sundry of the Nobility then made their residence who hearing thereof assembled also a sufficient Army and sped towards Saint Albons of which the Duke of Yorke being advertised hee also made thither and was at one end of the Town whilst the King and his people were at the other and this was on the three and twentieth day of May the Thursday before Whitsonday Now whilst a Treaty of peace was communed upon the one part the Earle of Warwicke with the Marchmen The battail at S. Albons entred the Towne upon the other end and fought eagerly against the Kings people so that both the battails joyn'd and continued the fight for many houres but in the end the victory fell to the Duke of Yorke and of the Kings side were slaine the Duke of Somerset the Earle of The King taken Northumberland and the Lord Clifford with many honourable Knights and Gentlemen The morrow after the Duke with great honour and reverence conveighed the King backe to London and lodged him in the Bishops Palace then called a parliament at Westminster by authority whereof the Duke of Yorke was Yorke made Protector made protector of the Realme the Earle of Salisbury Chancelour and the Earle of Warwick Captaine of Callis and all such as were in authority about the king removed and the Queeene and her Counsaile who before swayed all vilified and set at nought But shee out of her great policy insinuated with divers Lords who were of her faction and disdaining the rule the Duke bore in the Realme by the name of protector as if the King were insufficient to governe A sodaine change the state which as shee thought was great dishonour to him and disparagement to her she made such friends of the Lords both spirituall and temporall that the Duke was shortly discharged of his protectorship and the Earle of Salisbury of his Chancellourship which was the cause of much combustion after So that it appeares A Tigresse then in title onely proud In the Lambes bosome seeks her selfe to shroud A seeming Saint at first meeke and devout But in small time her fiercenesse will break out Nor can her rav'nous fury be withstood Vntill through sated with best English blood Which will manifestly appeare in the sequell for she causing the king to remove from The Queens practise against the Lords London to Coventry the Duke of Yorke was sent for thither by a privy Seale with the Earles of Warwicke and Salisbury whose lives were ambusht in the way of which they having notice escaped the danger After a day of meeting was appoynted at London whither the Lords came with great traines at their heeles and the Earle of Warwicke with a strong band of men from Callis in red Iackets and white ragged sleeves upon them but by reason of the strength the Lords had nothing was attempted against them but a dissembled peace was made betwixt the two factions which being tyed with Against the Earle of Warwicke a small and slender thred it happened that in a private quarrell a servant of the Earle of Warwicks hurt one of the kings servants upon which the Earle comming from the Counsaile to take his barge the kings family rudely set upon him and the blacke guard assaulted him with their spits where divers of his followers were sore hurt and hee himselfe dangerously wounded with great difficulty escaped but hee got into London and from thence sailed to Callis He thus secured the Queen then aymed at the life of his Father the Earle of Salisbury who set upon him the Lord Audley with a Against the Earle of Salisbury strong Company to way-lay him in his comming towards the City who mending his traine kept on his journey and upon Blore-heath they met both and after a bloody conflict the Lord Audley with many of his followers were slaine and two of the Earles sonnes wounded who in their way home were surprized by some of the Queenes faction and sent prisoners to Chester Vpon which the Duke with the Lords assembled themselves for their owne security and the Earle of Warwick came with a band of men Andrew Trollop persidious to the Lords from Callis of which he made one Andrew Trollop Captaine against whom the King gathered a strong hoast and came to Ludlow where the Lords were incampt but the night before the battaile this Andrew with his Callis souldiers left the Lords and joyned with the Kings Army At which the Lords were much discouraged because hee was privy to all their purposes wherefore they left their Tents standing and fled The Duke of Yorke tooke The Lords flie and leave the King Master of the field shipping for Ireland the rest escaped into Gernsay by the meanes of one Iohn Dinham an Esquire who brought them a ship which Dinham was after made Treasurer of England so that the King was made Master of the field the Dutchesse of York with her Children taken prisoners in Ludlow and sent to her sister the Dutchesse of Buckingham where she remained long after and the Lords proclaimed Traytors and their goods and Lands forfeited and seised into the Kings hands but at length the tide turned For the Lords being favoured by the Commons who much murmured at the proceeding of the Q. her counsaile again entred the land upon the ninth of Iuly encountred the Kings hoast at Northampton where after long fight the victory fell to the Earle of Salisbury and the Lords of his party where the Kings Hoast was discomfitted and hee taken in the field after The battaile at Northampton many of his Nobility were slaine amongst whom were the Duke of Buckingham the Earle of Shrewsbury the Vicount Beaumont the Lord Tiremond c. After which victory they returned to London and brought with them the King keeping his estate then sent for the Duke of York out of Ireland In the mean time they called a parliament during which the Duke of Yorke came to Westminster and lodged in the Kings palace upon which grew a rumour that Henry should be deposed and the Duke of York made King one day the Duke came into the parliament Chamber and in the presence of all the Lords sate him downe in the kings seat and claimed the Crowne as his rightfull inheritance The pride of the Duke of Yorke at which there was great murmuring amongst the Lords but after divers Counsailes held it was concluded that Henry should continue king during his naturall life and after his death his sonne Prince Edward to bee set apart and the Duke of Yorke and his Heires to bee kings and he to bee admitted protector of the king and Regent of the Realme and upon saturday following being the ninth of November and thirty ninth of king Henry the Duke was The Duke proclaimed heire apparant to the Crowne proclaymed through the City Heire apparant to the Crowne and his Progeny after him And because Queen Margaret with her Son Prince
