was made Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of King Iames Anno 1603. and afterwards created Lord Montague of Boughton in the nineteenth year of that King Anno 1621. which honourable Title is now enjoyed by his Son another Edward Anno 1658. And thirdly though I grant that Dr. Iames Montague Bishop of Winchester the second Brother of the four was of great power and favour in the time of King Iames. Thus far Dr. Heylin out of his Advertisements written in correction of Mr. Sandersons History of the Reign of King Iames. To rectifie this heap of Errors not to be paralleled in any Author pretending to the emendation of another I have here plainly set down the Male-pedegree of this Noble Numerous and successfull Family 1 Sir Edward Montague Lord Chief Justice in the Reign of King Henry the eighth 2 Sir Edward Montague a worthy Patriot in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Sir Walter Montague Knight second Son died without Issue Sir Henry Montague third Son Earl of Manchester Lord Chief Justice Lord Treasurer c. Edw. Montague now Earl of Manchester besides other Sons 3 Sir Edward Montague made Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of King Iames never a Martialist and created by Him Baron Montague of Boughton dying in the beginning of the Civill Warres William Mountague Esq of the Middle-Temple second Son 4 Edward now Lord Montague of Boughton Ralfe Montague Esq second Son Edward Montague Esq eldest Son Christopher Montague third Son died before his Father being a most hopefull Gentleman Sir Charles Montague fourth Son who did good service in Ireland and left three Daughters and Co-heirs Iames Montague fifth Son Bishop of Winchester died unmarried Sir Sidney Montague sixth Son Master of the Requests Edward Montague now Admirall and one of the Lords of the Councel I presume the Animadvertor will allow me exact in this Family which hath reflected so fauourably upon me that I desire and indeed deserve to live no longer than whilest I acknowledg the same THE FOURTH BOOK From the first preaching of Wickliffe to the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the eighth Dr. Heylin OUR Author begins this Book with the Story of Wickliffe and continueth it in relating the successes of him and his followers to which he seems so much addicted as to Christen their Opinions by the name of the Gospel For speaking of such incouragements and helps as were given to Wickliffe by the Duke of Lancaster with other advantages which the conditions of those times did afford unto him he addeth That Fol. 129. We must attribute the main to Divine Providence blessing the Gospel A name too high to be bestowed upon the Fancies of a private man many of whose Opinions were so far from truth so contrary to peace and civil Order so inconsistent with the Government of the Church of Christ as make them utterly unworthy to be look'd on as a part of the Gospel Or if the Doctrines of Wickliffe must be call'd the Gospel what shall become of the Religion then establisht in the Realm of England and in most other parts of the Western World Were all but Wickliffes Followers relaps'd to Heathenism were they turn'd Jews or had imbrac'd the Law of Mahomet If none of these and that they still continued in the faith of Christ delivered to them in the Gospels of the four Evangelists and other Apostolicall Writers Wickliffes new Doctrines could not challenge the name of Gospel noâ— ought it to be given to him by the Pen of any But such is the humor of some men as to call every separation from the Church of Rome by the name of Gospel the greater the separation is the more pure the Gospel No name but that of Evangelici would content the Germans when they first separated from that Church and reformed their own And Harry Nichols when he separated from the German Churches and became the Father of Familists bestows the name of Evangelium Regni on his Dreams and Dotages Gospels of this kinde we have had and may have too many quot Capita tâ—t Fides as many Gospels in a manner as Sects and Sectaries if this world goe on Now as Wickliffes Doctrines are advanc'd to the name of Gospel so his Followers whatsoever they were must be called Gods servants the Bishops being said fol. 151. to be busie in persecuting Gods servants and for what crime soever they were brought to punishment it must be thought they suffered onely for the Gospel and the service of God A pregnant evidence whereof we have in the story of Sir Iohn Oldcastle accused in the time of King Harry the fifth for a design to kill the King and his Brethren actually in Arms against that King in the head of 20000 men attainted for the same in open Parliament and condemn'd to die and executed in St. Giles his Fields accordingly as both Sir Roger Acton his principal Counsellor and 37 of his Accomplices had been before For this we have not onely the Authority of our common Chronicles Walsingham Stow and many others but the Records of the Tower and Acts of Parliament as is confessed by our Author fol. 168. Yet coming out of Wickliffes Schools and the chief Scholar questionlesse which was train'd up in them he must be Registred for a Martyr in Fox his Calendar And though our Author dares not quit him as he sayes himself yet such is his tendernesse and respect to Wickliffes Gospel that he is loath to load his Memory with causlesse Crimes fol. 167. taxeth the Clergie of that time