his foure and thirtieth yeare of the King of France three millions of crownes of Gold In his twelveth yeare he had taken from the Priors Aliens their houses lands and tenements for the maintenance of his French warres which he kept twenty yeares in his ãâã and then restored them againe In his six and thirtieth year was greater twenty sixe shillings eight pence for transportation of every sacke of Wooll for three yeareâ In the five and fortieth yeare of his Raigne in a Parliament at Westminster the âlergy granted him fifty thousand pounds to be paid the same yeare and the Laiây as much which was levâed by setting a certaine rate of five pounds fifteene shillings upon every Parish which were found in the 37â Shires to be eight thousand and sixe hundred and so came in the whole to fifty thousand one hundred eighty one pounds and eight pence but the 181. li. was abated to the Shires of Suffolkâ and Devonshire in regard of their poverty In his eight and fortieth yeare in a Parliament is granted him a tenth of the Clergy a fifteenth of the Laity In his fiftiâh year a Subsidy of a new nature was demanded by the young Prince Richard whom being buâ eleven years of age the Duke of Lancaster had brought into the Parliament of purpose to make the demand to have two tenths to be paid in one yeare or twelve pence in the pound of all Merchandises sold for one yeare and one pound of silver for every knights Fee and of every Fire-house one penny but instead of this Subsidy after much altercation there was granted another of as new a nature as this that every person man and woman within the kingdome above the age of foureteene yeares should pay foure pence those who lived of Almes onely excepted the Clergy to pay twelve pence of every Parson Beneficed and of all other religious persons foure pence a mighty aide and such as was never granted to any King of England before Of his Lawes and Ordinances HE instituted the Order of the Garter upon what cause is not certaine the common opinion is that a Garter of his owne queene or as some say of the Lady Ioane Countesse of Salisbury slipping off in a Dance King Edward stooped and tooke it up whereat some of his Lords that were present smiling as at an amorous action he seriously said it should not be long ere Soveraigne honour should be done to that Garter whereupon he afterward added the French Morto Honi soit qui maly pense therein checking his Lords sinister suspition Some conjecture that he instituted the Order of the Garter for that in a battell wherein he was victorious he had given the word Garter for the word or signe and some againe are of opinion that the institution of this Order is more ancient and begunne by King Richard the first but that this King Edward adorned it and brought it into splendour The number of the knights of this Order is twenty sixe whereof the King himselfe is alwayes one and president and their Feast yearely celebrated at Windsor on Saint Georges day the Tutelar Saint of that Order The lawes of the Order are many whereof there is a booke of purpose In the five and thirtieth yeare of his Raigne he was earnestly Petitioned by a Parliament then holen that the great Charter of Liberties and the Charter of Forests might be duly observed and that the great Officers of the kingdome should as in former times be elected by Parliament to which Petition though the King at first stood stiffe upon his owne Election and Prerogative yet at last in regard to have his present turne served as himselfe after confessed he yeelded that such Officers should receive an Oath in Parliament to doe justice to all men in their Offices and thereupon a Statute was made and confirmed with the Kings Seale both for that and many other Grants of his to his Subjectsâ which notwithstanding were for the most part shortly after revoked This King also causeth all Pleas ãâã were before in Frenâh to be made in English that the Subject might understand the course of the Law Also in his time an Act was passed for Purveyours that nothing should be taken up but for ready money upon strict punishment In the next Parliâment holden the seven and thirtieth yeare of his Raigne certaine Sâmpâuary Lawes were ordained both for apparell and diet appointing every degree of men the stuffe and habits they should weare prohibiting the weaâing of gold and silver silkes and rich furres to all buâ eminent persons The labâârer and husbandman ãâã âppointed but one ãâã dayâ and what meates he should ãâã Also in his time at the instance of the Loââonersâ an Act was made that no common Whore should weaâe any Hood except striped with divers colours nor Furres but Garments reversed the wrong side outward This King also was the first that created Dukesâ of whom Henry of Bâllingbrâoke ãâã of Lancaster created Duke of Lancaster in the seven and twentieth yeare of his Raigneâ was the first But afterward he erected Cornwall also into a Dutchy and conferred it upon the Prince after which time the Kings eldest sonne used alwayes to be Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester This King altered monies and abated them in weight yet made them to passe according to the former value Before his time there were no other peeces but Nobles and halfe Nobles with the small peeces of Silver called Sterlings but ââw Groats of foure pence and halfe Groats of two pence equivalent to the Sterling money are coyned which inhaunsed the prises of things that rise or fâll according to the plenty or scarcity of coyne which made Servants and Labourers to râise their wages accordingly Whereupon a Statute was made in the Parliament now held at Westminster to reduce the same to the former rate Also an Act was made in this Kings time that all Weares Mils and other stoppages of Rivers hindering the passage of Boats Lighters and other Vessels should be removed which though it were most commodious to the kingdome yet it tooke little effect by reason of bribing and corrupting Lords and great men who regarded more their owne private then the publike benefit In a Parliament holden the tenth yeare of his Raigne it was enacted that no Wooll growing within the Realme should be transported but that it should be made in Cloath in Peter-pence are forbidden by the King to be paid any more to Rome The câstome of washing poore mens feete on Maundy-Thursday thought to have beene first brought in by this King Affaires of the Church in his time KING Edward upon some displeasure had imprisoned divers Clergy men whereupon Iohn Stratford Arch-bishop of Canterbury writes him a Letter charging him with violation of the Rights of the Church and with the breach of Magna Charta and after much good counsell given him threatens that if he amend not these disorders he must and
was begun to be built Also in his time Sir Robert Knolls made the Stone bridge of Rochester in Kent and founded in the Town of Pomfret a Colledge and an Hospitall he also re-edified the body of the White-Friers Church in Fleetstreet where he was afterward buried Which Church was first founded by the Ancestours of the Lord Grey of Codnor In the eighth yeare of his Reigne Richard Whittington Major of London erected a house or Church in London to be a house of Prayer and named it after his own name Whittington Colledge with lodgings and weekly allowance for divers poore people He also builded the Gate of London called Newgate in the yeare 1420 which was before a most loathsome prison He builded also more than halfe of St. Bartholmews Hospitall in West-Smithfield and the beautifull Library in the Gray Friars in Londonâ now called Christs Hospitall He also builded a great part of the east end of Guildhall and a Chappell adjoyning to it with a Library of stone for the custodie of the Records of the Citie But he that exceeded all at this time in works of Piety was William Wickham Bishop of Winchester his first worke was the building of a Chappell at Tychfield where his Father Mother and Sister Perrât was buried Next he founded at Southwick in Hampshire neere the Towne of Wickham the place of his birth as a supplement to the Priorie of Soutâwicke a Chauntry with allowance for five Priests for ever He bestowed twenty thousand marks in repairing the houses belonging to the Bishopricke he discharged out âf Prison in all places of his Diocesse all such poore prisoners as lay in execution for debt under twenty pounds he amended all the high-wayes from Winchester to London on both sides the River After all this on âhe fifth of March 1379 he began to lay the foundation of that magnificent Structure in Oxford called New-Colledge and in person layd the first stone thereof in which place before there stood Naetius-Colledge built by Alver at Nâtius intreaty and for the affinity of the name came to be called New-Colledge In the yeare 1387 on the 26 of March he likewise in person layd the first stone of the like foundation in Winchester and dedicaâââ the same as that other in Oxford to the memory of the Virgin Mary The Grocerâ in London purchased their Hall in Cuââyhope Lane for 320 marks and then layd thâ foundation thereof on the tenth of May. King Henry founded the Colledge of Fââringhey in Northamptoâshire to which King Heâry the fifth gave land of the Priories of Monkes Aliens by him suppressed Iohn Gower the famous Poet new builded a great part of St. Mary Overyes Church in Southâârke where he lyes buried In the second yeare of this king a new market in the Poultry called the Stocks was builded for the free sale of Forreign Fishmongers and Butchers In his twelveth yeare the Guildhall of London was begun to be new Edified and of a little Cottage made a goodly house as now it is Casualties happening in his time IN his third yeare in the Moneth of March appeared a Blazing-starre first betwixt the East and the North and then sending forth fiery beams towards the North foreshewing perhaps the effusion of bloud that followed after in Wales and Northumberland In the same yeare at Danbury in Essex the Devill appeared in likenesse of a Gray-Frier who entring the Church put the people in great fear and the same houre with a tempest of Whirlewinde and Thunder the top of the steeple was broken down and halfe the Chancell scattered abroad In his seventh yeâre such abundance of water brake suddenly over the Banks in Kent that it drowned Cattell without number Also this yeare the Town of Reystone in Hartfordshire was burnt In his ninth yeare was so sharpe a winter and such abundancâ of snow continuing December Ianuary February and March that almost all small Birds died through hunger Of his Wives and Children HE had two Wives the first was Mary one of the Daughters and heirs of Hâmphrey de Boâun Earle of Hereford Essex and Northampton she died before he câme to the Crowne in the yeare 1394. His second Wife was Ioane Daughter to Charles the first king of Navarre she being the widdow of Iohn de Montford surnamed Streaây or the Conquerour Duke of Brittaine who dyed without any issue by king Henry at Havering in Essex the yeare 1437 in the fifteenth yeare of king Henry the sixth and lyeth buried by her husband at Canterbury He had foure Sons and two Daughters Of his Sons Henry his eldest was Prince of Wales and after his Father king of England His second Son was Thomas Duke of Clarence and Steward of England who was slaine at Beaufort in Anjoâ and dyed without issue His third Son was Iohn Duke of Bedford he married first with Anne Daughter to Iohn Duke of Burgundie and secondly with Iacoba Daughter of Peter of Luxenbourgh Earle of St. Paul but dyed also without issue His fourth Son was Humphry by his brother king Henry the fifth created Duke of Gloucester and was generally called the good Duke he had two Wives but dyed without issue in the yeare 1446 and was buried at St. Albans though the vulgar opinion be that he lyes buried in St. Pauls Church Of king Henry the fourths Daughters Blanch the elder was married to Lewis Barbatus Palatine of the Rhene and Prince Elector Philippe his younger Daughter was married to Iohn king of Denmarke and Norway Of his Personage and Conditions COncerning his Body he was of a middle stature slender limbes but well proportioned Concerning his Minde of a serious and solid disposition and one that stood more upon his own legges than any of his Predecessors had done in cases of difficulty not refusing but not needing the advice of others which might confirme but not better his own He was neither merry nor sad but both best pleas'd when he was opposed because this was like to doe him good by sharpening his invention most angry when he was flattered because this was sure to doe him hurt by dulling his judgement No man ever more loved nor lesse doted upon a wife than he a good husband but not uxorious that if there be reines to that Passion we may know he had them It may be thought he affected the Crown not so much out of Ambition as out of Compassion because the oppreâsions of his Country he could not so well helpe being a Subject as a King for otherwise we may truly say he was a loser by the Crowne being not so great for a King as he was before for a Subject The Crowne rather was a gainer by him which hath ever since been the richer for his wearing it We may thinke he was either weary of his life or longing for death for why else would he take upon him the Crusado having been told by a skilfuâl Southsayer that he should dye in Ierusalem but it seemes he did not believe
be with childe by Edward Seymoure Earl of Hertford who being at that time in France was presently sent for and being examined before the Archbishp of Canterbury and affirming they were lawfully married but not being able within a limited time to produce witnesses of their marriage they were both committed to the Tower where she was brought to Bed and after by the Connivence or Corruption of their Keepers being suffered sometimes to come together Shee was with childe by him again which made the Queen more angry then before so as Sir Edward Warner Lieutenent of the Tower was put out of his place and the Earle was fined in the star-chamber five thousand pounds and kept in prison nine yeers after Though in pleading of his Case One Iohn Hâles argued They were lawfull man and wife by virtue of their owne bare Consent without any Ecclesicsticall Ceremonie The Lady a few yeers after falling through grief into a mortall Sicknesse humbly desired the Queens Pardon for having married without her knowledge and commending her children to her clemency dyed in the Tower At this time the King being under Age dissentions amongst the Peeres grew hot in Erance of which there were two Factions Both pretending the cause of Religion of the One the Duke Guise a Paipst was Head of the other the Prince of Conde a Protestant but while Delirant Reges Plectunter Achiui while these Princes are at variance the people suffer for it and chiefly as being under the weaker protection the Protestant Party where upon Queene Elizabeth having well learned the Lesson Tum tua res agitur partis cum proximus ardetâ and fearing least the flaim of their dissention might kindle a fire within her owne Kingdome sent over Sir Henry Sidney Lord Presiden of Wales into France to endeavour by all possible means their reconcilement which when hee could not effect and perhaps it was never meant he should effect it but onely to see what invitations would be made to the Queen for her assistance she thereupon at the moan of the afflicted Protestants sent over an Army of six thousand Souldiers under the Conduct of the Earl of Warwick in assistance of the Prince of Conde and other Protestant Lords who delivered to him the Town of Newhaven to hold in the King of France his name untill such time as Calice were restored But the Prince of Conde marching to joyn with the English Forces was by the Duke of Guise interrupted and taken prisonerâ which had been a great disappointment to the English but that the Duke of Colin joyned with him besieged Caen in Normandy and took it togeâher with Bayeux Faleise and Saint Lo. The French Hostages that were pledges for the payment of five hundred thousand Cowns if Calice were not restored were remaining still in England who perceiving there was like to be War with France prepared secretly to get away but being ready to take Shipping were discovered and brought back again In the mean while the Prince of Conde drawn on with a hope to marry the Queen of Scots and to have the chief Government in France during the Kings Minority concluded a Peace with the King and with the Guises so as now all French as well Protestants as Papists required to have Newhaven delivered up But the Earl of Warwick perceiving the âicklenesse of the French Protestants First to make suâe to draw him into France and now upon so slight occasion to require him to be gone he shutteth all ârench both Protestants and Papists oât of the Town and layes hold of their Ships the French on the other side make ready to set upon the Town saying They fought not now for Religion but for their Countrey wherefore it was meet that both Protestants and Papists should joyn their Forces seeing they had already concluded a Peace betwixt themselves And hereupon the Duke of Memorancy sent a Trumpetter to the Earl of Warwick commanding him yeeld the Town who making answer by Sir Hugh Pawlet That he would never yeeld it without the Queens leave he thereupon besieged the Town and with great violence of Battery sought to get it by force Which Queen Elizabeth hearing she sent a Commission to the Earl of Warwick to yeeld it up if upon honourable Conditions which soon after was accordingly done after the English had held it eleven months and then the Earl without any dishonour for yeelding up a Town which the Pestilence made him no lesse unwilling then unable to hold he returned into England but that which was more dolefull then the losse of Newhaven he brought the Pestilence with him into England The recovery of this Town not onely made the French to triumph but hereupon the Chancellor of France pronounced openly That by this Warre the English had lost all their Right to Calice and were not to require it any more seeing it was one of the Conditions That neither of the Nations should make Warre upon the other which was the Point stood upon by the King of France and his mother when Queen Elizabeth sent Sir Thomas Smith to demand Calice to be restored At this time there were such crosse designes amongst the Princes of Christendome that a very good Polititian could hardly understand their Ayms The Duke of Guise being slain in the Civill Warre the Queen of Scots Dowry was not paid her in France and the Scots were put off from being the Kings Guard This exceedingly displeased the Queen of Scots but then to please her againâ and for fear lest hereupon she should apply her self to the friendship of the English her Unkle the Cardinall of Lorrain solicites her afresh to marry Charls Duke of Austria offering her for her Dowry the County of Tyroll The Queen of Scots to make use of her Unkles fear and perhaps to bring Queen Elizabeth into an opinion of depending upon her acquaints her with this motion and therein requires her advice Queen Elizabeth not willing she should marry with any forraign Prince perswades her to take a husband out of England and particularly commended to her the Lord Robert Dudley whose wife a little before had with a fall broke her neck promising withall that if she would marry him she should then by Authority of Parliament be declared her successour in case she dyed without issue But when her Unkles and the Queen-Mother were informed of this motion they so much disdained the Marriage with Dudley that so she would refuse that Match and perseverein the friendship of the French they offered to pay her the Dowry money that was behinde and to restore the Scots to all their former liberties in France And as for the King of Spain he had indeed a Ligier Embassadour here in England but rather by way of complement and to watch advantages then for any sincere love which he began now to withdraw from the English as suspecting them to intend a Trade to the West Indies And now the French Protestants may see what they brought upon
VERA EFFIGIES EXCELLENTISSIMI PRINCIPIS CAROLI MAG BRITAN FRAN. HIBERNIAE HAEREDIS Viuat ô Viuat Princeps CAROLINUS et Orbi Imperet inÌumeris decorans sua sêcla Triumphis Flourish braue Prince out shine thy Glorious Name Triumphant Laurels ever Crowne thy Fame CAROLUS inter Reges ut Lilium inter Flores VEROLAM LINCOâââ LONDON YORK A ROMAN A SAXON A DANE A NOââââ CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND From the Time of the ROMANS Goverment unto the Raigne of our Soveraigne LORD KING CHARLES Containing all Passages of State Church With all other Observations proper for a CHRONICLE Faithfully Collected out of Authours Ancient and Moderne digested into a new Method By Sr R. Baker Knight LONDON Printed for Daniel Frere and are to be sold at his Shop at the Red Bull in Little Brittaine 1643. To the High and Mighty Prince CHARLES Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornewall Eldest Sonne of our Soveraigne Lord CHARLES King of Great Britaine France and IRELAND SIR THE Dedication of Chronicles hath in all times been thought worthy of the greatest Princes Gulielmus Gemiticensis writ a Chronicle of the Dukes of Normandy and Dedicated it to William the Conquerour Thomas Walsingham writ a Chronicle of the Kings of England and Dedicated it to King Henry the sixth And of late time Sir Francis Bacon Viscount Saint Albans and Lord Chancellour of England writ a History of the Reigne of King Henry the seventh and Dedicated it to Your Royall Grand-Father of blessed memory King Iames For indeed as nothing makes Princes more Illustrious then Learning So no Learning makes them more Judicious then History Other Learning may fill their mindes with knowledge This onely with Judgement And seeing it is Judgement that must sit as President over all their Actions it is fit that History should sit as President over all their Studies History gives an Antedate to Time and brings Experience without gray haires Other Knowledges make You but see Quod antepedes est History is the true perspective Glasse that will make You see things afarre off And though it make not men to become Prophets yet it makes their conjectures to be little lesse then Oraclesâ But most Illustrious Prince there accrues to your Highnesse by this Chronicle a greater benefit then all this For if it were an Excitation of great force to vertue to have it said Et Pater Aeneas Avunculus excitet Hector of how great Force must it needes be when You shall reade the Noble Acts of so many your worthy Progenitors Some Eternized for their valourous Atchievements in Warre Some for their prudent government in Peace Some Renowned for Mercy some for Justice And although the Example of your Royall Father be not amongst them yet it may be sufficient that while you have the Acts of others upon Record you have his under View by which he seemes to say unto you Disce Puer virtutem exme verumque laborem Fortunam ex aliis And if in any of your Progenitors there appeare as it were Maculae in Orbe Lunae will it not invite you to a higher Orbe that Your Actions may shine with the clearer Beames and then how happy will the eyes be that shall see you sitting in your Throne For my selfe I should account it happinesse enough that I have lived to see the dayes of your Illustrious Father if it were not a great unhappines to see them overcast with clouds yet when these clouds shal be dispel'd will it not make him shine with the greater Splendor And this as old as I am I doubt not to live my selfe to see and having once seene it shal then willingly say my Nunc Dimittis and lâave the joy of your glorious times for another Age In the meane time prostrating my self humbly at your feet and wishing to your Highnesse as Dâiphobus did to Aeneas I Decus I Nostrum Melioribus utere Fatis Your most humble and most devoted Servant RICHARD BAKER An Epistle to the READER THis Booke I suppose will no sooner come abroad but the question will be asked why any man would take so superfluous a Labour to write that which hath been written by so many by some so copiously by some so elegantly that nothing can be added To which Objection I confesse my selfe unable to make a better Answer then by President For when many excellent men had written the Story of the Roman Emperours both accurately and eloquently yet Suetonius Tranquillus comming after them wanted not his part of Commendation For though he added nothing in the matter or substance yet be altered much in the forme and disposition distinguishing that into Classes and Chapters which the former had delivered in one continued Narration as being both lesse tedious to the Reader like a way marked out by Miles and more plainly Informing where Distinction tooke away confusion Besides many have Written the Reignes of our English Kings copiously indeed but so superfluously that much may justly be pared away Some againe Elegantly indeed but so succinctly that much as justly may be added And this if I have endevoured to doe I cannot be blamed If done it I deserve acceptance Againe where many have written the Reignes of some of our Kings excellently as in the way of History yet I may say they have not done it so well in the way of Chronicle For whilst they insist wholly upon matters of State they wholly omit meaner Accidents which yet are Materials as proper for a Chronicle as the other For my selfe if in some places I be found to set downe whole passages as they are already set downe by others and may seeme rather to transcribe then to write yet this I suppose may be excused as being all of one common stocke and no matter from whence the water comes so it come cleane to the Readers use Lastly for the Worke it selfe I dare be bold to say that it hath beene Collected out of Authours both Ancient and Moderne with so great care and diligence that if all other Chronicles should be lost yet this onely would be sufficient to informe Posterity of all passages memorable or worthy to be knowne which of any other generall Chronicle cannot perhaps be said RICHARD BAKER A CATALOGVE OF VVRITERS BOTH ANCIENT AND MODERNE Out of whom this CHRONICLE hath beene Collected 1 GIldas Britannicus surnamed the Wise was the first writer of our English Nation who amongst other his Workes writ a Treatise De Excidio Britanniae He was borne in the year 493. and dyed in the yeare 580. 2 Nennius a Monke of Bangor writ the Story of Britaine and lived about the yeare 620. 3 Venerable Bede a Saxon and a Priest writ the Ecclesiasticall Story of the English Nation from the comming in of Julius Caesar to the yeare 733. about which time he dyed 4 Ethelwardus a writer next to Bede the most ancient writ a generall Chronicle from the Creation to the end of King Edgar 5 Radulphus de Diceto
differences in the Country But now the King of Spaine pretends a title to Aquitaine and to take him off King Henry sends to treate of a marriage betweene Prince Edward and his Sister Eleanor which being accepted by the King of Spaine the Marriage is solemnized at Burgos where the King of Spaine knights the Prince and quits his claime to Aquitaine for him and his Successours for ever and King Henry invests the Prince and his Wife in it and gives unto him besides Ireland Wales Bristow Stamford and Grantham and from hence it came that ever after this the Kings eldest Sonne was immediately upon his Birth Prince of Wales and Earle of Chester After this King Henry prepares to returne home and well he might having spent in this and his former Journeyes into those parts the summe of seven and twenty hundred thousand pounds More then all the Lands if they had beene sold were worth which when the King was told he desired there might be no words made of it for his credite And now being to returne he is desirous with the King of Frances leave to passe thorow France and comming to Paris with a thousand Horse where he stayed eight dayes is there most Royally Feasted by the King of France and he as royally Feasts the King of France againe But it is the Londoners and the Iewes that are like to pay for all For comming home about Christmas when the Londoners presented him with a hundred pounds in money and afterwards with two hundred pounds in Plate it was so sleighted and so ill taken that a hole was presently found in their coate for an escape of a Prisoner which cost them three thousand Markes Yet was not this enough but he takes good Fleeces from the Iews and then lets them out to Farme to his Brother Richard for a great summe of money and he to make what more of them he could Yet after all this he complaines of his Debts which he saith are at least three hundred thousand Markes which must needes be the heavyer to him because he had diminished his ownâ meanes by the allowance of fifteene thousand Markes per annum to his Sonne the Prince The onely hope is in the Parliament but a Parliament being called they fall presently upon their old Grievances complaining upon the King for breach of Charters and renuing their Claime to have the Chiefe Justiciar the Chancellour and Treasurer to be chosen by themselves so nothing was done for the King at this time and the Parliament being prorogued till Michaelmas after as little then by reason many of the Peeres came not as not being summoned according to the tenour of Magna Charta And now while the King was using meanes to winde himselfe out of Debt there happened occasions to put him further in For now Thomas Earle of Savoy the Queenes Brother being at warre with the City of Thuryn must be supplyed with money towards it by the King of England Now the Elect Bishop of Toledo the King of Spaines Brother comes into England and must be sumptuously Feasted and have great gifts presented him Now Eleanor the Princes Wife arrives with a multitude of Spaniards and must all be entertained at the Kings charge and have no small presents given them at their departure Now comes Rustandus from the Pope with power to Collect the Tenth of the Clergy for the Popes use and the Kings and to absolve him from his Oath of the Holy warre so he would come to destroy Manfred Sonne to the Emperour Fredericke now in possession of the kingdome of Sicilie and Apulia And this man likewise hath great gifts bestowed upon him besides a rich Prebend in Yorke But the Pope by too much seeking his profit loseth credit and all for the Clergy sleights him and will give him nothing and when he would have borrowed of the Earle of Cornwall five hundred Markes the Earle answered he liked not to lend his money to one upon whom he could not Distraine But King Henries greatest charge was his purchasing a kingdome for his Sonne Edmund for now comes the Bishop of Bânonia from the Pope with a Ring of Investiture to Prince Edmund in the kingdome of Sicilie which he pretends to be at his disposing and King Henry takes it in so good earnest that after this he cals his Sonne Edmund by no other name then King of Sicilie But all this was done by the Pope but to angle away King Henries money as indeed upon this hope he had drawne the King into the engagement of a hundred and fifty thousand Markes for to draw the King on it was given out that the Pope had deleâted all Manfreds Forces and was thereby in possession of the kingdome when the truth was that Manfred had defeated the Popes Forces and was thereby himselfe established in the kingdome The yeare 1275. the King keepes his Christmas at Winchester where new Grievances arise The Merchants of Gascogny having their Wines taken from them by the Kings Officers without satisfaction complaine to their Lord the Prince he to his Father and his Father having beene informed before-hand by his Officers that their clamour was unjust as relying upon the Princes favour he falls into a great rage with the Prince and breakes out into these words See! now my Blood and my owne Bowels impugne me but afterwards pacified he gives order the injuries should be redressed And now the Princes Followers themselves come to be a Grievance who relying upon their Master commit many outrages and spoyle and wrong men at their pleasure and the Prince himselfe is not altogether free of whom it is said that meeting a young man travailing by the way he caused one of his eares to be cut off and one of his eyes to be put out and many such prankes plaid by him and his Followers in Wales made the Welsh breake out into open Rebellion which the Prince would faine have suppressed but there was no money to be had towards the doing it And now the King fals to shifts he comes into the Chequer himselfe and there layes penalties upon Sheriffes that returne not their moneys in due time then he fals upon measures of Wine and Ale upon Bushels and Weights and something he gets but London is his best Cheqâer and every yeare commonly he hath one quarrell or other to the Londoners and they are sure to pay And now fals out an accident seeming of great honour but certainely of no profit to the kingdome Richard Earle of Cornwall the Kings Brother is Elected King of the Romans for although Alphonsus King of Spaine the great Mathematician were his Competitour yet Earle Richards money wrought more then his Learning and the Arch-bishop of Câllen comes over to fetch him and Crowned he is at Aquisgrane This Earle of Cornwall is reported able to dispend a hundred Markes a day âor ten yeares besides his Revenues in England But now as a man that payes deare for an Office lookes that his
of the Scots which came to the rescue thereof at Hallidowne-hill utterly defeated where were slaine seven Earles ninety knights and Bannerets foure hundred Esquires and about two and thirty thousand common Souldiers as our Writers report as theirs but foureteene thousand and with this effusion of bloud is Baylioll returned to his miserable kingdome and to hold good correspondence with the King of England hereafter doth him Homage for his Realme of Scotland and the Ilands adjacent But though he had a kingdome yet he had not quietnesse for many of the Scots aided by the French made warre upon him divers yeares after during all which time King David with his wife remained in France If any man marvell why King Edward would aide Bailioll against King David who had married his sister he may consider that Alliances how neare soever weigh but light in the Scales of State About this time the I le of Man is conquered by William Montacute Earle of Sâlisbury for which service King Edward gave him the Title of King of Man Of his Acts after he came of age ANd now Robert of Arthois banished out of France comes into England whom King Edward makes Earle of Richmond and of his Counsell This Robert perswades King Edward to make warre upon France to which Crowne he said he had more right then he that held it with whose perswasions King Edward is at last resolved to undertake the enterprise and to furnish himselfe of Noble Chiefetaines he at one time in a Parliament at Westminster the eighth yeare of his Raign creates sixe Earles Henry of Lancaster he made Earle Dârby William Montacute he made Earle of Salisbury Hugh Audeley Earle of Glocester William Clinton Earle of Huntington and Robert Clifford or Ufford Earle of Suffolke also twenty knights of whom Thomas de la Moore who writ the life of the Kings Father was one withall he enters League of amity with many Princes abroad with the Dukes and Eârles of Gelders Iulyers Cleves Heynault and Brabant and with the Arch-bishop of Colen and Valeran his brother as on the other side the King of France got to take his part the Bishop of Liege Iohn King of Bohemia Earle of Luxemburg Henry Count Palatine Aubert Bishop of Mets Otho Duke of Austria Ame Earle of Geneva with many other Princes and Captaines out of Germany Spaine and other Countries King Edward thus resolved in himselfe and furnished with friends abroad goes over into Flanders with his Queene and children makes his residence at Antwerp where by perswasion of the Flemings he takes upon him the Stile Title and Armes of the King of France for by this they accounted themselves disobliged of the Bond of twenty hundred thousand crownes which they had entred into never to beare Armes against the King of France and hereupon the League was established betweene them and King Edward And now King Edward for a beginning to put his claime in execution sets upon Cambray and enters France by the way of Vermandois and Thierach on the other side King Philip seiseth on the Dutchy of Guienne and sends thither the Conte d' Eu Constable of France with the Earles of Foix and Armigniack At last both Armies came so neare together that a fight was appointed the Friday after but upon better consideration the English thought it no discretion to give battell to an Army so much greater then their owne if they could avoid it and the French thought it as little discretion for them to hazard the person of their Prince within his owne kingdome and perhaps were not a little moved with the warning given them by Robert King of Sicilie a great Astronomer that he fore-saw by the Starres some great misfortune to threaten the French if they should that day fight with the Engliâh King Edward being present and thus both Armies having their severall reasons to decline the battell they parted without doing any thing onely an accident happened scarce worth remembring yet must be remembred A Hare starting out before the head of the French Army caused a great shout to be made whereupon they who saw not the Hare but onely heard the shout supposing it to be the onset to the battell disposed themselves to fight and foureteene Gentlemen for encouragements sake as the custome is were knighted called afterward in merriment knights of the Hare But now King Edward must a little looke home and therefore leaving the Queen in Brabant he passeth himselfe into England about Candlemas having beene in Brabant about a yeare and landing at the Tower about midnight and finding ât unguarded was so much displeased that he presently sends for the Major of âondon commanding him to bring before him the Chancellour and Treasurer with Sir Iohn Saint Paul Michael Watch Philp Thorpe Henry Stratford Clergy men who it seemes were Officers for his Receipts and Iohn Sconer Justice of the Bench all which except the Chancellour were apprehended and committed to prison as were afterward in like manner divers Officers of Justice and Accomptants upon inquiry made of their unjust proceeding During the Kings abode in England William Montacute Earle of Salisbury and Robert Ufford Earle of Suffolke leât in Flanders to oppose the French having performed divers great eâploits were aâ last in an encounter about Lisâe so overlaid by multitude as they were both taken and sent prisoners to Paris Besides about this time two accidents happened that were thought would be great rubs in King Edwards proceeding one that his Wives Father William Earle of Haynâult dying and leaving his sonne to succeed this son left his brother King Edward and fell to take part with the King of France the other that the Duke of Normandy thinking himselfe as strong as ever William Duââ of Normandy was that conquered England he saw no reason but he might conquer it as well as that William and thereupon makes preparation by Sea and Land to attempt the enterprise but these were but vapours that never came to be winds at least brought no stormes for Iohn Earle of Haynault had quickly enough of the King of France and was soone after reconciled to his brother King Edward and the Duke of Normandy went no further then preparations for indeed King Edwââd prosecuted his courses against France with such heate that all the neighbouring Princes seeing a fire kindled so neare their owne borders were glad to looke âo themselves at home But now to impeach the King of Englands returne into Fraâceâ King Philip had provided a mighty Navie in the Haven of Sluce consisting of twâ hundred saile of Ships besides many Gallies and two thousand armed men in thâ Port ready to encounter him upon his landing whereof King Edward being adveâtised prepares the like number of Ships and sets out to Sea upon Midsommer Eve is mâ the morrow after with a Navy likewise from the North parts conducted by Sir ââbert Morley and encounters his enemy who lay to intercept him with such force and courage and such
there ãâ¦ã Eâward and his Queene with their Daughter Isâââll come over to ãâ¦ã there the young Earle is affâanâed to her but returning afterâârds ãâ¦ã as âe found opportunity he went to King Philip and âeft ãâ¦ã and marryed afterwards a Daughter of the ãâ¦ã this whiâââhe siege of Callice was continued and King Philip ãâ¦ã come to relieve it sollicits King Edward to appoint someâ place ãâ¦ã would meeâe him But King Edward returnes answer that if he ãâ¦ã owne way to come thither to him there he should finde him but ãâ¦ã be would not paâââ having laine there so long to his great lââour and ãâ¦ã bâing now so neare the point of gaining the placeâ Twoââaââânals ãâ¦ã the Pope to mediate a Peace but could effect nothing so as the ãâ¦ã wâs forced to breake up his Army and retire to Paris leaving Câllice ãâ¦ã the Besieger which when the Towne understood they sent to de ãâ¦ã granted and therein received this finall answer that âixe of the chiefe Burgesses should be sent to the King bare-headed bare-footed in their shirts ãâ¦ã their neckesâ the keyes of the Towne and Castle in their hands ãâ¦ã thâââelves to the Kings will the rest he was content to take to mercy ãâ¦ã condition and much difficulty who should be those sixe but ãâã up and out of love to his Country offering himselfe to be one the sixe ãâ¦ã made âp for now by his example every one strove to be of the ãâã who presenting themselves before the King he commanded them instantly ãâ¦ã to death Great supplication was made by his Lords for their lives but ãâ¦ã would not be drawne to alter his sentence till the Queene great with ãâ¦ã on her knees and with teares obtained pardon for them which done ãâ¦ã them to be cloathed and besides a good repast gives to every one of them ãâã Nobles a pâece But though the King in this sentence shewed severity ãâ¦ã Act before he had shewed mercy For when Victuals began to faile in ãâ¦ã and all unusefull persons as old men women and children were put ãâ¦ã Gates he forced them not backe againe as he might have done thereââ ãâã sooner to consume their store but suffered them to passe through his Arâyâ ãâã them to eate and two pence a piece to all of them And thus was that strong ãâã of Callice gotten the third day of August in the yeare 1347. after eleven ãâ¦ã siege and continued afterward in possession of the English two hundred ãâ¦ã All the Inhabitants are turned out but onely one Priest and two ãâ¦ã to informe of the Orders of the Towne and a Colony of English amoâgst which seven and thirty good Families out of London is sent to inhabit itâ ãâ¦ã and Queene enter the Towne triumphantly and make their abode there ãâã Queene was brought a bed of her Daughter Margaret The King made ãâã of the Town Aymeây of Pavia a Lombard whom he had brought up from ãâ¦ã and then with his Queene returnes into England at which time the ãâã Electours send to signifieâ that they had chosen him King of the Romans but ãâ¦ã refuseth to accept it as being an honour out of his way and scarce com ãâ¦ã his State at home âfter this Trâââs were made by mediation from one time to another for the ãâ¦ã âwo yeares in which time Geoffrey de Charmy Captaine of Saint Omer ãâ¦ã Aymery of Pâvia whom King Edward had left Governour of Callice to ãâ¦ã for twenty thousand Crownes which King Edward hearing of sent to Aâmery and charged him with this perfidiousnesse wheâââpon Ayââây comes to the King and humbly desiring pardon promiseth to hândlâ the ãâã so as shall be âo the Kings advantage and thereupon iâ senâ backe to Callice The King the âight before the time of agreementâ arrives with three âundâed men at ãâã and ãâã hundred Archers ãâã de Charmy ãâ¦ã likewise the ãâã ââght from Saint Omers with his Forces and sent a hundred mân before with the Crownes to ãâã the men are let in at a Posterne Gateâ the crownes received ând assured to be all weight which done the Gates of the Towne are opened and out marches the King before day to encounter ãâã de Charmy who perceiving himselfe betrayed defended âimselfeâ the best he could and put King Edward to a hard bickering who for that âe would not bâ ãâ¦ã person put hiâselfâ and the Prince under the Colours of the Lord ãâ¦ã beaâen ââwne on âis knees by ãâ¦ã âhom he fought hand to hand and yeâ recoveââd and ãâ¦ã prisoner Charmy was likewise taken and all his Foââââ defeated Kiâg âdward the night after which was the first of the New-yeare feasted with the Prisoners and gave âiboââânt in honour of his valouâ ãâ¦ã Chaplet of Pearle which himselfe wore on his head for a New-yeares gift forgave him his ransome and set him at liberty But the English not long after in the like practise had better successe and got the Castle of Guysnes a piece of great importance neârâ Callice for a summe of money given to one Beaconrây a French âân Of which Câsâle when the French King demanded restitution in regard of the Trucâ King Edwarâ returnes answer that for things bought and sold betweene their people there was no exception and so held it About this time Philip King of France dyed leaving his Sonne Iohn to succeed him in the beginning of whose Raigne Humberâ Pâince of Dââlphin dying without issue made him his Heire and therâupon Charles King Iohââ Sonne was created the first Daulphin of France from whence it grew to be a Custome that the King of France his Heire should alwayes be called Daulphin of France About this time also the Duke of Lancaster was to perfoâme a combat upon a challenge with a Prince of Bâhâmia but when they were entred the Lists and had taken their Oathes King Iohn interposed and made them Friends And now when after many meanes of mediation no Peace could be concluded betweene the two Kings the Prince of Wales being now growne a man is appointed by Parliament to goe into Gascoyne with a thousand men at Armes two thousand Archers and a great number of Welshmen and in Iune following he sets forth with three hundred Saile attended with the Earles of Warwickâ Suffolke Salisbury and Oxford the Lord Chandâs the Lord Iames Aâdeley Sir âobert Knolles Sir Francis Hall with many others About Michaelmaâ followingâ the King himselfe passeth over to Callice with another Army taking with him two of his Sonnes Liânâll of Antwerpe now Earle of Ulster iâ Right of his Wife and Iohn of Gant Earle of Richmond There met him at Callice of mercenaries out of Germany Flanders and Brabant a thousand men at Armes so that his Army consisted of three thousand men at Armes and two thousand Archers on horse-backe besides Archers on foot The City of London sent three hundred men at Armes and five hundred Archers all in one livery at their owne charge but all this great Army effected nothing at that
time by reason the King of France would not be drawne to any Encounter and had so disfurnished the Country of all provisions that the King of England was forced to returne King Edward solicited by the King of Navarre to aide him against the King of France sends over the Duâe of Lancaster with foure thousand men at Armes who winnes many Townesâ and the Prince enters Gâyenne passeth over Langnâdâc to Tholouse Narbonne Burges without any Encounter sackes spoyles and destroyes where he goes and loaden with booties returnes to Burdeaux The French King thus assaulted on all âides gathers all the power he possibly could and first makes against his Eâemies in Nâââââdy recovers many of his lost Townes and was likely to have there prevaileâ but that he was drawne of force to oppose ãâã fresh Invader the Prince of Wales who was come up into Tourayne against ãâã he brings his whole Army consisting of above threescore thousand whereââââ the Prince whose Forces were not likely to be able to encounter him being ãâã for one was advised to retire againe to Burdeaux But the French King to preveââ this course followes and within two leagues of Poyctiers hath him at a ãâã advantage at which instant two Cardinals came from the Pope to mediate â Peâce But the French King supposing he had his enemy now in his mercy would accept of no other conditions but that the Prince should deliver him foure Hostageâ ând âs vanquished render himselfe and his Army to his discretion The Prince waâ content to restore unto him what he had gained upon him but without prâjuââââ of his honour wherein he said he stood accomptable to his Father and to his Câuâtrây But the French King would abate nothing of his demands as making himsâlfâ sure of victory and thereupon was instantly ready to set upon the Princâ ãâã seeing himselfe reduced to this straight takes what advantage he could of thâ ãâã and providently got the benefit of Vines Shrubs and Bushes on that part ãâ¦ã like to be assailed to impester and intangle the French horse which he saw ãâã âome furiously upon him The successe answered his expectation for the ãâã of his enemies upon their first assault were so wrapt and encombred ãâã âhe Vines that his Archers galled and annoyed them at their pleasure For ãâã Freââh King to give the honour of the day to his Cavallery imployed them onely without his Infantery so as they being disordered and put to rout his wholâ Army came utterly to be defeated In this battell were taken prisoners King Iohn himselfe with his yoângest sonne Philip by Dennis de Morbecque a knight of Arâhâis Iaques de Bourbon Conte de Ponthieu the Arch-bishop of Sens Iohn de Arthâis Conte de En Charles de Arthois his brother Count de Longueville Iohn de ãâã Count de Tankarvile the Counts of Vendosme Vaâdemont Estampes Salbourg ãâã and La Roche also Iohn de Ceintre accounted as Froissard saith the ãâã ânight of France with many other Lords besides two thousand Knights and Genâlemen in so much as the Conquerours holding it not safe to retaine so many leâââny of them goe The French who can give best account of their owne losses ââporâ there died in the battell a thousand seven hundred Gentlemen amongst which were fifty two Bannerets the most eminent Peter de Bourbon the Duke of Athââs Constable of France Iehan de Clermont Marshall Geoffrey de Charmy High Chamberlainâ the Bishop of Chalons the Lords of Landas of Pons and of Chamâây There escaped from this battell three of the French Kings sons for he brought them all thither Charles Prince Daulphin Louys after Duke of Anjou and Iohn Duke of Bââryâ all great actours in the time following The special great men of the English iâ thââ fight were the Earles of Warwicke Suffolke Salisbury Oxford Stafford the Lordââ Cobham Spenser Barkeley Basset of Gascoynes Le Capital de Beuff the Lords Pumyer Chaumont and others The Lord Iames Andeley wonne honour both by his valour and his bounty for having vowed to be foremost in this fight he peâformed his word and sealed it with many wounds for which the Prince having rewarded him with the gift of five hundred Markes Fee-simple in England he pâesently gave it to foure of his Esquires whereupon the Prince demanding whether he accepted not his gift he answered that these men had deserved the same as well âs himselfe and had more neede of it with which reply the Prince was so well pleased that he gave him five hundred Markes more in the same kinde A rare example where desert in the Subject and reward in the Prince strive which should be the greater And now though King Iohn had the misfortune to fall into the hands of his enemy yet he had the happinesse to fall into the hands of a Noble enemy for Prince Edw. used him with such respect and observance that he could not find much dââference betweene his captivity and liberty After the battell which was fought the âinâââenth day of September in the yeare 1357. Prince Edward leads King Iohn and the captive Lords to Burdeâux where he retaines them till the spring following but ãâã present newes of his victory to his Father who thereupon causeth a generall Thanksgiving all England over eight dayes together and in May following King Iohn rather comming over with the Prince then brought over by him is lodged at the Savoâ a Palace belonging to Henry Duke of Lancaster and the fairest at that time about London And King Edward as though he thought it honour enough to have one King his prisoner at once at the suite of his sister Queene Iâane he sets her Husband David King of Scots at liberty after he had beene prisoner in England eleven yeares but not without paying a Ransome which was a hun-thousand Markes to be paid in ten yeares After this by mediation of Cardinals sent by the Pope a Truce for two yeares is concluded betweene the two kingdomes of France and England and in the time of this Truce Articles of Peace betweene the two Kings are propoundedâ King Edward requires the Dutchies of Normââââ and Gâyennâ the Counties of Poictoâ Tâuraine Mayne and Anjoââ with all their âppurâeâances as large as King Richard the first held them and many other Provinces besides and to hold them all without Homage or any other service to which Articles King Iohn weary of imprisonment assents and seales but the ãâã ând Councell of France utterly reject it whereupon King Edward in great displeâsure resolves to make an end of this worke with the sword and to take possession of the kingdome of France and leaving his younger sonne Thomas Goveââour of his kingdome at home with a Fleet of âleven hundred saile and taking all the great Lords of the Realme with him he passeth over to Callice dividing his Army into three battels whereof one he commits to the Prince of Wales another to the Duke of Lancaster and the âhird he leads
as the Poictââins Xaingtonois and Lymoâsins in a sort consented to it yet the Count of Armigniâck the Count of Comminges the Viscount of Carmayn and many others so much distasted it that they complained thereof to the King of France as to their Supreme Lord who upon examination finding their complaint to be just he thereupon by advise of his Councell Summons Prince Edward to appeare in person to answer the complaint whereunto Prince Edw. made answere that if he must needs appeare he would bring threescore thousand men in Armes to appeare with him and had certainely brought his Army that Summer against Paris if he had not fallen into Symptomes of a Dropsie which Walsingham saith was wrought by Enchantments But upon this answer of the Prince King Charles sends defiance to King Edward who thereupon prepares Armes both by Sea and Land to oppose him The French enter upon the Territoriâs of the Prince and defeate divers of his Troopes in revenge whereof Iohn Chandos the Princes Lieutenant assaults Terrieres in the Province of Tholouse and takes it The Count of Perigourd aâsaults Royanville in Querây and puts all the English to the sword in revenge whereof Iames Audeley Seneâchall of Poicton assaults the City of Brosse and takes it In the meane time Robert Knols by some called Robin and by others Arnould or Reynold Knoll had drawne Perducas de Albert to the party of the English and thereupon wenâ and encamped before the Fort of Darcâell in Quercy which Iohn Chandos understanding went also and joyned with him in the Siege but finding they could doe no good there they removed and Besieged the City of Damme and when they could doe no good there neither they marched forward tooke the Fort of Froyus Rochevaudour and Villefranche and that done returned to the Prince at Angoulesme At the same time the Earles of Cambridge and Pembroke having spent nine weekes at the Siege of Bordeille at last tooke it but other Captaines of the English did yet more for they scaled Belleperche in the Province of Bourbon where the Mother of the Duke of Bourbon and of the Queene of France was and take her prisoner About this time Philippa Queene of England King Edwards Wife died and was buried at Westminster but this hindred not the proceeding of the English in France the Earle of Pembroke enters Anjou where he takes many Townes the Duke of Lancaster doth the like about Callice and marching forward plants his Campe before Harfleur with a purpose to burne the King of France his Navy but being watched by the Count Saint Poll was forced to forbeare that designe and so passing other wayes and spoyling all the places where he passed he returned to Callice Winter now was drawing on and Iohn Chandos desiring to recover the Abby of Saint Silvin in Poictou which not long before had beene betraied to the French was in the enterprise discovered and being assaulted by greater forces was slaine in the place to the great griefe of the Prince of Wales and of the English Lords but dying without issue his estate which amounted to foure hundred thousand Franks came to the Prince At this time the Dukes of Anjou and Berry with two great Armies enter upon the Territories of the Prince of Wales whereof the Prince advertised assembles Forces to oppose them but when the newes was brought him of the taking of Limouges he was so much troubled at it by reason of the Bishop of that place was his Gossip and one in whom he specially had affiance that he resolved to recover it at any price and not to spare a man that had any hand in the rendring it up and thereupon taking it by force he commanded to sacke and pillage it and would not be staied by the cries of the people casting themselves downe at his feete till passing through the Towne he perceived three French Captaines who themselves alone had withstood the assault of his victorious Army and moved with the consideration of their valour he then abated his anger and for their sakes granted mercy to all the Inhabitants So much is vertue even in an enemy respected by generous minds In the meane time David King of Scots died without issue and Robert Stuart his Nephew succeeded him in the kingdome and was Crowned at Scone At this time Robert Knolls with a great Army is sent into France where making many attempts with valour enough but with little successe he was comming home though with no gaine yet with no losse till Bertrand de Gueschlyn assaulting him slew the most part of his men and so this great Army on a sudden came to nothing It seemes Knolls his action was the lesse succesfully by reason some young Lords that wenâ with him scoâning to âe ãâã his command as being but a new man and risen froâ a low estate were refractory to hiâ directions And indeed what can a Generall do if he have not as well reputation of person as of place And now the Prince of Wales his eldest sonne Edward dying ãâã Buâdeâââ the ãâã with his wife and his other sonne Richard come over into England at whiââ time the vallant knight Walter de Mââny died at Londân and was buried in the Monastery of the Chartreux which he had builded leaving one onely daughter married to Iohn Earle of Pembroke This Earle of Pembroke was soone after sent Goâernour into Aquitaâne but set upon by the way by Spaniards in favour of the Frââch was by them taken prisoner and carried with other into Spainââ who being chained together as the manner is one Evans a Welsh Fugitiveâ who gave âââselfe out for the right Heire of Wales camâ unto him foolishly playing upon him with scornfull language as though to insult over another mans misery could sââle for a coâdiall to mitigate his owne And now upon the taking of this Earle the Princes Dominions in France are either taken away or âall away faster then they âere gotten Gueschlyâ enters Poictou and takes Montmârillon Chauvigny Lussââ and Moâtâontiâr straight after followes the Countrey of Aulnys of Xaintoigne and the rest of Poicâou then Saint Maxenâ Neele Aulnây then Benaon Marant Surgârs ãâã and at last they came to Thouars where the most part of the Lords of Poicâoâ that held with the Prince were assembled at which time King Edward with the Prââce the Duke of Lancaster and all the great Lords of England set forward to their succour but being driven backâ by tempest never came to give them assistance so as Thouars yeelded upon composition Yet did this preparation of the King stand him in nine thousand Markes that it may be truly said it cost him more now to lose Townes then it had cost him before to win them so great oddes there is betweene the Spring and Fall of Fortune After this the Duke of Lancaster is sent over with another great Army who passed up into many parts of the Country but King Charles resolved to hazard no