that his Lords were acquitted of their allegiance and in what danger his souls and his peoples were hee and his whole Nation standing accursed he at length condiscended to submit himselfe to whatsoever the Court of Rome should determine The Articles proposed by the Pope and by him to be performed were these following Peaceably to suffer Stephen Langton to enter The Articles that hee should yield to into the Land and to enjoy the primacy and profits of his Archbishoprick that these whom hee had banisht should be repeald and their goods whom hee had rifled should be to them restored and that he should yield up his absolute right and title to the Crowne of England and he his heirs thence-forward to hold it of the Pope and his successors to which having granted and he and his Lords being sworne to observe Iohn delivers up his Crowne to the Popes use the same Hee kneeling tooke the Legâ—…te to him the Crowne from his head and delivered it to the Popes use saying these words I here resigne up the Crowne of the Realmes of England and Ireland into the hands of pope Innocent the third and put my selfe wholly into his power and mercy then Pandolph as Deputy for the Pope tooke the Crowne and kept it five dayes in his possession and then the King received it from him againe First having sealed and delivered up an Instrument or writing the effect was that he could challenge no power but by permission of the Pope and further to pay unto the Apostolicke See yeerly a thousand Marks of silver seven hundred for the Crowne of England and three hundred for the Kingdome of Ireland for the payment of which Tribute yeeâ—…ly paid by King Iohn to Rome tribute but the Peter-pence were after gathered and this confirmes the premisses exprest in the prophesie Then shall those keyes whose power would awe the fates For along time lock up his Temple gates Vnburthen him of all the charge he beares And wrest from him the Lawrell that he wears Woes me that from one Leopard should be torne What many Lions in their pride have worne It is made so plaine that it needs no further Interpretor In those days lived one called Peter Peter of Pomfret of Pomfret a Bard and such then were held as Southsayers and prophets who predicted divers of the Kings disasters which fell out accordingly amongst which one was that hee should reigne but fourteene yeeres but when the King had entred the fifteenth hee called him into question for a false prophet to which hee answered that whatsoever hee had foretold was justifiable and true For in the fourteenth yeer hee gave up his Crowne unto the pope and hee paying unto him an annuall tribute the pope raigned and not hee notwithstanding which apology he caused him as a Traytour to be hanged and quartered After which he bore himselfe so aversly towards his Barons that the greatest part of them Lewis sonne to the French King called in to England by thâ—… Barons fell from his Allegiance and called in Lewis son to the French king into the Land covenanting to make him king who was received with his whole Army and possessed of London the Tower and many other strong holds in the kingdome betwixt whom and the king were sundry conflicts and skirmishes in which they diversly sped during which dissention in the seventeenth yeere of his Reigne he expired as the Authour of Polychron saith at Newarke of The death of King Iohn a bloudy flix But by the relation of our English Chronicle to which we give more credit as also by the authority of Master Fox in his Martyrologie he was poysoned by a Monke having been a great Rifler of their Monasteries and dyed at Swinsted Abbey in Lincolnshire this Monke being of the same House and his body was after buried in the Cathedrall Church at Winchester which fatall accident hapned unto him the day after Saint Luke being the eighteenth of October after hee had reigned sixteen yeeres six moneths and odde days leaving behind him two sonnes Henry and Richard In his death verifying He that did all he might the Kirke despise Against his life shall a base Kirkman rise Not forgetting the former which was predicted of Lewis comming into the Land Hither the French flower would it self transpose Where must spring after many a glorious Rose Henry the third of that name and eldest son Henry the third crowned King to King Iohn at the age of nine yeeres beganne his Reigne over the Realme of England the twentieth of October in the yeere of Grace one thousand two hundred and sixteene Philip the second being then king of France this king reigned the longest and did the least of remarkable memory of any of his predecessours Of whom it was thus predicted Dreame shall the Leopards issue in the throne The Prophesie Crudled in rest carefull to keep his owne Nor forcing ought from others changing then His Leopards spots a Lion turn agen Abroad the second whelpe for prey will rore Beyond the Alps to Ioves bird restore rage Her decayde plumes the King of beasts whose His youth conceal'd shall rowse him in his age Against the Boare the Talbot and the Beare The Mountain Cat Goat with whom cohere Of fowls the Falcon Hearn the Peacock Swan With Fishes too prest from the Ocean With whose mixt blouds the Forest shal be dyde Till love unite what discord did divide Presently upon the young Kings Coronation the greatest part of the English peeres revolted The English Lords revolt from Lewis to Henry from the French party and acknowledged him their sole King and Soveraigne so that within a short season they quit both him and all the Aliens and Strangers out of the Land in the eight yeare of his Raigne was held a Parlament The first granting of Wards in which was granted to the King and his successor Kings the Wardship and Mariage of all the Heires which act was called by wise men of that age Initium Malorum In the thirtieth yeare of his Raigne dyed Frederick the Emperour who had before maried Isabell the Kings sister who for his contempt of the church of Rome was accursed of The death of the Emperour Frederick whom was made this Epitaph Fre sremit in Mundo De deprimitalta profundo Ri res rimatur cus cuspide cuncta minatur Which though it cannot sound so well in our English tongue yet is thus paraphrased Free frets the world De Height which depth confounds Ri searcheth all things Cus with the weapen wounds After whose death the Electors could not agree in the choise of a successor some nominated the Duke of Thoring others the Earle of Holland and some againe stood for Richard Earle of Cornwale the Kings brother but in the end Rodulphus Duke of Habspurg was inaugurated by Pope Gregory the ninth so that great variance and strife continued for the space of 27 yeares to
