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
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
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
so consequent and mighty as the recovery of a Kingdome neither were the times and opportunity yet ripe or propitious to fashion such an alteration as was projected and must be produced though there was pregnant hope of an induction to a change of Government stir'd by the Kings coveteousnesse and some acts of Tyrany Greivance and Rebellions in the North and West parts not long after which lent a seasonable hand to these designes great unkindnesse fell out betwixt Charles the French King and Henry the 7. who so far provoked the French that he besieged Bulloigne with a great army by land and Sea the quarrell was of good advancement to the Dutchesse of Burgondy's Plot and brought the Duke of Yorke better acquainted with forraigne Princes and their Courts who was sent into France into Portugall and other places where he was received and entertained like a Prince In which time such of the English Nobility as were interessed in the secret and knew where this Prince resided found some opportunity to give him assistance and sent Sr. Robert Clifford and Sr. William Barley into Flanders to give him a visit and intelligence of what noble friends he had ready to serve him though their more particular errant was to take a strict observance of him and such private marks as hee had bin knowne by from his Cradle there had beene some counterfeits incouraged to take upon them the persons of Edward E. of Warwick and Richard Duke of Yorke But here the certainty of their knowledge found him they looked for by his Face Countenance Lineaments and all tokens familiarly and privately knowne to them observing his behaviour naturaliz'd and heightned with a Princely grace and in his discourse able to give them a ready accompt of many passages he had heard or seene whilst hee was in England with such things as had beene done and discourst very privately speaking English very perfectly and better then the Dutch or Wallonish by which Sr. Kobert Clifford and the rest found themselves so well satisfied and were so confirm'd That they wrot to the Lord Fitzwater to Sir Symon Mountford and others who had a good opinion towards him the full accompt of what they had observ'd ex certa scientia supra visum corporis About this time to intermix the Scene with more variety and fill the Stage some principall persons well affecting the E. of Warwick and hoping to get him forth of the Tower in purpose to make him King had inticed a handsome young fellow one Lambert Simonell of Lancashire bred in the University of Oxford to become his counterfeit and so instructed him in the royall Genealogy that hee was able to say as hee was taught maintained and abetted cheifly by the Viscount Lovell the E. of Lincolne Sir Thomas Broughton and Sir Symon Preist c. who being presented to the Duke and Dutchesse of Burgondy and by them honorably entertained drew to him in Flanders one Martin Swartz a Captaine of a very eminent fame and some forces with which hee made over into Ireland where they received him as Edward Earle of Warwick as hee was of many here at home and when the deceit was discovered the excuse was those Lords but used this counterfet of the Earle for a Colour whilst they could get him out of the Tower to make him King But the vaile is easily taken from the face of such impostors examples giving us light in many for though some men may all cannot be deceived so Speudo-Agrippa in the time of Tiberius was soone found to bee Clemens the servant of Agrippa though very like to him and Puesdo-Nero in Otho's time who tooke upon him to be Nero revived was quickly unmasked Valerius Paterculus telleth of a certaine ambitious counterfet in Macedonia who called himselfe Philip and would be reputed the next heire of the Crowne but was discovered and nicknamed Pesudo-Philippus Also in the Raigne of Commodus one pretended to be Sextus Claudianus the son of Maximus with many such that are obvious in old stories and many of the like stampe have beene here convicted in England which bred the greater jealousy of this Richard when hee came first to be heard of Though those jealosies proceeded not from the detection of any fraud in him but of the late imposture of the said Lambert the Shooemakers son and the abuse of the Complotters for the Kingdome having been abused with those Pseudo-Clarences had reason to bee doubtfull of every unknowne person which assumed the name of greatnesse in regard whereof many shrunke in their opinions from this Perkin or Richard many others suspecting their beliefe were very curious to inform themselves who the further they inquired were the more confirmed that hee was no other but the second son of Edward the Fourth against whom those of the harder credulity objected it as an impossibility that this young Duke could bee conveyed out of the Tower so long and so concealed which the wiser sort could easily answer by many ancient examples which give us divers Relations of Noble Children preserved more admirably and this young Duke