THE HISTORY OF THE REIGNS OF HENRY the SEVENTH HENRY the EIGHTH EDWARD the SIXTH AND QUEEN MARY The First Written by the Right Honourable FRANCIS Lord VERULAM Viscount St. ALBAN The other Three by the Right Honourable AND Right Reverend Father in God FRANCIS GODWYN Lord Bishop of HEREFORD LONDON Printed by W. G. for R. Scot T. Basset J. Wright R. Chiswell and J. Edwyn M. D C. LXXVI To the most Illustrious and most Excellent PRINCE CHARLES Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall Earl of Chester c. It may Please Your Highness IN part of my acknowledgment to Your Highness I have endeavoured to do Honour to the Memory of the last King of England that was Ancestour to the King your Father and Your self and was that King to whom both Unions may in a sort refer That of the Roses being in him Consummate and that of the Kingdoms by him begun Besides his times deserve it For he was a Wise Man and an Excellent King and yet the times were rough and full of Mutations and rare Accidents And it is with Times as it is with Ways Some are more Vp-hill and Down-hill and some are more Flat and Plain and the One is better for the Liver and the Other for the Writer I have not flattered him but took him to life as well as I could sitting so far off and having no better light It is true Your Highness hath a Living Pattern Incomparable of the King Your Father But it is not amiss for You also to see one of these Ancient Pieces GOD preserve Your Highness Your Highness most humble and devoted Servant FRANCIS St. Alban AN INDEX ALPHABETICAL Directing to the most Observable Passages in the ensuing HISTORY A. AN Accident in it self trivial great in effect Pag. 108 Advice desired from the Parliament 33 35 56 Aemulation of the English to the French with the reasons of it 36 Affability of the King to the City of London 113 Affection of King Henry to the King of Spain 61 Affection of the King to his Children 136 Aid desired by the Duke of Britain 33 Aid sent to Britain 37 Aiders of Rebels punished 23 Alms-deeds of the King 131 Ambassadors to the Pope 24 into Scotland 25 Ambassadors from the French King 26 Ambassadors in danger in France 31 Ambassadors into France 54 Ambition exorbitant in Sir William Stanley 78 Answer of the Archduke to the King's Ambassadors 74 Appeach of Sir William Stanley 76 Arms of King Henry still victorious 133 Arrows of the 〈◊〉 the length of them 96 Articles between the King and the Archduke 91 Arthur Prince married to the Lady Katherine 116 Arthur Prince dies at Ludlow 117 Aton Castle in Scotland taken by the Earl of Surrey 98 Attainted persons in Parliament excepted against 8 Attaindor and corruption of Blood reacheth not to the Crown ibid. 15 Avarice of King Henry 134 Audley General of the Corhish Rebels 93 B. BAnishment of 〈◊〉 our of the Kingdom 74 Battel at Bosworth-field 1 at Stokefield 〈◊〉 at St. Albans in Britain 87 at Bannocksbourn in Scotland 〈◊〉 at Black-heath 〈◊〉 Behaviour of King Henry towards 〈◊〉 Children 117 Benevolence to the King for his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benevolence who the first Author ibid Benevolence 〈◊〉 by Act of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benevolence revived by Act of 〈◊〉 ibid A Benevolence 〈◊〉 to the King 23 Birth of Henry the 〈◊〉 35 Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the King 〈◊〉 Blood not unrevenged 112 122 Britain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 37 Three causes of the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 ibid. Britain united 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Marriage 〈◊〉 Brakenbury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 murder King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Broughton Sir 〈◊〉 joyned with the Rebels 11 A Bull procured from the Pope by the King for what causes 24 Bulloign besieged by King Henry 63 C. CArdinal Morton dieth 113 Capell Sir William fined 80 131 Cap of Maintenace from the Pope 101 Ceremony of Marriage new in these parts 48 Chancery power and description of that Court 38 Clifford Sir Robert flies to Perkin 70 revolts to the King 72 Clergy priviledges abridged 39 Christendom enlarged 61 Columbus Christopher and Bartholomeus invite the King to a discovery of the West Indies 107 Confiscation aimed at by the King 76 Conference between King Henry and the King of Castile by casualty landing at Weymouth 128 Conquest the Title unpleasing to the People declined by William the Conqu 3 and by the King 5 〈◊〉 for Perkin 70 Contraction of Prince Henry and the Lady Katherine 118 Conditional speech doth not qualifie words of Treason 77 Commissioners into Ireland 79 Commissioners about Trading 91 Coronation of King Henry 7 Coronation of the Queen 24 Counsel the benefit of good 25 Counsel of what sort the French King used 32 Counsel of mean men what and how different from that of Nobles ibid. Lord Cordes envy to England 48 Cottagers but housed Beggars 44 Counterfeits Lambert proclaimed in Ireland 15 Crowned at Dublin 19 taken at Battell 22 put into the King's Kitchin ibid. made the King's Faulconer ibid. Duke of York counterfeit See Perkin Wilford another counterfeit Earl of Warwick 111 Courage of the English when 37 Court what Pleas belong to every Court 38 Court of Star-chamber confirmed ibid. Creations 6 Crown confirmed to King Henry by Parliament 7 Cursing of the King's Enemies at Paul's Cross a custom of those times 72 122 D. DAm a Town in Flanders taken by a slight 59 Lord Daubeny 96 Devices at Prince Arthur's Marriage 117 Device of the King to divert Envy 64 Decay of Trade doth punish Merchants 90 Decay of People how it comes to pass 44 Declaration by Perkin to the Scottish King 85 Desires intemperate of Sir William Stanley 78 Dighton a murderer of King Edward's two Children 71 Dilemma a pleasant one of Bishop Morton 58 Diligence of the King to heap Treasures 120 Displacing of no Counsellors nor Servants in all King Henry's Reign save of one 138 Dissimulation of the French King 29 30 49 Dissimulation of King Henry in pretending War 56 A Doubt long kept open and diversly determined according to the diversity of the times 117 Dowry of Lady Katherine how much 116 Dowry of Lady Margaret into Scotland how much 119 Drapery maintained how 45 Dudley one of the King's Herse-leeches 119 Duke of York counterfeit See Perkin E. EArl of Suffolk flies into Flanders 121 returns 129 Earl of Northumberland slain by the People in collecting the Subsidy somewhat harshly 40 Earl of Warwick executed 111 Earl of Warwick counterfeit 13 110 Earl of Surrey enters Scotland 98 Edmund a third Son born to King Henry but died 109 Edward the Fifth murdered 85 Envy towards the King unquenchable the cause of it 111 Envy of the Lord Cordes to England 48 Enterview between the King and the King of Castile 128 Emblem 94 Empson one of the King's Horse-leeches 119 Errours of the French King in his business for the Kingdom of Naples 82 Errours of King Henry occasioning his many troubles 128 〈◊〉 service 92 Espials in
