out of zeal to the Romane Religion a little before he had taken up Arms with the Rebells and exhorting the Earl of Ormond his neighbour to do the like who drew his Linage from St. Thomas of Canterbury he used these wârds to perswade him That if Saint Thomas of Canterbury had not dyed for the Church of ROME thou hadst never been Earl of Ormond for King HENRY the second to expiate the murther of THOMAS BâCKET gave large Lands in Ormond to his Predecessors The beginning of the next Spring certain Scots together with Gowry plotted again to surprize the King pretending onely a care of Religion and to remove ill Councellors from him but the King having intelligence of their practise used means by Colonell Steward to have Gââry taken and cast into prison whereupon Marre Glames Angus and other of the confederates flie into England and beseech the Queen to commiserate their estate who had incurred the Kings displeasure to do her and the Kingdom of England service The King on the other side accuseth them to the Queen of haynous crimes and requires to have them delivered up into his hands But Secretary Walsingham who bore great good will to these men sent Letters with a Command That they should be safely admitted into Linds Ferme otherwise called The holy Island where Huâsdon being Governouâ there and great addicted to the King of Scots resisted Walsinghams Command alleadging he could not satisfie the Secretary in this point unlesse the Queen gave expresse Command Hereupon grew a Dispute Whether a Secretary of State might not transact a businesse of State without speciall Commission from the Prince How this Case was determined is uncertain but sure it is the Scots came not thither though some favour they had shewed them here in England In the mean time Gowry was tryed by his Peers at Sâeclyn where being accused of many Treasons though he gave colourable answers to them all yet was found guilty condemed and beheaded whose head his servants sewing to his body committed to the Grave About this time were practises plotted against Queen Elizabeth in behalf ãâã the Queen of Scots chiefly by Francis Throgmorton eldest son of Iohn ââââgmorton Justice of Chester who came to be suspected by reason of âetters sent to the Queen of Scots which were intercepted Upon his apâââhension Thomas Lord Paget and Charles Arundel privately stole away ãâã France grievously complaining against Leicester and Walsingham for ââienating the Queen from them and using such wiles that scarce any mân was able to live in safety Henry Earl of Northumberland and Philip Earl of Arundel were confined to their houses his wife committed to the ââstody of Sir Thomas Shirley William Howard the Earls brother and Heâây Howard their Unkle brother to the Duke of Norfolk were examined about Letters from the Queen of Scots and many Statagems were set on foot dangerous to some particular persons but necessary as should ãâã for the Queens security Certain it is That now the malice of the Papists against the Queen brake forth more violently than ever before for in printed Books they stirred up the Queens own servants to âttempt the like upon her that Iudith did on Olephernes The Author of these Books could not be found but the suspition lay upon one Gâegory Martin sometime of Oxford and Carter a Statioâer who printed the Books suffered for it And whereas the Papists every where ââaduced the Queen for cruelty she desirous alwayes to leave a blessed ââmembrance behinde her grew extremely offended with the Commissioners for Popish causes taxing them of too much cruelty insomuch that they were fain in a printed Declaration to cleer themselves protesting That they questioned no man for his Religion but onely for dangerous attempts against the Queen and Stateâ and that Cââpian himself was never so Racked but that he could presently walk up and down But all this gave not the Queen satisfaction but she commanded the Commissioners to forbear tortures and the Judges other âuâishments and not long after when seventy Priests were taken and some of them condemned and the rest in danger of the Law she caused them all to be Shipped away and sent out of England The chief of whom were Gaspar Heywood the great Epigrammatist's son the first âesuite that ever set foot in England Iames Bâsgrave Iohn Hart and Edâââd Rishton At this time Mendoza the Spanish Ambassadour was thrust out of England for joyning with Throgmorton in his Treason against the Queen whereupon Sir William Waad was sent to the King of Spain to satisfie him how ill Mendoza had discharged the Office of an Ambassadour here in England who when the King admitted him not to his Presence but in a slighting manner putting him off to his Councellors Waad taking it in great disdain boldly said That it was a declared Custome among Princes though in heat of War to give Ambassadours audience and thereupon stouâly refused to ââclare his Ambassage and so returned into England unheard The greatest matters laid to Mendoza's charge were gottân out of Throgmorton's Confession for when he was in danger to be apprehended he sent to Mendoza a box of Writings and when his Châsts were searched there were found two Scrowls