so as this is al that is needful to be spoken of the house of York in which vve see that the first and principal competitor is the king of Scots and after him Arbella and the children of the earles of Hartford and Darby are also competitors of the same house as discended by the daughter of the first brother Edward duke of Yorke and king of England and then the Earle of Huntington and his generation as also the Pooles Barringtons and others before named are or may be titlers of York as descended of George duke of Clarence second sonne of Richard duke of Yorke all vvhich issue yet seme to remayne only within the compasse of the house of Yorke for that by the former pedegre of the house of Lancaster it seemeth to the fauorets of this howse that none of these other cōpetitors are properly of the line of Lancaster for that king Henry the 7. comming only of Iohn of Gaunt by Catherin Swinford his third wife could haue no part in Lady Blanch that vvas only inheritour of that house as to these men seemeth euident Only then it remaineth for the ending of this chapter to explane some-what more clearly the discent of king Henry the 7. and of his issue for better vnderstanding vvhereof you must consider that king Henry the 7. being of the house of Lancaster in the manner that you haue heard and marrying Elizabeth the eldest daughter of the contrary house of Yorke did seeme to ioyne both houses together make an end of that bloody controuersie though others now wil say no but how soeuer that vvas vvhich after shal be examined cleere it is that he had by that mariage one only sonne that left issue and two daughters his sonne vvas king Henry the 8. vvho by three seueral wiues had three children that haue reigned after him to vvit king Edward the 6. by Queene Iane Seymer Queene Mary by Queene Catherine of Spaine and Queene Elizabeth by Queene Anne Bullen of al which three children no issue hath remayned so as now vve must returne to consider the issue of his daughters The eldest daughter of king Henry the 7. named Margaret vvas married by her first mariage to Iames the fourth king of Scots vvho had issue Iames the 5. he againe Lady mary late Queene of Scots and dowager of France put to death not long ago in Ingland vvho left issue Iames the 6. now king of Scots And by her second mariage the said Lady Margeret after the death of king Iames the 4. tooke for husband Archebald Duglas earle of Anguys in Scotland by whom she had one only daughter named Margeret which vvas married to Mathew Steward earle of Lenox and by him she had two sonnes to vvit Hēry Lord Darly and Charles Steward Henry marryed the foresaid Lady Mary Queene of Scotland vvas murthered in Edinbrough in the yeare 1566. as the world knoweth and Charles his brother marryed Elizabeth the daughter of Sir William Candish in Ingland by whom he had one only daughter yet liuing named Arbella an other competitor of the crowne of Ingland by the house of Yorke and this much of the first daughter of kinge Henry the 7. Mary the secōd daughter of king Henry the 7. yonger sister to king Henry the 8. vvas maried first to Lewis the 12. king of Frāce by whom she had no issue and afterward to Charles Brandon duke of Suffolk by whō she had two daughters to witt Frances and Elenor the lady Francis vvas marryed first to Henry Gray marques of Dorset after duke of Suffolk behedded by Queene mary and by him she had three daughters to vvit lane Catherine and Mary the lady Iane eldest of the three was married to L. Guylford Dudly sonne to Iohn Dudly late duke of Northumberland vvith whom I meane with her husband father in law she was beheaded soone after for being proclaymed Queene vppon the death of king Edward the fixt the lady Catherine second daughter maryed first the lord Henry Herbert earle of Penbroke and left by hym again she dyed afterward in the tower wher she vvas prisoner for hauing had two childrē by Edward Seymer earle of Hartford vvithout sufficient proofe that she vvas married vnto him and the tvvo children are yet liuing to vvit Henry Seymer commonly called lord Beacham and Edward Seymer his brother The lady mary the third sister though she was betrothed to Arthur lord Gray of vvilton and maryed after to Martin keyes gentleman porter yet hath she left no issue as far as I vnderstand This then is the end of the issue of Lady Francis first of the two daughters of Queene Mary of France by Charles Brandon duke of Suffolk for albeit the said lady Francis after the beheading of the said Henry Lord Gray duke of Suffolk her first husband married againe one Adrian Stokes her seruant had a sonne by him yet it liued not but dyed very soone after Now then to speak of the yonger daughter of the said Frenche Queene and duke named Elinor she vvas married to Henry Clifford Earle of Comberlād who had by her a daughter named Margaret that vvas married to Lord Henry Stanley earle of Darby by whom she hath a plentiful issue as Ferdinand now earle of Darby William Stanley Francis Stanley and others and this is al that needeth to be spoken of these discents of our Inglish kings princes peeres or competitors to the crowne for this place and therfore now it resteth only that vve begin to examine what different pretentions are framed by diuers parties vppon these dissents and genealogies vvhich is the principal point of this our discourse OF THE GREAT AND GENERALL CONTROVERSIE AND CONTENTION BETVVEENE the two houses royal of Lancaster and York and which of them may seeme to haue had the better right to the crowne by way of succession CAP. IIII. AND first of al before I do descend to treat in particuler of the different pretences of seueral persons and families that haue issued out of these two royal linages of Lancaster and Yorke it shal perhaps not be amisse to discusse with some attention what is or hath or may be said on both sides for the general controuersie that lyeth betweene them yet vndescided in many mens opinions notwithstanding their hath bin so much sturr about the same not only writing and disputing but also fighting and murthering for many yeares And truly if we looke into diuers histories recordes and authors vvhich haue written of this matter vve shal find that euery one of them speaketh commonly according to the tyme wherin they liued for that al such as wrote in the tyme of the three Henries fourth fift and sixt kings of the house of Lancaster they make the title of Lancaster very cleare and vndoubted but such others as wrote since that tyme 〈◊〉 the house of Yorke hath held the scepter they haue spoken in far different manner as namely
and she neece once remoued he preuailed in like manner and thus farr Gerrard historiographes of France And no doubt but if we consider examples that fell out euen in this very age only concerning this controuersie betweene the vncle and nephew we shal finde store of them for in Spaine not long before this tyme to wit in the yeare of Christ 1276. vvas that great and famous determination made by Don Alonso the wise eleuenth king of that name and of al his realme and nobility in their couites or parlament of Segouia mentioned before by the Ciuilian wherin they disinherited the children of the prince Don Alonso de la Cerda that dyed as our prince Edward did before his father and made heyre apparent Don Sancho brauo yonger brother to the said Don Alonso and vncle to his children the two yong Cerdas Which sentēce standeth euen vnto this day and king Phillip enioyeth the crowne of Spaine therby and the dukes of Medina Celi and their race that are discendentes of the said two Cerdas vvhich vvere put backe are subiects by that sentence and not soueraines as al the world knoweth The like controuersie fel out but very litle after to vvit in the tyme of king Edward the third in frāce though not about the kingdome but about the earldome of Artoys but yet it was decided by a solemne sentence of two kings of France and of the whole parlament of Paris in fauour of the aunte against her nephew which albeit it cost great troubles yet vvas it defended and king Phillip of Spaine holdeth the county of Artoys by it at this day Polidor reporteth the story in this manner Robert earle of Artoys a man famous for his chiualry had two children Phillip a sonne and Maude a daughter this maude vvas marryed to Otho earle of Burgundy and Phillip dying before his father left a sonne named Robert the second vvhose father Robert the first being dead the question was vvho should succede ether maude the daughter or Robert the nephew and the matter being remitted vnto Phillip le Bel king of France as chiefe Lord at that tyme of that state he adiuged it to Maude as to the next in blood but vvhen Robert repyned at this sentence the matter vvas referred to the parlament of Paris vvhich confirmed the sentence of king Phillip wher vppon Robert making his way with Phillip de Valoys that soone after came to be king of France he assisted the said Phillip earnestly to bring him to the crowne against king Edward of Ingland that opposed himselfe therunto and by this hoped that king Phillip would haue reuoked the same sentence but he being once established in the crowne answered that a sentence of such importance and so maturely giuen could not be reuoked Wheruppon the said Robert fled to the king of Inglands part against france thus far Polidor The very like sentence recounteth the same author to haue bin giuē in Ingland at the same tyme and in the same controuersie of the vncle against the nephew for the succession to the dukedome of Britany as before I haue related wherin Iohn Breno earle of Montford vvas preferred before the daughter and heyre of his elder brother Guy though he vvere but of the halfe blood to the last duke and she of the whole For that Iohn the third duke of Britanny had two brothers first Guy of the vvhole blood by father and mother and then Iohn Breno his yonger brother by the fathers side only Guy dying left a daughter and heyre named Iane married to the earle of Bloys nephew to the king of France vvho after the death of duke Iohn pretended in the right of his wife as daughter and heyre to Guye the elder brother but king Edward the third with the state of Ingland gaue sentence for Iohn Breno earle of Montford her vncle as for him that vvas next in consanguinity to the dead duke and with their armes the state of Ingland did put him in possession vvho flew the earle of Bloys as before hath bin declared and ther-by gat possession of that realme and held it euer after and so do his heyres at this day And not long before this againe the like resolution preuayled in Scotland betweene the house of Balliol and Bruse who were competitors to that crowne by this occasion that now I wil declare VVilliam king of Scots had issue tvvo sonnes Alexander that succeded in the crowne and Dauid earle of Huntington Alexander had issue an other Alexander and a daughter marryed to the king of Norway al which issue and lyne ended about the yeare 1290. Dauid yonger brother to king William had issue two daughters Margaret and Isabel Margaret vvas married to Alaine earle of Galloway and had issue by him a daughter that married Iohn Balliol Lord of Harcourt in Normādie vvho had issue by her this Iohn Balliol founder of Balliol College in Oxford that now pretended the crowne as discended from the eldest daughter of Dauid in the third discent Isabel the second daughter of Dauid vvas married to Robert Bruse Earle of Cleueland in Ingland vvho had issue by her this Robert Bruse earle of Carick the other competitor Now then the question betweene these two cōpetitors was vvhich of them should succeede ether Iohn Balliol that was nephew to the elder daughter or Robert Bruse that vvas sonne to the yonger daughter so one degree more neere to the stock or stemme then the other And albeit king Edward the first of Ingland whose power vvas dreadful at that day in Scotland hauing the matter referred to his arbitrement gaue sentence for Iohn Bailliol and Robert Bruse obeyed for the tyme in respect partly of feare and partly of his oth that he had made to stand to that iudgment yet vvas that sentence held to be vniust in Scotland and so vvas the crowne restored afterward to Robert Bruse his sonne and his posterity doth hold it vnto this day In Ingland also it selfe they alleage the examples of king Henry the first preferred before his nephew William sonne and heyre to his elder brother Robert as also the example of king Iohn preferred before his nephew Arthur duke of Britany for that king Henry the second had fower sonnes Henry Richard Geffrey and Iohn Henry dyed before his father vvithout issue Richard reygned after him and dyed also vvithout issue Geffrey also dyed before his father but left a sonne named Arthur duke of Britanie by right of his mother But after the death of king Richard the question vvas vvho should succeede to vvit either Arthur the nephew or Iohn the vncle but the matter in Ingland vvas soone decided for that Iohn the vncle was preferred before the nephew Arthur by reason he vvas more neere to his brother dead by a degree then vvas Arthur And albeit the king of Frāce and some other princes abroad opposed themselues for stomack against this succession of king Iohn yet say these
which is a token that they esteemed his title of Lancaster sufficient of it selfe to beare away the crowne albeit for better ending of strife he tooke to vvife also the lady Elizabeth heyre of the howse of Yorke as hath bin said and this may be sufficient for the present in this controuersie OF FIVE PRINCIPAL HOVSES OR LINAGES THAT DOOR MAY PRETEND TO THE CROWNE of Ingland which are the houses of Scotland Suffolke Clarence Britanie and Portugal and first of al of the house of Scotland which conteyneth the pretentions of the king of Scottes and the Lady Arbella CAP. V. HAVING declared in the former chapter so much as apparteyneth vnto the general controuersie betweene the two principal houses and royal families of Lancaster and Yorke it remayneth now that I lay before you the particuler chalenges claymes and pretentions which diuers houses and families descended for the most part of those two haue among themselues for their titles to the same Al which families may be reduccd to three or fower general heades For that some do pretende by the house of Lancaster alone as those families principally that do descend of the line royal of Portngal some other do pretende by the howse of Yorke only as those that are descended of George duke of Clarence second brother to K. Edward the fourth Some agayne wil seeme to pretend from both howses ioyned together as al those that descende from king Henry the seuenth vvhich are the houses of Scotland and Suffolke albeit as before hath appeared others do deny that these families haue any true part in the house of Lancaster which pointe shal afterward be discussed more at large And fourthly others do pretend before the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster were deuided as the Infanta of Spayne duchesse of Sauoy the prince of Lorayne such others as haue descended of the house of Britanny and France of al vvhich pretences pretendors vve shal speake in order and consider vvith indifferencie vvhat is said or alleaged of euery side to and fro begining first with the house of Scotland as with that which in common opinion of vulgar men is taken to be first and neerest though others denye it for that they are descēded of the first and eldest daughter of king Henry the seuenth as before in the third chapter hath bin declared First then two persons are knowne to be of this house at this daye that may haue action clayme to the crowne of Ingland the first is Lord Iames the sixt of that name presently king of Scotland who descendeth of Margaret eldest daughter of king Henry the seuēth that vvas married by her first marriage to Iames the fourth king of Scots by him had issue Iames the fift and he agayne the lady Mary mother to this king now pretendant The second person that may pretend in this house is the lady Arbella descended of the selfe same Queene Margaret by her secōd marriage vnto Archibald Douglas earle of Anguis by vvhom she had Margaret that vvas married to Mathew Steward earle of Lenox and by him had Charles her second sonne earle of Lenox vvho by Elizabeth daughter of Syr William Candish knight in Ingland had issue this Arbella now aliue First then for the king of Scots those that do fauour his cause wherof I confesse that I haue not founde very many in Ingland do alleage that he is the first and cheefest pretendor of al others and next in succession for that he is the first person that is descended as you see of the eldest daughter of king Henry the seuenth and that in this discent ther cā no bastardy or other lawful impediment be auowed vvhy he should not succeede according to the priority of his pretention and birth And moreouer secondly they do alleage that it would be greatly for the honor and profit of Ingland for that hereby the two Realmes of Ingland and Scotland should come to be ioyned a pointe lōge sought for and much to be wished and finally such as are affected to his religion do adde that hereby true religion wil come to be more setled also and established in Ingland which they take to be a matter of no smale consequence and consideration and this in effect is that vvhich the fauourers of this prince do alleage in his behalfe But on the other side there want not many that do accompt this pretence of the king of Scots neither good nor iust nor any waye expedient for the state of Ingland and they do answere largely to al the allegations before mentioned in his behalfe And first of al as cōcerning his title by neernes of succession they make litle accompt therof both for that in it selfe they saye it may easily be ouerthrowne and proued to be of no validitie as also for that if it were neuer so good yet might it for other considerations be reiected and made frustrate as our frend the Giuil lawyer hath largely learnedly proued these dayes in our hearing To begin then to speake first of the king of Scots title by 〈◊〉 of blood these men do affirme that albeit there be not alleaged any ba stardy in his discent from K. Henry the seuēth his daughter as there is in her second marriage against the lady 〈◊〉 yet are there other reasons enough to 〈◊〉 and ouerthrow this clay me and pretention and first of al for that he is not say these men of the house of Lancaster by the lady Blanch the only true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as before hath in 〈◊〉 bin shewed and shal be aftervvard more largely but only by Catherin Swinford whose children being vn lawfully begotten and but of the halfe blood whether they may by that legitimation of parlament that vvas giuen them be made inheritable vnto the crowne before the lawful daughter of the whole blood shal be discussed afterward in place conuenient when we shal talke of the house of Portugal but in the meane space these men do presume that the king of Scots is but only of the house of Yorke and then affirming further that the title of the house of Lancaster is better then that of Yorke as by many argumētes the fauorers of Lācaster haue indeuored to shew in the former chapter they do inferr that this is sufficient to make voide al clayme of the king of Scots that he maye pretende by neernes of blood especially seing there wāt not at this day pretēders enough of the other house of Lācaster to clayme their right so as the howse of Yorke shal not neede to enter for fault of true heyres and this is the first argumēt which is made against the Scotish king al the rest of his linage by the fauourers and followers of the said house of Lancaster A second Argument is made against the said kings succession not by them of Lancaster but rather by those of his owne house of Yorke vvhich is founded vppon his forraine birth by
