whether he be suche a one or no and so without racking wresting and tormenting the deede maye be founde But in deede at these dayes it is growen to great corruptiō and that thorow one speciall meanes or two which be these If there be any noble man dwellinge in the countrey either a Duke a Marques an Earle or Baron The iuries and quests corrupted He shall lyghtlye haue in his retynewe all the cobbes in the countrey whiche be the questmōgers and if any matter be touchinge him his man or his frende whether it bee a cryme capitall or Nisi prius sent downe for landes the case shal wey as he wil. The freholders reteinours to great men For his deteynors must nedes haue an eye to my lorde though they should go to the deuill for it and so be some innocentes knyt vp and some offenders delyuered some titles of inheritaūce lost agaīst al iustice and right Another is if my lord wyll not offend the Statute of retynewe then must the hyghe Shrife be his frende And the vnder thefe vndershrise I should saye his man He empaneleth the quest either suche as dare not displease my lorde or for good will will not And so that way betwixt the highe these and vnderthese my L. and the curstmongers The corruption of the Sherifs poore mē are out weyed This corruption if it be not loked to wil not make this order whiche was the best that could be to be the wickedst that can be But as I sayde in it selfe me thinke it hath much more iustice equytie and indifferencie then the cyuill or rather cruel rack hath If I should peruse and compare all poyntes wherein ours differ from the cyuill and shewe that for our countrey it is muche meeter I should neuer make an ende VVherfore these shal be sufficient to shewe that you must brynge our owne weyghtes to weye our matters by and not straungers or els we must take you for an euell Clarke of the markett Therfore if you will iudge well of our municipall matters you muste let vs alone with our own coate and geue the great boye his Nowe I passe to certen inconueniences whiche are thought to come of womens rule The incōueniences that folovve vvo mens rule The first Many inconueniences do commonly followe the rule of women and their enheritinge of kyngdomes as the losse of holdes and auncient possessions as experience teacheth of late daies by the departing from Hams Guisnes and Calyce with all that we hadde in Fraunce besides the daungeringe of the realme to be gouerned by straūgers which thing of late was muche feared and not vnlyke to happen For the first it is to trewe that in that womās reigne Englande was put to a sore plunge through hir wylfulnes which wold moue warre when she might haue bene at peax vpon no iust cause but because as you wold haue her she wold shew her a louing worme and an obediente wife rather then a catefull gouernes That follye was accidente to her person England hath hitherto taken greater losse by mens rule then by vvomens and not proper to her sexe But admit it to be throughe the fault of a woman haue we not had as greate and greater by men who loste olde Brytaine to Iulius and the Romaines men Vvho loste it againe to the Saxons men Of whom wone it VVilliam conquerour of men who lost it to the Danes mē who lost Normandie Brytanie Gascoigne and Guine and al our right in Fraunce men who lost Bulloigne Bullenois and all the rest a man VVho killed the Scottish King when Henry 8. was in Fraunce a woman or at the least her army who brought in the light of gods worde into Englande a woman who lighteth now again the candle after it was put oute a woman whereby it is euident that we haue not yet so muche cause to complaine of losse by them as by men And in oure histories whiche we haue before cited wee maye see manye common welthes by women enlarged or at the leaste well preserued but fewe ey ther muche weakened or vtterlye destroyed Onles you tell me of the destruction of Troye which notwithstandinge was rather thorowe the follie of Paris then anye rule of Helena and as for thys losse we haue nowe I doubte not but as the olde fathers are wonte to saye that as by a woman came death so by a woman was broughte fourthe life In like manner as bi a womans whether negligence or misfortune I wote not we haue taken this woūd so bi anothers diligence and felicitie we shal haue it againe healed If euerye man coulde perswade him selfe of as good successe by her as I do my selfe I doubte not but the Frenche and the Scottes bothe shoulde haue theyr handes full I praye God oure vnthanckfulnes make vs not to fare the worse The .2 inconuenience The next and greatest incōuenience and daunger to be feared is that if a woman inherit the realm by mariage shall be transserred to straungers A greate matter I confesse if it so bee yet GOD maye do with his owne what he liste Scitote saith the Prophet quia deus est dominator in regno hominum et ipsius regnum est cuicunque vult dabit illud if he