one with the names of the Ports of England and in the other the names of the Nobility and Gentry in England that favoured the Romish Religion These when Thâogmorton saw brought forth he said they were counterfeited and âtood to it upon the very Rack but being brought to the Rack the second timeâ he then confessed all That Morgan by Letters out of France had given him information that the Catholike Princes had decreed to invade England and with the help of the Duke of Guise to free the Q. of Scots and that nothing was now wanting but mony ayd in England and that for procuring of this Charls Paâeâ under the counterfeit name of Mope was sent into Sussex where the Duke of Guise intended to land and that he had imported all this matter to Mendoza and intimated the names of the Ports and of the Noble-men that should assist But being arraigned at the Guild-hall he denyed all this again saying He had spoken so because he would not be Racked again Yet being condemned to die he flying to the Queens mercy confessed in a manner all he had before relatedâ and then at the Gallows went about to deny it again So false to it self is the minde of man when it is divided between hope and fear and lies under the burden of a guilty conscience Sir William Wade being returned from Spain was employed to the Queen of Scots about a Treaty begun two years before To whom the distressed Queen sincerely professed That she devoted her service and her selfe to the Queen of England and made solemne promise That if the former Treaty might go on she would mediate with the King her Son to receive into favour the Earl of Angus and the other Scottish Lords and would charge
VERA EFFIGIES EXCELLENTISSIMI PRINCIPIS CAROLI MAG BRITAN FRAN. HIBERNIAE HAEREDIS Viuat ô Viuat Princeps CAROLINUS et Orbi Imperet inÌumeris decorans sua sêcla Triumphis Flourish braue Prince out shine thy Glorious Name Triumphant Laurels ever Crowne thy Fame CAROLUS inter Reges ut Lilium inter Flores VEROLAM LINCOâââ LONDON YORK A ROMAN A SAXON A DANE A NOââââ CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND From the Time of the ROMANS Goverment unto the Raigne of our Soveraigne LORD KING CHARLES Containing all Passages of State Church With all other Observations proper for a CHRONICLE Faithfully Collected out of Authours Ancient and Moderne digested into a new Method By Sr R. Baker Knight LONDON Printed for Daniel Frere and are to be sold at his Shop at the Red Bull in Little Brittaine 1643. To the High and Mighty Prince CHARLES Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornewall Eldest Sonne of our Soveraigne Lord CHARLES King of Great Britaine France and IRELAND SIR THE Dedication of Chronicles hath in all times been thought worthy of the greatest Princes Gulielmus Gemiticensis writ a Chronicle of the Dukes of Normandy and Dedicated it to William the Conquerour Thomas Walsingham writ a Chronicle of the Kings of England and Dedicated it to King Henry the sixth And of late time Sir Francis Bacon Viscount Saint Albans and Lord Chancellour of England writ a History of the Reigne of King Henry the seventh and Dedicated it to Your Royall Grand-Father of blessed memory King Iames For indeed as nothing makes Princes more Illustrious then Learning So no Learning makes them more Judicious then History Other Learning may fill their mindes with knowledge This onely with Judgement And seeing it is Judgement that must sit as President over all their Actions it is fit that History should sit as President over all their Studies History gives an Antedate to Time and brings Experience without gray haires Other Knowledges make You but see Quod antepedes est History is the true perspective Glasse that will make You see things afarre off And though it make not men to become Prophets yet it makes their conjectures to be little lesse then Oraclesâ But most Illustrious Prince there accrues to your Highnesse by this Chronicle a greater benefit then all this For if it were an Excitation of great force to vertue to have it said Et Pater Aeneas Avunculus excitet Hector of how great Force must it needes be when You shall reade the Noble Acts of so many your worthy Progenitors Some Eternized for their valourous Atchievements in Warre Some for their prudent government in Peace Some Renowned for Mercy some for Justice And although the Example of your Royall Father be not amongst them yet it may be sufficient that while you have the Acts of others upon Record you have his under View by which he seemes to say unto you Disce Puer virtutem exme verumque laborem Fortunam ex aliis And if in any of your Progenitors there appeare as it were Maculae in Orbe Lunae will it not invite you to a higher Orbe that Your Actions may shine with the clearer Beames and then how happy will the eyes be that shall see you sitting in your Throne For my selfe I should account it happinesse enough that I have lived to see the dayes of your Illustrious Father if it were not a great unhappines to see them overcast with clouds yet when these clouds shal be dispel'd will it not make him shine with the greater Splendor And this as old as I am I doubt not to live my selfe to see and having once