and remaining beyond the sea in the custody of the said Constance yet of this fact being against al Iustice aswel the said Archbishop as also many of th' other did after most earnestly repent considering the cruel and the vniust putting to death of the said Arthur procured and after some Authours committed by the said Iohn himself Which most foul aÌ„d shamful act the said Iohn neded not to haue committed if by foraine birth the said Arthur had beÌ„ barred to inherit the Croune of England And much lesse to haue imprisoned that most innocent Ladie Elenor sister to the said Arthur in Bristow Castle wher she miserably ended her life if that gay Maxime would haue serued to haue excluded these two childreÌ„ bicause thei wer straÌ„gers borne in the partes beyond the seas Yea it appeareth in other doings also of the said time and by the storie of the said Iohn that the birth out of the legeaÌ„ce of England by father aÌ„d mother foram was not takeÌ„ for a sufficieÌ„t repulse and reiectioÌ„ to the right and title of the Croune For the BaroÌ„s of EnglaÌ„d being then at dissension with the said King Iohn and renouÌ„cing their allegeance to him receaued Lewis the eldest sonne of Philip the FreÌ„ch king to be their King in the right of Blanch his wife whiche was a stranger borne albe it the lawful Neece of the said Richard and daughter to Alphonse king of Caâ—til begotten on the bodie of Elenour his wife one of the daughters of king Henrie the second and sister to the said king Richard and king Iohn Which storie I alleage only to this purpose thereby to gather the opinion of the time that foraine birth was then thought no barre in the Title of the Croune For otherwise how could Lewis of FraÌ„ce preteÌ„d title to the Croune in the right of the said Bblach his wife borne in Spaine These examples are sufficient I suppose to satisfie and content any man that is not obstinatly wedded to his own fond fantasies and froward friuolous imaginatioÌ„s or otherwise worse depraued for a good sure and substantial interpretation of the coÌ„mon law And it were not altogether from the purpose here to consider and weigh with what and how greuous plagues this Realme hath bene oft afflicted and scourged by reason of wrongful and vsurped titles I wil not reuiue by odious rehearsal the greatenes and number of the same plagues as wel otherwise as especially by the contention of the noble houses and families of York and Lancaster seeing it is so fortunately and almost within mans remeÌ„brance extinct and buried I wil now put the gentle Reader in remembrance of those only with whose vsurping Titles we are nowe presently in hand And to begyn with the most auncieÌ„t what became I pray you of Harold that by briberie and helpe of his kinred vsurped the Croune against the foresaid yong Eadgar who as I haue said and as the old monumeÌ„ts of our Historiographers do plainly testifie was the true and lawful Heire Could he thinke you enioy his ambitious and naughty vsurping one whole entier yere No surely ere the first yeare of his vsurped reigne turned about he was spoiled and turned out both of Croune and his life withal Yea his vsurpation occasioned the conquest of the whole realme by WilliaÌ„ Duke of NormaÌ„die bastard sonne to Robert the sixt Duke of the same And may we thinke al safe and sound now from like danger if we should tread the said wrong steppes with Harolde forsaking the right and high way of law and iustice What shal I now speake of the cruel ciuil warres betwene King Stephen and King Henry the second whiche warres rose by reason of the said Henry was vniustly kept froÌ„ the Croune dew to his mother Maude and to him afterwardes The pitiful reigne of the said Iohn who doth not lament with the lamentable losse of Normandie Aquitaine and the possibilitie of the Dukedome of Britanie and with the losse of our other goodly possessions in France whereof the Croune of England was robbed and spoiled by the vnlawful vsurping of him against his nephew Arthur Wel let vs leaue these greuouse and lothsome remembrances and let vs yet seeke if we may finde any later interpretation either of the said statute or rather of the coÌ„mon law for our purpose And lo the great goodnes and prouidence of God who hath if the foresaid exaÌ„ples would not serue prouided a later but so good so sure so apt and mete interpretatioÌ„ for our cause as any reasonable hart may desire The interpretatioÌ„ directly toucheth our case which I meane by the mariage of the Lady Margaret eldest daughter to King HeÌ„ry the vij vnto Iames the fourth KiÌ„g of ScotlaÌ„d and by the opinioÌ„ of the said most prudeÌ„t Prince in bestowing his said daughter into ScotlaÌ„d a ma ter sufficient inough to ouerthrow al those cauilling inueÌ„tioÌ„s of the aduersarie For what time King Iames the fourth sent his ambassadour to king HeÌ„ry the seueÌ„th to obteine his good wil to espouse the said Lady Margaret there were of his Counsaile not ignorant of the lawes and Customes of the Realme that did not wel like vpon the said Mariage saying it might so fal out that the right and Title of the Croune might be deuolued to the Lady Margaret and her childreÌ„ and the Realm therby might be subiect to ScotlaÌ„d To the whiche the prudent and wise King answered that in case any such deuolution should happen it would be nothing preiudicial to England For England as the chief and principal and worthiest part of the I le should drawe Scotland to it as it did Normandie from the time of the Conqueste Which answere was wonderfully wel liked of al the Counsaile And so consequâ—tly the mariage toke effect as appereth by Polydor the Historiographer of this Realm and such a one as wrote the Actes of the time by the instruction of the King him selfe I say then the worthy wise Salomon foreseeing that such deuolution might happen was an interpretour with his prudente and sage Counsaile for our cause For els they neaded not to reason of any such subiection to Scotlande if the children of the Ladie Margaret might not lawfully inherite the Croune of England For as to her husband we could not be subiect hauing him selfe no right by this mariage to the Title of the Croune of this Realme Wherevpon I may wel inferre that the said newe Maxime of these men whereby they would rule and ouer rule the succession of Princes was not knowen to the said wise King neither to any of his Counsaile Or if it were yet was it taken not to reache to his blood royall borne in Scotlande And so on euery side the Title of Quene Marie is assured So that now by this that we haue said it may easely be seen by what light and slender consideration the Aduersarie hath gone about to strayne the wordes Infantes or children to the first degree
one rule as a general Maxime is obiected against her And yet the same rule is so vntruely set forth that I can not wel agree that it is any rule or Maxime of the cōmon law of this Realm of Englād Your pretēsed Maxime is whosoeuer is born out of the realm of Englād and of father and mother not being vnder the obediēce of the King of England cannot be capable to inherite any thing in England Which rule is nothing true but altogether false For euery stranger and Alien is hable to purchace the inheritance of landes within this Realme as it may appeare in 7. 9. of king Edward the fourth and also in 11. 14. of king Hērie the fourth And although the same purchace is of some men accounted to be to the vse of the King yet vntil such time as the king be intitled therevnto by matter of Record the inheritance remaineth in the Alien by the opinion of al men And so is a very Alien capable of inheritance within this Realme And then it must nedes fal out very plainly that your general Maxime where vpon you haue talked and bragged so muche is now become no rule of the common law of this Realme And if it be so then haue you vttered very many wordes to smal purpose But yet let vs see fartther whether there be any rule or Maxime in the cōmon Law that may seeme any thing like to that rule wherevppon any matter may be gathered against the Title of the said Marie Queene of Scotland There is one rule of the cōmon Lawe in wordes somewhat like vnto that whiche hath ben alleaged by the Aduersaries Which rule is set forth and declared by a statute made anno 25. of King Edward the third Which statute reciting the doubt that then was whether infants borne out of the allegeance of England should be hable to demaund any heritage within the same allegeance or no it was by the same statute ordeined that al infantes inheritours which after that time should be borne out of the allegeance of the King whose father and mother at the time of their birth were of the feaith and allegeāce of the King of England should haue and enioy the same benefittes and aduantages to haue and carie heritage within the said allegeance as other heires should Whervpon it is to be gathered by dew and iust construction of the statute and hath bene heretofore cōmonly taken that the cōmon law alwaies was and yet is that no person borne out of the