will exercise his Ecclesiasticall authoritie and proceed to Excommunication of his Officers though not of himselfe Queen or children The King answers and sends his Letter to the Bishop of London charging the Arch-bishop to be the cââse of all this disturbance having beene the man that first set him upon the warre with France assuring him he should want no money and now had beene the hinderance that monies given him by Parliament were not duly levied and after many remonstrances to such purpose concludes that if he desisted not from his reââllions obstinacie he would use his Temporall authority and prooceed ãâ¦ã as against a Rebell But this difference betweene them was not long after upon the Arch-bishops submission reconciled And indeed the great account which this King made of Clergy men may appeare by his imploying almost none but Clergy men in all his Offices of accountâ Simon âââgham Arch-bishop of Canterbury was Chancellour of England William Wickam Arch-deacon of Lincolne keeper of the Privy Seale David Willer Parson of Somerââââ Master of the Rolles ten Beneficed Priests Civilians Masters of the Chancery William Mulse Deane of Saint Martins le Grand chiefe Chamberlaine of the ãâã Receiver and keeper of the Kings Treasure and Jewelsâ Willâam Aââây Arch-deacon of Northampton Chancellour of the Exchequerâ William Diâhtââ ãâã of Saint Marâins Clerke of the Privy Sealeâ Richard Chesterfield Pâebând ãâ¦ã Stephensâ Treasurer of the Kings house Henry Snatcâ Parson of ãâ¦ã of the Kings Wardrobe Iohn Nâwâham Parson of Fenây-staââon one of the ãâã of the Exchâquer Iohn âouseby Parson of ãâã Surveyor and ãâã of the Kings workes Thomas Brittingham Parson of Asby Treasurer ãâ¦ã King for the parts of Guisnes and the Marches of Callice Iohn Troys a Priest ãâã of Ireland ãâã the seventeenth yeare of his Raigne in a Parliament holden at Westâinster ãâã is made of the great inconvenience that came by the Popes Collation of Benefices in England conferring them upon Strangers who understood not the ãâã and therefore not fit to be Pastours over a Flocke they could not feed and hereupon Sir Iohn Shordich is sent to Pope Clement the sixth to require him to foââeare such Collations and to signifie his consent therein but this Message was ãâ¦ã welcome to the Pope that the Messenger came backe unheard at least unansweredâ and the King taking his silence for consentâ or perhaps not much caring whether he consented or no proceeded to a Prohibition of all such Collations within his Realme on paine of Imprisonment or death to whomsoever should in time to come present or admit any such person who by the Pope were so preferred to the prejudice of the Kings Prerogative These were disturbances in matter of Discipline but towards the end of his Raigne there fell a disturbance in matter of Doctrine for a certaine Divine named Iohn Wickliffe inveighed in his ãâã and other Acts in the Schooles against the abuses of Churchmen Monks and other religious Orders and had by his Doctrine wonne many Disciples unto him who after were called Lollards professing poverty going bare-foot and poorely clad in Ruââet amongst other his Doctrines he taught that neither King ââr other secular Lord could give any thing ân perpetuity unto Church-men and thââ Temporall Lords if they needed might lawfully take the Goods of Religious Persons to relieve them in their necessities by the example of William Rufus and others This man the Duke of Lancaster and Sir Henry Percy Marshall much favour and cherish extolling him for his learning and integrity of life which made him so farre to presume that daily in one Church or other he published his Opinions whereupon at length he is cited to answer before the Arch-bishop the Bishop of London and others in âauls At the day appointed the Duke of Lancaster and the Lord Marshall goe to conduct him when they were come to our Ladies Chappell the Duke and Barons with the Bishops sitting downe Iohn Wickliffe was by the Lord Marshall willed to sit downe in regard he said the man had much to answer and needed a convenient seat The Bishop of London told him It was against all Law and Reason that he who was there âited before his ãâã should sit Hereupon contumelious words arose betweene the Lord Mâââhall and the Biââop the Duke takes the Marshals part and sharpely reprehended the Bishop the Bishop returnes the like to the Duke who in a greââ rage ãâã he would pull downe the pride of him and of all the Bishops of Eâglandâ and whispering in his eare told him he had rather pull him out of the Church by ãâ¦ã of the head then to suffer such indignities which words the Londoâers over-hearing swore with a loud voyce they would rather lose their lives theââ suffer ââeir Bishop to be thus injuriously used Their fuây was the more against the Duke for that the day before in the Parliament whereof he was President it was ãâã in the Kings name that from thenceforth âhâre should be no more a Major of London but a Captaine appointed for the Government of the City and that the Lord Marshall of England should arrest Offenders within the Liberties as in other places The morrow after the Citizens assembling to consult of this businesse it happened the Lord Fits-water and Guidâ Bryan came into the City which the People seeing furiously ranne upon them and were like to beate them downe for comming at that time The Lord Fits-water protested he came to no other end but to offer his service to the City being by inheritance their Standard bearer and was to take injuries offered to them as to himselfe and therefore willed them to looke to their defence Whereupon they presântly take Armes assaile the Marshals Inne breâke open the Gaâes brought foâth a Prisoner in his Gives and set him at liberty but found ãâã the Lord ãâ¦ã with thâ Duke was that day to dine with one Iohn de ãâã Tâân this furious multitude ranne to assaile the Savây which a knight of the Dukâââââing haâtes to the placâ where his Lord dined and acquainââ him with this ãâã in the Câây The Duke upon hearing it leapes from the Table so hastily that he hurt botâ his shinnes on the fowrme and with Sir Henry âercy alone takes boate and goes to Kennington neare Lambeâh where the Princesse with the young Prince lay to whom he complaines of this Riot and the violence offered him In the meâne time the multitude comming to the Savoy a Priest inquisitive to know the businesse was answered they went to take the Duke and the Lord Marshall and compell them to deliver Sir Peter de la Marâ unjustly kept in Prison The Priest replyed thât Sir Peter was a Traytor to the King and worthy to be hânged At which words they all cryed out This is Percy This is the Traytor of England his speech bewrayes him though his Appârell be disguised and presently they rân upon him and wounded him to death The Bishop of London hearing of
the moneth of Aprill In the fourth yeare of his Raigne a solemne Justing or Turnament was holden at London in Chââpside beâwixt the great Crosse and the great Conduit ãâã Sâper-laâââ which lasted three dayes where the Queen Philippa with many Ladies fell from a Stage set up for them to behold the Justing and though they were not hurt at all yet the King threaââed to pânish the Carpenters for their negligence till the Queâne inâââated pardon for them upon her knees as indeed she was alwayes ready to doe all good offices of mercie to all people In the eleventh yeare of his Raigne was so great plenty that a quarter of Wheate was sold at London for two shillings a fat Oxe for a Noble a fat Sheepe for sixe pence and sixe Pigeons for a penny a faâ Goose for two pence and a Pigge for a penny and other things after that rate Of his Wife and Children HE married Philippa the daughter of William Earle of Haynault at Yorke a match made up in haste by Queene Isabell his mother for her owne ends although a better could never have beene made upon deliberation for King Edwards ends for though her Parentage were not great and her portion lessâ yet she made amends for both in vertue for never King had a better Wife By her King Edward had seven sonnes and five daughters his eldest sonne Edward Prince of Wales and commonly called the Blacke Prince but why so called uncertaine for to say of his dreadfull acts as Speâde saith hath little probability was borne at Woodstocke in the third yeare of his Fathers Raigne he married Ioane the daughter of Edmund Earle of Kent brother by the Fathers side to King Edward the second She had beene twice married before first to the valiant Earle of Salisbury from whom she was divorced next to the Lord Thomas Holland after whose decease this Prince passionatly loving her married her by her he had issue two sonnes Edward the eldest borne at Angoulesme who died at seven yeaâes of age and Richard borne at Burdeaux who after his Father was Prince of Wales and after his Grandfather King of England This Prince had also naturall issue Sir Iohn Sounder and Roger Clarendon Knights the latter being attainted in the Raignâ of King Henry the fourth is thought to have âeene Ancestour to the house of Smiths in Essex He died at Canterbury in the sixe and fortieth yeare of his age and of his Fatheââ Raigne the nine and fortieth and was buried at Christs Church there His second sonne William was borne at Hatfield in Hertfordshire who deceased in his childhood and was buried at Yorke His third sonne Lyonell was borne at Antwerpe in the twelveth yeare of his Fathers Raigne he married first Elizabeth the daughter and Heire of William Burgh Earle of Ulster in Ireland in whoâe Right he was first created Earle of Ulster and because he had with her the honour of Clare in the County of Toâmond he was in a Parliament created Duke of Clarence as it were of the Countrey about the Towne and Honour of Clare from which Dutchy the name of Clarentieux being the title of the King of Armes for the South parts of England is derived This Duke had issue by her one onely daughter named Philippa afterward wife of Edmund Mortimer Earle of March mother of Earle Roger Father of Anne Countesse of Cambridge the mother of Richard Duke of Yorke Father of King Edward the fourth The second marriage of this Duke was at Millaine in Lombardy with the Lady Viâlanta daughter of Gâleacââ the second Duke thereof but through intemperance he lived not long âfter King Edwards fourth sonne named Iohn was borne at Gaâât in the foureteenth yeare of his Fathers Raigne he had three wives the first was âlânch daughter and Coheire and in the end the sole Heire of Henry Duke of Lancaster sonne of Edmund sirnamed Crouch back by whom he had issue Henry of Bullingbrooke Earle of Derby after Duke of Hereford and lastly King of England named Henry the fourth who first placed the Crowne in the house of Lancaster By her also Iohn of Gaunt had two daughters Philip wife of Iohn the first King of Portugall and Elizabeth married first to Iohn Holland Earle of Huntington and after him to Sir Iohn Cornwall Baron of Fanhope Iohn of Gaunts second wife was Constance the eldest daughter of Peter King of Castile and Leon in whose Right for the time he intitled himselfe King of both those Realmes by her he had issue one onely daughter named Katherine married to Henry the third sonne of King Iohn in possession before and in her Right after King of both the said Realmes Iohn of Gaunts third wife was Katherine the Widow of Sir Hugh Swinford a knight of Lincolnshire eldest daughter and Coheire of Payn Roet a Gascoyne called Gââen King of Armes for that Countrey his younger daughter being married to Sir Geoffrey Chawcer our Laureat Poet. By her he had issue born before matrimony and made legitimate afterward by Parliament in the twentieth yeare of King Richard the second Iohn Earle of Somerset Thomas Duke of Exeter Henry Bishop of Winchester and Cardinall and Ioane who was first married to Robert Ferrers Baron of Wemme and Ouâsley in the Counties of Salop and Warwicke and secondly to Ralph Nevill the first Earle of Westmerland She and all her brethren were sirnamed Beaufort of a Castle which the Duke had in France where they were all borne and in regard thereof bare the Portcullis of a Castle for the Cognisance of their Family This Duke in the thirteenth yeare of his Nephew King Richard was created Duke of Aquitaine but in his sixteenth yeare he was called home and this title re-called and the third yeare after in the sixtieth of his age he died at Ely house in Holbourne and lieth honourably Entombed in the Quire of Saint Paul King Edwards fifth sonne Edmund sirnamed of Langley was first in the yeare 1362. created Earle of Cambridge and afterward in the yeare 1386. made Duke of Yorke he married Isabell daughter and Coheire to Peter King of Castile and Leon his sonne Richard Plantagenet Duke of Yorke tooke to wife Anne Mortimer Heire of the foresaid Lyonell elder brother to Edmund of Langley King Edwards sixth sonne William sirnamed of Windsor where he was borne died young and is buried at Westminster King Edwards youngest sonne Thomas sirnamed of Woodstocke where he was borne was first Earle of Buckingham and after made Duke of Glocester by his Nephew King Richard the second He was a man of valour and wisdome but the King surmizing him to be a too severe observer of his doings consulted with Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke how to make him away whom Mowbray unawares surprising convaied secretly to Callice where he was strangled the twentieth yeare of King Richards Raigne He had issue one sonne Humphrey Earle of Buckingham who died at Chester of the Pestilence in the yeare 1400. and two daughters
among them In this meane time king Henry not acquainted with this Conspiracy caused a Proclamation to bee made intimating that the Earle of March had voluntarily caused himself to bee taken prisoner to the end the Rebels having him in their custody might pretend some colour for their Conspiracy and therefore hee had small reason to take care for his deliverance Hereupon the Percies assisted with a company of Scots and drawing to their party the Earle of Stafford and Richard Scroope Archbishop of Yorke and many other purposed to joyne with the Captain of the Welch but first they framed certaine Articles against the king and sent them to him in writing That hee had falsified his Oath given at his landing swearing that he came but only to recover his Inheritance and would not meddle with the King or with the Crowne That most trayterously hee had taken Armes against his Soveraigne Lord Imprisoned him and then most barbarouusly caused him to be murthered That ever since the death of king âichard he had unjustly kept the Crown from his kinsman Edmund Mârtimer Earl of March to whom of right it belonged That upon no occasion hee had imposed divers Taxes upon the people That by his Letters hee procured Burgesses and Knights of the Parliament to bee chosen for which causes and many other they defyed him and vowed his destruction and the restoring of the Earle of March to his right King Henry could not but know that all these Articles against him were true yet seeing the knowing it hindred him not from seeking to get the Crowne when hee had it not it could lesse hinder him from seeking to keep it now that he had it and if he were able being a private man to get it from a King he was likely to bee more able being now a king to keepe it from privatâ men and as for any objections that Conscience could make he had enough to answere them all For if his Title were good against king Richard by his Resignation it was as good against Mortimer by his swearing Allegiance and upon these grounds with a minde as confident as if all cyrcumstances were of his side he raysed an Army and marched towards the Lords taking care they might by no meanes joyne with the Welch and about Shrewsbury on Saturday S. Mary Magdalens Eve hee encountred them in which fight though the Scots and Henry Hotspur shewed much valour yet the victory rested on the kings side Hotspur himselfe was slayne the Earle of Worcester was taken prisoner together with Sir Richard Vernon Sir Theobald Trussel the Baron of Kinderton and the rest fled On the kings part besides the Earle of Stafford who had that morning revolted from the Conspirators were slaine Sir Hugh Sherley Sir Cliftonâ Sir Iohn Cockayn Sir Nicholas Gausell Sir Walter Blunt Sir Iohn Calverley Sir Iohn Massie of Puddingtrâ Sir Hugh Mortimer and Sir Robert Gausell all which had beene but that morning dubbed knights with Sir Thomas Wendsley who died afterwards of his wounds of common Souldiers about sixteene hundred but of the Conspirators above six thousand whereof 36 the king slew with his own hand but was once unhorsed by Dowglasse who in his presence slew Sir Walter Blunt with divers others that day in all things attired like to the king for which exployt Dowglasse being after by the fall of his horse taken prisoner was by the kings command carefully attended and without Ransom set at liberty In this batttell the young Prince Henry though wounded in the face with an Arrow yet was not wounded in his courage but continued fighting still After this victory the king caused publique thanks to bee given to God and then caused the Earle of Worcester to bee beheaded and many others of that Rebellion to bee drawne hanged and quartered and their heads placed on London Bridge And then the king sent his sonne Henry Prince of Wales with his whole Army into that Country but before his comming Owen Glendour was abandoned by all his Company and lurking in the woods was there famished many of his associats were taken and put to death Whilest the Prince was in Wales Henry Percy Earle of Northumberland of his own accord came and submitted himselfe to the king protesting his innocency aâ not being once acquainted with any intent of Treason and Rebellion whose excuse the king received for the present with gentle language the rather for that hee had the possession of Barwick Castle and other places of strength in his power but yet he wiped not off the score of his misdemeanors out of his minde And now with the fourth yeere of his Reigne ended all the great Troubles of this k. Henry the fourth those that follow are but such accidents as are frequent in all times both abroad and at home The Britans under the leading of the Lord of Castiles spoyled the Towne of Plimouth In revenge whereof the Western-men under the command of William Wilford set forth â Fleete which arriving in Britaine tooke forty ships laden with Oyle and Wines and burnt forty more Againe the French landed a thousand men in the Wightâ where they got together a great booty of Cattell but the Islanders comming upon them tooke away their booty and made many of them leave their Carkases for a booty to the âsland Yet the French would not leave so but a while after as having gotten new spirits they cast Anchor before the Isle of Wight and require no lesse then to have the Island into their possession but a resolute answere of the Islanders frighted them away and made them glad they were gone Soone after this the Duke of Orleance brother to the French king in a vaunting stile sent a challenge to king Henry to meete him in the field each of them to have a hundred in his Company to which the king answered That for his own valour it had sufficiently been tryed and for this challenge of the Dukes neither the Person nor the Cause were worthy of his undertaking Upon this refusall of the kings divers taunts and jeeres were bandied beâweene them till at last the Duke in great passion falls upon Vergie a Towne in Guyen but after three moneths assaulting it being valiantly defended by Sir Robert Anâfield and three hundred Englishmen he was glad to give over with losse and returne into France Presently upon this the Admirall of Britaine accompanied with the Lord du Castile and thirty saile of ships attempted to land at Dertmouth in Devonshire but were repelled and the Lord du Castile and two of his brothers and foure hundred of his men were slaine besides two hundred taken Prisoners of whom the Lord Baquevile Marshall of Britaine was one After this five hundred men of armes five hundred Crosse-bowes and a thousand Flemmings under the conduct of the Earle of S. Paul laid siege to the Castle of Marâk three leagues frâm Câllice but first by Sir Philip Hall Captaine of Callice and after by Sir Richard Aston
divers of the French Nobility who attended him to the Pallace where the Queen with her Daughters the Dutchesse of Burgoigne and the Lady Katherine gave him Princely entertainment and after some intercourse of complement between the Princes and the Ladies K. Henry tendred to the Lady Katherine a Ring of great value which she not without some blushing received and afterward upon the twentieth day of May she was affianced to him in St. Peters Church and on the third of Iune following the marriage was solemnized and therewithall king Henry was published to be the only Regent of the Realme and Heire apparent to the Crown of France the Articles whereof with all convenient expedition were Proclaimed both in England and in France and the two kings and all their Nobles and other Subjects of account were sworne to observe them and in particular the Duke of Burgoigne And thus was the Salique Law violated and the heire Male put by his Sucession in the Crowne which the Genius of France will not long endure a while it must and therefore the maine endeavour of both kings now is to keep him down whom they had put downe and thereupon on the fourth day of Iune king Henry with the French king Iames king of Scots who was newly arrived the Duke of Burgoigâeâ the Prince of Orenge one and twenty Earles five and forty Barons with many Knights and Gentlemen and an Army consisting of French English Scotish Irish and Dutch to the number of six hundred thousand marched towards the Dolphin and upon the seventh day laid siege to the Towne of Seââs which sided with the Dolphin which after foure dayes siege was yielded up From thence they removed having the Duke of Bedford in their company who was newly come out of Eâglaâd with large supplies of men and money to Monstââââ which was taken by Escalado onely the Castle held out still during the siege whereof king Henry creââed an Officer of Armes to be king of Heralds over the Englishmen and intitled him Garter whom he sent with offers of mercy to the Castle but was by the Captaine thereof reproachfully upbraided for punishment of which his presumption â Gibbet was erected and in view of Mounsieur Guitry the said Captaine twelve of his friends were executed whereupon those of the Castle treated for peace but the king in eight dayes together would not grant so much as a parleyâ so that after six weekes siege they were enforced their lives saved simply to yield From thence the king marched to Melun upon Sein and besieged it the thirtieth of Iuly the Captaine whereof was Barbason a Gascoigne no lesse politick than valiant who countermined some and stopt other Mines made by the English and foâght hand to hand in the Barriers with king Henry yet at last through Famine and Pestilence was forced to yeild but being suspected to have had a hand in the murther of the Duke of Burgoigne he was sent prisoner to Paris and presently thereupon both the kings with their Queens the Duke of Burgoigne and his Dutchesse with a Royall Traine came thither where the French king was lodged in the House of S. Paul and the king of England in the Castle of Loâvre And here the three States of France anew under their hands and Seals in most aâthenticke manner Ratified the former Articles of king Henries Succession in the Crowne of France the Instruments whereof were delivered to the king of England who sent them to be kept in his Treasury at Westminster And now King Henry began to exercise his Regency and as a badge of his Authority he caused a new Coyne which was called a Salute to be made whereon the Armes of France and England were quarterly stamped he placed and displaced divers Officers and appointed the Duke of Exeter with five hundred men to the Guard of Paris He awarded out Processe against the Dolphin to appeare at the Marble-Table at Paris which he not obeying Sentence was denounced against him as guilty of the murther of the Duke of Burgoigne and by the sentence of the Parliament he was banished the Realme After this the King making Thomas Duke of Clarence his Lievetenant Generall of Fraâce and Normandy on the 6th of Ianuary with his beloved Queen Katherine he left Pariâ and went to Amyens and from thence to Calliâ and thence landing at Dover came to Canterbury and afterward through Loâdoâ to Westminster where the Queene upon St. Matthews day the fourth of Februâry was Crowned the King of Scots sitting at dinner in his State but on the left hand of the Queen the Archbishop of Caâterbury and the Kings Uncle the Bishop of Winchester being on the right hand All were served with covered messes of silver but all the Feast was Fish in observation of the Lent season After this the king tooke his Progresse through the Land hearing the complaints of his poore Subjects and taking order for the administring of Justice to high and low and then met the Queen at Leicester where they kept their Easter In the meane time the Duke of Clarence making a Road into Aâjoâ came to the Citie of Ampers where he knighted Sir William Rosse Sir Henry Gâdâard Sir Rowlaâd Vyder Sir Thomas Beauford his naturall Son and returning home laden with prey was advertised that the Duke of Alanson intended to intercept his passage whereupon he sent the Scout-master Fogosaâ Lombard to discover the face of the Enemy who being corrupted brought report that their number was but small and those but ill ordered that if he presently charged there could be no resistance The Dukes credulity caused him to draw all his horses together and leaving his bowes and billâ behinde which were his chiefâst strength with his ãâã only he makes towards the Enemy but the Traitor leading to a straight where by his appointment an ambush was layd thaâ the Duke could neither retreat nor flee he soone perceived the Treaâchery but finding no remedy he manfully set spââ to his horse and charged upon the Enemy but over-layd with multitude and wearied with fight was himselfe with the Earle of Taâkervile the Lord Rosse the Eaâle of Angus Sir Iohn ãâã and Sir Iohn Vereâd and above two thousand English slaine The Earls of Sââerset Suffolke and Pearch Sir Iohn Berklây Sir Ralph Nevill Sir Williââ Bâwes and 60 Gentlemen were taken prisoners The body of the Duke of Clârence was by Sir Iohn Beauford his base Son the D. dying without other issue convey'd to England and buried at Canterbury besides his Father and this disaster happened upon âaster-Eve The King was at Beverley when he heard of his brothers death and presently thereupon dispatched away Edmund Earle of Mârtââgne into Norâââdy making hiâ Lievtenant thereof and then calls his high Court of Parliament to Westminster requiring ayd by money to revenge his brâthers death which was readily granted and the king thus provided sent his brother the Duke of Bedford with an Army to Câlliâ consisting of foure
Son in Law Sir Thomas Dymock and comming to attend the Kings pleasure was told by his friends how wonderfully the King was incensed against them whereupon for their safety they take Sanctuary at Westmiâster But upon the Kings Princely word they come unto him who commândeth the Lord Wells to write to his Sonne to desist from adhering to the Eaâle of Warwicke which the Lord Wells accordingly did but Sir Robert Wells notwithsâânding his Fathers letters continuing firme to âhe Earle still so much incensed King Edward that he caused both his Father and Sir ãâã Dymock to be beheâded He supposed perhaps that the Lord Wâlls was himself underhand a friend to the Earl and had not dealt sincerely with him in procuring his Sonne to leave that party But now Sir Robert Wells seeing the King draw neer to Stamford where he had pitched his Tents and hearing of his Fathers beheading was much distracted what to doe to decline bâttell with the King he thought would shew too much feare and âo give him battell before the Eârle of Warwicke were come with his forces would shew too much boldnesse But his Veines were so filled with a desire of revengiââ his Fathers death that he thought he could never shew boldnesse enough and thereupon encountring with the Kings Army farre greater âhen his own opprest with multitude was taken prisoner together with Sir Thomas de Lââd and divers others who presently in the place were put to execution as soone as Sir Robert Wâllâ was taken the Lincolneshirâ men to make themselves the lighter to run away threw off their Coates for which cause this battell was afterward called Lâse-âoate-field in which it is reported were slaine above ten thousand men The Earle of Warwick ãâã of this Deâeate and not having present ãâ¦ã raise an army sufficient to oppose king Edwardâ when he could by no means drââ the Lord Stanley to his party he determined to sayle into Frââcâ and hyring ships at Dartmouth in Devââââire he with his sonne in Law the Duke of Clarence ãâã their wives took to Sea and thinking to land at Câlliâe of which Town he himsââââ was Captaine he was by the Lord Vââcleere a Gascoigne whom he had left his Deputy there repelled and with so great inhumanity that the Dutchesse of Clarââââ who was then in labour was faine to be delivered in the ship all the courtesie ãâã thââ distresse shewed was only to send a flaggon or two of wine which fact of Vââcleeres when king Edward heard of he was so well pleased with it that he presently sent him a Patent to be Captaine of the Town himself and the Duke of ãâã for the same service sent unto him Philip de Comiâes who hath written the History of these times with a grant of one thousand Crowns pension during his life Never man was beter paid for one act of diâsembling for the truth was Prae ãâã exclâsit forââ it was out of his love that he suffered him not to enter the Town for he knew there were many great ones in it so addicted to king Edward and so maliciously bent against the Earle that if he or any of his company should have come they would in all likelihood have done them some mischiefe And hereof he made a good proofe soon after for when the Earle took to sea again the Lord ãâã sent him word he should take heed where he landed for that the Duke of ãâã lay in waite to take him which advertisement did the Earle more good then the keeping him out of Callice did him hurt The Earle upon this advertisement âââded at Dâepe in Norâaâdie whereof when king Lewis heard he sent and invited him to come to his Court at Amboiâ where he received him with no lesse honour than âf he had been a king In the mean time king Eââard made enquiry for all such as were ayders to the Earle of Warwickâ of whom some were apprehended as guilty some fled to Sanctuary and some submitted to the kings mercy as Iohn Marquesse Moâââcute whom he courteously received Queen Margareâ who at this time sojourned with Duke Rayner her father hearing of the Earle of Warwicks arrivall with her Son Prince Edward came to Ambois and with her also came Iasper Earle of Pembrooke and Iohn Earl of Oxford lately escaped out of prison and fled into France between whom a new Combination is made and for a foundation of firme amiâie king Heâries sonne Prince Edward marries Anne the Earle of Warwicks second daughter after which marriage the Duke of Clarence and the Earles took a solemn Oath never to leave the warre till either king Henry or his sonnne Prince Edward were restored to the Crownâ But notwithstanding this Oath this marriage put new thoughts into the Duke of Clarence his minde casting with himselfe that the issue of it could be no lesse then the utter extirpation of the house of Yorke whereupon making faire shew still to his Father in Law the Earle of Warwicke he underhand fals off and secretly gives advertisement to his brother king Edward of all their proceedings And now the Earle of VVarwicke having been six months in France in this time he had ãâã from the king of France both ships and men and money and receiving ãâã out of England that many Lords and others were ready to adventuâe their lives in his quaârell if he would come for the people generally held him in such ãâã that they thought the Sunne was taken from the world when he was ãâã and this in great part for his greât Hospiâality who it is said used to spend âspamâ a breakfâst he with the Earles of Oxford and Pembrooke took to ãâã and though the Duke of Bârgoigne had a Fleââ at sea to inâercept him yeâ his Fleet beââg by âempest scattered and king Edwârdârusting ârusting to that Fleeâ having provided no otherâ the Earle had a quiet passage to land at Darâmouth in Devonshire wheâe being landed he made Proclamation in king Heâry the sixâhâ name that all good Subjâctâ should prepâre to fight against king Edward who contrary to Right had usurpeââhe Crown Upon which Proclamation it is scarce to be believed how mâny thoââânds of men resorted to him with which foâces he made towarâs Loâdon upon notice of whose approach on the Sunday next after ãâã day one Doctor Gâddard a Chaplaine of Hiâ preaching at Paulâ Crossâ did so sât foâth his Earles pious intention that many of his auditory were moved to favour the Earle proceeding insomuch that the Mârquesse Montacuâe who had in king Edwards behâlf ãâã six thousand men about London found them all inclinable to goe with him ãâã the Earle of VVarwick and accordingly wânt and joyned with him King Edâârd hââring of the great flocking of people to the Earle sent forth letters into all parts of the Realme for raysing an army but few came and those few with no great good will which when he perceived he began to doubt his case and thereupon ââcoâpanied with
the Scottish Bishops had no Metropolitane but the Bishop of Yorke was Metropolitane and Primate of Scotland now in this Kings time Pope Sixâââ appointed the Bishop of Saint Andrews to be Metropolitane of Scotland who had twelve Bishops under his obedience Of Workes of Piety done in his time THIS King laid the foundation of the new Chappell at Windsoâ and his Queen Elizabeth founded the Queens Colledge in Cambridge and endowed it with large Possessions About his fifteenth yeere Doctor Woodlarke Provost of Kings Colledge in Cambridge Founded Katherine-hall there In his seventeenth yeer the Wall of the City of London from Cripplegate to Bishopsgate was builded at the charges of the Citizens also Bishopsgate it selfe was new built by the Merchants ãâã of the Styliard Also in this yeere dyed Sir Iohn Crosby Knight late Major of London who gave to the repairing of the Parish-Church of St. Helens in Bishopsgatestreet where he was buried 500 Marks to the repairing of the parish Church of Heâwârth in Middlesex forty pounds to the repairing of London-wall an hundred pounds to the repairing of Rochester-bridge ten pounds to the Wardens and Commonalty of the Grocers in London two large Pots of silver chased halfe gilt and other Legacies About this time also Richard Rawson one of the Sheriffs of London caused an house to be builded in the Church-yard of St. Mary Hospitalll without Bishopsgate where the Major and Aldermen use to sit and heare the Sermons in Easterholy-daies In his nineteenth yeere William Tailour Major of London gave to the City certaine Tenements for the which the City is bound to pay for ever at every Fifteene granted to the King for all such as shall dwell in Cordwainers-street-ward sessed at twelve-pence apiece or under And about the same time one Thomas ãâã Sheriffe of London builded at his own costs the great Conduit in Cheâpside In his three and twentieth yeere Edmund Shaw Goldsmith who had been Major of London at his own costs re-edified Cripplegate in London which gate in old time had been a Prison Of Casualties happening in his time IN his third yeare the Minster of Yorke and the Steeple of Christs Church in Norwich were burnt In his seventeenth yeere so great a Pestilence reigned in England that it swept away more people in foure moneths than the Warres had done in fifteen yeeres past Also in his nineteenth yeere was another Pesââlence which beginning in the later end of September continued till the beginning of November twelve-moneth following in which space of time innumerable people dyed Of his wife and issue KIng Edward had been contracted to Eleanor daughter of Iohn Talbot Earle of Shrewsbury maried after to Sir Thomas Butler Baron of Sâdely but he maried Elizabeth the widdow of Sir Iohn Grey daughter of Richard Woodvile by his wife Iaqueline Dutchesse of Bedford she lived his wife eighteene yeeres and eleven moneths by whom he had three sonnes and seven daughters Edward his eldest sonne borne in the Sanctuary at Westminster Richard his second sonne borne at Shrewsbury George his third sonne borne also at Shrewsbury but dyed a childe Elizabeth his eldest daughter promised in mariage to Charles Dolphin of France but maried afterward to King Henry thâ Seventh Cicely his second daughter promised in mariage to Iames Duke of âothsay Prince of Scotland but was maried afterward to Iohn Viscount Wells whom she outlived and was againe re-maried but by neither husband had any issue she lyeth buried at Quarena in the Isle of Wight Anne his third daughter was maried to Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke Earle Marshall and High Treasurer of England by whom she had two sonnes both dying without issue she lyeth buried at Framingham in Norfolk Bridget his fourth daughter borne at Eltham in Kent became a Nunne in the Nunnery of Dartford in Kent which king Edward had founded Mary his fifth daughter was promised in mariage to the King of Denmarke but dyed in the Tower of Greenwich before it could be solemnized she lyeth buried at Windsor Margaret his sixth daughter dyed an Infant Katherine his seventh daughter was maried to William Courtney Earle of Devoâshire to whom she bare Lord Henry who by King Henry the eighth was created Marquesse of Exeter Concubines he had many but three specially and would use to say that he had three Concubines who in their severall properties excelled One the merriest another the wyliest the third the holyest harlot in his Realme as one whom no man could lightly get out of the Church to any place unlesse it were to his bed The other two were greater personages than are sit to be named but the merriest was Shores wife in whom therefore he tooke speciall pleasure This woman was borne in London worshipfully descended and well maried but when the King had abused her anon her husband as he was an honest man and did know his good not presuming to touch a Kings Concubine left her up to him altogether By these he had naturall issue Arthur sirnamed Plantagenet whose mother as is supposed was the Lady Elizabeth Lucy created Viscount Lisle by King Henry the Eight at Bridewell in London And Elizabeth who was maried to Sir Thomas Lumley knight to whom she bare Richard afterward Lord Lumley from whom the late Lord Lumley did descend Of his Personage and Conditions HE was saith Comines the goodliest Personage that ever mine eyes beheld exceeding tall of statuâe faire of complexion and of most Princely presence and we may truly say he was of full age before he came to one and twenty for being but eighteen yeeres old when his Father dyed he sued out his livery presently so as he began the race of his forââne just like Augustus Caesar each of them at the same age succeeding an Ancestour after a violent death and each of them left to set on a roofe where but onely a foââââtion was laid before For his conditions he was of an erected composure both of body ând minde but something sagging on the Fleshes side and never any man that did marry for Love did so little love Mariage for he tooke as much pleasure in other mens wives as in his owne He was never more confident than when he was in danger nor ever more doubtfull than when he was sââure Of the foure Cardinall virtues Forâânde and Prudence were in him naturally Temperance ââd Justice but to serve his turne He was politick even to irreligion for to compasse his ends he would not stick to sweare what he never meant Yet he was Religious beyond Policy for before Battailes he used to make his Prayers to God after Victories to give him Thanks He was farre from being proud yet very ambitious and could use familiarity and yet retaine Majestie He was a great Briber and whaâ he could not get by force he would by Rewards as much as what he could not get by Battery he would by Mines Hâ was too credulous of Reports which made him be in errour sometimes to the hârt
Stanley to come presently to his presence which if he refused to doe he swore by Christs Passion that he would strike off his sonnes head before he dined whereto the Lord Stanley answered That if he did so he had more sonnes alive and he might doe his pleasure but to come to him he was not then determined Which answer when king Richard heard he commanded the Lord Strange immediately to be beheaded but being at the very time when both Armies were in sight of each other his Lords perswaded him it was now time to fight and not to put to Execution and so the Lord Strangâ escaped Of his Taxations WEE must not looke for Taxations in kinde in this kings reigne for he drew from his Subjects not money so much as blood and the money he drew was most by blood which drew on confiscation whereof let never any Prince make a president for where Taxations properly doe but Tondere theâe did Degluâere Yet in his second yeere he called a Parliament wherein besides the great confiscations of those that were then attainted he imposed upon the people a great Tax which what it was is not Recorded Of his Lawes and Ordinances HAving gotten the Crowne by Pestilent courses he sought to Establish iâ by wholsome Laws for in no Kings reigne were better Laws made then in the reign of this man Amongst other of his Laws It was enacted that from thence forth the Commonalty of the Realme should in no wise be charged by any imposition called a Benevolence nor any such like charge and that such exactions called a Benevolence before this time taken shall be taken for no example to make any such like charge hereafter but shall be damned and annulled for ever Many other good Laws were by him made that we may say he took the wayes of being a good King if he had come to be King by wayes that had been good Affaires of the Church in his time IN his time the troubles of the Temporalty kept the Clergie at quiet and though there were complayning in the streets there was none in the Church Only âhores wife might complaine why shee should doe Penance for offending lightly against onely the seventh Commandement and king Richard doe none for offending heavily against all the ten but that perhaps he had gotten some good fellow to be his Confessour Workes of Piety done by him AS bad as this King was yet some good workes he did he founded a Colledge at Middleham beyond Yorke and a Collegiate Chauntry in London neere unto the Tower called our Lady of Barking He endowed the Queens Colledge in Camââââge with five hundred Marks of yeerly revenue and disforested the great field of Whitchwood which king Edward his brother had inclosed for Deere Of Casualties happening in his time IN his second year at the time when the Duke of Buckingham meant to passe with his Army over Severn so great an inundation was of waâer that men were drowned in their beds houses were overturned children were carried about the fields swimming in Cradles beasts were drowned on hills which rage of water contiââed ten dayes and is to this day in the Countries thereabout called the great water or the Duke of Buckinghamâ water Of his wife and issue HEE marryed Anne the second Daughter of Richard Nevill the great Earle of Warwicke being the widdow of Edward Prince of Wales the Sonne of king Heâây the sixth she lived his Wife to the last yeer of his reigne and then to make way for another was brought to her end and layd aâ rest in the Abbey of Westminster by her he had onely one Sonne born at Middleham neer Richmond in the County of Yorke at foure yeers old created Earle of Salisbury by his Uncle king Edward the fourth at ten yeers old created Prince of Wales by his Father king Richard but dyed soon after Of his Personage and Conditions THere never was in any man a greater uniformity of Body and Minde then was in him both of them equally deformed Of Body he was but low crooke-backt hook-shouldred splay-footed and goggle-eyed his face little and round his complexion swarsie his left arm from his birth dry and withered born a monster in nature with all his teeth with haire on his head and nailes on his fingers and toes And just such were the quaââties of his minde One quality he had in ordinary which was to look fawâângly when he plotted sternly when he executed Those vices which in other men are Passions in him were Habits and his cruelty was not upon occasion but naturall If at any time he shewed any virtue it was but pretence the truth of his minde was onely lying and falsehood He was full of courage and yet not valiant valour consisting not only in doing but as well in suffering which he could not abide He was politick and yet not wise Policie looking but to the middle wisdome to the end which he did and did not And it was not so much ambition that made him desire the Crown as cruelty that it might be in his power to kill at his pleasure and to say the truth he was scarce of the number of men who consist of flesh and blood being nothing but blood One Miracle wee may say hee did which was that he made the truth of History to exceed the fiction of Poetry being a greater Harpy than those that were feigned He would faine have been accounted a good King but for his life he could not be a good Man and it is an impossible thing to be one without the other He left no isâue behinde him and it had been pitty he should at least in his own Image One such Monster was enough for many Ages Of his Death and Buriall BEing slaine in the Battell at Bosworth as before is related his body was left naked and desâoyled to the very skin not so much as a câout left about him to cover his privy parts and taken up was trussed behinde a Pursuivant at Armes one Blaâch Senglyer or White-boare his head and armes hanging on one side of the horse and his leggs on the other and all besprinkled with mire and dirt he was brought to the Gray-Friers Church within the Towne of Leicester and there for some time lay a miserable spectacle and afterward with small Funerall-pompe was there interred But after this King Heâry the Seventh caused a Tombe to be made and set up over the place where he was buried with a picture of Alablaster representing his person which at the suppression of that Monastery was utterly defaced Since when his Grave overgrowne with nettles and weeds is not to be found onely the Stone-chest wherein his Corps lay is now made a drinking-trough for horses at a common Inne in Leicester and reteineth the onely memory of this Monarchs greatnes But his body as is reported was caried out of the City and contemptuously bestowed under the end of Bow-bridge which giveth passage over a branch of
between the Lady Margaret the ãâã eldest daughter and him where the Earle by Proxie in the name of king Iames ãâã Masâer affied and contracted the said Ladie which Contract was published at ãâã Crosseâ the day of the Conversion of Saint Paul for joy whereof Te Deum ãâ¦ã and great fires were made through the City of London and if such joy weâe made when the match was made what joy should be made now at the issue of the match when by the Union of those persons is made an Union of these kingdomes and England and Scotland are but one great Britaine The Ladies portion was ten thousand pounds her joynture two thousand pounds a yeer after king Iames his death and in present one thousand When this match was first propounded at the Connsell Table some Lords opposed it objecting that by this means the Crown of England might happen to come to the Scottish Nation To which King Heâry answered what if it should It would not be an accession of England to Scoâlaâd but of Scotland to England and this answer of the kings passed for an Oracle ând so the match proceeded and in August following was Consummate at Ediâbârgh conducted thither in great State by the Earle of Northumberland Prince Arthur after his marriage was sent againe into Wales to keep that Countây in good order to whom were appointed for Counsellours Sir Richard Poole hiââinsman and chiefe Chamberlaine Sir Henry Vernon Sir Richard Crofâs Sir David ãâã Sir William Vdall Sir Thomas Englefield Sir Peter Newton Iohn Walleston ãâã Marton and Doctor William Smith President of his Counsell but within five moneths after his marriage at his Castle of Ludlow he deceased and with great soleââity was buried in the Cathedrall Church at Worcester His Brother Henry Duâe of Yorke was stayed from the title of Prince of Wales the space of halfe a yeer till to women it might appeare whether the Lady Katherine the Relict of Prince Arââââ were with childe or no. The towardlines in learning of this Prince Arthur is veây memorable who dying before the age of sixteen yeers was said to have read over alâ or most of the Latine Authours besides many other And now Prince Arthur being dead and the Lady Katherine of Spaine left a young widdow King Henry loath to part with her dowry but chiefely being desirous ãâã continue the Alliance with Spaine prevailed with his other Sonne Prince Henry though with some reluctation such as could be in those years for he was scarce âwelvâ years of age to be contracted with the Princesse Katherine his broâhârs widdow for which marriage a dispensation by advice of the most learned men at that ãâã in Christendome was by Pope Iulius the second granted and on the five and twentieth day of Iune in the Bishop of Salisburyâs house in Fleet-street thâ marriage was solemnized A little before this time ãâ¦ã Earle of Sâffolke Son to Iohn Duke of Suffolke and Lady Elizâbâtâ Sister âo king Edward the âourth had in his fury kill'd a mean personâ and was thereupon Iâdighted of Murther for which although he had the kings Pardon yet because he was brought to thâ Kings-bench-bârrâ and there arraigned he took it for so great ãâ¦ã his honour that in great rage he fled into Flanders to his Aunâ the Ladâ Mââgaret where having stayed a while when his pâssion was over he returnâd againe âut after the marriage between Prince Arthur and the Lady ãâã wââther it were that in that solemnity he had run himselfe in debt or ãâã he were ârawn to doe so by the Lady Margareâ he passed over the second time with his bâother Richard into Flânderâ This put the king into some doubt of his intentionâ whereupon he hath recourse to his usuall course in such cases and Sir ãâ¦ã Captaine of Hammeâ Castle to feigne himselfe one of that Conspiracy theââby to learn the depth of their intentions And to take away all suspââion of his imployment âhe first Sunday of November he caused the said Earle and Sir Robert Cârson with five others to be accursed openly at Pauls Crosse as Enemies to him and his Realme In conclusion Sir Robert Curson acquainted the king with divers of that faction amongst whom Williaâ Lord Courtâey and Williaâ de la Poole brother to the foresaid Earle of Suffolke who were taken but upon suspition yet held long in prison but Sir Iames Tyrrell the same that had murthered the two young Princes in the Tower and Sir Ioââ Windham who were proved to be Traytorâ were accordingly attainted and on the sixth day of May at the Tower-hill beheaded Whereof when the Earle heard despairing now of any good successe he wandred about all Germany and Frââcâ where finding no succour he submitted himselfe at last to Philip Duke of Austria by whom afterward he was delivered to king Henry by this occasion Ferdiâaâd king of Aragon by his Wife Isabella Queen of Câstile had onely two Daughters the eldest whereof named Ioaâe was married to this Philip Duke of Austria the younger named Katherine to Arthur Prince of England and now Queen Isabella being lately dead by whose death the kingdome of Castile descended in Right of his Wife to this Duke Philip they were sayling out of Germany into Spâine to take possession of the kingdome but by tempest and contrary windes were driven upon the coast of England and landed at VVeymouth in Dorsetshire where desiring to refresh themselves a little on shore they were invited by Sir Thomas Treâchaâd a principall knight of that Country to his house who presently sent word to the king of their arrivall King Henry glad to have his Court honoured by so great a Prince and perhaps upon hope of a courtesie from him which afterward he obtained âent presently the Earle of Arundell to waite upon him till himselfe might follow and the Earle went to him in great magnificence with a gallant troope of three hundred Horse and for more State came to him by Torch-light Upon whose Meâââge though king Philip had many reâsons of haste on his journey yet not to give king Heâry distaste and withall to give his Queen the comfort of seeing the Lady Katherine her Sister he went upon speed to the king at VVindsor while his Queen followed by easie journeys After great magnificence of entertainment king Henây taking a fit opportunity and drawing the king of Castile into a roome where they two onely were private and laying his hand civilly upon his arme said unto him Sir you have been saved upon my Coast I hope you will not suffer me to wrack upon yours The king of Castile asking him what he meant by that speech I mean it saith the king by that haire-brain'd fellow the Earle of Suffolke who being my subject is protected in your Country and begins to play the foole when all others are weary of it The king of Casâile answered I had thought Sir your felicity had been above those thoughts but if it trouble you I will
for which boldnesse I humbly intreat âour Graces pardon The King not onely pardoned him but bestowed presently upon him the Deanery of Lincolne and soone after made him his Almoner In this state King Henây the eight found him with whom also he grew into such favour that he made him of his Councell and having won Tourney made him Bishop of that Citie and returning into England the Bishopricke of Lincolne falling void by the death of Doctor Smith made him Bishop of that Diocesse And thus far the story hath now brought him but soone after he was raised higher for Doctor Bambridge Archbishop of Yorke dying he was translated from Lincolne to that See and that he might not be inferiour to the Archbishop of Canterâury he procured of the Pope to be made Cardinall and Legat a Latere and after by the King was made Lord Chancellour of England and being come to this height of dignity he so carried himselfe in Expences of Houshold in number of Retinve and in all circumstances of State that no Subject before or since hath in any degree come neere him And if we may say it he was the first Debaucher of King Henry for to the end he might have the managing of all matters himself he perswaded the King that he should not need trouble himselfe with frequenting the Councell Table as he did but take his pleasure and leave those things to his Councell whereof himselfe would alwaâes give him ânie Information This was plausible Councell and no marvaile if it were embraced of a yong King coming from the mouth of so great a Prelate In this fifth yeer of the King the Citizens of London finding themselves grieved with the Inclosures of the common fields about Islington Hogsdon and Shârdich and other places adjoyning went one morning and threw downe all the Hedges and filled up all the Ditches whereat though the Kings Councell were at first offended yet the Maior and City shewed them such reasoâs that they rested satisfied and the fields were never since hedged On the nineteenth of May this yeer Pope Iulius the second sent to King Henry a Cap of Maintenance and a Sword and being angry with the King of France transferred by Authority of the Lateran Councell the title of Christianissimo from him upon King Henry which with great solemnity was published the sunday following in the Cathedrall Church of Saint Paul but this solemnity must not passe without Revelling Maskes and Justs wherein the King and the Duke of Suffolke were defendants against all commers who having the Duke of Longuevyle and the Lord of Clermont to be spectâtours spread the fame of their Chivalrie into forreigne Nations And now the great love that had been long between King Henry and the Flemings began to abate upon this occasion King Henry the seventh had concluded a match between his daughter Mary and Charles Prince of Spaine but by reason of her young yeers and for want of assurance of Joynture the match was deferred during his time but now King Henry the eight seeing his sister of convenient yeers began to call upon it and signified so much to the Councell of Flanders but they whether having other ends or out of Spanish delayes put him off with excuses and at last sent him word plainly they could doe nothing in it that yeer The King of France had soone Intelligence how much King Henry distasted these Spanish dealings and meant to make some good use of it for the ends he began to propose to himselfe which were to get the Lady Mary for himselfe and thereby procure peace with England being now old and weary of the War And for this purpose he got the new Pope Leo the tenth to be his mediatour and both of them send Embassadours to King Henry the Pope to perswade him to have peace with France the French King to treat about a Marriage with the Lady Mary upon whose Embassages King Henry partly to satisfie the Pope and partly to advance his sister did not unwillingly hearken to the motions but whilst this was in working Pryor Iohn who knew nothing of these intentions began again to play his Praâks and coming with his Gallyes on the coast of Sussex burnt Bhighthem-steed and took away the goods he found in the Village whereupon the Lord Admirall sent Sir Iohn Walloppe to sea with divers ships and eight hundred men who for one Village that Pryor Iohn burnt in England burnt one and twenty Villages and Townes in France to the great honour of himselfe and his countrey And now King Henry by advice of his Councell and specially of Woolsey Bishop of Lincolne concluded both the peace with France and the Marriage of his Sister the Lady Mary with the French King but yet it stuck a while upon some differences King Henry demanding Bulloigne and the King of France Tourney in conclusion these demands were waved and the principall conditions wereâ first concerning the Ladies Joynture that she should have two and thirty thousand Crownes of yeerly revenues if she survived the King and then concerning ths peace that the French King should pay yeerly to King Henry for five yeers one hundred thousand Crownes and the peace to continue between them during their lives and a yeer after and bound reciprocally to assist each other with ten thousand foot if the warre were by land with six thousand if by sea All things thus concluded the Lady Mary was brought to Dover by King Henry and his Queen and on the second of October taking shippiâg was conducted by the Duke of Norfolke the Marquesse Dorset the Bishop of Durhamâ the Earle of Surry the Lord De la ware the Loâd Berners the Lord Monteagle Sir Maurice Berkely Sir Iohn Pechye Sir William Sands Sir Bulleyneâ Sir Iohn Carre and many other Knights and Ladies but being not past halfe way over the sea their ships by tempest were dispersed and the Lady with some jeoperdy landed at Bullen where Sir Christopher Garnish was faine to stand in the water and take her in his armes and so set her on shore and there the Duke of Vendosme with a Cardinall and many other great States received her From Bullen the eight of October she came to Abbevyle where the Dolphyn received her on the morrow being Saint Dennis day she came to Saint Dennis where the marriage between the King of France and her was solemâized though some write it had been solemnized before at Abbevyle The fifth of November she was Crowned Queene of France at which time the Dolphyn held the Crowne over her head as being too massie for her to weare and the day following she was received into Paris in most magnificent manner In honour of whose Marriage and Coronation the Dolphyn had caused a solemne Justs to be proclaimed which should be kept in Paris the seventh of November Upon report of this Proclamation in England the Duke of Suffolke the Marquesse Dorset and his four Brothers the Lord Clinton Sir Edward Neââll