himselfe in his owne behalfe when such objections were made against him did alledge to Iames King of Scotland the History of Ioah mentioned in the Booke of the Kings and that most speciall one of Moses which the Dutches his Aunt Sister German to his Father was strongly confirmed in giving him all answerable and honorable accommodation so did the chiefe Nobility of those parts and as an heire of the house of Yorke there was rendred him the Title of La Rose-Blanch the proper and ancient devise of the house of Yorke with all a gallant Guard of Souldiers was allowed him for attendance and much was hee favored by the Arch-Duke Maximilian King of the Romans by Philip his Sonne Duke of Burgondy Charles the French King the King of Portugall and Scotland by the chiefest of Ireland and many Personages in England who at extreame perill and hazard avowed him to be the second son of Edward the fourth The Princes aforementioned readily supplying him with Coyne and assistance towards his atcheivements King Henry actively apprehends what it threatned and bestirs himselfe to take of their inclinations dispatching Doctor William Warkam after Archbishop of Canterbury with Sr. Edward Poynings a grave and worthy Knight to under-rare his credit with those Princes and such strong perswasions were used That Philip Duke of Burgondy for his Father Maximilian was before returned into Austria utterly declines himselfe and his subjects from his first ingagement but excepted the Widdow Dutchesse of Burgondy over whom hee had no power of command because shee had all justice and Jurisdiction in those large signories whereof her dowry was composed And thus Richard was supplanted here what hope of ayde hee had or did expect by his voyage into Portugall I cannot say though his entertainment there was honorable but by reason of the distance of the Country â—it may bee thought hee was
to build little upon any from thence his chiefe conâ—idence and refuge being in England and Ireland where he had a good party and sayled with a prety Fleete into Ireland there hee was welcomed and received as the the second Sonne of King Edward some of the Geraldins and other great Lords in Ireland purposing to make him their King To overtake him betimes there too Doctor Henry Deane Abbot of Lanthory a very wise able man was sent and made Chancellor of Ireland with him went the said Sr. Edward Poynings who so actively bestirred themselves that in short time they drew the Irish from Perkin so that now hee must returne home but by the way was encouraged to apply himselfe to Iames King of Scotland whither forthwith hee directs his hopes and found his entertainment answerable to them the King receiving him very Nobly by his title of Duke of York calls him Cozen with promises to give him strong footing in England and in earnest of his better intents bestowed in Marriage upon him the most Noble and faire Lady Katharine Gordon his neere kinswoman Daughter of Alexander Earle of Huntly This came home very sharpely to King Henry who knew King Iames to bee a Prince so Wise and Valiant that no easy delusion could abuse him And true it is King Iames was very precise in his consideration of this young Duke but very cleerely confirmed before hee would acknowledge him King Henry is very Studious how to thwaâ—t the event of this scene and unfasten the King but casts his conâ—idence againe upon the fortune of his judgement and sends many Protestations with rich promises to King Iames for Perkin for now wee shall so call him with the times which tooke small effect at first but King Henry being a man pregnant to finde any advantage and one whose providence would not let it die remembers the stong affinity and friendship betwixt King Iames and Ferdinando King of Castile one of the most Noble Princes then living At that time too it happened so happily there was a Treaty and intelligence betwixt Henry the Seventh and Ferdinando for proposition of a Marriage of Arthur the Prince of Wales and Katharine Daughter of King Ferdinando this occasion no sooner offered it selfe to his consideration but a Post was dispatcht to Castile with Letters and Instructions to give the King to know what had passed betweene him and King Iames of Scotland urging him to use the Power and Credit hee had with him for the delivery of Perkin to himselfe which Ferdinando undertooke and sends Don Pedro Ayala not one Peter Hialas or Peter Hayles as our vulgar stories have a wise and learned man and of a very Noble house who so ably used his Braine in this imployment that King Iames passed to him his promise to dismisse Perkin to his own fortunes But would by no meanes deliver him to the King Thus Perkin was againe supplanted Virtute vel dolo and of necessity driven into Ireland where hee was formerly received and entertained whilst they were agitating their first Plot of setling him King Charles the French King sends to him Lois de Laques and Estiene Friant to offer him his friendship and ayde with this good newes Perkin hasted into France where hee found his welcome very honorable as befitting a Prince a Guard appointed to attend him of which Monsieur