same House as descended by the daughter of the first Brother Edward Duke of York and King of England and then the Earl of Huntington and his generation as also the Pools Barringtons and others before named are or may be Titlers of York as descended of George Duke of Clarence second Son of Richard Duke of York all which Issue yet seem to remain only within the compass of the House of York for that by the former Pedegree of the House of Lancaster it seemeth to the favourers of this House that none of these other Competitors are properly of the Line of Lancaster for that King Henry the 7th coming only of John of Gaunt by Catharine Swinford his third Wife could have no part in Lady Blanch that was only Inheritor of that House as to these men seemeth evident Only then it remaineth for the ending of this Chapter to explain somewhat more clearly the descent of King Henry the 7th and of his Issue For better understanding whereof you must consider that King Henry the 7th being of the House of Lancaster in the manner that you have heard and marrying Elizabeth the eldest daughter of the contrary House of York did seem to joyn both Houses together and make an end of that bloudy controversie though others now will say no But howsoever that was which after shall be examined clear it is that he had by that marriage one only Son that left Issue and two daughters his Son was King Henry the 8th who by three several Wives had three Children that have reigned after him to wit King Edward the 6th by Queen Jane Seymer Queen Mary by Queen Catharine of Spain and Queen Elizabeth by Queen Anne Bullen of all which three Children no Issue hath remained so as now we must return to consider the Issue of his daughters The eldest daughter of King Henoy the seventh named Margaret was married by her first mariage to James the fourth King of Scots who had Issue James the fifth and he again Lady Mary late Queen of Scots and Dowager of France put to death not long ago in England who left Issue James the sixth now King of Scots And by her second marriage the said Lady Margaret after the death of King James the fourth took for husband Archibald Douglas Earl of Angus in Scotland by whom she had one only daughter named Margaret which was married to Matthew Steward Earl of Lenox and by him she had two Sons to wit Henry Lord Darly and Charles Steward Henry married the foresaid Lady Mary Queen of Scotland and was murthered in Edenbrough in the year 1566. as the World knoweth and Charles his Brother married Elizabeth the daughter of Sir William Candish in England by whom he had one only daughter yet living named Arabella another competitor of the Crown of England by the House of York and thus much of the first daughter of King Henry the seventh Mary the second daughter of King Henry the seventh and younger Sister to King Henry the eighth was married first to Lewis the XII King of France by whom she had no Issue and afterward to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk by whom she had two daughters to wit Frances and Eleanor the Lady Frances was married first to Henry Gray Marquess of Dorset and after Duke of Suffolk beheaded by Queen Mary and by him she had three daughters to wit Jane Catharine and Mary the Lady Jane eldest of the three was married to Lord Guilford Dudly Son to John Dudly late Duke of Northumberland with whom I mean with her Husband and Father in Law she was beheaded soon after for being proclaimes Queen upon the death of King Edward the sixth the Lady Catharine second daughter married first the Lord Henry Herbert Earl of Pembroke and left by him again she dyed afterward in the Tower where she was prisoner for having had two Children by Edward Seymer Earl of Hertford without sufficient proof that she was married unto him and the two Children are yet living to wit Henry Seymer commonly called Lord Beacham and Edward Seymer his Brother The Lady Mary the third Sister though she was betrothed to Arthur Lord Gray of Wilton and married after to Martin Keyes Gentleman-Porter yet hath she left no Issue as far as I understand This then is the end of the Issue of Lady Frances first of the two daughters of Queen Mary of France by Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk for albeit the said Lady Frances after the beheading of the said Henry Lord Gray Duke of Suffolk her first Husband married again one Adrian Stokes her Servant and had a Son by him yet it lived not but dyed very soon after Now then to speak of the younger daughter of the said French Queen and Duke named Eleanor she was married to Henry Clifford Earl of Cumberland who had by her a daughter named Margaret that was married to Lord Henry Stanley Earl of Darby by whom she hath a plentiful Issue as Ferdinand now Earl of Darby William Stanley Francis Stanley and others and this is all that needeth to be spoken of these descents of our English Kings Princes Peers or Competitors to the Crown for this place and therefore now it resteth only that we begin to examine what different pretentions are fram'd by divers Parties upon these descents and Genealogies which is the principal point of this our discourse CHAP. IV. Of the great and general controversie and contention between the two Houses Royal of Lancaster and York and which of them may seem to have had the better Right to the Crown by way of Succession ANd first of all before I do descend to treat in particular of the different pretences of several persons and families that have issued out of these two Royal lineages of Lancaster and York it shall perhaps not be amiss to discuss with some attention what is or hath or may be said on both sides for the general controversie that lyeth between them yet undecided in many mens opinions notwithstanding there hath been so much stir about the same and not only writing and disputing but also fighting and murthering for many years And truly if we look into divers Histories Records and Authors which have written of this matter we shall find that every one of them speaking commonly according to the time wherein they lived for that all such as wrote in the time of the three Henries fourth fifth and sixth Kings of the House of Lancaster they make the title of Lancaster very clear and undoubted but such others as wrote since that time while the House of York hath held the Scepter they have spoken in a far different manner as namely Polydor that wrote in King Henry the VIII his time and others that have followed him since to take all right from the House of Lancaster and give the same to the House of York wherefore the best way I suppose will be not so much to consider
it happeneth And as for the second point of Foreign Birth they say there hath been sufficient answer before in treating of the House of Scotland that in rigour it is no bar by intention of any English Law yet whether in reason of State and politick Government it may be a just impediment or no it shall after be handled more at large when we come to treat of the House of Portugal To the last point of Religion they answer that this impediment is not universal nor admitted in the Judgment of all men but only of those English that be of different Religion from her But to some others and those many as these men do ween her Religion will rather be a motive to favour her Title then to hinder the same so that on this ground no certainty can be builded and this is as much as I have to say at this time of these two Families of Clarence and Britany CHAP. VIII Of the House of Portugal which containeth the Claims as well of the King and Prince of Spain to the succession of England as also of the Dukes of Parma and Bragansa by the House of Lancaster IT hath been oftentimes spoken before upon occasions offered that the Princes of the House of Portugal at this day do perswade themselves that the only remainder of the House of Lancaster resteth among them as the only true Heirs of the Lady Blanch Dutchess and Heir of Lancaster and first Wife of John of Gaunt which point of these Princes descents from the said Dutchess of Lancaster though it be declared sufficiently before in the third and fourth Chapters yet will I briefly here also set down and repeat again the reasons thereof which are these that follow John of Gaunt was Duke of Lancaster by the right of his first Wife Lady Blanch and had by her only one Son as also one Daughter of whom we need here to speak for that the other hath left no Issue now living The Son was King Henry the 4th who had Issue King Henry the 5th and he again Henry the 6th in whom was extinguished all the succession of this Son Henry The daughter of John of Gaunt by Lady Blanch was called Philippa who was married to John the first King of that name of Portugal who had Issue by him King Edward and he again had Issue King Alfonsus the fifth King of Portugal and he and his off-spring had Issue again the one after the other until our times and so by this marriage of Lady Philippa to their first King John these Princes of the House of Portugal that live at this day do pretend that the Inheritance of Lancaster is only in them by this Lady Philippa for that the succession of her elder Brother King Henry the fourth is expired long ago This in effect is their pretence but now we will pass on to see what others say that do pretend also to be of the House of Lancaster by a latter marriage John of Gaunt after the death of his first Wife Lady Blanch did marry again the Lady Constance daughter of King Peter surnamed the Cruel of Castile and had by her one daughter only named Catharine whom he married afterward back to Castile again giving her to Wife to King Henry the third of that name by whom the 〈◊〉 Issue King John and he others so as lineally King Philip of Spain is descended from her which King Philip being at this day King also of Portugal and chief Titler of that House unto England he joy 〈◊〉 the Inheritance of both the two daughters of John of Gaunt in one and so we shall not need to talk of these two daughters hereafter distinctly but only as of one seeing that both their descents do end in this one man The only difficulty and dissention is then about the Issue of the third marriage which was of John of Gaunt wiâ—h Lady Catharine Swinford whom he first kept as a Concubine in the time of his second Wife Lady Constance as before hath been shewed in the third Chapter and begat of her four Children and after that his Wife Lady Constance was dead he took her to Wife for the love he bare to his Children a little before his death and caused the said Children to be legitimated by Authority of Parliament and for that none of these four Children of his have left Issue but only one that was John Earl of Somerset we shall speak only of him omitting all the rest This John then Earl of Somerset had Issue another John which was made Duke of Somerset by King Henry the sixth who with his three Sons were slain by the Princes of the House of York in the quarrel of Lancaster and so left only one daughter named Margaret who by her Husband Edmond Tudor Earl of Richmond was Countâ—ss of Richmond and had by him a Son named Henry Earl of Richmond that was after King by the name of King Henry the seventh and from him all his descendents both of the House of Scotland and Suffolk do pretend also to be of the House of Lancaster which yet can be no otherwise then now hath been declared to wit not from Blanch first Wife and Heir of the Dutchy of Lancaster but from Catharine Swinford his third Wife wherein riseth the question whether those men I mean King Henry the seventh and his descendents may pâ—â—perly be said to be of the true House of Lancaster or no Whereunto some do answer with a distinction to wit that to the Dutchy of Lancaster whereof the first Wife Lady Blanch was Heir these of the third marriage cannot be Heirs but only the remainder of the Issue of the said Lady Blanch that resteth in the Princes of the House of Portugal But yet to the Title of the Crown of England which came by John of Gaunt himself in that he was third Son of King Edward the third and eldest of all his Children that lived when the said King Edward died by which is pretended also that he should have succeeded immediately after him before King Richard the second as before in the fourth Chapter hath been declared to this Right I say and to this Interest of the Crown which came by John of Gaunt himself and not by Lady Blanch or by any other of his Wives the descendents of King Henry the seventh do say that they may and ought to succeed for that John Earl of Somerset eldest Son of John of Gaunt by Lady Catharine Swinford though he were begotten out of matrimony yet being afterward made legitimate he was to inherit this right of John of Gaunt his Father before the Lady Philippa his Sister for that so we see that King Edward the sixth though younger and but half-brother unto the Lady Mary and Elizabeth his Sisters yet he inherited the Crown before them and in like manner is Lord Philip Prince of Spain at this day to inherit all the
were exasperated by the proceedings of their seventh King named Lucius Tarquinus surnamed the proud who for that as Livius saith he neglected the Laws of Government prescribed to him by the Commonwealth as namely in that he consulted not with the Senate in matters of great importance and for that he made War and Peace of his own head and for that he appointed to himself a Guard as though he had mistrusted the People and for that he did use Injustice to divers particular men and suffered his Children to be insolent he was Expelled with all his Posterity and the Government of Rome changed from a Kingdom unto the Regiment of Consuls after that the other had endured two hundred years And thus much for those Kingdoms of Italy and Greece And if likewise we will look upon other Kingdoms of Europe we shall see the very same to wit that every Kingdom and Country hath its Laws prescribed â—o their Kings by the Common-wealth both for their Government Authority and Succession in the same For if we behold the Roman Empire it self as it is at this day annexed to the German Electors though it be the first in dignity among Christian Princes yet shall we see it so restrained by particular Laws as the Emperor can do much less than other Kings in theirs for he can neither make War nor exact any contribution of Men or Money thereunto but by the free leave and consent of the German Dyet or Parliament and for his Children or next in Kin they have no Action Interest or Pretence at all to succeed in their Fathers Dignity but only by free Election if they shall be thought worthy Nay one of the chiefest points that the Emperor must swear at his entrance as Sleydan writeth is this That he shall never go about to make the Dignity of the Emperor peculiar or hereditary to his Family but leave it unto the seven Electors free in their power to chuse his Successor according to the Law made by Pope Gregory the fifth and the Emperor Charles the fourth in this behalf The Kingdoms of Polonia and Bohemia do go much after the same fashion both for their restraint of Power and Succession to their Kings For first touching their Authority they have great limitation neither can they do any thing of great moment without the consent of certain principal men called Palatines or Castellans neither may their Children or next of Bloud succed except they be chosen as in the Empire In Spain France and England the priviledges of Kings are far more eminent in both these points for that both their Authority is much more absolute and their next in Bloud do ordinarily succeed but yet in different manner For as touching Authority it seemeth that the Kings of Spain and France have greater than the King of England for that every Ordination of these two Kings is Law in it self without further approbation of the Commonwealth where no general Law can be made without consent of Parliament But in the other point of Succession it appeareth that the restraint is far greater in those other two Countries than in England for that in Spain the next in Bloud cannot succeed be he never so lawfully descended but by a new approbation of the Nobility and Bishops and States of the Realm as it is expresly set down in the two ancient Counsels of Tolledo the fourth and fifth In confirmation whereof we see at this day that the King of Spain's own Son cannot succeed nor be called Prince except he be first sworn by the said Nobility and States in token of their new consent and so we have seen it practiced in our days towards three or four of King Philip's Children which have succeeded the one after the other in the title of Princes of Spain and at every change a new Oath required at the Subjects hands for their admission to the said Dignity which is not used in the Kings Children of France or England In France the World knoweth how Women are not admitted to succeed in the Crown be they never so near in Bloud neither any of their Issue though it be Male. For which cause I doubt not but you remember how King Edward the third of England though he were Son and Heir unto a Daughter of France whose three Brethren were Kings and left her sole Heir to her Father King Philip the fourth surnamed the Fair yet was he put by the Crown as also was the King of Navar at the same time who was Son and Heir unto this Womans eldest Brothers Daughter named Lewis Huttin King of France which King of Navar thereby seemed to be before King Edward of England but yet were they both put by it and Philip de Vallois a Brothers Son of Philip the Fair was preferred to it by general Decree of the States of France and by Verdict of the whole Parliament of Paris gathered about the same Affair Neither did it avail that the two Kings aforesaid alledged That it was against Reason and Conscience and Custom of all Nations to exclude Women from the Succession of the Crown which appertained to them by propinquity of Bloud seeing both Nature and God hath made them capable of such Succession every where as appeareth by Example of all other Nations and in the Old Testament among the People of God it self where we see Women have been admitted unto Kingdoms by Succession But all this I say prevailed not with the French as it doth not also at this day for the admission of Dona Isabella Eugenia Clara Infanta of Spain unto the said Crown of France though by descent of Bloud there be no question of her next propinquity for that she is the eldest Child of the last Kings eldest Sister The like Exclusion is made against the Prince of Lorrain that now liveth though he be a Man and Nephew to the last King for that his Title is by a Woman to wit his Mother that was younger Sister unto the last King Henry of France And albeit the Law called Salica by the French-men by virtue whereof they pretend to Exclude the Succession of Women be no very ancient Law as the French themselves do confess and much less made by Pharamond their first King or in those ancient times as others without ground do afirm yet do we see that it is sufficient to bind all Princes and Subjects of that Realm to observe the same and to alter the course of natural descent and nearness of Bloud as we have seen and that the King of Navar and some other of his Race by vertue of this only Law do pretend at this day to be next in Succession to this goodly Crown though in nearness of Bloud they be farther off by many degrees from the last King Henry the third than either the foresaid Infanta of Spain or the Prince of Lorrain that now is who are Children of his
two Nephews of his as the Spanish Chronicler Garavay writeth was deposed of his Kingdom by a publick Act of Parliament in the Town of Valliodolid after he had Reigned thirty years and his own son Don Sancho the fourth was Crowned in his place who for his valiant Acts was sur-named el bravo and it turned to great commodity of the Common-Wealth The same Common-Wealth of Spain some years after to wit about the year of Christ 1368. having to their King one Don Pedro sur-named the Cruel for his injurious proceeding with his Subjects though otherwise he were lawfully seased of the Crown as Son and Heir to King Don Alonso the twelfth and had Reigned among them eighteen years yet for his evil Government they resolved to depose him and so sent for a Bastard Brother of his named Henry that lived in France requesting him that he would come with some force of French-men to assist them in that Act and take the Crown upon himself which he did and by the help of the Spaniards and French Souldiers he drove the said Peter out of Spain and himself was Crowned And albeit Edward sur-named the black Prince of England by order of his Father King Edward the third restored once again the said Peter yet was it not durable for that Henry having the favour of the Spaniards returned again and deprived Peter the second time and slew him in Fight hand to hand which made shew of more particular favour of God in this behalf to Henry and so he remained King of Spain as doth also his progenie enjoy the same unto this day though by nature he was a Bastard as had been said and notwithstanding that King Peter left two Daughters which were led away into England and there Married to great Princes And this King Henry so put up in his place was called King Henry the second of this name and proved a most excellent King and for his great Nobility in conversation and prowess in Chivalry was called by excellency El cavallero the Knightly King and for his exceeding benignity and liberality was sur-named also El delas mercedes which is to say the King that gave many gifts or the liberal franck and bountiful King which was a great change from the other sur-named Cruel that King Peter had before and so you see that always I give you a good King in place of the bad deposed In Portugal also before I go out of Spain I will alledge you one example more which is of Don Sancho the second sur-named Capello fourth King of Portugal lawful Son and Heir unto Don Alonso sur-named el Gardo who was third King of Portugal This Don Sancho after he had Reigned 34. years was deprived for his defects in Government by the universal consent of all Portugal and this his first deprivation from all Kingly rule and Authority leaving him only the bare name of King was approved by a General Councel in Lions Pope Innocent the fourth being there present who at the Petition and Instance of the whole Realm of Portugal by their Embassadors the Arch-Bishop of Braga Bishop of Comibra and divers of the Nobility sent to Lyons for that purpose did Authorise the said State of Portugal to put in Supream Government one Don Alonso Brother to the said King Don Sancho who was at that time Earl of Bullen in Picardy by right of his Wife and so the Portugals did And further also a little after they deprived their said King and did drive him out of his Realm into Castilla where he liv'd all the rest of his Life in Banishment and Dyed in Toledo without ever returning and this decree of the Councel and Pope at Lyons for Authorising of this fact is yet extent in our Cannon Law in the sixt Book of Decretals now in Print And this King Don Alonso the third which in this sort was put up against his Brother was peaceably and prosperously King of Portugal all the days of his life and he was a notable King and among other great Exploits he was the first that set Portugal free from all Subjection Dependance and Homage to the Kingdom of Castile which unto his time it had acknowledged and he left for his Successor his Son and Heir Don Dionysio el Fabricador to wit the great Builder for that he Builded and Founded above forty and four great Towns in Portugal and was a most rare Prince and his off-spring ruleth in Portugal unto this day Infinite other Examples could I alledge if I would examine the Lives and Descents of these and other Kingdoms with their Princes and namely if I would speak of the Greek Emperors deprived for their evil Government not so much by popular Mutiny which often happened among them as by consent and grave deliberation of the whole State and weal-publick as Michael Calaphatos for that he had trodden the Cross of Christ under his Feet and was otherwise also a Wicked Man As also the Emperour Nicephorus Botoniates for his Dissolute Life and preferring Wicked Men to Authority and the like whereof I might name many but it would be too long What should I name here the deposition made of Princes in our days by other Common-Wealths as in Polonia of Henry the third that was last King of France and before that had been Sworn King of Polonia of which Crown of Polonia he was deprived by publick Act of Parliament for his departing thence without License and not returning at his day by the said State appointed and denounced by publick Letters of Peremptory Commandment which are yet extant What should I name the Deprivations of Hen. late King of Suetia who being lawful Successor and lawfully in possession after his Father Gustanus was yet put down by that Common-Wealth and deprived and his Brother made King in his place who if you remember was in Ireland in the beginning of this Queens Reign and whose Son Reigneth at this day and is King also of Polonia and this Fact was not only allowed of at home by all the States of that Countrey but also abroad as namely of Maximilian the Emperor and approved also by the King of Denmark and all the Princes of Germany near about that Realm who saw the reasonable cause which that Common-Wealth had to proceed as it did And a little before that the like was practised also in Denmark against Cisternus their lawful King if we respect his descent in Bloud for he was Son to King John that Reigned afore him and Crowned in his Fathers life but yet afterwards for his Intolerable cruelty he was deprived and driven into Banishment together with his Wife and three Children all which were Disinherited and his Unkle Frederick Prince of Alsatia was chosen King whose Progeny yet remaineth in the Crown and the other though he were married to the Sister of Charles the fifth and last Emperour of that Name and were
of Kin also to King Henry the eighth of England yet could he never get to be restored but passed his time miserably partly in Banishment and partly in Prison until he died But it shall be best perhaps to end this short Narration with an Example or two out of England it self for that no where else have I read more remarkable accidents touching this point than in England but for brevity sake I shall only touch two or three that have happened since the Conquest for that I will go no higher though I might as appeareth by the Example of King Edwin and others neither will I begin to stand much upon the Example of King John though well also I might for that by his evil Government he made himself both so odious at home and contemptible abroad having lost Normandy Gascoin Guyen and all the rest in effect which the Crown of England had in France as first of all he was both Excommunicated and Deposed by the Sentence of the Pope at the Suit of his own people and was forced to make his peace by resigning his Crown into the hands of Pandulf the Pope's Legaâ—e as Polidor recounteth and afterwards falling back again to his old defects and naughty Government albeit by his promise to the Pope to go and make War against the Turks if he might be quiet at home and that his Kingdom should be perpetually tributary to the See of Rome he procured him to be of his side for a time and against the Barons yet that stayed not them to proceed to his Deprivation which they did effectuate first at Canterbury and after at London in the 18 th and last year of King John's Reign and meant also to have disinherited his Son Henry which was afterwards named King Henry the 3 d. and at that time a Child of Eight years old only and all this in punishment of the Father if he had lived and for that cause they called into England Lodowick Prince of France Son to King Philip the second and Father to St. Lewis the ninth and chose him for their King and did swear him Fealty with general consent in London in the year of our Lord 1216. And but that the Death of King John that presently ensued alter'd the whole course of that defignment and moved them to turn their purposes and accept of his Son Henry before matters were fully established for King Lodowick it was most likely that France and England would have been joyned by these means under a Crown But in the end as he said King Henry the third was admitted and he proved a very worthy King after so evil as had gone before him and had been Deposed which is a circumstance that you must always note in this Narration and he reigned more years than ever King in England did before him for he reigned full Fifty three years and left his Son and Heir Edward the first not inferiour to himself in Manhood and Virtue who reigned 34 years and left a Son named Edward the second who falling into the same or worse defects of Government than King John his Great-Grand-father had done was after 19 years reign Deposed also by Act of Parliament holden at London in the year 1326. and his Body adjudg'd to perpetual Imprisonment he being Prisoner at that present in the Castle of Wallingford whither divers both Bishops Lords and Knights of the Parliament were sent unto him to denounce the Sentence of the Realm against him viz. How they had deprived him and chosen Edward his Son in his stead For which act of choosing his Son he thanked them heartily and with many tears acknowledged his own unworthiness whereupon he was degraded his Name of King first taken from him and he appointed to be called Edward of Carnarvan from that hour forward and then his Crown and Ring were taken away and the Steward of his House brake the Staff of his Office in his presence and discharged his Servants of their Service and all other people of their Obedience or Allegiance towards him And towards his maintenance he had only a hundred Marks a year allowed for his Expences and then was he delivered also into the hands of certain particular Keepers who led him Prisoner from thence by divers other places using him with extreme indignity in the way until at last they took his Life from him in the Castle of Barklay and his Son Edward the third reigned in his place who if we respect either Valour Prowess length of Reign Acts of Chivalry or the multitude of famous Princes his Children left behind him was one of the noblest Kings that ever England had though he were chosen in the place of a very evil one as you have seen But what shall we say Is this worthiness which God giveth commonly to the Successors at these changes perpetual or certain by Descent No truly noâ— the example of one Prince's punishment maketh another to bewares for the next Successor after this noble Edwardâ— which was King Richard the second though he were not his Son but his Sons Son to wit Son and Heir to the renowned Black Prince of Walâ—s This Richard I say forgetting the miserable end of his Great-Grand-father for evil Government and the felicity and virtue of his Father and Grand-father for the contrary suffered himself to be abused and misled by evil Counsellors to the great hurt and disquiet of the Realm For which cause after he had reigned 22 years he was also Deposed by Act of Parliament holden in London in the year of our Lord 1399. and condemned to perpetual Imprisonment in the Castle of Pontefract where he was soon after put to death also and used as the other before had been And in this man's place by free Election was chosen for King the noble Knight Henry Duke of Lancaster who proved afterwards so notable a King as the World knoweth and was Father to King Henry the fifth commonly called the Alexander of England for that as Alexander the Great conquered the most part of Asia in the space of 9 or 10 years so did this Henry conquer France in less than the like time I might reckon also in this number of Princes Deposed for defect in Government though otherwise he were no evil man in life this King Henry the fourths Nephew I mean King Henry the sixth who after almost forty years Reign was Deposed and Imprisoned and put to death also together with his Son the Prince of Wales by Edward the fourth of the House of York and the sameâ— was confirmed by the Commons and especially by the people of London and afterwards also by publick Act of Parliament in respect not only of the Title which King Edward pretended but also and especially for that King Henry did suffer himself to be over-ruled by the Queen his Wife and had broken the Articles of Agreement made by the Parliament between