for their hatred to him discrediteth the relation of T. Walsingham and all later Authors who are affirm'd to follow him as the Flock their Belweather and finally leaves it as a special verdict to the last day of the Revelation of the righteous Iudgements of God Fuller First I fain would know whether the Animadvertor would be contented with the Condition of the Church of England as Wickliffe found it for Opinions and Practise and doth not earnestly desire a Reformation thereof I am charitably confident that He doth desire such an Emendation and therefore being both of us agreed in this Point of the convenience yea necessity thereof in the second place I would as fain be satisfied from the Animadvertor whether He conceived it possible that such Reformation could be advanced without Miracle all on a sodain so that many grosse Errors would not continue and some new one be superadded The man in the Gospel first saw men walking as trees before he saw perfectly Nature hath appointed the Twilight as a Bridge to passe us out of Night into Day Such false and wild opinions like the Scales which fell down from the Eyes of St. Paul when perfectly restored to his sight have either vanished or been banished out of all Protestant Confession Far be it from me to account the rest of England relapsed into Atheism or lapsed in Iudaism Turcism c. whom I behold as Erronious Christians
but Prudence in me to believe my self above such Trifles who have written a Book to Eternity Fourthly I regreat not to be Anvile for any ingenious Hammer to make pleasant musick on but it seems my Traducer was not so happy Lastly I remember a speech oâ— Sir Walter Rawleighs If any saith he speaketh against me to my face my Tongue shall give him an Answer but my back-side is good enough to return to him who abuseth me behind my back Dr. Heylyn In the next ranck of Impertinencies which are more intrinseall part of the substance of the work I account his Heraldry Blazons of Arms Descents of noble Families with their Atchivements intermingled as they come in his way not pertinent I am sure to a Church-Historian unless such persons had been Founders of Episcopal Sees or Religious-Houses or that the Arms so blazoned did belong to either Fuller I answer in generall Those passages of Heraldry are put in for variety and diversion to refresh the wearied Reader They are never used without asking of leave before or craving pardon after the inserting thereof and such craving is having a request in that kind with the Ingenious Grant it ill manners in the Author not to ask it is ill nature in the Reader not to grant so small a suit Mr. Camden in his description of Oxfordshire hath a prolixe though not tedious poeme of the marriage of Thame and Isis which he ushereth in with Si placet vel legas vel negligas read or reject either set by it or set it by as the Reader is disposed The same though not expressed is implied in all such Digressions which may be said to be left unprinted in Effect to such as like them not their Ploughs may make Balks of such deviations and proceed to more serious matter Dr. Heylyn Our Author tells us lib. 9. fol. 151. that knowledge in the Laws of this Land is neither to be expected or required in one of his profession and yet I trow considering the great influence which the Laws have upon Church-matters the knowledge of the Law cannot be so unnecessary in the way of a Clergy-man as the study of Heraldry But granting Heraldry to be an Ornament in all them that have it yet is it no ingredient requisit to the composition of an Ecclesiastical History The Copies of Battle-Abbey Roll fitter for Stow and Hollinshead where before we had them can in an History of the Church pretend to no place at all though possibly the names of some may be remembred as their Foundations or Endowments of Churches give occasion for it The Arms of Knight-Errant billeted in the Isle of Ely by the Norman Conqueror is of like extravagancy Such also is the Catalogue of those noble Adventurers with their Arms Issue and Atchievements who did accompany King Richard the first to the War of Palestine which might have better serv'd as an Appendix to his History of the Holy War then found a place in the main Body of an History of the Church of England Which three alone besides many intercalations of that kind in most parts of the Book make up eight sheets more inserted onely for the ostentation of his skill in Heraldry in which notwithstanding he hath fallen on as palpable Errors as he hath committed in his History Fuller Mr. Fox in his Acts and Monuments hath done the like presenting the names of such who came over at the Norman Conquest I have only made their Catalogue more complete And seeing it was preserved in Battle-Abbey the very addition of Abbey doth dye it with some Ecclesiastical tincture The Arms of the Knights of Ely might on a threefold title have escaped the Animadvertor's censure First they was never before printed Secondly the Wall whereon they were depicted is now demolished Lastly each Knight being blended or as I may say empaled with a Monk a Moiety of that Mixture may be construed reducible to Church-History As for the Arms of some signal persons atchieved in the HOLY-WAR If the Sirname of WAR be secular the Christian name thereof HOLY is Ecclesiastical and so rendred all actions therein within the latitude of Church-History to an ingenuous Reader Dr. Heylyn