however the Lancastrians imposed upon the People For Edward was born June 16. 1239. and Edmund upon the 16th of January 1245. being Marcellus his Day six Years after Edward by that time he was a Year old was acknowledged the First-born of his Father his Brother Edmund not then born Per idem tempus Rex Cives Londinenses quinque portuum custodes multos alios fecit jurare fidelitatem ligantiam Edwardo primogenito suo In the Letter from the Loyal to the Rebellious Barons he is styled the First-born of King Henry Richardus Dei gratia Rex Romanorum semper Augustus Edwardus illustris Regis Angliae primogenitus c. And very frequently Matthew Paris who lived at this time and was Historiographer to his Father calls him his First-born So that there can be no doubt in History that he was the eldest Son for King Henry the Third had only these two Sons Edward and Edmund After the death of Edward the First his Son Edward the Second succeeded him and as Men of purely Commonwealth-Principles tell us he degenerating from so great a Father the People grew weary of his Irregular Arbitrary Government deposed him and chose Edward his Son to reign in his stead A plain Argument say they of the Peoples Power in chusing their Kings aud of limiting and binding the Succession But whoever reads this story will not find the ordinary People had much if any thing to do in this matter further than as they were excited to Tumults and Railing at the Government by many of the Popular Bishops and Barons for they always have been and ever will be Instruments of designing Men against the Government if by remissness thereof and easiness of Governors they be permitted This King was deposed and murdered by a wicked Confederacy and Rebellion of many Bishops and Barons And there is nothing to justifie this Rebellion Deposition and Murther in which our Anti-Monarchical Men instance so often as an Example to be followed but the meer doing of it And if a fact be therefore lawful only because it is done we have no need of Laws Lawyers or Officers of Justice to maintain plead for or defend it The truth is this King was not of so brisk a temper as his Father nor endowed with so much Courage he was more soft and easie and used too great and unseasonable Indulgence to such as he permitted to guide his Affairs and the Affairs of the Kingdom in his Name From hence many Rebellious Barons under pretence of the Honour of God and Holy Church the Honour of the King and Realm made Confederations to remove evil Counsellors reform the Court and to force the King to let them name all Judges the Chancellor Treasurer and other great Officers in Court Gascoigne Ireland and Scotland Thomas Duke of Lancaster one of those Commissioners and Ordainers was always the Head of these Confederacies who pretended great Affection to the King to the common profit of the Realm and great care to see these Ordinances cited in the Margin maintained in all points and many things amended in the King's Houshold Court and Realm At length this great Earl of Lancaster behaved himself very indecently towards the KIng and used him with much Scorn and Contempt until at last in the fifteenth of his Reign he and many of his Confederates brake out into open Rebellion at Burton upon Trent and flying before the King's Army Northward was with many others taken at Burrough-Bridge in York-shire and being tried by his Peers was adjudged to be Hanged Drawn and Quartered which Sentence was pardoned by the King and he was only beheaded The like Sentence had Warren de Insula William Toket Thomas Maudut Henry de Bradborn William fitz-Fitz-William and William Cheyne the Lord Roger Clifford the Lord John de Mounbray the Lord Henry Tyes the Lord Bartholomew de Badlesmere Joscelin de Invilla most of them Barons Propter Roberias Felonias resistentiam quam fecerunt contra Regem ad villam de Burton Occidentes Regis familiares Regis transitum prohibentes partem villae praedictae comburentes c. For Robberies and Felonies and the Resistance they made against the King at the Town of Burton killing the King's Friends and Servants and burning part of the Town upon their Retreat The Ordinances before-mentioned in number forty one were revoked and the Confederations and Tumultuous Barons and their Actions consured in a Parliament holden at York 15 Ed. 2. The Ordinances were revoked upon Examination of them before the Prelates Earls Barons amongst which were all the Ordiners then alive and the Commons of the Realm For that by the things which were ordained The King 's Royal Power was restrained in many things against the due Greatness of his Seigniory Royal and contrary to the State of the Crown And also for that in times past by such Ordinances and Provisions made by Subjects over the Power Royal of the Ancestors of the Lord the King Troubles and Wars came upon the Realm by which the Nation was in danger and it was accorded and established in the said Parliament by the Lord the King and by the said Prelates Earls and Barons and all the Commonalty of the Realm at that Parliament assembled That all those things by the Ordiners ordained and contained in the said Ordinances from henceforth for the time to come should cease and lose their Force Vertue and Effect for euer And that from hence forward in no time no manner of Ordinances or Provisions made by the Subjects of the Lord the King or his Heirs by any Power or Commission whatsoever over and upon the Power Royal of the said Lord the King or his Heirs or against the State of the Crown shall be of no value or force But the things which shall be established for the Estate of the King and his Heirs and for the Estate of the Realm and People may be treated accorded and established in Parliament by the King and by the Assent of the Prelates Earls Barons and Communalty of the Realm Roger de Mortuo-Mari Lord of Wigmore submitted himself to the King which much weakned the Barons Forces before the Engagement at Burton and was sent to the Tower of London from whence he made his Escape after two Years Imprisonment in the seventeenth of this King's Reign and went over Sea to the King of France who at this time required the King of England to do him Homage for Gascoygn and other Territories he held of him in France But he delaying to do it and excusing himself by Messengers who prevailed not the King of France with an Army seized Gascoign and the County of Pontheu yet by the means of Edmund of Woodstock the King's Brother and other English Noble-men then in France a Truce was made with the King of France for a certain time until a Peace might be treated of
