noting for a circumstance by the way that the Broome in Hieroglyphicall Learning is the Symbole of humility and the Poets particularly Virgil the best of Poets give it the Epithet of humilis humilis genista and the Etymologists derive it from genu the knee the part most applyed and as it were dedicate to the chiefe Act of Reverence kneeling to which the naturall Philosophers say there is so mutuall a correspondency and so naturall a sympathy between genu and genâ—sta that of all other plants or vegitals it is most comfortable and medicinable to the paines and diseases of the knees Pliny a great Master amongst them saith Genista tuscae cum c. genua dolentia sanat But the considerable reason is as I conceive it from the use he was constrained to make of the twigges of Broome when he came to be scourged at Jerusalem the place necessitating the use of them to that purpose being as Strabo relates a stony sandy and barren soyle only naturall and gratefull to the genest as the watry and moist to the Birch Willow and Withy of which there could be none there for that reason And from hence it must most conjecturally take the beginning of that Honour which afterward his Princely and Noble Posteries continued for their sirname who became Dukes Princes in sundry places and some of them Kings of England France Scotland and Ireland and as the pious people of that Age verily beleeved by their observation were the more prosperous and happy for his sake For the continuance of the Name some who pretend to see further and better in the darke then others as cleare sighted would have it taken of late time and not used by the Kings and Princes of England of the Angeume race But there are many proofes to be adduced against them Let us looke into Master Brookes genealogies of England we shall find nothing more obvious and frequent in the deductions of those Princes of the House of Anjou then the addition and sirname of Plantagenet Edm. Plantagenet Geo. Plantagenet Iohn Plantagenet Edward Plantagenet Lyonell Plantagenet Humphry Plantagenet c. In the French Historians and Antiquaries Ion de Tillet Girard du Haillon Clande Paradin Iean Baron de la Hay we shall often meet with Geoffry Plantagenet Arthur Plantagenet Richard Plantagenet and diverse the like all of the first Age when the Angeume Princes first became English and some before Master Camden also in his Immortall Pâ—â—tannia mentioneth some very ancient as Richard Plantagenet Iohn Plantagenet c. And witnesseth that the forenamed Geoffry Plantagenet used to weare a Broome-stalke in his Bonnet as many Nobles of the House of Anjou did and tooke it for their chiefe sirname It might be added that these Earles of Anjou were descended out of the great house of Saxon in Germany which hath brought forth many Kings Emperors and Dukes and that they were of kindred and alliance to the ancient Kings of France and sundry other Princes But I will close here for the high Nobility of King Richard as the good old Poet did for another Heroicall Person Deus est utroque parente Ovid. And come to the other matters of his private story And first for his Birth and native place which was the Castle of Fotheringay or as some write the Castle of Birkhamsteed both Castles and Honours of the Duke his Father about the yeare of our Lord 1450 which I discover by the calculation of the Birth Raigne and death of King Edward his brother who was borne about 1441 or 1442. and raigned two and twenty yeares dyed at the age of one and forty Anno 1483. The Dutchesse of Yorke their Mother had five children betwixt them so that Richard could not be lesse then seven or eight yeares younger then King Edward and he survived him not fully three yeares This Richard Plantagenet and the other children of Richard Duke of Yorke were brought up in York-shire and Northampton-shire but lived for the most part in the Castle of Midelham in York-shire untill the Duke their Father and his Sonne Edmund Plantagenet Earle of Rutland were slaine in the battell of Wakefield Anno Dom. 1641 upon which the Dutchesse of Yorke their Mother having cause to feare the faction of Lancaster which was now growne very exulting and strong and of a mortall enmity to the House af Yorke secretly conveyed her two younger sonnes George and Richard Plantagenet who was then about some ten yeares old into the Low-Countries to their Aunt the Lady Margaret Dutchesse of Burgundy Wife of Charles Duke of Burgundy and Brabant and Earle of Flanders They continued at Utrich the chiefe City then in Holland where they had Princely and liberall education untill Edward Earle of March their eldest Brother had revenged his Fathers death and taken the Kingdome and Crowne as his right from Henry the sixth when he called home his two Brothers and enters them into the practise of Armes to season their forwardnesse and honour of Knighthood which he had bestowed upon them and soone after invests George into the Dutchy of Clarence and Earledome of Richmond which Earledome he the rather bestowed upon him to darken the young Earle of Richmond Henry Teudor Richard had the Dukedome of Glocester and Earledome of Carlile as I have read in an old Manuscript story which Creation the Heralds doe not allow But whether he were Comes thereof after the ancient Roman understanding that is Governour or Comes or Count after the common taking it by us English or others that is for a speciall Titular Lord I will not take upon me to determine but affirme I have read him Comes Carliolensis And after the great Earle of Warwicke and Salisbury Richard de Neville was reconciled to the Kings favour George Duke of Clarence was married to the Lady Isabell or Elizabeth the elder Daughter of that Earle and Richard Duke of Glocester to the Lady Anne which Ladies by their Mother the Lady Anne de Beauchamp Daughter and heire of Sir Richard de Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke were heires of that Earledome But Anne although the younger sister was the better woman having been a little before married to Edward Plantagenet Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall only Sonne of King Henry the sixth and was now his Princesse and Dowager by whom Duke Richard had a sonne called Edward created Prince of Wales when his Father came to the Crowne The imployment of this Duke was for the most part in the North as the Countrey of his birth so more naturally affected by him according to the Poet Natale solum dulcedine cunctos mulcet Ovid. And there lay his Appanage and Patrimony with a great Estate of the Dutchesse his Wife of which the Signiory of Penrith vulgò Perith in Cumberland was part where he much resided and built or repaired most of the Castles all that Northerne side generally honouring and affecting his Deportment being magnificent
THE HISTORY of the Life and Reigne of RICHARD The Third Composed in five Bookes By GEO BUCK Esquire Honorandus est qui injuriam non fecit sed qui alios eam facere non patitur duplici Honore dignus est Plato de legibus Lib. 5. Qui non repellit a proximo injuriam si potest tam est in vitio quam ille qui infert D. Ambros. offic Lib. 3. LONDON Printed by W. Wilson and are to be sold by VV. L. H. M. and D. P. 1647. The true Portraiture of Richard Plantagenest of England and of France King Lord of Ireland the third King Richard TO THE FAVOVRABLE ACCEPTANCE Of the Right Honourable PHILIP Earle of Pembrooke and Mountgomery c. Sir HAving collected these papers out of their dust I was bold to hope there might be somthing in them of a better fate if mine obscure pen darken not that too Please your Lordshipp to let your name make them another witnesse of your noblenesse it may redeeme and improve them to a clearer opinion and acknowlegedment of these times in which I am to meet every Critick at his owne weapon who will challenge the Book at the very Title The Malicious and Malevolent with their blotted Coments the Captious Incredulous with their jealous praecisianâ—sines whose inclinations shewes them of envious perplexed natures to looke at other mens actions and memory by the wrong end of the perspective and me thinks I fancy them to our shaddowes which at noone creepe behind like Dwarfes atevening stalke by like Gyants they will haunte the noblest merits and endeavors to their Sun-set then they monster it but to the Common-rout they are another kind of Genius or ignis fatuus leades them into darke strange wanderings there they stick