Richard and Reigned 13. years by the name of King Henry the fourth and was the first King of the House of Lancaster of the right of whose title examination shall be made afterwards The first of the two daughters which John of Gaunt had by Blanch was named Philippa who was married to John the first of â—hat name King of Portugal by whom she had Issue Edward King of Portugal and he Alfonsus the fifth and he John the second and so one after another even unto our days The second daughter of John of Gaunt by Lady Blanch was named Elizabeth who was married to John Holland Duke of Exeter and she had Issue by him another John Duke of Exeter and he had Issue Henry Duke of Exeter that died without Issue Male leaving only one Daughter named Anne who was married to Sir Thomas Nevil Knight and by him had Issue Ralph Nevil third Earl of Westmerland whose Lineal Heir is at this day Lord Charles Nevil Earl of Westmerland that liveth banished in Flanders And this is all the Issue that John of Gaunt had by Lady Blanch his first Wife saving only that I had forgotten to prosecute the Issue of Henry his first Son surnamed of Bullenbroke that was afterward called K. Henry the fourth which King had four Sons and two daughters his daughters were Blanch and Philippa the first married to William Duke of Bavaria and the second to Erick King of Denmark and both of them died without Children The four Sons were first Henry that Reigned after him by the name of Henry the fifth and the second was Thomas Duke of Clarence the third was John Duke of Bedford and the fourth was Humphry Duke of Glocester all which three Dukes died without Issue or were slain in Wars of the Realm so as only King Henry the fifth their elder Brother had Issue one Son named Henry also that was King and Reigned 40 years by the name of Henry the sixth who had Issue Prince Edward and both of them I mean both Father and Son were murthered by order or permission of Edward Duke of York who afterward took the Crown upon him by the name of King Edward the fourth as before hath been said so as in this King Henry the sixth and his Son Prince Edward ended all the bloud-Royal male of the House of Lancaster by Blanch the first Wife of John of Gaunt and the Inheritance of the said Lady Blanch returned by right of succession as the favourers of the House of Portugal affirm though others deny it unto the Heirs of Lady Philip her eldest daughter married into Portugal whose Nephew named Alfonsus the fifth King of Portugal lived at that day when King Henry the sixth and his Heir were made away and thus much of John of Gaunt's first marriage But after the death of the Lady Blanch John of Gaunt married the Lady Constance daughter and Hâ—ir of Peter the first surnamed the Cruel King of Castile who being driven out of his Kingdom by Henry his Bastard-brother assisted thereunto by the French he fled to Bourdeaux with his Wife and two daughters where he found Prince Edward eldest Son to King Edward the third by whom he was restored and for pledge of his fidelity and performance of other conditions that the said King Peter had promised to the Prince he left his two daughters with him which daughters being sent afterwards into England the eldest of them named Constance was married to John of Gaunt and by her Title he named himself for divers years afterwards King of Castile and went to gain the same by Arms when Peter her Father was slain by his foresaid Bastard-brother But yet some years after that again there was an agreement made between the said John of Gaunt and John the first of that name King of Castile Son and Heir of the foresaid Henry the Bastard with condition that Catharine the only daughter of John of Gaâ—nt by Lady Constance should marry with Henry the third Prince of Castile Son and Heir of the said King John and Nephew to the Bastard Henry the second and by this means was ended that controversie between England and Castile And the said Lady Catharine had Issue by King Henry John the second King of Casâ—â—â—e and he Isabel that married with Ferdinando the Catholick King of Aragon and joyned by that marriage both those Kingdoms together and by him she had a daughter named Joan that married Philip Duke of Austria and Burgundy and by him had Charles the such that was Emperor and Father to King Philip that now reigneth â—n Spain who as we see is descided two ways from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster to wit by two daughters begotten of two Wives Blanch and Constance neither had John of Gaunt any more Children by Constance but only this daughter Catharine of whom we have spoken wherefore now we shall speak of his third Wife that was Lady Catharine Swinford This Lady Catharine as English Histories do note was born in Heinalt in Flanders and was daughter to a Knight of that Country called Sir Payne de Ruet and she was brought up in her youth in the Duke of Lancasters house and attended upon his first Wife Lady Blanch and being fair of personage grew in such favour with the Duke as in the time of his second Wife Constance he kept this Catharine for his Concubine and begat upon her four Children to wit three Sons and â— daughter which daughter whose name was Jane was married to Ralph Earl of Westmorland called commonly in those days Daw Raby of whom descended the Earls of Westmorland that ensued His three Sons were John Thomas and Henry and John was first Earl and then Duke of Summerset Thomas was first Marques of Dorset and then Duke of Excester Henry was Bishop of Winchester and after Cardinal And after John of Gaunt had begotten all these four Children upon Catharine he married her to a Knight in England named Swinford which Knight lived not many years after and John of Gaunt coming home to England from Aquitaine where he had been for divers years and seeing this old Conâ—â—â—â—ne of his Catharine to be now a Widow and himself also without a Wife for that the Lady Constance was dead a little before for the love that he bore to the Children that he had begotten of her he determined to marry her and thereby the rather to legitimate her Children though himself were old now and all his Kindred utterly against the Marriage and so not full two years before his death to wit in the Year of Christ 1396. he married her and the next Year after in a Parliament begun at Westminster the 22 of January Anno Domini 1397. he caused all his said Children to be legitimated which he had begotten upon this Lady Swinford before she was his Wife But now to go forward to declare the Issue of these three Sons of John of Gaunt by Catharine
Swinford two of them that is Thomas Duke of Exeter and Henry Cardinal and Bishop of Winchester dyed without Issue John the eldest Son that was Earl of Somerset had Issue two Sons John and Edmond John that was Duke of Somerset had Issue one onely Daughter named Margaret who was married to Edmond Tidder Earl of Richmond by whom he had a Son named Henry Earl also of Richmond who after was afterwards made King by the name of Henry the VII and was Father to King Henry the VIII and Grandfather to the Queens Majesty that now is And this is the issue of John the first Son to the Duke of Somerset Edmond the second Son to John Earl of Somerset was first Earl of Mortaine and then after the death of his Brother John who dyed without Issue make as hath been said was created by King Henry the VI. Duke of Somerset and both he and almost all his Kin were slain in the quarrel of the said King Henry the VI. and for defence of the House of Lancaster against York For First this Edmond himself was slain in the battel of S. Albans against Richard Duke and first Pretender of York in the Year 1456. leaving behind him three goodly Sons to wit Henry Edmond and John whereof Henry succeeded his Father in the Dutchy of Somerset and was taken and beheaded in the same quarrel at Exham in the Year 1463. dying without Issue Edmond likewise succeeded his Brother Henry in the Dutchy of Somerset and was taken in the battel of Tewkesbury in the same quarrel and there beheaded the 7 th of May 1471. leaving no Issue John also the third Brother Marquess of Dorset was slain in the same battel of Tewkesbury and left no Issue and so in these two Noblemen ceased utterly all the Issue Male of the Line of Lancaster by the Children of John of Gaunt begotten upon Lady Swinford his third Wife So that all which remained of this Woman was only Margaret Countess of Richmond Mother to King Henry the VII which King Henry the VII and all that do descend from him in England do hold the Right of Lancaster only by this third Marriage of Catharine Swinford as hath been shewed and no ways of Blanch the first Wife or of Constance the second and this is enough in this place of the Descents of John of Gaunt and of the House of Lancaster and therefore I shall now pass over to shew the Issue of the House of York I touched briefly before how Edmond Langley Duke of York fourth Son of King Edward the III. had two Sons Edward Earl of Rutland and Duke of Aumarle that succeeded his Father afterwards in the Dutchy of York and was slain without children under King Henry the V. in the battel of Agencâ—urt in France and Richard Earl of Cambridge which married Lady Anna Mortimer as before hath been said that was Heir of the House of Clarence to wâ—t of Leonel Duke of Clarence second son to King Edward the III. by which marriage he joyned together the two Titles of the Second and Fourth Sâ—â—â— of King Edward and being himself convinced of a Conspiracy against King Henry the V. was put to death in Southampton in the Year of Christ 1415. and 3 d. of the Reign of King Henry the V. and 5 th day of August This Richard had Issue by Lady Anna Mortimer a Son named Richard who succeeded his Uncle Edward Duke of York in the same Dutchy and afterwards finding himself strong made claime to the Crown in the behalf of his Mother and declaring himself Chief of the Faction of the White Rose gave occasion of many cruel battels against them of the Red Rose and House of Lancaster and in one of the battels which was given in the Year 1460. at Wakefield himself was slain leaving behind him three Sons Edward George and Richard whereof Edward was afterwards King of England by the name of Edward the IV. George was Duke of Clarence and put to death in Calis in a butt of Sack or Malmesy by the Commandment of the King his Brother and Richard was Duke of Glocester and afterwards King by murthering his own two Nephews and was called King Richard the III. Edward the Eldest of these three Brothers which afterwards was King had Issue two Sons Edward and Richard both put to death in the Tower of London by their Cruel Uncle Richard he had also five Daughters the last four whereof I do purposely omit for that of none of them there remaineth any Issue but the eldest of all named Elizabeth was married to King Henry the VI. of the House of Lancaster and had by him Issue King Henry the VIII and two Daughters the one married unto Scotland whereof are descended the King of Scots and Arabella and the other married to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk whereof are issued the Children of the Earls of Hartford and Darby as after more at large shall be handled and this is the Issue of the first Brother of the House of York The Second Brother George Duke of Clarence had Issue by his Wife Lady Isabel Heir to the Earldoms of Warwick and Salisbury one Son named Edward Earl of Warwick who was put to death afterwards in his Youth by King Henry the VII and left no Issue this Duke George had also one Daughter named Margaret admitted by King Henry the VIII at what time he sent her into Wales with Princess Mary to be Countess of Salisbury but yet married very meanly to a Knight of Wales named Sir Richard Poole by whom she had four Sons Henry Arthur Geffrey and Reginald the last whereof was Cardinal and the other two Arthur and Geffrey had Issue for Arthur had two Daughters Mary and Margarit Mary was married to Sir John Stanny and Margaret to Sir Thomas Fitzherbert Sir Geffrey Poole had also Issue another Geffrey Poole and he had Issue Arthur and Geffrey which yet live Now then to return to the first Son of the Countess of Salisbury named Henry that was Lord Montague and put to death both he and his mother by King Henry the VIII This man I say left two daughters Catharine and Winefred Catharine was married to Sir Francis Hastings Earl of Huntington by which Marriage issued Sir Henry Hastings now Earl of Huntington and Sir George Hastings his brother who hath divers Children And Winefred the younger daughter was married to Sir Thomas Barrington Knight who also wanteth not Issue and this is of the second Brother of the House of York to wit of the Duke of Clarence The third Brother Richard Duke of Gloucester and afterward King left no Issue so as this is all that is needful to be spoken of the House of York in which we see that the first and principal Competitor is the King of Scots and after him Arabella and the Children of the Earls of Hertford and Derby are also Competitors of the
same House as descended by the daughter of the first Brother Edward Duke of York and King of England and then the Earl of Huntington and his generation as also the Pools Barringtons and others before named are or may be Titlers of York as descended of George Duke of Clarence second Son of Richard Duke of York all which Issue yet seem to remain only within the compass of the House of York for that by the former Pedegree of the House of Lancaster it seemeth to the favourers of this House that none of these other Competitors are properly of the Line of Lancaster for that King Henry the 7th coming only of John of Gaunt by Catharine Swinford his third Wife could have no part in Lady Blanch that was only Inheritor of that House as to these men seemeth evident Only then it remaineth for the ending of this Chapter to explain somewhat more clearly the descent of King Henry the 7th and of his Issue For better understanding whereof you must consider that King Henry the 7th being of the House of Lancaster in the manner that you have heard and marrying Elizabeth the eldest daughter of the contrary House of York did seem to joyn both Houses together and make an end of that bloudy controversie though others now will say no But howsoever that was which after shall be examined clear it is that he had by that marriage one only Son that left Issue and two daughters his Son was King Henry the 8th who by three several Wives had three Children that have reigned after him to wit King Edward the 6th by Queen Jane Seymer Queen Mary by Queen Catharine of Spain and Queen Elizabeth by Queen Anne Bullen of all which three Children no Issue hath remained so as now we must return to consider the Issue of his daughters The eldest daughter of King Henoy the seventh named Margaret was married by her first mariage to James the fourth King of Scots who had Issue James the fifth and he again Lady Mary late Queen of Scots and Dowager of France put to death not long ago in England who left Issue James the sixth now King of Scots And by her second marriage the said Lady Margaret after the death of King James the fourth took for husband Archibald Douglas Earl of Angus in Scotland by whom she had one only daughter named Margaret which was married to Matthew Steward Earl of Lenox and by him she had two Sons to wit Henry Lord Darly and Charles Steward Henry married the foresaid Lady Mary Queen of Scotland and was murthered in Edenbrough in the year 1566. as the World knoweth and Charles his Brother married Elizabeth the daughter of Sir William