CHOICE OBSERVATIONS OF ALL THE KINGS OF ENGLAND FROM THE SAXONS To the Death of KING CHARLES the First COLLECTED Out of the best Latine and English VVriters who have Treated of that Argument By EDVVARD LEIGH Esquire and Master of Arts of Magdalen Hall in Oxford LONDON Printed for Ioseph Cranford at the Sign of the Gun in St. Pauls Church-yard 1661. TO HIS SACRED MAJESTY CHARLES the Second King of Great-Bâ—ittain France and Ireland Most Gracious Soveraigne I Hope this Dedication of these my Collections concerning all the Kings of England to your Sacred Majesty from the first of them of whom there is any thing credible in story to the decease of your Royall Father will not be interpreted either a fruit of ambition or over-bold presumption I have had the honour formerly to dedicate Books to very eminent Societies and Persons but never to any so signally eminent and publike a Person as your Majesty And should not have taken the confidence to have begun now but that in regard of the Argument I treat of I thought there was an obligation upon me and that of right such a Work was to be presented onely to Him who is the just and unquestionable Successour to all those Kings I here mention I finde it usuall with those who either wrote Chronicles in generall or the reigns of some particular Princes to inscribe the Name of the King or Prince then living to their Works I wish my Observations were as choice as the subject is sutable Since Cadwallader the last King of the Britains there was none born Prince of Great-Britain but your Majesty Hactenus Anglorum nulli was therefore the Motto on the Medals made in memory of your Birth-day the 29th of May 1630 with three Laurels upon them betokening three Kingdoms May your raign be as prosperous and happy as your birth was glorious and illustrious your deliverance by Sea at your entrance into Scotland and your escape by Land at Worcester-fight and after in England and your happy restitution to your Kingdom was wonderfull and conspicuous Kings have their regal Titles and Ornaments To the Kings of Spain from the time of Alphonsus King of Castile about 800 years agoe for expelling the Arians was given the Title of Catholike as Michael Ritius a Neapolitan writeth To the French King the Title of most Christian from the time of Philip the Emperour about 400 years since as recordeth Nicol Gillius To our King Henry the 8th of England for his Book of the Sacraments against Luther Pope Leo the 10th gave the Title Defender of the Faith which his Successors have since enjoyed though in another sense than it was first intended Henry the 5th reigning amongst us his Subjects gave him the Title of Grace Under Henry the Saint the 6th Excellent was added to Grace Under Henry the 8th the acclamation of Majesty began a little after excellent Majesty most excellent and at last Sacred Majesty which now is generally used Kings are crowned enthronized and anointed the Crown was a sign of a Military dominion the Throne of sedentary or judiciall the Oyl of Religious and sacred power A King by vertue of his Kingly Office hath two things to perform 1. To govern 2. To defend His Governing also divideth it self into two branches First To direct Secondly To recompence He directeth by appointing what shall be done and forborn of all his subjects in his Jurisdiction He recompenceth or requiteth by punishing those which disobey the Laws with such punishments as himself thinketh good to appoint and to signifie to them in his penalties by which he ratifieth his Laws and by rewarding those which keep the Laws with such rewards as he seeth fit to specifie in his Statutes and in generall by making them partakers of the wealth peace quietness and happiness of his government He defendeth his subjects against the hostility of open enemies and the injuries of their fellow-subjects It was an excellent speech of Henry the Great King of France your Grand-father by the Mothers side When I was born there were a thousand other souls more born what have I done for God more than they Learned King Iames your Grand-father by the Father in his Book dedicated to Prince Henry would have him to remember that he differed not in stuff but in use from the rest of the people and that by Gods Ordinance Kings as well as others are bound to read the Scriptures Deut. 17. 18 19 20. and some think that Book of the Kings and Chronicles especially worthy their diligent perusall others would have them study well the 101 Psalm Next the Scriptures Ecclesiasticall History is to be preferred some highly commend Polybius as usefull for Kings to read and Causabon dedicating it to Henry the 4th King of France much magnifieth that Book and likewise the reading of History in generall The Chronicles and Annals of their own Predecessors surely must needs be both delightfull and profitable for them Your Majesty may observe many things in them well worthy imitation in Learned and valiant Alfred how thriftily he spent his time how he encouraged Learning and Learned men in little Edgar great Canutus William the Conquerour the many worthy Henries and Edwards your own wise Grand-father and Father of happy memory Yet in the whole series of the Kings and Queens of England as others have made severall parallels of some of our English Kings I have not found a fitter parallel in every respect for your Majesty than Queen Elizabeth I will not speak of her skill in the modern Languages and how she often answered Embassadors her self nor how gracious and gentle a Princess she was to her very enemies wherein your Majesty is not unlike to Her What troubles and hazards did she undergo before she came to the Crown with what joyfull and generall acclamations was she received into this Metropolis I need not apply this to your Majesty it s sufficiently obvious to every vulgar capacity how you agree herein After her Coronation being presented with a Bible as she passed by the little Conduit in Cheapside she received the same with both her hands and kissing it said That it had ever been her chief delight and should be the rule by which she meant to frame her Government Your Majesty in your entring into the City at the presentment of the Bible to you by the Reverend London Ministers used this speech worthy to be written in Gold I thank you for this Book above all other gifts and assure you I shall make it my first care to set up Gods Worship and service this is the Book must guide us all and I will make it the rule of my Life and reign Queen Elizabeth was a couragious and stout spirited Princess In 88 when the Spaniard was coming she went to the Army at Tilbury-Camp riding with a Truncheon or baston in her hand to the severall Companies and by her presence
and speech encouraged both Commanders and souldiers saying to them as I have heard If her brother Philip came she would give fire to the first Piece against him I might alledge the testimony of your greatest enemy in confirmation of your Majesties valour at Worcester-battle Kings bear a double image of God as they are men and as they are Magistrates The Scripture saith Those which rule over men should be just ruling in the fear of God One saith They should labour to be more religious and pious toward God than ordinary persons because of the great need they have of his illumination in their counsels of his conduct in their enterprises of his force in their executions and of his provident care in their various occurrents dangers difficulties The Kings seat was so set in the Temple that all might see him there Ezek. 46. 10. 2 Chron. 6. 12 13. 2 King 11. 14. 23. 3. that by his example the devotion of his people might be stirred up God having done such great things both abroad and at home for your Majesty expecteth great things from you I shall humbly implore the Almighty that he would so guide you in all your wayes that you may make his Interest your great interest by reforming what is amiss in Court and Kingdom by promoting his pure worship encouraging the power of godliness and all such as walk according to Scripture-rule are peaceable and hold the Fundamentals by discountenancing Atheisme errour and profaneness the fruits of abused peace and prosperity altering the old speech for the better Exeat aula Qui vult esse pius into impius So shall White-Hall answer its name and your Majesty approve your self to be what your Father desired Charles the Good which is the earnest prayer of Your Majesties most humbly devoted and Loyall subject Edward Leigh TO THE CURTEOUS AND CANDID READER Reader I Here present thee with Choice Observations of all the Kings of England I suppose the Subject will not be unpleasing to an Englishman if the work be answerable to the Title I have excerped my Materials out of the best Latine Writers the Monks to whom we are especially beholding for the History of our Kings of England and chiefest English Chroniclers and Annalists and such as have written of a few or any one of our English Princes Bedes Historia Gentis Anglorum set out by Wheelock of whom Petavius in his History of the world lib. 8. cap. 4. saith thus Bede made his Brittain famous with no lesse Godlinesse and Learning than History who even unto the year 735 hath concluded the Christian beginnings of that Nation Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores post Bedam praecipui in Latine in folio set out by Sr Henry Savill containing the History of Gulielmus Malmesburiensis Henry Huntington Roger Hoveden and others Anglica Normannica Hibernica Cambrica a veteribus Scripta in Latine also in Folio put out by Camden Matthew Paris his Works set out by Dr Watts who is a faithfull Historian and hath written the Reigns of the first seven Kings after the Conquest Of the English Chroniclers Speed Martin and Baker seem to be the best Voluminous Hollingshead Stow and How are not much esteemed by the Learned Sr John Hayward hath written well of the three Norman Kings and Edward the sixth he hath written briefly also of Henry the eourth Godwin of Henry the eighth Edward the sixth and Queen Mary and also of the Bishops of England in Latine and English Sr Robert Cotton of Henry the third Habington of Edward the fourth Sr Thomas More of Richard the third both in Latine and English and Buck my Lord Bacon excellently of Henry the seventh my Lord Herbert of Henry the eighth Camden Annals of Queen Elizabeth and Dr Heylin as is said of King Charles the first History is both pleasing and profitable especially the memorable things of all our own Kings and Governours who have for so many years Raigned amongst us Examples of Superiours especially are very prevalent which of the Rulers believed in him One saith if King Edward the sixth had lived a little longer his only example had bred such a Race of worthy learned Gentlemen as this Realm never yet did afford Here are examples of all sorts good and bad to be followed and eschewed Some loose vain and licentious others learned wise valiant minding the publick welfare of the Nation The Pope could but little prevaile here in England during the Raign of King Edward the third and Richard the second Henry the eighth cast him out then when he had too great power and command over other Princes As he cast out the Pope so did his children Edward the sixth and Queen Elizabeth cast out Popery out of England and so freed us from his spirituall bondage as the other did from his Temporall May their memory be therefore still precious amongst us as the Reformation we enjoy chiefly by their means is a singular blessing Let Him be accounted our English Josias and Her our English Deborah on whom those Verses were made Spains Rod Romes Ruine Netherlands Relief Earths Joy Englands Gem Worlds Wonder Natures chief Prince Henry likewise eldest Son to King James was a virtuous and hopefull Prince had he not been taken away in the flower of his youth he would its thought have much opposed the Pope and Spaniard I have read somewhere of him that he would not swear no not at his Sports and Recreation and being demanded the reason tâ—ereof he said they were not of that weight as to draw an oath from him I hope therefore this Nation having had such worthy Princes and not being ignorant of the slavery they formerly indured when the Pope called England his Ass will never be so foolish as to turn back again into Egypt As long as Mr Foxe his Martyrology is so common to be read eighty eight and the fifth of November are so fresh in our remembrance let us valew the losse of Rome here amongst us no more than that Emperour Honorius did of whom Zonaras writes that he had a Hen called Roma and it being told him Rome was last he was troubled and said She was here even now yea said the other the Hen is here but the City is lost he was then well pleased Our Countriman Beda hath prophetically expounded that Roman S. P. Q. R. of our Englishmen travelling to Rome Stulâ—us Populus Quaerit Roman Though perhaps in some cases one may go too far from Rome yet since some of our Bishops formerly have written well against Antichrist and others have made the Pope to be Antichrist and since also the Iesuites are still busie amongst us I wish there may be no unwarrantable compliance either with the Romish Doctrine or Rites Thomas Lever who Preached before King Edward the sixth and escaped the fury of Queen Maries dayes is commended by Bullinger in his Epistle to Hooper He was the first
