the old King David did bear unto her son Solomon above all the rest of his Brethren Hereupon I say these two that is to say Queen Barsabee and Nathan the Prophet coming together to the old man as he lay on his bed and putting him in mind of his promise and oath made to Barsabe for the preferment of her son and shewing besides how that Adonias without his order and consent had gathered an Assembly to make himself King even that very day which did put the old King in very great fear and danger and further also telling him which pleased him well quod oculi totius Israel in eum respicerent ut indicaret eis quis sederet in solio suo post ipsum that is that the eyes of all Israel were upon him to see whom he would commend unto them to sit in his seat after him which was as much as to say as that the whole Commonwealth referred it to his choice which of his sons should reign after him Upon these Reasons and Perswasions I say the good old King was content that they should take Solomon out of hand and put him upon the Kings own Mule and carry him about the streets of Jerusalem accompanyed with his Guard and Court and crying with sound of Trumpets Vivat Rex Solomon and that Zadok the Priest should anoint and after that he should be brought back and placed in the Royal Throne in the Palace and so indeed he was at what time King David himself being not able through impotency to rise out of his bed did him Honour and Reverence from the place where he lay for so saith the Scripture Adâ—ravit Rex in lectulo suo King David adored his son Solomon thus Crowned even from his Bed all which no doubt though it may seem to have been wrought by humane means and policy yet must we confess that it was principally by the especial Instinct of God himself as by the sequel and success we see so that hereby also we are taught that these the like determinations of the people Magistrates and Commonwealths about admitting or refusing of Princes to Reign or not to Reign over them when their designments are to good ends and for just respects and causes are allowed also by God and often times are his own special drifts and dispositions though they seem to come from man Whereof no one thing can give a more evident proof than that which ensued afterwards to Prince Rehoboam the lawful Son and Heir of this King Solomon who after his Fathers death coming to Sichem where all the People of Israel were gather'd together for his Coronation and Admission according to his Right by Succession For until that time we see he was not accounted true King though his Father was dead and this is to be noted the People began to propose unto him certain conditions for taking away of some hard and heavy Impositions laid upon them by Solomon his Father an evident President of the Oath and conditions that Princes do swear unto in these 〈◊〉 at their Coronation whereunto when Rehoboam refused to yield ten Tribes of the Twelve 〈◊〉 to admit him for their King but chose rather one Jeroboam Rehoboam's servant that was a meer stranger and but of poor percentage and made him their lawful King and God allowed thereof as the Scripture in express words doth testify and when Rehoboam that took himself to be openly injured hereby would by Arms have pursued his Title and had gathered together an Army of an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen Souldiers as the Scripture saith to punish these Rebells as he called them and to reduce these ten Tribes to their due Obedience of their natural Princes God appeared unto one Semeia an Holy man and bade him go to the Camp of Rehoboam and tell them plainly that he would not have them to fight against their Brethren that had chosen another King but that every man should go home to his House and live quietly under the King which each Party had and so they did and this was the end of that tumult which God for the sins of Solomon had permitted and allowed of And thus much by the way I thought good to touch out of Holy Scripture concerning the Jewish Commonâ—wealth even at the beginning for that it may give light to all the rest which after I am to treat of for if God permitted and allowed this in his own Common-wealth that was to be the example and pattern of all other that should ensue no doubt but that he approveth also the same in other Realms when just occasions are offered either for his service the good of the People and Realm or else for punishment of the sins and wickedness of some Princes that the ordinary line of Succession be altered Now then to pass on further and to begin with the Kingdoms of Spain supposing ever this ground of God's Oodinance as hath been declared First I say that Spain hath had three or four Races or Descents of Kings as France also and England have had and the first Race was from the Goths which began their Reign in Spain after the expulsion of the Romans about the Year of Christ 416. to whom the Spaniard referreth all his Nobility as the Frenchman doth to the German Franks and the English to the Saxons which entred France and England in the very same age that the other did Spain and the Race of the Gothish Kings endured by the space of 300 Years until Spain lost unto the Moores The second Race is from Don Pelayo that was chosen first King of Austria and of the Mountain-Countrey of Spain after the destruction thereof by the Moores about the Year of Christ 717 as before hath been touched which Race continued and encreased and added Kingdom unto Kingdom for the space of other three hundred Years to wit until the Year of Christ 1034. when Don Sancho Major King of Navarre got unto his Power the Earldom also of Aragon and Castilia and made them Kingdoms and divided them among his Children and to his second son named Don Ferdinando sirnamed afterward the Great he gave not only the said Earldom of Castilia with Title of Kingdom but by marrying also of the Sister of Don Dermudo King of Leon and Asturias he joined all those Kingdoms together and so began from that day forward the third Race of the Kings of Navar to reign in Castel and so endured for five hundred Years until the Year of Christ 1540. when the House of Austria entred to Reign there by Marriage of the Daughter and Heir of Don Ferdinando sirnamâ—d the Catholick and this was the fourth Race of Spanish Kings after the Roman's which endureth until this day And albeit in all these four Races and Ranks of Royal Descents divers Examples might be alledged for manifest proof of my purpose yet will I not deal with
the first Race for that it is evident by the Councils of Toledo before-alledged which were holden in that very time that in those days express Election was joined with Succession as by the deposition of King Suintilla and putting back of all his Children as also by the Election and Approbation of King Sisinando that was further off by Succession hath been insinuated before and in the Fifth Council of that age in Toledo it is decreed expressly in these words Si quis taliâ— meditatus fuerit talking of pretending to be King quem nec electio omnium perfecit nec Gothicae gentis nobilitas ad hunc honoris apicem trahit sit consortio Catholicorum privatus Divino anathemate condemnatus If any man shall imagin said these Fathers or go about to aspire to the Kingdom whom the Election and Choice of all the Realm doth not make perfect nor the Nobility of the Gothish Nation doth draw to the height of this Dignity let him be deprived of all Catholick Society and damned by the Curse of Almighty God By which words is insinuated that not only the Nobility of Gothish Bloud or nearness by Succession was required for the making of their King but much more the Choice or Admission of all the Realm wherein this Council putteth the Perfection of his Title The like determination was made in another Council at the same place before this that I have alledged and the words are these Nullus apud nos presumptione regnum arripiat sed defuncto in pace Principe optimates Gentis cum sacerdotibus successorem regni communi concilio constituant Which in English is thus Let no man with us snatch the Kingdom by presumption but the former Prince being dead in peace let the Nobility of the Nation together with the Priests and Clergy appoint the Successor of the Kingdom by Common Council Which is as much as to say as if he had said Let no man enter upon the Kingdom by presumption of Succession alone but let the Lords Temporal and Spiritual by common voice see what is best for the Weal-Publick Now then according to these antient Decrees albeit in the second race of Don Pelayo the Law of Succession by propinquity of Bloud was renewed and much more established than before as the antient Bishop of Tuys and Molina and other Spanish Writers do testify yet that the next in Bloud was oftentimes put back by the Commonwealth upon just causes these Examples following shall testify as briefly recounted as I can possibly Don Pelayo dyed in the Year of our Lord 737 left a son named Don Favilla who was King after his Father and Reigned two Years only After whose death none of his Children were admitted for King though he left divers as all Writers do testify But as Don Lucas the Bishop of Tuy a very antient Author writeth Aldefonsus Catholicus ab universo populo Gothorum eligitur that is as the Chronicler Moralis doth translate in Spanish Don Alonso sirnamed the Catholick was chosen to be King by all voices of the Gothish Nation This Don Alonso was son in Law to the former King Favilla as Morales saith for that he had his daughter Ermenesenda in Marriage and he was preferred before the King 's own Sons only for that they were young and unable to Govern as the said Historiographer testifyeth And how well this fell out for the Commonwealth and how excellent a King this Don Alonso proved Morales sheweth at large from the tenth chapter of his thirteenth Book unto the seventeenth and Sebastianus Bishop of Salamanca that lived in the same time writeth that for his Valiant Acts he was sirnam'd the Great To this Famous Don Alonso succeeded his son Don Fruela the first of that name who was a Noble King for ten Years space and had divers excellent Victories against the Moores but afterwards declining to Tyranny he became hateful to his Subjects and for that he put to death wrongfully his own Brother Don Vimerano a Prince of excellent parts and rarely beloved of the Spaniards he was himself put down and put to death by them in the Year of Christ 768 And albeit this King left two goodly children behind him which were lawfully begotten upon his Queen Dona Munia the one of them a son called Don Alonso and the other a daughter called Dona Ximea yet for the hatred conceived against their Father neither of them was admitted by the Realm to succeed him but rather his Cousin German named Don Aurelio brothers son to Don Alonso the Catholick was preferred and reigned peaceably six years and then dying without issue for that the hatred of the Spaniards was not yet ended against the memory of King Fruela they would not yet admit any of his Generation but rather excluded them again the second time and admitted a Brother in Law of his named Don Silo that was married to his sister Dona Adosinda daughter to the foresaid Noble King Catholick Alonso So that here we see twice the right Heirs of King Don Fruela for his evil Government were put back But Don Silo being dead without issue aâ— also Don Aurelio was before him and the Spaniards anger against King Fruela being now well asswaged they admitted to the Kingdom his foresaid son Don Alonso the younger sirnamed afterwards the Chast whom now twice before they had put back as you have seen but now they admitted him though his Reign at the first endured very little for that a certain bastard uncle of his named Don Mauregato by help of the Moores put him out and reigned by force six years and in the end dying without issue the matter came in deliberation again whether the King Don Alonso the chast that yet lived and had been hidden in a Monastery of Galatia during the time of the Tyrant should return again to Govern or rather that his Cousin-german Don Vermudo son to his Uncle the Prince Vimerano whom we shewed before to have been slain by this mans Father King Fruela should be elected in his place And the Realm of Spain determined the second to wit that Don Vermudo though he were much further off by propinquity of Bloud and within Ecclesiastical Order also for that he had been made Deaconâ— should be admitted partly for that he was judged for the more Valiant and Able Prince than the other who seemed to be made more acquainted now with the Life of Monks and Religious men than of a King having first been brought up among them for ten or twelve Years space whilst Don Aurelio and Don Silo reigned after the death of his Father King Fruela and secondly again other six Years during the Reign of the Tyrant Mauregato for which cause they esteemed the other to be fitter as also for the different memories of their two Fathers King Fruela and Prince Vimerano whereof the first was hateful and the
Brother of the said late King Don Fernando whose name was Don Juan a youth of twenty years old who had been Master of a Military Order in Portugal named de Avis and so they excluded Dona Beatrix Queen of Castile that was their lawful Heir and chose this young man and married him afterwards to the Lady Philippe daughter of John of Gant Duke of Lancaster by his first Wife Blanch Dutchess and Heir of Lancaster in whose Right the Kings of Portugal and their Descendents do pretend unto this day a certain Interest to the House of Lancaster which I leave to our Temporal Lawyer to discuss But hereby we see what an ordinary matter it hath been in Spain and Portugal to alter the â—ine of next Succession upon any reasonable consideration which they imagined to be for their Weal-Publick and the like we shall find in France and England which even now I will begin to tâ—â—at of CHAP. VIII Divres other examples out of the States of France and England for proof that the Next in Bloud are sometimes put back from Succession and how God had approved the same with good success AS concerning the Estate of France I have noted before that albeit since the Entrance of their first King Pharamond with his Franks out of Germany which was about the year of Christ 419. they have never had any stranger come to wear the Crown which they attribute to the benefit of their Law Salique that forbiddeth Women to reign yet among themselves have they changed twice their whole Race and Linage of Kings once in the entrance of King Pepin that put out the Line of Pharamond about the Year 751. and again in the promotion of King Hugo Capetus that put out the Line of Pepin in the year 988. so as they have had three Descents and Races of Kings as well as the Spaniards the first of Pharamond the second of Pepin and the third of Capetus which endureth unto this present if it be not altered now by the exclusion that divers pretend to make of the King of Navar and other Princes of the Blood Royal of the House of Burbon Wherefore as I did before in the Spaniards so I will here let pass the first rank of all of the French Kings so that some men may say perhaps that the Commonwealth and Law of Succession was not so well settled in those days as it hath been afterwards in the time of Pepin Charles the Great and their descendents as also for that it were in very deed too tedious to examine and peruse all three Ranks of Kings in France as you will say when you shall see what store I have to alledge out of the second Rank only which began with the exclusion and deposition of their lawful King Childerick the Third and election of King Pepin as before you have heard at large declared in the third chapter of this discourse and it shall not be needful to repeat the same again in this place Pepin then sirnamed le Brefe or the Little for his small stature though he were a Giant in deeds being made King of France by meer Election in the year of Christ 751. after 22 Kings that had reigned of the first Line of Pharamond for the space of more than three hundred years and being so famous and worthy a King as all the World knoweth reigned 18 years and then left his States and Kingdoms by Succession unto his Eldest Son Charles sirnamed afterwards the Great for his famous and Heroical Acts. And albeit the the whole Kingdom of France appertained unto him alone by the Law of Succession as hath been said his Father being King and he his eldest son yet would the Realm of France shew her Authoriin his Admission which Gerard setteth down in these words Estant Pepin decide les Francois esleurent Rois Charles Carlomon ses fils a la charge qu'ils paertageroient entre eux egalement le Royaume Which is King Pipin being dead the Frenchmen chose for their Kings his two sons Charles and Carlomon with condition that they should part equally between them the Realm Wherein is to be noted not only the Election of the Commonwealth besides Succession but also the heavy Condition laid upon the Heir to part half of his Kingdom with his younger brother and the very same words hath Eginard an antient French Writer in the Life of this Charles the Great to wit that the French State in a publick Assembly did chuse two Princes to be their Kings with express condition to divide the Realm equally as Francis Belforest cites his words which two French Authors I mean Gerard and Belforest I shall use principally hereafter in the rest of my citations After three years that these two Brethren had reigned together King Carlomon the younger died and left many sones the elder whereof was named Adalgise but Belforest saith that the Lords Ecclesiastical and Temporal of France swore fidelity and obedience to Charles without any respect or regard at all of the Children of Carlomon who yet by Right of Succession should have been preferred and Paulus Aemilius a Latine Writer saith Proceres regni ad Carolum ultro venientes Regem eum totius Galliae salutarunt That is The Nobility of the Realm coming of their own accord unto Charles saluted him King of France whereby is shewen that this exclusion of the Children of Carlomon was not by force or tyranny but by free deliberation of the Realm After Charles the Great reigned by Succession his onely son Luyâ— the First sirnamed de Bonnaire of his Courtesy who entring to reign in the year 817. with great applause of all men for the exceeding grateful memory of his Father was yet afterward at the pursuit principally of his own three sons by his first Wife which were Lothair Pepin and Luys deposed first in a Council at Lions and then again at Compeigne and put into a Monastery though afterwards he came to reign again and his fourth Son by his second Wife which son was named Charles le Chauve for that he was bald succeeded him in the Sates of France though after many Battels against his eldest Brother Lothaire to whom by Succession the same appertained After Charles the Bald succeeded Luys the second sirnamed le Begue for his stuttering who was not eldest but third son unto his Father for the second died before his Father and the eldest was put by his Succession for his evil demeanur this Luys also was like to have been deprived by the States at his first entrance for the hatred conceived against his Father Charles the Bald but that he calling a Solemn Parliament at Compeigne as Gerard saith he made the People Clergy and Nobility many fair Promises to have their Good wills This Luys the Stuttering left two Bastard Sons by a Concubine who were called Luys and Carlomon
as also he left a little Infant newly born of his lawful Wife Adeltrude Daughter to King Alfred of England which infant was King of France afterwards by the name of Charles the Simple albeit not immediatly after the death of his Father for that the Nobles of France said that they had need of a Man to be King and not a Child as Gerard reporteth and therefore the whole State of France chose for their Kings the two foresaid Bastards Luys the third and Carlomon the First of that name jointly and they were Crowned most solemnly and divided the whole Realm between them in the year of Christ 881. and Queen Adelâ—rude with her child true Heir of France fled into England to her Father and there brought him up for divers years in which time she saw four or five Kings Reign in his place in France one after the other for briefly thus it passed Of these two Bastard Kings the Elder named Luys reigned but four years and died without issue the second that is Carlomon lived but one year after him and left a son called also Luys which succeeded in the Kingdom by the name of Luys the Fifth and sirnamed Faineant for his idle and slothful life For which as also for his vitious behaviour and in particular for taking out and marrying a Nun of the Aâ—bey of S. Baudour at Chels by Paris he was deprived and made a Monk in the Abbey of S. Denis where he died and in his place was chosen King of France and Crowned with great Solemnity Charles the Fourth Emperour of Rome sirnamed le Gros for that he was fat and corpulent he was Nephew to Charles the Bald before mentioned and therefore the French Stories say that he came to the Crown of France partly by Succession and partly by Election but for Succession we see that it was nothing worth for so so much as Charles the Simple the right Heir was alive in England whom it seemeth that the French men had quite forgotten seeing that now they had not only excluded him three times already as you have heard but afterwards also again when this Gross Charles was for his evil Government by them deposed and deprived not only of the Kingdom of France but also of his Empire which he had before he was King and was brought into such miserable penury as divers write that he perished for want At this time I say the States of France Would not yet admit Charles the Simple though hitherto his Simplicity did not appear but he seemed a goodly Prince but rather they chose for King one Odo Earl of Paris and Duke of Angiers and caused him to be Crowned But yet after a few years being weary of this man's Government and moved also somewhat with compassion towards the Youth that was in England they resolved to depose Odo and so they did whilst he was absent in Gascony and called Charles the Simple out of England to Paris and restored him to the Kingdom of France leaving only to Odo for Recompense the State of Aquitaine with Title of a Duke wherewith in â—ine he contented himself seeing that he could get no more But yet his Posterity by vertue of this Election pretended ever after a Title to the Crown of France and never left it off until at length by Hugo Capetus they got it for Hugh descended of this King and Duke Odo This King Charles then sirnamed the Simple an English Womans Son as you have heard being thus admitted to the Crown of France he took to Wife an English Woman named Elgina or Odin Daughter of King Edward the Elder by whom he had a Son named Lowys and himself being a Simple man as hath been said was allured to go to the Castle of Peronne in Picardy where he was made Prisoner and forced to resign his Kingdom unto Ralph King of Burgundy and soon after he dyed through Misery in the same Castle and his Queen Ogin fled into England with her little son Luys unto her Uncle King Adelstan as Queen Adeltrude had done before with her Son unto King Alfred and one of the Chief in this Action for putting down of the Simple was Counte Hugh sirnamed the Great Earle of Paris Father unto Hugo Capetus which after was King But this new King Ralph lived but three Years after and then the States of France considering the right Title of Luys the lawful child of King Charles the Simple which Luys was commonly called now in France by the name of d' Outremer that is beyond Sea for that he had been brought up in England the said States being also greatly and continually solicited hereunto by the Embassadours of King Adelstan of England and by William Duke of Normandy sirnamed Long Spear Great Grandfather to William the Conquerour who by the King of England was gained also to be of the young Princes part for these Considerations I say they resolved to call him into France out of England as his Father had been before him and to admit and Crown him King and so they did and he Reigned 27 Years and was a good Prince and dyed peaceably in his Bed in the Year of Christ 945. This King Luys d' Outremer left two Sons behind him the Eldest was called Lothaire the First who succeeded him in the Crown of France the Second was named Charles whom he made Duke of Loraine Lothaire dying left one onely Son named Luys as his Grandfather was who was King of France by the name of Luys the V. and dying without issue after two Years that he had Reigned the Crown was to have gone by Lineal Succession unto his Uncle Charles the Duke of Lorayne second Son to Luys d' Outremer as is evident but the States of France did put him by it for mislike they had of his Person and did chuse Hugo Capetus Earl of Paris and so ended the Second Line of Pepin and of Charles the Greâ—t and entred the Race of Hugo Capetus which endureth unto this day and the French Stories do say that this Sirname Capet was given to him when he was a boy for that he was wont to snatch away his Fellows Caps from their Heads whereof he was termed Snatch-Cap which some do interpret to be an Abodement that he should snatch also a Crown from the true Owners Head in time as afterwards we see it fell out though yet he had it by Election and Approbâ—tion of the Commonwealth as I have said And in this respect all the French Chroniclers who otherwise are most earnest Defenders of their Law of Succession do justify this Title of Hugo Capetus against Charles for which cause Francis Belforest doth alledge the saying of William Nangis an antient and diligent-Chronicler of the Abbey of S. Denys in France who defendeth King Capetus in these words We may not grant in any case that Hugh Capet may be esteemed an Invader or Vsurper
other most dear as before hath been declared neither do any of the four antient Bishops Historiographers of Spain to wit that of Toledo Beza Salamanca or Ture that lived all about those days and wrote the Story reprehend this fact of the Realm of Spain or put any doubt whether it were lawful or not for the causes before-recited True it is that after three years reign this King Vermudo being weary of Kingly life and feeling some scruple of Conscience that being Deacon he had forsaken the life Ecclesiastical and married though by dispensation of the Pope as Morales saith and entangled himself with the affairs of a Kingdom he resigned willingly the Government unto his said Cousin Don Alonso the Chaste and himself lived after a Private Life for divers Years But this Don Alonso who now the fourth time had been deprived of his Succession as you have seen deceived the expectation of the Spaniards that accounted him a Monk for he proved the most valiant and excellent King that ever that Nation had both for his vertue valour victories against the Moores building of Towns Castles Churches Monasteries and other such Works of Christianity as Morales recounteth and he reigned after his last Admission one and fifty years and had great friendship with King Charles the Great of France who lived in the same time with him And this man among other most noble Exploits so tamed the Moors of his Countrey as during his days he never paid that cruel and horrible Tribute which before and after was paid by the Christians to the Moors which was an hundred young Maids and fifty Sons of Gentlemen every Year to be brought up in the Religion of Mahomet among those Infidel Tyrants And finally this man after so much Affliction came to be one of the most renowned Princes of the World After this Don Alonso who left no Children for that he would never marry but lived all his Life in Chastity there succeeded to him by Election his Nephew named Don Ramiro son to the former said King Don Vermudo the Deacon that gave this Man the Crown as you have heard of whose Election Morales writeth these words Muerto el Rey Don Alonso el casto sue eligido por los perlados y grandes del reyno el Rey Don Ramiro primero deste nombre hyio del Rey Don Vermudo el diacono That is the King Don Alonso the chast being dead there was chosen King by the Prelats and Nobility of the Realm Don Ramiro the first of this Name son of King Vermudo the Deacon who resigned his Crown to Don Alonso and it is to be noted that albeit this Don Ramiro was next in Bloud to the Succession after the death of his Uncle Don Alonso without Children yet was he chosen by the States as here it is said in express words Moreover it is to be noted that albeit this Author Ambrosio Morales and other Spanish Writers do say that in the time of this King Ramiro the Law of Succession by propinquity in â—loud was so revived and strongly consumed that as the Kingdom of Spain was made as Majorasgo as he termeth it which is an Inheritance so entailed and tied only to the next in bloud as there is no possibility to alter the same and that from this time forward the King always caused his Eldest son to be named King or Prince and so ever to be sworn by the Realm and Nobility yet shall we find this Ordinance and Succession oftentimes to have been broken upon several considerations as this Author himself in that very chapter confesseth As for Example after some descents from this man which were Don Ordonio the first this man's son and Don Alonso the Third Don Garzia and Don Ordonio the Second all four Kings by Orderly Succession it happened that in the Year of Christ 924 Don Ordonio the Second dying left four Sons and one Daughter lawfully begotten and yet the State of Spain displaced them all and gave the Kingdom to their Uncle Don Fruela second brother to their Father Don Ordonio and Morales saith that there appeareth no other reason hereof but only for that these Sons of the King deceased were young and not so apt to Govern well the Realm as their Uncle was But after a Years Reign this King Fruela dyed also and left divers Children at mans Estate and then did the Spaniards as much against them as they had done for him before against the Children of his Elder Brother For they put them all by the Crown and chose for their King Don Alonso the Fourth which was eldest son to Don Ordonio the Second before-named that had been last King saving one and this man also I mean Don Alonso the Fourth leaving afterwards his Kingdom and betaking himself to a Religious habit offered to the Commonwealth of Spain his eldest Son lawfully begotten named Don Ordonio to be their King but they refused him and took his Brother I mean this Kings Brother and Uncle to the young Prince named Don Ramiro who reigned 19 Years and was a most excellent King and gained Madrid from the Moors though noted for Cruelty for imprisoning and pulling out the eyes afterwards of this King Don Alonso the Fourth and all his Children and Nephews for that he would have left his Habit and returned to be King again But this Fact my Author Morales excuseth saying that it was requisite for the peace and safety of the Realm so as here you see two most manifest alterations of Lineal Succession together by Order of the Commonwealth Furthermore after this Noble King Don Ramiro the Second succeeded as Heir apparent to the Crown his elder Son Don Ordinio the Third of this name in the Year of our Saviour 950. But this Succession endured no longer than unto his own death which was after seven years for then albeit he left a Son named El Enfante Don Vermudo yet he was not admitted but rather his Brother Don Sancho the First of this Name sirnamed El Gordo who was Uncle to the young Prince and the reason of this Alteration Morales giveth in these express words el succeder en el regno al hermano fue por la racon ordinaria de ser el enfante Don Vermudo nino y no bastante para el govierno y difenca de la terra Which is the cause why the Kings Brother and not his son succeeded in the Crown was for the ordinary reason so often before alledged for that the Infant or young Prince Vermudo was a little child and not sufficient for the Government and Defence of the Countrey Truth it is that after this Don Sancho had reigned and his Son and Heir named Don Ramiro the Third after him for the space of thirty years in all then was this youth Don Vermudo that is now put back called by the Realm to the Succession of the Crown and made King