for to perswade the opinionated vulgar out of their ignorant selves is of as high a beliefe to me as to transpeciate a Beast into a man I therefore shall crave favour to protest these papers beyond their Censure and humour But to those they are wished I hope their weak accesses may be the more pardonable since they are the kindlings and scintillations of a modest Ambition to truth and gratitude which gives me the encouragement to assure your Lordship that if mine Authors be sincere and faithfull my penis free and innocent having learned that a story as it ought must be a just perspicuous Narration of things memorable spoken and don The Historiographer veritable free from all Prosopolepsyes or partiall respects and surely his pen should tast with a great deal of Conscience for there is nothing leaves so an infected a sting or scandall as History it rankles to all posterity wounds our good names to all memory places by an Authentick kind of preiudice I am with his opinion in his excellent Religio Medici who holds it an offence to Charity and as bloody a thought one way as Nero's in another My Lord under these humble addresses this sues to your honoured hand Presented by the unfained wishes of your Honours avowed and humble Servant GEO BUCK The ARGUMENT and CONTENTS of the First Booke The Linage Family Birth Education and Tirociny of King Richard the third THe Royall house of Plantagenest and the beginning of that name What Sobriquets were The antiquity of Sirnames Richard is created Duke of Gloucester his marriage and his issue His martiall imployments His Iourney into Scotland and recovery of Barwick The death of King Edward the 4 th The Duke of Gloucester made Lord Protector and soone after King of England by importunate suite of his Barons and of the People as the next true and lawfull heire Henry Teudor Earle of Richmond practiseth against the King He is conveyed into France The Noble Linage of Sir William Herbert his Imployment He is made Earle of Pembrooke King Edward the 4 th first and after King Richard sollicite the Duke of Brittaine and treat with him for the delivery of the young Earle of Richmond his Prisoner The successe of that businesse The quality and title of the Beauforts or Sommersets The Linage and Family of the Earle of Richmond The solemne Coronations of King Richard and of the Queene his wife his first at Westminster the second at Yorke Nobles Knights and Officers made by him Prince Edward his Son invested in the Principallity of Wales and the Oath of Allegeance made to him King Richard demandeth the Tribute of France His Progresse to Yorke His carefull charge given to the Iudges and Magistrates He holdeth a Parliament wherein the marriage of the King his Brother with the Lady Gray is declared and adjudged unlawfull their children to be illegitimate and not capable of the Crowne The Earle of Richmond and divers others attainted of Treason Many good Laws made The K. declared and approved by Parliament to be the only true and lawfull heire of the Crowne The King and Queene dowager are reconciled He hath secret advertisemeÌ„ts of Innovations and practises against him Createth a vice-Constable of England His sundry treaties with Forraigne Princes Doctor Morton corrupteth the Duke of Buckingham who becometh discontent demanding the Earledome of Hereford with the great Constableship of England He taketh Armes is defeated and put to death by marshall Law THE FIRST BOOKE OF THE HISTORY OF RICHARD THE THIRD OF ENGLAND AND OF FRANCE KING AND LORD OF IRELAND RIchard Plantagenet Duke of Glocester and King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland the third of that name was the younger sonne of Sir Richard Plantagenet the fourth Duke of Yorke of that Royall Family and King of England designate by King Henry the sixth and by the most noble Senate and universall Synod of this Kingdome the High Court of Parliament The Mother of this Richard Duke of Glocester was the Lady Cecily Daughter of Sir Ralph de Neville Earle of Westmerland by his wife Ioane de Beaufort the naturall Daughter of Iohn Plantagenet alias de Gaunt Duke of Guiene and Lancaster King of Castile and Leon third Sonne of King Edward the third for in that order this Duke is best accounted because William of Hatfield the second Sonne of King Edward the third dyed in his infancy and this Duke of Yorke and King designate was propagated from two younger sonnes of the same King Edward the third whereby he had both Paternall and Maternall Title to the Crowne of England and France But his better and nearer Title was the Maternall Title or that which came to him by his Mother the Lady Anne de Mortimer the Daughter and heire of Phillippa Plantagenet who was the sole Daughter and heire of Lyonell Plantagenet Duke of Clarence and second Sonne of King Edward the third according to the account and order aforesaid And this Lady Phillip was the Wife of Sir Edmond de Mortimer the great and famous Earle of March and that Duke Richard King designate by his Father Richard Plantagenet Duke of York sirnamed also de Conningsbâ—rrough issued directly and in a
against the Sonnes of King Edward And therefore being certaine there is no man to whom the Crowne by just Title can be so due as to our selfe the rightfull Sonne and Heire of our most deare and Princely Father Richard Duke of Yorke to which Title of blood and nature your favours have joyned this of Election wherein wee hold our selfe to be most strong and safe And having the lawfull power of both why should I endure my professed Enemy to â—surpemy right and become a Vassall to my envious Subject The necessitie of these causes as admitting no other remedy urges me to accept your offer and according to your request and our owne right we here assume the Regall Praeheminence of the two Kingdoms England and France from this day forward by us and our heires to Govern and defend the one and by Gods grace and your good aydes to recover and establish the other to the Ancient Allegeance of England desiring of God to live no longer then wee intend and endeavour the advancement and flourishing Estate of this Kingdome at which they all cry'd God save King Richard And thus he became King But yet his Detractors stick not to slander and accuse all that was said or done in these proceedings of State for meer dissimulation by which justice they may as well censure At siâ— Reverentia dictum all the Barons worthy and grave Commons which had their Votes therein which would fall a most impudent and intolerable Scandall upon all the High Court of Parliament for in short time after all that was alledged and acted in that Treatie and Colloquy was approved and ratified by the Court of Parliament so that their Cavills onely discover an extreame malice and envy For it was not possible therefore not credible he could upon such an instant as it were by any practice attaine to that power and credit with all the Barons Spirituall and Temporall and Commons to procure and perswade them from the Sonnes of King Edward so unanimously to become his Subjects and put the Crowne upon his head with such Solemnitie and publicke Ceremonies Whilst those matters had their current the Northerne Gentlemen and his Southerne Friends joyned in a Bill Supplicatory to the Lords Spirituall and Temporall earnestly expressing their desires for the Election of the Lord Protector with the former causes urged Also that the blood of the young Earle of Warwicke was attainted and his Title confiscate by Parliament This Bill was delivered to the Lords Assembled in the great hall at Westminster the Lord Protector sitting in the Chaire of Marble amongst them upon the 26 of June some six or seven dayes after he was Proclaimed the tenor of the Bill was thus written in the Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland PRotector eodem die quo Regimen sub titulo regii nominis sibi vendicarit viz 26 o die Iunii Anno Dom. 1483. se apud Magnam Aulam Westmonasterii in Cathedram Marmoream Immisit tum mox omnibus proceribus tam Laicis quam Ecclesiasticis Caeteris assidentibus astantibus c. ostendebatur rotulus quidam in quo per modum supplicationis in nomine procerum populi Borealis exhibita sunt Primum quod silii Regis Edwardi erant Bastardi supponendo illum praecontraxisse matrimonium cum quadam Domina Elianora Boteler antequam Reginam Elizabetham duxisset in uxorem deinde quod sanguis alterius Fratris Georgii Scil Clarensiâ— ducis