Edwards Laws These Laws are partly Ecclesiasticall partly Civill Lambard de priseis Anglorum legibus mentions Leges boni Regis Edwardi quas Gulielmus Bastardus postea confirmavit In these Laws it is observable 1. That all capitall corporall pecuniaty punishments fines for criminall offence◠〈◊〉 all reliefs services and duties to the King are reduced to a certainty not leâ—t arbitrary to the King his Justices or other Officers for the Subjects greater liberty ease and security 2. That they protect preserve the possessions priviledges persons of the Church and Clergy from all invasion injury violence and disturbance The Raign of this King was very peaceable He first used the broad Seal His Wife was named Editha the vertuous Daughter of an infamous Father Earl Godwin Sicut spina Rosam genuit Godwinus Editham His unnaturall dealing with his good Mother Emma and vertuous Wife Editha in whose breast there was a School of all liberall Sciences saith William Malmesbury cannot be excused For upon a poor surmise of Incontinency with Alwin Bishop of Winchester his Mother in his presence was put to the Ordalium to pass blindfolded between nine glowing Coulters which she did without hurt His refusing carnall copulation with his Queen either out of a vowed virginity as most Historians conclude or out of a detestation of Earl Godwins trayterous race quod Rex religiosus de genere proditoris haeredes qui sibi succederent corrupto semine regio noluerit pâ—â—râ—ari as Ingulphus Matthew Westminster and others record whereby he exposed the Kingdome for a prey to the ambitious pretenders aspiring after it The King after this craved mercy and pardon from his Mother for the infamy and injury done unto her for which he was disciplined and whipped by his Mother and all the Bishops there present The first curing the Kings Evil is referred to him and thence to have continued to his successors Solebat Rex Edwardus divinitus solo tactu sanare strumosos hoc est strumam patientes Est enim srruma morbus quem Itali scrophulaâ— vulgo vocant à scrophis quae ea mala scabie afflictantur Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 8. Struma gutturis vitium quod nonnulli scrophulam dicunt solo tactu in quam plurimis sanasse dicitur Lil. Ang. Reg. Chronicon He raigned twenty three years and six moneths and died in the Painted Chamber at Westminster He built St Peters Church in Westminster and was there buried In hoc Rege linea Regum Angliae defecit quae à Cerdicio primo Westsaxonum Rege ex Anglis quingentis septuaginta uno annis non legitur interrupta praeter paucos Danos qui peccatis exigentibus gentis Anglorum aliquandiu regnaverunt Harold The second of that name the thirty eighth Monarch of the English men Son of Earl Goodwin a man of excellent parts and approved valour He driven by tempest into Normandy was affianced to Adelizi the Dukes fifth Daughter He covenanted with the Duke to make him successor to Edward in the Kingdome of England Mr. Fox's Acts and Monuments vol. 1. Mr. Cambden in his Brittannia Holinshed Sir Iohn Hayward Sir Richard Baker incline to this opinion that Harold by his might power craft policy usurped and invaded the Crown without any right against his Oath After Edwards death the Duke sent to him to put him in mind of his Covenant and Oath but Harold replied that this Oath being constrained did no way binde The Duke William landing in Sussex to cut off all occasion of return he fired his own Fleet and upon the shore erected a fortress to be if need were a retiring place for his Souldiers Harold and he fighting seven miles from Hastings in Sussex Harold was slain and his Army vanquished His overthrow was a just punishment of God upon him for his perjury He raigned but nine moneths and nine dayes In him was compleated the period of the Saxons Empire in Brittain after they had continued from their first erected Kingdome by Hengisâ— in Kent the space of six hundred and ten years without any interruption saving the small inter-Raigns of three Danish Kings The Normans were a miâ—â— people of Norvegians Suevians and Danes That Province in France was then called Neustria and now Normandy of the name Norman given unto them because they came out of the North parts The Normans laboured by all means to supplant the English and to plant their own language amongst us and for that purpose they both gave us the Lawes and all manner of pastimes in the French tongue as he that will peruse the Laws of the Conquerour and consider the terms of Hawking Hunting Tenice Dice-play and other disports shall easily perceive Lamb's Perambulation of Kent CHAP. XI WILLIAM the first sirnamed the Conqueror RObert Duke of Normandy the sixth in descent from Rollo riding through Falais a Town in Normandy espied certain young persons dancing near the way And as he stayed to view a while the manner of their disport he fixed his eye especially upon a certain Damsell named Arlotte of mean birth a Skinners Daughter who there danced among the rest The frame and comely carriage of her body the naturall beauty and graces of her countenance the simplicity of her rurall both behaviour and attire pleased him so well that the same night he procured her to be brought to his lodging where he begat of her a Son who afterward was named William The English afterwards adding an aspiration to her name according to the naturall manner of their pronouncing termed every unchast Woman Harlot He seized the Crown of England not as conquered but by pretence of gift or adoption aided and confirmed by nearness of bloud and so the Saxon Laws formerly in force could not but continue and such of them as are now abrogated were not at all abrogated by his conquest but either by the Parliaments or Ordinances of his time and of his successours or else by non-usage or contrary custome Mr. Seldens review of his History of Tythes c. 8. see more there He never made the least pretence claim or title to the Crown and Realm of England only as an absolute Conquerour of the Nation but meerly by title as their true and lawfull King by designation adoption and cognation seconded with the Nobles Prelates Clergy and peoples unanimous election And although it be true that this Duke ejected Harold and got actuall possession of the Throne and Kingdome from him by the sword as did Auâ—elius Ambrosius and others before and King Henry the fourth Edward the fourth and Henry the seventh yet that neither did nor could make him a King by conquest only no more than these other Princes seeing the end of this Warre was not against the whole English Nation the greatest part whereof abetted his interest but only against the unjust usurper and intruder King Harold and his adherents Although the Laws of this Kingdome
to say that he had no purpose to keep a wife he must pay for a faculty to keep a wife if he would Quymund his Chaplain observing that unworthy men for the most part were advanced to the best dignities of the Church as he celebrated divine service before him and was to read these words out of St Iames 5. 17. It rained not upon the earth three years and six moneths he did read it thus It rained not upon the earth one one years and five one moneths The King observed this reading and afterwards rebuked his Chaplain for it But Quymund answered that he did it of purpose because such readers were soonest preferred by the King The King smiled and in short time after preferred him to the government of St. Frideswides in Oxford He died in the sixty seventh year of his age when he had raigned thirty five years and four moneths wanting one day He was buried at Reading which he had founded In him ended the line of the Norman Kings as concerning their heirs males after whom came in the French men by the title of the heirs generall CHAP. XIV King STEPHEN VIr solertis ingenii militaris artis peritissimus Polyd. Virg. He was of a comely stature of a good complexion and of body strong very skilfull in martiall affairs gentle courteous and exceeding bountifull not noted for any speciall vice but that upon an ambitious desire to raign he brake his Oath which he had made with Maud the Empress He was a most worthy Souldier and wanted nothing to have made him an excellent King but a just title And therefore hee was driven perforce to defend his usurped Authority by the sword which must needs procure him the hatred of many He was crowned at Westminster upon Saint Stephens day in presence of but three Bishops few of the Nobility and not one Abbot by William Archbishop of Canterbury with great solemnity Having his sword continually out and so many defections and rebellions against him he never put any great man to death Of Roger Bishop of Salisbury in this Kings Raign it is reported that he was so pressed with the miseries of a long imprisonment Vt vivere nolâ—â—erit mori nesciâ—rit That live he would not die he could not In his dayes flourished divers famous learned men but especially Historiographers viz. William of Malmesbury Henry Huntington Simon of Durham Gessrey of Munmouth and others Though his Raign were rough and tempestuous by reason of his perpetuall debates and contests with Maud the Empress and her Son concerning the title yet were there more religious Convents erected in his time then either before or after Although he had continuall Warres yet he required few or no tributes from the people He raigned almost nineteen years lived forty nine and was buried in the Abbey of Feversham in Kent which he had founded The Normans thus expiring give way to the Dynasty of the Plantagenets Before the division of the Houses of Yorke and Lancaster there run on evenly in an unquestionable line eight Kings in this manner 1. Henry the second 2. Richard the first 3. Iohn 4. Henry the third 5. Edward the first 6. Edward the second 7. Edward the third 8. Richard the second Henry the second The first King of this Island sirnamed Plantagenet from Plantagenista so called as some say for wearing a slip or stalk of Broom in his Cap or Hat toward his latter dayes in penance and contrition for his past sins He undertook to go to the holy Sepulchre in the poor and despised habit of a Broom-man and to signifie himself so bore a Broom-stalk in his Cap. Others say it was because he scourged himself with the stalks of Broom which grew upon the Plains where once the holy City stood Bucks Preface to his great Plantagenet Henry Duke of Anjou by his Father Geffery Plantagenet succeeded Stephen in the Kingdome of England by agreement whom he preceded by right as being son and heir of Maud sole daughter and heir of King Henry the first and was crowned at Westminster by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury and was a greater Prince then any of his Ancestors He was sirnamed Court-mantle because he was the first that brought short Cloaks out of Anjou into England He was wise and learned He never ware Glove except he bare a Hawk on his fist and never sate but at his meat and delighted in hawking hunting riding and in all honest exercises Our English Chronicles do blame him for refusing to take the protection and defence of the distressed Christians in Ierusalem offered unto him by Heraclins the Patriark the troubles that befell him at home are ascribed to that cause In his time there were eleven hundred and fifteen Castles in England He caused them to be demolished He first kept Lions and made of the Arms of Normandy viz. the two Leopards and of the single Lion Aquitain one Coat so Arms for England as it is yet worn He associated his son Henry in the Government an act without example in this Kingdome The young King shewed shortly after That a Crown was no State to be made over in trust At the Feast of his solemnity the King to honour his son would needs carry up the first dish to his Table Roger Archbishop of Yorke standing by and saying merrily to the new King Gaude optime filio non est enim alter in toto orbe Princeps qui talem habeat in mensa administrum What an honour is this to you to have such a waiter at your Table Why saith he what great matter is it for him that was but the son of a Duke to do service to me that am the son of a King and Queen Which the old King hearing began to repent him now it was too late of that he had done He loved women too much especially one Rosamond the fair daughter of Walter Lord Clifford This his Concubine was a very beautifull young Lady of unparalleld wit He usually termed her the Rose of the world his Rose The true Etymology of her name is Rosemouth and seemeth to have been given in regard of her sweetness or colour of the lips or it may have been in recommendation of sweetness and eloquence of speech King Henry had made for her a Labyrinth at Woodstocâ— so that no man or woman might come to her but he that was instructed by the King or such as were right secret with him It was commonly said that at last Queen Elenor came to her by a Clew of Thread or Silk and so dealt with her that she lived not long after But when she was dead she was buried at Godstow in an house of Nunnes beside Oxford In whose Epitaph a Latin Poet not understanding the true Etymology of the name makes Mund which here is mouth to be Mundus and so calls her the Rose of the world Hic jacet in tumba Rosa mundi non