but neither yet was there an end of Commotions for in the latter end of this eight and twentieth yeer the Lord Darcy the Lord Hussey Sir Robert Constable Sir Iohn Bulmer and his wife Sir Thomas Percy brother to the Earl of Northumberland Sir Stephen Hamilton Nicholas Tempest Esquire and others began to conspire although each of them before had been pardoned by the King but this as being but the fagge end of Commotion was soon suppressed the Lord Darcy was beheaded on the Tower-hill the Lord Hussey at Lincolâe Sir Robert Cânstable was hanged in cheins at Hull Sir Iohn Balmers Paramout was burnt in Smithfield and most of the other were executed at Tyburne Tantae molis erat so great a matter it wasâ to make the Realme be quiet in so great innovations of Religion This yeer on Saint Georges-feast the Lord Cromwell was made Knight of the Garter and on the twelfth of October which is Saint Edwards-eveâ at Haâton-Court the Queen was delivered of a sonne but with so hard a labour that she was faine to be ript the child was named Edward whose Godfathers at the Christning were the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of Norfolke his Godmother was his sister the Lady Mary at his Bishoping his Godfather was the Duke of Suffolk on the eighteenth of October he was made Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester but the birth of his sonne brought not so much joy to the King as the death of his Queene brought him sorrow for within two dayes after she died and was buried at Winsor and âo much was the Kings grief for her death that he continued a widdawer two yeeres after It is not unworthy the relating what a miserable dissolation befell the family of the Geraldynes or Fitz-Garrets Earle of Kildare in Ireland about this time for Gerald Fitz-Garret who had been ten yeers Deputy in Ireland upon complaint of some fault was sent for over into England where not making a satisfying answer he was committed to the Tower but before his commiâg over had with the Kings leave left Deputy there his own sonne a Young-man of not above twenty yeers of age but yet ripe of understanding and fit for the plaâe this young Lord hearing that his father was committed prisoner to the Tower and soon after as the rumour encreased that he was put to death in rage to be revenged rose up in Armes and having five Unckles in the Couâtry men of great estimatioâ drew them though some of them unwillingly to take his part amongst other outrages he committed the Archbishop of Dublin was slaine in his presenceâ the Father in the Tower hearing hereof with very griefe died the Sonne and his Uncles upon the Kings sending aâ Army were all either taken or submitted and being sent for over into England those of his Unckles that against their wils had been drawn into the Action had good hope of their lives till entring the ship of passage which was called the Cow they then presently dispaired because of a Prophesie that five sonnes of a certaine Earl should be carried into England in the belly of a Cowe and never after return and indeed it fell out true for through the malice of their adversaries exasperating the King against them and saying there would never be quietnes in Ireland as long as any of the Geraldines were left alive they were all put to death one onely sonne of the family remained a youth of thirteene yeers of age who though at that time sick of the smal-pox yet made shift to save himselfe by flight fled first into France and frighted from thence afterwards into Flanders and driven from thence at last into Italy where prâoected by Reginâld Poole ar that time made Cardinall by Pope Iulie the third he was afterward by this meaneâ restored to his dignity and his patrimony This yeere Edward Seymour Viscount Beauchamp the Queens brother was created Earl of Hartford and Sir VVilliam Fitz-VVilliams Lord Admirall was created Earl of Southamton Master Paulet was made Vice Treasurer Sir Iohn Russell was made Controller of the Kings House and diverse Gentlemen were made Knights In February diverse Roodes were taken downe by the Kings commandement as the Roode of Boxeley called the Rood of grace which was made with vices to move the eyes and lips also the Rood called Saint Saviour at Bermondsey Abbey in Southwarke aâd diverse others in May a Frier Observant called Frier Forrest who had taken the oath of Supremacy himselfe yet privately perswaded others that the King was not supreme head of the Church was thereupon examined and for his defence said that he took the oath with his outward man but his inward man never consented to it but this answer served not his turn from being condemned and on a paire of Gallowes prepared for him in Smithââeld he was hanged by the middle and arme-holes all quick and under the Gallowes was made a fire wherewith he was consumed a little before his executioâ a huge great Image was brought to the Gallowes fetched out of Wales which the Welch-men had in great reverence called Darvell Gatheren of which there went a Prophesie that thiâ Image should set a whole Forrest on fire which was thought to take effect in âerring this Frier Forrest on fire and consuming him to nothing In September by the speciall motion of the Lord Cromwell all the notable Images unto which were made any speciall Pilgrimages and offerings were taken downe and burnt as the Images of Walsingham Ipswicâ VVorcester the Lady of VVilsdon with many other and forthwith by meanes of the said Cromwell all the orders of Friers and Nunnes with theirs Cloysters and Houses were suppressed and put downe also the shrines of counterfeit Saints amongst others the shrine of Thomas Becket in the Priory of Christ-church was taken to the Kings use and his bones scull and all which was there found with a peece âroken out by the wound of his death were all burnt in the same Church by command of the Lord Cromwell and the one and twentieth of October the Church of Thomas Becket in London called the Hospitall of Saint Thomas of Acres was suppressed the sixteenth of November the Black-friers in London was suppressed the next day the VVhite-friers the Gray-friers and the Monkes of the Charter-house and so all the other immediately after ãâã three Abbots resisted the Abbot of Colechester the Abboâ of Reding and the Abbot of Glastenbury who therefore were all taken and executed The foure and twentieth of November the Bishop of Rochester Preached at Pauls-crosse and there shewed the blood of Hales affirming it to be no blood but honey clarified and coloured with saââron as it had been evidently proved before the King and Councell The number of Monasteries suppressed were six hundred forty five besides fourescore and ten Colledges one hundred and ten Hospitals and of Chantries and free Chappels two thousand three hundred seventy foure But now to make amends
for the suppressing of so many Monasteries the King instituted certaine new Bishoprickes as at VVestminster Oxford Peterborough Bristow Chester and Gloster and assigned certaine Canons and Prebends to each of them The third of November Henry Courtney Marquesse of Exceter and Earle of Devonshire Henry Poole Lord Montacute Sir Nicholas Carew of Bedington Knight of the Garter and Master of the Kings Horse and Sir Edward Nevill brother to the Lord of Aburgeiney were sent to the Tower being accused by Sir Geoffry Poole the Lord Montacutes brother of high treason theâ were indiâed for devising to promote and advance one Reinold Poole to the Crowne and put downe King Henry This Poole was a neere kinsman of the Kings being the sonne of the Lady Margaret Countesse of Salisbury daughter and heire to George Duke of Clarence he had been brought up by the King in learning and made Deane of Excetur but being sent after to learne experience by travaile he grew so great a friend of the Popes that he became an enemy to King Henry and for his enmity to the King was by Pope Iulius the third made Cardinall for this mans cause the Lords aforesaid being condemned were all executed the Lord Marquis the Lord Montacute and Sir Edward Neâill beheaded on the Tower-hill the ninth of Ianuary Sir Nicholas Carew the third of March two Priests condemned with them were hanged at Tyburn Sir Ieoffry Poole though condemned also yet had his pardon About thiâ time one Nicholson alias Lambert being accused for denying the Reall presence in the Sacrament appealed to the King and the King was coâtent to heare him whereupon a Thronâ was set up in the Hall of the Kings Pallace at Westminster for the King to siâ and when tâe Bishops had urged their arguments and could not prevaile then the King tooke him in hand hoping perhaps to have the honour of conâerting an Hereticke when the Bishops could not doe it and withall promised him pardon if he would recant but all would not doe Nicholsoâ remained obstinâte the King mist his honor the delinquent mist his pardon and shortly after was drawne to Smithfield and there burnt About this time King Henry being informed that the Pope by instigation of Cardinall Poole had earnestly moved divers great Princes to invade England He as a provident Prince endeaâoured aââarnâstly to provide âor defence aâd to that end rode himselfe to the Sâa-coastâ ãâã them fortifiââ and in needfull places Bulwarkes to be erected Hee câused hiâ Naââeââ be rigged and to be in readinesse at any short warning he cââsed Musters ââ be raken in all sheeâes and lists of all able men in eâery Countâ in Lâââdon specially where Sir William Forman the âhen Mâjor ââââified the number of fifteene thousand not that they were ãâ¦ã but that so many were ready prepared and these on the eight of May the King himselfe saw Mustered in Iames Parke where the Citizeâs âââove in such sort to exceed each other in bravary of armes and forwardnesse of service aâ if the City had bin a Campe and they not men of the gownâ but all profest Souldiers which they performed to their great cost but greater comendââion It was now the one and thirtieth yeere of King Henriâs reigne and the nine and fortieth of his age when having continued a widdower two yeere he began to thinke of marrying againe and bee needed not be a suiâour for a wife for he was sued unto take one The Emperour sollicited him to marry the Dutchesse of Milan but to marry her he must first obtaine a Licence from the Pope and King Henry was resolved rather to have no wife then to have any more to doe with the Pope Then the Duke of Cleve made suit unto him to marry the Lady Anne hiâ Sister and hee was a Protestant Prince and so though differing in points of Doctrine yet in the maine Point of excluding âhe Pope both of one minâe Many about the King were forward for thiâ Maâch but the Lord Croâwell specially and indeed it concerned him more then any other that the King should take a Protestant wife seeing ãâã actions hâd beene such as none but â Protestant Queene would ever like and if the Queene should not like them the King though done by his leave would âot like them long Hereupon such meanes was used that Embâssaâours came from the Duke of Cleve to conclude the March and theâ the elevânth of December the Lady her selfe in grâat state was brought first to Callice and then over to Dover and being come to Rochester the King secretly came to see her afterward she was conducted to London meâ by the way in severall places by all the great Lords and Ladies of the Kingdome The third of Ianuary she was received into London by Sir William Hollice then Lord Major with Orationâ Pageants anâ all complements of Staâe the greatest that ever had beene seene On Twelfth day the Marriage was âolemnized the Archbishop of Canterbury did the office the Earle of Oversteine a German Lord gaâe her In Aprill following the Lord Cromwell as though he had won the Kings heart for ever by making this march was made Earle of Essex for in March before Henry Rourchieâ Earle of Essexâ and the ancientest Earle of England had broken his necke by seeking to breake a yong Horse leaving onely one Daughter and the dying without issue the Earldome came to the Family of Devereux which yet enjoyed not the honour till afterward in Queene Elizabeths time and then made but not restored The ninth of March the King created Sir William Paulet Treasurour of his House Lord Saint Iohn Sir Iohn Russell Controlour Lord Russell and shortly after Sir William Par was created Lord Par. The eight and twentieth of April began a Parliament at Westminster in the which Margaret Countesse of Salisbury Gertrude wife to the Marquesse of Exceter Reynold Poole Cardinall broâher to the Lord Montacute Sir Adrian Foskew Thomas Dingley Knight of Saint Iohns and divers others were attainâed of high treason of whom Foskew and Dingley the tenth of Iuly were beheaded the Countesse of Salisbury two yeeres after and in this Parliament the Act of the six Articles was established and Sir Nicholas Hare was restored to his place of Speaker in the Parliament It was now five moneths after the Kings marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleve and though the King at the first sight of the Lady did not like her person yet whether as respecting the honour of Ladies he would not disgrace her at the first meeting or whether he ment to try how time might worke him to a better liking or indeed that he would not give distaste to the German Princes at that time for sole ends he had a working he dissembled the matter and all things went on in a shew of contentment on all hands But for all these shewes the crafty Bishop of London Stephen Gardiner finding how the world went with the Kings affection towards his
of Scotland sent for aid to the Queen of England But this was matter for consultation It seemed a bad Example for a Prince to give aid to the rebellious Subjects of another Prince On the other side it seemed no lesse then impiety not to give Ayd to the Protestants of the same Religion but most of all it seemed plain madnesse to suffer adversaries to be so neer neighbours and to let the French nestle in Scotland who pretend Title to England upon such like considerations it was resolved to send them Ayd and thereupon an Army of six thousand Foot and twelve hundred Horse was sent under the Command of the Duke of Norfolk the Lord Grey of Wilton his Lievtenant Generall Sir Iames a Crofts Assistant to him the Lord Scroop L. Marshall Sir George Howard Generall of the men at Arms Sir Henry Percy Generall of the Light-horse Thomas Huggens Provost Marshall Thomas Gower Master of the Ordnance Master William Pelham Captain of the Pyoners and Master Edward Randoll Serjeant Major and divers others These coming into Scotland joyned with the Scotish Lords and set down before Leith where passed many small skirmishes many Batteries and sometimes Assaults to whom after some time a new supply came of above two thousand Foot whereof were Captains Sir Andrew Corbet Sir Rowland Stanley Sir Thomas Hesbith Sir Arthur Manwaring Sir Lawrence Smith and others yet with this new supply there was little more done then before many light skirmishes many Batteries and sometimes Assaults so long till at last the young French King finding these broyls of Scotland to be too furious for him to appease he sent to the Queen of England desiring that Commissioners might be sent to reconcile these differences whereupon were dispatched into Scotland Sir William Cecill her principall Secretary with Doctor Wotton Dean of Canterbury who concluded a Peace between England and France upon these Conditions That neither the King of France nor the Queen of Scotland should thenceforth use the Arms or Titles of England or Ireland And that both the English and the French should depart out of Scotland And a generall pardon should be enacted by Parliament for all such as had been actors in those stirs This Peace was scarce concluded when Francis the young King of France died leaving the Crown to his younger brother Charles who was guided altogether by the Queen-Mother and molested with the Civill dissentions between the Princes of Guise and Conde for whose reconcilement the Queen sent Sir Henry Sidney Lord President of VVales and shortly after an Army under the leading of the Lord Ambrose Dudley Earl of VVarwick who arriving at Newhaven was received into the Town which having kept eleven months he was then constrayned by reason of a Pestilence to surrender again upon Composition and so returned About this time when the Parliament was upon dissolving it was agreed upon by the House of Commons to move the Queen to marry that she might have Issue to succeed her to which purpose Thomas Gargrave Speaker of the House with some few other chosen men had accesse to the Queen who humbly made the motion to her as a thing which the Kingdom infinitely desired seeing they could never hope to have a better Prince then out of her loyns Whereunto the Queen answered in effect thus That she was already marryed namely To the Kingdom of England and behold saith she the Pledge of the Covenant with my husband and therewith she held out her finger and shewed the Ring wherewith at the time of her Coronation she gave her self in Wedlock to the Kingdom and if saith she I keep my self to this husband and take no other yet I doubt not but God will send you as good Kings as if they were born of me forasmuch as we see by dayly experience That the Issue of the best Princes do often degenerate And for my self it shall be sufficient that a Marble stone declare That a Queen having Raigned such a time lived and dyed a Virgin Indeed before this time many Matches had been offered her First King Philip and when he was out of hope of matching with her himself he then dealt with the Emperor Ferdinand his Unkle to commend his younger Son Charles Duke of Austria to her for a husband And when this succeeded not then Iohn Duke of Finland second Son to Gustavus King of Sweden was sent by his father to solicite for his eldest Brother Erricusâ who was honourably received but the Match rejected Then Adolphus Duke of Holst Unkle to Frederick King of Denmark came into England upon a great hope of speeding but the Queen bestowed upon him the Honour of the Garter and a yeerly Pension but not her self Then Iames Earl of Arran was commended to her by the Protestants of Scotland but neither the man nor the motion was accepted Of meaner Fortunes there were some at home that pleased themselves with hope of her Marriage First Sir William Pickering a Gentleman of a good House and a good Estate but that which most commended him was his studiousnesse of good letters and sweet demeanour Then Henry Earl of Arundel exceeding rich but now in his declining age Then Robert Dudley youngest son of the Duke of Northumberland of an excellent feature of face and now in the flower of his age but these might please themselves with their own conceit but were not considerable in her apprehension they might receive from her good Testimonies of her Princely favour but never Pledges of Nuptiall love About this time the Earl of Feria who had married the daughter of Sir William Dormer being denyed leave of the Queen for some of his wives friends to live out of England grew so incensed that he made means to Pius the fourth then Pope to have her excommunicate as an Heretick and Usurper but the Pope inclining rather to save then to destroy and knowing that gentle courses prevail more with generous mindes then roughnesse and violence in most loving manner wrote unto her exhorting her to return to the Unity of the Catholike Church and as it is said made her great offers if she would hearken to his counsell Particularly That he would recall the Sentence pronounced against her mothers Marriage confirm the Book of Common Prayer in English and permit to her people the use of the Sacrament in both Kindes But Queen Elizabeth neither terrified with the Earl of Feria's practises nor allured with the Popes great offers according to her Motto Semper Eadem persisted constant in her resolution To maintain that Religion which in her conscience she was perswaded to be most agreeable to the Word of God and most consonant to the Primitive Church Whilst these grounds of Troubles are sowing in England France and Scotland it is not likely that Ireland will lie fallow though indeed it be a Countrey that will bring forth Troubles of it self without sowing but howsoever to make the more plentifull Harvest of troubles at this time Iohn Oneal
the Siege but afterward ãâ¦ã with Verdugo the Spaniard at Nârthone even when the Vi ãâ¦ã gotten Roger Williams having put the enemies to flight ãâ¦ã of the War turned Norris is vanquished wounded and a great ãâ¦ã his men slain amongst whom were Cotton Fitzâ Williams and ãâ¦ã Commanders Here it must not be omittedâ That the English ãâ¦ã the dwellers in the Northern parts of the World were hither ãâ¦ã Drinkers and deserved praise for their sobâiety in these Dutch ãâ¦ã to be Drunkards and brought the vice so far to over-spread ãâ¦ã âome that Laws were fain to be enacted for repressing it ãâ¦ã whilst the States and the King of Spain conâend about a few ãâ¦ã the Low-Countries he seizeth upon the whole Kingdom of Porâââ ãâ¦ã For the last yeer Henry King of Pââtingall dying many Compe ãâ¦ã allenge the Kingdom as the Duke of Savoy the Prince of Par ãâ¦ã Natharine Bracant and the Queen of France But Philip King of ãâ¦ã son of Henries eldest sister putting the case to his Divines and ãâ¦ã and adjuring them to pronounce to whom of Right it belonged ãâ¦ã For him whereupon he sent Duke D'Alva who put to ãâ¦ã ââtonio whom the people had elected King and within seventy dayes ãâ¦ã all Portingall The Queen of France angry hereat and enviously be ãâ¦ã the King of Spain's Dominions thus enlarged being now Master ãâ¦ã gall the East Indies and many Islands besides adviseth amongst ãâ¦ã Pâââces Queen Elizabeth to bethink themselves in time of restrayn ãâ¦ã âo excessive Dominions Whereupon the Queen received Don ãâã and lâvingly relieved him which she thought might be done without ãâ¦ã breath of the League with Spain seeing Don Antonio was descended of ãâ¦ã Blood and of the House of Lancaster and that no Cauâion was ãâ¦ã âeague That the Portuger should ãâã be admitted into England And now the Queen-Mother of Franoâ and the King her son moâe ãâã then ever pursue the Maâch with Alanson now Duke of Aâgioâ ãâ¦ã transacting whereof they sent in Ambassage into Englandâ Francis ãâã Prince of Câsseâ Marshall of France and many ãâã Honoârable Personages who were entertained with great respect a ãâã being purposely built at Westminster for that use Royally furnished ââtings and Justs proclaimed by Philip Earl of Arundel Frederick Baron ãâã Windsor Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Fulk Grevill against all comeâsâ The ââââgates that were to confer with the French concerning the Marriage ãâã Sir William Cecill Lord Treasurer Edward Earl of Lincoln Lord Adââââll Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester Sir Christopher Hatton and Sir ãâã Walsingham Secretaryâ by whom Covenants of Marriage were at ââth agreed on First That the Duke of Angioâ and the Queen of Engââââ within six weeks after the ratification of the Articles should contract ââtrimonyâ and the rest most of them such as were before agreed on in the âarriage between Queen Mary and King Philip chiefly consisting in conferââng Honour upon the Duke but Power upon the Queen It was also arââed That all paâticulars should be ratified within two Monthsâ by the âââthfull Promise and Oath of the French King for him and his Heirs and âeservation also was added apart with the Hands and Seals of every ãâã ãâ¦ã Delegates That Queen Elizabeth is not bound to finish the Marriage ââtill she and the Duke have given each other satisfaction in some ãâã and have certified the French King of the same within six weâksâ Beâore those six weeks were expired Simier Secretary to the Couâââll is ãâã into France to require the King of France his Confirmationâ The ãâã will not hear him but presseth to have the Marriage accomplished ãâ¦ã was contracted and that nothing else was to be done âiââier on the ãâã side sheweth by the Articles That a League offenâââe and defensive ãâã first be concluded This the French King disclaymeâh Whereupon Wâlsinghams is presently sent âo compose this differanâe who joyntly with Henry Câbham the Embassââour in ordinaââââ and Simier alleadgeth to the French King these Particâlââs That Queen Elizabeth for no other reason was willing to marry but for the âatisfaction of heâ people and seeing many Impediments were come in the way since the first Treaty namely the Civill Warre in Francâ and the Dukes engagement in a war with Spain wââ makes the wiâest of her subjects to be now against the Maâch This hath made her to deferre the accomplishment of it although her affection be still constant toward the Dukeâ For this cause the Queen would have no further Treaty to be heldâ till the French Duke be freed from the Spanish warre and a Leauge of mutuall offeâââ and defence be agreed on The French King willingly accepted of ââe Lâaguâ defensive but of the offensive he would heare no speech till thâ marriage were finished Noâ long aftârâ the French Dâkâ himself came into England having with good successe raised the Siâge of Cââbray he was here received with as great humanity as he couââ wâsh and nothing omittedâ where by he might judge himselâ to be truly welcome Insomuch thââ in November when the Anniversariâ of the Quâââs Inauguration came to be solemnized the Q. while they were in Love conference drew a Ring off from her finger and put it upon his upon some private conditions The standers by imagined that by this Ceremonie the Marriagâ was confirmed between them and Aldegând Governour of Antwerp being there presently dispatched messengers into the Low-Countriesâ to give notice of it and thereupon Bonfires were made and all shewes of Rejoycingâ But the Earl of Leicester who privâly plotted to crosse the Maâch Hââton the Vice-Chamberlain and Secretary Walsingham frââ and are enraged as if the Kingdom the Queen and Religon were now utterly ovââthrowne The Maids of Honour and Ladiâs that were familiar wiââ thâ Queen made grievous lamentation and so ãâã and daunted her that she could take no rest that night The nexâ dayâ she calleth to her the French Duke and causing all companie to go aside they privately ânâerâain a long discourse At length the Duke returning to his lodging cast the Ring away from him and after a while takes it up again terribly exclayming against the Levity and inconstancie of Women The Queen at this time was much troubled at a Book lately put forth with this Title The Gulph wherein England will be swallowed by the French Marriage whereof conceiving that some Puritan was the Author it made her highly displeased with the Puritans whereupon within a few dayes Iohn Stubbes of Lincolnes-Inne a Zealous Professour and the Author of this booke wâose sister Thomas Cartwright the father of the Puritants had married William Page that dispersed the copies and Singletoâ the Printer were apprehendedâ against whom Sentence was pronounced That their Right hand should be cut offâ by vertue of a Law made in the Raigne of Phillip and Maâie against the Aâthors and dispersers of Seditious Writings though the cheife Lawyers and Judges of the Kingdom could not agree concerning the fââce of that
States sent for out of England to succour it the Town was furiously aâsaulted with seventeen thousand great shot and a mighty breach was made into it which neverthelesse Roger Williams Franis Vere Nicholas Baskervile with the Garrison of the English and Wallons were valiantly defended for a while but at last were enforced to yeild it upâ Leicester that came to relieve it finding himself too weak for the Besiegers being gone away And indeed the States would not commit any great Army to his Command who they knew had a determination to seâze Lâyden and some other Towns into his own hands and had a purpose to surprize the absolute Government Whereupon the States used means that Leicester was called home gave up the Government to the States and in his roome succeeded Maurice of Nassaw Son to the Prince of Orange bâing now but twenty years of age Peregrine Lord Willonghby was by the Queen made Geneâall of the English Forces in the Low-Countries to whom she gave command to reduce the English Factions into the States obedience the which with the help of Prince Maurice he easily effected Leicester being now come home and perceiving that an accusation was preparing against him by Buckhurst and others for his unfaithfull managing of affairs in Holland privately with tears he cast himself down at the Queens feet entreating her that she would not receive him with disgrace at his return whom she had sent forth with honor and so far prevailed with her that the next day being called to examination before the Lords he took his place amongst them not kneeling down at the end of the Table as the manner of Delinquents is and when the Secretary began to read the heads of his Accusation he interrupted him saying That the publick instructions which he had received were limited with private restriction and making his appeal to the Queen eluded the whole crimination with the secret indignation of his Adversaries This year was famous for the death of many great Personages In the moneth of February dyed Henry Nevill Lord of Aburgaveny great Grand-childe to Edward Nevill who in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth got this Title in the right of his Wife only Daughter and Heir to Richard Beauchamp Earl of Worcester and Lord of Aburgaveny In which right when as the only Daughter of this Henry Wife to Sir Thomas Fane challenged the Title of Baronesse of Aburgaveny a memorable contention arose concerning the Title between her and the next Heir Male to whom by Will and the same confirmed by Authority of Parliament the Castle of Aburgaveny was bequeathed This question being a long time debated at last in a Parliament holden in the second year of King Iames the matter was tryed by voyces and the Heir Male carried the Lordship of Aburgaveny and the Barony Le Dispencer was ratified to the Female This year also in the moneth of Aprill dyed Anne Stanhope Dutchesse of Somerset ninety years old who being the Wife of Edward Seymer Duke of Somerset and Protector of England contended for precedency with Katherine Parre Queen Dowager to King Henry the Eight There dyed also Sir Ralph Sadler Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster the last Baneret of England with which dignity he was adorned at the Battell of Musselborough in Scotland After him dyed Thomas Bromley Lord Chancellor of England and six dayes after He whom the Queen meant should have succeeded him Edward Earl of Rutland but he now fayling Sir Christopher Hatton was made Lord Chancellor who though he were a Courtier yet the Queen knowing him to be an honest man thought him not unfit for that place where conscience hath or should have more place than Law although some were of opinion That it was not so much the Queens own choice as that she was perswaded to it by some that wisht him not well both thereby to be a cause of absenting him from the Court and thinking that such a sedentary place to a corpulent man that had been used to exercise would be a means to shorten his life and indeed he lived not full out three years after This yeer Sir Iohn Perot was called home out of Ireland and left all in ãâã quiet to Fits Williams his Successor For hitherto the English ãâã it no hard matter to vanquish the Irish by reason of their unskilâulnesse in Arms eight hundred Foot and three hundred Horse was ââld an invincible Army but after that by Perots command they were ââââcised in Feats of Arms and taught to discharge Muskets at a Mark ãâã had in the Low-Countries learned the Art of Fortification they held the English better to it and were not so easily overcome And now we are come to the one and twentieth yeer of Queen Elizaââââs Raign being the yeer 1588 long before spoken of by Astrologers ãâã be a wonderfull yeer and even the Climactericall yeer of the World And yet the greatest Wonder that happened this yeer was but the wonderfull Fleet that Spain provided for invading of ENGLAND if the defeat of that wonderfull Fleet were not a greater Wonder It is true there was at this time a Treaty of Peace between England and Spaiâ and the Earl of Derby the Lord Cobham Sir Iames Crofts Dale and Rogers Doctors of Law Commissioners for the Queen for the Prince of Parma the Count Aurenberg Champignie Richardot Maâs and Garvyer Doctors had many meetings about it neer to Ostend but it seemed on the pârt of Spain rather to make the English secure that they should not make provision for War than that they had any purpose of reall proceeding seeing they accepted not of any reasonable Conditions that were offered but trifled out the time till the Spanish Navy was come upon the Coast and the Ordnance heard from Sea and then dismissed the English Delegates The Spanish Navy consisted of one hundred and thirty Ships whereof Galeasses and Galleons seventy two goodly Ships like to floating Towers in which were Souldiers 19290 Marriners 8350 Gally-slaves 2080 Great Ordnance 2630 For the greater holinesse of their Action twelve of their Ships were caâled The twelve Apostles Chief Commander of the Fleet was Don Alphonso Duke of Medina and next to him Iohn Martin Recalde a great Sea-man The twentieth of May they weighed Anchor from the River Tagus but were by Tempest so miserably disperst that it was long ere they mât again but then they sent before to the Prince of Parma That he with his Forces consisting of fifty thousand old Souldiers should be ready to joyn with them and with his Shipping conduct them into England and to land his Army at the Thames Mouth The Queens Preparation in the mean time was this The Lord Charles Howard Lord Admirall with all her Navy and Sir Francis Drake Vice-Admirall to be ready at Plimouth and the Lord Henry Seymor second son to the Duke of Somerset with forty English and Dutch Ships to keep the Coasts of the Netherlands to hinder the Prince of Parma's
King according to an ancient custome had ayde of His Subjects thorough England for making his eldest sonne Prince Henry Knight which yet was Levied with great moderation and the Prince to shew himselfe worthy of it performed His first Feates of Armes at Barriers with wonderfull skill and courage being not yet full sixteene yeares of Age. It was now the eight yeere of King Iames His Reigne being the yeare 1610 when Prince Henry being come to the age of seventeen yeares It was thought fit He should be Initiated into Royalty and thereupon the thirtieth of May this yeare He was Created Prince of Wales in most solemne manner which was this Garter King at Armes bore the Letters Patents the Earle of Sussex the Robes of Purple Velvet the Earle of Huntington the Traine the Earle of Cumberland the Sword the Earle of Rutland the Ring the Earle of Darby the Rod the Earle of Shrewsbury the Cape and Coronet the Earle of Nottingham and North-Hampton supported the Prince being in His Surcoate only and bare-headed and in this manner being conducted to the King attended on by the Knights of the Bathe five and twenty in number all great men and great mens sons The Earle of Salisbury principall Secretary read the Letters Pattents the Prince kneeling all the while before the King and at the words accustomed the King put on him the Robe the Sword the Cape and the Coronet the Rod and the Ring and then kissed him on the cheeke and so the solemnity ended After this it was thought fit he should keep his Court by himselfe and thereupon Sir Thomas Chaloner a learned Gentleman who had before been his Governour was now made his Lord Chamberlaine Sir Edw. Philips his Chancellor and all other officers assigned him belonging to a Princes Court wherein he shewed himselfe so early ripe for Majesty that he seemed to be a King while he was yet but Prince And all mens eyes began to fix upon him King Iames had long since shut up the Gates of Ianus and was in Peace with all Princes abroad his only care now was how to keep Peace at home and to this end the three first dayes of Iune in his own person he heard the differences between the Ecclesiasticall and the Temporall Iudges argued touching Protections out of the KingsâBench and Common-Pleas to this end the eight ninth tenth of Iune he heard the manifold complaints of the abuses of the Victualers other Officers of his Navy Royall to this end the 4 of Iune 1610 he once again by Proclamation commanded all Roman Priests Seminaries and Iesuits as being the chiefe Incendiaries of troubles to depart this Kingdome by the 5 of Iuly next and not to returne upon pain of severity of the Law also all Recusants to returne home to their Dwellings and âot to ramaine in London âoâ to come within ten miles of the Court without speciall Licence aâââr which Proclamation the Oâth of Allegeance was presently ministred to all sorts of people and their names certified to the Lords of the Counsell that refââed to take it and this Hee the rather did out of consideration of the bloudy fact committed lately by one Revillâck upon the person of the renowned K. of France Henry the fourth whereas Queen Elizabeth in her 43 years had granted her Letters Pattents to continue for 15 years to the East India Merchants now upon their humble petition the King was pleased to enlarge their Pateââs giving them a charter to continue for ever enabling them thereby to be a body Corporate and Politick which so encouraged the Merchants that they built a ship of twelve hundred âun the greatest that was ever made in this Kingdome by Merchants which the King and Prince honored with going to Deptford to see it and then named it The Trades encrease and at this time gave to Sir Thomas Smith Governour of that Company a faire chaine of Gold with a Iewell wherein was his Picture But this great Ship having been in the Read Sea and returning to Banthem was there lost and most of her men cast away But then the King himselfe builded the goodliest Ship of War that was ever built in England being of the burthen of 1400 tun and carrying threescore and foure pieces of great Ordnance which he gave to his son Prince Henry who named it after his own dignity The Prince And now whereas a Parliament had been holden this year and was Prorogued to a certain day the King perhaps not finding it to comply with his designes or for some other cause known to himself on the last day of December under the grâât Sâale of England dissolved it Before this time one Sir Robert Cârre a Gentleman of Scotland or of the bordâââ being a hunting with the King chanced with a fall off his horse to breake his leg upon which mischance he was forced for some days to keep his bed in which time the King was sometimes pleased to come and visit him and then it was first perceived that the King had begun to cast an eye of favour upon him and indeed âroâ that time forward as he was a very fine Gentleman and very wise many great favours were heaped upon him So as on Easter Munday in the yeare 1611 he was Created Viscount Rochester On the two and twentieth of Aprill 1612 was swoâne a privy Counsellor On the fourth of November 1613 was Created Earle of Soâerset and the tenth of Iuly following made Lord Chamberlaine Bââ this Sun-shine of Fortune lasted not long yet not by any inconstancy in the King but by the Earles own undeserving which thus fell out The Right Honourable Robert Earle of Essex had before this time married the beautifull Lady Francis Howard daughter of Thomas Earle of Suffolk who upon caâses âudicially heard were afterward Divorced and left free to marry any other Afteâ which Divoâce this great favorite the Earle of Somerset takes her for wife thâ King gâacing their marriage with all demonstrations of love and favour and the Lords gracing it with a stately Masque that night and a few dayes after the Bride and Bridegroom accompanied with most of the Nobility of the Kingdome were âeasted at Merchant Taylors Hall by the Lord Major and Aldermen But see how soon this faire weââher was overcast For it hapned that one Sir Thâmas ââerbâry a very ingenious Gentleman and the Earles speciall fââââd who had written a witty Treâtise of a Wife and it seemes not thinking thâ Lady in all points answerable to his description had been an earnest disswaâââ of the Mââââ and to âârengthen his diââwasion layd perhaps some unjust ãâã upââ the Ladyes ãâã which so incensed them both against him that ãâ¦ã could not give them satiâââction than to take away his life So ãâ¦ã saying Improbe ãâ¦ã r quid non mortalia pectora cogis ãâã this they finde pretences to have the said Sir Thomas committed to the ââwer and there by their Instruments effect their revenge some
persons but afterward all sorts of men without any difference were admitted that it came almost to bee doubted whether the Dignity of the Order did more grace the persons or the meanesse of the persons disgrace the Order and indeed when the Lawes of an Institution are not in some measure observed it seemes to make a kind of nullity in the collation About this time on Sunday the â4 of October an exemplar pennance was imposed upon Sir Peckâall Brââkas Knight which was to stand at Pauls Crosse in a white sheet holding a stick in his hand having been formerly convicted before the high Commissioners for many notorious Adulteries with divers women This yeare 1614. in the month of Iuly Christianus King of Denmark out of his love to his sister and King Iames came the second time into England but as being now secure of himselfe privately and with a small company so as he came to the Queen at Somerset house unexpected and before any knowledge was had of his comming but K. Iames being then in progresse in Bedford-shire and hearing of it came presently back and after he had entertained him here with Hunting Hawking running at Ring Bear-baiting Plays Fire-worksâ and Fencing on the first of August Prince Charles brought him aboard his Ship who then took his leave and returned home In Octob. this yeare was a call of Sarjeants at Law being 11. in number namely George Wild Wil Towes Richâ Bawtrie Henry Finch Thââ Chamberlain Francis Moârâ Thomas Attow Iohn Moâre Francis Harvie Charles Chibbourn and Tho. Richardson and in Trenity Terme before there had two other been called namely Sir Randal Creâ of Lincolâs Inne and Sir Robert Hitcham of Grayes Inne Knights About this time an Embassador came from the young Emperour of Russia to King Iames desiring his continuall love and amity and to be a means of making attonemeââ between him and the K. of Swethland and withall presented him with a rich present of Furs which was no smal honour to the K. of great Britain to have so great a Potentate as the Emperor of Russia a solicit him to be his mediator Though King Iames out of all naturall goodnesse was addicted to peace yet out of providence he neglected not to be prepared for war and thereupon in the yeare 1610. had granted priviledges to a society called of the Millitarie Garden and this year 1614 caused a Muster of men to be presented before him which was performed to his great liking and to the great commendation of the City About this time a memorable Act was performed by M. Hug. Middleton Citizen and Gold-smith of London and borne in Denâigh-shire who having an Act of Parliament for his Warrant with infinite cost and indefatigable labour brought water to the City of London from the two great springs of Chadwell and Amwell in Hartfort-shire having cut a Channell from thence to a place neere Islington whither he conveyed it to a large Pan and from thence in pipes of young Elmes to all places of the City for as the Poeth saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Nothing is so commodious for the life of man as water Another memorable Act was about this time done on the North side on Lon. called Moore-fields which being before invironed with deep stinking ditches and noysome common showers was now not only made faire sweet but so levelled into walkes and let with trees that it is the pleasantest place of all the City The next yeare being 1615 another memorable Act for the benefit and beauty of the City of London was performed for Smith-field which was before a rude dirty place was now paved all over and strong railes sequestring the middle part of it were set up to make it a faire walking place and fit for Market or any other use The Lady Arbella a neare kinsewoman of the Kings had sometime before without the Kings privity secretly married Master William Seymour younger son of the Earle of Hartford now Earle of Hartford himselfe for which they were both committed to the Tower and now this yeare on the seven and twentieth day of Sep. she ended her lif there and was buried in the Chappell Royall at Westminster This yeare also in Iuly were Enstalled Knights of the Garter Francis Earle of Rutland Sir George Villers Master of the Horse and Sir Robert Sidney Viscount Lisââ and in another kind of Honour the Earle of Arundell the Lord Carews and Doctor Andrews Bishop of Ely were sworne Privie Counsellours Wales by the death of Prince Henry had been a good while without a Prince and now to supply that place Prince Charles is Created Prince of Wales In Ioy whereof the Town of Ludlow in Shropshire and the City of London performed great Triumphs and the more to honour his Creation There were made five and twenty Knights of the Bathe all them Lords or Barons sons and yet more to honour it there were forty selected Gentlemen of the Innes of Court that performed a solemne Iusts at Barries with great magnificence This yeare was a Censure of divers great Delinquents for first Sir Edward Cookâ was upon displeasure discharged from being Lord Chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench and two dayes after his discharge Sir Henry Montagâe the Kings Sergeant at Law was placed in his room Next to him the Lord Egerton whyther disabled by sicknesse or age to exercise the place or upon displeasure also had the Sele taken from him which was delivered to Sir Francis Bacon the King's Attourney he made first Lord Keeper and the Lord Egerton dying soon after Lord Chancellour Not long after him Sir Henry Yelverton the Kings Attourney for adding new priviledges to the Londoâers Charter without the Kings privity was in displeasure put from his place and in his room was placed Sir Thomas Coventry the Kings Sollicitor But awhile after Sir Henry âelverton was made a puny Iudge of the Common Pleas having indeed the reputation of an excellent Lawyer And yet this work of Censuring stayed not here for much about this time Thomas Earle of Suffolk Lord Treasurer of England had the staffe of his Office taken from him which was soon after delivered to Sir Henry Montagââ Lord Chiefe Iustice of the Kings Beâch If Sir Iohn Benet Iudge of the Prerogative Court had made a little more haste he mihght have made one in this number of Delinquents but he came short three or foure yeares and then being charged by his own servant with brybery he was put from his place and censured in the Starre-Chamber to pay twenty thousand pounds and in his roome was placed Sir William Byrde a man of more integrity Though King Iames upon the death of Queene Elizabeth came to reside in England yet âe forgot not that Scotland was his native Countrey and therefore after he had spent some yeares in England to acquaint himselfe with the State of the Kingdome In March this yeare one thousand six hundred and sixteentâ he made a Iourney into Scotland for though
man to be King of Bohemia and accordingly was elected by the States of that Kingdome but he was no sooner invested in the Crowne but the Emperour with great Forces assaulted him in Prague and not only drove him with his wife and children from thence but tooke from him also his owne Patrimony the Palatinate so as though now a King he was fayne to flye to the States of the Low Countries for a place of residence King Iames though he had never given his consent to the Palsegraâes taking upon him that Kingdome as foreseeing in his great judgement what the event will bee yet in this distresse he could noâ forbeare to take care of his daughter and thereupon sent Sir Richard Wesâon the same that was after Lord Treasurer in Embassage to the Emperour to sollicite the restoring of the Palatinate to the Palsegrave but he returning without successe the King had then conference with Count Gundâmar the King of Spaines Ligier in England what course might bee taken to procure the restoring it who made him answere there could be no better course than to make a marriage betweene his sonne the Prince of Wales and the Infant of Spaine which he said would easily be effected if the Prince might have leave to make a Iourny into Spaine King Iames though he considered the inveterate grudges betweene Spaine and England and as dangerous it might beâ to put the heire of the Kingdom into the Spaniards hands yet grounding himself upon the saying Fide lem si putaveris facies and drawne on by the insinuating speeches of Count Gundomar not perhaps without some Indinction in the Marquis of Buckingham was contented at last the Prince should goe And so Prince Charles sending his ships about and taking along with him only the Marquis of Buckingham who in the time of his being in Spaine was created Duke of Buckingham Endymion Porter and Mr. Francis Cottington two that were well acquainted with the Language and affaires of Spaine he tooke his Iourney by the way of France went to Paris and secretly in disguise to the Court there where he had the sight of that Lady that might well have stayed him from going further but yet on he went In the meane time Gundomar a cunning man and one that besides his Masters had ends of his owne and could play his Game no lesse for his owne profit than his Masters Honour as he had perswaded the King of the facility of the Match with Spayne so he perswaded a certainty of it especially amongst Catholick Ladies by which meanes he brought no small store of Grists to his owne Mill receiving from one Lady three hundred pounds to bee made Groome of the Stoole when the Spanish Princesse should come of another a good round summe to be made Mother of the Maydes and of diverse other the like for other places But the Prince being arrived in Spayne was received indeed with all the demonstrations of love and kindnesse that could be devised so as the charge of his entertainment was said to stand the King of Spayne in nine and forty thousand Duckats but yet his acquaintance with the Lady was much restrained for in all the time of his staying in Spayne which was no lesse than eight moneths being from February to October he saw her but very seldome and that at good distances never spake with her but twice and that before company besides that his speeches were limited how much and what he should say farre from any meanes of tying the knot betweene them which was pretended what the cause should bee was much in obscurity some thought that a difference betweene the Duke of Buckingham and the Count Olivares the King of Spayne's great Favorite was a great hinderance of the proceeding but other and more likely that the Spanyard indeed never really intended the Match at all but had drawne the Prince into Spayne for other Ends but what those ends were was no lesse uncertaine one thought it was done to hold the Prince in a treaty of marriage with a Daughter of Spayne till the Daughters of France should bee bestowed thereby to keepe him from that allyance but others and more likely that the King of Spayne entertayned this Treaty with the King of great Brittayne meaning to spinne it out till he had compassed some designes in the Low-Countries and the Palatinate at least to make King Iames most vigilant for those paâts But when much time had beene spent in protracting upon pretence of difficultities in obtaining the Popes dispensation King Iames partly wearied with delay but chiefely angred with delusion sent to the Prince with all speed to returne into England which the Prince presently signified to the King of Spaine and had his leave to depart but upon promise to continue the treaty of the marriage still Though it was said the Prince was gone but a few dayes on his journey when a Post was sent to have stayed him if he had been overtaken But whether it was so or no it was Gods providence that he came safely to his ships and in them safely into England arriving at Portsmouth where he was beheld of the people with no lesse gladnesse than the Sunne after a long Eclipse and now his safe returning did both justifie King Iames his judgement in suffering him to goe and the King of Spaines justice in suffering him to come back and was cause that the people began to have a better opinion of the Spanish faith than they had before But now it presently brake out that this match with Spaine could never take effect for King Iames having received Declarations of the Articles touching the marriage found many very strict and large for exercise of the Catholike Religion but none at all for restitution of the Palatinate which made him so much discontented that he presently brake off all treaty of the marriage and signified as much not onely to the King of Spaine but to divers other Princes of Christendome Vpon which breach two great Points were presently had in consultation One for preparing forces for recovering the Palatinate by way of Armes which could not be done by a way of friendship and for this purpose a Councell of warre was called and a proposition resolved on both of men and money for undertaking the enterprise as also a great contribution by way of benevolence was collected towards which the compiler of this worke gave himselfe fifty pounds as many other farre greater summes though the collection went not thorow the whole Landâ by reason there was hope given of a peaceable reconcilement so as many that were not over-hasty in their payments escaped without contributing at all The other point was for providing a fit wife for the Prince in some other place It was said the States of Holland offered a very great portion in marriage to the Prince if hee would match with some Lady of that Countrie but matches are made in heaven and there was a young Lady of France
but these last more by humility shewed to their Prince Leolyn then by force of Aâmes But yet he must not have all the glory of his time some must be imparted to his sister Elflede who being marryed to Ethelred Earle of Mercia had by him a daughter but with so grievous paânes in her travaile that ever after she refused the nuptiall bed of her Husband saying it was a foolish pleasure that brought with it so excessive paines And thereupon after her husbands death made choyce to follow the warres assisting her brother both against the Welsh and against the Danes whom she brought to be at her disposing Dying she was buryed at Glocester in the Monastery of Saint Peter which her Husband and her selfe had built King Edwârd himselfe after foure and twenty yeares Raigne deceased at Faringdon in Barkshire in the yeare 924. and was buryed in the new Monastery of Winchester which his Father began and himselfe wholly finished having had by his three Wives six Sonnes and nine Daughters of whom his eldest sonne Athelstan succeeded him in the kingdome whom his Grandfather King Alfred had with his owne hands Knightedâ in an extraordinary manner putting upon him a purple Robe and girding him with a girdle wrought with Pearle His second sonne Elfred he so loved that he caused him to be Crowned King with himselfe which yet he enjoyed but a short time being taken away by death His third sonne Elsward presently upon his Fathers death dyed himselfe also His fourth son Edwyn was by his brother Athelstan out of jealousie of state put into a little Pinnace without either Tackle or Oares accompanyed onely with one Page with griefe whereof the young Prince leaped into the Sea and drowned himselfe His fifth and sixth sonnes Edmund and Edred came in succession to be Kings of England Of his Daughters the eldest Edytha was marryed to Sithricke the Danish King of Northumberland and he deceasing she entred into a Monastery which she began at Tamworth in Warwickshire and there dyed His second daughter Elflede tooke upon her the vow of Virginity in the Monastery of Ramsey in the County of South-hampton where she dyed and was interred His third daughter Eguina was first marryed to Charles the Simple King of France and after his decease to Herbert Eaâle of Vermandois His fourth daughter Ethelhild became a Nunne in the Monastery of Wilton which was sometime the head Towne giving name to the whole County of Wilâshire and anciently called Ellandon That we may see in those first times of Religion when there was leaât knowledge there was most devotion His fifth daughter Edhold was marryed to Hugh surnamed the Great Earle of Paris and Constable of France And Edgith his sixth daughter to Otho the Emperour of the West âurnamed the Great His seventh daughter Elgina was marryed to a Duke of Italy His ninth Edgina to Lewis Prince of Aquitaine in France After the death of King Edward his eldest sonne Athelstan succeeded and was Crowned at Kingstone upon Thames in the County of Surrey by Athelmuâ Archbishop of Canterbury in the yeare 924. The beginning of whose Raigne was molested with the Treason of one Elfrid a Nobleman who being apprehended and sent to Rome to purge himselfe and there denying the Act upon his Oath fell suddenly downe and within three dayes dyed to the eternall âerrour of all perjured persons Presently upon this another dysaster befell King Athelstan for having caused his brother Edwyns death as before is shewed chiefly procured by his Cupbearers suggestions It hapned not long after that his Cup-bearer in his service at a Festivall stumbling with one foote and recovering himselfe with the other and saying merrily See how one brother helpes another His words put the King in remembrance of his Brother whose death he had caused and with remorse thereof not onely caused his Cup-bearer to be put to death but did also seven yeareâ penance and built the two Monasteries of Middleton and Michelnesse in the County of Dorset in expiation of his offence This King ordained many good Lawes and those to binde as well the Clergy as the Laity amongst which one was the Attachment of Felons that stole aâove twelve pence and were above twelve yeares old Of this King there is one Act related that may seeme ridiculous another that may seeme miraculous For what more ridiculous then that going to visit the Tombe of Saint Iohn of Beverley and having nothing else of worth to offer he offered his knife in devotion to the Saint Yet the miracâlous is more apparent For going to encounter the Danes and praying to God for good successe he prayed withall that God would shew some signe of his rightfull cause and thereupon striking with his sword he strucke it an ell deepe into a hard stone which stood so cloven a long time after But whether this be true or no this certainly is true that he obtained many great victories against the Danes against the Scots against the Irâsh and against the Welsh whose Princes he brought to be his Tributaries entring Covenant at Herefârd to pay him yearely twenty pound weight of gold three hundred of silver and five and twenty hundred head of Cattell besides a certaine number of Hawkes and Hounds Lastly he joyned Northumberland to the rest of his Monarchy and enlarged his Dominions beyond any of his Predecessours which made all Neighbouring Princes to seeke his friendship and to gratify him with rare presents as Hugh King of France sent him the sword of Constantine the Great in the hilt whereof was one of the nayles that fastned Christ to his Crosse He sent him also the speare of Charles the Greaâ reputed to be the same that pierced Christs side as also part of the Crosse whereon Christ suffered and a piece of the Thorny Crowne put upon his head Likewise Otho the Emperour who had marryed his sister sent him a vessell of pretious stones artificially made wherein were seene Landskips with Vines Corne and Men all of them seeming so artificially to move as if they were growing and alive Likewise the King of Norway sent him a goodly Ship with a gilt Steâne purple âayles and the decke garnished all with gold Of these accounted Holy Reliques King Athelstan gave part to the Abbey of Saint Swithin in Winchester and the rest to the Monastery of Mamesbury whereof Adelm was the Founder and his Tutelar Saint He new built the Monasteries of Wilton Michelnesse and Middleton Founded Saint Germans in Cornwall Saint Petrocus at Bodmyn and the Priory of Pilton new walled and beautifyed the City of Exceter and enriched either with Jewels or Lands every speciall Abbey of the Land But the chiefest of his workes for the service of God and good of his Subjects was the Translation of the Bible into the Saxon Tongue which was then the Mother tongue of the Land He Raigned fifteenâ yeares Dyed at Glocestâr and was buryed at Mamesbery in the yeare 940. having never beene marryed
After the death of Athelstan his brother Edmund the fifth sonne of his Father succeeded and was Crowned at Kingstone upon Thames but no sooner was the Crowne set upon his head but the Danes were upon his backe and in Northumberland made Insurrections whom yet he not onely repressed in that part but tooke from them the Townes of Lincolne Leycester Darby Stafford and Nottingham compelling them withall to receive Baptisme and to become his Subjects so as the Country was wholly his as farre as Humber Cumberland also which had beene an entire Kingdome of it selfe and was now ayded by Leolyn King of South-wales he utterly wasted and gave it to Malcolme King of Scots to hold of him by Fealty After his returning home he âet himselfe to ordaine Lawes for the good of his People which Master Lambert hath since translaâed into Latine But after all his noble Acts both in Warre and Peace he came at last to a lamentable end for at his Manour of Pucklekerks in the County of Glocester interposing himselfe to part a fray betweene two of his servants he was thrust through the body and so wounded that he dyed and was buryed at Glastenbury after he had Raigned five yeares and seven moneths leaving behinde him two young Sonnes Edwyn and Edgar King Edmund dying his brother Edred in the minority of his Nephewes was Crowned at Kingstone upon Thames by Otho Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the yeare 946. Not as Protector It seemes that kinde of Authority was not yet come in use but as King himselfe though with purpose to resigne when the right Heire should come of age which at this time needed not for while the right Heire was scarce yet fourteene yeares old he resigned to him the Kingdome by resigning his life to Nature after he had twice repressed the rebelling Northumbrians and twice forgiven their rebelling which yet was not a simple Rebellion for they had sent for Anlafe the Dane out of Ireland and made him their King which place for foure yeares he held and then weary of his government they thrust him out and take one Hericus to be their King whom not long after they put downe also and then partly allured by the lenity of King Edred and partly forced by his Armes they submit themselves to him and aske forgivenesse to whom he as a mercifull Prince giants an Act of Oblivion and received them againe into protection This Prince was so devout and humble that he submitted his body to be chastised at the will of Dunstan Abbot of Glastenbury and committed all his Treasure and Jewels to his custody The stately Abbey of Mich at Abington neare Oxford built by King Inas but destroyed by the Danes he newly re-edified endowing it with revenues and Lands the Charters whereof he confirmed with seales of Gold He ordained Saint Germans in Cornwall to be a Bishops See which there continued till by Canutus it was annexed to the Episcopall See of Kyrton in Devonshire Both which Sees were afterward by King Edward the Confessor translated to the City of Exceter He left behinde him two Sonnes Elfred and Bertfred and was buryed in the old Minster without the City of Winchester whose bones with other Kings are to this day preserved in a gilt Coffer fixed upon the wall in the South side of the Quire After Edred not any of his sonnes but his Nephew Edwyn the eldest sonne of King Edmund succeeded and was annoynted and Crowned at Kingston upon Thames by Otho Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the yeare 955. This Prince though scarce fourteene yeares old and in age but a childe yet was able to commit sinne as a man For upon the very day of his Coronation and in sight of his Lords as they sate in Counsell he shamefully abused a Lady of great Estate and his neare kinswoman and to mend the matter shortly after slew her Husband the more freely to injoy his incestuous pleasure And whether for this infamous fact or for thrusting the Monkes out of the Monasteries of Mamesbury and Glastenbury and placing marryed Priests in their roomes as also for banishing Dunstan the holy Abbot of Glastenbury out of the Realme a great part of his Subjects hearts was so turned against him that the Mercians and Northumbrians revolted and swore Fealty to his younger brother Edgar with griefe whereof after foure yeares Raigne he ended his life and was buryed in the Church of the New Abbey of Hyde at Winchester After Edwyn succeeded his younger brother Edgar at the age of sixteene yeares but his Coronation when and where and by whom so uncertaine that some say he was Crowned at Kingston upon Thames by Otho Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the first yeare of his Raigne others say not till the twelfth and William of Mamesbery not till the thirtyeth Another Chronicle saith in his eleventh yeare and that in the City of Bathe by the hands of Dunstan Arch-bishop of Canterbury This King by reason of the tranquillity of his Raigne was surnamed the Peaceable for as he was something inclined to the Danes so the Danes never offered to stirre in all his time and as for the Saxons they acknowledged him their sole Soveraigne without division of Provinces or Titles His Acts were some Vertuous some Politick some Just some Pious and yet all these not without some mixture of vice To represse dunkennesse which the Danes had brought in he maâe a Law Ordaining a size by certaine pinnes in the pot with penalty to any that should presume to drinke deeper then the marke It was a Politicke device which he used for the destruction of Wolves that in his dayes did great annoyance to the Land For the tribute imposed on the Princes of Wales by King Athelstan he wholly remitted appointing in lieu thereof a certaine number of Wolves yearely to be paid whereof the Prince of north-North-wales for his part was to pay three hundred which continued for three yeares space and in the fourth yeare there was not a Wolfe to be found and so the tribute ceased He had in his Navy Royall three thousand and sixe hundred ships which he divided into three parts appointing every one of them to a severall Quarter to scowre the Seas and to secure the Coasts from Pirats and left his Officers might be carelesse or corrupted he would himselfe in person saile about all the Coasts of his Kingdome every Summer It was a notable Act of Justice that in his Circuits and Progresses through the Country he would take speciall account of the demeanour of his Lords and specially for his Judges whom he severely punished if he fonnd them Delinquents Warres he had none in all his Raigne onely towards his end the Welshmen moved some rebellion against whom he went with a mighty Army and chastised the Authours but when his Souldiers had gotten great spoyles and made prey upon the innocent Countrey people he commanded them to restore it all backe againe which if it made some few English angry it