the Duke of York and in the King's Name streightly command them to find all Objections as might he laid against the same in fortifying of the King's Title Who on Monday following on the 20th of October answered that the matter was so high and touched the King's high Estate and Regalio which is above the Law and passed their Learning Wherefore they durst not enter into any Communication of the same for that it permined to the Lords of the King's Blode and th'Apparage of this his Londes and therefore besought all the Lords to have then utterly excused Then the Lords sent for all the King's Serjeants and Attorney and gave them streight Commandment in the King's Name that they sadladly and avisely shuld serch and take all such things as might be best and strongest to be allegged for the King 's Avail in Objection and defeating of the Title and Cleym of the Due They answered that if this matter passed the Lerning of the Justices it must needs exceed their Lerning and also that they durst not enter into any Communication in that matier and prayed and besought all the Lords to have them excused by geveing any Avice or Counsell therein But the Lords would not excuse them and therefore by the in Advice and Assistance it was concluded by all the Lords that the Articles following should be objected agenst the Clayme and Title of the Duc. First It is thought that the Lords of this Lond must needs call to their remembrance the great Oaths the which they have made to the King the which may be leyd to the said Duc of York and that the Lords may not break their Othes Item It is thought also that it is to be called to remembrance the great and notable Acts of Parliament of divers of the King's Progonitors The which Acts be sufficient and reasonable to be leyd agene the Title of the said Due of York The which Acts be of much more Authority than eny Chronicle and also of Authority to defete eny manner of Title made to eny Person Item It is thought that there is to be leyd ayent the Title divers Inteyles made to the Heires Mules of Henry the Foureth as for the Crown of England as it may appear by divers Chronicles and Parliaments Item It is thought to be allegged the Title of the seid Due that the tyme that King Henry the Fourth toke upon him the Corone of England he said he entered and toke upon him the Corone as right Inheritor to King Henry the Third and not as a Conqueror To which Articles the Duke answered First That noe Oath being the Lawe of Man ought to be performed when the same leadeth to suppression of Trueth and Right which is against the Lawe of God To the second and third That in trouth there been noo such Acts and Tayles made by eny Parliament heretofore as it is furmised but only in the seventh yere of King Hen. IV. a certain Act and Ordinance was made in a Parliament by him called wherein he made the Reaums of Englond and France amongst other to be unto him and to the Hetres of his Body comeing and to his four Sons and to the Heires of their Body comeing in manner and fourme as it apperith in the same Act. And if he might have obteyned and rejoysed the Corones c. by Title of Inhaeritance Discenter or Succession He neither needed or would have desired or made thaim to be granted to him in such wyse as be by the said Act which tacketh noo place neither is of eny force or effect ayenst him that is right Inhaeriter of the sayd CORONES as it accordeth with Gods Lawe and all Natural Lowes howe it be that all other Acts and Ordinances made in the seyd Parliament â—â—then been good and sufficient ayenst all other Persons To the fourth That such seyeing of the King Henry the Fourth may in noe wise be true and that the contrary thereof which is trouth shall be largely enough shewed approved and justified by sufficient Autorite and matter of Record and over that his seyd seying was onely to shadowe and cover fraudulently his seyd unrightwyse and violent Vsurpation and by that moyen to abuse disceyveably the People standing about him Upon consideration of this Answer and Claim of the Duke of York it was concluded and agreed by all the Lords That his Title could not be DEFETED and therefore for eschuying the great Inconvenients that may ensue a mean was found to save the Kings Honor and Estate and to appease the said Due IF HE WOULD which was That the King should enjoye the Corone during Life the Duke to be declared the true Heir and to possess it after his Death c. In the first Article of this Agreement or Accord as 't is there called the Title of the Duke of York is set forth and the Judgment of the Parliament given what then was and before had been the Foundation and ground of the Succession to the Crown of England tint is Proximity of Blood The Articles follow so much of them as is pertinent to this matter First Where the seyd Richard Due of Yorke hath declared and opened as above his seyd Title and Cleyme in manner as followeth That the right noble and worthy Prince Herry King of Englond the Third had Issue and leefully gate Edward his first-begotten Son born at Westminster the xv Kalend of Juyle in the Vigil of St. Mart. Marcellian the Yere of our Lord M.CC. XXXIX and Edmund his second goten Son which was born on Seint Marcell day the Yere of our Lord M. CC. XLV The which Edward after the death of the seyd King Herry his Fader entituled and called King Edward the First had Issue Edward his first-begoten Son entituled and called after the decease of the seyd first Edward his Fader King Edward the Second which had Issue and leefully gate the ryght Noble and Honourable Prynce Edward the Third true and undoubted King of Englond and of France and Lord of Ireland Which Edward the Third true and undoubted King of Englond and of France and Lord of Irelond had Issue and leefully gate Edward his first begotten Son Prynce of Wales William Hatfield second begotten Leonell third-begoten Duc of Clarence John of Gaunt fourth-begotten Duc of Lancaster Edmund Langley fifth begoten Duc of Yorke Thomas Woodstock sixth-begoten Duc of Gloucester and William Wyndesore the seventh-begotten The seyd Edward Prynce of Wales which dyed in the lyfe of the seyd Edward King had Issue and leefully gate Richard the which succeeded the same Edward King his Grandfather in Royal Dignity entituled and called king Richard the Second and dyed without Issue William Hatfield the second-goten Son of the seyd Edward King dyed without Issue Leonell the third-goten Son of the same king Edward had Issue and leefully gate Philippa his oonly Daughter and Heir which by the Sacrament of Matrymony copled unto
commanded that King Edward's Laws should be observed with such Amendments as his Father had amended them And further says that very many great Men sent for Duke Robert over and promised him the Crown and Kingdom and coming they did some of them adhere to him and others dissembling their Kindness and Affection stayed with King William until they had an opportunity of shewing it But the Bishops the Common Soldiers and English stuck close to King Henry by whose means he raised a very great Army and were ready to fight for him when they came to an Agreement by the Mediation of the wise Men of both Parties Eadmer tells us that most of the great Men either did or were ready to revolt from King Henry but Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who had given him great Assistance in raising his Army upon great Promises made that all the Church-Affairs should be left to his direction and disposing and that he would for ever after obey the Decrees and Commands of the Pope procured the great Men to assemble and then so wheedled and cajoled them and their Army that he altered theit Intentions And it was from his Fidelity and Industry that Henry lost not the Kingdom This King Henry was a plain right down Usurper he had no pretence of Donation no Testamentary Right from his Father and therefore as Malmsbury shews us more particularly he was advanced by a Faction there being only five great Men Robert Fitz-Haymon Richard de Redvers Roger Bigot Henry Earl of Warwick and Robert Earl of Mellent his Brother all Normans that favoured him and by the contrivance of Henry Earl of Warwick he was elected King All others sent privately to Duke Robert to come and be their King or openly reproached Henry This was an excellent Election made by a Faction and an