complaints made to the King by the Subjects of the King of France and of Denmarke which was well expedited Anno Regni 2. That Treatie of Peace and League with Scotland began before was continued and finished by Commissioners sent from Iames the fourth King of Scotland and by other Commissioners delegate for the King of England those for Scotland were Coli Earl of Argile Chancellor of Scotland N. Bishop of Aberdene the Lord Lisle the Lord Dromonde of Stobhall Master Archibald Quhitlaw Arch-Deacon of Lodion Secretary to the King Lion King at Arms and Duncan of Dundas they came to Nottingham in September Anno Domini 1484 and were honourably receiv'd in the great Chamber of the Castle the King sitting under his Royall Cloth of State Master Archibald Quhitlaw stepping before the rest addrest a very Eloquent Oration unto him in Latine which reflected upon the praise of Martial men Art Military including much to the honour and praise of King Richard This Treatie aimed partly at a Truce and Peace partly at a Marriage betweene Iames the Prince of Scotland and the Lady Anne Daughter of Iohn de la Poole Duke of Suffolke and Neice to King Richard Commissioners for the King of England were Iohn Bishop of Lincolne Richard Bishop of Asaph Iohn Duke of Norfolke Henry Earle of Northumberland Master Iohn Gunthorpe custos privati sigilli Sir Thomas Stanley Lord Stanley Sir N. Lord Strange Sir N. Lord Powis Sir Henry Lord Fitz hugh Sir Humphry Lord Dacres Master Thomas Barrow Master of the Rowles Sir Richard Ratcliff William Catesby and Richard Salkeld The other for the Treatie of Alliance and Marriage were Thomas Arch-Bishop of Yorke Iohn Bishop of Lincolne Iohn Bishop of Worcester Iohn Duke of Norfolke William Earle of Nottingham Iohn Sutton Lord Dudley N. Lord Scroope of Upsall Sir William Hussey Chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench Sir Richard Ratcliffe and William Catesby But the successe of that and many other good intendments were interposed by the inconstancy and contraste of the times The Lady Anne de la Poole upon the the breach thereof resolving to accept no other motion forthwith tooke a religious habit in the Monastery of Sion There was another Treatie of Peace and Truce in this second yeare betweene him and the Duke of Brittaine or at the least given out for peace yet was indeed but a part and pretext of the Treatie for the maine negotiations on the Kings side was how to get the Earle of Richmond out of his custody into his owne or be as well secured of him there as his Brother King Edward was And for this Treatie the chiefe Negotiators were the Bishop of Lincolne and Sir Thomas Hutton for the King the Bishop of Leon and others for the Duke The Treatie began Anno Domini 1484. and was finished and ratified in the yeare following but the Duke violated his part immediately by giving ayde to the Kings Enemies In the same yeare there were Letters made which are yet extant in the Treasury of the Exchequor that moved a Peace and Truce beweene King Richard and Charles the eighth King of France wherein it must be understood the tribute before mentioned was Articled Also in this yeare and the yeare before there was a private Treatie which we must not passe by for the Marriage of the Lady Elizabeth with King Richard himselfe what the successe of it was and how farre it proceeded will more aptly present it selfe in another place Wee are now to take notice of the Duke of Buckinghams revolt for this was the preparative and fourrier of the rest And to give it the more taking feature and specious pretence it must be given out That the cause was the Reformation of an ill Government and Tyranny under which species for Treason is ever fairely palliated and seldome wants the forme of some plea though at the Barre they must take up Armes against the King And here as some Rivers deriv'd from the Sea cannot suddenly loose their taste of saltnesse they discovered their ancient taint and inconstancy which the Prince wisely suspected from the first For the Duke of Buckingham how affably soever he trim'd his countenance it should seeme departed male-content from Court yet made not that generall publick pretended cause of the Kings Crimes all his quarrell but challenged him by some private grudges as denying to give or restore to him the Earledome of Hereford and Constableship of England for they went together a long time which he alledged belonged to the Partage that fell to his great Grand-mother the Lady Anne Daughter and Heire of Thomas Plantagenet alias Woodstock created by King Richard the second Duke of Glocester and Earle of Buckingham and of his Wife Elianor daughter and co-heire of Humphry de Bohun Earle of Hereford and Constable of England Which claime had he considerately look't upon could not rightly revolve to him but rather was for the Kings part For Humphry de