fresh Example of Lambert Simnel would draw at one time or other some Birds to strike upon it She used likewise a further diligence not committing all to Chance For she had some secret Espials like to the Turks Commissioners for Children of Tribute to look abroad for handsom and graceful Youths to make Plantagenets and Dukes of York At the last she did light on one in whom all things met as one would wish to serve her turn for a Counterfeit of Richard Duke of York This was Perkin Warbeck whose Adventures we shall now describe For first the years agreed well Secondly he was a Youth of fine favour and shape But more than that he had such a crafty and bewitching fashion both to move Pity and to induce Belief as was like a kind of Fascination and Inchantment to those that saw him or heard him Thirdly he had been from his Childhood such a Wanderer or as the King called him such a Land-loper as it was extreme hard to hunt out his Nest and Parents Neither again could any man by company or conversing with him be able to say or detect well what he was he did so flit from place to place Lastly there was a Circumstance which is mentioned by one that wrote in the same time that is very likely to have made somewhat to the matter which is That King Edward the Fourth was his God-father Which as it is somewhat suspicious for a wanton Prince to become Gossip in so mean a House and might make a man think that he might indeed have in him some base Blood of the House of York so at the least though that were not it might give the occasion to the Boy in being called King Edward's God-son or perhaps in sport King Edward's Son to entertain such Thoughts into his Head For Tutor he had none for ought that appears as Lambert Simnel had until he came unto the Lady Margaret who instructed him Thus therefore it came to pass There was a Towns-man of Tourney that had born Office in that Town whose name was John Osbeck a Convert Jew married to Catherine de Faro whose business drew him to live for a time with his Wife at London in King Edward the Fourth's days During which time he had a Son by her and being known in Court the King either out of a religious Nobleness because he was a Convert or upon some private acquaintance did him the Honor as to be God-father to his Child and named him Peter But afterwards proving a dainty and effeminate Youth he was commonly called by the diminutive of his name Peterkin or Perkin For as for the name of Warbeck it was given him when they did but guess at it before examinations had been taken But yet he had been so much talked on by that name as it stuck by him after his true name of Osbeck was known While he was a young Child his Parents returned with him to Tourney Then was he placed in a house of a kinsman of his called John Stenbeck at Antwerp and so roved up and down between Antwerp and Tourney and other Towns of Flanders for a good time living much in English Company and having the English Tongue perfect In which time being grown a comely Youth he was brought by some of the Espials of the Lady Margaret unto her Presence Who viewing him well and seeing that he had a Face and Personage that would bear a Noble fortune and finding him otherwise of a fine Spirit and winning Behaviour thought she had now found a curious Piece of Marble to carve out an Image of a Duke of York She kept him by her a great while but with extreme secrecy The while she instructed him by many Cabinet-Conferences First in Princely behaviour and gesture teaching him how he should keep State and yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes Then she informed him of all the circumstances and particulars that concerned the Person of Richard Duke of York which he was to act Describing unto him the Personages Lineaments and Features of the King and Queen his pretended Parents and of his Brother and Sisters and divers others that were nearest him in his Childhood together with all passages some secret some common that were fit for a Child's memory until the death of King Edward Then she added the particulars of the time from the King's death until he and his Brother were committed to the Tower as well during the time he was abroad as while he was in Sanctuary As for the times while he was in the Tower and the manner of his Brother's death and his own escape she knew they were things that a very few could controle And therefore she taught him only to tell a smooth and likely Tale of those matters warning him not to vary from it It was agreed likewise between them what account he should give of his Peregrination abroad intermixing many things which were true and such as they knew others could testifie for the credit of the rest but still making them to hang together with the Part he was to play She taught him likewise how to avoid sundry captious and tempting questions which were like to be asked of him But in this she found him of himself so nimble and shifting as she trusted much to his own wit and readiness and therefore laboured the less in it Lastly she raised his thoughts with some present rewards and further promises setting before him chiefly the glory and fortune of a Crown if things went well and a sure refuge to her Court if the worst should fall After such time as she thought he was perfect in his Lesson she began to cast with her self from what coast this Blazing star should first appear and at what time it must be upon the Horizon of Ireland for there had the like Meteor strong influence before the time of the Apparition to be when the King should be engaged into a War with France But well she knew that whatsoever should come from her would be held suspected And therefore if he should go out of Flanders immediately into Ireland she might be thought to have some hand in it And besides the time was not yet ripe for that the two Kings were 〈◊〉 upon terms of Peace Therefore she wheel'd about and to put all suspition a far off and loth to keep him any longer by her for that she knew Secrets are not long-lived she sent him unknown into Portugal with the Lady 〈◊〉 an English Lady 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Portugal at that time with some Privado of her own to have an eye upon him and there he was to remain and to expect her further directions In the mean time she omitted not to prepare things for his better welcome and accepting not only in the Kingdom of Ireland but in the Court of France He continued in Portugal about a year and by that time the King of England called his Parliament as hath been said and declared open War against France
