Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n
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A29172
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The great point of succession discussed with a full and particular answer to a late pamphlet, intituled, A brief history of succession, &c.
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Brady, Robert, 1627?-1700.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing B4191; ESTC R19501
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63,508
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40
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felt the effects of this popular Doctrine which the Archbishop had instilled into the peoples heads For they growing weary of his Government that was partly Arbitrary and Tyrannical withdrew their Obedience from him and elected Lewis Son to the French King which how they could do and not be guilty of Rebellion I am not able to understand but however it was not as my Pamphleteer would have it more easily consented to by Philip his Father because King John had been condemned and attained for Treason in his Brother Richards time because he was pardoned all his Crimes by that King as * Vit. R. 1. f. 176. M. Paris will inform him but because he stood attainted for the Murder of †M. Paris f. 281. M. Westm f. 275. Duke Arthur for which he had in France been try'd by his Peers and condemned But King John dying in the midst of these Troubles his Son Henry the Third being then under Age was advanced to the Throne by the Loyal endeavours of the Earl Marshall and the Legate Walo with several other Great Men who Westminster the usual place of Coronation being in the hands of Lewis and the Rebel Lords before the great Altar in the Conventual Church at Gloucester annointed and solemnly crowned him sayes the ‖ Est Henricus Johannis primogenitus in regem inunctus solenniter coronatus M. Westm f. 277. Historian And tho' from the Speech which was made to that party of the Nobility that was there then by the Earl Marshall 't is pretended that Henry was Elected yet I dare say if any one do but imparâ—â—â—ly consider the Tenor of it he will find that the Design of it was rather to persuade those present to return to their Duty and acknowledge him for their King whom God and Nature had designed for that great Charge for he begins his Discourse to 'em thus ** H. Knighton l. 2. c. 15. f. 2426. Ecce Rex Vester which he certainly then could not be if their Election were necessary to make him such and amongst the rest of his Arguments sayes to 'em thus hunc igitur libeat regem dicere cui ipsum regnum debetur You ought to choose him to whom the Kingdom is due which surely it can be to none if it be not Hereditary and what puts all out of doubt that the Kingdom was not then and if not then I am sure never since Elective is the Ansvver of Hubert de Burgh that great both Statesman and Souldier to Lewis vvhen he summon'd him to deliver up Dover to him since his Master for vvhose use and service he had so long and valiantly defended it vvas dead ††Si Dominus meus mortuus est habet filios filias qui ei succedere debent M Par. vit H. 3. in prin If my old Master sayes he be dead he has left behind him Sons and Daughters which ought to succeed him A thing he never vvould have asserted had he not thought there had been a Divine Right somevvhere else than in the people Henry the Third being gone the vvay of all Flesh his Eldest son Edward succeeded him a Prince of most extraordinary hopes and vvhose Life let the World see it vvas not deceived in him this Prince at his Fathers death vvas absent in the Holy Land in pursuit of Honour there yet notvvithstanding in a great Council held at London ‖‖ Edwardum absentem Dominum suum Ligeum recognoverunt paternique Successorem honoris ordinaverunt Tho. Walsingh vit E. 1. f. 43. he was recognized and acknowledged to be their Natural Liege Lord and Lawful Successor to his Fathers Throne We meet not here vvith any thing like Election vvhich no doubt vve should not fail to do if there vvere any such thing practised But because we are told page 6 that whether Edward were the Eldest Son of his Father or no remains a doubt in History I shall endeavor notwithstanding the pretences of the House of Lancaster to the contrary whose Interest it was as the Foundation upon which the Justness to their Claim to the Crown was founded to have it thought otherwise assure him from one that had as good an Opportunity and great Reason to know as any man that Edmund was six years younger than his Brother Edward For says M. Paris who lived in the Time of Henry the 3 d. and was very great at Court * M. Par. 488. Edward was born the 15th day of May An. 1239. at Westm and upon S. Marcellus's day An. 1245 †M. P. f. 654. Queen Elianor presented the King with another Son who by his Command was called Edmund and tho' it was sometimes said he was put by for his Deformity yet 't is well known how notoriously false that Scandal is For he had his Name Crouch back not because he was crooked but by reason of a Cross he used as did all those that took upon them the Croisado to wear upon it The next was that Unfortunate Prince Edward 2. who suffering himself to be too much guided by his Minions fell at length into some arbitrary and irregular Courses that brought the hatred and ill will of his Subjects to that degree upon him that by the disloyal and ambitious Practices of his lustful and lascivious Queen and undutiful and unnatural Son he was at last deprived both of his Crown and Life an Action so inhumane barbarous and detestable and every way so unjustifiable that I cannot but wonder with vvhat Brow and Conference any man can bring that as an Instance of the Power of Parliaments At this rate the blackest Villanies that Hell can invent may be defended if it be but as sucessful as 't is impious Besides should we but once allow it lawful for Subjects when they think fit to depose and murder or as then 't is call'd bring to Justice their Princes we shall not only undermine the very Foundations of all Government but give a fatal Blow even to Christianity it self And well might the poor Prince solace himself in the midst of all his almost insupportable Afflictions with the hopes of having his Son whose Wickedness he was ignorant of Reign after For it would be no doubt no small comfort to him to think that those Men who in Contempt and open Defiance to the Laws of God and Nature had proceeded to perpetrate so horrid a Crime that a Heathen of the true Roman Stamp would have blush'd at the thoughts of should not yet so far forget themselves as to reject every Branch of that Tree at whose Root they had struck so great a Blow Surely from Times so disturbed and unsettled as these Men of either Honesty or Common Sence will not offer to bring Presidents to direct themselves by After a long and Glorious Reign Edward the Third who after the Death of Edward the Black Prince had in Parliament created Richard of Burdeaux Earl of Chester and Prince of Wales in a short
