Heir to the Crown R. 2. following the example of E. 2. had the same fate of which the States of the Kingdom had some years before given him fair warning telling him they had an ancient Statute according to which they might with the common assent and consent of the People of the Realm abrogats him and advance somebody near of kin of the Royal Stock He not profiting by this admonition the States were some years after put to the exercice of their authority and having adjudged that he justly ought to be deposed the whole States appointed Commissioners for giving the Sentence of Deposition And a Record speaking of it says he was deposed for his demerits The Act of State for this says 't was as in like cases had been observed by the ancient custom of the Kingdom This being done Henry Duke of Lancuster as soon as the Kingdom was vacant rose out of his Seat and claim'd the Kingdom begin void His claim was al 's descandit be ryght lyne of the blode comeynge fro the gude Lord Henry therde The reason seems very plain why he claim'd from H. 3. his being the last inheritable blood which he could claim from not from R. 2. because deposed nor from E. 3. because of the forseiture of R. 2. declared or constituted his next Heir not from E. 2. because of his forfeiture nor from E. 1. becuase E. 2. had been his next Heir Hen. 4ths Descent from H. 3. was the qualification for an election This was not as has been supposed a strict right of Succession as he was the next Heir then appearing but he entituled himself to a preference before all other Descendants from that Blood as being a Deliverer of the Nation from Richard's tyranny he having with the help of his Kinsmen and Friends recovered the Kingdom which was upon the point of destruction through the defect of Government and violation of the Laws This induced the States and all the People unanimously to consent that Henry should fill the vacant Throne and they appointed all the Ceremonies of his Coronation But as far as proximity to the last King could infer a right he being Grandson to E. 3. had it before Mortimer descended from Lionel Duke of Clarence under whom the Family of York claim'd besides that H. 4. was undoubtedly the first on the Male line Tho' no Lay-man of knowledge and integrity can be thought at that time to have questioned those grounds upon which H. 4. was declared King yet since 't is hardly possible that there should be any Government which some will not be desirous to shake off as the Jews did the Theocrasy it can be no wonder that some would colour their ambition or malice under pretence of love to justice and that they should object want of right to disturb the most just and equal Government What was at the bottom of objections against H. 4ths Title will appear by the case of a true Head of the Church Militant Merk or Mark Bishop of Carlile who not being able as a Divine to make good his Argument against the receiving H. 4th for King was resolved to justifie it by dint of Sword after he was made King For in second of H. 4. he was indicted and tryed by a common Jury upon a special Commission for that he and other his Accomplices among which there were two bigotted Knights Blunt and Sely were leagued and confederated together with the Adversary and Enemy of England the French and thier Adherents traiterously to bring the said Adversary into the Land of England with intention to destroy the King and all his Leige People of the Kingdom and to new plant the Kingdom of England with our enemies of France that they in an hostile manner went up and down making great destruction and slaughter and without any Authority assuming to themselves Royal Power proclaim'd Richard to be King and that they would not suffer Henry to be their Lord or King To this Indictment the Bishop pleaded Church-Priviledge as an anointed Bishop which the Court over-ruled the the reason for which is very remarkable because the matters contained in the said Indictment concern the death of our Lord the King and the destruction of the whole Kingdom of England and consequently the manifest depression of the Church of England by which he claims to be priviledged all which is high and the greatest Treason and the Crime of laesa Majestas nor ought any man of right to pray in aid of the Law or to have it who commits such a Crime or intends to commit it c. His plea being thus over-ruled the Bishop pleaded not guilty but being convicted of the horrid matter contained in the Indictment it seems he did not think this a fit cause to die for and whether he merited a Pardon or no by sincere Repentance at least obtained one in which it is observable that he is called the late Bishop for this restitution to the Peace did not restore his Ecclesiastical Dignity He who is still called the late Bishop having a pardon sent him petitioned to be delivered out of Prison which was granted upon his finding Sureties