THE COVNTRIE GENTLEMAN MODERATOR Collections Of such intermarriages as haue beene betweene the two Royall Lines of ENGLAND and SPAINE since the Conquest with a short view of the Stories of the liues of those Princes And also some obseruations of the passages with diuers reasons to moderate the Country peoples passions feares and expostulations concerning the Prince his Royall Match and State affaires Composed and collected by Edm. Garrard AT LONDON Printed by Edward All-de 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE HENRY Lord DANVERS Baron of Dauntesey RIGHT HONORABLE IF I poore and infortunate should say that I can no more forget your Noble house I so long followed and many Noble fauours from thence receiued then the children of Captiuity could forget their owne Ierusalem if I should tell your Lorship how much I honour you ioy at your sight memory and happines liberally protesting all this and much more it may be thought but superficiall and the common phrase of indigent men But God that knoweth the secrets of all mens hearts can witnes frō mine it sincerely proceedeth If I could doe any thing worthy acceptance I humbly acknowledge it is due to your Lordship yet howsoeuer I here make bolde to put out vnder your Honourable Patronage these my poore endeuours First the Title is some way sutable to the condition your Lordship now liueth in as being indeede more a Country Lord then a Court If the Fate and State shall please to haue it otherwise Tam marti quam Mercurio for the seruice of the King and Countrey amongst the rest of the Starres placed in that Spheare your Lordship would at least contribute light but your daily relieuing of many poore in the Country where and for which your renowne is done more to Gods glory then your owne your Lordships preferment will be in a better Kingdome Secondly the Subiect Treatise are likewise agreeable to your Lordships loyall disposition which is only desiring God may be truly honoured all things sute and succeede to the compleat comfort contentment good of the King Prince and Kingdome if they amongst their serious affaires shall vouchsafe to looke into this worke I humbly desire the motiue thereof might bee as from your Lordship receiuing your fauourable acceptance pardon for this my boldnes and to liue esteemed Your Lordships euer deuoted seruant Edm. Garrard To the Reader I Intend by Gods helpe and your patience gentle Reader to present vnto your view an Abstract of such intermariages as haue bin betweene the two royall Lines of England and Spaine and some other passages betwixt the two Nations from the time of the Conquest vntill this present the subiect appropriating to that which is now most autentick on Englands faire stage of the greatest consequence that hath been there these many years therefore the greater is both my aduenture and presumption for that the same and such great affaires of State are not to be meddled withall or talked of but with great caution and reuerence or rather indeed not at all vpon the former and accustomed courses of restriction of the vulgar in that particular hauing bin a long time in councel consulted of now someway publike These my endeauours being but meerely collectiōs out of our English Chronicles as history which is said to be the witnes of time the light of truth the memoriall of life report of antiquitie with some other obseruations concerning those affaires and in the countrie too much expostulated of I hope I shall giue no cause of offence taxe nor exception hauing no affectation to talke or busie my selfe in State affaires nor minister more but rather lesse occasion for others so to doe But that I should presume to write in a businesse of so great a consequence and of this nature and the rather comming now so late and not in so good a season as formerly it would haue done I may be subiect both to reproofe and taxe Onely I shall desire the Iudiciall and best affected prima facie not to iudge me what followes comes from a Protestant pen from one that wisheth all may bee well liueth in the countrie farre out of sight and almost out of hearing from the helme where the affaires of State are steared therefore more then by obseruation and what the countrie affoords is beyond my knowledge neither sent nor set on to write or speake hauing neither thought aime nor expectation of preferment not assuming to my selfe thereof any waies worthy should thinke my selfe happy if I might as a Moderator some way quallifie passion that the Countrie people might not so much expostulate of our Princes Royall Match and the affaires of State as now they doe For that purpose it is only to them sent meant and intended hauing only treated of the passages of former times concerning that affaire or others of State for the present or future I neither haue nor will meddle withall as indeed not fitting for the common people so to doe As they are farre from their knowledges and apprehensions so should they bee likewise from their discourses and expostulations not to looke where Lyons wake or sleepe The actions of Princes not to be pryed into but by such as are in authoritie Peraduenture some will say that in this my Discourse I haue