him and the Duke of York and solemnly sworn on both sides the 8 th of October in the year 1459 In punishment whereof and of his other negligent and evil Government though for his own particular Life he was a good man as hath been said Sentence was given against him partly by Force and partly by Law and King Edward the fourth was put in his place who was no evil King as all English-men well know but one of the renownedst for martial Acts and Justice that hath worn the English Crown But after this man again there fell another accident much more notorious which was That Richard Duke of Glocester this King Edward's younger Brother did put to death his two Nephews this man's Children viz. King Edward the 5 th and his little Brother and made himself King And albeit he sinned grieveously by taking the Crown in this wicked manner yet when his Nephews were once dead he might in reason seem to be lawful King both in respect that he was next Male in Bloud after his Brother as also for that by divers Acts of Parliament both before and after the death of those Infants his Title was authorized and made good and yet no man will say I think but that he was lawfully deposed again afterwards by the Commonwealth which called out of France Henry Earl of Richmond to chastize him and to put him down and so he did and took from him both Life and Kingdom in the Field and was King himself after him by the Name of King Henry the seventh And no man I suppose will say but that he was lawful King also which yet cannot be except the other might be lawfully deposed And moreover as I said at the beginning I would have you consider in all these mutations what men commonly have succeeded in the places of such as have been deposed as namely in England in the place of those five Kings before-named that were deprived viz. John Edward the second Richard the second Henry the sixth and Richard the third there have succeeded the three Henries to wit the third fourth and seventh and two Edwards the third and fourth all most rare and valiant Princes who have done infinite important Acts in their Commonwealths and among other have raised many Houses to the Nobility put down others changed States both abroad and at home distributed Ecclesiastical Dignities altered the course of Descent in the Bloud-Royal and the like all which was unjust and is void at this day if the changes and deprivations of the former Princes could not be made and consequently none of these that do pretend to the Crown of England at this day can have any Title at all because they descend from those men who were put up in place of the Deprived And this may be sufficient for proof of the two principal points which you required to be discussed in the beginning of this Speech viz. That lawful Princes have oftentimes by their Commonwealths been lawfully deposed for misgovernment and that God hath allowed of and assisted the same with good success unto the Weal-publick And if this be so or might be so in Kings lawfully set in possession then much more hath the said Commonwealth Power and Authority to alter the Succession of such as do but yet pretend to that Dignity if there be due reason and causes for the same which is the head point that first we began to treat of said the Civilian and with this ended he his Spech without saying any more CHAP. IV. Wherein consisteth principally the lawfulness of Proceeding against Princes which in the former Chapter is mentioned What Interest Princes have in their Subjects Goods or Lives How Oaths doth bind or may be broken by Subjects towards Princes And finally the difference between a good King and a Tyrant WHen the Civilian had ended his Speech the Temporal Lawyer looked upon the standers by to see whether any would reply or no and perceiving all to hold their peace he began to say in this manner Truly Sir I cannot deny but the examples are many that you have alledged and they seem to prove sufficiently that which you affirmed at the beginning to wit that the Princes by you named were deprived and put down by their Common-Wealths for their evil Government And good Successors commonly raised up in their places and that the Common-Wealth had Authority also to do it I do not greatly doubt at least wise they did it de facto and now to call those facts in question were to imbroyl and turn up-side-down all the states of Christendom as you have well signified but yet for that you have added this word Lawfuly so many times in the course of your narration I would you took the pains to tell us also by what Law they did the the same seeing that Belloy whom you have named before and some other of his opinion do afirm that albeit by nature the Commonwealth have authority over the Prince to choose and appoint him at the beginning as you have well proved out of Aristotle and other ways Yet having once made him and given up all their Authority unto him he is now no more Subject to their Correction or Restraint but remaineth Absolute of himself without respect to any but only to God alone which they prove by the example of every particular Man that hath Authority to make his Master or Prince of his Inferior but not afterwards to put him down again or to Deprive him of the Authority which he gave him though he should not bear himself well and gratefully but Discourteous rather and Injuriously towards him that gave him first this Authority To which also they do alledge the Speech of the Prophet Samuel in the first Book of the Kings where the People of Israel demanded to have a King to Govern over them as other Nations round about them had and to leave the Government of the High Priests under whom at that day they were At which demand both God himself and Samuel were grievously offended and Samuel by Gods express order protested unto them in this manner Well quoth he you will have a King hearken then to this that I will say Hoc erit jus regis qui imperaturus est vobis This shall be the Right and Power of the King that shall rule over you to wit He shall take from you your Children both Sons and Daughters your Fields and Vineyards your Harvest also and Rents your Servants Hand-maids and Herds of Cattel and shall give them to his Servants and you shall Cry unto God in that day from the face of this your King whom you have chosen and God shall not hear you for that you have demanded a King to Govern you Thus far the Prophet Out of all which discourse and Speech of the Prophet these Men do gather that a King is nothing so restrained in his Power or Limited to Law as you have affirmed but
most ancient among other for that after the Empire once translated from Rome to Constantinople by our Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour that ever did publickly shew himself for such These Greek Emperours were the most eminent Princes in all Christianity among whom I do find that albeit their coming to the Crown were nothing so orderly for the most part as at this day it is used but many times the means thereof were turbulent and seditious yet find I as I say that above a Thousand years ago they were wont to have an Oath exacted at their hands by the Patriarch of Constantinople who was their chief Prelate For thus writeth Zonaras of the Coronation of Anastatius the first that succeeded Zeno about the year of Christ 524. Antequaem coronaretur Fidei confessionem scriptam qua polliceretur se in dogmâ—tibus Ecclesiasticis nihil esse novaturum ab eo exegit Patriarcha Euphemius vir sanctus orthodoxus The Patriarch Euphemius being a Holy and Catholick man required of Anastatius elected Emperour before he was Crowned a Confession in Writing wherein he should promise to change or innovate nothing in matters pertaining to the Doctrine of the Church Thus much Zonaras and the same have Nicephorus Evagrias and others And not only this but divers other conditions also doth the same Author insinuate that this Anastatius promised at his Coronation before he could be Crowned as among other things the taking away of certain Tributes and Impositions the giving of Offices without Money and other such like points appertaining to Reformation and good Government which he performed for a time in the beginning of his Government but afterwards fell into the Heresies of the Eutichians and banished this good Patriarch Euphemius that had Crowned him and he thrived thereafter for that he was slain by a Thunder-bolt from Heaven after he had reigned 27 years and was accounted for a very wicked man by all Writers for that he had broken as they said the Conditions quas gravi juramento scriptis relato confirmasset That is to say The conditions which he had confirmed and avowed with a grave Oath as saith Evagrius The like I read about 300 years after recorded by the same Author of the Emperour Michael the first in these words Michael ubi diluxit magnam ecclesiam ingressus à Patriarcha Nicephoro imperatorio diademate est ornatus postulato prius scripto quo promitteret se nulla ecclesiae institutae violaturum neque Christianorum Sanguine manus contaminaturum Which is Michael new chosen Emperour came early in the morning into the great Church of Constantinople and was Crowned there with the Imperial Crown by the hands of Nicephorus the Patriarch But yet so as he was first required to swear and promise by writing That he would not violate the Ordinances of the Church nor contaminate his hands with Christian Bloud Which in effect is as much as to say That he should reign godly and justly And many other such Examples might be alledged but by this it is â—asie to see what was the fashion of Admitting and Crowning those Grecian Emperours by their Patriarchâ— in the Name of all the Commonwealth which Commonwealth was not satisfied with an Oath except also it were set down in writing And if we pass to the Latine and West Empire which about this very time was restored by Zachary the Pope and by the whole Commonwealth of Rome as before hath been shewed and was given to Charles the Great and his Posterity we shall find that this point is more settled and more inviolably kept yet in this Empire than in the other for albeit this Empire of the West went by Succession for the most part at the beginning until afterwards it was appointed by Pope Gregory the fifth to pass by Election of certain Princes in Germany that now enjoy that priviledge to be Electors Yet shall we see always that they even before this constitution when this Dignity went by Succession were never admitted to the same without this circumstance of swearing to conditions of righteous Government The form and manner of which admission for I find it set down more perfectly and particularly in the Coronation of Otho the first than of any other Emperour and that by many Authors and that this Otho was Son and Heir unto the most famous Emperour Henry the first of that Name Duke of Saxony surnamed the Faulkner for the great delight he had in the flight of Faulcons For these causes I mean to begin with the Coronation of this man before any other This Otho then Son as I have said to Henry the first though being his eldest Son he was also his Heir and so named by Henry himself to the Inheritance of the said Crown of Germany yet was he not admitted thereunto until he made his Oath rand received his new approbation by the people for the story saith That the Archbishop of Moguntia who is the chief Primate of all Germany bringing him to the Altar where he must swear said these words unto the people Behold I bring you here Otho chosen by God and appointed out by his Father Henry our Lord and now made King by all the Princes of this Empire If this Election please you do you signifie the same by holding up your hands to Heaven Thus far are the words of the Historiographer And then he addeth That all held up their hands and that thereupon the said Archbishop turned about to the Altar where lay all the Ornaments and Ensigns of the Empire as the Sword with the Girdle the Cloke with the Bracelets the Staff with the Scepter and Diadem every one whereof the Archbishop put upon the Emperour telling him the signification of each thing and what it did bind him unto As for example when he put the Sword about him he said Accipe hunc Gladium quo licias omnes Christi adversarios malos Christianos authoritate Divina per Episcopos tibi tradita which is Take unto thee this Sword whereby thou maist drive away all the Enemies of Christ whether they be barbarous Infidels or evil Christians and this by the Authority of God delivered unto thee by us that are Bishops And thus he did with all other Ornaments and Ensigns telling the signification and obligation of every one and taking the Emperour's promise to perform all And after all the Historiographer concludeth thus Rex perfusus Oleo sancto coronatur Diademate aureo ab Episcopis ab eisdem ad solium regale ducitur in eo coclatur that is The King being anointed with holy Oyl was crowned by the Bishops and by the same was brought to the Royal Seat and therein placed This happened about the year of Christ 940. And the Ceremony is recounted more ample in this Mans Coronation then in any other both for that he was a very Noble Prince and the very first of the Germain
any Crown before he be Crowned or admitted by the Commonwealth To the First I say that to Succession alone or priority of Bloud only great honour reverence and respect ought to be born as before hath been declared for that it is the principal circumstance condition which leadeth us to the next Succession of the Crown infallibly without all strife If his propinquity be clear and evident and that other necessary circumstances and conditions do concurr also in the same person which conditions were appointed and set down at the same time and by the same authority that this Law of Succession was established for that both the one and the other of these two Points were ordained by the Commonwealth to wit that the Elder and First in Bloud should succeed and that he should be such a person as can and will Govern to the Publick Weal of all as often and largely before hath been avouched and proved To the second Question I answer That an Heir apparent to a Crown before his Coronation and Admission by the Realm if he have the Conditions before-required hath the same Interest to the Kingdom which the King of Romans or Caesar hath to the German Empire after his Election and before he be Crowned And to use a more familiar Example to Englishmen as the Mayor of London hath to the Mayoralty after he is chosen and before he be admitted or have taken his Oath For as this man in rigour is not truly Mayor nor hath his Jurisdiction before his Oath and Admission nor the other is properly Emperour before he be Crowned so is not an Heir apparent truly King though his Predecessor be dead and he next in Succession untill he be Crowned or Admitted by the Commonwealth Another Example is there in Marriage also whereby our matter is made more plain for in this Contract go both the Betrothing and actual Joining together of the Parties in Wedlock the First is done by words de futuro or for the time to come and is not properly Marriage but Espousal only The other is by words de praesenti that is by mutual present consent given of both Parties and this second is only and properly true Marriage which two points are expresly represented in the state of an Heir apparent and of a Crowned King for that the Heir apparent by propinquity of Bloud is only espoused or betrothed to the Commonwealth for the time to come and is married afterwards by present mutual consent of both Parties in the Contract and knitting up of the matter at his Coronation by the Oaths which either part maketh the one to take the other and by putting on the Ring and other Wedding garments before-mentioned in their Coronations by all which the Heir apparent which was but Espouse is made now the true King and Husband of the Commonwealth which before he was not by only Succession but only a betrothed Spouse or designed King as hath been declared Wherefore it followeth also that the Common-wealth oweth no allegiance or subjection unto the Heir apparent in rigour of Justice until he be Crowned or Admitted though his Predecessor be dead for that in very deed until that time he is not the true King and Soveraign though for better keeping of Order and avoiding of Tumults all Commonwealths lightly that have their Princes by Succession have ordained in these latter Ages that from the death of the former Princes all matters of Government shall pass in the Name of his next Successor if his Succession be clear and this as I say for avoiding of Garboils and under supposal of Confirmation and Approbation afterwards of the Commonwealth at his Coronation for which cause also and for better account of years it was ordained that the beginning of the Successors Reign should be reckoned from the day of the death of his predecessor and not from the day of his Coronation as otherwise in rigour it ought to be and as in old time it was accustomed to be as Gerard Secretary and Chronicler of France to wit that Kings in old time were wont to account the years of their Reigns from the day only of their Anointing and Coronation This point also that Heirs apparent are not true Kings until their Coronation how just soever their Title of Succession otherwise be and though their Predecessors be dead it might be confirmed by many other Arguments but especially and above all others for that the Realm is asked again three times at their Coronation Whether they will have such a man to be King or not as before hath been shewed which thing were in vain to ask if he were truly King as Belloy saith before his Coronation Again we see in all the Forms and different manners of Coronations before-recited that after the Prince hath sworn divers times to Govern well and justly then do the Subjects take other Oaths of Obedience and Allegiance and not before which argueth that before they were not bound unto him by Allegiance and as for the Princes of England it is expressly noted by English Historiographers in their Coronations how that no Allegiance is due unto them before they be Crowned and that only it happened to Henry the Fifth among all other his Predecessors to have this Priviledge and this for his exceeding towardliness and for the great affection of the People towards him that he had homage done unto him before his Coronation and Oath taken Whereof Polidor writeth in these words Princeps Henricus facto Patris funere concilium Principum apud Westmonasterium convocandum curat in quo dum de Rege creando more majorum agitabatur esse tibi continuo aliquot Principes ultro in ejus verba mirare coeperunt quod benevolentiae â—fficium nulli antea priusquam Râ—x renunciatus esset praestitum constat adeo Henricus ab ineunte aetate spem omnibus optimae indolis â—ecit Which in English is this Prince Henry after he had finished his Father's Funerals caused a Parliament to be gathered at Westminster where whilst Consultation was had according to the antient Custom of England about creating a new King behold upon the sudden certain of the Nobility of their own Free wills began to swear Obedience and Loyalty unto him which demonstration of Love and Good-will is well known that it was never shewed to any Prince before until he was declared King so great was the hope that men had of the Towardliness of this Prince Henry even from his tender age thus far Polidor in his Story of England And the very same thing expresseth John Stow also in his Chronicle in these words To this Noble Prince by assent of the Realm after three days offered to do Fealty before he was Crowned or had solemnized his Oath well and justly to Govern the Common-wealth which offer before was never found to be made to any Prince of England Thus much Stow In whose Narration as
also in that of Polidor it may be noted that King Henry the Fifth was not called King until after his Coronation but only Prince though his Father King Henry the Fourth had been dead now almost a month before and secondly that the Parliament consulted de Rege creando more majorum as Polidor his words are that is of making a new King according to the antient custom of their Ancestors which argueth that he was not yet King though his Father were dead not that the manner of our old English Ancestors was to account him so before his Admission Thirdly That this demonstration of good-will of the Nobility to acknowledge him for King before his Coronation and Oath solemnized well and justly to Govern the Realm was very extraordinary and of meer good-will And Last of all That this was never done to any Prince before King Henry the Fifth All which Points do demonstrate that it is the Coronation and Admission that maketh a Perfect and True King whatsoever the Title by Succession be otherwise and that except the Admission of the Common-wealth be joyned to Succession it is not sufficient to make a lawful King and of the two the second is of far more importance to wit the Consent and Admission of the Realm than nearness of Bloud by Succession alone This I might prove by many Examples in England it self where Admission hath prevailed against Right of Succession as in William Rufus that succeeded the Conquerour and in King Henry the First his Brother in King Stephen King John and others who by only Admission of the Realm were Kings against the Order of Succession as after more at large I shall shew you in a particular speech of this point I shall make unto you and very specially it may be seen in the two Examples before-mentioned of the Admission of the two Kings Henry and Edward both sirnamed the Fourth whose entrances to the Crown if a man do well consider he shall find that both of them founded the best part and the surest of their Titles upon the Election Consent and Good-Will of the People yea both of them at their dying-days having some remorse of Conscience as it seemed for that they had caused so many men to die for maintainance of their several Rights and Titles had no better way to appease their own minds but by thinking that they were placed in that Room by the Voice of the Realm and consequently might lawfully defend the same and punish such as went about to deprive them Moreover you shall find if you look into the Doings of Princes in all Ages that such Kings as were most Politick and had any least doubt or suspicion of Troubles about the Title after their Deaths have caused their sons to be Crowned in their own days trusting more to this than to their Title by Succession though they were never so lawfully and lineally descended And of this I could alledge you many Examples out of divers Countreys but especially in France since the last line of Capetus came unto that Crown for this did Hugh Capetus himself to procure to be done to Robert his eldest Son in his own days and the like did King Robert procure for his younger son Henry the First as Gerard holdeth and excluded his Elder only by Crowning Henry in his own days Henry also did intreat the States of France as before you have heard to admit and Crown Philip the First his Eldest Son whilst himself reigned and this man's Son Luys le Cros did the same also unto two Sons of his First to Philip and after his death to Luys the younger which is the seventh of that name for more assuring of his Son named Philip the Second intreated the Realm to Admit and Crown him also in his own days with that great solemnity which in the former Chapter hath been declared And for this very same cause of Security it is not to be doubted but that always the Prince of Spain is sworn and admitted by the Realm during his Father's Reign as before hath been said The same consideration also moved King David to Crown his son Solomon in his own days as afterwards more in particular shall be declared and finally our King Henry also the second of England considering the alteration that the Realm had made in admitting King Stephen before him against the Order of Lineal Succession by propinquity of Bloud and fearing the like might happen also after him caused his eldest son named likewise Henry to be Crowned in his life time so as England had two King Henrys living at one time with equal Authority and this was done in the 16 year of his Reign and in the year of our Lord 1170. But his Device had no good success for that King Henry the Younger made War soon after upon King Henry the Elder and had both the Kings of France and Scotland and many Nobles of England and Normandy to take his part for which cause it is thought that this thing hath never been put in practice again since that time in England but yet hereby it is evident what the opinion of the world was in those days of the force of Coronation and Admission of the Commonwealth and how little Propinquity of Bloud prevaileth without that And for more ample proof hereof and fuller conclusion of all the whole matter I had thought to have laid down also in this place some number of the most notorious Examples that I have read for I have read many wherein the Common-wealth upon just Occasions hath extended her Authority to alter the natural course of Succession by Birth but for that the thing requireth some little study and looking over some Notes that I have taken out of Stories for help of Memory I shall deferr it until our next Meeting at what time I shall by God's Grace make this point very clear and so end my whole Discourse for I see that I have been much longer than at the beginning I purposed and now I desire much to give place unto our Temporal Lawyer here present who I doubt not hath matter to say of more delectation and pleasure than this though you of your courtesies have done me so much favour as to hear me hitherto with patience and attention Whereunto the whole company answered that not with patience but with great pleasure delight and contentation they had heard him and so they would do the Temporal Lawyer also in his turn But yet they desired him that nothing of this discourse might be omitted but wholly finished for that it gave very great satisfaction to all and opened many important Points unto them which they had never thought of before and with this they parted for that night every man unto his Lodging and Habitation CHAP. VII How the next in Succession by Propinquity of Bloud hath often-times been put back by the Cemmonwealth and other further off admitted in their
of the Crown of France seeing the Lords Prelates Princes and Governours of the Realm did call him to this Dignity and chase him for their King and Soveraign Lord Thus much Nangis Upon which words Belforest saith as followeth I have laid before you the Words and Censure of this Good Religious Man for that they seem to me to touch the Quick for in very Truth we can not by any other means defend the Title of Hugh Capet from Vsurpation and Felony than to justify his coming to the Crown by the consent and will of the Commonwealth and in this I may well excuse me from inconstancy and contradiction to my self that have so earnestly defended Succession before for he that will consider how and with what conditions I defended that shall easily see also that I am not here contrary to the same Thus much Belforest I think it not amiss also to put down here some part of the Oration or Speech which the Embassadour that was sent at that time from the State of France unto Charles of Loraine after their Election of Hugh Capet and Charles's exclusion did use unto him in their Names which Speech Gerard doth recount in these words Every man knoweth Lord Charles that the Succession of the Crown and Realm of France according to the ordinary Law and Rights of the same belongeth unto you and not unto Hugh Capet now our King but yet the very same Laws which do give unto you this Right of Succession do judge you also unworthy of the same for that you have not endeavoured hitherto to frame your Life and Manners according to the Prescript of those Laws nor according to the Vse and Custom of your Countrey of France but rather have allyed your self with the German Nation our old Enemies and have acquainted your self with their vile and base manners Wherefore seeing you have forsaken and abandoned the Antient Vertue Sweetness and Amity of the French We have also abandoned and left You and have Chosen Hugh Capâ—t for Our King and have put You back and this without any Scruple or Prejudice of our Consciences at all esteeming it far better and more just to live under Hugh Capet the present Possessor of the Crown with enjoying the antient Vse of our Laws Customs Priviledges and Liberties than under You the Inheritor by nearness of Bloud in Oppression strange Customs and Cruelty For even as those which are to make a Voyage in a Ship upon a dangerous Sea do not so much respect whether the Pilot is to Guide the Stern be Owner of the Ship or not but rather whether he be skilful valiant and like to bring them in safety to their Ways end or to drown them among the Waves even so our Principal Care is that we have a Good Prince to Lead and Guide us happily in this way of Civil and Politik Life which is the End why Princes were appointed for that this man is fitter to be our King This Message did the States of France send to Charles of Lorayne in defence of their Doings and with this he lost his Succession for ever and afterwards his Life also in Prison and the French men thought themselves Secure in Conscience as you see for doing the same which God hath also since seemed to confirm with the Succession and happy success of so many Noble and most Christian Kings as have issued out of this Line of Hugo Capetus unto this day And this spoken now of the Second Line of France I take to be sufficient for proof of our Purpose without going any further for that if we do but number these Kings already named that have Reigned in this second Race from King Pepin downwards unto Hugh Capet which are about 17 or 18 Kings in 238. Years we shall find that not some few but the most part of them did both enter and enjoy their Crowns and Dignities contrary to the Law of Lineal Descent and of next Succession by Bloud Whereof also there would not want divers Examples in the third and last Descent since Hugo Capetus's time if we would pass further to Examine the Stories thereof For not to go further down than to the very next Descent after Hugh which was King Robert his Son Gerard affirmeth in his Story that of his two Sons which he had named Robert and Henry Robert the Elder was put back and his younger Brother Henry made King of France and Reigned many Years by the name of Henry the First and this he saith happened partly for that Robert was but a Simple man in respect of Henry and partly also for that Henry was greatly favoured and assisted in this pretence by Duke Robert of Normandy Father to our William the Conquerour and in recompense hereof this King Henry afterwards assisted the said William Bastard son to Robert for the attaining of the Dukedom of Normandy after the death of the said Duke Robert his Father notwithstanding that Duke Robert had two lawful Brothers alive at that time whose names were Manger Archbishop of Rouan and William Earl of Argues in Normandy who pretended by Succession to be preferred But the States of Normandy at the request of Duke Robert when he went to the Holy Land in which Journey he dyed as also for avoiding of Dissension and Wars that otherwise might ensue were content to exclude the Uncles and admit the Bastard son who was also assisted by the Forces of the King of France as hath been said so as no Scruple it seemed there was in those days either to prefer King Henry to the Crown of France before his Elder Brother or Duke William the Bastard son to the Dutchy of Normandy before his lawful Uncles upon such slow Considerations as those States may be presumed to have had for their doings I read also that some years after to wit in the Year 1110. when Philip the First of France Son and Heir to this King Henry of whose solemn Coronation you have heard before in the seventh Chapter was deceased the People of France were so offended with his evil Life and Government as divers were of opinion to disinherit his Son Lowis the Sixth sirnamed le Gros for his sake and so was he like to have been indeed as may appear by the Chronicle of France if some of his Party had not caused him to be Crowned in hast and out of Order in Orleans for preventing the matter The like doth Philip Cominaeus in his Story of King Luys the Eleventh declare how that the State of France had once determined to have disinherited his Son Charles named after the VIII and to put him back from his Succession for their hatred to his Father if the said Father had not dyed while the other was very young as I noted before also that it happened in King Henry the Third of England who was once condemned by the Barons to be disinherited for the fault of King John his Father and Lowys the Prince of