or collegiate church is remayned on foote vvith the rents and dignities therunto apperteyning and vvhen our nobilytie shal remember how the nobilitie of Scotland is subiect at this day to a few ordinary and common ministers vvithout any head vvho in their synodes and assemblies haue authority to put to the horne and driue out of the realme any noble man vvhatsoeuer vvithout remedy or redresse except he vvil yeald and humble himselfe to them and that the king himselfe standeth in avve of this exorbitant and populer povver of his ministers and is content to yeld therunto it is to be thought say these men that few Inglish be they of vvhat religion or opinion so-euer vvil shevv themselues forvvard to receaue such a King in respect of his religion that hath no better order in his ovvne at home and thus much concerning the King of Scotland Now then it remayneth that we come to treat of the lady Arbella second branch of the house of Scotlād touching whose title though much of that vvhich hath bin said before for or against the king of Scotland may also be vnderstoode to apparteyne vnto her for that she is of the same house yet shal I in this place repeat in few wordes the principal points that are alleaged in her behalfe or preiudice First of al then is alleaged for her and by her fauourers that she is descended of the foresaid lady Margaret eldest daughter of king Henry the seuenth by her second marriage vvith Archibald Duglas earle of Anguys and that she is in the third degree only from her for that she is the daughter of Charles Steward vvho was sonne to Margaret Countesse of Lenox daughter to the said lady Margaret Queene of Scots so as this lady Arbella is but neece once remoued vnto the said Queene Margaret to vvit in equal degree of discent vvith the king of Scots vvhich king being excluded as the fauorers of this vvoman do affirme by the causes and arguments before alleaged against hym no reason say they but that this lady should enter in his place as next in blood vnto him Secondly is alleaged in her behalfe that she as an Inglish vvoman borne in Ingland and of parents vvho at the tyme of her birth vvere of Inglish alleageance vvherin she goeth before the king of Scots as hath bin seene as also in this other principal pointe that by her admission no such inconuenience can be feared of bringing in strangers or causing troobles sedition vvith-in the realme as in the pretence of the Scotish king hath bin considered and this in effect is al that I haue heard alleaged for her But against her by other competitors and their frendes I haue hard diuers arguments of no smale importance and consideration produced vvherof the first is that vvhich before hath bin alleaged against the king of Scotlād in like māner to wit that neither of them is properly of the house of Lancaster as in the genealogie set downe in the third chapter hath appeared And secondly that the title of Lācaster is before the pretence of Yorke as hath bin proued in the fourth chapter wherof is inferred that neythere the king of Scots nor Arbella are next in successiō and for that of these two propositiōs ther hath bin much treated before I remitte me therunto only promising that of the first of the tvvo vvhich is how king Henry the seuēth vvas of the house of Lancaster touching right of succession I shal handle more particulerly afterward vvhen I come to speake of the house of Portugal vvherby also shal appeare playnly vvhat pretence of succession to the crowne or duchy of Lancaster the discendentes of the said king Henry can iustely make The second impediment against the lady Arbella is the aforesaid testament of king Henry the eight and the two acts of parlaments for authorising of the same by al vvhich is pretended that the house of Suffolke is preferred before this other of Scotland A third argument is for that there is yet liuing one of the house of Suffolk that is neerer by a degree to the stemme to vvit to Hēry the seuenth to vvhom after the discease of her Maiesty that now is we must returne then is the lady Arbella or the king of Scots and this is the lady Margeret countesse of Darby mother to the present earle of Darby vvho was daughter to lady Elenor daughter of Queene Mary of France that vvas second daughter of king Henry the seuēth so as this lady Margaret coūtesse of Darby is but in the third degree from the said Henry wheras both the king of Scotland and Arbella are in the fourth and consequently she is next in propinquitie of blood how greatly this propinquity hath bin fauoured in such cases though they vvere of the yōger liine the examples before alleaged in the fourth chapter do make manifest Fourthlie and lastely and most strongly of al they do argue against the title of this lady Arbella affirming that her discent is not free from bastardly vvhich they proue first for that Queene Margaret soone after the death of her first husband king Iames the fourth marryed secretly one Steward lord of Annerdale which Steward vvas alyue longe after her marriage vvith Duglas and consequently this second marriage vvith Duglas Steward being aliue could not be lawful vvhich they do proue also by an other meane for that they saie it is most certaine and to be made euident that the said Archibald Duglas earle of Anguis had an other vvife also aliue vvhen he married the said Queene vvhich points they say vvere so publique as they came to king Henries eares vvhervppon he sent into Scotland the lord William Howard brother to the old duke of Norfolke and father to the present lord Admiral of Ingland to enquire of these pointes and the said lord Howard founde them to be true and so he reported not only to the king but also aftervvards many tymes to others and namely to Queene Mary to vvhom he vvas lord Chamberlayne and to diuers others of vvhom many be yet liuing which can and will testefy the same vppon the relation they heard from the-sayd lord Williams owne mouthe vvheruppon king Henry vvas greatly offended and would haue letted the marriage betweene his said sister and Duglas but that they were married in secret and had consummate their marriage before this was knowne or that the thing could be preuented vvhich is thought vvas one especial cause and motiue also to the said king afterward to put back the issue of his said sister of Scotland as by his fornamed testament is pretended and this touching Arbellas title by propinquitie of byrthe But besides this the same men do alleage dimers reasons also of inconucnience in respect of the common vvealthe for vvhich in their opinions it should be hurtful to the real me to admitt this lady Arbella for Queene as first of al for that she is a
vvoman vvho ought not to be preferred before so many men as at this tyme do or may stand for the crowne and that it vvere much to haue three women to reigne in Ingland one after the other vvher-as in the fpace of a-boue a thousaid yeares before them there hath not reigned so many of that sexe nether together nor a sunder for that from king Cerdick first king of the vvest Saxons vnto Egbright the first monarch of the Inglish name and nation conteyning the space of more then 300. yeares no one vvomā at al is founde to haue reigned and from Egbright to the Conquest which is almost other 300. yeares the like is to be obserued and from the conquest downeward vvhich is aboue 500. yeares one only vvoman was admitted for inheritrix vvhich was Maude the Empresse daughter of king Henry the first vvho yet after her fathers death vvas put back and king Stephen vvas admitted in her place and she neuer receaued by the realme vntil her sonne Henry the second vvas of age to gouerne himselfe then he vvas receaued vvith expresse condition that he should be crowned and gouerne by himselfe and not his mother which very conditiō vvas put also by the spaniards not long after at their admitting of the lady Berenguela yonger sister of lady Blauch neese to king Henry the second vvherof before often mention hath bin made to vvit the condition vvas that her sonne 〈◊〉 should gouerne and not she though his title came by her so as this circumstance of being a woman hath euer bin of much consideration especially where men do pretend also as in our case they doe An other consideratiō of these men is that if this lady should be aduanced vnto the crowne though she be of noble blood by her fathers side yet in respectt of alliance with the nobility of Ingland she is a meere strainger for that her kyndred is only in Scotland and in Inglād she hath only the Candishes by her mothers side vvho being but a meane familie might cause much grudging amōg the Inglish nobility to see them so greatly aduanced aboue the rest as necessarily they must be yf this womā of their linage should come to be Queene vvhich how the nobility of Ingland vvould beare is hard to say and this is as much as I haue heard others saye of this matter and of al the house of Scotland vvherfore vvith this I shal end and passe ouer to treat also of the other houses that do remayne of such as before I named OF THE HOVSE OF SVFFOLK CONTEYNING THE CLAYMES OF THE COVNTESSE OF Darby and her children as also of the children of the earle of Hartford CAP. VI. IT hath appeared by the genealogie set downe before in the third chapter and oftētymes mentioned since how that the house of Suffolk is so called for that the lady Mary secōd daughter of king Henry the seuenth being first married to Lewis the 12. king of France vvas afterward married to Charles Brandon duke of Suffolke who being sent oner to condole the death of the said king gat the good will to marry the widow Queene though the common fame of al men vvas that the said Charles had a vvife lyuing at that day and diuers yeares after as in this chapter vve shal examine more in particuler By this Chatles Brandon then duke of Suffolk this Queene Mary of France had tvvo daughters first the lady Francis married to Syr Henry Gray marques Dorset and aftervvard in the right of his vvife duke also of Suffolke vvho vvas afterward be-hedded by Queene Mary and secondly lady Elenor married to Syr Henry Clifford earle of Cumberland The lady Francis elder daughter of the Queene and of Charles Brandon had issue by her husband the said last duke of Suffolke three daughters to wit Iane Catherin and Mary which Mary the yongest vvas betrothed first to Arthur lord Gray of wilton and after lefte by hym she was marryed to one M. Martin keyes of kent gentlemā porter of the Queenes housholde and after she dyed without issue And the lady Iane the eldest of the three sisters was married at the same tyme to the lord Guylford Dudley fourth sonne to Syr Iohn Dudley duke of Northumberland and vvas proclaymed Queene after the death of king Edward for which acte al three of thē to vvit both the father sonne and daughter in law were put to death soone after But the L. Catherin the second daughter vvas married first vppon the same day that the other two her sisters vvere vnto lord Henry Herbert now earle of Penbroke and vppon the fal and misery of her house she was left by him and so she liued a sole vvoman for diuers yeares vntil in the begining of this Queenes dayes she was found to be vvith child which she affirmed to be by the lord Edward Seymer earle of Hartford vvho at that tyme was in France vvith Syr Nicholas Throgmorton the Embassador and had purpose and licence to haue trauailed into Italie but being called home in haste vppō this new accident he cōfessed that the child vvas his and both he and the lady affirmed that they were man and vvife but for that they could not proue it by witnesses for attempting such a match with one of the blood royal without priuity and licence of the prince they were committed both of them to the tower vvhere they procured meanes to meete againe afterward had an other childe vvhich both children do yet liue and the elder of them is called lord Henry Beacham and the other Edward Seymer the mother of whom liued not long after nether married the earle againe vntil of late that he married the lady Francis Howard sister to the lady Sheffeild and this is all the issue of the elder daughter of Charles Brandon by lady Mary Queene of France The second daughter of duke Charles and the Queene named L. Elenor vvas married to Henry lord Cliford earle of Cumbeiland and had by him a daughter named Margaret that married Syr Hēry Stanley lord Strāge after earle of Darby by vvhom the said lady who yet liueth hath had issue Fernande Stanley now earle of Darby William and Francis Stanley this is the issue of the house of Suffolk to vvit this Countesse of Darby with her children and these other of the earle of Hartford of al whose clayme 's and titles vvith their impediments I shal here briefly giue accompt and reason First of al both of these families do ioyne together in this one pointe to exclude the house of Scotland both by foraine birth and by the foresaid restament of king Henry authorized by two parlaments by the other exclusions which in each of the titles of the king of Scots and of lady Arbella hath bin before alleaged But then secondly they come to vary betweene themselues about the priority or propinquitie of their owne succession for the children of the earle
vvith the king of Castiles daughter and had by her a sonne called Denyse vvho reigned after him and his successors vnto this day al which succession of kinge Denyse his posteritie the said Queene mother would haue improued and shevved that it apperteyned to her by the said Raphe for this cause sent she to Portugal one lord Vrban bishop of Comince in Gasgonie to plead her cause vvhich cause of hers vvas quicklie reiected and only the forsaide fiue princes discended of king Emanuels children were admitted to tryal for the same which vvere Don Antonio sonne of lord Lewis the king Cardinals elder brother and king Phillip of Spayne sonne of lady Elizabeth the eldest sisteof t he said Cardinal and Philibert duke of Sauoy sonne of the lady Beatrix the same Cardinals yonger sister and the two duchesses of Parma and Bragansa named Mary and Catherine daughters of lord Edward yonger brother of the said Cardinal and yongest child of king Emanuel And for that the lady Mary duchesse of Parma vvhich vvas the elder of the tvvo daughters vvas dead before this controuersie fel out her eldest sonne lord Ranutio now duke of Parma pretended by her right to the said crowne And for that this matter vvas of so great importance euery parte procured to lay downe their reasons and declared their rightes in the best manner they could and such as could not be present themselues in Portugal sent thither their agentes Embassadors and Atturneys to plead their causes for them Don Antonio and the duchesse of Bragansa as inhabitants of that kingdome were present and declared their pretences namely Don Antonio by himselfe and for himselfe and the lady Mary of Bragansa by her husband the duke and his learned councel The prince of Parma sent thither for his parte one Ferdinande Farnese bishop of Parma The duke of Sauoy sent Charles of Rouere aftervvard made Cardinal The king of Spaine as the greatest pretender sent the lord Peter Gyrō duke of Osuna afterward Viceroy of Naples Syr Christopher de Mora knight of his chamber at that tyme but since of his priuye councel and lately made earle of Castel Rodrigo in Portugal of vvhich country he is natiue and besides these two a great lawyer named Roderigo Vasques made since as I heare saye lord President of Castil vvhich is as much almost as lord Chancelor vvith vs. Al these did lay forth before the king Cardinall their seueral reasons and pretensions to the succession of the crowne of Portugal for the fiue persons before mentioned whereof two vvere quickly excluded to wit the duke of Sauoy for that his mother was yonger sister to king Phillips mother and himselfe also of lesse age then the said king And secondly Don Antonio was also excluded by publike and iudicial sentence of the king Cardinal his vncle as illegitimate and borne out of lawful wedloke and albeit Dō Antonio denyed the same and went about to proue hym selfe legitimat affirming that his father the lord Lewis before his death had married with his mother in secret and for this brought forth some witnesses as namely his mothers sister with her husband and two others yet the king Cardinal affirmed that vppon examinatiō he had found them to be suborned vvhich he said vvas euident to him partly for that they agreed not in their speeches and partly for that some of them had confessed the same to wit that they were suborned vvhom he cast into prison and caused them to be punished and so sitting in iudgement accompained with fower bishopes and fower lawyers vvhō he had called to assist him in this cause he pronounced the same Don Antonio to be a bastard for vvhich the Authors that I haue read about this matter which are principally two the first named Hierom Franke a gentleman of Genua who wrote ten bookes in Italian of the vnion of the crowne of Portugal to the crowne of Castilia and the second is named Ioanes Antonius Viperanus a Sicilian as I take him who wrote one booke only in latine de obtenta Portugallia à rege Catholico Phillippo of Portugal gotte by king Phillip the Catholike both these bookes I say out of vvhom principally I haue taken the pointes which heere I wil touch do seuerally set downe the causes following vvhy the king Cardinal did reiect the pretence of Don Antonio before al other pretenders and pronounced him a bastard First for that he had byn euer so taken al the tyme of his fathers life and no man euer dowted therof or called the matter in question vntil now that himselfe denyed the same Secondly for that in the tyme of Iulius Tertius the Pope when certayne decres came out from Rome against the promotion of bastardes the same Dō Antonio sued to the said Pope to be dispensed with al in that case vvhich argueth that then he knew himselfe not legitimate Thirdly that his father the lord Lewis had often tymes both by word and writing testified the same that this Antonye vvas his bastard and had signified also so much in his last vvil testament Fourthly the said Cardinal as of himselfe also affirmed that if his brother the lord Lewis had euer dōne any such thinge as to marry this Woman who was but base in birth and of the Iewish race as these stories do affirme that it is like that he would haue made some of his owne frendes kynred acquainted therwith as a matter so much important for them to know but he neuer did though the said Cardinal auowed that himselfe was present vvith him at his death Fiftly he said that if Don Antonio had bin legitimate how happened that he did not pretend the succession before the Cardinal himselfe next after the death of king Sebastian seing that he vvas to haue gone before the said Cardinal by as good right as his other nephew Sebastian did if he had bin legitimate for that he vvas sonne also to the Cardinales elder brother as hath bin saide Sixtly lastly the said king Cardinal auowched against Don Antonio partly the disagreeing and partly the open confessing of the vvitnesses that they were suborned by him vppon al vvhich causes and considerations he proceeded to the iudicial sentence before alleaged Thus passed the matter in the case of Don Antonio vvho if he had bin legitimate no doubt but by al right he should haue bin preferred before al the other pretenders to the crowne of Portugal and must be at this day towards the crowne of Ingland before al those that pretend of the house of Portugal if vve graunt him to be legitimate and much more clearly may he pretend to the dukedome of Lancaster as before hath bin declared for that it must discend to the lawful heyre of lady Phillip Queene of Portugall wherof enseweth also one consideration not impertinent to vs in Ingland that seing we hold him there for true king of Portugal I see not
