Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	charles_n	france_n	king_n	15,695	5	4.4057	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68036	Anti-duello. The anatomie of duells, with the symptomes thereof A treatise wherein is learnedly handled, whether a Christian magistrate may lawfully grant a duell, for to end a difference which consisteth in fact. Also, the maner and forme of combats granted, with the seuerall orders obserued in the proceeding thereof, with the list of such duels, as haue beene performed before the Kings of England. Truly and compendiously collected and set forth by Mr. Iohn Despagne, for the good of soueraigne and subiect. Published by his Maiesties command.	Espagne, Jean d', 1591-1659.; Delamore, Andrew, attributed name.	1632 (1632)	STC 10530; ESTC S114510	24,502	78

them was the more legitimate hee caused the body of their dead father to be vnburied gaue them in their hands bowes and arrowes and adiuged that hee of the three that shot neerest his heart should bee held legitimate Two shot the third said that hee had a great deale rather forgoe his title then to gaine it at such a price The succession was adiudged to the last and if the proceeding were barbarous the iudgement was commendable But these impious courses which the Sunne of Iustice hath chased into Hell ought now thence to bee cald back againe Let vs see then if there rest any other extraordinary way which may hold the place of proofe Wee find that in such cases some haue vsed casting Lots and such as approue of a Duell doe easily allege this reason That the Duell is one kind of Lot and by consequent practicable Indeed thereby occasions wherein the Lot may take place If two brothers haue an inheritance to be diuided betwixt them and after each portion being equaly diuided yet they may try by Lot to see which of the two ought to fall to the one or other In a Senat if a place fall void and many Citizens expect it being of equall capacity to execute the same the clayme 's of these competitors may bee tryed by Lot for auoidance of many mischiefes So did the Romans vse to doe in allotting their Prouinces and still to this present many Common wealths follow that course in disposing Offices and dignities In time of persecution the Ministers of a Church may cast the Lot to know to whom amongst them it shall fall to stay or goe the examples wherewith holy Antiquity doth furnish vs to this purpose haue some thing in them of a high straine then the simple nature of a Lot can well beare as one may see in the diuision of the Land of Canaan and in the inauguration of Saul in whose election it pleased God they should deale by Lot But the matter which is properly in question is this If a man may this way serue his turne to find out the truth of a fact which is vnknowne vnto vs and heere again wee haue examples but they are such which exceed the nature of a Lot In antient times amongst Gods people when it was euident that some crime was committed amongst them the author whereof was not certainly knowne one cast Lots among the Tribes from the Tribes he came to the Families and lastly it fell vpon some one single man so was hee conuicted that had taken things forbidden at the sacke of Iericoh so Ionathan was found out hauing done contrary to the command of the King his father so the Mariners came to the knowledge that Ionas occasioned the tempest If we were assured to find out matters so happily or if God had giuen vs his warrant I could admit of casting lots in this nature but we haue nomore certainty to build vpon but the incertainty of the Lot And yet this makes nothing in fauour of a Duell for the manner of proceeding by Lot is not to send two men to slay one another and generally the Lot toucheth but one but the Duell endangereth both one whereof is innocent We will then now speake of the Duel and to the end that no man may imagine that possest with a preiudicate opinion we condemne it onely in regard of the name which makes it odious we wil accurately waigh all the kinds and differences I well know that wee are not to treate heere of the fights wherein Gladiators Fencers exercise themselues for recreation of spectators Moreouer we handle not that vnheard fury of those who to fulfill their particular reuenge or for some imaginary puntitio of honour haue waded so farre in the effusion of blood and sent so many soules to Hell But the question heere is of a Duell warranted by the Lawes agreed vnto by the Soueraigne adiudged necessary in default of other proofe for the making manifest of some fact in question of consequence to the State and for the decision of a difference of great importance but this is the very thing which we argue to wit if Superiors may in good conscience decree a Duell at their motions for the determination of their difference And that I may anticipate and obuiate many pretenses which might diuert vs from the state of the question I acknowledge that vpon certaine occasions the Duell is disputable and vpon others altogether necessary See some examples When an innocent man opprest by the calumnious accusation of his aduersary is like to be condemned in case he iustifie not himselfe by combat some hold