may say upon the Confines of his Destiny His Gracing of undeserving Men and Disgracing of Men deserving if they were not the Causes were at least the occasions of his own Disgracing He was now come to be of full Age to do all himself which was indeed to be of full Age to undo himself for the Errors of his younger years might be excused by inexperience but the faults of the Age he was now of admit of no Apology nor defence And to hasten his destiny the sooner the Evil Counsel which was formerly but whispered in his Ear they now had the Confidence to give him aloud For it was told him That he was under Tuition no longer and therefore not to be controlled as formerly he had been That to be crost of his will by his Subjects was to be their Subject That he is no Soveraign if he be not Absolute By the instigation of such Counsellors as these the King in a Parliament then Assembled fell to expostulate with the Lords asking them What years they thought him to be of who answering That he was somewhat more than one and Twenty Well then said he I am out of your Wardship and expect to enjoy my Kingdom as freely as you your selves at the like years enjoy your Patrimonies But saith our Author his flattering Favourites should have remembred that though the King may not be controlled where he can command yet he may be opposed where he can but demand as now indeed he was For when he demanded a Subsidy toward his Wars He was answered That he needed no Subsidy from his Subjects if he would but call in the debts that the Chancellor owed him and if he were so tender that he could not do that work himself they would do it for him And thereupon charged him with such Crimes that all his Goods were Confiscate and himself adjudged to dye if the King pleased Though others write his Sentence was only to pay twenty Thousand Marks as a Fine and a Thousand pound besides yearly This Chancellor was Michael de la Pool a Merchants Son who was lately made Earl of Suffolk and Lord Chancellor of England who with Robert Vere Earl of Oxford and Marquess of Dublin and some others were King Richards bosom Favourites And upon this Provocation given them they presently study Revenge And thereupon contrive that the Duke of Glocester the Kings Uncle as Principal and other Lords who crossed the Kings Courses should be invited to a supper in London and be there Murdered In the Execution of which Plot the late Lord Mayor Sir Nicholas Brember was deeply concerned but the present Lord Mayor Richard Exton though moved thereto by the King himself utterly refused to do it and thereupon this Design miscarried But notwithstanding these heats and many more which passed in this Parliament yet a Subsidy was at last granted to the King of half a Tenth and half a Fifteenth but with this express Condition that it should not be paid out but by order from the Lords and the Earl of Arundel was to receive it But before this time it was absolutely agreed between both Houses of Parliament That unless the Chancellor were removed they would proceed no further The King having notice hereof sent a Message to the House of Commons that they should send to Eltham where he then lay Forty of their House to declare their Minds to him But upon a Conference between both Houses it was agreed That the Duke of Glocester and Thomas Arundel Bishop of Ely should in the name of the Parliament go to him who coming to the King declared That by an old Statute the King once a year might lawfully summon his Court of Parliament for Reformation of all Enormities and Corruptions within the Realm and further declared That by an Old Ordinance it was likewise Enacted That if the King should absent himself Forty days not being sick the Houses might lawfully break up and return home At which it is reported the King should say Well we perceive our People go about to rise against us and therefore we think we cannot do better then to ask aid of our Cousen the King of France and rather submit our selves to him than to our own Subjects To which the Lords answered They wondred at his Majesties Opinion since the French King was the Ancient Enemy of the Kingdom and he might remember what mischiefs were brought upon the Realm in King Johns time by such Courses By these and the like perswasions the King was induced to come to his Parliament wherein John Fordham Bishop of Durham is discharged of his Office of Treasurer and Michael de la Pool of being Chancellor and others by consent of Parliament put in their places Likewise by Order of Parliament thirteen Lords were appointed under the King to have oversight of the whole Government of the Realm that is the Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor Bishop of Hereford Lord Treasurer the Abbot of Waltham Lord Privy Seal the Archbishops of Canterbury and York the Dukes of York and Glocester with others but this division of the Government was soon found inconvenient This Parliament also granted to Robert de Vere lately created Duke of Ireland thirty Thousand Marks which the Frenchmen were to give to the heirs of Charles de Bloys upon Condition that before Easter following he should go over into Ireland So desirous were the Lords and Commons to have him removed from the Kings presence But though the King gave way to this Torrent of the Parliament at present yet as soon as they were Dissolved he dissolved likewise all they had done against his Favourites and received them into more Favour than before A while after the Duke of Ireland puts away his lawful Wife who was neer a Kin to the Duke of Glocester and married one of the Queens Maids a Vintners Daughter at which the Duke of Glocester was very much offended which the Duke of Ireland understanding studied how by any means he might dispatch the Duke of Glocester and Easter being now past which was the time appointed for the Duke to go into Ireland the King pretending to go with him to the Seaside went with him unto Wales being attended likewise with Michael de la Pool Robert Tresillian a prime Favourite who was Lord Chief Justice and divers others where they consulted how to dispatch the Duke of Glocester the Earls of Arundel Warwick Darby Nottingham with divers others of that Party The King having remained some time in those Parts had quite forgotten the Voyage of the Duke of Ireland and so brought him back with him again to Nottingham Castle About the same time Robert Tresillian Lord Chief Justice came to Coventry and there Indicted two Thousand Persons The King then called all the High Sheriffs of the Counties before him and demanded what strength they could make for him against the Lords if there should be occasion To which they returned answer That the Common People did so favour
confirm their Charter was to make himself less than a King and the Lords thought as long as that was denied they were no better than Slaves and as the King could endure no Diminution so the Lords could endure no Slavery But the King might keep his own with sitting still the Lords could not recover their own but by motion And hereupon they confederated together the chief among them being Richard the Brother of William late Protector and now Earl Marshal who repair to the King and boldly tell him of his faults and require satisfaction Whereupon the King presently sends for whole Legions of French men over and withal summons a Parliament at Oxford whither the Lords refuse to come After this a Parliament is called at Westminster whither they likewise refuse to come unless the King would remove the Bishop of Winchester and the French from the Court and more than this they send him word that unless he did this they would expel both himself and his evil Counsellors out of the Land and create a new King Upon this threatning Pledges are required of the Nobility for securing their Allegiance and Writs are sent out to all who held by Knights Service to repair to the King by a certain day which the Earl Marshal and his Associates refusing the King without the Judgment of the Couâ—â— and his Peers causeth them to be proclaimed Outlaws and seizeth upon all their Lands which he gives to the French men and directs out Writs to attach their Bodies where-ever found Upon which some of the Confederate Lords went over to the King and the Earl Marshal is persuaded to do the same which he refusing a design is laid to draw him over into Ireland to defend his Estate there which was seized upon by the King where being circumvented by Treachery he lost his life Yet the King disavows being concerned therein and lays the fault upon his Officers An easie way saith the Historian for Princes never to be found in any fault After this the Lords went into Wales and joined with Prince Lewellin whither also came Hubeâ—t de Burg Earl of Kent Hereupon the King is advised to go himself thither who complained That he was not able in regard of his wants saying that his Treasurers told him all the Rents of his Exchequer would scarce maintain him in Clothes Victuals and Alms. Whereupon some of his Lords answered That he might thank himself if he were poor since he gave so much of his Revenue to his Favourites and had so far alienated his Lands that he was onely a King in name rather than for his Estate though his Ancestors were magnificent Princes who abounded in all worldly glory and wealth and had heaped up vast Treasures onely by the Rents and Profits of the Kingdom The King being stung with this just Reprehension began by their advice to call his Sheriffs Bailiffs and other Officers to a strict account and squeezed great sums of money out of them forcing Ralph Briton his Lord Treasurer to pay him a thousand pound and others very considerable sums whereby he at this time filled his Coffers After two years affliction a Parliament is called at Westminster wherein the Bishops admonish the King by his Fathers Example to be at peace and unity with his People and remove from him Strangers and to govern the Kingdom by Natives of the Realm and by the Laws otherwise they would proceed by Ecclesiastical Censure both against himself and his Counsellors The King â—â—ing no way to subsist but by temporizing removes all Strangers from about him calls his new Officers to account and restores the Lords to their places and possessions Soon after another Parliament is called which the King would have to sit in the Tower whither the Lords refusing to come a place of more freedom is appointed in which Parliament the Sheriffs are removed for corruption and the King would have taken the Great Seal from the Bishop of Chichester who refused to deliver it as having received it from the Common Council of the kingdom In the 21 Year of this Kings Reign another Parliament is called at London where the King requires a great sum of money which being directly opposed the King promiseth by Oath never more to injure the Nobility so they would but relieve him at present and that he would use onely the Counsel of his Natural Subjects and freely grant the inviolable observation of their Liberties Whereupon a Subsidy was granted him but with this condition that four Knights in every County be appointed to receive and pay in the same either to some Abby or or Castle where it may be safely kept that if the King fail of performing his Oaths and Promises it may be restored to the Country from whence it was collected About this time the King to please the Lords ordered Peter de Rivalis and some other of his French Favourites to appear in Westminster Hall as Delinquents and he him self coming thither sate in person upon the Bench among his Judges And Peter de Rivalis being first called the King looking sternly upon him spake thus to him O thou Traitor by thy wicked advice I was drawn to set my Seal to those treacherous Letters for the destruction of the Earl Marshal in Ireland the Câ—tents whereof were to me unknown And by thine and such like wicked counsel I banished my natural Subjects and turned their minds and hearts from me By the bad counsel of thee and thy Accomplices I was stirred up to make War upon them to my exceeding loss and the dishonour of my Realm for thereby I wasted my Treasure and lost many worthy persons together with much of my former honour and respect I therefore require of thee an exact account as well of my Treasure as the Custody of the Wards together with many other Perquisites and Profits belonging to the Crown To whom Rivalis denying nothing whereof he was charged but falling to the ground thus answered My Sovereign Lord and King I have been raised up and enriched with worldly goods onely by you confound not therefore your own Creature but please to grant me some time to make my defence against what I am charged with Thou shalt said the King be carried to the Tower of London there to deliberate of it till I am satisfied And he was sent accordingly But Stephen de Seagrave Lord Chief Justice whom the King likewise called most wicked Traitor had time till Michaelmas to make up his accounts and so had others But afterward by Mediation and paying very great Fines to the King they obtained their Liberty and were a while after again taken into grace and favour In the midst of these distractions and troubles it pleased God to inflict upon this City and the Kingdom the Plague of Famine as well as the Sword whereby the Poor miserably perished for want of Bread The Authors of those Times relate this Story very credibly to shew how displeasing Unmercifulness and want of