Army and perhaps with a bawling multitude after them and indeed there could be no other Election than such an one as this for Rufus was slain in New Forest on the 2d of August being Thursday and Henry was Crowned on the 5th of August being Sunday So that it was impossible for all that were or ought to be concerned in such an Election all the Kingdom over to have notice meet and dispatch that Business in two days time These Historians lived at the very time these things were done It is true he says in his own Charter That he was Crowned King by the Common Council of the Barons of England Sciatis me misericordia Dei Communi Concilio Baronum Regni Angliae ejusdem Regni Regem Coronatum esse And he must say this or nothing for no other Pretence or Title he could have and there never was any other Usurper in his Circumstances but must say so or some other thing to make out a Title King Stephen in his Charter of Liberties says He was elected A Clero Populo King John in his Charter of Fees of the Seal affirmed himself right Heir to the Crown when Arthur Duke of Britain and his Sister Eleanor Son and Daughter to his Elder Brother Jeffrey were then living and they were both vain Affirmations as will appear in their several stories Some later Historians than these as Matthew Paris who wrote above an hundred Years after them Mat. Westminster and Hen. de Knighton and Brompton who wrote at least two hundred and fifty Years after them all say he was elected But only Knighton amongst them all tells us the most considerable reason why Robert his elder Brother was rejected Robertus says he semper contrarius adeo innaturalis extiterat Baronibus Regni Angliae quod plenario consensu consilio totius Communitatis Regni IMPOSUERUNT EI ILLEGITIMITATEM QUOD NON FUERAT PROCREATUS DE LEGITIMO THORO WILLIELMI CONQUESTORIS UNDE UNANIMI assensu suo ipsum refutaverunt pro rege omnino recusaverunt Hen. frem in Regem erexerunt Robert was always averse and so harsh to the Barons of England that they by full Consent and Advice voted him Illegitimate because he was not begotten lawfully by William the Conqueror and for that reason by unanimous Assent they refused him and set up Henry his Brother to be their King From this Passage of Knighton we see the Community or Baronage of all England fixed the Right of Succession in the Legitimate Right of Blood and therefore this King his two elder Brothers being dead without Issue desired to secure the Succession unto his Lawful Issue by Right of Blood To that end all Freemen of England and Normandy of what Order and Dignity soever and of whatsoever Lord they held or were Fendataries to were forced to do Homage and swear Fealty to his Son William then but twelve Years old And in the twenty seventh of his Reign he caused all the great Men of England after the death of his Sons William and Richard to recognize Maud the Empress his Daughter Queen to whom the only Lawful Succession was due from her Grandfather Uncle and Father that were Kings and from her Mother many Generations In the thirty first of King Henry he and his Daughter coming into England at a great Meeting of the Nobility or Parliament at Northampton those which before had sworn Fealty renewed their Oaths to her and those which had not done it before then did it Paris tells us that the Clergy and Great or Noble Men made Conditions with Henry who promised them what is before related and in that gave them satisfaction But as all Usurpers ever did so he changed his Mind and his Canting Speech had no other effects than to enslave them for with a seared and cahterized Conscience he had obtained the Kingdom and usurped upon his Brother Robert who had manifest Right impudently violating the Laws and Promises by which he had drawn in all Men to serve him and afterward taking him Prisoner caused his Eyes to be pulled out and kept him in Prison twenty four Years until he died King Henry having thus provided for the Security of his Daughter Maud being asked in his Sickness by Robert Duke of Gloucester and the Noble Men that then were with him about a Successor Filiae omnem terram suam citra ultra mate Legitima perenni successione adjucavit Adjudged his Daughter his Lawful Successor in all his Territories Radulphus de Diceto Dean of Saint Paul's who died Anno Dom. 1210. says that Hath Bigot Steward of the King's Houshold made speed out of Normandy where the King died into England and made Oath before the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that King Henry upon his Death-bed upon some differences which happened between him and his Daughter the Empress did dis-inherit her and made Stephen Earl of Boloign his Heir Whereupon William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury giving too much credit to the words of the Steward consecratcd Stephen Earl of Mortaigne King at Westminster If this story
be true he was Testamentary Heir and had a Testamentary Right and in that Right he was made King But be this story true or false his Advancement to the Throne was as followeth Notwithstanding all the Nobility and amongst them King Stephen himself had sworn Fealty to Maud the Empress yet by the Interest of his Brother Henry Bishop of Winchester and the Pope's Legat without which he could have done nothing he was made King he brought off Roger Bishop of Salisbury a great and powerful Prelate also William de Pout-Arch Keeper of King Henry's Treasure which was 100000 l. in Money And by his own Dexterity the Artifice of his Brother and Roger Bishop of Salisbury and the advantage of this Money he inclined the minds of the Noble Men much towards him and to secure himself raised an Army mostly of Flemings and Britains At his Coronation were only three Bishops the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Winchester and Salisbury no Abbots and few Noble-men I think this looks not like an Election yet he in his Charter of Liberties which he chiefly granted to the Church says he was elected by the Assent of the Clergy and Laity and confirmed by the Pope Afterwards Stephen using the Bishops roughly lost his Brother Henry's favour who by his Legantine Power called a Council of the Clergy at Winchester to consult of the Peace of the Kingdom Where they conclude that the Right of chusing and ordaining Kings chiefly belonged to them And therefore having first called upon God they chose Maud the Empress Queen Ad Cleri ius potissimum spectat principem eligere ordinare invocata itaque in auxilium Divinitate filiam Regis in Angliae Normanni aeque Dominam eligimus c. But not long after being displeased with Maud he entred into a Confederacy against her and as Legat called another Council at Westminister in which was read the Pope's Bull in favour of Stephen who was then advanced to the Throne again And the Kingdom being wasted and destroyed with continual Wars the Arch-Bishop this Legat and the Bishops mediate a Peace between Stephen and Henry Duke of Anjou Son to the Empress by which it was agreed that Stephen should adopt Henry his Son who after his death should enjoy the Crown and Stephen quietly to wear it during his Life c. Which Agreement is most fully and clearly related by Matthew of Westminister Rex Stephanus omni horede viduatus praeter solummodo Ducem Henricum recognovit in Conventu Episcoporum aliorum de Regno optimatum quod Dux Henricus jus haereditarium in Regnum Angliae habebat Dux benigne concessit ut Rex Stephanus tota vita sua suum Regnum pacifice possideret