it shall bee lawfull to accept this way there being none other way left him to support his innocence But this proceeding cannot iustifie the Iudges for if they haue found him guilty will the Duell make him innocent and finding nought to conuict him are they not bound to acquit him Why then will they expose him to the hazard of his life whom they are not able to pronounce guilty The Duell whereto a man is constraind by the violence of one that sets vpon him is not of this nature He that is assayled may repell force with force it is a principle in nature and a priuiledge granted by the Laws for the partie assailed is not in case to inuoke the assistance of a Magistrate and the Magistrate is not in place to repell that oppression But what relation or analogy hath this defence with the Magistrates absence rendred necessary and which hee ought to haue forborne if hee had beene in place with a Duell which the Magistrate will authorise either by his presence or by his approbation Nor makes it to the purpose to allege the Duels which haue beene fought betweene Princes which haue determined their quarels by the monomachy of man to man The Crowne of England was sometimes in that sort disputed betweene Edmund Iron-side and Canute the Dane Edward the third offred as much to the King of France the French King to the Emperor Charles the fifth and Henry the Great Father of our most Illustrious Queene made offer to the Duke of Guise his competitor to put a period to their difference by point of speare his person against his six against six or hundred against hundred I will not say that it is lawfull to a Prince so to hazard the head of the Common-wealth and in his person all the body of his Estate but when this way is permitted them it is because Soueraigne Princes haue not any Iudge aboue them who can doe them right so that to obtaine reason from their hands who are eleuated to as high a pitch of dignity as themselues there is not any other way but by armes and these their doings haue an outward shew of charity for a Prince will say that hee likes better to expose his owne person to danger then to see a bloody warre that should swallow vp many thousands of men and giue

make a proceeding iustifiable otherwise Why curse wee the antient Almains amongst whom theft hath its approbation as an exercise of vertue Why condemne we the Scythians who imitating the West Indians haue their seruants buryed aliue with them yea and their owne wiues VVhy haue we abrogated so many antient Lawes made by our ancestors and that haue continued in vse many ages Is it not for that some of them are contrary to the Law Diuine others of them repugne the Law of Nature and sauour more of barbarousnesse then humanity The Law which decrees a Duell in default of proofe is found amongst the antient constitutions of the Seliques Allemans Danes English Normans and other people of the west from whom it is said to take its originall But what were these Law-makers that haue made this Law for vs VVere they not such themselues who decreed human Sacrifices to their false Gods and spared not the offering vp in Sacrifice of their owne Infants VVere they not such who accounted those vnfortunate men and women to haue an heroicall resolution that died by their owne hands VVere they not such which approued incestuous copulations and that in a word made lawes as it were in despight of God and Nature But we are not to wonder if they decreed a Duell in the question of Fact seeing that the greater part of those nations do hardly take any other course in affaires where the right is controuerted which notwithstanding is by all found fault with at this day Froton King of Denmarke commanded that all differences arising in his Kingdome should by combat be decided and that is the reason Why the Scythians who maintaine their right by force and haue no other Religion Law nor Iustice then the sword haue accustomed to plant their groūds with trees wherof they made their speares and to adore them as a supreme Deity Contrariwise the Easterne people whose morall Vertues and Ciuility wee imitate The Assyrians Egyptians Persians Hebrewes and also the Greeks and Romans neuer admitted of the Duell but in fact of good warre This Law then ought to be examined by that which is the rule of all others as being deriued from God for we speake not of particular ordinances which were in vse onely in the common-wealth of the Iewes but of that eternall Law expressed in the Sacred Writ which remaines in perpetuall strength binds all kinds of nations and when there happens a doubtfull cause if Iudges would preuentthose resentmēts which their consciences will make them feele they cannot know a better way then this to wit To iudge an other by the same Law which shall iudge them all at the last day The examples of Duels cannot be of better regard then the laws which produced them England hath seene many fight in case of accusations of treason and it maters not to bring many instances of this nature whereof Histories are full Francis the first King of France would neuer condescent that two Noble men of his Court should fight in single combat although they greatly desired it saying that a Prince ought to