people went over the Thames and played thereon from London Bridge to Westminster On the third of January it begun to thaw and on the fifth no Ice was to be seen In the twentieth year of her Reign a Blazing Star was seen with a long stream About this time one Simon Pembroke of Southwark being suspected to be a Conjurer was ordered to appear in St. Mary Overies Church which he did and leaning his head against a Pew the Proctor lifted up his head and found him dead and ratling in the throat and being searched several Devilish Books of Conjuration were found about him In her thirty fifth year there was so great a drougth that not only the Fields but the Springs themselves were dried up and many Cattle died every where for want of water The River of Thames likewise failed so that a Horse-man might ride over at London Bridge In her thirty sixth year was a great Plague in London and the Suburbs whereof died 17890. besides the Lord Mayor and three Aldermen About this time Edmund Coppinger and Henry Arthington Gentlemen came into Cheapside and there in a Cart proclaimed as they said News from Heaven that one William Hacket represented Christ by partaking of his glorified Body and that they were the two Prophets one of Mercy the other of Judgment sent of God to help him in this great work These men were apprehended and Hacket was arraigned and found guilty of speaking divers false and traiterous words against the Queen and to have raced and defaced her Pictures thrusting an iron Instrument into the place of the heart and brest for which he was brought from Newgate to Cheapside and being moved to ask God and their Queen forgiveness he fell to cursing and railing against the Queen and made a blasphemous Prayer against the divine Majesty of God and was therefore hanged and quartered Coppinger starved himself wilfully in Bridewel and Arthington made a Recantation In the forty third year of her Reign Robert Devereux Earl of Essex assisted by divers Noblemen and Gentlemen entered the City of London in Warlike manner at Temple Bar crying For the Queen till they came to the Sheriffs House in Fanchurch-street who finding himself not Master of his own house escaped out at a Back-door and went to the Lord Mayor And Essex finding the Citizens in Arms against him endeavoured to fortifie his own House but hearing that some great Guns were sent for to beat it down he surrendred himself and was sent to the Tower where he was afterward beheaded but might have kept his head longer on had he not been betrayed by the Lady Walsingham to whom after his condemnation he sent a Ring which the Queen had given him in token that she would stand by him in any danger the Lady delivered not this Ring but being a little after upon her Death-bed she desired to speak with the Queen to whom having disburthened her conscience the Queen flung away in extream rage and fury and never enjoyed her self well after that time but would often break out into a passion and wring her hands crying O Essex Essex and died not long after After her death King James succeeded in the third year of whose Reign was contrived the Powder Treason Plot for which Sir Edward Digby Robert Winter Graunt and Bates were drawn hanged and quartered at the West end of St. Pauls and Winter Keys Rookwood and Fawks at the Parliament Yard at Westminster A while after the King attended with divers Lords dined with the Lord Mayor Sir John Watts who after dinner presented his Majesty with a Purse of Gold desiring he would please to be made Free of the Company of Clothworkers to which the King consented and calling to the Master of the Company he said Stone Give me thy hand I am now a Clothworker and in token of my special favour to this Fraternity I do here give to this Company a Brace of Bueks yearly for ever at the Election of Master and Wardens And a Moneth after the King and the Prince dined at Merchant Taylors Hall where the Prince was made Free of that Company and had likewise a Purse of Gold presented him by the Master In 1609. the New Exchange being newly finished was first opened and named by King James Brittains Burse In 1612. Edward Wightman was burnt for an Heretick and one Legat burnt in Smithfield for an Arian In 1615. Sir Thomas Overbury was poisoned in the Tower for which the the Earl of Somerset and his Lady were arraigned and condemned and Sir Gervase Elvis Lieutenant of the Tower Mistris Turner and divers others executed In 1618. the famous Sir Walter Rawleigh was beheaded in the New Pallace Yard Westminster Next year Queen Anne died at Hampton Court In 1623. a Popish Priest being at Mass in Black Fryars in an Upper Room it fell down and many were killed and hurt In 1625. King James died having reigned 22. years King Charles his Son succeeded him and was married to Henrietta Maria of France In his first year was a great Plague whereof there died in London 35417. In 1628. Doctor Lamb was murdered in the streets of London for which the City was fined six thousand pound the same year John Felton was hanged at Tyburn for murdering the Duke of Buckingham In 1633. the King and Queen were magnificently entertained at Guild-hall In 1640 the Long Parliament began and in 1642. Posts and Chains were ordered to be set up in the City But having already given a particular account of all Passages in this Kings Reign and till the Restoration of his present Majesty King Charles the second in a little Book called The Wars of England Scotland and Ireland I shall omit repeating any thing here but shall onely add That in the year 1659. General Monk marching from Scotland came to London and after having pulled down the Gates and Portcullises of the City by Order of the Remnant of the Long Parliament he afterwards grew dissatisfied at their proceedings and going into the City was received with Bonfires and soon after that Parliament was dissolved and his Majesty happily restored May 29. 1660. In October following several of the Regicides of the late King were executed at Charing Cross that is Harrison Carew Cook Scot Hugh Peters Clement Scroop Jones and Hacket and Axtel at Tyburn In January one Venner a Wine Cooper and some others of Enthusiastick Principles made an Insurrection in London their Leader persuading them that one should chase a thousand They first marched to St. Thomas Apostles and from thence to Bishopsgate Whitecross-street and from thence they went to Highgate and Canewood And three days after they came again into the City being not above thirty or forty in number but armed with Blunderbusses and Headpieces and the Trained-bands and some of the Kings Guards fell upon them and routed them about five or six of them were killed others fled and the rest were taken Prisoners Their Word it is said was THE
Crown were pleaded in the Tower and divers times afterward In 1222 the Citizens having made a Tumult against the Abbot of Westminster Hubbert of Burg Cheif Justice of England sent for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to the Tower of London to enquire who were Principal Authors thereof Amongst whom one named Constantine Fitz Aelufe boldly avowed That he was the man and had done much less than he thought to have done whereupon the Cheif Justice sent him with two others to Falks de Brent who with armed men brought them to the Gallows and hanged them In 1244 Griffith Prince of Wales being a Prisoner in the Tower attempted an escape and having in the night tyed the Sheets and hangings together he endeavoured thereby to slide from the top of the High Tower but being a Fat man the weight of his Body brake the Rope and he fell The next morning he was found dead his head and neck being driven into his Breast between the Shoulders In 1253 K. Hen. 3. imprisoned the Sheriffs of London in the Tower above a Month about the escape of a Prisoner out of Newgate as is aforementioned In 1260 this King with his Queen for fear of the Barons lodged in the Tower And the next year he sent for his Lords and held his Parliament there In 1263 As the Queen was going by water from the Tower toward Windsor several Citizens got together upon London Bridge under which she was to pass who not only used reproachful words against her but threw stones and dirt at her forcing her to go back again but in 1265. they were forced to submit themselves to the King for it and the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs were sent to several Prisons Othon Constable of the Tower being made Custos or keeper of the City About this time Leoline Prince of Wales came down from the Mountain of Snowdon to Montgomery and was taken at Bluith Castle where using reproachful words against the English Roger le Strange fell upon him and with his own sword cut off his head leaving his dead body on the Ground Sir Roger Mortimer caused this Head to be set upon the Tower of London crowned with a wreath of Ivy And this was the end of Leoline who was betrayed by the Men of Bluith and was the last Prince of the Brittish bloud who Ruled in Wales In 1290 Several Judges as well of the Kings Bench as the Assize were sent Prisoners to the Tower and with great Sums of Money obtained their Liberty Sir Thomas Weyland had all his Estate confiscated and himself banished Sir Ralph Hengham Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench paid 7000 Marks Sir John Lovet Cheif Justice of the Lower Bench 3000 Marks Sir William Brompton 6000 Marks Yea their Clerks were fined also as being confederate with their Masters in Bribery and Injustice Robert Littlebury Clerk paid 1000 Marks and Roger Leicester as much But a certain Clerk of the Courts called Adam de Straton paid thirty two thousand Marks of Old and new Money besides Jewels without number and precious vessels of Silver which were found in his House together with a Kings Crown whiâ—h some said was King Johns After this the King constrained the Judges to swear That for the future they should take no Pension Fee or Gift of any man except a breakfast or some such small kindness In the 14 of Edw. 2. The King allowed to the Prisoners in the Tower two pence a day to a Knight and a peny a day to an Esquire for their Diet. In 1320. The Kings Justices sate in the Tower for Trial of divers matters at which time John Gissors late Lord Mayor of London and several others fled to the City for fear of being charged with things they had presumptuously done The next year the Mortimers yeilding themselves to King Edw. 2. he sent them Prisoners to the Tower where they were condemned to be drawn and hanged But Roger Mortimer of Wigmore by giving his Keepers sleepy drink made his escape but his Uncle Mortimer died there above 5 years afterward In 1326. The Citizens of London took possession of the Tower and taking away the keys from the Constable they discharged all the Prisoners and kept both the City and Tower for the use of Queen Isabel and her son Edward who was afterward Edw. the III. In 1330 Roger Mortimer Earl of March was taken and committed to the Tower from whence he was drawn to the Elmes and their hanged on the Common Gallows where he hung two days and two nights by the Kings Command and was then buried in the Gray Friers Church This Earl was condemned by his Peers and yet was never brought to make his Defence before them He himself having procured a Law to that purpose by which the Earls of Lancaster Winchester Glocester and Kent were put to death and now he himself suffered by the same Law In the 3. of Edw. 3. 