overlaid Well then said the King return and tell them who sent you That so long at my son is alive they send no more to me whatever happen for I will that the honour of the day be his And so at last the English obtained the greatest victory they ever yet had against the French There were there found the dead bodies of eleven great Princes and of Barons Knights and men of Arms above one thousand and five hundred of the Commons above thirty thousand Not one man of honour or note slain upon the English side King Edward after the Battell aftectionately embracing and kissing his victorious son said Fair son God send you good perseverance to so prosperous beg innings you have nobly acquit your self and are well worthy to have the governance of a Kingdome entrusted to you for your valour Sir Eustace Rihamant in the encounter at Calis-Gate between Sir Walter Manny and the Lord Charney met with King Edward who disguising himself in common armour served under the banner of Sir Walter Manny and fought so stoutly with him that he stroke the King twice down on his knees but in the end the King took him prisoner and then he yeelded his Sword to the King but knowing what he was said thus Sir Knight I yeeld me as your prisoner upon which cause the King came after supper to him and with a merry countenance said thus to the Knight Sir Eustace you are the Knight in the world that I have seen most valiant either in assault of enemies or defence of himself I never â—ound Knight that gave so much ado body to body as ye have done this day wheâ—efore I give you the prize above all the Knights of my Court by right sentence and herewithall the King being bare-headed having a Chaplet of fine pearls that he ware on his head took the same Chaplet from off his head being fair goodly and rich and said to the Knight I give you this Chaplet for the best doer in Arms in this journey past of either party and I desire you to bear it this year for the love of me I know well you be fresh and amorous and oftentimes are among doubty Knights and fair Ladies yet say wheresoever ye come that the King of England did give it you and I quite your prison and ransome depart to morrow if it please you whereupon the Knight did not only wear the same Chaplet in remembrance of so gracious a benevolence of so worthy a Prince but also did bear after in his Arms three Chaplets garnished of pearls Fern his Glory of Generosity p. 210 211. Mr. Wren in his Monarchy asserted p. 125. saith The successes of the English in France alwayes followed the person of the Prince with us Edward the third and Henry the fifth wise and valiant Princes gaining Richard the second and Henry the sixth weak Princes losing with them Iohn and Charles the sixth men of no ability losing Charles the fifth and Charles the seventh brave Princes recovering Edward the black Prince of Wales who so long governed our Countrey of Guienne a man whose conditions and fortune were accompanied with many notable parts of worth and magnanimity having been grievously offended by the Limosins though he by main force took and entered their City could by no means be appeased nor by the wailfull out-cries of all sorts of people as of men women and children be moved to any pitty they prostrating themselves to the common slaughter crying for mercy and humbly submitting themselves at his feet untill such time as in triumphant manner passing through their City he perceived three French Gentlemen who alone with an incredible and undaunted boldness gainstood the enraged violence and made head against the fury of his victorious Army The consideration and respect of so notable a vertue did first abate the dint of his wrath and from these three began he to relent and shew mercy to all the other inhabitants of the Town Michael Lord of Montaigne his Essayes l. 1. c. 1. Having had great victories against the French and other neighbouring Nations he instituted the Order of the Garter and consecrated it to St. George He appointed a Garter to be the Ensign of this Order wrought richly with gold and precious stones which should circle the leg beneath the knee and on it to have these words apparently discerned Honi Soit Qui Mal Y â—ense Shame to him which evil thinks The number of these Knights are twenty six whereof the King himself is the chief These Knights wear the Ensign of Saint George fighting with a Dragon fastened to a rich Chain or Collar which weighed and was worth eighty pounds of English money See Montaigne his Essayes l. 2. c. 7. of the words of honour About this time the famous Dr. Iohn Wicklef a man of sharp wit profound learning and of great judgement did in the University of Oxford publickly maintain sundry Propositions and dogmaticall points against the Church of Rome His followers were in the phrase of those dark dayes called Lollards whereas in truth they endeavoured to extirpate all pernicious weeds which through time sloath and fraud had crept into the field of Gods Church Such was this Kings courtesie friendly behaviour toward the two captive Kings of France and Scotland while they remained together in England as that hereby he won their love and favour for ever after as appeared by their repair hither to visit the King and Queen and to recreate and solace themselves in their company Thus it came to pass that their captivity here turned more to their own advantage and the peaceable enjoying of their estates after the same then if it had never hapned unto them Mr. Thomas May wrote his victorious Raign in Verse in seven Books He raigned almost one and fifty yeares and lived about sixty five who of all the Kings of the Realm saith Mr. Fâ—x unto Henry the eight was the greatest bridler of the Popes usurped power whereby Iohn Wicklef was maintained with aid sufficient CHAP. XVIII RICHARD the second HE descended from four Edwards of which the first three were succeeding Kings the fourth Prince of Wales sirnamed the black Prince who dying before his father Edward the third did not attain the Crown The Civil Warres of England by Sir Francis Bâ—ondi an Italian He was crowned in the eleventh year of his age and sufficiently shewed the miserable condition of such States as are governed by an Infant King He was the goodliest personage of all the Kings that had been since the conquest The beautifull picture of a King sighing crowned in a Chair of Estate at the upper end of the Quire in St. Peters at Westminster is said to be of him which witnesseth how goodly a creature he was ilâ— outward lineaments Speed He had nothing worthy his great fortunes but his great birth When he had with full hand bestowed upon Simâ—â—â— Montford Earl of Leicester
all the benefits he could yea and given his own sister iâ— marriage he raised a most dangerous War and spoiled shamefully a great part of England under pretence of restoring the Commonwealth and maintaining liberty neither left he any thing undone to bring the King under to change the State of a Mâ—â—â—rchy to bring in an Oligarchy But in the 〈◊〉 after that fortune had for a good while favourably smiled upon him he was slain at Eveshâ—m in Worcestershire with many other of the Barons his Complices by the prowess of Prince Edward 〈…〉 〈…〉 Although the Kingdome endured great Crosses in the affairs of State under this King yet some have thought that it found as great a blessing in matters of Religion which in those dayes took so deep root in this our Land by the preaching of Iohn Wickliffe that the branches thereof did spread themselves even over the Seas Speeds Chronicle He was the onely Son of that famous Cheiftain the black Prince of Wales a renowned son of a renowned father but as a plant transplanted into a savage soyl in degree and disposition wholly degenerate retained a tincture of the light inconstancy of his Mother and the luxuriousness of his great Grandfather Edward the second and running his course came to his end He had in his Court a thousand persons in ordinary allowance of diet three hundred servitors in his Kitchin above three hundred Ladies Chamberers and Landerers His Apparel was sumptuous and so was it generally in his time he had one Coat of gold and stone valued at thirty thousand Marks One interview with the French King at Ards when his Wife Isabel was delivered unto him cost three hundred thousand Markâ— Queen Anne his Wife Daughter to the Emperour Charles the fourth first taught English women the manner of sitting on horseback which now is used whereas before-time they rode very unseemly astride like as men do The Civil Wars in England had their beginning from his bad Government Henry the fourth did first commence them and Henry the fifth suspended them but they again brake forth under Henry the sixth Wat Tyler the Master of the Kentish Rebels was slain with a Dagger by William Walworth Mayor of London close by the Kings side in the Kings defence who was therefore Knighted and the City since giveth for Arms the Dagger He was first deposed then slain Men are easily emboldened saith Guicciardine c. 3. of his History of Italy against a Prince that is fallen into contempt The most current report at that time went that he was Princely served every day at the Table with abundance of costly meats according to the order prescribed by Parliament but was not suffered to taste or touch any one of them and so perished of famine Mr. Fox saith he was at Pamfret Castle famished to death Sir Pierce of Extone at last killed him though he with an Axe wrested out of one of their hands first killed four of those which came with him to murther him At the point of his death he groaned forth these words My great Grandfather King Edward the second was in this manner deposed imprisoned and murthered by which means my Grandfather King Edward the third obtained possession of the Crown and now is the punishment of that injury powred upon his next successor Well this is right for me to suffer but not for you to do your King for a time may joy at my death and enjoy his desire but let him qualifie his pleasures with the expectation of the like justice for God who measureth all our actions by the malice of our minds will not suffer this violence unrevenged He lived three and thirty years raigned two and twenty and three moneths Thus far the Plantagenets have continued in an unquestionable right line now follows the division of the houses of Lancaster York three of each succeeding in their order Of Lancaster Henry the fourth sirnamed Bulling brook Henry the fifth of Monmouth Henry the sixth of Windsor Of Yorke three others succeeded upon a better title 1. Edward the fourth 2. Edward the fifth 3. Richard the third HENRY the fourth He was son to Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster from the loynâ— of whom the greatest number of the Kings of England Spain Portugall since his time as also several other persons of eminent dignity are descended Mr. Dugdalâ—s History of St. Pauls Cathedrall He was annointed with an oyl which a certain religious man gave unto Henry the first Duke of Lancaster Grandfather to the King by the mothers side when he served in the Wars of King Edward the third beyond the seas together with this Prophesie that the Kings which should be annointed therewith should be the Champions of the Church There was a great contest then between the white and red Rose the houses of Yorke and Lancaster The red Rose prevailed now he being the first renowned King of the house of Lancaster He first studied a popular party as needing all to support his titles There was in his Raign a Parliament held at Coventry called Parliamentum indoctorum the lack-learning Parliament either for the unlearnedness of the persons or for their malice to learned men During the time of this Kings Raign execution by fire was first put in practice within this Realm for controversies in points of Religion He shed the bloud of Gods Saints and raigned neither long nor hâ—pâ—ily Mr. Foxâ—aith â—aith his time was full of trouble bloud and misery He was the first of the Kings of England saith he that put out his hand to the shedding of the bloud of the Saints since the conquest Humphrey his son was by his brother King Henry the fifth created Duke of Glocester he was Protector of the Kingdome of England for twenty five years in the time of King Henry the sixth He was a man who nobly deserved of the Commonwealth and of learning as being himself very learned and a magnificent Patron and benefactor of the University of Oxford where he had been educated and was generally called the good Duke Speed This Duke Humphrey purchased a wonderfull number of Books in all Sciences whereof he freely gave to a Library in Oxford a hundred and twenty nine fair Volumes Bales Conclusion to Leylands New years gift to King Henry the eight One saith all the Henries of the house of Lancaster even to Henry the seventh were most eminent for great vertues Henry the fourth for his behaviour and courtesie Henry the fifth for his valour and magnanimity Henry the sixth for his justice and piety The renowned Prince King Henry the fifth during the life of his father was noted to be fierce and of wanton courage One of his servants whom he favoured was for felony by him committed arraigned at the Kings Bench whereof the Prince being advertised and incensed by light persons about him in furious rage came hastily to the Barre