for his good behaviour and four undertook that he should for the future behave himself well towards the King and his People Thus the fear of death reformed this stiff Prelate and made him engage to sit quietly under a Government which none but the Enemies to England and their Adherents endeavoured to subvert Still some were found calling themselves Englishmen who for the like ends with Merk would do their utmost to blemish H. 4ths Title this occasioned Oaths of Recognition thrice repeated 5o. of his Reign first at a Council of Worcester then at a Great Council at Westminster and after that in a full Parliament where the two former recognitions which were voluntary Associations were affirmed tho' as is there said there was no need of it By those Oaths they acknowledged the then King to be their Sovereign Leige Lord to obey him as their King and acknowledge the Prince his eldest Son as Heir apparent and inheritable to the Crown of England to him and the Heirs of his Body And for default of such Issue to his Brothers and their Issue successively and hereditably according to the Law of England to live and die against all People in the World The perjury of some and the doubts rais'd by others upon some of the expressions in the Act 5 H. 4. occasioned an other 7o. which by the Counsel and Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal to wit the Prelates Great Men Peers and Clergy and also at the earnest Petition of the Commons and by Authority of the said Parliament declares that the King 's eldest Son shall be and is and ought hereafter and now to be
might afterwards sail out of abundant care for his Son Henry had him Crowned in his life time which through French Counsels put the Son upon insisting on the Rights of Kingship to the great clamity of the Nation tho' the Subjects swore Allegiance to him with an express Salvo for the Allegiance due to his Father Which whatever some have thought or affirm'd was the only Salvo in the Scotch Kings homage according to ancient custom for the Crown of Scotland To H. 2. succeeded his eldest surviving Son Richard but was not accounted King upon the death of his Father Authors say he was to be promoted to be King by Hereditary Right which is far from being King by Hereditary Right But as the former usage explains such words he deserved to be elected and made King in which sense one of the Authors who lived at the time immediately explains himself mentioning his Coronation Oath after the solemn and due election as well of the Clergy as People Before this he was at first only Earl of Poictou and then Duke of Normandy but not till he had been solemnly invested with the Sword of that Dukedom And Bromton informs us that he accepted the Crown upon condition of keeping his Coronation Oath without undertaking which the Archbishop charged him not to assume the Royal Dignity He going to the holy Wars after his being Crown'd his Brother John would have seiz'd the Government as vacant but had no tollerable pretence the War having been carried on with a National Consent Upon this it was adjudged by a Common-Council of the Kingdom that John should be disseiz'd of all that he held in England which might extend to such right or expectancy as he had in the Crown Notwithstanding which upon Richard's death the great Question came upon the Stage whether the Crown ought ordinarily to go according to the right of Proximity or of Representation The right of Proximity was in John Brother to King Richard this was the Right which the English seem'd to think most agreeable to the Constitution of this Monarchy and is according to the Custom of Normandy for Succession to that Dukedom and as Cujacius supposes of most Nations Foreigners were for Arthur of Brittain as having the right of Representation being the Son of John's elder Brother and this was the Right according to the custom of Brittain in France But as to the Law of England it appears by Glanvil's account of the Law as it was taken in the time of H. 2. that even for the Descent of private Inheritances it was doubtful whether they ought to go to the Grandson by the eldest Son who died in the Father's life time or to his next surviving Son If indeed the eldest Son had in the Father's life time done homage to the Chief Lord for his Father's Inheritance this was held to remove the doubt And Glanvil afterwards says upon the Question between Uncle and Nephew that the condition of the Possessor is the better According to which King John having obtained Possession of the Crown had it rightfully and Arthur had no right to turn him out John being beyond-sea at his Brother's death sent over the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl Marshal of England to sollicit for his being admitted to the Throne These Great Men with the assistance of the Chief Justice of England prevailed upon many to swear Allegiance to John and in a