People and by help principally of Henry Newborow Earl of Warwick that dealt with the Nobility for him and Maurice Bishop of London with the Clergy for that Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury was in banishment Besides this also it did greatly help his cause that his elder Brother Robert to whom the Crown by right appertained was absent again this second time in the War of Jerusalem and so lost thereby his Kingdom as before Henry having no other Title in the World unto it but by Election and Admission of the People which yet he so defended afterwards against his said Brother Robert that came to claim it by the Sword and God did so prosper him therein as he toâ—k his said elder Brother Prisoner and so kept him for many Years until he dyed in Prison most pitifully But this King Henry dying left a Daughter behind him named Mawde or Mathilde which being married first to the Emperour Henry the V. he dyed without issue and then was she married again the second time to Geffry Plantagenet Earl of Anjow in France to whom she bare a Son named Henry his Grandfather caused to be declared for Heir Apparent to the Crown in his Days but yet after his decease for that Stephen Earl of Bollogne born of Adela Daughter to William the Conquerour was thought by the State of England to be more fit to Govern and to defend the Land for that he was at Mans age then was Prince Henry a Child of Maude his Mother he was admitted and Henry put back and this chiefly at the perswasion of Henry Bishop of Winchester Brother to the said Stephen as also by the Solicitation of the Abbot of Glassenbury and others who thought belike they might do the same with good Conscience for the good of the Realm though the event proved not so well for that it drew all England into Factions and Divisions for avoiding and ending whereof the States some Years after in a Parliament at Walâ—ingford made an agreement that Stephen should be Lawful King during his Life only and that Henry and his Off-spring should succeed him and that Prince William King Stephen's Son should be deprived of his Succession to the Crown and made only Earl of Norfolk thus did the State dispose of the Crown at that time which was in the Year of Christ 1153. To this Henry succeeded by Order his Eldest son then living named Richard and sirnamed Cordelyon for his Valor but after him again the Succession was broken For that John King Henry's youngest Son to wit younger Brother to Richard whom his Father the King had left so unprovided as in jest he was called by the French Jean sens terre as if you would say S r John Lacke Land This man I say was after the death of his Brother Admitted and Crowned by the States of England and Arthur Duke of Britain Son and Heir to Geffery that was elder brother to John was against the ordinary course of Succession excluded And albeit this Arthur did seek to remedy the matter by War yet it seemed that God did more defend this Election of the Commonwealth than the right Title of Arthur by Succession for that Arthur was overcome and taken by King John though he had the King of France on his side and he dyed pitifully in prison or rather as most Authors do hold he was put to death by King John his Uncles own hands in the Castle of Roan thereby to make his Title of Succession more clear which yet could not be for that as well Stow in his Chronicle as also Matthew of Westminster and others before him do write that Geffrey besides this Son left two Daughters also by the Lady Constance his Wife Countess and Heir of Britaine which by the Law of England should have succeeded before John but of this small account seemed to be made at that day Some years after when the Barons and States of England misliked utterly the Government and proceeding of this King John they rejected him again and chose Luys the Prince of France to be their King and did swear Fealty to him in London as before hath been said and they deprived also the young Prince Henry his Son that was at that time but eight years old but upon the death of his Father King John that shortly after insued they recalled again that sentence and admitted this Henry to the Crown by the name of King Henry the III. and disanulled the Oath and Allegiance made unto Luys Prince of France and so King Henry Reigned for the space of 53. years afterwards the longest Reign as I think that any before or after him hath had in England Moreover you may know that from this King Henry the third do take their first beginning the two branches of York and Lancaster which after fell to so great contention about the Crown Into which if we would enter we should see plainly as before hath been noted that the best of all their titles after the deposition of King Richard the second depended on this authority of the Commonwealth for that as the People were affected and the greater part prevailed so were their titles either allowed confirmed altered or disanulled by Parliaments and yet may not we well affirm but that either part when they were in possession and confirmed therein by these Parliaments were lawful Kings and that God concurred with them as with true Princes for Government of their People For if we should deny this point as before hath been noted great inconveniencis would follow and we should shake the States of most Princes in the World at this day as by examples which alreay I have alledged in part may appear And with this also I mean to conclude and end this discourse in like manner affirming that as on the one side propinquity of Bloud is a great preheminence towards the attaining of any Crown so yet doth it not ever bind the Commonwealth to yield thereunto if weightier Reasons should urge them to the contrary neither is the Commonwealth bound always to shut her Eyes and to admit at hap-hazard or of necessity every one that is next by Succession of Bloud as Belloy falsly and fondly affirmeth but rather she is bound to consider well and maturely the Person that is to enter Whether he be like to perform his duty and charge committed unto him or no for that otherwise to admit him that is an enemy or unfit is but to destroy the Common-wealth and him together This is my opinion and this seemeth to me to be conform to all Reason Law Religion Piety Wisdom and Policy and to the use and custom of all well governed Common-wealths in the World Neither do I mean hereby to prejudice any Princes pretence or Succession to any Crown or Dignity in the World but rather do hold that he ought to enjoy his Preheminence but yet so that he be not prejudiciae thereby to the whole
Darly her Husband which by many was laid against her And the second did handle her Title to the Crown of England and the third did answer the Book of John Knox the Scot entituled Against the Monstrous Government of Women Of all which three Points for that the second that concerneth the Title is that which properly appertaineth to our purpose and for that the same is handled again and more largely in the second Book set out not long after by John Lesley Lord Bishop of Ross in Scotland who at that time was Embassadour for the said Queen of Scots in England and handled the same matter more abundantly which M. Morgan had done before him I shall say no more of this Book of M. Morgan but shall pass over to that of the Bishop which in this Point of Succession containeth also whatsoever the other hath so as by declaring the Contents of the one we shall come to see what is the other The Intent then of this Book of the Bishop of Ross is to refute the other book of Hales and Bacon and that especially in the two Points before mentioned which they alledged for their Principles to wit about Foreign Birth and King Henry's Testament And against the first of these two Points the Bishop alledgeth many Proofs that there is no such Maxim in the common Laws of England to disinherit a Prince born out of the Land from his or her Right of Succession that they have by Blood And this first for that the Statute made for barring of Aliens to inherit in England which was in the 25. Year of the Reign of King Edward III. is only to be understood of particular mens inheritance and no ways to be extended to the Succession of the Crown as by comparison of many other like Cases is declared And secondly for that there is express exception in the same Statute of the Kings Children and Off-spring And thirdly for that the practice hath always been contrary both before and after the Conquest to wit that divers Princes born out of the Realm have succeeded The other Principle also concerning King Henry's Testament the Bishop impugneth first by divers Reasons and Incongruities whereby it may be presumed that King Henry never made any such Testament and if he did yet could it not hold in Law And secondly also by Witness of the Lord Paget that was of the Privy Council in those days and of Sir Edward Montague Lord Chief Justice and of one William Clark that set the Kings Stamp to the Writing all which avowed before the Council and Parliament in Queen Maries time that the said Testament was signed after the King was past sense and memory And finally the said Bishop concludeth that the Line of Scotland is the next every way both in respect of the House of Lancaster and also of York for that they are next Heirs to King Henry VIII who by his Father was Heir to the House of York But after these three Books was written a fourth by one Robert Highinton Secretary in time past to the Earl of Northumberland a man well read in Stories and especially of our Countrey who is said to be dead some years past in Paris This man impugneth all the three former Books in divers principal Points and draweth the Crown from both their Pretenders I mean as well-from the House of Scotland as from that of Suffolk and first against the Book of Hales and Sir Nicholas Bacon written as hath been said in favour of the House of Suffolk Highington holdeth with the Bishop and Morgan that these two Principles laid by the other of Foreign Birth and of King Henry's Testament against the Scotish Line are of no Validity as neither their reasons for legitimating of the Earl of Hartfords Children which afterwards shall be handled And secondly he is against both Morgan and the Bishop of Ross also in divers important Points and in the very Principal of all for that this man I mean Highinton maketh the King of Spain to be the next and most rightful Pretender by the House of Lancaster for proof whereof he holdeth first that King Henry VII had no Title indeed to the Crown by Lancaster but only by the House of York that is to say by his Marriage of Queen Elizabeth elder Daughter to King Edward IV For that albeit himself were descended by his Mother from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster yet this was but by his Third Wife Catharin Swinford and that the true Heirs of Blanch his first Wife Dutchess and Heir of Lancaster to whom saith he appertained only the Succession after the death of King Henry the VI. and his Son with whom ended the Line Male of that House remained only in Portugal by the Marriage of Lady Philip Daughter of the foresaid Blanch to King John the I. of Portugal and that for as much as King Philip of Spain saith this man hath now succeeded to all the Right of the Kings of Portugal to him appertaineth also the onely Right of Succession of the House of Lancaster and that all the other Descendents of King Henry VII are to pretend only by the Title of York I mean as well the Line of Scotland as also of Suffolk and Huntington for that in the House of Lancaster King Philip is evidently before them all Thus holdeth Highington alledging divers Stories Arguments and Probabilities for the same and then adjoineth two other Propositions which do import most of all to wit that the Title of the House of Lancaster was far better than that of York not for that Edmond Crookback first Founder of the House of Lancaster who was Son to King Henry the III. and Brother to King Edward the I. was eldest son to the said Edward injuriously put back for his deformity in Body as both the said Bishop of Ross and George Lylly do falsly hold and this man refuteth by many good Arguments but for that John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster being the eldest Son that King Edward the III. had alive when he dyed should in Right have succeeded in the Crown as this man holdeth and should have been preferred before Richard the II. that was the black Princes Son who was a degree further off from King Edward the III. his Grandfather than was John of Gaunt to whom King Edward was Father and by this occasion this man cometh to discuss at large the opinions of the Lawyers whether the Uncle or the Nephew should be preferred in the Succession of a Crown to wit whether the younger Brother or the elder Brothers son if his Father be dead without being seased of the same which is a Point that in the Civil Law hath great Disputation and many great Authors on each side as this man sheweth and the matter also wanteth not examples on both parts in the Succession of divers English Kings as our Friend the Civil Lawyer did signify also in his discourse and we may chance to have occasion
and Chartres in France and the other two Polidor said dyed before they were Married and so their names were not Recorded These are the Children of King William the Conqueror among whom after his death there was much strife about the Succession For first his eldest Son Duke Robert who by order of Ancestrie by birth should have succeeded him in all his Estates was put back first from the Kingdom of England by his third Brother William Rufus upon a pretence of the Conquerors Will and Testament for particular affection that he had to this his said third Son William though as Stow Writeth almost all the Nobility of England were against William's entrance But in the end agreement was made between the two Brothers with the condition that if William should dye without Issue then that Robert should succeed him and to this accord both the Princes themselves and twelve principal Peers of each side were Sworn but yet after when William dyed without Issue this was not observed but Henry the fourth Son entred and deprived Robert not only of this his Succession to England but also of his Dukedom of Normandy that he had enjoyed peaceably before all the time of his Brother Rufus and moreover he took him Prisoner and so carried him into England and there kept him till his death which happened in the Castle of Cardif in the year 1134. And whereas this Duke Robert had a goodly Prince to this Son named William who was Duke of Normandy by his Father and Earl of Flanders in the right of his grand Mother that was the Conquerors Wife and Daughter of Baldwin Earl of Flanders as hath been said and was established in both these States by the help of Lewis the VI. surnamed Le Gros King of France and admitted to do homage to him for the said States his Uncle King Henry of England was so violent against him as first he drove him out of the state of Normandy and secondly he set up and maintained a Competitor or two against him in Flanders by whom finally he was slaine in the year of Christ 1128. before the Town of Alost by an Arrow after he had gotten the upper hand in the Field and so ended the race of the first Son of King William the Conquerour to wit oâ— Duke Robert which Robert lived after the Death of his said Son and Heir Duke William Six years in Prison in the Castle of Cardiff and pined away with sorrow and misery as both the French and English Histories do agree The second Son of the Conqueror named Richard dyed as before hath been said in his Fathers time and left no Issue at all as did neither the third Son William Rufus though he Reigned 13. years after his Father the Conqueror in which time he established the Succession of the Crown by consent of the States of England to his elder Brother Duke Roberts issue as hath been said though afterwards it was not observed This King Rufus came to the Crown principally by the help and favour of Lanfrancus Archbishop of Canterbury who greatly repented himself afterward of the error which in that point he had committed upon hopes of his good Government which proved extream evil But this King William Rufus being slayn afterward by the Arrow of a Cross-bow in Newforrest as is well known and this at such time as the foresaid Duke Robert his elder Brother to whom the Crown by Succession apperteined was absent in the War of the Holy Land where according as most Authors do Write he was chosen King of Hierusalem but refused it upon hope of the Kingdom of England But he returning home found that his fourth Brother Henry partly by fair promises and partly by force had invaded the Crown in the year 1110. and so he Reigned 35. years and had Issue divers Sons and Daughters but all were either drounded in the Seas coming out of Normandy or else dyed otherwise before their Father except only Mathildis who was first Married to Henry the Emperour fifth of that name and after his death without Issue to Geffrey Plantagenet Duke of Anjow Touraine and Maine in France by whom she had Henry which Reigned after King Stephen by the name of Henry the II. And thus much of the Sons of William the Conqueror Of his two Daughters that lived to be Married and had Issue the elder named Constance was Married to Alayn Fergant Duke of Britain who was Son to Hoel Earl of Nants and was made Duke of Britain by William the Conquerors means in manner Following Duke Robert of Normanyd Father to the Conqueror when he went on Pilgrimage unto the Holy Land in which Voyage he dyed left for Governour of Normandy under the protection of King Henry the first of France Duke Alayne the first of Britain which Allayn had Issue Conan the first who being a stirring Prince of about 24. years old when Duke William began to treat of passing over into England he shewed himself not to favour much that enterprise which Duke William fearing caused him to be Poysoned with a pair of perfumed Gloves as the French stories do report and caused to be set up in his place and made Duke one Hoel Earl of Nantes who to gratifie William sent his Son Alaine surnamed Fergaâ—t with 5000. Souldiers to pass over into England with him and so he did and William afterward in recompence thereof gave him his eldest Daughter Constantia in Marriage with the Earldom oâ— Richmond by whom he had Issue Conan the second surnamed le Gross who had Issue a Son and a Daughter The Son was called Hoel as his Grand-Father was and the Daughters name was Bertha Married to Eudo Earl of Porhet in Normandy and for that this Duke Conan liked better his Daughter and his Son in-law her Husband then he did Hoel his own Son he disavowed him on his Death Bead and made his said Daughter his Heir who had by the said Eudo a Son named Conan surnamed the younger which was the third Duke of that name and this man had one only Daughter and Heir named Lady Constance who was Married to the third Son of King Henry the second named Geffrey and elder Brother to King John that after came to Reign and by this Lord Geffrey she had Issue Arthur the second Duke of Britain whom King John his Uncle put back from the Crown of England and caused to be put to death as after shall be shewed and he dying without Issue his Mother Constance Dutchess and Heir of Britain Married again with a Prince of her own House whom after we shall name in the prosecution of this Line and by him she had Issue that hath endured until this day the last whereof hitherto is the Lady Isabella infant of Spain and that other of Savoy her Sister whom by this means we see to have descended from King William the Conqueror by his eldest Daughter Lady
that course was altered again and Henry his Son admitted for King And thus much of the Sons of King Henry II. But of his Daughters by the same Lady Eleanor Heir of Gascony Belforest in his Story of France hath these words following King Henry had four Daughters by Eleanor of Aquitain the eldest whereof was married to Alonso the IX of that name King of Castile of which Marriage issued Queen Blanch Mother to S. Lewis King of France The second of these two Daughters was espoused to Alexis Emperour of Constantinople The third was married to the Duke of Saxony and the fourth was given to the Earl of Tholosa Thus being the French Stories of these Daughters Of the marriage of the eldest Daughter of these four whose name was Eleanor also as her Mothers was with King Alonso the IX of Castile there succeeded many Children but only one son that lived whose name was Henry who was King of Castile after his Father by the name of Henry the I and â—ied quickly without Issue and besides this Henry two Daughters also were born of the same marriage of which the eldest and Heir named Blanch was married by intercession of her Uncle King John of England with the foresaid Prince Lewis of France with this express condition as both Polydor in his English Story and Garibay the Chronicler of Spain do affirm that she should have for her Dowry all the States that King John had lost in France which were almost all that he had there and this to the end he might not seem to have lost them by force but to have given them with the marriage of his Neece and so this marriage was made and her Husband Lewis was afterward chosen also King of England by the Barons and sworn in London as before hath been said And hereby also the Infanta of Spain before mentioned that is descended lineally from both these Princes I mean as well from Queen Blanch as from Lewis is proved to have her pretence fortified to the Interest of England as afterwards shall be declared more at large in due place The second Daughter of King Alonso the IX by Queen Eleanor was named Berenguela and was married to the Prince of Leon in Spain and had by him a Son named Fernando who afterwards when King Henry her Brother was dead was admitted by the Castilians for their King by the name of Fernando the IV. as before the Civilian hath noted and Blanch with her Son S. Lewis though she were the elder was put by the Crown against all right of Succession as Garibay the Spanish Chronicler noteth and confesseth Hereby then some do gather that as the first Interest which the Crown of England had to the States of Gascony Guyenne and Poyters came by a woman so also did it come to France by the right of this foresaid Blanch whereof the favourers of the Infanta of Spain do say that she being now first and next in bloud of that House ought to inherit all these and such like States as are inheritable by women or came by women as the former States of Gascony and Guyenne did to King Henry the II by Queen Eleanor his wife and Normandy by Mathilda his mother and both of them to France by this former interest of Blanch. And more they say that this Lady Blanch mother to King S. Lewis whose Heir at this day the Infanta of Spain is should by right have inherited the Kingdom of England also after the murther of Duke Arthur and his Sister Eleanor for that she was the next of â—in unto them at that time which could be capable to succeed them for that King John himself was uncapable of their succession whom he had murthered and his Son Henry was not then born nor in divers years after and if he had been yet could he receive no Interest thereunto by his Father who had none himself of all which points there will be more particular occasion to speak hereafter Now then I come to speak of King Henry the third who was Son to this King John and from whom all the three Houses before mentioned of Britany Lancaster and York do seem to issue as a triple branch out of one Tree albeit the Royal Line of Britany is more ancient and was divided before even from William the Conquerors time as hath been shewed yet do they knit again in this King Henry for that of King Henry the third his eldest Son named Prince Edward the first descended Edward the second and of him Edward the third from whom properly riseth the House of York And of his second Son Edmond surnamed Crookback County Palatine of Lancaster issued the Dukes of Lancaster until in the third descent when the Lady Blanch Heir of that House matched with John of Gaunt third Son of King Edward the third from which marriage rose afterward the formal division of these two Houses of Lancaster and York and also two distinct branches of Lancaster Besides these two Sons King Henry the third had a Daughter named Lady Beatrix whom he married to John the second of that name Duke of Britany who after was slain at Lions in France by the fall of an old Wall at the Coronation of Pope Clement the 5th of that name in the year of Christ 1298. and for that the Friends of the Infanta of Spain do seek to strengthen her Title by this her descent also of the Royal bloud of England from Henry the third as afterward shall be declared I will briefly in this place continue the Pedegree of the House of Britany from that I left before even to our days I shewed before in this Chapter that Geoffry the third Son to King Henry the second and Duke of Britany by his wife being dead and his two Children Arthur and Eleanor put to death by their Uncle King John in England as before hath been said it fell out that Constance Dutchess and Heir of Britany married again to Guy Viscount of Tours and had by him two Daughters whereof the eldest named Alice was Dutchess of Britany and married to Peter Brien Earl of Drusse and by him had John the first of that name Duke of Britany which John the first had issue John the second who married Lady Beatrix before-mentioned Daughter to King Henry the third and by her had the second Arthur Duke of Britany to whom succeeded his eldest Son by his first Wife named John the third who dying without Issue left the very same trouble and garboil in Britany about the succession between the two noble Houses of Blois and Monford the one maintained by France and the other by England as soon after upon the very like occasion happen'd in England between the Houses of Lancaster and York as after shall be shewed And not long after that again the like affliction also ensued in France though not for succession but upon other occasions between
the great and Royal Houses of Burgundy and Orleans whereby all three Commonwealths I mean England Britany and France were like to have come to destruction and utter desolation And for that it may serve much to our purpose hereafter to understand well this controversie of Britany I think it not amiss in few words to declare the same in this place Thus then it happened The foresaid Arthur the second of that name Duke of Britanie and Son of Lady Beatrix that was Daughter as hath been said to King Henry the III. of England had two Wives the first named Beatrix as his Mother was and by this he had two Sons John that succeeded him in the State by the name of Duke John the III. and Guye that dying before his elder Brother left a Daughter and Heir named Joan and surnamed the lame for that she halted who was married to the Earl of Bloys that was Nephew to Phillip of Valois King of France for that he was born of his Sister But besides the two Children the said Duke Arthur had by his second Wife named Joland Countess and Heir of the Earldom of Monford another Son called John Breno who in the right of his Mother was Earl of Monford And afterward when Duke John the III. came to die without Issue the question was who should succeed him in his Dukedom the Uncle or the Neece that is to say his third Brother John Breno by half bloud or else his Neece Joan the lame that was Daughter and Heir to his second Brother Guye of whole bloud that is by Father and Mother which Lady Joan was married to the Earl of Bloys as hath been said And first this matter was handled in the Parliament of Paris the King himself sitting in Judgment with all his Peers the 30 day of September 1341 and adjudged it to the Earl of Bloys both for that his Wife was Heir to the elder Brother as also for that Duke John by his Testiment and consent of the States had appointed her to be his Heir but yet King Edward the III. and States of England did Judge it otherwise and preferred John Monford not knowing that the very case was to fall out very soon after in England I mean they Judged the State to John Breno Earl of Monford younger Brother to Guy and they assisted him and his Son after him with all their Forces for the gaining and holding of that State And albeit at the beginning it seemed that matters went against Monford for that himself was taken prisoner in Nantes and carried captive to Paris where he died in prison yet his Son John by the assistance of the English Armies got the Dukedome afterward and slew the Earl of Bloys and was peaceably Duke of Britanie by the name of John the IV. and his posterity hath endured until this day as briefly here I will declare This Duke John the IV. of the House of Monford had Issue John the V. and he Francis the first who dying without Issue left the Dukedom to Peter his Brother and Peter having no Children neither he left it to his Uncle Arthur the III Brother to his Father John the V. and this Arthur was Earl of Richmond in England as some of his ancestors had been before him by gifts of the Kings of England This Arthur dying without Issue left the Dukedom unto his Nephew to wit his Brothers Son Francis the II. who was the last male Child of that race and was he that had once determined to have delivered Henry Earl of Richmond unto his enemy King Edward the IV. and after him to King Richard the III. but that Henry's good fortune reserved him to come to be King of England This Duke Francis had a Daughter and Heir named Anna married first to Charles the VIII King of France and after his death without Issue to his Successor Lewis the XII by whom she had a Daughter named Claudia that was Heir to Britanie though not to the Crown of France by reason of the Law Salique that holdeth against women in the Kingdom of France but not in Britany and to the end this Dukdome should not be disunited again from the said Crown of France this Daughter Claudia was married to Francis Duke of Angolome Heir apparent to the Crown of France by whom she had Issue Henry that was afterward King of France and was Father to the last King of that Country and to Isabel Mother of the Infanta of Spain and of her Sister the Dutchess of Savoy that now is by which also some do affirm that the said Princess or Infanta of Spain albeit she be barred from the Succession of France by their pretended Law Salique yet is her title manifest to the Dukdome of Britanie that came by a woman as we have shewed and thus much of the House of Britany and of the Princess of Spain how she is of the Bloud Royal of England from the time of William the Conqueror himself by his eldest Daughter as also by other Kings after him and now we shall return to prosecute the Issue of these two Sons of King Henry the III. to wit of Edward and Edmond which before we left I shewed you before how King Henry the III. had two Sons Edward the Prince that was King after his Father by the name of Edward the first and Edmond surnamed Crouchback by some Writers who was the first Earl and County Palatine of Lancaster and beginner of that House And albeit some Writers of our time have affirmed or at least wise much inclined to favour a certain old report that Edmond should be the Elder Brother to Edward and put back only for his deformity of his body whereof Polidor doth speak in the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the IV. and as well the Bishop of Ross as also George Lilly do seem to believe it yet evident it seemeth that it was but a fable as before I have noted and now again shall briefly prove it by these reasons following for that it importeth very much for deciding the controversie between the Houses of Lancaster and York The first reason then is for that all Ancient Historiographers of England and among them Mattheus Westmonasteriensis that lived at the same time do affirm the contrary and do make Edward to be elder then Edmond by six years and two days for that they appoint the Birth of Prince Edward to have been upon the 16. day of June in the year of Christ 1239 and the 24. of the Reign of his Father King Henry and the Birth of Lord Edmond to have followed upon the 18. day of the same month 6 years after to wit in the year of our Lord 1245 and they do name the Godfathers and Godmothers of them both together with the peculiar solemnities and feasts that were celebrated at their several Nativities so as it seemeth there can be no error in this matter The 2d