where his servant stood as prisoner and commanded him to be ungived and set at liberty William Gascoigne the chief Justice of the Kings Bench exhorted the Prince to be ordered according to the ancient Laws of the Realm or if he would have him saved from the rigour of the Laws that he should obtain if he might of the King his father his gracious pardon whereby no Law or justice should be impeached With which answer the Prince being more inflamed endeavoured himself to take away his servant The Judge considering the perillous example and inconvenience that might thereby ensue with a valiant courage and spirit commanded the Prince upon his allegiance to leave the prisoner and to depart his way with which commandement the Prince being set all in a fury in a terrible manner came up to the place of judgement some thinking that he would have slain the Judge or have done him some hurt but the Judge sitting still without moving declaring the majesty of the Kings place of judgement and with an assured bold countenance spake thus to the Prince Sir remember your self I keep here the place of the King your soveraign Lord and Father to whom you owe double obeysance wherefore in his name I charge you desist from your wilfulness and unlawfull enterprise and from henceforth give good example to those which after shall be your proper Subjects 〈◊〉 and now for your contempt and disobedience go you to the prison of the Kings Bench whereto I commit you and remaine you there prisoner untill the pleasure of the King your Father be further known With which wordes being abashed and also wondering at the marvellous gravity of that worshipfull Justice the Prince laying his weapon apart doing reverence departed and went to the Kings Bench as he was commanded whereat his servants disdaining came and shewed to the King all the whole affair He a while studying after as a man all ravished with gladness holding his hands and eyes towards heaven cried out with a loud voice O mercifull God how much am I bound to thy infinite goodness â—ffâ—ecially for that thou hast given me a Iudge who feareth not to minister justice and also a sin who can suffer semblably and obey justice Sir Thomas Eliot in his Governour saith here a man may behold three persons worthy memory First a Judge who being a Subject feared not to execute justice on the eldest son of his soveraign Lord and by order of nature his successor Also a Prince son and heir of the King in the midst of his folly more considered his evil example and the Judges conscience in justice then his own estate and wilfull appetito Thirdly a noble King and wise father who contrary to the custome of parents rejoyced to see his son and the heir of his Crown to be for his disobedience by his Subject corrected The Oath ex officio it should rather be called in officiosum was brought into the Church under him The Prelates requiring it to discover those which that age esteemed Hereticks and especially those which they called Lollards which Master Fox in his Acts and Monuments calls a bloudy Law In his admonition to his son at his death he said Of English men so long as they have wealth and riches so long shalt thou have obeysance but when they be poor they are alwayes ready to make insurrection at every motion All the time of his sickness his will was to have his Crown 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 coming in took away the Crown 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 griefs you seemed directly dead and therefore I took the Crown as being my right but seeing to all our comforts you live I here deliver it much more joyfully then I took it and pray God you may long live to wear it your self In his time were the two famous Poets Chaucer and Gower None of the sons of Henry the fourth did degenerate a thing not usuall in so large a family Henry the fifth died gloriously in the pursuit of his conquests the Duke of Clarence valiantly fighting and though of a naturall death and Glocester of a violent yet died they not with less fame then did the others Biondi his History of the Civil Warres of England l. 5. in Henry the sixth The Duke of Bedfords death is to be numbred among the chiefest causes of the loss of France He was a prudent Prince of long experience in Arms and Government obeyed by his own feared by his enemies Id. ibid. Fourth Henry was by some blind Bard foretold That he should never die till he had seen Ierusalem fourth Henry will be old Ierusalem for him shall be unseen No he shall see it when he least doth ween He swouns at prayers and by religious men Is straight convey'd unto Ierusalem Sir Francis Huberts History of Edward the second The like Prophesie we read of Pope Sylvester the second to whom being inquisitive for the time and place where he should die it was answered that he should die in Ierusalem who then saying Mass in a Chappell called likewise Ierusalem perceived his end there to be near and died In this Kings time Guild-Hall in London was built Gower being very gracious with him carried the name of the only Poet in his time He and Chaucer were Knights The King died in Ierusalem-Chamber in minster in the year of his age forty six He raigned thirteen years and a half wanting five dayes Fourteen years say others CHAP. XIX HENRY the fifth HE was just wise magnanimous valiant To this noble Prince by an assent of the Parliament all the Estates of the Realm after three dayes offered to do fealty before he was crowned or had solemnized his Oath well and justly to govern the Commonweal which offer before was never found to be made to any Prince of England Stowes Chron. His young years were spent in literature in the Academy of Oxford where in Queens-Colledge he was a Student under the tuition of his Uncle Henry Beauford Chancellour of that University When he came to be King he made Thomas Rodban a famous Astronomer in those dayes Bishop of St. Davids and Iohn Carpenter a learned Divine Bishop of Worcester having known them both whilest he lived in the University The Civil Wars of England by Sir Francis Biondi Presently after his Coronation he called before him all his old companions who had been disorderly with him strictly charging them not to presume to come within ten miles of his Court untill such time as they had given good proof of their amendment in manners and left any of them should pretend want of maintenance
to be any cause of their taking ill courses he gave to every one of them a competent means whereby to subsist and in stead of them he received the gravest men into his familiarity in whom he conceived there was the greatest prudence to take counsell and faith to give it that he might be helped by their counsels admonitions and prudence He kept his Lent in the Castle of Kenelworth and whilest he lay there messengers came to him from the Dolphin of France named Charles with a present of Paris-Balls for him to play withall but the King wrote to him that he should shortly send to him London-Balls with which he would throw down Paris Walls And to make good his promise he raised a great Army and hastened to France and landed at Caen in Normandy Charles the sixth then King of France raised also a mighty Army and sent a King of Arms to defie him King Henry desirous to know the numbers of the French sent forth Captain Game for discovery who brought word that there were of them enough to kill and enough to take and enough to run away The French were so confident of victory that they sent to King Henry to know what ransome he would give but he obtained a great victory over them He was sirnamed commonly the Alexander of England because as Alexander the Great conquered the most part of Asia in the space of nine or ten years so did this Henry conquer France in less then the like time The second ornament of the English Nation By force of Arms and military prowess maugre the French he conquered France and brought Charles the sixth King of France to that extremity that after a sort he surrendred up his Crown unto him Fuit statura corporis quae justam excederet corpore gracili membris aequalibus ac validis facie decorâ collo oblongo artis militaris peritissimus ac ejus gloriâ illustrissimus Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. 22. Within the term of five or six years he brought the better part of France under his obedience Avaunt proud Rome and brag not of thy men Nor thy aetheriall Caesars Wars declare Cease peerless Plutarch with thy sacred pen The worlds arch-Monarchs aptly to compare Reason doth urge and this alleadge I dare That Englands Homer pourtrayd hath his War Which doth excell the worthiest Caesars Star William Herberts Prophesie of Cadwallader He was of marvellous great strength and passing swift in running insomuch that he with two other of his Lords without Hound Bow or other engine would take a wild Buck or Doe in a large Park He ordained the King of Heralds over the English which is called Garter Never lived English King with more true glory nor ever died any in a more unseasonable time nor more lamented It was said of him that he had something in him of Caesar which Alexander the Great had not that he would not be drunk and something of Alexander the Great which Caesar had not that he would not be flattered The King being certified of his son Henries birth gave God thanks for sending him a son which might succeed in his Crown and Scepter But when he heard reported the place of his nativity he said unto the Lord Fitz Hugh his trusty Chamberlain these words My Lord I Henry born at Monmouth shall reign a while and much get and Henry born at Windsor shall long raign and all lose but as God will so be it The burthen of those Wars lay upon the English mens shoulders who were at that time rich and mighty and had a wise goodly and valiant King called Henry accompanied with sage hardy and expert Captains viz. the Earl of Salisbury Talbot and others When God meant to withdraw his goodness from the English men this wise King died at Bois de Vincennes and his son who proved but a simple man was crowned King of France and England and at Paris Phil. de Commines The Duke of Bedford third son to King Henry the fourth Regent for the English in France fourteen years having crowned his master Henry the sixth in Paris died leaving behind him an honourable witness even from his enemies That he was a brave Commander a true Patriot and a faithfull servant to his Lord and brother Henry the fifth and to his son Henry the sixth He was Regent of France Duke of Bedford Alanson and Anâ—â—u Earl of Main Richmond and Kendall and Constable of England King Henry died in France in the ninth year of his Raign 1422. He left to succeed him his only child Prince Henry about as many moneths old as his father had raigned years HENRY the sixth He was proclaimed King when he was about eight moneths old his mother brought him to the Parliament in London in her bosome He was crowned on the ninth year of his age His infancy was mightily supported by the notable valour and policy of his two Uncles Humphrey Duke of Glocester and Iohn Duke of Bedford to the one was committed the protection of his person and Kingdome to the other the managing of the War continued in France He was a very simple man and almost an innocent Philde Commines l. 3. c. 7. He was of a seemly stature of a slender body and of a beautifull face in whose best of fortune it was never to prossess more then the name of a King What Prophet could have picked out of Mars and Saturn the manifold mishaps which befell that Prince of blessed memory King Henry the sixth sometimes sleeping in a port of honour sometime floting in the surges of mishap sometime possessing forraign Crowns sometimes spoiled and deprived of his own sometime a Prince sometime a prisoner sometime in plight to give succour to the miserable sometime a fugitive among the desperate Howards Defensative against the poyson of supposed Prophesies c. 14. History shews us not an example of a Prince who in so many vicissitudes never met with one fully to his advantage He was four times taken prisoner and in the end despoiled both of his Kingdome and life He was crowned King of France in Nostre Dame in Paris receiving the homage and fealty of all the Nobility of France present and all the Citizens and Inhabitants of that City and the places adjacent He was so continent that at Christide having a shew of young women presented to him bare breasted he immediately departed with these words Fie fie fie for shame Forsooth you be too blame He willingly pardoned many great offences A Ruffian striking him on the face he only said Forsooth you are too blame to strike me your annointed King He was never observed dejected upon the report of any sad accident but entertained all afflictions as sent from the Almighty and absolutely resigned his will to that of heaven He founded Eaton-School and Kings Colledge the Chappell of which last shewed the magnificence that the