still besieged by the Danish ships but King Edmund hearing of his departure followed him and with small adoe removed the siege and in Triumphant manner entred the City After this neere unto Otford in Kent was another great battaile fought in which Canutus lost foure thousand five hundred men and King Edmund onely six hundred the rest of the Danes saving themselves by âlight whom if King Edmund had purâued it is thought that day had ended the warres betweene these two Nations for ever But the ever traiterous Edrick kept King Edmund from pursuing them by telling him of Ambushes and other dangers So as Canutuâ had leisure to passe over into Essex but thither also King Edmund followed him where at Ashdone three miles from Saffron Walden another battaile was fought in which âhe Danes being at the point to be overthrowne the traiterous Edrick with all his Forces revoulted to their side by which treachery the English lost the day There died of King Edmunds Nobility Duke Alfred Duke Goodwyn Duke Athelward Duke Athelwyn Earle Urchill Codnoth Bishop of Lincolne Woolsey Abbot of Ramsey with many other The remembrance of which battaile is retained to this day by certaine small hils there remaining whence have beene digged the bones of men Armour and horsebridles After this at Dereherst neere to the river Severnâ another battaile was ready to be fought when suddenly a certaine Captaine steps forth and for saving of blood uâed great perswasions that either they should try the matter by single Combat or else divide the Kingdome betwixt them Upon this the Combat is agreed on and the two Princes entering into a small Island called Alney adjoyning to the City of Glocester in compleat Armour assayled each other at first on horsebacke and after on foote when Canutus having received a dangerous wound and finding himselfe overmatched in strength desired a Compromise and with a loud voyce used these words What necessity should move us most Valiant Prince for obtaining of a Title to endanger our lives were it not better to lay malice aside and condescend to a loving agreement let us therefore become sworne brothers and divide the Kingdome between us This motion was by King Edmund accepted and thus was the Kingdome divided betweene these two Princes Edmund enjoying that part which lies upon the coast of France and Canutus the rest But now Duke Edrick hath his last and greatest Act of treachery to play for King Edmund being retired to a place for natures nâcessity he thurst from under the draught a sharpe speare into his body and then cutting off his head presented it to Canutus with these fawning words All hayle thou sole Monarch now of England for here behold the head of thy Copartner which for thy sake I have adventured to cut off Canutus though ambitious enough of soveraignty yet abaâhed at so disloyall a fact replyed and vowed that in reward of that service his own head should bee advanced above all the Peeres of his Kingdom which soone after he performed for by his command the false Edricks head was cut off and placed upon the highest gate in London The death of this King in this manner some say was acted at Oxford other that he died of naturall sicknesse in London but howsoever he came to his death his Raigne was but onely seven months his body was buried at Glastenâury neere to his Grandfather King Edgar This King Edmund had by his wife Algytâ two sonnes the eldest named Edward surnamed the Outlaw because he lived out of England in Hungary as a banished man for feare of King Canutus but when his Uncle King Edward the Confessor had obtained the Crowne he was recalled and honourably entertained till he died He married Agatha sister to Queene Sophia wife to Salomon King of Hungarie and daughter to the Emperour Henry the second by whom he had Edgar surnamed Atheling the right Heire of the English Crowne though he never enjoyed it King Edmund had also two daughters Margaret and Christian of whom the younger became a Veyled Nunne at Ramsey in Hampshire the elder Margaret after sole Heire to the Saxon Monarchie married Malcolme the third King of Scotland from which Princely bed in a lineall Descent our High and Mighty Monarch King Iames the first doth in his most Royall person unite the Britaines Saxons Normans and Scottish Imperiall Crownes in one Of the first Danish King in England CAnutus being possest of halfe the Kingdome by composition with King Edmund now after his death seised upon the whole and to prevent all further question he called a Councell of the English Nobility wherein it was propounded whether in the agreement betwixt Edmând and him any claime of Title to the Crowne had beene reserved for King Edmunds brethren or sonnes to which not daring to say otherwise they absolutely answered no and thereupon tooke all of them the Oath of Allegeance to Canutus Being thus cleered of all Opposites he prepared with great solemnity for his Coronation which was performed at London by the hands of Levingus surnamed Elstane Archbishop of Canterbury in the yeare 1017. being the first Dane that Raigned Monarch of England But Canutus not thinking himselfe sufficiently safe as long as any that might pretend were in the peoples eye caused first Edwyn the sonne of King Ethelred and brother of Edmund to abjure the Realme who was yet afterward recalled and treacherously murthered by his owne men and his body buried at Tavestock in Devonshire Next were the two sonnes of Edmund Ironside Edward and Edmund whom to the end the people might not see him shed the blood of Innocents he sent to his halfe brother King of Sweden to be made away Then remained Edward and Alfred the sonnes of King Ethelred and them their mother Queene Emma had sent away before to her brother the Duke of Normandie there to be in safety so as none of the Royall blood was now left in the land to give Canutus any feare of competition After this he tooke to wife the vertuous Lady Emma the Relict of King Ethelred by which match he procured to himselfe three great benefits one that hee wonne the love of the people by marrying a Lady whom they so entirely loved another that he got the Alliance of the Duke of Normandiâ a neighbouâing Prince of great power the third that by marrying the mother hee secured himselfe against the sons as likewise Queene Emma was not unwillingly perswaded to the match upon agreement to make her issue if he had any by her to inherit the Crowne of England And to winne the love of the people more hee caused great numbers of his Danes who pestered the Country to return home bestowing amongst them for their satisfaction foure score and two thousand pounds And to winne the love of the people yet more he now set himselfe to the making of good lawesâ in a Parliament at Oxford whereof for a Patterne of those times some that concerne Religion may not
she had done who wondring at it saying to her How could she think the King should like to kisse that mouth which had kissed such filthy ulcerous people she answered she had a greater King to kisse who she knew would like her never the worse for it By this Queen Matild King Henry according to some Writers had foure children but as the received opinâon is onely two a sonne named William and a daughter called Mawde of whom the sonne at foureteene yeares old had fealty sworne to him by the Nobility of Shrewsbury at seventeene married the daughter of Fâlke Earle of Anjou and at eighteene was unfortunately drowned as hath beene shewed The daughter lived to be an Empresse and afterwards a Dutchesse but could never come to be a Queene though borne to a Kingdome as shall be shewed hereafter She survived her second husband seventeene yeares living a Widow and at Râan in Normandy died and was buried there in the Abbey of Bec though there be â Tradition that she was buried at Reading in the Abbey there beside her Father but ât appeares to have beene a custome in those dayes for great personages to have their Monuments erected in divers places After the death of this Queene Matild who died at Westminster in the eighteenth yeare of his Raigne King Henry married Adeâza the daughter of Godfry Duke of Lorraine who though she were a beautiful and accomplisht Lady yet had he never any issâe by her When she was to be Crowned Ralph Arch-bishop of Canterbury who was to doe the office came to King Henry sitting Crowned in his chaire of State asking him who had set the Crowne upon his head the King answering he had now forgotten it was so long since Well said the Arch-bishop whosoever did it did me wrong to whom it belonged and as long as you hold it thus I will doe no office at this Coronation Then saith the King doe what you thinke good whereupon the Arch-bishop tooke the Crowne off from the Kings head and after at the peoples intreaty set it on againe and then proceeded to Crowne the Queene By Concubines King Henry had many children it is said seven sonnes and as many daughters of whom some perished in the great Ship-wrack of the rest two of the sonnes Reynold and Robert were made Earles Reynold of Cornwall Robert of Glocester and was a great assister of his sister Mawde in her troubles with King Stephen who after many acts of valour performed by him in the twelfth yeare of King Stephen died and was buried at Bristow The daughters were all married to Princes and Noble men of England and France from whom are descended many worthy Families particularly one of those daughters by Anâe Cââbet was married to Fits-herbert Lord Chamberlaine to the Kingâ from which Fits-âerbert our Family absit iâvidia verbo is by Females descended passing by the naâes of Cummin Chenduit Brimpton Stokes Foxcote Dyneley and so to Bâker Of his Incontinency OF this enough hath beene said in saying he had so many children baselyâ begotten but if comparison be madâ betweene his brother âufus and him it may be said that howsoever they might be equall in loosenesse of life yet in that loosenesse William Rufus was the baser and King Henry the more Noble for King Henry had certaine selected Concubines to whom he kept hâmselfe constant where King William tooke onely such as he found constant to the pleasure but not to the persons His course for establishing the succession in Mawde and her issue HE married his onely daughter Mawde being but sixe yeares old to the Emperour Henây the fourth but he leaving her a Widow without issueâ he married her againe to Gââffrey Plantagenet sonne to Fulke Duke of Anjoâ not the greatest Prince that was a Suitour for her but the fittest Prince for King Henries turne for Anjou was neighbouring upon Normandy a great security to it if a friend and as great a danger if an enemy And having thus placed her in marriâââ hâ now considers how to establish her succession in the Crowne of Englandâ whereuâon he cals his Nobility together and amongst them Dâvid King oâ Scots and causeth them to give their Oaths of Allegeance to her and her issue and aâ thinking âe could never maâe her succession âure enough he causeth his Lords the yeare ââter againe to takâ the like Oath and after that a third time also as conceiving that being doubled and trebled it would make the tye of Allegeance the stronger wherein nothing pleased him so much as that Stephen Earle of âloiâ was the first man that tooke the Oath because he was knowne to be at least knownâ he might be a Pretender But the King should have considered that Regâiâ and therefore no Oath though never so often iterated sufficient to warrant loyalty in persons so deeply interessed as Stephen was yet providence could doe no more and the King was well satisfied with it especially when hee saw his daughter a mother of two sonnes for this though it gave him not assuâance yet it gaâe him assured hope to have the Crowne perpetuated in his Posteâity Of Ireland in his time THe King of England as yet had nothing to doe with Ireland the ãâã was governed by its owne Kings and the people of both Nationsâ ãâã they were neâghbours yet divided by a rough Sea but little ââquaiâted but now beganne entercourse to be more frequented and Murcâââdââh chââfe King of the Irish bore such awfull respect to King Henry that he would doe nothing but by his counsell and with his good liking Whom King Henry used as his Vicegerent in his absence HE was absent sometimes in Normandy three or foure yeares together during which times he committed commonly the care of the Realme to Roger Bishop of âalisbury a politick Prelate and one as fit to be the second in government as King Henry to be the first His persâââge aâd conditions HE was a person tall and strong âââad breasted his limbes well kniâ and fully furnished with âlesh his face well fâshioned his colour cleare his eyes large and faire his eye-browes large and thick his hairâ black and âomewhat thinââ towards his forehead his countenance pleasanâ specially when hâ was disposed to mirth A private man vilified and thought to have but little in him but come to the Crowne never any man shewed more excellent abilities so true is the saying Magistratus indicat virum His naturall affection in a direct line was strong in an oblique but weake for no man ever loved children more noâ a brother lâââe Though a King in act yet he alwayes acâed not a King but in baâââls someââmâs the part of a common Souldier though with more then common valouââs at a baâtell in France where he so farre hazarded himselfe that though he lost not his life yet he lost his bloud Of his death and buriall A Discontent of minde upon some differences between him and his sonne in law the Earle
throwing downe his Colours at Ptolemais was the death of Conrade Duke of Tyre whom they pretended King Richard had murthered wherein though King Richard made his innocency appeare by the testimony of Limbeldus who confessed himselfe to have beene the author of the Marquesses death yet the pretence served to detaine him in prison and in prison indeed they kept him till his Ransome was agreed upon and paid which being a hundred thousand pounds fourescore thousand was paid in hand whereof two parts to the Emperour a third part to Duke Leopold and for the rest hostages given to the number of fifty of whom the Bishop of Roan was one though the hostages afterward were delivered without paying the rest for Henry the Emperour dying shortly after his Successour had the conscience not to take it as knowing it had beene unjustly exacted and indeed the accidents that befell both the Emperour and the Duke Leopâld were evident demonstrations of the injustice they had done for the Emperour shortly after died and the Duke Leopold in a Tilting for solemnity of his Birth-day fell off his horse and so broke his leg that to save his life he was faine to have his leg cut off And now after fifteen months imprisonment King Richard is released and returnes into England foure yeares elder then he went out and thus ended his journey to the Holy Land Yet one memorable accident happening to him in the Holy Land may not be omitted that going one day a Hawking about Ioppa finding himselfe weary he laid him downe upon the ground to sleepe when suddenly certaine Turkes came upon him to take him but he awakened with their noyse riâeth up gets a horsebacke and drawing out his sword assaults the Turkes who faigning to flie drew the King into an Ambush where many Turkes lay who had certainâly taken him if they had knowne his person but one of the Kings servanâ called William de Patrellis crying out in the Saracene tongue that he was the King they presently lay hold upon him and let the King escape Troubles in his Dominions in his absence KING Richard at his going out of England had so well setled the Government of the Kingdome that might well have kept it in good order during all the time of his absence but disorders are weeds which no foresight can hinder from growing having so many hands to water them where occasions of distast are no sooner offered then taken and oâtentimes taken before they be offered as was here to be seene For King Richard had left in chiefe place of authority William Longshampe Bishop of Ely a man who so carried himselfe that although the things he did were justifiable yet the pride with which he did them was unsufferâble seldome riding abroad without five hundred some say a thousand in his traine not for safety but for state and though there were other left in authority besides himselfe yet his power was so predominant that he made of them but Ciphers and ruled all as he list himselfe This insolency of governing was soone distasted by many and specially by Iohn the Kings brother who counting the greatnesse of his Birth an equall match at least with any substitute greatnes affronted the Bishop in the managing of affaires in such sort that while some adhered to the one and some to the other the Kingdome in the meane time was in danger to be rent asunder till at last the Bishop finding himselfe too weake or at least fearing that he was so but rather indeed deposed from his authority by the Kings Letters and the Arch-bishop of Roan put in his place thought it best for him to flie the Realâe wherupon for his greater safety disguising himselfe in womans apparell and carrying a Webbe of Cloath under his arme hee sought in this manner to take Shipping and passe the Sea But being discovered and knowne the women in revenge of the abuse done to their cloathes in making them his instruments of fraude fell upon him and so beat him that it might have beaten humility into him for ever after This disgrace made him glad to get him into Normandy his native Countrey where to little purpose he wooed King Richard and Queene Eleanor for reparation But this was but a sport in comparison of the mischiefes done in Normandy by Philip King of France for first he invades Normandy where he takes many Towns and amongst others Gysorts and drawes the Kings brother Iohn to combine with him promising to assist him in winning the Kingdome of England and to have his sister Adela whom King Richard had repudiated to be his wife with which promise Duke Iohn had beene ensnared if his Mother Queene Eleanor had not disswaded him But in England Duke Iohn tooke upon him as King perswading the people that his brother King Richard was not living and indeed it was easie to remove the knowing him to be a prisoner to the affirming him to be dead but such was the faithfulnesse of the Arch-bishop of Roan and other the Princes of the Realme to King Richard that they opposed Duke Iohn and frustrated all his practises and the Bishop of Ely had told him plainely that though King Richard were dead yet the succession in the kingdome belonged not to him but to Arthur Duke of Britaine sonne of Geoffrey his elder brother And in these termes King Richard found his State when he returned from the Holy Land His Acts and Troubles after his returning from the Holy Land AT his comming home from the Holy Land the first thing he did was to give his Lords and people thankes for their faithfulnesse to him in his absence and then for their readinesse in supplying him for his Ransome But as for his brother Iohn in whom ungratefulnesse seemed to strive with ambition which should be the greater in him he depriveth him of all those great possessions he had given him some adoe he had to make sound certaine peeces which he had corrupted as the Castles of Marleborough Lancaster and a Fortresse at Saint Michaels Mount in Cornwall but chiefely the Castles of Nottingham and Tichill which stood so firmly for Duke Iohn that they were not reduced to obedience without some bloud and much expense But hâs greatest trouble was with Philip King of France in whom was so ingraffed a spleene against King Richard that he seemed to be never well but when he was working him some ill Now therefore King Richard to make it appeare he had not left the Holy War for nothing having first obtained in Parliament a Subsidy towards his charges caused himselfe to be new Crowned at Winchester lest the people through his long absence might have forgotten they had a King he departs with a hundred Ships into Normandy but it was withall upon this occasion sitting one day at dinner in his litâle Hal as it was called news was brought him that King Philip had besieged Vernoull with which he was somoved that he swore a great oath he would
Christian Faith Though some there be that âay All theâe were but false Criminations charged upon him by Monkes that did not love him But though we believe not these things of him yet to suffer his kingdome to stand Interdicted so many yeares together upon so small occasion as he did was certainely no good signe of Religion in him Yet one Act he did wherein he shewed a respect to Religion by the honour he did to a Religious man For Hugh Bishop of Lincolne lying very sicke he not onely went to visit him but being dead was one of the three Kings the other two were William King of Scotlandâ and the King of Southwales that carryed his Herse upon their shoulders till they delivered it to the Peeres and the Peeres afterward to the Arch-bishops and Bishops to carry it inâo the Quire Workes of piety done by him or by others in his time YEt did this King leave more Workes of Piety behinde him then all his Subjects that were in his time For he Founded the Abbey of Bowley in the New Forest in Hampshire also an Abbey of blacke Monkes in the City of Winchester and the Monastery of Farendân and the Monastery of Hales Owen in Shropshire he reedified âodstoâ and Wrâxell and enlarged the Chappell of Knarisborough Now for his Subjects onely Richard Prior of Berâmonâsey builded an House against the wall of the said house of Berâonâsey called the Almary or Hospitall of Converts and Children in honour of Saint Thomas In this Kings time Saint Mary Overeyes in Southwââke was begun to be builded and the Stone Bridge over the Thames was by the Merchants of London finished Also Hubert Arch-bishop of Canterbury Founded a Monastery at West Derham in Norfolke which upon the dissolution came to the family of the Derhams who hold it to this day Of his Lawes and Ordinances IN this Kings time five and thirty of the most substantiall Citizens of London were chosen out and called the Counsell of the City and the King gave the City liberty to alter their Major and Sheriffes every yeare which before continued during life He caused the Lawes of England to be executed in Ireland and money to be Coyned there according to the weight of English money Of his Wives and Children KING Iohn lived to have three Wives His first was Alice Daughter of Hubert Earle of Morton who left him a Widower without issue His second was Isabell Daughter and Heire of Robert Earle of Glâcâster by whom no issue neither divorced from her by reason of Consanguiniây in the third degree His third Wife was Isabel Daughter and Heire of Aymer Earle of Angoulesâe Affianced before to Hugh le Brun Earle of March By this Wife he had two Sonnes Henry and Richard and three Daughters Ioane Eleanor and Isabell Henry succeeded him in the kingdome Richard was Earle of Cornwall and Crowned King of the Romans and had issue Henry and Iohn that dyed without issue also Edward Earle of Cornwall and others Ioane his eldest Daughter marryed to Alexander the second King of Scots dyed without issue Eleanor the second Daughter marryed to Simon Earle of Leycester had issue Henry Simon Almaricke Guy Richard and Eleanor Henry slaine without issue Simon Earle of Bigorre and ancestour to a Family of the Mountfords in France Almaricke first a Priest after a knight Guy Earle of Angleria in Italy and Progenitour of the Mountfords in Thuscany and of the Earles of the Campo Bacchi in the kingdome of Richardâ remaining privily in England and changing his name from Mountford to Wellesborne was ancestour of the Wellesburnes in England Eleanor borne in England brought up in France marryed into Wales to Prince Lewin aâ Griffith Isabel his youngest Daughter marryed to the Emperour Fredericke the second had issue Henry appointed to be King of Sicilie and Margaret Wife of Albret Lantgrave of Thurine She dyed in Childbed after she had beene Empresse sixe yeares He had also two naturall Sonnes Geoffrey Fits Roy and Richard that marryed the Daughter and Heire of Fulbert de Dover who built Childham Castle had issue by her of whom some Families of good account are descended Also one base Daughter named Ioane marryed to Lewin Prince of Wales Of his Personage and Conditions HE was of Stature indifferent tall and something fat of a sowre and angry countenance and concerning his conditions it may be said that his Nature and his Fortune did not well agree For naturally hâ loved his eâse yet his Fortune was to be ever in Action He won more of his Enemies by surprises then by Battels which shewes he had more of Lightning in him then of Thunder He was never so true of his word as when he threatned because he meant alwayes as cruelly as he spake not alwayes as gratiously and he that would have knowne what it was he never meant to performe must have looked upon his promises He was neither fit for Prosperity nor Adversity For Prosperity made him insolent and Adversity dejected a meane Fortune would have suited best with him He was all that he was by Fits Sometimes doing nothing without deliberationâ and sometimes doing all upon a sudden Sometimes very Religious and sometimes scarce a Christian. His insatiablenesse of money was not so much as that no man knew what he did with it gotten with much noyse but spent in silence He was but intemperate in his best temper but when distempered with sicknesse most of all as appeared at his last when being in a Feaver he would needs be eating of raw Peaches and drinking of sweete Ale If we looke upon his workes we must needes thinke him a worthy Prince but if upon his Actions nothing lesse For his Workes of Piety were very many as hath beene shewed before but as for his Actions he neither came to the Crowne by Justice nor held it with Honour nor left it in Peace Yet having had many good parts in him and especially having his Royall posterity continued to this day we can doe no lesse then honour his memory Casualties that happened in his time ONe Casualty we might count dysastrous if it had not had relation to our selves for Hugh de Bones comming to aide King Iohn with threescore thousand out of Britany and Flanders by misfortune at Sea were all Drowned to whom the King had granted Norfolk and Suffolk for the people he brought with him to Inhabit In this Kings time were great thunders and lightnings and showers with hailstones as big as Goose-Egges Fishes of strange shape were taken in England armed with helmets and shields and were like unto armed knights saving that they were farre greater in proportion About Maidestone in Kent a certaine Monster was found strucken with the Lightning which Monster had a head like an Asse a belly like a man and all other parts farre differing from any other Creature Of his death and buriall VVHen Prince Lewis of France was come into England and was received by the Lords and by
a number of poore kindred who to his great cost lay hanging upon him yet was the marriage solemnised with as great charge as if he had beene to have Mountaines with her and this was another grievance And now is the score of these grievances called upon to be paid for the Lords could no longer endure so many indignities to see themselves fleighted and onely strangers advanced as Brentâ who held the Earledomes of Nottingham Oxford Bedford and Bâckingham and others the like and to see their persons exposed to danger and their estates to ruine for which no remedy could be but onely the Kings confirming their Charter of Liberties wherein it is strange to observe upon what different grounds the King and the Lords went It seemes the King thought that to confirme that Charter were to make himselfe to be lesse then a King and the Lords thought that as long as it was denied they were no better then slavesâ and as the King could endure no diminution so the Lords could endure no slavery but the King might keep his owne with sitting still the Lords could not recover their owne but by motion and seeing their strength must be in their number by commotion hereupon they confederate together and of this confedencie Richard now Earle Marshall upon the death of his brother William is chiefe who repaire to the King and boldly shew him his errour and requires satisfaction Hereupon the King sends presently over for whole Legions of Poictâuins and withall summons a Parliament at Oxford whither the Lords refuse to come after this a Parliament is called at Westminster whither likewise they refuse to come unlesse the King would remove the Bishop of Winchâster and the Poictouins from the Court and more then this they send him word that unlesse he did this they would expell both himselfe and his evill Counsellours out of the Land create a new King Upon this threatning Pledges are required of the Nobility for securing of their Allegeance and Writs a reâent out to all who hold by knights service to repaire to the King at Glocester by a certaine day which the Earle Marshall and his associates refusing the King without the âudgement of hiâ Court and their Pâârs causeth them to be Proclaimed Out-lawes seiseth upon all their Lands which he gives to his Poictouins and directs out Writs to attach their bodies wheresoever in the kingdome But now of these confederate Lords the Bishop of Winchester wonne the Earles of Chester and Lincolne with a thousand Markes and the King had so pleased his brother the Earle of Cornwall that he likewise left them whereupon they withdrew them into Wales and confederate with Lââilin Prince of Walesâ whither also came Hubert de Burgh escaped out of prison and joynes with them taking intermutuall Oaths that no one without other should make their accord Hereupon the King goeth himselfe in person into Wales where not prevailing he returnes to Glocester imployes new forces of strangers but all without successe At last a Frier is imployed to perswade the Earle Marshall to submit himselfe to the King but all in vaine till at length a traine is laid to draw him over into Ireland to defend his state there being seised upon by the King where by treachery circumvented he lost his life Yet the King disavowes the sending of any such Commission into Ireland protesting he never knew thereof and laies the fault upon his Officers an easie way for Princes never to be found in any fault After two yeares affliction a Parliament is assembled at VVestminster wherein the Bishops admonish the King by his Fathers example to be at unity with his people and to remove from him strangers and to governe the kingdome by Natives of the Realme and by the Lawes otherwise they would proceed by Ecclesiasticall censure both against his Counsellours and himselfe The King seeing no way to subsist but by temporising consents to call home those Lords out of VVales restores them to their places and possessions removes all strangers from about him and cals his new officers to account Hereupon the Bishop of VVinchester Peter de Rivalis and Stephen Seagrave take sanctuary but afterward by mediation they obtained with great Fines their Liberty dearly paying for their two years greatnes After this a Parliament is againe called which the King would have to be kept in the Tower whither the Lords refusing to come another place of more freedome is appointed in which Parliament order is taken for removing all Sheriffes from their places upon complaint of corruption and here the King displaceth his Steward and offers to take from the Bishop of Chichester then Chancellour the great Seale which he refuseth to deliver as having received it by the common councell of the kingdome and now Peââr de Rivaliâ aâd Stâphen Seagrave are received againe into grace by which may appeare the viciââitude of fortune in Princes favours After this in the one and twântieth yearâ of âis Raigne another Parliament is held at London where the King requires the thirteenth part of all the moveables as well of the Clergy as Laity which being directly opposed the King promiseth by oath never more to injure the Nobility so they would but relieve him at that present After foure dayes consultation âhe King pâomising to use onely the counsell of his naturall Subjects and protesting against the Revocation lately propoundedâ and freely granting the inviolable obseâvation of their Liberties under paine of Excommunication a Subsidy is granted him buâ so that foure knights be appointed in every Shiâe to receive and deliver the same ãâã to some Abbey or Castle where it may be safâly kepâ that if the King âaile in pârformance of his Grants it may be restored to the Counârey from whence it was collected And now the King to make a shew of true reconciliation for his part suddenly causeth the Earles VVarren and ãâã with Iohn Pits Geoffrey to be swârn his Counsellours yet was neither of the points either for removing of strangers or for disposing the money observed afterward by the Kingâ for the money he made bold to take at his pleasure and for strangers they were so farre from removing that they were drawne nearer to him for now VVilliam Valentine Unkle to the Queen is growne the most inward man with him and nothing done but by his counsell also the Earle of Province the young Queenes Father a poore Prince hath a good share of the money that was collected and Simon de Montford a French man borne is entertained by the King and preferred sâcretly in marriage to Eleanor the Kings sister Widow of VVilliam Earle of Pembroke the great Marshall and is made Earle of Leycester by right of his Mother Avice daughter of Blanchman Earle of Leycester which courses so incense the Nobility that it put them out into a new commotion and Richard the Kings brother becomes one of the party whom the other Lords make their spokesman to the King to
at Armes he is challenged at a Turneament with a pretence to solemnize his presence but with a purpose indeed to disgrace his person and though Prince Edward in many respects might justly have refused it yet the noblenesse of his mind would not suffer him to passe by any occasion of shewing his valour and in this ãâ¦ã as he made it appeare that âame had beene no ãâ¦ã the report it maâe of hiâ And here a great part of his English Nobility met ãâã from whence he passeth into France where the King Philip his âeare Couââ as being Sister Sonnes entertaines him with great solemnity and graceth his solemnity with so much courtesie that it wonne Prince Edward volântarily to do him homage for the Territories he held in France this voluntarines in Prince Edward won the King of France againe to grant quietly unto him all the Lands in France that belonged to him and so these two great Kings by reciprocall courtesie effected that which theiâ Predecessours by force could never effect From her ãâã passeth through Aâuitaine and having there taken homage of his Subjects and set all things in order he set Saile and arrived in England above a yeare after the death of his Father a long time for plotting of mischiefe and a strong temptation to plotters of mischiefe if all the causes of quietnesse had not concurred but such was the worthinesse of Prince Edwards person and such the undoubtednesse of his Title that as there could be no Competitour so there would be no Oppugnerâ And indeed the Divine Providence had shewed a speciall care over him from his Child-hood whereof one or two Examples will not be unfit to be related One was this that being yet but young and playing one time at Chesse with a Friend in the midst of his game without any apparent occasion he removed himselfe from the place where he sate when suddenly there fell from the roofe of the house a great stone which if he had stayed in the place but never so little had beaten out his braines Another Example of the Divine Providence over him though it happened afterwards was this Having prepared a great Fleete of Ships for a journey into Flanders and being at Winchelsey where the Ships were to meete it happened that riding about the Harbour his Horse frighted with the noyse of a Windmill which the wind drove violently about skrambled up and leapt over the Mudâwall of the Towne so as neither the King nor the Horse was to be seene but every one judged the King could not chuse but be throwne and killed yet such was the Divine Providence over him that the Horse lighted upon his feet and the King keeping the Saddle returned safe And under the wing of this Divine Providence he had now passed all the dangers of his tedious Journey and being safely come to London was on the fifteenth day of August in the yeare 1274. Crowned at Westminster together with his Wife Queene Eleanor by Robert Kilwarby Arch-bishop of Canterbury where five hundred great Horses were let loose for any that could take them and yet the outward solemnity was not more great then the inward joy was universall every man rejoycing not onely at a change which of it selfe is pleasing but at a change so much for the better as this was like to be Of his Acts done after he was Crowned THe Acts of this King after he was Crowned may not unfitly be divided into five parts His Acts with his Temporall Lords His Acts with his Clergy Then with Wales Then his Acts with Scotland And lastly with France And first concerning his Lords he gave them good contentment in the beginning of his Raigne by enlarging their liberties and granting them easier Lawes for which purpose he called a Parliament wherein were made the Statutes called of Westminster the first so as he had no difference with them till toward the end of his Raigne as shall be shewed hereafter In the next place concerning his Acts with his Clergy he began with them betimes for having lived to be of good age three or foure and thirty yeares old in his Fathers Raigne he observed in that time that their power was too predominant and therefore thought fit to clip their wings at least to keepe them from farther growing which he did by these meanes First in the sixth yeare of his Raigne he deprived many chiefe Monasteries of their Liberties and tooke from the Abbot and Covent of Westminster the Returne of Writs granted them by the Charter of his Father King Henry the third The next yeare after he got to be enacted the Statute of Mortmaine to hinder the encrease of their Temporall Possessions In the second Statute of Westminster he defalked the Jurisdiction of Ecclesiasticall Judges and growing more upon them he required the moity of all their Goods as well Temporall as Spirituall for one yeare Then cals he a Parliament of his Nobles at Salisbury without admission of any Church-men in it And it is worth the noting that Marchian his Treasurer acquainting him that in Churches and Religious houses there was much treasure to be had if it might be taken he made no scruple of it but caused it to be taken and brought into his Exchequer But finding his Prelates not well contented with it to please them againe he bids them aske something of him wherein they should see how much he favoured them And they asking of him to repeale the Statute of Mortmaine that had beene made so much to their hinderance He answered that this was a Statute made by the whole body of the Realme and therefore was not in his power who was but one Member of that Body to undoe that which all the Members together had done and perhaps whatsoever they should have asked else he would have had an answer to redeeme his Offer And thus much concerning his Clergy In the next place are the Welsh who had themselves begun with the King For their Prince Leolyn being summoned to attend at his Coronation refused to come and afterward at more leisure being required to come and doe his Homage he stood upon termes of safe conduct pretending doubt to be used as his Father Gryffin had beene who upon hard usage in the Tower seeking to make escape fell from the Walls and brake his necke But indeed it was alwayes a Custome with this Nation at every change of Princes in England to try conclusions hoping at one time or other to have a day of it and to change their yoke of bondage into liberty for which they were never better Provided then now especially which is the greatest matter in Warre having a Valiant Prince to be their Leader But there happened an accident which tooke off their edge at this time For the Lady Eleanor a Daughter of the late Earle Simon Montford whom Prince Leolyn extreamely loved being passing out of France into Wales was by the way upon the Sea taken by English ships and
brought to King Edward and for the love of her Prince Leolyn was content to submit himselfe to any conditions which besides subjection of his State was to pay fifty thousand pounds Sterling and a thousand pounds per annum during his life and upon these conditions the marriage with his beloved Lady was granted him and was solemnized here in England whereat the King and Queene were themselves present Three yeares Leolyn continued loyall and within bounds of obedience in which time David one of his Brothers staying here in England and found by the King to be of a stirring Spirit was much honoured by him Knighted and matched to a rich Widow Daughter of the Earle of Darby and had given him by the King besides the Castle of Denbigh with a thousand pounds per annum though as it was afterwards found he lived here but in the nature of a spy For when Prince Leolyns Lady was afterward dead and that he contrary to his Conditions formerly made brake out into rebellion then goes his Brother David to him notwithstanding all these Favours of the King and they together enter the English Borders Surprise the Castles of Flynt and Rutland with the person of the Lord Clifford sent Justiciar into those parts and in a great Battaile overthrew the Earles of Northumberland and Surrey with the slaughter of Sir William Lyndsey Sir Richard Tanny and many others King Edward advertised of this Revolt and overthrow being then at the Vyzes in Wiltshire prepares an Army to represse it but before his setting forth goes privately to his Mother Queene Eleanor lying at the Nunnery of Aimesbury with whom whilest he conferred there was one brought into the Chamber who faigned himselfe being blinde to have received his sight at the Tombe of King Henry the third Aâsoone as the King saw the man he remembred he had seene him before and knew him to be a most notorious lying Villaine and wished his Mother in no case to beleeve him but his mother who much rejoyced to heare of this Miracle for the glory of her husband finding her sonne unwilling that his Father should be a Saint grew suddenly into such a rage against him that she commanded him to avoid her Chamber which the King obeyes and going forth meetes with a Clergy man to whom he tels the story of this Impostour and merrily said He knew the justice of his Father to be such that he would rather pull out the eyes being whole of such a wicked wretch then restore them to their sight In this meane time the Arch-bishop of Canterbury had gone of himselfe to Prince Leolin and had laboured to bring him and his brother David to a re-submission but could effect nothing for besides other reasons that swayed Prince Leolin the conceit of a Prophesie of Merlin that he should shortly be Crowned with the Diadem of Brute so overweighed him that he had no care for peace and shortly after no head for after the Earle of Pembroke had taken Bere Castle which was the seat of Prince Leolin he was himself slain in battell and his head cut off by a common Souldier was sent to King Edw. who caused the same to be Crowned with Ivie and to be set upon the Tower of London And this was the end of Leolin the last of the Welsh Princes betraied as some write by the men of Buelth Not long after his brother David also is taken in Wales and judged in England to an ignominious death First drawn at a horse taile about the City of Shrewsbury then beheaded the trunke of his body divided his heart and bowels burnt his head sent to accompany his brothers on the Tower of London his foure quarters to foure Cities Bristow Northââpton York and Winchester A manifold execution and the first shewed in that kind to this kingdome in the person of the son of a Prince or any other Noble man that we reade of in our History It is perhaps something which some here observe that at the sealing of this conquest King Edward lost his eldest son Alphonsus of the age of twelve years a Prince of great hope and had onely left to succeed him his sonne Edward lately borne at Carnarvan and the first of the English intituled Prince of Wales but no Prince worthy of either Wales or England And thus came Wales to be united to the Crowne of England in the eleventh yeare of this King Edwards Raigne who thereupon established the government thereof according to the Lawes of England as may be seene by the Statute of Rutland in the twelfth yeare of his Raigne The worke of Wales being setled King Edward passeth over into France upon notice of the death of Philip the Hardy to renew and confirme such conditions as his state in those parts required with the new King Philip the fourth intituled the Faire to whom he doth homage for Aquitaine having before quitted his claime to Normandy for ever After three yeares and a halfe being away in France he returns into England and now in the next place comes the businesse with Scotland and will hold him woâke at times as long as he lives and his sonne after him Alexander the third King of Scots as he was running his horse fell horse and man to the ground and brake his necke and died immediatelyâ by reason whereof he leaving no issue but onely a daughter of his daughter Margaret who died also soone after there fell out presently great contention about succession Ten Competitors pretend title namely Erick King of Norway Florence Earle of Holland Robert Bruce Earle of Anandale Iohn de Baylioll Lord of Galloway Iohn de Hastings Lord of Abergeveny Iohn Cummin Lord of Badenaw Patrick de Dunbarre Earle of March Iohn de Vescie Nicholas de Sulâs William de Rosse all or most of them deâcending from David Earle of Huntington younger brother to William King of Scots and great Unkle to the late King Alexander This title King Edward takes upon him to decide pretending a Right of Superiority from his Ancestours over that kingdome and proving it by authority of old Chronicles as Marianus Scotus William of Malmsbury Roger de Hoveden Henry of Huntington Ralph de Luceto and others which though the Scottish Lords who swaied the Interregnum opposed yet are they constrained for avoyding of further inconveniences to make him Arbiter thereof and the tenne Competitours bound to stand to his award Two are especially found betweene whom the âight lay Iohn de Baylioll Lord of Galloway and Robert Brâce the one descending from an elder daughter the other from a sonne of a younger daughter of Alan who had married the eldest daughter of this David brother to King William The controversie held long twelve of either kingdome learned in the Lawes are elected to debate the same at Berwick all the best Civilians in the Universities of France are solicited to give their opinions all which brought forth rather doubts then resolutions whereupon King Edward the better to
Adversary endevours first to strengthen himselfe with Friends abroad seekes to match his Sonne Edward with a Daughter of Guy Earle of Flanders Marries one of his Daughters to the Dâke of Barrâ who pretended Title to Champaigne another to Iohn Duke of Braâant sends fifteene thousand pounds Sterling to Adolph de Nassaw the Emperour for recovery of certaine Lands which he claimed in France and with all these and many other conâining Princes he sets upon the King of France and then sends over his Brother Edmund Earle of Lancaster the Earles of Lincolne and Richmond with eight and twenty Banners seven hundred men at Armes and a Navy of three hundred and sixty Saile In the meane time the King of France having had intelligence of the intended alliance betweene King Edward and Guy Earle of Flanders sends for the said Earle as if knowing nothing thereof to come with his Wiâe and Daughter to make merry with him at Paris where instead of Feasting him he makes him Prisoner and takes from him his Daughter in regard he sought being his Vassall to match her with his capitall Enemy The Earle excuseth it the best he could and by much mediation is released himselfe but not his Daughter whereupon the Earle presuming upon aide from King Edward takes Armes and defies the King of France who thereupon comes with an Army of sixty thousand against him which caused King Edward with all speed possible to relieve this distressed Earle and so leaving the Government of the kingdome in his absence to the Bishop of London the Earle of Warwicke and the Lords Reynold Grey and Clifford with five hundred Saile and eighteene thousand men at Armes he passeth over into France but finding the Country distracted into many popular Factions and the King of France daily getting upon them having already won Lisle Doway Courtray Burges and Dam and the Emperour Adolph failing to send him aide as he had promised he fell into great perplexity and having stayed the whole Winter at Gaunt where by reason of many outrages committed by his Souldiers he was so affronted by the Gauntois that his owne person was not without some danger He thereupon in the Spring of the yeare concludes a Truce with the King of France for two yeares takes his sister Margaret to Wife and affianceth the Daughter of the same King to his Sonne Prince Edward and so returnes into England And these were all the troubles King Edward had with France But now must something be spoken of troubles with his Lords at home whereof this was the beginning In a Parliament at Salisbury the five and twentieth yeare of his Raigne the King requires certaine of his Lords to goe to the Warres in Gascoyne which needed a present supply by reason of the death of his Brother Edmund but the Lords make all their excuses every man for himselfe Whereupon the King in great rage threatned they should either goe or he would give their Lands to others that should Upon this Humfrey Bohun Earle of Hereford High Constable and Roger Bigod Earle of Norfolke Marshall of England make their Declaration that if the King went in Perâon they would attend him otherwise not Which answer offended the King more and being urged againe the Earle Marshall protested he would willingly goe thither with the King and march before him in the Vauntguard as by right of inheritance he ought to doe But the King told him plainely he should goe with any other though he weââ not himselfe in Personâ I am not so bound saith the Earle neither will I take tâât journey without you The King swore by God Sir Earle you shall either goe or hââââ And I sweare by the same Oath said the Earle I will neither goe noâ hangâ and so without leave departs Shortly after the two Earles assemble many Noble men and other their Friends to the number of thirty Bannereâs so as they were fifteen hundred men at Armes well appointed and stood upon their Guââdâ The King like a prudent Prince who knew his times prosecuâes them not as then bââ lets the matter passe in regard that his businesse called him presently into Flanders when being ready to take ship the Arch-bishops Bishops Earles Barons and the Commons send him a Roll of the Grievances of his Subjects concerning his Taxes Subsidies and other Impositions with his seeking to force their services by unlawfull courses to which the King sends answer that he could not aâtâr any thing without the advice of his Councell who were not now about him and therefore required them seeing they would not attend him in his Journey which they absolutely refused to doe though he went in Person unlesse he had gone into France or Scotland that they would yet doe nothing in his absence prejudiâiall to the peace of the kingdome and that at his returne he would set all things in good order to their contentment But having taken his Journey and being held there with long delayes to his exceeding great expenses he was forced to send over for more supply of Treasure and thereupon gave order for a Parliament to be held at Yorke by the Prince and because of his Minority for he was then but sixteene yeares of age by such as had the manage of the kingdome in his absence and to the end he would not be disappointed of aide he condescends to all such Articles as were demanded concerning the great Charter Promising from thenceforth never to charge his Subjects otherwise then by their consents in Parliament and to pardon all such as had denyed to attend him in this Journey After this in the 27. yeare of his Raigne a Parliament is called at Westminster wherein the promised Confirmation of the two Charters and the allowance of what disafforestation had heretofore beene made was earnestly urged and in the end with much adoe Granted and that with omission of the Clause Salva Iure Coronae nostrâ which the King laboured to have inserted but the people by no meanes would agree and the perambulation of the Forests of England was then committed to three Bishops three Earles and three Barons But some yeares after in the two and thirtieth yeare of his Raigne King Edward begunne to shew his resentment of the stubborne behaviour of his Nobles towards him in times past and so terrifies Roger Bigod Earle Marshall that to recover his favor the Earle made him his Heireâ in Possession though he had a Brother of his owne living reserving onely to himselfe a thousand pounds per annum during his life Of others likewise he goâ great summes for the same offence The Earle of Hereford escaped his fine by death But the Arch-bishop of Canterbury whom he accused to have disturbed his Peace in his absence he sends over to Pope Clement the fifth who succeeded Bonifacâ that he might be crusht with a double power This Pope was Native of Burdeaux and âo the more regardfull of the Kings desire and the Kingâ the more confident of
of Aâmesbury in Wiltshire at the instance of Queene Eleanor her Grandmother who lived there Elizabeth their seventh daughter was first married to Iohn Earle of Holland Zeland and Lord of Freezeland he dying within two yeares she was afterward married to Humphrey Bohun Earle of Hereford and Essex Lord of Breknok and High Constable of England by whom she had issue sonnes and daughters Beatrice and Blanch their eighth and ninth daughters died young and unmarried King Edwards second Wife was Margaret eldest daughter of Philip King of France called the Hardy and sister to Philip called the Faire at eighteene yeares old she was married to King Edward being above threescore yet at the unequall yeares she had issue by him two sonnes and a daughter their eldest sonne was borne at a little Village in Yorkshire called Brotherton and was thereof called Thomas of Brotherton he was created Earle of Norfolke and Earle Marshall of England after Roger Bigod who died without issue Their second sonne Edmund was borne at Woodstocke in Oxfordshire and of the place was so called he was created Earle of Kent and married Margaret daughter of Iohn and sister of sole Heire of Thomas Lord Wakes of Lydell in the County of Northampton by whom he had issue two sonnes and one daughter his sonnes Edmund and Iohn died without issue his daughter Ioane for her beauty called the Faire maid of Kent was married first to William Montacute Earle of Salisbury and from him divorced was re-married to Sir Thomas Holland in her Right Earle of Kent and by her Father of Thomas and Iohn Holland Duke of Surrey and Earle of Huntington and lastly she was the Wife of Edward of Woodstocke the blacke Prince of Wales and by him Mother of King Richard the second This Earle Edmund was beheaded at Winchester in the fourth yeare of King Edward his Nephew Eleanor the daughter of King Edward by his second Wife Margaret died in her childhood Of his personage and conditions HE was tall of stature higher then ordinary men by head and shoulders and thereof called Longshanke of a swarthy complection strong of body but leane of a comely favour his eyes in his anger sparkling like fire the haire of his head black and curled Concerning his conditions as he was in warre peacefull so in Peace he was warlike delighting specially in that kinde of hunting which is to kill Stagges or other wilde beasts with Speares In continencie of life he was equall to his Father in acts of valour farre beyond him He had in him the two wisdomes not often found in any single both together seldome or never An ability of judgement in himselfe and a readinesse to heare the judgement of others He seemed to be a great observer of opportunity a great point of wisdome in any in Princes greatest and that he could beare an injury long without seeking to revenge it as appeared by his carriage towards the Earle Roger Bigod whom when he saw his time he called to account for an affront he had offered him diâers yeares before He was not easily provoked into passion but once in passion not easily appeased as was seene by his dealing with the Scots towards whom he shewed at first patience and at last severity If he be censured for his many Taxations he may be justified by his well bestowing them for never Prince laid out his money to more honour of himselfe or good of his kingdome His greatest unfortunatenesse was in his greatest blessing for of foure sonnes which he had by his Wife Queen Eleanor three of them died in his owne life time who were worthy to have out-lived him and the fourth out-lived him who was worthy never to have beene borne Of his death and buriall IN his last expedition into Scotland being at Carlile he fell sicke and lying in his death-bed he sent for his sonne Edward to whom besides many admonitions to Piety he commanded three things specially that he should carry his bones about with him through Scotland till he had subdued it that he should send his heart into the Holy Land with sevenscore knights to that warre and the two and thirty thousand pounds he had provided for that purpose and that he should never recall Gaveston from banishment and soon after of a dysentery or Bloudy-Flix he died at Borough upon the Sands the seventh of Iuly in the yeare 1307. when he had Raigned foure and thirty yeares and seven moneths lived threescore and eight yeares Being dead his Corps was brought to Waltham Abbey and there kept the space of sixteene weekes and after on Simon and Iudes day buried at Westminster Men of Note in his time OF Martiall men there were many these specially Iohn Earle of Warren who opposed the Kings Inquisition by Quo Warranto and Roger Bigod who gave the King an affront to his face Of learned men also many specially these Iohn Breton bishop of Hereford who compiled a book of the Lawes of England called lâ Breton Thomas Spot a Chronographer Iohn Eversden a writer of Annals and of this Kings Raigne Gregory Cairugent a Monke of Glocester and a writer also of Annals Iohn Peckham a Franciscan Frier made Arch-bishop of Canterbury who writ many excellent workes Iohn Read an Historiographer Thomas Bungey a Frier Minor an excellent Mathematician Roger Bacon a Franciscan Frier an excellent Philosopher and Mathematician Robert Kilwarby Arch-bishop of Canterbury and after made a Cardinall also Ralph Baldock Bishop of London who writ a Chronicle of England in the Latine tongue but above them all though of another Countrey Thomas Aquinas borne of a Noble Family whose workes are too famous to be spoken of who going to the Councell holden at Lyons by Pope Gregory the tenth died by the way THE LIFE and RAIGNE OF KING EDWARD THE SECOND Of his Acts before and at his Coronation EDward of Carnarvan eldest Sonne of King Edward the first succeeded him in the kingdome and never did Prince come to a Crowne with more applause of Nobility and People and there was good cause for it For he had beene trained up in all good courses for Piety and Learning he had seene the Government of his Father from whose Example he could not but have learned many good Lessons he had been initiated in the wayes of State having beene left Governour of the Realme and presiding in Parliament in his Fathers absence and he was now three and twenty yeares old a fit age for bearing the weight of a Scepter and yet for all these advantages there wanted not feares of him in the mindes of many who could not but remember what prankes he had played not long before how he had broken the Bishop of Chesters Parke and in most disorderly manner had killed his Deere for which both himselfe had beene committed to Prison and his Friend Pierce Gaveston banished the Realme and if he did such things being but Prince what might not be feared of him comming to be King For seldome doth
