maintaine so great an Armory or Stable it might cause me or any other Nobleman to be suspected as the preparing of some Innovation IVST Why so my Lord rather to bee commended as preparing against all danger of Innovation COVNS It should be so but call your observation to accompt you shall find it as I say for indeed such a jelousie hath been held euer since the time of the Ciuill wars ouer the Military greatnes of our Nobles as made them haue litle will to bend their studies that wayes wherefore let euery man prouide according as hee is rated in the Muster booke you vnderstand me IVST Very well my Lord as what might be replyed in the preceiuing so much I haue euer to deale plainly and freely with your Lordship more fear'd at home popular violence then all the forreine that can be made for it can neuer bee in the power of any forreine Prince without a Papisticall party either to disorder or endanger his Majesties Estate COVNS By this it seemes it is no lesse dangerous for a king to leaue the power in the people then in the Nobility IVST My good Lord the wisdome of our owne age is the foolishnes of another the time present ought not to bee prefer'd to the Policy that was but the policy that was to the time present So that the power of the Nobility being now withered and the power of the people in the flowre the care to content them would not be neglected the way to win them often practized or at least to defend them from oppression The motiue of all dangers that euer this Monarchy hath vndergone should bee carefully heeded for this Maxime hath no posterne Potestas humana radicatur in voluntatibus hominum And now my Lord for King Edward it is true though he were not subject to force yet was hee subiect to necessity which because it was violent hee gaue way vnto it Potestas saith Pythagoras iuxia necessitatem habitat And it is true that at the request of the house he discharged put from him those before named which done he had the greatest gift but one that euer he receiued in all his dayes to wit from euery person man woman aboue the age of fourteen yeares 4 ◠of old mony which made many Millions of Groats worth 6 ◠of our mony This he had in generall besides he had of euery beneficed Priest 12 d. And of the Nobility Gentry I know not how much for it is not set down Now my good Lord what lost the King by satisfying the desires of the Parliament house for assoone as hee had the money in purse hee recalled the Lords and restored them who durst call the King to accompt when the Assembly were dissolued Where the word of a King is there is power saith Ecclesiasticus who shall say vnto him what doest thou saith the same Author for euery purpose there is a time judgment the King gaue way to the time his judgmēt persweded him to yeeld to necessity Consularius nemo melior est quà m tempus COVNS But yet you see the king was forc'd to yeeld to their demaunds IVST Doth your Lordship remember the saying of Monsieur de Lange that he that hath the profit of the warre hath also the honour of the warre whether it be by battaile or retreate the King you see had the profit of the Parliament and therefore the honour also what other end had the king then to supply his wants A wise man hath euermore respect vnto his ends And the king also knew that it was the loue that the people bare him that they vrged the remouing of those Lords there was no man among them that sought himselfe in that desire but they all sought the King as by the successe it appeared My good Lord hath it not been ordinary in England and in France to yeeld to the demaunds of rebels did not King Richard the second graunt pardon to the outragious roagues murtherers that follovved Iack Straw Wat Tyler after they had murthered his Chancellor his Treasurer Chiefe Iustice and others brake open his Exchequer and committed all manner of outrages and villanies and why did he doe it but to avoid a greater danger I say the Kings haue then yeelded to those that hated them and their estates to wit to pernicious rebels And yet without dishonour shall it be called dishonour for the King to yeeld to honest desires of his subjects No my Lord those that tell the King those tales feare their own dishonour and not the Kings for the honour of the King is supreame and being guarded by Iustice and piety it cannot receiue neither wound nor stayne COVNS But Sir what cause haue any about our King to feare a Parliament IVST The same cause that the Earle of Suffolke had in Richard the seconds time and the Treasurer Fartham with others for these great Officers being generally hated for abusing both the King and the subiect at the request of the States were discharged and others put in their roomes COVNS And was not this a dishonour to the king IVST Certainly no for King Richard knew that his Grandfather had done the like and though the king was in his heart vtterly against it yet had hee the profite of this exchange for