reason is for that we read that this Lord Edmond was a goodly wise discreet Prince notwithstanding that some Authors call him Crouchback and that he was highly in the favour both of his Father King Henry as also of his Brother King Edward and imployed by them in many great Wars and other affairs of State both in France and other where which argueth that there was no such great defect in him as should move his Father and the Realm to deprive him of his Succession Thirdly we read that King Henry procured by divers ways and means the advancement of this Lord Edmond as giving him the Earldoms of Leicester and Darby besides that of Lancaster as also procuring by all means possible and with exceeding great charges to have made him King of Naples and Sicilie by Pope Innocentius which had been no policy to have done if he had been put back from his Inheritance in England for that it had been to have Armed him against his Brother the King Fourthly we see that at the death of his Father King Henry the III. this Lord Edmond was principally left in charge with the Realm his elder Brother Prince Edward being scarsly returned from the War of Asia at what time he had good occasion to challenge his own right to the Crown if he had had any seeing he wanted no power thereunto having three goodly Sons at that time alive born of his Wife Queen Blanch Daugher of Navarre and County of Champain to whom she had born only one Daughter that was married to Philip le Bel King of France But we shall never read that either he or any of his Children made any such claim but that they lived in very good agreement and high grace with King Edward the first as his Children did also with King Edward the II. until he began to be mis-led in Government and then the two Sons of this Lord Edmond I mean both Thomas and Henry that Successively were Earls of Lancaster made War upon the said Edward the II. and were the principal Actors in his deposition and in setting up of his Son Edward the III. in his place aâ— what time it is evident that they might have put in also for themselves if their title had been such as this report maketh it A fifth reason is for that if this had been so that Edmond Earl of Lancaster had been the elder Brother then had the controversie between the two Houses of York and Lancaster been most clear and without all doubt at all for then had the House of York had no pretence of right in the World and then were it evident that the Heirs general of Blanch Dutchess of Lancaster Wife of John of Gaunt to wit the descendents of Lady Philip her Daughter that was married into Portugal these I say and none other were apparent and true Heirs to the Crown of England at this day and all the other of the House of York usurpers as well King Henry the VII as all his posterity and off-spring for that none of them have descended of the said Blanch as is manifest And therefore lastly the matter standeth no doubt as Polidor holding in the latter end of the life of King Henry the III. where having mentioned these two Sons Edward and Edmond he addeth these words There wanted not certain men long time after this that affirmed this Edmond to be the elder Son to King Henry the III. and to have been deprived of his Inheritance for that he was deformed in body but these things were feigned to the end that King Henry the IV. that came by his Mothers side of this Edmond might seem to have come to the Kingdom by right whereas indeed he got it by force Thus saith Polidor in this place but afterward in the beginning of the life of the said King Henry the IV. he saith that some would have had King Henry to have pretended this Title among other reasons but that the most part accounting it but a meer fable it was omitted Now then it being clear that of these two Sons of King Henry the III. Prince Edward was the Elder and Lawful Heir it remaineth only that we set down their several descents unto the times of King Edward the III. and his Children in whose days the dissention and controversie between these Royal Houses of York and Lancaster began to break forth And for the Issue of Edward that was King after his Father by the name of King Edward the first it is evident that albeit by two several Wives he had a dozen Children male and female yet only his fourth Son by his first Wife called also Edward who was King after him by the name of King Edward the II left Issue that remained which Edward the II being afterward for his evil Government deposed left Issue Edward the III. who was made King by election of the people in his place and after a long and prosperous Reign left divers Sons whereof after we shall speak and among them his III. Son named John of Gaunt married Lady Blanch Daughter and Heir of the House of Lancaster and of the forenamed Lord Edmond Crouchback by which Blanch John of Gaunt became Duke of Lancaster so as the lines of these two Brethren Edward and Edmond did meet and joyn again in the fourth descent as now shall appear by declaration of the Issue of the foresaid Lord Edmond Edmond then the second Son of King Henry the third being made County Palatine of Lancaster as also Earl of Leicester and of Darby by his Father King Henry as hath been said had issue three Sons to wit Thomas Henry and John among whom he divided his three States making Thomas his eldest Son County Palatine of â—ancaster Henry Earl of Leicester and John Earl of Darby But Thomas the eldest and John the youngest dying without Issue all three States fell again upon Henry the second Son which Henry had Issue one Son and three Daughters his Son was named Henry the second of that name Earl of Lancaster and made Duke of Lancaster by King Edward the third and he had one only Daughter and Heir named Blanch who was married unto John of Gaunt as before hath been said But Duke Henry's three Sisters named Joan Mary and Eleanor were all married to divers principal men of the Realm for that Joan was married to John Lord Maubery of whom are descended the Howards of the House of Norfolk at this day and Mary was married to Henry Lord Percy from whom cometh the House of the Earls of Northumberland and Eleanor was married to Richard Earl of Arundel thence is issued also by his Mothers side the Earl of Arundel â—hat now is so as of this ancient Line of Lancaster there want not noble Houses within the Realm at this day issued thence before the controversie fell out between York and this Family of which controversie how it rose and how it was continued I
Richard and Reigned 13. years by the name of King Henry the fourth and was the first King of the House of Lancaster of the right of whose title examination shall be made afterwards The first of the two daughters which John of Gaunt had by Blanch was named Philippa who was married to John the first of â—hat name King of Portugal by whom she had Issue Edward King of Portugal and he Alfonsus the fifth and he John the second and so one after another even unto our days The second daughter of John of Gaunt by Lady Blanch was named Elizabeth who was married to John Holland Duke of Exeter and she had Issue by him another John Duke of Exeter and he had Issue Henry Duke of Exeter that died without Issue Male leaving only one Daughter named Anne who was married to Sir Thomas Nevil Knight and by him had Issue Ralph Nevil third Earl of Westmerland whose Lineal Heir is at this day Lord Charles Nevil Earl of Westmerland that liveth banished in Flanders And this is all the Issue that John of Gaunt had by Lady Blanch his first Wife saving only that I had forgotten to prosecute the Issue of Henry his first Son surnamed of Bullenbroke that was afterward called K. Henry the fourth which King had four Sons and two daughters his daughters were Blanch and Philippa the first married to William Duke of Bavaria and the second to Erick King of Denmark and both of them died without Children The four Sons were first Henry that Reigned after him by the name of Henry the fifth and the second was Thomas Duke of Clarence the third was John Duke of Bedford and the fourth was Humphry Duke of Glocester all which three Dukes died without Issue or were slain in Wars of the Realm so as only King Henry the fifth their elder Brother had Issue one Son named Henry also that was King and Reigned 40 years by the name of Henry the sixth who had Issue Prince Edward and both of them I mean both Father and Son were murthered by order or permission of Edward Duke of York who afterward took the Crown upon him by the name of King Edward the fourth as before hath been said so as in this King Henry the sixth and his Son Prince Edward ended all the bloud-Royal male of the House of Lancaster by Blanch the first Wife of John of Gaunt and the Inheritance of the said Lady Blanch returned by right of succession as the favourers of the House of Portugal affirm though others deny it unto the Heirs of Lady Philip her eldest daughter married into Portugal whose Nephew named Alfonsus the fifth King of Portugal lived at that day when King Henry the sixth and his Heir were made away and thus much of John of Gaunt's first marriage But after the death of the Lady Blanch John of Gaunt married the Lady Constance daughter and Hâ—ir of Peter the first surnamed the Cruel King of Castile who being driven out of his Kingdom by Henry his Bastard-brother assisted thereunto by the French he fled to Bourdeaux with his Wife and two daughters where he found Prince Edward eldest Son to King Edward the third by whom he was restored and for pledge of his fidelity and performance of other conditions that the said King Peter had promised to the Prince he left his two daughters with him which daughters being sent afterwards into England the eldest of them named Constance was married to John of Gaunt and by her Title he named himself for divers years afterwards King of Castile and went to gain the same by Arms when Peter her Father was slain by his foresaid Bastard-brother But yet some years after that again there was an agreement made between the said John of Gaunt and John the first of that name King of Castile Son and Heir of the foresaid Henry the Bastard with condition that Catharine the only daughter of John of Gaâ—nt by Lady Constance should marry with Henry the third Prince of Castile Son and Heir of the said King John and Nephew to the Bastard Henry the second and by this means was ended that controversie between England and Castile And the said Lady Catharine had Issue by King Henry John the second King of Casâ—â—â—e and he Isabel that married with Ferdinando the Catholick King of Aragon and joyned by that marriage both those Kingdoms together and by him she had a daughter named Joan that married Philip Duke of Austria and Burgundy and by him had Charles the such that was Emperor and Father to King Philip that now reigneth â—n Spain who as we see is descided two ways from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster to wit by two daughters begotten of two Wives Blanch and Constance neither had John of Gaunt any more Children by Constance but only this daughter Catharine of whom we have spoken wherefore now we shall speak of his third Wife that was Lady Catharine Swinford This Lady Catharine as English Histories do note was born in Heinalt in Flanders and was daughter to a Knight of that Country called Sir Payne de Ruet and she was brought up in her youth in the Duke of Lancasters house and attended upon his first Wife Lady Blanch and being fair of personage grew in such favour with the Duke as in the time of his second Wife Constance he kept this Catharine for his Concubine and begat upon her four Children to wit three Sons and â— daughter which daughter whose name was Jane was married to Ralph Earl of Westmorland called commonly in those days Daw Raby of whom descended the Earls of Westmorland that ensued His three Sons were John Thomas and Henry and John was first Earl and then Duke of Summerset Thomas was first Marques of Dorset and then Duke of Excester Henry was Bishop of Winchester and after Cardinal And after John of Gaunt had begotten all these four Children upon Catharine he married her to a Knight in England named Swinford which Knight lived not many years after and John of Gaunt coming home to England from Aquitaine where he had been for divers years and seeing this old Conâ—â—â—â—ne of his Catharine to be now a Widow and himself also without a Wife for that the Lady Constance was dead a little before for the love that he bore to the Children that he had begotten of her he determined to marry her and thereby the rather to legitimate her Children though himself were old now and all his Kindred utterly against the Marriage and so not full two years before his death to wit in the Year of Christ 1396. he married her and the next Year after in a Parliament begun at Westminster the 22 of January Anno Domini 1397. he caused all his said Children to be legitimated which he had begotten upon this Lady Swinford before she was his Wife But now to go forward to declare the Issue of these three Sons of John of Gaunt by Catharine
that seeing rigour of Law runneth only with the Uncle for that indeed he is properly nearest in bloud by one degree and that only indulgence and custom serveth for the Nephew permitting him to represent the place of his Father who is dead they resolve I say that whensoever the Uncle is born before the Nephew and the said Uncle's elder Brother died before his Father as it happened in the case of John of Gaunt and of King Richard there the Uncle by right may be preferred for that the said elder Brother could not give or transmit that thing to his Son which was not in himself before his Father died and consequently his Son could not represent that which his Father never had and this for the Civil Law Touching our Common Laws the favourers of Lancaster do say two or three things first that the right of the Crown and interest thereunto is not decided expresly in our law nor is it a plea subject to the common rules thereof but is superiour and more eminent and therefore that men may not judge of this as of other pleas of particular persons nor is the Tryal alike nor the common maxims or rules always of force in this thing as in others which they prove by divers particular cases as for example the Widow of a private man shall have her thirds of all his Lands for her Dowry but not the Queen of the Crown Again if a private man have many daughters and die seized of Lands in Fee-simple without Heir Male his said daughters by law shall have the said Lands as co-partners equally divided between them but not the daughters of a King for that the eldest must carry away all as though she were Heir male The like also is seen if a Baron match with a Feme that is an Inheritrix and have Issue by her though she die yet shall he enjoy her Lands during his life as Tenant by courtesie but it is not so in the Crown if a man marry with a Queen as King Philip did with Queen Mary and so finally they say also that albeit in private mens possessions the common course of our law is that if the Father die seized of Land in Fee-simple leaving a younger Son and a Nephew that is to say a Child of his Elder Son the Nephew shall succeed his Grandfather as also he shall do his Uncle if of three Brethren the elder die without Issue and the second leave a Son yet in the inheritance and succession of the Crown it goeth otherwise as by all the fotmer eight examples have been shewed and this is the first they say about the common law The second point which they affirm is that the ground of our Common Laws consisteth principally and almost only about this point of the Crown in custom for so say they we see by experience that nothing in effect is written thereof in the common law and all old Lawyers do affirm this point as were Ranulfus de Granvilla in his books of the laws and customs of England which he wrote in the time of King Henry the second and Judge Fortescue in his book of the praise of English laws which he compiled in the time of King Henry the sixth and others Whereof these men do infer that seeing there are so many presidents and examples alledged before of the Uncles case preferred before the Nephew not only in foreign Countries but also in England for this cause I say they do affirm that our common laws cannot but favour also this title and consequently must needs like well of the interest of Lancaster as they avouch that all the best old Lawyers did in those times and for example they do Record two by name of the most famous learned men which those ages had who not only defended the said title of Lancaster in those days but also suffered much for the same The one was the forenamed Judge Fortescue Chancellor of England and named Father of the common laws in that age who fled out of England with the Queen Wife of King Henry the sixth and with the Prince her Son and lived in banishment in France where it seemeth also that he wrote his learned book intituled de laudibus legum Angliae And the other was Sir Thomas Thorpe chief Baron of the Exchequer in the same Reign of the same King Henry the sixth who being afterward put into the Tower by the Princes of the House of York for his eager defence of the title of Lancaster remained there a long time and after being delivered was beheaded at High-gate in a tumult in the days of King Edward the fourth These then are the allegations which the favourers of the House of Lancaster do lay down for the justifying of the title affirming first that John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster ought to have succeeded his Father King Edward the third immediately before King Richard and that injury was done unto him in that King Richard was preferred And secondly that King Richard were his right never so good was justly and orderly deposed for his evil Government by lawful authority of the Commonwealth And thirdly that after his deposition Henry Duke of Lancaster Son and Heir of John of Gaunt was next in succession every way both in respect of the right of his Father as also for that he was two degrees nearer to the King deposed then was Edmond Mortimer descended of Leonel Duke of Clarence and these are the principal and substantial proofs of their right and title But yet besides these they do add all these other arguments and considerations following first that whatsoever right or pretence the House of York had the Princes thereof did forfeit and lose the same many times by their conspiracies rebellions and attainders as namely Richard Earl of Cambridge that married the Lady Anne Mortimer and by her took his pretence to the Crown was convicted of a conspiracy against King Henry the fifth in Southampton as before I have said and there was put to death for the same by Judgment of the King and of all his Peers in the year 1415. the Duke of York his elder Brother being one of the Jury that condemned him This Earl Richards Son also named Richard coming afterward by the death of his Uncle to be Duke of York first of all made open claim to the Crown by the title of York But yet after many oaths sworn and broken to King Henry the sixth he was attainted of Treason I mean both he and Edward his Son then Earl of March which afterward was King with the rest of his off-spring even to the ninth degree as Stow affirmeth in a Parliament holden at Coventry in the year 1459. and in the 38. year of the Reign of the said King Henry and the very next year after the said Richard was slain in the same quarrel but the House of Lancaster say these men was never attainted of any such
crime Secondly they say that the House of York did enter only by violence and by infinite bloudshed and by wilful murthering not only of divers of the Nobility both Spiritual and Temporal but also of both King Henry the sixth himself and of Prince Edward his Son and by a certain popular and mutinous election of a certain few Souldiers in Smithfield at London and this was the entrance of the House of York to the Crown whereas King Henry the fourth first King of the House of Lancaster entred without bloudshed as hath been shewed being called home by the requests and letters of the people and Noblity and his election and admission to the Crown was orderly and authorized by general consent of Parliament in the doing thereof Thirdly they alledge that King Henry the sixth put down by the House of York was a good and holy King and had Reigned peaceably 40. years and never committed any act worthy deposition whereas King Richard the second had many ways deserved the same as himself came to acknowledge and thereupon made a personal solemn and publick resignation of the said Crown unto his Cousen Henry of Lancaster the which justified much the said Henry's entrance Fourthly they alledge that the House of Lancaster had been in possession of the Crown upon the point of 60â— years before the House of York did raise trouble unto them for the same in which time their Title was confirmed by many Parliaments Oaths approbations and publick Acts of the Commonwealth and by the Nobles Peers and people thereof and by the States both Spiritual and Temporal and with the consent of all foreign Nations so that if there had been any fault in their first entrance yet was this sufficient to authorize the same as we see it was in the title of King William the Conqueror and of his two Sons King William Rufus and King Henry the first that entred before their elder Brether and of King John that entred before his Nephew and of his Son King Henry the third that entred after his Fathers deprivation and after the election of Prince Lewis of France as also of Edward the third that entred by deposition of his own Father of all which Titles yet might there have been doubt made at the beginning but by time and durance of possession and by confirmation of the Commonwealth they were made lawful and without controversie Fifthly they say that if we consider the four King Henrys that have been of the House of Lancaster to wit the 4 5 6 and 7 and do compare them with the other four that have been of the House of York to wit Edward the fourth Richard the third Henry the eighth and Edward the sixth and all their acts both at home and abroad what quietness or troubles have passed and what the Commonwealth of England hath gotten or lost under each of them we shall find that God hath seemed to prosper and allow much more of those of Lancaster then of those of York for that under those of Lancaster the Realm hath enjoyed much more peace and gaining far greater honour and enlarged more the dominions of the Crown then under those of York and that it had done also much more if the seditions rebellions and troubles raised and brought in by the Princes of the House of York had not hindered the same as say these men it was evidently seen in the time of King Henry the sixth when their contention against the Princes of the House of Lancaster was the principal cause why all the English States in France were lost and what garboils and troubles at home have ensued afterwards and how infinite murthers and men slaughters with change of Nobility have been caused hereby and increased afterward under the Government and rule of the Princes of York needeth not say these men to be declared One thing only they note in particular which I will not omit and let it be the sixth note and that is that the Princes of York have not only been rigorous and very bloudy unto their adversaires but also among themselves and to their kindred which these men take to be a just punishment of God upon them And for proof hereof they alledge first the Testimony of Polydor who albeit he were a great advocate of the House of York as before hath been noted for that he lived and wrote his story under King Henry the eighth yet in one place he breaketh forth into these words of the Princes of this House Cum non haberent jam inimicos in quos saevitiam explerent saturarent in semetipsos crudelitatem exercuerunt proprioque sanguine sâ—as pollure manus When these Princes now had brought to destruction all those of the House of Lancaster so as they had no more enemies upon whom to fill and satiate their cruelty then began they to exercise their fierceness upon themselves and to imbrew their hands with their own bloud Thus far Polydor. Secondly they do shew the same by the deeds of both sides for that the love union trust confidence faithfulness kindness and Loyalty of the Princes of Lancaster the one towards the other is singular and notorious as may appear by the acts and studious endeavours of the Lord Henry Bishop of Winchester and Cardinal and of the Lord Thomas Duke of Exceter and Marquis of Dorset Brothers of King Henry the fourth to whom and to his Children they were most faithful friendly and loyal as also by the noble proceedings of the Lords Thomas Duke of Clarence John Duke of Bedford and Humphry Duke of Glocester Sons of the forâ—said Henry the fourth and brothers of King Henry the fifth the first of which three gave his bloud in his service and the other two spent their whole lives in defence of the dignity of the English Crown the one as Regent of France the other as Protector of England by the worthy acts also and renowned faithfulness of the Dukes of Somerset Cousen-jeâ—â—ans to the said King Henry the fourth and to his Children and the proper Ancestors of King Henry the VII all which Dukes of Somerset of the House of Lancaster being five or six in number did not only as Polydor saith assist and help their Soveraign and the whole Realm Vigiliis curis periculis that is to say with watchfulness carâ—s and offering themselves to dangers but also four of them one after another to wit Edmond with his three Sons Henry Edmond and John whereof two successively after him were Dukes of Somerset and the Marquess of Dorset were all four I say as so many Maccabees slain in the defence of their Country and Family by the other faction of the House of York which thing say these men shewed evidently both a marvelous confidence that these men had in their quarrel as also a great blessing of God towards that Family that they had such love and union among themselves But now
