to to morrow And yet the true and rightful Lancaster had no finger in it for this Earle was not then granted to be of the House of Lancaster untill the Pope by his Bull had given him that stile and himselfe after he was King by his Prerogative assumed it In this Parliament he was attainted of High Treason and with him Iohn Earle of Oxford Thomas Marquesse of Dorset Iasper Earle of Pembroke Lionell Bishop of Salisbury Peirce Bishop of Exceter the Lady Margaret Countesse of Richmond Thomas Morton Bishop of Ely Thomas Naudick by the stile of Thomas Naudick of Cambridge Conjurer William Knevet of Buckingham smeared with the same pitch George Browne of Beechworth Thomas Lukenor of Tratton Iohn Cuilford Iohn Fogg Edward Poinings Thomas Fieries of Cherstmonceur Nicholas Gainsford William Clifford Iohn Darrell with others of Kent and the West Countrey There was further enacted for the approbation and confirming the true and lawfull Title of King Richard this clause or sentence It is declared pronounced decreed confirmed and established by the Authority of this present Parliament that King Richard the third is the true and undoubted King of this Realme as well by right of Consanguinitie and Heritage as by lawfull Election and Coronation c. And in a place of the Rowle of this Parliament there are Arguments to be gathered that the two sonnes of King Edward were living in the time of this Parliament which was at the least nine moneths after the death of their Father and sixe moneths after King Richard which will import thus much That if King Richard then lawfully and quietly possessed of the Crowne suffered them to live so long there is no reason why he should after make them away for their lives could not rectifie their Bloud or Titles nor their deaths advantage him neither can Bastards be dangerous or prejudiciall to the true and titular Lord or lawfull proprietary be he Prince or Subject Witnesse Forraigne Countries and England it selfe which holds Bastards uncapable of Heritage Honour or Offices In the Month of February towards the end of this Parliament the King in his providence to establish the Regall fortune and Succession in the Prince his Sonne and to fasten the affection of the Nobility and People unto him with the Crowne procures them to meet him in the Pallace at Westminster and there Interiori Caenaculo as mine Author saith tendred by the Duke of Norfolke unto them an Oath of Fealty and Allegeance in writing to be taken to the Prince of Wales which they tooke and subscribed most willingly the occasion of this was his jealousie of that new League struck up between the Earle of Richmond and the Duke of Buckingham who was now discovered more apparantly and the rest of the engagement To oppose and suppresse them therefore and stifle the Confederacy before it should grow more threatning The King makes a Commission by Letters Patents in the name of the Vice Constable of England unto Sir Ralph Ashton A Coppy whereof the President being unusuall and the Office great I have Transcribed verbatim from the Records in the Chappell of the Convertits Vice Constabulario Angliae Constituto REX dilecto fideli suo Rudolpho Ashton militi salutem Sciatis quod nos defidelitate circumspectione probitate vestrâ plenius confidentes assignavimus deputavimus ordinavimus vos hac vice Constabularium nostrum Angliae ac Commiâ—sionarium nostrum dantes concedentes vobis tenore presentium potestatem authoritatem generalem mandatum speciale ad audiendum examinandum ac procedendum contra quascunque personas de crimine laesae nostrae regiâ— majestatis suspectas culpabiles tam per viam examinationis testium quam aliter prout vobis melius visum fuerit ex officio vestro nec non in causis illis judicialiter sententialiter juxta casus exigentiam delinquentium demerita omni strepitu futura Iudicij appellaâ—ione quacunque remota quandocunque vobis videbitur procedendum judicandum et finali executione de maâ—dandum cum omnibus etiam clausulis verbis et terminis specialibuâ— ad executionem istius mandati et authoritatis nostrae de jure vel consuetudine requisitis quae etiam omnia hic expressa habemus assumpto vobiscum aliquo tabellione fide digno qui singula conscribat unà cum alijs quae in praemissis vel circa â—a necessaria videbuntur seu qualitercunque requisita mandantes firmiter vobis injungentes quod alijs quibuscunque praetermissis circa praedicta quoties quando opus fuerit intendatis caus as que antedictas audiatis examinetis in eisdem procedâ—tis ac eas judicetis finali executione ut praefertur demandetis Damus etiam omnibus singulis quorum interest in hac parte tenore praesentium firmiter in mandatis quod vobis in prâ—missis faciendis pareant assistant auxilientur in omnibus diligenter in cujus c. Teste Rege apud Covent 24. die Octobris Anno regni primo per ipsum Regem oretenus What successe this Commission and new Office had I find not reported but it might come too late or the new Officer forget what he was to execute for the faction lost none they could corrupt or winne yet surely the institution of it was very politicke and important as a plaine Image and pourtraict of the Office and Authority of the great or High-Constable of England which in the execution of a wise and valiant person is of a high and great use Having made mention of these Offices it shall not be a Parergue between these Acts to interadde the rest of this Kings Officers both Chiefe and others at the least such as were of Honour or Dignity I have before named the High-Constable the great Marshall high Admirall Lord Chamberlaine the rest were Sir Iohn Wood the Elder L. Treasurer the first yeare and Sir Iohn Touchet Lord Aâ—dley during the rest of his Reigne Doctor Russell Bishop of Lincolne had the great Seale Thomas Barrow was Master of the Rowles which place Henry the seventh continued to him and made him a Privy Counsellour Iohn Kendall was principall Secretary Sir William Hopton Treasurer of the Houshold Sir Thomas Peircy Controler after him Sir Iohn Buck Iohn Gunthorpe Keeper of the Privy Seale Sir William Hussey Chiefe Justice Thomas Tremaine and Roger Townsend the Kings Serjeants Morgan Kidwell Attorney Generall Nicholas Fitz-William Recorder of London For matters of Treaty betwixt this King and Forreigne Princes I have seen a memoriall of one for intercourse and commerce between him and Philip Duke of Burgundy and the Estates of Flanders who in the Record are called Membra Flandriae These Princes and States had each of them their Commissioners to treate and determine the Affaires which I find they dispatchâ— with approbation of the Princes their Masters There was also a Commission about these times to heare and redresse the
that divers continued of his Sir-name in that Countrey along time after him which makes it probable he had a naturall Son at least bearing his owne name of Heward that next to him was the Originall Ancestor of this house of Howards And let it not be thought any disparagement for a Noble Family to be raysed from a naturall Issue for many Princely Families have beene derived and propagated from naturall Sonnes as was Eneas Romulus the Founders of the Roman Families so was Theseus and Themistocles as Plutarch writeth others say as much of Hercules c. The King of Spaine descended from Henry de Trastamara base sonne of Alphonsus the Justicer King of Castile And who doth not honour the Princely Race of William the Conquerour Bastard son to the Duke of Normandy where was a more Heroicall man then Robert Earle of Glocester base sonne of King Henry the first The Earles of Warren descended from Hamelin a base sonne of Geoffry Plantagenet Earle of Aniow The Noble Herberts are also said to come from a base sonne of Henry the first And the Duke and Earles of Somerset which followed the Red Rose were the Off-spring of the Beauforts naturall sonnes of Iohn de Gaunt For a further conjecture why these Howards must be descended from Hewardus or Herewardus for so some Writers call him but Iugulfus who best knew him constantly calls him Hewardus both names may signifie in the Saxon or old Dutch a chiefe Captaine of an Army whom the Romans call'd Imperator And that the Titles and names of great Offices have given Sir-manes to many Noble Families wee have examples in plentie Particularly the Visconti of Millan the Chamberlaines of Normandy the Stewards of Scotland the Butlers of Ireland and divers others who had their Sir-names from the Offices of their Ancestours and Fathers and the same presumption or argument may be for taking the Sir-name of Howard and the Origine of their Family from Hewardus the Howards from the time of Heward dwelling in these Countries of Holland and Marshland and were Lords of some Lands belonging to him untill by their matches with the Daughters and Heires of Fitton Tendring Mowbray Tillney c. they became possessed in Norfolke suffolke and Berkeshire and were Lords sometime of Sunning-hill neare Windsor and bore the Sir-name ever since or with small interruption the old Sir-name written Heward or Hereward in Charters and Records and Howard in Stories But descend wee through the succession of those times to William Haward Chiefe Justice in the Raigne of Edward the first Grand-father to Sir Iohn Howard Admirall of the North Fleet in the Navall Warres of Edward the third his Sonne Sir Robert Howard married the Daughter of the Lord Scales and Sir Iohn Howard who lived in the time of Henry the fourth and dyed Anno 16. Henry the sixt had two Wives Margaret Daughter and Heire of Sir Iohn Plais Knight by whom hee had Eliza an onely Daughter married to Iohn de Vere Earle of Oxford who brought him a goodly part of the Howards Lands Her Heires were married to Latimer and Winckfield very fruitfull Families His second Wife was the Daughter and heire of Sir William Tendering of Stoke-Nayland in Suffolke by whom he had Sir Robert Howard his eldest Sonne who married Margaret Mowbray Daughter of a Cadet of the house of Lancaster who became Co-heire with her Sister the Lady Berkely Wife to Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke dead in Venice and left his Sonne Henry Haward heire to Haward and Mowbray and Iohn Howard the sonne of Iohn Howard was created Earle of Norfolke by King Richard the third in the right of his Mother Mowbray he married the Daughter of the Lord Moulines and by her had Thomas Howard the first Howard Earle of Surrey this is he who survived the danger of Bosworth Field and became afterwards Duke of Norfolke from whom all the Howards now living are descended whose Family hath beene so fruitfull to furnish this Kingdome with foure Dukes many Earles Viscounts and Barons three high Treasurers six high or great Marshalls tenne high Admiralls with some honourable Custos of the Privie Seale and sundry Chamberlaines of the Kings house and one lately lived who had borne the Offices of high Constable Lord Lieutenant Lord high Steward Marshall and Admirall of England Lord Chiefe Justice in Oyer of the better part of this Kingdome and Chamberlaine of the Royall house a man honourable in his deportments and fortunate in his undertakings as at the great Marine Battells against all the Navall powers of Spaine the Pope and Princes of Italy Anno Domini 1588. and in the siege of Gadys Anno Domini 1596. And this is the Grand-child of that Thomas Lord Howard who for his better distinction and perpetuall honour is stiled Triumphator Scotorum I have strayed into this digression as a gratefull tender of an acknowledgement I owe to that Illustrious Family for their Noble Patronage and Favour to my Ancestors especially to that unfortunate Bucke and his Children who withered with the White Rose bearing an Ancient and Hereditary love to the House of Yorke and stood in good Credit and Favour with the King his Master noâ— let this remembrance of him and his obscured Family seeme ostentation or vaine-glory whilst I say no more then what other Historios dictate which give him an able Character Master Camden Clarentius in his Immortall Brittannia deriveth this Sir Iohn Bucke from Sir Walter de Bucke of Brabant and Flanders who had that Sir-name of great Antiquity from the Castle de Bucke in Lisâ—e a City and Frontire Towne in Flanders where the Ancient Earles were accustomed much to reside the ruines of this Castle remained in the late time of Lodwicke Guicciardine who saith he saw the Carcasse thereof And this Walter Bucke was a Cadet of the House of Flanders employed and sent by the Prince then Duke of Brabant and Earle of Flanders to King Iohn with Auxiliary Troopes Roger Wondover saith Walter Bucke Gerardde Scottigni and Godescalius venerunt in Angliam cum tribus legionibus Flandrensium Braâ—antianoruâ— militum c. and he did the King excellent service here as many of our Historians report for which the King bountifully rewarded him with Lands in Yorkeshire and Northampton shire And in Yorkeshire where he made his Seat he found an Ancient Family of the Sirname of Bucke of Bucton in the Wapentake of Bucrosse where that Family had anciently been for the name is a Saxon or Dutch word and signifieth a Beech Tree or Beech Wood here Walter contracted alliance and Married Ralph de Bucke his Eldest Sonne to the Daughter and Heire of Gâ—celinus de Bucke Grandchild to Radolphus de Bucke who was a part Founder and Beneâ—actour to the Abbey of Bredlington as is mentioned in the Charter of Henry the first made for the foundation of that Monastery and from this Walter descended Iohn Bucke Knight who married a