noted in the puritan and made them far more egar in defence of their cause according to the saying nitimur in vetitum semper and as a litle brook or ryuer though it be but shalow and tunne neuer so quiet of it selfe yet if many barres and stoppes be made therin it swelleth and riseth to a greater force euen so it seemeth that it hath happened heere wher also the sight remembrāce of so many of their Seminary preistes put to death for their religion as they accompt it hath wrought great impression in their hartes as also the notice they haue receaued of so many colleges and Inglish Seminaries remayning yet and set vp of new both in Flanders France Italie and Spayne for making of other preistes in place of the executed doth greatly animate them holdeth them in hope of continuing still their cause and this at home As for abroade it is easie to consider vvhat their party and confidence is or may be not only by the Inglish that liue in exile and haue their frends and kynred at home but also principally by the affection of forrayne Princes states to fauour their religion whose portes townes and prouinces lye neere vppon Ingland rounde about for such a tyme and purpose could not want commoditie to giue succor vvhich being vveighed together vvith the knowne inclination that way of Ireland and the late declaration made by so many of the Scotish nobility and gentlemen also to fauour that cause all these poyntes I saye put together must needes persuade vs that this body is also great and stronge and like to beare no smale sway in the decyding of this controuersie for the crowne when tyme shal offer it selfe for the same And so much the more for that it is not yet knowne that these are determined vppon any one person whom they vvill follow in that action nor as it semeth are they much inclined to any one of the pretenders in particuler wherin it is thought that the other two partyes either are or may be deuided among themselues and each parte also within it selfe for that so different persons of those religions do stand for it but rather it is thought that these other of the Roman religion do remayne very indifferent to follow any one that shal be set vp for their religion and is lykest to restore and mayntayne the same be he strainger or domestical which determination and vnion in general among themselues if they hold it still and the earle of Darby haue the difference of titles that before hath bin seene and each one his particuler reasons why he ought to be preferred before the other and for their other abilities and possibilities they are also different but yet in one thing both Lords seeme to be like that being both of the blood royal they are thought to haue abased themselues much by their marriages with the two knightes daughters S. Richard Rogers and S. Iohin Spenfer though otherwise both of them very vvorship ful but not their matches in respect of their kinred with the crowne yet doth the alliance of S. Iohn Spenser seeme to bringe many more frends with it then that of S. Richard Rogers by reason of the other daughters of S. Iohn vvel married also to persons of importance as namely the one to S. Georg Catey gouernour of the he of Wight vvho bringeth in also the Lord Hunsdon his father Captaine of Barwick tvvo of the most important peeces that Ingland hath And for that the said Lord Hunsdon and the Lady knowles disceased were brother and sister and both of them children to the Lady Mary Bullen elder sister to Queene Anne here of it cometh that this alliance with S. George Carey may draw after it also the said house of knowles who are many and of much importance as also it may do the husbandes of the other daughters of S. Iohn Spencer with their ahd erents and followers which are nether few nor feeble al which wanteth in the marriage of the Lord Beacham An other difference also in the ability of these two Lords is that the house of Seymers in state and title of nobility is much yonger then the house of Stanleys for that Edward Seymer late earle of Hartford and after duke of Somerset was the first beginner therof who being cut of together with his brother the Admiral so soone as they were could not so setle the saide house especially in the alliance with the residue of the nobilitie as otherwise they would and might haue done But now as it remayneth I do not remember any allyance of that house of any great moment except it be the childrē of S. Hēry Seimer of Hamshire and of S. Edward Seymer of Bery Pomery in Deuonshite if he haue any and of S. Iohn Smith of Essex whose mother vvas sister to the late duke of Somerset or finally the alliance that the late marriage of the earle of Hartford with the Lady Francis Haward may bring with it which cannot be much for so great a purpose as we talke of But the earle of Darby on the other side is very strōgly honorably allied both by father and mother for by his father not to speake of the Stanleys which are many and of good power and one of them matched in the house of Northumberland his said father the old earle had three sisters al wel married and al haue left children and heyres of the houses wherin they were married for the elder vvas married first to the Lord Sturton and after to S. Iohn Arundel and of both houses hath left heyres male The seconde sister vvas married to the Lord Morley by whom she hath left the Lord that now is vvho in lyke manner hath mached vvith the heyre of the Lord Montegle vvho is likevvise a Stanley And finally the third sister vvas married to S. Nicholas Poynes of Glocestershire and by him had a sonne and heyre that yet liueth And this by his fathers side but no lesse alliance hath this earle also by the side of his mother vvho being daughter of George Cliford earle of Cumberland by Lady Eleanor neece of king Henry the seuenth the said Lord George had afterward by a second wife that was daughter of the Lord Dacres of the North both the earle of Cumberland that now is and the Lady wharton who hereby are brother and sister of the halfe blood to the said Countesse of Darby and the Dacres are their Vncles Besides al this the states and posfessions of the two forsaide Lordes are far different for the purposse pretended for that the state of the earle of Hartford is far inferior both for greatnes situation wealth multitude of subiects the like for of that of the Stanleys doth depend the most part of the shires of Lancaster and Chester and a good parte of the North of Wales at least wise by way of obseruance and affection as also the I le of man is
into Ingland but after this tyme the manner and ceremonies was somwhat altered and made more maiestical in outward shew this especially by king Lewis surnamed the yonger nephew to the foresaid king Phillip who leauing the substance of the action as it vvas before caused diuers external additions of honor and maiestie to be adioyned therunto especially for the coronation of his sonne Phillip the seconde surnamed Augustus whom he caused also to be crowned in his dayes as his grand father Phillip had bin and as himselfe had bin also in his fathers dayes This man among other royal ceremonyes ordeyned the offices of the twelue peeres of France 6. Ecclesiastical and 6. temporal vvho are they which euer since haue had the chiefest places and offices in this great action fot that the fore said Archbishop of Rhemes intituled also Duke of Rhemes hath the first and highest place of al others and annoynteth crowneth the king The bishop Duke of Laon beareth the glasse of sacred oyle The bishop Duke of Langres the crosse The Bishop and earle of Beuais the mantel royal The Bishop Earle of Noyon the kings girdle and last of al the Bishop and Earle of Chalons doth cary the ring and thes are the six ecclesiastical peeres of France with their offices in the coronation The temporal peeres are the Duke of Burgundie deane of the order vvho in this day of coronation holdeth the crowne the Duke of Gasconie Guyene the first banner quartered the Duke of Normandie the 2. banner quartered the Earle of Tholosa rhe golden spurres the Earle of Champanie the banner Royal or standerd of warr and the Earle of flanders the sword royal so as thet are 3. Dukes 3. Earles in euery one of both ranks of spiritual temporal Lords and as Girard noteth the king is apparraled on this day 3. times and in 3 seueral sortes the first as a priest the secōd as a king ād vvarryer the third as a iudge and finally he saith that this solemnitie of anoynting and crowning the king of France is the most mag nificent gorgious and maiestical thing that may be seene in the vvorld for which he referreth vs not only to the particuler coronations of thes two ancient king Phillipps the first second but also to the late coronation of Henry the second father to the last kings of France which is also in printe and in deede is a very goodly and most notable thing to be read though in deede much more to be seen But to say a vvord or two more of Phillip Augustus before I passe any further which happened in the yeare 1179. and in the 25. of the reigne of our king Henry the 2. of Ingland who as the French stories say was present also at this coronation and had his ranck among the peeres as Duke of Normandy and held the kings crowne in his hand one of his sonnes had his ranck also as Duke of Gasconie the forme vsed in this coronation was the very same which is vsed at this day in the admission of the kings of France in recounting wher-of I wil let passe al the particuler ceremonies Which are largely to be read in Francis Belforest in the place before mentioned and I vvil repeate only the kings oth which the said author recounteth in thes wordes The Archbishop of Rhemes being vested in his pontifical attyre and come to the aulter to begin masse wher the king also was vppon a high seat placed he turned to him and said thes wordes in the name of al the cleargie and churches of France Syre that which we require at your handes this day is that you promise vn to vs that you wil kepe al canonical priuileges law and iustice dew to be keept defended as a good king is bound to do in his realme and to euery bishop and church to him committed wherunto the king answered I do promisse and auow to euery one of you and to euery church to you committed that I wil kepe and mainteyne al canonical priuileges law and iustice 〈◊〉 to euery man to the vttermost of my power and by Gods helpe shal defend you as a good king is bound to doe in his realme This being done the king did sweare and make his oth laying his handes vppon the gospel in thes wordes following Au nom de Iesus Christ ie iure promets au peuple christien a moy suiect ces choses c. Which is in Inglish In the name of Iesus Christ I do sweare and promise to al Christian people subiect vnto me thes points ensuning first to 〈◊〉 that al my subiects be kept in the vnion of the church and I wil defend them from al excesse rapine extorsion and iniquity secondly I wil take order that in al iudgments iustice shal be kept with equity and mercy to the end that God of his mercy may conserue vnto me with you my people his holy grace and mercy Thirdly I shal endeuour as much as possibly shal lye in me to chase and driue out of my realme and al my dominions al such as the church hath or shal declare for heretiques as God shal help me and his holy gospels Thus swereth the king and then kysseth the gospels and mediatly is song Te Deum laudamus and after that are said many particuler prayers by the Archbishop and then is the king vested and the ring scepter crowne and other kingly ornaments and ensignes are brought put vppon him with declaration first vvhat they signifie then particuler prayers are made to God that ther signification may be by the king fulfilled And after al ended the Archbishop with the Bishops do blesse him and say thes vvordes vnto him God which reigneth in heauen and gouerneth al kingdomes blesse you c. Be you stable and constant and hold your place and right from hence forth which heere is committed and laid vppon you by the authority of almighty God and by this present tradition and deliuery which we the bishops and other seruants of God do make vnto you of the same and remember you in place conuenient to beare so much more respect reuerence vnto the 〈◊〉 by how much neerer then other men you haue seene 〈◊〉 to approch to Gods aulter to the end that Iesus Christ mediator of God and man may confirme and maynteyne you by the cleargie and people in this your royal seat and throne who being lord of Lords and king of kings make you reigne with him and his father in the life and glory euerlasting Thus saith the Archbishop vnto him and after this he is led by him and the other peares vnto the seat royal wher the crowne is put vppon his head and many other large ceremoneies vsed vvhich may be read in the author a fore said and are to long for this place And yet haue I bin the larger in this matter of France
he said that he bare reuerent honor and respect and to discusse their seueral pretentions rightes interestes and titles to the crowne he said that his meaning was to offēd hunt or preiudice none nor to determyne any thing 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 or hinderance of any of their pretences or claymes of what side family faction religion or other party soeuer he or she were but rather playnly and indifferently without hatred or partial affection to or against any to lay downe sincerly what he had hard or reade or of himselfe conceaued that might iustly be alleaged in fauour or disfauour of euery tytler And so much the rather he said that he would do this for that in very truth the Ciuiltans speech had put him in a great indifferēcy concerning matter of successiō had takē out of his head many scrupulosites about nyse points of neernes in blood by the many examples reasons that he had alleaged of the proceeding of Christian cōmon wealthes in this affayre preferring oftentymes him that was further of in blood vppon other cōsideratiōs of more waight importance which point seemed to him to haue bin so euidently proued as no man can deny it much lesse cōdēne the same without the incōueniēces before alleaged mētioned of calling al in doubt that now is established in the world considering that not only foraine countries but Inglād also it selfe so often hath vsed the same putting back the next in bloode VVherfore he said that for as much as common wealthes and the consent wil and desire of each realme was proued to haue high and soueraine authority in this affayre and that as on the one side nerenes of blood was to be respected so on the other ther wāted not sundry considerations circumstāces of as great moment as this or rather greater for that oftentymes these considerations had bin preferred before neernes of blood as hath byn declared I do not know quoth he who of the pretenders may next obteyne the garland what soeuer his right by propinquity be so he haue some as I thinke al haue that do pretend and therfore I meane not to stand vppon the iustification or impugning of any one title but rather to leaue la to God and to them that must one day try iudge the same in Inglād to whome I suppose this speech of myne can not be but grateful commodious for the better vnderstanding discerning of those matters wherof of necessity er it be longe they must be iudges vmpires when God shal appoint and consequently for them to be ignorant or vnaquainted with the same as men say that commonly most in Ingland at this day are cannot be but very inconuenient and dangerous In this manner he spake and after this he began his discourse setting downe first of al the sundry bookes and treatises which he vnderstood had bin made or written hitherto of this affaire OF THE DIVERS BOOKES AND TREATISES THAT HAVE BIN VVRITTEN heretofore about the titles of such as pretend to the crowne of Ingland and what they do conteyne in fauour or disfauour of sundry pretendors CAP. I. ACCORDING to the variety of mens iudgments and affections in this behalfe so said the lawyer that diuers had written diuersly in sundry bookes treatises that had come to light went among men frō hand to hand though al were not printed And first of al he said that not long after her maiesties comming to the crowne ther appeered a certayne booke vvritten in the fauour of the house of Suffolke and especially of the children of the Earle of Hartford by the Lady Catherin Gray vvhich booke offended highly the Queene and nobles of Ingland and vvas aftervvards found to be written by one Hales surnamed of the clubb foote vvho was clarke of the hamper Sir Nicholas Bacon then Lord keeper was presumed also to haue had a principal part in the same for vvhich he vvas like to haue lost his office if Sir Antony Browne that had bin cheef iudge of the comon pleas in Queene Maries tyme vvould haue accepted therof vvhen her Maiestie offred the same vnto him and my Lord of Lecester earnestly exhorted him to take it but he refused it for that he was of differēt religion from the state and so Sir Nicholas Bacō remayned vvith the same at the great instance of Sir William Cecill now Lord Treasorer who though he vvere thought to be priuy also to the said booke yet vvas the matter so vvisely laid vppon Hales and Bacon as Sir William was kept free therby to haue the more authority and grace to procure the others pardon as he did The bent and butt of this book vvas as I haue said to preferr the title of the Lady Catherin Gray daughter of the Lady frauncis Duches of Suffolk which Frauncis was daughter to Mary the yonger daughter of King Henry the seuenth before the title of the Queene of Scotts then liuing of her sonne which were discended of Lady Margeret eldest daughter of the said king Hēry And the reasons which this book did alleage for the same were principally two the first that the lawes of Ingland did not admitt any sttainger or allien to inherit in Ingland to vvit any such as were borne out of the alleageance of our realme for so are the wordes of the law and for that the Queene of Scotts and her sonne are knowne to be so borne therfore they could not succeed and consequently that the house of Suffolck descended of the second daughter must enter in ther place The second reason is for that ther is giuen authority to king Hēry the eight by two seueral acts of parlament in the 28. and 36. yeare of his reigne to dispose of the succession by his last will testament as he should think best among those of his kinred that did pretend after his children and that the said king according to his commission did ordeyne that if his owne children did dye vvithout issue then the of-spring of his yonger sister Mary that vvere borne in Ingland should be preferred before the issue of the elder that vvas Margaret marryed into Scotland and this was the effect of this first book Against this booke were vvryten two other soone after the first by one Morgan a diuine if I remember vvel some-tymes fellow of Oriel College in Oxford a man of good accompt for learninge amonge those that knew hym he vvas thought be haue written the saide book by the aduise and assistance of the forsaide Iudge Browne which thinge is made the more credible by the many authorites of our cōmon law vvhich therin are alleaged and the partes of this booke if I forget not vvere three or rather they were three bookes of one treatise the first wherof dyd take vppon it to cleare the saide Queene of Scottes for the murder of the lord Darly her husband which by many vvas layde against her And the seconde dyd