may be noted The one the Dislike the Parliament had of Gaoling of them as that which was chargeable pesterous and of no open Example The other that in the Statutes of this King's time for this of the Nineteenth year is not the only Statute of that kind there are ever coupled the punishment of Vagabonds and the forbidding of Dice and Cards and unlawful Games unto Servants and mean people and the putting down and suppressing of Ale-houses as Strings of one Root together and as if the One were unprofitable without the Other As for Riot and Retainers there passed scarce any Parliament in this time without a Law against them the King ever having an Eye to Might and Multitude There was granted also that Parliament a Subsidy both for the Temporalty and the Clergy And yet nevertheless ere the year expired there went out Commissions for a general Benevolence though there were no Wars no Fears The same year the City gave five thousand Marks for Confirmation of their Liberties A thing fitter for the Beginnings of King's Reigns than the latter Ends. Neither was it a small matter that the Mint gained upon the late Statute by the Recoinage of Groats and Half-Groats now Twelve-pences and Sixpences As for Empson and Dudley's Mills they did grind more than ever So that it was a strange thing to see what Golden Showrs poured down upon the King's Treasury at once The last payments of the Marriage-Money from Spain The Subsidy The Benevolence The Recoinage The Redemption of the Cities Liberties The Casualties And this is the more to be marvelled at because the King had then no Occasions at all of Wars or Troubles He had now but one Son and one Daughter unbestowed He was Wise He was of an High Mind He needed not to make Riches his Glory He did excel in so many things else save that certainly Avarice doth ever find in it self matter of Ambition Belike he thought to leave his Son such a Kingdom and such a Mass of Treasure as he might choose his Greatness where he would This year was also kept the Serjeants 〈◊〉 which was the second Call in this Kings Days About this time Isabella Queen of Castile deceased a right Noble Lady and an Honour to her Sex and Times and the Corner-stone of the Greatness of Spain that hath followed This Accident the King took not for News at large but thought it had a great Relation to his own Affairs especially in two points The one for Example the other for Consequence First he conceived that the Case of Ferdinando of Arragon after the death of Queen Isabella was his own Case after the death of his own Queen and the Case of Joan the Heir unto Castile was the Case of his own Son Prince Henry For if both of the Kings had their Kingdoms in the right of their Wives they descended to the Heirs and did not accrew to the Husbands And although his own Case had both Steel and Parchment more than the other that is to say a Conquest in the Field and an Act of Parliament yet notwithstanding that Natural Title of Descent in Blood did in the imagination even of a wise man breed a Doubt that the other two were not safe nor sufficient Wherefore he was wonderful diligent to enquire and observe what became of the King of Arragon in holding and continuing the Kingdom of Castile And whether he did hold it in his own Right or as Administrator to his Daughter and whether he were like to hold it in Fast or to be put out by his Son-in-Law Secondly he did revolve in his mind that the State of Christendom might by this late Accident have a turn For whereas before-time himself with the Conjunction of Arragon and Castile which then was one and the Amity of Maximilian and Philip his Son the Arch-Duke was far too strong a Party for France he began to fear that now the French King who had great Interest in the Affections of Philip the young King of Castile and Philip himself now King of Castile who was in ill terms with his Father-in-Law about the present Government of Castile And thirdly Maximilian Philip's Father who was ever variable and upon whom the surest Aim that could be taken was that he would not be long as he had been last before would all three being potent Princes enter into some strait League and Confederation amongst themselves Whereby though he should not be endangered yet he should be left to the poor Amity of Arragon And whereas he had been heretofore a kind of Arbiter of Europe he should now go less and be over-topped by so great a Conjunction He had also as it seems an inclination to marry and bethought himself of some fit Conditions abroad And amongst others he had heard of the Beauty and virtuous Behaviour of the young Queen of Naples the Widow of Ferdinando the younger being then of Matronal years of seven and twenty By whose Marriage he thought that the Kingdom of Naples having been a Goal for a time between the King of Arragon and the French King and being but newly setled might in some part be deposited in his hands who was so able to keep the Stakes Therefore he sent in Ambassage or Message three confident Persons Francis Marsin James Braybrook and John Stile upon two several Inquisitions rather than Negotiations The One touching the Person and Condition of the young Queen of Naples the Other touching all particulars of Estate that concerned the Fortunes and Intentions of Ferdinando And because they may observe best who themselves are observed least he sent them under Colourable Pretexts giving them Letters of Kindness and Compliment from Katharine the Princess to her Aunt and Niece the Old and Young Queen of Naples and delivering to them also a Book of new Articles of Peace which notwithstanding it had been delivered unto Doctor De Putbla the Leigier Ambassador of Spain here in England to be sent yet for that the King had been long without hearing from Spain he thought good those Messengers when they had been with the two Queens should likewise pass on to the Court of Ferdinando and take a Copy of the Book with them The Instructions touching the Queen of Naples were so curious and exquisite being as Articles whereby to direct a Survey or 〈◊〉 a Particular of her Person for Complexion Favour Feature Stature Health Age Customs Behaviour Conditions and Estate as if the King had been young a man would have judged him to be Amorous but being ancient it ought to be interpreted that sure he was very Chast for that he meant to find all things in one Woman and so to settle his Affections without ranging But in this March he was soon cooled when he heard from his Ambassadors that this young Queen had had a goodly Joynture in the Realm of Naples well answered during the time of her Uncle Frederick yea and during the time of Lewis the French King in