Candish in England by whom he had one only daughter yet living named Arabella another competitor of the Crown of England by the House of York and thus much of the first daughter of King Henry the seventh Mary the second daughter of King Henry the seventh and younger Sister to King Henry the eighth was married first to Lewis the XII King of France by whom she had no Issue and afterward to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk by whom she had two daughters to wit Frances and Eleanor the Lady Frances was married first to Henry Gray Marquess of Dorset and after Duke of Suffolk beheaded by Queen Mary and by him she had three daughters to wit Jane Catharine and Mary the Lady Jane eldest of the three was married to Lord Guilford Dudly Son to John Dudly late Duke of Northumberland with whom I mean with her Husband and Father in Law she was beheaded soon after for being proclaimes Queen upon the death of King Edward the sixth the Lady Catharine second daughter married first the Lord Henry Herbert Earl of Pembroke and left by him again she dyed afterward in the Tower where she was prisoner for having had two Children by Edward Seymer Earl of Hertford without sufficient proof that she was married unto him and the two Children are yet living to wit Henry Seymer commonly called Lord Beacham and Edward Seymer his Brother The Lady Mary the third Sister though she was betrothed to Arthur Lord Gray of Wilton and married after to Martin Keyes Gentleman-Porter yet hath she left no Issue as far as I understand This then is the end of the Issue of Lady Frances first of the two daughters of Queen Mary of France by Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk for albeit the said Lady Frances after the beheading of the said Henry Lord Gray Duke of Suffolk her first Husband married again one Adrian Stokes her Servant and had a Son by him yet it lived not but dyed very soon after Now then to speak of the younger daughter of the said French Queen and Duke named Eleanor she was married to Henry Clifford Earl of Cumberland who had by her a daughter named Margaret that was married to Lord Henry Stanley Earl of Darby by whom she hath a plentiful Issue as Ferdinand now Earl of Darby William Stanley Francis Stanley and others and this is all that needeth to be spoken of these descents of our English Kings Princes Peers or Competitors to the Crown for this place and therefore now it resteth only that we begin to examine what different pretentions are fram'd by divers Parties upon these descents and Genealogies which is the principal point of this our discourse CHAP. IV. Of the great and general controversie and contention between the two Houses Royal of Lancaster and York and which of them may seem to have had the better Right to the Crown by way of Succession ANd first of all before I do descend to treat in particular of the different pretences of several persons and families that have issued out of these two Royal lineages of Lancaster and York it shall perhaps not be amiss to discuss with some attention what is or hath or may be said on both sides for the general controversie that lyeth between them yet undecided in many mens opinions notwithstanding there hath been so much stir about the same and not only writing and disputing but also fighting and murthering for many years And truly if we look into divers Histories Records and Authors which have written of this matter we shall find that every one of them speaking commonly according to the time wherein they lived for that all such as wrote in the time of the three Henries fourth fifth and sixth Kings of the House of Lancaster they make the title of Lancaster very clear and undoubted but such others as wrote since that time while the House of York hath held the Scepter they have spoken in a far different manner as namely Polydor that wrote in King Henry the VIII his time and others that have followed him since to take all right from the House of Lancaster and give the same to the House of York wherefore the best way I suppose will be not so much to consider
English Nobility to see them so greatly advanced above the rest as necessarily they must be if this Woman of their Lineage should come to be Queen which how the Nobility of England would bâ—ar is hard to say And this is as much as I have heard others say of this matter and of all the House of Scotland wherefore with this I shall end and pass over to treat also of the other Houses that do remain of such as before I named CHAP. VI. Of the House of Suffolk containing the Claims of the Countess of Darby and her Children as also of the Children of the Earl of Hartford IT hath appeared by the Genealogy set down before in the third Chapter and often-times mentioned since how that the House of Suffolk is so called for that the Lady Mary second Daughter of King Henry VII being first married to Lewis XII King of France was afterwards married to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk who being sent over to condole the death of the said King got the good will of the Widow-Queen though the common Fame of all men was That the said Charles had a Wife living at that day and divers years after as in this Chapter we shall examine more in particular By this Charles Brandon then Duke of Suffolk this Queen Mary of France had two Daughters first the Lady Frances married to Sir Henry Gray Marquess of Dorset and afterwards in the right of his Wife Duke also of Suffolk who was afterwards beheaded by Queen Mary And secondly Lady Eleanor married to Sir Henry Clifford Earl of Cumberland The Lady Frances elder Daughter of the Queen and of Charles Brandon had Issue by her Husband the said last Duke of Suffolk three Daughters to wit Jane Katharine and Mary which Mary the youngest was betrothed first to Arthur Lord Gray of Wilton and after left by him she was married to one M. Martin Keyes of Kent Gentleman-Porter of the Queens Houshold and after she died without Issue And the Lady Jane the eldest of the three Sisters was married at the same time to the Lord Guilford Dudley fourth Son to Sir John Dudley Duke of Northumberland and was proclaimed Queen after the death of King Edward for which act all three of them to wit both the Father Son and Daughter-in-law were put to death soon after But the Lady Katharine the second Daughter was married first upon the same day that the other two her Sisters were unto Lord Henry Herbert now Earl of Pembroke and upon the fall and misery of her House she was left by him and so she lived a sole Woman for divers years until in the beginning of this Queens days she was found to be with-child which she affirmed was by the Lord Edward Seymor Earl of Hartford who at that time was in France with Sir Nicholas Throgmorton the Embassador and had purpose and license to have travelled into Italy but being called home in hast upon this new accident he confessed that the Child was his and both he and the Lady affirmed that they were man and wife but for that they could not prove it by Witnesses and for attempting such a Match with one of the Blood Royal without Privity and License of the Prince they were Committed to the Tower where they procured Means to meet again afterward and had an other Child which both Children do yet live and the Elder of them is called Lord Henry Beacham and the other Edward Seymor the Mother of whom lived not long after neither married the Earl again until of late that he married the Lady Frances Howard Sister to the Lady Sheffield And this is all the Issue of the elder Daughter of Charles Brandon by Lady Mary Queen of France The second Daughter of Duke Charles and the Queen named Lady Eleanor was married to Henry Lord Clifford Earl of Cumberland and had by him a Daughter named Margaret that married Sir Henry Stanely Lord Strange and after Earl of Darby by whom the said Lady who yet liveth hath had Issue Ferdinando Stanley now Earl of Darby William and Francis Stanley And this is the Issue of the House of Suffolk to wit this Countess of Darby with her Children and these other of the Earl of Hartford of all whose Titles with their Impediments I shall here briefly give an account and reason First of all both of these Families do joyn together in this one point to exclude the House of Scotland both by foreign Birth anh by the aforesaid Testament of King Henry authorized by two Parliaments and by the other Exclusions which in each of the titles of the King of cots and of Lady Arabella hath been before-alledged But then secondly they come to vary between themselves about the Priority or Propinquity of their own Succession for the Children of the Earl of Hartford and their Friends do alledge That they do descend of Lady Frances the elder Sister of Lady Eleanor and so by Law and Reason ought to be preferred But the other House alledgeth against this two Impediments the one That the Lady Margaret Countess of Darby now living is nearer by one degree to the Stem that is to King Henry VII then are the Children of the Earl of Hartford and consequently according to that which in the former fourth Chapter hath been declared she is to be preferred albeit the Children of the said Earl were legitimate Secondly they do affirm That the said Children of the Earl of Hartford by the Lady Katharine Gray are many ways illegitimate First for that the said Lady Katharine Gray their Mother was lawfully married before to the Earl of Pembroke now living as hath been touched and publick Records do testifie and not lawfully separated nor by lawful authority nor for just Causes but only for temporal and worldly respects for that the House of Suffolk was come into misery and disgrace whereby she remained still his true Wife and before God and so could have no lawful Children by any other whiles he yet lived as yet he doth Again they prove the illegitimation of these Children of the Earl of Hartford for that it could never be lawfully proved that the said Earl and the Lady Katharine were married but only by their own assertions which in Law is not holden sufficient for which occasion the said pretended Marriage was disannulled in the Court of Arches by publick and definitive Sentence of Doctor Parker Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of England not long after the Birth of the said Children Furthermore they do add yet another Bastardy also in the Birth of Lady Katharine her self for that her Father Lord Henry Gray Marquess of Dorset was known to have a lawful Wife alive when he married the Lady Frances Daughter and Heir of the Queen of France and of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and Mother of this Lady Katharine for obâ—aining of which said Marriage the said Marquess put away his foresaid
John that was King after his Father by the Name of John the third Secondly the Lady Isabel Married to the Emperor Charles the fifth and Mother to King Philip of Spain that now liveth Thirdly Lady Beatrix Married to Charles Duke of Savoy and Mother to Duke Philibert the last Duke that Died and Grand-mother to this that now Liveth Fourthly Lord Lewis Father to Don Antonio that now is in England Fifthly Lord Henry that was Cardinal and Archbishop of Ebora and in the end King of Portugal And sixthly Lord Edward that was Father of the two Dutchesses of Parma and Bragansa to wit of the Lady Mary and Lady Catharine both which left goodly Issue for that Lady Mary hath left by the last Duke of Parma Lord Ranutius that is now Duke of Parma and Lord Edward that is Cardinal And the Lady Catharine Dutchess of Bragansa that yet liveth hath Issue divers goodly Princes as the Lord Theodosius that is now Duke of Bragansa and three younger Brothers to wit Edward Alexander and Philip young Princes of great expectation and these are the Children of King Emmanuel whose particular Successions and Issues I shall declare somewhat more in particular Prince John of Portugal afterward King by name of King John the Third had Issue another John that was Prince of Portugal but died before his Father and left a Son Named Sebastian who was King and slain afterward by the Moors in Barbary and so ended this first Line The second Son and fourth Child of King Emmanuel was Named Lord Lewis and died also without Issue Legitimate as is supposed for that Don Antonio his Son that afterward was proclaimed King by the People of Lisbone and now liveth in England was taken by all men to be unlawful as presently more at large shall be shewed so as after the Death of King Sebastian there entred the Cardinal Lord Henry which was third Son of King Emmanuel and Great-Uncle to Sabastian lately Desceased for that he was Brother to King John the third that was Grand Father to King Sebastian And albeit there wanted not some according as the Authors Write which afterward I shall Name who affirmed and held that King Philip of Spain should have succeeded King Sebastian before the Cardinal for that he was nearer in Consanguinity to him than was the Cardinal for that besides that King Philip was Son of King Emmanuâ—ls Eldest Daughter he was Brother also to King Sebastians Mother yet the said Cardinal entred peaceably and by consent of all parties but for that he was Old and Unmarried and not like to leave any Child of his own there began presently the Contention in his days who should be his Successor To which Succession did pretend five Princes of the Blood-Royal of Portugal besides the Lady Catharine Queen-Mothers of France who pretended by her Mothers side to be Descended of one Lord Ralph Earl of Bullain in Piccardy which Ralph was Eldest Son of Alfonsus the third King of Portugal which Alfonsus before he was King to wit in the time of his Eldest Brother King Sanches of Portugal was Married to the Countess and Heir of Bullain Named Mathildis and had by her this Ralph But afterwards this Alfonsus coming to be King of Portugal he Married again with the King of Castile's Daughter and had by her a Son called Denyse who reigned after him and his Successors unto this day all which Succession of King Denyse and his Posterity the said Queen Mother would have improved and shewed that it appertained unto her by the said Raphe and for this cause sent she to Portugal one Lord Vrban Bishop of Comince in Gascony to plead her Cause which Cause of hers was quickly rejected and only the aforesaid five Princes Descended of King Emmanuel's Children were admitted to the Tryal for the same which were Don Antonio Son of Lord Lewis the King Cardinals Elder Brother and King Philip of Spain Son of Lady Elizabeth the Eldest Sister of the said Cardinal and Philibert Duke of Savoy Son of the Lady Beatrix the same Cardinals Younger Sister and the two Dutchesses of Parma and Bragansa named Mary and Catharine Daughters of Lord Edward Younger Brother of the said Cardinal and Youngest Child of the said King Emmanuel And for that the Lady Mary Dutchess of Parma which was the Elder of the two Daughters was Dead before this Controversy fell out her Eldest Son Lord Ranutio now Duke of Parma pretended by her Right to the said Crown And for that this matter was of so great Importance every party procured to lay down their Reasons and declared their Rights in the best manner they could and such as could not be present themselves in Portugal sent thither their Agents Embassadors and Attorneys to plead their Cause for them Don Antonio and the Dutchess of Bragansa as Inhabitants of that Kingdom were present and declared their pretences Namely Don Antonio by himself and for himself and the Lady Mary of Bragansa by her Husband the Duke and his Learned Councel The Prince of Parma sent thither for his part one Ferdinando Farneso Bishop of Parma The Duke of â—avoy seâ—t Charles of Rovere afterward made Cardinal The King of Spain as the greatest pretender sent the Lord Peter Gyron Duke of Osuna afterward Viceroy of Naples and Sir Christopher de Mora Knight of his Chamber at that time but since of his Privy-Council and lately made Earl of Castil Rodrigo in Portugal of which Country he is a Native and besides these two a great Lawyer Named Roderigo Vasques made since as I hear say Lord President of Castil which is as much almost as Lord Chancellor with us All these did lay forth before the King Cardinal their several Reasons and Pretensions to the Succession of the Crown of Portugal for the five persons before-mentioned whereof two were quickly excluded to wit the Duke of Savoy for that his Mother was Younger Sister to King Philip's Mother and himself also of less Age then the said King And secondly Don Antonio was also excluded by publick and Judicial Sentence of the King Cardinal his Uncle as Illegitimate and Born out of lawful Wedlock And Albeit Don Antonio denyed the same and went about to prove himself Legitimate affirming that his Father the Lord Lewis before his Death had Married with his Mother in secret and for this brought forth some Witnesses as Namely his Mothers Sister with her Husband and two others Yet the King Cardinal affirmed that upon Examination he had found them Suborned which he said was evident to him partly for that they agreed not in their Speeches and partly for that some of them had Confessed the same to wit that they were Suborned whom he cast into Prison and caused them to be punished And so sitting in Judgment accompanied with four Bishops and four Lawyers whom he had called to assist him in this Cause he pronounced the same Don Antonio to be a Bastard for