Ita tamen confirmatum est quod ipse Rex Episcopi tunc praesentes cum caeteris Regni optimatibus jurarent quod Dux Henricus post mortem Regis si illum superviverct Regnum sine aliqua contradictione obtineret that is King Stephen not having an Heir except only Duke Henry did acknowledge in an Assembly of the Bishops and other Chief Men of the Kingdom That Duke Henry had the Hereditary Right to the Kingdom of England and the Duke kindly granted that King Stephen should during his life peaceably enjoy his Kingdom The Agreement was so confirmed that the King himself and the Bishops then present with the rest of the best Men of the Kingdom sware that Duke Henry after the death of the King if he should out-live him should enjoy the Kingdom without all contradiction This Accord afforded Quiet and Tranquillity both to Henry and the Nation with certain Confidence of enjoying the Kingdom after the death of Stephen which he did But as to his Right and Title it added nothing to that it being Hereditary for he was acknowledged the true Heir by his Adversary Stephen in the presence of the Bishops and the best Men of the Kingdom who all likewise acknowledged it by owning the Accord and swearing to observe it On the 24th of October the Year following King Stephen died and on the 19th of December following Henry was Crowned at Westminster by Theobald Arch-Bishop of Canterbury And Maud the Empress being satisfied with the Enthroning of her Son quitted her Pretensions King Henry the Second dying in France July 7. 1189 his eldest Son and Heir Richard was by Walter Arch-Bishop of Roven girt with the Sword of the Dukedom of Normandy on the 20th of the same Month in the presence of the Bishops Earls and Barons of Normandy And before his coming into England every Free-man of the whole Kingdom by the Command of his Mother Alienor sware Fealty to Richard King of England Son of King Henry as to their Liege Lord against all Men. Afterwards coming to London Congregatis ibi Archiepiscopis Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus copiosa Militum multitudine in occursum ejus quorum Consilio assensu ipse Dux 3. Nonas Septembris Consecratus Coronatus est apud Westmonasterium in Regem Angliae a Baldwino Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo c. The Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls Barons and a copious multitude of Knights met him by whose Advice and Assent the Duke was Crowned King of England by Baldwin Arch-Bishop of Canterbury many other Bishops there named assisting Et omnibus fere Abbatibus Prioribus Comitibus Baronibus Angliae astantibus Almost all the Abbots Priors Earls and Barons of England being Spectators Ralph de Diceto then Dean of St. Paul's London who in the Vacancy of that Church and Bishoprick supplied the Office of the Bishop at King Richard's Coronation hath this passage Comes itaque Pictavorum Richardus HAEREDITARIO JURE PRAEMOVENDUS in Ragem post tam Cleri quam Populi solemnem debitam Electionem involutus est triplici Sacramento c. Therefore Richard Earl of Poictou being by Hereditary Right to be made King after the solemn and due Election as well of the Clergy as the Laity sware to three things Scilicet Quod opem impendet pro viribus ut Ecclesia Dei populusque Christianus veram pacem obtinent quod interdicet omnibus Rapacitatem quod in judiciis equitatem praecipiet misericordiam That is to say That he would use his utmost power that the Church of God and Christian People might enjoy true Peace That he would interdict Rapine to all Men That he would command Mercy and Equity to be done in Judgments What can this solemn and due Election signifie here what can it mean further than that Richard being King by Hereditary Right was so owned and recognized by the Clergy and Laity John in his Brother Richard's Life-time had a mind to be King and taking advantage or his Absence in the Holy Land and his Imprisonment in Germany practised with the Nobility and Londoners to that purpose The last sware faithful Service to their Lord King Richard and to
Edmund Mortimer Erle of March had Issue and leefully bare Rogier Mortimer Erle of March her Son and Heir Which Rogier Erle of March had Issue and leefully gate Edmund Erle of Marche Rogier Mortymer Anne and Alianore which Edmund Rogier and Alianore dyed without Issue And the seyd Anne under the Sacrament of Matrymony copled unto Richard Erle of Cambridge the Son of the seyd Edmund Langley fifth-begoten Son of the seyd King Edward as it is afore specified had Issue and leefully bare Richard Plantagenet commonly called Duc of Yorke The seyd John of Gaunt the fourth-goten Son of the seyd King Edward and younger Brother of the seyd Leonell had Issue and leefully gate Hen. Erle of Derby which incontinent after the tyme that the seyd King Richard resigned the Corones of the seyd Reaumes and the seyd Lordship of Ireland unrightwysely entered upon the same then being on live Edmund Mortymer Erle of Marche Son to Rogier Mortymer Erle of March Son and Heir of the seyd Phelippa Daughter and Heir of the seyd Sir Leonell the third Son of the seyd King Edward the Third to the which Edmund the Ryght and Title of the seyd Corones and Lordship by Lawe and Custome belonged Before we pass over these three Usurpers we must take notice of a Passage in Polydore Virgil concerning Henry V. in these Words Princeps Hen. facto Patris funere Concilium Principum ad Westmonasterium convocandum curat in quo dum de Rege creando more mojorum agitabatur Ecce tibi de repente aliquot Principes ultro in EJVS VERBA jurare coeperunt Quod Benevolentiae Officium nulli antea priusquam Rex renantiatus esset praestitum constat adeo Hen. ab ineunte aetate spem omnibus optimae indolis fecit Creatur itaque Rex ad quintum Iduum Aprilis eo Anno quo Pater e vita excesserat Quintus ejus Nominis Henricus dictus est The Author of the Brief History of Succession thus renders this Sentence Immediately upon the death of Hen. IV. a Parliament MET at Westminster and there according to the Custom of the Realm it was debated who should be King But all men had entertained so good thoughts of Prince Henry that without staying till the whole Assembly had declared him King divers of them began to swear Allegiance to him a thing strange and without president as only occasioned by extraordinary Opinion which was generally conceived of him before and the certain Title vested in him by Act of Parliament In his Citation of the Latin he leaves out these Words which belong to this piece of Story and do declare the meaning of it Creatur itaque Rex ad quintum Iduum Aprilis eo Anno quo Pater e vita excesserat c. He was Crowned King on the fifth of the Ides of April the same year his Father died Tho. Walsingham who lived at this time says Hen. IV. died Mar. 20. 