thereby to win the hearts of the people as being conscious to himself that the true obligations of Soveraignty in him failed He put to death Hastings A greater judgement of God then this upon Hastings I have never observed in any Story For the self same day that the Earl Riners Grey and others were without triall of Law or ostence given by Hastings advice executed at Ponfret I say Hastings himself in the same day and as I take it in the same hour in the same Lawless manner had his head stricken off in the Tower of London He had little quiet after the murther of his two Nephews in the Tower of London Sir Iohn Beaumont hath well described Bosworth-field in Verse The night before he was slain he dreamed that he saw divers images of Devils which pulled and haled him not suffering him to take any rest the which vision stroke him into such a troubled mind that he began to doubt what after came to pass Charles the ninth King of France after the massacre in Paris and divers other Cities wherein were slaughtered about thirty thousand never saw good day but his eyes rolled often uncertainly in the day with fear and suspition and his sleep was usually interrupted in the night with dismall dreams and apparitions He being near his end vomited out bloud pittifully by all the conduits of his body as a just judgement for him that barbarously shed it throughout all the Provinces of the Realm He raigned two yeares two moneths and one day CHAP. XIX HENRY the seventh THe fourteen Plantagenets thus expiring with Richard the third five Tudors take their turns in this manner Henry the seventh Henry the eighth Edward the sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth They are called Tudors because Henry the fifth his widow being a French woman married Owen Tudor from whom Henry the seventh did lineally descend In this Nation how hath the Crown walked even since Christs birth from Britains to Saxons Danes Normans Plantagenets Tudors Stuarts Mrs Shawes Tomb-stone This King pretended a six-fold title to the Crown By Conquest Military election of Souldiers in the fields near Bosworth by Parliament by Birth by Donation and Marriage He did never stand upon his marriage with the right heir as the foundation of his right unto the Crown for he knew well enough that if that had been his best and only title though it might make the power good unto his children yet while she was living he must hold the Crown in her right not in his own and if she died before him it was lost Because he was crowned in the field with King Richards Crown found in an Hawthorn-Bush he bare the Hawthorn-Bush with the Crown in it He was crowned the thirtieth day of October in the year of our Lord 1485 by Thomas Bourehier Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinall At which day he did institute for the better security of his person a Band of fifty Archers under a Captain to attend him by the name of Yeomen of his Guard and yet that it might be thought to be rather a matter of dignity after the imitation of that he had known abroad then any matter of diffidence appropriate to his own case he made it to be understood for an Ordinance not temporary but to hold in succession for ever after Through whose care vigilancy policy and forecasting wisdome for times to come the State and Commonwealth of England hath to this day stood established and invincible Camdens Britannia in Surrey A politick Prince he was if ever there were any who by the engine of his wisdome beat down and overturned as many strong oppositions both before and after he wore the Crown as ever King of England did Whose worthy renown like the Sun in the midst of his sphere shineth and ever shall shine in mens remembrance What incomparable circumspection was in him alwayes found that notwithstanding his long absence out of this Realm the disturbance of the same by sundry seditions among the Nobility Civil Warres and Battels wherein infinite people were slain yet by his most excellent wit he in few years not only brought this Realm in good order and under due obedience revived the Laws advanced justice refurnished his dominions and repaired his mannours but also with such circumspection treated with other Princes and Realms of leagues of alliance and amities that during the most part of his Raign he was little or nothing disquieted with War hostile or martiall business And yet all other Princes either feared him or had him in fatherly reverence He could never endure any mediation in rewarding his servants and therein exceeding wise for whatsoever himself gave he himself received back the thanks and the love on the contrary in whatsoever he grieved his Subjects he wisely put it off on those that he found fit ministers for such actions By his happy marriage being next heir to the house of Lancaster with Elizabeth daughter and heir to Edward the fourth of the house of Yorke the white and red Roses were conjoyned Sir Francis Bacon saith of Iohn Morton Archbishop of Canterbury Chancellor of England and Cardinal He deserveth a most happy memory in that he was the principall means of joyning the two Roses From the twenty eighth year of Henry the sixth unto the fifteenth of Henry the seventh the Civil War between Lancaster and Yâ—â—ke continued wherein as they reckoned there were thirteen fields fought three Kings of England one Prince of Wales twelve Dukes one Mâ—rquesse eighteen Earles with one Vicount and twenty three Barons besides Knights and Gentlemen lost their lives Cambd. Brit. in Warwickeshire The King in honour of the Brittish race of which himself was named his first son Arthur according to the name of that ancient worthy King of the Brittains in whose acts there is truth enough to make him famous besides that which is fabulous King Arthur fought twelve Battels with the Saxons and overthrew them Hollinsh Arthurus belliger illis temporibus dux militum Regum Brittanniae contra Saxones invictissimè pugnabat duodecies dux belli fuit duodecies victor bellatorum Hunting hist. l. 2. That Arthur was one of the nine Worthies There were three Jewes Ioshua David Iudas Maccabaeus three Gentiles Hector of Troy Alexander the Great and Iulius Caesar three Christians Arthur of Britain Charlemain of France and Godfrey of Bullen Arthur ursum significat quasi ursinum diceres Burhillus in MS. The Prince Arthur died before his father and lieth buried in the Quire of the Cathedrall Church at Worcester After was born to the King at Greenwich the Lord Henry his second son which was created Duke of Yorke and after Prince of Wales who succeeded his father in governance of this Realm by the name of Henry the eighth His time did excell for good Common-wealths Laws so as he may justly be celebrated for the best Law-giver to this Nation after
King Edward the first For his Laws who so marks them well are deep and not vulgar not made upon the Spur of a particular occasion for the present but out of providence of the future to make the estate of his people still more and more happy after the manner of the Legislators in ancient and heroicall times The Tax called Benevolence was devised by Edward the fourth for which he sustained much envy It was abolished by Richard the third by Act of Parliament to ingratiate himself with the people and it was revived by this King but with consent of Parliament for so it was not in the time of King Edward the fourth It is observed as a rule in Politicks that Dominium sequitur terram those that are the greatest proprietaries have the chief power as in Turkie because none there holds any land but during his life therefore the great Turk hath such unlimited power and so the Barons were able they say to maâ—e War with their Prince because the land was most in their and their Tenants possession Henry the seventh therefore being raised by the Nobles conceiving that those which exalted him might cast him down did abate their power and made Statutes against Retainers But Henry the eighth demolishing the Abbies distributed the lands among the people and so they again gained great power by that meanes He made a composition with Philip father to the Emperour Charles the fifth being here in England that he should deliver into his hands the Duke of Suffolke his mortall enemy who was fled out of England and saved himself in the Low Countries alwayes provided that the King should attempt nothing against the Dukes life which promise notwithstanding being ner his end he expresly by will and testament commanded his succeeding son that immediately after his decease he should cause him to be put to death Montaigne his Essayes l. 1. c. 7. There scarce passed any Parliament in this time without a Law against Riot and Retainers the King having an eye to might and multitude The King was on a time entertained by the Earl of Oxford that was his principall servant both for war and peace nobly and sumptuously at his Castle at Henninghom At the Kings going away the Earls servants stood in a seemly manner in their Livery Coats with cognizances ranged on both sides and made the King a Lane The King called the Earl to him and said My Lord I have heard much of your hospitality but I see it is greater then the speech These handsome Gentlemen and Yeomen which I see on both sides of me are sure your meniall servants The Earl smiled and said It may please your Grace that were not for mine ease They are most of them my Retainers they are come to do me service at such time as this and chiefly to see your Grace The King started a little and said By my faith my Lord I thanke you for my good chear but I may not endure to have my Lawes broken in my sight My Atturney must speake with you The Earl after compounded for a thousand marks His disposition to crush treasure out of his Subjects purses by forfeitures upon penall Lawes proved the blot of his time When among many Articles exhibited by the Irish against the Earl of Kildare the last was All Ireland cannot rule this Earl Then quoth the King shall this Earl rule all Ireland and shortly after he made him Deputy thereof Iames the fourth King of Scotland married with the Lady Margaret the Kings eldest daughter During the Treaty it is reported that the King remitted the matter to his Counsell And that some of the Table in the Freedome of Counsellors the King being present did put the case that if God should take the Kings two sons without issue that then the Kingdome of England would fall to the King of Scotland which might prejudice the Monarchy of England Whereunto the King himself replied That if that should be Scotland would be but an accession to England and not England to Scotland for that the greater would draw the less and that it was a safer union for England then that of France This was the ninth time that since the Conquest the Scottish Kings have married with the English Nation Ayscu He left at his death most of it in secret places under his own Key and keeping at Richmond the summe of near eighteen hundred thousand pounds sterling a huge mass of money even for these times His son Henry the eight by his pleasures by unprofitable Wars exhausted all that treasure in a few of the first years of his Raign He died at his Palace at Richmond which himself had built having lived two and fifty years and raigned three and twenty years and eight moneths He died and in memoriall of his name Built that fair Chappell where he now takes rest A rich foundation of a curious frame The fairest monument lest unsupprest Passing all temples of the gorgeous East O strew his Hearse with Roses red white For he both stemmes did in one unite Storâ—rs Wolseius aspirans HENRY the eighth Seven is a number fatall from the heavens But eight King Henry passing all the sevens Storers Wolseius aspirans Of personage he was tall and mighty and in his latter years somewhat gross in wit and memory excellent such majesty and humanity as was comely in such a Prince Cui natura fortunaque supra Regium nomen incomparabilis formae maxime praestantis ingenii accumulata dona contulerunt nemo enim è tota Anglica juventute vel staturae dignitate vel venustate oris vel nervorum firmitate Regem aequavit Paul Jov. Britanniae descript Huic erat à teneris annis ars bellica cordis Ut reliquas dotes condignas principe tanto Corporis atque animi non sit memor are necesse Quod fortis clemens humeris quod alitor ibat Omnibus egregia facie vultuque decoro Oclandi Anglorum praelia It hath been observed by Historians of Tiberius Emperour of Rome of Mahomet the Great Emperour of the Turks and of Henry the eight King of England that there was no security in their love but that such as were highest in their favour were nearest to ruine He brought unto the block two Queens two noble Ladies one Cardinall declared of Dukes Marquesses Earls and the sons of Earls no fewer then twelve Lords and Knights eighteen of Abbots and Priors thirteen Monks and religious persons about seventy seven and many more of both Religions to a very great number Dr. Heylins Ecclesia Restaurata That is a tart expression of Sir Walter Rauleigh in his Preface to his History of the world If all the pictures and patterns of a merciless Prince were lost in the world they might all again be painted to life out of the Story of this King How many wives did he cut off and cast off as his fancy and affection changed When he was