Suffolke was fined at 20000 markes 1000 ◠lands COVNS Well Sir we will speake of those that feare the Parliament some other time but I pray you goe on with that that happened in the troublesome raigne of Richard the second who succeeded the Grandfather beeing dead IVST That king my good Lord was one of the most vnfortunate Princes that euer England had hee was cruell extreame prodigall and wholly carryed away with his two Minions Suffolk the duke of Ireland by whose ill advice others he was in danger to haue lost his estate which in the end being led by men of the like temper he miserably lost But for his subsedies hee had giuen him in his first yeare being vnder age two tenths and two fifteenes In which Parliament Alice Peirce who was remoued in king Edwards time with Lancaster Latimer and Sturry were confiscate banished In his second yeare at the Parliament at Glocester the King had a marke vpon euery sacke of wooll and 6 d the pound vpon wards In his third yeare at the Parliament at Winchester the Commons were spared and a subsedy giuen by the better sort the Dukes gaue 20 markes and Earles 6 markes Bishoppes and Abbots with myters fixe markes euery marke 3◠4 d euery Knight Iustice Esquier Shrieue Parson Vicar Chaplaine paid proportionably according to their estates COVNS This me thinkes was no great matter IVST It is true my Lord but a little mony went far in those dayes I my selfe once moued it in Parliament in the time of Queene Elizabeth who desired much to spare the Common people and I did it by her Commaundement but when we cast vp
they are justly or injustly laide IVST To impose vpon all things brought into the Kingdome is very auncient which imposing when it hath beene continued a certaine time is then called Customes because the subjects are accustomed to pay it yet the great taxe vpon wine is still called Impost because it was imposed after the ordinary rate of payment had lasted many yeares But we doe now a dayes vnderstand those things to bee impositions which are raised by the commaund of Princes without the aduice of the common-wealth though as I take it much of that which is now called custome was at the first imposed by Prerogatiue royall Now whether it be time or consent that makes them just I cannot define were they just because new and not justified yet by time or vnjust because they want a generall consent yet is this rule of Aristotle verified in respect of his Majestie Minus timent homines iniustum pati à principe quem cultorem dei putant Yea my Lord they are also the more willingly borne because all the world knowes they are no new Invention of the Kings And if those that advised his Maiestie to impose them had raised his lands as it was offered them to 20000 l more then it was and his wards to asmuch as aforesaid they had done him farre more acceptable seruice But they had their own ends in refusing the one and accepting the other If the land had beene raised they could not haue selected the best of it for themselues If the impositions had not been laide some of them could not haue their silkes others peeces in farme which indeed grieued the subiect tenne times more then that which his Maiestie enjoyeth But certainly they made a great advantage that were the advisers for if any tumult had followed his Maiesty ready way had beene to haue deliuered them ouer to the people COVNS But thinke you that the King would haue deliuered them if any troubles had followed IVST I know not my Lord it was Machiavels counsell to Caesar Borgia to doe it and K. H. the 8 deliuered vp Empson and Dudley yea the same King when the great Cardinall Woolsey who gouerned the King and all his estate had by requiring the sixt part of euery mans goods for the King raised a rebellion the King I say disavowed him absolutely that had not the Dukes of Norfolke and Suffolke appeased the people the Cardinall had sung no more Masse for these are the words of our Story The King then came to Westminster to the Cardinals palace and assembled there a great Councell in which he protested that his minde was neuer to aske any thing of his Commons which might sound to the breach of his Lawes Wherefore hee then willed them to know by whose meanes they were so strictly giuen foorth Now my Lord how the Cardinall would haue shifted himselfe by saying I had the opinion of the Iudges had not the rebellion beene appeal'd I greatly doubt COVNS But good Sir you blanch my question and answere mee by examples I aske you whether or no in any such tumult the people pretending against any one or two great Officers the King should deliuer them or defend them IVST My good Lord the people haue not stayde for the kings deliuery neither in England nor in France Your Lordship knowes how the Chauncellour Treasurer and Chiefe Iustice with many others at seuerall times haue bin vsed by the Rebels And the Marshals Constables and Treasurers in France haue beene cut in pieces in