then the Son Count Gondamar being invited another time to Dine with the Reader at Grayes Inne at which time the Palsgrave was newly come to Prague among other Healths ther was one begun to the King of Bohemia He pledgd it very merrily and thankd the Reader with the rest of the Company for it was the first time that ever he pledgd the Emperours Health in England Having another time dispatchd an Express to Spain and the weather having continued dark and clowdy in London for many days the Post having receavd the Packet and taken his leave Count Gondamar commanded and told him I forgot one thing I prethee when thou art come to Spain commend me to the Sun for I have not seen him here a great while and I am sure thou wilt meet with him there King Iames having granted leave to Count Gondamar to raise Volonteers to Flanders for the service of the King of Spain under my Lord Vaux and soldiers coming but slowly to the sound of the Drum Gondamar coming a little afterwards to Court the King askd him what number of soldiers he had levied He answerd Truly Sir I can have but few soldiers but thousands that wold be Captains though they were but common soldiers before I will conclude with Count Gondamar in this very witty passage when he was to take his leave of England in his last Embassy the King sent to my Lord Mayor of London to invite him to Dinner which he did with much solemnity having bid the chiefest Lords of the Court to bear him company At first the Lord Mayor after other Complements told him My Lord Ambassador your Excellency me thinks begins to grow very gray Yes Sir said he but my Lord Mayor we have a Proverb in Spain Canos y Cuernos no Uienen Porannos Gray Hairs and Horns come not by yeers Being sate at Table the Lord Mayor began divers Healths at last Gondamar calls for a good Glass-full of Canary and said You are the greatest Magistrat in the world for you give place to none but to your own King as I hear and you live also as plentifully But now that you have made so much of me that having pledgd so many Healths you put me in a Jovial humor I crave leave of these Noble Lords and you to begin a Health or two and the first shall be to the King of Spains Mistress so the Health was drunk round Then he took another Glass of Canary and began a Health to the King of Spains Wife which also passd round among the Lords and Aldermen Then standing up He thankd them all with many Complements and said I will now discover who these two Ladies are The King of Spains Mistress is the East-Indies and his Wife the West-Indies Ther 's none so fond of a Mistress but that if a Frend hath a favor of her he will connive at it as you my Lord Mayor and these worthy Aldermen whom I have in my eye use to have of the East-Indies But my Masters Wife is the West-Indies which he desires to have soly to himself according to the Law of Nations Therfore I pray you my Lord Mayor and these Noble Aldermen do not offer to meddle with the King my Masters Wife We will now proceed to a few others An Ambassador Extraordinary being sent by an Italian Prince to the Emperour that he wold confer the Title of Serenity upon his Master as he had done lately upon divers other Princes But being to depart Re infectâ and taking his leave of the Emperour that morning and the weather being foul and very tempestuous he askd what was the reason he wold begin his Journey upon such stormy weather He answerd Ilne faut pas craindre la Tempeste puis que votre Majesté à remply le monde de tant de Serenité One ought not to fear Tempests since your Majesty hath filld the world with such Serenity Don Pedro Andrea being sent Ambassador to a Prince whom he had offended so far that he threatned to have his head cut off He answerd Sir my dead head will do you more mischief then now that t is living Francisco Marco being sent from Genoa to Galeazzo Duke of Milan but being delayed audience and St. Iohn Baptists day being come who was Protector of Milan he presented the Duke with a Golden Vessel full of Basilique Being askd the reason he sent word that the Genouois have the property of the Herb Basilique which if one handle gently it will yeeld a sweet smell but if it be rubbd and trod upon it it will engender Serpents And this witty passage conducd much towards the ending of the differences which were then a foot The Samnits being pressd hard by the Romans they sent Ambassadors to capitulat who said Noble Romans you are grown too strong for us therfore if you propose moderat terms we will observe them eternally if otherwise we will observe them no longer then till we have opportunity to break them That Ambassador wanted no wit who being in a Pagan Country and standing in the way where the great Idol whom all were to worship which passd by he let fall his Ring and as he bowd to take it up t was thought he adord the Idol The Ambassadors of Portugal and Poland being at Sigismund the Emperours Court and ther being always