THE HISTORY of the Life and Reigne of RICHARD The Third Composed in five Bookes By GEO BUCK Esquire Honorandus est qui injuriam non fecit sed qui alios eam facere non patitur duplici Honore dignus est Plato de legibus Lib. 5. Qui non repellit a proximo injuriam si potest tam est in vitio quam ille qui infert D. Ambros. offic Lib. 3. LONDON Printed by W. Wilson and are to be sold by VV. L. H. M. and D. P. 1647. The true Portraiture of Richard Plantagenest of England and of France King Lord of Ireland the third King Richard TO THE FAVOVRABLE ACCEPTANCE Of the Right Honourable PHILIP Earle of Pembrooke and Mountgomery c. Sir HAving collected these papers out of their dust I was bold to hope there might be somthing in them of a better fate if mine obscure pen darken not that too Please your Lordshipp to let your name make them another witnesse of your noblenesse it may redeeme and improve them to a clearer opinion and acknowlegedment of these times in which I am to meet every Critick at his owne weapon who will challenge the Book at the very Title The Malicious and Malevolent with their blotted Coments the Captious Incredulous with their jealous praecisianâ—sines whose inclinations shewes them of envious perplexed natures to looke at other mens actions and memory by the wrong end of the perspective and me thinks I fancy them to our shaddowes which at noone creepe behind like Dwarfes atevening stalke by like Gyants they will haunte the noblest merits and endeavors to their Sun-set then they monster it but to the Common-rout they are another kind of Genius or ignis fatuus leades them into darke strange wanderings there they stick for to perswade the opinionated vulgar out of their ignorant selves is of as high a beliefe to me as to transpeciate a Beast into a man I therefore shall crave favour to protest these papers beyond their Censure and humour But to those they are wished I hope their weak accesses may be the more pardonable since they are the kindlings and scintillations of a modest Ambition to truth and gratitude which gives me the encouragement to assure your Lordship that if mine Authors be sincere and faithfull my penis free and innocent having learned that a story as it ought must be a just perspicuous Narration of things memorable spoken and don The Historiographer veritable free from all Prosopolepsyes or partiall respects and surely his pen should tast with a great deal of Conscience for there is nothing leaves so an infected a sting or scandall as History it rankles to all posterity wounds our good names to all memory places by an Authentick kind of preiudice I am with his opinion in his excellent Religio Medici who holds it an offence to Charity and as bloody a thought one way as Nero's in another My Lord under these humble addresses this sues to your honoured hand Presented by the unfained wishes of your Honours avowed and humble Servant GEO BUCK The ARGUMENT and CONTENTS of the First Booke The Linage Family Birth Education and Tirociny of King Richard the third THe Royall house of Plantagenest and the beginning of that name What Sobriquets were The antiquity of Sirnames Richard is created Duke of Gloucester his marriage and his issue His martiall imployments His Iourney into Scotland and recovery of Barwick The death of King Edward the 4 th The Duke of Gloucester made Lord Protector and soone after King of England by importunate suite of his Barons and of the People as the next true and lawfull heire Henry Teudor Earle of Richmond practiseth against the King He is conveyed into France The Noble Linage of Sir William Herbert his Imployment He is made Earle of Pembrooke King Edward the 4 th first and after King Richard sollicite the Duke of Brittaine and treat with him for the delivery of the young Earle of Richmond his Prisoner The successe of that businesse The quality and title of the Beauforts or Sommersets The Linage and Family of the Earle of Richmond The solemne Coronations of King Richard and of the Queene his wife his first at Westminster the second at Yorke Nobles Knights and Officers made by him Prince Edward his Son invested in the Principallity of Wales and the Oath of Allegeance made to him King Richard demandeth the Tribute of France His Progresse to Yorke His carefull charge given to the Iudges and Magistrates He holdeth a Parliament wherein the marriage of the King his Brother with the Lady Gray is declared and adjudged unlawfull their children to be illegitimate and not capable of the Crowne The Earle of Richmond and divers others attainted of Treason Many good Laws made The K. declared and approved by Parliament to be the only true and lawfull heire of the Crowne The King and Queene dowager are reconciled He hath secret advertisemeÌ„ts of Innovations and practises against him Createth a vice-Constable of England His sundry treaties with Forraigne Princes Doctor Morton corrupteth the Duke of Buckingham who becometh discontent demanding the Earledome of Hereford with the great Constableship of England He taketh Armes is defeated and put to death by marshall Law THE FIRST BOOKE OF THE HISTORY OF RICHARD THE THIRD OF ENGLAND AND OF FRANCE KING AND LORD OF IRELAND RIchard Plantagenet Duke of Glocester and King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland the third of that name was the younger sonne of Sir Richard Plantagenet the fourth Duke of Yorke of that Royall Family and King of England designate by King Henry the sixth and by the most noble Senate and universall Synod of this Kingdome the High Court of Parliament The Mother of this Richard Duke of Glocester was the Lady Cecily Daughter of Sir Ralph de Neville Earle of Westmerland by his wife Ioane de Beaufort the naturall Daughter of Iohn Plantagenet alias de Gaunt Duke of Guiene and Lancaster King of Castile and Leon third Sonne of King Edward the third for in that order this Duke is best accounted because William of Hatfield the second Sonne of King Edward the third dyed in his infancy and this Duke of Yorke and King designate was propagated from two younger sonnes of the same King Edward the third whereby he had both Paternall and Maternall Title to the Crowne of England and France But his better and nearer Title was the Maternall Title or that which came to him by his Mother the Lady Anne de Mortimer the Daughter and heire of Phillippa Plantagenet who was the sole Daughter and heire of Lyonell Plantagenet Duke of Clarence and second Sonne of King Edward the third according to the account and order aforesaid And this Lady Phillip was the Wife of Sir Edmond de Mortimer the great and famous Earle of March and that Duke Richard King designate by his Father Richard Plantagenet Duke of York sirnamed also de Conningsbâ—rrough issued directly and in a
voce Richardus eram Tutor eram Patriae Patrius pro jure Nepotis Dirupta tenui regna Britanna fide Sexaginta dies binis duntaxat ademptis AEtatesque tulitunc mea Sceptra duas Fortiter in Bello certans desertus ab Anglis Rex Henrice tibi septime succubui At sumptu pius ipse tuo sic ossa dicaras Regem olimque facis Regis honore Coli Quatuor exceptis jam tantum quinque bis annis Acta trecenta quidem lustra salutis erant Antique Septembris undena luce Kalendas Redideram rubrae jura petita Rosae At mea quisquis eris propter commissa precarem Sit Minor ut precibus poena levata tuis Deo O. M. Trino Uno sit laus gloria aeterna AMEN EPIGRAMMA In Richardos Angliae Reges ex vet lib. M. S. transcriptum TRes sunt Richardi quorum fortuna erat aequa In tribus aescariis sua cujus propria sors est Nam Concors horum finis sine posteritate Corporis atque rapax vitae modus violentus Interitus fuerat sed major gloria primi Praelia terrarum qui gesserat redeuntem Tela Balistarum feriunt apud extera regna Alter depositus regno qui carcere Clausus Mensibus extiterat certis fame velle perire Elegit potius quam famae probra videre Tertius exbausto statim amplo divitiarum Edwardi cumulo proscribens auxiliares Henrici partes post annos denique binos Suscepti regni Bello confectus eisdem Mundanam vitam tum perdidit atque Coronam Anno milleno Centum quater octuageno Adjunctis quinque cum lux Sextilis adest Vndena duplex dentes apri stupuerunt Et vindex albae Rosa Rubra refloret in orbe FINIS A Table of the Heads contained in this BOOKE A. AMbition and Covetuousnesse the cause of unnaturall fends murders and infinite other mischiefes Example pag. 5. 12 13 14. 35 36. 98 99. 104. 141. c. Ambassadour of Scotland his speech to K. Richard 3. p. 139. 140. Angell Guardian Genius p. 106. Ann de la Poole a Nun. 35. Anjou Fulke Earle of Anjou sonne of Geofrey Grisegonnelle p. 4. his purjury and murder of his Nephew Drogo ib. his pilgrimage to the holy Sepulcher his penance ib. his great and famous posterity p. 6 7. Armes of France assumed by Ed. 3. p. 47. Armes of the ancient Earles of Anjou pag. 47. Armes of bastards differenced 46. Arrogation of royall rights 45. Arts Imperij and rules of policy in auncient times not warrantable p. 14. Ancesters or Antecestoures the duty and respect we owe unto their memories p. 69. Ambitious minds easily flattered 35. a sower sweet p. 30. B. BArrons of England their great priviledge 118. Bastards what they are 44. cannot inherit p. 45. not beare their fathers name or arms 46. without speciall indulgence p. 48. Take the mothers name 46. 47. The ancient custome of England and France herein ib. Great families discended from bastards p. 66. may bee capeable of offices and dignities 48. Battell of Bosworth 60. 61. Baynard Castle London formerly Yorke house p. 20. Beauforts naturall children of Iohn of Gaunt so called from a towne in Anjou 45. not permitted to the title of Lancas ib. A charter of their legitimation 48. 49. Benevolence the meaning of that word in Edw. 4. his time 133. in Margin Barwick recovered by the English 10. Bucking an auncient famly 67. how desended c. 68. of the name ib. Buckingham Henry Stafford D. of Buck. his speech to the Lord protector 20. 22. His revolt and rebellion 34. his pretended title to the Crowne 35. retires sides with Richmond 36 his forces are scattered himselfe betrayed and beheaded 37. D. of Brittaine chose Knight of the Garter 18. C. CHarter of Henry 4. entailing the Crown to his 4. sons successively 50. Camp-fight or single combates between Princes and Generalls and grounds of it 62. Catarhe to dye of a Catarhe what it meanes in France 123. Censure and censuring 63. K. Charles our most Gracious and dear soveraigne Lord his just undoubted right his many great and auncient titles to the Imperial Crowne of England 144 145 146. Clarence G. D. of Clarence rebells against his Brother Edward 4. is taken and beheaded 82 83. Clergy pride of Popish Clergy 53. Comlinesse of personage adds a grace to vertue 42. Comes or Count two fold signification of it 8. Constable-ship of England joyned to the Earledome of Hereford 34. Vice-Constable a new and politick institution 31. A coppie of their Commission ibid. Cole Harbour London at first Heralds Office 138. Conquerour and Conquest Licentious power of it 54 55. Titles by conquest not safe nor lasting 144. distasted of the people as tyranicall 54. Covetuonsness roote of all evill 5. c. as in Ambition Councel and Councellers 51 52. 55. 103 Counterfeit princes many examples p. 89. Cowardice Insolence over a conquered enemy a note of it 61. Crowne little pleasure in it 21. D. DEath the best men have dyed violent deaths 140. To dye in battell a glorious death ibid. Wee must not a mans life by the manner of his death 141. Decree of God not to be prevented 63. Deformity of body no blemish to vertue 80. Desires unlawfull alwaies unsatiable 5. 116. Detraction v. Slander Dimock Champion to K. Rich. 3. makes a challenge in defence of the Kings title to the Crowne 27. Divorce of Wives formerly usuall upon slight occasions 127. Copy of a Bill of divorse in use among the Iewes 128. Dux and Comes Ducatus and Comitatus were formerly Synonomies 4. Drogo Young Earle of Brittaine made away by his Vncle 5. E. EDward 3. King of England his linage 4. thought privie and consenting to his fathers deposition â—assacre 141. Edward Earle of March obtaines the Crowne 8. sends an army into Scotland to recover his tribute 10. received tribute of France 29. much feared for his prowess 19. His wantonnesse and many loves 115 116. His witty Leman 121. Had two wives at once 116 117. Ill consequences of his last marriage 118. His answer to his mother 120. Adjudged unlawfull the children illegittimate Parliam Anno 1. Rich. 3. p. 30. And refused by the Barons and Commons as incapeable of rule 20. 22. His daughters meane fortunes 143. His death supposed by treachery 11. by poyson 102. 123. Appointed his brother Ric. D. of Glocester protector 11 Edward 5. conveyed with an honorable conduct from Ludlow to London 11. reports of his death diverse but uncertaine 83 84. most probable that he died of sicknesse and infirmity 85. Edward Prince of Wales sonne of Hen. 6. Murdered 81. 141. Edw. Prince of Wales son of R. 3. dyed to the great griefe of the K. Q 44. Elianor Talbott alias Butler married to Edw. fourth 116. her wrongs and death 122. Elizabeth Gray her witty strengths against K. Edwards amorous assaults 117. Is marrid to him privately in a lodge 118. Is confined to an Abbey by
