fit to give or no. Are we come to an end of our Countries Liberties Are we secured for time future We are accountable to a Publick Trust and since there hath been a Publick Violation of the Laws by the King's Ministers nothing will satisfie but a Publick Amends and our desire to vindicate the Subject's Right is no more than what is laid down in former Laws Let us be sure that the Subject's Liberties go hand in hand with the supply and not to pass the one till we have good Ground and a Bill for the other Upon the Petition of Right which the House of Lords would have had this addition to ' We present this our Humble Petition to your Majesty with the care not only of preserving our own Liberties but with due regard to leave intire that Sovereign Power wherewith your Majesty is trusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People Sir Tho. Wentworth spake thus ' If we admit of this Addition we shall leave the Subjects worse than we found them and we shall have little thanks for our labour when we come home Let us leave all Power to his Majesty to punish Malefactors but these Laws are not acquainted with Soveraign Power VVe desire no new thing nor do we offer to intrench on his Majesties Prerogative but we may not recede from this Petition either in part or in whole The King hearing of his ability and understanding used all means to gain him to himself by bestowing of Titles of Honour and Places of Trust upon him Creating him Viscount VVentworth Earl of Strafford and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whereby he made him wholly his own In Ireland he was very active in augmenting the King's Revenues and advancing the Royal Authority by all ways within his Power And upon his return into England he advised the King to go into Scotland and settle the Peace of that Kingdom by his Coronation there he having intelligence that if it were defer'd any longer the Scots might perhaps incline to Elect another King Upon the troubles that rose soon after there on the account of imposing the Common Prayer upon them and the King resolving to raise an Army to reduce them but doubting the Parliament would not supply him the Lords told the King that they would ingage their own Credits to forward the business and the Earl of Strafford for the incouragement subscribed 20000 l. other Noblemen following his example conformable to their Estates and some of the Judges contributed largely April 13. 1639 a Parliament being assembled the Earl of Strafford was led into the House of Peers by two Noblemen to give an account of his proceedings in Ireland having there obrained the Grant of four Subsides for maintaing 10000 Foot and 1500 Horse Implicitely hinting thereby that they should propostion their Supplies accordingly But the Parliament doubting that the Irish Forces might indanger Religion and seeming to allow the justness of the Scots Cause and of the good that might be obtained by favouring them in this Conjuncture the King doubting they might vote against the War with the Scots whom he resolved to Treat severely for not complying with his Will and Pleasure he thereupon suddenly Dissolves them to the great discontent of the People who for eleven years past durst scarce mention the name of a Parliament Being hereby disappointed of a supply the King sends to the Citizens of London to lend Money and to all Knights and Gentlemen who held Lands of the Crown to provide Men Horses and Arms for his Assistance The Citizens generally refused pleading poverty and want of Trade but by the assistance of the Gentry an Army was raised with great celerity of which the Earl of Strafford was made Lieutenant General and the King commanded in Chief The Scots having notice of these preparations speedily raised an Army with which they marched into England to make this the Seat of War The Lord Conway doubting they would take in Newcastle drew off 3000 Foot and about 1200 Horse to secure the Pass at Newburn Lesly the Scots General marching forward sent a Trumpeter to the Lord Conway to desire leave to pass to the King with their Petition which being denied they fell upon the English and kill'd 300 of them Which being accounted an unhappy Omen several of the Lords Petitioned the King for a Parliament which was seconded by another from the Scots and a third from the City of London At length the King consented to it having first by advice of the Peers consented to a Treaty with the Scots at Rippon they refusing to send their Commissioners to York alledging That the Lieutenant of Ireland resided there who proclaimed them Rebels in Ireland before the King had done it in England and against whom as a chief Incendiary they intended to complain in the next Parliament For the Parliament meeting Nov. 3. 1640. the Scotch Commissioners coming to London had many private Conferences with some of the House of Commons and it was concluded that the Earl of Strafford should be immediately Impeached at his first coming into the House of Lords which was done accordingly and thereupon he was instantly taken into Custody and in March following he was brought to his Trial in Westminster Hall The King Queen and Prince were present in a private Closet where they could here all but were seen of none And then Mr. Pym Impeached the Earl of twenty eight Articles of High Treason in the name of the Commons of England sharging him That he had Trayterously endeavoured to subvert the fundamental Laws and Government of England and Ireland and to introduce an Arbitrary Tyrannical Government by Trayterously assuming to himself Regal Power over the Laws Liberties Persons Lands and Goods of his Majesties Subjects Had countenanced and encouraged Papists Had maliciously endeavoured to stir up enmity and hostility between the Subjects of England and Scotland Had wilfully betrayed the King's Subjects to death by a dishonourable retreat at Newburn that by the effusion of blood and the dishonour and loss of New-Castle the People of England might be ingaged in a National and Irreconcileable quarrel with the Scots And that to secure himself from being questioned for these and other Trayterous Courses he had laboured to subvert the Rights of Parliament and to incense his Majesty against them by false and malicious slanders and that upon the Dissolution of the last Parliament he did treacherously and wickedly counsel and advise His Majesty to this effect That having tryed the affections of his People he was loose and absolved from all rules of Government and was to do every thing that power would admit Since having tried all ways he was refused so that he would now be acquitted both by God and Man And that he had an Army in Ireland meaning the Army of Papists who were his Dependants which the King might imploy to reduce this Kingdom to his obedience That he falsly maliciously and treacherously declared before some of the
will for it would turn highly to the dishonour of God and to the displeasure of the People if the priviledge of that Holy place should be now broken which had so many Years been inviolably preserved which so many good Kings and Princes had granted and confirmed and which Holy Ground was 500 Years ago by St. Peter in his own Person accompanied with great numbers of Angels by Night so miraculously hallowed and Dedicated to God And for proof whereof they have St. Peter's Copy yet in Westminster Abbey to show and from that time to this there was never any King so indevout and prophane that durst violate that Sacred place nor any Bishop so Holy that durst as to presume to Consecrate it and therefore quoth the Archbishop God forbid that any Man for any Earthly thing should presume to break the Priviledges and Liberties of that Holy Sanctuary and I hope in God I shall not need to fear it for my utmost endeavours shall not be wanting The other Bishops and Clergy in the Council were of the same opinion that no violence ought by any means to be used toward the Queen or that Sacred Place The Archbishop added But my Honourable Lords If the Mothers fears or Womanish dread render my message ineffectual I hope I shall receive no prejudice in your judgments thereby Womanish fear nay Womanish frowardness replied the Duke of Buckingham for I dare take it upon my Soul she very well knows there is no just cause for her to fear any danger can accrue thereby either to her Son or her self for surely no Man will make War with Women I would to God that some Men of her Family were Women too and then we should all be quickly quiet Yet are none of them the less respected because they are her Relations but by reason of their ill actions but if we had no kindness for her or her Kindred yet no Man can believe that we have any hatred or evil design against the King's Noble Brother who is a Kin to us all for whose Honour and welfare if his Mother had so much regard as we of the Nobility have She would not suffer him any longer to be without his Brother's society nor give occasion to Men to think that we have any surreptitious intentions toward him For though she be a Wise Princess yet I hope she does not so presume upon her own Wit as to prefer it before the Wisdom of this Illustrious Assembly nor suspect any unfair dealing from us whom she knows to be devoted to the Service both of the K. and his Brother Her refusal must therefore be the effect of her pevishness and preversness and not of her real fears unless she dreads her own shadow Besides if upon pretended doubts she is not willing to part with him we have the greater reason to take him out of her hands lest to prevent us she should convey him out of the Kingdom and it would much reflect upon the discretion of this Honourable Council to suffer the King's Brother to be carried out of the Realm before our Faces I am therefore clearly for taking him from her not that I would have Sanctuary violated but as I would not break the Priviledges they have so long enjoyed so if they were now to be given I would not be one that should consent to confirm them I will not deny but it may be necessary that those Men whom unfortunate accidents and not their own ill Husbandry have reduced to Poverty should have a place of security from their cruel Creditors Likewise If their be a Contention about the Rights of Princes to the Crown whereby sometimes one Party and soon after another are declared Traytors as it has lately happened I judge it convenient that there be some places of refuge for both But for Thieves and especially wilful Murtherers whom God Almighty commands should be taken from the Altar and put to Death I know no reason that they should have any protection For if either necessity self defence or misfortune brings a Man into danger he is either acquitted by the Law or the King out of his Clemency has power to grant him a Pardon Now let us consider how few Sanctuary men are necessitated to go thither and how great a number their own flagitious crimes drive into them What a rabble of Thieves Murtherers Traytors and other heinous Offenders shelter themselves from Justice in two Sanctuarys only The one in the Elbow of the City as I may call it I mean this at Westminster the other in the very bowels of it St. Martins Le Grand and I dare avow that if we compare the mischiefs that are occasioned by them with the benefits received from them we must conclude that we were better without both This I affirm though they were not abused as they are and having so long continued bad there is now little hope of redress since no Man dares presume to talk of reforming them and Men thereby seeming to make God and St. Peter the Patrons of Profligate and Vitious People For how many live prodigally and run in debt upon the incouragement of securing themselves in these places How many Rich Villains carry in thither Poor Mens Goods and leave them and their Families to Starve for want of their just dues How many Women run away from their Husbands with their Plate and Money and are there protected to spend it upon their Gallants How many Robbers bring Stolen Goods thither and live bravely upon them there they contrive new Robberies going out at Night to commit them and having Stolen Plundred and Murdered they return thither again with their prey as if such places gave them not only security to perpetrate these Villanies but a Licence to continue them But much of this mischief might be prevented if good Men would in earnest put their hands to it which might tend much to the honour of God and yet be no breach of Priviledge For since former Popes and Princes who were more Politick than Pious have granted them these long immunities We and others since out of fear have confirmed them we must be content to suffer them and in God's name let them stand in force as far as reason will permit but not in such force as to hinder us from taking this Young Prince out of Prison and restoring him to his Liberty Honour and Estate A Sanctuary is to preserve those Men or Women that are in danger of the Law abroad but not to wrong nor cheat any body by going in thither Now this Prince is in peril by no Law his Youth and Innocence free him from all suspicion of danger as well as his near Alliance to the King therefore he neither needs nor can have any benefit by Sanctuary and I dare say is very angry with those that keep him there But suppose the Duke is willing so long to continue there yet it is my opinion that he may be taken from thence against his will as