fuisset Attinctus Ita quod nullus certus incorruptus sanguis Linealis ex parte Richardi Ducis Eboraci poterat inveniri nisi in persona Richardi Protectoris Ducis Glocestriae jam eidem Duci suplicabant ut jus suum in Regno Angliae sibi assumeret Coronam acciperet But the Barons were all accorded before this Bill came both sides moving with an equall and contented forwardnesse And in July next following 1483. was Crown'd and receiv'd with as generall Magnificence and Acclamations as any King in England many years before For as a grave man writeth Fuit dignissimus regno c. non inter malos sed bonos principes Commemorandus That he was most worthy to Reigne and to be numbred amongst the good not bad Princes The Queene his Wife was Crowned with him and with no lesse State and Greatnesse Accompanied him from the Tower to Westminster having in their Traine besides the Nobilitie of the South parts foure thousand Gentlemen of the North. Upon the 19. of June 1483. in the 25. yeare of Lewis the French King he was named King of England the morrow Proclaimed and rode with great Solemnitie from London to Westminster where in the seat Royall he gave the Judges of the Land a strickt and religious charge for the just executing of the Lawes then departed towards the Abbey being met at the Church doore with Procession and the Scepter of King Edward delivered to him by the Abbot so Ascended to Saint Edwards Shrine where he offered the Monks in the meane time singing Te Deum From thence he return'd to the Palace where he lodged untill his Coronation Upon the fourth of July he went to the Tower by water with the Queene his Wife and the next day Created Edward his onely Son about ten yeares old Prince of Wales He Invested Sir Iohn Howard who was made Lord Howard and Knight of the Garter 17. Edward 4. in the Dukedome of Norffolke in a favourable admission of the right of the Lady Margaret his Mother Daughter of Sir Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norffolke and an heire generall of the Mowbrayes Dukes of Norffolke and Earles of Surrey descended from the Lord Tho. Plantagenet of Brotherton a younger Sonne of King Edward the first and Earle of Norffolke This King also made him Marshall and Admirall of England he was as rightfully Lord Mowbray Lord Segrave Lord Bruce as Lord Howard as I have seene him Stiled by Royall Warrant in a Commission for Treatie of Truce with Scotland His eldest Sonne Sir Thomas Howard was at the same time Created Earle of Surrey and made Knight of the Garter Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham was made Constable of England for terme of life but he claimed the Office by inheritance Sir Thomas Moore writes That Sir Thomas Howard Executed the Office of Constable that day William Lord Berkley was Created Earle of Nottingham Francis Lovel Viscount Lovel and Chamberlain to the King the Lord Stanley restor'd to liberty and made Steward of the Household Thomas Rotheram Chancellour and Arch-Bishop of Canterbury having beene committed for delivering the Great Seale to the Queene Widow receiv'd to grace and many Knights Addubbed of the old Order and some of the new or habit of the Bath whose names I have set downe to shew what regard was had of their Family and in those times accused of so much Malignity Sir Edward De-la-Poole Sonne to the Duke of Norfolke George Gray Sonne to the Earle of Kent William Souch Sonne to the
he was proclaimed traitor for him and when Queene Margaret besiedged the City of Gloucester with the Kings power the Citizens stood at defiance with her Army and told her it was the Duke of Gloucester his Towne who was with the King and for the King and for him they would hold it his Loyalty bearing a most constant expression in this motto Loualto melie which I have seen written by his owne hand and subscribed Richard Gloucester The other was as constantly undermining at him after confederate with the Earle of Warwicke his Father Allie who had turn'd faith from the King and went into France solliciting for force against England which they brought in fought with the King and overthrew him and so fiercely pursuing the victory that the King was forc't to fly out of the Land Clarence not so satisfied unlesse he might utterly supplant him studied that slander of basterdy to bring in himselfe an heire to the Crowne which was proved and given in expresse evidence against him at his triall and attainder by Parliament amongst sundry other articles of high Treason Videlicet That the said Duke of Clarence had falsly and untruly published King Edward a bastard and not legitimate to Raigne that himselfe therefore was true Heire of the Kingdome the Royalty and Crowne belonging unto him and to his Heires these be the very words of the Record and enough to tell us who was the Author of that slander and what important cause the King had to quit himselfe of Clarens a bitter proofe of the old Proverbe fratrum inter se irae acerbissimae sunt and all the favour Clarence could at his end obtaine was to choose it as Iohn de Serres reporteth it so that it was not the Duke of Gloucester but the Kings implacable displeasure for his malice and treasons that cut him off who could not thinke himselfe secure whilst he lived Witnesse Polidor Virgil Edvardus Rex post mortem fratris se a cunctis timeri animadvertit ipse jam timebat neminem Next for the murther of the two sonnes of King Edward the fourth Edward the fifth King in hope and Richard of Shrewsbury Duke of Yorke and Norfolke his younger Brother they alleadge it in this manner That King Richard being desirous to rid those two Princes his Nephews out of the world imployed his trusty servant Iohn Greene to Sir Robert Brackenbury Lieutenant Constable of the Tower about the executing of this murther and by reason that plot tooke no effect Sir Robert not liking it The Protectour suborned foure desperate Villaines Iohn Dighton Miles Forrest Iames Tyrrell and William Slater to undertake it who as they further alleadge smothered them in their beds which done they made a deepe hole in the ground at the foote of the staires of their lodging and their buried them hiding the place under an heape of stones not after the antient manner of tumulus testis others vary from this and say confidently the young Princes were imbarqued in a Ship at Tower wharfe and conveyed from thence to Sea so cast into the Blacke deeps others averre they were not drowned but set safe on shore beyond Seas And thus their stories and relations are scatter'd in various formes their accusations differing in very many and materiall points which shakes the credit of their suggestion and makes it both fabulous and uncertaine one giving the lie to the other their malice having too much Tongue for their memories and is worth the noting how opposite and as it were ex Diametro repugnant they are In vulgus fama valuitfilios Edwardi Regis aliquò terrarum parteâ—migrasse atque ita supestites esse Thus Pollidor with which Dr. Morton and Sir Thomas Moore agree in one place The man say they commonly called Perkin Warbeck was as well with the Princes as with the people English and forraigne held to be the younger Son of Edward the fourth and that the deaths of the young King Edward and of Richard his brother had come so far in question as some are yet in doubt whether they were destroyed or no in the dayes of King Richard By which it appeares they were thought to be living after his death And as the act of their death is thus uncertainly disputed so is the manner of it controverted For Sir Thomas Moore affirmeth as before reported they were smothered in their beds with Pillowes but Pollidor saith peremptorily it was never known of what kinde of death they dyed Another Author and more ancient agreeth with them Vulgatum est Regis Edwardi pueros concessisse in sata sed quâ— genere interitus ignoratur one reason of this may be that they who held Perkin Warbeck and Richard Duke of Yorke to be all one give another accompt of his death whereas if it had beene certaine these foure before named for Assasines had murdered them then the place time and manner had beene easily known upon their strict examination they living freely and securely and without question long after this murdeâ— was said to be done Therefore there can be no excuse for this neglect of Examination much lesse for the suffering such to goe unpunished and at liberty which me thinks maketh much for the