made him swallow Poyson without effect strangled him with his own hands reporting he had destroy'd himself when he had Reign'd Six Months and Eight Days The French and Venetian Army by Land and Sea continued in the Neighbourhood expecting the effect of young Alexis Promises which he not being able to perform in the time agreed on too earnestly endeavouring to raise the Money fell into the hatred of the People and was thus deprived of his Diadem and Life So bloody a Regicide deserved the Chastisement our Warriours intended him who drawing their Army down Besieged Constantinople for 72 Days Geofry de Vilhardouin writ the Story of this Siege and the particular Actions of the Heroes Murzuphle fled with his Treasures abandoning the City which was taken the 12th of April 1204. The Princes and other Lords resolved to choose an Emperor amongst them The Earl of Flanders with the Count of St. Paul named Five to give their Suffrages The Marquis of Montferrat and the Earl of Savoy other five The Venetians choosing the like Number In all 15 Voyces The Plurality were for Baldwyn This Prince was very powerful and a Great Souldier of which he had given many Proofs in the Siege He was Uncle by the Mothers Side to Lewis design'd Successor to Philip the August King of France He was Crown'd by Thomaso Morosini newly created Patriarch of Constantinople Boniface Marquis of Montferrat had from young Alexis for a Recompence the Island of Candia which he sold the Venetians for a great Sum of Money and was nevertheless made King of Thessaly Godfry Lord of Champagn was made Duke of Athens and Prince of Achaia John Earl of Brienne was sometime after made King of Jerusalem Baldwin had scarcely possest this new Dignity a Year before he went to Besiege Adrianople three Days Journey from him and possest by his Enemies who very much annoyed him That Success he had in the beginning did not accompany him in this Affair since by the profound Secrets of the Divine Pleasure being attackt with great Numbers of his Adversaries Greek Fugitives Bulgarians and Tartars he was defeated and supposed to be kill'd in the Plaines of Orestes A nostris pro Mortuo deploratus est says Paulus Aemilius His Brother Henry Succeeding him in the Empire This Disaster happened in the Year 1205 though some Chronologists antidate it two or three Years Twenty Years after This Famous Impostor calling himself by the Name of this Emperour appeared in Flanders Jane eldest Daughter of this Baldwin by Mary the Daughter of Henry Earl of Champagne was at that time Countess of Flanders and Married to Fernando Infant of Portugal She had great Wars her Husband having been taken Prisoner at the Famous Battle of Bovines which King Philip the August gained over the Emperour Otho the 4th in year 1214. And was long a Prisoner in the Louvre at Paris Although this had been some Years past she still felt her losses and that great Consternation Robert Son of Peter de Courtenay Earl of Auxerre and Prince of the Blood of France and Yolente only Daughter and Inheritrix of the Emperour Henry Earl of Flanders then possest that Throne to which this Impostor pertended One would have thought he should first have gone to the place where he was taken Prisoner but he could hope no assistance from the Greeks On the contrary Theodore Lascaris who resided at Nice and always took upon himself the Title of Emperour of Constantinople would have used him worse than the Bulgarians if he had fallen into his hands As for Robert de Courtnay whose Mother Yolente was his pretended Niece he was no ways inclin'd to yield him the Empire he had too much difficulty in obtaining it His Father the Emperour Peter falling into the Hands of Theodore was cruelly put to Death by him So that this Impostor thought his Affairs would advance better and he be more kindly received in his Native Country The Earldome of Haynault was his first Inheritance for this Baldwin was Son to an Earl of Haynault of the same Name Sirnamed The Magnanimous and of Margaret of Alsace Heiress of Flanders For this Reason he was Joyfully received there and with more satisfaction to those Martial People who hated the Dominion of a Woman Besides it was Independant on the Kings of France The Flemings received him very coldly seeing but a small Train with him nor would they own him for their Earl or Emperour of Greece This Impostor affected an extraordinary Gravity in his Meine the better to draw Veneration and acquire the Majesty of an Emperour The Countess Jane refused to see him but was advised to interrogate him for the better discovery of his Practises The President of her Councel of State summon'd him to appear ask'd him many troublesome Questions Gravibus fatigare percontationibus ausus est and spoke to him in this manner If it be true that you are the Earl Baldwin and assume not a False Title to the Empire of Greece I demand of you Why you have abandon'd your Subjects in that Country Even those poor People laden with Miseries whom the Divine Providence by the Suffrages of so many brave Men had committed to your Protection Why forsake you them