thence had him secretly conveyghed to Callis where he was pireously murthered After The murder of the Duke of Gloster the 2 Earles of Arundel Warwick were judged and executed After was called a parliament in which divers of the Nobility had more honourable titles conferred upon them And other upstarts neither of birth nor quality were advanced to office and honour in which parliament also many true heires were dis-inherited c. For which the people greatly murmured against the King and his Councell pretending that the revenues of the Crowne were wasted The rumour of the Commons and the causes thereof upon unworthy persons for which divers exactions were put upon the Commons that the chiefe rulers about the King were of low birth and little reputation and men of honour kept out of office and favour that the Duke of Gloster was secretly murdered without processe of Law and the Earles of Arnndel and Warwicke put to death contrary to the Kings owne proclamation with divers others to the number of eight and thirty severall Articles all which at his deposing were publickly protested against him Harding the Chronologer reports that King Richard was prodigall ambitious and luxurious The estate of the Kings Court. to whose Court resorted at their pleasures ten thousand persons pretending businesse there that in his kitchin were three hundred Serviters and in every office to the like number of Ladies Chamberers and Landresses three hundred who exceeded in costly and sumpâ—…uous apparell and farre above their degrees The very groomes and yeomen were cloathed in silke sattin and damaske scarlet imbroydery The great pride of the court gold chaines and Gold smiths worke were then common such was the pride then in the Court It was also commonly voyc'd that hee had let to farme the revenues of the Crowne to Bushy Baggot and Green which caused the Nobility also with the Commons to grudge against the King and his government And this yeare being the one and twentieth of his reign died Iohn a Gaunt the Duke of Lancaster at The death of Iohn a Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the Bishop of Elyes Palace in Holborne and was buried on the North side of the Quire in Paules where his Tombe remaineth to this day This yeare also fell a great difference betwixt Differences betwixt the two Dukes of Hereford and Norffolke the two Dukes of Hereford who was sonne to Iohn a Gaunt and the Duke of Norfolke the cause was after some Writers that the two Dukes riding from the Parliament the Duke Norfolke said unto the other Sir you see how unstedfast the King is in his word and how shamefully hee putteth his Kinsmen to death exiling some and imprisoning others and no doubt what hath hapned to them may in time fall upon us c. of which words the Duke of Hereford accused him unto the King which the one affirming the other denying a day of battaile was appointed them at Coventry upon the eleventh of September where the King and the greatest part of the Nobility were present where both appearing in the Lists and ready for the Combat the King threw down his warder and staid the fight and forthwith banished The two Dukes banished the Realme the Duke of Hereford for ten yeeres and the Duke of Norfolke for ever upon which sentence Hereford sayled into Britaine and Norfolke after passing divers Countries lastly came to Venice and there ended his life In his two and twentieth yeere the common fame ran that he had farmed the Realm of England to Sir VVilliam Scroop Earle of VViltshire and Treasurer and to Sir Iohn Bushy Sir Iohn Bagot and Sir Henry Green and in the moneth of Aprill the King with a potent Host sayled into Ireland leaving for his Pro-rex in England The Kings iourney into Ireland his Uncle Edmund Langley Duke of Yorke In which Voyage he prospered well and quieted the realme to his pleasure and whether it were for some noble act done or out of his grace and bounty I cannot say hee there Knighted Henry sonne to the Duke of Hereford then in exile which Henry after his Fathers death was crowned King of England by the name of Henry the first Whilst King Richard was thus busied in Ireland the Duke of Hereford late banisht with the Archbishop of Canterbury who had before left the Realme and Thomas sonne to the Earle of Arondell late beheaded these with others being a small company in number landed at Ravenspurre in the North and under pretence of The Duke of Hereford lanâ—…s at Ravenspurre laying claime to the Dukedome of Lancaster due to him by Iohn of Gaunt his Father deceased he raised the people as hee went to whom multitudes assembled being weary with the misgovernment of King Richard who hearing how the estate in England then stood made speedy returne from Ireland and in the beginning of September landed in Milford Haven and sped him thence to Flint-castle in VVales intending thither to gather more strength to oppose The King lands in Wales the Dukes proceedings Who in the interim proclayming himselfe Duke of Lancaster in the right of his Father Iohn a Gaunt came to Bristow where without resistance hee seised upon Sir William Scroope Earle of Wiltshire and Treasurer of England Sir Iohn Bushy and Sir Henry Green with Sir The Earle of Wiltshire with others executed Iohn Bagot who escaped and fled into Ireland but the other he there judged and put to execution which the King being then in Flint Castle hearing he much doubted his safety and so did all these who were then about him therefore Sir Thomas Percy Earle of Worcester and Steward of the Kings Houshold contrary to his Allegiance broke his white Staffe openly in the Haâ—…l willing every onâ—… to shift for himselfe by reason of which the King was forsaken of all his people and soone after surprized and presented The King taken and presented to the Duke to the Duke who put him under safe keeping and himselfe hasted towards London Who comming neere to the City sent the The hate of the Commons to the King King secretly to the Tower of which some ill disposed persons ambusht him in the way and would have slain him because of his former misgovernment but the Citizens enformed of their malicious purpose rescued him from their fury then the Duke comming to London by consent of the King a Parliament was begun the thirteenth of September In which many accusations and Articles concerning his misruling the Realme to the number of eight and thirty the King was charged with and for which the King subscribing willing as it was then given out to his owne deposement hee was deprived from all Kingly Majesty the manner of the proceedings therein were too long to relate which sentence being publisht and openly read in Parliament Henry Duke of Hereford and now of King Richard deposed Lancaster rising from the place where hee before sate and