cleering of King Richard As for the burying of their bodyes in the Tower if that be brought in question certes the affirmative will be much more hard to prove then the negative For true it is there was much diligent search made for their bodies in the Tower all places opened and digged that was supposed but not found Then it was given out a certaine Priest tooke up their bodies and buried them in another secret place nto to be found hereunto but with better decorum for the more credit of this assertion they might have added it was done sub sigillo confessionis which may not be revealed Sir Thomas Moore seeing the absurdities and contrarieties of these opinions as a man puzeled and distracted with the variety and uncertainty thereof concludeth their bodies were bestowed God wot where and that it could never come to light what became of them Hall Hallingshed Grafton and the rest confesse the very truth hereof was never knowne And if there be a stricter inquiry into the mystery we shall discover that they were neither buried in the Tower nor swallowed in the Sea for the testimony and Relation of sundry grave and discreâ—te persons and such as knew the young Duke of Yorke will resolve us how he was preserved and secretly conveyed into a foraigne Country also alive many years after the time of this imaginary murder to which may be added strong authorities having layd downe some conjectures that may answer the iniquiry after the other And first whereas it is said the Lord Protector before his Coronation procured this murder To refell and contradict that there bee certaine proofes that the Princes were both living in the moneth of February following the death
masculine line from Edmond Plantagenet alias de Langley the first Duke of Yorke and the fourth Sonne of King Edward the third who was the most renowned and glorious Progenitor to those Princes of Yorke and Lancaster and the first King in a Lineall descent from that great Henry sirnamed Plantagenet famous for his great Prowesse and many victories King of England in the right of his Mother the Empresse Matilâ—â— or Maud daughter and heire of King Henry the first and stiled Anglâ—rum Domina sometime wife of the Emperour Henry the fifth by which he was also sirnamed filius imperatricis The French men called him Henry du Court Manteaâ— or Court Mantle because he wore a cloake shorter then the fashion was in those times By his Father Galfride or Geoffry Plantagenet he was Earle or Duke of Anjou for then Dux Comes and Ducatus Comitatus were Synonomies promiscuous words he was also Earle of Maine of Torraine and hereditary Seneschall or High Steward of France and by his marriage of Elianor Queene of France Repudiate Daughter and heire of William Duke of Gascoigne and of Guiene and Earle of Poictou He was Duke and Earle of those Principalities and Signiories also by the Empresse his Mother Duke of Normandy He was Lord of Ireland by Conquest and confirmed by Pope Adrian But these were not all his Seigniories and Dominions for after he was King of England he extended his Empire and Principate in the South to the Pyrerean mountaines The Confines of Spaine and France in the North to the Isles of Orkney and in the East and West with the Ocean as Giraldus Cambrensis Gâ—l Neubrigensis Ioannes Sarisburiensis grave and credible Authors affirme who stiled him Regum Britanniae maximus and doubtlesse he was the greatest King of Brittaine since King Arthur But it is controverted amongst the Antiquaries and Heralds which Earle of Anjou first bare the sirname and Sobriquet of Plantagenest or Plantagenet after the vulgar Orthodoxe by what occasion and for what cause it was taken and borne and from what time and age it had beginning Some would have the forenamed Geoffry Plantagenet Father of this Henry the first Earle of Anjou which bare it But we shall finde stronger reasons to derive it from a much more ancient Earle of Anjou and better causes then can be found in him if we step but a little backe to their stories and compare the men and their times Geoffry Plantagenet being a man of a gallant and active fire disposed to the Courts of Princes to Justs Turnaments c. and to the Courtship of faire Ladies those of the highest ranke and had so amorous a Star That Philippe le Grosse K. of France suspected him for too familiar commerce with his bed But it was of better influence when he archieved and married the Empresse Matilda by which we may very well calculate he neither had nor would be intent or at leisure for such a mortified and perilous Pilgrimage to Jerusalem But if we would know the man let us looke upon the first Fulke Earle of Anjou who lived about an hundred yeares before the Norman Conquest of England and was Sonne of Godefray or Geoffry Grisegonell the first Earle of Anjou according to du Haillon Ancestor and Progenitor to the foresaid Geoffry Plantagenet some seven or eight degrees in the ascending Line as Paradin accounteth a man raised upon the foundation of a great courage and strength two of the best Principles when they have good seconds and make too a glorious man where they serve his vertues not affections as in this Prince they did whose disposition on the other side being let out into as vaste an ambition and covetousnesse ne're looked upon the unlawfulnesse of his desires how horrid soever which amongst the many rest run him upon the shelves of wilfull perjury and murder the one for defrauding spoiling a Church of certaine Rights and the other for contriving the Tragedy of his young Nephew Drogâ— Earle of Brittaine to make himselfe Lord of his Countrey and Principallity The secret checke and scourge of those crimes had a long time to worke upon his conscience and of a great sinner made a great Penitent being old and having much solitary time and many heavy thoughts which naturally accompany old age and suggest better considerations of our former and youthfull sinnes he opens the horrour of them and his afflicted mind to his Confessor as great Constantine to AEgyppus who enjoyned him to make the same confession before the holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem which Pilgrimage the Earle performed in all lowly and contemptible manner passing as a private and unworthy person without traine or followers save two of his meanest which he tooke rather for witnesses then servants whose service was when they came neare Jerusalem the one with a cord such as is used for the strangling of Criminals thrown about his Masters neck to draw or leade him to the holy sepulcher whilst the other did acoustré and strip him as a condemned person and with extremity scourge him untill he was prostrate before the sacred Monument where he gave evidence of his unfained contrition and sorrow Amongst other devout expressions uttering this Mon dieu Signeur recâ—y a Pardon le perjure homicide miserable Foulque And after this pilgrimage he lived many years of prosperity in his Country honoured of all men To justifie this there be many Examples of other Princes and Noble Persons who lived about the yeare of our Lord one thousand and somewhat before and in three or foure ages after who under went the like Pilgrimages imposed under base and mechanicke nick-names and persons as of a Carpenter a Smith a Fisher-man a Mariner a Shepheard a Woodman a Broome-man c. In my Inquiry after that of Plantagenet I met with an ancient Manuscript that afforded me a large Catalogue of many such by the French called Sobriquets from whence I have transcribed these few for a taste Sobriquets Berger Shepheard GrisegoÌ„nelle gray-coat Teste de Estoupe Head of towe Arbuste A Shrub Martell A Hammer Grande boeuf Ox-face LaZouch Branch upon a Stem Houlette a sheep-hook Hapkin Hatchet Chapelle Hood Sans-terre Lackland Malduit Ill taught Geffard Ieuvencas or Heyfer Filz de Fleau Son of a Flaile Plantagenest the Plant or stalk of a Broome And under the name and habit of a Broome-man our Pilgrim performed this Penance and tooke the Sobriquet of Plantagenest from wearing a stalke of Broome or plant of Genest this is generally received but the time and reason neither set downe nor rendred by any of our Heralds and Antiquaries French or English for the time when he performed this I observe it about the yeare of our Lord one thousand certainly But for the particular relation this Count had to chuse the genest plant or Broome stalke before any other vegitall or thing I shall lay downe that opinion which is mine owne
