Church was founded before the Conquest by Ingelricus and Emardus his Brother Cousins to King Edward the Confessour These were this Kings workes of Piety in England but in Normandy he Founded also an Abbey at Caen where his Wife Maude built likewise a Monastery of Nunnes He gave also to the Church of Saint Stephens in Caen two Manors in Dorsetshire one Mannor in Devonshire another in Essex much Land in Barkeshire some in Norfolke a Mansion house in Woodstreete London with many Advowsons of Churches and even he gave his Crowne and Regall Ornaments to the said Church being of his owne Foundation for the redemption whereof his Sonne Henry gave the Manour of Brydeton in Dorsetshire In this Kings time Robert sonne to Hyldebert Laâie Founded the Priory of Ponâfraite Henry Earle Ferrers Founded a Priory within his Castle at Tutbury Alwyn Chylde a Citizen of London Founded the Monastery of Saint Saviours at Bermondsey in Southwarke and gave to the Monkes there divers Rents in London Also in this Kings time Mauricâ Bishop of London after the firing of the former Church of Saint Paul in London began the Foundation of the new Church a worke so admirable that many thought it would never have beene finished Towards the building of the East end whereof the King gave the choyce stones of his Castle at the West end of the City upon the banke of the River Thames which Castle having beene at that time fired in place thereof Edward Kilwarby Arch-bishop of Canterbury did afterwards Found a Monastery of Blacke-fryers The King also gave the Manor of Storford to the same Maurice and to his Successours in that See after whose decease Richard his next Successour bestowed all the Rents of his Bishopricke to advance the building of this Church maintaining himselfe by his private Patrimony and yet all he could doe made no great shew but the finishing of the worke was left to many other succeeding Bishops In the fifteenth yeare of this Kings Raigne William Bishop of Durham Founded University Colledge in Oxford Also one Gylbert a Norman Lord Founded the Abbey of Merton in Surrey seven miles from London and Thomas Arch-bishop of Yorke first builded the Minster of Yorke In this Kings sixteenth yeare his Brother Duke Robert being sent against the Scots builded a Fort where at this day standeth New Castle upon Tyne but the Towne and Walls wâre builded afterward by King Iohn Also in this Kings time Ledes Castle in Kent was builded by Creveken and the Castle of Oxford by Robert d' Oylie two Noble men that came into England with him Osmond Bishop of Salisbury built the new Church there Also Waring Earle of Shrewesbury built two Abbeyes one in the Suburbs of Shrewesbury and another at Wenlocke Casualties happening in his time IN the twentyeth yeare of his Raigne so great a fire happened in London that from the West-gate to the East-gate it consumed Houses and Churches all the way and amongst the rest the Church of Saint Paul the most grievous fire that ever happened in that City Also this yeare by reason of distemperature of weather there insued a Famine and afterwards a miserable mortality of Men and Cattell Also this yeare in the Province of Wales upon the Sea shoare was found the body of Gawen sisters sonne to Arthur the great King of the Britaines reported to be foureteene foot in length Also in this Kings time a great Lord âitting at a Feast was set upon by Mice and though he were removed from Land to Sea and from Sea againe to Land yet the Mice still followed him and at last devoured him Of his Wife and Children HE had to Wiâe and her onely Mathilde or Maude Daughter to Baldwyn Earle of Flanders She was Crowned Queene of England the second yeare of his Raigne the seventeenth yeare of his Raigne she dyed a Woman onely memorable for this that nothing memorable is Recorded of her but that she built a Nunnery at Caen in Normandy where she lies Buryed By her he had foure sonnes and fivâ daughters His Sonnes were Robert Richard William and Henry of whom Robert the eldest called Court-cayse of his short thighes or Court-hose of his short Breeches or Courtois of his courteous behaviour for so many are the Comments upon his name succeeded his Father in the Dutchy of Normandy Richard his second Sonne was kild by mis-fortune hunting in the New-Forest William his third Sonne called Rufus succeeded his Father in the Kingdome of England Henry his youngest Sonne called Beauclerke for his Learning had by his Fathers Will five thousand pounds in money and the inheritance also of his Mother His Daughters were Cicelie Cânstance Adela Margaret and Elenor of whom Cicelie was Abbesse of Caen in Normandy Constance was marryed to Alan Earle of Britaine Adela to Stephen Earle of Blois Margaret affianced to Harold King of England but never marryed and dyed young Elenor betroathed to Alphonsus King of Gallitia but desiring to dye a Virgin she had her wish spending her time so much in Prayer that with continuall kneeling her knees were brawned Of his Personage and Conditions HE was but meane of stature yet bigge of body and therewithall so strong that few were able to draw his Bow growing in yeares he was bald before his beard alwayes shaven after the manner of the Normans and where in his younger time he was much given to that infirmity of Youth which grows out of strength of Youth Incontinency after he was once marryed whether out of satiety or out of Grace he was never knowne to offend in that kind Of so perfit health that he was never sicke till that sicknesse whereof he dyed Of a sterne countenance yet of an affable nature In warre as expert as valiant In Peace as provident as prudent and in all his Enterprises as Fortunate as Bold and Hardy Much given to Hunting and Feasting wherein he was no lesse pleasant then magnificent He made no great proficience in Learning as having had his education in the licentiousnesse of the French Court yet he favoured learned men and drew out of Italy Lanfranke Anselme Durand Traherne and divers others famous at that time for Learning and Piety Very devout he was and alwayes held the Clergy in exceeding great Reverence And this is one speciall honour attributed unto him that from him we beginne the Computation of our Kings of England His Places of Residence HIs Christmas he commonly kept at Glocester his Easter at Wiâchester and his Whiâsontide at Westminster and once in the yeare at one of these places would be new Crowned as though by often putting on his Crowne he thought to make it sit the easier upon his head And for the houses which the Kings of England had in those dayes in London I finde that at Westminster was a Palace the ancient habitation of the Kings of England from the time of Edward the Confessour which in the Raigne of King Henry the Eight was by casuall fire burnt downe
the King the estate of his kingdome and the oppressions of Popes inquiry was made of the Revenues which the Romans and Italians had in England which were found to be annually sixty thousand Markes being more then the yearely Revenues of the Crowne which so moved the King that he caused the same to be notifyed with all other Exactions to the Generall Councell now Assembled at Lyons and this with the ill usage of his Agent Martin so vexed the Pope that he is said to have uttered these words It is time to make an end with the Emperour that we may crush these petty Kings for the Dragon once appeased or destroyed these lesser Snakes will soone be trodden downe But upon the Popes rejecting the consideration of these grievances of England and despiâing the Kings message who he said began to Frederize it was absolutely here ordained under great penalty that no contribution of money should be given to the Pope by any Subject of England and the King for a time assents unto it but being of an irresolute and wavering nature and afraid of threats he soone gave over what he undertooke so as the Pope continued his former rapine and though he had promised never to send any more Legats into England yeâ sent he other Ministers under the title of Clerkes that had as great power as Legats and effected as much And now for the other part of the State new occasions also of complaint were offered Peter of Savoy Earle of Richmond comes into England bringing with him certain Maides to be marryed to young Noble men of this Countrey the Kings Wards of whom Edmund Earle of Lincolne hath one and Richard de Burgh another and the same yeare three of the Kings Brothers by the Mother Guy de Lusignan William de Valence and Athelmar Clerke are sent over to be provided of Estates in England also Thomas of Savoy sometimes Earle of Flanders by Right of his Wife comes with his sister Beatrix Countesse of Provence the Queenes Mother who are againe Feasted and Gifted for which the King is taxed the next Parliament in Candlemas Terme and besides sharply reprehended for his breach of Promise having Vowed and Declared by his Charter never more to injure the State in that kinde also for his violent taking up of provision of Waxe Silke Roabes and specially of Wine contrary to the will of the sellers and many other grievances they complaine of all which the King patiently heares in hope to obtaine his desire but yet nothing is effected and the Parliament being Prorogued till Midsummer following and the King growing more obdurate then before it afterward brake up in discontent But the Parliament not supplying him he is advised to furnish his wants with sale of his Plate and Jewels of the Crowne being told that though they were sold yet they would revert againe unto him and having with great losse received money for them he askes who had bought them Answer is made the City of London That City said he is an inexhaustible Gulph If Octavius Treasure were to be sold they surely would buy it And now to vexe them he appoints a Faire to be kept at Westminster forbidding under great penalty all exercise of Merchandise within London for fifteene dayes and all other Fayres in England and namely that of Ely but this Novelty came to nothing the Inconvenience of the place as it was then and the foulenesse of the weather brought more affliction then benefit to the Traders That Christmas also he requires Newyeares gifts of the Londoners and shortly after writes unto them his Letters imperiously deprecatory to ayde him with money and thereby gets of them twenty thousand pounds for which the next yeare after he craves pardon of them And notwithstanding his continuall taking up all Provisions for his House yet he lessens his House-keeping in no honourable manner And then seeing he could get nothing of the States together he calls unto him or writes to every Nobleman apart declaring his poverty and how he was bound by Charter in a debt of thirty thousand pound to those of Burdeaux and his Gascoynes who otherwise would not have suffered him to depart home at his last being in France but faâling herein of Temporall Lords he addresseth his Letters to the Prelates of whom he findes as little reliefe by much importunity and his owne presence he got of the Abbot of Ramsey a hundred pound but the Abbot of Borough had the face to deny him though the King told him it was more Almes to give money to him then to a Begger that went from doore to doore The Abbot of Saint Albons yet was more kind and gave him threescore Markes To such lownesse did the necessity of this indigent King through his profusion bring him The Iewes ever exposed to his will feele the weight of these his wants One Abraham found a Delinquent redeemes himselfe for seven hundred Markes and Aaron another Iew protests the King had since his last being in France taken from him at times thirty thousand Markes of Silver besides 200. Markes of Gold given to the Queene But now the Lords assemble againe at London and presse him with his promise made unto them that the Chiefe Justiciar Chancellour and Treasurer should be appointed by the Generall Councell of the kingdome but by the absence of Richard Earle of Cornwall which was thought to be done of purpose they returne frustrate of their desire And now the Bishopricke of Winchester falling void the King sends presently to the Monkes of the Cathedrall Church to Elect his Brother Athelmar and because he would not be denyed he goes thither himselfe in person and there enters the Chapter house as a Bishop or Prior gets up into the Presidents Chaire beginnes a Sermon and takes his Text Iustice and Peace have kissed each other and thereupon useth these words To me and other Kings who are to governe the people belongs the rigour of Judgement and Justice to you who are men of quiet and Religion Peace and Tranquillity and this day I heare you have for your owne good beene favourable to my request with many such like words whereby the Monkes finding the earnestnesse of his desire held it in vaine to deny him and Athelmar is Elected but with this reservation if the Pope allow it Shortly after followes the memorable Case of Sir Henry de Bathe a Justiciar of the kingdome and a speciall Counsellour to the Kingâ who by corruption had attained to a mighty Estate and is said in one Circuit to have gotten two hundred pound land per annum He is accused by Sir Philip Dârcy of falsehood in the Kings Court and the King is so incensed against him that in the Parliament at this time holden in London Proclamation is made that whosoever had any Action or Complaint against Henry de Bathe should come and be heard One of his fellow Justiciars accused him of acquiting a malefactor for a bribe The King seeing Henry
Sir Iames Dowglasse the King surrenders by his Charter all his title of Soveraignty to the Kingdome of Scotland restores divers Deeds and Instruments of their former Homages and Fealties with the famous Evidence called Ragmans Roll and many ancient Jewels and Monuments amongst which was the blacke Crosse of Scotland and besides any English man is prohibited to hold lands in Scotland unlesse he were a dweller there In consideration whereof King Bruce was to pay thirty thousand Markes and to renounce his claime to the Counties of Cumberland and Northumberland and any other place possessed by him in England This was no good beginning and yet worse followed after For another Parliament being holden at Winchester Edmund Earle of Kent the Kings Unkle is there accused and condemned upon his confession for intending to restore his brother the late King Edward an intention onely without any fact yet condemned he was and brought to the Scaffold but generally so beloved of the people that he stood on the Scaffold from one a clocke till five before any executioner could be found that would doe the office till at last a silly wretch of the Marshalsey was gotten to cut off his head But the Authors of his death escaped not long themselves for in the third yeare of the Kings Raigne another Parliament is holden at Nottingham wherein the Queen hath all her great Joynture taken from her and is put to her Pension of a thousand pounds a yeare and her selfe confined to a Castle where she remained the rest of her dayes no fewer then thirty yeares a time long enough to finde that her being the daughter of a King the sister of a King the wife of a King and the mother of a King were glorious titles but all not worth the liberty of a meane estate and as for Mortimer lying then in the Castle of Nottingham and lately created Earle of the Marches of Wales he was seised on in this manner the King taking with him William Montacute Robert Holland and others goe secretly one night by Torch-light through a privie way under ground till they came to the Queenes Chamber where leaving the King without they entred and found the Queene with Mortimer ready to goe to bed then laying hands on him they led him forth after whom the Queene followed crying Bel fits âel fits ayes pitie du gentil Mortimer good son good sonne take pity upon the gentle Mortimer suspecting that her sonne had beene amongst them this course was taken to apprehend him for avoyding of tumult he having no fewer then ninescore knights and Gentlemen besides other meaner servants continually about him But thus seised on he is committed presently to the Tower accused of divers great crimes whereof these were chiefe that he had procured the late Kings death that he had beene the author of the Scots safe escaping at Stanhope Parke corrupted with the gift of thirty thousand pounds that he had procured the late marriage and Peace with Scotland so dishonourable to the King and kingdome that he had beene too familiar with the Queene as by whom she was thought to be with child of which Articles he is found guilty and condemned and thereupon is drawne and hanged on the common Gallowes at the Elmes now called Tiburne where his body remained two dayes as an opprobrious spectacle for all beholders After these businesses in England there comes a new businesse upon him from the King in France for about this time Philippe le Bel King of France the Queens brother dying without issue the right of succession to the Crowne is devolved upon the Heire to Charles a former King wherein are competitours Philip Duke de Valois and Edward King of England Edward is the nearer in bloud buâ drawes his Pedegree by a Female Philippe the further off but descending by all Males and because the Law Salique excluding Females was conceived as well to exclude all descendants by Females therefore is Philips title preferred before King Edwards and Philip is received and crowned King of France to which preferment of his Robert d' Arthois a Peere of great power gave no small furtherance And now as soone as Philip was Invested in the Crowne he summons King Edward to come and doe his Homage for the Dutchy of Guyenne and his other lands in France held of that Crowne according to the custome which though it were some prejudice to King Edwards claime afterward yet in regard his kingdome of England was scarce well setled and himselfe but young he was contented to doe and thereupon the sixth of Iune in the yeare 1329. King Edward in a Crimson Velvet gowne imbroidered with Leopards with his Crowne on his head his Sword by his side and golden Spurres on his heeles presents himselfe in the body of the Cathedrall Church of Amyens before King Philip sitting in his Chaire of Estate in a Velveâ Gowne of a Violet colour imbroydered with Flowers de lys of Gold his Crowne on his head and his Scepter in his hand with all his Princes and Peeres about him The Viscount Melun Chamberlaine of France first commands King Edward to puâ off his Crowne his Sword and his Spurres and to kneele downe which he did on a Crimson Velvet Cushion before King Philip and then the Viscount putting both his hands together betweene the hands of the King of France pronounced the words of the Homage which were these You become Liegeman to my Master here present as Duke of Aquitaine and Peere of France and you promise to beare faith and loyalty unto him Say yea and King Edward said yea and kissed the King of France in the mouth as Lord of the Fee The like Homage also he did for the Earldome of Ponthieu But this act of submission left a rancour in King Edwards heart which afterwards brake so out that it had beene good for France ãâã had never beene exacted This done King Edward returnes home and there finds a new busines with Scotland upon this occasion Edward Baylioll sonne to Iohn Baylioll sometimes King of Scotland two and thirty yeares after his fathers deposition beganne now to shew himselfe attempting the recovery of that Crowne and comming out of Fraâce where he had all that while remained and getting aide under-hand in Englaâd with them he suddenly assailes those who had the government of Scotland during the Nonage of the young King David being at that time with the King of Fraâce and in a battell overcame them with the slaugher of many Noble men and thousands of the common people and thereupon was immediatly Crowned King of Scotland at Scone But notwithstanding this great defeat King Baylioll was forced to retire him into England to get more aide of King Edward who now shewes himselfe in the action joynes with Baylioll against his brother in Law King David goes in person with a strong Army to recover Berwicke which after three moneths siege being valiantly defended by the Lord Seton was taken in and the Army
thousand men at Arms and foure and twenty thousand Archers whom about the middle of May he followeth himselfe and safâly aâriving at Câlliâ hasted to relieve Charters which the Dolphin with seven thousand men had besieged but hearing of the kings comming was retired to Tours The king of Scots with the Duke of Glocester about the eighth of Iuly besieged Dreux which agreed if it were not relieved by the twentieth of that moneth then to surrender it no reliefe comming it was surrendred The king pursuâd the Dolphin from place to place but could not overtake him but in the way surprized the Towne of Bâwgââcy where all that craved it he âooke to mercy as likewise he did at Roâgemoât from thence he went to Orleance and from thence to Vigneâ St. Toâ and from thence to Paris where having fitted himselfe with supplies he went and sate downe before Menixe in Brye which after some opposition he also tooke and thereby had possession of all the Fortresses in the Isle of France in ãâã in ârye and in Champaigne Upon St. Nicholas day in the yeare 1422 Queen Katherine was brought to bed of a Son at Windsor who was by the Duke of Bedford and Henry Bishop of Winchester and the Countesse of Holland Christned by the name of Henry whereof when the king had notice out of a Propheticke rapture he sayd Good Lord I Henry of Monmouth shall small time Reigne and much get and Henry borne at Windsor shall long time Reigne and lose all but Gods will be done About this time the Dolphin layd siege to Cosney which the king was intentive to relieve as being a Town of the Duke of Burgoignes and therefore tendredit more than if it had beene hiâ owne and making over-hasty journeys he over-heat himselfe with travell and comming to Sââlys found himselfe so ill at ease that he was forced to remaine there and to send his brother the Duke of Bedford to prosecute his designe which the Duke performed and the Dolphin upon his approach retired into Berry whereof in mockage he was after called the king of Berry But the kings Feaver and flââ increasing he was removed to Boys de Vincens where growing worse and worse within a few dayes he dyed But somewhat before his departure he had made his Brother the Duke of Bedford Lievetenant Generall of Norâââdy and Regent of the kingdome of France and his Brother the Duke of Glocester he had made Protector of England and of his Sons Person Exhorting all to be true and faithfull to the Duke of âurgoâgâe to be at unitie amongst themselves to be loyall to their young Prince to be serviceable to his dearly beloved Queene to hold aâd preserve what he by his valour and Gods assistance had wonne and never to conclude contract of amitie with the Dolphin or Duke of Alanson untill they had submitted themselves to the kings Gracâ And so giving God thanks for all his favors and blessings bestowed upon him in the midst of saying a Psalme of David he departed this life who might justly have prayed God with David Take me âot away in the midst of my dayes for he dyed about the age of five or six and thirty years which in Davids account is the midst of the number of the dayes of mans life but though he dyed in the midst of his dayes yet he dyed in the fulnesse of his Glory and of whom it may he said Iamque arce potitus Ridet anhelââtes durâ ad fastigââ montis When he had Reigned nine yeares and five moneths Of his Taxations IN his first yeere an incredible sum of money was given him by the Clergy to diâert him from a motion propounded to take away their Temporalties And in the same yeere a Subsidie was granted him both by the Clergy and the Laity In his fourth yeere was granted him towards his warres in France two whole Tenths of the Clergy and a fifteenth of the Laity which being farre too short to defray his great charge he was forced to pawne his Crowne to the Bishop of Beauford his Uncle for a great sum of money as also certain Jewels to the Lord Major of London for ten thousand markes In his ninth yeere in a Parliament at Weââminster for revenge of the Duke of Clarence death two tenths of the Clergy and one fifteenth by the Laity which because the haste of the businesse could not stay the usuall course of collection the Bishop of Winchester brought in presently twenty thousand pounds to receive it againe when the Subsidie should be gathered The same yeere also the Duke of Bedford in the kings absence called a Parliament wherein was granted towards his warres one fifteenth to be paid in such money as was at that time current These are all the Subsidies that were given him notwithstanding his many and great atchievements by which it appeares what great matters a moderate Prince may doe and yet not grieve his subjects with Taxations Of Lawes and Ordinances made by him or in his âime HE ordained the king of Heralds over the English which is called Gârter In his ninth yeare in a Parliament holden at Westminster It was ordained that no man should offer Gold in payment unlesse it were weight and thereupon were appointed ballances and weights An act made in the thirteenth yeare of king Richard the Second which disabled the Alien Religious to enjoy any Bânefices within England was in the beginning of this kings Reigne put in execution and further this king excluded also the French from all preferments Ecclesiasticall and those Priors Aliens Conventuall who had institution and induction were bound to put in security not to disclose or cause to be disclosed the Counsell and secreâs of the Realme Affaires of the Church in his tiâe IN the beginning of his Reigne the Wickliffs increased greatly of whom Sir Iohn Oldcastle was a Chiefe who by mariage of a kinswoman of the Lord Cobhamâ of Cââling in Kent obtained that Title This knight being very valorous and in great favour with the king was in a Synod at London accused for maintaining of Wickliffâ doctrine whereof the king being informed sent for him and instantly dealt with him to submit himselfe to the censure of the Church But Sir Iohn Oldcastle told the King that he owed his subjection onely to his Majestie and as for others he would stand for the truth against them to the uttermost of his life Upon this he was served by Processe to appeare in the Archbishops Court and not appeaâing was condemned of Contumacy and afterwards in a Synod at Rochester was by the Archbishop pronounced to be an Heretick who then enacted that Decree That the Holy Scriptures ought not to be translated into the English tongue But marke the judgement that fell upon his owne tongue whoâe rootes and blade shortly after as is recorded grew so bigge in his mouth and throat that he could neither speake nor swallow downe meat but in horrour lay languishing till at last
by him are all the counsells of the Duke of Yorke discovered which so much discouraged him that he with his young Son the Earle of Rutland fled first into Wales and then into Ireland The Earles of March Salisbury and Warwicke got into Devonshire where by the means of Iohn Dynhâm Esquire the same man that afterward by king Henry the Seventh was made Lord Treasurer of England they were shipt from Exmouth to Gernsey and so to Callis All the common souldiers the king Pardons onely makes exemplary punishment of some few Captains sends the Dutchesse of Yorke and her two younger children to the Dutchesse of Buckingham her Sister to be âafely kept and then having spoiled the Town and Castle of Ludlow he dismist his Armie And now a Parliament is called at Coventry wherein the Duke of Yorke Edward Earle of March his Son Richard Earle of Richardâarle âarle of Warwickeâ Iohn Lord Clifford and many other the confederates of the Duke of York are convict of Treason and all their lands and goods seized on to the kings use Henry D. of Somerset by the Queens means is made Captain of Callis whither comming to take possession he was by reason of Ordnance shot at him from Rice-banke forced to Retire which the Queen hearing was so incensed that in great passion she gave order to make ready all the kings Ships lying at Sandwich to give assistance to the Duke of Somerset but the forementioned Iohn Dynham out of love to the Earle of March boorded those ships in the harbour and tooke the Lord Rivers designed Admirall for that service and carried both him and the Ships to Callice from whence the Earle sayled to Ireland to the Duke of Yorke who having conferred and concluded what course to take he returned to Callice the new Admirall the Duke of Exeter not daring to stop his course Sir Simon Montford was appointed âo guard the Cinque Ports having divers ships under his command to barre the Earle of Warwickâs entrance but the Earle by his espyalls having perfect intelligence of all passages fell sodainly upon Sir Simon before his ships were ready tooke him prisoner ransackt the Town of Sandwich carried his prisoner and the ships to Callice By the way he understood how much the kentishmen desired his return and longed for his comming whereupon he came the second time to Sandwich to whom presently resorted the Lord Cobham and very many Gentlemen of the Country so as now his army was five and twenty thousand strong with which he marched towards London against whom the Lord Scales was appointed to goe and with some convenient troopes to assure London but the Major directly refused to admit him whereupon he resorted to the Tower from whence afterwards he did the Londoners no small displeasure The Earle of Warwick having notice that his father the Earle of Salisbury was upon march to meet him passeth over his men and without impeachment joyned with him and his friends neer Exeter The King with the Dukes of Somerset and Buckingham with a great Army marcheth towards them and neer to the Town of Northampton both Armies meet The Earle of March with the advice of the Earle of Warwick prepares for the fight The Queen the King more intentive to devotion then fighting did the like the fight continued about two houres wherein were slaine of both sides above âen thousand men but upon the fall of Humfry Duke of Buckingham the Kings side was discomfited and Iohn Talbot Earle of Shrewsbury Thomas L. Egremont Iohn L. Beaumont and some other of account were slaine The Queen with the Duke of Somersât taking with them the young Prince fled to the Bishoprick of Durham The King himselfe was taken and as a prisoner conveyed to London where the Tower is yeelded to the Earle of Warwick The Lord Scales in disguised apparell endeavouring to escape is taken by the water-men and by them beheaded and his Corpes carelesly left upon the sands Thomas Thorpe one of the Barons of the Exchequer in the habit of a Monke his Crown shorne purposing to flie to the Queen is taken and committed prisoner to the Tower and after by the Commons beheaded at Highgate The Duke of Yorke being advertised of this good successe leaveth Ireland and posts to London where in the kings name he summoneth a Parliament which being assembled he in the presence of the Lords in the upper House placeth himselfe in the Imperiall Seate and with great boldnesse layes open his rightfull claime to the Crowne of England as being the Sonne and heire of Anne daughter and heire of Roger Mortimer Earle of March Sonne and heire of Philip the sole daughter and heire of Lyonel Duke of Clarence the third sonne of Edward the third and elder brother of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Father of the usurper Henry the Fourth Grandfather to Henry the Fifth who was Father to him that at this time untruly stileth himselfe king Henry the sixth And after relating the many miseries that had befallen the Realme since the time of this Usurpation he concluded that he would not expect nor desire possession of the Crown except his discent were undisputable and his title without exception This being a businesse of importance required deliberation but in conclusion the Duke having before hand prepared the Lords Spirituall and few of the Nobility being present that were not of his part the Burgesses were easily perswaded and it was generally resolved and enacted accordingly that king Henry during his life should reteine the name and honour of a king that the Duke of Yorke should be Proclaimed heire apparent to the Crown and Protectour of the kings Person his lands and dominions and that if at any time any of king Henries friends allies or favourites in his behalfe should attempt the disaââlling of this Act that then the Duke should have present possession of the Crown It is not unworthy the noting that while the Earle of March was declaring his title in the upper house it happened in the nether house that a Crowne which hung in the middle of the house to garnish a branch to set lights upon without touch or winde fell suddenly down as likewise at the same time fell down the Crown which stood on the top of Dover Castle a signe as some thought that the Crowne of the Realme should be changed Assoone as the Parliament was dissolved the Duke dispatcheth letters into Scotland requiring in the kings name the Queen the Dukes of Somerset and Exeter and all other of the Nobility that remained in that kingdome with all speed to repaire to his presence in London but they had other worke in hand for having goten together of English and Scots to the number of eighteen thousand they came maâching into Englandâ against whom went the Duke of Yorke with his younger sonne the Earle of Rutland and the Earle of Salisbury leaving the king in the custody of the Duke of Norfolke and the Earle of Warwick and
tooke it in too great a quantity or that there was some foule play used he fell soone after into such a loosenesse that the night following he had above fifty stooles yet the next day he rode to Nottingham and the day after to Leicester Abbey being so sicke by the way that he was ready to fall off his Mule comming to the Abby gates the Abbot with all the Covent met him to whom he said Father Abbot I am come hither to lay my bones among you and then was led up into his chamber and went to bed where growing sicker and sicker the next morning Master Kingston Lieâtenant of the Tower who had beene sent to bring him up comming to him and aâking him how he did I doe but tarry saith he the pleasure of God to render up my poore soule into his hands for this is my case I have a flux with a continuall feaver the nature whereof is that if there be no amendment within eight dayes either excoriation of the entrailes will ensue or frenzie or else present death and the best of them is death and as I suppose this is the eight day Sir said Master Kingston you are afraid of that you have no cause for I assure you the King commanded me to say unto you that you should be of good cheere for that he beareth you as much good will as ever he did No no Master Kingston said the Cardinall I see how it is framed but if I had served God as diligently as I have done the King he would not have given me over in my gray hayres but it is a just reward for my study to doe him service not regarding the service of God to doe him pleasure and having so said his speech failed and incontinent the clock struk eight and then he gave up the Ghost which made some about him to remember how he had said the day before that at eight of the clock they should loose their master Being dead he was buried in the Abby of Leicester This man held at once the Bishopricks of Yorke Winchester and Durhan the dignities of Lord Cardinall Legaâ and Chancelour of England the Abbey of Saint Albans diverse Priories and sundry great Benefices in Commendum he had also in his hands as it were in Farme the Bishoprick of Bath VVorcester and Hereâord which having beene given by King Henry the seventh to strangers that lived out of the Realme they suffered Woolsey to enjoy them receiving of him a Pension onely The Reâinue of this Preâate is scarce credible a thousand persons daily in his houshold of whom many Knights and some Lords all which greatnesse as it came by the Kings favouâ so by the withdrawing of his favour it was overthrowne so true is that saying of Salomon The Kings favour is as dew upon the grasse but his wrath is as the roaring of a Lion and as a messenger of death After this the King removed from Hampton-Court to Greenwich where with his Queene Katherine he kept a solemne Christmaâ and on twelfth night he sat in state in the Hall where was divers Enterludes costly Masques and a sumptuous Banquet After Christmas he came to his Mannor of Westminster which before was called Yorke Place for the Cardinall had made a Feoffment of it to the King which the Chapter of Yorke confirmed and then it was no more called Yorke Place but the Kings Mannor of Westminster now VVhitehall At this time the whole Clergie of England was charged by the Kings learned Councell to be in a Praemunire for supporting and maintaining the Cardinals Legatine power and were thereupon called by Processe into the Kings Bench to answer but before their day of Appearance came they in their Convocation concluded an humble submission in writing and offered the King an hundred thousand pound to have their pardon by Parliament which offer after some labour was accepted and their pardon promised In which submission the Clergie called the King supreame Head of the Church This Pardon was signed with the Kings hand and sent to the Lords who assented to it and then sent it to the Lower House but here divers of the House excepted against the Pardon unlesse themselves also might be included in it who they said having had something to doe with the Cardinall might be brought into the same case as the Clergie were Hereupon their Speaker Thomas Audeley with a convenient number of the House was sent to the King about it to whom the King made answer that he was their Soveraigne Lord and would not be compelled to shew his mercy and seeing they went about to restraine him of his liberty he would grant a Pardon to the Clergie which he might doe by his great Seale without them and for their Pardon he would be advised before he granted it with this Answer the Speaker and Commons returned much grieved and discontented and some said that Thomas Cromwell who was newly come into the Kings favour had disclosed the secrets of the House which made the King give this unpleasing Answer But soon after the King of his own accord caused their Pardon also to be drawn and signed itâ which easily passed both Houses with great commendation of the Kings judgement to denie it at first when it was demanded as a right and to grant it afterward when it was received as of grace In this Parliament time on the thirtieth of March Sir Thomas Moore Lord Chancellour with twelve of the Lords came into the Lower House acquainting them that though in the matter of the Kings Divorce he might sufficiently rest upon the judgement of learned men in his owne Universities of Oxford and Cambridge yet to avoid all suspicion of parciality he had sent into France Italy the Popes Dominions and the Venetians to have their opinions and then causing them to be read Sir Bryan Tuke tooke out of a box certaine writings sealed which were the determinations of the Universities of Orleance of Paris of Anjou of Burges of Bolonia of Padua and of Thoulouse all which were peremptory in these two Points that the Brother by the Law of God might not marry the Relict of his brother and then being against the law of God that it is not in the power of the Pope to dispence with it and now said they you may know that the King hath not sought this Divorce for his pleasure but for discharge of his conscience and this said they departed The King himselfe when he heard of these determinations was so farre from rejoycing at it that he rather mourned as for the losse of so good a wife yet he conversed with her as he had done before in nothing altered but in abstaining from her bed But being willing the Queene should know these Determinations in Whitsonweeke after he sent divers Lords to acquaint her with them requiâing her thereupon to recall her Appeale and to refer the matter to eight indifferent Lords which she utterly refused using her usuall Answer
Mary the Kings eldest sister To his offer of aide answer was made that the Kings warres were ended and touching the marriage with the Lady Mary âhat the King was in speech for her marriage with the Infanta of Portugall which if it succeeded not he should then be favourably heard Upon this the Emperours Embassadour demanded of the King that the Lady Mary might have free exercise of the Masse which the King not onely constantly denied but thereupon Sermons were exercised at Court and order taken that no man should have any Benefice from the King but first he should Preach before him and shortly after under pretence of preparing for Sea-matters five thouâand pounds were sent to relieve Protestants beyond the Seas At this time also an Embassadour came from Gustanuâ King of Sweden to enter league with the King for entercourse of Merchants and charge was then also given that the Lawes of England should be administred in Ireland About this time the Queene Dowager of Scotland going from France to her Countrey passed thorow England having first obtained a safe Conduct she arrived at Portesmouth and was there met by divers of the English Nobility conducted to London she was lodged in the Bishops-Pallace after four dayes staying having beene feasted by the King at Whitehall she departed being waited on by the Sheriffes of Counries to the borders of Scotland And now was one Steward a Scot apprehended in England and imprisoned in the Tower for intending to poyson the yong Queene of Scots whom the King delivered to the French King upon the frontiers of Callice to be by him justiced at his pleasure At âhis time certaine Ships were appointed by the Emperour to transport the Lady Mary either by violence or by stelth out of England to Antwerpe whereupon Sir Iohn Gates was sent with Forces into Essex where the Lady lay and besides the Duke of Somerset was sent with two hundred men the Lord Privie Seale with other two hundred and Master Sentleger with foure hundred more to severall coasts upon the Sea and the Lord Chancellour and Secretary Peter were sent to the Lady Mary who after some conference brought her to the Lord Chancellours house at Lyee in Essex and from thence to the King at Westminster Here the Councell declared unto her how long the King had permitted her the use of the Masse and considering her obstinacy was resolved now no longer to permit it unlesse she would put him in hope of some conformity in short time To which she answered that her soule was Gods and touching her faith as she could not change so she would not dissemble it Reply was made that the King intended not to constraine her faith but to restrain the outward profession of it in regard of the danger the example might draw After some like enterchange of speeches the Lady was appointed to remain with the King when there arived an Embassadour from the Emperor with a threatning message of warre in case his cousin the Lady Mary should be denied the free exercise of the Masse hereupon the King presently advised with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the Bishop of London and Rochester who gave their opinion that to give licence to sin was sin but to connive at sinne might be âllowed so it were not too long nor without hope of reformation then answere was given to the Embassadour that the King would send to the Emperour within a month or two and give him such satisfaction as should be fit And now the King being uncertaine of the faith both of his Subjects and of his Confederates intended by alliance to strengthen himselfe and thereupon sent one Bartwicke to the King of Denmarke with private instructions to treat of a mariage betweene the Lady Elizabeth the Kings youngest sister and the King of Denmarks eldest son but when it came to the point this Lady could not be induced to entertaine mariage with any After this the Marquesse of Northampton was sent Embassadour to the French King as well to present him with the Order of the Garter as to treat with him of other secret affaires with him were joyned in Commission the Bishop of Elye Sir Philip Hobbie Sir William Pickering Sir Iohn Mason and Master Smith Secritary of State also the Earle of Worcester Rutland and Ormond were appointed to accompany them as likewise the Lords Lisle Fitzwater Bray Aburgavenie and Evers with other Knights and Gentlemen of note to the number of six and twenty and for avoiding of immoderate traine order was given that every Earle should have but foure attendants every Baron but three every Knight and Gentlemân but two onely the Commissioners were not limited to any number Being come to the Court of France they were forthwith brought to the King being then in his Bedchamber to whom the Marquesse presented the Order of the Garter wherewith he was presently invested then the Bishop of Elye in a short Speech declared how the King of England out of his love and desire of amitye had sent this Order to his Majestie desiring with all that some persons might be authorized to treat with them about some other mâtters of importance whereupon a Commission went forth to the Cardinall of Lorraigne Chastillion the Constable the Duke of Guysae and others At the first the English demanded that the yong Queene of Scots might be sânt into England for perfecting of marriage betweene King Edward and her But to this the French answered That conclusion had beene made long before for her marriage with the Dolphin of France Then the English proposed a marriage betweene King Edward and the Lady Elizaâeth the French Kings eldest daughter to this the French did cheerfully incline but when they came to talke of Portion the English demanded at first fifteen hundred thousand crownes then fell to foureteene and aâ last to eight hundred thousand the French offered at first one hundred thousand crownes then rose to two hundred thousand and higher they would not be drawne saying it was more then ever had bin given with a daughâer of France Shortly after Monsieur the Marshall and other Commissioners were sent by the French King to deliver to the King of England the Order of Saint Michael and then was further treaty about the marriage and because the French could be sârued no higher then two hundred thousand crownes it was at last accepted and the agreement was reduced into writing and delivered under Seale on both sides And now King Edward supposing his state to be most safe when indeed it was most unsure in testimoây both of his joy and love advanced many to new titles of honouâ the Lord Marquesse Dorset who had maried the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon was created Duke of Suffolke the Earle of Warwicke Duke of Northumberland the Earle of Wiltshire was created Marquesse of Winchester Sir William Herbert Lord of Cardisse and Master of the Horse was created Earle of Pembrooke also William Cecill the Kings
to the Crowne unlesse they were Roman Catholikes Contending further for the right of Isabella Infanta of Spaine as being descended from Constance Daughter of WILLIAM the Conquerour from Eleanor eldest Daughter to HENRY the Second Married to Alphonso the ninth King of Castile from Beatrix Daughter to King HENRY the Third Titles obsolete and which exceed the bounds of Heraldry to discusse This year the nineteenth of February was Henry Prince of Scotland born to whom the Queen was Godmother and sent Robert Earl of Sussex for her Deputy But now greater matters were in hand Plots were layd against the Queenes life some Spaniards thinking to make her away by Poison and not daring to trust any Englishman in such a businesse they treat to that purpose with Rodericke Lopes a JEVâ and Phisitian to the Queen wiâh Stephen Ferreirâ Emmanuel Loyfie and other Portugalls for divers of that Nation came into England at this time in relation to Anthonioâ who being discovered by letters of theirs that were intercepted were Arraigned at Guildhall and by their own confessions convinced to have conspiâed against the life of the Queen they were all condemned and Exeâââed at Tiburne LOPES professing that he loved the Queen as well as Jesus Christ which was cause of laughter to themâ that knew him to be a JEVV The next day after them was condemned Câllenâ an Irish Fencer sent hither by the English Fugitives to kill the Queen who was straightway executed though he were at that very time sick and ready to dye About this time Sir Iohn Norris having been in a hot conflict at sea against the Spaniard where Sir Martin Forbysher received his deaths wound was now called home with a purpose to send him into Ireland In which mean while Richard Hawkins Sonne of Sir Iohn Hawkins the famous sea Captain had been set forth a year since with three of the Queens ships and two hundred men in them whereof one of them at the Isle oâ St. Anne was by chance fired another of them seperated by tempest returned into England himself in the third passed the Straights of Magellan being the sixth man in the Spanish accompt that had ever done it and being now come into the wide Southern sea he took five ships laden with Merchandize one whereof he took away the rest he suffered to redeeme themselves for two thousand Duckats But at last being set upon by Bertrandus a Castro who was sent out by the Vice-Roy of those parts with eight ships against him after three dayes battery he yeilded and though upon composition yet was neverthelesse sent into Spain and there for divers years kept prisoner But Iames Lancaster in another part of America had better successe for being set forth by some London Merchants whose goods the Spaniards had seized with three Ships and a long Boat Hee tooke nine and thirty Spanish Ships and at Fernanbucke in Brasile where the wealth of an East-Indian Caraque was lately unloden hee desperately venturing upon the Shoare Loaded Fifteene Ships with the wealth of the Indian Caraque Sugar Reed Redwood called Brasill and other Merchandize and then safely and victoriously returned home At ROME about this time dyed Cardinall ALLEN borne in Lancashire of an honest Family brought up in Oxford in Oriall Colledge In Queene Maries dayes he was Proctor of the University and after Canon of the Cathedrall Church at YORKE Upon the change of Religion in ENGLAND he left the Kingdome and was Divinity Professor at Doway in Flanders and made Canon of the Church at Cambray He procured a Seminary to be set up in Doway for the English another at Rheims and a third at Rome and through zeal of the Romish Religion forgot whose subject he was born At home at this time dyed Iohn Peers Archbishop of Yorke in whose place succeeded Matthew Hutton translated from the See of Durham There dyed also Ferdinand Stanley Earl of Derby being in the floure of his age miserably tormented and vomiting âtuffe of a darke rusty colour being thought to have been poysoned or bewitched There was found in his chamber a little image of wax with hairs of the colour of his hairs thrust into the belly which some thought was done of purpose that men should not suspect him to be poisoned his vomit so stained the silver Andirons that it could never be gotten out and his body though put in searcloathes and wrapped in lead did so âtinck and putrifie that for a long time none could endure to come neer where he was buried The Master of his Horse was much suspected who the same day the Earl tooke his bed took one of his best Horses and fled away About this time also dyed Gregory Fines Lord Dacres a man somewhat crazed the Son of Thomas Lord Dacres hanged in the Raign of King Henry the Eight And now Sir William Fitz Williams Lord Deputy of Ireland was called home and William Russell youngest Son of Francis Earl of Bedford was sent in his room to whom presently came the Earl of Tir-Oen and in humble manner craved pardon of his fault that he had not presented himself at the call of the late Lord Deputy Bagnall Marshall of the Irish Forces exhibited many Articles against him but he so pleaded for himself with promise of loyalty hereafter that he was dismissed But see the subdolousnesse of this man for he would never after be gotten to come again though the Deputy sent for him with many kinde messages It was now the year 1595 and the eight and thirtieth year of Queen Elizabeths Raign when Edâond Yorke and Richard Williams who were formerly apprehended came to their tryall and were executed at Tiburn for being bribed to kill the Queen At this time a constant rumor was blown abroad from all parts of Europe that the Spaniards were coming again against England with a farre greater Fleet than that in Eighty Eight and that it was already under sayl whereupon Souldiers were levyed and placed on the Sea-coast Two Navies were made ready one to expect them at home in the Channell the other to go for America under Hawkins and Drake but when all came to all it was but certain Spaniards who loosed from the sea-coast of France with four Gallies which betimes in the morning landing in Cornwall fired a Church standing alone in the fields and three Villages of Fishermen Neulyne Moushole and Pensaus and then presently retyred not taking or killing any one person And these were the first and last Spaniards that in hostile manner âver set foot upon English ground And now mischiefs growing daily in France a great number perswaded the King to conclude a Peace with Spain and the Queen her self began to mistrust him especially having lately received intelligence out of the Popes Conclave that he was received into the bosome of the Church of Rome with the Popes Benediction and that upon conditions prejudiciall to the Protestants And therefore at this time were divers undertakings of the English against
unfitly be here related First for the celebration of divine Service it was ordained that all Ceremonies tending to the encrease of reverence devotion should bee used as need required Secondly that upon the Sabbath day all publike Faires Markets Synods Huntings and all secular actions should be forborne unlesse some urgent necessity should require it Thirdly that every Christian should thrice in the yeare receive the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper Fourthly that if a Minister of the Altar killed a man or committed any notorious crime he should bee deprived both of his Order and Dignity Fifthly thât a married woman convict of adultery should have her nose and eares cut off Sixthly That a widow marrying within a twelvemonth after her husbands decease should lose her Joynture These and many other good lawes were made whereby the kingdome remained during all his time in a most peaceable state and government In the third yeare of his Raign he heard how the Vandales taking advantage of his absence had entred Denmarke and annoyed his subjects whereupon with a great Army of English hee passed over the Seas and gave them battaile but with ill successe the first day when preparing for the next dayes battaile the Earle Goodwyn who was Generall of the English secretly in the dead of the night set upon the Vandals Campe with a great slaughter of their souldiers made their two Princes Ulfus and Anlave to flie the field In the morning it was told Canutus that the English were fled for that their station was left and not a man of them to be found which did not a little trouble his patience but he going in person to see the truth found the great overthrow the English had given for which service ever after hee held the English and especially the Earle Goodwyn in great estimation After this returning home hee made a prosperous Expedition against Malcolme King of Scots and at last in the fifteenth yeare of his Raigne wearied with the honourable troubles of the world and out of devotion he tooke a Journey to Rome to visit the Sepulchre of St. Peter and Paul from whence he writ to the Bishops and Nobility of England that they should carefully administer Justice and never seeke to advance his profit by any undue wayes or with the detriment of any man At his returne froÌ Rome he built in Essex the Church of Ashdone where he got the victory against King Edmund in Norfolke the Abbey of St. Benets which Saint he greatly reverenced and in Suffolke the Monastery of St. Edmund which Saint he deadly feared To the Church of Winchester hee gave many rich Jewels whereof one was a Crosse valued to be worth as much as the whole Revenue of England amounted to in one yeare To Coventry he gave the arme of the great St. Austin which he bought at Pavia in his returne from Rome for which he payd an hundred Talents of silver and one of gold One strange Act is recorded which he did for convincing his fawning flatterers who used to tell him that his power were more then humane For being one time at Southampton he commanded that his chaire of State should be set on the shoare when the Sea began to flow and then sitting downe there in the presence of his many attendants he spake thus to that Element I charge thee that thou presume not to enter my Land nor wet these Robes of thy Lord that are about me But the Sea giving no heede to his command but keeping on his usuall course of Tyde first wet his skirts and after his thighes whereupon suddenly rising he thus spake in the hearing of them all Let all the worlds Inhabitants know that vaine and weake is the power of their Kings and that none is worthy of the name of King but he that keepes both heaven and earth and sea in obedience After which time he would never âuffer the Crowne to be set upon his head but presently Crowned therewith the Picture of Christ on the Crosse at Winchester from which example arose perhaps the custome to hang up the Armour of Worthy men in Churches as Offerings consecrated to him who is the Lord of battaile When he had Raigned nineteene yeares he deceased at Shafteâbery in the County of Dorset the twelfth of November in the yeare 1035. and was buried in the Church of the old Monastery at Winchester which being after new built his bones with many other English Saxon Kings were taken up and are preserved in gilt Coffârs fixed upon the wals of the Quire in that Cathedrall Church He had by his two wives three sonnes Sweyne and Harold by his first wife Alfgive and Hardicnute by his second wife Queene Emma and two daughters of whom the eldest called Guinhilda was married to the Romane Emperour Henry the third who being accused of adultery and none found to defend her cause at last an English Page adventured to maintaine her Innocency against a mighty Gyantlike-Combatant who in fight at one blow cutting the sinewes of his adversaries legge with another he felled him to the ground and then with his sword taking his head from his shoulders redeemed both the Empresses life and honour But the Empresse after this hard usage forsooke her husbands bed and tooke upon her the Veyle of a Nun in the Towne of Burges in Flanders where she devoutly spent the râst of her life Of the second Danish King in England KIng Canutus dying left his Kingdome of Norway to his eldest Son Sweynâ and his Kingdome of England to his youngest Sonne Hardiknâte whom he had by his wife Emma but he being at the time of his Fathers death in Denmarke Harold his elder Brother by a former wife taking advantage of his absence layes claime to the Crowne For determining of which Right the Lords assembled at Oxford where Queene Emma pleaded for her sonne Hardiknute urging the Covenant of Canâtus at their marriage and his last Will at his death as also Earle Goodwyn of Kent did the like being left Guardian of her Children and keeper of his last Will. But Harolds presence together with the favour of the Londoners Danes and Northumbrians so wrought with the Lords that the absent Hardiknute was neglected and Harold was Proclaimed and Crowned King at Oxford by âlnothus Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the yeare 1036. Harold having now attained the Crowne was not so jealous of his Brother Hardiknute as of his mother in Law Queene Emma and her Sonnes by King Ethelreâ who were beyond Sea and therefore how to secure himselfe against these was his first care For effecting whereof he framed a Letter as written by Queene Emma to her two Sonnes Edward and Alfred instigating them to attempt the Crown usurped by Harold against their Right to which letter comming first to the hands of Alfred he suspecting no fraud returned Answer that he would shortly come over and follow her Counsaile And thereupon with a small Fleet and some few souldiers lent
him by Baldwyn Earle of Flaunders he tooke the Sea for England where comming to shoare Earle Goodwyn met him and bound himselfe by Oath to be his guide to his Mother Queene Emma but being wrought firme for Harold he led him and his company a contrary way and lodged them at Guilford making knowne to King Harold what he had done who presently committed them all to slaughter sparing onely every tenth man for service or sale Prince Alfred himselfe he sent Prisoner to the Isle of Ely where having his eyes inhumanely put out in griefe and torment he ended his life Some adde a more horrible kind of cruelty as that his belly was opened and one end of his bowels drawne out and fastned to a stake his body pricked with Needles or Poignards and forced about till all his Entrailes were extracted This done he then set upon Queene Emma confiscated her Goods and banished her the Realme And now further to secure himselfe he kept the Seas with sixteene Danish Ships to the maintenance whereof he charged the English with great payments by which if he procured the safety of his Person he certainly procured the hatred of his Subjects This King for his swiftnesse in running was called Harefoot but though by his swiftnesse he out-runne his Brother for the Kingdome yet could he not runne so fast but that death quickely overtooke him For having Raigned onely foure yeares and some moneths he dyed at Oxfordâ and was buryed at Westminster having never had Wife or Children Of the third and last Danish King in England KIng Harold being dead the Lords to make amends for their former neglect send now for Hardiknute and offer him their Allegeance who accepteth their offer and thereupon taking Sea arrived upon the Coast of Kent the sixth day after he had set saile out of Denmarke and with great pompe conveyed to London was there Crowned King by Elnothus Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the yeare 1040. His first Act was to be revenged of his deceased brother Harold whose body he caused to be digged up and throwne into the Thames where it remained till a Fisherman found it and buryed it in the Church yard of Saint Clement without Temple Barre commonly called Saint Clement Danes because it was the burying place of the Danes as some write But towards his Mother and halfe Brother Prince Edwârd he shewed true naturall affection inviting them both to returne into England where he received them with all the honour that from a Sonne or Brother could be expected But now as the King Harold for his swiftnesse in running was surnamed Harefooâe So this King for his intemperance in dyet might have been surnamed Swines-mouth or Boccâdi Porco for his Tables were spread every day foure times and furnished with all kindes of curious dishes as delighting in nothing but Gormandizing and Swilling and as for managing the State he committed it wholly to his Mother Qâeene Emma and to the politicke Earle of Kent Godwyn who finding this weaknesse in the King began to thinke himselfe of aspiringâ and to make the better way for it he sought by all meanes to alien the Subjects hearts from the Prince amongst other courses he caused him to lay heavy Taxes upon them onely for Ship-money to pay his Danes amounting to two and thirty thousand pounds which was so offensive to the people that the Citizens of Worcester slew two of his Officers Thurstaâ and Feâdax that came to Collect it But this King had soone the reward of his Intemperance For in a Solemne Assembly and Banquet at Lambeth Revelling and Carowsing he suddenly fell downe without speech or breath after he had Raigned only two yeares and was buryed at Winchester His death was so welcome to his Subjects that the day of his death is to this day commonly celebrated with open pastimes in the street and is called Hocks-tide signifying scorning or contempt which fell upon the Danes by his death For with him ended the Raigne of the Danes in England after they had miserably afflicted the kingdome for the space of two hundred and forty yeares though in Regall Government but onely six and twenty Of English Kings againe and first of Edward the Confessour KIng Hardiknute dying without issue as having never beene marryed and the Danish line cleane extinguished Edward for his Piety called the Confessour halfe Brother to the deceased Hardiknute and sonne to King Ethelred by his Wife Queene Emma was by a generall consent admitted King of England and was Crowned at Winchester by Edsyne Arch-bishop of Canterbury on Easter day in the yeare 1042. being then of the age of forty yeares He was borne at Islip neare to Oxford and after his Fathers death for safety sent into France to the Duke of Normandy his Mothers Brother from whence he now came to take upon him the Crowne of England His Acts for gaining the Peoples love were first the remitting the yearely tribute of forty thousand pounds gathered by the name of Danegilt which had beene imposed by his Father and for forty yeares together paid out of all mens Lands but onely the Clergy and then from the divers Lawes of the Mercians West Saxons Danes and Northumbrians he selected the best and made of them one Body certaine and written in Latine being in a sort the Fountaine of those which at this day we tearme the Common Lawes though the formes of pleading and processe therein were afterward brought in by the Conquerour The Raigne of this King was very peaceable Onely in his sixth yeare the Danish Pirates entred the Port of Sandwich which with all the Sea-coast of Essex they spoyled and then in Flanders made merchandise of their prey As likewise the Irish with thirty ships entred Severne and with the assistance of Griffyth King of Southwales burnt or âlew all in their way till at last Reese the brother of Griffyth was slaine at Bâlenden and his head presented to King Edward at Glocester His Domesticall troubles were onely by Earle Gâdwyn and his sonnes who yet after many contestations and affronts were reconciled and Godwyn received againe into as great favour as before But though King Edward forgave his Treasons yet the Divine Providence did not for soone after as he sate at Table with the King on Easter Munday he was suddenly strucken with death and on the Thursday following dyed and was buryed at Winchester Some make his death more exemplar as that justifying himselfe for Prince Alfreds death he should pray to God that if he were any way guilty of it he might never swallow downe one morsell of bread and thereupon by the just Judgement of God was choaked by the first morsell he offered to eate In this Kings time such abundance of snow fell in Ianuary continuing till the middle of March following that almost all Cattell and Fowle perished and therewithall an excessive dearth followed Two Acts are related of this King that seeme nothing correspondent to the generall opinion had of his Vertue
one concerning his Mother the other touching his Wife That concerning his Mother Queen Emma was this that because after King Ethelreds death she marryed the Danish King Canutus and seemed to favour her issue by him more then her issue by King Ethelred therefore he dispossest her of all her Goods and committed her to custody in the Abbey of Worwell and more then this so farre hearkned to an aspersion cast upon her of unchaste familiarity with Alwyne Bishop of Winchester that for her Purgation she was faine to passe the tryall of Fire Ordeall which was in this manner nine Plow-shares red hot weâe laid in unequall distance which she must passe bare-foote and blindfold and if she passed them unhurt then she was judged Innocent if otherwise Guilty And this tryall she passed and came off fairely to the great astonishment of all beholders The other touching his Wife was this He had marryed Editha the beautifull and indeed vertuous daughter of the Earle Godwyn and because he had taken displeasure against the Father he would shew no kindnesse to the daughter he had made her his wife but conversed not with her as his wife onely at board buâ not at Bed or if at bed no otherwise then David with Abishagh and yet was content to heare her accused of Incontinency whereof if she were guilty he could not be innocent So as what the vertues were for which after his death he should be reputed a Saint doth not easily appeare It seemes he was chaste but not without injury to his wife Pious but not without ungratefulnesse to his Mother Just in his present Government but not without neglect of Posterity for through his want of providence in that point he left the Crowne to so doubtfull succession that soone after his decease it was translated out of English into French and the Kingdome made servile to a fourth forraine Nation One Ability he had which raised him above the pitch of ordinary Kings and yet at this day is ordinary with Kings that by his onely touching and laying his hand upon it he cured a Disease which from his Curing is called The Kings Evill His Mother Queene Emma in memory of the nine Plow-shares she had passed in her Tryall gave nine Manors to the Minster of Winchester and himselfe remembring the wrong he had done her bestowed on the same place the Island of Portland in Dorsetshire being about seven miles in compasse He made also of a little Monastery in the West of Londonâ by the River of Thames a most beautifull Church called of the place Westminster where he provided for his owne Sepulchre and another Dedicated to Saint Margaret standing without the Abbey This of Westminster he endowed with many rich revenues and confirmed his Charters under his broad Seale being the first of the Kings of England who used that large and stately Impression in their Charters and Patents He Founded also the Colledge of Saint Mary Otterey in Devonshire and gave unto it the Village of Otereg and removed the Bishops See from Cridington to Exceter as to a place of farre more Dignity and when he had Raigned the space of three and twenty yeares and six moneths he ended his life the fourth of Ianuary in that roome of his Palace at Westminster which is now called the Paynted Chamber in the yeare 1066. and was buryed in the Church at Westminster which he had builded Of Harold the second English King after the Danes KIng Edward the Confessour being himselfe without issue had in his life time sent into Hungary for his Nephew Edward called the Outlaw the sonne of Edmund Ironside with a purpose to designe him his Successour in the Crowne but he dying soone after his comming into England King Edward then gave his Sonne Edgar the name of Atheling as to say Prince Edgar meaning to designe him for his Successour but being prevented by death before the successour was fully established and Edgar Atheling though he had right yet being young and not of power to make good his Right Harold the sonne of Earle Goodwyn steps into the Throne and never standing upon ceremonies set himselfe the Crowne upon his owne head wherein though as a violater of holy Rites he offended the Clergy yet not any either of Clergy or Layity durst oppose him as being at that time the most martiall man in the Kingdome and such a one as the state of the Realme stood at that time in need of and besides his owne worthinesse had the assistance of Edwyn and Marchar the two great Earles of Yorkeshire and Chester whose sister Algyth he had marryed It is true withall that King Edward had appointed the Crowne after his owne decease sometimes to William Duke of Normandy sometimes to Edgar Atheling and sometimes to this Harold so as he was Crowned by Aldred Arch-bishop of Yorke as not comming in by intrusion or wrong but by the appointment of King Edward though that appointment of King Edwaâd was rather to make him Regent during the minority of Edgar then to make him absolute King but howsoever being once in the Throne he was then able to make his owne Title and to make Prince Edgar some amends he created him Earle of Oxford which was indeed to use him like a Childe take away a Jewell and please him with an Apple Yet Harold having once gotten into the Throne he cârryed himselfe with great Valour and Justice for the time he sate in it which was but very short as being indeed but tottering from the very beginning and that chiefly by meanes of his owne Brother Toâstayne who by diverting his Forces to suppresse a Rebellion made him of lesse force to resist an invasion But now that we have shewed how Harold entred the Throne we must forbeare to shew how he was cast out till we come to him that cast him out who because he was not onely of another Family but of another Nation we must necessarily take the beginning from a deeper roote and indeed seeing in him we shall joyne our Island to the Continent which is a larger world Our Kings hereafter will afford a larger Extent for matter of Discourse then heretofore they have done THE LIFE OF KING WILLIAM THE FIRST CALLED THE CONQVEROUR His Parentage and Descent THere were six Dukes of Normandie in France in a direct line succeeding from father to sonne The first was Rollo who of a private man in Denmarke comming forth with the exuberancy of his Nation wrested by force of Armes from Charles the Simple King of France to bee made Duke of Normandy The second was William his sonne called Long Espee or Long Sword The third was Richard his sonne called the Hardie who had Richard and a daughter called Emma married to Ethelred King of England father of Edward the Confessor The fourth was Richard the second his sonne called the Good The fifth was Richard the third his sonne who by a first wife had three sonnes Richard Robert and