seene it shal then willingly say my Nunc Dimittis and lâave the joy of your glorious times for another Age In the meane time prostrating my self humbly at your feet and wishing to your Highnesse as Dâiphobus did to Aeneas I Decus I Nostrum Melioribus utere Fatis Your most humble and most devoted Servant RICHARD BAKER An Epistle to the READER THis Booke I suppose will no sooner come abroad but the question will be asked why any man would take so superfluous a Labour to write that which hath been written by so many by some so copiously by some so elegantly that nothing can be added To which Objection I confesse my selfe unable to make a better Answer then by President For when many excellent men had written the Story of the Roman Emperours both accurately and eloquently yet Suetonius Tranquillus comming after them wanted not his part of Commendation For though he added nothing in the matter or substance yet be altered much in the forme and disposition distinguishing that into Classes and Chapters which the former had delivered in one continued Narration as being both lesse tedious to the Reader like a way marked out by Miles and more plainly Informing where Distinction tooke away confusion Besides many have Written the Reignes of our English Kings copiously indeed but so superfluously that much may justly be pared away Some againe Elegantly indeed but so succinctly that much as justly may be added And this if I have endevoured to doe I cannot be blamed If done it I deserve acceptance Againe where many have written the Reignes of some of our Kings excellently as in the way of History yet I may say they have not done it so well in the way of Chronicle For whilst they insist wholly upon matters of State they wholly omit meaner Accidents which yet are Materials as proper for a Chronicle as the other For my selfe if in some places I be found to set downe whole passages as they are already set downe by others and may seeme rather to transcribe then to write yet this I suppose may be excused as being all of one common stocke and no matter from whence the water comes so it come cleane to the Readers use Lastly for the Worke it selfe I dare be bold to say that it hath beene Collected out of Authours both Ancient and Moderne with so great care and diligence that if all other Chronicles should be lost yet this onely would be sufficient to informe Posterity of all passages memorable or worthy to be knowne which of any other generall Chronicle cannot perhaps be said RICHARD BAKER A CATALOGVE OF VVRITERS BOTH ANCIENT AND MODERNE Out of whom this CHRONICLE hath beene Collected 1 GIldas Britannicus surnamed the Wise was the first writer of our English Nation who amongst other his Workes writ a Treatise De Excidio Britanniae He was borne in the year 493. and dyed in the yeare 580. 2 Nennius a Monke of Bangor writ the Story of Britaine and lived about the yeare 620. 3 Venerable Bede a Saxon and a Priest writ the Ecclesiasticall Story of the English Nation from the comming in of Julius Caesar to the yeare 733. about which time he dyed 4 Ethelwardus a writer next to Bede the most ancient writ a generall Chronicle from the Creation to the end of King Edgar 5 Radulphus de Diceto
his fault shall deserve The Bishop alleâdged for himself That he had not violated the Right of ân Ambassadour Via Iuris but Vââ Factâ to use his own words and therefore adviseth them not to use harder measure to him then was used to the English Ambassadours ãâ¦ã in France Rândoll and Tâmwoâth in Scotland who had raised Rebellions there and were open Abettors of the same and yet had no greater punishment then to be gone at a time limitted When they began to urge him what the English had testified against him he lovingly requested them to give no credit to itâ forasmuch as by a received Custome which hath the force of a Law The Testimony of an English man against a Scot or of a Scot against an English man is not to be admitted but after some other altercations the Bishop is led away to the Tower and kept close prisoner At this very season Matthew Earl of Lenox Regent of Scoââand the Kings Grand-father was by the adverse party set upon at unawares who having yeelded himself to David Spense of Wormester that was then very carefull to defend him together with him was slain by Bell and Câulder when with great industry he had governed the Kingdom for his Grand-childe about fourteen months In whose room Iohn Areskin Earl of Marâe by common consent of the Kings Faction was chosen Regent of Scotland who being a man of a quiet disposition through extreme grief of the mâny troubles he sustained in the place departed this life when he had governed thirteen months And now a Parliament was held at Westminster wherein besides a Law for preventing of the treacherous endeavours of seditious subjects another Law was made That if any one during the Queens life by Books written or printed shall expressely affirm That any iâ or ought to be the Heir or Successor of the Queen besides the naturall Off-spâing of her Body or shall to that purpose publish print or dispersâ any Book or Schedules he and his favourârs shall for the first offence suffer a yeers