to Stephen countie Palatine of Bloys Champagne and Chartres in France and the other two Polidor saith dyed before they were marryed and so their names vvere not recorded These are the children of king William the Conqueror among whom after his death ther vvas much strife about the succession For first his eldest sonne duke Robert vvho by order of ancestrie by birthe should haue succeded him in al his estares was put back first from the kingdome of Ingland by his third brother William Rufus vppon a pretence of the Conquerors vvil and testament for perticuler affection that he had to this his said third sonne William though as Stow writeth almost al the nobility of Inglande vvere against Williās entrance But in the end agreement vvas made between the two brothers vvithe condition that if William should dye vvithout issue then that Robert should succed him and to this accord both the princes themselues and twelue principal peeres of ech side vvere sworne but yet after when VVilliam dyed vvithout issue this vvas not obserued but Henry the fourth sonne entred and depriued Robert not only of this his succession to Ingland but also of his dukedome of Normandie that he had enioyed peaceably before al the tyme of his brother Rufus and moreouer he toke him prisoner so caryed him into Ingland and ther kept him vntil his death which happened in the castle of Cardif in the yeare 1134. And vvhereas this Duke Robert had a goodly prince to this sonne named VVilliam who vvas duke of Normandy by his father earle of Flanders in the right of his grand mother that was the Cōquerors wife daughter of Baldwin Earle of Flanders as hath bin said and vvas established in both these states by the help of Lewys the 6. surnamed le gros king of France and admitted to do homage to hym for the saide states his vncle king Henry of Englād was so violent against him as first he draue him out of the state of Normandy and secondly he set vp and maynteyned a competitor or two against him in Flanders by whome finally he was slaine in the yeare of Christ 1128. before the towne of Alost by an arrow after he had gotten the vppet hand in the feild and so ended the race of the first sonne of king William the Conqueror to wit of duke Robert vvhich Robert liued after the death of his saide sonne and heyre duke VVilliam six yeares in prison in the castel of Cardife and pyned avvay vvith sorrow and miserie as both the Frenche and Inglishe histories do agree The second sonne of the Conqueror named Richard dyed as before hath bin sayde in his fathers tyme and left no issue at al as did neither the third sōne Williā Rufus though he reigned 13. yeares after his father the Conqueror in which tyme he established the successiō of the crowne by consent of the stares of Ingland to his elder brother duke Roberts issue as hath bin saide though afterward it was not obserued This Kinge Rufus came to the crowne principally by the help and fauour of Lanfrancus Archbishop of Canterbury who greatly repēted himselfe afterward of the error vvhich in that point he had committed vppō hope of his good gouerment which proued extreeme euel But this king William Rufus being slayne afterward by the error of a crosbow in newforest as is vvel knowne and this at such tyme as the foresaid duke Robert his elder brother to vvhom the crowne by succession apparteyned was absent in the vvarr of the holy land vvher according as most authors do vvrit he vvas chosen king of Hierusalem but refused it vppon hope of the kingdome of Ingland But he returning home foūde that his fowerth brother Henry partly by fayre promises and partly by force had inuaded the crowne in the yeare 1100. and so he reygned 35. yeares and had issue diuers sonnes and daughters but al vvere either drowned in the seas comming out of Normandie or els dyed otherwise before their father except only Mathildis vvho vvas first marryed to Henry the Emperor fift of that name and after his death without issue to Geffrey Platagenet duke of Anjow Tourayne and Mayne in France by whom she had Henry which reigned after king Stephen by the name of Henry the second and thus much of the sonnes of William the Conqueror Of his two daughters that lyued to be maryed and had issue the elder named Constance vvas maryed to Alayn fergat duke of Britanie vvho vvas sonne to Hoel earle of Nantes and vvas made duke of Britanie by VVilliam Cōquerors meanes in manner following Duke Robert of Normandy father to the Conqueror vvhen he went in pilgrimage vnto the holy land in which voyage he dyed left for gouernour of Normandy vnder the protection of king Henry the first of france duke Alayne the first of Britanie vvhich Allayn had issue Conan the first vvho being a stirringe prince of about 24. yeares old when duke VVilliam began to treat of passing ouer into Ingland he shewed himselfe not to fauour much that enterprise which duke VVilliam fearing caused him to be poysoned vvith a payre of perfumed gloues as the French stories do report and caused to be set vp in his place and made duke one Hoel earle of Nantes who to gratifie VVilliam sent his sonne Alaine surnamed Fergant with 5000. souldiars to passe ouer into Ingland vvith him and so he did VVilliam afterward in recompēce heer-of gaue him his eldest daughter Constantia in mariage vvith the earldome of Richmond by vvhom he had issue Conan the second surnamed le gros who had issue a sonne and a daughter The sonne vvas called Hoel as his grand father was and the daughters name was Bertha marryed to Eudo Earle of 〈◊〉 in Normandy for that this duke Conan liked better his daughter and his sonne in law her husband then he did Hoel his owne sonne he disauowed him in his death bedde and made his said daughter his heyre who had by the said Eudo a sonne named Conan surnamed the yonger which vvas the third duke of that name and this man had one only daughter and heyre named Lady Constance who whas marryed to the third sonne of king Henry the second named Geffrey elder brother to king Ihon that after came to rayne by this Lord Geffrey she had issue Arthur the second duke of Britanie whom king Iohn his vncle put back from the crowne of Ingland and caused to be put to death as after shal be shewed and he dying without issue his mother Constance duchesse heyre of Britanie marryed agayne vvith a prince of her owne house vvhom after vve shall name in the prosecution of this lyne and by him she had issue that hath indured vntil this day the last vvherof hitherto is the lady Isabella infanta of Spaine that other of Sauoy her sister whom by this meanes we se to haue
discended from king VVilliam the Cōqueror by his eldest daughter lady Cōstance as also by diuers other participations of the blood royal of Ingland as aftervvards vvil appeare Now then to come to the second daughter of king VVilliam the Conqueror or rather the third for that the first of al vvas a Nonne as before hath byn noted her name vvas Adela or Alis as hath bin saide and she vvas marryed in France to Stephen counte Palatin of Champagne Charters and Bloys by whom she had a sonne called also Stephen vvho by his grand mother was earle also of Bollayne in Picardie and after the death of his vncle king Henry of Ingland vvas by the fauour of the Inglish nobility and especially by the helpe of his owne brother the Lord Henry of Bloys that vvas Bishop of Winchester and iointly Abbot of Glastenbury made kinge of England and this both in respect that Mathilda daughter of king Henry the first was a woman and her sonne Henry duke of Anjou a very childe one degree farther of from the Conqueror and from kings Rufus then Stephen vvas as also for that this king Henry the first as hath bin signified before vvas iudged by many to haue entred vvrongfully vnto the crowne and therby to haue made both himselfe and his posterity incapable of succession by the violence vvhich he vsed against both his elder brother Robart and his nephew duke VVilliam that vvas sonne and heyte to Robert vvho by nature and law were bothe of them held for soueraintes to Iohn by those that fauored them and their pretentions But yet howsoeuer this were we see that the duke of Britany that liued at that day should euidently haue succeded before Stephen for that he was discended of the elder daughter of the Conqueror and Stephen of the yonger though Stephen by the commodity he had of the neernes of his porte and hauen of Bullayne vnto Ingland as the French stories do saye for Calys vvas of no importance at that tyme and by the frendship and familiarity he had gotten in Ingland during the raigne of his two vncles king Rufus and king Henry and especially by the help of his brother the Bishop and Abbot as hath bin said he gat the start of al the rest and the states of Ingland admitted him This man although he had two sonnes namely Eustachius duke of Normandy and William earle of Norfolk yet left they no issue And his daughter Marie was maried to mathew of Fladers of whom if any issue remaines it fell afterward vppon the house of Austria that succeded in those states To king Stephen who left no issue succeded by compositiō after much warre Henry duke of Aniou sonne and heyre to Mathilda before named daughter of Henry the first which Henry named afterward the second tooke to wife Elenor daughter and heyre of VVilliam duke of Aquitaine earle of Poytiers which Elenor had bin marryed before to the king of France Lewis the 7. and bare him two daughters but vppon dislike conceaued by the one against the other they were deuorced vnder pretēce of being within the fowerth degree of consanguinitye and so by second marriage Elenor vvas vvife to this said Henry who afterward was king of Ingland by name of K. Henry the fecōd that procured the deathe of Thomas Becket archebishope of Canterbury and vvas both before and after the greatest enimye that euer Lewis the king of France had in the vvorld and much the greater for his marriage by vvhich Henry vvas made far stronger for by this woman he came to be duke of al Aquitaine that is of Gascony and Guyene and earle of al the coūtrey of Poytiers wheras beforealso by his fathers inheritance he vvas duke both of Anjou Tourayne and Mayne by his mother Mathilda king Henries daughter of Ingland he came to be king of Ingland duke of Normandie and by his owne industry he gat also to be lord of Ireland as also to bring Scotland vnder his homage so as he enlarged the kingdome of Ingland most of any other king before or after him This king Henry the second as Stow reconteth had by Lady Elenor fyue sonnes and three daughters His eldest sonne vvas named VVilliam that dyed yonge his seconde vvas Henry vvhom he caused to be crowned in his owne life tyme vvherby he receaued much trouble but in the end this sonne died before his father without issue His third sonne vvas Richard surnamed for his valour Cor de leon who reigned after his father by the name of Richard the first and died vvithout issue in the yeare of Christ 1199. Hys fovverth sonne named Geffrey maried lady Constance daughter and heyre of Britanie as before hath bin said and dying left a sonne by her named Arthur which vvas duke of Britanie after him and pretended also to be king of Ingland but vvas put by it by his vncle Iohn that tooke him also prisoner and kept him so in the castel first of fallaise in Normandie and then in Roan vntil he caused him to be put to death or slew him vvith his owne hands as Frēch stories vvrite in the yeare 1204. This duke Arthur left behind him two sisters as Stow writeth in his chronicles but others write that it was but one and at least wise I fynde but one named by the french stories which vvas Elenor whom they saye king Iohn also caused to be muthered in Ingland a a litle before her brother the duke vvas put to death in Normandie and this was the end of the issue of Geffrey whose vvife Constance duchesse of Britanie marryed againe after this murther of her children vnto one Guy Vicond of Touars and had by him two daughters wherof the eldest named Alis was duchefse of Britanie by vvhome the race hath bin continued vnto our tyme. The fift sonne of king Henry the second was named Iohn who after the death of his brother Richard by help of his mother Elenor and of Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury drawen therunto by his said mother gat to be king and put back his nephew Arthur vvhom king Richard before his departure to the war of the holy land had caused to be declared heyre apparent but Iohn preuayled and made away both nephew and Neece as before hath bin saide for which fact he vvas detested of many in the world abroade and in France by acte of parlament depriued of al the states he had in those partes Soone after also the pope gaue sentence of depriuation against him and his owne barons tooke armes to execute the sentence and finally they deposed both him and his yong sonne Henry being then but a child of 8. yeares old and this in the 18. yeare of his reigne and in the yeare of Christ 1215. and Levvis the 8. of that name prince at that tyme but afterward king of France was chosen king of Ingland sworne in Londō and
solemnities and feastes that were celebrated at ther seueral natiuities so as it seemeth ther can be no ertor in this matter The 2. reason is for that we read that this Lord Edmond was a goodly vvise and discreet prince notwithstanding that some authors cal him crokback and that he vvas highly in the fauour both of his father king Henry as also of his brother king Edward and employed by them in many great warres and other affayres of state both in France other where vvhich argueth that ther was no such great defect in him as should moue his father and the realme to depriue him of his succession Thirdly vve reade that king Henry procured by diuers waies and meanes the aduancement of this L. Edmond as giuing him the earldomes of Lecester Darby besides that of Lancaster as also procuring by al meanes possible with exceding great charges to haue him made king of Naples Sicilie by pope Innocentius which had bin no pollicy to haue done if he had bin put back from his inheritance in Ingland for that it had bin to haue armed him against his brother the king Fourthly we see that at the death of his father king Henry the third this Lord Edmond vvas principally left in charge with the realme his elder brother prince Edward being scarsly returned frō the warr of Asia at what tyme he had good occasion to chalēg his owne right to the crowne if he had had any seing he wanted no power therūto hauing three goodly sonnes at that tyme aliue borne of his wife Queene Blanch dowager of Nauarre vvho had bin marryed before to Henry king of Nauarre and contie of Champaine to whom she had borne only one daughter that vvas marryed to Phillip le bel king of France But vve shal neuer reade that either he or any of his children made any such clayme but that they liued in very good agreement high grace vvith king Edward the first as his children did also vvith king Edward the second vntil he began to be mis-led in gouerment and then the two sonnes of this Lord Edmond I meane both Thomas and Henry that successiuely vvere earles of Lancaster made vvarr vppon the said Edward the second and vvere the principal doers in his deposition in setting vp of his sonne Edward the third in his place at vvhat tyme it is euidēt that they might haue put in also for themselues if there title had bin such as this report maketh it A fift reason is for that if this had bin so that Edmond earle of Lancaster had bin the elder brother then had the controuersie betweene the two houses of York and Lancaster bin most cleare and vvithout al doubt at al for then had the house of Yorke had no pretence of right in the vvorlde and then vvere it euident that the heyres general of Blanch duchesse of Lancaster vvife of Iohn of Gaunt to wit the discendentes of lady Phillip her daughter that vvas marryed into Portugal these I say and none other were apparent and true heyres to the crowne of Ingland at this day and al the other of the house of Yorke vsurpers as wel king Henry the 7. as al his posterity ofspring for that none of them haue 〈◊〉 of the said Blanch as is manifest And therfore lastly the matter standeth no doubt as Polidor holdeth in the later ende of the life of king Henry the third vvhere hauing mētioned these two sonnes Edward Edmōd he addeth these wordes Ther wanted not certayne men long tyme after this that affirmed this Edmond to be the elder sonne to king Henry the third and to haue bin depriued of his inheritance for that he was deformed in body but these thinges were feyned to the end that king Henry the fourth that came by his mothers side of this Edmond might seeme to haue come to the kingdome by right whereas in decd he gat it by force Thus saith Polidor in this place but aftervvard in the begining of the life of the said K. Henry the 4. he sayeth that some vvould haue had king Henry to haue pretended this title among other reasons but that the more part accompting it but a meare fable it vvas omitted Novv then it being cleere that of these two sonnes of king Henry the third prince Edward vvas the elder and lawful heyre it remayneth only that vve set downe their seueral discents vnto the tymes of king Edward the third and his children in whose dayes the dissention controuersie betweene these royal houses of Yorke and Lancaster began to break fourth And for the issue of Edward that vvas king after his father by the name of king Edward the first it is euident that albeit by two seueral vviues he had a dosen children male and femal yet only his fourth sonne by his first vvife called also Edward vvho vvas king after him by the name of king Edward the second left issue that remayned which Edward the second being afterward for his euel gouerment deposed left issue Edward the third vvho vvas made king by election of the people in his place and after a long and prosperous reigne left diuers sonnes vvherof after vve shal speak and among them his third sonne named Iohn of Gaunt married lady Blanch daughter and heyre of the house of lancaster and of the fornamed Lord Edmond Crouchback by vvhich Blanch Iohn of Gant became duke of lancaster so as the lines of these tvvo bretheren Edward and Edmond did meete and ioyne againe in the fourth discent as novv shall appeare by declaration of the issue of the foresaid L. Edmond Edmond then the second sonne of K. Henry the third being made county palatine of Lancaster as also earle of Lecester and of Darby by his father king Henry as hath bin said had issue three sonnes to vvit Thomas Henry and Iohn among vvhom he deuided his three states making Thomas his eldest sonne county palatine of Lancaster Henry earle of Lecester Iohn earle of Darby But Thomas the eldest Iohn the yongest dying vvithout issue al three states fel againe vppon Henry the second sonne vvhich Henry had issue one fonne and three daughters his sonne vvas named Henry the second of that name earle of Lancaster and made duke of Lancaster by king Edward the third and he had one only daughter heyre named Blanch vvho vvas marryed vnto Iohn of Gant as before hath bin said But Duke Henries three sisters named Ioan Mary and Elenor vvere al marryed to diuers principal men of the realme for that Ioan vvas marryed to Iohn L. Maubery of vvhom are descended the Howards of the house of Norfolk at this day and Mary vvas marryed to Henry lord Pearcy from vvhom cometh the house of the Earles of Northumberland and Elenor vvas married to Richard earle of Arundel vvhence is issued also by his mothers side the Earle of Arundel that novv is so as of this