Charles the sixt his time Now to your Lordships question I say that where any man shall giue a King perilous advice as may either cause a rebellion or draw the peoples loue from the King I say that a King shal be advised to banish him But if the King doe absolutely commaund his seruant to doe any thing displeasing to the Common-wealth and to his own peril there is the King bound in honour to defend him But my good Lord for conclusion there is no man in England that will lay any invention either grieuous or against law vpon the Kings Maiesty And therefore your Lordships must share it amongst you COVNS For my part I had no hand in it I thinke Ingram was he that propounded it to the Treasurer IVST Alas my good Lord euery poore wayter in the Custome-house or euery promoter might haue done it there is no invention in these things To lay impositions and sell the Kings lands are poore and common devices It is true that Ingram and his fellowes are odious men and therefore his Maiestie pleas'd the people greatly to put him from the Coffership It is better for a Prince to vse such a kinde of men then to countenance them hang-men are necessary in a Commonwealth yet in the Nether-lands none but a hangmans sonne will marry a hang-mans daughter Now my Lord the last gathering which Henry the seuenth made was in his twentieth yeare wherein hee had another benevolence both of the Cleargy and Laity a part of which taken of the poorer sort hee ordained by his Testament that it should bee restored And for King Henry the eight although hee was left in a most plentifull estate yet he wonderfully prest his people with great payments for in the beginning of his time it was infinite that hee spent in Masking and Tilting Banquetting and other vanities before hee was entered into the most consuming expence of the most fond and fruitlesse warre that euer King vndertooke In his fourth yeare hee had one of the greatest subsedies that euer was granted for besides two fifteenes and two dismes hee vsed Dauids Lawe of Capitation or head-money and had of euery Duke ten markes of euery Earle fiue pounds of euery Lord foure pounds of euery Knight foure markes euery man rated at 8 ◠in goods 4 markes and so after the rate yea euery man that was valued but at 40 paide 12 ◠and euery man and woman aboue 15 yeares 4 ◠Hee had also in his sixt yeare diuers subsedies granted him In his fourteenth there was a tenth demaunded of euery mans goods but it was moderated In the Parliament following the Clergie gaue the King the halfe of their spirituall liuings for one yeare of the Laity there was demanded 800000 ' which could not be levied in England but it was a marveilous great gift that the king had giuen him at that time In the Kings seuenteenth yeare was the Rebellion before spoken of wherein King disavowed the Cardinall In his seuenteenth yeare hee had the tenth and fifteenth giuen by Parliament which were before that time paide to the Pope And before that also the monyes that the King borrowed in his fifteenth yeare were forgiuen him by Parliament in his seuenteenth yeare In his 35 yeare a subsedy was granted of 4 ◠the pound of euery man worth in goods from 20◠to 5 ◠from 5 ◠to 10 l and vpwards of euery pound 2. And all strangers denisens and others doubled
good Lord that a subsidy was then denied the reasons are delivered in Enlish histories indeed the King not long before had spent much treasure in ayding the Duke of Britaine to no purpose for hee drew ouer the King but to drawe on good conditions for himselfe as the Earle of March his father in law now did As the English Barons did invite Lewes of France not long before as in elder times all the kings and states had done and in late yeares the Leaguers of France entertayned the Spaniards and the French Protestants and Netherlands Queene Elizabeth not with any purpose to greaten those that ayde them but to purchase to themselues an advantageous peace But what say the histories to this deniall they say with a world of payments there mentioned that the King had drawne the Nobility drie And besides that whereas not long before great summes of mony were giuen and the same appointed to be kept in foure castles and not to be expended but by the aduice of the Peeres it was beleeved that the same treasure was yet vnspent COVNS Good Sir you haue said enough judge you whether it were not a dishonour to the King to be so tyed as not to expend his treasure but by other mens aduice as it were by their licence IVST Surely my Lord the King was well aduised to take the mony vpon any condition they were fooles that propounded the restraint for it doth not appeare that the King tooke any great heed to those ouerseers Kings are bound by their piety and by no other obligation In Queene Maries time when it was thought that shee was with child it was propounded in Parliament that the rule of the Realme should bee giuen to king Philip during the