whose Division her Revenue fell but since the time that the Kingdom was in Ferdinando's hands all was assigned to the Army and Garrisons there and she received only a Pension or Exhibition out of his Coffers The other part of the Inquiry had a grave and diligent Return informing the King at full of the present State of King Ferdinando By this Report it appeared to the King that Ferdinando did continue the Government of Castile as Administrator unto his Daughter Joan by the Title of Queen Isabella's Will and partly by the Custom of the Kingdom as he pretended And that all Mandates and Grants were expedited in the name of Joan his Daughter and himself as Administrator without mention of Philip her Husband And that King Ferdinando howsoever he did dismiss himself of the name of King of Castile yet meant to hold the Kingdom without Accompt and in absolute Command It appeareth also that he flattered himself with hopes that King Philip would permit unto him the Goverment of Castile during his life which he had laid his Plot to work him unto both by some Counsellors of his about him which Ferdinando had at his devotion and chiefly by promise that in case Philip gave not way unto it he would marry some young Lady whereby to put him by the Succession of Arragon and Granada in case he should have a Son And lastly by representing unto him that the Government of the Burgundians till Philip were by continuance in Spain made as Natural of Spain would not be endured by the Spaniards But in all those things though wisely laid down and considered Ferdinando failed But that Pluto was better to him than Pallas In the same Report also the Ambassadors being mean men and therefore the more free did strike upon a string which was somewhat dangerous For they declared plainly that the People of Spain both Nobles and Commons were better affected unto the part of Philip so he brought his Wife with him than to Ferdinando and expressed the reason to be because he had imposed upon them many Taxes and Tallages which was the King's own Case between him and his Son There was also in this Report a Declaration of an Overture of of Marriage which Amason the Secretary of Ferdinando had made unto the Ambassadors in great secret between Charles Prince of Castile and Mary the King's second Daughter assuring the King that the Treaty of Marriage then on foot for the said Prince and the Daughter of France would break and that she the said Daughter of France should be married to Angolesme that was the Heir Apparant of France There was a touch also of a speech of Marriage between Ferdinando and Madam De Fois a Lady of the Blood of France which afterwards indeed succeeded But this was reported as learned in France and silenced in Spain The King by the return of this Ambassage which gave great light unto his Affairs was well instructed and prepared how to carry himself between Ferdinando King of Arragon and Philip his Son-in-law King of Castile resolving with himself to do all that in him lay to keep them at one within themselves But howsoever that succeeded by a moderate Carriage and bearing the Person of a Common-friend to lose neither of their Friendships but yet to run a Course more entire with the King of Arragon but more laboured and officious with the King of Castile But he was much taken with the Overture of Marriage with his Daughter Mary Both because it was the greatest Marriage of Christendom and for that it took hold of both Allies But to corroborate his Alliance with Philip the Winds gave him an Enterview For Philip choosing the Winter-season the better to surprise the King of Arragon set forth with a great Navy out of Planders for Spain in the Month of January the One and Twentieth year of the King's Reign But himself was surprised with a cruel Tempest that scattered his Ships upon the several Coasts of England And the Ship wherein King and Queen were with two other small Barques only torn and in great peril to escape the fury of the weather thrust into Weymouth King Philip himself having not been used as it seems to Sea all wearied and extreme sick would needs land to refresh his Spirits though it was against the Opinion of his Council doubting it might breed Delay his Occasions requiring Celerity The Rumour of the Arrival of a puissant Navy upon the Coast made the Countrey Arm. And Sir Thomas Trenchard with Forces suddenly raised not knowing what the matter might be came to Weymouth Where understanding the Accident he did in all Humbleness and Humanity invite the King and Queen to his House and forthwith dispatched Posts to the Court. Soon after came Sir John Caroe likewise with a great troop of Men well armed using the like Humbleness and Respect towards the King when he knew the Case King Philip doubting that they being but Subjects durst not let him pass away again without the King's Notice and Leave yielded to their Entreaties to stay till they heard from the Court The King as soon as he heard the News commanded presently the Earl of Arundel to go to visit the King of Castile and let him understand That as he was very sorry for his Mishap so he was glad that he had escaped the Danger of the Seas and likewise of the Occasion himself had to do him Honour and desiring him to think himself as in his own Land and that the King made all haste possible to come and embrace him The Earl came to him in great Magnificence with a brave Troop of three hundred Horse and for more State came by Torch-light After he had done the King's Message King Philip seeing how the world went the sooner to get away went upon speed to the King at Windsor and his Queen followed by easie journeys The two Kings at their meeting used all the Caresses and loving Demonstrations that were possible And the King of Castile said presently to the King That he was now punished for that he would not come within his walled Town of Calice when they met last But the King answered That Walls and Seas were nothing where Hearts were open and that he was here no otherwise but to be served After a day or two's refreshing the Kings entred into speech of renewing the Treaty the King saying That though King Philip's Person were the same yet his Fortunes and State were raised In which Case a Renovation of Treaty was used amongst Princes But while these things were in handling the King choosing a fit time and drawing the King of Castile into a Room where they two only were private and laying his hand civilly upon his arm and changing his Countenance a little from a Countenance of Entertainment said to him Sir you have been saved upon my Coast I hope you will not suffer me to wrack upon yours The King of Castile asked him What he meant by that