in tutelam moriens tradidit as Polidore testifieth The Army and affaires of those parts disposed he came to Yorke where he made a few daies stay to pay some religious Offices and Ceremonies to the manes and exequies of the deceased King so hastned to London having in his Traine besides his owne ordinary Retinue sixe hundred voluntary Gentlemen of the North parts brave Horsemen and gallantly mounted upon the way he dispatched certaine seguall messengers to the young King who was then at Ludlow Castle in Wales to provide for his honourable Conduct of London where he arrived not long after the Lord Protector and was magnificently received and lodged at the Bishops Pallace his Brother the Duke of Yorke was then with the Queene Mother in the Pallace at Westminster who out of a pretended motherly care rather indeed her pollicy would not let him stirre from her to see the King who had desired his company but instantly takes Sanctuary with him in the Abbey The Lord Protector sollicites her by some Noblemen to send or bring him to the King which she peremptorily stood against untill Cardinall Bourser Archbishop of Canterbury was made the Messenger who so gravely and effectually perswaded with her that she delivered him the Duke After some dayes respite in London-House the King according to ancient custome was to remove Court to the Tower of London the Castle Royall and chiefe House of safety in the Kingdome untill the more weighty affaires of the State and such troubles if any hapned as often interceeds the alterations of Raignes were well dispatched and composed some threatning evils of that kind being discovered and extinguished before the Protector came to London And untill all things proper to his Coronation were in preparation and readinesse the Lord Protector still being neere unto him with all duty and care and did him homage as Honourable Phillippe de Comines Le Duâ— de Glocester avoit fait homage á son Nâ—phâ—n Comme á soâ— Roy souverain Seigneur but this Testimony being a voucht by one who loved not the Protector may leave more credit who sayes when the young King approacht towards London the Lord Protector his Unckle rode barehead before him and in passing along said with a loud voice to the People Behold your Prince and Soveraigne to which the Prior of Croyland who lived in those dayes reporteth Richardus Protector nihil reverentiae quod capite nudato genu Flecto aliove quolibet corporis habitur insubdito exigit regine potisuo facere distulit aut recusavit And why should these services and his constancy be judged lesse real to the Son then to the Father his care providence looking pregnantly through all turnes that concern'd him and his State and therefore timely remov'd such of Danger as were vehemently suspected for their Ambition and insolent assuming Power and Authoritie not proper to them and so stood ill-affected to their Prince and turbulent Maligners of the Government And thus his strict justice to some begat the envie of others as it fell out in the time of King Edward betweene those of the blood Royall with whom the ancient Barons sided and the Reginists who being stubborne haughty and incomputable of the others nearnesse to the King stir'd up Competitions and turbulencies among the Nobles and became so insolent and publique in their pride and Out-rages towards the people that they forc't their murmurs at length to bring forth mutiny against them But finding the Kings inclination gentle on that side they so temper'd it as they durst extend their malice to the Prince of the blood and chiefe Nobilitie many times by slanders and false suggestions privately incensing the King against them who suffered their insinuations too farre whilst his credulitie stood abus'd and his favour often alienated from those whose innocence could understand no cause for it The Engines of those intrusions and supplantations were the Grayes the Woodvills and their kinsmen who held a strong beliefe to have better'd their power with the young King their kinsman and then they might have acted their Rodomontades and injuries in a higher straine remov'd the Prince of the blood and set up what limits they pleased to their Faction and Power during the minoritie of the King and after too whilst the Queene Mother could usurpe or hold any superintendency upon the Soveraigntie or her Sonne These things and the mischiefes that seem'd to superimpend the State equally poiz'd and consulted by the Lord Protector and others of the principall Nobilitie it was resolv'd to give a timely remedy or period unto them all which Sir Thomas Moore acknowledgeth and confesseth the Nobles of the Kingdome had reason to suspect and feare the Queenes Kindred would put their power more forward when their Kinsman came to be King then in his Fathers time although then their insolencies were intollerable And this Author further acknowledgeth there had bin a long grudge heart-burning betweene the King and Queenes Kindred in the time of King Edward which the King although he were partiall for the Queenes Faction was earnest to reconcile but could not And after he was dead the Lord Gray Marquesse Dorset the Lord Rich. Gray and the Lord Rivers made full accompt to sway the young King and having learn'd it was best fishing in a troubled streame threw all occasions of dissention amongst the great men of this Kingdome that so whilst the other Nobles were busie in their owne quarrells they might take an opportunitie to assault and supplant where they hated And for provision towards the Designe the Marquesse had secretly gain'd a great quantity of the Kings treasure out of the Tower and the Woodevills made good preparations of Armes of which some were met with by the way as they were conveighed close packed in Câ—rts It was therefore high time for the Protector and ancient Nobilitie to looke circumspectly about them and fasten on all occasions that might prevent such growing Treacheries which could be no way but by taking off their heads Which being resolved the Marquesse of Dorset the Lord Richard Gray their Uncle Sir Anthony Woodeville Lord Rivers and some other of that kindred and Faction were apprehended and at Pomfret executed onely the Marquesse by some private notice given him fled and tooke Sanctuary At the same time the Lord Hastings who much favoured the Queene and her partie especially the Marquesse therefore the more to be suspected dangerous was Arrested for High Treason and in the Tower upon the Greene had his head chop 't off an Act of more strange and severe appearance then the other having the esteeme of a good Subject and generally supposed much affectionate to the Protector and the Duke of Buckingham And Sir Thomas Moore reporteth that the Protector was most unwilling to have lost him but that he saw him joyning with their Enemies and so his life had ill requited them and their purpose this was a Dilemma But
judging by the noyse which he sought earely to prevent For Phillip Comines reports When he first came to know this Earle he was then a Prisoner in Brittaine and told him he had beene either in Prison or under strict command from five yeares old which is not unlikely for I find him but young when he was committed to the custody of Sir William Herbert Lord of Ragland Castle in Montmouthshire where he continued not long for Iasper Earle of Pembrooke who was Uncle unto Him being then in France whether he had fled after the overthrow of the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury as Iohn Sâ—ow having advertisement that his Nephew was under Sir William Herberts custody with whom he had Alliance and friendship came secretly out of France into Wales and at Ragland Castle found onely the Lady Herbert her Husband being with the King in whose absence the Earle practised so cunningly with her that he got his Nephew from thence and conveighed him to his owne Castle of Pembrooke the young Earles native place presuming upon the strength of it and the peoples affection but over-weaned in his opinion and hope For so soone as the King received notice of the escape Sir William Herbert was commanded to Levie Forces and make towards them a man of a wise and valiant disposition descended from Herbertus who was Chamberlaine and Treasurer of the Kings William Rufus and Henry Beauclerke and was created Earle of Pembrooke afterward from this Noble Herbertus are descended the Herberts Earles of