advancement in honour alter men to the better to the worse often and commonly then when it is joyned with an Authority that sets them above controlement Neither yet was their feare more out of what they had seene then out of what they saw for where he should have endevoured to accomplish the charge his Father had given him in his death-bed he seemed to intend nothing lesse nothing more then wholly to breake it for he presently called home Pierce Gaveston from banishment and the two and thirty thousand pounds which his Father had specially appointed for the Holy Warre either all or the most of it he beâtowed upon Gaveston and for carrying his Fathers bones with him about Scotland it had beene well if he had suffered them quietly to be laid at rest in England for after the Corps had beene kept above ground sixteene weekes in the Abbey of Waltham and that the Bishop of Chester Walter Langton the then Lord Treasurer and Executor of his Fathers Will was busie in preparing for his Funerals he sent the Constable of the Tower to arrest him and imprison him at Wallingford seising upon all his Goods and giving them to Gaveston and all for old grudges And that which seemed a high straine of incongruity before he had seene performed his Fathers Funerals which was not till the 27. of October following he entred into Treatie of his owne Nuptials forgoing over to Boleigne on the two and twentieth of Ianuary he marryed Isabell the Daughter of Philip the Faire King of France which Marriage was honoured with the presence of foure Kings the King of France himselfe the King of Navârre his Sonne the King of the Romans and the King of Sicilie and three Queenes besides the Bride Mary Queene of France Margaret the Dowager Queene of England and the Queene of Navarre and yet did Gavestân exceed them all in bravery This was observed by the Lords of England and thereupon when his Queene and he came afterward to be Crowned they went unto him signifying what a hainous transgression of his Fathers will it was to call home Gâveston and seeing the charge was no lesse given to them then to him if he did not performe it they would and therefore unlesse he would remove Gaveston from the Court and kingdome they would hinder his Coronation from proceeding which strooke such a dampe to Prince Edwards spirits to thinke what a disgrace it would be to him if so many of his great Friends being present Charles of Valois the King of Frances Brother the Dukes of Britaine and Brabant the Count of Luxenburg who was afterward Emperor the Duke of Savoy the two Dutchesses of Brabant Artois with many other Princes and great Ladies if now his Coronation should be called in question that he solemnly swore he would do what they desired in the next Parliament so they would be quiet now and thereupon on the 24. day of February in the yeare 1307. his Queene and he were both Crowned at Westminster by the hands of Henry Bishop of Winchester by Commission from Robert Arch-bishop of Canterbury being then in Exile and out of the kingdome At which solemnity there was so great a presse of People that Sir Iohn Blackwell knight was crowded to death And now in the very Act of his Coronation there was given another provocation to the Lords against Gaveston for the King had appointed him to carry the Crowne of Saint Edward before him the greatest honour could be done to a Subject which added to the other honours the King had done him for he had made him Earle of Cornewall Lord of Man and Lord Chamberlaine so incensed the Lords that they entred into consultation how to suppresse this violence of the Kings affection which shortly after they put in execution Portion in money King Edward had none with his Wife but the King of France gave him the Dutchy of Guyenne which he had seised upon before as confiscate to him and thereupon King Edward did him Homage for that Dutchy and for the County of Ponthieu Of his difference with his Lords about Gaveston VVE shall have here no Quinquennium Neronis no such five yeares as Nero afforded in the beginning of his Raigne but this King at his first entrance will shew what he is and what he will continue to be as long as he lives for though he tooke some great and grave men to be of his Councell yet as appeared afterward he did it rather to the end they should be pliant to him then that he had any meaning to apply himselfe to them For let them say what they would Gaveston must be the Oracle all the Kings actions were but Gavestons impressions And now Gaveston presently after the Coronation to let the world be a witnesse of his worthinesse and that the King had not bestowed his Favours upon him without cause caused to be published a Turneament at Wallingford whither came all the great Lords of the kingdome as Thomas Earle of Lancaster Humfrey Earle of Hereford Aymer Earle of Pembroke and Iohn Earle of Warren with many others all Valiant men at Armes yet none had the honour of the day like to Gaveston And thus farre he did well if he could have stayed here if having gotten true glory he had not falne into vaine-glory For the Lords envyed him not so much for his advancement in Honours as they hated him for his insolency in Manners for in a scornefull pride he would be casting scoffes upon them all calling Thomas Earle of Lancaster the Stage Player the Earle of Lincolne Burstenbelly âimer de Valence Earle of Pembroke Ioseph the Iew and Guy Earle of Warwicke the blacke Dogge of Arderne which scoffes together with his other insolencies drew such a party upon him that in the next Parliament the whole assembly obtaines of the King to draw Articles of their grievances of which the chiefe were that the great Charter of Magna Charta should be observedâ that all strangers should be banished the Court and kingdome that the businesse of the State should be treated of by the Counsell of the Clergy and the Nobles and that the King should not begin any warre nor goe out of the kingdome without consent of Parliament Which Articles though seeming harsh to the King yet for avoyding of further inconvenience he yeelds unto them and specially to the baniâhment of his Minion Gaveston as hoping that would excuse him for all the rest and Robert of Winchelsey Arch-bishop of Canterbury lately called home from Exile pronounceth Excommunication against all such as should oppose the Articles Hereupon Gaveston is sent away into Ireland where he lived awhile not as a banisht man but as Lieutenant rather of the Country and indeed not unworthily for in the time of his being there he is said to have made a Journey into the Mountaines of Dublin and to have broken and subdued the Rebels there built New Castle in the Kerns Country repaired the Castle of Kevyn and
to Berwicke with a purpose to doe great matters but nothing was done for a new Truce was againe concluded for two yeares By this time Robert d' Arthois had made ready his Army and taking with him the Countesse of Montford the Earles of Pembroke Salisbury and Suffolke and many other Barons after great tempests and encounters at Sea lands safely at last neare to Vannes which was held by the French and laying ââege to the City with the assistance of Walter de Manny who came unto him after many assaults at last he tooke it to the great joy of the Countesse of Montford though she held it not long for certaine resolute French knights assaulted it soone after and recovered it from the English In which action many Lords were slaine or wounded and particularly Robert de Arâhois himselfe who passing over into England for the better curing of his wounds soone after died and was buried in Pauls Church in Lândon And now King Edward himselfe with a strong Army passeth over into Britaine and plants his Campe before the City of Vannes where was like to have beene a cruell battell but in the instant there came from Pope Clâment the sixth two Cardinals the Bishops of Preneste and Thusculum who upon certaine conditions concluded a Peace amongst other conditions this was one that the City of Vannes should be delivered to âing Philip and thereupon Iohn Earle of Montford should be set at liberty but yet with this charge not to goe into Britaine which promise notwithstanding he kept not but went presently and besieged a Towâe in Britaine though he were forced to retire and died shortly after But the Truce cracked âhus as it were by Montford was afterward absolutely broken by King Edward though he charged the breach of it upon K. Philip and King Philip upon him But howsoever broken it was and Henry of Lancaster Earle of Derby with divers other Earles and Barons is sent into France who won many Townes in Gascoyneâ and in the Counties of Perigort and Tholoâse and then went to winter at Burdeaux And afterward in May following pursuing his victories he wonne many morâ Townes and amongst others the great Towne of Reoll After this againe he tooke Montpesat Maurore Villefranche and many other Townes and at last the great City of Angoâlesme and then came to winter againe at Burdeaux Of his Acts together with the Prince KING Philip informed of so many great losses assembles a mighty Army no lesse then a hundred thousand men with which he recovers Miremont and Villefranche and then proceeded to besiege Angoulesme whom the Earle of Derby having not forces sufficient to encounter King Edward leaving for Wardens of England in his absence the Lords Percie and Nevill goeth himselfe in person with an Army as Froyssard saith of fourescore thousand men at Armes and ten thousand Archers besides those out of Wales and Ireland taking with him his sonne the Prince of Wales and Duke of Guyenne being then but of the age of fifteene yeares It may be thought preposterous in King Edward to put his sonne to be a Souldier before he was come to be a man but it seemes he had a longing to try his sonnes valour in the bud and perhaps was loath to omit any thing that might give any countenance to this battell in which the two kingdomes were laid as it were at stake but howsoever taking him along with him and almost all the Lords of his kingdome he takes Shipping and lands at Normandy where at the first setting his foote on ground he tooke such a fall that the bloud gushed out at his nose which the Barons tooke for an ill signe but the King tooke it for a good saying it was a signe that the Land desired to have him and in deede he presently tooke the Townes of Harsteur Moulbourg Carenton and Saint Lo and afterward the City of Caân it selfe and from thence passed to the County of Eureux saccaged and pillaged it as also the City of Gisors Vernon Meulan and Boulebourse to the City of Poyssy King Philip all this while staied about Paris as looking for King Edward to give him battell there and for that purpose had planted his Campe neare to Saint Germans but King Edward deceived him for going from Poyssy he passed into Picardie and Ponthieâ where he tooke and burned many Townes and Castles and then passed the River of ãâã though not without danger for King Philip had sent thither Gundemar de Fay with a thousand horse and sixe thousand foote to stop his passage King Edward notwithstanding resolves to passe or perish and plungeth foremâââ into the River crying out They who love me will follow me at which voyce ãâã man strove who should be foremost and so the shoare was presently gained by the English Gunâemar astonished with this bold adventure astonisheth his peoâââ with his fearfull countenance so that the English encountring the French all in ãâã put them to flight King Philip enraged with this dishonour resolves to ãâã it and presently provokes King Edward to a battell King Edward had ãâã ââcamped in a Village called Cressy his Army consisted of thirty thousand ãâã âhich he divided into three battalions the first was led by the young Prince ãâ¦ã with whom were joyned the Earle of Warwicke Geoffrey of Harecourt ãâã Hollaâd Ricâard Stafford Iohn Chandoes Robert Nevile and many other ãâã and Gentlemen to the number of eight hundred men at Armes two thou ãâ¦ã and a thousand Welsh In the second were the Earles of Northamââââând ând of ãâã the Lords Rosse Basset and others to the number of eight hun ãâ¦ã Armes and twelve hundred Archers In the third the King was himâââââ hâving about him seven hundred men at Armes and three thousand Archers ãâã battels thus ordered mounted on a white Hobby he rode from ranke to ranke ãâã ââem encouraging every man that day to have regard to his right and ho ãâ¦ã The French Kings Army was farre greater consisting of above sixty thou ãâ¦ã well armed whereof the chiefe were Charles Duke of Alanson ãâ¦ã Iohn of Luxembourg King of Bohemia Charles de Blois the Kings ãâ¦ã Duke of Lorraine the Earles of Flanders Nevers Sancerre of Ba ãâ¦ã and Gentlemen about three thousand The Vauntguard he commits to his ârother the Count de Alanson the Reere to the Earle of Savoy the maine battell âe leadâ himselfe his heate out of confidence of victory was so great that ãâ¦ã permitted time for a little counsell what was fit to be done The old King ãâ¦ã advised that the Army should take some repast and that the Infantry câââisting of Geâoueses which were above fifteene thousand Crossebowes and ãâã menâ should make the first Front and the Cavallery to follow which was agreed on But the Count of Alanson contrary to this order tooke it ill that the ãâã were in the first ranke and in fury caused them to change place which ãâ¦ã discontentment that it irritated them more against the
himselfeâ and first marching through ãâã where he takes in many Townes he plants his siâge afterward before ãâã but having spent there sixe or seven weekes without effecting any thing he âasseth thence and takes in the Cities of Sens Nevers the Dutchy of Bârgoyne redeemes it self from spoil with paying two hundred thousand Floâens of gold then he marcheth up to âaris and plants his Camp within two small Leagues of the Towââ where âe honoured 400. Esquires and Gentlemen with the Order of knighthood but when Sir Walter de Manny had made a Bravado before the Gates of the City and the King saw that the Daulphin would by no provocations be drawne out to battell he raiseth his siege and returnes into Briâaine to refresh his Army from thence he marcheth towards Charâres with a purpose to besiege that City and though great offers were made him by the French and Commissioners from the Pope solicited him with all earnestnesse to accept them yet neither they nor the Duke of Lancasters perswasions could prevaile with him till a terrible âtorme of haile with thunder and lightning fell upon his Army which so terrified him being a warning as it were from Heauen that he presently vowed to make Peace with the French King upon any reasonable conditions as shortly after he did at a Treaty of Britigny neare to Chartres upon these Articles that the Fiefs of Thouars and Belleville the Dutchy of Guyenne comprising Gascoyne Poictou Sanâogne Limoâsin Perigort Quercie Rhodes Angoulesme and Rochell together with the Counties of Guysnes and Callice and some other places with the Homages of the Lords within those Territories should be to the King of England who besides was to have three Millions of crownes of goldâ whereof sixe hundred thousand in hand foure hundred thousand the yeaâe following and the rest in two yeares after and for this the King of England and his sonne the Prince of Wales for them and their successours for ever should renounce all their right pretended to the Câowne of France the Dutchy of Normandy the Countries of Touraine Anjou Mayne the Homage and Soveraignty of Britaine and the Earledome of Flanders and within three weekes King Iohn to be rendred at Callice at the charge of the King of England except the expenses of his house For assurance of which accord should be given into his hand five and twenty of the greatest Dukes and Lords of France for Hostages The Scots not to be aided by the French King nor the Flemmings by the English This accord and finall Peace signed by both Kings was ratified by their two eldest sonnes Edward and Charles and sworne unto by the Nobility of both kingdomes The Hostages are delivered to King Edward who brought them into England and thereupon King Iohn is honourably conducted to Callice after he had remained prisoner in England neare about five yeares but being come to Callice he was detained there above three moneths till the money which he was to pay in hand could be provided and for providing the rest he was put to hard shifts being faine to give the Iewes leave to dwell in France for twenty yeares paying twelve Florins a man at the entry and sixe every yeare after At this time the Prince by dispensation marries the Countesse of Kent daughter to Edmund brother to Edward the second and his Father investing him with the Dutchy of Aquitaine he was now Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitaine Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester and Kent and not long after with the Princesse his wife he passeth over into France and keepes his Court at Burdeaux This was now the yeare 1362. and the fiftieth yeare of King Edwards age wherein for a Iubilee he shewes himselfe extraordinarily gracious to his peoplâ freely pardoning many offences relesing prisoners revoking exiles with many other expressions of his love and bounty The yeare following was famous for three Kings comming into England Iohn King of France Peter King of Cyprus and Dâvid King of Scots The King of Cyprus came to solicite King Edward to joyne with other Princes in the Holy Warre but receives onely royall entertainment and excuses The King of Scots came for businesse and visitation but why the King of France came is not so certaine whether it were about taking order for his Hostages or to satisfie King Edward for breach of some Articles or else for love to the Countesse of Salisbury or perhaps out of a desire to let England see his Majesty being at liberty which had beene darkened before by the cloud of captivity but whatsoever the cause of his comming was the cause of his staying at least of longer staying then he meant was a mortall sicknesse whereof having lien all the Winter at the Savoy in March or Aprill following he died and his body convaied over into France was buried at Saint Donis with his Ancestours The Prince of Wales was now growne famous all the Christian world over and the man to whom all wronged Princes seemed to appeale and to flie for succour for which end there came at this time to his Court Iames King of Majorque and happened to come at a time when the Princesse lay in and thereupon he and Richard King of Navarre were taken to be Godfathers to his sonne Richard For the like assistance also there came at the same time to him Peter King of Castile driven out of his kingdome by the French in favour to Peter King of Aragon and Prince Edward partly out of charity to succour a distressed Prince and partly out of policy to keepe his Souldiers in exercise undertakes the enterprise and was so prosperous in it that with one battell having but thirty thousand against a hundred thousand hee put King Peter in possession of his kingdome though he was ill rewarded for his labour for the ungratefull King would not so much as pay his Souldiers An unfortunate journey for the Prince for though he came back with victory yet he brought backe with him such an indisposition of body that he was never throughly well after not perhaps by poyson nor given him by his brother the Duke of Lancaster though both were suspected but there were causes of distempering him enough besides the Countrey the season the action it selfe and it may be more marvelled that his Souldiers came home so well then that he came so ill but howsoever being now returned there was presently to his indisposition of body added discontentment of minde for not having meanes to pay his Souldiers which forced him to winke at that which he could not chuse but see and seeing grieve at how they preyed upon the Countrey and thereupon how the Countrey murmured against him and now to stop this murmuring his Chancellour the Bishop of Rhodes devised a new Imposition of leavying a Frank for every Chimney and this to continue for five yeares to pay the Princes debts but this Imposition made the murmuring the more for though some part of his Dominions
battell saying They were but clouds and would soone passe away yet so watched him that what with light skirmishes and what with skarcity of victuals his forces were so diminished that of thirty thousand which went out of Callice there scarce retunred six thousand home which made King Edward say of this King Charles that he did him more mischiefe sitting still then his Predecessours had done with all their stirring And now by this time all Poictou is lost and all Aquitaine also but onely Burdeaux and Bayon when the Arch-bishop of Roan and others are sent from Pope Gregory the eleventh to mediate a Peace betweene the two Kings but each of them standing upon high termes of conditions nothing could be effected but Truce upon Truce for two or three yeares together In which time Edward Prince of Wales died and with him we may say the Fortune of England being a Prince so full of vertues that he left no place for any vice and if he had lived in the Heroicke times might well have beene numbâed amongst the nine Worthies His body was buried at Canterbury where his Monument standeth King Edward in his seven and fortieth yeare calleth a Parliament at Wâstminster which lasted but eight dayes and to which were Summoned by Writ of Clergy men onely foure Bishops and five Abbots Of King Edwards Acts after the death of the Prince IN the time of the Princes sicknesse King Edwârd cals a Parliament at Westminster in which when demands were made for supply of the King demands were presently made for redresse of grievances for the subjects It was required that the Duke of Lancaster the Lord Latymer then Lord Chamberlaine Dame Alice Pierce the Kings Concubine and one Sir Richard Sturry might be removed from Court And this was so vehemently urged by their Speaker Sir Peter la Moore that the King rather then not to be supplied gave way unto it and thereupon all these persons are presently put from Court but the Prince soone after dying they are all recalled to Court againe and restored to their former places About this time exâmplary justice was done upon Sir Iohn Minsterworth knight who was drawne hanged and quartered at Tiburne for Treason by him committed in defrauding Souldiers of their wages Thiâ was now the fâftieth yeare of King Edwââds Raigne and he for another Iubilee graââs another generall pardon to his subjectsâ onely William Wicâham Bishop of Winchester is excepted being lately by procurement of the Duke of Lancaster fallen into the Kings displeasureâ and forbiddââ to come to the Parliament This Parliament was called the good Parliamentâââough it wrought ill effects for Sir Peter de la Mare at the suite of Alice Pierce is committed to perpetuall imprisonment at Notâingham though within two years after by importunate suite of friends he regained his liberty This Alice Pierce presuming upon the Kings favour grew so insolent that she entermedled with Courts of Justice and other Offices where âhe herselfe would fit to countenance her Causes And now the Duke of Lancastââ is come to have the Regencie and to manage all the affaires of the kingdome but King Edward to prevent the mischiefes when by disordering the succession might grow in the kingdome providently settled the same in Parliament upon Richard of Burdeaux âreating him first Earle of Chester and Cornwall and then Prince of Wales and caused all the Lords of the Realme to talâe an Oath to accept him for their King as his lawfull Heire when himselfe should be dead In this meane time a Treaty was had about a marriage betweene this Prince Richard and Mâry a daughter of Charles King of France and an offer was made to King Edward to leave him foureteene hundred Townes and three thousand fortresses in Aqâitaine upon condition he would render Callice and all that he held in Picardy but before any thing could be concluded King Edward died Of his Taxations IN the eighth yeare of his Raigne in a Parliament holden at London there was granted him a fifteenth of the Temporalty a twentieth of the Cities and Boroughs and a tenth of the Clergy In his tenth yeare in a Parliament at Northampton is granted a tenth penny of Cities and Boroughs a fifteenth of others and a tenth of the Clergy Also all such treasure as was committed to Churches through England for the Holy Warre is taken out for the Kings use towards his warres with France The next yeare after all the goods of three orders of Monks Lomâards Cluniakes and Cistercians are likewise seised into the Kings hands and the like Subsidy as before granted at Nottingham In his twelfth yeare and as some write in absence of the King in a Parliament at Northampton is granted by the Laity one halfe of their Wooll but of the Clergy the whole The next yeare after a fifteenth was likewise paid in Wooll by the Commonalty In his foureteenth yeare in a Parliament at London is granted him for Customâ of every sacke of Wooll forty shillings for every three hundred Wooll Fells forty shilâ for every Last of Leather forty shillings and of other Merchandises according to the rate the same to endure from that Easter to the Whitsontide twelve moneth after Besides there was granted of Citizens and Burgesses a ninth part of goods of forraine Merchants and others a fifteenth of Husbandmen the ninth Sheafe the ninth Fleece the ninth Lamb for two years also another tenth of the Clergy and for his present supply he had Loanes of divers persons and the City of London lent twânty thousand Markes For the grant of which mighty Subsidy the King besides his Pardon to divers kinds of offendours remits all Amerciaments for transgressions in his Forests Reliefs and Scurage to the first time of his going into Flanders besides all aides for the marriage of his sonnes and daughters during his Raigne pardoning and remitting all ancient debts and ârrârages both of his Fermors and others till the tenth yeare of his Raigne and likewise confirmes the great Charter of Magna Chartae In his eighteenth yeare in a Parliament at London a tenth was granted by the Clergy and a fifteenth by the Laityâ Besides a Commission is sent into every Shire to inquire of mens abilities and all of five pounds to tenne of Lay Fee were appointed to finde an Archer on horsebacke of twenty five a Demilaunce and so ratably above There had formerly been made a certaine coyne of Gold called the Floren of base alloy for the Kings benefit towards his warres in France but this was now called inâ and Nobles of finer metall coyned to the great contentment of the people In his nine and twentieth yeare he hath by Parliament granted unto him fifty shillings upon every sack of Wooll for six years next ensuing by which Imposition it was thought the King might dispend a thousââd Markes Sterling a day the vent of Wooll was so great in that time But that which exceeded all his Taxations was the Ransome he had in
another It was thought fit to commit it to many and thereupon Iohn Duke of Lancaster Edmââd Earle of Cambridge the Kings Unkles with some other Lords and Bishops were joyned in Commission to manage the State and Guishard de Angoulesme appointed to be his Schoole-master And now the Kings Minority made forreigne Princes conceive that this would be a time of advantage for any that had quarrell to England which the French and Scots tooke presently hold of For the French came now and burnt the Town of Rye and soone after entring the Isle of Wight burnt divers Townes there and though they were repelled from the Castle by the valiant Sir Hugh Tyrrell Captaine thereof yet they constrained the men of the Isle to give them a thousand Markes to spare the residue of their houses and goods and departing thence they set on land where they saw advantage burning sundry Towns neere to the shoare as Portsmouth Dertmoâth and Plimmouth and then sayling towards Dover they burnt Hastings assaulted Winchelsey but being valiantly defended by the Abbot of Battell were forced to retire After this they landed not far from the Abby of Lewis at a place called Rottington where the Prior of Lewis with Sir Thomas Cheyny and Sir Iohn Fâllesly encountring them were overthrowne and taken Prisoners And no lesse then the French were the Scots also now busie for comming one morning by stealth they wonne the Castle of Barwick but shortly after upon knowledge thereof had they were driven out againe by the Earles of Northumberland and Nottingham and all the Scotâ they found in it except Alexander Ramsey their Captaine put to the sword About Michaelmas a Parliament was held at Westminster wherein Alice Piercâ the late Kings Concubine was banished the Realms and all her goods confiscate and two Tenths of the Clergie and two Fifteenths of the Temporalty were granted but so as that two Citizens of London William Walworth and Iohn Philpot should receive and keepe it to see it bestowed for defence of the Realme In this time Sir Hugh Calverley Deputy of Callis burnt six and twenty French ships in the Haven of Bulloigne and at the same time a great Navy is set out under the guiding of the Earle of Buckiâgham the Duke of Britaine the Lord Lâtimer Sir Robert Knolls and others with a purpose to intercept the Spanish Fleet but through Tempest were twice driven back when in the mean time one Mercer a Scottish Pyrate came to Scârborough tooke there divers ships and committed many outrages and no order being taken to repell him a Citizen of Lââdoâ nâmed Iohn Philpot at his own charges set forth a Fleet and in his own person encountring them tooke the said Mercer and all his ships and returning home in stead of being rewarded for his service he was called in question for presuming to raise a Navy without advice of the Kings Councell but he gave âuch reasons for that he had done that not onely he came off then wiâh credit but lives in reputation for it to this day Indeed Reasons of State though they may secretly be censured yet they must not openly be controlled for this were to bring Authority into contempt and in stead of Errors to bring in Confusion but yet when wrongs be offered that are publick every particular person seemes to have an interest in taking revenge and though it may be no manners not to stay the States leisure yet it can be no offence to doe their worke for them Many actions passed at this time with the French and Scots some prosperous and some adverse The Scots burne Roxborough this was adverse but the Earle of Northumberland entring Scotland with ten thousand men spoyleth the Lands of the Earle of March the chief Incendiary this was prosperous but when the Northern men would needs make a Road into Scotland and were encountred by the Scots and put to flight this was adverse Anon after Midsomer the Duke of Lancaster with the Earles of Buckingham Warwick Stafford and others of the Nobility with a strong Power toâke the Sea and landing in Britaine besieged the Towne of Sâ Malo but finding strong opposition is forced to raise his Siege and returne home this was adverse And now againe the Scots by night entred secretly into the Castle of Berwick and slew Sir Robert Baynton that was Constable there this also was adverse But when the Earle of Northumberland being advertised therâof came with a Power assauâted the Castle and after two dayeâ defence recovered it againe this was prosperous William Montacute Eârle of Salisbury the Kings Lieutenant in Callis forrageth the Country round about and furnisheth Callis with Booties of French cattell Sir Hugh Calverley and Sir Thomas Percy made Admirallsâ put to Seaâ and take divers ships laden with merchandise and one shâp of warre Sir Iohn Hââleston Captaine of Chierbourg in France issuing forth assaults a Fortresse of the French which was the storehouse of their Provision and with much valour takes it these were prosperous But when Sir Iohn Clerke lying in Gaârison in a Castle in Britaine where laâ many Engââsh ships in the Haven âad âheâe ships let upon by the French where though he shewed incredible valoâr in the action yet the ships were taken and himselfe slaine this was adverse Also in the third yeere of this Kings Reigne Sir Iohn Arundell Sir Hugh Calverley Sir Thomas Percie Sir William Elmham Sir Thomas Banister and many other Knights went to Sea with a purpose to passe over into Britaine but were so beaten back wâth Tempest that divers of their ships were âast away and Sir Iohn Arundell Sir Thomas Banister Sir Nicolas Trumpingâon Sir Thomas Dale and above a thousand others were all drowned onely Sir Thomas Percie Sir Hugh Calverley Sir William Elmham and certaine others escaped It may not be imperâinent to note here the sumptuousnesse of those times for this Sir Iohn Arundell was then said in his Furniture to have two and fifty new sutes of apparell of cloath of Gold and Tissue all lost at Sea This yeere also there being found inconvenience in having many Governors of the King and Kingdome it was by Parliament decreed Thât the Lord Thomas Beauchampe Earle of Warwickâ should himself alone hold the place of Protector About this time Sir Iohn Annesley Knight accused Thomas Katrington Esquire for betraying the Fortresse of St. Saviour to the French which Katrington denyingâ at the suit of Annesly a solemne combat is permitted to be between them at which combat the King and all the great Lords were present the Esquire Katrington was a man of a mighty statuâe the Knight Annesley a little manâ yet through the justnesse of his cause after a long fight the Knight prevailed and Katrington the day after the combat dyed In the beginning of the fourth yeere of this King Thomas of Woodstock Earle of Buckingham the Kings Unkle with divers Earles and Lords and an Army of seven or eight thousand was sent into France
Langley which Richard had issue by the said Anne a sonne called Richard that was after Duke of York and father to king Edward the Fourth also a daughter named Isabel maried to the Lord Bourchier Also this yeere Henry of Bullingbrooke Earle of Darby maried the daughter and heire of Humfry Bohun Earle of Hereford in whose Right he was after made Duke of Hereford This yeere also K. Richard holding his Christmas at Eltham Leo king of Armenia came thither to him who in feare to have his kingdome conquered by the Turkes was come into Christendome to seeke for ayde but his chiefe Errand into England was to have procured a Peace between the two kings of England and Franâe but their spleenes were so great against one another that it was not in the physick of hiâ Power to cure them At this time the Duke of Lancaster taking with him his wife the Lady Constânce and a daughter he had by her named Katherine and two other daughters which he had by his former wife failed into Spaine he was attended in his journy with the Lord Lucie the Lord Talbot the Lord Basset Willoughby Fitzwater Poyâings Brââston and many other Lords and knights to the number of fifteen hundred men of Armes whereof a thousand at the least were knights and Esquires The king at his taking leave gave him a Crowne of Gold and commanded he should be called king of Spaine and the Queen likewise gave another Crown of Gold to the Dutcheââe He landed first at Brest and freed that Castle from the French from thence he sailed and arrived at the Groyne in Spaine where he remained a moneth and then went to Compostella where he stayed a while In which time his Constable Sir Iohn Hollââd wonne divers Townes At Monson the king of Portingale and the Duke of Lââcaster met where a mariage was concluded between the said king of Portingale and the Lady Philip daughter to the Dukeâ which mariage shortly after was consummated and the Lady sent into Portingale honorably accompanied The Duke continued at Coâpostella all the winter At March the king of Portingale and he enââed the Confines of Castile where they tooke many Townes and passing over the River of Dure entred into the Country De Campo But the Spaniards not willing to come to a Battell but meaning to weary them out with delayes the English not used âo such hot aire fell daily into many diseases which the Duke seeing accorded âo a Truce There dyed in this action the Lord Fiâzwater Sir Burleyâânight âânight of the Garter the Lord Poynings and Sir Henry Percy Cosin-german to the Eââle of Northumberland also the Lord Talbot and in all twelve great Lords fourscore ânights two hundred Esquires and of the meaner sort above five hundred When the Army was broken up the Duke of Lancaster and the Dutcheâse his wife went into Portingale and after some stay there they sailed to Bayon in the Marches of Gascoigne where he rested a long time after In which meane while there were offers made for a Mariage to be had betweene the Duke of Berry Unkle to the Frââch king and the Lady Kaâherine daughter to the Duke of Lancaster which the king of Spaine understanding he began to doubt least if that mariage went forward it might turne to his disadvantage and thereupon by earnest suit at length concâuded a peace with the Duke of Lancaster on this wise That his eldest sonne Heâry should marry the the Lady Katherine the Duke of Lancasters daughter and be intituled Prince of Austurgâs and in consideration of this mariage and that all claimes should cease which the Duke in right of his wife might challenge or pretendâ It was agreed that the said Duke should receive yeerely the summe of Ten thousând marks during the lives of him and his Dutchesse and to have in hand the summe of two hundred thousand Nobles At this time the French had a purpose to invade England with no lesse a hope then to make a Conquest and to that end they prepared a mighty Navy so as in the moneth of September there were numbred about Sluis Dam and Blaâkerkâ 1â87 ships besides those which were rigged in Britaine by the Constable who had caused an inclosure of a Field to be made of Timber that when they were landed in Eâgland they might therewith inclose their field and so lodge at more surety but it so fortuned that the Lord William Beauchampe Captaine of Callis tooke two of their ships whereof one was laden with a piece of the said Inclosure and after that ânother ship laden with Guns Gunpowder and other Instruments of warre and after that againe two ships more laden with parcels of the said Inclosure which K. âichard caused to be reared and set up about Winchelsey Towne at last the foresaid Army came into Flanders and arrived at Sluis where after some stay they were so distressed for victuals that in the end of November they were glad to be gone and returne into France At this time in a Parliament Robert Veere Earle of Oxford and Marques of Dublin was created Duke of Ireland and Michael de la Poole a Merchants son had lately before been created E. of Suffolk and made Chancellor of England And now begins K. Richard to enter I may say upon the confines of his Destiny His gracing of undeserving men and disgracing of men deserving if they were not the causes they were at least the occasions of his owne disgracing and destruction in the end He was now come to be of full age to doe all himselfe which was indeed to be of full age to undoe himselfe for the faults of his younger yeeres might have the excuse to be but Errors but the faults of the age he was now at were perempâory against him and admitted no defence And to hasten the pace of his destiny the faster the ill Counsell which before was but whispered in his eare was now scarce forborne to be given him aloud It is told him that he is under tuition no longer and therefore not to be controll'd as in former times he had been That to be crost of his will by his subjects was to be their subject It is no Soveraignty if it be not absolute At the instigation of which Counsell the king in a Parliament now assembled fell to expostulate with his Lords asking them what yeeres they thought him to be ãâã who answering that he was somewhat more then one and twenty Well then saââ he I am out of Wardship and therefore looke to injoy my kingdome as freely ãâã your selves at the like yeeres enjoy your Patrimonies But his flattering Favoriââ should have remembred that though the king may not be controlled where he caâ command yet he may be opposed where he can but demand as now indeed he waâ for when he came to demand a Subsidy towards his warres he was answered That he needed no subsidie from his Subjects if he would but call in the debts which thâ
Beauchamp Earle of Warwick was brought forth and charged with the like Treasons but by the intercession of the Duke of Lancaster and other Lords after confession of his fault was only confin'd into the Isle of Man Likewise the lord Cobhaâ and Sir Iohn Cheyny were onely banished or as Fabian saith condemned to perpetuall Prison The Parliament after this was held at Shewsbery where for the love the king bore to the Gentlemen and Commons of the Shiâe of Chester he caused it to be Ordained that from thenceforth it should be called and known by the name of the Principality of Chester and herewith intitled himselfe Prince of Châster At this Parliament also called the Great Parliament He created five Dukes and â Dutchesse one Marquesse and foure Earles The Earle of Darby was created Duke of Hereford the Earle of Nottingham Duke of Norfolke the Earle of Râtlandâ Dâke of Aâbemarle the Earle of Kent Duke of Surrey the Earle of ãâã Duke of Exceter and the Lady Margaret Marshall Countesse of Norfolke was created Dutchesse of Norfolke The Earle of Somerset was created Marquesse Dorseâ the Lord Spenser was made Earle of Glocester the Lord Nevill Earle of Westâerlââd the Lord Scrââpe Earle of Wiltshire and the Lord Thomas Percy L. Steward of the kingâ house was made Earle of Worcester and for the better maintenance of their esââteâ he divided amongst them a great part of those lands that belonged to the Duke of Glocester the Earles of Aruâdell and Warwick Also in this Parliament the Judges gave their opinions That when Articles are propounded by the king to be handled in Parliament if other Articles be handled before those be first determined that it is Treason in them that doe it And in this Parliament the king brought it so âbout that he obtained the whole power of the Parliament to be conferred upon cerâtaine persons namely Iohn Duke of Lancaster Edmund Duke of Yorke Edmâââ Duke of Aâmerle Thomas Duke of Surrey Iohn Duke of Exceter Iohn Marqueââe Dorset Roger Earle of March Iohn Earle of Salisbury and divers others or to any seven or eight of them and these by virtue of this Grant proceeded to conclude upon many things which concerned generally the knowledge of the whole Parliament to the great prejudice of the State and a dangerous example in time to come A Generall Pardon was also granted for all offences to all the Kings subjects but only to Fifty whose names he would not expresse but reserved them to his own knowledge that when any of the Nobility offended him he might at his pleasure name him to be one of the number excepted and so keepe them still within his danger And for the more strengthening the Acts of this Parliament the King purchased the Popes Buls containing grievous censures and curses to them that should break them And now the heads of the opposite Faction having lost their heads and all things as well setled as could be desired the King was secure as thinking himselfe safe and he had indeed been safe if Time and Fortune were not Actours in Revenge as well as men or rather if a superiour Power did not interpose whose wayes are as secret as himselfe is invisible It now fell out though Wâiters differ what it was fell out for some write that Thomâs Mowbray accused the Duke of Hereford others that Henry Duke of Herefoâd accused Thomas Mowbrây Duke of Norfolke for speaking words sounding highly to the Kings dishonour to which the Duke of Norfolk being called to answer charged the Duke of Hereford before the King that he lyed falsly Whereupon a Combat was agreed upon between them The King labored to make them friends but not prevailing he gave way to proceed in Combat and the place to be at Coventry where at the day and houre appointed the Duke of Hereford mounted on a white Couâseâ bârded with green ând blew Velvet imbroidered sumptuously with Swans and Antelops of Goldsmiths worke approached the Lists Of whom the Marshall being the Duke of Surry demanding who he was he answered I am Henry of Lââcaster Duke of Hereford that am come hither to doe my endeavour against Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke as a Traitour untrue to God the King his Realme and me Then incontinently he swore upon the holy Evangelists that his quarrell was true and just and thereupon required to enter the Lists where in â Chaire of green Velvet he sate downe and reposed himselfe Then came the Duke of Nârfâlke his horse barded with Crimson velvet imbroidered richly with Lyons of Silver and Mulbery trees and when he had taken his oath before the Constable the Duke of Aâmerle that his quarrell was just he entred the Lists and sate him down in his Chaire of Crimson velvet curtained about with white and red Damask Then the Marshall viewed their speares to see that they were of equall lengâh and then the Heralds proclaimed on the Kings behalfe they should mount on horsebâck and addresse themselves to the Combat But when they were set forward and had their Speares in their Rests the King cast down his Warder and the Heralds cryed Stay Stay Then the king caused their Speares to be âaken from them and deliberated with his Councell what was âit to be done in so weighty a cause After two long houres it was at last concluded that Henry Duke of Hereford should within fifââen dayes depart out of the Realme and not returne before ten yeeres were expired upon paine of death And that Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke should likewise avoyd the Realme and never to returne into England upon the like paine It is observable that this Censure was passed against the Duke of Norfolke the very same day Twelve-moneth in which he had taken order to put the Duke of Glocester to death at Calliâ whereof he was then Governour When these Judgements were once read the king called before him both the Dukes and made them sweare that the one should never come in place where the other was After this the Duke of Nârfâolke went into Almâiââ and from thence to Venice where after some time he dyed with sorrow The Duke of Hereford at the taking his leave of the king had foure yeeres of his Banishment released ând then went to Callis and from thence to âaris where of the French king he was so kindly received that by his favour he had obtained in mariage the onely daughter of the Duke of Berry Unkle to the French king if King Richard by messengers had not hindered him It was a Custome in those dayes to punish the delinquencies of Great men by banishment out of the Realme a Custome not more grievous to the Subject then dangerous to the Prince for by this course they had meanes to worke so closely in their mines of Revenge that the Fabrick of a Kingdome was in danger to be blown up before their working could be perceived An example whereof was never more plainly seen then at this time in
Lords and having heard their opinions he âurned to the Commons asking them if they would joyne with the Lords in choosing Henry of Lancaster for their King who all with one voyce cryed Yea Yea whereupon going to the Duke he bowed his knee and taking him by the hand led him to the Royall seat and then began a Sermon taking for his Text out of the first Booke of the Kings cap. 9. Vir dominabitur in populo wherein he declared what a happinesse it is to a Nation to have a King of wisedome and valour and shewed the Duke of Laâcaster to be such a one and as much the defects in both of the late king Richard The Sermon ended the king thanked them all for his Elâction and testified unto them that he meant not to take advantage against any mans estate aâ comming in by Conquest but that every one should freely enjoy his own as in times of lawfull succession And now a time was appointed for his Coronation and accordingly upon the 13th day of October following the very day wherein the yeere before he had been banished he was Crowned at Westminster by the Archbishop of Canterbury with all Rites and Ceremonies accustâmed At his Coronation he was anoynted with an Oyle which a Religious man had given to Henry the first Duke of Lancaster together with this Prophâre That the kings anoynted with this oyle should be the Champions of the Church This oyle comming to the hands of king Richard as he was looking amongst his Jewels going then into Ireland he was desirous to be anoynted with it but that the Archbishop of Canterbury told him it was not lawfull to be anoynted twice whereupon putting it up againe at his comming afterwards to Fliât the Archbishop got it of him and kept it till âhe Coronation of king Henry who was the first king of the Realme that was anoynted with it The day before the Coronation the king in the Tower made one and âorty some say but twelve knights of the Bathe whereof foure were his owne sonnes Henryâ Thomas Iohâ and Humfry all then alive and with thâm âhree Earles aâd five âârons Upon the Feast-day many claimed Offices as belonging to their Tenures âo which upon shewing their Right they were admitted And now the King âade divers new Officers The Earle of Northumberland he made Constable of Engâând the Earle of Westmerland was made Lord Marshall Sir Iohn Serle Chancellor âohn Newbery Esquire Treasurer and Sir Richârd Clifford was made Lord Keeper of âhe Privy Seale The Lord Henry his eldest sonne being then about thirteen yeers âf age was created Prince of Walâs Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester and âoone after also Duke of Aquitaine and the Crowne was by Parliament Eââailed âo King Henry and the heires of his body lawfully begotten After this a Parliament was holden in which the Acts made in the Eleventh yeere of King Richard were revived and the Acts made in his one and twentieth yeere were wholly repealed and they who by that Parliament were attainted were reâtored to their Lands and Honours whereupon Richard Earle of Warwick was deâivered out of Prison and the Earle of Arundells sonne recovered his Inheritance ând many other also that were banished or imprisoned by King Richard were then âully restored to their liberty and estates Also the King gave to the Earle of Westâerland the County of Richmond and to the Earle of Northumberland the Isle of Mân to be holden of him by bearing the sword wherewith he entred into England And now was the time for shewing of Spleens Sir Iohn Bagot then Prisoner in the Tower accused the Earle of Aâmerle for speaking words against the Duke of Lancâster now King also the Lord Fitzwater accused him for the death of the Duke of Glocester the Lord Mârley appealed the Earle of Salisbury of Treason and one Hall accused the Duke of Exceter for conspiring the death of Iohn of Gaunt the Kings father But King Henry having entred the Throne in a storme was willing now to have a Calme and therefore laying aside the ones Accusations he accepted of the others Excuses and received the Duke of Aâmerle and the Duke of Exceter into as much favour as if they had never been accused And to qualifie the hard opinion which forraigne Princes might conceive of King Richards Deposing He sent Ambassadours into divers Countries to make it knowne by what Title and by what favour of the People he came to the Kingdome To the Court of Rome he sent Iohn Trenevant Bishop of Hereford Sir Iohn Cheyny Knight and Iohn Cheyny Esquire Into France he sent Walter Sherlow Bishop of Durham and Thomas Percy Earle of Worcester Into Spaine he sent Iohn Trevor Bishop of Assaph and Sir William Parre and into Germany he sent the Bishop of Bangor and certaine others Most of these Princes seemed either not to regard what was done or were easily perswaded that all was done well onely Charles King of France was so distemper'd with this indignity offered to his sonne in Law K. Richard that by violence of his Passion he fell into his old pangues of Frensie but somewhat recovered he resolved to revenge it wherein many Lords of France shewed themselves forward but specially the Earle of S. Paul who had maried K. Richards halfe-sister yet having prepared an Army in readinesse when afterward they heard of King Richards death they dissolved it againe as considering the time was then past The Aquitaines also and specially the Citizens of Burdeaux as being the place where K. Richard was born were mightily incensed but Sir Robert Knolls Lieutenant of Guyen and afterwards Thomas Percy Earle of Worcester being sent to them by the King so perswaded them that with much adoe they continued in obedience It was about this time moved in Parliament what should be done with King Richard for he was not as yet murthered Whereupon the Bishop of Carlile â learned man and wise and who had never given allowance to the Deposing of King Richard now that he was in a place of freedome of speech he rose up and said 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 doe it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Heââ You will say But the Head may bow it selfe downe and so may the King âesignâ It is true but what force is in that which is done by force and who knowes ãâã that King Richards Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently ouâ yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conâuest you speak Treason for what Conquest without Arms aâd can a subjâct
him Of his Death and Buriall IN the fortysixth yeare of his Age having Peace both at home and abroad and being of too active a spirit to be idle he tooke upon him the Crusado and great provision was made for his journey to Ierusalem but alas his journey to Ierusalem required no such provision for being at his prayers at S. Edwards shrine he was suddenly taken with an Apoplexie and thereupon removed to the Abbot of Westminsters house where recovering his senses and finding himselfe in a strange place he asked what place it was and being told that he was in the Abbots house in a Chamber called Ierusalem Well then said he Lord have mercy upon me for this is the Ierusalem where a Southsayer told me I should dye And here he dyed indeed on the 20. day of March in the yeare 1413. when he had lived sixe and forty yeares Reigned thirteen and a halfe It is worth remembring that all the time of his sicknesse his will was to have his Crowne set upon his bolster by him and one of his fits being so strong upon him that all men thought him directly dead the Prince comming in tooke away the Crowne when suddenly the king recovering his senses missed his Crown and asking for it was told the Prince had taken it whereupon the Prince being called came back with the Crown and kneeling down said Sir to all our judgements and to all our griefes you seemed directly dead and therefore I tooke the Crown as being my Right but seeing to all our comforts you live I here deliver it much more joyfully than I tooke it and pray God you may long live to weare it your selfe Well saith the king sighing what right I had to it God knowes But saith the Prince if you dye king my sword shall maiâteine it to be my Right against all Opposers Well saith the king I referre all to God but I charge thee on my Blessing that thou administer the Lawes indifferently avoyd Flatterers deferre not to do Justice nor be sparing of Mercy And then turning about said God blesse thee and have mercy on me and with those words gave up the Ghost His body with all Funerall pomp was conveyed to Canterbury and there solemnly buried Of men of Note in his time OF men of Valour in his time of whom there was great store I shall need to say no more than what hath already been said in the body of the story onely I cannot but remember Sir Robert Kâolls who borne of meane parentage made himselfe famous over all Christendome and dying at a Manour of his in Norfolk was brought to London and buried in the Church of the White Fâieâs in London which himselfe had re-edified But for men of learning I must set in the first place William Wickham a man of no learning yet well worâhy tâ hold the place In relating of whose life I must have leave to expatiate a little His fathers name was Iohn Long or as some say Perot but as Campian proveth Wickham and not from the place of his dwelling though he was Parish-Clerke of Wickham in Hampshire where he taught children to write in which quality his sonne William proved so excellent that Nicolas Wooddall Constable of Winchester Castle tooke him from his faâher ând kept him at Schoole first at Winchester afterward at Oxford till himselfe being made Surveyor-generall of the Kings works he sent for this William to serve him as his Clerke who in short time grew so expert in that imployment that Adam Torletoâ Bâshop of Wincheâter commended him to the King who imployed him presently in surveying his Fortifications at Dover and Quinborough Castles and afterward made him Surveyor of his Buildings at Windsor Castle and his houses of Henley and East-Hamstead And here first Envy rose up against him for having caused to be engraven on the stone of a wall in Windsor Castle these words This made William VViâkham some that envyed his rising complained to the King of this insolencie as arrogating to himselfe that excellent piece of Building to de done at his charge but VVickham called before the King about it made answer that his meaning waâ not neither by any indâfferent construction could it import that VVickham made that buiâding but that the same building made VViâkham as being a meanes of the Kings great favour towards him This answer pacified the King who tooke him daily more and more into his favour and being now entred into the Ministery was first made Parson of S. Martins in the Fields then Minister of S. Martins le Grand âfâerwards Archdeacon of Lincolne Provost of VVells and Rector of Manyhens in Devoâshire so as at one time he had in his hands so many Ecclesiasticall livings that the value of them in the Kings bookes amounted to eight hundred seventy sixe pounds thirteen shillings besides which he was honored with many Temporall places of great profit and respect as to be his principall Secretary Keeper of the Privy Seale Master of the Wards and Liveries Treasurer of the Kings Revenues in France and some other Offices After which the Bishoprick of VVinchester falling voyd meanes was made to the King to bestow that place upon him And here the ââcond time did Envy rise up against him informing the King that he was a man of little or no learning and no way sit for such a dignity whereupon the King made stay of granting it but when VVickham came before the King and âold him that what he wanted in personall learning he would supply with being a Founder of learning This so satisfied the King that he bestowed the place upon him After this he was made Lord Treasurer of England and here the third time did Envy rise up against him for the King requiring of his subjects a supply of money It was answered that he needed no other supply than to call his Treasurer to accompt This blow struck deepe upon the Bishop for he was presently charged to give accompt for eleven hundred ninety six thousand pounds and whilst he was busie in preparing his account all his Temporalties upon importunity of Iohn of Gaunt were seized into the Kings hands and given to the Prince of VVales and himselfâ upon paine of the Kings displeasure commanded not to come within twenty miles of the Court. In this case he dismisseth his traine and sendeth copies abroad of his accompt if it might be received but was hindred by the working of Iohn of Gaunt against him Upon this ground as was thought Queen Philip wife to K. Edward the Third upon her death-bed by way of Confession told VViâkham that Iohn of Gaunt was not the lawfull issue of king Edward but a supposititious Son for when she was brought to bed at Gauât of a Daughter knowing how desirous the King was to have a Son she exchanged that daughter with a Dutch woman for a Boyâ whereof she had been delivered about the same time with the Queen Thus much she confessed and
