solemnities and feastes that were celebrated at ther seueral natiuities so as it seemeth ther can be no ertor in this matter The 2. reason is for that we read that this Lord Edmond was a goodly vvise and discreet prince notwithstanding that some authors cal him crokback and that he vvas highly in the fauour both of his father king Henry as also of his brother king Edward and employed by them in many great warres and other affayres of state both in France other where vvhich argueth that ther was no such great defect in him as should moue his father and the realme to depriue him of his succession Thirdly vve reade that king Henry procured by diuers waies and meanes the aduancement of this L. Edmond as giuing him the earldomes of Lecester Darby besides that of Lancaster as also procuring by al meanes possible with exceding great charges to haue him made king of Naples Sicilie by pope Innocentius which had bin no pollicy to haue done if he had bin put back from his inheritance in Ingland for that it had bin to haue armed him against his brother the king Fourthly we see that at the death of his father king Henry the third this Lord Edmond vvas principally left in charge with the realme his elder brother prince Edward being scarsly returned frō the warr of Asia at what tyme he had good occasion to chalēg his owne right to the crowne if he had had any seing he wanted no power therūto hauing three goodly sonnes at that tyme aliue borne of his wife Queene Blanch dowager of Nauarre vvho had bin marryed before to Henry king of Nauarre and contie of Champaine to whom she had borne only one daughter that vvas marryed to Phillip le bel king of France But vve shal neuer reade that either he or any of his children made any such clayme but that they liued in very good agreement high grace vvith king Edward the first as his children did also vvith king Edward the second vntil he began to be mis-led in gouerment and then the two sonnes of this Lord Edmond I meane both Thomas and Henry that successiuely vvere earles of Lancaster made vvarr vppon the said Edward the second and vvere the principal doers in his deposition in setting vp of his sonne Edward the third in his place at vvhat tyme it is euidēt that they might haue put in also for themselues if there title had bin such as this report maketh it A fift reason is for that if this had bin so that Edmond earle of Lancaster had bin the elder brother then had the controuersie betweene the two houses of York and Lancaster bin most cleare and vvithout al doubt at al for then had the house of Yorke had no pretence of right in the vvorlde and then vvere it euident that the heyres general of Blanch duchesse of Lancaster vvife of Iohn of Gaunt to wit the discendentes of lady Phillip her daughter that vvas marryed into Portugal these I say and none other were apparent and true heyres to the crowne of Ingland at this day and al the other of the house of Yorke vsurpers as wel king Henry the 7. as al his posterity ofspring for that none of them haue 〈◊〉 of the said Blanch as is manifest And therfore lastly the matter standeth no doubt as Polidor holdeth in the later ende of the life of king Henry the third vvhere hauing mētioned these two sonnes Edward Edmōd he addeth these wordes Ther wanted not certayne men long tyme after this that affirmed this Edmond to be the elder sonne to king Henry the third and to haue bin depriued of his inheritance for that he was deformed in body but these thinges were feyned to the end that king Henry the fourth that came by his mothers side of this Edmond might seeme to haue come to the kingdome by right whereas in decd he gat it by force Thus saith Polidor in this place but aftervvard in the begining of the life of the said K. Henry the 4. he sayeth that some vvould haue had king Henry to haue pretended this title among other reasons but that the more part accompting it but a meare fable it vvas omitted Novv then it being cleere that of these two sonnes of king Henry the third prince Edward vvas the elder and lawful heyre it remayneth only that vve set downe their seueral discents vnto the tymes of king Edward the third and his children in whose dayes the dissention controuersie betweene these royal houses of Yorke and Lancaster began to break fourth And for the issue of Edward that vvas king after his father by the name of king Edward the first it is euident that albeit by two seueral vviues he had a dosen children male and femal yet only his fourth sonne by his first vvife called also Edward vvho vvas king after him by the name of king Edward the second left issue that remayned which Edward the second being afterward for his euel gouerment deposed left issue Edward the third vvho vvas made king by election of the people in his place and after a long and prosperous reigne left diuers sonnes vvherof after vve shal speak and among them his third sonne named Iohn of Gaunt married lady Blanch daughter and heyre of the house of lancaster and of the fornamed Lord Edmond Crouchback by vvhich Blanch Iohn of Gant became duke of lancaster so as the lines of these tvvo bretheren Edward and Edmond did meete and ioyne againe in the fourth discent as novv shall appeare by declaration of the issue of the foresaid L. Edmond Edmond then the second sonne of K. Henry the third being made county palatine of Lancaster as also