minority of the hoped Prince or Princesse and the king offered his assurance in great summes of money to relinquish the government at such time as the Prince or Princesse should bee of age At which motion when all else were silent in the house Lord Dueres who was none of the wisest asked who shall sue the kinges bondes which ended the dispute for what bonde is betweene a king and his vassals then the bond of the kinges faith But my good Lord the king notwithstanding the deniall at that time was with gifts from perticular parsons otherwise supplyed for proceeding of his iourney for that time into France he tooke with him 30 caskes filled with silver and coyne which was a great treasure in those dayes And lastly notwithstanding the first denyall in the Kings absence hee had Escuage graunted him to wit 20 s of euery Knights Fee COVNS What say you then to the 28◠yeare of that King in which when the King demaunded reliefe the states would not consent except the same former order had bin taken for the appointing of 4 overseers for the treasure As also that the Lord chief Iustice the Lord Chancellor should be chosē by the states with some Barōs of the exchequor other officers IVS My good Lord admit the King had yeelded their demaunds then whatsoever had beene ordained by those magistrates to the dislike of the Common wealth the people had beene without remedie whereas while the King made them they had their appeale and other remedies But those demaunds vanished and in the end the King had escuage giuen him without any of their conditions It is an excellent vertue in a King to haue patience and to giue way to the fury of mens passions The whale when he is stroken by the fisherman growes into that fury that he cannot be resisted but will overthrowe all the ships and barkes that come in to his way but when he hath tumbled a while hee is drawne to the shore with a twind thred COVNS What say you then to the Parliament in the 29 th of that King IVST I say that the commons being vnable to pay the king relieues himselfe vpon the richer sort and soe it likewise happened in the 33 of that king in which hee was relieued chiefely by the Citty of London But my good Lord in the Parliament in London in the 38 yeare he had giuen him the tenth of all the revenues of the Church for three yeares and 3 markes of every knights Fee throughout the kingdome vpō his promise oath vpon the obscruing of magna Charta but in the end of the same yeare the king being thē in France he was denyed the aydes which he required What is this to the danger of a Parliament especially at this time they had reason to refuse they had giuen so great a some in the beginning of the same yeare And again because it was known that the King had but pretended warre with the king of Castile with whome he had secretly contracted an alliance and concluded a marriage betwixt his sonne Edward and the Lady Elenor. These false fires doe but freight Children and it commonly falles out that when the cause giuen is knowne to be false the necessity pretended is thought to be fained Royall dealing hath euermore Royall successe and as the King was denied in the eight thirtyeth yeare so was he denyed in the nine thirtieth yeare because the Nobility and the people saw that the King was abused by the Pope it plainly who aswell in despite to Manfred bastard son to the Emperour Fredericke the second as to cozen the King and to wast him would needes bestowe on the King the kingdome of Sicilie to recouer which the King sent all the treasure he could borrow or scrape to the Pope and withall gaue him letters of credence for to take vp what he could in Italy the King binding himselfe for the payment Now my good Lord the wisdome of Princes is seen in nothing more then in their enterprises So how vnpleasing it was to the State of England to consume the treasure of the land in the conquest of Sicily so farre of and otherwise for that the English had lost Normandy vnder their noses and so many goodly parts of France of their owne proper inheritances the reason of the deniall is as well to be considered as the denyall CONS Was not the King also denyed a subsidie in the fourty first of his raigne IVST No my Lord for although the King required mony as before for the impossible conquest of Sicily yet the house offered to giue 52000 markes which whether hee refused or accepted is vncertaine whilst the King dreamed of Sicily the Welsh inuaded spoyled the borders of England for in the Parliament of London when the King vrged the house for the prosecuting the cōquest of Sicily the Lords vtterly disliking the attempt vrged the prosecuting of the Welshmen which Parlament being proroged did again assemble at Oxford was called the madde Parlamēt which was no other thē an assembly of rebels for the Royall assent of the K. which giues life to all lawes form'd by the three estates was not a Royal assent when both