1344. The King commanded Florences of Gold to be coyned in the Tower Perceval de Port of Lake being then Master of the Mint and this is the first coining we read of there we read likewise that the same year the King appointed his Exchange of Money to be kept in Sernes Tower being part of the Kings House in Buckles or Bucklers Bury And we find that in former times all great Sums were paid by weight that is so many pounds or Marks of Gold or Silver cut into blank peices without any stamp upon them and smaller Sums were paid in Starlings which were pence so called for they had no other Moneys This Starling or Easterling money took its name as it is judged from the Easterlings which first made it in England in the Reign of Hen. 2. though others imagine it so called from a Star stamped in the Ring or Edge of the Peny or of a Bird called a Starling stamped on it others yet more unlikely of being coyned at Striveling or Sterling a Town in Scotland but the first Opinion seems the most probable In 1360. A Peace being concluded between England and France Edward the 3d. came back into England and went to the Tower to visit the French King who was Prisoner there setting his Ransome at three Millions of Florences which being paid he was discharged from his Imprisonment and the King conducted him with Honour to the Seaside In the 4th of Rich. 2. 1381. A grievous Tax was laid upon the Subjects which caused much Trouble For the Courtiers greedy to inrich themselves informed the King that the Tax was not so carefully gathered as it ought And therefore they would pay a great Sum of Money to Farm it which they would raise above what it was before by being more severe in gathering it This Proposition was soon accepted so that having the Kings Authority and Letters these Farmers or Commissioners met in several Places in Kent and Essex where they levied this Tax of Groats or Polemoney with all manner of severity which so discontented the
which the Rabble cryed Where is the Traytor who answered I am the Archbishop whom you seek not a Traytor Whereupon they dragged him out of the Chappel to Tower-hill where being incompassed with many Thousands and seeing many drawn swords about his head he said What is it dear Brethren you purpose to do what is mine offence committed against you for which you will kill me you were best take heed that if I be killed who am your Pastor there come not on you the Indignation of the just Revenger or at least for such a fact all England be not put under Interdiction or the Popes Curse But they cried out with a great noise That they did not fear the Interdiction neither did allow the Pope to be above them The Archbishop seeing death at hand spoke them fairly and granting forgiveness to the Executioner he kneeled down and offered his Head to be cut off The Hangman struck him on the neck but not deadly he putting up his hand said Aha it is the hand of God and being struck again before he removed his hand his fingers ends were cut off and part of the Arteries with which he fell down but died not till they had mangled him with eight several strokes in the Neck and Head His body lay two days unburied none daring to do it His Head they cut off and nailing his hood thereon fixt it upon a Pole on London Bridge This Simon Sudbury was eighteen years Bishop of London and being translated to Canterbury he in 1375. repaired the Walls of London from the West-gate which he built to the North-gate which had been destroyed by the Danes before the Conquest of William the Bastard He was at last buried in the Cathedral at Canterbury Sir Robert Hales Lord Treasurer of England suffered with him at the same time a most Valiant Knight and Lord of St. Johns together with John Leg one of the Serjeants at Arms and William Apledore a Franciscan Friar who was the Kings Confessor Many more were beheaded daily for no cause but the pleasure of the Commons for it was pastime to them to take any who were not sworn of their Party and pulling off their Hoods behead them They took 13 Flemings out of the Augustine Friers 17 out of another Church and 32 in the Vintry and beheaded them all And to make a distinction of Flemings they put them to pronounce Bread and Cheese and if they spake it like Brot and Cawse off went their Heads as a sure sign that they were Flemings The King coming according as he was required to Mile-end was much astonished at the madness of the People who with frowning Countenances made the following demands which they presented in writing â—nd would have them confirmed by the Kings Letters Patents 1. That all men should be free from Servitude or Bondage so that from thenceforth there should be no Bondmen 2. That he should Pardon all men of what Estate soever all manner of Actions and Insurrections committed and all Treasons Felonies Transgressions and Extortions by any of them done and to grant them Peace 3. That all men henceforth might be infranchised or made free to buy and sell in every County City Burrough Town Fair Market and other Places within the Realm of England 4. That no Acre of Land holden in Bondage or Service should be holden but for four pence and if it had been held for less in former time it should not now be inhanced These and many other things they required telling the King That he had been ill Governed to that day but for the time forward he must be otherwise governed The King finding himself in danger yeilded hereunto and so desiring a Truce the Essex men returned home Next day the King went to Westminster to visit St. Edwards Shrine and coming back by Westsmithfield he found the place full of Kentishmen to whom he sent word That their Fellows the Essex men were gone home and that if they desired it he would grant them the same Conditions of Peace But their Chief Captain named John or as others say Walter Hilliard alias Tyler being a cunning Fellow answered He desired Peace but upon his own Conditions intending by fair words to have delayed the business till the next day for he designed that Night to have killed the King and the Nobility about him and then to have pâ—â—ndred the City and burnt it But he was wonderfully disappointed in his Pride having refused Conditions of Peace which were sent him in three several Charters three times Upon which the King at last sent Sir John Newton not to Command but to Intreat him to come and discourse with him concerning what he demanded among which one particular was That Wat Tyler desired a Commission to behead all Lawyers Escheators and others whatsoever that were learned in the Law conceiving that afterward all would be managed according to the Humour of the Common People And it is reported that the day before putting his hand to his Lips he had said That before four days came to an end all the Laws of England should proceed from his mouth When Sir John Newton desired Tyler to dispatch him he scornfully answered If thou art so hasty thou mayst go to thy Master for I will come when I please However Sir John Newton followed him slowly on Horseback and by the way a Doublet-maker brought threescore Doublets to the Commons and demanded thirty Marks for them but could have no Money Upon which Wat Tyler told him Friend be quiet thou shalt be well paid before this day be ended keep nigh me and I will be thy Creditor Wat Tyler then set Spurs to his Horse and rid up toward the King coming so near that his Horse touched the Crouper of the Kings to whom he said Sir King seest thou all yonder People Yes truly said the King but why dost thou ask Because said Tyâ—er they are all at my Command and have sworn their Truth and Faith to me to do whatever I bid them In good time replyed the King I believe it well Then said Tyler Believest thou King that these People and as many more that are in London will depart from thee thus without having thy Letters No said the King you shall have them they are ready and shall be delivered to them all Wat Tyler observing Sir John Newton to be near him bearing the Kings Sword was offended saying Thâ— it became him better to be afoot in his presence Thâ— Knight answered stoutly That surely there was no haâ—â— in it since he himself was on Horseback This so iâ— raged Wat that he drew his Dagger and offered 〈◊〉 strike the Knight calling him Traytor Sir John toâ—â— him he lied and drew his Dagger likewise Wat Tylâ— seeming much disturbed at this Indignity attempteâ— before his Rustick Companions to have run upon thâ— Knight whom the King to preserve from the dangeâ— commanded to alight from his Horse and deliver hiâ— Dagger to Wat Tyler But his
