and sedicions of Prynces and great