Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	earl_n	lady_n	marry_v	1,441	5	9.7542	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85750	A treatise of the antiquity of the commonwealth of the Battavers, which is now the Hollanders first written in Latin by Hugo Grotius, advocat fiscall of Holland, Zealand, and Westfriesland, &c. And afterwards translated into the Netherlandish Dutch, and perused by the author himselfe. And now again translated out of both the Latin and Dutch, into English, by Tho. Woods, Gent.; De antiquitate Reipublicae Batavicae. English.	Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645.; Woods, Thomas.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682, engraver.	1649 (1649)	Wing G2127; Thomason E1303_2; ESTC R202252	40,326	171

case I should seek for a Forraign example to this purpose I can finde none more like hereunto then in the Common-Wealth of the Lacedemonians the which by Plato Polybius and very many wisemen yea by Apollo himselfe is affirmed so to be and is by them commended before all other for in these the Kings succeeded one after another by the order of their Consanguinity in so much that in place of the Kings those that were the Protectors or Dictators which they called Prodicos had the Authority in their hands But the Kings were not admitted to the Authority before they had taken their Oath to use their Authority according to the Custome of the Lawes of the Land Now the Kings had power over each one but above the Kings were the Survayers or Ephori together with the Councell The Ancient Fathers doe very much commend a notable Speech of Theopompus King of the Lacedemonians who being disdainfully reproved by his own wife because that hee had diminished his own Highnesse by the Institution of the Office of the Survayers hee Answered thereunto That he should leave unto his Children a lesser but yet a more permanent Authority For of a truth it is even so as the Ancient Fathers used truly to report That every Common-wealth consisteth in a certain melody or consort the which being once broken all cometh to naught which melody in my opinion consisteth not in any sound or in strings but in the well tempered unity of the Prince with the People and of the People with the Prince or of severall States the one with the other In this melody have the Princes the Nobility and the Comonalty long time flourished when as each one respected the Prince and the Prince himself respected the Laws and the common Assemblies and whilst the Nobility kept their Reputation and the Comonalty their Liberty From hence issued the good successe of Warre from hence it proceeded that this Nation like as in former times they were Confederates with the Romans even so thereafter though being little have sought unto great Alliances Hereof the Treatises of the Confederacies do plainly shew for presently at the very birth as it were of the Principality there were two Dedericks as it is generally believed who were Brothers in-law unto the Kings of France Arnolffe the third Earl had to wife a daughter of the Emperour of Constantinople whose sister was marryed unto the Emperour of Germany Divers others that succeeded were marryed unto the House of Saxon who then possessed the Empire Florence the third was marryed unto the House of the King of Scotland William the Second of that name Earl of Holland was elected Emperour of Germany and as I think for no other cause but for that he was used in his own Countrey unto such a moderate Government This mans Sonne Florence the Fourth was earnestly solicited unto on the one side by the King of England and on the other side by the King of France for his Confederacy with the presentation of each of their Daughters in marriage with great gifts But Iohn his Son with the advice of the chiefest Nobles of the Land marryed the daughter of England And presently after William the Sixth marryed the daughter of the King of France Again the daughters of the Earls were bestowed into very great Houses as the Lady Margarite the daughter of William the Fourth unto an Emperour of the House of Beyeren Iacoby unto a Dolphin of France And all these whilst they were but only Earls of Holland and Zealand and some of Henault After that by the daughter of Albrecht who was marryed unto one of the house of Burgondy did Holland obtain the same Prince who was before Prince of Brabant and of Flanders and many other Nations And by this meanes were severall Nations not differing in manners Lawes and Customes from each other being at a speciall unity and under one publick Authority thereby the more fortified Thereafter the Lady Mary of Burgondy had by her Husband the Arch-Duke of Austria a Sonne unto whom befell for his marriagegood the greatest part of Spaine and with Spaine the expectation of Terra nova and many other Titles which are spread far and wide over divers Countreys But from this great Magnificence of the Prince proceeded a great alteration in the Government the which I will briefly touch The sixth Chapter How that the intended Alteration of the Government was the occasion of the Warres THe nature of man is much addicted and is easily inclined to domination from whence according to the saying of Aristotle proceedeth Tyrannicall Government especially when as the Prince transgresseth the limits of the Laws of the Land And it seldom hapneth but that men attempt the taking of more