Ships to the mouth of the River of Seyne which stopped all passage of succour to Roan many policies and practices were used against the Citie but none prevailed till famine forced it for there being in Roan 210000 persons at the begining of the Siege and the Siege continuing long it grew to that extremity that the Citizens dranke no thing but vinegar and water and had little to eate but Rats and Mice Cats and dogs and such like Great numbers of the poorer sort were thrust out of the Citie who not suffered to passe the English Army miserably perished onely âpon Christmas-day in honor of Christs birth the King relieved and suffered to passe as many as were at first put out but not others that were put out the second time but suffered them to perish In this distresse a Parley is required by the Citizens who notwithstanding their misery yet stood upon such high termes that nothing was concluded only a truce for eight dayes was granted them the eight dayes ended and nothing yet agreed upon amongst themselves they crave one day longer and neither in that day could any thing be agreed on then they crave four dayes more in which the multitude and common people so pressed the Magistrates and Governours of the Citie that on the fourth day being about the nineteenth of Ianuary the Citie was surrendred and the Inhabitants themselves and all their goods were yielded to the Kings mercy the Duke of Exeter was appointed to take possession who accordingly entred with his Souldiers The next day after being Friday the twentieth of Ianuary the King himselfe made his entry with four Dukes ten Earles eight Bishops sixteen Barons and others and was by the Clergie conducted to our Lady Church where after publique thanksgiving he tooke Homage and fealty of the Burgesses and Inhabitants making Proclamation that all that would come and acknowledge him to be their Soveraigne should enjoy the benefit of his Protection and retaine their possessions whereupon many came in and many Townes were surrendred In this time of the Kings lying at Roan the Earle of Salisbury tooke in Hunflew Munster de Villiers Ewe and Newcastle the Duke of Clarence tooke Vernon and Naunt and the Earle of Warwicke la Roche Guyon And now the Duke of Burgundie seeing the great successes of King Henry could thinke of no better way for his own safety then to make a reconciliation betweene the two Kings to which end Ambassadors are sent to procure their meeting at which time King Henry for their service already performed and in hope of more hereâfter made the valiant Gascoigne Captaine le Beuff Earle of Longuevyle Sir Iohn Graâ Earle of Tânkevyle and the Lord Boârchâer Earle of Eââ Upon the lâst of Mây King Henry accompanied with the Dukes of Clarence Glocester and Exeter his Uncle Beaufort the Bishop of Winchester with the Earles of March and Salisbâry and a thousand men at Armes entred the place appointed for the meeting of the two Kings The French Queene her Husband being taken with hiâ ãâã with the Duke of Burgâigne and the Earle of St. Paul and a company of Ladiesâ amongst whom as a bait to entangle the Kings affection was the kings Dâughter the beautifull Lady Katherine with whose sight though the King was marvellously taken yet he made no shew thereof till other things should be agreed upon but the Dolphin having made means to the Duke of Burgoigne to hinder all agreement nothing was effected whereupon at their parting the King told the Duke that he would have both the Lady and all his other Demands or else drive the King of France out of his kingdome and him out of his Dukedome Upon thiâ the Duke thought it best to agree with the Dolphin and upon the sixth of Iuly Articles of their reconcilement are signed and sealed In the meane time the Eaâle of Longââvyle surprized the Towne of Ponthoyse but had scarce beene able to make good the surprize if the Duke of Clarence had not coâe to his âucââur ãâã thence the Duke marched to Paris and there stayed two dayes but peâceiviââ no shew of sallye to be made he returned to Ponthâyse whither the King himselfe came and from thence marching on tooke in the Castle of Vanyon Villeirs and on the last of August the Castles of Gysors and Galyard and Dumall so that now all Normandy Mouât St. Michael only excepted was reduced to the possession of the King of England which had beene wrongfully detained from him ever since the yeare 1207. The Dolphin all this while though having outwardly made a reconcilement with the Duke of Burgoigne yet inwardly bearing a spleene against him intended nothing so much as his destruction which to eââect he procured a meeting betweene the Duke and him and all the Peers of the Realm at Mountstrew where the Duke though humbling himselfe in reverence to the Dolphin on his knee was most barbarously murthered which act was so much the lesse to be pitied in the Duke by how much he in the like kinde upon the like enterview had caused Lewis the Duke of Orleance to be murthered But though this barbarous act might justly incensâ Philip Earle of Carolois the Duke of Burgoigâes heire to seeke revenge yet as a wise and and politicke Prince he forbore for the present to make shew of choller or distemperature and considering with himselfe that difference betweene the Dolphin and him would but give King Heâry the greater advantage he endeavoured to propose an overture of peace betweene the two Kings And to that end Ambassadors are sent from the King of France and the yong Duke of Burgoigââ whom the King kindly entertained but seemed to intimate unto them that hee could give no great credit to their propositions unlesse the Lady Katherine would joyne in them whose innocence he knew would never abuse him Whilest these things are in agitation the Earle of Salisbury tooke in Fresâây and the Earls Marshall and Huntington entred into Mayn who approaching Ments were encountred by the forces of the Dolphin whereof they slew five thousand and tooke two hundred prisoners for which newes being brought to Roan whither King Henry was come to solemnize the Feast of Christs Birth thanksgiving to God were publickly made and in the instant thereof arrived other Ambassadors from the King and Queene of France and a letter from the Lady Katherine to King Henry was secretly by the Bishop of Arrâs delivered The conclusion of all was that the king of England should speed himselfe to Troyes there to be Espoused to the Lady Kaâherine and to have assurance of the Crowne of France after the decease of the present king Charles Whereupon with a Guard of fifteen thousand choice Souldiers accompanied with the Duke of Clareâce and Glocester the Earls of Warwicke Salisbury Huntington Loâgâevile Tankervile and Ewe the king of England came to Troyes in Champaign upon the eighteenth day of May where he was met by the Duke of Burgoignâ and
thousand men at Arms and foure and twenty thousand Archers whom about the middle of May he followeth himselfe and safâly aâriving at Câlliâ hasted to relieve Charters which the Dolphin with seven thousand men had besieged but hearing of the kings comming was retired to Tours The king of Scots with the Duke of Glocester about the eighth of Iuly besieged Dreux which agreed if it were not relieved by the twentieth of that moneth then to surrender it no reliefe comming it was surrendred The king pursuâd the Dolphin from place to place but could not overtake him but in the way surprized the Towne of Bâwgââcy where all that craved it he âooke to mercy as likewise he did at Roâgemoât from thence he went to Orleance and from thence to Vigneâ St. Toâ and from thence to Paris where having fitted himselfe with supplies he went and sate downe before Menixe in Brye which after some opposition he also tooke and thereby had possession of all the Fortresses in the Isle of France in ãâã in ârye and in Champaigne Upon St. Nicholas day in the yeare 1422 Queen Katherine was brought to bed of a Son at Windsor who was by the Duke of Bedford and Henry Bishop of Winchester and the Countesse of Holland Christned by the name of Henry whereof when the king had notice out of a Propheticke rapture he sayd Good Lord I Henry of Monmouth shall small time Reigne and much get and Henry borne at Windsor shall long time Reigne and lose all but Gods will be done About this time the Dolphin layd siege to Cosney which the king was intentive to relieve as being a Town of the Duke of Burgoignes and therefore tendredit more than if it had beene hiâ owne and making over-hasty journeys he over-heat himselfe with travell and comming to Sââlys found himselfe so ill at ease that he was forced to remaine there and to send his brother the Duke of Bedford to prosecute his designe which the Duke performed and the Dolphin upon his approach retired into Berry whereof in mockage he was after called the king of Berry But the kings Feaver and flââ increasing he was removed to Boys de Vincens where growing worse and worse within a few dayes he dyed But somewhat before his departure he had made his Brother the Duke of Bedford Lievetenant Generall of Norâââdy and Regent of the kingdome of France and his Brother the Duke of Glocester he had made Protector of England and of his Sons Person Exhorting all to be true and faithfull to the Duke of âurgoâgâe to be at unitie amongst themselves to be loyall to their young Prince to be serviceable to his dearly beloved Queene to hold aâd preserve what he by his valour and Gods assistance had wonne and never to conclude contract of amitie with the Dolphin or Duke of Alanson untill they had submitted themselves to the kings Gracâ And so giving God thanks for all his favors and blessings bestowed upon him in the midst of saying a Psalme of David he departed this life who might justly have prayed God with David Take me âot away in the midst of my dayes for he dyed about the age of five or six and thirty years which in Davids account is the midst of the number of the dayes of mans life but though he dyed in the midst of his dayes yet he dyed in the fulnesse of his Glory and of whom it may he said Iamque arce potitus Ridet anhelââtes durâ ad fastigââ montis When he had Reigned nine yeares and five moneths Of his Taxations IN his first yeere an incredible sum of money was given him by the Clergy to diâert him from a motion propounded to take away their Temporalties And in the same yeere a Subsidie was granted him both by the Clergy and the Laity In his fourth yeere was granted him towards his warres in France two whole Tenths of the Clergy and a fifteenth of the Laity which being farre too short to defray his great charge he was forced to pawne his Crowne to the Bishop of Beauford his Uncle for a great sum of money as also certain Jewels to the Lord Major of London for ten thousand markes In his ninth yeere in a Parliament at Weââminster for revenge of the Duke of Clarence death two tenths of the Clergy and one fifteenth by the Laity which because the haste of the businesse could not stay the usuall course of collection the Bishop of Winchester brought in presently twenty thousand pounds to receive it againe when the Subsidie should be gathered The same yeere also the Duke of Bedford in the kings absence called a Parliament wherein was granted towards his warres one fifteenth to be paid in such money as was at that time current These are all the Subsidies that were given him notwithstanding his many and great atchievements by which it appeares what great matters a moderate Prince may doe and yet not grieve his subjects with Taxations Of Lawes and Ordinances made by him or in his âime HE ordained the king of Heralds over the English which is called Gârter In his ninth yeare in a Parliament holden at Westminster It was ordained that no man should offer Gold in payment unlesse it were weight and thereupon were appointed ballances and weights An act made in the thirteenth yeare of king Richard the Second which disabled the Alien Religious to enjoy any Bânefices within England was in the beginning of this kings Reigne put in execution and further this king excluded also the French from all preferments Ecclesiasticall and those Priors Aliens Conventuall who had institution and induction were bound to put in security not to disclose or cause to be disclosed the Counsell and secreâs of the Realme Affaires of the Church in his tiâe IN the beginning of his Reigne the Wickliffs increased greatly of whom Sir Iohn Oldcastle was a Chiefe who by mariage of a kinswoman of the Lord Cobhamâ of Cââling in Kent obtained that Title This knight being very valorous and in great favour with the king was in a Synod at London accused for maintaining of Wickliffâ doctrine whereof the king being informed sent for him and instantly dealt with him to submit himselfe to the censure of the Church But Sir Iohn Oldcastle told the King that he owed his subjection onely to his Majestie and as for others he would stand for the truth against them to the uttermost of his life Upon this he was served by Processe to appeare in the Archbishops Court and not appeaâing was condemned of Contumacy and afterwards in a Synod at Rochester was by the Archbishop pronounced to be an Heretick who then enacted that Decree That the Holy Scriptures ought not to be translated into the English tongue But marke the judgement that fell upon his owne tongue whoâe rootes and blade shortly after as is recorded grew so bigge in his mouth and throat that he could neither speake nor swallow downe meat but in horrour lay languishing till at last
King and by him to his Councell who being most of the Clergie durst not meddle in them for offending âhe Cardinall On the other side the Cardinall finding nothing whereof directly to accuse the Duke of Glocester himselfe accuseth his or her selfe the Lady Cothamâhe âhe Dukes wife of Treason for attempting by sorcery and witchcraft the death of the King and advancement of her husband to the Crown for which though acquiâed of the Treason she is adjudged to open Penance namely to goe with a wax taper in her hand hoodlesse save a kerchiffe through London divers dayes together and after to remaine in perpetuall imprisonment in the Isle of Man The crime objected against her was procuring Thomas Southwell Iohn Hunne Priests Roger Bollingbrockâ a supposed Necromancer and Margery Iourdan called the Witch of Eye in Suffolkeâ to devise a picture of waxe in proportion of the king in such sort by sorcery that as the picture consumed so the kings body should consume for which they were all condemned the witch was burnt in Smithfield Bollingbrooke was hanged constantly affirming upon his death that neither the Dutchesse nor any other from her did ever require more of him than onely to know by his art how long the king should live Iohn Hunne had his pardon and Southwell dyed the night before he shouâd have been executed About this time the Countesse of Cominges being dead the king of France and the Earle of Arminiack are Competitors for the Inheritance The Earle takes possession but fearing the King of France his greatnesse makes offer of his daughter in mariage to the King of England with a large portion in money and besides to deliver full possession of all such Townes and Castles as were by him or his Ancestors detained in Aquitaine and had been formerly by the Progenitors of the King of England conquered The Ambassadors for this businesse were by King Henry graciously heard and honorably returned after whom were sent Sir Edward Hall Sir Robert Rose and others to conclude all things and the young Lady is by Proxy affianced to king Henry But the king of France not liking the proceeding of the match sendeâh the Dolphin with a puissant Army who tooke the Earle with his youngest sonne and both his daughters aud gained the Counties of Arminiack Louverne Rouergue Moulessenois with the Cities of Severâe and Cadeack chasing the Bastard of Arminiack out of âhe Country by meanes whereof the mariage was then deferred and left in suspense In this distraction of Christendome many Princes the kings of Spaine Denmark and Hungary became Mediators for a Peace between the two kings of France and England Ambassadors of both sides are sent many meetings were had many motions made but in conclusion onely a Truce for eighteen moneths is agreed upon In the meane time the Earle of Suffolk one of the Commissioners for the Peace takes upon him beyond his Commssion and without acquainting his fellowes to treat of a mariage between the king of England and a kinswoman of the king of France Neece to the French Queene daughter to Raynâr Duke of Anjou stiling himâelfe king of Sicilie and Naples In which businesse he was so intentive that it brought an aspersion upon him of being bribed but howsoever an Enterview betwixt the two kings is appointed without any warrant of king Henries part to be between Charterâ and Roan The Commissioners returne the Earle of Suffolk sets forth the beauty of the proposed Bride and the great benefits that would redound to the kingdome by this match The king was easily induced to credit the relation but divers of the kings Councell especially the Duke of Glocester opposed it partly for the meannesse of the match her father being onely a Titular Prince and withall but poore unable to give any portion at all and partly for the wrong which should hereby be offered to the Duke of Arminiacks daughter to whom the king had been in solemne manner publickly affianced But Reasons could not prevaile against favour the Earle of Suffolks affirmation must not be undervalued And hereupon a new creation of Lords first made Iohn Beaufort Earle of Somerset made Duke of Somerset Iohn Lord Talbot made Earle of Shrewsbury Iohn Holland Earle of Huntington made Duke of Exeter Humfry Earle of Stafford made Duke of Buckingham Henry ãâã Earle of Warwick made Duke of Warwick Edmund Beaufoât Earle of Dorset made Marquesse Dorset and William de la Poole Earle of Suffolke made Marquesse of Suffolke this new Marquesse honorably accompanied is sent into Fraâce to fetch the Lady Margaret the proposed Bride who shortly after is maried at Southwick in Hampshire and crowned Queen of England at Westminster on the 30 day of May 1444 in the three and twentieth yeare of king Henries Reigne And now in stead of benefits by this mariage there presently followed great inconveniences for first in exchange of her person the Dutchy of Anjou the City of ãâã with the whole County of Mayne the best props of the Dutchy of Normandy are agreed to be surrendred into the hands of the French and then the Duke of Arminiack to revenge the injury offred to his daughter is a meanes to expell the English âut of all Aquitaine At this time the Duke of Somersets spleen against the Duke of Yorke not onely is revived but is growne stronger for the Duke of Yorke who was now after the death of the Earle of Warwick made the second time Regent of France is so undermined by him through assistance of the new Marquesse of Suffolke who bore now all the sway with the King and Queen that not onely he supplanted him in his place but planted himselfe in it to the great heart-burning of the Duke of York and his friends but he wisely dissembled his anger and for the present passed it oveâ And now is no man in grace but the new Marquesse of Suffolk all favours from the King and Queene must passe by him and the extent of his power over-râacheth all the Councell He gets of the King the wardship of the body and lands of the Countesse of Warwick and of the Lady Margaret sole daughter and heire of Iohn Duke of Somerset afterward mother to king Henry the seventh And now the kings weaknesse in judgement growes every day more apparent then other whil'st governed by no counsell but of his Queen and she by no counsell but her owne will and the new Marquesse of Suffolke King Henry is himself the least part of the king and serves but to countenance the devices of others whereof he little understands the drifts and which proving ill the blame must be his if well the benefit and honour others For by instigation of the Queene he suffers the Duke of Glocester for his care of the Common-wealth called the good Duke to be excluded not onely from Command but from the Counsell-Table and permits Informers sât on by the Marquesse of Suffolke the Duke of Buckingham the Cardinall Bishop of
by him are all the counsells of the Duke of Yorke discovered which so much discouraged him that he with his young Son the Earle of Rutland fled first into Wales and then into Ireland The Earles of March Salisbury and Warwicke got into Devonshire where by the means of Iohn Dynhâm Esquire the same man that afterward by king Henry the Seventh was made Lord Treasurer of England they were shipt from Exmouth to Gernsey and so to Callis All the common souldiers the king Pardons onely makes exemplary punishment of some few Captains sends the Dutchesse of Yorke and her two younger children to the Dutchesse of Buckingham her Sister to be âafely kept and then having spoiled the Town and Castle of Ludlow he dismist his Armie And now a Parliament is called at Coventry wherein the Duke of Yorke Edward Earle of March his Son Richard Earle of Richardâarle âarle of Warwickeâ Iohn Lord Clifford and many other the confederates of the Duke of York are convict of Treason and all their lands and goods seized on to the kings use Henry D. of Somerset by the Queens means is made Captain of Callis whither comming to take possession he was by reason of Ordnance shot at him from Rice-banke forced to Retire which the Queen hearing was so incensed that in great passion she gave order to make ready all the kings Ships lying at Sandwich to give assistance to the Duke of Somerset but the forementioned Iohn Dynham out of love to the Earle of March boorded those ships in the harbour and tooke the Lord Rivers designed Admirall for that service and carried both him and the Ships to Callice from whence the Earle sayled to Ireland to the Duke of Yorke who having conferred and concluded what course to take he returned to Callice the new Admirall the Duke of Exeter not daring to stop his course Sir Simon Montford was appointed âo guard the Cinque Ports having divers ships under his command to barre the Earle of Warwickâs entrance but the Earle by his espyalls having perfect intelligence of all passages fell sodainly upon Sir Simon before his ships were ready tooke him prisoner ransackt the Town of Sandwich carried his prisoner and the ships to Callice By the way he understood how much the kentishmen desired his return and longed for his comming whereupon he came the second time to Sandwich to whom presently resorted the Lord Cobham and very many Gentlemen of the Country so as now his army was five and twenty thousand strong with which he marched towards London against whom the Lord Scales was appointed to goe and with some convenient troopes to assure London but the Major directly refused to admit him whereupon he resorted to the Tower from whence afterwards he did the Londoners no small displeasure The Earle of Warwick having notice that his father the Earle of Salisbury was upon march to meet him passeth over his men and without impeachment joyned with him and his friends neer Exeter The King with the Dukes of Somerset and Buckingham with a great Army marcheth towards them and neer to the Town of Northampton both Armies meet The Earle of March with the advice of the Earle of Warwick prepares for the fight The Queen the King more intentive to devotion then fighting did the like the fight continued about two houres wherein were slaine of both sides above âen thousand men but upon the fall of Humfry Duke of Buckingham the Kings side was discomfited and Iohn Talbot Earle of Shrewsbury Thomas L. Egremont Iohn L. Beaumont and some other of account were slaine The Queen with the Duke of Somersât taking with them the young Prince fled to the Bishoprick of Durham The King himselfe was taken and as a prisoner conveyed to London where the Tower is yeelded to the Earle of Warwick The Lord Scales in disguised apparell endeavouring to escape is taken by the water-men and by them beheaded and his Corpes carelesly left upon the sands Thomas Thorpe one of the Barons of the Exchequer in the habit of a Monke his Crown shorne purposing to flie to the Queen is taken and committed prisoner to the Tower and after by the Commons beheaded at Highgate The Duke of Yorke being advertised of this good successe leaveth Ireland and posts to London where in the kings name he summoneth a Parliament which being assembled he in the presence of the Lords in the upper House placeth himselfe in the Imperiall Seate and with great boldnesse layes open his rightfull claime to the Crowne of England as being the Sonne and heire of Anne daughter and heire of Roger Mortimer Earle of March Sonne and heire of Philip the sole daughter and heire of Lyonel Duke of Clarence the third sonne of Edward the third and elder brother of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Father of the usurper Henry the Fourth Grandfather to Henry the Fifth who was Father to him that at this time untruly stileth himselfe king Henry the sixth And after relating the many miseries that had befallen the Realme since the time of this Usurpation he concluded that he would not expect nor desire possession of the Crown except his discent were undisputable and his title without exception This being a businesse of importance required deliberation but in conclusion the Duke having before hand prepared the Lords Spirituall and few of the Nobility being present that were not of his part the Burgesses were easily perswaded and it was generally resolved and enacted accordingly that king Henry during his life should reteine the name and honour of a king that the Duke of Yorke should be Proclaimed heire apparent to the Crown and Protectour of the kings Person his lands and dominions and that if at any time any of king Henries friends allies or favourites in his behalfe should attempt the disaââlling of this Act that then the Duke should have present possession of the Crown It is not unworthy the noting that while the Earle of March was declaring his title in the upper house it happened in the nether house that a Crowne which hung in the middle of the house to garnish a branch to set lights upon without touch or winde fell suddenly down as likewise at the same time fell down the Crown which stood on the top of Dover Castle a signe as some thought that the Crowne of the Realme should be changed Assoone as the Parliament was dissolved the Duke dispatcheth letters into Scotland requiring in the kings name the Queen the Dukes of Somerset and Exeter and all other of the Nobility that remained in that kingdome with all speed to repaire to his presence in London but they had other worke in hand for having goten together of English and Scots to the number of eighteen thousand they came maâching into Englandâ against whom went the Duke of Yorke with his younger sonne the Earle of Rutland and the Earle of Salisbury leaving the king in the custody of the Duke of Norfolke and the Earle of Warwick and
and heire Sir Humfry Boârchier sonne and heire to the Lord Berners and divers other knights and gentlemen On the Earls part were slaine the Earle himselfe the Marquâssâ Montacute and three and twenty knights of whom Sir William Tyrrell was one The Duke of Somerset and the Earle of Oxford fled into VVales to Iasper Earle of Pembroâke The Duke of Exceter being strucken down and so wounded that he was left for dead amongst other the dead bodies because he was not kâown but comming to himselfe he got up and escaped to VVestminster and there took Sanctuary The dead bodies of the Earle and Marquesse were brought to London in a Coffin and by the space of three dayes lay open-faced in the Cathedrall Church of St. Paul and then buried with their Ancestours in the Priory of Bissam This Earle of VVarwick was Richard Nevill sonne and heire of Richard Nevill Earle of Salisbury who married the daughter of Richard Beauchamp the sixth Earle of Warwick and in her right was Earle of Warwick in his own of Saliâbury he was also Lord Monthermer great Chamberlaine and high Admirall of England Lord Warden of the North Marches towards Scotland and high Steward of the Dutchy of Laâcaster he had issue two Daughters Isabell married to George Duke of Clarence and Annâ âârst married to Prince Edward king Henry the sixths Sonne and after to Richard Duke of Glocester Wee may here observe a Constellation of disastrous influences concurring all to the overthrow of this great Warwicke whereof if any one had been missing the wheele of his fortune had perhaps not turned For if the City of Yorke had not too credulously believed king Edwards Oath not to dâsturbe king Henry or if the Marquesse Moâtacute had stopped as he might his passage at Pomfret or if the Duke of Clarence had not at the very point of the battell at St. Albans deserted his party and joyned with king Edwardsâ or if Quâen Margaret had not by tempest been kept from comming into Eâglaâd in time or if the Londoners had not been retrograde and deceived his expectation he had never perhaps been overthrown as he was But Fata viam invenient destiny will finde waies that were never thought of will make way where it findes none and that which is ordained in heaven shall be effected by means of which Earth can take no notice Queen Margaret when it was too late accompanied with Iohn Longstrother Prior of Saint Iohns and the Lord Wenlock with divers Knights and Esquires tooke shipping at Harflew the foure and twentieth of March but by tempest was kept back till the thirteenth of April and then with her sonne Prince Edward shee landed at Weymouth and from thence went to an Abby hard by called Ceern and then to Bewly in Hampshire whither there came unto her Edmund Duke of Somerset and Thomas Courtney Earle of Devonshire with divers others amongst whom it is resolved once more to try their fortune in the field but then the Queen would have had her sonne Prince Edward to be sent into France there to remaine in safety till the next battell were tryed but they being of a contrary minde and specially the Duke of Somerset shee at length consented though afterward she repented it From Bewly she with her sonne and the Earle of Somerset passeth on to Bristow intending with what power they could raise in Glocestershire to march into Wales to joyn with Iâsper Earle of Pembrooke who was there making preparation of more forces King Eâward hearing of these things resolves to crosse this Conjunction and followes Queen Margaret with a great Power so close that neere Tewkesbury in Glocestershire he overtakes her forces who resolutely turn and make head against him where Somerset on the Queens part leading the Vaunt-guard performed the part of a valiant Commander but finding his souldiers throâgh wearines begin to faint and that the Lord Wenlock who had the conduct of the battaile on the Queens part moved no the rode unto him and upbrayding him with cowardise or treachery never staid but with his Pollaxe beat out his brains and now before he could bring in his men to the rescue their Vaward was routed and Iohn Earle of Devonshire with above three thousand of the Queens part were slaine The Queen her selfe Iohn Beaufort the Duke of Somersets brother the Prior of Saint Iohns Sir Gervis Clifton and divers others were taken prisoners all which except the Queen were the next day beheaded At which time Sir Richard Crofts presented to king Edward king Henries Son Edward whom he had taken prisoner to whom king Edward at first shewed no uncourteous countenance but demanding of him how he durst so presumptuously enter into his Realm with Arms and he answering though truly yet unseasonably To recover my Fathers Kingdome and Heritage King Edward with his hand thrust him from him or as some say strooke him with his Gantlet and then presently George Duke of Clarence Richard Duke of Glocester Thomas Grey Marquesse Dorset and William Lord Hastings standing by fell upon him in the placâ and murdred him His body was homely interred with other ordinary Corpses in the Church of the Monastery of the Black-fryers in Tewkesbury After the Victory thus obtained king Edward repaired to the Abbey Church of Tewkesbury to give God thankes for his good successe and finding there a great number of his enemies that were fled thither to save themselves he gave them all free Pardon onely Edmuud Duke of Somerset ãâã Longstrother Pryor of Saint Iohns Sir Thomas Tressham Sir Gerviâ Clifton and divers other Knights and Esquires who were apprehended there and brought before the Duke of Glocester sitting that day as Constable of England and the Duke of Norfolk as Marshall were all arraigned condemned and judged to Dye and accordingly upon the Tuesday being the seventh of May they were all and twelve other knights more on a Scaffold set up in the middle of the Town beheaded but not dismembredâ and permitted to be buried The same day Queen Margaret was found in a poore house of Religion not farre from thence into which she was fled for safeguard of her life but she was after brought to London and there kept a Prisoner till her Father ransomed her with great summes of money This was the last pitcht battell that was fought in England in king Edward the fourths dayes which happened on the fourth of May being Saturday in the Eleventh yeere of his reigne and in the yeere of our Lord 1471. King Edward being assured that as long as any partakers of king Henry lived and were at liberty he should never be free from plots against his life sent Roger Vaughaâ a Gentleman much reckoned of in his own Country to entrape Iasper Earle of Pembrooke who had escaped from the last encounter but he having notice of the plot before prevented it by striking off Vaughans head After these great Clouds were thus dispersed there arose a little Cloud which gave the
from Dover to the end he might not seem to surprize him he sent an Herauld named Garter a Norman by birth with a letter of Defiance to the French king so well written saith Coââââs that he thought it not of any English mans enditing as though Englishmen could not endite aswell as the French Requiring him to yeeld unto him the Crown of Fâââce his unquestionable Inheritance which if he should dare to deny âe ãâã then endeavor to recover it by the Sword This letter the French king read thereupon withdrawing himselfe caused the Herauld to be brought to his presenceâ to whom in private he gave this answer That the Duke of Burgoigne and the Earle of Saint Paul the Constable by whose instigation he knew the king of Eâgland was drawn to this Designe would but delude him for that they were Dissemblerâând Impostors and therfore said It would conduce more to the honor of the king of ãâã to continue in League with him though an old Adversary then to hazard thâ fortune of the warres upon the promised assistance of new-come Decâiversâând so commend me saith he to the king thy Master and say what I have told âheâ and then with an honourable reward of three hundred Crowns dismist him The Herauld promised to doe all that in him lay and beyond his Commission shewâd the French king wayes by working upon the Lords Howard and Stanley by which he might enter into a Treaty for Peace which he doubted not would sort to a good Conclusion The French king glad to heâr it gave the Herauld besides the other reward â piece of Crimson Velvet of thirty yards long and withall sent to king Eâward the goodliest Horse he had in his Stable as also an Aââe a Wolph and a wildââore beaâts at that time rare in England and then the Herauld returning to Callice delivered to king Edward the French kings ânswer And now to make good the French kings aââegation to the Herauld the Duke oâ Burgoigne who had promised in the word of a Prince to bring to Callice by this time two thousand Launces and foure thousand Seradiots or âight hoâse failed to come whereupon the Lord Scales is by king Eâward sent to the Dâke to put him in minde of his promise and to haâten his comming with his promised forces But the journey was to little purpose onely it occasioned the Duke with a small âroop of horse to come to âhe king formally to excuse himselfe for having been so backward but the cause he said was for that having been imbroiled in the siege of Nâz he could not depart thence without infinite disgrace if neither composition nor submission were enforced which now notwithstândingâ because he would not too much trespasse upon his patâence he was enforced to doe by the obâtânacy of the besieged but promised to supply all defects both with his presence and power and that speedily The Constable likewise by his letter perswades the king of England to proceede in the action and not to doubt both from the Duke and himself to be sufficiently every way accommodated King Edward thus encouraged passeth on but in his way found no performance of promises either on the Dukes or Constables part for the Duke did not accommodate the souldiers at their comming to Peroâââ with victuals or lodging in such manner as was requisite and expected and the Constable in stead of surrendring up Sainâ ãâã according to agreement made a saâly out upon such as were sent from the king of Eâglaâd to take possession and plaid upon them with his great Ordinance whereupon k. Edâard began to suspect the truth of the French k. description of the Dukes and Constables conditions and from thence forward stood upon his own guard and gave no further credit to their Protestation which the Duke of Burgoigâe resenting pretended occasions for the hasting forward his forcesâ promising speedy return together with them taketh his leave and departeth which did not a little increaâe the kings suspition The French king having intelligence of the Duke of Burgoignes departure forecasting the danger if they should unite their forces resolved with himselfe to ãâã what might be done to mediate a Peace in the Dukes absence and yet so to ãâã that if it took not effect he might disclaime the knowledge of the overture whereupon he privately dispatcheth a messenger in âhew an Herauld but was indeedâ fellow of no oââice or estimation and not known to any of the Kings household but to Villiers the Master of the Horse who only was acquainted with the plot and party This counterfeit Pursuivant at Armâ with a coate made of a Trumpets Banneâtowle addressed himselfe to the king of Eâglaâd and upon admission to his pesence insinuates the French Kings desire which was to have Commissioners on both parts assigned to conferre of the means to reconcile the differences between the two Kings or at least to conclude a cessation from arms foâ some time And so well this Messenger delivered his errand that it was credited and the kings request grantâd and thereupon letters of safe conduct are sent of both sides for such Commissioners as to this purpose should meet at Aâyeâs For king Edward came the Lord Hoâââd Sir Aâthoây Seâtleger and Doctor Morâon after made Lord Chancelour of Eâglaâd For king Lewis came the Admirall of France the Lord Saint Piers and Hebergââshop ââshop of Eâreux After long Conference Articles of Peace were concluded on âo this effect That the French king should pay presently to the king of Eâglaâd threescore and fifteen thousand Crowns and from thence forth annually fifty thousând Crowns during the life of king Edward That within one yeare the French king should send for the Lady ãâã the king of Englands daughter and joyn her in marriage to the Dolphin That the Lord Howârd and Sir Iohn Cheyney Master of the Horse should remaine in hostage there till the English army had quitted France and â generall peace for nine yeerâ wherein the Dukes of Burgoigne and Brittâââe are ââcluded if they will accept thereof This Conclusion was the more easily compassed by the king of France his following the Herauldâ Counsell foâ he distributed sixteen thousand Crowns amongst king Edwards Counsellours and Favorites two thousand Crowns to the Lord Hastings the kings Chamberlaine and to the Lord ãâã Sir Iohn Cheynây Sir Anthony Sentleger and Moââgomery the residue besides great store of Plate and Jewels distributed amongst inferiour Officers of the Court The Duke of Glocester onely opposed this accord as not suiting with his designe Neverthelesse it proceeded and notâce thereof is presently sent to the Duke of ãâã who thereupon onely with fifteen horse comes posting to the English Campe whom king Edward perswades to enter into the peace according to the reservation but he in a great chafe reproacheth king Edward for entring into it himselfe saying that his predecessours had by many brave exploits gotten fame and repâtation upon the French and now
he had brought his souldiers onely to shew them the Country and returne as they came adding withall that to make it appeââe he was able without helpe of the English to subsist of himselfeâ he utterly disclââmed any benefit by that Truce untill three months after the English were reâââned to their own Country and so in a great snuffe returned home For the better Confirmation of what waâ agreed upon between the two kings an ãâã is desired but before the same is eââectuaâed the French king sends to the Engââsh army an hundred Tonne of Gascoigne wine to be drunke out amongst the privââe âouldiers and therewithall free licence for Commanders and Gentlemen to recreate themselves in Amyeâs where they were lovingly entertained by the Burgers of the Town by the kings expresse command The place of enterview of these two ãâã is agreed on to be at Picquency a Town three miles distant from Amâeâs seated in ââottome through which the river of Some runneth over which a strong bridge was buâât and in the midst thereof a graâe made overthwart with âartes no wider ãâã than a man might well thrust in his arme covered with boardes overheadâ to avoid the rainâfoure of the Bed-chamber on both sides are appointed to search the roomâ to prevent traps of instrumenââ of treachery and being by them certified that âll as was cleere the kings advance themselves King Edward being come in sight of the place made a stand being told that the circumstance of comming fârât to thâ place was a matter of great disparagement in point of State but the French king âoâe regarding substânce then circumstance gave the king of England the advanââââ to come at hiâ pleasure and went first to the barre appointed for conference ãâã theâe did attend king Edwards leasure He had in his Company Iohn Duke of ãâã with his brother the Cardinall and eight hundred mân at Arms. King Edââââ hâd with him his brother the Duke of Clarence the Earle of Northumberland âhe Lords Chamberlaine and Chancellour and at his backe his whole Army in bâtâeââ The kings lovingly salute each other and complements of courtesie reâipro ãâ¦ã which finished They with their Noblemen there present take all âheir ãâã upon the holy Evangelists in all to their âower to observe the Articles oâ ãâã agreâd on After which In private the French king imporâuâes king Edââââ that the Duke of Brittaine might be left out of these Articles but after much ãâã to that purpose king Edward gave his resolute answerâ that if king Lewis ãâã the frendship of Englând he should not molest the Duke of Brittaineâ for âhat he was resolved at any time to come in person to relieve himâ if he were distuââed King Edward pretended the many kindnesse he had formeâly recâived of the Duke of Brittaine but it was conceived that the desire of compassing the Eaâles oâ ãâã and Pembrooke now in the Duke of Brittaines Country were the greatest ãâã of his standing âo âirmely for him The money to be payd to king Edâârd ãâã the Articles is accordingly payd and thereupon the French Hostages are delivered and the Englisâ Army reââres to Callice and from thencâ is transported into ãâã and then the English Hostages are likewise delivered This Peace was ãâã âo be made only by the holy Ghost because on the day of meeâing a white Dove came and sate upon the king of Englands Tent though the Dukes of Glocester and Burgoigâe thought it was made by no good spirit King Edward being returned into England had his minde running still upon the dangeâ that might grow from the Earle of Richmond he therefore dispatched D. Stillington and two other his Ambassadors to the Duke of Briâaine to send him over to him under this subtle pretence that he meant to match him in mariage with the Lady Cicillâ his younger daughter and withall sent also no small store of Angels to speake for him which so prevailed with the Duke that he delivered the Earle oâ Richmond to the Ambassadors who conducted him thence to Saint Maloâ where whil'st they stayed for a winde the young Earle by the cunning plotting of Peter Landoiâ the Dukes Treasurer more out of scorne that he was not gratified by the English Ambassadour to the proportion of his place than for any love to the Earle escapes into Sanctuary from whence neither prayers nor promises could get him cut Neverthelesse upon Peter Landois his promise he should be safely kept there the Ambassadors departed and returned home acquainted K. Edward with the Duke of Bââgoigââs courtesie in delivering him and their own negligence in suffering him to escape onely making amends with the promise of Peter Landois which might be to K. Edward some contentment but was no satisfaction At Christmas following being the sixteenth yeere of his Reigne he created his eldest sonne Edward Prince of Wales Duke of Corâwall and Earle of Chester his second sonne he made Duke of Yorke giving the order of knighthood to the sonne and heire of the Earle of Liâcolâe and many others He created also foure and twenty knights of the Bath whereof Brian Chiefe Justice and Littleton a Judge of the Common Pleas were two About this time there were two examples of severity seene not unworthy the relating if but onely to make us see how dangerous a thing it is Ludere cum sanctiâ to speake words that may be taken as reflecting upon the king The first was of one Walter Walker a wealthy Citizen dwelling at the signe of the Crown in Cheapside This man one day when his childe cryed bid him be quiet and he would make him heire of the Crowne which words being subject to interpretation he was called in question about them arraigned condemned and put to death The other was of Thomas Burdet of Arrow in Warwickeshire Esquire It happened that K. Edward hunted in his Parke he being from home and there killed a white Buck whereof Mr. Burdeâ made speciall account so as comming home and finding that Buck killed he wished it hornes and all in his belly that had counselled the king to kill it and because none counselled the King to kill it but himselfe it was thought those words were not spoken without a malignant reflecting upon the King and thereupon Burdet was arraigned and condemned drawne to Tiburne and there beheaded though Mârkhââ then Chiefe Justice chose rather to lose his place than assent to the Judgement And now began ambition to boyle in Richard Duke of Glocester whereof the first heate fell upon his brother the Duke of Clarence how to rid him out of the way to which end he seeks to raise Jealousies in King Edwards head against him telling him that some of Clareâce his followers were Sorcereâs and Necromancers and had given forth speeches that one whose name begun with G. should disinherit his Children and get the Crown and for a colour of this suggestion one of the Duke of Clarââce his servants who came with him out of
of himselfe oftentimes of others He had made the White Rose to flourish as long as Henry the Fourth made the Red if he had not made it change colour with too much blood He had been fortunate in his children if he had not been unfortunate in a brother but he was well enough served that would thinke a Wolfe could ever be a good Shepheard He had an excellent art in improving his favours for he could doe as much with a small courtesie as other men with a great benefit And that which was more he could make advantage of disadvantages for he got the love of the Londoners by owing them money and the good will of the Citizens by lying with their wives Of his Death and Buriall WHether it began from his minde being extreamely troubled with the injurious dealing of âhe King of France or from his body by intemperance of dyet to which he was much given he fell into a sicknesse some say a Catarche some a Feaver but into a sicknesse whereof he dyed In the time of which sicknesse at the very point of his death Sir Thomas Moore makes him to make a speech to his Lords which I might thinke to be the speech of a sick man if it were not so sound and of a weake man if it were not so long but it seemes Sir Thomas Moore delivers rather what was fit for him to say than what he sayd the Contents being onely to exhort his Lords whom he knew to be at variance to be in love and concord amongst themselves for that the welfare of his children whom he must now leave to their care could not otherwise be preserved but by their agreement And having spoken to this purpose as much as his weaknes would suffer him he found himselfe sleepy and turning on one side he fell into his long sleep the ninth of April in the yeere 1483. when he had lived one and forty yeeres Reigned two and twenty and one moâeth and was buried at Windsor in the new Chappell whose foundation himselfe had laid Of men of Note in his time MEN of valour in his time were many but himselfe the chiefest the rest may be observed in reading his story For men of letters we may have leave at this time to speake of some strangers having been men of extraordinary fame as IohaÌnes de Monte Regiâ Purbachiuâ and Blââchinuâ all great Astronomers Ludovicus Pontanus Paulus Castrensis and Aâthonius Rossellanus all great Lawyers Servisanus Savaâarola and Barzizius all great Phisitians Bessarion and Cusanus both great Cardinalls Argyrâpole Philelphus Datus Leonardus Aretinus and Poggius all great men in humane litârature And of our own Countrimen Iohn Harding an Eâquire borne in the North parts who wrote a Chronicle in English verse and among oâher speciall points therein touched hath gathered all the Submissions and Homages made by the Scottish kings even from the dayes of King Athelstan whereby it may evideââây appeare how the Scottish kingdome even in manner from the first Establishâng thereof here in Britaine hath been appertaining unto the kings of England and holden of them as their chiefe and superiour Lords Iulian Bemes a Gentlewoman of excellent gifts who wrote certaine Treatises of Hawking and Hunting also a book of the Lâwes of Armes and knowledge pertaining to Heraâlds Iohn Forââscue a Judge and Chancellour of England who wrote divers Treatises concerning the Law and Politick Government Rochus a Charterhouse-Monk born in London who wrote divers Epigrams Walter Hânt a Carmelite Fryer who for his excellent learning was sent from the whole body of the Realme to the Generall Counsell hâldââ firââ at Ferrâra and after at Florence by Pope Eâgenius the fourth where âe amângsâ others disâuted with the Greekes iâ defence of the Order and Ceremoââes oâ the Latine Church William Caxton who wrote a Chronicle called Fructuâ Temporum and an Appendix unto Trevisa besides divers other bookes and translations Iohn Milverton a Carmelitâ Frier of Bristow and provinciall of his Order who because he defended such of his Order as preached against endowments of the Church with Temporall possessions was committed to prison in the Castle of Saint Angelâ in Rome where he continued three yeers David Morgan a Welshman who wrote of the Antiquities of Wales and a description of the Country Iohn Tiptoft a nobleman born who wrote divers Treatises but lost of his head in the yeer 1471. Robert Huggon born in Norfolk who wrote certaine vaine Prophesies Thomas Nortoâ born in Bristow an Alchymistâ Scogaââ a learned Gentleman and a Student for a time in Oxford who for his plesant wit and merry conceits was called to Court But most worthy of all to be remembred Thomas Littleton a reverend Judge of the Common Pleâs who brought a great part of the Law into a Method whicâ lay before confusedly dispersed and his book called Littletons Tenures THE REIGNE OF KING EDWARD THE FIFTH KING Edward the Fourth being dead his eldest Sonne Edwâââ scarce yet eleven yeeââ old succeeded in the kingdome but not in the Crown for he was Proclaimed king but never Crowned and indeed it may not so properly be called the Reigne of Eââââdâhe âhe fifth as the Tyranny of Richard the Third for from the time of king Edwardâ death though not in Name yet in effectâ he not onely ruled as king but raged as a Tyrant Prince Edwaââ when his Father dyed was at Ludlow in Wales where he had lived some time before the better by his presence to keep the Welsh in awe He had about him of his Mothers kindred many but Sir Anthony Woodvile the Earle Rivers his Uncle was appointed his chiefe Counsellour and directour The Duke of Glocester was at this time in the North but had word presently sent him from the Lord Hastings Lord Chamberlaine of his brother king Edwards death who acquainted him withall that by his Will he had committed the young king his Queen and other children to his care and government and thereupon putting him in minde ãâã necessary it was for him speedâly to repâirâ to London But the Duke of Gloceââer needed no spurre to set him forward who was already in a full cariere for he had long before projected in his minde how he might come to attaine the Crown and now hee thought the way was made him For as it is said the very night in which king Edward dyed one Misselbrooke long ere morning came in great haste to the house of one Potter dwelling in Red-crosse-streete without Cripplegate where he shewed unto Potter that king Edward was departed to whom Potter answered By my troth man then will my Master the Duke of Glocester be king what cause he had so to thinke is hard to say but surely it is not likely he spake it of nought And now the young king was comming up to London with a strong guard partly to make a first expression of his greatnesse and partly to oppose any disorders that might be offered But the Duke
sonne the Earle of Richmond hâve both of them Titles before mine and then I cleerly saw how I was deceived wâââeupon I determined utterly to relinquish all such fantasticall imaginations concerning the obtayning the Crown my selfeâ and found there could be no better way to settle it in a true establishment then that the Earle of Richmond very heire of the house of Lancaster should take to wife the Lady Elizabeth eldest Daughter to king Edward the very heir of the house of York that so the two Roses may be united in one now saith the Duke I have told you my very minde When the Duke had said this the Bishop was not a little glad for this was the marke he had himselfe aymed at and thereupon after some complements of extolling his device he said Since by your Graces incomparable wisdome this noble conjunction is now moved It is in the next place necessary to consider what friends we shall first make privy of this intention By my truth quoth the Duke we will begin with the Countesse of Richmond the Earles Mother who knoweth where he is either in captivity or at large in Brittaine And thus was the foundation laid of a league by these two great men by which the death of the two young Princes was fully revenged and it was not talkâ of onely but presently put in execution for now is Reynold Bray imployed by the Bishop to his Mistresse the Dutchesse of Richmond Doctor Lewis the Dutchesses Phisitian was imployed by her to the Queen Elizabeth Hugh Conway and Thomââ Râme were imployed to the Earle of Richmond to acquaint them but in most secret manner with the intended plot and to procure their promises to the propounded marriage which was no hard matter to make them all willing to their own wishes This done Instruments are imployed to draw in parties to the confederacy Bray by his credit drew in Sir Gyles Danbeây Sir Iohn Cheyney Richard Guildford Thomas Râme and others Vrswick likewise drew in Hugh Conway Thomas Colepepper Thomas Roper with some others Doctor Lewis drew in Edward Courtney and his brother Peter Bishop of Exceter It is memorable that Thomas Conway being senâ most part by Sea and Thomaâ Râme most part by Land yet came to the Eaâle of Richmond in Brittaine within the space of little more then an houre upon whose information of the plot the Earle acquaints the Duke of Brittaine with it who though by Hutton King Richards Ambassadour he had by many great offers been sollicited to detaine him in prison yet he both readily promised and really performed both his advice and ayde to the Earles proceedings In this meane time Bishop Mortoâ not without asking the Dukes leave though without obtaining it secretly in disguise gets him into his Isle of Ely and there having done the Earle good Offices by procuring of friends he thence passeth into Brittaine to him from whence he returned no more till afterward the Earle being king sent for him home and made him Archbishop of Canterbury But though all these things were carried closely and Oath taken by all for secresie yet came it to King Richards knowledge who notwithstanding dissembling it sends for the Duke of Buckingham to come unto him and he putting off his comming with pretended excuses is at last peremptorily sent for to come upon his Allegiance when he returned this resolute answer that he owed no Allegiance to such a perjur'd inhumane Butcher of his owne Flesh and Blood and so from that time preparation for Arms is made on both sides The Duke had gotten a good power of Welshmen and the Marquesse Dorset having gotten out of Sanctuary was labouring in Yorkeshire to raise forces the like did the two âourtneys in Devonshire and Cornwall and Guilford and Râme in Kent King Richârd setting forward with ãâã forces the Duke of Buckingham doth the like intending at Glocester to have ãâã Severn and so to have joyned with the two Courtneys but such abundance oââaine at that time fell that the Severn was broken out and impossible to be passed ãâã which the Welshmeâ seeing and taking it for an ill signe they secretly slâpt away so as the Duke leât well neer alone without either Page or so much as a Footmââ repaired to the house of one Humfry Bannister neere to Shreâsbury who having been raised by him and his father before him he thought himselfe safe under his roofe But Bannister upon Proclamation made by king Richard that whosoever could apprehend the Duke should have a thousand pound for his labour like an ungratefull and perfidious wretch discovered him to Iohn Milton High Sheriffe of ãâã who took him in a pilled black Cloak as hâ was walking in an Orchard behinde the house and carried him to Shrewsbury where king Richard then lay ând there without Arraignment or Legall proceeding was in the Market place beheaded Whether Bannister received the Proclaimed reward from the hand of the King is uncertaine but certaine it is that he received the reward of a Villaine from the hand of Divine Justice for himselfe was afterward hanged for man-slaughter his eldest daughter was deflowred by one of his Carters or as some say strucken with a foule Leprosie his eldest Sonne in a desperate Lunacy murthered himselfe and was âound to have done so by the Coroners inquest and his younger Sonne in a small puddle was strangled and drowned Upon this disaster of the Duke of Buckingham his complices shifted for themselves sâme taking Sanctuary some keeping themselves in unknown places but many convayed themselves into Brittaine to the Earle of Richmondâ of whom the Marquesse Dorset Iohn Lord Wells the Bishop of Exceter and his brother Sir Iohâ ãâã Sir Edward Woodvile brother to Queen Elizabeth Sir Willoughbyâ Sir Giles Daâbeney Sir Thomas Arundell Sir Iohn Cheyney and his two brethren Sir Williaâ Bârckly Sir William Brandon and his brother Thomas Sir Richard Edgecombe Hollowell and Poynings Captaines were the chiefe Whil'st these things are in doing king Richard receives intelligence from Hutton his Ambassadour leiger in Britaine that the Duke not onely refuseth to restaine the Earle of Richmond but intendeth also to give him assistance whereupon the king ââoke present order for preparing his Navy to stop the Earles landing in any Port of England Upon the twelveth day oâ October in the yeer 1484. The Earle of Richmond with forty Ships and five thousand waged Brittain tooks to sea but that Evening by tempest of weather his whole Fleet was dispersed so as only the Ship wherein the Earle himselfe was with one little Barke was driven upon the Coast of Cornwâll where discovering upon the shore great store of Armed Souldiers to resist his landing he hoysed sayle and returning toward France arrived in Normandy from whence sending Messengers to Charles the Eighth King of France he was by him not onely kindely invited to come to his Court but was ayded also with good sâmmes of money to beare his charges After this the