and after made duke of Hereford by king Richard the second and after that came to be duke also of Lancaster by the death of his father and lastely vvas made king by the deposition of his cosen germaine the said king Richard and reigned 13. yeares by the name of king Henry the fourth and vvas the first king of the house of Lācaster of the right of vvhose title examination shal be made afterwards The first of the two daughters vvhich Iohn of Gaunt had by Blanch vvas named Phillip vvho was marryed to Iohn the first of that name king of Portugal by whom she had issue Edward king of Portugal and he Alfonsus the fift he Iohn the second so one after another euen vnto our dayes The second daughter of Iohn of Gaunt by lady Blanch vvas named Elizabeth vvho was marryed to Iohn Holland duke of Excester she had issue by him an other Iohn duke of Excester and he had issue Henry duke of Excester that dyed without issue male leauing only one daughter named Anne vvho vvas marryed to Sir Thomas Neuill knight and by him had issue Raffe Neuill third earle of Westmerland whose lineal heyre is at this day Lord Charles Neuill earle oft Westmerland that liueth banished in Flanders And this is al the issue that Iohn of Gaunt had by lady Blanch his first vvife sauing only that I had forgotten to prosecute the issue of Henry his first sonne surnamed of Bolenbrok that vvas afterward called king Henry the fourth which king had 4. sonnes and tvvo daughters his daughters vvere Blanch and Phillip the first marryed to William duke of Bauaria and the second to Erick king of Denmarke and both of them dyed without children The four sonnes vvere first Henry that reygned after him by the name of Henry the fift and the second vvas Thomas duke of Clarence the third vvas Iohn duke of Bedford and the fourth vvas Humfrey duke of Glocester al vvhich three dukes dyed vvithout issue or vvere slaine in vvarres of the realme so as only king Henry the fift their elder brother had issue one sonne named Henry also that vvas king and reigned 40. yeares by the name of Henry the sixt who had issue prince Edward both of them I meane both father sonne were murthered by order or permissiō of Edward duke of Yorke vvho afterward tooke the crowne vppon him by the name of king Edward the fourth as before hath bin said so as in this king Henry the 6. and his sonne prince Edward ended all the blood royal male of the house of Lancaster by Blanch the first wife of Iohn of Gaunt and the inheritance of the said lady Blanch returned by right of succession as the fauorers of the howse of Portugal affirme though others deny it vnto the heyres of lady Phillip her eldest daughter marryed into Portugal vvhose nephew named Alfonsus the fift kinge of Portugal liued at that day when king Henry the 6. and his heyre were made away and this much of Iohn of Gaunts first marriage But after the death of the L. Blanch Iohn of Gaunt marryed the Lady Constance daughter and heyre of Peter the first surnamed the cruel king of Castile who being driuen out of his kingdome by Henry his bastard brother assisted therunto by the french he fledd to Burdeaux vvith his wife tvvo daughters where he founde prince Edward eldest sonne to king Edward the third by vvhom he was restored and for pledge of his fidelity and performance of other conditions that the said king Peter had promised to the Prince he left his two daughters withe hym which daughters being sent afterwards into Inglād the eldest of them named Constance was marryed to Iohn of Gaunt and by her title he named himselfe for diuers yeares afterward king of Castile and went to gayne the same by armes when Peter her father vvas stayne by his foresaid bastard brother but yet some yeares after that againe their vvas an agrement made betweene the said Iohn of Gaunt and Iohn the first of that name king of Castile sonne and heyre of the foresaid Henry the bastard vvith condition that Catherine the only daughter of Iohn of 〈◊〉 by lady Cōstance should marry vvith Henry the third prince of Castile sonne and heyre of the said king Iohn and nephew to the bastard Henry the 2. and by this meanes vvas ended that controusie betweene Ingland and Castile and the said L. Catherine had issue by king Henry Iohn the 2. king of Castile he Isabell that marryed with Ferdinando the Catholique king of Aragon and ioyned by that marriage both those kingdomes together and by him she had a daughter named Ioan that marryed Phillip duke of Austria and Burgundy and by him had Charles the fifth that vvas Emperor and father to king Phillip that now reigneth in Spaine vvho as we see is descēded tvvo waies from Iohn of Gaunt duke of Lancaster to vvit by two daughters begotten of two wiues Blanch and Constance nether had Iohn of Gaunt any more childrē by Constance but only this daughter Catherine of vvhom vve haue spoken vvherfore now vve shal speake of his third vvife that vvas Lady Catherine Swinford This lady Catherin as Inglish histories do note vvas borne in Henalt in Flanders was daughter to a knight of that country called Sir Payne de Ruet and she vvas brought vp in her youth in the duke of Lancasters house and attended vppon his first wife lady Blanch and being fayre of personage grew in such fauour vvith the duke as in the tyme of his second wife Constance he kept this Catherin for his concubin and begat vppon her fower children to vvit three sonnes and a daughter vvhich daughter vvhose name vvas Iane was marryed to Raph earle of Westmerland called commonly in those dayes Daw Raby of whom descended the Earles of VVestmerland that insued His three sonnes were Iohn Thomas and Henry and Iohn vvas first earle and then duke of Sommerset Thomas vvas first marques Dorset and then duke of Excester Henry vvas Bishop of VVinchester and after Cardinal And after Iohn of Gaunt had begotten al thes 4. children vppon Catherin he marryed her to a knight in Ingland named Swinford vvhich knight lyued not many yeares after Iohn of Gaunt comming home to Ingland from Aquitaine vvher he had bin for diuers yeares and seing this old concubine of his Catherine to be now a widow and himselfe also without a wife for that the lady Cōstance vvas dead a litle before for the loue that he bore to the children which he had begotten of her he determyned to marry her and therby the rather to legitimate her childrē though himselfe vvere old now and al his kyndred vtterly against the marriage and so not ful two yeares before his death to wit in the yeare of Christ 1396. he married her and the next yeare after in a parlament begun at Westminster the 22. of Ianuary
anno Domini 1397. he caused al his said issue to be legitimated which he had begotten vppon this lady Swinford before she vvas his wife But now to go foreward to declare the issue of thes three sonnes of Iohn of Gaunt by Catherine Swinford two of them that is Thomas duke of Excester and Henry Cardinal and Bishop of Winchester dyed vvithout issue Iohn the eldest sonne that vvas earle of Somerset had issue two sonnes Iohn and Edmond Iohn that vvas duke of Somerset had issue one only daughter named Margeret vvho vvas married to Edmond Tidder earle of Richmond by whom he had a sonne named Henry earle also of Richmond vvho after vvas afterward made king by the name of Henry the seuēth was father to K. Henry the eight and grand father to the Q. maiestie that now is this is the issue of Iohn the first sonne to the duke of Somerset Edmōd the secōd sonne to Iohn earle of Somerset was first earle of Mortaine and then after the death of his brother Iohn vvho dyed vvithout issue male as hath bin said vvas created by king Henry the sixte duke of Somerset and both he and almost al his kyn vvere slayne in the quarrel of the said king Henry the 6. and for defence of the house of Lācaster against York For first this Edmōd himselfe was slayne in the battel of S. Albanes against Richard duke and first pretender of Yorke in the yeare 1456. leauing behind him three goodly sonnes to wit Henry Edmond Iohn vvherof Henry succeded his father in the duchy of Sommetset and vvas taken and beheaded in the same quarrel at Exham in the yeare 1463. dying vvithout issue Edmond likewise succeded his brother Henry in the duchy of Sommerset and vvas taken in the battel of Tewkesbury in the same quarrel and ther beheaded the 7. of May 1471. leauing no issew Iohn also the third brother marques of Dorset vvas slayne in the same battel of Tewkesbury and left no issue and so in these tvvo noble men ceased vtterly al the issue male of the line of Lancaster by the children of Iohn of Gaunt begotten vppon lady Swinford his third vvife so that al vvhich remayned of this vvoman vvas only Margeret Countesse of Richmond mother to king Hēry the 7. which king Henry the 7. and al that do descende from him in Ingland or out of Inglande do hold the right of Lancaster only by this third mariage of Catherine Swinford as hath bin shewed and no wayes of Blanch the first vvife or of Constance the second and this is enough in this place of the discents of Iohn of Gaunt and of the house of Lancaster and therfore I shal now passe ouer to shew the issue of the howse of York I Touched breefly before how Edmond Langley duke of Yorke fourth sonne of king Edward the third had two sonnes Edward earle of Rutland and duke of Aumatle that succeded his father afterward in the duchy of Yorke and vvas slayne vvithout childrē vnder king Henry the 5. in the battayle of Egencourt in France and Richard earle of Cambridge vvhich marryed lady Anne Mortimer as before hath bin said that was heyre of the house of Clarence to wit of Leonel duke of Clarence second sonne to king Edward the third by vvhich marriage he ioyned together the two titles of the second fourth sonnes of king Edward and being himselfe conuinced of a conspiracy against king Henry the 5. vvas put to death in Southampton in the yeare of Christ 1415. and third of the reygne of king Hēry the 5. and fift day of August This Richard had issue by lady Anne Mortimer a sonne named Richard vvho succeded his vncle Edward duke of Yorke in the same duchy and afterward finding himselfe strong made clayme to the crowne in the behalfe of his mother and declaring himselfe chiefe of the faction of the white rose gaue occasion of many cruel battailes against them of the red rose and house of Lancaster and in one of the battels vvhich vvas giuen in the yeare 1460. at Wakfilde himselfe was slayne leauing behind him three sonnes Edward George and Richard wherof Edward vvas afteward king of Ingland by the name of Edward the fourth George was duke of Clarence and put to death in Calis in a butte of secke or malmesie by the commandement of the king his brother Richard was Duke of Glocester and afterward king by murthering his owne two nephewes and was called king Richard the third Edward the eldest of these three brothers which afterward was king had issue two sonnes Edward Richard both put to death in the tower of London by ther cruel vncle Richard he had also fiue daughters the last fowre wherof I do purposly omitt for that of none of them ther remayneth any issue but the eldest of al named Elizabeth was marryed to king Henry the 7. of the house of Lancaster and had by him issue king Henry the 8. and tvvo daughters the one marryed vnto Scotlād vvherof are discended the king of Scots and Arbella the other matryed to Charles Brandon duke of Suffolk vvherof are issued the children of the earles of Hartford and Darby as after more at large shal be handled and this is the issue of the first brother of the house of Yorke The second brother George duke of Clarence had issue by his wife lady Isabel heyre to the earldomes of Warwick and Salisbury one sonne named Edward earle of Warwick vvho vvas put to death afterward in his youth by King Henry the 7. and left no issue this duke George had also one daughter named Margaret admitted by King Henry the eight at what tyme he sent her into wales with the princesse Mary to be coūresse of Salisbury but yet marryed very meanely to a knight of vvales named Syr Richard Poole by whom she had foure sonnes Henry Arthur Geffrey and Renald the lastvvherof vvas Cardinal and the other two Arthur and Geffrey had issue for Arthur had two daughters Mary and Margaret Mary was married to Sir Iohn Stanny Margaret to Sir Thomas fitzharbert Sir Geffrey Poole had also issue an other Geffrey Poole and he had issue Arthur and Geffrey which yet liue Now then to returne to the first sonne of the countesse of Salisbury named Henry that vvas Lord Montague and put to death both he and his mother by king Henry the 8. this man I say left two daughters Catherine and vvenefred Catherine was married to Sir Francis Hastings earle of Huntington by vvhich marriage issued Sir Henry Hastings now earle of Huntington and Sir Georg Hastings his brother who hath diuers children And Wenefred the yonger daughter vvas married to Sir Thomas Barington knight vvho also wanteth notissue and this is of the second brother of the house of Yorke to vvit of the duke of Clarence The third brother Richard duke of Glocester and afterward king left no issue
vvife the lady Gertrude taking from her al her goodes landes and inheritance and committed to perpetual prison their only sonne and heyre lord Edward Courtney being then but a childe of seuen yeares old vvhich remayned so there vntil many yeares after he vvas set at libertie and restored to his liuing by Queene Mary Moreouer he put to death the lady 〈◊〉 Plantagenet Countesse of Salisbury daughter of George duke of Clarence that vvas brother of his grandfather king Edward the fourth vvith her he put to death also her eldest sonne and heyre Thomas Poole lord Montague and committed to perpetual prison where soone after also he ended his life a little infant named Henry Poole his sonne and heyre condemned to death by act of parlament although absent Renald Pole brother to the said lord Montague Cardinal in Rome wherby he ouerthrew also the noble house of Salisbury and vvarwick nether need I to go further in this relation though these men do note also how Edward the sixt put to death two of his owne vncles the Seymers or at least it vvas done by his authority and how that vnder her Maiestie that now is the Queene of Scotland that vvas next in 〈◊〉 of any other liuing the chiefe titler of the honse of Yorke hath also bin put to death Lastly they do note and I may not omit it that their is no noble house standing at this day in Ingland in the ancient state of calling that it had and in that dignity and degree that it vvas in vvhen the house of Yorke entred to the crowne if it be aboue the state of a barony but only such as defended the right and interest of the houses of Lancaster and that al other great houses that toke parte vvith the house of Yorke and did helpe to ruine the house of Lancaster be either ceased since or extyrpated and ouer throwne by the same house of Yorke it selfe which they assisted to gett the crowne so at this present they be either vnited to the crowne by confiscatiō or transferred to other Images that are strangers to them who possessed thē before As for example the ancient houses of Inglād that remaine at this day were stāding whē the house of Yorke begā ther title are the houses of Arōdel Oxford Northūberland Westmerland Shrewsbery for al other that are in Ingland at this day aboue the dignity of Barons haue bin aduanced since that tyme and al these fiue houses vvere these that principally did stick vnto the house of Lancaster as is euident by al Inglish chronicles For that the earle of Arondel brought in king Henry the fourth first king of the house of Lancaster and did helpe to place him in the dignity royal comming out of France vvith him The earle of Oxford and his sonne the lord Vere were so earnest in the defence of king Hēry the sixt as they were both slayne by king Edward the fourth and Iohn earle of Oxford vvas one of the principal assistāts of Hēry the seuēth to take the crowne frō Richard the third The house of Northumberland also was a principal ayder to Henry the fourth in getting the crowne and two earles of that name to wit Henry the second and third were slayne in the quarrel of king Henry the sixt one in the battel of S. Albons and the other of Saxton and a third earle named Henry the fourth fled into Scotlād vvith the said king Henry the sixt The house of Westmerland also vvas chiefe aduācer of Hēry the fourth to the crowne the secōd earle of that house vvas slayne in the party of Henry the sixt in the said bartaile of Saxton and Iohn earle of Shrewsbury vvas likevvise slayne in defence of the title of Lancaster in the bartaile of Northamptō and I omit many other great seruices and faithful endeuours vvhich many Princes of these fiue noble anciēt houses did in the defence of the Lancastrian kings vvhich these men say that God hath revvarded vvith continuance of their howses vnto this day But on the contrary side these men do note that al the old houses that principally assisted The title of Yorke are now extinguished and that chiefly by the kings themselues of that house as for example the principal peeres that assisted the family of Yorke vvere Moubray duke of Norfolke de la Poole duke of Suffolk the earle of Salisbury and the earle of Warwick of al which the euent was this Iohn Moubray duke of Norfolke the first confederat of the house of Yorke dyed soone after the exaltation of Edward the fourth vvithout ifsue and so that name of Moubray ceased and the title of the dukedome of Norfolke vvas transferred afterward by king Richard the third vnto the house of Howards Iohn de la Poole duke of Suffolke that married the sister of king Edward the fourth was his great assistant though he left three sonnes yet al were extinguished vvithout issue by helpe of the house of Yorke for that Edmond the eldest sonne duke of Suffolke vvas beheaded by king Henry the eight his brother Richard driuen out of the realme to his destruction as before hath bin shewed Iohn their brother earle of Lincolue was stayne at Stockfild in seruice of king Richard the third and so ended the line of de la Pooles Richard Neuel earle of Salisbury a chiefe enemy to the house of Lancaster and exalter of York vvas taken at the battaile of VVakefild and there beheaded leauing three sonnes Richard Iohn and George Richard vvas earle both of Salisbuty and Warwick surnamed the great earle of Warwick vvas he that placed king Edward the fourth in the royal seate by whome yet he vvas slayne afterward at Barnet and the landes of these two great earldomes of Salisbury and Warwick were vnited to the crowne by his attainder Iohn his yonger brother vvas Marques of montague and after al assistance giuen to the said king Edward the fourth of the howse of Yorke vvas slayne also by him at Barnet and his lands in like māner confiscate to the crowne vvhich yet vvere neuer restored againe George Neuel their yonger brother vvas Archbishop of Yorke vvas taken sent prisoner by the said king Edward vnto Guynes vvho shortly after pined avvay and dyed and this vvas the ende of al the principal frendes helpers aduancers of the house of Yorke as these men do alleage Wherfore they do conclude that for al these reasons many more that might be alleaged the title of Lancaster must needes seeme the better title which they do confirme by the general consent of al the realme at king Henry the seuenth his comming in to recouer the crowne from the house of Yorke as from vsurpers for hauing had the victory against king Richard they crowned him presētly in the field in the right of Lācaster before he married with the house of Yorke