de Comines in Lud. 11. cap. 112. 122. The great Earl of Warwick The Lady Bo na was afterward married to Iohn Galeazo Sforza Duke of Millain el Rueseâ—r This Marriage was in the Forrest of Whichwood L'indignete de ce Marriage du Roy Edw. avec un simple gentile femme displaisant au Conte Warwick aux principaux Seigneurs de Angleterre offensa tellement le Roy Lewis 11. qu'ils font confederacon contre le Roy Eduatt c. Jean de Tillet Part 2. The Speech of the Dutchesse of York to King Edw. 4. The Answer of King E. 4. to the Dutchesse of York his mother Elizabeth Lucy Ovid. Philip de Comines 1620 How King Edward died Lib. 4. in Hist. de Britaigne Moustrolet part 3. de ce Chron. Doctor Morton Sir Tho. Moore Grafton Hollinshead Stow. How King Edward might have prevented all after-questions The Authority of Parliament Parliament how so called and derived Lawrence Valla. The Treaty of Marriage between K. R. 3. and his Neece the Lady Elizabeth Plantagenet Chronicle Croyland Bulla Papae Clementis 5. apud D. Ro. Cotton Osiander in Annotation in 4 Evang. Harmon Evang. The credit of the Duke of Norfolk with King Richard and with the lady Elizabeth and her Letter to him The Cabinet of the Earl of Arundel now Earl of Surrey too Chronicle of Croyland Chronicle of Croyland The Queen died 11 March 1484. Prior of Croyland Sir Tho. Moor. Hollinshead Suspitio est opinio mali ex levibus signis B. Th. Aquinas Suspitio est actus per quem in dubitationem trahimur Meos tam suspicione quam crimine judico carere oportere Suet. in vitâ J. Gaes What a Tyrant is Aristot. in Ethic idem Bias apud Plut. Libell de adulat c. 37. Lucan Seneca Hâ—râ—ules Fâ—â—â—â—â— Demosthines Claudian in Râ—ss Iuvenal Satyre 4. Parliam An. 1 Rich. 3. The Duke of â—uckingham said that the name of Benevolence as it was taken in the time of K. Edw. 4 signified that every man should pay not what he of his own good will list but what the King of his good will list â—o take Duke Buck apud Tâ—oâ—am Moor. Comes Arund vi voce King Iames. Iane Shore Anonimus Iuris peritus in Apologia K. R. 3. Axiom polit cap. 219. Sententia Arabica Caligula spent 230 millions of Crowns in lesse then a yeer Nero said that there was no use of money but for â—iots and prodigal expences King Richard in this was like Iulius Caesar who knowing by certain intelligence the conspiracy and conspirators against his life also the time and place of execution yet he seemed to slight and not regard it King Richards vertues Justice Shelly commendeth the Laws of K. R. 3. to Card Wolsey Vide Ioh. Stow in H. 8. pag. 882. Chronic. M. S. in quarto apud D. Rob. Cotton Sir Tho. Moor. Doctor Morton Parlâ—anno R. 3. Morton Moor apud Stow p. 774. Eloquentia Principibus maxime est ornamento Cic. de finibus l. 4. The praise of the three princely brothers The good works of King Richard Iohn Stow Annal. Polidor lib. â—5 Richard loved not Wichwood for his brothers unhappie Marriage In Rot. in domo Conversorum Aâ— 1 R. 3. Charles the Great instituted the Colledge and Society of Armorists calling them Heralds of Ehr Halten Dutch or Franchish words and not of Heroes Pacem uxorem neptem Regis petit Richardus suit Statura parva To be slain in War is no evil or unhappie death Optimes quosque violenta morte consumptos esse affirmat Lam. Alexander King Richard was slain Aug. 22. 1493. when he had raigned 2 years and 5 months accounting his Protectorship and about the 37th year of his age King Henry 1. King Iohn King Edw. 3. King Hen. 4. King Edw. 4. Seneca de Clementia King Hen. 7. Gul. Campden in Britan. Corn. Grafton Hollinshead Grafton Polidor lib. 4. Although the Lady Anne and the Lady Katherine were well married that may not be alleadged here for they were bestowed in the time of Rich. 3. the one to the Lord Haward after Duke of Norfolk the other to the Earl of Devon Robert Glover Ioel cap. 1. Dominus Ioh. Baro. Lumley viva voce The sundry great Titles of our King to the Crown of England Alex. apud Curtâ—um lib. 8. Clyto that is A Prince of the blood Anno 1. H. 7. in Parliament in Novemb. The wedding Ring of England Edwardus Elthelredus d'Rivallis The fatall â—tone Hector Boetius lib. 4. Et Geo. Buchan Gul. Cambden In hoc lapide fatum regni Scotiae continetur Geor. Buchan Scotus primus Rex Scotie ut Anglus Gallus Hispannus c. pro Rex Angliae Galliae Hispan c. Sir Tho. Moor. Dake Bâ—cking in his speech to Mr. Morton Annos 2. 51. dies Anno Dominie 1484. Die 21. Aug.
masculine line from Edmond Plantagenet alias de Langley the first Duke of Yorke and the fourth Sonne of King Edward the third who was the most renowned and glorious Progenitor to those Princes of Yorke and Lancaster and the first King in a Lineall descent from that great Henry sirnamed Plantagenet famous for his great Prowesse and many victories King of England in the right of his Mother the Empresse Matilâ—â— or Maud daughter and heire of King Henry the first and stiled Anglâ—rum Domina sometime wife of the Emperour Henry the fifth by which he was also sirnamed filius imperatricis The French men called him Henry du Court Manteaâ— or Court Mantle because he wore a cloake shorter then the fashion was in those times By his Father Galfride or Geoffry Plantagenet he was Earle or Duke of Anjou for then Dux Comes and Ducatus Comitatus were Synonomies promiscuous words he was also Earle of Maine of Torraine and hereditary Seneschall or High Steward of France and by his marriage of Elianor Queene of France Repudiate Daughter and heire of William Duke of Gascoigne and of Guiene and Earle of Poictou He was Duke and Earle of those Principalities and Signiories also by the Empresse his Mother Duke of Normandy He was Lord of Ireland by Conquest and confirmed by Pope Adrian But these were not all his Seigniories and Dominions for after he was King of England he extended his Empire and Principate in the South to the Pyrerean mountaines The Confines of Spaine and France in the North to the Isles of Orkney and in the East and West with the Ocean as Giraldus Cambrensis Gâ—l Neubrigensis Ioannes Sarisburiensis grave and credible Authors affirme who stiled him Regum Britanniae maximus and doubtlesse he was the greatest King of Brittaine since King Arthur But it is controverted amongst the Antiquaries and Heralds which Earle of Anjou first bare the sirname and Sobriquet of Plantagenest or Plantagenet after the vulgar Orthodoxe by what occasion and for what cause it was taken and borne and from what time and age it had beginning Some would have the forenamed Geoffry Plantagenet Father of this Henry the first Earle of Anjou which bare it But we shall finde stronger reasons to derive it from a much more ancient Earle of Anjou and better causes then can be found in him if we step but a little backe to their stories and compare the men and their times Geoffry Plantagenet being a man of a gallant and active fire disposed to the Courts of Princes to Justs Turnaments c. and to the Courtship of faire Ladies those of the highest ranke and had so amorous a Star That Philippe le Grosse K. of France suspected him for too familiar commerce with his bed But it was of better influence when he archieved and married the Empresse Matilda by which we may very well calculate he neither had nor would be intent or at leisure for such a mortified and perilous Pilgrimage to Jerusalem But if we would know the man let us looke upon the first Fulke Earle of Anjou who lived about an hundred yeares before the Norman Conquest of England and was Sonne of Godefray or Geoffry Grisegonell the first Earle of Anjou according to du Haillon Ancestor and Progenitor to the foresaid Geoffry Plantagenet some seven or eight degrees in the ascending Line as Paradin accounteth a man raised upon the foundation of a great courage and strength two of the best Principles when they have good seconds and make too a glorious man where they serve his vertues not affections as in this Prince they did whose disposition on the other side being let out into as vaste an ambition and covetousnesse ne're looked upon the unlawfulnesse of his desires how horrid soever which amongst the many rest run him upon the shelves of wilfull perjury and murder the one for defrauding spoiling a Church of certaine Rights and the other for contriving the Tragedy of his young Nephew Drogâ— Earle of Brittaine to make himselfe Lord of his Countrey and Principallity The secret checke and scourge of those crimes had a long time to worke upon his conscience and of a great sinner made a great Penitent being old and having much solitary time and many heavy thoughts which naturally accompany old age and suggest better considerations of our former and youthfull sinnes he opens the horrour of them and his afflicted mind to his Confessor as great Constantine to AEgyppus who enjoyned him to make the same confession before the holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem which Pilgrimage the Earle performed in all lowly and contemptible manner passing as a private and unworthy person without traine or followers save two of his meanest which he tooke rather for witnesses then servants whose service was when they came neare Jerusalem the one with a cord such as is used for the strangling of Criminals thrown about his Masters neck to draw or leade him to the holy sepulcher whilst the other did acoustré and strip him as a condemned person and with extremity scourge him untill he was prostrate before the sacred Monument where he gave evidence of his unfained contrition and sorrow Amongst other devout expressions uttering this Mon dieu Signeur recâ—y a Pardon le perjure homicide miserable Foulque And after this pilgrimage he lived many years of prosperity in his Country honoured of all men To justifie this there be many Examples of other Princes and Noble Persons who lived about the yeare of our Lord one thousand and somewhat before and in three or foure ages after who under went the like Pilgrimages imposed under base and mechanicke nick-names and persons as of a Carpenter a Smith a Fisher-man a Mariner a Shepheard a Woodman a Broome-man c. In my Inquiry after that of Plantagenet I met with an ancient Manuscript that afforded me a large Catalogue of many such by the French called Sobriquets from whence I have transcribed these few for a taste Sobriquets Berger Shepheard GrisegoÌ„nelle gray-coat Teste de Estoupe Head of towe Arbuste A Shrub Martell A Hammer Grande boeuf Ox-face LaZouch Branch upon a Stem Houlette a sheep-hook Hapkin Hatchet Chapelle Hood Sans-terre Lackland Malduit Ill taught Geffard Ieuvencas or Heyfer Filz de Fleau Son of a Flaile Plantagenest the Plant or stalk of a Broome And under the name and habit of a Broome-man our Pilgrim performed this Penance and tooke the Sobriquet of Plantagenest from wearing a stalke of Broome or plant of Genest this is generally received but the time and reason neither set downe nor rendred by any of our Heralds and Antiquaries French or English for the time when he performed this I observe it about the yeare of our Lord one thousand certainly But for the particular relation this Count had to chuse the genest plant or Broome stalke before any other vegitall or thing I shall lay downe that opinion which is mine owne