so weighty a business he made a visit to Mr. Cromwell and giving him an account of the affair he was very importunate with him to accompany him Cromwell knew very well the many Intreagues of the Roman Court and the unreasonable expences they must be at among those Spiritual Cormorants however having some knowledge of the Italian Tongue and being not yet well setled in Religion he was at length prevailed with to adventure with him When they arrived at Rome Cromwell finding it very difficult to get his Pardons dispatcht and being unwilling to spend much time or money he at length perceived that nothing was to be done without making a Present of some Rarity to the Pope and hearing that he was much delighted with delicate new found Dishes he prepared several fine Dishes of Jelly of divers colours according to the English fashion which were not as yet known at Rome Cromwell observing his time when the Pope was newly returned to his Pallace from Hunting he with his English Companions approached him with their Presents which they introduced with singing in English the three Mans Song as it is called The Pope wondring at the Song and understanding they were Englishmen and came not empty handed ordered them to be called in Cromwell making low obeysance presented his jolly junkets being such as he said none but Kings and Princes in England use to Eat desiring his Holiness to accept of them from him and his Companions who were poor Suitors at his Court and had presented them as Novelties proper only for his Table Pope Julius observing the strangeness of the Dishes bid a Cardinal taste them which he liked so well and the Pope after him that inquiring what their business was and then requiring them to give him an account how these Jellies were made he without delay Sealed both the Great and Lesser Pardons and fully dispatcht them All this while Cromwell had no great sense of Religion but was wild youthful and without regard to any thing that was serious as he often declared to Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury being very diligent with Jeffery Chambers in publishing the Pardons of Boston in all the Churches as he travelled and serving sometime under the Duke of Burbon at the Siege of Rome Thus he continued for some years till at length by learning the New Testament of Erasmus by Heart in his going to and from Rome he began to come to a better understanding About this time Cardinal Woolsey began to grow very great in England ruling all under or rather over the King so that Persons of the briskest Wits and noted Abilities addrest themselves to him for imployments Among whom Thomas Cromwell was by him prefer'd to be his Chancellor and at the same time Sir Thomas More and Stephen Gardiner were likewise taken into the Cardinals Family being all three almost of one Age one standing in Learning not much unequal in Wit and their advancements arising from the same foundation though afterward their Studies Dispositions and Fortune were greatly different The Cardinal designing to erect a famous Colledge in Oxford called then Frideswide now Christ Church obtained leave from the Pope to suppress several small Monasteries and Priories in divers parts of the Realm and to convert the Revenues thereof to his own use He committed the charge of this business to Cromwell who used such industry and expedition therein as was displeasing to some Great Persons both of the Nobility and Clergy But afterward the Cardinal who had risen suddenly began to fall as fast first from his Chancellorship which was bestowed on Sir Thomas More and then falling into a Praemunire his Family was dissolved Cromwel being thereby out of Office endeavoured to be retained in the Kings Service and Sir Christopher Hales Master of the Rolls though an earnest Papist yet had so great a kindness for him that he recommended him to the King as a Man most fit to be imployed by him but Cromwel had been so misrepresented by the Popish Clergy for his forwardness in defacing their Monasteries and Altars that the King abhorr'd the very name of him but the Lord Russel Earl of Bedford being present whose Life Cromwel had saved at Bononia in Italy where he was secretly imploy'd in the King's Affairs and was in great danger to be taken had he not been secured by Cromwel's Policy who not forgetting his Benefactor gave him an account of the whole matter and since His Majesty had now to do with the Pope his great Enemy he was of Opinion there was not a fitter Instrument for the King's purpose than he and told him wherein The King hereupon was willing to speak with him of which Cromwel having Private notice he got in readiness the Oath which the English Bishops took to the Pope at their Consecration and being called in after paying his Duty to the King answered to all Points demanded of him whereby he made it plainly appear that his Royal Authority was diminisht within his own Kingdom by the Pope and his Clergy who having sworn Allegiance to the King were afterward dispensed with for the same and sworn anew to the Pope so that he was but half King and they but half Subjects in his own Realm which was derogatory to his Crown and absolutely contrary to the Common Law of England and that his Majesty might therefore justly make himself rich with their forfeited Estates if he pleased to take the present occasion The King was very Attentive to his Discourse especially the last part of it and demanded whether he would justifie what he said He affirmed he would producing the Oath they had taken to the Pope which the King having read he took his Ring off his Finger and first admitting him into his Service by the Advice of his Council sent him therewith to the Convocation then sitting Cromwel coming boldly with the King's Signet into the Convocation House and placing himself among the Bishops Warham being Archbishop of Canterbury declared to them the Authority of the King and the Obedience due from Subjects especially from Bishops and Clergymen to the Laws of the Land which are necessarily provided for the Benefit and quiet of the Commonwealth which Laws notwithstanding they had all highly transgressed to the great Derogation of the King 's Royal Dignity and thereby brought themselves into a Praemunire not only in consenting to the Power Legantine of the late Cardinal Woolsey but also by Swearing to the Pope contrary to their Allegiance to their Soveraign Lord the King whereby they had forfeited all their Spiritual and Temporal Estates real or personal The Bishops were amazed at first to hear this bold Charge and began to deny it but Cromwell shewing them the very Copy of their Oath taken to the Pope at their Consecration made the matter so plain that they began to shrink and desired time to advise about it but however before they could get clear of this Praemunire the two Provinces of Canterbury and York
K. of Almain the K. of Sicily the K. of Navar and K. Edward the Bridegroom and four Queens Mary Q. of France Margaret the Q. Mother of England her Daughter the Q. of Navar and Isabel the Bride Q. of England There were likewise present a great number of Persons of Honour and Quality and among them the beloved Peirce Gavestone who was entertained with the tenderest affection imaginable by K. Edward but the Nobility had such a detestation of him that they resolved to have hinder'd the Coronation of the King and Queen which soon after followed had not King Edward solemnly promised to give them a reasonable satisfaction in the matter yet was he so far from it that none appeare◠more great in Attendants Bravery and all other grandeur than Gavestone and as a particular mark of Esteem the King ordered him to carry Sr. Edward's Crown before him at that Solemnity This still increased the Abhorrence of the Lords against him who having the power and favour of the King on his side slighted all their Attempts and Designs and resolved to provoke them to the utmost by abusing miscalling and scoffing at the chief Peers of the Land naming Thomas Earl of Lancaster the Stage player Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke Joseph the Jew because he wa◠〈…〉 pale and Guy Earl of Warwick the 〈…〉 of Ardern all whom at a Tur 〈…〉 a most contemptible manner 〈…〉 took little notice of these base Af 〈…〉 rather enconraged his Insolence by heap 〈…〉 daily upon him and Gavestone to establish himself was still contriving those Diversions which he knew to be pleasing to his vain Mind so that the Court was filled with Fidlers Players Jesters Flatterers and all such pernicious People as by sensualities and riotous practices might withdraw him from attempting any Noble Enterprizes in performance of his Father's Last Will or for the good Government of his People and led him into all kind of Debauchery and Dissoluteness while Gavestone himself revelled in all outward felicity and wasted the Treasure of the Kingdom in Riot and Folly or else converted it to his private use and likewise transported great Summs beyond the Sea that he might have somewhat to trust to if Fortune should happen to turn her back upon him and force him to a second Banishment And indeed he had so absolutely and intirely ingrossed the King's Favour that he had thereby frequent opportunities of inriching himself for all Addresses to the King for obtaining Offices Honours Pardons or any other Advantages passed through his hands who always espoused their business not according to Justice but by the value of the Presents made him and it is scarce credible to relate with what Prodigality the King squandred away his Money upon him yea so prodigious was his kindness toward him that he bestowed on him the best Jewels Gifts or Rarities that he had nay the Imperial Crown 〈◊〉 Victorious Father and a very fine Table and Stands all of pure Gold with many other rich Ornaments which Gavestone privately conveyed away to the great damage of the Kingdom Nay he treated him by the name of Brother and publickly declared that if it were in his power he would make him his Successor to the Crown The Lords who had hitherto past by the private Affronts and Injuries they had daily received in hope that the King might in time have seen his Errours which they by their daily Admonitions endeavoured to make him sensible of finding that he still persisted in the same Courses which grew now intolerable resolved more plainly to remonstrate the matter to him telling him That to their great grief they perceived that his Dotage and ill-placed Affection was unlimited toward Gavestone a Person of a wicked and infamous Life whose Father was a Traytor to the French King and was hanged for the same That his Mother was burnt for a Witch and that he himself was banisht for being a Confederate with her in her cursed Witchcrafts and that they did verily believe he had bewitcht the King or else certainly he could never retain such an unreasonable Passion for so profligate a Wretch That they much doubted he would abuse his Greatness so far as to bring Foreigners into the Land to defend him in his lawless and destructive Courses to the utter Ruine of the Laws Liberties and Estates of his Subjects They therefore humbly desire him to hearken to the Advice of his Peers which would be both for his own Honour and the Welfare of his People and particularly 1. That he would confirm and maintain those Antient Laws and Customs which were contained in the Charters of the Kings his Predecessors 2. That he would not force any man to part with his goods without payment of the full value thereof 3. That whatever Money Lands Jewels or other valuable things had been given away or alienated from the Crown since his Father's death might be restored 4. That he would remember the Oath he had taken to his Father before his death not to recall Peirce Gaveston from his Banishment And for prosecuting the War against Scotland and that he would rectifie all that had hitherto been amiss that so his Enemies might have no cause to rejoice nor his Friends be any longer troubled and disquieted Lastly That no man should be restrained by the King 's Writ from prosecuting his Suits in any Court of Justice for defending his Right and Property but that Justice might be impartially administred throughout the Kingdom both to Rich and Poor according to the antient and approved Constitutions Customs and Laws of England The King taking Counsel of Peirce Gavestone and his Complices commanded the Lord Chancellor to tell the Lords that he would give them satisfaction to their demands at the next Session of Parliament The Barons were no sooner gone out of London to their own homes but the King ordered the Gates of City to be shut and the Streets to be chained and and strict Watch to be kept then with some Forces both English and Foreigners marched in company of Gaveston to Wallingford Castle and as his Conscience did not trouble him for the breach of his Oath so their dislike increased his love to Gavesion for none but Gaveston must do all and nothing was acceptable nor grateful but what came from his hand However the King's lavishness having quite emptied his Exchequer he was compelled to comply with the Parliament at their next Meeting in London so far as to pass an Act for Gaveston's perpetual Banishment and for securing the Liberty of the Subject and the due execution of Justice which the King confirmed by a solemn Oath and for which they gratified him with a subsidy of the twentieth part of their Estates In pursuance of this Decree Gaveston is sent by the King into Ireland himself accompanying him in Person as far as Bristol and giving him a Commission to be Chief Governor of that Kingdom bestowing likewise on him no less then thirty