allegeāce of the King of England whose father and mother were not of the same allegeāce should be able to haue or demaund any heritage within the same allegeance as heire to any person Which rule I take to be the same supposed Maxime which the Aduersaries do meane But to stretch it generally to al inheritances as the Aduersaries woulde seeme to do by any reasonable meanes can not be For as I haue said before euery strāger and Alien borne may haue and take inheritance as a purchaser And if an Alien do marie a woman inheritable the inheritance therby is both in the Alien and also in his wife and the Alien thereby a purchaser Noman doubteth but that a Denizon may purchase landes to his owne vse but to inherit landes as heire to any person within the allegeāce of England he can not by any meanes So that it seemeth very plaine that the said rule bindeth also Denyzōs and doth only extend to Descētes of inheritance and not to the hauing of any landes by purchase Now wil we then consider whether this rule by any reasonable construction can extende vnto the Lady Marie the Queene of Scotland for and cōcerning her Title to the Croune of England It hath bene said by the Aduersaries that she was borne in Scotland which realm is out of the allegeāce of England her father and mother not being of the same allegeance And therfore by the said rule she is not inheritable to the Croune of this Realm Although I might at the beginning very wel and orderly deny the consequent of your argumēt yet for this time we wil first examine the Antecedent whether it be true or no and then consider vpon the consequent That the Queene of Scotland was borne in Scotlād it must nedes be graūted but that Scotland is out of the allegeāce of Englād though the said Quene and al her subiects of Scotland wil stourly affirme the same yet ther is a great nūber of men in Eng and both lerned and others that be not of that opiniō being lead and persuaded therto by diuers histories Registers Recordes and Instruments of Homage remaining in the treasurie of this Realm wherin is metioned that the Kings of Scotland haue acknowledged the King of Englād to be the superiour Lord ouer the Realme of Scotland and haue done homage and fealtie for the same Which thing being true notwithstanding it be cōmonly denied by al Scotsmen then by the lawes of this realme Scotlād must nedes be accōpted to be within the allegeance of Englād And although sins the time of King Henry the sixt none of the Kinges of Scotlande haue done the said seruice vnto the Kinges of England yet that is no reason in our lawe to say that therefore the Realme of Scotland at the time of the birth of the said Ladie Marie Queene of Scotlande being in the thirtie and fourth yeare of the raigne of our late Souereigne Lorde King Henrie the eight was out of the allegeance of the kinges of England For the law of this Realm is very plain that though the Tenant do not his seruice vnto the Lorde yet hath not the Lord thereby lost his Seignorie For the lande still remaineth within his Fee and Seignorie that notwithstanding But peraduenture some wil obiecte and say that by that reason France should likewise be said to be within the allegeance of England forasmuch as the possession of the Croune of France hath bene within a litle more then the space of one hundred yeares now last past laufully vested in the kinges of Englād whose right and title stil remaineth To that obiectiō it may be answered that there is a great difference betwene the right and title which the Kings of Englād claime to the Realme of Fraunce and the right and title which they claime to the Realme of Scotlande Although it be true that the Kinges of Englande haue bene lawfully possessed of the Croune of France yet during such time as they by vsurpation of others are dispossessed of the saide Realme of France the same Realme by no meanes can be said to be within their allegeance especially considering how that syns the time of vsurpation the people of France haue wholy forsaken their allegeance and subiection which they did owe vnto the Kings of Englande and haue geuen and submitted them selues vnder the obedience and allegeance of the vsurpers But as for the Realme of Scotlande it is otherwise For
the Title whiche the Kinges of England haue claimed vnto the Realme of Scotland is not in the possession of the lande and Croune of Scotlande but onely vnto the seruice of homage and fealtie for the same And although the Kinges of Scotland sith the time of King Henry the eight haue intermitted to doe the said homage and fealtie vnto the Kinges of Englande yet for al that the Kinges of Scotland can not by any reason or lawe be called vsurpers And thus may ye see gentle Reader by the opinion of al indifferente men not lead by affection that the Realme of Scotlande hath bene and is yet within the allegeance and dominion of England And so is the Antecedent or first proposition false And yet that maketh no proufe that the Realme of France likewise should nowe be said to be within the allegeance of the Kings of England by reason of the manifest and apparent difference before shewed But what if your Antecedent were true and that we did agree both with the said Queene of Scotland and her subiectes and also with you that Scotland were out of the allegeance of England Yet it is very plaine that your consequent and conclusion can not by any meanes be true And that principally for three causes whereof one is for that neither the King not the Croune not being specially mētioned in the said rule or pretended Maxime can be intended to be within the meaning of the same Maxime as we haue before sufficiently proued by a great number of other suche like generall rules and Maximes of the lawes An other cause is for that the Croune can not be taken to be within the woordes of the said supposed Maxime and that for twoo respectes one is bycause the rule doth only dishable Aliens to demaunde any heritage within the allegeance of England Whiche rule can not be stretched to the demaunde of the Croune of Englād which is not with in the allegeance of England but is the very allegeance it selfe As for a like example it is true that al the landes within the Kinges dominion are holdē of the King either mediatly or immediately and yet it is not true that the Croune by whiche onely the King hath his Dominion can be said to be holdē of the King. For without the Croune there can be neither King nor allegeance And so long as the Croune resteth onely in demaund not being vested in any person ther is no allegeāce at al. So that the Croune can not be said by any meanes to be within the allegeance of England and therfore not within the wordes of the said rule or Maime The Title of the Croune is also out of the wordes and meaning of the same rule in an other respect and that is bycanse that rule doth only dishable an Alien to demaūd landes by descent as heire For it doth not extende vnto landes purchased by an Alien as we haue before sufficiently proued And then can not that rule extende vnto the Croune being a thing incorporate the right wherof doth not descend according to the common course of priuate inheritance but goeth by successiō as other corporatiōs do No man doubteth but that a Prior Alien being no denizon might alwaies in time of peace demaund land in the right of his corporatiō And so likewise a Deane or a Person being Aliens and no deniznos might demaund lande in respecte of their corporations not withstāding the said supposed rule or Maxime as may appeare by diuerse booke cases as also by the statute made in the time of King Richard the second And although the Croune hath alwaies gone according to the common course of a Descent yet doth it not properly descende but succede And that is the reason of the lawe that although the Kinge be more fauoured in all his doinges then any common person shal be yet can not the King by lawe auoide his grauntes and Letters Patentes by reason of his Nonage as other infantes may doe but shal alwaies be said to be of ful age in respect of his Croune euen as a Person Vicare or Deane or any other person incorporate shal be Whiche can not by any meanes be said in lawe to be within age in respect of their corporations although the corporation be but one yeare olde Bysides that the King can not by the law auoide the Letters Patentes made by any vsurper of the Croune vnlesse it be by act of Parlament no more then other persons incorporate shal auoide the grauntes made by one that was before wrongfully in their places and romes whereas in Descentes of inheritance the lawe is otherwise For there the heire may auoide al estates made by the disseafour or abatour or any other person whose estate is by lawe defeated Whereby it doth plainely appeare that the King is incorporate vnto the Croune and hath the same properly by succession and not by Descent onely And that is likewise an other reason to proue that the King and the Croune can neither be saide to be within the wordes nor yet with in the meaning of the said general