1413. And then eodem Anno coronatus Londoniis Henricus Primogenitus Regis Henrici nuper defuncti quinto Iduum Aprilis c. The same Year Henry the First-born of King Henry lately deceased was Crowned at London on the fifth of the Ides or tenth of April By which Words of Walsingham 't is evident he hath mistaken the meaning and falsly translated the Words of Polydore for they ought to be Englished in this manner Prince Henry having buried his Father caused a Council of the Chief Men of the Nation to be called at Westminster in which they treat or debate about Crowning the King according to the Custom of his Predecessors forthwith some of the Great Men began to swear as he dictated to them which officious Benevolence was performed to none before he was declared King such hope he had given from his Childhood of an excellent Disposition therefore he was Crowned King on the fifth of the Ides of April that Year his Father died and was called Henry the Fifth An intelligent Man would wonder how the Writer of the Brief History c. should SQVEEZE his Translation out of these Latin Words But Polydore who as I hinted before was very unfit to write the English History hath very oddly in Latin express'd this Relation as he likewise hath done many other Stories His Character take from Sir Hen. Savile in his Epistle to Queen Elizabeth before his Edition of the old English Writers after Bede Polydorus saith he ut homo Italus in rebus nostris hospes c. quod caput est neque in Republika versatus nec magni alioqui vel judicii vel ingenii pauca ex multis delibans falfit plerumque pro veris amplexus Historiam nobis reliquit cum caetera mendosam tum exiliter sane jejune conscriptam Polydor as he was an Italian and a Stranger in our Affairs and which was the chief matter not understanding our Government and Laws nor otherwise of great Wit or Judgment chusing a few things out of many and oft-times taking false things for true hath left us a very faulty History slightly and pitifully written After the Reign of these three Usurpers and Deposition of Henry the Sixth in the first of Edward the Fourth the Proceedings against Richard the Second are Repealed where 't is said That Henry Earl of Derby afterwards Henry the Fourth temerously ayenst ryghtwisnesse and Justice by Force and Arms ayenst his Faith and Ligeance rered Werre at Flynt in Wales ayenst King Richard the Second him tooke and imprisoned in the Tower of London in great violence and usurped and intruded upon the Royall Power Estate Dignity c. And not therewith satisfyed or content but more grievous thing attempting wickedly of unnatural unmanly and cruel Tyranny the same King Richard King Anointed Crowned and Consecrated and his Liege and most Soveraigne Lord in Earth against Gods Lawe Mans Ligeance and Oath of Fidelity with uttermost punicion attormenting murdered and destroyed with most vile hainous and lamentable Death c. The Commons being of this present Parliament having sufficient and evident knowledge of the said unryghtwyse Usurpation and Intrusion by the said Henry late Earl of Derby upon the said Crown of England knoweing also certainly without doubt and ambiguity the Right and Title of our said Soveraigne Lord thereunto true and that by Gods Lawe Mans Lawe and the Lawe of Nature he and none other is and ought to be their true ryghtwyse and natural Liege and Soveraigne Lord and that he was in right from the Death of the said Noble and Famous Prince his Father very just King of the said Realm of England doe take accept and repute and will for ever take accept and repute the said Edward the Fourth their Soveraigne and Liege Lord and him and his Heirs to be Kings of England and none other according to his said Right and Title And that the same Henry unryghtwysely against Lawe Conscience and Custome of the said Realm of
England usurped upon the said Crown and Lordship and that he and also Henry late called King Henry the Fifth his Son and Henry late called King Henry the Sixth his Son occupied the Realm of England and Lordship of Ireland and exercised the Governance thereof by unryghtwyse intrusion usurpation and no otherwise That the Amotion of Henry late called King Henry the Sixth from the Exercise Occupation Usurpation Intrusion Reign and Governance of the same Realm and Lordship done by our Soveraigne Lord King Edward the Fourth was and is rightwyse lawfull and according to the Lawes and Customes of the said Realme and soe ought to be taken holden reputed and accepted Further Some if not all the Grants made by Henry Earl of Derby called Henry the Fourth the said Henry his Son or the said Henry called Henry the Sixth or by Authority of any pretenced Parliament in any of their days were reputed null and void That the unrightwyse and unlawful Usurpation and Intrusion of the same Henry upon the Crown of England and Lordship of Ireland was to the great and intolerable hurt prejudice and derogation of Edmund Mortimer Earle of Maroh next Heir of Blood of the said King Richard at the time of his Death and to the Heirs of the said Edmomd and to the great and excessive Damage unto the Realm of England and to the politick and peaceable Governance thereof by inward Wars moved and grounded by occasion thereof In the First of Richard the Third the Three Estates after having much faulted the Government Marriage and Person of Edward the Fourth and affirmed That the Right and Title of the Issue of George Duke of Clarence was barred by his Attainder and extolling the Parts Wisdom and Justice of Richard his Brother declared him undoubted Heir of Richard Duke of York Father to Edward the Fourth very Inhaeritor of the Crown of England and Dignity Royal and as in Right King of England by way of Inheritance and therefore having in his great prudent Justice Princely Courage and excellent Vertue singular Confidence did by Writing in all that in them lay chuse him their King and Sovereign Lord to whom they knew of certain it apperteined to be so chosen c. And do further declare That the Right Title and Estate which King Richard the Third had to and in the Crown and Royal Dignity of the Realm of England with all things thereunto within the said Realm and without it annexed and apperteining was just and lawful as grounded upon the Laws of God and Nature and also upon the antient Lawes and laudable Customes of this said Realm as also taken and reputed by all such Persons as were learned in the abovesaid Laws and Customs And then they proceed and say Yet nevertheless forasmuch as it is considered that the most part of the People is not sufficiently learned in the aforesaid Laws and Customs whereby the Truth and Right in this behalf of likelyhood may be hid and not clearly known to all the People and thereupon put in doubt and question And over this how that the Court of Parliament is of such Authority and the People of this Land of such a nature and disposition as Experience teacheth that Manifestation or Declaration of any Truth made by the Three Estates of this Realm assembled in Parliament and by Authority of the same maketh before all other things most faithful and certain quieting of Mens minds and removeth the occasion of Doubts and seditious Language Therefore at the Request and by the Assent of the Three Estates of this Realm THAT IS TO SAY The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of this Land assembled in this present Parliament and by the Authority of the same be it pronounced decreed and declared That our said Sovereign Lord the King was and is the very undoubted King of this Realm of England with all things thereunto belonging within the said Realm and without it united annexed and apperteining as well by Right of Consanguinity and Inhaeritance as by lawful Election Consecration and Coronation Haereditary Right and Right of Blood was the Ground of this Establishment Henry the Seventh having no Haereditary Title of his own and being always averse to take upon him the only true and undoubted Title of his Queen eldest Daughter and Heir to Edward the Fourth procured an Act of Parliament That the Inhaeritance of the Crown of the Realms of England and France with all the