belonging to the Duke he was beset by one Mainart de Goresen but with losse of some of his traine he by his manhood escaped After at a towne named Frisach one Frederick de Saint Soon made a second attempt upon him and tooke six of his Knights but he by his noble valour made his way through the ambush of the enemy without surprizall and strooke up towards Germany but spies being set to know what course he King Richard taken took he was at length betrayed into the hands of the Duke of Lemple cousin to the Emperor who sent him to the Duke of Austria he presently rifled him of all the treasure and iewels hee had about him and committed him for a moneth to strait and close prison During which time as some write the Duke Hence he had the appeâ—…ation of Cur de Lyon put him to cope singly with a great and mighty Lion weaponlesse and unarmed who having conquered the beast ript up his heart and flang it in the Dukes face and after that with a blow under the eare he slew the Dukes sonne and further that his daughter being enamoured both of his person and great valour he left her vitiated and deflowred but howsoever in this all witnesses agree that when the moneth was expired he sent him to the Emperour who was Henry the first of that name and sonne to Frederick the first who put him into a darke and obscure dungeon covenanting with the Duke that he should have the third part of his ransome there he remained for the space of a yeere and three moneths at length upon a palm-sunday he caused him to be brought before his Princes and Lords to answer what could be obiected against him where hee appeared with such a manly and maiestick aspect and withal answered so directly and discreetly to whatsoever was laid to his charge that they generally comiserated his iniust durance then King Richard ransomed at an hundred thousand pound and set at liberty his ransome was set at an hundred thousand pound sterling and hostages given for the payment by such a time which done he was set at liberty which verefies Coopt up and cag'd then shall the Lion be But after sufferance ransomd and set free The King in the eight yeere of his Reigne The Kings arrivall into England about the latter end of March landed at Sandwich and came straight to London where he was ioyfully received and then calling a Counsaile of his Lords he first took order to pay his ransome and because his brother Iohn in his absence had usurped the Diadem was at that time in France he deprived him of all Honour and title and tooke from him all those Earledomes and revenewes that hee before had conferd upon him and caused him selfe at Winchester to be the second time crowned and then began the ancient grudge to revive betweene the two Kings of England and France which was the more aggravated because the French King supported Iohn against the King his Brother But Prince Iohn seeing how much his fame was magnified in the mouths of all men and that all the parts both of Christendome and Paganisme resounded with his praise he made means to his mother Queene Eleanor by whose mediation a Iohn reconciled to the K. his brother peace was made betwixt her two sonnes whilest the wars in Normandy and France went stil forwards Many wery the battailes fought betwixt the two Kings and much effusion of bloud on both sides where sometimes the one sometimes the other had the better but for the most part Richard the best during which combustion before the last 20000 pound for his ransome was payd his two hostages the Bishops of Bath in England and Roan in Normandy came unto him and told him that they were set at liberty by the Emperour and further shewed that his great enemy the Duke of Austria was accused of Innocent the third then Pope for the iniuries before offered him and that upon Saint Stephens day hee prickt his foot with a thorne which gangrend and should have beene cut off and being told hee must die he sent to his Bishops to be absolved which they had denied to doe till hee had showne himselfe repentant for the foresaid wrongs and released his hostages which being The death of the Duke of Austria accordingly done the Duke died and they were delivered In the processe of the wars before spoken of King Richard in the tenth yeere of his Reigne after Christmasse besieged a Castle in France neere Lymoges called Gaylyard the cause was that a rich treasure being found within the Seigniory of the King of England by one Widomer Vicount of Lemruke hee had denyed to render it up and fled thither for his refuge and defended it manfully till the fift day of April upon which day the King walking unadvisedly to The King too unadvised take view of the Fort and where it might be best entred one named Bertrand Genedow whom some Writers call Pater Basale marked the King and wounded him in the head but some say in the arme with a poysoned arrow after which hurt received hee caused a violent and desperate assault to be made in which hee wonne the Castle then hee made inquiry who hee was that had wounded him who being found and brought before him the King demanded of him why he should rather ayme at his person than any of those who were then about him who boldly made answer because thou slewest my Father and my brethren for which I vowed thy death whatsoever became of me the King after some pawsing leisure for that answer gave him his pardon and liberty but the rest of the souldiers he put to the sword and caused the Castle to bee razed to the earth The death of King Richard the firâ—… and dyed the third day after whose body was buried at Fount E-a-Bleu at the feet of his Father which no way erres from the prophesie For potent Kings whose prides Transcend 'twixt whom a sea-arm onely glides Ambitious truth shall many conflicts try Last by a poysonous shaft the King shall die Iohn the youngest sonne to Henry the second Iohn made King of England and brother to the late deceased Richard was proclaimed King the tenth day of April in the yeere of Grace one thousand one hundred fourescore and nineteene and was crowned at Westminster upon holy Thursday next ensuing of whom it was thus predicted The subtle Fox into the Throne shall creep Thinking the Lion dead who did but sleepe But frighted with his walking rore finds cause To flie the terrour of his teeth and paws After this Leopard stain'd with many a spot Shall lose all Rollo by his Gilla got Then shall those keyes whose power would awe the fates For a long time lock up his Temple gates Vnburthen him of all the charge he beares And wrest from him the Lawrell that he wears Woes me that from one Leopard should be