For besides those which are observed in the course of this work I find two others of that kind in his History of Cambridge to be noted there For fol. 146. he telleth us That Alice Countess of Oxford was Daughter and sole Heir of Gilbert Lord Samford which Gilbert was Hereditary Lord Chamberlain of England But by his leave Gilbert Lord Samford was never the hereditary Chamberlain of the Realm of England but only Chamberlain in Fee to the Queens of England betwixt which Offices how vast a difference there is let our Authour judge Fuller I plead in my own defence according to my last general Answer that I have charged my Margin with my Authoâ— Mr. Parker Fellow of Caius College in Cambridge one known for a most abâ—â— Antiquary but especially in Heraldry and I thought that he had lighten on some rare Evidence out of the ordinary road but seeing he was mistaken I will amend it God willing in my next Edition Dr. Heylyn And secondly The Honor of Lord Chamberlain of England came not unto the Earls of Oxford by that Marriage or by any other but was invested in that Family before they had attained the Title and Degree of Earls Conferred by King Henry the first on Aubrey de Vere a right puissant Person and afterwards on Aubrey de Vere his Son together with the Earldome of Oxford by King Henry the second continuing Hereditary in that House till the death of Robert Duke of Ireland the ninth Earl thereof and then bestowed for a time at the Kings discretion and at last setled by King Charls in the House of Lindsey Fuller This is nothing Confutatory of Me who never affirmed that the High-Chamberlainship accrued to the House of Oxford by any such match Dr. Heylyn But because being a Cambridge Man he may be better skill'd in the Earls of that County let us see what he saith of them and we shall find fol. 162. That Richard Plantagenet Duke of York was the eighth Earl of Cambridge Whereas first Richard Duke of York was not Earl of Cambridge Fuller He was he was he was as presently God willing will appear beyond all doubt and contradiction Dr. Heylyn And secondly If he had been such he must have been the seventh Earl and not the eighth For thus those Earls are marshalled in our Catalogues of Honor and Books of Heraldry viz. 1. William de Meschines 2. Iohn de Hainalt 3. William Marquess of Iuliers 4. Edmond of Langley D. of York 5. Edward D. of York 6. Richard de Conisburgh younger Brother of Edward 7. Iames Marquess Hamilton c. Fuller Indeed they are thus reckoned up in a late little and useful Book entituled The Help of History made as I am credibly informed by the Animadvertor himself and therefore by him wel
humbly desiring your Grace as the same hath heretofore so from henceforth to shew your Graces minde and opinion unto us what your high Wisdome shall think convenient which we shall most gladly hear and follow if it shall please God to inspire us so to doe with all submission and humility beseech the same following the steps of of your most Noble Progenitors and conformably to your our own Acts doe maintain and defend such Laws and Ordinances as we according to our calling and by Authority of God shall for his honour make to the edification of vertue and maintaining Christs faith of which your Highnesse is named Defender and hath been hitherto indeed a special Protector Furthermore whereas your said Lay Subjects say that sundry of the said Laws extend in certain causes to your excellent Person your Liberty and Prerogative Royal and to the interdiction of your Land and Possessions To this your said Orators say that having submitted the tryal and examining of the Laws made in the Church by us and our Predecessors to the just and straight Rule of Gods Laws which giveth measure of Power Prerogative and Authority to all Emperors Kings Princes and Potentates and all other we have conceiv'd such opinion and have such estimation of your Majesties goodnesse and vertue that whatsoever any persons not so well learned as your Grace is would pretend unto the same whereby we your most humble Subjects may be brought in your Graces displeasure and indignation surmising that we should by usurpation and presumption extend our Laws to your most noble Person Prerogative and Realm yet the same your Highnesse being so highly learn'd will of your own most bounteous goodnesse facilly discharge and deliver us from that envy when it shall appear that the said Laws are made by us or out Predecessors conformable and maintainable by the Scripture of God and determination of the Church against which no Laws can stand or take effect Somewhat to this purpose had been before endeavoured by the Commons in the last Parliament of King Edw. 3. of which because they got nothing by it but only the shewing of their teeth without hurting any body I shall lay nothing in this place reserving it to the time of the long Parliament in the Reign of King Charles when this point was more hotly followed and more powerfully prosecuted than ever formerly What sayes our Author unto this Findes he here any such matter as that the Laity at their pleasure could limit the Canons of the Church Or that such Canons in whatsoever touched temporals were subject unto secular Laws and National Customes And here of I desire the Reader to take special notice as that which is to serve for a Catholicon or general Antidote against those many venomous insinuations which he shall meet with up