Preheminencies and Dignities Royal to the same apperteining and the Ligeances to the King belonging beyond the Seas c. shall be rest remain and abide in the most Royal Person of our most Sovereign Lord Henry the Seventh and in the Heirs of his Body lawfully coming perpetually and so to endure and no otherwise It may be noted from these words That the inheritance of the Crown should rest remain and abide in the King c. That he designed not a Declaration or Recognition of his Right but rather an Establishment of that Possession he had gotten by the Sword for not thinking this Act a Sufficient Security for him nor depending on this Parliamentary Title he extended his pretences beyond this Establishment in at much as he procured it to be confirmed the year following by the Bull of Pope Innocent the Eighth in which this Statute with his Titles of Couquest and Descent are mentioned and confirmed The Bull says That the Kingdom of England belonged to him by undubitable right Non modo jure Belli ac notorio indubitato proximo successions Titulo verum etiam omnium prelatorum procerum Magnatum Nobilium totiusque ejusdem Regni Angliae plebis Electione et noto ac decreto statuto et ordinatione ipsius Angliae Regni trium Statuum in ipsorum conventu Parliamento nuncupato That is Not only by the right of War and the notorious and indubitable next Title of Succession but also by the election of all the Prelates and great Men and of the whole Commonalty of the Kingdom of England and by a known and decreed Statute and Ordinance of the Three Estates of the same Kingdom of England their meeting called a Parliament And afterward in the Thirteenth of his Reign he got his Bull renewed and the Act confirmed again by Pope Alexander the Sixth under pain of Excommunication and Curse to such as should upon any pretence whatsoever disturb the peace of the Nation and create trouble against this Title of Henry the Seventh So that notwithstanding this Act of Parliament which was cunningly penned to Establish his possession he had obtained by the sword He thought that and the Popes Bulls of Confirmation his best Title yet not omitting his own pretended indubitable next Right of Succession Henry the Eighth next heir to the Crown by Proximity of Blood as right Heir to his Mother Elizabeth Daughter and right Heir to Edward the Fourth succeeded his Father in
his Kingdom who in all Extravagant Acts concerning his Queens and the Succession ever founded it in pretended legal Proximity of Blood and Lawful next Heirs of Blood according to the due course of inheritance the pretended want of which was the only suggestion for passing these Acts. In the Twenty fifth of Henry the Eighth there was an Act for the Succession the preamble this In their most humble wyse shewen unto your Majesty your most humble and obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament c. That since it is the natural inclination of every man to provide for the suerty both of his Title and Succession although it touch his only private Cause we therefore reckon our selves much more bounden to beseech and instant your I lighness to forsee and provide for the perfect suerty of both you and your lawful Succession and Heirs upon which dependeth all our joy and wealth in whom also is united and knit the only meer TRUE INHERITANCE and TITLE of this Realm without any contradiction And then mentions that certain divisions arose upon ambiguities and doubts not perfectly declared from froward intents to expound them contrary to the right legalty of the Lawful Succession and posterity of the lawful Kings and Emperours of this Land After this confirming the Divorce of Queen Katherine as also the King's Marriage with Anne Boleyn the Parliament entayles the Crown upon him and his Heirs Male by her and for want of such Issue upon Elizabeth their eldest Daughter and their Heirs Females according to the due course of Inheritance From whence it appears that the Succession was founded upon inheritance and the design of the Act was that Henry the eighth might have Lawful Issue to inherit the Crown that so all Ambiguities and Doubts about the Succession might be taken off And all the Kings Subjects were bound under pain of misprision of Treason to swear to observe the Contents of this Act. The Act for Succession 28 Hen. 8. c. 7. affirms there were many Lawful impediments unknown at the making of the Act of Succession 25 Hen. 8. c. 22. which since that time were confessed by the Lady Anno before Themas Archbishop of Canterbury sitting Judicially for the same By reason of which impediments the Kings Marriage with her was never good nor consonant to the Lawes and therefore Q. Elizabeth was declared Illegitimate and it was declared Treason for any Man to judge or believe the Marriage between the King and the Lady Katherine or Anne to be good lawful or of any effect It was also in this Act declared Treason for any one to take accept name or call any of the Children born and procreate under those unlawful Marriages legitimate or lawful Children of the King And therefore the Crown was settled upon the King and his Heirs Males by his Lawful Queen Jane and for want of such Issue by her upon his Heirs Males by any other Lawsul Wife and for want of Heirs Males upon his Heirs Females by Queen Jane or any other Lawful wise And for lack of Lawful Heirs of his Body to be procreated and begotten as is limitted by this Act to such person and persons in Possession and Remainder as should please the King and according to such Estate and after such manner form fashion order and condition as shall be expressed declared named and limitted by his Letters Parents or by his last Will. And then follows And we your most humble and obedient Subjects do faithfully promise to your Majesty by one Common Assent That after your decease and for lack of Heirs of your Body lawfully begotten as is afore rehearsed We our Heirs and Successors shall accept and take love dread serve and alonely obey such Person and Persons Males or Females as your Majesty shall give your said Imperial Crown unto by authority of this Act and to none other and wholly to stick to them as true and faithful subjects ought to do to their Regal Rulers Governours and supream Heads To provide for Lawful Heirs was the pretended Ground of this Act of succession not to exclude them and to give the King a strange unheard of Power to dispose of the crown c. The Thirty fifth of Henry the Eighth cap. 1. recites how the Crown was entailed 28. Hen. 8. and what Power was given to him to dispose of the Crown To the intent therefore that His Majesty's disposition and mind therein might be openly declared and manifestly known His Majesty designing a Voyage beyond Sea it was enacted by his Highness with the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled and by Authority of the same That in case it should happen the King's Majesty and Prince Edward Heir Apparent to die without Issue of their Bodies lawfully begotten so as there be no Heirs Male or Female of either of their Bodies to have and inherit the said Imperial Crown that then it should be to his Daughter Mary and her Heirs lawfully to be begotten under such Conditions as should be limited by the King's Letters Patents or his last Will And for default of Issue to his Daughter Elizabeth upon the same Conditions But if no Conditions were appointed then the Succession to each of them one after another abosolutely And for want of Heirs by his