rule or Maxime The third and most prncipall cause of all is for that in the said statute whervpon the said supposed rule or Maxime is gathered the children descendantes and descended of the blood royal by the wordes of Infantes de Roy are expresly excepted out of the said supposed rule or Maxime Whiche wordes the Aduersaries do much abuse in restrainīg and construing them to extende but to the first degree only whereas the same wordes may very wel beare a more large and ample interpretation And that for three causes and considerations First by the Ciuil lawe this word Liberi which the worde Infantes being the vsuall and original worde of the statute written in the Frenche tongue counteruaileth doth comprehende by proper and peculier signification not only the childrē of the first degree but other Descendants also in the law saying That he who is manumissed or made free shal not commence any Action against the children of the Patrone or manumissour without licence not onely the first degree but the other also is conteined The like is when the lawe of the twelue Tables saith The first place and roome of succession after the death of the parentes that die intestate is due to the children which successiō apperteineth as wel to degrees remoued as to the firste Yea in al causes fauourable as ours is this worde son Filius cōteineth the nephew though not by the propertie of the voice or speache yet by interpretation admittable in al such thinges as the law disposeth of As touching this worde Infantes in Frēch We say that it reacheth to other Descendāts as wel as the first degree Wherein I do referre me to suche as be expert in the said tongue We haue no one worde for the barenes of our English tōgue to coūterpaise the said French word Infantes or the Latin word
and intent of the said law Now in case these two causes and cōsiderations wil not satisfie th Aduersarie we wil adioine therevnto a third which he shal neuer by any good and honest shift auoid And that is the vse and practise of the Realme as wel in the time foregoing the said statute as afterward We stand vpon the interpretation of the cōmon law recited and declared by the said statute And how shal we better vnderstand what the law is therein then by the vse and practise of the said lawe For the best interpretation of the lawe is custome But the Realme before the statute admitted to the Croune not only kings children and others of the first degre but also of a farther degre and such as were plainely borne out of the Kings allegeance The soresaid vse and practise appeareth as wel before as sithens the time of the Conquest Among other King Edward the Confessour being destitute of a lawful Heire within the Realme sent into Hūgary for Edward his Nephew surnamed Outlaw son to King Edmūd called Irōside after many yeres of his exile to returne into Englād to th' intent the said Outlaw should inherite this Realme whiche neuerthelesse came not to effect by reason the said outlaw died before the said king Edward his Vncle. After whose death the said king apointed Eadgar Etheling sonne of the said Outlaw being his next cosen and heire as he was of right to the Croune of Englād And for that the said Eadgar was but of yong and tender yeares and not able to take vpō him so great a gouernement the said king cōmitted the protection as wel of the yong Prince as also of the Realm to Harold Earle of Kent vntil suche time as the said Eadgar had obteined perfit age to be hable to weld the state of a King Which Harold neuerthelesse cōtrary to the trust supplanted the said yong Prince of the Kingdome and put the Croune vpon his own head By this it is apparent that foraine birth was not accōpted of before the time of the Cōquest a iust cause to repel and reiect any man being of the next proximitie in blood frō the Title of the Croune And though the said king Edward the Cōfessors wil and purpose toke no such force and effect as he desired and the law craued yet the like succession toke place effectuously in king Stephen and king Hēry the secōd as we haue already declared Neither wil th' Aduersaries shift of foramers borne of father and mother which be not of the kings alegeāce help him forasmuch as this clause of the said statut is not to be applied to the kings childrē but to others as appeareth in the same statute And these two kings Stephē and Henrie the 2. as they were borne in a forain place so their fathers and mothers wer not of the kings allegeāce but mere Aliens and strāgers And how notorious a vaine thing is it that th' Aduersarie would perswade vs that the said K. Henrie the secōd rather came in by force of a cōposition then by the proximitie and nearenes of blood I leaue it to euery man to cōsider that hath any maner of feling in the discours of the stories of this realm The cōpositiō did procure him quietnes and rest for the time with a good and sure hope of quiet and peaceable entrance also after the death of King Stephen and so it followed in deede but ther grew to him nomore right therby then was due to him before For he was the true heir to the Croune as appeareth by Stephen his Aduersaries owne confession Henry the firste maried his daughter Mathildis to Henry the Emperour by whome he had no childrē And no dout in case she had had any children by th'Emperour they should haue ben heires by succession to the Croune of England After whose death she retourned to her father yet did King Henry cause all the Nobilitie by an expresse othe to embrace her after his death as Queene and after her her children Not long after she was maried to Ieffrey Plantagenet a Frenchman borne Earle of Aniowe who begat of her this Henry the second being in France Whervpon the said King did reuiue and renue the like othe of allegeāce aswel to her as to her sonne after her With the like false persuasiō the Adueruersarie abuseth him selfe and his Reader touching Arthur Duke of Britanie Nephew to King Richard the first As though forsooth he were iustly excluded by Kinge Iohn his vncle by cause he was a forainer borne If he had said that he was excluded by reason the vncle ought to be preferred before the Nephewe though it should haue ben a false allegation and plaine against the rules of the lawes of this Realme as may wel appeare among other thinges by King Richard the second who succeded his grādfather king Edward the third which Richard had diuerse worthie and noble vncles who neither for lacke of knowledge coulde be ignorant of the right neither for lacke of frendes courage and power be enforced to forbeare to chalenge their title and interest yet should he haue had some countenance of reason and probabilitie bicause many arguments and the authoritie of many learned and notable Ciuilians doo concurre for the vncles right before the Nephewe But to make the place of the natiuitie of an inheritour to a kingdom a sufficiēt barre against the right of his blood it seemeth to haue but a weake and slender holde and grounde And in our case it is a most vnsure and false ground seeing it is moste true that King Richard the first as we haue said declared the said Arthur borne in Britanie and not son of a King but his brother Geffreys sonne Duke of Britanie heire apparent his vncle Iohn yet liuing And for such a one is he taken in al our stories And for such a one did all the worlde take him after the said King Richard his death neither was King Iohn taken for other then for an vsurper by excluding him and afterward for a murtherer for imprisoning him and priuily making him away For the which facte the French King seased vpon al the goodly Coūtries in France belonging to the King of England as forfeited to him being the chiefe Lorde By this outragious deede of King Iohn we lost Normandie withall and our possibilitie to the inheritance of all Britanie the right and Title to the said Britanie being dewe to the said Arthur and his heires by the right of his mother Constance And though the said king Iohn by the practise and ambition of Quene Elenour his mother and by the special procurement of Huberte then Archebishop of Caunterburie and of some other factious persons in Englād preuēted the said Arthur his nephew as it was easy for him to do hauing gotten into his handes al his brother Richardes treasure by sides many other rentes then in England and the said Arthur being an infante