pay yearly upon Lammas day one peny to the Pope which at first was contributed under the name of the Kings alms but afterwards was paid by the name of Peter-pence The Pope of Rome had out of every Chimney of England Ireland and Scotland Wales and Cornwall a penny a year for five hundred years together Omnis qui habet triginta denariatas vivae pecuniae in domo sua de proprio suo Anglorum lege dabit denarium sancti Petri. Hoved. Annal pars posterior p. 603. King Henry first forbad this to be paid to the Pope There preached one before him whose Sermon the King liked not as there was reason the King willed Sir Thomas More then being Lord Chancellor to give the Preacher thanks worthy such a Sermon He being a man of a pleasant wit spake aloud to the Preacher that the King might hear and said The Kings Majesty thanketh you for your notable Sermon which when the King heard he called Sir Thomas to him and said What mean you my Lord to give such thanks in our name If it like you quoth he there be some things notable evil It is a note worthy to be remembred that Thursday hath been a fatall day to King Henry the eight and all his posterity for himself died on Thursday the twenty eighth of Ianuary King Edward on Thursday the sixth of Iuly Queen Mary on Thursday the seventeenth of November and Queen Elizabeth on Thursday the twenty fourth of March. After Dr. Collets Sermon preached to him and long communication with him by occasion thereof he dismissed him with these words Lot every one have his Doctor as he liketh this shall be my Doctor Being necessitous he was offered by the House of Commons in a Parliament toward his latter end all the lands and houses of the two famous Universities to be confiscated to his Exchequer by a most mechanick prostitution of the learning the honour and the piety of the Nation but he told them not without a just scorn that he had too much of a Scholar in him to destroy two such Universities as the world had not the like His purpose was if he had lived to have made a perfect Reformation of Religion saith Mr. Fox in his second Volume of his Acts and Monuments oâ— the Church p. 647. and he gives there two reasons of his opinion But the secret working saith he of Gods holy providence which disposeth all things after his own wisdome and purpose thought it good rather by taking the King away to reserve the accomplishment of this Reformation of his Church to the peaceable time of his son Edward and Elizabeth his daughter whose hands were yet undefiled with any bloud and life unspotted with any violence or cruelty Cardinal Woolsey and after him Archbishop Cranmer were in great favour with him Sir Thomas Moor and the Lord Cromwell were also highly esteemed by him Francis King of France after the death of King Henry the eight was much disposed to melancholy whether for that he being some years the younger was by his death admonished of the like approaching fate They were also of so conspiring a similitude of disposition and nature that you shall hardly find the like between any two Princes of whatever different times He celebrated the Funerals of King Henry in the Cathedrall at Paris though excommunicated by the Pope Many learned men lived in his dayes Iohn Collet Dean of Pauls and founder of the School there William Lilly the first Schoolmaster of Pauls School after it was erected Thomas Linacer or rather Linaker a learned Physician and well seen in the tongues Richard Pace a good Linguist Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester Sir Thomas More an excellent Scholar Iohn Frith and William Tindall Robert Barnes Martyrs Robert Wakefield a good Linguist Sir Thomas Eliot Edward Lee Archbishop of Yorke Iohn Leland a great Antiquary William Grocin very expert in Greek and Latine Hugh Latimer Bishop and Martyr who hath put out an elegant Oration in Latine thus entituled Hugonis Latimeri Anglicani pontificis Oratio apud totum Ecclesiasticum Conventum antequam consultatio publica iniretur de Regni statu per Evangelium reformando Regni invictissimi Regis Henrici 8â— 6â— anno vigessimo octavo habita where he speaks of many things fit then to be reformed and well concludes Si nihil est emendandum in communi saltem emendemus nos ipsos singuli He raigned thirty seven years and nine moneths and died in the six and fiftieth year of his life leaving behind him three children Edward Mary and Elizabeth all which also raigned after him EDWARD the sixth Next after the death of King Henry succeeded King Edward his son being of the age of nine years A Prince although but tender in years yet for his sage and mature ripeness in wit and all Princely ornaments as I see but few to whom he may not be equall so again I see not many to whom he may not justly be preferred Fox his Acts Monuments of the Church vol. 2. p. 65 2. He fitly compares him there to good Iosias Favour and love saith he of Religion was in him from his childhood such an Organ given of God to the Church of England he was as England had never better Id. ib. All King Henries issue for themselves in their severall kinds were Princes of eminent vertue As Henry the eighth with Solomon was blame-worthy for women so he left but one son and two daughters Solomon had Rehoboam a fool and unfortunate his daughters but obscure and both of them Subjects But Henry was more happy in Edward his son another Iosiah and his sisters both Soveraignes of an Imperiall Crown Speed Lever compares him to Iosiah in severall respects He was born at Hampton-Court on the twelfth day of October anno 1537 being the only surviving son of King Henry the eight by Iane his third wife daughter to Sir Iohn Seymer Knight It hath been commonly reported and no less generally believed that Prince Edward being come unto the birth and there wanting naturall strength to be delivered his mothers body was ripped open to give him a passage into the world and that she died of the Incision in a short time after Whence this Epitaph was made upon her Phoenix Jana jacet nato Phoenice dolendum Saecula Phaenices nulla tulisse duos Alluding to the Crest of her father a Phenix in flames within a Crown Yet Dr. Heylin in his Ecclesia restaurata saith there are many reasons to evince the contrary that he was not so born The other was not more poetically then truely written he being considering his years an admirable President for all ages of piety learning clemency magnanimity wisdome and care in governing his people As Iulius Caesar in the midst of his greatest actions wrote an exact and curious Commentary of his notable enterprises by Arms so King Edward during all the time of his Raign but most especially towards the
the cure of wounds by the powder of Sympathy saith he had a strange antipathy to a naked sword of which he there ascribes the cause He alleadged this reason to an English Divine wherefore the Scottish Church was never troubled with heresie for if said he it sprang up in a Purish there was an Eldership itoâ— suppress it if it had escaped them the Presbytery was ready to crush it if the Presbytery should be negligent than the Synod would opposeâ—it if it had not been by them suppressed the Generall Assembly would take strict order concerning it Philip de Mornay Lord of Plessis often complained that the King of England was too much taken up with some petty differences amongst his own but was not carefull enough to heal the deep wounds and breaches which were in the Church Yet his sending certain select and worthy Divines to the Synod of Dort to compose the unhappy differences then in the Law Countries and his causing the Bible to be translated into English by judicious Divines and set forth more exactly than formerly it had been done were noble works He had two sons Prince Henry and King Charles and one daughter that lived the Lady Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia The order of Knight Baronets was instituted by him they must be Gentlemen of three descents and should be worth a thousand pounds per annum the number to be installed was not to exceed two hundred I may for his learning and respect to the learned his eloquence and his profound questions at meals compare him to Charles the Great of whom Eginhardus de vita gestis Caroli Magni Inter caenandum aut aliquod acroamia aut lectorem audiebat Legebantur ei historiae antiquorum Regum gesta Delectabatur libris S. Augustini prâ—cipuè iis quos de civitate Dei inscripsit Erat eloquentia copiosiu exuberans poterátque quicquid vellet apertissimè exprimere Artes liberales studio sissimè coluit earúmque doctores plurimum veneratus magnis afficiebat honoribus Vide plura ibid. The Moneth of November is memorable for the seventeenth 1558 the initiation of Queen Elizabeth in which the purity of the Gospel brake forth and fifth in King Iames his Raign in which the treachery of the Gospels enemies brake out Dr. Heylin in his Historia Quinqu-Articularis c. 22. saith it was an usuall practice with him in the whole course of his Government to ballance one extream by the other countenancing the Papists against the Puritan and the Puritan sometimes against the Papist that betwixt both the true Religion and professors of it might be kept in safety But in the Epistle of his Book to his Son he shews what he means by Puritan He died at Theohalds in the year 1625 the twenty seventh of March the fifty ninth year of his age having raigned over all Great Brittain twenty two years compleat CHARLES the First the second Monarch of Great Brittain He was born November the nineteenth anno Dom. 16â—0 at Dun-fermling in Scotland He was the third son of Iames the sixth King of the Scots and of Anne his wife daughter of Frederick the second and sister of Christian the fourth Kings of Denmarke He was comely of person very active temperate chaste mercifull He was thought to be the best mark-man and the most comely manager of a great Horse of any one in all the three Kingdomes Of his lawfull descent to his Crown and Kingdomes from all the Kings of this Nation See Flemings Royall Progeny He was crowned on the second of February at Westminster in the year 1626 by Dr. Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury He was rather slow than fluent in his words as well by grace as a naturall imperfection yet he was pithy pathetick and sententiou in his expressions What the Brittains lost to the Saxons they to the Danes and the Norman got from both was his birth-right besides the Kingdomes of Scotland and Ireland and Principality of Wales additions to the Normans Conquest Shortly after his Coronation he was married to the Lady Henrietta Maria younger Daughter to Henry the fourth King of France by whom he had seven Children four Sons and three Daughters He improved himself much by his travels and was generally liked in Spain When he was there Archee the fool came boldly to King Iames as he found him once in a good humour and told him that he was come to change Caps with him Why said the King Marry sayes Archee because thou hast sent the Prince into Spain from whence he is never like to return But said the King What wilt thou say when thou seest him come back again Marry sayes Archee I will then take off the fools Cap which I put upon thy head for sending him thither and put it on the King of Spains for letting him return At which words it is reported that the King became exceeding pensive never before so much apprehending the danger of that adventure as then and afterward he did For his being a Papist though it be charged by some of his enemies yet I suppose there is little ground for it as his manifesto at the beginning of the English and Scotch Presbytery shews Therefore Mr. Baxter in his Key for Catholicks c. 45. hath vindicated him from this aspersion His own Letters to the Queen taken at Naseby and his counsell to the Duke of Glocester to obey the Queen his mother in all but what related to Religion sufficiently confute this calumny In the year 1618 King Iames published a Declaration tolerating sports on the Lords day It was so much disliked as it was soon after called in It was after revived and ratified by King Charles L'estrange saith there was not any one Royall Edict during all King Charles his Raign resented with equall regret It was his custome in his youth for refreshing his mind and the confirming of his health almost every week to hunt the Harts and Does In the three summer moneths he hunted the males being fat and pleasant to eat in the like space of time he hunted the females There was one Robert Par of Shropshire aged 152 who lived in the Raign of ten Kings and being brought up to London by the procurement of the Earl of Arundell died here and lyes buried in Westminster Abbey Constat quot generationes Carolingorum Johannes de Temporibus trisecli-senex superavit ille nuper Anglus sub Edoardo 4. natus sub Carolo denatus qui novem vel decem Regibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fuit Hornii Dissertatio de aetate mundi c. 6. Never was there in this Isle a Scene of Justice more magnificent reared for any Subject than that for the Earl of Strafford Scaffolds were erected on either side of Westminster Hall there the Commons sate uncovered and in the midst of the lower ascent the Peers behind but raised above them there was placed a Chair and Cloth of State for the
