Nunnery of Marran neare to Linne Friers Minors first arrived at Dover nine in number whereof five remained at Canterbury and there builded the first Covent of Friers Minors that ever was in England the other foure came to London who encreasing in number had a place assigned them in Saint Nicholas Shambles which Iohn Iwyn Mercer of London appropriated to the use of the said Friers and became himselfe a Lay brother Also in this Kings time the new worke of Saint Pauls Church in London was begunne If it were piety in the Iew who falling into a Privie upon a Saterday would not be taken out that day because it was the Iewes Sabbath It was as much piety in the Earle of Glocester that would not suffer him to be taken out the next day because it was the Christian Sabbath and when the third day he was taken out dead whose piety was the greater A strange accident upon an act of piety is related in this Kings time which if true is a Miracle if not true is yet a Legend and not unworthy to be read that in a time of dearth one man in a certaine Parish who allowed poore people to relieve themselves with taking Corne upon his ground had at Harvest a plentifull crop where others that denied them had their Corne all blasted and nothing worth In this Kings time also Hugh Balsamus Bishop of Ely founded Saint Peters Colledge in Cambridge Hubert de Burgh Earle of Kent was buried in the Church of the Friers Preachers in London to which Church he gave his Palace at Westminster which afterward the Arch-bishop of Yorke bought and made it his Inne since commonly called Yorke place now White-Hall Casualties happening in his time AT one time there fell no Raine in England from the first of March to the Assumption of our Lady and at another time there fell so much Raine that Holland and Holdernes in Lincolneshire were over-flowed and drowned In the seventeenth yeare of his Raign were seene five Suns at one time together after which followed so great a Dearth that people were constrained to eate horse flesh and barkes of Trees and in London twenty thousand were starved for want of foode Also in his time the Church of Saint Mildred in Canterbury and a great part of the City was burnt Also the Towne of New-Castle upon Tine was burnt Bridge and all And though it may seeme no fit place to tell it yet here or no where it must be told that in this Kings time there was sent by the King of France the first Elephant that ever was seene in England Of his Wife and Children HE marryed Eleanor the second of the five Daughters of Raymond Earle of Provence who lived his Wife thirty seven yeares his Widow nineteene dyed a Nun at Aimesbury and was buryed in her Monastery By her he had sixe Sonnes and three Daughters of his Sonnes the foure youngest dyed young and were buryed three of them at Westminster and the fourth in the New Temple by Fleetstreet His eldest Sonne Edward surnamed Longshanke of his tall and slender body succeeded him in the kingdome His second Sonne Edmund surnamed Crouch-backe of bowing in his backe as some say but more likely of wearing the signe of the Crosse anciently called a Crouch upon his backe which was usually worne of such as had vowed voyages to Hierusalem as he had done He was invested Titular King of Sicilie and Apulia and created Earle of Lancaster on whose person originally the great contention of Lancaster and Yorke was Founded He had two Wives the first was Avelin Daughter and Heire of William Earle of Albemarle by whom he left no issue The second was Queene Blanch Daughter of Robert Earle of Artois Brother of Saint Lewis King of France Widow of Henry of Champaigne King of Navarre by her he had issue three Sonnes and one Daughter His eldest Sonne Thomas who after his Father was Earle of Lancaster and having marryed Alice Daughter and Heire of Henry Lacie Earle of Lincolne was beheaded at Pomfret without issue His second sonne Henry Lord of Monmouth who after his Brothers death was Earle of Lancaster and Father of Henry the first Duke of Lancaster his third Sonne Iohn who dyed unmarryed His Daughter Mary marryed to Henry Lord Percy Mother of Henry the first Earle of Northumberland This Edmund dyed at Bay in Gascoyne in the yeare 1296. when he had lived fifty yeares whose body halfe a yeare after his death was brought over into England and entombed at Westminster Of King Henries three Daughter the eldest Margaret was marryed to Alexander the third King of Scotland by whom she had issue two Sonnes Alexander and David who dyed both before their Father without issue and one Daughter Margarâ—t Queene of Norway Wife of King Erike and Mother of Margaret the Heire of Scotland and Norway that dyed unmarryed The second Daughter of King Henry was Beatrice borne at Burdeaux marryed to Iohn the first Duke of Britaine and had issue by him Arthur Duke of Britaine Iohn Earle of Richmont Peter and Blanch marryed to Philip Sonne of Robert Earle of Artois Eleanor a Nunne at Aimesbury and Mary marryed to Guy Earle of S. Paulâ— she deceased in Britaine and was buryed at London in the Quire of the Gray Fryers within Newgate The third Daughter of King Henry named Katherine dyed young and lies buryed at Westminster in the space betweene the Chappels of King Edward and Saint Benet Of his Personage and Conditions HE was of stature but meane yet of a well compacted body and very strong one of his eyelids hanging downe and almost covering the blacke of his Eye For his inward endowments it may be said he was wiser for a man then for a Prince for he knew better how to governe his life then his Subjects He was rather Pious then Devout as taking more pleasure in hearing Masses then Sermons as he said to the King of France He had rather see his Friend once then heare from him often His minde seemed not to stand firme upon its Basis for every sudden accident put him into passion He was neither constant in his love nor in his hate for he never had so great a Favorite whom he cast not into disgrace nor so great an Enemy whom he received not into favour An example of both which qualities was seene in his carriage towards Hubert de Burgh who was for a time his greatest Favourite yet cast out afterward in miserable disgrace and then no man held in greater haâ—red yet received afterward into grace againe And it is memorable to heare with what crimes this Hubert was charged at his Arraignment and â—pecially one That to disswade a great Lady from marriage with the King he had said the King was a squint-eyed Foole and a kinde of Leper deceitfull perjuâ—ed more faint-hearted then a Woman and utterly unfit for any Noble Ladies company For which and other crimes laid to his charge in the Kings Bench where
brought to King Edward and for the love of her Prince Leolyn was content to submit himselfe to any conditions which besides subjection of his State was to pay fifty thousand pounds Sterling and a thousand pounds per annum during his life and upon these conditions the marriage with his beloved Lady was granted him and was solemnized here in England whereat the King and Queene were themselves present Three yeares Leolyn continued loyall and within bounds of obedience in which time David one of his Brothers staying here in England and found by the King to be of a stirring Spirit was much honoured by him Knighted and matched to a rich Widow Daughter of the Earle of Darby and had given him by the King besides the Castle of Denbigh with a thousand pounds per annum though as it was afterwards found he lived here but in the nature of a spy For when Prince Leolyns Lady was afterward dead and that he contrary to his Conditions formerly made brake out into rebellion then goes his Brother David to him notwithstanding all these Favours of the King and they together enter the English Borders Surprise the Castles of Flynt and Rutland with the person of the Lord Clifford sent Justiciar into those parts and in a great Battaile overthrew the Earles of Northumberland and Surrey with the slaughter of Sir William Lyndsey Sir Richard Tanny and many others King Edward advertised of this Revolt and overthrow being then at the Vyzes in Wiltshire prepares an Army to represse it but before his setting forth goes privately to his Mother Queene Eleanor lying at the Nunnery of Aimesbury with whom whilest he conferred there was one brought into the Chamber who faigned himselfe being blinde to have received his sight at the Tombe of King Henry the third Aâ—soone as the King saw the man he remembred he had seene him before and knew him to be a most notorious lying Villaine and wished his Mother in no case to beleeve him but his mother who much rejoyced to heare of this Miracle for the glory of her husband finding her sonne unwilling that his Father should be a Saint grew suddenly into such a rage against him that she commanded him to avoid her Chamber which the King obeyes and going forth meetes with a Clergy man to whom he tels the story of this Impostour and merrily said He knew the justice of his Father to be such that he would rather pull out the eyes being whole of such a wicked wretch then restore them to their sight In this meane time the Arch-bishop of Canterbury had gone of himselfe to Prince Leolin and had laboured to bring him and his brother David to a re-submission but could effect nothing for besides other reasons that swayed Prince Leolin the conceit of a Prophesie of Merlin that he should shortly be Crowned with the Diadem of Brute so overweighed him that he had no care for peace and shortly after no head for after the Earle of Pembroke had taken Bere Castle which was the seat of Prince Leolin he was himself slain in battell and his head cut off by a common Souldier was sent to King Edw. who caused the same to be Crowned with Ivie and to be set upon the Tower of London And this was the end of Leolin the last of the Welsh Princes betraied as some write by the men of Buelth Not long after his brother David also is taken in Wales and judged in England to an ignominious death First drawn at a horse taile about the City of Shrewsbury then beheaded the trunke of his body divided his heart and bowels burnt his head sent to accompany his brothers on the Tower of London his foure quarters to foure Cities Bristow Northâ—â—pton York and Winchester A manifold execution and the first shewed in that kind to this kingdome in the person of the son of a Prince or any other Noble man that we reade of in our History It is perhaps something which some here observe that at the sealing of this conquest King Edward lost his eldest son Alphonsus of the age of twelve years a Prince of great hope and had onely left to succeed him his sonne Edward lately borne at Carnarvan and the first of the English intituled Prince of Wales but no Prince worthy of either Wales or England And thus came Wales to be united to the Crowne of England in the eleventh yeare of this King Edwards Raigne who thereupon established the government thereof according to the Lawes of England as may be seene by the Statute of Rutland in the twelfth yeare of his Raigne The worke of Wales being setled King Edward passeth over into France upon notice of the death of Philip the Hardy to renew and confirme such conditions as his state in those parts required with the new King Philip the fourth intituled the Faire to whom he doth homage for Aquitaine having before quitted his claime to Normandy for ever After three yeares and a halfe being away in France he returns into England and now in the next place comes the businesse with Scotland and will hold him woâ—ke at times as long as he lives and his sonne after him Alexander the third King of Scots as he was running his horse fell horse and man to the ground and brake his necke and died immediatelyâ— by reason whereof he leaving no issue but onely a daughter of his daughter Margaret who died also soone after there fell out presently great contention about succession Ten Competitors pretend title namely Erick King of Norway Florence Earle of Holland Robert Bruce Earle of Anandale Iohn de Baylioll Lord of Galloway Iohn de Hastings Lord of Abergeveny Iohn Cummin Lord of Badenaw Patrick de Dunbarre Earle of March Iohn de Vescie Nicholas de Sulâ—s William de Rosse all or most of them deâ—cending from David Earle of Huntington younger brother to William King of Scots and great Unkle to the late King Alexander This title King Edward takes upon him to decide pretending a Right of Superiority from his Ancestours over that kingdome and proving it by authority of old Chronicles as Marianus Scotus William of Malmsbury Roger de Hoveden Henry of Huntington Ralph de Luceto and others which though the Scottish Lords who swaied the Interregnum opposed yet are they constrained for avoyding of further inconveniences to make him Arbiter thereof and the tenne Competitours bound to stand to his award Two are especially found betweene whom the â—ight lay Iohn de Baylioll Lord of Galloway and Robert Brâ—ce the one descending from an elder daughter the other from a sonne of a younger daughter of Alan who had married the eldest daughter of this David brother to King William The controversie held long twelve of either kingdome learned in the Lawes are elected to debate the same at Berwick all the best Civilians in the Universities of France are solicited to give their opinions all which brought forth rather doubts then resolutions whereupon King Edward the better to
of Acton Burnell In the foureteenth yeare of his Raigne were made the Statutes called Additamenta Glocestriae He ordained such men to be Sheriffes in every County as were of the same County where they were to be Sheriffes He ordained that Iewes should weare a Cognisance upon their upper Garment whereby to be knowne and restrained their excessive taking of Usury In his time was also Enacted the Statute of Mortmaine In his twelfth yeare in the Quindenes of Saint Michael the Justices Itinerants beganne to goe their generall Circuits In his time new pleces of money were coyned and halfe pence of Silver came to be in use which were before of base metall In his time three men for rescuing a prisoner arrested by an Officer had their right hands cut off by the wrists In his time all Iewes were banished out of the Realme This King by Proclamation prohibited the burning of Sea-coale in London and the Suburbs for avoiding the noysome smoake In his eleventh yeare the Bakers of London were first drawne upon Hurdles by Henry Waleys Major and Corne was then first sold by weight In this Kings time the title of Baron which had before beene promiscuous to men of estate was first confined to such onely as by the King were called to have voice in Parliament Affaires of the Church in his time IN his time at a Synod holden at Reading by the Arch-bishop of Câ—nterbury it was ordained according to the Constitutions of the Generall Councell that no Ecclesiasticall person should have more then one Benefice to which belonged the Cure of soules and that every person promoted to any Ecclesiasticall Living should take the Order of Priesthood within one yeare after In his time lived and died Pope Boniface the 8. of whom his Predecessour had Prophesied Ascendes ut Vulpes Regnabis ut Leo Morieris ut Canis Workes of Piety done by him or by others in his time THis King Founded the Abbey of the Vale Royall in Cheshire of the Cisteaux Order In his time Iohn Baylioll King of Scots builded Baylioll Colledge in Oxford also in his time Walter Marton Lord Chancellour of England and after Bishop of Rochester Founded Marton Colledge in Oxford who was drowned passing over the water at Rochester being at that time no Bridge there as now there is In his time was finished the new worke of the Church of Westminster which had bâ—ene threescore and sixe yeares in building In his time was laid the Foundation of the Black-Friers besides Ludgate and of Baynards Castle also in his time his second wife Queene Margaret beganne to build the Quire of the Gray-Friers in London In his time was begunne to be made the great Conduit in London standing against the Church called Acres in Cheape In his time Henry Walleys Major of London caused the Tonne upon Cornhill to be a Prison for night-walkers and also builded a house called the Stocks for a Market of fish and flesh in the midst of the City In this Kings time Edmund Earle of Leycester the Kings brother Founded the Minories a Nunnery without Aldgate This King builded the Castle of Flint in Wales and the Castle of Beaumaris in the I le of Anglesey and the Castle of Carnarvan by Snowdon Also in this Kings time Iohn Peckham Arch-bishop of Canterbury Founded a Colledge of Canons at Wingham in Kent Casualties happening in his time IN the second yeare of this Kings Raigne there happened the greatest rot of Sheepe in England that ever was knowne which continued five and twenty years and came as was thought by one infected Sheepe of incredible greatnesse brought out of Spaine by a French Merchant into Northumberland In the fifteenth yeare of this Kings Raigne Wheate was sold for tenne Groats a Quarter where the next yeare after there was so great a Dearth that it was sold for eighteene pence the Bushell In the seventeenth yeare of his Raigne there fell so much raine that Wheate was raised from three pence the Bushell to sixteene pence and so encreased yearely till at last it was sold for twenty shillings the Quarter And this yeare the City of Carlile and the Abbey with all the houses belonging to the Friers Minors was consumed with fire In his one and twentieth yeare a great part of the Towne of Cambridge with the Church of our Lady was also burnt In the seven and twentieth yeare of his Raigne his Palace at Westminster and the Monastery adjoyning were consumed with fire The Monastery of Glocester also was burnt to the ground In this yeare also an Act of Common Counsell by consent of the King was made concerning victuals a fat Cocke to be sold for three halfe pence two Pullets for three halfe pence a fat Capon for two pence halfe penny a Goose foure pence a Mallard three halfe pence a Partridge three halfe pence a Pheasant foure pence a Hearon sixe pence a Plover one penny a Swanne three shillings â— Crane twelve pence two-Woodcocks three halfe pence a fat Lambe from Christmas to Shrovetide sixteene pence and all the yeare after for foure pence Of his Wives and Children HE had two Wives his first was Eleanor daughter to Ferdinand the third King of Spaine and was married to him at Bâ—res in Spaine who having lived with him sixe and thirty years in a journey with him towards Scotland at Herdeby in Lincolneshire she died in whose memory and as Monuments of her vertue and his affection King Edward caused Crosses with her Statue to be erected in all chiefe places where her Corps in carrying to Westminster rested as at Stamford Dunstable Saint Albons Waltham Cheapside and lastly at the place called Charing Crosse she was buried in Westminster at the feete of King Henry the third under a faire Marble Tombe adorned with her Portraiture of Copper guilt By this wife King Edward had foure sonnes and nine daughters his eldest sonne Iohn his second Henry his third Alphonsus died all young in their Fathers time his fourth sonne Edward called of Carnarvaâ— because borne there succeeded him in the kingdome Of his daughters the eldest named Eleanor was first married by Proxie to Alphonsus King of Arragon but he dying before the marriage solemniâ—ed she was afterward married at Bristow to Henry Earle of Barry in France by whom she had issue sons and daughters Ioane the second daughter of King Edward and Queene Eleanor borne at Acon in the Holy Land was married to Gylbert Clare called the Red Earle of Glocester and Hereford by whom she had issue sonnes and daughters She survived her husband and was re-married to the Lord Ralph Monthermere Father to Margaret the mother of Thomas Montacute Earle of Salisbury from whom the now Vicount Montacuâ—e is descended Margaret the third daughter of King Edward and Queene Eleanor was married to Iohn Duke of Brabant Berenger and Alice their fourth and fifth daughters dying young and unmarried Mary their sixth daughter at tenne yeares of her age was made a Nunne in the Monastery
of Aâ—mesbury in Wiltshire at the instance of Queene Eleanor her Grandmother who lived there Elizabeth their seventh daughter was first married to Iohn Earle of Holland Zeland and Lord of Freezeland he dying within two yeares she was afterward married to Humphrey Bohun Earle of Hereford and Essex Lord of Breknok and High Constable of England by whom she had issue sonnes and daughters Beatrice and Blanch their eighth and ninth daughters died young and unmarried King Edwards second Wife was Margaret eldest daughter of Philip King of France called the Hardy and sister to Philip called the Faire at eighteene yeares old she was married to King Edward being above threescore yet at the unequall yeares she had issue by him two sonnes and a daughter their eldest sonne was borne at a little Village in Yorkshire called Brotherton and was thereof called Thomas of Brotherton he was created Earle of Norfolke and Earle Marshall of England after Roger Bigod who died without issue Their second sonne Edmund was borne at Woodstocke in Oxfordshire and of the place was so called he was created Earle of Kent and married Margaret daughter of Iohn and sister of sole Heire of Thomas Lord Wakes of Lydell in the County of Northampton by whom he had issue two sonnes and one daughter his sonnes Edmund and Iohn died without issue his daughter Ioane for her beauty called the Faire maid of Kent was married first to William Montacute Earle of Salisbury and from him divorced was re-married to Sir Thomas Holland in her Right Earle of Kent and by her Father of Thomas and Iohn Holland Duke of Surrey and Earle of Huntington and lastly she was the Wife of Edward of Woodstocke the blacke Prince of Wales and by him Mother of King Richard the second This Earle Edmund was beheaded at Winchester in the fourth yeare of King Edward his Nephew Eleanor the daughter of King Edward by his second Wife Margaret died in her childhood Of his personage and conditions HE was tall of stature higher then ordinary men by head and shoulders and thereof called Longshanke of a swarthy complection strong of body but leane of a comely favour his eyes in his anger sparkling like fire the haire of his head black and curled Concerning his conditions as he was in warre peacefull so in Peace he was warlike delighting specially in that kinde of hunting which is to kill Stagges or other wilde beasts with Speares In continencie of life he was equall to his Father in acts of valour farre beyond him He had in him the two wisdomes not often found in any single both together seldome or never An ability of judgement in himselfe and a readinesse to heare the judgement of others He seemed to be a great observer of opportunity a great point of wisdome in any in Princes greatest and that he could beare an injury long without seeking to revenge it as appeared by his carriage towards the Earle Roger Bigod whom when he saw his time he called to account for an affront he had offered him diâ—ers yeares before He was not easily provoked into passion but once in passion not easily appeased as was seene by his dealing with the Scots towards whom he shewed at first patience and at last severity If he be censured for his many Taxations he may be justified by his well bestowing them for never Prince laid out his money to more honour of himselfe or good of his kingdome His greatest unfortunatenesse was in his greatest blessing for of foure sonnes which he had by his Wife Queen Eleanor three of them died in his owne life time who were worthy to have out-lived him and the fourth out-lived him who was worthy never to have beene borne Of his death and buriall IN his last expedition into Scotland being at Carlile he fell sicke and lying in his death-bed he sent for his sonne Edward to whom besides many admonitions to Piety he commanded three things specially that he should carry his bones about with him through Scotland till he had subdued it that he should send his heart into the Holy Land with sevenscore knights to that warre and the two and thirty thousand pounds he had provided for that purpose and that he should never recall Gaveston from banishment and soon after of a dysentery or Bloudy-Flix he died at Borough upon the Sands the seventh of Iuly in the yeare 1307. when he had Raigned foure and thirty yeares and seven moneths lived threescore and eight yeares Being dead his Corps was brought to Waltham Abbey and there kept the space of sixteene weekes and after on Simon and Iudes day buried at Westminster Men of Note in his time OF Martiall men there were many these specially Iohn Earle of Warren who opposed the Kings Inquisition by Quo Warranto and Roger Bigod who gave the King an affront to his face Of learned men also many specially these Iohn Breton bishop of Hereford who compiled a book of the Lawes of England called lâ— Breton Thomas Spot a Chronographer Iohn Eversden a writer of Annals and of this Kings Raigne Gregory Cairugent a Monke of Glocester and a writer also of Annals Iohn Peckham a Franciscan Frier made Arch-bishop of Canterbury who writ many excellent workes Iohn Read an Historiographer Thomas Bungey a Frier Minor an excellent Mathematician Roger Bacon a Franciscan Frier an excellent Philosopher and Mathematician Robert Kilwarby Arch-bishop of Canterbury and after made a Cardinall also Ralph Baldock Bishop of London who writ a Chronicle of England in the Latine tongue but above them all though of another Countrey Thomas Aquinas borne of a Noble Family whose workes are too famous to be spoken of who going to the Councell holden at Lyons by Pope Gregory the tenth died by the way THE LIFE and RAIGNE OF KING EDWARD THE SECOND Of his Acts before and at his Coronation EDward of Carnarvan eldest Sonne of King Edward the first succeeded him in the kingdome and never did Prince come to a Crowne with more applause of Nobility and People and there was good cause for it For he had beene trained up in all good courses for Piety and Learning he had seene the Government of his Father from whose Example he could not but have learned many good Lessons he had been initiated in the wayes of State having beene left Governour of the Realme and presiding in Parliament in his Fathers absence and he was now three and twenty yeares old a fit age for bearing the weight of a Scepter and yet for all these advantages there wanted not feares of him in the mindes of many who could not but remember what prankes he had played not long before how he had broken the Bishop of Chesters Parke and in most disorderly manner had killed his Deere for which both himselfe had beene committed to Prison and his Friend Pierce Gaveston banished the Realme and if he did such things being but Prince what might not be feared of him comming to be King For seldome doth
the moneth of Aprill In the fourth yeare of his Raigne a solemne Justing or Turnament was holden at London in Châ—â—pside beâ—wixt the great Crosse and the great Conduit 〈◊〉 Sâ—per-laâ—â—â— which lasted three dayes where the Queen Philippa with many Ladies fell from a Stage set up for them to behold the Justing and though they were not hurt at all yet the King threaâ—â—ed to pâ—nish the Carpenters for their negligence till the Queâ—ne inâ—â—â—ated pardon for them upon her knees as indeed she was alwayes ready to doe all good offices of mercie to all people In the eleventh yeare of his Raigne was so great plenty that a quarter of Wheate was sold at London for two shillings a fat Oxe for a Noble a fat Sheepe for sixe pence and sixe Pigeons for a penny a faâ— Goose for two pence and a Pigge for a penny and other things after that rate Of his Wife and Children HE married Philippa the daughter of William Earle of Haynault at Yorke a match made up in haste by Queene Isabell his mother for her owne ends although a better could never have beene made upon deliberation for King Edwards ends for though her Parentage were not great and her portion lessâ— yet she made amends for both in vertue for never King had a better Wife By her King Edward had seven sonnes and five daughters his eldest sonne Edward Prince of Wales and commonly called the Blacke Prince but why so called uncertaine for to say of his dreadfull acts as Speâ—de saith hath little probability was borne at Woodstocke in the third yeare of his Fathers Raigne he married Ioane the daughter of Edmund Earle of Kent brother by the Fathers side to King Edward the second She had beene twice married before first to the valiant Earle of Salisbury from whom she was divorced next to the Lord Thomas Holland after whose decease this Prince passionatly loving her married her by her he had issue two sonnes Edward the eldest borne at Angoulesme who died at seven yeaâ—es of age and Richard borne at Burdeaux who after his Father was Prince of Wales and after his Grandfather King of England This Prince had also naturall issue Sir Iohn Sounder and Roger Clarendon Knights the latter being attainted in the Raignâ— of King Henry the fourth is thought to have â—eene Ancestour to the house of Smiths in Essex He died at Canterbury in the sixe and fortieth yeare of his age and of his Fatheâ—â— Raigne the nine and fortieth and was buried at Christs Church there His second sonne William was borne at Hatfield in Hertfordshire who deceased in his childhood and was buried at Yorke His third sonne Lyonell was borne at Antwerpe in the twelveth yeare of his Fathers Raigne he married first Elizabeth the daughter and Heire of William Burgh Earle of Ulster in Ireland in whoâ—e Right he was first created Earle of Ulster and because he had with her the honour of Clare in the County of Toâ—mond he was in a Parliament created Duke of Clarence as it were of the Countrey about the Towne and Honour of Clare from which Dutchy the name of Clarentieux being the title of the King of Armes for the South parts of England is derived This Duke had issue by her one onely daughter named Philippa afterward wife of Edmund Mortimer Earle of March mother of Earle Roger Father of Anne Countesse of Cambridge the mother of Richard Duke of Yorke Father of King Edward the fourth The second marriage of this Duke was at Millaine in Lombardy with the Lady Viâ—lanta daughter of Gâ—leacâ—â— the second Duke thereof but through intemperance he lived not long â—fter King Edwards fourth sonne named Iohn was borne at Gaâ—â—t in the foureteenth yeare of his Fathers Raigne he had three wives the first was â—lâ—nch daughter and Coheire and in the end the sole Heire of Henry Duke of Lancaster sonne of Edmund sirnamed Crouch back by whom he had issue Henry of Bullingbrooke Earle of Derby after Duke of Hereford and lastly King of England named Henry the fourth who first placed the Crowne in the house of Lancaster By her also Iohn of Gaunt had two daughters Philip wife of Iohn the first King of Portugall and Elizabeth married first to Iohn Holland Earle of Huntington and after him to Sir Iohn Cornwall Baron of Fanhope Iohn of Gaunts second wife was Constance the eldest daughter of Peter King of Castile and Leon in whose Right for the time he intitled himselfe King of both those Realmes by her he had issue one onely daughter named Katherine married to Henry the third sonne of King Iohn in possession before and in her Right after King of both the said Realmes Iohn of Gaunts third wife was Katherine the Widow of Sir Hugh Swinford a knight of Lincolnshire eldest daughter and Coheire of Payn Roet a Gascoyne called Gâ—â—en King of Armes for that Countrey his younger daughter being married to Sir Geoffrey Chawcer our Laureat Poet. By her he had issue born before matrimony and made legitimate afterward by Parliament in the twentieth yeare of King Richard the second Iohn Earle of Somerset Thomas Duke of Exeter Henry Bishop of Winchester and Cardinall and Ioane who was first married to Robert Ferrers Baron of Wemme and Ouâ—sley in the Counties of Salop and Warwicke and secondly to Ralph Nevill the first Earle of Westmerland She and all her brethren were sirnamed Beaufort of a Castle which the Duke had in France where they were all borne and in regard thereof bare the Portcullis of a Castle for the Cognisance of their Family This Duke in the thirteenth yeare of his Nephew King Richard was created Duke of Aquitaine but in his sixteenth yeare he was called home and this title re-called and the third yeare after in the sixtieth of his age he died at Ely house in Holbourne and lieth honourably Entombed in the Quire of Saint Paul King Edwards fifth sonne Edmund sirnamed of Langley was first in the yeare 1362. created Earle of Cambridge and afterward in the yeare 1386. made Duke of Yorke he married Isabell daughter and Coheire to Peter King of Castile and Leon his sonne Richard Plantagenet Duke of Yorke tooke to wife Anne Mortimer Heire of the foresaid Lyonell elder brother to Edmund of Langley King Edwards sixth sonne William sirnamed of Windsor where he was borne died young and is buried at Westminster King Edwards youngest sonne Thomas sirnamed of Woodstocke where he was borne was first Earle of Buckingham and after made Duke of Glocester by his Nephew King Richard the second He was a man of valour and wisdome but the King surmizing him to be a too severe observer of his doings consulted with Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke how to make him away whom Mowbray unawares surprising convaied secretly to Callice where he was strangled the twentieth yeare of King Richards Raigne He had issue one sonne Humphrey Earle of Buckingham who died at Chester of the Pestilence in the yeare 1400. and two daughters
Anne married first to Edmund Earle of Stafford by whom she had Humphrey Duke of Buckingham secondly to William Bourchier Earle of Ewe by whom she had Henry Earle of Essex and Ioane married to Gylbert Lord Talbot and hâ—d issue by him a daughter who died young Of King Edwards daughters the eldest named Isabell was married at Windsor to Ingelram of Guysnes Lord of Coâ—cy Earle of Soysons and after Arch-duke of Austria created also by King Edward Earle of Bedford by whom she was mother of two daughters Mary married to Henry Duke of Barre and Philip married to Robert de Vere Earle of Oxford Duke of Ireland and Marquesse of Dublyn This Robert in the height of his fortunes forsooke his Lady Philip and married one Lancerona a Joyners daâ—ghter as was said which came with King Richard the seconds wife ouâ— of Bohemia and being for abusing the Kings eare driven out of the Land by the Lords he died at London in extreame poverty in the yeare 1392. Isabell his wives mother was buried in the Church of Friers Minorites neare Aldgate in London King Edwards second daughter Ioane was married by Proxie to Alphonsus King of Castile and Leonâ— but passing into Spaine died by the way and King Alphonsus met her instead of consummating his Espousall to solemnise her Funerall His third daughter Blanch died young His fourth named Mary was married to Iohn Montford Duke of Britaine His youngest named Margaret borne in Callice was the first wife of Iohn de Hastings Earle of Pembroke but died without issue Of his Personage and Conditions HE was of stature indifferent tall of sparkling eyes of a comely and manly countenance in his later time something bald and concerning his conditions no man was more gentle where there was submission where opposition no man more sterne He was a Prince no lesse of his passions then of his people for he was never so loving as to be fond nor ever so angry as to be inexorable but this must be understood of the time while he was a man for in his old age when he came to be a childe againe he was Prince of neither He was no lesse fortunate then valiant and his fortunatenes was the greater by a kind of Antiperistatis as comming betweene two unfortunate Princes Successour to one and Predecessour to another He was of so warlike a disposition that his very sports were warlike for no delights were so frequent with him as Justs and Tournaments To shew his devotion one example may be sufficient for when neither Cardinals nor Counsellours could move him to make peace with France a tempest from Heaven did it to which may be added that he never wanne great battell of which he wanne many but he presently gave the glory of it to God by publike Thanksgiving He out-lived the best wife and the best sonne that ever King had and to say the truth he out-lived the best of himselfe for his later years were not answerable to his former Of his Death and Buriall KING Edward besides his being old and worne with the labours of warre had other causes that hastened his end his griefe for the losse of so worthy a sonne dead but tenne moneths before his griefe for the losse of all benefit of his conquests in France of all which he had little now left but onely Callice and oppressed thus in body and minde he was drawing his last breath when his Concubine Alice Pierce packing away what she could catch even to the Rings of his fingers left him and by her example other of his attendants seaâ—sing on what they could come by shift away and all his Counsellours and others forsooke him when he most needed them leaving his Chamber quite empty which a poore Priest in the house seeing he approaches to the Kings Bed-side and finding him yet breathing cals upon him to remember his Saviour and to aske mercie for his offences which none about him before would doe but now moved by the voyce of this Priest he shewes all signes of contrition and at his last breath expresses the name of Jesus Thus died this victorious King at his Manor at Sheene now Richmond the one and twentieth day of Iune in the yeare 1377. in the sixty fourth yeare of his age having Raigned fifty yeares foure moneths and odde dayes His body was conveyed from Sheene by his foure sonnes and other Lords and solemnly interred within Westminster Church where he hath his Monument and whereit is said the sword he used in battell is yet to be seene being eight pound in weight and seven foote in length Of Men of Note in his time MArtiall men were never more plentifull then in this Kings Raigne whetâ—â—r it were that the Starres have an influence to produce such men at one time more then another or whether it were that Regis ad exemplâ—â— the Kings example made his subjects like himselfe or lastly that his continuall exercise of Armes put them as it were into a mould of fortitude The first of this kinde is worthily Edward the Blacke Prince and so worthily the first that Longe erit â— primo quisque secundus erit Next him is Henry Earle of Lancaster the Princes right hand in all his great atâ—â—â—evements then William the valiant Earle of Salisbury then Iohn Eure Ancestor to 〈◊〉 Lord Eures that now liveth then follow the Lord Iohn Chandos Sir Iames Audeâ—â— Sir Walter de Manny Sir Robert Knolls then Sir Iohn Hawkewood born in Essex who â—â—ough not much honoured at home having been a Taylour yet in forrain parts and â—â—ecially in Italy so famous that his Statue was erected in publike for a Monument 〈◊〉 testifie his valour to posterity And here must not be forgotten Venileâ—night â—night a Norfolke man who when the Scots and English were ready to give battell â— certaine stout Champion of great stature commonly called Tournboll comming 〈◊〉 of the Scots Army and challenging any English man to meete him in a single combate this Robert Venile accepteth the challenge and marching towards the Champion and meeting by the way a certaine blacke Mastiffe Dogge which waiâ—ed on the Champion he suddenly with his sword cut him off at the loynes and afterwards did more to the Champion himselfe cutting his head from off his shoulders And as there was this great plenty of Martiall men so there was no lesse plenty of learned men Iohn Baconthorpe borne in Norfolke a Carmelite Frier who wrote divers excellent Treatises in Divinity Nicholas Trivet born also in Norfolk a black Frier who wrote two Histories and a book of Annals Richard Stradley born in the Marches of Wales a Monk and a Divine who wrote divers excellent Treatises of the Scriptures William Herbert a Welshman and a Frier Minor who wrote many good Treatises in Divinity Tho. Walleis a Dominican Frier and a writer of many excellent books Iohn Eversden a Monk of Bury in Suffolk an Historiographer Walter Burley a Doctor of Divinity brought up in Martin Colledge in
Langley which Richard had issue by the said Anne a sonne called Richard that was after Duke of York and father to king Edward the Fourth also a daughter named Isabel maried to the Lord Bourchier Also this yeere Henry of Bullingbrooke Earle of Darby maried the daughter and heire of Humfry Bohun Earle of Hereford in whose Right he was after made Duke of Hereford This yeere also K. Richard holding his Christmas at Eltham Leo king of Armenia came thither to him who in feare to have his kingdome conquered by the Turkes was come into Christendome to seeke for ayde but his chiefe Errand into England was to have procured a Peace between the two kings of England and Franâ—e but their spleenes were so great against one another that it was not in the physick of hiâ— Power to cure them At this time the Duke of Lancaster taking with him his wife the Lady Constâ—nce and a daughter he had by her named Katherine and two other daughters which he had by his former wife failed into Spaine he was attended in his journy with the Lord Lucie the Lord Talbot the Lord Basset Willoughby Fitzwater Poyâ—ings Brâ—â—ston and many other Lords and knights to the number of fifteen hundred men of Armes whereof a thousand at the least were knights and Esquires The king at his taking leave gave him a Crowne of Gold and commanded he should be called king of Spaine and the Queen likewise gave another Crown of Gold to the Dutcheâ—â—e He landed first at Brest and freed that Castle from the French from thence he sailed and arrived at the Groyne in Spaine where he remained a moneth and then went to Compostella where he stayed a while In which time his Constable Sir Iohn Hollâ—â—d wonne divers Townes At Monson the king of Portingale and the Duke of Lâ—â—caster met where a mariage was concluded between the said king of Portingale and the Lady Philip daughter to the Dukeâ— which mariage shortly after was consummated and the Lady sent into Portingale honorably accompanied The Duke continued at Coâ—postella all the winter At March the king of Portingale and he enâ—â—ed the Confines of Castile where they tooke many Townes and passing over the River of Dure entred into the Country De Campo But the Spaniards not willing to come to a Battell but meaning to weary them out with delayes the English not used â—o such hot aire fell daily into many diseases which the Duke seeing accorded â—o a Truce There dyed in this action the Lord Fiâ—zwater Sir Burleyâ—â—night â—â—night of the Garter the Lord Poynings and Sir Henry Percy Cosin-german to the Eâ—â—le of Northumberland also the Lord Talbot and in all twelve great Lords fourscore â—nights two hundred Esquires and of the meaner sort above five hundred When the Army was broken up the Duke of Lancaster and the Dutcheâ—se his wife went into Portingale and after some stay there they sailed to Bayon in the Marches of Gascoigne where he rested a long time after In which meane while there were offers made for a Mariage to be had betweene the Duke of Berry Unkle to the Frâ—â—ch king and the Lady Kaâ—herine daughter to the Duke of Lancaster which the king of Spaine understanding he began to doubt least if that mariage went forward it might turne to his disadvantage and thereupon by earnest suit at length concâ—uded a peace with the Duke of Lancaster on this wise That his eldest sonne Heâ—ry should marry the the Lady Katherine the Duke of Lancasters daughter and be intituled Prince of Austurgâ—s and in consideration of this mariage and that all claimes should cease which the Duke in right of his wife might challenge or pretendâ— It was agreed that the said Duke should receive yeerely the summe of Ten thousâ—nd marks during the lives of him and his Dutchesse and to have in hand the summe of two hundred thousand Nobles At this time the French had a purpose to invade England with no lesse a hope then to make a Conquest and to that end they prepared a mighty Navy so as in the moneth of September there were numbred about Sluis Dam and Blaâ—kerkâ— 1â—87 ships besides those which were rigged in Britaine by the Constable who had caused an inclosure of a Field to be made of Timber that when they were landed in Eâ—gland they might therewith inclose their field and so lodge at more surety but it so fortuned that the Lord William Beauchampe Captaine of Callis tooke two of their ships whereof one was laden with a piece of the said Inclosure and after that â—nother ship laden with Guns Gunpowder and other Instruments of warre and after that againe two ships more laden with parcels of the said Inclosure which K. â—ichard caused to be reared and set up about Winchelsey Towne at last the foresaid Army came into Flanders and arrived at Sluis where after some stay they were so distressed for victuals that in the end of November they were glad to be gone and returne into France At this time in a Parliament Robert Veere Earle of Oxford and Marques of Dublin was created Duke of Ireland and Michael de la Poole a Merchants son had lately before been created E. of Suffolk and made Chancellor of England And now begins K. Richard to enter I may say upon the confines of his Destiny His gracing of undeserving men and disgracing of men deserving if they were not the causes they were at least the occasions of his owne disgracing and destruction in the end He was now come to be of full age to doe all himselfe which was indeed to be of full age to undoe himselfe for the faults of his younger yeeres might have the excuse to be but Errors but the faults of the age he was now at were perempâ—ory against him and admitted no defence And to hasten the pace of his destiny the faster the ill Counsell which before was but whispered in his eare was now scarce forborne to be given him aloud It is told him that he is under tuition no longer and therefore not to be controll'd as in former times he had been That to be crost of his will by his subjects was to be their subject It is no Soveraignty if it be not absolute At the instigation of which Counsell the king in a Parliament now assembled fell to expostulate with his Lords asking them what yeeres they thought him to be 〈◊〉 who answering that he was somewhat more then one and twenty Well then saâ—â— he I am out of Wardship and therefore looke to injoy my kingdome as freely 〈◊〉 your selves at the like yeeres enjoy your Patrimonies But his flattering Favoriâ—â— should have remembred that though the king may not be controlled where he caâ— command yet he may be opposed where he can but demand as now indeed he waâ— for when he came to demand a Subsidy towards his warres he was answered That he needed no subsidie from his Subjects if he would but call in the debts which thâ—
and heire Sir Humfry Boâ—rchier sonne and heire to the Lord Berners and divers other knights and gentlemen On the Earls part were slaine the Earle himselfe the Marquâ—ssâ— Montacute and three and twenty knights of whom Sir William Tyrrell was one The Duke of Somerset and the Earle of Oxford fled into VVales to Iasper Earle of Pembroâ—ke The Duke of Exceter being strucken down and so wounded that he was left for dead amongst other the dead bodies because he was not kâ—own but comming to himselfe he got up and escaped to VVestminster and there took Sanctuary The dead bodies of the Earle and Marquesse were brought to London in a Coffin and by the space of three dayes lay open-faced in the Cathedrall Church of St. Paul and then buried with their Ancestours in the Priory of Bissam This Earle of VVarwick was Richard Nevill sonne and heire of Richard Nevill Earle of Salisbury who married the daughter of Richard Beauchamp the sixth Earle of Warwick and in her right was Earle of Warwick in his own of Saliâ—bury he was also Lord Monthermer great Chamberlaine and high Admirall of England Lord Warden of the North Marches towards Scotland and high Steward of the Dutchy of Laâ—caster he had issue two Daughters Isabell married to George Duke of Clarence and Annâ— â—â—rst married to Prince Edward king Henry the sixths Sonne and after to Richard Duke of Glocester Wee may here observe a Constellation of disastrous influences concurring all to the overthrow of this great Warwicke whereof if any one had been missing the wheele of his fortune had perhaps not turned For if the City of Yorke had not too credulously believed king Edwards Oath not to dâ—sturbe king Henry or if the Marquesse Moâ—tacute had stopped as he might his passage at Pomfret or if the Duke of Clarence had not at the very point of the battell at St. Albans deserted his party and joyned with king Edwardsâ— or if Quâ—en Margaret had not by tempest been kept from comming into Eâ—glaâ—d in time or if the Londoners had not been retrograde and deceived his expectation he had never perhaps been overthrown as he was But Fata viam invenient destiny will finde waies that were never thought of will make way where it findes none and that which is ordained in heaven shall be effected by means of which Earth can take no notice Queen Margaret when it was too late accompanied with Iohn Longstrother Prior of Saint Iohns and the Lord Wenlock with divers Knights and Esquires tooke shipping at Harflew the foure and twentieth of March but by tempest was kept back till the thirteenth of April and then with her sonne Prince Edward shee landed at Weymouth and from thence went to an Abby hard by called Ceern and then to Bewly in Hampshire whither there came unto her Edmund Duke of Somerset and Thomas Courtney Earle of Devonshire with divers others amongst whom it is resolved once more to try their fortune in the field but then the Queen would have had her sonne Prince Edward to be sent into France there to remaine in safety till the next battell were tryed but they being of a contrary minde and specially the Duke of Somerset shee at length consented though afterward she repented it From Bewly she with her sonne and the Earle of Somerset passeth on to Bristow intending with what power they could raise in Glocestershire to march into Wales to joyn with Iâ—sper Earle of Pembrooke who was there making preparation of more forces King Eâ—ward hearing of these things resolves to crosse this Conjunction and followes Queen Margaret with a great Power so close that neere Tewkesbury in Glocestershire he overtakes her forces who resolutely turn and make head against him where Somerset on the Queens part leading the Vaunt-guard performed the part of a valiant Commander but finding his souldiers throâ—gh wearines begin to faint and that the Lord Wenlock who had the conduct of the battaile on the Queens part moved no the rode unto him and upbrayding him with cowardise or treachery never staid but with his Pollaxe beat out his brains and now before he could bring in his men to the rescue their Vaward was routed and Iohn Earle of Devonshire with above three thousand of the Queens part were slaine The Queen her selfe Iohn Beaufort the Duke of Somersets brother the Prior of Saint Iohns Sir Gervis Clifton and divers others were taken prisoners all which except the Queen were the next day beheaded At which time Sir Richard Crofts presented to king Edward king Henries Son Edward whom he had taken prisoner to whom king Edward at first shewed no uncourteous countenance but demanding of him how he durst so presumptuously enter into his Realm with Arms and he answering though truly yet unseasonably To recover my Fathers Kingdome and Heritage King Edward with his hand thrust him from him or as some say strooke him with his Gantlet and then presently George Duke of Clarence Richard Duke of Glocester Thomas Grey Marquesse Dorset and William Lord Hastings standing by fell upon him in the placâ— and murdred him His body was homely interred with other ordinary Corpses in the Church of the Monastery of the Black-fryers in Tewkesbury After the Victory thus obtained king Edward repaired to the Abbey Church of Tewkesbury to give God thankes for his good successe and finding there a great number of his enemies that were fled thither to save themselves he gave them all free Pardon onely Edmuud Duke of Somerset 〈◊〉 Longstrother Pryor of Saint Iohns Sir Thomas Tressham Sir Gerviâ— Clifton and divers other Knights and Esquires who were apprehended there and brought before the Duke of Glocester sitting that day as Constable of England and the Duke of Norfolk as Marshall were all arraigned condemned and judged to Dye and accordingly upon the Tuesday being the seventh of May they were all and twelve other knights more on a Scaffold set up in the middle of the Town beheaded but not dismembredâ— and permitted to be buried The same day Queen Margaret was found in a poore house of Religion not farre from thence into which she was fled for safeguard of her life but she was after brought to London and there kept a Prisoner till her Father ransomed her with great summes of money This was the last pitcht battell that was fought in England in king Edward the fourths dayes which happened on the fourth of May being Saturday in the Eleventh yeere of his reigne and in the yeere of our Lord 1471. King Edward being assured that as long as any partakers of king Henry lived and were at liberty he should never be free from plots against his life sent Roger Vaughaâ— a Gentleman much reckoned of in his own Country to entrape Iasper Earle of Pembrooke who had escaped from the last encounter but he having notice of the plot before prevented it by striking off Vaughans head After these great Clouds were thus dispersed there arose a little Cloud which gave the