imprisonment and the losse of one half of his goods and if they offend again they shall be in a Prâmunirâ A Law also was made by which to be reconciled to the Sea of Rome was made Treason and it was pronounced against the Queen of Scots That if she offended again against the Laws of England it might be lawfull to question her as the wife of a Peer of the Kingdom of England But here the Queen interposed her Authority and would not suffer it to be enacted About this time in May a solemn Tilting was performed at Westminster where thâ Challengers were Edward Earl of Oxford Charles Howard Sir Henry Lee and Chriâââpher Hattân Esquire who all did valiantly but the Earl of Oxford best Assoon as the Parliament was dissolved a Consultation was held Wheâher Iohn Story Doctor of the Laws the Duke D'Alva's Searcher who somtime before was by a wile brought into England being an Englishman born and having in Braâant consulted with a forâaign Prince about the invading of England were to be held guilty of high Treason It was resolved aâfirmatively whereupon he is called to the Bar and indicted of Treasonâ That he had consulted with one Presâall a Conjurer to make away the Queen That he cursed her dayly when he said Grace at Table That he shewed a way to the Secretary of Duke D'Alva how to invade England c. where he affirming That the Judges had no power to meddle with him for that he bâlonged not to the Queen of England but was the King of Spain's sworn subjectâ is neverthelesse condemned by the Foâm of Nihil dicit forasmuch as no man can renounce the Country wherin he was born nor abjure his Prince at his own pleasure and finally executed after the manner of Trayâors Ireland at this time was indifferent quieâ for Sir Iohn Perot President of Munster had brought Iames Fitz Morris to submit himself and crave pardon Sidney the Lord Deputy returned into England and Sir William Fitz Williams who had marryed his sister succeeded in his room It was now the fifteenth yeer of Queen Elizabeths Raign when Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk on the sixteenth day of Ianuary was brought to his Tryall at Westminster-Hall where sate as Commissioners George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury made High Steward of England for that day Reynold Grey Earl of Kent Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex Henry Hastings Earl of Huntington Francis Russell Earl of Bedford Henry Herbert Earl of Pembrââk Edward Seymor Earl of Hertford Ambrose Dudley Earl of Warwick Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester Walter Devereux Viscount of Hereford Edward Lord Clinton Admirall William Lord Howard of Effingham Chamberlain William Cecill Lord Burley Secretary Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton Iames Blunt Lord Mountjoy William Lord Sands Thomas Lord Wentworth William Lord Borough Lewis Lord Mordant Iohn Pawlet Lord St. Iohn of Bâsing Robert Lord Rich Roger Lord North Edmund Bruges Lord Chândois Oliver Lord St. Iohn of Blâtsho Thomas Sackvile Lord Buckhurst and William West Lord de la Ware After silence bidden Sir Owen Hopton Lievtenant oâ the Tower is commanded to bring the Duke to the Bar and then the Clerk of the Crown said Thomas Duke of Norfolk late of Keningale in the County of Norfolk Hold up thy hand which done the Clerk with a loud voyce readeth the crimes laid to his charge That in the eleventh yeer of the Queens Raign he had trayterously consulted to make her away and to bring in forraign Forces for invading the Kingdom Also That he dealt with the Queen of Scots concerning Marriage contrary to his promise made to the Queen under his hand writing Also That he relieved with money the Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland that had stirred up Rebellion against the Queen Also That in the thirteenth yeer of the Queens Raign he implored Auxiliary Forces of Pope Pius the fifth the Queens professed enemy of the King of Spain and the Duke D'Alva for the freeing of the Queen of Scots and restoring of the Popish Religion And lastly That he sent supply to the Lord Heris and other the Queens enemies in Scotland These Indictments being read the Clerk demanded of the Duke if he were guilty of these crimes or not Here the Duke requested he might be allowed to have Counsell But Catiline chief Justice made answer That it was not lawfull Yet saith the Duke I have heard that Humphrey Stafford in the Raign of K. Henry the seventh in a Cause of Treason had one assigned to plead for him To which Dyer chief Justice of the Common-Pleas made answer That Stafford had Counsell assigned him concerning the Right of Sanctuary from whence he was taken by forceâ but in the Inditement of Treason he pleaded his own cause After this the Duke yeelding to be tryed by the Peers first Barham Serjeant at Law then Gerard the Queens Atturney and lastly Bromley the Queens Solicitor enforced the crimes objected against him to