Bohun Earle of Hereford of Essex and Northampton Lord of Brecknock and Constable of England in the time of King Edward the third and the last Earle of the Family of the Bohuns had by the Lady Iane his Wife Daughter of Richard Fitz-Allan Earle of Arundel two Daughters and Heires Elianor and Mary Elianor was Married to the same Thomas Plantagenet alias de Woodstock youngest Sonne of King Edward the third Duke of Glocester and Earle of Buckingham Mary the second Daughter was Married to Henry Plantagenet Duke of Lancaster and after King of England by the name of Henry the fourth and the Earledome of Hereford fell to his Wife In favour whereof he was Created Duke of Hereford by King Richard the second and the Earledome now a Dutchy and the rights therof remained in the King and in the Kings Heires and Successors untill the death of King Henry the sixt who dyed without Issue then all the Estate of Lancaster especially that of the Royall Family of Lancaster escheated to King Edward the fourth and from him it came to King Richard as Heire to his Brother and all his Ancestors But the Duke of Buckingham pretended Title to that Earledome by his said Grandmother Anne who was one of the Daughters and Heires of the aforesaid Lady Elianor Wife of Thomas de Woodstock Duke of Glocester and the Wife of Edmond Stafford Earle of Stafford and Grand-father to this Henry Duke of Buckingham who the rather presumed to make this Claime because the Issue of the other Sister Mary being extinct he tooke himselfe also to be her Heire But King Richard relishing something in this neare the disposition and inclination of Bullingbrooke answered That the Earledome of Hereford was of the inheritance of Henry the fourth who was also King of England though by tort and usurpation and will you my Lord of Buckingham Claime to be Heire of Henry the fourth You may then also happily Assume his spirits and lay Claime to the Crowne
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
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
in the time he kept this Katherine and had those Beauforts who were Sir-named so from the place of their birth a Town of his own in Aniow But to note transitu how obnoxious this Duke made his frailties that thinking to put a smoother face upon his sin gave it but the same blush by making this Katherine Swinford his Dutchesse against the liking of the King all his noble friends direct Tenor of the common Laws which pronounce marriages between such as have lived in Aldutery unlawfull Nay to make him the more marvaile and smiling discourse of the Court the glasse of his age was turn'd to his last yeare when he sacrifie'd these scatterd embers of his desires and passion But he obtained those children to be legitimated First by the Pope Vrbanus the sixt next by the Charter of King Richard the second and had both these indulgences afterward enlarged and confirmed by Parliament Yet neither these foure legitimate children nec qui nascebantur ab illis were permitted to the Princely familiar Title of Lancaster so long as that â—ame flourished much lesse of Plantagenet for that was the peculiar Sir-name in chiefe of the Kings of England and Princes of the blood Royall since the time of the second Henry Sonne of the Empresse Matilda the first founder of that name in the Royall Family of England Of which honour were partakers the Princely Family of Wales of Brotherton of Yorke of Lancaster of Clarence of Woodstock of Glocester c. And there are yet some Noblemen in Portugall who descended from Iohn Duke of Lancaster and are called and written de Lancastro others of the like Origine and Title may doe as much Neither would King Henry the fourth Henry the fift nor King Henry the sixt all Kings of the Lancastrian race indure to let the Lineage of Beaufort though they respected them as kinsmen and advanced them to many honours Assume the the Sir-name of Lancaster holding it an Arrogation and Usurpation of Royaltie and Royall Rights wherein they followed their Ancestors who devised other names for their base children As Fitz. Roy Oxenford Fitz-Herbert Clarendon Fitz-Henry Longuespee Cornwall and so they continued the name of Beaufort and Somersets untill the Earle of Richmond came and this was in imitation of the Kings of France as I conceâ—ve For within the reach of my observation since the time of Hugh Câ—â—â—t they never vouchsafed any of their base sons to be capable of the Crown of France or to have the Adven as they call it nor the Sir-name of France but the illegitimate daughters may take the Sir-name France or de France because they can make no claime to the Crowne by a pretended permission of the Sa lik-law which Iohn de Tillet witnesseth La troisiesme lignèe a du tout rejectè les Bastards non seulement de la Coronne mais aussi de l'aduen et Surnom de France qui Concession est permis aux