to come on land was to have disswaded the King from any Enterview with the French King but when he saw him â—o forward in that jourâ—ey he then onely endeavoured to perswadâ— him that he should put no trust in the French Kings words and with great guiâ—ts and promises prevailed with the Cardinall to joyne with him in this perswasion The last of May the Emperour tooke his leave and the same day the King made saile from Dover and landed at Callice together with the Queen and many Lords and Ladies The fourth of Iune the King and Queen removed from Callice to his Princely lodging beside the Towne of Guysnes the most Royall Building that was eâ—er seene likewise Francis the French King had his lodging prepared close to the Towne of Ard in a strange but most magnificent fashion Both Kings had given authority and power to the Cardinall to affirme and confirme â—o bind or unbind whatsoever should be in difference betweene them no lesse an honour to the Cardinall then a confidence in the Kings On Thursday the seavenâ—h of Iune the Kings met in the vale of Andren so magnificently attired both themselves and all their followers that from thence it was called â—he campe of cloath of Gold Heere they spent that day in loving complements and at night departed the one to Guysnes the other to Ard. On Satureday the ninth of Iune were set up in a place within the English pale two Trees of honour with stately roomes and stages for the Queens and thither the two Kings came most Royally accompanâ—ed wherein most magnificent manner they performed Acts of valour both on fooâ—e and horseback and after them all the great Lords both of France and England did the like this solemnity of Justs and Maskes was continued to the foure and twentieth day of Iune at which time the Kings and Queenes tooke leave of each other the French King and Qâ—eene removed to Ard the King and Queene of England to Callice where he remained till the tenth of Iuly and then ridings â—oward Graveling was by the way met by the Emperour and by him conducted thithet and there in most royall manner enteâ—tained whereof when the French King heard he began from that day forward to have King Henry in a kinde of jelousie as though to love him and the Emperour both were inconsistent and could not stand together On Wednesday the eleventh of Iuly the Emperor and his Aunt the Lady Margaret Dutchesse of Savoy came with the King of England to the town of Callice and there continued with Feasting Dancing and Masking till the fourteenth of Iuly In which time all the Articles of the league tripartito betweene the Emperour and the Kings of England and France were reviewed to which the King of France had so fully condiscended that he had sent Monsieur de Roche to the Emperor with Letâ—ers of credence that in the word of a Prince he would inviolably observe and keepe them all all which notwithstanding he dispenced with his conscience afterward in breaking them all On Saturday Iuly 14. the Emperor tooke his leave and went to Graveling the King with his Queene returned into England It was now the twelfth yeer of King Henries reigne when being returned from Callice he kept his Christmas at Greenwich with great magnificence on twelfth day he and the Earl of Devonshire maintained a solemn Justs against al commers The Cardinal had long born a grudg against the Duke of Buckingham for speaking certain words in his disgrace and now hath made his way for reveng for the Earl of Surrey Lord Admirall who had maried the Dukes daughter the Cardinall had caused to be sent Deputy into Ireland and the Earle of Northumberland the Dukes speciall friend he had caused upon certain suggested crimes to be Imprisoned so as the Duke having his friends sequestred from him he lay now open to accusations and accusations shall not long be wanting for the Duke having some time before put from him in displeasure one Charles Knevet that had been his Surveyar and inward with him him the Cardinall gets to him to see what he could get out of him against the Duke And whether it was out of desire of revenge or out of hope of reward or that the matter was so indeed this Knevet confessed to the Cardinall that the Duke had once fully determined to make away the King being brought into a hope to be King himselfe by a vaine Prophesie which one Nicholas Hopkins a Monke of an house of the Chartnar Order besides Bristow called Henton somtimes his Confessor had opened to him and as for the Cardinall that he had often heard the Duke sweare he would punish him soundly for his manifold misdoings And now had the Cardinall matter enough for Accusation which he so aggravated to the King that the King bid him do with him according to Law Hereupon the Duke is apprehended and brought to the Tower by Sir Henry Marney Captain of the Guard the fifteenth of April and shortly after in Guild-hal before Sir Iohn Brugge then Lord Major was indited of divers points of High-treason the substance whereof was that in the second yeer of the Kings reign and at divers times before and after he had imagined and compassed the Kings death at London and at Thornbery in Glocestershiâ—e and that in the sixth yeer of the Kings reign he went in person to the Priory of Henton and there had conference with the foresaid Nicholas Hopkins who told him he should be King and that he had often said to the Lord Aburgayne who had maried his daughter that if King Henry died without issue he would look to have the Crown himself Vpon these points hee was arraigned in Westminster-hall before the Duke of Norfolk sitting then as high Steward of Englaâ—d the Duke of Suffolk the Marquesse Dorset the Earls of VVorcester Devonshire Essex Shrewsbury Kent Oxford and Darby the Lords of Saint Iohns de la ware Fitz-water Willoughby Brook Cobhaâ— Herbert Morley The Duke pleaded for himself til he swet again but al booted â—ot for by these Peeres he was found guilty and condemned and so on Friday the seventeenth of May was led by Iohn Keyme and Iohn Skevington Sheriffes of London to the scaffold on Tower-hill and there beheaded The Augustine Friers took his body and head and buried them This Edward Bohun Duke of Buckingham was the last high Constable of England the greatest place next the high Steward in the kingdome whose Power extended to restrain some actions of the King He was also Earl of Hereford Stafford and Northampton he maried Elianor the daughter of Henry Earle of Northumberland and had issue Henry Lord Stafford Father to Henry Lord Stafford laâ—e living and three daughters Elizabeth maried to Thomas Hâ—ward Earl of Surrey Katherine maried to Ralph Nevil Earl of Wesâ—merland and Mary maried to George Nevill Lord of Abuâ—gaâ—enie In this meane while a new Warre was begun between the Emperour and
her self with all her Forces to compell them While Wilkes in Spain unfoldeth theâ—e matters Iohn of Austria sendeth to Queen Elizabeth in most grievous manner accusing the States for disobedience and making a large declaration of the causes for which he had taken up Armes again Thus Queen Elizabeth like a fortunate Princesse sate as an Honourable Arbitresse between the Spanish the French and the States insomuch that it was not untrue which one wrote That France and Spaine were Ballances in the Scale of Europe and England the Beame to turne them either way for they still got the better to whome she adhered About this time when the Judges sate at the Assizes in Oxford and one â—owland Iâ—nkes a Book-seller was questioned for speaking approbrious words against the Queen suddenly they were surprised with a pestilent favour whether rising from the noysome smell of the prisoners or from the dampe of the ground is uncertaine but all that were there present almost every one within forty hours died except Women and children and the Contagion went no further There died Robert Bell Lord chief Baron Robert D'Oylie Sir William Babington D'Olye Sheriffe of Oxford-shire Harcourt Weynman Phetiplace the most noted men in this Tract Barham the famous Lawyer almost all the Jurours and three hundred other more or lesse This yeer the title of the Lord Latimer which had flourished in the Familie of the Nevills ever since the dayes of King Henry the sixth was extinct in Iohn Nevill who died without issue male and left a faire estate to four daughters whereof the eldest marryed Henry Earl of Northumberland the second Thomas Cecill who was afterward Earl of Exceter the third Sir William Cornwallis and the fourth Sir Iohn Daverse In Ireland the O-Moores and O-Conors and others whose Ancestours the Earl of Sussex in Queen Maries dayes had for their rebellion deprived of their Patrimonie in Loyse and Ophâ—liâ— did now break forth into a new Rebellion under the conduct of Roriâ— Oge that is Roderick the younger set on fire the village of Naasse assault Lâ—chlin from whence being driven back by the valour of George Careâ— the Governour he was afterward slain Out of England at this time there went into the Low-countries Iohn North the Lord Norths eldest sonneâ— Iohn Norris second son to the Lord Norris Henry Cavendish and Thomas Morgan Colonells with many voluntaries to learn Militarie experience Thither also came Caesamire the Elector Palatines sonne with an Army of German Horse and foot at the Queenes charges upon theâ—e Don Iohn assisted by the Prince of Parma Mondragon and other the best Commanders of Spain confident of victorie flyeth furiously before they expected him yet after a long fight was forced to retreat but then turning again and thinking to breake through the Hedges and Brakes where the English and Scottish voluntaryes had placed themselves was again repulsed for the English and Scottish were so hot upon the matter that casting away their garments by reason of the hot weather they fought in their shirts which they made fast about them In this battell Nâ—â—â—â—â— fought most valiantly and had three horses sâ—ain under him as also 〈◊〉 the Scot Bingham and William Mâ—râ—ham Now for comfort â—o the afflicted Provinces there came at that â—â—me into the Netherlands the Count Swâ—â—zenberg from the Emperour Mâ—nsieâ—â— Beâ—â—â—â—â—re from the French King and from the Queen of England the Lord Cobham and Walâ—ingham with Commission to procure conditions of Peace but returned without doing any thing for that Don Iohn refused to admit the Proâ—estanâ— Religion and the Prince of Orange refused to return into Holland About this time Egrâ—mâ—â—d Râ—â—cliffe son to Henry Earl of Susseâ— by his second wife who had been a prime man in the rebellion of the North and served now under Don Iohn was accused by the English fugitives that he was sent under hand to kill Don Iohn which whether true or false he was thereupon taken and put to death The Spaniards have affirmed That Ratcliffe at his last end confessed voluntarily That he was freed out of the Tower of London and moved by Walsinghams large promises to do this Fact but the English that were present at his death deny that he confessed any such thing though the English Rebells did all they could to wrest this confession from him At this very time Don Iohn in the flower of his age died of the Pestilence or as some say of grief as being neglected by the King of Spain his brother a man of an insatiable Ambition who aymed first at the Kingdom of Tunis and after of England and who without the privity of the French King or King of Spain had made a league with the Guises for the defence of both Crowns Alanson although very busie about the Belgick War yet now began again to pursue the Marriage with Queen Elizabeth for renewing of which suit first was Bachervyle sent to the Queen and soon after Ramboulet from the French King and within a month after that Simier a neat Courtier and exquisitely learned in the Art of Love accompanied with a great number of the French Nobility whom the Queen at Richmond entertained in such loving manner that Leicester began to rage as if his hopes were now quite blasted Certainly a little before when Ashley a Lady of the Queens Bed-chamber mentioned the Earl of Leicester to her for husband she with an aâ—gry countenance replyed Dost thou think me so unlike my self and so forgetfull of Majestie as to prefer my servant whom I my self have advanced before the greatest Princes of the Christian world But it is now time to return to the Scottish Affairs The Earl of Morton Regent of Scotland though a man of great wisedome and valour yet was now so overcome of covetousnesse that he grew universally hated and thereupon with the joynt consent of the Nobility the Administration of the Common-wealth was translated to the King though he was yet but twelve yeers old and twelve of the chief Lords were appointed to attend him in Councell three of them by course for three months amongst whom the Earl of Morton for one that they might not seem to cast him quite off The King having taken upon him the Administration sent presently the Earl of Dumformelin to Queen Elizabeth acknowledging her great deserts towards him and requesting to have the Treaty of Edinburgh agreed on in the yeer 1559 to be confirmed for the more happy restraining the robbers about the borders and withall That his ancient Patrimony in England namely the Lands granted to his Grand-father Maâ—â—hew Earl of Lenox and the Countesse his Grand-mother might be delivered into his handsâ— who was the next Heir The Queen readily promised the former demands but stuck a little at the last concerning the Patrimony For she would not grant That Arbella the daughter of Charles the King of Scots Unkle Born in England was the next Heir to the Lands in England neither would she grant the
a number of poore kindred who to his great cost lay hanging upon him yet was the marriage solemnised with as great charge as if he had beene to have Mountaines with her and this was another grievance And now is the score of these grievances called upon to be paid for the Lords could no longer endure so many indignities to see themselves fleighted and onely strangers advanced as Brentâ— who held the Earledomes of Nottingham Oxford Bedford and Bâ—ckingham and others the like and to see their persons exposed to danger and their estates to ruine for which no remedy could be but onely the Kings confirming their Charter of Liberties wherein it is strange to observe upon what different grounds the King and the Lords went It seemes the King thought that to confirme that Charter were to make himselfe to be lesse then a King and the Lords thought that as long as it was denied they were no better then slavesâ— and as the King could endure no diminution so the Lords could endure no slavery but the King might keep his owne with sitting still the Lords could not recover their owne but by motion and seeing their strength must be in their number by commotion hereupon they confederate together and of this confedencie Richard now Earle Marshall upon the death of his brother William is chiefe who repaire to the King and boldly shew him his errour and requires satisfaction Hereupon the King sends presently over for whole Legions of Poictâ—uins and withall summons a Parliament at Oxford whither the Lords refuse to come after this a Parliament is called at Westminster whither likewise they refuse to come unlesse the King would remove the Bishop of Winchâ—ster and the Poictouins from the Court and more then this they send him word that unlesse he did this they would expell both himselfe and his evill Counsellours out of the Land create a new King Upon this threatning Pledges are required of the Nobility for securing of their Allegeance and Writs a reâ—ent out to all who hold by knights service to repaire to the King at Glocester by a certaine day which the Earle Marshall and his associates refusing the King without the â—udgement of hiâ— Court and their Pâ—â—rs causeth them to be Proclaimed Out-lawes seiseth upon all their Lands which he gives to his Poictouins and directs out Writs to attach their bodies wheresoever in the kingdome But now of these confederate Lords the Bishop of Winchester wonne the Earles of Chester and Lincolne with a thousand Markes and the King had so pleased his brother the Earle of Cornwall that he likewise left them whereupon they withdrew them into Wales and confederate with Lâ—â—ilin Prince of Walesâ— whither also came Hubert de Burgh escaped out of prison and joynes with them taking intermutuall Oaths that no one without other should make their accord Hereupon the King goeth himselfe in person into Wales where not prevailing he returnes to Glocester imployes new forces of strangers but all without successe At last a Frier is imployed to perswade the Earle Marshall to submit himselfe to the King but all in vaine till at length a traine is laid to draw him over into Ireland to defend his state there being seised upon by the King where by treachery circumvented he lost his life Yet the King disavowes the sending of any such Commission into Ireland protesting he never knew thereof and laies the fault upon his Officers an easie way for Princes never to be found in any fault After two yeares affliction a Parliament is assembled at VVestminster wherein the Bishops admonish the King by his Fathers example to be at unity with his people and to remove from him strangers and to governe the kingdome by Natives of the Realme and by the Lawes otherwise they would proceed by Ecclesiasticall censure both against his Counsellours and himselfe The King seeing no way to subsist but by temporising consents to call home those Lords out of VVales restores them to their places and possessions removes all strangers from about him and cals his new officers to account Hereupon the Bishop of VVinchester Peter de Rivalis and Stephen Seagrave take sanctuary but afterward by mediation they obtained with great Fines their Liberty dearly paying for their two years greatnes After this a Parliament is againe called which the King would have to be kept in the Tower whither the Lords refusing to come another place of more freedome is appointed in which Parliament order is taken for removing all Sheriffes from their places upon complaint of corruption and here the King displaceth his Steward and offers to take from the Bishop of Chichester then Chancellour the great Seale which he refuseth to deliver as having received it by the common councell of the kingdome and now Peâ—â—r de Rivaliâ— aâ—d Stâ—phen Seagrave are received againe into grace by which may appeare the viciâ—â—itude of fortune in Princes favours After this in the one and twâ—ntieth yearâ— of â—is Raigne another Parliament is held at London where the King requires the thirteenth part of all the moveables as well of the Clergy as Laity which being directly opposed the King promiseth by oath never more to injure the Nobility so they would but relieve him at that present After foure dayes consultation â—he King pâ—omising to use onely the counsell of his naturall Subjects and protesting against the Revocation lately propoundedâ— and freely granting the inviolable obseâ—vation of their Liberties under paine of Excommunication a Subsidy is granted him buâ— so that foure knights be appointed in every Shiâ—e to receive and deliver the same 〈◊〉 to some Abbey or Castle where it may be safâ—ly kepâ— that if the King â—aile in pâ—rformance of his Grants it may be restored to the Counâ—rey from whence it was collected And now the King to make a shew of true reconciliation for his part suddenly causeth the Earles VVarren and 〈◊〉 with Iohn Pits Geoffrey to be swâ—rn his Counsellours yet was neither of the points either for removing of strangers or for disposing the money observed afterward by the Kingâ— for the money he made bold to take at his pleasure and for strangers they were so farre from removing that they were drawne nearer to him for now VVilliam Valentine Unkle to the Queen is growne the most inward man with him and nothing done but by his counsell also the Earle of Province the young Queenes Father a poore Prince hath a good share of the money that was collected and Simon de Montford a French man borne is entertained by the King and preferred sâ—cretly in marriage to Eleanor the Kings sister Widow of VVilliam Earle of Pembroke the great Marshall and is made Earle of Leycester by right of his Mother Avice daughter of Blanchman Earle of Leycester which courses so incense the Nobility that it put them out into a new commotion and Richard the Kings brother becomes one of the party whom the other Lords make their spokesman to the King to
the very day and houre in which he should have done the businesse as he went up the staires towards the upper House he suddenly fell down and dyed having been merry and well before to all mens judgements About this time the Lord Scroope was deposed from the Chancellourship for refusing to seale some Grants which the King had made and the King receiving the great Seale at his hands kept it a certaine time and sealed with it such Grants and Writings as he pleased till at length it was delivered to Robert Braybrooke Bishop of London who was made Lord Chancellour Henry Spenser Bishop of Norwich had lately with the Kings leave raised an Army and was gone into France in behalfe of Pope Vrban against the Anti-pope Clement and entring first into Flaâ—ders he tooke and sacked many Townes at last besieged Ypres till by an Army of French greater then was thought could have been raised in France he was forced to raise his siege and then passing divers places he came to Grâ—â—eling from whence he writ to King Richard that if ever he meant to try battell with the French now was the time The King was at that time at Dayntrie in Northâ—mptonshire and being at supper when the word was brought him he instantly rose from the Table got to horse-back and rode in Post with such speed that he came to St. Albans about midnight where making no stay but while he borrowed the Abbots Gelding he hasted forth till he came to Westminster as though he had meant never to rest till he had given battell to the French-men but after he had taken councell of his pillow his minde was altered and hâ— thought it better to imploy some other then to goe himselfe so the Duke of Lancaster is thought the fittest man but he protracted the time so long in making preparation thâ—t before he could be gone the Bishop was come away And this indeed is the condition of many to spend so much time in preparing that they utterly lose all opportunity of acting like to men that are putting on their cloathes so long till it be time to put them off againe Shortly after a Truce was concluded between Fraâ—ce and England to endure till the Feast of St. Michael which should be in the yeere 1384. Of Acts done after He came of Age. THe Scots in this meane time had made Roades into England and taken and burnt divers Townes upon the Borders whereupon the Duke of Lancaster with his Brother the Earle of Buckingham is sent with a mighty Army to represse them but having entred Scotland and not able to draw the Scots to a Battell they onely burnt certaine Townes and then returned About this time an Irish Frier of the Order of the Carmelites charged the Duke of Lancaster with heynous crimesâ— as that he intended to destroy the King and usâ—rpe the Crowne shewing the time the place and other circumstances of the whole plot But the Duke called to his Answer so cleered himselfe aâ— least gave such colours of cleering that the Accuser was committed to the custody of Iohn Holland the kings halfe-brother till a day appointed for further tryall The niâ—ht before which day the said Lord Holland and Sir Henry Greene are said to have come to this Frier and putting a cord about his neck tyed the other end about his privy members and after hanging him up from the ground laid a stone upon his belly with the weight whereof his very back-bone burst asunder thereby putting him to a most tormenting death An act not more inhumane then unadvised for though it took away the Accuser yet it made the Accusation more suspitious At this time though a Truce had been made with the Scots yet they would not be quiet but entred and wonne the Castle of Barwick whereof the Earle of Northumberland was Captaine but had committed the keeping of it to another for which being blamed he went against them with an Army but took an easier course for with the summe of two thousand markes he bought them out and had the Castle surrendâ—ed into his hands againe The king upon some new displeasure being now incensed against the Duke of Lancaster had a purpose to have him arrested and arraigned of certaine points of Treason before Sir Robert Tresilian Chiefe Justice though he ought to be tryed by his Peeres but the Duke having intimation hereofâ— got him to his Castle of Pomfret and stood upon his guard till the Kings mother notwithstanding her indisposition of body by reason of her corpulency riding to and fro betwixt them pacified the King and made them friends In the ninth yeere of K. Richards Reigne the French-king sent the Admirall of France into Scotland with a Thousand men of Armes besides Crosse-bowes and others to ayde the Scots against the English with which ayde the Scots encouraged enter the English Borders whereof K. Richard advertised himselfe with a mighty Army enters Scotland and comming to Edingborough and finding all the people fledâ— he set fire on the houses burnt the Church of S. Giles onely Holy-Rood-house was spared at the Duke of Lancasters suit in remembrance of friendship he had formerly received in that house The Scots by no meanes could be drawn to any Battell buâ— to divert the Kings Army they entred Cumberland and besieged Carlile whereby the valour of Sir Lewis Clifford and Sir Thomas Musgrave they were repelled and hearing of the Kings Army comming towards them and fearing to be inclosed they drew back into Scotland and the King returned into England But in this meane while the English of Callis tooke many prizes of French ships at Sea and many Booties also by land at one time foure thousand sheep and three hundred head of great Cattell This yeere the King called a Parliament at Westminster where he created two Dukes one Marquesse and five Earles Edmund of Langly Earle of Cambridge the Kings Unkle was created Duke of Yorke Thomas of Woodstock Earle of Buckingham his other Unkle Duke of Glocester Robert Veere Earle of Oxford was made Marquesse of Dublin Henry of Bullingbrooke sonne of Iohn of Gaunt was created Earle of Darby Edward Plantagenet sonne to the Duke of Yorke was made Earle of Rutland Michael de la Poole Chancellour of England was created Earle of Suffolke and Thomas Mowbray Earle of Nottingham was made Earle Marshall Also by aâ—thority of this Parliament Roger Mortimer Earle of March sonne and heire of Edmund Mortimer and of the Lady Philip eldest daughter and heire to Lionell Duke of Clarence third sonne to king Edward the Third was established heire apparent to the Crowne of the Realme and shortly after so Proclaimed but going into Ireland to his Lordship of Vlster was there by the wilde Irish slaine This Roger Earle of March had issue Edmund Roger Anne Alice and Eleanor which Eleanor was made a Nun The two sonnes dyed without issue Anne his eldest daughter was maried to Richard Earle of Cambridge sonne to Edmund of
told the King Their brother perhaps might let fall some unadvised words but they knew his heart to be true and faithfull Yet doubting how far the King might presse upon them to answer for their brothers faithfulnes they retired from Court which gave the Dâ—kes enemies time to incense the King farther against him It happened that the Duke of Glocester had with him one day at his house the Abbot of S. Albans that was his Godfather and the Prior of Westminster and after dinner falling in talke with them amongst other communications the Duke required the Prior to tell truth whether he had any Vision the night before To which the Prior was loath at first to make a direct Answer but at last being earnestly requested as well by the Abbot as the Duke he confessed that he had a Vision indeed which was that the Realme of England should be destroyed through the Misgovernance of K. Richard By the Virgin Mary said the Abbot I had the very same Vision Whereupon the Duke presently disclosed to them all the secrets of his minde and by their devices contrived an assembly of divers great Lords of the Realme to meet at Arundell-Castle that day Fortnightâ— at which time he appointed to be there himselfe with the Earles of Dâ—rby Arundell Marshâ—ll and Wâ—rwick also the Archbishop of Canterbury the Abbot of S. Albans the Prior of Westminster with divers others And accordingly all these met at Arundell Castle at the day appointed where receiving first the Sacrament by the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury to be assistant each to other in all such matters as they should determine They resolved to seize upon K. Richard and upon the Dukes of Lancaster and York and commit them to Prison and all the other Lords of the Kings Councell they determined should be drawne and hanged But the Earle Marshall that was Deputy of Calliâ— and had maried the Earle of Arundels daughter discovered all their Counsell to the King who thereupon by a plot devised by his Councell tooke his brother the Earle of Huntington with him and rising from supper rode that night to the Duke of Glocesters house at Plashey in Essex When the King came thither the Duke was a-bed but informed of it cast his cloake about his shoulders and came down bidding the Kings Grace with all reverence welcome The King courteously requested him to goe and make him ready for that he must needs ride with him a little way to conferre of some busines The Duke presently made him ready and came downe and as soone as the King and his Company was gone a little way from the house and the Duke with him the Earle Marshall arrested the Duke as he had been appointed to doe by the King who immediately was sent to Callis where after some time he was dispatched of his life either strangled or else smothered with pillowes as some write At the very same time was the Earle of Arundell apprehended by the Earles of Rutland and Kent the Earle of Warwick also when the King had invited him to dinner and shewed him very good countenance was taken and arrested in the place As likewise at the same time were apprehended and committed to the Tower the Lord Iohn Cobham and Sir Iohn Châ—yny Shortly after the King procured them to be indicted at Nottingham suborning such as should appeale them in Parliament namely Edward Earle of Rutland Thomâ—â— Mowbray Earle Marshall Thomâ—s Holland Earle of Kent Iohn Holland Earle of Huntington Thomas Beaufort Earle of Somerset Iohn Montacute Earle of Salisbury Thomas L. Spenser and the Lord William Scroope L. Chamberlaine and in the meane time the King sent for a Power of Cheshiâ—â— men to keep Watch and Ward about his person On the 17. of September a Parliament began at Westminster wherein the King complained as well of many things done by the Lords in his Minority as also of the hard dealing which they had used towards the Queen who was three houres at one time on her knees before the Earle of Arundell for one of her Esquires named Iohn Calverley who neverthelesse had his head smitten from his shoulders and all the answer she could get was this Madame pray for your selfe and your Husband and let this suit alone Those that set forth the Kings grievances in this Parliament were Iohn Bushie William Bagot and Thomas Greene. The cause of aâ—sembling the Parliament was shewed that the King had called it for reformation of divers transgressions against the Peace of his Land by the Duke of Glocester the Earles of Arundell Warwick and others Then Sir Iohn Bushie Speaker of the Parliament made request on behalfe of the Commonalty that they might be punished according to their deservings and specially the Archbishop of Canterburyâ— who then â—ate next the king whom he accused of high Treason When the Archbishop began to answer Sir Iohn Bushie besought the king that he might not be admitted to answer lest by his great wit and cunning he might lead men away to believe him And here Sir Iohn Bushie in all his talke did not attribute to the king Titles of honour due and â—ccustomed but such as were fitter for the Majestie of God then for any Earthly Prince And when the Archbishop was constrained to keepe silence Sir Iohn Bushie proceeded requiring on the behalfe of the Commons that the Charters of Pardon granted to the Duke of Glocester and the Earles of Arundell and Warwick should be revoked The king for his part protested that they were drawne from him by compulsion and therefore besought them to deliver their opinions what they thought thereof whereupon the Bishops first gave their sentence that the said Pardons were revocable and might be called in but pretending a scrupulosity as if they might not with safe consciences be present where Judgement of Blood should passe they appointed a Lay-man to be their Prolocutor for that turne The Temporall Lords likewise gave their sentence that the Pardons were revocable onely the Judges and Lawyers were not of this opinion But howsoever the Archbishop of Câ—nterbury is hereupon condemned to perpetuall Exile and appointed to avoyd the Realme within sixe weekes Also the Earle of Arundell is by the Duke of Laâ—caster who sate that day as High Steward condemned of Treason and on the Tower-hill beheaded There went to see the execution divers Lords amongst whom was the Earle of Nottingham that had maried his daughter and the Earle of Kent that was his daughters sonne to whom at the place of his execution he said Truly it would have beseemed you rather to bee absent then here at this businesse but the time will come ere long that as many shall marvell at your misfortune as they doe now at mine After his death a Fame went that his head was grown to his body againe whereupon the tenth day after his buriall his body by the kings appointment was taken up and then found to be a Fable After this the Lord Thomas
King of France making a slight answer the Regent marcheth apace towards him and as fast the King of France marcheth away The Regent followed him but could not overtake him till he came neere Seâ—lys there both the Armies encamped and embattelled yet only some light skirmishes pâ—â—â—ed between them and a night or two after the French king fled with his Army to Brâ—y which the Duke thinking to be but a plot to draw him further off from Paris of whose fidelity he had no great assurance followed him no further but returned thither At which time the Regents brother the Cardinall having prepared forces to assist Pope Martin in Bohemia the Regent borrowed them of him for a present expedition and with them marched into Champaigne where he found the French king encamped upon the Mount Pihall whose number being twice as many as the Regents yet by no provocations could he be drawn to battell but secretly fled to Crispis whereupon the Regent also returned to Paris Whilâ—st these things are done in France In England upon St. Leonards day the 6. of November 1429 King Henry not yet eight yeers old was with great solemnity Crowned at Westminster at whose Coronation were made six and thirty Knights of the Bathe and after the solemnity a feast and if any man desire to know so much Cookery hee may read in Fabian all the dishes of meate that were served at that feast About this time in France a strange Impostor ariseth a maid called la Pucelle taking upon her to be sent from God for the good of France and to expell the English and some good indeed she did for by her subtle working the King was received into Champaigne and many Townes were rendred to him whil'st the Lord Lâ—nguevile tooke by surprize the Castle of Aumarle and slew all the English that were in it But all these were but petty acquests to the king of France there is a knot of friendship between the Dukes of Bedford and Burgoigne which must be broken or he will never be able to compasse his designes He therefore labours by all meanes possible to disunite them wherein he so little prevailed that the Duke of Burgâ—igâ—e acquaints the Regent with all the practises who thereupon with many thanks exhorteth him to continue fiâ—me of which he should never have cause to repent him And because Normandy was a principall part of the English strength in France he goeth thither and by many reasons perswades them as their Ancestors had alwayes been to be faithfull to the Crown of England In this time of the Regents absence from Paris the King of France drew all his forces thither using all meanes possible by Escalado Battery and burning the gates to enter the City but was so withstood by the vigilancy of the Citizens that he was glad to sound Retreat leaving his slaine and maimed souldiers behind him all but the Pucelle who being hurt in the legge and almost stifled with myre in the ditch was by a servant of the Duke of Alanson drawne up and conveyed after the King to Berry who by the way received the submission of the Inhabitants of Lâ—igâ—ye Some other services were performed on both sides by the Duke of Suffolk and Sir Thomas Kyriell for the English by the Bastard of Orleance and Sir Stepheâ— le Hye for the French but of no great importance till at last the Pucelle who a little before had caused an English Captaines head to be cut off because he would not humble himselfe to her upon his knee was by Sir Iohn of Luâ—zemburgh taken and presented to the Duke of Burgoigne who sent her to the Regent and he to the Bishop of the Diocesse who judicially proceeding against her as a Sorceresse and deceiver of the King and his subjects she was after many delayes of promise to discover secret practises and lastly of her feigning to bee with childe publickly burnt at Roan And now the Regent finding how much the Crowning of the French king had furthered his designes he made account the like effect would follow the Crowning of King Henry in France whereupon he is sent for to come over and comming to Paris was by his Uncle the Bishop of Winchester and Cardinall of Eusebius not yet above nine yeares old with all usuall ceremonies Crowned King of France receiving the oaths of Homage and Fealty of all the French Nobility that were present and of all the Inhabitants of Paris and of the places adjacent Upon this Pope Eugenius laboured a Reconcilement between the two Kings but could effect nothing but onely a Truce for six yeeres which agreed upon King Henry reâ—urnâ— into England and landeth at Dover the eleventh of February But the six-yearesâ— Truce was scarce openly Proclaimed when the French had cunningly possessed themselves of divers Castles and places of strength justifying their actions affirmingâ— That what was politickly obtained without blowes was no infringement of the Truce and afterwards they perfidiously conveyed two hundred men into the Castle of Roan with intent to have surprized it but being discovered they were all taken and either ransomed or put to execution Upon this the Regent whose wife the Sister of the Duke of Burgoigâ—e being lately dead and he maried againe to Iaquelinâ— the Earle of S. Pauls daughter with whom he went over into England returned againe to Paris to whom the Lord Talbot having now paid his ransome commeth bringing with him seven hundred tryed souldiers and with them the Regent takes the field where the French Army lay but the French slunâ— away in the dark as not daring to abide the hazard of a battell About this time the Duke of Bourbon taken at the battell of Agincourt after eighteen yeares imprisonment paying eighteen thousand pounds for his Ransome the same day he was enlarged dyed at London And now a very great effect was produced out of a very small cause There had been sparks of unkindnesse between the two great Dukes of Bedford and Burgoigâ—â— which brake out into a flame upon this occasion A time and place was appointed where they should meet to compound some differences that were between them The place agreed upon was St. Omers a Town in Burgoigne When the time came they stood upon this nice point Which of them should first come to the place as thinking that he which did so should thereby acknowledge himselfe to be the meaner person The Duke of Bedford thought he had no reason to doe it seeing he was Regent of France and therefore superiour to any subject in the Kingdome And the Duke of Burgoigne thought he had no reason to doe it seeing it was to be done in his own Dominions where he was himselfe the Soveraigne Lord. Upon this nice point they parted without meeting and the unkindnesse grew afterward to so great hatred that the Duke of Burgoigne chose rather to be friends with him thâ—t had murthered his father than ever to have any more commerce with the Duke of Bedford Thus
King and by him to his Councell who being most of the Clergie durst not meddle in them for offending â—he Cardinall On the other side the Cardinall finding nothing whereof directly to accuse the Duke of Glocester himselfe accuseth his or her selfe the Lady Cothamâ—he â—he Dukes wife of Treason for attempting by sorcery and witchcraft the death of the King and advancement of her husband to the Crown for which though acquiâ—ed of the Treason she is adjudged to open Penance namely to goe with a wax taper in her hand hoodlesse save a kerchiffe through London divers dayes together and after to remaine in perpetuall imprisonment in the Isle of Man The crime objected against her was procuring Thomas Southwell Iohn Hunne Priests Roger Bollingbrockâ— a supposed Necromancer and Margery Iourdan called the Witch of Eye in Suffolkeâ— to devise a picture of waxe in proportion of the king in such sort by sorcery that as the picture consumed so the kings body should consume for which they were all condemned the witch was burnt in Smithfield Bollingbrooke was hanged constantly affirming upon his death that neither the Dutchesse nor any other from her did ever require more of him than onely to know by his art how long the king should live Iohn Hunne had his pardon and Southwell dyed the night before he shouâ—d have been executed About this time the Countesse of Cominges being dead the king of France and the Earle of Arminiack are Competitors for the Inheritance The Earle takes possession but fearing the King of France his greatnesse makes offer of his daughter in mariage to the King of England with a large portion in money and besides to deliver full possession of all such Townes and Castles as were by him or his Ancestors detained in Aquitaine and had been formerly by the Progenitors of the King of England conquered The Ambassadors for this businesse were by King Henry graciously heard and honorably returned after whom were sent Sir Edward Hall Sir Robert Rose and others to conclude all things and the young Lady is by Proxy affianced to king Henry But the king of France not liking the proceeding of the match sendeâ—h the Dolphin with a puissant Army who tooke the Earle with his youngest sonne and both his daughters aud gained the Counties of Arminiack Louverne Rouergue Moulessenois with the Cities of Severâ—e and Cadeack chasing the Bastard of Arminiack out of â—he Country by meanes whereof the mariage was then deferred and left in suspense In this distraction of Christendome many Princes the kings of Spaine Denmark and Hungary became Mediators for a Peace between the two kings of France and England Ambassadors of both sides are sent many meetings were had many motions made but in conclusion onely a Truce for eighteen moneths is agreed upon In the meane time the Earle of Suffolk one of the Commissioners for the Peace takes upon him beyond his Commssion and without acquainting his fellowes to treat of a mariage between the king of England and a kinswoman of the king of France Neece to the French Queene daughter to Raynâ—r Duke of Anjou stiling himâ—elfe king of Sicilie and Naples In which businesse he was so intentive that it brought an aspersion upon him of being bribed but howsoever an Enterview betwixt the two kings is appointed without any warrant of king Henries part to be between Charterâ— and Roan The Commissioners returne the Earle of Suffolk sets forth the beauty of the proposed Bride and the great benefits that would redound to the kingdome by this match The king was easily induced to credit the relation but divers of the kings Councell especially the Duke of Glocester opposed it partly for the meannesse of the match her father being onely a Titular Prince and withall but poore unable to give any portion at all and partly for the wrong which should hereby be offered to the Duke of Arminiacks daughter to whom the king had been in solemne manner publickly affianced But Reasons could not prevaile against favour the Earle of Suffolks affirmation must not be undervalued And hereupon a new creation of Lords first made Iohn Beaufort Earle of Somerset made Duke of Somerset Iohn Lord Talbot made Earle of Shrewsbury Iohn Holland Earle of Huntington made Duke of Exeter Humfry Earle of Stafford made Duke of Buckingham Henry 〈◊〉 Earle of Warwick made Duke of Warwick Edmund Beaufoâ—t Earle of Dorset made Marquesse Dorset and William de la Poole Earle of Suffolke made Marquesse of Suffolke this new Marquesse honorably accompanied is sent into Fraâ—ce to fetch the Lady Margaret the proposed Bride who shortly after is maried at Southwick in Hampshire and crowned Queen of England at Westminster on the 30 day of May 1444 in the three and twentieth yeare of king Henries Reigne And now in stead of benefits by this mariage there presently followed great inconveniences for first in exchange of her person the Dutchy of Anjou the City of 〈◊〉 with the whole County of Mayne the best props of the Dutchy of Normandy are agreed to be surrendred into the hands of the French and then the Duke of Arminiack to revenge the injury offred to his daughter is a meanes to expell the English â—ut of all Aquitaine At this time the Duke of Somersets spleen against the Duke of Yorke not onely is revived but is growne stronger for the Duke of Yorke who was now after the death of the Earle of Warwick made the second time Regent of France is so undermined by him through assistance of the new Marquesse of Suffolke who bore now all the sway with the King and Queen that not onely he supplanted him in his place but planted himselfe in it to the great heart-burning of the Duke of York and his friends but he wisely dissembled his anger and for the present passed it oveâ— And now is no man in grace but the new Marquesse of Suffolk all favours from the King and Queene must passe by him and the extent of his power over-râ—acheth all the Councell He gets of the King the wardship of the body and lands of the Countesse of Warwick and of the Lady Margaret sole daughter and heire of Iohn Duke of Somerset afterward mother to king Henry the seventh And now the kings weaknesse in judgement growes every day more apparent then other whil'st governed by no counsell but of his Queen and she by no counsell but her owne will and the new Marquesse of Suffolke King Henry is himself the least part of the king and serves but to countenance the devices of others whereof he little understands the drifts and which proving ill the blame must be his if well the benefit and honour others For by instigation of the Queene he suffers the Duke of Glocester for his care of the Common-wealth called the good Duke to be excluded not onely from Command but from the Counsell-Table and permits Informers sâ—t on by the Marquesse of Suffolke the Duke of Buckingham the Cardinall Bishop of
the Scottish Bishops had no Metropolitane but the Bishop of Yorke was Metropolitane and Primate of Scotland now in this Kings time Pope Sixâ—â—â— appointed the Bishop of Saint Andrews to be Metropolitane of Scotland who had twelve Bishops under his obedience Of Workes of Piety done in his time THIS King laid the foundation of the new Chappell at Windsoâ— and his Queen Elizabeth founded the Queens Colledge in Cambridge and endowed it with large Possessions About his fifteenth yeere Doctor Woodlarke Provost of Kings Colledge in Cambridge Founded Katherine-hall there In his seventeenth yeer the Wall of the City of London from Cripplegate to Bishopsgate was builded at the charges of the Citizens also Bishopsgate it selfe was new built by the Merchants 〈◊〉 of the Styliard Also in this yeere dyed Sir Iohn Crosby Knight late Major of London who gave to the repairing of the Parish-Church of St. Helens in Bishopsgatestreet where he was buried 500 Marks to the repairing of the parish Church of Heâ—wâ—rth in Middlesex forty pounds to the repairing of London-wall an hundred pounds to the repairing of Rochester-bridge ten pounds to the Wardens and Commonalty of the Grocers in London two large Pots of silver chased halfe gilt and other Legacies About this time also Richard Rawson one of the Sheriffs of London caused an house to be builded in the Church-yard of St. Mary Hospitalll without Bishopsgate where the Major and Aldermen use to sit and heare the Sermons in Easterholy-daies In his nineteenth yeere William Tailour Major of London gave to the City certaine Tenements for the which the City is bound to pay for ever at every Fifteene granted to the King for all such as shall dwell in Cordwainers-street-ward sessed at twelve-pence apiece or under And about the same time one Thomas 〈◊〉 Sheriffe of London builded at his own costs the great Conduit in Cheâ—pside In his three and twentieth yeere Edmund Shaw Goldsmith who had been Major of London at his own costs re-edified Cripplegate in London which gate in old time had been a Prison Of Casualties happening in his time IN his third yeare the Minster of Yorke and the Steeple of Christs Church in Norwich were burnt In his seventeenth yeere so great a Pestilence reigned in England that it swept away more people in foure moneths than the Warres had done in fifteen yeeres past Also in his nineteenth yeere was another Pesâ—â—lence which beginning in the later end of September continued till the beginning of November twelve-moneth following in which space of time innumerable people dyed Of his wife and issue KIng Edward had been contracted to Eleanor daughter of Iohn Talbot Earle of Shrewsbury maried after to Sir Thomas Butler Baron of Sâ—dely but he maried Elizabeth the widdow of Sir Iohn Grey daughter of Richard Woodvile by his wife Iaqueline Dutchesse of Bedford she lived his wife eighteene yeeres and eleven moneths by whom he had three sonnes and seven daughters Edward his eldest sonne borne in the Sanctuary at Westminster Richard his second sonne borne at Shrewsbury George his third sonne borne also at Shrewsbury but dyed a childe Elizabeth his eldest daughter promised in mariage to Charles Dolphin of France but maried afterward to King Henry thâ— Seventh Cicely his second daughter promised in mariage to Iames Duke of â—othsay Prince of Scotland but was maried afterward to Iohn Viscount Wells whom she outlived and was againe re-maried but by neither husband had any issue she lyeth buried at Quarena in the Isle of Wight Anne his third daughter was maried to Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke Earle Marshall and High Treasurer of England by whom she had two sonnes both dying without issue she lyeth buried at Framingham in Norfolk Bridget his fourth daughter borne at Eltham in Kent became a Nunne in the Nunnery of Dartford in Kent which king Edward had founded Mary his fifth daughter was promised in mariage to the King of Denmarke but dyed in the Tower of Greenwich before it could be solemnized she lyeth buried at Windsor Margaret his sixth daughter dyed an Infant Katherine his seventh daughter was maried to William Courtney Earle of Devoâ—shire to whom she bare Lord Henry who by King Henry the eighth was created Marquesse of Exeter Concubines he had many but three specially and would use to say that he had three Concubines who in their severall properties excelled One the merriest another the wyliest the third the holyest harlot in his Realme as one whom no man could lightly get out of the Church to any place unlesse it were to his bed The other two were greater personages than are sit to be named but the merriest was Shores wife in whom therefore he tooke speciall pleasure This woman was borne in London worshipfully descended and well maried but when the King had abused her anon her husband as he was an honest man and did know his good not presuming to touch a Kings Concubine left her up to him altogether By these he had naturall issue Arthur sirnamed Plantagenet whose mother as is supposed was the Lady Elizabeth Lucy created Viscount Lisle by King Henry the Eight at Bridewell in London And Elizabeth who was maried to Sir Thomas Lumley knight to whom she bare Richard afterward Lord Lumley from whom the late Lord Lumley did descend Of his Personage and Conditions HE was saith Comines the goodliest Personage that ever mine eyes beheld exceeding tall of statuâ—e faire of complexion and of most Princely presence and we may truly say he was of full age before he came to one and twenty for being but eighteen yeeres old when his Father dyed he sued out his livery presently so as he began the race of his forâ—â—ne just like Augustus Caesar each of them at the same age succeeding an Ancestour after a violent death and each of them left to set on a roofe where but onely a foâ—â—â—â—tion was laid before For his conditions he was of an erected composure both of body â—nd minde but something sagging on the Fleshes side and never any man that did marry for Love did so little love Mariage for he tooke as much pleasure in other mens wives as in his owne He was never more confident than when he was in danger nor ever more doubtfull than when he was sâ—â—ure Of the foure Cardinall virtues Forâ—â—nde and Prudence were in him naturally Temperance â—â—d Justice but to serve his turne He was politick even to irreligion for to compasse his ends he would not stick to sweare what he never meant Yet he was Religious beyond Policy for before Battailes he used to make his Prayers to God after Victories to give him Thanks He was farre from being proud yet very ambitious and could use familiarity and yet retaine Majestie He was a great Briber and whaâ— he could not get by force he would by Rewards as much as what he could not get by Battery he would by Mines Hâ— was too credulous of Reports which made him be in errour sometimes to the hâ—rt