Ambassadours proof out of History That the Kings of Scots born in Scotland did anciently without question hold the Earldome of Hântington by Right of Inheritance Yet she commanded a Sequestration to be made of the Revenues of those Lands by Bârleigh Master of the Wards and willeth the King That out of the goods of the Earl of Lenox in Scotland satisfaction might be made to his Grand-mothers Creditors here For she tooâ it in ill part that the King had recalled the Inââoââment of the Earldom of Lenox made to his Unkle Charlâ and his Heirs after the death of Charles to the prejudice as was suggested to her of Arbella although indeed it be a Priviledge of the Kings of Scotland That they may recall Donations made in their minorâty The Earl of Morton in the mean while not enduring the disgrace to be outed of his Regency regarded not the prescript Form of Government lately set down but drew the Administration of all matters to himself and kept the King in his own power at the Castle of Sterling admitting none to his presence but whom he pleased At this presumption the Lords growing angry made the Earl of Atholl their Captain and in the Kings Name levyed a great Army and were ready to encounter Morton but by the intercession of Robert Bowes the English Ambassadour they were stayed from fighting and Morton presently betook himself home and the Earl of Atholl soon after died not without suspition of being poysoned At this time the King of Spain and Pope Gregory the thirteenth held secret Consultation to invade at once both England and Ireland and to work the absolute ruine of Queen Elizabeth The Pope to gain the Kingdom of Ireland for his son Iames Buen of Compagno whom he had made Marquesse of Vincola The King of Spain secretly to relieve the Irish Rebells as Queen Elizabeth did the Dutch while friendship in words was upheld on both sides and being known That the greatest strength of England consisted in the Navy Royall and Merchants Ships it was advised that the Italian and DutchâMerchants should hire these Ships for long Voyages to the end that while they were absent the Queens Navy might be surprized with a greater Fleet and at that time Thomas Stukeley an English fugitive should joyn himself to the Irish Rebells with new Forces For he making great boast and promising the Kingdom of Ireland to the Popes bastard son had so insmuated himself into grace with the ambitious old man that he adorned him with the Titles of Marquesse of Leinster Earl of Wexford and Caterlogh Viscount Mârogh and Baron of Rosse the principall dignities of Ireland and made him Commander over eight hundred Italian Souldiers to be employed in the Irish War With which Forces Stuckeley setting Sayl from ãâã Vecchia arrived at length in Portingall where he and his Forcesâ were by the divine providence diverted another way For Sââaââiaâ King of Portiâgall to whom the chief Command in this Expedition against England was assigned being first to dispatch a War in Africa in Ayd of Mahomet Abdall son to the King of Fesse perswaded Stukeley to go along with him into Maureâania together with his Italian Souldiers and then afterward they would go together against Ireland To this motion Stukeley soon agreed and therein agreed with his destiny for in that memorable Battell where three Kings were slain both he and Sebastian lost their lives At this time Sir Henry Sidney who had been Deputy of Ireland at severall times eleven yeers delivered up his Deputy-ship to Sir William Drury President of Munster Such a Deputy for good Government that if any have equalled him none have exceed him It was now the yeer 1579 and the two and twentieth yeer of Queen Elizabeths Raign when Iohn Casimire son of Frederick the third Count Palaâine of the Rhyne came into England where after he had been entertained with Tiltings and Justs made Knight of the Garter the Queen tying the Garter about his leg and rewarded with a yeerly Pension he returned And now was Alexander âârnise Prince of Parma made Governour of the Netherlands by the King of Spain and Queen Elizabeth supplied the States with a great Sum of money for which William Davyson brought into Eâgland the ancient precious Habilliments of the Family of Burgundy and their costly Vessells laid to pawn by Matthew of Austria and the States Siâier in the mean time herein England ceaâeth not by all amorous devices to perswade the Queen to marry Alanson wherein he drew her so far that the Earl of Leicester gave ouâ He crept into the Queens affection by love Potions and unlawfull Arts and Simier on the other side endeavoured by all means to cast down Leicester discovering his mariage with the Earl of Essex widdow whereat the Queen grew so angry that she consined him to the Castle at Greenwich and had meant to have him Committed to the Tower but that the Earl of Sussex though his greatest Adversarie disswaded her telling her that none ought to be molested for contracting lawfull Matrimonie But Leicester notwithstanding was so provoked for his confining that he was bent to revenge it and if it be true as some saidâ he had suborned on Teudâr a Yeoman of the Guard to murder Simier sure it is the Queen by Proclamation commanded that no person should offer injury to the Embassadour or any of his servants At which time it fell out that as the Queen together with Simier the Earle of Lincolne and Hatton Vice-Chamberlaine were rowed in a barge to Greenwich a