Queen Katherine his Lawful Wife and for want of Lawful Issue or Prince Edward his Daughters Mary and Elizabeth then the King to dispose of the Crown at his only pleasure from time to time All these Acts of Succession were made by the King's Sollicitation Authority Command or other Procurement and were not other wife moved contrived or offered to him In the First of Queen Mary there is an Act declaring the Queen's Highness to have been born in most just and faithful Matrimony and also repealing all Acts of Parliaments and Sentence of Divorce made or had to the contrary The intention of this Act was to declare the Succession to be in Inheritance by Right of Blood In the First of Elizabeth the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do declare and confess th t Queen Elizabeth and in very deed and of most meer Right ought to be by the Laws of God and the Laws and Statutes of this Realm their most rightful and lawful Sovereign Queen And that she was rightly and lineally and lawfully descended and come of the Blood-Royal of this Realm of England in and to whose Princely Person and the Heirs of her Body lawfully begotten after her without all Doubt Ambiguity Scruple or Question The Imperial Crown and Dignity of this Realm was rally and entirely vested In this Law whether it were true or not in her the right lineal and lawful Descent of Queen Elizabeth was the Ground upon which she was declared to be by God's Laws and the Laws and Statutes of this Realm most rightful and lawful Queen And whatever she
and her Council secretly thought of her own Personal Title Yet upon the Treaty or Marriage with the Duke of Anjon in the Answer to the sixth Article delivered by the French Ambassador it is declared that the Succession in her Kingdoms was and ought to be Hereditary according to nearness in Blood The words are Liberi ex hoc matrimonio prognati in materna haereditate succedent in regnis secundum jura consuetudines regnorum viz. primogenitus filius in Coronam quam Regina mater habet si nulli extabunt filii Masculi filioe si extabunt viz prima sola maxima natu c. Atque idem ut fiat in hoereditate paterna loequum est quomodo consuetudines locorum id ferent intelligi parest That is The Children begotten of this Marriage shall succeed in the Mothers Inheritance in the Kingdoms according to the Laws and Customs of the Kingdoms that is to say The First born Son shall enjoy the Crown which the Queen Mother hath And if there be no Issue Male the Daughters if there be any shall succeed that is to say the Eldest first and alone c. And that it is just the Succession should obtain after the same manner in the Paternal Inheritance if the Custom of the places would allow it After the death of Queen Elizabeth the Act of Recognition made Upon King James his coming to the Crown doth not take notice of the Title raised by Act of Parliament to Henry the Seventh and the Heirs of his Body But declares that he was Lineally Rightfully and Lawfully descended of the Body of the most excellent Lady Margaret eldest Daughter of this most renowned King Henry the Seventh and the high and noble Prinress Queen Elizabeth his Wife eldest Daughter of King Edward the Fourth The said Lady Margaret being eldest Sister of King Henry the Eighth Father of the High and Mighty Princess of famous Memory Elizabeth late Queen of England In consideration whereof the Parliament doth acknowledge King James their only Lawful and Rightful Leige Lord and Sovereign And further say as being bound thereunto both by the Laws of God and Man they do recognize and acknowledge that Immediately upon the Dissolution and Deceasy of Elizabeth late Queen of England the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England and all the Kingdoms Dominions and Rights belonging to the same did by inherent Birth-right and lawful and undoubted Succession descend and come to His most excellent Majesty as being lineally justly and lawfully next and SOLE HEIR of the Blood-Royal of this Realm as it is afore said And thereunto they do most humbly and faithfully submit and oblige themselves their Heirs and Posterities for ever until the last drop of their Bloods be spent What can be clearer than that the Succession to the Crown of England was always thought judged had taken and reputed to be from Nextness of Blood by the Opinion of all sober Men by Law and Custom by this and other Acts of Parliament and Statutes before cited This then being the true History and Case of Succession to the Crown of England and its being only founded upon Proximity of Blood the Author of the Brief History of Succession c. ought to have called it An History of Vsurpations Seditions and Rebellions It was written and intended for a purpose he will not own that is to shew that In the English Monarchy there is not Right of Succession but that Parliaments or Armies may set up whom they please This I confess hath been practised in this Nation and it was the main Cause of the War between the Families of Tork and Lancaster that proceeding from the Right of the one Patty and Possession of the other and the Contrarieties of Acts of Parliament was caused by the Alternate Victories of both But the doing of a thing makes it not lawful Repeated Wickedness or the frequent Repetition of Wiekedness gives no Authority to any one to commit that Wickedness as the frequency of Adulteries or Robberies doth not justifie either of them I think it 's no good Argument to say Edward the Second was deposed and murthered therefore Richard the Second might be deposed and murthered or That they were both deposed and murthered therefore Charles the First might be deposed and murthered or Because King Charles the First was deposed and murthered therefore King Charles the Second may be deposed and murthered Precedents are of force only in things lawful obscure or dubious but never in things unjust The Depositions and Murthers of Edward the Second and Richard the Second the Usurpations and unlawful Actions of Henry the Fourth and Richard the Third were in their own times condemned by all good Men even as the Actions of that Parliament began in 1641. in ours which I suppose is the reason why the Author of the Pamphlet brings not them in as a Precedent which would have served his turn better than all his other Instances But besides their impious Instances we ought to take notice of the Expressions of these Men of Jesuitical Principles They call Usurpation the Election of the People a Faction the Commonwealth the Actions of a few they impute to all They call Rebellion a just and judicial Proceeding often and open Perjury an orderly Revoking of a Sentence God's secret Judgment in permitting Injustice to prevail his owning and allowance thereof the Inconsistency and present Humour of the heedless Multitude who judge of things not by Reason or Justice but either by Opinion which commonly is partial or else by Report which is usually full of Incertainties and Errors the most part Doing because others Do all easie to be drawn in to serve any wicked and ambitious Men's Attempts they call the presumed Will and Consent of the People According to which say they the Succession of the Crown is to be directed And by these Arts they do very much impose upon their unwary Readers To this History of Succession belongs the Act of the Thirteenth of Elizabeth cap. 1. intituled An Act whereby certain Offences are made Treason which as many great and learned Persons think was upon the debate and making of it intended and designed to declare a Power in the Queen and her Successors for ever by Authority of Parliament to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient force and validity to limit and bind the Crown of England and the Descent Limitation Inheritance and Government thereof Sir Edward Coke says Many Acts of Parliament are hardly to be understood unless the History of that time be joyned thereunto This Parliament met April 2. 1571. 13 Eliz. and was dissolved May 29. following This Parliament we see was holden in the beginning of the Year 1571. Some Years before but most especially in the Year1570 immediately preceding there had been many Practices and Seditious and Treasonable Contrivances against Queen Elizabeth by Foreign as well as Domestick Enemies By the Pope and