to advize On Thursday the ninth of March a Gentleman came in Post from the Lady Margaret with Letters signifying that whereas the King of France had long lyen at the siege of Pavia he had now been forced to raise his siege and was himselfe taken prisoner by thâ— Imperialestsâ— for joy whereof Bonfires and great Triumph was made in 〈◊〉 and on the twentieth of March being Sunday the King himselfe came to Pauls and there heard a solemne Masse But for all this shew of joy it was thought if the King of France had not now been taken prisoner that the King of England would have joyned in amity with him as being angry with the Fleâ—â—â—gs for Inhauâ—â—ing his Coyne in Flanders which caused much money to be conâ—ayed out of England thither The King of France being taken prisoner was after some time convayed into Spaine and at last brought to Madrill where he â—ell so sicke that the Physitians had little hope of his life unlesse the Emperour would be pleased speedily to visit him upon whose visitation he recovered his health though not presently his strength In which time many propositions were made for his delivery but the Emperour would accept of â—one without restitution of the Dutchy of Burgoigne At last the French King weary of imprisonment and longing for liberty was content to agree to any conditionsâ— the chiefe whereof were that the French King by a certaine day should be set at liberty and within six weeks after should resigne to the Emperour the Dutchy of Burgoigne with all Members pertayning to it and at the â—ame â—â—stant should put into the Emperours hands the Dolphyn of France â—nd with him either the Duke of Orleance his second sonne or else twelve priâ—cipall Lords of France whom the Emperour should name and that there should be between them a League and perpetâ—all coâ—federation foâ— defence of their estates Of whose attonement when King Henry heard as before he had expressed gladnesse that he was taken prisoner so now he sent Sir Thomas Cheiney to him to expresse his joy for being set at liberty so suddaine is the enterchange of love and hate amongst great Princes The French King being thus delivered the Emperour married the Lady Isabel Daughter to Emanuel King of Portingal and â—ad with her in Dower eleven hundred thousand Duckeâ—sâ— though three yeers before being at Windsor he had covenanted to take to wife the Lady Mary King Henries Daughter At this time Cardinall Woolsey obtained licence of the King to erect a Colledge at Oxford and another at Ipswich and towards the charge of them got leave also to suppresse certaine small Monasteries to the number of forty and after got a confirmation of the Pope that he might imploy the Goods and Lands belonging to those Houses to the maintenance of those two Colledges a perniâ—ious president and that which made the King a way afterward to make a generall suppression of all religioâ—s Houses though indeed there be great difference between converting of Monestaries into Colledges and utter subverting them In March King Henry sent Cuthert Tunstall Bishop of London and Sir Richard Winkfield Chancelour of the Duâ—chy of Lancâ—ster into Spaine to conferre with the Emperour about matters of great importance and particularly about Warre to be made in France and yet were these two Princes at this time in League but he that shall observe the carriage of these three Princes towards one another and how convertible their Leagues were into Warre and their Warre into Peace shall finde it a strange Riddle of Ragion di statâ— and their Leagues to have been but meere complements where the skale was turned with the least graine of a circumstance and though they were bound by Oath yet that Oath made the Leagues but little the firmer seeing the League might be broken and yet the Oath kept for while one gave the occasion and the other took it though they were both accessaries yet neither was principall and where there is not a principall the Oath remains inviolate And upon those Hinges did the friend-ship of these Princes turne as at this time the Emperour though not long before he had parted with the King of England in the greatest kindnesse that could be yet gave not the English Embassadours so kinde entertainment now as he had formerly done but for what cause was not apparent unlesse upon some sinister report made to him by Monsieur de Prate who having been his Ligier with the King of England was without taking leave of the King departed and come to the Emperour before the English Embassadours came But howsoever King Henry being determined to make Warre in France himselfe in person his Councell fell into consideration how the charge of the Warre should be maintained which care the Cardinall takes upon him and thereupon appoints Commissioners in all Shiers to sit and draw the people to pay the sixth part of every mans substance in plate or money but the people opposed it alleadging that it was against the Law of the Realme for any man to be charged with such payments unlesse by Parliament and as the Cardinall continued to presse it so the people continued to denye it and when some for denying it were committed to prison the Commons in many Countryes made great assemblies for their defence the report whereof at last came to the King who thereupon came to VVestminster and protested openly that it was done without his knowledge and that it was never his meaning to ask any thing of his Subjects but according to Law and therefore desired to know by whose Authority it was done Here the Cardinall excused himselfe and said that it was the opinion of all the Judges and of all his Councell thaâ— he might Lawfully demand any summe so it were done by Commission and thereupon it was done But the King liked not to take advantage of a distinction to draw money from his Subjects and thereupon gave warning for doing any such thing hereafter and signified so much by his Letters into all the Shiers of England giving also a generall pardon to all that had offered to rise upon it which though he did of his owne free grace yet the Cardinall to win a good opinion in the Commons gave out that it was by his meanes the King granted the pardon King Henries seventeenth yeer was honoured with the advancing of many in honour for on the eighteenth of Iune at his Pallace of Bridewell the Kings sonne which he had by Elizibeth Blunt daughter to Sir Iohn Blunt Knight called Henry Fitz-Roy was created first Earl of Nottingham and after on the same day Duke of Richmond and Somerset Henry Courtney Earle of Devonshire was created Marquis of Excetur the Lord Brandon sonne to the Duke of Suffolke and the French Queene a child of two yeers old was created Earle of Lincolne Sir Thomas Manners Lord Rosse was created Earle of Rutland Sir Henry Clifford was created Earle of Cunberland Sir Robert Ratcliffe
her and then desiring him further to have some consideration of her Servants On the eighth of Ianuary at Kimbolton she departed this life and was buried at Peterborough A woman of so vertuous a life and of so great obsequiousnesse to her husband that from her onely merit is grown a reputation to all Spanish wives Also the nine and twentieth of Ianuary this yeere Queene Anne was delivered of a childe before her time which was borne dead And now King Henry began to fall into thoâ—e great disorders which have been the blemish of his life and have made him be blotted out of the Catalogue of our best Princes for first in October this yeer he sent Dâ—ctor Lee and others to â—isit the Abbeys Priories and Nunneries in England who set at liberty all those Religious persons that would forsake their habit and all that were under thâ— age of foure and twenty yeers and in December following a survay was taken of all Chantries and the names of such as had the guift of them After which in a Parliament holden the fourth of February an Act was made which gave to the King all Religious houses with all their lands and goods that were of the value of three hundred marks a yeere and under the â—â—mber of which Houses was three hundred seventy and six the value of their lands yeerly above two and thirty thousand pounds their movable goods one hundred thousand the Religious persons put out of the same houses above ten thoâ—sand This yeere William Tindall was burnt at a Town in Flanders betweene Brussels and Mechlyn called Villefort for translating into English the New Testament and divers parts of the old who having beene long imprisoned was upon the Lord Cromwels writing for his Deliverance in all haste brought to the fire and burnt It was now the eight and twentieth yeere of King Henries Reigne when on Munday there were solemne Justs holden at Geeenwich from whence the King suddainely departed and came to Westminster whose suddaine departure stroke great amazement into many but to the Queene especially and not without cause for the next day the Lord Rochford her brother and Henry Norris were brought to the Tower of London prisoners whither also the same day at five a clock in the afternoone was brought Queene Anne her selfe by Sir Thomas Audeley Lord Chancelour the Duke of Norfolke Thomas Cromwell Secretary and Sir William Kingston Leivtenant of the Tower who at the Tower-gate fell on her knees before the said Lords beseeching God to help her as she was innocent of that whereof she was accused on the â—ifteenth of May she was arraigned in the Tower before the Duke of Norfolke sitting as high Steward of England When her Inditement was read she made unto it so wise and discreet answers that shee seemed fully to cleere her selfe of all matters laid to her charge but being tried by her Peeres whereof the Duke of Suffolke was chiefe she was by them found guilty and had Judgment pronounced by the Duke of Norâ—olke immeadiatly the Lord Rochford her brother was likewise arraigned and condemned who on the seaventeenth of May together with Henry Norris Marke Smeton VVilliam Briorton and Francis VVeston all of the Kings Privy-chamber about marters touching the Queen were beheâ—deâ— on the Tower-hill Queen Anne her selfe on the nineteenth of May on a Scaâ—fold upon the Green within the Tower was beheaded with the sword of Callice by the hangman of that Towne her body with the head was buried in the Quire of the chappell there This Queen Anne was the daughter of Thomas Bullen Earle of VViltshire and of Lady Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Howard Duke of Norâ—olke the Earles Father was the sonne of Sir VVilliam Bullen whose wife was Margaret the second daughter and Coheire of Thomas Butler Ealre of Ormond and the said Sir VVilliam was the sonne of Sir Godfrey Bullen Lord Major of London who lieth buried in Saint Leonards Church in the Iewry whose wife was Anne eldest daughter coheire to Thomas Lord Hoo and Hastings and his discent was out of the house of the Bullens in the County of Norfolke thus much for her Parentage for her Religion she was an â—arnest Professor and one of the first Countenancers of the Gospell in Almes-deeds so liberall that in nine moneths space It it is said she distributed amongst the poore to the value of fifteene thousand pounds now for the crimes for which she died Adultery and Incest proofes of her guiltinesse there are none recorded of her Innocency many first her owne clearing of all objections at the time of her arraignment then Cromwels writing to the King after full examination of the matter that many things have been objected but none confessed onely some circumstances had been acknowledged by Marke Smeton and what was Marke Smeton but a meane fellow one that upon promise of life would say any thing and having said somthing which they took hold of was soone after executed least he should retract it lastly they that were accused with her they all denied it to the death even Henry Norris whom the King specially favoured and promised him pardon if he would but confesse it It was a poore proofe of Incest with her brother that comming one morning into her chamber before she was up he leaned down upon her bed to say somthing in her eare yet this was taken hold of for a proof and it need be no marvaile if we consider the many aduersaries she had as being a Protestant and perhaps in that respect the King himselfe not greatly her friend for though he had excluded the Pope yet he continued a Papist stil and then who knowes not that nature is not more able of an Acorn to make an oake then authority is able of the least surmise to make a certainty But howsoever it was that her death was contrived certain it is that it cast upon King Henry a dishonourable Imputation in so much that where the Protestant Princes of Germany had resolved to choose him for head of their League after they heard of this Queens death in such a manner they utterly refused him as unworthy of the honour and it is memorable what conceit Queene Anne her selfe had of her death for at the time when shee was led to be beheaded in the Towerâ— shee called one of the Kings Privy-chamber to her and said unto him commend me to the King and tell him he is constant in his course of advancing me for from a private Gentlewoman he made me a Marquesse from a Marquesse a Queen and now that he had left no higher degree of worldly honour for me he hath made me a Martyr Immediatly after her death in the weeke before Whiâ—â—onâ—ide the King maried Iane Seymour daughter to Sir Iohn Seymour who at Whitsontide was openly shewed as Queene and on the Tuesday in the Whitson-weeke her brother Sir Edmund Seymour was created Viscount Beauchamp and Sir Walter Hangerford was made Lord Hangerford The
at Hampton Court created Earl of Essex Sir William Parre knight unckle to them both was made Lord Parre of Horton and Lord Chamberlin to the Queen and on New-yeers-day Sir Thomas Wriothsley the Kings Secretary was made Lord Wriothsley of Tichfield In Iune this yeer Matthew Earl of Lenox fled out of Scotland and came into England whom King Henry received kindly and gave him in marriage the Lady Margaret his Sisters daughter by whom he had Henry Father of our late King Iames of blessed memory Thomas Audley Lord Chancellour being lately dead Thomas Lord Wriothsley succeeded him in the place and now was an Army levied to goe for France the Duke of Norfolke and the Lord Privie Seal accompanied with the Earl of Surrey the Dukes Son the Lord Gray of Wilton the Lord Ferrers of Câ—artley and his Son Sir Robert Devereux Sir Thomas Chainey Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports the Lord Montjoy Sir Francis Byran Sir Thomas Poynings Captaine of Guysnes with many other Knights and Gentlemen about Whitsontide passed over to Callice and marching toward Muttrel joyned with the Emperours forces under the leading of the Count de Buren which two Armies laid siedge to Muttrel wherof Monsseur de Bies one of the Martials of France was Captaine but being then at Bulloign and hearing of the siedg of Muttrel he left Bulloigne and with his forces came thither which was the thing that was desired to draw him from Bnlloign and thereupon was the Duke of Suffolke appointed to passe over with the Kings army accompanied with the Earl of Arundell Marshall of the Field the Lord St. Iohn the Bishop of Winchester Sir Iohn Gage Controlor of the Kings house Sir Anthony Browne Master of the Kings horse with divers others who the ninteenth of Iuly came and incamped before Bulloigne the four and twentieth of Iuly the King in person accompanied with divers of the Nobility came to Callice and the six and twentieth incamped before Bulloign on the north side many batteries and assaults were made so long till at last the Town upon composition yeelded and the Duke of Suffolke entred and tooke possession suffring six thousand French as was agreed with bag and baggage to depart The eight of September King Henry entred the town himselfe and then leaving the Lord Lisle Lord Admirall his Deputy there he returned into England landing at Dover the first of Oâ—tober Many enterprises after this were made by the Dolphin of France and by Monsieur de Bies for recovery of Bulloigne but they were still repulsed and the English kept the towne in spight of all they could doe although at one time there came an Army of eighteene thousand foot at another time an Army wherein were reckoned twelve thousand Lance-knights twelve thousand French foot-men sixe thousand Italians foure thousand of Legionarie souldiers of France a thousand men of Armes besides eight thousand light Horse great Forces certainly to come and doe nothing Whilst these things were doing about Bulloign the ships of the west Country and other places waâ—ted abroad on the Seas and took above three hundred French ships so that the Gray-friers Church in London was laid full of wine the Austin-friers and Black-friers full of herrings and other fish which should have bin convayed in France About this time the King demanded a Benevolence of his Subjects towards his wars in France and Scotland to which purpose the Lord Chancelour the Duke of Suffolke and other of the Kings Counsaile sate at Baynards Castle where they first caled before them the Major and Aldermen and because Richard Read Alderman would not agree to pay as they set him he was commanded to serve the King in his wars in Scotland which the obstinate man rather choose to doe then he would pay the rate he was required but being there he was taken prisoner by the Scots to his far greater damage then if he had agreed to the Benevolence required For at this time Sir Ralph Evers Lord Warden of the Marches after many fortunate Roades into Scotland assembled four thousand men and entring Scotland now againe was encountred by the Earl of Arraigne by whom he and the Lord Oagle and many other Gentlemen were slaine and diverse were taken prisoners of whom Alderman Read was one It was now the seaven and thirtieth yeer of King Henries Reigne when on Saint Georges day Sir Thâ—mas Wriothsley Lord-Chancelour was made Knight of the Garter also Trinity Tearme was adjourned by reason of the warres but the Exchequer and the Court of the Teâ—thes were open At this time the English fleet went before New-haven but being there encountred by a farre greater fleet of French they retâ—rned with whose retreate the French Admirall emboldned came upon the Coast of Sussex where hee landed Souldiers but upon firing of the Beacons was driven back after which he landed two thousand men in the Isle of Wight but was there repelled though reported to have in his ships threescore thousand men In Angust this yeer died the valiant Captaine the Lord Poynings the Kings Lievtenant of his Towne of Bulloigne and the same month also died at Guildford the noble Duke of Suffolke Charles Brandon Lord great Master of the Kings House whose Body was honourably buried at Windsore at the Kings cost About this time the Scots having received aide out of France approached the English Borders but durst attempt nothing whereupon the Earle of Hertford Lievtenant of the North parts raising an army of twelve thovsand men English and strangers entred Scotland and burnt a great part of Mers and Tividale as Kelsay Abbey and the Towne the Abbeys of Medrosse Driborne and Yedworth with a hundred Townes and Villages more when on the sixteenth of September an Army of Scots and French attempted to enter into England on the East borders but in a streight were set upon by the English who slew and tooke of them to the number of seven score amongst whom was the Lord Humes sonne and a principall French Captaine in another roade which they made into the West Borders the Lord Maxwels sonne and diverse other were taken but then at another time such is the chance of war five hundred English entring the West Borders of Scotland were discomfited and the greatest part of them either taken or slaine And now to revenge the presumptious attempts of the French upon the Isle of Wight the Lord Admiral with his fleet approached the Coasts of Normandy landed six thousand men at Treport burnt the Suburbs of that Towne with the Abbey destoryed thirty ships there in the Haven and then returned not having lost above fourteen persons in the whole voyage At this time the Earle of Hartford lying at Bulloigne had in his Army above fourscore thousand men and many skirmishes passed between him and the French till at last by mediation of the Emperour and diverse other Princes a meeting was appointed to treat of a peace between the two Kings of England and France hereupon there
betweene them was appointed it happened that the night before a small Brooke called Dun running between the two Armies upon the fall of a small raiâ—e swelled to such a height that it was not passable by either foot or horse a thing which had never happened before upon a great raine and was then accounted as indeed it was no lesse then a Miracle In his three and thirtieth yeere was a great mortality in the Realme by reason of hot Agues and Fluxes and withall so great a drouth that small Rivers were clean dryed much cattell dyed for lacke of water and the Thames were grown so shallow that the Salt-water flowed above London-bridge till the raine had encreased the fresh waters In his five and thirtieth yeere the first cast-Peeces of Iroâ— that ever were made in England were made at Buckstead in Sussex by Ralph Hâ—ge and Peter Bawde In his six and thirtieth yeere was a great Plague in London so as Michaelmâ—s Tearme was adjourned to Saint Albones and there kept In his seven and thirtieth yeere on Tuesday in Easter-weeke William Foxley Pot-maker for the Mint of the Tower of London fell asleepe and could not bâ— waked with pinching or burning till the first day of the next Tearme which was full fourteene dayes and when he awaked was found in all points as if he had slept but one night and lived forty yeeres after About â—â—is fifteenth yeere it happened that divers things were newly brought intâ— England whereupon this Rime was made Turâ—â—s Carps Hoppes Piccarell and Beere Caâ—â—e into ENGLAND all in one yeere Of his Wives and Children KIng Henry had six Wives his first was Katherine daughter of Ferdinand King of Spain the Relict of his brother Arthur she lived his Wife above twenty yeeâ—s and then was divorced from him after which she lived three yeers by the name of Katherine Dowager she deceased at Kimbolton in the County of Huntington the eighth of Ianuary in the yeere 1535. and lieth interred in the Cathedral Church of Peterborough under a Hearce of black say having a white Crosse in the midst His second Wife was Anne second daâ—ghter of Sir Thomas Bullen Earle of VViltshire and Ormond shee was maried to him the five and twentieth day of Ianuary in the yeere 1533. lived his wife three yeers three months and five and twenty dayes and then was beheaded and her body buried in the Quire of the Chappell in the Tower his third Wife was Iane daughter of Sir Iohn Seymour and sister to the Lord Edward Seymour Earle of Hartford and Duke of Somerset she was maried to him the next day after the beheading of Queen Anne lived his Wife one yeer five months and foure and twenty dayes and then died in Child-bed and was buried in the midst of the Quire of the Church within the Castle of Windsor His fourth Wife was Anne sister to the Duke of Cleve she lived his wife six moneths and then was Divorced she remained in England long after the Kings death and accompanied the Lady Elizabeth through London at the solemnizing of Queene Maries Coronation His fifth wife was Katherine daughter of Edmund and Neece of Thomas Howard his brother Duke of Norfolke she was married to him in the two and thirtieth yeere of his reigne lived his wife one yeere sixe moneths and foure dayes and then was beheaded in the Tower of London and buried in the Chancell of the Chappell by Queene Anne Bullen His sixt wife was Katherine daughter of Sir Thomas Parre of Kendall and sister to the Lord William Parre Marquesse of Northampton she was first married to Iohn Nevill Lord Latimer and after his decease to the King at Hampton-Court in the five and thirtieth yeere of his reigne she was his wife three yeeres six moneths and five dayes and then surviving him was againe married to Thomas Seymour Lord Admirall of England unto whom she bore a daughter but died in her Childe-bed in the yeere 1548. He had children by his first wife Queene Katherine Henry borne at Richmond who lived not full two moneths and was buried at Westminster also another Sonne whose name is not mentioned lived but a short time neither then a daughter named Mary borne at Greenwich in the eighth yeere of his reigne and came afâ—erward to be Queene of England By his second wife Queene Anne Bullen he had a daughter named Elizabeth borne at Greenwich in the five and twentieth yeere of his reigne who succeeded her sister Mary in the Crowne he had also by her a sonne but borne dead By his third wife Queene Iane he had a Sonne named Edward borne at Hampton-Court in the nine and twentieth yeere of his reigne who succeeded him in the Kingdome Besides these he had a base Sonne named Henry Fitz-roy begotten of the Lady Talboyse called Elizabeth Blunt borne at Blackamore in Essex in the tenth yeere of his reigne who was made Duke of Richmond and Somerset married Mary daughter of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke with whom he lived not long but dyed at Saint Iames by Westminster and was buried at Framingham in Suffolke Of his Personage and Conditions HEE was exceeding tall of statuâ—e and very strong faire of complexion in his latter dayes corpulent and burley concerning his conditionâ— Hee was a Prince of so many good parts that one would wonder he could have any ill and indeed he had noâ— many ill till flattery and ill councell in his latter time got the upper hand of him His cruelty to his wives may not onely be excused but defended for if they were incontinent he did but justice if they were not so yet it was sufficient to satisfie his conscience that he thought he had câ—use to thinke them so and if the marriage bed be honourable in all in Princes it is sacred In suppressing of Abbies he shewed not little Piety but great providence for though they were excellent things being rightly used yeâ— most pestilent being abused and then may the use be justly suppressed when the abuse scarce possibly can be restrained To thinke he suppressed Abbies out of covetousnesse and desire of gaine is to make him extreamly deceived in his reckoning for if we compare the profit with the charge that followed we shall finde him certainly a great looser by the bargaine He was so farre from Pride that he was rather too humble at lest he conversed with his Subjects in a more familiar manner then was usuall with Princes So valiant that his whole liâ—e almost was nothing but exercises of valour and though performed amongst his friends in jest yet they prepared him against his enemies in earnest and they that durst be his enemies found it It may be said the complexion of his government for the first twenty yeers was sanguine and joviall for the rest collerick and bloody and it may be doubted whether in the former he were more prodigall of his owne treasure or in the latter of his Subjects blood for as he spent more in Fictions
please them both The Recorder set forth the complaint of the Lords against the Protectour in such sort that he made many inclinable to favour that side but one named George Stadlow better advised stept up and in a long Speech shewed what mischiefes had come to the City by opposing the King and therefore gave his opinion to suspend giving aide to the Lords at lest for a time His advice was harkened to and thereupon the Court resolved onely to arme a hundred Horsemen and foure hundred foot in defence of the City and to the letters returned submissive but dilatory answers After some other passages betweene the Protectour and the Lords Sir Edward Winkfield Captaine of the Guard was sent from the Lords to Windsor who so well perswaded the King of the Lords loyall affection towards him and of their moderate intention towards the Protectour that the King was contented to have him presently remvoed from him and suffered him within two dayes after to be carried to the Tower In whose absence seven Lords of the Councell and foure Knights were appointed by turnes to attend the Kings person and for affaires of State the government of them was referred to the whole body of the Councell soone after were sent to the Protectour in the Tower certain Lords of the Councell with Articles against him requiring his present Answer whether he would acknowledge them to be true or else stand upon his justificaâ—ion The chiefe Article was this That he tooke upon him the Office of Protectour with expresse condition that he should doe nothing in the Kings affaires but by assent of the late Kings Executours or the greaâ—est part of them and that contrary to this condition he had hindered Justice and subverted laws of his owne authority as well by letters as by other command and many other Articles but all much to this purpose The Protectour whether thinking to speed better by submission then by contesting or perhaps finding himselfe not altogether innocent for indeed in so great a place who can beare himselfe with such sincerity but he will commit errours with which he may be taxed subscribed an acknowledgement with his owne hand humbly submitting himselfe to the Kings mercy and desiring their Lordships favour â—owards him Upon this submission three moneths after he had bin imprisoned he was released entertained and feasted by the King and sworâ—e again to be a Privie Councellour but no more Protectour at which time betweene him and the Lords a shew at lest of perfect amity was made and to make it the more firme the Dukes daughter was afterward married to the Lord Lisle Sonne and heire to the Earle of Warwicke at which marriage the King himselfe was present and perhaps to honour their reconcilement and this marriâ—ge the Earle of Warwicke was made Lord Admirall of England Sir Iohn Russell Lord Privie Seale was created Earle of Bedford the Lord Saint-Iohn was created Earle of Wiltshire and soone after made Lord Treasurour Sir William Paget Controlour of the Kings House was made Lord Paget Sir Anthony VVinkfield Captaine of the Guard was made Controlour and Sir Thomas Darcye was made Captaine of the Guard But of the other side the Earle of Arundell the Earle of Southampton were put off from the Councell of whom the Earle of Southampton dyed shortly after at Lincolne-Place in Holborne and was buried in Saint Andrewes Church there About this time a Parliament was held at Westminster wherein one Act was made against spreading of Prophesies another against unlawfull Assemblies but for feare of new tumults the Parliament was untimely Dissolved and Gentlemen were commanded to retyre to their Countâ—ey-habitations and â—or the same cause also Trinity Terme did not hold About this time also Pope Paul the third dyed after whose death the Cardinals being divided about the election of a new Pope the Imperial part which was the greatest gave their voyces for Cardinall Poole which being told him â—e disabled himselfe and wished them to choose one that might be most for the glory of God and good of the Church upon â—his stop some that were no friends to Poole and perhaps looked for the place themselves if he were put off laid mâ—ny things to his charge amongst other that he was noâ— withouâ— suspition of Lutharisme as having bin very conversant with Immanuell Tremellius and Anthonius Flaminius great Lutherans and not altogether without blemish of incontinency there being a young Nunne that was thought to be his daughter But of these criminations Poole so cleered himselfe that he was afterward more importuned to take the place then he was before and thereupon one night the Cardinals came unto him being in bed and sent him word they came to adore him which is one special kind of electing the Pope but he being awaked out of his sleepe and acquainted with it made answer that this was not a worke of darkenesse and therefore required them to forbeare till the next day and then to doe as God should put in their mindes But the Italian Cardinals attributing this putting off to a kinde of stupidity and sloth in Poole looked no more after him but the next day chose Cardinall Montanus Pope who was afterward named Iulius the third And now the King of France upon many just considerations was growne desirous to have a Peace with England and thereupon sent one Guidolâ—i a Florentine inâ—o England to make some overture of his desire to the Lords of the Councell who addressing himselfe to the Earle of Warwicke whom he knew to be most prevalent so prevailed that it was concluded foure Embassadours should be sent from the King of England into Franeeâ— and foure from the French King to treat with them The Commissioners for the English were Iohn Earl of Bedford William Lord Paget Sir William Peter and Sir Iohn Mason Secretaries of State For the French were Monsieur Rochpot Monsieur Chatillon Guyllart de Martyer and Rochetelle de Dassie much time was spent to agree about a place of meeting till at last the English to satisfie the French were contented it should be before Bulloigne where were many meetings and mâ—ny diffâ—rences about conditions but in conclusion a Peace was concluded upon certaine Articles the chiefe whereof was that Bulloigne and the places adjacent should be delivered up to the French within six weekes after the Peace Proclaimed and that the French should pay for the same two hundred thousand crownes within three dayes after delivery of the Towne and other two huâ—dred thousand crowes upon the fifth day of August following hostages were on both sides given for performance and to those Articles the French King was sworne at Amyens and the King of England in London the Lord Clinton who had been Deputy of Bulloigne was made Lord Admirall of England Presently after this Agreement the Duke of Brunswicke sent to the King of England to offer his service in the Kings wars with ten thousand men and to intreat a marriage with the Lady
Mary the Kings eldest sister To his offer of aide answer was made that the Kings warres were ended and touching the marriage with the Lady Mary â—hat the King was in speech for her marriage with the Infanta of Portugall which if it succeeded not he should then be favourably heard Upon this the Emperours Embassadour demanded of the King that the Lady Mary might have free exercise of the Masse which the King not onely constantly denied but thereupon Sermons were exercised at Court and order taken that no man should have any Benefice from the King but first he should Preach before him and shortly after under pretence of preparing for Sea-matters five thouâ—and pounds were sent to relieve Protestants beyond the Seas At this time also an Embassadour came from Gustanuâ— King of Sweden to enter league with the King for entercourse of Merchants and charge was then also given that the Lawes of England should be administred in Ireland About this time the Queene Dowager of Scotland going from France to her Countrey passed thorow England having first obtained a safe Conduct she arrived at Portesmouth and was there met by divers of the English Nobility conducted to London she was lodged in the Bishops-Pallace after four dayes staying having beene feasted by the King at Whitehall she departed being waited on by the Sheriffes of Counries to the borders of Scotland And now was one Steward a Scot apprehended in England and imprisoned in the Tower for intending to poyson the yong Queene of Scots whom the King delivered to the French King upon the frontiers of Callice to be by him justiced at his pleasure At â—his time certaine Ships were appointed by the Emperour to transport the Lady Mary either by violence or by stelth out of England to Antwerpe whereupon Sir Iohn Gates was sent with Forces into Essex where the Lady lay and besides the Duke of Somerset was sent with two hundred men the Lord Privie Seale with other two hundred and Master Sentleger with foure hundred more to severall coasts upon the Sea and the Lord Chancellour and Secretary Peter were sent to the Lady Mary who after some conference brought her to the Lord Chancellours house at Lyee in Essex and from thence to the King at Westminster Here the Councell declared unto her how long the King had permitted her the use of the Masse and considering her obstinacy was resolved now no longer to permit it unlesse she would put him in hope of some conformity in short time To which she answered that her soule was Gods and touching her faith as she could not change so she would not dissemble it Reply was made that the King intended not to constraine her faith but to restrain the outward profession of it in regard of the danger the example might draw After some like enterchange of speeches the Lady was appointed to remain with the King when there arived an Embassadour from the Emperor with a threatning message of warre in case his cousin the Lady Mary should be denied the free exercise of the Masse hereupon the King presently advised with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the Bishop of London and Rochester who gave their opinion that to give licence to sin was sin but to connive at sinne might be â—llowed so it were not too long nor without hope of reformation then answere was given to the Embassadour that the King would send to the Emperour within a month or two and give him such satisfaction as should be fit And now the King being uncertaine of the faith both of his Subjects and of his Confederates intended by alliance to strengthen himselfe and thereupon sent one Bartwicke to the King of Denmarke with private instructions to treat of a mariage betweene the Lady Elizabeth the Kings youngest sister and the King of Denmarks eldest son but when it came to the point this Lady could not be induced to entertaine mariage with any After this the Marquesse of Northampton was sent Embassadour to the French King as well to present him with the Order of the Garter as to treat with him of other secret affaires with him were joyned in Commission the Bishop of Elye Sir Philip Hobbie Sir William Pickering Sir Iohn Mason and Master Smith Secritary of State also the Earle of Worcester Rutland and Ormond were appointed to accompany them as likewise the Lords Lisle Fitzwater Bray Aburgavenie and Evers with other Knights and Gentlemen of note to the number of six and twenty and for avoiding of immoderate traine order was given that every Earle should have but foure attendants every Baron but three every Knight and Gentlemâ—n but two onely the Commissioners were not limited to any number Being come to the Court of France they were forthwith brought to the King being then in his Bedchamber to whom the Marquesse presented the Order of the Garter wherewith he was presently invested then the Bishop of Elye in a short Speech declared how the King of England out of his love and desire of amitye had sent this Order to his Majestie desiring with all that some persons might be authorized to treat with them about some other mâ—tters of importance whereupon a Commission went forth to the Cardinall of Lorraigne Chastillion the Constable the Duke of Guysae and others At the first the English demanded that the yong Queene of Scots might be sâ—nt into England for perfecting of marriage betweene King Edward and her But to this the French answered That conclusion had beene made long before for her marriage with the Dolphin of France Then the English proposed a marriage betweene King Edward and the Lady Elizaâ—eth the French Kings eldest daughter to this the French did cheerfully incline but when they came to talke of Portion the English demanded at first fifteen hundred thousand crownes then fell to foureteene and aâ— last to eight hundred thousand the French offered at first one hundred thousand crownes then rose to two hundred thousand and higher they would not be drawne saying it was more then ever had bin given with a daughâ—er of France Shortly after Monsieur the Marshall and other Commissioners were sent by the French King to deliver to the King of England the Order of Saint Michael and then was further treaty about the marriage and because the French could be sâ—rued no higher then two hundred thousand crownes it was at last accepted and the agreement was reduced into writing and delivered under Seale on both sides And now King Edward supposing his state to be most safe when indeed it was most unsure in testimoâ—y both of his joy and love advanced many to new titles of honouâ— the Lord Marquesse Dorset who had maried the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon was created Duke of Suffolke the Earle of Warwicke Duke of Northumberland the Earle of Wiltshire was created Marquesse of Winchester Sir William Herbert Lord of Cardisse and Master of the Horse was created Earle of Pembrooke also William Cecill the Kings
Daughters which he had by Frances Daughter of Charles Brandon and Mary Queene of France were married at Durham-House the eldest Iane to the Lord Dudleyâ— fourth Soone of the Duke of Northumberland the second Katherine to Henry Sonne and heire to the Earle of Pembrooke the yoâ—gest Mary being somwhat deformed to Martyn Keyes the Kings Gentleman-Porter And then also Katherine the Duke of Northumberlands yongest daughter to the Lord Hastings eldest sonne of the Earle of Huntington And now had the Duke of Northumberland gone a great way in his design it remained to perswade King Edward to exclude his two sisters from succession in the Crowne for that doâ—e his daughter in law the Lady Ianâ— would come to have a right for as for pretenders out of Scotland or any other he made no great matter And now to worke the King to this perswasion being in a languishing sicknesse not farre from death he inculcates to him how much it concerned him to have a care of Religion that it might be preserved in purity not onely in his owne life but as well after his death which would not be if his sister the Lady Mary should succeed and she could not be put by unlesse her other sister the Lady Elizabeth were put by also seeing their rights depended one upon another but if he pleased to appoint the Lady Iane the Duke of Suffolkes eldest daughter and his owne next kinswoman to his Sisters to be his successour he might then be sure that the true Religion should be maintained to Gods great glory and be a worthy Act of his owne religious Providence This was to strike upon the right string of the yong Kings affection with whom nothing was so deere as preservation of Religion and thereupon his last Will was appointed to be drawne contrived chiefly by the Lord chiefe Justice Montague and Secretary Cecill by which Will as farre as in him lay he excluded his two sisters from the succession and all other but the Duke of Suffolkes daughters and then causing it to be read before his Councell he required them all to assent unto it and to subscribe their hands which they all both Nobility and Bishops and Judges did onely the Archbishop Cranmer refused at first Sir Iames Hales a Judge of the Common-Pleas to the last and with him also Sir Iohn Baker Chancellour of the Exchequer And now remained nothing for the Duke of Northumberlands purpose but that the King should dye which soone after he did at Greenwich the sixth of Iuly in the yeere 1553. One point of the Dukes policie must not be forgotten that fearing what troubles the Lady Mary might raise after the Kings decease if she should be at liberty he therefore seeing the King drawing on used all meanes possible to get her within his power to which end Letters are directed to her in the Kings name from the Councell willing her forthwith to repaire to the King as well to be a comfort to him in his sicknesse as to see all matters well ordered about his person whereupon the Lady suspecting nothing addressed her selfe with all speed to the journey till being upon the way she was advertised of the Dukes designe and then she returned to her House at Hoveden and so escaped the snare by whose escape the whole designe of the Duke of Northumberland was disappointed as soone after will be seene Of his Taxations IN no Kings reigne was ever more Parliaments for the time nor fewer Subsidies the greatest was in his last yeere when yet there was but one Subsidie with two fifteenes and tenths granted by the Temporalty and a Subside by the Clergie And indeed to shew how loath this King was to lay Impositions upon his people this may be a sufficient argument that though he were much in debt yet he chose rather to deale with the Foulker in the Low-Countries for money upon loane at the interest of fourteene pounds for a hundred for a yeere But his wayes for raising of money was by selling of Chantrie Lands and Houses given him by Parliament and by inquiring after all Church-goods either remaining in Cathedrall and Parish-Churches or embezeled away as Jewels gold and silver Chalices ready money Copes and other Vestments reserving to every Church one Challice and one covering for the Communion-Table the rest to be applied to his benefit He also raised money by enquiring after offences of Officers in great places in which inquirie one Beamont Master of the Rolles being convinced of many crimes surrendred all his Offices Lands and Goods into the Kings hands also one Whalley Receiver of Yorkeshire being found a delinquent surrendred his Office and payed a great fine besides also the Lord Paget Chancellour of the Dutchie convinced that he had sold the Kings Lands and Timber-woods without Commission and had applied the Kings Fines to his owne use for these and other offences surrendred his Office and was fined at foure thousand pounds which he payed in hand One thing more was done in his time for raising of money twenty thousand pounds weight of Bullion was appointed to be made so much baser that the King might gaine thereby a hundred and forty thousand pounds Of his Lawes and Ordinances IN his third yeere a Parliament was holden wherein one Act was made against spreading of Prophesies another against unlawfull Assemblies In his fourth yeere a Parliament was holden wherein Priests children were made legitimate and usury for the loane of money was forbidden In his fifth yeer it was ordained that the Lawes of England should be administred in Ireland and a king at Armes named Vlster was newly instituted for Ireland whose Province was all Ireland and he was the first fourth king of Armes and first Herauld appointed for Ireland Also in his fifth yeere base monies formerly coyned were cried downe so as the shilling went but for nine pence and shortly after but for six pence the gâ—oat but for three pence and shortly after but for two pence Affaires of the Church in his time IN the first yeeâ—e of this Kings reigne Injunctions were set forth for pulling downe aâ—d removing all Images out of Churches also certaine Homilies were appointed to be made by learned men to be read in Churches for the peoples instruction and at Easter this yeer it was ordered that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper should be ministred to the Lay-people in both kindes also Marriage was allowed to Clergie men Auricular Confession and prayer for the dead were forbidden and it is observable that the very same day that Images were pulled downe at London the great overthrow was given to the Scots at Muâ—kleborough Also at this time by the Archbishop Cranmers means divers learned Protestants came over into England and had here enteâ—tainment as Peter Martyr Martin Bucer and Paulus Fagius of whom Peter Martyr was sent to read a Divinity Lecture in Oxford Bucer and Fagius in Cambridge In this Kings foutth yeer all Altars in Churches were commaâ—ded to be