young man shooting off a Harquebus out of a boate shot one of the rowers in the Queenes Barge thorough the arme with a bullet who was presently taken and ledde to the Gallowes but upon solemne Protestation that he did it unwillingly and out of no malicious Intent he was let go and Pardoned Some would have perswaded the Queen that was purposely suborned to shoote either her or the French Embassadour but she was so far from suspecting her Subjects that she would often say She would not believe any thing against them which a mother would not believe against her children After a few dayes Alanson himself came privately into England with only on or two attendants and came to the Queen at Greenwich at a time when she thought not of it they had secret conference together all parties being sent away after which being seen of very few he returned home but within a moneth or two after the Queen enjoyned the Lord Burleigh treasurer the Earle of Sussex Leicester Hatton and Walsingham seriously to weigh both the dangers and the Commodities likely to arise from the marriage with him and to consult with Simier concerning the marriage Covenants As in England there was some feare of this Frenchman So in Scotland at this time of another Frenchman called Esme Steward Lord of Aubigny who came now into Scotland to visit the King his cosen He was the sonne of Iohn Steward brother to Matthew
the Siege but afterward ãâ¦ã with Verdugo the Spaniard at Nârthone even when the Vi ãâ¦ã gotten Roger Williams having put the enemies to flight ãâ¦ã of the War turned Norris is vanquished wounded and a great ãâ¦ã his men slain amongst whom were Cotton Fitzâ Williams and ãâ¦ã Commanders Here it must not be omittedâ That the English ãâ¦ã the dwellers in the Northern parts of the World were hither ãâ¦ã Drinkers and deserved praise for their sobâiety in these Dutch ãâ¦ã to be Drunkards and brought the vice so far to over-spread ãâ¦ã âome that Laws were fain to be enacted for repressing it ãâ¦ã whilst the States and the King of Spain conâend about a few ãâ¦ã the Low-Countries he seizeth upon the whole Kingdom of Porâââ ãâ¦ã For the last yeer Henry King of Pââtingall dying many Compe ãâ¦ã allenge the Kingdom as the Duke of Savoy the Prince of Par ãâ¦ã Natharine Bracant and the Queen of France But Philip King of ãâ¦ã son of Henries eldest sister putting the case to his Divines and ãâ¦ã and adjuring them to pronounce to whom of Right it belonged ãâ¦ã For him whereupon he sent Duke D'Alva who put to ãâ¦ã ââtonio whom the people had elected King and within seventy dayes ãâ¦ã all Portingall The Queen of France angry hereat and enviously be ãâ¦ã the King of Spain's Dominions thus enlarged being now Master ãâ¦ã gall the East Indies and many Islands besides adviseth amongst ãâ¦ã Pâââces Queen Elizabeth to bethink themselves in time of restrayn ãâ¦ã âo excessive Dominions Whereupon the Queen received Don ãâã and lâvingly relieved him which she thought might be done without ãâ¦ã breath of the League with Spain seeing Don Antonio was descended of ãâ¦ã Blood and of the House of Lancaster and that no Cauâion was ãâ¦ã âeague That the Portuger should ãâã be admitted into England And now the Queen-Mother of Franoâ and the King her son moâe ãâã then ever pursue the Maâch with Alanson now Duke of Aâgioâ ãâ¦ã transacting whereof they sent in Ambassage into Englandâ Francis ãâã Prince of Câsseâ Marshall of France and many ãâã Honoârable Personages who were entertained with great respect a ãâã being purposely built at Westminster for that use Royally furnished ââtings and Justs proclaimed by Philip Earl of Arundel Frederick Baron ãâã Windsor Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Fulk Grevill against all comeâsâ The ââââgates that were to confer with the French concerning the Marriage ãâã Sir William Cecill Lord Treasurer Edward Earl of Lincoln Lord Adââââll Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester Sir Christopher Hatton and Sir ãâã Walsingham Secretaryâ by whom Covenants of Marriage were at ââth agreed on First That the Duke of Angioâ and the Queen of Engââââ within six weeks after the ratification of the Articles should contract ââtrimonyâ and the rest most of them such as were before agreed on in the âarriage between Queen Mary and King Philip chiefly consisting in conferââng Honour upon the Duke but Power upon the Queen It was also arââed That all paâticulars should be ratified within two Monthsâ by the âââthfull Promise and Oath of the French King for him and his Heirs and âeservation also was added apart with the Hands and Seals of every ãâã ãâ¦ã Delegates That Queen Elizabeth is not bound to finish the Marriage ââtill she and the Duke have given each other satisfaction in some ãâã and have certified the French King of the same within six weâksâ Beâore those six weeks were expired Simier Secretary to the Couâââll is ãâã into France to require the King of France his Confirmationâ The ãâã will not hear him but presseth to have the Marriage accomplished ãâ¦ã was contracted and that nothing else was to be done âiââier on the ãâã side sheweth by the Articles That a League offenâââe and defensive ãâã first be concluded