terra cujus Rex est Puer But here Sir there is exception of further consequence against them That they were not borne in lawfull Marriage the King having than another Wife living Dame Elizabeth Butler Besides the great dishonour and reproach he received by disparaging his Royall bloud with a woman so far unmeet for his bed These Considerations have resolutely turned all their eyes and Election towards your Grace as only worthy of it by your singular vertues and that interest in the Crownes of England and of France with the Rights and Titles by the high Authority of Parliament entailed to the Royall bloud and issue of Richard Duke of Yorke whose lawfull begotten Sonne and heire you are which by a just course of inheritance and the Common Lawes of this Land is divolv'd and come to you And unwilling that any inferiour Bloud should have the Dominion of this Land are fully determined to make your Grace King to which with all willingnesse and alacrity the Lords and people of the Northerne parts concurre And the Maior Aldermen and Commons of this City of London have all allowed and gladly embraced this generall Choice of your Grace and are come hither to beseech you to accept their just Election of which they have chosen me their unworthy Advocate and Speaker I must therefore againe crave leave in the behalfe of all to desire your Grace will be pleased in your noble and gracious zeale to the good of this Realme to cast your eyes upon the growing distresses and decay of our Estate and to set your happy hand to the redresse thereof for which we can conceive no abler remedy then by your undertaking the Crowne and Government which we doubt not shall accrew to the laud of God the profit of this Land and your Graces happinesse This speech of the Duke is recorded by Doctor Morton Sir Thomas Moore and other Chronicles and Historians to which the Protector gave this reply MY most noble Lords and my most loving friends and deare Country-men Albeit I must confesse your request most respective and favourable and the points and necessities alledged and urged true and certaine yet for the entire love and reverend respect I owe to my Brother deceased and to his Children my Princely Couzens you must give me leave more to regard mine honour and fame in other Realmes for where the truth and certaine proceedings herein are not knowne it may be thought an ambition in me to seeke what you voluntarily proffer which would charge so deep a reproach and staine upon my honour and sincerity that I would not beare for the worlds Diademe Besides you must not thinke me ignorant for I have well observed it there is more difficulty in the Government of a Kingdome then pleasure especially to that Prince who would use his Authority and Office as he ought I must therefore desire that this and my unfained Protestations may assure you the Crowne was never my ayme nor suits my desire with yours in this yet I shall thinke my selfe much beholding unto you all in this Election of me and that hearty love I find you beare me and here protest that for your sakes it shall be all one whether I be your King or no for I will serve my Nephew faithfully and carefully with my best counsels and endeavours to defend and preserve him and this Kingdome nor shall there want readinesse in me to attempt the recovery of that hereditary right in France which belongs to the Kings of England though of late negligently and unhappily lost There the Protector became silent and thought it not safe in his discretion or policy to open all the disgusts he had of the Soveraignty for that would have been matter of Exprobation of the Barons and toucht too neare the quicke though he had well observed by sundry experiences of the leading times and moderne too the inconstant ebbing and flowing of their dispositions how variable and apt they were to take up any occasion of change pursuing their Kings if once stirr'd so implacably that many times they never left without death or deposing Examples he had in the Raignes of King Edward his Brother and Henry the sixth not long before that in the time of Richard the second and his Grandfather Edward the second more anciently the extreame troubles and distresse of King Iohn and Henry the third all by the Barons being dreadfull warnings and insolent monuments of their haughtinesse and Levitie and this was Altamente repostum with the wise Prince But the Duke of Buckingham thinking the Protector set too slight a consideration upon so great a Concernment and the affection tender'd by himselfe and the Nobilitie and over hearing something he privately spake to the Lord Maior and Recorder tending to his mislike for an Epilogue or close to his former Oration he thus freely addes SIR I must now by the Priviledge of this Imployment and in the behalfe of those and my Countrey adde so much freedome unto my dutie as to tell your Grace It is immoveably resolved by the Barons and people that the Children of King Edward shall not Reigne over them Your Grace hath heard some causes nor need I intimate how these Estates have entred and proceeded so offensively to other men and so dangerously to themselves as is now too late to recall or retire And therefore they have fixt this Election upon you whom they thinke mostable and carefull for their safetie But if neither the generall good the earnest Petitions of the Nobility and Commonalty can move you wee most humbly desire your Answer and leave to Elect some other that may be worthy of the Imperiall Charge in which wee hope wee shall not incurre your displeasure considering the desperate necessitie of our welfare and Kingdome urges it And this is our last Suit and Petition to your Grace The Protector toucht by this round and braving farewell which made him very sensible For as Sir Thomas Moore disertly confesseth the Protector was so much moved with these words that otherwise of likelyhood he would never have inclined to their Suit And saith That when he saw there was no remedy but he must either at that instant take the Crowne or both he and his heires irrecoverably let it passe to another paradventure one that might prove an Enemy to him and his especially if Richmont stept in betwixt whom and this Prince the hatred was equally extreame Therefore it behoved the Protector to Collect himselfe and fixing his Consideration upon the effect of that necessitie they last urged gave this Reply MY most Noble good Lords and most loving and faithfull friends the better sense of your loves and most eminent inconveniencies insinuated by your Noble Speaker hath made me more serious to apprehend the benefit of your proffer and Election And I must confesse in the meditation thereof I find an alteration in my selfe not without some distraction when I consider all the Realme so bent
complaints made to the King by the Subjects of the King of France and of Denmarke which was well expedited Anno Regni 2. That Treatie of Peace and League with Scotland began before was continued and finished by Commissioners sent from Iames the fourth King of Scotland and by other Commissioners delegate for the King of England those for Scotland were Coli Earl of Argile Chancellor of Scotland N. Bishop of Aberdene the Lord Lisle the Lord Dromonde of Stobhall Master Archibald Quhitlaw Arch-Deacon of Lodion Secretary to the King Lion King at Arms and Duncan of Dundas they came to Nottingham in September Anno Domini 1484 and were honourably receiv'd in the great Chamber of the Castle the King sitting under his Royall Cloth of State Master Archibald Quhitlaw stepping before the rest addrest a very Eloquent Oration unto him in Latine which reflected upon the praise of Martial men Art Military including much to the honour and praise of King Richard This Treatie aimed partly at a Truce and Peace partly at a Marriage betweene Iames the Prince of Scotland and the Lady Anne Daughter of Iohn de la Poole Duke of Suffolke and Neice to King Richard Commissioners for the King of England were Iohn Bishop of Lincolne Richard Bishop of Asaph Iohn Duke of Norfolke Henry Earle of Northumberland Master Iohn Gunthorpe custos privati sigilli Sir Thomas Stanley Lord Stanley Sir N. Lord Strange Sir N. Lord Powis Sir Henry Lord Fitz hugh Sir Humphry Lord Dacres Master Thomas Barrow Master of the Rowles Sir Richard Ratcliff William Catesby and Richard Salkeld The other for the Treatie of Alliance and Marriage were Thomas Arch-Bishop of Yorke Iohn Bishop of Lincolne Iohn Bishop of Worcester Iohn Duke of Norfolke William Earle of Nottingham Iohn Sutton Lord Dudley N. Lord Scroope of Upsall Sir William Hussey Chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench Sir Richard Ratcliffe and William Catesby But the successe of that and many other good intendments were interposed by the inconstancy and contraste of the times The Lady Anne de la Poole upon the the breach thereof resolving to accept no other motion forthwith tooke a religious habit in the Monastery of Sion There was another Treatie of Peace and Truce in this second yeare betweene him and the Duke of Brittaine or at the least given out for peace yet was indeed but a part and pretext of the Treatie for the maine negotiations on the Kings side was how to get the Earle of Richmond out of his custody into his owne or be as well secured of him there as his Brother King Edward was And for this Treatie the chiefe Negotiators were the Bishop of Lincolne and Sir Thomas Hutton for the King the Bishop of Leon and others for the Duke The Treatie began Anno Domini 1484. and was finished and ratified in the yeare following but the Duke violated his part immediately by giving ayde to the Kings Enemies In the same yeare there were Letters made which are yet extant in the Treasury of the Exchequor that moved a Peace and Truce beweene King Richard and Charles the eighth King of France wherein it must be understood the tribute before mentioned was Articled Also in this yeare and the yeare before there was a private Treatie which we must not passe by for the Marriage of the Lady Elizabeth with King Richard himselfe what the successe of it was and how farre it proceeded will more aptly present it selfe in another place Wee are now to take notice of the Duke of Buckinghams revolt for this was the preparative and fourrier of the rest And to give it the more taking feature and specious pretence it must be given out That the cause was the Reformation of an ill Government and Tyranny under which species for Treason is ever fairely palliated and seldome wants the forme of some plea though at the Barre they must take up Armes against the King And here as some Rivers deriv'd from the Sea cannot suddenly loose their taste of saltnesse they discovered their ancient taint and inconstancy which the Prince wisely suspected from the first For the Duke of Buckingham how affably soever he trim'd his countenance it should seeme departed male-content from Court yet made not that generall publick pretended cause of the Kings Crimes all his quarrell but challenged him by some private grudges as denying to give or restore to him the Earledome of Hereford and Constableship of England for they went together a long time which he alledged belonged to the Partage that fell to his great Grand-mother the Lady Anne Daughter and Heire of Thomas Plantagenet alias Woodstock created by King Richard the second Duke of Glocester and Earle of Buckingham and of his Wife Elianor daughter and co-heire of Humphry de Bohun Earle of Hereford and Constable of England Which claime had he considerately look't upon could not rightly revolve to him but rather was for the Kings part For Humphry de Bohun Earle of Hereford of Essex and Northampton Lord of Brecknock and Constable of England in the time of King Edward the third and the last Earle of the Family of the Bohuns had by the Lady Iane his Wife Daughter of Richard Fitz-Allan Earle of Arundel two Daughters and Heires Elianor and Mary Elianor was Married to the same Thomas Plantagenet alias de Woodstock youngest Sonne of King Edward the third Duke of Glocester and Earle of Buckingham Mary the second Daughter was Married to Henry Plantagenet Duke of Lancaster and after King of England by the name of Henry the fourth and the Earledome of Hereford fell to his Wife In favour whereof he was Created Duke of Hereford by King Richard the second and the Earledome now a Dutchy and the rights therof remained in the King and in the Kings Heires and Successors untill the death of King Henry the sixt who dyed without Issue then all the Estate of Lancaster especially that of the Royall Family of Lancaster escheated to King Edward the fourth and from him it came to King Richard as Heire to his Brother and all his Ancestors But the Duke of Buckingham pretended Title to that Earledome by his said Grandmother Anne who was one of the Daughters and Heires of the aforesaid Lady Elianor Wife of Thomas de Woodstock Duke of Glocester and the Wife of Edmond Stafford Earle of Stafford and Grand-father to this Henry Duke of Buckingham who the rather presumed to make this Claime because the Issue of the other Sister Mary being extinct he tooke himselfe also to be her Heire But King Richard relishing something in this neare the disposition and inclination of Bullingbrooke answered That the Earledome of Hereford was of the inheritance of Henry the fourth who was also King of England though by tort and usurpation and will you my Lord of Buckingham Claime to be Heire of Henry the fourth You may then also happily Assume his spirits and lay Claime to the Crowne