Pembrooke and Montgomery and many other Welâ—h Gentlemen of that Sir name and Family The two Earles being informed of his approaches and strength distrusting their owne fled by night and posted to the Port of Timby where they kept close untill a fit opportunitie offered them transportation for France intending to see the Court there where the Earle of Pembrooke had not long before received very favourable entertainment But a violent storme diverted their course and runne them upon the coasts of Little Brittaine which fell out as a sad disaster and crosse to them and their Designe for a long time after the Duke of Brittaine being no friend to it but at the Port of St. Malos they must land What successe they met with in this flight and other Noble Englishmen which followed the unluckie partie of Henry the sixt being constrained when he was overthrowne by Edward the fourth to fly will fall into our discourse hereafter there is this memoriall in the Stories of Brittaine Plusieurs du Seigneâ—rs d' Angleterre qui tenoyent la partie du Roy H. 6. sen fairent par mer hâ—rs du Royaâ—lme entr autres le Conte du Pembrooke â—aisant sauué un jeune Prince de Angleterre nommé Henry Conte du Richmont Whilst these Earles made some stay in Saint Malo to refresh themselves Francis the second Duke of Brittaine had notice of their landing who sent as speedily a Command to the Governour to arrest them both into safe custody an act as it appeared both strange and injurious being subjects to a Prince with whom the Duke had league But for a better glosse he had found a considerable clause to detaine the Earle of Richmond untill he had received satisfaction of him for usurping and holding the Title and Estate of Richmond belonging to the ancient Dukes of Brittaine whose heire and successor he was though diseised by the space of thirty yeares now he would expect either restitution or compensation for it and the better to assure himselfe he conveyes them with a good guard to the Castle of Vanes where himselfe often resided continuing a more cautious and strict eye upon the Earle of Richmond as Nephew to Henry the sixt and he that laid claime to the Title and Crowne of England by the bloud of Lancaster For which he made their imprisonment more honourable as Philip Comines saith Le Duc les traict'e doâ—cement pour Prisonniers And Iean Froisard cals it Prison Courtoise for the Duke had well considered what expectation and use he might raise by them and knew the newes could not be distastefull to the King of England whose Throne had been threatned so much by the Earle of Richmonds liberty and therefore from hence he hoped an answerable benefit and to contract the King in a firme amity and acknowledgment unto him nay which is further if we may beleeve Iac. Nyerus he thought by this occasion to beare the reines so hard upon King Edward as that he should not dare to make any breach with him propter Henricum Richmontiae Comitem non audebat Anglus ab amicitia Brittani discedere Nor was this Author much mistaken for the King would have accorded to any reasonable thing to purchase the Earle into his hands and it was no little perplexity to him when he heard of their flight but was the better calmed when he understood where they were the Duke of Brittaine being his friend and Allie in whom he supposed so neare an interest set off by some other conditions that he saw a faire encouragement to demand and gaine them both whereas had they falne into France he must have expected the greatest disadvantage could have been contrived out of such an occasion For Lewis though he were then in truce and league with him was meerly a Politician and studied only his owne ends yet feares him as a King famous for his Prowesse and Victories and as ably supplyed in his Coffers for all undertakings But which did equally quicken the hate aswell as feare of France had threatened to enter it with fire and sword for the reconquest of the Dutchy of Normandy and Aquitaine the Counties of Poictou and Turaine wherefore we may beleeve that beares the credit of an Oracle which good Ennius said Quem metâ—unt â—derunt Quem oderunt periisse expetunt And doubtlesse in his heart he was favourable to any chance that might have ruined or insested England and could have wisht the Earle of Richmond and his Title under his Protection King Edward seasonably prevented this that such attempts though at first they appeared but like the Prophets Cloud might not spread after into spacious stormes And to prevent all underhand Contracts with the Duke of Brittaine dispatcht Letters unto him further interpreted by a rich Prssent and richer promises The Duke receives both with as Honourable Complement protesting none could be more ready to doe the King of Englands Commands then he But where he treated for tâ—e delivery of the Earles he hoped to be lawfully excused being an Act would cast a staine and scandall not only upon his credit and honour but upon all Princely and hospitable Priviledges and could appeare no lesse then a meere impiety to thrust such distressed persons as fled to their protection into the Armes of their enemies and it was his opinion if any malice or violence should be acted upon them the guilt must reflect on him But that
concilio soceri persuasus Iethro Solus quod Populi nequijt componere lites Constituit populi praefectos atque tribunos Sic cum me praecelsa premant fastigia Regni Ardua magnarum teneatis muner a rerum Et primùm à vobis pravos secludite motus AEquis Iustitiae trutinis appendite causas Ob paupertatem miseros ne spernite cives Nec vota in cassum fundat pupillus in auras Denique largitio nè vos Corrumpat iniqua c. All things thus in a happy presage and good order the King with the Queene departed from London and makes Windsor the first gift in his Progresse for some few dayes From thence to his Mannor of Woodstock then to the Universitie of Oxford where the Muses Crown'd their browes with fragrant Wreathes for his entertainment Next he visited the circular Citie of Glocester and gave the Citizens for the love and loyaltie they exprest in holding the Castle and Towne so constantly against Queene Margaret and the forces of Henry the sixt for him and his Brother the King large Priviledges and Immunities And here the Duke of Buckingham takes his leave for Brecknock constantly disposed and affected in all outward appearance The King making small stay any where save at Coventry untill he came to the goodly and ancient Citie of Yorke the scope and goale of his Progresse which receiv'd him with all honour and Festivitie and was there the second time Crowned by Dr. Rotheram Arch-Bishop of that Sea in the Cathedrall Church and his Sonne invested in the Principalitie of Wales as the Prior of Croyland reporteth Eodem die quo Richardus Coronatus est Rex in Ecclesia Metropolitana Eboracensi mox filium Edwardum in Principatum Walliae eum insigntis virgae aureae c. evexit Pomposa sumptuosa festa convivia ibi fecit And indeed it was a day of great state for as Polidore saith There was then three Princes in Yorke wearing Crownes the King Queene and Prince In acclamation whereof there was Stage-Playes Turneaments and other Triumphall Sports as Sir Thomas Moore relates At this time the King Knighted Richard of Glocester his base sonne who was after Captaine of Calice and many Gentlemen of those parts But albeit this was an intermission as it were of all busie and serious agitations yet the King still where he travall'd had a just regard to the Administration and Execution of Justice and the more facinerous Malefactors And surely these respective inclinations of his had their solemn affections and desires Naturalized in him witnessed by the scope and integritie of those just Lawes which after followed The Progresse thus spent he returnes to London and having consulted some matters of State declares his first resolution for the Tribute detain'd by France which he had formerly by a friendly Message demanded but now sends stout menaces and threats for it The French would not have it cal'd a Tribute but a Pension as Philip de Comines insinuates though it had beene rays'd and payd to King Edward the fourth in lieu of the Dutchy and Countries of Aquitaine Normandy Poictou and Maine c. whereof the the French had deseis'd the Crowne of England which King Edward the fourth forced Lewis to acknowledge and to Covenant and agree That he his heires and Successors should