but who can thinke himselfe too old for a Kingdome when Galba for attaining the Romane Empire was contented to buckle on Armour being fourescore yeares old The Dâke in his time of peace came over into England to visite his cousin King Edward who besides his Princely entertainment made him at that time as some thinke a promise to leave him his Successour in the Kingdome Harold after this going over to the Dukâ in Normandy for procuring some friends of his to be released the better to effect it tooke his solemne Oath to assist him for obtaining the Kingdome So as having the word of Edward and the oath of Harold he had now sufficient obligations to expect it But hearing of the death of King Edward and that Harold was Crowned King he thought himselfe not more forgotten by Edward then wronged by Harold and therefore sent messengers to him to put him in mind of K. Edwards Pâomise and his owne Oath but Harold puffed up with the conceit of being a King as though that very name were enough to expiate all breach of Oathes and that nothing could binde him who had now the fetters in his owne hand returned onely sleight answers that his Oath was forced and voyd in it selfe as being made without consent of the Kingdome Whereupon the Duke thus sleighted by Harold endevours to make him an honest man by force assuring himselfe he should find him the weaker Enemy for finding him a perjured Friend The Reasons that facilitated his Conquest of England DUke William incensed with Harolds answers acquaints his Nobility with his purpose who with some adoe consented to ayd him as likewise many other great Lords of France but specially Baldwyn Earle of Flanders whose daughter he had marryed and who being at that time Guardian of the young King of France procured ayde from him also and to make the Enterprise the more successefull Pope Alexander the second sent him a Banner with an Agnus of Gold and one oâ the haires of Saint Peter So as the preparation of the Duke both by Sea and Land was very great having three hundred saile of ships and as some write 890â and as one Norman above a thousand and as Cemeticensis three thousand and though Harold had likewise provided a warlike Fleet to encounter him yet it was at thaâ time unfortunately diverted another way for Taustayâe his Brother being then in rebellion in the North and Harold Harfager King of Norway at the same time invading those parts and perhaps upon a bruite that the Dukesâ Fleet was not yet ready to come forth removed both his Fleet and Army thither where though he got the Victory at Stamford with the death both of his Brother Toustayne and of the King of Noâway yet it made way for the Duke to land quietly and he entred the Kingdome as one may enter a house when the doores are all left open By this meanes King Harâlds shipping the best wall of defence to an Island was utterly frustrate and as for his Land Forces they were by his Battaile at Stamford exceedingly both weakned and impaired yet hearing that Duke William was landed at Pemsey not farre from Hastings in Sussex he repaired thither with all speed and gathering together his broken Forces and encreasing them by all the meanes he could made himselfe ready to give the Duke Battaile Duke William in the meane time as soone as he had landed his men sent his ships presently away that there might be no thinking of any thing but either Death or Victory And then going himselfe on land it is said his foot slipped and he fell downe which some that stood by taking for an ill signe No saith he I have by this taken possession of this Land And indeed Presages are but as Animus ejus qui praesagit as in this Dukes fall it afterwards fell out Many wayes of composition betweene Duke William and King Harold were propounded yet Harold would hearken to none as nothing doubting of successe and perhaps thinking it a disgrace to capitulate for that which was now his owne and when one of his Brothers called Gyrth being lesse interessed and therefore clearer sighted intreated him to consider what a fearefull thing it was to breake an Oath which he so solemnely had sworne Harold seemed to conceive that nothing which he did being a private man could be of force to binde him now being a Prince and so on the fourteenth day of October being Saturday in the yeare 1066. which day he liked the better because it was his Birth-day hoping that the day of his Birth would not so much degenerate to prove the day of his death though even this also bred no good blood to the Action for the Souldiers of Harold thinking thereby to honour their Kings Birth-day spent the night before in revelling and drinking where the Souldiers of the Duke out of consideration of their next dayes worke spent the night in quietnesse and devotion they joyned battaile the Kentish-men being placed in the Fore-front as by an ancient custome is their due and King Harold with his Londoners leading the maine Battaile where though their Armies were not much unequall in number for they were each of them neare about threescore thouâand men yet there was great oddes in the expertnesse of their Souldiers and more in the advantage of their weapons for the Duke had with him all the flowre of France and Flanders where King Harold had lost his best men in his late Battaile and for advantage of weapons the Normans had long Bowes and Arrowes which of the English at that time were not at all in use what mervaile then that the Normans got the Victory though King Harold losing his life yet lost no Reputation and though the English Souldiers shewed no lesse valour in being Conquered then the Normans did in Conquering One circumstance may not be omitted that King âarold as an expert Generall had ordered his men in so firme a Body that no force of the Normans could disorder their Rankes till Duke Williamâ used a Stratagem commanding his men to retire and to counterfeit flight by which he drew the English on upon a hollow ground covered with earth whereinto many of them fell and perished and besides into an ambush of his Horsemen which unexpectedly fell upon them and cut them in pieces Withall there seemes one great errour to have beene committed at least if it were an errour and not rather a neceâsity that there was not a supplementall Army provided as his Brother Gyrth would have had it which might have come on if the first had failed and would have beene of great advantage against a wearyed Army But when Sic visum est superis all humane force is weake and cannot withstand all humane Providence is unprovided and cannot prevent The body of Harold at his Mother Thyrace suite was recovered and lyes buryed in Waltham Abbey which he had begunne to build at least to repaire But here Gyraldus
preserving the Liberty of themselves and their Country But such is the violence of conceit till it be mastered by time or rather so very a Changeling is Humane Reason that what they then cut downe great Woods to defend they have since beene content to see abolished without cutting downe so much as a twigge But one Law especially he made extreamely distastefull to all the Gentry of the Land for where before they might at their pleasure hunt and take Deere which they found abroad in the Woods Now it was Ordained under a great penalty no lesse then putting out their eyes that none should presume to kill or take any of them as reserving them onely for his owne delight And indeed so great delight he tooke in that kinde of sport that he depopulated a great part of Hamshire the space of thirty miles where there had beene saith Carâon six and twenty Townes and fourescore Religious Houses and made it a Habitation for such kind of Beasts which was then and to this day is called the New-Forest But the lamentable dysasters that have happened to this Kings Issue doe plainely shew that there is a power that observes all our Actions and which we may know to be Memorem Fandi atque Nefandi But in the first yeare of this Kings Raignâ he granted to the City of London their first Charter and Liberties in as large forme as they enjoyed them in the time of King Edward the Confessor which he granted at the suite of William a Norman Bishop of London in gratefull remembrance whereof the Lord Major and Aldermen upon the solemne dayes of their resort to Pauls doe still use to walke to the Gravestone where this Bishop lies interred Also this King was the first that brought the Jewes to inhabite here in England as likewise he made a Law that whosoever forced a woman should lose his genitals and in his time long Bowes came first into use in England which as they were the weapons with which France under this King Conquered England so they were the weapons with which England under after-Kings Conquered Fraâce as if it were not enough for us to beate them if we did not beate them with their owne weapons This King also appointed a Constable of Dover Castle and a Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports with Immunities as they are at this day Affaires of the Church in his Raigne IN the twelfth yeare of his Raigne Lanfranke Arch-bishop of Canterbury held a Synod at London where amongst other things he removed Bishops Sees from small Townes to great Cities as from Silliway to Chichester from Kyrton to Exceter from Wells to Bathe from Shirborne to Salisbury from Dorchester to Lincolne and from Lichfield to Chester and from thence againe to Coventry and not long before the Bishopricke of Lindafferne otherwise called Holy Land upon the river Tweede had beene translated to Durham In the sixth yeare of his Raigne a controversie arising betweene the two Arch-bishops of Canterbury and Yorke they appealed to Rome and the Pope remitted it to the King and Bishops of England Hereupon a Synod is holden at Windsor where sentence was given on Lanfranks then Arch-bishop of Canterburies side that in matters of Religion the Arch-bishop of Yoâke should ever be subject to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Onely at Rome it was decreed for matter of Title that the See of Yorke should be stiled Primas Angliae and the See of Canterbury Primas totius Angliae as it is at this day And as the Arch-bishop of Yorke oweth obedience to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury So all the Bishops of Scotland owe obedience to the Arch-bishop of Yorke as to the Primate of Scotland But as this King tooke downe the Prelates in Temporalties for he ordained they should exercise no Temporall Authority at all So in Spiritualties he rather raised them as may be seene by a passage betweene Aldred Arch-bishop of York and the King for at a time upon the repulse of a certaine suite the Arch-bishop in great discontentment offered to depart when the King in awe of his displeasure stayed him fell downe at his feet desired pardon and promised to grant his suite The King all this while being downe at the Arch-bishops feetâ the Noblemen that were present put him in mind that he should cause the King to arise Nay saith the Arch-bishop let him alone let him find what it is to anger Saint Peter And as by this story we see the insulting pride of a Prelate in those dayes So by another we may see the equivocating false-hood of a Prelate at that time For Stâgand Arch-bishop of Canterbury would often sweare he had not one penny upon the Earth when under the Earth it was afterward found he had hidden great Treasure Also it is memorable but scarce credible of another Bishop who being accused of Simony and denying iâ the Cardinall before whom he was to Answer told him that a Bishopricke was the gift of the Holy Ghost and therefore to buy a Bishopricke was against the Holy Ghost and thereupon bid him say Glory be to the Father and to the Sonne and to the Holy Ghast which the Bishop beginning and oft essaying could never say and to the Holy Ghost but said it plainely when he was put out of his Bishopricke And yet was not the Church in that Age so barren of Vertue but that it afforded some good Bishops as William Bishop of Durham Founder of University Colledge in Oxford but specially Bishop Woolstan whom upon Lanfrankes reporting to be insufficient for the place for want of Learning the King commanded to put off his Pontificall Robes and to leave his Bishopricke when suddenly out of a divine Inspiration Woolstan answered A better then you O King bestowed these Robes upon me and to him I will restore them And therewithall going to Saint Edwards Shrine who had made him a Bishop and putting off his Robes he strucke his Staffe upon Saint Edwards Monument which stucke so fast in the stone of it that by no strength it could be drawne forth till he drew it forth himselfe which so terrifyed both Lanfranke and the King that they intreated him to take his Robes againe and keepe his Bishopricke Also Oswald Bishop of Salisbury who devised a Forme of Prayers to be daily used in his Church and was used afterwards in other Churches from whence proceeded the common saying of Secundum usum Sarum In this Kings time was Berengarius who denyed the true body of Christ to be in the Sacrament Also in his time Pope Gregory the seventh removed marryed Priests from executing Divine Service whereof great troubles arose in England Workes of Piety by him and others in his time THis King Founded the Abbey of Baltell in Sussex where he overcame Harold the Abbey of Selby in Yorkeshire and a third neere London called Saint Saviours He founded also the Priory of Saint Nicholas at Exceter and gave great priviledges to Saint Martins le Grand in London which
the Second called Rufus second Son to William the Conquerour appointed Successor by his Fathers Will was upon the fifth of October in the yeare 1087. by Lanfranke Archbishop of Canterbury Crowned at Westminster King of England Wherein his Father seemes to have followed the Example of Iacob who gave to his younger sonne Ioseph the Land which he had taken with his Sword and his Bow for with his sword and his Bow had King William gotten the Land of England and therefore might justly bestow it on which of his Sonnes he pleased And besides there was cause enough why he should shew this Sonne of his some extraordinary favour seeing in the Rebellion of his brother Robert yet he stood firmely for his Father and in his quarrell incurred no small hazard of his life as wherein he received divers wounds and perhaps also his Father thought the rough disposition of this sonne fitter to bridle the insurrections of the English then the softly disposition of his sonne Robert But though he have thus quietly gotten the Crowne he must not looke to hold it so and indeed at his very beginning is assaulted with two troubles in one for both his Brother Robert prepares to recover it from him and the Lords of the Kingdome combine with Robert to assist him in it The first mover of this trouble was Odo Bishop of Bayeux his Unckle who finding himselfe not to beare the sway he expected and specially for an old grudge he bore to Lanfranke Arch-bishop of Canterbury as by whose means in the former Kings time he had bin imprisoned the Arch-bishop telling him that though he might not imprison a Bishop yet he might imprison an Earle of Kent as this Odo was made not long before he drawes many other Bishops and Temporall Lords to joyne with himâ in behalfe of Duke Robert against the King but though the storme were violent for a while yet it soon passed over that indeed of his Lords with more difficulty but that of his brother Robert with more cost For it was at last agreed that Rufus should pay him three thousand markes a yeare during his life and leave him the Kingdome after his owne decease But there was difficulty in repressing his Rebell Lords by reason of their spreading themselves abroad in many quarters For Odo fortifyed himselfe in Kent Roger Montgomery Earle of Shrewsbury in Norfolke Suffolke and Cambridgeshire Hugh de Grandmenill in Leycestershire and Northamptonshire Robert Mowbray Earle of Northumberland possest himselfe of Bristow William Bishop of Durham of the North parts of the Realme and divers other of the Clergy and Nobility fortify themselves in Herefordshire Shropshire Worcestershire and all the Countries adjoyning to Wales thinking by this meanes to distract the King that he should not know where to beginne nor whither to turne him But this course as it made it hard to represse them suddenly so it made it easie to represse them at leisure for being thus divided they were but as single stickes that are easily broken where if they had united themselves as into a Faggot they might have made a strength of farre greater resistance But the King having Lanfranke Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Woolstan Bishop of Worcester firme of his side partly by their Authority and love amongst the people but chiefely by his owne promises to restore their ancient Lawes and to allow them liberty of hunting in his Forests he so firmely wonne the hearts of all unto him that some of the Rebell Lords he reconciled with faire words as Robert Montgomery a principall sinew of the Faction some againe he mastered by strong hand and Odo the chiefe Engineere of all the worke he besieged in the Castle of Rochester tooke him Prisoner and forced him to abjure the Realme And thus this great Rebellion was suppressed In which it is observable that though so many hot bloods were up yet there was but little blood spilt A happy rebellion for the English for the Rebell Lords and Bishops being all Normans the King had none to trust to but the English whom for their faithfulnesse to him in this service he ever after respected more then he had done befoâe After this storme was over in the South there ariseth another in the North For now Malcolme King of Scots thinking it a fit time to doe some feates when King William was troubled at home invades Northumberland and having burnt and spoyled the Country returnes home laden with booties Which King William hearing he takes his brother Robert along with him and with a mighty Army enters Scotland brings Malcolme to acknowledge his ancient homage and upon Faith given returnes to London After this Duke Robert finding his brother King William not to keep his promise in paying his Pension complaines to the King of France and with his ayde assaults and takes some Townes which he before had delivered in pawne for money to his brother King William who hearing of it hastens into Normandy with an Army and by the mediation of money takes off the King of France and makes his brother being left destitute of assistance to aske him pardon a wise and mercifull course in King William for to buy his peace with the King of France did cost him but money where to have purchased it by Warre must besides money have cost the lives of many After this Malcolme King of Scots came in kindnesse to visit King William at Glocester but the King not vouchsafing so much as to see him put him into so great an indignation that returning home he makes ready an Army invades Northumberland making great spoyle and getting great spoyles but by Robert Mowbray the Kings Lieutenant there was taken in ambush and together with his eldest sonne Edward defeated and slaine This King Malcolme was a most valiant Prince as may appeare by an Act of his of an extraordinary straine for hearing of a conspiracy plotted to murther him whereof one was Authour whose name is not recorded he dissembled the knowing it till being abroad one day a hunting he tooke the fellow apart from the company and being alone said unto him Here now is a fit time and place to doe that manfully which you have intended to doe treacherously draw your weapon and if you kill me none being present you can incurre no danger with which speech of the King the fellow was so daunted that presently he fell downe at his feet confessed his fault humbly asked forgivenesse and being granted him was ever after serviceable and faithfull to him The death of King Malcolme and his Sonne was so grievous and so grievously taken of Margaret his Queene the sister of Edgar Atheling that she made it her Prayer and had it granted not to over-live them and so within three dayes after dyed a woman as full of vertues all her life as at this time of sorrowes whom yet I should not breake order to mention but for one pious Act of hers in causing a most barbarous custome of Scotland to
he resolved to set his whole state at stake and either to redeeme his disgrace or to forfeit his life So returning into Normandy he useth all his force in raising of Forces but King Henry suspecting his intentions and not using to give Insurrections time to ripen came upon him so suddenly with a mighty Army that he drew him to a battell before he was halfe ready to fight Yet desire of revenge so animated the Duke and the Duke his Souldiers that never battell was more fiercely fought and the Normans seemed at first to have the better till King Henry shewing himselfe in the Army put such courage into his Souldiers that they quickly made good the advantage they had in number and King Henry obtained a compleate victory both in slaughter of men of whom there werâ slaine above ten thousand and in taking of prisoners to the number of foure hundred amongst whom besides divers other Great ones as the Earle of Mortaigne William Crispine and William Ferreis was Duke Robert himselfe whom the King having first taken order for all things in his new State of Normandy brought over with him into England and committed him to the Castle of Cardyffe in Wales where he remained a prisoner till he dyed used for a time with reasonable liberty for Recreation till attempting to make an escâpe it was thought fit to put out his eyes which though it encreased his misery yet it shortned not his life for he lived many yeares after in all from the time of his first imprisonment sixe and twenty And thus this great Duke who in his birth was the joy of Nature in his life was the scorne of Fortune and it is not unworthy the observing that the English wonne Normandy the very same day forty yeare the Normans had wonne England Such Revolutions of fortune there are in kingdomes and so unstable is the state of all worldly Greatnesse And now is King Henry as great as ever his Father was and as Greatnesse draws envy as much envyed as ever his Father was and as Envy makes Enemies as much opposed as ever his Father was for now Fulke Earle of Angioâ and Baldwyne Earle of Flanders upon small occasions and Lewis the grosse King of France upon none but such as envy suggested seeking to place William Sonne to Duke Robert in his Right to Normandy assaulted the Kings Dominions perhaps to try whether Greatnesse had not made him unwieldy but King Henry to shew that Greatnesse had made him more Active went over into Normandy with a mighty Army and at Nice encountred the French King where a bloody Battell was fought with exceeding valour on both sides but at last King Henry repelled the French King and recovered Nice and after many other conflicts betweene them with variety of Fortune at lâst the King made peace with the Earle of Angiou confirmed by a marriage of the Earles Daughter with his Sonne Williamâ and upon this also the two Kings grow to a peace in which William Son to King Henry being about seventeene yeares of age was invested into the Dutchy of Normandy doing homage for the same to the King of France From whence it was afterward a Custome that the King of Englands eldest Sonne as long as Normandy remained in their hands was made alwayes Duke of Normandy After this Charles Earle of Flanders being slaine at Bruxels by a conspiracy of his owne people and leaving no issue behind hâm Lewis King of France invested William Sonne to Dâke Robert in the Earledome of Flanders as descended from Eaâle Baldwyn whose Daughter Maude was wife to King William the first and Grandmother to this William so as William now having gotten this steppe of advancâment seekes to goe on and to recover Normandy and was thereof by assistââce of the King of France in a faire possibility when in a certaine light conâlâct receiving a wound in his hand the thread of his faire possibility was upon a suddaine cut off and of that light wound he shortly after dyed King Henry now in perfect peace abroad was not without some little disquietings at home and marching thorow Powis-land in South Wales to represse some Insurrections of the Welsh he came to certaine Straights where his maine Army could not passe in which place the King was smitten with an Arrow full upon the breast whereat he swore by our Lords death his usuall Oath that it was no Welsh arme had shot that Arrow yet in this distâesse for a thousand head of Cattell he had the passage left open and came safely off And these were his troubles of Armes both at home and abroad during all his Raigne His Taxations and wayes for raising of money TOwards the marriage of his Daughter Maude with the Emperour he obtained at his first Parliament at Salisbury three shillings upon every Hide of Land throughout the kingdome which was afterward drawne to a custome to receive ayde from the Subjects whensoever the King gave his eldest Daughter in marriage Besides this he had no more in all his Raigne but onely one supply for his Warres in France but he kept Bishoprickes and Abbeyes voyd in his hands and that of Canterbury five yeares together By an Act of Parliament or rather by a Synod of Bishops holden at London he was authorised to punish marriage and incontinency of Priests which the Bishops afterwards repented for he suffered Priests to have Wives for Fines or rather tooke Fines of them whether they had wives or no bâcause they might have them if they would Punishments which before his time were mutilation of Member he made Pecuniary And the Provisions of his house which were used to be paid in kind were in his time rated at certaine prizes and received in money By this Chapter and the next before it appeares there were in this Kings dayes but few troubles at home nor but few Taxations whereoâ the one may be thought to be cause of the other the first perhaps of the second but certainely the second of the first Lawes first instituted in his tâme HE first instituted the forme of the High Court of Parliament for before his time onely certaine of the Nobility and Prelates of the Realme were called to consultation about the most important affaires of State but he caused the Commons also to be assembled by Knights and Burgesses of their owne appointment and made the Court to consist of three parts the Nobility the Clergy and the Common people representing the whole body of the Realme and appointed them to sit in severall Chambers the King the Bishops and Lords of the Realme in one Chamber and the Commons in another to conferre together by themâelves Other Orders of that Court he Ordained as they are in use at this day The first Councell of this sort was held at Salisbury on the 19. day of Aprill in the 16. yeare of his Raigne He forbad the wearing of long haire which at that time was frequent after the manner of the
of this Kings Raigne the first Chanons entred into the Church of our Lady in Southwarke called Saint Mary Overey Founded by William Pountlarge knight and William Dancyes Normans Robert the first Earle of Glocester the Kings base Sonne builded the Castles of Bristow and Cardyffe with the Priory of Saint Iames in Bristow And his Sonne Earle William began the Abbey of Kensham Geoffrey Clinton Treasurer and Chamberlaine to the King Founded the Priory at Kenelworth of Regular Chanons Henry Earle of Warwicke and Margaret his Wife Founded the Colledge of Saint Marâ in the Towne of Warwicke and Roger de Belemond his Sonne and Ellyne his wife translated the same Colledge into the Castle of Warwicke in the yeare 1123. Roger Bishop of Salisbury built the Devises in Wiltshire the Castles also of Mamesbury and Shirborne He repaired the Castle of Salisbury and environed it with a wall he also built the stately Church of Salisbury destined to a longer life then any of his other workes Ralph Bishop of Durham began to build the Castle of Norham upon the banke of the River of Tweed In the 32. yeare of this Kings Raigne the Priory of Norton in Cheshire was founded by one William the sonne of Nychel and the Abbey of Cumbermere in the same Shire The Colledge of Secular Chanons also in the Castle of Leycester and the Abbey without the North gate of the same Towne called Saint Mary de Prato Also in this Kings Raigne was Founded the Monastery of Plimpton in Devonshire with the Cathedrall Church of Exetâr the Priory of Merton the Hospitall of Kepar the Priory of Oseney neare Oxford by Robert de Oylye Knight and the Hospitall of Saint Crosse neare Winchester by Henry Blois Bishop there also Robert Earle of Ferrers Founded the Abbey of Merivall and indeed so many in his time were built that one would thinke the Inhabitants of England to be all Carpenters and Masons that were able to finish so many great buildings in so short a time as this Kings Raigne â Casualties happening in his time IN this Kings dayes all the foure Elements were guilty of doing much mischiefe but chiefely the water For King Henry returning into England after his conquest of Normandy left his sonne William with his sister Mary Countesse of Perche Richard his sonne by a Concubine the Earle of Chester with his wife Lucie the Kings Neece by his sister Adela and other Lords and Ladies and passengers to the number of 180. to follow after him who taking Shipping and âhe best Ship the King had whether by carelesnesse or drunkennesse of the Saylours were all drowned The Prince indeed was got into the Ship-boate and out of danger but hearing the lamentable cries of his sister compassion wrought so in him that he turned about his boate to take her in which over-charged with the multitude over-turned and they all perished none escaped but onely one Saylour who had been a Butcher who by swimming all night upon the Mast came safe to Land An accident not more grievous then exemplary for amongst other conclusions from hence we may gather that no state is so uncertaine as prosperity no fall so sudden as into adversity and that the rule He that stands let him take heed he fall not cannot alwayes be observed because a man happens sometimes to fall before it is possible for him to take heed Another great mischiefe was in this Kings dayes wrought by the water for by the breaking in of the Sea a great part of Flanders was drowned whereupon a great number of Flemmings being Suiters to King Henry for some place to inhabit he assigned them a part in Walââ neare the Sea called Pembrokeshire where they have inhabited to this day the King by this one action working two good effects both shewing compassion to distressed strangers and putting a bridle upon unquiet Natives But the water had another way to doe mischiefe as much by defect as this was by excesse for upon the tenth of October the River of Medway many miles together did so faile of water that in the midst of the Channell the smallest vessels could not passe and the same day also in the Thames betweene the Tower of London and the Bridge men waded over on foote for the space of two dayes also at another time the River of Trent at Notingham was dryed up a whole day Now for the Earth though naturally it be without motion yet it moves sometimes when it is to do mischiefe specially being assisted by the Aire as in this Kings dayes it moved with so great a violence that many buildings were shaken downe and Malmesbery saith that the house wherein he sate was lifted up with a double remove and at the third time setled againe in the proper place Also in divers places it yeelded forth a hideous noyse and cast forth flames at certaine rifts many dayes together which neither by water nor by any other meanes could be suppressed But yet the active Element of Fire was busiest of all for first Chichester with the principall Monastery was burnt downe to the ground From West-cheape in London to Aldgate a long tract of buildings was consumed with fire Worcester also and Rochester even in the Kings presence then Winchester Bathe Glocester Lincolne Peterborough and other places did also partake of this calamity that there could be nâ charging the fire with any partiality and to speake of one forraine casualty because a strange one In Lombardy this yeare was an Earthquake that continued forty dayes and removed a Towne from the place where it stood a great way off Of his Wives and Children AT his first comming to the Crowne he married Matild or Maude sister to Edgar then King of Scotland and daughter to Malcolme by Margaret the sister of Edgar Etheling This Matild if she were not a veyled Nun she was at least brought up in a Nunnery and thereby growne so averse from marriage that when the motion was first made her to marry with King Henry she utterly refused it as resolved though perhaps not vowed to die a Virgin till at last importuned and even forced by the authority of her brother she rather yeelded then consented for she did it with so ill a will that it is said she prayed if ever she had issue by the marriage that it might not prosper and indeed it prospered but untowardly as will be seene in the sequell But though she made this imprecation before she knew what it was to be a Mother yet when she came to be a Mother she shewed her selfe no lesse loving and tender of her children then loyall and obsequious to her husband And to make amends for this seeming impiety towards her children there is a story related of her reall piety towards the poor for a brother of hers comming one morning to visit her in her chamber found her sitting amongst a company of Lazar people washing and dressing their ulcers and sores and then kissing them afterward when
with Philip now after the decease of Lewis King of France who willing to make use of their assistance before the streame of filiall awfulnesse should returne into the naturall Channell takes them along with him and besiegeth the City of Ments in which King Henry at that time was himselfe in person who apprehending the danger and then resenting the mischiefe of falling into his enemies hands gets him secretly out of the City leaving it to defend it selfe till he should returne with greater forces but hearing afterward that the Towne was taken he fell into so great a distraction of minde that it made him break out into these blasphemous words I shall never hereafter love God any more that hath suffered a City so deare unto me to be taken from me but he quickly recollected himselfe and repented him that he had spoken the words Indeed Ments was the City in which he was borne that to have this City taken from him was as much as to have his Birth-right taken from him and to say the truth after he had lost this City he scarce seemed to be alive not onely because he shortly after died but because the state of Majesty which had all his life accompanied him after this forsooke him for now he was faine to begge peace of his enemies who often before had begged it of him now he was glad to yeeld to conditions which no force before could have wrested from him It is memorable and worth observing that when these two Kings had meeting betweene Turwyn and Arras for reconcilement of differences there suddenly happened a Thunderbolt to light just betweene them with so terrible a cracke that it forced them for that time to breake off their conference and afterward at another meeting the like accident of Thunder happened againe which so amazed King Henry that he had fallen off his horse if he had not beene supported by those about him which could be nothing but drops let fall of the Divine anger and manifest presages of his future dysasters And thus this great Princes troubles which beganne in little ones and were continued in great ones ended at last in so great a trouble that it ended his life and left him an example of desolation notwithstanding all his greatnesse forsaken of his friends forsaken of his wife forsaken of his children and if he were not himselfe when he blasphemed for the losse of Ments forsaken of himselfe which might be exemplar in this King if it were not the common Epilogue of all greatnesse Of his Acquest of Ireland RObert Fits-stephen was the first of all Englishmen after the Conquest that entred Ireland the first day of May in the yeare 1170. with 390. men and there took Werford in the behalfe of Deruntius sonne of Marcherdach called Mac Murg King of Leymster In September following Richard Earle of Chepstow surnamed Strong-bow sayled into Ireland with twelve hundred men where he tooke Waterford and Dublin and married Eeve the daughter of Deruntius as he was promised From these beginnings King Henry being then at rest from all Hostile Armes both at home and abroad takes into his consideration the Kingdome of Ireland as a Kingdome which oftentimes afforded assistance to the French and therefore purposing with himselfe by all meanes to subdue it he provides a mighty Army and in the Winter season saileth thither taking Shipping at Pembroke and landing neare to Waterford where entring into consultation what course was fittest to be taken in the enterprise suddenly of their owne accord the Princes of the Countrey came in and submitted themselves unto him onely Râdârick King of Connacht stood out who being the greatest thought to make himselfe the onely King of that Nation but King Henry forbearing him for the present who kept himselfe in his fastnesses of Bogges and Woods and was not to be followed in the Winter season takes his journey to Dublin the chiefe City of the Countrey and there calling the Princes and Bishops of the Nation together requires their consent to have him and his heires to be their King which they affirming they could not doe without the Popes authority to whom at their first conversion to the Christian Religion they had submitted themselves the King sent presently to Adrian the then Pope an English man requiring his assent which upon divers good considerations he granted and hereupon the King built him a stately Palace in the City of Dublin and having thus without bloud possest himselfe of the Kingdome the Spring following he returnes joyfully into England About foure yeares after Rodorick also sends his Chancellour to King Henry to offer his submission with a tribute to be paid of every tenne beasts one sufficient After this in the one and thirtieth yeare of his Raigne he sent his sonne Iohn to be the Governour there His Taxations and wayes for raising of money TAxations in his time was chiefely once when he tooke Escuage of Englishmen towards his warres in France which amounted to 12400. pounds but confiscations were many because many Rebellions and every Rebellion was as good as a Mine Also vacancies of Bishopricks and Abbeys kept in his hands sometimes many at once no time without some He resumed also all Lands which had either beene sold or given from the Crowne by his Predecessours but a principall cause that made him plentifull in money was his Parcimony as when he was injoyned for a Penance to build three Abbeys he performed it by changing Secular Priests into Regular Chanons onely to spare cost And it was not the least cause of alienating his sonnes from him that he allowed them not maintenance answerable to their calling And it could be nothing but Parcimony while he lived which brought it to passe that when he died there were found in his Coffers nine hundred thousand pounds besides Plate and Jewels Lawes and Ordinances in his time IN the beginning of his Raign he refined and reformed the Lawes of the Realm making them more tolerable more profitable to his people then they were before In the one and twentieth year of his Raign he divided his whole kingdom into six several Circuits appointing in every Circuit three Judges who twice every year should ride together to heare and determine Causes between man and man as it is at this day though altered in the number of the Judges and in the Shires of Circuit In this Kings dayes the number of Jewes all England over was great yet wheresoever they dwelt they might not bury any of their dead any where but in London which being a great inconvenience to bring dead bodies oftentimes from farre remote places the King gave them liberty of buriall in the severall places where they lived It was in this Kings dayes also ordained that Clergy-men offending in hunting the Kings Deere should be punishable by the Civill Magistrate according to the Lawes of the Land which order was afterward taken with them for any offence whatsoever they committed Though it be
into England of purpose to visite the Shrine of Saint Thomas where having paid his Vowes he makes Oblations with many rich Presents The like many Princes since that time have done and many Miracles are reported to have beene done at his Tombe which yet may be unbeleeved without unbeliefe and with Faith enough Another difference in this Kings dayes was betweene the two Arch-bishops of England about the jurisdiction of Canterbury over Yorke which being referred to the Pope he gave judgement on Canterburies side Also in this Kings dayes there was a Schisme in the Church of Rome two Popes up at once of whom Alexander the third was one which Schisme continued the space of almost twenty yeares Also in this Kings dayes one Nicholas Breakespeare borne at Saint Albans or as others write at Langley in Hartfordshire being a bondman of that Abbey and therefore not allowed to be a Monke there went beyond Sea where he so profited in Learning that the Pope made him first Bishop of Alba and afterward Cardinall and sent Legate to the Norwayes where he reduced that nation from Paganisme to Christianity and returning backe to Rome was chosen Pope by the Name of Adrian the fourth and dyed being choaked with a Fly in his drinke In his dayes also Heraclius Patriarch of Hierusalem came to King Henry desiring ayde for the Holy Land but not so much of money as of men and not so much of men neither as of a good Generall as himselfe was to whom King Henry answered that though he were willing to undertake it yet his unquiet State at home would not suffer him with which answer the Patriarch moved said Thinke not Great King that Pretences will excuse you before God but take this from me that as you forsake Gods cause now so he hereafter will forsake you in your greatest need But saith the King if I should be absent out of my kingdome my own Sonnes would be ready to rise up against me in my absence to which the Patriarch replyed No marvaile for from the Devill they came and to the Devill they shallâ and so departed Also in this Kings dayes there came into England thirty Germans Men and Women calling themselves Publicans who denyed Matrimony and the Sacraments of Baptisme and of the Lords Supper with other Articles who being obstinate and not to be reclaimed the King commanded they should be marked with a hot iron in the forehead and be whipped which punishment they tooke patiently their Captaine called Gerard going before them singing Blessed are ye when men hate you After they were whipped they were thrust out of doores in the Winter where they dyed with cold and hunger no man daâing to relieve them This King after his conquest of Ireland imposed the tribute of Peter pence upon that kingdome namely that every house in Ireland should yearely pay a penny to Saint Peter Workes of piety done by him or by others in his time THis King Founded the Church of Bristow which King Henry the eighth afterward erected into a Cathedrall He also Founded the Priories of Dâver of Stoneley and of Basinwerke and the Castle of Rudlan and beganne the Stone Bridge over the Thames at London He caused also the Castle of Warwicke to be builded Maude the Empresse his Mother Founded the Abbey of Bordesly In his time also Hugh Mortimer Founded Wigmore Abbey Richard Lucye the Kings Chiefe Justice laid the Foundation of the Coventuall Church in the honour of Saint Thomas in a place which is called Westwood otherwise Lesâes in the Territory of Rochester in the new Parish of Southfleete He also builded the Castle of Anger in Essex Robert Harding a Burgesse of Bristow to whom King Henry gave the Barony of Barkeley builded the Monastery of Saint Augustines in Bristow In the tenth yeare of his Raigne London Bridge was new made of Timber by Peter of Cole-church a Priest Robert de Boscue Earle of Leycester Founded the monastery of Gerendon of Monkes and of Leycester called Saint Mary de Prate of Chanons Regular and his Wife Amicia Daughter of Ralph Montford Founded Eaton of Nunnes In the two and twentyeth yeare of his Raigne after the Foundation of Saint Mary Overeyes Church in Southwarke the Stone bridge over the Thames at London beganne to be Founded towards which a Cardinall and the Arch-bishop of Canterbury gave a thousand Markes Aldred Bishop of Worcester Founded a Monastery at Glocester of Benedictine Monkes Casualties that happened in his time IN the Eleventh yeare of this Kings Raigne on the six and twentyeth day of Ianuary was so great an Earth-quake in Ely Norfolke and Suffolke that it overthrew them that stood upon their feet and made the Bells to ring in the Steeples In the seventeenth yeare of his Raigne there was seene at Saint Osythes in Essex a Dragon of marveilous bignesse which by moving burned houses and the whole City of Canterbury was the same yeare almost burnt In the eighteenth yeare of his Raigne the Church of Norwich with the houses thereto belonging was burnt and the Monkes dispersed At Andover a Priest praying before the Altar was slaine with Thunder Likewise one Clerke and his Brother was burnt to death with Lightning In the three and twentyeth yeare a showre of Blood Rained in the Isle of Wight two houres together In the foure and twentyeth yeare the City of Yorke was burnt and on Christmas day in the Territory of Derlington in the Bishopricke of Durham the Earth lifted up it selfe in the manner of an high Tower and so remained unmoveable from morning till evening and then fell with so horrible a noyse that it frighted the Inhabitants thereabouts and the earth swallowing it up made there a deepe pit which is seene at this day for a Testimony whereof Leyland saith he saw the Pits there commonly called Hell-kettles Also in the same yeare on the tenth day of Aprill the Church of Saint Andrewes in Rochester was consumed with fire In the eight and twentyeth yeare of his Raigne Barnewell with the Priory neare unto Cambridge was burnt In the thirtyeth yeare the Abbey of Glastenbury was burnt with the Church of Saint Iulian. In the yeare 1180. a great Earthquake threw downe many buildings amongst which the Cathedrall Church of Lincolne was rent in peeces the five and twentieth of Aprill And on the twentieth of October the Cathedrall Church of Chichester and all the whole City was burnt This yeare also neare unto Orford in Suffolke certaine Fishers tooke in their Nets a Fish having the shape of a Man in all points which Fish was kept by Bartholomew de Glanvile in the Castle of Orford sixe moneths and more he spake not a word all manner of meates he did gladly eate but most greedily raw Fish when he had pressed out the juyce oftentimes he was brought to Church but never shewed any signe of adoration at length being not well looked to he stole to the Sea and never was seene after In the yeare 1188. on
counted themselves dishonoured in the dishonourable Conditions he had made and Baldwyn Earle of Flanders also when he saw the poore spiâits of King Iohn to descend to such base Conditions left his Party and entring League with the King of France disposed himselfe for the Holy Warre But King Iohn having now gotten a Vacation and a time of ease which agreed much better with his nature then Warre sets his minde wholly upon pleasures and for maintaining his pleasures upon seeking after profit which he pursues by all manner of injustice under the name of Prerogative and with such violence that when his Brother Geoffrey Arch-bishop of Yorke in the dutifulnesse of a Counsellour advised him not to take such unlawfull courses he most unworthily tooke from him all he had and it was a yeares worke for all the Arch-bishops friends to pacify his anger In the necke of this injustice he commits another he procures a divorce from his Wife Avis the Daughter of Robert Earle of Glocester onely for being of kinne to him in the third degree and by advice of the King of France marries Isabell Daughter and Heire of the Earle of Angoulesme Affianced before to Hugh le Brun Earle of March and shortly after brings her with him into England where he and she together are both Crowned at Canterbury And here the Earles and Barons of the Realme being all summoned to attend the King into France at Whitsontide following they all by a generall consent send him word that unlesse he would restore them their Rights and Liberties they would doe him no service out of the kingdome But what it was that made the Lords more violent in pressing their Demands at this time then before no Writers of these times doe sufficiently deliver Onely some of them speake scatteringly of certaine oppressions besides the generall Grievance for Exactions lately offered to some of the Lords one to the Earle of Chester whom he would have banished onely for advising him to leave his cruelty and incontinency Another a pursuite in Love to a Daughter of Robert Fits-Water called Maude the Faire who not consenting to the Kings lust a messenger was sent to give her poyson in a potched Egge whereof she dyed And a third offered to William de Brawse and his Lady for a rash word spoken for when the King sent to have de Brawses Sonne delivered him for a pledge the Lady answered We shall doe well indeed to commit our Sonne to his keeping who kept so well his owne Nephew Prince Arthur This rash word cost de Brawse his Country and his Lady and their Son their lives both of them being famished to death in Prison For though these directly were but particular Grievances yet reflectingly they were generall what one suffered all might but whether any of these or all of these together were Ingredients to make a Compound of violence in the Lords at this time or whatsoever was the true cause this was plainely the effect that unlesse the King would restore their liberties they would not follow him out of the kingdome But notwithstanding this refusall of his Lords he passeth over with his Queene into Normandy and from thence to Paris where the King of France receives them with all complements of Love and amity But now Hugh Earle of March resenting the injury done him by King Iohn in taking away his affianced Wife joynes with Prince Arthur and the King of France also for all his faire shew of amity lately made joynes with them as having sometime before marryed his youngest Daughter to Prince Arthur and these with their Forces joyned invade first the Turones and then the Anjovins of which Province Queene Eleanor the Kings Mother was left Regent who thereupon betakes her selfe to Mirabell the strongest Towne of those parts and sends to her Sonne King Iohn acquainting him with the danger she was in aud requiring his speedy succour When in the meane time Prince Arthur takes the City and in it his Grand-mother Queene Eleaâor whom he used with greater reverence and respect then she expected But King Iohn at the hearing hereof was so moved calling the French King ungratefull and perfidious for succouring Prince Arthur contrary to his League that studyâng presently the Art of Revenge he fell upon a stratagem of all other the most prudent against an Enemy For a Surprise in Warre is like to an Apoplexy in the Body which strikes without giving warning for defence And this Stratagemme at this time King Iohn put in practise for travelling night day with indefatigable labor he came upon his enemies before they were aware and setting upon them unprovided it was rather an execution then a battell and they who remained unslaine were taken prisoners amongst whom Prince Arthur himâelfe who committed presently to the custody of Robert de Veypont in Roan lived not long after whether it were that attempting to make escape he fell down from the wals of his Prison and was drowned in the River Seyne as some say or whether it were that through anguish of minde he fell sicke and dyed as others say or whether indeed he wâre made away by King Iohn as the common fame went Certaine it is that he survived his imprisonment but a very few dayes But though he were gone yet his sister Eleanor a preceding Competitor to King Iohn was still remaining Her therefore at this time also King Iohn seiseth upon and commits her in safe custody to Bristow Castle where after she had lived long she dyed Of his Troubles after the death of his Nephew Arthur KIng Iohn being now freed from his Competitor one would thinke he should have ended all his troubles but like a Hydraes head they rather multiplyed upon him For they who had beene so ready to assist Prince Arthur in his life were now as ready to revenge his death And first Constance his Mother comes to King Philip with open exclamations against King Iohn accusing him with the murther of her Sonne and with all the instance of Teares and Intreaties solicites him to revenge it Hereupon King Philip summons King Iohn to appeare at a day and because he appeared not according to the tenure of his Homage it was decreed against him that he had forfeited all the property of his Estate in France and thereupon King Philip with mighty Forces invades his Territories takes many Townes of principall consequence while King Iohn lived idle at Râan no more regarding it then if it had not at all concerned him and when some of his Lords seemed to marvell what he meant to suffer the French to rob him of such goodly Cities You say true indeed saith he for it is but Robbery and within a few dayes you shall see I will make him to restore them backe with usuây In this slighting humour he returnes into England where he lookes not after the levying of Souldiers or the raising of an Army as this case required but continues his old course for raising of money
accusing sometimes one of his Lords sometimes another as ãâã it wâre their fault that he had lost these Townes in Franceâ and upon ãâ¦ã made many of them pay great summes of money which brought ãâ¦ã into hatred at home but into contempt abroad for the King of ãâã ânâââstanding his unworthy courses proceeds more violently in his Invasiâns ãâ¦ã getting Falaiâ Damfrânt and all the good Townes of Normandy but onely Roan and at last though Râan was a Towne strongly fortifyed with Walls and more strongly with the faithfull hearts of the Inhabiâants yet finding no hope of succour from King Iohn it was forced for want of Victuals to submit it selfe to the King of France whose example all the other Cities followed and so all Normandy returned to the subjection of the French after three hundred and sixteene yeares that Rollâ the Dane had first possest it It was now the yeare 1205. and the fourth of King Iohns Raigne about which time the two props of his Estate or rather indeed the two Bridles of his intemperancy dyed his Mother Queene Eleanor whose vertues had oftentimes qualifyed the vices of her Sonne and Hubert Arch-bishop of Canterbury who repented him at his death of nothing more then that he had beene an Instrument of bringing him to the Crowne And now King Iohn being a Substantive of himselfe hath a devise in his head to make his subjects as willing to give him money as he was to have it for knowing the great discontentment they all had for his losses in France he gives it out that he would presently raisâ an Army for recovery of those losses if he might have money to goe about it whereupon never was money given with more alacrity and as soone as he had it he instantly went to Portesmouth and there took Shipping before it was possible for his Lords and others to be in readinesse to accompany him and sayling forward some certaine Leagues into the Sea upon a sudden he returnes backe againe and then laies the fault upon his Lords that had not followed him and for this backwardnesse of theirs imposed afterwards great Fines upon them by which meanes he got money no lesse by pretence of his not going then he had done before by pretence of his going About this time died Geoffrey Fits-Peter Justitiar of England who while he lived kept the King in some awe in so much as hearing he was dead he swore by the feete of God that now at length he was King of England and with great rejoycing said to some Lords about him Now when this man comes into Hell let him salute the Arch-Bishop Hubert whom certainely he shall finde there But Philip King of France intending to leave the English nothing on that side the Sea invadeth Chinon and takes it and in it the valiant Captaine Roger Lacie which had given a period to King Philips victories had not Guido the husband of Constantia Prince Arthurs Mother revolted to King Iohn who with his assistance once againe leavies an Army besiegeth Mount Auban a Castle thought impregnable and within fifteene dayes takes it which Charles the Great could not get with his seven yeares siege where so great a number of French Lords were taken prisoners that King Iohn sent a Catalogue of their names into England for a memoriall of so great a victory After this he taketh the strong Towne of Angiers and utterly defaceth it for which afterward he was sorry as being the Towne where he was borne But now when the two Kings were ready to meete and to give battell intercession was made by friends of both sides and thereupon a Peace concluded for two yeares and King Iohn returned into England King Iohn being returned performes no lesse worthy acts at home then he had done in France for first he invades the Borders of Scotland and brings Alexander King of Scots to doe him homage and then understanding many of the Irish to be revolted he passeth over to Dublin and reduceth them to his obedience and then placing Iohn Bishop of Norwich Governour there he returnes into England where passing through Wales he subdueth certaine Rebels there and takes eight and twenty children of the best Families for pledges of their future loyalty but not long after hearing they grew mutinous and rebelled againe he was so incensed that he would not goe to dinner till he had seene those twenty eight children to be all hanged before his face so inconsiderate a thing is the desire of revenge that it makes no difference betweene innocency and guiltinesse though indeed a thing oftentimes must be done for example which considered in it selfe would be forborne And it was the yeare 1214. and the fourteenth of K. Iohns Raign when he going to Angiers strongly repaires it and the Province of Poictou revolted to him which Lewis King Philips sonne understanding comes upon them with a mighty Army and using much severity upon the Authors of the revolt takes prisoners Reynold Earle of Boleigne and William Earle of Salisbury with many others of King Iohns Captaines and defeateth his whole Army whereof when King Iohn was certified he grew in a manner desperate and as a man dejected makes a new Truce upon any conditions with the King of France and returnes into England where he findes a worse businesse ready to entertaine him for the Lords of the Realme having often required their ancient Rights and Liberties and finding nothing but delusions endure no longer to be abused but meeting at Saint Edmundsbery they there conferre how they may finde a remedy to redresse this evill and at laât concluded to goe to the King themselves in person and make their Demands whereof a Charter was produced that had beene formerly granted in King Henry the firsts time whereupon comming to the King after Christmas lying then in the New Temple and acquainting him with their Demands he gives them this faire Answer that within a few dayes he would give them satisfaction and causeth the Bishops of Canterbury and Ely with William Marshall Earle of Glocester to passe their words for him that it should be performed But the King meaning nothing lesse then to doe as he said fals presently a leavying of Souldiers which the Lords understanding they also doe the like and going to the Bishop of Canterbury deliver him a Copy of their Demands and require the Kings Answer But the Bishop shewing it to the King and humbly intreating him to give the Lords a satisfactory Answer he swore a great Oath they might as well demand the Kingdome and that he would die before he would yeeld to any such demands Whereupon the Lords knowing now what they were to trust to fall to besiege Northampton and after that Redford which is yeelded to them and withall they are sent to by the Londoners to signifie their readinesse to joyne with them At this time the King was at Windsor providing an Army but hearing the Londoners were joyned with the Lords he thought it no
goods both of the Clergy and Laity It may be reckoned amongst his Taxations that when the Monkes of Canterbury had displeased him about the election of their Arch-bishop he seised upon all their goods and converted them to his owne use and presently after this upon the like displeasure he deputes many Bishopricks Abbeys and Priories into the hands of Lay-men and confiscates all their Revenues To these may be added that he tooke eleven thousand Markes of Silver of the King of Scots for granting him Peace Adde to these also great summes of money exacted and gathered from the Iewes among whom there was one that would not be ransomed till the King caused every day one of his great teeth to be pulled out by the space of seven dayes and then he was content to give the King tenne thousand Markes of Silver that no more might be pulled out Adde to these that at his returne out of Ireland he summoned all the Prelates of the kingdome to appeare before him of whom he extorted for their redemption the summe of an hundred thousand pounds Sterling Adde lastly to these that at his returne out of Wales he exacts of every knight that attended him not in that expedition two Markes Of his Lawes and Ordinances HE was the first that appointed the Formes of Civill Government in London and other Cities endowing them also with their greatest Franchises The first that caused Sterling money to be here Coyned The first that ordained the Honourable Ceremonies in Creation of Earles The first that setled the Rates and Measures for Wine Bread Cloath and such other necessaries of Commerceâ The first that planted English Lawes and Officers in Ireland The first that enlarged the Royall stile with Lord of Ireland and both annexed that kingdome and fastned Wales to the Crowne of England Affaires of the Church in his time AFter the death of Hubert Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Monkes of thââ Covent secretly in the night Elected one Reginold their sub-prior to succeed him and caused him to goe to Rome for confirmation but afterward doubting how the King would take it being done without his knowledge they crave leave of the King to chuse a fit man the King is content to allow them the Election but requires himselfe to have the Nomination and thereupon commends unto âhem Iohn Grey Bishop of Norwich whom he specially favoured and accordingly the Monkes Elect him But the matter being afterward referred to the Pope which of these two Elections should stand good after many Allegations of both sides the Pope to shew himselfe indifferent to both disallowes them both and nominates a third man one Stephen Lancthon Cardinall of Saint Chrysogone an Englishman borne and a man of great learning The Monkes admit him but the King opposeth it and now as it were a Prize began to be played between the two Swords the Spirituall and the Temporall but he that used the Spirituall Sword proved so much the better Fencer that he disarmed the other and tooke away his temporall Sword from him It is true in the first Venue the King gave the Pope as good as he brought for as the Pope threatned the King to excommunicate him and to interdict the kingdome So the King threatned the Pope to nullifie his Authority and to banish Clergy men out of the Realme In the second Venue as the Pope acted as much as he had threatned for he interdicted the âingdome So the King performed as much as he had spoken for he drove the Monkes ouâ of their Cloyster yet at last when Pandâlphus the Popes Legat came into England and made appeare to the King in what great dângers he stood Firstâ of the King of France by Invasion and then of his owne Subjects by Rebellion for both which there was no other helpe but Reconcilement with the Pope he so touched him to the quicke that he made him leave his great words and fall to asking forgivenesse So as taking off the Crowne from his head he laid it downe at Pandâlphus feâte to be disposed of as the Pope should please And Pandulphus stucke not to ââke up his Crowne and to keepe it three or foure dayes in his hands before he restored it and did not then neither but upon condition that he ând his Successours shoâld hold the kingdome of the See of Rome at the annuall tribute of â thousand Markes And all those three or foure dayes in which Pandulphus kept the Crowne it might be truely said the kingdome was without a King And upon this no doubt it was that Peter an Herââte in a Propheticall Rapture had given out some time before that by Ascââsion day there should be no King of England Which though in some sort it was true yet in some sort it was not true and it was in the Prerogative of the King to make his owne interpretation And so it cost the poore Hermite and his Sonne their lives and they remaine as a pillar of Salt to make men take heed of Ludere cum Sanctis and of playing the Critickes in matters of State But by this meanes the kingdome was released of the Interdiction which had continued sixe yeares three moneths and foureteene dayes During all which time there was no publique Exercise of Religion no Churches open no Ecclesiasticall Sacraments administredâ but onely to them that were in danger of death and baptisme to children all that dyed were buryed like dogges in ditches and corners but onely such as had purchased or procured licence from the Pope In this Kings Raigne Saint Dominicke continued his Preaching ten yeares together against the Albigenses Also in his time Saint Francis renounced the world and when a Priest to whom he offered it would not take his money he cast it awayâ and entred into a Vow of perpetuall Poverty Also in this Kings time was held the Lâteran Councell under Pope Innocent the Third in which was established the Popes power over Princes and in matters of Faith Auricular confession and Transubstantiation Of his Irreligion I Need not relate a Speech of his though very unchristian that having beene a little before reconciled to the Pope and then taking an overthrow in France in great anger he cryed out that nothing had prospered with him since the time he was reconciled to God and the Pope Nor another speech of his which though spoken merrily was in good earnest very irreligious that being on a time a hunting at the opening of a fat Bucke he said See how this Deere hath prospered and how fat he is and yet I dare sweare he never heard Masse It is sufficient to relate one act of his if it be true which some write that being in some distresse he âent Thomas Hardington and Ralph Fits Nichols knights in Embassage to Mirââmâmalim King of Africke and Mârâcco with offer of his kingdome to him upon condition he would come and aide him and that if he prevailed he would himselfe become a Mahometanâ and renounce the