This the French King disclaymeâh Whereupon Wâlsinghams is presently sent âo compose this differanâe who joyntly with Henry Câbham the Embassââour in ordinaââââ and Simier alleadgeth to the French King these Particâlââs That Queen Elizabeth for no other reason was willing to marry but for the âatisfaction of heâ people and seeing many Impediments were come in the way since the first Treaty namely the Civill Warre in Francâ and the Dukes engagement in a war with Spain wââ makes the wiâest of her subjects to be now against the Maâch This hath made her to deferre the accomplishment of it although her affection be still constant toward the Dukeâ For this cause the Queen would have no further Treaty to be heldâ till the French Duke be freed from the Spanish warre and a Leauge of mutuall offeâââ and defence be agreed on The French King willingly accepted of ââe Lâaguâ defensive but of the offensive he would heare no speech till thâ marriage were finished Noâ long aftârâ the French Dâkâ himself came into England having with good successe raised the Siâge of Cââbray he was here received with as great humanity as he couââ wâsh and nothing omittedâ where by he might judge himselâ to be truly welcome Insomuch thââ in November when the Anniversariâ of the Quâââs Inauguration came to be solemnized the Q. while they were in Love conference drew a Ring off from her finger and put it upon his upon some private conditions The standers by imagined that by this Ceremonie the Marriagâ was confirmed between them and Aldegând Governour of Antwerp being there presently dispatched messengers into the Low-Countriesâ to give notice of it and thereupon Bonfires were made and all shewes of Rejoycingâ But the Earl of Leicester who privâly plotted to crosse the Maâch Hââton the Vice-Chamberlain and Secretary Walsingham frââ and are enraged as if the Kingdom the Queen and Religon were now utterly ovââthrowne The Maids of Honour and Ladiâs that were familiar wiââ thâ Queen made grievous lamentation and so ãâã and daunted her that she could take no rest that night The nexâ dayâ she calleth to her the French Duke and causing all companie to go aside they privately ânâerâain a long discourse At length the Duke returning to his lodging cast the Ring away from him and after a while takes it up again terribly exclayming against the Levity and inconstancie of Women The Queen at this time was much troubled at a Book lately put forth with this Title The Gulph wherein England will be swallowed by the French Marriage whereof conceiving that some Puritan was the Author it made her highly displeased with the Puritans whereupon within a few dayes Iohn Stubbes of Lincolnes-Inne a Zealous Professour and the Author of this booke wâose sister Thomas Cartwright the father of the Puritants had married William Page that dispersed the copies and Singletoâ the Printer were apprehendedâ against whom Sentence was pronounced That their Right hand should be cut offâ by vertue of a Law made in the Raigne of Phillip and Maâie against the Aâthors and dispersers of Seditious Writings though the cheife Lawyers and Judges of the Kingdom could not agree concerning the fââce of that
plainly by the Chancellour and Treasurer That if she refused to answer to such crimes as should be objected they would then proceed against her though she were absent Being brought at last with much ado to consent the Commissioners came together in the Presence Chamber a Chaire of Estate was set for the Queen of England in the upper end of the Chamber under a Canopy beneath over against it was placed a Chair for the Queen of Scots on both sides of the Cloth of Estate stools were set upon which on the one side sate the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Earls of Oxford Kent Derby Worcester Rutland Cumberland Warwicke Pembrooke Lincolne and Viscount Mountacuteâ On the other side sate the Lords Aburgavany Zouch Morley St. Iohn of Bletsho Compton and Cheyney Next to these sate the Knights that were Privie Councellors Sir Iames Crofts Sir Christopher Hatton Sir Francis Walsingham Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Walter Mildââ and Sir Amis Pawlet Foreward before the Earls sate the two Chiefe Justices and the Lord chiefe Baron on the other side the two Barons and the other Justices Dale and Foord Doctors of the Civill Law at a Table in the midst Popham the Queens Atturney Generall Egerton her Solicitor âââdie her Serjeant at Law the Clerk of the Crown and two Notaries When the Queen of Scots was come and had placed her selfe silence being made Bromely Lord Chancellor turning towards her sayd That the Queen had appointed these Commissioners to hear what she could Answer to crimes layd to her charge assuring her that nothing would be cause of more joy to the Queen then to hear that she had proved her selfe innocent Upon this she rising up sayd That although being an absolute Prince she could not be compelled to appear before the Deâegates yet to manifest her innocency she was now content to appear Then Gawdie opened every speciality of the Law lately made against which she had taken excception shewing By Babingtons confession by Letters passed