only Of the like weight is his other coÌ„sideration imaginiÌ„g and surmising this statute to be made bicause the King had so many occasioÌ„s to be so oft ouer the sea with his spouse the Queene As though diuers Kings before him vsed not often to passe ouer the seas As though this were a personal statute made of special purpose and not to be takeÌ„ as a declaratioÌ„ of the coÌ„mon law Which to say is most directly repugnant and contrary to the letter of the said statute Or as though his children also did not very often repaire to outward Countries as Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster that maried Peters the King of Castiles eldest daughter by whose right he claimed the Croune of Castile as his brother EdmuÌ„d Erle of Cambridge that maried the yongest daughter as Lionell Duke of Claraunce that maried at Milaine ViolaÌ„t daughter and heir to Galeatius Duke of Milan But especially Prince Edwarde whiche moste victoriously toke in battaile Iohn the French King and brought him into England his prisoner to the great triumphe and reioysing of the Realme whose eldest sonne Edward that died in short time after was borne beyond the seas in Gascome and his other sonne Richard that succeded his grandfather was borne at Burdeaux as these noble King Edwardes sonnes maried with forainers so did they geue out their daughters in mariage to foraine Princes as the Duke of Lancaster his daughter Philippe to the king of Portingale and his daughter Catherin to the King of Spaine and his Neece Iohan daughter to his sonne Earle of Somerset was ioyned in mariage to the King of Scottes Iohan daughter to his brother Thomas of Wodstocke Duke of Gloucester was Queene of Spaine and his other daughter Marie Duchesse of Britannie Now by this mans interpretation none of the issue of al these noble Women could haue enioyed the Croune of England when it had fallen to them though they had bene of the neerest roial blood after the death of their Auncestours Which surely had bene against the auncient presidentes and examples that we haue declared and against the common Lawe the whiche muste not be thought by this Statute any thing taken away but only declared and against al good reason also For as we would haue thought this Realme greatly iniured if it had ben defrauded of Spaine or any of the foresaid couÌ„treies being deuolued to the same by the foresaid Mariages as we thincke our self at this day iniured for the withholding of France so the issue of the foresaide noble womeÌ„ might and would haue thought them hardly and iniuriously handled yf any such case had happened Neither suche friuolous interpretation and gloses as this man nowe frameth and maketh vppon the statute woulde then haue serued nor nowe wil serue But of all other his friuolous and folish ghessing vpon the clause of the statute for Infantes de Roy there is one most fond of al. For he would make vs beleue such is the mans skil that this statute touching Infantes de Roy was made for the great doubte more in them then in other personnes touching their inheritance to their Auncestours For being then a Maxime saieth he in the lawe that none could inherite to his Auncestours being not of father and mother vnder the obedience of the King seing the King him selfe could not be vnder obedience it plainely seemed that the Kinges children were of farre worse condition then others and quite excluded And therefore he saith that this statute was not to geue them any other priuilege but to make them equall with other And that therefore this statute touching the Kinges children is rather in the superficial parte of the worde then in effecte Nowe among other thinges he saieth as we haue shewed before that this word Infantes de Roy in this statute mentioned must be taken for the children of the first degree whiche he seemeth to proue by a note taken out of M. Rastal But to this we answer that this maÌ„ swetely dreamed when he imagined this fonde and fantasticall exposition And that he shewed him selfe a very infante in law and reason For this was no Maxime or at lest not so certaine before the making of this statute whiche geueth no new right to the Kinges children nor answereth any doubt touching them and their inheritance but saith that the law of the Croune of England is and alwaies hath bene which lawe saith the King say the Lordes say the Commons we allowe and affirme for euer that the Kinges children shal be hable to inherite the Landes of their Auncesters whereâ—oeuer they be borne Al the doubt was for other persons as appeareth euideÌ„tly by the tenour of the statute whether by the coÌ„mon law they being borne out of the allegeance were heritable to their Auncestours And it appeareth that th' Aduersary is driueÌ„ to the hard wal when he is faine to catch hold vpon a selie poore marginal note of M. Rastal of the Kinges childreÌ„ and not of the Kings childrens children Which yet nothing at al serueth his purpose touching this statute But he or the Printer or who so euer he be as he draweth out of the text many other notes of the matter therin coÌ„prised so vpoÌ„ these FreÌ„ch wordes Les enfants de Roy he noteth in the MargeÌ„t The Kings childreÌ„ but how far that word reacheth he saieth neither more nor lesse Neither it is any thing preiudicial to the said Queenes right or Title whether the said wordes Infants ought to be takeÌ„ strictly for the first degree or farther enlarged For if this statute toucheth only the succession of the Kings children to their Auncestours for other inheritaÌ„ce and not for the Cround as most men take it and as it may be as we haue said very wel takeÌ„ and allowed then doth this supposed Maxime of forain borne that seemeth to be gathered out of this statute nothing anoy or hinder the Queene of Scotlandes Title to the Croune as not therto apperteining On the other side if by the inheritance of the kings childreÌ„ the Croune also is meant yet neither may we enforce the rule of foraine borne vpoÌ„ the kings children which are by theâ—presse wordes of the statute excepted neither enforce the word Inâ—â—â—s to the first degree only for such reasons presidents and examples and other prouffes largely by vs before set forth to the coÌ„trarie seing that the right of the Croune falling vpoÌ„ them they may wel be called the kings ChildreÌ„ or at the lest the childreÌ„ of the Croune Ther is also one other cause why though this statute reach to the Croune and may and ought to be expouÌ„ded of the same the said Queene is out of the reach and coÌ„passe of the said statute For the said statute can not be vnderstanded of any persons borne in Scotlande or Wales but onely of persons borne beyond the sea out of the allegeance of the King of England that is to wrtte France Flandres and such like For England
betwene his sonne Edward and the said Lady and Quene Surely he was to wise of him selfe and was furnished with to wise CouÌ„sailours to take such an homely way to procure and purchase the said mariage by And least of all can we say he attempted that dishonorable disherision for any special inclination or fauour he bare to the French Queene his sisters children For there haue bene of his neere and priuie Counfaile that haue reported that the King neuer had any great liking of the mariage of his sister with the Duke of Suffolke who maried her first priuily in France and afterward openly in England And as it is said had his pardon for the said priuy mariage in writing Howe so euer this matter goeth certeine it is that if this pretensed Wil be true he transferreed and traÌ„sposed the reuersion of the Croune not only from the Queene of ScotlaÌ„d from my Ladie Leneux and their issue but euen from my Ladie Francis and my Ladie Elenour also daughters to the Frenche Queene whiche is a ching in a manner incredible and therefore nothing likely I must now gentle Reader put thee in remeÌ„brance of two other most pregnaÌ„t and notable coniectures and presumptions For among al other incoÌ„ueniences and absurdities that do and may accoÌ„panie this rash and vnaduised acte by this preteÌ„sed Wil inconsiderately mainteined it is principally to be noted that this Acte geueth appareÌ„t and iust occasion of perpetual disherison of the Style and Title of FraÌ„ce incorporated and vnited to the Croune of this Realme For whereby do or haue the Frenchmen hitherto excluded the Kings of this Realme claiming the Croune of France by the Title of Edward the third falling vpon him by the right of his mother other then by a politike and ciuil law of their owne that barreth the female from the right of the Croune And what doth this preteÌ„sed Act of king Henrie but iustifie and strengthen their quarel and ouerthoweth the foundatioÌ„ and bulworke wherby we mainteme our foresaid Title and claime If we may by our municipal law exclude the said Queene of Scotland being called to the Croune by the Title of general heritage then is their municipal law likewise good and effectual and coÌ„sequently we 〈◊〉 and haue made al this while an vniust and wrongful claime to the Croune of France But now to go somewhat farther in the matter or rather to come neerer home and to the quicke of the matter we say as there was some apparent and good cause why the king should the twentie and eight yeare of his reigne thinke vpon some limitation and appointement of the Croune king Edward as yet vnborne so after he was borne and that the Title and interest of the reuersion of the Croune after him was the thirtie and fifte yeare by Parlament confirmed to the late Queene Marie and her sister Elizabeth it is not to be thought that he would afterward ieoparde so great a matter by a Testament and Wil which may easely be altered and counterfeyted And least of al make