the Lords as believing them to be Loyal and true to the King that it was not in their power to raise any great force against them They were then commanded to take care That no Knights nor Burgesses should afterward he chosen to any Parliament but those whom the King and his Council should name They replyed It was a hard matter in those times of Jealousy and suspition to deprive the People of their Ancient Liberties in choosing their Representatives after which they were dismissed And some of the Judges of the Realm being called that is Robert Tresillian Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Benâ—â— Robert Belknap Chief Justice of the Common-pleas John Holt Roger Fulthorpe and William Borough Knights and Judges men learned chiefly in one point that is without considering Truth or Falshood to please those in high Place These were charged upon their Allegiance to give True and full Answers to the following Questions I. Whether the Statute and Commission in the last Parliament that is against Michael de la Pool were against the Kings Prerogative or not To which they all answered It was II. How they were to be punished who procured that Statute c. or who moved or compelled the King to consent thereunto They Unanimously answered They ought to be put to death as Traytors unless the King would please to pardon them III. When a Parliament is Assembled and the Cause of their Meeting declared and common Articles limited by the King upon which the Lords and Commons in that Parliament should proceed if the Lords and Commons will go upon other Articles and not these appointed by the King till the King hath first answered their desires though injoyned by the King to the contrary whether the King in this Case ought not to command the Parliament and oblige them to do his pleasure before they proceed further They answered That in this Case the King should over-rule and if any presumed to do contrary he was to be punished as a Traytor IV. Whether the King may at his pleasure dissolve the Parliament and Command the Lords and Commons to depart They answered That the King at his Pleasure may dissolve the Parliament and whoever shall after proceed against the Kings Mind as in a Parliament he is worthy to be punished as a Traytor V. Since the King may at his pleasure remove any of his Officers and Justices and punish them for their Offences whether may the Lords and Commons without the Kings Will accuse them in Parliament They replied They cannot and whosoever doth the contrary deserveth to be punished as a Traytor VI. What punishment they deserve who moved in Parliament that the Statute whereby K. Edward of Carnarvan was deposed in Parliament should be produced whereby a new Statute should be made It was answered That as well he that moved it as he that brought the Statute into the House were to be punished as Traytors Lastly Whether the Judgment given in Parliament against Michael de la Pool were erroneous and revocable They answered It was Erroneous and Revocable and that if the Judgment were now to be given the Justices would not give the same At this time the Londoners incurred much obloquy for having before been pardoned by the King of some Crimes lay'd to their Charge they were now ready to comply with his desires and a Jury of them being Impanneled they indicted some Lords of many crimes laid to their Charge And now the King and the Duke of Ireland sent into all parts of the Realm to raise men in this Quarrel against the Lords And required the Mayor of London to give an Account how many able men he could raise in the City who answered That he thought they could make fifty Thousand men at an hours warning Well said the King go and try what may be done But when the Mayor went about it the Citizens answered That they would never fight against the Kings Friends and the Defenders of the Realm About this time the King intended to have apprehended the Duke of Glocester but he made his escape and with other Lords had got together a great power of men at Harringey Park Upon which the King commanded that no Citizen of London should sell to the D. of Glocester the E. of Arundel or any of the Lords any Armour or Furniture of War under a great penalty After this the King is perswaded to send to the Lords to come to him to Westminster upon Oath given by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the Chancellor that no fraud nor evil practice should be used against them which the Lords were content to do but when they were ready to come they understood there was an Ambush laid to intrap them of a Thousand men in the Mews which the King absolutely denied he had any knowledge of yet the Lords after this receiving a safe Conduct from the King came to Westminster of whose coming when the King heard he apparelled himself in his Royal Robes and with his Scepter in his hand came into the Great Hall before whom the Lords upon their Knees presented themselves the King bidding them welcome and taking each of them by the hand Then the Lord Chancellor made a Speech wherein he blamed them for raising Arms desiring to know the Cause who answered They had done it for the good of the Kingdom and to remove the Traytors about the King Upon which the King himself spoke and asked them whether they thought to compel him by strong hand Have not I saith he sufficient power to beat you down truly in this behalf I make no more account of you than of the basest Skullion in my Kitchen Yet after these great words he lift up the Duke of Glocester who all this while was kneeling and commanded the rest also to rise and then led them Courteously to his Chamber where they sate and drank together and at last it was concluded they should all meet again as well these Lords as those they accused at the next Parliament which the King promised he would speedily call and each party to receive there according to Justice and in the mean while all Parties should be under the Kings Protection But when the Favourite Lords heard this they told the King plainly they neither durst nor would put themselves to the hazard of such a Meeting and therefore the Duke of Ireland and the rest of that Faction left the Court to be out of the way but the King not enduring their absence appointed Thomas Molineux Constable of the Castle of Chester to raise an Army and to safe conduct the Duke of Ireland to his presence But they being come as far as Radcoat Bridge were encountred by the Earl of Derby and the Duke of Ireland not daring to joyn battel with him fled and being to pass a River cast away his Gauntlets and sword to be more nimble and spurring his Horse lept into the River and so escaped though it was reported he was drowned till
news came he was got into Holland where being no welcome Guest he wandred up and down two or three years like a Fugitive and at Lorain in Brabant ended his life By this time the Lords had got matter enough against the King at least to justifie their Arms and thereupon with an Army of Forty thousand men they came to London where after some debate they were received and some of them went to the Tower to the King to whom after humble Salutations they shewed the Letter which he had written to the Duke of Ireland to levy an Army for their destruction likewise the Letters which the French King had written to him containing a safe Conduct for him to come into France there to do Acts to his own dishonour and the Kingdoms After which upon the Kings Promise that he would come the next day to Westminster to treat further of these matters the Lords departed only at the Kings desire the Earls of Nottingham and Derby stayed all Night but before the King went to bed his Mind was quite altered as to keeping promise with the Lords which they understanding sent peremptorily to him That if be came not according to his Word they would chuse another King who should hearken to the faithful Counsel of his Lords This touched the King to the quick so that the next morning he went met them they declared to him how much it concerned the good of the Kingdom that those Traitors so often spoken of should be removed from the Court To which the King though much against his Will at last condescended and thereupon the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Chichester fled no man knew whether the Bishop of Durham Lord Treasurer Lord Zouch Lord Burrel Lord Beumont and others were expelled the Court and constrained to put in Bail to appear the next Parliament Also cerâ—ain Ladies were expelled the Court as the Lady Poynings the Lady Mouling and others Several other Knights with three of the Kings Chaplains and the Dean of his Chappel were likewise committed to Prison Shortly after the Parliament began called afterward the Parliament that wrought wonders On the first day whereof all the Judges but one were arrested as they sate upon the Bench and sent to the Tower and several Lords and Bishops were impeached But the Lord Chief Justice Tresillian having made his escape was afterward taken and hanged at Tyburn Sir Nicholas Brember was Beheaded with an Axe which he had prepared for the beheading of others after this divers Lords and Knights and among the rest the Steward of the Kings Household were Beheaded on Tower-hill Also all the Judges were condemned to dye but by the Queens Intercession they were only banished the Realm and all their Lands and Estates Confiscated only a small Sallery was allowed them for their support Finally in this Parliament an Oath was required and obtained of the King that he would perform such things as the Lords should Order and this Oath was likewise required of all the People of the Kingdom After this the Duke of Glocester and some other Lords upon discontent conspire to seize upon the King the Dukes of Lancaster 〈◊〉 York and commit them to Prison and all the other Lords of the Kings Council they determined should be drawn and hanged but the King having notice thereof by a Wile he seizeth upon the Duke of Glocester and sends him presently to Callice where he soon after lost his life being smothered with Pillows as some write and divers other Lords are committed to the Tower and soon after the Earl of Arundel is beheaded on Tower-hill and a Parliament being called the King brought it so about that he obtained the whole Power of the Parliament to be conferred upon certain Persons or to any seven or eight of them and these by virtue of this Grant proceeded to conclude upon many things which concerned the whole Parliament to the great prejudice of the State and a dangerous Example in time to come A General Pardon was also granted for all the Kings Subjects but only to Fifty whose names he would not Express but reserved them to himself that when any of the Nobility offended him he might at his Pleasure name him to be one of the number excepted and so keep them still within his danger Also in this Parliament the Judges gave their Opinious 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 do it And for the more strengthning the Acts of this Parliament the King purchased the Popes Bulls containing grievous Censures and Curses to those 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 himself safe and he had been indeed safe if Time and Fortune were not Actors in Revenge as well as men or rather if a Superiour Power did not interpose whose ways are as secret as himself is invincible About this time it happened that Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk and Henry Duke of Hereford accused each other for speaking words sounding highly to the Kings dishonour whereupon a Combate is agreed upon between them which being ready to be begun the King interposeth and banisheth the Duke of Norfolk for ever and the D of Hereford for six years But soon after several discontented Lords sollicite the D. of Hereford to return into England take the Government upon him they would be ready to assist him who thereupon without much deliberation prepares to come over and landing at Ravenspur in Yorkshire where many Lords Gentlemen and Common people repaired to him to whom he solemnly protests That though some of them had invited him to come to take the Government yet he came only to take possession of the Inheritance descended to him from his Father which King Richard unjustly and contrary to his promise had seized into his hands Hereupon many more Lords join with him and all the Kings Castles are surrendred to him and the Lord Scroop Treasurer of England Sir Henry Bushy and Sir Henry Green being seized were condemned and beheaded for Misgoverning the King and the Realm King Richard was at that time in Ireland busie in suppressing the Rebels and had no notice of the Dukes Arrival in England till six weeks after but hearing of it he sends the Earl of Salisbury before to raise an Army and promiseth to come himself within six days the Earl provides an Army of Forty Thousand men but when the King came not at his time they all disbanded and went away The King coming over and finding how it was fell into despair and secretly the next night gets into Conway Castle The Duke of Hereford now Duke of Lancaster by his Fathers Death sends the Earl of Northumberland to the King that if his Grace would undertake there should be a