Henry the Third by reason of his tall stature sirnamed Long-shanks began his Reign Novem. 17. the yeere of Grace one thousand two hundred threescore and twelve who came to London the second day of August and was crowned at Westminster the fourteenth of December following The Cororati of P. Edward sirnamed Loâ—…gshanks being the second yeere of his Reigne at whose Coronation was present Alexander King of Scots who the morrow following did homage to him for the Kingdome of Scotland but Lewellin prince of Wales refused to come to that solemnitie for which King Edward gathered a strong power and subdued him in his Lewellin P. of Wales rebeileth owne borders and in the yeere after hee called his high Court of Parlament to which also Lewellin presumptuously denied to come therefore after Easter he assembled new forces and entring Wales hee constrained him to submit himselfe to his mercy which with great difficulty Lewellin took to mercy hee obtained then the King built the Castle of Flint and strengthened the Castle of Rutland to keepe the Welsh in due obedience He gave also uuto David brother of Lewellin David brother to Lewellin the Castle of Froddesham who remayned in his Court and with his seeming service much delighted the King but David did it only as a spie to give his brother secret intelligence of whatsoever the King or his Counsell said of him or against him who tooke his opportunity and privatly left the Court stirring up his broâ—…her to a new Rebellion of which the King being informed hee could hardly thinke that hee could prove so ingratefull but being better ascertained of the truth he made fierce warre upon them at length Lewellin was strictly besieged in Swandon Castle from which when hee thought early in a morning to escape with ten Knights only hee was met by Sir Roger Mortimer upon whose Lands hee had before done great out-rage who surprized him and cut off his head and sent it to the King being then at The death of Lewellin P. of Wales Rutland who commanded it to bee pitcht on a pole and set upon the Tower of London and further that all his heires should be disherited and their claime to the Soveraignty of Wales to be deprived the right thereof solely remayning in the Kings of England and their Successours So one after was his brother David taken and after doomed to be drawn hanged and quartered The death of David his brother and his head sent to the Tower and placed by his brother Lewellins in which the prophesie is verified The Cambrian Wolves he through their woods shall chace Nor cease till he have quite extirpt their Race Of this Lewellin a Welsh Metrician writ this Epitaph Hic jacet Anglorum tortor tutor Venedorum Princeps Wallorum Lewelinus regula morum A Welsh poet upon the death of Lewellin Gemma Coaevorum flos regum praeteritorum Forma futurorum Dux Laus Lex Lux populorum Thus anciently Englisht Of Englishmen the scourge of Welsh the protector Lewellin the Prince rule of all vertue Gemme of Livers and of all others the flower Who unto death hath paid his debt due Of Kings a mirrour that after him ensue Duke and Priest and of the Law the right Here in this grave of people lyeth the light To which an English Poet of those times made this answer Hic jacet errorum princeps ac praedo virorum An English poets answer to the former Proditor Anglorum fax livida sectareorum Numen Wallorum Trux Dux Homicida piorum Fex Trojanorum stirps mendax causa malorum Here lyeth of Errour the Prince if yee will ken Thiefe and Robber and traytor to Englishmen A dimme brood a Sect of doers evill God of Welshmen cruell without skill In slaying the good and Leader of the bad Lastly rewarded as he deserved had Of Trojans bloud the dregs and not the seed A root of falshood and cause of many evill deed In the twentieth yeere of the King upon Saint Andrews Eve being the twentie ninth of November died Queene Eleanor sister to the The death of Q. Eleanor King of Spaine by whom the King had foure sonnes Iohn Henry Alphons and Edward the three first died and Edward the youngest succeeded his Father and five Daughters Eleanor who was married to William of Bar Ioan of The Kings Râ—…yall Issue Acris to the Earle of Glocester Gilbert de Clare Margaret to the Dukes sonne of Brabant Mary who was made a Nun at Ambrisbury and Elisabeth espoused to the Earle of Holland and after his death to Humphrey Bokun Earle of Hereford This yeere also died old Queene Eleanor wife The death of K. Edwards mother to Henry the third and mother to King Edward I come now to the twenty fourth yeare of his Reigne in which Alexander King of Scotland being dead hee left three Daughters the first was married to Sir Iohn Baliol the second to Sir Robert le Bruise the third to one Hastings Amongst which there fell dissention about the Title to the Crown as shall appeare in the next Chapter CHAP. 19. The right that the Kings of England have anciently had to the Crowne of Scotland for which they did them homage King Edwards victorious wars in Scotland The Prophesie fulfilled His death And Coronation of his sonne c. The death of Gaveston with a Prophesie of King Edward the Second THese three before-named Baliol Bruse and Hastings came to King Edward as chiefe Lord and Sovereigne Authority by which England claimed homage from the Scotch Kings of that Land to dispose of the right of their Titles to his pleasure and they to abide his censure who to the intent that they might know hee was the sole competent Iudge in that case caused old Evidences and Chronicles to be searcht amongst which was Marianus the Scot William of Malmsbury Roger of Hungtington and others in which were found and read before them that in the yeere of Grace nine hundred and twenty King Edward the elder made subject unto him the two Kings of Cambria and Scotland In the yeere nine hundred twenty one the said Kings of Wales and Scotland chose the same Edward to bee their Lord and Patron In the yeere nine hundred twenty six Ethelstane King of England subdued Constantine King of Scots who did him fealty and homage And Edredus brother and successor to Ethelstane subdued the Scots againe with the Northumbers who reigned under him It was also found in the said Chronicles that King Edgar overcame Alpinus the sonne of Kinudus King of Scots and received of him homage as hee had done of his father before time And that Canutus in the sixteenth yeere of his Reign overcame Malcolm K. of Scots and received of him oath and homage that William the Conquerour in the sixt yeere of his Reigne was victorious over Malcolme who before received the Kingdome of the gift of Edward the Confessor who did him fealty the