time after left the Crown to this Young Prince another of our unfortunate Kings †P. Virg. lib. 19. 20. and so far is it from being true that his Title to the Crown was questioned by John of Gaunt the great Duke of Lancaster that he was at the latter end of his Father's Reign intrusted with the Lieutenancy of the Realm and after his Death was Protector to the Young King during his Minority which certainly had never been if John of Gaunt jure propinquitatis had claim'd the Crown it being dangerous to put so great a Trust and Power into the hands of a Competitor Nor was ever the Succession confirm'd to him by Parliament any otherwise than I have mentioned Neither can Polydore's Regem dicunt if you leave out this Gentleman 's disingenuous Addition of by their Common Suffrages for there is no such thing in the Original signifie any more than that he was proclaimed King But it would be well for this unhappy Prince if he might but as quietly quit as he enter'd into the Throne but alas it fell out quite otherwise For King Richard being made Prisoner by his Cousin Henry of Lancaster a Parliament was Summoned by him in the King's Name in the one and twentieth year of his Reign to meet at Westminster An action certainly illegal in it self for if the Kings Summons were necessary as it appears it was I would gladly know how it can be pretended in this Case that this Parliament did convene by his Authority for tho' the Writs were issued out in his Name yet was he so far from consenting to it that if it had lay'n in his power he would have prevented it But this Assembly or Parliament call it what you will being got together I would fain be inform'd upon what Law or Authority I mean Legal they grounded their following Proceedings for if the Breath of the Kings Nostrils was necessary to give them their Being it is a little irrational to suppose they could thence derive a Lawful Power to destroy the Author of their Life besides how can it be supposed they could proceed justly to pass a Final Sentence upon Him whose concurrance was absolutely required to give birth to any Law which might concern his meanest Subjects tho' they thought it ne're so convenient and why should we believe it in the Power of the Estates of the Realm to impose any thing upon the King when he could bind them to observe nothing without their consent first obtained and yet our Pamphleteer is not ashamed to avouch this as a President of Parliamentary Power in the Point of Succession But if we do but examine the matter a little more narrowly we shall find it makes very little for his purpose unless it be his Design and a man must have a great deal of Charity to believe it is not to instruct the people how to proceed in case their King will not do as they would have him for we shall find that tho' they usurped the exorbitant Power of Deposing Richard yet did they not pretend to the power of Electing who they pleas'd but thought themselves in duty bound to submit to him to whom by Right of Blood the Crown did belong And this evidently appears from Henry Duke of Lancaster's manner of laying Claim to the Crown for no sooner was the Throne void by the pretended voluntary Resignation of King Richard but Henry first having fortified himself with the sign of the Cross stood up and made his demand of the Crown in his Mother-Tongue in this form of Word as I have extracted them out of the * Rot. Parl. 1 H. 4. memb 20. Parliament Roll In the Name of the Fader Sonne and Holy Gost I Henry of Lancastre challenge this Rewme of Ynglonde and the Corone with all the Membres and the Appurtenances al 's I that am descendit by ryght line of the blode comyng fro the gude Lord King Henry therde By this you may see vvhat it vvas he laid the stress of his Claim on and thorghe that Right that God of his Grace hath sent me He it seems acknovvledges God and not the people for the Author of his Right with the help of my Ryn and of my Friendes to recover it the which Rewme was in point to be ondone for defaut of Governance and undoyng of the gude Lawes After which Chalenge and Claim says the Record as well the Lords Spiritual as Temporal all and all the States there present being severally and all interrogated what they thought of the aforesaid Challenge and Claim The above-named States with all the Commonalty without any difficulty or delay unanimously agreed that the aforesaid Duke should reign over them And this being the Naked Truth of the matter I cannot imagine with what propriety of Speech this can be called an Election or what reason this Gentleman had for to say that the above-mentioned Title was the least of all insisted on when it appears from the Roll as I have faithfully translated it that no other was so much as mentioned And thus we have heard how the poor and unfortunate Prince Richard the Second from whose Actions if they be but examined with an impartial Eye we cannot conclude him to have been either very insufficient or evil if we soberly weigh the Imputations that were objected against him we shall find nothing of any truth or at least any moment was in a tempestuous Rage deprived of his Right and upon what Grounds Henry 4. mounted his Throne But how justly even in the Opinion of some at that time you will best be inform'd from Thomas Merks Bishop of Carlisle a wise and Learned man and of no less Courage who when it was moved in Parliament what should be done with King Richard He boldly stood up and spoke to this Effect as it is set down by * Bak. Chron. f. 158. Sir Richard Baker and since it is so much to the purpose I hope the reader will not be displeased with the length of it My Lords The matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein there are two points chiefly to be considered The First Whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne The Second whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say the Head may how it self down and may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by Force And who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason For what Conquest without Arms And can a Subject take up Arms and not be Treason If you say by Election of the State you