Doomsday-book and is kepâ— to this day in the Kings Exchequer at Westminster Yet he was kind to the Londoners suffering then to enjoy their Rights and Priviledges which the had in Edward the Confessors time by the procurement of William Bishop of London who waâ— buried in St. Pauls Church and this Epitaph pâ—â— upon his Grave-stone in Latine and English To William a man famous in wisdom and holiness of life who first with St. Edward the King and Confessor being familiar of late preferred to be Bishop of London and not long after for his prudence anâ— sincere fidelity admitted to be of Council with 〈◊〉 most victorious Prince William King of England of that name the first who obtained of the same greâ— and large Priviledges to this famous City The Senâ— and Citizens of London of him having well deserâ—ave made this He continued Bishop twenty Years â—nd died in the Year after Christs Nativity 1070. These Marble Monuments to thee Thy Citizens assign Rewards O Father far unfit To those deserts of thine Thee unto them a faithful Friend Thy London People found And to this Town of no small weight A stay both sure and sound Their Liberties restor'd to them By means of thee have been Their publick weal by means of thee Large Gifts have felt and found The Riches Stock and Beauty brave One hour hath them supprest Yet these thy Vertues and good deeds With us for ever rest The Lord Mayor of London and Aldermen upon the day of his coming into his Office used â—ll of late days to walk round the Grave-stone â—f this Bishop in remembrance of their former Priviledges obtained by him And there was â—n Inscription fastned to a Pillar near his Grave â—ntituled The Recital of a most worthy Prelates Reâ—embrance which was erected at the charge of Sir Edward Barkham Lord Mayor 1622. which speaks thus to the Walkers in S. Pauls Walkers whosoe're you be If it prove your chance to see Vpon a solemn Scarlet day The City Senate pass this way Their grateful memory to shew Which they the Reverend ashes owe Of Bishop Norman here inhum'd By which this City hath assum'd Large Priviledges those obtain'd By him when Conquerour William reign'd This being by Barkhams thank ful mind renew'd Call it The Monument of Gratitude King William brought with him from Roan in Normandy certain Jews whose posterity inhabiting in London and several other chief Cities they were accused that they used to steal Christian male children from their Neighbours which they would circumcise crown with thorns whip torture and crucifie in mockery despite and scorâ— of our Lord Jesus Christ William Rufus his Son appointed a Disputation to be held in London between the Christians and the Jews but before the day came the Jewâ— brought the King a present to the end they might be heard impartially The K. received their gift encouraging them to quit themselves like menâ— and swore by S. Lukes face his usual Oath Theâ— of they prevailed in Disputation he would himself turâ— Jew and be of their Religion A young Jew was as that time converted to the Christian Faith whose father being much troubled at it he presented thâ— King with threescore Marks intreating him tâ— perswade his son to return to his Judaisin where upon the King sent for his son and commandeâ— him without more ado to return to the Religioâ— of his Nation But the young man answered Hâ— wondred His Majesty would use such words for beinâ— a Christian he should rather perswade him to Christiâ—nity with which answer the King was so confourâ—ded that he commanded the young man out of hâ— presence But his father finding the King could do no good upon his son required his money aâ— gain Nay saith the King I have taken pains enough for it and yet that thou mayest see how kindly I will deal you shall have one half and you cannot in conscience deny me the other half and so dismist him And now we are Treating of the Jews it may not be amiss to add all at once what we read concerning them in this City In the year 1235. the 19 of H. 3. seven Jews were brought before the King at Westminster who had stolen a Boy and kept him private from the sight of any but their own Nation for a whole year and had circumcised him intending also to have crucified him at the solemnity of Easter as they themselves confest before the K. upon which they were convicted and their bodies and goods remained at the Kings pleasure In the 39 of this K. Nov. 22. 102 Jews were brought from Lincoln to Westminster and there accused for crucifying a child of 8 years old named Hugh These Jews were upon examination sent to the Tower of London the murther being discovered by the diligent search of the Mother of the child Upon which eighteen of them were hanged and the other remained long in Prison In the Reign of Henry 2. the number of the Jews throughout England was very great yet whereforever they dwelt they were commanded not to bury their dead any where but in London which being many times inconvenient to bring dead bodies from remote Places the K. gave them liberty to bury in the same place where they lived In 1189. at the Coronation of R. 1. Son of H. 2. at Westminster a great disaster befel the Jews for King Richard not favoring them as his Father had done had given a strict charge that no Jew should be spectator of the solemnity yet several Jews as though it had been the Crowning of King Herod would needs be pressing in and the Officers appointed refusing they should enter there arose a Quarrel which proceeded from words to blows whereby many Jews were hurt and some slain and thereupon a report was suddenly spread abroad that the King had commanded to have all the Jews destroyed upon which it is incredible what rifling there was in an instant of the Jews Houses and cutting their throats and though the King fignified by publick Declaration that he was highly displeased with what was done yet there was no quieting of the multitude till next day and many of the Mutineers were afterward punished by the Law In the Reign of King John 1202. Great sums of money were exacted and gathered from the Jews among whom there was one who would not pay the money charged upon him till the King caused one of his great Teeth to be pulled out every day for seven days together upon which he was at last compelled to give the King Ten Thousand Marks of silver that no more might be pulled out since he had but one left in his head K. Henry 3. being very profuse was brought so low for want of money that he was forced to borrow nay almost beg it of his Subjects but the Jews who were ever exposed to his will felt the weight of his necessities and one Abraham a Jew in London being found a Delinquent was constrained to redeem himself for
John took notice of this but since it would serve his present purpose he let it pass knowing that his turn once served he could afterward carve out what Title he pleased and so upon Ascension day 1199. he was crowned King at Westminster But Constantia the Mother of Arthur applies her self to Lewis the French King on behalf of her son who promised his assistance but yet afterwards a Peace was made between King John and Lewis After which King John being at leisure gave himself wholly up to pleasure and committed many extravagancies which so far disobliged some of his Lords that they joined with the French King to assist Prince Arthur but King John coming upon them unawares routed their Forces and took Arthur Prisoner who died soon after The Death of whom and also of Geoffry Fitz-Peter who while the King lived kept him in some awe left the King at full liberty to his own wild desires For at the first hearing of Geoffries death he swore By the Feet of God that now at length he was King of England and with great rejoicing said to some Lords about him Now when this man comes into Hell let him salute the Archbishop Hubert whom certainly he shall find there After this the Lords of the Realm having often required their Ancient Rights and Liberties and finding nothing but delusions they would no longer endure to be abused but meeting together they consider of some remedy and conclude to go to the King themselves in person and make their demands producing likewise a Charter which had been granted in Henry the First 's time Whereupon coming to the King after Christmas lying then in the New Temple in London and acquainting him with their demands he answers That within a few days he will give them satisfaction and causeth the Bishops of Canterbury and Ely and William Maâ—sha Earl of Glocester to pass their words for him that it should be performed But the King never intending to do as he said falls presently to raise Souldiers which the Lords understanding they all did the like and going to the Bishop of Canterbury they deliver him a Copy of their demands and require the Kings Answer who shewed it to the King with a Message of their Resolutions That if he did not presently seal the Charter then delivered to him they would compel him thereto with forcible entrance into all his Possessions The King being highly offended asked Why they did not also require his Kingdom these their demands being grounded on no colour of Reason and then swore a great Oath That be would die before he would enslave himself to them by such Concessions The Lords by this answer knowing what they must trust to appointed Robert Fitzwater to be their General whom they stiled The Marshal of Gods Army and Holy Church Then they besieged Northampton and Bedford and the Governour of the last being a Confederate delivered it up to them But the Londoners displeased with the King for burthening them with Taxes not onely admitted them but invited them to enter the City by night The Lords having now this key of the Land at their dispose sent such threatning Letters and Messages abroad that they drew most of the Nobility from the King who being at Windsor providing an Army And having notice thereof and that the Londoners were joined with them he thought good to proceed rather by Fraud than Force and thereupon sends to the Lords That if they would come to him to Windsor he would grant their demands The Lords coming thither but in a Military manner for they durst not trust his word the King saluted them all kindly and promised to give them satisfaction in all they demanded And so in a Meadow between Windsor and Stanes called Running Mead and afterward Council Mead he freely consented to confirm their former Liberties contained in Magna Charta and Charta Forestae and likewise that there should be Twenty five Peers Elected who should have a sway in the Government and whose commands all the rest of the Barons were bound by Oath to obey and he was contented some grave Personages should be chosen to see it performed But the next day when it should be done the King goes privately the night before to Southampton and from thence to the Isle of Wight where advising with his Council It was concluded he should send to the Pope to acquaint him with this Mutiny of the Lords and require his help while the King in the mean time lived skulking up and down in corners that no man might know where to find him or which is worse as some write roving about and Practising pyracy And now the Lords begin to suspect fraud when shortly after the Kings Messengers who were Walter and John Bishops of Worcester and Norwich return with the Popes Decree whereby the Barons Charter was by definitive Sentence cancelled and made void and the King and Barons accursed if either of them observed the Composition This Decree the King after he had staid three Moneths in the Isle of Wight coming back to Windsor acquaints the Lords with but they accusing the Messenger for falsly informing the Pope and the Pope also for making a Decree without hearing of both sides betake themselves to Arms and swear by the holy Altar to be revenged for this injurious dealing The Ting finding the Lords nothing moved upon the Popes Decree sends again to him to acquaint him with it who being mightily incensed to have his Decree so slighted adjudgeth the Lords to be Enemies of Religion and gives power to Peter Bishop of Winchester and the Abbot 〈◊〉 Râ—dding to Excommunicate them Whereby a 〈…〉 a Child in England K. Willi Rufus Kild in Hunting 〈…〉 k to Wind 〈…〉 they ac 〈…〉 the Pope 〈…〉 without 〈…〉 to Arms 〈…〉 for 〈…〉 〈…〉 moved up 〈…〉 to ac 〈…〉 incensed 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 power 〈…〉 Abbot o◠〈…〉 hereby al◠〈…〉 with the City of 〈◊〉 〈…〉 still stand on these 〈…〉 London scorning and defying the Popes 〈…〉 and Decreeing that neither themselves 〈…〉 Londoners should observe them nor the 〈…〉 dare to denounce them alledging That it 〈…〉 to the Pope to deal in Temporal Affairs 〈…〉 Peter received power of our Saviour onely in 〈…〉 matters and why should the Roman 〈…〉 coverousness extend it self hither to us 〈…〉 have Bishops to do to intermedale in Wars 〈◊〉 are Constantines Successors not St. Peters â—â—om as they represent not in good actions so neither do they in authority Fie upon such mercenary Rascals who having little knowledge of Ingenuity or Art being 〈◊〉 wretched Vsurers and Simoniacks that they would dare by their Excommunications to domineer 〈◊〉 the World O how unlike they are to St. Peter 〈◊〉 have usurped St. Peters Chair With these Remonstrances the Lords went on â—olvedly in their course In the mean time King 〈◊〉 with the assistance of some Forces which 〈◊〉 had hired beyond Sea had within half a year 〈◊〉 all the Castles of the Barons into