Bastards de roy ' c. And as the Bastards of the Kings of England had other names so they tooke differenced Armes or elsewere permitted to beare their mothers if of any Family If tolerated to beare the armes of England then they were diversified in a Checking Debasing and Rebating manner with Bastons Bends Sinister Barres Bordutes Marks of Basenesse Obscuritie and Noveltie which any new Gentleman might beare such as the Learned call filios terrae novos homines and wee vulgarly upstarts But to object against the use of this in England the example of Hamelin is brought in and to credit it his Armes forged by some weake and negligent Heralds who call him Hamelin Plantagenet when the truth is this Hamelin base sonne of Ieoffry Plantagenet Earle of Aniow was simply called Hamelin and his sonne William tooke the Sir-name of his Mother Dame Isabel de Warren daughter and heire of William de Warren Earle of Surrey which their Posteri continued as Ioannes de Warrena the first and Ioannes de Warrena the second both Earles of Surrey and Isabella de Warren and Elianor de Warren c. mentionedin the Charters and Records but never Plantagenet which is acknowledged by our best Heralds and Antiquaries Master William Campden hath these words Isabella filla sola Gulielmi de Warrena Comitis Surreiae Hamelinum Nothum Galfredi Plantageneti c. titulo Comitis Surreiae maritum exornavit Hamelinus Gulielmum Surreiae Comitem genuit cujus posteri à Scito WarrenoruÌ„ nomine eundem titulum gesserunt And that the base sonne of King Edward the fourth was commonly called Arthur Plantagenet proves nothing neither well considered For in the times when this Arthur lived the name of Plantagenet being onely left in the house of Yorke the Lancasterian Plantagenet being more extinguished had not the former honour and reputation but was darkned and setting rather drawing a contempt and hate to them that bare it the White Rose dayly fading and withering and so malignant was their Planet then that as a Learned Gentleman hath further observed It was not safe in that time to be a Plantagenet therefore the permission of those times can be no warrant for the objections nor the ignorance of the Poeticall Heralds who have strain'd this fable of Hamelin Yet farther not onely giving him and his Posteri a false Sir-name but assign'd him by the like Fabulous Art a shield of familiar Ensignes the Armes of France border'd with an Orle of Normandy or Guyen which he nor yet any of the Antique Lineage of Aniow or their Progeny ever bare or could by just Title beare either simply or compounded or the Progenitors of our English Kings the Lillies of Gold in an azure field untill King Edward claimed the Crowne of France and assumed them in the right of Queene Isabel de Valoys his Mother who was the first that bare them quarterly with the Armes of England But the Armes of the ancient Earles of Aniow were a Scarboucle that is a Golden Bucle of a military Scarffe or Belt set with precious Stones not a Carbuncle or more precious Ruby for the terme is erroneous and absurd if considered The Princes of Aniow bare this Scarboucle in a shield party per Chiefe Argent and Gueules and the Heires of this Hamelin who tooke the Sir-name of Warren bare also the Armes of the house of Warren in their Shields and Caparisons but bare the Scarboucle of Aniow for their Crest as they were descended out of that House as I have seene upon a Seal of Ioannes de Warrena Earl of Surrey at a Charter dated 20. E. 3. An. Dom. 1346. apud Dom. Rob. Cotton which hath given me occasion to speake thus much to cure the Blemish that mistake hath thrust into History such absurdities having their infection and passing by an Age or two upon the easie and common judgments after grow up for tall and undeniable truths For some meerly reading the complexion of things as they do
Goods Chattells and Debts These be the words of the Act and if jus then jus summum in all extremity Those of note that were taken lost their heads at Leicester two dayes after being Saint Bartholmews day and had a glimpse like that Bartholmew in France in our time all such slaughters from thence call'd Bartelmies and Bartelemies simply in a perpetuall Stigma of that Butchery It is suggested the Duke of Norfolke was slaine in the Battaile by the Earle of Oxford and the Story of Croyland seemeth to say as much Comes Oxoniae valentissimus miles in eam alam ubi Dux Norfolciae constitutus erat in agro de Redmore tum Gallicorum tum Anglicorum militum Comitatu stipatus tetendit c. Amongst those that escaped the sad destiny of that day was the Earle of Surrey Sir Thomas Howard Viscount Lovel Sir Thomas Stafford and his Brother N. Stafford with many other Nobles and Gentlemen that got into Forraigne Countries and Sanctuaries obscuring themselves till the storme and smart of that dayes memory were past But some