in their greatest need of your Conduct and Care having so many Generous and Experienc'd Captains to whom you owed the last and greatest Obligations for chusing you among the most principal Men in the World to be their Chief and set the Imperial Diadem upon your Head Why have you thus neglected them exposed to the rage of Barbarous Nations For this reason although you were the true Baldwin we have sufficient Cause to dissemble our knowledge of you sure then we shall not own you who are but a false and a counterfeit Badlwin Why when the Affairs of all the East were laid on your shoulders to be supported and sustained by you when they were in disorder and lost by your misfortune have you feign'd to be dead and conceal'd your being alive What could you expect from so strange a Deceit Or what could be the reason of such a supposition and imposture If you would so long dwell among the Dead why should we now believe you are alive not having appear'd in any place these twenty years And had you been what you pretend now why did you not come in the time of Philip the August your Brother in Law who Married Alix one of your Sisters and in the life time of so many persons of Honour who might either have proved your Imposture or authorized your Title Why came you not sooner out of the Grave In what darkness have you hid that Glorious Face known to the whole World And with what new one do you pretend to Enchant the eyes of Men after so many years I ask if you believe your self that we ought to give faith to a Man who after so vast an Interval shall say I am the Emperor Baldwyn Have we never seen nor heard that there
thing which concerns their Relations He came to Parma where he sent the Dutchess word that a Gentleman of Portugal had something to tell her which he could declare to none but herself The Dutchess had lately received an account by a Courrier from Lisbone of the Death of the Cardinal Don Henry who last filled that Throne which she now demanded for her Son Rainuccio she being the Daughter of Edward one of the Sons of King Don Emanuel There were also other Pretenders to this Crown of Portugal such was Emanuel Philibert Duke of Savoy by his Mother Beatrix a Daughter of King Don Emanuel Katharine the Sister of Mary joyned her Right with that of the Duke of Braganza a Prince of the Blood Royal of Portugal for her Son Theodosio and who indeed by the Law of Lamega which as they affirm excludes a Forreigner from the Throne of Portugal had the most just Pretence to it Catharine de Medicis Queen of France claimed it though at greater distance And Pope Paul the Fourth came in with his Title saying That Crown was a Fief of the Holy-See and therefore at his Disposal Philip the Second King of Spain was Son of Isabel Daughter of the same King Don Emanuel and Mary his Wife was yet nearer being Daughter of Don John the Third Son and Successor to Don Emanuel He was the nearest in Blood the nighest Neighbour and the most Potent so got Possession of the Crown but not without fighting for it by Sea and Land The Naval-Fight which his Admiral the Marquis de Santa Cruz obtained of Peter Strozzi a Florentine and Marshal of France who undertook by Force to dispute the Title of Catharine de Medicis his Mistress and kinswoman was no small Part of Philip's good Fortune The Three Estates of the Kingdom of Portugal were Assembled to determine this great Controversy when Don Sebastian appeared in Italy The Dutchess of Parma had also her mind filled with these things but when she perceived Him she gave a shrieck and ran to the Other end of her Closet much astonished I bring you Madam said he approaching her Extraordinary news which will much surprize you the King Don Sebastian is alive and not far from hence not much distant from you for he now speaks to you What Madam continued he without hesitating does then Don Sebastian Fright you He hoped that a better Reception would have been the reward of those pains he has endured to find you At the tone of his Voice the Dutchesses trouble was so great she could neither speak nor move out of her place Recollect your self my dear Cozen said he with a Passionate Air I am no Phantasme but the same Don Sebastian you once honoured with your Favour and now returned as full of your Idea as I was before I went to Affrica With these Discourses the Dutchess came to her self and suffer'd the False Don Sebastian to approach nearer giving him her hand and when she was assured that this pretended Monarch was a Man and no Ghost Ah my Lord said she Whence are you come where have you been so long hid And by what Miracle are you among the Living When you are in a Condition to hear me replyed Don Sebastian I will answer you all this But first be not so disturbed and believe that I am really the King of Portugal and if neither my Stature nor my Face assure it let the Passion of my Eyes convince you I have now recovered my Spirits said the Princess sitting down by him and confess your Sight did affright me above my Power of commanding my Disturbance But Sir all is now dissipated Therefore pray tell me to what Wonder