the subsedy Bookes wee found the summe but smal whē the 30 ◠men were left out In the beginning of his fourth yeare a tenth with a fifteene vvere granted vpon condition that for one vvhole yeare no subsedies should bee demaunded but this promise vvas as suddenly forgotten as made for in the end of that yeare the great subsedy of Poll mony vvas granted in the Parliament at Northampton COVNS Yea but there follovved the terrible Rebellion of Baker Straw and others Leister Wrais and others IVST That vvas not the fault of the Parliament my Lord it is manifest that the subsedy giuen vvas not the cause for it is plaine that the bondmen of England began it because they vvere grieuously prest by their Lords in their tenure of Villenage as also for the hatred they bare to the Lavvyers Attorneyes for the story of those times say that they destroyed the houses Mannors of men of lavv and such Lavvyers as they caught slevv them beheaded the Lord chiefe Iustice which commotion being once begun the head mony was by other Rebels pretended A fire is often kindled with a litle straw which oftentimes takes hold of greater timber consumes the whole building And that this Rebellion was begun by the discontented slaues whereof there haue beene many in Elder times the like is manifest by the Charter of Manumission which the King granted in haec verba Rich. Dei gratia c. Sciatis quòd de gratia nostrâ spirituals manumissimus c. to which seeing the King was constrained by force of armes hee revoked the letters Pattents and made them voide the same revocation being strengthened by the Parliament ensuing In which the King had giuen him a subsedy vpon wools called a Maletot In the same fourth yeare was the Lord Treasurer discharged of his Office and Hales Lord of S Iohns chosen in his place In his fift yeare was the Treasurer againe changed and the Staffe giuen to Segraue and the Lord Chancellour was also changed and the staffe giuen to the Lord Scroope Which Lord Scroope was againe in the beginning of his sixt yeare turned out and the King after that he had for a while kept the Seale in his own hand gaue it to the Bishop of London from vvhom it vvas soone after taken bestovved on the Earle of Suffolke vvho they say had abused the king and converted the kings Treasure to his ovvne vse To this the King condiscended and though saith Walsingham he deserued to loose his life and goods yet he had the fauor to goe at liberty vpō good sureties because the K. vvas but yong that the reliefe granted vvas committed to the trust of the Earle of Arundell for the furnishing of the Kings Navy against the French COVNS Yet you see it vvas a dishonor to the K. to haue his beloued Chancellour remoued IVS. Truly no for the K. had both his fine 1000 lāds a subsedy to boot And though for the present it pleased the K. to fancy a man all the vvorld hated the K s passiō ouercōming his Iudgmēt yet it cānot be cal'd a dishonor for the K. is to belieue the general coūsel of the kingdom to prefer it before his affection especially vvhen Suffolk vvas proued to be false euen to the K for were it otherwise loue and affection might bee called a frenzie and a madnesse for it is the nature of humane passions that the loue bredde by fidelity doth change it selfe into hatred when the fidelity is first changed into falshood COVNS But you see there were thirteene Lords chosen in the Parliament to haue the oversight of the government vnder the King IVS No my Lord it was to haue the oversight of those Officers which saith the Story had imbezeled lewdly wasted and prodigally spent the Kings treasure for to the Cōmission to those Lords or to any six of them joyn'd with the Kings Counsell was one of the most royall and most profitable that euer he did if hee had bin constant to himself But my good Lord man is the cause of his own misery for I wil repeate the substance of the commission granted by the K confirmed by Parliament which whether it had bin profitable for the K. to haue prosecuted your Lordship may judge The preamble hath these words Whereas our Sovereigne Lord the King perceiveth by the greivous complaints of the Lords Commons of this Realme that the rents profits revenues of this Realme by the singular and insufficient Councell and evill gouernment aswell of some his late great Officers and others c. are so much withdrawen wasted eloyued giuen granted alienated destroyed and evill dispended that he is so much impoverished and void of treasure and goods and the substance of the Crown so much diminished and destroyed that his estate may not honorably be sustained as appertayneth The K. of his free will at the request of the Lords and Commons hath ordayned Williā Archbishop of Canterbury and others with his Chancellour Treasurer keeper of his privy seale to survey and examine as well the estate and governance of his house c. as of all the rents and profits and revenues that to him appertayneth and to be due or ought to