Some report That Drake had charge given him from the Earl of Leicester to make away Doughty upon some preâ—ence or other for that he had said that the Earl of Essex was craftily made away by Leicesterâ— The twentyeth of August two of his Ships he turneth off and with the other three came to the Sea which they callâ— The Straight of Magellâ—n The sixth of September entring into the wide Southern Ocean which they callâ— The Pacifique Sea he found it out of measure troublous so that his Ships were here by Tempests dispersed in one of which Iohn Winter was Master who returned back into England Drake himself with onely one Ship coasted along the Shoâ—e till he came to the Isle Moâ—cha from whence loosing he lighted upon a fellow fishing in a little Boat who shewed him where a Spanish Ship laden with Treasure â—ay Drake making towards it the Spaniards thought him to be their owne Country man and thereupon invited him to come on but he getting aboord presently shut the Spaniards being not above eight persons under â—atches and took the Ship in which was four hundred pound weight of gold At Taurapasa going again on shoar he found a Spaniard â—leeping by the Seasideâ— who had lying by him twenty bars of massâ—e Silver to the value of four thousand Duckats which he bid his followerâ— take amongst them the Spaniard still sleeping After this going into the Port of Africa he found there three Vessels without any Marriners in them wherein besides other wares were seven and fifty silver bricks each of which weighed twenty pound From hence Tyding it to Lime he found twelve Ships in one Road and in them great store of Silks and a Chest full of money coined but not so much as a Ship-boy aboord such security there was in that Coast Then putting to Sea with those Ships he followed the rich Ship called Cacofogaâ— and by the way met with a small Ship without Ordnance or other Arms out of which he took fourscore pound weight of gold a golden Crucifix and some Emâ—aulds of a fingers length The first day of March he overtook the Cacofoga set upon her and took herâ— and in her besides jewels fourescore pound weighâ— of gold thirteen Chests of silver ready coyned and as much silver as would ballast a Ship And now thinking he had gained wealth enough he resolved to return homeâ— and so on the third of November 1580. he landed at Plimmouth having sayled round about the World in the space of three years to the great admiration of all that know what compasse the World is of The Queen welcomed him home but made a sequestration of the goods that they might be ready if the King of Spain required them and commanded the ship to be drawn on shoar neer Detford for a monument where the carkasse of it is yeâ— to be seen and her selfe feasted in it at which time She Knighted Captaine Drâ—ke But Bernardine Mâ—ndozâ— the KING of Spaines Embassadour in ENGLAND began to rage and earnestly demanded Restitution of the Goods and complained that the ENGLISH sayled upon the INDIAN Sea To whom it was answered That the goods were sequestred and ready to make the King of Spain satisfaction although the Queen had expended against the Rebells whom the Spaniard had excited in England and Ireland more money then that which Drâ—ke brought home And as for sayling on the Indian Seaâ— that it was as lawfull for the Queens subjects as his seeing the Sea and the Ayr are common for all to use Notwithstanding to Pedro Sâ—â—â—â—a the Kâ—ng of Spain's Agent in this businesse a great sum of money was re-paidâ— which was not â—estored to them â—o whom it belonged but employed to the Spaniards Wars in the Low-Coâ—â—â—ries as was known afterâ— when it was too late But at this time when Iackman and Pett two skilfull Pilots were sent forth with two Ships by the Londoners to finde out â— shorter cut to the East Indies by the North-West Passage they had not the like successe for a few Leagues beyond the Isles of â—aygatâ— they met with such uncertain Tydes so many Shallows and such Mountains of Ice that â—hey could go no further and had much â—do to return home About this time Henry Fitz Allen Earl of Arundel died in whom the Sirname of a most Noble Family ended which had flourished in this Honour for above three hundred yeers from Richard Fitz Alan who being descended from the Alâ—anets ancient Earls of Arundel and Sussex in the Raign of King Edward the first obtained the Title of Earl by reâ—soâ— of the possession of Arundel Castle without Creation He had â—hree daughters by his wife Katherine daughter to Thomas Grey Marquesse of Dorset all whom he out-lived Hâ—nry a young man of great hope who died at Brussells Ioan wife to the Lord Lumley and Mary who being marryed to Thomas Howard Duke of Nâ—â—folke brought forth Philip in her Right Earl of Arundel In Ireland Arthur Lord Grey the Deputy going against the O Conors who â—aised stirs in Ophalie putteth to death Hugh O Moley quieteth all that Quarter even the Families of the Mogâ—higâ—ns and O Charles and in the very beginning suppresseth a conspiracy which was breaking forth by putting to death the Lord Nâ—gâ—nâ—â— who being confident in his own innocency when the Deputy promised to save his ilfe if he would but confesse himself guilty chose rather to die and be held guiltlesse then to live in infamy by betraying his own Innocency With whose death the Queen was extremely displeased as by which she was made a Patronesse of cruelty to her great dishonour But the Deputy knew with what kinde of people he dealt and by this example of severity brought Turlâ—gh Leymigh to accept conditions of Peace and the O Bâ—iâ—s and Cavenaghs rebellious Families in Leinster humbly to crave Peacâ— also and to offer Hostages In Scotland at this time great jealousie was â—ad of Lenox Lord of Obigâ—y lest being in so great favour with the King he should allure him to marry into France and bring into Scotland the Popish Religion Whereupon although he purged himself by Letters to Queen Elizabeth and proferred himself to be a Protestant yet many courses were taken to sequester him from the Kingâ— but so far from taking effect That on the contrary the Earl of Morton who among all other was most addicted to the English was soon after accused of Treason by the Earl of Arran and cast into prisonâ— and not long after notwithstanding all the means the Queen could use to save him was beheaded as convicted to be accessary to the murder of the Kings Father Whereupon the Earl of Angus and other who laboured for Mâ—rtâ—â— fled straightwayes into England In the Low-Countries about this time the Count Rheinberg proceeded victoriously for the King of Spain and beleaguer'd Stâ—nwick in Freezland against whom the States sent Norris Generall of the Field who put the â—â—einburghs Company to the worstâ— and raised
the due Solemnity which he kindely accepted and at Evening Prayer was invested with them At this time a Parliament was assembled at Westminster wherein William Parrie a Welsh-man a Doctor of the Laws when in the Lower House a Bill was read against the Jesuites he alone stood up and exclaimed that it was a cruell and bloody Law and being asked his reason he stoutly refused unlesse he were required by the Lords of the Councell Hereupon he was sent to the Gate-house but upon submission was received into the House again Soon after he was accused by Edward Nevill for holding secret consultations about making the Queen away Who thereupon apprehended upon his examination confessed in effect thus much That out of discontent he went beyond the Sea where by the encouragement of Campegio the Popes Nuntio at Venice and grant of a plenary Indulgence from the Pope he undertook to kill the Queen but coming into England to that intent he altered his minde and disclosed to the Queen the whole matter After this he received a Letter from the Cardinall of Comâ— perswading him to go forward with the Enterprise and this Letter also he shewed the Queen After this he chanced to see a Book of Doctor Allens written contra Iustitiam Britannicam wherein was declared That Princes who were for heresie excommunicate might lawfully be deprived of their life and Kingdom This book wonderfully confirmed him and he read it to Nevill who though he took an oath of secrecy yet now upon a hope of the Earldom of Westmerlandâ— betrayed him This was his confession before Baron Hunsdon Sir Christopher Hattâ—n and Sir Francis Walsingham as likewise in his Letters to the Queen to the Lord Burleigh and the Earl of Leicester acknowledging his fault and craving mercy A few dayes after he was called to the Bar in Westminster-Hall where he confessed himself guilty and thereupon was condemned After the Sentence of death pronounced he furiously cited the Queen to Gods Tribunall five dayes after he was laid upon a Hurdle and dragged thorow the City to Westminster where at the Gibbet he made a vain-glorious boasting of his faithfulnesse to the Queen but not so much as in a word commended himself to God and in the great Palace at Westminster was executed as a Traytor the Nobility and Commons sitting then in Parliament In this Parliament the Association before spoken of was universally approved and enacted in this Form That four and twenty or more of the Queens Privy Councell and Peers of the Realm should be selected and authorized under the Great Seal of England To make enquiry of all such persons as shall attempt to 〈◊〉 the Kingdom or raise Rebellion or shall attempt any evill against the Queens Person fâ—r whomsoeveâ— and by whomsoever that layeth any claim to the Crown of England and that person for whom or by whom they shall â—ttempt â—ny such thing shall be altogether uncapable of the Crown and more to this purpose Laws also for the Queens safety were enacted against Jesuites and Popisâ— Priests and against all that shall receive or relieve them These Laws terâ—ified many and particularly out of fear of them Philip Eaâ—l of Arundel the Duke of Norfâ—lks eldest son purposed with himself to travell beyond Seasâ— for having been once or twice cited before the Lords of the Councell and confined to his house and after six months set at liberty he â—hereupon wrotâ— a Letter to the Queen That for the Service of God and hiâ— souls health he purposed to leave his Countrey but not his loyall â—ffection towards herâ— but as he was taking Shipping by his own servants treachery he was discovered apprehended and laid in the Towâ—r At the same time lay in the Tower Henry Percy Earl of Northumberlandâ— a man of a lofty spirit being suspected by reaâ—on of secret consultation 〈◊〉 Throgmorton the Lord Paget and the Guises about the invading of Engâ—â—â—â—â— and freeing of the Queen of Scots whose cause he ever highly favouâ—â—d but in the mâ—neth of Iune he was found dead in his bed shot into the body with three bullets under his right pappe and the door bolted on the â—â—de The Corroners Inquest examining the matter found and pronounâ—â—d that he had killed himselfe Three dayes after the Lords meeting in â—he Star-chamber Bromeley Lord Chancellor declared this fact of the Earls â—nd then commanded the Atturney Generall to shew the causes of his imâ—â—â—sonment and the manner of his death whereupon Popham first and then Egerton the Queens Solicitor in long Orations lay open all his Treasons and how for feare of the Law he had layd violent hands upon himselfe And now the Queen knowing that the seeds of these Treasons proceeded from the Duke of Guise and his adherents she sought for the strengthning of her selfe to enter into League with the Princes of Germany and to this end she sent Sir Thomas Bâ—dley to the King of Denmarke to the Count Elector Palatine of the Rhine to the Duke of Saxony Wittenberg Brunswicke Lâ—â—ceburg the Marquesse of Brandenburg and the Lant grave of Hessia and into Scotland she sent Sir Edward Wootton to let the King understand how sincerely she was affected towards him and withall to draw the King if he could into a League of mutuall defence and offence and to commend to him the Match of the King of Denmarks Daughter The King was very inclinable to the matter of the League but for the present the businesse was interrupted by the death of Francis Russell Son to the Earl of Bedford slain at a meeting to compound a difference between the Borderers by a sudden tumult of the Scots but who it was that slew him was not known The English layd it upon the Earl of Arran and the Lord Fernihurst Governour of the middle Borders whereupon at the Queenes complaint the Earl of Arran was confined and Fernihurst committed to prison at Dundee where he dyed a man of great valour and resolution and one that was alwayes fâ—rm for the Queen of Scots But Queen Elizabeth not thus satisfied gave leave by way of connivance to the Scottish Lords that were fled into England namely the Earl of Angus the Hamiltons Iohn and Cladius the Earl of Mâ—rre Glames and other that they should steal away into Scotland she supâ—lying them with money there to master and subdue the Earl of Arran For Maxwell who was lately made Earl of Bothwell Baron Humes Coldingknâ—lls and other in Scotland had already promised them their assistance even â—n the very Court Sir Patrick Grey Arrans great Rivall for the Kings favour Belenden and Secretary Maitland by Woottons craft were made against Arran These men upon their first entry into Scotland command all persons in the Kings name to ayd them for conserving the truth of the Gospell for freeing the King from corrupt Councellors and for maintaining of Amity with the English so as there presently joyned with them â—bout eight thousand men The Earle of Arran hearing hereof
States sent for out of England to succour it the Town was furiously aâ—saulted with seventeen thousand great shot and a mighty breach was made into it which neverthelesse Roger Williams Franis Vere Nicholas Baskervile with the Garrison of the English and Wallons were valiantly defended for a while but at last were enforced to yeild it upâ— Leicester that came to relieve it finding himself too weak for the Besiegers being gone away And indeed the States would not commit any great Army to his Command who they knew had a determination to seâ—ze Lâ—yden and some other Towns into his own hands and had a purpose to surprize the absolute Government Whereupon the States used means that Leicester was called home gave up the Government to the States and in his roome succeeded Maurice of Nassaw Son to the Prince of Orange bâ—ing now but twenty years of age Peregrine Lord Willonghby was by the Queen made Geneâ—all of the English Forces in the Low-Countries to whom she gave command to reduce the English Factions into the States obedience the which with the help of Prince Maurice he easily effected Leicester being now come home and perceiving that an accusation was preparing against him by Buckhurst and others for his unfaithfull managing of affairs in Holland privately with tears he cast himself down at the Queens feet entreating her that she would not receive him with disgrace at his return whom she had sent forth with honor and so far prevailed with her that the next day being called to examination before the Lords he took his place amongst them not kneeling down at the end of the Table as the manner of Delinquents is and when the Secretary began to read the heads of his Accusation he interrupted him saying That the publick instructions which he had received were limited with private restriction and making his appeal to the Queen eluded the whole crimination with the secret indignation of his Adversaries This year was famous for the death of many great Personages In the moneth of February dyed Henry Nevill Lord of Aburgaveny great Grand-childe to Edward Nevill who in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth got this Title in the right of his Wife only Daughter and Heir to Richard Beauchamp Earl of Worcester and Lord of Aburgaveny In which right when as the only Daughter of this Henry Wife to Sir Thomas Fane challenged the Title of Baronesse of Aburgaveny a memorable contention arose concerning the Title between her and the next Heir Male to whom by Will and the same confirmed by Authority of Parliament the Castle of Aburgaveny was bequeathed This question being a long time debated at last in a Parliament holden in the second year of King Iames the matter was tryed by voyces and the Heir Male carried the Lordship of Aburgaveny and the Barony Le Dispencer was ratified to the Female This year also in the moneth of Aprill dyed Anne Stanhope Dutchesse of Somerset ninety years old who being the Wife of Edward Seymer Duke of Somerset and Protector of England contended for precedency with Katherine Parre Queen Dowager to King Henry the Eight There dyed also Sir Ralph Sadler Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster the last Baneret of England with which dignity he was adorned at the Battell of Musselborough in Scotland After him dyed Thomas Bromley Lord Chancellor of England and six dayes after He whom the Queen meant should have succeeded him Edward Earl of Rutland but he now fayling Sir Christopher Hatton was made Lord Chancellor who though he were a Courtier yet the Queen knowing him to be an honest man thought him not unfit for that place where conscience hath or should have more place than Law although some were of opinion That it was not so much the Queens own choice as that she was perswaded to it by some that wisht him not well both thereby to be a cause of absenting him from the Court and thinking that such a sedentary place to a corpulent man that had been used to exercise would be a means to shorten his life and indeed he lived not full out three years after This yeer Sir Iohn Perot was called home out of Ireland and left all in 〈◊〉 quiet to Fits Williams his Successor For hitherto the English 〈◊〉 it no hard matter to vanquish the Irish by reason of their unskilâ—ulnesse in Arms eight hundred Foot and three hundred Horse was â—â—ld an invincible Army but after that by Perots command they were â—â—â—â—cised in Feats of Arms and taught to discharge Muskets at a Mark 〈◊〉 had in the Low-Countries learned the Art of Fortification they held the English better to it and were not so easily overcome And now we are come to the one and twentieth yeer of Queen Elizaâ—â—â—â—s Raign being the yeer 1588 long before spoken of by Astrologers 〈◊〉 be a wonderfull yeer and even the Climactericall yeer of the World And yet the greatest Wonder that happened this yeer was but the wonderfull Fleet that Spain provided for invading of ENGLAND if the defeat of that wonderfull Fleet were not a greater Wonder It is true there was at this time a Treaty of Peace between England and Spaiâ— and the Earl of Derby the Lord Cobham Sir Iames Crofts Dale and Rogers Doctors of Law Commissioners for the Queen for the Prince of Parma the Count Aurenberg Champignie Richardot Maâ—s and Garvyer Doctors had many meetings about it neer to Ostend but it seemed on the pâ—rt of Spain rather to make the English secure that they should not make provision for War than that they had any purpose of reall proceeding seeing they accepted not of any reasonable Conditions that were offered but trifled out the time till the Spanish Navy was come upon the Coast and the Ordnance heard from Sea and then dismissed the English Delegates The Spanish Navy consisted of one hundred and thirty Ships whereof Galeasses and Galleons seventy two goodly Ships like to floating Towers in which were Souldiers 19290 Marriners 8350 Gally-slaves 2080 Great Ordnance 2630 For the greater holinesse of their Action twelve of their Ships were caâ—led The twelve Apostles Chief Commander of the Fleet was Don Alphonso Duke of Medina and next to him Iohn Martin Recalde a great Sea-man The twentieth of May they weighed Anchor from the River Tagus but were by Tempest so miserably disperst that it was long ere they mâ—t again but then they sent before to the Prince of Parma That he with his Forces consisting of fifty thousand old Souldiers should be ready to joyn with them and with his Shipping conduct them into England and to land his Army at the Thames Mouth The Queens Preparation in the mean time was this The Lord Charles Howard Lord Admirall with all her Navy and Sir Francis Drake Vice-Admirall to be ready at Plimouth and the Lord Henry Seymor second son to the Duke of Somerset with forty English and Dutch Ships to keep the Coasts of the Netherlands to hinder the Prince of Parma's
indeed fit to give a vent to the passage of Honour which during Queene Elizabeths Raigne had been so stopped that scarce any County of England had Knights enow in it to make a Iury. Before we goe further it will not be amisse to shew what great men attended King Iames out of Scotland as namely the Duke of Lenox the Earle of Marre the Lord Hame and many other great Lords and many other whom he afterward made great Lords as bring in his speciall favour first Sir George Hame made afterward Earle of Dunbarre then Sir Thomas Erskin made Earle of Kelly then Sir Iohn Ramsey made Earle of Holdernesse which two last had the fortune to come first in to his rescue against the Gowries then Sir Iames Hay made afterward Earle of Carlile and then Sir Richard Preston made Earle of Kildare in Ireland but whose great fortune by marrying the Heire of that Earledome was afteward the occasion of his great misfortune for comming out of Ireland he was unfortunately cast away and drowned But though King Iames was now safely come himselfe to London yet he accounted himselfe but halfe come untill his Queene and children were come to him and therefore there are now appointed to goe to conduct them of Lords and Earle of Sâ—ssex the Earle of Lincolne the Lord Compton the Lord Norris and Sir George Carow Knight Lord President of Munster of Ladies the Countesse of Worcester the Countesse of Kildare the Lady Anne Herberts daughter to Henry Earle of Pembrooke the Lords Scroopes Lady the Lady Rich wife to the Lord Rich and the Lady Walsingham one of the late Queenes bedchamber But although these only were appointed to goe yet many other Lords and great Ladies went of themselves to attend her Majesty as the Countesse of Bedford the Lady Hastings the Lady Cecill the Lady Hatton the Lady Harington and divers other and with this Princely attendance the Queene with two of her children namely Prince Henry of the age of nine yeares and the Lady Elizabeth on the eleventh of Iune came to Yorke where resting themselves some few dayes on the seven and twentieth of Iune they came to Easton in Northamptonshire a house of Sir George Fermors where the King met them at dinner and afterward they rode together to a house of Sir Iohn Fortescue and so to London The Kings younger sonne Charles Duke of Albany came not at this time as being not three yeeres old and therefore not thought able to endure such a journey but the yeare following falling sick of a feavor Doctor Atkins one of the Kings Physitions was sent to conduct him who in six weekes cured him of his feavour and the first weeke of October brought him safe to Windsor where the King then lay for which service he was so well rewarded that together with the gaynâ—s of his usuall practiceâ— hee grew to a greater wealth then was usuall for Physitions King Iames had distributed the meaner Order of Knighthoâ—d very plentifully now he thinks fit to raise his distributions to a higher degree and therupon on the twentieth of May he made Sir Robert Cecil Baron of Esindon Sir Robert Sidney Baron of Penshurst Sir William Knowles Baron of Greyes and Sir Edward Wooten Baron of Morley and not long after hee made the Lord Henry Howard Earle of North-Hampton and Thomas Sackvile Lord Buckhurst he made Earle of Dorset The King had by this time found the love and affection of his own people but the affection of neighbouring Princes towards him stood yet in suspence when now to take away that doubt came first in the beginning of Iune an Embassador from the Palsgrave of Rhyne presently after another from the States of Holland and Zeland another from the Arch-Duke of Austria another from the King of Spaine from the Seignory of Venice another another from the Duke of Florence and lastly on the eight of Iune Monâ—ieur de Rhosny from the King of France all congratulating his happy comming to the Crowne of England for entertainment of which Embassadors and all other that should come after the King had erected an Office by the name of Master of the Ceremonies allowing him two hundred pounds a yeer Fee and the first that had the place was Sir Lewis Lewkenor a Gentleman who besides other good parts was very skilfull in the neighbouring languages Vpon the seventeenth of May this yeere were made fourteene Serjeants at Law whereof eleven had received Writs the last yeare of Queene Elizabeth namely Thomas Coventry Robert Haughton Lawrence Tanfield Iohn Crooke Thomas Foster Edward Philips Thomas Harris Iames Altham Henry Hubbard Augustine Nicholls and Robert Perker to whom the King added three new Iohn Sherley George Snygge and Richard Hutton who all kept their Feast together in the Middle Temple Hall One would thinke that by this time all Offences against Queene Elizabeth had been forgotten but King Iames more tender of wrongs done to her than to himselfe would not suffer Valentine Thomas so to escape who after he had lyen many yeeres prisoner in the Tower was on the fourth of â—une arraigned at the Kings Bench-Barre and for conspiracy against the late Queene and some of her Counsell was on the seventh of Iune after six a clock at night drawne to Sâ—â— Thomas Waterings and there hanged and quartered About this time the Honourable Charles Lord Montjâ—y returned out of Ireland bringing alone with him Hugh O Neale Earle of Teroen at whose comming to the King the Lord Montjoy was sworne of the Kings Privie Counsell and the Earle of Teroen who had beene the cause of so much English bloud shed was yet pardoned and Proclamation made that by all men he should be used with respect and honour All this while the King had moved within his own Spheare and had done nothing out of the Realme his first Imployment abroad was now in Iune to his brother the King of Denmark to whom he sent in Embassage the Earle of Rutland upon two occasions the one to be Godfather to his sonne who was named Christianus the other to present him with the Order of the Garâ—er upon the like imployment soone after he sent the Lord Spenâ—er to Frederick Duke of Wirtenberg which Lords saw the said Princes Invested with the Garter and after honourable entertainment returned home It was now a time that every man might sit under his Vine and enjoy the happinesse of a peaceable Government when suddenly like a storme in a faire Somers day brake forth a Treason of a strange Composition for where in all TreasoÌ„s commonly they are all of some one Faction in this there were people of all sorts Priests and Laymen Papists and Protestants Noblement Knights and Genâ—lement that one would think it should be a well mannaged Treason and yet was the shallowest that was ever set on foot so shallow that it could scarce be observed either what the Authors of it ayled or what it was they would hâ—ve done Indeed the great
King according to an ancient custome had ayde of His Subjects thorough England for making his eldest sonne Prince Henry Knight which yet was Levied with great moderation and the Prince to shew himselfe worthy of it performed His first Feates of Armes at Barriers with wonderfull skill and courage being not yet full sixteene yeares of Age. It was now the eight yeere of King Iames His Reigne being the yeare 1610 when Prince Henry being come to the age of seventeen yeares It was thought fit He should be Initiated into Royalty and thereupon the thirtieth of May this yeare He was Created Prince of Wales in most solemne manner which was this Garter King at Armes bore the Letters Patents the Earle of Sussex the Robes of Purple Velvet the Earle of Huntington the Traine the Earle of Cumberland the Sword the Earle of Rutland the Ring the Earle of Darby the Rod the Earle of Shrewsbury the Cape and Coronet the Earle of Nottingham and North-Hampton supported the Prince being in His Surcoate only and bare-headed and in this manner being conducted to the King attended on by the Knights of the Bathe five and twenty in number all great men and great mens sons The Earle of Salisbury principall Secretary read the Letters Pattents the Prince kneeling all the while before the King and at the words accustomed the King put on him the Robe the Sword the Cape and the Coronet the Rod and the Ring and then kissed him on the cheeke and so the solemnity ended After this it was thought fit he should keep his Court by himselfe and thereupon Sir Thomas Chaloner a learned Gentleman who had before been his Governour was now made his Lord Chamberlaine Sir Edw. Philips his Chancellor and all other officers assigned him belonging to a Princes Court wherein he shewed himselfe so early ripe for Majesty that he seemed to be a King while he was yet but Prince And all mens eyes began to fix upon him King Iames had long since shut up the Gates of Ianus and was in Peace with all Princes abroad his only care now was how to keep Peace at home and to this end the three first dayes of Iune in his own person he heard the differences between the Ecclesiasticall and the Temporall Iudges argued touching Protections out of the Kingsâ—Bench and Common-Pleas to this end the eight ninth tenth of Iune he heard the manifold complaints of the abuses of the Victualers other Officers of his Navy Royall to this end the 4 of Iune 1610 he once again by Proclamation commanded all Roman Priests Seminaries and Iesuits as being the chiefe Incendiaries of troubles to depart this Kingdome by the 5 of Iuly next and not to returne upon pain of severity of the Law also all Recusants to returne home to their Dwellings and â—ot to ramaine in London â—oâ— to come within ten miles of the Court without speciall Licence aâ—â—â—r which Proclamation the Oâ—th of Allegeance was presently ministred to all sorts of people and their names certified to the Lords of the Counsell that refâ—â—ed to take it and this Hee the rather did out of consideration of the bloudy fact committed lately by one Revillâ—ck upon the person of the renowned K. of France Henry the fourth whereas Queen Elizabeth in her 43 years had granted her Letters Pattents to continue for 15 years to the East India Merchants now upon their humble petition the King was pleased to enlarge their Pateâ—â—s giving them a charter to continue for ever enabling them thereby to be a body Corporate and Politick which so encouraged the Merchants that they built a ship of twelve hundred â—un the greatest that was ever made in this Kingdome by Merchants which the King and Prince honored with going to Deptford to see it and then named it The Trades encrease and at this time gave to Sir Thomas Smith Governour of that Company a faire chaine of Gold with a Iewell wherein was his Picture But this great Ship having been in the Read Sea and returning to Banthem was there lost and most of her men cast away But then the King himselfe builded the goodliest Ship of War that was ever built in England being of the burthen of 1400 tun and carrying threescore and foure pieces of great Ordnance which he gave to his son Prince Henry who named it after his own dignity The Prince And now whereas a Parliament had been holden this year and was Prorogued to a certain day the King perhaps not finding it to comply with his designes or for some other cause known to himself on the last day of December under the grâ—â—t Sâ—ale of England dissolved it Before this time one Sir Robert Câ—rre a Gentleman of Scotland or of the bordâ—â—â— being a hunting with the King chanced with a fall off his horse to breake his leg upon which mischance he was forced for some days to keep his bed in which time the King was sometimes pleased to come and visit him and then it was first perceived that the King had begun to cast an eye of favour upon him and indeed â—roâ— that time forward as he was a very fine Gentleman and very wise many great favours were heaped upon him So as on Easter Munday in the yeare 1611 he was Created Viscount Rochester On the two and twentieth of Aprill 1612 was swoâ—ne a privy Counsellor On the fourth of November 1613 was Created Earle of Soâ—erset and the tenth of Iuly following made Lord Chamberlaine Bâ—â— this Sun-shine of Fortune lasted not long yet not by any inconstancy in the King but by the Earles own undeserving which thus fell out The Right Honourable Robert Earle of Essex had before this time married the beautifull Lady Francis Howard daughter of Thomas Earle of Suffolk who upon caâ—ses â—udicially heard were afterward Divorced and left free to marry any other Afteâ— which Divoâ—ce this great favorite the Earle of Somerset takes her for wife thâ— King gâ—acing their marriage with all demonstrations of love and favour and the Lords gracing it with a stately Masque that night and a few dayes after the Bride and Bridegroom accompanied with most of the Nobility of the Kingdome were â—easted at Merchant Taylors Hall by the Lord Major and Aldermen But see how soon this faire weâ—â—her was overcast For it hapned that one Sir Thâ—mas â—â—erbâ—ry a very ingenious Gentleman and the Earles speciall fâ—â—â—â—d who had written a witty Treâ—tise of a Wife and it seemes not thinking thâ— Lady in all points answerable to his description had been an earnest disswaâ—â—â— of the Mâ—â—â—â— and to â—â—rengthen his diâ—â—wasion layd perhaps some unjust 〈◊〉 upâ—â— the Ladyes 〈◊〉 which so incensed them both against him that 〈…〉 could not give them satiâ—â—â—ction than to take away his life So 〈…〉 saying Improbe 〈…〉 r quid non mortalia pectora cogis 〈◊〉 this they finde pretences to have the said Sir Thomas committed to the â—â—wer and there by their Instruments effect their revenge some
recordeth that the Foundation thereof was laid by this King Lucius and that this Church was the Cathedral to that Archbishops See In the yeare 359. a Councel was holden at Ariminum in Italie where foure hundred Westerne Bishops were Assembled whereof three went out of Britaine and gave their voyces against the Arian Heresie After this about the yeare 420. rose up in this Island one Pelagius a Monke brought up in the Monastery of Bangor in Wales who spread the poyson of his Heresie first in this his Native Countrey and afterward all the world over And these had beene the chiefe passages in matters Ecclesiasticall within this Island when the Saxons were called in about the yeare 450. And now under the Conduct of two brothers Hengist and Horsa came over nine thousand Saxons with their wives and children to aâ—â—ist the Britaines agâ—inst the Scots and were appointed the Isle of Thanet to Inhabit With which assistance the Britaines give their enemies battaile and overcome them So as they accounted the Saxons as Angels sent from heaven and then allowed them Kent also foâ— their Inhabiting Not long after Hengist obtained of King Vortigern the property of so much ground as he could enclose with a Buls Hide which cutting into thongs hee there built the Castle Facti de nomine called Thong Castle And now having built it he invites Vâ—rtigern to a Feast where falling in love with Rowena the beautifull daughter of Hengist and marrying her it put Hengist into such a height of boldnesse that he began to aspire sending for greater Forces to come over to him as meaning to transplant himselfe hither and to make this Island his Inheritance which the British Lords perceiving and not able to weane their King from his new wife and her father Hengist they Depose him and in his place set up his sonne Vortimer a true lover of his Country who presently in a pitcht battaile neere unto Aylesford in Kent set upon the Saxons where Catigern the brother of Vorâ—imer and Hâ—rsâ— of Hengist in single â—ight hand to hand slew each other In which place Catigern was buried and a Monument in memory of him Erected the stones whereof at this day are standing in a great Plaine in the Parish of Aylesford which instead of Catigern is corruptly called Kits-Cotyhouse Another the like Monument was erected for Horsâ— though now defaced remembred onely by the Towne where it stood called Horstead Three other battailes after this were fought betweene the Britaines and the Saxons one at Craford another at Weppeds-fleete the third upon Colmore in which last the Britaines got so great a victory that the Saxons were cleane driven out of Kent and in Thanet also not suffered also to rest so as shortly after Hengist with his Saxons departed the Kingdome as being now out of hope to make his Fortune in this Island But while Vortimer was thâ—s intentive for his Countries liberty Rowena the former Kings wife being daughter to Hengist was as intentive to bring it into servitude which knowing she could not do as long as Vortimer lived she used meanes by poyson to take away his life after he had beene King the space of foure yeeres and then by the witchcraft of faire words so enchanted the British Nobility that her husband Vortigern was againe established in the Kingdome which was no sooner donâ— but Hengist relying upon his sonne Vortigerns love with a mighty Army attempts to returne againe into the Island when being resisted he makes a shew as if hee desired nothing but to fetch away his daughter Rowena and to have a friendly conference for continuance of amity which motion seeming reasonable a place and time of conference was appointed the time upon the first of May the place upon the Plaine of Ambrii now called Salisbury whither the plaine meaning Britaines came unarmed according to agreement but the fraudulent Saxons under their long Cassocks had short skeynes hidden with which upon a watch-word given they set upon the Britaines and of their unarmed Nobility slew three some say five hundred took the King himselfe prisoner whom they would not release till they were put in possession of these foure Counties Kent Sussex Suffolke and Norfolke Whereupon Vortigern whether fearing a second Deposing or whether so advised by his Cabinet Counsailour the Propheticall Merlin betooke him into Wales and there built him a strong Castle for his safeguard while the Saxons comming daily in great swarmes into the Land had at this time overrunne all if Aurelius Ambrosius a Romane borne but affected to the British Nation had not landed at Toâ—nes in Devonshire to whom resorted great troopes of Britaines His first expedition was against Vortigern as the first cause of the Britaines misery whose Castle he besieged and whether by wilde fire or by fire from Heaven both he and his Castle and all that were in it were burnt to ashes To this Ambrosius is ascribed the admirable Monument in Wiltshire now called Stonehâ—â—ge in the place where the Briâ—aines had beene treacherously â—laughtered and interred and of whom the Towne of Ambersbury beares its name After this he set upon the Saxons and in many batrailes discomâ—ited them till at last falling sicke in the City of Winchester a Saxon in shew a Britain and in habit a Physitian was sent unto him who instead of Physick ministred poyson whereof he died in the yeare 497. after he had raigned two and thirty yeares After Ambrosius succeeded Uter some say his brother others a Britaine called Pendragon of his Royall Banner borne ever before him wherein was portrayed a Dragon with a golden Head as in our English Camps it is at this day borne for the Imperiall standard And he also in many battailes discomfited the Saxons till after eighteene yeares Raigne he came to his end by treachery dying by poyson put into a Well whereof he usually dranke in the yeare 515. After him succeeded his sonne Arthur begotten of the faire Lady Igren wife of the Duke of Cornwall to whose bed the Art of Merlin brought him in the likenesse of her husband and hee in tâ—elve set battailes discomfited the Saxons but in one most memorable in which giâ—ding himselfe with his sword called Callibourne he flew upon his Enemies and with his owne hand slew eight hundred of them which is but one of his wonderfull deedes whereof there are so many reported that hee might well be reckoned amongst the Fabulous if there were not â—now true to give them credit Amongst other his Acts he Instituted the Order of Knights of the Round Table to the end there might be no question about Precedence and to teach Heroicall minds nor to stand upon place but Merit But this great Prince for all his great valour was at last in a battaile wounded whereof he died in the yeare 542. after he had raigned six and twenty yeares After King Arthur succeeded his cosin Constantine after his three yeares raigne Aurelius Conanus the Nephew of King
she had done who wondring at it saying to her How could she think the King should like to kisse that mouth which had kissed such filthy ulcerous people she answered she had a greater King to kisse who she knew would like her never the worse for it By this Queen Matild King Henry according to some Writers had foure children but as the received opinâ—on is onely two a sonne named William and a daughter called Mawde of whom the sonne at foureteene yeares old had fealty sworne to him by the Nobility of Shrewsbury at seventeene married the daughter of Fâ—lke Earle of Anjou and at eighteene was unfortunately drowned as hath beene shewed The daughter lived to be an Empresse and afterwards a Dutchesse but could never come to be a Queene though borne to a Kingdome as shall be shewed hereafter She survived her second husband seventeene yeares living a Widow and at Râ—an in Normandy died and was buried there in the Abbey of Bec though there be â— Tradition that she was buried at Reading in the Abbey there beside her Father but â—t appeares to have beene a custome in those dayes for great personages to have their Monuments erected in divers places After the death of this Queene Matild who died at Westminster in the eighteenth yeare of his Raigne King Henry married Adeâ—za the daughter of Godfry Duke of Lorraine who though she were a beautiful and accomplisht Lady yet had he never any issâ—e by her When she was to be Crowned Ralph Arch-bishop of Canterbury who was to doe the office came to King Henry sitting Crowned in his chaire of State asking him who had set the Crowne upon his head the King answering he had now forgotten it was so long since Well said the Arch-bishop whosoever did it did me wrong to whom it belonged and as long as you hold it thus I will doe no office at this Coronation Then saith the King doe what you thinke good whereupon the Arch-bishop tooke the Crowne off from the Kings head and after at the peoples intreaty set it on againe and then proceeded to Crowne the Queene By Concubines King Henry had many children it is said seven sonnes and as many daughters of whom some perished in the great Ship-wrack of the rest two of the sonnes Reynold and Robert were made Earles Reynold of Cornwall Robert of Glocester and was a great assister of his sister Mawde in her troubles with King Stephen who after many acts of valour performed by him in the twelfth yeare of King Stephen died and was buried at Bristow The daughters were all married to Princes and Noble men of England and France from whom are descended many worthy Families particularly one of those daughters by Anâ—e Câ—â—bet was married to Fits-herbert Lord Chamberlaine to the Kingâ— from which Fits-â—erbert our Family absit iâ—vidia verbo is by Females descended passing by the naâ—es of Cummin Chenduit Brimpton Stokes Foxcote Dyneley and so to Bâ—ker Of his Incontinency OF this enough hath beene said in saying he had so many children baselyâ— begotten but if comparison be madâ— betweene his brother â—ufus and him it may be said that howsoever they might be equall in loosenesse of life yet in that loosenesse William Rufus was the baser and King Henry the more Noble for King Henry had certaine selected Concubines to whom he kept hâ—mselfe constant where King William tooke onely such as he found constant to the pleasure but not to the persons His course for establishing the succession in Mawde and her issue HE married his onely daughter Mawde being but sixe yeares old to the Emperour Henâ—y the fourth but he leaving her a Widow without issueâ— he married her againe to Gâ—â—ffrey Plantagenet sonne to Fulke Duke of Anjoâ— not the greatest Prince that was a Suitour for her but the fittest Prince for King Henries turne for Anjou was neighbouring upon Normandy a great security to it if a friend and as great a danger if an enemy And having thus placed her in marriâ—â—â— hâ— now considers how to establish her succession in the Crowne of Englandâ— whereuâ—on he cals his Nobility together and amongst them Dâ—vid King oâ— Scots and causeth them to give their Oaths of Allegeance to her and her issue and aâ— thinking â—e could never maâ—e her succession â—ure enough he causeth his Lords the yeare â—â—ter againe to takâ— the like Oath and after that a third time also as conceiving that being doubled and trebled it would make the tye of Allegeance the stronger wherein nothing pleased him so much as that Stephen Earle of â—loiâ— was the first man that tooke the Oath because he was knowne to be at least knownâ— he might be a Pretender But the King should have considered that Regâ—iâ— and therefore no Oath though never so often iterated sufficient to warrant loyalty in persons so deeply interessed as Stephen was yet providence could doe no more and the King was well satisfied with it especially when hee saw his daughter a mother of two sonnes for this though it gave him not assuâ—ance yet it gaâ—e him assured hope to have the Crowne perpetuated in his Posteâ—ity Of Ireland in his time THe King of England as yet had nothing to doe with Ireland the 〈◊〉 was governed by its owne Kings and the people of both Nations◠〈◊〉 they were neâ—ghbours yet divided by a rough Sea but little â—â—quaiâ—ted but now beganne entercourse to be more frequented and Murcâ—â—â—dâ—â—h châ—â—fe King of the Irish bore such awfull respect to King Henry that he would doe nothing but by his counsell and with his good liking Whom King Henry used as his Vicegerent in his absence HE was absent sometimes in Normandy three or foure yeares together during which times he committed commonly the care of the Realme to Roger Bishop of â—alisbury a politick Prelate and one as fit to be the second in government as King Henry to be the first His persâ—â—â—ge aâ—d conditions HE was a person tall and strong â—â—â—ad breasted his limbes well kniâ— and fully furnished with â—lesh his face well fâ—shioned his colour cleare his eyes large and faire his eye-browes large and thick his hairâ— black and â—omewhat thinâ—â— towards his forehead his countenance pleasanâ— specially when hâ— was disposed to mirth A private man vilified and thought to have but little in him but come to the Crowne never any man shewed more excellent abilities so true is the saying Magistratus indicat virum His naturall affection in a direct line was strong in an oblique but weake for no man ever loved children more noâ— a brother lâ—â—â—e Though a King in act yet he alwayes acâ—ed not a King but in baâ—â—â—ls someâ—â—mâ—s the part of a common Souldier though with more then common valouâ—â—s at a baâ—tell in France where he so farre hazarded himselfe that though he lost not his life yet he lost his bloud Of his death and buriall A Discontent of minde upon some differences between him and his sonne in law the Earle
of Anjoâ— brought upon him a distemper which encreased by eating against his Physitiâ—ns advise of a Lâ—mprey a meate alwayes plâ—â—sâ—ng 〈◊〉 himâ— but never agreeing with him cast him into a â—â—aver which in few â—ayeâ— put a pâ—â—iâ—d to his life So cerâ—aine it is that one intemperate action is enoâ—â—h to overthrow the temperance of a whole life as of this King Henry it is saidâ— thâ—â— he seldome did eaâ— but when he was hungry never did drink but when he was â—thirstâ— yet this but onâ—e yeelding to his sensuall appetite made hâ—m forfeâ—â— all benefit of his former abstinence though some write he tooâ—â— his dâ—â—th by the fâ—ll off his hâ—rsâ— He died upon the first of Dâ—â—ember at night in â—he yeâ—re 1135. when he had Raigned five and thirty yeares lived threescore and seven His bowels braines and eyes were buâ—ied at Roan in Noâ—mandy where he died the rest of â—iâ— body was stuffed with Salt wrapped in Oxe hides and brought over inâ—â— England and with honoâ—rable Exequies buried in the Monastery of â—eâ—dingâ— which himselfe had Founded His Physitiâ—n that â—ooke out his braines with the intolerable stinch shortly after died In this King Henry ended the line of the Nâ—rmans as touching the Heiâ—es Males and then câ—me in the Freâ—ch by the title of Heires generall Men of nâ—te in his time MEn of learning in his time were manyâ— first Stephen Harding a Benedictine Monke who was Founder of the Cistercian Ordeâ—â— Then Anselme Arch-bishop of Câ—â—terbury who beâ—ides his activenesse in matters of State writ many great and learned bookes Then Waltâ—r Câ—lâ—â—â— Arch-deacon of Oxford who delivered a History written in the British tongue from Brute to Cadwallader to Geoffry of Monâ—â—â—â—â—h to translatâ— and added forty yeares of his owne â—ime Also 〈◊〉 a Monâ— of Wâ—â—câ—ster who writ Dâ— rebâ—s Gestis Anglorum Also Eâ—dmâ—râ—s a Mâ—â—k of Câ—â—terbury who â—â—sides othâ—r wâ—â—ks writ the History of his owne tâ—me under the two Williâ—â—s and Hâ—â—â—y the first THE RAIGNE OF KING STEPHEN AFter the decease of King Henry presently steps upon the Stage of Royalty Stephen Earle of Boleyne Sonne to Stephen Earle of â—loys by Adela Daughter of King William the Conqâ—â—â—our and though there were two other before him Maâ—de the Empresse and Theobald his elder Brother She in a substantiall right He in a colourable yet taking advantage of being Priâ—â—â— Occâ—pans the first Invader as being quickly here after King Henries death where the other stayed lingring about other Affâ—ires he solicits all the Orders oâ— the Realme Bishops and Lords and People to receive him for their Soverâ—ine wherein besides his owne large promises what great matters he would do for them all he had the assistance also of Henry his Brother Bishop of Winchestâ—râ—nd â—nd the Popes Legate and of Roger Bishop of Salisbury his great friend 〈◊〉 the most powerfull men at that time in the State who partly by force of Reasons but more indeed by force then Reasons procure the State to accept him for their King and so upon Saint Stephâ—ns day in Anno 1135. he was Crowned at Westminster in presence of but three Bishops few of the Nobility and not one Abbot by William Arch-bishop of Canterbury with great solemnity That which put â— scruple in mens minds and made them averse at first from consenting to Stepheâ— was the Oath they had taken to receive King Henries Daughâ—â—r Maude to be their Qâ—een after his decease but the weight of this scruple was something abated when it was urged that no Precedent could be shewed that ever the Crowne had beene set upon a Womans head And Roger Bishop of Salisbury brought another Reason because they had taken that Oath but upon condition that the King shoulâ— not marry heâ— out of the Realme without their consents and the King having brokâ—n the condition was just cause to nullifie their Obligation to which was added thâ—â— the Oath having beene exacted by Authority which is a â—ind of forcing it might have the Plea of Per minâ—s and therefore void And yet more then all these Hâ—gh Bigâ—t sometime Stewâ—â—d to King Henry immediately after his decease came oveâ— into England and tooke a voluntary Oath before divers Lords of the Land that he was present a little before King Henries death when he adopted and chose his Nephew Stephen to be his Successour because his Daughter Mâ—â—dâ— had grâ—evously at that timâ— displeased him But howsoever their breach of Oath was thus palliaâ—ed it is certaine that many of them as well Bishops as other Lords came afterward to an evill end at least â—o many calamities before their end VVhat course he tooke to establish himselfe in the Kingdome IT is a true saying 〈◊〉 rebâ—s optiâ—â— servatâ—â— Imperium quibuâ— pâ—â—atur and this was Stephens course he got the kingdome by Proâ—ises and he establisht it by Performances he pleased the People with easing them of Taxes and Impositions He pleased the Clergy with forbearing to keepe Bishoprickes and Abbeyes Vacant and with exempting them from the Authority of the Temporall Magistrate He pleased the Nobility with allowing them to build Castleâ— upon their owne Lands He pleased the Genâ—â—y with giving them liberty to hunt the Kings Deere in their owne Woods and besides with advancing many of them in Honours and for his Brother Theobald who being the elder was before him in pretence to the Crowne he pleased him with a grant to pay him two thousand Markes a yeare and then to strengthen himselfe abroad no lesse then at home he marryed his Son Eâ—stace to Constance a Daughter of Lewis King of France which alliance alone might be thought a sufficient security against all Opposition And yet one thing more which establisht him more then these at least these the more for this that he had seiseâ— upon King â—enries treâ—sure which amounted to a hundred thousand pound besideâ— Plate and â—ewels of inestimable value which he speâ—t no◠〈◊〉 vaine riot but imployed to his best advantage both in procuring of Friends and in levying of Souldiers out of Britany and Flanders Of his Troubles in his Raigne THere may wel be made a Chapter of the troubles of his Raign seeing his whole Raign was in a manner but one continued trouble at leaâ—t no longer intermissioÌ„ then as to give him breath against new encounters til at last when he grew towards his lâ—st he rather left to be in trouble then was at quiet being forced to make his adversary his Heâ—re and to leave his Crown to him that had sought his life For he was no sooner set in his Chaire of State but he was presently disquieted and made to rise by the provocation of David King of Scots who solicited by some Lords of England but chiefly by Maâ—de the Empresse whose Right he had sworne to defend with a mighty Army entred Nâ—rthumberland tooke Carlile and Newcastle and was proceeding further till King Stephen with a greater Army comming against him yet rather bought his