beene squint-eyde as not looking or bending my course any waies direct those who haue beene auerse and vnwilling for our Princes Royall Match will taxe me for a temporizer J conceaue J haue not magnified the Spaniards aboue measure more or otherwise then our owne authors and other Writers affirme so could J wish they should not out of passion and inuention be detracted beyond merrit and with those that haue so much desired our Princes Match my selfe with them I shall not any waies ingratiate I hope my honest plaine meaning and intentions shall indicially iustifie me against either Will as a good subiect ought wishing all the Countrie people would doe the like only desire God may be truly honoured praying to him to direct all things for the best his Maiestie obeyed in all his Commands on earth haue compleat content and comfort and liue long to see his holy intentions take effect for the good of Christendome and not with any farther expostulations to trouble our selues but rely on Gods prouidence the King and Princes wisdomes and integrities letting them and those that are in authoritie alone in the businesse neither feare nor doubt that any thing will be done which shall any waies impaire the honour of Religion or generall good of the kingdome The farther particulars this my Epistle Dedicatory by way of anticipation shall not relate but the work it selfe shal make particuler demonstration therof What I haue here begun some of better abilitie if it please them may supplie that wherein I haue beene defectiue these my poore endeauours I humbly leaue to your considerations my selfe to your fauourable censures resting Yours E. G. ENGLAND AND SPAINES INTERMARRIAGES with a briefe tract of
Royall Sepulture of his Auncestors at Westminster and there in Saint Peters Church it was with all possible Royalty and magnificence honourably interred The King gaue vnto the Abbot there twelue large and rich Lordships charitably to giue Almes and deuoutly to pray for the blessed Queene vntill the worlds end Our owne Writers affirme of this Queene Speede. Walsing Camdens Britania to our Nation she was a louing mother and saith one the Columne and pillar as it were of the whole Realme shee added the vertues of a wife to her sex to them both her immortall fame is a glory and an honour to her Nation King Edward the third 1360. married his daughter Iohanna to Henry the second King of Castile sonne of Alphonsus the 11. Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster fourth sonne of King Edward the third did take to wife Constancia eldest daughter of Peter King of Castile To whom in right of his said wife Constancia the Kingdome of Castile and Leon did discend and they both stiled themselues King and Queene of Castile and Leon which illustrious title is yet to be seene vpon his noble monument in Saint Pauls Church in London Katherine the sole daughter of the said Duke of Lancaster by his aforesaid wife Constancia was married to Henry 1388. the third sonne of king Iohn of Castile and Leon. Edmund Duke of Yorke youngest sonne of king Edward the third 1391. married Isabella youngest daughter of Peter king of Castile King Henry the fourth married Iohanna the daughter of Charles king of Nauarr. 1403. The next intermarriage wee finde betweene England and Spaine was in the time of king Henry the seauenth his owne marriage his sonnes with Spaine and marriages of his daughters are the greatest acts of State our English Annalles doe afford vs first his owne marriage made a Vnion whereupon after the effusion of much bloud to the consumption of the greatest part of the English Nobility there followed and euer since continued a happy peace and then by the marriage of his daughter settled an vndoubted and permanent succession for the Crowne of England the blessed happinesse at this instant wee enioy All which with the patience of the Reader contrary to my intended resolution which was onely for the story of the Spanish matches I will a little digresse and briefly touch hauing one with another dependancy and coherence This king Henry the seauenth for his wisedome was said to be a second Salomon and lay somewhat heauie on his people and was Auncestor to our now Soueraigne who will peraduenture some way both for the mannaging of the State and marriage of his children make him a patterne and precedent But the difference is the more is our happinesse Henry the seauenth his gathering of treasure together was to heape vp in store as appeared being found at Richmond after his decease vnder his owne key and keeping eighteene hundred thousand pounds sterling A huge masse of money for those times Our king hath expressed his Royall and Princely bounty and exposed his treasure vpō important occasions wherevnto his Maiestie hath beene necessitated gathered vp from his Subiects but as showers of raine that falls backe vpon the earth againe But it hath beene of late and it is very like hence-forth it will be imployed to repay support and supply About the ninth yeare of king Henry the seauenth his raigne there was one Peter Hyalus an Ambassador A Spanish Ambassadour sent into England sent from Ferdinando and Isabella king and Queene of Spaine