Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	duke_n	great_a	king_n	15,506	5	4.0453	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16240	Certaine secrete wonders of nature containing a descriptio[n] of sundry strange things, seming monstrous in our eyes and iudgement, bicause we are not priuie to the reasons of them. Gathered out of diuers learned authors as well Greeke as Latine, sacred as prophane. By E. Fenton. Seene and allowed according to the order appointed.; Histoires prodigieuses extraictes de plusiers fameux auteurs grecs & latins. English	Boaistuau, Pierre, d. 1566.; Fenton, Edward.	1569 (1569)	STC 3164.5; ESTC S105563	173,447	310

wherin the Emperor Mauritius although he were a Christian followed in this the lawes of the Auncients who forthwith vpon the sighte of any monstrous childe caused it not onely to be killed but kissed the knife wherwith he committed the butchery All whiche I haue preferred to memorie in this place for the respect of these .ij. maide twynnes whose portraict is here to be séene for if they had bene brought forth into the worlde ▪ in the tyme of the aūcient Indians Brachmans Spartins Lacedemonians or in the time of the Romains or in the raign of the Emperor Mauritius their history and figure had bē buryed with their bodies and had not bē sene in déede of so many thousands of people In the yere of grace .1475 these two maides that you sée so knyt together by the raines euen from theyr shoulders to theyr haunches were engendred in Italy in the famous Citie of Verona And for that their parents were poore they were caried through diuers Cities of Italy to get money of the people being very desirous to see that newe spectacle and wonder of Nature Wherfore some write that that monster whom you maye here see was a shewe and prognostication foretelling sundry maruellous mutations which happened after in those prouinces for in the same yeare that they were engendred Charles Duke of Burgoyne occupied and gouerned the coūtrey of Loraine Ferdinande the great king of Spayne diuided the realme wyth Alphonsus king of Portingale Mathias and Vladislaus kings made peace with the Hungarians and Bohemians Edwarde king of England was procured by the Duke of Burgoine to come into Fraunce where was a peace concluded betwixt● him and king Lewys And in the yeare of grace .1453 an other monster like vnto this was brought forth at Rome wyth greate maruell to all the people in the time of Pope Alexander the sixte who as Polidorus writeth prognosticated the euils hurts and miseries whiche shoulde happen and come to passe in the tyme of that Bishoppe ¶ A wonderfull Historie of Crueltie CHAP. xxxvj MAny be astonished to see the great nūber of maruellous examples of Crueltie which haue raigned not only amongest the Ethniques but also the more to be lamented amongest vs Christians which be all issued out of one vine formed of like elements incorporate in one church hauing one head Lord Iesus Christ being the children of one father celestiall of one spirite raunsomed by one bloud regenerate of one baptisme norished of like Sacraments participating of one Chalice and fightyng vnder the crosse and banner of Iesus Christ hauing one common enimie Sathan being called a like to one heritage and yet notwithstanding we be not ashamed to dismember and teare in pieces one an other with suche horrour and confusion that it séemeth we would fighte against nature and drenche the earth of humain bloud leauyng it besides as a deserte or place inhabitable But bycause you shall not maruell of that y t the Historians write of the great effusion of bloud which was shed in the batail which Edwarde the .iiij. king of England made against the Scots where he killed murdred thrée score thousand men I will shew you a more horrible spectacle in nature wherof also Sabellicus writeth of Charles Martell king of France and Abidaran where in one conflict was killed and murdred thrée hundreth and fiftie thousande But what a butcherie and slaughter had the poore flocke of Iesus Christ in the battaile which Ladislaus king of Pauonie had against Amurath Emperor of the Turkes seing that of the partie of the same Turkes being victorers was founde .iiij. hundred thousand dead carkasses as Sabellicus witnesseth There is scarsly to be founde such a wonder or horror in nature as that wherof Iosephus writeth in y e warres of the Iewes by that great butcher Alexander in the bloudy battail which he had against Darius where was slaine a million of men In like maner Cyrus king of Perses was so vnfortunate in the battail which he had against the Scythians that of two hundred thousand men which he had in his armie was not found one man to report the newes of the ouerthrow Albeit reading nowe amongest the Historians of those that Sylla killed of the Mariens those that Pompey slew of the souldiors of Mytridates those that Ptolomeus ouerthrewe of Demetrius of those that Cesar cut in pieces in ten yeres when he sent to fight agaynste the Gaules those that Lucullus slewe in the warre whiche he had agaynst the Armenians those that Attilla killed those that Miltiades slew those that Marcus Claudius Cornelius killed with an infinite numbre of like slaughters whiche be founde by the