by the name of King Vermudo the Second who left after him Don Alonso the Fifth and he again his son Don Vermudo the Third who marrying his sister Dona Sancha that was Heir unto Don Ferdinando the first Earl and then King of Castile who was second son to Don Sancho Mayor King of Navar as before hath been said he join'd by these means the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile together which were separate before and so ended the line of Don Pelayo first Christian King of Spain after the entrance of the Moors which had endured now three hundred years and the Bloud of Navar entred as you see and so continued therein until the entrance of those of Austria as before hath been said which was almost five hundred years together And thus much I thought good to note out of the Histories of Spain for this first descent of the Spanish Kings after the entrance of the Moors neither mean I to pass much further both for that it would be too long as also for that mine Author Morales who is the most diligent that hath written the Chronicles of that Nation endeth here his History with King Vermudo the Third and last of the Gothish Bloud Notwithstanding if I would go on further there would not want divers evident Examples also to the same purpose which Stephen Garabay another Chronicler of Spain doth touch in the continuation of this History whereof for Examples sake only I will name two or three among the rest And first about the year of Christ 1201. there was a Marriage made by King John of England for Dona Blancha his Neece that is to say the daughter of his Sister Dame Eleanor and of Don Alonso the Ninth of that name King and Queen of Spain which Blancha was to marry the Prince of France named â—uys Son and Heir to King Philip sirnamed Augustus which Luys was afterwards King of France by the name of Luys the VIII and was Father to Luys the IX sirnamed the Saint This Lady Blancha was Neece as I have said unto King John and to King Richard the First of England for that her Mother Lady Eleanor was their sister and daughter to King Henry the Second and King John made this Marriage thereby to make peace with the French and was content to give for her Dowry for that he could not tell how to recover them again all those Towns and Countreys which the said King Philip had taken from the English by this King 's evil Government in Normandy and Gascony and moreover promise was made that if the Prince Henry of Spain that was the only brother to the Lady Blanch should die without issue as after he did then this Lady should succeed in the Crown of Spain also But yet afterwards the State of Spain would not perform this but rather admitted her younger sister Dona Berenguela married to the Prince of Leon and excluded both Blanch and her son the King S. Luys of France against the evident Right of Succession and propinquity of Bloud and the only Reason they yielded hereof was not to admit Strangers to the Crown as Garabay testifieth This happened then and I do note by the way that this Dona Berenguela second Daughter of Queen Eleanor the English Woman was married as hath been said to the Prince of Leon and had by him Don Fernando the Third of that name King of Castilia sirnamed also the Saint So as the two Daughters of an English Queen had two Kings Saints for their sons at one time the elder of France and the younger of Spain After this again about threescore years the Prince of Spain named Don Alonso sirnamed de la cerda for that he was born with a great gristle-hair on his breast called Cerda in Spanish which Don Alonso was Nephew to the King Fernando the Saint and married with the Daughter of Saint Luys King of France named also Blancha as her Grand-mother was and had by her two Sons called Alonso and Hornando de la cerda as the Prince their Father was named which Father of theirs dying before the King the Grand-father left them commended to the Realm as lawful Heirs apparent to the Crown yet for that a certain Uncle of theirs named Don Sancho younger Brother to their Father which Don Sancho was sirnamed afterwards el bravo for his valour and was a great Warriour and more like to manage well the matters of War than they he was made Heir apparent of Spain and they put back in their Grand-fathers time and by his and the Realms consent their father as I have said being dead and this was done in a General Parliament holden at Segovia in the year 1276. And after this Don Sancho was made King in the year 1284 and the two Princes put into prison but afterwards at the suit of their Uncle King Philip the Third of France they were let out again and endued with certain Lands and so they remain unto this day and of these do come the Dukes of Medina Celi and all the rest of the House of Cerda which are of much Nobility in Spain at this time and King Philip that reigneth cometh of Don Sancho the younger Brother Not long after this again when Don Pedro sirnamed the Cruel King of Castile was driven out and his bastard brother Henry the Second set up in his place as before hath been mentioned the Duke of Lancaster John of Gant having married Dona Constantia the said King Peter's daughter and Heir pretended by Succession the said Crown of Castile as indeed it appertained unto him but yet the State of Spain denied it flatly and defended it by Arms and they prevailed against John of Gant as did also the race of Henry the Bastard against his lawful Brother and the race of Don Sancho the Uncle against his lawful Nephews as hath been shewed and that of Dona Berenguela against her elder Sister all which Races do reign unto this day and these three Changes of the True Line happened within two Ages and in the Third and principal descent of the Spanish Kings when this matter of Succession was most assuredly and perfectly established and yet who will deny but that the Kings of Spain who hold by the latter Titles at this day are true and lawful Kings Well one Example will I give you more out of the Kingdom of Portugal and so will I make an end with these Countreys This King Henry the Bastard last named King of Spain had a son that succeeded him in the Crown of Spain named John the First who married the Daughter and Heir named Dona Beatrix of King Fernando the First of Portugal but yet after the death of the said King Fernando the States of Portugal would never agree to admit him for their King for not subjecting themselves by that means to the Castilians and for that cause they rather took for their King a Bastard
John his Father and Lowys the Prince of France chosen in his place but that the death of King John did alter that Course intended by the English Nobility so as this matter is neither new nor unaccustomed in all foreign Countreys and now will I pass also a little to our English Stories to see whether the like may be found in them or no. And first of all that the Realm of England hath had as great Variety Changes and Diversity in the Races of their Kings as any one Realm in the World it seemeth evident for that first of all after the Britains it had Romans for their Governours for many years and then of them and their Roman Bloud they had Kings again of their own as appâ—areth by that Valiant King Aurelius Ambrosius who resisted so manfully and prudently the Saxons for a time after this they had Kings of the Saxon and English Bloud and after them of the Danes and then of the Normans and after them again of the French and last of all it seemeth to have returned to the Britains again in King Henry the Seventh for that his Father came of that Race and now you know there be Pretenders of divers Nations I mean both of Scotish Spanish and Italian Bloud so that England is like to participate with all their Neighbours round about them and I for my part do feel my self much of the French opinion before-alledged that so the Ship be well and happily guided I esteem it not much important of what Race or Nation the Pilot be but now to our purpose I mean to pass over the First and Antient Ranks of Kings as well of the British and Roman as also of the Saxon Races until King Egbert the first of this name King of the West Saxons and almost of all the rest of England besides who therefore is said to be properly the first Monarch of the Saxon Bloud and he that first of all commanded that Realm to be called England which ever since hath been observed This man Egbert being a young Gentleman of a Noble House in the West parts of England was had in jealousy by his King Britricus who was the sixteenth King from Cerdicius first King of the West Saxons as he was also the last of his Bloud And for that he suspected that this Egbert for his great Prowess might come in time to be chosen King he banish'd him into France where he lived divers years and was a Captain under the famous King Pepin that was Father to Charles the Great and hearing afterwards that King Britricus was dead he returned into England where Polydor saith omnium consensu Rex creatur that he was created or chosen King by consent and voice of all men though yet he were not next by Propinquity of Bloud Royal as is most evident and yet he proved the most Excellent King that ever the Saxons had before or perhaps after and his Election happened in the Year of Christ eight hundred and two when King Pepin the first of that Race reigned as hath been said in France so as this Monarchy of Egbert and that of Pepin whereof we have alledged so many Examples in the former Chapter began as it were together and both of them I mean both Pepin and Egbert came to their Crowns by Election of the People as here you see This King Egbert or Egbrich as others do write him left a lawful Son behind him named Elthelwolfe or Adelvulfe or Edolph for all is one who succeeded him in the Kingdom and was as Worthy a man as his Father and this Adelvulfe again had four lawful Sons who all in their turns succeeded by just and lawful Order in the Crown to wit Ethelbald Ethelbert Ethelred and Alfred for that none of the former Three had any Children and all the latter Three were most Excellent Princes especially Alfred or Alvred the Last of all Four whose Acts are wonderful and who among other his Renowned Gests drove Rollo that Famous Captain of the Danes from the Borders of England with all his Company into France where he got the Countrâ—y or Province named then Neustria and now Normandy and was the first Duke of that Province and Nation and from whom our William Conquerour came afterwards in the sixth Descent This man erected also the Vniversity of Oxford being very Learned himself builded divers goodly Monasteries and Churches and dying left as famous a Son behind him as himself which was Edward the First sirnamed the Senior or Elder This King Edward dying left two Sons lawfully begotten of his Wife Edigna the one named Prince Edmund and the other Eldred and a Third Illegitimate whose name was Adelstan whom he had by a Concubine But yet for that this man was esteemed to be of more valor than the other he was preferred to the Crown before the Two other Princes Legitimate for so testifieth Polidor in these words Adelstanus ex concubina Edwardi filius Rex à populo consalutatur atque ad Kingstonum oppidum more majorum ab Athelmo Canâ—uariensi Archiepiscopo coronatur which is Adelstan the Son of King Edward by a Concubin was made King by the People and was Crowned according to the old custom by Athelme Archbishop of Canterbury at the Town of Kingston Thus far Polidor and Stow addeth further these words His Coronation was celebrated in the Market-place upon a Stage erected on high that the King might better be seen of the Multitude he was a Prince of worthy memory valiant and wise in all his Acts and brought this Land into one perfect Monarchy for he expelled utterly the Danes and quieted the Welchmen Thus much Stow of the Success of Chusing this King Bastard to Reign To whose Acts might be added that he conquered Scotland and brought Constantine their King to do him homage and restored â—uy d' Outremer his Sisters son to the the Kingdom of France as before hath been signified This man dying without Issue his Lawful Brother Edmond put back before was admitted to the Crown who being of excellent expectation dyed after six years and left two Lawful Sons but yet for that they were young they were both put back by the Realm and their Uncle Eldred was preferred before them so saith Polidor Genuit Edmondus ex Egilda uxere Eduinum Edgarum qui cum aetate pueri essent post Eldredum deinde regnarunt King Edmond begat of his Wife Egilda two Sons named Edwin and Edgar who for that they were but children in years were put back and Reigned afterwards after their Vncle Eldred The like saith Stow and yieldeth the same reason in these words Eldred succeeded Edmond his Brother for that his Sons Edwin and Edgar were thought too young to take so great a Charge upon them This Eldred though he entred as you see against the Right of the Nephews yet lay Polidor and
But this Hardicanutus being dead also upon the sudden at a certain Banquet in Lambeth by London without issue within two years after his Coronation the States of the Realm had determined to chuse Aludred for their King who was younger Brother to Edward and for that cause sent for him out of Normandy as Polidor recounteth and had made him King without all doubt for that he was esteemed more Stirring and Valiant than his elder Brother Edward had not Earl Goodwin of Kent fearing the young man's stomach raised a strong Faction against him and thereupon also caused him to be traiterously murthered as he passed through Kent towards London nor had the State herein any respect to Antiquity of Bloud for that before Alfred were both his own elder Brother Prince Edward who after him was chosen King and before them both were Edmond and Edward the Children of their elder Brother Edmond Ironside as hath been said and this is the third Breach of Lineal Descent But this notwithstanding Alured being slain Prince Edward was made King tanta publica laetitta saith Polidor ut certatim pro ejus saelici Principatu cuncti vot a facerent That is He was made King with such universal joy and contentment of all men as every man contended who should pray and make most Vows to God for his happy Reign And according to this was the Success for he was a most Excellent Prince and almost miraculously he Reigned with great Peace and void of all War at home and abroad for the space of almost twenty years after so infinit Broils as had been before him and ensued after him and yet his Title by Succession cannot be justified as you see for that his eldest Brothers Son was then alive to wit Prince Edward sirnamed the Outlaw who in this Kings Reign came into England and brought his Wife and three lawful Children with him to wit Edgar Margaret and Christian but yet was not this good King Edward so scrupulous as to give over his Kingdom to any of them or to doubt of the Right of his own Title which he had by Election of the Commonwealth against the Order of Succession This King Edward being dead without issue Polidor saith that the States made a great Consultation whom they should make King and first of all it seemeth they excluded him that was only Next by Propinquity in Bloud which was Edgar Adelin Son to the said Prince Edward the Outlaw now departed and Nephew to King Edmond Ironside and the reason of this exclusion is alledged by Polidor in these words is puer id aetatis nondum regno gubernando maturus erat That is he being a Child of so small-years was not ripe enough to Govern the Kingdom And then he saith that Harald Son of Earl Goodwin by the Daughter of Canutus the First proclaimed himself King and moreover he addeth Non displicuit omnino id factum populo qui plurimum sâ—ei in Haraldi virtute habebat itaque more majorum sacratus est which is This fact of Harald displeased not at all the People of England for that they had great hope in the vertue of this Harald and so was he Anointed and Crowned according to the Fashion of the antient Kings of England By which words we may see that Harald had also the approbation of the Realm to be King notwithstanding that little Edgar was present as hath been said so as this was the fourth Breach of Succession at this time But in the mean space William Duke of Normandy pretended that he was chosen before by King Edward the Confessor and that the Realm had given their consent thereunto and that King Edward left the same testified in his last Will and Testament and albeit none of our English Authors do avow the same clearly yet do many other foreign Writers hold it and it seemeth very probable that some such thing had past both for that Duke William had many in England that did favour his Pretence at his entrance as also as Gerard in his French Story saith that at his first Coming to London he punished divers by name for that they had broken their Oaths and Promises in that behalf And moreover it appeareth that by alledging this Title of Election he moved divers Princes abroad to favour him in that Action as in a just Quarrel which is not like they should have done if he had pretended only a Conquest or his Title of Consanguinity which could be of no importance in the World for that effect seeing it was no other but that his Grandfather and King Edward's Mother were Brother and Sister which could give him no pretence at all to the Succession of the Crown by Bloud and yet wee see that divers Princes did assist him and among others the French Chronicler Gerard so often named before writeth that Alexander the second Pope of Rome whose Holiness was so much esteemed in those days as one Constantinus Afer wrot a Book of his Miracles being informed by Duke William of the Justness of his pretence did send him his Benediction and a precious Ring of Gold with an Hallowed Banner by which he got the Victory thus writeth Gerard in his French Chronicles and Antoninus Archbishop of Florence sirnamed Sainct writing of this matter in his Chronicles speaketh great good of William Conquerour and commendeth his Enterprize But howsoever this was the Victory we see he got and God prospered his Pretence and hath confirmed his Off-spring in the Crown of England more than 500. Years together So as now accounting from the the death of King Edmond Ironside unto this man we shall find as before I have said in less than 50 Years that 5. or 6. Kings were made in England one after another by only Authority and Approbation of the Commonwealth contrary to the ordinary Course of Lineal Succession by Propinquity of Blood And all this is before the Conquest but if we should pass any further down we should find more Examples than before For First the two Sons of the Conquerour himself that succeeded after him to wit William Rufus and Henry the I. were they not both younger Brothers to Robert Duke of Normandy to whom the most part of the Realm was inclined as Polydor saith to have given the Kingdom presently after the Conquerours death as due to him by Succession notwithstanding that William for particular displeasure against his elder Son had ordained the contrary in his Testament But that Robert being absent in the War of Hierusalem the Holy and Learned man Laufranke as he was accounted then Archbishop of Canterbury being deceived with vain hope of William Rufus's good nature perswaded them the contrary who was at that day of high Estimation and Authority in England and so might induce the Realm to do what he liked By like means got Henry his younger Brother the same Crown afterwards to wit by fair Promises to the
and Chartres in France and the other two Polidor said dyed before they were Married and so their names were not Recorded These are the Children of King William the Conqueror among whom after his death there was much strife about the Succession For first his eldest Son Duke Robert who by order of Ancestrie by birth should have succeeded him in all his Estates was put back first from the Kingdom of England by his third Brother William Rufus upon a pretence of the Conquerors Will and Testament for particular affection that he had to this his said third Son William though as Stow Writeth almost all the Nobility of England were against William's entrance But in the end agreement was made between the two Brothers with the condition that if William should dye without Issue then that Robert should succeed him and to this accord both the Princes themselves and twelve principal Peers of each side were Sworn but yet after when William dyed without Issue this was not observed but Henry the fourth Son entred and deprived Robert not only of this his Succession to England but also of his Dukedom of Normandy that he had enjoyed peaceably before all the time of his Brother Rufus and moreover he took him Prisoner and so carried him into England and there kept him till his death which happened in the Castle of Cardif in the year 1134. And whereas this Duke Robert had a goodly Prince to this Son named William who was Duke of Normandy by his Father and Earl of Flanders in the right of his grand Mother that was the Conquerors Wife and Daughter of Baldwin Earl of Flanders as hath been said and was established in both these States by the help of Lewis the VI. surnamed Le Gros King of France and admitted to do homage to him for the said States his Uncle King Henry of England was so violent against him as first he drove him out of the state of Normandy and secondly he set up and maintained a Competitor or two against him in Flanders by whom finally he was slaine in the year of Christ 1128. before the Town of Alost by an Arrow after he had gotten the upper hand in the Field and so ended the race of the first Son of King William the Conquerour to wit oâ— Duke Robert which Robert lived after the Death of his said Son and Heir Duke William Six years in Prison in the Castle of Cardiff and pined away with sorrow and misery as both the French and English Histories do agree The second Son of the Conqueror named Richard dyed as before hath been said in his Fathers time and left no Issue at all as did neither the third Son William Rufus though he Reigned 13. years after his Father the Conqueror in which time he established the Succession of the Crown by consent of the States of England to his elder Brother Duke Roberts issue as hath been said though afterwards it was not observed This King Rufus came to the Crown principally by the help and favour of Lanfrancus Archbishop of Canterbury who greatly repented himself afterward of the error which in that point he had committed upon hopes of his good Government which proved extream evil But this King William Rufus being slayn afterward by the Arrow of a Cross-bow in Newforrest as is well known and this at such time as the foresaid Duke Robert his elder Brother to whom the Crown by Succession apperteined was absent in the War of the Holy Land where according as most Authors do Write he was chosen King of Hierusalem but refused it upon hope of the Kingdom of England But he returning home found that his fourth Brother Henry partly by fair promises and partly by force had invaded the Crown in the year 1110. and so he Reigned 35. years and had Issue divers Sons and Daughters but all were either drounded in the Seas coming out of Normandy or else dyed otherwise before their Father except only Mathildis who was first Married to Henry the Emperour fifth of that name and after his death without Issue to Geffrey Plantagenet Duke of Anjow Touraine and Maine in France by whom she had Henry which Reigned after King Stephen by the name of Henry the II. And thus much of the Sons of William the Conqueror Of his two Daughters that lived to be Married and had Issue the elder named Constance was Married to Alayn Fergant Duke of Britain who was Son to Hoel Earl of Nants and was made Duke of Britain by William the Conquerors means in manner Following Duke Robert of Normanyd Father to the Conqueror when he went on Pilgrimage unto the Holy Land in which Voyage he dyed left for Governour of Normandy under the protection of King Henry the first of France Duke Alayne the first of Britain which Allayn had Issue Conan the first who being a stirring Prince of about 24. years old when Duke William began to treat of passing over into England he shewed himself not to favour much that enterprise which Duke William fearing caused him to be Poysoned with a pair of perfumed Gloves as the French stories do report and caused to be set up in his place and made Duke one Hoel Earl of Nantes who to gratifie William sent his Son Alaine surnamed Fergaâ—t with 5000. Souldiers to pass over into England with him and so he did and William afterward in recompence thereof gave him his eldest Daughter Constantia in Marriage with the Earldom oâ— Richmond by whom he had Issue Conan the second surnamed le Gross who had Issue a Son and a Daughter The Son was called Hoel as his Grand-Father was and the Daughters name was Bertha Married to Eudo Earl of Porhet in Normandy and for that this Duke Conan liked better his Daughter and his Son in-law her Husband then he did Hoel his own Son he disavowed him on his Death Bead and made his said Daughter his Heir who had by the said Eudo a Son named Conan surnamed the younger which was the third Duke of that name and this man had one only Daughter and Heir named Lady Constance who was Married to the third Son of King Henry the second named Geffrey and elder Brother to King John that after came to Reign and by this Lord Geffrey she had Issue Arthur the second Duke of Britain whom King John his Uncle put back from the Crown of England and caused to be put to death as after shall be shewed and he dying without Issue his Mother Constance Dutchess and Heir of Britain Married again with a Prince of her own House whom after we shall name in the prosecution of this Line and by him she had Issue that hath endured until this day the last whereof hitherto is the Lady Isabella infant of Spain and that other of Savoy her Sister whom by this means we see to have descended from King William the Conqueror by his eldest Daughter Lady
reason is for that we read that this Lord Edmond was a goodly wise discreet Prince notwithstanding that some Authors call him Crouchback and that he was highly in the favour both of his Father King Henry as also of his Brother King Edward and imployed by them in many great Wars and other affairs of State both in France and other where which argueth that there was no such great defect in him as should move his Father and the Realm to deprive him of his Succession Thirdly we read that King Henry procured by divers ways and means the advancement of this Lord Edmond as giving him the Earldoms of Leicester and Darby besides that of Lancaster as also procuring by all means possible and with exceeding great charges to have made him King of Naples and Sicilie by Pope Innocentius which had been no policy to have done if he had been put back from his Inheritance in England for that it had been to have Armed him against his Brother the King Fourthly we see that at the death of his Father King Henry the III. this Lord Edmond was principally left in charge with the Realm his elder Brother Prince Edward being scarsly returned from the War of Asia at what time he had good occasion to challenge his own right to the Crown if he had had any seeing he wanted no power thereunto having three goodly Sons at that time alive born of his Wife Queen Blanch Daugher of Navarre and County of Champain to whom she had born only one Daughter that was married to Philip le Bel King of France But we shall never read that either he or any of his Children made any such claim but that they lived in very good agreement and high grace with King Edward the first as his Children did also with King Edward the II. until he began to be mis-led in Government and then the two Sons of this Lord Edmond I mean both Thomas and Henry that Successively were Earls of Lancaster made War upon the said Edward the II. and were the principal Actors in his deposition and in setting up of his Son Edward the III. in his place aâ— what time it is evident that they might have put in also for themselves if their title had been such as this report maketh it A fifth reason is for that if this had been so that Edmond Earl of Lancaster had been the elder Brother then had the controversie between the two Houses of York and Lancaster been most clear and without all doubt at all for then had the House of York had no pretence of right in the World and then were it evident that the Heirs general of Blanch Dutchess of Lancaster Wife of John of Gaunt to wit the descendents of Lady Philip her Daughter that was married into Portugal these I say and none other were apparent and true Heirs to the Crown of England at this day and all the other of the House of York usurpers as well King Henry the VII as all his posterity and off-spring for that none of them have descended of the said Blanch as is manifest And therefore lastly the matter standeth no doubt as Polidor holding in the latter end of the life of King Henry the III. where having mentioned these two Sons Edward and Edmond he addeth these words There wanted not certain men long time after this that affirmed this Edmond to be the elder Son to King Henry the III. and to have been deprived of his Inheritance for that he was deformed in body but these things were feigned to the end that King Henry the IV. that came by his Mothers side of this Edmond might seem to have come to the Kingdom by right whereas indeed he got it by force Thus saith Polidor in this place but afterward in the beginning of the life of the said King Henry the IV. he saith that some would have had King Henry to have pretended this Title among other reasons but that the most part accounting it but a meer fable it was omitted Now then it being clear that of these two Sons of King Henry the III. Prince Edward was the Elder and Lawful Heir it remaineth only that we set down their several descents unto the times of King Edward the III. and his Children in whose days the dissention and controversie between these Royal Houses of York and Lancaster began to break forth And for the Issue of Edward that was King after his Father by the name of King Edward the first it is evident that albeit by two several Wives he had a dozen Children male and female yet only his fourth Son by his first Wife called also Edward who was King after him by the name of King Edward the II left Issue that remained which Edward the II being afterward for his evil Government deposed left Issue Edward the III. who was made King by election of the people in his place and after a long and prosperous Reign left divers Sons whereof after we shall speak and among them his III. Son named John of Gaunt married Lady Blanch Daughter and Heir of the House of Lancaster and of the forenamed Lord Edmond Crouchback by which Blanch John of Gaunt became Duke of Lancaster so as the lines of these two Brethren Edward and Edmond did meet and joyn again in the fourth descent as now shall appear by declaration of the Issue of the foresaid Lord Edmond Edmond then the second Son of King Henry the third being made County Palatine of Lancaster as also Earl of Leicester and of Darby by his Father King Henry as hath been said had issue three Sons to wit Thomas Henry and John among whom he divided his three States making Thomas his eldest Son County Palatine of â—ancaster Henry Earl of Leicester and John Earl of Darby But Thomas the eldest and John the youngest dying without Issue all three States fell again upon Henry the second Son which Henry had Issue one Son and three Daughters his Son was named Henry the second of that name Earl of Lancaster and made Duke of Lancaster by King Edward the third and he had one only Daughter and Heir named Blanch who was married unto John of Gaunt as before hath been said But Duke Henry's three Sisters named Joan Mary and Eleanor were all married to divers principal men of the Realm for that Joan was married to John Lord Maubery of whom are descended the Howards of the House of Norfolk at this day and Mary was married to Henry Lord Percy from whom cometh the House of the Earls of Northumberland and Eleanor was married to Richard Earl of Arundel thence is issued also by his Mothers side the Earl of Arundel â—hat now is so as of this ancient Line of Lancaster there want not noble Houses within the Realm at this day issued thence before the controversie fell out between York and this Family of which controversie how it rose and how it was continued I