Convention at Northampton those Persons were Sponsors for John's doing right to all men upon which condition or in confidence of his performing what had been undertaken in his name the Earls and Barons swore Fidelity to him against all Men yet after this he was formally elected in a full Convention of the States where the Archbishop declares it as matter known to 'em all that no man ought to succeed an other to the Kingdom upon any previous reason unless unanimously elected by the whole Realm c. But if any one of the Royal Stock was more deserving than others his election ought to be consented to the more promptly and readily Notwithstanding what had pass'd in favour of John in the Convention the Archbishop at the time of the Coronation calls him but Earl King John not only took the Oath appointed by the standing Ritual which declares every King of England to be elected but assumed the Royal Dignity as his Predecessor did with the express condition of keeping his Oath Having broken this Contract and notoriously departed from that end for which according to the Confessors Law expresly sworn to by him he had been constituted or created King in making War upon his People with Foreign Forces with which he exercis'd inhuman barbarities and as much as in him lay alienating his Imperial Crown to the Pope he in the Judgment of the Court of France as well as of the States and People of England fell from his Royal Dignity the Throne was become vacant and during the vacancy the Administration devolved upon the States whereupon they resolved to elect a new King and sent a solemn Embassy to the King of France to send over his Son Lewis to be King of England whose wife was John's Sisters Daughter But the chief inducement to this Election seems to have been that expectation in which they were not deceived that the Foreigners would desert John for Lewis Tho they promised to Crown him King they seeing great grounds to dislike his French Temper and Conduct kept him upon his good behaviour without a Crown And having found by the dying Confession of one of his confederates that he had sworn if he came to be once Crowned King he would treat the English as Rebels to their former Prince they soon sent this Probationer packing yet did not hold John to be King After John's death many of the greatest interest in England while Lewis was here and Elianor Prince Arthur's Sister alive in Bristol Castle who according to the vulgar notion ought to have been Queen John's Son but were far from thinking him King upon the death of his Father or from repenting of what they had done to the Father but they thought it adviseable to cut off Lewis his expectation of the Crown to which end the Martial of England Summons a Convention to Glocester where he tells the States that tho' they had justly prosecuted the Father for his evil deeds yet that Infant was innocent because he is the Son of a King and our future Lord and Successer of the Kingdom let us Constitute him our King At last all as with one voice cried thrice let him be made King Here 't is evident that he was not accounted King till Constituted or made and was but a future Lord and agreeably to this Matthew Paris
true lawful and undoubted Heir and Universal Successor to the Crown and Kingdoms of England and France and all the King's Dominions whatsoever and wheresoever beyond the Sea and also has right of universally succeeding the King in the said Crown Kingdoms and Dominions To have to him and the Heirs Male of his Body and in default of such Issue so in remainder to his Brothers In an other Charter pass'd in that Parliament the Inheritance or Hereditation of the Crown is entail'd upon the King and the Heirs Male of his Body then to his four Sons and the Heirs Male of their Bodies successively It seems the next year some doubts arose upon these different Settlements that 5o. then remaining upon Record therefore they cancel and make void the Letters Patent of the Entail 5o. and change and amend that Settlement which they seem to have thought defective 1. In only declaring the Prince Heir Apparent and Inheritable to the Crown which was no more than to declare him before others qualified to succeed if the States should Elect him 2. In declaring him Inheritable only to the Crown of England without mentioning its appurtenances seeming to think that in Grants of this Nature nothing would pass by implication But to prevent all ambiguities they being as is said in that Record met in a Parliament according to the Custom of the Kingdom for divers Matters and Things concerning the King and his Kingdom The King with common Consent of the Kingdom Enacts That a new Patent be Sealed constituting Prince Henry Heir Apparent to succeed the King in his Crown Realms and Dominions to have them with all their appurtenances after the King's Decease to him and the Heirs of his Body and so in remainder to his