two Spencers c. BY the Cornish Eagle in the former Chapter is meant Pierce Gavestone Earle of Cornwall by his plumes of gold his pride and riches borrowed and extorted from others by the Goat the King who was given to all intemperate effeminacie by the Beare Thomas Earle of Lancaster c. This King was of a beautifull aspect King Edwards Character and excellent feature of a strong constitution of body but unstedfast in promise and ignoble in condition as refusing the company of men of honour to associate himselfe with lewd and vile persons he was much addicted to bibacity and apt to discover matters of great counsell and of stupration and adultery perswaded thereto by his familiars the French men for whose death the King vowed an irreconciliable revenge against the Barons which he after performed indeed so unking-like was his misgovernment that a base Villaine called Iohn Tanner named himself the son of Edward the Iohn Tanner an Impostor first and that by the means of a false nurse hee was stoln out of his cradle and this Edward being a Carters son was laid in his place which the people for the former reasons were easily induced to believe but the Impostor was discovered and by his own confession judged to be hanged and quartered In the seventh yeere of his Reigne Robert le Robert le Bruce wars against England Bruce King of Scots whom his Father made flye into Norway hearing of the misguiding of the Kingdome and the dissention betwixt him and his Barons warre strongly against him and his friends in Scotland and wonne from them Castles and Holds howsoever well munified to the great damage of the English who were interessed The Kings power against Scotland in the Land For which affront the King assembled a great power and invaded Scotland by Sea burning and destroying all such Townes and Villages as were in his way which Robert le Bruce hearing he hasted with a strong Army and upon S. Iohn Baptists day both Hoasts met at a place called Estrivelin neere unto a fresh River called Bannoksburne where betwixt them was fought a cruell battaile in which the English were compeld to forsake the field For which in derision of the English the Scots made this Ryme Doggerill Maidens of England sore may you mourn The Scots derision of the English For the Lemans you have lost at Bannocksborn With a heave and hoe What weened the King of England so soone to have wonne Scotland With a Rumby low In his ninth yeere Barwick was betrayed to the Scots by one Peter Spalding whom the King had Barwick betrayed to the Scots made Governour of the Town and Castle and in the eleventh yeâ—…re the Scots entred the borders of Northumberland most cruelly robbing and burning the Country even the houses of women who lay in Childbed not sparing age The cruelty of the Scots nor sex religious nor other therefore the King raised a new Army and laid siege to Barwick in which interim the Scots past the River of Swale and leaving the Coast where the Kings people lay came into the Borders of Yorkeshire to whom the Archbishop with Priests and ploughmen unexercised in armes gave battail but were discomfited in which so many Priors Clerks Canons and other Clergymen were slaine that they called it the white battaile when The white battaile the King heard of this overthrow hee broke up his siege and retyred to Yorke and soone after to London After this nothing was done without the advice of the two Hugh Spencers the father and the sonne and in a Counsell held at Yorke Hugh Spencer the sonne maugre the Lords was made high Chamberlain of England who bore him as haughtily as ever did Gavestone but let The pride of Hugh Spencer the sonne me take the prophesie along A Goat shall then appeare out of a Carr VVith silver hornes not Iron unfit for warre And above other shall delight to feed Vpon the flower that life and death doth breed By the Goat is figured lascivious Edward therefore said to appeare out of a Car as born in Carnarvan his hornes of silver and not of Iron denotes his effeminacie being unserviceable for warre as may appeare in his successe against the Scots by the Flower of life and death is intended his Queene Isabel the Flower of France at first deare to him as life but in the end as most Writers have suspected with Mortimer accessary to his death but to proceed with the History The Barons to a great number seeing how The assembly of the Barons the Spencers misled the King and misgoverned the affaires in the Land assembled themselves and tooke a solemne and unanimous vow to remove them out of the Kingdome and as their first attempt certain of them appointed to that purpose entred upon the Mannors and Castles of the Spencers in the Marches of Wales spoyling and ruining them to the earth of which riot they complained to the King who summoned them to appeare before his Counsell which The petition of the Barons to the King they refused to doe but gathered unto them a stronger Hoast and sent to his Majesty humbly beseeching him to remove from his person the two Spencers which daily did to him great dishonour and to the Common-weale which damage with humble request the King hearing and doubting his owne safety called a Parliament to be held at London to which the Barons came with a great Hoast all suited in demy-parted Iackets of yellow and greene with a list of white cast overthwart for which the common The Parlament of white-bands people called it the Parliament of white-bands in which the two Spencers were banished the Kingdome for ever But the yeere following the King revoked the Acts made in the former Parliament and called them into England contrary to the will of the Barons and set them in greater authority then before to the great disturbance and almost utter subversion of the Realme for now the whole Land was in combustion and the King animated by the Spencers tooke on him the shape of a Lion and ceased not till hee had cut off the chiefe and prime Nobility of the Land For besides those that were slaine none was brought to the Barre but was thence led to the blocke who having got the better of his Barons he called a Parliament at Yorke in which Hugh Spencer the Father was made Earle of Hugh Spencer the father made Earle of Winchester Winchester and soone after was one Robert Baldock a follow of debaucht life and condition made Chancellour of England Then forfeits Robert Baldock made Chancellour and sines were gathered without sparing of priviledged places or other till a mighty summe of money was gathered towards another expedition into Scotland and then his Army consisted according to Caxton and others of an hundred thousand men but hee sped in that as in the former for on Saint Lukes day at a