Historians Greekes and Latins you shall fynde that if you coulde see them all put in accompt there must néedes be inuēted a new Arithmetike to numbre them and I beleue that if they had made a roll of al the bieues muttons veales goates and other fourefooted beastes which haue bene killed in a thousande yeares within all the butcheries of Europe their number would not excéede the dead carkases of men slaine murdered yet it is not sufficient so to kyll men in battaile by sworde but that they must search new meanes and inuentions to murder them as Eusebius doth shewe in hys Ecclesiastical Historie of that infamous butcher Dioclesian the Emperour who seing that the Christians whiche raigned in hys tyme woulde not renounce the name of God and worshyp hys ydoles was not contente to cut of theyr noses and their eares causing spelles of woode to be put vnder theyr nayles pouryng hote leade vpon theyr priuie partes but in like maner he caused to be bowed by great force foure trees to the which he made to be tyed their féete and handes who being left in this sort were by the violence and force of those trées dismembred pluckt in peces as may be séen by the portraict and figure here before the which torments haue also bene practised put in vre in our time in Piemont against a certain souldier which would haue betrayed a citie as le seigneur de Launge writeth in his art of warfare Astiages that great king of the Medes hath not only surpassed that president in crueltie but hath also executed that which you wil not only haue in horror to reade but also in as great detestation to conceiue in your heart At what time the greate Patriarch of tirāny hapning to dreame one night of a certain thing touching one of his litle childrē which he could hardly digest withal fering y t it shold one day take effect determined to preuent his misfortune and the better to execute his entent he made to be called Arpalus one whō he most fauoured and the best of his realme to whome he gaue secretly in charge forthwith to kill one of hys owne sonnes without making any mā priuie therunto for certain causes which he would make hym to vnderstād more at leisure Arpalus vnderstanding the sorowful commaūdement of

the néedle beholde alwayes the north and the other the south He that firste founde oute the vse of this stone was named Flauius but the first that wrote of his vertue was Albertus Magnus Aristotle knewe well that it was of a nature attractiue and coulde drawe yron vnto it but yet he was ignoraunt to vse it in the Arte of Nauigation for if he had vnderstoode so farre of it he had preuented a numbre of miserable shipwracks and daungers of sea which ouerwhelmed his countreymē for want of direction by vertue of this stone Neither was it without cause that Plinie giuing singular estimation to this stone did forme his cruell complaints against nature in that she was not onely contente to gyue a voyce vnto rocks to send or returne certain cries and calles in maner of an Eccho but also to giue feelyng motion and hands to stones as to the Adamant wherwith he smelleth and holdeth yron and séemeth to be iealous when any offereth to take it from him he not only allureth yron and holdeth it when he hath it but also is contented to imparte and transferre hys vertue to any thyng that toucheth it which hath not bene onely an experience among the prophane but Saint Augustine hym selfe confesseth to haue seene the Adamant drawe vnto it a ryng of yron whiche being rubbed or touched with the Adamant drew another ring and so the thirde drew the fourth and so consequently in suche number as he made a large coller of rings in the forme of a chaine by the only ayde and touche of thys stone such is his propretie and such his wonderful vertue whiche also hath bene verified by many familiar experiences and chiefly by a late triall whiche I sawe in Fraunce in this sorte There was a knife layd vpon a square thick table and vnderneath the bourde was helde in a mans hande a piece of an excellent good Adamant whose vertue piercing thorough the table that was betwene it and the mettall made the knife moue turne alone to the great wonder of the assistantes These propreties of the Adamant be common therefore we will syft out of it a more secrete wonder whyche wyth the profite may also bring pleasure to the Reader There is nowe a dayes a kinde of Adamant which draweth vnto it fleshe and the same so strongly that it hath power to knit and tie together two mouthes of contrary persons and drawe the hearte of a man out of hys body withoute offendyng any parte of hym wyth thys further propretie that yf the poynte of a néedle be touched or tempered wyth it it pierceth thorowe all the partes of the bodye wythoute doyng any harme whyche woulde not séeme credible were it not that Experience dyd warraunt it wyth greate wonder Hieronymus Cardanus writeth that a Physition of Tours called Laurentius Crascus had of this stone promised by the meane of the same to penetrate any fleshe wythoute griefe or sorrowe whiche Cardanus did eyther doubte or lightly beléeue tyll the experience assured the effect for he rubbed a néedle with this Adamant then put it thorough his arme where he let it remaine without any sorow many days after