what Historiographers do say according to their affections or Interests as what reasons and proofs be alledged of every side for that by this we shall more easily come to judge where the right or wrong doth lie First therefore the defenders of the House of York do alledge that their title is plain and evident for that as in the former chapter hath been declared Richard Duke of York first pretender of this House whose Father was Son to Edmond Langley Duke of York fourth Son of King Edward the third and his Mother Anne Mortimer that was Neece once removed and sole Heir to Leonel Duke of Clarence second Son of the said King Edward this Richard I say Duke of York pretended that for so much as he had two titles joyned together in himself and was lawful Heir as well to Duke Leonel the second Brother as to Duke Edmond the fourth that he was to be preferred in Succession of the Crown after the death of King Richard the second Heir of the first Son of King Edward before the Issue of John of Gaunt that was but third Son to the said King Edward and consequently that Henry Bolenbrok John of Gaunts Son Duke of Lancaster called afterwards King Henry the fourth entred the Crown by tyranny and violonce first for deposing the true and Lawful King Richard and secondly for taking the Kingdom upon himself which Kingdom after the death of the foresaid King Richard which happened in the year 1399. belonging to Edmond Mortimer Earl of March then living and after his death to Anne Mortimer his Sister married to Richard Earl of Cambridge Father to this Richard pretendent Duke of York as hath been said for that this Edmond and Anne Mortimer were Children to Roger Mortimer Son of Philip that was daughter to Duke Leonel which Leonel was elder Uncle to King Richard and before John of Gaunt the younger Brother whose Son took the Crown upon him For the better understanding of which pretence and allegation of the House of York against Lancaster we must note the story following to wit That King Edward the III. seeing in his old age that Prince Edward his eldest Son whom of all his Children he loved most dearly was dead though there wanted not much doubt in some mens heads as after shall be shewed who ought to succeed yet the old man for the exceeding great affection he bare to the dead Prince would hear nothing in that behalf but appointed Richard the said Prince Edwards only Son and Heir to succeed him in the Kingdom and made the same to be confirmed by Act of Parliament and inforced all his Children then alive to swear to the same which were John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster his third and eldest Son that then lived for Leonel his second Son Duke of Clarence was dead before and Edmond Langley and Thomas Woodstock Earls at that time but after Dukes of York and Glocester and so King Richard Reigned with good obedience of his Uncles and their Children for 20 years together but in the end when he grew insolent and had put to death his Uncle the Duke of Glocester together with the Earl of Arundel and banished many others of the Nobility and among them the Archbishop of Canterbury as also his own Cousin-German Henry Duke of Hertford and after of Lancaster Son and Heir of John of Gaunt and had made many wickedd Statutes as well against the Church and State Ecclesiastical as also to intangle the Realm and Nobility with fained crimes of Treason against his Regality as then he termed them the principal men of the Realm seeing a sit occasion offered by the Kings absence in Ireland called home out of France the foresaid Henry Duke of Lancaster with the Archbishop of Canterbury Earls of Arundel and Warwick and others which were in banishment and by common consent gathered upon the suddain such an Army to assist them in England as they took the King brought him to London and there in a Parliament laying together the intolerable faults of his Government they deprived him of all Regal Dignity as before they had done to his great Grandfather K. Edward the second and then by universal consent of the Parliament and people there present they chose and admitted the said Henry Duke of Lancaster to be their King who continued so all the days of his life and left the Crown unto his Son and Sons Son after him by the space of threescore years until this Richard before named Duke of York made challenge of the same in manner and form as before hath been shewed Now then the story being thus the question is first whether Richard the second were justly deposed or no and secondly whether after his deposition the House of York or House of Lancaster should have entred and thirdly if the House of Lancaster did commit any wrong or injustice at their first entrance to the Crown yet whether the continuance of so many years in possession with so many approbations and confirmations thereof by the Commonwealth were not sufficient to legitimate their right Concerning which points many things are alledged by the favourers of both Families and in the first point touching the lawfulness or unlawfulness of King Richards deposition three Articles especially do seem most considerable to wit about the thing in it self whether a lawful King may be deposed upon just causes and secondly about these causes in King Richards deposition to wit whether they were just or sufficient for deposition of the said King and lastly about the manner of doing iâ— whether the same were good and orderly or not And touching the first of these three points which is that a King upon just causes may be deposed I think both parties though never so contrary between themselves will easily agree and the Civil Lawyer seems to me to have proved it so evidently before throughout his whole dicourse as I think very little may be said against the same For he hath declared if you remember both by reason authority and examples of all Nations Christian that this may and hath and ought to be done when urgent occasions are offered And first by reason he sheweth it for that all Kingly authority is given them only by the Commonwealth and that with this express condition that they shall Govern according to Law and equity that this is the cause of their exaltation above other men that this is the end of their Government the butt of their authority the star and pole by which they ought to direct their stern to wit the good of the people by the weal of their Subjects by the benefit of the Realm which end being taken away or perverted the King becometh a Tyrant a Tyger a fierce Lion a ravening Wolf a publick enemy and a bloudy murtherer which were against all reason both natural and moral that a Common-wealth could not deliver it self from so eminent a destruction By authority also
his Realm against so potent a Tyrant as King Richard was then accounted and yet was the concourse of all people so great and general unto him that within few days he atchieved the matter and that without any battel or bloud-shed at all and thus much for the justness of the cause But now if we will consider the manner and form of this act they of Lancaster do affirm also that it could not be executed in better nor more convenient order First for that it was done by the choice and invitation of all the Realm or greater and better part thereof as hath been said Secondly for that it was done without slaughter and thirdly for that the King was deposed by Act of Parliament and himself convinced of his unworthy Government and brought to confess that he was worthily deprived and that he willingly and freely resigned the same neither can there be any more circumstances required say these men for any lawful deposition of a Prince And if any man will yet object and say that notwithstanding all this there was violence for that Duke Henry was Armed and by force of Arms brought this to pass they of Lancaster do answer that this is true that he brought the matter to an end by Forces for that an evil King cannot be removed but by force of Arms if we expect the ordinary way of remedy left by God unto the Commonwealth for seeing that a Tyrannical or obstinate evil Prince is an Armed enemy with his feet set on the Realms head certain it is that he cannot be driven nor plucked from thence nor brought in order but by force of Arms. And if you say that God may remedy the matter otherwise and take him away by sickness and other such means it is answered that God will not always bind himself to work Miracles or to use extraordinary means in bringing those things to pass which he hath left in the hands of men and of Commonwealths to effectuate by ordinary way of Wisdom and Justice As for example it were an easie thing say these men for God Almighty also when any wicked man breaketh his Law by theft murther or the like to punish him immediately by death or otherwise himself and yet he will not so do but will have the Realm to punish him and that by force of Arms also it otherwise it cannot be done and this as well for example and terror of 〈…〉 that God hath 〈…〉 in his name 〈…〉 〈…〉 particular president of punishing of evil 〈◊〉 in like manner by force and violence when other means will not serve these men say that besides all the great multitude of examples alledged before by the Lawyer in his fourth Chapter about evil Kings deposed there is great variety of several manners how the same hath been done by God's own Ordinance recounted in Holy Writ as first when the Scripture saith in the Books of Judges that Aod was stirred up by God to kill Eglon King of the Moabites that prosecuted the people of Israel and the manner was to feign a secret Embassage or message unto him and so to slay him in his Chamber as he did and God delivered his people by that means and chose this particular way whereas none will deny but that he might have done it by many other means less odious to the World then this was that seemed so cruel and full of Treason Again they shew that when God had rejected King Saul for his wickedness and determined to depose him he chose to do it by raising of David against him and by defending and assisting David both in Arms and otherwise divers years against Saul and in the end raised the Philistians also against him who after divers battels cut off his head and carried it up and down the Country upon a pole and presented it in all the Temples of their Idols and in the end left it pitched up in the Temple of Dagon all which God might have spared and have taken him away quietly without bloudshed if he would but he chose this second way In like manner when he would punish King Rehoboam for the sins of Solomon his Father and yet spare him also in part for the sake of his Grandfather David he caused a Rebellion to be raised against him by Jeroboam his Servant and more then three parts of four of his people to rebel against him and this by God's own instinct and motion and by his express allowance thereof after it was done as the Scripture avoucheth and if Rehoboam had fought against them for this fault as once he had thought to do and was prepared with a main Army no doubt but they might have lawfully slain him for that now these ten Tribes that forsook him had just authority to depose him for his evil Government and for not yielding to their just request made unto him for easing them of those grievous Tributes laid upon them as the Scripture reporteth For albeit God had a meaning to punish him for the sins of his Father Solomon yet suffered he that Rehoboam also should give just occasion himself for the people to leave him as appeareth by the story and this is God's high Wisdom Justice Providence and sweet disposition in humane affairs Another example of punishing and deposing evil Princes by force they do alledge out of the first Book of Kings where God appointed Elizeus the Prophet to send the Son of another Prophet to anoint Jehu Captain of Joram King of Israel which Joram was Son to the Queen Jezabel and to perswade Jehu to take Arms against his said King and against his mother the Queen and to deprive them both not only of their Kingdoms but also of their lives and so he did for the Scripture saith Conjuravit ergo Jehu contra Joram Jehu did conjure and conspire at the perswasion of this Prophet with the rest of his fellow Captains against his King Joram and Queen Jezabel the Kings Mother to put them down and to put them to death with all the ignominy he could devise and God allowed thereof and perswaded the same by so holy a Prophet as Elizeus was whereby we may assure our selves that the fact was not only lawful but also most Godly albeit in it self it might seem abominable And in the same book of Kings within two chapters after there is another example how God moved Jehoiadah High-priest of Jerusalem to perswade the Captains and Colonels of that City to conspire against Athalia the Queen that had Reigned 6. years and to Arm themselves with the Armor of the Temple for that purpose and to besiege the Palace where she lay and to kill all them that should offer or go about to defend her and so they did and having taken her alive she was put to death also by sentence of the said High-priest and the fact was allowed by God and highly commended in the Scripture and Joas
daughter and Heir of Leonel Duke of Clarence and was Grandfather to the last Edmond by me named should be Heir apparent to the Crown if the King should chance to die without Issue To which objection those of Lancaster do answer first that Polydor doth erre in the person when he saith that Edmond Husband of Lady Philippa was declared for Heir apparent for that this Edmond Mortimer that married Lady Philippa died peaceably in Ireland three years before this Parliament was holden to wit in the year of Christ 1382. as both Hollingshed Stow and other Chroniclers do testifie and therefore Polydor doth erre not only in this place about this man but also in that in another place he saith that this Edmond so declared Heir apparent by King Richard was slain by the Irish in Ireland 12 years after this declaration made of the succession to wit in the year 1394. which was indeed not this man but his Son Roger Mortimer Heir to him and to the Lady Philippa his Wife who was declared Heir apparent in the Parliament aforesaid at the instance of King Richard and that for especial hatred and malice as these men say which he did bear against his said Uncle the Duke of Lancaster and his Son Henry whom he desired to exclude from the succession The cause of this hatred is said to be for that presently upon the death of Prince Edward Father to this Richard which Prince died in the year of Christ 1376. and but 10. months before his Father King Edward the third there wanted not divers learned and wise men in England that were of opinion that John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster eldest Son then living of the said King Edward should have succeeded his Father jure propinquitatis before Richard that was but Nephew and one degree further off then he but the old King was so extremely affectionate unto his eldest Son the black Prince Edward newly dead that he would not hear of any to succeed him as Frosard saith but only Richard the said Prince's Son Wherefore he called presently a Parliament which was the last that ever he held and therein caused his said Nephew Richard to be declared Heir apparent and made his three Sons then living that were Uncles to the Youth to wit John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Edmond Langley Duke afterwards of York and Thomas Woodstock Duke of Gloucester to swear Fealty unto Richard as they did And albeit John of Gaunt all his life after for keeping of his Oath that he had made unto his Father never pretended any Right to the Crown yet King Richard knowing well the pretence that he and his might have was still afraid of him and sought infinite means to be rid of him first by perswading him to go and make War in Spain where he thought he might miscarry in so dangerous an attempt and then offering to give him all Aquitain if he would leave England to go and live there as he did for three years with extreme peril for that the people of Aquitain would not receive him but rose against him and refused his Government and would not admit him for their Lord but appealed to the King who also allowed thereof and so when John of Gaunt came home into England again King Richard thought no better way to weaken him then to banish his Son Henry Duke of Hertford and so he did And besides this the said King Richard practised also by divers secret drifts the death of his said Uncle the Duke of Lancaster as Walsingham witnesseth and when the said Duke came at length to die which was in the 22. year of King Richard's reign he wrote such joyous Letters thereof as Frosard saith to his Father-in-law Charles the sixth King of France as though he had been delivered of his chiefest Enemy not imagining that his own destruction was so near at hand and much accelerated by the death of the said Duke as it was And these were the causes say the favourers of the House of Lancaster why King Richard caused this Act of Parliament to pass in favour of Roger Mortimer and in prejudice of the House of Lancaster and not for that the right of Earl Mortimer was better then that of the Duke of Lancaster And this they say is no new thing for Princes oftentimes to procure partial Laws to pass in Parliament for matter of Succession according to their own affections for the like say they did Edward the third procure in the favour of this Richard as before I have shewed in the last Parliament before his death and afterward again King Richard the third with much more open Injustice caused an Act of Parliament to pass in his days whereby his Nephew John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln Son to his Sister Elizabeth Dutchess of Suffolk was declared Heir apparent to the Crown excluding thereby the Children of his two elder Brothers to wit the daughters of King Edward the fourth and the Son and daughter of George Duke of Clarenoe which yet by all order should have gone before their Sisters Children And like facility found King Henry the 8th to get the consent of two Parliaments to give him Authority to appoint what Successor he would of his own Kindred by which Authority afterward he appointed by his Testament as in another place shall be shewed that the Issue of his younger Sister Mary should be preferred before the Issue of his eldest Sister Margaret of Scotland A like declaration was that also of King Edward the sixth of late memory who appointed the Lady Jane Gray his Cousen-german removed to be his Heir and Successor in the Crown of England and excluded his own two Sisters the Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth from the same but these declarations make little to the purpose when right and equity do repugn as these men say that it did in the foresaid declaration of Roger Mortimer to be Heir apparent for that they hold and avouch the House of Lancaster to have had the true right to enter not only after the death of King Richard the second as it did but also before him that is to say immediately upon the death of King Edward the third for that John of Gaunt was then the eldest Son which King Edward had living and nearer to his Father by a degree then was Richard the Nephew About which point to wit whether the Uncle or Nephew should be preferred in Succession of Kingdoms it seemeth that in this age of King Edward the third there was great trouble and controversie in the World abroad for so testifieth Girard du Haillan Councellor and Secretary of France in his History of the year of Christ 1346. which was about the midst of King Edwards Reign and therefore no marvel though King Edward took such care of the sure establishing of his Nephew Richard in Succession as is before related And much less marvel is it if K.
Richard had still great jealousie of his Uncle the Duke of Lancaster and of his off-spring considering how doubtful the question was among the Wise and Learned of those days For more declaration whereof I think it not amiss to alledge the very words of the foresaid Chronicler with the examples by him recited thus then he writeth About this time saith he there did arise a great and doubtful question in the World whether Uncles or Nephews that is to say the younger Brother or else the Children of the elder should Succeed unto Realms and Kingdoms which controversie put all Christianity into great broils and troubles for first Charles the second King of Naplis begat of Mary his Wife Queen and Heir of Hungary divers Children but namely three Sons Marâ—el Robert and Philip Martel dying before his Father left a Son named Charles which in his Grand-mothers right was King also of Hungary but about the Kingdom of Naples the question was when King Charles was dead who should Succeed him either Charles his Nephew King of Hungary or Robert his second Son but Robert was preferred and Reigned in Naples and enjoyed the Earldom of Provence in France also for the space of 33. years with great renown of Valor and Wisdom And this is own example that Girard recounteth which example is reported by the famous Lawyer Bartholus in his Commentaries touching the Succession of the Kingdom of Cicilia and he saith that this Succession of the Uncle before the Nephew was averred also for rightful by the Learned of that time and confirmed for just by the judicial sentence of Pope Boniface and that for the reasons which afterward shall be shewed when we shall treat of this question more in particular Another example also reporteth Girard which ensued immediately after in the same place for that the foresaid King Robert having a Son named Charles which died before him he left a daughter and Heir named Joan Neece unto King Robert which Joan was married to Andrew the younger Son of the foresaid Charles King of Hungary but King Robert being dead there stept up one Lewis Prince of Tarranto a place of the same Kingdom of Naples who was Son to Philip before mentioned younger Brother to King Robert which Lewis pretending his right to be better then that of Joan for that he was a man and one degree nearer to King Charles his Grand-father then Joan was for that he was Nephew and she Neece once removed he prevailed in like manner and thus far Girard Historiographer of France And no doubt but if we consider examples that fell out even in this very age only concerning this controversie between the Uncle and Nephew we shall find store of them for in Spain not long before this time to wit in the year of Christ 1276. was that great and famous determination made by Don Alonso the wise eleventh King of that name and of all his Realm and Nobility in their Courts or Parliament of Segovia mentioned before by the Civilian wherein they disâ—inherited the Children of the Prince Don Alonso de la Cerda that died as our Prince Edward did before his Father and made Heir apparent Don Sancho Bravo younger Brother to the said Don Alonso and Uncle to his Children the two young Cerda's Which sentence standeth even unto this day and King Philip enjoyed the Crown of Spain thereby and the Dukes of Medina Celi and their race that are descendents of the said two Cerda's which were put back are Subjects by that sentence and not Soveraigns as all the World knoweth The like controversie fell out but very little after to wit in the time of King Edward the third in France though not about the Kingdom but about the Earldom of Artoys but yet it was decided by a solemn sentence of two Kings of France and of the whole Parliament of Paris in favour of the Aunt against her Nephew which albeit it cost great troubles yet was it defended and King Philip of Spain holdeth the County of Artoys by it at this day Polydor reporteth the story in this manner Robert Earl of Artoys a man famous for his Chivalry had two Children Philip a Son and Maude a daughter this Maude was married to Otho Earl of Burgundy and Philip dying before his Father left a Son named Robert the second whose Father Robert the first being dead the question was who should Suâ—â—eed either Maude the daughter or Robert the Nephew and the matter being remitted unto Philip le Bel King of France as chief Lord at that time of that State he adjudged it to Maude as to the next in bloud but when Robert repined at this sentence the matter was referred to the Parliament of Paris which confirmed the sentence of King Philip whereupon Robert making his way with Philip de Valoys that soon after came to be King of France he assisted the said Philip earnestly to bring him to the Crown against King Edward of England that opposed himself thereunto and by this hoped that King Philip would have revoked the same sentence but he being once established in the Crown answered that a sentence of such importance and so maturely given could not be revoked Whereupon the said Robert fled to the King of Englands part against France Thus far Polydor. The very like sentence recounteth the same Author to have been given in England at the same time and in the same controversie of the Uncle against the Nephew for the Succession to the Dukedom of Britany as before I have related wherein John Breno Earl of Monford was preferred before the daughter and Heir of his elder Brother Guy though he were but of the half bloud to the last Duke and she of the whole For that John the third Duke of Britany had two Brothers first Guy of the whole bloud by Father and Mother and then John Breno his younger Brother by the Fathers side only Guy dying left a daughter and Heir named Jane married to the Earl of Bloys Nephew to the King of France who after the death of Duke John pretended in the right of his Wife as daughter and Heir to Guy the elder Brother but King Edward the third with the State of England gave sentence for John Breno Earl of Monford her Uncle as for him that was next in consanguinity to the dead Duke and with their Arms the State of England did put him in possession who slew the Earl of Bloys as before hath been declared and thereby got possession of that Realm and held it ever after and so do his Heirs at this day And not long before this again the like resolution prevailed in Scotland between the House of Balliol and Bruse who were competitors to that Crown by this occasion that now I will declare William King of Scots had Issue two Sons Alexander that Succeeded in the Crown and David Earl of Huntington Alexander had Issue another Alexander and a daughter
States of that Crown before his two Sisters that be elder then he and so likewise say these men ought John of Somerset to have done before Philippa his eldest Sister if he had been alive at that time when King Henry the sixth was put down and died and consequently his posterity which are the descendents of King Henry the seventh ought to enjoy the same before the Princes of Portugal that are the descendents of Lady Philippa his Sister Thus say the issue of King Henry the seventh But to this the Princes of the House of Portugal do reply and say first That by this it is evident at least that the Dukedom of Lancaster whereof the Lady Blanch was the only Heir must needs appertain to them alone and this without all doubt or controversie for that they only remain of her Issue after extinguishing of the posterity of her elder Brother King Henry the fourth which was extinguished by the death of King Henry the sixth and of his only son Prince Edward and for this they make no question or controversie assuring themselves that all Law right and equity is on their side Secondly Touching the Succession and right to the Kingdom they say that John Earl of Somerset being born out of Wedlock and in Adultery for that his Father had an other Wife alive when he begot him and he continuing a Bastard so many years could not be made Legitimate afterward by Parliament to that effect of Succession to the Crown and to deprive Queen Philippa of Portugal and her Children born before the other Legitimation from their right and Succession without their consents for that John King of Portugal did Marry the said Lady Philippa with condition to enjoy all Prerogatives that at that day were due unto her and that at the time when John of Gaunt did Marry the said Lady Catherine Swinford and made her Children Legitimate by Act of Parliament which was in the year of Christ 1396. and 1397. the said Lady Philippa Queen of Portugal had now two Sons living named Don Alonso and Don Edwardo which were born in the years 1390. and 1391 that is six years before the Legitimation of John Earl of Somerset and his Brethren and thereby had jus acquisitum as the Law saith which right once acquired and gotten could not be taken away by any Posterior Act of Parliament afterward without consent of the parties Interessed for which they do alledge divers places of the Canon Law which for that they hold not in England I do not cite but one example they put to shew the inconvenience of the thing if it should be otherwise determined then they affirm which is that if King Henry the eighth that had a Bastard Son by the Lady Elizabeth Blunt whom he named Henry Fitz-roy and made him both Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset in the 18 th year of his Reign at what time the said King had a lawful Daughter alive named the Princess Mary by Queen Catherine of Spain if I say the King should have offered to make this Son Legitimate by Parliament with intent to have him succeeded after him in the Crown to the prejudice and open injury of the said lawful Daughter these Men do say that he could not have done it and if he should have done it by violence it would not have held and much less could John of Gaunt do the like being no King Nor was the Act of Parliament sufficient for this point it being a matter that depended especially say these men of the Spiritual Court and of the Canon Law which Law alloweth this Legitimation no further but only as a Dispensation and this so far forth only as it doth not prejudice the right of any other Neither helpeth it any thing in this matter the Marriage of John of Gaunt with Lady Catherine for to make better this Legitimation for that as hath been said their Children were not only naturales but Spurij that is to say begotten in plain Adultry and not in simple Fornication only for that the one party had a Wife alive and consequently the priveledge that the Law giveth to the Subsequent Marriage of the Parties for legitimating such Children as are born in simple Fornication that is to say between parties that were single and none of them married cannot take place here So as these men conclude that albeit this Legitimation of Parliament might serve them to other purposes yet not to deprive the Princes of Portugal of their Prerogative to succeed in their Mothers Right which she had when she was married to their Father And this they affirm to have been Law and Right at that time if the said Queen Philippa and Earl John had been alive together when Henry the sixth and his Son were put to death and that this Question had been then moved at the death of King Henry the sixth Whether of the two to wit either the said Queen Philippa or her younger Brother John Earl of Somerset by the Fathers side only should have succeeded in the Inheritance of King Henry the sixth In which case these men presume for certain that the said Queen Philippa legitimately born and not John made legitimate by Parliament should have succeeded for that by common course of â—aw the Children legitimated by favour albeit their legitimation were good and lawful as this of these Children is denied to be yet can they never be made equal and much less be preferred before the lawful and legitimate by Birth But now say these men the case standeth at this present somewhat otherwise and more for the advantage of Queen Philippa and her Off-spring For when King Henry the sixth and his Son were extinguished and Edward Duke of York thrust himself in to the Crown which was about the year of Christ 1471. the foresaid Princess and Prince Lady Philippa and Earl John were both dead as also their Children and only their Nephews were alive that is to say there lived in Portugal King Alfonsus the fifth of that name Son to King Edward which King Edward was Child to Queen Philippa and the death of King Henry the sixth of England happened in the 38 th year of the Reign of the said Alfonsus And in England lived at the same time Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond Mother of King Henry the seventh and Neece of the foresaid John Earl of Somerset to wit the Daughter of his Son John Duke of Somerset So as these two Competitors of the House of Lancaster that is to say King Alfonsus and Lady Margaret were in equal degree from John of Gaunt as also from King Henry the sixth saving that King Alfonsus was of the whole Bloud as hath been said and by Queen Philippa that was legitimate and the Countess of Richmond was but of the half bloud as by John Earl of Somerset that was a Bastard legitimated The Question then is Which of these two should have