you have already an account After the death of King John his eldest Son Henry being not above ten years old succeeded him and was therefore very unfit to govern in such a distracted time when a great part of the kingdom had sworn Allegiance to Prince Lewis However upon October 8. 1216. he was crowned at Glocester by the name of Henry the Third where besides the usual Oath taken by all Kings he did Homage also to the Church of Rome and to Pope Innocent for the kingdoms of England and Ireland and promised the true payment of the Thousand Marks a year which his Father had granted to the Church of Rome And then William Marshal Earl of Pembroke was by general consent made Protector of the Realm during the Kings Minority In the mean time Lewis who thought himself sure of the kingdom by the death of King John now hearing of the solemn Crowning of the young King with such unanimous consent he begins to grow jealous of the English Lords who indeed had some conflicts in their minds whom they should obey they thought it great ingratitude to forsake Prince Lewis whom they themselves had invited to come and yet it seemed extream disloyalty to stand in opposition to Henry their innocent natural Soveraign but the discovery of Viscount Melun that Lewis intended to extirpate all the English Nobility and the curse of Wallo the Popes Legate against all who should join with Lewis with divers other reasons caused the principal of them to shrink from Lewis and join with King Henry as thinking no obligation so great as Allegiance many others staid with Lewis as thinking none greater than an Oath And now Prince Lewis fearing that his enemies having gotten an head should likewise gather a head and draw more Forces together staying himself in London sent his Lieutenant with an Army of Twenty thousand to take in what Towns he could get some of which they took with small resistance but William Earl of Pembroke the Protector coming against them with an Army utterly routed Lewis and took most of the Lords that adhered to him Prisoners and though his Father Philip sent him more Forces yet they were defeated at Sea so that Lewis upon payment of some monies and other conditions returned into France and King Henry took an Oath and for him the Popes Legate Wallo and the Protector That he would restore to the Barons of the Realm and other his Subjects all their Rights and Priviledges for which the discord began between the late King and his People And afterward he confirmed the two Charters of Magna Charta and Charta Forestae granted by his Father King John In the Tenth year of King Henries Reign and the nineteenth of his Age he claimed to take the Government upon himself and no longer to be under a Protector after which there presently appeared the difference between a Prince that is ruled by good counsel and one that will do all of his own will and take no Advice For thirteen years he was ruled by a Protector and then all passed as it were in a calm without noise or clamour but as soon as he took upon him the Government storms and tumults presently arose neither was there any quietness with the Subject nor himself nothing but Grievances all the long time of his Reign For as soon as he was crowned again he presently cancels and annuls the Charter of the Forests as granted in his Nonage and therefore not bound to observe it and then makes a new Seal forcing all that had Grants by the former to renew them whereby he got abundance of money After which he goes over into France to recover his Rights there to which purpose he raises great sums of money from the Londoners for Redemption of their Liberties About which time Constantine Fitz-Arnulf a Citizen of London upon a tumult which arose in the City at a Wrestling which he purposely appointed endeavoured to set up Lewis again and in the heat of the disturbance he traiterously cried out Mountjoy Mountjoy God for us and our Lord Lewis And though the Lord Mayor who was a very discreet person earnestly persuaded them to be quiet yet Constantine by his seditious Orations had made the people incapable of good counsel so that there was little hope of appeasing them The Lord Chief Justice having notice hereof presently raised Forces and entered the Tower of London and sent for the principal men of the City to come before him who all disclaimed their being concerned therein and charged Fitz Arnulph to be the chief Author thereof But he resolutely answered That he had not done so much therein as he ought Whereupon he was condemned to die together with the Crier who published the Proclamation and his Nephew and was accordingly executed though when he saw the Halter about his neck he offered Fifteen thousand Marks for the saving of his life This Execution being done without noise or the knowledge of the Londoners the Lord Chief Justice comes into the City and apprehending several who where guilty of this Tumult he causeth their hands and feet to be cut off for a terrour to the rest and then set them at liberty The King likewise deposed several of the Magistrates but afterwards finding that the baser sort of People onely were concerned in the Disorder he thereupon was reconciled to the City About this time an Execrable Impostor was brought before the Archbishop of Canterbury who observing how easily the People were deluded in those times of Darkness and Superstition he impudently caused himself to be wounded in his hands feet and sides that by the resemblance of these bloudy Impressions he might be acknowledged for their very Saviour who was thereupon deservedly immured up between four Walls and with him a wretched Woman who pretended to be Mary the Mother of this Christ and some say another who called her self Mary Magdalene this punishment being thought fittest for such Miscreants as Monsters too impious and unworthy to die by Humane hands though it is very remarkable that this man should have such a severe judgment at Oxford and yet St. Francis who was guilty of the same Imposture as to the wounds of Christ though not the name should soon after be canonized at Rome for the chief of Saints and perhaps if this Monster had been at Rome he had been likewise Sainted and if Saint Francis had been at Oxford he had been immured King Henry returning from France brought over many French men with him which he puts in places of Trust and Profit and removes and fines his old Officers The Lords could no longer endure so many indignities to see themselves slighted and Strangers advanced their Persons likewise exposed to danger and their Estates to ruine for which they could find no remedy but the Kings confirming their Charter of Liberties wherein it is strange to see upon what different grounds the King and the Lords went It seems the King thought that to
Henry the third died Nov. 16. 1272. when he had reigned 56 years and 28 days and was buried at Westminster having built a great part of that Church As soon as he was dead the great Lords of the Realm caused his eldest Son Prince Edward the first of that name to be proclaimed King and assembling at the New Temple in London they there took order for the quiet Governing of the Realm till he came for he was at this time in the Holy Land and had been there above a year when his Father died and performed many great Actions after which out of Envy to his valour a desperate Saracen who had been often imployed to him from their General being one time upon pretence of some secret Message admitted alone into his Chamber gave him three wounds with a poisoned knife two in the Arm and one near the Armpit which were thought to be mortal and perhaps had been so if out of unspeakable love the Lady Eleanor his wife had not suckt out the poison of his wounds with her mouth thereby effecting a Cure which else had been incurable and it is no wonder that Love should do Wonders since it is it self a Wonder When Edward heard of his Fathers death he took it far more heavily than he did that of his young Son Henry of whose death he had heard a little before at which when Chartes King of Sicily where he then was wondered he answered He might have more Sons but he could never have another Father After his return to London he was crowned at Westminster August 15. 1274. and soon after called a Parliament wherein he would admit no Church-men to sit And a while after he makes War against Baliol King of Scots whom he takes prisoner with the loss of twenty five thousand Scots and commits him prisoner to the Tower of London He likewise brings from Scotland the fatal Chair wherein the Kings of Scotland used to be Crowned which now seems to recover that secret operation according to the ancient Prophesie That whithersoever that Chair should be removed the Kingdom should be removed with it and this Chair King Edward caused to be brought out of Scotland and to be placed at Westminster among the Monuments where it still continues This King restored to the Citizens of London their Liberties which for some misdemeanours they had forfeited In the sixteenth year of his Reign the Sun was so exceeding hot that many men died with the extremity thereof and yet Wheat was sold for three shillings four pence a Quarter at London This King by Proclamation forbid the use of Sea-coal in London and the Suburbs for avoiding the noisom Smoak In his time the Bakers of London were first drawn upon Hurdles by Henry Wallis Mayor and Corn was then first sold by weight In a Synod held in his time it was Ordained according to the Constitution of the General Council That no Ecclesiastical person shall have more than one Benefice with the Cure of Souls About this time the new work of the Church at Westminster was finished and the Foundation of the Black-Fryars near Ludgate was laid by Kilwarby Archbishop of Canterbury And Queen Margaret began to build the Quire of the Gray Friars in London now called Christchurch In his time was begun to be made the great Conduit formerly at the lower end of Cheapside And Henry Wall is Mayor made the Tun in Cornhil a Prison for Nightwalkers and likewise built a House at the Stocks Market for Fish and Flesh which since the fatal Fire in 1666. is demolished