in hand then they are able to perform unless the very hope of the performance of that which is desired be utterly extinguished Therefore those ancient Princes whose hope and repose depended altogether upon their Native Countrey as having no expectation of Forraign power to relie upon were obedient unto the Lawes were lovers of equity were respecters of the States as well knowing upon whose power and meanes both their honour and reputation consisted The Burgondians descended of Royall Progeny were the first that climbed up the first step unto domination yet very secretly the Liberty continuing never the lesse not only in outward shew but also for the greatest part thereof in her full face Afterwards Charls being Emperour and King of other Countrys was not therewithall well contented that herewithall he should be called but a Prince But yet he for affection and some certaine respects was restrained in regard that he was born and brought up here in the Countrey and besides did exceedingly respect this People as being very convenient Instruments for the enterprising of any great exploit and such as were of themselves very faithfull but yet very soon displeased and exceeding powerfull when as their Liberty should be but once toucht Now the Church of God at that time being overwhelmed and poysoned with palpable Heresies and longing for a wholsome medicine to purge the same yet he resolving by violence to maintaine that which was in use amongst them sent his bloody Commissions that whosoever should bee found to be of any other Religion should bee punished with death never respecting nor enquiring what was the meaning and resolution of the States in so weighty a businesse But his Son Philip being of that unsatiable nature that was content with nothing else but with an absolute power envied all Nations that would prescribe a Law unto their Prince The which the People of Aragon to their great ruine have proved The Spaniards who had the Education of King Philip in his youth took hold of this occasion very earnestly to prosecute the same against the Hollanders and the rest of the Netherlanders since which time there hath been a continuall jealousie and contention betwixt them which of them should bee best in the Princes favour whereupon

with their Enemies the People of Norway and that now the Enemy was more furious in regard that our Battavers had lately embraced the Christian Religion held a publick Consultation Resolution as may well be imagined how that they not would content themselvs with certaine retreats which they had long used against the violence of their Enemies but also how they might deliver their native Country both for the present and future time from such unwelcome Guests whereunto the mutable and temporary command of the Generals was not sufficient they thought it good after the example of their fore-fathers who had Kings yet their liberty not infringed to ordaine a Prince over the whole body of the Common-Wealth which they intituled not with the Title of King as being such a one as was not employed any otherwayes then in the chiefest and absolute Authority but entituled him by that accustomed and usuall name or Title of Gravii that is Judge or Earl yet with this difference that he was not called Earl with an addition of any Quarter thereunto but simply as being Judge himselfe over the other Judges Vnto this command out of all question he was chosen that was the very principall both for Nobility and power amongst all other Princes This was Dederick who in the old Records was called the Freise Now that these Battavers which dwelt upon the Sea-side were called Freises we have shewed already and the same is manifestly proved with the afore-said place of Schaffnaburgensis Iohn Vander Does the Father Seigneor of Noortwick a man as exceedingly well known amongst his own people by reason of his Nobility as also to all others by reason of his Learning manifestly sheweth in his books wherewith hee hath perpetually obliged his Native Countrey by an everlasting benefit unto him out of Regino an old Writer that this Dederick had a Brother whose name was Walgar and that this Walgars and Dedericks Father was one Gerloffe whom Regino a very faithful French Historiographer affirmeth to have been an Earl of the Frieses Dederick was then before an Earl and an Earls sonne but Earl of some one certain Quarter and not of the whole Nation which honour is bestowed upon him principally through the favour and good affection as may bee well supposed of the Lords and the People of the Towns And also because that in the Maps of Vtrecht there is mention of a Region or Quarter called Holland so peradventure it is likely to be true that this same Region was the Earldom of Dederick and his Predecessors And that thereafter the whole body of the Common-wealth being concredited unto him grew into a Community of the same name to this end that those Freises which dwelt upon this side of the River Flie should properly be called the great Freises only to make a difference between those Freises which dwelt on the other side of the Flie yet neverthelesse that part which is next unto the Flie even to this present day is called West Freisland the which with Holland maketh a Common-wealth Vnto this is very conform that which the States of Holland alledged in that famous Controversie which was disputed upon by them and the Brabanders before the