the twentieth of September the Towne of Beverley with the Church of Saint Iohn there was burnt And in this Kings time the bones of King Arthur and his Wife Guynevour were found in the Vale of Avalon under an hollow Oake fifteene foote under ground the haire of the said Guynevour being then whole and of fresh colour but as soone as it was touched it fell to powder as Fabian relateth Of his Wife and Children HE married Eleanor Daughter and heire of William Duke of Guien late Wife of Lewis the seventh King of France but then divorced but for what cause divorced is diversly related some say King Lewis carryed her with him into the Holy Land where she carryed her selfe not very holily but led a licentious life and which is the worst kind of licentiousnesse in carnall familiarity with a Turke which King Lewis though knowing yet dissembled till comming home he then waived that cause as which he could not bring without disgrace to himselfe and made use of their nearenesse in blood as being Cousins in the fourth degree which was allowed by the Pope as a cause sufficient to divorce them though he had at that time two Daughters by her Being thus divorced Duke Henry marries her with whom it was never knowne but she led a modest and sober life a sufficient proofe that the former Report was but a slander By this Queene Eleanor he had five Sonnes William Henry Richard Geoffry and Iohn and three Daughters Maude marryed to Henry Duke of Saxony Eleanor marryed to Alphonso the Eighth of that name King of Castile and Iane or Ioane marryed to William King of Sicilie Of his Sonnes William dyed young Henry borne the second yeare of his Raigne was Crowned King with his Father in the eighteenth yeare and dyed the nine and twentyeth yeare and was buryed at Roan marryed to Margaret Daughter of Lewis King of France but left no issue Richard borne at Oxford in the fourth yeare of his Fathers Raigne and succeeded him in the kingdome Geoffrey borne the fifth yeare of his Fathers Raigne marryed Constance Daughter and Heire of Conan Earle of Little Britaine in the foureteenth yeare and in the two and thirtieth yeare dyed leaving by his Wife Constance two Daughters and a Posthumus Sonne named Arthur Iohn his youngest called Iohn without Land because he had no Land assigned him in his Fathers time borne the twelfth yeare of his Fathers Raigne and succeeded his Brother Richard in the kingdome And this may be reckoned a peculiar honour to this King that of his five Sonnes three of them lived to be Kings and of his three Daughters two of them to be Queenes Concubines he had many but two more famous then the rest and one of these two more famous then the other and this was Rosamond Daughter of Walter Lord Clifford whom he kept at Woodstocke in lodgings so cunningly contrived that no stranger could find the way in yet Queene Eleanor did being guided by a thread so much is the eye of jealousie quicker in finding out then the eye of care is in hiding What the Queen did to Rosamond when she came in to her is uncertaine but this is certaine that Rosamond lived but a short time after and lyes buryed at the Nunnery of Godstâ—w neare to Oxford By this Rosamond King Henry had two Sonnes William called Long-Sword who was Earle of Salisbury in right of his Wife Ela Daughter and Heire of William Earle of that Country and had by her much issue whose posterity continued a long time And a second Sonne named Geoffrey who was first Bishop of Lincolne and afterward Arch-bishop of Yorke and after five yeares banishment in his Brother King Iohns time dyed in the yeare 1213. The other famous Concubine of this King Henry was the Wife of Ralph Blewet a knight by whom he had a Sonne named Morgan who was Provost of Beverley and being to be elected Bishop of Durham went to Rome for a dispensation because being a Bastard he was else uncapable But the Pope refuâ—ing to grant it unlesse he would passe as the Sonne of Blewet he absolutely answered he would for no cause in the world deny his Father and chose rather to lose the Dignity of the Place then of his Blood as being the Sonne though but the base Sonne of a King Of his personage and conditions HE was somewhat red of face and broad breasted short of body and therewithall fat which made him use much Exercise and little Meate He was commonly called Henry Shortmantell because he was the first that brought the use of short Cloakes out of Anjou into England Concerning endowments of mind he was of a Spirit in the highest degree Generous which made him often say that all the World sufficed not to a Couragious heart He had the Reputation of a wise Prince all the Christian World over which made him often say that all the World sufficed not to a Couragious heart He had the Reputation of a wise Prince all the Christian World over which made Alphonsus King of Castile and Garsyas King of Navarre referre a difference that was betweene them to his Arbitrament who so judiciousâ—y determined the Cause that he gave contentment to both Parties a harder matter then to cut Cloath even by a thread His Custome was to be alwayes in Action for which cause if he had no Reall Warres he would have Faigned and would transport Forces either into Normandy or Britaine and goe with them himselfe whereby he was alwayes prepared of an Army and made it a Schooling to his Souldiers and to himselfe an Exercise To his Children he was both indulgent and hard for out of indulgence he caused his Son Henry to be Crowned King in his owne time and out of hardnesse he caused his younger Sonnes to Rebell against him He was rather Superstitious then not Religious which he shewed more by his carriage toward Becket being dead then while he lived His Incontinency was not so much that he used other Women besides his Wife but that he used the affianced Wife of his owne Son And it was commonly thought he had a meaning to be divorced from his Wife Queene Eleanor and to take the said Adela to be his Wife Yet generally to speake of him he was an excellent Prince and if in some particulars he were defective it must be considered he was a Man Of his death and buriall HE was not well at ease before but when the King of France sent him a List of those that had conspired against him and that he found the first man in the Lyst to be his Son Iohn he then fell suddenly into a fit of Fainting which so encreased upon him that within foure dayes after he ended his life So strong a Corrosive is Griefe of mind when it meetes with a Body weakned before with sicknesse He dyed in Normandy in the yeare 1189. when he had lived threescore and one yeares Raigned neare five and thirty and was buryed
Adversary endevours first to strengthen himselfe with Friends abroad seekes to match his Sonne Edward with a Daughter of Guy Earle of Flanders Marries one of his Daughters to the Dâ—ke of Barrâ— who pretended Title to Champaigne another to Iohn Duke of Braâ—ant sends fifteene thousand pounds Sterling to Adolph de Nassaw the Emperour for recovery of certaine Lands which he claimed in France and with all these and many other conâ—ining Princes he sets upon the King of France and then sends over his Brother Edmund Earle of Lancaster the Earles of Lincolne and Richmond with eight and twenty Banners seven hundred men at Armes and a Navy of three hundred and sixty Saile In the meane time the King of France having had intelligence of the intended alliance betweene King Edward and Guy Earle of Flanders sends for the said Earle as if knowing nothing thereof to come with his Wiâ—e and Daughter to make merry with him at Paris where instead of Feasting him he makes him Prisoner and takes from him his Daughter in regard he sought being his Vassall to match her with his capitall Enemy The Earle excuseth it the best he could and by much mediation is released himselfe but not his Daughter whereupon the Earle presuming upon aide from King Edward takes Armes and defies the King of France who thereupon comes with an Army of sixty thousand against him which caused King Edward with all speed possible to relieve this distressed Earle and so leaving the Government of the kingdome in his absence to the Bishop of London the Earle of Warwicke and the Lords Reynold Grey and Clifford with five hundred Saile and eighteene thousand men at Armes he passeth over into France but finding the Country distracted into many popular Factions and the King of France daily getting upon them having already won Lisle Doway Courtray Burges and Dam and the Emperour Adolph failing to send him aide as he had promised he fell into great perplexity and having stayed the whole Winter at Gaunt where by reason of many outrages committed by his Souldiers he was so affronted by the Gauntois that his owne person was not without some danger He thereupon in the Spring of the yeare concludes a Truce with the King of France for two yeares takes his sister Margaret to Wife and affianceth the Daughter of the same King to his Sonne Prince Edward and so returnes into England And these were all the troubles King Edward had with France But now must something be spoken of troubles with his Lords at home whereof this was the beginning In a Parliament at Salisbury the five and twentieth yeare of his Raigne the King requires certaine of his Lords to goe to the Warres in Gascoyne which needed a present supply by reason of the death of his Brother Edmund but the Lords make all their excuses every man for himselfe Whereupon the King in great rage threatned they should either goe or he would give their Lands to others that should Upon this Humfrey Bohun Earle of Hereford High Constable and Roger Bigod Earle of Norfolke Marshall of England make their Declaration that if the King went in Perâ—on they would attend him otherwise not Which answer offended the King more and being urged againe the Earle Marshall protested he would willingly goe thither with the King and march before him in the Vauntguard as by right of inheritance he ought to doe But the King told him plainely he should goe with any other though he weâ—â— not himselfe in Personâ— I am not so bound saith the Earle neither will I take tâ—â—t journey without you The King swore by God Sir Earle you shall either goe or hâ—â—â—â— And I sweare by the same Oath said the Earle I will neither goe noâ— hangâ— and so without leave departs Shortly after the two Earles assemble many Noble men and other their Friends to the number of thirty Bannereâ—s so as they were fifteen hundred men at Armes well appointed and stood upon their Guâ—â—dâ— The King like a prudent Prince who knew his times prosecuâ—es them not as then bâ—â— lets the matter passe in regard that his businesse called him presently into Flanders when being ready to take ship the Arch-bishops Bishops Earles Barons and the Commons send him a Roll of the Grievances of his Subjects concerning his Taxes Subsidies and other Impositions with his seeking to force their services by unlawfull courses to which the King sends answer that he could not aâ—tâ—r any thing without the advice of his Councell who were not now about him and therefore required them seeing they would not attend him in his Journey which they absolutely refused to doe though he went in Person unlesse he had gone into France or Scotland that they would yet doe nothing in his absence prejudiâ—iall to the peace of the kingdome and that at his returne he would set all things in good order to their contentment But having taken his Journey and being held there with long delayes to his exceeding great expenses he was forced to send over for more supply of Treasure and thereupon gave order for a Parliament to be held at Yorke by the Prince and because of his Minority for he was then but sixteene yeares of age by such as had the manage of the kingdome in his absence and to the end he would not be disappointed of aide he condescends to all such Articles as were demanded concerning the great Charter Promising from thenceforth never to charge his Subjects otherwise then by their consents in Parliament and to pardon all such as had denyed to attend him in this Journey After this in the 27. yeare of his Raigne a Parliament is called at Westminster wherein the promised Confirmation of the two Charters and the allowance of what disafforestation had heretofore beene made was earnestly urged and in the end with much adoe Granted and that with omission of the Clause Salva Iure Coronae nostrâ— which the King laboured to have inserted but the people by no meanes would agree and the perambulation of the Forests of England was then committed to three Bishops three Earles and three Barons But some yeares after in the two and thirtieth yeare of his Raigne King Edward begunne to shew his resentment of the stubborne behaviour of his Nobles towards him in times past and so terrifies Roger Bigod Earle Marshall that to recover his favor the Earle made him his Heireâ— in Possession though he had a Brother of his owne living reserving onely to himselfe a thousand pounds per annum during his life Of others likewise he goâ— great summes for the same offence The Earle of Hereford escaped his fine by death But the Arch-bishop of Canterbury whom he accused to have disturbed his Peace in his absence he sends over to Pope Clement the fifth who succeeded Bonifacâ— that he might be crusht with a double power This Pope was Native of Burdeaux and â—o the more regardfull of the Kings desire and the Kingâ— the more confident of
Leader then the 〈◊〉 besides there fell at the instant such a showre of raine as dissolved their 〈◊〉 and made their Bowes of little use and at the breaking up of the showre the 〈…〉 full in the face of the French dazling their sight and on the backe of the 〈◊〉 as if all made for them K. Edward who had gotten to a Windmill beholding 〈◊〉 a Sentinell the countenance of the Enemy and discovering the disturbance 〈◊〉 by the change of place instantly sends to charge that part without giving 〈…〉 to re-accommodate themselves whereupon the discontented Genâ—â—ese 〈◊〉 which the Coâ—nt de Alanson perceiving he comes on with the horse and 〈…〉 â—age cries out On on Let us make way upon the bellies of these Genoueses 〈…〉 but hinder us and instantly pricks on with a full careere through the midst 〈…〉 followed by the Earles of Lorraine and Savoy and never staies till he came 〈◊〉 the English battell where the Prince was the fight grew hot and doubtfull 〈…〉 as the Commanders about the Prince send to King Edward to come up with his power to aide him The King askes the messengers whether his son were 〈…〉 hurt who answering no but that he was like to be over-laid Well then 〈◊〉 â—he King returne and tell them who sent you that so long as my sonne is a 〈…〉 they send no more to me what ever happen for I will that the honour of this 〈…〉 his And so being left to try for themselves they wrought it out with the 〈◊〉 â— the rather by reason the French King having his horse slaine under him and 〈◊〉 danger to be trodden to death had he not been recovered by the Lord Beau 〈…〉 â—â—â—s to the great discouragement of his people withdrawne out of the field 〈◊〉 noâ—â—ce being once taken by the English the day was soone after theirs and 〈…〉 victory they ever had yet against the French and so bloudy as there is 〈…〉 made of any one prisoner taken in the battell but all â—laine out-right â—nely â—ome few troopes that held together saved themselves by retiring to places neare adjoyning The French King himselfe with â— small company got to Bray in the night and approaching the walls and the Guâ—rd asking him who goes there he answered the Fortune of Frâ—â—câ— By â—iâ— voyce â—e was knowne and thereupon received into the Towne with the teares and lamentaâ—ions of his people The number of the slaine are certified to be thirty thousand the chiefe whereof were Charles de Alâ—nsâ—n Iohn Duke of 〈◊〉 â—alph Earle of Lorraine Lâ—wis Earle of Flâ—â—â—ers Iâ—ques Daâ—lphin de 〈◊〉 Soâ—â—e to Iâ—bâ—rt who after gave Daulphin to the Crowne of France the Earlâ—â— of Sâ—â—câ—rre Hâ—râ—court and many other Earles Barons and Gentlemen to the number of fifteeâ—â— hundred This memorable Victory happened upon the Sâ—turday after Bartâ—â—lâ—â—â—â— day in the yeare 1346. The next day earely in the morning being Sunday he sâ—nâ— out 300. Lances and 2000. Archersâ— to discover what was becomâ— of tâ—◠〈◊〉 who found great Troopes comming from Abbeâ—â—lâ— Saint 〈…〉 aâ—d Bâ—â—uvoyes ignorant of what had happened 〈◊〉 by the Arch-Bishop of Râ—â—â— and the Priour of France whom they likewise defeated and slew sâ—ven thousand But this was not all thâ— Victories that fell to King Edward that yeare there was another of no lesse importance gotten in Englâ—â—d by the Queene and hiâ— peoplâ— at home against the Scots who being set on by the French to divert the waâ—â—â— thereâ— entred upon this kingdome witâ—â—hreescoâ—e thousand men as our Writers report assuring himselfe of successe in regard as he supposed â— the maâ—â—e streâ—gth thereof was now gone into France but â—e found it otherwiseâ— For the Lords of the North as Gylbert de Umfrevile the Earlâ— of Angâ—â—â— Henry Percâ— Ralph Nevile William Dâ—yâ—coâ—â—t with the Arch-bishop of Yorke the Bishop of Durâ—am and others of the Clergy gathered so great Forces and so well ordered them by the animation of the Queene who was there in person as fighting a great Battaile at Nevils Crosse in the Bishopricke of Durhaâ— they utterly defeaâ—ed this great Army tooke David their King Prisoner with the Earles of Fifâ— Menteth Murry Sutherland the Lord Dowglas the Arch-bishop of Saint Andrewes and others and put to the sword fifteene thousand Scâ—ts This Victory also fell upon a Saturday sixe weekes after that of Cressy He that tooke King David Prisoner waâ— one Iohn Câ—plâ—nd an Esquire of Northumberland whom King Edward rewarded with five hundred pounds land a yeare and made him a Bannerâ—t And as if all concurred to make this yeare Triumphant the Aides sent to the Countesse of Montford in Britaine led by Thomas Dagworth a Valiant knight overthrew and tooke Prisoner Charles de Blois Pretender to that Dutchy and with him Mounsiâ—ur la Vall the Lords Rochford Beaâ—â—anoyre Loiâ—câ—ue with many other Barons Knights and Esquires Where were slaine the Lord De la Vall Father to him that was taken Viscount Rohan Mounsieur de Chasteaâ— Bryan de â—alestroit de Quintin de Dyrevâ—ll besides many other knights and Esquires to the number of seven hundred And now King Edward without medling with the great Cities of Amiens and Abbevile marcheth on directly and sits downe before Callice a Town of more importance for England and the Gate to all the rest Wherein Iohn dâ— Vienne Marshall of France and the Lord de Andreghâ—n a great man in his time commanded All that Winter King Edward lay without any molestation by the French King who was busied at home in his owne State about raising of money wherewith supplyed at last he raiseth an Army and approacheth Callice but findes no way open to come to relieve it The King of England was both Master of the Haven and possest all other wayes that were passable and the Flemings his friends had besieged Aire to oppose whom Iohn Duke of Normandy is sent for out of Guyenne who departing leaves Henry of Lancaster Earle of Derby Master of the Field and â—e having an Army consisting of twelve hundred men at Armes two thousand Archers and three thousand other Foot takes in most of the Townes of Xaintoigne and Poictâ—â— and in the end besieged and sacked Pâ—ityerâ— and then returnes to Bâ—rdeaâ—x with more â—illage then his people could well beare Thus the 〈◊〉 prosper every â—â—here and the French suffer During this siege of Calliâ—e â—n 〈◊〉 some tâ—inâ—â— King Edwâ—â—â— first used Gunnes the Flemingâ— send to King 〈◊〉 to make a marriage betweene his Daughter Isabell and their Lord the 〈…〉 to which the King consented but the Duke of Brâ—â—â—nt gets 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 â—o make the match for a Daughter of hisâ— The Flemings presse 〈◊〉 Lord with tâ—e match of England but he absolutely refuseâ—h it sayingâ— h◠〈◊〉 never marry a Daughter of him that had killed his Father though he would 〈…〉 â—â—lfâ— his kingdome This answer so incensed the Flemiâ—gs that they 〈…〉 Lord in Prison till with long durance he at last consented and
as the Poictâ—â—ins Xaingtonois and Lymoâ—sins in a sort consented to it yet the Count of Armigniâ—ck the Count of Comminges the Viscount of Carmayn and many others so much distasted it that they complained thereof to the King of France as to their Supreme Lord who upon examination finding their complaint to be just he thereupon by advise of his Councell Summons Prince Edward to appeare in person to answer the complaint whereunto Prince Edw. made answere that if he must needs appeare he would bring threescore thousand men in Armes to appeare with him and had certainely brought his Army that Summer against Paris if he had not fallen into Symptomes of a Dropsie which Walsingham saith was wrought by Enchantments But upon this answer of the Prince King Charles sends defiance to King Edward who thereupon prepares Armes both by Sea and Land to oppose him The French enter upon the Territoriâ—s of the Prince and defeate divers of his Troopes in revenge whereof Iohn Chandos the Princes Lieutenant assaults Terrieres in the Province of Tholouse and takes it The Count of Perigourd aâ—saults Royanville in Querâ—y and puts all the English to the sword in revenge whereof Iames Audeley Seneâ—chall of Poicton assaults the City of Brosse and takes it In the meane time Robert Knols by some called Robin and by others Arnould or Reynold Knoll had drawne Perducas de Albert to the party of the English and thereupon wenâ— and encamped before the Fort of Darcâ—ell in Quercy which Iohn Chandos understanding went also and joyned with him in the Siege but finding they could doe no good there they removed and Besieged the City of Damme and when they could doe no good there neither they marched forward tooke the Fort of Froyus Rochevaudour and Villefranche and that done returned to the Prince at Angoulesme At the same time the Earles of Cambridge and Pembroke having spent nine weekes at the Siege of Bordeille at last tooke it but other Captaines of the English did yet more for they scaled Belleperche in the Province of Bourbon where the Mother of the Duke of Bourbon and of the Queene of France was and take her prisoner About this time Philippa Queene of England King Edwards Wife died and was buried at Westminster but this hindred not the proceeding of the English in France the Earle of Pembroke enters Anjou where he takes many Townes the Duke of Lancaster doth the like about Callice and marching forward plants his Campe before Harfleur with a purpose to burne the King of France his Navy but being watched by the Count Saint Poll was forced to forbeare that designe and so passing other wayes and spoyling all the places where he passed he returned to Callice Winter now was drawing on and Iohn Chandos desiring to recover the Abby of Saint Silvin in Poictou which not long before had beene betraied to the French was in the enterprise discovered and being assaulted by greater forces was slaine in the place to the great griefe of the Prince of Wales and of the English Lords but dying without issue his estate which amounted to foure hundred thousand Franks came to the Prince At this time the Dukes of Anjou and Berry with two great Armies enter upon the Territories of the Prince of Wales whereof the Prince advertised assembles Forces to oppose them but when the newes was brought him of the taking of Limouges he was so much troubled at it by reason of the Bishop of that place was his Gossip and one in whom he specially had affiance that he resolved to recover it at any price and not to spare a man that had any hand in the rendring it up and thereupon taking it by force he commanded to sacke and pillage it and would not be staied by the cries of the people casting themselves downe at his feete till passing through the Towne he perceived three French Captaines who themselves alone had withstood the assault of his victorious Army and moved with the consideration of their valour he then abated his anger and for their sakes granted mercy to all the Inhabitants So much is vertue even in an enemy respected by generous minds In the meane time David King of Scots died without issue and Robert Stuart his Nephew succeeded him in the kingdome and was Crowned at Scone At this time Robert Knolls with a great Army is sent into France where making many attempts with valour enough but with little successe he was comming home though with no gaine yet with no losse till Bertrand de Gueschlyn assaulting him slew the most part of his men and so this great Army on a sudden came to nothing It seemes Knolls his action was the lesse succesfully by reason some young Lords that wenâ— with him scoâ—ning to â—e 〈◊〉 his command as being but a new man and risen froâ— a low estate were refractory to hiâ— directions And indeed what can a Generall do if he have not as well reputation of person as of place And now the Prince of Wales his eldest sonne Edward dying 〈◊〉 Buâ—deâ—â—â— the 〈◊〉 with his wife and his other sonne Richard come over into England at whiâ—â— time the vallant knight Walter de Mâ—â—ny died at Londâ—n and was buried in the Monastery of the Chartreux which he had builded leaving one onely daughter married to Iohn Earle of Pembroke This Earle of Pembroke was soone after sent Goâ—ernour into Aquitaâ—ne but set upon by the way by Spaniards in favour of the Frâ—â—ch was by them taken prisoner and carried with other into Spainâ—â— who being chained together as the manner is one Evans a Welsh Fugitiveâ— who gave â—â—â—selfe out for the right Heire of Wales camâ— unto him foolishly playing upon him with scornfull language as though to insult over another mans misery could sâ—â—le for a coâ—diall to mitigate his owne And now upon the taking of this Earle the Princes Dominions in France are either taken away or â—all away faster then they â—ere gotten Gueschlyâ— enters Poictou and takes Montmâ—rillon Chauvigny Lussâ—â— and Moâ—tâ—ontiâ—r straight after followes the Countrey of Aulnys of Xaintoigne and the rest of Poicâ—ou then Saint Maxenâ— Neele Aulnâ—y then Benaon Marant Surgâ—rs 〈◊〉 and at last they came to Thouars where the most part of the Lords of Poicâ—oâ— that held with the Prince were assembled at which time King Edward with the Prâ—â—ce the Duke of Lancaster and all the great Lords of England set forward to their succour but being driven backâ— by tempest never came to give them assistance so as Thouars yeelded upon composition Yet did this preparation of the King stand him in nine thousand Markes that it may be truly said it cost him more now to lose Townes then it had cost him before to win them so great oddes there is betweene the Spring and Fall of Fortune After this the Duke of Lancaster is sent over with another great Army who passed up into many parts of the Country but King Charles resolved to hazard no
and therâ—fore were to stand upon their Guard and provide the best they could for their safety To which purpose the first thing they did was to apparell Magdalen in Princely robes a man as like to king Richard in countenance and pesonage as one man lightly can be to another and to give forth that he was king Richard escaped out of Prison thereby to countenance their proceedings The next thing was to dispatch meâ—sengerâ— to the king of France and require his assistance This done they set forward in Battell-array towards Windsor against king Henry but finding him gone to London before they came they then deliberate what course to take Some advised to set K. Richard at liberty before their counterfeit Richard should be discovered Others â—hought best to follow the king to London and set upon him unprovided and befoâ—e he had gâ—thered Forces In this division of Advises when they could not doe both they did neither but as men amazed maâ—ched on though they knew not well whâ—ther till they came to Colbrooke by which time the king had gathered an Army of twenty thousand and was marching towards them but they not thinking so well of their câ—â—se that they durst put it to the tryall of a battell or perhaps staying for ayde out of France withdrew themselves back to Sunnings neere to Reading where the young Queen layâ— to whom their comming gave some flashes of comfort but quenched before they were throughly kindled and from thence they march to Cicester where the Duke of Surry and the Earle of Salisburyâ—oâ—ke â—oâ—ke up their lodging in one Inne the Duke of Exceter and the Earle of Glocester in anothâ—â— And now a strange Accident beyond the reach of all consultation gave a period to their Designe for who would thinke that a private company durst oppose those Lords having their Army so neere them yet the Bailiffe of the Towne upon intelligence no doubt that these Lords were up in Armeâ— against the King taking with him a company of Townsmen in the night assaulted the Inne where the Duke of Surry and the Earle of Salisâ—ury lay who thus assaulted made shift to defend themselveâ— till three a clock in the afternoone but then being in danger to be taken a Priest one of their company set divers houses in the Towne on fiâ—e thinking thereby to divert the Assailants from prosecuting the Lords to save their houses but this inflamed them the more and so hotly they pursued their asâ—ault that they wounded the Duke and the Earle to death who dying that night their heads were stricken off and sent up to London With them also were taken Sir Bennet Shelley Sir Barnard Brocas Sir Thomas Blunt and eight and twenty other Lords Knights and Gentlemen who were sent to Oxford where the King then lay and there were put to execution The Duke of Exceter in the other Inne hearing of this assault fled out of the backside towards the Campe intending to bring the whole Army to the rescueâ— but the souldiers having heard a clamour and seeing fire in the Towne supposing the King had been come with all his Forces out of a sodaine feare dispersed them selves and fled which the Duke seeing he also with Sir Iohn Shelley fled into Essex where wandring and lurking in secret places he was at last apprehended as he sate at supper in a friends house and led to Plashey and there shortly after beheaded the place where by his counsell and countenance the Duke of Glocester formerly had been apprehended that we may observe how the Divine Providence in revenging of injuries takes notice and makes use of the very circumstance of place where the injuries are â—one The Earle of Glocester fled towards Wales but was taken and beheaded at Bristow Magdalen the counterfeit king Richard was apprehended and brought to the Tower and afterward hanged and quartered with Mr. Fereby another of king Richards Chaplaines Divers other Lords and Knights and Gentlemen and a great number of meane persons were in other places put to death that so much Noble blood at one time and for one cause hath scarce been heard or read of The Abbot of Westminster in whose house the Plot was contrived hearing of these misfortunes as he was going between the Monastery and his Mansion fell suddenly into a Palsie and shortly after without speech ended his life About this time also a strange peece of Treason is reported to have been practised against the kings life that there was found in his bed-cloaths an Iron with three sharpe pikes standing upright that when the king should have layd him downe he might have thrust himselfe upon them But seeing there is no farther mention of inquiring after it it seemes to have been but an idle rumour not worth beleeving But now that the hot English blood was well allayed the Welch blood springs up as hot For now Owen Glendour an Esquire of Wales brought up at the Innes of Court in London partly out of a desire to revenge a wrong done him as he conceived in a suit for lands in controversie between the Lord Grey of Ruthin and him but chiefly out of an humour of aspiring endeavored to draw the Welchmen to a generall defection telling them That the English being at variance amongst themselves now was the time to shake off their yoake and to resume their owne antient Lawes and Customes To whose perswasions the Welchmen hearkening made him their king and Captaine and he having gotten a competent Army sets first upon his old Adversâ—ry â—eyâ—old Lord Grey of Ruthin and takes him Prisoner yet with promiâ—e of Releasement if he would marry his daughteâ— which offer though the Lord Grey at first not onely refused but scorned yet out of necessity at last he was contented to accept when notwithstanding his deceitfull father in Law trifled out the time of his enlargement till he dyed But the Welchmen growing confident upon this successe breake into the borders of Herefordshire making spoyle and prey of the Country as freely as if they had leave to doe it for indeed none opposed them but onely the Lord Edâ—â—nd Mortimer who had formerly withdrawne himselfe to his Castle at Wigmore anâ— he having assembled the Forces of the Country and joyning bâ—ttell with them was taken Prisoner and then fettered and cast into a deepe and vile Dungeon It was thought if Glendour had as well known how to use his victory as to get it he might at this time have put the English yoak into a great hazâ—rd to be shaken off but he having killed a thousand of the English thought he had done for that time and so giving over the pursuit retired The inhumanity of the Welsh women was here memorable who fell upon the dead carkasses of the English first stripping them and then cutting off their privie parts and noses whereof the oâ—e they thrust into their mouthes the other they pressed between their buttockâ— Many noble men specially his kinsmen the Percies sollicited King Henry
hinderance of enjoying it buâ— pretension of the Salâ—que laws which said he was neither according to the law of God nor yet intended at first to that Nation and though his Predecessors by reason of other incumbrances forbore to prosecute their Claime yet he being free from all such incumbrances had no lesse power than right to do it This indeed struck upon the right string of the kings inclination for as he affected nothing more than true glory so in nothing more than in Warlike actions Hereupon nothing was now thought of but the Conquest of France First thereâ—ore he begins to alter in his Arms the bearing of Semy-de-Luces and quarters the three Flower Deluces as the Kings of Fraâ—ce then bare them and that he might not be thought to steale advantage but to do it fairly he sent Embassadours to Charles the sixth then king of France requiring in peaceable manner the surrender of the Crown of Fraâ—ce which if he would yeeld unto then King Henry would take to Wife his Daughter Katherine but if he refused to do it then King Henry would with fire and sword enforce it from him or lose his life The Ambassadorâ— sent were the Duke of Exeter the Archbishop of Dublin the Lord Gray the Lord High Admirall and the Bishop of Norwich with five hundred horse who comming to the Court of Fâ—ance were at first received and feasted with all the honor and shew of kindnes that â—â—ght be but assoone as their message was delivered and that it was knowne what they câ—me about the copy of their entertainment was altered and they were sent away with as little complement as they werâ— before received with honor only told that the king would speedily make Answer to the King their Master by his owne Ambassadors and speedily indeed he did it for the Earle of Vendosme William Bâ—â—â—tier Archbishop of Bourges Peter Fresnel Bishop of Lyseaâ—x with others were arrived in England assoone almost as the Eâ—glish were returnedâ— But being come the Archbishop of Bourges made a long Oration in the praise of Peace concluding with the tender of the Lady Kâ—theriâ—e and 50000 Crowns with her in Dower besides some Towns of no great importance To which King Hâ—â—â—y by the Archbishop of Caâ—terbury made Answer That these offers were trifles and that without yeelding to his demands he would never desist from that he intended and with this Answer the French Ambassadors were dismissed It is sayd that about this time the Dâ—lphiâ— who in the King of France his sicknes managed the State sent to King Henry a Tonne of Tennis Balls in derision of his youth as fitter to play with them then to manage Armâ— which king Heâ—ry tooke in such scorne that he promised with an oath it should not be long ere he would tosse such iron bâ—lls amongst them that the best armes in France should not be able to hold a Racket to râ—turâ—e thâ—m And now all things are prepared and in a readines for the kings journey into France his men shipped and himselfe ready to go on shipbâ—â—rd when sodainly a Treason was discovered against his Person plotted by Richard Earle of Cambridge Hâ—â—â—y Lord Scroope of Masham Lord Treasurer and Thomas Grey Earle of Nâ—â—thuâ—berlâ—â—d and plotted and procured by the French Agents These being apprehâ—â—ded and upon examination confessing the Treason and the money which was sayd to be a Million of Gold by them for that end received were all of them immediately put to death From this Richard Earle of Cambridge second Sonne of Edmund of Lâ—â—gleâ— did Richard afterward Duke of Yorke claime and recover the Crown from the Laâ—castrian Family This execution done and the winde blowing faire king Henry weighs Anchor and with a Fleet of 1200 Sayle Grafton saith but 140 ships but Enguerant saith 1600 attended with six thousand spears and 24000 Fooâ— besides Engineers and labourers he puts to Sea and on our Lady Eve landeth at Caux where he made Proclamation that no man upon paine of death should robbe any Church or offer violence to any that were found â—narmed and from thence passing on he besieged Harâ—lew which when no succour came within certain dayes agreed upon the Town was surrendred and sacked Of this Towne he made the Duke of Exeter Captain who left there for his Lievetenant Sir Iohn Fâ—lstoffe with a Garrison of 1500 men It is said that when king Henry entred Hâ—râ—lew he passed along the streets bare foot untill he came to the Church of St. Martin where with great devotion he gave most humble thanks to God for this his first atchieved Enterprize From thence he marched forward and comming to the River of Soame he found all the Bridges broken whereupon he passed on to the bridge of Sr. Maxenae where 30000 French appearing he pitcht his Campe expecting to be fought with and the more to encourage his men he gave the â—rder of knighthood to Iohn Lord Ferrers of Groby Reynold Graystocke Percy Tempâ—sâ— Christopher Morisby Thomas Pickering William Huddleston Henry Mortimer Iohâ— Hosbalton Philip Hall but not perceiving the Freâ—ch to have any minde to fighâ— he marched by the Town of Aâ—yens to Bowâ—s and there stayed two dayes expecâ—â—ing battell and from thence marched to Corby where the Peasants of the Counâ—ry with certain men of Arms sent from the Dolphiâ— charged the right wing of the English which was led by Hugh Stafford Lord Boâ—rchier and wonne away his Standard but was recovered againe by Iohn Bromeley of Bromeley a Commander in the Loâ—â— Staffords Regiment who with his own hand slew him that had taken the Coloâ—â—â—â— and then taking them up displayed the same with sight whereof the English were so encouraged that they presently roâ—ted the Freâ—ch and put them to flight which valiant exploit the Lord Stafford recompenced by giving to Bromeley an Aâ—â—â—ity of fifty pounds a yeare out of his lands in Staffordshire After this the king marched towards Callice so strictly observing his Proclamation against Church robbingâ— that when one was complained of for having taken a silver Pyxe â—ut of a Church he not only caused the same to be restored but the souldier also to be hanged which point of Discipline both â—ept the reâ—â— from offending in that kinde and drew the people of the Country under hand to relieve his men with all things necessary The French king hearing that king Heâ—ry had passed the River of Sâ—ame by advice of his Councell who yet were divided in opinion sent Montjoy the French king at Arms to defye king Henry and to let him know he should be fought with which king Henrâ— though his Army was much infected with Feavers whereof the Earl of Stafford the Bishop of Norwich the Lords Molines and Burnell were lately deadâ— yet he willingly heard and rewarded the Herald for his meâ—â—age and first having cleered a passage over a bridge where of necessity he was to passe on the 22 of October he passed over with his Army At which time the
deceased Duke of Somerset and Cosen Germane to the King with a large Dowry and married them at St. Mary-Overys in Southwarke yet all this curtesie could not keep him afterward from being unfaithfull and unthankfull And now the Protector sent over to the Regent ten thousand wel furnished Souldiers with which fresh succour he wonne many Townes and places of strength which the French seeing and finding themselves too weak by plaine force to withstand the English they sought by subtilty to compasse their ends and first they worke upon the inconstancie of the Duke of Brittaine and his brother Arthur by King Henry the fifth created Earle of Yewry whom by gifts and promises they suborned perfidiously to deliver over into their possession the Castles of Crotoye and Yerney but the English before the French Garrisons were setled fell upon Crotoye and recovered it and that done the Regent besieged Yerney and by secret mining and violent Batteries so shooke the Walls that they agreed to yeild it up if not relieved by a certaine time whereupon the Duke of Alaâ—son with sixteene thousand French came to the rescue but perceiving the English to be prepared to receive them he wheeled about to Verâ—oyle and swore to the Townsmen that hee had put the Regent to flight and rescued Yerney which they believing rendrâ—d up Vernoyle to him but the Regent followed him thither when by the encouragement of some fresh Companies of Scots come to his succour he came to a battell in the field where the English with the losse of two thousand one hundred common Souldiers and two of the Nobility the Lord Dudley and the Lord Charleton got the honor of the day and slew of their enemies five Earles two Viscounts twenty Barons and above seven thousand other of the French besides two thousand seven hundred Scots lately arrived and tooke Prisoners the Duke of Alanson himselfe the Lord of Herâ—ys and divers other French and Sir Iohn Tourâ—â—ull and two hundred Gentlemen besides common Souldiers This battell was fought the eight and twentieth day of August in the yeare 14â—4 and thereupon Vernoyle was presently redelivered After this the Earle of Salisbury with ten thousand men taketh in the strong Towne of Mâ—â—â—ts the Towne of St. Susan the Fort Sâ— Bernard and others from thence he went to Aâ—jou where he performed such heroicke Acts that his very name grew terrible in all France as for instance the new High-Constable perfidious Richmond with forty thousand men layd Siege to the good Town of St. Iames in Benyoâ— the Garrison whereof consisted but of six hundred English who being driven to some extremity sallied forth crying Saâ—nt George a Salisbury which word of Salisbury so frighted the French thinking hee had been come to rescue them that casting away their weapons they ran all away saving some few that yielded themselves prisoners leaving all their Tents fourteen Peeces of Ordnance forty Barrels of Powder three hundred Pipes of Wine much Armour and some treasure behinde them After which other Castles as that of Beamâ—â—t of Vicount Tenney Gilly Osce Rusey Vasicke and many more were taken in by Sir Iohn Monâ—gomery and Sir Iohn Falstaffe so as once againe the French are glad to betake themselves to their old course of fraud they compounded with a Gascoigne Captaine for delivery of Alâ—â—son to them whereof the Regent having notice he sent the Lord Willoughby and Sir Iohn Falstaffe to prevent it who encountering with Charles de Villiers that with two hundred horse and three hundred foot was come to the place appointed for entry tooke and slew them all except some few horse which saved themselves by flying After which the Earle of Salisbury tooke in and demolished above forty Castles and strong Piles for which there was publique thanksgiving to God in London Whil'st these things were done in France an unkinde variance fell out betweene the Protector and his brother the Bishop of Winchester Lord Chancellor for appeasing whereof the Regent having substituted the Earle of Warwick Lievtenant Generall in his absence came into England where in a Parliament he compounded all differences between them in honour whereof king Henry kept a solemne feast at which time the Regent dubbed the King knight not yet above foure yeares old and then the King presently invested with that dignity many of his servants and Edmund Mortimer the last Earle of March at this time dying his Inheritance descended to Richard Plantagenet sonne and heire to Richard Earle of Cambridge beheaded at Southampton who was now created Duke of York was afterward father to king Edward the fouâ—h and at this time also Iohn Mowbray sonne and heire to Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk banished before by king Richard the second was restored to the Title of Duke of Norfolk And now all things peaceably setled in England the Regent with the Bishop of Winchester returned into France where at the intercession of the Duke of Burgoigne the Duke of Alanson was ransomed for two hundred thousand Crownes and the Bishop of Winchester returned to Callice where he was invested with the dignity and Hat of a Cardinall which his brother the Regent put upon his head About this time the Duke of Glocester Protector tooke some blemish in his honour by marying another mans wife Iâ—queline Countesse of Haynoult Holland and Zealand who was maried before to Iohn Duke of Brabant yet living and had lived with him ten moneths as his lawfull wife but at that time upon some discontent gone from him intending to be divorced at which injury offered to the Duke of Brabaâ—t the Duke of Burgoigne being his Cosin tooke so great offence that first by friendly letters he admonished the Duke of Glocester of it and that not prevailing they grew to termes of challenge and a Combat between them was appointed but in the meane time the Lady betrayed was caried to the Duke of Burgoigne who conveyed her to Gaunt from whence by friendship of a Burgonian knight in mans apparell she escaped into Holland and there made a defensive warre against her husband the Duke of Brabant and the Duke of Burgoigne To her ayd the Duke of Glocester sent the Lord Fitzwater with a Power of a thousand men but she being discomfited by the Duke of Brabant and the Pope also pronouncing the first mariage legall the Duke of Glocester deserted her and then tooke for a second wife Eleanor daughter of the Lord Cobham of Sterborough his old mistresse and the Lady Iaqueline after the death of Iohn Duke of Brabant maried a meane Gentleman whom the Duke of Burgoigne imprisoned and brought herselfe to live in much trouble And now in France the Constable with forty thousand men besieged the Town of S. Iames de Benuron and having made a breach fit for assault whilst his Captaines stood streining of courtesie which of them should first enter Sir Nicolas Burdet with all his forces sallied forth crying aloud A Salisbury a Suffolk whose names struck such
from Dover to the end he might not seem to surprize him he sent an Herauld named Garter a Norman by birth with a letter of Defiance to the French king so well written saith Coâ—â—â—â—s that he thought it not of any English mans enditing as though Englishmen could not endite aswell as the French Requiring him to yeeld unto him the Crown of Fâ—â—â—ce his unquestionable Inheritance which if he should dare to deny â—e 〈◊〉 then endeavor to recover it by the Sword This letter the French king read thereupon withdrawing himselfe caused the Herauld to be brought to his presenceâ— to whom in private he gave this answer That the Duke of Burgoigne and the Earle of Saint Paul the Constable by whose instigation he knew the king of Eâ—gland was drawn to this Designe would but delude him for that they were Dissemblerâ—â—nd Impostors and therfore said It would conduce more to the honor of the king of 〈◊〉 to continue in League with him though an old Adversary then to hazard thâ— fortune of the warres upon the promised assistance of new-come Decâ—iversâ—â—nd so commend me saith he to the king thy Master and say what I have told â—heâ— and then with an honourable reward of three hundred Crowns dismist him The Herauld promised to doe all that in him lay and beyond his Commission shewâ—d the French king wayes by working upon the Lords Howard and Stanley by which he might enter into a Treaty for Peace which he doubted not would sort to a good Conclusion The French king glad to heâ—r it gave the Herauld besides the other reward â— piece of Crimson Velvet of thirty yards long and withall sent to king Eâ—ward the goodliest Horse he had in his Stable as also an Aâ—â—e a Wolph and a wildâ—â—ore beaâ—ts at that time rare in England and then the Herauld returning to Callice delivered to king Edward the French kings â—nswer And now to make good the French kings aâ—â—egation to the Herauld the Duke oâ— Burgoigne who had promised in the word of a Prince to bring to Callice by this time two thousand Launces and foure thousand Seradiots or â—ight hoâ—se failed to come whereupon the Lord Scales is by king Eâ—ward sent to the Dâ—ke to put him in minde of his promise and to haâ—ten his comming with his promised forces But the journey was to little purpose onely it occasioned the Duke with a small â—roop of horse to come to â—he king formally to excuse himselfe for having been so backward but the cause he said was for that having been imbroiled in the siege of Nâ—z he could not depart thence without infinite disgrace if neither composition nor submission were enforced which now notwithstâ—ndingâ— because he would not too much trespasse upon his patâ—ence he was enforced to doe by the obâ—tâ—nacy of the besieged but promised to supply all defects both with his presence and power and that speedily The Constable likewise by his letter perswades the king of England to proceede in the action and not to doubt both from the Duke and himself to be sufficiently every way accommodated King Edward thus encouraged passeth on but in his way found no performance of promises either on the Dukes or Constables part for the Duke did not accommodate the souldiers at their comming to Peroâ—â—â— with victuals or lodging in such manner as was requisite and expected and the Constable in stead of surrendring up Sain◠〈◊〉 according to agreement made a saâ—ly out upon such as were sent from the king of Eâ—glaâ—d to take possession and plaid upon them with his great Ordinance whereupon k. Edâ—ard began to suspect the truth of the French k. description of the Dukes and Constables conditions and from thence forward stood upon his own guard and gave no further credit to their Protestation which the Duke of Burgoigâ—e resenting pretended occasions for the hasting forward his forcesâ— promising speedy return together with them taketh his leave and departeth which did not a little increaâ—e the kings suspition The French king having intelligence of the Duke of Burgoignes departure forecasting the danger if they should unite their forces resolved with himselfe to 〈◊〉 what might be done to mediate a Peace in the Dukes absence and yet so to 〈◊〉 that if it took not effect he might disclaime the knowledge of the overture whereupon he privately dispatcheth a messenger in â—hew an Herauld but was indeedâ— fellow of no oâ—â—ice or estimation and not known to any of the Kings household but to Villiers the Master of the Horse who only was acquainted with the plot and party This counterfeit Pursuivant at Armâ— with a coate made of a Trumpets Banneâ—towle addressed himselfe to the king of Eâ—glaâ—d and upon admission to his pesence insinuates the French Kings desire which was to have Commissioners on both parts assigned to conferre of the means to reconcile the differences between the two Kings or at least to conclude a cessation from arms foâ— some time And so well this Messenger delivered his errand that it was credited and the kings request grantâ—d and thereupon letters of safe conduct are sent of both sides for such Commissioners as to this purpose should meet at Aâ—yeâ—s For king Edward came the Lord Hoâ—â—â—d Sir Aâ—thoâ—y Seâ—tleger and Doctor Morâ—on after made Lord Chancelour of Eâ—glaâ—d For king Lewis came the Admirall of France the Lord Saint Piers and Hebergâ—â—shop â—â—shop of Eâ—reux After long Conference Articles of Peace were concluded on â—o this effect That the French king should pay presently to the king of Eâ—glaâ—d threescore and fifteen thousand Crowns and from thence forth annually fifty thousâ—nd Crowns during the life of king Edward That within one yeare the French king should send for the Lady 〈◊〉 the king of Englands daughter and joyn her in marriage to the Dolphin That the Lord Howâ—rd and Sir Iohn Cheyney Master of the Horse should remaine in hostage there till the English army had quitted France and â— generall peace for nine yeerâ— wherein the Dukes of Burgoigne and Brittâ—â—â—e are â—â—cluded if they will accept thereof This Conclusion was the more easily compassed by the king of France his following the Herauldâ— Counsell foâ— he distributed sixteen thousand Crowns amongst king Edwards Counsellours and Favorites two thousand Crowns to the Lord Hastings the kings Chamberlaine and to the Lord 〈◊〉 Sir Iohn Cheynâ—y Sir Anthony Sentleger and Moâ—â—gomery the residue besides great store of Plate and Jewels distributed amongst inferiour Officers of the Court The Duke of Glocester onely opposed this accord as not suiting with his designe Neverthelesse it proceeded and notâ—ce thereof is presently sent to the Duke of 〈◊〉 who thereupon onely with fifteen horse comes posting to the English Campe whom king Edward perswades to enter into the peace according to the reservation but he in a great chafe reproacheth king Edward for entring into it himselfe saying that his predecessours had by many brave exploits gotten fame and repâ—tation upon the French and now