naturae the voice of nature her self for there was never yet Nation found either of ancient time or now in our days by discovery of the Indies or else where among whom men living together had not some kind of Magistrate or Superior to govern them which evidently declareth that this point of Magistrates is also of Nature and from God that created Nature which point our Civil Law doth prove in like manner in the very beginning of our digests where the second Title of the first Book is de origine juris civilis omnium magistratuum of the beginning of the Civil Law and of all Magistrates which beginning is referred to this first principle of Natural Instinct and Gods Institution And last of all that God did concur also expresly with this Instinct of Nature our Divines do prove by clear testimony of Holy Scripture as when God saith to Solomon By me Kings do Reign and St. Paul to the Romans avoucheth That Authority is not but of God and therefore he which resisteth Authority resisteth God Which is to be understood of Authority Power or Jurisdiction in it self according to the first Institution as also when it is lawfully laid upon any person for otherwise when it is either wrongfully taken or unjustly used it may be resisted in divers cases as afterwards more particular shall be declared for then it is not lawful Authority These two points then are of Nature to wit the Common-wealth and Government of the same by Magistrates but what kind of Government each Common-wealth will have whether Democretia which is Popular Government by the People it self as Athens Thebes and many other Cities of Greece had in old time and as the Cantons or Switzers at this day have Or else Aristocretia which is the Government of some certain chosen number of the Best as the Romans many years were governed by Councels and Senators and at this day the States of this Countrey of Holland do imitate the same or else Monarchia which is the Regiment of one and this again either of an Emperor King Duke Earl or the like These particular Forms of Government I say are not determined by God or Nature as the other two points before for then they should be all one in all Nations as the other are seeing God and Nature are one to all as often hath been said but these particular Forms are left unto every Nation or Countrey to chuse that Form of Government which they shall like best and think most fit for the Natures and conditions of their people which Aristotle proveth throughout all the second and fourth Books of his Politiques very largely laying down divers kinds of Government in his days as namely in Greece that of the Milesians Lacedemonians Candians and others and shewing the causes of their differences which he attributeth to the diversity of mens Natures Customs Educations and other such causes that made them make choice of such or such Forms of Government And this might be proved also by infinite other examples both of times past and present and in all Nations and Countries both Christian and otherwise which have not had only different Fashions of Governments the one from the other but even among themselves at one time one form of Government and another at other times For the Romans first had Kings and after rejecting them for their Evil Government they chose Councils which were two Governours for every year whose Authority yet they limited by a multitude of Senators which were of their Council and these mens power was restrained also by adding Tribunes of the people and some time Dictators and finally they came to be governed last of all by Emperors The like might be said of Carthage in Africa and many Cities and Common-wealths of Greece which in divers Seasons and upon divers Causes have taken different Forms of Government to themselves The like we see in Europe at this day for in only Italy what different Forms of Government have you Naples have a King for their Soveraign Rome the Pope and under him one Senator in place of so many as were wont to be in that Common-wealth Venice and Genua have Senators and Dukes but little Authority have their Dukes Florence Farara Mantua Parma Vrbin and Savoy have their Dukes only without Senators and their power is absolute Milan was once a Kingdom but now a Dukedom the like is of Burgundy Lorain Bavire Gascony and Britain the lesser all which once had their distinct Kings and now have Dukes for their Supream Governours The like may be said of Germany that many years together had one King over all which now is divided into so many Dukedoms Earldoms and other like Titles of Supream Princes But the contrary is of Castile Aragon Portugal Barcelona and other Kingdoms this day in Spain which were first Earldoms only and after Dukedoms and then Kingdoms and now again are all under one Monarchy The like is of Bohemia and Polonia which were but Dukedoms in old time and now are Kingdoms The like may be said of France also after the expulsion of the Romans which was first a Monarchy under Pharamond their first King and so continued for many years under Clodion Merovys Childrik and Clodovaeus there first Christened Kings but after they divided it into four Kingdoms to wit one of Paris another of Soissons the third of Orleans and the fourth of Metts and so it continued for divers years but yet afterwards they made it one Monarchy again England also was first a Monarchy under the Brittains and then a Province under the Romans and after that divided into seven Kingdoms at once under the Saxons and now a Monarchy again under the English and all this by Gods permission and approbation who in token thereof suffered his own peculiar people also of Israel to be under divers manners of Governments in divers times as first under Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob then under Captains as Moses Joshua and the like then under Judges as Otheniel Aiod and Gideon then under High Priests as Hely and Samuel then under Kings as Saul David and the rest and then under Captains and High Priests again as Zorobabel Judas Machabeus and his Brethren until the Government was lastly taken from them and they brought under the power of the Romans and Forraign Kings appointed by them So as of all this there can be no doubt but that the Common-wealth hath power to chuse their own Fashion of Government as also to change the same upon reasonable causes as we see they have done in all times and Countries and God no doubt approveth what the Realm determineth in this point for otherwise nothing could be certain for that of these changes doth depend all that hath succeeded sithence In like manner is it evident that as the Common-wealth hath this authority to chuse and change her Government
affirmeth the state of Kingly Government to be most excellent it may seem he meant it absolutely signifying thereby that this is the best kind of Government among all others though to confess the truth between the Title of King and Emperor there is little or no difference in substance but only in name for that the Authority is equal every King is an Emperor in his own Kingdom And finally the excellency of this Government above all other is not only proved by the perfection thereof in it self as for that it is most Ancient Simple and conform unto Nature and most resembling the Government of God himself as hath been said but by the effects also and utility that it bringeth unto the Subjects with far less Inconveniences then any other Form of Government whatsoever if we compare them together For in the Monarchy of one King there is more Unity Agreement and Conformity and thereby also celerity in dispatching of business and is defending the Common-wealth then where many heads be less Passions also in one man then in many as for example in Democratia where the Common people do bear the chief sway which is Bellua multorum capitum as Cicero wisely said that is a beast of many Heads there is nothing but sedition trouble tumults outrages and injustices committed upon every little occasion especially where Crafty and Cunning men may be admitted to insense or asswage them with Sugred words such as were the Orators in Athens and other Cities of Greece that had this Government and the Tribunes of the people of Rome and other such popular and plausible men who could move the waves raise up the winds and inkindle the fire of the vulgar peoples affections passions or furies at their pleasure by which we see that of all other Common-wealths these of Popular Government have have soonest come to ruine which might be shewed not only by old examples of Greece Asia and Africa but also of many Cities in Italy as Florence Bolonia Siena Pisa Arezzo Spoleto Perugia Padua and others which upon the fall or diminution of the Roman Empire under which they were before took unto themselves Popular Governments wherein they were so tossed with continual Sedition Mutinies and banding of Factions as they could never have end thereof until after Infinite Murthers Massacres and Innundation of Blood they came in the end to be under the Monarchy of some one Prince or other as at this day they remain so that of all other Governments this is the worst The second Form which is called Oligarchia or Aristocratia for that a few and those presumed to be the best are joyned together in Authority as it doth participate some thing of both the other Governments to wit of Monarchia and Democratia or rather tempereth them both so hath it both good and evil in it but yet it inclineth more to the evil for the disunion that commonly by mans infirmity and malice is among those heads for which cause the States before-named of Venice and Genua which were wont to have simply this Government of Aristocratia in that their Regiment was by certain chuse Senators were inforced in the end to chuse Dukes also as Heads of their Senates for avoiding of dissention and so they have them at this day though their authority be but small as hath been said We see also by the examples of Carthage and Rome where Government of Aristocratia took place that the Division and Factions among the Senators of Carthage was the cause why Aid and Succour was not sent to Hannibal their Captain in Italy after his so great and Important Victory at Cannas which was the very cause of the saving of the Roman Empire and the loss of their own As also afterwards the Emulations Discord and Disunion of the Roman Senators among themselves in the Affairs and Contentions of Marius and Silla and of Pompey and Caesar was the occasion of all their destruction and of the Common-wealth with them Evident then it is that of all other Governments the Monarchy is the best and least subject to the Inconveniences that other Governments have and if the Prince that governeth alone and hath Supream Authority to himself as he resembleth God in this point of sole Government so could he resemble him also in Wise Discreet and Just Government and in ruling without Passion no doubt but that nothing more excellent in the world could be desired for the perfect felicity of his Subjects but for that a King or Prince is a man as others be and thereby not only subject to errors in Judgment but also to passionate affections in his will for this cause it was necessary that the Commonwealth as it gave him this great power over them so it should assign him also the best helps that might be for directing and rectifying both his will and judgment and make him therein as like in Government to God whom he representeth as mans frailty can reach unto For this consideration they assigned to him first of all the assistance and direction of Law whereby to govern which Law Aristotle saith Est mens quaedam nullo perturbata affectu it is a certain mind disquited with no disordinate affection as mens minds commonly be for that when a Law is made for the most part it is made upon due consideration and deliberation and without perturbation of evil affections as anger envy hatred rashness or the like passions and it is referred to some good end and commodity of the Common-wealth which Law being once made remaineth so still without alteration or partial affection being indifferent to all and partial to none but telleth one tale to every man and in this it resembleth the perfection as it were of God himself for the which cause the said Philosopher in the same place addeth a notable wise saying viz. That he which joyneth a Law to govern with the Prince joyneth God to the Prince but he that joyneth to the Prince his affection to govern joyneth a Beast for that mens affections and concupisenses are common also to Beasts so that a Prince ruling by Law is more than a man or a man deified and a Prince ruling by affections is less than a man or a man bruitified In another place also the same Philosopher saith That a Prince that leaveth Law and ruleth himself and others by his own appetite and affections of all Creatures is the worst and of all Beasts is the most furious and dangerous for that nothing is so outragious as Injustice armed and no Armour is so strong as Wit and Authority whereof the first he hath in that he is a Man and the other in that he is a Prince For this cause then all Commonwealths have prescribed Laws unto their Princes to govern thereby as by a most excellent certain and immutable rule to which sense Cicero said Leges sunt inventae ut omnibus semper una eadem
voce loquerentur Laws were invented to the end they should speak in one and the self-same sense to all men For which very reason in like manner these Laws have been called by Phylosophers a Rule or Square inflexible and by Aristotle in particular a mind without passion as hath been said but the Prophet David who was also a Prince and a King seemeth to call it by the name of Discipline for that as Discipline doth keep all the parts of a Man or of a particular House in order so Law well ministred keepeth all the parts of a Commonwealth in good order and to shew how severely God exacteth this at all Princes hands he saith these words And now learn ye Kings and be instructed you that judge the World Serve God in fear and rejoyce in him with trembling embrace ye Discipline lest he enter into wrath and so ye perish from the way of Righteousness Which words being uttered by a Prophet and a King do contain divers points of much consideration for this purpose As first that Kings and Princes are bound to learn Law and Discipline and secondly to observe the same with great humility and fear of God's wrath and thirdly that if they do not they shall perish from the way of Righteousness as though the greatest plague of all to a Prince were to lose the way of Righteousness Law and Reason in his Government and to give himself over to passion and his own will whereby they are sure to come to Shipwrack And thus much for the first help The second help that Commonwealths have given to their Kings and Princes especially in latter Ages hath been certain Counsels and Counsellors with whom to consult in matters of importance as we see the Parliaments of England and France the Courts in Spain and Dyets in Germany without which no matters of moment can be concluded And besides this commonly every King hath his Privy-Councel whom he is bound to hear and this was done to temper somewhat the absolute form of a Monarchy whose danger is by reason of his sole Authority to fall into Tyranny as Aristotle wisely noteth in his fourth Book of Politicks shewing the inconvenience or dangers of Government which is the cause that we have few or no simple Monarchies now in the world especially among Christians but all are mixt lightly with divers points of the other two forms of Government also and namely in England all three do enter more or less for in that there is one King or Queen it is a Monarchy in that it hath certain Counsels that must be heard it participateth of Aristocratia and in that the Commonalty have their Voices and Burgesses in Parliament it taketh part also of Democratia or popular Government All which limitations of the Princes absolute Authority as you see do come from the Common-wealth as having Authority above their Princes for their restraint to the good of the Realm as more at large shall be proved hereafter From like Authority and for like Considerations have come the limitations of other Kings and Kingly power in all times and Countries from the beginning both touching themselves and their Posterity and Successors as briefly in this place I shall declare And first of all if we will consider the two most renowned and allowed States of all the World I mean that of the Romans and Grecians we shall find that both of them began with Kings but yet with far different Laws and Restraints about their Authorities For in Rome the Kings that succeeded Romulus their first Founder had as great and absolute Authority as ours have now adays but yet their Children or next in Bloud succeeded them not of necessity but new Kings were chosen partly by the Senate and partly by the People as Titus Livius testifieth so as of three most excellent Kings that ensued immediately after Romulus viz. Numa Pompilius Tullius Hostilius and Tarquinus Priscus none of them were of the Bloud-Royal nor of Kin the one to the other no nor yet Romans born but chosen rather from among strangers for their Vertue and Valour and that by election of the Senate and consent of the People In Greece and namely among the Lacedemonians which was the most eminent Kingdom among others at that time the succession of Children after their Fathers was more certain but yet as Aristotle noteth their Authority and Power was so restrained by certain Officers of the people named Ephori which commonly were five in number as they were not only checked and chastned by them if occasion served but also deprived and sometimes put to death For which cause the said Phylosopher did justly mislike this eminent Jurisdiction of the Ephori over their Kings But yet we see hereby what Authority the Commonwealth had in this case and what their meaning was in making Laws and restraining their Kings Power to wit thereby the more to bind them to do Justice which Cicero in his Offices uttereth in these words Justitiae fruendae causa apud majores nostros in Asia in Europa bene moraâ—i reges olim sunt constituti c. at cum jus aequabile ab uno viro homines non consequerentur inventae sunt leges Good Kings were appointed in old time among our ancestors in Asia and Europe to the end thereby to obtain Justice but when men could not obtain equal Justice at one mans hands they invented Laws The same reason yieldeth the same Phylosopher in another place not only of the first Institution of Kingdoms but also of the change thereof again into other Governments when these were abused Omnes antiquae gentes regibus quondam paruerunt c. That is All old Nations did live under Kingdoms at the beginning which kind of Government first they gave unto the most just and wisest men which they could find and also after for love of them they gave the same to their Postesity or next in Kin as now also it remaineth where Kingly Government is in use But other Countries which liked not that form of Government and have shaken it off have done it not that they will not be under any but for that they will not be ever under one only Thus far Cicero and he speaketh this principally in defence of his own Commonwealth I mean the Roman which had cast off that kind of Government as before hath been said for the Offence they had taken against certain Kings of theirs and first of all against Romulus himself their first Founder for reigning at his pleasure without Law as Titus Livius testifieth for which cause the Senators at length slew him and cut him in small pieces And afterwards they were greatly grieved at the entring of Servius Tullius their sixth King for that he got the Crown by fraud and not by election of the Senate and special approbation of the People as he should have done But most of all they
deprived and put to death by the Souldiers of Rome at the request and common desire both of the People and Senate when he had reigned Six years and yet was but Twenty years of age when he was put down and his Death and Deprivation was approved by publick Act of the Senate who ordained also in his detestation That never Emperour after him should be called Antonius And so it was observed though no other Name had ever been more grateful before to the world for the remembrance of good Emperors that had been so called This man being chastized as is said there was preferred to the Empire in his room a goodly young man of his next Kindred named Alexander Severus Son to Mamonea which was Sister to Heliogabalus's Mother and being admitted by common consent both of the Senate People and Army he proved one of the rarest Princes for his Valour and Vertue that ever the Roman Empire had had so as the worthiness of Severus seemed to recompence fully the wickedness of Heliogabalus I might name divers other such Examples and among the rest that of Maxentius who being lawfully possessed of the Empire in Rome as it seemed for that he was Son to Maximinianus the Emperour that reigned with Dioclesian yet for his tyrannous Government that was intollerable it is supposed that the Senate not being able to match him in open strength sent privily into England and France to invite Constantine to come and do Justice upon him and so he did and he being drowned in the River of Tiber Constantine afterward surnamed the Great succeeded in the Empire and was the man that all men know and the first Emperour that publickly professed himself a Christian and planted our Faith over all the World And this of the Roman Empire And if ye will come lower down and nearer home we have yet another Example more remarkable than the rest which is The change of the Empire from the East to the West for the evil Government of Constantine the sixth who was Deposed first and his eyes put out by his own Mother Irene and the Empire Usurped by her But being not able to rule it in such order as was needful for so great a Monarchy though otherwise she was one of the rarest Women for Valour and Wisdom that ever the World had she was deprived thereof by the Sentence of Leo the third Pope of Rome and by consent of all the People and Senate of that City and Charles King of France and Germany afterward surnamed the Great was Crowned Emperour of the West and so hath that Succession remained unto this day and many worthy Men have succeeded therein and infinite Acts of Jurisdiction have been exercised by this Authority which were all Unjust and Tyrannical if this change of the Empire and Deposition of Irene and her Son for their evil Government had not been lawful It were too long to run over all other Kingdoms yet some I shall touch in such points as are most notorious The two famous changes that have been made of the Royal Line in France the first from the Race of Pharamond and Clodoveus to the Line of Pepin and the second from the Race of Pepin again to the Line of Hugo Capetus that endureth unto this day Whereon are they founded but upon the judicial Chastisement and Deposition of two evil Princes the first of Childrec the third lawful King of France who after he had reigned ten years was deposed by Zachary the Pope at the request of the whole Nobility and Clergy of France or rather his Deprivation was by them and confirmed by the Pope to whom they alledged this reason for their doing in that behalf as Girard putteth it down in his French Chronicles I mean the large and the Abreviation viz. That their Oath to Childeric was to honour serve obey maintain and defend him against all men as long as he was Just Religious Valiant Clement and would resist the Enemies of the Crown punish the wicked and conserve the good and defend the Christian Faith And for as much as these promises said they were conditional they ought not to hold or bind longer than they were reciprocally observed on both parts which seeing they were not of the part of Childeric they would not be any longer his Subjects and so desired Zachary to absolve them from their Oaths which he did and by this means Childeric was Deposed and put into a Monastry where he died and in his place Pepin was chosen and crowned King whose Posterity Reigned for many years after him and were such Noble Kings as all the World can testifie And so continued this Race of Pepin in the Royal Throne for almost two hundred years togeter until Hugo Capetus who was put into the same Authority of the Commonwealth and Charles of Lorrain last of the Race of Pepin for the evil satisfaction which the French Nation had of him was put by it and kept Prisoner during his Life in the Castle of Orleance And thus much all the French Histories affirm and to attribute to these changes the prosperity and greatness of their present Kingdom and Monarchy And thus much for France where many other Examples might be alledged as of King Lewis the third surnamed Fainant for that he was unprofitable and of Charles surname Le grot that succeeded him both of them deposed by the States of France And other the like of whom I shall have occasion to speak afterwards to another purpose But now if you please let us step over the Pyrenean Mountains and look into Spain where there will not fail us also divers Examples both before the oppression of that Realm by the Moors and also after For that before to wit in the year of Christ 630. we read of a lawful King named Flaveo Suintila put down and deprived both he and his Posterity in the fourth Council National of Toledo and one Sissinado confirmed in his place notwithstanding that Suintila was at the beginning of his Reign a very good King and much commended by St. Isodorus Archbishop of Sivil who yet in the said Counil was the first man that subscribed to his Deprivation After the entrance of the Moors also when Spain was reduced again to the Order and Government of Spanish Kings We read that about the year of Christ 1282. one Don Alonso the eleventh of that name King of Castile and Leone succeeded his Father Ferdinando sur-named the Sainct and himself obtained the sur-name of Sabio and Astrologo that is to say of Wise and of an Astrologer for his excellent Learning and peculiar Skill in that Art as may well appear by the Astronomy-Tables that at this day go under his name which are the most perfect and exact that ever were set forth by judgment of the Learned This Man for his evil Government and especially for Tirany used towards