slaine of men of note the Duke of Athenes the Duke of Burbon Sir Iohn Cleremont Marshall of France Sir Henry Camian Banneret who bore that day the Oriflambe a special relick that the French Kings used in all battailes to have borne before them the Bishop of Chabous with divers others to the number of fifty foure Bannerets Knights and others And of prisoners taken in that battaile were Iohn King of France Philip his fourth sonne Iohn King of France tooke prisoner Sir Iaques of Burbon Earle of Poitou and brother to the Duke of Burbon Sir Iohn of Artoys Earle of Ewe Sir Charles his brother Earle of Noble men took prisoners Longevile Sir Giffard Cousin German to the French King Sir Iohn his sonne and heire William Archbishop of Sence Sir Simon Melen brother to the Earle Canlarvive and Earle of Vandature The Earles of Dampmartin of Vendosme of Salisbruch of Moyson the Martiall Denham with others as Bannerets Knights and men of name according to their owne Writers fifteene hundred and above from which battaile escaped Charles eldest son of King Iohn and Duke of Normandy with the Duke of Anjoy and few others of name And King Edward after due thanks given to Almighty God for his Charles Duke of Normandy escapeth from the battaile triumphant victory retyred himselfe to Burdeaux with his Royall prisoners where the King and the rest were kept till Easter following In the one and thirtieth yeere of the King the sixteenth of April Prince Edward being eight and twenty yeeres of age tooke shipping with his prisoners at Burdeaux and the foure and twentieth of May was received with great joy by the Citizens of London and thence conveyed to the Kings palace at Westminster where the King sitting in his estate Royall in Westminster Hall after hee had indulgently entertained the Prince he was conveyed to his lodging and the French King royally conducted to the Savoy where he lay long after and in the Winter following were royall Iusts held in Smithfield at which were present the King of Three Kings present at the Iusts in Smithfield England the French King the Scotch King then prisoners with many noble persons of all the three Kingdoms the most part of the strangers being then prisoners Whilst K. Iohn remayned in England which was for the space of 4 yeers and odde days The king of England and the blacke Prince his son with their Armies over-run the greatest part of France during the time of Charles his Regency over the kingdome who was king Iohns eldest son against whom they had many memorable victories spoyling where they list and sparing what they pleased in so much that king Edward The Father and sonne victorious in â—…rance made his owne conditions ere any peace could be granted at length the king was delivered and royally conveyed into his country who so well approved of and liked his entertainment here that in the thirty seventh yeere of king Edward he returned into England and at Eltham besides Greenwich dined with the king and in the same afternoon was royally received by the Citizens and conveyed through London to the Savoy which was upon the twenty fourth of Ianuary but about the beginning of March following a grievous sicknesse tooke him of which he dyed the eight of Aprill following King Iohn dyeth at the Savoy whose body was after solemnly conveyedto St. Denis in France and there royally interred In the fortieth yeere of the king one Barthran de Cluicon a Norman with an Army of Frenchmen entred the land of Castile and warred upon Peter king of that Country and within foure moneths chaced him out of his kingdome and crowned Henry his bastard brother in his stead wherefore hee was constrained to flie to Burdeaux and to demand aide of Prince Edward who commiserating his case as being lawfull king howsoever of a tyrannous and bloudy disposition he granted his request so that hee assisted Peter with his English Archers against the bastard Henry with his French Spear-men whose two Armies mâ—…t neere unto a town called Doming where betwixt them was a lâ—…ng P. Edwards victoryia Spaine and cruell fight but in the end the victory fell to the Prince and Henry with his whole army were rowted In which battail were taken Barthran de Claicon and Arnold Dodenham Marshall of France with divers others as well French as Britons and Spaniards and slain to the number of five thousand of the enemies and of the princes Army sixteen hundred after which hee enstated Peter in his kingdome who after perfidiously denyed to pay the princes army For which he was after divinely punished as also for killing his owne wife the daughter to the Duke of Burbon for his Bastard brother Henry knowing how hee was justly abandoned by the English having gathered new forces gave him battaile in which being taken his brother commanded his head to be strooke off which was immediately done after which Iohn of The death of Don Peter Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the Kings sonne and Edward his brother Earle of Cambridge married the two daughters of this Peter late King of Castile Iohn espoused Constance the elder and Iohn a Gaunts title to Spain Edward Isabel the younger by which marriages the two brethren claimed to be inheritours to the Kingdome of Castile or Spaine In the one and fiftieth yeare of the King upon the eighth of Iune being Trinity Sonday dyed that renowned souldier Edward the black Prince in the palace of Westminster whose body The death of the blacke Prince was after carried to Canterbury and there solemnly interred who in his life time was much beloved both of the Commons and the whole kingdome especially for removing from the kings person all such as had misled him in his age by which the Common Weale was much oppressed amongst others was the Lord Latimer noted for principall and Alice Pierce the Kings Concubine with Sir Richard Skory Alice Pierce the Kings Conâ—…ine all which were according to the Commons just complaint by the Prince removed but hee was no sooner dead but the king contrary to his promise before made called them again admitting them to their former Offices and Honours and Alice his prostitute to his wonted grace and favour In the two and fiftieth yeer the two and twentieth day of Iune dyed at his Mannor of Sheen The death of K. Edward the third now called Richmond the royall and most victorious Prince king Edward the third of that name of whom it was truly predicted The spirits of many Lions shall conspire To make one by infusion so entire He by his mighty courage shall restore What his sire lost and grandsire wonne before As also that of the unparalleld blacke Prince his sonne who died before his Father A numerous issue shall his Lionesse bring Black shall the first be and though never King Yet shall he Kings captive but ere mature Die shall this brave Whelp of a