both of the Blood Royal they are thought to have abâ—sed themselves much by their Marriages with the two Knights Daughters Sir Richard Rogers and Sir John Spenser though otherwise both of them very worshipful but not their Matches in respect of their Kindred with the Crown yet doth the Alliance of S. John Spenser seem to bring many more Friends with it than that of Sir Richard Rogers by reason of the other Daughters of Sir John well married also to Persons of importance as namely the one to Sir George Carey Governour of the Isle of Wight who bringeth in also the Lord Hunsdon his Father Captain of Barwick two of the most important pieces that England hath And for that the said Lord Hunsdon and the Lady Knowles deceased were Brother and Sister and both of them Children to the Lady Mary Bullen Elder Sister to Queen Anne hereof it cometh that this Alliance with Sir George Carey may draw after it also the said House of Knowles who are many and of much importance as also it may do the Husbands of the other Daughters of Sir John Spencer with their adherents and followers which are neither few nor feeble all which wanteth in the Marriage of the Lord Beacham Another difference also in the ability of these two Lords is that the House of Seymers in State and Title of Nobility is much younger than the House of Stanleys for that Edward Seymer late Earl of Hartford and after Duke of Somerset was the first beginner thereof who being cut off together with his Brother the Admiral so soon as they were could not so settle the said House especially in the Alliance with the residue of the Nobility as otherwise they would and might have done But now as it remaineth I do not remember any Alliance of that House of any great moment except it be the Children of Sir Henry Seymer of Hampshire and of Sir Edward Sâ—ymâ—r of Bery Pomery in Devonshire if he have any and of Sir John Smith of Essex whose Mother was Sister to the late Duke of Somerset or finally the Alliance that the late Marriage of the Earl of Hartford with the Lady Frances Howard may bring with it which cannot be much for so great a purpose as we talk of But the Earl of Darby on the other side is very strongly and honourably allied both by Father and Mother for by his Father not to speak of the Stanleys which are many and of good Power and one of them matched in the House of Northumberland his said Father the old Earl had three Sisters all well married and all have left Children and Heirs of the Houses wherein they were married for the elder was married first to the Lord Sturton and after to Sir John Arundel and of both Houses hath lâ—sâ— Hâ—irs-male The second Sister was married to the Lord Mosley by whom she hath left the Lord that now is who in like manner hath matched with the Heir of the Lord Montegle who is likewise a Stanley And finally the third Sister was married to Sir Nicholas Poynes of Glocâ—stershire and by him had a Son and Heir that yet liveth And this by his Fathers side but no less alliance hath this Earl also by the side of his Mother who being Daughter of George Clifford Earl of Cumberland by Lady Eleanor Niece of King Henry the VII the said Lord George had afterward by a second Wife that was Daughter of the Lord Dacres of the North both the Earl of Cumberland that now is and the Lady Wharton who hereby are Brother and Sister of the half Blood to the said Countess of Darby and the Dacrâ—s are their Uncles Besides all this the States and Possessions of the two foresaid Lords are far different for the purpose pretended for that the State of the Earl of Hartford is far inferior both for greatness situation wealth multitude of Subjects and the like for of that of the Stanleys doth depend the most part of the Shires of Lancaster and Chester and a good part of the North of Wales at least wise by way of observance and affection as also the Isle of Mâ—n is their own and Ireland and Scotland is not far off where friendship perhaps in such a case might be offered and finally in this point of ability great oddes is there seen between the Lords As for their Religion I cannot determine what difference there is or may be between them The Lord Beacham by education is presumed to be a Protestant albeit some hold that his Father and Father in Law be more inclined towards the Puritans The Earl of Darby's Religion is held to be more doubtful so as some do think him to be of all three Religions and others of none and these again are divided in judgments about the event hereof for that some do imagine that this opinion of him may do him good for that all sides hereby may perhaps conceive hope of him but others do perswade themselves that it will do him hurt for that no side indeed will esteem or trust him so as all these matters with their events and consequences do remain uncertain But now will I pass to speak of the House of Clarence the chief Persons whereof and most eminent at this day are the Earl of Huntington and his Brethren the Hastings for that the Pooles and Barringtons are of far meaner condition and authority albeit the other also I mean the House of Hastings doth not seem to be of any great alliance for that albeit the old Earl of Huntington this Earl's Father had two Brethren the one Sir Thomas Hastings that married one of the Lord Henry Pooles Daughters named Montagne that was put to death which Daughter was Sister to this Earl's Mother and the other named Sir Edward Hastings was made Lord of Lowghborow by Queen Mary to whom he was first Master of the Horse and afterwards Lord Chamberlain neither of them having left issue and this is all I remember by his Fathers side except it be his own Brethren as hath been said of which Sir George Hastings is the chiefest By his Mothers side he hath only the Pooles whose Power as it is not great so what it is is rather like to be against him than with him partly for their difference from him in Religion and partly for preferment of their own Title upon the reasons before alledged By his own Marriage with the Daughter of the late Duke of Northumberland and Sister to the late Earls of Leicester and Warwick he was like to have drawn a very great and strong alliance if the said two Earls had lived and especially Sir Philip Sidney who was born of the other Sister of the present Countess of Huntington and his own Sister was married to the Earl of Pembroke that now is and himself to the Daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham Chief Secretary of the State by all which means and by all the affection and
Darly her Husband which by many was laid against her And the second did handle her Title to the Crown of England and the third did answer the Book of John Knox the Scot entituled Against the Monstrous Government of Women Of all which three Points for that the second that concerneth the Title is that which properly appertaineth to our purpose and for that the same is handled again and more largely in the second Book set out not long after by John Lesley Lord Bishop of Ross in Scotland who at that time was Embassadour for the said Queen of Scots in England and handled the same matter more abundantly which M. Morgan had done before him I shall say no more of this Book of M. Morgan but shall pass over to that of the Bishop which in this Point of Succession containeth also whatsoever the other hath so as by declaring the Contents of the one we shall come to see what is the other The Intent then of this Book of the Bishop of Ross is to refute the other book of Hales and Bacon and that especially in the two Points before mentioned which they alledged for their Principles to wit about Foreign Birth and King Henry's Testament And against the first of these two Points the Bishop alledgeth many Proofs that there is no such Maxim in the common Laws of England to disinherit a Prince born out of the Land from his or her Right of Succession that they have by Blood And this first for that the Statute made for barring of Aliens to inherit in England which was in the 25. Year of the Reign of King Edward III. is only to be understood of particular mens inheritance and no ways to be extended to the Succession of the Crown as by comparison of many other like Cases is declared And secondly for that there is express exception in the same Statute of the Kings Children and Off-spring And thirdly for that the practice hath always been contrary both before and after the Conquest to wit that divers Princes born out of the Realm have succeeded The other Principle also concerning King Henry's Testament the Bishop impugneth first by divers Reasons and Incongruities whereby it may be presumed that King Henry never made any such Testament and if he did yet could it not hold in Law And secondly also by Witness of the Lord Paget that was of the Privy Council in those days and of Sir Edward Montague Lord Chief Justice and of one William Clark that set the Kings Stamp to the Writing all which avowed before the Council and Parliament in Queen Maries time that the said Testament was signed after the King was past sense and memory And finally the said Bishop concludeth that the Line of Scotland is the next every way both in respect of the House of Lancaster and also of York for that they are next Heirs to King Henry VIII who by his Father was Heir to the House of York But after these three Books was written a fourth by one Robert Highinton Secretary in time past to the Earl of Northumberland a man well read in Stories and especially of our Countrey who is said to be dead some years past in Paris This man impugneth all the three former Books in divers principal Points and draweth the Crown from both their Pretenders I mean as well-from the House of Scotland as from that of Suffolk and first against the Book of Hales and Sir Nicholas Bacon written as hath been said in favour of the House of Suffolk Highington holdeth with the Bishop and Morgan that these two Principles laid by the other of Foreign Birth and of King Henry's Testament against the Scotish Line are of no Validity as neither their reasons for legitimating of the Earl of Hartfords Children which afterwards shall be handled And secondly he is against both Morgan and the Bishop of Ross also in divers important Points and in the very Principal of all for that this man I mean Highinton maketh the King of Spain to be the next and most rightful Pretender by the House of Lancaster for proof whereof he holdeth first that King Henry VII had no Title indeed to the Crown by Lancaster but only by the House of York that is to say by his Marriage of Queen Elizabeth elder Daughter to King Edward IV For that albeit himself were descended by his Mother from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster yet this was but by his Third Wife Catharin Swinford and that the true Heirs of Blanch his first Wife Dutchess and Heir of Lancaster to whom saith he appertained only the Succession after the death of King Henry the VI. and his Son with whom ended the Line Male of that House remained only in Portugal by the Marriage of Lady Philip Daughter of the foresaid Blanch to King John the I. of Portugal and that for as much as King Philip of Spain saith this man hath now succeeded to all the Right of the Kings of Portugal to him appertaineth also the onely Right of Succession of the House of Lancaster and that all the other Descendents of King Henry VII are to pretend only by the Title of York I mean as well the Line of Scotland as also of Suffolk and Huntington for that in the House of Lancaster King Philip is evidently before them all Thus holdeth Highington alledging divers Stories Arguments and Probabilities for the same and then adjoineth two other Propositions which do import most of all to wit that the Title of the House of Lancaster was far better than that of York not for that Edmond Crookback first Founder of the House of Lancaster who was Son to King Henry the III. and Brother to King Edward the I. was eldest son to the said Edward injuriously put back for his deformity in Body as both the said Bishop of Ross and George Lylly do falsly hold and this man refuteth by many good Arguments but for that John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster being the eldest Son that King Edward the III. had alive when he dyed should in Right have succeeded in the Crown as this man holdeth and should have been preferred before Richard the II. that was the black Princes Son who was a degree further off from King Edward the III. his Grandfather than was John of Gaunt to whom King Edward was Father and by this occasion this man cometh to discuss at large the opinions of the Lawyers whether the Uncle or the Nephew should be preferred in the Succession of a Crown to wit whether the younger Brother or the elder Brothers son if his Father be dead without being seased of the same which is a Point that in the Civil Law hath great Disputation and many great Authors on each side as this man sheweth and the matter also wanteth not examples on both parts in the Succession of divers English Kings as our Friend the Civil Lawyer did signify also in his discourse and we may chance to have occasion