of Hartford and their frendes do alleage that they do discend of lady Francis the elder sister of lady Elenor and so by law and reason are to be preferred but the other house alleageth against this two impediments the one that the lady Margaret countesse of Darby now lyuing is neerer by one degree to the stemme that is to king Henry the seuenth then are the children of the earle of Hartford and consequently according to that which in the former fourth chapter hath bin declared she is to be preferred albeit the children of the said earle vvere legitimate Secondly they do affirme that the said children of the eatle of Hartford by the lady Catherin Gray many waies are illegitimate First for that the said lady Catherin Gray their mother was lawfully married before to the earle of Penbrok now liuing as hath bin touched and publike recordes do testifie and not lawfully seperated nor by lawful authority nor for iust causes but only for temporal and wordly respects for that the house of Suffolk was come into misery disgrace vvherby she remayned stil his true wife in deede and before God so could haue no lawful children by an other whiles he liued as yet he doth Agayne they proue the illegitimatiō of these children of the earle of Hartford for that it could neuer be lawfully proued that the said earle and the lady Catherin were married but only by their owne assertions vvhich in law is not holden sufficient for which occasion the said pretended marriage vvas disanulled in the court of arches by publique definitiue sentence of Doctor Parker archbishop of Canterbury and prymate of Ingland not long after the birth of the said children Further-more they do add yet an other bastardy also in the birth of lady Catherin her selfe for that her father lord Henry Gray marques of Docset was knowne to haue a lawful wife aliue vvhen he married the lady Francis daughter and heyre of the Queene of France of Charles Brandon duke of Suffolke and mother of this lady Catherin for obteyning of which great marriage the said marques put away his foresaid lawful vvife vvhich was sister to the L. Henry Fytzallen earle of Arondel vvhich disorder was occasion of much vnkindnes and hatred betweene the said marques and earle euer after But the power of the marques and fauour vvith king Henry in womens matters vvas so great at that tyme as the earle could haue no remedie but only that his said sister vvho liued many yeares after had an annuitye out of the said marques lands during her life liued some yeares after the said marques aftervvards made duke vvas put to death in Queene Maries tyme. These then are three waies by vvhich the family of Darby do argue the issue of Hartford to be illegitimate but the other two houses of Scotland and Clarence do vrge a former bastardy also that is common to them both to wit both against the lady Francis and the lady Eleanor for that the lord Charles Brandon also duke of Suffolk had a wife a liue as before hath bin signified when he married the lady Mary Queene of France by vvhich former wife he had issue the lady Powyse I meane the vvife of my lord Powyse of Poystlandes in VVales how long after the new marriage of her husband Charles Brandon this former vvife did liue I cannot set downe distinctly though I think it were not hard to take particuler information therof in Ingland by the register of the church wherin she vvas buried but the frēdes of the countesse of Darby do affirme that she died before the birth of L. Eleanor the second daughter though after the birthe of lady Francis and thereby they do seeke to cleare the familie of Darby of this bastardye and to lay al foure vppon the childen of Hartford before mentioned but this is easy to be knowne verified by the meanes before signified But now the frendes of Hartford do answere to al these bastardies that for the first two pretended by the marriages of the two dukes of Suffolk they saye that either the causes might be such as their deuorces with their former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be lawful and proue them no marriages and so giue them place to marrie againe or els that the said former wiues dyd dye before these dukes that had bin their husbands so as by a post-contract and second new consent giuen betweene the parties vvhen they vvere now free the said later marriages vvhich vvere not good at the begining might come to be lawful aftervvards according as the law permitteth notwithstanding that children begotten in suche pretēded marriages where one partye is alredy bounde are not made legitimat by subsequent trew marriage of their parentes this for the first two bastardies But as for the third illegitimation of the contract betweene the lady Catherin and the earle of Hartford by reason of a precontract made betweene the said lady Catherin and the earle of Penbroke that now liueth they saye and affirme that precontract to haue bin dissolued afterward lawfully and iudicially in the tyme of Queene Mary There remayneth then only the fourth obiectrō about the secret marriage made betweene the said lady Catherin and the earle of Hartford before the birth of their eldest sonne now called L. Beacham vvhich to say the truth seemeth the hardest pointe to be answered for albeit in the sight of God that marriage might be good and lawful if before their carnal knowledge they gaue mutual consent the one to the other to be man and vvife and vvith that mynde and intention had carnal copulation vvhich thing is also allowed by the late councel of Trent it selfe which disanulleth otherwise al clandestine and secret contracts in such states and countries vvher the authoritie of the said councel is receaued and admitted yet to iustifie these kide of marriages in the face of the church and to make the issue therof legitimate and inheritable to estates and possessions it is necessary by al law and in al nations that there should be some vvitnes to testifie this consent and contract of the parties before their carnal knowledge for that otherwise it should lye in euery particuler mans hand to legitimate any bastard of his by his only woord to the preiudice of others that might in equitie of succession pretend to be his heyres and therfore no doubt but that the Archbishop of Canterbury had great reason to pronounce this contract of the lady Catherin and the earle of Hartford to be insufficient and vnlawful though themselues did affirme that they had giuen mutual consent before of being man vvife and that they came together animo maritali as the law of wedlock requireth but yet for that they were not able to proue their said former consent by lawful vvitnesses their saide coniunction was rightly pronounced vnlawful and so I conclude that the first sonne of these tvvo parties
might be legitimate before God and yet illegitimate before men and consequently incapable of al such succession as otherwise he might pretend by his said mother And this now is for the first begotten of these two persons for as touching the second childe begotten in the tower of London diuers learned men are of opinion that he may be freed of this bastardy for that both the earle and the lady being examined vppon their first child did consesse and affirme that they vvere man and wife and that they had meaning so to be and to continew vvhich confession is thought to be sufficient both for ratifying of their old cōtract and also for making of a new yfthe other had not bin made before And seeing that in the other former pretended contract and marriage their wanted nothing for iustifying the same before men and for making it good in law but only external testimony of witnesses for prouing that they gaue such mutual consent of myndes before their carnal knowledge for the presence of priest or minister is not absolutly necessary no man can say that their wanted witnesses for restifying of this consent before the second copulation by vvhich vvas begotten their second sonne for that both the Queene herselfe and her councel and as many besides as examined these parties vppon their first acte and child birth are vvitnesses vnto them that they gaue their ful consents and approbations to be man vvife vvhich they ratified afterward in the tower by the begetting of their second child and so for the reasons afore-said he must needes seeme to be legitimate vvhatsoeuer my lord of Canterbury for that tyme or in respect of the great offence taken by the estate against that act did or might determyne to the contrary And this is the somme of that which commonly is treated about these two families of the house of Suffolk to wit of Hartford and Darby both vvhich families of Suffolke the other two opposite houses of Scotland and Clarence do seeke to exclude by the first bastardy or vnlawful contract betweene the Queene ofFrance and duke Charles Brandon as hath bin seene of which bastardye the house of 〈◊〉 doth indeuour to auoide it selfe in manner as before hath bin declared and preferreth it selfe in degree of propinquity not only before the foresaid two houses of Scotland and Clarence but also before this other part of the house of Suffolke I meane the familie of Hartford though descended of the elder daughter for that the countesse of Darby doth hold her selfe one degree neerer in discent then are the other pretenders of Hartford as hath bin shewed And albeit their vvant not many obiections and reasons of some against this pretence of the house of Darby besides that which I haue touched before yet for that they are for the most part parsonal impediments and do not touch the right or substance of the title or any other important reason of state concerning the common vvealth but only the mistike of the persons that pretende and of their life and gouerment I shal omitt them in this place for that as in the begining I promised so shal I obserue as much as lieth in me to vtter nothing in this conference of ours that may iustly offend and much lesse touch the honor or reputation of any one person of the blood royal of our realme vvhen the tyme of admitting or excluding cometh then vvil the realme consider as vvel of their persons as of their rightes and vvil see vvhat accompt and satisfaction ech person hath giuen of his former life and doings and according to that vvil proceede as is to be supposed but to me in this place it shal be enough to treat of the first pointe vvhich is of the right and interest pretended by vvay of succession and so vvith this I shal make an ende of these families and passe ouer to others that yet do remayne OF THE HOVSES OF CLARENCE AND BRITANIE WHICH CONTEYNE THE CLAYMES OF the earle of Huntington with the Pooles as also of the lady Infanta of Spayne and others of those families CAP. VII HAVING declared the claymes rightes and pretences which the two noble houses of Scotland and Suffolke descended of the tvvo daughters of king Hēry the seuenth haue or may haue to the succession of Ingland with intention afterward to handle the house of Portugal a part vvhich pretendeth to comprehend in it selfe the whole body or at least the first and principal branch of the ancient house of Lancaster it shal not be amisse perhaps by the way to treate in this one chapter so much as appartayneth to the tvvo seueral houses of Clarence and Britanie for that there is lesse to be said about them then of the other And first of al I am of opinion that the earle of Huntington and such other pretendors as are of the house of Yorke alone before the coniunction of both houses by king Henry the seuenth may be named to be of the house of Clarence and so for distinction sake I do name them for not to confound them vvith the houses of Scotland and Suffolke which are termed also by the Lancastrians to be of the houfe of Yorke alone for that they deny them to be of the true house of Lancaster but principally I do name them to be of the house of Clarence for that in deed al their clayme and title to the crowne doth discende from George duke of Clarence as before in the third chapter and other vvhere hath bin declared which duke George being brother to king Edward the fourth and put to death by his order left issue Edward carle of Warwick and of Salisbury vvhich vvas put to death by king Henry the seuenth in his youth and Margaret countesse of Salisbury which Margaret had issue by Syr Richard Poole Henry Poole lord Montague afterward behedded and he agayne Catherin married to Syr Francis Hastings earle of Huntington by whom she had Sir Henry Hastings now earle of Huntington Syr George Hastings his brother yet liuinge others so as the earle of Huntington vvith his said bretheren be in the fourth degree from the said George duke of Clarence to wit his nephewes twice remoued The faide Margaret countesse of Salisbury had a yonger sonne also named Syr Geffrey Poole vvho had issue an other Geffrey and this Geffrey hath two sonnes that liue at this day in Italie named Arthur and Geffrey vvho be in the same degree of distance with the saide earle of Huntington sauing that some alleage for them that they do discend al by male kinde from Margaret and the earle pretendeth by a Woman vvherof vve shal speake afterward Hereby then it is made manifest how the earle of Huntingtō commeth to preteud to the crowne of Ingland by the house of York only vvhich is no other in deede but by the debarring and disabling of al other former pretēdors not only of Portugal and of Britanie as strangers but
also of the houses of Scotland Suffolke that hold likewise of the house of Yorke and that for the reasons and argumēts vvhich in the former two chapters I haue set downe in particuler against euery one of them and shal here-after also againe those that remaine vvhich arguments and obiections or any of them if they should not be founde sufficient to exclude the said other houses then is the clayme of this house of Huntington therby made voide for that it is as vve see by the yonger childe of the house of Yorke that is to saye by the second brother so as if either the pretence of Lancaster in general be better thē that of Yorke or if in the house of Yorke it selfe any of the fornamed pretenders descended frō K. Edward the fourth as of the elder brother may hold or take place then holdeth not this title of Clarence for that as I haue said it cōming from the yonger brother must needes be grounded only or principally vppō the barring and excluding of the rest that ioyntly do pretēd of which barres and exclusions laid by this house of Clarence against the rest for that I haue spoken sufficiētly in the last two chapters going tefore for so much as toucheth the two houses of Scotland and Suffolk and shal do afterwards about the other two of Britanie and Portugal I meane in this place to omit to say any more therin only to consider vvhat the other competitors do alleage against this house of Clarence and especially agaynst the pretence of the earle of Huntington as chiefe titler therof for to the excluding of him do concurr not only those other of opposite houses but also the Pooles of his owne house as now vve shall see First then the contrary houses do alleage generally against al this house of Clarence that seing their clayme is founded only vppon the right of the daughter of George duke of Clarence second brother to K. Edward the fourth euident it is that so long as any lawful issue remayneth of any elder daughter of the said king Edward the elder brother as they say much doth and cannot be denyed no clayme or pretence of the yonger brothers daughter can be admitted and so by standing vppon this and answering to the obiections alleaged before against the elder houses they hold this matter for very cleere and al pretence of this house of Clarence vtterly excluded Secondly the same opposite houses do alleage diuers attainders against the principal heades of the house of Clarence vvherby their vvhole interests vvere cut of as namely it is to be shewed in three discents the one after the other to vvit in duke George himselfe the first head beginner of this house that was attainted and executed and then in the lady Margaret his daughter and heyre countesse of Salisbury and in like manner attaynted and executed thirdly in her sonne and heyre Henry Poole lord Monrague put also to death from vvhose daughters both the earle of Huntington his brethren vvith the children of Syr Thomas Barrington do descende and albeit some may say that the said house of Clarence hath bin since those attainders restored in blood yet reply these men that except it can be shewed that particuler mention was made of reabiliting the same to this pretence of succession to the crowne it vvil not be sufficient as in like manner they affirme that the same restoring in blood if any such were hath not bin sufficiēt to recouer the ancient landes and titles of honor which this house of Clarence had before these attainders for that they were forfeited therby to the crowne and so say these men was their forfeited therby in like manner vnto the next in blood not attainted this prerogatiue of succeeding to the crowne and cannot be restored againe by any general restauration in blood except special mention be made therof euen as vve see that many houses attainted are restored daylie in blood without restoremēt of their titles and dignities and a present example we haue in the earle of Arundel restored in blood but not to the title of duke of Norfolke and this saye the opposite houses against this house of Clarence But now thirdly entreth in also against the earle of Huntington the opposition of some of his owne house vvhich is of the issue of Syr Geffrey Poole brother to his grād father vvho say that vvhen the lord Henry Montague vvas put to death vvith his mother the countesse of Salisbury and therby both their pretences and titles cut of in them then fel al such right as they had or might haue vppō the said Sir Geffry Poole and not vppon his neece the lady Catherin daughter of the lord Henry his elder brother and mother of the earle of Huntingtō and this for three causes First for that he was not attainted and so vvhether we respect his grand-father duke George of Clarence or his great grand father duke Richard of York the saide right in this respect discended to him and secondly for that he vvas a degree neerer to the said dukes his ancestors then vvas at that tyme his neece Catherine vvhich right of neerest propinquitie say these men is made good lawful by al the reasons examples presidēts and authorities alleaged before in the fourth chapter of this conference in fauour of vncles before their nephewes and it shal not neede that vve speake any thing more of that matter in this place but only to remit your remembrance to that vvhich herein hath bin said before Fourthly they proue the same in fauour of Syr Geffrey for that the lady Catherin vvas a vvoman and Syr Geffrey a man vvhose priuilege is so great in a matter of succession as also hath bin touched before that albeit they had bin in equal degree and that Syr Greffrey were not a degree before her as he vvas yet seing neither of thē nor their fathers vvere euer in possessiō of the thing pretended Sir Geffrey should be preferred as hath bin shewed before by some presidents and shal be seene afterward in the case of Portugal wherin the king of Spaine that now is vvas preferred to the crowne for that respect only that his competitors vvere vvomen and in equal degree of discent vvith him and he a man And the very like allegation of propinquitie I haue hard produced for the lady Wenefred vvife of Syr Thomas Barrington if she be yet a-liue to wit that she is before the earle of Huntington and his brethrē by this reason of propinquitie in bloode for that she is one degree neerer to the stock then they Fiftly and lastely both these and other cōpetitors do alleage against the earle of Hūntington as an important and sufficient barr against his pretence the qualitie of his religion vvhich is as they say that he hath bin euer knowne to fauour those which commonly in Ingland are called Puritanes and not fauoured by the state but yet this