speech I mean it saith the King by that same Hare-brain wild Fellow my Subject the Earl of Suffolk who is protected in your Countrey and begins to play the Fool when all others are weary of it The King of Castile answered I had thought Sir your Felicity had been above those thoughts But if it trouble you I will banish him The King replied Those Hornets were best in their Nests and worst when they did flie abroad that his desire was to have him delivered to him The King of Castile herewith a little confused and in a study said That can I not do with my honour and less with yours for you will be thought to have used me as a Prisoner The King presently said Then the matter is at an end For I will take that dishonour upon me and so your honour is saved The King of Castile who had the King in great Estimation and besides remembred where he was and knew not what use he might have of the King's Amity for that himself was new in his Estate of Spain and unsetled both with his Father-in-Law and with his People composing his Countenance said Sir you give Law to me but so will I to you You shall have him but upon your honour you shall not take his life The King embracing him said Agreed Saith the King of Castile Neither shall it dislike you if I send to him in such a fashion as he may partly come with his own good will The King said It was well thought of and if it pleased him he would joyn with him in sending to the Earl a Message to that purpose They both sent severally and mean while they continued Feasting and Pastimes The King being on his part willing to have the Earl sure before the King of Castile went and the King of Castile being as willing to seem to be enforced The King also with many wise and excellent Perswasions did advise the King of Castile to be ruled by the counsel of his Father-in-Law Ferdinando a Prince so prudent so experienced so fortunate The King of Castile who was in no very good terms with his said Father-in-Law answered That if his Father-in-Law would suffer him to govern his Kingdoms he should govern him There were immediately Messengers sent from both Kings to recall the Earl of Suffolk Who upon gentle words used to him was soon charmed and willing enough to return assured of his Life and hoping of his Liberty He was brought through Flanders to Calice and thence landed at Dover and with sufficient Guard delivered and received at the Tower of London Mean while King Henry to draw out the time continued his Feastings and Entertainments and after he had received the King of Castile into the Fraternity of the Garter and for a Reciprocal had his Son the Prince admitted to the Order of the Golden-fleece he accompanied King Philip and his Queen to the City of London where they were entertained with the greatest Magnificence and Triumph that could be upon no greater warning And as soon as the Earl of Suffolk had been conveyed to the Tower which was the serious part the Jollities had an end and the Kings took leave Nevertheless during their being here they in substance concluded that Treaty which the Flemings term Intercursus malus and bears Date at Windsor for that there be some things in it more to the Advantage of the English than of them especially for that the Free-fishing of the Dutch upon the Coasts and Seas of England granted in the Treaty of Undecimo was not by this Treaty confirmed All Articles that confirm former Treaties being precisely and warily limited and confirmed to matter of Commerce only and not otherwise It was observed that the great Tempest which drave Philip into England blew down the Golden Eagle from the Spire of Pauls and in the fall it fell upon a Sign of the Black Eagle which was in Pauls Church-yard in the place where the School-House now standeth and battered it and brake it down Which was a strange stooping of a Hawk upon a Fowl This the People interpreted to be an Ominous Prognostick upon the Imperial House which was by Interpretation also fulfilled upon Philip the Emperor's Son not only in the Present Disaster of the Tempest but in that that followed For Philip arriving into Spain and attaining the Possession of the Kingdom of Castile without resistance insomuch as Ferdinando who had spoke so great before was with difficulty admitted to the speech of his Son-in-Law sickned soon after and deceased Yet after such time as there was an Observation by the wisest of that Court That if he had lived his Father would have gained upon him in that sort as he would have governed his Counsels and Designs if not his Affections By this all Spain returned into the power of Ferdinando in state as it was before the rather in regard of the infirmity of Joan his Daughter who loving her Husband by whom she had many Children dearly well and no less beloved of him howsoever her Father to make Philip ill beloved of the People of Spain gave out that Philip used her not well was unable in strength of mind to bear the Grief of his Decease and fell distracted of her Wits Of which Malady her Father was thought no ways to endeavour the Cure the better to hold his Regal Power in Castile So that as the Felicity of Charles the Eighth was said to be a Dream so the Adversity of Ferdinando was said likewise to be a Dream it passed over so soon About this time the King was desirous to bring into the House of Lancaster Celestial Honour and became Suitor to Pope Julius to Canonize King Henry the Sixt for a Saint the rather in respect of that his famous Prediction of the King 's own Assumption to the Crown Julius referred the matter as the manner is to certain Cardinals to take the verification of his Holy Acts and Miracles But it dyed under the Reference The general Opinion was that Pope Julius was too dear and that the King would not come to his Rates But it is more probable That that Pope who was extremely jealous of the Dignity of the See of Rome and of the Acts thereof knowing that King Henry the Sixt was reputed in the World abroad but for a Simple Man was afraid it would but diminish the Estimation of that kind of Honour if there were not a distance kept between Innocents and Saints The same year likewise there proceeded a Treaty of Marriage between the King and the Lady Margaret Duchess Dowager of Savoy only Daughter to Maximilian and Sister to the King of Castile a Lady wise and of great good Fame This Matter had been in speech between the two Kings at their meeting but was soon after resumed and therein was employed for his first piece the King 's then Chaplain and after the great Prelate Thomas Wolsey It was in the end concluded with great and ample Conditions