Christian Faith Though some there be that âay All theâe were but false Criminations charged upon him by Monkes that did not love him But though we believe not these things of him yet to suffer his kingdome to stand Interdicted so many yeares together upon so small occasion as he did was certainely no good signe of Religion in him Yet one Act he did wherein he shewed a respect to Religion by the honour he did to a Religious man For Hugh Bishop of Lincolne lying very sicke he not onely went to visit him but being dead was one of the three Kings the other two were William King of Scotlandâ and the King of Southwales that carryed his Herse upon their shoulders till they delivered it to the Peeres and the Peeres afterward to the Arch-bishops and Bishops to carry it inâo the Quire Workes of piety done by him or by others in his time YEt did this King leave more Workes of Piety behinde him then all his Subjects that were in his time For he Founded the Abbey of Bowley in the New Forest in Hampshire also an Abbey of blacke Monkes in the City of Winchester and the Monastery of Farendân and the Monastery of Hales Owen in Shropshire he reedified âodstoâ and Wrâxell and enlarged the Chappell of Knarisborough Now for his Subjects onely Richard Prior of Berâmonâsey builded an House against the wall of the said house of Berâonâsey called the Almary or Hospitall of Converts and Children in honour of Saint Thomas In this Kings time Saint Mary Overeyes in Southwââke was begun to be builded and the Stone Bridge over the Thames was by the Merchants of London finished Also Hubert Arch-bishop of Canterbury Founded a Monastery at West Derham in Norfolke which upon the dissolution came to the family of the Derhams who hold it to this day Of his Lawes and Ordinances IN this Kings time five and thirty of the most substantiall Citizens of London were chosen out and called the Counsell of the City and the King gave the City liberty to alter their Major and Sheriffes every yeare which before continued during life He caused the Lawes of England to be executed in Ireland and money to be Coyned there according to the weight of English money Of his Wives and Children KING Iohn lived to have three Wives His first was Alice Daughter of Hubert Earle of Morton who left him a Widower without issue His second was Isabell Daughter and Heire of Robert Earle of Glâcâster by whom no issue neither divorced from her by reason of Consanguiniây in the third degree His third Wife was Isabel Daughter and Heire of Aymer Earle of Angoulesâe Affianced before to Hugh le Brun Earle of March By this Wife he had two Sonnes Henry and Richard and three Daughters Ioane Eleanor and Isabell Henry succeeded him in the kingdome Richard was Earle of Cornwall and Crowned King of the Romans and had issue Henry and Iohn that dyed without issue also Edward Earle of Cornwall and others Ioane his eldest Daughter marryed to Alexander the second King of Scots dyed without issue Eleanor the second Daughter marryed to Simon Earle of Leycester had issue Henry Simon Almaricke Guy Richard and Eleanor Henry slaine without issue Simon Earle of Bigorre and ancestour to a Family of the Mountfords in France Almaricke first a Priest after a knight Guy Earle of Angleria in Italy and Progenitour of the Mountfords in Thuscany and of the Earles of the Campo Bacchi in the kingdome of Richardâ remaining privily in England and changing his name from Mountford to Wellesborne was ancestour of the Wellesburnes in England Eleanor borne in England brought up in France marryed into Wales to Prince Lewin aâ Griffith Isabel his youngest Daughter marryed to the Emperour Fredericke the second had issue Henry appointed to be King of Sicilie and Margaret Wife of Albret Lantgrave of Thurine She dyed in Childbed after she had beene Empresse sixe yeares He had also two naturall Sonnes Geoffrey Fits Roy and Richard that marryed the Daughter and Heire of Fulbert de Dover who built Childham Castle had issue by her of whom some Families of good account are descended Also one base Daughter named Ioane marryed to Lewin Prince of Wales Of his Personage and Conditions HE was of Stature indifferent tall and something fat of a sowre and angry countenance and concerning his conditions it may be said that his Nature and his Fortune did not well agree For naturally hâ loved his eâse yet his Fortune was to be ever in Action He won more of his Enemies by surprises then by Battels which shewes he had more of Lightning in him then of Thunder He was never so true of his word as when he threatned because he meant alwayes as cruelly as he spake not alwayes as gratiously and he that would have knowne what it was he never meant to performe must have looked upon his promises He was neither fit for Prosperity nor Adversity For Prosperity made him insolent and Adversity dejected a meane Fortune would have suited best with him He was all that he was by Fits Sometimes doing nothing without deliberationâ and sometimes doing all upon a sudden Sometimes very Religious and sometimes scarce a Christian. His insatiablenesse of money was not so much as that no man knew what he did with it gotten with much noyse but spent in silence He was but intemperate in his best temper but when distempered with sicknesse most of all as appeared at his last when being in a Feaver he would needs be eating of raw Peaches and drinking of sweete Ale If we looke upon his workes we must needes thinke him a worthy Prince but if upon his Actions nothing lesse For his Workes of Piety were very many as hath beene shewed before but as for his Actions he neither came to the Crowne by Justice nor held it with Honour nor left it in Peace Yet having had many good parts in him and especially having his Royall posterity continued to this day we can doe no lesse then honour his memory Casualties that happened in his time ONe Casualty we might count dysastrous if it had not had relation to our selves for Hugh de Bones comming to aide King Iohn with threescore thousand out of Britany and Flanders by misfortune at Sea were all Drowned to whom the King had granted Norfolk and Suffolk for the people he brought with him to Inhabit In this Kings time were great thunders and lightnings and showers with hailstones as big as Goose-Egges Fishes of strange shape were taken in England armed with helmets and shields and were like unto armed knights saving that they were farre greater in proportion About Maidestone in Kent a certaine Monster was found strucken with the Lightning which Monster had a head like an Asse a belly like a man and all other parts farre differing from any other Creature Of his death and buriall VVHen Prince Lewis of France was come into England and was received by the Lords and by
aggravate his breach of promise and to acquaint him with all the disorders of the kingdome with whose remonstrance the King is so moved that after he had tried the Londoners and found them also to partake with the Lords he cals a Parliament aâ London whither the Lords come armed for their own safety where after long debating the King taking his Oath to referre the matter to certaine grave men of the kingdome Articleâ are drawne sealed and publikely set up to the view of all with the seales of the Legat and divers great men but before it came to be effected the Earle of Cornwall by the working of Simon Montford hath his edge rebated and is brought to be unwilling to meddle in the matter any more which the other Lords seeing they also grow cold and so for that time it rested and no more was done in it And now is the Kings turne to play his part in using his authority which he failes not to doe to the uttermost for upon a small-occasion he causeth the gates of Gilbert now Earle of Pembroke the third sonne of VVilliam the great Marshall to be shut against him at VVinchester whereupon the Earle retires into the North. Also Simon Norman Master of the Kings Seale and his greatest Favorite is thrown out with disgrace and his brother Geoffrey a knight Templar is put out of the Counsell both of them for not yeelding to passe a Grant from the King made unto Thomas Earle of Flanders the Queenes Unkle of foure pence upon every sack of Wooll And now that load enough is laid upon those of the Laity comes a new load to be laid upon the Clergy for the Pope nothing dainty to make use of the power he had in the King sends over three hundred Romans requiâing to have the first Benefices that should be vacant bestowed upon them which seemed so unreasonable a request and to the Clergy of England so dammageable that it made Edmund Arch-bishop of Canterbury to give over all and betake himselfe to a voluntary Exile in the Abbey of Pontiniac in France yet to shew his respect to the Pope gave him eâght hundred Markes before his departure And to lay more weight upon the Clergy great summes are also required of them for maintenance of the Popes warre against the Emperour which though the Clergy opposed and shewed many good reasons of their opposition both to the King and the Legat yet by promises or threatnings they were won or forced to yeeld unto it And now comes the Earle of March and once againe solicits the King to make another journey into France which being yeelded to by the King and assented to in Parliament an aide presently was demanded towards it but this demand was not onely opposed but all the Kings Taxations and aides before granted were now repeated and thereupon an absolute deniall to grant any more Upon this the King comes to the Parliament himselfe in person earnestly and indeed humbly craving their aide for this once but all prevailed not they had made a vow to the contrary and the King is driven to get what he could of particular men of whom partly by gift and partly by âoane he gets so much that he carries over with him thirty Barrels of Sterling money This expedition had no better successe then the former for after a whole yeares stay the King was driven to make a dishonourable Truce with the King of France and returne home At his returne he puts the Iewes to another redemption and the Londoners to another exaction and to helpe on his charge his wives mother the Countesse of Provence comes now to visit him who bringing her daughter Zanchia with her a marriage is solemnised betweene her and Richard Earle of Cornwall whose wife was lately dead and he returned from the Holy warres The old Countesse at her returne is presented with many rich gifts having besides received an Annuall Pension of foure thousand Markes out of England for five yeares past in consideration of a pact made that King Henry after her decease should have the Earledome of Provence but shortly after her returne she disappoints him of that and bestowes it upon her youngest daughâer Beatrix married to Charles the French Kings brother who was after King of Naples and Sicilieâ so as this Countesse lived to see all her foure daughters Queenes Richard Earle of Cornwall comming after to be elected King of the Romans Upon thâse profusions a consultation is had for new supplies and no way thought so fit as by Parliament hereupon a Parliament is againe assembled at Westminster whithâr the King comes againe himselfe in person urging his necessities yet nothing wouâd be granted without the assurance of reformation and due execution of the Lawes And here they desire to have it ordained that foure of the most grave and discreet Peeres should be chosen as conservatours of the kingdome and sworne of the Kings Councell both to see Justice administred and the treasure issued and these or two of them at least should ever attend about the King Also that the Lord Chiefe Justiciar and the Lord Chancellour should be chosen by the generall voyces of the States assembled or else be one of the number of those foure Besides they propound that there might be two Justices of the Benches two Barons of the Exchequer and oâe Justice for the Iewes and those likewise to be chosen by Parliament But while these things were in debating comes one Martin a new Legat from the Pope with a larger Commission then ever any before to exact upon the State but at the same time Letters comming from the Emperour Fredericke to intreat that the Pope might have no more supplies out of England the Popes Mandate is rejected and his Agent Martin disgracefully sent home This businesse took up so much time that nothing else was done in this Parliament but onely an aide granted to the King for the marriage of his daughter to Alexander King of Scots twenty shillings of every knights Fee and that with much adoe and repetition of his former aides The Winter following he assembles another Parliament wherein he moves for an ayde upon a designe he had upon Wales and to pay his debts which were urged to be so great that he could not appâare out of his Chamber for the infinite clamour of such to whom he owed for his Wine Waxe and other necessaries of house but they all to his face refused to grant him any thing whereupon other violent courses are taken an ancient quarrell is found out against the City of London for which they are commanded to pay fifteene thousand Markes and Passeleve the Clerk is imployed with others in a most peremptory commission to inquire of all such Lands as had beene inforested and either to fine the occupyers thereof at their pleasure or else to take it from them and sell the same to others wherein such rigour was used that multitudes of people were undone But now to shew
differences in the Country But now the King of Spaine pretends a title to Aquitaine and to take him off King Henry sends to treate of a marriage betweene Prince Edward and his Sister Eleanor which being accepted by the King of Spaine the Marriage is solemnized at Burgos where the King of Spaine knights the Prince and quits his claime to Aquitaine for him and his Successours for ever and King Henry invests the Prince and his Wife in it and gives unto him besides Ireland Wales Bristow Stamford and Grantham and from hence it came that ever after this the Kings eldest Sonne was immediately upon his Birth Prince of Wales and Earle of Chester After this King Henry prepares to returne home and well he might having spent in this and his former Journeyes into those parts the summe of seven and twenty hundred thousand pounds More then all the Lands if they had beene sold were worth which when the King was told he desired there might be no words made of it for his credite And now being to returne he is desirous with the King of Frances leave to passe thorow France and comming to Paris with a thousand Horse where he stayed eight dayes is there most Royally Feasted by the King of France and he as royally Feasts the King of France againe But it is the Londoners and the Iewes that are like to pay for all For comming home about Christmas when the Londoners presented him with a hundred pounds in money and afterwards with two hundred pounds in Plate it was so sleighted and so ill taken that a hole was presently found in their coate for an escape of a Prisoner which cost them three thousand Markes Yet was not this enough but he takes good Fleeces from the Iews and then lets them out to Farme to his Brother Richard for a great summe of money and he to make what more of them he could Yet after all this he complaines of his Debts which he saith are at least three hundred thousand Markes which must needes be the heavyer to him because he had diminished his ownâ meanes by the allowance of fifteene thousand Markes per annum to his Sonne the Prince The onely hope is in the Parliament but a Parliament being called they fall presently upon their old Grievances complaining upon the King for breach of Charters and renuing their Claime to have the Chiefe Justiciar the Chancellour and Treasurer to be chosen by themselves so nothing was done for the King at this time and the Parliament being prorogued till Michaelmas after as little then by reason many of the Peeres came not as not being summoned according to the tenour of Magna Charta And now while the King was using meanes to winde himselfe out of Debt there happened occasions to put him further in For now Thomas Earle of Savoy the Queenes Brother being at warre with the City of Thuryn must be supplyed with money towards it by the King of England Now the Elect Bishop of Toledo the King of Spaines Brother comes into England and must be sumptuously Feasted and have great gifts presented him Now Eleanor the Princes Wife arrives with a multitude of Spaniards and must all be entertained at the Kings charge and have no small presents given them at their departure Now comes Rustandus from the Pope with power to Collect the Tenth of the Clergy for the Popes use and the Kings and to absolve him from his Oath of the Holy warre so he would come to destroy Manfred Sonne to the Emperour Fredericke now in possession of the kingdome of Sicilie and Apulia And this man likewise hath great gifts bestowed upon him besides a rich Prebend in Yorke But the Pope by too much seeking his profit loseth credit and all for the Clergy sleights him and will give him nothing and when he would have borrowed of the Earle of Cornwall five hundred Markes the Earle answered he liked not to lend his money to one upon whom he could not Distraine But King Henries greatest charge was his purchasing a kingdome for his Sonne Edmund for now comes the Bishop of Bânonia from the Pope with a Ring of Investiture to Prince Edmund in the kingdome of Sicilie which he pretends to be at his disposing and King Henry takes it in so good earnest that after this he cals his Sonne Edmund by no other name then King of Sicilie But all this was done by the Pope but to angle away King Henries money as indeed upon this hope he had drawne the King into the engagement of a hundred and fifty thousand Markes for to draw the King on it was given out that the Pope had deleâted all Manfreds Forces and was thereby in possession of the kingdome when the truth was that Manfred had defeated the Popes Forces and was thereby himselfe established in the kingdome The yeare 1275. the King keepes his Christmas at Winchester where new Grievances arise The Merchants of Gascogny having their Wines taken from them by the Kings Officers without satisfaction complaine to their Lord the Prince he to his Father and his Father having beene informed before-hand by his Officers that their clamour was unjust as relying upon the Princes favour he falls into a great rage with the Prince and breakes out into these words See! now my Blood and my owne Bowels impugne me but afterwards pacified he gives order the injuries should be redressed And now the Princes Followers themselves come to be a Grievance who relying upon their Master commit many outrages and spoyle and wrong men at their pleasure and the Prince himselfe is not altogether free of whom it is said that meeting a young man travailing by the way he caused one of his eares to be cut off and one of his eyes to be put out and many such prankes plaid by him and his Followers in Wales made the Welsh breake out into open Rebellion which the Prince would faine have suppressed but there was no money to be had towards the doing it And now the King fals to shifts he comes into the Chequer himselfe and there layes penalties upon Sheriffes that returne not their moneys in due time then he fals upon measures of Wine and Ale upon Bushels and Weights and something he gets but London is his best Cheqâer and every yeare commonly he hath one quarrell or other to the Londoners and they are sure to pay And now fals out an accident seeming of great honour but certainely of no profit to the kingdome Richard Earle of Cornwall the Kings Brother is Elected King of the Romans for although Alphonsus King of Spaine the great Mathematician were his Competitour yet Earle Richards money wrought more then his Learning and the Arch-bishop of Câllen comes over to fetch him and Crowned he is at Aquisgrane This Earle of Cornwall is reported able to dispend a hundred Markes a day âor ten yeares besides his Revenues in England But now as a man that payes deare for an Office lookes that his
Office should pay him againe So Earle Richard having given infinitely to compasse this Advancement looked to helpe himselfe againe by the Place and this and the desire he had to revenge himselfe upon those thaâ had opposed his Electionâ made him take such violent courses that he came soone to be dispossessed forsaken and forced to returne into England a poorer King then he went out an Earle Acts done in the cântention betweene the King and his Barons NOw King Henry very proud to have his younger sonne a King as well as his brother cals a Parliament wherein he brings forth his sonne Edmund clad in Sicilian habit and âels the Parliâment that for advancing this sonne of his to the kingdome of Sicilie he had bound himselfe under covenant of losing his kingdome in the summe of an hundred and forty thousand Markes and hoped they would not thinke much to aide him with money for so great an advancement but the Parliament stood firme to their usuall condition of Margna Charta so as that might be confirmed they were content to give two and fifty thousand Marks but this gave the King no satisfaction The yeare after another Parliament is holden at London wherein upon the Kings pressing them againe for meanes to pay his debts to the Pope the Lords tell him plainely they will not yeeld to give him any thing for any such purpose and give their reasons and withall repeate their owne grievances his breach of promise the insolencie of his brothers and specially William de Valence who had given the lie to the Earle of Leycester and no right done him in it and many such things which the King hearing and not able to deny humbles himselfe and tels them how he had often by ill counsell beene seduced but promiseth by his Oath which he tooke on the Tombe of Saint Edward to reforme all those errours But the Lords not well knowing how to deale in this businesse as being divided betweene a desire to satisfie the King and a desire to be satisfied themselves and knowing withall the variablenesse of the Kings nature they get the Parliament to be adjourned to Saint Barnabies day and then to assemble at Oxford In which meane time the Earles Glocester Leycester Hereford the Earle Marshall Bigod Spenser and other great men confederate and provide by Armes to effect their desire and here is the foundation laid of those bloudy wars that ensued betweene King Henry and his Barons And now the King being put to his shifts for money gets the Abbot of Westminster to put his Seale and that of his Covent to a Deed Obligatory as a surety for two hundred Markes making account that by his example others would be drawne to doe the like but his trusty servant Simon Passeleve being imployed to other Monasteries and telling them amongst other reasons to perswade them that the King was Lord of all they had they onely answered they acknowledged indeed the King to be Lord of all they had but yet so as to defend not to destroy the same and this was all he could get of them The Prince also in no lesse want then his Father is driven to morgage his Towne of Stamford Brahan and many other things to William de Valence a Poictouin wherby appeared the disorder of the time when the Prince was in want and strangers had such plenty And now is the Parliament assembled at Oxford whither the Lords come attended with large traines and here they beginne with the expostulation of the former Liberties requiring that the Chiefe Justiciar the Chancellour and Treasurer may be ordained by publike choyce and that the twenty foure Conservaâours of the kingdome may be confirmed twelve by the election of the Lords and twelve by the King with whatsoever else made for their imagined security The King seeing their strength and in what manner they required these things sweares solemnly againe to the confirmation of them and causeth the Prince to take the same Oath But the Lords left not here the Kings brethren the Poictouins and other strangers must presently be removed and this also though with some little opposition was at last concluded and thereupon the Kings brethren and their followers are despoyled of all their fortunes and âxiled by proscription under the Kings owne hand directed to the Earles of Hereford and Surrey But now sicknesse and mortality happening to many great ones it is imputed to poysons supposed to have beene prepared by those strangers proscribed the Earle of Glocester in a sicknesse suddenly lost his haire his teeth his nailes and his brother hardly escaped death which made many to suspect their nearest servants and their Cookes Walter Scoynie the Earle Steward is strictly examined committed to prison and afterward without confession is upon presumptions onely executed at Winchester Elias a converted Iew is said to have confessed that in his house the poyson was confected but it was when he was a Iew and not a Christian. Every man that had received any wrong by those strangers now put up their complaints and are heard Guydo de ââchfort a Poictouin to whom the King had given the Castle of Rochester is banished and all his goods confiscate William Bussey Steward to William de Valence is committed to the Tower of London and most reproachfully used Richard Gray whom the Lords had made Captaine of Dover Castle is set to intercept whatsoever the Poictouins convaied that way out of England and much treasure of theirs and of the elect of Winchester is by him taken besides great summes committed to the new Temple are found out and seised for the King And now the new Chiefe Justiciar Hugh Bigod brother to the Earle Marshall chosen this last Parliament by publike voyce procures that foure knights in every Shire should inquire of the oppressions of the poore done by great men and certifie the same that redresse might be made Also order was taken against corrupting of justice when yet notwithstanding this pretended care of the publike it is noted by the Writers and Records of that time how the Lords were themselves but as âotidem tyranni enforcing the services of the Kings tenants that dwelt neare them But to make their cause the more popular it was rumored that the King stood upon it that his necessity must be supplied out of the estates of his people whether they would or no which the King hearing sends forth Proclamation declaring how certaine malitious persons had falsely and seditiously reported that he meant unlawfully to charge his subjects and subvert the Lawes and Liberties of the kingdome and by these false suggestions averted the hearts of his people from him and therefore desires them not to give credit to such perâurbers for that he was ready to defend all Rights and Customes due unto them and that they might rest of this secured he caused his Letters to be made Patents But now Montford Glocester and Spenser inforce the King to call a Parliament at London where
of Aâmesbury in Wiltshire at the instance of Queene Eleanor her Grandmother who lived there Elizabeth their seventh daughter was first married to Iohn Earle of Holland Zeland and Lord of Freezeland he dying within two yeares she was afterward married to Humphrey Bohun Earle of Hereford and Essex Lord of Breknok and High Constable of England by whom she had issue sonnes and daughters Beatrice and Blanch their eighth and ninth daughters died young and unmarried King Edwards second Wife was Margaret eldest daughter of Philip King of France called the Hardy and sister to Philip called the Faire at eighteene yeares old she was married to King Edward being above threescore yet at the unequall yeares she had issue by him two sonnes and a daughter their eldest sonne was borne at a little Village in Yorkshire called Brotherton and was thereof called Thomas of Brotherton he was created Earle of Norfolke and Earle Marshall of England after Roger Bigod who died without issue Their second sonne Edmund was borne at Woodstocke in Oxfordshire and of the place was so called he was created Earle of Kent and married Margaret daughter of Iohn and sister of sole Heire of Thomas Lord Wakes of Lydell in the County of Northampton by whom he had issue two sonnes and one daughter his sonnes Edmund and Iohn died without issue his daughter Ioane for her beauty called the Faire maid of Kent was married first to William Montacute Earle of Salisbury and from him divorced was re-married to Sir Thomas Holland in her Right Earle of Kent and by her Father of Thomas and Iohn Holland Duke of Surrey and Earle of Huntington and lastly she was the Wife of Edward of Woodstocke the blacke Prince of Wales and by him Mother of King Richard the second This Earle Edmund was beheaded at Winchester in the fourth yeare of King Edward his Nephew Eleanor the daughter of King Edward by his second Wife Margaret died in her childhood Of his personage and conditions HE was tall of stature higher then ordinary men by head and shoulders and thereof called Longshanke of a swarthy complection strong of body but leane of a comely favour his eyes in his anger sparkling like fire the haire of his head black and curled Concerning his conditions as he was in warre peacefull so in Peace he was warlike delighting specially in that kinde of hunting which is to kill Stagges or other wilde beasts with Speares In continencie of life he was equall to his Father in acts of valour farre beyond him He had in him the two wisdomes not often found in any single both together seldome or never An ability of judgement in himselfe and a readinesse to heare the judgement of others He seemed to be a great observer of opportunity a great point of wisdome in any in Princes greatest and that he could beare an injury long without seeking to revenge it as appeared by his carriage towards the Earle Roger Bigod whom when he saw his time he called to account for an affront he had offered him diâers yeares before He was not easily provoked into passion but once in passion not easily appeased as was seene by his dealing with the Scots towards whom he shewed at first patience and at last severity If he be censured for his many Taxations he may be justified by his well bestowing them for never Prince laid out his money to more honour of himselfe or good of his kingdome His greatest unfortunatenesse was in his greatest blessing for of foure sonnes which he had by his Wife Queen Eleanor three of them died in his owne life time who were worthy to have out-lived him and the fourth out-lived him who was worthy never to have beene borne Of his death and buriall IN his last expedition into Scotland being at Carlile he fell sicke and lying in his death-bed he sent for his sonne Edward to whom besides many admonitions to Piety he commanded three things specially that he should carry his bones about with him through Scotland till he had subdued it that he should send his heart into the Holy Land with sevenscore knights to that warre and the two and thirty thousand pounds he had provided for that purpose and that he should never recall Gaveston from banishment and soon after of a dysentery or Bloudy-Flix he died at Borough upon the Sands the seventh of Iuly in the yeare 1307. when he had Raigned foure and thirty yeares and seven moneths lived threescore and eight yeares Being dead his Corps was brought to Waltham Abbey and there kept the space of sixteene weekes and after on Simon and Iudes day buried at Westminster Men of Note in his time OF Martiall men there were many these specially Iohn Earle of Warren who opposed the Kings Inquisition by Quo Warranto and Roger Bigod who gave the King an affront to his face Of learned men also many specially these Iohn Breton bishop of Hereford who compiled a book of the Lawes of England called lâ Breton Thomas Spot a Chronographer Iohn Eversden a writer of Annals and of this Kings Raigne Gregory Cairugent a Monke of Glocester and a writer also of Annals Iohn Peckham a Franciscan Frier made Arch-bishop of Canterbury who writ many excellent workes Iohn Read an Historiographer Thomas Bungey a Frier Minor an excellent Mathematician Roger Bacon a Franciscan Frier an excellent Philosopher and Mathematician Robert Kilwarby Arch-bishop of Canterbury and after made a Cardinall also Ralph Baldock Bishop of London who writ a Chronicle of England in the Latine tongue but above them all though of another Countrey Thomas Aquinas borne of a Noble Family whose workes are too famous to be spoken of who going to the Councell holden at Lyons by Pope Gregory the tenth died by the way THE LIFE and RAIGNE OF KING EDWARD THE SECOND Of his Acts before and at his Coronation EDward of Carnarvan eldest Sonne of King Edward the first succeeded him in the kingdome and never did Prince come to a Crowne with more applause of Nobility and People and there was good cause for it For he had beene trained up in all good courses for Piety and Learning he had seene the Government of his Father from whose Example he could not but have learned many good Lessons he had been initiated in the wayes of State having beene left Governour of the Realme and presiding in Parliament in his Fathers absence and he was now three and twenty yeares old a fit age for bearing the weight of a Scepter and yet for all these advantages there wanted not feares of him in the mindes of many who could not but remember what prankes he had played not long before how he had broken the Bishop of Chesters Parke and in most disorderly manner had killed his Deere for which both himselfe had beene committed to Prison and his Friend Pierce Gaveston banished the Realme and if he did such things being but Prince what might not be feared of him comming to be King For seldome doth
advantage of Wind and Sun that he utterly defeated their whole Navy took and sunke all their Ships slew thirty thousand men and landed with as great glory as such a victory the greatest that ever before was gotten by the Eâglish at Sea could yeeld though King Edward himselfe was there wounded with an Arrow in the thigh Most of the French rather then to endure the Arrowes of the English or be taken desperately leapt into the Sea whereupon the French Kings Jester set on to give him notice of this overthrow which being so ill newes noââ else would willingly impart unto him said and oftentimes repeated it in the Kings hearing Cowardly English men Dastardly English men faint-hearted Englisâ menâ the King at length asked him whyâ for that said he they durst not leap out of their Ships into the Sea as our brave French men did By which speech the King apprehend a notion of this overthrow which the French attribute to Nicholââââchet one of their chiefe Commanders who had armed his Ships with men of base condition content with small pay and refused Gentlemen and sufficient Souldiers in regard they required greater wages And indeed it often happens that the avarice of Commanders is the occasion of great defeats By this victory King Edward gained a free entrance into Flanders and presently went and besieged Tournay with an Army of five and fifty thousand but was so valiantly encountred by the Duke of Burgundy and the Earle of Armigniack that they routed his Army and slew foure thousand upon the place which so enraged King Edward that two dayes after he sent a Challenge to King Philip to meete him in â single combate or with an hundred against as many before the wals of Tournââ King Philip answers that his Challenge being made to Philip de Valois withouâ mention of King he tooke it not to be to him who was truly King of Franceâ but he wished him to remember the Homage he had done him at Amiens and the wrong he did to the Christian worldâ by his troublesome courses to hinder him from his voyage intended to the Holy Land Besides this answer in writing he sends to him by word of mouth that by his Challenge he hazarded nothing of his owne but exposed onely the Dominion of another which was against all reason but if he would set his kingdome of England though much meaner agaiâââ his of France he would then accept the Challenge and meete him in the field ãâã single combate But this King Edward would not hearken to for as he was valiant to make the Challenge so he was circumspect to looke to the conditions But here upon he continues his siege of Tâârnay to the reliefe whereof King Philip sends all the forces he could possibly make by himselfe oâ his friends and after the siege had continued three moneths partly by mediation of Robert King of Sicilie but chiefely by the Lady Iane of Valois sister to King Philip and mother of King Edwards wife who had vowed her selfe a Nunne but to doe this good office travelled from one to another a Truce was concluded for a yeare and both their Armies are dissolved After this K. Edward returning into England was advertised how the Scots after many other places gained had besieged the Castle of Striveling for reliefe whereof the King makes all the haste he can and yet before he could come it was by force of battery compelled to render it selfe upon conditions Then King Edward being at Berwicke passeth to New-Castle upon Tyne where he staies a moneth waiting for his provision that was to come by Sea but that being driven into other parts by tempest he makes a Truce with the Scots for three or foure moneths and then returnes home In the time of this Truce the Scots send to King David to come and governe the kingdome in his owne person who thereupon taking his leave of the King of France with whom he had remained seven yeares he with his wife Ioane King Edwards sister returnes into Scotland where after he had beene most honourably received by the Prince of Orânay and the other Lords and Barons of the Kingdome as soone as the Truce was ended with a strong Army enters Northumberland passing on to New-Castle upon Tyne where he plants his Campe. Of this Castle Iohn Nevile was left governour by King Edward who sending out certaine companies tooke the Earle Murray prisoner and with the slaughter of divers of his men and rich booties returned backe to his Castle which so incensed King David that he assaulted the Castle as a man enraged but finding it too strong for his taking he then passed into the Province of Durham where he used all kinds of cruelty first upon the Countrey and then upon the City killing men women and children Clergy and others burning and destroying houses and Churches and utterly defacing it From thence he passeth on to the Castle of Salisbury which Castle belonged to William Mountacute Earle of Salisbury in right of his wife but himselfe being then prisoner in France onely his Countesse and one William Mountacute a Cousin of his was in the Castle This William perceiving the Scottish horse to be so over-charged with pillage that they were scarce able to goe issues out of the Castle with forty horse sets upon them kils two hundred and takes sixe score whom he brings with their rich pillage into the Castle King David soone after with his whole Army arrived but hearing of King Edwards comming who certified of these things made all the haste he could he retires himselfe from thence and King Edward finding him gone before he came yet would needs goe in and visit the Countesse of whom as soone as he saw her he was so enamoured that he laid more battery to her chastity then King David had done to her Castle but finding it inexpugnable after a day and a night he left it and followed after the Scots with whom for three dayes together he had many skirmishes till at last a Truce was concluded for two yeares and amongst other conditions William Earle of Salisbury prisoner with the King of France was set at liberty in exchange for the Earle Murray prisoner with the King of England About this time another difference fell out betweene the Kings of France and England Iohn Earle of Montford laid claime to the Dutchy of Britaine but in the quarrell was taken prisoner by the King of France his Lady sends to King Edward for succour which King Edward grants upon condition that a marriage be made betweene his daughter Mary and the Earle of Montfords sonne which being agreed on he sends over to her aide first Walter de Manny a valiant knight and afterward Robert d' Arthois but whilest his Army was preparing King Edward was informed by Edward Baylioll the pretended King of Scotland and Governour of Berwicke that the Scots had not kept the conditions of the Truce whereupon King Edward drawes a great Army
time by reason the King of France would not be drawne to any Encounter and had so disfurnished the Country of all provisions that the King of England was forced to returne King Edward solicited by the King of Navarre to aide him against the King of France sends over the Duâe of Lancaster with foure thousand men at Armes who winnes many Townesâ and the Prince enters Gâyenne passeth over Langnâdâc to Tholouse Narbonne Burges without any Encounter sackes spoyles and destroyes where he goes and loaden with booties returnes to Burdeaux The French King thus assaulted on all âides gathers all the power he possibly could and first makes against his Eâemies in Nâââââdy recovers many of his lost Townes and was likely to have there prevaileâ but that he was drawne of force to oppose ãâã fresh Invader the Prince of Wales who was come up into Tourayne against ãâã he brings his whole Army consisting of above threescore thousand whereââââ the Prince whose Forces were not likely to be able to encounter him being ãâã for one was advised to retire againe to Burdeaux But the French King to preveââ this course followes and within two leagues of Poyctiers hath him at a ãâã advantage at which instant two Cardinals came from the Pope to mediate â Peâce But the French King supposing he had his enemy now in his mercy would accept of no other conditions but that the Prince should deliver him foure Hostageâ ând âs vanquished render himselfe and his Army to his discretion The Prince waâ content to restore unto him what he had gained upon him but without prâjuââââ of his honour wherein he said he stood accomptable to his Father and to his Câuâtrây But the French King would abate nothing of his demands as making himsâlfâ sure of victory and thereupon was instantly ready to set upon the Princâ ãâã seeing himselfe reduced to this straight takes what advantage he could of thâ ãâã and providently got the benefit of Vines Shrubs and Bushes on that part ãâ¦ã like to be assailed to impester and intangle the French horse which he saw ãâã âome furiously upon him The successe answered his expectation for the ãâã of his enemies upon their first assault were so wrapt and encombred ãâã âhe Vines that his Archers galled and annoyed them at their pleasure For ãâã Freââh King to give the honour of the day to his Cavallery imployed them onely without his Infantery so as they being disordered and put to rout his wholâ Army came utterly to be defeated In this battell were taken prisoners King Iohn himselfe with his yoângest sonne Philip by Dennis de Morbecque a knight of Arâhâis Iaques de Bourbon Conte de Ponthieu the Arch-bishop of Sens Iohn de Arthâis Conte de En Charles de Arthois his brother Count de Longueville Iohn de ãâã Count de Tankarvile the Counts of Vendosme Vaâdemont Estampes Salbourg ãâã and La Roche also Iohn de Ceintre accounted as Froissard saith the ãâã ânight of France with many other Lords besides two thousand Knights and Genâlemen in so much as the Conquerours holding it not safe to retaine so many leâââny of them goe The French who can give best account of their owne losses ââporâ there died in the battell a thousand seven hundred Gentlemen amongst which were fifty two Bannerets the most eminent Peter de Bourbon the Duke of Athââs Constable of France Iehan de Clermont Marshall Geoffrey de Charmy High Chamberlainâ the Bishop of Chalons the Lords of Landas of Pons and of Chamâây There escaped from this battell three of the French Kings sons for he brought them all thither Charles Prince Daulphin Louys after Duke of Anjou and Iohn Duke of Bââryâ all great actours in the time following The special great men of the English iâ thââ fight were the Earles of Warwicke Suffolke Salisbury Oxford Stafford the Lordââ Cobham Spenser Barkeley Basset of Gascoynes Le Capital de Beuff the Lords Pumyer Chaumont and others The Lord Iames Andeley wonne honour both by his valour and his bounty for having vowed to be foremost in this fight he peâformed his word and sealed it with many wounds for which the Prince having rewarded him with the gift of five hundred Markes Fee-simple in England he pâesently gave it to foure of his Esquires whereupon the Prince demanding whether he accepted not his gift he answered that these men had deserved the same as well âs himselfe and had more neede of it with which reply the Prince was so well pleased that he gave him five hundred Markes more in the same kinde A rare example where desert in the Subject and reward in the Prince strive which should be the greater And now though King Iohn had the misfortune to fall into the hands of his enemy yet he had the happinesse to fall into the hands of a Noble enemy for Prince Edw. used him with such respect and observance that he could not find much dââference betweene his captivity and liberty After the battell which was fought the âinâââenth day of September in the yeare 1357. Prince Edward leads King Iohn and the captive Lords to Burdeâux where he retaines them till the spring following but ãâã present newes of his victory to his Father who thereupon causeth a generall Thanksgiving all England over eight dayes together and in May following King Iohn rather comming over with the Prince then brought over by him is lodged at the Savoâ a Palace belonging to Henry Duke of Lancaster and the fairest at that time about London And King Edward as though he thought it honour enough to have one King his prisoner at once at the suite of his sister Queene Iâane he sets her Husband David King of Scots at liberty after he had beene prisoner in England eleven yeares but not without paying a Ransome which was a hun-thousand Markes to be paid in ten yeares After this by mediation of Cardinals sent by the Pope a Truce for two yeares is concluded betweene the two kingdomes of France and England and in the time of this Truce Articles of Peace betweene the two Kings are propoundedâ King Edward requires the Dutchies of Normââââ and Gâyennâ the Counties of Poictoâ Tâuraine Mayne and Anjoââ with all their âppurâeâances as large as King Richard the first held them and many other Provinces besides and to hold them all without Homage or any other service to which Articles King Iohn weary of imprisonment assents and seales but the ãâã ând Councell of France utterly reject it whereupon King Edward in great displeâsure resolves to make an end of this worke with the sword and to take possession of the kingdome of France and leaving his younger sonne Thomas Goveââour of his kingdome at home with a Fleet of âleven hundred saile and taking all the great Lords of the Realme with him he passeth over to Callice dividing his Army into three battels whereof one he commits to the Prince of Wales another to the Duke of Lancaster and the âhird he leads
will exercise his Ecclesiasticall authoritie and proceed to Excommunication of his Officers though not of himselfe Queen or children The King answers and sends his Letter to the Bishop of London charging the Arch-bishop to be the cââse of all this disturbance having beene the man that first set him upon the warre with France assuring him he should want no money and now had beene the hinderance that monies given him by Parliament were not duly levied and after many remonstrances to such purpose concludes that if he desisted not from his reââllions obstinacie he would use his Temporall authority and prooceed ãâ¦ã as against a Rebell But this difference betweene them was not long after upon the Arch-bishops submission reconciled And indeed the great account which this King made of Clergy men may appeare by his imploying almost none but Clergy men in all his Offices of accountâ Simon âââgham Arch-bishop of Canterbury was Chancellour of England William Wickam Arch-deacon of Lincolne keeper of the Privy Seale David Willer Parson of Somerââââ Master of the Rolles ten Beneficed Priests Civilians Masters of the Chancery William Mulse Deane of Saint Martins le Grand chiefe Chamberlaine of the ãâã Receiver and keeper of the Kings Treasure and Jewelsâ Willâam Aââây Arch-deacon of Northampton Chancellour of the Exchequerâ William Diâhtââ ãâã of Saint Marâins Clerke of the Privy Sealeâ Richard Chesterfield Pâebând ãâ¦ã Stephensâ Treasurer of the Kings house Henry Snatcâ Parson of ãâ¦ã of the Kings Wardrobe Iohn Nâwâham Parson of Fenây-staââon one of the ãâã of the Exchâquer Iohn âouseby Parson of ãâã Surveyor and ãâã of the Kings workes Thomas Brittingham Parson of Asby Treasurer ãâ¦ã King for the parts of Guisnes and the Marches of Callice Iohn Troys a Priest ãâã of Ireland ãâã the seventeenth yeare of his Raigne in a Parliament holden at Westâinster ãâã is made of the great inconvenience that came by the Popes Collation of Benefices in England conferring them upon Strangers who understood not the ãâã and therefore not fit to be Pastours over a Flocke they could not feed and hereupon Sir Iohn Shordich is sent to Pope Clement the sixth to require him to foââeare such Collations and to signifie his consent therein but this Message was ãâ¦ã welcome to the Pope that the Messenger came backe unheard at least unansweredâ and the King taking his silence for consentâ or perhaps not much caring whether he consented or no proceeded to a Prohibition of all such Collations within his Realme on paine of Imprisonment or death to whomsoever should in time to come present or admit any such person who by the Pope were so preferred to the prejudice of the Kings Prerogative These were disturbances in matter of Discipline but towards the end of his Raigne there fell a disturbance in matter of Doctrine for a certaine Divine named Iohn Wickliffe inveighed in his ãâã and other Acts in the Schooles against the abuses of Churchmen Monks and other religious Orders and had by his Doctrine wonne many Disciples unto him who after were called Lollards professing poverty going bare-foot and poorely clad in Ruââet amongst other his Doctrines he taught that neither King ââr other secular Lord could give any thing ân perpetuity unto Church-men and thââ Temporall Lords if they needed might lawfully take the Goods of Religious Persons to relieve them in their necessities by the example of William Rufus and others This man the Duke of Lancaster and Sir Henry Percy Marshall much favour and cherish extolling him for his learning and integrity of life which made him so farre to presume that daily in one Church or other he published his Opinions whereupon at length he is cited to answer before the Arch-bishop the Bishop of London and others in âauls At the day appointed the Duke of Lancaster and the Lord Marshall goe to conduct him when they were come to our Ladies Chappell the Duke and Barons with the Bishops sitting downe Iohn Wickliffe was by the Lord Marshall willed to sit downe in regard he said the man had much to answer and needed a convenient seat The Bishop of London told him It was against all Law and Reason that he who was there âited before his ãâã should sit Hereupon contumelious words arose betweene the Lord Mâââhall and the Biââop the Duke takes the Marshals part and sharpely reprehended the Bishop the Bishop returnes the like to the Duke who in a greââ rage ãâã he would pull downe the pride of him and of all the Bishops of Eâglandâ and whispering in his eare told him he had rather pull him out of the Church by ãâ¦ã of the head then to suffer such indignities which words the Londoâers over-hearing swore with a loud voyce they would rather lose their lives theââ suffer ââeir Bishop to be thus injuriously used Their fuây was the more against the Duke for that the day before in the Parliament whereof he was President it was ãâã in the Kings name that from thenceforth âhâre should be no more a Major of London but a Captaine appointed for the Government of the City and that the Lord Marshall of England should arrest Offenders within the Liberties as in other places The morrow after the Citizens assembling to consult of this businesse it happened the Lord Fits-water and Guidâ Bryan came into the City which the People seeing furiously ranne upon them and were like to beate them downe for comming at that time The Lord Fits-water protested he came to no other end but to offer his service to the City being by inheritance their Standard bearer and was to take injuries offered to them as to himselfe and therefore willed them to looke to their defence Whereupon they presântly take Armes assaile the Marshals Inne breâke open the Gaâes brought foâth a Prisoner in his Gives and set him at liberty but found ãâã the Lord ãâ¦ã with thâ Duke was that day to dine with one Iohn de ãâã Tâân this furious multitude ranne to assaile the Savây which a knight of the Dukâââââing haâtes to the placâ where his Lord dined and acquainââ him with this ãâã in the Câây The Duke upon hearing it leapes from the Table so hastily that he hurt botâ his shinnes on the fowrme and with Sir Henry âercy alone takes boate and goes to Kennington neare Lambeâh where the Princesse with the young Prince lay to whom he complaines of this Riot and the violence offered him In the meâne time the multitude comming to the Savoy a Priest inquisitive to know the businesse was answered they went to take the Duke and the Lord Marshall and compell them to deliver Sir Peter de la Marâ unjustly kept in Prison The Priest replyed thât Sir Peter was a Traytor to the King and worthy to be hânged At which words they all cryed out This is Percy This is the Traytor of England his speech bewrayes him though his Appârell be disguised and presently they rân upon him and wounded him to death The Bishop of London hearing of
Oxford who wrote divers excellent Treatises in Naturall and Morall Philosophy which remaine in estimation to this day and who for the great fame of his learning had the honour to be one of the Instructours of Edward the blacke Prince Roger of Chester a Monke of that City and an Historiographer Iohn Burgh a Monke who wrote a History and also divers Homilies Richard Aungervill Bishop of Durham and Lord Chancellour of England borne in Suffolke Walter Heminford an Historiographer Richard Chichester a Monke of Westminster who wrote an excellent Chronicle from the yeare 449. to the yeare 1348. Richard Rolle alias Hampole who writ many excellent Treatises in Divinity Robert Holcot a blacke Frier borne in Northampton a learned Schooleman and wrote many bookes in Arguments of Divinity Thomas Bradwardin borne neare Chichester in Sussex Arch-bishop of Canterbury and who wrote against the Pelagians and for his depth of learning had the Title of Doctor Profunduâ Richard Fits Ralph Arch-bishop of Armagh in Ireland a learned writer William Grysant named Anglicus a notable Physitian whose son came to be Pope and was called Urbane the fifth Iohn Killingworth an excellent Philosopher Astronomer and Physitian Ranulph Higden a Monke of Chester an Historiographer Bartholomew Glanvile descended of those Glanviles that were sometimes Earles of Suffolke Simon Islip Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Founder of Canterbury Colledge in Oxford who wrote many Treatises Matthew Westmonasteriensis who wrote the booke called Flores Historiarum William Fleete an Hermit who wrote sundry Treatises exhorting England to repentance Henry Knighton who wrote a History Intituled De gestis Anglorum and lastly two other worthy perhaps to have beene placed first Iohn Mandevill the great Travellour a Doctor of Physicke and a knight who died at Liege in the yeare 1372. and Sir Geoffrey Chawcer the Homer of our Nation and who found as sweete a Muse in the Groves of Woodstocke as the Antients did upon the banks of Helicon THE REIGNE OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND RICHARD called of Burdeaux because born there the onely Sonne of Edward the black Prince was by his Grandfather in his life-time declared to be his Heire and lawfull Successour and accordingly after his death was crowned King of England at Westminster the sixteenth day of Iuly in the yerre 1377. by Simon Suâbury Archbishop of Canterbury And for the more solemnity of his Coronation he then mâde nine Knights and created foure Earles Thomas of Woodstock King Edward the Thirds youngest Sonne was created Earle of Buckingham and Northampton Thomas Mowbray younger brother of Iohn L. Mowbray Earle of Nottingham Gifford Angoulesme a Gascoigne was made Earle of Huntington and Henry Percy sonne of Henry L. Percy was created Earle of Northumberland At the time of the Coronation the Duke of Lâncaster by the name of Iohn King of Castile and Leon and Duke of Lancaster put in his claim as Earle of Leicester to have the place of Earle Marshall of England as Duke of Lancaster to carry the sword called Curtana as Earle of Lincolne to be Carver that day all which to be executed by himselfe or by his sufficient Deputy which with the fees thereunto belonging were confirmed unto him As likewise divers others made their claimes Robert de Veere Eârle of Oxford to have the office of Chamberlaine and to powre out water for the King to wâsh Iohn Wiltshire Citizen of London by reason of a Moyitie of the Manour of Heydon holden in Sergeantie claimed to hold a Towell for the King to wipe with when he went to meat Thomas Beauchampe Earle of Warwick to beare the third Sword before the King and also to exercise the office of Pantler Sir Iohn Argentine by reason of his Manour of Wimondtey in the County of Hartford to serve the King at his Cup William L. Furnivall for his Manour of Fernham to support the Kings right arme when he held the Royall Scepter Anne late wife of Iohn de Hastings Earle of Pemârooke âor hiâ Manour of Ashele in Norfolke to have the Office of Naperer which she was admitted to doe by her Deputy Sr. Thomas Blunt Richard Earle of Arundell for his Manour of B. in Kent was admitted to be chiefe Butler The L. Major of London to attend in his owne person as chiefe Cup-waiter Sir Iohn Dimmock for his Manour of Scrivelbie and Sir Baldwin Frevile for his Castle of Tamworth in the County of Warwick contended for the Office of being the Kings Champion but adjudged to Dimmock William de Latimer and Iohn the sonne and heire of Iohn Mowbray of Axholm joyntly petitioned to have the Office of Almoner but adjudged to Latimer Richard Lion as Tenant of the Manour of L. held by the service of making wafers for the King at his Coronation was thereunto admitted The Barons of the Cinque-Ports were admitted to beare the Kings Canopy upon foure staves of silver over the Kings head and also to sit at meat in the Hall at the highest Table on the Kings right hand Iohn Fitz-Iohn by reason of his Manour of S. in Norfolk was admitted to be chiefe Lardeâer Richard Herring for the Manour of C. in the County of Surry claimed to be Usher of the Kings Chamber but because that claim did no way concern the Coronation he was left to pursue his Right some other time The Coronation it selfe was performed with great solemnity After a Sermon the King tooke his Oath and then the Archbishop blessed the King which done he tore âff his garments and strippped him into his shirt then he annoynted his handâ head breast shoulders and the joynts of his armes with the sâcred Oyle and after certaine Prayers he then clâddâ him first with the Coat of S. âdward and after with his Mantle after which the Archbishop delivered him the Sword saying Accipe Gladium with which two Earles gyrded him Then he gave him Bracelets sayingâ Accipe Armillas After this he put upon him an upper vesture called a Pall sayingâ Accipe Pallium In the meane time while the Archbishop blessed the Crowne he to whose Office it pertained put spurres on his heeles after the Crown was blessed the Archbishop set it on his Head saying Coronet te Deuâ then he delivered him a Ring saying Accipe Anââlum Immediately herewith came the L. Furâivall by virtue of his Office offering him a red Glove which the Arch B. blessed and putting it on his hand gave him the Scepter saying Accipe Scepârum and after that in his other hand delivered him a Rod on the top whereof stood a Dove saying Accipe Virgam Virtutiâ and then blessed the King saying Benedicat te Deââ which done the King kissed the Bishops and Abbots by whom he was afterward led to his seat and so ended the solemnity The tender yeares of the King being but eleven yeeres of age required a Protector but being perhaps thought dangerous to commit that Authority to onely one who might rather seeke to get it for himselfe then to keep it for
Blake a Lawyer Shortly after the Parliament began called afterward The Parliament that wrought wonders On the first day whereof were arrested as they sate in their places all the Justices but onely Sir William Skipwith as Sir Roger Fulthorpe Sir Robert Belknappe Sir Iohn Cary Sir Iohn Holt Sir William Brooke and Iohn Alacâon the kings Serjeant at Law and were all sent to the Tower for doing contrary to an Agreement made the last Parliament Also in the beginning of this Parliament Robert Veere Duke of Irelând Alexander Nevill Archbishop of York Michael de la Poole Earle of Suffolke and Sir Robert Tresilian Lord Chiefe Justice of England were openly called to answer Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester Richard Earle of Arundell Henry Earle of Darby and Thomas Earle of Nottingham upon certaine Articles of high Treason and because none of them appeared It was ordained by whole consent of Parliament they should be banished for ever and all their landâ and goods âeized into the Kings hands their intailed lands onely excepted Shortly after the Lord Chief Justice Robert Tresilian was found in an Apothecaries house in Westminster where being taken he was brought to the Duke of Glocester who caused him the same day to be had to the Tower and from thence drawne to Tyburne and there hanged On the morrow after Sir Nicolas Brember was brought to his Answer who being found guilty was beheaded with an Axe which himselfe had caused to be made for beheading of others After this Sir Iohn Salisbery and Sir Iames Berneys lusty young men were drawne and hanged as also Iohn Beââchamp L. Steward of the Kings house Iohn Blake Esquire and lastly Sir Symon Burley sonne to the great Sir Iohn Burley Knight of the Garter was beheaded on Tower-hill whose death the King tooke more heavily and more heynously then all the rest Also all the Justices were condemned to dye but by the Queenes intercession they were onely banished the Realme and all their lands and goods confiscate onely a small portion of money was assigned them for their sustentation Finally in this Parliament an Oath was required and obteined of the King that he should stand unto and abide such Rule and Order as the Lords should take and this Oath was required also of all the Inhabitants of the Realme In the later end of the Kings eleventh yeere the Earle of Arundell was sent to Sea with a great Navy of ships and men of warre with whom went the Earles of Nottingham and Devonshire Sir Thhmas Percy the Lord Clifford the Lord Camoiâ Sir William Elmham and divers other Knights to ayde the Duke of Britaine against the king of France but before they came the Duke of Britaine was reconciled to the king of France and so needing not their ayde all this great Fleet returned with doing nothing And it was indeed a yeere of doing nothing unlesse we reckon some petty Inroades of the Scots and that Sir Thomas Tryvet dyed with a fall off his horse and that Sir Iohn Holland the Kings brother by the mother was made Earle of Huntington and that there was Contention in Oxford between the Northerne and the Southerne Scholars which was pacified by the Duke of Glocester In his twelveth yeere Commissioners were appointed to meet at Balingham betwixt Calliâ and Bulloigne to treat of a Peace betweene the Realmes of England France and Scotland and after long debating a Truce was at last concluded to begin at Midsomer next and to last three yeeres But now the king to shew his plenary authority of being at full age removed the Archbishop of York from being Lord Chancellor and put in his place William Wickham Bishop of Winchester also he removed the Bishop of Hereford from being Treasurer and put another in his place The Earle of Arundell likewise unto whom the Government of the Parliament was committed and the Admiralty of the Sea was removed and the Earle of Huntington put in his roome About this time the Lord Iohn Hastings Earle of Pembrooke as he was practising to learne to Just was stricken about the Privy parts by a knight called Sir Iohn St. Iohn of which hurt he soone after dyed In whose Family it is memorable that for many Generations together no sonne ever saw his father the father being alwaies dead before the sonne was borne The Originall of this Family was from Hastings the Dane who in the Reigne of K. Alured long before the Conquest about the yeere 890. came with Rollo jâto England But howsoever in this Iohn Hastings ended the then Honorable Titles of the Hastings for this man dying without issue his Inheritances were dispersed to divers persons The Honour of Pembrooke came to Francis at Court by the kings Gift the Baronies of Hastings and Welford came to Reynold Gray of Ruthin the Barony of Aburgâveny was granted to William Beaââhamp of Bedford About this time Iohn Duke of Lancaster was created Duke of Aquitaine receiving at the Kings hands the Rod and the Cap as Investitures of that Dutchy Also the Duke of York's sonne and heire was created Earle of Richmond In his thirteenth yeere a Royall Justs was Proclaimed to be holden within Smithfield in London to begin on Sunday next after the Feast of S. Michael which being published not onely in England but in Scotland in Almaigne in Flanders in Brabant and in France many strangers came hither amongst others Valeran Earle of S. Poll that had maried king Richards Sister and William the young Earle of Ostervant sonne to Albert de Bavâere Earl of Hollond and Heynoult At the day âppointed there issued forth of the Tower about three a clock in the afternoone sixty Coursers apparrelled for the Justs and upon every one an Esquire of Honour riding a soft pace After them came forth foure and thirty Ladies of Honour Froyssard saith threescore mounted on Palfries and every Lady led a knight with a chaine of Gold These knights being on the Kings part had their armour and apparell garnished with white Hearts and Crownes of Gold aboââ their necks and so they came riding through the streets of London unto Smithfield The Justs lasted divers dayes all which time the King and Queen lay at the Bishops Palace by Pauls Church and kept open house for all Commers In his Fifteenth yeere the Duke of Lancaster went into France having in his traine a thousand horse and met the king of France at Aâiens to treat of a Peace between the two kingdomes but after long debate a Truce onely was concluded for a yeere About this time also the King required the Londoners to lend him a Thousând pounds which they refused âo doe and not onely so but they abused an Italian Merchant for offering to lend it This moved the King to some indignation to which was added the complaint of a Ryot committed by the Citizens against the servants of the Bishops of Saliâbury L. Treasurer for that where one of the Bishops servants named Walter Roman had taken a
Beauchamp Earle of Warwick was brought forth and charged with the like Treasons but by the intercession of the Duke of Lancaster and other Lords after confession of his fault was only confin'd into the Isle of Man Likewise the lord Cobhaâ and Sir Iohn Cheyny were onely banished or as Fabian saith condemned to perpetuall Prison The Parliament after this was held at Shewsbery where for the love the king bore to the Gentlemen and Commons of the Shiâe of Chester he caused it to be Ordained that from thenceforth it should be called and known by the name of the Principality of Chester and herewith intitled himselfe Prince of Châster At this Parliament also called the Great Parliament He created five Dukes and â Dutchesse one Marquesse and foure Earles The Earle of Darby was created Duke of Hereford the Earle of Nottingham Duke of Norfolke the Earle of Râtlandâ Dâke of Aâbemarle the Earle of Kent Duke of Surrey the Earle of ãâã Duke of Exceter and the Lady Margaret Marshall Countesse of Norfolke was created Dutchesse of Norfolke The Earle of Somerset was created Marquesse Dorseâ the Lord Spenser was made Earle of Glocester the Lord Nevill Earle of Westâerlââd the Lord Scrââpe Earle of Wiltshire and the Lord Thomas Percy L. Steward of the kingâ house was made Earle of Worcester and for the better maintenance of their esââteâ he divided amongst them a great part of those lands that belonged to the Duke of Glocester the Earles of Aruâdell and Warwick Also in this Parliament the Judges gave their opinions That when Articles are propounded by the king to be handled in Parliament if other Articles be handled before those be first determined that it is Treason in them that doe it And in this Parliament the king brought it so âbout that he obtained the whole power of the Parliament to be conferred upon cerâtaine persons namely Iohn Duke of Lancaster Edmund Duke of Yorke Edmâââ Duke of Aâmerle Thomas Duke of Surrey Iohn Duke of Exceter Iohn Marqueââe Dorset Roger Earle of March Iohn Earle of Salisbury and divers others or to any seven or eight of them and these by virtue of this Grant proceeded to conclude upon many things which concerned generally the knowledge of the whole Parliament to the great prejudice of the State and a dangerous example in time to come A Generall Pardon was also granted for all offences to all the Kings subjects but only to Fifty whose names he would not expresse but reserved them to his own knowledge that when any of the Nobility offended him he might at his pleasure name him to be one of the number excepted and so keepe them still within his danger And for the more strengthening the Acts of this Parliament the King purchased the Popes Buls containing grievous censures and curses to them that should break them And now the heads of the opposite Faction having lost their heads and all things as well setled as could be desired the King was secure as thinking himselfe safe and he had indeed been safe if Time and Fortune were not Actours in Revenge as well as men or rather if a superiour Power did not interpose whose wayes are as secret as himselfe is invisible It now fell out though Wâiters differ what it was fell out for some write that Thomâs Mowbray accused the Duke of Hereford others that Henry Duke of Herefoâd accused Thomas Mowbrây Duke of Norfolke for speaking words sounding highly to the Kings dishonour to which the Duke of Norfolk being called to answer charged the Duke of Hereford before the King that he lyed falsly Whereupon a Combat was agreed upon between them The King labored to make them friends but not prevailing he gave way to proceed in Combat and the place to be at Coventry where at the day and houre appointed the Duke of Hereford mounted on a white Couâseâ bârded with green ând blew Velvet imbroidered sumptuously with Swans and Antelops of Goldsmiths worke approached the Lists Of whom the Marshall being the Duke of Surry demanding who he was he answered I am Henry of Lââcaster Duke of Hereford that am come hither to doe my endeavour against Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke as a Traitour untrue to God the King his Realme and me Then incontinently he swore upon the holy Evangelists that his quarrell was true and just and thereupon required to enter the Lists where in â Chaire of green Velvet he sate downe and reposed himselfe Then came the Duke of Nârfâlke his horse barded with Crimson velvet imbroidered richly with Lyons of Silver and Mulbery trees and when he had taken his oath before the Constable the Duke of Aâmerle that his quarrell was just he entred the Lists and sate him down in his Chaire of Crimson velvet curtained about with white and red Damask Then the Marshall viewed their speares to see that they were of equall lengâh and then the Heralds proclaimed on the Kings behalfe they should mount on horsebâck and addresse themselves to the Combat But when they were set forward and had their Speares in their Rests the King cast down his Warder and the Heralds cryed Stay Stay Then the king caused their Speares to be âaken from them and deliberated with his Councell what was âit to be done in so weighty a cause After two long houres it was at last concluded that Henry Duke of Hereford should within fifââen dayes depart out of the Realme and not returne before ten yeeres were expired upon paine of death And that Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke should likewise avoyd the Realme and never to returne into England upon the like paine It is observable that this Censure was passed against the Duke of Norfolke the very same day Twelve-moneth in which he had taken order to put the Duke of Glocester to death at Calliâ whereof he was then Governour When these Judgements were once read the king called before him both the Dukes and made them sweare that the one should never come in place where the other was After this the Duke of Nârfâolke went into Almâiââ and from thence to Venice where after some time he dyed with sorrow The Duke of Hereford at the taking his leave of the king had foure yeeres of his Banishment released ând then went to Callis and from thence to âaris where of the French king he was so kindly received that by his favour he had obtained in mariage the onely daughter of the Duke of Berry Unkle to the French king if King Richard by messengers had not hindered him It was a Custome in those dayes to punish the delinquencies of Great men by banishment out of the Realme a Custome not more grievous to the Subject then dangerous to the Prince for by this course they had meanes to worke so closely in their mines of Revenge that the Fabrick of a Kingdome was in danger to be blown up before their working could be perceived An example whereof was never more plainly seen then at this time in