appertaine and be due c. And all manner of gifts graunts alienations and confirmations made by him of lands tenements rents c. bargained and sold to the preiudice of him and his Crowne c. And of his iewels goods which were his Grandfathers at the time of his death c. and where they be become This is in effect the substance of the commission which your Lordship may reade at large in the booke of Statutes this commission being enacted in the tenth yere of the Kings reigne Now if such a commission were in these daies granted to the faithfull men that haue no interest in the sales gifts nor purchases nor in the keeping of the jewells at the Queenes death nor in the obtaining graunts of the Kings best lands I cannot say what may be recouered justly recovered and what say your Lordship was not this a noble acte for the King if it had beene followed to effect COVNS I cannot tell whether it were or no for it gaue power to the Commissioners to examine all the graunts IVST Why my Lord doth the King graunt any thing that shames at the examination are not the Kings graunts on record COVNS But by your leaue it is some dishonour to a King to haue his judgement called in question IVST That is true my Lord but in this or vvhensoever the like shall be graunted in the future the Kings judgement is not examined but their knavery that abused the K. Nay by your favour the contrary is true that vvhen a King will suffer himselfe to bee eaten vp by a company of petty fellowes by himselfe raised there in both the judgement and courage is disputed And if your Lordship vvill disdaine it at your own servants
hands much more ought the great heart of a King to disdaine it And surely my Lord it is a greater treason though it vndercreepe the law to teare from the Crowne the ornaments thereof And it is an infallible maxime that hee that loues not his Majesties estate loues not his person COVNS How came it then that the acte was not executed IVS. Because these against vvhom it was graunted perswaded the King to the contrary As the Duke of Ireland Suffolke the chief Iustice Trisilian others yea that which vvas lawfully done by the King and the great Councell of the kingdome was by the mastery which Ireland Suffolke and Tresilian had ouer the Kings affections broken and disavowed Those that devised to relieue the King not by any private invention but by generall Councell were by a private and partiall assemblie adjudged traytors and the most honest Iudges of the land enforced to subscribe to that judgment In so much that Iudge Belknap plainely told the Duke of Ireland and the Earle of Suffolke when hee was constrained to set to his hand plainely told these Lords that he wanted but a rope that he might therewith receiue a reward for his subscription And in this Councell of Nottingham vvas hatched the ruine of those which governed the King of the Iudges by them constrained of the Lords that loued the King and sought a reformation and of the King himselfe for though the King found by all the Shreeues of the shires that the people would not fight against the Lords whom they thought to bee most faithfull vnto the King when the Citizens of London made the same answere beeing at that time able to arme 50000◠men told the Major that they would never fight against the Kings friends and defenders of the Realme when the Lord Ralph Basset who was neere the K. told the King boldly that hee would not adventure to haue his head broken for the Duke of Irelands pleasure vvhen the Lord of London told the Earle of Suffolke in the Kings presence that he was not worthy to liue c. yet vvould the King in the defence of the destroyers of his estate lay ambushes to entrap the Lords when they came vpon his faith yea when all was pacified and that the King by his Proclamation had clear'd the Lords and promised to produce Ireland Suffolke the Archbishop of Yorke Tresilian Bramber to answer at the next Parliament these men confest that they durst not appeare and when Suffolke fled to Callice and the Duke of Ireland to Chester the King caused an army to be leavied in Lancashire for the safe conduct of the Duke of Ireland to his presence when as the Duke being encountered by the Lords ranne like a coward from his company fled into Holland After this vvas holden a Parliament which vvas called that vvrought vvonders In the eleuenth yeare of this King wherein the forenamed Lords the Duke of Ireland the rest were condemned and confiscate the Chiefe Iustice hang'd with many others the rest of the Iudges condemned banisht a 10 th and a 15 th given to the King COVNS But good Sir the King was first besieged in the Tower of London and the Lords came to the Parliament no man durst contradict them IVST Certainly in raising an army they committed treason and though it did appeare that they all loued the King for they did him no harme hauing him in their power yet our law doth construe all leavying of war without