Emperour Charles the Fifth Prince of the Netherlands where the Brabanders affirmed that the Emperor Charls the Fourth had granted them a certain Priviledge that they out of their own Countrey might not be sued at the Law maintaining therewithall that it was not lawfull for the Hollanders to proceed against the Brabanders by manner of Arrest after the Hollanders manner Whereupon the States of Holland shewed to the contrary That that Priviledge did not concern them in regard that they and their Earles from all Antiquity had the Soveraignty all manner of Juridisction without giving any manner of acknowledgement unto any other And that since the time that Dederick the First recovered the Land of Holland from the Barbarous Nations the which was then subject under the power of no King that the same Earls of Holland at all times ever had the like Authority in their own Earldoms as the Emperours of Germany or of Italy had in their Empire without being bound or beholden to any by manner of Leen that is either Free forme or Coppy-hold The which may be gathered even from that succession that the women had in the Earldom And also from hence That the Earls have set out great parts of the Earldom as the Lordships of Foirne Arckel and Putten and others and that even to hereditary Free-farme or Coppy-hold without the Consent of any other Forraign Power Although that the Ordinances of the Germane Empire with what generall Title soever they might be written or Registred were never so much as once published in Holland neither were they in any one point obedient thereunto the which they also proved with a very memorable late Example for whereas the Germanes had ordained very many Lawes for the obtaining of succession without testament even to the derogation of all customes to the contrary yet neverthelesse the Heritages in Holland were never assigned by no other Law then by their owne customes to that very day that also the affaires neither of the Earles nor of the States were never sentenced by the Germaine Senators The which being thus alledged and proved by the Hollanders the Declaration followed that that priviledge which was given unto the Brabanders was of no force in Holland Besides this Philip of Leyden writing a Book of the Governement at what time as the first William of Byeren governed Holland and dedicated the same Book unto his Prince he then professing the Law in France saith often in the same Book That the Earle of Holland is Emperour in his Earledome Wee know that the Germane Emperours and also the Francks as it is before reported out of Procopius usually pretended that not onely the Earles of Holland and other Princes but even the Kings themselves were their Vassals the which although it were granted unto them yet in that respect the Hollanders were neverthelesse free In such like manner as Proculus an ancient Lawyer proveth very well The particulars which are defended by others doe not therefore lose their freedome because they are not of equall worth with their protectors And in like manner the freedome of the people is not diminished because in their Covenant there is contained that they with all courtefie should respect the Soveraignty of another from whence also the name of free Leenen that is as Free Copy-holders hath its Originall But neverthelesse this same Covenant of free Leen or after what sort or manner the same might or could be termed the Earles never consented unto as easily may be understood by that which before hath been said as also out of the History of the Warres with the first Earles and namely Dederick the fourth for the maintenance of their reputation and worthinesse undertook with good successe against the Emperours And put the case that any of those Earles

Dominators undertook the warre against the Duke of Alba re-establishing againe the persons that were unlawfully banished and acknowledged William Prince of Orange for their Governour and Generall The seventh Chapter In what estate the Common-wealth of the Battavers was in the time of Warre and is now at this present since the Warre SInce which time the Soveraignty of the States which was not a little obscured and darkned by that usurped Authoritie of the last Princes is brought againe shining more cleare in the light And afterwards when as the States of the neighbouring Provinces had taken Armes with them of Holland for the maintenance of their Liberty and were knit together by an assured alliance and confederacie And that King Philip whose reputation even yet hitherto hath not been toucht neither by intreaties nor by admonition could bee brought into a better minde then at last the generall States upon the 26. of Iuly in the yeare 1581. declared that King Philip by reason of the nullifying of their Lawes of Government according to all Lawes and ipso jure had forfeited his Principality in the same manner like as many free Nations have oftentimes condemned their Prince as the Lacedemonians condemned Pausanias the Romanes Nero the Venetians Falerius and the Danes Christiern Yet neverthelesse these Nobles did not govern the Commonwealth without a Principality But like as in former times in place of the Kings succeeded the Generalls even so did the Prince of Orange the title of Earle being taken away obtained the lawfull Authority under the Title of Governour This Prince his singular unity with the States whilst hee gave place unto their