Kings Writ Affaires of the Church in his time IN the second yeere of this Kings Reigne there came messengers from the new-elected Pope Vrban to require the Kings ayd against such Cardinals as he named Schismâticks that had elected another Pope whom they named Clemânt which Cardinalls sent messengers likewiâe to crave his ayd for them but through perswasion of the Archbishop of Canterbury Vrbans request was granted and Clement rejected In his fourth year Iohn Wickliffe set forth his opinion touching the Sacrament of the Altar denying the doctrine of Transubstantiation in such sort as the Church of Rome did then teach In his sixth year Henry Spencer Bishop of Noâwiâh received Bulls from Pope Vrbân to grant all priviledges of the Crusado to all such as would come over and assist him against the Anti-Pope Clement which being debated in Parliament It was after much opposition agreed that it should go forward and thereupon the Bishop not only gathered much money from such as would contribute to the expedition but drew many great Captaines to go themselves in person as namely Sir Hugh Calverley sir William Farington the Lord Henry Beauââât sir William Elmham sir Thoâas Tryvet and divers others The money raised by contribution came to 25000 Franks and the Army to 3000 Horse and 15000 Foot with which Forces the Bishop passing over into Flanders wonne the Towns of Graveling Dunkirke and Newport but at last encountred by a mighty Army of the French he was put to the worse and returned into England In the twelveth yeare of this Kings Reigne an Act was made that none should passe the Seas to purchase promotions or provisions as they tearmed them in any Church or Churches Also in this yeare Thomas late Earle of Lancaster by reason of miracles reported to be done by him was Canonized for a Saint At this time also the Wickliffs mervelously increased Preaching against Pilgrimages and Images whose greatest opposer was the Bishop of Norwich In his thirteenth yeare Proclamation was made that all Beneficed men abiding in the Court of Rome should return into England by a certain day under pain of forfeiting their Benefices and all other not Beneficed under a certain pain likewise Also about this time a Statute was made that no Ecclesiasticall person should possesse Manours Houses Lands Revenues or Rents whatsoever at the hands of the Feoffee without the Kings Licence and the chiefe Lords In his eighteenth yeare the Wickliffs were persecuted and excommunication pronounced against them by the Archbishop of Canterbury In this Schisme of the two Popes the French Clergy wrote in behalfe of Clement their Pope and sent it into England the Clergy of England on the contrary wrote in behalfe of Pope Vrban and so nothing was agreed Works of Piety in his time IN the 20th yeare of this Kings Reign William Bâteman Bishop of Norwich builded Trinitie Hall in Cambridge In the third year of his Reign Iohn Philpot Major of Loâdon gave to the Citie certain Tenements for the which the Chamberlain payeth yearly to thirteen poore people to every of them seven pence the week for ever and as any of those thirteen persons dyeth the Major appointeth one to succeed and the Recorder another In the one and twentieth yeare of his Reign King Richard caused the great Hall at Westminster to be repaired both the Walls Windows and Roofe In his time Siâââ Archbishop of Canterbury slain by the Rebels upon Tower hill built the West-gate of Canterbury and from thence to the North-gate commonly called the long wall Thomas Fits-Alaâ or Arundell being Bishop of Ely built the great Gatehouse of Ely house in Holborne and being after Bishop of Canterbury he built a faire spire steeple at the West-end of his Church there called to this day Arundell steeple and bestowed a tuneable ring of five Bells upon the same Of Casualties happening in his time IN his third yeare so great a mortality afflicted the North parts of England that the Country became almost desolate In his sixt yeare on the 24 day of May there happened so great an earthquake or as some write a watershake that it made Ships in the Havens to beat one against the other In Iuly in the year 1389. whilest the King was at Sheene there swarmed in his Court such multitudes of Flyes and Gnats skirmishing with one another that in the end they were swept away with brooms by heaps and bushels were filled with them In his twelveth yeare in March first there were terrible Windes afterward followed a great mortality and after that a great dearth that a bushelâ of wheat was sold for thirteen pence which was then thought a great price for the years before it was sold for six pence and Wooll was sold for two shillings a stone In his fourteenth year on Christmas day a Dolphin was taken at London-bridge being ten foot long and a monstrous grown fish Ind his eighteenth year an Exhalation in likenesse of fire appeared in the night in many places of England which when a man went alone went as he went and stayed as he stayed sometimes like a wheele sometimes like a Barrell sometimes like a timberlogge but when many went together it appeared to be far off Also in a Parliament time ther was a certain Image of waxe made by Necromancie as was sayd which at an houre appointed uttered these words The Head shall be cut off the Head shall be lift up aloft the feet shall be lift up above the Head and then spake no more This happened in the Parliament called the Marvellous Parliament not long before the Parliament that wrought wonders In his one and thirtieth yeare a River not far from Bedford suddenly ceased his course so as the channell remained dry by the space of three miles which was judged to signifie the Revolting of the Subjects from their naturall Prince In his two and twentieth yeare almost through all England old Bay-trees withered and afterwards grew green againe which was supposed to import some strange event About the yeare 1380. the making of Gunnes was found by a Germaâe which may well be reckoned amongst casualties seeing it was found by casualty for this Germane having beaten Brimstone in a morter to powder and covered it with a stone it happened that as he struck fire a sparke chanced to fall into the powder which caused such a flame out of the morter that it raised the stone a great heigth which after he perceived he made a Pipe of iron and tempered the powder with some other ingredients and so finished that deadly Engine The first that used it were the Venetians against the inhabitans of Geneva Of his Wives KING Richard in his time had two Wives the first was Anne Daughter to the Emperour Charles the Fourth and Sister to the Emperour Wenceslaus who lived his wife ten years and dyed without issue at Sheene in Surry in the year 1392 whose death King Richard tooke so heavily that he caused the buildings of that
to deliver Mortimer but the King was deafe of that eare he could rather have wished both him and his two Sisters in heaven for then he should be free from conceal'd competitours These affronts were at this time suffered in the Welch because the King was now employed in a more dangerous service with the Scots for they taking advantage of the distraction in the kingdome as it was alwayes their custome to do had made an In-rode into the County of Northumberland and suddenây one night set upon the Castle of Werke tooke and spoiled it and then returned In revenge wherof the English invaded and spoiled certain Islands of the Orknâys Then the Scots set forth a Fleet under the conduct of Sir Robert Logon but before he came to any action he was encountred and the greatest part of his Fleet taken But these were but such affronts as often happen between troublesome neighbours for all this while the Peace was still in being between the Nations but at last it brake out into an open warre upon this occasion Robert King of Scots had offered to match his Son David with a Dâughter of Geoâge Earle of Dunbarre and had received money of him in part of her portion and afterward would neither suffer the March to proceed nor yet pay back the money but married his Son to a Daughter of Archibold Earle of Dââglasse Upon which indignity George of Dunbarre flyes into England to king Henry and with his ayd makes divers incursions into Scoâland Whereupon Roberâ king of Scots sent to king Henry that if he would have the Truce between them to continue he should deliver to him George of Dunbarre King Henry answered that he had given him a safe conduct and could not now recall it with his Honor but as for continuing the Truce king Robert might do in that what he thought bestâ Upon this answer the king of Scots presently proclaimed warre against him But king Henry as ready in that matter as he stayed not for king Roberts invading of England but himselfe with a puissant Army invaded Scotland burning Castles and Cities and not sparing Churches and Religious Houses About the end of September he besieged the Castle of Maydens in Edenbourgh where Prince David and the Earle Dowglasse were At which time Robert Duke of Albanye who in the king of Scots sicknesse managed the businesse sent an Herald to king Henry protesting upon his honor that if he would stay but six dayes he would give him battell K. Henry rewarded the Herald and stayed but six times six dayes passed but neither Duke of Albany nor any other for him appeared And now winter came on Victualls grew scant and which was worst a mortality began in the Englâsh Campe For which causes king Henry removed his Siege and retuâned iâtâ England As soone as he was gone sir Patrick Hebborne a Scottishman having a good opinion of his valour thought to do great matters and with a competent Army of the men of Lââgh-deane he invaded Northumberland making great spoile and loading his Soulâdiers with prey and prisoners but in the Retreit marching loosely and licentiously was set upon by the Earle of Northumberland Vice-warden at a Towne called Neshye where Hebborne himselfe and all the floure of Lâugh-deane were flaine sir Iohn and William Cockburne sir William Busse Iohn and Thomas Hablington Esqâires and a multitude of common Souldiers taken prisoners On the Englâsh part few slâinâ and none of any ranke or quality In revenge whereof Archibold Dowglasse with an Army of twenty thousand entred Northumberland but at a place called Homâldon were encountred by the English under the leading of Henry Lord Percye sirnamed Hoâspuââe and George Earle of March who put them to âlight and after the slauâhter of ten thousand of them tooke five hundred prisoners whereof the chieft were Mordack Earle of Fife sonne of the Generall who in the fight lost one of his eyes Thomas Earle of Murrey Robert Earle of Aâgus the Earls of Atholl and Menliâââ and amongst the slaine were Sir Iohn Swinton Sir Adam Gourdon Sir Iohn Leviston Sir Alexander Ramsey and three and twenty other knights In this meane time Glendour of Wales had solicited the king of France for ayde who sent him twelve hundred men of quality but the windes were so contrary that they lost twelve of their ships and the rest returned home The English deriding this ill successe of the French so exasperated the French-king that presently after he sent twelve thousand who landed safely and joyned with the Welch but as soone as they heard of the English armies approach whether mistrusting their own strength or suspecting the Welch-mens faithfullnesse they ran to their ships and disgracefully went home King Henry's Ambassadors lately sent into Britaine to fetch the Lady Iane de Navarre Dutchesse of Britiane the relict of Iohn de Montford sirnamed the Conquerourâ with whom the king by Procurators had contracted Matrimony in the beginning of February returned with her in safety The king met her at Winchester where the seventh of February the marriage was solemnized About this time some affronts were offered by the French Valerian Earle of S. Paul with seventeene hundred men landed in the Isle of Wight where hee burnt two Villages and some few Cottages but hearing the people of the Island to have assembled hee made haste to his ships and returned home Also Iohn Earle of Clermont the heire of Bourbon won from the English the Castles of S. Peter S. Mary and the New-Castle The Lord de la Brett won the Castle of Calââin places of great consequence to the English And now to make k. Henry sensible that a Crown can hardly ever sit easie upon the head if it be not set on right at first a new Conspiracy is hatching against him The Percies Earls of Northumberland and Worcester with Henry Hotspur began about thiâ time to fall off from king Henry their reason was First because the king at their request refused to redeeme their kinsman Mortimer from Glendours slavery and then because he denied them the benefit of such prisoners as they had taken of the Scots at Homildon or Nâshye whereupon they went of themselves and procured Mortimer's delivery and then entred into a League offensive and defensive with Glendour and by their Proxies in the house of the Arch-deacon of Bangor they agreed upon a Tripartite Indenture under their hands and seales to divide the kingdome into three parts whereby all England from Severâ and Trent South and Eastward was assigned for the portion of the Earle of March All Wales and the Lands beyond Severâ VVestward were assigned to Owen Glendour And all the remainder of land from Trent Northward to bee the portion of the Lord Percy In this as Glendour perswaded them they thought they should accomplish a Prophesie as though king Henry were the Mouldwarp cursed of Gods own mouth they three were the Lyon the Dragon and the Wolfe which should divide the Land
ââââved by famine he so dyed In the meane time Sir Iohn Oldcastle wrote his Beliefe and presented it himselfe to the King which the King would in no wise receive but suffered him in his presence and Privy chamber to be summoned who appearing before the Archbishop after divers examinations he was condemned of Heresie and committed to the Tower of London from whence shortly after he escaped and got into Wales The king by his Proclamation promised a thousand Marks to any that should bring him in but so much was his doctrine generally favoured that the kings offer was not much regarded but he continued foure yeares after undiscovered At last he was taken in the borders of Wales within a Lordship belonging to the Lord Powes who brought him to London before the Duke of Bedford Regent of the Realme where in the end he was condemned and finally was drawn from the Tower to S. Giles field and there hanged in a chaine by the middle and after consumed with fire the gallowes and all At the time of his first conviction foure yeares before it was rumour'd that twenty thousand men in armes were assembled in S. Giles field whereupon the king at midnight himselfe in person went thither where he found many indeed who upon examination confessed that they came to meet their Captaine Sir Iohn Oldcastle but without any intent against the king yet was Sir Roger Actoâ and eight and twenty others of them apprehended and executed in Smithfield and all the Prisons in and about London were filled with them In his third yeare the order of Church service throughout England was changed from the use of Pauls to the use of Sâlisbury to the great disliking of many in those dayes In his fourth yeare a Councell was holden at Constance whither he sent Ambassadors the Earle of Warwick the Bishops of Salisbury Bath and Hereford the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of Worcester In which Councell it was decreed that England should have the title of the English Nation and should be accounted one of the five principall Nations in ranke before Spaine which often before had been moved but never granted till then And herein were all Wickliffs positions condemned also Iohn Husse and Hierome of Prague notwithstanding the Emperours safe-conduct were both of them burned In this Councell the Schisme of Anti-popes which had continued the space of nine and twenty yeares was reformed âeâedict the 13. had been elected by the Spaniard Gregory the 1â by the French Iohn the 24. by the Italians And now in this Councell begun in February 1414 and continued above three yeaâes wherein were assembled besides the Emperour the Pope and the Palsgrave of Rââime foure Patriarks twenty seven Cardinals seven and forty Archbishops one hundred and threescore Bishopâ Princes and Barons with their attendants above thirty thousand The foresaid elected Popes were all put down or else resigned and in the place as legitimate Pope was elected Otho Loloâna by the name of Martiâ the fifth In this yeare also fell out an Accident which shews the strict observance of Ecclesiasticall censures in those dayes The wives of the Lord Strange and Sir Iohn Trussell of Warâington in Cheshire striving for place at a Sermon in S. Dunstââs Church in the East their husbands being present fell themselves to striving in their wives behalfâ and great part-taking there was on both sides some slaine and many wounded The delinquents were committed to the Counter the Church suspended and upon examination the Lord Strange being found guilty was by the Archbishop of Canterbury adjudged to this Penance which was accordingly performed The Parson of S. Dunstââs went before after whom followed all the Lords servants in their shirts after them went the Lord himselfe bare-headed with a waxe taper in his hand then followed the Lady bare-footed and then last came the Archdeacon Reynold Râââood in which order they went from Pauls where the sentence was given to S. Dunstââs Church where at the rehallowing thereof the Lady filled all the Vessels with water and according to the sentence offered to the Altaran ornament of the value of ten pounds and the Lord a Pixe of silver of five pounds A Penance no doubt which the Lord and the Lady would have redemed with a great deale of money if the discipline of the Church had in those dayes allowed it but it seemes the commutation of Penance was not as yet come in use In his ninth yeare in a Parliament at Leicester a hundred and ten Priories alient were suppressed because they spoke ill of his Conquests in France and their possessions were given to the King but by him and King Henry the sixth were afterward given to other Monasteries and Colledges oâ learned men Works of Piety by him or others in his time THis King re-edified his Royall Manour which was then called Sheene now Richmond and founded two Monasteries not farre from it the one of Carthusians which he named Bethelem the other of Religious men and women of the Order of S. Bridget which he named Syon He also founded the Brotherhood of Saint Giles without Cripplegate in London In the second yeare of his Reigne Mooregate neere to Colemanstreet was first made by Thomas Fawkener Major of London who caused also the ditches of the City to be cleansed and a common Privy that was on the Moore without the wall to be taken downe and another to be made within the City upon Wallbrooke into the which brooke he caused the water of the City to be turned by grates of iron in divers places In his sixth yeare William of Sevenoak Major of London founded in the Town of Sevenoak a Free schoole and thirteen Almshouses This man was found at Sevenoak in Kent anew-borne infant of unknown Parents but by charitable people was Christned and brought up bound prentise in London and came at last to be Major of the City Also Robert Chicâely Major of London gave liberally to the Almshouses founded by his brother Henry Chicheâây Archbishop of Canterbury at Higham-Ferrers in Northamptonshire where they were born But Henry Chicheley the Archbishop founded two Colledges in Oxford one called Bernard Colledge renewed by Sir Thomas White and named S. Iohns Colledge the other called All-Soules which continueth at this day as he left it Also Iohn Kempe Archbishop of Canterburâ converted the Parish-Church of Wye in Kent where he was borne into a Colledge of Secular Priests Casualties happening in his time IN the fift yeere of his Reigne a great part of the City of Norwich was burnt with all the house of the Friers Preachers and two fryers of that Order In his third yeere on the feast of the Purification seaven Dolphins came up the River of Thâmes whereof foure were taken Of his Wife and issue HE married Catherine the daughter of king Charles the sixth of France who was his Queene two yeeres and about three moneths married at Troyes in Champaigne the third day of June 1420. and afterward
his Sons only King Heâry the Fifth to be his eldest And now that in him the heroicall nature was come to the height it degenerated againe in King Henry the Sixth which must needs be attributed to the mothers side who though in her selfe she were a Princesse of a noble spirit yet being the issue of a crazie father what marvell if she proved the mother of a crazie issue and yet even this issue of hers a Prince no doubt of excellent parts in their kinde though not of parts kindly for a Princâ in a private man praise-worthy enough but the sword of a King required a harder mettall than the soft temper of King Henry the sixth was made of and in him we may see the fulfilling of the Text Vae genti cujus Rex est puer Woe to that Nation whose King is a Childe for he was not above eight moneths old when he succeeded his father in the Kingdome although that Text perhaps is not meant so much of a child in years for which there may be helps by good Protectors as of a childe in abilities of ruling whereof though possibly there may yet probably there can be no sufficient supply of which in this King we have a pregnant example for as long as he continued a childe in yeares so long his Kingdomes were kept flourishing by the Providence of his carefull Uncles but assoone as he left being a Childe in years and yet continued a childe in ability of Ruling then presently began all things Iâ pejus ruere retro sublapsa referri all things went to wracke both in France and England And thus much was necessary to be sayd by way of a Preface to that great fall as it were of Nilus in King Henry the Sixth Henry called of Windsor because borne there the only childe of King Henry the Fifth as yet scarce nine moneths old succeeded his Father and was Proclaimed King of England on the last of August in the yeare 1422 by reason of whose infancie King Henry his Father had before by his Will appointed and now the Lords by their consent confirmed the Regency of France to Iohn Duke of Bedford the Government of England to Humphry Duke of Glocester the Guard of his Person to Thomas Duke of Exeter and Hânry Beauford Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor wherein it was wisely provided that one man should not rule all lest it should prove a spurre to aspiring and withall stay them from envying one another when many were alike placed in the highest forme of authoriây and indeed they all carried themselves so uprightly and carefully in their places that it well appeared the trust reposed in them by the dying King had made a strong impression of love and loyalty towards his Son The Duke of Bedford Regent of France was to keepe that by the sword which King Henry the Fifth by his sword had gotten wherein he had many and great assistants specially the two terrours of France Thomas Montacute Earle of Salisbury and Iohn Lord Talbot and amongst the French themselves the Duke of Burgoigne a friend no lesse powerfull than firme unto him The Dolphin also now crowned king at Poytiers and called Charles the seventh of France his father being newly dead within little more than a moneth after king Henry had likewise great assistants the Duke of Alanson and many other Peers of France and of the Scoâs many and some perhaps of the English that tooke part with him by meanes whereof the game of Fortune was a long time played betweene them with great variety The first act of the Duke of Bedfords Regency was an Oration which he made to the French in Paris which wrought this good effect that king Henry is Proclaimed king of England and of France and such French Lords as were present did their Homages and tooke their oathes to be true unto him The first act of hostility was performed by the new king of France who sends the Lord Granvile to Pont Meulan who surprized it putting all the English Souldiers to the sword but the Regent sending thither Thomas Montacute Earle of Salisbury so strongly beleaguered it that the Lord Granvile not only surrendred it but swore allegiance though he kept it not to the king of England From thence the Earle marched to Seyne which hee tooke by assault and put all the Souldiers except the Captain Sir William Maryn to the sword At this time the Regent the Duke of Burgoigne Iohn Duke of Brittaine and his brother in law the Earle of Râchmond who revolted afterward to the new king of France and was by him made Constable of France met at Amyens and there not only renewed the old League but further enlarged it to be offensive and defensive respectively and to make the friendship the more firme the Regent married Anne the Sister of the Duke of Burgoigne at Troys In this meane time the Parisians taking advantage of the Regents absence conspired to have let in the new king into Paris but the day before the night appointed for his admission the Regent with his power entred apprehended the Conspirators and put them to publicke execution That done he furnished all the Forts and places of strength with Englishmen and sent Sir Iohn Falstaffe who tooke in Pacye and Coursay two strong Castles whil'st himselfe with his forces tooke in Trayâels and Brây upon Seyne The Constable of France the meane while with the new kings forces layd siege to Cravant in Burgoigne but the Regent sent thither the Earle of Salisbury who set upon the French and after a long fight putting them to flight slew about 1800 knights and gentlemen of noteâ and three thousand common Souldiers Scots and French tooke prisoners the Constable himselfe the Earle of Ventadour Sir Alexââder Alerdyn Sir Lewis Ferignye and two and twenty hundred Gentlemen Of the English part were slaine Sir Iohn Gray Sir William Hall Sir Gilbert Halsall Richard âp Maddocke and one and twenty hundred Souldiers From thence the Eârle led his forces to Montaguillon and sate downe before it which after five moneths Siege he took whil'st the Duke of Suffolke took in the two strong Castles of Cowcye and le Roche Whil'st these things are done in France in England the Protectour Ransomed and inlarged the young king of Scots Iames the first who by the space of eighteene yeares had been kept a Prisoner which he did out of opinion thât he might withdraw the Scots out of France taking Homâge and fealty of him for the Crown of Scotland in these words Iâames âames Sâeward King of Scotâ shall be true and faithfull to you Lord Henry King of England and France the Superiour Lord of Scotlandâ and to you I make my fidelitie for the sayd Kingdome which I hold and claime of you and shall do you service for the same so God me helpe and these holy Evangelists and therewithall with consent of all the Nobility the Protector gave him to Wife Iane Daughter to the
King and by him to his Councell who being most of the Clergie durst not meddle in them for offending âhe Cardinall On the other side the Cardinall finding nothing whereof directly to accuse the Duke of Glocester himselfe accuseth his or her selfe the Lady Cothamâhe âhe Dukes wife of Treason for attempting by sorcery and witchcraft the death of the King and advancement of her husband to the Crown for which though acquiâed of the Treason she is adjudged to open Penance namely to goe with a wax taper in her hand hoodlesse save a kerchiffe through London divers dayes together and after to remaine in perpetuall imprisonment in the Isle of Man The crime objected against her was procuring Thomas Southwell Iohn Hunne Priests Roger Bollingbrockâ a supposed Necromancer and Margery Iourdan called the Witch of Eye in Suffolkeâ to devise a picture of waxe in proportion of the king in such sort by sorcery that as the picture consumed so the kings body should consume for which they were all condemned the witch was burnt in Smithfield Bollingbrooke was hanged constantly affirming upon his death that neither the Dutchesse nor any other from her did ever require more of him than onely to know by his art how long the king should live Iohn Hunne had his pardon and Southwell dyed the night before he shouâd have been executed About this time the Countesse of Cominges being dead the king of France and the Earle of Arminiack are Competitors for the Inheritance The Earle takes possession but fearing the King of France his greatnesse makes offer of his daughter in mariage to the King of England with a large portion in money and besides to deliver full possession of all such Townes and Castles as were by him or his Ancestors detained in Aquitaine and had been formerly by the Progenitors of the King of England conquered The Ambassadors for this businesse were by King Henry graciously heard and honorably returned after whom were sent Sir Edward Hall Sir Robert Rose and others to conclude all things and the young Lady is by Proxy affianced to king Henry But the king of France not liking the proceeding of the match sendeâh the Dolphin with a puissant Army who tooke the Earle with his youngest sonne and both his daughters aud gained the Counties of Arminiack Louverne Rouergue Moulessenois with the Cities of Severâe and Cadeack chasing the Bastard of Arminiack out of âhe Country by meanes whereof the mariage was then deferred and left in suspense In this distraction of Christendome many Princes the kings of Spaine Denmark and Hungary became Mediators for a Peace between the two kings of France and England Ambassadors of both sides are sent many meetings were had many motions made but in conclusion onely a Truce for eighteen moneths is agreed upon In the meane time the Earle of Suffolk one of the Commissioners for the Peace takes upon him beyond his Commssion and without acquainting his fellowes to treat of a mariage between the king of England and a kinswoman of the king of France Neece to the French Queene daughter to Raynâr Duke of Anjou stiling himâelfe king of Sicilie and Naples In which businesse he was so intentive that it brought an aspersion upon him of being bribed but howsoever an Enterview betwixt the two kings is appointed without any warrant of king Henries part to be between Charterâ and Roan The Commissioners returne the Earle of Suffolk sets forth the beauty of the proposed Bride and the great benefits that would redound to the kingdome by this match The king was easily induced to credit the relation but divers of the kings Councell especially the Duke of Glocester opposed it partly for the meannesse of the match her father being onely a Titular Prince and withall but poore unable to give any portion at all and partly for the wrong which should hereby be offered to the Duke of Arminiacks daughter to whom the king had been in solemne manner publickly affianced But Reasons could not prevaile against favour the Earle of Suffolks affirmation must not be undervalued And hereupon a new creation of Lords first made Iohn Beaufort Earle of Somerset made Duke of Somerset Iohn Lord Talbot made Earle of Shrewsbury Iohn Holland Earle of Huntington made Duke of Exeter Humfry Earle of Stafford made Duke of Buckingham Henry ãâã Earle of Warwick made Duke of Warwick Edmund Beaufoât Earle of Dorset made Marquesse Dorset and William de la Poole Earle of Suffolke made Marquesse of Suffolke this new Marquesse honorably accompanied is sent into Fraâce to fetch the Lady Margaret the proposed Bride who shortly after is maried at Southwick in Hampshire and crowned Queen of England at Westminster on the 30 day of May 1444 in the three and twentieth yeare of king Henries Reigne And now in stead of benefits by this mariage there presently followed great inconveniences for first in exchange of her person the Dutchy of Anjou the City of ãâã with the whole County of Mayne the best props of the Dutchy of Normandy are agreed to be surrendred into the hands of the French and then the Duke of Arminiack to revenge the injury offred to his daughter is a meanes to expell the English âut of all Aquitaine At this time the Duke of Somersets spleen against the Duke of Yorke not onely is revived but is growne stronger for the Duke of Yorke who was now after the death of the Earle of Warwick made the second time Regent of France is so undermined by him through assistance of the new Marquesse of Suffolke who bore now all the sway with the King and Queen that not onely he supplanted him in his place but planted himselfe in it to the great heart-burning of the Duke of York and his friends but he wisely dissembled his anger and for the present passed it oveâ And now is no man in grace but the new Marquesse of Suffolk all favours from the King and Queene must passe by him and the extent of his power over-râacheth all the Councell He gets of the King the wardship of the body and lands of the Countesse of Warwick and of the Lady Margaret sole daughter and heire of Iohn Duke of Somerset afterward mother to king Henry the seventh And now the kings weaknesse in judgement growes every day more apparent then other whil'st governed by no counsell but of his Queen and she by no counsell but her owne will and the new Marquesse of Suffolke King Henry is himself the least part of the king and serves but to countenance the devices of others whereof he little understands the drifts and which proving ill the blame must be his if well the benefit and honour others For by instigation of the Queene he suffers the Duke of Glocester for his care of the Common-wealth called the good Duke to be excluded not onely from Command but from the Counsell-Table and permits Informers sât on by the Marquesse of Suffolke the Duke of Buckingham the Cardinall Bishop of
approaching neer the Queâns Aâmy he was certified by his scâuts that the Enemie farre exceeded his power both in number and in all warlike preparation he not having in his Army above five thousand men and thereupon the Earle of Salisbury advised him to retyâe and to attend the comming of the Earle of March who was gone into Wales to raise the March men but the pride of his former victory made him deale to all Counsell of declining the battell and so hastened on by his destiny from Sândâll Castle he marched on to Wakefield greene where the Lord Clifford on the one side and the Earle of Wiltshire on the other were placed in ambuscado The Duke of Yorke supposing that the Duke of Somerset who led the battell had no more forces then what were with him undauntedly marcheth towards him but being entred within their danger the ambushes on both sides brake out upon him and slew him with three thousand of his men the rest fled the Earle of Salisbury is taken prisoner and harmlesse Rutland not above twelve yeers old who came thither but to see fashions is made a sacrifice for his Fathers transgression who kneeling upon his knees with tears begging life is unmercifully stabbed to the heart by the Lord Clifford in part of revenge as he swore of his Fathers death and the Queen most unwomanly in cold blood caused the Earle of Salisbury and as many as were taken prisoners to be beheaded at Pâmfret Castle and to have their heads placed on poles about the walls of Yorke Thus dyed Richard Plantagenet Duke of Yorke who had taken to wife Cicely daughter of Ralph Nevyll the first Earle of Westmerland by whom he had issue eight sonnes and foure daughters his eldest sonne Henry dyed young his second son Edward was afterward king of England his third Edmund Earle of Rutland was slaine with his fatherâ Iohn Thomas and William died young his seventh sonne George was after Duke of Clarence his youngest sonne Richard sirnamed Crouchbâck wâs after king of England Anne his eldest daughter was married to Henry Holland Duke of Exeter his second daughter Elizabeth was married to Iohn de la Pâole Earle of Suffolk his third Margaret to Charles Duke of Burgoigne his fourth Vrsula dyed young This Duke being dead had his head crowned with a paper Crown together with many circumstances of disgracing him but this act of spight was fully afterwards recompensed upon their heads that did it The Earle of March hearing of his fathers death laboured now so much the more earnestly in that he laboured for himselfe and parting from Shrewsbury whose Inhabitants were most firme unto him he increased his army to the number of three and twenty thousand and presently took the field and having advertisment that Iasper Earle of Pembrooke with the Earle of Ormond and Wiltshire followed after him with a great power of Welsh and Irish he suddenly marcheth back againe and in a plaine neer Mortimers Crosse on Candlemas day in the morning gave them battell wherewith the slaughter of three thousand and eight hundred he put the Earles to flight Owen Tewther who had married Queen Catherine Mother to king Henry the sixth and divers Welsh Gentlemen were taken and at Hereford beheaded Before the battell it is said the Sunne appeared to the Earle of March like three sunnes and suddenly it joyned all together in one for which cause some imagine that he gave the sunne in its full brightnes for his badge or Cognisance The Queen in the mean time encouraged by the death of the Duke of Yorke with a power of Northern men marcheth towards London but when her souldiers were once South of Trent as if that river were the utmost limit of their good behaviour they fell to forrage the Country in most babarous manner Approaching S. Albans they were advertised that the Duke of Norfolke and the Earle of Warwick were ready to give them battell whereupon the Queens Vaward hasteth to passe through St. Albââs but being not suffered to passe they encountred with their Enemies in the field called Barnard heath who perceiving the maine battaile to stand still and not to move which was done by the treachery of Lovelace who with the kentish men had the leading of it they soone made the Southerne men to turne their backs and fây upon whose flight the rest in doubt of each others well meaning shifted away and the Lords about the King perceiving the danger withdrew themselves Only the Lord Bânvile comâing in a complementall manner to the King and saying it grieved him to leave his Majesty but that necessity for safeguard of his life enforced itâ was importuned and Sir Thoâas Kyriell a knight of Kent likewise by the king to stay he passing his Royall word that their stay should bee no danger to them upon which promise they stayed but to their cost for the Queen hearing that the Commoâs had beheaded Baron Thoâpe at High-gate âhe in revenge thereof caused both their heads to be stricken off at S. Albââs so as there were slaughtered at this battaile the full number of three and twenty hundred but no man of name but onely Sir Iohn Grey who the same day was made knight with twelve other at the village of Colney And now the King was advised to send one Thomâs Hoe thaâ had been a Barrister to the Victors to tell them that he would gladly come to them if with conveyance it might be done whereupon the Earle of Northumberland appointed divers Lords to attend him to the L. Clâffords Tent where the Queen and the young Prince met to their great joy but it was now observed as it were in the destiny of King Heâry that although he were a most Piousman yet no enterprise of warre did ever prosper where he was present that we may know the prosperity of the world to be no inseparable companion to men of Piety At the Queens request the king honored with knighthood thirty gentlemen who the day before had fought against the part where he was the Prince likewise was by him dubbed knight and then they went to the Abby where they were received with Anthems and withall an humble petition to be protected from the outrage of the loose souldiersâ which was promised and Proclamation made to that purpose but to small purpose for the Northern men said It was their bargaine to have all the spoyle in every place after they had passed Trent and so they robbed and spoiled whatsoever they could come at The Londâners hearing of this disorder were resolved seeing there was no more assurance in the Kings promise to keep the Northern men out of their gates insomuch that when they were sent to to send over to the Campe certaine Cart-loads of Lenton provision which the Major accordingly provided the Commons rose about Cripplegate and by strong hand kept the Carts from going out of the City Hereupon the Major sends the Recorder to the Kings Counsellâ and withall intreats
and heire Sir Humfry Boârchier sonne and heire to the Lord Berners and divers other knights and gentlemen On the Earls part were slaine the Earle himselfe the Marquâssâ Montacute and three and twenty knights of whom Sir William Tyrrell was one The Duke of Somerset and the Earle of Oxford fled into VVales to Iasper Earle of Pembroâke The Duke of Exceter being strucken down and so wounded that he was left for dead amongst other the dead bodies because he was not kâown but comming to himselfe he got up and escaped to VVestminster and there took Sanctuary The dead bodies of the Earle and Marquesse were brought to London in a Coffin and by the space of three dayes lay open-faced in the Cathedrall Church of St. Paul and then buried with their Ancestours in the Priory of Bissam This Earle of VVarwick was Richard Nevill sonne and heire of Richard Nevill Earle of Salisbury who married the daughter of Richard Beauchamp the sixth Earle of Warwick and in her right was Earle of Warwick in his own of Saliâbury he was also Lord Monthermer great Chamberlaine and high Admirall of England Lord Warden of the North Marches towards Scotland and high Steward of the Dutchy of Laâcaster he had issue two Daughters Isabell married to George Duke of Clarence and Annâ âârst married to Prince Edward king Henry the sixths Sonne and after to Richard Duke of Glocester Wee may here observe a Constellation of disastrous influences concurring all to the overthrow of this great Warwicke whereof if any one had been missing the wheele of his fortune had perhaps not turned For if the City of Yorke had not too credulously believed king Edwards Oath not to dâsturbe king Henry or if the Marquesse Moâtacute had stopped as he might his passage at Pomfret or if the Duke of Clarence had not at the very point of the battell at St. Albans deserted his party and joyned with king Edwardsâ or if Quâen Margaret had not by tempest been kept from comming into Eâglaâd in time or if the Londoners had not been retrograde and deceived his expectation he had never perhaps been overthrown as he was But Fata viam invenient destiny will finde waies that were never thought of will make way where it findes none and that which is ordained in heaven shall be effected by means of which Earth can take no notice Queen Margaret when it was too late accompanied with Iohn Longstrother Prior of Saint Iohns and the Lord Wenlock with divers Knights and Esquires tooke shipping at Harflew the foure and twentieth of March but by tempest was kept back till the thirteenth of April and then with her sonne Prince Edward shee landed at Weymouth and from thence went to an Abby hard by called Ceern and then to Bewly in Hampshire whither there came unto her Edmund Duke of Somerset and Thomas Courtney Earle of Devonshire with divers others amongst whom it is resolved once more to try their fortune in the field but then the Queen would have had her sonne Prince Edward to be sent into France there to remaine in safety till the next battell were tryed but they being of a contrary minde and specially the Duke of Somerset shee at length consented though afterward she repented it From Bewly she with her sonne and the Earle of Somerset passeth on to Bristow intending with what power they could raise in Glocestershire to march into Wales to joyn with Iâsper Earle of Pembrooke who was there making preparation of more forces King Eâward hearing of these things resolves to crosse this Conjunction and followes Queen Margaret with a great Power so close that neere Tewkesbury in Glocestershire he overtakes her forces who resolutely turn and make head against him where Somerset on the Queens part leading the Vaunt-guard performed the part of a valiant Commander but finding his souldiers throâgh wearines begin to faint and that the Lord Wenlock who had the conduct of the battaile on the Queens part moved no the rode unto him and upbrayding him with cowardise or treachery never staid but with his Pollaxe beat out his brains and now before he could bring in his men to the rescue their Vaward was routed and Iohn Earle of Devonshire with above three thousand of the Queens part were slaine The Queen her selfe Iohn Beaufort the Duke of Somersets brother the Prior of Saint Iohns Sir Gervis Clifton and divers others were taken prisoners all which except the Queen were the next day beheaded At which time Sir Richard Crofts presented to king Edward king Henries Son Edward whom he had taken prisoner to whom king Edward at first shewed no uncourteous countenance but demanding of him how he durst so presumptuously enter into his Realm with Arms and he answering though truly yet unseasonably To recover my Fathers Kingdome and Heritage King Edward with his hand thrust him from him or as some say strooke him with his Gantlet and then presently George Duke of Clarence Richard Duke of Glocester Thomas Grey Marquesse Dorset and William Lord Hastings standing by fell upon him in the placâ and murdred him His body was homely interred with other ordinary Corpses in the Church of the Monastery of the Black-fryers in Tewkesbury After the Victory thus obtained king Edward repaired to the Abbey Church of Tewkesbury to give God thankes for his good successe and finding there a great number of his enemies that were fled thither to save themselves he gave them all free Pardon onely Edmuud Duke of Somerset ãâã Longstrother Pryor of Saint Iohns Sir Thomas Tressham Sir Gerviâ Clifton and divers other Knights and Esquires who were apprehended there and brought before the Duke of Glocester sitting that day as Constable of England and the Duke of Norfolk as Marshall were all arraigned condemned and judged to Dye and accordingly upon the Tuesday being the seventh of May they were all and twelve other knights more on a Scaffold set up in the middle of the Town beheaded but not dismembredâ and permitted to be buried The same day Queen Margaret was found in a poore house of Religion not farre from thence into which she was fled for safeguard of her life but she was after brought to London and there kept a Prisoner till her Father ransomed her with great summes of money This was the last pitcht battell that was fought in England in king Edward the fourths dayes which happened on the fourth of May being Saturday in the Eleventh yeere of his reigne and in the yeere of our Lord 1471. King Edward being assured that as long as any partakers of king Henry lived and were at liberty he should never be free from plots against his life sent Roger Vaughaâ a Gentleman much reckoned of in his own Country to entrape Iasper Earle of Pembrooke who had escaped from the last encounter but he having notice of the plot before prevented it by striking off Vaughans head After these great Clouds were thus dispersed there arose a little Cloud which gave the
he had brought his souldiers onely to shew them the Country and returne as they came adding withall that to make it appeââe he was able without helpe of the English to subsist of himselfeâ he utterly disclââmed any benefit by that Truce untill three months after the English were reâââned to their own Country and so in a great snuffe returned home For the better Confirmation of what waâ agreed upon between the two kings an ãâã is desired but before the same is eââectuaâed the French king sends to the Engââsh army an hundred Tonne of Gascoigne wine to be drunke out amongst the privââe âouldiers and therewithall free licence for Commanders and Gentlemen to recreate themselves in Amyeâs where they were lovingly entertained by the Burgers of the Town by the kings expresse command The place of enterview of these two ãâã is agreed on to be at Picquency a Town three miles distant from Amâeâs seated in ââottome through which the river of Some runneth over which a strong bridge was buâât and in the midst thereof a graâe made overthwart with âartes no wider ãâã than a man might well thrust in his arme covered with boardes overheadâ to avoid the rainâfoure of the Bed-chamber on both sides are appointed to search the roomâ to prevent traps of instrumenââ of treachery and being by them certified that âll as was cleere the kings advance themselves King Edward being come in sight of the place made a stand being told that the circumstance of comming fârât to thâ place was a matter of great disparagement in point of State but the French king âoâe regarding substânce then circumstance gave the king of England the advanââââ to come at hiâ pleasure and went first to the barre appointed for conference ãâã theâe did attend king Edwards leasure He had in his Company Iohn Duke of ãâã with his brother the Cardinall and eight hundred mân at Arms. King Edââââ hâd with him his brother the Duke of Clarence the Earle of Northumberland âhe Lords Chamberlaine and Chancellour and at his backe his whole Army in bâtâeââ The kings lovingly salute each other and complements of courtesie reâipro ãâ¦ã which finished They with their Noblemen there present take all âheir ãâã upon the holy Evangelists in all to their âower to observe the Articles oâ ãâã agreâd on After which In private the French king imporâuâes king Edââââ that the Duke of Brittaine might be left out of these Articles but after much ãâã to that purpose king Edward gave his resolute answerâ that if king Lewis ãâã the frendship of Englând he should not molest the Duke of Brittaineâ for âhat he was resolved at any time to come in person to relieve himâ if he were distuââed King Edward pretended the many kindnesse he had formeâly recâived of the Duke of Brittaine but it was conceived that the desire of compassing the Eaâles oâ ãâã and Pembrooke now in the Duke of Brittaines Country were the greatest ãâã of his standing âo âirmely for him The money to be payd to king Edâârd ãâã the Articles is accordingly payd and thereupon the French Hostages are delivered and the Englisâ Army reââres to Callice and from thencâ is transported into ãâã and then the English Hostages are likewise delivered This Peace was ãâã âo be made only by the holy Ghost because on the day of meeâing a white Dove came and sate upon the king of Englands Tent though the Dukes of Glocester and Burgoigâe thought it was made by no good spirit King Edward being returned into England had his minde running still upon the dangeâ that might grow from the Earle of Richmond he therefore dispatched D. Stillington and two other his Ambassadors to the Duke of Briâaine to send him over to him under this subtle pretence that he meant to match him in mariage with the Lady Cicillâ his younger daughter and withall sent also no small store of Angels to speake for him which so prevailed with the Duke that he delivered the Earle oâ Richmond to the Ambassadors who conducted him thence to Saint Maloâ where whil'st they stayed for a winde the young Earle by the cunning plotting of Peter Landoiâ the Dukes Treasurer more out of scorne that he was not gratified by the English Ambassadour to the proportion of his place than for any love to the Earle escapes into Sanctuary from whence neither prayers nor promises could get him cut Neverthelesse upon Peter Landois his promise he should be safely kept there the Ambassadors departed and returned home acquainted K. Edward with the Duke of Bââgoigââs courtesie in delivering him and their own negligence in suffering him to escape onely making amends with the promise of Peter Landois which might be to K. Edward some contentment but was no satisfaction At Christmas following being the sixteenth yeere of his Reigne he created his eldest sonne Edward Prince of Wales Duke of Corâwall and Earle of Chester his second sonne he made Duke of Yorke giving the order of knighthood to the sonne and heire of the Earle of Liâcolâe and many others He created also foure and twenty knights of the Bath whereof Brian Chiefe Justice and Littleton a Judge of the Common Pleas were two About this time there were two examples of severity seene not unworthy the relating if but onely to make us see how dangerous a thing it is Ludere cum sanctiâ to speake words that may be taken as reflecting upon the king The first was of one Walter Walker a wealthy Citizen dwelling at the signe of the Crown in Cheapside This man one day when his childe cryed bid him be quiet and he would make him heire of the Crowne which words being subject to interpretation he was called in question about them arraigned condemned and put to death The other was of Thomas Burdet of Arrow in Warwickeshire Esquire It happened that K. Edward hunted in his Parke he being from home and there killed a white Buck whereof Mr. Burdeâ made speciall account so as comming home and finding that Buck killed he wished it hornes and all in his belly that had counselled the king to kill it and because none counselled the King to kill it but himselfe it was thought those words were not spoken without a malignant reflecting upon the King and thereupon Burdet was arraigned and condemned drawne to Tiburne and there beheaded though Mârkhââ then Chiefe Justice chose rather to lose his place than assent to the Judgement And now began ambition to boyle in Richard Duke of Glocester whereof the first heate fell upon his brother the Duke of Clarence how to rid him out of the way to which end he seeks to raise Jealousies in King Edwards head against him telling him that some of Clareâce his followers were Sorcereâs and Necromancers and had given forth speeches that one whose name begun with G. should disinherit his Children and get the Crown and for a colour of this suggestion one of the Duke of Clarââce his servants who came with him out of
Ireland from Dublin where the Duke was born is in his Masters absence by the procurement underhand of the Duke of Glocester indicted ârraigned condemned and executed at Tyburne for a Conjurer and all within the space of two dayes and the Duke of Glocester to make shew that he had no hand in this fellows death set on the Duke of Clarence to complaine of it to King Edward and in the mean time finds matter at least colour of matter to make him be committed to the Tower ând then againe to make shew he had no hand in his imprisonment bids him be of good cheere for it should not be long ere he would see him released and he kept his word for not long after by his procurement he was drowned in a But of Malmesey and this was his releasement and then laid in his bed to make the people believe that he died of discontent whose death King Edward though perhaps consenting to it so much resented that afterwards when he was sued unto for any mans Pardon he would âighing break out into such words Oh unfortunate brotherâ for whose life not one man would open his mouth Being dead he was buried at Tewkesbury in Glocestershire by the body of his Dutchesse who great with childe dyed of Poyson a little before It was now the two and twentieth yeere of King Edwards Reigne when Iames King of Scotland sent Ambassadors to treate of a Mariage between his eldest sonne Iames Duke of Rothsay and Cicely king Edwards second daughter This overture for a March was by the king and his Councell readily imbraced and a great part of the Portion was delivered to the Scots with this Proviso That if the mariage diâ not proceed the Provost and Merchants of Edenbourgh should be bound to repây it againe But the Scotish king who had other fantasies in his head and would take counsell of none but his owne will and diverted also perhaps by the king of France not onely dallyed the proceeding in the maâch but affronted those of the Nobility thât perswaded him to it in so much that his Brother the Duke of Albany was enforced to abandon the Country and to flie for refuge into England by whom king Edward being informed of king Iames his fickle disposition was so much incensed that under the conduct of the Duke of Glocester accompanied with the Duke of Albany he sent an Army of twenty thousand against Scotland who in their way took in Barwick and besieged the Castle which being resolutely defended by the Earle Bothwell the Duke left the Lord Stanley to continue the siege whil'st he wiâh the rest of the Army marched towards Edenbourgh where within the Castle of Maydens king Iames had immur'd himselfe But the Nobility of Scotland seeing the danger they were in endeavoured by humble submission to procure a peace at least a cessation from war which with much importunity they obtained upon these Conditions That full satisfaction should be presently given for all dammages sustained by the late incursions That the Duke of Albany should be fully restored to grace and place with an abolition of all discontents between his brother king Iames and him That the Castle of Barwicke which had been now out of the Possession of the English one and twenty yeers should immediately be surrendred into the Generals hands and from thence no reduction of that or the Town attempted That all such summes of money as upon the proposition of the marriage had been delivered should be repaid All which except the first Article were accordingly pââformed When this busines with Scotland was indifferently accomodated King Edward receivâs intelligence from his Ambassadour-Leidger in France that the French King not only denied the payment of the annuall Tribute of fifty thousand crowns agreed upon and sworn to upon the ratification of the late concluded Peace but had also married the Dolphin of France to the Lady Margaret daughter of Maximillân Sonne of the Emperour which so much incensed K. Edward that he resolves to revenge it and by the advise of his Counsell open warre was presently Proclamed against France but whil'st King Edward is making preparation and intentive to the busines he is attached by the hand of death and upon the ninth of April in the yeer 1483 at Westminster ended this mortall life Of his Taxations IN his second yeer he sent his Privy Seale through England to move men to give him a certaine summe of money towards resisting the Scots whâch was granted and given liberalây In his seventh yeer in a Parliament at Westminster were ââsumed all manner of gifts which the King had given from the first day he tooke possession of the Realm to that time In his eighth yeer at a Parliament were grantâd two Fifteens and a Demy In his thirteenth yeer a Parliament was holden wherein a Subâidie was granted and the yeer following towards warre to be undertaken in France a new way of raysing money is devised called a Benevolence by which great summes of money were gotten of the Subject and it is not unworthy the relating what an old rich Widdow at this time did whom King Edward amonstothers having called before him merrily asked what she would willingly give him towards his great charges By my troth quoth shee for thy lovely countenance thou shalt have even twenty pounds The King looking scarce for half that summe thanked her and lovingly kist her which so wrought with the old widdow that she presently swore he should have twenty pound more and payd it willingly Noâ long before his death he was by ill Counsellours put upon a distastefull course for raysing of mony which was by fining men for delinquencies against Penall Statures by which course some money was gathered but before it came to full execution he dying that also dyed with him Of his Lawes and Ordinances IN his fourth yeer he newly devised the Coyne both of Gold and Silver as aâ this day it is the Gold he named Royals and Nobles the Silver Groats and ãâã Groats the new Groate weighing scantly three pence and the Noble of six shillings eight pence appointed to goe for eight shillings foure pence In his fifth yeer it was Proclamed in England that the Beakes or Pykes of Shooes and Bootes should not passe two Inches upon paine of Cursing by the Clergie and forfeiting twenty shillings to be paid one noble to the King another to the Cordwayners of London and the third to the Chamber of London and for other Countries and Towns the like order was taken Before this time and since the yeer 1382. the Pykes of Shooes and Bootes were of such length that they were faine to be tyed up to the Knees with chaines of Silver and gilt or at least with silken laces Affaires of the Church in his time IN this Kings time the Jubile which was before but every fiftieth yeer was by Pope Sixâââ the fourth brought to be every five and twenty yeer Also where before this time
of himselfe oftentimes of others He had made the White Rose to flourish as long as Henry the Fourth made the Red if he had not made it change colour with too much blood He had been fortunate in his children if he had not been unfortunate in a brother but he was well enough served that would thinke a Wolfe could ever be a good Shepheard He had an excellent art in improving his favours for he could doe as much with a small courtesie as other men with a great benefit And that which was more he could make advantage of disadvantages for he got the love of the Londoners by owing them money and the good will of the Citizens by lying with their wives Of his Death and Buriall WHether it began from his minde being extreamely troubled with the injurious dealing of âhe King of France or from his body by intemperance of dyet to which he was much given he fell into a sicknesse some say a Catarche some a Feaver but into a sicknesse whereof he dyed In the time of which sicknesse at the very point of his death Sir Thomas Moore makes him to make a speech to his Lords which I might thinke to be the speech of a sick man if it were not so sound and of a weake man if it were not so long but it seemes Sir Thomas Moore delivers rather what was fit for him to say than what he sayd the Contents being onely to exhort his Lords whom he knew to be at variance to be in love and concord amongst themselves for that the welfare of his children whom he must now leave to their care could not otherwise be preserved but by their agreement And having spoken to this purpose as much as his weaknes would suffer him he found himselfe sleepy and turning on one side he fell into his long sleep the ninth of April in the yeere 1483. when he had lived one and forty yeeres Reigned two and twenty and one moâeth and was buried at Windsor in the new Chappell whose foundation himselfe had laid Of men of Note in his time MEN of valour in his time were many but himselfe the chiefest the rest may be observed in reading his story For men of letters we may have leave at this time to speake of some strangers having been men of extraordinary fame as IohaÌnes de Monte Regiâ Purbachiuâ and Blââchinuâ all great Astronomers Ludovicus Pontanus Paulus Castrensis and Aâthonius Rossellanus all great Lawyers Servisanus Savaâarola and Barzizius all great Phisitians Bessarion and Cusanus both great Cardinalls Argyrâpole Philelphus Datus Leonardus Aretinus and Poggius all great men in humane litârature And of our own Countrimen Iohn Harding an Eâquire borne in the North parts who wrote a Chronicle in English verse and among oâher speciall points therein touched hath gathered all the Submissions and Homages made by the Scottish kings even from the dayes of King Athelstan whereby it may evideââây appeare how the Scottish kingdome even in manner from the first Establishâng thereof here in Britaine hath been appertaining unto the kings of England and holden of them as their chiefe and superiour Lords Iulian Bemes a Gentlewoman of excellent gifts who wrote certaine Treatises of Hawking and Hunting also a book of the Lâwes of Armes and knowledge pertaining to Heraâlds Iohn Forââscue a Judge and Chancellour of England who wrote divers Treatises concerning the Law and Politick Government Rochus a Charterhouse-Monk born in London who wrote divers Epigrams Walter Hânt a Carmelite Fryer who for his excellent learning was sent from the whole body of the Realme to the Generall Counsell hâldââ firââ at Ferrâra and after at Florence by Pope Eâgenius the fourth where âe amângsâ others disâuted with the Greekes iâ defence of the Order and Ceremoââes oâ the Latine Church William Caxton who wrote a Chronicle called Fructuâ Temporum and an Appendix unto Trevisa besides divers other bookes and translations Iohn Milverton a Carmelitâ Frier of Bristow and provinciall of his Order who because he defended such of his Order as preached against endowments of the Church with Temporall possessions was committed to prison in the Castle of Saint Angelâ in Rome where he continued three yeers David Morgan a Welshman who wrote of the Antiquities of Wales and a description of the Country Iohn Tiptoft a nobleman born who wrote divers Treatises but lost of his head in the yeer 1471. Robert Huggon born in Norfolk who wrote certaine vaine Prophesies Thomas Nortoâ born in Bristow an Alchymistâ Scogaââ a learned Gentleman and a Student for a time in Oxford who for his plesant wit and merry conceits was called to Court But most worthy of all to be remembred Thomas Littleton a reverend Judge of the Common Pleâs who brought a great part of the Law into a Method whicâ lay before confusedly dispersed and his book called Littletons Tenures THE REIGNE OF KING EDWARD THE FIFTH KING Edward the Fourth being dead his eldest Sonne Edwâââ scarce yet eleven yeeââ old succeeded in the kingdome but not in the Crown for he was Proclaimed king but never Crowned and indeed it may not so properly be called the Reigne of Eââââdâhe âhe fifth as the Tyranny of Richard the Third for from the time of king Edwardâ death though not in Name yet in effectâ he not onely ruled as king but raged as a Tyrant Prince Edwaââ when his Father dyed was at Ludlow in Wales where he had lived some time before the better by his presence to keep the Welsh in awe He had about him of his Mothers kindred many but Sir Anthony Woodvile the Earle Rivers his Uncle was appointed his chiefe Counsellour and directour The Duke of Glocester was at this time in the North but had word presently sent him from the Lord Hastings Lord Chamberlaine of his brother king Edwards death who acquainted him withall that by his Will he had committed the young king his Queen and other children to his care and government and thereupon putting him in minde ãâã necessary it was for him speedâly to repâirâ to London But the Duke of Gloceââer needed no spurre to set him forward who was already in a full cariere for he had long before projected in his minde how he might come to attaine the Crown and now hee thought the way was made him For as it is said the very night in which king Edward dyed one Misselbrooke long ere morning came in great haste to the house of one Potter dwelling in Red-crosse-streete without Cripplegate where he shewed unto Potter that king Edward was departed to whom Potter answered By my troth man then will my Master the Duke of Glocester be king what cause he had so to thinke is hard to say but surely it is not likely he spake it of nought And now the young king was comming up to London with a strong guard partly to make a first expression of his greatnesse and partly to oppose any disorders that might be offered But the Duke
Earle returning into Brittâiâe received there the news of the Duke of Buckinghams death and the dispârâing of the Confederates forces with which though he was at first much troubled yet was he as much comforted afterward when he saw the Marquesse Dorset and those other Lords and Captaines come unto him soon after whose comming upon Christââsse day before the high Altar in the great Church of Rheims the Earle of Richmoâd gave Oath to marry the Lady Elâzabeth as soone as he should be quietly âeâled in the Government of England and thereupon all the Lords and Knights there present did him homage and in the same place each to other Religiously Vowed taking the Sacrament upon it never to cease prosecuting warre against king Richard till either his Deposition or Destruction King Richard being informed of these things makes diligent enquiry after all such as might be suspected to be favourers of Richmonds association of whom Sir George Brown and Sir Roger Clifford with foure other Gentlemen are apprehended and exâcuted at London Sir Thomas Sentlâgeâ whom mârried Anne the Duke of Excetârs widdow this kings own sister and Thomas Rame Esquire were executed at Exceter Thomas Marquesse Dorset and all such as were with the Earle of Richâââd were at a Parliament then holden attâinted of Treason and all their Goodâ aâd Lands seized on to the kings use Besides these a poore Gentleman called Câlliâgborââ for making a small ryme of thâee of his wicked Coânsellours the Lord Lâââll Sir Robert Ratcliffe and Sir William Catesby which ryme was thus framed ãâã Cat the Rat and ââvell the Dog rule all Englaââ under a ââog was put to deatâ ând his body divided into foure quarterâ At this time a Truce is conclâded betwixt England and Scââland for three yearsâ and for a seâling a firmer Amity between the two kingdomes a marriage it treatedâ of between the Duke of Rothsay eldest Sonne to the king of Scots and the Lady Anne de la Poole daughter to Iohn Duke of Suffolk by Anne sister to king Riâhard which sister he so much favoured that after the death of his own sonne who dyed some time before âe caused Iohn Earle of Lincolne her sonne and his Nephew to be proclaimed Heire apparent to the Crown of England And now King Richard to take away the Root of his feare once againe sent Ambâââadors to the Duke of Britaine with ordeâ besides the great gifts they caried with them to make offer that king Richard should yeerly pay and answer the Duke of all the Revenues and Profits of all lands and possessionsâ as well belonging to the Earle of Richmond as of any other Nobleman or Gentleman that were in his company if he after that time would keep them in continuall prison and restraine theâ from liberty But the Duke of Britâine being at that time fallen into such infirmity that the Ambassadors could have no audience they addressed themselves to âeter Landois the Dukes chief Treasurer and he taken with this golden hook faithfully promised to satisfie their Request and had done so indeed but that B. Mortoâ sojourning then in Flââders had by his friends Intelligence of his purpose and presently informed the E. thereof The E. was then at Vaââeââ who upon the Bps. information taking with him only five servants as though he went but to visit some friend when he was five miles forward on his way suddenly turned into a Wood adjoyning and there changing apparell with one of his servants followed after as their attendant and never rested till by wayes unknown he came to his company abiding at Angiârâ yet was not his departure so secret nor so sudden but that Peter Landois had notice of it who sending Posts after him was so neer overtaking him that he was scarce entred one houre into Francâ when the Posts arrived at the Conâines and then durst goe no further In the mean time Sir Edward Woodvile and Captaine Pâynings who with their companies were left behinde in Vannes had been in danger of Peter Lândis his malice but that the Duke being informed by the Chancellour of their case not only protected them but furnished them with all necessaries for their journey to the Earle and was so incensed against Lââdois for this action of his that for this and some other over-bold preâumptions he was afterward hanged The Earle having passed this danger in Britaine and being arrived in France addresseth himselfe to the French king imploring his ayde and hath it promised and performed and in this time Iohn Vere Earle of Oxford who had long time been kept prisoner in the Castle of Hammes so farre prevailed with Iames Blunt Captaine of the Fortresse and Sir Iohn Fortescue Porter of the Town of Callice that not onely they suffered him to be at liberty but accompanied him also to the Earle of Richmâââ to whom Captain Blunt gave assurance that the Fortresse remained wholly at his devotion At this time also there resorted to the Earle divers young Gentlemen that were Students in the University of Paris profering him their service amongst whom was Richard Fox at that time famous for his learning with whom afterward the Earle advised in all his affaires made him one of his most Privy Counsell and at last Bishop of Winchester But now king Richard having been disappointed of his designe in Britaine hath another way in his head to disapoint the Earle of Richmond of his marriage with the Daughter of Queen Elizabeth and to this end he sent to the Queenâ being still in Sanctuary divers messengers who should first excuse and purge him of all things formerly attempted and done against her and then should largely promise promotions innumerable not onely to her selfe but also to her sonne Lord Thomas Marquesse Dârâetâ by âorâe of which promises the messengers so prevailed with her âhat noâ onely she began âo relent but ãâ¦ã was content to submit her selfe wholly to thâ kingâ pleasure And thereupon putting in oblivion the murther of her innoââââ Children the butchering of her own Brother and Sonne the infamy of her âoyâll Huââand the aspersion of Adulteây cast upon her selfe the imputation of Bastardy laid to her Daââhterââ forgetting also her Oaâh made to the Earle of Richmonds Mothâr seduced by flaâtering words she first delivered into king Richards hands her âive Daughters and after sent letters to the Marquesse her Sonne being then at Pariâ witâ the Earle of Richmond willing him by any means to leave the Earle and with all speed to repaire into Englandâ where for him were provided great Honours and Promotions Assuring him further that all offences on both parts were forgotâen ând forgiven and both he and she incorporated in the kings favour If we wonder at this credulity in the Queen we may conceive she was moved with the ãâ¦ã motives of Feare and hope she feared no doubt that if she denyed the kingâ request he would presently take some sharpe course both against her and her Dâââhtârs and she hoped that