by the same Titles This was as bitter as short and doubly ill taken First because it came with a Repulse Next because it seemed to proceed from a suspition and as a tax of his Loyaltie and begets another pretence of exception in the Dukes bosome which he called a breach of promise in the King for not joyning the Prince his Sonne in Marriage with the Lady Anne Stafford his Daughter but all those Colours were but to give complexion to the face of his defection the true cause was well devined and found out by the King his Ambition and aime to be Soveraigne rays'd by an overweening of that Royall Blood he supposed to be in his descent from the said Thomas de Woodstock c. Sonne of a King and yet he was not resolutely determined to make his Claime to the Crowne this way nor to attempt the Kingdome by Armes untill those embers which as it were lay but luke-warme in his thoughts were quickned and revived by the animation of Doctor Morton Bishop of Ely then a Privie Counsellour though he stood in some umbrage and disgrace in the Court with the King for his practises against him and was at this time in the custody of the Duke of Buckingham as a Prisoner more expressely for that being a Privie Counsellour he had given secret advertisement to the Earle of Richmond of what passed in the secret Councells of the King To this advantage he applyes that which he had wittily drawne from the Dukes discontent and passionate discourses at times passed By which perceiving the glance of his Ambition and that deriv'd from the great opinion of his Royall Blood he pregnantly tickles and feeds that humour untill he had soothed him past his owne strength or retyrement for his secret drift was to apt and prepare the Duke to a Rebellion at any hand though not to set his owne Title on foot yet layes open the advantage of the present times to it proposing flat usurpation and tyranny against the King Regnant and the strong likelyhood of his Deposing This lifts the Duke something higher in his owne opinion But comming to a pause and perceiving Richmond was the man they had aimed at for this great blow who had conditioned by Oath to marry the Lady Elizabeth for the Countesse of Richmond had by the meanes of Doctor Lewis conciliated the friendship of the Queene Mother to that Alliance and to draw as many of the House of Yorke into the Action as were at her Devotion that many Potent Lords and some Forraigne Princes had promised their ayds he began to retreat and conceive he had taken the wrong path to his journyes end for his Title and Claime must be nothing if those of Yorke and Lancaster were united And that the Earle who stood betweene him and his Aimes was not onely resolute to attempt but strongly ayded for it himselfe not able upon such an instant to raise a power able to encounter much lesse give check unto his violent Ambition therefore concludes all against himselfe and that it would fall out farte better to side with the times a consideration which doubtlesse would highly stirre a spirit where so much greatnesse of opinion and ambition was And the Doctor discerning this disgust and that he was startl'd in his hope and resolusion to recover him an intire man not let him stand by an idle spectator in so meritorious an action he opens a private way of honour and satisfaction suggesting him the first and greatest man the Kingdome was to know next the King And finding his particular distasts to King Richard of quickest sense and argument to him he freshly urges and as it were refricates each particle to the greatnesse of his spirit and discontent the Duke replyes not much at that time but busie in his thoughts leaves him and presently fashions a visite to the Countesse of Richmond a Lady of a politick and contriving bosome to know the credit of his intelligence which she insinuates with arguments so full of circumstance and honour besides her Sons indearment to him their hearnesse of blood affirming the Dukes Mother a Somerset the reciprocall affinitie betweene her Father and his and then the bravery and Religion in the Cause that the Duke now forsakes himselfe and fully gives up his resolution and promise to her thus prepar'd he finds out the Lord Stanley the Marquesse of Dorset Edward Courtney Earle of Devonshire and his Brother the Bishop of Exeter Sir Iohn Bowrchier Sir Iohn Wells Robert Willowby Edward Woodvill Thomas Arundel who had severally raised forces and intended their Rendezvous neere Glocester so to march for Dorsetshire there to receive the Earle and the Duke with his Welchmen But the King was early in his preparation to prevent them before they could unite or the Earle of Richmond arrive there else they had fastened a most dangerous Blow upon him And at this full stop in these progresses me thinkes wee may observe how uncertainely in our strongest valuations we are our owne and that our greatest Confidences and humane Policies are but heavie weights hung at trembling Wyers while our expectations are apt to be flattered and out-goe themselves but are overtaken in their Successe and Fates as was this great Mans for their Forces neither met by Sea nor Land the English being scatter'd by a suddaine and huge inundation that so dangerously over-flowed all passages they could not joyne nor passe the River Severne while the suddainnesse and strangenesse of it stroke the Souldiers with such alteration that most part of them forsooke the Duke and left him to himselfe The Earle of Richmond was as unfortunately met at Sea by a great tempest upon the coasts of England The King took the advantage this accident offered and pursued the Duke not only with a galloping Army but with Edicts Proscriptions that promised a thousand pounds in mony whereunto some Writers adde so much Lands as was worth one hundred pounds per annum to any that should bring in the Duke who was betrayed and brought to the King then at Salisbury by Humphry Banister an eternall brand having lived by this mans service and now thought treacherously to subsist by his Ruine The Duke being examined freely confessed all and for it lost his head in the field according to Marshall Law used by Armies in November An. Dom. 1484. An. 2 Rich. 3. And here if wee view him in the figure of his Ambition or Fate wee shall find Doctor Morton his Caput Argoll or the malignant Planet of his fortune who as Sir Thomas Moore confesseth and affirmeth by his Politick Drifts and Pride advanced himselfe and brought the Duke to this ruine The rest fled some into Sanctuaries others into Brittaine to the Earle of Richmond and some into Flanders all their Plots being now how to be safe And thus farre King Richard in the Voyage of his Affaires had a promising Gale wee will therefore here cast
men by their out-sides or as boyes Poetry with a tickled faith through such wide eares and observations crept in that Parasitisme on the one side and Pride and Usurpation on the other side that made the house of Lancaster and the Beauforts alias Somersets all one which whilst the house of York flourished was held to differ as much as Royall and Feudall Soveraignty and Suzeraignty for their modestie at first was very well pleased with that of Beaufort and it seem'd honourable enough untill the children of Iohn de Beaufort the eldest Brother being Earle of Somerset assumed the name of their Fathers greatest honour and Earledome for their Sir-name and the rest following quite left the name of Beaufort and made the other Hereditary From this Iohn de Beaufort Earle of Somerset and Marquesse of Dorset descended Henry Duke of Somerset Father naturall to Charles Somerset created Earle of Worcester by King Henry the eight And it is worth the noting that this Duke Henry left the Faction of Lancaster to follow Edward the fourth The first Beauforts legitimated by the Pope and Richard the second have no other Sir-names but Beaufort in either of the instruments Apostolicall nor any words to give or emure them to any capacitie of Royall Title or state of Soveraignty in the Crown onely purged them by the Popes spirituall power from the foulenesse of Bastardy allowing them as children legitimate and lawfully born but gives them no other title then Ioanna de Beaufort miles Henricus de Beaufort Clericus Thomas de Beaufort Domicellus Ioannus de Beaufort Domicella and more the Pope cannot doe As the Doctors of Sorbone and some of the best Canonists hold who peremprorily affirme That the Pope cannot make Bastards capable to inherit the Hereditary Lands of their Father neither can give them power to Constitute Successours or Heires or hold Offices Dignities or Titles without the Princes speciall dispensation to which the Civill and Imperiall Lawes agree and is Authentick in England as a Learned and eminent Judge reports though others thinke it of too severe a nature and moderately agreeable to reason and Law the Law much observing reason That Bastards being honest and worthy men the rather if they be avowed by their Fathers may be admitted to Honours Dignities Titles Feuds and other Ornaments of rewards and vertue Of this indulgence and connivence wee have examples in England by two worthy and deserving men flourishing in this Age who though Bastards held the greatest Offices in England So Richard the second in his Charter for the legitimation of the Beauforts would have men of desert and avowed by their Fathers capable of Advancement and Honours The Tenor of which Charter and Confirmation of it by Parliament I shall exhibite as it is taken out of the Archives and Tower Records opening the way by a short advertisement That in this Act of Parliament there is an Induction to the Charter made by Doctor Edmond Stafford Brother to the Earle of Stafford and Bishop of Exeter Lord Chancellour of England in the twentieth yeare of Richard the second which intimateth that Pope Vrbanus the sixt at the earnest request of the King vouchsafed to legitimate these Beauforts the base sonnes and the daughter of the Duke of Guyen and Lancaster That the King also having power to legitimate and enable Bastards in the same kind and in as ample manner as the Emperour hath or had for so he pressed and avowed in the Act was pleased at the humble request and suit of the Duke their Father to make them not onely legitimate but also capable of Lands Heritages Titles Honours Offices Dignities c. And that the King for the more authority therof crav'd the allowance and favourable assent of the Barons in Parliament which was granted The Charter runnes thus Charta Legitimationis Spuriorum Ioannis Ducis Lancastriae RIchardus dei gratia Rex Angliae Franciae Dominus Hiberniae charissimis Consanguineis nostris Nohilibus viris Ioanni de Beaufort Militi Henrico de B. Clerico Thomae de Beaufort Domicello Nobili mulieri Ioannae Beaufort domicellae praeclarissimi patrui nostri Nobilis viri Ioannis Ducis Aquitaniae Lancastriae Germanis natis liegis nostris salutem Nos pro honore meritis c. Avunculi nostri Proprio arbitratu meritorum suorum intuitu vos quia magno probitatis ingenio ac vitae ac morum Honestate fulgetis ex regali estis prosapia propagati c. hinc est quod Ioannis c. avunculi nostri genitoris vestri precibus inclinati vobis cum ut asseritur defectum natalium patimini hujusmodi defectum ejusdem qualitates quascunque abolere praesentes vos haberi volumus pro sufficientibus ad quoscunque honores dignitatis praeeminentias status gradus officia publica privata tam perpetua quam temporalia atque Iudicialia Nobilia quibuscunque nominibus nuncupentur etiam si Ducatus Principatus Comitatus Baroniae vel alia feuda fuerint etiamsi mediate vel immediate à nobis dependeant seu teneantur praefici praemoveri eligi assumi admitti illaque recipere pro inde libere ac licite valeatis ac side legitimo thoro nati existeritis quibuscunque Statutis seu Consuetudinibus regni nostri Angliae in contrarium editis seu observatis quae hic habemus pro totaliter expressis nequa quam obstantibus de plenitudine nostrae regalis potestatis de assenssu Parliamenti nostri tenore praesentium dispensamus vosque quemlibet vestrum natalibus restituimus Legitimanus Die Feb. Anno regni 20. R. 2. Here wee find large Graces Honours and Priviledges conferred upon those Beauforts for the King calls them Consanguineos sous and not onely confirmes their Legitimation but makes them by the helpe of the Parliament capable of Baronies Earledomes Dukedomes and Principalities enableth them for all Offices publique and private temporary and perpetuall to take hold of and injoy all Feuds as well noble as other all Lands and Signiories Hereditary as lawfully firmly and rightfully as if they had beene borne in lawfull matrimony but yet conferres no Royall Title nor interest in the Crowne at the least to the observation of those who allow not the claime of the Beauforts and Somersets and say that to reach that there must be words of a higher intent words of Empire Majesty and Soveraigntie such as Regni summa potestas Corona Sceptrum Diadema Purpura Majestas and the like Neither of these nor any importing their extent being in this grant so no Title to the Crowne nor Soveraigntie could passe to them To which the other side replyes That there is a word in the Charter that comprehendeth Empire Raigne and Soveraigntie that is Principatus whereof the King and Parliament make the Beauforts capable Principatus being the State of Princeps a Title of the most absolute Soveraigne Power for the Roman Emperours