we owe your Life and return to Love Madam answered Sebastian a Passion that had once made me touch your Heart must needs defend me from all Accidents Then he told her how Xerine found him among the Dead his getting into the Isle of Mucazen and his Living at Hoscore but carefully concealed how Don Sebastian had Loved Xerine before that Action and more his Marriage to her in Affrica Though that Princess used her utmost Power with Muley Boabdelin her Cozen and a Prince of the Blood Royal to oblige him to it by assuring him the Princess Mary was Married to the Duke of Parma But said that sometime after being informed she was a Widow He escaped as he pretended with difficulty out of Prison and came to lay himself at her Feet so full of Love that he had Lived on the very Thoughts of being esteemed by her Why then said the Dutchess did you not Write to me That I did many times reply'd he and doubtless Xerine who hoped that from my Misfortunes which she could not expect from my Re-establishment gave such Orders as prevented their coming to your hand My Restraint was very severe I was treated like a Valued Lover and had no Opportunity or Liberty to deliver my self from that Title The Dutchess must needs be Transported at the Recital of a Constancy so well invented She Ordered an Apartment for him whom she thought the King her Cousin together with an Equipage in all respects sutable and sent for the most Intelligent Persons to depute to the Estates of Portugal on his behalf which Deputation extreamly surprized them They sent Six of the Chief in their Assembly of whom some had been Ministers to Don Sebastian to see their Monarch Their Eyes assured them he was the same they ask't him several Questions which they thought Don Sebastian only could Answer But he was so well instructed by Xerine as convinced the Ambassadors that none but He in the World could so reply Insomuch that they assured the Estates he was really their King Those who were interested against him accused him of being a Counterfeit and Practizer of Deceit requiring this Sebastian to go and be present in Person at the General-Assembly of Estates to be Interrogated there in Form concerning his Pretentions While those who were affectionate to the Memory and Person of Don Sebastian thought there was no Security in that Demand The Kingdom was hereupon divided Those were called Royalists who adhered to the King and Those who declared for the several Princes pretending to the Crown Leaguers During these Disorders he that caused them lived at Parma expecting an Army should take the Field for his Interest At the Head of which he intended to demand what he said was his Right This supposed Prince after some time fell into disgrace with the Dutchess of Parma I know not whither or no by the Accident which Mademoiselle des Jardins relates on this manner That one Day walking with her by the side of that Canal which is one of the most Beautiful Things belonging to the Palace of Farnese she observed the Ribbon of a Letter-Case hanging out of his Pocket which she softly pulled out wherein she found Letters and Verses that discovered his Love some of them having the Greatest Liberties of his Marriage with Xerine for
Emperour of Greece Whose Death I have lamented when I was in my Youth When first the unhappy News arrived his Son Henry a Valiant Prince succeeded him in the Empire and his Eldest Daughter Jane in his Earldom of Flanders Their Country holds of me and is a Feudatory of my Crown as the Earl is a Peer of my Kingdom I wish I could alter the Course of Nature and that what has happened had not been that my dear Vncle the Father of my Cousin-German whose Name and Memory is of admirable Veneration in Greece could return to Life But I cannot lightly be perswaded from the belief I have of his death and the report which hath been confirmed through the course of so many Years Most humane things especially Empires subsist by the Testimony of men Tell me then for whom you would be received If for my Vncle shew it us by some authentick proof and because the thing is unexpected it will be so much the more agreeable and give me transports of joy and satisfaction when I am convinced I have wept for my Vncle without cause and for a false Opinion whilst he that I should Reverence like a Father is restor'd to me I am glad that a few short questions will make your self judge and witness in your own Cause which the World must needs know is of the greatest Importance I ask you then If my Father King Philip treated you as his Homager and whether he gave you the Investiture of the Earldom of Flanders In what place at what time in what manner and before what Witnesses did he gird on your Sword and made you a Knight And of what Order was it Who was the Wife you Married in France Who treated the Match In what place and with what Ceremonies did you Marry her for the true Baldwyn cannot be ignorant of these matters I have exactly made a Recital of all the Questions from Paulus Aemilius that admirable Historian It is very strange that he who had so well studied the Genealogies of the