Stowre upon the West side of the Towne Upon this bridge the like report runneth stood a stone of some heigth against which king Richard as hee passed âowards Bosworth by chance strook his spurre and against the same stone as he was brought back hanging by the horse side his head was dashed and broken as a Wise-woman forsooth had fore-told who before his going to battell being asked of his successe said that where his spurre strooke his head should be broken But these are but Repoâââ He had lived seven and thirty yeeres Reigned two and two moneths Of men of Note in his time OF men of Note for wickednesse and villany enough have been mentioned iâ the body of the Story and for men of Valour and Learning they will fitteâ be placed in a better Kings Reigne THE REIGNE OF KING HENRY THE SEVENTH HENRY Earle of Richmond borne in Pembrooke-Castle sonne to Edmund Earle of Richmond by his wife Margaret sole daughter of Iohn Duke of Somerset which Iohn was sonne of Iohn Earle of Somerset sonne of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster by his third wife Katherine Swinford and by this descent Heire of the House of Lancaster having wonne the Battell at Bosworth against King Richard is by publick acclamations saluted King of England on the 22 day of August in the yeere 1485. and this was his first Title And now to take away a Root of danger before his departure from Leicester he sent Sir Robert Willougâby to the Castle of Sheriffehaton in the County of Yorke for Edward Plantageâet Earle of Warwick sonne and heire to George Duke of Clarence being then of the age of fifteen yeeres whom King Richard had there kept a prisoner all his time who was thence conveyed to London and shut up in the Tower to be kept in safe custodie In the same Castle also King Richard had left residing the Lady Elizabeth eldest daughter to King Edward the Fourth and her now King Henry appoints honorably attended to be brought up to London and to be delivered to the Queene her mother This done he tooke his journey towards London where at his approaching neere the City Thomas Hill the Major Thomas Brittaine and Richard Chester Sheriffs with other principall Citizens met him at Shore-ditch and in great state brought him to the Cathedrall Church of St. Paul where he offered three Standards in the one was the Image of St. George in another was a red fiery Dragon beaten upon white and greene Sarcenet in the third was painted a dun Cow upon yellow Tarterne After Prayers said he departed to the Bishops Palace and there sojourned a season And in the time of his stay here he advised with his Councell and appointed a day for solemnizing his mariage with the Lady Elizabeth before which time notwithstanding he went by water to Westminster and was there with great solemnity Anointed and Crowned King of England by the whole consent as well of the Commons as of the Nobility by the name of Henry the Seventh on the thirtieth day of October in the yeere 1485 and this was his second Title And even this was revealed to Cadwalloder last King of the Britaines seven âuâdred ninety and seven yeeres past That his off-spring should Raigne and bâaâe Dominion in this Realme againe On the seventeenth day of November following he called his High Court of Parliament where at the first sitting two scruples appeaâed One concerning tâe Burgesses for that many had been returned Burgesses and knights of Shires who by a Parliament in king Richards time stood Attainted still and it was thought incongâuous for men to make Lawââ who were themselves out-lawed For remedy whereof an Act was presently passed for their restoring and then they were admitted to sit in the House The other concerning the King himselfe who had been Attainted by king Richard but for this It was resolvâd by all the Judges in the Châquer Chamber that the possession of the Crowne takes away all defects yet for Honours sake all Records of hiâ Attainder were taken off the File And so these scruples thus removed the Parliament bâgaâ wherein were Attainted first Richard late Duke of Glocester calling himselfe Richard the Third Then his Assistants at the Battell of Bosworth Iohn late Duke of Norfolk Thomas Earle of Surrey Francis Viscount Lovell Walter Devereux late Lord Ferrers Iohn Lord Zouch Roberâ Harington Richard Chaâletoââ Richarâ Ratâliffeâ William Berâley of Weley Robert Middleton Iames Haringtoâââobert Brâcâenbâây Tâomas Pilkington Walâer Hoâton William Catesby Roger Wâke William Sapcoâe Humfry Stafford William Clerke of Wenlock Geoffry St. Germaine Richard Watkins Herauld at Armes Richard Revell Thomas Pulâer Iohn Welsh Iohn Kenâall lâte Secretary to the late king Richard Iohn Buck Andrew Rat and William Brampton of Burford But notwithstanding this Attainder divers of the persons aforesaid were afterwards not only by King Henây pardoned but restored also to their lands and livings As likewise he caused Proclamation to be made that whosoever would submit themselves and take Oath to be true subjects should have their Pardon whereupon many came out of Sanctuaries and other places who submitting themselves were received to mercy And now King Henry conâidering that âaena Praemio Respublica contineâuy after Punishing for Offenceâ he proceeds to Rewarding for Service and first Iasper Earle of Pembrooke his Unkle he created Duke of Bedford Thomas Lord Stanley he created Earle of Darbâ the Lord Chendow of Britaine his speciall friend he made Earle of Bathe Sir Giles Daubenây was made Lord Dawbeney Sir Robert Willoughby was made Lord Brooke and Edward Stafford eldest sonne to Henry late Duke of Buckingham he restored to his Dignity and Possessions Besides in this Parliament an Act was made for seââing the Crowne upon the person of king Henry and the heires of his Body successively for ever And then with all speed he sent and redeemed the Marquesse Dorset and Sir Iohn Bourchier whom he had left Hostages in France for money and called home Morton Bishop of Ely and Richard Fox making Morton Archbishop of Canterbury and Fox Lord Keeper of the Privy Sâole and Bishop of Winchester Besides these he made also of his Privy Counsell Iasper Duke of Bedford Iohn Earle of Oxford Thomas Stanley Earle of Darby Iohn Bishop of Ely Sir William Stanley Lord Chamberlaine of his Houshold Sir Robert Willoughby Lord Brooke Lord Steward of his Houshold Giles Lord Dawbeny Iohn Lord Dynââm after made Lord Treasurer of England Sir Reginold Bray Sir Iohn Cheyny Sir Richard Guildford Sir Richard Tunstall Sir Richard Edgecombe Sir Thomas Lovell Sir Edmund Pâynings Sir Iohn Risley with some other These things thus done as well in performance of his Oath as to make his Crown sit the surer on his head on the eighteenth day of Ianuary he proceeded to the solemnizing his marriage with the Lady Elizabeth which gave him a third title And indeed this conjunction made a wreath of three so indissoluble that no age since hath
Deane of Paulsâ to be Commissioners for maâing enquiry of the Offenders ãâã for assessing their Fines which they did with great severity to some with great mildnesse to others to all with equity ãâã was now the fourteenth yeer of the kings Reigne when one Sebastian ââbato â Geâââa's Sonne born ât Bâiston perswaded the king to man and victuaââ a ship at Bristow âo search for ãâã stand which he said he knew to be replenished with rich Commodities who setting forth with three other small shâps of London merchants returned home two yeerâ after when he had made a large discovery westward and would have gone to ãâã if the Mariners had not forced him to return a likewise siâ years before one Christopâer Columbus a Spanyard made the first discovery of America Perkin being in the Tower and carefully guarded yet found me âs to escape and fled to the Priory of Sheen neer Richmond where discovering himselfe to the Pryor of that Monastery he begged of him for Gods sake to get the kings Pardon foâ his life which the Prior effected but then was Perkin brought to the Court at Westminster and was one day set fettered in a paire of Stocks before Westminster-hall and there stood a whole day the next day he was set upon a like Scaffold in Cheape-side and there standing the whole day also hethen read openly his confession wrâtten with his own hand wherein he declared his Parentage and the place of his Birth and all the passages of his Life and by what means he was drawn to make this attempt After this he was committed againe to the Tower and care taken he should be better looked to than he was before But all the care notwithstanding once againe Perkin attempted to escape and drawing into a Confederacy with him the young Earle of Warwicke by faire words and large promises so corrupted his keepers Straâgwish Blâwet Astwood and long Roger servants to Sir Iohn Digbie Lieutenant of the Tower that they intended to have slaine their Master and set Perkiâ and the Earle of Warwicke at liberty But this practice was soone discovered âo that Perkiâ and Iohn a Water sometime Major of Corke in Ireland one of Perkiâs chiefe founders were on the sixteenth day of November arraigned at Westminster and condemned and both of them on the two and twentieth day were drawn to Tyburne and there hanged where Perkiâ tooke it upon his death that the Confession he had formerly made was true soon after also Blewet and Astwood two of the Lieutenants men were in the same place executed On the one and twentieth day of the same month Edward Plantagemet Earle of Warwicke was arraigned at Westminster before the Earle of Oxford then High Steward of England not for consenting to breake Prison but for conspiring with Perkin to raise Sedition and destroy the king and upon his Confession had Judgement and on the eight and twentieth day of the same month in the yeer 1499. was brought to the Scaffold on the Tower-hill and there beheaded This Earle of Warwick was the eldest Sonne of the Duke of Clarence and was the last Heire male of the name of Plantagenet and had been kept in the Tower from his very Inâancy out of all company of Men and fight of Beasts so as he scarcely knew a Hen from a Goose nor one beast from another and therefore could never know how to practice his escape of himselfe but by Perkiâs subtlety for which cause the king favoured him so farre that he was not buried in the Tower but at Bissam by his Ancestours And thus ended the designes of Perkiâ Warbeck which had troubled both the Kingdome and the King the space of seven or eight yeers a great part of the Kings Raigne But in the time of Perkiâs being in the Tower another like practice was set on foot for an Augustiâe Frier called Patrick in the County of Suffolk having a Scholler named Ralph Wilford a Cordwayners Sonne he caused him to take upon him to be the Earle of Warwicke lately by great chance gotten out of the Tower and they going together into ãâã when the Frier perceived some light credit to be given to him he then stuck not to declare it openly in the Pulpit desiring all men to assist him But this practice was soone discovered and both the Mr. and the Scholler were apprehended attainted the Scholler Wilford was hanged on Shrovetuesdây at S. Thomas Waterings and the Frier was condemned to perpetuall Prison for at that time so much reverence was attributed to holy Orders that a Priest though âe had commited Treason against the king yet had hâs life spared And this practââe was some cause to exasperate the king against the Earle of Warwicke who though innocent in himselfe yet was nocent in pretenders and besides king Ferdinand of Spaiâe with whom at this time there was a Treaty for marriage of his Daughter to Prince Arthur had written to the king in plaine terms that he saw no assurance of his Sonnes succession as long aâ the Earle of Warwicke lived and thus all things unfortunately concurred to bring this innocent Prince to his end In the fifteenth yeer of his Reigne partly to avoide the danger of the Plague then raigning in England but chiefely to conferre with the Duke of Burgoigne about many important businesses the King and Queen sayled over to Callice where at an enterview between him and the Duke at Saint Peters Church without Callice the Duke offered to hold the kings sturrup at his alighting which the king by no meanes would permit but descending from horse-back they embraced wiâh great affection ând after Communication had between them the King and Queen in the end oâ Iuââ returned into England In his seventeenth yeer âwo great Marriages were solemnized the Lady ãâã of Spaine was sent by her Father king Ferdiâaâd with a puissant Army of Sââps into Eâgland where she arrived at Plimouth the second day of October and on the fourteenth of November afterâ was espoâsed openly to Prince Arâhur both beâng clad in white He of the age of ââfteen yeers shee of eighteen at night they were laid together in one Bed where they lay as Man and Wife all that night when âoâning appeared the Prince as his servants about him reported called for drinke which before time he had not used to doe whereof one of his Chambârlaines âsking ãâã the causeâ he answered merrily saying I have been this night in the middest oâ Spaâââ which is a hot Country and âhat makeâ me so dry though some write thaââ grave Matron was laid in bed between them to hinder actuall Consummationââ Tâe Ladies portion was two hundred thousand Duckets her joynture the ãâã part of the Principality of Wales Cornwall and Châster At this Marriage was grâââ solemnity and Royall Justings during which time there came into London ãâã Earle a Bishop and divers other noble personages sent from the king of Scots ãâ¦ã conclusion of a Mariage before treated of
refusing to pay it was committed to prison where hee stayed till Empson himselfe was committed in his place By these courses hee accumulated so great store of Treasure that he left at his death most of it in secret places under his own key and keeping at Richmond as is reported the summe of neer eighteen hundred thousand pounds sterling But though by this course he got great store of Treasure yet by it he lost the best treasure the peoples hearts but that he something qualified it by his last Testament commanding that Restitution should be made of all such moneys as had unjustly been levied by his Officers It seemes king Henry after the death of his Queene the Lady Elizabeth had an inclination to marry againe and hearing of the great beauty virtue of the young Queene of Naples the widow of Ferdinando the younger he sent three confident persons Francis Marsyn Iames Braybrooke and Iohn Stile to make two inquiries one of her person and conditions the other of her Estate Who returning him answer that they found her Beauty and Virtues to be great but her Estate to be onely a certaine Pension or Exhibition and not the kingdome of Naples as he expected he then gave over any further medling in that matter After this another Treaty of Mariage was propounded to the king betweene him and the Lady Margaret Dutchesse Dowager of Savoy onely daughter to Maximilian and Sister to the king of Castile a Lady wise and of great good fame In which businesse was imployed for his first piece the kings then Chaplain and after the great Prelate Thomas Woolsey It was in the end concluded with ample conditions for the king but with promise de Futuro onely Which mariage was protracted from time to time in respect of the Infirmity of the king which held him by âits till he dyed He left Executours Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester Richard Fitz Iames Bishop of London Thomas Bishop of Durham Iohn Bishop of Rochester Thomas Duke of Norfolk Treasurer of England Edward Earl of Worcester and Lord Chamberlaine Iohn F. knight chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench and Robert R. knight chiefe Justice of the Common Pleas. A little before his death he had concluded a marriage in which negociation Foxe Bishop of Winchester was imployed between his younger Daughter the Lady Mary of the age of ten years and Charles king of Castile not much elder but though concluded yet not solemnized and she was afterward married to Lewis the French king Of his Taxations IN his third yeer there was by Parliament granted toward the maintaining an Army in Britaine that every man should pay the tenth penny of his Goods which Tax though at first withstood in Yorkeshire and Durham yet was afterwad levied to the uttermost In his seventh yeer towards his warres in France a Benevolence was by Parliament granted by which great summes of money were collected of the richer sort only In his eleventh yeer a Subsidie of sixscore thousand pounds was granted him by Parliament towards his waâs with Scotland which caused afterward the insurrection in Cornwall In his nineteenth yeer a Subsidie was granted him by Parliament In his one and twentieth yeer âe raised great summes of money from offenders against Penall Statutes the greatest but the unjustest way for raising of money that every any king of England used and not content with this he required and had at the same time a Benevolence both from the Clergie and Laity To the Clergie was imployed Richard Fox then Bishop of Winchester who assembling the Clergie before him exhorted them to be liberall in their contribution but the Clergie being of two sorts rich and poore made each of them their severall excuses The rich and such as had great livings said they were at great charges in keeping hospitality and maintaining their families and therefore desired to be spaâed The poorer sort alledged that their means were small and scarce able to finde them necessaries and therefore desired to be forborne But the Bishop answered them both with a pretty Dilemma saying to the rich It is true you live at great charges in hospitality in apparell and other demonstrations of your wealth and seeing you have store to spend in such order there is no reason but for your Princes service you should do it much more and therefore you must pay To the poorer sort he said though your livings be small yet your frugality is great and you spend not in house-keeping and apparell as other doe therefore be content for you shall pay Of his Lawes and Ordinances THIS King was the first that ordained a company of tall strong men naming them Yeomen of the Guard to be attending about the person of the king to whom he appointed a Livery by which to be known and a Câptaine by whom to be chosen In his time the authority of the Star-chamber which subsisted before by the Common Lawes of the Realme was confirmed in certaine cases by Act of Parliament In his time were made these excellent generall Laws One that from thenceforth sines should be finall and conclude all strangers rights Another for admission of poore suitours In forma paâperis without paying Fee to Counsellour Atturney or Clerke Another that no person that did assist by Armes or otherwise the King for the time being should after be Impeached therefore or Attainted either by course of the Law or by Act of Parliament and that if any such Act of Attainder did happen to be made it should be void and of none effect Another for the Benevolence to make the summes which any had agreed to pay and were not brought in to be leviable by course of Law Another that Murtherers should be burnt on the Brawn of the left hand with the letter M. and Theeves with the letter T. so that if they offended the second time they should have no mercy but âe put to death and this to âeach also to Clearkes Convict In his fifth yeer It was ordained by Parliament that the Major of London should have Conservation of the river of Thames from the bridge of Stanes to the waters of Yendalâ and Mâd-way In his seventeenth Iohn Shaw Major of London caused his brethren the Aldermen to ride from the Guild-hall to the waters-side when he went to Westminster to be presented in the Exchequer âe also caused the kitchins and other houses of office âo be builded at the Guild-hall where since that time the Majors feast haâh been kept which before had been in the Grocers or Taylours-hall In his eighteenth yeer king Henry being himselfe a brother of the Taylours Company as divers kings before had been namely Richard the third Edward the fourth Henry the sixth Henry the fifth Henry the fourth and Richard the second also of Dukes 11. Earles 28. Lords 48. he now gave to them the Name and Title of Merchant Taylours as a name of worship to endure for ever Affaires of the Church in his time IN
wrote certaine Rules of Grammar and other things printed by Richard Pinson Robert Fabian a Sheriffe of London and an Historiographer Edmund Dudley the same man whom king Henry used to take the forfeitures of Penall Statuâes who wrote a Booke intituled Arbor Reâ-publicae Iohn Bockingham an excellent Schoole-man and William Blackeney a Carmelite Frier a Doctor of Divinity and a Necromancer THE REIGNE OF KING HENRY THE EIGHT KING Henry the seventh being deceased his only sonne Prince Henry Heire by his Father of the house of Lancaster and by his Mother of the house of Yorke by unquestionable right succeeded in the Crowne at the Age of eighteene yeers on the two and twentieth of Aprill in the yeere 1509. who having been trained up in the study of good letters all his Fathers timeâ he Governed at first as a man newly come from Contemplation to Action as it were by the Bookeâ in so regular and fair a manâer that as of Neroes Goverment there was said to be Quinquennium Neronis so of this Kings there might as justly be said Decennium Henrici and perhaps double so long a time comparable with so much time of any Kings Reigne that had been before him How he came to alter and to alter to such a degree of change as he did we shall then have a fit place to shew when we come to the time of his alteration King Henry having learned by Bookes that the weight of a Kingdome is too heavy to lie upon one mans shoulders if it be not supported by able Councellours made it his first care to make choice of an able Councell to which he called VVilliam VVarham Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellour of England Richard Fox Bishop of VVinchester Thomas Howard Earle of Surry and Treasurer of England George Talbot Earle of Shrewsbury and Lord Steward of his Houshold Charles Summerset Lord Chamberlaine Sir Lovellâ Sir Henry VVyat Doctor Thomas Ruthall and Sir Edward Poynings by advise of these Councellours his first Act after the care of his Fathers Funerall was the care to performe his Fathers Will in marrying the Lady Katherine of Spaine the Relict of his Brother Prince Arthur to which perhaps but in respect of filiall pierie he had not the greatest devotion and for relinquishing whereof he might no doubt more easily have obtained a Despensation from the Pope then his Father had done for getting it to be allowed but obsequiousnesse to his Fathers desire and respect to his Councels advice so far prevailed with him that he would not be Crowned till that were performed that one Coronation might serve them both and so on the third day of Iune following he married the said Lady at the Bishop of Salisburies house in Fleetstreet where of many great solemnities I will remember but this one that though the Bride were a Widdow yet to shew she was a Virgin Widdow she was attired all in white and had the haire of her head hanging-downe behinde at the full length and then having made in the Tower four and twenty Knights of the Bath two dayes after being Midsomer day he was Crowned at Westminster together with his Queene by the hands of VVilliam VVarham Archbishop of Canterbury with all Circumstances of State in such cases usuall and then all the Nobility Spirituall and Temporall did him Homage and the people being asked whether they would receive him for their King they all with one voice cryed yea yea This done his next Act was another part of performing his fathers Will which was to proclaime Pardons for all offences Treason Murder and Felonie only excepted and to have restitution made of all goods unjustly taken from any and because the Instruments of such injustice are alwayes most odious and nothing gives the people so much contentment as to see their Persecutours punished he therefore caused Empson and Dudley the two chiefe Actours of the late unjust proceedings to be committed to the Tower and divers of their inferiour Agents called Promoters as Canby Page Smith Derby Wright Simpson and Stockton to be set on the Pillory in Cornhill with papers on their heads and then to ride through the City with their faces to the horse tailes with the shame whereof within seven dayes after they all died in Newgate Shortly after a Parliament was called whereof Sir Thomas Ingleby was chosen Speaker and therein Empson and Dudley were attainted of High Treason and after arraigned Edmund Dudley in the Guildhall on the seventeenth of Iuly and Sir Richard Empson at Northampton in October following and on the seventeenth of August the yeere following they were both of them beheaded on the Tower Hill and their Bodies and Heads buried the one at the White Fryers the other at the Black On Midsomer Eave at night King Henry came privily into VVestchester cloathed in one of the Coats of his Guard to behold the same and this first yeer King Henry spent in Justs and Maskes which were almost perpetuall performed with great Magnificence alwayes and sometimes with great Acts of Valour on the Kings part specially In February the same yeer Embassadours came from the Kings Father in law the King of Aragon requiring Ayde against the Moores in which service the Lord Thomas Darcy a Knight of the Garter making suite to be imployd he was sent thither and with him the Lord Anthony Gray brother to the Marquesse Dorset Henry Guilford Wolstan Browne and William Sidney Esquires of the Kings House Sir Constableâ Sir Roger Hastings Sir Ralph Elderton and others who on the Mundây in the Rogation Weeke departed out of Plimotâ Haven with four ships Royall and on the first of Iune arrived at the Port of Cadis in south Spaine of whose comming the King of Aragon hearingâ sent to bid them welcome but advertising them withall that he had now by reason of new troubles with France taken truce with the Moores and therefore they might returne againe into their owne Country to whom yet he allowed wages for all his souldiers Wâereupon the Lord Darcy and all his men went aboord their ships but Henry Guilford Wolâtan Brâwne and William Sidney desirous to see the Court of Spaine went thither and were honourably entertained Henry Guilford and Wolstan Browne were made Knights by the King who gave to Sir Henry Guilâord a Canton of Granado and to Sir Wolstan Browne an Eagle of Sicily on a Chiefe to the augmentation of their Armes William Sidney so excused himselfe that he was not made Knight After this they returned to their ships and their ships into England During the time that the Lord Darcy was in Spain the Lady Margaret Dutchesse of Saâoy Daughter unto Maximilian the Emperour and Governesse of Flandeâs and other the Low-countryes pertaining to Charles the young Prince of Caâtile sent to King Henry for fifteen hundred Archers to aid her against the Duke of Gelders which the King granted and thereupon Sir Edward Poynings Knight of the Garter and Comptroller of the Kings House appointed to goe
accompaniâd with his sonne in law the Lord Clinton Sir Matthew Browne Sir Iohn Digây Iohn Werton Richard Wetherill and others to the number of fifteen hundred took shipping at Sandwich and passing over to the said Lady Regent did her there great service for which Iohn Norton Iohn Fogge Iohn Scott and Thomas Lynde were knighted and then with many thanks and rewards returned not having lost in all the Journey by warre or sicknesse above an hundred men In the third yeer of King Henryes Reigne one Andrew Barton a scottish Pirate was grown so bold that he robbed English-men no lesse then other Nationsâ till the King sent his Admirall Sir Edward Howard to represse him who in a fight so wounded the said Barton that he died and then taking two of his ships brought the men prisoners to London and though their offence deserved no lesse then death yet the King was so mecifull as to pardon them all provided they departed the Realme within twenty dayes The King of Scotts hearing the death of Barton and taking of his ships sent to King Henry requiring restitution but King Henry answered his Herauld that he rather looked for thanks for sparing their lives who so justly had deserved death In the third yeer also of King Henryes Reigne the French King made sharpe Warre against Pope Iulius the second whereupon King Henry wrote to the French King requiring him to desist from his Warre against the Pope being his friend and confederate but when the King of France little regarded his request he then sent him word to deliver him his Inheritance of the Dutchy of Normandie and Guyen and the Countryes of Angiou and Mayne as also his Crown of France or else he would recover it by the sword But when the King of France was not moved with this threatning neither King Henry then joyning in league with the Emperour Maximilian with Ferdinand King of Spaine and with divers other Princes resolved by advise of his Councell to make warre on the King of France and to that end made preparation both by Sea and Land This yeer the King kept his Christmas at Greenwich in a most Magnificent manner On New-yeers day was presented one of his Joviall Devises which onely for a Patterne what his showes at other times were I thinke fit to set downe at large In the Hall was made a Castle garnished with Artillery and weapons in a most warlike fashion and on the Front of the Castle was written la Forteresse Dangerense within the Castle were six Ladies clothed in russet Sattin laid all over with leaves of gold On their heads Coyfes and Caps of gold After this Castle had been carried about the Hall and the Queen had beheld it in came the King with five other apparelled in Coates one halfe of russet-Satten with spangles of fiâe gold the other halfe of rich cloath of gold on their heads Caps of russet Sattin embrodered with works of fine gold These six assaulted the Castle whom the Ladies seeing so lusty and couragious they were contented to solace with them and upon further communication to yeeld the Castle and so they came downe and daunced a long space after that the Ladyes led the Knights into the Castle and then the Castle suddenly vanished out of their sights On Twelfth day at night the King with eleven more were disguised after the maner of Italie called a Maske a thing not seen before in England They were apparelled in garments long and broad wrought all with gold with Vysors and Caps of gold And after the banket done these Maskers came in with six Gentlemen disguised in silke bearing staffe Torches and desired the Ladyes to dance and after they had danced and communed together tooke their leave and departed The five and twentieth of Ianuary began the Parliament of which was speaker Sir Robert Sheffield knight where the Archbishop of Canterbury shewed the wrong which the King of France did to the King of England in with-holding his Inheritance from him and thereupon the Parliament concluded that Warre should be made on the French King and his Dominions At this time King Ferdinand of Spaine having Warre with the French King wrote to his Sonne in law King Henry that if he would send over an Army into Biskey and invade France on that side he would aid them with Ordnance Horses and all other things necessary whereupon Thomâs Gray Marquesse Dorset was appointed to go and with him the Lord Howard Sonne and heiâe to the Earle of Sârry the Lord Brooke the Lord Willoughby the Lord Ferrers the Lords Iohn Anthony and Leonard Grey all brothers to the Marquesse Sir Grisseth ap Ryce Sir Maurice Barkeley Sir William Sands the Baron of Bârâord and Sir Richard Cornwall his brother William Hussey Iohn Melton William Kingstân Esquires and Sir Henry Willoughby with divers others to the number of ten thousand who taking ship at Southampton oâ the sixteenth of Maââ the third of Iune they landed on the coast of Biskey whither within three dayes after their arrivall came from the King a Marquesse and an Earle to welcome them but of such necessaries as were promised there came âone so as the English being in some want of victualls the King of Navarre offered to supply them which they accepted and promised thereupon not to molest his Territories After the Army had lyen thirty dayes looking for aid and provision from the King of Spaine at last a Bishop came from the King desiring theâ to have patience a while and very shortly he would give them full contentmeât In the mean time the Englishmen forced to feed much upon Garlick and ãâã drink of hoât Wines fell into such sicknesse that many of them dyed at least eighteen hundred persons which the Lord Marquesse seeing he sent to the King to know his pleasure who sent him answer that very shortly the Duke of Alvâ should come with a great power and joyne with him and indeed the Duke of Alva came forward with a great Army as if he meant to joyne with him as was promised but being come within a dayes Journey he suddenly turned towards the Realme of Navarre and entring the same chased out the King and Conquered the Kingdom to the King of Spaines use This Spanish policie pleased not the English who finding nothing but words from the King of Spain and being weary of lying so long idle they fell upon some small Townes in the border of Guyen but for want of Horses as well for service as draught were unable to performe any great matter at which time being now October the Lord Marques fell sick and the Lord Howard supplied his place of General to whom the King of Spaine once again sent excusing his present coming and requiring him seeing the time of yeer was now past that he would be pleased to break up his Army and disperse his Companies into Townes thereabouâ till the nexâ spring when he would not faile to make good all his promises
of Terwyn where he strongly fortified his Tents with Ordâance and other Warlike defences In which meane time the Captaine of Bulloigne knowing that many of the Garison of Callice were gone with the King thought to take advantage of âheir absence and do some great exploit upon Callice and therupon with a thousand men came to Newâhaâ Bridge and killing the watchmen tooke it but afterward some of his company going to fetch Booties and coming so neere the walls of Callice that they were descried about sixscore Coopers and other Artificers issued forth and driving them back recovered againe Newnham Bridge and took divers of them prisoners especially when the gate of Callice called Bulloign gate was opened that Colepepper the under Marshal with two hundred Archers issued forth and joyned with them The French prisoners were brought to Callice and there sold in open Market amongst others a Cooper of the Town of Callice bought a prisoner that dwelt in Bulloigne and had of the prisoner for his raâsome a hundred Crowns when the mony was paid the French man prayed the Cooper to see him safe delivered and to conduct him out of danger the Cooper was content and went himselfe alone with the French man till he came beyond the Cawsey and there would have departed but the French man perceiving that the Cooper was aged and that no rescue was nighâ by force tooke the Cooper prisoner ââd caried him to Bulloigne making him pay two hundred Crownes before hâ was delivered Whilst King Henry lay thus at the siege of Terwyn on the eleventh of Auââââ the Emperour Maximilian was come to Ayre which King Henry understanding went and met him between Ayre and the Campe where with great complements they saluted each other but their complements were broken off by ââe extreame foule weather which happened that day the morrow after the Emperour Maximilian came from Ayre to the Kings Campe wearing a Crosse of Saint George as the Kings Souldier and receiving wages of him for service an honour never done to any King of England before and yet was no disparagement to the Emperour for he was royally received and lodged in a Tent of cloath of gold that as no Emperour before had ever been souldier to a King so no souldier before was ever lodged in such a Tent. At this time the City of Terwyn being in some distresse for want of victualls the French King appointed all his horsemen to the number of eight thousand to see victualls by any means convoyed into it the charge of which Convoy was committed to Monsieur De Priennes but King Henry by advise of the Emperour Maximilian had made Bridges to passe his men over the river to the other side of the Towne where was easiest accesse in such sort that when the French Convoy came with their victualls and thought to have entred the Towne they found the English Army there ready to resist them whereupon a fierce battell was fought between them but in conclusion the French were put to flight and fled so fast that from thence it was called the battell of Spurres for that they used more their spurres in running away then theit Launces in fighting In this battell the Duke of Longuevyle the Lord of Clermont Captaine Bayard and others to the number of twelve score were taken prisoners and all brought to the Kings presence with six Standards that were likewise taken After the battell the King made Sir Iohn Pechye Banneret and Iohn Carre Knight who had both of them done great service in this encounter King Henry having obtained this victory against the French horsemen and hindred the Towne of Terwyn from reliefe of victualls and withall plying his battery more fiercely then before made the Townsmen soone fall to desire composition and upon condition that the souldiers might depart with Horse and Armour they yeelded up the Towne into the Kings hands This was done on the eighteenth of August and the Earle of Shrewsbury entred the Towne the same night and set up the Banner of Saint George in the highest place of it in signe of victory and swore all the Townsmen to be true subjects to the King of England The four and twenâeth of August the King himselfe entred the Towne and dined in the Bishops Palace where it was resolved that the Walls and Fortifications of Terwyn should be raced and the Towne burnt all but the Cathedrall Church and the Pallace all the Ordnance was sent to Ayre to be kept there to the Kings use After this it was concluded that the King should lay siege to the City of Tourney whereupon he set forward in three battells the Eeale of Shrewsbury led the Vangard the King and the Emperour the Battaile and the Lord Chamberlaine the Reâeward In this order the Kings Army marched forwards towards Tourney by the way he went and visited the yong Prince of Castile and the Lady Margaret Governesse of the Prince in the Towne of Lisle where with all Magâificence or rather indeed Reverence he was entertained and after he had staied there three dayes he took his leave and being gone a mile and somewhat more out of the towne he asked where his Campe lay and no man there could tell the way and guide they had none the night was so darke and mystie by chance at last they met with a victualler comming from the Camp who was their guide and conducted them to it By which we may see to what distresse a great Prince may be brought by a little over-sight On the one and twentieth day of September the King removed his Campe towards Tourney and being come within three miles of the towne he sent Garter king of Armes to summon the towne but they though they had but few men of warre amongst them yet stood upon their guard whereupon the King begin it on all sides and made such firce batteries upon it that though it were written on the gates of the towne graven in stone Iamais tu ne as perdu ton Pucellege thou hast never lost thy Maidenhead yet now they were glad to loose it and in conclusion they sent a trumpet to require a Parley and then sued for mercy and yeelded it up and paid ten thousand pounds sterling besides for redemption of their liberties and then Master Thomas VVoolsey the Kings Almoner calling before him all the Citizens yong and old swore them to the King of England the number of whom was fourescore thousand This done the King entred into Tourney and calling into his presence Edward Guildford VVilliam Fitzwilliams Iohn Dansie VVilliam Tyler Iohn Sharpe VVilliam Hussey Iohn Savage Christopher Garnysh and some other valiant Gentlemen he gave to them the order of knighthood and then remembring the great entertainment the Prince of Castile and the Lady Margaret had given him at Lisle he would not be behinde them in such courtesie and thereupon inâited them solemnly to his citie of Tourney whom at their coming he brought into the towne in great
Sonne two Abbots twelve Earles and seventeene Lords of Knights and Gentlemen very many in all about eight thousand and almost as many taken prisoners as Pauluâ Iovius saith amongst whom was Sir William Scot Chancellour to the said King and Sir George Forman his Sergiant Porter the Lord Hume and the Earle Huntley got horses and escaped Neither was the Battaile without blood to the English for there was slaine at lest a thousand and that which in a Defeat was strange many also taken prisoners for many in pursuing the Scots went rashly so farreâ that they knew not which way âo returne and by Bands of Scots that had not fought that day were set upon and âaken When the field was done the Lord Generall called to him certaine Lords and Gentlemen and made them Knights as Sir Edward Howard his Son the Lord Scroope Sir William Percy Sir Edward Gorge and others This Battaile was fought on Friday the ninth of September in the yeere 1513. called by some Bramston by some âlodden Field King Iames heere slaine was the same that had maried the Lady Margaret eldest Daughter of King Henry the seaventh and sister to the present King Henry and might have enjoyed many happy dayes if he had kept himselfe firme to his alliance but being carried away with the inveterate spleen betweene the two Nations and propension to France he ended his life though honorably yet miserably under many wounds It is a very memorable but sâarce credable thing which from the mouth of a very credible person who saw it George Buchanan relates concerning this King that intending to make a warre with England a certaine old man of venerable aspect and clad in a long blew garment came unto him and leaning familiarly upon the chaire where the King sat said I am sent unto thee O King to give thee warning that thou proceed not in the warre thou art about for if thou doe it will be thy ruine and having so said he pressed thorow the company and vanished out of sight for by no inquiry it could be knowne what became of him But the King was too resolute to be frighted with Phantosmes and no warning could divert his Destinie which had not been Destiny if it could have been diverted The day after the Battaile his Body though disfigured with wounds was knowne by the Lord Dacres and others to be his and thereupon bowelled embalmed and wrapped in lead was brought to the Monastery of Sheene in Surrey and there interred but at the dissolution of that House was taken up and thrown into a waste roome amongst timber and stone which Iohn Stow saith he so saw and further relateth that the servants of Launcelot Young Glasier to Queene Elizabeth being at Sheene in new Glazing the windowes either upon a foolish pleasure or desire of the lead cut the head from the rest but smelling the sweet perfums of the Balms gave it to their Master who opening the lead found therin the head of a man retaining favour though the moisture were cleane dried up whose haire both of head and beard was red which afterward he caused to be buried at Saint Michaels Church in Woodstreet where he dwelled But notwithstanding this relation of Stow Iohn Lesly Bishop of Rosse affirmeth that it was held for certaine the Body thus found was the Body of the Lord Bouchard slaine in that Bâttaile Buchanan saith of Alexander Elfinston who in countenance and statuâe was like the King and that King Iames was seene alive the same night at Kelso whence he passed to Hierusalem and there spent the rest of his dayes in holy contemplation but howsoever it was he was never seen any more in Scotland King Henry being now returned from Tourney into England and finding the great services done in his absence against the Scots on the day of the Purification of our Lady at Lambeth he created the Earle of Surrey Duke of Norfolke with an augmentation of the Armes of Scotland Sir Charles Brandon Viscount Lisle he created Duke of Suffolke the Lord Howard high Admirall hee made Earle of Surry Sir Charles Somerset Lord Herbert his chiefe Chamberlaine Earl of Worcester and shortly after Sir Edward Stanly he made Lord Monteagle and in March following Master Thomas Woolsey his Almoner was made Bishop of Lincolne Here before we goe further it will be fit âo âay something of this man that he be not a rub afterward in the way of the Story He was borne at Ipswich in Suffolke the sonne of a Butcher sent to Oxford by reason of his pregnancy of wit so soone that taking there the first degree of Art he was called the Boy Batchelour proceeding in learning he was made Fellow of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford and afterward Schoolemaster of the Schoole there at which time the Marquesse Dorset committed three of his Sonnes to be Instructed by him and having a Benefice fallen in his gift sent for him one Christmas and bestowed it upon him whereof Woolsey going to take possession at his being there for what misdemeanour is not delivered he was by Sir Amyas Pawlet set by the heeles which afterward he remembred to Sir Iamâs his no small trouble for he made him attend his pleasure five or six yeeres all which time lying in the Middle-Temple where he re-edified the Gate-house next the street very sumptuously setting the Cardinals Armes upon it to appease him After this disgrace he went over-sea where he fell in acquaintance with Sir Iohn Naphant treasurer of Callice and by him was preferred to be King Henry the sevenths Chaplaine and now being by this meanes in the Kings eye he so diligently carried himselfe that he soone got into the Kings heart One time it happened the King had occasion to send a Messenger to the Emperour Maximilian about a businesse that required haste for which imployment no man was thought more fit then Woolsey whereupon the King called him gave him his Errand and bad him make all the speed he could Woolsey departed from the King at Richmond about noone and by the next morning was got to Dover and from thence by noone that day was come to Callice and by night was with the Emperour to whom declaring his Messageâ and having a present dispatch he rode that night backe to Callice and the night following came to the Court at Richmond The next morning he presented himselfe before the King who blamed him for not being yet gone the maâter requiring haste to whom Woolsey answered that he had beene with the Emperour and had dispatched the businesse and for proofe shewed the Emperours lines the King wondred much at his speed but then asked him if he met not his Pursuivant whom he sent after to advertise him of a speciall matter hee had forgotten whereto Woolsey answered May it please your Grace I met him yester-day upon the way but that businesse I had dispatched before taking the boldnesse so to doe without commission as knowing it to be of speciall consequence
for which boldnesse I humbly intreat âour Graces pardon The King not onely pardoned him but bestowed presently upon him the Deanery of Lincolne and soone after made him his Almoner In this state King Henây the eight found him with whom also he grew into such favour that he made him of his Councell and having won Tourney made him Bishop of that Citie and returning into England the Bishopricke of Lincolne falling void by the death of Doctor Smith made him Bishop of that Diocesse And thus far the story hath now brought him but soone after he was raised higher for Doctor Bambridge Archbishop of Yorke dying he was translated from Lincolne to that See and that he might not be inferiour to the Archbishop of Canterâury he procured of the Pope to be made Cardinall and Legat a Latere and after by the King was made Lord Chancellour of England and being come to this height of dignity he so carried himselfe in Expences of Houshold in number of Retinve and in all circumstances of State that no Subject before or since hath in any degree come neere him And if we may say it he was the first Debaucher of King Henry for to the end he might have the managing of all matters himself he perswaded the King that he should not need trouble himselfe with frequenting the Councell Table as he did but take his pleasure and leave those things to his Councell whereof himselfe would alwaâes give him ânie Information This was plausible Councell and no marvaile if it were embraced of a yong King coming from the mouth of so great a Prelate In this fifth yeer of the King the Citizens of London finding themselves grieved with the Inclosures of the common fields about Islington Hogsdon and Shârdich and other places adjoyning went one morning and threw downe all the Hedges and filled up all the Ditches whereat though the Kings Councell were at first offended yet the Maior and City shewed them such reasoâs that they rested satisfied and the fields were never since hedged On the nineteenth of May this yeer Pope Iulius the second sent to King Henry a Cap of Maintenance and a Sword and being angry with the King of France transferred by Authority of the Lateran Councell the title of Christianissimo from him upon King Henry which with great solemnity was published the sunday following in the Cathedrall Church of Saint Paul but this solemnity must not passe without Revelling Maskes and Justs wherein the King and the Duke of Suffolke were defendants against all commers who having the Duke of Longuevyle and the Lord of Clermont to be spectâtours spread the fame of their Chivalrie into forreigne Nations And now the great love that had been long between King Henry and the Flemings began to abate upon this occasion King Henry the seventh had concluded a match between his daughter Mary and Charles Prince of Spaine but by reason of her young yeers and for want of assurance of Joynture the match was deferred during his time but now King Henry the eight seeing his sister of convenient yeers began to call upon it and signified so much to the Councell of Flanders but they whether having other ends or out of Spanish delayes put him off with excuses and at last sent him word plainly they could doe nothing in it that yeer The King of France had soone Intelligence how much King Henry distasted these Spanish dealings and meant to make some good use of it for the ends he began to propose to himselfe which were to get the Lady Mary for himselfe and thereby procure peace with England being now old and weary of the War And for this purpose he got the new Pope Leo the tenth to be his mediatour and both of them send Embassadours to King Henry the Pope to perswade him to have peace with France the French King to treat about a Marriage with the Lady Mary upon whose Embassages King Henry partly to satisfie the Pope and partly to advance his sister did not unwillingly hearken to the motions but whilst this was in working Pryor Iohn who knew nothing of these intentions began again to play his Praâks and coming with his Gallyes on the coast of Sussex burnt Bhighthem-steed and took away the goods he found in the Village whereupon the Lord Admirall sent Sir Iohn Walloppe to sea with divers ships and eight hundred men who for one Village that Pryor Iohn burnt in England burnt one and twenty Villages and Townes in France to the great honour of himselfe and his countrey And now King Henry by advice of his Councell and specially of Woolsey Bishop of Lincolne concluded both the peace with France and the Marriage of his Sister the Lady Mary with the French King but yet it stuck a while upon some differences King Henry demanding Bulloigne and the King of France Tourney in conclusion these demands were waved and the principall conditions wereâ first concerning the Ladies Joynture that she should have two and thirty thousand Crownes of yeerly revenues if she survived the King and then concerning ths peace that the French King should pay yeerly to King Henry for five yeers one hundred thousand Crownes and the peace to continue between them during their lives and a yeer after and bound reciprocally to assist each other with ten thousand foot if the warre were by land with six thousand if by sea All things thus concluded the Lady Mary was brought to Dover by King Henry and his Queen and on the second of October taking shippiâg was conducted by the Duke of Norfolke the Marquesse Dorset the Bishop of Durhamâ the Earle of Surry the Lord De la ware the Loâd Berners the Lord Monteagle Sir Maurice Berkely Sir Iohn Pechye Sir William Sands Sir Bulleyneâ Sir Iohn Carre and many other Knights and Ladies but being not past halfe way over the sea their ships by tempest were dispersed and the Lady with some jeoperdy landed at Bullen where Sir Christopher Garnish was faine to stand in the water and take her in his armes and so set her on shore and there the Duke of Vendosme with a Cardinall and many other great States received her From Bullen the eight of October she came to Abbevyle where the Dolphyn received her on the morrow being Saint Dennis day she came to Saint Dennis where the marriage between the King of France and her was solemâized though some write it had been solemnized before at Abbevyle The fifth of November she was Crowned Queene of France at which time the Dolphyn held the Crowne over her head as being too massie for her to weare and the day following she was received into Paris in most magnificent manner In honour of whose Marriage and Coronation the Dolphyn had caused a solemne Justs to be proclaimed which should be kept in Paris the seventh of November Upon report of this Proclamation in England the Duke of Suffolke the Marquesse Dorset and his four Brothers the Lord Clinton Sir Edward Neââll
Sir Giles Capell Thomas Cheiney and others obtained leave of the King to be at the challenge where they all behaved themselves with great valour but specially the Duke of Suffolke whose glory the Dolphyn so much envied that he got a Dutch-man the tallest and strongest man in all the Court of France secretly as another person to encounter him with a purpâe to have the Duke foyled but indeed it turned to his greater honour for he foiled the Dutch-man in such sort that when they came to the Barriers the Duke by maine strength took him about the neck and so prommeled him about the head that he made the blood issue out at his nose many other Princes and Lords did bravely and after three dayes the Justs ended King Henry was not long behinde to solemnize it in England also for at Greenwich the Christmas following on Newyeers night and Twelfth night he presented such strange and magnificent devices as had seldome been seene and the third of February following he held a solemne Justs where he and the Marquesse Dorset answered all commers at which time the King brake three and twenty speares and threw to the ground one that encountred him both man and horse At this time preparation was making for King Henry in person to go to Callice there to meet with the French King and Queene but death hindred the designe for before the next spring the first of Ianuary the French King dyed at the City of Paris fourscore and two dayes after his marriage teaching others by his example what it is for an old man to marry a young Lady King Henry hearing of the French Kings death sent the Duke of Suffolke Sir Richard Winkefield and Doctor West to bring over the Queene Dowager according to the Covenants of the marriage Whereupon the Queene was delivered to the Duke by Indenture who obtaining her good will to be her husband which was no hard matter that had been her first love wrote to the King her brother for his consent whereat the King seemed to stick a while but at last consented so as he brought her into England unmarried and then marry at his return but the Duke for more surety married her secretly in Paris and after having received her Dower Apparrell and Jewels came with her to Callice and there openly married her with great solemnity At their coming into England King Henry to shew his contenâment with the marriage in the company of the Duke of Suffolke the Marquesse Dorset and the Earle of Essex all richly apparelled held a new kinde of Justs running courses on horseback in manner Volant as fast as one could follow another to the great delight of the beholders This yeer the King at his Mannour of Oking Woolsey Archbishop of Yorke came and shewed him letters that he was elected Cardinall for which dignity he disabled himselfe till the King willed him to take it upon him and from thenceforth called him Lord Cardinall but his Hat and Bull were not yet come after which Doctor Warham Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancelour of England finding Woolsey being now Cardinall to meddle more in his office of Chancelourship then he could well sufferâ resigned up the Seal which the King presently gave to Woolsey About this time Cardinall Campejus was sent by Pope Leo to King Henry to solicite him to a Warre against the Turke with whom Cardinall Woolsey was joyned in Commission who hearing of the ragged retinue of his fellow Cardinell sent store of red cloath to Callice to make them fit followers of so great a Lord and when Campejus was landed at Dover Cardinall Woolsey caused the gentry of Kent to waite upon to Black-heath where he was met and received by the Duke of Norfolk and many Prelates there in a Tent of cloath of gold shifted himself into his Cardinals robes Eight Mules he had laden with necessaries but Woolsey not thinking them enough for his honour sent him twelve more But now see the shame of pride for in Cheap-side his Mules by some mischance overthrew their Carriages and Coffers on the ground whose lyds flying open shewed the world what treasure it was they carried old Breeches Boots and broken Shoos broken Meat Marybones and crusts of Bread exposing him to the laughter of all the people yet the Cardinall went joging on afore with his Crosses guilt Axe and Mace unto Pauls Church and by the way had an Oration made him by Sir Thomas Moore in name of the City and then waited on with many Bishops was conducted to Bath Place where he was lodged for his own particuler he got well by the Journey for the King gave him the Bishoprick of Salisbury but the errand he came about which was to have Ayde by mony for a Warre against the Turke he could not obtaine for it was well known to be but a devise to get money without any intention of what was pretended In his seventh yeer King Henry kept his Christmas at his Mannour of Eltham where on Twelfth night according to his custome was a stately Maske of Knights and Ladies with solemne Daunsing and a most Magnificent Banquet It was now the eight yeer of King Henryes Reigne when the new league between him and the French King was Proclaimed in the City of London and this yeer Mageret Queene of Scots eldest Sister to King Henry having before married Archibald Dowglasse Earle of Angus by reason of dissention amongst the Lords of Scotland was glad with her husband to flye into England and to seek succour at her brothers hands who assigned to her the Castle of Harbottell in Northumberland to reside in where she was delivered of a daughter named Margaret From thence the King sent for her and her husband to come to his Court and thereupon the third of May Queene Margaret riding on a white Palfrye which the Queen of England had sent her behinde Sir Thomas Parrâ came through London to Baynards Castle and from thence went to Greenwich but her husband the Earle of Angus was secretly before departed into Scotland which when King Henry heard he onely âaid it was done like a Scot. And now in honour of his sisters coming King Henry the nine and twentieth of May appointed two solemne dayes of Justs where the King the Duke of Sâffolke the Earle of Essex and Nicholas Carew Esquire took upon them to answer all commers amongst others the King and Sir William Kinston ran together which Sir William though a strong and valourous Knight yet the King overthrew him to the ground all the rest was performed with no lesse valour then magnificence This yeer died the King of Aragon Father to the Queene of England for whom was kept a solemne Obsequie in the Cathedrall Church of Pauls and Queene Margaret after she had been a yeer in England returned into Scotland In this yeer were sent twelve hundred Carpenters and Masons with three hundred Labourers to the City of Tourney in France to build a Castle
to come on land was to have disswaded the King from any Enterview with the French King but when he saw him âo forward in that jourâey he then onely endeavoured to perswadâ him that he should put no trust in the French Kings words and with great guiâts and promises prevailed with the Cardinall to joyne with him in this perswasion The last of May the Emperour tooke his leave and the same day the King made saile from Dover and landed at Callice together with the Queen and many Lords and Ladies The fourth of Iune the King and Queen removed from Callice to his Princely lodging beside the Towne of Guysnes the most Royall Building that was eâer seene likewise Francis the French King had his lodging prepared close to the Towne of Ard in a strange but most magnificent fashion Both Kings had given authority and power to the Cardinall to affirme and confirme âo bind or unbind whatsoever should be in difference betweene them no lesse an honour to the Cardinall then a confidence in the Kings On Thursday the seavenâh of Iune the Kings met in the vale of Andren so magnificently attired both themselves and all their followers that from thence it was called âhe campe of cloath of Gold Heere they spent that day in loving complements and at night departed the one to Guysnes the other to Ard. On Satureday the ninth of Iune were set up in a place within the English pale two Trees of honour with stately roomes and stages for the Queens and thither the two Kings came most Royally accompanâed wherein most magnificent manner they performed Acts of valour both on fooâe and horseback and after them all the great Lords both of France and England did the like this solemnity of Justs and Maskes was continued to the foure and twentieth day of Iune at which time the Kings and Queenes tooke leave of each other the French King and Qâeene removed to Ard the King and Queene of England to Callice where he remained till the tenth of Iuly and then ridings âoward Graveling was by the way met by the Emperour and by him conducted thithet and there in most royall manner enteâtained whereof when the French King heard he began from that day forward to have King Henry in a kinde of jelousie as though to love him and the Emperour both were inconsistent and could not stand together On Wednesday the eleventh of Iuly the Emperor and his Aunt the Lady Margaret Dutchesse of Savoy came with the King of England to the town of Callice and there continued with Feasting Dancing and Masking till the fourteenth of Iuly In which time all the Articles of the league tripartito betweene the Emperour and the Kings of England and France were reviewed to which the King of France had so fully condiscended that he had sent Monsieur de Roche to the Emperor with Letâers of credence that in the word of a Prince he would inviolably observe and keepe them all all which notwithstanding he dispenced with his conscience afterward in breaking them all On Saturday Iuly 14. the Emperor tooke his leave and went to Graveling the King with his Queene returned into England It was now the twelfth yeer of King Henries reigne when being returned from Callice he kept his Christmas at Greenwich with great magnificence on twelfth day he and the Earl of Devonshire maintained a solemn Justs against al commers The Cardinal had long born a grudg against the Duke of Buckingham for speaking certain words in his disgrace and now hath made his way for reveng for the Earl of Surrey Lord Admirall who had maried the Dukes daughter the Cardinall had caused to be sent Deputy into Ireland and the Earle of Northumberland the Dukes speciall friend he had caused upon certain suggested crimes to be Imprisoned so as the Duke having his friends sequestred from him he lay now open to accusations and accusations shall not long be wanting for the Duke having some time before put from him in displeasure one Charles Knevet that had been his Surveyar and inward with him him the Cardinall gets to him to see what he could get out of him against the Duke And whether it was out of desire of revenge or out of hope of reward or that the matter was so indeed this Knevet confessed to the Cardinall that the Duke had once fully determined to make away the King being brought into a hope to be King himselfe by a vaine Prophesie which one Nicholas Hopkins a Monke of an house of the Chartnar Order besides Bristow called Henton somtimes his Confessor had opened to him and as for the Cardinall that he had often heard the Duke sweare he would punish him soundly for his manifold misdoings And now had the Cardinall matter enough for Accusation which he so aggravated to the King that the King bid him do with him according to Law Hereupon the Duke is apprehended and brought to the Tower by Sir Henry Marney Captain of the Guard the fifteenth of April and shortly after in Guild-hal before Sir Iohn Brugge then Lord Major was indited of divers points of High-treason the substance whereof was that in the second yeer of the Kings reign and at divers times before and after he had imagined and compassed the Kings death at London and at Thornbery in Glocestershiâe and that in the sixth yeer of the Kings reign he went in person to the Priory of Henton and there had conference with the foresaid Nicholas Hopkins who told him he should be King and that he had often said to the Lord Aburgayne who had maried his daughter that if King Henry died without issue he would look to have the Crown himself Vpon these points hee was arraigned in Westminster-hall before the Duke of Norfolk sitting then as high Steward of Englaâd the Duke of Suffolk the Marquesse Dorset the Earls of VVorcester Devonshire Essex Shrewsbury Kent Oxford and Darby the Lords of Saint Iohns de la ware Fitz-water Willoughby Brook Cobhaâ Herbert Morley The Duke pleaded for himself til he swet again but al booted âot for by these Peeres he was found guilty and condemned and so on Friday the seventeenth of May was led by Iohn Keyme and Iohn Skevington Sheriffes of London to the scaffold on Tower-hill and there beheaded The Augustine Friers took his body and head and buried them This Edward Bohun Duke of Buckingham was the last high Constable of England the greatest place next the high Steward in the kingdome whose Power extended to restrain some actions of the King He was also Earl of Hereford Stafford and Northampton he maried Elianor the daughter of Henry Earle of Northumberland and had issue Henry Lord Stafford Father to Henry Lord Stafford laâe living and three daughters Elizabeth maried to Thomas Hâward Earl of Surrey Katherine maried to Ralph Nevil Earl of Wesâmerland and Mary maried to George Nevill Lord of Abuâgaâenie In this meane while a new Warre was begun between the Emperour and
Lord Berners Lieutenant of the Towne On Munday he tooke ship at Callice and landed at Dover where the Cardinall with three hundred Lords Knights and Gentlemen received him and in great State brought him to the Castle where he was lodged On Wednesday being Ascention Even the King came to Dover and there with great joy and gladnesse the Emperour and he met On Friday in the afternoone they departed from Dover and came that night to Canterbury and from thence next day to Greenwich where the Queene received her Nephew with all the joy that might be Here to honour the Emperours presence Royall Justs and Turneys were appointed where the King the Earle of Dâvonshire and ten Aydes kept the place against the Duke of Suffolke the Marquesse Dorset and other ten Aydes on their part On Friday the sixth of Iune the Emperour and the King with all their companies went to London where the City received them with Pageants and other as rare deviceâ as at a Coronation and the Emperour was lodged at the Blackfâyers and all his Lords in the new Palaces of Bridewell On VVhitsunday the King and the Emperour rode to the Cathedrall Church of Saint Paul where the Cardinall sung Mâsse and had his Traverse and his Cupboord Before Masse two Barons gave him water and after the Gospel two Earles and at the last Lavatory two Dukes which pride the Spaniards much disdained After many Feastings in other places at last they rode to VVindsor where they stayed a whole weeke and there on Corpus Chrisâi day the Emperour wore his Mantle of the Garteâ and sate in his owne Stall On the same day both the Princes received the Sacrament and took their oathes to observe the League concluded betweene them On the morrow after they came to Winchester before whose comming thither there was come to Hampton the Earle of Surrey Admirall of England with all the Kings Navy and with him the Lord Fitz-Water the Barron Curson Sir Nicholas Carew Sir Richard Winkââeld Sir Richard Ierningâam Francis Brian Sir William Barentine Sir Adrian Foskew Sir Edward Donne Sir Edward Chamberlaine Sir Richard Cornwall Sir Antony Poynes Sir Henry Shirborn and the Viceadmirall Sir William Fitz-Williams Sir Edmund Bray Sir Giles Capell Sir William Pirton Iohn Cornwallis Sir Iohn Walloppe Sir Edward Ichingham Sir VVilliam Sidney Anthony Browme Giles Husâey Thomas Moore Iohn Rusâel Edward Bray Henry Owen George Cobham Thomas Oldâall Thomas Lovell Robert Ichingham Anthony Knevet Sir Iohn Tremaile Sir VVilliam Skevington Master of the Ordinance and Iohn Fabian Serjant at Armes by whom chiefly a dissâgne was moved though now noised onely that it was but to scowre the seas for the safe conducting of the Emperour For the Earle of Surrey having wafted the Emperour over to the coâst of Biskay upon his returne made to the coast of Brittaine and there landing seven thousand of his men marched to the Towne of Morleys and by assault took it having âonne this Towne the Eârle called to him certaine Gentlemen and made them Knights as Sir Francis Brian Sir Anthony Browne Sir Richard Cornwall Sir Thomas Moore Sir Giles Husâey Sir Iohn Russell Sir Iohn Rainsford Sir George Cobham Siâ Iohn Cornwallis Sir Edward Ridgley and some others and after the Earle had lien a while on the Coast of Brittaine he was commanded home by the Kings letters who thereupon brought back his whole fleet to a place caâled the Cow under the Isle of Wight and then went on land leaving diverse of of his ships under the Governaâce of the Vice-admirall Sir William Fitz-VVilliams In this meane time diverse exploits were atchieved between them of the Garrison in the marches of Callice and the French men of Bulloigne where the French commonly had the worst but being of no great moment may well be passed over without relating Likewise at the same time the Lord Rosse and the Lord Dacres of the North appointed to keepe the Borders against Scotland burnt the Towne of Kelsie and fourescore Vilages and overthrew eighteene Towers of stone withall their Bulwarkes King Henry intending now to goe seriously on with his warres in France levied an Army which under the conduct of the Earle of Surrey he sent over to Câllice whither the Earle being come he divided his Army into three battailes the first was led by Sir Robert Ratcliffe Lord Fitz-water the middle-ward by himselfe and his brother the Lord Edmund Howard the reare-ward by Sir VVilliam Sands and Sir Richard VVinkfield both of them Knights of the Gaâter and Sir Edward Guildford was Captaine of the horsemen In this order the Earle entred the French ground the second of September and took his Journey âowards Hedring By the way there came to him a great Power of âârgognias sent by the Lady Margaret according to the Articles of the League All the Townes Villages and Castles in the Countrey through which they passed they burnt and sacked as the Towne and Castle of Selloys the Towne of Brunârigge Senekerke Botington and Manstier with divers others On the sixteenth of September they came before the Castle of Heding and laid siege unto it but the Castle being wel fortified the Earle having not battering Ordnance which by reason of the foule weather he could not bring with him after eleven dayes he raised his siege and passing from thence to Dorlens burnt the Towne and raced the Castle as also the Towne of Dortyer and then the yeer being farre spent came back to Callicâ the sixteenth of October At this time the Duke of Albany being established Governour of Scotland raised an Army of fourscore thousand men with which he approached the bââders but made no Invasion as thinking perhaps that the onely report of his great Army would fright the English but yet this stayed not the Lord Marquesse Dorset Warden of the east and middle Marches to enter into Tividale and so forward ten miles into Gallaway burning all townes and Villages on every side as he passed All that night he tarried within the Scottish ground and the next day being good-Friday withdrew back into England with a head of four thousand cattell having burned Grimseley Mowhowse Donford Myles Ackforth Crowling and many other Townes and Villages In King Henries fourteenth yeer on the fifteenth of Aprill began a Parliament which was holden at the Blackfryers whither the King came and there sate downe in his Royall Seate at his feet on the right side sate the Cardinall of Yorke and the Archbishop of Canterbury and at the Raile behinde stood Doctor Tunstall Bishop of London who making an Oration told there the causes of calling this Parliament which were as he said for remedying of mischiefs by the common Law as Recoveries Forraigne Vouchers and corrupt Triallsâ and for making new Lawes for the good of the Common-wealth whereof notwithstanding no one word was spoken all the time of the Parliament nor any other thing done but a Subsedie granted but howsoever being commanded to chuse their Speaker they