the kings commission and all force raised to be intended for the death destruction of the K. not attending the sequell And it is so judged vpon good reason for every vnlawfull and ill action is suppos'd to be accompanied with an ill intēt And besides those Lords vsed too great cruelty in procuring the sentence of death against diuers of the Kings servaunts who were bound to follow and obey their Master and Soveraigne Lord in that hee commaunded COVNS It is true and they were also greatly to blame to cause then so many seconds to be put to death seeing the principalls Ireland Suffolke and Yorke had escaped them And what reason had they to seeke to enforme the State by strong hand was not the Kinges estate as deere to himselfe as to them He that maketh a King know his errour manerly and priuate and giues him the best aduice hee is discharged before God and his owne conscience The Lords might haue retired themselues when they saw they could not prevaile and haue left the King to his owne wayes who had more to loose then they had IVST My Lord the taking of Armes cannot be excused in respect of the law but this might be said for the Lords that the K. being vnder yeres being wholly governed by their enimies the enimies of the kingdome because by those evill mens perswasiōs it was aduised how the Lords should haue bin murthered at a feast in London they were excusable during the kings minority to stand vpō their guards against their particular enemies But we will passe it ouer and go on with our parliaments that followed whereof that of Cambridge in the K s 12 th yeare was the next therein the K. had giuen him a 10 th a 15 th after which being 20. yeares of age rechāged saith H. Kinghton his Treasurer his Chancellor the Iustices of either bench the Clerk of the priuy seale others tooke the gouernment into his own hands Hee also tooke the Admirals place frō the Earle of Arundell in his roome hee placed the Earle of Huntingdon in the yeare following which was the 13 th yeare of the K. in the Parliament at Westminster there was giuen to the King vpon every sacke of wooll 14 s and 6 d in the pound vpon other marchandize COVNS But by your leaue the King was restrained this parliament that he might not dispose of but a third part of the money gathered IVST No my Lord by your fauour But true it is that part of this mony was by the Kings consent assigned towards the wars but yet left in the Lord Treasurers hands And my Lo it would be a great ease a great sauing to his Maiestie our Lord and Master if it pleased him to make his assignations vpon some part of his revenewes by which he might haue 1000◠vpon every 10000◠and saue himselfe a great deale of clamour For seeing of necessity the Nauy must be maintained that those poore men aswell Carpenters as ship keepers must be paid it were better for his Maiesty to giue an assignation to the treasurer of his nauy for the receiuing of so much as is called ordinary then to discontent those poore men who being made desperate beggers may perchance be corrupted by them that lye in waite to destroy the K s estate And if his Maiesty did the like in all other payments especially where the necessity of such as are to receiue cannot possible giues daies
confirme the great Charter For by reason of the vvars in France the losse of Rochell hee vvas then enforced to coÌ„sent to the Lords in all they demanded In the 10â—â— of his reigne hee fined the citty of London at 50000 markes because they had receiued Lewes of France In the 11 th yeare in the Parliament at Oxford he revoked the great charter being granted vvhen he vvas vnder age gouerned by the Earle of Pembroke the Bishop of Winchester In this 11 th yeare the Earles of Cornevvall Chester Marshall Edward Earle of Pembroke Gilbert Earle of Gloucester Warren Hereford Ferrars Warwicke others rebelled against the King constrained him to yeeld vnto them in vvhat they demaunded for their particular interest vvhich rebellion being appeased he sayled into France in his 15 th yeare he had a 15 th of the temporality a disme a halfe of the Spirituality and vvithall escuage of euery Knights fee. COVNS But what say you to the Parliament of Westminster in the 16 th of the king where notwithstanding the wars of France and his great charge in repulsing the Welsh rebels he was flatly denyed the Subsedie demaunded IVST I confesse my Lord that the house excused themselues by reason of their pouerty and the Lords taking of Armes in the next yeare it was manifest that the house was practised against the king And was it not so my good Lord thinke you in our two last Parliaments for in the first euen those whom his Majestie trusted most betrayed him in the vnion in the secoÌ„d there were other of the great ones ran counter But your Lordship spake of dangers of Parliaments in this my Lord there was a deniall but there was no danger at all But to returne where I left what got the Lords by