pay unto the Crowne of England the summe of fiftie thousand Crowns with caution and securitie to be payd in the Citie of London or after Iean Tillet and Iohn Maierus seventy five thousand Crowns to be payd into the Tower with which the French King also granted in the name of Annuall Pension sixteen thousand pounds to some Noblemen and others of speciall credit with the King As to Sir Thomas Gray Marquesse of Dorset William Lord Hastings Chamberlaine to the King Doctor Thomas Rothram Bishop of Lincolne and Lord Chancellour of England Iohn Lord Howard Sir Iohn Cheyney Master of the Horse Sir Thomas Mountgomery Master Challoner and to the Master of the Rowles The chiefest of these had two thousand Crownes apiece per annum Besides which Pensions he gave rich Presents and sent rewards to such Lords as stood most for this accord Eugueraunt de Moustrolet avoucheth that the Lord Howard and the Master of the Horse were the chiefest of the mediators in it his reason is that they were the men most in favour with King Edward Iean Tillet with Philip de Comines tells us the Lord Howard in lesse then two yeares had the value of twentie foure thousand Crownes in Plate Coine and Jewels over and above his Annuall Pension the Lord Hastings at one time to the value of two thousand markes in Plate besides his Pension And if their owne Stories speake truth Richard de Nevil the great Earle of Warwick had of the Kings of France much more then any other English Nobleman which the Chronicle of Brittaine seconds And doubtlesse King Richard had still compel'd him to continue it had not eruptions of State and tumultuary practises fatally deterr'd his Sword For as Kings have vaster limits they have higher bounds then others If our vulgar paths be rugged theirs are slippery and all their mighty resolutions and ambitions have their fate and circle hither they must and no further yet as envious as fortune shew'd her selfe he brought King Lewis to termes of faire promises and mediation for time of payment as Comines obscurely implyes This yeare the King kept a very magnificent Christmas at Westminister and was reconciled to the Queene Dowager who left Sanctuary and to congratulate the Kings favour sent her five daughters to Court where they were received with all Princely kindnesse On the three and twentieth day of January in the first yeare of his Raigne he summon'd a Parliament to be holden at Westminster i◠which after the enacting of many good Lawes the marriages o◠King Edward were debated that with the Lady Gray adjudged unlawfull and her children illegitimate there being proofe of a former Contract and Marriage with the Lady Elianor Talbot daughter of the old Earle of Shrewsbury and Relict of the Lord Butler of Sudely then and long after living and all that had been inferred by the Duke of Buckingham or contained in the Bill supplicatory demonstrated was againe consulted and judgement given against that Marriage and incapacity of the Children also of the Earle of Warwicke and his sister the Lady Elizabeth Plantagenet all decreed and confirmed by Act of Parliament so that here to taxe so generall an Assent were to say there was not one honest nor just man in that High Court and what greater scandall to the whole Kingdome There was likewise notice taken of the Earle of Richmonds pretence to the Crowne by a Title derived from the House of Lancaster who was at that time in France labouring to engage the King and the Duke of Brittaine in the quarrell Oh the infinite windings and perplexed sleepes we labour through to get that we must bid goodnight
to to morrow And yet the true and rightful Lancaster had no finger in it for this Earle was not then granted to be of the House of Lancaster untill the Pope by his Bull had given him that stile and himselfe after he was King by his Prerogative assumed it In this Parliament he was attainted of High Treason and with him Iohn Earle of Oxford Thomas Marquesse of Dorset Iasper Earle of Pembroke Lionell Bishop of Salisbury Peirce Bishop of Exceter the Lady Margaret Countesse of Richmond Thomas Morton Bishop of Ely Thomas Naudick by the stile of Thomas Naudick of Cambridge Conjurer William Knevet of Buckingham smeared with the same pitch George Browne of Beechworth Thomas Lukenor of Tratton Iohn Cuilford Iohn Fogg Edward Poinings Thomas Fieries of Cherstmonceur Nicholas Gainsford William Clifford Iohn Darrell with others of Kent and the West Countrey There was further enacted for the approbation and confirming the true and lawfull Title of King Richard this clause or sentence It is declared pronounced decreed confirmed and established by the Authority of this present Parliament that King Richard the third is the true and undoubted King of this Realme as well by right of Consanguinitie and Heritage as by lawfull Election and Coronation c. And in a place of the Rowle of this Parliament there are Arguments to be gathered that the two sonnes of King Edward were living in the time of this Parliament which was at the least nine moneths after the death of their Father and sixe moneths after King Richard which will import thus much That if King Richard then lawfully and quietly possessed of the Crowne suffered them to live so long there is no reason why he should after make them away for their lives could not rectifie their Bloud or Titles nor their deaths advantage him neither can Bastards be dangerous or prejudiciall to the true and titular Lord or lawfull proprietary be he Prince or Subject Witnesse Forraigne Countries and England it selfe which holds Bastards uncapable of Heritage Honour or Offices In the Month of February towards the end of this Parliament the King in his providence to establish the Regall fortune and Succession in the Prince his Sonne and to fasten the affection of the Nobility and People unto him with the Crowne procures them to meet him in the Pallace at Westminster and there Interiori Caenaculo as mine Author saith tendred by the Duke of Norfolke unto them an Oath of Fealty and Allegeance in writing to be taken to the Prince of Wales which they tooke and subscribed most willingly the occasion of this was his jealousie of that new League struck up between the Earle of Richmond and the Duke of Buckingham who was now discovered more apparantly and the rest of the engagement To oppose and suppresse them therefore and stifle the Confederacy before it should grow more threatning The King makes a Commission by Letters Patents in the name of the Vice Constable of England unto Sir Ralph Ashton A Coppy whereof the President being unusuall and the Office great I have Transcribed verbatim from the Records in the Chappell of the Convertits Vice Constabulario Angliae Constituto REX dilecto fideli suo Rudolpho Ashton militi salutem Sciatis quod nos defidelitate circumspectione probitate vestrâ plenius confidentes assignavimus deputavimus ordinavimus vos hac vice Constabularium nostrum Angliae ac Commiâ—sionarium nostrum dantes concedentes vobis tenore presentium potestatem authoritatem generalem mandatum speciale ad audiendum examinandum ac procedendum contra quascunque personas de crimine laesae nostrae regiâ— majestatis suspectas culpabiles tam per viam examinationis testium quam aliter prout vobis melius visum fuerit ex officio vestro nec non in causis illis judicialiter sententialiter juxta casus exigentiam delinquentium demerita omni strepitu futura Iudicij appellaâ—ione quacunque remota quandocunque vobis videbitur procedendum judicandum et finali executione de maâ—dandum cum omnibus etiam clausulis verbis et terminis specialibuâ— ad executionem istius mandati et authoritatis nostrae de jure vel consuetudine requisitis quae etiam omnia hic expressa habemus assumpto vobiscum aliquo tabellione fide digno qui singula conscribat unà cum alijs quae in praemissis vel circa â—a necessaria videbuntur seu qualitercunque requisita mandantes firmiter vobis injungentes quod alijs quibuscunque praetermissis circa praedicta quoties quando opus fuerit intendatis caus as que antedictas audiatis examinetis in eisdem procedâ—tis ac eas judicetis finali executione ut praefertur demandetis Damus etiam omnibus singulis quorum interest in hac parte tenore praesentium firmiter in mandatis quod vobis in prâ—missis faciendis pareant assistant auxilientur in omnibus diligenter in cujus c. Teste Rege apud Covent 24. die Octobris Anno regni primo per ipsum Regem oretenus What successe this