chose Sir Thomas Moore who at first disabling himselfe at last made two Petitions to the King one for himselfe that if he should be sent by the Commons to the King on a Message and mistake their intenâ he might then with the Kings pleasure resort again to the Commons to know their meaning The other for the House of Commons that if in communication and reasoning any man should speake more largely then of duty he ought to do yet all such offences should be pardoned and that to be entred of Record Which Petitions were granted and then the Parliament began where at first a Subsidie was demanded but as there was much adoe in the House of Commons about it so there was no lesse amongst the Clergey in the Convocation House for Richard Bishop of VVinchester and Iohn Bishop of Rochester were much against it but most of all one Rowland Philips Vicar of Croyden and a Canon of Pauls but the Cardinall taking him aside dealt so with him that he took him off so as he came no more to the Houseâ and then the Bel-weather as one saith giving over his hold the rest soon yelded and so was granted the half of all their spiritual yeerly Revenues to be paid in five yeers following The Clergey being thus brought on on the nine twentieth of April the Cardinall came into the House of Commons to work them also and there shewing the great charges the King was necessarily to be at in his present Wars demanded the sum of eight hundred thousand pounds to be raised of the fifth part of every mans Goods and Lands which was four shillings of every pound This demand was enforced the day after by the Speaker Sir Thomas Moore but the Burgesses were all against it shewing that it was not possible to have it gathered in money for that men of Lands had not the fifth part thereof in Coyne And further alleadged that there be not many parishes in England one with another able to spare a hundred Marks except Cities and Townes and seeing there were not above thirteen thousand Parishes in the Kingdome at this day there are but 9285. how could such a summe be raised Hereupon certaiâe of the House were sent to move the Cardinall to be a meanes to the King to accept of a lesser summe but the Cardinall answered he would rather have his tongue plucked out of his mouth with a paire of Pinsors then make to the King any such motion Whereupon the Cardinall came again inâo the House and desired that he might reason with them that were against the demand to which it was answered that the order of that house was to heare and not to reason except amongst themselves When the Cardinall was gone the Commons after long debating the mâtter at last agreed of two shillings in the pound from twenty pounds upward and from forty shillings to twenty pounds of every twenty shillings twelve pence and under forty shillings of every head of sixteene yeeres and upwards foure pence to be paid in two yeeres when this was told to the Cardinall he was much offended so that to please him the Gentlemen of fifty pound Land and upward by the motion of Sir Iohn Hussey a Knight of Lincolneshire were charged with twelve pence more in the pound to be paid in three yeeres The Cardinall to move them to it bore them in hand that the Lords had agreed to foure shillings of the pound which was untrue for the Lords had granted nothing but stayed to see what the Commons would doe whereof when the King heard he reproved the Cardinall for it saying withall that ere it were long he would looke to things himselfe without any Substitute Which speech of the Kings though it daâted the Cardinall for a while yet he soone recovered his Spirits and now as peremptory afterwards as he had been before After this the Parliament was prorogued till the tenth of Iune during with prorogation the Common people said to the Burgesses we heare say you will grant foure shillings of the pound we advise you âo doe so that you may goe home with many like threatnings At this time the Cardinall by his power Legant me dissolved the Convocation at Pauls convoked by the Archbishop of Canterbury calling him and all the Clergy to his Convocation at Westminster which was never seene before in England saith Hall The one and thirtieth of Iuly the Parliament was adjourned to Westminster and there continuing till the thirteenth of August was that day at nine of the clock at night dissolved About this time the Bishop of Durham died and the King gave that Bishoprick to the Cardinall who resigned the Bishoprick of Bath to Doctor Iohn Clerke Master of the Rolles and Sir Henry Marney that was Vice-chamberlain was made Lord Privy Seale and shortly after was created Lord Marney also during this Parliament Sir Arthur Plantagenet bastard sonne to King Edward the fourth at Bridewell was created Vicount Lisle in right of his wife who was wise before to Edmund Dudley Beheaded The fifteenth of Iune in the fifteenth yeere of the Kings Reigne Christian King of Denmarke with his Queene driven out of his own Country came into England and was lodged at Bath place who after he had been feasted by the King and by the Citty of London and received great guifts of both returned again into Flanders where he remained as a banished man some yeers after King Henry sent Doctor Henry Standish Bishop of Saint Assaph and Sir Iohn Baker Knight into Denmarke to perswade the people to receive him againe into his Kingdome but they could not prevaile he was so much hated for his cruelty About this time the Earle of Kildare having recovered againe the favour of the Cardinall was sent Deputy into Ireland as he had bin before where he reduced the wilde Irish to indifferent conformity All this while had England warres both with the French and with the Scots In Scotland the Marquesse of Dorset threw downe the Castles of Wederborne of Nesgate of Blackater of Mackwals and burnt to the number of seven and thirty Villages yet never came to skirmish In France the Lord Sands Treasurer of Callice with twelve hundred men went before Bulloigne where he skirmished with the Enemie and after taking divers Churches and Castles in the Enemies Countreâ returned backe to Callice with the losse onely of a dozen men King Henry being advertised that the Duke of Albanie was providing of Forces in France with which to returne into Scotland sent forth his Vice-admirall Sir William Fitz-williams with divers great Shippes to intercept him but when he could not meet with him he then landed in the Haven of Treporâ where with seaven hundred men hee beat six thousand French that sought to impeach his landing took their Bulworks and much Ordnance in themâ burned the suburbs of the town of Treport and all in five houres and then returned All this while King Henry had but played with the French
that she was his lawfull wife and would abide the Determination of the Court of Rome but of no other After Whitsontide the King and Queen removed to Windsor and there continued till the fourteenth of Iuly on which day the King removed to Woodstocke and left the Queen at Windsor where she remained a while and after removed to Easthamsted whither the King sent to her divers Lords first to perswade her to be conformable to the law of God which if they could not do then to let her know that his pleasure was she should be at either of these three places his Mannor of Oking or of East-hamstead or the Monastery of Bisham and there to continue without further molesting him with her suits And now came Cranmer in to play his part It chanced that Doctor Stepheâs Doctor Foxe and he met at Waltham one day at dinner where falling into discourse about the case then in agitation of the Kings mariage with Queene Katherine the other Doctors thought the mariage might be proved unlawfull by the Civill Law but said Cranmor â it may better be proved by the Law of God and it is no hard matter to doe it which words of his being made knowne to the Kingâ Cranmor is sent for and commanded to set his reasons down in writing which having done and shewed them to the King he was asked whether he would stand to that which he had written who answered he would even before the Pope himselfe if his Majesty pleased marry said the King and to Pope you shall go and thereupon sent him to the Court of Rome and with him Thomas Bullen Earl of Witshire Doctor Stokesley Elect of London Doct. Lee the Kings Almoner and others who coming to Bolonia where the Pope was had a day of audience appointed but was hindred by a ââdiculous accident for the Pope holding out his foot for them to kisse his toe as the manner is a dog of the Earls by chance in the room ran and caught the Popes foot in his mouth made it for that time unfit to kisse After this when Cranmor had made his Proposition he was told it should be answered when the Pope came to Rome so the Embassadors were dismissed and Cranmor went to the Emperourâ Court where in private conference he satisfied Cornelius Agrippa the most learned at that time about the Emperour and brought him to be of his opinion Cranmor returning home and giving the King this satisfaction the Kings mariage with Queen Katherine was soon after dissolved by Parliament and the Bishop of Canterbury accompanied with Doctor Stokesley Bishop of London Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester the Bishop of Bathe and Lincolne and other learned men rode to Dunstable where Queen Katherine then lay where being cited to appeare and making default fifteen dayes togethers for lack of appearance she was divorced from the King and the mariage declared to be void and of none effect and from thenceforth it was decreed she should no more be called Queen but Princesse Dowager after which time the King never saw her more At this time being the foure and twentieth yeer of King Henries reigne Sir Thomas Moore after long suit delivered up the great Seal which was then delivered to Thomas Audeley Speaker of the Parliament and he made first Lord Keeper and shortly after Chancelour in whose roome of Speaker Hânfrey Wingâeld of Grayes-Inne was chosen on the first of September this yeer the King being at Windsor created Anne Bullen Marchionesse of Pembrooke giving her a thousand pounds land a yeere and then being desirous to talke with the King of France in person on the tenth of October taking the said Lady with him and divers Lords as the Dukes of Norfolke and Suffolke the Marquesse of Dorset and Excester the Earles of Arundell Oxford Surrey Essex Derby Rutland Sussex and Huntington with divers Viscounts Barons and Knights he sailed over to Callice and on the twentieth of October meâ with the King of France at Bolloigne with whom he staid foure dayes in which time to doe him honour the King of France honored the two Dukes of Norfolke and Suffolke with the Order of Saint Michael and then both Kings went to Callice where the French King stayed certain dayes in which time to doe the King of France honor King Henry honored two of his great Lords with the Order of the Garter and then after great magnificence in revelling feasting on the twentieth of Ostob. the French King departed from Callice and King Henry returned into England where on the fourteenth of November following he maried secretly the Lady Bulleââ which mariage was not openly known till Easter after when it was perceived she was with childe at which time William Warham Archbishop of Canterbury dyed Thomas Cranmor was elected Archbishop in his roome After that the King perceived his new wiâe to be with childe he caused all Officers necessary to be appointed to her and so on Easter eave she went to her closet openly as Queen and then the King appointed her coronation to be kept on Witsunday following and writings were sent to all Sheriffes to certifie the nams of men of forty pounds to receive the order of Knighthood or else to makâ fine the assesment of which âines was appointed to Thomas Cromwell Master of of the Jewel-house and of the Kings Councell a man newly come in the Kingâ favour by whose industry great sums of money were by such fines gathered In the beginning of May the King caused Proclamation to be made that all men who claimed to doe any service at the Coronation by the way of tenure granâ or prescription should put in their claime three weekes after Easter in the Star-chamber before Charles Duke of Suffolke for that time high Steward of England the Lord Chancellour and other Commissioners Two dayes before the Coronation were made Knights of the Bath the Earle of Dorset the Eaâle of Derây the Lord Clifford the Lord Fitzwater the Lord Hastings the Lord Monteagle the Lord Vaux Sir Iohn Mordant Sir Henry Parker Sir William Windsor Sir Francis Weston Sir Thomas Arundell Sir Iohn Hurlson Sir Thomas Poynings Sir Henry Savill Sir George âitzwilliams Sir Iohn Tindall and Sir Tho Iârmey On Whitsunday the Coronatioâ was kept in as great state ãâã for al circumstances as ever anâ was and the day after a solem Justâ was âolden In May this yeer Pope Clement sent a messenger to King Henry requiring him personally to appeare at the generall Councell which he had appointed to be kept the yeer following but when his Commission was shewed there was neither time nor place specified for keeping of the said Councell and so with an uncertain Answer to an uncertain Demand the Messenger departed It was now the five and twentieth yeere of the Kings reigne when on Midsomer day Mary the French Queene and then wife to Charles Duke of Suffâlke dyed and was buried at Saint Edmund-berry and on the seaventh of September
eight of Iune the Parliament began during the which the Lord Thomas Howard without the Kings assent had affianced the Lady Margaret Douglas daughter to the Queen of Scots and Niece to the King for which he was attainted of treason and an Act was made for like offenders hereafter and so he died in the Tower and shee long time remained there a prisoner yet afterward was set at liberty and maried Mathew Earle of Lenox who by him had Henry Father of Iames the first King of Great Brittaine In the time of this Parliament the Bishops and all the Clergy had a solemne Convocation at Pauls Church in London where after much disputation and debating of matters they published a book of Religion intituled Articles devised by the Kings Highnesse in which booke are specially mentioned but three Sacraments namely Baptisme Eucharist and Pennance also certaine Injunctions were set forth whereby many of the old Holi-dayes were abrogated specially those that fell in Harvest time The two and twentieth of Iuly Henry Duke of Richmond and Somerset base sonne of King Henry by Elizibeth Blunt died at Saint Iames and was buried at Thetsâone in Norfolke The nine and twentieth of Iune the King held a great Justs and Triumph at VVestminster but a disastrous Sea-fight on the water where one Gates a Gentlâman was drowned in his harnesse and by the breaking of a Gunne two Mariners were sore mained in Iuly following Thomas Cromwell Secretary to the King and Master of the Rolles was made Lord Keeper of the Privy-seale and the ninteenth of Iuly the Lord Fitz-Warren was created Earl of Bath and the day after the said Cromwell was made Lord Cromwell and on the eighteenth of Iuly Vicâr Generall under the King over the Spiritualty who sate diverse times in the Convocation House amongst the Bishops as head over them and now was the state of Religion in England come to a strange passe because alwayes in passing and had no consistance for at first the authority of the Pope was excluded in some cases onely a while alter in all but yet his Doctrine was wholly retained Afterward his Doctrine came to be Impugned but in some few points onely a while after in many more that the fable of Proteuâ might no longer be a fable when the Religion in England might be his true Morralâ and indeed it could be no otherwise the distance between the two Religious being not possible to be passed Per saltum but must be done by degrees which degrees may be observed in the progresse of the story for where at first it was permitted onely to read the Bible in English now it came to be permitted to pray in English for now in September the Lord Cromwell set forth Injunctions to have the Lords prayer the Ave the Creed the ten Commandements and all Articles of the Christian-faith translated into English and to be taught by all Parsons and Curates to their Parishoners which Innovation so stirred up the people that in Lincolâshire they assembled to the number of twenty thousand against whom the King himselfe went in person who winââng by perswasions their chief leaders brought the rest upon pardon to submit themselves but when he had himselfe done the work of mercy he afterward sent the Duke of Suffolke with Sir Francis Brian and Sir Iohn Russell to doe the worke of Justice who caused Nicholas Melton and a Monke naming himselfe Captaine Cobler and thirteen others Ringleaders of the sedition to be apprehended and most of them to be executed But this Commotion was scarce appeased when presently there rose another in the North-parts where forty thousand were assembled giving themselves out for an holy Pilgrimage where on one side of their Ensignes they had Christ hanging on the crosse on the other side the Cuppe and Bread of the Sacrament as taking Armes onely for maintenance of the Faith of Christ and deliverance of the holy Church now oppressed but these were opposed by George Earle of Shrewsbury who having raised an Army without Commission though to resist the Rebels yet began to be much troubled whither in so doing he had not committed Treason and was never quiet till he had seât to the King for pardon and commission to proceed at which time a rumour being raised amongst his souldiers that the Earle so well liked the Rebels cause that what shew soever he made yet when it should come to the triall he would not stick to joyne with them and take their parts to remove which Opinion out of their mindâ he caused all his souldiers to come before him and made his Chaplaine give him an oath by which he swore in their hearing to be true to the Crowne and never to be assisting to any Rebels to his aide were sent the Duke of Norfolke with the Marquis of Exceturâ the Earles of Huntington and Rutland who with a mighty Army approachiâg the Rebels beyond Doncaster in the way towards York attempted first to have pacified them without blood-shed but when no perswasions would serve it was resolved of both sides to come to a battell but see here the great goodnesse of God for the night before the day appointed for battel it happened that a litle Brook called Dun running betweene the two Armies upon a small raine grew to such a height that it was not passable by either foot or horse so as the Armies having time to consider and considering perhaps this miracle as sent of God they came to agreement and upon pardon disbanded and returned to their houses but in the mean time they had besieged the Castle of Scarborough where the resolute carriage of Sir Ralph Evens is memorable who held the Castle by onely his owne servants and Tennants and that when for twenty dayes together he had no other sustenance but bread and water but all Comotions were not yet appeased for at this very time there was another great Army assembled out of Cumberland Westmerland and the North-parts of Lancashire marching South-wards but by the diligence of the Earl of Darby to whom also the Earle of Sussex was sent they were suppressed and their chief Leaderâ as the Abboâs of Wally Sauly and others apprehended and hanged but neither is there yet an end of comotions for now in February Nicholas Musgrave Thomas Tilây with oâhers to the number of twelve thousand began a Rebellion and be sieged Carlile but by the power of the City were first beaten back and then were encountred by the Duke of Norfolke who caused seventy foure of them by Martiall-law âo be hanged on the walls of Carlile but neither was there yet an end of Comotions for now in Setrington Pickering Lâigh and Scarborough began a new Rebellion by procurement of Francis Bigot who had râised a great power and meant to have taken Hull but by the industry of Sir Ralph Ellarker and the Major of the Towne threescore aâ the Rebels were taken and hanged and the rest put to flight and glad to be quiet
but neither yet was there an end of Commotions for in the latter end of this eight and twentieth yeer the Lord Darcy the Lord Hussey Sir Robert Constable Sir Iohn Bulmer and his wife Sir Thomas Percy brother to the Earl of Northumberland Sir Stephen Hamilton Nicholas Tempest Esquire and others began to conspire although each of them before had been pardoned by the King but this as being but the fagge end of Commotion was soon suppressed the Lord Darcy was beheaded on the Tower-hill the Lord Hussey at Lincolâe Sir Robert Cânstable was hanged in cheins at Hull Sir Iohn Balmers Paramout was burnt in Smithfield and most of the other were executed at Tyburne Tantae molis erat so great a matter it wasâ to make the Realme be quiet in so great innovations of Religion This yeer on Saint Georges-feast the Lord Cromwell was made Knight of the Garter and on the twelfth of October which is Saint Edwards-eveâ at Haâton-Court the Queen was delivered of a sonne but with so hard a labour that she was faine to be ript the child was named Edward whose Godfathers at the Christning were the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of Norfolke his Godmother was his sister the Lady Mary at his Bishoping his Godfather was the Duke of Suffolk on the eighteenth of October he was made Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester but the birth of his sonne brought not so much joy to the King as the death of his Queene brought him sorrow for within two dayes after she died and was buried at Winsor and âo much was the Kings grief for her death that he continued a widdawer two yeeres after It is not unworthy the relating what a miserable dissolation befell the family of the Geraldynes or Fitz-Garrets Earle of Kildare in Ireland about this time for Gerald Fitz-Garret who had been ten yeers Deputy in Ireland upon complaint of some fault was sent for over into England where not making a satisfying answer he was committed to the Tower but before his commiâg over had with the Kings leave left Deputy there his own sonne a Young-man of not above twenty yeers of age but yet ripe of understanding and fit for the plaâe this young Lord hearing that his father was committed prisoner to the Tower and soon after as the rumour encreased that he was put to death in rage to be revenged rose up in Armes and having five Unckles in the Couâtry men of great estimatioâ drew them though some of them unwillingly to take his part amongst other outrages he committed the Archbishop of Dublin was slaine in his presenceâ the Father in the Tower hearing hereof with very griefe died the Sonne and his Uncles upon the Kings sending aâ Army were all either taken or submitted and being sent for over into England those of his Unckles that against their wils had been drawn into the Action had good hope of their lives till entring the ship of passage which was called the Cow they then presently dispaired because of a Prophesie that five sonnes of a certaine Earl should be carried into England in the belly of a Cowe and never after return and indeed it fell out true for through the malice of their adversaries exasperating the King against them and saying there would never be quietnes in Ireland as long as any of the Geraldines were left alive they were all put to death one onely sonne of the family remained a youth of thirteene yeers of age who though at that time sick of the smal-pox yet made shift to save himselfe by flight fled first into France and frighted from thence afterwards into Flanders and driven from thence at last into Italy where prâoected by Reginâld Poole ar that time made Cardinall by Pope Iulie the third he was afterward by this meaneâ restored to his dignity and his patrimony This yeere Edward Seymour Viscount Beauchamp the Queens brother was created Earl of Hartford and Sir VVilliam Fitz-VVilliams Lord Admirall was created Earl of Southamton Master Paulet was made Vice Treasurer Sir Iohn Russell was made Controller of the Kings House and diverse Gentlemen were made Knights In February diverse Roodes were taken downe by the Kings commandement as the Roode of Boxeley called the Rood of grace which was made with vices to move the eyes and lips also the Rood called Saint Saviour at Bermondsey Abbey in Southwarke aâd diverse others in May a Frier Observant called Frier Forrest who had taken the oath of Supremacy himselfe yet privately perswaded others that the King was not supreme head of the Church was thereupon examined and for his defence said that he took the oath with his outward man but his inward man never consented to it but this answer served not his turn from being condemned and on a paire of Gallowes prepared for him in Smithââeld he was hanged by the middle and arme-holes all quick and under the Gallowes was made a fire wherewith he was consumed a little before his executioâ a huge great Image was brought to the Gallowes fetched out of Wales which the Welch-men had in great reverence called Darvell Gatheren of which there went a Prophesie that thiâ Image should set a whole Forrest on fire which was thought to take effect in âerring this Frier Forrest on fire and consuming him to nothing In September by the speciall motion of the Lord Cromwell all the notable Images unto which were made any speciall Pilgrimages and offerings were taken downe and burnt as the Images of Walsingham Ipswicâ VVorcester the Lady of VVilsdon with many other and forthwith by meanes of the said Cromwell all the orders of Friers and Nunnes with theirs Cloysters and Houses were suppressed and put downe also the shrines of counterfeit Saints amongst others the shrine of Thomas Becket in the Priory of Christ-church was taken to the Kings use and his bones scull and all which was there found with a peece âroken out by the wound of his death were all burnt in the same Church by command of the Lord Cromwell and the one and twentieth of October the Church of Thomas Becket in London called the Hospitall of Saint Thomas of Acres was suppressed the sixteenth of November the Black-friers in London was suppressed the next day the VVhite-friers the Gray-friers and the Monkes of the Charter-house and so all the other immediately after ãâã three Abbots resisted the Abbot of Colechester the Abboâ of Reding and the Abbot of Glastenbury who therefore were all taken and executed The foure and twentieth of November the Bishop of Rochester Preached at Pauls-crosse and there shewed the blood of Hales affirming it to be no blood but honey clarified and coloured with saââron as it had been evidently proved before the King and Councell The number of Monasteries suppressed were six hundred forty five besides fourescore and ten Colledges one hundred and ten Hospitals and of Chantries and free Chappels two thousand three hundred seventy foure But now to make amends
for the suppressing of so many Monasteries the King instituted certaine new Bishoprickes as at VVestminster Oxford Peterborough Bristow Chester and Gloster and assigned certaine Canons and Prebends to each of them The third of November Henry Courtney Marquesse of Exceter and Earle of Devonshire Henry Poole Lord Montacute Sir Nicholas Carew of Bedington Knight of the Garter and Master of the Kings Horse and Sir Edward Nevill brother to the Lord of Aburgeiney were sent to the Tower being accused by Sir Geoffry Poole the Lord Montacutes brother of high treason theâ were indiâed for devising to promote and advance one Reinold Poole to the Crowne and put downe King Henry This Poole was a neere kinsman of the Kings being the sonne of the Lady Margaret Countesse of Salisbury daughter and heire to George Duke of Clarence he had been brought up by the King in learning and made Deane of Excetur but being sent after to learne experience by travaile he grew so great a friend of the Popes that he became an enemy to King Henry and for his enmity to the King was by Pope Iulius the third made Cardinall for this mans cause the Lords aforesaid being condemned were all executed the Lord Marquis the Lord Montacute and Sir Edward Neâill beheaded on the Tower-hill the ninth of Ianuary Sir Nicholas Carew the third of March two Priests condemned with them were hanged at Tyburn Sir Ieoffry Poole though condemned also yet had his pardon About thiâ time one Nicholson alias Lambert being accused for denying the Reall presence in the Sacrament appealed to the King and the King was coâtent to heare him whereupon a Thronâ was set up in the Hall of the Kings Pallace at Westminster for the King to siâ and when tâe Bishops had urged their arguments and could not prevaile then the King tooke him in hand hoping perhaps to have the honour of conâerting an Hereticke when the Bishops could not doe it and withall promised him pardon if he would recant but all would not doe Nicholsoâ remained obstinâte the King mist his honor the delinquent mist his pardon and shortly after was drawne to Smithfield and there burnt About this time King Henry being informed that the Pope by instigation of Cardinall Poole had earnestly moved divers great Princes to invade England He as a provident Prince endeaâoured aââarnâstly to provide âor defence aâd to that end rode himselfe to the Sâa-coastâ ãâã them fortifiââ and in needfull places Bulwarkes to be erected Hee câused hiâ Naââeââ be rigged and to be in readinesse at any short warning he cââsed Musters ââ be raken in all sheeâes and lists of all able men in eâery Countâ in Lâââdon specially where Sir William Forman the âhen Mâjor ââââified the number of fifteene thousand not that they were ãâ¦ã but that so many were ready prepared and these on the eight of May the King himselfe saw Mustered in Iames Parke where the Citizeâs âââove in such sort to exceed each other in bravary of armes and forwardnesse of service aâ if the City had bin a Campe and they not men of the gownâ but all profest Souldiers which they performed to their great cost but greater comendââion It was now the one and thirtieth yeere of King Henriâs reigne and the nine and fortieth of his age when having continued a widdower two yeere he began to thinke of marrying againe and bee needed not be a suiâour for a wife for he was sued unto take one The Emperour sollicited him to marry the Dutchesse of Milan but to marry her he must first obtaine a Licence from the Pope and King Henry was resolved rather to have no wife then to have any more to doe with the Pope Then the Duke of Cleve made suit unto him to marry the Lady Anne hiâ Sister and hee was a Protestant Prince and so though differing in points of Doctrine yet in the maine Point of excluding âhe Pope both of one minâe Many about the King were forward for thiâ Maâch but the Lord Croâwell specially and indeed it concerned him more then any other that the King should take a Protestant wife seeing ãâã actions hâd beene such as none but â Protestant Queene would ever like and if the Queene should not like them the King though done by his leave would âot like them long Hereupon such meanes was used that Embâssaâours came from the Duke of Cleve to conclude the March and theâ the elevânth of December the Lady her selfe in grâat state was brought first to Callice and then over to Dover and being come to Rochester the King secretly came to see her afterward she was conducted to London meâ by the way in severall places by all the great Lords and Ladies of the Kingdome The third of Ianuary she was received into London by Sir William Hollice then Lord Major with Orationâ Pageants anâ all complements of Staâe the greatest that ever had beene seene On Twelfth day the Marriage was âolemnized the Archbishop of Canterbury did the office the Earle of Oversteine a German Lord gaâe her In Aprill following the Lord Cromwell as though he had won the Kings heart for ever by making this march was made Earle of Essex for in March before Henry Rourchieâ Earle of Essexâ and the ancientest Earle of England had broken his necke by seeking to breake a yong Horse leaving onely one Daughter and the dying without issue the Earldome came to the Family of Devereux which yet enjoyed not the honour till afterward in Queene Elizabeths time and then made but not restored The ninth of March the King created Sir William Paulet Treasurour of his House Lord Saint Iohn Sir Iohn Russell Controlour Lord Russell and shortly after Sir William Par was created Lord Par. The eight and twentieth of April began a Parliament at Westminster in the which Margaret Countesse of Salisbury Gertrude wife to the Marquesse of Exceter Reynold Poole Cardinall broâher to the Lord Montacute Sir Adrian Foskew Thomas Dingley Knight of Saint Iohns and divers others were attainâed of high treason of whom Foskew and Dingley the tenth of Iuly were beheaded the Countesse of Salisbury two yeeres after and in this Parliament the Act of the six Articles was established and Sir Nicholas Hare was restored to his place of Speaker in the Parliament It was now five moneths after the Kings marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleve and though the King at the first sight of the Lady did not like her person yet whether as respecting the honour of Ladies he would not disgrace her at the first meeting or whether he ment to try how time might worke him to a better liking or indeed that he would not give distaste to the German Princes at that time for sole ends he had a working he dissembled the matter and all things went on in a shew of contentment on all hands But for all these shewes the crafty Bishop of London Stephen Gardiner finding how the world went with the Kings affection towards his
at Hampton Court created Earl of Essex Sir William Parre knight unckle to them both was made Lord Parre of Horton and Lord Chamberlin to the Queen and on new-yeers-New-yeers-day Sir Thomas Wriothsley the Kings Secretary was made Lord Wriothsley of Tichfield In Iune this yeer Matthew Earl of Lenox fled out of Scotland and came into England whom King Henry received kindly and gave him in marriage the Lady Margaret his Sisters daughter by whom he had Henry Father of our late King Iames of blessed memory Thomas Audley Lord Chancellour being lately dead Thomas Lord Wriothsley succeeded him in the place and now was an Army levied to goe for France the Duke of Norfolke and the Lord Privie Seal accompanied with the Earl of Surrey the Dukes Son the Lord Gray of Wilton the Lord Ferrers of Câartley and his Son Sir Robert Devereux Sir Thomas Chainey Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports the Lord Montjoy Sir Francis Byran Sir Thomas Poynings Captaine of Guysnes with many other Knights and Gentlemen about Whitsontide passed over to Callice and marching toward Muttrel joyned with the Emperours forces under the leading of the Count de Buren which two Armies laid siedge to Muttrel wherof Monsseur de Bies one of the Martials of France was Captaine but being then at Bulloign and hearing of the siedg of Muttrel he left Bulloigne and with his forces came thither which was the thing that was desired to draw him from Bnlloign and thereupon was the Duke of Suffolke appointed to passe over with the Kings army accompanied with the Earl of Arundell Marshall of the Field the Lord St. Iohn the Bishop of Winchester Sir Iohn Gage Controlor of the Kings house Sir Anthony Browne Master of the Kings horse with divers others who the ninteenth of Iuly came and incamped before Bulloigne the four and twentieth of Iuly the King in person accompanied with divers of the Nobility came to Callice and the six and twentieth incamped before Bulloign on the north side many batteries and assaults were made so long till at last the Town upon composition yeelded and the Duke of Suffolke entred and tooke possession suffring six thousand French as was agreed with bag and baggage to depart The eight of September King Henry entred the town himselfe and then leaving the Lord Lisle Lord Admirall his Deputy there he returned into England landing at Dover the first of Oâtober Many enterprises after this were made by the Dolphin of France and by Monsieur de Bies for recovery of Bulloigne but they were still repulsed and the English kept the towne in spight of all they could doe although at one time there came an Army of eighteene thousand foot at another time an Army wherein were reckoned twelve thousand Lance-knights twelve thousand French foot-men sixe thousand Italians foure thousand of Legionarie souldiers of France a thousand men of Armes besides eight thousand light Horse great Forces certainly to come and doe nothing Whilst these things were doing about Bulloign the ships of the west Country and other places waâted abroad on the Seas and took above three hundred French ships so that the Gray-friers Church in London was laid full of wine the Austin-friers and Black-friers full of herrings and other fish which should have bin convayed in France About this time the King demanded a Benevolence of his Subjects towards his wars in France and Scotland to which purpose the Lord Chancelour the Duke of Suffolke and other of the Kings Counsaile sate at Baynards Castle where they first caled before them the Major and Aldermen and because Richard Read Alderman would not agree to pay as they set him he was commanded to serve the King in his wars in Scotland which the obstinate man rather choose to doe then he would pay the rate he was required but being there he was taken prisoner by the Scots to his far greater damage then if he had agreed to the Benevolence required For at this time Sir Ralph Evers Lord Warden of the Marches after many fortunate Roades into Scotland assembled four thousand men and entring Scotland now againe was encountred by the Earl of Arraigne by whom he and the Lord Oagle and many other Gentlemen were slaine and diverse were taken prisoners of whom Alderman Read was one It was now the seaven and thirtieth yeer of King Henries Reigne when on Saint Georges day Sir Thâmas Wriothsley Lord-Chancelour was made Knight of the Garter also Trinity Tearme was adjourned by reason of the warres but the Exchequer and the Court of the Teâthes were open At this time the English fleet went before New-haven but being there encountred by a farre greater fleet of French they retârned with whose retreate the French Admirall emboldned came upon the Coast of Sussex where hee landed Souldiers but upon firing of the Beacons was driven back after which he landed two thousand men in the Isle of Wight but was there repelled though reported to have in his ships threescore thousand men In Angust this yeer died the valiant Captaine the Lord Poynings the Kings Lievtenant of his Towne of Bulloigne and the same month also died at Guildford the noble Duke of Suffolke Charles Brandon Lord great Master of the Kings House whose Body was honourably buried at Windsore at the Kings cost About this time the Scots having received aide out of France approached the English Borders but durst attempt nothing whereupon the Earle of Hertford Lievtenant of the North parts raising an army of twelve thovsand men English and strangers entred Scotland and burnt a great part of Mers and Tividale as Kelsay Abbey and the Towne the Abbeys of Medrosse Driborne and Yedworth with a hundred Townes and Villages more when on the sixteenth of September an Army of Scots and French attempted to enter into England on the East borders but in a streight were set upon by the English who slew and tooke of them to the number of seven score amongst whom was the Lord Humes sonne and a principall French Captaine in another roade which they made into the West Borders the Lord Maxwels sonne and diverse other were taken but then at another time such is the chance of war five hundred English entring the West Borders of Scotland were discomfited and the greatest part of them either taken or slaine And now to revenge the presumptious attempts of the French upon the Isle of Wight the Lord Admiral with his fleet approached the Coasts of Normandy landed six thousand men at Treport burnt the Suburbs of that Towne with the Abbey destoryed thirty ships there in the Haven and then returned not having lost above fourteen persons in the whole voyage At this time the Earle of Hartford lying at Bulloigne had in his Army above fourscore thousand men and many skirmishes passed between him and the French till at last by mediation of the Emperour and diverse other Princes a meeting was appointed to treat of a peace between the two Kings of England and France hereupon there
came to Guisnes for the King of England the Earl of Hertford the Bishop of Winchester Sir Iohn Dudley Viscount Lisle Baron of Mawpas and high Admirall of England Sir William Paget the Kings Secretary Doctor Nicholas Wootton Dean of Canterbury For the French King there came to Ard Claude Danebolt Admirall of France the Bishop of Eureux Monsieur Reymond chiefe President of Roan and the Secretary Bouchetell Diverse times they met betwixt Ard and Guisnes and after long debating of matters and diverse breakings offâ at length the seventh of Iune a Peace was concluded and proclaimed in the City of London on Whitsunday the thirteenth of Iune by sound of trumpet and the same day in like manner at Paris and Roan the chiefe Article of which Peace was this that the French King paying to the King of England eight hundred thousand Crownes within the terme of eight yeeres should have Bulloigne againe restored to him which in the mean time should remain in possession of the King of England as a pledge for assurance of the said money and now for a full establishment of this Peace the Viscount Lisle Lord Admirall with the Bishop of Duresme and divers other Lords were sent into France to take oath of the French King and of the Dolphin as likewise at the same time divers Lords came from the French King to take oath of King Henry who by the way were met by the yong Prince and many Lords and conducted to the King at Hampton-Court In his seven and thirtieth yeere the three and twentieth of November a Parliament began at VVestminsâer wherein was granted to the King a Subsidie both of Spiritualty and Temporalty and all Colledges Chanteries and Hospitalls were given to him to dispose of the foure and twentieth of December the Parliament was prorogued on which day the King comming to the Parliament House the Speaker made to him an Oration which the Lord Chancelour was used to answere but at this time the King would answer himselfe the effect whereof was that where Master Speaker had commended him for many excellent qualities that were in him he thanked him for it not that he had them but for putting him in mind how necessary it was he should have them then he thanked the whole House for their Subsidie and for giving him the Colleges and Chanteries which hee promised to see bestowed to the glory of God and good of the Realme lastly he ackowledged their love to himselfe but found fault with want of love to one another for what love where there is not concord and what concord when one calleth another Heretick and Anabaptist and he againe calleth him Papist and Hipocrite and this not onely amongst those of the Temporalty but even the Clergy men themselves preach one against another inveigh one against another without Charity or Discretion some be so stiffe in their old mumpsimus and others so curious in their new sumpsimus that few or none Preacheth truly and sincerely the word of God now therfore let this be amended feare and serve God be in Charity amongst your selves to the which I as your supream Head and Soveraigne Lord exhort and require you and this said the Acts were openly read to some he gave his Royall assent and to diverse assented not Whilst oath for the peace was thus taken by both Kings Bulloigne remaining still in King Henries possession Monsieur de Chatillon Captain of Mont-pleasier began to make a new Bastillion at the very mouth of the Haven of Bulloigne naming it Chatillous Garden hereof the Lord Gray of VVilton as then Deputy of Bulloigne advertised the King by Sir Thomas Palmour requiring to know his pleasure whither he should race it as a thing very incommodious to the Town or let it stand the King asked advice of his Counsail who all agreed that the conditions of the peace ought in no wise to be infringed and therefore to let the Bastillian stand whereupon the King caused his Secretary the Lord Paget to write a letter to the Lord Gray to that purpose but then called Sir Thomas Palmour secretly to him bidding him tell the Lord Gray that whatsoever he had written in his letter yet with all speed possible he should race the fortification to the ground Sir Thomas Palmour replying that a message by word of mouth being contrary to his leter would never be beleeved wel said the King do you tell him as I bid you and leave the doing it to his choice upon the comming back of Sir Thomas Palmour the Lord Gray called a counsaile shewing them thâ Kingâ letter and withall Sir Thomas Palmours message and then asked their Advise what in this case he should doe who all agreed without any question that the letter was to be followed and not the message to which the Lord Gray himselfe said nothing but caused the message to be wtitten verbatim from Sir Thomas Palmours mouth and those of the Counsaile to set their hands to it this done the night following he issued forth with a company of Armed men and Pioners aud overthrew the fortification to the ground aâd then sent Sir Thomas Palmour with letters to the King who as soon as he saw him asked aloud what will he doe it or no Sir Thomas Palmour delivering his letter said your Majesty shall know by these but then the King halfe angry nay tell me saith he wil he doe it or no being then told it was done and the fortification clean raced he turned to his Lords and said what say you my Lords to this Chatillous Garden is raced to the âloore whereto one presently answered that he that had done it was worthy to loose his head to which the King streightlâ replyed that he would rather lose a dozen such heads as his was that so Jâdged then one such servants as had done it and therewith commanded the Lord Grays pardon should presently be drawn the which he sent vvith letters of great thanks and promise of reward the cause why the King took this course was this lest if he written the racing of the Fortification in his letter it might have come tâ the French-mens knowledge before it could have been done and so have been prevented and by this may be taken a scantling of King Henries great Capacitie It is now the eight and thirtieth yeere of his reigne when about Michaelmas Thomas Duke of Norfolke and Henry Earle of Surrey his Sonne and heire upon certaine surmises of treason were committed to the Tower of London and the thirteenth of Ianuary the King then lying at the point of death the said Earle was arraigned in the Guild-hall before the Lord Major the Lord Chauncellour and other Lords there in Commission the speciall matter wherewith he was charged was the bearing of certaine Armes that were said to belong to the King and to the Prince though the Earle justified the bearing of them as belonging to divers of his Ancestours affirming withall that he had the opinion
betweene them was appointed it happened that the night before a small Brooke called Dun running between the two Armies upon the fall of a small raiâe swelled to such a height that it was not passable by either foot or horse a thing which had never happened before upon a great raine and was then accounted as indeed it was no lesse then a Miracle In his three and thirtieth yeere was a great mortality in the Realme by reason of hot Agues and Fluxes and withall so great a drouth that small Rivers were clean dryed much cattell dyed for lacke of water and the Thames were grown so shallow that the Salt-water flowed above London-bridge till the raine had encreased the fresh waters In his five and thirtieth yeere the first cast-Peeces of Iroâ that ever were made in England were made at Buckstead in Sussex by Ralph Hâge and Peter Bawde In his six and thirtieth yeere was a great Plague in London so as Michaelmâs Tearme was adjourned to Saint Albones and there kept In his seven and thirtieth yeere on Tuesday in Easter-weeke William Foxley Pot-maker for the Mint of the Tower of London fell asleepe and could not bâ waked with pinching or burning till the first day of the next Tearme which was full fourteene dayes and when he awaked was found in all points as if he had slept but one night and lived forty yeeres after About ââis fifteenth yeere it happened that divers things were newly brought intâ England whereupon this Rime was made Turââs Carps Hoppes Piccarell and Beere Caââe into ENGLAND all in one yeere Of his Wives and Children KIng Henry had six Wives his first was Katherine daughter of Ferdinand King of Spain the Relict of his brother Arthur she lived his Wife above twenty yeeâs and then was divorced from him after which she lived three yeers by the name of Katherine Dowager she deceased at Kimbolton in the County of Huntington the eighth of Ianuary in the yeere 1535. and lieth interred in the Cathedral Church of Peterborough under a Hearce of black say having a white Crosse in the midst His second Wife was Anne second daâghter of Sir Thomas Bullen Earle of VViltshire and Ormond shee was maried to him the five and twentieth day of Ianuary in the yeere 1533. lived his wife three yeers three months and five and twenty dayes and then was beheaded and her body buried in the Quire of the Chappell in the Tower his third Wife was Iane daughter of Sir Iohn Seymour and sister to the Lord Edward Seymour Earle of Hartford and Duke of Somerset she was maried to him the next day after the beheading of Queen Anne lived his Wife one yeer five months and foure and twenty dayes and then died in Child-bed and was buried in the midst of the Quire of the Church within the Castle of Windsor His fourth Wife was Anne sister to the Duke of Cleve she lived his wife six moneths and then was Divorced she remained in England long after the Kings death and accompanied the Lady Elizabeth through London at the solemnizing of Queene Maries Coronation His fifth wife was Katherine daughter of Edmund and Neece of Thomas Howard his brother Duke of Norfolke she was married to him in the two and thirtieth yeere of his reigne lived his wife one yeere sixe moneths and foure dayes and then was beheaded in the Tower of London and buried in the Chancell of the Chappell by Queene Anne Bullen His sixt wife was Katherine daughter of Sir Thomas Parre of Kendall and sister to the Lord William Parre Marquesse of Northampton she was first married to Iohn Nevill Lord Latimer and after his decease to the King at Hampton-Court in the five and thirtieth yeere of his reigne she was his wife three yeeres six moneths and five dayes and then surviving him was againe married to Thomas Seymour Lord Admirall of England unto whom she bore a daughter but died in her Childe-bed in the yeere 1548. He had children by his first wife Queene Katherine Henry borne at Richmond who lived not full two moneths and was buried at Westminster also another Sonne whose name is not mentioned lived but a short time neither then a daughter named Mary borne at Greenwich in the eighth yeere of his reigne and came afâerward to be Queene of England By his second wife Queene Anne Bullen he had a daughter named Elizabeth borne at Greenwich in the five and twentieth yeere of his reigne who succeeded her sister Mary in the Crowne he had also by her a sonne but borne dead By his third wife Queene Iane he had a Sonne named Edward borne at Hampton-Court in the nine and twentieth yeere of his reigne who succeeded him in the Kingdome Besides these he had a base Sonne named Henry Fitz-roy begotten of the Lady Talboyse called Elizabeth Blunt borne at Blackamore in Essex in the tenth yeere of his reigne who was made Duke of Richmond and Somerset married Mary daughter of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke with whom he lived not long but dyed at Saint Iames by Westminster and was buried at Framingham in Suffolke Of his Personage and Conditions HEE was exceeding tall of statuâe and very strong faire of complexion in his latter dayes corpulent and burley concerning his conditionâ Hee was a Prince of so many good parts that one would wonder he could have any ill and indeed he had noâ many ill till flattery and ill councell in his latter time got the upper hand of him His cruelty to his wives may not onely be excused but defended for if they were incontinent he did but justice if they were not so yet it was sufficient to satisfie his conscience that he thought he had câuse to thinke them so and if the marriage bed be honourable in all in Princes it is sacred In suppressing of Abbies he shewed not little Piety but great providence for though they were excellent things being rightly used yeâ most pestilent being abused and then may the use be justly suppressed when the abuse scarce possibly can be restrained To thinke he suppressed Abbies out of covetousnesse and desire of gaine is to make him extreamly deceived in his reckoning for if we compare the profit with the charge that followed we shall finde him certainly a great looser by the bargaine He was so farre from Pride that he was rather too humble at lest he conversed with his Subjects in a more familiar manner then was usuall with Princes So valiant that his whole liâe almost was nothing but exercises of valour and though performed amongst his friends in jest yet they prepared him against his enemies in earnest and they that durst be his enemies found it It may be said the complexion of his government for the first twenty yeers was sanguine and joviall for the rest collerick and bloody and it may be doubted whether in the former he were more prodigall of his owne treasure or in the latter of his Subjects blood for as he spent more in Fictions
of them backed with a thousand men at Armes yet the Scots resolutely maintained the fight three houres and more but in the end overlaid with number they were put to flight and chased almost to the edge of their Camp In this fight the chiefest force of the Scottish Hors-men was defeated the Lord Hume by a fall from his Horse lost his life his sonne and Heire with two Priests and six Gentlemen were taken prisoners and about fifteene hundred slaine the next day the Protectour and the Earle of Warwick rode towards the place where the Scottish Army lay to view the manner of their incamping As they returned an Herauld and a Trumpeter from the Scots overtook them who having obtained Audience the Trumpeter said that the Lord Huntley his Master to spare effusion of Christian blood would fight upon the whole quarel either with twenty against twenty or with ten against ten or else try it between the Lord Generall and himselfe the Protectour answered that for number of Combatants it was not in his power to conclude any bargaine and as for himselfe that being in publick charge it was not fit he should hazard himselfe against a man of private Conditions which otherwise he would most willingly accept here the Earle of Warwick intreated the Lord Generall that he might accept the Challenge and Trumpeter saith he bring me word that thy Master will performe the Combat with me and thou shalt have an hundred Crownes for thy paines nay rather saith the Lord Generall bring me word that thy Master will abide and give us battaile and thou shalt have a thousand Crownes for thy paines and thereupon when no other agreement could be made a generall battaile was resolved on in the Army of the Scots were five or six and thirty thousand men in the Avant-guard commanded by the Earle of Angus about fifteen thousand in the Battaile over whom was the Lord Governour about teâ thousand and in the Arreare as many led by the valiant Gourdon Earle of Hackbuttersâhey âhey had none nor men at Armes bur about two thousand Hors-men Prickers as they terme them the rest were all on foote we'âl furnished with Jack and Scull pikes daggers Bucklers made of boord aâd slicing swords broad and thin every man had a long Kirchiffe folded twicâ or thrice about his neck and many of them had cheines of Lattin drawne thâee or foure times along their hoses and doublet-sleeves they had also to affright the enemies Horses great âattles covered with parchment or paper and small stones within put upon staves three ells long And now both Armies joyned in battaile where a long fight and much variety of fortune on both sides at length the victory fell to the English in this fight divers of the Nobility of Scotland were slain of the inferior sort about ten or as some say foârteen thousand of the English were slain onely one and fifty Horse-men aâd on footmen but many hurt the Lord Gray was dangerously thrust with a pike in the mouth which struck two inches into his neck the Scottish prisoners accounted by the Marshals booke were about fifteene hundred the chiefe whereof were the Earle of Huntley the Lords Yester Hobley and Hamilton the Master of Sanâ-Poole and the Lord of Wimmes the Earle of Huntley being asked whilst he was a prisoner how he stood affected to the marriage made this answer that he liked the mariage wel enough but he liked not this kinde of woing This victory of Muskelborough against the Scots was on the tenth of December the very same day on which thirty yeers before a victory had bin had against them at Flodden field so as it seems this day was fatall to the Scots and confirms the opinion of Astologers that there are dayes to some men fortunate unfortunate to others if they could be known This victory strook such a terror into many of the Scots that the Earl Bothwel and divers chiefe Gentlemen of Tividale and Meers submitted themselves to the King of England and were received by the Prorectour into his protection after this the English army took many towns and Castles and then for want of Provision returned into England having not stayed above five and twenty dayes in Scotland and not lost above threescore men But notwithstanding this great overthrow at Muskelborough the Governour of Scotland would not yet be quiet but assembling the people made unto them a long Oration exhorting them to defend the liberty of their Countrie and not to be daunted with any event of warre In this mean time many distractions and troubles hapned in England partly in matters of Religion and partly about Inclosures ând first for inclosures the Lord Protector caused Proclamation to be set forth commanding they who had Inclosed any Lands accustomed to lye open should upon a certain pain before a day assigned lay them open again and then in matter of Religion certain Injunctions were set forth for removing of Images out of Churches and divers Preachers were sent with Instructions to disswade the people from praying to Saints or for the dead from use of Beads Ashes Processions from Masses Durges praying in any unknown tongue and for defect of Preachers Homilies were appointed publickly to be red in Churches many for offering to maintaine these Ceremonies were either punished or forced to recant Edmund Bonner Bishop of London was committed to the Fleet for refusing to receive these Injuctions Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester was likewise committed first to the Fleet and after to the Tower for that he had preached It were well these changes in Religion should be stayed untill the King were of yeers to govern by himselfe for the like causes Tunstall Bishop of Durham Heath Bishop of Rochester and Day Bishop of Chichester were in like manner committed to prison and all of them dispossessed of their Bishopricks and that which was worse the Bishopricks themselves were dispossessed of their Revenues in such sort that a very smal paât remained to the Bishops that came after And now a Parliament was held in the first yeer of the King and by Prorogation in the second wherein divers Chantries Colledges free Chappels Fraternities and Guildes with all their Lands and goods were given to the King which being sold at a low rate enriched many and ennobled some and thereby made them firme in maintaining the change also it was then ordered that no man should speak against receiving the Eucharist in both kindes and that Bishops should be placed by Collation of the King under his Letters Patents without any election preceding or confirmation insuing and that all Processes Ecclesiasticall should be made in the Kings name as in Writs at the Common-Law and that al Persons exercising Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction should have the Kings Armes in the Seales of their Office and further the Statute of the six Articles and other Statutes concerning punishment of Lollards were repealed and the Kings Supremacy over the Church of England was confirmed
please them both The Recorder set forth the complaint of the Lords against the Protectour in such sort that he made many inclinable to favour that side but one named George Stadlow better advised stept up and in a long Speech shewed what mischiefes had come to the City by opposing the King and therefore gave his opinion to suspend giving aide to the Lords at lest for a time His advice was harkened to and thereupon the Court resolved onely to arme a hundred Horsemen and foure hundred foot in defence of the City and to the letters returned submissive but dilatory answers After some other passages betweene the Protectour and the Lords Sir Edward Winkfield Captaine of the Guard was sent from the Lords to Windsor who so well perswaded the King of the Lords loyall affection towards him and of their moderate intention towards the Protectour that the King was contented to have him presently remvoed from him and suffered him within two dayes after to be carried to the Tower In whose absence seven Lords of the Councell and foure Knights were appointed by turnes to attend the Kings person and for affaires of State the government of them was referred to the whole body of the Councell soone after were sent to the Protectour in the Tower certain Lords of the Councell with Articles against him requiring his present Answer whether he would acknowledge them to be true or else stand upon his justificaâion The chiefe Article was this That he tooke upon him the Office of Protectour with expresse condition that he should doe nothing in the Kings affaires but by assent of the late Kings Executours or the greaâest part of them and that contrary to this condition he had hindered Justice and subverted laws of his owne authority as well by letters as by other command and many other Articles but all much to this purpose The Protectour whether thinking to speed better by submission then by contesting or perhaps finding himselfe not altogether innocent for indeed in so great a place who can beare himselfe with such sincerity but he will commit errours with which he may be taxed subscribed an acknowledgement with his owne hand humbly submitting himselfe to the Kings mercy and desiring their Lordships favour âowards him Upon this submission three moneths after he had bin imprisoned he was released entertained and feasted by the King and sworâe again to be a Privie Councellour but no more Protectour at which time betweene him and the Lords a shew at lest of perfect amity was made and to make it the more firme the Dukes daughter was afterward married to the Lord Lisle Sonne and heire to the Earle of Warwicke at which marriage the King himselfe was present and perhaps to honour their reconcilement and this marriâge the Earle of Warwicke was made Lord Admirall of England Sir Iohn Russell Lord Privie Seale was created Earle of Bedford the Lord Saint-Iohn was created Earle of Wiltshire and soone after made Lord Treasurour Sir William Paget Controlour of the Kings House was made Lord Paget Sir Anthony VVinkfield Captaine of the Guard was made Controlour and Sir Thomas Darcye was made Captaine of the Guard But of the other side the Earle of Arundell the Earle of Southampton were put off from the Councell of whom the Earle of Southampton dyed shortly after at Lincolne-Place in Holborne and was buried in Saint Andrewes Church there About this time a Parliament was held at Westminster wherein one Act was made against spreading of Prophesies another against unlawfull Assemblies but for feare of new tumults the Parliament was untimely Dissolved and Gentlemen were commanded to retyre to their Countâey-habitations and âor the same cause also Trinity Terme did not hold About this time also Pope Paul the third dyed after whose death the Cardinals being divided about the election of a new Pope the Imperial part which was the greatest gave their voyces for Cardinall Poole which being told him âe disabled himselfe and wished them to choose one that might be most for the glory of God and good of the Church upon âhis stop some that were no friends to Poole and perhaps looked for the place themselves if he were put off laid mâny things to his charge amongst other that he was noâ withouâ suspition of Lutharisme as having bin very conversant with Immanuell Tremellius and Anthonius Flaminius great Lutherans and not altogether without blemish of incontinency there being a young Nunne that was thought to be his daughter But of these criminations Poole so cleered himselfe that he was afterward more importuned to take the place then he was before and thereupon one night the Cardinals came unto him being in bed and sent him word they came to adore him which is one special kind of electing the Pope but he being awaked out of his sleepe and acquainted with it made answer that this was not a worke of darkenesse and therefore required them to forbeare till the next day and then to doe as God should put in their mindes But the Italian Cardinals attributing this putting off to a kinde of stupidity and sloth in Poole looked no more after him but the next day chose Cardinall Montanus Pope who was afterward named Iulius the third And now the King of France upon many just considerations was growne desirous to have a Peace with England and thereupon sent one Guidolâi a Florentine inâo England to make some overture of his desire to the Lords of the Councell who addressing himselfe to the Earle of Warwicke whom he knew to be most prevalent so prevailed that it was concluded foure Embassadours should be sent from the King of England into Franeeâ and foure from the French King to treat with them The Commissioners for the English were Iohn Earl of Bedford William Lord Paget Sir William Peter and Sir Iohn Mason Secretaries of State For the French were Monsieur Rochpot Monsieur Chatillon Guyllart de Martyer and Rochetelle de Dassie much time was spent to agree about a place of meeting till at last the English to satisfie the French were contented it should be before Bulloigne where were many meetings and mâny diffârences about conditions but in conclusion a Peace was concluded upon certaine Articles the chiefe whereof was that Bulloigne and the places adjacent should be delivered up to the French within six weekes after the Peace Proclaimed and that the French should pay for the same two hundred thousand crownes within three dayes after delivery of the Towne and other two huâdred thousand crowes upon the fifth day of August following hostages were on both sides given for performance and to those Articles the French King was sworne at Amyens and the King of England in London the Lord Clinton who had been Deputy of Bulloigne was made Lord Admirall of England Presently after this Agreement the Duke of Brunswicke sent to the King of England to offer his service in the Kings wars with ten thousand men and to intreat a marriage with the Lady