Flemish Lords could not tell what Wife he Married which was Margaret Daughter to the Earl of Champagne The Annals of Flanders say it was the Bishop of Beauvais President of the Kings Counsel that askt him all these questions which may be reduced to three 1. In what place he did Homage for his Earldom of Flanders 2. By whom and in what Place he was made a Knight 3. In what Place and on what Day he Married Margaret of Champagne But this Impostor as surprized with all these Questions askt three days to answer them Perhaps one might excuse a Man for not remembring several Circumstances of the principal Actions of his Life Besides such an August Assembly before so Great a King and Magnificent a Court a Subject of such consequence before an Audience no ways favourable with the Apprehension of the Danger might distract him and hinder his answering pertinently Guaguin says That speaking Haughtily to the Points in question without sufficient Proofs of what he pretended to be the King commanded him to go out of his Realm in three days but doing him no hurt because he had given him his safe Conduct This Impostor being thus shamefully Driven away retir'd to Valenciennes in Haynault where being abandon'd by those whose hopes of advantage by this Novelty had made them promise him great assistance he disguis'd himself like a Trades-man intending to have past into Burgundy hoping to find countenance and support there but he was watcht and taken on his way by a Burgundian Gentleman Erard Castenac who sold him to the Countess Jane for four hundred Marks She put him to the torture and forc'd him by his torments to Confess his Imposture He said he was Born in Champagne and his name was Bertrand de Rayns he was led through all the Cities of Flanders and Haynault where after having been shew'd to the People he was publickly hang'd at Lisle in Flanders Famâ ancipiti jurene an injuriâ The greatest part of Europe was in doubt whether the Countess justly put this Impostor to Death The example of Peter Courtney Successor of the true Baldwyn and Henry in right of his Wife Yolante persuaded the possibility of so straight a Prison as might not give him Opportunity to inform his Subjects and Friends what misfortune had befallen him The Catastrophe of this false Baldwyn happen'd in the year of Christ 1225. and of the World 5186. CHAP. VIII Perkin Warbeck OR THE COUNTERFEIT Duke of York Son of Edward the Fourth King of England THis Impostor continued longer than any of the rest and had more Chances and happy Hours The Cruelty of Richard Duke of Glocester Son of Richard Duke of York and Brother of Edward the Fourth King of England gave Henry Earl of Richmond Grand-son of Owen Tudor and Catharine of France a Pretension to Arm against him for the Recovery of the Kingdom of England which Edward the Fourth before Duke of York and Head of the Red-Rose had usurp't from Henry the Sixth Richard Duke of Glocester had also usurp't the Crown from Edward the Fifth a young Prince of Twelve years old Eldest Son and Successor to King Edward the Fourth as likewise from his Brother Richard Duke of York his two Nephews whom he unnaturally and cruelly murthered in the Tower of London in the year 1483. It was the Person of this last Richard Duke of York and only Brother of King Edward the Fifth that this Impostor Peter Warbeck commonly called Perkin Warbeck so artfully imitated for Five or Six Years time from 1494 untill 1499 putting all England into combustion and perplexity on that Subject and giving much trouble to the new Conqueror Henry the Seventh who was before Earl of Richmond Margaret Sister to King Edward the Fourth Widow of Charles the Hardy Duke of Burgundy and Soveraign of the Seventeen Provinces of the Lower Germany produced and instructed this Counterfeit to take the Crown of England if she could have effected what she had often endeavoured from Henry the Seventh Chief of the House of Lancaster or the White-Rose whom she mortally hated This is the Truth of the Story as Polydore Virgil Historiographer to Henry the Eighth relates it in the Twenty-sixth Book of his History of England This Princess a Woman of an Ambitious and Intriguing humour had conceived a great Aversion to Henry the Seventh Exterminator of the Usurper Richard Duke of Glocester The principal cause of her Hatred proceeded from the long Enmity between his Family of Lancaster and her 's of the House of York which made her continually endeavour by all means imaginable his extirpation with the satisfaction of her own Revenge in the removal of the Crown to One of her own Party But finding all her endeavours miscarried and those of John Earl of Lincoln were come to nothing her old Inveterate temper prompted her with new Expedients more difficult for Henry to prevent She met a young man at Tourney who was handsom