for the King but with promise De Futuro only It may be the King was the rather induced unto it for that he heard more and more of the Marriage to go on between his great Friend and Allie Ferdinando of Arragon and Madam De Fois whereby that King began to piece with the French King from whom he had been always before severed So fatal a thing it is for the greatest and straitest Amities of Kings at one time or other to have a little of the Wheel Nay there is a further Tradition in Spain though not with us That the King of Arragon after he knew that the Marriage between Charles the young Prince of Castile and Mary the King 's second Daughter went roundly on which though it was first moved by the King of Arragon yet it was afterwards wholly advanced and brought to perfection by Maximilian and the Friends on that side entred into jealousie that the King did aspire to the Government of Castilia as Administrator during the Minority of his Son-in-Law as if there should have been a Competition of Three for that Government Ferdinando Grand-father on the Mothers side Maximilian Grand-father on the Father's side and King Henry Father-in-Law to the young Prince Certainly it is not unlike but the King's Government carrying the young Prince with him would have been perhaps more welcom to the Spaniards than that of the other Two For the Nobility of Castilia that so lately put out the King of Arragon in favour of King Philip and had discovered themselves so far could not but be in a secret Distrust and Distast of that King And as for Maximilian upon Twenty respects he could not have been the Man But this purpose of the King 's seemeth to me considering the King 's safe Courses never found to be enterprizing or adventurous not greatly probable except he should have had a Desire to breathe warmer because he had ill Lungs This Marriage with Margaret was protracted from time to time in respect of the Infirmity of the King who now in the Two and Twentieth year of his Reign began to be troubled with the Gout But the Defluxion taking also into his Breast wasted his Lungs so that thrice in a Year in a kind of Return and especially in the Spring he had great Fitts and Labours of the Tissick Nevertheless he continued to intend Business with as great diligence as before in his Heath Yet so as upon this warning he did likewise now more seriously think of the World to come and of making himself a Saint as well as King Henry the Sixth by Treasure better employed than to be given to Pope Julius For this Year he gave greater Alms than accustomed and discharged all Prisoners about the City that lay for Fees or Debts under forty Shillings He did also make haste with Religious Foundations and in the Year following which was the Three and Twentieth finished that of the Savoy And hearing also of the bitter Cries of his People against the Oppressions of Dudley and Empson and their Complices partly by Devout Persons about him and partly by publick Sermons the Preachers doing their Duty therein he was touched with great Remorse for the same Nevertheless Empson and Dudley though they could not but hear of these Scruples in the King's Conscience yet as if the King's Soul and his Money were in several Offices that the One was not to intermeddle with the Other went on with as great rage as ever For the same Three and Twentieth Year was there a sharp Prosecution against Sir William Capel now the second time and this was for matters of Misgovernment in his Maioralty The great Matter being that in some Payments he had taken knowledge of False Moneys and did not his diligence to examine and beat it out who were the Offendors For this and some other things laid to his Charge he was condemned to pay two thousand Pounds and being a Man of stomach and hardened by his former Troubles refused to pay a Mite and be-like used some untoward Speeches of the Proceedings for which he was sent to the Tower and there remained till the King's Death Knesworth likewise that had been lately Mayor of London and both his Sheriffs were for Abuses in their Offices questioned and imprisoned and delivered upon one thousand four hundred Pounds paid Hawis an Alderman of London was put in Trouble and dyed with Thought and Anguish before his Business came to an end Sir Lawrence Ailmer who had likewise been Mayor of London and his two Sheriffs were put to the Fine of one thousand Pounds And Sir Lawrence for refusing to make payment was committed to Prison where he stay'd till Empson himself was committed in his place It is no marvel if the Faults were so light and the Rates so heavy that the King's Treasure of Store that he left at his death most of it in secret places under his own key and keeping at Richmond amounted as by Tradition it is reported to have done unto the Summ of near eighteen hundred thousand Pounds Sterling a huge Mass of Money even for these times The last Act of State that concluded this King 's Temporal Felicity was the Conclusion of a Glorious Match between his Daughter Mary and Charles Prince of Castile afterwards the great Emperor both being of tender years which Treaty was perfected by Bishop Fox and other his Commissioners at Calice the year before the King's Death In which Alliance it seemeth he himself took so high Contentment as in a Letter which he wrote thereupon to the City of London Commanding all possible Demonstrations of Joy to be made for the same he expresseth himself as if he thought he had built a Wall of Brass about his Kingdom When he had for his Sons-in-Law a King of Scotland and a Prince of Castile and Burgundy So as now there was nothing to be added to this great King's Felicity being at the top of all worldly Bliss in regard of the high Marriages of his Children his great Renown throughout Europe and his scarce credible Riches and the perpetual Constancy of his prosperous Successes but an opportune Death to withdraw him from any future blow of Fortune Which certainly in regard of the great Hatred of his People and the Title of his Son being then come to Eighteen years of Age and being a bold Prince and liberal and that gained upon the People by his very Aspect and Presence had not been impossible to have come upon him To crown also the last year of his Reign as well as his first he did an Act of Piety rare and worthy to be taken into Imitation For he granted forth a General Pardon as expecting a second Coronation in a better Kingdom He did also declare in his Will that his mind was that Restitution should be made of those Summs which had been unjustly taken by his Officers And thus this Solomon of England for Solomon also was too heavy upon his People in