and down in the course of this History As for the case in which our Author grounds this pestilent Position it was the Canon made in a Synod at Westminster in the time of Anselm Anno 1102. prohibiting the sale of men and women like brute beasts in the open Market Which Canon not finding presently an universal obedience over all the Kingdome as certainly ill customes are not easily left when they are countenanced by profit occasioned our Author to adventure upon this bold assertion Fuller I conceived it uncivil to interrupt the Animadvertor in his long discourse until he had ended it and now professe I know not how it maketh in opposition to what I said and heartily wish that the Reader may understand it better than I doe It cannot be denyed but that the Clergy did claim and challenge a power and sometimes de facto executed it over the temporal Estates of the Laâ—ty for I behold the Clergy more bound because binding themselves by their representatives unto their Canons yet they never peaceably injoyed their Power as constantly checkt and controled by the Laws of the Land in such things wherein the Temporal Estate Life and Limb of Persons were concerned We have an eminent instance hereof in the Canon occasioning this discourse Anselme makes a Constitution and that indeed charitable and Christian against the sale of men and women like brute beasts in the open market place Now such persons sold slaves and Vassals as I understand it being the Goods and Chattels of their Masters the proprietaries and owners of their Bodies they would not part with their right in obedience to the Canon Suppose a Convocation some thirty years agoe should have made a Canon without any confirmation from Parliament That no Merchant living in England should by his Factors sell any Negroes or Blacks in the Barbadoes which formerly he had bought in Guinnie it would not oblige to the observation thereof because in such matters wherein propertie was concerned the Canon must say to the Common-Law By your leave Sir I have writen nothing in this point buâ— what I have a good Author for And seeing the Animadvertor in his Geography hath been pleased to tell a passage betwixt him and his fathers man let me relate another wherein my self was concerned knowing it to be as true and hoping it to be as well applyed Some three years since walking on the Lords day into the Park at Copthall the third son a child in coats of the Earl of Dorset desired to goe with me whereof I was unwilling fearing he should straggle from me whilest I meditated on my Sermon And when I told him that if he went with me he would lose himself he returned Then you must lose your self first for I will goe with you This rule I alwayes observe when medling with matters of Law because I my self am a child therein I will ever goe with a man in that faculty such as is most eminent in his profession à cujus latere non discedam so that if he lose me he shall first lose himself as hereafter when we grapple together in this Controversie will appear As for this particular case for I will engage no further for the present this Canon did not dispossesse Masters of their property in their Vassals and no meaner than Mr. Selden is my conductor herein stiled hereafter by the Animadvertor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that renowned Humanitian and Philologer Yea I entred my Author in the Margin had the Animadvertor been pleased to take notice thereof Spiceleg ad Edmerium page two hundred and eight Neque sane Canon hic aut alia apud nos lata Lex id juris hactenus adeo refixit quin in Iurisconsultorum nostratium Commentariis passim Legibus quibus utimur consonum agnoscatur Neither truly this Canon or any other Law made amongst us hath hitherto unfastened this right but that in the Comments or Reports of our Common Lawyers it is acknowledged consonant to those Laws which we use And though in processe of Time first conscientious then all Masters laudibly submitted themselves to this Canon forbearing such sales yet were they not by
principal Articles and main branches of it Fuller It is an hard question and yet perchance more dangerous than difficult to answer but the reason I dare alledge is this Even so Father because it pleased thee Let me add that such conscientious observers thereof which have proved unsuccessefull may esteem their losses as Sweet-Bryar and Holy-Thistle and more cordially comfort themselves in such sanctified afflictions than the Infringers of their Charter could content themselves in their successefull oppression I cannot part from this point till I have inserted that Sir Robert Cotton one who had in him as much of the Gentleman Antiquarie Lawyer good Subject and good Patriot as any in England was the Author in his short view of the long reign of King Henry the third who made the observation of those most successefull Kings by whom the Grand-Charter was most conscienciously observed Dr. Heylin Our Author proceeds Fol. 88. The poor Jews durst not goe into France whence lately they had been solemnly banished but generally disposed themselves in Germany and Italy The poor Iews are more beholding to our Author for his commiseration than the high Royalists as he cals them in the former passage But poor or rich they might have passed safely into France had they been so minded For though he tell us that they had been solemnly banished out of France before this time yet