learned himself and was a great Benefactor to the Vniversity of Oxford p. 123 I Queen Jane p. 178 179 Jests witty and merry speeches p. 21 29 35 81 92 158 163 165 166 167 175 176 185 188 207 211 King John p. 93 94 Ironside why so called p. 40 A stout Judge p. 124 125 126 K Kings-Evil when first cured in England p. 51 King of Heralds ordained by whom p. 132 L Laws the best made in the time of Richard the second and Henry the seventh p. 148 155 956 M Queen Mary p. 179 to 183 Murder punished remarkably p. 149 150 N Neote me of the first Divinity-Readers in Oxford p. 17 Normans what p. 53. We re-received our Laws and names of sports from them ib. p. 54 O Offa first gave the Peter-pence to Rome p. 12 Offas Church aud Offas Ditch ib. Oswald p. 9 Oswy ib. p. 9 10 P Parliament the first in the raign of Edward the third p. 111 Parliamentum bonum ib. Parliamentum indoctorum p. 122. Insanum Parliamentum p. 96 Plantagenet whence p. 84 Q Vertuous Queens p. 98 178 179 183 to 200 R Richard the first p. 89. 90 91 92 Richard the second p. 117 to 122 Richard the third p. 146 to 150 Rosamand what it signifies p. 86 87 The comely riding of women when it began in England p. 120 S Saxons a warlike people p. 12. They gave names to many Cities Towns Rivers Woods Fields in Engl. ib. Why Saxon Princes had their Name from a Horse and gave a Horse for their Escucheon p. 4 5 Schola Salernitana dedicated to Robert Son to William the Conqueror p. 67 68 Stephen p. 82 83 Stuart whence p. 200 T Thong Castle why so called p. 4 Tudors why so called p. 150 151 V Great Victory of the English over the French p 112 113 University Colledge in Oxford founded by King Alfred p. 22. There are his Armes in the Hall p. 25 W Earle of Warwick a person of great power in Edward the fourths reign p. 200 Women whether the Rule of Women be lawfull p 179 William the first p. 54 to 66 William the second p. 66 to 73 Wolves how destroyed in England p. 34. Wicklef in the Reign of Edw. the third p. 116 Y Yeomen of the Guard instituted by Henry the seventh p. 151 FINIS Beda to King Ceolwolph Speed his History of Greatbrittain to King Iames. Howe his Annals or Continuation of Stow and Bacons Henry the 7th to your Father when Prince * It was illustrious both in respect of the bright Star which then appeared at high-noon in the presence and sight of all See Stella meridiana also in respect of your near alliance to the greatest â—rinces of Christendom Doway Notes on Iosh. 3. 8. a See Dr Basire of Sacriledge b Montacuâ—ii Antidiatribae ad Diat 1. Bulengeri C Hookers Ecclesiasticall Policy l. 8. It is by divers Charters granted to the Church of Westminster to be locus Coronationis Regis repositorium Regalium Liber Regalis The Sword presents the Princes power the Crown their glory B. Bilson in his Sermon before K. Iames at his Coronation See the 〈◊〉 of Worcester 〈◊〉 Sermon at the Coronation King Iames commâ—ndeth Caesar above all proâ—â—e Writers both for the sweet slowing of thâ— style and the worthiness of the maner it self * Henry the first the fifth the seventh the eighth Edward the first the third the sixth especially who first began our happy Reformation in Religion At the Coronation of King Ioash the High-Priest delivered him the Testimony not only that he might know and do it himself but take care as much as lie in him that it might be known and observed by the people Dr Hardy his Apostolicall Lyturgy revived on 2 King 11. 12. Read the Scriptures diligently and with an humble spirit and in it observe what is plain and believe live accordingly Dr Ier. Taylors Letter to a person newly converted to the Church 2 Sam. 23. 3. a Molinier in his Essayâ—â— All that we beg at the hands of our Superiors is a liberty to worship God according to his word that we may have no thing imposed upon us but what we may be directed in our compliance with by the rule of Scripture we desire that men may not command where God is silent The Examinat of Dr Heylins History of the Reformar of the Church of England Those of the Presbyterian judgement that out of a reall tenderness cannot comply in all particulars will beyond doubt receive from his Majesty such savour and indulgence as may abundantly suffice to their relief Mr L'estrange his Holy Cheat. p. 78. of the 2d Edition See Mr Wheare De Methodâ— legendi Historias pag. 52. Daniel doth very well so far as he goes He is continued by Trussell Historia est testis temporum lux veritatis vita memoriae magistra vitae nuncia vetustatis Cicero l. 2. De Oratore * Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis a Aschams Schoolemaster l. 1. p. 20. * It was a very pious care and of singular example in so young a Prince to intend endeavour the reformation of Religion and the Church within his Realms For which even at this day we have cause to acknowledge the good providence of Almighty God in â—aising him up to become so blessed an instrument of his glory and our good BP Sandersons Episcopacy not prejudicial to Regall Power In the time of King Edward there was more I suppose than what one calls it a wambling toward the Genevah Discipline but neither very earnest nor very popular a Annal Tom◠〈◊〉 p. 33. b Whereas the Papists unjustly charge the Protestant Churches with Schism for departing from their Communion it could not but be a great scandall to them to confirm them in that their uncharitable opinion of us if we should utterly condemn any thing as unlawfull because it had been used in the times of Popery or abused by the Papists B. Sanders Epise not prejudiciall to Regall Power c As Father Gilpin and Father Latimer Annal. Rerum Anglicarum parte prima p. 101 102. Mr Lyfords Conscience Informed touching our late Thanksgivings Fox his Acts and Monumenâ— vol. 1. Cambd Brit. Englâ—sh Saxons Saxons eâ—oient tous extremeâ—ent belli queux comme esâ—rit Zosine lâ— plus vaillants renommez de tous les Germanis en grandeur de Courage en forces de â—â—â—ps en patience au â—ravail Histoire Dâ— Angleterre Par Andre Da Chesne l. 6. p. 1â—6 Verstigans Antiq 〈◊〉 tamen in 〈…〉 dominium Hexaâ—châ— ab 〈◊〉 Anglorum 〈◊〉 primordiis 〈…〉 dictum coâ—rcebantur Sold. Analect Angloâ—bris l. 2. â— 4. The first King of Kent became the first Monarch of the English men Camâ—â— Bâ—it English Saxons Histoire 〈◊〉 Angâ—â—t re lar 〈◊〉 â—â—Chesâ—e l 6. p. 1◠〈◊〉 Brit English Saxons Hengist signifieth â— stoned Horse Equus bellicosorum Saxoniae principum antiquissimum insigne pugnaâ—itâ—â—is celeretatis
his Father At a time upon the repulse of a certain suit the Archbishop brake forth into discontentment expostulated sharply against the King and in a humorous heat offered to depart But the King stayed him fell down at his feet desired pardon and promised satisfaction in the best manner that he could The Nobility which were present put the Archbishop in minde that he should cause the King to arise nay answered the Archbishop let him alone let him still abide at St. Peters feet So with much ado he was appeased and entreated to accept his suit By reason of sickness he kept his chamber a long time whereat the French King scoffing said The King of England lyeth long in Childbed Which when it was reported unto King William he answered When I am Churched there shall be a thousand lights in France alluding to the lights that Women used to bear when they were Churched and that he performed within few dayes after wasting the French Frontiers with fire and sword Malmesb. de Wilielmo primo l. 4. Some of the Earls conspiring against him he perceiving his estate to be now brought into no small danger and loath to put all upon the hazard and fortune of a Battell against men so well provided and with desperation armed as a man perplexed entred into consultation with Lâ—nfrancke then Archbishop of Canterbury what course were now best for him to take for the appeasing of these so great and dangerous troubles By whose advice he came to a parl with the English Nobility where after much reasoning and debating of the matter a peace was at length concluded and agreed upon so that the English men laying down their Arms the Conquerour in the presence of the Archbishop Lanfrancke and others took a solemn Oath upon the holy Evangelists and all the reliques of the Churches of St. Albans from thence forth to observe and keep the good and ancient Laws of the Realm which the noble Kings of England his Predecessors had before made and ordained but especially those of St. Edwarâ— of all others supposed to be most equall and indifferent for the geneâ—all good of the people He courteously received and honourably maintained Edgar Etheling in his Court allowing him a pound weight of silver every day to spend a rare example of a victorious Conqueror shewed upon a man so unconstant who twice had broken his Oath of fidelity and dangerous to be so near unto his person being as he was a competitor of his Crown During all his Raign either the sword was not put up into the scabbard or if it were the hand was alwayes upon the hilt ready to draw it So unwilling on the one part were the English men to bear the yoke and so haughty on the other part were the Norman Conquerors that to be called an English man was in their eyes a great concumely insomuch as it made some of the more light-conceited of the English to seek to better their esteem by imitating the Normans both in apparrell and language which among the graver sort bred the Proverb that Jack would be a Gentleman if he could speak French He favoured learned men and drew out of Italy Lanfrancke Anselme Durand Trahern and divers others famous at that time for learning and piety 'T is better with William Hunter than with William the Conqueror 'T is better to have a name in the Book of Martyrs than in the Book of Chronicles Mr. Nortons life of Mr. Iohn Cotton Perceiving his own defects in some points for want of learning he did exhort his children oftentimes to learning with this saying An unlearned Prince is a crowned Ass which speech took great impression in his son Henry This is one speciall honour attributed unto him that from him we begin the Computation of our Kings of England From the Normans bearing of Armes began amongst us Ab eo posteriores series Regum inchoavere perinde acsi de integro ille regnum ipsum instituâ—isset Regesque qui seâ—uti sunt usi similiter sunt ut nunc utuntur insignibus Regiis quae dedisset Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 9. Nostrates priusquam in Angliam penetrasset Wilielmus primus hunc armorum cultum à Normannis videntur accepisse Spelmanni Aspilegia p. 40. Vide etiam p. 44. He ended his life upon the ninth day of September full both of honour and of age when he had raigned twenty years eight moneths and sixteen dayes in the threescore and fourth year of his age His dead body was not only abandoned but left almost naked upon the ground Being conveyed from Roan where he died to Cane one Fitz Arthur denied the King buriall in the Abbey-Church as ground which was wrongfully taken by the King from his Father till he had a hundred pounds paid him for it Mr. Ienkyn in his Exposition of the Epistle of Iude vers 4. p. 351. saith Of our twenty five Monarchs since the Conquest thirteen taking in three who are thought to be poysoned are said to have had violent and untimely deaths CHAP. XII K. William the second sirnamed Rufus or the Red. KIng William the first took to wife Matilde daughter to Baldwin Earl of Flanders a man for his wisdome and power both reverenced and feared even of Kings but because she was his Cousin-germane he was for his marriage excommunicate by his own Uncle Mauger Archbishop of Roan Hereupon he sued to Pope Victor and obtained of him a dispensation and afterwards so wrought that by a provinciall Counsell his Uncle Mauger was deprived of his dignity This King had by his Wife four sons Robert Richard William and Henry Robert his eldest son sirnamed Courtcuise by reason of the shortness of his thighs succeeded him in the Duchy of Normandy He was a man of exceeding honourable courage and spirit for which cause he was so esteemed by the Christian Princes in the great Warre against the Saracens that when they had subdued the City and Territory of Hierusalem they offered the Kingdome thereof first unto him The King of England to whom the Schola Salernitana was dedicated was this Robert eldest son of the Duke of Normandy which begins thus Anglorum Regi scribit Schola tota Salerni and it seems to be written when this Robert returned out of Palestina into Apulia and by reason of a Fistula from his poysoned wound he had consulted with the School of Salerne concerning it and preserving his health Neither doth that hinder that this Book is written to the King of England but Robert never raigned here for the Kingdome of right belonged to him which his younger Brother William Rufus possessed in his absence and for recovering of that he warred with his Brother but was overcome by him Richard had raised the good expectation of many as well by his comely countenance and behaviour as by his lively and generous spirit But he died young by misadventure