practizing the house at that time I say that those that brake this staffe vpon the K. were ouerturned with the counterbuffe for hee resumed all those lands which hee had given in his minority hee called all his exacting officers to accompt hee found them all faulty hee examined the corruption of other magistrates and from all these he drew sufficient mony to satisfie his present necessity whereby hee not onely spared his people but highly contented them with an act of so great Iustice Yea Hubert Earle of Kent the chiefe justice whom hee had most trusted and most advanced was found as false to the King as any one of the rest And for conclusion in the end of that yeare at the assemblie of the States at Lambeth the King had the fortith part of euery mans goods given him freely towards his debts for the people who the same yeare had refused to giue the King any thing when they sawe hee had squeased those spunges of the common wealth they willingly yeelded to giue him satisfaction COVNS But I pray you what became of this Hubert whoÌ„ the King had favoured aboue all men betraying his Majestie as he did IVST There were many that perswaded the King to put him to death but he could not be drawne to consent but the King seized vpon his estate which was great yet in the end hee left him a sufficient portion and gaue him his life because hee had done great service in former times For his Majestie though hee tooke advantage of his vice yet hee forgot not to haue consideration of his vertue And vpon this occasion it was that the King betrayed by those whom hee most trusted entertayned strangers and gaue them their offices and the charge of his castles and strong places in England COVNS But the drawing in of those strangers was the cause that Marshall Earle of Pembroke moued warre against the King IVST It is true my good Lord but hee was soone after slaine in Ireland and his whole masculine race ten yeres extinguished though there were fiue sonnes of them Marshall being dead who was the mouer and ring-leader of that warre the King pardoned the rest of the Lords that had assisted Marshall COVNS What reason had the King so to doe IVST Because he was perswaded that they loued his person only hated those corrupt Counselours that then bare the greatest sway vnder him as also because they were the best men of warre hee had whom if he destroyed hauing warre with the French he had wanted Commanders to haue served him COVNS But what reason had the Lords to take armes IVST Because the King entertayned the Poictouiâ—s were not they the Kings vassals also Should the Spaniards rebell because the Spanish King trusts to the Neopolitans Portagues Millanoies and other nations his vassals seeing those that are governed by the Vice-royes and deputies are in pollicy to be well entertayned and to be employed who would otherwise devise how to free themselues whereas beeing trusted and imployed by their Prince they entertaine themselues with the hopes that other the Kings vassals doe if the King had called in the Spaniards or other Nations not his Subjects the Nobility of England had had reason of griefe But what people did euer serue the King of England more faithfully then the Gascoynes did even to the last of the conquest of that Duchy IVST Your Lordship sayes wel I am of that opinion that if it had pleased the Queene of Eng. to haue drawne some of the chiefe of the Irish Nobility into Eng. by exchange to haue made them good freeholders in Eng. shee had saued aboue 2. millions of pounds which were consumed in times of those rebellions For what held the great Gascoigne firme to the Crowne of England of whom the Duke of Espernon married the inheritrix but his Earldome of Kendall in England whereof the Duke of Espernon in right of his wife beares the title to this day And to the same end I take it hath Iames our Soueraigne Lord given lands to divers of the Nobility of Scotland And if I were worthy to advise your Lordship I should thinke that your Lordship should do the King great service to put him in mind to prohibite all the Scottish nation to alienate and sell away their inheritance here for they selling they not only giue cause to the English to complaine that the treasure of England is transported into Scotland but his Majesty is thereby also frustrated of making both Nations one and of assuring the service and obedience of the Scots in future COVNS You say well for though those of Scotland that are advanced and enriched by the Kings Majesties will no doubt serue him faithfully yet how their heires successours hauing no inheritance to loose in England may be seduced is vncertaine But let vs goe on with our Parliament And what say you to the deniall in the 26 â— yeare of his reigne even when the King was invited to come into France by the Earle of March who had married his mother and who promised to assist the King in the conquest of many places lost IVST It is true my