to treate of a marriage betweene Katherine their daughter and Prince Arthur sonne and heire of Henry the seauenth it was obserued this Hyalus was a man of great wisedome that through the present could see farre into the future which king Henry soone perceiued Hyalus instantly became in great fauour and estimation with him brought it so about and yet not seene therein that Hyalus was imployed for him into Scotland both about a treaty of peace as also a marriage for Margaret his eldest daughter with Iames the fourth then king of Scotland it was not king Henry his course to seeke peace at any Prince his hands But it was conceiued hee did it then as not louing the barren warres which hee thought would not bee worth his charge Hyalus so caried himselfe in those Ambassies that it was his master-peece which euer after gaue him the esteeme of an excellent workman which shall bee hereafter more particularly related The warres betweene the king of England and the king of Scots were then at the height when Hyalus was sent but comming as it were from the king and Queene of Spaine as from friends equally well affected to both parties to mediate a peace betweene the two kings of England and Scotland as also about a treaty or ouerture at least of a marriage which perhaps in their owne persons would not haue beene so easily brought about the point of honour might therevnto giue impeachment Hyalus so handled the point of his imployment that immediately after Bishop Foxe was sent as an Ambassadour into Scotland wherevpon followed an honourable truce and shortly afterwards a marriage concluded betweene the king of Scots and Margaret the eldest daughter of Henry the seauenth king of England so that Doctor Morton afterwards Cardinall and this Peter Hyalus the Spanish Ambassadour were two of the happiest instruments that euer were the one for composing and contriuing the marriage betweene king Henry the seauenth and Elizabeth the eldest daughter of Edward the fourth whereby the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster were vnited and Hyalus a fore-runner of good hap was therefore by some called an Elias being the first motiue and speciall meanes of the intermarriage betweene England and Scotland whereby we enioy our now Soueraigne whom God graunt long to raigne ouer vs. The Spaniards are obserued generally to be acute and ingenious and many of them of great wisdome and deepe iudgements some reason thereof conceiued for that they are freer from the dull discease of drinke then other Nations are The great Historians writes in this manner of them The Spaniards are more able Guichardine Biterus then either the French or Germanes to endure the actions of the body and to suffer the passions of the minde Their first founder was a Souldier therefore are they held naturally the more for warre Jgnatius and no Nation hath euer beene therein more exercised They haue a Spanish Prouerbe To haue peace with England doth vs betide warres with all the world beside These our auncient Writers affirme Droder Siculus lib. 6. Strabo lib. 3. Mila lib. 2. that the Spaniard is most patient in want hardnesse hunger thirst heat colde and all other toyle and trouble both of body and minde and most ready and resolute for loue of Country or honour to encounter all dangers whatsoeuer For the last particular wherein the Spaniard hath that height of commendation giuen him it neither can be any detraction or
conquest formerly gouerned by Roitelets as petty Kings and now inhabited by seuerall nations of seuerall natures So that the nature necessitie and disposition of the Kings of Spaine their affaires requireth that they must carry somewhat a harder hand in their gouernment then ordinarie otherwise they cannot secure nor make good their plantations nor retaine their subiects in obedience And the very name of conquest imports violence and misery and is of so harsh a sound and odious in nature that from a Nation subdued detractions will suppresse all commendations a Conquerour shall any waies deserue Though their gouerning of such like subiects may be particuler yet the aspersion in that kinde will runne in the generall and a long time as it were in discent especially amongst malignant dispositions In remote parts of Kings Dominions where the gouernment by them is committed to subordinate Officers Commanders sometimes barbarous and in humane acts may be done by them the cōmon people which Kings in their nature may much abhorre and detest yet for the same in their honour and reputation they often suffer Then they further alleage that the Kings of Spaine to the Turkes Moores and such like Infidels haue beene many times a scourge But then in particular with the Italians Portugals French English Scottish and Flemmish their dealings with them to haue beene most honourable quiet iust and without iniurie offered to any which is said to appeare by their owne testimonies and witnesses also of many Writers For the warre Thillip the second and other affaires that haue passed in Portugall they were so carried and no otherwise for the iustification thereof out of Hieromme Francht a Genoes that was present and wrot the storie and in other points