two Nephews of his as the Spanish Chronicler Garavay writeth was deposed of his Kingdom by a publick Act of Parliament in the Town of Valliodolid after he had Reigned thirty years and his own son Don Sancho the fourth was Crowned in his place who for his valiant Acts was sur-named el bravo and it turned to great commodity of the Common-Wealth The same Common-Wealth of Spain some years after to wit about the year of Christ 1368. having to their King one Don Pedro sur-named the Cruel for his injurious proceeding with his Subjects though otherwise he were lawfully seased of the Crown as Son and Heir to King Don Alonso the twelfth and had Reigned among them eighteen years yet for his evil Government they resolved to depose him and so sent for a Bastard Brother of his named Henry that lived in France requesting him that he would come with some force of French-men to assist them in that Act and take the Crown upon himself which he did and by the help of the Spaniards and French Souldiers he drove the said Peter out of Spain and himself was Crowned And albeit Edward sur-named the black Prince of England by order of his Father King Edward the third restored once again the said Peter yet was it not durable for that Henry having the favour of the Spaniards returned again and deprived Peter the second time and slew him in Fight hand to hand which made shew of more particular favour of God in this behalf to Henry and so he remained King of Spain as doth also his progenie enjoy the same unto this day though by nature he was a Bastard as had been said and notwithstanding that King Peter left two Daughters which were led away into England and there Married to great Princes And this King Henry so put up in his place was called King Henry the second of this name and proved a most excellent King and for his great Nobility in conversation and prowess in Chivalry was called by excellency El cavallero the Knightly King and for his exceeding benignity and liberality was sur-named also El delas mercedes which is to say the King that gave many gifts or the liberal franck and bountiful King which was a great change from the other sur-named Cruel that King Peter had before and so you see that always I give you a good King in place of the bad deposed In Portugal also before I go out of Spain I will alledge you one example more which is of Don Sancho the second sur-named Capello fourth King of Portugal lawful Son and Heir unto Don Alonso sur-named el Gardo who was third King of Portugal This Don Sancho after he had Reigned 34. years was deprived for his defects in Government by the universal consent of all Portugal and this his first deprivation from all Kingly rule and Authority leaving him only the bare name of King was approved by a General Councel in Lions Pope Innocent the fourth being there present who at the Petition and Instance of the whole Realm of Portugal by their Embassadors the Arch-Bishop of Braga Bishop of Comibra and divers of the Nobility sent to Lyons for that purpose did Authorise the said State of Portugal to put in Supream Government one Don Alonso Brother to the said King Don Sancho who was at that time Earl of Bullen in Picardy by right of his Wife and so the Portugals did And further also a little after they deprived their said King and did drive him out of his Realm into Castilla where he liv'd all the rest of his Life in Banishment and Dyed in Toledo without ever returning and this decree of the Councel and Pope at Lyons for Authorising of this fact is yet extent in our Cannon Law in the sixt Book of Decretals now in Print And this King Don Alonso the third which in this sort was put up against his Brother was peaceably and prosperously King of Portugal all the days of his life and he was a notable King and among other great Exploits he was the first that set Portugal free from all Subjection Dependance and Homage to the Kingdom of Castile which unto his time it had acknowledged and he left for his Successor his Son and Heir Don Dionysio el Fabricador to wit the great Builder for that he Builded and Founded above forty and four great Towns in Portugal and was a most rare Prince and his off-spring ruleth in Portugal unto this day Infinite other Examples could I alledge if I would examine the Lives and Descents of these and other Kingdoms with their Princes and namely if I would speak of the Greek Emperors deprived for their evil Government not so much by popular Mutiny which often happened among them as by consent and grave deliberation of the whole State and weal-publick as Michael Calaphatos for that he had trodden the Cross of Christ under his Feet and was otherwise also a Wicked Man As also the Emperour Nicephorus Botoniates for his Dissolute Life and preferring Wicked Men to Authority and the like whereof I might name many but it would be too long What should I name here the deposition made of Princes in our days by other Common-Wealths as in Polonia of Henry the third that was last King of France and before that had been Sworn King of Polonia of which Crown of Polonia he was deprived by publick Act of Parliament for his departing thence without License and not returning at his day by the said State appointed and denounced by publick Letters of Peremptory Commandment which are yet extant What should I name the Deprivations of Hen. late King of Suetia who being lawful Successor and lawfully in possession after his Father Gustanus was yet put down by that Common-Wealth and deprived and his Brother made King in his place who if you remember was in Ireland in the beginning of this Queens Reign and whose Son Reigneth at this day and is King also of Polonia and this Fact was not only allowed of at home by all the States of that Countrey but also abroad as namely of Maximilian the Emperor and approved also by the King of Denmark and all the Princes of Germany near about that Realm who saw the reasonable cause which that Common-Wealth had to proceed as it did And a little before that the like was practised also in Denmark against Cisternus their lawful King if we respect his descent in Bloud for he was Son to King John that Reigned afore him and Crowned in his Fathers life but yet afterwards for his Intolerable cruelty he was deprived and driven into Banishment together with his Wife and three Children all which were Disinherited and his Unkle Frederick Prince of Alsatia was chosen King whose Progeny yet remaineth in the Crown and the other though he were married to the Sister of Charles the fifth and last Emperour of that Name and were
Nation that was lawfully and orderly preferred to the Imperial Seat after that it passed from the Children of Charles the Great and there be divers points worthy the noting in this example and among other that albeit he were lawful King and Emperor by Succession as also by appointment of his Father Yet was he chosen and admitted again by the Prince and People and that he Swore to fulfil all those points and conditions which the signification of the Emperial Ornament did bind him unto After this about sixteen years or more Pope Gregory the fifth in a Synod holden in Rome did by the consent of Otho the third Emperour and Nephew unto this other Otho of whom we have now treated appoint a certain Form of Election for the time to come of the German Emperour to wit that he should be chosen by six Princes of Germany three Ecclesiastical which are the Archbishops of Moguntia Colen and Trevires and three Temporal Lords to wit the Duke of Saxony the Count Palatine of Rhene and the Marquess of Brandeuburg and when these six voices should happen to be equally divided then that the Duke of Bohemia for then it was no Kingdom should have place also to determine the Election All which was determined in the year of Christ 996. in Rome and approved afterward by all the Princes of Germany and allowed by all other Christian Princes and States of the World and so endureth unto this day And among all other points this of his Coronation and his Oath to be taken for his well Government was and is most exactly set down and recorded by many Historiographers of that time and since But I shall aledge them out of John Sleydan as the most convenient Author for this our time and purpose First of all then he Writeth that after any Man is chosen Emperour he is to be called only Caesar and the King of the Romans and not Emperour until he be Crowned and the Conditions which he Sweareth unto presently after his Election Are to defend the Christian and Catholick Religion to defend the Pope and Church of Rome whose Advocate he is to Minister Justice equally to all to follow Peace to keep and observe all Laws Rights and Priviledges of the Empire not to alienate or engage the possessions of the Empire to condemn no Man without hearing his cause but to suffer the course of Law to have its place in all and whatsoever he shall do otherwise that it be void and of no Validity at all Unto all these Articles he Sweareth first by his Legates and then he giveth a Copy of his Oath in Writing to every one of the six Electors and after this he goeth to the City of Aquis-grun to be Crowned in that great Church where about the middle of the Mass the Archbishop of Colen goeth unto him in the presence of all the People and asketh whether he be ready to Swear and promise to observe the Catholick Religion defend the Church Minister Justice protect the Widdows and Fatherless and yield dutiful Honour and Obedience to the Pope of Rome Whereunto he answering That he is ready to do all this The Archbishop leadeth him to the high Altar where he Sweareth in express words all these Articles which being done the said Archbishop turning himself to the Princes of the Empire and People there present doth ask them Whether they be content to Swear Obedience and Fealty unto him Who answering Y a He is Annointed by the said Archbishop before the Altar and then do come the other two Archbishhps of Moguntia and Treviers and do lead him into the Vestery where certain Deacons are ready to Apparel him in his Robes and do set him in a Chair upon whom the Archbishop of Colen sayeth certain Prayers and then delivereth him a Sword drawn and putting a Ring upon his finger and giveth him a Scepter in his hand and then all the three Archbishops together do put on the Crown upon his head and leading him so Crowned and Apparreled unto the high Altar again He Sweareth the second time That he will do the part of a good Christian and Catholick Emperor Which being ended he is brought back and placed in the Emperial seat and Throne where all the Princes of the Empire do Swear obedience and faith unto him beginning with the three Archbishops and continuing on with the three other Electors and so all the rest in order which is a notable and magestical manner of admitting and authorising of a Prince as you see and it is to be marked among other things that the Emperour Sweareth three times once by his Deputies and twice by Himself before his Subjects Swear once unto him and yet will Belloy as you have heard needs have Subjects only bound to their Princes and the Prince nothing at all bound to them again In Polonia which being first a Dukedom was made a Kingdom about the same time that this form of electing of the German Emperour was prescribed the manner of Coronation of their King is in substance the very same that we have declared to be of the Emperour For first of all the Archbishop of Guesua Metropolitant of all Polonia cometh to the King standing before the high Altar and sayeth unto him these words Whereas you are right Noble Prince to receive at our hands at this day who are thought unworthily in place of Christ for execution of this Function the sacred Anointing and other Ceremonies Ensigns and Ornaments appertaining to the Kings of this Land it shall be well that we admonish you in a few words what the charge importeth which you are to take upon you c. Thus he beginneth and after this he declareth unto him for what end he is made King what the obligation of that place and dignity bindeth him unto and unto what points he must Swear what do signifie the Sword the Ring the Scepter and the Crown that he is to receive and at the delivery of each of these things he maketh both a short exhortation unto him and prayer unto God for him And the Kings Oath is in these Words Promitto coram Deo Angelis ejus I do promise and Swear before God and his Angels that I will do Law and Justice to all and keep the Peace of Christ his Church and the union of his Catholick Faith and will do and cause to be done due and Canonical Honour unto the Bishops of this Land and to the rest of the Clergy and if which God forbid I should break my Oath I am content that the Inhabitants of this Kingdom owe no Duty or Obedience unto me as God shall help me and Gods holy Gospels After this Oath made by the King and received by the Subjects the Lord Martial General of the whole Kingdom doth ask with a loud voice of all the Councellors Nobility and People there present Whether they be content to submit
themselves unto this King or no. Who answered Yea. The Archbishop doth end the residue of the Ceremonies and doth place him in the Royal Throne where all his Subjects do Homage unto him And thus for Polonia In Spain I do find that the manner of admitting their Kings was different and not the same before and after the destruction thereof by the Moors but yet that in both times their Kings did Swear in effect the self same points which before have been mentioned in other Kingdoms For first before the entring of the Moors when Spain remained yet one General Monarchy under the Goths it is recorded in the fourth national Councel of Toledo which was holden in the year of our Lord 633. according to Ambrosio Morales the most Learned and diligent Historiographer of Spain though others do appoint it some few years after in this Councel I say it is said that their new King Sissinandus who had expelled Suintila their former King for his evil Government This King Sissinandus I say coming into the said Councel in the third year of his Reign accompanied with a most magnificent number of Nobles that waited on him did fall down prostrate upon the ground before the Archbishops and Bishops there gathered together which were 70. in number and desired them with Tears to pray for him and to determine in that Councel that which shou'd be needful and most convenient both for maintaining of Gods Religion and also for upholding and prospering the whole Commonwealth whereupon those Fathers after matters of Religion and Reformation of matters which they handled in 72. Chapters In the end and last Chapter they come to handle matters of Estate also And first of all they do confirm the Deposition of Kings Suintila together with his Wife Brother and Children and all for his great Wickedness which in the Councel is recounted and they do deprive them not only of a Title to the Crown but also of all other goods and possessions moveable and immovable saving only that which the new Kings mercy should bestow upon them And in this Councel was present and subscribed first of all other Sâ— Isidorus Archbishop of Sivil who Writing his History of Spain dedicated the same unto this King Sissinandus and speaketh infinite good in the same of the Vertues of King Suintila that was now Deposed and condemned in this said Councel whereby it is to be presumed that he had changed much his life afterwards and become so wicked a Man as here is reported After this the Councel confirmeth the Title of Sissinandus and maketh Decrees for the defence thereof but yet insinuateth what points he was bound unto and whereupon he had Sworn when they said unto him Te quoque praesentem regem ac futuros aetatum sequentium principes c. We do require you that are our present King and all other our Princes that shall follow hereafter with the humility which is convenient that you be meek and moderate towards your Subjects and that you govern your People in Justice and Piety and that none of you do give sentence alone against any man in case of Life and Death but with the consent of your publick Councel and with those that be Governours in matter of Judgment And against all Kings that are to come we do promulgate this sentence that if any of them shall against the reverence of our Laws exercise cruel authority with proud domination and Kingly pomp only following their own concupiscence in wickedness that they are condemned by Christ with the sentence of Excomunication and have their seperation both from him and us to everlasting Judgment And this much of that Councel But in the next two years after the end of this Councel King Sissinandus being now dead and one Chintilla made King in his place There were other two Councels gathered in Toledo the first whereof was but Provincial and the second National and they are named by the names of the fifth and sixth Councels of Toledo In the which Councils according to the manner of the Goths who being once converted from the Arian Heresie were very catholick and devout ever after and governed themselves most by their Clergy and not only matters of Religion were handled but also of State and of the Commonwealth especially about the Succession to the Crown safety of the Prince provision for his Children Friends Officers ond Favourites after his death and against such as without Election or Approbation of the Commonwealth did aspire to the same all these points I say were determined in these Councils and among other points a severe Decree was made in the sixth Council concerning the King's Oath at his admission in these words Consonam uno corde ore promulgamus Deo placituram sententiam We do promulgate with one heart and mouth this Sentence agreeable 〈◊〉 pleasing unto God and do decree the same with 〈◊〉 consent and deliberation of the Nobles and Peers of this Realm that whosoever in time to come shall be advanced to the Honour and Preâ—erment of this Kingdom he shall not be placed in the Royal Seat until among other conditions he have promised by the Sacrament of an Oath that he will suffer no man to break the Catholick Faith c. Thus far that Synod or Council By which words especially those among other conditions is made evident that those Princes swear not only to keep the Faith but also such other Conditions of good Government as were touched before in the fourth Council And these things were determined while their King Chintilla was at Tolledo as Ambrosio Morales noteth And thus much of Spain before the entrance of the Moors and before the dividing thereof into many Kingdoms which happened about 100 years after this to wit in the year of our Lord 713. and 714. But after the Moors had gained all Spain and divided them into divers Kingdoms yet God provided it so that within four or five years the Christians that were left and fled to the Mountains of Asturias and Biscay found a certain young Prince named Don Pelayo of the ancient Bloud of the Gothish Kings who was also fled thither and miraculously saved from the Enemies whom they then chose to be their King and he began presently the recovery of Spain and was called first King of Asturias and then of Leon and afterwards his Successors got to be Kings also of Castilia and then of Toledo and then of Aragon Barcelona Valentia Murcia Jaen Cordua Granado Sivil Portugal and Navar all which were different Kingdoms at that time so made by the Moors as hath been said And all these Kingdoms were gained again by little and little in more than seven hundred years space which were lost in less than two years and they never came again indeed into one Monarchy as they were under Don Rodrigo their last King that lost the whole until the year of our
Lord 1582. when Don Philip now King of Spain re-united again unto that Crown the Kingdom of Portugal which was the last piece that remained seperated and this was almost 900 years after Spain was first lost But now to our purpose the Chronicler of Spain named Ambrosio Morales doth record in his Chronicle a certain Law written in the Gothish Tongue and left since the time of this Don Pelayo the first King after the universal Destruction of Spain and the Title of the Law is this Como se an de levantar Rey in Espua y como el ha de jurar los fueros that is to say How men must make their King in Spain and how he must swear to the Priviledges and Liberties of that Nation And then he putteth the Law whereof the first saith thus Before all things it is Established for a Law Liberty and Priviledge of Spain that the King is to be placed by voices and consent perpetually and this to the intent that no evil King may enter without consent of the people seeing they are to give him that which with their Bloud and Labours they have gained from the Moors Thus far goeth this first Article which is the more to be marked for that divers and those most ancient Spanish Authors do say That from this Don Pelayo the Succession of Kings descended ever by propinquity of Bloud and yet we see that Election was joyned therewithall in express terms The second part of the Law containeth the manner of Ceremonies used in these old days at the admission of their Kings which is expressed in these words Let the King be chosen and admitted in the Metropolitan City of this Kingdom or at least wise in some Cathedral Church and the night before he is exalted let him watch all night in the Church and the next day let him hear Mass and let him offer at Mass a piece of Scarlet and some of his own Money and after let him Communicate and when they come to lift him up let him step upon a Buckler or Target and the chief and principal men there present hold the Target and so lifting him up let them and the people cry with a lowd voice Real Real Real Then let the King command some of his own Money to be cast among the people to the quantity of a hundred shillings And to the end he may give all people to understand that none now is above him let himself tie on his own Sword in the form of a cross and let no Knight or other Man bear a Sword that day but only the King This was the old fashion of making Kings in Spain which in effect and substance remaineth still though the manner thereof be somewhat altered for that the Spanish Kings are not Crowned but have another Ceremony for their admission equal to Coronatron which is performed by the Archbishop of Toledo Primate of all Spain as the other Coronations before-mentioned are by the Archbishop of Moguntia to the Emperour and by the Archbishop of Guesna to the King of Polonia and by the Archbishop of Prague to the King of Bohemia and the Archbishop of Braga to the King of Portugal and by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the King of England and by the Archbishop of Rhemes to the King of France of which Realm of France we may not omit to say somewhat in particular seeing it is so good a Kingdom and so near to England not only in Scituation but also in Laws Manners and Customs And as the Race of English Kings have come from them in divers manners since the Conquest so may it be also supposed that the principal Ceremonies and Circumstances of this Action of Coronation have been received in like manner from them First then touching the act of Coronation and Admission of the King of France even as before I have said of Spain so also in this Kingdom do I find two manners of that action the one more ancient which the French do say hath endured in substance from their first Christian King named Clodoveus unto this day which is about 1100 years for that Clodoveus was christened in the year of our Lord 490 in the City of Rhemes by St Remigius Bishop of that City and Anointed also and Crowned King by same Bishop which manner and order of Anointing and Coronation endured for about 600 years unto the time of Henry the first and King Philip the first his Son both Kings of France At what time which is about 500 years ago both the Chroniclers and Cosmographers of France do testifie that there was a peculiar Book in the Library of the Church of Bevais containing the particular Order of this Action which had endured from Clodoveus unto that time Which order for so much as toucheth the solemnity of Officers in the Coronation and other like Circumstances was far different at that time from that which is now for that in those days there were no Peers of France appointed to assist the same Coronation which now are the chief and the greatest part of that solemnity Yea Girard du Hailan Secretary of France in his third Book of the Affairs and State of that Kingdom saith That the Ceremonies of Crowning their old Kings was much after the fashion which I have noted a little before in this very Chapter out of the Law of Don Pelayo first King of Spain after the Moors for that they were lifted up and carried about upon a Target by the chief Subjects there present as the Spaniards were 〈…〉 But as touching the principal point of that action which is the substance of admitting the King unto his Royal Authority and Oath by him made of governing well and justly and of the reciprocal Oath of Obedience made to him again by his Subjects it was not much different from that which now is as shall appear by the Coronation of the aforesaid Philip the first who was Crowned in the life and presence of his Father King Henry after the fashion then used in the year of Christ 1059. and it was as Nâ—ngis and Tollet both Authors of great Authority among the French do recount it and Francis Belforest out of them both repeateth the same at large in manner following King Henry the first of this Name seeing himself very old and feeble made an assembly of all the States of France in the City of Paris in the year of Christ 1059. where bringing in his young Son and Heir Philip that was but nine years of age before them all he said as followeth Hitherto my dear Friends and Subjects I have been the Head of your Nobility and Men at Arms but now by mine Age and Indisposition of Body I must be separated from you and therefore I do desire you that if ever you have loved me you shew it now in giving your Consent and Approbation that this my Son may be admitted for your King and apparelled with the
and the Earl of Flanders the Sword Royal so that there are three Dukes three Earls in every one of both Ranks of Spiritual and Temporal Lords and as Gerard noteth the King is apparelled on this day three times and in three several sorts The first as a Priest the second as a King and Warriour the third as a Judge And finally he saith that this Solemnity of Anointing and Crowning the King of France is the most magnificent Gorgeous and Majestical thing that may be seen in the world for which he referreth us not only to the particular Coronations of these two ancient Kings Philip the first and second but also to the late Coronation of Henry the second Father to the last Kings of France which is also in print and indeed is a very goodly and most notable thing to be read though indeed much more to be seen But to say a word or two more of Philip Augustus before I pass any further which happened in the Year 1179. and in the 25. of the reign of our King Henry the second of England who as the French Histories say was present also at this Coronation and had his Rank among the Peers as Duke of Normandy and held the Kings Crown in his hand and one of his Sons had his Rank also as Duke of Gascony and the form used in this Coronation was the very same which is used at this day in the Admission of the Kings of France in recounting whereof I will let pass all the particular ceremonies which are largely to be read in Francis Belforest in the place before-mentioned and I will repeat only the Kings Oath which the said Author recounteth in these words The Archbishop of Rhemes being vested in his Pontifical attire and come to the Altar to begin Mass where the King also was upon a high seat placed he turned to him and said these words in the name of all the Clergy and Churches of France Sirs that which we require at your hands this day is that you promise unto us that you will keep all Canonical Priviledges Law and Justice due to be kept and defended as a good King is bound to do in his Realm and to every Bishop and Church to him committed whereunto the King answered I do promise and avow to every one of you and to every Church to you committed That I will keep and maintain all Canonical Priviledges Law and Justice due to every man to the utmost of my Power And by Gods help shall defend you as a good King is bound to do in his Realm This being done the King did Swear and make his Oath laying his hands upon the Gospel in these Words following Au nom de Jesus Christ je jure promets au Peuple Christien a moy suject ces choses c. Which is in English In the name of Jesus Christ I do Swear and promise to all Christian People subject unto me these points ensuing First to procure that all my Subjects be kept in the union of the Church and I will defend them from all Excess Rapine Extortion and Iniquity Secondly I will take order that in all Judgments Justice shall be kept with Equity and Mercy to the end that God of his Mercy may conserve unto me with you my People his Holy grace and mercy Thirdly endeavour as much as possible shall lie in me to chase and drive out of my Realm and all my Dominions all such as the Church hath or shall declare for Hereticks as God shall help me and his Holy Gospels Thus Sweareth the King and then kisseth the Gospel and immediatly is Sung Te Deum Laudamus and after that are said many particular Prayers by the Archbishop and then is the King vested and the Ring Scepter Crown and the other Kingly Ornaments and Ensigns are brought and put upon him with Declaration first what they signifie and then particular Prayers are made to God that their signification may be by the King fulfilled And after all ended the Archbishop with the Bishops do bless him and say these words unto him God which reigneth in Heaven and governeth all Kingdoms bless you c. Be you stable and constant and hold your Place and Right from hence forth which here is committed and laid upon you by the authority of Almighty God and by this present tradition and delivery which we the Bishops and other Servants of God do make unto you of the same and remember you in place convenient to bear so much more respect and reverence unto the Clergy by how much nearer than other men you have seen them to approach to God's Altar to the end that Jesus Christ Mediator of God and Man may confirm and maintain you by the Clergy and People in this your Royal Seat and Throne who being Lord of Lords and King of Kings make you Reign with him and his Father in the Life and Glory everlasting Thus saith the Archbishop unto him and after this he is led by him and the other Peers unto the Seat Royal where the Crown is put upon his Head and many other large Ceremonies used which may be read in the Author aforesaid and are too long for this place And yet have I been the larger in this matter of France for that I do not think it to be improbable which this Author and others do not to wit that most Nations round about have taken their particular Forms of Anointing and Crowning their Kings from this ancient custom of France though the substance thereof I mean of their Sacring and Anointing be deduced from Examples of far more Antiquity to wit from the very first Kings among the people of Israel whom God caused to be anointed by his Priests and Prophets in token of his Election and as a singular Priviledge of Honour and Preheminence unto them whereof King David made so great account when he said to the Souldier that had killed Saul his Enemy in the War quare non timuisti mittere manum tuam in Christum Domini Why didst thou not fear to lay thy hands upon the Anointed of God and he put him to death for it notwithstanding that Saul had been long before deposed and rejected by God and that himself had lawfully born Arms against him for many days so much was that Ceremony of Anointing esteemed in those days and so hath it been ever since among Christian People also For that Kings hereby are made Sacred and do not only participate with Priests but also with Christ himself who hath his Name of this circumstance of Anointing as all the world knoweth Probable then I say it is that albeit the substance of this ceremony of Anointing Kings be much elder than the Christian Kingdom of France yet is this particular and Majestical manner of doing the same by way of Coronation the most antient in France above all other Kingdoms round about especially if it began with the