the death of Peirce Gaveston the Nobility recommended Hugh Spencer the younger to the King to succeed in his place because he had been formerly of their Party and they did not doubt but he would be a very faithful Counsellor But as the Proverb says Honours change Manners for though the King before hated him yet he soon insinuated himself so far into his weak Mind that he became as intimate a Favourite and succeeded in all the Graces Familiarity and Power of his Predecessor as well as in the Hatred and Envy of the Nobility and People occasioned by his Insolence Ambition and Lewdness wherein he seemed to equal if not exceed the Wicked Gaveston and thereby rendred himself so acceptable to the vitiated Soul of King Edward Hugh Spencer his Father an antient Knight was yet living and accounted a Person of great vertue a wise Counsellor and a Man of Valour but seeming very forward in promoting his Son's Interest and Grandeur he was likewise introduced into Court and in great favour with the King so that he was made partaker of the guilt and calamity of his Son rather out of Natural and Paternal Love and Tenderness than from the wilfulness or depravity of his Mind But young Spencer was nâ—… of a more lovely shape and comely Personage than he was of a profligate and flagitious temper The Spirit of Pride Rapine Oppression and all the most intolerable vices seeming to have wholly possest him So that in comparison of him the People were ready almost to wish for Gaveston again By his leud advice the K. pursued his former course of Debauchery spending his Time and Treasure among lascivious Harlots and Concubines and utterly renouncing the sweet Conversation of his excellent Consort which made him a scorn to Foreign Princes and hateful in the sight of all Civil Men. He was the cause of the ruin of divers Widows and Fatherless of the destruction of many Noblemen and Gentlemen and at length of the utter overthrow and confusion of Himself his Father and the King also This evil management of Affairs caused new dscords between the King and his Nobility whereby many mischiefs happened in the Kingdom and their Enemies had a fair opportunity to put in practice their designs against them Among others the Scots having joyfully Crowned the valiant Robert Bruce for their King resolved to use their utmost efforts for recovering their Country and Liberties which had been Ravished from them by the valiant King Edward I. who had made an entire Conquest of their Kingdom and appointed John Cummin Earl of Buquan a Scot to be Governour thereof for the English Him King Robert had vanquisht in Battel and was now grown so powerful while King Edward was buried in soft and unmanly luxury and delight that he sent his Brother Edward to Besiege the Castle of Sterling which bold attempt began to awaken the King of England out of his destructive Slumbers So that with all speed raising a very potent Army he with all diligence marched toward the relief thereof Hector Boetius the Scots Historian gives a very surprizing account of the number of Soldiers that King Edward carried with him to this Siege which he reckons to be one hundred and fifty thousand Horsâ—â—en and as many Foot and because this may seem incredible he adds That besides the English he had likewise the assistance of the Hollanders Zealanders Flemings Picards Boulonis Gascoigns Normans and many more from other Provinces in France and other Countries Besides which three hundred thousand Men of War he relates that there were a vast multitude of Women Children Servants yea whole Families with their House-hold-stuff which followed the Camp wherein this Author may be thought to have designed the magnifying the Valour of his Countrey-men who with far more inconsiderable Forces defeated this mighty Host His Darling Spencer accompanied the King in this Expedition but the Earls of Lancaster Warren Warwick and Arundel the greatest Peers of that Age positively refused to attend him since He and his Evil Ministers continued their Invasions and Depredations upon the Liberties and Estates of the People notwithstanding the provisions they had so often made and he had so often consented to for securing the same And as this must needs diminish his strength so it likewise deprived him of their Counsel and Conduct which was so absolutely necessary in Military Affairs However his number of Men was sufficient if Multitude without Discipline Piety or Courage could always obtain Victory But K. Edward and his Army seemed rather to be going to a Wedding or a Triumph than to engage a rough and hardy Enemy for their Targets Bucklers and other Habiliments of War were so glorious with Gold and Silver and their bright Armour gave such a dazling lustre against the Sun-beams as raised wonder in the admiring Spectators and seemed very much to correspond with the wanton Humour of the Prince And herein it is very apparent what great Advantages true and sober Courage usually obtains against vain Gallantry and ungrounded Confidence King Robert with his Forces which were much inferiour to the English being incampt near King Edward's he published a strict Order the Evening before That his Souldiers should prepare themselves for Battel the next day and that they should make humble Confession of their sins and offences in order to the receiving of the Blessed Sacrament and then no doubt the Lord of Hosts would give them Victory since they designed only to free themselves from the many woful Calamities which they had suffered from the English and to recover the Liberty and Freedom of their Countrey Far otherwise was it in the Camp of K. Edward for the Scots having the day before surprized and cut off several English Horse-men he was so far from being discouraged at such a slight presage of ill Fortune that he resolved the very next day to take a terrible Revenge upon them of which he had such a confident assurance that he triumpht before the Victory his Souldiers drinking carousing and threatning their Enemies with the utmost Cruelties that could be executed upon them But the Scots to obviate their strengâ—h by Policy had digged before the Front of their Battalions several Trenches three foot in depth and as many broad wherein they placed sharp Stakes with their points upwards and covered them over so exactly with Hurdles that Foot men might pass lightly over but Horse would certainly sink in and this Strategem nâ—xt to the Anger of Heaven against the English for their Vain-glory and Effeminacy was the principal cause of the Defeat of King Edward for he reposing much Confidence in his Cavalry the fury of their first Charge was intercepted and stopt by these Pit-falls into which the Horses plunging in great numbers the Riders were miserably destroyed with much ease by the Scots whom King Robert marching on foot in the head of led on with the utmost Courage and Gallantry The King of England had marshall'd his Army
and negligent in performing those Royal Offices and Duties that God Almighty required at his â—ands for as subjection belonged to the People so â—e King was likewise obliged to afford them Proâ—…ction which yet he had most dishonourably and unâ—…scionably neglected by exposing his Subjects in â—…e North to the Rage and Fury of the Scots and to 〈◊〉 the Extremities of Hunger and Want And lastly â—hat if he would not instantly discharge those two â—aceless and wicked Councellors from bearing any â—…fice or Imployment in the Realm they then must â—…d would do it themselves though it were with the â—…ard of their Lives and whatsoever else was dear 〈◊〉 them in the World The King could not chuse but know that this brisk â—…monstrance of the Barons about their Grievances was nothing but Truth and founded upon Honour Conscience and true Zeal for their Countrey and waâ— as sensible that they were earnestly resolved to reâ—form what was amiss But though his Countenanâ—… proclaimed his inward discontent and declared hâ—… Intentions of surprizing and ruining those Noblemâ—… who discovered their hatred against his beloveâ— Spencers yet he returned the Barons a favourabâ—… Answer assuring them all that was amiss should bâ— redressed by the ensuing Parliament which he woulâ— assemble with all speed The Lords seemed very muâ—… rejoyced at this Answer as well as the commoâ— People but yet they very much suspected that thâ— King intended to seize and surprize them at that Solemn Meeting To prevent which they came to Loâ—… Son attended with so many of their Friends an Tâ—… pants all in the same Livery as composed a gallaâ—… Army sufficient to secure them against any siniste Attempts The King was much disturbed to find himself the prevented in his secret Designs but his greatest griâ— was that he found himself unable any longer to defend and protect his detested Favourites the Spenceâ— for whom he had a more tender affection than foâ— his Queen Children and all his Friends besides whom notwithstanding he was compelled by the Pâ—…liament to relinquish by whom it was Enacted wiâ—… his consent That they should be banished the Kiâ—…dom never to return again during their Lives undâ—penalty of High Treason This being concluded on the Barons longing to 〈◊〉 the Spencers under Sail provided several Ships 〈◊〉 their Transportation Being gone to the great saâ—faction of the People in general the King instead redressing the remaining Grievances wholly applâ—… his thoughts how to be avenged of those Loâ—… that had forced him to comply in decreeing thâ— Exile And to declare his resentment of it whâ— he was informed that the younger Spencer havâ— got a Squadron of Ships together was turned Pirate in the Narrow Seas Robbing and Plundering all Nations that he could meet with but especially the English Merchants to the unspeakable damage of the Realm having taken out of two Ships only at Sandwich goods to the value of 40000 pound Upon which great Complaints were made and many Petitions presented that a Fleet might be set out for taking him and his Associates and bringing them to punishment as Pirates and Robbers according to the Laws of the Land He was so far from being concerned at it or providing any Remedy that he seemed very merry at the News and soon after sent them a general Pardon of all their Crimes and the more to despight and inrage the Nobility he recalled them both from Banishment and honoured them with more Dignities Offices and Authority than ever they had before These strange proceedings of the King together with the notorious Injuries and Abuses which they daily suffered by the return and advancement of the two Spencers who now defied their utmost Power scorning and deriding them with the most pungent Affronts were sufficient Warnings to the Lords to take timely care of their Safeties Wherefore since neither Petitions Submissions nor any other Legal procedure could procure any Remedy of their repeated Wrongs they raised a strong Army and marcht into the Field and the King with the two Spencers and some few of the Nobility did the like Before any Action between them this odd Accident happened procured as was thought by the Contrivance of the King or his Evil Ministers A certain Knight belonging to John Earl Warren stole away the Wife of Thomas Earl of Lancaster one of the Chief of the Lord's Party from his House at Caneford in Dorsetshire and with great Pomp carried her To E. Warren's Castle at Rygate in Surrey in despight of her I and Husband where one Rich. Maurice a wretched lame deformed Dwarf challenged her for his Wife pretending he had been formerly Contracted to her and that he had lain with her The Countess though the noblest and richest Inheritrix of that Age confirmed his Allegations openly declaring to her immortal infamy that what he said was true and thereby acknowledging her self to be an impudent Strumpet Upon which this deformed Elf being incouraged by some great Persons had the confidence to lay claim to the Earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury in her Right and the Honour of this great Earl was blasted by a debauched Woman This unhappy passage increased the fatal aversion between him and the King and the Earl and Humfry Bohun Earl of Hereford having likewise received some damage from the Spencers these two allured almost all the rest of the Nobility to join with them So that being now gotten into Arms they marched with Banners display'd under the command of the Earl of Lancaster whom they constituted their General and after many sharp skirmishes and encounters the Armies met at Burton upon Trent where both Parties fought with such obstinate desire of revenge that he was reckoned the most valiant man who drencht his Sword deepest in Blood The Nobles now forgot that they fought against their Sovereign Lord and the King would by no means acknowledge that his Tyranny and Misgovernment had compelled them to take Arms. Now neither Kindred Alliance Neighbourhood Religion Country nor any other obligation had the least power over their inraged minds Nothing but death and wounds must determine the controversie between them At length when many of the Lords and thousands of their Adherents were slain they fled and were pursued by the King the Earl of Hereford waâ— slain by a Welshman who thrust a Spear into his Body between the Chinks of a Wooden Bridge The Earl of Lancaster with eighty Lords and Knights were taken Prisoners The occasion of this great defeat of the Barons is attributed in some measure to an unhappy accident a while before For Queen Isabel who upon all occasions used her utmost interest to procure a right understanding between the King and the Peers coming from Canterbury to the Castle of Leeds in Kent where she designed to lodge that Night was denied entrance by Lord Badlesmere one of the Earl of Lancaster's Party wherewith she was so offended that she made great complaint thereof to the King who glad of any opportunity to be revenged of