such assignation of the Croune as is nowe pretended For being a Prince of such wisdome and experience he could not be ignorant that this was the next and rediest way to put the state at least of both his daughters to great peril and vtter disherison For the Kinges exaÌ„ple and boldnes in interrupting and cutting away so many branches of the neerest side and line might sone breede in aspiring and ambitious hartes a bolde and wicked attempte the way being so farre brought in and prepared to their handes by the King him selfe and their natures so readie and prone to follow euil presidents and to clime high by some colourable meanes or other to spoile and depriue the said daughters of their right of the Croune that should descend and fal vpon them and to conuey the same to the heires of the said Ladie Francis. And did not I pray you this drift and deuise fal out euen so tending to the vtter exclusioÌ„ of the late Queene Marie and her Sister Elizabeth if God had not of his mercy most gratiously and wonderfully repressed and ouerthroweÌ„ the same These reasons then and presumptions may seme wel able and sufficient to beare doune to breake doune and ouerthrow the weake and slender presumptions of th' Aduersaries grounded vpon vncertaine and mere surmises ghesses and coniectures as among other that the King was offended with the Quene of Scotland and with the Ladie Leneux Which is not true And as for the Ladie Leneux it hath no manner of probabilitie as it hath not in dede in the said Queene And if it had yet it is as probable and much more probable that the King would haue especially at that time for such cause as we haue declared suppressed the same displeasure Graunting now that there were some such displeasure was it honorable either for the King or the Realm or was it thinke ye euer thought by the Parlament that the King should disherite them for euery light displeasure And if as the Aduersaries confesse the king had no cause to be offended with the FreÌ„ch Quenes childreÌ„ why did he disherite the Ladie FraÌ„cis and the Ladie Elenor also Their other presumption whiche they ground vpoÌ„ the auoyding of the vncertenty of the succession by reason of his Wil is of smal force and rather turneth against them For it is so farre of that by this meanes the succession is made more certaine and sure that contrarywise it is subiecte to more vncerteintie and to lesse suertie then before For whereas before the right and claime to the Croune hong vppon an ordinarie and certaine course of the common lawe vpon the certaine and assured right of the royall and vnspotted blood yea vppon the very lawe of nature whereby many inconueniences manie troubles daungers and seditions are in al Countries politikely auoided so now depending vpon the statute onely it is as easie by an other statute to be intringed and ouerthrowen And depending vppon a Testament is subiect to many corruptions sinister dealinges cauillations yea and iust ouerthrowes by the dishabilitie of the Testatours witnesses or the Legatorie himselfe or for lacke of dewe order to be obserued or by the death of the Witnesses vnexamined and for many other like considerations The Monumentes of al antiquitie the memorie of al ages and of our owne age and dayly experience can tel and shewe vs many lamentable examples of many a good and lawful Testament by vndue and craftie meanes by false and suborned witnesses by the couetous bearing and main tenance of such as be in authoritie quite vndone and ouerthrowne Wherefore Valerius Maxtmus crieth out against M. Crassus and Q. Hortensiu Lumina â—uriae ornamenta Fori quod scelus vindicare debebant inhonesti lucri captura inuitati authoritatibus suis texerunt This presumption then of the Aduersaries rather maketh for vs and ministreth to vs good occasion to thinke that the King would not hasard
CONCERNING THE DEFENCE OF THE HONOVR OF THE RIGHT HIGH MIGHTIE AND NOBLE PRINcesse Marie Queene of Scotland and Douager of France with a Declaration as wel of her Right Title and Interest to the Succession of the Croune of England as that the Regiment of women is conformable to the lawe of God and Nature Made by Morgan Philippes Bachelar of Diuinitie An. 1570. LEODII Apud Gualterum Morberium 1571. A DEFENCE OF THE HONOVR OF THE RIGHT HIGH RIGHT MIGHTIE and Noble Princesse Marie Queene of Scotlande and Douager of France The First Booke IT were to be wished that as God and nature haue most decently ordinately and prouidentely furnished and adorned manne with two eies two eares and but with one mouth and one tongue wonderfully bridled and kept in with the lippes and the teeth so men would consider the cause of it and the great prouidence of God therein and after due coÌ„sideration vse them selues accordingly Then should we sone learne and practise a good lesson to heare and see many thinges and yet not to runne headlong nor rudely and rashly to talke of al we heare and see but to talke within a compasse and to referre al our talke to a temperance and sobrietie and to a knowen tried trueth especially where the said talke may sound to the blemishing and disgracing of any mans good name and estimation But now a daies the more pitie there is nothing almost but that as sone as it is perceaued by the eye or the eare must furthwith be lasshed out againe by the mouth suche a superfluous and curious itching we haue dissolutely and vnaduisely to talke of al matters though they tende to the great hinderance and infamie of many of our bretherne and though we be nothing assured of the certaine trewth of the matter yea without respecte to priuate or publique persons Of such vnbrideled talke no man or woman in our daies hath as I suppose more iuste cause to complaine then the right Excellent Princesse Ladie Marie Queene of Scotland whose honour many haue gone about to blotte and deface in charging her moste falsly and vniustly with the death of her late husbande the Lorde Darley For the defence and mainteining of whose innocencie in this behalfe we intend to lay forth before the gentle Reader the most chief and principal reasons grouÌ„ds and arguments whervpon the Patrones the Inuentors and workers of al these mischieuouse and diuelish driftes grounded themselues and all their outragious doomges And then consequently to infringe and repulse the same For to rehearse answere to and repell all their assertions and obiections it would require a very long tediouse and a superfluouse Discourse in as muche as these iolie gaie oratours measuring their dooinges more by number of false obiections then by true substantial and pitthy matter to make a goodly florish and a trim shewe to face out and countenance their craftie Iuglinges and to couer their disordered dealings therewithal haue raked vp and heaped together one vpon another against their good Maistres and Souereigne Queene no smal number of slanderous Articles But in al this rablement in al this raking and racking what thing els do they but vtter and disclose their owne spiteful malice and malicious spite to the discrediting of their cause and them selues also Euen as the accusers of Aristophanes among the Athenienses did by whome he being ninetie and fiue times greeuously accused was yet euery time by the Iudges cleared and found guiltlesse as I do no whit doubt but that this good innoceÌ„t Ladie wil be by the verdit and sentence of al indifferent men ridde and vnburdened in like maner of al maner of suspicion that these reprocheful men woulde by their malice and ambition bring her into by thier willes with al the worlde For as goodly and as greate a muster as they make two partes of their slaunderous accusation are manifest false and opeÌ„ vntruethes and foule forged lies The residue thereof though in some part they beare trueth and be nothing preiudicial to the Queene in this matter yet they are ful calumniously and meruelous maliciously depraued drawen and wrested to the worst The effect and drifte of the whole tendeth to this that first they would we should beleeue that after her mariage her minde was as it were alienated from her husband Secondly they pretende certaine letters that they surmise and would haue to haue bene written by her Grace wherby they seeke to inferre against her many a presumption as their wily braines imagine But the moste weighty of them al seemeth to them to be her pretensed Mariage whereof we wil lastly entreate And yet though they haue done their worste though they haue cast out al their spite and malice against her they neuer haue bene able by any direct and lawful meanes to prooue any thing at al wherby they may staine her Graces honour in any one of the foresaid points Had they brought forth any such necessarily concluding illation we had not atteÌ„pted this Defence in her behalfe but would haue yelded and geuen place to an open knowen trewth But seeing that the best matter they haue to supporte their doings withal is nothing else but presumptions and surmises which yet are not of the surest and moste probable forte neither suche as are