and Chartres in France and the other two Polidor said dyed before they were Married and so their names were not Recorded These are the Children of King William the Conqueror among whom after his death there was much strife about the Succession For first his eldest Son Duke Robert who by order of Ancestrie by birth should have succeeded him in all his Estates was put back first from the Kingdom of England by his third Brother William Rufus upon a pretence of the Conquerors Will and Testament for particular affection that he had to this his said third Son William though as Stow Writeth almost all the Nobility of England were against William's entrance But in the end agreement was made between the two Brothers with the condition that if William should dye without Issue then that Robert should succeed him and to this accord both the Princes themselves and twelve principal Peers of each side were Sworn but yet after when William dyed without Issue this was not observed but Henry the fourth Son entred and deprived Robert not only of this his Succession to England but also of his Dukedom of Normandy that he had enjoyed peaceably before all the time of his Brother Rufus and moreover he took him Prisoner and so carried him into England and there kept him till his death which happened in the Castle of Cardif in the year 1134. And whereas this Duke Robert had a goodly Prince to this Son named William who was Duke of Normandy by his Father and Earl of Flanders in the right of his grand Mother that was the Conquerors Wife and Daughter of Baldwin Earl of Flanders as hath been said and was established in both these States by the help of Lewis the VI. surnamed Le Gros King of France and admitted to do homage to him for the said States his Uncle King Henry of England was so violent against him as first he drove him out of the state of Normandy and secondly he set up and maintained a Competitor or two against him in Flanders by whom finally he was slaine in the year of Christ 1128. before the Town of Alost by an Arrow after he had gotten the upper hand in the Field and so ended the race of the first Son of King William the Conquerour to wit oâ— Duke Robert which Robert lived after the Death of his said Son and Heir Duke William Six years in Prison in the Castle of Cardiff and pined away with sorrow and misery as both the French and English Histories do agree The second Son of the Conqueror named Richard dyed as before hath been said in his Fathers time and left no Issue at all as did neither the third Son William Rufus though he Reigned 13. years after his Father the Conqueror in which time he established the Succession of the Crown by consent of the States of England to his elder Brother Duke Roberts issue as hath been said though afterwards it was not observed This King Rufus came to the Crown principally by the help and favour of Lanfrancus Archbishop of Canterbury who greatly repented himself afterward of the error which in that point he had committed upon hopes of his good Government which proved extream evil But this King William Rufus being slayn afterward by the Arrow of a Cross-bow in Newforrest as is well known and this at such time as the foresaid Duke Robert his elder Brother to whom the Crown by Succession apperteined was absent in the War of the Holy Land where according as most Authors do Write he was chosen King of Hierusalem but refused it upon hope of the Kingdom of England But he returning home found that his fourth Brother Henry partly by fair promises and partly by force had invaded the Crown in the year 1110. and so he Reigned 35. years and had Issue divers Sons and Daughters but all were either drounded in the Seas coming out of Normandy or else dyed otherwise before their Father except only Mathildis who was first Married to Henry the Emperour fifth of that name and after his death without Issue to Geffrey Plantagenet Duke of Anjow Touraine and Maine in France by whom she had Henry which Reigned after King Stephen by the name of Henry the II. And thus much of the Sons of William the Conqueror Of his two Daughters that lived to be Married and had Issue the elder named Constance was Married to Alayn Fergant Duke of Britain who was Son to Hoel Earl of Nants and was made Duke of Britain by William the Conquerors means in manner Following Duke Robert of Normanyd Father to the Conqueror when he went on Pilgrimage unto the Holy Land in which Voyage he dyed left for Governour of Normandy under the protection of King Henry the first of France Duke Alayne the first of Britain which Allayn had Issue Conan the first who being a stirring Prince of about 24. years old when Duke William began to treat of passing over into England he shewed himself not to favour much that enterprise which Duke William fearing caused him to be Poysoned with a pair of perfumed Gloves as the French stories do report and caused to be set up in his place and made Duke one Hoel Earl of Nantes who to gratifie William sent his Son Alaine surnamed Fergaâ—t with 5000. Souldiers to pass over into England with him and so he did and William afterward in recompence thereof gave him his eldest Daughter Constantia in Marriage with the Earldom oâ— Richmond by whom he had Issue Conan the second surnamed le Gross who had Issue a Son and a Daughter The Son was called Hoel as his Grand-Father was and the Daughters name was Bertha Married to Eudo Earl of Porhet in Normandy and for that this Duke Conan liked better his Daughter and his Son in-law her Husband then he did Hoel his own Son he disavowed him on his Death Bead and made his said Daughter his Heir who had by the said Eudo a Son named Conan surnamed the younger which was the third Duke of that name and this man had one only Daughter and Heir named Lady Constance who was Married to the third Son of King Henry the second named Geffrey and elder Brother to King John that after came to Reign and by this Lord Geffrey she had Issue Arthur the second Duke of Britain whom King John his Uncle put back from the Crown of England and caused to be put to death as after shall be shewed and he dying without Issue his Mother Constance Dutchess and Heir of Britain Married again with a Prince of her own House whom after we shall name in the prosecution of this Line and by him she had Issue that hath endured until this day the last whereof hitherto is the Lady Isabella infant of Spain and that other of Savoy her Sister whom by this means we see to have descended from King William the Conqueror by his eldest Daughter Lady
reason is for that we read that this Lord Edmond was a goodly wise discreet Prince notwithstanding that some Authors call him Crouchback and that he was highly in the favour both of his Father King Henry as also of his Brother King Edward and imployed by them in many great Wars and other affairs of State both in France and other where which argueth that there was no such great defect in him as should move his Father and the Realm to deprive him of his Succession Thirdly we read that King Henry procured by divers ways and means the advancement of this Lord Edmond as giving him the Earldoms of Leicester and Darby besides that of Lancaster as also procuring by all means possible and with exceeding great charges to have made him King of Naples and Sicilie by Pope Innocentius which had been no policy to have done if he had been put back from his Inheritance in England for that it had been to have Armed him against his Brother the King Fourthly we see that at the death of his Father King Henry the III. this Lord Edmond was principally left in charge with the Realm his elder Brother Prince Edward being scarsly returned from the War of Asia at what time he had good occasion to challenge his own right to the Crown if he had had any seeing he wanted no power thereunto having three goodly Sons at that time alive born of his Wife Queen Blanch Daugher of Navarre and County of Champain to whom she had born only one Daughter that was married to Philip le Bel King of France But we shall never read that either he or any of his Children made any such claim but that they lived in very good agreement and high grace with King Edward the first as his Children did also with King Edward the II. until he began to be mis-led in Government and then the two Sons of this Lord Edmond I mean both Thomas and Henry that Successively were Earls of Lancaster made War upon the said Edward the II. and were the principal Actors in his deposition and in setting up of his Son Edward the III. in his place aâ— what time it is evident that they might have put in also for themselves if their title had been such as this report maketh it A fifth reason is for that if this had been so that Edmond Earl of Lancaster had been the elder Brother then had the controversie between the two Houses of York and Lancaster been most clear and without all doubt at all for then had the House of York had no pretence of right in the World and then were it evident that the Heirs general of Blanch Dutchess of Lancaster Wife of John of Gaunt to wit the descendents of Lady Philip her Daughter that was married into Portugal these I say and none other were apparent and true Heirs to the Crown of England at this day and all the other of the House of York usurpers as well King Henry the VII as all his posterity and off-spring for that none of them have descended of the said Blanch as is manifest And therefore lastly the matter standeth no doubt as Polidor holding in the latter end of the life of King Henry the III. where having mentioned these two Sons Edward and Edmond he addeth these words There wanted not certain men long time after this that affirmed this Edmond to be the elder Son to King Henry the III. and to have been deprived of his Inheritance for that he was deformed in body but these things were feigned to the end that King Henry the IV. that came by his Mothers side of this Edmond might seem to have come to the Kingdom by right whereas indeed he got it by force Thus saith Polidor in this place but afterward in the beginning of the life of the said King Henry the IV. he saith that some would have had King Henry to have pretended this Title among other reasons but that the most part accounting it but a meer fable it was omitted Now then it being clear that of these two Sons of King Henry the III. Prince Edward was the Elder and Lawful Heir it remaineth only that we set down their several descents unto the times of King Edward the III. and his Children in whose days the dissention and controversie between these Royal Houses of York and Lancaster began to break forth And for the Issue of Edward that was King after his Father by the name of King Edward the first it is evident that albeit by two several Wives he had a dozen Children male and female yet only his fourth Son by his first Wife called also Edward who was King after him by the name of King Edward the II left Issue that remained which Edward the II being afterward for his evil Government deposed left Issue Edward the III. who was made King by election of the people in his place and after a long and prosperous Reign left divers Sons whereof after we shall speak and among them his III. Son named John of Gaunt married Lady Blanch Daughter and Heir of the House of Lancaster and of the forenamed Lord Edmond Crouchback by which Blanch John of Gaunt became Duke of Lancaster so as the lines of these two Brethren Edward and Edmond did meet and joyn again in the fourth descent as now shall appear by declaration of the Issue of the foresaid Lord Edmond Edmond then the second Son of King Henry the third being made County Palatine of Lancaster as also Earl of Leicester and of Darby by his Father King Henry as hath been said had issue three Sons to wit Thomas Henry and John among whom he divided his three States making Thomas his eldest Son County Palatine of â—ancaster Henry Earl of Leicester and John Earl of Darby But Thomas the eldest and John the youngest dying without Issue all three States fell again upon Henry the second Son which Henry had Issue one Son and three Daughters his Son was named Henry the second of that name Earl of Lancaster and made Duke of Lancaster by King Edward the third and he had one only Daughter and Heir named Blanch who was married unto John of Gaunt as before hath been said But Duke Henry's three Sisters named Joan Mary and Eleanor were all married to divers principal men of the Realm for that Joan was married to John Lord Maubery of whom are descended the Howards of the House of Norfolk at this day and Mary was married to Henry Lord Percy from whom cometh the House of the Earls of Northumberland and Eleanor was married to Richard Earl of Arundel thence is issued also by his Mothers side the Earl of Arundel â—hat now is so as of this ancient Line of Lancaster there want not noble Houses within the Realm at this day issued thence before the controversie fell out between York and this Family of which controversie how it rose and how it was continued I
married to the King of Norway all which Issue and Line ended about the year 1290. David younger Brother to King William had Issue two daughters Margaret and Isabel Margaret was married to Alain Earl of Galloway and had Issue by him a daughter that married John Balliol Lord of Harcourt in Normandy who had Issue by her this John Balliol Founder of Balliol Colledge in Oxford that now pretended to the Crown as descended from the eldest daughter of David in the third descent Isabel the second daughter of David was married to Robert Bruse Earl of Cleveland in England who had Issue by her this Robert Bruse Earl of Carick the other competitor Now then the question between these two competitors was which of them should Succeed either John Balliol that was Nephew to the elder daughter or Robert Bruse that was Son to the younger daughter and so one degree more near to the Stock or Stem then the other And albeit King Edward the first of England whose power was dreadful at that day in Scotland having the matter referred to his arbitrement gave sentence for John Balliol and Robert Bruse obeyed for the time in respect partly of fear and partly of his Oath that he had made to stand to that Judgment yet was that sentence held to be unjust in Scotland and so was the Crown restor'd afterward to Robert Bruse his Son and his posterity doth hold it unto this day In England also it self they alledge the examples of K. Henry the first preferred before his Nephew William Son and Heir to his elder Brother Robert as also the example of K. John preferred before his Nephew Arthur Duke of Britany for that King Henry the second had four Sons Henry Richard Geffery and John Henry died before his Father without Issue Richard Reigned after him and died also without Issue Geffery also died before his Father but left a Son named Arthur Duke of Britany by right of his Mother But after the death of King Richard the question was who should Succeed to wit either Arthur the Nephew or John the Uncle but the matter in England was soon desided for that John the Uncle was preferred before the Nephew Arthur by reason he was more near to his Brother dead by a degree then was Arthur And albeit the King of France and some other Princes abroad opposed themselves for stomack against this Succession of King John yet say these favourers of the House of Lancaster that the English inclined still to acknowledge and admit his right before his Nephew and so they proclaimed this King John for King of England while he was yet in Normandy I mean Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury Eleanor the Queen this Mother Geffery Fitz-peter chief Judge of England who knew also what law meant therein and others the Nobles and Barons of the Realm without making any doubt or scruple of his title to the Succession And whereas those of the House of York do alledge that King Richard in his life time when he was to go to the holy Land caused his Nephew Arthur to be declared Heir apparent to the Crown and thereby did shew that his title was the better they of Lancaster do answer first that this declaration of King Richard was not made by act of Parliament of England for that King Richard was in Normandy when he made this declaration as plainly appeareth both by Polidor and Hollingshed