and laid into the Street In the ninth year of his Reign there was such a great Frost that five Arches of London Bridge and all Rochester Bridge was carried down and born away On St. Nicholas day in the Even were great Earthquakes Lightning and Thunder with a great Dragon and a Blazing Star which extremely terrified the People In his two and twentieth year three men had their right hands cut off for rescuing a Prisoner from an Officer of the City of London and about that time the River of Thames overflowing the Banks made a breach at Redriff near London and the lower Grounds thereabout were all laid under Water In his twenty seventh year a Fire being kindled in the lesser Hall of the Pallace of Westminster the flame thereof being driven by the wind fired the Monastery next adjoyning which with the Pallace were both consumed The same year by an Act of Common Council in London with the Kings consent it was Ordained that a fat Cock should be sold for three half pence two Pallets for three half pence a fat Capon for two pence half penny a Goose for four pence a Mallard three half pence a Partridge three half pence a Pheasant four pence a Heron six pence a Plover one penny a Swan three shillings a Crane twelve pence two Woodcocks three half pence a fat Lamb from Christmas to Shrovetide sixteen pence and all the year after for four pence and Wheat was this year so plentiful that a Quarter was sold for ten Groats In his thirty second year William Wallace who had often caused great trouble in Scotland was taken and hanged beheaded and quartered in London After King Edward had reigned thirty four years and seven moneths he died and was buried at Westminster leaving his Son Edward the second called Carnarvan to succeed him Of whom the People had at first great expectation but he soon brake all his Fathers admonitions especially that he should banish for ever Pierce Gaveston who had been his Companion in many Irregularities in his Youth He married Isabel the daughter of Philip the Fair of France and makes Gaveston his chiefest Favourite which so incensed the Lords that they threaten unless he would banish him his Court and Kingdom they would hinder his Coronation Which he promises to do but doth not perform but on the contrary bestows so much of his Treasury upon him that he scarce left means to sustain himself or to maintain his Queen This put the Lords into a new discontent who thereupon went again to the King and told him plainly That unless he would put Gaveston out of the Court and Kingdom they would rise up in Arms against him as a perjured King Whereupon out of fear the King sends him to France where finding no entertainment more than in other places he soon returns again and is received into as much favour as before Whereupon the whole Nobility join together except Gilbert Earl of Glocester and raising Forces send to the King either to deliver Gaveston into their hands or else to banish him immediately out of the kingdom But the King led by evil Counsel still refused Whereupon the Lords hearing where he was seized him and cut off his head The King being much concerned at his death to vex the Nobility takes into his nearest familiarity and Council the two Spencers Sir Hugh the Father and Sir Hugh the Son men as debaucht
should wear any Hood except striped with divers colours nor Furs but Garments turned the wrong side outward This King confirmed the Liberties of the City of London and ordained that the L. Mayor should sit in all places of Judgment within the Liberty of the same as chief Justice the Kings person only excepted and that every Alderman that had been Mayor should be Justice of Peace in all London and Middlesex and every Alderman that had not been Mayor should be Justice of Peace in his own Ward Also he granted to the Citizens of London that they should not be forced without their own consent to go out of the City to fight or defend the Land and likewise that after that day the Charter and Franchises of the City should not be seized into the Kings hands but onely for Treason and Rebellion done by the whole City Likewise that Southwark should be under the Government of the City and the Lord Mayor to chuse a Bailiff there as he pleased He also granted to the Citizens of London that the Officers of the Mayor and Sheriffs should from that day forward use Maces of silver parcel gilt In the twenty second year of his Reign a contagious Pestilence arose in the East and South parts of the World and coming at last into England it so wasted the people that scarce the tenth person of all sorts were left alive There died in London some say in Norwich between the first of January and the first of July 57374 persons This Plague lasted nine Years In the thirty fifth year of his Reign another Plague happened which was called the second Pestilence in which died many Lords and Bishops In this Kings time a Frost lasted from the midst of September to the Moneth of April In the fourth year of his Reign a solemn Just or Turnament was held in Cheapside London between the great Cross and the great Conduit In the eleventh year of his Reign was so great plenty that a Quarter of Wheat was sold at London for 2 s. a fat Ox for a noble a fat Goose for 2 d. a Pig for a penny and other things after that rate But in his 27 year there was a great scarcity by reason there fell little or no Rain from the end of March to the end of July and was therefore called the Dry Summer John Barns Mayor of London gave a chest with three Locks and a thousand Marks to be lent to young men upon security and for the Use of it if learned they were to say the Psalm De Profundis c. for the soul of John Barns if otherwise to say a Pater Noster but however the money is lent the cheft stood long after in the Chamber of London without money or security In the time of the Princes sickness the King calls a Parliament at Westminster and demands supplies upon which they demand redress of the Grievances of the Subjects and among the rest that John Duke of Law after and Alice Perice the Kings Concubine with others might be removed from the Court this Woman presuming so much upon the Kings favour that she grew very insolent and intermedled with Courts of Justice and other Offices where she her self would sit to countenance her Causes And this was so vehemently urged by the Speaker of the House of Commons that the King rather than want Supplies gave way to it and so they were all presently put from Court But the Prince dying soon after they were all recalled to Court again and restored to their former plâ—ces and Sir Peter de la More the Speaker was at the sâ—â—t of Alice Perice confined to perpetual Imprisonment though by making great Friends he got his Liborty in two years About this time John Wickliff bringeth in a new Doctrine inveighing against the abuses of Church-men Monks and other Religious Orders whom the Duke of Lancaster favoured Whereupon a great contention arose between him and the Bishop of London the Londoners take the Bishops part and set upon the Duke of Lancasters house at the Savoy upon which the Duke after the Tumult caused the Mayor and Aldermen to be displaced and others put in their rooms and Wickliff is banished to Bohemia where his Doctrine continues in great veneration to this day among that People King Edward died in the 64 year of his age and fiftieth of his Reign and his Grandchild Richard the second succeeded of whose unfortunate Reign and Deposition you have heard before we shall therefore onely add a few particulars more In his thirteenth year a Royal Just or Turnament was proclaimed to be holden in Smithfield London and at the day appointed about three of the clock in the Afternoon there issued out of the Tower threescore fine Horses apparelled for the Justs and upon every one an Esquire of Honour riding a soft pace after them came four and thirty Ladies of Honour mounted on Palfreys and every Lady led a Knight with a chain of gold These Knights being on the Kings side had their armour and apparel garnished with white Harts and Crowns of gold upon their heads and so they came riding through the streets of London to Smithfield This Just lasted twenty four days all which time the King and Queen lay at the Bishops Palace by S. Pauls Church and kept open house to all comers In the year 1â—89 whilest the King was at Sheen near London there swarmed in his Court such a multitude of Flies and Gnats skirmishing one with another that they were swept away with Brooms by heaps and Bushels were filled with them In the one and wentieth year of his Reign King Richard caused the great Hall at Westminster to be repaired both with Walls Windows and Roofs In his twelfth year in March there were terrible Winds and afterward a great Mortality and Dearth A Dolphin was likewise taken at London Bridge being ten foot long and very big Also in Parliament time an Image made by Necromancy in Wax as it is said at an hour appointed uttered these words The Head shall be cut off the Head shall be lifted up aloft the Feet shal be lift up above the head This hapned in that called the Marvellous Parliament not long before that called the Parliament that wrought wonders Henry IV. his Uncle succeeded K. Rich. against whom several Rebellions were raised especially one Henry Piercy called Hotspur and others who were overthrown King Henry himself killing thirty six with his own hands the Earl of Worcester among the rest was taken and beheaded with many others whose Heads were set on London Bridge In his time a Parliament was called at Westminster in which the Commons presented a Petition to the King and the House of Peers desiring that the King might have the Temporal Possessions of the Bishops and Clergy affirming that they would maintain 150 Earls 1500 Knights 6200 Esquires and 100 Hospitals for maimed Souldiers They desired likewise that Clerks Convict should not be delivered into the Bishops Prison
slain and with the execution of eight more though five hundred were found guilty this Insurrection is suppressed It was a custom that upon St. Bartholomews day the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London should go to the Wrestling-place near More-fields where at this time the Prior of St. Johns likewise was to see the sport and a Servant of his being ashamed to be foiled before his Master desired to Wrestle again contrary to custom which the Lord Mayor denied whereupon the Prior fetched Bowmen from Clerkenwel against the Mayor and some slaughter was made the Mayors Cap was shot through with an Arrow yet he would have the sport go on but no Wrestlers came whereupon he said He would stay a while to make Trial of the Citizens respect to him and presently after a great party of them came with Banners displaid and fetched him home in triumph Soon after another Quarrel happened in Holborn between the Gentlemen of the Inns of Chancery and some Citizens in appeasing whereof the Queens Attorney and three more were slain The year after the Apprentices of London upon a very slight occasion fall upon the Foreign Merchants rifling and robbing their houses but the Lord Mayor by his discretion appeased the Tumult punishing some of the Offenders with Death and others by Fine and all things are quieted and appeased The Kings Resloration 1660. The Regicides of Exec at Charingcross The Insurection of Venner c. 1660. As soon as this Parliament was dissolved the Duke sends for the Queen and some others to come out of Scotland But they had raised an Army there and the Duke of York met them with another and at Wakefield Green the Duke is flain with the loss of three thousand of his men and leing dead had his head crowned with a Paper Crown together with many other