presumptions Iuris de Iureâ— contra quas non admittitur probatio seeing also that we ought alwaies in criminal causes chiefly when a Prince is touched who is Gods annointed to be more procliue and prone to fauour then to hatred to be readier to absolue and release then to deteine and condemne and that it is farre better and a more sure and more indifferent and vpright way to saue the guilties life then to condeÌ„ne and cast away the innoceÌ„t I trust and am in an assured hope that al the indifferent Readers hereof this being the cause and woful aduersity of a PriÌ„ce wheras the like estate of Princes ought and is wont to moue and sturre al honest harted men to commiseration and pitie and to do their indeuour to the redresse and reformation of suche wrong and oppression done wil with indifferencie and without all partialitie weigh and coÌ„sider the allegatioÌ„s of the one and the other side and iudge of the matter as it falleth out accordingly Which is the very thing we most desire And seeing the Aduersaries throughout al their cause wander by ghesses and vncertaine presumptions let vs also as I may say abuse a litle parte of our Defence What â—y I abuse perchance truely if we had no better or they any good matter at al nay rather vse them accordingly for the more ample and better trial and iustification of our cause We as ke theÌ„ then why the better and the stronger presumptions should not frustrate auoide and set backe the weaker and the worse This sexe naturally abhorreth such butcherly practises Surely rare it is to heare such foule practises in women And may we find in our harts
sufficiently serue him for the aduauncement of his coÌ„mendation and praise and for the significatioÌ„ of his fine politike head and inuentioÌ„ I meane for that before his departure out of Scotland into France with his Matchiauels practises he had so conningly coÌ„triued the whole matter with his faction that they should procure not only the Earle Bothwel to be acquited of the murther but for his good seruice to be rewarded with the Quenes espousalles intending by this mischieuous policie the vtter vndoing and ouerthrow aswel of him the Earle Bothwel as of the Q. her self also There neuer lacked good wil in them aâ— it wel appeareth by their vngratious doing to haue long before ouerthrowen their faâ—â— Maistresse but there euer lacked apparent matter to blinde mens eyes withal and to make her odiouse with the people Now these wily men wel knew that if they mighâ— once compasse and bring this mariage to passe with the Earle whome they intended then as fast to blase abrode for the murther by him committed as they did suppresse the same before from their good Ladie and Queene vntil they had brought her to the baite it would seeme very probable not only to the eyes and iudgemeÌ„t of the rude and coÌ„mon people but also of many sage graue wise and learned men that she was priuie oâ— her husbands death Whereby they might pretende one execrable acte against her that al men would detest and abhorre to colour and cloke their rebellious treacheries Lucifer him self could not haue fetched a finer and a more mischieuous and diuelish fetche then herein these men haue done As for the Earle Murraies absence it doth nothing releaue or excuse him yea it is â—ingulerly to be noted and marked that his â—ery iourneyes lacke not their fine fetches â—o serue his turne Through his first iorney â—nto France he wan and purchased the high â—ue and fauour of his benigne Maistresse â—e returneth out of England at the very point seruing two turnes at once by th' one thereof to circumuent his good innocent â—adie thinkiÌ„g to make her beleue by reason of his absenc ethat he was farre from the societie of that conspiracie by the other to â—ssist the better with his presence the conâ—ederates and sodenly to ioyne with them as he did I graunt that he was absent bodyly at the facte doing but yet nothing was done the whiche was not by his counsel or agrement concluded The which his deuise was so horrible that it caused the murther of his Souereignes Secretarie her imprisonment by her owne husbande that the Queene being greate with childe was put in suche a feare as might haue tended to the present danger of her life and of her childe Yea the very scope of this diuelish drift was euen to haue ouerthroweÌ„ him also whome they made their vnhappie and vnlucky instrument to ouerthrowe and depose his owne louing wife and moste dread Souereigne These mysteries ful stuffed with such mischieuous purposes lo wrought this Earle in this time of his absence Now it is to be considered that about sixtene houres before the Lorde Darley was slayne the better to colour the matter he departed from the court About twoo monethes after he toke his iourney into France leauing the Earle Bothwel as his most entier and trusty frinde recommending al his causes and affaires to him before al other At his second returne from France he intrudeth himselfe into the Scepter Roial vnder the name and shadowe of the yonge Prince The which thing was so imagined inuented and deuised long ere that he departed and in his absence by his trustie frinds remaining in Scotland accordingly accomplished and executed The Queene was afterward apprehended and cast into prison at LochleueÌ„ where his mother and brother dwelleth vnto the which Fortresse she should haue ben sent as we haue said at the first coÌ„spiracie of the said Murray if their malitious mind and intent had not ben disapointed by the prouidence of God. Now what searche when and after what sorte it was made for the said Earle Bothwel we haue already declared If ye alleage farther and say that no man can denie but that the said Earle Murray made also long diligent and narrow search for the murtherers and did seuerely punish them to this we replie and say that he needed not to trauaile muche or farre for the sewing out of this matter For he might at al times haue found the heades of the conspiratours vpon the Earle Murtons and his owne shoulders We say farther that as it is a strange and new kind of deuotion in the Earle Murray so to quarel for lacke of soleÌ„nitie at the burial of him for whose said burial he longed and loked for so long so we say likewise that it seemeth wonderful to loue him so tenderly being deceased and dead whome he so depely hated liuing And to seke so seriously and seuerely to punish the murtherers of him whome he would so oft haue murthered him selfe This geare seemeth to vs poore simple and slender witted men vnlikely incredible and halfe repugnant to nature And whatsoeuer the cause be we be of that minde that it is not likely to procede of any feruent zeale or greate affection he beareth to the partie or to the execution of Iustice Ye are good Reader desirous peraduenture to learne what other cause there might be of so strange dealing Wel as strange as it is we lacke not examples of the like craftie and subtile policie as well in holy Scripture and in the monumentes of Antiquitie of diuers other Countries as of Englande and especially of Scotlande it selfe We finde then in Holy Scripture that there was one Onias at Hierusalem the High Priest a man of singuler vertue and perfection and one that meruelousely tendered Gods honour and the honour and wealth of his Countrey There was also at the same time one Simon a very euil disposed and wicked creature whiche went about certaine naughty and wicked deuises But seeing that he could not atchiue his mischieuous purpose by reason this blessed man Onias stayed stopped and preuented him he practiseth this wicked deuise He causeth Kinge Seleucus to be infourâ—ed of the great and inestimable treasure remaining and reposed in the Temple at Hierusalem Wherevpon the King sent Heliodorus to fetch away by force the said treasure But afterward when this purpose chaunted to be frustrated and voide by reason that this Heliodorus being wonderfully plagued of God was constreined to forbeare and relinquish this enterprise and the people also wonderfully offended and in a great rage to see such a heinous sacrilege attempted what doth now thinke ye this good and honest man Simon Surely he plaieth the same parte that the Earle Murray hath played with his most gratious Queene opeÌ„ly charging the good innocent Onias with his owne shamefull acte and saying that he solicited and incensed the King to robbe and spoile the Temple We find in the Chronicles of our Realme that albe