in their greatest height were called Principes therefore Princeps is thus defined Princeps est penes quem summa Reip. potestas est qui primus omnium dominatur And Principatus and Dominatus are used as Synonomies But it is conceiv'd an errour now to take Principatus for Regnum Oâ— Supremus Dominatus being the word Principatus long before and in the age of Richard the second also ever since hath beene restrained to the Estate of Primogenitus and Heire apparant not onely of Kings but also of Dukes and Marquesses as well Feudall as Soveraigne And the next King Henry the fourth a wise discreet and wary Prince though he was much inclin'd to those Beauforts as being his naturall Brethren by the Paternall side and willing to advance them all he could yet he discovered clearely enough by that certaine Charter in which he entailed the Crowne successively to his soure Sonnes and to the Heires of their bodies that he reputed not the Beauforts to be Lancastrians or neare the Crown Neither is there the least clause or mention to leave any remainder therein to them First he intaild the Crowne to his eldest sonne Henry Prince of Wales after him to the Heires of his body If they faile then to Thomas of Lancaster his second sonne and to the Heires of his body so to his third sonne Iohn of Lancaster and to the Heires of his body Lastly to the fourth sonne Humphrey and to the Heires of his body for still and for every estate the words are Post ipsum successive Heredibus suis de ipsius Corpore legitime procreandis which is all and implicatively an expresse exclusion of the Beauforts This Charter was confirmed by Act of Parliament holden at Westminster the two and twentieth day of December in the eight yeare of Henry the fourth and sealed with his owne Signet Upon the Dexter side of that hung the seales of sundry Lords Spirituall on the left side the seales of the Lords Temporall witnesses And albeit the Earle of Richmond could not so well and rightly beare the name of Beaufort or Somerset being a Teador by his Father and so to be Sir-named or of some other Welch-name if there were any in his Family by his Mother he was descended from the Beauforts for the Lady Margaret Countesse of Richmond was daughter and heire to Sir Iohn de Beaufort Duke of Somerset and Grand-child to Iohn of Gaunt by Katherine the wife of Otho de Swinford which Iohn de Beaufort was created Duke of Somerset by Henry the fift his Wife was the daughter and at length the heire of Sir Iohn Beauchamp of Blet so and the widow of Sir Oliver Saint-Iohn when he married her But the Earle of Richmond by his Grand-mother Katherine Queene of England was descended from the Kings of France and I have seen him in a Pedigrce drawne after he was King derived from the ancient Kings Princes of Brittaine Polidore saith he was Ex fratre Nepos to King Henry the sixt who cal'd him Nephew and he the King Avunculum nostrum our Uncle insteed of Patruum as it is in the Records of Parliament Ann. 1. of Henry the seventh but not his Nephew as wee erroneously now take it that is his German younger Brothers Sonne for then he had beene a true Masculine Issue of the house of Lancaster and Royall blood of England But he was Nephew to him by his Brother Uterine Edmond Teudor Earle of Richmond the sonne of Owen Teudor or Meridock and of Queene Katherine daughter of Charles the sixt King of France and widow of Henry the fift King of England which the French well knew and gave him the better esteeme for it but those Honours were obscure Additions to him that must not goe lesse then for a Prince of the house of Lancaster and so of England which passed with such vulgar credit in France that Du Tillet mistooke Iohn Duke of Somerset Father of Margaret Countesse of Richmond for the true and lawfull Sonne of Iohn de Gaunt c. by his first Wife Blanch Plantagenet Daughter and Heire of the Earle and Earledome of Lancaster Philip de Comines Lord of Argent had better intelligence of his Pedigree and Title which he gives us thus Iln ' avoit croix ny pile ne null droit Come je croy a la Coronne d'Angleterre And this expresses he had no great opinion of either though he were then King when this was writ But let us suppose him lawfully from that Duke of Lancaster his claime must stand excluded whilst the house of Yorke survived for Richard Plantagenet Duke of Yorke and King of England designat by Act of Parliament holden 39 yeare of King Henry the sixt to whom these Titles of Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall Earle of Chester and Protector of England were given by the three Estates in that Parliament descended from the Daughter and Heire of the second Sonne of King Edward the third For as before so still I leave the Infant William of Hatfield without the Catalogue and King Henry the fourth and his Progeny descended from the third Sonne and King Henry the sixt being the best of the house of Lancaster then living did acknowledge in that Parliament the Title of Richard Duke of Yorke the onely lawfull and just Title so consequently next and better then that of Lancaster or any other and before any Beaufort or their Heires the Issue of the two daughters of Iohn Duke of Lancaster Philip and Katherine married to the King of Portugall and Castile were to be preferr'd if Forraigne Titles be not excluded by Parliament But the Earle of Richmond measuring his owne height by the advantage of a tumultuary and indisposed time and finding his Lancastrian pretence began to have a popular retinew he was now incompatible of any others precedency and propinquity for those great ones that led him by the hand unto the Action layd the line by their owne corrupted hopes and feares of the successe therefore would not let the fortune of their expectation faint in him Bishop Morton steered much in the course of their Affaires and was a great Oracle to the Earle who was noted too partiall and credulous especially where he believed the persons of any honesty vertue or learning for which his fame yet beares some staines of Morton Dudley Empson Bray Vrswike Knevett c. for there be two extreames observed in the Councells of Princes one when the Prince is subject to follow the councells of evill men the other when the Prince is too opinionated to consult with Counsell such an one as was Charles the hardy Duke of Burgundy so opinionated and overweening of his owne wisedome and judgement that he under-thought all mens else which wide conceit of his hath left this Monument Carolus pugnax altorum consilia rationes ne dicam sequi uix audire volebat ignominiae loco habens ab alijs discere judicavit
or attained of any thing Capitall Therefore now their innocence must bee made guilty And in this I say no more then all our Hâ—storians or others say who agree in one opinion that The KING could not take away the lives of Perkin Warbecke and this Earle of Warwicke untill this practise of their escape was layde to them and they made guilty thereof Therefore they were not Traytors before neither was Perkin now to bee thought a Counterfeit but a Prince of the Bloud clayming the Crowne for otherwayes Hee was Perkin of Flanders a base fellow and a most culpable and notorious Traitor then what neede they looke further for a Crime to put him to Death And if Hee were not a Traitor surely it was a Tyranny to make of an Innocent and guiltlesse Man a guilty Folon and by Traines and Acts to forge an offence out of nothing For doubtlesse an Innocent and a true man may seeke freedome and purpose an act of escape also commit in and yet be still an honest Man and a faithfull good subject for nature and reason teacheth and alloweth all men to eschew injuries and oppression Besides this Practise of those young men to escape was found as Pollidor well observeth Crimen Alienum and not Crimen proprium then how much greater was the wrong to take away their lives But however it may bee laid upon them it was nothing but a desire of liberty out of durance in which they were kept for a small or no offence The Civill law holdeth suspition of flight or escape to bee no crime Suspicio fugae quia non solet detrimentum reipublice ad ferre non censetur crimen so ulpian And by the Lawes of England if a Prisoner doe escape who is not imprisoned for Treason or felony but some lesser fault of trespasse according to the old Law of England Escapae non adjudicabitur versus eum qui Commissus est prisonae pro transgressione Escape shall not bee adjudged for Felony or other crime in one who is committed for trespasse For the offence of the escape is made in the common Law to be of the same nature and guilt with the crime whereof the Prisoner is attainted And certainely neither the Earle of Warwicke nor Richard alias Perkin were attainted of Treason or Felony c. before But to close this dispute and tragedy not long after some of the Instruments which betrayed them into this as Walter Blunt Thomas Astwood servants to the Lieutenant of the Tower finished at Tiburn because they should tell no tales And to this succinct relation there can be no better testimony then the hands of those witnesses who have sealed their confession and knowledge with their bloods Men of all conditions and estates all maintaining at the last gaspe that Perkin was the true Duke of Yorke whose Affirmations I will produce give mee but leave by the way to answer one Objection or Cavill brought against this Duke called in scorn Perkin Warbecke A new Writer affirming him to bee an Impostor whose learning may be as much mistaken in this as other things though he laid a great pretence to knowledge especially in the History of England and other Countreyes indeed his judgement and reading are much exprest alike in his Pamphlet which he cals the History of Perkin Warbecke wherein he forfeits all his skill to make him a parallel in advers fortunes and supposed base quality to the unhappy Don Sebastian late King of Portugall who he also protests an Impostore And to arrive at this huge knowledge he would have us thinke hee tooke much paines in the sifting of Authors and indeed I thinke he did sift them concerning his ignorance in the case of Don Sebastian if he be not too wise to have it informed I will urge some reasons on Don Sebastians side who was King of Portugall and invading the Kingdom of Barbary Anno Dom. 1584. was overthrown in a fierce bloody Battel in the fields of Alcazer by the King of Morucco where it was thought he was slaine but escaped and fled secretly traver stiâ—e or disguised travailing in that manner through many parts of Africa and Asia some 30. yeares in which time and travaile he suffered much lived in Captivity and misery but at last got away into Europe with purpose to have got into Portugall if possible to repossesse the Kingdome In this returne he came to Venice there discovered himselfe and desires aide of the Venetian States they entertained him as a Prince distressed gave him good words but durst not lend him Assistance fearing the King of Spaine Yet the chiefe Senators and many of the wisest of the Sigmory made no doubt of him Among them Signieur Lorenzo Iustiniano of the Senators Order a man of wise and great abilities was appointed by the States a Commissioner with others to hear and examine this cause of Don Sebastian in which they tooke much paines And this Signieur Lorenzo being lieger Ambassadour in England affirmed and protested solemnly he and all the other Commissioners were clear and very confident he was Don Sebastian King of Portugall notwithstanding they durst not give him aide but councelled him for France where the King favoured right without feare of anothers displeasure But taking Florence in his way in the habit of a Fryer he was observ'd and discovered by some spyes which the Grand Duke of Tuscany had set upon him from Venice who to in sinuate with the King of Spaine Philip the second and for some other commodious considerations delivered Sebastian to the Governour of Orbattelli a Spanish Port in Tuscany from thence sent him by Sea to the Count De le Mos Vice-roy of Naples who conveyed him into Spaine there for a while his entertainment was no better then in the Gallies what other welcome hee had I know not but the fame went certainly he was secretly made away after Philip the third was King The said Vice-roy of Naples confessed in secret to a friend of his he verily believed his prisoner was the true Sebastian King of Portugall and was induced to be of that opinion by the strong Testimonies and many strange and peculiar markes which some Honourable Portugesses did know him by all found about the body of this Sebastian And the French King Henry the 4 th it should seeme was perswaded no lesse for when the newes was told him the Duke of Florence had sent this Sebastian to the King of Spaine he told the Queene what an ill deed her Unckle had done in these words Nostre Uncle a faict un act fort indigne de sa Persone Doctor Stephen de Sampugo in a letter to Ioseph Texere Councellour and Almoner to the most Christian King writes thus The King Don Sebastian is here in Vonice c. So soone as hee arrived here where he hoped to find support the Ambassadour of Castile persecuted him very cruelly perswading the Signeury that he was a Calabrois c. I sweare