at a certain interview between the King and Pope Innocent the second the sons of Robert Earl of Mellent maintained open disputations against divers Cardinals and Chaplains of the Pope Sir Iohn Hayward To purchase the favour of the Clergy he called Anselme out of exile and restored him both to the dignity and revenues of the See of Canterbury He committed Radulph alias Ranulph Bishop of Durham to prison who had been both author and agent to King William in most of his distrustfull actions against the Clergy To make the Clergy the more assured the King renounced the right which his Ancestours used in giving Investitures and acknowledged the same to appertain to the Pope The Clergy did much favour him by reason of his liberall leave either to erect or to enlarge or else to enrich religious buildings For to these works the King was so ready to give not only way but encouragement and help that in no Princes time they did more within this Realm either flourish or encrease Sir Iohn Hayward numbers twenty five religious buildings either done or helped forward or permitted and allowed by the King This King being born in England and the Queen of English bloud-royall raised the depressed English Nation again unto honour and credit He restored them to the use of fire and candle after eight of the Clock at night which his Father had most straitly forbidden He being a wise Prince and well knowing that an Empire gotten by force could no longer remain then that force continued sent into Scotland and took to Wife Maud the daughter of Queen Margaret sister to Edgar Etheling who was now dead and left no issue whereby this Maud was the heir of the Saxon line and in her brought back again to us the ancient English blood-royall before it had descended beyond one generation from the Conquerour in whose line it continueth unto this day She was adorned with all royall vertues principally with piety and humility These Verses were made in her commendation Prospera non laetam fecere nec aspera tristem Aspera risus ei prospera terror erant Non decor effecit fragilem non sceptra superbam Sola potens humilis sola pudica decens She being married against her will seeing she must violate the vow of her virginity she cursed her of-spring if any came of her which was not altogether vain saith Polyd. Virgil in regard they were all afterward drowned He reduced Normandy to England He built therein many Castles and planted Garrisons and with no less wisdome assured that State then with valour he had won it He brought with him his Brother Robert into England and committed him to safe custody in the Castle of Cardiffe He striving to escape was taken again committed to close prison his eyes put out and a sure guard set upon him Thus he remained in desolate darkness neither reverenced by any for his former greatness nor pitied for his present distress Thus he continued about twenty seven years in a life far more grievous then death even untill the year before the death of King Henry So long was he a suitor in wooing of death So long did the one Brother overlive his good fortune the other his good nature and disposition esteeming it a fair favour that the uttermost extremity was not inflicted He gave his daughter Maud the Empress in second marriage to the Earl of Anjou and his Sister Elix as some Chronicles call her to Steven Earl of Bloys Thence sprang the loss of this Kingdome to Maud during her life by being so far out of the land in another Countrey when she should have accepted it here Therof sprang the perjuries of Steven King of England enticed to a Kingdome through the commodity of his near place And thence came the Civill miseries to the people who through the incertainty of a Governour were in field and Arms one against another His daughter Maud as well as that Lacedemonian Lady Lampedo whom Pliny maketh mention of was a Kings daughter a Kings wife and a Kings mother Daughter of this Henry the first King of England wife of Henry the fourth Emperour of Germany and mother to Henry the second King of England Concerning which matter there is this Distick engraven on her Tomb. Magna ortu majórque viro sed maxima partu Hîc jacet Henrici filia sponsa parens The daughter wife the mother eke of Henry lieth here Much blest by birth by marriage more but most by issue dear He was a great administrer of justice and the first that ordained that theeves should be hanged He ordained that counterfeiters of money should lose both their eyes and be deprived of their privy parts He took away the deceit which had been occasioned by variety of measures and made measure by the length of his own arm which hath been commonly used ever since by the name of a yard He is yet alive in his Laws See his Laws in Lambard de priscis Anglorum legibus His expences were chiefly in his Warres and his many and great fortifications in Normandy His buildings were the Abbey of Reading the Castle of Warwicke of Bristoll the Mannour of Woodstocke and the great inclosure of that Park with a stone Wall seven miles about There was a singular and most remarkable example of Gods justice upon his children For when the King both by force crast and cruelty had dispossest over-reacht and lastly made blind and destroyed his elder Brother Duke of Normandy to make his own sons Lords of his Land God cast them all male and female Nephews and Neeces Maud excepted into the bottome of the Sea with above a hundred and fifty others that attended them whereof a great many were noble and of the King dearly beloved Evasit unus ille agrestis qui tota nocte malo supernatans mane totius tragediae actum expressit Malmesb. de Henrico primo l. 5. Vide Polyd. Virg. Ang. hist. l. 11. p. 191. Nulla unquam navis fuit Anglâ—ae tantae miseriae nulla toto orbi tam patulae famae His usuall Oath was By our Lords death and so was Queen Elizabeths He first instituted the form of the High-Court of Parliament as now it is in use The first Parliament was held at Salisbury upon the nineteenth day of April in the sixteenth year of his Raign See Lamberts Archeion p. 240 241 242 243. When Matilde his daughter was given in marriage to Henry the fifth Emperour he took three shillings of every Hide of land throughout the Realm which being followed by succeeding Kings did grow to a custome of receiving aid whensoever they gave their daughters in marriage About this time the marriage of Priests was forbidden in England but the King for money permitted them to retain their wives and in the end set an imposition in that respect upon every Church throughout the Realm It availed not any man
should dispossess his children of the Crown was consenting to his death interpreting G. to be George Duke of Clarence which fell out to be Glocester to whose tyranny he left them by this ungodly means He vanquished in nine Battels himself being present The Scene of his fortune had more changes then any King of England yet except his Competitor Lust was reputed his bosome-sin God severely punisht him in his sons who were both dispossest of their Kingdome and their lives by their unnaturall Uncle there being so much appearance of right by their fathers incontinency that even an Act of Parliament was made to bastardize them He was the first of our Kings since the Conquest that married his Subject His usuall Oath was By Gods blessed Lady He sate on the Kings Bench in open Court three dayes together in Michaelmas Term anno 〈◊〉 of his Raign to understand how his Laws were executed Have we not seen the late King of England Edward the fourth of that name heir of the house of Yorke utterly destroy the house of Lancaster under the which both his father and he had lived many yeares Farther the said King Edward having done homage to King Henry the sixth being of the house of Lancaster did he not afterward hold him prisoner many years in the Tower of London the chief City of the Realm where in the end he was put to death Phil. de Commines hist. l. 5. c. 18. He saith that their King Lewis the eleventh of France in wisdome and sense far surmounted King Edward Lib. 6. c. 2. and l. 5. c. 13. he saith of Lewis undoubtedly he was one of the wisest and subtilest Princes that lived in his time That very day wherein an honourable peace was concluded between Edward the fourth and King Lewis the eleventh upon subscribed Articles it chanced a white Dove as Commines writes to repose her self upon King Edwards pavilion whereupon though many gathered an argument yet since she sate not equally between both the Kings I like much better of a Gascoines observation who having been present at the sight reported unto Philipde Commines as himself records that the Dove repaired to King Edwards Tent only to this intent to refresh and prune her self after a great rain because the Sun was warmest there Howards Defensative c. 24. Richard Nevill Earl of Warwicke was a man of an undaunted courage but wavering and untrusty the very Tennice-Ball in some sort of fortune who although he were no King was above Kings as who deposed King Henry the sixth a most bountifull Price to him from his royall dignity placed Edward the fourth in the royall Throne and afterwards put him down too restored Henry the sixth again to the Kingdome enwrapped England within the most wofull and lamentable flames of Civill War which himself at the length hardly quenched with his own bloud In his spirit birth marriage and revenue he was mighty which raised his thoughts above proportion The greatest and busiest Subject our later age hath brought forth That make-King Warwick having the English Crown Pinn'd on his sleeve to place where he thought best Who set up Princes and did pull them down How did he toyl the Land with his unrest How did his Sword rip up his mothers brests Whose greatness and his popularity Wrought both his own and others tragedy Sir Francis Huberts History of Edward the second Cecil Dutchess of Yorke his mother lived in Henry the sevenths Raign and died at her Castle of Barkhamsted being of extream years who had lived to see three Princes of her body crowned and four murthered He being near his death told his friends that if he could as well have foreseen things as now to his pain he proved them he would never have worn the courtesie of mens knees with the loss of so many heads He raigned two and twenty yeares one moneth and five dayes EDWARD the fifth He was scarce eleven years old when his father died and succeeded him 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 Raign of Edward the fifth as the tyranny of Richard the third He hearing that his Uncle had left the name of Protector and taken upon him the title of King and was with full consenting of the Lords to be crowned within a few dayes following with the same Crown and in the like Estate as had been provided for his solemnity the dejected Innocent sighed and said Alass I would my Vncle would let me enjoy my life yet though I lose both my Kingdome and Crown He and his brother Richard were murthered in the Tower Tâ—win brethren in their deaths what had they done O Richard sees a fault that they were in It is not actuall but a mortall one They Princes were 't was their original sin Why should so sweet a pair of Princes lack Their Innocents-day in th' English Almanack Aleyns History of Henry the seventh RICHARD the third He was king in fact only but Tyrant both in title and regiment He was ill featured of limmes crook-backed hard favoured of visage malicious wrathfull envious It is for truth reported that the Dutchess his mother had so much ado in her travail that she could not be delivered of him uncut and that he came into the world with the feet forward and as the same runneth also not untoothed whether men of hatred report above the truth or else that nature changed her course in his beginning which in the course of his life committed many things unnaturally Buck that writes his Raign writes favourably of him but the Chroniclers generally condemn him He was brother to King Edward the fourth and having most wickedly murthered his Nephews usurped the Kingdome by the name of King Richard the third and after two years lost both it and his life in a pitched field He slew with his own hands King Henry the sixth being prisoner in the Tower as men constantly said and that without commandement or knowledge of King Edward the fourth who undoubtedly if he had intended his death would have appointed that Butcherly office to some other then his own brother He slew also that Kings son in the presence of Edward the fourth Was the contriver of the death of the Duke of Clarence his brother He bare a white Bore for his Cognisance The Lord Lovell Sir Richard Ratcliffe and Sir William Catesby were chief rulers under him of the which persons was made a seditious Rime and fastened upon the Cross in Cheapside and other places of the City It was this The Cat the Rat and Lovell the Dog Rule all England under a Hog For which one Colingborne was executed A Prince who deserved to be ranked among the worst men and the best Kings Yet Sir Francis Bacon in his History of Henry the seventh saith that his good Laws were but the brocage of an usurper