Daughters which he had by Frances Daughter of Charles Brandon and Mary Queene of France were married at Durham-House the eldest Iane to the Lord Dudleyâ fourth Soone of the Duke of Northumberland the second Katherine to Henry Sonne and heire to the Earle of Pembrooke the yoâgest Mary being somwhat deformed to Martyn Keyes the Kings Gentleman-Porter And then also Katherine the Duke of Northumberlands yongest daughter to the Lord Hastings eldest sonne of the Earle of Huntington And now had the Duke of Northumberland gone a great way in his design it remained to perswade King Edward to exclude his two sisters from succession in the Crowne for that doâe his daughter in law the Lady Ianâ would come to have a right for as for pretenders out of Scotland or any other he made no great matter And now to worke the King to this perswasion being in a languishing sicknesse not farre from death he inculcates to him how much it concerned him to have a care of Religion that it might be preserved in purity not onely in his owne life but as well after his death which would not be if his sister the Lady Mary should succeed and she could not be put by unlesse her other sister the Lady Elizabeth were put by also seeing their rights depended one upon another but if he pleased to appoint the Lady Iane the Duke of Suffolkes eldest daughter and his owne next kinswoman to his Sisters to be his successour he might then be sure that the true Religion should be maintained to Gods great glory and be a worthy Act of his owne religious Providence This was to strike upon the right string of the yong Kings affection with whom nothing was so deere as preservation of Religion and thereupon his last Will was appointed to be drawne contrived chiefly by the Lord chiefe Justice Montague and Secretary Cecill by which Will as farre as in him lay he excluded his two sisters from the succession and all other but the Duke of Suffolkes daughters and then causing it to be read before his Councell he required them all to assent unto it and to subscribe their hands which they all both Nobility and Bishops and Judges did onely the Archbishop Cranmer refused at first Sir Iames Hales a Judge of the Common-Pleas to the last and with him also Sir Iohn Baker Chancellour of the Exchequer And now remained nothing for the Duke of Northumberlands purpose but that the King should dye which soone after he did at Greenwich the sixth of Iuly in the yeere 1553. One point of the Dukes policie must not be forgotten that fearing what troubles the Lady Mary might raise after the Kings decease if she should be at liberty he therefore seeing the King drawing on used all meanes possible to get her within his power to which end Letters are directed to her in the Kings name from the Councell willing her forthwith to repaire to the King as well to be a comfort to him in his sicknesse as to see all matters well ordered about his person whereupon the Lady suspecting nothing addressed her selfe with all speed to the journey till being upon the way she was advertised of the Dukes designe and then she returned to her House at Hoveden and so escaped the snare by whose escape the whole designe of the Duke of Northumberland was disappointed as soone after will be seene Of his Taxations IN no Kings reigne was ever more Parliaments for the time nor fewer Subsidies the greatest was in his last yeere when yet there was but one Subsidie with two fifteenes and tenths granted by the Temporalty and a Subside by the Clergie And indeed to shew how loath this King was to lay Impositions upon his people this may be a sufficient argument that though he were much in debt yet he chose rather to deale with the Foulker in the Low-Countries for money upon loane at the interest of fourteene pounds for a hundred for a yeere But his wayes for raising of money was by selling of Chantrie Lands and Houses given him by Parliament and by inquiring after all Church-goods either remaining in Cathedrall and Parish-Churches or embezeled away as Jewels gold and silver Chalices ready money Copes and other Vestments reserving to every Church one Challice and one covering for the Communion-Table the rest to be applied to his benefit He also raised money by enquiring after offences of Officers in great places in which inquirie one Beamont Master of the Rolles being convinced of many crimes surrendred all his Offices Lands and Goods into the Kings hands also one Whalley Receiver of Yorkeshire being found a delinquent surrendred his Office and payed a great fine besides also the Lord Paget Chancellour of the Dutchie convinced that he had sold the Kings Lands and Timber-woods without Commission and had applied the Kings Fines to his owne use for these and other offences surrendred his Office and was fined at foure thousand pounds which he payed in hand One thing more was done in his time for raising of money twenty thousand pounds weight of Bullion was appointed to be made so much baser that the King might gaine thereby a hundred and forty thousand pounds Of his Lawes and Ordinances IN his third yeere a Parliament was holden wherein one Act was made against spreading of Prophesies another against unlawfull Assemblies In his fourth yeere a Parliament was holden wherein Priests children were made legitimate and usury for the loane of money was forbidden In his fifth yeer it was ordained that the Lawes of England should be administred in Ireland and a king at Armes named Vlster was newly instituted for Ireland whose Province was all Ireland and he was the first fourth king of Armes and first Herauld appointed for Ireland Also in his fifth yeere base monies formerly coyned were cried downe so as the shilling went but for nine pence and shortly after but for six pence the gâoat but for three pence and shortly after but for two pence Affaires of the Church in his time IN the first yeeâe of this Kings reigne Injunctions were set forth for pulling downe aâd removing all Images out of Churches also certaine Homilies were appointed to be made by learned men to be read in Churches for the peoples instruction and at Easter this yeer it was ordered that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper should be ministred to the Lay-people in both kindes also Marriage was allowed to Clergie men Auricular Confession and prayer for the dead were forbidden and it is observable that the very same day that Images were pulled downe at London the great overthrow was given to the Scots at Muâkleborough Also at this time by the Archbishop Cranmers means divers learned Protestants came over into England and had here enteâtainment as Peter Martyr Martin Bucer and Paulus Fagius of whom Peter Martyr was sent to read a Divinity Lecture in Oxford Bucer and Fagius in Cambridge In this Kings foutth yeer all Altars in Churches were commaâded to be
in respect of them whom he left behinde him for if they in his absence should by any accident be drawne to waver in their resolution they might worke their owne safety with his destruction and make themselves seeme innocent in his guiltinesse To which one of the Lords replied and said Your Grace makes a doubt of that which cannot be for which of us all can wash his hands cleane of this businesse and therefore it behooves us to be as resolute as your selfe and the Earle of Arundell to testifie his resolution in the matter said he was sorry it was not his chance to goe with him at whose feet he could finde in his heart to spend his blood So the Duke with the Marquesse of Northampton the Lord Gray and divers other of account on the fourteenth of Iuly set forward on the journey with eight thousand foot and two thousand horse and passing through Shoreditch the Duke said to the Lord Gray see how the people presse to see us but not one of them saith God speed you The Duke had every dayes march how farre he should goe appointed him by Commission which being very slow whether it were done of purpose by some that favoured the Lady Maries side was certainly a great helpe to her proceedings for by this meanes she had the longer time to make her preparations and indeed in this time two accidents happened of great benefit to her one that Edward Hastings the Earle of Huntingtons brother having an Army of foure thousand foot committed to him by the Earle of Northumberland he now left his Party and went to the Lady Mary the other that six great Ships which lay before Yarmouth to intercept the Lady Mary if she shouly attempt to flye now at the perswasion of Master Ierningham came in to her aide which two revolts so terrified the Londoners that though Doctor Ridley Bishop of London on the sixteenth of Iuly at Pauls Crosse Preached a Sermon wherein he invited the people to stand firme to Queene Iane whose cause he affirmed to be most just yeâ few or none were perswaded by him so as the Lords themselves fell off from the side who assembling at Beynards-Castle first the Earle of Arundell then the Earle of Pembrooke fell to invectives against the Earle of Northumberland and then all the Lords joyning in opinion with them they called for the Major and in London Proclaimed the Lady Mary Queene as likewise the Lord Windsor Sir Edmund Peckham Sir Robert Drurie and Sir Edward Hastings did in Buckinghamshire Sir Iohn Williams of Tame and Sir Leonard Chamberlaine in Oxfordshire and Sir Thomas Tresham in the County of Northampton All this came soone to the knowledge of the Duke of Northumberland being then at Burie who thereby seeing how the world went thought it his best course to turne with the streame and thereupon returning to Cambridge he tooke the Major of the Towne with him into the Market-place and there himselfe for want of a Herauld Proclaimed the Lady Mary Queene and in signe of joy threw up his Cap which yet served not his turne for the next morning Henry Fitz-Allen Earle of Arundell came into Cambridge from Queene Mary who entring his Chamber the Duke at his feet fell on his knees desiring him for Gods love to consider his case that had done nothing but by the Warrant of him and the Councell My Lord said the Earle I am sent hither by the Queen to arrest you and I said the Duke obey your arrest yet I beseech your Lordship to use mercy towards him whose Acts have been no other then were injoyned by Commission you should have thought of that sooner said the Earle and thereupon committed him to a Guard and left him to the Queenes mercy Thus ended all this great Dukes designes in his owne destruction and brought him to fall on his knees to them who had often before bowed their knees to him and the Earle who at the Dukes going ouâ could have beene contented to spend his blood at his feet was now contented to be made an instrument of his fall so sudden are the turnes of mens affections and so unstable is the building upon their asseverations at lest no man must looke to have his case be of any weight against him who hath his owne case put in the Ballance Together with the Duke his three Sonnes Iohn Ambrose and Henry the Earle of Huntington Sir Andrew Dudley the two Gates Iohn and Henry Sir Thomas Palmer and Doctor Sands were conveyed towards London and brought to the Tower and the next day the Marquesse of Northampton the Lord Robert Dudley and Sir Robert Corbet Before which time the Duke of Suffolke entring his daughters the Lady Ianes Chamber told her she must now put off her Royall Robes and be contented with a private life to which she answered She would much more willingly put them off then she had put them on and would never have done it but in obedience to him and her Mother And this was the end of the Lady Ianes ten dayes Reigne THE REIGNE OF QUEEN MARY THE Lady Mary having bin Proclaimed Queen in London and other parts of the Realme removed from her castle of Framingham towards London and being come to Wanstead in Essex on the thirtieth of Iuly the Lady Elizabeth her sister with a traine of a thousand horse rode from her place in the Strand to meet her on the third of August the Queene rode through London to the Tower where at her entrance were presented to her Thomas Duke of Norfolke Edward Lord Courtney Stephen Gardiner late Bishop of Winchester and the Duâchesse of Somerset who all kneeling downeâ she kissed them and said These be my Prisoners and then caused them presently to be set at liberty the next day she restored the Lord Courtney to his Marchisate of Exceter and the same day also she not onely restored Stephen Gardiner to his Bishopricke of Winchester but a few daâes after made him Chancellour of England yet this was the man that had subscribed to her Mothers Divorceâ and had written Bookes against the lawfulnesse of her mariage The fift of August Edmund Bonner late Bishop of London prisoner in the Marshalsey and Cutbert Tunstall the old Bishop of Durham prisoner in the Kings Bench had their Pardons and were restored to their Sees Sortly aftâr all the Bishops which had been deprived in the time of King Edward the sixth were restored to their Bishopricksâ and the new removed as Ridley was removed from London and Bonner placed Skory from Chichester and Day placed Miles Coverdale from Exceter and West placed Iohn Hooper from Worcester and Heath placed Also all Beneficed men that were married or would not renounce their Religion were put out of their Livings and other of a contrary opinion put in their rooms On the thirteenth of August one Master Bourne a Canon of Pauls preaching at Pauls Crosse not onely prayed for the dead but also declared that Doctor Bonner
obtained of the Queene three dayes longer and then came and âold so much to the Lady Iane whereat she smiling said You are much deceived if you thinke I had any desire of longer life for I assure you since the time you went from me my life hath beene so tedious to me that I long for nothing so much as death and since it is the Queenes pleasure am moââ willing to undergoe it Before she was brought to Execution her huâband the Lord Guildford had made suit and obtained to see her and have some conference with her but she refused it saying These were rather augmenters of griefe then comfortâ of deathâ she made no doubt but they should shortly meet in a better place and in a better condition of society so on the twelfth of February her husband the Lord Guildford first and then she an houre or two after was beheaded within the Tower where she acknowledged her selfe to have deserved death not for seeking the Crown but for not refusing it being offered and after prayers to God unclothing her selfe and putting a Handcarchiffe before her eyes she laid her head downe upon the blocke and patiently suffered death more grievous to the beholders then to her selfe This end had the Lady Iane Gray a Lady of incomparable Pietie and for her yeers of incomparable learning for being not past seventeen yeeres of age she understood perfectly the Greek and Latine tongues and was so ready in all points of Divinity as if she knew them by inspiration rather then by instruction no lesse a miracle in this kinde then King Edward and therefore no mervaile if he appointed her to succeed him in the Kingdome who in the endowments of minde was so like unto him that whilest she reigned it might be thought he continued to reigne himselfe at lest no more differing but onely the sex It may not be forgotten that Judge Morgan who at her arraignement gave the sentence against her shortly after fell mad and in his raving cried continually to have the Lady Iane taken away from him and so ended his life Two dayes after the execution of the Lady Iane namely the fourteenth and fifteenth of February twenty paire of Gallowes were set up in divers places of the City whereon were handed fifty of Wyats faction on the eighteenth of February Bret was hanged at Rochester in chaines Sir Henryâ Isle who had beene taken in an old freeze coat and an old paire of hose with his brother Thomas Isle and Walter Mantell were hanged at Maidstone Anthony Knevet and his brother William with another of the Mantels were executed at Sevenocke but then on the twentieth of February a sprinkling of mercy came for foure hundred of Wyats followers being brought before the Queene with halters about their necks were all pardoned and set at liberty But then severity soone after began againe for on the three and twentieth of February the Lord Henry Gray Duke of Suffolke and Father to the Lady Iane who the weeke before had been attaigned and condemned was on the Tower-hill beheaded and on the eleventh of Aprill in the same place was beheaded the Author of all this mischiefe Wyot himselfe whose quarters were set up in divers places of the City his head upon the Gallowes at Hay-hill besides Hide Parke This man in hope of life having before accused the Lord Courtney and the Lady Elizabeth the Queenes sisterâ to be privie to his conspiracy yet at his death he cleered them and protested openly that they were altogether innocent and never had been acquainted with his proceedings Yet was this matter so urged against them by Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellour that both of them in March before had beene committed to the Tower though in May following they were both againe released but yet confined the Lady Elizabeth to Woodstocke under the custody of Sir Henry Beningfield of Oxenborough in the County of Norfolke the Lord Courtney to Foderingham under the custody of Sir Thomas Tresâam who after some time was set at liberty and going into Italie there dyed It is memorable what malice this Bishop Gardiner bore to the Lady Elizabeth by whose onely procurement not onely she was kept iâ most hard durance but a Warrant was at last framed under certaine Councellours hands to put her to death and had beene done but that Master âridges Lâevâenant of the Tower pitying her case went to the Queene to know her pleasure who utterly denied that she knew any thing of it by which meanes here life was preserved Indeed the Bishop would sometimes say how they cut off boughes and branches but as long as they let the root remaine all was nothing and it is not unworthy the remembring what âraines were laid to ensâare her The common net at that time for catching of Protestants was the Reall Presânce and this net was used to catch her for being asked one time what she thought of the words of Christ This is my Body whether she thought it the true body of Christ that was in the Sacrament It is said that after some pawsing she thus answered Christ was the Word that spake it He tooke the Bread and brake it And what the Word did make it That I beleeve and take it Which though it may seeme but a slight expression yet hath it more solidnesse then at first fight appears at lest it served her turne at that time to escape the net which by direct answering she could not have done On the seventeenth of Aprill Thomas Lord Grey the Duke of Suffolkes brother was beheaded the last and indeed the lest in delinquency that suffered for having any hand in Wyats conspiracy There remained yet a fagge end and was indeed but a fagge end as nothing worth for on the same day Sir Nicholâs Thrâgmorton being accused to have beene a party in Wyats conspiracy was at the Guild-hall arraigned before Sir Thomas White Lord Maior the Earles of Shrewsbury and Derby Sir Thomas Bromley Lord chiefe Justice of England Sir Nicholas Hare Master of the Roles Sir Francis Englefield Master of the Wards Sir Richard Southwell and Sir Edward Walgrave Privie Councellours Sir Roger Chomley Sir William Portman one of the Justices of the Kings Bench Sir Edward Sanders one of the Justices of the Common Pleas Master Stââford and Master Dyer Serjeants at Law Master Edward Griffin Atturney geâerall Master Sendall and Peter Titchâorne Clarkes of the Crowne where the said Mâster Nicholas Throgmorton so fully and discreetly answered all objections brought against him that he was found by the Jurie Not Guilty and was cleerly acquitted but the Jury notwithstanding was afterward troubled for acquitting him and sent prisoners some of them to the Tower and some to the Fleet and afterward fined to pay a thousand makes a peece at lest and some 2000. l. though these sums were afterward something mitigated More of Wyaâs complices had beene taken arraigned and adjudged to dye but in judgement the Queene remembred
except Anthony Bishop of Landaffâ as Nicholas Heath Archbishop of York Edmund Boner Bishop of London Cutbert Tunstall Bishop of Durham Thomas Thursby Bishop of Ely Gilbert Bourn Bishop of Bath and Wells Iohn Christopherson Bishop of Chichester Iohn White Bishop of Winchester Thomas Watson Bishop of Lincoln Ralph Bayne Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield Owen Oglethorp Bishop of Carlile Iames Turbervile Bishop of Exeter and David Pool Bishop of Peterborough And with these Doctor Fecknam Abbot of Westminster All which were at first committed to prison but soon after delivered to the custody of private friends excepting those two sawcie Prelates Lincoln and Winchester who threatned to excommunicate the Queen Three onely namely Cutbert Scot Bishop of Chester Richard Pate Bishop of Worcester and Thomas Goldwel Bishop of Saint Assaph changed their Religion of their own accord as also did certain Noble Personages namely Henry Lord Morley Sir Francis Englefield and Sir Robert Peckham who had been Privie-Councellours to Q. Mary Sir Thomas Shelley and Sir Iohn Gage In the seas of the Prelates removed were placed Protestant Bishops as Matthew Parker was made Archbishop of Canterbury who was consecrated by the Imposition of the hands of three that formerly had been Bishops namely William Barlow of Bath and Wells Iohn Scory of Chichester and Miles Coverdale of Exeter and being consecrated himself he afterward consecrated Edmund Grindall Bishop of London Richard Cox Bishop of Ely Edwyn Sands Bishop of Worcester Rowland Merick Bishop of Bangor Thomas Young Bishop of Saint Davyes Nicholas Bullingham Bishop of Lincoln Iohn Iewell Bishop of Salisbury Richard Davis Bishop of Saint Assaph Edward Guest Bishop of Rochester Gilbert Barkeley Bishop of Bath and Wells Thomas Bentham Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield William Alley Bishop of Exceter Iohn Parkhurst Bishop of Norwich Robert Horn Bishop of Winchester Richard Cheyney Bishop of Gloucester Edmund Scambler Bishop of Peterboâough William Barlow Bishop of Chichester Iohn Scory Bishop of Hereford Young Archbishop of York Iames Pilkington Bishop of Durham Iohn Best Bishop of Carlile and William Downham Bishop of Chester Whilest these things were done in England the Treaty of peace at Cambray continued still Wherein King Phillip stood for the restitution of Calice to the English as firmly as if it had been his own interest and without it would agree to no peace with France But when by Messages he understood that his suit for marriage with Queen Elizabeth was rejected and that the Protestant Religion was established in the Kingdom he then left Queen Elizabeth seeing she would not be his to her self and though he became not presently a Foe yet he became presently lesse then a Friend and forbore to do any more good offices in that businesse Queen Elizabeth thus left to her self agreed with the French King to conclude her own peace apart and thereupon Delegates on both sides were appointed to meet at Cambray For the Queen of England were Thursby Bishop of Ely the Lord Williams the Lord Howard of Effingham Chamberlain to the Queen and Doctor Wootton Dean of Canterbury and York For the King of France were Charls Cardinall of Lorrain the first Peer of France Annas Duke of Memorancy Iames Albon Lord of Saint Andrews Iohn Morvilliers Bishop of Orleance and Claude Aubespine Secretary of the Privie Councel The Commissioners meeting the chief point in difference was the restitution of Calice for which the English Commissionersâ by the Qâeens appointment offered to remit two Millions of Crowns that by just accompt were due from France to England but the Queen was not more desirous to recover Calice then the French King was to hold it And thereupon at last it was concluded that Calice should remain in possession of the French foâ the term of eight yeers and those expired it should be delivered to the English upon forfeiture of five hundred thousand Crownsâ for which hostages were given But all this notwithstanding though the Conditions were sealed and sworn to and though hostages were assigned to remain in England till one or other were performed yet all was frustate and came to nothing About this time Henry King of France married his daughter Isabell to Phillip King of Spain and his sister Margaret to Emmanuel Phylibert Duke of Savoy at the solemnity of which Marriages he would needs be a Tiltor himself and thereupon commended the Earl of Montgomery to run against him who unfortunately breaking his Launce upon the Kings Cuyrasse a splinter thereof his Beaver being somewhat open struck him so deep in the eye that within few dayes he ended his life After whose death Francis his son at the age of sixteen yeers succeeded him in the Crown having by the marriage of Queen Mary the Title of Scotland and upon ground thereof laying claim to the Crown of England also and giving the Arms of England as properly belonging to him And now begins the game of Faction to be play'd wherein the whole estate of Queen Elizabeth lyes at stake a game that will hold playing the most part of her Reign and if not play'd well will put her in jeoparey of losing all seeing all about her are against her Phillip King of Spain hath a quarrell to her for being rejected in his suit the King of France hath a quarrell to her in right of his wife which is now his right The Queân of Scots hath a quarrell to her for detaining her Inheritance The Pope hath a quarrell to her for excluding his Authority The King of Sweden hath a quarrell to her for slighting his son in the way of marriage And all these being against her whom hath she of her side but onely her own Subjects Papists yesterday and to day Protestants who being scarce setled in their Religion how should they be setled in their Loyalty And not being Loyall where can she finde to cast Anchor for her safety But it is a true saying Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia Wisdom is a sâpply for all defects And indeed the Queen being very wise her self and having a wise Councell about her she passed all these difficulties though not without danger yet with little or no hazard It happened if at least it happened and were not rather plotted of purpose that a Reformation of Religion was pretended in Scotland but was indeed an incroachment upon the Princes Authority for at the preaching of Iohn Knox and other headstrong Ministers not onely Images and Altars were cast down and burnt the Monasteries of Saint Andrews of Stone of Stryveling and of Lynlithew were overthrown but it was further put into the heads of the Nobility that it pertained to them of their own Authority to take away Idolatry and by force reduce thâ Prince to the prescript of Laws Whereupon there was presently a bandying of the Lords of Scotland against the Queen Dowager Regent of the Country and in this case each of them âought for aid The Queen Dowager had aid out of France the Lords
of Scotland sent for aid to the Queen of England But this was matter for consultation It seemed a bad Example for a Prince to give aid to the rebellious Subjects of another Prince On the other side it seemed no lesse then impiety not to give Ayd to the Protestants of the same Religion but most of all it seemed plain madnesse to suffer adversaries to be so neer neighbours and to let the French nestle in Scotland who pretend Title to England upon such like considerations it was resolved to send them Ayd and thereupon an Army of six thousand Foot and twelve hundred Horse was sent under the Command of the Duke of Norfolk the Lord Grey of Wilton his Lievtenant Generall Sir Iames a Crofts Assistant to him the Lord Scroop L. Marshall Sir George Howard Generall of the men at Arms Sir Henry Percy Generall of the Light-horse Thomas Huggens Provost Marshall Thomas Gower Master of the Ordnance Master William Pelham Captain of the Pyoners and Master Edward Randoll Serjeant Major and divers others These coming into Scotland joyned with the Scotish Lords and set down before Leith where passed many small skirmishes many Batteries and sometimes Assaults to whom after some time a new supply came of above two thousand Foot whereof were Captains Sir Andrew Corbet Sir Rowland Stanley Sir Thomas Hesbith Sir Arthur Manwaring Sir Lawrence Smith and others yet with this new supply there was little more done then before many light skirmishes many Batteries and sometimes Assaults so long till at last the young French King finding these broyls of Scotland to be too furious for him to appease he sent to the Queen of England desiring that Commissioners might be sent to reconcile these differences whereupon were dispatched into Scotland Sir William Cecill her principall Secretary with Doctor Wotton Dean of Canterbury who concluded a Peace between England and France upon these Conditions That neither the King of France nor the Queen of Scotland should thenceforth use the Arms or Titles of England or Ireland And that both the English and the French should depart out of Scotland And a generall pardon should be enacted by Parliament for all such as had been actors in those stirs This Peace was scarce concluded when Francis the young King of France died leaving the Crown to his younger brother Charles who was guided altogether by the Queen-Mother and molested with the Civill dissentions between the Princes of Guise and Conde for whose reconcilement the Queen sent Sir Henry Sidney Lord President of VVales and shortly after an Army under the leading of the Lord Ambrose Dudley Earl of VVarwick who arriving at Newhaven was received into the Town which having kept eleven months he was then constrayned by reason of a Pestilence to surrender again upon Composition and so returned About this time when the Parliament was upon dissolving it was agreed upon by the House of Commons to move the Queen to marry that she might have Issue to succeed her to which purpose Thomas Gargrave Speaker of the House with some few other chosen men had accesse to the Queen who humbly made the motion to her as a thing which the Kingdom infinitely desired seeing they could never hope to have a better Prince then out of her loyns Whereunto the Queen answered in effect thus That she was already marryed namely To the Kingdom of England and behold saith she the Pledge of the Covenant with my husband and therewith she held out her finger and shewed the Ring wherewith at the time of her Coronation she gave her self in Wedlock to the Kingdom and if saith she I keep my self to this husband and take no other yet I doubt not but God will send you as good Kings as if they were born of me forasmuch as we see by dayly experience That the Issue of the best Princes do often degenerate And for my self it shall be sufficient that a Marble stone declare That a Queen having Raigned such a time lived and dyed a Virgin Indeed before this time many Matches had been offered her First King Philip and when he was out of hope of matching with her himself he then dealt with the Emperor Ferdinand his Unkle to commend his younger Son Charles Duke of Austria to her for a husband And when this succeeded not then Iohn Duke of Finland second Son to Gustavus King of Sweden was sent by his father to solicite for his eldest Brother Erricusâ who was honourably received but the Match rejected Then Adolphus Duke of Holst Unkle to Frederick King of Denmark came into England upon a great hope of speeding but the Queen bestowed upon him the Honour of the Garter and a yeerly Pension but not her self Then Iames Earl of Arran was commended to her by the Protestants of Scotland but neither the man nor the motion was accepted Of meaner Fortunes there were some at home that pleased themselves with hope of her Marriage First Sir William Pickering a Gentleman of a good House and a good Estate but that which most commended him was his studiousnesse of good letters and sweet demeanour Then Henry Earl of Arundel exceeding rich but now in his declining age Then Robert Dudley youngest son of the Duke of Northumberland of an excellent feature of face and now in the flower of his age but these might please themselves with their own conceit but were not considerable in her apprehension they might receive from her good Testimonies of her Princely favour but never Pledges of Nuptiall love About this time the Earl of Feria who had married the daughter of Sir William Dormer being denyed leave of the Queen for some of his wives friends to live out of England grew so incensed that he made means to Pius the fourth then Pope to have her excommunicate as an Heretick and Usurper but the Pope inclining rather to save then to destroy and knowing that gentle courses prevail more with generous mindes then roughnesse and violence in most loving manner wrote unto her exhorting her to return to the Unity of the Catholike Church and as it is said made her great offers if she would hearken to his counsell Particularly That he would recall the Sentence pronounced against her mothers Marriage confirm the Book of Common Prayer in English and permit to her people the use of the Sacrament in both Kindes But Queen Elizabeth neither terrified with the Earl of Feria's practises nor allured with the Popes great offers according to her Motto Semper Eadem persisted constant in her resolution To maintain that Religion which in her conscience she was perswaded to be most agreeable to the Word of God and most consonant to the Primitive Church Whilst these grounds of Troubles are sowing in England France and Scotland it is not likely that Ireland will lie fallow though indeed it be a Countrey that will bring forth Troubles of it self without sowing but howsoever to make the more plentifull Harvest of troubles at this time Iohn Oneal
King had a while grew sensible he meant to be revenged of Murray who had counselled him to do it which Murray understanding prevented it with causing the like to be done to him as will presently be seen For the Queen having been delivered of a Son and the day appointed for the Christning being come where the God-fathers were Charles King of France and Philibert Duke of Savoy Queen Elizabeth being requested to be God-mother sent thither the Earl of Bedford as her Deputy and a Font of Massie Gold for a Present in value 1043 l. but gave him expresse Command That he should not honour Darly with the Title of King But before a month or two after the Christning were passed The King in a stormy and tempestuous night was strangled in his Bed and then cast forth into the Garden and the house immediately blown up with Gun-powder The rumour of this murther being spread abroad the common Fame laid it upon Murray and Morton and their Confederates Murray and Morton upon the Queen But we must not here give ear to that which BUCHANAN writes who to curry favour with the Earl MURRAY layes most impudent scandalls upon the Queene whereof before his death he repented himself extremely The King thus murthered and the QUEENE left alone to her self she is counselled to marry with some that might be able to assist her against all her opposites IAMES Hepburn Earl of Bothwell being then greatly in her favour and of great eminencie for his valour And though he were the man that had acted the murther yet is he by Murray and his confederates commended to the Queen to which motion as being destitute of friends and not knowing whom to trust she at last consents but upon these conditions That above all things respect might be had to her yong Sonne and that Bothwell might be legally quitted both from the bond of his former marriage and also of the Kings murther Hereupon a course is plotted by which Bothwell is called to the Barre and Morton being his Advocate by the Sentence of Judges he is cleerly acquitted Upon this he is created Duke of Orkenây and by consent of many of the Nobility is marryed to the Queen which bred a suspition in many that the Queen was conscious of the murther which was the thing that by the marriage they intended And the suspition once raised they seek by all means to increase that they may have the better colour against her and so the very same man who had absolved Bothwell and consented to the marriage now takes Arms against her as a Delinquent in both force him to flee and then seize upon the Queen whom clâd in a very homely garment they thrust into prison in Loch-levyn under the custody of Murray's mother who had been the Harlot of King Iames the fifth but boasting her self to have been his lawfull wife and her son his lawfull Issue Queen Elisabeth having at length notice hereof sent Sir Nicholas Throgmorton into Scotland to expostulate with the Confederates touching this insolent usage of the Queen and to consult by what means shee might be restored to her liberty But Throgmorton coming into Scotland found the Confederates in more insolent terms then had been reported being divided in opinion what to do with the Queen some would have her banished perpetually into England or France some would have her questioned before the Judges committed to perpetuall custody and her son proclaimed King others more inhumane would have her at once deprived of Princely Authority of life and all and this Knox and some other Ministers thundred out of the Pulpits Throgmorton on the other side alleaged many passages out of the holy Scriptures touching Obedience to the higher Powers maintaining That the Queen was subject to no Tribunall but that in Heaven That no Judge upon Earth might call her in question That there was no Office nor Jurisdiction in Scotland which was not derived from her Authority and revokeable at her pleasure They again opposed the peculiar Right of the Kingdom of Scotland and that in extraordinary cases they were to proceed besides order taking up Buchanans Arguments who in those dayes by instigation of Murray wrote that damned Dialogue De Iure Regni apud Scotos wherein against the verity of the Scottish History he indeavours to prove That the People have power both to create and to depose their King After all their debating all that Throgmorton could get of them was a Writing without any Subscription wherein they protested They had shut up the Queen for no other intent but to keep her apart from Bothwell whom she loved so desperately that to injoy him she regarded not all their ruines willing him to rest satisfied with this Answer till such time as the rest of the Peers met together And notwithstanding all he could say they shut up the Queen daily in more straight custody though with tears she besought them to deal more mildly with her and to let her but once have a sight of her son which would not be granted her At last when fair perswasions would not serve to make her freely give over the Kingdom they threatned to question her openly for incontinent living for the Kings murder and for Tyranny so as through feare of death they compelled Her unheard to set her hand to three Instruments In the first whereof she gave over the Kingdom to her young son at that time scarce thirteen Months old In the second she constituted Murray Vice-Roy during the minority of her son In the third in case he refused the charge these Governours were nominated Iames Duke of Chasteau Herald Giles Spike Earl of Argile Matthew Earl of Lenox Iohn Earl of Atholl Iames Earl of Moâton Alexander Earl of Glencarn and Iohn Earl of Mar. And presently she signified to Queen Elizabeth by Throgmorton that she had made these grants by compulsion through the counsell of Throgmorton telling her that a grant extorted from one in prison which is a just fear is actually void and of no effect Five dayes after the Queen had made this Resignation Iames the sixth the Queens Son was Anointed and Crown'd King Iohn Knox preaching at the same time but a Protestation was then put in by the Hamiltons that all this ought to be no prejudice to the Duke of Chasteau Herald in his Right of succession against the Family of Lenox but Queen Elisabeth had forbidden Throgmorton to be at the Action that she might not seem by the presence of her Embassador to approve their proceeding in displacing of the Queen Fifteen dayes after this transaction Murray himself returned ouâ of France into Scotland and within three dayes went to the Queen with some other of the confederates who charged her with many crimes and wished her if she tendered her Life and Honor to observe these prescriptions Not to disturb the peace of the Kingdom nor desire to be at Liberty not to stir up the Queen of England or the King of
France to mâleât Scotland with any War not to think any more of Bothwells love or meditate revenge upon Bothwells adversaries Murray being now proclaimed Regent of Scotland he bindeth himself under his Hand and Seal to do nothing which shall concerne War or Peace the Kings Person or his marriage or the Liberty of the Queen without the consent of the confederaâes and then gives Throgmorton warning by Lydingâon not to make any further intercession for the Queens Liberty for that he and the rest had rather run any hazard then to suffer it Soon after he puts to death Iohn Hâpburn Daglish and others that were Bothwells servants for having a hand in the murther of the King But they which he little expected when they were at the Gallows ready to dye protested before God and his holy Angells that Bothwell had told them that Morton and Mârray were the first authors of the murther They freed the Queen from all suspition like as Boâhwell himself being prisoner in Denmark both living and dying often protested with deep asseâerations that the Queen was innocent And fourteen yeers after Morton going to execution confessed that Boâhwell dealt with him to consent to the murther of the King which when he refused utterly unlesse the Queen under her hand writing would allow of it Bothwell made answer that could not be but the fact must be done without her knowledge A little before this time upon one and the same day dyed two of the Privy Councell Sir Iohn Mason Treasurer of the Queenâ Chamber a grave and learned man but a great Usurper and Encroacher upon Ecclesiasticall Livings and Sir Richard âacâvile Vice-Treasurer of the Exchequer a man both prudent and provident and allyed to the Queen by her mother Anâe Bolââ In his room succeeded Walter Mildmay a man of wisdom and integrity In Masons Office came Sir Francis Knowles who married Katherine Carâe the daughter of Mary Bolen the Queens Mothers Sister It was now the yeer 1567. And the tenth yeer of Queen Elizabeths Raign when the Earl of Stolberg came into England from the Emperour Maxâmillian to treat of the mariage of the Queen with the Archduke Charls upon which very occasion the Queen a little before had sent the E. of Sussex to the Emperor with the Order of the Garter But in the Treaty of marriage there fell out so many difficulties about Religion maintenance of the Duke about the Royall Title and concerning succession that after it had been treated of seven whole yeers together it came at last to nothing and the Duke not long after marryed Mary daughter to Albert the fifth Duke of Bavaria yet both he and the Emperour continued ever after a good correspondence with the Queen About this time there came from Iohn Basil Emperour of Russia and Muscovia Stephen Twerdicâ and Theodore Pâgorella with a Present of rich Furs of Otter Miniver and the like tendering all service and obsequiousnesse to the Queen and the English The Merchants by vertue of a Grant from Queen Mary had combined themselves into a Society which they called the Muscovie Company and having large Priviledges granted them from the Emperour went thither with a Navie yeerly making a very gainfull Voyage but then it proved most gainfull when for the Queens sake they obtained at the Emperours hands in the yeer 1569. That none but the English of that Company should Traffique in the North-parts of Russia With these Russian Embassadours there returned into England Anthony Ienkinson who in his Travels had made curious Observation of Russia set forth a Geographicall Description of it and was the first of the English that sailed through the Caspian Sea And this yeer the 8. of June Sir Thomas Sackvile was created Baron of Buckhurst at Whitehall We have seen before the first Act of the Queen of Scots Tragedy Now comes in the second having been 11 Moneths kept a prisoner at last by the help of George Dowglas to whose Brother she was committed she made escape from Loch-levyn to Hamiltons castle where upon the testimonies of Robert Melvyn and others in a meeting of a great part of the Nobility there was drawn a sentence declaratory That the Grant extorted from the Queen in prison which is Iustus metus was actually void from the beginning Upon which Declaration great multitudes âlocked to her so as within a day or two she had gotten an Army of at least six thousand but when they joyned battell with Murray being but raw and unexpert Souldiers they were soon defeated In this case the Queen sought to save her self by flight journeying in one day threescore miles and coming at night to the house of Maxwell Lord Heris from thence she sent Iohn Beton to Queen Elisabeth with a Diamond Ring which she had foâmerly received from her as a Pledge of mutuall Amity intimating that she would come into England and implore her aid if her Subjects offered to prosecute her any further Queen Elisabeth returned answer that she should expect from her in abundant manner all loving and friendly offices But before the Messenger was returned she contrary to the advice of her friends entred into a small Bark with the Lords Heris and Flemming and a few others landed at Wickinton in Cumberland neer the mouth of the River of Decwent the seventeenth day of May and the same day wrote Letters to the Queen in French with her own hand the effect whereof was That having made an escape from the the hands of her insolent and rebellious Subjects she was now come into England upon certain hope of her approved clemencie and therefore humbly desiring she might forthwith be conducted to her presence Queen Elisabeth sending Letters by Sir Francis Knolles comforted her and promised her aid and defence according to the equity of her cause but denyed her accesse for that she was held guilty of many crimes giving command to have her brought to Carlile as a place of better safety The Queen of Scots receiving this answer and finding accesse to the Queen denyed her maketh request again by Letter that she might have leave both to unfold the injuries she had received and to answer the crimes objected in her own presence humbly intreating her that either she might be admitted to have conference and assistance or else have free leave to depart out of England to gain supply elswhere and not be held a prisoner in the Castle at Carlileâ for âs much as she came voluntarily into England relying upon her love so often professed Upon thesâ Letters Queen Elisabeth exceedingly commiseraâed her case and could have foând in her heart to admit her to her presence but that her Councellours conceived it to be matter for consultation what to do in this case To detain her in England had many mischiefs attending on it to send her into France as many to send her back into Scotland many more so as in conclusion the most were of opinion to have her detained as one
his fault shall deserve The Bishop alleâdged for himself That he had not violated the Right of ân Ambassadour Via Iuris but Vââ Factâ to use his own words and therefore adviseth them not to use harder measure to him then was used to the English Ambassadours ãâ¦ã in France Rândoll and Tâmwoâth in Scotland who had raised Rebellions there and were open Abettors of the same and yet had no greater punishment then to be gone at a time limitted When they began to urge him what the English had testified against him he lovingly requested them to give no credit to itâ forasmuch as by a received Custome which hath the force of a Law The Testimony of an English man against a Scot or of a Scot against an English man is not to be admitted but after some other altercations the Bishop is led away to the Tower and kept close prisoner At this very season Matthew Earl of Lenox Regent of Scoââand the Kings Grand-father was by the adverse party set upon at unawares who having yeelded himself to David Spense of Wormester that was then very carefull to defend him together with him was slain by Bell and Câulder when with great industry he had governed the Kingdom for his Grand-childe about fourteen months In whose room Iohn Areskin Earl of Marâe by common consent of the Kings Faction was chosen Regent of Scotland who being a man of a quiet disposition through extreme grief of the mâny troubles he sustained in the place departed this life when he had governed thirteen months And now a Parliament was held at Westminster wherein besides a Law for preventing of the treacherous endeavours of seditious subjects another Law was made That if any one during the Queens life by Books written or printed shall expressely affirm That any iâ or ought to be the Heir or Successor of the Queen besides the naturall Off-spâing of her Body or shall to that purpose publish print or dispersâ any Book or Schedules he and his favourârs shall for the first offence suffer a yeers imprisonment and the losse of one half of his goods and if they offend again they shall be in a Prâmunirâ A Law also was made by which to be reconciled to the Sea of Rome was made Treason and it was pronounced against the Queen of Scots That if she offended again against the Laws of England it might be lawfull to question her as the wife of a Peer of the Kingdom of England But here the Queen interposed her Authority and would not suffer it to be enacted About this time in May a solemn Tilting was performed at Westminster where thâ Challengers were Edward Earl of Oxford Charles Howard Sir Henry Lee and Chriâââpher Hattân Esquire who all did valiantly but the Earl of Oxford best Assoon as the Parliament was dissolved a Consultation was held Wheâher Iohn Story Doctor of the Laws the Duke D'Alva's Searcher who somtime before was by a wile brought into England being an Englishman born and having in Braâant consulted with a forâaign Prince about the invading of England were to be held guilty of high Treason It was resolved aâfirmatively whereupon he is called to the Bar and indicted of Treasonâ That he had consulted with one Presâall a Conjurer to make away the Queen That he cursed her dayly when he said Grace at Table That he shewed a way to the Secretary of Duke D'Alva how to invade England c. where he affirming That the Judges had no power to meddle with him for that he bâlonged not to the Queen of England but was the King of Spain's sworn subjectâ is neverthelesse condemned by the Foâm of Nihil dicit forasmuch as no man can renounce the Country wherin he was born nor abjure his Prince at his own pleasure and finally executed after the manner of Trayâors Ireland at this time was indifferent quieâ for Sir Iohn Perot President of Munster had brought Iames Fitz Morris to submit himself and crave pardon Sidney the Lord Deputy returned into England and Sir William Fitz Williams who had marryed his sister succeeded in his room It was now the fifteenth yeer of Queen Elizabeths Raign when Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk on the sixteenth day of Ianuary was brought to his Tryall at Westminster-Hall where sate as Commissioners George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury made High Steward of England for that day Reynold Grey Earl of Kent Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex Henry Hastings Earl of Huntington Francis Russell Earl of Bedford Henry Herbert Earl of Pembrââk Edward Seymor Earl of Hertford Ambrose Dudley Earl of Warwick Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester Walter Devereux Viscount of Hereford Edward Lord Clinton Admirall William Lord Howard of Effingham Chamberlain William Cecill Lord Burley Secretary Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton Iames Blunt Lord Mountjoy William Lord Sands Thomas Lord Wentworth William Lord Borough Lewis Lord Mordant Iohn Pawlet Lord St. Iohn of Bâsing Robert Lord Rich Roger Lord North Edmund Bruges Lord Chândois Oliver Lord St. Iohn of Blâtsho Thomas Sackvile Lord Buckhurst and William West Lord de la Ware After silence bidden Sir Owen Hopton Lievtenant oâ the Tower is commanded to bring the Duke to the Bar and then the Clerk of the Crown said Thomas Duke of Norfolk late of Keningale in the County of Norfolk Hold up thy hand which done the Clerk with a loud voyce readeth the crimes laid to his charge That in the eleventh yeer of the Queens Raign he had trayterously consulted to make her away and to bring in forraign Forces for invading the Kingdom Also That he dealt with the Queen of Scots concerning Marriage contrary to his promise made to the Queen under his hand writing Also That he relieved with money the Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland that had stirred up Rebellion against the Queen Also That in the thirteenth yeer of the Queens Raign he implored Auxiliary Forces of Pope Pius the fifth the Queens professed enemy of the King of Spain and the Duke D'Alva for the freeing of the Queen of Scots and restoring of the Popish Religion And lastly That he sent supply to the Lord Heris and other the Queens enemies in Scotland These Indictments being read the Clerk demanded of the Duke if he were guilty of these crimes or not Here the Duke requested he might be allowed to have Counsell But Catiline chief Justice made answer That it was not lawfull Yet saith the Duke I have heard that Humphrey Stafford in the Raign of K. Henry the seventh in a Cause of Treason had one assigned to plead for him To which Dyer chief Justice of the Common-Pleas made answer That Stafford had Counsell assigned him concerning the Right of Sanctuary from whence he was taken by forceâ but in the Inditement of Treason he pleaded his own cause After this the Duke yeelding to be tryed by the Peers first Barham Serjeant at Law then Gerard the Queens Atturney and lastly Bromley the Queens Solicitor enforced the crimes objected against him to
all which the Duke made colourable answers but most of them being proved by sufficient testimony he asked upon occasion Whether the subjects of another Prince who is confederate and in league with the Queen are to be accounted the Queens enemiesâ to which Catiline answered They were and that the Q. of England might wage War with any Duke of France yet hold firm Peace with the French King When it grew towards night the L. high Steward demanded of the Duke if he had any more to say for himself who answered I rely upon the equity of the Laws After this the Lords withdrawing a while and then returning the Lord Steward beginning at the lowermost asked them My Lord de la Ware Is Thomas Duke of Norfolk guilty of these crimes of High Treason for which he is called in question He rising up and laying his hand upon his breast answered guilty in like manner they answered all After this the Lord Steward with teares in his eyes pronounced sentence in forme as is used A few dayes after were Barnes and Mather executed who conspired with one Herle to make away certaine of the Councellors and to free the Duke but Herle revealed the businesse presently to whom Barnes when hee saw his Accuser brought forth smilingly said Herle thou wert but one houre before mee else I had beene in thy place for the accuser and thou in my roome to be hanged at the same time with them was hanged also Henry Rolfe for counterfeiting the Queens hand But though the Duke were now condemned yet the Queen was so tender of his case that it was foure Moneths after before he was executed at last on the second of June at eight of the clock in the morning he was brought to the Scaffold upon the Tower-Hill and there beheaded At this time and upon this occasion a Parliament was Assembled wherein amongst other Lawes it were Enacted that if any man shall go about to free any person imprisoned by the Queens expresse Commandementâ for Treason or suspition of Treason and not yet Arraigned he shall lose all his goods for his life time and be imprisoned during the Queens pleasure if the said person have beene Arraigned the Rescuer shall forfeit his life if condemned he shall be guilty of Rebellion In the time of this Parliament the Queen created Walter Devereux Earl of Essex being before but Viscount Hereford because he was descended by his Great-grand-mothers from the Bourchiers and made the Lord Clinton who had large Revenues in Lincolnshire Earl of Lincoln Also she called forth Iohn Paulet of Basing the Marquesse of Winchester's son Henry Compton Henry Cheyney and Henry Morris for Barons by Summons Within ten dayes after the Dukes death William Lord De-la-ware Sir Ralph Sadler Thomas Wilson Doctor of the Laws and Thomas Brumley the Queens Solicitour were sent to the Queen of Scots to expostulate with her That shee had usurped the Title and Arms of the Kingdom of England and had not renounced the same according to the agreement of the Treaty at Edinburgh That shee had endeavoured the marriage of the Duke of Norfolke without acquainting the Queene and had used all forcible meanes to free him out of prison had raised the Rebellion in the North had relieved the Rebels both in Scotland and in the Low-Countries had implored Aids from the Pope the King of Spaine and others had conspired with certaine of the English to free her out of Prison and Declare her Queen of England Lastly that she had procured the Popes Bull against the Queen and suffered herself to be publikely named the Queen of England in Forreigne Countries All which accusations she either absolutely denyed or else fairly extenuated and though as she said she were a free Queen and not subject to any creature yet she was content and requested that she might make her personall answer at the next Parliament About this time the King of Spain by his Embassadour here complained to the Queen that the Rebels of the Netherlands were harboured and entertained in England contrary to the Articles of the League whereupon the Queen set forth a severe Proclamation That all the Dutch who could any wayes be suspected of Rebellion should presently depart the Realm which yet turned little to D'Alva's or the King of Spains benefit For hereupon Count Vander-Mark and other Dutch going out of England surprized the Brill first then Flushing and afterwards drew other Towns to Revolt and in a short time excluded the Duke D'Alva in a manner from the Sea And this errour to suffer the Protestant party to get possession of the Sea-towns hath been the cause they have been able to hold out even all this long time against the King of Spain And now many military men having little to do at home got them into the Netherlands some to Duke D'Alva but the far greater number to the Prince of Orenge The first of whom was Thomas Morgan who carryed three hundred English to Flushing then followed by his procurement nine Companies more under the conduct of Humphry Gilbert and afterward it became the Nursery of all our English Souldiers At this time Charls the French King setting his mind wholly at least seeming so upon the Low-Country War concluded a peace and entred into a league with Queen Elizabeth which was to remain firm not only during their two lives but between their successors also if the sâccessor signifie to the surviver within a yeer that he accepteth it otherwise to be at liberty It was likewise agreed what aid by Sea or Land they should each of them afford to other upon occasion and for ratification of this League Edward Clinton Earl of Lincoln and Admirall of England was sent into France with whom went the Lord Dacres Rich Talbot Sands and others The French King likewise sent the Duke of Memorancy and Paul Foix iâto England with a great train that the Queen in the presence of them and the Embassador in Ordinary might sweare to the league which she did at Westminster the seaventeenth of May in the yeer 1572. The day after she made Memorancye Knight of the Garter Memorancye whilst he tarryed in England made intercession in his Kings name that what favour could be without danger might be shewed to the Queen of Scots and then made much a do again about the marriage with the Duke of Angiou but being hopelesse to make conclusion thereof by reason of the diversity of Religion he returned into France for now was great provision making ready for the mariage between Henry King of Navarre and the Lady Margeret the French Kings Sister to which solemnity with notable dissimulation the Queen of Navarre and the chief of all the Protestants were allured being born in hand that there should be a renovation of love and a perpetuall peace established The Earl of Leicester likewise and the Lord Burleigh were invited out of England and out of Germany the sons of the Prince Elector Palatine under
colour of honour but indeed that they might be intrapped and they and together with them the Protestant Religion at one blow if not clean cutt off yet receiveâ deadly wound For the marriage being celebrated there presently followed that cruell Massacre at Paris and the terrible slaughter of the Protestants throughout all the Cities of France but to set a shew of equity upon the fact Edicts and Proclamations were presently set forth that the Protestants had plotted a wicked conspiracy against the King the Queen Mother the Brethren the King of Navarre and the Princes of the blood Royall and to keep the thing in memory Coyne was presently stamped upon the one side whereof was the Kings picture with this Inscription Virtus in Rebelles on the other side Pietas excitavit justitiam But the King of France notwithstanding all the shew hee made of Piety escaped not the Divine revenge for before the yeer came about hee fell sick of a bloody Flixe and afterwards with long and grievous torments ended his life A little before this Mota Fenell Embassador to the King of France being in England by vertue of an order from the Queen Mother of France propoundeth to Queen Elizabeth at Kenelworth two dayes before the Massacre in that Kingdome the marriage of her youngest sonne Francis Duke of Alenson for the Queen Mother had been told by some cunning men that all her sons should be Kings and she knew no way for it but this Bât Queen Elizabeth by reaâon of the disparity of age modestly excused her self For he was scarce âeventeen yeers old and she was now past eight and thirty yet she promised to consider of it and Alenson did not leave to prosecute the ââit At tâis time Thomas Percy Earl of Northâmberland who first Rebelled and afterwards fled into Scotland was for a sum of money delivered by the Earl of Morton to the Lord Hunsdon Governour of Barwick and a while afâer was beheaded ât York And now as these two great Personages the Duke of Norfolkâ and the Earl of Northumberland were taken away by a violent death so three other great Personages were at this time tâken away by a naturall death First Wâllâam Paulet who from a private man came by degree to be Marquesse of Winchester lived to the age of within three yeers of a hundred and could reckon a hundred and three of his children and his childrens issue after he had held the pâace of Lord Treasurer of England above twenty yeers in whose roome succeeded Sir Wâlliam Cecill Lord Burleigh then dyed Edmund Earle of Darby famous as well for his hospitality and good house-keeping as for his skill in Surgery and Bone-setting then dyed Sir William Peter who being descended from an honest stock at Exceter in Devonshire was Privy Counsellor and Secretary to King Henry the Eight Kiâg Edward the Sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth who plantâd himself in Essex where he purchased greaâ possessions whose son Iohn was by King Iames made Baron of Writle in that Country And now Qâeen Elizabeth having formerly borrowed money oâ her Subjects she thankfully repayd it which wonne her no lesse love then if she had given it and more love she gained also at this time by two Proclamations by one of which she commanded Noble men to observe the Law of keeping Retâiners by the other she restrained Informers who under colour of spying out Crown Land concealed by private persoâs sacralegioâsly seized upon the Lands of Parish-Churches and Alms-Houses piously endowed by the Queens Ancestors And more Love and Honour also she gained at this time by two acts of Justice the one that she satisfied the English Merchants out of the goods which were detâined belonging to the Dutch and restored the rest to the Duke D' Alva and make a full transaction with the Merchants of Geneva for the monây intercepted the other that she freed England at this time of the debts which her Father and her Brother had run into in forraign partâ and were increased by yeerly interest and caused the obligations of the City of London which had so often been renued to be given in to the great rejoycing of the Citizens The Spanish affairs growing now very turbulent in the Netherlands Flushing lost the towns of Holland revolted and the Spanish Navy vanquished by the Zelanders Duke D'Alva against his will began to shew more kindnesse towards the English so as in the month of Ianuary the trade which in Anno 1568. had been forbidden was now allowed again between the Dutch and the English for two yeerâ but those two yeers expired the English removed their trading to the confederates Stateâ The last yeer in the month of November a daughter was born to the French King to whom he requested Queen Elizabeth to be God-mother who theâeupon sent William Somerset Earl of Worcester into France with a Font of massy Gold to stand as her Deputy at the Christning Hereupon and for that the Queen promised to observe the League strictly the French King and the Queen mother began to affect her more and more and the Duke D'Alenson wrote sundry love-letters to her the French King and His Mother interceding for the mariage with all earnestnesse It is true the Queen conceived divers reasons why it was fit for her to marry but the Courtiers for their own ends disswaded her as much from it at last the Queen Mother of France was wonderfull importunate that her sonne Alenson might have leave to come and see herâ whereunto being wearyed with continuall Letters and Messages she gave her consent but upon condition that hee should not take it for any disgrace to him if hee returned without obtaining his suit But as soon as Queen Elizabeth had notice that his brother Henry was elected King of Poland and that the King of France was very sick shee gave intimation to Alenson by Edward Horsey Governour of the Isle of Wight that hee should not make too much haste into England but should first procure a peace by some meanes or other in France and declare by some notable Argument his good will towards the Protestants thereby to be the more welcome Ghest into England Hereupon a peace was concluded in France and in certain places the Protestants were allowed to exercise their Religion and then again the French King and the Queen Mother used all their endeavour to have the marriage go forward for they were very desirous thât Alenson who was of a crooked and perverse disposition and prone to raise tumults might bee removed out of France and withall they requested of Queen Elizabeth that if the Duke of Angiou took his voyage into Poland by Sea hee might have publike caution to sail through the British Ocean To this last request she not only consented with all alacrity but also made offer of a Fleet to conduct him thither In the mean while Alenson fell sick of the Meazles which his mother signified to Queen Elizabeth by Count Rhets excusing him
Grand-father had lyen asleep for fifty yeers together At this time many particular Rebellions were in Ireland The O Cânors and O Moors took Arms and committed many outrages In Munster Iames Fitzmorris and Fitz Edmund did the like but by the industry of Sir Iohn Perrot President of Munster were suppressed In Ulster Bryan Mac Phelym burnt Knockfergus and many other joyned in Rebellion with him Against these Walter Devereux whom the Queen had lately created Earl of Essex desired leave to go which Sir William Fitz-Williams Deputy of Ireland opposed as fearing that the glory of so great an Earl vvould ecclipse his light But for this the Queen findes a remedy by appointing Essex to take a Parent of the Deputy whereby to be made Governour of Ulster But this remedy for Fitz-Williams might have made a sore in the minde oâ Eâsex to receive his Authority from his inferiour but that the noblenesse of his minde made him more to regard the vertue then the glory And so in the end of August hee landed at Knockfergus having with him the Lords Darcy and Rich and Sir Henry Knowles and his four Brothers Michael and Iohn Carves Henry William and Iohn Norreses At his landing Bryan Mac Pheliâ welcomed him tendring unto him all manner of dutifulnesse and service but presently aâter falls from him and joyns with Turlogh Leynigh After this revolt the Eaâl of Essex finding many difficulties in the businesse and himself not well provided of skilfull Souldiers makes suit to the Queen for leave to come home which the Earl of Leicester who liked his room better then his company opposed till after expence of a yeerâ time and much treasure hee at last obtained leave and returned home The next yeer being 1574. and the seventeenth yeer of Queen Elisabeths Raign the Duke of Alenson grew more importunate in his suit then at any time before so as hee obtained of the Queen to come into England any time before the twentieth of May and this she the rather did because shee perceived him now to bee really bent against the Guyses her sworn Enemies But before this Answer was brought him Valentine Dale Doctor of the Civil Law the Queens Embassâdour in France gave intimation to the Qâeen That Alenson and Navarre were in restraint and committed to Keepers For the Guyses had suggested that Alenson held intimate friendship with Admirall Colin the chief Leader of the Protestants in France and indeed Alenson being examined freely confessed that hee had now for a good while desired the marriage of the Queen of Englandâ and conceiving that good correspondence with Colin might be usefull to him to that end hee had thereupon had conference with him thereabout and concerning the Low-Country Warre In the mean time Thomas Wâlks Dales Secretary got cunningly to Alenson and in the Queens name made promise both to him and to Navarre that she would omit no opportunity of procuring their inlargement For which the subtle Queen-Mother so complained of him to Queen Elisabeth that hee was fain to go into France and there to crave pardon for his fault But Navarre not unmindfull of this kindnesse in Wilks when about five and twenty yeers after being King of France hee saw him in Normandy hee Knighted him Hereupon the Queen sent Thomas Randoll into France to the Queen-Mother that if it were possible hee might gain Reconciliation for Alenson her sonne and for the King of Navarre But before hee was landed in France Charles the then French King dyed whose Funerall Rites were solemnly performed in Saint Pauls Church in London Assoon as Henry the third King of France was come from Poland Roger Lord North was sent into France to congratulate his return and his happy Inauguration into the Kingdom who thereupon together with the Queen-Mother did forthwith send their joynt Letters into England strongly soliciting the businesse of marriage between Alenson and the Queen In the mean time notwithstanding they used all possible devices and left no means unsought to get the yong King of Scotland to bee sent into France and to deprive Morton who was the Regent of his Authority whereof the Queen of Scots also was very desirous shee being perswaded that if her sonne were once gotten safely into France shee and the Catholicks in England should bee more mildly used At which time an aspersion was cast upon the Queen of Scots as if she had made the match between Charles Unckle to the Queen of Scots who had lately the Earldom of Lenox confirmed to him by Parliament and Elizabeth Cavendish the Countesse of Shrewsburie's daughter by a former husband upon which ground both their mothers and some others also were kept in Prison for a time and being doubted whereunto this marriage should tend Henry Earle of Huntington President of the Councell in the North is authorized with secret Instructions to examine it It will be fit here to say something of this place of Government in the North which from small beginnings is now become so eminent as it is at this day whereof this was the Originall When as in the Raigne of Henry the Eight after that the Rebellion in the Northerne parts about the subversion of Abbyes was quieted the Duke of Norfolke tarryed in those quarters and many complaints of injuries done were tendered unto him whereof some he composed himself and others hee commended under his Seale to men of wisdome to determine Hereof when King Henry heard he sent down a peculiar Seal to be used in these cases and calling home the Duke committed the same to Tunstall Bishop of Durham and Constituted Assistants with Authority to heare and determine the complaints of the poor and he was the first that was called President and from that time the authority of his successours grew in credit It was now the yeer One thousand five hundred seventy five and the Eighteenth yeer of Queen Elisabeths Raign vvhen Henry the third King of France being returned from Poland and Crowned at Rheims was carefull to have the League of Blois confirmed which in the Yeer 1572. had been concluded betweene his Brother Charles and that most Illustrious Queen ELIZABETH Now therefore hee confirmed it with His owne Subscription and delivered it to Dale the Queen 's Legier as the Queen like wise ratified it at Saint-James neere Westminster But a little after he demanded by Letters whether the mutuall defence against all persons mentioned in the League was intended to comprehend the case of Religion also Whereunto she answering that it did comprehend it hee thereupon hearing this from the Queen began presently to prepare Warre against the Protestants and Alenson being drawne to the Adverse party there was no speech of the marriage for a long time In the Netherlands at this time Lodovicke Zuinga who was successor unto Duke D'Alva was wholly bent to recover the Command of the Seas which D'Alva had neglected but not being sufficiently provided of a Navy he sent Boischott into England that with