the Barons came in Person with a very strong Party before the Castle many of the Queen Friends who were formerly on the other side joining with him The Lord himself was gone with the rest of the Noblemen to destroy the Lands and Estates of the two Spencers having left his Wife and Children in the Castle and a Captain to command there After some time spent in the Siege the Besieged finding little hope of relief were forced to surrender it to the King at Mercy who hanged five or six of the principal Persons And committed the Lord Badlesmere's Wife and Children to the Tower After which many of the Barons misdoubting their strength deserted their Chief the Earl of Lancaster which now made the Victory the more easily incline to the King The third day after the Battle the King resolving to take his full swing of Vengeance upon the Barons sate in Judgment in Person at Pomfret Castle together with the Earls oâ— Kent Pembroke Surrey and the two Spencers Before whom the Earl of Lancaster and the rest being brought Sentence was pronounced against them to be drawn hanged and quartered as guilty of High Treason by Andrew Harkley a man of small fortune but made Earl of Carlile and Lord Chief Justice for taking the Earl of Lancaster and several other Lords Prisoners after the late Fight The Earl of Lancaster being the King's Uncle was only Beheaded the same day at Pomfret but the other Lords were hanged and quartered in several parts of the Realm As the Lords Lisle Touchet Manduit Bradburn Fitz Williams Cheyney at Pomfret The Lords Clifford Mowbray and Deynvile hang'd in Chains at York The Lord Gifford at Glocester The Lord Teys at London The Lord Aldenham at Windsor and the Lords Badlesmere and Ashburnham at Canterbury And several other Baronets Knights Esquires and Gentlemen were executed in other places Never before did English Earth at one time drink up so much Blood of her Nobility and Gentry shed in so vile a manner which whatsoever was pretended was reckoned by the People to be spilt upon the account and in the quarrel of the two Ravenous Favourites the Spencers nor was it long unrevenged with the destruction of the principal Actors After this the King likewise seized all their Estates as forfeited to the Crown This havock being made of the Nobility to the astonishment of the rest and the terror of the Vulgar the Spencers were elated so intolerably with Pride by this Victory that instead of making good use thereof and reforming those abuses that might occasion the like again and giving the King good Counsel they now proceed to commit greater Rapines and Violences than before making their Will a Law in all things And then presuming that all affairs should for the future be managed according to their pleasure they advise the King to call a Parliament at York in which he created Edward his eldest Son Prince of Wales and Duke of Acquitain He also created Sir Hugh Spencer the Father Earl of Winchester and Sir Hugh the Son Earl of Glocester And exacted the sixth Penny of all Mens Estates and Goods to support his intended Wars against the Scots the levying of which Tax caused much murmuring and discontent among the People who affirmed That they were already totally impoverished and ruined by War Famine and the disordereâ— Government of the King and his Evil Counsellors The King was fully persuaded that his late Successes had rendered him as terrible to the Scots as to his own Subjects and that they were no way capable of resisting so great a Power as he had raised against them resolving now to call them to a strict account for all their Inroads Murthers and Robberies The Scots being secretly inform'd that King Edward was intended to Invade their Country and to revenge those wrongs he had received from Robert Bruce their King endeavoured to divert him by landing a great Army in Ireland but the King having timely notice of their design made such provision that the greatest part of the Assailants were slain and the rest fled to their Ships and returned shamefully to their own Country The King after this marched with a very gallant Army into Scotland and being arrived the Scots Nobility with some thousands of men pretended to give him Battel but intended nothing less For at his approach they retired in good Order into the Woods Forests and Mountains of their Country insomuch that the English were quite tired and dispirited in pursuing them through those difficult and uneasie passages so that in a short time for want of Provisions and Necessaries and by reason of the Rains Hail Snow and Frosts which are incident to that cold Region the King's Forces were so afflicted with Sickness and Mortality that they were obliged to retire without having performed any thing suitable to such mighty preparations Which when the Scots perceived they pursued them with much cruelty and one night assaulted them with so much fury that the King himself very narrowly escaped and finding his Forces broken and his Army scattered he was forced to save his Life by an ignominious flight and to leave behind him his Treasure Ordnance Tents and Furniture a joyful prize to the Victorious Scots This last disaster and danger was occasioned principally by the Treachery of Sir Andrew Harkley the new made Earl of Carlile who under pretence of making Peace with the Scots secretly agreed to Marry the Daughter of King Robert whereupon he was seized and carried to London in Irons and being brought to the Bar before the Judg Sir Anthony Lucy in the Robes of an Earl with his Sword girt Hosed Booted and Spur'd the Judg spake thus to him ' Sir Andrew the King for thy Valour and Good Service hath advanced thee to great Honour and made thee Earl of Carlile notwithstanding which thou as a Traytor to thy Lord and King leddest a Party that should have assisted him at the Battel of Bayland in Scotland away by Copland through Lancashire by which Falseness and Treason of thine our Lord the King was discomfited by the Scots whereas if thou hadst arrived in time he might have gained the Victory And this Treason thou didst wilfully commit for a great sum of Gold and Silver which thou didst receive from James Dowglas a Scot and the King's Enemy For which great Crime our Lord the King hath commanded that thou be deprived of the Order of Knighthood wherewith he hath honoured thee for a terror to all other Knights to avoid the like Treachery Then his Spurs were hewed from his Heels and his Sword with which he was Knighted and Girt when created an Earl was broken over his Head he was then unclothed of all his Robes of Honour and State and his Coat of Arms defaced After which the Judg proceeded thus ' Andrew thou art now no Knight but a Knave and for thy Treason the King hath appointed that thou shalt be hanged thy Head smitten off and placed on London
Bridg thy Bowels taken out and Burnt thy Body quartered and thy four Quarters set up in four principal Cities of England for an example to such heinous Offenders And this Sentence was accordingly executed upon him Thus ended this unfortunate expedition to the great reproach and loss of the English and the scandal of the King who was grown sufficiently infamous already for making the Kingdom a shambles for the Nobility Yet in the midst of these calamities the two Spencers rid Triumphant in the Chariot of Favour Power Honour and Riches enjoying great part of the Estate of the late unfortunate Earl of Lancaster and in this grandeur they continued for the space of five years notwithstanding the utmost efforts of their potent and numerous adversaries who continually meditated their destruction During which time the Queens Interest extreamly declined who for shewing some relentings for the severity used to the Lords and expressing her dislike of the overgrown authority of the two wicked Favourites by whose persuasions she was sensible the King her Husband abandoned her Company and Bed was extreamly hated by them So that they continued their impious Artifices to allure the King with the Company and Dalliance of Leud and Lascivious Harlots and to avoid any converse with her And it did appear that these evil minded and vile men working upon the King's inclination were the principal Authors and Advisers of that sharp revenge taken upon the Lords for their own ambitious and avaritious ends whereby at length they brought inevitable ruin upon the Crown Dignity and Life of their Soveraign Which the following instance seeâ—… plainly to confirm Among those who were condemned for joining with the Earl of Lancaster the King's Uncle there was one very poor Fellow for whose life because he had long continued at Court many great Courtâ—…rs interceeded very earnestly and pressed the matter so far that the King in a rage replied 'A plague upon you for a company of Cursed Whisperers malicious Backbiters Flatterers and wicked Counsellors who can beg so heartily for saving the life of a notorious wicked Knave and yet could not speak a word in the behalf of the most noble Knight Earl Thomas of Lancaster my near Kinsman whose Life and Counsels would now have been of great use and service to the Kingdom Whereas this wretch the longer he lives the more villanies will he commit having already made himself notorious throughout the Realm for his horrid Crimes and desperate Outrages For which by the Soul of God he shall dye the death he hath justly deserved And he was accordingly executed This may be some evidence that the King was over persuaded to commit those Tragedies upon the Lords 〈…〉 was reckoned to be naturally merciful and 〈◊〉 according to the Religion of those times but 〈◊〉 â—…iâ—led by depraved Counsellors though he 〈…〉 inexcusable since it is usually said That good 〈◊〉 cannot satisfie for publick Errors and Mischiefs The Spencers still continued their Rapines and Profligate courses and aspiring to more absolute Dominion resolved to leave nothing unattempted that might rivet them in the affections of the King and inrich themselves which begot implacable enmity in the People both against them and their Master their insolence rising to such an height that they abridged the Queen of her usual allowance so that she had not wherewith to maintain her self while themselves abounded in all manner of plenty and magnificence Which caused her publickly to complain ' That the Daughter and Sole Heir of the King of France was Married to a miserable Wretch who did not allow her necessaries and that being promised to be a Queen she was now become no better than a waiting Gentlewoman subsisting only upon a Pension from the Spencers And dreading their malice she took her Eldest Son Prince Edward and privately withdrew into France to her Brother King Charles by whom she was kindly received and comforted with solemn Oaths and Promises that he would effectually assist her against all her Enemies and redress the grievances of the Kingdom A while after the Barons by their Letters assured her of their best help and service to her Self and Son declaring that if she would return to England with the aid of only a thousand valiant men at Arms they would raise so great a strength here to join them as should make the Spencers feel the smart of their unsufferable follies The Queen was exceedingly rejoiced with the hopes of her fortunate success But the two Spencers much doubting the event if she should return with Forces and having the Treasure of the Kingdom at command they corrupted King Charles and his Council with such prodigious sums of Gold and Silver and of Rich Jewels that not only all succour was denied her but the French K. reprimanded her very sharply for having so undutifully and imprudently forsaken her Lord and Dear Husband Yea the Pope likewise and many of the Cardinals being ingaged with rich Presents by the Spencers required King Charles under the Penalty of Cursing to send the Queen and Prince to King Edward And doubtless she had been unnaturally betrayed by her own Brother had she not privately and speedily made her escape to the Earl of Heynault in Germany where she was entertained with extraordinary joy by the Earl and the Lord Beumont his Brother who resolved to accompany her to England In the mean time King Edward and his profligate Favourites having intelligence of their Intentions he sent to demand his Wife and Son to be returned home but not succeeding and the Spencers knowing that if an happy Agreement should have been made between the King his Queen and the Barons they must both have been made Sacrifices of Peace-Offering to appease the resentments of the People they therefore resolve to make the Breach irreconcileable by persuading the King to proclaim the Queen and Prince with all their Adherents Traytors and Enemies to the King and Kingdom banishing all that he thought were well-affected to them and keeping a severe Eye over the discoâ—ented Barons and it was reported That a secret Plot was laid to have taken away the Lives both of the Queen and her Son While the Queen continued in Heynault she concluded a Marriage between the Prince then about fourteen years old and the Lady Philippa that Earl's Daughter and with the Money of her Dowry Listed Souldiers in Germany and soon after with three hundred Knights and gallant Warriours and about 1700 Common Souldiers Germans and English commanded by the Earl of Heynault with the Earls of Kent Pembroke the Lord Beumont and many other English-men of Quality she safely arrived at Orwell in Suffolk Upon the first Intelligence of their Landing the Lords and Barons with joyful hearts and numerous Troops of resolute Gallants compleatly Armed repaired to her Assistance with all speed so that her Forces hourly increased Her Arrival being reported to the King He poor Prince was so surprized that he knew not what course to take