first Christian King Clodoveus not full 500. Years after Christ as French Authors do hold At what time also they recount a great miracle of Holy Oyl sent from Heaven by an Angel for anointing Clodoveus whereof they say they have still remaining for the anointing of their Kings at Rhemes which point I will not stand to treat or discourse in this place but rather will refer my Reader to the foresaid Chapter of Francis Belforest Chronicler of France who alledgeth divers Writers of almost 500. years antiquity that write of the same But howsoever that be very probable it seemeth that all the ceremonies of Coronation in Germany and Polonia before-recited which had their beginning long after the Reign of Clodoveus might be taken from thence and so the affinity and likeness of the one to the other doth seem to agree and Garribay also the Chronicler of Spain and of Navarre in his 22. Book talking of this Custom of Anointing and Crowning the Kings of Navarre saith that this excellent custom began there I mean in Navarre above 800 Years past and was brought in by certain Earls of Champayn of France named Theobaldes who coming to attain that Crown brought with them that Reverend Ceremony of Anointing and Crowning their Kings according to the use of the French which custom endureth until this day in that part of Navarre that is under the house of Vandome albeit in the other that is under the Spaniards which is far the greater it was left off in the Year 1513. when Ferdinand sirnamed the Catholick King of Spain entred thereupon for that the Spanish Kings are never anointed nor crowned but otherwise admitted by the Common-Wealth as before I have declared But among all other Kingdoms it seemeth that England hath most particularly taken this custom and ceremony from France not only for the reason before-alledged that divers of our English Kings have come out of France as William the Conquerour born in Normandy King Stephen son to the Earl of Blois and Bullen a Frenchman and King Henry the second born likewise in France and son to the Earl of Anjou but also for that in very deed the thing it self is all one in both Nations And albeit I have not seen any particular Book of this Action in England as in French there is yet it is easy to gather by Histories what is used in England about this affair For first of all that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury doth ordinarily do this ceremony in England as the Arch-Bishop of Rhemes doth it in France there is no doubt and with the same Solemnity and honour according to the condition and state of our Countrey and Polidor Virgil in his History noteth that Pope Alexander did interdict and suspend the Arch-bishop of York with his two assistants the Bishops of London and Salisbury for that in the absence of Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Canterbury and without his Licence they did crown King Henry at his Fathers perswasion and divers do attribute the unfortunate success of the said King Henry the younger that rebelled against his Father to this disorderly and violent Coronation by his Father's appointment secondly that the first thing which the said Arch-bishop requireth at the new King's hands at his Coronation is about Religion Church matters and the Clergy as in France we have seen it appeareth evidently by these words which the same Arch-bishop Thomas sirnamed commonly the Martyr remaining in banishment wrote to the same King Henry the second which are these Memores sit is confessionis quam fecistis posuistis super altare apud Westmonasterium de servanda Ecclesiae liberiate quando consecrati fuistis uncti in Regem à praedecessore nostro Thebaldo Which is Do you call to your remembrance the Confession which you made and laid upon the Altar at Westminster for keeping and defending the liberty of the Church when you were consecrated and anointed King by Thebaldus our predecessor By which words appeareth that as the King of England was consecrated and anointed in those days by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury so did he swear and give up his Oath also in writing and for more solemnity and obligation laid it down or rather offered it up with his own hands upon the Altar so much as was required of him by the said Arch-bishop and Clergy for the special safety of Religion and these Ecclesiastical Liberties which is the self same point that we have seen before as well in the Oath of the Kings of France as also of Polonia and Spain and of the Emperours both Grecian and Gerusan The very like admonition in effect I find made by another Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury to another King Henry to wit by Thomas Arundel to King Henry the Fourth when in a Parliament holden at Coventry in the year 1404 the King was tempted by certain temporal men to take away the Temporalities from the Clergy whereunto when the said Arch-bishop Thomas had answered by divers reasons at last turning to the King he besought him saith Stow to remember the Oath which he voluntarily made that he would honour and defend the Church and Ministers thereof Wherefore he desired him to permit and suffer the Church to enjoy the Priviledges and Liberties which in time of his Predecessors it did enjoy and to fear that King which reigneth in Heaven and by whom all other Kings do reign Moreover he desired him to consider his promise also to all the Realm which was that he would preserve unto every man their Right and Title so far as in him lay By which speech of the Arch-bishop the King was so far moved as he would hear no more of that Bill of Laity but said that he would leave the Church in as good estate or better than he found it and so he did but yet hereby we come to learn what Oath the Kings of England do make at their Coronations touching the Church and Clergy The other conditions also of good Government are partly touched in the speech of the Arch-bishop and much more expressly set down in the King of Englands Oath recorded by ancient Writers for for that he sweareth as both Holinshead and others do testify in their English Histories in these very words to wit That he will during his Life bear reverence and honour unto Almighty God and to his Catholick Church and unto his Ministers and that he will administer Law and Justice equally to all and take away all unjust Laws Which after he had sworn laying his hands upon the Gospels then doth the Arch-bishop turning about to the people declare what the King hath promised and sworn and by the mouth of an Herauld at Arms asketh their Consents whether they be content to submit themselves unto this man as unto their King or no under the conditions proposed whereunto when they have yielded themselves then beginneth the Arch-bishop to put-upon him the Regal Ornaments
Constance as also by divers other participations of the Bloud-Royal of England as afterwards will appear Now then to come to the second Daughter of King William the Conquerour or rather the third for that the first of all was a Nun as before hath been noted her name was Adela or Alice as hath been said and she was Married in France to Stephen Count Palatine of Champagne Charters and Bloys by whom she had a Son called also Stephen who by his Grand Mother was Earl also of Bullaine in Picardy and after the death of his Uncle King Henry of England was by the favour of the English Nobility and especially by the help of his own Brother the Lord Henry of Blâ—is that was Bishop of Winchester and Jointly Abbot of Glastenbury made King of England and this both in respect that Mathilda Daughter of King Henry the first was a Woman and her Son Henry Duke of Anjou a very child and one degree farther off from the Conqueror and from King Rufus then Stephen was as also for that this King Henry the first as hath been signified before was judged by many to have entred wrongfully unto the Crown and thereby to have made both himself and his posterity incapable of Succession by the violence which he used against both his elder Brother Robert and his Nephew Duke William that was Son and Heir to Robert who by nature and Law were both of them hold for Soverains to John by those that favoured them and their pretentions But yet howsoever this were we see that the Duke of Britainy that lived at that day should evidently have succeeded before Stephen for that he was descended of the elder Daughter of the Conqueror and Stephen of the younger though Stephen by the commodity he had of the nearness of his Port and Haven of Bullain into England as the French stories do say for Calis was of no importance at that time and by the friendship and familiarity he had goten in England during the Reign of his two Uncles King Rufus and King Herny and especially by the heâ—p of his Brother the Bishop and Abbot as hath been said he got the start of all the rest and the states of England admitted him This man although he had two Sons namely Eâ—stachius Duke of Normandy and William Earl of Norfolk yet left they no Issue And his Daughter Mary was Married to Matthew of Flanders of whom if any Issue remains it fell afterwards upon the House of Austria that succeeded in those States To King Stephen who left no Issue succeeded by composition after much War Henry Duke of Anjou Son and Heir to Mathilda before named Daughter of Henry the first which Henry named afterward the second took to his Wife Eleanor Daughter and Heir of William Duke of Aquitain and Earl of Poytiers which Eleanor had been Married before to the King of France Lewis the VII and bare him two Daughters but upon dislike conceaved by the one against the other they were Divorced under pretence of being within the fourth degree of Consanguinity and so by second Marriage Eleanor was Wife to this said Henry who afterwards was King of England by name of King Henry the II. that procured the death of Thomas Backet Archbishop of Canterbury and both before and after the greatest Enemy that ever Lewis the King of France had in the World and much the greater for his Marriage by which Henry was made far stronger for by this Woman he came to be Duke of all Aquitain that is of Gascony and Guiene and Earl of all the Country of Poytiers whereas before also by his Fathers inheritance he was Duke both of Anjou Touraine and Maine and his Mother Mathilda King Henries Daughter of England he came to be King of Enland and Duke of Normandy and his own industry he got also to be Lord of Ireland as also to bring Scotland under his homage so as he enlarged the Kingdom of England most of any other King before or after him This King Henry the II. as Stow recounteth had by Lady Eleanor five Sons and three Daughters His eldest Son was named William that dyed young his second was Henry whom he caused to be crowned in his own Life time whereby he received much trouble but in the end this Son dyed before his Father without issue His third Son was Richard sirnamed for his valour Cor de Leon who reigned after his Father by the name of Richard the I. and dyed without issue in the Year of Christ 1199. His fourth Son named Geffrey married Lady Constance Daughter and Heir of Britany as before hath been said and dying left a son by her named Arthur which was Duke of Britany after him and pretended also to be King of England but was put by it by his Uncle John that took him also Prisoner and kept him also in the Castle first of Fallaise in Normandy and then in Rouan until he caused him to be put to death or slew him with his own hands as French Stories write in the Year 1204 This Duke Arthur left behind him two Sisters as Stow writeth in his Chronicles but others write that it was but one and at least wise I find but one named by the French Stories which was Eleanor whom they say King John also caused to be murthered in England a little before her Brother the Duke was put to death in Normandy and this was the end of the Issue of Geffrey whose Wife Constance Dutchess of of Britany married again after this Murther of her Children unto one Guy Vicount of Touars and had by him two daughters whereof the eldest named Alice was Dutchess of Britany by whom the Race hath been continued unto our time The Fifth Son of King Henry the II. was named John who after the death of his Brother Richard by help of his Mother Eleanor and of Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury drawn thereunto by his said Mother got to be King and put back his Nephew Arthur whom King Richard before his departure to the War of the Holy Land had caused to be declared Heir apparent but John prevailed and made away both Nephew and Neece as before hath been said for which Fact he was detested of many in the World abroad and in France by Act of Parliament deprived of all the States he had in those parts Soon after also the Pope gave sentence of Deprivation against him and his own Barons took Arms to execute the sentence and finally they deposed both him and his young Son Henry being then but a Child of eight years old and this in the eighteenth year of his Reign and in the Year of Christ 1215. and Lewis the VIII of that name Prince at that time but afterwards King of France was chosen King of England and sworn in London and placed in the Tower though soon after by the sudden death of King John
that course was altered again and Henry his Son admitted for King And thus much of the Sons of King Henry II. But of his Daughters by the same Lady Eleanor Heir of Gascony Belforest in his Story of France hath these words following King Henry had four Daughters by Eleanor of Aquitain the eldest whereof was married to Alonso the IX of that name King of Castile of which Marriage issued Queen Blanch Mother to S. Lewis King of France The second of these two Daughters was espoused to Alexis Emperour of Constantinople The third was married to the Duke of Saxony and the fourth was given to the Earl of Tholosa Thus being the French Stories of these Daughters Of the marriage of the eldest Daughter of these four whose name was Eleanor also as her Mothers was with King Alonso the IX of Castile there succeeded many Children but only one son that lived whose name was Henry who was King of Castile after his Father by the name of Henry the I and â—ied quickly without Issue and besides this Henry two Daughters also were born of the same marriage of which the eldest and Heir named Blanch was married by intercession of her Uncle King John of England with the foresaid Prince Lewis of France with this express condition as both Polydor in his English Story and Garibay the Chronicler of Spain do affirm that she should have for her Dowry all the States that King John had lost in France which were almost all that he had there and this to the end he might not seem to have lost them by force but to have given them with the marriage of his Neece and so this marriage was made and her Husband Lewis was afterward chosen also King of England by the Barons and sworn in London as before hath been said And hereby also the Infanta of Spain before mentioned that is descended lineally from both these Princes I mean as well from Queen Blanch as from Lewis is proved to have her pretence fortified to the Interest of England as afterwards shall be declared more at large in due place The second Daughter of King Alonso the IX by Queen Eleanor was named Berenguela and was married to the Prince of Leon in Spain and had by him a Son named Fernando who afterwards when King Henry her Brother was dead was admitted by the Castilians for their King by the name of Fernando the IV. as before the Civilian hath noted and Blanch with her Son S. Lewis though she were the elder was put by the Crown against all right of Succession as Garibay the Spanish Chronicler noteth and confesseth Hereby then some do gather that as the first Interest which the Crown of England had to the States of Gascony Guyenne and Poyters came by a woman so also did it come to France by the right of this foresaid Blanch whereof the favourers of the Infanta of Spain do say that she being now first and next in bloud of that House ought to inherit all these and such like States as are inheritable by women or came by women as the former States of Gascony and Guyenne did to King Henry the II by Queen Eleanor his wife and Normandy by Mathilda his mother and both of them to France by this former interest of Blanch. And more they say that this Lady Blanch mother to King S. Lewis whose Heir at this day the Infanta of Spain is should by right have inherited the Kingdom of England also after the murther of Duke Arthur and his Sister Eleanor for that she was the next of â—in unto them at that time which could be capable to succeed them for that King John himself was uncapable of their succession whom he had murthered and his Son Henry was not then born nor in divers years after and if he had been yet could he receive no Interest thereunto by his Father who had none himself of all which points there will be more particular occasion to speak hereafter Now then I come to speak of King Henry the third who was Son to this King John and from whom all the three Houses before mentioned of Britany Lancaster and York do seem to issue as a triple branch out of one Tree albeit the Royal Line of Britany is more ancient and was divided before even from William the Conquerors time as hath been shewed yet do they knit again in this King Henry for that of King Henry the third his eldest Son named Prince Edward the first descended Edward the second and of him Edward the third from whom properly riseth the House of York And of his second Son Edmond surnamed Crookback County Palatine of Lancaster issued the Dukes of Lancaster until in the third descent when the Lady Blanch Heir of that House matched with John of Gaunt third Son of King Edward the third from which marriage rose afterward the formal division of these two Houses of Lancaster and York and also two distinct branches of Lancaster Besides these two Sons King Henry the third had a Daughter named Lady Beatrix whom he married to John the second of that name Duke of Britany who after was slain at Lions in France by the fall of an old Wall at the Coronation of Pope Clement the 5th of that name in the year of Christ 1298. and for that the Friends of the Infanta of Spain do seek to strengthen her Title by this her descent also of the Royal bloud of England from Henry the third as afterward shall be declared I will briefly in this place continue the Pedegree of the House of Britany from that I left before even to our days I shewed before in this Chapter that Geoffry the third Son to King Henry the second and Duke of Britany by his wife being dead and his two Children Arthur and Eleanor put to death by their Uncle King John in England as before hath been said it fell out that Constance Dutchess and Heir of Britany married again to Guy Viscount of Tours and had by him two Daughters whereof the eldest named Alice was Dutchess of Britany and married to Peter Brien Earl of Drusse and by him had John the first of that name Duke of Britany which John the first had issue John the second who married Lady Beatrix before-mentioned Daughter to King Henry the third and by her had the second Arthur Duke of Britany to whom succeeded his eldest Son by his first Wife named John the third who dying without Issue left the very same trouble and garboil in Britany about the succession between the two noble Houses of Blois and Monford the one maintained by France and the other by England as soon after upon the very like occasion happen'd in England between the Houses of Lancaster and York as after shall be shewed And not long after that again the like affliction also ensued in France though not for succession but upon other occasions between
the great and Royal Houses of Burgundy and Orleans whereby all three Commonwealths I mean England Britany and France were like to have come to destruction and utter desolation And for that it may serve much to our purpose hereafter to understand well this controversie of Britany I think it not amiss in few words to declare the same in this place Thus then it happened The foresaid Arthur the second of that name Duke of Britanie and Son of Lady Beatrix that was Daughter as hath been said to King Henry the III. of England had two Wives the first named Beatrix as his Mother was and by this he had two Sons John that succeeded him in the State by the name of Duke John the III. and Guye that dying before his elder Brother left a Daughter and Heir named Joan and surnamed the lame for that she halted who was married to the Earl of Bloys that was Nephew to Phillip of Valois King of France for that he was born of his Sister But besides the two Children the said Duke Arthur had by his second Wife named Joland Countess and Heir of the Earldom of Monford another Son called John Breno who in the right of his Mother was Earl of Monford And afterward when Duke John the III. came to die without Issue the question was who should succeed him in his Dukedom the Uncle or the Neece that is to say his third Brother John Breno by half bloud or else his Neece Joan the lame that was Daughter and Heir to his second Brother Guye of whole bloud that is by Father and Mother which Lady Joan was married to the Earl of Bloys as hath been said And first this matter was handled in the Parliament of Paris the King himself sitting in Judgment with all his Peers the 30 day of September 1341 and adjudged it to the Earl of Bloys both for that his Wife was Heir to the elder Brother as also for that Duke John by his Testiment and consent of the States had appointed her to be his Heir but yet King Edward the III. and States of England did Judge it otherwise and preferred John Monford not knowing that the very case was to fall out very soon after in England I mean they Judged the State to John Breno Earl of Monford younger Brother to Guy and they assisted him and his Son after him with all their Forces for the gaining and holding of that State And albeit at the beginning it seemed that matters went against Monford for that himself was taken prisoner in Nantes and carried captive to Paris where he died in prison yet his Son John by the assistance of the English Armies got the Dukedome afterward and slew the Earl of Bloys and was peaceably Duke of Britanie by the name of John the IV. and his posterity hath endured until this day as briefly here I will declare This Duke John the IV. of the House of Monford had Issue John the V. and he Francis the first who dying without Issue left the Dukedom to Peter his Brother and Peter having no Children neither he left it to his Uncle Arthur the III Brother to his Father John the V. and this Arthur was Earl of Richmond in England as some of his ancestors had been before him by gifts of the Kings of England This Arthur dying without Issue left the Dukedom unto his Nephew to wit his Brothers Son Francis the II. who was the last male Child of that race and was he that had once determined to have delivered Henry Earl of Richmond unto his enemy King Edward the IV. and after him to King Richard the III. but that Henry's good fortune reserved him to come to be King of England This Duke Francis had a Daughter and Heir named Anna married first to Charles the VIII King of France and after his death without Issue to his Successor Lewis the XII by whom she had a Daughter named Claudia that was Heir to Britanie though not to the Crown of France by reason of the Law Salique that holdeth against women in the Kingdom of France but not in Britany and to the end this Dukdome should not be disunited again from the said Crown of France this Daughter Claudia was married to Francis Duke of Angolome Heir apparent to the Crown of France by whom she had Issue Henry that was afterward King of France and was Father to the last King of that Country and to Isabel Mother of the Infanta of Spain and of her Sister the Dutchess of Savoy that now is by which also some do affirm that the said Princess or Infanta of Spain albeit she be barred from the Succession of France by their pretended Law Salique yet is her title manifest to the Dukdome of Britanie that came by a woman as we have shewed and thus much of the House of Britany and of the Princess of Spain how she is of the Bloud Royal of England from the time of William the Conqueror himself by his eldest Daughter as also by other Kings after him and now we shall return to prosecute the Issue of these two Sons of King Henry the III. to wit of Edward and Edmond which before we left I shewed you before how King Henry the III. had two Sons Edward the Prince that was King after his Father by the name of Edward the first and Edmond surnamed Crouchback by some Writers who was the first Earl and County Palatine of Lancaster and beginner of that House And albeit some Writers of our time have affirmed or at least wise much inclined to favour a certain old report that Edmond should be the Elder Brother to Edward and put back only for his deformity of his body whereof Polidor doth speak in the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the IV. and as well the Bishop of Ross as also George Lilly do seem to believe it yet evident it seemeth that it was but a fable as before I have noted and now again shall briefly prove it by these reasons following for that it importeth very much for deciding the controversie between the Houses of Lancaster and York The first reason then is for that all Ancient Historiographers of England and among them Mattheus Westmonasteriensis that lived at the same time do affirm the contrary and do make Edward to be elder then Edmond by six years and two days for that they appoint the Birth of Prince Edward to have been upon the 16. day of June in the year of Christ 1239 and the 24. of the Reign of his Father King Henry and the Birth of Lord Edmond to have followed upon the 18. day of the same month 6 years after to wit in the year of our Lord 1245 and they do name the Godfathers and Godmothers of them both together with the peculiar solemnities and feasts that were celebrated at their several Nativities so as it seemeth there can be no error in this matter The 2d
Richard and Reigned 13. years by the name of King Henry the fourth and was the first King of the House of Lancaster of the right of whose title examination shall be made afterwards The first of the two daughters which John of Gaunt had by Blanch was named Philippa who was married to John the first of â—hat name King of Portugal by whom she had Issue Edward King of Portugal and he Alfonsus the fifth and he John the second and so one after another even unto our days The second daughter of John of Gaunt by Lady Blanch was named Elizabeth who was married to John Holland Duke of Exeter and she had Issue by him another John Duke of Exeter and he had Issue Henry Duke of Exeter that died without Issue Male leaving only one Daughter named Anne who was married to Sir Thomas Nevil Knight and by him had Issue Ralph Nevil third Earl of Westmerland whose Lineal Heir is at this day Lord Charles Nevil Earl of Westmerland that liveth banished in Flanders And this is all the Issue that John of Gaunt had by Lady Blanch his first Wife saving only that I had forgotten to prosecute the Issue of Henry his first Son surnamed of Bullenbroke that was afterward called K. Henry the fourth which King had four Sons and two daughters his daughters were Blanch and Philippa the first married to William Duke of Bavaria and the second to Erick King of Denmark and both of them died without Children The four Sons were first Henry that Reigned after him by the name of Henry the fifth and the second was Thomas Duke of Clarence the third was John Duke of Bedford and the fourth was Humphry Duke of Glocester all which three Dukes died without Issue or were slain in Wars of the Realm so as only King Henry the fifth their elder Brother had Issue one Son named Henry also that was King and Reigned 40 years by the name of Henry the sixth who had Issue Prince Edward and both of them I mean both Father and Son were murthered by order or permission of Edward Duke of York who afterward took the Crown upon him by the name of King Edward the fourth as before hath been said so as in this King Henry the sixth and his Son Prince Edward ended all the bloud-Royal male of the House of Lancaster by Blanch the first Wife of John of Gaunt and the Inheritance of the said Lady Blanch returned by right of succession as the favourers of the House of Portugal affirm though others deny it unto the Heirs of Lady Philip her eldest daughter married into Portugal whose Nephew named Alfonsus the fifth King of Portugal lived at that day when King Henry the sixth and his Heir were made away and thus much of John of Gaunt's first marriage But after the death of the Lady Blanch John of Gaunt married the Lady Constance daughter and Hâ—ir of Peter the first surnamed the Cruel King of Castile who being driven out of his Kingdom by Henry his Bastard-brother assisted thereunto by the French he fled to Bourdeaux with his Wife and two daughters where he found Prince Edward eldest Son to King Edward the third by whom he was restored and for pledge of his fidelity and performance of other conditions that the said King Peter had promised to the Prince he left his two daughters with him which daughters being sent afterwards into England the eldest of them named Constance was married to John of Gaunt and by her Title he named himself for divers years afterwards King of Castile and went to gain the same by Arms when Peter her Father was slain by his foresaid Bastard-brother But yet some years after that again there was an agreement made between the said John of Gaunt and John the first of that name King of Castile Son and Heir of the foresaid Henry the Bastard with condition that Catharine the only daughter of John of Gaâ—nt by Lady Constance should marry with Henry the third Prince of Castile Son and Heir of the said King John and Nephew to the Bastard Henry the second and by this means was ended that controversie between England and Castile And the said Lady Catharine had Issue by King Henry John the second King of Casâ—â—â—e and he Isabel that married with Ferdinando the Catholick King of Aragon and joyned by that marriage both those Kingdoms together and by him she had a daughter named Joan that married Philip Duke of Austria and Burgundy and by him had Charles the such that was Emperor and Father to King Philip that now reigneth â—n Spain who as we see is descided two ways from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster to wit by two daughters begotten of two Wives Blanch and Constance neither had John of Gaunt any more Children by Constance but only this daughter Catharine of whom we have spoken wherefore now we shall speak of his third Wife that was Lady Catharine Swinford This Lady Catharine as English Histories do note was born in Heinalt in Flanders and was daughter to a Knight of that Country called Sir Payne de Ruet and she was brought up in her youth in the Duke of Lancasters house and attended upon his first Wife Lady Blanch and being fair of personage grew in such favour with the Duke as in the time of his second Wife Constance he kept this Catharine for his Concubine and begat upon her four Children to wit three Sons and â— daughter which daughter whose name was Jane was married to Ralph Earl of Westmorland called commonly in those days Daw Raby of whom descended the Earls of Westmorland that ensued His three Sons were John Thomas and Henry and John was first Earl and then Duke of Summerset Thomas was first Marques of Dorset and then Duke of Excester Henry was Bishop of Winchester and after Cardinal And after John of Gaunt had begotten all these four Children upon Catharine he married her to a Knight in England named Swinford which Knight lived not many years after and John of Gaunt coming home to England from Aquitaine where he had been for divers years and seeing this old Conâ—â—â—â—ne of his Catharine to be now a Widow and himself also without a Wife for that the Lady Constance was dead a little before for the love that he bore to the Children that he had begotten of her he determined to marry her and thereby the rather to legitimate her Children though himself were old now and all his Kindred utterly against the Marriage and so not full two years before his death to wit in the Year of Christ 1396. he married her and the next Year after in a Parliament begun at Westminster the 22 of January Anno Domini 1397. he caused all his said Children to be legitimated which he had begotten upon this Lady Swinford before she was his Wife But now to go forward to declare the Issue of these three Sons of John of Gaunt by Catharine