either such banishment was repealed or temporary only or as I rather think not so much as sentenced Certain I am our learned Brerewood upon a diligent enquiry hath found it otherwise than our Author doth letting us know That the first Countrey in Christendome whence the Jews were expelled without hope of return was our Countrey of England whence they were banished Anno 1290. by King Edward the first and not long after out of France Anno 1307. by Philippus Pulcher. Not out of France first out of England afterwards as our Author would have it Fuller I wonder any good Christians would be offended with me for pittying them by the name poor Iews If any High royalist as I fear there is too many be in low Estate would it were as well in my power to relieve as to pitty them Till when they shall have my prayers that God would give them patience and support them in their deepest distresse The Author will find that though the Great General and Final banishment of the Jews out of France was Anno 1307. under Philip the Fair yet formely there had been Edicts for their Exile thence Dr. Heylin Our Author proceeds Fol. 100. Thus men of yesterday have pride too much to remember what they were the day before An observation true enough but not well applyed The two Spencers whom he speaks this off were not men of yesterday or raised out of the dirt or dunghill to so great an height but of as old and known Nobility as the best in England insomuch that when a question grew in Parliament whether the Baronesse de Spencer or the Lord of Aburgaveny were to have precedency it was adjudg'd unto de Spencer thereby declar'd the ancientest Barony of the Kingdome at that time then being These two Hughâ—he â—he Father was created Earl of Winchester for term of life and Hugh the Son by marrying one of the Daughters and co-heirs of Gilbert de Clare became Earl of Glocester Men more to be commended for their Loyalty than accused for their pride but that the King was now declining and therefore it was held fit by the prevalent faction to take his two supporters from him as they after did Fuller The two Spencers fall under a double consideration and are beheld in History for their extraction either as Absolutely in themselves Comparatively with others Absolutely they were of honourable parentage and I believe the Elder might be born a Baron whose Baronry by the Heir general is still extant in Mildmay Fane Earl of Westmorland and from the younger House of a Male Heir the Lord Spencer of Wormelayton now Earl of Sunderland doth as I have seen in his Pedigree derive himself Comparatively So were they far inferiour to most of those great persons over whom they insulted being originally Earls and some of them of Royall extraction Again the Two Spencers may and ought by an Historian to be considered as to be 1. Commended for their Loyalty 2. Condemned for their Insolency On the first account they deserve just praise and it is probable enough that they finde the lesse Favour from some Pens for being so Faithfull to so unfortunate a Soveraigne The latter cannot be excused appearing too plain in all our Histories Dr. Heylin Our Author proceeds Fol. 113. The Lord Chancellor was ever a Bishop If our Author by this word ever understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most commonly or for the most part he is right enough but then it will not stand with the following words viz. as if it had been against equity to imploy any other therein And on the other side if he take the word ever in its proper and more natural sense as if none but Bishops had ever been advanced unto that office he doth not onely misinform the Reader but confute himself he having told us fol. 31. of this present book that Thomas Becket being then but Archdeacon of Canterbury was made Lord Chancellor and that as soon as he was made Archbishop he resign'd that office But the truth is that not onely men in holy Orders but many of the Laity also had attained that dignity as will appear to any who will take the pains to consult the Catalogue of the Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal in the Glossary of Sir Henry Spelman in which appear not onely some of inferior dignity as Deans Archdeacons House-hold Chaplains but many also not dignified with any Ecclesiastical Title or Notification and therefore in all probability to be looked on as meer Lay-men Counsellors and Servants to the Kings in whose times they lived or otherwise studied in the Laws and of good affections and consequently capable of the place of such trust and power Fuller May the Reader take notice that this complaint was made by the Commons in the 11th of Edward the 3d Anno 1336. Now Ever I here restrain to the oldest man alive then present in Parliament who could not distinctly remember the contrary from the first of King Edward the first who began his Reign 1272. so that for full 64. years an uninterrupted series of Bishops except possibly one put in pro tempore for a moneth or two possessed the place of Chancellors This complaint of the Commons occasioned that the King some three years after viz. in the fifteenth year of his reign conferred the Chancellors place on a Layman But it was not long before things returned to the old channel of Clergy-men and so generally for many years continued with some few and short interpositions of Lay-men Dr. Heylin Our Author proceeds Fol. 116. This year viz. 1350.