would maintain Thomas Earl of Surrey to be one of them that submitted to the new King at Bosworth immediately after the overthrow which must not be believed if wee understand the composition of those times affairs for certaine it is the Earl Richmond had peremptorily proscribed all those he had cause to feare or hate whose names are partly in the Rowles kept in the Chappell of the Convertites in Chancery-Lane and partly omitted by the Scribes Now the Earle of Surrey of all the rest was so terrible and distastefull to him there could be no excuse left for his life And therefore let no man thinke he was taken or submitted but tooke aâ— happier season some moneths after The Relation and truth is by the warrant of one that well knew him and the inter-passage of his Fortune the Earle opportunely left the Field but so wounded that faintnesse and night constrain'd him to the house of a Gentleman not farre from Nottingham and one that bare a faithfull respect to the Earle and his Family untill he was well recovered In the meane time that terrible Parliament held in the next November was concluded and the Kings desires reasonably well appeased in seeing the execution of his new Lawes past upon some of them After which some small distance of time followed a gracious pardon to all the offenders in that Cause which proffered mercy this Earle layd hold on hoping to restore himselfe by his submission his offence considered being but an Act of Loyaltie to his Master But this confidence sent him to the Tower for though the violence of the storme appear'd well calm'd yet the King retain'd some heavings of it in his thoughts And this Imprisonment continued from his first yeare of raigne unto the fourth and towards the beginning of that being in the Tower with the Queene Elizabeth to whom he was shortly after to be married he tooke occasion to call for the Earle bearing still a gust of the same tempest in his brow and challenged him upon the old quarrell his service to the late Usurper Tyrant as he usually termed King Richard the Earle humbly moved his pardon and more favourable consideration to the nature of his offence which thousands more conceived to be but a due effect of their Liege duties and Allegiance to a Prince so lawfully and with all generall sufferance Crowned whose Title he held himselfe bound to defend by the law of God and Nations and would dye in defence of him and that Crowne though he should find it upon a Stake The King left him with a sterne and ruffling reply but in cold blood better acknowledged his integritie and thought he would come of no lesse value to him having the advantage to merit him by his pardon which soone after he granted him nor did the Earle loose ought of that opinion Shortly after being made of the Privie Councell then Lieutenant or Governour of the North and Generall against the Scots whom he overthrew as fatall was he to them at Flodden field where he tooke their King in the time of Henry the eight who made him High Marshall and Treasurer of England and restor'd him to his Fathers Dukedome the Inheritance of his Grand mother Mowbray being a man of such a happy direction in his carriage and wisedome that all his Actions came home with prosperous successe and accumulated what was sometime spoken of his great Ancestour Hewardus of whom it was questioned Vtrum faelioior an fortior esset so Fortunate and Honourable hath that house beene in the Service to this State and in the infinite Alliance and Cognation it holds with the most Ancient Families the Extractions and propagations from Mowbray Warren Bruce Dalbery Marshall Segrave Plantagenet Brotherton Bigot Fitz-Alan Matraver Buckingham Oxford and Dacres The Father of which Haward was Leofrick Lord of Burne and the adjacent Countrey in Lincolneshire his Mother was the Lady Edina descended from the great Ostac a Duke amongst the Easterlings in King Edgars time In whose Family I also find a Noble Kins-man of his called Haward to note obiter This Haward was of a Noble and Magnificent note a goodly Personage answer'd with an equall Strength and Valour Et nimium Bellicosus much or too much devoted to Mars He served in the Warres of Northumberland Cornewall and Ireland and after in the lower Germany where he made up much of his Fame and married a faire Lady called Turfrida the Daughter of a Noble man in Flanders where he continued untill the death of his Father called him home About which time William Duke of Normandy made his Conquest of this Kingdome and had gratified Iohannes Talbois the French Counte now Earle of Holland with Leoffricks Countrey of Holland in the Marshand and the Counte very rudely had expuls'd the Lady his Mother out of her Possessions and Dower Hawardus set upon him with such forces as he could speedily rayse tooke and held him prisoner in despight of the Conquerour untill he