Banes asking And such was the want of Reverend Bishops then that he was fain to take an ordinary Priest to marry them in a Chamber too in stead of a Church and that in a Lodge or Foresthouse no body being present but the Dutchesse and some few of her company So where he first saw her and by chance there at the next interview he married her an act of as high exception as improvidence For his Barony thought it a most unworthy and unequal Match distasting it the more as done without their consent which they asâ—ever'd the King ought to have by their ancient priviledges and were the more exasperated considering the great inequality between her condition and the Imperial Majestie of England being the Relict but of a poor Knight his mortal enemy too Above all the Earl of Warwick took it for an high indignity and scandal to his Honour which stood so far engaged in France to the Lady Bona and her Princely friends knowing the French would be as sensible of the scorn besides the great charge he had been at to manage the employment In the heat of these disgraces for transcendent spirits have their answerable passions and it is as dangerous to stand in their way as in the reaches of an angry Tyde he forsook the King and soon after takes up Arms against him an Induction to those succeeding evils which pursued that inconsiderate Marriage of which the judicious Polidor lib. 24. maketh this Censure â—ex Edwardus mutato Concilio de ducenda in uxorem Bona filia Ducis Sabaudiae Elizabetham viduam Johannis Gray Militis in Matrimonium duxit de eo Matrimonio ob mulieris humilita tem non modo necessarios Principes verum etiam Richardum Woodvillum Patrem mulieris celat qua causa cognita cuncti protivus mirari Principes fremere Passimque voces emittere indignationis Regem non ex sua dignitate fecisse easque nuptias se crimini dare dedecori assignare quod caeco amore non ratione duct us esset sed inde initium profectum est simultatis ortae inter Regem Edwardum Richardum Comitem Warwici c. But if you will not give credit to him you shall hear an English Prelate living in those times Edwardus Rex fret us propria electione cujusdam Militis relictam nomine Elizabeth inconsultis Regni proceribus clandestino sibi destinavit Matrimonio postea ipsam in reginam Coronari fecit quod quidem Regni optimates aegrè tulerunt quia de tam mediocri stirpe foeminam procreatam ad Regni Consortium secum praepropere sublimaret Thus this amorous King lost his honour with many of his best and great friends yet escaped well that he had no more real and present feeling of the errour being the first King of England that ever mingled his Royal Blood and Majestie in the Alliance of so private and mean a family The Story of Arragon mentions a King deposed for marrying the daughter of his subject And King Edward was somewhat â—â—er it for soon after he was expulsed his Kingdom But being a man that kept an industrious and invincible Courage above his troubles he happily recovered that losse never his honour and friends which he might have preserved and prevented all those â—alamities that overtook him in his issue by the advice of the Dutchesse his mother who upon the secret advertisement of his love to this Lady Gray used all the perswasions and authority of a mother to return him to the Lady Elianor Talbot his formeâ— love and wife at least his contracted to finish and consummate what he was bound to by publike Solemnity of Marriage and prest it with such ingenious engagements that for the Arguments sake I have transcribed the passage out of Sir Thomas Moor and the rest of our English Writers Thus she disswades him MY Liege Lord and my dear Son It is very commonly reported you are purposed to marry the Lady Gray a widow and a mean Gentlewoman which you cannot but conceive will redound to your disparagement and dishonour all the wise great and noblest persons of your Kingdom thinking it far more to the advantage of your Honour profit and Safety to seek the Alliance of a Noble Progeny and rather in a forraign Countrey then your own as well in regard thereupon may depend great strength to your Estate and great possibility to enlarge your possessions by such Affinity Also if well considered you may not safely marry any other then the Lady Bona the Earl of Warwick having proceeded so far in the Current of that Match already that it is likely he will not sit down contented if his troublesome and costly negotiation should be so slightly blown off and frustratâ—d Besides Sir consider it is not Princely for a King to marry his own Subject at least no great and important occasion leading him thereunto nor possessions or other commodity depending thereupon but will be lesse tolerable to all opinion then if a rich man should marry his maid onely for a little wanton dotage upon her person in which kinde of Marriages many men commend more the maids fortune then the masters discretion Yet there must needs be more honesty in such a Marriage then can be honour in this which you affect for the difference is not so great betwixt a rich Merchant and his servant as you must think between the King and the widow Gray in whose person albeit there be nothing to be mistiked there is nothing so excellent but it may be found in divers other women much more noble and many ways exceeding her and more comparatively to your Estate those also Virgins who must be thought of a much more honourable estimation then widows wherefore the Widowhood onely of Elizabeth Gray though in all other things she were convenient for you were enough to restrain you being a King and so great a King And it must needs stick as a foul disparagement to the sacred Majestie of a Prince who ought as nearly to approach the Priesthood in Purenesse and Cleannesse as he doth in Dignity to be defiled with Bigamy in his first Marriage Thus far the King could with attention hear the Dutchesse But being extremly far gone in love or rather in the hot passion of Love he was resolute to marry her and partly in earnest and partly in play as one that well wist he was out of the check of a mother yet reverently thus replied MADAM ALthough Marriage being a Spiritual thing ought rather to be made according to the Will and Ordinance of Almighty God where he by his grace inclineth either parties to love mutually and vertuously as I hope and trust he doth work in ours and not for the regard of any temporal advantage yet neverthelesse this Marriage as it seemeth to me being considered even after the worlds account is not unprofitable nor without fruits for I reckon not the Alliance and Amity of any
wose Genealogie I have seen derived from the antique Kings of Britain and from divers other British Princes And this Henry Teudor or the Seventh to confirm all the Titles of this Kingdom unto his claim by the strongest and greatest authority procured them decreed to him and to his issue so established in himself and his posterity for ever by Act of Parliament in this manner and words TO the Pleasure of Almighty God and for the Wealth and Prosperity and Surety of this Realm of England to the singular Comfort of all the Subjects of the same and for avoyding all Ambiguities and Questions Be it Ordained Established and Enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament That the Inheritance of the Crown of the Realm of England and also of France with all the Pre-eminencies and Dignities Royal to the same appertaining and all Liegances to the King belonging beyond the Seas with the appurtenances thereunto in any wise due or appertaining To be rest remain and abide in the most Royal person of our Soveraign Lord King Henry the Seventh and in the Heirs of his body lawfully comming perpetually with the Grace of God and so to endure and in no other Which is also another Title to our King Heir to Henry the Seventh And this Act was renewed and firmly established for our Soveraign Lord King Iames Anno regni primo Yet King Henry the Seventh obtained of the Pope another Title Iure Belli All which Titles and Rights which ever were appertaining to this Kingdom and to the Empire of Britain are coalesced and met in our Soveraign King for he hath not onely the claims of the ancient Kings of Britain of the Saxons and Anglo-Saxons Kings and of the Norman Race but also the Titles and Rights of the Royal Families of York of Lancaster and of Wales c. And noâ— as the least in reference with these he hath in possession also those singular and particular Monuments of Empire and Raign by some called Fata Regni and Instrumenta Monumenta Regno Imperio destinata One being the Ring of the accounted holy King Edward the son of King Etheldred which was consecrated and extraordinarily blessed by Saint Iohn Baptist in Palestine and sent back by the King as old Writers tell which hath been religiously kept in the Abbey of Westminster and is as Tradition goes the Ring which the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Inauguration and Consecration of the Kings puts upon their finger called in our Stories The Wedding Ring of England The other Monument of the British Empire is the Marble-stone whereupon Iacob laid his head when he had those caelestial and mystical Visions mentioned in holy Writ which stone was brought out of Palestine into Ireland and from thence carried into Scotland by King Keneth after translated to the City of Scone and used for the Chaire wherin the Kings sate at their Coronation brought out of Scotland by Edward the First into England as the best Historians of Scotland and England relate Cathedram Marmoream Regibus Scotorum fatalem in qua insidentes Scotorum Reges Coronare consueverant Rex Edwardus primus e Scona Londinum transtulit in Westmonasterio ubi hodie visitur deposuit It is set or born in a Chaire of Wood and for a perpetual honour upon a Table hanging in the Chappel at Westminster this is writ Si quid habet ueri vel Chronica cana sidesve Clauditu hac Cathedra Nobilis ille lapis Ad caput eximius Jacob quondam Patriarcha Quem posuit cernens numina mirifica Quem tulit a Scotis Edwardus primus c. George Buchanus saith The people are seriously perswaded that in this stone which he calleth Lapidem Marmoreum rudem the state of the kingdom is contained and that fatum Regni is thus understood viz. What King of Scotland soever is Lord of that Stone Soveraignly possessed thereof shall be King and raign in the Countrey where he findeth that stone thus told in a prophetical Distich Ni fallat fatum Scotus quocunque locatum Inveniet lapidem regnare tenetur ibidem Which Prophecie was accomplished in King Iames when he came first into England for his Titles were not onely funiculus triplex qui difficile rumpitur but also funiculus multiplex qui nunquam rumpitur And may those Titles for ever be establisht in his Loins according to that of the heavenly Messenger Regnum perpetuum cujus non est finis Amen Thus I have led you thorow the various Relations and Tragical Interchanges of this Princes Life to his last act and place where after Revenge and Rage had satiated their barbarous cruelties upon his dead body they gave his Royal earth a bed of earth honourably appointed by the Order of King Henry the Seventh in the chief Church of Leicester called Saint Maries belonging to the Order and Society of the Gray Friers the King in short time after causing a fair Tomb of mingled colour'd Marble adorned with his Statue to be erected thereupon to which some grateful pen had also destined an Epitaph the Copie whereof never fixtto his stone I have seen in a recorded Manuscript-Book chained to a Table in a Chamber in the Guild-hall of London which the faults and corruptions being amended is thus represented together with the Title thereunto prefixed as I found it Octob. 9. 1646. Imprimatur Na Brent TO give you him in his equal Draught and Composition He was of a mean or lowe compact but without disproportioÌ„ uneveness either in lineaments or parts as his severall Pictures present him His aspect had most of the Souldier in it so his natural inclination Complexions not uncertainely expounding our Dispositions but what wants of the Courâ—-Planet effeminate Censurers think must needs be harsh and crabbed and Envie will pick quarrels with an hair rather then want Subject The Judgement and Courage of his Sword-actions rendred him of a full Honour and Experience which Fortune gratified with many Victories never any Overthrows through his own default for lack of Valour or Policie At Court and in his general deportment of an affable respect and tractable cleernesse In his dispence of a magnificent liberal hand somewhat above his power as Sir Tho. Moor sets down And surely the many Churches with other good works he founded more then any one former King did in so short a time must commend him charitable and religious as the excellent Laws he made do his wisedom and strain of Government which all men confesse of the best So having even from those his bitterest times the esteem of a valiant wise noble charitable and religious Prince why should ours deprave him so much upon trust deny works their character and place EPITAPHIVM Regis Richardi tertii Sepulti ad Leicestriam jussu sumptibus S ti Regis Henrici Septimi HIc ego quem vario Tellus sub Marmore claudit Tertius a justa