Secondly that this declaration was made the sooner by King Richard at that time thereby to repress and keep down the ambitious humor of his Brother John whom he feared least in his absence if he had been declared for Heir apparent might invade the Crown as indeed without that he was like to have done as may appear by that which happened in his said Brothers absence Thirdly they shew that this declaration of King Richard was never admitted in England neither would Duke John suffer it to be admitted but rather caused the Bishop of Ely that was left Governour by King Richard with consent of the Nobility to renounce the said declaration of King Richard in favour of Arthur and to take a contrary Oath to admit the said John if King Richard his Brother should die without Issue and the like Oath did the said Bishop of Ely together with the Archbishop of Roan that was left in equal Authority with him exact and take of the Citizens of London when they gave them their Priviledges and Liberties of Commonalty as Hollingshed recordeth And lastly the said Hollinshed writeth how that King Richard being now come home again from the War of Jerusalem and void of that jealousie of his Brother which before I have mentioned he made his last Will and Testament and ordained in the same that his Brother John should be his successor and caused all the Nobles there present to swear Fealty unto him as to his next in bloud for which cause Thomas Walsingham in his story writeth these words Johannis filius junior Henrici 2. Anglorum regis Alienorae Ducissae Aquitaniae non modo jure propinquitatis sed etiam testamento fratris sui Richardi designatus est successo post mortem ipsius which is John younger Son of Henry the second King of England and of Eleanor Dutchess of Aquitain was declared successor of the Crown not only by Law and right of nearness of bloud but also by the Will and Testament of Richard his Brother Thus much this ancient Chronicler speaketh in the testifying of King John's Title By all which examples that fell out almost within one age in divers Nations over the World letting pass many others which the Civilian touched in his discourse before for that they are of more ancient times these favourers of the House of Lancaster do infer that the right of the Uncle before the Nephew was no new or strange matter in those days of King Edward the third and that if we will deny the same now we must call in question the succession and right of all the Kingdoms and States before-mentioned of Naples Sicily Spain Britany Flanders Scotland and England whose Kings and Princes do evidently hold their Crowns at this day by that very Title as hath been shewed Moreover they say that touching Law in this point albeit the most famous Civil Lawyers of the World be somewhat divided in the same matter some of them favouring the Uncle and some other the Nephew and that for different reasons as Baldus Oldratus Panormitanus and divers others alledged by Gulielmâ—â— Benedictus in his Repetitions in favour of the Nephew against the Uncle And on the other side for the Uncle before the Nephew Bartolus Alexander Decius Altiatus Cujatius and many other their followers are recounted in the same place by the same man yet in the end Baldus that is held for head of the contrary side for the Nephew after all reasons weighed to and fro he cometh to conclude
before hath been declared and preferreth it self in degree of Propinquity not only before the aforesaid two Houses of Scotland and Clarence but also before this other part of the House of Suffolk I mean the Family of Hartford though descended of the elder Daughter for that the Countess of Darby doth hold her self one degree nearer in descent than are the other Pretenders of Hartford as hath been shewed And albeit there want not many Objections and Reasons of some against this pretence of the House of Darby besides that which I have touched before yet for that they are for the most part personal Impediments and do not touch the right or substance of the title or any other important reason of State concerning the Common-wealth but only the mislike of the persons that pretend and of their Life and Government I shall omit them in this place for that as in the beginning I promised so I shall observe as much as in me lies to utter nothing in this Conference of ours that may justly offend and much less touch the Honour and Reputation of any one Person of the Bloud-Royal of our Realm when the time of admitting or excluding cometh then will the Realm consider as well of their Persons as of their Rights and will see what account and satisfaction each person hath given of his former life and doings and according to that will proceed as is to be supposed But to me in this place it shall be enough to treat of the first point which is of the Right and Interest pretended by way of Succession And so with this I shall make an end of these Families and pass over to others that do yet remain CHAP. VII Of the Houses of Clarence and Britany which contain the â—laims of the Earl of Huntington with the Pooles as also of the Lady Infanta of Spain and others of those Families HAving declared the Claims Rights and Pretences which the two Noble Houses of Scotland and Suffolk descended of the two Daughters of King Henry VII have or may have to the Succession of England with intention afterward to handle the House of Portugal apart which pretendeth to comprehend in it self the whole Body or at lâ—ast the first and principal Branch of the ancient House of Lancaster it shall not be amiss perhaps by the way to treat in this one Chapter so much as appertaineth to the two several Houses of Clarence and Britany for that there is less to be said about them then of the other And first of all I am of opinion that the Earl of Huntington and such other pretenders as are of the House of York alone before the Conjunction of both Houses by King Henry VII may be named to be of the House of Clarence and so for distinction sake I do name them not to confound them with the Houses of Scotland and Suffolk which are termâ—d also by the Lancastrians to be of the House of York alone for that they deny them to be of the true House of Lancaster but principally I do name them to be of the House of Clarence for that indeed all their Claim and Title to the Crown doth desâ—end from George Duke of Clarence as before in the third Chapter and elsewhere hath been declared which Duke George being Brother to King Edward IV. and put to death by his order left Issue Edward Earl of Warwick and of Salisbury who was put to death by King Henry VII in his youth and Margaret Countess of Salisbury which Margaret had Issue by Sir Richard Poole Henry Poole Lord Montague afterwards beheaded and he again Katharine married to Sir Francis Hastings Earl of Huntington by whom she had Sir Henry Hastings now Earl of Huntington Sir George Hastings his Brother yet living and others So as the Earl of Huntington with his said Brethren are in the fourth degree from the said George Duke of Clarence to wit his Nephews twice removed The said Margaret Countess of Salisbury had a younger Son also named Sir Geffrey Poole who had Issue another Geffrey and this Geffrey hath two Sons alive at this day in Italy named Arthur and Geffrey who are in the same degree of distance with the said Earl of Huntington saving that some alledge for them that they do descend all by male-kind from Margaret and the Earl pretendeth by a Woman whereof we shall speak afterwards Hereby then it is made manifest how the Earl of Huntington cometh to pretend to the Crown of England by the House of York only which is no other indeed but by the debarring and disabling of all other former Pretenders not only of Portugal and of Britany as strangers but also of the Houses of Scotland and Suffolk that hold likewise of the House of York and for the Reasons and Arguments which in the former two Chapters I have set down in particular against every one of them and shall hereafter also again those that remain which Arguments and Objections or any of them if they should not be found sufficient to exclude the said other Houses then is the Claim of this House of Huntington thereby made void for that it is as we see by the younger Child of the House of York that is to say by the second Brother So as if either the pretence of Lancaster in general be better than that of Yoâ—k or if in the House of York it self any of the forenamed Pretenders descended from King Edward IV. as of the elder Brother may hold or take place then holdeth not this title of Clarence for that as I have said it coming from the younger Brother must needs be grounded only or principally upon the barring and excluding of the rest that joyntly do pretend Of which Bars and Exclusions laid by this House of Clarence against the rest for that I have spoken sufficiently in the last two Chapters going before for so much as toucheth the two Houses of Scotland and Suffolk and shall do afterwards about the other two of Britany and Portugal I mean in this place to omit to say any more therein and only to consider what the other Competitors do alledge against this House of Clarence and especially against the pretence of the Earl of Huntington as chief Titler thereof for to the excluding of him do concur not only those other of opposite Houses but also the Pooles of his own House as now we shall see First thâ—n the contrary Houses do alledge generally against all this House of Clarence that seeing their Claim is founded only upon the Right of the Daughter of George Duke of Clarence second Brother to King Edward IV. evident it is that so long as any lawful Issue remaineth of any elder Daughter of the said King Edward the elder Brother as they say much doth and cannot be denied no Claim or Pretence of the younger Brothers Daughter can be admitted And so by standing upon this and answering to the Objections alledged before against the
of Kin also to King Henry the eighth of England yet could he never get to be restored but passed his time miserably partly in Banishment and partly in Prison until he died But it shall be best perhaps to end this short Narration with an Example or two out of England it self for that no where else have I read more remarkable accidents touching this point than in England but for brevity sake I shall only touch two or three that have happened since the Conquest for that I will go no higher though I might as appeareth by the Example of King Edwin and others neither will I begin to stand much upon the Example of King John though well also I might for that by his evil Government he made himself both so odious at home and contemptible abroad having lost Normandy Gascoin Guyen and all the rest in effect which the Crown of England had in France as first of all he was both Excommunicated and Deposed by the Sentence of the Pope at the Suit of his own people and was forced to make his peace by resigning his Crown into the hands of Pandulf the Pope's Legaâ—e as Polidor recounteth and afterwards falling back again to his old defects and naughty Government albeit by his promise to the Pope to go and make War against the Turks if he might be quiet at home and that his Kingdom should be perpetually tributary to the See of Rome he procured him to be of his side for a time and against the Barons yet that stayed not them to proceed to his Deprivation which they did effectuate first at Canterbury and after at London in the 18 th and last year of King John's Reign and meant also to have disinherited his Son Henry which was afterwards named King Henry the 3 d. and at that time a Child of Eight years old only and all this in punishment of the Father if he had lived and for that cause they called into England Lodowick Prince of France Son to King Philip the second and Father to St. Lewis the ninth and chose him for their King and did swear him Fealty with general consent in London in the year of our Lord 1216. And but that the Death of King John that presently ensued alter'd the whole course of that defignment and moved them to turn their purposes and accept of his Son Henry before matters were fully established for King Lodowick it was most likely that France and England would have been joyned by these means under a Crown But in the end as he said King Henry the third was admitted and he proved a very worthy King after so evil as had gone before him and had been Deposed which is a circumstance that you must always note in this Narration and he reigned more years than ever King in England did before him for he reigned full Fifty three years and left his Son and Heir Edward the first not inferiour to himself in Manhood and Virtue who reigned 34 years and left a Son named Edward the second who falling into the same or worse defects of Government than King John his Great-Grand-father had done was after 19 years reign Deposed also by Act of Parliament holden at London in the year 1326. and his Body adjudg'd to perpetual Imprisonment he being Prisoner at that present in the Castle of Wallingford whither divers both Bishops Lords and Knights of the Parliament were sent unto him to denounce the Sentence of the Realm against him viz. How they had deprived him and chosen Edward his Son in his stead For which act of choosing his Son he thanked them heartily and with many tears acknowledged his own unworthiness whereupon he was degraded his Name of King first taken from him and he appointed to be called Edward of Carnarvan from that hour forward and then his Crown and Ring were taken away and the Steward of his House brake the Staff of his Office in his presence and discharged his Servants of their Service and all other people of their Obedience or Allegiance towards him And towards his maintenance he had only a hundred Marks a year allowed for his Expences and then was he delivered also into the hands of certain particular Keepers who led him Prisoner from thence by divers other places using him with extreme indignity in the way until at last they took his Life from him in the Castle of Barklay and his Son Edward the third reigned in his place who if we respect either Valour Prowess length of Reign Acts of Chivalry or the multitude of famous Princes his Children left behind him was one of the noblest Kings that ever England had though he were chosen in the place of a very evil one as you have seen But what shall we say Is this worthiness which God giveth commonly to the Successors at these changes perpetual or certain by Descent No truly noâ— the example of one Prince's punishment maketh another to bewares for the next Successor after this noble Edwardâ— which was King Richard the second though he were not his Son but his Sons Son to wit Son and Heir to the renowned Black Prince of Walâ—s This Richard I say forgetting the miserable end of his Great-Grand-father for evil Government and the felicity and virtue of his Father and Grand-father for the contrary suffered himself to be abused and misled by evil Counsellors to the great hurt and disquiet of the Realm For which cause after he had reigned 22 years he was also Deposed by Act of Parliament holden in London in the year of our Lord 1399. and condemned to perpetual Imprisonment in the Castle of Pontefract where he was soon after put to death also and used as the other before had been And in this man's place by free Election was chosen for King the noble Knight Henry Duke of Lancaster who proved afterwards so notable a King as the World knoweth and was Father to King Henry the fifth commonly called the Alexander of England for that as Alexander the Great conquered the most part of Asia in the space of 9 or 10 years so did this Henry conquer France in less than the like time I might reckon also in this number of Princes Deposed for defect in Government though otherwise he were no evil man in life this King Henry the fourths Nephew I mean King Henry the sixth who after almost forty years Reign was Deposed and Imprisoned and put to death also together with his Son the Prince of Wales by Edward the fourth of the House of York and the sameâ— was confirmed by the Commons and especially by the people of London and afterwards also by publick Act of Parliament in respect not only of the Title which King Edward pretended but also and especially for that King Henry did suffer himself to be over-ruled by the Queen his Wife and had broken the Articles of Agreement made by the Parliament between