the Pursuit believing the old Governour Gerald Earl of Kildare favoured them underhand wherefore he cunningly seized his Person and brought him to the King before whom this Earl so pleaded his Cause that he was sent back and restored to his Government being thought the most prudent way in that Conjuncture because of his great Interest and Authority with the Irish While these things were transacting in England Warbeck was extreamly grieved his Conspiracy was discovered and many of his chiefest Friends Executed Yet he notwithstanding resolved to cross the Sea accompanied by a great number of Vagabonds such Fugitives as would follow him 'T is true he had some Lords and good Captains in his Train to strengthen his hopes of the Crown His Fleet came upon the Coast of Kent where the weather being calm he Landed some of his Men for the better securing or persuading the Country People to his Party But the Impostor was already known every where and they had suffered much Misery and Desolation in the late Wars They knew the Soldiers of this false Richard were all Strangers who would make no distinction of Friends or Enemies where they were strong enough to Plunder and Pillage nor have respect to Churches or Places Sacred believing God had left them since several of their Party had been put to shameful deaths as a punishment of their Guilt Wherefore these Inhabitants endeavoured to destroy this Counterfeit by persuading him to Land all his Men promising to give notice to their Neighbours and make a considerable body while he prepared for his March Perkin distrusted their Intentions knowing the common People use no Ceremony in their Emotions but run on without Reason or Deliberation Therefore he resolved not to Land himself but to venture part of his Men who were no sooner out of sight when the Country People Charged them driving them back to the Sea so that only the most Nimble and most Cowardly escaped the Stoutest and Robust were killed or wounded The latter were not treated as Prisoners of War but like Pirats and Thieves 150 being Hanged along the Shore The King himself was on his March from London against these Vagabonds till meeting the news of their Defeat he returned sending only Sir Richard Guilford to thank the Kentishmen for their Loyalty and assure them of his Grace and Favour incouraging them to persist in the same Fidelity and Zeal for his Interest Though this ill success troubled Warbeck and his Friends who returned to Flanders they gave not over for it taking new Resolutions of Landing in Ireland and Levying Men there for the Invading the Western parts of England And if that failed to go for Scotland which Nation had never Peace long with the English His Aunt giving him Money for the equipping a Fleet and making some Levies He Sayled with good Weather to the Irish Coasts where he soon found the inequality between those unarmed unexperienced People and the English Forces yet not daring to expose his Men to the Slaughter he rather chose the other Project of passing into Scotland where James the Fourth was not displeased at the Arrival of a Person so much discours'd of through all Europe out of the Aversion his People had for the English giving him Access to his Royal Person where Polydore Virgil says he made this Speech I know Great Prince you cannot be Ignorant what Calamities have late befallen the Family of Edward the Fourth King of England whose Son I assure your Majesty I am having by a Miracle escaped Death My Father e're he dyed made Richard Duke of Glocester my Uncle Guardian to Edward my Elder Brother and my self hoping the great kindness he always favoured him with would oblige him to more tenderness of us But alas how was he deceived for our Guardian became our Murderer Transported by his Ambition of Reigning he gave his positive Commands for our Destruction The Person he instructed with his Orders frighted with the horror of the Crime obey'd but half his Instructions For after he had taken away my Brother's sparing my life he suffered a faithful Servant to convey me out of the Kingdom who left me not till I was past all danger By these Methods my Vncle Richard seized the Crown as if it had been the Reward of his Crimes whilst I after this Deliverance wandring about the World almost forgot who I was At last coming to my Aunt Margaret Widow of that most excellent Prince Charles late Duke of Burgundy she received me with unspeakable joy as risen from the dead But that Princess having only her Joynture in Flanders and not able to assist me with Force enough for the recovery of my Kingdom I have been constrained to have Recourse to other Princes And by her advice I am come to Your Majesty though slenderly accompanyed Yet knowing your Princely Generosity which has filled the World with your Glory particularly for your Inclination to protect the Vnhappy Dispossessed of their Rights who becoming Objects of the Cruelty of wicked Men are so much the greater of Your Royal Clemency This encourages me to implore Your Majesty's Assistance for this Vnhappy Prince here before You for the Recovery of his antient Kingdom And I assure you I and my Successors will so acknowledge Your Majesty's Grace and Favour that this Crown will not repent the Kindness though to say truly it is above all we can do to express our Gratitude as we ought King James answer'd his Speech very civilly