princeâ— qualities resplendent in her with maâ— whereof she is much adorned and singuleâ—ly endued that they haue in most earneâ— wise solicited and entreated that she mighâ— be restored againe to her honour anâ— Croune They haue moued the said Quenâ— of Scotland also that it may please her to accept and like of the most noblest man of all England betwene whome and her there might be a mariage concluded to the quieting and comforte of both the Realmes of England and Scotland Finally the noblemen of this our Realme acknowledge and accept her for the very true and right heire apparent of this Realm of England being fully minded and alwaies ready when God shal so dispose to receaue and serue her as their vndoubted Queene Maistresse and Souereigne whereby it may easely appeare howe wel they like of her cause that had the hearing and trial of the same although they neuer as yet came in her presence These things now and many other which for the eschuing of prolixitie we forbeare to enlarge our Treatise with may be alleaged for the defence of the Queenes integritie and for the vprightnes of her cause the whiche I would wishe you the Earles Murray and Murton with your allied confederats before al other most depely and bytimes to weigh and consider accordingly as thâ— weight and greatnes of the cause as your owne safety with the welth and honor of your owne natiue Countrey do require I am not ignorant that the matter is gone very farre with you and that many impedimentes doe concurre to withdraw you to seeke that remedy for reformation of things past which is the best and the only remedy But surely when ye haue fully weighed al thinges on euery side accordingly ye shall finde no sure and sound remedie but in making a true a sincere and an vnfained huÌ„ble submission to your gratious Queene whom ye haue so greeuously offended and molested Let not the greatnes or number of your treasons wrought against both your Quene and CouÌ„trey let not any vaine false imagined opinioÌ„ either of the shame of the world or of your vtter ouerthrowe by reason of suche fond presumption of your present high estate of your great power force and strength let no vaine expectation of external succours stay or stop you from so necessarie a duetie and so commendable before God and the worlde Ye best knowe that among al the Princely ornamentes and vertues of your Queene her mercy and clemeÌ„cy are singuler and peerlesse She seemeth well to haue learned that lesson of the Gospel If thy brother doe offend thee forgeue him not onely seauen times but seanenty times seauen times She will not onely forgeue but forget also She neither is ignorant in what state her Realme standeth in nor that extreme seueritie from the which she naturally abhorreth is not of al other times now against suche as wil imbrace mercie offered to them to be shewed and practised She wil rather like the lawe of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obliuion and forgetfulnes so much of the Writers commended The great benefite wherof ye haue so often and so abundantly receaued at her handes And therfore ye neede the lesse to feare the discontinuance of your high and honourable estate and condition As for shame it standeth in the euil doing it self and not in the amending and reforming of il deedes which amendement and reformation if ye earnestly and truely mind it wil be to the great contentation of your most gratious Queene and of al her louing subiects And in so doing you shal both highly auaunce your honourable estate and estimation and make her a good amends for that which is past and can not be reuoked But on the other side if ye geue ouer and refuse this occasion now present and go forward with your rebellious enterprises and attempts minding to abide and trie the vttermoste ye must wilfully cut away and exclude from your selfe al good hope of mercie and pardoÌ„ and take a wrong way for your owne saftie and preseruation For your cause is naught and so ye well know it to be And therfore can ye not loke to haue and obteine a good prosperous successe and ende thereof Wel ye may as hitherto ye haue done tosse turmoile and tumble al thinges vpside dounewards for a while but be ye assured that Gods hande wil fal and light the heuier and with a greater paise vpon you at the length therefore It is easy to be seen by the course of all times aswel by your owne very Stories at home as by the Chronicles of all other Nations abrode to what ende commonly such seditious conspiracies and treasons do come to that is to the vtter ouerthrow and confusion for euer of those persons that worke attempt practise and mainteine the same They seeme for a while to beare great sway and al the world for a while to runne with them but in the ende they faile and are cleane geuen ouer What meruaile were it if a house should not long continue that is builded but vpon a yelding sandy grounde Ye haue builded and founded al your doinges vpon vntrue and lying slauÌ„ders and treacherous treasons against your dread Souereigne The sincere veritie whereof we haue herein truely declared The which being once throughly detected and euidently knowen to such as ye haue in Scotland craftily abused and shamefully circumuented as surely it daily bursteth out more and more ye shal see your selues sodenly leaft naked and quite forsaken euen of those who haue bene your greatest assisters aiders and furtherers For as the old prouerbe is Trueth is the daughter of time And as ye shal be leaft alone at home so can ye not looke for maintenance and vpbearing of foraine Prinâ—es They wil not defile them selues and their honourable vocation with helping so foule a cause and so dangerous and perilous a matter that may tende to the molestation and hurt not only of their owne state but of the states of all Kinges Christened Nay ye must rather thinke that otheâ— Princes wil iudge and take it to touch theâ— to nigh to suffer such a vilanie to passe anâ— escape vnreuenged and so good a Ladie tâ— be left destitute and desolate The Emperouâ— wil not beare it France wil not beare iâ— Spaine wil not beare it And especially England with her worthy Nobilitie wil noâ— beare or suffer such outragious dealinges against their next louiÌ„g neighbour yea againâ—â— the heire appareÌ„t of this most noble Realmeâ— albe it that ye with your surmised lyes the better to mainteine your vsurped and new erected Kingdome put others in feare oâ— their owne state in case the said innocent Queene should be restored to her Croune againe FINIS the teares of an english hart And his soden arryuall here with all the maner and circumstances thereof would yeelde nevve argumeÌ„ts of an other much loÌ„ger discourse For first his coÌ„ming hither as it vver in a maske bewraies a strange melancholik
nature in himself who delights to make all his iourneis in such sullē solitary sort therfore belike an ill companion to liue withall in any felovvship Then yt shewes his extreeme want of abilitie to defray the expence of woeng in a bountiful shew sitting such a prince as cōmeth to obtein out Queen This his secrete comming departing discouers a mistrustfulnes in him towards our people and therefore no loue which must needs come frō his own ill consci ence of fearing french measure in England for on our part the Lord be thanked we haue not committed such villenies all men deeme him vnworthy to speed who comes in a net as though he were loath to auow his errand Some men may think he is ashamed to shevv his face but I think verely that he meanes not sincerely who loues not light wil not com abroade The last noble princely gentlemā that went out of Englād to vvin a Queen in france gaue trial shew of vvisdome manhod behauiour and personage by open cōuersatiō performing al maner of knightly excercises which makes vs in England to find very strange this vnmanlike vnprincelike secrete fearful suspitious disdainful needy french kind of woeng in Monsieur we can not chuse but by the same stil as by all the other former demonstratife remonstrāces conclude that thys french mariage is the streightest line that can be dravvne frō Rome to the vtter ruine of our church the very rightest perpendicular downfal that can be imagined frō the point france to our English state fetching in vvithin one circle of lamentable fall the royal estate of our noble Queen of hir person nobility and commons vvhose Christian honorable healthful ioyful peaceful and long souereigne raigne without all superior ouerruling commander especially french namely Monsieur the king of kings hold on to his glory and hyr assurance of true glory in that other kingdom of heauen Amen Amen Amen A TREATISE TOVCHING THE RIGHT TITLE AND INTEREST OF the mightie and noble Princesse Marie Queene of Scotland to the succession of the Croune of England Made by Morgan Philippes Bachelar of Diuinitie assisted vvith the aduise of Antonie Broune Knight one of the Iustices of the Common Place An. 1567. LEODII Apud Gualterum Morberium 1571. A TREATISE TOVCHING THE RIGHT TITLE AND INTEREST OF the mightie and noble Princesse Marie Queene of Scotland to the succession of the Croune of England The Second Booke THE great prouidence good Reader of the eternal God who of nothing created all thinges did not only create the same by his ineffable power but by the same power gaue a special gifte and grace also to euery liuing thing to continue to renewe and to preserue eche his owne kinde But in this consideration the condition of man among and aboue al earthly thinges hath his pearelesse prerogatiue of wit and reason wherewith he only is of God gratiously endewed and adorned by the which he