and Nobles of the Royal Blood of England to all which by Law of Nature Equity and Reason he said that he bare reverent honour and respect and to discuss their several Pretentions Rights Interests and Titles to the Crown he said that his meaning was not to offend hurt or prejudicate none nor to determin any thing resolutly in favour or hinderance of any of their Pretences or Claims of what Side Family Faction Religion or other Party soever he or she were but rather plainly and indifferently without hatred or partial affection to or against any to lay down sincerely what he had heard or read or of himself conceived that might justly be alledged in favour or disfavour of every Titler And so much the rather he said that he would do this for that in very truth the Civilians speech had put him in a great indifferency concerning matter of Succession and had taken out of his Head many scrupulosities about nice Points of Nearness in Blood by the many Examples and Reasons that he had alledged of the Proceeding of Christian Commonwealths in this Affair preferring oftentimes him that was further off in Blood upon other Considerations of more weight and importance which Point seemed to him to have been so evidently proved as no man can deny it and much less condemn the same without the Inconveniences before alledged and mentioned of calling all in doubt that now is established in the World considering that not only foreign Countries but England also it self so often hath used the same putting back the next in Blood Wherefore he said that for as much as Commonwealths and the consent will and desire of each Realm was proved to have High and Soveraign Authority in this Affair and that as on the one side Nearness of Blood was to be respected so on the other there wanted not sundry considerations and circumstances of as great moment as this or rather greater for that oftentimes these considerations had been preferred before Nearness of Blood as hath been declared I do not know quoth he who of the Pretenders may next obtain the Garland whatsoever his Right by Propinquity be so he have someright as I think all have that do pretend and therefore I mean not to stand upon the justification or impugning of any one Title but rather to leave all to God and to them that must one day try and judge the same in England to whom I suppose this Speech of mine cannot be but grateful and commodious for the better understanding and discerning of those matters whereof of necessity ere it be long they must be Judges and Vmpires when God shall appoint and consequently for them to be ignorant or unacquainted with the same as men say that commonly most in England at this day cannot be but very inconvenient and dangerous In this manner he spake and after this he began his discourse setting down first of all the sundry Books and Treatises which he understood had been made or written hitherto of this Affair CHAP. I. Of the divers Books and Treatises that have been written heretofore about the Titles of such as pretend to the Crown of England aed what they do contain in favour or disfavour of sundry Pretenders ACcording to the Variety of mens Judgments and Affections of man in this behalf so said the Lawyer that divers had written diversly in sundry Books and Treatises that had come to light and went among men from hand to hand though all were not printed And First of all he said that not long after her Majesties coming to the Crown there appeared a certain Book written in the favour of the house of Suffolk and especially of the Children of the Earl of Hartford by the Lady Catharin Gray which Book offended highly the Queen and Nobles of England and was afterwards found to be written by one Hales sirnamed the Club foot who was Clerk of the Hamper and Sir Nicolas Bacon then Lord Keeper was presumed also to have had a principal part in the same for which he was like to have lost his Office if Sir Antony Brown that had been Chief Judge of the Common Pleas in Queen Maries time would have accepted thereof when her Majesty offered the same unto him and my Lord of Leicester earnestly exhorted him to take it but he refused it for that he was of a different Religion from the State and so Sir Nicolas Bacon remained with the same at the great instance of Sir William Cecill now Lord Treasurer who though he were to be privy also to the said Book yet was the matter so wisely laid upon Hales and Bacon and Sir William was kept free thereby to have the more Authority and Grace to procure the others pardon as he did The bent and butt of this Book was as I have said to prefer the Title of the Lady Catharine Gray Daughter of the Lady Frances Dutchess of Suffolk which Frances was Daughter to Mary the younger Daughter to King Henry VII before the Title of the Queen of Scots then living and of her Son which were descended of Lady Margaret eldest Daughter of the said King Henry And the reasons which this Book did alledge for the same were principally two The First that the Laws of England did not admit any stranger or alien to inherit in England to wit any such as were born out of the Allegiance of our Realm for so are the words of the Law and for that the Queen of Scots and her Son are known to be so born therefore they could not succeed and consequently that the house of Suffolk descended of the second Daughter must enter in their place The second Reason is for that there is given Authority to King Henry VIII by two several Acts of Parliament in the 28. and 36. Year of his Reign to dispose of the Succession by his last Will and Testament as he should think best among those of his Kindred that did pretend after his Children aâ—â— that the said King according to his Commission did ordain that if his own Children did dye without issue then the Off-spring of his younger Sister Mary that were born in England should be preferred before the Issue of the elder that was Margaret married into Scotland and this was the effect of this first Book Against this Book were written two other soon after the First by one Morgan a Divine if I remember well sometimes Fellow of Oriel Colledge in Oxford a man of good account for Learning among those that knew him and he was thought to have written the said Book by the advice and assistance of the foresaid Judge Brown which thing is made the more credible by the many Authorities of our Common Law which therein are alledged and the parts of this Book if I forget not were three or rather they were three Books of one Treatise the first whereof did take upon it to clear the said Queen of Scots for the Murther of the Lord
the other reasons of exclusion which men do lay against the House of Scotland whereof one is urged much by the House of Suffolk and grounded upon a certain Testament of King Henry the eighth as before hath been touched by which Testament the said House of Suffolk that is to say the Heirs of the Lady Frances and of the Lady Eleanor Neeces to King Henry the eighth by his second Sister Mary are appointed to succeed in the Crown of England before the Heirs of Margaret the first Sister married in Scotland if King Henry's own Children should come to die without Issue as now they are all like to do and this Testament had both the Kings hand or stamp unto it and divers Witnesses names besides and was enrolled in the Chancery and was authorized by two Acts of Parliament two wit in the 28. and 35. years of King Henry in which Parliaments authority was given to the said King to dispose and ordain of this point of succession as he and his learned Councel should think best for the weal publick This is the effect of this Argument which albeit the former Books of Mr. Morgan and the Bishop of Ross and some other of the Scottish favourers do seek to refut by divers means and ways as before in the first chapter of this discourse is set down and especially by the Testimony of the Lord Paget and Sir Edward Montague that said the stamp was put unto it after the King was past sense yet they of of the House of Suffolk are not satisfied without that answer for that they say that at least howsoever that matter of the late sealing be yet seeing the King willed it to be done drawn out and sealed it appeareth hereby that this was the last Will and judgment of King Henry and not revoaked by him which is sufficient say these men to answer the intent and meaning of the Realm and the authority committed to him by the foresaid two Acts of Parliament for the disposing of the succession which two Acts say these men containing the whole authority of the Commonwealth so seriously and diliberately given in so weighty an affair may not in reason be deluded or overthrown now by the saying of one or two men who for pleasing or contenting of the time wherein they speak might say or guess that the Kings memory was past when the stamp was put unto his Testament which if it were so yet if he commanded as hath been said the thing to be done while he had memory as it may appear he did both by the Witnesses that subscribed and by the enrollment thereof in the Chancery no man can deny but that this was the King's last Will which is enough for satisfying the Parliaments intention as these men do affirm A fourth argument is made against the King of Scots Succession by all the other competitors jointly and it seemeth to them to be an argument that hath no solution or reply for that it is grounded upon a plain fresh Statute made in the Parliament holden in the 27 year if I erre not of her Majesty that now is wherein it is enacted and decreed that whosoever shall be convinced to conspire attempt or procure the death of the Queen or to be privy or accessary to the same shall lose all right title pretence claim or action that the same parties or their Heirs have or may have to the Crown of England Upon which Statute seeing that afterward the Lady Mary late Queen of Scotland Mother of this King was condemned and executed by the authority of the said Parliament it seeemeth evident unto these men that this King who pretendeth all his right to the Crown of England by his said Mother can have none at all And these are the reasons proofs and arguments which divers men do alledge against the right of succession pretended by the King of Scots But now if we leave this point which concerneth the very right it self of his succession by bloud and will come to examine other reasons and considerations of State and those in particular which before I have mentioned that his favourers do alledge utility and common good that may be presumed will rise to the Realm of England by his admission to our Crown as also the other point also of establishment of Religion by them mentioned then I say these other men that are against his entrance do produce many other reasons and considerations also of great conveniencies as to them they seem against this point of admission and their reasons are these that follow First touching the publick good of the English Commonwealth by the uniting of both Realms of England and Scotland together these men do say that it is very doubtful and disputable whether the state of England shall receive good or harm thereby if the said union could be brought to pass First for that the state and condition of Scotland well considered it seemeth that it can bring no other commodity to England then increase of Subjects and those rather to participate the commodities and riches of England then to import any from Scotland And then secondly the aversion and natural alienation of that people from the English and their ancient inclination to joyn with the French and Irish against us maketh it very probable that that subjection of theirs to the Crown of England would not long endure as by experience we have seen since the time of King Edward the first when after the death of their King Alexander the third without Issue they chose King Edward to be their King delivered their Towns and Fortresses into his hands did swear him Fealty received his Deputy or Vice-Roy as Polydor at large declareth And yet all this served afterward to no other effect but only Slaughter Bloud-shed and infinite Losses and Charges of England Thirdly they say That if the King of Scots should come to possess the Crown of England he cannot chuse at least for many years but to stand in great jealousie of so many other Competitors of the English Bloud-Royal as he shall find in England against whom he must needs fortifie himself by those other Foreign Nations that may be presumed to be most sure unto him though most contrary by natural inclination and least tollerable in Government to English-men as are the Scots of whom he is born and Danes wiâ—h whom he is allied and French of whom he is descended and of the uncivil Part of Ireland with whom one great part of his Realm hath most Conjunction the Authority and sway of which four Nations in England and over English-men what trouble it may work every wise man may easily conjecture Besides that the Scotch-men themselves especially those of the Nobility do openly profess That they desire not this Conjunction and Subordination unto England which in no wise they can bear both for the aversion they have to all English Government over them as also for that their Liberties are