sheweth himself no great friend to Spaniards yet doth he so iustifie all the Kings actions in these affaires euen by the testimonie of the Portugals themselues as they seeme rather ouer-scrupulous then onely iustifiable Then there is further cyted Genebrard a French Writer that setteth out the King of Spaine his noble proceedings with France in all the times of the minorities of King Henry the second his children to wit Francis Charles and Henry the third and how he neuer sought either to profit himselfe or to impaire the kingdome of France during those troubles and thereupon giueth a touch by way of taxe for the taking of Newhauen by the English further alleaging that the King of Spaine at his owne charges sent aides of men horse victuals and money often times to the succours of those young Princes notwithstanding the old enmities and emulation betweene those two Crownes of France and Spaine and the cruell warres that had passed betweene them many yeares And maketh further relation of the king his clement proceeding with his owne subiects that rebelled in the low Countries as appeared by his many pardons peaces and tollerations made with them his liberall and noble dealings with the English Irish and Scottish especially such as were subiect to troubles for their conscience at home those he sustained liberally without requiring any seruice at their hands And lastly for the great wealth forces strength Note and power of the King of Spaine being a friend and temperately vsed cannot be fearefull to any good man but rather comfortable nor to be dangerous to Christendome but rather a great and singuler stay and prouidence of Almighty God who foreseeing the tumults and reuolts that heresies might bring in and the dangers Christendome might be subiect vnto by the great power and strength of Infidels the Turkes and Moores hath prouided so potent and opulent a Prince as the king of Spaine for the defence of the Catholike Church For the manifestation thereof two speciall obseruations worthy of note haue beene collected and cited the first after that interleaged and indissoluable knot of amity and alyance which was betweene Henry the seauenth Ferdinando and Isabella King and Queene of Spaine there mutually passed betweene them many Letters congratulatory amongst which there came Letters from Ferdinande and Isabella signifying the finall conquest of Granada from the Moores which action it selfe so worthy King Ferdinando whose manner was as indeed the nature is neuer to lose any vertue for the shewing expressed and displayed in his Leters at large all the particularities and religious punctures and ceremonies that were obserued in the reception of the Citie and king dome shewing amongst other things that the King would not by any meanes in person enter the City vntill he had first aloose seene the Crosse set vp vpon the greater Tower of Granada whereby it became Christian ground That likewise before lie would enter he did homage to God alone pronouncing by an Herauld from the height of that Tower that he did acknowledge to haue recouered that kingdome by the helpe of God Almighty and the glorious Virgin and the vertuous Apostle S. Iames and the holy Father Pope Inocent the eight together with the aides and seruice of his Prelates Nobles and Commons that he stirred not from the campe till he had seene a little armie of Martyrs to the number of seauen hundred and more Christians that had liued in bonds and seruitude as slaues to the Moores passe before his eies singing a psalme for their redemption and that he had giuen tribute to God by almes and reliefe extended to them all for his admission into the City these things were in the Letters with many more ceremonies of a kinde of holy ostentation King Henry euer willing to put himselfe into the consort or quier of religious actions and naturally affecting much the King of Spaine as much as one King could affect another partly for his vertues and partly for a counterpoise to France vpon the receipt of these Letters sent all his Nobles and Prelats that were about the court together with the Maior and Aldermen of London in great solemnity to the Church of Pauls there to heare a declaration from Bishop Morton then Lord Chancellour and Cardinall standing vpon the vppermost step or halfe pace before the Quier and all the Nobles Prelats and Gouernours of the Citie at the foot of the stayres made a speech vnto them letting them know that they were assembled in that consecrated place to sing vnto God a new song for that said he these many yeares the Christians haue not gained new ground or territorie vpon the infidels nor enlarged and set further the bounds of the christian world But this is now done by the pronenesse deuotion of Feredinando and Isabella King and Queene of Spaine who haue to their immortall honour recouered the great and rich kingdome of Granada and the populous and mighty citie of the same name from the Moores hauing beene in possession thereof by the space of seauen hundred yeares and more For which this assembly and all Christians are to render laud and thankes to God and to celebrate this noble act of the King of Spaine who in this is not onely