three Brothers successively whereby they had a larger Estate than by the Entail 7º which was to Heirs Male Thus by Virtue of one or more Settlements by Authority of Parliament H. 5. succeeded and yet it was thought a great instance of the confidence the States had in him that in a Convention or Assembly holden according to Ancient Custom in which they treated about creating a new King some of the Nobility immediately Swore Allegiance to him before he had been declared King But it is to be observed that whereas his Father died the 20th of March he is said to be created King on the 5th of April Death cutting off the course of his Glories his Infant Son H. 6. came in under the Parliamentary Entail but the Administration was held to have fallen upon the States who accordingly after having declared H. 6. King in full Parliament pass'd a Patent constituting Humfry Duke of Gloster Protecter of the Realm John Duke of Bedford Regent of France and Henry Beaufort Bishop of Winchester and Thomas Beaufort Duke of Exeter Governors of the young Prince The Death of the brave Duke of Bedford occasioned not only the loss of France but the raising the Family of York to a pretence which in all probability had been buried to this day had not H. 6ths treacherous Ministers put him upon making Richard Duke of York Regent of France after being High Constable of England and Lieutenant of Ireland With these advantages Duke Richard set up under a Mask of Popularity as if he only sought redress of grievances while himself was the only National Calamity As nothing but success could give him any colour of Title he was forced to conceal his Ambition even from his own Party till 26 H. 6 yet after that acknowledged and swore to H. 6ths Right and confirm'd it with the Sacrament which Solemnities were to be subservient to his imaginary Divine Right Tho' by his Frauds and Perjuries he often came within the prospect of a Crown 38 H. 6. he was deservedly Attainted of High-Treason and an Association with an Oath was voluntarily enter'd into by the Lords wherein every one severally acknowledges H. 6. to be his most redoubted Lord and rightwish or Rightful by Succession born to Reign over him and all the Kings Liege People that he will do his utmost for the We le and surety of the King's Person of his most Royal Estats and the very conservation and continuance of his most high Authority Preheminence and Prerogative and for the preservation of the Queen and of Prince Edward his Right redoubted Lord the Prince that after the King's Death he will take and accept the Prince for his Sovereign Lord and after him the Issue of his Body lawfully begotten for want of such Issue any other Issue of the Body of the King that he will never give Aid Assistance or Favour to any thing contrary to the premises and that he will put himself in his due undelayed devoir with his Body Goods Might Power Counsel and Advertisement to resist withstand and subdue all that should presume to do contrary to the premises or any of them This Association not being General throughout the Kingdom had no great effect not so much from any belief the Nation had of Richard's being injured as from the burdens a Treacherous Ministry induced a weak Prince to lay upon the Subjects This made the Commons of Kent invite over from abroad the Duke and his Party who had fled from Justice then the Tide turn'd and the King became wholly in the power of the Duke of York under whose awe and influence a Parliament was call'd where he laid claim to the Crown with circumstances which one would think were enough to give any Man a face of Title and yet his pretended Divine Right countenanc'd by Providence was mightily qualify'd by the courage of the Parliament and their regard to the Constitution of this Monarchy His claim was as Son to Ann Daughter to Roger Mortimer Son and Heir to Philippa Daughter and Heir to Lionel Duke of Clarence third Son to E. 3. whereas H. 6. descended from John of Gaunt the 4th and eldest surviving Son After Debate among the Lords upon this matter these Objections were agreed upon against Richard's pretence of Title 1. The Oaths they had taken to the King their Sovereign Lord. 2. Acts of Parliament made in divers Parliaments of the King's Progenitors of Authority sufficient to defeat any manner of Title to be made to any Person 3. Several Entails made to Heirs Male 4. That Richard did not bear Lionel's Arms. 5. That H. 4. took upon him the Crown not as Conqueror but right Inheritor to H 3. All that is urged materially against this for Richard is 1. That Oaths do not bind against God's Law and that requires Truth and Justice to be maintain'd but this being a Spiritual matter he refers to any Judge Spiritual 2. That there was but one Entail of the Crown 7 H. 4. but that this was void against the right Inheritor of the Crown according to God's law and all Natural laws 3. It could