will translate it Ecclesi 10. who can let it Yea in another King Henries daies And some translation and ioigning of realmes maye turne to muche good and the wealth and tranquilitie of many As if we had had a Kinge for your Quene or you a King for oures it had bene a goodly translacion to haue vnited bothe realmes in dominion regiment and law as thei be in nature lāguage ād maners I suppose a great dele better for your coūtry thē as it is now thus to be matched yea subiected and slaued to the proudest vntruest and the mooste tirannicall nacion The heny yokes of the french vnder the sonne I except not the Spaniardes whose dominion the Italians in Millane Naples Scicilie and elsse where can muche better brouke and abide then the light and inconstant French Caesar in comment as Cesar calleth them If you and we had ioigned together it had made no great matter on which side the kinge had bene so he had bene religious I graunte if all thinges answer it is better ioignynge at home then chusing abrode As if he be no verye base or meane person if he loue and feare God if he be of the same religion The orna mentes of an honieborie ma. indued with good and commendable qualities of wisdome Iustice Manhode Temperaunce giftes of languages knowledge of Countries pitifull mercifull constaunte sobre no hearer of flatterers continent not prodigal but liberal no extorcioner c. Such a one if God shoulde lot any Quene were to be preserred to any abrode Onles all these myght be found in a straunger and therto iouned nobilitie and auncientnes of lynage and the nation beyng such as vse not to rule
or deface their title VVherfore though there be some faultes to be found in this Theodora and other yet proueth it not that thei may not reigne for it is a fallax ab accidente to say she was naught ergo she might not rule A fallax is a deceitful argument in Logike for that hangeth not vppon the rule that she was naught but vpoÌ„ the persone As if you should saye my L. lubber of London is a tyraunt ergo he is no by sshop I warrauÌ„t you though he graunted you the antecedent whiche he can hardly denie yet he would denye the consequent or els he would call for wylie VVatson to helpe him In FrauÌ„ce tyl of late yeares womeÌ„ enherited the crown as in Englande and Scotlande vntill that they ment by the lawe salique rather to defeate vs of our title then to condempne the successioÌ„ as vnlaufull as you may now see by the Frenche king He neither thynketh it vnlaufull or vnnaturall to be lorde of your coÌ„trie by that womans tytle I woulde you coulde perswade either him or your couÌ„trey men to thinke that the quenes title by cause she is a womaÌ„ is vnlaufull and so do your own countrey good first and let vs alone with ours And as you speede there you might ê‘chaunce encourage vs to follow when it may be done laufully Tully saith ne sis curiosê° in aliena rep Li. 1. off The voyce of a straunger is to be hard in the pulpit so long as he speaketh Gods worde But a straungers voyce is not alowed in foro in the parliament about pollycie by cause he is not a citezen This I saye not to philip you as though you ment euill to vs for I am perswaded that you loue England aswell as your own coÌ„trey but I meane to monish you that being a strauÌ„ger you disturbe not our state lest you giue occasion to them that know you not of suspicion It is a great enterprise and as they say no balle playe to pulle a quenes crowne of hir head and specially such a ones as many ages haue not sene nor many countreis enioyed or many histories recorded the lyke I would not be wounded in coÌ„science with any atteÌ„pte against hir if I might be lord of al that Philippe the french king haue VVel I must leaue hir for this tyme lest the remeÌ„braunce of hir vertues make me to forget my matter And that we may make an ende of our recompt of histories we wil go forward Munste Duke of Svveuia Henry Duke of Sueuia sonne of Fredericê° the first called Barbarossa maried the heire of Scicilia and so becaÌ„e king therof emperour of Rome CoÌ„radê° Palatinê° CoÌ„r Pala. left behinde him one only doughter Agnes whiche was Palatinesse and after being maried to Henry the duke of SaxoÌ„ made hiÌ„ Palsgraue who in like maner died and left a doughter called Gertrude palatinesse whoÌ„ Otto duke of Bauaria maried becaÌ„e palsgraue the same order of disceÌ„t successioÌ„ remaineth yet in the moste part of Thempire Here I myght nuÌ„ber a gret sort in Spain who succeded ruled in the realm But I shal be coÌ„tent with such as be of late memory as Ioanna the mother of Charles the fift IoaÌ„na the mother of Charies who reigned and gouerned the countrey not ill as the Stories report Mary the doughter of Charles called Bellator the warrier and wife to Maximilian Marie succeded hir father in the Duckdom of Burgundy and the couÌ„tie of Flaunders I let pas Mary Charles sister who ruled in Flanders in our