to follow with her second Son and five Dâ—ughters takes Sanctuary at Westminster and the young king hearing of these things with tears and sighes expressed his griefe but the Dukes making Protestation of their fidelity and care of his safety seemed onely to mervaile why he should be melancholy At this time a messenger came from the Lord Chamberlaine to the Archbishop of Yorke Lord Chancellour of England to signifie to him that there was no feare of any thing for that he assured him all should be well Well quoth the Archbishop be it as well as it will I assure him It will never be so well as we have seen it And thereupon presently after the messengers departure he calleth up his servants being then in the night and taking the great Seale with him came before day to the Queen whom he found sitting alone aloe on the Rushes all desolate and dismaied whom he comforted the best he could aâ—â—uring her that if they Crowned any king but her Sonne whom they had with them he would presently after Crown his brother whom she had with her and therewithall delivering to her the great Seale departed but soon after bethinking himselfe better he thought he had done too rashly to deliver the great Seale to the Queen and therefore sent for it againe and had it delivered him yet shortly after reproved for delivering it by the Counsell Table he had it taken from him which was then delivered to Doctor Russell Bishop of Lincolne the most learned man of that time And now thâ— Duke of Glocester so respectively carries himselfe towards the King with so much shew of care and faithfulnes that by a generall consent of the Counsell he is appointed and established Protectour of the king and kingdome and by this means he hath the king in his custody It remains now how to get his brother the Duke of Yorke for without having both he were as good as to his purpose have neither and to effect this he makes the Effect to become a Cause for where by his undue dealingâ— he had made the king Melancholy he now makes that Melancholy a cause to require his brothers company to make him merry and therefore wishes some course may be taken either by perswasion or otherwise to procure the Queen to send the Duke of Yorke to keep his brother the king company Here the Archbishop of Yorke the Lord Cardinall the man thought most fit to be sent in this imployment riseth up and faith He would doe his best endeavour to perswade her but if he could not he then thought it was not to be attempted against her will for that it would turn to the high displeasure of God if the priviledge of that holy place should now be broken which had so many yeers inviolably been kept which 〈◊〉 Kings and Popes so good had granted so many had confirmed and which holy ground was more then five hundred yeers agoe by Saint Peter in his own person acâ—ompaniâ—d with great numbers of Angels by night so specially hallowed and dedicated to God and for proof whereof there is yet in the Abby Saint Peters Cope 〈◊〉 shew that from that time hitherward there never was so undevoâ—â— a King that durst violate the sacred place nor so holy a Bishop that durst presume to Consecrate it â— and therefore saith he God forbid that any man for any earthly thing should enterprise to breake the immunity and liberty of that sacred Sanctuary and I trust wâ—â—h Gods grace we shall not need it at least my endeavours shall not be wanting if the Mothâ—rs dread and womanish feare be not the let Womanish feare nay womanish frowardnes quoth the Duke of Buckingham for I dare take it upon my Soule she well knoweth there is no need of any feare either for her sonne or for herselfeâ— and prosecuting his discourse declareth at large that as there was no just 〈◊〉 for the Queen to keep her Sonne so there was great cause for them to require him and that for breach of Sanctuary in this case there could be none for that he had often heard of Sanctuary men but never heard of Sanctuary children And to this purpose having spoken much It was all assented to by the Lords that were present and with this Instruction is the Archbishop upon whom the Queen specially relyed sent unto her who after humble salutations acquaints her with his message earneâ—â—ly perswading her not to oppose the Lord Protectours request and giving her many reasons first that she ought not and then that she could not keep him in Sanctuary she answered all his reasons though with great mildenesse yet with great earnestnes so as the Archbishop finding little hope to prevaile with her by perswasion turns the tenour of his speech another way telling her plainly that if she did not consent to send her Sonne he doubted some sharper course would speedâ—ly be taken This warning sank so deep into the Queens minde that after a little pausing taking her Sonne by the hand she said My Lord Archbishop here he is for my own part I will never deliver him but if you will needs have him Take him and at your hands I will require him and therewith weeping bitterly Deer childe saith she let me kisse thee before we part God knows whether ever we shall meet againe and so the childe weeping as fast as she went along with the Archbishop to the Star-chamber where the Lord Protectour and other Lords had staid all the while looking for his comming back and as soone as he was entred the roome the Protectour spying the childe riseth up and embraceth him saying Deere Nephew Now welcome with all my heart next to my Soveraigne Lord your brother nothing gives me so much contentment as your Presence and we may believe him he spake as he thought for now he had the prey which he so much desired A few dayes after pretending to have them lodged in a place of more security untill the distempers of the Commonwealth might better be quieted he caused them in great pompe and state to be conveyed through London to the Tower there at pleasure to remaine till the time of Coronation whereof there was great shew of preparation made But now the great work is to be done the Princes are to be made away and how to have it done Hoc opus hic labor est there must be potent Instruments and none so potent as the Duke of Buckingham and he by a match to be concluded betwixt their children and an equall partition of the Treasure of the Realme betwixt them two not onely is drawne to condiscend but is most forward to contrive and plot stratagems to effect it The first rub in the way was the Lord Hastings who being sound so firm to his old Masters King Edwards sons that nothing could remove him it was fit to remove him out of the way which was done in this manner All the Lords of the Privy Councell in the Protectors
Earle returning into Brittâ—iâ—e received there the news of the Duke of Buckinghams death and the dispâ—râ—ing of the Confederates forces with which though he was at first much troubled yet was he as much comforted afterward when he saw the Marquesse Dorset and those other Lords and Captaines come unto him soon after whose comming upon Christâ—â—sse day before the high Altar in the great Church of Rheims the Earle of Richmoâ—d gave Oath to marry the Lady Elâ—zabeth as soone as he should be quietly â—eâ—led in the Government of England and thereupon all the Lords and Knights there present did him homage and in the same place each to other Religiously Vowed taking the Sacrament upon it never to cease prosecuting warre against king Richard till either his Deposition or Destruction King Richard being informed of these things makes diligent enquiry after all such as might be suspected to be favourers of Richmonds association of whom Sir George Brown and Sir Roger Clifford with foure other Gentlemen are apprehended and exâ—cuted at London Sir Thomas Sentlâ—geâ— whom mâ—rried Anne the Duke of Excetâ—rs widdow this kings own sister and Thomas Rame Esquire were executed at Exceter Thomas Marquesse Dorset and all such as were with the Earle of Richâ—â—â—d were at a Parliament then holden attâ—inted of Treason and all their Goodâ— aâ—d Lands seized on to the kings use Besides these a poore Gentleman called Câ—lliâ—gborâ—â— for making a small ryme of thâ—ee of his wicked Coâ—nsellours the Lord Lâ—â—â—ll Sir Robert Ratcliffe and Sir William Catesby which ryme was thus framed 〈◊〉 Cat the Rat and â—â—vell the Dog rule all Englaâ—â— under a â—â—og was put to deatâ— â—nd his body divided into foure quarterâ— At this time a Truce is conclâ—ded betwixt England and Scâ—â—land for three yearsâ— and for a seâ—ling a firmer Amity between the two kingdomes a marriage it treatedâ— of between the Duke of Rothsay eldest Sonne to the king of Scots and the Lady Anne de la Poole daughter to Iohn Duke of Suffolk by Anne sister to king Riâ—hard which sister he so much favoured that after the death of his own sonne who dyed some time before â—e caused Iohn Earle of Lincolne her sonne and his Nephew to be proclaimed Heire apparent to the Crown of England And now King Richard to take away the Root of his feare once againe sent Ambâ—â—â—adors to the Duke of Britaine with ordeâ— besides the great gifts they caried with them to make offer that king Richard should yeerly pay and answer the Duke of all the Revenues and Profits of all lands and possessionsâ— as well belonging to the Earle of Richmond as of any other Nobleman or Gentleman that were in his company if he after that time would keep them in continuall prison and restraine theâ— from liberty But the Duke of Britâ—ine being at that time fallen into such infirmity that the Ambassadors could have no audience they addressed themselves to â—eter Landois the Dukes chief Treasurer and he taken with this golden hook faithfully promised to satisfie their Request and had done so indeed but that B. Mortoâ— sojourning then in Flâ—â—ders had by his friends Intelligence of his purpose and presently informed the E. thereof The E. was then at Vaâ—â—eâ—â— who upon the Bps. information taking with him only five servants as though he went but to visit some friend when he was five miles forward on his way suddenly turned into a Wood adjoyning and there changing apparell with one of his servants followed after as their attendant and never rested till by wayes unknown he came to his company abiding at Angiâ—râ— yet was not his departure so secret nor so sudden but that Peter Landois had notice of it who sending Posts after him was so neer overtaking him that he was scarce entred one houre into Francâ— when the Posts arrived at the Conâ—ines and then durst goe no further In the mean time Sir Edward Woodvile and Captaine Pâ—ynings who with their companies were left behinde in Vannes had been in danger of Peter Lâ—ndis his malice but that the Duke being informed by the Chancellour of their case not only protected them but furnished them with all necessaries for their journey to the Earle and was so incensed against Lâ—â—dois for this action of his that for this and some other over-bold preâ—umptions he was afterward hanged The Earle having passed this danger in Britaine and being arrived in France addresseth himselfe to the French king imploring his ayde and hath it promised and performed and in this time Iohn Vere Earle of Oxford who had long time been kept prisoner in the Castle of Hammes so farre prevailed with Iames Blunt Captaine of the Fortresse and Sir Iohn Fortescue Porter of the Town of Callice that not onely they suffered him to be at liberty but accompanied him also to the Earle of Richmâ—â—â— to whom Captain Blunt gave assurance that the Fortresse remained wholly at his devotion At this time also there resorted to the Earle divers young Gentlemen that were Students in the University of Paris profering him their service amongst whom was Richard Fox at that time famous for his learning with whom afterward the Earle advised in all his affaires made him one of his most Privy Counsell and at last Bishop of Winchester But now king Richard having been disappointed of his designe in Britaine hath another way in his head to disapoint the Earle of Richmond of his marriage with the Daughter of Queen Elizabeth and to this end he sent to the Queenâ— being still in Sanctuary divers messengers who should first excuse and purge him of all things formerly attempted and done against her and then should largely promise promotions innumerable not onely to her selfe but also to her sonne Lord Thomas Marquesse Dâ—râ—etâ— by â—orâ—e of which promises the messengers so prevailed with her â—hat noâ— onely she began â—o relent but 〈…〉 was content to submit her selfe wholly to thâ— kingâ— pleasure And thereupon putting in oblivion the murther of her innoâ—â—â—â— Children the butchering of her own Brother and Sonne the infamy of her â—oyâ—ll Huâ—â—and the aspersion of Adulteâ—y cast upon her selfe the imputation of Bastardy laid to her Daâ—â—hterâ—â— forgetting also her Oaâ—h made to the Earle of Richmonds Mothâ—r seduced by flaâ—tering words she first delivered into king Richards hands her â—ive Daughters and after sent letters to the Marquesse her Sonne being then at Pariâ— witâ— the Earle of Richmond willing him by any means to leave the Earle and with all speed to repaire into Englandâ— where for him were provided great Honours and Promotions Assuring him further that all offences on both parts were forgotâ—en â—nd forgiven and both he and she incorporated in the kings favour If we wonder at this credulity in the Queen we may conceive she was moved with the 〈…〉 motives of Feare and hope she feared no doubt that if she denyed the kingâ— request he would presently take some sharpe course both against her and her Dâ—â—â—htâ—rs and she hoped that
Sir Edward Baynton and others The last of October the Duke of Albonye sent two or three thousand men over the water to besâ—edge the Castle of VVarke who by battery of their Ordnance won the ouâ—ermost Ward called the Barnekins and continuing their battery won the second Ward but then Sir William Lisle that was Captaine of the Castle issuing forth with those few he had left drove the Frâ—nch-mâ—n from the place and slew of them to the number of three hundred a memorable service and for which the Earle of Surrey afterwards gave him great thankes The Earle would gladly have followed his enemies inâ—o their owne Borders but that his Commission was onely to defend England and not to invade Scotland Shortly after the Queeâ—e of Scots Mother to the King sent to her Brother the King of England for an abstinence from Warre till a further communication might be had which being graâ—â—ed the English Army brake up and the Earle of Surrey returned to the Court. And now for a while we must be coâ—â—ent to heare of petâ—y Occurrances because greater did not happen which if it make us like the Story the worse it may make us like the times the better seeing they are ever the best times that afford lest matter to be talked of but this time will lasâ— but a while for shortly we shall come to hear Occurrances that have been matter of talk to this day whereof the like have never scarce been seen and will hardly be beleeved when they are heard a Marriage dissolved after twenty yeeres coâ—summation houses built in Piety under pretence of Piety demolished a King made a captiveâ— a Pope held a prisonerâ— Queenes taken out of love put to death out of loathing and the Church it selfe so shaken that it hath stood in distraction ever since At this time the Emperouâ— Charles sent to the King of England two Mâ—ses trapped in crimson Velvet richly embridered also eleven goodly Jeâ—its trapped with russeâ— Velvet richly wrought foure Speares and two Javelins of strange timber and worke richly garnished and five brace of Greyhoâ—ndâ— To the Queene he sent two Mules richly trapped and high Chaiâ—es after the Spanish fashion which Presents were thankfully received both of the King and Queene At this time in the moneth of October the Cardinall sent out Commissions that every man being worth forty pounds should pay the whole Subsedie before granted out of hand which he called an Anticipation which fine new word he thought would make them pay their money the more willingly but they loved their money better then any words he could devise In this yeere the King sent the Lord Morley Sir VVilliam Hussey knight and Doctor Lee his Almoner to Fâ—rdinand Archduke of Austria with the Order of the Garter which he received in the towne of Norimberg to his great contentment In this yeere through Bookes of Prognosticatâ—ons foreshewing much hurt to come by waters and â—â—oods many persons withdrew themselves to high grounds for feare of drowning specially one Bolton Prior of Sainâ— Bartholâ—mewes in Smithfield builded him an House upon Harrow on the Hill and thither wenâ— and made provision for two moneths These great waters should have fallen in February but no such thiâ—â— happeniâ—g the Astronomers excused themselves by saying that in the computaâ—ion they had miscounted in their number an hundred yeeres In this meane time many enterpriâ—es were attempted betweene the Englishmen of Callice and Guyâ—â—es and the Frenchmen of Bulloigne and the Froâ—â—tiers of Picardâ—â— and still Sir VVilliam Fitz Williams Captaine of Guysnes Sir Robert Iâ—rningham Captaine of Newnham Bridge Sir Iohn Walloppe and Sir Iohn Gage were the men that did the French most hurt This yeere the first of September was Docter Thomas Hannibell Master of the Rolles receaved into London by Earles Bishops and diverse Lords and Gentlemen as Embassadours from Pope Clement who brought with him a Rose of gold for a present to the Kingâ— on the day of the Nativity of our Ladâ— after a solemne Masse sung by the Cardinall of Yorke the said present was delivered to the King which was a Tree forged of fine Gold and with branches leaves and flowers resembling Roses About the beginning of Winter the adventâ—rers called Krâ—ekers being not above two hundred and of them five and twenty horsmen made an attempt to fetch some booty from a Village not farre from Mattrell wherof the Earle of Dâ—mmartine having notice he set upon them with a far greater number and slew most of them and this was the end of the Kreekers as brave men as ever served any Prince In December this yeere there came to London diverse Embassadours out of Scotland about a peace to be hadâ— and a mariage to be concluded between the King of Scots and the Lady Mary daughter to the King of England At this time the Lord Leonard Gray and the Lord Iohn Grâ—y brothers to the Lord Marquesse Dorset Sir George Cobham sonne to the Lord Cobham VVilliaâ— Carye Sir Iohn Dudley Thomas VVyat Francis Poynts Francis Sidâ—â—y Sir Anthony Browne Sir Edward Seymor Oliver Manners Percivall Hart Sebastiâ—â— Nudigatâ— and Thomas Calen Esquires of the Kings Household made a challenge of Arms against the Feast of Christmas which was proclaimed by Windsor the Herauld and performed at the time appointed very Nobly at Tilts Tâ—rneys Barriars and the assault of a Castle erected for that purpose iâ— the Tilt-yard at Greenwich where the King held his Christmas that yeer with great State and magnificence About this time Iohn Iokyn Steward of the Household to the French Kings Motheâ— came into England and was received in secret manâ—er into the House of one Doctor Larke a Prebrendary of Saint Stephens who oftentimes talked with the Cardinall about a Peace to be concluded between the two Kings of â—ngland and France of whose often meetings Monsieur de Brate the Emperours Embassadour grew very jealous The four and twentieth of Ianuary Monsieâ—r Brynion President of Roan came to London as Embassadour from the French King and was lodged with the said Iohn Iokyn which small things should not be related but that they were preparatives to great matters afterward On Sunday the fifth of March were received into London Monsieur de Beuer Loâ—d of Campher Admirall of Flanders Monsieur Iohn de la Coose President of 〈◊〉 Master Iohn de la Gache as Embassadours from the Lady Margaret in the name of the Emperour who required three things First they demanded the Lady Mary the Kings only daughter to be presently delivered and she to be nâ—â—ed Empresse and as Governesse take possession of all the Low-Countryes Secondly that all such summes of money as the King should give with her in maâ—riage should be paid incontinently Thirdly that the King of England should passe the sea in person and make Warre in France the next Summer The â—â—rst two demands were not agreed too for certaine causes and as to the third the King said he would take time
for the suppressing of so many Monasteries the King instituted certaine new Bishoprickes as at VVestminster Oxford Peterborough Bristow Chester and Gloster and assigned certaine Canons and Prebends to each of them The third of November Henry Courtney Marquesse of Exceter and Earle of Devonshire Henry Poole Lord Montacute Sir Nicholas Carew of Bedington Knight of the Garter and Master of the Kings Horse and Sir Edward Nevill brother to the Lord of Aburgeiney were sent to the Tower being accused by Sir Geoffry Poole the Lord Montacutes brother of high treason theâ— were indiâ—ed for devising to promote and advance one Reinold Poole to the Crowne and put downe King Henry This Poole was a neere kinsman of the Kings being the sonne of the Lady Margaret Countesse of Salisbury daughter and heire to George Duke of Clarence he had been brought up by the King in learning and made Deane of Excetur but being sent after to learne experience by travaile he grew so great a friend of the Popes that he became an enemy to King Henry and for his enmity to the King was by Pope Iulius the third made Cardinall for this mans cause the Lords aforesaid being condemned were all executed the Lord Marquis the Lord Montacute and Sir Edward Neâ—ill beheaded on the Tower-hill the ninth of Ianuary Sir Nicholas Carew the third of March two Priests condemned with them were hanged at Tyburn Sir Ieoffry Poole though condemned also yet had his pardon About thiâ— time one Nicholson alias Lambert being accused for denying the Reall presence in the Sacrament appealed to the King and the King was coâ—tent to heare him whereupon a Thronâ— was set up in the Hall of the Kings Pallace at Westminster for the King to siâ— and when tâ—e Bishops had urged their arguments and could not prevaile then the King tooke him in hand hoping perhaps to have the honour of conâ—erting an Hereticke when the Bishops could not doe it and withall promised him pardon if he would recant but all would not doe Nicholsoâ— remained obstinâ—te the King mist his honor the delinquent mist his pardon and shortly after was drawne to Smithfield and there burnt About this time King Henry being informed that the Pope by instigation of Cardinall Poole had earnestly moved divers great Princes to invade England He as a provident Prince endeaâ—oured aâ—â—arnâ—stly to provide â—or defence aâ—d to that end rode himselfe to the Sâ—a-coast◠〈◊〉 them fortifiâ—â— and in needfull places Bulwarkes to be erected Hee câ—used hiâ— Naâ—â—eâ—â— be rigged and to be in readinesse at any short warning he câ—â—sed Musters â—â— be raken in all sheeâ—es and lists of all able men in eâ—ery Countâ— in Lâ—â—â—don specially where Sir William Forman the â—hen Mâ—jor â—â—â—â—ified the number of fifteene thousand not that they were 〈…〉 but that so many were ready prepared and these on the eight of May the King himselfe saw Mustered in Iames Parke where the Citizeâ—s â—â—â—ove in such sort to exceed each other in bravary of armes and forwardnesse of service aâ— if the City had bin a Campe and they not men of the gownâ— but all profest Souldiers which they performed to their great cost but greater comendâ—â—ion It was now the one and thirtieth yeere of King Henriâ—s reigne and the nine and fortieth of his age when having continued a widdower two yeere he began to thinke of marrying againe and bee needed not be a suiâ—our for a wife for he was sued unto take one The Emperour sollicited him to marry the Dutchesse of Milan but to marry her he must first obtaine a Licence from the Pope and King Henry was resolved rather to have no wife then to have any more to doe with the Pope Then the Duke of Cleve made suit unto him to marry the Lady Anne hiâ— Sister and hee was a Protestant Prince and so though differing in points of Doctrine yet in the maine Point of excluding â—he Pope both of one minâ—e Many about the King were forward for thiâ— Maâ—ch but the Lord Croâ—well specially and indeed it concerned him more then any other that the King should take a Protestant wife seeing 〈◊〉 actions hâ—d beene such as none but â— Protestant Queene would ever like and if the Queene should not like them the King though done by his leave would â—ot like them long Hereupon such meanes was used that Embâ—ssaâ—ours came from the Duke of Cleve to conclude the March and theâ— the elevâ—nth of December the Lady her selfe in grâ—at state was brought first to Callice and then over to Dover and being come to Rochester the King secretly came to see her afterward she was conducted to London meâ— by the way in severall places by all the great Lords and Ladies of the Kingdome The third of Ianuary she was received into London by Sir William Hollice then Lord Major with Orationâ— Pageants anâ— all complements of Staâ—e the greatest that ever had beene seene On Twelfth day the Marriage was â—olemnized the Archbishop of Canterbury did the office the Earle of Oversteine a German Lord gaâ—e her In Aprill following the Lord Cromwell as though he had won the Kings heart for ever by making this march was made Earle of Essex for in March before Henry Rourchieâ— Earle of Essexâ— and the ancientest Earle of England had broken his necke by seeking to breake a yong Horse leaving onely one Daughter and the dying without issue the Earldome came to the Family of Devereux which yet enjoyed not the honour till afterward in Queene Elizabeths time and then made but not restored The ninth of March the King created Sir William Paulet Treasurour of his House Lord Saint Iohn Sir Iohn Russell Controlour Lord Russell and shortly after Sir William Par was created Lord Par. The eight and twentieth of April began a Parliament at Westminster in the which Margaret Countesse of Salisbury Gertrude wife to the Marquesse of Exceter Reynold Poole Cardinall broâ—her to the Lord Montacute Sir Adrian Foskew Thomas Dingley Knight of Saint Iohns and divers others were attainâ—ed of high treason of whom Foskew and Dingley the tenth of Iuly were beheaded the Countesse of Salisbury two yeeres after and in this Parliament the Act of the six Articles was established and Sir Nicholas Hare was restored to his place of Speaker in the Parliament It was now five moneths after the Kings marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleve and though the King at the first sight of the Lady did not like her person yet whether as respecting the honour of Ladies he would not disgrace her at the first meeting or whether he ment to try how time might worke him to a better liking or indeed that he would not give distaste to the German Princes at that time for sole ends he had a working he dissembled the matter and all things went on in a shew of contentment on all hands But for all these shewes the crafty Bishop of London Stephen Gardiner finding how the world went with the Kings affection towards his
Queene and for her sake with Cromwell to neither of whom he was greatly affected not to the Queene as misliking her religion not to Cromwell as envying his greatnesse he so wrought upon the Kings inclination what by suggesting and what by aggravating that the Lord Cromwell the ninth of Iuly sitting in the Councell Chamber was suddenly apprehended and committed to the Tower and the ninteenth of the same moneth was attainted by Parliament and never came to his Answer by a Law which as some reported he himselfe had caused to be made and the eight and twentieth of Iuly was beheaded on the Tower-hill for crimes as appeares in Record of Heresie and Treason This Lord Cromwell was borne at Pâ—tney a Village in Surrey neere the Thames side sonne to a Smith after whose decease his Mother was married to a Sheereman for the pregnancy of his wit he was first entertained by Cardinall Woolsey and by him imployed in many great affaires the Cardinall falling the King tooke him into his service and finding his great abilities first advanced him for his worth and then for his pleasure overthrew him But the greatest part of Stephen Gardiners practice had beene done before for at Midsomer before the King caused the Queene to remove to Richmond as for her health and pleasure and and in the time of her absence on the sixt of Iuly sent certaine Lords to the Lower House of Parliament who there declared certaine causes for which the Kings marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleve was not to be counted lawfull and so carried the matter that the Convocation cleerly determined the King might marry any other and so might she Being thus Divorced it was further Enacted she should no more be called Queene but the Lady Anne of Cleve The fault for which this Divorce was decreed is not expresly deliveredâ— some say a precontract of the said Lady with a Lord of Germany was pretended but it seems to have bin for some womanish defect in her body as she spared not to aâ—firme that she had never bin carnally known by the King in al the time of their lying together and as it is said when her Ladies one time said unto her that they looked now every day to hear of her great belly she should answer they might look long enough unlesse saying how dost thou sweerest God morrow sweet-heart and sucâ— like words could make a great belly for said she more then this there never passed between the King and me How ever it was she willingly submitted to the Decree whether out of fear or perhaps as little liking the King as the King did her and afterward led a private life here in England wel respected of the King and dying sixteen yeers after in the fourth yeer of Queeâ— Mary was buried at Westminster About this time Leonard Gray Deputy of Ireland was on the Tower-hill beheaded for suffering his Nephew Gerald Fitz-Garret to escape who had been declared an enemy to the state and then also was Thomas Fines Lord Dacres a young mâ—n of foure and twenty yeers of age hanged at Tyburne â—or kiling a meane peson upon a suddaine affray also the fourth of Aâ—gust Thomas Epson a Monke of Westminster for denying to take his oath to be true to the King had his Monks garment plucked from his back the last Monke that was seen in such habit in England till Queen Maryes dayes The sixt of Iuly in the two and thirtieth yeere of his Reigne King Henry had been divorcâ—d from the Lady Anne of Cleve and now the eighth of August following the Lady Katherine Howard Niece to the Duke of Norfolke and daughter to the Lord Edward Howard was shewed openly as Queene at Hampton-Court On the tenth of Iune the yeere following Sir Edmund Knevet of Norfolke Knight was arraigned before thâ— Officers of the Green-cloath for striking one Master Cleere of Norfolke within the Tennis-court of the Kings Houseâ— being found guilty he had judgment to loose his Right hand and to forfeite all his lands and goods whereupon there was called to do execution first the Serjeant Surgion with his Instruments pertaining to his office then the Serjeant of the Wood-yard with a mallet and a block to lay the hand upon then the Kings Master-cooke with the knife â—o cut off the hand then the Serjeant of the larder to set the knife right on the joynt then the Serjeant Farrier with searingâ—irons to seare the veines then the Serjeant of the â—oultry with a Cock which cock should have his head smitten off upon the same block and with the same knife then the Yeoman of the Chandry with seare-cloaths then the Yeoman of the Scullery with a pan of fire to heare the irons a chafer of water to coole the ends of the irons and two formes for all Officers to set their stuffe on then the Serjeant of the Cellar with wine Ale and Beere then the Serjeant of the Ewry with Bason Ewre and towels all things being thus prepared Sir William Pickering Knight Marshall was commanded to bring in his prisoner Sir Edmund Knevet to whom the chiefe Justice declared his offence which the said Knevet confessed and humbly submitted himselfe to the Kings mercy onely he desired that the King vvould spare his Right hand and take his left because said he if my right hand be spared I may live to doe the King good service of vvhose submission and reason of his suite vvhen the King vvas informed he granted him to loose neither of his hands and pardoned him also of his lands and goods The summer of his three and thirtieth yeerâ— King Henry with his Queene Katherine made a progresse into the North-parts and retâ—rning at Alhallantide to Hampton-court he was there informed of the Queens dessolute life first before her mariage with one Francis Deerham a Gentleman of Nâ—rfolke whom imployed afterward in Ireland she had lately againe at Pomfret received into her service and now since her mariage with one Thomas Colepepper of the Kings Privy-chamber whereupon the thirteenth of November Sir Thomas VVriothsley Knight secretary to the King was sent to the Queen at Hampton-Court to charge heâ— with these crimes and discharging her houshold to cause her to be convayed to Sion there to remaine till the Kings pleasure should be further knowne the deliâ—quents being examined Deerham confessed that before the Kingâ— mariage with the Lady Katherine there had been a pre-contract between himselfe and her but when he once understood of the Kings liking towards her he then waved and consealed it for her preforment so the first of December theâ— Gentlemen being arraigned at the Guild-hall they confessed the Indictment aâ—â— had Judgment to die as in cases of treason the tenth of December they weâ—e drawne from the Tower to Tyburne where Colepepper was beheaded and Deerham was hanged and dismembred Colepeppers body was buried in Sepulchers Church in London but both their heads were set on London-bridge the two and twentieth of December
execution upon a statute of the Sâ—aple and for so much as the said Cook during all the Parliament served the Speâ—ker in tâ—at office he was taken out of execution by priviledge of Parliament the Prerogative of which Court as our learned Counsaile informeth us is so great that all Acts and processes comming ouâ— of any other Court must for the time ceâ—se and give place to it and touching the party himselfe though for his presumption he was worthy to have lost his debt yet I commend your Equity that have restored him to hiâ— debt against him that was the principall when the King had said this Sir Edward Mountacute Lord chiefe Justice rose up and confirmed by many reasons all that the King had said as likwise did all the other Lordâ— none speaking any thing to the contrary It was now the foure and thirtieth yeere of King Henries Reigne when in May he took a loane of money of all such as were valued at fifty pounds and upwardâ— in the Subsidy book the Lord Privy-seale the Bishop of VVinchester Sir Iohn Baker and Sir Thomas Wriothsley were commissioners that the loane in London who so handled the matter that of some chief Citizens they obtained a thousand maâ—kes in prest to the Kings use for which Privie Seales were delivered to repay it againe within two yeeres At this time were many complaints made by the â—â—gliâ—h against the Scots partly for receiving and maintaining diverse English Rebâ—ls 〈◊〉 into Scotland and partly for invading â—he Engliâ—h Borders but still wâ—en the King of Englanâ— was preparing to oppose them the Scottish King would send Embassadours to treâ—t of reconcilement till at last â—fter mâ—nâ— delusory prankes of the Scots the King of England no longer â—nduriâ—g such abuses sent the Duke of Norfolke his Leivtenaâ—â— Generall accompanied with the Earls of Shrewsbury Darby Cumberland Surrey Hartâ—oâ—d Aâ—â—us Rutland the Lords of the North parts Sir Anthony Browne Master of the Kings horse and Sir Iohn Gage Controller of the Kingâ— House with others to the number of twenty thousand men who on the one and twentieth of Ocâ—ober entred Scotland where staying but eigâ—t dayeâ— onely he burnt above eighteen Towneâ— Abbeys and Castles and then without â—aving batâ—aile offered for want of victuals returned to Barwick â—â— soon as â—e was returned comes abroâ—d the King of Scots raiseth a power of fifteen thousâ—nd men and using great threatnings what he would doe invaded the west Borders but the edge of his threatning was soon taken off for the bastard Daâ—â—es with Iack of Musgrave setting upon them with onely an hundred Lightâ—horse and Sir Thomas Wharton with three hundred put them to flight upon a conceiâ— thâ—â— the Duke of Norfolke with all his Army had beene come iâ—to those partâ— where were taken prisonerâ— of the Scots the Earl of Cassill and Glencâ—â—ne the Lord Maxwell Admirâ—ll of Scotland the Lord Flemming the Lord Soâ—erwell the Lord Oliâ—haâ—t the Lord Gray Sir Oliver Sincleeâ—e the Kings Minion Iohn Rosse Lord of Gragy Robert Erskin sonne to the Lord Erskin Car Lord of Gredon the Lord Maxwells two Brothers Iohn Lesloy bastard sonne to the Earl of Rothus George Hame Lord of Hemetton with divers other men of account to the number of above two hundred and more then eight hundred of meaner calling so as some one English mâ—n and some women also had three or foure prisonerâ— in their hands at which overâ—hrow the King of Scots took such grief that he fell into a burning Ague and thereof died leaving behind him one onely daughter and heere King Henry began to apprehend a greater matter then the victory for he and his Counsâ—ile conceived that â—hiâ— daughter would be a fit match for his sonne Prince Edward thereby to make â— perpetuall union of the two Kingdomes and to â—his purpose they conferâ—ed with the Lord whom they had taken prisoners who exceeding glad of the proposition and promising to further it by all the possible meane they could were â—hereupon sâ—t at liberty and suffered â—o return home Comming into Scotland 〈◊〉 acquainting the Earl of Arraine wiâ—h the motion who was chosen Goverâ—our of the young Queen and of the Realme tâ—e matter with great liking was entertained and in Parliament of the three estâ—tes in Scotland the marriage was confirmeâ— and â— peace between the two Reâ—lms for ten yeerâ— waâ— proclaimed and Embassâ—dours sent into England for sealing the conditions But Beton Archbishop of Sâ—int Andrews being Cardinall and at the Popes devotion and therefore an utter enemy to King Henry so crossed the businesse that it came to nothing but ended in a war between the two Kingdomes so as in March the yeere following the Lord Seymour Earle of Hartford with an Army by Land and Sir Iohn Dudley Lord Lisle with a Fleeâ—e by Sea meâ— at New-castle and there joyned together for invading of Scotland with the Earl of Hartford were the Earl of Shrewsbury the Lords Cobham Clinton Conyers Stinton the Lord William Howard with Knights and others to the number of ten thousand with Sir Iohn Dudley the Admirall were two huâ—dred sâ—ile of ships on the fourth of May the whole Army was landed two miles from the Towne of Lieth at a place called Granther Crag and there the Lord Lievtennant puting his men in order maâ—ched toward the Towne of Lieth the Lord Admirall led the foreward the Lievtennant the Battell and the Earl of Shrewsbury the Rearward Before they came to the Towne of Lieth the Cardinal with six hundred â—orse besides foot lay in the way to impeach their passage but they were so assailed by the Harquâ—butars that they were glad to flye and the first man that fled was the Cardinal himself and then the Earls of Huntley Murrey Bothwel hereupon the English made forward to Lieth and entred it without any great resistance the sixth of May they marched towards Edenbrough and as they approached the Towne the provost with some of the Burgers came and offered the keyes of the Towen to the Lord Lievtennant upon condition they might depart with bag and baggage and the Towne to be preserved from fire but the Lord Livetennant told them their falshood had been such as deserved â—o faâ—our and therefore unlesse they would deliver the Towne absolutely without any condition he would proâ—eed in his enterprise and burne the Towne Here wee may see what it is to make men desperate for to this the Provest answered they were better then to stand upon defence and so indeed they did and made the English glad to retire for the Castle shot so fiercely upon them that having burnt onely a part of the Towne they returned to Lieth but whilst they lay there they so wasted the Country that within seaven mileâ— every way of Edenbrough there was not a Towne nor Village nor house tâ—at was left unburnt at Lieth the eleveth day of May the Lord Generall made Knights the Lord Clinton the Lord Conyers Sir William Wroughton Sir Thomas
Holecraft Sir Edward Dorrell Sir Francis Hothome and otherâ— to the number of at least threescore in Lieth Haven they seized upon all the Scottish Ships whereof two were of notable fairnesse the one called the Salamander given by the French King at the mariage of his daughter into Scotland the other called the Unicorne made by the late Scottish King the ballast of which two ships was Cannon-shot whereof they found in the Towne to the number of fourscore thousand On the fifteeâ—th of May their Army and their Fleeâ— departed from Lieth both in one houre having first set the Towne on fire and burned it to the ground from Lieth the English Army marched to Seaton from thence to Haddington from thence to Dunbar from thence to Ranton all which Towns and Castles with diverse others they burnt and utterly defaced and on the eighteenth of May came to Barwick not having lost in all the journey above fourteen menâ— In the meane time in King Henries five and thirtieth yeer on Trinity sunday a new league was entred into and sworne between the King and the Emperour at Hampton-court to be both offensive and defensive In this yeer Proclamation was made whereby the people were licensed to eate white meats in Leâ—t but streightly forbidden the eating of flesh whereupon shortly after the Earle of Surrey with diverse other Lords and Knights were imprisoned for eating of flesh contrary to the proclamation The third of Iune this yeer there came ouâ— of Ireland three Lordâ— of whom Obrine was here created Earle of Thonmoâ—d which hoâ—our his posterity injoyeth to this day Mack William a Bary was created Eaâ—le of Clanrinckford and Mack Gilparick was made Barron of Ebranky King Henry had already had five wives all of them Maides and no good luck with any of them he will now therefore try his fortune with a Widdow aâ—d therupon the twelveth of Iune in the five and thirtieth yeere of his Reigne hee took to wife the Lady Katherine Par widdow of the Lord Latimer late deceased who was then proclaimed Queen but how lucky would this maâ—ch have proved if the King had longer lived God knowes seeing in the short time of three yeers they lived together it was no smal danger she escaped which though it hapenned not till a yeer or â—wo after this time yet will not unfitly be spoken of in this place that so her story may come together this Queen as being an â—arnest Protestant had many great adversaries by whom she was accused to the King to have Hereticall books found in her closet and this was so agravated against her that they prevailed with the King to signe a warrant to commit her to the Tower with a purpose to have her burnt for Heresie this warrant was delivered to Wriothsley Lord Chancelour and he by chance or rather indeed by Gods providence letting it fal from him it was taken up and caried to the Queen who having read it went soone after to visit the King at that time keeping his chamber by reason of a sore leg being come to the King he presently fel into talk with her â—bout some points of Religion demanding her resolution therin but she knowing that his nature was not to be crost specially considering the case she was in made him answer that she was a woman accompanied with many imperfections but his Majesty was wise and judicious of whom she must learne as of her Lord and Head not so by Saint Mary said the King for you are a Doctor Kate to instruct us and not to be instructed by us as often we have seen heretofore indeed Sir said she if your Majesty have so conceived I have been mistaken for if heretofore I have held talke with you touching Religion it hath bin to learn of your Majesty some point whereof I stood in doubt and sometimes that with my talke I might make you forget your present infirmity aâ—d is it even so Sweet heart quoth the King why then we are friends and so kissing her gave her leave to depart But soon after the day was appointed by the Kings warrant for apprehending her on which day the King being disposed to walk iâ— the Garden had the Queen with him when suddenly the Lord Chancelour with forty of the Guardâ— câ—me into the Garden with a purpose to apprehend her when as soon as the King saw he stept to him and calling him knave and foole bid him avaunt out of his presence the Queen seeing the King so angry with him began to intreat for him to whom the King said ah poore soule thou little knowest what it is he came about of my word sweet heart he hath bin to thee a very knave and thus by Godâ— providenâ—â— was this Queen preserved who else had tasted of as bitter a câ—p as any of his former wives had done About this time King Henry and the Emperour sent Garter and Toyson dâ—or kings at Armes to demand performance of certain Articles of the French King which if he denied they were then comanded to defie him but the French King would not suffer them to come within his land and so they returned wherupon King Henry caused the sâ—id demandâ— to be declared to the French Embassadour at Westminster aud in Iuly sent over six thousand men under the leading of Sir Iohn Walloppe accompanied with divers Knights Gentlemen Sir Thomas Seymour was Marshal of the Army Sir Robert Bowes Treasuror Sir Richard Cronwal Captain of the horse and Sir George Carew his Lieutenant There were likewise Sir Thomas Palmer Sir Iohn Rainsford Sir Iohn St. Iohn and Sir Iohn Gascoigne Knights that were Captains of the foot Their Comission was to joyn with the Emperor and together to mâ—ke war upon France The third of August open waâ— was proclaimed in London between the Emperor the King of England on the one part and the Fâ—eâ—ch King on the other as mortal enemy to them both and to all other christian Princes besides as he that had confederated himselfe with the Turk Sir Iohn Wallop marching forth of Callice with his Army joyned with â—â—e Emperors Forces who together went and besieged Landersey a Town lately fortified by the French lying within the borders of the Emperors dominions to raise this siege the French King had raised a mighty army with which he came on as if he ment to give the Emperor battaile and thereupon the Emperor raising his siedge with a purpose to encounter him the French King tooke the opportunity to put men and victuals into the town which was the thing he intended and having done this the night following departed with his army and then the Emperour seeing him gone and finding the winter coming on and no hope of sudden geâ—ting the Town being now newly supplied he also broke up his Army and returned home This yeer the sunday before Christmas the Lord William Parre brother to the Queen who had maried the daughter and heire of Henry Bourchier Earle of Essex was
of Heraulds therein But this notwithstanding being no Lord of the Parliament he was tried by a common Jurie and by them was found guilty and thereupon had judgement of death and the nineteenth of Ianuary was beheaded on the Tower-hill The Duke was attainted by Parliament and kept in prison â—ill in the first yeer of Queen Mary the Attaindour was reversed The death of this Earle might lay an imputation of cruelty upon King Henry if a just jealousie growing from the many circumstances of the Earles greatnesse in the tender age of his owne Sonne did not excuse him Soone after the death of this Earle the King himselfe died having made his last Will in which he tooke order that his Sonne Edward should succeed him in the Crowne and he dying without issue his daughter Mary and she dying without issue his daughter Elizabeth although another order of succession had passed before by Act of Parliament The Executors of his last Will were these sixteene Thomas Cranmor Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Wriothsley Lord Chancellour Sir William Pawlet Lord Saint Iohn and great Master of the Houshold Sir Edward Seymor Earle of Hartford and high Chamberlin of England Sir Iohn Russell Lord Privie Seale Sir Iohn Dudley Viscount Lisle Lord Admirallâ— Cutbert Tunstall Bishop of Durham Sir Anthonie Browne Master of the Horse Sir Edmund Montacute Lord chiefe Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Thomas Bromley one of the Justices of the Kings Bench Sir Edward North Chancellour of the Augmentation Sir William Paget Knight of the Order Sir Anthonie Dennie Sir William Herbert Sir Edward Wootton Treasurour of Callice and Nicholas VVootton Deane of Canterbury and Yooke To whom were adjoyned as assistance these twelve Henry Fitz Allan Earle of Arundell VVilliam Par Earle of Essex Sir Thomas Cheyney Treasurour of the Houshold Sir Iohn Gage Controlour Sir Anthony VVingfield Vice-chamberlaine Sir VVilliam Peter Principall Secretary Sir Richard Rich Sir Iohn Baker of Sissingherst in Kent Chancellour of the Exchequer Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Thomas Seymour Sir Richard Southwell and Sir Edward Peckham And it was not without need to leave a full Councell Table considering in what termes he left the Kingdome when he died Abroad in league with the Emperour at Peace with the King of France but whether these were not personall onely and no longer binding then King Henry lived might be doubted with the Scots at deadly send with the Pope at utter defiance from both which coasts there could be expected but little faire weather at home the frame of Religion extreamly disioynted and the Clergie that should set it in frame out of frame themselves the mindes of the people extreamly distracted and the Nobility that should cyment them scarce holding themselves together And in this stare was the Kingdome when King Henry the eight dyed in the yeer 1547. the fifty sixth of his life and of his Reigne the eight and thirtieth Of his Taxations IN his fourth yeer in a Parliament at Westminster was granted to the King two Fifteens of the Temporalty and two Tenths of the Clergie and Head-money of every Duke ten marke an Earle five pound a Barron â—oure pound a Knight foure markes and every man valued at eight hundred pounds in goods to pay â—oure markes and so after that rate till him that was valued at forty shillings and he paid twelve pence and every man and woman of fifteen yeers upward four pence In his sixth yeer a Parliament was holden wherin divers subsidies were granted to the King towards the charges of his wars in France in his fourteenth yeer order was taken by the Cardinall that the true value of all mens substance might be knowne and he would have had every man swom to tell what they were worth and required a â—enth part thereof towards the Kings charges in his present wars as the spiritualty had granted a fourth part this the Londoners thought very hard and thereupon were excused for taking oath and were allowed to bring in their bils upon their honesties but when all was done after much labouring by the Cardinall the Clergy granted one halfe of all their yeerly Spirituall Revenues for five yeers and the Temporalty two shillings in the pound from twenty pounds upwards and from forty shillings to twenty pounds of every twenty shillings twelve pence and under forty shillings of every head of sixteen yeers and upwards four pence to be paid in every two yeers in his sixteenth yeer the Cardinall of his owne head attempted by Comission to draw the People to pay the sixth part of every mans substance in plate or monie but this was generally opposed and the People in many Countries rise upon it so as comming to the Kings knowledg â—e utterly disavowed it and blamed the Cardinall exceedingly for attempting it In his foure and twentieth yeer in a Parliament then holden a fifteenth was granted to the King towards his charges of making fortifications against Scotland In his one and thirâ—ieth yeer a Subsidie of two shillings in the pound of lands and twelve of goods with foure fifteenes were granted to the King towards his charges of making Bulwarks In his five and thirtieth yeer a Subsidie was granted to be paid in three yeers every English-man being worth in goods twenty shillings and upwards to five pounds to pay four pence of every pound and from five pounds to ten pounds eight pence from ten pounds to twenty pound six penceâ— from twenty pounds and upwards of every pound two shilings strangers as wel denizens as others being inhabitants to pay double and for lands every English-man paid eight pence oâ— the pound from twenty shillings to five pounds from five pounds to ten pounds sixteen pence and from ten pounds to twenty pouâ—dâ— two shillings and from twenty pounds and upwards of every pound three shillings strangers double the Clergy six shillings in the pound of Benefices and every Priest having no Benifice but an Anual stipend six shillings eight pence yeerly during three yeers Of Lawes and Ordinances in his time IN a Parliament holden in his sixth yeere diverse Lawes were made but two most spoken of one for Apparell another for Labourers In his twelvth yeere he caused the Statutes against Inclosures to be revived and Commanded that decaied houses should be built up againe and that inclosed grounds should be laid open which though it did some good yet not so much as it might have done if the Cardinall for his owne benefit had not procured liberty for great men to keep up their inclosures to the oppression of poor men In his seventeenth yeer the King lying at Eltham diverse ordinances were made bâ— the Cardinall touching the Governance of the Kings House and were long after called the Statutes of Eltham In his eighteenth yeere in the month of May Proclamation was made against all unlawfull games so that in all places tables dice cards and Bowles were taken and burnt but this order continued not long for young men being