Ambassadours proof out of History That the Kings of Scots born in Scotland did anciently without question hold the Earldome of Hântington by Right of Inheritance Yet she commanded a Sequestration to be made of the Revenues of those Lands by Bârleigh Master of the Wards and willeth the King That out of the goods of the Earl of Lenox in Scotland satisfaction might be made to his Grand-mothers Creditors here For she tooâ it in ill part that the King had recalled the Inââoââment of the Earldom of Lenox made to his Unkle Charlâ and his Heirs after the death of Charles to the prejudice as was suggested to her of Arbella although indeed it be a Priviledge of the Kings of Scotland That they may recall Donations made in their minorâty The Earl of Morton in the mean while not enduring the disgrace to be outed of his Regency regarded not the prescript Form of Government lately set down but drew the Administration of all matters to himself and kept the King in his own power at the Castle of Sterling admitting none to his presence but whom he pleased At this presumption the Lords growing angry made the Earl of Atholl their Captain and in the Kings Name levyed a great Army and were ready to encounter Morton but by the intercession of Robert Bowes the English Ambassadour they were stayed from fighting and Morton presently betook himself home and the Earl of Atholl soon after died not without suspition of being poysoned At this time the King of Spain and Pope Gregory the thirteenth held secret Consultation to invade at once both England and Ireland and to work the absolute ruine of Queen Elizabeth The Pope to gain the Kingdom of Ireland for his son Iames Buen of Compagno whom he had made Marquesse of Vincola The King of Spain secretly to relieve the Irish Rebells as Queen Elizabeth did the Dutch while friendship in words was upheld on both sides and being known That the greatest strength of England consisted in the Navy Royall and Merchants Ships it was advised that the Italian and DutchâMerchants should hire these Ships for long Voyages to the end that while they were absent the Queens Navy might be surprized with a greater Fleet and at that time Thomas Stukeley an English fugitive should joyn himself to the Irish Rebells with new Forces For he making great boast and promising the Kingdom of Ireland to the Popes bastard son had so insmuated himself into grace with the ambitious old man that he adorned him with the Titles of Marquesse of Leinster Earl of Wexford and Caterlogh Viscount Mârogh and Baron of Rosse the principall dignities of Ireland and made him Commander over eight hundred Italian Souldiers to be employed in the Irish War With which Forces Stuckeley setting Sayl from ãâã Vecchia arrived at length in Portingall where he and his Forcesâ were by the divine providence diverted another way For Sââaââiaâ King of Portiâgall to whom the chief Command in this Expedition against England was assigned being first to dispatch a War in Africa in Ayd of Mahomet Abdall son to the King of Fesse perswaded Stukeley to go along with him into Maureâania together with his Italian Souldiers and then afterward they would go together against Ireland To this motion Stukeley soon agreed and therein agreed with his destiny for in that memorable Battell where three Kings were slain both he and Sebastian lost their lives At this time Sir Henry Sidney who had been Deputy of Ireland at severall times eleven yeers delivered up his Deputy-ship to Sir William Drury President of Munster Such a Deputy for good Government that if any have equalled him none have exceed him It was now the yeer 1579 and the two and twentieth yeer of Queen Elizabeths Raign when Iohn Casimire son of Frederick the third Count Palaâine of the Rhyne came into England where after he had been entertained with Tiltings and Justs made Knight of the Garter the Queen tying the Garter about his leg and rewarded with a yeerly Pension he returned And now was Alexander âârnise Prince of Parma made Governour of the Netherlands by the King of Spain and Queen Elizabeth supplied the States with a great Sum of money for which William Davyson brought into Eâgland the ancient precious Habilliments of the Family of Burgundy and their costly Vessells laid to pawn by Matthew of Austria and the States Siâier in the mean time herein England ceaâeth not by all amorous devices to perswade the Queen to marry Alanson wherein he drew her so far that the Earl of Leicester gave ouâ He crept into the Queens affection by love Potions and unlawfull Arts and Simier on the other side endeavoured by all means to cast down Leicester discovering his mariage with the Earl of Essex widdow whereat the Queen grew so angry that she consined him to the Castle at Greenwich and had meant to have him Committed to the Tower but that the Earl of Sussex though his greatest Adversarie disswaded her telling her that none ought to be molested for contracting lawfull Matrimonie But Leicester notwithstanding was so provoked for his confining that he was bent to revenge it and if it be true as some saidâ he had suborned on Teudâr a Yeoman of the Guard to murder Simier sure it is the Queen by Proclamation commanded that no person should offer injury to the Embassadour or any of his servants At which time it fell out that as the Queen together with Simier the Earle of Lincolne and Hatton Vice-Chamberlaine were rowed in a barge to Greenwich a young man shooting off a Harquebus out of a boate shot one of the rowers in the Queenes Barge thorough the arme with a bullet who was presently taken and ledde to the Gallowes but upon solemne Protestation that he did it unwillingly and out of no malicious Intent he was let go and Pardoned Some would have perswaded the Queen that was purposely suborned to shoote either her or the French Embassadour but she was so far from suspecting her Subjects that she would often say She would not believe any thing against them which a mother would not believe against her children After a few dayes Alanson himself came privately into England with only on or two attendants and came to the Queen at Greenwich at a time when she thought not of it they had secret conference together all parties being sent away after which being seen of very few he returned home but within a moneth or two after the Queen enjoyned the Lord Burleigh treasurer the Earle of Sussex Leicester Hatton and Walsingham seriously to weigh both the dangers and the Commodities likely to arise from the marriage with him and to consult with Simier concerning the marriage Covenants As in England there was some feare of this Frenchman So in Scotland at this time of another Frenchman called Esme Steward Lord of Aubigny who came now into Scotland to visit the King his cosen He was the sonne of Iohn Steward brother to Matthew
Davis with two Ships at the charges of William Sanderson and other Citizens of London found out away to the East-Indies ây the higher part of America under the Frigid Zone At the end of this yeere the Earle of Leicester is sent Generall of the Queenes Forces into Holland accompanied with the Earle of Essex the Lords Audley and North Sir William Russell Sir Thomas Shirley Sir Arthur Basset Sir Walter Waller Sir Gervase Clifton and divers other Knights besides five hundred Gentlemen Landing at Flushing he was first by Sir Philip Sidney the Governour his Nephew and after by the Townes of Zeland and Holland entertained in most magnificent manner ând comming to the Hague in Ianuary the States by Patent committed to him the command and absolute authority over the united Provinces with the Titles of Governour and Captain Generall of Holland Zeland and the Confederate Provinces So as being now saluted with the Title of his Excellency he began to assume unto him Princely spirits But the Queene tooke him soone off from further aspiring Writing to him in most peremptory manner That she wondred how a man whom âhe had raised out of the dust could so contemptuously violate her commands and therefore charged him upon his Allegiance to put in âxecution the Injunctions she sent him by HENNAGE her VICE-CHAMBERLAINE Withall in Letters apart She expostulateth with the States that to her great disparagement they had cast upon the âarle of Leicester her Subject the absolute command over the united PROVINCES without her privity which she her selfe had utterly refused and therfore willeth them to Devest him of that absolute authority to whom she had set bounds which he should not passe The States returne Answer That they are heartily sorry they should incurre her displeasure by conferring upon the Earle that absolute Authority not having first made her acquainted but they beseeched her to consider the necessity of it seeing that for avoyding of confusion that Authority must needs be cast upon some one or other Neither was there any great matter in the word Absolute seeing the Rule and Dominion resided still in the people By these Letters and Leicesters own submissive writing the Queen was soon satisfied Leicester all this while receiveth Contributions and Rewards from all Provinces maketh Martiall Laws and endeavouring likewise to raise new Customs upon Merchandizes incurred great dislike amongst the common people His first service was to relieve Grave a Town in Brabant which the Prince of Parma by Count Mansfield had besieged Hither he sent the Count Hohenlo a German and Norris Generall of the English Foot but notwithstanding all the great service they did there the Town in the end was taken but Hemart the Governor for his cowardly yeelding it up lost his head From hence the Prince of Parma marched into Gelderland and pitched his Tents before Venlow where Skenkic a Friezlander and Roger Williams a Welshman performed great service yet that Town in a short time was taken also But in the mean while the Lord Willoughby Governor of Bergen ap Zome cut off the enemies Convoyes and took away their victualls and Sir Philip Sidney and Maurice the Prince of Oranges Son upon a sudden on-set took Axale a Town in Flanders From Venlâ the Prince of Parma goes to Berke where there were twelve thousand English under the command of Colonell Morgan he notwithstanding layd Siege to the Town which the Earl of Leicester came to raise but finding his Forces to weak to raise it he seeks to divert it by Beleaguering Duisbourgh which before the Prince of Parma could come to relieve he tooke And now the Prince of Parma fearing least Zutphin should come in danger commandeth victualls to be carried thither which the Spaniards carrying along in a fogge the English by chance lighted on them vanquished a Troop of their Horse slew Hannibal Gonzaga and divers other bat then on the English side was one slain more worth than all the English and Spaniards put together Sir Philip Sidney who having his horse slain under him and getting upon another was shot into the thigh and 25 dayes after in the âloure of his age dyed A man of so many excellent parts of Art and Nature of Valour and Learning of Wit and Magnanimity that as he had equalled all those of former Ages so future Ages wil hardly be able to equal him His Funeralls were in sumptuous manner solemnized at St. Pauls Church in London Iames King of Scotland made his Epitaph and both Universities celebrated his death with Funerall Verses After this Leicester assaulteth Zutphen where setting upon a Fort he takes it in this manner Edward Stanley of the Stanlies of Elford catching hold of a Spaniards Launce which was brandished at him held it so fast that by it he was drawn into the very Fort whereupon the Spaniards being affrighted as thinking all the enemies were comming up forsook the place Leicester knighted Stanly for this act gave him forty pounds in present money and yeerly Pension of an hundred Marks during his life And now though in this forwardnesse to winne the Town yet winter being already come on he thought it unseasonable to besiege it any longer especially so many English Garrisons lying round about it which were in nature of a siege but returned to the Hâgâe where the States entertained him with complaints that their money was not carefully husbanded that the number of the English supplies was not full that forreign souldiers were levyed without their consent that the priviledges of the united Provinces were set at nought and new devises for contribution invented for all which evills they entreat him to provide some present remedy To which complaints having a purpose to go for England he gave a friendly answer but upon the very day in which he was to depart he committeth the government of the Province to the deliberation of the States and the same day made another private instrument of writing where he reserved to himself the whole authority over the Governours of the severall Provinces Cities and Forts and more than this taketh away the wonted jurisdiction ârom the States Councell and Presidents of the Provinces and came into England the third day of December And thus passed the affairs of the Nether-lands for this yeare But in England Philip Earle of Arundel who had lyen in Prison a whole year was at last brought to the Starchamber and being charged with fostering of Priests and having correspondence with Allen and Parsons the Jesuit and offering to depart the Kingdom without licence was fined ten thousand pounds and imprisonment during the Queens pâeasure At this time the Queen by Sir Horatio Palavicino supplied with a large summe of money the King of Navarrâ thorow whose side the Guyses opposed the reformed Religion in Scotland but her most intentive care was how to unite England and Scotland in a solid friendship To which end she sent Thomas Randoll into Scotland who making Propositions to the King
plainly by the Chancellour and Treasurer That if she refused to answer to such crimes as should be objected they would then proceed against her though she were absent Being brought at last with much ado to consent the Commissioners came together in the Presence Chamber a Chaire of Estate was set for the Queen of England in the upper end of the Chamber under a Canopy beneath over against it was placed a Chair for the Queen of Scots on both sides of the Cloth of Estate stools were set upon which on the one side sate the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Earls of Oxford Kent Derby Worcester Rutland Cumberland Warwicke Pembrooke Lincolne and Viscount Mountacuteâ On the other side sate the Lords Aburgavany Zouch Morley St. Iohn of Bletsho Compton and Cheyney Next to these sate the Knights that were Privie Councellors Sir Iames Crofts Sir Christopher Hatton Sir Francis Walsingham Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Walter Mildââ and Sir Amis Pawlet Foreward before the Earls sate the two Chiefe Justices and the Lord chiefe Baron on the other side the two Barons and the other Justices Dale and Foord Doctors of the Civill Law at a Table in the midst Popham the Queens Atturney Generall Egerton her Solicitor âââdie her Serjeant at Law the Clerk of the Crown and two Notaries When the Queen of Scots was come and had placed her selfe silence being made Bromely Lord Chancellor turning towards her sayd That the Queen had appointed these Commissioners to hear what she could Answer to crimes layd to her charge assuring her that nothing would be cause of more joy to the Queen then to hear that she had proved her selfe innocent Upon this she rising up sayd That although being an absolute Prince she could not be compelled to appear before the Deâegates yet to manifest her innocency she was now content to appear Then Gawdie opened every speciality of the Law lately made against which she had taken excception shewing By Babingtons confession by Letters passed between them by the confessions of Ballard and Savage by the confessions of her Secretaries Nave and Curle that she was privy to their Treasons and consented to the Invasion of England and destruction of the Queen To which she answered That Letters might be counterfeited her Secretaries might be corrupted and rest in hope of life might be drawn to confesse that which was not true In this she stood peremptorily That she never consented to any Attempt against the Queens Person though for her own delivery she confessed she did After many other charges by the Commissioners and replies by the Queen of Scots At last she requested that she might be heard in a full Parliament or before the Queen her selfe and her Councell But this request prevailed not for on the 25. day of October following at the Star-Chamber in Westminster the Commissioners met again and there pronounced sentence against her Ratifying by their Seals and subscriptions that after the 1. day of Iune in the seven and twentieth year of our Soveraign Lady Queen Elizabeth divers matters were compassed and imagined in this Kingdom by Anthony Babington and others with the privity of Mary Queen of Scots pretending Title to the Crown of England tending to the hurt death and destruction of the Royall Person of our sayd Soveraigne Lady the Queen After a few dayes a Parliament was holden at Westminster the which was begun by Authority from the Queen derived to the Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Treasurer and the Earl of Derby and the same not without some Presidents At this Parliament the Proscriptions of the Lord Paget Charls Paget Francis Inglefield Francis Throgmorton Anthony Babington Thomas Salisbury Edward Iones Chydâock Tichburne Charles Tilney and the other complices was confirmed and their goods and possessions adjudged confiscate Also the Peers of the Kingdom with an unanimous consent exhibit a Petition to the Queen by the Lord Chancellor that for the preservation of the true Religion and safety of the Queen of themselves and their Posterity the Sentence passed against Mary Queen of Scots might according to Law be presently Promulged They put the Queen in minde of the fearfull examples of Gods Judgements extant in Scripture upon King Saul for sparing of Agag and upon Ahab for not putting Benhadad to death But the Queen answereth them to this effect First acknowledging Gods miraculous preservation of her and then their constant affections towards her for whose sakes onely she desires to live Otherwise when she calls to minde things past beholds the present and expects what may happen in time to come that she accounts them most happy who go soonest hence That the Law lately made by which the Queen of Scots is condemned was not made as some maliciously have imagined to ensnare her but contâariwise to forewarn and deterre her from attempting any thing against it which though it had not been made yet were there other ancient Laws enough to condemne her Nothing could have been more grievous to me than that a Prince and one so neer Allied unto me should deserve the Sentence pronounced against her and seeing the matter is of rare example and of a very weighty consequence I hope you will not expect that I should at this present determine any thing Yet that there may be no danger in delayâ I will in due time signifie my minde unto you and in the meane time would have you to expect from me whatsoever good Subjects may looke for from a Gracious Prince Twelve dayes after having deeply weighed the matter in her minde she sent the Lord Chancellor to the Peers and Puckering to the Lower House entreating them to advise more diligently concerning so weighty a matter and to bethinke themselves of some wholesome remedy by which the life of the Queen of Scots might be spared and their security also provided for They when they had a long time in most serious manner deliberated hereof Return at last this Verdict That the Queenes life could not be in safety while the Queen of Scots lived unlesse she either repented and acknowledged her crimes or were kept in straight custody or bound by her oath and obligations or gave Hostages or lastly departed the Kingdome And seeing none of these were likely to be remedies It remained that only her death would be a remedy Repentance in her they could little hope for who would not so much as acknowledge her self faulty Close Imprisonment Obligations Oath and Hostages they accounted as nothing which all vanished if the Queens life were once taken away and if she departed the Kingdom they feared she would straightway go about to Invade it again These things the Lord Chancellor and Puckering the Speaker of the Lower-House declared to the Queen at large and urged her in their names to have the Sentence put in execution Hereupon the Queen after a short pawse spake at last to this effect I protest my chief desire hath been that for your security and my own safety some other
coming forth Then for Land-Service there were laid along the Southern Coast twenty thousand souldiers and two Armies besides of Trayned men were levyed over one of which consisting of a thousand Horse and two and twenty thousand Foot the Earl of Leicester commanded and pitched his Tents at Tilbury neer the Thames mouth Over the other appointed to Guard the Queens Person and consisting of four and twenty thousand Foot and two thousand Horse the Lord Hunsdon was Generall Arthur Lord Grey Sir Francis Knolles Sir Iohn Norris Sir Richard Bingham Sir Roger Williams and other Military men were chosen to make a Councell of War and consult how the Land-service should âe ordered These declared amongst other things That the places which lay fittest for the enemies landing as Milford Haven Fâlmouth Plimouth Portland the Isle of Wight Portsmouth the Downs the Thames mouth Harwich Yarmouth Hull and such other should be fortified with Works and Garrisons the Trayned Souldiers of those Shires which lay neer the Sea Coast should defend those places and be ready at the Alarm to hinder the Enemy from Landing but if he did land then to spoyl the Countrey round about that he might finde no food and by continuall crying Arm Arm give the Enemy no rest but yet should not give Battell till good store of Commanders were come together At this time many fearing the Papists at home no lesse than the Spaâiards abroad perswaded the Queen to take off the heads of some of tâe greatest of them but she detesting such cruelty took order onely That some few of them should be committed to custody in Wisbych Castle And now all things on both sides prepared the Spanish Navy set forth out of the Groyne in May but was dispersed and driven back by weather The English Navy set forth somewhat later out of Plimouth bearing up towards the Coast of Spain but partly by occasion of contrary windes partly by advertisement that the Spaniards were gone back and upon some doubt also that they might passe by towards the Coast of England whilest they were seeking them afar off they returned to Plimouth At which time a confident though false advertisement came to the Admirall That the Spaniards could not possible come forward that yeer whereupon the Eâglish Navy was upon the point of disbânding and many of the men were gone on shore when suddenly the invincible Armada for so it was called in a Spanish ostentation was discovered upon the Western Coast whereof the Lord Admirall being informed had much ado to get the Queens Navy out of the Haven the winde being contrary yet at length he haled it forth The next day the English beheld the Spanish Ships in height like to Castles sayling slowly along whom they suffered peaceably to passe by that they might have the benefit of the winde to follow after The one and twentieth day of Iuly the Admirall of England sent a Pinnace before called The Defiancâ which by a great shot challenged the Spaniards to fight and by and by they fell to it Then Drake Hawkins and Forbisher let fly against the outmost Squadron which Recalde commanded making him glad to fly to their main Navy for succour The night followingâ a mighty Biskayner of Oquenda's in which the King of Spain's Treasure was was by chance fired with Gun-powder but was timely quenched by other Ships sent to her succour one of which Ships was the Galleon of Don Pedro whom Sir Francis Drake took prisoner and sent him to Darthmouth The Biskayner it self the Treasure being taken out by the Spaniards they left behinde them which the English brought into the Haven at Weymouth The three and twentieth day of this Month they had a secoâd Fight in which most of the Spanish Shot flew over the English Ships and never hurt them Onely Cock an English-man being with his little Vessell in the midst of the enemies died valiantly The four and twentieth day they rested on both sides in which time the Lord Admirall ranked his whole Fleet iâto four Squadrons The first he ruled himself Drake the second Hawkins the third and Forbisher the fourth The five and twentieth day which was the Saint Iames day they fell to it the third time in which Fight the English had again the better so as after this time the Spaniards would no more turne upon the English but holding on their course dispatched a Messenger to the Prince of Parma Requiring him forthwith to joyne himself to the Kings Fleet and withall to send them Bullets The day following the Lord Admirall Knighted Thomas Howard the Lord Shefieldâ Roger Townsend Iohn Hawkins and Martin Frobisher and holding a Councell of War they decreed not to set again upon the Enemy till they came to the streight of Calice where the Lord Henry Seymor and Sir William Winter waited for their coming And now so far were the English from being terrified with this invincible Navy that many of the Nobility and other of speciall note hired Ships at their own charges and came to the Admirall as the Earls of Oxford Northumberland Cumberland Thomas and Robert Cecill Henry Brook Sir Charls Blunt Sir Walter Raleigh Sir William Hatton Sir Robert Carie Sir Ambrose Willoughby Sir Thomas Gerard Sir Arthur Gorge and others The seaven and twentieth of July towards the Evening the Spaniards cast Anchour neer unto Calis and not far from them rode the English Admirall within shot of a great Ordnance to whom Seymor and Winter joyned themselveâ so as by this time there were in the English Navy a hundred and forty Ships nimble and serviceable for Fighting or Sayling yet only Fifteen of them bore the stroke of the Battell And now againe the Spaniards sent Post after Post to the Prince of Parma to send them forty Flye-boates without which they were not able to skirmish with the English by reason of the greatnesse and unweldinesse of their Ships and importune him presently to put to Sea with his Army But he was unprepaâed and his Flat-bottomed Boates were full of chinks and leaked and besides the Hollanders hovered before the Ports of Dunkerk and Newport in such sort that he durst not look forth The eight and twentieth day the Lord Admirall made ready eight of his worst Ships on the out-side dawbed with wild-fire Rozin and Brimstone within full of combustible matter and under the conduct of Young and Prowse sent them down with the winde in the silent time of the night towards the Spanish Fleet the which when the Spaniards saw approach them and the Sea as it were all on a light fire imagining withall that those Fire-ships might carry in them some murthering Engines they made â hideous noise took up Anchours cutt Cables spread Sayles and betook themselves to their Oars but more to flight One of the Spanish Galleasses having lost her Rudder and floating up and down was held in fight by Annias Preston Thomas Gerard and Harvie who âlew Captain Hugh Moncada cast the Souldiers over
were granted he would then perform all duties of a loyall subject In consulting about which Petitions another Truce was concluded till the first of April during which Truce Tir Oen dealt secretly with the King of Spain for Ayd to be sent him making neverthelesse a fair shew of willingnesse to obedience so far that by the procurement of Norris and Fenton a pardon was granted him the which he pretended to receive more joyfully than the Instrument whicd conferred the Earldome upon him yet all this was but dissimulation to win the time for his own ends In the midst of these Irish Affairs Albertus Arch-Duke of Austria and Cardinall whom the King of Spain had newly set over the Netherlands mustered together the Spanish Forces upon pretence of raising the Siege of La Fere in Picardie but upon a sudden turneth aside and besiegeth Calice and taking Newnham Fort the very first day became Master of the Haven The Queen informed hereof forthwith upon the very Sunday in time of Divine Service commandeth to leuy souldiers whom she committeth to the Earl of Essex but before they could be shipped certain News came That the Town and Fort were taken by the Spaniard Whereupon the Queens Army was dismissed and onely some money lent to the French King But a few dayes after a far greater and more select Army is raised in England wherein many of Noble Houses served as Voluntaries For the Queen to divert the King of Spain from invading her Borders thought it the best way to invade his Whereupon a Navy of a hundred and fifty Ships was made ready where were souldiers under pay 6360 Voluntaries of the Nobility and Gentry 1000 Marriners 6772 besides the Dutch-men who brought two and twenty ships Robert Earl of Essex and Charls Howard Lord Admirall of England were made Generalls with equall Authority but the Admirall to hold Prerogative at Sea Essex at Land To these for a Councell of War were joyned the Lord Thomas Howard Walter Raleigh Francis Vere George Carew and Conyers Clifford The whole Fleet was divided into four Squadrons the Admirall commanded the first Essex the second the Lord Thomas Howard the third and Raleigh the fourth The Officers of the Army were Francis Vere Serjeant Major Generall or Marshall Iohn Winkfield Quarter-Master Generall George Carew Master of the Ordnance Conyers Clifford Serjeant Major Colonells were Robeât Earl of Sussex sir Christopher Blunt sir Thomas Gerrard sir Richard Winkefield William Winkefild was Commander of the Voâuntaries and Anthony Ashley Secretary to the Councell of War was to Register their Acts and Consultations The Commission being drawn the Queen gave them private Instructions and withall a Prayer of her own making to be dâily used in every Ship This Fâeet set forth from Plimouth at the beginning of Iune Nigh unâo Cabo S. Vincent they lighted upon an Irish Barque which told them That at Cales they were secure and that in the Haven there were at Anchor Gallies ships of Warâ and a great many Merchants Vessells The twentieth of Iune they cast Anchor on the West side of the Island within two dayes they were agreed to set upon the Spanish ships whereat the Earl of Essex cast up his Cap for joy This businesse was alotâed to the lesser ships because the Road was too shallow for the great The Gallyes quickly fled and creeping along the shore shifted away but the Spanish ships that lay at Anchor at Puntall turned their broad sides so as the English Fight with them lasted from break of day till noon at which time the Spaniards having their Gallons miserably torâ and many of their men slain resolved to fire the the ships or run them ashore The Spanish Admirall being fifteen hundred Tun of Burthen was fired by a Moor and two other ships which lay next her took the fire and were lost likewise When this Sea-Fight was ended Essex landed eight hundred souldiers at Puntall a league from the Town of Cales when half a mile from the Town the Spanish Horse and Foot shewed themselves and presently gave back again but straightway cometh forth a greater number Then Essex commanded his Forces to make a fair Retreat and having enticed forth their enemies they turned upon them with such violence that they forced them back into the Town Then the Earl got up to a Bulwark newly raised neer the Gate where he spyed a passage into the Townâ but so high from ground that they must leap a Spears length to get down Yet Evans the Earl of Sussex his Lievtenant Arthur Savage and other leaped down and the mean while Sir Francis Vere broke the Gate and rushed in and the rest with him In the Market place Iohn Winkfield was shot in the head and with stones from the tops of the houses divers were wounded amongst whom Samuel Bagnall received eight wounds and Arthur Savage was bloody all over which two were Knighted in the place The next day the Castle was yeelded upon condition That the Inhabitants might depart with the clothes on their backs the rest to be left for spoyl For five hundred and fourscore thousand Duckets the Castle was to be redeemed and for the payment forty of the chief Citizens to be sent Hostages into England Now Raleigh was commanded to fire the Merchants Ships lying at Port Reall when they promised two Millions of Duckets to redeem them but this the Admirall would not hear of saying He was sent to destroy Ships not to dismisse them upon Composition A world of Munition was found in the City and great store of money privately carried away every one shifting for himself It was thought by the wiser sort That the Spaniard could not be damnified lesse by this Expedition than twenty Millions of Duckets None of note was slain amongst the English but onely Winkfield who also slew a Spanish Captain and now at last threescore Military men were honored with Knight-hood After this having spoyled the whole Islandâ and demolished the Fortsâ they returned into England much against the will of Essex who would fain have bin attempting some other enterprise The Queen received them home with much affability giving many thanks to those of principall note but extolling the Earl of Essex and the Admirall above the rest And now bethinking her self of a fit man to be Governour of the Bryll which was given by the States as a Caution Town for money due she made choyce of Sir Francis Vere although Essex commended other to her for the place but another thing he took with great indignation That in his absence she had made Sir Robert Cecill Secretary whereas he had formerly with great instance commended Sir Thomas Bodley to herâ And now the King of Spain to recover his honour lost at Cales setteth forth a Navy for England and Ireland with a great number of Irish Fugitivesâ but being at Sea most of his ships were either run upon Rocks or cast away in storms so as this Expedition came to nothing But the
to him with whom to confer Sir William Godolphine is sent to whom he complained of cowardise and he feared treachery of the Irish and therefore although he wanted nothing to hold out the Siege and did daily expect great Forces from Spain yet was willing to make a Composition whereupon at last it was agreed The Spaniards should yeeld up Kinsale to the Deputy as also the Castles and Forts at Baltimore Bere-Haven and Castle-haven and should depart with life and goods and Colours displayed The English at a reasonable price should furnish them with Ships and provision into Spain and that they should not carry Arms against the Queen of England till they were arrived in Spain c. And now the Spaniards being driven out of Ireland the Queen to prevent their coming again sendeth out Sir Richard Levison and Sir William Mââson with eight Ships of her own and some smaller Ships of War to attempt something upon the Coast of Spain On the nineteenth of March Levisân hoyseth Sayl and Monson afterward having in vain tarryed behinde for some Dutch Ships to joyn with them Levison in the mean time lighted upon the Spanish Navy of eight and thirty Ships which brought the Treasure from America and set upon them but to no purpose When Monson was come with the rest of the Fleet they had certain notice That a mighty Indian Caraque of sixteen hundred Tun and richly laden was upon the Coast of Portugall There indeed they found it but it lay close under a Fort attended with eleven Gallies and the Caraque it self appeared as big as a Castle yet they resolved to fire it if they could not take it The next day they thundered so violently against the Gallies that within seven hours the Marquesse of St. Crosse together with Portugall Gallies which he commanded withdrew themselves two of them were taken and fired and in them was great store of Powder which was going for the Low-Countries And now Levison signified to the Captain of the Caraque That the Gallies which they trusted to were driven away and therefore if they now refused mercy they must expect none hereafter After much speech to and fro it was at last agreed That the Caraque with the Ordnance and Merchandise should be yeelded up Thus the English having a fair winde returned homeward with a Booty to the value of a Million of Duckets by the Portugall account and not past five of their men lost in the Voyage At this time there arose a Contestation amongst the Popish Clergy here in England for the Jesuites and the Secular Priests made bitter Invectives in their writings one against the other The originall of the Priests quarrell was That Blackwell one wholly at the beck of the Jusuites was set over them as Arch-Presbyter who first of all despoiled them of their Faculties and when they appealed to the Pope caused them to be declared Schismaticks and Hereticks They in sundry Books extolled the Queen very highly as one that dealt mildly alwayes with the Catholikes till such time as they set all in a combustion in England and by their Treasons caused most severe Laws to be enacted against the Catholikes Parsons they traduced as a Bastard an Equivocator and a Traytor Whether they contended thus in good earnest or in jest only is hard to say but the Bishop of London politickly nourished the contention and all he gained was this That the Queen and her Councell finding them dangerous to the Common-wealth both the one and the other upon Penalty of the Laws were by Proclamation commanded to depart out of the Kingdom presently In France the Marshall Biron for entring into dangerous attempts against the publike Peace was arraigned and lost his head His confession brought some other into danger and amongst them the Duke of Bulloign of the Protestant Religion that when he was cited he durst not appear but fled into Germany Hereupon the King of France sendeth to Queen Elizabeth complaining that the Duke held his Marriage unlawfull and the Popes Dispensation nothing worth pronouncing his son Illegitimate had destined the Prince of Conde to the Succession of the Crown and conspired the destruction of the prime of the Nobility The Queen by her Legier Ambassadour adviseth the King not too credulously to entertain those reports as doubting these suggestions might proceed from some of the Spanish Faction Hereupon the King grew very angry saying The Queen held a better opinion of the Duke then he deserved and that he was one of the chief Architects of Essex his Treason and being questioned by the King about it was not able to deny it About this time also the Duke of Savoy by cunning slights and open force practised against the State of Geneva and the Queen relieved them with a great sum of money gathered amongst the Clergy and Laity all over England And now the Earl of Tyrone perceiving himself in a desperate estate resolved to sue for mercy and promised at last to submit his life and Fortunes to the Queens pleasure absolutely without condition Hereupon being admitted to the presence of the Deputy at the very entry of the room he fell on his knees and then passing on a few steps prostrated himself again saying I confesse and crave pardon for my great fault against God and a most bountifull Prince my dread Soveraign I fly to the Queens mercy as a sacred Anchor permitting her to dispose of my life and Fortunes at her pleasure Upon this his submission the Deputy commanded him to go aside and the next day took him along to Dublin with him meaning to bring him into England that the Queen might deal with him according to her Royall pleasure But before he could come into England the Queen died Her TAXATIONS IN a Parliament holden the first yeer of her Raign a Subsidy was granted of two Shillings eight pence the pound of Goods and four Shillings of Lands to be paid at two severall Payments of every person Spirituall and Temporall In her sixth yeer in a Parliament holden at Westminster one Subsidy was granted by the Clergy and another by the Laity together with two Fifteenths and Tenths In her eighth yeer in a Parliament then holden there were offered to her four Subsidies upon condition she would declare a Successor but she refused their offer and directly remitted the fourth Subsidy which they had granted saying It was all one whether the money were in her Subjects Coffers or in her own In her thirteenth yeer in a Parliament then holden towards her charges of repressing the Northern Rebellion there was granted her by the Clergy a Subsidy of six Shillings in the pound and by the Temporalty two fifteens with a Subsidy of two shillings and eight pence in the pound In her six and thirtieth yeer a Parliament was holden wherein was granted by the Clergy two whole Subsidies and by the Laity three besides six Fifteens and Tenths but it was put into the Act That this great Contribution
King according to an ancient custome had ayde of His Subjects thorough England for making his eldest sonne Prince Henry Knight which yet was Levied with great moderation and the Prince to shew himselfe worthy of it performed His first Feates of Armes at Barriers with wonderfull skill and courage being not yet full sixteene yeares of Age. It was now the eight yeere of King Iames His Reigne being the yeare 1610 when Prince Henry being come to the age of seventeen yeares It was thought fit He should be Initiated into Royalty and thereupon the thirtieth of May this yeare He was Created Prince of Wales in most solemne manner which was this Garter King at Armes bore the Letters Patents the Earle of Sussex the Robes of Purple Velvet the Earle of Huntington the Traine the Earle of Cumberland the Sword the Earle of Rutland the Ring the Earle of Darby the Rod the Earle of Shrewsbury the Cape and Coronet the Earle of Nottingham and North-Hampton supported the Prince being in His Surcoate only and bare-headed and in this manner being conducted to the King attended on by the Knights of the Bathe five and twenty in number all great men and great mens sons The Earle of Salisbury principall Secretary read the Letters Pattents the Prince kneeling all the while before the King and at the words accustomed the King put on him the Robe the Sword the Cape and the Coronet the Rod and the Ring and then kissed him on the cheeke and so the solemnity ended After this it was thought fit he should keep his Court by himselfe and thereupon Sir Thomas Chaloner a learned Gentleman who had before been his Governour was now made his Lord Chamberlaine Sir Edw. Philips his Chancellor and all other officers assigned him belonging to a Princes Court wherein he shewed himselfe so early ripe for Majesty that he seemed to be a King while he was yet but Prince And all mens eyes began to fix upon him King Iames had long since shut up the Gates of Ianus and was in Peace with all Princes abroad his only care now was how to keep Peace at home and to this end the three first dayes of Iune in his own person he heard the differences between the Ecclesiasticall and the Temporall Iudges argued touching Protections out of the KingsâBench and Common-Pleas to this end the eight ninth tenth of Iune he heard the manifold complaints of the abuses of the Victualers other Officers of his Navy Royall to this end the 4 of Iune 1610 he once again by Proclamation commanded all Roman Priests Seminaries and Iesuits as being the chiefe Incendiaries of troubles to depart this Kingdome by the 5 of Iuly next and not to returne upon pain of severity of the Law also all Recusants to returne home to their Dwellings and âot to ramaine in London âoâ to come within ten miles of the Court without speciall Licence aâââr which Proclamation the Oâth of Allegeance was presently ministred to all sorts of people and their names certified to the Lords of the Counsell that refââed to take it and this Hee the rather did out of consideration of the bloudy fact committed lately by one Revillâck upon the person of the renowned K. of France Henry the fourth whereas Queen Elizabeth in her 43 years had granted her Letters Pattents to continue for 15 years to the East India Merchants now upon their humble petition the King was pleased to enlarge their Pateââs giving them a charter to continue for ever enabling them thereby to be a body Corporate and Politick which so encouraged the Merchants that they built a ship of twelve hundred âun the greatest that was ever made in this Kingdome by Merchants which the King and Prince honored with going to Deptford to see it and then named it The Trades encrease and at this time gave to Sir Thomas Smith Governour of that Company a faire chaine of Gold with a Iewell wherein was his Picture But this great Ship having been in the Read Sea and returning to Banthem was there lost and most of her men cast away But then the King himselfe builded the goodliest Ship of War that was ever built in England being of the burthen of 1400 tun and carrying threescore and foure pieces of great Ordnance which he gave to his son Prince Henry who named it after his own dignity The Prince And now whereas a Parliament had been holden this year and was Prorogued to a certain day the King perhaps not finding it to comply with his designes or for some other cause known to himself on the last day of December under the grâât Sâale of England dissolved it Before this time one Sir Robert Cârre a Gentleman of Scotland or of the bordâââ being a hunting with the King chanced with a fall off his horse to breake his leg upon which mischance he was forced for some days to keep his bed in which time the King was sometimes pleased to come and visit him and then it was first perceived that the King had begun to cast an eye of favour upon him and indeed âroâ that time forward as he was a very fine Gentleman and very wise many great favours were heaped upon him So as on Easter Munday in the yeare 1611 he was Created Viscount Rochester On the two and twentieth of Aprill 1612 was swoâne a privy Counsellor On the fourth of November 1613 was Created Earle of Soâerset and the tenth of Iuly following made Lord Chamberlaine Bââ this Sun-shine of Fortune lasted not long yet not by any inconstancy in the King but by the Earles own undeserving which thus fell out The Right Honourable Robert Earle of Essex had before this time married the beautifull Lady Francis Howard daughter of Thomas Earle of Suffolk who upon caâses âudicially heard were afterward Divorced and left free to marry any other Afteâ which Divoâce this great favorite the Earle of Somerset takes her for wife thâ King gâacing their marriage with all demonstrations of love and favour and the Lords gracing it with a stately Masque that night and a few dayes after the Bride and Bridegroom accompanied with most of the Nobility of the Kingdome were âeasted at Merchant Taylors Hall by the Lord Major and Aldermen But see how soon this faire weââher was overcast For it hapned that one Sir Thâmas ââerbâry a very ingenious Gentleman and the Earles speciall fââââd who had written a witty Treâtise of a Wife and it seemes not thinking thâ Lady in all points answerable to his description had been an earnest disswaâââ of the Mââââ and to âârengthen his diââwasion layd perhaps some unjust ãâã upââ the Ladyes ãâã which so incensed them both against him that ãâ¦ã could not give them satiâââction than to take away his life So ãâ¦ã saying Improbe ãâ¦ã r quid non mortalia pectora cogis ãâã this they finde pretences to have the said Sir Thomas committed to the ââwer and there by their Instruments effect their revenge some
man to be King of Bohemia and accordingly was elected by the States of that Kingdome but he was no sooner invested in the Crowne but the Emperour with great Forces assaulted him in Prague and not only drove him with his wife and children from thence but tooke from him also his owne Patrimony the Palatinate so as though now a King he was fayne to flye to the States of the Low Countries for a place of residence King Iames though he had never given his consent to the Palsegraâes taking upon him that Kingdome as foreseeing in his great judgement what the event will bee yet in this distresse he could noâ forbeare to take care of his daughter and thereupon sent Sir Richard Wesâon the same that was after Lord Treasurer in Embassage to the Emperour to sollicite the restoring of the Palatinate to the Palsegrave but he returning without successe the King had then conference with Count Gundâmar the King of Spaines Ligier in England what course might bee taken to procure the restoring it who made him answere there could be no better course than to make a marriage betweene his sonne the Prince of Wales and the Infant of Spaine which he said would easily be effected if the Prince might have leave to make a Iourny into Spaine King Iames though he considered the inveterate grudges betweene Spaine and England and as dangerous it might beâ to put the heire of the Kingdom into the Spaniards hands yet grounding himself upon the saying Fide lem si putaveris facies and drawne on by the insinuating speeches of Count Gundomar not perhaps without some Indinction in the Marquis of Buckingham was contented at last the Prince should goe And so Prince Charles sending his ships about and taking along with him only the Marquis of Buckingham who in the time of his being in Spaine was created Duke of Buckingham Endymion Porter and Mr. Francis Cottington two that were well acquainted with the Language and affaires of Spaine he tooke his Iourney by the way of France went to Paris and secretly in disguise to the Court there where he had the sight of that Lady that might well have stayed him from going further but yet on he went In the meane time Gundomar a cunning man and one that besides his Masters had ends of his owne and could play his Game no lesse for his owne profit than his Masters Honour as he had perswaded the King of the facility of the Match with Spayne so he perswaded a certainty of it especially amongst Catholick Ladies by which meanes he brought no small store of Grists to his owne Mill receiving from one Lady three hundred pounds to bee made Groome of the Stoole when the Spanish Princesse should come of another a good round summe to be made Mother of the Maydes and of diverse other the like for other places But the Prince being arrived in Spayne was received indeed with all the demonstrations of love and kindnesse that could be devised so as the charge of his entertainment was said to stand the King of Spayne in nine and forty thousand Duckats but yet his acquaintance with the Lady was much restrained for in all the time of his staying in Spayne which was no lesse than eight moneths being from February to October he saw her but very seldome and that at good distances never spake with her but twice and that before company besides that his speeches were limited how much and what he should say farre from any meanes of tying the knot betweene them which was pretended what the cause should bee was much in obscurity some thought that a difference betweene the Duke of Buckingham and the Count Olivares the King of Spayne's great Favorite was a great hinderance of the proceeding but other and more likely that the Spanyard indeed never really intended the Match at all but had drawne the Prince into Spayne for other Ends but what those ends were was no lesse uncertaine one thought it was done to hold the Prince in a treaty of marriage with a Daughter of Spayne till the Daughters of France should bee bestowed thereby to keepe him from that allyance but others and more likely that the King of Spayne entertayned this Treaty with the King of great Brittayne meaning to spinne it out till he had compassed some designes in the Low-Countries and the Palatinate at least to make King Iames most vigilant for those paâts But when much time had beene spent in protracting upon pretence of difficultities in obtaining the Popes dispensation King Iames partly wearied with delay but chiefely angred with delusion sent to the Prince with all speed to returne into England which the Prince presently signified to the King of Spaine and had his leave to depart but upon promise to continue the treaty of the marriage still Though it was said the Prince was gone but a few dayes on his journey when a Post was sent to have stayed him if he had been overtaken But whether it was so or no it was Gods providence that he came safely to his ships and in them safely into England arriving at Portsmouth where he was beheld of the people with no lesse gladnesse than the Sunne after a long Eclipse and now his safe returning did both justifie King Iames his judgement in suffering him to goe and the King of Spaines justice in suffering him to come back and was cause that the people began to have a better opinion of the Spanish faith than they had before But now it presently brake out that this match with Spaine could never take effect for King Iames having received Declarations of the Articles touching the marriage found many very strict and large for exercise of the Catholike Religion but none at all for restitution of the Palatinate which made him so much discontented that he presently brake off all treaty of the marriage and signified as much not onely to the King of Spaine but to divers other Princes of Christendome Vpon which breach two great Points were presently had in consultation One for preparing forces for recovering the Palatinate by way of Armes which could not be done by a way of friendship and for this purpose a Councell of warre was called and a proposition resolved on both of men and money for undertaking the enterprise as also a great contribution by way of benevolence was collected towards which the compiler of this worke gave himselfe fifty pounds as many other farre greater summes though the collection went not thorow the whole Landâ by reason there was hope given of a peaceable reconcilement so as many that were not over-hasty in their payments escaped without contributing at all The other point was for providing a fit wife for the Prince in some other place It was said the States of Holland offered a very great portion in marriage to the Prince if hee would match with some Lady of that Countrie but matches are made in heaven and there was a young Lady of France
destined to his bed and for this purpose the Earle of Carlile and the Earle of Holland were sent into France to treat of a marriage with a younger daughter of the Great Henrie the fourth King of France deceased and sister to the present King Lewis which marriage afterward took effect but was not accomplished in King Iames his dayes who dyed soon after the agreement It was now the yeare 1623. in which in Michaelmas Terme there was a Call of fifteene Sarjeants at Law who kept their Feast in the Middle-Temple Hall Some Passages of small moment I confesse are omitted by me in this Raigne of King Iames as whereof for want of knowing the particulars I dare not venture upon making the Relation which if some men would have done the truth of our Chronicles should not have been mingled with so many falsities Of his TAXATIONS IN his second yeare in the moneth of September he sent Privie Seales to the wealthiest Citizens of London for monies to bee borrowed of them and in October following the customes of Merchandises both outward and inward were raised and then were letten out to Farme In a Parliament holden at Westminster the third yeare of his Reigne there were given him three entire Subsidies and six fifteens by the Temporalty and by the Clergie foure entire Subsidies This yeare also Henry Lord Mordant convicted in the Star-Chamber for divers misprisions was fined to pay ten thousand Marks and Edward Lord Sturtân for the like offence to pay six thousand Marks and Henry Earle of Northumberland for offences laid to his charge to pay thirty thousand pounds and some yeares after Sir Iohn Bennet Iudge of the Prerogative Court was fined to pay twenty thousand pounds In his fourth yeare he repayed threescore thousand pounds to the Citizens of London which the Londoners had lent to Queen Elizabeth three yeares before her death an act by which he got more love than hee payed money In his seventh yeare hee had ayd throughoât England for making his eldest Son Prince Henrie Knight which though levied with great moderation brought him in great summes of money In his eighteenth yeaâe in a Parliament holden at Westminster the Temporalty gave him two Subsidies and the Clergie three and in another Parliament in the yeare 1623. the Temporalty gave him three subsidies and three fifteens the Clergy foure Subsidies Besides these Subsidies hee sent abroâd many great Privie Seales and had also a benevolence throughout the Realme not without some grudging but without any just cause for it should have been remembred that he took it not out of covetousnesse to gather wealth but out of very necessity to supply wants For by his imploying many Embassadours in Ordinary many Extraordinarie by his necessarie bounty to his followers and by his charge of keeping severall Courts none of all which hee could avoyd His expences were farre greater than any of his Predecessors had ever beene Of his Lawes and Ordinances THE day of his removing from Charter-house at his first comming into England he caused Proclamation to be made that all Monopolies and Protections should cease as likewise all oppressions done by Salt-Peeter men by Purveiers and Carters On the 26. of May following hee set forth a Proclamation restraining all persons under great penalties from killing of Deere or any kind of Fowle used for Hawking The seventeenth of May Proclamation was made against Robberies on the borders and on the nineteenth of May another for âniting the people inhabiting about the borders of England and âcââland to live in love ând quiâtnesse In this first yeare in a Parliament âhen holdenâ it was Enacted that neither Arch-bishop nor Bishop should Alienate Grant or Demise or in any sort convey no not to the King himselfe âây of the Honours Lands Tenements or Hereditaments being parcell of the possessions of his Arch-biââop or Bishoprick and if any were it should be utterly voyd and of no effect notwithstanding any former Law Act or Ordinance to the contrarie He then also caused himself by Proclamation to be Enstyled King of Great Britaine that the division of England and Scotland might be no more remembred In his second yeare by his Letters Patents he incorporated the Felâ-makers of London by the name of Master Wardens and Communalty of the Art or Mysterie of the Felt-makers granting them divers privileges and liberties for their good government of their Corporation In Novem. of his second yeare were Proclaimed in London certaine new pieces of coyne both of gold and silver with the true valuation and weights of them according to the Mint of both Nations English and Scottish In a Parliamenâ holden the 3. year of his Reigne the Oath of Allegiance was devised and ordained and soon after minââtred to all sorts of people This yeere also hee mâde Proclamation to redresse the misimployment of Lââds or goods given to ãâã uses Also this yeare he set forth a Proclamation for beariâg of ãâã in Sâips to be in this manner that from thenceforth all the Subjects of greââ ârittââââ should beaâe in their mayne top the Red-Crosse coâmonly called the ãâã Geââges Crâsse and the ãâã Crosse commonly callâd St. Andreâââ Crâsse joynâd togeâher and the Subjects of South-Britâââââ should caâây in their Foretop only the Red-âroâse as they were wont and ãâã âubjects of North-Briâââine only the White-Croâse In this âourth yeare on the ãâ¦ã he set âorth a Proclamation commanding all Iesuiâs Seminâry ãâ¦ã to depaââ the Realme before the first of August following and ãâ¦ã returne upon paâne of death according to diverse Statutes in that ãâã ârovided In his second yeare he had set forth a Proclamation against ãâ¦ã increase of new buildings which being little regarded Now in his fourââ yââre he renewed the said Proclamationâ adding withall that the ãâã and windowes of all new buildings should be either of Brick oâ stoneâ ãâã ââsobeying whereof many were called in the Star-chamber and there finedâ ãâ¦ã yeare he gave order for planting of Mulberry Trees and breeding of ãâã wormes that England might be a Country as well of silke as Cloath In his ââventh yeare he instituted the Order of the Baronets which hath much degeâââated âince his institution and thereby having been devised for the benefit of ãâã hath caused but little contentment unto England This yeare also the âing himselfe in person came to the Star-chamber where he had appointed the ãâã men to meetâ and there for the better keeping of Coynes of Gold within ãâã Realmeâ he raised the prizes of them ordayning the price called the Vnity which went before but for twenty shillings to bee curâant now for twâ and twenây the double Crowne and all other peeces to encrease in the lâke proportion in his fifteenth year he granted to the Apothecaries of London to be a Corporation for themselves and their successours for ever and by Letters Paâenâs made them a Body Politick and corporate In his time by his appointment â strict decree passed in the Star-chamber
Iames His Raigne there were so many made that it may not be unfit to set them down in a Cathalogue together In His first yeare were made foure Earles and nine Barons namely Henry Howard yonger brother of the last Duke of Norfolk was made Earle of Northampton Thomas Sackvile Lord Buckhurst was made Earle of Dorset and shortly after Charles Blount Lord Montjoy was made Earle of Devonshire and Thomas Howard Baron of Walden was made Earle of Suffolk Henry Grey was made Lord Grey of Groby afterward by King Charles made E. of Stamford Henry Danvers was made Baron of Dansley afterwards by K. Charles made Earle of Danby Sir Iohn Peter of Essex was made B. of Writtle Sir W. Russell was made Baron of Thornaugh Sir Thomas Gerard was made Baron of Gerards Bromly in Stafford-shire Sir Robert Spencer was made B. of Wormelayton in the County of Warwick Sir Thomas Egerton was made B. of Elesmore and Sir Robert Cecill was created B. of Henden in Rutlandshire and Sir Iohn Harington was made Baron of Exâon In His second yeare on the 20 of May were made foure Barons and one Viscount Sir Robert Sidney was made Baron of Penshurst Sir William Knowles Baron of Grayes Sir Edw. Wotton Baron of Marley and Mildmay Fanc Lord de Spencer and in August the same yeare Sir Robert Cecill Baron of Essenden was created Viscount Cranbourne In His third yeare of the 4 of May were created three Earles and one Viscount and foure Barons namely Sir Robert Cecill Viscount Cranbourne was created E. of Salisburyâ Sir Thomas Cecill his elder brother L. Burghley was created E. of Exeter and Sir Philip Herbert younger brother to the E. of Pembrok was created E. of Montgomery Robert Sidney Baron of Penshurst was created Viscount of Lisle Sir Iohn Stanhope was made Baron of Harington Sir George Carew Baron of Clopton Mr Thomas Arundell of Devonshireâ Baron of Warder and Master William Cavendysh Baron of Hardrickâ In his fourth yeare on the fourth of Iuly Sir Thomas Kneveât was called by writ to the Parliament by the name of Bâron of Estrickâ and was thereby Baron of that Title and on the seventh of September Sir Iervys Clifton was likewise called by writ to the Parliament by the name of Baron of Layton Bromsensold and was thereby Baron of that Title In his ninth yeare upon Easter-munday Sir Robert Carre was created Viscount Rochester and In his tenth yeare an the fourth of November was created Earle of Somersett In his eleventh yeare Lewis Steward Duke of Lenox was made Earle of Richmond and after Duke of Richmond In his thirteenth yeare on the 29. of Iuâe Sir Iames Hây of Scotland was created Baron of Sawley and about three yeares after was made Viscount Doncaster and Sir âobert Dorâer was created Baâon of Wyng afterward by K. Charles made Earle of Carâarvan In his fourteenth yeare on the 9. of Iuly Sir Iohn Hollis was created Baron of Haughton and Sir Iohn Roper of Kenââ was made Baron of Tenham and on the 17. of August Sir George Villiers was created Baron of Whadden and Viscount Villiers and on the 7. of November Thomas Egerton L. Elsemore was created Viscount Brackley and he dying soon after his sonne Iohn was created Earle of Bridgewater William L. Knowles was created Viscount Wallingford and Sir Philip Stanhope was created Baron of Shelford On the 5 of Ianuary the Viscount Villiers was created Earle of Buckingham and on the third of March Sir Edward Noell of Rutland-shire was made Baron of Rydlington In his fifteenth yeare on New-yeares day Sir George Villiers Earle of Buckingham was created Marquis of Buckingham and on the 12 of Iuly Sir Francis Bacon Lord Chancellour of England was created Baron of Verulam and not long after Viscount Saint Albans Also in the Summer of this year the King created foure Earles and one Countesse namely the Viscount Lisle was made Earle of Leycester the Lord Compton was made Earle of Northampton the Lord Rich was made Earle of Warwick the Lord Cavendish was made Earle of Devonshire and the lady Compton wife to Sir Thomas Compton and mother of the Marquis of Buckingham was created Countesse of Buckingham In his sixteenth yeare on the 25 of November Sir Iohn Digby Vice chamberlaine to the King was created Baron of Shirbourne by Patent to him and his heires Males In his seventeenth yeare in the moneth of Iune Esme steward Lord d' Aubigny younger brother Duke of Lenox was created Earle of March Iames Marquis Hammilton was created Earle of Cambridge and Sir Iohn Villiers brother to the Marquis of Buckingham was Baron of Stâk and Viscount Purbeck In his eighteenth yeare William Câvendish was created Viscount Mansfield afterward by King Chârlâs mâde Earle of Neâcastle and on Munday the fourth of Decâmber Sir Henry Mââtague being first made Lord Treasurer was created Baron of Kimbolton and Viscount Mââdevile and not long after Earle of Manchester and Sir Iohn Ramsey Viscount Haddington of Scotland was created Earle of Holdernesse and William Fielding was created Baron of Newhenâââ and Viscount Fielding In his ninteenth yeare Henry Cary was made Lord Cary of Lâppington afterward by King Charles made Earle of Manmouth Sir Edward Mountague elder Brother to the Viscount Mââdevile was made Baron of Boulton the Lord Darciâ of Essex was created Viscount Colchester afterward by King Charles made Earle Râvers the Lord Huâsdoâ was created Viscount Rochford afterward by King Charles made Earle of Dâver Sir Lyonell Cranfield Master of the Wardes was created Baron of Cranfield in Bedford-shire and Sir Howardâ second sonne to Thomas Earle of Suffolkeâ was created Baron Chorleton and Viscount Andover afterward by King Charles made Earle of Barke-shire In his twentyth yeare in the moneth of September the Viscount Doncaster was created Earle of Carlile the Viscount Fielding was created Earle of Denhigh the Lord Digby was made Earle of Bristow the Lord Cranfield was created Earle of Middlesex and Sir Henry Rich was made Baron of Kensington In his one and twentyth yeare the Marquis of Buckingham being then in Spaine with Prince Charles had his Patent sent him to be Duke of Buckingham William Grey was created Baron of Warke Elizabeth the widdow of Sir Moyle Fynch of Kent was created Viscountesse Maidestone afterward by K. Charles made Countesse of Winchelsly âhis two and twentieth year the Earle of Clanricard of Ireland was created Viscount Tunbridge in Kent afterward by King Charles made Earle of Saint Albans Sir Iohn Hollis Baron of Haughton was created Earle of Clare Sir ãâ¦ã Riâh Baron of Kensington was created Earle of Holland the Lord ãâ¦ã Baron of Say and Seale was made Viscount Say and Seale Sir ãâ¦ã âane was created Earle of Westmerland Oliver Lord St. Iohn of Bletâââ ãâã made Earle of Bullinbrook Sir Christopher Villers brother to the Duke of Bâckingham was made Earle of Anglesey and Sir Iames Ley was made ãâ¦ã afterward by King Charles made Earle of Marlborough Also this yearââ Sir Francis Leak was made Baron of Deincourt and Sir Richard Roberts was made Lord Roberts of Truro in Cornwall And this was the number of all the Earles and Barons made by King Iamesâ but in his time also began another sort of Nobility to bee made in England which had none of the Priviledges of English Barons but had onely Title to bee called Lords of some place either in Scotland or Ireland although they possessed not a foot of Land in either Of which âoât the number being great I forbeare to rehearse them lest I should be tedious or otherwise bee thought to encroach too much upon the Heralds office It is sufficient to have shewed that King Iames advanced so many in honour that in a kind it might be said of him as was said of Augustus Caesar That he left Rome of Marble which hee found built of Brick The beginning of THE RAIGNE OF KING Charles KING Iames being deceased on the 27 day of March in the forenoon the same day in the afternoone Charles Prince of Wales His only son then living was Proclaimed King of Great-Brittain France and Ireland with the Generall acclamation of all sorts of People as being a Prince of admirable endowments both of mind and body He was now about the age of 25 yeares whereof the most part of one he had spent in Spaine where although he was frustrated of the end for which he went yet it gave him a tincture of Travaile and Expeâience more worth perhaps then the end he went for For by this meanes he attainââ to a greater degree of that which made Ulysses so famous Quod mores hominum multorum vidit urbes The first thing he did after his Coronation was to proceed in the marriage agreed upon in His Fathers time with the beautiful vertuous Lady Henrieta Maria yonger daughter of the Great Henry the 4â K. of France after which marriage we have only to say that he was happy in the Wife of His bosome Happy in His hopefull Issue Happy in the love of His people Happy in the Peace and tranquility of his Kingdomesâ and Happy in the continuânce of all these Happinesses for 15 years together and might have so continued still if it had not been for Discordia Demens Viperiuâs crinem vittiâ innexa cruentis But of that which happened afterward I dare not take upon me to be a Register Neither is it indeed safe to begin a Narration which I must be faine to breake off in amazâment as having nothing left me to say but Omnia in maluâââere and so far from any apparance of humane remedy that our only Anchor must be this supersuntâ Yet our hope is It will be but a fit and the storme once past faire weather again and fairer perhaps than it was before and then with Ioy we shall resume our stile Laetumque choro Poeana canemus In the meane time comforting our selves with the words of the Prophet David Many are the troubles of the Righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all Carolus en Rex magnus in armis major in ermis Quid mirum Imperio magnus amore magis FINIS