scarce gain belief Wherefore I am well content that Truth which maugre her enemies will at length be every where victorions shall prevail with me I have done to my power Politely eloquently politickly I could not write Truly and fide Atticâ as they say I could If I have done amiss in ought it is not out of malice but errour which the gentle Reader will I hope pardon This I earnestly intreat withal beseeching the All-good and All-mighty God that this my labour directed to no other end than to his glory and the good of his Church may attain its due and by me desired success Farewel ANNALS OF ENGLAND From the Year 1508 to the Year 1558. BOOK I. King HENRY the Eighth ANNO DOM. 1509. REG. 1. AFter the death of Henry the Seventh his only Son Henry Prince of Wales undertook the Government of this Kingdom He had then attained to the Age of Eighteen years and was richly adorned with Endowments both of Body and Mind For of Stature he was tall of a beautiful Aspect and of Form through all his age truly beseeming a King He was witty docil and naturally propense to Letters until Pleasures to which the Liberty of Sovereignty easily prompteth did somewhat unseasonably withdraw him from his Studies to these you may add a Great Spirit aspiring to the glory both of Fortitude and Munificence This towardliness was so seconded by the happy care of his Tutors that if the end of his Reign had been answerable to the beginning Henry the Eighth might deservedly have been ranked amongst the greatest of our Kings For if you consider his first Twenty years you shall not easily find any one that either more happily managed Affairs abroad or Governed more wisely at home of that bare greater sway among his Neighbour Princes This I think ought chiefly to be ascribed to the providence of his wise Father and his Grand-mother then still alive For they took care that he should have wise and virtuous Over-seers in his youth by whose assistance having once passed the hazards thereof he happily avoided those Rocks whereon so many daily suffer wrack But these either dying or being so broken with age that they could be no longer employed in affairs of State and he himself being now come to those years that commonly cast aside Modesty Modeslty I say the Guardian of that great Virtue then making use of no Counsellor but his Will he fell into those Vices which notwithstanding the glory of his former Reign branded him deeply with the foul stains of Luxury and Cruelty But remitting those things to their proper places those Worthies appointed his Counsellors were William Warham Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellour of England Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester Thomas Ruthal Bishop of Durham Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey Lord Treasurer of England George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury Lord Steward of the King's Houshold Charles Somerset Lord Chamberlain Knights Sir Thomas Lovel Sir Henry Wyat Sir Edward Poynings These men the Solemnity of the dead King's Funeral being duly and magnificently performed erected him a Tomb all of Brass accounted one of the stateliest Monuments of Europe which one would hardly conceive by the Bill of Accompts For it is reported that it cost but a Thousand Pounds The Monument is to be seen at Westminster the usual place of our Kings Interrments in that admirable Chappel dedicated to St. Stephen by this King heretofore built from the ground a testimony of his religious Piety I have read that this Chappel was raised to that height for the summ of Fourteen thousand Pounds and no more and that he at the same time built a Ship of an unusual burthen called from him The great Henry which by that time it was rigged cost little less than that stately Chappel But now O Henry what is become of that Ship of thine that other Work besides the reward of Heaven will perpetually proclaim thy pious Munificence Hence learn O Kings that the true Trophies of Glory are not to be placed in Armories and Arsenals but and those more durable in Pious Works Seek first seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and without doubt all other things shall be added unto you But to go on in my proposed course although Henry the Eighth began his Reign the two and twentieth of April 1509 his Coronation was deferred to the four and twentieth of June In the mean time his Council thought it would prove a profitable policy for the King to marry Katherine the Widow of Prince Arthur his deceased Brother and Daughter to Ferdinando King of Castile for otherwise that huge mass of Money assigned for her Jointure must yearly be transported out of the Kingdom Neither was there at first any other doubt made of this Match than whether it were approved by the Ecclesiastical Constitutions for as much as the Scripture said some forbad any man to marry his Brother's Wife But this rub was easily removed by the omnipotence of the Pope's Bull in so much that presently upon the Dispensation of Pope Julius on the third of June under a malignant Constellation the Nuptials of these Princes were solemnized and they both Crowned the four and twentieth of June next following being St. John Baptist's day At these Solemnities there wanted neither pomp nor acclamations of the Estates of the Realm But to shew that of Solomon to be true The end of Mirth is Heaviness five days had not yet run their course since the Coronation when Margaret Countess of Richmond the King's Grand-mother made an exchange of this life with death She was a very godly and virtuous Lady and one who for her benefits to the Estate deserved with all honour to be commended to the perpetual memory of Posterity But her ever-living Works will so far set forth her praise that the pains of any Writer will prove altogether needless Yet notwithstanding omitting other things it will savour somewhat of Ingratitude if I should not recount what she hath conferred upon our Universities She founded two Colledges at Cambridge one dedicated to our Saviour CHRIST and the other to St. John the Evangelist and endowed them both with such large Revenues that at this time besides Officers and Servants there are about two hundred Students maintained in them She also left Lands to both Universities out of the Rents whereof two Doctors publick Professors of Divinity to this day do receive their Annual Stipends She lies interred near her Son in a fair Tomb of Touch-stone whereon lies her Image of gilded Brass ANNO DOM. 1510. REG. 2. H Enry the Seventh Father to this our Eighth some few years before his death had caused an inquisition to be made throughout the Kingdom of the breach of the Penal Statutes saying That Laws were to no purpose unless the fear of Punishment did force men to observe them But the Inquisition proceeding so rigorously that even the least faults were punished