in the House of York these men endeavour to shew all the contrary to wit that there was nothing else but suspition hatred and emulations among themselves and extreme cruelty of one against the other and so we see that as soon almost as Edward Duke of York came to be King George Duke of Clarence his younger Brother conspired against him and did help to drive him out again both from the Realm and Crown In recompence whereof his said elder Brother afterward notwithstanding all the reconciliation and many others that passed between them of new love and union caused him upon new grudges to be taken and murthered privily at Calis as all the World knoweth And after both their deaths Richard their third Brother murthered the two Sons of his said elder Brother and kept in prison whiles he lived the Son and Hâ—ir of his second Brother I mean the young Earl of Warwick though he were but a very Child whom King Henry the seventh afterward put to death But King Henry the eighth that succeeded them passed all the rest in cruelty toward his own kindred for he weeded out almost all that ever he could find of the Bloud Royal of York and this either for emulation or causes of meer suspicion only For first of all he beheaded Edmond de la Pole Duke of Suffolk Son of his own Aunt Lady Elizabeth that was Sister to King Edward the fourth which Edward was Grandfather to King Henry as is evident The like destruction King Henry went about to bring to Richard de la Pole Brother to the said Edmond if he had not escaped his hands by flying the Realm whom yet he never ceased to pursue until he was slain in the battel of Pavia in service of the King of France by whose death was extinguished the noble house of the de la Poles Again the said King Henry put to death Edward Duke of Buckingham high Constable of England the Son of his great Aunt Sister to the Queen Elizabeth his Grandmother and thereby overthrew also that worthy House of Buckingham and after again he put to death his Cousen-jerman Henry Câ—urtâ—â—y Marquess of Excester Son of the Lady Catherine his Aunt that was Daughter of King Edward the fourth and attained joyntly with him his Wife the Lady Gertrude taking from her all her goods lands and inheritance and committed to perpetual prison their only Son and Heir Lord Edward Courtney being then but a Child of seven years old which remained so there until many years after he was set at liberty and restored to his living by Queen Mary Moreover he put to death the Lady Margaret Plantagenet Countess of Salisbury Daughter of George Duke of Clarence that was Brother of his Grandfather King Edward the fourth and with her he put to death also her eldest Son and Heir Thomas Poole Lord Montague and committed to perpetual prison where soon after also he ended his life a little Infant named Henry Poole his Son and Heir and condemned to death by act of Parliament although absent Renald Poole Brother to the said Lord Montague Cardinal in Rome whereby he overthrew also the Noble House of Salisbury and Warwick neither need I to go further in this relation though these men do note also how Edward the sixth put to death two of his own Uncles the Seymers or at least it was done by his authority and how that under her Majesty that now is the Queen of Scotland that was next in kin of any other living and the chief titler of the House of York hath been put to death Lastly they do note and I may not omit it that there is no noble house standing at this day in England in the antient state of calling that it had and in that dignity and degree that it was in when the House of York entered to the Crown if it be above the State of a Barony but only such as defended the right and interest of the Houses of Lancaster and that all other great Houses that took part with the House of York and did help to ruine the House of Lancaster are either ceased since or extiâ—pated and overthrown by the same House of York it self which they assisted to get the Crown and so at this present they are either united to the Crown by confiscation or transferred to other lineages that are strangers to them who possessed them before As for example the ancient Houses of England that remain at this day and were standing when the House of York began their title are the House of Arundel Oxford Northumberland Westmerland and Shrewsbury for all others that are in England at this day above the dignity of Barons have been advanced since that time and all these five houses were these that principally did stick unto the House of Lancaster as is evident by all English Chronicles For that the Earl of Arundel brought in King Henry the fourth first King of the House of Lancaster and did help to place him in the Dignity-Royal coming out of France with him The Earl of Oxford and his Son the Lord Vere were so earnest in the defence of King Henry the sixth as they were both slain by King Edward the fourth and John Earl of Oxford was one of the principal assistants of Henry the seventh to take the Crown from Richard the third The House of Northumberland also was a principal aider to Henry the fourth in getting the Crown and two Earls of that name to wit Henry the second and third were slain in the quarrel of King Henry the sixth one in the battel of St. Albans and the other of Saxton and a third Earl named Henry the fourth fled into Scotland with the said King Henry the sixth The House of Westmerland also was chief advancer of Henry the fourth to the Crown and the second Earl of that House was slain in the party of Henry the sixth in the said battel of Saxton and John Earl of Shrewsbury was likewise slain in defence of the title of Lancaster in the battel of Nâ—rthampton And I omit many other great services and faithful endeavoure which many Princes of these five noble ancient houses did in the defence of the Lancastrian Kings which these men say that God hath rewarded wiâ—â— continuance of their houses unto this day But on the contrary side these men do note that all the old houses that principally assisted The title of York are now extinguished and that chiefly by the Kings themselves of that house as for example the principal Peers that assisted the family of York were Mâ—â—â—ray Duke of Norfolk de la Poole Duke of Suffolk the Earl of Saâ—isâ—uâ—y and the Earl of Warwiâ—k of all which the event was this John Moubray Duke of Nâ—rfolk the first considerate of the House of York died soon after the exaltation of Edward the fourth without Issue and so that name
Succession or Right of Women which the Kingdom of France in it self doth not as is known and consequently a Woman may be Heir to the one without the other that is to say she may be Heir to some particular states of France inheritable by Women though not to the Crown it self and so do pretend to be the two Daughters of France that were Sisters to the late King Henry III. which Daughters were married the one to the King of Spain that now is who had Issue by her the Infanta of Spain yet unmarried and her younger Sister married to the Duke of Savoy and the other to wit the younger Daughter of the King of France was married to the Duke of Lorrain yet living by whom she had the Prince of Lorrain and other Children that live at this day This then being so clear as it is first that according to the common course of Succession in England and other Countries and according to the course of all Common Law the Infanâ—a of Spain should inherit the whole Kingdom of France and all other States thereunto belonging she being the Daughter and Heir of King Henry II. of France whose Issue-male of the direct line is wholly extinct but yet for that the French do pretend their Law Salique to exclude Women which we English have ever denied to be good until now hereby cometh it to pass that the King of Navarr pretendeth to enter and to be preferred before the said Infanta or her Sisters Children though Male by a Collateral Line But yet her favourers say I mean those of the Infanta that from the Dukedoms of Britany Aquitain and the like that came to the Crown of France by Women and are Inheritable by Women she cannot be in right debarred as neither from any Succession or Pretence to England if either by the Bloud-Royal of France Britany Aquitain or of England it self it may be proved that she hath any Interest thereunto as her favourers do affirm that she hath by these reasons following First for that she is of the ancient Bloud-Royal of England even from the Conquest by the elder Daughter of William the Conquerour married to Allain Fergant Duke of Britany as hath been shewed before in the second Chapter and other places of this Conference And of this they infer three Consequences First when the Sons of the Conquerour died without Issue or were made uncapable of the Crown as it was presumed at least-wise of King Henry I. last Son of the Conquerour that he lost his Right for the violence used to his elder Brother Robert and unto William the said Robert's Son and Heir they say these men ought the said Dutchess of Britany to have entred as eldest Sister Secondly they say That when Duke Robert that both by right of Birth and by express Agreement with William Rufus and with the Realm of England should have succeeded next after the said Rufus came to die in Prison the said Lady Constance should have succeeded him for that his Brother Henry being culpable of his Death could not in right be his Heir And thirdly they say That at least wise after the death of the said King Henry I. she and her Son I mean Lady Constance and Conan Duke of Britany should have entred before King Stephen who was born of Adela the younger Daughter of William the Conquerour Secondly they do alledge That the Infanta of Spain descendeth also lineally from Lady Eleanor eldest Daughter of King Henry II. married to King Alonso the ninth of that name King of Castile whose eldest Daughter and Heir named Blanch for that their only Son Henry died without Issue married with the Prince Lewis VIII of France who was Father by her to King St. Lewis of France and so hath continued the Line of France unto this day and joyned the same afterwards to the House of Britany as hath been declared So as the Infanta cometh to be Heir general of both those Houses that is as well of Britany as France as hath been shewed And now by this her descent from Queen Eleanor Daughter of King Henry II. her favourers do found divers Pretences and Titles not only to the States of Aquitain that came to her Father by a Woman but also to England in manner following First for Aquitain they say it came to King Henry II. by his Wife Eleanor Daughter of William Duke of Aquitain as before in the second Chapter at large hath been declared and for that the most part thereof was lost afterwards to the French in King John's time that was fourth Son to the aforesaid King Henry it was agreed between the said King John and the french-French-King Philip that all the States of Aquitain already lost to the French should be given in Dowry with the said Blanch to be married to Lewis VIII then Prince of France and so they were And moreover they do alledge That not long after this the same States with the residue that remained in King John's hands were all adjudged to be forfeited by the Parliament of Paris for the Death of Duke Arthur and consequently did fall also upon this Lady Blanch as next Heir capable of such Succession unto King John for that yet the said King John had no Son at all and for this cause and for that the said States are Inheritable by Women and came by Women as hath been often said these men affirm That at this day they do by Succession appertain unto the said Lady Infanta of Spain and not unto the Crown of France To the Succession of England also they make pretence by way of the said Lady Blanch married into France and that in divers manners First for that King John of England by the Murther of Duke Arthur of Britany his Nephew which divers Authors do affirm as Stow also witnesseth was done by King John's own hands he forfeited all his States though his right to them had been never so good and for that this Murther happened in the fifth year of his Reign and four years before his Son Henry was born none was so near to succeed at that time as was this Lady Blanch married into France for that she was Daughter and Heir unto King John's elder Sister Eleanor or the said Lady Eleanor her self Queen of Spain should have succeeded for that she yet lived and died not as appeareth by Stephen Garribay Chronicler of Spain until the year of Christ 1214. which was not until the fifteenth year of the Reign of King John and one year only before he died so as he having yet no Issue when this Murther was committed and losing by this forfeit all the right he had in the Kingdom of England it followeth that the same should have gone then to his said Sister and by her to this Lady Blanch her Heir and eldest Daughter married into France as hath been said which forfeit also of King John these men do confirm by his
Deprivation by the Pope that soon after ensued as also by another Deprivation made by the Barons of his Realm as after shall be touched Furthermore they say That when Arthur Duke of Britain whom to this effect they do hold to have been the only true Heir at that time to the Kingdom of England was in Prison in the Castle of Roan suspecting that he should be murthered by his said Unkle King John he nominated this Lady Blanch his Cousin-jerman to be his Heir perswading himself that he by the help of her Husband Prince Lewis of France and her Father the King of Spain should be better able to defend and recover his or her right to the Crown of England than Eleanor his own Sister should be who was also in the hands of his said Unkle for that he supposed that she should be made away by himself shortly after as indeed the French Chronicler affirmeth that she was And howsoever this matter of Duke Arthur's Testament was yet certain it is that when he and his Sister were put to death the next in Kin that could succeed them in their right to England was this Lady Blanch and her Mother Queen Eleanor that was Sister to Arthur's Father Geffrey Duke of Britany for that King John their Unkle was presumed by all men to be uncapable of their Inheritance by his putting of them to death and Child he had yet none And this is the second point that these men do deduce for the Lady Infanta of Spain by the title of Queen Eleanor and her Daughter Blanch to whom the Infanta is next Heir A third Interest also the same men do derive to the Infanta by the actual Deposition of King John by the Barons and States of this Realm in the 16 th year of his Reign and by the Election and actual Admission of Lewis Prince of France Husband of Lady Blanch whom they chose with one consent and admitted and swore him Fealty and Obedience in London for him and for his Heirs and Posterity in the year 1217. and gave him Possession of the said City and Tower of London and of many other chief places of the Realm and albeit afterwards the most part of the Realm changed their minds upon the sudden death of the said King John and chose and admitted his young Son Henry III. a Child of 9 years old yet do the favourers of the Infanta say That there remaineth to her as Heir unto the said Lewis until this day that Interest which by this Election Oath and Admission of the Realm remained unto this Prince Lewis which these men affirm to be the very like case as was that of Hugo Capetus in France who came to be King especially upon a certain Title that one of his Ancestors named Odo Earl of Paris had by being once elected King of France and admitted and sworn though afterwards he was deposed again and young Charles surnamed the Simple was admitted in his place as Henry III. was in England after the Election of Lewis But yet as the other ever continued his Right and Claim till it was restored to Hugo Capetus one of his Race so say these men may this Infanta continue and renew now the Demand of King Lewis her Ancestor for that Titles and Interests to Kingdoms once rightly gotten do never die but remain ever for the Posterity to effectuate when they can And thus much of this matter But after this again these men do shew how that the said Infanta of Spain doth descend also from Henry III. son of King John by the Dukes of Britany as before in the second Chapter hath been declared and in the Arbor and Genealogy following in the end of this Conference shall be seen for that King Henry besides his two Sons Edward and Edmond which were the beginners of the two Houses of York and Lancaster had also a Daughter named Beatrix married to John the second of that Name Duke of Britany and by him she had Arthur II. and so lineally from him have descended the Princes of that House until their Union with the Crown of France and from thence unto this Lady Infanta of Spain that now is who taketh her self for proper Heir of the said House of Britany and Heir general of France as hath been said By this Conjunction then of the House of Britany with the Bloud-Royal of England the Friends of the Infanta do argue in this manner That seeing she descendeth of the Sister of these two Brothers which were the Heads of the two opposite Houses of Lancaster and York and considering that each of these Houses hath often-times been Attainted and Excluded from the Succession by sundry Acts of Parliament and at this present are opposite and at contention among themselves why may not this right of both Houses say these men by way of Composition Peace and Comprize at least be passed over to the Issue of their Sister which resteth in the Infanta Again they say That all these three Branches of the Lines to wit by the Lady Constance Daughter of King William the Conquerour by the Lady Eleanor Daughter of King Henry II. and by the Lady Beatrix Daughter of King Henry III. it is evident that this Lady the Infanta of Spain is of the true ancient Bloud-Royal of England and that divers ways she may have Claim to the same which being granted they infer That seeing matters are so doubtful at this day about the next lawful Succession and that divers of the Pretenders are excluded some for Bastardy some other for Religion some for unaptness to Govern and some for other Causes and seeing the Commonwealth hath such Authority to dispose in this Affair as before the Civil-Lawyer hath declared why may there not Consideration be had among other Pretenders of this noble Princess also say these men especially seeing she is unmarried and may thereby commodate many matters and salve many breaches and satisfie many hopes and give contentment to many desires as the world knoweth And this is in effect as much as I have heard alledged hitherto in favour of the Infanta of Spain but against this Pretence others do produce divers Arguments and Objections As first of all That these her Claims be very old and worn out and are but Collateral by Sisters Secondly That she is a Stranger and Alien born Thirdly That her Religion is contrary to the State Unto all which Objections the favourers aforesaid do make their Answers And to the first they say That Antiquity hurteth not the goodness of a Title when occasion is offered to advance the same especially â—n Titles belonging to Kingdoms which commonly are never presumed to die as hath been said and nullum tempus occurrit Regi saith our Law And as for Collateral Lines they say That they may lawfully be admitted to enter when the direct Lines do either fail or are excluded for other just respects as in our Case they hold that
States of that Crown before his two Sisters that be elder then he and so likewise say these men ought John of Somerset to have done before Philippa his eldest Sister if he had been alive at that time when King Henry the sixth was put down and died and consequently his posterity which are the descendents of King Henry the seventh ought to enjoy the same before the Princes of Portugal that are the descendents of Lady Philippa his Sister Thus say the issue of King Henry the seventh But to this the Princes of the House of Portugal do reply and say first That by this it is evident at least that the Dukedom of Lancaster whereof the Lady Blanch was the only Heir must needs appertain to them alone and this without all doubt or controversie for that they only remain of her Issue after extinguishing of the posterity of her elder Brother King Henry the fourth which was extinguished by the death of King Henry the sixth and of his only son Prince Edward and for this they make no question or controversie assuring themselves that all Law right and equity is on their side Secondly Touching the Succession and right to the Kingdom they say that John Earl of Somerset being born out of Wedlock and in Adultery for that his Father had an other Wife alive when he begot him and he continuing a Bastard so many years could not be made Legitimate afterward by Parliament to that effect of Succession to the Crown and to deprive Queen Philippa of Portugal and her Children born before the other Legitimation from their right and Succession without their consents for that John King of Portugal did Marry the said Lady Philippa with condition to enjoy all Prerogatives that at that day were due unto her and that at the time when John of Gaunt did Marry the said Lady Catherine Swinford and made her Children Legitimate by Act of Parliament which was in the year of Christ 1396. and 1397. the said Lady Philippa Queen of Portugal had now two Sons living named Don Alonso and Don Edwardo which were born in the years 1390. and 1391 that is six years before the Legitimation of John Earl of Somerset and his Brethren and thereby had jus acquisitum as the Law saith which right once acquired and gotten could not be taken away by any Posterior Act of Parliament afterward without consent of the parties Interessed for which they do alledge divers places of the Canon Law which for that they hold not in England I do not cite but one example they put to shew the inconvenience of the thing if it should be otherwise determined then they affirm which is that if King Henry the eighth that had a Bastard Son by the Lady Elizabeth Blunt whom he named Henry Fitz-roy and made him both Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset in the 18 th year of his Reign at what time the said King had a lawful Daughter alive named the Princess Mary by Queen Catherine of Spain if I say the King should have offered to make this Son Legitimate by Parliament with intent to have him succeeded after him in the Crown to the prejudice and open injury of the said lawful Daughter these Men do say that he could not have done it and if he should have done it by violence it would not have held and much less could John of Gaunt do the like being no King Nor was the Act of Parliament sufficient for this point it being a matter that depended especially say these men of the Spiritual Court and of the Canon Law which Law alloweth this Legitimation no further but only as a Dispensation and this so far forth only as it doth not prejudice the right of any other Neither helpeth it any thing in this matter the Marriage of John of Gaunt with Lady Catherine for to make better this Legitimation for that as hath been said their Children were not only naturales but Spurij that is to say begotten in plain Adultry and not in simple Fornication only for that the one party had a Wife alive and consequently the priveledge that the Law giveth to the Subsequent Marriage of the Parties for legitimating such Children as are born in simple Fornication that is to say between parties that were single and none of them married cannot take place here So as these men conclude that albeit this Legitimation of Parliament might serve them to other purposes yet not to deprive the Princes of Portugal of their Prerogative to succeed in their Mothers Right which she had when she was married to their Father And this they affirm to have been Law and Right at that time if the said Queen Philippa and Earl John had been alive together when Henry the sixth and his Son were put to death and that this Question had been then moved at the death of King Henry the sixth Whether of the two to wit either the said Queen Philippa or her younger Brother John Earl of Somerset by the Fathers side only should have succeeded in the Inheritance of King Henry the sixth In which case these men presume for certain that the said Queen Philippa legitimately born and not John made legitimate by Parliament should have succeeded for that by common course of â—aw the Children legitimated by favour albeit their legitimation were good and lawful as this of these Children is denied to be yet can they never be made equal and much less be preferred before the lawful and legitimate by Birth But now say these men the case standeth at this present somewhat otherwise and more for the advantage of Queen Philippa and her Off-spring For when King Henry the sixth and his Son were extinguished and Edward Duke of York thrust himself in to the Crown which was about the year of Christ 1471. the foresaid Princess and Prince Lady Philippa and Earl John were both dead as also their Children and only their Nephews were alive that is to say there lived in Portugal King Alfonsus the fifth of that name Son to King Edward which King Edward was Child to Queen Philippa and the death of King Henry the sixth of England happened in the 38 th year of the Reign of the said Alfonsus And in England lived at the same time Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond Mother of King Henry the seventh and Neece of the foresaid John Earl of Somerset to wit the Daughter of his Son John Duke of Somerset So as these two Competitors of the House of Lancaster that is to say King Alfonsus and Lady Margaret were in equal degree from John of Gaunt as also from King Henry the sixth saving that King Alfonsus was of the whole Bloud as hath been said and by Queen Philippa that was legitimate and the Countess of Richmond was but of the half bloud as by John Earl of Somerset that was a Bastard legitimated The Question then is Which of these two should have
succeeded by Right of the House of Lancaster immediately after King Henry the sixth And the Lady Margaret alledgeth That she was descended from John Earl of Somerset that was a man and therefore â—o be preferred And King Alfonsus alledged That he being in equal degree of nearness of Bloud with the same Countess for that both were Nephews was to be preferred before her for that he was a man and of the whole Bloud to the last Kings of the House of Lancaster and that she was a woman and but of the half Bloud so that three Prerogatives he pretended before her First That he was a man and she a woman Secondly That he descended of the lawful and elder Daughter and she of the younger Brother legitimated And thirdly That he was of whole Bloud and she but of half And for better fortifying of this proof of his Title these men do alledge a certain Case determined by the Learned of our days as they say wherein for the first of these three Causes only the Succession to a Crown was adjudged unto King Philip of Spain to wit the Succession to the Kingdom of Portugal which Case was in all respects correspondent to this of ours For that Emmanuel King of Portugal had three Children for sâ— much as appertaineth to this Affair for afterward I shall treat more particularly of his Issue that is to say two Sons and one Daughter in this order John Elizabeth and Edward even as John of Gaunt had Henry Lady Philippa and John Prince John of Portugal first Child of King Emmanuel had Issue another John and he had Sebastine in whom â—he Line â—f John the first Child was extinguished But Joâ—n's Sister Elizabeth was married to Charâ—â—s the Emperour and had Issue King Philip of Spain that now liveth Edward also younger Brother to Elizabeth or Isabel had Issue two Daughters the one married to the Duke of Parma and the other to the Duke of Bargansa so as King Philip was in equal degree with these Ladies in respect of King Emmanuel for that he was Son to his eldest Daughter and the two Dutchesses were Daughters to his younger Son And upon this rested the Question Which of these should succeed and â—â— was decided That it appertaineth unto King Philip for that he was a man and his Mother was the elder Sister though if King Philip's Mother and the two Dutchesses Father I mean Lord Edward of Portugal had been alive together no doubt but that he being a man should have born it away which these men say holdeth not in our Case but it is much more to our advantage for that it hath been shewed before that if Queen Philippa had been alive with John Earl of Somerset at the death of King Henry the sixth she should have been preferred as legitimate by Birth and therefore much more ought her Nephew King Alfonsus to have been preferred afterward in that he was a man before the Neece of the said John Earl of Somerset that was but a Woman Thus far they And besides all this they do add as often before I have mentioned that King Alfonsus was of the whole Bloud unto all the three King Henries of the House of Lancaster and the Countess of Richmond was but of the half bloud And for more strengthening of this Argument they do say further that besides that Interest or Right to the Crown which King Henry the fourth who was the first King of the House of Lancaster had by his Father John of Gaunt in that the said John was third Son of King Edward the third the said King Henry had divers other interests also which came of himself only and not from his said Father as were for example his being called into the Realm by general voice of all the people his right gotten by Arms upon the evil Government of the former King the personal resignation and delivery of the Kingdom by solemn instrument made unto him by King Richard his Election also by Parliament and Coronation by the Realm and finally the quiet Possession of him and his Posterity for almost sixty years with many Confirmations of the whole Realm by divers Acts of Parliament Oaths and and other Assurances as the World knoweth So many I mean and so authentical as could possibly be devised or given And besides all this that when King Richard was dead he was next in degree of Propinquity unto him of any man living for that the Sons of Roger Mortimer were two degrees further off than he as hath been shewed before All which particular Rights and Interests were peculiar to Henry the fourth's person and were not in his Father John of Gaunt and therefore cannot possibly descend from him to the Issue of John Earl of Somerset but must pass rather to the Issue of King Henry s true Sister the Queen Philippa of Portugal And this though it be supposed that otherwise it might be granted as they say it may not that John Earl of Somorset and his Successors might succeed to John of Gaunt before Lady Philippa which thing say these men if it should be granted yet cannot he succeed to King Henries the fourth fifth and sixth that descended of Blanch. And this is in effect all that I have heard disputed about this point what Line is true Heir to the House of Lancaster to wit whether that of John Earl of Somerset born of Katharine Swinford from whom descendeth King Henry the seventh and his Posterity or else that of Queen Philippa of Portugal born of Lady Blanch from whom are come the foresaid Princes of Portugal But now it remaineth to examine somewhat in this place also what and who are these Princes of the House of Portugal so often named before and what pretence of Succession they and every of them have or may have unto the Crown of England For better understanding whereof it shall be needful to explain somewhat more at large the foresaid Pedigree of King Emmanuel of Portugal who albeit by divers Wives he had many Children yet six only that he had by one Wife of whom there remaineth hitherto Issue are those which may appertain unto our purpose to speak of in respect of any pretence that may be made by them towards England supposing always which is most true that the said King Emmanuel was descended lineally as true and direct Heir from the foresaid Lady Philippa Queen of Portugal that was Daughter of John of Gaunt by his first Wife Lady Blanch Dutchess and Heir of the Dukedom of Lancaster and Sister to King Henry the fourth first King of the House of Lancaster so as by her doth or may pretend the whole Posterity of the said King Emmanuel unto whatsoever the said Phillippa might Inherit from her Father or Mother or from her said Brother King of England or his Posterity The six Children then of King Emmanuel were these following and each of them born as here they are set down first Prince