exhorting him to take Courage and assure himself he should not repent his coming thither He Assembled his Council who were much divided in their Opinions some taking him for an Impostor others whose Advice prevailed affirming that if he were the true Duke of York both He and all his Posterity must acknowledge this Favour and for it be obliged to Scotland Or although he should prove a Counterfeit this Pretence of War would make the English treat with more inclination to grant what they desired for the dis-engaging the Scots from his Interest This last Advice was followed by the King who shewed Perkin extraordinary Respects stiling him Highness and Duke of York And to advance his Credit he married him to his Kinswoman Katharine Daughter of Alexander Earl of Huntley a Lady of incomparable Beauty and Vertue whose Obedience to the King rather than the Ambition of having her Head Crowned one day with a Royal Diadem o're-came the Repugnance she had in her Heart to marry a Man so unknown whom many called an Impostor The Motives which perswaded the King to this Match were for a specious Pretext of War and breaking the Truce with the English He being by this obliged to protect his new Kinsman and Ally without being accounted rash in his Assistance if the Deceit should be discovered for this Marriage must needs perswade the World he thought him the true Duke of York King James raised Men and formed an Army which you will suppose gave the Impostor great
so many Pens for a Counterfeit and placed in the number of Notorious Impostors whose Lives we treat of But this is the true History Voldemar the Second Marquis and Elector of Brandenburg was the Thirteenth descended in a Right Line from Albert de L'Ours of the Family of the Earls of Ascagne who bore that Dignity From which Albert are also descended the Dukes of Saxon Lavemburg and the Princes of Anhalt Voldemar was the Son of Henry stiled Without Land who dyed in 1313. and of Agnes or as others say Matilda de Sangerhuse the two Electors John the Third and Voldemar the First who preceded him were his great Uncles whom he Succeeded He had scarcely been three years Elector when a Fit of Devotion according to the Custom of those Times perswaded him to go a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land He left his Brother John the Fourth in Possession of his Country and discharged all his Servants except two whom he reserved for his Voyage not giving his Brother his Relations nor Subjects any Account which way he travelled nor what adventures befell him in his Journey For indeed there were then no Posts in use it being difficult sending from Forreign Countrys unless by express Messengers Voldemar believed he had taken sufficient Care of the Succession his Brother being only left alive of the Eldest Branch though in a short time there had been Nineteen Persons of the same who by Wars and Inveterate contentions for Avarice and Ambition drew God's displeasure on the Family and were suddenly scattered like the Dust of the Earth He obliged his Subjects not to receive the Princes of Anhalt who were of their House of the Counts of Ascagne for this Sovereigns in Case his Brother and He should dye without Heirs This their Subjects had Sworn justly to obey and execute But it not being Authorized by the Electors nor approved in the Empire the Emperor Lewis thought he had Power to dispose of it when he should receive News of Voldemar's Death He left his Country in the Year 1322 and appeared not till Three and Twenty Years after being in 1345. His Brother who govern'd in his Absence dyed Four and Twenty Days after he departed I know not whether by Sickness or Poison However Lewis of Bavaria then possessing the Empire disposed of the Electorate investing in it his Eldest Son Lewis by his First Wife Beatrix of Poland as a vacant Fief of the Empire Most of the German Histories tell this much in Favour of the House of Bavaria as follows Rodolph Duke and Elector of Saxony design'd to take the Electorate of Brandenbourg from Lewis of Bavaria Son to the Emperor Lewis the Fourth who had Invested him in it after the Death of John the Fourth State-holder and Governor of Brandenburg in the Absence of Voldemar his Elder Brother Rodolph pretended that being of the House of Ascagne of which Voldemar was the Head He ought to possess it before any Other or at least some Prince of his Family since Two Electorates could not possibly be in one and the same Person The better to compass his Design he reported his Cousin the Elector Voldemar was alive who had not appeared in Twenty Three Years Till understanding how matters went after many Pilgrimages to Holy Places like an ordinary Man and having escap't from the Captivity and Imprisonment of the Infidels he was now returned to his Country and to personate this Prince he brought on the Stage for a Principal Actor in this Tragedy a Miller of Landrestaw or as others say of Beltztize called James Rebok a Cunning Fellow and a Subtle Lyer being near the Age of Voldemar with something of his Meen Shape as much as so many years absence the changing