being as destitute of Friends and Means to defend himself as he was of Courage and Counsel However he requested Aid of the Citizens of London whose Answer was That they would honour with all duty the King Queen and Prince their Son who was lawful Heir to the Kingdom but that they would shut their Gates against all Foreigners and Traytors to the Realm and with all their Powers withstand them but that they were not obliged to go out of their Ctiy to fight no farther than that according to their Liberties they might return home again before Sun-set This uncertain Answer so discouraged the King that he resolved to withdraw from the City to the Marches of Wales for the present levying of an Army attended with his inseparable Favourites the two Spencers and Robert Baldock Bishop of Norwich their intimate Friend Before he went he ordered the Tower of London to be fortified which he committed to the Custody of Sir John Weston who was well provided with Men and Victuals leaving also to his care his younger Son called Lord John of Eltham with the countess of Glocester the King's Niece Wife to the younger Spencer and gave the Government of the City to Walter Stapilton Bishop of Exeter a Creature of the Spencers his chief Treasure and caused a Proclamation to be published enjoyning all his Subjects to oppose kill and destroy all the partakers with the Queen her self her Son and the Earl of Kent his half Brother only excepted On the other side the Queen made Proclamation That no Person whatsoever should receive any hurt or damage from her Army but only those two notorious Miscreants the Spencers Bishop Baldock Lord Chancellor and their Associates and that she came over for no other end but to bring to condign punishment those notorious Traytors and Misleaders of the King promising a thousand pound to any who should bring her the Head of the younger Spencer The King had no sooner took his last leave of the City and thereby of his Crown and Dignity but the Londoners scorning to submit to their proud and insolent Governour apprehended Stapilton and two of his Servants and without any Tryal or Judicial proceeding beheaded them at the Standard in Cheapside with one John Marshal a Citizen and Friend of the Spencers They likewise surprized the Tower killing all that opposed them and declared Lord John the King's Son Keeper of the City securing that and the City for the use of the Queen and the young Prince All Prisoners throughout the Kingdom were likewise set at liberty and all Fugitives and banished Men recalled which much augmented the Queen's Power The King hearing of this Revolt altered his purpose of raising Forces But whither could this poor Prince flie What course could he take for his own safety who to gratifie a few profligate Miscreants had made his Wife his Son his Nobility and his People his avowed Enemies At length he concladed to flie to Bristol which he fortified as strongly as he was able giving the Government of the Town to the Earl of Arundel and Hugh Spencer the Elder himself with the younger Spencer retiring into the Castle which they resolved to defend to the utmost The Queen marched from Oxford to Glocester in her way to Bristol which she designed to besiege her Forces increasing all the way The Earls of Leicester and Marshal the Lords Peircy Wake and other Noblemen both from Wales and the North with the Bishops of Hereford Ely and Lincoln and a great number more of Barons Knights and Gentlemen coming in to her Assistance With this great Army she arrived at Bristol and besieged it The City was taken in a few days with the Elder Spencer the Governour whom the Queen at the earnest importunity of the common People commanded to be hanged without examination in his Armour on the common Gallows without the City and then cut down alive his Bowels taken out and burnt before his Eyes his Head cut off and then his Body hanged up again by the Feet and after having four days hung a miserable spectacle to all Beholders his Body was cut all to pieces and given to the Dogs to eat and his Head set upon Winchester Castle The King the younger Spencer and Bishop Baldock much distrusting their ability to defend the Castle retired from thence secretly in the night and getting into a small Fisher-boat determined to flie into the Isle of Lundy in the mouth of the River Severn about two Miles in length and as many broad stored with Rabbits Pigeons and other Fowls incompassed with the Sea and having only one passage into it so narrow that two Men can scarce go abreast But Divine Providence seemed to withstand their purpose as designing them to be brought to Justice so that every day for a week or more when they attempted to Row their Boat thither the Wind and Waves drove it back again toward the Castle which being at length perceived by the Lord Beumont he chased the Fisher boat with a small Vessel and boarding it found therein the King young Spencer and Baldock whom they so much desired and brought them to the Queen who caused them to be carried and set in sight of the Besieged in the Castle which was still defended by Hugolin Grandchild to the Elder Spencer with much courage and now finding no hope of relief surrendred it upon condition to have his own and his Companions Lives saved Some Authors write That the King going into a Vessel out of Bristol Castle designed to flie into Ireland and that after he had wander'd a week upon the Sea Sir Thomas Blount one of his Friends forsaking him and going to the Queen he came ashoar in Glamorganshire where with his few Friends he intrusted himself with the Welsh who had still a kindness for him The King not appearing Proclamation was made That the Barons and People desired his return to the Exercise of the Government provided he would remedy what was amiss Whereupon Henry Earl of Lancaster Brother to the late Earl Sir William Zouch and Rice ap Howel who had all Lands in Wales were sent with Money and Forces to discover him which so prevailed upon the Welsh-men that they delivered him up together with the younger Spencer Baldock and one Simon Reading and received a Reward of 2000 pound They were brought to the Queen who was then at Hereford with Adam Tarlton the active Bishop The King was conveyed by the Earl of Lancaster to Kennelworth Castle After which the Queen and Prince attended by the Barons and a strong Army marched toward London carrying with them young Spencer in Chains like a Slave before whom certain pitiful Fidlers and other Varlets scornfully played upon Pipes made of Reeds skiping dancing and singing through every Town as they passed along Spencer and Simon Reading another evil instrument were sentenced to Death by the Judge Sir William Trussel as Traytors Spencer in his Armour was with all manner of scorn and insults
how much value the Courage and Conduct of a Prince is yet before he died by the contrivance of the Queen Mother Roger Mortimer and their Adherents such a dishonourable Peace is made with the Scots as exceedingly displeased the whole Kingdom and in the end proved fatal to the principal actor Mortimer For at this Treaty the King then in his Minority Sealed Charters to the Scots at Northampton contrived by the Queen her Favourite and Sir James Dowglas without the knowledge or consent of the Peers of England whereby that famous Charter called Ragmans Roll was surrendred to them with several Jewels and among them one of an extraordinary value called the Black Cross of Scotland all which were taken from the Scots by the Victorious King Edward I. The Scots Kings were likewise freed and discharged for ever from doing homage and fealty to the Kings of England or from acknowledging them to have any Right or Superiority over that Kingdom And that all Englishmen should forfeit their Lands in Scotland unless they went and resided there and swore Allegiance to that King Moreover under pretence of making reparation for damages King Robert was obliged to pay the King of England Thirty Thousand Marks Sterling which Money was given to Mortimer as a reward for his procuring this destructive and mischievous Treaty And to conclude all David Bruce Prince of Scotland a Child of Seven or Eight Years Old and Heir to K. Robert Married Jane Sister to K. Edward at Berwick whom the Scots in derision both of the Peace and Marriage scornfully nicknamed Jane Make Peace Lastly The Queen and Mortimer being sensible that some of the Principal Nobility disliked their proceedings and hindred their absolute Government they resolved to contrive some means for removing them out of the way and among others Edward Earl of Kent the King's Unckle To effect this it is said Mortimer caused a report to be spread abroad that K. Edward II. was still alive at Corf-Castle but not to be seen in the day time and to countenance the deceit for many Nights together there were Lights set up in all the Windows of the Castle and an appearance made of Masquing Dancing and other Royal Solemnities as if for the King's diversion This being observed by the Countrey People they confirmed the rumour of the late King 's being there which was soon dispersed throughout England The Earl of Kent hearing the news sent a Preaching Frier to the Castle to find out the truth of it who by giving Money to the Porter was admitted into the Castle lying very privately in his Lodg all day at night the Porter causing him to put off his own Priestly Robes and put on his the Frier was brought into the Hall where he saw as he imagined King Edward II. sitting in Royal Majesty at supper The Frier returning to the Earl assured him of the reality of what he had seen whereupon the Earl being discontented swore that he would endeavour by all ways possible to deliver his Brother out of Prison and restore him to his Throne To which purpose he ingaged several other Noblemen in the design with the Provincial of the White and Carmelite Friers the Bishop of London and others This Conspiracy being discovered though it were only a Lye and fancy the Frier being imposed upon only by a King made of Clouts Yet the Earl of Kent by his words and some Letters that were found about him was condemned as a Traytor for conspiring to set a dead Man at liberty But so generally was this Noble Lord beloved and honoured that he stood upon a Scaffold at the Castle-Gates at Winchester from Noon till five a Clock at Night for want of an Executioner none being to be found that would behead him till at length Mortimer sent for a poor wretched Fellow out of the Jayl who with much ado and many blows hack'd his Head from his Body The Malice and Ambition of Mortimer and his Associates in making so little conscience of shedding Royal Blood with the many other Male-administrations aforementioned raised inveterate discontents throughout the Kingdom against the Insolent Authors of them But in the mean time they who resolved to support their Grandeur in despight of Peers and People summoned a Parliament at Nottingham where Roger Mortimer appeared in the utmost splendor and glory being Created Earl of March and having greater attendance and stronger Guards than the King himself whom he would suffer to rise up to him and with whom he walked as his Companion yea went before him with his Officers He likewise very scornfully and insolently rebuked Henry Earl of Lancaster the King's Cousin that without his leave he had taken up Lodgings in the Town so near the Queen and obliged him with the Earl of Hereford and Effex to remove their Lodgings a Mile from Nottingham This notorious affront caused great murmuring among the Noblemen who said publickly That Roger Mortimer the Queens Gallant and the Kings's Master sought by all means possible to destroy all the Royal Blood thereby to Usurp the Crown and Government which some of the King's Friends being mightily concerned at endeavoured to make him sensible of his danger swearing that if he would espouse their Cause they would faithfully assist him and secure his Person The Young King began already to put on serious thoughts and acted the Man much beyond his years so that the Lords soon prevailed upon him to join with them in asserting his own Authority which he himself saw so much lessened by Mortimer's 〈◊〉 grown Power He was likewise informed that 〈◊〉 was commonly reported the Queen was with Child by Mortimer to the great dishonour both of his Mother and himself and to the grief of all his Loyal Subjects Hereupon he resolutely ingaged with the Peers to bring this Miscreant and his Abettors to punishment In order to which Robert Holland who had been long Governour of Nottingham-Castle and knew all the secret passages and conveyances therein was taken into the design Now there was in the Castle a private Passage cut through the Rock upon which it is built which was divided into two ways one opening toward the River of Trent which runs under it and the other went a great deal farther under the adjoining Meadows and was after called Mortimer's Hole The King lying one Night without the Castle was conducted by Torch-light through this Passage himself and his Valiant Attendants being all well Armed and their Swords drawn till he came to the door of the Queens Bed-Chamber which the secure and careless Lords had left wide open Some of the foremost entred the Room desiring the King to retire a little that the Queen might not see him and slew Sir Hugh Turpington who opposed them from whom they went towards the Queen Mother with whom they found Mortimer both just ready to go into Bed and seizing him they led him out into the Hall whom the Queen followed crying out Bel silz bel filz ayes pitie