before her for that he was a man and of the vvhole blood to the last kings of the house of Lancaster and that she was a vvoman and but of the halfe blood so that three prerogatiues he pretended before her First that he vvas a man and she a vvoman and secondly that he descended of the lawful and elder daughter and she of the yonger brother legitimated and thirdly that he vvas of vvhole blood and she but of halfe and for better fortifying of this proofe of his title these men do alleage a certayne case determyned by the learned of our dayes as they say vvherin for the first of these three causes only the succession to a crowne vvas adiudged vnto king Phillip of Spayne to vvit the succession to the kingdome of Portugal vvhich case was in al respects correspondent to this of ours for that Emanuel king of Portugal had three children for so much as apperteyneth to this affaire for afterward I shal treat more particulerly of his issue that is to say two sonnes and one daughter in this order Iohn Elizabeth and Edward euen as Iohn of Gaunt had Hēry lady Philippe and Iohn Prince Iohn of Portugal first child of king Emanuel had issue an other Iohn and he had Sebastian in whom the line of Iohn the first child vvas extinguished but Iohns sister Elizabeth vvas married to Charles the Emperor had issue K. Phillip of Spayne that now liueth Edward also yōger brother to Elizabeth or Isabel had issue two daughters the one married to the duke of Parma the other to the duke of Bragansa so as king Phillip vvas in equal degree vvith these ladies in respect of king Emanuel for that he vvas sonne to his eldest daughter and the two duchesses vvere daughters to his yonger sonne vppon this rested the question vvhich of these should succeede and it vvas decided that it apperteyneth vnto king Phillip for that he vvas a man and his mother vvas the elder sister though if king Phillips mother and the two duchesses father I meane lord Edward of Portugal had bin aliue together no doubt but that he beinge a mā should haue borne it away vvhich these men say holdeth not in our case but is much more to our aduantage for that it hath bin shewed before that if Queene Phillippe had bin aliue vvith earle Iohn of Somerset at the death of king Henry the sixt she should haue bin preferred as legitimate by birth and therfore much more ought her nephew king Alfonsus to haue bin preferred afterward in that he vvas a man before the neece of the said earle Iohn of Somerset that vvas but a vvoman thus farr they And besides all this they do adde as often before I haue mentioned that king Alfonsus vvas of the vvhole blood vnto al the three king Henries of the house of Lancaster the countesse of Richmond vvas but of the halfe blood and for more strengthening of this argument they do say further that besides that interest or right to the crowne vvhich king Henry the fourth that vvas the first king of the house of Lancaster had by his father Iohn of Gaunt in that the said Iohn vvas third sonne of king Edward the third the said king Henry had diuers other interestes also which came of himselfe only and not from his said father as vvere for example his being called into the realme by general voyce of al the people his right gotten by armes vppon the euil gouerment of the former king the personal resignation and deliuery of the kingdome by solemne instrument made vnto him by king Richard his election also by parlament coronation by the realme and finally the quiet possession of him and his posteritie for almost threescore yeares vvith many confirmations of the whole realme by diuers acts of parlament othes and other assurāces as the world knoweth so many I meane and so autētical as could possibly be deuised or giuen and besides al this that vvhen king Richard vvas dead he vvas next in degree of propinquitie vnto him of any man liuing for that the sonnes of Roger Mortimer vvere two degrees further of then he as hath bin shewed before Al vvhich particuler rightes and interestes vvere peculier to Henry the fourth his person and vvere not in his father Iohn of Gaunt and therfore cannot possibly discend from him left by the last duke of Parma lord Ranutius that is now duke of Parma and lord Edward that is Cardinal and the lady Catherine duchesse of Bragansa that yet liueth hath issue diuers goodly princes as the lord Theodosius that is now duke of Bragansa and three yonger brothers to vvit Edward Alexander and Phillip al yong princes of great expectation and these are the children of king Emanuel vvhose particuler successions and issues I shall declare somwhat more yet in particuler Prince Iohn of Portugall afterward king by name of king Iohn the third had issue an other Iohn that vvas prince of Portugal but dyed before his father and left a sonne named Sebastian vvho vvas king and slayne afterward by the Moores in Barbary and so ended this first lyne The second sonne and fourth childe of king Emanuel vvas named lord Lewis and dyed also vvithout issue legitimate as is supposed for that don Antonio his sonne that afterward vvas proclaymed king by the people of Lisbone and now liueth in Ingland vvas taken by al men to be vnlawful as presently more at large shal be shewed so as after the death of king Sebastian their entred the Cardinal lord Henry vvhich vvas third sonne to king Emanuel and great vncle to king Sebastian lately disceased for that he was brother to king Iohn the third that vvas grand father to king Sebastian and albeit their vvanted not some accordinge as the authors wryte vvhich afterward I shal name vvho affirmed and held that king Phillip of Spayne should haue succeded king Sebastian before the Cardinal for that he vvas neerer in consanguinitie to him then vvas the Cardinal for that besides that king Phillip was sonne of king Emanuels eldest daughter he vvas brother also to king Sebastians mother yet the said Cardinal entred peceably and by consent of al parties but for that he vvas old and vnmarried and not like to leaue any child of his owne there began presently the contention in his dayes vvho should be his successor To vvhich succession did pretende fiue princes of the blood royal of Portugal besides the lady Catherine Queene mother of France who pretended by her mothers side to be discended of one lord Raphe earle of Bulayne in Picardy vvhich Raphe vvas eldest sonne of Alfonsus the third king of Portugal which Alfonsus before he vvas king to wit in the tyme of his elder brother king Sanches of Portugal was married to the countesse and heyre of Bullayn named Mathildis and had by her this Raphe but afterward this Alfonsus comming to be king of Portugal he married agayne
in his description of those countryes the whole wealth and riches of the world seemed to slow thither and I my selfe can remember to haue seene such exceding abundance in very ordinairy men of this country both for their dyet apparrel furniture of house and the like as was wonder ful besides that for their nobilitie they were al great Princes for that euery one had his prouince or great towne in gouerment which they ruled whith that pompe and honor as if they had bin absolute lordes themselues by reason of the farr distance of their supreme Prince and so they were receaued whith publique honor of al citties and townes their charges borne wheresoeuer they passed as such high estates are wont to be And albeit they had euer commonly a strainger for supreme gouernor among them vnder their kinge which bare the name to be aboue them yet did he in deed nothing but as they would haue him and this partly for that his time of gouerment being but short he alwaies attended principally to gett the good willes of the people and to hold them contented and therby to be grat-ful to his king at his returne home and partly also for that if he should attempt to do any thing against their myndes and liking they made reply by their president and Chancelor and other of their owne Councelers residing for the Flemish nation in the court of Spayne for this nation hath alwaies a particuler councel ther about the king as al other forayne nations also haue that are vnder him and by this meanes they obteyned lightly what they would and brought the gouernor to what they pleased so as in effect they were absolute kings in themselues wrought their willes in euery thing this in that tyme while the country was quiet But now since their reuolt which hath indured almose these foure or fiue and twenty yeares what hath succeded surely their hath not a quarter so many bin punished or put to death in al these yeares by order of Iustice of their king absent as before I haue shewed that there were in one day by their owne earles and dukes when they were present that vppon far lesse occasion and cause giuen then are these for if we take away the two noble men Egmond and Horne put to death at the beginning of these Flemish troobles by the duke of Alua for which some men say also that he had no thanke afterward by the king no man of importance hath bin since executed and the cheefest townes that haue bin and are agaynst the king in Holland and Zeland are suffred vntil this day to traffique freely into Spayne and yet we know that for a little beginning of a certayne tumult this last yeare past in Spayne it selfe to wit in the kingdome of Aragon many heades haue bin stroken of and much iustice done where of then riseth this differēce no doubt for that the Flemmings are straingers far of and the other neere at home natural borne so as this circumstance of being a stranger and dwelling far of doth them great pleasure and giueth them priuilege aboue the homborne subiects The like I might shew for this matter of punishment in the fore said states of Italie where if a mā do compare the number of them that were put to death pulled downe or afflicted by order of Iustice and other wise at the commandement of the Prince in tyme of their owne home-borne kings with that which hath bin since especially of the nobility you shal not finde one for twenty and the reason of this is for that their owne kings were absolute and had to giue accompt to no man of their doings and for that they were men and had their passions and emulations with the nobilitie and might put the same in execution without accompt or controlment they pulled downe set vp at their pleasure and made oftentymes but a iest of noblemens liues and deathes but now these that are gouernours viceroyes for a forraine prince first they haue not so great authority or comission as to touch any such principal persons liues whithout giuing relation therof first vnto their king councel and receaue againe particuler order for the same and then they knowing that after their three yeares gouermēt is ended they must be priuate men againe and stay their 40. dayes as subiects vnder the next new gouernour to giue a reconning of their doings against al that shal accuse them which in these countryes they call to make their residence they take heede what they doe and whom they offend so as the condition of nobility is far different vnder such a strainge gouerment as this is termed then vnder a natural Prince of their owne country which oppresseth them at his pleasure But now to draw neer homward if we wil examine and considerer what hath passed in Ingland in this point of massacring our nobility by our domestical Princes it is a matter lamentable for it may seeme that they haue serued oftentymes for our Princes to make disport to play whith their heades And to let passe al those which in tyme of warres rebellions comotions haue bin cut of which occasions may seeme more iustifiable I do read also in our chronicles that 2 Sangue freddo as the Italian sayth that is to say in tyme of peace and by execution of iustice at the Princes appoyntment these noblemen following and knyghts by name were put to death with in the space of one fiue yeares in king Henry the fourth his dayes The duke of Excester the duke of Surrey the Archbis hop of Yorke the earles of Salisbury of Glocester of Worcester and of Huntington The earle mowbray earle marshal The Baron of Kinderton S. Roger Clarington bastard sonne of Edward the black Prince S. Thomas Blunr S. Barnard Rocas S. Richard Vernon And agayne soone aftervnder king Edward the fourth in almost whith in as litle space The dukes of Somerset and of Excester The earles of Deuonshire of Oxford and of Keyns The Lord Rosse the Lord Molyns S. Thomas Tudingham S. Phillip Wentworth S. Thomas fyndam and many others afterward for this was but at the beginning of his reigne which number of nobility if a man should haue seene them aliue together with their traynes before they had bin put downe he would haue said they had bin a very goodly company pitiful that so many of our owne nobilitie should be brought by our own Princes to such confusion But yet this matter may seeme perhapps the lesse maruelous and more excusable vnder those two kings for that troobles and contentions had passed a little before in the realme about the succession and heervppon so many of the nobility might be cut of but let vs see then what ensued afterwards when thinges were established and al doubt of contention about the succession taken away as in king Henry the eight his dayes it was and yet do
I finde registred in our chronicles these persons following either made away cutt of or put downe by the said king to wit two Queenes Anne and Catherin Three Cardinales put downe and disgraced Wolsy Poole and fysher vvherof the last vvas behedded soone after his dignity giuen him in Rome and the first vvas arrested the second attaynted of imagined treasons Three dukes put downe to vvit the noble dukes of Buckingham Suffolk and Norfolke wherof the last lost his lands dignities and libertie only the former two both Landes liues A marques with two earles beheaded Deuonshire kyldare and Surray tvvo Countesses condemned to dye Deuonshire and Salisbury and the latter executed Lordes many as the Lorde Darcy the Lorde Hussy the Lorde Montagne the Lorde Leonard Gray the Lord Dacres of the south the Lord Cromwel and six or seuen Abbots Kinghtes also in great number as fiue in one day vvith the Lords Hussy and Darcy and fiue in an other day with the earle os kildare whose vncles they vvere and besides them S. Thomas Moore S. Rice Griffith S. Edward Neuel S. Iohn Neuel S. Nicholas Carew S. Adrian fortescue and diuers other kinghts of great accompt then gentlemen almost vvithout end And al these within the space of 20 yeares of his reigne and in the tyme of peace and yf we looke vppon but fower or fiue yeares together of the reigne of this mans children we shal see the like course continued for we shal see put to death within the space of foure yeares al these following by name The duke of Somerset the duke of Suffolk the duke of Northumberland and the L. Admiral of Ingland S. Miles Partrige S. Raphe Vane S. Michel Stanhope S. Thomas Arondel S. Iohn Gates S. Thomas Palmer kinghtes with diuers othet gentlemen of there retinew and al these by natural domestical and homborne Princes whereas I dare to aduenture the greateft wager that I can make that you shal not finde so many put to death of the nobility by any strainge Prince state or common wealth christian in any forrayne dominion that they possesse in many ages together and the reason therof is euident by that I said before neither were it pollicy or wisdome nor could the causes be so often nor ordinarily giuen by the nobility to a Prince that were absent from them to vse suche seueritie so as by this it may also appeare that to be vnder a forraine gouerment euen in the woorst kinde therof that can be deuised which is to be as a prouince or peece of an other kingdome and to come vnder it by very conquest it selfe is not so dangerous a matter as at the first shew it may seeme and much lesse to be vnder forraine gouerment by other sweeter meanes of succession or composition as the present case of Ingland seemeth to import in respect of those foraine Princes which do pretende to the succession therof And this is not only shewed and declared by the state and condition of Flanders before their tumultes but in like manner it is seene by the present state of Britanie Normandie Aquitaine Prouence and other dukedomes and countries in France that were wont to haue their owne particuler Princes and novv are much more commodiously vnder the crowne of France The like is seene by the states of Naples Millan Sicilie Sardinia other parts and countryes of Italie which were wont to be vnder kings and Princes of their owne and now are vnder the crownes of Aragon and Castile with infinite oddes of peace rest security and welth then they were before when they had domestical Princes and so themselues do confesse I meane the wise dis-passionate among them for of the vulgar in this case no accompt is to be made and if they should deny it yet the thing speaketh it selfe and the publique stories of their countryes would conuince them wherin it is to be read what Phalaris what Dionisius other homeborne tyrants Sicilie for example hath had and suffred and what infinite crueltie they and diuers others of their owne gouernours haue exercised vppon them as also what continuall turmoyles there were in the cittie of Naples in all that kingdome for many yeares together after it fel from the gouerment first of the Roman Empire and then of the Grecian vntil it came to the crowne of Aragon I meane betweene their owne domestical kings now of the bloode of Italians now of the Normans now of the Hungarians now of the french for of al these lines their haue reigned among them and the realme was a perpetual pray to souldiars and the very like may be said of Millan after their fal from the Roman Empire vnder which they liued quiet prosperously vntil they came againe to be vnder the crowne of Spayne they passed infinite tribulations first by the contention of their common people against their nobility and then by the bloody falling out of their chiefe families the one against the other to wit the Furiani Visconti Marcelli Mirabelli Castilioni and Sforzi which familie last of al preuayled he I say that shal remember this and then behold the present state with the quiet peace saftie and riches wherin they now liue wil easely confesse that they haue changed for the better though they be vnder forraine gouerment and thus much of this pointe Their remayneth to speake a woord or two about the second part of the question before proposed and included partly in this which alredy hath bin treated to wit whether it be better to be vnder a little or great king which question though it may be decided in parte by that which before hath bin alleaged about being vnder a forraine Prince yet more particulerly to make the same playne these men do saye that the reasons be many and euident to proue that the subiection to a great mightie monarch is far better first for that he is best able to defend and protect his subiects and secondly for that he hath least need ordinarily to pill and pole them for that a little king be he neuer so meane yet must he kepe the state of a king and his subiects must maynteyne the same and if they be but few the greater vvil the burthen be of euery one in particuler and thirdly for that a great and potent Prince hath more to bestow vppon his subiects for reward of vertue and valour then hath a poore Prince and seing that euery particuler subiect borne within his Princes dominions is capable of al the preferments vvhich his Princes state or kingdome do yeeld if he be worthy of the same it is a great prerogatiue say these men to be borne vnder a potent Prince that hath much to giue vvhich they declare by this example follovving A man that is borne in the citie of Genua or Geneua for both are cityes and states within themselues let him be of vvhat ability or worthines soeuer yet can he hope for