of his Hair the Misery and Trouble he had suffered with the Weakness of Age could allow or perswade He had Lived many Years in Saxony where he was throughly instructed in the Life and Family of Voldemar His Application and Address made his Deceit very Successful for to all Persons he seemingly gave eminent Proofs that he was no Counterfeit but the true Marquis Voldemar The noise of his Return from Palestine and Turky where he had so many Years been detained spread through the Country and all Germany over he being assisted by the Emperor Charles the Fourth who was also King of Bohemia Grand-son of the Emperor Henry the Seventh who brought that Dignity into his Family of Luthzelburg This Prince recommended him to the Cyrcles of the Empire and severely treating many of his Enemies The Occasion of his Enmity to Lewis the Elector was because he got from his Brother Henry Margaret Countess of Tyrol with her vast Fortune His other Friends were the Dukes of Brunswick Pomerania and Mekelbourg the Arch-Bishop of Magdebourg Primate of Germany besides Fifteen others The most Zealous for his Interest being those of his own Family the Duke of Saxony and the Princes of Anhalt so that he wanted very little of expelling the Elector Lewis of Bavaria Voldemar presently Summoned an Assembly in the Year 1348. The Circle and near all the Nobility of the Marquisate acknowledging him for their Prince reiterated their Loyalty and Homage being transported with Joy to see their Antient Master His Old Subjects either touched with the Misfortunes and Calamities which he had suffred or pleased with Novelty being weary of the Bavarian Dominion after having Experimented the Glory and Justice of Voldemars Family the space of One Hundred and Eighty Years They lent him Mony to acquire his Right and drive out Lewis All the Citys in the Marquisate declaring for him except Francfort on the Oder Spandaw and Brizack Lutinger observes in the Two and Twentieth Book of his Commentarys of Brandenburg that the Family of Lockhow one of the Greatest in the Marquisate continued on Lewis's Side having the Principal Commands in his Army during the War which lasted Nine Years with various Success according to the Chance of Fortune Voldemar King of Denmark whose Name seemed a good Augury to Voldemar the Elector was nevertheless quite contrary for Carion in the Fifth Book of his Chronicle says He was the First that stop'd the Course of his Victorys and prevented his absolute Repossessing his Country Cassimir King of Poland Lewis called the Roman for his being Born at Rome Brother by a Second Venter to the Elector Lewis the Duke of Stetin that Dutchy being then separate from Pomerania with many Lords of Poland and Silesia then assisted Lewis Notwithstanding which Voldemar the Assailant gain'd a very Signal Battle absolutely defeating the Army of Lewis his Rival commanded by Lewis the Roman his Brother who very hardly himself escaped The Duke Rodolph Palatin of the Rhyne with Seventy nine Gentlemen bearing Shields of Arms of which number were Forty of Poland Fourteen being of the Family of Lettizia he maâ—e Prisoners of War and Trophies of his Victory This Blow extreamly lessened Lewis's Courage and reduced his Affairs to such a Point that many
Cities opened their Gates to the Governour Lewis tired with the War which according to Carion in his Life of the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria lasted Nine whole Years though Lunclavius in his German History mentions Three only went into his Earldom of Tyrol which he had had by his Wife Margaret Daughter of Henry Duke of Carinthia and Earl of Tyrol leaving the Marquisate and Electorate of Brandenbourg to his Brothers Lewis of the same Name sirnamed the Roman with Otho his Youngest The Emperour Charles the Fourth confirming by his Letter Pattents at Budissine in the Year 1350. his Transferring the Electorate to his two said Brothers This Emperour Charles had as we may say extreamly longed for the Electorship being vext that the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria had been more Fortunate than he in disposing it to his Eldest Son when the Death of Voldemar was reported Lewis the Eldest of the Three Brothers in Possession of Brandenbourg deceased in 1361. and Maynard his Eldest Son left the World before he was Fourteen Years old though Married yet having no Heirs He was born in 1349. and dyed in 1363. The Two remaining Brothers the Roman and Otho consented by their Agreement with the Emperour Charles to exclude their nearest Relations if they dyed without Heirs Male and substitute Winceslaus his Eldest Son Elector But if neither He nor the Emperour left a Son then it should pass to John Marquis of Moravia They allowed Winceslaus to use the Arms and Title of Marquis of Brandenbourg obliging their Subjects to swear Allegiance to him This Agreement was signed at Nuremberg in 1363. where it is still to be seen Now the Roman dying without Children in 1366. left in possession hereof Otho his Brother Son-in-law to the Emperour by the Marriage of his Daughter Agnes who being also