competition between them for Precedence of Session they met casually at a place where the Portugais having come before he was got into the upper Chair The Pole rising up and making a step forward in a posture as if he wold speak with him and the Portugais coming towards him he whippd behind him into the upper Chair and so kept it We will conclude this Paragraph with the two Ambassadors of Perugia sent to Rome wherof the one was witty but the other not so wise Being admitted to the Pope who was then very sick a bed one of made them a long tedious Speech wherof the Pope had shewn signes of distast Therupon the second said Most Holy Father our Commission implies that if your Beatitude will not suddenly dispatch us with satisfaction my Collegue shold recommence his Speech and pronounce it again more lesurely The Pope was so taken with this that he gave order they shold be presently dispatchd The tenth and last Paragraph Of the extraordinary Prudence and Reservedness the Stoutness and Gallantry of divers English Ambassadors c. WE will begin with that Grandee of his time Cardinal Wolsey who went over to France upon an Extraordinary Embassy and he had to attend him though not in joynt commission Cutbert Tunstal Bishop of London the Lord Sands late Chamberlain to the King the Earl of Derby Sir Thomas Moore Sir Henry Guilford with other Knights and Gentlemen of great rank to the number of a thousand two hundred horse for after a short transfretation from Dover he had so many in his train when he went out of Calice The French King Francis 1. in
going out Among Artificers and Men of Trade the Civilians say that each one is to precede according to the Dignity of the Stuff wheron they work Moreover when Publik Instruments are made that Kingdom in whose Right t is made hath the Precedence so somtimes Scotland is namd before England c. General Precedences do differ according to the Genius of some Nations as among the Turks to go on the left hand is more honorable sedendo incedendo in sitting and going then on the right and the reson is good because he may seaze upon his Companions Sword at plesure In Spain the Pages and Laquays go before and the Lords follow And in some cases t is so in France as in going over a Bridg a Plank or a River the Man goes before the Master according to the old Proverb En Pont en Planche en Riviere Valet devant Maitre derriere Concerning Ambassadors ther is a way that they shall never clash which is to make them Parallels viz. that the Ambassadors of those Kings who stand in competition for Precedence do never meet unless it be in visiting one another And the Mathematician tells us That Parallelae etiamsi ducantur in infinitum nunquam concurrent Parallels although they be drawn in infinitum they will never meet and if Ambassadors never meet they will never jussle or jarr J. H. THE Civilians Antiquaries and Historians BOTH Latin English British Italians Spanish and French That were Consulted and Cited in the Compilement of this WORK GOldastus Cassanaeus Besoldus Valdesius Francisco Vasquez Volaterranus Bodin Boterus Albericus Gentilis Lansius Augustin Caranato Thesaurus Politicus Ant. Corsetus Camillo Borrello Boccolini Sleidon Dr. Gaspar Bragaccia Paschalius Don Ant. de Zuniga Mariana Garibai Fredericus de Marselaer Carolus de Grassaliis Du Haillan Comines Pierre Matthieu The Bishop of Rhodes Du Serres Versâ—…egan Il Conte Losco The Lord Coke Bishop Usher Sir Thomas More Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Robert Cotton Sir Henry Spelman Sir Richard Baker Sir Iohn Finet Sir Iohn Price Iudg Doddridge Humphry Lloyd Iudg Ienkins Mr. Campden Mr. Selden Mr. Fabian Philipps Barclays Argenis Matthew Paris Polydore Virgile Sir Henry Wotten Sir Isaak Wake Mr. Minshew Besides these Authors many Ancient Records and Manuscripts have bin consulted and the perusing of old Parchment-Records is a hard and harsh Work it may be said to be like the peeling of old Walnuts ANALYSIS Totius Operis TOuching the Matter and Method in framing this Work it is by dividing it into four Compartments viz. into four Sections The first three treat of the Precedence of Kings The fourth of Ambassadors Evry one of the Sections is subdivided into ten heads or Paragraphs containing still new matter The first Section consists of the Resons of the King of Great Britain c. First That He had to his Predecessors as ancient Kings as France and Spain and as famous among others Mulmutius Dunwallo who raignd here many hundred yeers before the Romans came in and he was so great a Legislator that his Laws are calld Leges Mulmuntinae and stand upon record to this day Moreover his Majesty now Regnant is the hundred thirty ninth King of Britain and the hundred and ninth of Scotland wheras neither Spain or France can shew a Catalog of half the number 2. The King of Great Britain had to his Predecessor the first Christian King that ever was upon earth viz. King Lucius according