which was not a little for the advancement of King Philip's Title before them both as presently shall be shewâ—d It was replied against this answer in the behalf of the Duke of Parma that the last King Sebastian entred the Crown by way of Representation and not by propinquity of Blood for that he was a degree further off in propinquity of Blood from King John the III. whom he succeeded than was the Cardinal for that he was but his Nephew to wit his Sons Son and the Cardinal was his Brother and yet was the said Sebastian admitted before the Cardinal for that he represented the Place and Right of his Father Prince John that dyed before he inherited and so we see that in this case Representation was admitted said they and in like manner ought it to be now To this it was said that Sebastian was not so much preferred before his great Uncle the Cardinal by vertue of Representation as for that he was of the right Descendant line of King John and the Cardinal was but of the collateral or transversal Line and that all Law alloweth that the right Line shall first be served and preferred before the Collateral shall be admitted so that hereby Representation is nothing furthered This exclusion of Representation did greatly further and advance the pretence of King Philip for the excluding of both these Ladies and their Issues for that supposing as this answer avoucheth that there is no Representation of Father or Mother or Predecessors to be admitted but that every pretender is to be considered only in his own person then it followeth said these men which plead for the King that King Philip being in equal degree of propinquity of Blood with the two Ladies in respect as well of King Henry yet living for that they were all three children of Brother and Sister it followeth that he was to be preferred before them both as well in respect that he was Man and they both Women as also for that he was elder in age and born before them both And albeit the Duke of Parma alledged that he was one degree further off from the foresaid Kings than was King Philip so as not respecting Representation of their Parents that is to say not considering at all that King Philip descended of a Woman and the two Dutchesses of a man but only especting their own persons as hath been declared these mâ—n avouched that King Philip's person was evidently to be preferred for that he was a degree nearer in Blood than the Duke of Parma and superior in sâ—x and age to the Lady Catharine of Bragansa Moreover the Lawyers of King Philip's side affirmed that he was nearer also in propinqâ—ity of blood to King Sebastian the last King than was the very King Cardinal himself and much more than any of the other two pretenders for that he was Brother to the said King Sebastian's Mother and the Cardinal was but Brother to his Grandfather And besides this they alledged that Portugal did belong to the Crown of Castil by divers other means of old as for that it could not be given away by Kings of Castil in Marriage of their Daughters as the principal parts thereof had been as also for that when King John the I that was a Bastard was made King of Portugal by Election of the People the Inheritance thereof did evidently appertain to King John of Castile that had to Wife the Lady Beatrix Daughter and Heir of Ferdinand King of Portugal from which Inheritance of that Crown by open injury both she and her Posterity whose Right is in King Philip at this day were debarred by the intrusion of the said John Master of Avis bastard brother of the foresaid King Ferdinand Thesâ— Reasons alledged divers Lawyers in the behalf of King Philip and those not only Spaniards but also of divers other Countries and Nations as my authors before-named do avow and many books wâ—â—â— written of this matter and when the contention was at the hotest then died the King Cardinal before he could decide the same controversy upon which occasion the King of Spain being perswaded that his Right was best and that he being a Monarch and under no temporal Judge was not bound to expect any other judgment in this Affair nor to subject himself to any other Tribunal but that he might by Force put himself in possession of that which he took to be his own if otherwise he could not have it delivered unto him for so write these Authors by me named seeing also Don Antonio to pretend the said Kingdom by only Favour of some popular party that he had in Lisbon the said King Philip entred upon Portugal by Force of Arms as all the World knoweth and holdeth the same peaceably unto the day And I have been the longer in setting down this contention about the Succession to the Crown of Portugal for that it includeth also the very same pretence and contention for the Crown of England For that all these Princes before-named may in like manner pretend the Succession of that Interest to the House of Lancaster and by that to the Crown of England which doth descend from Queen Philippa eldest Daughter of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and Sister of King Henry the IV. as hath largely been declared And albeit that some men will sâ—y that this matter is now decided which of these Princes of the House of Portugal entreth also thereby to the other Right of Succession of England yet others will say no for that the Laws of Succession in Portugal and England be different For that in England Representation taketh places so as the children of the Son â—hough they be Women shall never be preferred before the Children of the Daughter though they be Men whereof these men do infer that seeing the Lady Philips Right before-mentioned to the Dukedom of Lancaster and thereby also to the Crown of England is to be preferred according to the Laws of England and not by the Laws of other Foreign Countries it followeth that the self same Right of Succession that is pretended at this day by the Princes of Portugal for succeeding the said Lady Philippa should be determined only by the Laws of England where Representation taketh place and not by the Laws of any other Nation Thus say they But against this others do alledge that the question is not here by what Law this pretence of the Blood Royal of Portugal to the Crown of England is to be tried but rather who is the true and next Heir and Successor unto King John the I. and to his Wife Queen Lady Philippa Heir of the House of Lancaster which two Princes were King and Queen of Portugal and their true Heir at this day hath the forenamed pretence to the Crown of England true and next Hâ—â—r being once known it little importeth by what Lâ—w he pretendeth his said Right to England whether by that of England or by
made reply by their President and Chancellor and other of their own Councellors residing for the Flemish Nation in the Court of Spain for this Nation hath always a particular Councel there about the King as all other Foreign Nations also have that are under him and by this means they obtained lightly what they would and brought the Governour to what they pleased so as in effect they were absolute Kings in themselves and wrought their Wills in every thing and this is in that time while the Country was quiet But now since this Revolt which hath indured almost these four or five and twenty years what hath succeeded surely there hath not a quarter so many been punished or put to Death in all these years by order of Justice of their King absent as before I have shewed that there were in one day by ther own Earls and Dukes when they were present and that upon far less occasion and cause given then are these for if we take away the two Noblemen Egmond and Horne put to Death at the beginning of these Flemâ—sh Troubles by the Duke of Alva for which some men say also that he had no thanks afterward by the King no man of importance hath been since Executed and the chiefest Towns that have been and are against the King in Holland and Zeeland are suffered until this day to Traffique freely into Spain it self to wit in the Kingdom of Aragon many Heads have been strucken off and much injustice done whereof then riseth this difference no doubt for that the Flemmings are Strangers and far off and the other near at Home and Natural-Born so as this circumstance of being a Stranger and dwelling far off doth them great pleasure and giveth them priviledge above the Home-born Subjects The like I might shew for this matter of punishment in the foresaid States of Italy where if a man do compare the number of them that were put to Death pulled Down or Afflicted by order of Justice or otherwise at the the commandment of the Prince in time of their own Home-born Kings with that which hath been since especially of the Nobility you shall find one for twenty and the reason of this is for that their own Kings were Absolute and had to give an account to no man of their doings and for that they were men and had their Passions and Emulations with the Nobility and might put the same in Execution without Account or Controlment they pulled down and set up at their pleasure and made oftentimes but a Jest of Noblemens Lives and Deaths but now these that are Governours and Vice-roys for a Foreign Prince first they have not so great Authority or Commission as to touch any such Principal persons Lives without giving Relation thereof of first unto their King and Councel and receive again particular order for the same and then they knowing that after their three years Government is ended they must be private men again and stay their fourty days as Subjects under the next new Governour to give Reckoning of their doings against all that shall Accuse them which in these Countries they call to make their residence they take heed what they do and whom they offend so as the condition of Nobility is far different under such a strange Government as this is termed then under a Natural Prince of their own Country which oppresseth them at his pleasure But now to draw near homeward if we will examine and consider what hath passed in England in this point of Massacring our Nobility by our Domestical Princes it is a matter lamentable for it may seem that they have served oftentimes for our Princes to make disport and play with their Heads And to let pass all those which in time of Wars Rebellions and Commotions have been cut off which occasions may seem more justifyable I do read also in our Chronicles that a Sangue freddo as the Italian saith that is to say in time of Peace and by Execution of Justice at the Princes appointment these Noblemen following and Knights by Name were put to Death within the space of one five years in King Henry the fourth his days The Duke of Exeter the Duke of Surry the Archbishop of York the Earls Salisbury of Glocester of Worcester and of Huntington the Earl Mowbray Earl Marshal the Barron of Kinderton Sir Roger Clarington Bastard Son of Edward the Black Prince Sir Thomas Blunt Sir Bernard Rocas Sir Richard Vernon And again soon after under King Edward the fourth in almost within as little space the Dukes of Somorset and of Exeter the Earls of Devonshire of Oxford and of Keyns the Lord Ross the Lord Molyns Sir Thomas Tudingham Sir Philip Wentworth Sir Thomas Fyndam and many others afterwards for this was but at the beginning of his Reign which number of Nobility if a man should have seen them alive together with their Trains before they had been put down he would have said they had been a very goodly company and pityful that so many of our own Nobility should be brought by our own Princes to such Confusion But yet this matter may seem perhaps the less marvellous and more excusable under those two Kings for that Troubles and Contentions had passed a little before in the Realm about the Succession and herupon so many of the Nobility might be cut off But let us see then what ensued afterwards when things were established and all doubt of contention about the Succession taken away as in King Henry VIII the his days it was and yet do I find Registred in our Chronicles these persons following either made away cut off or put down by the said King to wit two Queens Ann and Catharine three Cardinals put down and disgraced Woolsey Pool and Fisher whereof the last was Beheaded soon after his Dignity given him in Rome and the first was Arrested the second Attainted of imagined Treasons three Dukes put down to wit the Noble Dukes of Buckingham Suffolk and Norfolk whereof the last lost his Lands Dignities and Liberty only the former two both Lands and Lives A Marquess with two Earls Beheaded Devonshire Kyldare and Surrey two Countesses Condemned to die Devonshire and Salisbury and the latter Executed Lords many as the Lord Darcy the Lord Hussey the Lord Montague the Lord Leonard Gray the Lord Dacers of the South the Lord Cromwel and six or seven Abbots Knights also in great number as five in one day with the Lords Hussey and Darcy and five in another day with the Earl of Kildare whose Uncles they were and besides them Sir Thomas Moor Sir Rice Griffith Sir Edward Nevel Sir John Nevel Sir Nicholas Carew Sir Adrian Fortescue and divers other Knights of great Account and then Gentlemen almost without end And all these within the space of 20 years of his Reign and in the time of peace and if we look upon but four or five years together of the Reign of this mans
of all the Roman Emperours and in the Life of one of them that was an excellent Governour named Antonius Pius the said Knight hath this discourse ensuing There was in this mans Governments said he great Contentment and Joy on all hands great Peace and Quietness and very great Justice and truely it is a thing worthy in this place to be considered what was the humane Power and how infinite the Forces of the Roman Empire at this day and how great was the Liberty Quietness Security Wealth and Contentment of the Subjects that lived under that Government when good Princes had the managing thereof as was this Antoninus and his Son Aurelius that followed him and as were Adrian Trajan and divers others What a thing was it to see their Courts frequented freely by all the Noble Valiant and Learned men of the World to see the union and friendly dealing of diffierent Nations together when all served one Prince so as a man might have gone over the whole World or most and best parts thereof with all security and without all fear all Nations and Countries being their Friends Neighbours or Subjects neither was there need at that time of any Pasports or safe Conducts nor of so often change of Coyn to travel as now there is neither yet were there new Laws every foot as now be found in different Countries neither was there danger of Enemies or to be taken prisoners and captives nor could any malefactor do a mischief in one Countrey and flee into another thereby to be free from punishment and he that was born in the very Orcades or furthest part of Europe was at home though he were in Africa or Asia and as free a Denizen as if he had been born there Merchants also might pass at that day from Countrey to Countrey with their Merchandise without particular Licences or fear of Forfeits and finally the temporal state of a Subject was wonderful happy at that time Thus far discourseth that learned Knight and no doubt but that his discourse and consideration is founded on great Reason and he that will leave at this day the many commodities of being under a Great and Potent Prince if it lie in his own hands to chuse for this only circumstance that he is not born in the same Countrey with him is a man of small judgment and capacity in these mens opinion and measureth matters of publick utility with a false weight of fond affection And thus much may be said of the first way of being under Strangers and Foreign Government which is that which vulgar men do most abhor and inveigh against to wit to be under a foreign Prince that liveth absent and ruleth by his Governours But besides this there is another manner of being under a Foreign Prince as when an Alien Prince cometh to dwell among us and this by either of two ways to wit that either this Prince cometh without Forces as did King Stephen and King Henry the II. that were French-men as hath been said and came to live and govern in England but without external Forces and as King Philip of Spain came afterwards when by Marriage of Queen Mary he became King of England and as the last King Henry the III of France went into Polonia by the free Election and Invitation of that Nation and as his Brother Monsieur Francis Duke of Alenson should have entred afterward to have been King of England if the Marriage pretended between her Majesty and him had gone forward and taken effect as many thought once that it should This I say is one way and another is that this Prince do bring Forces with him for his own assurance and these either present as the Danish Kings Sweno Canutus Haraldus and Hardicanutus did and as after them the Norman Princes also used I mean not only William the Conquerour himself but also his two Sons William Rufus and Henry the I who either by help of the Normans already in England or by others brought in by them afterwards wrought their will or else that this Prince so entring have Foreign Forces so at hand as he may call and use them when he will for that they have no Sea to pass which is the case of the King of Scots and of both these wayes these men do give their sentence distinctly For as concerning the former way when a Foreign Prince entreth without any Forces at all and with intention to live among us they hold that there is no danger nor yet any inconvenience can justly be feared for that in this case he subjecteth himself rather to the Realm and Nation than they to him and if he live and marry in England both himself and his Children will become English in a little space And for his own assurance he must be inforced to favour and cherish and make much of the English Nation and be liberal gentle and friendly to all for gaining their good wills and friendship And in one very great and important point his condition is different and better for the English than any English Kings can be which is that he entreth with indifferent mind towards all men hath no kindred or alliance within the Land to whom he is bound nor enemy against whom he may be inticed to use cruelty so as only merit or demerit of each man must move him to favour or disfavour which is a great Foundation say these men of good and equal Government Again they say that in respect of the State present of England and as now it standeth and for the publick good not only of the common Subjects but also of the Nobility and especially and above others of the English Competitors and Pretenders that cannot all speed no way were so commodious as this to avoid bloodshed to wit that some external Prince of this time should be admitted upon such Compositions and Agreements as both the Realm should remain with her ancient Liberties and perhaps much more than now it enjoyeth for such Princes commonly and upon such occasions of Preferment would yield to much more in those Cases than a home-born Prince would and the other Pretenders at home also should remain with more security than they can well hope to do under any English Competitor if he come to the Crown who shall be continually egged on by his own kindred and by the aversion emulation and hatred that he has taken already by contention against the other opposite Houses to pull them down and to make them away and so we have seen it by continual Examples for many years though no occasion say these men hath ever been offered to suspect the same so much as now if any one of the home English Bloud be preferred before the rest and this is so much as they say to this second kind of being under Foreign Princes To the third they confess that it standeth subject to much danger and inconvenience to admit a foreign Prince
to live among us with Forces either present or so near as that without resistance he may call them when he listeth and of this he needeth no more proof say these men than the Examples before alledged of the Danes and Normans and the Misery and Calamity which for many years the English passed under them and furthermore the reason hereof is evident say these men for first in this third kind of admitting a stranger King we are deprived by his dwelling amongst us of those Utilities before mentioned which Ireland Flanders Britany Naples and other States enjoy by living far off from their Princes which Commodities are much more Liberty and Freedom less Payments less Punishments more Employments of the Nobility and others in Government and the like And secondly by his coming Armed unto us we cannot expect those Commodities which before I touched in the second kind of Foreign Government but rather all the Incommodities and Inconveniences that are to be found either in domestical or foreign Governments all I say do fall upon this third manner of admitting a Stranger as easily shall be seen For first of all the greatest Incommodities that can be feared of a domestical Prince are pride cruelty partiality pursuing of Factions and particular hatred extraordinary advancing of his own kindred pressing pinching and over-rigorous punishing of his People without fear for that he is ever sure of his party to stand with him within the Realm and so hath the less respect to others and for that all these inconveniences and other such like do grow for the most part by the Princes continual presence among his Subjects they are incident also to this other though he be a stranger for that he is also to be present and to live among us and so much the more easily he may fall into them than a domestick Prince for that he shall have both external counsil of a People that hateth us to prick him forward in the same which two motives every domestical Prince hath not Again they say that the worst and greatest Incommodities of a foreign Government that may be feared are tyranny and bringing into servitude the People over whom they govern and filling of the Realm with Strangers and dividing to them the Dignities Riches and Preferments of the same all which they say are incident also by all probability to this third-kind of foreign Government where the Prince Stranger liveth present and hath Forces at hand to work his will and this is the case say they of the King of Scots who only of any foreign Pretender seemeth may justly be feared for these and other reasons alledged before when we talked of his pretence to the Crown To conclude then these men are of opinion that of all these three manners of being under Strangers or admitting foreign Government this third kind peculiar as it were to the King of Scots Case is to be only feared and none else for as for the second they say that it is not only not to be feared or abhorred but rather much to be desired for that of all other sorts it hath the least inconveniences and most Commoditiâ—s for which causes we read and see that where Kings go by Election commonly they take Strangers as the Romans and Lacedomonians did often at the beginning and after the beginning of the Roman Monarchy their foreign born Emperours were the best and most famous of all the rest as Trajan and Adrian that were Spaniards Septimius Severus born in Africa â—onstantine the Great Natural of England and the like and the very worst that ever they had as Caligula Nero Heliogabolus Commodus and such other like Plagues of the Weal publick were Romans and in our days and within a few years we have seen that the Polonians have chosen three Kings Strangers one after another the First Stephen Battorius Prince of Transilvania the Second Henry of France and last of all the Prince of Swecia that yet liveth and the State of Venetians by way of good Policy have made it for a perpetual Law that when they have War to make and must needs chuse a General Captain and commit their Forces into his Hands he must be a stranger to wit some Prince of Italy that is out of their own States hereby to avoid partiality and to have him the more indifferent and equal to them all which yet so many prudent men would never agree upon if there were not great reason of Commodities therein so as this point is concluded that such as speak against this second kind of having a foreign Prince speak of passion or inconsideration or lack of experience in matters of State and Commonwealths As for the first manner of being under foreign Government as a Member or Province of another bigger Kingdom and to be governed by a Deputy Viceroy or strange Governour as Ireland Flandâ—rs Naples and other States before-mentioned be with certain and stable Conditions of Liberties and Immunities and by a form of Government agreed upon on both sides these men do most confess also that there may be Arguments Reasons and Probabilities alledged on both sides and for both parties but yet that all things considered and the inconveniences hurts and dangers before rehearsed that Subjects do suffer also oftentimes at the hands of their own natural Prince these men are of opinion for the causes already declared that the Profits are more and far greater than the damages or dangers of this kind of foreign Government are and so they do answer to all the Reasons and Arguments alledged in the beginning of this Chapter against foreign Government that either they are to be understood and verified only of the third kind of foreign Government before-declared which these men do confess to be dangerous or else they are founded for the most part in the errour and prejudice only of the vulgar sort of men who being once stirred up by the name of Stranger do consider no further what reason or not reason there is in the matter and this say these men ought to move these men little for as the common people did rise in tumult against the French for example in Sicilia and against the Danes in England so upon other occasions would they do also against their own Countreymen and oftentimes have so done both in England and other where when they have been offended or when seditious Heads have offered themselves to lead them to like Tumults so that of this they say little argument can be made The like in effect they do answer to the Examples before alledged of the Grecian Philosophers and Orators that were so earnest against Strangers And First to Aristotle they say that in his Politicks he never handled expressly this our Question and consequently weighed not the Reasons on both sides and so left it neither decided nor impugned and he that was Master to Alexander that had so many foreign Countries under him could not well condemn the
Lancaster Joan eldest Daughter married to L. Mowbray Mary second Daughter married to Hen. L. Percy Hen. 2d Son Earl of Lancaster Darby and Lâ—icester H. II. 1st D. of Lancaster made by Edward III. J. of Ga. 3d. Son of Ed. D. of Lanâ— by his 1st Wife Blanch Heir of Lancaster first Wife to Jo. of Gaunt 13. Hen. IV. first King of the House of Lanc. 1406. 14. Henry V. King of England 1414. 15. Hen. VI. deposed by the House of York Edw. Prince of Wâ—les slain by the house of York Eleanor 3â— Daughter married to â— E. of Arunâ—el The 1st Son Earl of Lancaster died without issue John the 3d. Son Earl of Darby Edmond Crockbâ—â—k 2d Son Earl of Lancaster 8. Henry III. succeeded his Father John 1316. 9. Edward I. Son of Henry III. reigned 1272. 10. Edward II. afterward deposed 11. Edw. III fâ—om whom bâ—gan the â—â—uses of Lan â— York 1326. Edw. Prince of Wales 1st Son died before his Fath. 12. Richard II. deposed by H. D. of Lanc. 1460. The House of Britany by the Second â—â—ay Beatrix married to John II. Duke of Britany Arth. II. D. of Brit. whose title ends in the Inf. of Sp. John II. that married Beatrix John the first of that name D. of Britany The House of Devonshire H. D. of Exeter had no issue and left all to 's sister Ann married to Siâ— T. Nevil Father of R. J. E. of West John Holland D. of Exeter Son of Elizabeth Elizabeth 2d Daughter married to J. H. D. of Exet. The House of PORTUGAL Philippa eldest daughter married to John I. K. of Port. Edward I. K. of Port. Son of Queen Philippa Alfonsus V. eldest Son King of Portugal John II. King of Portugal Ferdinand â—d Son D. of Viseo in Portugal Emmanuel King of Portugal Son of D. Ferdinand Henry 3d. Son Cardinal and K. of Portugal John III. eldest Son K. of Portugal John Prince of Portugal died before his Father Sebastian K. of Portugal slain in Barbary Lewis 2d Son never married Anthony Illegitimate Son of Lewis Isabel eldest Daughter of K. Em. born next K. John The Line of Castile Const. Heir of K of Castile 2d Wife of Jo. of Gaunt Catherine married to K. Henry III. of Castile John I. King of Castile Son of Catherine Isab. married to Ferd. K. of Aragâ—n sirnam'd Cathaâ— Joan marrito Philip I. Arch-Duke of Austria Chacees V. Emperour and King of Spain Philip II. King of Spain Isabel 〈◊〉 ta of Spain eldest Daughter Philip III. prince of Spain Cathar 2d Daughter married the D. of Savâ—y Edward Infanta of Portugal younger Son Katharine 2 daughter married to John D. of Bragansa Theodosius Duke of Bragansa Edward Alexander Philip Brothers of Theâ—dosius Mary eldest Daughter married Al. D. of Parma Ranutius the first Son D. of Parma Edward 2d Son Cardinal The House of Clarence Lionel 2d son D. of Clarence died before his Father Philipa married to Edm. Mortimer E. of March Roger Mort. 4th E. of March died in Ireland Ed. Mortim. E. of March slain in Irel. without Issu Mortim. younger son died without Issue The House of Buckingham Edm. of Langly D. of York 4th Son of K. Edward Edw. eldest Son D. of York had no Issue Th. of Woodst D. of Glo. 5th son of E. III. slain by his Neph Rich. Ann mar to â— L. Staf. whereby they become Duke of Bucks The House of YORK Richard â—d Son D. of York husband of Ann Ann Mort. mar the D. of York by which they claim R. Plantagâ—net D. of York 1 st pretendâ—r of that house 18. Rich. III. 2d Son of Rich. D. of York 1483. Edw. Prince of Wales died without Issue George Duke of Clarence 2d Son of Richard Edward Earl of Warwick put to death by H. VII Margaret Countess of Salisbury married of Rich. Pâ—ol Reginald Pool died Cardinal so England Hon. I. Mâ—â—tague â—â—t Son put to death by Henry VIII Winifred 2d daughter maried to S. T. Barington Catharine married to S. F. Hâ—stings E. of Hunting H. Hastings â—arl of Hantington and his Brethren Geffry Pool Knight Geffry Pool Arthur and Geffry Pool Sons of Geffry 18. Edw. IV. first K. of the House of York 1460. 17. Edw. V. put to death hy his Unkle Richard The Line of Somerset and of K. H. 7. The Uniting of York and Lancaster Catharine Swinford 3â— Wife to John of Gaunt John Earl of Somerset John Duke of Somerset Margaret married to Edm. Tuder â— of â—ichm 19. Henry VII King of England 1485. 20. Henry VIII King of England 1507. 21. Edw. VI. Son of Henry VIII 1546. 22. Mary eldest Daughter Queen of England 23. Elizab. â—d daughter of K. Henry 1558. Eliz. eldest Daughter of Ed. IV. married to H. VII Mary 2d daughter married Cha. Br. D. of Suf. Franc. eldest Daughter married Hen. Gr. D. of Suf. Cathar Gray had by the E. of Harts two sons Edward Seymour called Lord Bâ—aâ—ham Hen. Seymor ad Son begoten in the Tower Eleanor 2d Daughter married H. E. of Camb. Margaret married to H. Earl of Darby Ferdinand L. Strange and his Brother Jama IV. K. of Scots first husband of Margaret Margar. eldest daughter married twico Arch. Doug. E. of Angus 2d Husband of Margaret James V. King of Scotland Margaret married to Matthew E. of Lanox Mary Queen of Scotland put to death in England Henry Lord Darly Husband of Mary Charles 2d Son married to Eliz. Candish James VI. King of Scotland The Lady Arabella Polyd. in vita â— VIII Occasions of meeting The matter of Succession discussed Mr. Promely Mr. Wentworth Two Lawyers Many pretenders to the Crown of England Sucession doubtful and why Three or four principal heads of pretendors 1. Lancaster 2 York 3. The two houses joyned Circumstances of the time present The Romman Conclave Succession includeth also some kind of election Of this more afterwards Cap. 4 5. Nearness only in bloud not sufficient M◠〈…〉 in 〈◊〉 pretenders Two principal points handled in this book Two parts of this conference Bellay apollog pro reg cap. 20. Not only Succession sufficient That no particular form of Government is of Nature To live in Company is Natural to man and the ground of all Common-Wealths Plato de repub Cicero de repub Aristotle polit Divers Praeses 1. Inclination universal Pompon Mela. lib. 3. cap. 3 4. Tacit. l. 8. 2. Speech Aristot. l. 1.1 pol. c. 1.2.3.4 3. Imbecility of man Theoph. lib. de Plaut Plutarch conde fortuna lib. de pietatem in parent Note this saying of Aristotle 4. The use of Justice and Friendship Cicero lib. de amicitia The use of charity and helping one an other August lib. de amicitia Gen. 2. v. 18. That Government and Jurisdiction of Magistrates is also of Nature 1. Necessity Job 10. v. 22. 2. Consent of Nations Cicero li. 1. de natura Deorum 3. The Civil Law Lib. 1. digest tit 2. Scripture Prov. 8. Rom. 13. Particular form of Government is free Arist. li. 2.