noâwithstanding this device the Victory fell to the French so that all the Englishmen almost were slaine with the Lord Woodvile himselfe besides six thousand Britainesâ The Duke of Orleance and the Prince of Orange who were there on the Britainâs part were taken Prisoners The French lost twelve hundred men and amongst otherâ that valiant Italian Captaine Iames Gâleât This news being brought into England caused king Hââây to make haste to send forth his Army and thereupon the Lord Brooke with Sir Iohn Cheyny Sir Iohn Middleton Sir Ralph Hilton Sir Richard Corbet Sir Thomas Leighton Sir Richard Lacon Sir Edmund Corââall are sent over with all speed into Britaine having with them eight thousand men to aide the Duke of Britaine against the French But while this warre was thus set forward the Duke of Britaine died leaving in effect one only Daughter the Lady Aââe for the other being the younger died soon after and then the chiefe Rulers of Britaine falling at dissention amongst themselves little regarded the defence of the Country whereupon the English returned home within five moneths after their setting forth and the French king getting the upper hand of the Britaines and marying the Lady Anne sole daughter of the Duke of Britaine incorporated that Dutchy to the Crown of France In the last Parliament a Subsidie was granted for the furnishing out an Army into Britaine and it was agreed that every man should be taxed after the rate of his substance to pay the tenth penny of his goods which Taxe the most part of Yorkeshire and the Bishoprick of Durhââ refused to pay whereof the Collectours complained to Heâry E. of Northumberland President of the North parts The E. signifies it to the King and the K. commands him to levy the same by distresse or otherwise without sparing of any as he should think most meet The rude multitude hearing of this Command from the King with great violence set upon the Earle by the exciting of a simple fellow named Iohn a Chamber and alledging all the fault to be in the Earle as chiefe authour of the Taxe they cruelly murthered both him and divers of his houshold servants And to make good their seditious fact they assembled a great number and made one Sir Iohn Egremond their Captaine Declaring that in defence of their liberties they would bid the King battell In this bravery they stood as long as none opposed them but when Thomas Earle of Surry appeared with an Army though they skirmished a while yet they were soon discomfited and their Ring-leader Iohn a Chamber was taken and at Yorke on a Gibbet set upon a square paire of Gallows like an arch Traytour was hanged and many of his Complices on a lower Gallows the innocent people for the most part Pardoned But Sir Iohn Egremond fled into Flanders to the Lady Margaret Dutchesse of Burgundie the common and sure refuge for all Rebels against King Henry After this the king appointed Sir Richard Tuâstâll to gather the Subsidie and would not spare the paiment of a penny This year notwithstanding this Taxe the king borrowed of every Alderman of London two hundred pounds and of the Chamber nine thousand eighty two pounds seventeen shillings and foure pence which was paid again at the time with great thankfulnesse which he did at a time he needed noâ to the end perhaps he might doe it another time when he needed At this time Iames the third king of Scotland having by some errors of Government incurred the hatred of his Nobility and people laboured with king Henry as also with the Pope and the king of France to make an Accord between him and his people who had compelled Prince Iames his Sonne to be the Titular head of those Armes which they assumed against him The kings accordingly interposed their mediations by Ambassadours but could receive no other but this outragious answer That there was no talking of Peace unlesse he would resigne his Crowne Which answer the kings protested against declaring by their Ambassadors that they thought it a common injury done to themselves and that the Example was not sufferable for Subjects to lift their hands against their Soveraigne Hereupon it came to a Battell at Bânnocks-borne by Strivelin where king Iames rashly beginning the fight before his whole Forces were come was notwithstanding the contrary commandement of the Prince his sonne slaine in the Mill of that field whither he fled after the Battell ended About this time a Difference fell out which grew to a Warre between the Emperour Frederick and some Townes of his in Flanders especially Gaunt and Bruges In this warre the Lord Ravenstein a principall person about Maximilian not onely forsooke the Emperour and his sonne Maximilian his Lord corrupted as was thought from France but made himselfe head of the popular party seizing upon the Towns of Ipre and Sluce and not this onely but forthwith sent to the Lord de Cordes Governour for the French king in Picardie to ayde him against some Towns in Flanders To which the Lord de Cordes willing of any occasion to set foot in Flanders was easily drawne But king Henry not liking to have the French so neere his English pale sent over the Lord Morley with a thousand men who should joyne with the L. Dawbeney then Deputy of Callice to resist them Amongst other acts by them performed this was chiefe That the Lord Dawbeney with the Lord Morley Sir Iames Tyrrell Captaine of Guisnâs Sir Henry Willoughby Sir Gilbert Talbot and Sir Humfry Talbot Marshall of Callice and others to the number of two thousand issued secretly one night out of Callice and came to Newport and from thence to Dixââe where the Lord Dawbeney commanded all men to send back their horsâs whâch the Lord Morley onely refusing to doe was cause that he onely of all the Captaines was slâine with a Gun for the rest after their arrowes discharged fell prostrate to the ground by which meanes the Enemies Ordnance overshot them kâlling onely the Lord Morley that was on horse-back Here they slew of the Enemy to the number of eight thousand of the English part was slaine the Lord Morley and not above a hundred more This Victory so enriched the English that they who went forth in cloath came home in silke and they who went out on foot returned back on horse-back Upon this Defeat the Lord de Cordes lying at Ypre with twenty thousand men and thinking to be revenged besieged the Town of Newport and so strongly assaulted it that one day his men entred and set up his Banner upon a Tower of the Towne when suddenly a Barke arriving with onely fourescore âresh English archers so terrified them thinking their number to be farre greater that the French were glad to leave their Banner behinde them and give over the assault and the night following the Lord de Cordes who so much longed for Callice that he would commonly say he could be content to lie seven yeeres in
Sir Giles Capell Thomas Cheiney and others obtained leave of the King to be at the challenge where they all behaved themselves with great valour but specially the Duke of Suffolke whose glory the Dolphyn so much envied that he got a Dutch-man the tallest and strongest man in all the Court of France secretly as another person to encounter him with a purpâe to have the Duke foyled but indeed it turned to his greater honour for he foiled the Dutch-man in such sort that when they came to the Barriers the Duke by maine strength took him about the neck and so prommeled him about the head that he made the blood issue out at his nose many other Princes and Lords did bravely and after three dayes the Justs ended King Henry was not long behinde to solemnize it in England also for at Greenwich the Christmas following on Newyeers night and Twelfth night he presented such strange and magnificent devices as had seldome been seene and the third of February following he held a solemne Justs where he and the Marquesse Dorset answered all commers at which time the King brake three and twenty speares and threw to the ground one that encountred him both man and horse At this time preparation was making for King Henry in person to go to Callice there to meet with the French King and Queene but death hindred the designe for before the next spring the first of Ianuary the French King dyed at the City of Paris fourscore and two dayes after his marriage teaching others by his example what it is for an old man to marry a young Lady King Henry hearing of the French Kings death sent the Duke of Suffolke Sir Richard Winkefield and Doctor West to bring over the Queene Dowager according to the Covenants of the marriage Whereupon the Queene was delivered to the Duke by Indenture who obtaining her good will to be her husband which was no hard matter that had been her first love wrote to the King her brother for his consent whereat the King seemed to stick a while but at last consented so as he brought her into England unmarried and then marry at his return but the Duke for more surety married her secretly in Paris and after having received her Dower Apparrell and Jewels came with her to Callice and there openly married her with great solemnity At their coming into England King Henry to shew his contenâment with the marriage in the company of the Duke of Suffolke the Marquesse Dorset and the Earle of Essex all richly apparelled held a new kinde of Justs running courses on horseback in manner Volant as fast as one could follow another to the great delight of the beholders This yeer the King at his Mannour of Oking Woolsey Archbishop of Yorke came and shewed him letters that he was elected Cardinall for which dignity he disabled himselfe till the King willed him to take it upon him and from thenceforth called him Lord Cardinall but his Hat and Bull were not yet come after which Doctor Warham Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancelour of England finding Woolsey being now Cardinall to meddle more in his office of Chancelourship then he could well sufferâ resigned up the Seal which the King presently gave to Woolsey About this time Cardinall Campejus was sent by Pope Leo to King Henry to solicite him to a Warre against the Turke with whom Cardinall Woolsey was joyned in Commission who hearing of the ragged retinue of his fellow Cardinell sent store of red cloath to Callice to make them fit followers of so great a Lord and when Campejus was landed at Dover Cardinall Woolsey caused the gentry of Kent to waite upon to Black-heath where he was met and received by the Duke of Norfolk and many Prelates there in a Tent of cloath of gold shifted himself into his Cardinals robes Eight Mules he had laden with necessaries but Woolsey not thinking them enough for his honour sent him twelve more But now see the shame of pride for in Cheap-side his Mules by some mischance overthrew their Carriages and Coffers on the ground whose lyds flying open shewed the world what treasure it was they carried old Breeches Boots and broken Shoos broken Meat Marybones and crusts of Bread exposing him to the laughter of all the people yet the Cardinall went joging on afore with his Crosses guilt Axe and Mace unto Pauls Church and by the way had an Oration made him by Sir Thomas Moore in name of the City and then waited on with many Bishops was conducted to Bath Place where he was lodged for his own particuler he got well by the Journey for the King gave him the Bishoprick of Salisbury but the errand he came about which was to have Ayde by mony for a Warre against the Turke he could not obtaine for it was well known to be but a devise to get money without any intention of what was pretended In his seventh yeer King Henry kept his Christmas at his Mannour of Eltham where on Twelfth night according to his custome was a stately Maske of Knights and Ladies with solemne Daunsing and a most Magnificent Banquet It was now the eight yeer of King Henryes Reigne when the new league between him and the French King was Proclaimed in the City of London and this yeer Mageret Queene of Scots eldest Sister to King Henry having before married Archibald Dowglasse Earle of Angus by reason of dissention amongst the Lords of Scotland was glad with her husband to flye into England and to seek succour at her brothers hands who assigned to her the Castle of Harbottell in Northumberland to reside in where she was delivered of a daughter named Margaret From thence the King sent for her and her husband to come to his Court and thereupon the third of May Queene Margaret riding on a white Palfrye which the Queen of England had sent her behinde Sir Thomas Parrâ came through London to Baynards Castle and from thence went to Greenwich but her husband the Earle of Angus was secretly before departed into Scotland which when King Henry heard he onely âaid it was done like a Scot. And now in honour of his sisters coming King Henry the nine and twentieth of May appointed two solemne dayes of Justs where the King the Duke of Sâffolke the Earle of Essex and Nicholas Carew Esquire took upon them to answer all commers amongst others the King and Sir William Kinston ran together which Sir William though a strong and valourous Knight yet the King overthrew him to the ground all the rest was performed with no lesse valour then magnificence This yeer died the King of Aragon Father to the Queene of England for whom was kept a solemne Obsequie in the Cathedrall Church of Pauls and Queene Margaret after she had been a yeer in England returned into Scotland In this yeer were sent twelve hundred Carpenters and Masons with three hundred Labourers to the City of Tourney in France to build a Castle
Bishop of London late restored and there in presence for a Sermon by him made foure yeeres before in the same place and upon the same Text had unjustly beene cast into the vile prison of the Marshalsey which Speech so offended some of the Auditory that they cried Pull him downe pull him downe and had certainly done him violence for a Dagger was throwne at him if Master Bradford a Protestant Preacher had not stept into his place and appeased the tumult and Master Rogers another Protestant Minister who were both afterward burnt for Religion had not shifted away Bourne into Pauls Schoole Hitherto Queene Maries reigne had beene without blood but now the Cataracts of seventy will be opened that will make it raine blood for now on the eighteenth of August Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland VVilliam Parre Marquesse of Northamptân and Iohn Earle of VVarwicke soâne and heire to the Duk were arraigned at VVestminster-hall before Thomas Duke of Nââfolke as high Steward of England where the Duke of Northumberland after his Indictment read required the opinion of the Court in two points first whither a man doing any Act by authority of the Princes Counsââle and by warrant of the great Seale of England might for any such Act be charged with treason secondly whither any such persons as were equally culpable and by whose commandements he was directed might be his Judges and passe upon his triall whereunto was answered that concerning the first the great Seale which he alleaged for his warrant was not the Seale of the lawfull Queene of the Realm but of an Usurper and therfore could be no warrant for him and as to the second it was resolved that if any were as deeply to be touched in the case as himself yet so long as no Attainder were of record against them they were persons able in law to passe âpon his triall and not to be challenged but at the Princes pleasure After which answers the Duke used few words but confessed the Indictment and accordingly had judgment to dye By whose example the other prisoners arraigned with him confessed the Indictments and therupon had judgment the ninteenth of August Sir Andrew Dudley Sir Iohn and Sir Henry Gates brethren and Sir Thomas Palmer Knights were arraigned at VVestminster who cânfessing their Indictments had judgment which was pronounced by the Marquesse of VVinchester Lord high Treasuâer sitting that day as chiefe Justice after these condemnations followed the executions for on the two and twentieth of August Iohn Duke of Northumâerland was brought to the Tower-hill and there beheaded being upon the scaffold in a gowne of green coloured damaske he put it off and then made a long Speech wherein he asked the Queen forgivenesse whom he acknowledged to have grievously offended and then making profession of his Faith that he died a true Catholick meaning a Papist he said the Psalmes of Miserere and De Profundis the Pater noster and six of the first verses of the Psalme In te Domine speravi ending with this verse Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit and this said he looked about him as looking for a Pardon but none comming he laid his head downe upon the blocke and at one blow had it strucken off his body with the head was buried in the Tower by the body of Edward late Duke of Somerset mortall enemies while they lived but now lying together as good friends so as there lyeth before the high Altar in Saint Peters Church âwo Dukes between two Queens namely the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Northumberland between Queen Anne and Queene Katherine all foure beheaded Of what religion this Duke was may well be doubted seeing at his death he professed himself a Papist when lately before he had importuned King Edward to make the Lady Iane his successour lest the Papall religion should be restored it seems he was not greatly of either but for other ends a Protestant then when it was to make his daughter in law Queen now a Papist when it was to save his life for it was thought he had Pardon promised if he would recant At the same time and place were beheaded Sir Iohn Gates and Sir Thomas Palmer who were no such temporizers but persisted and dyed in the Protestant Religion which they had alwayes professed After this a sprinkling of mercy came from the Queene for on the third of September the Lord Ferrers of Chartley the two chiefe Justices Sir Roger Cholmley and Mountague Sir Iohn Cheeke and others were delivered out of the Tower whether before they had been committed but a shower of severity followed soon after for on the fifteenth of September Master Latimer and Doctor Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury were sent to the Tower and on the third oâ November following the said Archbishop Cranmer the Lady Iane late Queene and the Lord Guildford her husband with the Lords Ambrose and Henry sonnes to the late Duke of Northumberland were all arraigned at the Guild-hall found guilty and had judgement to dye All this while Queen Mary had contented her selfe to be Queene by Proclamation but now that things were something setled she proceeds to her Coronation for on the last of September she rode in her Chariot through London towards VVestminster in this order first rode a number of Gentlemen and Knights then Doctors then Judges then Bishops then Lords then the Councell after whom followed the Knights of the Bath thirteene in number in their Robes then the Bishop of VVinchester Lord Chancellour and the Marquesse of VVinchester Lord high Treasurer next came the Duke of Norfolke and after him the Earle of Oxford who bore the sword then the Major of Londân in a Gowne of Crimson Velvet who bore the Scepter of Gold after came the Queenes Chariot and then followed another Chariot wherein sat the Lady Elizabeth her sister and the Lady Anne of Cleeve and then came Ladies and Gentlewomen riding on horses trapped with red velvet c. In this order they came through London to VVestminster where in many places by the way were Pagents and stately shewes and many rich presents given to the Queene The next day she went by water to the old Palace and remained there till eleven of the clock and then went on foot upon blew cloth being railed on either side to Saint Peters Church where she was Crowned and Anointed by the Bishop of VVinchester the two Archbishops being then in the Tower with all Rites and Ceremonies of old accustomed After her Coronation a generall pardon was published in her name but interlaced with so many exceptions of matters and persons that very few tooke benefit by it for after the pardon published there were Commissioners assigned to compound with such persons as were excepted from some of whom they tooke away their Fees and Offices some they fiâed and some they deprived of their estates and livings About this time Sir Iames Hales one of the Justices of the Common Pleas who
in the time of King Edward had refused to signe a writing for disinheriting the Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth a fact worthy at least of a kinde remembrance from the Lady Mary now Queene yet now for that at a quarter Sessions in Kent he gave charge upon the statutes of King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixth in derogation of the Primacy of the Church of Rome he was first committed to the Kings Bench then to the Counter and lastly to the Fleet where he grew so troubled in minde that he attempted with a Pen-knife to kill himselfe and being afterward recovered of that hurt and brought to the Queenes presence who gave him very comfortable words yet could never come to be quiet in his minde but in the end drowned himselfe in a River not halfe a mile from his house the River being so shallow that he was faine to lye groveling before he could dispatch himâelfe of life And now another sprinkling of mercy came from the Queene for the Marquesse of Northampton and Sir Henry Gates lately before condemned to dye were now pardoned and set at liberty The Lady Iane also was allowed the liberty of the Tower not without hope of life and liberty altogether if her father the Duke of Suffolke had not the second time been cause of her destruction About this time also a Synod was assembled for consulting about matters of Religion and the point specially of the reall presence in the Sacrament The Prolocutour was Doctor VVeston and of the Protestant side were Iohn Almer and Richard Cheyney both Bishops afterward in Queene Elizabeths time also Iohn Philpoâ afterward burnt Iames Haddon and others After long disputation where reasons were not so much weighed as voyces numbred the Papall side as having most voyces carried it and thereupon was that Religion againe restored and the Masse commanded in all Churches to be celebrated after the ancient manner It was now the yeer 1553. when Queene Mary was come to the age of seven and thirty yeers and therefore high time now to thinke of marriage at least if she meant to have issue of her body but a hard maâter it was to finde a husband in all points âitting for her yet three at this time in common fame at least were taken into consideration one was the Lord Courtney Mârquesse of Exceter a goodly Gentleman and of Royall blood but there was exception against him because inclining as was thought to Lutheranisme another was Cardinal âoole of a dignity not much inferiour to Kings and by his Mother descended from Kings but there was exception against him also because foure and fifty yeers old as old a Batchelour as Queen Mary was a maid and so the lesse hope of issue betweene them but the third if he might be had was without exception and this was Phillip Prince of Spaine the Emperour Charles his eldest sonne with whom being a Spaniard she was the fitter matched as being by the Mother a Spaniard her selfe And now very oppertunely came in the beginning of Ian. Embassadors into England about it amongst others the Couââ of Egmond Admirall of the Lâw Countryes and Iohn of Memorancy Lord of Curryers whose message was so kindely entertained that the marriage in short time was absolutely concluded though it seemed something strange to many that she should now be wife to the sonne who thirty yeers before should have been wife to the father But so it is Queenes are never old so long as they are within yeers of bearing children And indeede the match was concluded with conditions of farre more advantage to Queeâe Mary then they were to King Phillip as on the fourteenth of Ianuary Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancelour of England openly in the Presence Chamber at Westminster declared to all the Lords and Gentlemen there present for it was agreed that after the marâiage King Phillip should have the Title of all the Queenes Dominions and be assumed into fellowship of the government but yet with reservation to the Queene of all Priviledges and Customes of the Kingdome and free disposition of all Offices and Honours as likewise the Queene should be assumed into the fellowship of all the Kings Dominions and surviving him should have a Joynture of two hundred thousand Pounds a yeer Then for the issue betweene them if she had a Sonne that he should inherit the Low Countryes and Burgundy and King Phillips sonne Charles which he had by a former wife should inherit all his Dominions in Italie and Spaine but if his sonne Charles should fail without issue then the sonne he should have by Queene Mary should inherit his Kingdomes of Italie and Spaine also And the like good provision was also made for daughters But notwithstanding these great âdvantageâ of the maâch yet such was the precipitant rashnesse of some that thinking themselves wiser then the Queene and the Councel they sought by all meanes to oppose the match giving out that it âended to bring England under the yoke of Spaine and to make the Countrey a slave to strangers This was the generall murmuring of people but the first that shewed himselfe in Armes was Sir Thomas Wyat of Kent who having communicated the matter with the Duke of Suffolke the Lady Ianes father with Peter Caroe a Knight of Devonshire and divers others intended onely to make secret provision but not to stirre till Prince Phillip should be come that so their cause of taking armes might have the better colour On the fifteenth of Ianuary Robert Dudley sonne to the Duke of Northumberland was arraigned at the Guildhall of high Treason who confessed the indictment and had judgement given by the Earle of Sussex to be drawen hanged bowelled and quartered But now in counsels communicated to many it is a hard matter to have counsell kept and Sir Peter Caroe finding that their plot was discovered fled privily into France where lurking for a time he was afterward taken at Bruxells and brought captive into England as likewise at the same time and place Sir Iohn Cheeke King Edwards Schoolmaster was taken who being drawne by terrours to embrace the Papall Religion with very griefe afterward of his errour pined away and dyed Sir Peter Caroe lived many yeers afâer and dyed in Ireland though it be falsely recorded they were both burnt for Religion in Iune of this yeer Wyatt hearing of Sir Peter Caroes flight and that all their purpose was discovered was driven before his time to enter into armes giving out for the cause that it was not to attempt any thing against the Queene but onely to remove ill Councellours and chiefly to repell Prince Phillip least by this mariage the Kingdome should come in subjection to the Spaniard With Wyatt were joyned Sir Henry Isley Sir George Harper Anthony and William Knevet and divers other Gentlemen of the County against him were the Lord Abuegaveny Sir Thomas Cheyney Lord Warden of the Ports Sir Sobert Southwell Sheriffe of Kent Sir
taken by right of War and not to be dismissed till she had made satisfaction for assuming the Title of England and for the death of Darly her husband who was born one of the Queens Subjects In this diversity of opinions Queen Elisabeth out of her own judgement sent word by Middemore to the Regent of Scotland that he should come himself in person or else depute some fit persons to answer the complaints of the Queen of Scots against him and his confederates and render sufficient reasons wherefore they had deprived her otherwiseâ she would forthwith dismisse her and with all the forces she could settle her in her Kingdom To this Summons Murray obeys and comes to York the place appointed for this Treaty accompanied with seven more of his intimate friends who stood Delegates for the Infant King namely Iames Earl of Morton Adâm Bishop of the Orkâneys Robert of Dunferm Patrick Lord of Lyndsey Iames Mac-gylly and Henry âadinary and with these Lydington the Secretary and Geârge Buchanan And the very same day came thither Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex and Sir Ralph Saedler a Privie-Councellour appointed Commissioners for Queen Elisabeth For the Queen of Scots who took it hainously that Queen Elisabeth would not hear the causâ hâr self but refer hâr to Subjects being an absolute Prince and not tyâd to their procâedings there appeared Iohn Lesley Bishop of Ross William Lord Levyngââon Robert Lord Boyde Gaâââ of Kilwynnin Iohn Gâurdân and Iames Cockâurn Being met Lydingtoâ turning himself to the Scots in a wondrous liberty of Speech gave them this advice Maturely to consider what prejudice they should draw upon themselves by accusing thâ Queen of Scots and calling her Reputation in question publikely before the English professed enemies of the Scottish Nation Likewise whaâ account they shall be able to give hereof to the King when he shall grow to âiper yâârs and shall see what an injury this was to the Kingdom his Mother and his own perâon Whereforâ said he it seemeth requisite to forbear this businesse alâogether unlesse the Queen of England will enter into a âuâuall league of Offence and Defence against all those which under this pretencâ shall go about âo molest us Upon this Speech of his the Dâlâgates of the Queân of Scots made Protestation That although it pleased the Quâân of Scots to have the cause between her and her disloyall Subjects dâââted befoââ the English yet she being a free Prince and obnoxious to no earthly Prince whatsoever did not thereby yeeld her self subject to thâ Jurisdiction and command of any person On the contrary the English proâestâd That they did in no wise admiâ that Protestation in prâjudice to the right which the Kings of England have anciently challenged as superiouâ Lords of the Kingdom of Scoâland The day after the Queen of Scoâs Delegates sât forth at large the injurious dealing of Morton Murray Marre Gleâcarâ ãâã and others against the Queen and how they had compelled hâr for fear of death to resign her Crown which therefore they said was of no âorââ Murray and his confederates make answâr That they had done nothing but by consent of the Peers in Parliament and thaâ in prosâcuâing oâ Bothwell the author of the Kings murther whom the Queen protected and as for her resignation âhat it was voluntarily and freely done All this the Queen of Scots Delegaâes answered and confuted affirming in particular That where there are 100 Earls Bishops and Barons more or lesse that have voices in the Parliament of Scotland there were not in that tumâltous assembly they speak of above four Earls one Bishop an Abbot or two and six Barons wherefore their earnest request was that the Qâeen of England would be âânsible of these indignities offered her and take some course for a speedy rednesse After this some new Commissioners from Queen Elizabeth were added to the former to some of whom the Queen of Scots took exception unlesse the French and Spanish Embassadors might be taken in and her self admitted into the presence of the Queen and them publickly to defend her own innocency and that Murray might be detained and âited whom she affirmed she was able to prove to have been the chief Plotter of the murther of her husband Darley This was held to be a just demand by the Duke of Norfolk the Earls of Arundell Sussex Leicester and the Lord Clinton But Queen Elizabeth waxing somewhat angry openly said that the Queen of Scots should never want an Advocate as long as Norfolk lived It was seen here which is said that the heart of the King is inscrutable for how Queen Elizabeth stood affected in this case of the Queen of Scots no man could well discernâ she detested the insolency of her Subjects in deposing her and yet gave no assistance to restore her After long agitation of this businesse and nothing concluded Murray a little before his return into Scotland slyly propounded the mariage of the Queen of Scots to the Duke of Norfolk which he with a modest answer rejected as a thing full of danger But withall Murray the more to alienate Queen Elizabeths mind from the Queen of Scots gave ouâ that she had passed away to the Duke of Andyn her Right to the Crown of England and that the transaction was confirm'd at Rome he shewd Letters also which the Queen of Scots had written to some friends whom she trusted wherein she accused the Queen for not dealing with her according to promise and boasted of succours she expected from some others This last clause something troubled Queen Elizabeth neither could she conjecture from whence any such succour should come seeing both France with the Civill Wars and the King of Spain in the Low-countries had enoâgh to do at home But at last it brake out that one Robert Ridolph a Florentine under the habit of a Merchant in London was suborned by Pope âius the fifth to make a secret commotion of the Papists in England against the Queen which he performed indeed with a great deal of secrecy and much cunning whereupon the Queen of Scots was removed from Bolton a Castle of the Lord Scroops where all the neighbouring people were Papistsâ to Tutbury more toward the heart of the Country under the custody of George Earl of Shrewsbury About this time the Guises in France and the Duke D'Alva in the Low-countries began to endeavour the utter extirpation of the Protestant Religion In France the Ministers of the Gospell are commanded within a limitted time to depart the Kingdom when Queen Elizabeth forgetting the âicklenesse of the Protestants at New-haven once again takes upon her their protection supplyes them with two hundred thousand Crowns in money besides Munition in abundance and with all humanity receives the French that fled into England the rather for that they made solemn protestation they took not up Arms against their Prince but only stood upon their own defence In the Low-countries
at Louvayn But though the Queen were thus entangled with Rebellions at home yet she was not carelesse of the afflicted Protestants in France for she stirred up the Protestant Princes to defend the common Cause supplyed them with money taking in pawn the Queen of Navar 's Jewells and gave leave to Henry Champernoon to lead into France a Troop of a hundred Horse Gentlemen all and Voluntaries amongst whom were Philip Butshed Francis Barkley and Walter Raleigh a very young man who now began to look into the world But as the Queen of England assisted the French so in revenge thereof the King of France meant to assist the Scots but that he was taken away by death being slain by a shot at the Siege of S. Iohn D'Angelo There was at this time a Rebellion in Ireland also raised by Edmund and Peter brothers to Boteler Earl of Ormond but after many out-rages by them committed the Earl of Ormond first by perswasions obtained of them to submit themselves and when notwithstanding they were committed to prison he then obtained of the Queen they should not be called to the Barre being exceedingly grieved that any of his Blood should be attaynted of Rebellion The rest of the Rebells were pursued by Sir Humphrey Gilbert and soon dispersed And now the Earl of Murray Regent of Scotland when he had wrought all things to his hearts desire and thought himself secure at Lithquo riding along the streets was shot into the belly with a Bullet beneath the Navill and there fell down dead The actor was a Hamilton who did it upon a private revenge for that Murray had forced him to part with a piece of Land which he had by his wife who thereupon falling Lunatick he in a great rage committed this slaughter After Murrayes death the Countrey being without a Regent was cause of many disorders Tho. Carre and Walter Scot two principall men amongst the Scottish Borders and devoted to the Queen of Scots made Inâodes into England wasting all places with fire and sword till by Forces sent out of England under the command of the Earle of Sussex and the Lord Hânsdon they were defeated In whose puâsuit three hundred villages were âired and above fifty Holds were over-turned For which service the Earl made many Knights as Sir William Drury Sir Thomas Manners Sir George Carie Sir Robert Constable and others and then returned And now to prevent further disorders the Lords of Scotland being ready to assemble about the election of a new Regent they asked counsell of Queen Elizabeth in the matter but she making answer she would not meddle in it because she would not be thought to work any thing prejudiciall to the Queen of Scots whose cause was not yet triedâ they created Matthew Earl of Lenox Regent which Queen Elizabeth did the better like as conceiving he could not chuse out of naturall affection but have a speciall care of the young King being his Grand-childe But while Queen Elizabeth favoured the Kings Party in Scotland the Earl of Hunâley the Duke of Castle-Hârald and the Earle of Argylâ the Queen of Scots Liâuâenants imploy the Lord Seton to the Duke D'Alva Requiting him for many great reasons to vindicate the Queen of Scots liberty alleadging how acceptable a work it would be to all Christian Princes and to the whole Catholike Church whereunto the Duke made answer They should finde him ready to the uttermost of his power to satisfie their Request At which time also the French King dealt earnestly with Queen Elizabeth to the same purpose and the Spanish Embassadour in his masters name urged it no lesse extremely but Queen Elizabeth assaulted with all these Importunities made answer That as she would omit nothing that might serve for the Reconciling of the Queen of Scots and her subjects so shâ must have leave to provide for her own and her subjects safety a thing which Nature Reason and her own Honor requires at her hands And now when these Princes prevailed not with Queen Elizabeth to set the Queen of Scots at liberty ouâ comes Pope Pius Quintus with his Bull Declaratory which he caused to be fastened in the night time upon the gate of the Bishop of Londons Palace wherein all her subjects are absolved from their Oaâh of Allegiance or any other dutie and all that obey her accursed with Anathemâ He that fastned up the Bull was one Iohn Fâlton who never fled for the matter but as affecting Martyrdome suffered himself to be apprehended confessed and justified the Fact and thereupon arraigned was condemned and hanged neer the place where he had fastened the writing The same day that Felton was Arraigned the Duke of Norfolk seeming now extremely pontitent for his fault and utterly to abhorre the marriage was delivered out of the Tower and suffered to goe to his owne house but yet to be in the custodie of Sir Henry Neuill still Indeed Cecill being a good friend of the Dukes had told the Queen That the Law of 25 of Edward the third could not take hold upon him And now being in a kinde of liberty Cecill deales earnestly with him to marry speedily some other thereby to take away all suspition in that behalf yet some again thought that this liberty of the Dukes was granted him of purpose to bring him into greateâ danger At this time died William Herbert Earl of Pâmbâook the grand-child of an Earl of Pâmbrook yet the son but of an Esquire and grand-father to Phillip Earl of Pembrook and Mountgomery now living who lieth buried in Pauls under a faire Monument of Marble with an Inscription âestifying his great deservings while he lived Many conspiracies were at this time to set the Queen of Scots at liberty amongst others there conspired Thomas and Edward Stanley younger sonnes of the Earl of Derby with others but the matter discovered they were soon suppressed and some of them executed And now the Lords of the Queen of Scots Party continuing to protect the English Rebells the Earl of Sussex once again accompanied with the Lord Scroop entereth Scotland burneth the Villages all along the Valley of Anandale and compasseth the Duke of Castle-Herald and the Earls of Huntley and Argyle under a Writing signed with their own Hands and Seals to forsake the English Rebells Whereupon the Earl of Sussex returned home he made these Knights Edward Hastings Francis Russell Valentine Browne William Hilton Robert Stapleton Henry Carwen and Simon Musgrave Queen Elizabeths minde being now in great suspension by reason of that Bull from Rome and the late conspiracy in Norfolk sent Sir William Cecill and Sir Walter Mildmay to the Qâeen of Scots who was then at Chattesworth in Derby-shire to consult with her by what means the breach in Scotland might best be made up She re-invested in her former Dignity and her son and Queen Elizabeth might be securedâ The Queen of Scots did little deplore her own afflicted condition putting her self wholly upon the Queens clemency when
his fault shall deserve The Bishop alleâdged for himself That he had not violated the Right of ân Ambassadour Via Iuris but Vââ Factâ to use his own words and therefore adviseth them not to use harder measure to him then was used to the English Ambassadours ãâ¦ã in France Rândoll and Tâmwoâth in Scotland who had raised Rebellions there and were open Abettors of the same and yet had no greater punishment then to be gone at a time limitted When they began to urge him what the English had testified against him he lovingly requested them to give no credit to itâ forasmuch as by a received Custome which hath the force of a Law The Testimony of an English man against a Scot or of a Scot against an English man is not to be admitted but after some other altercations the Bishop is led away to the Tower and kept close prisoner At this very season Matthew Earl of Lenox Regent of Scoââand the Kings Grand-father was by the adverse party set upon at unawares who having yeelded himself to David Spense of Wormester that was then very carefull to defend him together with him was slain by Bell and Câulder when with great industry he had governed the Kingdom for his Grand-childe about fourteen months In whose room Iohn Areskin Earl of Marâe by common consent of the Kings Faction was chosen Regent of Scotland who being a man of a quiet disposition through extreme grief of the mâny troubles he sustained in the place departed this life when he had governed thirteen months And now a Parliament was held at Westminster wherein besides a Law for preventing of the treacherous endeavours of seditious subjects another Law was made That if any one during the Queens life by Books written or printed shall expressely affirm That any iâ or ought to be the Heir or Successor of the Queen besides the naturall Off-spâing of her Body or shall to that purpose publish print or dispersâ any Book or Schedules he and his favourârs shall for the first offence suffer a yeers imprisonment and the losse of one half of his goods and if they offend again they shall be in a Prâmunirâ A Law also was made by which to be reconciled to the Sea of Rome was made Treason and it was pronounced against the Queen of Scots That if she offended again against the Laws of England it might be lawfull to question her as the wife of a Peer of the Kingdom of England But here the Queen interposed her Authority and would not suffer it to be enacted About this time in May a solemn Tilting was performed at Westminster where thâ Challengers were Edward Earl of Oxford Charles Howard Sir Henry Lee and Chriâââpher Hattân Esquire who all did valiantly but the Earl of Oxford best Assoon as the Parliament was dissolved a Consultation was held Wheâher Iohn Story Doctor of the Laws the Duke D'Alva's Searcher who somtime before was by a wile brought into England being an Englishman born and having in Braâant consulted with a forâaign Prince about the invading of England were to be held guilty of high Treason It was resolved aâfirmatively whereupon he is called to the Bar and indicted of Treasonâ That he had consulted with one Presâall a Conjurer to make away the Queen That he cursed her dayly when he said Grace at Table That he shewed a way to the Secretary of Duke D'Alva how to invade England c. where he affirming That the Judges had no power to meddle with him for that he bâlonged not to the Queen of England but was the King of Spain's sworn subjectâ is neverthelesse condemned by the Foâm of Nihil dicit forasmuch as no man can renounce the Country wherin he was born nor abjure his Prince at his own pleasure and finally executed after the manner of Trayâors Ireland at this time was indifferent quieâ for Sir Iohn Perot President of Munster had brought Iames Fitz Morris to submit himself and crave pardon Sidney the Lord Deputy returned into England and Sir William Fitz Williams who had marryed his sister succeeded in his room It was now the fifteenth yeer of Queen Elizabeths Raign when Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk on the sixteenth day of Ianuary was brought to his Tryall at Westminster-Hall where sate as Commissioners George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury made High Steward of England for that day Reynold Grey Earl of Kent Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex Henry Hastings Earl of Huntington Francis Russell Earl of Bedford Henry Herbert Earl of Pembrââk Edward Seymor Earl of Hertford Ambrose Dudley Earl of Warwick Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester Walter Devereux Viscount of Hereford Edward Lord Clinton Admirall William Lord Howard of Effingham Chamberlain William Cecill Lord Burley Secretary Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton Iames Blunt Lord Mountjoy William Lord Sands Thomas Lord Wentworth William Lord Borough Lewis Lord Mordant Iohn Pawlet Lord St. Iohn of Bâsing Robert Lord Rich Roger Lord North Edmund Bruges Lord Chândois Oliver Lord St. Iohn of Blâtsho Thomas Sackvile Lord Buckhurst and William West Lord de la Ware After silence bidden Sir Owen Hopton Lievtenant oâ the Tower is commanded to bring the Duke to the Bar and then the Clerk of the Crown said Thomas Duke of Norfolk late of Keningale in the County of Norfolk Hold up thy hand which done the Clerk with a loud voyce readeth the crimes laid to his charge That in the eleventh yeer of the Queens Raign he had trayterously consulted to make her away and to bring in forraign Forces for invading the Kingdom Also That he dealt with the Queen of Scots concerning Marriage contrary to his promise made to the Queen under his hand writing Also That he relieved with money the Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland that had stirred up Rebellion against the Queen Also That in the thirteenth yeer of the Queens Raign he implored Auxiliary Forces of Pope Pius the fifth the Queens professed enemy of the King of Spain and the Duke D'Alva for the freeing of the Queen of Scots and restoring of the Popish Religion And lastly That he sent supply to the Lord Heris and other the Queens enemies in Scotland These Indictments being read the Clerk demanded of the Duke if he were guilty of these crimes or not Here the Duke requested he might be allowed to have Counsell But Catiline chief Justice made answer That it was not lawfull Yet saith the Duke I have heard that Humphrey Stafford in the Raign of K. Henry the seventh in a Cause of Treason had one assigned to plead for him To which Dyer chief Justice of the Common-Pleas made answer That Stafford had Counsell assigned him concerning the Right of Sanctuary from whence he was taken by forceâ but in the Inditement of Treason he pleaded his own cause After this the Duke yeelding to be tryed by the Peers first Barham Serjeant at Law then Gerard the Queens Atturney and lastly Bromley the Queens Solicitor enforced the crimes objected against him to
all which the Duke made colourable answers but most of them being proved by sufficient testimony he asked upon occasion Whether the subjects of another Prince who is confederate and in league with the Queen are to be accounted the Queens enemiesâ to which Catiline answered They were and that the Q. of England might wage War with any Duke of France yet hold firm Peace with the French King When it grew towards night the L. high Steward demanded of the Duke if he had any more to say for himself who answered I rely upon the equity of the Laws After this the Lords withdrawing a while and then returning the Lord Steward beginning at the lowermost asked them My Lord de la Ware Is Thomas Duke of Norfolk guilty of these crimes of High Treason for which he is called in question He rising up and laying his hand upon his breast answered guilty in like manner they answered all After this the Lord Steward with teares in his eyes pronounced sentence in forme as is used A few dayes after were Barnes and Mather executed who conspired with one Herle to make away certaine of the Councellors and to free the Duke but Herle revealed the businesse presently to whom Barnes when hee saw his Accuser brought forth smilingly said Herle thou wert but one houre before mee else I had beene in thy place for the accuser and thou in my roome to be hanged at the same time with them was hanged also Henry Rolfe for counterfeiting the Queens hand But though the Duke were now condemned yet the Queen was so tender of his case that it was foure Moneths after before he was executed at last on the second of June at eight of the clock in the morning he was brought to the Scaffold upon the Tower-Hill and there beheaded At this time and upon this occasion a Parliament was Assembled wherein amongst other Lawes it were Enacted that if any man shall go about to free any person imprisoned by the Queens expresse Commandementâ for Treason or suspition of Treason and not yet Arraigned he shall lose all his goods for his life time and be imprisoned during the Queens pleasure if the said person have beene Arraigned the Rescuer shall forfeit his life if condemned he shall be guilty of Rebellion In the time of this Parliament the Queen created Walter Devereux Earl of Essex being before but Viscount Hereford because he was descended by his Great-grand-mothers from the Bourchiers and made the Lord Clinton who had large Revenues in Lincolnshire Earl of Lincoln Also she called forth Iohn Paulet of Basing the Marquesse of Winchester's son Henry Compton Henry Cheyney and Henry Morris for Barons by Summons Within ten dayes after the Dukes death William Lord De-la-ware Sir Ralph Sadler Thomas Wilson Doctor of the Laws and Thomas Brumley the Queens Solicitour were sent to the Queen of Scots to expostulate with her That shee had usurped the Title and Arms of the Kingdom of England and had not renounced the same according to the agreement of the Treaty at Edinburgh That shee had endeavoured the marriage of the Duke of Norfolke without acquainting the Queene and had used all forcible meanes to free him out of prison had raised the Rebellion in the North had relieved the Rebels both in Scotland and in the Low-Countries had implored Aids from the Pope the King of Spaine and others had conspired with certaine of the English to free her out of Prison and Declare her Queen of England Lastly that she had procured the Popes Bull against the Queen and suffered herself to be publikely named the Queen of England in Forreigne Countries All which accusations she either absolutely denyed or else fairly extenuated and though as she said she were a free Queen and not subject to any creature yet she was content and requested that she might make her personall answer at the next Parliament About this time the King of Spain by his Embassadour here complained to the Queen that the Rebels of the Netherlands were harboured and entertained in England contrary to the Articles of the League whereupon the Queen set forth a severe Proclamation That all the Dutch who could any wayes be suspected of Rebellion should presently depart the Realm which yet turned little to D'Alva's or the King of Spains benefit For hereupon Count Vander-Mark and other Dutch going out of England surprized the Brill first then Flushing and afterwards drew other Towns to Revolt and in a short time excluded the Duke D'Alva in a manner from the Sea And this errour to suffer the Protestant party to get possession of the Sea-towns hath been the cause they have been able to hold out even all this long time against the King of Spain And now many military men having little to do at home got them into the Netherlands some to Duke D'Alva but the far greater number to the Prince of Orenge The first of whom was Thomas Morgan who carryed three hundred English to Flushing then followed by his procurement nine Companies more under the conduct of Humphry Gilbert and afterward it became the Nursery of all our English Souldiers At this time Charls the French King setting his mind wholly at least seeming so upon the Low-Country War concluded a peace and entred into a league with Queen Elizabeth which was to remain firm not only during their two lives but between their successors also if the sâccessor signifie to the surviver within a yeer that he accepteth it otherwise to be at liberty It was likewise agreed what aid by Sea or Land they should each of them afford to other upon occasion and for ratification of this League Edward Clinton Earl of Lincoln and Admirall of England was sent into France with whom went the Lord Dacres Rich Talbot Sands and others The French King likewise sent the Duke of Memorancy and Paul Foix iâto England with a great train that the Queen in the presence of them and the Embassador in Ordinary might sweare to the league which she did at Westminster the seaventeenth of May in the yeer 1572. The day after she made Memorancye Knight of the Garter Memorancye whilst he tarryed in England made intercession in his Kings name that what favour could be without danger might be shewed to the Queen of Scots and then made much a do again about the marriage with the Duke of Angiou but being hopelesse to make conclusion thereof by reason of the diversity of Religion he returned into France for now was great provision making ready for the mariage between Henry King of Navarre and the Lady Margeret the French Kings Sister to which solemnity with notable dissimulation the Queen of Navarre and the chief of all the Protestants were allured being born in hand that there should be a renovation of love and a perpetuall peace established The Earl of Leicester likewise and the Lord Burleigh were invited out of England and out of Germany the sons of the Prince Elector Palatine under
Sâaâue Hereupon Stubââs and Page were brought to the Scaffâld made of purpose in the Market place at Westminster and their right hands with a Butchers knife and a malleâ cut off by the wrest the Printer was pââdonedâ At that time Stubbs when his right hand was cut off uncovered his head with the left and cried out God save the Queen to the great amazement of all the beholders At this time the Queene upon importunate suite of her Counsell gave way âhat Edmund Campian Ralph Sherwin and Alexaâder Bryant Priests should be called to the âarre who being accused by vertue of a Law made in the five and twentieth yeare of King Edward the Third to have plotted the ruine of the Queene and Kingdome to be adhering to the Pope the Queens enemy and coming into England to raise Forces against the State were then condemned of High-treason and accordingly executed Campian after he was convicted being demanded First whether Queen Elizabeth wâre a lawfull Queen would make no answer afterward Whether he âould stand for the Queen or for the Pope if he should send an Army against the Queen he plainly professed That he would be of the Popes side ând witnessed so much under his hand After this some other Papists upon the like occasion were also put to death which the Queen rather necessaâily than willingly assented to as being unwilling to force the conscience of any These and the like exorbitancies of Papists were cause that new ââd strict Laws were enacted against them the Parliament following which began the next Ianuary The French Duke after three moneths abode in England took his journey in February into the Low-Countries whom the Queen her self brought on his way as far as Canterburyâ and then commanded the Earl of Leicester the Lord Charles Howard Hunsdon Willoughby Windsor Sheffield Sir Philip Sidney Sir Francis Russell Sir George Bourchier and some other prime knights to accompany him to Antwerpe where he is made Duke of Brabant Limbâârg and Lorraine for the Dutch had long before removed the King of Spains Government and quitted the people from their oath of Allegiance that it might be in their power to choose any other Prince Heâe the Duke of Anjou gave free leave to exercise the Roman Religion to as many as would swear Fealty to him and abjure the King of Spains authority but âfter all having spent a great masse of money with which he was supplied from England and observiâg that only vain and empty titles were conferred upon him while the States held all the Dominion in their own hands he rashly enterprized an assault upon Antwerpe and some other Towns and shortly departed without any great matter performed At this time Queen Elizabeth as well to get her some friends as she had procured her selfe many enemies received into the Order of tâe Garter Fredericke the Second King of Denmarke to whom she employed Sir Peregrine Bertye whom she had lately made Lord Willoughby of Eresby to Invest him But now to prevent the Duke of Guyses designe in Scotland which was to make use of the Duke of Lenox favour with the King to withdraw his affection from the English William Reuthen whom the King had lately made Earle of Gowry endeavoured with others by all means to remove Lenox and the Earl of Arran from the King and so while Lenox was gone from Ferth where the King at that time was to Edinburgh and Arran was also absent on a journey The Earls Gowry Marre Lindsey and other taking the opportunity invited the King to the Castle of Reuthen and there detained him not permitting him to walk abroad All his trusty servants they removed from about him Arran they cast in prison enforced the King to call home the Earl of Angus and to send away Lenox into France who being a man of a soft and gentle disposition for the Kings safety readily consented and not content with all this they compelled the King by his Letters to Queen Elizabeth to approve and allow of this his thraldome The Queen of Scots in the mean while bewailing her own hard fortune and the distresse of the King her Son layeth open the same in a large letter written to the Queen in French With which letter Queen Elizabeth being somewhat affected sent unto her Robert Beale Clerk of the Councell to expostulate with her concerning the querulous writing and joyntly with the Earle of Shrewsbury to treat of the setting her at liberty And indeed serious consultation was held at the Councell Table about it and the most were of opinionâ that upon certain conditions she should have her liberty but the Scottish of the English faction opposing it nothing was effected Soone after this the King sent Colonell William Steward and Iohn Colvill to Queen Elizâbeth profering all manner of respect and observance and requesting her advice for quieting the tumults in Scotland and also for his contracting of marriage At which time news was broughâ that the Duke of Lânox was dead in France who departing this life ât Paris even at the very point of death as oftentimes before made open profession of the Proââstant Religion thereby confuting those who had maliciously traduced him for a Papist After whose death when the surprizers of the King were lift up in their own conceits as thinking they had him safe enough He on a sudden though scarce eighteen yeers of age with some few others conveyed himselfe to the Castle of St. Andrews to whom the Nobility presently repaired bringing Armed Bands with them as fearing some danger might befall him Afterwards in fair words he advised some of his surprizers to go from the Court for avoyding of tumults and promised them pardon if they woâld crave it But Gowry only asked pardon and submitted himselfe using this distinction That he had not offended in matter buâ in forme onely and then the King sent for the Earle of Arran to the Court and respected him as his intimate friend imploying him to compose the differenâes amongst the Nobility and to purge the kingdome and his own Court from civill dissensions Whiles he is sedulous in these cares comes Sir Francis Walsingham from Queen Elizabeth to advise him not to be led away by evill Councellours to the destruction of both kingdoms He findeth the King accompanied with the flowr of the nobility and beholdeth another maner of Majesty than he looked for in Scotland Plaâing Audience given him he put the King in minde of what the Queen out of Isocrates in private Letters had formerly admonished him That a Prince must be such a lover of Truth that more credit may be given to his bare word than to anothers oath and in many words advised him to beware now in his youth of evill Councellours and alwayes to be like himselfe The King answered That he was an absolute Prince and would not that others should appoint him Councellors whom he liked not but that he had long since devoted the first-fruits of his amitie