withal acknowledging that France being now as it were in the Sun-set of its Fortune occasion was offered of advancing the English Colours farther than ever But it would neither beseem so magnanimous a King nor would it be for the good of England at this time to invade it A generous mind scorneth to insult over one already dejected Neither would the Victory beside the fortune of War want its dangers 〈◊〉 to be communicated with one already become so potent that no 〈◊〉 than the united Forces of all Europe would serve to stop the current of his fortune which must necessarily be done unless we could be content willingly to undergo the miseries of a Spanish servitude He therefore craved of his Majesty that leaving the Emperour who puffed up with his late success contemned his best Friends he would vouchsafe to make a League with the King his Master whom in this so great a time of need if he would be pleased to raise as it were from the ground he should by so great a benefit oblige him to a faithful Friendship which he should upon all occasions be ready to manifest unless for foul Ingratitude he had rather undergo the censure of the Christian World Having delivered thus much in Latin Sir Thomas More afterward Lord Chancellor returned this answer in Latin likewise That the King was well pleased that the French acknowledged he wanted not power to revenge old injuries that having felt his Force they should also tast of his Bounty that he would do the utmost of his endeavour to set their Captive King at liberty Which if he effected he hoped when he had occasion to make use of their King he would not be unmindful of so good a turn freely done in so urgent a season In the mean time he was content to make a perpetual Peace with them As for the Emperour he would consider what to determine of him So a most firm League is concluded with the French the Regent undertaking for her Son and a separation from the Emperour so openly made that the first thing concluded between them was That it should not be lawful for the French King in lieu of his ransom to consign any part of his Kingdom to the Emperour The French were glad of this League who now began to conceive some hope of good being secure of England Indeed it made so great an impression in the heart of Francis that in his care of our affairs for many years together he shewed himself mindful of so great a benefit These things were done in the Winter season A little after Francis having been a year Prisoner in Spain was upon these Conditions at length set at liberty That as soon as be came into France he should consign the Duchy of Burgoigne to the Emperour That he should quit the Sovereignty of Flanders and Arthois That he should renounce all his right pretended to the Duchy of Milan and Kingdom of Naples That he should restore to his honours the Duke of Bourbon and the rest that had revolted with him That he should marry Eleonor the Emperour's Sister Queen of Portugal That he should pay the whole summs of money heretofore due to the King of England his Sister the Queen of France and Cardinal Wolsey The payment whereof the Emperour had undertaken that we might not be endamaged by partaking with him For the performance of these and other things of less moment Francis not only bound himself by Oath but also delivered his two Sons Francis the Daulphin and Henry Duke of Orleans who should remain Hostages in Spain until all things were duly performed Francis as soon as he entred into his Realm ratified all the Articles of the Treaty but that concerning the Duchy of Burgoigne which he pretended he could not alienate without the consent of his Subjects Having therefore assembled the Estates of the Countrey for the debating of this matter upon a sudden in the presence of the Emperour's Ambassadors is publickly proclaimed the League made between the Kings of England and of France the Pope the Venetians Florentines and Suisses called the Holy League for the common liberty of Italy The Ambassadors much amazed and seeing small hopes of the Duchy of Burgoigne for which they came return into Spain and advertise the Emperour that if he will be content with a pecuniary ransom and free the two Princes the King was willing to pay it other Conditions he was like to have none In the mean time Solyman not forgetting to make his profit of these horrible confusions invaded Hungary with a great Army overthrew the Hungarians slew King Lewis the Emperour's Brother-in-Law and conquered the greatest part of the Kingdom For the obtaining of this Victory our Rashness was more available to him than his own Forces The Hungarians in comparison of their Enemies were but a handful but having formerly been many times victorious over the Turks they perswaded the young King that he should not obscure the ancient glory of so warlike a Nation that not expecting the aids of Transylvania he should encounter the Enemy even in the open fields where the Turks in regard of their multitudes of Horse might be thought invincible The event shewed the goodness of this counsel The Army consisting of the chief strength and Nobility of the Countrey was overthrown a great slaughter made and the King himself slain with much of the Nobility and chief Prelates of the Realm and among them Tomoraeus Archbishop of Colocza the chief author of this ill advised attempt I cannot omit an odd jest at the same time occasioned by Wolsey his ambition It was but falsly rumoured that Pope Clement was dead The Cardinal had long been sick of the Pope and the King lately of his Wife Wolsey perswades the King there was no speedier way to compass his desires than if he could procure him to be chosen Pope Clement being now dead Stephen Gardiner a stirring man one very learned and that had a working spirit did then at Rome solicit the King's Divorce from Queen Catharine Wherein although using all possible means and that Clement was no friend to the Emperour yet could he not procure the Pope's favour in the King's behalf Nay whether he would not cut off all means of reconciliation with the Emperour if need were or whether being naturally slow he did not usually dispatch any matter of great moment speedily or peradventure whereto the event was agreeable that he perceived it would be for his profit to spin it out at length or which some alledge that he was of opinion that this Marriage was lawfully contracted so that he could not give sentence on either side without either offence to his Conscience or his Friend the Pope could not be drawn to determine either way in this business These delays much vexed the King If matters proceed so slowly under Clement on whom he much presumed what could he expect from another Pope one perhaps wholly at the Emperour's