Commission and new Office had I find not reported but it might come too late or the new Officer forget what he was to execute for the faction lost none they could corrupt or winne yet surely the institution of it was very politicke and important as a plaine Image and pourtraict of the Office and Authority of the great or High-Constable of England which in the execution of a wise and valiant person is of a high and great use Having made mention of these Offices it shall not be a Parergue between these Acts to interadde the rest of this Kings Officers both Chiefe and others at the least such as were of Honour or Dignity I have before named the High-Constable the great Marshall high Admirall Lord Chamberlaine the rest were Sir Iohn Wood the Elder L. Treasurer the first yeare and Sir Iohn Touchet Lord Aâ—dley during the rest of his Reigne Doctor Russell Bishop of Lincolne had the great Seale Thomas Barrow was Master of the Rowles which place Henry the seventh continued to him and made him a Privy Counsellour Iohn Kendall was principall Secretary Sir William Hopton Treasurer of the Houshold Sir Thomas Peircy Controler after him Sir Iohn Buck Iohn Gunthorpe Keeper of the Privy Seale Sir William Hussey Chiefe Justice Thomas Tremaine and Roger Townsend the Kings Serjeants Morgan Kidwell Attorney Generall Nicholas Fitz-William Recorder of London For matters of Treaty betwixt this King and Forreigne Princes I have seen a memoriall of one for intercourse and commerce between him and Philip Duke of Burgundy and the Estates of Flanders who in the Record are called Membra Flandriae These Princes and States had each of them their Commissioners to treate and determine the Affaires which I find they dispatchâ— with approbation of the Princes their Masters There was also a Commission about these times to heare and redresse the
in their greatest height were called Principes therefore Princeps is thus defined Princeps est penes quem summa Reip. potestas est qui primus omnium dominatur And Principatus and Dominatus are used as Synonomies But it is conceiv'd an errour now to take Principatus for Regnum Oâ— Supremus Dominatus being the word Principatus long before and in the age of Richard the second also ever since hath beene restrained to the Estate of Primogenitus and Heire apparant not onely of Kings but also of Dukes and Marquesses as well Feudall as Soveraigne And the next King Henry the fourth a wise discreet and wary Prince though he was much inclin'd to those Beauforts as being his naturall Brethren by the Paternall side and willing to advance them all he could yet he discovered clearely enough by that certaine Charter in which he entailed the Crowne successively to his soure Sonnes and to the Heires of their bodies that he reputed not the Beauforts to be Lancastrians or neare the Crown Neither is there the least clause or mention to leave any remainder therein to them First he intaild the Crowne to his eldest sonne Henry Prince of Wales after him to the Heires of his body If they faile then to Thomas of Lancaster his second sonne and to the Heires of his body so to his third sonne Iohn of Lancaster and to the Heires of his body Lastly to the fourth sonne Humphrey and to the Heires of his body for still and for every estate the words are Post ipsum successive Heredibus suis de ipsius Corpore legitime procreandis which is all and implicatively an expresse exclusion of the Beauforts This Charter was confirmed by Act of Parliament holden at Westminster the two and twentieth day of December in the eight yeare of Henry the fourth and sealed with his owne Signet Upon the Dexter side of that hung the seales of sundry Lords Spirituall on the left side the seales of the Lords Temporall witnesses And albeit the Earle of Richmond could not so well and rightly beare the name of Beaufort or Somerset being a Teador by his Father and so to be Sir-named or of some other Welch-name if there were any in his Family by his Mother he was descended from the Beauforts for the Lady Margaret Countesse of Richmond was daughter and heire to Sir Iohn de Beaufort Duke of Somerset and Grand-child to Iohn of Gaunt by Katherine the wife of Otho de Swinford which Iohn de Beaufort was created Duke of Somerset by Henry the fift his Wife was the daughter and at length the heire of Sir Iohn Beauchamp of Blet so and the widow of Sir Oliver Saint-Iohn when he married her But the Earle of Richmond by his Grand-mother Katherine Queene of England was descended from the Kings of France and I have seen him in a Pedigrce drawne after he was King derived from the ancient Kings Princes of Brittaine Polidore saith he was Ex fratre Nepos to King Henry the sixt who cal'd him Nephew and he the King Avunculum nostrum our Uncle insteed of Patruum as it is in the Records of Parliament Ann. 1. of Henry the seventh but not his Nephew as wee erroneously now take it that is his German younger Brothers Sonne for then he had beene a true Masculine Issue of the house of Lancaster and Royall blood of England But he was Nephew to him by his Brother Uterine Edmond Teudor Earle of Richmond the sonne of Owen Teudor or Meridock and of Queene Katherine daughter of Charles the sixt King of France and widow of Henry the fift King of England which the French well knew and gave him the better esteeme for it but those Honours were obscure Additions to him that must not goe lesse then for a Prince of the house of Lancaster and so of England which passed with such vulgar credit in France that Du Tillet mistooke Iohn Duke of Somerset Father of Margaret Countesse of Richmond for the true and lawfull Sonne of Iohn de Gaunt c. by his first Wife Blanch Plantagenet Daughter and Heire of the Earle and Earledome of Lancaster Philip de Comines Lord of Argent had better intelligence of his Pedigree and Title which he gives us thus Iln ' avoit croix ny pile ne null droit Come je croy a la Coronne d'Angleterre And this expresses he had no great opinion of either though he were then King when this was writ But let us suppose him lawfully from that Duke of Lancaster his claime must stand excluded whilst the house of Yorke survived for Richard Plantagenet Duke of Yorke and King of England designat by Act of Parliament holden 39 yeare of King Henry the sixt to whom these Titles of Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall Earle of Chester and Protector of England were given by the three Estates in that Parliament descended from the Daughter and Heire of the second Sonne of King Edward the third For as before so still I leave the Infant William of Hatfield without the Catalogue and King Henry the fourth and his Progeny descended from the third Sonne and King Henry the sixt being the best of the house of Lancaster then living did acknowledge in that Parliament the Title of Richard Duke of Yorke the onely lawfull and just Title so consequently next and better then that of Lancaster or any other and before any Beaufort or their Heires the Issue of the two daughters of Iohn Duke of Lancaster Philip and Katherine married to the King of Portugall and Castile were to be preferr'd if Forraigne Titles be not excluded by Parliament But the Earle of Richmond measuring his owne height by the advantage of a tumultuary and indisposed time and finding his Lancastrian pretence began to have a popular retinew he was now incompatible of any others precedency and propinquity for those great ones that led him by the hand unto the Action layd the line by their owne corrupted hopes and feares of the successe therefore would not let the fortune of their expectation faint in him Bishop Morton steered much in the course of their Affaires and was a great Oracle to the Earle who was noted too partiall and credulous especially where he believed the persons of any honesty vertue or learning for which his fame yet beares some staines of Morton Dudley Empson Bray Vrswike Knevett c. for there be two extreames observed in the Councells of Princes one when the Prince is subject to follow the councells of evill men the other when the Prince is too opinionated to consult with Counsell such an one as was Charles the hardy Duke of Burgundy so opinionated and overweening of his owne wisedome and judgement that he under-thought all mens else which wide conceit of his hath left this Monument Carolus pugnax altorum consilia rationes ne dicam sequi uix audire volebat ignominiae loco habens ab alijs discere judicavit