but that which maketh this experience and vertue of the Adamant more famous is that he respected neither veins nor sinews but thrust in his néedles or yrōs indifferently without sparyng any place This Adamant which he had excéeded not the bignesse of a beane and was of colour like yron distinct of veynes and peysing aboute the weight of .xij. graines of corne By this Admant many people were deceyued like as also it was the occasion to entertain an errour amongst many persons which myne author confesseth to haue séene by experience about .xv or xvj yeres past being in the vniuersitie of Poyctiers whether came in great pomp a stranger naming him self to be a Greeke borne who in the presence of the people gaue him self many and great blowes with a dagger both vpon his thighes armes almost euery part of his body which being rubbed with a certain oyle which he called the oyle of Balsamyn it did so refresh consolidate his hurts as if the yron had neuer touched thē Ther is also at this day in Italy one Alexander of Verona who practised the like artificial experience with his seruāts who pinched them in the presence of the people with pinsers tongs daggers and other tormenting instruments and that with such horrour that it greued the eyes of the assistants and then rubbing theyr woundes with a certaine oyle he made them hole agayne presently which so abused the simplicitie of the assistants that they bought of his oyle which he assured to be as profitable to all kinde of diseases what soeuer whiche was suche a gaine to him that there scaped no daye wherein he gat not tenne or twelue crownes aboue his hire for the cure of those that were sicke The mysterie whereof dyd driue Cardanus into such a wonder that he was very curious to searche the cause and falling for that matter into an intricate Labyrinth of Philosophie he coulde not fynde nor giue any other reason of it than that the people were enchaunted touching the oyle whiche he solde and wherwith he fained to heale his seruant being hurt he confessed it was a fiction and a thing nothing worth for that those that bought it of him coulde do no cure on themselues or any other And now to drawe to ende and resolution of al these things it is moste like that this Greeke and Alexander of Verona and all the rest that haue bene seene to cutte and teare their flesh in peces in sundry parts of the world dyd not heale them by eyther theyr oyles or balmes as they fayne but it is more likely they rubbe their daggers pinsers and instrumentes wherewith they hurte them wyth this seconde kynde of Adamant the same hauyng a certayne secrete and hydden vertue to consolidate that part that is hurt and to resist all sorow and griefe in the wounde wherein for a more credite I commende you to the authoritie of Plaudanus in his seconde Booke De Secretis orb●● rerum miraculis ¶ Wonders of certaine Princesses being committed to the flames vniustly accused who were deliuered by vertue of their innocencie CHAP. xvij IT is no newe thyng neither chaūceth it often that the innocent creatures coulde not be endomaged by the flames of fire as it is verified in many noble persons found and spoken of in the holy Scriptures But it is a straunge thing at these days wherin sinne so aboundeth and we seldome sée suche miracles that such lyke shoulde happen amongst vs. For as Polydorus Vergilius witnesseth in the eyght boke of his histories of England and as others write before his time makyng mention of one Goodwyn prince of Englande who accused vniustly of many vices Emnia mother to Edward the seconde King of England and wrought therin so much by his false suggestions accusations that the Kyng hir

the whiche meanes we iudge to sée diuers sunnes We maye also sée the lyke in a table wel painted and polished which when we behold there appeareth to vs the shape of two or .iij. being but one in dede and as much we may say of y e Moone Thus haue we declared the very true causes wherfore appere so often .ij. or .iij Sunnes Moones let vs therfore now from henceforth search in nature the cause and beings of these things and stay no more at these fripperies deceiptes and dreames of the Astrologians iudicials who therby haue so oftentimes deceiued begiled vs that they oughte and deserue to be banished exiled from all cōmon wealths well gouerned for what trouble perplexitie and terrour haue they engendred in the consciences of a numbre of poore people As for example in the yere 1514. when they feared not with obstination to publishe openly in all places that there shoulde be in the moneth of February well nigh an vniuersall floud for that the coniunction of all the planets were in the signe of Pisces and notwithstandyng the day which should haue brought forth these waters was one of the moste faire and temperate days of the yere albeit many great personages fearefull of their prophecies made prouision of bisket flower ships and other like things propre to sayle withall fearyng to be surprised and drowned wyth the greate abundance of water whiche they before had tolde of Lette vs further from henceforth learne with Henry the .vij. king of Englande who reigned in oure tyme makyng no accompt of theyr deceytes but chastised their dreame who vpon the