doth prouide not only for his presente necessitie and sauegard as do also naturally after their sorte al beastes and al other liuing thinges voide of reason but also by the pregnancie of wit and reasonable discourse doth long afore forsee the dangerous perils that many yeres after may happen either to himself or to his Countrey and then by diligence and careful prouision doth inuent apte and mete remedies for the eschewing of suche mischieffes as might outragiously afterwarde occurre And the greater the feare is of greater mischief the greater the deper and the speedier care is wont to be taken to preuent and cut of the the same It is also most certaine by the confession of al the world that this care is principally dew by eche man that hath opportunitie to do good therin to his Prince his Countrey and to the common Weale and good quiet of the Countrey for the continuance and happie preseruation of the same To the preseruation whereof as there are many partes and branches belonging so one principal part is for Subiectes louingly and reuerently to honour dreade and obediently to serue their Souereigne that chaunceth presently to rule and gouerne The next to foreknow to whome they should beare their allegeance after the deceasse of their foresaid Prince and Gouernour Which being once certaine and assuredly knowen as it procureth when the time requireth readie and seruiceable obedience with the great comfort and vniuersal reast and quietnes of the Subiectes so where for the said Successour there is among them discord and diuersitie of iudgementes the matter groweth to faction and from faction to plaine hostilitie and from hostilitie to the daunger of many mens liues and many times to the vtter subuersion of the whole state For the better auoiding of suche and the like inconueniences albeit at the beginninge Princes reigned not by descente of blood and succession but by choyce and election of the worthieste the worlde was for the moste parte constrained to repudiate election and so often times for the better and the worthier to take a certain issue and ofspringe of some one onely persone though otherwise perchaunce not so mete Which defecte is so supplied partely by the great benefit of the vniuersal rest and quietnes that the people enioy thereby and partly by the graue and sage Counsaylours to Princes that the whole worlde in a manner these many thousand yeares hath embraced succession by blood rather then election And politike Princes whiche haue had no children of their owne to succede them haue had euer a special care and foresight thereof for auoiding of ciuil discention So that the people might alwaies knowe the true and certaine Heire apparent chiefly where there appeared any likelyhod of varietie of opinions or faction to ensewe about the true and lawful succession in gouernement This care and foresight doth manifestly appeare to haue bene not onely in many Princes of foraine Countreies but also of this Realme as wel before the tyme of the Conqueste as also after namely in Kinge Edwarde the Confessour in declaring and appointing Eadgare Atheling his nephewes sonne his heire as also in King Richard the first who before he interprised his Iourney to Hierusalem where for his chiualrie he atchiued high honour declared by consent of his Nobilitie and Cōmous Arthur sonne of his brother Duke of Britaine his next heire in succession of the Crowne Of the whiche Arthur as also of the said Eadgare Atheling we wil speake more hereafter This care also had King Richard the second what time by authoritie of Parlament he declared the Lorde Edmond Mortymer that maried Philippe dawghter and heire to his Vncle Leonel Duke of Clarence heire apparente And to descende to later times our late Noble Souereigne King Henry the eyght shewed as it is knowen his prudente and zealous care in this behalf before his last noble voiage into Fraunce And now if God should as we be al as wel Princes as others subiect to mortall chaunces once
Adrianus lib. 8. de gestis AlexaÌ„ mag Iustinus li. 1 Herod li. 1. Strab. li. 16 Womans regiment in Pandea a countrie in Iudea Queene Semiramis and Nitrochris Queene Thomiris Ioseph lib. 20. 21. Antiq. c. 2. Euseb lib. 2. cap. 12. Ruff lib. 2. Eccle. hist c. 6. Clemens Alex. lib. 1. stromat Iustinus lib. 1. Tacitus lib. 2. Queene â—rato Claudianus lib. 1. in Eutropium Womans Regiment in Aphrica Queene Dido Queene Cleopatra Queene Isis Strabo 12. â—â— Iustin 〈◊〉 18. â—â— Diodor. Sicul. lib c. 2. 〈◊〉 Damianueâ— Agoes de side moribus AEthiopuÌ„ Beda ca. 8 in Acta Apostolorum Euseb lib. 2 Ecclesiast cap. 1. Plinius li 6 c. 29. Strabo lib. 17. Act. Apostolor ca. 8. Dorotheus de uita obitu ProphetaruÌ„ Apostolorum Hieronym in cap. 52. Esaiae Hilar. in Psalm 61. Euseb lib. 2 cap. 1. Sabel Strabo lib. 16. â—hiopia 〈◊〉 first â—stiaâ—amoÌ„ 〈◊〉 other â—unâ—s But â—taine 〈◊〉 first â—oÌ„g the â—ounces Rome 3. Reg. 10. 2. Paral. 9. Math. 12. Luc. 11. Ioseph Iudaicar antiq lib. 8. cap. 12. Salomons ships fet ched gold from Cephalia Stobaeue 4â—2 ex Nicolao de moribue gentium Lueâ—n lib. 10. Womans regiment in Europa Queene Olimpias in Epyre. Olimpias in Macedonia Irene Theodora Eudocia Zonaras Tom. 3. Annalium â—nius lib. â— cap. 6. â—â—â—ca Womans regiment in Spaine Portingale Burgundie and Flanders Irmelgardis daughâ—er of Conrade Duke of Franconie Agnes vvife to Henry Duke of Saxony Agnes vvife to Henry the 3. Emperour Pau. Aemil. lib. 3. Car. lib. 3. Ful. de dict fact memor lib. 8. cap. 16. Crana NoÌ„ahs daughter Beros lib. 5 Liui. lib. 1. deÌ„c 1. AEneas Syl nius de Asia c. 20. Lauinia â—â—ene â—aples â—laâ—a â—ias lib. Regum â—an Chronie Palmerij Her. Contrac MuÌ„stuniuers Cosm lib. 4 AEneas Syluius in descript Asiae d. ca. 20. Hect. Boet. lib. 1. Histo Scoti uide la geneal des Rois dâ— France impre Paris 1561. in Carolo Magno â—omans â—giment 〈◊〉 Lorain â—d Manâ—a â—n the â—ingdoms of Svvetia Dania and Noruegia Boemia Hungaria Scotland England Martia Proba Helena moâ—her to ConstaÌ„tin the great Onuph de Rom Principib Euseb de uita Constantin lib. 1. Eccl. Voadicae In uita Agricolae Henry the second K. by his mothers right Vide Alligeneal cap. 1561. The FreÌ„ch make not vvomens Regiment vnnatural Adela K. Philippus mother aÌ„d Blanche the mother of S. Levvis See the prefaces of the said alliances The FreÌ„ch men hold great prin cipalities by the vvo maÌ„s right The conclusion against the Aduersaries touching the lavv of Nature Virgi li. 7. 〈◊〉 he vvife 〈◊〉 some â—ase may bâ—e head to her husband What absurditie follovveth by the streining this vvord ex fratrib ' Marc. ulti Psal. 1. et 4. L. Luci ' §. quaesituÌ„ ff de legat 3. ibi Barto Genes 13. L. 1. ff de uerborum signific L. Tresfra tres ff de pact l. Lucius faâ—ni Ercis Dict. l. Lucius §. Quaesitum Quaesitum est an quod baeredes fra tribus rogati â—ssent restituere etiam ad sorores per tinet RespoÌ„dit pertinere nist aliud sensisse testatorem probetur Leuit. 9. Deut. 23. Zacha. 7. Math. 18. 2. Thes 3. 1. Ioan. 2. Neither this vvord brother excludeth a sister nor this vvord King a Queene by any Scripture Melech Malcah Anno Mariae 1. c. 2. L fi ff de Legibus the Ievves neuer in terpreted this vvord after the sort as the aduersarie doth Alliances c. Paradinâ— Fulko and others kiÌ„gs of Hierusalem by their vviues right Ioseph lib. antiq Iud. 17. c. 13. Iose lib. 13. c. 19. 20 Egesip de excid Hiero l. 1. c. 12 the vviues of Ioannes Aristobulus and Alexander gouerned the Ievves Genes 2. 3. Women earned Clement Alexand. Stromat lib. 1. Plato in Mene. Socrates in Simposio Platon Albericus l. Qui filiuÌ„ Vbi pupit Hieron In Praefat. in Sopho. ad Panlum Eustoc Tripart lib. 11 c. 12. Diodor Sicul. lib. 1. 5. Illa Numae coniunx consiliuÌ„que fuit Ouid. 3. FastoruÌ„ Iustinian and other Princes consulted vvith their vviues in publike affaires Women the occasion that the Kings their husbandes vvere coÌ„uerted to the faith Theodelida Bertha Clothildis Iustinian Authen ut Iudic. sine quo qui suffrag in princip l. bene c. de praescript quadrieÌ„na Hero. Hal lic lib. 1. Tripart lib. 9. c. 31. Paulus Diacon de gestis Long. Beda lib. 1. Eccl. Hist Paulus Ae. mil. lib. 1. Plutarc in com Numae Lycurg in uita Aegidis August dâ— Ciuit. Dei lib. 18. c. 9. Plato and Aristotle do not vtterly reiecte vvomens gouerment Tacitus de moribus Germanor Plato Dialog 5. Repub Polit. lib. 2. c. 7. Debora vvas Gouernesse of the Ievves by Gods special appointmeÌ„t Iudic. 4. Homil. 4. in 4. cap. Iudic. Pollio Vâ—pistue in uita AureliaÌ„ Herod lib. 8. Iusti lib. 2. Iudic. 4. Ioseph antiq Iud lik 5. c. 6. The great victory of Debora The ceremonies that Kings of EnglaÌ„d vsed in their coronation Vide specu lum Histor Rich. Castrens lib. 3. cap. 3. One onely example in Scripture a sufficient president Iudith 19. It seemeth by the rules and vvordes of holie Scripture that a vvormaÌ„ may haue Ciuil gouernemeÌ„t The Q. of Scotland no stranger to EnglaÌ„d A great coÌ„moditie that shal come to England and Scotland by the vnion of them in case this Succession chaunce