therof but rather of Arbella whom the Lord Treasoreris sayd especially to fauour at this present though for himselfe it be held somvvhat doubtful whether he be more fast to the protestant or to the puritan but if the protestant partye should be deuided then their forces wil be the lesse The authority of her maiestie is that which at this present ouer beareth al whē that shal fayle no man knoweth what the euent vvilbe for that now mens hartes are hardly descerned There forrayne frends and allies are of good number especially if the king of France proceed well in his affayres and do not in deede change his religion as he pretendeth that he wil but yet if the puritan do stande against them he is like to pull much from them both in France and Holland and as for Scotland it must needes be agaynst them both and this in respect of his owne pretence except the same be fauoured by them I meane by these two factions in Ingland which is hardly thought that any of them both wil do for the reasons before alleaged though some more hope may be that way of the puritan then of the protestant by reason of the said kings neernes to them in religion The puritan is more generally fauoured through-out the realme with al those vvhich are not of the Roman religion then is the protestant vppon a certayne general perswasion that his profession is the more perfect especially in great townes where preachers haue made more impression in the artificers and burgesses then in the country people And among the protestants themselues al those that are lesse interessed in Ecclesiastical liuings or other preferments depending of the state are more affected commonly to the puritans or easily are to be induced to passe that way for the same reason The person most fauoured by the puritans hitherto in common voice and opinion of men hath bin the earle of Huntington some speech of late of some diminution therin and that the Lord Beacham since his marriage hath entred more in affection with them The king of Scotts no doubt if he were not a strainger and had not the difficulties before mentioned were for his religion also very plausible I do not heare that the earle of Darby or his mother is much forward with these or with the protestant though of the later sort some are snpposed to vvish them vvell The frendes allies of the puritan abroade are the same that are of the Protestant to wit those of Holland and Zealand and such townes of France as follow the new king and ioyntly haue chainged their religion which are not many for that his greatest forces are yet those of the Roman Religion but yet if the sayd king preuaile and perseuer in his religion which of late as I haue sayde is called in doubt by his often protestations to the contrary and open going to masse then wil he be able to giue good assistance thoughe both these countryes I meane both Holland and France are liker in some mens opinions to assist the puritan then the protestant if the matter come in difference betweene them for that in truth they are more conforme to the puritan religion And as for the German citties that kepe yet and follow the particuler forme of Luther in religion they are like to do little for either partye both for their difference from both partyes in religion and for that they are poore for the most part and not actiue nor prouided to giue succur abroad except they be drawne thervnto by force of money The Puritan parte at home in Ingland is thought to be most vigorouse of any other that is to say most ardent quick bold resolute and to haue a great part of the best Captaines and souldiers on their side which is a pointe of no smal moment Greatly wil import among other poyntes which waye inclineth the cittye of London with the tower wherof the puritan as is sayde wanteth not his probability as neither doth he of some good part if not more of the nauy to be at his deuotion which point perhapps at that day vvilbe of as greate consequence as any thing els so much of him The third body of religion which are those of the Roman who cal thēselues Catholiques is the least in shew at this present by reason of the lawes and tydes of the tyme that runne agaynst them but yet are they of no smal consideration in this affaire to him that weigheth thinges indifferently and this in respect as wel of their partye at home as of their frends abroade for at home they being of two sortes as the vvorld knoweth the one more open that discouer themselues which are the recusants and the other more close and priuy that accommodate themselues to al external proceedings of the tyme and state so as they cannot be knowne or at least wise not much touched we may imagine that their nūber is not smal throughout the realme and this partly for the reason I mentioned before in that the most part of the country people that liue out of cittyes and great townes in which the greatest part of Inglish forces are wont to consist are much affected ordinarily to their religion by reason that preachers of the contrarie religion are not so frequent with them as in townes and partly also for that with these kinde of men as with them that are most afflicted and held downe at this tyme by the present state many other do ioyne as the manner is omnes qui amaro animo sunt cum illis se coniungunt as the scripture sayd of those that followed Dauids retinew pursued by Saul and his forces which is to say that al that be offended greued or any way discontented with the present tyme be they of what religion soeuer do easely ioyne with these men according to the old saying Solatium est miseris socios habere miseriae besides that their is euer lightly a certaine natural cōpassion that followeth in men towards those that are thought to suffer or be pursued and this oftentymes in the very enimye himselfe and then of compassion springeth as you know affection and of affection desire to helpe as contrary wise do rise commonly the contrary effects to vvitt emulation enuy and indignation against the prosperity of him that pursueth and is in prosperitie And for that in so great and populous a realme and large a gouerment as this of her maiestie hath byn there cannot want to be many of these kinde of discōtented mē asalso for that naturally many are desirous of changes it cannot be supposed but that the number of this sorte is great which maketh this party far the bigger Moreouer it is noted that the much dealing with these men or rather against them this especially in matters of their religion for these later yeares past hath much stirred them vp as also the like is to be
their owne and Ireland and Scotland is not far of vvhere frendship perhapps in such a case might be offred and finally in this poynte of abillity great oddes is their seene betweene these Lordes As for their religion I cannot determyne what difference their is or may be betweene them The Lord Beacham by education is presumed to be a protestant albeit some hold that his father and father in law be more inclined towards the Puritans The earle of Darbyes religion is held to be more doubtful so as some do thinke him to be of al three religions and others of none and these agayne are deuided in iudgments about the euent heerof for that some do imagin that this opinion of him may do him goode for that al sides heerby may perhapps conceaue hope of him but others do persuade themselues that it vvil do him hurt for that no side in deede will esteeme or trust him so as al these matters with their euents and consequences do remayne vncertaine But now will I passe to speake of the house of Clarence the cheefe persons wherof and most emynent at this day are the earle of Huntington and his bretheren the Hastings for that the Pooles and Barringtons are of far meaner condition and authoritie albeit the other also I meane the house of Hastings doth not seme to be of any great allyance for that albeit the old earle of Huntington this earles father had two brethren the one S. Thomas Hastings that married one of the Lord Henry Pooles daughters named Lord montague that was put to death which daughter was sister to this earles mother and the other named S. Edward Hastings vvas made Lord of Lowghborow by Queene Mary to whom he was first master of the horse and afterward Lord Chamberland neither of them hauing left issue and this is al I remember by his fathers side except it be his owne brethren as hath bin said of which S. George Hastings is the cheefest By his mothers side he hath only the Pooles whose power as it is not great so what it is is rather lyke to be agaynst him then with him partly for their difference from him in religion and partly for preferment of their owne title vppon the reasons before alleaged By his owne marriage with the daughter of the late duke of Northumberland and sister to the late earles of Lecester and Warwicke he was lyke to haue drawne a very great strong alliance if the said two earles had liued and especially S. Phillip Sidney who was borne of the other sister of the present Countesse of Huntington and his owne sister was married to the earle of Penbroke that now is himselfe to the daughter of S. Francis Walsingham cheefe secretary of the state by al which meanes and by al the affection and power of the party puritan and much of the protestant this earle was thought to be in very great forwardnes But now these great pillers being fayled and no issue yet remayning by the said Countesse his wife no man can assure himselfe what the successe wil be especially seing that of the three bodyes of different religions before described it is thought that this earle hath incurred deeply the hatred of the one and perhapps some ielousy and suspition of the other but yet others do say and no doubt but that it is a matter of singular importance if it be so that he is lyke to haue the whole power of London for him which citty did preuaile so much in aduancing the title of Yorke in king Edward the fourth his tyme as it made him king twise to wit once at the beginning when he first apprehended and put downe king Henry the sixt and the second tyme vvhen he being driuen out of the kingdome by his brother the duke of Clarence and Richard earle of Warwicke he returned from Flanders vppon hope of the fauour of the Londoners and was in deede receaued fauoured and set vp agayne by them especially and by the helps of kent and other places adioyning and depending of London and so it may be that the fauourers of this earle do hope the like successe to him in tyme by this potent cittie For the houses of Britanny and Portugal I shal ioyne them both together for that they are straingers and the persons therof so nigh linked in kynred affinitie frendship as both their tittles forces and fauours may easely be ioyned together and imparted the one with the other as to themselues shal best appeare conuenient The lady Infanta of Spayne pretendent of the house of Britanie is eldest daughter of king Phillip as al the world knoweth and dearly beloued of him and that worthely as al men report that come from thence for that she is a princesse of rare partes both for bewty wisdome and pietie The two yong Princes of Parma I meane both the duke and his brother the Cardinal are ympes in like manner of great expectation and diuers wayes neere of kynn to the said king for that by their fathers side they are his nephewes that is the childeren of his sister and by their mothers side almoost as neere for that they are the nephewes of his vncle Prince Edward Infant of Portugal In lyke neernes of blood are the Duchesse of Bragansa and her children vnto the said king which children are many as hath bin shewed and al of that rare vertue and valor and of that singuler affection vnto the English natiō as it is wonderful to heare what men write from those partes and what others do reporte that haue trauayled Portugal and seene those Princes and tasted of their magnificente liberality so as I haue hard diuers reioyse that are affected that way to vnderstand that their do remayne such noble ofsping yet in forrayne countryes of the true and ancient blood royal of Ingland What the powers and possibilities of al these Princes of the house of Portugal be or may be heerafter for pursuyng their right shal not neede to be declared in this place for that al the world doth know and see the same yet al seemeth to depend of the heade roote which is the king of Spayne himselfe and the yonge Prince his sonne whose states and forces how and where they lye what allyance frendes subiects or followers they haue or may haue it is easy to consider but what part or affection of men they haue or may haue heerafter in Ingland it selfe when tyme shal come for the determyning of this matter no man can tell at this present and what plotts agreements compartitions or other conclusions may be made at that day tyme only must teach vs so as now I know not well what to say further in this affaire but only commend it to Gods highe prouidence and therefore I pray you quoth the Lawyer let me ende with this only that alredy I haue saide and pardon me of my former promisse to put my
nephevves The case of succession to Portugal The proper interest of K. Henry the 4. cānot discend to king Hēry the 7. Issue of K. Iohn the 3. of Portugal L. Levves father of Don Antonio King Hen ry Cardinal The pretence of the Queene mother in France to Portugal Fiue pretenders of the Grovvne of Portugal The contention about the succession of Portugal Atturneyes sent to Portugal sentēce of illegitimation against Don Antonio VVriters of this cō trouerfie 1. The 〈◊〉 vvhy don Antonio vvas pronounced illegitimate 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Don Antonio his pretēce to Ingland Three principall pretenderes of Por tugal Pretence of the duke of Parma K. Phillippes pre tence to Portugal Diuers allegations for king Phillip Hieron Fraki lo Pet. VipeIanus The case of pretece of the hovvle of Portugal to Ingland An obiection vvith the ansvver Obiections against the pretenders of Portugal Ansvvers Note this By vvhat title king Hēry the 7. did enter About forrayne povver in Ingland About forrayne gouerment The occa sion of the next chapter about foraine gouerment Reasons against forraine gouerment Polit. Arist. Demosthenis Philipicae in AEfhines Attēptes to deliuer realmes from strāgers Quint. Curt. li 5. 6. de gest Alex. Vespere Sicilianae an 1265. Leand. in descript Siciliae Polyd. li. 〈◊〉 Hollings in vit Camiti The rage of the french against Inglish The conclusion against 〈◊〉 Authority of scripture against strangers Deus 15. The ansvvere in defence of fortaine gouerment The effect of go uerments to be con sidered not the gouernours An example Lytle importeth the subiect of vvhat country his go uernour is so he be good 〈◊〉 Reg. 12 Not the country but the good gouerment importeth Note these examples VVho are properly straingers Diuers manners of being vnder strangers To be vnder Strangers by Coquest Hovv Cōquerors doe proceede tovvards the Conquered Polydor Virg. lib. 8 histot 〈◊〉 Clemēcie of the Romans Lib. 5. Mechab cap. 8. Strangers most fauoured to vvise gouerments Gascoynes Britons Candians States of Italie The condition of Irish vnder the Inglish Of the states of Flanders Girard du Hailan lib. 18. an 1381. Prosperity of Flanders vnder the hovvse of Austria Io. Guicciard nella descrittione delli pasi bassi The anthority of the Fleminges at home The indulgence vsed to offenders in Flanders The Spaniard punis heth lesse in Italie thē 〈◊〉 home Viceryes do giue accompt of ther gouerment Much slaughter of nobility in Ingland Executiō of nobility by Hēry the eight Vnder King Edvvard and Queene Mary States gouerned happely by torrayne Princes Old afflictions of Naples Millan VVhether a great or little Prince be better An exam ple to shevv the former diffetēce Pedro Mexia en vit de Antonino Pio. The felicity of the Romā gouermēt The seeōd vvaye of being vnder a forraine Prince A fortayne Prince vvithout forces not preiudicial Note this vtilitie 〈◊〉 a forayne king The māner of forayne Prince more cōmodious for the present A third vvay of being vnder forraine gouerment Dangers of domes tical gouerment Inconueniences of this go uerment Strang gouer nours desired in some Realines The ansvver to 〈◊〉 against forrayne gouermēt Ansvver to the Grecian Philosophers aud orators Demosthenes The trooblesome state of the Grecian cittyes Arist. l. 2. polit c 1. 〈◊〉 2. Ansvver to the obiectiō out of Deutronomye Deut. 15. Secōdary Lines Ambiguite of preuailinge Tvvo groundes of probabilitie of speeding Three religions in Ingland The greate importance of religion in this actions The Cleargie The Coūcell and nobilitic Persons designed or fauoured by the protestant partie Foraayne frends of the protestants Of the party Putitan Persons affected by the Puritans External frends 〈◊〉 The Puritan at home Those of the Romā Religion The Roman partye great vvhy 1. Reg. 234 Effects of pressing an religiō Frends allies abroade The Lordes Beacham the earle of Darby Alliance of the earle of Darby Alliance of the Seymers Alliance of the Stanleys Alliāce of the old countesse of Darby The states of the Lord Beacham and the earle of Darby Religion of these Lords The earle of Huntington Alliāce of the earle of Huntington The povver of London Polydor. 24. Hollingshod in vita Henrici 6. The houses of Britaine and Portugal Infanta of Spayne Duke of Parma The duke of Bragansa Povver of forrayne pretēders The 1. Cōiecture that their vvilbe vvarre vvhye 1. 2. 3. 4. Sup. c. 4. 5. 6. A consideration to be marked The secōd cōiecture no mayn battayle probable 2. The third coniecture vvho is lykest to preuaile For the Infanta of Spayne For the earle of Hartfords seconde sonne 1. Sup. c. 〈◊〉 2. 3. For the children of the Coūtesse of Darbie 1. Garibay l. a5 c. 36. Polydor in rit Steph. 3.