married to the King of Norway all which Issue and Line ended about the year 1290. David younger Brother to King William had Issue two daughters Margaret and Isabel Margaret was married to Alain Earl of Galloway and had Issue by him a daughter that married John Balliol Lord of Harcourt in Normandy who had Issue by her this John Balliol Founder of Balliol Colledge in Oxford that now pretended to the Crown as descended from the eldest daughter of David in the third descent Isabel the second daughter of David was married to Robert Bruse Earl of Cleveland in England who had Issue by her this Robert Bruse Earl of Carick the other competitor Now then the question between these two competitors was which of them should Succeed either John Balliol that was Nephew to the elder daughter or Robert Bruse that was Son to the younger daughter and so one degree more near to the Stock or Stem then the other And albeit King Edward the first of England whose power was dreadful at that day in Scotland having the matter referred to his arbitrement gave sentence for John Balliol and Robert Bruse obeyed for the time in respect partly of fear and partly of his Oath that he had made to stand to that Judgment yet was that sentence held to be unjust in Scotland and so was the Crown restor'd afterward to Robert Bruse his Son and his posterity doth hold it unto this day In England also it self they alledge the examples of K. Henry the first preferred before his Nephew William Son and Heir to his elder Brother Robert as also the example of K. John preferred before his Nephew Arthur Duke of Britany for that King Henry the second had four Sons Henry Richard Geffery and John Henry died before his Father without Issue Richard Reigned after him and died also without Issue Geffery also died before his Father but left a Son named Arthur Duke of Britany by right of his Mother But after the death of King Richard the question was who should Succeed to wit either Arthur the Nephew or John the Uncle but the matter in England was soon desided for that John the Uncle was preferred before the Nephew Arthur by reason he was more near to his Brother dead by a degree then was Arthur And albeit the King of France and some other Princes abroad opposed themselves for stomack against this Succession of King John yet say these favourers of the House of Lancaster that the English inclined still to acknowledge and admit his right before his Nephew and so they proclaimed this King John for King of England while he was yet in Normandy I mean Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury Eleanor the Queen this Mother Geffery Fitz-peter chief Judge of England who knew also what law meant therein and others the Nobles and Barons of the Realm without making any doubt or scruple of his title to the Succession And whereas those of the House of York do alledge that King Richard in his life time when he was to go to the holy Land caused his Nephew Arthur to be declared Heir apparent to the Crown and thereby did shew that his title was the better they of Lancaster do answer first that this declaration of King Richard was not made by act of Parliament of England for that King Richard was in Normandy when he made this declaration as plainly appeareth both by Polidor and Hollingshed Secondly that this declaration was made the sooner by King Richard at that time thereby to repress and keep down the ambitious humor of his Brother John whom he feared least in his absence if he had been declared for Heir apparent might invade the Crown as indeed without that he was like to have done as may appear by that which happened in his said Brothers absence Thirdly they shew that this declaration of King Richard was never admitted in England neither would Duke John suffer it to be admitted but rather caused the Bishop of Ely that was left Governour by King Richard with consent of the Nobility to renounce the said declaration of King Richard in favour of Arthur and to take a contrary Oath to admit the said John if King Richard his Brother should die without Issue and the like Oath did the said Bishop of Ely together with the Archbishop of Roan that was left in equal Authority with him exact and take of the Citizens of London when they gave them their Priviledges and Liberties of Commonalty as Hollingshed recordeth And lastly the said Hollinshed writeth how that King Richard being now come home again from the War of Jerusalem and void of that jealousie of his Brother which before I have mentioned he made his last Will and Testament and ordained in the same that his Brother John should be his successor and caused all the Nobles there present to swear Fealty unto him as to his next in bloud for which cause Thomas Walsingham in his story writeth these words Johannis filius junior Henrici 2. Anglorum regis Alienorae Ducissae Aquitaniae non modo jure propinquitatis sed etiam testamento fratris sui Richardi designatus est successo post mortem ipsius which is John younger Son of Henry the second King of England and of Eleanor Dutchess of Aquitain was declared successor of the Crown not only by Law and right of nearness of bloud but also by the Will and Testament of Richard his Brother Thus much this ancient Chronicler speaketh in the testifying of King John's Title By all which examples that fell out almost within one age in divers Nations over the World letting pass many others which the Civilian touched in his discourse before for that they are of more ancient times these favourers of the House of Lancaster do infer that the right of the Uncle before the Nephew was no new or strange matter in those days of King Edward the third and that if we will deny the same now we must call in question the succession and right of all the Kingdoms and States before-mentioned of Naples Sicily Spain Britany Flanders Scotland and England whose Kings and Princes do evidently hold their Crowns at this day by that very Title as hath been shewed Moreover they say that touching Law in this point albeit the most famous Civil Lawyers of the World be somewhat divided in the same matter some of them favouring the Uncle and some other the Nephew and that for different reasons as Baldus Oldratus Panormitanus and divers others alledged by Gulielmâ—â— Benedictus in his Repetitions in favour of the Nephew against the Uncle And on the other side for the Uncle before the Nephew Bartolus Alexander Decius Altiatus Cujatius and many other their followers are recounted in the same place by the same man yet in the end Baldus that is held for head of the contrary side for the Nephew after all reasons weighed to and fro he cometh to conclude
far greater as now they live than in that case it would be suffered their King coming hereby to be of greater Power to force them to the form of English Subjection as no doubt but in time he would And seeing the greatest utility that in this Case by reason and probability can be hoped for by this Union is That the Scotish Nation should come to be advanced in England and to be made of the Nobility both Temporal and Spiritual and of the Privy-Council and other like Dignities of Credit and Confidence for otherwise no union or amity can be hoped for and considering That the King both for his own safety as hath been said as also for gratitude and love to his allied Friends must needs plant them about him in chief places of Credit which are most opposite to English Natures and by little and little through occasion of Emulations and of Controversies that will fall out daily betwixt such diversity of Nations he must needs secretly begin to favour and fortifie his own as we read that William the Conquerour did his Normands and Canutus before him his Danes to the incredible Calamity of the English Nation though otherwise neither of them was of themselves either an evil King or an Enemy to the English-Bloud but driven hereunto for their own safety and for that it was impossible to stand Newter in such national Contentions If all this I say fell out so then as we know it did and our Ancestors felt it to their extreme Ruine what other effect can be hop'd for now by this violent union of Nations that are by nature so dis-united and opposite as are the English Scotch Irish Danish French and other on them depending which by this means must needs be planted together in England And if we read that the whole Realm of Spain did refuse to admit St. Lewis King of France to be their King in Spain to whom yet by Law of Succession it was evident and confessed by the Spaniards themselves as their Chronicler Garibay writeth that the Right most clearly did appertain by his Mother Lady Blanch eldest Daughter and Heir of King Alonso IX and that they did this only for that he was a French-man and might thereby bring the French to have chief Authority in Spain And if for this Cause they did agree together to give the Kingdom rather to Ferdinando III. that was Son of Lady Berenguela younger Sister to the said Lady Blanch and if this determination at that time was thought to be wise and provident tho' against all right of Lineal Succession and if we see that it had good success for that it endureth unto this day what shall we say in this case say these men where the King in question is not yet a St. Lewis nor his Title to England so clear as that other was to Spain and the aversion â—etwixt his Nation and ours much greater than was that betwixt the French and Spanish Thus they do reason Again we heard out of the discourse made by the Civilian before how the States of Portugal after the death of their King Don Ferdinando the second of that Name who left one only Daughter and Heir named Lady Beatrix married unto John I. King of Castile to whom the Succession without all Controversie did appertain they rather determined to chuse for their King a Bastard-brother of the said Don Ferdinando named John than to admit the true Inheritrix Beatrix with the Government of the Castilians by whom yet they being much the richer People the Portugals might hope to reap far greater utility than English-men can do by Scotland considering it is the poorer Countrey and Nation And this is that in effect which these men do answer in this behalf noting also by the way that the Romans themselves with all their Power could never bring Union or Peace between these two Nations of England and Scotland nor hold the Scots and North-Irish in Obedience of any Authority in England and so in the end they were enforced to cut them off and to make that famous Wall begun by Adrian and pursued by other Emperours to divide them from England and bar them from joyning as all the World knoweth and much less shall any one King in England now hold them all in Obedience let him be of what Nation he will And this for the utility that may be hoped for by this Union But now for the point alledged by the favourers of Scotland about establishment of true Religion in England by the entrance of this King of Scots these other men do hold that this is the worst and most dangerous point of all other considering what the state of Religion is in Scotland at this day and how different or rather opposite to that form which in England is maintained and when the Archbishops Bishops Deans Archdeacons and other such of Ecclesiastical and Honourable Dignities of England shall consider that no such Dignity or Promotion is left now standing in Scotland no nor any Cathedral or Collegiate Church is remained on foot with the Renâ—s and Dignities thereunto appertaining and when our Nobility shall remember how the Nobility of Scotland is subject at this day to a few ordinary and common Ministers without any Head who in their Synods and Assemblies have Authority to put to the Horn and drive out of the Realm any Noble-man whatsoever without remedy or redress except he will yield and humble himself to them and that the King himself standeth in aw of this exorbitant and popular power of his Ministers and is content to yield thereunto It is to be thought say these men that few English be they of what Religion or Opinion soever will shew themselves forward to receive such a King in respect of his Religion that hath no better Order in his own at home And thus much concerning the King of Scotland Now then it remaineth that we come to treat of the Lady Arabella second Branch of the House of Scotland touching whose Title though much of that which hath been said before for or against the King of Scotland may also be understood to appertain unto her for that she is of the same House yet I shall in this place repeat in few words the principal points that are alledged in her behalf or prejudice First of all then is alledged for her and by her â—avourers that she is descended of the foresaid Lady Margaret eldest Daughter of King Henry VII by her second Marriage with Archibald Douglas Earl of Anguis and that she is in the third degree only from her for that she is the Daughter of Charles Stuart who was Son of Margaret Countess of Lenox Daughter to the said Lady Margaret Queen of Scots so as this Lady Arabella is but Neece once removed unto the said Queen Margaret to wit in equal degree of descent with the King of Scots which King being excluded as the favourers of this Woman do
Succession or Right of Women which the Kingdom of France in it self doth not as is known and consequently a Woman may be Heir to the one without the other that is to say she may be Heir to some particular states of France inheritable by Women though not to the Crown it self and so do pretend to be the two Daughters of France that were Sisters to the late King Henry III. which Daughters were married the one to the King of Spain that now is who had Issue by her the Infanta of Spain yet unmarried and her younger Sister married to the Duke of Savoy and the other to wit the younger Daughter of the King of France was married to the Duke of Lorrain yet living by whom she had the Prince of Lorrain and other Children that live at this day This then being so clear as it is first that according to the common course of Succession in England and other Countries and according to the course of all Common Law the Infanâ—a of Spain should inherit the whole Kingdom of France and all other States thereunto belonging she being the Daughter and Heir of King Henry II. of France whose Issue-male of the direct line is wholly extinct but yet for that the French do pretend their Law Salique to exclude Women which we English have ever denied to be good until now hereby cometh it to pass that the King of Navarr pretendeth to enter and to be preferred before the said Infanta or her Sisters Children though Male by a Collateral Line But yet her favourers say I mean those of the Infanta that from the Dukedoms of Britany Aquitain and the like that came to the Crown of France by Women and are Inheritable by Women she cannot be in right debarred as neither from any Succession or Pretence to England if either by the Bloud-Royal of France Britany Aquitain or of England it self it may be proved that she hath any Interest thereunto as her favourers do affirm that she hath by these reasons following First for that she is of the ancient Bloud-Royal of England even from the Conquest by the elder Daughter of William the Conquerour married to Allain Fergant Duke of Britany as hath been shewed before in the second Chapter and other places of this Conference And of this they infer three Consequences First when the Sons of the Conquerour died without Issue or were made uncapable of the Crown as it was presumed at least-wise of King Henry I. last Son of the Conquerour that he lost his Right for the violence used to his elder Brother Robert and unto William the said Robert's Son and Heir they say these men ought the said Dutchess of Britany to have entred as eldest Sister Secondly they say That when Duke Robert that both by right of Birth and by express Agreement with William Rufus and with the Realm of England should have succeeded next after the said Rufus came to die in Prison the said Lady Constance should have succeeded him for that his Brother Henry being culpable of his Death could not in right be his Heir And thirdly they say That at least wise after the death of the said King Henry I. she and her Son I mean Lady Constance and Conan Duke of Britany should have entred before King Stephen who was born of Adela the younger Daughter of William the Conquerour Secondly they do alledge That the Infanta of Spain descendeth also lineally from Lady Eleanor eldest Daughter of King Henry II. married to King Alonso the ninth of that name King of Castile whose eldest Daughter and Heir named Blanch for that their only Son Henry died without Issue married with the Prince Lewis VIII of France who was Father by her to King St. Lewis of France and so hath continued the Line of France unto this day and joyned the same afterwards to the House of Britany as hath been declared So as the Infanta cometh to be Heir general of both those Houses that is as well of Britany as France as hath been shewed And now by this her descent from Queen Eleanor Daughter of King Henry II. her favourers do found divers Pretences and Titles not only to the States of Aquitain that came to her Father by a Woman but also to England in manner following First for Aquitain they say it came to King Henry II. by his Wife Eleanor Daughter of William Duke of Aquitain as before in the second Chapter at large hath been declared and for that the most part thereof was lost afterwards to the French in King John's time that was fourth Son to the aforesaid King Henry it was agreed between the said King John and the French-King Philip that all the States of Aquitain already lost to the French should be given in Dowry with the said Blanch to be married to Lewis VIII then Prince of France and so they were And moreover they do alledge That not long after this the same States with the residue that remained in King John's hands were all adjudged to be forfeited by the Parliament of Paris for the Death of Duke Arthur and consequently did fall also upon this Lady Blanch as next Heir capable of such Succession unto King John for that yet the said King John had no Son at all and for this cause and for that the said States are Inheritable by Women and came by Women as hath been often said these men affirm That at this day they do by Succession appertain unto the said Lady Infanta of Spain and not unto the Crown of France To the Succession of England also they make pretence by way of the said Lady Blanch married into France and that in divers manners First for that King John of England by the Murther of Duke Arthur of Britany his Nephew which divers Authors do affirm as Stow also witnesseth was done by King John's own hands he forfeited all his States though his right to them had been never so good and for that this Murther happened in the fifth year of his Reign and four years before his Son Henry was born none was so near to succeed at that time as was this Lady Blanch married into France for that she was Daughter and Heir unto King John's elder Sister Eleanor or the said Lady Eleanor her self Queen of Spain should have succeeded for that she yet lived and died not as appeareth by Stephen Garribay Chronicler of Spain until the year of Christ 1214. which was not until the fifteenth year of the Reign of King John and one year only before he died so as he having yet no Issue when this Murther was committed and losing by this forfeit all the right he had in the Kingdom of England it followeth that the same should have gone then to his said Sister and by her to this Lady Blanch her Heir and eldest Daughter married into France as hath been said which forfeit also of King John these men do confirm by his
Deprivation by the Pope that soon after ensued as also by another Deprivation made by the Barons of his Realm as after shall be touched Furthermore they say That when Arthur Duke of Britain whom to this effect they do hold to have been the only true Heir at that time to the Kingdom of England was in Prison in the Castle of Roan suspecting that he should be murthered by his said Unkle King John he nominated this Lady Blanch his Cousin-jerman to be his Heir perswading himself that he by the help of her Husband Prince Lewis of France and her Father the King of Spain should be better able to defend and recover his or her right to the Crown of England than Eleanor his own Sister should be who was also in the hands of his said Unkle for that he supposed that she should be made away by himself shortly after as indeed the French Chronicler affirmeth that she was And howsoever this matter of Duke Arthur's Testament was yet certain it is that when he and his Sister were put to death the next in Kin that could succeed them in their right to England was this Lady Blanch and her Mother Queen Eleanor that was Sister to Arthur's Father Geffrey Duke of Britany for that King John their Unkle was presumed by all men to be uncapable of their Inheritance by his putting of them to death and Child he had yet none And this is the second point that these men do deduce for the Lady Infanta of Spain by the title of Queen Eleanor and her Daughter Blanch to whom the Infanta is next Heir A third Interest also the same men do derive to the Infanta by the actual Deposition of King John by the Barons and States of this Realm in the 16 th year of his Reign and by the Election and actual Admission of Lewis Prince of France Husband of Lady Blanch whom they chose with one consent and admitted and swore him Fealty and Obedience in London for him and for his Heirs and Posterity in the year 1217. and gave him Possession of the said City and Tower of London and of many other chief places of the Realm and albeit afterwards the most part of the Realm changed their minds upon the sudden death of the said King John and chose and admitted his young Son Henry III. a Child of 9 years old yet do the favourers of the Infanta say That there remaineth to her as Heir unto the said Lewis until this day that Interest which by this Election Oath and Admission of the Realm remained unto this Prince Lewis which these men affirm to be the very like case as was that of Hugo Capetus in France who came to be King especially upon a certain Title that one of his Ancestors named Odo Earl of Paris had by being once elected King of France and admitted and sworn though afterwards he was deposed again and young Charles surnamed the Simple was admitted in his place as Henry III. was in England after the Election of Lewis But yet as the other ever continued his Right and Claim till it was restored to Hugo Capetus one of his Race so say these men may this Infanta continue and renew now the Demand of King Lewis her Ancestor for that Titles and Interests to Kingdoms once rightly gotten do never die but remain ever for the Posterity to effectuate when they can And thus much of this matter But after this again these men do shew how that the said Infanta of Spain doth descend also from Henry III. son of King John by the Dukes of Britany as before in the second Chapter hath been declared and in the Arbor and Genealogy following in the end of this Conference shall be seen for that King Henry besides his two Sons Edward and Edmond which were the beginners of the two Houses of York and Lancaster had also a Daughter named Beatrix married to John the second of that Name Duke of Britany and by him she had Arthur II. and so lineally from him have descended the Princes of that House until their Union with the Crown of France and from thence unto this Lady Infanta of Spain that now is who taketh her self for proper Heir of the said House of Britany and Heir general of France as hath been said By this Conjunction then of the House of Britany with the Bloud-Royal of England the Friends of the Infanta do argue in this manner That seeing she descendeth of the Sister of these two Brothers which were the Heads of the two opposite Houses of Lancaster and York and considering that each of these Houses hath often-times been Attainted and Excluded from the Succession by sundry Acts of Parliament and at this present are opposite and at contention among themselves why may not this right of both Houses say these men by way of Composition Peace and Comprize at least be passed over to the Issue of their Sister which resteth in the Infanta Again they say That all these three Branches of the Lines to wit by the Lady Constance Daughter of King William the Conquerour by the Lady Eleanor Daughter of King Henry II. and by the Lady Beatrix Daughter of King Henry III. it is evident that this Lady the Infanta of Spain is of the true ancient Bloud-Royal of England and that divers ways she may have Claim to the same which being granted they infer That seeing matters are so doubtful at this day about the next lawful Succession and that divers of the Pretenders are excluded some for Bastardy some other for Religion some for unaptness to Govern and some for other Causes and seeing the Commonwealth hath such Authority to dispose in this Affair as before the Civil-Lawyer hath declared why may there not Consideration be had among other Pretenders of this noble Princess also say these men especially seeing she is unmarried and may thereby commodate many matters and salve many breaches and satisfie many hopes and give contentment to many desires as the world knoweth And this is in effect as much as I have heard alledged hitherto in favour of the Infanta of Spain but against this Pretence others do produce divers Arguments and Objections As first of all That these her Claims be very old and worn out and are but Collateral by Sisters Secondly That she is a Stranger and Alien born Thirdly That her Religion is contrary to the State Unto all which Objections the favourers aforesaid do make their Answers And to the first they say That Antiquity hurteth not the goodness of a Title when occasion is offered to advance the same especially â—n Titles belonging to Kingdoms which commonly are never presumed to die as hath been said and nullum tempus occurrit Regi saith our Law And as for Collateral Lines they say That they may lawfully be admitted to enter when the direct Lines do either fail or are excluded for other just respects as in our Case they hold that
succeeded by Right of the House of Lancaster immediately after King Henry the sixth And the Lady Margaret alledgeth That she was descended from John Earl of Somerset that was a man and therefore â—o be preferred And King Alfonsus alledged That he being in equal degree of nearness of Bloud with the same Countess for that both were Nephews was to be preferred before her for that he was a man and of the whole Bloud to the last Kings of the House of Lancaster and that she was a woman and but of the half Bloud so that three Prerogatives he pretended before her First That he was a man and she a woman Secondly That he descended of the lawful and elder Daughter and she of the younger Brother legitimated And thirdly That he was of whole Bloud and she but of half And for better fortifying of this proof of his Title these men do alledge a certain Case determined by the Learned of our days as they say wherein for the first of these three Causes only the Succession to a Crown was adjudged unto King Philip of Spain to wit the Succession to the Kingdom of Portugal which Case was in all respects correspondent to this of ours For that Emmanuel King of Portugal had three Children for sâ— much as appertaineth to this Affair for afterward I shall treat more particularly of his Issue that is to say two Sons and one Daughter in this order John Elizabeth and Edward even as John of Gaunt had Henry Lady Philippa and John Prince John of Portugal first Child of King Emmanuel had Issue another John and he had Sebastine in whom â—he Line â—f John the first Child was extinguished But Joâ—n's Sister Elizabeth was married to Charâ—â—s the Emperour and had Issue King Philip of Spain that now liveth Edward also younger Brother to Elizabeth or Isabel had Issue two Daughters the one married to the Duke of Parma and the other to the Duke of Bargansa so as King Philip was in equal degree with these Ladies in respect of King Emmanuel for that he was Son to his eldest Daughter and the two Dutchesses were Daughters to his younger Son And upon this rested the Question Which of these should succeed and â—â— was decided That it appertaineth unto King Philip for that he was a man and his Mother was the elder Sister though if King Philip's Mother and the two Dutchesses Father I mean Lord Edward of Portugal had been alive together no doubt but that he being a man should have born it away which these men say holdeth not in our Case but it is much more to our advantage for that it hath been shewed before that if Queen Philippa had been alive with John Earl of Somerset at the death of King Henry the sixth she should have been preferred as legitimate by Birth and therefore much more ought her Nephew King Alfonsus to have been preferred afterward in that he was a man before the Neece of the said John Earl of Somerset that was but a Woman Thus far they And besides all this they do add as often before I have mentioned that King Alfonsus was of the whole Bloud unto all the three King Henries of the House of Lancaster and the Countess of Richmond was but of the half bloud And for more strengthening of this Argument they do say further that besides that Interest or Right to the Crown which King Henry the fourth who was the first King of the House of Lancaster had by his Father John of Gaunt in that the said John was third Son of King Edward the third the said King Henry had divers other interests also which came of himself only and not from his said Father as were for example his being called into the Realm by general voice of all the people his right gotten by Arms upon the evil Government of the former King the personal resignation and delivery of the Kingdom by solemn instrument made unto him by King Richard his Election also by Parliament and Coronation by the Realm and finally the quiet Possession of him and his Posterity for almost sixty years with many Confirmations of the whole Realm by divers Acts of Parliament Oaths and and other Assurances as the World knoweth So many I mean and so authentical as could possibly be devised or given And besides all this that when King Richard was dead he was next in degree of Propinquity unto him of any man living for that the Sons of Roger Mortimer were two degrees further off than he as hath been shewed before All which particular Rights and Interests were peculiar to Henry the fourth's person and were not in his Father John of Gaunt and therefore cannot possibly descend from him to the Issue of John Earl of Somerset but must pass rather to the Issue of King Henry s true Sister the Queen Philippa of Portugal And this though it be supposed that otherwise it might be granted as they say it may not that John Earl of Somorset and his Successors might succeed to John of Gaunt before Lady Philippa which thing say these men if it should be granted yet cannot he succeed to King Henries the fourth fifth and sixth that descended of Blanch. And this is in effect all that I have heard disputed about this point what Line is true Heir to the House of Lancaster to wit whether that of John Earl of Somerset born of Katharine Swinford from whom descendeth King Henry the seventh and his Posterity or else that of Queen Philippa of Portugal born of Lady Blanch from whom are come the foresaid Princes of Portugal But now it remaineth to examine somewhat in this place also what and who are these Princes of the House of Portugal so often named before and what pretence of Succession they and every of them have or may have unto the Crown of England For better understanding whereof it shall be needful to explain somewhat more at large the foresaid Pedigree of King Emmanuel of Portugal who albeit by divers Wives he had many Children yet six only that he had by one Wife of whom there remaineth hitherto Issue are those which may appertain unto our purpose to speak of in respect of any pretence that may be made by them towards England supposing always which is most true that the said King Emmanuel was descended lineally as true and direct Heir from the foresaid Lady Philippa Queen of Portugal that was Daughter of John of Gaunt by his first Wife Lady Blanch Dutchess and Heir of the Dukedom of Lancaster and Sister to King Henry the fourth first King of the House of Lancaster so as by her doth or may pretend the whole Posterity of the said King Emmanuel unto whatsoever the said Phillippa might Inherit from her Father or Mother or from her said Brother King of England or his Posterity The six Children then of King Emmanuel were these following and each of them born as here they are set down first Prince