Titles were whispered up and down the Act of 35 Hen. 8. or this Act of Recognition were not thought sufficient to secure the Queen Elizabeth Then was this Act in the Thirteenth of her Reign made meerly either to create or strengthen her Title and not to Exclude the Queen of Scots from the SUCCESSION unless she attempted any thing against her or laid Claim to the Crown which was also in its own nature a securing Clause to Queen Elizabeth But the great Clause of Security to Queen Elizabeth in this Act was that Clause by which it was made Treason for any man to affirm that she by Authority of Parliament could not make Lawes and Statutes to bind the Succession of the Crown or that this Act or other Lawes to be made by the Parliament of England by her Royal assent for limiting the Crown and recognizing the right to be lawfully and justly in her person is not are not or shall not or ought not to be for ever of good and sufficient force This Clause was levelled against the Opinion That the Queen of Scots had the best Title which began to spread and gain much credit as well amongst the Nobility as Commons By all which it is manifest this whole Act was but Temporary and therefore we may note with Pulton that it expired with Queen Elizabeth and it was no Act of Exclusion but a Law only to secure her Person and to make and confirm unto her a Title which without Statute-Law was in it self at least doubtful And the new Clause which was added That it should be High Treason during her Life for any Person to affirm she by Authority of Parliament had not Power to bind the Crown and Succession thereof or That the Right of the Crown and Realm was not justly and lawfully in her Royal Person cannot affect the Title of a lawful Successor by Inheritance nor be brought or made use of as a Precedent to exclude him from the Succession But it may be said There is a great Forfeiture inflicted upon every Person holding and affirming after her Decease That Queen Elizabeth and a Parliament could not limit the Succession and fix the Crown upon her own Head This Clause could take no effect after her death and therefore was added to preserve her Memory from being defamed after her Death or slanderously charged with the hainous Crime of Vsurping the Crown which in must have been the inevitabble Consequence of affirming she and her Parliament could not limit the Succession For she valued much her Credit and Reputation and would seem to maintain still that he acted nothing against the Queen of Scots and therefore the Law is made in general Words against every Person or Persons whatsoever of what Degree Place Nation or Condition whatsoever that should affirm she was not in Right true and lawful Queen or that should claim the Crown c. In the Point of Succession she could never be brought expresly by Name to exclude the Queen of Scots or name any other Successor as is clear from these several Passages in Camden Dudley desirous by all means to oblige and obtain the Favour of the Queen of Scots accused the Lord Keeper Bacon to the Queen That he had intermedled against the Queen of Scots in the matter of Succession for which he lost the Queens Favour and was with much ado at last restored to it again by the Mediation of Cecil upon which our Author says Certainly the Queen never heard any thing more unwillingly than that the Right of Succession should be called in question or disputed The same Year Queen Elizabeth hearing of a Match like to be between the Queen of Scots and Henry Lord Darly to prevent it advertifed her by her Lieger Randolph That that Marriage was generally so dishked by all the English that she had Prorogued the Parliament to another time against the minds of her Council left the Estates of the Realm being incensed shou'd even for this cause Enact somewhat against her Right to the Succession Which that it might not be done afterwards she recommended Leycester unto her for a Husband whom chiefly for that Reason she had created Earl In the Year 1566 a Parliament was called to meet on the First of November They began to Debate roundly about the Succession and the Earls of Pembroke and Leycester and Duke of Norfolk thought that an Husband was to be imposed upon the Queen or a Successor publickly designed by Act of Parliament even against her will Whereupon they were excluded the Presence-Chambcr and denied Access to the Queen but they soon submitted themselves to her and obtained pardon Yet the Upper House did by the Lord Keeper Bacon advise move and pray her to Marry and to appoint a Successor if she or her Children should die without Issue But some in the Lower House handled these things more tumultuously Bell and Monson great Lawyers Dutton Paul Went worth and others who grated upon the Queens Authority too much and amongst other things maintained That Kings were bound to design a Successor At last they offered her far greater Subsidies than they were wont upon condition that she would design a certain Successor She absolutely refused that extraordinary Offer and accepted an ordinary Sum commending their Affection The last day of the Parliament she made a Speech and gave the busie Men a smooth Reprehension I find saith she that in this Parliament DISSIMVLATION hath walked up and down masked under the Vizor of LIBERTY and SVCCESSION Some of your Number there are that thought it LIBERTY to dispute of the SVCCESSION and that the Establishment of the same is absolutely to be granted or denied If I had granted it these Men had had their desire and had triumphed over me but if I had denied it they thought to have moved the Hatred of my People against me which my greatest Enemies could never yet do But their Wisdom was unseasonable and their Counsels over-hasty neither did they foresee the Event Yet hereby I easily perceived who inclined toward me and who were averse unto me c. Upon this Speech Camden makes this Remarque Thus a Woman's Wisdom suppressed these Commotions every day so qualified them shining clearer and clearer that very few besides such as were seditious and fearful were troubled about a Successor And certainly most men whatever they pretend have no more sense of Publick Matters than what concerns their own Private To these Testimonies of the Queens aversion to pass a Bill of Exclusion of the Q. of Scots may be added a very clear and convincing one out of the Journal of the House of Commons in the Fourteenth of her Reign after the passing this Act which is said so much to favour a Bill of Exclusion Mr. Treasurer of the Houshold Sir Francis Knolles from the Queen advised the House of Commons to go forwards against the Queen of Scots with a second Bill