without Children consented to sell the Marquisate and Electorate of Brandenbourg in his Life-time for Two Hundred Thousand Hungarian Ducats to the same Emperour Charles his Father-in-law and to his Eldest Son Winceslaus there being delivered to Otho several Towns in Bohemia as Pawns for a Security till Payment of the whole Sum. Thus the Electorate of Brandenbourg after having with various Fortune been One and Fifty Years possest by Voldemar and his Party was by the Three Sons of the Emperour Levis of Bavaria conveyed into the Family of Lutzelbourg where it remained Four and Forty Years being governed by State-holders in the Reigns of the Emperours Winceslaus and Sigismond which last sold and absolutely disposed of both this Marquisate and Eleotorate to his Favourite Fredrick de Zoltern the Burggrave of Nuremberg whom he had before made Governour Giving him the Investiture at the Council of Constance with great Ceremony the last Day of April being the Eve of St. Philip and Jacob and the Year 1415. Since which time the Heirs-Male descended in a Right Line from the before-mentioned Frederick have justly possest and gloriously governed the Countries of the Marquisate and Electorate of Brandenbourg But let us return to Voldemar What Lunclavius says of his being Condemned and Burnt alive for his Imposture is not true though he affirms it in the Chronicle of Germany Translated by him But it is most certain that he died of a Natural Death not at a Place called Korckei or at Stendeil in 1322 but at Dessaw in 1354 Nine Years after his Return and was buried in the Chappel called The Holy-Ghost which is the ordinary Place of Sepulture for the Princes of Anhalt as is testified by the Chronicle of Magdebourg The Reasons which oblige me to believe he was the True Voldemar contrary to the Opinion of those Historians whom we have cited are the Attestations of the Princes of his Family who then were the Electors of Saxony the Dukes of Lavemboâ—rg and the Princes of Anhalt which two last Branches are still in being These Princes would not have so much abused themselves to give such Honours to an Impostor nor have mingled his Ashes with Theirs who without doubt are one of the most Illustrious Sovereign Houses of Europe I have heard John George Head of the House of Anhalt Earl of Ascagne Lord of Zerbst and Bernberg Governour of the Provinces of the Marquisate of Brandenbourg say That he kept his Seal and believed him the True Elector Secondly The Arch-bishop of Magdebourg Primate of Germany a Man of great Vertue would never have owned him there being no Advantage in doing it and giving an ill Example to so many People Nor would the Emperor Charles the Fourth of whom we have been speaking and those other Princes have exposed their Lives and caused the Effusion of so much Blood for an Impostor Thirdly The ill Agreement where this pretended Counterfeit was born Sometimes he was a Miller of Landreslaw at other times of Beltzize which convinces me it is rather an Imposture to perswade it And further There was a Letter from the Electoral Colledge writ to the Pope at that time who had been a Cisterian Monk named James Tournier but then Bennet the Twelfth born at Saverdun in the Earldom of Foix. This Letter was sent Sixteen Years after his Absence and Seven before his Return in which his Name is with the rest of the Electors Henry Arch Bishop of Mayence Dean of the Electoral-Colledge is the first after him Baldwin Arch-Bishop of Treves Walram of Collen and this Voldemar the First of the Secular Electors that is before Rodolph Palatine and Rodolph Duke of Saxony contrary to the common Method of Precedence for sometimes the Younger let the Elder precede them out of Respect as the Elector of Saxony did to Joachim the Second Elector of Brandenbourg whom he always called Father Though there is no Date to this Letter it declares That they agreed on the Fifteenth of July 1338 to meet at Rinsse on the Rhyne near Franckfort and treat of Affairs of Importance which was to advertise the Pope that neither He nor his Successors could have any thing to do in the Election of Emperors either by their Consent Approbation or Confirmation or any other Matter belonging to it as likewise to oblige him to revoke his Excommunication against the Emperour Lewis This Letter is to be seen in the Archives of the Elector Palatine The ingenious Marquard Freherus one of his Councellors has inserted it in a Volume of the German History from Charlemaine to Frederick the Third It is to be observed that the Family of the Palatinate is the same with Bavaria and made War to extirminate Voldemar as an Impostor Therefore there was much Contradiction and Absurdity in these Elector's Proceedings who writ to the Pope in favour of the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria who had given the Electorate of Brandenbourg to his Son as vacant by the Death of Voldemar in putting his Name to this Letter if they believed him Dead for that was doing a notable Prejudice to Lewis Son of this Emperour who then possest the Dignity of Elector and the Marquisate to own