Congre-Salle was Captaine before this King Henry had threatned France with an Army but now upon a better view and deliberation foreseeing what this had in it He propounds very faire Conditions for a Peace with the French King which the French King was as willing to intertaine and so it was concluded Perkin after this began to thinke the King shortned his respects and looked upon him as it were but imagine lusca with halfe a Countenance and fearing there might bee some capitulation in this new League that might concerne his liberty privately quits Paris returning to his Aunt of Burgondy Although Perkin was thus shortned in his forraine expectations hee had those both in England and Ireland that much favored him and his cause making another voyage into Ireland but returned with his first comfort for though they stood constantly affected and were willing the Kings Officers curbed them so they could not stir From Ireland hee sayled into England landing at Bodmin in Cornewall the Cornish and Westerne men thereabouts receiving him very gladly proclayming him King of England and of France c by the Title of Richard the Fourth as Hee had beene proclaimed before in the North parts of England by the Councell and Countenance of the King of Scots Out of Cornewall Hee marches into Devonshire to Exeter to which Hee layd Siege having then about five thousand men in his Army but the Kings being at hand and farre stronger Hee was forc't to rise from the siege upon which those few friends Hee had left finding His want and the King with greater strength approaching forsooke him to provide for themselves thus abandoned no way before him but flight and being well mounted with a traine of some forty or fifty resolute Gentlemen recovers the Abby of Beanely in Hampshire where Hee tooke Sanctuary from which the Kings party who persued Him would violently have surprised Him Which the Abbot and Religious persons would not indure as a thing too foule against their Priviledge The King after sends to him profers of favours and mercy with promises of such Honour and Condition as drew Him to the Court where the King looked upon him with a very Gratious and Bountifull usage as a Noble person But his prompting Jealousies and Feares soone east a dulnesse over this first favours and promises Then a Guard must bee set upon Perkin and his usuall freedome restrained these were harsh presages Hee thought which so justly moved His suspition and discontent that hee thought Sanctuary againe must bee his best safety and passing by the Monastery of Shrene hee suddenly slips into it from his Guard whither the King sends unto him with perswasions of the first Courtly and Honorable tincture But Perkin that had discerned the Hook was not easily to be tempted with the bait this second time Then the King dealt with the Prior for him who would not yeeld him but upon faithfull promise from the King to use him with all favour and grace which was protested although Perkin no sooner came into his power againe but hee was sent to the Tower where his imprisonment was made so hard and rude that it much dejected and troubled him oftentimes in private and with peircing groanes having beene heard to wish himselfe borne the Sonne of any Pesant And indeed every one could tell hee fared the worse for his Name it being an observation of those times that there was three men most feared of the King Edward Plantagenet Earle of Warwicke Perkin alias Richard Plantagenet and Edmond de la Poole Sonne of King Edwards Sister all of
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
in the time he kept this Katherine and had those Beauforts who were Sir-named so from the place of their birth a Town of his own in Aniow But to note transitu how obnoxious this Duke made his frailties that thinking to put a smoother face upon his sin gave it but the same blush by making this Katherine Swinford his Dutchesse against the liking of the King all his noble friends direct Tenor of the common Laws which pronounce marriages between such as have lived in Aldutery unlawfull Nay to make him the more marvaile and smiling discourse of the Court the glasse of his age was turn'd to his last yeare when he sacrifie'd these scatterd embers of his desires and passion But he obtained those children to be legitimated First by the Pope Vrbanus the sixt next by the Charter of King Richard the second and had both these indulgences afterward enlarged and confirmed by Parliament Yet neither these foure legitimate children nec qui nascebantur ab illis were permitted to the Princely familiar Title of Lancaster so long as that â—ame flourished much lesse of Plantagenet for that was the peculiar Sir-name in chiefe of the Kings of England and Princes of the blood Royall since the time of the second Henry Sonne of the Empresse Matilda the first founder of that name in the Royall Family of England Of which honour were partakers the Princely Family of Wales of Brotherton of Yorke of Lancaster of Clarence of Woodstock of Glocester c. And there are yet some Noblemen in Portugall who descended from Iohn Duke of Lancaster and are called and written de Lancastro others