the sixth yeer of his reigne which was the yeer before he died he fel sick of the Measels and being well recovered of them he fell after soon into the smal Pox of them also was so well recovered that the summer following he rode a progresse with a greater magnificence then ever he had done before having in his traine no fewer then four thousand horse In Ianuary following whether procured by sinister practise or growing upon him by naturall infirmity he fell into an indisposition of body which soon after grew to a cough of the Lungs Whereupon a rumour was spread abroad by some that a Nosegay had been given him at Newyeerstide which brought him into this slow but deadly consumption by others that it was done by a Glister how ever it was he was brought at last to so great extremity that his Physicians despared of his life and when Physicians could do him no good a Gentlewoman thought to be prepared for the purpose tooke him in hand and did him hurt for with her applications his legges swelled his pulse failed his skinne changed colour and many other symptomes of approaching death appeared The hour before his death he was overheard to pray thus by himselfe O Lord God deliver me out of this miserable and wretched life O Lord thou knowest how happy it were for me to be with thee yet for thy chosens sake if it be thy will send me life and health that I maâ— truly serve thee O Lord God save thy chosen people of England and defend this Realme from Papistrie and maintaine thy true Religion that I and my People may praise thy holy Name for thy Sonne Jesus Christs sake So â—urning his face and seeing some by him he said I thought you had nor been so nigh Yes said Doctor Owens we heard you speak to your selfe then said the King I was praying to God O I am faint Lord have mercy upon me and receive my spirit and in so saying gave up the Ghost the sixth day of Iuly in the yeer 1553. and in the sixteenth yeer of his Age when he had reigned six yeers five moneths and nine dayes It is noted by some that he died the same moneth and the same day of the moneth that his father King Henry the eight had put Sir Thomas Moore to death His body was buried upon the ninth of August in the Chappell of Saint Peters Church in Westminster and laid neere to the body of King Henry the seventh his grandfather At his funerall which was on the tenth of August following his sister Queen Mary shewed this respect to him that though Doctor Day a Popish Bishop preached yet all the service with a communion was in English Men of note in his time THis Kings reigne being short and having but small warres had not many sword-men famous for any acts they did Gowne men there were some as Edward Holl a Councellour in the Law who wrote a notable Cronicle of the union of the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster William Hugh a Yorkeshireman who wrote a notable Treatice called The troubled mans medicine Thomas Sternehold borne in Southampton who turned into English Meeteâ— seven and thirty of Davids Psalmes The Interregnum betweene the death of King Edward and the proclaiming at London of Queene Mary KIng Edward being dead the Duke of Northumberland tooke upon him to sit at the Sterne and ordered all things at his pleasure so two dayes after he with others of the Councell sent to the Lord Major that he with six Aldermen and twelve principall Commons should repaire presently to the Court to whom when they came it was secretly signified that King Edward was dead and that by his last Will to which all the Nobility and Judges had given assent he had appointed the Lady Iane daughter to the Duke of Suffolke to succeede him his Letters Patents whereof were shewed them and therupon they were required to take their Oathes of Allegeance to the Lady Iane and to secure the City in her behalfe which whether dissemblingly or sincerely whether for love or fear yet they did and then departed The next day the Lady Iane in great state was brought to the Tower of London and there declared Queene and by edect with the sound of Trumpet proclaimed so through London at which time for some words seeming to be spoken against it one Gilbert Pot a Vintâ—ers servant was set in the Pilory and lost both his ears Before this time the Lady Mary having heard of her brothers death and of the Duke of Northumberlands designes removed from Hovesdon to her Mannour of Keninghall in Norfolke and under pretence of fearing infection having lately lost one of her houshold servants of the plague in one day she rode forty miles and from thence afterward to her Castle of Framingham in Suffolke where taking upon her the name of Queene there resorted to her the most part of all the Gentlemen both of Norfolke Suffolke offering their assistance but upon condition she would make no alteration in Religion to which she condiscended and thereupon soone after came to her the Earles of Oxford Bathe and Sussex the Lord Wentworth Thomas Wharton and Iohn Mordant Barrons eldest sonnes and of Knights Cornwallis Drury Walgrave Shelton Beningfield Ierningham Suliard Freston and many others The Lady Mary being thus assisted wrote her letters signed the ninth of Iuly to the Lords of the Councell wherein shee claimed the Crowne as of right belonging to her and required them to proclaime her Queene of England in the City of London as they tendred her displeasure To this letter of hers the Lords answered that for what they did they had good Warrant not onely by King Edwards last Will but by the Lawes of the land considering her Mothers divorce and her owne Illegitimation and therefore required her to submit her selfe to Queene Iane being now her Soveraigne This Letter was written from the Tower of London under the hands of these that follow Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury Thomâ—s Elye Chancellour William Marquesse of Winchester Iohn Earle of Bedford Henry Duke of Suffolke Francis Earle of Shrewsbury Iohn Duke of Northâ—mberland William Earle of Pembrooke Thomas Lord Darcey Lord Chamberlin Cobham Rich Huntington Cheyney Iohn Gates William Peter William Ceâ—ill Iohn Clerke Iohn Mason Edward North and Robert Bowes The quarell on both sides being thus begun by Letters is prosecuted by Armes and the Lords for their Generall make choyce of the Duke of Suffolke as a man most likely to be firme and sure in the imployment but the Queen his daughter cannot misse his presence and besides is not willing to hazard his person and thereupon she by intreaties and the Lords by perswasions prevaile with the Duke of Northumbâ—rland to undertake the charge who before his going having conference with the Lords let them know how sensible he was of the double danger he under-went in this enterprize both in respect of the Lady against whom he went and
be with childe by Edward Seymoure Earl of Hertford who being at that time in France was presently sent for and being examined before the Archbishp of Canterbury and affirming they were lawfully married but not being able within a limited time to produce witnesses of their marriage they were both committed to the Tower where she was brought to Bed and after by the Connivence or Corruption of their Keepers being suffered sometimes to come together Shee was with childe by him again which made the Queen more angry then before so as Sir Edward Warner Lieutenent of the Tower was put out of his place and the Earle was fined in the star-chamber five thousand pounds and kept in prison nine yeers after Though in pleading of his Case One Iohn Hâ—les argued They were lawfull man and wife by virtue of their owne bare Consent without any Ecclesicsticall Ceremonie The Lady a few yeers after falling through grief into a mortall Sicknesse humbly desired the Queens Pardon for having married without her knowledge and commending her children to her clemency dyed in the Tower At this time the King being under Age dissentions amongst the Peeres grew hot in Erance of which there were two Factions Both pretending the cause of Religion of the One the Duke Guise a Paipst was Head of the other the Prince of Conde a Protestant but while Delirant Reges Plectunter Achiui while these Princes are at variance the people suffer for it and chiefly as being under the weaker protection the Protestant Party where upon Queene Elizabeth having well learned the Lesson Tum tua res agitur partis cum proximus ardetâ— and fearing least the flaim of their dissention might kindle a fire within her owne Kingdome sent over Sir Henry Sidney Lord Presiden of Wales into France to endeavour by all possible means their reconcilement which when hee could not effect and perhaps it was never meant he should effect it but onely to see what invitations would be made to the Queen for her assistance she thereupon at the moan of the afflicted Protestants sent over an Army of six thousand Souldiers under the Conduct of the Earl of Warwick in assistance of the Prince of Conde and other Protestant Lords who delivered to him the Town of Newhaven to hold in the King of France his name untill such time as Calice were restored But the Prince of Conde marching to joyn with the English Forces was by the Duke of Guise interrupted and taken prisonerâ— which had been a great disappointment to the English but that the Duke of Colin joyned with him besieged Caen in Normandy and took it togeâ—her with Bayeux Faleise and Saint Lo. The French Hostages that were pledges for the payment of five hundred thousand Cowns if Calice were not restored were remaining still in England who perceiving there was like to be War with France prepared secretly to get away but being ready to take Shipping were discovered and brought back again In the mean while the Prince of Conde drawn on with a hope to marry the Queen of Scots and to have the chief Government in France during the Kings Minority concluded a Peace with the King and with the Guises so as now all French as well Protestants as Papists required to have Newhaven delivered up But the Earl of Warwick perceiving the â—icklenesse of the French Protestants First to make suâ—e to draw him into France and now upon so slight occasion to require him to be gone he shutteth all â—rench both Protestants and Papists oâ—t of the Town and layes hold of their Ships the French on the other side make ready to set upon the Town saying They fought not now for Religion but for their Countrey wherefore it was meet that both Protestants and Papists should joyn their Forces seeing they had already concluded a Peace betwixt themselves And hereupon the Duke of Memorancy sent a Trumpetter to the Earl of Warwick commanding him yeeld the Town who making answer by Sir Hugh Pawlet That he would never yeeld it without the Queens leave he thereupon besieged the Town and with great violence of Battery sought to get it by force Which Queen Elizabeth hearing she sent a Commission to the Earl of Warwick to yeeld it up if upon honourable Conditions which soon after was accordingly done after the English had held it eleven months and then the Earl without any dishonour for yeelding up a Town which the Pestilence made him no lesse unwilling then unable to hold he returned into England but that which was more dolefull then the losse of Newhaven he brought the Pestilence with him into England The recovery of this Town not onely made the French to triumph but hereupon the Chancellor of France pronounced openly That by this Warre the English had lost all their Right to Calice and were not to require it any more seeing it was one of the Conditions That neither of the Nations should make Warre upon the other which was the Point stood upon by the King of France and his mother when Queen Elizabeth sent Sir Thomas Smith to demand Calice to be restored At this time there were such crosse designes amongst the Princes of Christendome that a very good Polititian could hardly understand their Ayms The Duke of Guise being slain in the Civill Warre the Queen of Scots Dowry was not paid her in France and the Scots were put off from being the Kings Guard This exceedingly displeased the Queen of Scots but then to please her againâ— and for fear lest hereupon she should apply her self to the friendship of the English her Unkle the Cardinall of Lorrain solicites her afresh to marry Charls Duke of Austria offering her for her Dowry the County of Tyroll The Queen of Scots to make use of her Unkles fear and perhaps to bring Queen Elizabeth into an opinion of depending upon her acquaints her with this motion and therein requires her advice Queen Elizabeth not willing she should marry with any forraign Prince perswades her to take a husband out of England and particularly commended to her the Lord Robert Dudley whose wife a little before had with a fall broke her neck promising withall that if she would marry him she should then by Authority of Parliament be declared her successour in case she dyed without issue But when her Unkles and the Queen-Mother were informed of this motion they so much disdained the Marriage with Dudley that so she would refuse that Match and perseverein the friendship of the French they offered to pay her the Dowry money that was behinde and to restore the Scots to all their former liberties in France And as for the King of Spain he had indeed a Ligier Embassadour here in England but rather by way of complement and to watch advantages then for any sincere love which he began now to withdraw from the English as suspecting them to intend a Trade to the West Indies And now the French Protestants may see what they brought upon
themselves by leaving the English at Newhaven and by trusting to their Country-men the French Papists for their peace was but a snare and the Marriage of Henry of Bourbon Prince of Navarre with Margaret of Valois the French Kings sister was but a bait to entrap them for upon the confidence of this Marriage being drawn together into Paris they were the readier for the slaughter and a few dayes after the Marriage which were all spent in Feasts and Masks to make them the more secure upon a Watch-word given the bloody faction fell upon the Protestants and neither spared age nor sex nor condition but without mercy and sense of humanity slaughtered as many as they could meet with to the number of many thousands It was now the sixth yeer of Queen Elizabeths Raign a yeer fatall for the death of many great Personages First died William Lord Grey of Weâ—lon Governour of Berwick a man famous for his great Services in War then William Lord Paget a man of as great Services in Peace who by his great deservings had wrought his advancement to sundry dignities and honourable places and though zealous in the Roman Religion yet held by Queen Elizabeth in great estimation to his dying day Then Henry Mannors Earl of Rutland descended by his mother from King Edward the fourth And lastly Francis the Dutchesse of Suffolk daughter to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and mother to Queen Iane. And now Queen Elizabeth finding how fickle the French Protestants had carryed themselves towards her intended to make a Peace and to that end sent Sir Thomas Smith into France joyning Throgmorton in Commission with him and in conclusion a Peace was agreed on whereof amongst other Articles this was one That the Hostages in England should be freed upon the payment of six hundred thousand Crowns and this Peace was ratified by the Oath both of the Queen of England and the King of France About this time the English Merchants were hardly used both in Spainâ— and in the Netherlands upon pretence of Civill differences but indeed out of hatred to the Protestant Religion whereupon the English removed the seat of their Trading to Embden in Freezlandâ— but Gusman the Spanish Liegier newly come into England finding the great dammages that the Netherlands sustained by these differences endeavoured by all means to compose them and thereupon Viscount Mountague Nicholas Wootton and Walter Haddon Master of the Requests were sent to Bruges in Flanders who after many interruptions brought the matter at last to some indifferent agreement It was now the seventh yeer of Queen Elizabeth when making a Progresse she went to see Cambridge where after she had viewed the Colledges and been entertained with Comedies and Scholasticall Disputations she made her self a Latine Oration to the great encouragement of the Schollars and then returned Presently after her returnâ— she made the Lord Robert Dudley Master of her Horse first Baron of Denbigh giving him Denbigh and all the Lands belonging to it and then Earl of Leicester to him and the heirs males of his body lawfully begotten which Honour was conferred upon him with the greatest State and Solemnity that was ever known And now Leicester to endear himself to the Queen of Scots accused Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper for being privy to the libell of Hales who affirmed the Right of the Crown to belong to the Family of Suffolk in case the Queen should die without Issue and thereupon was Bacon cast into prison till afterward upon his purgation and the mediation of Sir William Cecill he was set at liberty and restored to his place And now for a while we must cast our eyes upon Scotland for that was now the Stage where all the great businesses of State were acted Matthew Steward Earl of Lenox who had marryed Margaret Dowglas King Henry the eighth's Neece by his eldest sister had been kept as an Exile in England now twenty yeers him the Queen of Scots invites to come into Scotlandâ— under pretence of restoring to him his ancient Patrimony but indeed to conferre with him about a Marriage with his son the Lord Darlie for being reputed heir to the Crown of England next after her self she thought by matching with his son to strengthen her own title and to prevent the hope of any other Queen Elizabeth upon sute made by his wife gave the Earl leave to go but soon after suspecting what the Queen of Scots intent was in sending for him she to hinder the proceeding sent Sir Thomas Randâ—ll to her to let her know That if she proceeded in this Maâ—ch she would exceedingly wrong her self for that it was a Match so much disliked by all the English that she was fain to prorogue the Parliament lest upon dislike thereof there should something be enacted against her Right of Succession But if she would marry the Earl of Leicester she should then by Parliament be declared her next Heir Hereupon in the month of November the Earl of Bedford and Sir Thomas Randoll for Queen Elizabethâ— the Earl of Murray and Lidington for the Queen of Scots at Barwick entred into a Treaty concerning the Marriage with the Earl of Leicester The English Commissioners urged the great benefits that by this Match would accrew both to the Queen of Scots her self and to the whole Kingdom of Scotland The Scotish on the other side urged the great disparagement it would be to the Queen of Scots if refusing the offers made her of divers great Princes she should match her self with so mean a person as the Earl of Leicester This matter held long debate partly for that the English Commissioners were so appointed by Queen Elizabeth and partly for that the Scotish Commissioners had a good minde to hinder her from marrying at all and perhaps not the least for that the Earl of Leicester being verily perswaded he should at last obtain Queen Elizabeth her self by secret Letters warned the Earl of Bedford not to urge the Marriage with the Queen of Scots too far and was thought for this cause to favour Darly under hand The matter being in this manner protracted for two whole yeers together the Queen of Scots impatient of longer delay and being resolved in her minde what she would doâ— used means that the Lord Darly got leave of Queen Elizabeth to go into Scotland for three months onely under colour to be put in possession of his fathers Lands though it be strange the Queen upon any teâ—â—ms would let him go if she really intended to hinder the Marriage but such was the destiny if there were not a plot in it and â—o in Febrâ—ary he came to Edinburgh who being a young man of not above nineteen yeers of age of a comely countenance and most Princely Presence the Queen of Scots as soon as she saw him fell in love with him yet in modesty dissembling it for the present she sought to get a Dispensâ—on from Rome because of their neernesse in Consanguinity And now
kept their Feast at Grayes Inne in Holborn Upon the Queens return from Oxford the Parliament began where they presently fell upon the mâ—tter of succession and moving the Queen to marryâ— in which points some went so far that they spared not to accuse the Queen as one carelesse of Posterityâ— to defame Cecill with libells and reproaches as if he were her Counselloâ—â— in this matter but above all to curse Doctor Huic her Physitian who was thought to disswade her from Marriage by reason of I know not what womanish insufficiency At last in the Upper House it was agreed That Sir Nichâ—laâ— Bacon Lord Keeper their Orator should in all their names beseech the Queen to marry and withall to declare a Successor in the Crown if she should happen to die without Issue for which he gave many reasons declaring what mischiefs were likely to befall the Kingdom if she should die before a Successor were designed But in the Lower House there were some amongst whom were Bell and Mouâ—son two Lawyers of great account Dutton Sir Paul Wentwortâ— and other who grew to far higher tearms disparaging the Queens Authority and saying That Princes were bound to designe a Successor and that in not doing it the Queen should shew her self no better then a parricide of her Countrey The Queen was contented to bear with words spoken in Parliament which spoken out of Parliament she would never have endured but not willing to expostulate the matter with the whole number she commanded that thirty of the Higher House and as many of the Lower should appear before her to whom she delivered her minde to this effect That she knew what danger hangeth over a Princes head when a Successor is once declared she knew that even children themselves out of a hastie desire of bearing Rule had taken up Armes against their own fathers and how could better conditions be expected from kindred She had by reading observed That Successors in a collaterall Line have seldom been declared and that Lewis of Orleance and Francis of Angoulesme were never declared Successors and yet obtained the Crown without any noyse Lastly she said Though I have been content to let you debate the matter of Succession yet I advise you to beware that you be not injurious to your Princes patience With these and the like reasons she gave so good satisfaction that they never after troubled her with making any more such motion And though she consented not in plain tearms to declare a Successor yet soon after she gave some intimation of it for one Thornton a Reader of the Civill Law in London who in his Lectures called the Queen of Scots Right in question was clapped up in prison for his labour In the beginning of her ninth yeer Charles the ninth King of Frâ—ncâ— sent his Ambassadour Ramboulet into England to the Queen with the Robes and Ornaments of the Order of S. Michael to bestow upon which two of her Nobility she pleased and she making choice of the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Leicester they were by Ramboulet invested with them an Honour that had never been conferred upon any English but only K. Henry the eighth King Edward the sixth and Charls Brandon Duke of Suffolk though afterward prostituted almost to any without difference And now to return to the Affairs of Scotland The nineteenth of Iune last past the Queen of Scots in a happy hour was at Edinborough Castle diliveâ—ed of a Son that was afterward Iames the sixth of Scotland and the first Monarch of Great Britain whereof she presently sent word to Queen Elizabeth by Iames Melvyne who thereupon sent Sir Henry Killigrew to congratulate her safe deliverance and her young son with all demonstration of love and amity But now the love of the Queen of Scots to her husband the Lord Darly was not so hot at first but it was now grown to be as cold and she had not heaped honour on him so fast before but now as fast she taketh them off for where before in all publike Acts she had used to place her husbands name first now she caused it to be placed last and in the coyning of money began to leave it quite out This unkindenesse between them was fomented by one David Rizie an Italian whom the Queen had taken into her service first as a Musician and then taking a liking to him made him here Secretary for the French Tongue by means whereof he had oftentimes secret conference with her when the King her Husband might not be admitted This indignity the King himself being given to his pleasures of Hunting and Hawking resented not so much as some Lords that were his friâ—nds who told him plainly That it stood not with his Honour to suffer this fellow to live By whose instigation the King drawn to plot his death One day taking with him the Earl of Reuven and other he rushed into the Queens Chamber at her Supper time where finding David Rizie at a Cupboord tasting some meat that had been taken from the Table he seized upon him dragged him forth into an outer Chamber and there murthered him the Queen at that time being great with childe and like by that affright to have miscarryed But the Fact being done the King came in to her again assuring her there was no hurt at all intended to her Person The man that had animated the King to do this fact was especially the Earl Murray of whom it is necessary to say something because his part will be the greatest of all the Scottish Actions of this time He was the base sonne of King Iames the fifth and so the base brother of the Queen made at first Prior of Saint Andrewes But not liking that Religious Title he affected rather some Temporall Honour which when the Queen being then in France denyed him then in an angry mood returned into Scotland where by the advice of Knox whom he held for a great Patriark brought the matter so to passe that in an Assembly of the States the Religion was altered and the French were banished out of Scotland Yet afterward as soon as the Queen was a Widow he posted into France and so insinuated with her that she created him Earl of Murray and promoted him to an Honourable Marriage Being thus exalted he returned into Scotland where for the further growth of his ambitious designes he sowed seeds of Sedition affirming often what a misery it was to be under the Command of a woman and that Royalty was not to be tyed to any Stock or Kindred but to Vertue onely whether the parties were legitimaie or no by this course making way to the Kingdom for himself To this end he used all the meaâ—s he could to keep the Queen from marrying again which when he could not effect he then sought wayes how to make discord between her and her Husband for which cause he had caused the King to murther Rizie Of the foulnesse of which Fact when the
easie matter for him to surprize the Queen whom when he had in his hands he might then set the Queen of Scots at liberty and might easily obtain of Queen Elizabeth a toleration of Religion The former Reasons tooke somewhat with the Duke but this point of surprizing the Queen he abhorred as an impious fact and therefore rejected as pernitious and Dangerous In France a little before this was the mariage solemnized between Charles the ninth King of France and Elizabeth of Austria daughter to the Emperor Maximilian in gratulation whereof Queen Elizabeth sent into France Thomas Lord Buckhurst who with great magnificence was received and perhaps the more in regard of a motion now intended to be made for the Lord Buckhurst having in his retinue one Guydo Cavalcantius a noble man of Florence the Queen Mother of France as being a Florentine her self had often conference with him when she would many times say what a happines it would be to both the Kingdoms if a Match were made between the Queen of England and her sonne Henry Duke of Angiou and at last desired him to commend the motion to the Queen of England both from her and from her son the King of France as a thing they both exceedingly desired The Lord Buckhurst returned having for a present from the King of France a chayn weighing a thousand French crowns and Cavalcantius at his return made the motion to the Queen who seemed not unwilling to hearken to it for by this Match there should be added to the Kingdome of England the wealthy Dukedoms of Angiou Bourbon Auverne and in possibility the Kingdome of France it self Hereupon a Treaty was held in which the French propounded three Articles one concerning the Coronation of the Duke another concerning the Joynt Administration of the Kingdom a third concerning a Toleration of his Religion to which it was answered that the two first Articles might in some sort be composed but the third scarce possibly for though a contrary Religion might be tolerated between Subjects of the same Kingdome yet between a wife and her husband it seemed very Incongruous and inconvenient yet the matter at last came to this conclusion That if the Duke would afford his presence with the Queen at divine Service and not refuse to hear and learn the doctrine of the Church of England he should not be compelled to use the English Rites but at his pleasure use the Romane not being expresly against the word of God But upon these Punctiliâ—s they could not accord and so the Treaty after it had continued almost a yeer brake utterly off It was indeed generally thought that the Maâ—ch was never really intended of either side but that they both pretended it for onely their owne ends for the Earle of Leicester who knew more of the Queenes minde then any man wrote at this time to Sir Francis Walsingham the Queens Embassador in France That he found the Queens inclination so cold in the matter that though the Point of Religion were â—ully accorded yet she would finde one point or other to breake it off At this time the continuance of the Duke of Norfolkes affection towards the Queen of Scots came to be discovered by a packet of Letters sent by Ridolphus to the Bishop of Rosâ—e and by Bayliffs confession who brought the letters being set upon the Rack so as the Bishop of Rosse was confined to the Isle of Ely Thomas Stanlie Sir Thomas Gerard and Râ—lâ—ton were cast into the Tower and Hâ—nry Howard who had an aspiring minde to be Arch-bishop was committed to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury's keeping At the same time the Queen of Scots sent money to her confederates in Scotland which being by Higford delivered to one Browne to carry and told it was Silver when he found by the weight that it was Gold he began to suspect something and thereupon went and delivered both the money and Letters to the Lords of the Councell Upon this Higford being examined confessed the whole matter and withall gave notice of that Commentary also of the Queen of Scots which is mentioned before Two dayes after the Duke himself being examined and knowing nothing what his servauâ—s had confessed deâ—yed every particular and thereupon was brought again to the Tower by Ralph Sadler Thomas Smith Henry Nevill and Doctor Wilson And after him Bannester who was the Dukes Counsell at Law The Earls of Arunâ—el and Southampton the Lord Lumley the Lord Cobham Henry Percy Lowder Powell Goodyer and others are committed to prison who upon hope of pardon confessed all they knew concerning the matter When these things and especially the Commentary which the Duke thought had been burnt were shewed him he then cryed out I am betrayed by my own servants not having learned to be distrustfull which is the very sinew of Wisedom And then with all submission he besought the Lords to mediate for him to the Queen towards whom he protested he never had the least thought of doing any hurt And now seeing it appeared that the Bishop of Rosse had been the whole-contriver of the businesse it was deliberated what to do with him because he was an Ambassadour Hereupon divers Civilians are called as David Lewis Valentine Dale William Drury William Aubâ—y and Henry Iones of whom these questions were asked First Whether an Ambassadour who raiseth Rebellion against that Prince â—o whom he is an Ambassadour may enjoy the Priviledges of an Ambassadour and is not lyaâ—le to punâ—shment They answered That such an Ambassadour hath forfeited the Priviledges of an Ambassadour and is liable to punishment Secondly Whether the Minister or Procter of a Prince who is deposed by publike Authority and in whose room another is Inaâ—gurated may enjoy the Priviledges of an Ambassadour They answered That if such Prince be lawfully deposed his Proctâ—r cannot challenge the Priviledges of an Ambassadour forasmuch as none but absolute Princes and such as have-Right of Majesty can appoint Ambassadours Thirdly Whether a Prince who is come into another Princâ—s Countrey and held in Custody may have his Proctor and if he shall be held an Ambassadour They answered If such a Prince have not lost his Soveraignty he may have his Proctor but whether that Proctor shall be reputed as an Ambassadour or no this dependeth upon the Authority of his Delegation Fourthly Whether if a Prince give warning to such a Proctor and to hiâ—â— Prince who is under custody that this Proctor shall not from hencefâ—rth be accounted for an Ambassadour Whether that Proctor may by Law challenge the Priviledge of an Ambassadour They answered A Prince may forbid an Ambassadour to enter into hiâ— Kingdome and may command him to depart the Kingdome if he â—ontain nâ—t himself within his due limits yet in the mean while he is to enjoy the Priviledges of an Ambassadour Upon these Answers the Bishop of Rosse is warned by the Lords of the Councell that he shall no longer be esteemed an Ambassadour but be punished as
was Iohn of Austria come into the Low-countries with a large Commission for he was the Naturall sonne of the Emperour Charles the fifth to whom the Queen sent Edward Horsey Governour of the Isle of Wight to Congratulate his coming thither and to offer help if the States called the French into the Netherlands yet at the same time Swevingham being exceeding importunate on the States behalfe she sent them twenty thousand pounds of English mony so well she could play her game of both hands upon condition they should neither change their Prince nor there Religion nor take the French into the Low-countries nor refuse a Peace if Iohn of Austria should condiscend to indifferent Conditions but if he embraced a Peace then the money should be paid back to the Spanish souldiers who were ready to mutiny for lack of pay So carefull she was to retaine these declining Provinces in obedience to the King of Spaine At this time a Voyage was undertaken to trie if there could be found any sea upon the North part of America leading to the wealthy coast of Cathaia whereby in one Comerce might be joyned the riches of both the East and West parts of the worlde in which voyage was imployed Martyn Frobysher who set saile from Harwich the eighteenth of Iune and the ninth of August entred into that Bay or sea but could passe no further for Snow and Ice The like expedition was taken in hand two yeers after with no better successe About this time died the Emperour Maximilian a Prince that Deserved well of Queen Elizabeth and the English who thereupon sent Sir Philip Sidney to his sonne Ridolphus King of the Romanes to condole his Fathers death and congratulate his succession as likewise to doe the like for the decease of the Count Electour Palatine named Frederick the third with her surviving sonne And now Walter Deveruex Earl of Essex who out of Leicesters envie had bin recalled out of Ireland was out of Leicesters feare as being threatned by him sent back again into Ireland but with the empty title of Earl Marshall of Ireland with the grief whereof he fell into a bloody Flux and in most grievous torments ended his life When he had first desired the standers by to admonish his sonne scarce tenne yeers old at that time to have alwayes before his eyes the six and thirtieth yeer of his age as the utmost terme of his life which neither himself nor his father before him could out-go and the sonne indeed attained not to it as shall hereafter he declared He was suspected to be poisoned but Sir Henry Sidney Deputie of Ireland after diligent search made wrote to the Lords of the Counsell That the Earl often said It was familiar to him upon any great discontentment to fall into a Flux and for his part he had no suspition of his being poisoned yet was this suspition encreased for that presently after his death the Earl of Leicester with a great sum of money and large promises putting away Dowglasse Sheffield by whom he had a son openly marryed Essex his widdow For although it was given out That he was privately marryed to her yeâ— Sir Francis Knolles his father who was well acquainted with Leicester's roving loves would not believe it unlesse he himself were present at the Marriage and had it testified by a publike Notary At this time also died Sir Anthony Cook of Gyddy-Hall in Essex who had been School-master to King Edward the sixth and was no lesse School-master to his own daughters whom he made skilfull in the Greek and Latine Tongues marryed all to men of great Honour one to Sir William Cecill Lord Treasurer of England a second to Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper of the Great Seal a third to Sir Thomas Hobby who died Ambassador in France a fourth to Sir Ralph Lowlet and the fifth to Sir Henry Killigrew At this time the sons of the Earl of Claâ—ricard who scarce two months before had obtained pardon for their Rebellion fell into Rebellion again but were by the Deputy soon supprest and William Drury newly made President of Munster reduced the whole Provice to good Order except only the County of Kerry whither a number of Vagabonds were gotten trusting to the Immunities of the place For King Edward the third made Kerry a County Palatine and granted to the Earls of Desmond all the Royall Liberties which the King of England had in that County excepting Wreckby Fyre Forestall and Treasure Trouâ—e The Governour notwithstanding who wisely judged that these Liberties were granted for the better preservation of Justice and not for maintenance of outragious malefactors entred into it and violently put to flight and vanquished the mischievous crew which the Earl of Desmond had placed there in ambush The Earl in the mean while made great complaints of Drury to the Deputy and particularly of the Tax which they call Ceasse which is an exaction of provision of Victualls at a certain rate for the Deputies Family and the Souldiers in Garrison This Tax not he onely but in Leinster also many Lords refused to pay alleadging that it was not to be exacted but by Parliament but the matter being examined in England it appeared by the Records of the Kingdome That this Tax was anciently imposed and that as a certain Right of Majestie a Prerogative Royall which is not subjected to Laws yet not contrary to them neither as the wise Civilians have observed Yet the Queen commanded to use a moderation in exactions of this nature saying She would have her subjects shorn but not devoured It was now the yeer 1577 and the twentieth of Queen Elizabeths Raign when Iohn of Austria pretending to Queen Elizabeth nothing but Peace yet is found to deal secretly with the Pope to peprive her of her Kingdome and himself to marry the Queen of Scots and invade England of which his practices the Prince of Orange gives Queen Elizabeth the first intelligence Whereupon finding his deep dissembling she enters into a League with the States for mutuall defence both at Sea and Land upon certain Conditions but having concluded it because she would not have it wrongfully interpreted as though she meant to foster a Rebellion in the Netherlands she sent Thomas Wilkes to the King of Spain with these Informations That she had alwayes endeavoured â—o keep the Low-Countryes in obedience to the King of Spain had perswaded even with threatnings the Prince of Orange to accept of Peace but withall if the King of Spain would have his Subjects obedient to him she then requests him to restore their Priviledges and to remove Iâ—hn of Austria from the Government who not onely was her deadly enemy but laboured by all means to bring the Netherlands into utter servitude If this be granted by the King of SPAIN she then faithfully promiseth That if the States perform not their Allegiance to him as by their Promise to her they are engaged to doe she will utterly forsake them and bend
the Queen for succour to whom upon certain conditions she granted an Army of four thousand men and some great Ordnance with which Sir Iohn Norris was sent into France whom yet the French King imployed not as was agreed to the great displeasure of the Queen But as for the Prince of Parma's coming into France hee was prevented by death when hee had governed the Netherlands under the Spaniard fourteen yeers a Prince of many excellent parts and whom Queen Elisabeth never mentioned but with honour And now Queen Elizabeth considering that the King of Spaines chiefe strength was in his Gold of America sends forth Sir Walter Ralegh with a Fleet of fifteene Ships to meete with the Spanish Fleet who passing by a Promontory of Spain received certain intelligence that the Spaâ—ish Fleet was not to come forth that yeare Whereupon dividing his Navy into two parts whereof the one he committed to Sir Iohn Burâ—â—â—ghs the other to Sir Martin Forbysher he waited other opportunities when soon after a mighty Caraque came in view called The Mother of God which from the Beake to the Sterne was a hundred threescore and five foot long built with seven Decks and carrying six hundred men besides rich Merchandize This great Vessell they took and in it to the â—â—lue of a hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling over and above what the Commanders and Sea-men pilfered This yeare the Queene going in Progresse passed through Oxford where she was entertained by the Schollers with Orations Stage-Plâ—yes and Disputations and by the Lord Buckhurst Chancellor of the University with a sumptuous Feast At her departure She made a Latine Oration wherein she vowed a vow and gave them counsell Her vow was That as she desired nothing so much as the prosperity and flourishing estate of her Kingdome so she as much wished to see the Universities and Schools of learning to flourish likewise Her Counsell was That they would serve God above all not following the curiosity of some wits but the Lawes of God and the Kingdome That they would not prevent the Lawes but follow them nor dispute whether better Lawes might be made but observe those which were already Enacted This year dyed Anthony Browne Viscount Montacute whom Queene Mary honored with this Title because his Grandmother was Daughter and one of the Heirs of Iohn Nevill Marquesse Montacute who though he were a great Roman Catholike yet the Queen finding him faithfull alwayes loved him and in his sicknesse went to visit him There dyed at this time also Henry Lord Scroope of Bolton Knight of the Garter and long time Governour of the Westerne Border toward Scotland At this time Henry Barrow and his Sectaries condemning the Church of England to be no Christian Church and derogating from the Queens Authority in matters Ecclesiasticall he the sayd Barrow as Ring-leader of the rest was put to death in terror to all such disturbers of the peace of the Church About this time by reason of the Queens correspondence with the Turk to the end her Subjects might have free Trading in his Territories It was maliciously given out by some that she had excited the Turke to a War against the Christians which caused the Queen to write to the Emperour shewing him the falsenesse of this report wherein she gave him full saâ—â—sfaction And now a constant report came into England That the King of France had already embraced or was ready to embrace the Romish Religion which so much troubled the Queene that she presently sent Thomas Wilkes into France with reasons if it were not too late to divert him from it But before Wilkes came the King indeed had openly professed the Romish Religion at the Church of Saint Denis in Paris of which his Conversion he declared the causes to Wilkes at large shewing the necessity of it unlesse he would suffer himselfe to be utterly thrust out of the Kingdome And the French AMBASSADOR signifying as much to the Queene in great perplexity She writ to him to this effect Alas what grief what anxiety of minde hath befallen me since I heard this news was it possible that worldly respects should make you lay aside Gods feare â—â—uld you thinke That He who had hitherto upheld and kept you would now at the last leave you It is a dangerous thing to doe evill that gâ—od may come thereof But I hope your minde may alter In the meane while I will pray for you and beg of God That the hands of Esau may not hinder the blessing of Jacob. To this the KING Answered That though he had done this in his owne Person out of necessity yet He would never be wanting to those of the Reformed Religion but would take them into his speciall care and Protection And now was Richard Hasket condemned and executed for Treasoâ— being sent from the English Fugitives beyond Sea to perswade Ferdinand Earle of Derby Sonne to Henry newly deceased to assume the Title of the Kingdome by right of Descent from Mary Daughter to Henry the Seventh and threatning him that unlesse he undertooke this enterprize and withall concealed him the Abettor he should shortly dye in most wretched manner But the Earle fearing a trap was layd for him revealed the matter yet the fellows threating proved not altogether vaine for the Earle within foure Moneths dyed a most horrible death This yeare Death had his tribute payd him from the Nobility for there dyed Henry Ratcliffe Earle of Sussex and three renowned Barons Arthur Grey of Wilton Henry Lord Cromwell and Henry Lord Wentworth besides Sir Christopher Carlile whose Warlike Prowesse at Sea and land deserves to be remembred In IRELAND at this time divers great men in Connaght Rebelled and Tuâ—logh Leynigh being dead Tir-Oen assumed to himselfe the title of O-Neale which in IRELAND is more esteemed than to be called EMPEROVR But upon a sudden dissembling his disconteâ—t hee submitted himselfe to the DEPVTY and promised all obedience Iâ— was now the yeare 1594 and the seven and thirtieth of Queen ELIZABETHâ— Raigne when the good correspondence betweene the King of Scots and Queen ELIZABETH gave the Papists small hope that ever he would prove an Instrument to restore the Catholike Religion Whereupon they began to bethinke themselves of some English Papist that might succeed the Queene but finding none of their owne Sect a fit person they fixed their thoughts upon the Earl of Essex who alwayes seemed a very moderate man and him they devised to have some right to the Crowne by Descent from Thomas of Woodstocke King EDVVARD the Thirds Sonne But the English Fugitives were for the Infanta of Spaine and desiring to set the King of Scots and the Earle of Essex at ods they set forth a Book which they Dedicated to Essex under the name of Doleman but was written indeed by Parsons Dolemans bitter Adversary Cardinall Allen and Francis Englefield The scope of which Booke was to exclude from Succession all persons whatsoever and how near soever Allied