tyme Tillius And Fraunces the freÌ„ch kinges mother who during the terme of her sonnes captiuitie in Spayne after he had daunsed his pauino at Pauia ruled the whole dominioÌ„ wherby the freÌ„ch though they will haue no heires females yet shewe that they condempne not the regiment of women Other there haue bene and that not a fewe whiche haue gouerned and enherited in diuers countreis of Christendome with muche commendacion As Amalasinta the mother of Athalaricus Tillius in Chronog Amalasinta when she sawe that the Frenche men coÌ„trary to all right would depriue hir sonne of Prouince whiche was his enheritaunce deliuered it vp to Theodoberto king of the Mediomatrices which kept it to thuse of hir sonne Thus was the mother constreyned by the purposed wrong of the subiects to seke remedy for hir sonnes right and was a better gouernes to him then he to him selfe An. 1552. Tillius Leonora doughter to the king of Aquitania was maryed to Henry Duke of Gaunte and in spite of the Frenche kyngs teethe brought hir husbande Aquitanie and Poiteaux Adela mother to the king of FrauÌ„ce was made Regent of the countrey in thabsence of her sonne while he was in the warre against the Sarazens and gouerned wel This hir soÌ„ne for his goodnesse and wisdome was called Philippus a deo datus sente of God and yet thoughte it not amisse to put his mother a wise woman in trust with the whole realme And according to his expectacioÌ„ he toke no hurt nor los by it Tillius 1227. In like maner Blanch mother vnto Ludouicê° for his vertue named Diuus holie was twise made regeÌ„t of Fraunce while he was away in the same warre And after his death she had the gouerning of her sonne and the realm It is like that if her gouernment had not ben good at the first the nobles and people wold haue bene lothe to haue had her again the second time Not longe after that time gouerned a woman in Flaunders named countesse Margarite An. domini 1247. Ioanna the nese of Diuus Ludouicus was Quene of Nauarre Tillius 1245. and marrying with Philip named Pulcher made him king of Nauarre by which meanes that countrey came to be vnder the Frenche Kinge And anno 1415. was a woman gouernesse and Quene of Naples called Ioanna Not only in Fraunce Italy Spaine and Germany but also in thempire haue women ruled whiche is more straunge Paul Emi li. Valer. Ansel because the Emperour is chosen by election and commeth not to it by enheritance As anno 1301. after the death of Henrye the thirde Hagne his wife for the honor named Augusta gouerned both her soÌ„ne in his nonage and thempire keping it in good order Bishops busye bodies in policies vntil the byshop of Colen as those men wil be busy in pollicies by certen conspiracies pulled the yonge Emperoure Henry the .4 from her after what time grewe much trouble in Th empyre Hereby we see that in no coÌ„mon wealth thei thought it a monstrous Reigne or against nature for a woman to gouern which error bringing our auncetors in the reign of SthepheÌ„ to be wicked periures caused theÌ„ ro conspire with the said vsurper to kepe Mathilda the daughter of Henry the first froÌ„ the title Poly. A. li. 19. right and crown of this realm but God not suffring such an extreme wronge so tossed him in warres both
Deuels blessinge The receiuing of the Popes absolutiō in the Parliament brought vnto them by satans Apostle the Cardinal God forgeue him for the doing and them for obeying But to what purpose is all this To declare that it is not in England so daungerous a matter to haue a woman ruler as men take it to be For first it is not she that ruleth but the lawes the executors whereof be her iudges appoynted bi her her iustices of peace and such other officers but she may erre in chusing such so may a Kinge and therfore they haue theyr counsel at their elbow which by trauail abrod know men howe fit or vnfit they be for suche offices 2. she maketh no statutes or lawes but the honerable court of Parliament she breaketh none but it must be she and they together or els not 3. If she shuld iudge in capitall crimes what daunger were there in her womannishe nature none at all For the veredict is the 12. mennes whiche passe vppon life and deathe and not hers Onlye this belongeth to her mynisterie that when they haue founde treason murdre or felonie she vtter the paine limited in the lawe for that kind of trespasse Yea but this she can not do because a womā is not learned in the lawes No more is your kinge and therefore haue they their ministers whiche can skill if they be cruell wicked handmakers and bribers it is their faulte and not the Princes onles he know them to be such and winke at it VVhat maye she doe alone wherein is pearill She maye graunte pardon to an offender that is her prerogatiue wherein if she erre it is a tollerable and pityfull error to saue life She maye mispende the reuenues ōf the crowne wantonlye so can kings do to