of the like Origine and Title may doe as much Neither would King Henry the fourth Henry the fift nor King Henry the sixt all Kings of the Lancastrian race indure to let the Lineage of Beaufort though they respected them as kinsmen and advanced them to many honours Assume the the Sir-name of Lancaster holding it an Arrogation and Usurpation of Royaltie and Royall Rights wherein they followed their Ancestors who devised other names for their base children As Fitz. Roy Oxenford Fitz-Herbert Clarendon Fitz-Henry Longuespee Cornwall and so they continued the name of Beaufort and Somersets untill the Earle of Richmond came and this was in imitation of the Kings of France as I conceâ—ve For within the reach of my observation since the time of Hugh Câ—â—â—t they never vouchsafed any of their base sons to be capable of the Crown of France or to have the Adven as they call it nor the Sir-name of France but the illegitimate daughters may take the Sir-name France or de France because they can make no claime to the Crowne by a pretended permission of the Sa lik-law which Iohn de Tillet witnesseth La troisiesme lignèe a du tout rejectè les Bastards non seulement de la Coronne mais aussi de l'aduen et Surnom de France qui Concession est permis aux Bastards de roy ' c. And as the Bastards of the Kings of England had other names so they tooke differenced Armes or elsewere permitted to beare their mothers if of any Family If tolerated to beare the armes of England then they were diversified in a Checking Debasing and Rebating manner with Bastons Bends Sinister Barres Bordutes Marks of Basenesse Obscuritie and Noveltie which any new Gentleman might beare such as the Learned call filios terrae novos homines and wee vulgarly upstarts But to object against the use of this in England the example of Hamelin is brought in and to credit it his Armes forged by some weake and negligent Heralds who call him Hamelin Plantagenet when the truth is this Hamelin base sonne of Ieoffry Plantagenet Earle of Aniow was simply called Hamelin and his sonne William tooke the Sir-name of his Mother Dame Isabel de Warren daughter and heire of William de Warren Earle of Surrey which their Posteri continued as Ioannes de Warrena the first and Ioannes de Warrena the second both Earles of Surrey and Isabella de Warren and Elianor de Warren c. mentionedin the Charters and Records but never Plantagenet which is acknowledged by our best Heralds and Antiquaries Master William Campden hath these words Isabella filla sola Gulielmi de Warrena Comitis Surreiae Hamelinum Nothum Galfredi Plantageneti c. titulo Comitis Surreiae maritum exornavit Hamelinus Gulielmum Surreiae Comitem genuit cujus posteri à Scito WarrenoruÌ„ nomine eundem titulum gesserunt And that the base sonne of King Edward the fourth was commonly called Arthur Plantagenet proves nothing neither well considered For in the times when this Arthur lived the name of Plantagenet being onely left in the house of Yorke the Lancasterian Plantagenet being more extinguished had not the former honour and reputation but was darkned and setting rather drawing a contempt and hate to them that bare it the White Rose dayly fading and withering and so malignant was their Planet then that as a Learned Gentleman hath further observed It was not safe in that time to be a Plantagenet therefore the permission of those times can be no warrant for the objections nor the ignorance of the Poeticall Heralds who have strain'd this fable of Hamelin Yet farther not onely giving him and his Posteri a false Sir-name but assign'd him by the like Fabulous Art a shield of familiar Ensignes the Armes of France border'd with an Orle of Normandy or Guyen which he nor yet any of the Antique Lineage of Aniow or their Progeny ever bare or could by just Title beare either simply or compounded or the Progenitors of our English Kings the Lillies of Gold in an azure field untill King Edward claimed the Crowne of France and assumed them in the right of Queene Isabel de Valoys his Mother who was the first that bare them quarterly with the Armes of England But the Armes of the ancient Earles of Aniow were a Scarboucle that is a Golden Bucle of a military Scarffe or Belt set with precious Stones not a Carbuncle or more precious Ruby for the terme is erroneous and absurd if considered The Princes of Aniow bare this Scarboucle in a shield party per Chiefe Argent and Gueules and the Heires of this Hamelin who tooke the Sir-name of Warren bare also the Armes of the house of Warren in their Shields and Caparisons but bare the Scarboucle of Aniow for their Crest as they were descended out of that House as I have seene upon a Seal of Ioannes de Warrena Earl of Surrey at a Charter dated 20. E. 3. An. Dom. 1346. apud Dom. Rob. Cotton which hath given me occasion to speake thus much to cure the Blemish that mistake hath thrust into History such absurdities having their infection and passing by an Age or two upon the easie and common judgments after grow up for tall and undeniable truths For some meerly reading the complexion of things as they do
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