consent to the Murther of them However he fell by the same hand that advanced him to be his chief Favourite and Privado And though King Richard now Triumph'd over his Enemies yet in a very short time he lost both his Crown and Life in one day the foundation of his Ruin having been first laid by this unprosperous Conspiracy against him For a while after he was Slain in a Battle at Bosworth in Leicester shire by Henry Earl of Richmond who succeeded him by the name of King Henry the Seventh Remarks upon the Life Actions and Fall of Thomas Woolsey Cardinal of York Favourite to King Henry VIII THE Magnanimity of Spirit which appeared in the Life and Actions of this Great Cardinal doth clearly evince that Persons of Mean Birth may be indued with as generous and lofty Sentiments and be possessors of as much Grandure of Soul as those of Noble Descent which occasioned some to alledge that he must needs be the By-blow of some Prince and not the Issue of such mean Parents as his were generally reckoned For all Historians relate that he was the Son of an honest poor Butcher at Ipswich in Suffolk who in his Childhood being very apt to learn his Father with the assistance of Friends sent him to a Grammar School from whence he in a short time went to the University of Oxford where he was so great a Proficient that at Fifteen Years Old he was made Batchellour of Arts and therefore called the Boy Batchellour He was after made Fellow of Magdalen College and Master of Magdalen School and had the Education of the Marquess of Dorset's Sons committed to him by whose care they so well 〈…〉 in Learning that the Marquess bestowed 〈…〉 in his gift upon this Ingenious School-Maste◠〈…〉 left his Fellowship and came to reside in his Living Where he had not been long when one Sir James Pawlet upon some displeasure set him in the Stocks which affront was not forgotten nor forgiven by Woolsey Who when by the mighty favour of Fortune he came to be Lord Chancellour of England he sent for Sir James and after having sharply reproved him enjoined him not to stir out of the Middle-Temple without Special License from himself which he could not obtain in Six Year time After the Death of the Marquess of Dorset from whom he expected higher preferment his towring thoughts aimed at some greater imployment and since he found he must now make his own Fortune he resolved to take all opportunities to advance himself To this end he became acquainted with one Sir John Naphant an Ancient Noble Knight formerly Treasurer of Callice under King Henry VII to whom he was Chaplain and by his Wisdom and Discretion gained such favour with his Master that he committed all the care and charge of his Office to his Chaplain At length being discharged of his Imployment for his great Age he returned into England but retained so much kindness for Woolsey that by his Interest at Court he procured him to be made one of the Chaplains to King Henry VIII Having thus cast Anchor in the Port of Preferment he rose amain for he had opportunity hereby to be dayly in the King's Eye by reason of his daily attendance and saying Mass before him in his Closet Neither did he squander away his leisure time but would commonly attend those Great Men who were in most favour and power with the King and among others Doctor Fox Lord Thomas Lovell Master of the Wards and Constable of the Tower who perceiving him to be a Man of a very acute wit thought 〈◊〉 a fit Instrument to be imployed in matters of 〈…〉 And King Henry having occasion to send an Ambassadour to Maximilian Emperour of Germany These two Grave Councellours recommended His Chaplain Woolsey to him as proper for so Honourable an Office The King instantly sent for him and discoursing with him about Matters of State he found him endued with so much Eloquence Learning Judgment and Modesty that he caused his Commission and Instructions to be drawn up with all speed Which having received he took his leave of the King at Richmond at Four a Clock in the Afternoon and in Three Hours arrived at Gravesend from thence he Rid Post to Dover and going a board the Passage-boat he arrived next Day before Noon at Callice and the same Night he made such haste that he came to the Emperour's Court at Brussels in Flanders Who having notice of this arrival of the King of England's Ambassadour out of great Affection to his Master gave him Audience the same Evening The Ambassadour having delivered his Message and Credentials and humbly desiring his speedy dismission the Emperour readily granted all his Master's Requests and fully dispatched him the next Day Hereupon he Rides back that Night Post to Callice being attended by several Noblemen by the Emperour's Order and came thither in the Morning before the Gates were opened and the Pacquet Boat being ready to go off he arrived at Dover by Eleven at Noon and the same Night came Post to Richmond and the next Morning presented himself to the King at his coming out of his Bed Chamber to Mass who checked him for not being upon his Journey May it please your Highness said he I have been with the Emperour already and I hope have dispatched my Embassy to your Graces Satisfaction The King admired at his Expedition Asking him whether he met with the Messenger sent after him before he thought him gone from London with further Instructions of weighty Consequence Yes said Woolsey I met with him Yesterday by the way and though I did know his Message yet presuming upon your Highness goodness and judging those Matters very necessary to be done I made bold to exceed my Commission and dispatch them for which I humbly beg your Majesties Pardon The King much pleased herewith replied We not only pardon you but give you also our Royal Thanks both for your discreet management and great Expedition Soon after the King bestowed on him the Deanery of Lincoln being one of the greatest Promotions under the degree of a Bishop and in a short time made him his Lord Almoner wherein he behaved himself with so much discretion that he was advanced to be one of the Lords of the Privy Council and King Henry bestowed on him Bridewell in Fleetstreet one of his Royal Houses for his Residence and Family and he was observed by the People to be a Rising Favourite For the King was Young and much given to pleasure and his Ancient Councellours advising to be sometimes present in Council to consult about the weighty Affairs of the Government his Lord Almoner on the contrary dissuaded him from imbarasing himself in the Troubles and Intreagues of State assuring him that if he would allow him sufficient Authority he would ease him of those Fatigues and manage all Affairs to his content This Advice was quickly received by the Youthful Prince who gave him what Power he
their hands at this ridiculous sight crying Behold the Cardinal 's Rich Treasure The Muliteers were much ashamed at this discovery however quietly gathering up these hungry relicks they peaceably marched on Cardinal Campeius was conducted through the City to St. Pauls where having bestowed his blessing upon the People he was then brought to Cardinal Woolsey's Palace where he lodged having his Golden Crosses Pillars Guilt Axe and Mace carried before him And now as Cardinal Woolsey had the Power so he maintained the Port and Grandeur of a Prince of which we have this account He had in his Hall three long Tables to which belonged three several Officers a Steward who was always a Priest a Treasurer a Knight and a Comptroller an Esq He had also in the Hall a Confessor a Doctor three Marshalls three Ushers two Almoners and two Grooms In the Hall Kitchin two Clarks a Comptroller a Surveyor over the Dresser a Clerk of the Spicery two Cooks twelve Labourers and Children In the Kitchin a Master Cook Clothed in Velvet or Sattin with a Gold Chain two Under Cooks six Labourers four Scullery-men two Yeomen of the Pastry and two Past-layers under him In the Larder a Yeoman and a Groom In the Buttery two Yeomen and two Grooms In the Eury as many In the Cellar three Yeomen three Pages In the Chandery two Yeomen In the Wayfary two Yeomen In the Wardrobe of the Beds the Master and twenty Persons besides In the Landrey a Yeoman a Groom and thirteen Pages two Yeomen Purveyors and a Groom Purveyor In the Bake-house two Yeomen two Grooms In the Woodyard a Yeoman and a Groom In the Barn a Yeoman Two Yeomen and two Grooms Porters at the Gate A Yeoman of his Bing A Master of his Horse A Clerk and Yeomen of the Stables A Farrier and Yeoman of the Stirrup A Malter and sixteen Grooms every one keeping four Geldings His Chappel was furnished with a vast number of costly Ornaments and Rich Jewels Forty four Copes gloriously imbroidered with Gold and Silver Silver Candlesticks and other necessary Utensils In which were the following Officers a Dean a Sub-Dean a Repeater of the Quire a Gospellor an Epistoler of the Singing Priests a Master of the Children In the Vestry a Yeoman and two Grooms beside other Retainers that appeared at principal Feasts He had likewise two Cross-bearers and two Pillar-bearers in the Great Chamber and in his Privy-Chamber the Chief Chamberlain Vice Chamberlain Gentleman Usher twelve Waiters six Gentlemen Waiters Also nine or ten Lords who had two or three Men to wait on them and the Earl of Darby five Then he had Gentlemen Cup-bearers Carvers and forty Sewers of the Great and Privy Chamber six Yeomen Ushers eight Grooms twelve Doctors and Chaplains daily Guests besides his own a Clerk of his Closet two Secretaries two Clerks of his Signet four Councellours Learned in the Law As he was Lord Chancellour of England he had a Riding Clerk a Clerk of the Crown of the Hamper of the Check four Footmen with gallant Liveries a Herald at Arms a Serjeant at Arms a Phisician an Apothecary four Minstrels a Keeper of his Tents when upon a Journey and an Armourer Also in his House a Surveyor of York a Clark of the Green Cloth All these attended daily At Dinner he had every day eight Tables furnisht for his Chamberlains and Gentlemen Officers half of whom were young Lords who had two or three Persons to wait on them and all the rest had one These were all his inrolled Servants besides Retainers and other Persons that came about business who daily Dined in his Hall which according to the List amounted to eight hundred Persons So that he was as bountiful an House-keeper as any in that Age and much superior to any since When he went to Westminster Hall to hear Causes as Lord Chancellor his Magnificence was as conspicuous as in other Offices He was clothed in red like a Cardinal his upper Garment all of Scarlet or else fine Crimson Taffety or Crimson Satrin in Grain A black Tippet of Sables about his Neck and an Orange in his hand the Meat taken out and filled with Confections to prevent the ill scents from the Crouds of People Being mounted his two Cross bearers and his two Pillar bearers all in fine Scarlet upon tall Horses rid before him then one with the Purse and Great Seal of England Another with his Cardinals Cap then a train of Gentlemen with every one a Pole-ax next the Cardinal himself attended on each side by four Footmen In the same State he used to go every Sunday to the Court at Greenwich in a very rich Barge and furnisht with Yeomen all round where when he arrived he was attended by the Lord Treasurer Comptroller and other principal Officers of the King's House who conveyed him in State into the King's Chamber In this grandeur he continued for fourteen or fifteen years managing all affairs of State to whom all foreign Ambassadors made their application and all Addresses and Petitions were offered And to secure this Soveraign Power which he had gained over the King's affections he contrived all kind of pleasures and divertisements suitable to his juvenile temper as Masking Dancing Banquetting Young Ladies and variety of other Pastimes I saw the King saith my Author come one time suddenly to the Cardinals Palace at Westminster now White-Hall which he had newly built with a dozen Masquers attired like Shepherds in cloth of Gold and Silver imbroidered with six Flambeux And others in Vizors clothed all in Sattin The King came thither privately by Water and arriving at the Stairs several great Guns were discharged which much surprized the Noblemen Gentlemen and Ladys a great number of whom the Cardinal at that time was treating at a sumptuous Supper he himself sitting at the upper end of the Table under a Cloth of State a Gentleman and Lady being placed together through all the Tables The Cardinal at the great noise as if ignorant of the matter desired the Lord Chamberlain to inquire the meaning thereof Who looking out of the Window into the Thames returned again and told him that he believed there were some Noblemen and Strangers coming to the Landing â—tairs My Lord said the Cardinal I intreat you who can speak French to go and receive them and conduct them to our Banquet desiring them to sit down and be merry with us The Lord Chamberlain went into the Hall And with twenty Torches and a great number of Drums and Trumpets brought them into the Dining Room who by two together went up to the Cardinal's Chair and saluted him To whom the Lord Chamberlain said My Lord Cardinal these Gentlemen being Strangers and not speaking English desire me to inform your Grace that they hearing of your Triumphant and Magnificent Banquet this Night and of such a number of handsome Ladies as were assembled thereto they presumed upon your Graces goodness to intrude into your Palace to take a