Queen of Spain Garib l. 13. cap. 10. An. 12â—7 An English Queen Grand-mother to two King Saints at once Another breach of Succession The Cord is put back from the Crown 1276. Garabay l. 15. c. 1. an 1363. Many alterations of Lineal descent Don John the first bastard King of Portugal Garib l. 15. c. 22 l. 34. c. 39. Of the State of France An 419. An. 751. An. 988. Examples of the two Ranks of French Kings King Pepin by Election An. 751. King 〈…〉 〈…〉 â—â—â—â—lan 〈◊〉 an â—8 Eginard Belfor li. 2 cap. 5. The Uncle preferred before the Nephew Paul Mili hist. Franc. King Luys de bonnaire An. 814. Gerard. l. 5. An. 834 An. 840. An. 878. Baudin en la Chronique pag. 119. Gerard l. 1 An. 879. Two Bastards preferred An. 881. Luys Faineant King of Foance An. 886. Charles 4. le Gros King of France Gerard. li. 5. An. 888 Odo a King and after Duke of whom came Hugo Capetus Ralph I. King of France An. 927. An. 929. Luys IV. d' Outremer The true Heir of France excluded Hugh Capet otherwise Snatchcape 988. Belfor li. 3. cap. 1. An. 988. Defence of Hugh Kapetus Title The Embassage of the States of France unto Charles of Loraine Gerard l. 6. an 988. Note this comparison Example out of the third time of France Gerard. li. 6. an 1032. King Henry preferred before his elder Brother William Conquerour how he came to be Duke of Normandy Gerard l. 6. anno 1032. 1037. Sons excluded for the Fathers offences Gerard l. 7. ann 1110 Belfor l. 4. c. 1. l. 5. Commaeus in commentar l 1. in vita Ludovic 11. Examples of the Realm of England Divers Races of English Kings The name of England and English King Egbert the first Monarch of England Polidor hist. Aug. li 4. in fine An. 802. King Pepin of France King Adelwolfe An. 829. King Alfred 872. King Edward Elder An. 900 King Aleston the Bastard preferred An 〈◊〉 〈…〉 hist. Angl. Stow pag. 130. An. 924. King Edmond I. An. 940. The 〈◊〉 preferred before the Nephews 946. Polid. l. 6. Stâ—w in 〈…〉 〈…〉 King Edward martyrized King Etheldred 978. Polid. l. 7. hist. Aug. King Edmond Ironside Queen Emma Mother to King Edward the Confessor Many breaches of Lineal Succession Sons of King Edmond Ironside King Canutus the First 1018 King Harald the Bastard 1038. Polyd. l 8. hist. Angl. King Hardiâ—anutus Anno 1041. Alfred the younger Brother preferred King Edward the Confessor made King against Right of Succession Prince Edward the Outlaw and his Children put back Polyd. l. 8. Harald second King by Election 1066. Polid. ubi sâ—p 〈…〉 of England An. 1066. by Election Gerard. li. 6. An. 1065 Chron. 〈◊〉 l. 3. cap. â—4 Antoninus part 2. Chron. tit 16. cap. 5. §. 1. Examples after the conquest Polyd. in vita Gul. Conq. William Rufus King An. 1087. Henry I. An. 1100. Mathild the Empress King Stephen entred against Succession An Act of Parliament about Succession 1153. King Richard and King John 1190. Prince Arthur put back Two Sisters of Prince Arthur Duke of Britain King John and his Son rejected 1216. The Titles of York and Lancaster The conclusion of this Chapter Causes of Excluding Princes Who must be Judge of the lawful cause of Exclusion Open injustice to be resisted What are the chief points to be regarded in â— Princes admission Whence the Reasons of admitting or rejecting a Prince are to be taken Gerard. li. 3. de l' Estat pag. 242. Three principal Points to be considered Why â—e resolveth to treat of Religion principally The chief end of a common-wealth supernatural Philosophers and Law-makers what end they had of their Doings The commonwealth of Beasts The natural end of Mans commonwealth Sacrifices and Oblations by Nature Gen. 8. Job 1. The chief end of a common-wealth and Magistrates is Religion Genebrard l. 1. Chronol de l. aetate Genes 25. 29. Deut. 21. 2 Parali 21. Regard of Religion among Gentiles Cicero li. 1 quaest Tus. de natuâ—a Deorum lib. 1. Plâ—tâ—rch adverses 〈◊〉 Aristo l. 7. Polâ—ti c. 8. The aâ—sâ—rd 〈…〉 Politicks See before the Oaths made by Princes at their Coronations in the IV. Chapter The Oath to Governours for defence of Religion Collat. 2. Novella constit Justin. 8. tit 3. Note the form of this Oath written An. Dom. 560. How great a defect is want of Religion in a Magistrate Lack of Religion the chiefest cause to exclude a Pretender Vide Digest li. 2â— tit 1. leg 8. 10. Matth. 1â— Marc. 10. 1 Cor. 7. Lib. 4. deceret Greg. tit 19. c. 7. Whether difference in Religion be infidelity Act. 23. 1 Cor. 8. 2 Cor. 5. 1 Pet. 3. Matth. 18 How he that doth against his own conscience Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 14. 10. See upon this place of S. Paul S. Chrysost. hom 36. in hanc epistolam Orig. l. 10. Theodor. in hunc locum How dangerous to favour a Pretender of a contrary reli Against Wisdom and Policy to prefer a Prince of a contrary Religion The conclusion of the whole Speech A protestation of the Lawyer Why they will not determin of any one Title The Book of Hales and Sir Nicholas Bacon The but of â—â—lâ—s his â—â—â—k 〈◊〉 Râ—â—son 〈…〉 The Book of M. Morgan and Judge Brown Answer to the I. Reason To the II. Reason Highinton's book George Lilly in fine Epit. chronic Anglic Sundry important Points Divers other Nots and Pamphlets Sir Richard Shelly Francis Peto A Treatise in the behalf of 〈◊〉 Infanta of Spain Discent of William the Conqueror The Children of the Conqueror Polid. l. 9. in fine Stow in vita Guliel The miseries of Duke Robert and his Son Stow in vit Gul. Conquest William Son of Duke Robert Belfor l 3. cap. 42. An. 1128. King William Rufus Tareagnotta l. 2. del Hist. del mondo K. Henry Polydor. in vita Henrici 1. The House of Britain by the elder Daughter of the Conqueror Belfor l. 3. Pag. 423. Conan Duke of Britain Poysoned by William the Conqueror Belâ—or l. 3. Cap. 12. Aâ— 1095. ex chronic dionis The Daugh of Spain â—re of the â—loud Royal of England The Houses of Bloys Why Stephen was admitted King of England Girard l. 6. Belfor l. 3. The Issue of K. Stephen K. Henry the II. Belfor l. 3. cap. 50. An. 1151. Geraâ—d l. 8 pag 549 King Henry II. his Issue Stow in vita Hen. King Richard Duke Geffrey Paradyn apud Belforest Belfor l. 3. cap. 71. An. 1203. Belfor l. 4. cap. 4. King John and his Issue Miseries that fell upon King John Poâ—i l. Hollâ—â—g 〈◊〉 Stow â—n vita Johannis The issue of King Henry II his Daâ—â—â—ters 〈◊〉 l. 3. c. â—9 〈◊〉 115â— The Issue of Lady Eleanor Queen of Spain Polyd. l. 15. in vit Johan Steph. Garib l. 12. cap. 31. Queen Berenguela Garibay l. 12. c. 52. Pretences of the Infanta of Spain to English French States K. Henry â—he 3. and his
not of the House of Lancaster The King of Scots forrain born The controversie about forrain birth How strangers may inherit Reasons why the statute toucheth not one case The Crown not holden by allegiance 5. Reason King Henrys Testament against the King of Scots Answers to the King's Testament The King of Scots excluded by the statute of association Joyning of England and Scotland together Polyd. lib 17. in vit Edw. l. Inconveniences of bringing Strangers into England A Consideration of Importance Polyd. Hist Ang. l. 8. 9. Example of Spain Garibay l. 29. c. 42. An. Dom. 1207. Example out of Portugal Garibay l. 34. c. 38. An. Dom. 1383. Sâ—ow pa. 4. 54 59 90 76. Of â—he 〈◊〉 of Scotland Of the title of Lady Arabella An English Woman Against Arabella Not of the House of Lancaster The Testament of King Henry The countess of Darby nearer by a degree Illegitimâ—tion by â—â—sâ—ardy The Testimony of the L. William Howard Other reasons of 〈◊〉 against Arabâ—l◠〈…〉 Polyd. l. 12. Garibay l. 12. c. 42. â— The Issue of Charles Brandon Issue of Lady Frances Stow an 7. Edon 6. The Issue of the Lady Katharine The Issue of Lady Eleanor Allegations of the Houses of Darby and Hartford the one against the other Charles Brandon had a Wife alive First Bastardy against the Issue of Hartford Stow in vit Edward An. 1553. 2 Bastardy 3 Bastardy The fourth Bastardy common to both Families of Suffolk The Answer of tâ—ose of Hartford to the foresaid Bastardies Of the marriage between the Earl of Hartford and the Lady Katharine Gray How the second Son of the Earl of Hartford may be legitimate Allegations of the House of Darby Why the Earl of Huntingtonâ—â— House is 〈◊〉 to be of the House of Clarenâ—e Issue of tâ—â— House of Clâ—rence Issue of â—iâ— Geffrey Poole The interest and pretence of the Earl of Huntington Objections against the Earl â—f Huntingtâ—n Restitution may be in blâ—â—d without restitution of dignity The Pretence of the Pooles against Huntington Objections of Religion The House of Britany The course of Inheritance in the Crown of France First pretence of the Infanta to England Polyd. in vit Guil. Ruâ—â— Second pretence of the Infanta of Spain Pretence to Aquitain Polyd in vit Johan Garib in vit Alfons Pretences to England by Lady Blanch. Stow in vit Johannis Garib l. 12 c. 38. Pretence by Arthur Duke of Britany Belfor l 3. c. 71. Hist. Fran. Election of Lewis VIII to be King of England Poâ—yd l. 5. Hist. Angl. Hollings Stow in vit Johannis Belfor l. 2. c. 67. Girrard l. 5. Histor. Baudin an 891. chron France Pretence by Descent from Henry III. Admission by Composition Objections against the Infanta's pretence The Princes of Portugal are of the House of Lancaster The Issue of Lady Philippa Qu. of Portugal Issue of â—â—hn of Gaunt 〈…〉 â—ee the Arâ—â—◠〈◊〉 â—he 〈…〉 Book The point of difficulty Issue of Catharine Swinford The principal question Answer Dutchy of Lancaster The Crown An example of Edward the sixth and of the Prince of Spain 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 of Portugal The Dukedom of Lancaster The Legitiâ—â—â—ion â—f Câ—thâ—rin Swinfâ—rds Chilâ—â—â—â— noâ— lawfâ—l Stow in vit Riâ—har 2. Garibay hâ—st Portugal l. 35. cap. 4. Note this example â—tow in vit Henrici 2. John of Gauntes Marriage with Catherine Swinford helpeth not the Lâ—gitimaâ—ion The Question between Lady Philippa and John of Somerset The Question between the Nephews 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 Portugal The proper Interest of King Henry the 4th cannot descend to King Henry the 7th Who are the Princes of Portugal and how they pretend â—o England The Issue of King Emmanuel of Portugal Issue of K. John the 3. of Portugal K. Lewis Father of Don Antonio K. Henry Cardinal The pretence of the Qunen Mother of France to Portugal Five Pretenders of the Crown of Portugal The contention about the Succession of Portugal Attorneys sent to Portugal A Sentence of Illâ—â—â—imation against Don Antonio Writers of this Controversy The Causes why Don Antonio was pronounced Illegitimate Don Antonio his pretence to England Three principal pretenders of Portugal Pretences of the Duke of Parma For the Dutchess of Bragansa Representation excluded A Reply for â—he Duâ—e oâ— Paâ—ma King Philip 's pretence to Portugal Divers allegations for King Philip. Hieron Frakâ— Jo. Pâ—et Vipeâ— anus The case of pretence of the House of Portugal to England An objection with the answer Objections against the Pretenders of Portugal Answers Note this By what Title King Henry VII did enter About foreign power in England About Foreign Government The occasion of the next chapter about Foreign Government Reasons against foreign Government Polit. Arist. Demosthenis Philippicae in Aeschines Attempts to deliver Realms from strangers Quint. Curt. l. 5 6. de gest Alex. Vespere Sicilianae an 1265. Leand. in descript Siciliae Polyd. l. 8. Hollings in vit Camiti The rage of the French against the English The conclusion against Strangers Authority of Scripture against strangers Deut. 15. The answer in defence of foreign Government The effect of Governments to be considered and not the Governours An Example Little importeth the Subject of what Country his Governour is so he is good 1 Reg. 12. Not the Country but the good Government importeth Note these examples Who are properly Strangers Divers manners of being under Strangers To be undder strangers by Conquest How Conquerours do proceed towards â—he Conquered Polydor Virg. l. 8. Hist. Angliae Clemensy of the Romans Lib. 1. Macchab. â—ap 8. Strangers most favoured in wise Governments Gascoynes Britons Candians States oâ— Italy The condition of the Irish under the English Of the States of Flanders Girard du Haâ—lan l. 18. an 1381. Prosperity of Flanders under the House of Austria In Guiâ—ciard nella descrittione delli pasi bassi The Authority of the Flomings at home The Indulgence miâ—d â—o offenders 〈◊〉 â—landers The Spaniard punisheth less in Italy than nearer home Vâ—ceroyes do give account of their Government Much slaughter of Nobility in England Execution of Nobility by Henry the eight Under King Edward and Queen Mary States governed happily by foreign Princes Old afflictions of Naples and Millain Whether a great or little Prince be better Pedro Mexio en vit de Antonio Piâ—â— The felicity of the Roman Government The second way of being under a foreign Prince A foreign Prince without Forces not prejudicial Note this utility of a foreign King The manner of foreign Prince more commodious for the present A third way of being under foreign Government 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Gâ—veâ—â—ent Inconâ—â—â—enceâ— of tâ—â—s Government Strange Governoâ—â—â— desired in some Realm The Answer to objections against foreign Government Answer the Grecian Philosophers and Orators Demosthenes The troublsome state of the Grecian Cities Arist. l. 2. â—olit c. 1.2 â—â—â—wer to 〈◊〉 objection out of Deuteronomy Deut. 15. Secondary Lines Ambiguity of Prevailing Two Grounds of probability of speeding Three Religions in England The great Importance of Religion in this Action The next Change like to be difficult and why The consideration of the Protestant Party The Clergy The Council and Nobility Persons designed or favoured by the Protestant Party Foreign Friends of the Protestants Of the Party Puritan Persons affected by the Puritans External Friends Lutheranâ— The Puritan at home Those of the Roman Religion Tâ—e Râ—man Party grâ—at and wâ—y 1 Reg â—2 〈…〉 Friends and Allies abroad Considerations of 〈◊〉 Pretender in particular The King of Scotland Arabella The Lord Beacham and the Earl of Darby Alliance of the Earl of Darby Aâ—â—ance of the Seymers Alliance â—â— the Stanleys Aâ—lâ—ance of the old Countess of Darby The States of the Lord Beacham and the Earl of Darby 〈…〉 Lords The Earl of Huntington 〈◊〉 of the 〈…〉 â—untingâ—â—â— The Power of London Polydor. 24 Holingshed in vita Henrici VI. The Houses of Britain and Portugal Infanta of Spain Duke of Parma The Duke of Bragansa Power of foreign Pretenders The first Conjecture that there will be War and why Sup. c. 4. A consideration to be marked The second conjecture no main Battel probable The third Conjecture who is likest to prevail For the Infanta of Spain For the Earl of Hartfod's second Son Sup. c. 6. For the Children of the Countess of Darby Garibay l. a 5. c. 36 Polydor in rit Steph.
Constance as also by divers other participations of the Bloud-Royal of England as afterwards will appear Now then to come to the second Daughter of King William the Conquerour or rather the third for that the first of all was a Nun as before hath been noted her name was Adela or Alice as hath been said and she was Married in France to Stephen Count Palatine of Champagne Charters and Bloys by whom she had a Son called also Stephen who by his Grand Mother was Earl also of Bullaine in Picardy and after the death of his Uncle King Henry of England was by the favour of the English Nobility and especially by the help of his own Brother the Lord Henry of Blâ—is that was Bishop of Winchester and Jointly Abbot of Glastenbury made King of England and this both in respect that Mathilda Daughter of King Henry the first was a Woman and her Son Henry Duke of Anjou a very child and one degree farther off from the Conqueror and from King Rufus then Stephen was as also for that this King Henry the first as hath been signified before was judged by many to have entred wrongfully unto the Crown and thereby to have made both himself and his posterity incapable of Succession by the violence which he used against both his elder Brother Robert and his Nephew Duke William that was Son and Heir to Robert who by nature and Law were both of them hold for Soverains to John by those that favoured them and their pretentions But yet howsoever this were we see that the Duke of Britainy that lived at that day should evidently have succeeded before Stephen for that he was descended of the elder Daughter of the Conqueror and Stephen of the younger though Stephen by the commodity he had of the nearness of his Port and Haven of Bullain into England as the French stories do say for Calis was of no importance at that time and by the friendship and familiarity he had goten in England during the Reign of his two Uncles King Rufus and King Herny and especially by the heâ—p of his Brother the Bishop and Abbot as hath been said he got the start of all the rest and the states of England admitted him This man although he had two Sons namely Eâ—stachius Duke of Normandy and William Earl of Norfolk yet left they no Issue And his Daughter Mary was Married to Matthew of Flanders of whom if any Issue remains it fell afterwards upon the House of Austria that succeeded in those States To King Stephen who left no Issue succeeded by composition after much War Henry Duke of Anjou Son and Heir to Mathilda before named Daughter of Henry the first which Henry named afterward the second took to his Wife Eleanor Daughter and Heir of William Duke of Aquitain and Earl of Poytiers which Eleanor had been Married before to the King of France Lewis the VII and bare him two Daughters but upon dislike conceaved by the one against the other they were Divorced under pretence of being within the fourth degree of Consanguinity and so by second Marriage Eleanor was Wife to this said Henry who afterwards was King of England by name of King Henry the II. that procured the death of Thomas Backet Archbishop of Canterbury and both before and after the greatest Enemy that ever Lewis the King of France had in the World and much the greater for his Marriage by which Henry was made far stronger for by this Woman he came to be Duke of all Aquitain that is of Gascony and Guiene and Earl of all the Country of Poytiers whereas before also by his Fathers inheritance he was Duke both of Anjou Touraine and Maine and his Mother Mathilda King Henries Daughter of England he came to be King of Enland and Duke of Normandy and his own industry he got also to be Lord of Ireland as also to bring Scotland under his homage so as he enlarged the Kingdom of England most of any other King before or after him This King Henry the II. as Stow recounteth had by Lady Eleanor five Sons and three Daughters His eldest Son was named William that dyed young his second was Henry whom he caused to be crowned in his own Life time whereby he received much trouble but in the end this Son dyed before his Father without issue His third Son was Richard sirnamed for his valour Cor de Leon who reigned after his Father by the name of Richard the I. and dyed without issue in the Year of Christ 1199. His fourth Son named Geffrey married Lady Constance Daughter and Heir of Britany as before hath been said and dying left a son by her named Arthur which was Duke of Britany after him and pretended also to be King of England but was put by it by his Uncle John that took him also Prisoner and kept him also in the Castle first of Fallaise in Normandy and then in Rouan until he caused him to be put to death or slew him with his own hands as French Stories write in the Year 1204 This Duke Arthur left behind him two Sisters as Stow writeth in his Chronicles but others write that it was but one and at least wise I find but one named by the French Stories which was Eleanor whom they say King John also caused to be murthered in England a little before her Brother the Duke was put to death in Normandy and this was the end of the Issue of Geffrey whose Wife Constance Dutchess of of Britany married again after this Murther of her Children unto one Guy Vicount of Touars and had by him two daughters whereof the eldest named Alice was Dutchess of Britany by whom the Race hath been continued unto our time The Fifth Son of King Henry the II. was named John who after the death of his Brother Richard by help of his Mother Eleanor and of Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury drawn thereunto by his said Mother got to be King and put back his Nephew Arthur whom King Richard before his departure to the War of the Holy Land had caused to be declared Heir apparent but John prevailed and made away both Nephew and Neece as before hath been said for which Fact he was detested of many in the World abroad and in France by Act of Parliament deprived of all the States he had in those parts Soon after also the Pope gave sentence of Deprivation against him and his own Barons took Arms to execute the sentence and finally they deposed both him and his young Son Henry being then but a Child of eight years old and this in the eighteenth year of his Reign and in the Year of Christ 1215. and Lewis the VIII of that name Prince at that time but afterwards King of France was chosen King of England and sworn in London and placed in the Tower though soon after by the sudden death of King John
his Realm against so potent a Tyrant as King Richard was then accounted and yet was the concourse of all people so great and general unto him that within few days he atchieved the matter and that without any battel or bloud-shed at all and thus much for the justness of the cause But now if we will consider the manner and form of this act they of Lancaster do affirm also that it could not be executed in better nor more convenient order First for that it was done by the choice and invitation of all the Realm or greater and better part thereof as hath been said Secondly for that it was done without slaughter and thirdly for that the King was deposed by Act of Parliament and himself convinced of his unworthy Government and brought to confess that he was worthily deprived and that he willingly and freely resigned the same neither can there be any more circumstances required say these men for any lawful deposition of a Prince And if any man will yet object and say that notwithstanding all this there was violence for that Duke Henry was Armed and by force of Arms brought this to pass they of Lancaster do answer that this is true that he brought the matter to an end by Forces for that an evil King cannot be removed but by force of Arms if we expect the ordinary way of remedy left by God unto the Commonwealth for seeing that a Tyrannical or obstinate evil Prince is an Armed enemy with his feet set on the Realms head certain it is that he cannot be driven nor plucked from thence nor brought in order but by force of Arms. And if you say that God may remedy the matter otherwise and take him away by sickness and other such means it is answered that God will not always bind himself to work Miracles or to use extraordinary means in bringing those things to pass which he hath left in the hands of men and of Commonwealths to effectuate by ordinary way of Wisdom and Justice As for example it were an easie thing say these men for God Almighty also when any wicked man breaketh his Law by theft murther or the like to punish him immediately by death or otherwise himself and yet he will not so do but will have the Realm to punish him and that by force of Arms also it otherwise it cannot be done and this as well for example and terror of 〈…〉 that God hath 〈…〉 in his name 〈…〉 〈…〉 particular president of punishing of evil 〈◊〉 in like manner by force and violence when other means will not serve these men say that besides all the great multitude of examples alledged before by the Lawyer in his fourth Chapter about evil Kings deposed there is great variety of several manners how the same hath been done by God's own Ordinance recounted in Holy Writ as first when the Scripture saith in the Books of Judges that Aod was stirred up by God to kill Eglon King of the Moabites that prosecuted the people of Israel and the manner was to feign a secret Embassage or message unto him and so to slay him in his Chamber as he did and God delivered his people by that means and chose this particular way whereas none will deny but that he might have done it by many other means less odious to the World then this was that seemed so cruel and full of Treason Again they shew that when God had rejected King Saul for his wickedness and determined to depose him he chose to do it by raising of David against him and by defending and assisting David both in Arms and otherwise divers years against Saul and in the end raised the Philistians also against him who after divers battels cut off his head and carried it up and down the Country upon a pole and presented it in all the Temples of their Idols and in the end left it pitched up in the Temple of Dagon all which God might have spared and have taken him away quietly without bloudshed if he would but he chose this second way In like manner when he would punish King Rehoboam for the sins of Solomon his Father and yet spare him also in part for the sake of his Grandfather David he caused a Rebellion to be raised against him by Jeroboam his Servant and more then three parts of four of his people to rebel against him and this by God's own instinct and motion and by his express allowance thereof after it was done as the Scripture avoucheth and if Rehoboam had fought against them for this fault as once he had thought to do and was prepared with a main Army no doubt but they might have lawfully slain him for that now these ten Tribes that forsook him had just authority to depose him for his evil Government and for not yielding to their just request made unto him for easing them of those grievous Tributes laid upon them as the Scripture reporteth For albeit God had a meaning to punish him for the sins of his Father Solomon yet suffered he that Rehoboam also should give just occasion himself for the people to leave him as appeareth by the story and this is God's high Wisdom Justice Providence and sweet disposition in humane affairs Another example of punishing and deposing evil Princes by force they do alledge out of the first Book of Kings where God appointed Elizeus the Prophet to send the Son of another Prophet to anoint Jehu Captain of Joram King of Israel which Joram was Son to the Queen Jezabel and to perswade Jehu to take Arms against his said King and against his mother the Queen and to deprive them both not only of their Kingdoms but also of their lives and so he did for the Scripture saith Conjuravit ergo Jehu contra Joram Jehu did conjure and conspire at the perswasion of this Prophet with the rest of his fellow Captains against his King Joram and Queen Jezabel the Kings Mother to put them down and to put them to death with all the ignominy he could devise and God allowed thereof and perswaded the same by so holy a Prophet as Elizeus was whereby we may assure our selves that the fact was not only lawful but also most Godly albeit in it self it might seem abominable And in the same book of Kings within two chapters after there is another example how God moved Jehoiadah High-priest of Jerusalem to perswade the Captains and Colonels of that City to conspire against Athalia the Queen that had Reigned 6. years and to Arm themselves with the Armor of the Temple for that purpose and to besiege the Palace where she lay and to kill all them that should offer or go about to defend her and so they did and having taken her alive she was put to death also by sentence of the said High-priest and the fact was allowed by God and highly commended in the Scripture and Joas
daughter and Heir of Leonel Duke of Clarence and was Grandfather to the last Edmond by me named should be Heir apparent to the Crown if the King should chance to die without Issue To which objection those of Lancaster do answer first that Polydor doth erre in the person when he saith that Edmond Husband of Lady Philippa was declared for Heir apparent for that this Edmond Mortimer that married Lady Philippa died peaceably in Ireland three years before this Parliament was holden to wit in the year of Christ 1382. as both Hollingshed Stow and other Chroniclers do testifie and therefore Polydor doth erre not only in this place about this man but also in that in another place he saith that this Edmond so declared Heir apparent by King Richard was slain by the Irish in Ireland 12 years after this declaration made of the succession to wit in the year 1394. which was indeed not this man but his Son Roger Mortimer Heir to him and to the Lady Philippa his Wife who was declared Heir apparent in the Parliament aforesaid at the instance of King Richard and that for especial hatred and malice as these men say which he did bear against his said Uncle the Duke of Lancaster and his Son Henry whom he desired to exclude from the succession The cause of this hatred is said to be for that presently upon the death of Prince Edward Father to this Richard which Prince died in the year of Christ 1376. and but 10. months before his Father King Edward the third there wanted not divers learned and wise men in England that were of opinion that John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster eldest Son then living of the said King Edward should have succeeded his Father jure propinquitatis before Richard that was but Nephew and one degree further off then he but the old King was so extremely affectionate unto his eldest Son the black Prince Edward newly dead that he would not hear of any to succeed him as Frosard saith but only Richard the said Prince's Son Wherefore he called presently a Parliament which was the last that ever he held and therein caused his said Nephew Richard to be declared Heir apparent and made his three Sons then living that were Uncles to the Youth to wit John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Edmond Langley Duke afterwards of York and Thomas Woodstock Duke of Gloucester to swear Fealty unto Richard as they did And albeit John of Gaunt all his life after for keeping of his Oath that he had made unto his Father never pretended any Right to the Crown yet King Richard knowing well the pretence that he and his might have was still afraid of him and sought infinite means to be rid of him first by perswading him to go and make War in Spain where he thought he might miscarry in so dangerous an attempt and then offering to give him all Aquitain if he would leave England to go and live there as he did for three years with extreme peril for that the people of Aquitain would not receive him but rose against him and refused his Government and would not admit him for their Lord but appealed to the King who also allowed thereof and so when John of Gaunt came home into England again King Richard thought no better way to weaken him then to banish his Son Henry Duke of Hertford and so he did And besides this the said King Richard practised also by divers secret drifts the death of his said Uncle the Duke of Lancaster as Walsingham witnesseth and when the said Duke came at length to die which was in the 22. year of King Richard's reign he wrote such joyous Letters thereof as Frosard saith to his Father-in-law Charles the sixth King of France as though he had been delivered of his chiefest Enemy not imagining that his own destruction was so near at hand and much accelerated by the death of the said Duke as it was And these were the causes say the favourers of the House of Lancaster why King Richard caused this Act of Parliament to pass in favour of Roger Mortimer and in prejudice of the House of Lancaster and not for that the right of Earl Mortimer was better then that of the Duke of Lancaster And this they say is no new thing for Princes oftentimes to procure partial Laws to pass in Parliament for matter of Succession according to their own affections for the like say they did Edward the third procure in the favour of this Richard as before I have shewed in the last Parliament before his death and afterward again King Richard the third with much more open Injustice caused an Act of Parliament to pass in his days whereby his Nephew John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln Son to his Sister Elizabeth Dutchess of Suffolk was declared Heir apparent to the Crown excluding thereby the Children of his two elder Brothers to wit the daughters of King Edward the fourth and the Son and daughter of George Duke of Clarenoe which yet by all order should have gone before their Sisters Children And like facility found King Henry the 8th to get the consent of two Parliaments to give him Authority to appoint what Successor he would of his own Kindred by which Authority afterward he appointed by his Testament as in another place shall be shewed that the Issue of his younger Sister Mary should be preferred before the Issue of his eldest Sister Margaret of Scotland A like declaration was that also of King Edward the sixth of late memory who appointed the Lady Jane Gray his Cousen-german removed to be his Heir and Successor in the Crown of England and excluded his own two Sisters the Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth from the same but these declarations make little to the purpose when right and equity do repugn as these men say that it did in the foresaid declaration of Roger Mortimer to be Heir apparent for that they hold and avouch the House of Lancaster to have had the true right to enter not only after the death of King Richard the second as it did but also before him that is to say immediately upon the death of King Edward the third for that John of Gaunt was then the eldest Son which King Edward had living and nearer to his Father by a degree then was Richard the Nephew About which point to wit whether the Uncle or Nephew should be preferred in Succession of Kingdoms it seemeth that in this age of King Edward the third there was great trouble and controversie in the World abroad for so testifieth Girard du Haillan Councellor and Secretary of France in his History of the year of Christ 1346. which was about the midst of King Edwards Reign and therefore no marvel though King Edward took such care of the sure establishing of his Nephew Richard in Succession as is before related And much less marvel is it if K.