the Bishops of Rosse and Glasco her Agents in France to have no further to do with the English Fugitives These things Qâeen Elizabeth heard gladly and thereupon sent Beale to the Queen of Scots who joyntly with the Earl of Shrewsbery should signifie unto her That if she continued still in the same minde as she had delivered to Waad Sir Walter Mildmay should come out of hand âo her and Treat concerning her liberty but withall she commanded Mildmay and Beale to dive into her as well as they could to know what practises the Duke of Guyse had on foot To that which she had spoken to sir William Waad the Queen of Scots made a wary answer but to that concerning the Duke of Guyse she plainly confesseth That being sickly heâ selfe and weak of body she had committed her selfe and her Son to the Protection of the Duke of Guyse her dear Cosen of whose intendments she knoweth nothing nor if she did would she disclose them unlesse she might be sure of her own liberty Lastly she requesteth That being a free and an absolute Prince she may not be worse handled than Queen Elizabeth her selfe was when she was a subject and kept in prison by her Sister These things had a hearing but no feeling and the rather by a strange accident for Creighton a Scottish Jesuit sayling from the Lâw-Countries and taken by Dutch Pirats had certain papers which he tore and threâ away which thrown over-boord and by the winde blown back into the ship miraculously as Creighton himselfe sayd they were brought to sir William Waad who patching them together with much labour and cunning discovered by them some new intendments of the Pope the King of Spainâ and the Guyse about the Invading of England Whereupon and upoâ divers other rumors the better to provide for the safety of the Queen a number of her Subjects the Earl of Leicester being the foremost men of all ranks and conditions bound themselves mutually to each other by their oaths and subscriptions to persecute all those to the very death that should attempt any thing against the Queen which league of theirs they called the Association The Queen of Scoâs who presently apprehended that this Association was entred into for her destruction maketh this proposition by Nave her Secretary to the Queen and the Councellâ That if she might have her liberty granted and be assured of the Qâeenââove she would enter a strict league and âmity with her and passing by all matters of offence esteem and honor âer above all the Princes of the Christian World yea and saving the ancient League betwixt Fraâce and Scââlaâd she would her selfe be comprehended in tâe Association and a League defensivâ against all that should go about to injure the Queen Herewith Queen Eliâabeth was wonderfully pleased and at that time cerââânly had an inclination to grant her freedom Bât see what malice can do for many in Englandâ but specially the Scoâs of ãâã âdverse party endeavoured by all means to hinder it exclaiming That ãâã Queen could be no longer in safety if the Queen of Scots were set at liberty That both Kingdoms were utterly undone if she were admitted into ãâã âoynt Government of the Kingdom of Scotland and that the reformed ââââgion lay a bleeding if Papists were admitted within the Court walls ãâã was this all but the Scottish Ministers in their Pulpits loaded the ãâã of Scots with all manner of contumelies slandred the King himselfe and ãâã Councell in most bitter manner and being cited to appear before him ãâã saying That the Pulpits were exempted from all Regall Authority and that Ecclesiasticall persons were not to be censured by the Prince but ãâã their own Consistory directly against the Laws made the year before in Paâliament whereby the Kings Authority over all persons whether Eccleâââsâicall or Secular was confirmed and namely That the King and his Councell were Supream Judges in all Causes and that whosoever refused ãâã bâ tryed by them should be holden guilty of High-treason all Presbyâââââs and Lay-conventicles forbidden Parity of the Clergy taken away ãâã the authority of Bishops restored whose Calling the Presbyteries had condemned as wicked and Antichristian And lastly all scurrilous Libels âââinst the King and his mother prohibited namely the Scottish History of George Buchanan and his Dialogue De Iure Regni apud Scotos At this time upon her adversaries suggestion the Queen of Scots is taken from the Earl of Shrewsbery and committed to the custody of sir Pawletând ând sir Drue Drury and that on set purpose as some were perswaded to drive her into abrupt and desperate attempts and indeed upon this she grew more importunate with the Pope and King of Spain to hasten their inâândment whatsoever became of her as ill indeed was like to become of her if it be true as some sayd that Leicester sent out assasinats to make her âway but that Drury detested the villany and would grant them no ââcesse And how to alienate Queen Elizabeth utterly from her it is suggested to ãâã That Allen for the Catholicks of the Clergy Inglefield for the Layity ând the Bishop of Râsse for the Queen of Scots with consent of the Pope and the King of Spain had joyntly combined to depose her and to bar the King of Scotland from his hereditary Right to the Crown of England and to marry the Queen of Scots to an English Noble-man of the Romish Religion and him the English Catholikes should chuse King of England and the Pope confirm the Election and all this upon the credit of Hart the Priest but who this English Noble-man should be that should marry the Queen of Scots could not be found though Walsingham were very busie to seacrh iâ out the fame went upon Henry Howard the Duke of Norfolks brother âho was a single man a great Papist and of high estimation amongst the Catholikes This yeer died in Exile and misery Charles Nâvill who was in the Rebellion of the North the last Earl of Westmerland of this Family a House from whence descended many Noble Personages six Earls of Westmerland âwo Earls of Saliâââây and Warâiâk an Earl of Kent a Maâquesse Mountâcutâ ãâã Duke of Bedford Baron Ferrers of ãâã the Lord Latymer the Lord of ãâã one Queen and five Dutchesses to let passe Counteââes and Baronneâses an Arch-bishop of York and a numerous company of other Lords In Eâglând died none of âeckoning this yeer but onely Plââden the famous Lawyer but in France âhe Duke of Angiââ died of griefâ aâd in Holland William Prince of Orange shot into the body with âhree Bullets by one Bâlthâsâr Gerard a Burgundian It was now the yeer 1585 and the eight and twentieth of Queen Elizaâââââ Raign when to tiâ the French King more neerly to her whom the ãâã ââfore she had received into the number of the Knights of the âarter she sent the Earl of Derby into France to invest him with the Robes and Ornaments according to
the due Solemnity which he kindely accepted and at Evening Prayer was invested with them At this time a Parliament was assembled at Westminster wherein William Parrie a Welsh-man a Doctor of the Laws when in the Lower House a Bill was read against the Jesuites he alone stood up and exclaimed that it was a cruell and bloody Law and being asked his reason he stoutly refused unlesse he were required by the Lords of the Councell Hereupon he was sent to the Gate-house but upon submission was received into the House again Soon after he was accused by Edward Nevill for holding secret consultations about making the Queen away Who thereupon apprehended upon his examination confessed in effect thus much That out of discontent he went beyond the Sea where by the encouragement of Campegio the Popes Nuntio at Venice and grant of a plenary Indulgence from the Pope he undertook to kill the Queen but coming into England to that intent he altered his minde and disclosed to the Queen the whole matter After this he received a Letter from the Cardinall of Comâ perswading him to go forward with the Enterprise and this Letter also he shewed the Queen After this he chanced to see a Book of Doctor Allens written contra Iustitiam Britannicam wherein was declared That Princes who were for heresie excommunicate might lawfully be deprived of their life and Kingdom This book wonderfully confirmed him and he read it to Nevill who though he took an oath of secrecy yet now upon a hope of the Earldom of Westmerlandâ betrayed him This was his confession before Baron Hunsdon Sir Christopher Hattân and Sir Francis Walsingham as likewise in his Letters to the Queen to the Lord Burleigh and the Earl of Leicester acknowledging his fault and craving mercy A few dayes after he was called to the Bar in Westminster-Hall where he confessed himself guilty and thereupon was condemned After the Sentence of death pronounced he furiously cited the Queen to Gods Tribunall five dayes after he was laid upon a Hurdle and dragged thorow the City to Westminster where at the Gibbet he made a vain-glorious boasting of his faithfulnesse to the Queen but not so much as in a word commended himself to God and in the great Palace at Westminster was executed as a Traytor the Nobility and Commons sitting then in Parliament In this Parliament the Association before spoken of was universally approved and enacted in this Form That four and twenty or more of the Queens Privy Councell and Peers of the Realm should be selected and authorized under the Great Seal of England To make enquiry of all such persons as shall attempt to ãâã the Kingdom or raise Rebellion or shall attempt any evill against the Queens Person fâr whomsoeveâ and by whomsoever that layeth any claim to the Crown of England and that person for whom or by whom they shall âttempt âny such thing shall be altogether uncapable of the Crown and more to this purpose Laws also for the Queens safety were enacted against Jesuites and Popisâ Priests and against all that shall receive or relieve them These Laws terâified many and particularly out of fear of them Philip Eaâl of Arundel the Duke of Norfâlks eldest son purposed with himself to travell beyond Seasâ for having been once or twice cited before the Lords of the Councell and confined to his house and after six months set at liberty he âhereupon wrotâ a Letter to the Queen That for the Service of God and hiâ souls health he purposed to leave his Countrey but not his loyall âffection towards herâ but as he was taking Shipping by his own servants treachery he was discovered apprehended and laid in the Towâr At the same time lay in the Tower Henry Percy Earl of Northumberlandâ a man of a lofty spirit being suspected by reaâon of secret consultation ãâã Throgmorton the Lord Paget and the Guises about the invading of Engâââââ and freeing of the Queen of Scots whose cause he ever highly favouââd but in the mâneth of Iune he was found dead in his bed shot into the body with three bullets under his right pappe and the door bolted on the ââde The Corroners Inquest examining the matter found and pronounââd that he had killed himselfe Three dayes after the Lords meeting in âhe Star-chamber Bromeley Lord Chancellor declared this fact of the Earls ând then commanded the Atturney Generall to shew the causes of his imâââsonment and the manner of his death whereupon Popham first and then Egerton the Queens Solicitor in long Orations lay open all his Treasons and how for feare of the Law he had layd violent hands upon himselfe And now the Queen knowing that the seeds of these Treasons proceeded from the Duke of Guise and his adherents she sought for the strengthning of her selfe to enter into League with the Princes of Germany and to this end she sent Sir Thomas Bâdley to the King of Denmarke to the Count Elector Palatine of the Rhine to the Duke of Saxony Wittenberg Brunswicke Lââceburg the Marquesse of Brandenburg and the Lant grave of Hessia and into Scotland she sent Sir Edward Wootton to let the King understand how sincerely she was affected towards him and withall to draw the King if he could into a League of mutuall defence and offence and to commend to him the Match of the King of Denmarks Daughter The King was very inclinable to the matter of the League but for the present the businesse was interrupted by the death of Francis Russell Son to the Earl of Bedford slain at a meeting to compound a difference between the Borderers by a sudden tumult of the Scots but who it was that slew him was not known The English layd it upon the Earl of Arran and the Lord Fernihurst Governour of the middle Borders whereupon at the Queenes complaint the Earl of Arran was confined and Fernihurst committed to prison at Dundee where he dyed a man of great valour and resolution and one that was alwayes fârm for the Queen of Scots But Queen Elizabeth not thus satisfied gave leave by way of connivance to the Scottish Lords that were fled into England namely the Earl of Angus the Hamiltons Iohn and Cladius the Earl of Mârre Glames and other that they should steal away into Scotland she supâlying them with money there to master and subdue the Earl of Arran For Maxwell who was lately made Earl of Bothwell Baron Humes Coldingknâlls and other in Scotland had already promised them their assistance even ân the very Court Sir Patrick Grey Arrans great Rivall for the Kings favour Belenden and Secretary Maitland by Woottons craft were made against Arran These men upon their first entry into Scotland command all persons in the Kings name to ayd them for conserving the truth of the Gospell for freeing the King from corrupt Councellors and for maintaining of Amity with the English so as there presently joyned with them âbout eight thousand men The Earle of Arran hearing hereof
into the Town their own Army sickly Victualls and Powder failing and that which most of all Sir Francis Drake not bringing the great Ordnance as he promised they departed from the Suburbs of Lisbon towards Cascais a little Town at the mouth of the River Tagus which Town Drake had taken this meane while who excused his not coming to Lisbon by reason of the Flatâ he must have passed and the Castle of Saint Julian Fortified with fifty pieces of great Ordnance Neer this place they found threescore Hulkeâ of the Hause towns of Germany laden with corne and all manner of Munition which they took as good prize towards their charges in regard the Queen had forbidden them to carry Victualls or Munition to the Spaniard From hence they set sayle toward Virgo a forlorne Town by the Sea-side and pillaging all along that Quarter returned for England having lost in the Voyage of Souldiers and Marriners about six thousand yet not so much by the Enemy as by eating of strange fruites and distemper of the Climate It concerns the state of England to look at this time into the state of France for while those things were in doing between Spain and England the Popish Princes of France under pretext of defending the Catholike Religion entred into a combination which they called The holy League The purpose whereof was to root out the Protestants and to divert the Right of Succession to the Crown of France For they bound themselves to each other by oath to suffer no person but a Catholike to be King of France which was directly to exclude the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde if the present King without issue male should fail The head of this League was the Duke of Guise who having given some overthrows to the German Forces that came into France in aid of the Protestants was immeasurably extolled by the Clergie and others and grew to such a height of reputation that entring into Paris he made the King glad to leave the City and in an Assembly at Bloys to make him great Master of the French Cavalery and to consent by Edict to the cutting off the Protestants So as the King standing now in fear of him used means at last even in the very Court to have him murthered and soon after the Cardinall his brother to be strangled Hereupon so great a confusion followed that the people every where disobeyed the Magistrates and spoiled the Kings very Pallace at Paris Some Cities affected a Democrâcie others an Aristocracie but few liked of a Monarchy The Confederates in the mean while made a new Seal usurped the Royall Authority seized into their hands the best fortified places intercept the Kings Revenues call in Spanish Souldiers and in all places denounce war and violence against the King And the King in this case being forced to flye to the Protestantâ for succour they then most wickedly by one Iames Clement a Monk made him away The King being ready to dye Declareth the King of Navarre to be his lawfull successor but the Confederates would exclude him as an open Heretick and yet whom to make choice of they cannot well agree some would have the Duke of Lorraine as being descended from the ancient Kings of France some thâ Duke of Savoy as borne of the French Kings daughter a Prince Poâeât and Couragious others would have the Duke of Guises brother that waâ murtheredâ others the King of Spain but the greatest part gave theiâ voices for the Cârdinall of Bourbon who was one degree neerer alâyed to the slain King then the King of Navarre his Nephew He therefore was presently proclaimed King of France with the Title of Charls the Tenth but he being a Priest the King of Navarre also was at the same time proclaimed King of France who abode at Diepe a Sea Town of Normandy and doubted not to drive the Cardinall easily out of France The King of Navarre being thus raised in Dignity but weake in means implored Aid of the Queen of England offering to make a League Offensive and Defensive the Queen out of a pious respect to a King of her own Religion sent him presently two and twenty thousand pound sterling in Gold such a summe of Gold as he professed he had never seen at one time before and withall supplyed him with four thousand Souldiers under the command of Peregrine Lord Willoughby for Colonells she appointed Sir Thomas Wilford who was made Marshâll of the Field Iohn Boroâghs Siâ William Drury and Sir Thomas Baskervyle and gave them a months pay in hand Hereupon the Confederates whom the King had vanquished â little before at Arques beyond all expectation began to quaile and the day before the Arrivall of the English they vanished away with this addition of Forces the King marcheth to Paris and being ready to enter the Citie causeth a retreat to be âounded as loath to have spoile made of a Citie which he hoped shortly should be his own Afterwards by the assistance of the English he wonne many Towns and then having marched at least five hundred miles on foot he gave them leave after a long winters service to returne into England In which Voyage of men of note dyed Captain Hunnings but of a naturall death also Stubbs he whose right hand was cutt off for writing the book against the Queens marriage and Sir William Drury slain by Master Boroâghs in a single Combat where the quarrell was that he being but a Knight would take place of Boroughs that was the younger son of a Baron contrary to the Lawes of the English Gentry About this time Iames King of Scots with Queen Elizabeths good liking Espoused Anne the daughter of Frederick the second King of Denmarke by his Deputy but she afterward sayling for Scotland was by tempest cast upon Norway and there through continuall stormes forced to stay so as the King in the winter season set sayle thither that the marriâge according to his vow might be accomplished within the yeer some were of opinion that those stormes were caused by witch-craft and was confirmed indeed by some witches taken in Scotland who confessed they had raised those stormes to keep the Queen from landing in Scotland and that the Earl of Bothwell had asked Counsell of them concerning the Kings end who was thereupon cast into prison but in a short time breaking loose occasioned new stirs in Scotland This yeer many Noble personages dyed Frances Countesse of Sussex sister to Sir Henry Sidney Sir Walter Mildway Chancellour and Vice-Treasurer of the Exchequer William Somerset Earl of Worcester so numerous in his off-spring that he could reckon more children of both Sexes then all the Earls of England Also Iohn Lord Sturton Henry Lord Compton and at Bruxels the Lord Paget At this time the Queen who was alwayes frugall strained one point of Frugality more then ever she had done before for upon the information of one Caermarden though Burleigh Leicester and Walsingham were
to him with whom to confer Sir William Godolphine is sent to whom he complained of cowardise and he feared treachery of the Irish and therefore although he wanted nothing to hold out the Siege and did daily expect great Forces from Spain yet was willing to make a Composition whereupon at last it was agreed The Spaniards should yeeld up Kinsale to the Deputy as also the Castles and Forts at Baltimore Bere-Haven and Castle-haven and should depart with life and goods and Colours displayed The English at a reasonable price should furnish them with Ships and provision into Spain and that they should not carry Arms against the Queen of England till they were arrived in Spain c. And now the Spaniards being driven out of Ireland the Queen to prevent their coming again sendeth out Sir Richard Levison and Sir William Mââson with eight Ships of her own and some smaller Ships of War to attempt something upon the Coast of Spain On the nineteenth of March Levisân hoyseth Sayl and Monson afterward having in vain tarryed behinde for some Dutch Ships to joyn with them Levison in the mean time lighted upon the Spanish Navy of eight and thirty Ships which brought the Treasure from America and set upon them but to no purpose When Monson was come with the rest of the Fleet they had certain notice That a mighty Indian Caraque of sixteen hundred Tun and richly laden was upon the Coast of Portugall There indeed they found it but it lay close under a Fort attended with eleven Gallies and the Caraque it self appeared as big as a Castle yet they resolved to fire it if they could not take it The next day they thundered so violently against the Gallies that within seven hours the Marquesse of St. Crosse together with Portugall Gallies which he commanded withdrew themselves two of them were taken and fired and in them was great store of Powder which was going for the Low-Countries And now Levison signified to the Captain of the Caraque That the Gallies which they trusted to were driven away and therefore if they now refused mercy they must expect none hereafter After much speech to and fro it was at last agreed That the Caraque with the Ordnance and Merchandise should be yeelded up Thus the English having a fair winde returned homeward with a Booty to the value of a Million of Duckets by the Portugall account and not past five of their men lost in the Voyage At this time there arose a Contestation amongst the Popish Clergy here in England for the Jesuites and the Secular Priests made bitter Invectives in their writings one against the other The originall of the Priests quarrell was That Blackwell one wholly at the beck of the Jusuites was set over them as Arch-Presbyter who first of all despoiled them of their Faculties and when they appealed to the Pope caused them to be declared Schismaticks and Hereticks They in sundry Books extolled the Queen very highly as one that dealt mildly alwayes with the Catholikes till such time as they set all in a combustion in England and by their Treasons caused most severe Laws to be enacted against the Catholikes Parsons they traduced as a Bastard an Equivocator and a Traytor Whether they contended thus in good earnest or in jest only is hard to say but the Bishop of London politickly nourished the contention and all he gained was this That the Queen and her Councell finding them dangerous to the Common-wealth both the one and the other upon Penalty of the Laws were by Proclamation commanded to depart out of the Kingdom presently In France the Marshall Biron for entring into dangerous attempts against the publike Peace was arraigned and lost his head His confession brought some other into danger and amongst them the Duke of Bulloign of the Protestant Religion that when he was cited he durst not appear but fled into Germany Hereupon the King of France sendeth to Queen Elizabeth complaining that the Duke held his Marriage unlawfull and the Popes Dispensation nothing worth pronouncing his son Illegitimate had destined the Prince of Conde to the Succession of the Crown and conspired the destruction of the prime of the Nobility The Queen by her Legier Ambassadour adviseth the King not too credulously to entertain those reports as doubting these suggestions might proceed from some of the Spanish Faction Hereupon the King grew very angry saying The Queen held a better opinion of the Duke then he deserved and that he was one of the chief Architects of Essex his Treason and being questioned by the King about it was not able to deny it About this time also the Duke of Savoy by cunning slights and open force practised against the State of Geneva and the Queen relieved them with a great sum of money gathered amongst the Clergy and Laity all over England And now the Earl of Tyrone perceiving himself in a desperate estate resolved to sue for mercy and promised at last to submit his life and Fortunes to the Queens pleasure absolutely without condition Hereupon being admitted to the presence of the Deputy at the very entry of the room he fell on his knees and then passing on a few steps prostrated himself again saying I confesse and crave pardon for my great fault against God and a most bountifull Prince my dread Soveraign I fly to the Queens mercy as a sacred Anchor permitting her to dispose of my life and Fortunes at her pleasure Upon this his submission the Deputy commanded him to go aside and the next day took him along to Dublin with him meaning to bring him into England that the Queen might deal with him according to her Royall pleasure But before he could come into England the Queen died Her TAXATIONS IN a Parliament holden the first yeer of her Raign a Subsidy was granted of two Shillings eight pence the pound of Goods and four Shillings of Lands to be paid at two severall Payments of every person Spirituall and Temporall In her sixth yeer in a Parliament holden at Westminster one Subsidy was granted by the Clergy and another by the Laity together with two Fifteenths and Tenths In her eighth yeer in a Parliament then holden there were offered to her four Subsidies upon condition she would declare a Successor but she refused their offer and directly remitted the fourth Subsidy which they had granted saying It was all one whether the money were in her Subjects Coffers or in her own In her thirteenth yeer in a Parliament then holden towards her charges of repressing the Northern Rebellion there was granted her by the Clergy a Subsidy of six Shillings in the pound and by the Temporalty two fifteens with a Subsidy of two shillings and eight pence in the pound In her six and thirtieth yeer a Parliament was holden wherein was granted by the Clergy two whole Subsidies and by the Laity three besides six Fifteens and Tenths but it was put into the Act That this great Contribution
indeed fit to give a vent to the passage of Honour which during Queene Elizabeths Raigne had been so stopped that scarce any County of England had Knights enow in it to make a Iury. Before we goe further it will not be amisse to shew what great men attended King Iames out of Scotland as namely the Duke of Lenox the Earle of Marre the Lord Hame and many other great Lords and many other whom he afterward made great Lords as bring in his speciall favour first Sir George Hame made afterward Earle of Dunbarre then Sir Thomas Erskin made Earle of Kelly then Sir Iohn Ramsey made Earle of Holdernesse which two last had the fortune to come first in to his rescue against the Gowries then Sir Iames Hay made afterward Earle of Carlile and then Sir Richard Preston made Earle of Kildare in Ireland but whose great fortune by marrying the Heire of that Earledome was afteward the occasion of his great misfortune for comming out of Ireland he was unfortunately cast away and drowned But though King Iames was now safely come himselfe to London yet he accounted himselfe but halfe come untill his Queene and children were come to him and therefore there are now appointed to goe to conduct them of Lords and Earle of Sâssex the Earle of Lincolne the Lord Compton the Lord Norris and Sir George Carow Knight Lord President of Munster of Ladies the Countesse of Worcester the Countesse of Kildare the Lady Anne Herberts daughter to Henry Earle of Pembrooke the Lords Scroopes Lady the Lady Rich wife to the Lord Rich and the Lady Walsingham one of the late Queenes bedchamber But although these only were appointed to goe yet many other Lords and great Ladies went of themselves to attend her Majesty as the Countesse of Bedford the Lady Hastings the Lady Cecill the Lady Hatton the Lady Harington and divers other and with this Princely attendance the Queene with two of her children namely Prince Henry of the age of nine yeares and the Lady Elizabeth on the eleventh of Iune came to Yorke where resting themselves some few dayes on the seven and twentieth of Iune they came to Easton in Northamptonshire a house of Sir George Fermors where the King met them at dinner and afterward they rode together to a house of Sir Iohn Fortescue and so to London The Kings younger sonne Charles Duke of Albany came not at this time as being not three yeeres old and therefore not thought able to endure such a journey but the yeare following falling sick of a feavor Doctor Atkins one of the Kings Physitions was sent to conduct him who in six weekes cured him of his feavour and the first weeke of October brought him safe to Windsor where the King then lay for which service he was so well rewarded that together with the gaynâs of his usuall practiceâ hee grew to a greater wealth then was usuall for Physitions King Iames had distributed the meaner Order of Knighthoâd very plentifully now he thinks fit to raise his distributions to a higher degree and therupon on the twentieth of May he made Sir Robert Cecil Baron of Esindon Sir Robert Sidney Baron of Penshurst Sir William Knowles Baron of Greyes and Sir Edward Wooten Baron of Morley and not long after hee made the Lord Henry Howard Earle of North-Hampton and Thomas Sackvile Lord Buckhurst he made Earle of Dorset The King had by this time found the love and affection of his own people but the affection of neighbouring Princes towards him stood yet in suspence when now to take away that doubt came first in the beginning of Iune an Embassador from the Palsgrave of Rhyne presently after another from the States of Holland and Zeland another from the Arch-Duke of Austria another from the King of Spaine from the Seignory of Venice another another from the Duke of Florence and lastly on the eight of Iune Monâieur de Rhosny from the King of France all congratulating his happy comming to the Crowne of England for entertainment of which Embassadors and all other that should come after the King had erected an Office by the name of Master of the Ceremonies allowing him two hundred pounds a yeer Fee and the first that had the place was Sir Lewis Lewkenor a Gentleman who besides other good parts was very skilfull in the neighbouring languages Vpon the seventeenth of May this yeere were made fourteene Serjeants at Law whereof eleven had received Writs the last yeare of Queene Elizabeth namely Thomas Coventry Robert Haughton Lawrence Tanfield Iohn Crooke Thomas Foster Edward Philips Thomas Harris Iames Altham Henry Hubbard Augustine Nicholls and Robert Perker to whom the King added three new Iohn Sherley George Snygge and Richard Hutton who all kept their Feast together in the Middle Temple Hall One would thinke that by this time all Offences against Queene Elizabeth had been forgotten but King Iames more tender of wrongs done to her than to himselfe would not suffer Valentine Thomas so to escape who after he had lyen many yeeres prisoner in the Tower was on the fourth of âune arraigned at the Kings Bench-Barre and for conspiracy against the late Queene and some of her Counsell was on the seventh of Iune after six a clock at night drawne to Sââ Thomas Waterings and there hanged and quartered About this time the Honourable Charles Lord Montjây returned out of Ireland bringing alone with him Hugh O Neale Earle of Teroen at whose comming to the King the Lord Montjoy was sworne of the Kings Privie Counsell and the Earle of Teroen who had beene the cause of so much English bloud shed was yet pardoned and Proclamation made that by all men he should be used with respect and honour All this while the King had moved within his own Spheare and had done nothing out of the Realme his first Imployment abroad was now in Iune to his brother the King of Denmark to whom he sent in Embassage the Earle of Rutland upon two occasions the one to be Godfather to his sonne who was named Christianus the other to present him with the Order of the Garâer upon the like imployment soone after he sent the Lord Spenâer to Frederick Duke of Wirtenberg which Lords saw the said Princes Invested with the Garter and after honourable entertainment returned home It was now a time that every man might sit under his Vine and enjoy the happinesse of a peaceable Government when suddenly like a storme in a faire Somers day brake forth a Treason of a strange Composition for where in all TreasoÌs commonly they are all of some one Faction in this there were people of all sorts Priests and Laymen Papists and Protestants Noblement Knights and Genâlement that one would think it should be a well mannaged Treason and yet was the shallowest that was ever set on foot so shallow that it could scarce be observed either what the Authors of it ayled or what it was they would hâve done Indeed the great
Major of London in a gowâe of Crymson Velvet his brethren the Aldermen in gownes of Scarlet and twelve principall Citizens admitted to attend on them all other Citizens stayed from passing thither either by water or by Land by reson of the sicknesse and the first of Aâgust following all suitors were by Proclamation forbidden to repayâe to the Count till the winter following At this time the King forgot noâ a deliverance he had formerly had which though it were had in Scotland yet he would have notice of it taken in England which was his deliverance from the conspiracy of the Goâries on the fift day of August three yeââes before and thereupon Friday being the fift of August was by commandement appoâââed to be kept Holy day with Morning Prayer Sermons and Evening Prayer thât day and Bonfires ât night which was then and after during his life solemnely oââerved King Iaâââ had in hiâ aâ it were two Persons one as he was King of Scotland and in this he was in perfect amity with âhe King of Spainâ another as he was King oâ England and in this he had some difference with Spaine but he as Rex pacificââ ââoke the best from both and was altogether for the Olive branch and thereupon when at his comming into England he found letters of Mart granted against Spaniards he first caused them all to be called in and then consânted to a Treaty of perâit reconcilment In which Treaty handled at London the 18 oâ August 16â4 The Commissioners for the King of England were Thomas Earle of Dorset Charles Earle of Nottingham Charles Earle of Devonshire Henry Earle of North-Hampton and Robert Viscount Cranbourne For the King of Spaine Iohn de Velasco Constable of Castile Iohn de Tassis Earle of Villa Mediaâa and Alexander Robidius Professor of the Law in the Colledge of Millaine For the Archdukes Charles Count of Aramberg Iohn Richardoâ President of the Privy Counsaile and Lodowick Verreikin principall Secretary by whom a Peace being concluded and contained in many Articles The Somer following the King of Spaine sent Don Iohn de Velesco Constable of Castile and Duke of Fryas also Pedraca de la Syerra his great Chamberlaine accompagnied with diverse Marquises Earles and Barons who comming into England were by the Earle of Devonshire on the nineteenth of August brought to the Court where the King in his Chappell in the presence of the âommissioners and other English Lords the Duke of Fryas holding the Kings hands between his tooke his Oath upon the holy Bible religiously to obserue and keep all the Articles of the Peace and League agreed upon and in March following being now the third yeare of King Iames Charles Earle of Nottingham Lord high Admirall of England was sent into Spaine to take in like manner the King of Spaine's Oath who accompanied with three Barons and many Knights Gentlemen and other to the number of six hundred and fifty the fifteenth of Aprill arrived at Groyne from whence he was conducted to Valledolid three hundred miles off where the King of Spaine then kept his Court enterteined in all places as he passed at the King of Spaine's charge with so great provisions and such demonstration of love and gladnesse that it plainly shewed the Spaniards were as glad of our friendship as we of theirs The Lord Embassadour being come to Court He caused Thomas Knoll Esquire to deliver the presents sent from the King of England which were siz goodly Horses with saddles and saddle cloaths very richly imbrodered whereof three for the King and three for the Queen two crossebows with sheafes of arrowsâ foure fowling pieces inlaid with plates of Gold and a couple of Lyme hownds of singular qualities which the King and Queen in very kind manner accepted and then on the thirtyth of May the Lord Embassadour being sent for the King came forth into a large room where having a little Table set before him and a Bible very reverently laid upon it together with a Crucifix The Archbishop of Toledo read the Oath at the reading whereof the Lord Embassadour held the Kings hands between his and the King kneeling down layd his hands upon the Book and after his Oath subscribed to the Articles formerly concluded Whilst the E. of Nothingham was thus imployed in Spaine the right honorable Edward Earle of Hartford was likewise sent Embâssador to Albertus and Isabella Archdukes of Austria to take their Oaths for confirmation of the said Articles of Peace which were taken at Bruxell the first of May with great State and solemnity After which as the Earle bestowed on the Archduks servants to the full summe of three thousand pouns So the Archduke at his departy bestowed upon the Earle a Iewell worth nine hundred pounds and a suite of Arms worth three hundred and bore his charges all the time of his stay at Bruxels And now was King Iames truly Rex Pacificus Peece and amity with all Princes of Christendome which few of his Auncestors ever were A little before this in the Month of August in the yeare 1604 the strong Town of Ostend in Flanders after above three years siege and the slaughter of a hundred and twenty thousand men of both sides and in defense whereof Sir Francis Vere Generall and his brother Sir Horatio Vere had shewed great Valour was by the Marquis Spinola taken for which Service the King of Spaine made him Duke of Santa Severina and Lord Generall of all his Forces in the Low-Countryes It was now the third yeare of King Iames his Reigne when he kept Saint Georges Feast at Grenwich and there made two new Knights of the Garter namely the High and Mighty Prince Duke Ulrick heire of Norway and brother to our gracious Queen Anne and the right Noble Lord Henry Howard Earle of North-Hampton And upon the Saturday following in the Hall at Grenwich being richly hanged with Arras he created three Earles one Viscount and foure Barons namely Sir Robert Cecil Viscount Cranbourne he created Earle of Salisbury Thomas Cecil Lord Burley his eldest brother he created Earle of Exceter and Sir Philipe Herbert yonger brother to the Earle of Pembrooke he created Earle of Montgomery then Robert Sidney Baron of Penshurst Lord Chamberlaine to the Queen he created Viscount Lisle Sir Iohn Stanhope Vicechamberlaine to the King he made Lord Stanhope of Harington Sir George Carew Vicechamberlaine to the Queen he made Lord Carew of Cloptonâ Master Thomas Arundell of Devonshire he made Lord Arundell of Wardez and Master William Cavendish he made Lord Cavendish of Hardwick About this time a strange fancy possessed the braines of a professed Physition one Richard Haidock of new Colledge in Oxford who pretended to preach at night in his sleep in such sort that though he were called aloud or stirred and pull'd by the hands or feet yet would make no shew of either hearing or feeling And this he did often in the presence of many honorable persons that came to heare him
by Coach to the King at Hampton Court where foureteen dayes together they were feasted and royally entertained and then returned But these Festivalls were follwed with a little disturbance for in May the yeare after great Assemblies were gathered together in Northampton-shire Warwickshire and Leicester-shire throwing downe Inclosures at first without any particular head but at last rose up a base fellow called Iohn Reynolds whom they named Captaine Pouch because he had a great leather Pouch hanging by his side who affirmed to the Company that in that Pouch he had sufficient to defend them against all cummers but when hee was afterward apprehended and his Pouch searched there was nothing found in it but a piece of green Cheese Proclamation was made commanding them to surcease their disorder But this prevailed nothing till the King sent Henrie Earle of Huntington Thomas Earle of Exceter Edward Lord Zouch and Sir Edward Coâke Lord Chiefe Iustice of England to suppresse them by force of Armes and to punish the Levellers according to the nature of their offences some by Death as for Treason some by Fines as for Routs but Captaine Pouch was made exampler On Friday the twelfth of Iune his Majesty attended with divers Lords dyned with the Lord Major Sir Iohn Wats who after dinner presented him with a purse full of Gold and humbly besought his Majestie that he would be pleased to bee free of his Company the Cloath-workers To which the KING graciously condiscended and thereupon called to Sir William Stone Master of the Company and said Stone give me thy hand and now I am a Cloath-worker And in token of my speciall favour to this fraternity I doe here give to this Company a brace of Bucks yearely for ever against the time of the Election of the Master and Wardens at which time also many Lords and Gentlemen were made Free of the Cloath-workers On Thursday the 16. of Iuly the King and Prince with many Lords dined at Merchant Tâlârs-Hall where the Master and Warden of that Society presented the King with a Purse of Gold giving him humble thankes for gracing their Fraternity with his âoyall presenceâ and therewithall shewed him a Roll wherein were Registred the names of seven Kings one Queene 17 Princes and Dukes two Dutchesses one Archbishop one and thirty Eearles threescore and six Barons seven Abbots seven Pryors with a great number of Knights and Esquires who had been free of that Company which His Majesty graciously accepted but told them that he himselfe was already free of another Company but the Prince his son should be free of theirs and that he would see the Garland put on his head whereupon the Master presented the Prince also with a purse of Gold which he graciously accepted and said that not only Himselfe would bee free of the Merchant Tailorsâ but the Lords also that were with him should do the like all which was performed with great solemnity The fourth of Iuly this yeare Sir Thomas ânevet was called by Writ to the Parliament by the name of Baron of Estrick the next day Sir Iulius Caesar Chancelor of the Exchecker was sworne a Privy Counsellor and the sixteenth of November fallowing Sir âervis Clyfton Knight was called to the Parliament by Writ by the name and title of Baron of Layton Brameswold whose only daughter and heire was soon after married to Eysme Steward Baron of Aubigny in France sole brother of the Duke of Lânox whom he afterward succeeded in that Dignity About this time Hugh Earle of Tervon most ungratefully and utterly forgetfull of the Kings great clemency to him together with Teârconell Hugh Baron of Dungaunon and divers other Irish Lords fled into the parts beyond Sea with a purpose to solicite forreign Princes against the King and to offer the Kingdom of Ireland to the Pope which was presently signified to the Realm by Proclamation On the Eleventh of Aprill this year George Iervis a Seminary Priest and the three and twentieth of Iuneâ following Thomas Gârnet a Iesuit were both executed at Tybourn Thomââ Garnet having the favour offered him to be pardoned if he would but take the Oath of Allegeance which he refused The nineteenth of Aprill at Whitehall died Thomas Earle of Dorset Lord Treasurer whose death because he dyed suddenly as he sate at the Counsell-Table was by some untowardly interpreted but being dead and his head opened there were found in it certain little bags of water which whither by the strayning of his study the night before in which he sate up till eleven a clock or otherwise by their own maturity suddenly breaking and falling upon his braine caused his suddain death So certain it is that death comes not always by determinate steps but sometimes per saltum and we all cary about us the causes of suddain death though unsensible of them till we be unsensible This Lord was of excellent parts and in his place exceeding Industrious and I have heard many Checker men say there never was a better Treasurer both for the Kings profit and the good of the subject The twentith of May at Windsor were made two Knights of the Gaâter George Earle of Dunâarre and Philip Earle of Moââgâmery but the Earle of Dunbarra within a yeare or two after left both his honor and his life but not his life without honour having been a faithfull servant and a wise Counsellor to the King and was honorably Interred in the Church at Westminster About this time were many famous English Pirates that stuck not some of them to turne Turks and lived in great state at Tunis of whom the chiefe were Wârd Bishop Sir Francis Verney and Glââââle whom after many depredations and outragious acts at Sea partly the King of Spaine suppressed and partly the King of Eng. and 19 of their associâtes being taken were hanged aâ Wapping Also at this time in the Strand on the North side of Durham house where ââood an old long stable Robert Earle of Salisbury now Lord Treasurer of Engâââd caused to be erected a stately Building which upon Tuesday the tenth of Aprill in the yeare 1609 was begun to be richly furnished with wares and the next day after the King the Queene and Prince with many great Lords and Ladies came to see it and then the King gave it the name of Britteines âurse On the eight of May this year the King by Proclamation prohibited all forreine Nations that after August they should not fish upon any of the Coasts of England Scotland or Ireland nor the Isles adjacent without the speciall Licence from the Commissioners in that behalfe Ordained At this time the making of Allum which heretofore with great charges had been fetched from forreigne parts was by diverse that laboured in it and now lastly by Sir Iohn Burchier brought to perfection in England and therupon the King prohibited upon paine of confiscation any Allum to be brought from beyond the Seas and took the whole traffick therof to himself And now the
when the Illustrious Prince Frederick Count Palatine of the Rhyne with whom a Treaty of marriage had been before with the Lady Elizabeth on the sixteenth of October arrived at Gravesend to whom the Duke of Lenox and diverse other Lords were sent by the King who conducted him to White-Hall and from thence into the great Bââquetting-House where the King the Queene Prince Henry and the Lady Elizabeth entertained him in all kind manner and after by Barge conducted him to Essex House appointed for his lodging It was many yeâres since any Kings Daughter had beene marryed in England which now happening and to so Illustrious a Prince was just cause of Triumph and rejoyceingâ but see the misery of Humane Affaires joy can no sooner be setting forth but sorrow will be sure to follow her at the heeles as now indeed it happened for on the nine and twentieth of October the Prince Palatine with all the great Lords of the Kingdome in most joviall manner dining at Guild-Hall Prince Hââââ who waâ also invited and expected could not come being newly fallen exceâding sick of a popular malignant feavour which raigned that yeare in most parts of this Land whereof on the sixth of November between seven ând eight a Clock at night at his Court of St. Iames he dyed But hee being infinitly beloved of the people and one that had given great hope of proâing an Heroick Prince It caused suspition in many mens heads that his death was not without violence offered to Nature some said by bunches of Grapes given him to eate some by gloves of a poysoned perfume given him âor a present but these were but idle rumours and conceits It seemes the Divine Providence had ordained it should be said of him Hanc tantum terris âââendent Fata nec ultraâ esse sineât whose death would have given a great blow to the happinesse of this Kingdome if there had not beene another Prince left of a milder spirit perhaâs but so accomplished with all excellent endowments that there could be no great want of Prince Henrie as long as there was left Prince Charles The Corps of Prince Henrie who dyed at the age of eighteene yeares eight moneths and seventeene dayes was drawne in a Chariot to the Abbey Church at Westminâter and there interred in the Chappell Royallâ on the seventh of December following This Accident something appealed the generall joy but yet triumphs went on Vpon Saint Thomas day the Palsgrave and Grave Maurice were Elected Knight of the Garter and the seven and twentieth of December the Palsgrave was betroathed to the Lady Elizabeth On Sunday the seventh of Februarie the Palsgrave in person was enstalled Knight of the Garter at Windâor and at the same time was Grave Maurice enstalled by his Deputy Count Lodâwick of Nassaw On the fourteenth of Februarie being Shrove-Sunday and Saint Valentines day this happy marriage of the Palsgrave with the Lady Elizabeth was solemnized in the Chappell at White-hall The Bride was led to Church by two Batchellors her brother Prince Charles and the Earle of Northampton Lord Privie Seale she was attired all in white having a rich Crowne of Gold upon her head her haire hanging downe at length curiously beâeâ with Pearles and precious stones her Train supported by twelve yong Ladies in white Garments The King gave her in marriage the Arch-Bishop of Canterburie married them the Bishop of Bath and Wells preached the Bridall Sermon which ended the Bride was led home by two married men the Duke of Lenox and the Earle of Nâttingham Lord Admirall This marriage was solemnized the first night with a stately Masque of Lords and Ladies the second night with a magnificent Masque of the Gentlemen of the middle Temple and Lincolnes Inne The third night with a sumptuous Masque of the Gentlemen of the Inner Temple and Graees Inne provided indeed then but was not performed till the satturday night following by reason the concourse of people was so great it would have hindred the Show After this the Lord Major and Aldermen gave the Bride a Chain of Orientall Pearle valued at two thousand pounds and now when all things had beene done for honouring their marriage which either love and observance could device or Art and Magnificence could performe On the tenth of April the Bride-groome with his Bride tooke leave of the King and Queene at Rochester who had by Barge conducted them thither and there taking Ship On the nine and twentieth of April they arrived at Flâshing from whence the Duke of Lenox the Earle of Arundell the Viscount Lisle and the Lord Harington waited upon them to their chiefe City of Heydelburgh in all places as they passed being received with all State and magnificence but then on the foureteenth of Iune the English Lords returning home the Lord Harington dyed by the way at Wormes whose Corps was brought over and buâied in England And here it will not be amisse to shew of what extent and largenesse the Palsgrave's Countrie isâ because of the iniquity of some that seeke to disgrace it It is in length about two hundred English miles taking the lower and upper Countrie In the lower hee hath six and twenty walled Townes besides an infinite number of faire Villages and two and twenty houses of residence In the uper not so many walled Townes and houses but those that are generally fairer than in the lower especially Amberg and New-market But it is now time to looke home in the yeare 1609. the King having care for the quietnesse of Ireland had granted to the City of London the present possession and Plantation in the Province of Ulster whereupon afterward in the yeare 1612. they sent thither about three hundred persons of all sorts of handy-crafts men chiefely to inhabite the two Cities of London-Derrie and Coleraigne where they ordained Alderman Cockaine for their first Governour And for the advancing of this or the like Plantation in Ireland King Iames about this time began a new Order of Knights which are called Baroneâs because they take place next to Barons younger sonnesâ and hee appoynted certaine Lawes to make them capable that should be admitted First that they should maintaine the number of thirty foot souldiers in Ireland for three yeares after the rate of eight pence a day and to pay the wages of one whole yeare upon the passing of their Patent Then that they should bee Gentlemen of Bloud of three Descents and lastly should have land of Inheritance in possession or immediate Reversion to the value of a thousand pounds per annum And to keep the Order from swarming he stinted it within the number of onely 200. and as the issue should faile the Order to cease But he that will look how wel the end of the Institution and the Laws of it have bin observed shall perhaps find it to be here as it was in the Order of St. Michael in France into which at firstâ there were none admitted but Princes and Emminent
Iames His Raigne there were so many made that it may not be unfit to set them down in a Cathalogue together In His first yeare were made foure Earles and nine Barons namely Henry Howard yonger brother of the last Duke of Norfolk was made Earle of Northampton Thomas Sackvile Lord Buckhurst was made Earle of Dorset and shortly after Charles Blount Lord Montjoy was made Earle of Devonshire and Thomas Howard Baron of Walden was made Earle of Suffolk Henry Grey was made Lord Grey of Groby afterward by King Charles made E. of Stamford Henry Danvers was made Baron of Dansley afterwards by K. Charles made Earle of Danby Sir Iohn Peter of Essex was made B. of Writtle Sir W. Russell was made Baron of Thornaugh Sir Thomas Gerard was made Baron of Gerards Bromly in Stafford-shire Sir Robert Spencer was made B. of Wormelayton in the County of Warwick Sir Thomas Egerton was made B. of Elesmore and Sir Robert Cecill was created B. of Henden in Rutlandshire and Sir Iohn Harington was made Baron of Exâon In His second yeare on the 20 of May were made foure Barons and one Viscount Sir Robert Sidney was made Baron of Penshurst Sir William Knowles Baron of Grayes Sir Edw. Wotton Baron of Marley and Mildmay Fanc Lord de Spencer and in August the same yeare Sir Robert Cecill Baron of Essenden was created Viscount Cranbourne In His third yeare of the 4 of May were created three Earles and one Viscount and foure Barons namely Sir Robert Cecill Viscount Cranbourne was created E. of Salisburyâ Sir Thomas Cecill his elder brother L. Burghley was created E. of Exeter and Sir Philip Herbert younger brother to the E. of Pembrok was created E. of Montgomery Robert Sidney Baron of Penshurst was created Viscount of Lisle Sir Iohn Stanhope was made Baron of Harington Sir George Carew Baron of Clopton Mr Thomas Arundell of Devonshireâ Baron of Warder and Master William Cavendysh Baron of Hardrickâ In his fourth yeare on the fourth of Iuly Sir Thomas Kneveât was called by writ to the Parliament by the name of Bâron of Estrickâ and was thereby Baron of that Title and on the seventh of September Sir Iervys Clifton was likewise called by writ to the Parliament by the name of Baron of Layton Bromsensold and was thereby Baron of that Title In his ninth yeare upon Easter-munday Sir Robert Carre was created Viscount Rochester and In his tenth yeare an the fourth of November was created Earle of Somersett In his eleventh yeare Lewis Steward Duke of Lenox was made Earle of Richmond and after Duke of Richmond In his thirteenth yeare on the 29. of Iuâe Sir Iames Hây of Scotland was created Baron of Sawley and about three yeares after was made Viscount Doncaster and Sir âobert Dorâer was created Baâon of Wyng afterward by K. Charles made Earle of Carâarvan In his fourteenth yeare on the 9. of Iuly Sir Iohn Hollis was created Baron of Haughton and Sir Iohn Roper of Kenââ was made Baron of Tenham and on the 17. of August Sir George Villiers was created Baron of Whadden and Viscount Villiers and on the 7. of November Thomas Egerton L. Elsemore was created Viscount Brackley and he dying soon after his sonne Iohn was created Earle of Bridgewater William L. Knowles was created Viscount Wallingford and Sir Philip Stanhope was created Baron of Shelford On the 5 of Ianuary the Viscount Villiers was created Earle of Buckingham and on the third of March Sir Edward Noell of Rutland-shire was made Baron of Rydlington In his fifteenth yeare on New-yeares day Sir George Villiers Earle of Buckingham was created Marquis of Buckingham and on the 12 of Iuly Sir Francis Bacon Lord Chancellour of England was created Baron of Verulam and not long after Viscount Saint Albans Also in the Summer of this year the King created foure Earles and one Countesse namely the Viscount Lisle was made Earle of Leycester the Lord Compton was made Earle of Northampton the Lord Rich was made Earle of Warwick the Lord Cavendish was made Earle of Devonshire and the lady Compton wife to Sir Thomas Compton and mother of the Marquis of Buckingham was created Countesse of Buckingham In his sixteenth yeare on the 25 of November Sir Iohn Digby Vice chamberlaine to the King was created Baron of Shirbourne by Patent to him and his heires Males In his seventeenth yeare in the moneth of Iune Esme steward Lord d' Aubigny younger brother Duke of Lenox was created Earle of March Iames Marquis Hammilton was created Earle of Cambridge and Sir Iohn Villiers brother to the Marquis of Buckingham was Baron of Stâk and Viscount Purbeck In his eighteenth yeare William Câvendish was created Viscount Mansfield afterward by King Chârlâs mâde Earle of Neâcastle and on Munday the fourth of Decâmber Sir Henry Mââtague being first made Lord Treasurer was created Baron of Kimbolton and Viscount Mââdevile and not long after Earle of Manchester and Sir Iohn Ramsey Viscount Haddington of Scotland was created Earle of Holdernesse and William Fielding was created Baron of Newhenâââ and Viscount Fielding In his ninteenth yeare Henry Cary was made Lord Cary of Lâppington afterward by King Charles made Earle of Manmouth Sir Edward Mountague elder Brother to the Viscount Mââdevile was made Baron of Boulton the Lord Darciâ of Essex was created Viscount Colchester afterward by King Charles made Earle Râvers the Lord Huâsdoâ was created Viscount Rochford afterward by King Charles made Earle of Dâver Sir Lyonell Cranfield Master of the Wardes was created Baron of Cranfield in Bedford-shire and Sir Howardâ second sonne to Thomas Earle of Suffolkeâ was created Baron Chorleton and Viscount Andover afterward by King Charles made Earle of Barke-shire In his twentyth yeare in the moneth of September the Viscount Doncaster was created Earle of Carlile the Viscount Fielding was created Earle of Denhigh the Lord Digby was made Earle of Bristow the Lord Cranfield was created Earle of Middlesex and Sir Henry Rich was made Baron of Kensington In his one and twentyth yeare the Marquis of Buckingham being then in Spaine with Prince Charles had his Patent sent him to be Duke of Buckingham William Grey was created Baron of Warke Elizabeth the widdow of Sir Moyle Fynch of Kent was created Viscountesse Maidestone afterward by K. Charles made Countesse of Winchelsly âhis two and twentieth year the Earle of Clanricard of Ireland was created Viscount Tunbridge in Kent afterward by King Charles made Earle of Saint Albans Sir Iohn Hollis Baron of Haughton was created Earle of Clare Sir ãâ¦ã Riâh Baron of Kensington was created Earle of Holland the Lord ãâ¦ã Baron of Say and Seale was made Viscount Say and Seale Sir ãâ¦ã âane was created Earle of Westmerland Oliver Lord St. Iohn of Bletâââ ãâã made Earle of Bullinbrook Sir Christopher Villers brother to the Duke of Bâckingham was made Earle of Anglesey and Sir Iames Ley was made ãâ¦ã afterward by King Charles made Earle of Marlborough Also this yearââ Sir Francis Leak was made Baron of Deincourt and Sir Richard Roberts was made Lord Roberts of Truro in Cornwall And this was the number of all the Earles and Barons made by King Iamesâ but in his time also began another sort of Nobility to bee made in England which had none of the Priviledges of English Barons but had onely Title to bee called Lords of some place either in Scotland or Ireland although they possessed not a foot of Land in either Of which âoât the number being great I forbeare to rehearse them lest I should be tedious or otherwise bee thought to encroach too much upon the Heralds office It is sufficient to have shewed that King Iames advanced so many in honour that in a kind it might be said of him as was said of Augustus Caesar That he left Rome of Marble which hee found built of Brick The beginning of THE RAIGNE OF KING Charles KING Iames being deceased on the 27 day of March in the forenoon the same day in the afternoone Charles Prince of Wales His only son then living was Proclaimed King of Great-Brittain France and Ireland with the Generall acclamation of all sorts of People as being a Prince of admirable endowments both of mind and body He was now about the age of 25 yeares whereof the most part of one he had spent in Spaine where although he was frustrated of the end for which he went yet it gave him a tincture of Travaile and Expeâience more worth perhaps then the end he went for For by this meanes he attainââ to a greater degree of that which made Ulysses so famous Quod mores hominum multorum vidit urbes The first thing he did after his Coronation was to proceed in the marriage agreed upon in His Fathers time with the beautiful vertuous Lady Henrieta Maria yonger daughter of the Great Henry the 4â K. of France after which marriage we have only to say that he was happy in the Wife of His bosome Happy in His hopefull Issue Happy in the love of His people Happy in the Peace and tranquility of his Kingdomesâ and Happy in the continuânce of all these Happinesses for 15 years together and might have so continued still if it had not been for Discordia Demens Viperiuâs crinem vittiâ innexa cruentis But of that which happened afterward I dare not take upon me to be a Register Neither is it indeed safe to begin a Narration which I must be faine to breake off in amazâment as having nothing left me to say but Omnia in maluâââere and so far from any apparance of humane remedy that our only Anchor must be this supersuntâ Yet our hope is It will be but a fit and the storme once past faire weather again and fairer perhaps than it was before and then with Ioy we shall resume our stile Laetumque choro Poeana canemus In the meane time comforting our selves with the words of the Prophet David Many are the troubles of the Righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all Carolus en Rex magnus in armis major in ermis Quid mirum Imperio magnus amore magis FINIS