elder Houses they hold this matter for very clear and all pretence of this House of Clarence utterly excluded Secondly the same opposite Houses do alledge divers Attainders against the principal Heads of the House of Clarence whereby their whole Interests were cut off as namely it is to be shewed in three descents one after another to wit in Duke George himself the first Head and Beginner of this House who was Attainted and Executed and then in the Lady Margaret Countess of Salisbury his Daughter and Heir who was likewise Attainted and Executed And thirdly in her Son and Heir Henry Poole Lord Montague put also to death from whose Daughters both the Earl of Huntington and his Brethren together with the Children of Sir Thomas Barrington do descend And albeit some may say that the said House of Clarence hath been restored in Bloud since those Attainders yet reply these men That except it can be shewed that particular mention was made of reabilitating the same to this pretence of Succession to the Crown it will not be sufficient as in like manner they affirm That the same restoring in Bloud if any such were hath not been sufficient to recover the ancient Lands and Titles of Honour which this House of Clarence had before these Attainders for that they were forfeited thereby to the Crown And so say these men was there forfeited thereby in like manner unto the next in Bloud not Attainted this Prerogative of succeeding to the Crown and cannot be restored again by any general Restauration in Bloud except special mention be made thereof even as we see that many Houses Attainted are restored daily in Bloud without restorement of their Titles and Dignities and a present Example we have in the Earl of Arundel restored in Bloud but not to the Title of Duke of Norfolk And this say the opposite Houses against this House of Clarence But now thirdly entreth in also against the Earl of Huntington the opposition of some of his own House which is of the Issue of Sir Geffrey Poole Brother to his Grand-father who say That when the Lord Henry Montague was put to death with his Mother the Countess of Salisbury and thereby both their Pretences and Titles cut off in them then fell such right as they had or might have upon the said Sir Geffrey Poole and not upon his Neece the Lady Katharaine Daughter of the Lord Henry his elder Brother and Mother of the Earl of Huntington and this for three Causes First for that he was not Attainted and so whether we respect his Grand-father George Duke of Clarence or his Great-grand-father Richard Duke of York the said Right in this respect is descended to him And secondly for that he was a degree nearer to the said Duke's Ancestors than was at that time his Neece Katharine which right of nearest Propinquity say these men is made good and lawful by all the Reasons Examples Presidents and Authorities alledged before in the fourth Chapter of this Conference in favour of Uncles before their Nephews And it shall not need that we speak any thing more of that matter in this place but only to remit your remembrance to that which herein hath been said before Fourthly they prove the same in favour of Sir Geffrey for that the Lady Katharine was a Woman and Sir Geffrey a man whose priviledge is so great in a matter of Succession as also hath been touched before that albeit they had been in equal degree and that Sir Geffrey were not a degree before her as he was yet seeing neither of them nor their Fathers were ever in possession of the thing pretended Sir Geffrey should be preferred as hath been shewed before by some Presidents and shall be seen afterwards in the Case of Portugal wherein the King of Spain that now is was preferred to the Crown for that only respect that his Competitors were Women and in equal degree of descent with him and he a Man And the very like Allegations of Propinquity I heard produced for the Lady Winifred Wife of Sir Thomas Barrington if she be yet alive to wit that she is before the Earl of Huntington and his Brethren by this reason of Propinquity in Bloud for that she is one degree nearer to the stock than they Fifthly and lastly both these and other Competitors do alledge against the Earl of Huntington as an important and sufficient bar against his pretence the quality of his Religion which is as they say that he hath been ever known to favour those who commonly in England are called Puritans and not favoured by the State but yet this stop is alledged diversly by Competitors of divers Religions For that such as are followers and favourers of the form of Religion received and defended by publick Authority of England at this day whom for distinction-sake men are wont to call by the name of moderate Protestants these I say do urge this Exclusion against the Earl of Huntington not upon any certain Law or Statute extant against the same but ab equo bono as men are wont to say and by reason of State shewing infinite inconveniencies hurts damages and dangers that must needs ensue not only to the present State of Religion in England but also to the whole Realm and Body-politick if such a man shall be admitted to govern And this Consideration of State in their opinion is a more forceable Argument for Excluding such a man then any Statute or particular Law against him could be for that this comprehendeth the very intention meaning and drift of all Laws and Law-makers of our Realm whose intentions must needs be presumed to have been at all times to have Excluded so great and manifest inconveniencies And thus they say But now those that are of the Roman Religion and contrary both to Puritan and Protestant do urge a great deal further this Argument against the Earl and do alledge many Laws Ordinances Decrees and Statutes both of the Canon and Imperial Laws as also out of the old Laws of England which in their opinion do debar all that are not of their Religion and consequently they would hereby Exclude both the one and the other Pretenders And in fine they do conclude that seeing there wanteth not also some of their own Religion called by them the Catholick in the House of Clarence they have so much the less difficulty to exclude the Earl of Huntington's person for his Religion if one of that House were to be admitted of necessity And this is so much as seemeth needful to be spoken at this time and in this place of this House of Clarence and of the Pretenders thereof It resteth then that I treat something also of the House of Britany and France which two Houses are joyned all in one for so much as may appertain to any Inheritance or Pretence to England or to any parcel or particular state thereof at home or abroad that may follow the
it happeneth And as for the second point of Foreign Birth they say there hath been sufficient answer before in treating of the House of Scotland that in rigour it is no bar by intention of any English Law yet whether in reason of State and politick Government it may be a just impediment or no it shall after be handled more at large when we come to treat of the House of Portugal To the last point of Religion they answer that this impediment is not universal nor admitted in the Judgment of all men but only of those English that be of different Religion from her But to some others and those many as these men do ween her Religion will rather be a motive to favour her Title then to hinder the same so that on this ground no certainty can be builded and this is as much as I have to say at this time of these two Families of Clarence and Britany CHAP. VIII Of the House of Portugal which containeth the Claims as well of the King and Prince of Spain to the succession of England as also of the Dukes of Parma and Bragansa by the House of Lancaster IT hath been oftentimes spoken before upon occasions offered that the Princes of the House of Portugal at this day do perswade themselves that the only remainder of the House of Lancaster resteth among them as the only true Heirs of the Lady Blanch Dutchess and Heir of Lancaster and first Wife of John of Gaunt which point of these Princes descents from the said Dutchess of Lancaster though it be declared sufficiently before in the third and fourth Chapters yet will I briefly here also set down and repeat again the reasons thereof which are these that follow John of Gaunt was Duke of Lancaster by the right of his first Wife Lady Blanch and had by her only one Son as also one Daughter of whom we need here to speak for that the other hath left no Issue now living The Son was King Henry the 4th who had Issue King Henry the 5th and he again Henry the 6th in whom was extinguished all the succession of this Son Henry The daughter of John of Gaunt by Lady Blanch was called Philippa who was married to John the first King of that name of Portugal who had Issue by him King Edward and he again had Issue King Alfonsus the fifth King of Portugal and he and his off-spring had Issue again the one after the other until our times and so by this marriage of Lady Philippa to their first King John these Princes of the House of Portugal that live at this day do pretend that the Inheritance of Lancaster is only in them by this Lady Philippa for that the succession of her elder Brother King Henry the fourth is expired long ago This in effect is their pretence but now we will pass on to see what others say that do pretend also to be of the House of Lancaster by a latter marriage John of Gaunt after the death of his first Wife Lady Blanch did marry again the Lady Constance daughter of King Peter surnamed the Cruel of Castile and had by her one daughter only named Catharine whom he married afterward back to Castile again giving her to Wife to King Henry the third of that name by whom the 〈◊〉 Issue King John and he others so as lineally King Philip of Spain is descended from her which King Philip being at this day King also of Portugal and chief Titler of that House unto England he joy 〈◊〉 the Inheritance of both the two daughters of John of Gaunt in one and so we shall not need to talk of these two daughters hereafter distinctly but only as of one seeing that both their descents do end in this one man The only difficulty and dissention is then about the Issue of the third marriage which was of John of Gaunt wiâ—h Lady Catharine Swinford whom he first kept as a Concubine in the time of his second Wife Lady Constance as before hath been shewed in the third Chapter and begat of her four Children and after that his Wife Lady Constance was dead he took her to Wife for the love he bare to his Children a little before his death and caused the said Children to be legitimated by Authority of Parliament and for that none of these four Children of his have left Issue but only one that was John Earl of Somerset we shall speak only of him omitting all the rest This John then Earl of Somerset had Issue another John which was made Duke of Somerset by King Henry the sixth who with his three Sons were slain by the Princes of the House of York in the quarrel of Lancaster and so left only one daughter named Margaret who by her Husband Edmond Tudor Earl of Richmond was Countâ—ss of Richmond and had by him a Son named Henry Earl of Richmond that was after King by the name of King Henry the seventh and from him all his descendents both of the House of Scotland and Suffolk do pretend also to be of the House of Lancaster which yet can be no otherwise then now hath been declared to wit not from Blanch first Wife and Heir of the Dutchy of Lancaster but from Catharine Swinford his third Wife wherein riseth the question whether those men I mean King Henry the seventh and his descendents may pâ—â—perly be said to be of the true House of Lancaster or no Whereunto some do answer with a distinction to wit that to the Dutchy of Lancaster whereof the first Wife Lady Blanch was Heir these of the third marriage cannot be Heirs but only the remainder of the Issue of the said Lady Blanch that resteth in the Princes of the House of Portugal But yet to the Title of the Crown of England which came by John of Gaunt himself in that he was third Son of King Edward the third and eldest of all his Children that lived when the said King Edward died by which is pretended also that he should have succeeded immediately after him before King Richard the second as before in the fourth Chapter hath been declared to this Right I say and to this Interest of the Crown which came by John of Gaunt himself and not by Lady Blanch or by any other of his Wives the descendents of King Henry the seventh do say that they may and ought to succeed for that John Earl of Somerset eldest Son of John of Gaunt by Lady Catharine Swinford though he were begotten out of matrimony yet being afterward made legitimate he was to inherit this right of John of Gaunt his Father before the Lady Philippa his Sister for that so we see that King Edward the sixth though younger and but half-brother unto the Lady Mary and Elizabeth his Sisters yet he inherited the Crown before them and in like manner is Lord Philip Prince of Spain at this day to inherit all the
made reply by their President and Chancellor and other of their own Councellors residing for the Flemish Nation in the Court of Spain for this Nation hath always a particular Councel there about the King as all other Foreign Nations also have that are under him and by this means they obtained lightly what they would and brought the Governour to what they pleased so as in effect they were absolute Kings in themselves and wrought their Wills in every thing and this is in that time while the Country was quiet But now since this Revolt which hath indured almost these four or five and twenty years what hath succeeded surely there hath not a quarter so many been punished or put to Death in all these years by order of Justice of their King absent as before I have shewed that there were in one day by ther own Earls and Dukes when they were present and that upon far less occasion and cause given then are these for if we take away the two Noblemen Egmond and Horne put to Death at the beginning of these Flemâ—sh Troubles by the Duke of Alva for which some men say also that he had no thanks afterward by the King no man of importance hath been since Executed and the chiefest Towns that have been and are against the King in Holland and Zeeland are suffered until this day to Traffique freely into Spain it self to wit in the Kingdom of Aragon many Heads have been strucken off and much injustice done whereof then riseth this difference no doubt for that the Flemmings are Strangers and far off and the other near at Home and Natural-Born so as this circumstance of being a Stranger and dwelling far off doth them great pleasure and giveth them priviledge above the Home-born Subjects The like I might shew for this matter of punishment in the foresaid States of Italy where if a man do compare the number of them that were put to Death pulled Down or Afflicted by order of Justice or otherwise at the the commandment of the Prince in time of their own Home-born Kings with that which hath been since especially of the Nobility you shall find one for twenty and the reason of this is for that their own Kings were Absolute and had to give an account to no man of their doings and for that they were men and had their Passions and Emulations with the Nobility and might put the same in Execution without Account or Controlment they pulled down and set up at their pleasure and made oftentimes but a Jest of Noblemens Lives and Deaths but now these that are Governours and Vice-roys for a Foreign Prince first they have not so great Authority or Commission as to touch any such Principal persons Lives without giving Relation thereof of first unto their King and Councel and receive again particular order for the same and then they knowing that after their three years Government is ended they must be private men again and stay their fourty days as Subjects under the next new Governour to give Reckoning of their doings against all that shall Accuse them which in these Countries they call to make their residence they take heed what they do and whom they offend so as the condition of Nobility is far different under such a strange Government as this is termed then under a Natural Prince of their own Country which oppresseth them at his pleasure But now to draw near homeward if we will examine and consider what hath passed in England in this point of Massacring our Nobility by our Domestical Princes it is a matter lamentable for it may seem that they have served oftentimes for our Princes to make disport and play with their Heads And to let pass all those which in time of Wars Rebellions and Commotions have been cut off which occasions may seem more justifyable I do read also in our Chronicles that a Sangue freddo as the Italian saith that is to say in time of Peace and by Execution of Justice at the Princes appointment these Noblemen following and Knights by Name were put to Death within the space of one five years in King Henry the fourth his days The Duke of Exeter the Duke of Surry the Archbishop of York the Earls Salisbury of Glocester of Worcester and of Huntington the