this of Portugal or by both though to determine this first and chief point who is the next and true Heir unto these foresaid King and Queen of Portugal the Laws of Portugal must needs be Judge and not those of England and so seeing that by these Lawâ— of Portugal the King of Spain is now adjudged for next Heir to the said Prince and is in possession of their Inheritance at this day I mean of the Crown of Portugal these men say that he must consequently Inherit also all other Rights Dignities and Prerogatives belonging to the foresaid Princes or to their Posterity And thus you see now how great diversity of Arguments and Objections is and may be alledged on different sides about this Affair whereby also is made manifest how doubtful and ambiguous a matter this point of English Succession is seeing that in one onely branch of the Pretenders which is in the House of Portugal alone there are so many difficulties as here hath been touched But now the common Objection against all these Titles and Titlers is that they are old and out of use and not to be brought in question again now especially seeing that both King Henry the VII and his Issue have enjoyed so long the Title of the House of Lancaster as it hath and secondly that these Titles do appertain unto Strangers whose Government may be dangerous many ways unto England and especially in that which toucheth the King of Spain who being so Great and Mighty a Monarch as he is may prejudice greatly the English Liberty and easily bring them into servitude if his pretence should be Favoured as by some it seemeth to be This is the Speech of many men in England and abroad at this day whereunto yet some others do answer that as concerning the first Objection of the oldness of the Pretence and Title it hath shewed before that by Law no Title to a Kingdom dyeth ever but may take place whensoever the Party to whom it belongeth is able to avouch it and get possession and as for this pretence of the Line of Portugal they say that it hath not such great age but that very well it may shew it self and be had in consideration especially at this Time wâ—â—n now the Issue Male of King Henry the VII is ended and that of Necessity we must return to have consideration of the Issue of his Daughters before which Daughters good Reason say these men is it that the Issue of Lady Philippa Queen of Portugal should be admitted for that albeit we would have that respect to the Issues Male of John Earl of Somerset as to prefer it or suffer it to enjoy the Crown before the Issue of Queen Philippa and so they say it seemeth that it was for that King Henry the VII was Crowned King his Mother being alive which yet by ordinary course of Succession should have gone before him yet say they it is no reason that the Issue-Female of John of Somerset or of King Henry the VII should be preferred before the Issue-Male of the said Queen Philippa Moreover they say that the House of Clarence and Hutnington do pretend a Title more old and stale at this day than this of Portugal for that they pretend from George Duke of Clarence that never had the Crown and these of Portugal pretend to be next Heir to King Henry the VI. that did wear the Crown of England for 40. Years together after whose death if King Alfonsus of Portugal who was then old and wearied with evil success of Wars had been so able to prefer and follow his Title as some of that House be at this day he would never have suffered the House of York to have entred nor King Henry the VII to have enjoyed it after them by the Title of Lancaster which Title yet of Lancaster say these men King Henry the VII could not have in himself any way whether we respect Queen Philippa or John of Somerset for by Queen Philippa they of Portugal were evidently before him and by way of John of Somerset the Countess his Mother was as clearly before him neither could he have any Title as yet by the House of Yâ—rk for that he was not yet married to the Daughter of King Edward so as his Crowning in the Field and whole entrance to the Kingdom was without any actual Title at all but only the good will of the People as these men do hold To the other Objection of 14. Princes and strange Government that may come to England by these pretences of the Princes of Portugal divers men do answer diversly for some do grant that it may be so that by this means England may come to be under Foreign Kings and that no hurt or inconvenience at all would ensue thereof to England but rather much Good and Commodity but other that like not well of this assertion do say further that if these Foreign pretences should take place yet that all matters might be so compounded that albeit the Prince himself which is to Rule should be Foreign born which they take to be no Inconvenience yet that his Forces and Dependance should be only of the English for that he should not bring in any strange Powers into the Land no more than did King Stephen or King Henry the II. that were born in France or than did King Philip of Spain in Queen Marys days or as it is thought Monsiâ—ur of France should have done if he had married her Majesty that now is as once it was supposed he should To this said one of the Company and is it possible that any man should be of opinion that Foreign Government in what manner or kind soever it be should not be inconvenient and hurtfull to England where the People are wholly bent against it you remember quoth he as concerning the last two Examples that you have alledged what Tumult and stir there was raised by some kind of Men about the coming in of King Philip and what there was like to have been about the entrance of Monsieur if that purpose had gone forward I remember well said the Lawyer and these men that are of this opinion will say to this that it was but a Popular Mutiny without Reason or any good Ground at all and only raised by some crafty Heads that misliked the Religion of the Princes that were to enter and for some other drifts of their own but not of any sound Reason or Argument of State which these men think rather to be of their side and in good sooth they alledge so many Arguments for their Opinion that if you should hear them you would say it were hard to judge which Opinion had most Truth but they are too long for this place and so said he I shall make an end of the matter that I have in hand and leave this point for others to discuss With this the whole Company shewed marvellous great desire to know
made reply by their President and Chancellor and other of their own Councellors residing for the Flemish Nation in the Court of Spain for this Nation hath always a particular Councel there about the King as all other Foreign Nations also have that are under him and by this means they obtained lightly what they would and brought the Governour to what they pleased so as in effect they were absolute Kings in themselves and wrought their Wills in every thing and this is in that time while the Country was quiet But now since this Revolt which hath indured almost these four or five and twenty years what hath succeeded surely there hath not a quarter so many been punished or put to Death in all these years by order of Justice of their King absent as before I have shewed that there were in one day by ther own Earls and Dukes when they were present and that upon far less occasion and cause given then are these for if we take away the two Noblemen Egmond and Horne put to Death at the beginning of these Flemâ—sh Troubles by the Duke of Alva for which some men say also that he had no thanks afterward by the King no man of importance hath been since Executed and the chiefest Towns that have been and are against the King in Holland and Zeeland are suffered until this day to Traffique freely into Spain it self to wit in the Kingdom of Aragon many Heads have been strucken off and much injustice done whereof then riseth this difference no doubt for that the Flemmings are Strangers and far off and the other near at Home and Natural-Born so as this circumstance of being a Stranger and dwelling far off doth them great pleasure and giveth them priviledge above the Home-born Subjects The like I might shew for this matter of punishment in the foresaid States of Italy where if a man do compare the number of them that were put to Death pulled Down or Afflicted by order of Justice or otherwise at the the commandment of the Prince in time of their own Home-born Kings with that which hath been since especially of the Nobility you shall find one for twenty and the reason of this is for that their own Kings were Absolute and had to give an account to no man of their doings and for that they were men and had their Passions and Emulations with the Nobility and might put the same in Execution without Account or Controlment they pulled down and set up at their pleasure and made oftentimes but a Jest of Noblemens Lives and Deaths but now these that are Governours and Vice-roys for a Foreign Prince first they have not so great Authority or Commission as to touch any such Principal persons Lives without giving Relation thereof of first unto their King and Councel and receive again particular order for the same and then they knowing that after their three years Government is ended they must be private men again and stay their fourty days as Subjects under the next new Governour to give Reckoning of their doings against all that shall Accuse them which in these Countries they call to make their residence they take heed what they do and whom they offend so as the condition of Nobility is far different under such a strange Government as this is termed then under a Natural Prince of their own Country which oppresseth them at his pleasure But now to draw near homeward if we will examine and consider what hath passed in England in this point of Massacring our Nobility by our Domestical Princes it is a matter lamentable for it may seem that they have served oftentimes for our Princes to make disport and play with their Heads And to let pass all those which in time of Wars Rebellions and Commotions have been cut off which occasions may seem more justifyable I do read also in our Chronicles that a Sangue freddo as the Italian saith that is to say in time of Peace and by Execution of Justice at the Princes appointment these Noblemen following and Knights by Name were put to Death within the space of one five years in King Henry the fourth his days The Duke of Exeter the Duke of Surry the Archbishop of York the Earls Salisbury of Glocester of Worcester and of Huntington the Earl Mowbray Earl Marshal the Barron of Kinderton Sir Roger Clarington Bastard Son of Edward the Black Prince Sir Thomas Blunt Sir Bernard Rocas Sir Richard Vernon And again soon after under King Edward the fourth in almost within as little space the Dukes of Somorset and of Exeter the Earls of Devonshire of Oxford and of Keyns the Lord Ross the Lord Molyns Sir Thomas Tudingham Sir Philip Wentworth Sir Thomas Fyndam and many others afterwards for this was but at the beginning of his Reign which number of Nobility if a man should have seen them alive together with their Trains before they had been put down he would have said they had been a very goodly company and pityful that so many of our own Nobility should be brought by our own Princes to such Confusion But yet this matter may seem perhaps the less marvellous and more excusable under those two Kings for that Troubles and Contentions had passed a little before in the Realm about the Succession and herupon so many of the Nobility might be cut off But let us see then what ensued afterwards when things were established and all doubt of contention about the Succession taken away as in King Henry VIII the his days it was and yet do I find Registred in our Chronicles these persons following either made away cut off or put down by the said King to wit two Queens Ann and Catharine three Cardinals put down and disgraced Woolsey Pool and Fisher whereof the last was Beheaded soon after his Dignity given him in Rome and the first was Arrested the second Attainted of imagined Treasons three Dukes put down to wit the Noble Dukes of Buckingham Suffolk and Norfolk whereof the last lost his Lands Dignities and Liberty only the former two both Lands and Lives A Marquess with two Earls Beheaded Devonshire Kyldare and Surrey two Countesses Condemned to die Devonshire and Salisbury and the latter Executed Lords many as the Lord Darcy the Lord Hussey the Lord Montague the Lord Leonard Gray the Lord Dacers of the South the Lord Cromwel and six or seven Abbots Knights also in great number as five in one day with the Lords Hussey and Darcy and five in another day with the Earl of Kildare whose Uncles they were and besides them Sir Thomas Moor Sir Rice Griffith Sir Edward Nevel Sir John Nevel Sir Nicholas Carew Sir Adrian Fortescue and divers other Knights of great Account and then Gentlemen almost without end And all these within the space of 20 years of his Reign and in the time of peace and if we look upon but four or five years together of the Reign of this mans
power of the Party Puritan and much of the Protestant this Earl was thought to be in very great forwardness But now these great Pillers being failed and no Issue yet remaining by the said Countess his Wife no man can assure himself what the success will be especially seeing that of the three Bodies of different Religions before described it is thought that this Earl hath incurred deeply the hatred of the one and perhaps some jealousy and suspicion of the other but yet others do say and no doubt but that it is a matter of singular importance if it be so that he is like to have the whole Power of London for him which City did prevail so much in advancing the Title of York in King Edward the IV. his time as it made him King twice to wit once at the beginning when he first apprehended and put down King Henry the VI. and the second time when he being driven out of the Kingdom by his Brother the Duke of Clarence and Richard Earl of Warwick he returned from Flanders upon hope of the favour of the Londoners and was in deed received favoured and set up again by them especially and by the helps of Kent and other places adjoining and depending of London and so it may be that the Favourers of this Earl do hope the like success to him in time by this potent City For the Houses of Britanny and Portugal I shall joyn them both together for that they are strangers and the Persons thereof so nigh linked in kindred affinity and friendship as both their Titles Forces and Favours may easily be joyned together and imparted the one with the other as to themselves shall best appear convenient The Lady Infanta of Spain pretendent of the House of Britanny is eldest Daughter of King Philip as all the World knoweth and dearly beloved of him and that worthily as all men report that come from thence for that she is a Princess of rare parts both for Beauty Wisdom and Piety The two young Princes of Parma I mean both the Duke and his Brother the Cardinal are Imps in like manner of great expectation and divers ways near of kin to the said King for that by their Fathers side they are his Nephews that is the Children of his Sister and by their Mothers side almost as near for that they are Nephews of his Uncle Prince Edward Infant of Portugal In like nearness of Blood are the Dutchess of Bragansa and her Children unto the said King which Children are many as hath been shewed and all of that rare vertue and valour and of that singular affection unto the English Nation as it is wonderfull to hear what men write from those Parts and what others do report that have travelled Portugal and seen those Princes and tasted of their magnificent liberality so as I have heard divers rejoyce that are affected that way to understand that there do remain such Noble Off-spring yet in Foreign Countries of the true and ancient Blood Royal of England What the Powers and Possibilities of all these Princes of the House of Portugal be or may be hereafter for pursuing their Right shall not need to be declared in this place for that all the World doth know and see the same yet all seemeth to depend of the Head and Root which is the King of Spain himself and the young Prince his Son whose States and Forces how and where they lie what alliance friends subjects or followers they have or may have it is easy to consider but what part or affection of men they have or may have hereafter in England it self when time shall come for the determining of this matter no man can tell at this present and what Plots agreements compartitions or other conclusions may be made at that day time only must teach us so as now I know not well what to say further in this Affair but only commend it to God's High Providence and therefore I pray you quoth the Lawyer let me end with this only that already I have said and pardon me of my former promise to put my opinion or guess about future matters and what may be the success of these Affairs for besides that I am no Prophet or son of Prophet to know things to come I do see that the very circumstances of Conjecture which are the only Foundation of all Prophecy which in this case can be made are so many and variable as it is hard to take hold of any of them Thus he said and fain would have left off here but that the whole Company opposed themselves with great vehemency against it and said that he must needs perform his promise made at the beginning of this Speech to give his censure and verdict in the end what he thought would be the Success of all these Matters whereunto he answered that seeing no nay would serve he briefly quit himself by these few words following First of all said he my opinion is that this Affair cannot possibly be ended by any possibility moral without some War at least wise for some time at the beginning whereof my Reasons be these that do ensue This matter cannot be disputed and determined during the life of the Queen that now is without evident danger of her Person for the reasons that all men do know importing such perils as are wont to follow like cases of declaring Heirs apparent especially her Majesty the present possessor growing now to be old and without hope of Issue This declaration and determination of the Heir apparent to the Crown if it should be made now would move infinite humours and affections within the Realm and it were to stirr coals and to cast firebrands over all the Kingdom and further perhaps also which now lie raked up and hidden in the Embers This dâ—â—â—rmination though it should be made now by Parliament or Authority of the present Prince would not end or take away the root of the controversy for albeit some that should be passed over or put back in their pretences would hold their peace perhaps for the time present yet afterward would they both speak and spurn when occasion is offered This declaration now if it were made would be hurtful and dangerous for him that should be declared for on the one side it would put the Prince regnant in great jealousy and suspicion of him and on the other side would joyn and arm all the other pretenders and their favourers against him and so we read that of two or three only that in all our Histories are recounted to have been declared Heirs apparent to the Crown they being no Kings Children none of them ever came to reign as namely Duke Arthur of Britanny Roger Mortimer Earl of March and John de la Poole Earl of Lincoln and Henry Marquess of Exeter as before hath been declared Again the multitude of Pretenders being such as it is and their pretentions so
Polit. Diversity of Government in divers Countries and Times Rome Africa and Greece Italy Dukes for Kings and Kings for Dukes Spain Bohemia Polonia England The Jews lib. Genes Lib. Exo. Lib. Job Lib. Jud. Lib. 1. Reg. Lib. Machab The Realm chuseth her Form of Government The Commonwealth limiteth the Governours Authority A Natural Prince A Monarchy the best Government Arist. lib. 4. pol. a. c. 9. Seneca Plutarch The Antiquity of Monarchy 1 Reg. 8. Dionys. Haly l. 5. Cornel. Tacit. l. 3. Cicero l. 1. Offic. Hierom. l. 2. epist. 12. Chrisost. ho. 23. 1 Pet. 2. Two Points to be noted How St. Peter calleth a King most excellent Utilites of a Kingdom and conveniences of other Governments Cicero l. 1. offic Democratia Miseries of Popular Government in Italy Tit. liv l. 30. Eutrop. l. 3. Oros. l. 5. 6. The cause why Laws be added to Kings Arist. l. 3 pol. c. vitâ— A notable Saying Arist. l. 3â— pol. c. 12. Arist. l. 1. Pol. c. 2. Divers â—â—â—nes and properties of Laws Cic. lib. 2. Offic. Law is the Discipline of a weal publick Psal. 2. The Counsels of Princes a great help Arist. l. 4. Pol. c. 10. The Monarchy of England temper'd The restraints of Kingly power in all Estates Roman Kings Liv. lib. 1. dâ—c 1. Greâ—ian Kings Arist. lib. 2. c. 8. polit Plutarch in Lycurg Cic. l. â— Offic. Why Kiâ—â— were restrained Laws Cic. l. 3. de legibuâ— Why Kinâ—â—ly Goverâ—â—ment we left in Rome Titus Livâ—â—â—us l. 1. dec 8. Livius ibidem Restrain's of Kingdoms in Europe Sleydon lib. 8. Aâ— 1532. Blond Dâ—â—cad 2. l. Crant li. cap. 25. Kingdoms of Polonia and Bohemia Her l. 9. Hist. Polonia Cromerus l. 3. Hist. Polon Kings of Spain France and England Concil blet 4. c. 74. concil s. c. 3. Peculiar manner of Succession An. 1340. Paul Anil Hist. Franc. l. 2. Gerard du Hailan l. 4. Hist. Franc. Fran. Belfor l. 5. c. 1 An. 1327. Reason for Succession of Women The Infanta of Spain and Prince of Lorrain Gerard dâ— Hailain lib. 13. Hiâ—â— Franc. c An. 1317 lib. 14 An. 132â— lib. 3. dâ— l'Estat de frunce Kings lawfully possessed may be deprived A markable circumstance Against Rebillions People and contemnorâ— of Princes 2 Pet. 2.10 Jude 8. Titles of Princes once settled not to be examined by private men Against flatterers that yield too much power to Princes Absurd flateries uttered by Belloy and others Belloy in apolog Cath. apolog pro Rege The purpose of the next Chapter Two points to be proved Nothing hear spoken against due respect to Princes ☜ Deprivations of Kings recounted in Scripture ☜ 1 Reg. 31. 4 Reg. 21.44 King Josias 2 Paralip 34. 2 Paralip 35. King David Xenophon in Cyropaed Ni. Machâ— l. 2. c 2. â— Tit. Liviâ— August l. de Gran. The wisdome and piety of King David 1 Paralipâ— 15. 1 Psal. 22â— 25. The Arms King David His Valour in Chivalry King David ' s Victories 2 Reg. 8. 1 Paral. 18 2 Reg. 23. Joseph l. 7. antiq c. 10 2 Reg. 7. His Humiliâ—y Charity and Devotion Kings put down among the Romans and what Successors they had Halicar l. 1 Tertul. l. de praescrip contra haeres Justin. martyr apolog T it liv l. 1 dec 1. Eutrop. l. 1 Caesar Augustus Dion in Caesa. Sueton in Câ—esa Nero Vespatian Cornel. Tacit. lib. 10 81. Egesip l. 5 Entrop in vita Caesa. Heliogabalus An. Domâ— 124. Alius lamp in vita Heliog Alexander Severus Herod in vit Sever Maxentius Constantin The bhange of the East Empire Charles the Great An. 800. Two chanâ—gs in France Belfori l. â— Girard l. â— Aemil. l. 2 Clem. Caudin en la Chroâ—nique des Roys de France Reasons Deprivation Hugo Capet Anno 988. Examples of Spain Concil Tolet. 4. cap. 4. Ambros. moral l. 11 cap. 17. Isidor in Hist. Hispan Estevan â— Garibay 13. de la â— Hist. de â—spa c. 1 Tabulae Astron. Alfonsinae King Don Alonso deposed Don Pedrâ— Crâ—el deposed Garibay l. 14. c. 40.41 In Portugal King Don Sancho 2. deposed Garibay lib. 4. de Hist. Portug c. 19. Lib. 6. dâ—â—â—cret tit de suppleâ— da cap. Grand 1. Garibay in Hist. dâ— Portug 〈◊〉 34. cap. 2. The Emperrors of Greece Galicas in Annal. part 4. Zon. Annal co 3. in vita Michael Calapha In Polonia In literis reip Polon ad Henr. Valesium pag. 182.184 Vide Gagneum part 1. de rebus Polon In Suetia Poilin 1.32 Histor de Franc. An. 1568. In Denmark Sleydanâ— l. 4. Hisâ— An. 133â— Munst. 〈◊〉 Cosmogâ— descript Davide Paulus â— vius in ris illust Example of England King Joâ—â— Deposed Polid. hiâ—â— Ang. l. 1â— An. 121. An. 1216. An. 1216. King Henry the third King Edward the second deposed Polyd. l. 18 Hist Ang. An. 1386. Stow in the Life of K. Edward the second The manner of Deprivation of a King See Stow and Hollings in this man's Life King Edward the third King Richard the second Deposed Polyd. l. 20. Hist. Aug. 1399. King Henry the 6th Deposed Polyd. lib. 23. Hist. Anglic. K. Richâ— the thiâ—â— deposedpunc An. 1â— A poâ—â— much noted The reply of the Temporal Lawer Belloy apolog Cathol c. part 2. Paragraph 9. Apol. pro. Regâ—â— cap. 9. An objection out of the Prophet Samuel 1. Reg. 8. The Power of a King or rather of a Tyrant Belloy polog pâ— 2. Paraâ— Apolâ— rege câ— 2.4 c Great aâ—surditieâ— flateriesâ— Cic. lib. 2. offic Another absurdity Institut imperial l. 2. Tit. 1. Division of goods by Civil Law Slaves and Freemen Arist. l. â— pol. c. 4 â— Arist. l. â— c. 3. Mark the Reason Divers evident reasons against Belloy 3 Reg. 21. Cap. inovamus 10. de cauebus c. super quibusdam 26. §. de verborum signif An Answer to the Objection out of the Prophet Samuel Arist. l. pol. c. 1â— Joseph l. â— antiq c. â— Deut. 1â— 3 Reg. 10. Psal. 2. By what Law Princes are punished The difference beween a private man and a Common-wealth The Prince Authority but subdelegat In reguliâ— utrinque juris vide in sine sexti Decret reg 75.69 When an Oath bindeth not Cicero li. 1. Offic. A clear Example Math. 24. Regul 68. in sine 6. Decret Decret Greg. l. Tit. 24. Decret part 2. caâ— sa 22. quâ— 4. c. 5. â— quâ— 5. perâ—â—totuâ— Two principle cases when Oath hold not â—â—wards a Prince Aemil. l. 2. Hist. Franc. Belfor in vita Childer Girad lib. 3. The Speech of the Fren. Embassador for deprivation of their King The conclusion how when Oaths do not bind Subjects The difference between a King and a Tyrant Plat. dial 1. de repub Arist. li. 2. Pol. c. 5. Bart. li. de Tyrannide Cicero li. 3. de legibus God l. 1. Tit. 14 §. digna Suet. c. 23. in Calig Zoo tom 2 in Trainâ— See in the Chapter following The Speech of a Souldier The occasion of the next Chapter The
first ground of Laws and Limits to Princes Entrance of Tyrants into their Government The Rites of Admitting Christian Kings The manner of admitting Greek Emperours at their Coronation Zonar tom 3. Annal. in vita Anastas Niceph. l. 16. c. 29. Evagr. l. 2. â—ap 32. Ubi supr The Grecian Emperors Oath Zon. tom 3 in vita Mich An. 820. Saxo. Oram l. 10 Cranzius l. 3. me trop c. 12. The Crowning of Otho the first Whitiâ—undus Hist. Saxon. l. 1. Ensigns of the Empire Witicun l. 2. Ubi supra Election German Electors Blend decad 2. l. 3 Grant l. 4. cap. 25. Sleyd l. 1. Histor. An. 1519. The manner of the Emperours coronation at this day Sleyd ubi supra Interrogatories to the Emperour Imperial Ornaments Second Oath To be noted The maner of coronation in Polonia Alex. Guaguinrerum Polon Tom. 1. Oricho in Chimer f. 90 106. The King of Poland's Oath Bod. de rep l. 2. c. 9. The admission of Kings in Spain Amb. Mor. l. 11. c. 17. Hist. Hisp. praefatejusdem concilii The humility of King Sissinadus Concil Tol. 4. c. 74. Amb. Mor. l. 11. c. 17 Cap. 74. Conditions of reigning in Spain Amb. Mor. l. 11. c. 23 14. Concil 5. c. 2 3 4 5. Conc. 6. c 16 17 18 Conc. Tol. 6. c 3. The King of Spain's Oath at his Admission Amb. Mor. l. 1. c. 23. Destruction of Spain The beginning of the restitution of Spain Amb. Mor. l. 13. c. 1 8. de la Chron. de Hispan Kingdoms in Spain The gothish Law of Don Pelayo King of Spain Amb. Mor. l. 13. c. 2. Lucas Episcop Tuyens in hist. Hispan â—Lod de molin l. de hered The old Spanish Ceremonies in making their Kings The present manner of Spain The manner of French Coronation The old Ceremonies Belfor l. 3 c. 20. Thevet cosmograph univers l. 15. c. 2. Papir masson annal l. 3. p. 2.15 Gerard l. 3. de l. Estat f. 238. Franc. Bel. Hist. Franc. l. 3. c. 20. in vita Philip 1. The Coronation of King Philip the first The Speech of the Father Notes upon the King's Speeches Memoâ—res du Til. c. eu sacre des Royâ—s The particular manner of Coronation Proffsion of Faith The Oath of the King of France Belfor l. 3. c. 20. The Peoples election and admission The later Order of Coronation in France The twelve Peers of France and their Offices in the Coronation Temporal Peers To be noted Gerard duâ— Hailan lib. â— 3. de l'estat pag. 240. 242. 258. The ceremonies used at this day Francis Belf. in vita Augusti The coronation of Phil. II. Augustus The Oath of the French King used at this day The Archbishops blessing Speech to the new King The manner of Coronations taken from France 1. Reg. 10.16 2 Reg. 2. 2. Reg. 1. The Holy Oyle of Rhemes Belfo. l. 3. cap. 57. Estevan Garribay lib. 22. c. 1. Kings Crowned in Navarre and not in Spaine The English Coronation taken from the French Le Sacré des Roys Folid lib. 13. Hist. Angliae in vita Henrici In vita D. Tho. Cant. apud surium in men se Decembris The Speech of another Archbishop of Canterbury to the King Stow in vita Hen. IV. Holings in his Chro. pag. 476. 1005. The Kings of England Regal Ornaments Stow in vita Richardi 2. in fine Admission and Coronation of King Henry 4. The Coronation of King Edward 4. Stow in vita Hen. Vâ— p. 709. The Conclusion of this chapter Absurd assertions of Belloy A Pause Gross Flattery The propositions of Belloy apolog cath part 2. § 7. Matth. 6. 2. Apolog. Cathol part 1. parag 7. 3. Apolog. pro â—ege c. 6. 34. 4. Apolog. Cathol part 2. parag 7. pro Rege cap. 9. 5. Apolog. pro Rege cap. 20. Succession of Princes by Birth better than meer Election and why I. Reason II. III. IV. The preheminence of Primogeniture Genes 15. 49 Daut 21. 15. 2 Paralip 21. 3. Exod. 3. 2. Rom. 9. 12. Genes 28. 27. Two Points to be noted Genes 29. 49. Exod. 1. 2 Reg. 5. 1 Paral. 3. Two Cases resolved The Remedy of inconveniences by Succession Election and Succession do help the one the other Answer to the two Principal Questions Succession greatly to be respected What an Heir apparent is before his Coronation Examples of Marriage What respect is due to an Heir apparent Why Princes do count their years from the death of their Predecessors Gerard du Hailan l. 3. de Pestare pag. 241. No Heir aarent King before his Coronation An evident Argument A rare Example of King Henry V. Polydor. Virg. lib. 22. Histor. Angliae in vita Henrici V. Stow in the beginning of the life of King Henry V. Notes of this Act. Admission of more importance than Succession See their last words to their Mriends Sir Thomas Moore Stow. Why divers Kings caused their sons to be crowned in their own days Aird du Hailan lib. 6. Hist. An. 1001. An. 1032. An. 1061. An. 1131. An. 1183. 3 Reg. 1. Polyd. Stow in vita Henrici II. The Civilian cloyed with copy Objections The Example of the Jewe 1 Reg. 8. King Saul 2 Reg. 3. 21.21 An Objection answered King David made by 〈◊〉 2 Reg 2. 5. Psal 131. 2 Paâ—al 6. Adonias the elâ—er son rejected 2 Reg. 1. The Motives of Adonâ—as Perswasions to King David to make Solomon his Successor 3 Reg. 1. The Coronation of Solomon 3 Reg. 1. A Point to be noted The manner of admission of the Prince Rehoboam 3 Reg. 12. 3 Reg. 11. 5 Reg. 12. 21. Four Races of Spanish Kings Ambros. Moral lib. 11. Hist. c. 12. 2 Race Ambros. Moral lib. 13. c. 2. Moral lib. 37. c. 42.43.44 3 Race â—â—â—bay lib. â—0 c. 1 4 Race Examples of the first Race Concil Tol. 5. c. 3. Conc. Tol. 4. cap. 74. Examples of the second Race Episcop Tuyens l. 1 Histoir Ludou de Molin li. de Hard. King Don Pelayo Ambros. Mor. l. 13. cap. 6.9.10 Sebast. Episc. Salam in hist. Hisp. King Don Alonso Don Fruela Moral li. 13. cap. 17. An. 761. Many breaches of Succession Moral c. 21 King Don Aurelio King Don Silo. King Don Alonso the Chaste Mor. l. 13. cap. 25. A strange deliberation Great Authority of Common-Wealth King Alonso the chast reigneth the second time Moral c. 28. 29. An. 791. Moral li. 13. cap. 45.46 Anno 142. An horrible Tribute King Don Ramiro by Election Moral c. 31. The Kingdom of Spain a Majorasgo King Don Ordonio An. 924. Moral l. 16. cap. 2. An. 924. Don Alonso IV. Don Ramiro Moral lib. 19. cap. 20. An. 930. Don Ordonio III. An. 950. Don Sancho I. Moral l. 16. cap. 29. An. 950. Mor. l. 17. c. 1.2.3.4 The end of the race of Don Pelayo Of the descents following Spanish Examples in the second descent An. 1201 Garib li. 11. cap. 12. 17. Lady Elenor an English Woman