France chosen in his place but that the death of King John did alter that Course intended by the English Nobility so as this matter is neither new nor unaccustomed in all foreign Countreys and now will I pass also a little to our English Stories to see whether the like may be found in them or no. And first of all that the Realm of England hath had as great Variety Changes and Diversity in the Races of their Kings as any one Realm in the World it seemeth evident for that first of all after the Britains it had Romans for their Governours for many years and then of them and their Roman Bloud they had Kings again of their own as appâ—areth by that Valiant King Aurelius Ambrosius who resisted so manfully and prudently the Saxons for a time after this they had Kings of the Saxon and English Bloud and after them of the Danes and then of the Normans and after them again of the French and last of all it seemeth to have returned to the Britains again in King Henry the Seventh for that his Father came of that Race and now you know there be Pretenders of divers Nations I mean both of Scotish Spanish and Italian Bloud so that England is like to participate with all their Neighbours round about them and I for my part do feel my self much of the French opinion before-alledged that so the Ship be well and happily guided I esteem it not much important of what Race or Nation the Pilot be but now to our purpose I mean to pass over the First and Antient Ranks of Kings as well of the British and Roman as also of the Saxon Races until King Egbert the first of this name King of the West Saxons and almost of all the rest of England besides who therefore is said to be properly the first Monarch of the Saxon Bloud and he that first of all commanded that Realm to be called England which ever since hath been observed This man Egbert being a young Gentleman of a Noble House in the West parts of England was had in jealousy by his King Britricus who was the sixteenth King from Cerdicius first King of the West Saxons as he was also the last of his Bloud And for that he suspected that this Egbert for his great Prowess might come in time to be chosen King he banish'd him into France where he lived divers years and was a Captain under the famous King Pepin that was Father to Charles the Great and hearing afterwards that King Britricus was dead he returned into England where Polydor saith omnium consensu Rex creatur that he was created or chosen King by consent and voice of all men though yet he were not next by Propinquity of Bloud Royal as is most evident and yet he proved the most Excellent King that ever the Saxons had before or perhaps after and his Election happened in the Year of Christ eight hundred and two when King Pepin the first of that Race reigned as hath been said in France so as this Monarchy of Egbert and that of Pepin whereof we have alledged so many Examples in the former Chapter began as it were together and both of them I mean both Pepin and Egbert came to their Crowns by Election of the People as here you see This King Egbert or Egbrich as others do write him left a lawful Son behind him named Elthelwolfe or Adelvulfe or Edolph for all is one who succeeded him in the Kingdom and was as Worthy a man as his Father and this Adelvulfe again had four lawful Sons who all in their turns succeeded by just and lawful Order in the Crown to wit Ethelbald Ethelbert Ethelred and Alfred for that none of the former Three had any Children and all the latter Three were most Excellent Princes especially Alfred or Alvred the Last of all Four whose Acts are wonderful and who among other his Renowned Gests drove Rollo that Famous Captain of the Danes from the Borders of England with all his Company into France where he got the Countrâ—y or Province named then Neustria and now Normandy and was the first Duke of that Province and Nation and from whom our William Conquerour came afterwards in the sixth Descent This man erected also the Vniversity of Oxford being very Learned himself builded divers goodly Monasteries and Churches and dying left as famous a Son behind him as himself which was Edward the First sirnamed the Senior or Elder This King Edward dying left two Sons lawfully begotten of his Wife Edigna the one named Prince Edmund and the other Eldred and a Third Illegitimate whose name was Adelstan whom he had by a Concubine But yet for that this man was esteemed to be of more valor than the other he was preferred to the Crown before the Two other Princes Legitimate for so testifieth Polidor in these words Adelstanus ex concubina Edwardi filius Rex à populo consalutatur atque ad Kingstonum oppidum more majorum ab Athelmo Canâ—uariensi Archiepiscopo coronatur which is Adelstan the Son of King Edward by a Concubin was made King by the People and was Crowned according to the old custom by Athelme Archbishop of Canterbury at the Town of Kingston Thus far Polidor and Stow addeth further these words His Coronation was celebrated in the Market-place upon a Stage erected on high that the King might better be seen of the Multitude he was a Prince of worthy memory valiant and wise in all his Acts and brought this Land into one perfect Monarchy for he expelled utterly the Danes and quieted the Welchmen Thus much Stow of the Success of Chusing this King Bastard to Reign To whose Acts might be added that he conquered Scotland and brought Constantine their King to do him homage and restored â—uy d' Outremer his Sisters son to the the Kingdom of France as before hath been signified This man dying without Issue his Lawful Brother Edmond put back before was admitted to the Crown who being of excellent expectation dyed after six years and left two Lawful Sons but yet for that they were young they were both put back by the Realm and their Uncle Eldred was preferred before them so saith Polidor Genuit Edmondus ex Egilda uxere Eduinum Edgarum qui cum aetate pueri essent post Eldredum deinde regnarunt King Edmond begat of his Wife Egilda two Sons named Edwin and Edgar who for that they were but children in years were put back and Reigned afterwards after their Vncle Eldred The like saith Stow and yieldeth the same reason in these words Eldred succeeded Edmond his Brother for that his Sons Edwin and Edgar were thought too young to take so great a Charge upon them This Eldred though he entred as you see against the Right of the Nephews yet lay Polidor and
John that was King after his Father by the Name of John the third Secondly the Lady Isabel Married to the Emperor Charles the fifth and Mother to King Philip of Spain that now liveth Thirdly Lady Beatrix Married to Charles Duke of Savoy and Mother to Duke Philibert the last Duke that Died and Grand-mother to this that now Liveth Fourthly Lord Lewis Father to Don Antonio that now is in England Fifthly Lord Henry that was Cardinal and Archbishop of Ebora and in the end King of Portugal And sixthly Lord Edward that was Father of the two Dutchesses of Parma and Bragansa to wit of the Lady Mary and Lady Catharine both which left goodly Issue for that Lady Mary hath left by the last Duke of Parma Lord Ranutius that is now Duke of Parma and Lord Edward that is Cardinal And the Lady Catharine Dutchess of Bragansa that yet liveth hath Issue divers goodly Princes as the Lord Theodosius that is now Duke of Bragansa and three younger Brothers to wit Edward Alexander and Philip young Princes of great expectation and these are the Children of King Emmanuel whose particular Successions and Issues I shall declare somewhat more in particular Prince John of Portugal afterward King by name of King John the Third had Issue another John that was Prince of Portugal but died before his Father and left a Son Named Sebastian who was King and slain afterward by the Moors in Barbary and so ended this first Line The second Son and fourth Child of King Emmanuel was Named Lord Lewis and died also without Issue Legitimate as is supposed for that Don Antonio his Son that afterward was proclaimed King by the People of Lisbone and now liveth in England was taken by all men to be unlawful as presently more at large shall be shewed so as after the Death of King Sebastian there entred the Cardinal Lord Henry which was third Son of King Emmanuel and Great-Uncle to Sabastian lately Desceased for that he was Brother to King John the third that was Grand Father to King Sebastian And albeit there wanted not some according as the Authors Write which afterward I shall Name who affirmed and held that King Philip of Spain should have succeeded King Sebastian before the Cardinal for that he was nearer in Consanguinity to him than was the Cardinal for that besides that King Philip was Son of King Emmanuâ—ls Eldest Daughter he was Brother also to King Sebastians Mother yet the said Cardinal entred peaceably and by consent of all parties but for that he was Old and Unmarried and not like to leave any Child of his own there began presently the Contention in his days who should be his Successor To which Succession did pretend five Princes of the Blood-Royal of Portugal besides the Lady Catharine Queen-Mothers of France who pretended by her Mothers side to be Descended of one Lord Ralph Earl of Bullain in Piccardy which Ralph was Eldest Son of Alfonsus the third King of Portugal which Alfonsus before he was King to wit in the time of his Eldest Brother King Sanches of Portugal was Married to the Countess and Heir of Bullain Named Mathildis and had by her this Ralph But afterwards this Alfonsus coming to be King of Portugal he Married again with the King of Castile's Daughter and had by her a Son called Denyse who reigned after him and his Successors unto this day all which Succession of King Denyse and his Posterity the said Queen Mother would have improved and shewed that it appertained unto her by the said Raphe and for this cause sent she to Portugal one Lord Vrban Bishop of Comince in Gascony to plead her Cause which Cause of hers was quickly rejected and only the aforesaid five Princes Descended of King Emmanuel's Children were admitted to the Tryal for the same which were Don Antonio Son of Lord Lewis the King Cardinals Elder Brother and King Philip of Spain Son of Lady Elizabeth the Eldest Sister of the said Cardinal and Philibert Duke of Savoy Son of the Lady Beatrix the same Cardinals Younger Sister and the two Dutchesses of Parma and Bragansa named Mary and Catharine Daughters of Lord Edward Younger Brother of the said Cardinal and Youngest Child of the said King Emmanuel And for that the Lady Mary Dutchess of Parma which was the Elder of the two Daughters was Dead before this Controversy fell out her Eldest Son Lord Ranutio now Duke of Parma pretended by her Right to the said Crown And for that this matter was of so great Importance every party procured to lay down their Reasons and declared their Rights in the best manner they could and such as could not be present themselves in Portugal sent thither their Agents Embassadors and Attorneys to plead their Cause for them Don Antonio and the Dutchess of Bragansa as Inhabitants of that Kingdom were present and declared their pretences Namely Don Antonio by himself and for himself and the Lady Mary of Bragansa by her Husband the Duke and his Learned Councel The Prince of Parma sent thither for his part one Ferdinando Farneso Bishop of Parma The Duke of â—avoy seâ—t Charles of Rovere afterward made Cardinal The King of Spain as the greatest pretender sent the Lord Peter Gyron Duke of Osuna afterward Viceroy of Naples and Sir Christopher de Mora Knight of his Chamber at that time but since of his Privy-Council and lately made Earl of Castil Rodrigo in Portugal of which Country he is a Native and besides these two a great Lawyer Named Roderigo Vasques made since as I hear say Lord President of Castil which is as much almost as Lord Chancellor with us All these did lay forth before the King Cardinal their several Reasons and Pretensions to the Succession of the Crown of Portugal for the five persons before-mentioned whereof two were quickly excluded to wit the Duke of Savoy for that his Mother was Younger Sister to King Philip's Mother and himself also of less Age then the said King And secondly Don Antonio was also excluded by publick and Judicial Sentence of the King Cardinal his Uncle as Illegitimate and Born out of lawful Wedlock And Albeit Don Antonio denyed the same and went about to prove himself Legitimate affirming that his Father the Lord Lewis before his Death had Married with his Mother in secret and for this brought forth some Witnesses as Namely his Mothers Sister with her Husband and two others Yet the King Cardinal affirmed that upon Examination he had found them Suborned which he said was evident to him partly for that they agreed not in their Speeches and partly for that some of them had Confessed the same to wit that they were Suborned whom he cast into Prison and caused them to be punished And so sitting in Judgment accompanied with four Bishops and four Lawyers whom he had called to assist him in this Cause he pronounced the same Don Antonio to be a Bastard for
Issue The meeting of three Houses Prince Edward Duke Edmond Lady Beatrix daughter of K. Henry 3. The Pedegree of the Dukes of Britany The great Contention between the Houses of Monford and Bloâ—s in Britany Burgundy and Orleans The controversie between the House of Monford and Blois A question about succession between the Uncle and the Niece The House of Blois overcome The succession of the Monfords in Britany Francis last Duke of Britany How the Dukedom of Britany was united to France The Issue Male of K. Henr. 3. The Bishop of Ross in his Book of the Queen of Scots Title George Lilly in fine Epitomes Chron. Anglic. That Edward was the elder Mat. West in vit H. 3. Hollingshed ibid. p. 654. Hollingsh in vit H. 3. p. 740. 777. Edmonds Line never pretended to the Crown Note this consequent The eldership of Edmond a fiction Polyd. in fine vit Henr. 3. The Issue of K. Edward the â— The Issue of Edmond Crouch-back Collateral Lines of Lancaster 〈…〉 of K Edward 3. The Red Rose and the White Issue of the Black Prince The Issue of Leonel the 2d Son The Issue of Edmond the 4. Son The Issue of Thomas the 5. Son The Issue of of the 3d. â—n Duke of Lancast. The Issue of L. Blanch. Lady Philippa married into Portugal and her Issue Lady Elizabeth second Daughter The Issue of K. Henr. 4. The Issue of John of Gaunt by his second Wife The controversie in Spain between King Peter the Cruel and his Bastard broohâ—r Garibay l. 15. â— 26. Of Lady Catharine Swinford Hollinshed in vita Rich. 2. p. 1088. The Duke of Lancaster 's bastards made legitimate Hollingh in vita Kich 2. pag. 1090. The issue of Katharine Swinfords children King Henry VII The Dukes of Somerset Polidor hist. Ang. lib. 23. Hollings in vita Edwardi IV. pa. 1314. 1340. What heirs of Lancaster now remain in England The Issue of the House of York Richard Earl of Cambridge executed Richard Duke of York slain Edward Duke of York and King his Issue The Line of the Pooles The Line of the Hastings The Barringtons King Richard 3. Issue of K. Henry the 7. Issue of the Lady Mary of Scotland Issue of Mary 2d Sister to K. Henry Lady Frances Stow An. 7 Edw. 6. Of Lady Eleanor of Suffolk Variety of Authors opinions about this controversie Polyd. in fine vit Henr. 3. initio vit Henr. 4. in vit Ric. An. 1386. The Allegations of the House of York The story of the controversie between Lancaster and York Polyd. in â—â—a Riâ—h 2. l. b. 20. King Richards deposition Chief points of the controversie between Lancaster and York Three pâ—â—â—t King Richards deposition That a 〈…〉 1. Reason 2. Authority 3. Examples Whether the causes were sufficient of King Richards deposition The Hâ—â—se of York chief 〈◊〉 in deposing K. Rich. Polyd. Hist. Angl. l. 20. Addit ad Polycronicon Testimony of Stories The evil government of K. Rich. Stow in vit Rich. 2. pag. 502. regni 11. A great insolency The evil Parliament Stow an 21 regni Rich. The Duke of Lancaster called by common request Frosard Walsingham Whether the manner of deposing K. Richard were good Arms necessary for removing an evil Prince 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 by 〈◊〉 Forces King Eglon slain in his Chamber Judg. 3. Saul put down by violence 1 Chr. 10. vers 9. Rehoboam deposed by his Subjects of ten Tribes 2 Reg. 11. 12. 2 Paralip cap. 10. Joram and his Mother Jezabel deposed by force 4 Reg. 9. Athalia deprived by force 4 Reg. 11. Whether Lancaster or York should have entred after K. Rich. Polydor l. 20. in vit Rich. Stow in vita Richardi 2. Whether 〈◊〉 Earl of 〈…〉 or 〈…〉 K. Râ—â—h The Title of York is by a Woman Stow in vit Hen. 5. an 3. regn The Earl of Cambridge executed for Conspiracy An objection for York that Edmond Mortimer was declared Heir appaâ—â—n Polyd. l. 20 Stow in vit Rich. 2. an 1385. Hollingsh in vit Rich 2. p. 1038. Stow an 1382. Polyd. l. 20 an 1394. The cause of hatred between K. Richard and the House of Lancaster John Frosard in Histor. Polydor. Hollingsh Stow in vit Rich. 2 Wâ—lâ—â—â—gh 〈…〉 2. p. 341. 3â—â— John Frosard in vit Henriet 〈◊〉 Roger Moâ—tiâ—â—â— was deâ—lâ—red Hâ—â—r 〈◊〉 Hollingsh in vit Richar. 3. p. 1406. in vit Edwar. 6. p. 1715. The declaration of K. Edw. 6. in favour of the Lady Jane Gray Girard du Haillan l. 15. his Franc. initio 〈…〉 〈◊〉 in â—â—tent Poâ—â—â—nem Câ—â—e suis leg haered The second â—â—â—mâ—le of the Uncle An examâ—plâ— of the Uncle before 〈◊〉 Nephew in Spain Garâ—bay l. 13. c. 1â— an 1276. Another example in France and Flanders Polydor. l. 15. in vit Edw. 3. Anoâ—â—eâ— example of Britany Supra c. 2. Another example â—n Scotland The contention of the Houses of â—alliol and Bruse in Scotl. Examples in England Hollingsh in vit Regis Johannis p. 142. How Arthur Duke of Britany was declared Heir apparent Polydor l. 14. Hollingsh in vit Ric. 1. p. 480. Hollingsh in vit Richardi Regis p. 496. 499. Hollingsh p. 540. Walsingh in Ypodig Neustriae Opinions of Lawyers for the Nephew and Uncle Benedict Cap. Ranutius verb. in eodem testam Baldus in lib. ut in test cap. de suis leg haered per. li. unicam pro 20. sui autem novissimo Touching the Common Law of England Different rules in succession of the Crown of other Inheritances The Common Law grounded in Custom Ancient Lawyers that defended the House of Lancaster Hollingsh in vit Henrici 6. p. 1300. The sum of this controversie repeated Other Arguments of Lancaster Stow in vit Hen. 5. p. 587. The Princes of York often attainted Stow in vit Hen. 6. York entred by violence Stow in fine vit Henrici 6. The House of York put down a Holy King Long possessions of the House of Lancaster 5. The difference of Kings of both Houses The Princes of York cruel one to the other Polydor Virg Hist. Angl. l. 24. Great union and faithfulness of the Princes of Lancaster Polydor lib. 23. Dissentioâ—s in the House of York K. Edw. 4. K. Riâ—h 3. K. Henry 8. how many he put to death of his own Kindred The de la Pools The House of Buckingham The House of Câ—urtâ—eys The House of Salisbury Seymers put to death Queen of Scots 7. Nâ— old noble House standing in England but such as took part with Lancaster Five ancient noble houses Arondel Oxford Northumberland Westmerland Shrewsbury Houses that favoured York destroyed 〈…〉 〈…〉 Pooâ—â—◠〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 and Warwick King Henry the 7. Chowned in the field in respect of the house of Lancaster only though his title that way was not great A division of the families that do pretend Of the house of Scotland Arabella In favour of the King of Scots Argument against the King of Sâ—ots The King of Scots