sodaine beyng made to vnderstande that one of the moste famous Astrologians of Englande had published in all places that he had found amongst the most hidden secretes of Astrologie that the King shoulde die before the next feast of Christmas commaunded that he should be brought before hym who after he had asked hym whether this talke were true and that the prognosticator had answered him that it was certaine and that he had founde this infallible in his constellation and natiuitie I pray thée then sayde the King tell me where the starres tell thée thou shalte kéepe thy Christmas this yeare To whom he answered he shoulde be in hys owne house with hys familie but I knowe very wel sayd the King that thy starres be lyers for thou shalt neither sée Moone Sunne Starres heauen nor thy familie this Christmasse putting hym presentely in the moste straight darke prison in the great tower of London where he continued till the feast was past Here you may sée how this true Astrologian was vsed remayning prisoner in extreme misery vntil after the feast kept of the natiuitie of Iesus Christe ¶ A wonderfull Historie of Flames of fyre which haue sprong out of the heades of diuers men CHAP. xxj IF there were but one onely Authour which had made mention of the Historie followyng although the truthe therof be sufficiently proued for whiche cause I haue the rather at this time placed it in these my wōders as a chiefe argument or coniecture in nature whereupon may be founded the cause notwithstanding seing so many learned men haue busied themselues to write therof together with so greate a number of faithfull authors witnessing the same in their works we ought the rather vpon their credite to beleue that whiche they haue sayd therin Titus Liuius in his thirde booke and thirde Decade Cicero in his seconde boke De diuinatione Valerius the great in his first boke and .vj. chapiter Frontinus in his secōd boke and .x. chapiter write that after the Scipions were surprised by their enimies and ouerthrowē and killed by the Spanyards and that Lucius Martius a Romaine knight making an oration to his souldiers exhorting to reuēgement they became astonished to see a great flame of fire issuing from his heade without doing to him any hurt which caused the armed men being moued with the sight of thys wonderfull flame to take heart and run so furiously vpon their enimies that they not onely killed xxvij thousande but also had a praie of a great number of captiues besides an inestimable riches they toke from the Carthaginiens Neither haue such fantasticall fyres sprong from the bodies of certaine men or appeared in one only but in many Wherof the same author Titus Liuius writeth in his first boke of things worthy of memory sithens the foundation of Rome the like to happen to Seruius Tullius who succéeded in the imperial seate Tarquinius Priscus from whose heade being yet but yong and as he slepte they sawe issue a flame of fyre whervpon the Quéene Tanaquil wife to the foresayd Priscus affirmed to hir husbād that this flame promised to hym greate good honour and prosperitie whiche afterwards chaunced for he maried not onely hir daughter but after the death of hir husband hée was Kyng of the Romaines And Plutarche and others haue written the lyke of Alexander when he foughte against the Barbariens being in the moste heate of the skirmish they sawe him all on fyre whiche caused a maruellous feare and terrour to his ennimies Euen so I knowe a certaine Physition at this day who writeth of the lyke in diuers of his histories chauncing in our time to a nere friende of his in Italy not onely at one time but at many Whereof as Plinius not onely in an other place maketh mention of the ryuer Trasimenus whyche was seene all on fyre but also maketh a certain discourse of these wonderfull flames whyche be seene aboute the bodies of men Also Aristotle in hys fyrst boke of Metheores treateth in lyke maner But to tell you myne opinion therein I can not any wayes gather the cause or foundation eyther of the one or other althoughe I haue promised to shewe the causes and reasons whervpon these wonders procede and take their beginnyng For if we wyll saye they be made by Arte As we haue séene very often in oure tyme certaine Ruffians vomite and caste forth of theyr mouthes certayne flames of burnyng Fyre whiche Atheneus in the fyrst boke of the Dipnosophistes and fouretenth Chapiter doth witnesse whiche coulde not happen as I thinke to the Histories before mentioned for that it hath chanced to greate lordes vpon whome these wonders haue bene moste proued by which meanes they being attended vpon wyth a greate numbre and multitude of persones the fraude thereof was easlyer discouered Wherefore it is moste expediente then to beléeue that they be wonders and deceytes of Sathan who was so familiar in the worlde passed that he inuented dayly newe wonders as is wytnessed in Exodus of the Magitiens of Pharao whiche conuerted Maydes into Serpentes and floudes of water into bloud whyche be matters as difficulte as to make flames of fyre issue or come from the bodies of men ¶ A Historie very notable of Prodigeous Loues CHAP. xxij I Am ashamed and almoste confused in my self that I must declare the wonderfull loue