standing where all might behold him first making the signe of the Crosse upon his forehead and after on his brest silence being commanded he spake as followeth In the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost I Henry of Lancaster Clayme the Realme of England with the Crowne and all the appurtenances thereto belonging as I am rightly discended from the right Line of the bloud comming from that good Lord K. Henry the third and through the right that God of his grace hath sent me with the help of my kinred and friends to recover the same which was in point to be undone for default of good governance and justice c. Which having spoken hee sate downe in his The Duke of Hereâ—…ord claymes the Crowne place then every one hearing his clayme spake what hee thought and after some distance of time the Archbishop of Canterbury knowing the minds of Lords stood up and asked the Commons if they would assent with the Nobility in their election which they thought to be needfull and for the good of the Kingdome to which with an unanimous voice they said yea yea after which the Archbishop approching the Duke uttered some words to him in private which done hee arose and taking him by the hand led him unto the Kings Seat and placed him therein after made a long Oration to that noble Assembly the effect whereof was to prove the Dukes Title to the Crowne and to justifie the deposing of the King verifying what was before predicted of him Foure Princely Lions were to him allide Gall shall be with his horns in his great pride At length a Fox clad in skin of gold Shall snatch the Kid from midst of all his fold By the foure Lions are figured his foure Princely Uncles sonnes to Edward the third whom he severally injured preferring men raised from nothing to be eminent above them both in honour and office and by the Fox Henry of Balwarke who clothed himselfe with all the golden ornament of Regall Majesty and snatcht him from the midst of all the fold that was from amongst his own subjects and people and after caused him to bee put to a violent and cruell death CHAP. 24. The Coronation of Edward the fourth with his great Feast held in Westminster Hall A great Conspiracy intended against him but prevented the lamentable murder of King Richard the second in Pomfret Castle by Sir Pierce of Exton his valour at his death His Epitaph The great riches found in his treasury A prosecution of sundry passages in the Reigne of King Henry He prepares a journey for the Holy land but is prevented by death HEnry the fourth of that name and sonne to Iohn a Gaunt Duke of Lancaster tooke possession of the whole Dominion of England upon the last day of September in the yeere of Grace one thousand three hundred fourescore and nineteene after which he made new Officers cleane through the Kingdome One and forty Knights of the Bath made and then gave order for his Coronation and the Eve before hee in the Tower made 41 knights of the Bath of which three were his owne sonnes and three Earles and five Lords c. Then the morrow after being Monday the thirteenth of October he was crowned at Westminster King Henries Coronation by the Archbishop of Canterbury after which solemnity ended a great and sumptuous feast was held in the great Hall where the king being sate in the middest of the table the Arch-bishop The manner of his great feast in Westminster Hall of Canterbury with three other Prelates were placed at the right hand of the same table and on the left hand the Arch-bishop of York with foure other of the Clergy Henry the kings eldest sonne stood by his Father on his right hand with a sword poyntlesse and the Earle of Northumberland new made Lord Constable with a poynted sword on his left hand both swords being held upright Before the king stood all dinner time the dukes of Aumerl of Surry and of Exceter with two other Earles and the Earle of Westmerland late made Marshall rov'd about the Hall with many Tip Staves to make roome that the Officers with more ease might serve the Tables Of which the chiefe upon the right side of the hall was begun by the Barons of the Cinque ports and at the Table next the Cupboord upon the left hand sate the Lord Major and the Aldermen of London which Major being Drewe Barendine Goldsmith was presented according to the custome with a cup of gold after the second course came in Sir Thomas Dimocke armed at all poynts and sitting upon a The Kings Champion good Steed road to the higher part of the Hall and before the King caused a Herald to make Proclamation that whosoever would affirme King Henry was not lawfull inheritour to the Crown and Kingdome of England he was there ready to wage battaile against him which Proclamation hee caused to bee made after in three other parts of the Hall in French and English with many more observances at such solemnities exercised and done which feast being ended the morrow after being tuesday the parliament was againe begunne of this King and his reigne it was thus predicted The Foxe being earth'd according to his mind In the Kids den a Magazine shall finde The prophesie of his reigne Yet all that treasure can his life not save But rather bring him to a timelesse grave Meane time shall study many a forrest beast By a new way to kill the King in jest But crafty Rainold shall the plot prevent And turne it all to their owne detriment Wales and the north against him both shall rise But he who still was politicke and wise Shal quell their rage much trouble he 'll indure And after when he thinks himselfe secure Hoping to wash the Kids bloud from his hand Purpose a voyage to the Holy Land But faile Yet in Hierusalem shall dye Deluded by a doubtfull augury In the former parlament were many Challenges of the peers one against the other which came to none effect but onething was there confirmed What was done in the Parliament that whosoever had hand in the good Duke of Glosters death should dye as traitors For which divers found guilty after suffered moreover sundry acts made in the time of Richards reigne were disannulled and made voyd and others held more profitable for the kingdomes good and Common-weales enacted in their stead Then was King Richard removed from the Tower and thence conveighed to Leedes and King Richard removed to Pomphret after to the Castle of Pomphret there was provision made for the King to keep his Christmas at Windsor in which interim the Dukes of Amerle of Surrey and of Exeter with the Earles of Salisbury and of Gloster with others of their affinity Lords Knights and Esquires made great provision for a Maske to be presented before the King upon Twelfth night which grew neere and