suffer a thing wherof can come no good His successor H. 2. who dyed after by a blow receiued in Tournament granted a duell but amongst a thousand of these combats one shall hardly finde two which haue brought to light that which was sought after to wit the manifestation of the Fact the truth thereof being stifled in the blood of the Duellists so that it is oftner an act of Tragedie then of true Iustice Before I answer the Obiections which may be alledged we will encounter this Duell with these arguments following 1. Section It is certaine and cannot be gainsaid that this way is casuall hazardous and by consequent deceiueable I acknowledge that humane actions which are various contingent and infinit cannot proue themselues with so much certainty as can Mathematicall conclusions which haue infallible demonstrations euer some incertainty goes a long with proofes One and the same action shall oftentimes be disguised in so many seuerall shapes that the Eie of Iustice cannot discerne the true figure the witnesses may be lyars Oaths false Writings counterfait Iudges corrupt and the parties owne confession oftentimes betraies their owne innocence It hath been seene that some weary of an irkesome life haue voluntary accused themselues of crimes which they neuer committed the Torture hath somtimes caused men to say that which neuer was and many also daue endured it which haue stood in maintenance of deeds as false as falsenesse it selfe VVhat then can Iudges doe alwaies groping in the dark and when the brightest lights which they can bring cannot find out the illusions which lie hidden in these obscurities I answer that so long as they go a regular pace and that they containe themselues within the bounds by good Lawes prescribed they cannot erre when vpon the deposition of two or three witnesses not to bee excepted against it chanceth that an innocent is condemned the conscience of the witnesses is guilty not that of the Iudge for he hath proceeded according to Laws Diuine and Naturall but if such a mischiefe happen through his steering other courses then such as the Law of God hath commanded him how can he hope that that Law will serue to warrant his proceeding And besides the testimonies and circumstances which often are suborned yet haue a naturall relation with the Fact but things in their owne nature casuall cannot giue any intelligence herof VVhat a brutish proceeding then is it to casheer Iustice which is Sacred for to entertaine the vanity of a thing contingent casuall and abusiue Is it not iust as if one should put all to chance as the Democritusses of our age vse to speake 2. Section This proceeding is contrary to the fundamentall principles of Iustice which adiudge the right not to him which hath the stronger body or which hath more dexterity in his weapon but to him that is knowne to maintaine a iust cause yet it is a thing thereby and conformable to the order of Nature that the strong should ouercome the weake so as it happens the weaker man though innocent is conquered by the power of his stronger aduersary All the precautions which may bee vsed as the giuing them armes alike and the taking away of all aduantages from either partie cannot so perfectly equalise their forces their dexterity their spirit their courages but there will euer bee an inequality And moreouer a man is not at all times in like strength and during the passage of such an action a beame of the Sun the shaking of a leafe a little sand blowne in the eye or vnder the feet a sudden obiect a cloud in the aire a fright a thought may vndoe one of the parties but letting passe all this is it not alwayes a course opposite to Iustice to iudge a man more by the successe of his sword then by the goodnesse of his cause 3. Section And to answer to the obiection that the

of the lists broken downe in disgrace of the party becoming recreant and being fastned to a horse shall bee dragg'd from the place where he so lost his Armes to the block and haue his head seuered from his body or be hanged by the neck or otherwise according to the seuerall vsages of the Country It is the office of the Marshall to accompany the party to the place and there in his view to see execution done and all the sentence performed and that aswell of the side of the Appellant as the Defendant For good conscience equity and the law of the field do exact that the Appellant if in case he be conuicted and becommeth a man vanquished in his proofe that hee incurre the same paine and hazard the Defendant should haue done But if the cause be any other crime then treason hee that is so by the body of his aduersary conuicted shall lose his Armes within the lists and thence be led out to the place of his suffering which is directed by the vsage of the Country and this aswell of the Appellant as the Defendant as aforesaid onely hee shall not bee dragged nor the railes broken vnlesse it bee in case of treason and not otherwise But if it be meerely an act of Armes a tryall by challenge allowed by the grace of the King Constable and Marshall he that in such a Combat confesseth himselfe vanquished shall be disarmed degraded and being led to the skirt of the list he shall be tossed and