Spain Sir Walter Rawleigh Captain of the Guard having defloured a Mayd of Honor whom afterward he married had lost the Queens favour and was held in Prison for certain moneths but afterward being set at liberty though banished the Court He undertook a Voyage to Guyana setting sayl from Plimmouth in February he arrived at Trinidada where he took St. Iosephs Town but found not a jot of money there From hence with Boats and a hundred souldiers he entred the vast River Orenoque ranging up in Guyana four hundred myles but getting little but his labour for his travell In like manner Amyas Preston and Sommers Pillaged sundry Towns of the King of Spains in the Western parts and three ships of the Earl of Cumberland set upon a huge Caraque which by casualty was fired when they were in fight and these were the enterprises of private persons but the Queen being informed that great store of wealth for the King of Spains use was conveyed to Port Rico in St. Iohns Island sent thither Hawkins Drâ—kâ— and Baskervile with land Forces furnishing them with six ships out of her own Navy and twenty other men of War They set sayl from Plimmoâ—th the last of August and seven and twenty dayes after came upon the Coast of the great Canarie which being strongly Fortified they forbore to assault A moneth after they came to the Isle of St. Dominicke where five Spanish ships being sent forth to watch the English lighted upon one of the small English ships which was strayed from the Company and â—â—â—ting the Master and Marriners upon the Rack understood by them That the English Navy was bent to Port Rico whereupon they make all possible speed to give notice thereof that being fore-warned they might accordingly be armed And thereupon as soon as the English had cast Anchors 〈◊〉 the Road at Port Rico the Spaniards thundered against them from the shore siâ— Nicholas Clifford and Brute Browne were wounded as they sate at â—upper and two dayes after died Hawkins also and Drake partly of disâ—â—se and partly of grief for their ill successe died soon after At the end of eight months the Fleet came home having done the enemy little hurt fired onely some few Towns and ships but received infinite damage themsâ—lves lost two such Sea-men as the Kingdom I may say all Europe had â—ot their like left For the Spaniards having of late yeers received great â—â—rms by the French and English had now provided for themselves with Fortifications which were not easie to be won At this time the Queen made known to the States in the Low-Countries the great charges she had been at in relieving them ten yeers together for which she requiteth some considerable recompence The States again alleadge the great charges they were at in Eighty Eight in repelling the Spaniards in her cause yet not to fall out about the matter they were content to allow some reasonable retribution but yet for the present nothing was concluded Likewise at this time the Hanse Towns in Germany make complaint to the Emperour and the Princes of the Empire That the Immunities from customes antiently granted them by the Kings of England began to be Antiquated and that a Monopoly of English Merchants was set up in Germany to which the Queen by Sir Christopher Perkins first shewing the cause of the first Grant and then the Reason of Queen Maries prohibiting it afterward makes them so satisfactory an answer that those very Hanse-Towns which complained brought into England at this time such store of Corne that it prevented a mutiny which thorough dearth of Corn was like to have hapned in London This yeer was famous for the death of many great Personages Philip Earl of Arundel condemned in the yeer 1589. The Queen had all this while spared but now death would spare him no longer having since that time been wholly given to contemplation and macerated himself in a strict course of Religion leaving one onely son Thomas by his wife Anne Dacres of Gillisâ—and He had two brothers Thomas Lord Howard whom Queen Elizabeth made Baron of Walden and King Iames afterward Earl of Suffolk and William Lord Howard of the North who yet liveth and one sister the Lady Margaret marryed to Robert Sackvile afterward Earl of Dâ—rset and father of Edward Earl of Dorset now living a Lady so milde so vertuous and so devout in her Religion that if her brother macerated himself being in prison she certainly did no lesse being at liberty whom I the rather mention because I had the happinesse to know her living and the unhappinesse to be a Mourner at her Funerall There died this yeer also William Lord Vaulx a zealous Papist and Sir Thomas Hineage Vice-Chamberlain and Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster whose onely daughter marryed to Sir Moyle Finch of Kent was no small advancer of that House There died also William Whitaker Master of S. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge and Divinity Professor As likewise Sir Roger Williams and Sir Thomas Morgan so as this yeer was honoured with the deaths of two great Lords one exquisite Courtier one great Schollar and two famous Souldiers In Ireland at this time Russell the Deputy doubting a storm of War from Tir-Oen sent into England requiring to have some experienced souldier sent to him with Forces who though he desired Baskervyle to be the man yet Sir Iohn Norris was sent with thirteen hundred old souldiers besides a further supply whom Tir-Oen hearing to be coming set presently upon the Fort of Blackwater and in the absence of Edward Cornwall the Governour took it But now being doubtfull of his case in a subdolous manner as he was a double dealing man he both offereth his help to the Earl of Kildare against the Deputies servants and at the same time maketh promise to the Earl of Ormond and Sir Henry Wallope of loyalty and obedience but notwithstanding he was forthwith proclaimed Traytor under the name of Hâ—gh O Neal bastard son to Con O Neal. There was at this time with the Rebells in Ulster a thousand Horse and 6280 Foot and in Connaght two thousand three hundred all at Tir Oens command and the Forces of the English under Norris not much fewer with whom the Deputy himself joyned and marched together to Armagh which so terrified the Rebels that Tir Oen forsaking the Fort of Blackwater began to hide himself Whereupon the Deputy returned leaving Norris to follow the War with the Title of Generall of the Army But this satisfied not Norris and therefore out of emulation betwixt himself the Deputy he performed nothing worth the speaking of and seemed to favour Tir Oen as much as the Deputy hated him insomuch as he had private conference with him a thing not lawfull with proclaymed Traytors and upon his submission and Hostages given a Truce was granted both to him and Odonell till the first of Ianâ—ary When the Truce was expired Tir Oen exhibited certain Petitions protesting if they
take him shortly into favor and that his Censure in no case should be Recorded Afâ—er this he made shew of wonderfull humility and mortification which so affected the Queen that shortly she removed Barkeley his keeper and gave him leave to go at large only admonishing him To make his own discretion his keeper and not to come at the Court or in her Presence After this Sentence Cuffe who alwayes perswaded the Earle to stand stoutly in his own defence began so plainly to tax him of cowardize and pusillanimity that the Earl in anger commanded his name to be put out of the Rowl of his servants yet Merrick the Steward did it not as being of Cuffes minde himself Essex being now ready to go into the Countrey remembred himself to the Queen by the Lord Henry Howard in these words That he kissed the Rod and the Queens hands which had â—nely corrected not overthrown him yet he should never enjoy solid comfort till he might see those blessed eyes which had been his load-stars whereby he had happily steered his course whiles he held on his way at lawfull distance But now he resolved to eat grasse with Nebuchad-nezzar till it please the Queen to restore his senses She being greatly joyed with these his speeches Would to God sayd she his deeds might be answerable to his words he hath long tried my patience I must now make tryall of his humility And now the Earl grew so confident of thee Queens favor That he became a suitor to her for the Farme of sweet Wines but she to try his temper and with what minde he would bear a repulse made him Answer That she must first know what it was worth and not give away things hand over head and had oftentimes in her mouth the Aphorisme of Phisitians That foul bodies the more you nourish them the more you corrupt them And indeed this was the right way to finde whether the ulcer of his minde were throughly cured or no for being not throughly cured it would endure no touching and no more did his but as though every denyall of a curtesie were an injury that required revenge his melancholy was presently turned into choller and now began to hearken to Cuffe again telling him That it was now plain the Queen determined to make him as poore as Iob that he should live of the basket and gather crums under the Taâ—â—e Hereupon he returned to London Southampton is sent for out of the Low-Countries his doors are set open for all commers Merricke his Steward receiveth to his own table decayed souldiers discontented and audacious persons Sermons are made there every day by Puritan Ministers to which the Citizens flock and all signes of popularity appeared which matters coming to the Queens ears Alienated her affection from him daily more and more but especially she was exasperated that her Person was despised by him for not to say the worst he had muttered That the Queen was now old and decrepit and withered as well in minde as body And now again he runneth upon desperate counsells for the removall of his adversaries from the Court seeketh to scrue himself into the King of Scots favour to whom he traduceth his adversaries by name Raleigh Cobham Carew Cecill and the Admirall as inclined to the Spanish Faction and at one and the same time seeketh to win to him both Puritans and Papists Many were of his party but few of his counsell and these were the Earl of Southampton Sir Charls Davers Sir Ferdinando Gorge Captain of the Garrison of Plimmouth Sir Christopher Blunt and some other With these he met privately in Drury House to avoyd suspition where he first giveth them a Catalogue of the Nobility and gentry that favoured him to the number of a hundred and twenty Then they consult whether it were better to set upon the Tower of London or the Queens Pallace this latter they resolve upon which should be done in this manner Blunt should keep the great Gate with a selected number of men and Danvers seize upon the Presence Chamber Then Essex with his company should come from the Mues and present himselfe before the Queen But now suspitions arising from divers circumstances Secretary Herbert was sent to call him before the Councell at the Treasurers House but he doubting the matter excuseth himselfe that he was not very well And now the Plot of seizing upon the Court which had been four moneths in contriving was by this means quite dashed for they had ready at the present neither Souldiers nor muition so as some speedier course must now be thought on at which time very opportunely cometh one to them set on no doubt by Essex his Adversaries as if he had been sent on purpose from the Citizens to promise him their Ayd which made Essex to applaud his own great good fortune And now were four of the Lords namely the Lord Keeper the Earle of Worcester Sir William Knolles and the Lord Chiefe Justice of England sent by the Queen to Essex house who could hardly be suffered to come in all their Attendants were kept out save he that carried the Seal before the Keeper In the Court they found a confused number of people and the Earls of Essex Rutland and Southampton in the midst of them The Keeper turning himselfe to Essex telleth him The Queen had sent him and the rest to understand the cause of this concourse promising Justice if any person had done them wrong Essex with a loud voice cryeth out They lye in waite for my life we are met to defend our selves The Keeper urging Essex again to unfold some part of his grievance the unruly multitude crieth out Away let us be gone they come to betray you Kill them cast away that Great Seal Essex retireth into the house the Lords follow him he chargeth them to make the doors fast and turning him to the Lords Have patience for a while saith he I must go into the City to dispatch a little businesse with the Maior and Sheriffs I will return presently There the Lords are kept prisoners Essex maketh haste into the City with a Troop of 200 men at his heels the E. of Bedford the L. Cromwell and â—â—her Lords meeting him by the way joyn themselves coming into London â—e cryeth out aloud For the Queen for the Queen they lay wait for my life The Citizens came running to gaze but not so much as one person took Arms to take his Part. Passing along the City he came all in a sweat to the Sheriff Smith's house who shifteth himself forth at a back door and goeth to the Lord Maior By this time certain of the Nobility entred the City with a Herald declaring Essex and his adherents Traytors Hereupon hearing also that the Lord Admirall made towards him with an Army he began to be dishearâ—ned Gorge taketh care for himself requesteth he might be sent to release the Counsellors and with them to crave the Queens mercy whiles the issue
man to be King of Bohemia and accordingly was elected by the States of that Kingdome but he was no sooner invested in the Crowne but the Emperour with great Forces assaulted him in Prague and not only drove him with his wife and children from thence but tooke from him also his owne Patrimony the Palatinate so as though now a King he was fayne to flye to the States of the Low Countries for a place of residence King Iames though he had never given his consent to the Palsegraâ—es taking upon him that Kingdome as foreseeing in his great judgement what the event will bee yet in this distresse he could noâ— forbeare to take care of his daughter and thereupon sent Sir Richard Wesâ—on the same that was after Lord Treasurer in Embassage to the Emperour to sollicite the restoring of the Palatinate to the Palsegrave but he returning without successe the King had then conference with Count Gundâ—mar the King of Spaines Ligier in England what course might bee taken to procure the restoring it who made him answere there could be no better course than to make a marriage betweene his sonne the Prince of Wales and the Infant of Spaine which he said would easily be effected if the Prince might have leave to make a Iourny into Spaine King Iames though he considered the inveterate grudges betweene Spaine and England and as dangerous it might beâ— to put the heire of the Kingdom into the Spaniards hands yet grounding himself upon the saying Fide lem si putaveris facies and drawne on by the insinuating speeches of Count Gundomar not perhaps without some Indinction in the Marquis of Buckingham was contented at last the Prince should goe And so Prince Charles sending his ships about and taking along with him only the Marquis of Buckingham who in the time of his being in Spaine was created Duke of Buckingham Endymion Porter and Mr. Francis Cottington two that were well acquainted with the Language and affaires of Spaine he tooke his Iourney by the way of France went to Paris and secretly in disguise to the Court there where he had the sight of that Lady that might well have stayed him from going further but yet on he went In the meane time Gundomar a cunning man and one that besides his Masters had ends of his owne and could play his Game no lesse for his owne profit than his Masters Honour as he had perswaded the King of the facility of the Match with Spayne so he perswaded a certainty of it especially amongst Catholick Ladies by which meanes he brought no small store of Grists to his owne Mill receiving from one Lady three hundred pounds to bee made Groome of the Stoole when the Spanish Princesse should come of another a good round summe to be made Mother of the Maydes and of diverse other the like for other places But the Prince being arrived in Spayne was received indeed with all the demonstrations of love and kindnesse that could be devised so as the charge of his entertainment was said to stand the King of Spayne in nine and forty thousand Duckats but yet his acquaintance with the Lady was much restrained for in all the time of his staying in Spayne which was no lesse than eight moneths being from February to October he saw her but very seldome and that at good distances never spake with her but twice and that before company besides that his speeches were limited how much and what he should say farre from any meanes of tying the knot betweene them which was pretended what the cause should bee was much in obscurity some thought that a difference betweene the Duke of Buckingham and the Count Olivares the King of Spayne's great Favorite was a great hinderance of the proceeding but other and more likely that the Spanyard indeed never really intended the Match at all but had drawne the Prince into Spayne for other Ends but what those ends were was no lesse uncertaine one thought it was done to hold the Prince in a treaty of marriage with a Daughter of Spayne till the Daughters of France should bee bestowed thereby to keepe him from that allyance but others and more likely that the King of Spayne entertayned this Treaty with the King of great Brittayne meaning to spinne it out till he had compassed some designes in the Low-Countries and the Palatinate at least to make King Iames most vigilant for those paâ—ts But when much time had beene spent in protracting upon pretence of difficultities in obtaining the Popes dispensation King Iames partly wearied with delay but chiefely angred with delusion sent to the Prince with all speed to returne into England which the Prince presently signified to the King of Spaine and had his leave to depart but upon promise to continue the treaty of the marriage still Though it was said the Prince was gone but a few dayes on his journey when a Post was sent to have stayed him if he had been overtaken But whether it was so or no it was Gods providence that he came safely to his ships and in them safely into England arriving at Portsmouth where he was beheld of the people with no lesse gladnesse than the Sunne after a long Eclipse and now his safe returning did both justifie King Iames his judgement in suffering him to goe and the King of Spaines justice in suffering him to come back and was cause that the people began to have a better opinion of the Spanish faith than they had before But now it presently brake out that this match with Spaine could never take effect for King Iames having received Declarations of the Articles touching the marriage found many very strict and large for exercise of the Catholike Religion but none at all for restitution of the Palatinate which made him so much discontented that he presently brake off all treaty of the marriage and signified as much not onely to the King of Spaine but to divers other Princes of Christendome Vpon which breach two great Points were presently had in consultation One for preparing forces for recovering the Palatinate by way of Armes which could not be done by a way of friendship and for this purpose a Councell of warre was called and a proposition resolved on both of men and money for undertaking the enterprise as also a great contribution by way of benevolence was collected towards which the compiler of this worke gave himselfe fifty pounds as many other farre greater summes though the collection went not thorow the whole Landâ— by reason there was hope given of a peaceable reconcilement so as many that were not over-hasty in their payments escaped without contributing at all The other point was for providing a fit wife for the Prince in some other place It was said the States of Holland offered a very great portion in marriage to the Prince if hee would match with some Lady of that Countrie but matches are made in heaven and there was a young Lady of France
Rome where he tooke upon him the habit of a Monke and after other foure yeares dyed The tenth King was Ethelbald who at first was given to much lasciviousnesse of life but being reprehended for it by Boniface Archbishop of Ments was so farre converted that he Founded the Monastery of Crowland driving in mighty piles of Oake into that Marish ground where he laid a great and goodly building of stone and after two and forty years Raigne was slaine in a battaile by Cuthred King of the West Saxons The eleventh King was Offa who greatly enlarged his Dominions raigned nine and thirty yeares and Founded the Monastery of St. Albans The thirteenth King was Kenwolph who raigned two and twenty yeares and Founded the Monastery of Winchcombe in the County of Glocester where his body was interred The eighteenth King was Withlafe who overcome by Egbert King of the West Saxons held his Country afterward as his substitute and Tributary acknowledging Egbert as now the sole Monarch of this Island And by erection of this Mercian Kingdome were seventeene shires moâ—e lopped off from the Britaines Dominion and was a sixth and a great impairing so as now they were driven into a narrow roome The seventh Kingdome being of the East Angles THe seventh Kingdome was of the East Angles and began by Uffa in the yeare 575. containing Suffolke Norfolke Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely and continued 353. yeares during the raigne of fifteene Kings of whom the fifth was Sigebert who first brought the light of the Gospell into his Dominions and built a Schoole for education of youth but whether at Oxford or Cambridge is left a Quaere and after three yeares Raigne shore himselfe a Monke in the Abbey of Cumbreburg which himselfe had built but being afterward violently drawne from thence by his Subjects the East Angles to resist the Mercian King Penda and refusing to use any other weapon but onely a white wand was in a battaile by him slaine The seventh King was Anna who after thirteene yeares raigne was also slaine by Penda the Mercian King This King Anna was memorable chieâ—ly for the holinesse of his children of whom his sonne Erkenwald was Bishop of London and built the Abbey of Barking neere London His eldest daughter Etheldrid was twice married and yet continued a Virgin still and at last became a Nunne and is remembred to posterity by the name of St. Audrie His second daughter named Sexburg his third named Ethelburg his fourth a Naturall daughter named Withburg all entred into Monasteries and are Canonized all for Saints The foureteenth King was Ethelbert a learned and religious Prince who being invited by Offa the Mercian King to marry Elfrid his daughter came for that purpose to Offa's Court then seated at Sutton Walleys in the County of Hereford and there by him was cruelly murthered In whose memoriall notwithstanding hee afterward built a faire Church at Hereford the Cathedrall of that See as though he could expiate a murther of the living by a Monument to the dead and were not rather a Monument of his owne impiety The fifteenth King was Edmund who assaulted by the Danes for his possessions was more assaulted for his profession for continuing constant in his Christian Faith those Pagans first beat him with bats then scourged him with whippes â—nd lastly bound him to a stake and with their arrowes shot him to death whose body was buried at the Towne where Sigebert the East Anglian King one of his Predecessors had built a Church and where afterward in honour of him was built another most spatious of a wonderfull frame of Timber and the name of the Towne upon the occasion of his buriall there called to this day St. Edmunds bury This Church and place Suenus the Danish King burnt to ashes but when his sonne Canutus had gotten possession of the English Crowne terrified with a Vision of the seeming St. Edmund in a religious devotion to expiate his Fathers sacriledge hee built it anew most sumptuously and offered his owne Crowne upon the Martyrs Tombe After the death of this Edmund the East Angles Country was possest by the Danes and so continued the space of fifty yeares untill that Edmund surnamed the Elder expelled those Danes and made that Kingdome a Province to the West Saxons By that which hath beene said it plainely appeares by what degrees the Britaines lost and the Saxons got the whole possession of this Island For after that Vortigern in the yeare 455. had called in the Saxons every Britaine King that succeeded him lost some part or other of it to the Saxonâ— till at last in the yeare 689. Câ—dwâ—llader the last Britaine King lost all and then the Saxon Kings striving amongst themselves for soveraignty they still gained one upon another till at last in the yeare 818 Egbert King of the West Saxons reduced them all under his subjection and then caused all the South of the Island to bee called England according to the Angles of whom himselfe came after whom they were no longer properly called Saxon Kings but Kings of England and so continued till the Danes in the yeare 1017. made an interruption of whose succession now comes the time to speake Of the Saxons that Raigned sole Kings of this Island and may properly be called English Kings EGbert the eighteenth King of the West Saxons is now become the first of the Kings of England in whose time the Danes began first to infest the Land as thinking they might do as much against the Saxons as the Saxons had done against the Britaines but though they made divers Invasions and did great spoyle yet they were still repelled This King raigned six and thirty yeares and dying in the yeare 836. was buried at Winchester Of his issue his daughter Edith was made Governesse of a Monastery of Ladies by her planted in a place which the King her brother had given her called Pollesworth situate in Arden in the North part of the County of Warwicke where shee died and was buriâ—d and the place in memory of her called St Edyths of Pollesworth To Egbert succeeded his sonne Ethelwolph who in his youth was so addicted to a Religious life that he was first made Deacon and after Bishop of Winchester but his father dying he was intreated by his people to take upon him the Crowne and by Pope Gregory the fourth was to that end absolved of his Vow His raigne was infested with many and great Invasions of the Danes to whom notwithstanding hee gave incredible overthrowes In the time of his Raigne remembring his former Religious profession he ordained that riches and lands due to holy Church should be free from all Tribute or Regall services and in great devotion went himselfe to Rome where he lived a yeare confirmed the grant of Peter pence and agreed beside to pay yearely to Rome three hundred Markes Returning home through France and being a Widower he there marryed Iudith the beautifull daughter of Charles the Bald
then Emperor in honour of whom in his owne Court hee ever placed her in a chaire of Estate with all other Majesticall complements of a Qâ—â—ene contrary to the Law of the West Saxons formerly made which so much displeased his Lords that for it they were ready to Depose him but howsoever hee lived not long after having Raigned one and twenty yeares His yongest sonne Neoto was much addicted to learning and was one of the first Divinity Readers in the University of Oxford and Founded a Monastery in Cornwall which of him was called Neotestock and being dead his body was Interred in the County of Huntington at a place then called Arnulphsbury and afterward in regard of his Interment St. Neotes and now St. Nâ—edes This King was famous for having foure sons who all of them were Kings of this Land successively First after him Raigned his eldest sonne Ethelbald in the yeare 857. who to his eternall shame tooke to wife Iudith his fathers widdow Raigned but two yeares and dying was buried at Shirborn in Dorsetshire at that time the Episcopal See From this Iudith married afterward to the Earle of Flanders after divers descents came Maude the wife of William the Conqueror from whom are descended all our Kings ever since Next to the eldest Raigned the second sonne Ethelbert all whose Raigne which was onely five yeares was perpetually disquieted with Invasions of the Danes which yet were at last repelled He died in the yeare 866. and was buried at Shirborne in Dorsetshire Next to the second Raigned his third sonne Ethelred whose Raigne was more disquieted with the Danes then any others before for they Invading the Land under the leading of Hungar and Hubba spoyled all the Country as they went not sparing Religious places amongst other the goodly Monasteries of Bradney Crowland Peterborough Ely and Huntington they laid levell with the ground the Monkes and Nunnes they murthered or ravished at which time a rare example of Chastity and Fortitude was seene in the Nunnes of Coldingham For to avoyd the baâ—barous pollutions of these Pagans they deformed themselves by cutting off their upper lips and noses Nine battailes in one yeare this King fought with the Danes in most oâ— them victorious but at last received a wound whereof he died and was buried in the Church at Winborne in Dorsetshire Next to the third Raigned his fourth son Alfred in whose time came over greater swarmes of Danes then ever before and had now got footing in the North the West South parts of this Island leaving this King nothing of all his great Monarchy but only Somerset Hampton and Wiltshire and not these neither altogether free so as he was forced sometimes to flie into the Fennes and Marish grounds to secure himselfe where he lived by Fishing and Fowling and hunting of wilde beasts till at last learning policy from adversity and gathering courage from misery hee ventured in the habit of a common Minstrell to enter the Danes Campe where having viewed the manner of their Encamping and observed their security he returned backe shewing his Lords in what condition he found them whereupon setting upon them at unawares he not onely made of them a great slaughter but brought upon them a greater terrour for presently upon this the Danes sue for Peace and deliver Hostages for performance of these Conditions that their King should receive Baptisme and their great Army depart quietly out of the Land But though upon this agreement they departed for the present into France yet the yeare following they returned with greater Forces forraging all parts of the Countrey in most cruell manner though still encountred by this Valorous Prince till hee ended his life in the yeare 901. after he had Raigned nine and twenty yeares The vertues of this King if they were not incredible they were at least admirable whereof these may be instances The day and night containing foure and twenty houres he designed equally to three speciall uses observing them by the burning of a Taper set in his Chappell there being at that time no other way of distinguishing them Eight houres he spent in Contemplation Reading and Prayers Eight in provision for himselfe his Health and Recreation and the other eight in the Affaires of the Common-wealth and State His Kingdome likewise he divided into Shires Hundreds and Tythings ordaining that no man might remove out of his Hundred without security by which course he so suppressed Theeves and Robbers which had formerly encreased by the long warres that it is said a boy or girle might openly carry a bag of gold or silver and carry it safely all the Country over Besidâ—s his great Piety he was also learned and â—s farre as it may be a commendation in a Prince a skilfull Musitian and an excellent Poet. All former Lawes hee caused to be survayed and made choyce of the best which hee translated into the English tongue as also the Pastorall of St. Gregorie the History of Bede and Boetius his consolation of Philosophie the Psalmes of David likewise he began to translate but died before he could finish it And so great a love he had to learning that he made a Law that all Freemen of the Kingdome possessing two Hides of land should bring up their sonnes in learning till they were fifteene yeares of age at least that so they might be trained to know God to be men of understanding and to live happily His buildings were many both for Gods service and for other publike use as at Edlingsey a Monastery at Winchester a new Minster and at Shaftesbâ—ry a house of Nunnes whereof he made his daughter Ethelgeda the Abbesse but his Foundation of the University of Oxford exceeded all the rest which he began in the yeare 895. and to furnish it with able Scholars drew thither out of France Grimbaldus and Scotus and out of Wales Asser who wrote his life whose Lectures he honoured often with his owne presence And for a stocke of Frugality he made a Survey of the Kingdome and had all the particulars of his Estate registred in a Booke which he kept in his Treasury at Winchester He Raigned seven and twenty yeares and dying was buryed in the Cathedrall Church of Saint Peter at Winchester though removed afterward into the Church of the new Monastery without the North-gate of the City called Hyde His Wife Elsewith Founded a Monastery of Nunnes at Winchester and was there buryed Their second daughter Ethelgeda tooke upon her the Vow of Virginity and by her Fathers appointment was made a Nunne of Shaftesbery in the County of Dorset in the Monastery â—ounded there by him who is also accounted the Founder of the Towne it selfe King Alfred being deceased his sonne Edward called Edward the Elder succeeded not so learned as his Father but in Valour his Equall and Superiour in Fortune For first he overcame his Cousin Ethelwald who aspired to the Crowne then the Danes whose chiefe leader he â—lew in battaile lastly the Welsh
Beauchamp Earle of Warwick was brought forth and charged with the like Treasons but by the intercession of the Duke of Lancaster and other Lords after confession of his fault was only confin'd into the Isle of Man Likewise the lord Cobhaâ— and Sir Iohn Cheyny were onely banished or as Fabian saith condemned to perpetuall Prison The Parliament after this was held at Shewsbery where for the love the king bore to the Gentlemen and Commons of the Shiâ—e of Chester he caused it to be Ordained that from thenceforth it should be called and known by the name of the Principality of Chester and herewith intitled himselfe Prince of Châ—ster At this Parliament also called the Great Parliament He created five Dukes and â— Dutchesse one Marquesse and foure Earles The Earle of Darby was created Duke of Hereford the Earle of Nottingham Duke of Norfolke the Earle of Râ—tlandâ— Dâ—ke of Aâ—bemarle the Earle of Kent Duke of Surrey the Earle of 〈◊〉 Duke of Exceter and the Lady Margaret Marshall Countesse of Norfolke was created Dutchesse of Norfolke The Earle of Somerset was created Marquesse Dorseâ— the Lord Spenser was made Earle of Glocester the Lord Nevill Earle of Westâ—erlâ—â—d the Lord Scrâ—â—pe Earle of Wiltshire and the Lord Thomas Percy L. Steward of the kingâ— house was made Earle of Worcester and for the better maintenance of their esâ—â—teâ— he divided amongst them a great part of those lands that belonged to the Duke of Glocester the Earles of Aruâ—dell and Warwick Also in this Parliament the Judges gave their opinions That when Articles are propounded by the king to be handled in Parliament if other Articles be handled before those be first determined that it is Treason in them that doe it And in this Parliament the king brought it so â—bout that he obtained the whole power of the Parliament to be conferred upon cerâ—taine persons namely Iohn Duke of Lancaster Edmund Duke of Yorke Edmâ—â—â— Duke of Aâ—merle Thomas Duke of Surrey Iohn Duke of Exceter Iohn Marqueâ—â—e Dorset Roger Earle of March Iohn Earle of Salisbury and divers others or to any seven or eight of them and these by virtue of this Grant proceeded to conclude upon many things which concerned generally the knowledge of the whole Parliament to the great prejudice of the State and a dangerous example in time to come A Generall Pardon was also granted for all offences to all the Kings subjects but only to Fifty whose names he would not expresse but reserved them to his own knowledge that when any of the Nobility offended him he might at his pleasure name him to be one of the number excepted and so keepe them still within his danger And for the more strengthening the Acts of this Parliament the King purchased the Popes Buls containing grievous censures and curses to them that should break them And now the heads of the opposite Faction having lost their heads and all things as well setled as could be desired the King was secure as thinking himselfe safe and he had indeed been safe if Time and Fortune were not Actours in Revenge as well as men or rather if a superiour Power did not interpose whose wayes are as secret as himselfe is invisible It now fell out though Wâ—iters differ what it was fell out for some write that Thomâ—s Mowbray accused the Duke of Hereford others that Henry Duke of Herefoâ—d accused Thomas Mowbrâ—y Duke of Norfolke for speaking words sounding highly to the Kings dishonour to which the Duke of Norfolk being called to answer charged the Duke of Hereford before the King that he lyed falsly Whereupon a Combat was agreed upon between them The King labored to make them friends but not prevailing he gave way to proceed in Combat and the place to be at Coventry where at the day and houre appointed the Duke of Hereford mounted on a white Couâ—seâ— bâ—rded with green â—nd blew Velvet imbroidered sumptuously with Swans and Antelops of Goldsmiths worke approached the Lists Of whom the Marshall being the Duke of Surry demanding who he was he answered I am Henry of Lâ—â—caster Duke of Hereford that am come hither to doe my endeavour against Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke as a Traitour untrue to God the King his Realme and me Then incontinently he swore upon the holy Evangelists that his quarrell was true and just and thereupon required to enter the Lists where in â— Chaire of green Velvet he sate downe and reposed himselfe Then came the Duke of Nâ—rfâ—lke his horse barded with Crimson velvet imbroidered richly with Lyons of Silver and Mulbery trees and when he had taken his oath before the Constable the Duke of Aâ—merle that his quarrell was just he entred the Lists and sate him down in his Chaire of Crimson velvet curtained about with white and red Damask Then the Marshall viewed their speares to see that they were of equall lengâ—h and then the Heralds proclaimed on the Kings behalfe they should mount on horsebâ—ck and addresse themselves to the Combat But when they were set forward and had their Speares in their Rests the King cast down his Warder and the Heralds cryed Stay Stay Then the king caused their Speares to be â—aken from them and deliberated with his Councell what was â—it to be done in so weighty a cause After two long houres it was at last concluded that Henry Duke of Hereford should within fifâ—â—en dayes depart out of the Realme and not returne before ten yeeres were expired upon paine of death And that Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke should likewise avoyd the Realme and never to returne into England upon the like paine It is observable that this Censure was passed against the Duke of Norfolke the very same day Twelve-moneth in which he had taken order to put the Duke of Glocester to death at Calliâ— whereof he was then Governour When these Judgements were once read the king called before him both the Dukes and made them sweare that the one should never come in place where the other was After this the Duke of Nâ—rfâ—olke went into Almâ—iâ—â— and from thence to Venice where after some time he dyed with sorrow The Duke of Hereford at the taking his leave of the king had foure yeeres of his Banishment released â—nd then went to Callis and from thence to â—aris where of the French king he was so kindly received that by his favour he had obtained in mariage the onely daughter of the Duke of Berry Unkle to the French king if King Richard by messengers had not hindered him It was a Custome in those dayes to punish the delinquencies of Great men by banishment out of the Realme a Custome not more grievous to the Subject then dangerous to the Prince for by this course they had meanes to worke so closely in their mines of Revenge that the Fabrick of a Kingdome was in danger to be blown up before their working could be perceived An example whereof was never more plainly seen then at this time in
the King of France for composing whereof the Cardinall of Yorke was sent attended with the Earle of Worceâ—ter Lord Chamberline the Lord of Saint Iohns the Lord Ferrers the Lord Herbert the Bishop of Duâ—ham the Bishop of Ely the Primate of Armagh Sir Thomas Bullen Sir Iohn Pechye Sir Iohn Hussey Sir Richard Winkfield Sir Henry Guildâ—ord and many other Knights Gentlemen and Doctors On the twelfth of Iuly he arrived at Callice whether came to him the Chaâ—cellour of France and the Count de Palice attended with four hundred horse as Embassadours from the French King and from the Emperour the like with Commissions to treat and conclude of Peace There were also Embassadours from the Pope whom the Cardinall moved to have the Pope be a party also in their League but they wanting Commission Letters were presently sent to Rome about it and in the time till answer might be had the Cardinall went to Bruges to speak with the Emperour with whom having stayed thirteene dayes after most Royall entertainment he returned back to Câ—llice and then fell presently to the treaty of Peace with the French Commissioner but was colder in the matter then he was before as having had his edge taken off by some dealings with the Emperour so as nothing was concluded but that Fishermen of both the Princes might freely Fish on the Seas without disturbance till the end of February following whereof he sent advertisement to both the Princes to the Emperour by the Lord of Saint Iohns and Sir Thomas Bullen to the French King by the Earle of Worcester and the Bishop of Ely During all which time of the Cardinalls stay in Callice all Writs and Paâ—ents were there by him sealed and no Sheriffe could be chosen for lack of his presence having the Great Seal there with him and full power in things as if the King had been there in person Before he returned he made a new League with the Emperour and intimated to the French King that he doubted the King of England would not hereafter be so much his friend as heretofore he had been whereat though the King of France were much offended yet he signifyed by his Letters perhaps dissemblingly that he would continue the King of Englands friend asmuch as ever onely he enveighed against the Cardinall as a man of no truth withdrew many Pensions which he had before given to some English Presently upon this was Tourney besieged by the Lord Hugh de Moncada a Spaniard and though the French King sent great Forces to succour it yet it was rendred up to the Emperour the last of November in the thirteenth yeer of King Henries Reigne This yeer Pope Leo died the first of December suspected to be poysoned by Barnabie Malespina his Chamberlaine whose office was alwayes to give him drinke After whose death Doctor Pace was sent to Rome to make friends in behalfe of the Cardinall of Yorke who was brought into a hope through the Kings favour to be elected Pope but that hope was soon quailed for before Doctor Pace could get to Rome Adrian the sixth was chosen Pope This Doct. Pace was a very learned and religious man yet thorow crosses in his imployment fell mad and dyed in whose place of Imployment succeeded Doct. Stephen Gardyner On the second of February King Henry being then at Greenwich received a Bull from the Pope whereby he had the Title given him to be defender of the Christian Faith for him and his successours for ever which Title was ascribed â—o him for writing a Booke against Luther of which Booke saith Holingsâ—eard I will onely say â—hus much that King Henry in his Booke is reported to rage against the Devill and Antichrist to cast out his foame against Luther to race out the Name of the Pope and yet to allow his Law which Booke Luther aâ—swered with as little respect to the King as the King had done to him In this meane time many displeasures grew between the two Kings of England and France specially two one that French-men seized upon English ships as they passed for remedy whereof one Christopher Cee an expert seaman was sent with six ships to safeguard the Merchants Another that the Duke of Albanye was returned into Scotland contrary to that which was Covenanted by the league which though the King of France denied to be done with his privity yet King Henry knew the Duke of Albanye had Commission from the French King to returne which did the more exasperate him and hereupon were Musters made in England and a note taken of what substance all men were This yeere died the Lord Brooke Sir Edwad Poynings Knight of the Garâ—er Sir Iohn Pechy and Sir Edward Belknappe all valient Captaines suspected to have poysoned at a Banquet made at Ard when the two Kings met last At this time Owen Dowglas Biship of Dunkell fled out of Scoâ—lnad into England because the Duke of Albanye being come thither had taken upon him the whole Government of the King and Kingdome whereupon Clarentiaux the Herald was sent into Scotland to command the Duk of Albany to avoid that Realm which he refusing the Herald was â—ommanded to defie him Thereupon the French King seized all English-mens goods in Burdeaux and impisoned their persons and retained not onely the money to be paid for the restitution of Tourney but also with-held the French Queenes Dower whereof when King Henry understood he called the French Embassadour residing in England to give account thereof who though he gave the best reasons he â—ould to excuse it yet was commanded to keep his house and the French Hostages remayning here for the money to be paid for the delivery of Tourney were restrained of their liberty and committed to the custody of the Lord of Saâ—t Iohns Sir Thomas Lovell Sir Andrew Windsor and Sir Thomas Nevyle each of them to keep one and withall all French-men in London were committed to prison and put to their Fines and all Scots-men much more There were then also sent to sea under the conduct of Sir William Fitz-Williams Viceadmirall eight and twenty great ships and seven more towards Scotland who set fire on many Scottish-ships in the Haven and at length tooke many prisoners and returned King Henry hearing that the Emperour would come to Callice so to passe into England as he went into Spaine appointed the Lord Marquesse Dorsett to go to Câ—llice there to receive himâ— and the Cardinall to receive him at Daverâ— The Cardinall taking his Journey thither on the tenth of May rode thorow London accompanied with two Earles six and thirty Knights and a hundred Gentlemen eight Bishops ten Abbots thirty Chaplains all in Velvet and Sattin and Yeomen seven hundred The five and twentieth of May being Sunday the Marquesse Dorset with the Bishop of Chichester the Lord de Lawâ—re and divers others at the water of Graveling received the Emperour and with all honour brought him to Callice where he was received with Procession by the
was yet doubtfull The Earl content that Popham only should be freed but he refused unlesse the Keeper also might be dismissed Then Gorge freeth them all and goeth along with them to the Court by water Now when Essex thought to return he found a Chain fastened crosse the street at the West end of Pauls and men in Arms on the other side then he began to draw his sword and having once given the word Blunt letteth fly at them slew one of them incontinent himself being sorely wounded and taken Essex himself had his Hat shot thorow whereupon retiring he took Boat at Queen Hythe and went to Essex House where finding the Counsellors all dismissed he grew extreme angry and dismayed and cast certain papers into the fire saying They should tell no tales By and by the Admirall besiegeth the house commanding them to yeeld Southampton offereth if the Admirall would give Hostages to secure them they would present themselves to the Queen The Admirall answereth him by Sidney That Rebells are not to profer Conditions Within an hour Essex finding the case desperate resolved to rush forth and the Lord Sands the most aged in the company greatly urged it saying It were better to die valiantly than by the hands of a Hang-man But Essex his minde upon a little deliberation altering they fell upon their knees and deliver their weapons to the Admirall when it was ten a clock at night Owen Salisbury and one or two more were slain with Musket Shot and as many of the Besiegers The next day Thomas Lea Commander of a Company of Souldiers in Ireland who to one Crosse a Sea-Captain that detected him intimated how noble an exploit it were for six stout fellows to go to the Queen and compell her forceably to release Essex and Southampton was presently apprehended examined found guilty and executed Essex and Southampton were carryed first to Lambeth to the Archbishops house because it was a dark night but anon were sent to the Tower by the Queens direction and with them Rutland Sands Cromwell Mounteagle Danverse and Bromley the rest were put in common prisons On the nineteenth of February Essex and Southampton were called to their Arraignment before their Peers in Westminster-Hall where Buckhurst Lord Treasurer was appointed Lord High Steward of England for that time The Peers being severally called by their names Essex demanded If it were not lawfull for them to except against some of the Peeâ—s as private persons might do against the Jurors The Judges made answer That the credit and fidelity of the Peers of England was presumed to be such that in Tryalls they were not bound to take an Oath nor are they lyable to any exception Then were they joyntly indited of High Treason namely That they plotted to deprive the Queen of her life and Kingdom To surprize her in her very Palace And that they brake forth into open Rebellion by imprisoning the Counsellors of the Kingdom By exciting the Londoners to Re-bellion with vaine Fictions By assaulting the Queens loyall Subjects in the City and by defending of Essex House against the Queens Forces Hereunto they pleaded Not guilty Essex withall averring That they had done nothing but of necessity and the Law of Nature Yelverton aggravateth the specialties and Edward Cook Atturney argueth That the Earl could not excuse himself from the Law of Nature seeing Majesty is not to be affronted for private revenge The Earl of Essex with great confidence made answer That to his Prince and Countrey he alwayes had and would bear a loyall affection The Francis Bacon one that was little expected to speak against Essex by whom he had been raised in defence of Cobham Cecill and Raleigh aggravateth his crying out That the Crown of England was sold to the Spaniard wherto Essex replyed that he heard indeed that Cecill the Secretary should say to one of the Lords of the Councell That the Right of the Infanta of Spain to the Kingdom of England was as good as any of the Competitors Upon this Cecill who stood by as an Auditor steppeth in and falling upon his knees beseecheth the Steward that with his good leave he might quit himself from this foul aspersion which leave being granted him he provoked Essex if he durst to name the Counsellor but he would not therefore saith Cecill It is a Faction still Essex averreth it Then Cecill turning himself to Southampton besought him by all manner of Obtestations to name the man He referreth it to the Honorable Assembly and to Cecill himself if in Honour and good Reason he ought to do it they affirming He might Southampton nameth Sir William Knolles Essex his Unkle He being sent for at Cecills intreaty said That Cecill two yeers since told him that one Dolman in a Book had asserted the Right of the Infanta and had spoken no otherwise than so Now after the Judges had delivered their opinion what was Law in the matters alleadgeâ— the Earls by the Stewards direction were taken aside Then the Peers rose and went apart and having consulted about an hour returned to their seats and in their order pronounced the Earls guilty of high Treason Then the high Steward advising Essex to implore the Queens mercy giveth Sentence and that done brake his Staff and departed The next day Sir Robert Vernon Sir William Constable Sir Edmund Baynham Littleton Cluff Captain Whitlock Iohn and Christopher Wright and Orell an old Souldier were called to their Tryall but the Queen informed by Sir Fulk Grevill That most of them were drawn unwittingly into the danger commanded that onely Littleton Baynham and Orell should have their Tryall the rest to be sent back to prison These were all condemned but their lives spared which favour Raleigh for a good sum of money received of Baynham procured Essex in the mean while requested he might speak with some of the Counsellors to whom he reconciled himself and to Cecill especially and then intimated That the Queen could not be in safety while he lived he requesteth he might be executed privately in the Tower He grievously inveigheth against some of the Conspiracy and wished to speak with some of them but specially with Blunt and Cuffe whom as soon as he saw he brake forth into these words O Cuffe ask pardon of God and the Queen for thou hast chiefly provoked me to this disloyalty Also he intimated Sir Henry Nevill ordinary Ambassadour in France to have been acquainted with the Conspiracy and that other in Scotland France the Netherlands and the Lord Mountjoy Deputy of Ireland knew of his purpose and other in England who being many in number and the Lord Mountjoy ordering the Affairs of Ireland in good fashion the Queen wisely would take no notice of it The five and twentieth day of February which was to be the fatall day there were sent to the Earl divers Ministers to give him ghostly comfort The Queen now wavering in her self one while remembring the â—â—ciâ—nt kindenesse she had shewed