to the concurrent Opinion of all Antiquaries for St. Peters Church in Cornhil was built by him as a Record yet extant shews and this was many hundred yeers before France or Spain had any Christian King which made England to be entitled in all dispatches from Rome Primogenita Ecclesiae the first-born Daughter of the Church Now it is a Canon among the Civilians Summa Ratio quae ducitur à Religione and Grotius hath also a Principle Qui primò Christianismum professi sunt Praecedant c. 3. The King of Great Britain hath a Merum immixum Imperium he hath as absolut Possession and Authority and more Independent then France or Spain take Spiritual and Temporal together 4. The King of Great Britain for Eminence of Royal Dignity for State and Titles hath as fair Flowers He hath as rich Jewels in his Crowns as any other He hath as Noble Arms the Cross and the Lyon who is King of Animals 5. The King of Great Britain had to his Predecessor the first Christian Emperour Constantin and the first Christian Worthy Arthur the first Founder of Martial Knighthood whom ther is Truth enough to make Famous without that which is thought Fabulous 6. The King of Great Britains Predecessors were the first who freed themselfs from the Roman yoke long before France or Spain and this is one of the greatest Arguments that those Kings do produce for a Precedence one of another 7. The Kings of Great Britain had Precedence adjudgd Them both of France and Spain in General Councils as also by the Decrees of Popes as it will appeer in the following Discours 8. The King of Great Britain is Souverain of as Noble an Order of Knighthood as any in Christendome wherof eight Emperours and well neer eight times as many Kings have bin and is more ancient then the Royal Orders of France or Spain 9. The King of Great Britain hath had as Martial and Magnanimous Progenitors as any of the other two who performd great Acts both far and neer and touching Exploits in the Holy Land the Kings of Spain had little share in them 10. The King of Great Britain hath as free-born and strong sturdy Peeple of four several Nations to make Soldiers of as either France or Spain He hath the best Mariners the stoutest Men of War the Noblest Haven for so Milford is accounted by all Geographers He hath the Inaccessiblest Coasts with the greatest Command and Power at Sea both Defensive and Offensive of any King whatsoever The second Section Consists of Reasons and Arguments why France doth pretend and challenge Priority of Place which Reasons under favor may be appliable also to the King of Great Britain and the world knows why But for to make the King of Great Britain come after the King of France is to make him come behind himself which is no less then an absurdity The third Section Consists of the Reasons and Arguments which Spain alledgeth for Precedence at least of an Equality with the two forementiond Kings extracted with as much fidelity as carefulness out of her own Authors as Don Diego de Valdez D. Francisco Vasquez with others The fourth Section Consists of a Discours of Ambassadors T is tru ther are some who have written of this subject already yet not any under this Meridian But those Forreners who have discoursd therof do amuse the Reader with such general Notions that the Breeding and Qualities which they require as also the Monitions Precepts and Instructions which they prescribe may fit any
in the I le of Britain Just according to the ancient Greek Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many Lords are not good let there be but One. Now from that time to this the King of Britain had and hath as Souveraign and incontroulable a sway as any 'T is true that he admits others sometimes to share with him in Counsel but not in Power by a kind of Influence he gives Light and Command to others but he himself receives none from any In the Neighbouring Monarchies it cannot be said so and particularly in France and Spain where it may be said ther is Regnum in regno ther is another Power à Legatus de latere that in a Court of Plea sways ore the Ecclesiastiques who make a considerable part of the Peeple Touching the latter the King of Spain is Feodary either to the Pope the Emperour or to France for all the Countries he hath The Kingdomes of Navarre and Granada were made Feodary to the Pope under Iulius the second Aragon to Innocent the third as also Sardinia in formula fiduciae Sicilia is relevant from the Church as also both the Indies and the Canary Ilands For the Kingdome of Naples and Calabria he sends a Mule with a Purse-full of Gold as a Heriot to Rome evry year for fear of an Excommunication the next day at the receit whereof the Pope says Sufficiat pro hac vice He holds the Dukedome of Milan from the Empire and most of the Provinces in the Netherlands from France whereof he is a double Peer as he is Duke of Burgundy and Earl of Flanders Now 't is questionable among the Civilians whether a Feodary or