Circumstances of disgrace However his Son Edward Earl of March prosecutes the Quarrel and puts the Queens Forces to flight which she endeavoured to recruit but some of her Northern Army having robbed the People as they came along the Country saying It was their Bargain to have all the Spoil in every place The Londoners would not suffer any Provision to be sent to them the Commons rising about Cripplegate and stopping the Carts which the Lord Mayor was sending to the Army In the mean time the Earls of March and Warwick having got a considerable Army march to London and were joyfully received there And soon after the Earl of Warwick drawing all his Forces into St. Johns Field by Clerkenwel and having cast them in a Ring he read to them the Agreement of the last Parliament and then demanded Whether they would have King Henry to reign still Who all cryed out No No. Then he asked them Whether they would have the Earl of March Eldest Son of the Duke of York by that Parliament proclaimed King to reign over them Who with great shouting answered Yes Yes Then several Captains and others of the City went to the Earl of March at Baynards Castle to acquaint him what had passed who at first seemed to excuse himself as unable to execute so great a charge but encouraged by the Archbishop of York the Bishops of London and Exeter and the Earl of Warwick he at laft consented to take it upon him and soon after he was generally proclaimed King And here Writers end the Reign of King Henry the sixth though there were several changes For sometimes he was a King and sometimes none yet he was never well setled though he lived twelve years after King Henry was then in the North and raise an Army to oppose Edward but is defeated by the Lord Falconbridge Upon which Henry and his Queen go to Scotland and raise more Forces but are again beaten And now King Edward sits three days together in the Kings Bench in Westminster Hall to hear Causes and regulate Disorders And the Earl of Warwick is sent into France to treat of a Marriage with that Kings daughterâ— but in the mean while the King marries the Lady Elizabeth Gray At which Warwick grows discontented and joins against King Edward and surprizing him takes him Prisoner but he soon made his escape King Henry was taken in disguise and sent to the Tower of London some years before And now Warwick going to France brought a great Army over and proclaimed Edward an Usurper who thereupon endeavoured to raise an Army but could not and therefore fled out of England into the Duke of Burgundies Country and King Henry is taken out of Prison where he had been nine years and again proclaimed King But King Edward by the assistance of the Duke of Burgundy lands an Army in Yorkshire and marches towards London where he was joyfully received And in the year 1471 and the 11 year of his Reign K. Edward made his entry into the City and had King Henry delivered into his hands The Earl of Warwick having notice thereof marcheth with his Army toward St. Albans and King Edward follows him carrying King Henry along with him where the Earl of Warwick and many others are slain and Henries Parry utterly routed And now was the time for King Henry to be delivered out of all his Troubles for the bloudy Duke of Glocester entering the Tower of London where he sound King Henry nothing at all troubled for all his Crosses struck him into the heart with his Dagger and there slew him And now within half a years space we find one Parliament proclaimed Edward an Usurper and Henry a lawful King and another proclaiming Edward a lawful King and Henry an Usurper that we may know there is nothing certain in humane Affairs but uncertainty In the fifth year of King Henry the sixth it rained almost continually from Easter to Michaelmas In his seventh year the Duke of Norfolk was like to have been drowned passing through London Bridge his Barge being set upon the Piles so overwhelmed that thirty persons were drowned and the Duke with others that escaped were fain to be drawn up with Ropes In his seventeenth year was so great a Dearth of Corn that people were glad to make Bread of Fearn roots Next year all the Lions in the Tower died In the thirty third year of his Reign there was a great Blazing Star and there happened a strange sight a monstrous Cock came out of the Sea and in the presence of a multitude of people made a hideous crowing three times beckening toward the North South and West There were also many prodigious Births and in some places it rained bloud About this time the Draw-bridge on London Bridge was made and Leaden Hall was built to be a Storehouse of Grain and Fewel for the poor of the City In the first year of this Kings Reign a Parliament was held at London where the Queen-Mother with the young King in her lap came and sate in the House of Lords In this Kings Reign Printing was first brought into England by William Caxton of
of them were hanged and the â—est to the number of 400 men and 11 women â—yed in Ropes one to another and in their shirts name to Westminster Hall with Halters about their necks and were pardoned In his twenty third â—ear Richard Price a Cook was boiled to death in Smithfield for poisoning divers persons in the Bishop of Winchesters House One Cartnel the Hangman of London and two others were hanged near Clerkenwel for robbing a Booth in Bartholomew Fair. About this time Queen Anne of Bullen was beheaded in the Tower with her Brother and divers other Gentlemen In his fifteenth year after great Rains and Winds there followed so sharp a Frost that many died for cold some lost their fingers some toes and many their nails In his twentieth year there was a great Sweating Sickness which infected all places in the Realm In his thirty sixth year a great Plague was in London so that Michaelmas Term was kept at St. Albans A Priest was set in the Pillory in Cheapside and burnt in both the cheeks with F and A for false Accusing In his thirty fourth year Margaret Dary a Maid-servant was boiled to death in Smithfield for poisoning three Housholds where she lived This year there were four Eclipses of the Sun and three of the Moon King Henry deceased when he had reigned thirty seven years and lived fifty six King Edward the sixth succeeded being but nine years old In his time the Reformation began which King Henry had made way for by renouncing the Popes Supremacy though himself died a Papist Edward was an excellent Religious Prince and ordered the pulling down of all Popish Images and Pictures and it was observed that the very same day that Images were pulled down at London the English obtained a great Victory over the Scots at Muscleborough This King upon a Sermon preached by Bishop Ridley concerning Charity gave three Houses in London to the relief of the Poor For the Fatherless and Beggars children he gave the Gray Fryars now called Christ Church to the lame and diseased persons St. Thomas Hospital in Southwark and St. Bartholomews in West-Smithfield and for vagrant idle persons he gave his house of Bridewell In the second 〈◊〉 of his Reign there was a great Plague in 〈◊〉 St. Anns Church within Aldersgate was 〈◊〉 In his third year Thomas Seymoâ—â— Lord 〈◊〉 and Brother to the Lord Protector 〈◊〉 beheaded on Tower-hill King Edward 〈◊〉 reigned seven years died being but sixte◠〈◊〉 of age And the Lady Jane Gray Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk was proclaimed Queen by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London as being made Heir to the Crown by the last Will of King Edward upon which the Lady Mary flies to Farmingham Castle in Suffolk and there upon her solemn promise and engagement not to alter the Religion established nor to bring in Popery the Gentlemen of that Country and Norfolk joined with her and soon after she obtained the Crown But Queen Mary quickly forgot her Obligation for as soon as she was setled in the Throne she presently removed all the Protestant Bishops and put others in their room and persecuted the Protestants with all manner of cruelty so that in her short Reign of five years and four moneths there suffered upon the account of Religion onely 277 persons of all sorts and ages for there perished by the cruel flames 5 Bishops 21 Divines 8 Gentlemen 84 Artificers 100 Husbandmen Servants and Labourers 26 Wives 20 Widows 9 Virgins 2 Boys and 2 Infants one sprung out of the Mothers Womb as she was burning at the Stake and most unmercifully flung into the fire at the very Birth 64 more in those furious times were persecuted in the Faith whereof 7 were whipt 16 perished in Prison 12 buried in Dunghills and many more lay in captivity condemned who were happily delivered by the glorious entrance of Q. Elizabeth though she her self hardly escaped being imprisoned in the Tower of London every day expecting the tidings of her death her Servants were kept from her and none but Rustical Souldiers about her Nay because a little Boy did but bring her Flowers sometimes in the Tower he was threatned to be whipt if he went any more her Goalers pretending the child brought Letters to her Yea bloudy Bishop Gardiner invented and contrived a Warrant under Queen Maries hand for her Execution which was sent to the Lieutenant of the Tower but the Queen hearing of it denied her having any knowledge of it and threatned Gardiner and some others for their inhumane usage of her Sister whereby she happily escaped In the first year of Queen Maries Reign one Sir Thomas Wiat of Kent put himself into Arms to prevent her marriage with Philip King of Spain as tending to bring England under the Yoak of Spain and to make the Country a Slave to Strangers And divers other Knights and Gentlemen joining with him he marcheth toward London and coming to Charing Cross he was encountered by the Lord Chamberlain and Sir John Gage whom he put to flight but coming to Ludgate he is denied entrance and thinking to retire he heard the Earl of Pembroke with his Forces was behind him at Chaâ—ing Cross upon which being amazed after a little musing he returned toward Temple-Bar and yielded himself to Sir Maurice Berkley and getting upon his Horse behind him went to the Court where expecting the Queens mercy but he was sent to the Tower and soon after beheaded at Tower-hill About this time the Lord Guilford Dudley the Husband of Queen Jane the Duke of Northumberland his Father and likewise Queen Jane and her Father the Duke of Suffolk were beheaded on Tower-hill In her fourth year hot burning Agues and other strange diseases took away many people so as between Octob. 20. and the last of December there died seven Aldermen of London In her fifth year on the last of September fell so great store of Rain that Westminster Hall was full of Water and Boats rowed over Westminster Bridge into Kings street About which time a Blazing Star was seen all times of the night from the sixth to the tenth of March. Queen Mary being dead Queen Elizabeth is proclaimed and brought from Hatfield in Hartfordshire to London where she was received with great Joy She restored and setled the Protestant Reformation though great offers were made her by the Pope if she would become Papist In her first year William Geoffry was whipt from the Marshalsey to Bedlam for publishing that one John More was Jesus Christ which More after he had been well whipt confessed himself to be a couzening knave A terrible tempest of Thunder and Lightning happened at London which fired the lofty Spire of St. Pauls Steeple beginning about the top thereof which was two hundred foot high from the top of the stone Battlements and burnt down to the roof of the Church consuming all the Bells Lead and Timber work In 1564. was a great Frost so that great numbers of