throwne ouer the barrs without any further punishment If it please the King to take the difference and the iudgement thereof into his owne hand and command them to bee friends without any further controuersie Then the Constable taking the Appellant and the Marshall the Defendant shall beare thēboth befor the King And the King shall by the Constables signifie his pleasure vnto them Then they shall be both of them lead together vnto one of the gates of the lists and be so conueied out of the lists in all points as they entered the lists and shall be so conueied out of the lists in the same Article of time that of them no man may say A first was out or A last within the lists For since the King hath into his own hands taken the consideration of the quarrell it were dishonorable that either of the sides in a Battaile withdrawne by the word of a King should suffer any dishonor the one more then the other And the antient tenet and opinion hath bene that he that is first out of the Lists suffers a diminution of honor the field being his in honor that is last possessor of it For he maketh it good There ought to be double lists for the seruants of the Constable and Marshall and for the Sergeant at Armes of the King who are to attend and defend that no offence affray outrage or other misdeameanor against the Cryes made only in Court be committed or suffered or any affront that may be meant against the Kings Maiesty or the Laws and honor of Armes These men ought to be in compleat Armes The Constable and Marshall may bring what power they please with them into the field and those either Armed or otherwise at their Election The Kings Sergeants at Armes shall bee the keepers of the Doores and Portals of the Lists and they are to make all Arrests by the Commandment of the Constable and Marshall and such so arrested to assure The fee of the Constable is their steeds and Armes and all that they bring with them into the lists saue onely those wherewith they fight And of the partie ouercome all his Armes and other things of Combat are the right of the Constable The fee of the Marshall is onely the Lists Barres Seates and other works for that spectacle A CATALOGVE OF CERTAINE COMBATS GRANTED BY THE KINGS OF ENGLAND EDMVND of the Race of West Saxons fought in Combat with Ganutus King of Denmarke for the possession of the Crowne of England In which fight both the Princes being weary by consent parted the Land betwixt them Anno 1016. Robert Mountfort accused Henry of Essex of Treason affirming that hee in a Iourney toward Wlaes neere vnto Colshill threw away the Kings Standerd saying the King was dead and turned backe those that went to the Kings succour Henry denyed the accusation so as the matter was to bee tryed by Combat The place appointed for fight was a little Isle neere vnto Reading In this Combat Henry was vanquished and fell downe dead and at the suite of friends licence was obtained that his body might bee buried by the Monkes of Reading But it happened that the said Henry recouered and became a Monke in that Abbey Anno 1163. In the raigne of King Henry the second Henry Duke of Hereford accused Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke of certaine words by him spoken as they rode betweene London and Brainford tending vnto the Kings dishonor Thomas Duke of Norfelke denied to haue spoken any such word but Henry affirming his accusation the King granted the Combat to bee performed at Couentry the seuenth of September 1398. Anno Rich. 2. but the Combat was not performed for the one and the other party was banished the Realme A combat was fought at Westminster in the Kings presence betweene Iohn Ansley Knight and Thomas Catrington Esquire whom the said Knight had accused of Treason for selling the Castle of Saint Sauiour which the Lord Chandos had builded in the Isle of Constantine in France In which Combat the Knight was victorious Anno 1374. Rich. 2. A Combat was granted vnto an Esquier borne in Nauarre to fight with an English Esquire called Iohn Welsh whom the Nauarrois accused of Treason But the true cause of the Nauarrois his malice was that the said Welsh had dishonoured his wife as being vanquished he confessed The King gaue sentence hee should be drawne and hanged Anno 1344. Rich. 2. A Combat was fought betweene Sir Richard Wooduile and one other Knight borne in Spaine After the third blow giuen the King stayed the fight Anno 1441. Henric. 6. A Combat was granted vnto Iohn Viscount borne in Cipres and Thomas de la Marsh Naturall sonne vnto Philip King of France in the Raigne of King Edward the third at Westminster There was also another Combat granted by the said King Edward which was fought neere Barwick betwixt Sir Iohn de Sitsilt and Sir Iohn de Faukenham concerning those Armes borne now by the honorable Familie of the Cecils The Coate was challenged by Sitsilt but worne by Faukenham They began the fight but it was soone determined by the King FINIS Generall principles are not to be gainsaid but particularities are subiect to argumentation Antient courses to find out facts which could not be proued by an ordinary way Vnlawfull waies vsed for that purpose Lotts Duel Lawes haue enacted wciked things