redeem'd himselfe and accompted for what he had done with a large summe of money This drew those of the Nobility to the protection of his sword which the Conquerour had chased out of their Countrey who had fortified themselves in the Isle of Ely and made Hawardus their Generall where he built a Castle that a long time after had his name But the Normans tooke that advantage to infest his Countrey and put him againe to the recovery of it which he so fortunately setled that the Conquerour was contented to make him his and hold him in good favour whilst he lived He was buried in the Abbey of Croyland Concerning his Issue by the the Lady Turfrida there is mention onely of a Daughter named Tarfrida married to Hugo Enermâ—a Lord of Deeping But circumstance will perswade us he had other Issue if wee consider him in the likelyhood of his strength and abilitie and
that divers continued of his Sir-name in that Countrey along time after him which makes it probable he had a naturall Son at least bearing his owne name of Heward that next to him was the Originall Ancestor of this house of Howards And let it not be thought any disparagement for a Noble Family to be raysed from a naturall Issue for many Princely Families have beene derived and propagated from naturall Sonnes as was Eneas Romulus the Founders of the Roman Families so was Theseus and Themistocles as Plutarch writeth others say as much of Hercules c. The King of Spaine descended from Henry de Trastamara base sonne of Alphonsus the Justicer King of Castile And who doth not honour the Princely Race of William the Conquerour Bastard son to the Duke of Normandy where was a more Heroicall man then Robert Earle of Glocester base sonne of King Henry the first The Earles of Warren descended from Hamelin a base sonne of Geoffry Plantagenet Earle of Aniow The Noble Herberts are also said to come from a base sonne of Henry the first And the Duke and Earles of Somerset which followed the Red Rose were the Off-spring of the Beauforts naturall sonnes of Iohn de Gaunt For a further conjecture why these Howards must be descended from Hewardus or Herewardus for so some Writers call him but Iugulfus who best knew him constantly calls him Hewardus both names may signifie in the Saxon or old Dutch a chiefe Captaine of an Army whom the Romans call'd Imperator And that the Titles and names of great Offices have given Sir-manes to many Noble Families wee have examples in plentie Particularly the Visconti of Millan the Chamberlaines of Normandy the Stewards of Scotland the Butlers of Ireland and divers others who had their Sir-names from the Offices of their Ancestours and Fathers and the same presumption or argument may be for taking the Sir-name of Howard and the Origine of their Family from Hewardus the Howards from the time of Heward dwelling in these Countries of Holland and Marshland and were Lords of some Lands belonging to him untill by their matches with the Daughters and Heires of Fitton Tendring Mowbray Tillney c. they became possessed in Norfolke suffolke and Berkeshire and were Lords sometime of Sunning-hill neare Windsor and bore the Sir-name ever since or with small interruption the old Sir-name written Heward or Hereward in Charters and Records and Howard in Stories But descend wee through the succession of those times to William Haward Chiefe Justice in the Raigne of Edward the first Grand-father to Sir Iohn Howard Admirall of the North Fleet in the Navall Warres of Edward the third his Sonne Sir Robert Howard married the Daughter of the Lord Scales and Sir Iohn Howard who lived in the time of Henry the fourth and dyed Anno 16. Henry the sixt had two Wives Margaret Daughter and Heire of Sir Iohn Plais Knight by whom hee had Eliza an onely Daughter married to Iohn de Vere Earle of Oxford who brought him a goodly part of the Howards Lands Her Heires were married to Latimer and Winckfield very fruitfull Families His second Wife was the Daughter and heire of Sir William Tendering of Stoke-Nayland in Suffolke by whom he had Sir Robert Howard his eldest Sonne who married Margaret Mowbray Daughter of a Cadet of the house of Lancaster who became Co-heire with her Sister the Lady Berkely Wife to Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke dead in Venice and left his Sonne Henry Haward heire to Haward and Mowbray and Iohn Howard the sonne of Iohn Howard was created Earle of Norfolke by King Richard the third in the right of his Mother Mowbray he married the Daughter of the Lord Moulines and by her had Thomas Howard the first Howard Earle of Surrey this is he who survived the danger of Bosworth Field and became afterwards Duke of Norfolke from whom all the Howards now living are descended whose Family hath beene so fruitfull to furnish this Kingdome with foure Dukes many Earles Viscounts and Barons three high Treasurers six