Hen. 7. and dies of greife 143. Elizabeth daughter of Ed. 4. desired by her letter to marry with Richard 3. 128. 129. Elianor Talbot alias Butler married to E. 4. 116. her wrongs death 122. Escape what the offence is 100. F. FAulcon Serrure a French devise of obseen signification 115. Faulconbridge a famous Pyrate apprehended by a wile 9. Flattery and Flatterers 52. 133. 78. Fortune inconstant 41. Vertuous Master of her 57. Fortitude a notable example in Rio. 3. 59. 60. 61. Friends and friendship 52 best known in adversity Ib. French King payes a tribute of 75000. crownes to K. Edw. 4. and rich pensions to diverse Noble men 29. G. GAston de Foix K. of Navarr 19. Gray Woodvile and others of the Reginists executed at Pomfret for treachery 13 Glocester City rewarded by Rich. 3. for their loyalty 28. Gâ—mot what it is 125. Genius or Angell Guardian 106. H. HAstings his affection to Edw. 4. his children 13. Is betrayed and executed in the Tower ibid. Henry 2. K. of England his great descent and spacious Empire 4. his penance for Tho Beckets death 5. Sirnamed du Court Mantea why 4. Henry 4. King of England caused his soveraigne Rich. 2. anointed King to bee Murthered 14. Entailes the Crowne to his heires 50. Henry 6. K. of England not murthered by Rich. 3. but dyed a naturall death of griefe and melancholy 80 81. Henry Teâ—dor Earle of Richm. borne in Pembrooke castle 16. His noble descent 144 145. by his mother 50. by his Grand-mother and Father Ib. His escape into France 16. And there detained prisoner 17 18 19. His various and doubtfull fortunes Ib. 43. 57. Is attainted of high Treason 30. A description of his Person and qualities 42 58. 144. A wise provident a religious Prince 58. 144. Laies claime to the Crowne of England 17. Made good by marriage 53. And the Popes Bull 55. And act of Parliament 145. His title de jure belli or of conquest confirmed by the Pope and distasted by the Barons 54 55. Invades England with ill successe 43. His 2. invasion by aid of the French 56 57. 59. Overthrowes K. R. 3. at Redmore heath and is crowned by the name of Henry 7 th 62. His vow at the high Altar in Vannes 42. Is very covetous 88. too partiall and credulous 51. Unkinde and severe to his Wife 143. And to the Wife and Children of Edw. 4. Ib. His pretence against the Ea of Warwick 105. 141. And Perk. Warbeck alias Rich. Plantag 95. His breach of promise 93. He feared 3. men specially Ib. His reach upon the Duke of Burgundy 142. His charge to his son upon his death-bed ib. Henry the first K. of England sirnamed Beauclerke 16. Or the good Clerk His ambition and covetousnesse 141. cruelty to his elder Brother ib. Heralds whence the name derived 138. a Colledg of Heralds founded by R. 3. ibid. Herbertus Chamberlaine to W. Rufus Ancestor to the Herberts of Pemb. and Mountgom founder of that name 16. Historians their great partiality 134 135. 143. The errours of vulgar Historians 41. Howards their great Nobility alliance and discent from Hewardus or Herewardus the story of him 66. signification of the name ib. of Hawardus 67. Tho Howard Barl of Surrey escapes Bosworth field 64. A notable speech of his showing his integrity ibid. Is advanced by Henry 7. ib. Triumphator Scotorum 67. Sir Charles Howard Lord Admirall in 88. His noble fame 67. I. IAmes the 4 th King of Scotland denies his tribute to England 10. An army is sent to recover it ib. But a Truce concluded ibid. James the 5 th of Scotland challenges Thomas Earle of Arundel in Campe fight 62. James King of Great Brittaine his Noble elemency to some regall Titulars 135. Jane Shore King Edw. 4. his Concubine 115. 135. Jerusalem a barren soile 6. Imperiall Ensigns of England their signification 26. Ingratitude ex 59 60. John King of England charg'd with the murther of his Nephew 141. K. KAtherin wife of Sir Otho Swinford Mother of the Beauforts 44. Kings have their bounds 29. Their prerogatives in Iudgments and Controversies 54. Cannot commit high Treason 63. May not marry their Subjects 119. A King deposed for so doing ib. Kings and kingdomes in Gods disposing 63. changed by him why 140. Two evils especially the overthrow of Kings and kingdomes 103. To kill an Anoynted King a sacrilegious offence p. 80. Knights and Lords created 25. L. LAncaster and Beaufort how they differ 30. 44. 47. Legitimation What the Popes legitimation is and what the Princes 47 48. Liars need of good memories 84. Lancaster escheated to Edward 4. 35. 47. Don Duart de Lancastro 45. Laws good Laws made by R. 3. Lawes against Bastards 48. Loyalty a rare example 64. M. MArgaret Plantag daughter of Geo. Duke of Clarence put to dearh 143 Matilda or Maud the Empress daughter and heir of H. 1. 4. Anglor Dom. ibid. Malice malitious 130. Height of malice 75. Marble stone or fatall stone prophesie of it 146. Brought out of Scotland into England by Edward the 1. And placed at Westminster ib. The stone that Jacob laid his head upon ib. Marriage not lawfull between those that have lived in adultery 45. Between Uncles and Nieces frequent in other Countreys 129. Monasteries supprest with the true cause of it 77. Monuments of the British Empirâ— 146 Sir Thomas Moore a great enemie of R. 3. 76. Came short of the learning is ascribed to him dyed scoffing ib. Lord Chancellor of Eng. 77. And a sworn vassall to the Pope 76. Morton Bishop of Ely a subtle man 15. A great enemie of K. R. 3. ib. 75 76 77. A temporizer 52. His extreame pride and covetousnesse 53. Lord Chancellor of Eng. 77. N. NAmes taken from Offices other occasions 5 6 66. Nandick a conjurer Parl. 1. H. 7. Natural Father natural sons daughters why so called Naturall daughters may take the sirname of France 46. Noblenesse of nature Examp. 61. c. O. OFficers of State 25. 32. Oxford Iohn de Vene Earl of Ox. fevere against nick-named Perkin Warb 105. he gave sentence of death gainst the innocent Earl of Warwick ib. Strange dissipation of a mighty estate ib. Oppression many examples of it 99. 141. and pastime alibi P. PArasites the nature of them p. 27. 78. Parliaments their power authority 124. From whence the word is derived ib. A Court of great antiquity 125. Called by the Saxons Witengemot the meeting of wise men ibid. The honour and obedience due unto them 126. Parl. 1. R. 3. Many good Lawes enacted Pater mater parentes or parents words of larger signification among other Nations then among us 69. Perkin Warbeck his story 84. Confirmed by many noble and learned men 100 101. Philip Duke of Burgundy K. of Castile driven by a storm with his Qu upon the coast of England 141 142. His entertainment ib. Plantaganest or Plantagenet original occasion of that
name 4 5. borne by the Earls of Anjou ib. Growes into contempt 46. Geoffery Plantagenet Earle of Anjou a Courtly Prince 4. Married Maud the Empress ib. Who was first founder of that name in England 45. Poole Edmund de la Poole commanded to be put to death by H. 7. contrary to his promise 142. Katherine de la Poole dyed in prison ib. Sir H. de la Pool put to death ib. All of the house of Yorke Reynold Poole after Cardinall fled beyond Sea ib. Iohn de la Pool Ea. of Lincoln proclaimed heire apparant to the Crowne of England 44. Popes their power anciently very great 124. Limited by Canonists 47. Cannot legitimate Bastards to inherit ib. That belongs only to the Magistrate 48. Their intollerable pride 53. Dispense with incestuous marriages 55. Their dispensations held sacred 144. Popes Bull 55. Their proud defiance to all Laws divine humane 1â—8 Prescription power of it 144. Prince formerly a title of Soveraigne power but now restrained 49 50. Prince of Wales Sonne to H. 6. barbarously murthered at Tewksbury 81. Rich. 3. cleare of it ib. Prophesie of a Hermite concerning de Vere Earl of Oxford the occasion event of it 105. Providence Divine providence worketh by conrtary meanes 43. Cannot be prevented 63. Q. QUeen Mother and Dowager of Ed. 4. reconciled to R. 3. 29. Confined to an Abbey and dyes of griefe 143. Quithlaw Commissioner for the K. of Scots an eloquent man 33. 139 140. R. RAcke and torture use of it condemned 94 95. and reasons ib. Restitution of ill-gotten goods a hard and rare thing 43. 99. Resolution a notable example in Rich. 3. 59 60. Ryot and riotous Princes 139. Richard 3. King of England his great and Noble discent page 3. Time and place of his birth p. 7. Brought up at Utricht in Holland p. 8. Is Knighted created Du of Glost. marries the Princesse Dowager of Wales ibid. 81. His wisedome courage constancy to his brother 9. makes a prosperous expedition into Scot. 10 11 is made protector ib. His care of his Nephewes and duty to the young K. in hope Edw. 5. ib. Is elected K. by the Lords and Commons in Parliam 20. 22. Is crowned with his Queene and anoynted with great Magnificence 24 25 26. Received at Yorke in great honour and crowned the 2 time ib. His title conferred 30. Is cleared from the death of his Nephewes 21 22 23. 31. 84 85 86. 101. 102 103 104 106 107. Of his brother Clarence 82. Of H. 6. Prince Edw. his son 81 82 of his own wife 107. 129. from the slaunder raised upon his mother and brother 82 83. Was no Tyrant 78. his mildnesse his ruine 61. 136 His great magnificence wisedome justice 8 9. 12. 15. 27. 28. His many eminent vertues 136 137 138. His pious workes 138 139. His vertues maliciously depraved 78. The partiality of his accusers 130. 135. His defamations examined and answered 75 76 77 78 79. His description and commendation 148. Was not deformed His politick woing the L. Eliza. his Niece 126 127. 129. His treaties with forraigne princes 32. 33. 34. His noble valour at Bosworth field Weares the Crowne Royall and why 59. 60 61. Invites Rich. to a single combat ib. Is slaine and barbarously mangled 62. Is buried at Leicester under a faire Marble 147. His Epitaph 149. attainted of high treason with his followers 126. Is compared with other Kings of England 141. Three Richards Kings of England compared an Epigram vpon them 150. Rowles domus conversorum or house convertits 139. S. SAnctuary great priviledge of iâ— 19. 92 93. Sebastian King of Portugal escaped the battell of Alcazar 97 98. After long travel gets to Venice is knowne ib. Is betrayed into the K. of Spains power charged for a counterfeit made away 99. Slander and Slanderers 77 78. 103. Sotbriquets nick-names or sir-nâ—mes examples 5 6. Somersets Earls of Worcester from whom descended 47. Sorcery witch-craft divers accused of 102. Subjects men are Subjects to that Prinâ— under whose protection they live 105. Suspition evill of it 30. Note of an evill minde ib. Honest mind nor suspitious Ib. T. TAlbot Elianor Talbot Widow of the Lord Butler forsaken of Edward 4 th which caused her death 122. Teeth many worthy men borne with teeth 79. Traitor reward of Traitors 37. 97 Treason and rebellion their pretext 34. Soveraign Princes cannot commit Treason 126. K. R. 3. attainted of Treason but unduely ibid. Tyrant what it signifies in the proper signification 80. 133 134. Torture vid. Racke V. VAlour a notable example 60 61. Valiana minds hate treachery and bloody acts 81. Vanity and uncertainty of humane States 36 37. 59. Upstarts 46. W. WAkefield battell 7. Warre between England and Scotland and the cause of it 9 10. 7. Warren Earl of Surrey 46. Warwick Richard Nevil the great Earl of Warwicke 117. Distasts K. Edw. 4. and takes up armes against him 118. Edward Earl of Warwick put to death 96. Wedding King of England 146. William Conquerour his noblenesse toward his dead enemy 61. Woolsey the great Cardinall his just commendations 78. Y. YOrke Edmond Plantagen alias de Langley first Duke of Yorke 4. The Title of that House to the Crowne of England 3. Richard Du of York and Father of K. R. 3. designed King by H. 6. And the High Court of Parliament 3. Crowne entailed to his Issue 20. 51. Richard Duke of Yorke 2 d son of Edw. 4. sent beyond sea and brought up privately at Warbecke in Planders for feare of the faction of Lancaster 85 87. Discovers himselfe 88. Is acknowledg'd by the English Nobility ib. Favoured of Forreign Princes 90 91. His various fortunes 92. Is proclaimed King 92. Is taken and sent to the Tower 93. His sufferings there 94. His offence forged for which he is hang'd at Tiburn 95. Duchesse of Yorke her speech to her Son King Edward 4. 119 120. Cruelty shewed to the remainers of the House of Yorke 143. A finall subversion of that house and name ibid. An Explication of some dark words and Sentences SOtbriquets or Sobriquets Nickenams 4. Angeume of or belonging to Anjou Naturall son i. a Bastard also a naturall Father Rodomantade p. 12. a brag or bravado Cloth of assuyance 27. Towel or napkin that wait on the cup. Contrast withstanding or repugnance Parergum 32. Something added that is not of the principall matter Tort 35. wrong injury and violence Vmbrage or Ombrage 35. Suspition also disgrace Disgust 36. Distaste Contrecar 44. A counter-strength c Filij populi 44. Bastards so called being children of common women in respect of the Father of uncertaine Parentage Ne Croix ny Pile 51. Neither cross nor pile not one title or jot of right c. Ambidexter a Iack on both sides Brother uterine 51. 1 by the mothers side Abbayance 53. In delay or dispute such as Lawyers use a term borrowed from another creature Apodixis 60. Plain demonstration