Homager may be call'd an Absolut Prince specially when Appeals may be made from him to another Court as the Spanish Clergy may from the King to Rome in divers cases The Kings of ENGLAND are free from Subordinations of that kind as the Fundamental Laws of the Land and all the ancient Learned Judges do evidence 'T is a Principle in the English Laws which is confirm'd by Baldus and other great Forren Jurists That Rex neminem habet in Dominiis suis nec Superiorem nec Parem The King in his own Dominions hath neither Superior nor Equal He may be said to be both Caesar and Pompey There is another Omnes sub Illo Ille sub nullo All under Him He under none Another yet Satis habet Rex ad poenam quod Deum expectet Ultorem 'T is enough for the King that God is to be his Judge which is expressed in this Distic Subditus in Regem peccat Legemque Fidemque At Rex in Solum Rex quia nempe Deum Ther are divers others that are conducing hereunto As The King must not be put to do any thing per aspertè but of his free plesure The King never dies but the Heir apparent is King Inchoative as soon as the former dies and the Coronation is but a meer Ceremony not Essential for divers Kings as Hen. 5. and others had Alleageance sworn unto them before they were Crowned There are more Maximes yet That the King can do no wrong but his Ministers may through whose mouths he pronounceth sentence Moreover Nullum tempus occurrit Regi Ther 's no Immemorial or Prescription against the King It is High Treson not only to contrive but to imagine ill against the King By the Kings Prerogative Life it self may be leased c. But that Traverse twixt King Iohn and the Legat Pandolpho when they say he transferred the Crown to the Pope is much insisted upon wherunto t is thus answered That ther are four great things whereof the Records cannot be found The first is that wherin the Emperour Constantine gave Rome to the Pope The second is that wherin Venice hath the Dominion of the Adriatic or Illyrian Gulph The third is the Salique Law The fourth is that Instrument wherby King Iohn pass'd over his Crown and made the Pope Lord Paramount of England Sir Thomas More who was so far devoted to Rome that he is canoniz'd for one of her Martyrs denieth absolutly that King Iohn either did or could make England Feudetary to the Pope because without the consent of his Barons an Act so much prejudicial to his Royal Successors was not valid and that the Peter-pence which they hold to be a Tribut relating to the foresaid Act was but a meer Alms which was given by King Ina 500 years before Moreover put case ther had been such an Act yet it stands upon good record that Innocentius the third did give a Release in these words Per Praeceptum Domini Papae 7 Iulii Homagium relaxatur omninò The Rome-scot also was but Regis larga benignitas the Kings bountiful kindness Adde hereunto that when the Pontificial Power was here at the highest pitch no Legat de latere was allowed but the Archbishop of Canterbury his Subject who by his Dignity is perpetual Legat de latere He is Legatus natus as he of Toledo is in Spain and the Primat of Armagh in Ireland and in point of Precedence at the Council of Clermont anno 1096. a Prerogative was given him for ever to sit at all general Councils at the Popes right foot Pope Urban at that time declaring in these terms Includamus hunâ—… in Orbe nostro tanquam alterius Orbis Pontificem Maximum Let us include him in our world as Pope of another world 'T is true ther have been other Legats de latere upon extraordinary occasions admitted but it was with the Kings leave and with this Proviso That he hath no Authority to hold Plea in the Realm prejudicial to the Laws thereof or derogatory to the King Thus it appears that no Extern power hath any thing to do in Great Britain and as the Pope so the Peeple neither whether consider'd Diffusively Collectively Representatively or Vertually partake any thing of the Souverain Power ther is no power either Co-ordinat Co-equal Corrival or Collateral with it The Kings of England have had always by the known Laws of the Land a pure underived Power not depending upon Pope or Peeple or any other Prince whatsoever They are Kings by the Grace of God which implies no earthly Dependency It stands upon good record how King Ina in the Preamble to his Laws for he was a great Legislator begins I Ina by the Grace of God King c. and this was above a thousand years ago about two hundred years before Charlemain in whose time that stile of Dei Gratia came first in use in the Empire And as on Land the King of Great Britain hath such a Latitude and Independence of Supreme Power so by Sea he hath the like which is such that without disparagement much less any injustice to any I may avouch no other Prince hath the like The greatest claim of Sea-Dominion that France makes is to the Coasts of Armorica or little Britany and a few Leagues in the Mediterranean The Spanish Laws are for the