high or great Marshalls tenne high Admiralls with some honourable Custos of the Privie Seale and sundry Chamberlaines of the Kings house and one lately lived who had borne the Offices of high Constable Lord Lieutenant Lord high Steward Marshall and Admirall of England Lord Chiefe Justice in Oyer of the better part of this Kingdome and Chamberlaine of the Royall house a man honourable in his deportments and fortunate in his undertakings as at the great Marine Battells against all the Navall powers of Spaine the Pope and Princes of Italy Anno Domini 1588. and in the siege of Gadys Anno Domini 1596. And this is the Grand-child of that Thomas Lord Howard who for his better distinction and perpetuall honour is stiled Triumphator Scotorum I have strayed into this digression as a gratefull tender of an acknowledgement I owe to that Illustrious Family for their Noble Patronage and Favour to my Ancestors especially to that unfortunate Bucke and his Children who withered with the White Rose bearing an Ancient and Hereditary love to the House of Yorke and stood in good Credit and Favour with the King his Master noâ— let this remembrance of him and his obscured Family seeme ostentation or vaine-glory whilst I say no more then what other Historios dictate which give him an able Character Master Camden Clarentius in his Immortall Brittannia deriveth this Sir Iohn Bucke from Sir Walter de Bucke of Brabant and Flanders who had that Sir-name of great Antiquity from the Castle de Bucke in Lisâ—e a City and Frontire Towne in Flanders where the Ancient Earles were accustomed much to reside the ruines of this Castle remained in the late time of Lodwicke Guicciardine who saith he saw the Carcasse thereof And this Walter Bucke was a Cadet of the House of Flanders employed and sent by the Prince then Duke of Brabant and Earle of Flanders to King Iohn with Auxiliary Troopes Roger Wondover saith Walter Bucke Gerardde Scottigni and Godescalius venerunt in Angliam cum tribus legionibus Flandrensium Braâ—antianoruâ— militum c. and he did the King excellent service here as many of our Historians report for which the King bountifully rewarded him with Lands in Yorkeshire and Northampton shire And in Yorkeshire where he made his Seat he found an Ancient Family of the Sirname of Bucke of Bucton in the Wapentake of Bucrosse where that Family had anciently been for the name is a Saxon or Dutch word and signifieth a Beech Tree or Beech Wood here Walter contracted alliance and Married Ralph de Bucke his Eldest Sonne to the Daughter and Heire of Gâ—celinus de Bucke Grandchild to Radolphus de Bucke who was a part Founder and Beneâ—actour to the Abbey of Bredlington as is mentioned in the Charter of Henry the first made for the foundation of that Monastery and from this Walter descended Iohn Bucke Knight who married a
Eurinnies and beleeved haunted those men that had purposed or acted a wickednesse upon which the Poet said well Patiturque unos mens saucia Manes And assigned to every man his protecting Spirit whom the Greekes called Doemones the Latines Genios concluding that when the Genius of him against whom the mischiefe aimes is stronger and more active then his who is to act it there the Plot hardly taketh effect For example produce the mortall enmity betweene Octavianus Caesar and M. Antonius in which Anthony could never prevaile by any Attempt who consulting with his Soothsayers they give the reason to beethe power of Octavians Genius above his It is reported the great Philosopher Appollonius had such a secret protection and so strong that the Emperour Domitian had no power over his life though hee studied meanes to take it Suidas adding that this Philosopher in confidence of his Genius when he left the Emperour added this verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Me non occides quia fataliter protectus sum which is that Flamius Vopiscus calleth Majestatem Apollonij as I ghesse and with it the Profestors of Christian Religion agree in the effects not in the causes for those whom the Heathen call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemones c. Genios the Christian Theologues call Angels or Spirits whereof they hold good and bad But to returne to the matters further Allegate Probate The industrious Antiquary Master Iohn Stow being required to deliver his opinion concerning the proofes of this murther affirmed it was never proved by any credible evidence no not by probable suspitions or so much as by the Knights of the Post that King Richard was guilty of it And Sir Thomas Moore being puzelled with his Equivocations sayes that it could never come to light what became of the bodies of these two Princes Grafton Hall and Hollinshead agreeing in the same report that the trueth hereof was utterly unknowne Then where is their farre seeing knowledge that will have them transported