Mightinesse and they on the contrary part both loved and respected him as being their common Father brought the affaires of Holland from little beginnings to a great growth wherefore although the neighborings Provinces had ordained first Matthias Archduke of Austria and after him the Councell of State and yet after them the Duke of Anjoy over them yet neverthelesse the States of Holland and Zealand maintaining firmly the confederacie with their Neighbours and never consenting unto any alteration in their own lands continually maintained not only the same manner of Government but even also the very outward form of the Government After the death of the Prince of Orange the generall Government was resign'd unto the Earle of Leicester who had brought over English Souldiers with him to aide these Lands but in regard that he being of a Kingly prodigality and unacquainted with our Customes and following evill Counsellors began to speak against the Government of the States and to bring in many innovations therupon the States took occasion to shew that their power from the which Leicester had received his Commission was the most righteous and the most ancient power Also certaine persons who to pleasure him sought by uproars to bring in alterations they punished with death which the Earle of Leicester understanding left both the Government and the Land And thereupon Prince Maurice the sonne of William Prince of Orange took upon him the chief government over Holland and of certaine of the Neighbouring Provinces Under his Government hath been great concord so that by the twenty yeeers tranquillity of the Commonwealth and by the inlarging of their borders by fortunate Battales by Seidges so ably enterprized as also more ably resisted have the States obtained the fame of exceeding wise Governors and Prince Maurice the fame of the worthiest Generall The Reputation of this Commonwealth is yet augmented since that Kings have accepted the same into confederacy with themselves For in the yeer 1597. was a Confederacy agreed upon betwixt the King of France the Queen of England and the States of the united Netherlandish Provinces Yet neverthelesse the States did so reverence their deposed Prince that whilst King Philip lived the habilities of these Lands contained themselves within the necessity of their owne defence but after his death was the Warre more openly manifested and that warre was sent back againe into Spaine which first came from themselves Yea and even unto the very furthermost parts of India is our Trafficque sailed being defended with Armes And in those places also by the occasion of the common enemy and by the known valour and fidelity of the Hollanders is there occasioned both friendships and Confederacies with Kings and Nations so that the Lords the States have been saluted by Embassadours comming so farre as out of the other world Hitherto hath the warres continued There hath been often dealing for peace both whilst King Philip lived as since his death As also when as the Netherlands were resigned unto his daughter and son in-law But ever the States disdained those conditions whereby either their Liberty or that lawfull resolution which they had justly decreed and pronounced against King Philips Authority might any way be impeached or toucht like unto the example of the Ancient Romans who never esteemed any Peace so highly that they therefore would receive in again the banished Tarquins Lastly when as the Archduke Albertus and Isabel and King Philip the Second Philips Son shewed themselves to be ready to acknowldge the freedome and Liberty of the States then through the Intercession of the Kings of France of Great Britaine and of Denmark and of some other Princes did begin a communication And in regard that many difficulties hindred the Peace there was lastly in the year 1609 a Truce concluded upon for the space of 12 years with a formall Declaration of the Archduke both in their own names as also in the name of King Philip from whom to that very end they had received Commission and procuration that they should make Truce with the Lords the States Generall of the United Provinces as respecting and holding them to be in quality of free States of their Lands Provinces and Cities where over they have nothing to pretend This short Relation beginning long before the time of Iulius Caesar and ending at these times sheweth that continually during more then 1700 years the Battavers which now are called the Hollanders have used the same Government the Soveraignty whereof hath alwayes remained in the States hands and so is it at this present So that neverthelesse a Principality hath belonged thereunto sometimes in a greater and sometimes in a lesser manner of administration In former time comming thereunto by Succession but very often and at this present by voyces being ever subject under the Laws This then is the shape or rather to say the face of the whole Government Now if any man would know all the particular members thereof They are these as followeth Holland is very populous and exceedingly well stored with Cities and Villages The especiall care of the Cities is committed to the Senators and Magistrates of each City unto whom it is permitted within their own Liberties to make certain Laws and Forfeitures and to ordain certain Impositions for the Cities necessaries The Senators are perpetuall The Magistrates are yearly