it not a marvellous thing to think into what great Debt this great Cardinal hath brought you to all your Subjects How so quoth the King Why says she there is not a man in your whole Kingdom worth an hundred pounds but he hath made you a Debtor to him Meaning the Loan which the Cardinal had borrowed for the King some years before and which he procured the House of Commons who were most the King's Servants to discharge without repaying a farthing to the great loss of the People Nay added she how many violencies and oppressions is he guilty of to your great dishonour and disgrace in divers parts of the Realm so that if my Lord of Norfolk my Lord of Suffolk my own Father or any other Nobleman had done but half so much wrong as he they well deserved to lose their Heads Then I perceive said the King that you are no friend of my Lord Cardinal 's Why Sir quoth she I have no cause no more have any others that love the King Neither has your Grace any reason to be kind to him considering his indirect and unlawful actions The King said no more but went away The Council and the Nobility perceiving that the King's Heart was estranged from Woolsey they resolved if possible utterly to depress him for he was generally hated for his excessive Pride insulting Tyranny grievous oppressions monstrous injustice unsatiable covetousness abominable debauchery malicious and cruel revenge and likewise for his secret Intreagues with the Pope and Church of Rome whereby the King's Authority and Prerogative Royal in all things touching the Church and Clergy were made void Hereupon they concluded him guilty of a Praemunire and that consequently he had forfeited all his Promotions Spiritual and Temporal with all the rest of his Estate and likewise his Liberty to the King These crimes the Nobility drew into Articles which were ingrossed and signed with their hands and then delivered to the King Which were as followeth I. That by subtil and indirect means he had procured himself without the King's consent to be made a Legate whereby he deprived the Bishops and Clergy of England of all jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical Affairs II. That in all his Letters to Foreign Princes he used the insolent stile of Ego Rex meus I and my King as if the King were his Inferior or Servant III. That he unchristianly and abominably slandered the Church of England to the Pope affirming That they were Reprobates and without Faith and that there was an absolute necessity for him to be made a Legate to reduce them to the true belief IV. That without the King's consent he carried the Great Seal of England to Flanders only for vain Glory and to the great damage of the Subjects of England V. That he being filthily powdered with the French Pox by reason of his excessive Letchery and Debauched Life did oft presume to discourse with and cast his unwholesome Breath into the King's Face VI. That he caused the Cardinals Hat to be put on the King's Coin VII That to obtain his Dignities he had conveyed out of the Realm 240000 l. at one time and incredible sums at other times And to inrich the K. again had of his own accord sent out Commissions for exacting infinite sums contrary to Law which raised hatred and insurrections among the People against the King These with many other Articles being charged against VVoolsey he with his own Hand freely Subscribed to them confessing all of them to be true throwing himself upon the King's mercy hoping he would have forgiven him but afterward finding that he disposed of his Offices and part of his Estate he secretly procured a Bull from the Pope to Curse and Excommunicate the King unless he would restore to him all his Dignities and Lands who likewise declared that the King himself nor no other authority on Earth but the Pope alone had power to punish any Clergyman for any crime or offence whatsoever This Bull with the Letters sent him by several Cardinals to incourage him not to faint or be discouraged assuring him of his Restoration and that the King should be certainly crost in the business of his Marriage so animated the Cardinal that he did not doubt of his re-advancement if not with yet without the King's consent so that he made great preparations for his in stalment into his Archbishoprick of York which he designed to solemnize with extraordinary Pomp and Magnificence to which purpose he had erected a stately seat of an extraordinary height in that Cathedral resembling the Throne of the King and writ Letters to the Nobility and Gentry of the North wherein he kindly invited them to be present at his Instalment for which he had made extraordinary provision of all manner of Dainties These mighty preparations being made without acquainting the King therewith and seeming to be in contempt of him who had been so kind to allow him the Bishopricks of York and VVinchester though justly forfeited to the Crown caused the King to put a stop to his aspiring purposes so that he sent order to the Earl of Northumberland to Arrest him and deliver him to the Earl of Shrewsbury Lord High Steward of the Houshold The Earl accordingly went to his Mannor of Caywood about seven Miles from York and coming into his Chamber told him he arrested him for High Treason in the King's name The Cardinal was so astonisht that for some time he stood speechless at length recovering himself he said You have no power to Arrest me who am both a Cardinal and a Legate and also a Peer of the See Apostolick of Rome and ought not to be Arrested by any Temporal Power for I am Subject to none and none I will obey Well said the Earl here is the King's Commission and therefore I charge you to submit I remember when I was sworn Warden of the Marches you your self told me that with my staff only I might Arrest any man under the degree of a King and now I am stronger for I also have a Commission for what I have done The Cardinal at length recollecting himself Well my Lord said he I am contented to submit but though by negligence I fell into the danger of a Praemunire whereby I forfeited all my Lands and Goods to the Law yet my Person was under the King's Protection and I was pardoned that offence therefore I much wonder I should be now Arrested especially considering I am a Member of the Sacred College at Rome on whom no Temporal Man ought to lay hands Well I find the King wants good Counsellors about him He was then kept close in one of his Chambers and Dr. Austin his Physician was at the same time Arrested for High Treason and sent to the Tower The Cardinal's Goods were all seized and his Servants discharged And he himself was so dejected that he continually lamented his hard fortune with such a mean and unbecoming forrow as such haughty Spirits are
were obliged by Act of Parliament to pay the King one hundred eighteen thousand eight hundred and forty Pounds Cromwel after this came into great Favour with the King who made him a Knight Master of his Jewel House and a Privy Councellour and soon after Knight of the Garter Earl of Essex Lord Privy Seal and Lord Great Chamberlain of England and lastly he was constituted Vicegerent in all Ecclesiastical Affairs by Virtue whereof both in Parliament and elsewhere he had the precedence of the Archbishop of Canterbury This Authority he used upon all occasions for the extirpating Romish Superstition and Idolatry to which he always was an utter Enemy and for which there was a fair occasion offered For the King being inraged against the Pope for refusing to annul his Marriage with Queen Katherine though he had the Judgement of nineteen Universities on his side he resolved to have the matter determined by the Clergy of his own Kingdom and having summoned a Convocation they after mature debate declared the Marriage null and void from the beginning and confirmed the Kings second Marriage with Queen Ann of Bullen which he had consummated some time before And a Parliament being called several Acts were passed against the Popes Supremacy whereby all Clergymen that should make any appeal to Rome were declared guilty of a Praemunire and that the King should have power to visit examine and reform all the Monasteries and Nunneries of the Kingdom and should give Licenses for electing Bishops to all Vacancies without the Popes consent or approbation and declaring the King Supream Head on earth of the Church of England after which a stop was put to the Persecutions which the Protestant Ministers had suffered many of whom were cruelly burnt by the Popish Clergy for want of stronger Arguments to convince them The Nobility and Gentry were generally well satisfied with this change but the Body of the People who were more under the Power of the Priests were by them possest with great fears of a change of Religion being told that the King had now joined himself with Hereticks and that Queen Ann Cranmer now Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Cromwel favoured them For the Monks and Friers saw themselves left at the King's Mercy the Trads of new Saints was now at an end they had also some Intimations that Cromwel was forming a Project for suppressing Monasteries so that in Confessions and Discourses they infused into the People a dislike of the Kings Proceedings which prevail'd so far upon them as they afterward broke out into formidable Insurrections and Rebellions in divers Parts of the Kingdom Cromwel by his Vicegerency had precedence of all next the Royal Family and as the King came in the Popes Room so the Vicegerents Authority was in all Points the same that the Legates had in the time of Popery the first Act of Cromwel's after his being Vicar General was with a Delegation of the Kings Supremacy to him to visit all the Monasteries and Churches in England of which the Bishops and Abbots were so jealous that of their own accord before any Law was made about it they swore to maintain the Kings Supremacy however the Visitation went on throughout England and in many places monstrous disorders were found as the Sin of Sodomy in some barbarous Murthers and Cruelties in others Tools for false Coining in others and great Factions and Divisions in many The Report that was made contained many other abominable Crimes not fit to be named hereupon Cromwel procured the Parliament to pass an Act that thirty Persons Spiritual and Temporal such as his Majesty should impower under his Great Seal should have Authority to make and establish Laws and Ordinances Ecclesiastical which should be obligatory upon all the Subjects of this Realm and likewise that all Religious Houses either Monasteries Priories or Nunneries whose revenues did not exceed two hundred pounds a Year should be supprest and dissolved and all their Possessions and Lands setled on the Crown for ever And the Reasons alledged for doing this were because these Houses were erected upon gross abuses and subsisted by them the Foundation of all their Wealth being founded upon the belief of Purgatory and of the Virtue that was in Masses to redeem Souls out of it and that these eased the Torments of departed Souls and at last delivered them out of them so it past among all for a piece of Piety to Parents and of care for their own Souls and Families to endow those Houses with some Lands upon Condition they should have Masses said for them the number of which were usually according to the value of the Gift this was like to have drawn the whole Wealth of the Nation into those Houses had not some restraint been put to that Superstition they also perswaded the People that the Saints interceded for them and would kindly accept offerings made at their Shrines and the greater they were the more earnestly would they use their Interest for them The credulous Vulgar measuring the Court of Heaven by those on Earth believed that Presents might be very prevalent there so that every new Saint must have new Gifts presented him Likewise some Images were believed to have an extraordinary Virtue in them and Pilgrimages to them were much extolled and there was great Contention among the Monasteries every one magnifying their one Saints Images and Reliques above others the Wealth that these Follies brought in occasioned great Corruptions so that the Monks and Friers were very debaucht and very Ignorant And the begging Friers under the appearance of Poverty course Diet and Cloathing gained much esteem and became almost the only Preachers and Confessort in the World but not being able to conceal their Vices they were now fallen under much Scandal and a general Disesteem and the King designing to create new Bishopricks thought it necessary in Order thereto to make use of some of their Revenues and that the best way to bring them into his hands would be to expose their vices that so they might quite lose the esteem they yet had with some and it would be the less dangerous to suppress them Cromwel was imploy'd in this Reforming Work and for removing all Images and Superstitious Pictures out of the Churches many of the Abbots surrendred their Monasteries and in most Houses the Visitors made the Monks sign a Confession of their former Vices and Disorders in which they acknowledged their Idleness Gluttony and Sensuality for which the Pit of Hell was ready to swallow them up others acknowledged that they were sensible that the manner of their former pretended Religion consisting only in some Dumb Ceremonies whereby they were blindly led without any Knowledge of God's Laws and being exempted from the Authority of their own Bishops and wholly subjecting themselves to a Forreign Power who took no care to reform their abuses it had occasioned great disorders among them but the most perfect way of Life revealed by Christ and