VVhere mistreies be vvomens gouernment cannot be dangerus and cōmonlye do and yet may they be kings if on thother part the regiment were such as all hanged vppon the Kinges or Quenes wil and not vpon the lawes wrytē if she might decre and make lawes alone without her senate If she iudged offences accordinge to her wisdome and not by limitation of statutes and laws if she might dispose alone of war and peace if to be short she wer a mere monark and not a mixte ruler you might peraduētute make me to feare the matter the more and the les to defend the cause But the state being as it is or ought to be if men wer wurth theyr eares I can se no cause of feare nor good reason why Saint Paule forbiddinge her to preache shoulde be thoughte to forbidde her to rule nether Saint Chrisost Amb. li. q vet no. test hētr 33. q. ◠Amb. Theoph. or Primassius writinge vppon that place gather anye suche thinge as you strain out of it I knowe verye well that Ambrose saithe they maye not teache be witnesses nor iudge and Aug. in li. 2. gen et hab 23. q. s. Est ordo saith he It is a naturall order in men that the women shuld obey theyr husbandes and children their parents Saint Hierom thought them vnmete to iudge alone by their discretion Ergo to beare rule and conserre in pollitike matters with other Nay it is a fallax adicto secundum quid ad simpliciter for he forbiddeth them to iudge in a respect neither hauinge rule by enheritaunce nor iudging and conferring with other and you therfore gather that simplie they are forbidden Deborah iudged and that lawfully which cam not to it by enheritaunce but by extraordinarye callinge Muche more may she that to Gods callinge hathe ioygned thordinarie meanes of enheritaunce her commons consent Ansvvere to the fathers and confirmaciō of lawes To Saynt Austen and all the rest which wolde haue women in the subiection of their husbandes is to be answered as before that their meaning and speaking was of euery priuate woman in the bonds of mariage And not of those which God by birth hath called to the gouernments of realmes Neither is it to be thought that any of thold fathers wold be so iniurious to any heirs female as to take frō thē their fathers patrimony or that wold that al other mēs daughters shuld haue ād enioy their right and kings daughters shuld be put frō their righte Either so seuer thinheritaunce from the dominion Vvomans inheritāce linked vvith the dominiō Nu. 27. that they maye haue th one withoute the other whiche wil be harde for you to do or els graunt them both as you oughte to do The daughters of Silphad by the iudgement of God and not of man were enhabled to their enheritaunce And shall we take vppon vs to iudge in our pollicie otherwise then God did in his Againe Saint Augustine Hierome the Cannon law and Arist meddle not wyth those rules and gouernmentes whiche come by lyneall discentes coincydent and linked with the inheritaunce but with such as stand in election VVherfore it is to be noted Thediuer sities of Magistrates that there be .iii. maner of Magistrates One chosen by lotte as was the house of Saul A nother by Suffrages and election as in Venice Polonia the fre Cities of Germany and thempire And the thirde prouided of God by lineall succession as in Fraunce England and other Kingdōs if any were to be chosen by lotte or suffrage I would not in dede that any woman should stand in the election but men only for I say with Aristotle that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the male is by all ly kelihod meter to rule then the womā in many respectes And vndoubtedly in the whole number of men might be founde some one that shoulde in all respectes passe the beste among women in wisdome grauite learning vnderstanding sobrietie temperauncie hablenes to take paines warly kenes iustice fortitude c. But when it standeth in no mans election but in his hande that shapeth male or female in the wombe of the mother at his pleasure In Englād God hath al the voices in his ovvn hād Then hath mans voyce no authoritie by cause he hath gyuen ouer his right in chusing by cōmon consent vnto God That he according to his inscrutable wysdome may chuse and dispose as he pleaseth This being doone shall man pull back his graunt or call God to accompt and say Nay when we agreed the matter should be referred to your iudgemēt we ment not that you should send vs a woman to rule ouer vs or we had forgottē to put that in the cōdicions and therfote you must geue vs leaue to reuoke our graūt for we can prouide better then thus our selfes VVere not this a foly she plea thinke you and a mad enterprise wold he not sone aunswer vs. Oh you presumptuous fooles Gods aunsvver to mens soly that haue suche opinion of your own wyt who made empires and kyngdomes dominions and rules who preserueth and mainteineth them whose be they yours or myne must you haue the orderyng or I If they bee myne