Earl Mowbray Earl Marshal the Barron of Kinderton Sir Roger Clarington Bastard Son of Edward the Black Prince Sir Thomas Blunt Sir Bernard Rocas Sir Richard Vernon And again soon after under King Edward the fourth in almost within as little space the Dukes of Somorset and of Exeter the Earls of Devonshire of Oxford and of Keyns the Lord Ross the Lord Molyns Sir Thomas Tudingham Sir Philip Wentworth Sir Thomas Fyndam and many others afterwards for this was but at the beginning of his Reign which number of Nobility if a man should have seen them alive together with their Trains before they had been put down he would have said they had been a very goodly company and pityful that so many of our own Nobility should be brought by our own Princes to such Confusion But yet this matter may seem perhaps the less marvellous and more excusable under those two Kings for that Troubles and Contentions had passed a little before in the Realm about the Succession and herupon so many of the Nobility might be cut off But let us see then what ensued afterwards when things were established and all doubt of contention about the Succession taken away as in King Henry VIII the his days it was and yet do I find Registred in our Chronicles these persons following either made away cut off or put down by the said King to wit two Queens Ann and Catharine three Cardinals put down and disgraced Woolsey Pool and Fisher whereof the last was Beheaded soon after his Dignity given him in Rome and the first was Arrested the second Attainted of imagined Treasons three Dukes put down to wit the Noble Dukes of Buckingham Suffolk and Norfolk whereof the last lost his Lands Dignities and Liberty only the former two both Lands and Lives A Marquess with two Earls Beheaded Devonshire Kyldare and Surrey two Countesses Condemned to die Devonshire and Salisbury and the latter Executed Lords many as the Lord Darcy the Lord Hussey the Lord Montague the Lord Leonard Gray the Lord Dacers of the South the Lord Cromwel and six or seven Abbots Knights also in great number as five in one day with the Lords Hussey and Darcy and five in another day with the Earl of Kildare whose Uncles they were and besides them Sir Thomas Moor Sir Rice Griffith Sir Edward Nevel Sir John Nevel Sir Nicholas Carew Sir Adrian Fortescue and divers other Knights of great Account and then Gentlemen almost without end And all these within the space of 20 years of his Reign and in the time of peace and if we look upon but four or five years together of the Reign of this mans
Children we shall see the like course continued for we shall see put to death within the space of four years all these following by Name the Duke of Somerset the Duke of Suffolk the Duke of Northumberland and the Lord Admiral of England Sir Miles Partridge Sir Ralph Vane Sir Michael Stanhope Sir Thomas Arundel Sir John Gates Sir Thomas Palmer Knights with divers other Gentlemen of their Retinue and all these by Natural Domestical and Home-born Princes whereas I dare adventure the greatest Wager that I can make that you shall not find so many put to death of the Nobility by any strange Prince State or Commonwealth Christian in any Foreign Dominion that they possess in many Ages together and the reason thereof is evident by that I said before neither were it policy or wisdom nor could the causes be so often nor ordinarily given by the Nobility to a Prince that were absent from them to use such Severity so as by this it may also appear that to be under a Foreign Government even in the worst kind thereof that can be devised which is to be as a Province or piece of another Kingdom and to come under it by very Conquest it self is not so dangerous a matter as at the first shew it may seem and much less to be under Foreign Government by other sweeter means of Succession or Composition as the present case of England seemeth to import in respect of those foreign Princes which do pretend to the Succession thereof And this is not only shewed and declared by the state and condition of Flanders before their tumults but in like manner it is seen by the present state of Britanny Normandy Aquitaine Provence and other Dukedoms and Countries in France that were wont to have their own particular Princes and now are much more commodiously under the Crown of France The like is seen by the States of Naples Millain Sicily Sardinia and other parts and Countries of Italy which were wont to be under Kings and Princes of their own and now are under the Crowns of Aragon and Castile with infinite odds of peace rest security and wealth then they were before when they had domestical Princes and so themselves do confess I mean the wise and dispassionate among them for of the Vulgar in this case no account is to be made and if they should deny it yet the thing speaketh it self and the publick Histories of their Countries would convince them wherein it is to be read what Phalaris what Dionysius and other homeâ—born Tyrants Sicily for example hath had and suffered and with what infinite cruelty they and divers others of their own Governours have exercised upon them as also what continual turmoils there were in the City of Naples and in all that Kingdom for many years together after it self fell from the Government first of the Roman Empire and then of the Grecian until it came to the Crown of Aragon I mean between their own domestical Kings now of the Blood of Italians now of the Normans now of the Hungarians and now of the French for of all these Lines there have reigned among them and the Realm was a perpetual prey to Souldiers and the very like may be said of Millain after their fall from the Roman Empire under which they lived quiet and prosperously until they came again to be under the Crown of Spain they passed infinite Tribulations first by the contention of their common People against their Nobility and then by the Bloody falling out of their chief Families the one against the other to wit the Furiani Visconti Marcelli Castilioni and Ssorzi which Family last of all prevailed he I say that shall remember this and then behold the present state with the quiet peace safety and riches wherein they now live will now live wiâ—l easily confess that they have changed for the better though they be under Foreign Government and thus much of this point There remaineth to speak a word or two about the second part of the Question before proposed and included partly in this which already hath been treated to wit whether it be better to be under a little or great King which question though it may be decided in part by that which before hath been alledged about being under a foreign Prince yet more particularly to make the same plain these men do say that the reasons be many and evident to prove that the subjection to a great and mighty Monarch is far better First for that he is best able to defend and protect his Subjects And secondly for that he hath least need ordinarily to pill and pole them for that a little King be he never so mean yet must he keep the State of a King and his subjects must maintain the same and if they be but few the greater will the burthen be of every one in particular And thirdly for that a great and potent Prince hath more to bestow upon his Subjects for reward of Vertue and Valour than hath a poor and seeing that every particular subject born within his Princes Dominions is capable of all the Prefermenes which Princes State or Kingdom do yield if he be worthy of the same it is a great Prerogative say these men to be born under a potent Prince that hath much to give which they declare by this example following A man that is born in the City of Genoua or Geneva for both are Cities and States within themselves let him be of what ability or worthiness soever yet can he hope for no more preferment than that Commonwealth and State can give and if there should be many worthy men born there at one time then were this his condition worse for then must he part also with other men though there were not sufficient for himself and the most he could aspire unto if he were an Ecclesiastical man were the greatest Benefice within that State and on the other side if he were a Temporal man he could not hope for much for that the State hath it not to bestow but another that is born under a great Monarch as is the King of France or Spain in these our dayes that hath so many great Bishopricks for Examples sake and other Spiritual Livings to bestow upon the Clergy and so many high Governments and Employments both of War and Peace to give unto Temporal men that can deserve the same This man I say hath a great Advantage of the other in respect of preferment at this day but much more was it in old time to be born under the Roman Empire when it had the preferments of all the World to bestow for that every subject thereof was capable of all the said preferments so far forth as he could make himself worthy and deserve the same For better explication of which point yet I have thought good to cite in this place the words of a certain Learned Knight that in our dayes hath written the Lives
of these that followed David's Retinue pursued by Sâ—ul and his Forces which is to â—ay that all that be â—ffended grieved or any way discontented with the present time be they of what Religion soever do easily joyn with these men according to the old saying Sâ—latium est miseris socios habere miseriae besides that there is ever lightly a certain natural compassiâ—n that followeth in men towards those that are thought to suffer or be pursued and this oftentimes in the very enemy himself and then of compassion springeth as you know affection and of affection desire to help as contrariwise do rise commonly the contrary effects to wit emulation envy and indignation against the prosperity of him that pursueth and is in prosperity And for that in so great and populous a Realm and large a Government as this of Her Majesty hath been there cannot want to be many of these kind of discontented men as also for that naturally many are desirous of Changes it cannot be supposed but that the number of this sort is great which maketh this Party far the bigger Moreover it is Noted that the much dealing with these men or rather against them and this especially in matters of their Religion for these latter Years paâ—â— hath much starred them up as also the like is to be noted in the Puritan and made them â—ar more â—â—ger in defence of their Cause according to to the saying Nitimur in vetitum semper and as a little brook or river though it be but shallow and run never so quiet of it self yet if many barres and stops be made therein it swelleth and riseth to a greater force even so it seemeth that it hath happened here where also the sight and remembrance of so many of their Seminary Priests put to death for their Religion as they account it hath wrought great impression in their hearts as also the notice they have received of so many Colledges and English Seminaries remaining yet and set up of new both in Flanders France Italy and Spain for making of other Priests in place of the Executed doth greatly animate them and holdeth them in hope of continuing still their Cause and this at home As for abroad it is easie to consider what their Party and Confidence is or may be not only by the English that live in exile and have their Friends and Kindred at home but also principally by the affection of foreign Princes and States to favour their Religion whose Ports Towns and Provinces lie near upon England round about and for such a time and purpose could not want commodity to give succour which being weighed together with the known inclination that way of Ireland and the late Declaration made by so many of the Scotish Nobility and Gentlemen also to favour that Cause all these Points I say put together must needs perswade us that this Body is also great and strong and like to bear no small sway in the deciding of this controversie for the Crown when the time shall offer it self for the same And so much the more for that it is not yet known that these are determined upon any Person whom they will follow in that action nor as it seemeth are they much inclined to any one of the Pretenders in particular wherein it is thought that the other two Parties either are or may be divided among themselves and each part also within it self for that so different persons of those Religions do stand for it but rather it is thought that these other of the Roman Religion do remain very indifferent to follow any one that shall be set up for their Religion and is likest to restore and maintain the same be he Stranger or Domestical which determination and union in general among if they hold it still and persevere therein must needs be a great strength unto their Cause and give them great sway wheresoever they shall bend at that day as by reason is evident And so much of this matter It remaineth then that after these Considerations of the three Bodies in general we pass to view of each Family House and Person pretendent in particular and therein to contemplate what may be for him and what against him in this pretence and pursuit of the Crown And to begin first of all with the King of Scotland as with him who in vulgar opinion of many men is thought to be first and foremost in this action by way of Succession albeit others do deny the same and do make it very doubtful as before hath been declared yet if we do consider not his Title for of that we have spoken sufficiently before in the 5 th Chapter but other circumstances only of his Person State Condition and the like of which points only we are to treat in this place then must we confess that as on the one side there are divers points that may further him and invite men to favour his cause so wants there not other to hinder the same The points that may invite are his Youth his being a King his moderate nature in that he hath shed little blood hitherto his affection in Religion to such as like thereof and the like but on the other side the reasons of State before laid against him do seem to be of very great force and to weigh much with English-men especially those of his Alliance with the Danes and dependance of the Scotish Nation And as for his Religion it must needs displease two Parties of three before mentioned and his manner of Government therein perhaps all three As for Arabella in that she is a young Lady she is thereby fit as you know to procure good wills and affections and in that she is unmarried she may perhaps by her Marriage join some other Title with her own and thereby also Friends But of her self she is nothing at all allied with the Nobility of England and except it be the Earl of Shrewsbury in respect of Friendship to his old Mother in Law that is Grand Mother to the Lady I see not what Noble man in England hath any band of Kindred or Alliance to follow her And as for her Title it seemeth as doubtful as the rest if not more as by that which hath been said before hath appeared And for her Religion I know it not but probably it can be no great Motive either against her or for her for that by all likelyhood it may be supposed to be as tender green and flexible yet as is her age and sex and to be wrought hereafter and settled according to future events and times In the House of Suffolk the Lord Beacham and the Earl of Darby have the difference of Titles that before hath been seen and each one his particular reasons why he ought to be preferred before the other and for their other Abilities and Possibilities they are also different but yet in one thing both Lords seem to be like that being