into Forraign Countreyes or drowned or their giganticke proofes that say peremptorily they were both murthered and buryed in the Tower by those foure named before if so we need go no further for the truth But these are splenitick reaches and the Parachronisme is too groste as the Comaedian said Quod dictum indictum est Quod modo ratum irritum est Besides if Perkin were not the second Sonne of King Edward he must bee nothing for the Flemish French and Wallons acknowledged no such Noble young man to be borne in Warbecke or in Tourney but make honourable mention of a young Sonne of the King of England who was brought to the Dutchesse of Burgundy his Aunt being then in Flanders and how hee was in France and in other Kingdomes And surely so many Noble and discreet English if they had not knowne him to be the same by most certaine tokens and evidence would not so confidently have laid downe their lives to confirme their knowledge of him or hazarded their judgements and honours upon an Imposture or vanity especially those who had places of Quality and Eminency neare the King then living and were in favour at Court Therefore I would be resolv'd from our Anti-Richards what aim those Noble-men could have in averring him the Son of Edward the Fourth by the hazard of their lives and Estates if the KING pleased and how could they expect lesse for though they were enough to justifie it a truth they were too few to maintaine it against him there could be no aime or hope to super-induce young Richard to be King but meerly I am perswaded in point of truth and honour as they thought themselves bound to doe they freely tendred their lives to make good what their Conscience knowledge witnessed for it would be an Imposture of a miraculous Deception so many worthy and wise persons both of the Nobility and Clergy some of them having served the King his Father and himselfe that they all in their particular and generall intelligence and understandings should be mistaken and cheated I say it was a strange delusion if it could bee so but indeede those that would have it so leave it in question and know not well what to make of their own relations or how to resolve his History and if wee marke Sir Francis Bacon in the life of Henry the Seventh though his speculation be tender and as favourable as hee can that way touching the History of this young Duke hee gently slides from it Explicit liber tertius THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORY OF KING RICHARD the Third The Contents UPon what occasion the sentence of Bastardy was given upon the Children of King Edward the 4 th and why The sundry Loves Wooings Contracts and Marriages of King Edward the Fourth His divers Concubines His device of the Fetterlock and the Faulcon His wooing the Lady Elianor Talbott alias Butler the Lady Bona of Savoy and the Lady Elizabeth Gray widdow his marriage with her His former Marriage or Contract with the said Elianor her wrongs and her death Kings must not marry the daughters of their Vassalls nor other without the consent of their Barons Doctor Stillington Bishop of Bath Imprisoned for speaking of King Edwards Marriage with the Lady Elianor Talbott Spuria vitulamina How King Edward might have salved those Errors and prevented all the mischiefes following them The Children of King Edward the Fourth declared and adjudged illegitimate King Edwards death suspected by poyson the mortality of the Plantagenets The Authority of Parliament Parliaments how so called and derived Parliaments against Parliaments The first Parliament of King Henry the seventh what Treason is whether Soveraigne Princes may be said to commit Treason against their Subiects The treaty of Marriage between K. Richard the third and the Lady Elizabeth Plantagenet and cheifely sought by her selfe and the Queene her Mother The entertainement of the Lady Elizabeth at the Court the first Libell of Divorse the scruples of the Lady Elizabeth King Richard never meant to marry her The marriages of Neeces allowed by the Pope and usuall the true cause of Sir Thomas Moores Condemnation and execution The FOVRTH BOOK OF King Richard The Third THe Title King Richard the Third had to the Crown acâ—rued to him by the illegitimacie of the Children of King Edward the Fourth and the Attainder of the Duke of Clarence with the Corruption of his Blood and forfeiture of the Title in him and in his Heirs of which there was no question but of the forfeiture and disheritage of the sons of Edward the Fourth there hath been much The true cause hath not nor cannot be well known without the Narration of King Edward's sundry Loves and Wooings specially his Contracts and Marriages I shall not need to intimate how amorous and wanton this King was his many Mistrisses or Amasia's he kept in several private places whereof the most famous was Katharine de Clarington