between them by the confessions of Ballard and Savage by the confessions of her Secretaries Nave and Curle that she was privy to their Treasons and consented to the Invasion of England and destruction of the Queen To which she answered That Letters might be counterfeited her Secretaries might be corrupted and rest in hope of life might be drawn to confesse that which was not true In this she stood peremptorily That she never consented to any Attempt against the Queens Person though for her own delivery she confessed she did After many other charges by the Commissioners and replies by the Queen of Scots At last she requested that she might be heard in a full Parliament or before the Queen her selfe and her Councell But this request prevailed not for on the 25. day of October following at the Star-Chamber in Westminster the Commissioners met again and there pronounced sentence against her Ratifying by their Seals and subscriptions that after the 1. day of Iune in the seven and twentieth year of our Soveraign Lady Queen Elizabeth divers matters were compassed and imagined in this Kingdom by Anthony Babington and others with the privity of Mary Queen of Scots pretending Title to the Crown of England tending to the hurt death and destruction of the Royall Person of our sayd Soveraigne Lady the Queen After a few dayes a Parliament was holden at Westminster the which was begun by Authority from the Queen derived to the Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Treasurer and the Earl of Derby and the same not without some Presidents At this Parliament the Proscriptions of the Lord Paget Charls Paget Francis Inglefield Francis Throgmorton Anthony Babington Thomas Salisbury Edward Iones Chydâock Tichburne Charles Tilney and the other complices was confirmed and their goods and possessions adjudged confiscate Also the Peers of the Kingdom with an unanimous consent exhibit a Petition to the Queen by the Lord Chancellor that for the preservation of the true Religion and safety of the Queen of themselves and their Posterity the Sentence passed against Mary Queen of Scots might according to Law be presently Promulged They put the Queen in minde of the fearfull examples of Gods Judgements extant in Scripture upon King Saul for sparing of Agag and upon Ahab for not putting Benhadad to death But the Queen answereth them to this effect First acknowledging Gods miraculous preservation of her and then their constant affections towards her for whose sakes onely she desires to live Otherwise when she calls to minde things past beholds the present and expects what may happen in time to come that she accounts them most happy who go soonest hence That the Law lately made by which the Queen of Scots is condemned was not made as some maliciously have imagined to ensnare her but contâariwise to forewarn and deterre her from attempting any thing against it which though it had not been made yet were there other ancient Laws enough to condemne her Nothing could have been more grievous to me than that a Prince and one so neer Allied unto me should deserve the Sentence pronounced against her and seeing the matter is of rare example and of a very weighty consequence I hope you will not expect that I should at this present determine any thing Yet that there may be no danger in delayâ I will in due time signifie my minde unto you and in the meane time would have you to expect from me whatsoever good Subjects may looke for from a Gracious Prince Twelve dayes after having deeply weighed the matter in her minde she sent the Lord Chancellor to the Peers and Puckering to the Lower House entreating them to advise more diligently concerning so weighty a matter and to bethinke themselves of some wholesome remedy by which the life of the Queen of Scots might be spared and their security also provided for They when they had a long time in most serious manner deliberated hereof Return at last this Verdict That the Queenes life could not be in safety while the Queen of Scots lived unlesse she either repented and acknowledged her crimes or were kept in straight custody or bound by her oath and obligations or gave Hostages or lastly departed the Kingdome And seeing none of these were likely to be remedies It remained that only her death would be a remedy Repentance in her they could little hope for who would not so much as acknowledge her self faulty Close Imprisonment Obligations Oath and Hostages they accounted as nothing which all vanished if the Queens life were once taken away and if she departed the Kingdom they feared she would straightway go about to Invade it again These things the Lord Chancellor and Puckering the Speaker of the Lower-House declared to the Queen at large and urged her in their names to have the Sentence put in execution Hereupon the Queen after a short pawse spake at last to this effect I protest my chief desire hath been that for your security and my own safety some other
into the Town their own Army sickly Victualls and Powder failing and that which most of all Sir Francis Drake not bringing the great Ordnance as he promised they departed from the Suburbs of Lisbon towards Cascais a little Town