by the Bearward who shewed it to a Priest he presently perceived it was a Refutation of the six Articles and told the Bearward that the Author would certainly be hanged The Secretary coming to demand his Book which he said was the Archbishops and offering him a Crown to Drink for saving it The Fellow being an obstinate Papist replied he would not part with it for five hundred Crowns The Secretary acquainting Cromwell with the matter he sent for the Bearward who guessing at the business brought the Book with intent to have delivered it to Stephen Gardiner or Sir Anthony Brown both inveterate Enemies to Protestancy Cromwell seeing him snatcht the Book from him and giving it to the Secretary Here says he I know this is your hand take it with you and Sirrah says he to the Fellow you deserve to be punisht for detaining a Privy Counsellor's Book when demanded you being fitter to meddle with Bears than matters of State And so Cranmer was preserved from the danger of Fire which at this time threatned him by Water The blow at Cromwel was suddenly given and being in disgrace he had the common Lot of discarded Favourites to be forsaken by his Friends and insulted over by his Enemies of whom Gardiner was the most implacable only Cranmer stuck to him and in a Letter to the King on his behalf he assured him He had always found that the Lord Cromwel ever loved his Majesty above all things and that he had served him with such Fidelity and Success that he was of the Opinion no King of England had ever a more faithful Minister wishing the King might find a Councellor who was as willing and able to do him Service as he was But the King being freed from his Marriage and having made Katherine Howard his Queen in a few Weeks after the Duke of Norfolk had now an opportunity to be revenged on him she being Daughter to the Lord Edmund Howard Brother to the Duke So that from henceforth the King looked discontentedly upon his former intimate Favourite and inward Counsellor as being told that he was the cause of all his late Troubles Those who had long desired his Downfal soon perceiving this Alteration drew up a long Bill of Attainder against him in the House of Lords which was read twice in one day and sent to the Commons who after ten days debate passed it whereby he was condemned for High Treason and Heresie by that unjust way of Attainder without coming to an Answer wherein it was set forth That though the King had raised him from a low Estate to high Dignities yet it appeared by many Witnesses that were Persons of Honour that he was the most corrupt Traytor that ever was known That joining with the last Queen Ann he had favoured the Lutherans above measure and so strongly supported them against the Catholick Prelates and Priests of this Kingdom that when he was told by some of the Clergy that they doubted not but the King would shortly curb their Boldness and Presumption the said Lord Cromwel did reply That he was sure of the King and that about two Years before he had said the Preaching of Barnes and other Hereticks was good and that he would not turn though the King did turn but if the King turned he would fight in Person against him and all that turned and drawing out his Dagger he wisht he might be pierced to the Heart with it if he did not do it And that if he lived a Year or two longer it should not be in the King's Power to hinder it That he had set many at liberty who were condemned or suspected of Misprision of Treason That he had given Licenses for Transporting out of the Kingdom things prohibited by Proclamation had granted Pasports without searching and had dispersed many erroneous Books contrary to the belief of the Sacrament And had said that every man might administer it as well as the Priest That he had Licensed several Preachers suspected of Heresie and had discharged many that were committed on that account That he had many Hereticks about him and had discouraged Informers He was likewise charged with Bribery and Oppression and that when he heard some Lords were consulting about him he threatned that he would raise great disturbances in England Many of these things were charged upon him in general but no particulars produced And the words about the King being sworn to have been spoken two years before it was strange that they should be so long concealed considering the powerful Adversaries which he had As to the Licenses it was thought he had the King's Order for what he did in it Bribery and Oppression seem to be added only to render him odious who always appeared of a quite contrary temper And therefore Authors think that the chief cause of the King's Indignation was that having discovered his affection for the Lady Katherine Howard to him Cromwell used some words in defence of Queen Ann of Cleve and in dislike of the Lady Katherine which so much displeased the King that he thereupon delivered him up into the hands of his Enemies who thirsted for his Blood and fearing that he would clear himself from all their Calumnies by a Legal Trial they Tried Judged and Condemned him by a way which seems both against Nature and Reason and Justice not being suffered to appear or speak a word in his own defence When he was Prisoner in the Tower several Commissioners were sent thither to examine him who found him in a very composed sedate frame bearing his affliction with a Patient and Christian Constancy of Mind not at all ruffled with the suddenness of his Fall for he foresaw the Tempest before it came and prepared for the same And being sensible of the vigilance power and malice of his adversaries he called his Servants before him and told them that he found himself upon a very uncertain foundation and that a storm was approaching and therefore charged them that they should manage all their affairs with Uprightness and Justice that so he might not be blamed or suffer by any misdemeanors of theirs He entertained the Commissioners with much gravity and freedom and answered all their Interrogatories with great moderation and discretion being as well informed in all matters Ecclesiastical or Civil as themselves He once desired one of these Commissioners supposed to be Stephen Gardiner his most implacable Enemy to carry a Letter from him to the King who replied That he would carry no Letter to the King from a Traytor Then said the Lord Cromwell Pray deliver a Message to him by word of Mouth This he consented to provided it were not against his Allegiance ' Well my Lords said he to the rest pray be witnesses of what this Lord hath promised Pray then present my duty to the King and tell him That when he hath tried and proved you so throughly as I have done he will find you the falsest man that ever he had
Insurrection And the Lord Grey Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Rawleigh professed Enemies to Essex and no mean instruments in his destruction fell into a Treason of a like depth with his in the Reign of K. James I. Gray and Cobham dying miserably in Prison and Rawleigh being beheaded at Tower-hill Remarks on the Life Actions and Fatal Fall of George Villers Duke of Buckingham Favourite to King James I. and King Charles I. THIS Favourite rose upon the Fall of the E. of Somerset upon whom K. James had heaped many honours advancing him from a Knight to Viscount Rochester Privy Counsellor E. of Somerset and L. Chamberlain But his Glory was soon overclouded for having married the Countess of Essex who had been divorâ—ed from her Husband the Son of the preceding Favourite that unfortunate Knight Sir Tho. Overbury for speaking against the Match was by their procurement poysoned in the Tower 〈◊〉 which the Earl and Countess were both Condemned but Pardoned and banisht the Court. K. James who could not live without a bosom Favourite cast his Eye upon George Villers a young Gentleman of a fine shape second Son to Sir George Villers of Brooksby in Leicestershire with whom the K. was so taken finding him a man of quick understanding and fit to make a Courtier that he advanced him by degrees in honour next to himself making him first a Knight then Gentleman of his Bedchamber Viscount Master of the Horse Lord Admiral Earl Marquess and lastly D. of Buekingham And now lying in the King's Bosom every man paid Tribute to his Smiles and he managed all affairs putting men in or out of Office according to his pleasure Yet his Mother who was a Papist having a great hand in all business and a great power over her Son directed him in all matters of Profit and Concernment and was addressed to first in order to procure any favour from him Which caused Gondemar the Spanish Ambassador to write merrily to his Master ' That there was never more hope of England's Conversion to Rome than now for there were more Prayers and Oblations offered here to the Mother than to the Son He Married the Earl of Rutlands Daughter the greatest Match in the Kingdom who pretended to be a zealous Protestant but his Mother and the Jesuits reduced her to the Popish Religion so that between a Mother and a Wife Buckingham himself grew very indifferent being neither Papist nor Protestant K. James affected the name of a Peace-maker and designing the general quiet of Europe and the reconciling all parties he professed that if the Papists would renounce their K. killing Doctrine and some other gross errors he was willing to meet them half way And being zealous also to maintain the height of Regal Majesty after the death of Prince Henry he resolved to match his Son Prince Charles with some Princess of most high Descent though of a different Religion And there having been a Treaty of Marriage between P. Henry and a Daughter of Spain wherein the Spaniards deluded him with their accustomed gravity and formality he now set his thoughts upon a Match with France which the Spanish King doubting would be to his disadvantage he made new Overtures for a Marriage with his Daughter to Sir John Digby the King's Ambassador there though with as little sincerity as before And at length Articles were agreed on and signed by K. James whereby the Children of this Marriage were not to be constrained to be Protestants nor to lose their right of succession if they were Catholicks The Pope's Dispensation was to be procured the new Queen was to have Popish Chaplains Priests Confessors and all other Privileges The K. was mightily pleased with this Alliance but the People as much displeased who had not forgot the intended cruelty of 1588. and dreaded the consequence of this Popish Contract But the K. not thinking that the business went on with that speed he desired sends the Prince and Buckingham to Spain to consummate the Marriage where he is received with all manner of magnificence by that King and universal joy of that People in hope the Prince would turn Catholick they generally discoursing That he came thither on purpose to become a Christian Neither were any endeavours wanting to seduce him Pope Gregory writing a smooth Letter to him Yea condescended to write another to Buckingham his Guide and Familiar to incline him to the Romish Religion The Prince returned an answer to the Pope's Letter and among other expressions says ' Your Holines's conjecture of our desire to contract an Alliance and Marriage with a Catholick Family and Princess is agreeable both to your Wisdâ—m and Charity for we would never desire so vehemently to be joined in a strict and indissoluble Bond with any Mortal whatsoever whose Religion we hated For it is very certain I shall never be so extreamly affectionate to any thing in the World as to endeavour Alliance with a Prince that hath the same apprehension of the True Religion with my self Therefore I intreat your Holiness to believe that I have been always far from incouraging Novelties or to be a Partizan of any Faction against the Catholick Apostolick Roman Religion 〈…〉 on the contrary I have sought all occasions to take away â—…picion that might rest upon me And I will imploy my self for the time to come to have but One Religion and one Faith seeing that we all believe in one Jesus Christ Having resolved in my self to spare nothing that I have in this World and to suffer all manner of discommodities even to the hazard of my Estate and Life for a thing so pleasing to God I pray God to give your Holiness a blessed Health here and his Glory after so much Travel which yor Holiness takes within his Church After a while the Match was concluded in England and the Articles sworn to by K. James and some private ones much in favour of the Papists And the King was so transported with the assâ—rance of it that he was heard to say ' Now all the Devils in Hell cannot hinder it But a stander by said to one of his Attendants ' That there was never a Devil now left in Hell for they were all gone into Spain to make up the Match And indeed the Spirit of the Nation was so averse to this Union that they boldly vented their Sentiments both with their Tongues and â—ens And among others Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury writ a very warm Letter to the K. against a Toleration of Popery which was one of the Articles agreed to The Treaty was likewise Signed and Sealed by the K. of Spain and the Prince Who also obliged himself That as often as the Infanta pleased he would hearken to such Catholick Divines as she should appoint to debate matters of Religion with him but would never dissuade her from her own Religion and would take care to abrogate all the Laws made against Catholicks in three years But after all this Match