earle of Lecester and of Darby by his father king Henry as hath bin said had issue three sonnes to vvit Thomas Henry and Iohn among vvhom he deuided his three states making Thomas his eldest sonne county palatine of Lancaster Henry earle of Lecester Iohn earle of Darby But Thomas the eldest Iohn the yongest dying vvithout issue al three states fel againe vppon Henry the second sonne vvhich Henry had issue one fonne and three daughters his sonne vvas named Henry the second of that name earle of Lancaster and made duke of Lancaster by king Edward the third and he had one only daughter heyre named Blanch vvho vvas marryed vnto Iohn of Gant as before hath bin said But Duke Henries three sisters named Ioan Mary and Elenor vvere al marryed to diuers principal men of the realme for that Ioan vvas marryed to Iohn L. Maubery of vvhom are descended the Howards of the house of Norfolk at this day and Mary vvas marryed to Henry lord Pearcy from vvhom cometh the house of the Earles of Northumberland and Elenor vvas married to Richard earle of Arundel vvhence is issued also by his mothers side the Earle of Arundel that novv is so as of this
at his pleasure without law as Titus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for which cause the senators at length 〈◊〉 him and cut him in smal peces And aftervards they were greatly greeued at the entring of Seruius Tullius their sixt king for that he gaue the crowne by fraude and not by election of the senate and special approbation of the people as he should haue done but most of al they were exasperated by the proceeding of their seuenth kinge named Lucius Tarquinas surnamed the proud who for that as Liuius faith he neglected the lawes of gouerment prescribed no him by the common wealth as namely in that he consulted not with the senate in matters of great importance for that he made war peace of his owne head for that he appoynted to himselfe a gard as though he had mistrusted the people and for that he did vse ininstice to diuers particuler men and suffred his children to be insolent he was expelled with al his posterity and the gouerment of Rome changed from a kingdome vnto the regiment of consuls after two hundreth yeares that the other had endured And thus much for those kingdomes of Italy and Greece And if likewise we wil looke vppon other kingdomes of Europe we shal see the very same to wit that euery kingdome countrey hath his particuler lawes prescribed to their kings by the common vvealth both for their gouerment authority and succession in the same for if we behold the Romā Empire it selfe as it is at this day annexed to the Germaine electors though it be the first in dignity among christian Princes yet shal we see it so restrayned by particuler lawes as the Emperor can do much lesse in his state then other kings in theirs for he can nether make vvarr nor exact any contribution of men or money therunto but by the free leaue and consent of al the states of the Germayne diet or parlament and for his children or next in kynn they haue no action interest or pretence at al to succed in their fathers dignity but only by free electiō if they shal be thought vvorthy Nay one of the chiefest poynts that the Emperor must sweare at his entrance as Sleydan writeth is this that he shal neuer go about to make the dignity of the Emperor peculiar or hereditary to his family but leaue it vnto the seuen electors free in their power to chuse his successor according to the law made by the pope Gregory the fyfth and the Emperor Charles the fourth in this behalfe The kingdomes of Polonia Boemia do go much after the same fashion both for there restrainte of power and succession to their kings For first touching their authority they haue great limitation nether can they do any thing of great moment without the consent of certayne principal men called Palatines or Castellans nether may their children or next of blood succede except they be chosen as in the Empire In Spayne France and Ingland the priuileges of kings are far more eminent in both thes points for that both their authority is much more absolute and their next in blood do ordinarily succede but yet in different manner for as touching authority it semeth that the kings of Spayne and France haue greater then the king of England for that euery ordination of thes two kings is law in it selfe without further approbatiō of the common wealth which holdeth not in England where no general law can be made without consent of parlament but in the other pointe of succession it appeareth that the restraint is far greater in thos other two countries then in Ingland for that in Spayne the next in blood cannot succede be he neuer so lawfully descended but by a new approbation of the nobility and bishops and states of the Realme as it is expresly set downe in the two ancient councelles of Tolledo the fourth and fifth In confirmation wherof we see at this day that the king of Spaynes owne sonne cannot succede not be called Prince except he be first sworne by the said nobility and states in token of their new consent and so we haue seene it practized in our dayes towards three or fower of King Philips children which haue succeded the one after the other in the title of Princes of Spaine and at euery chainge a new oth required at the subiects handes for their admission to the said dignity which is not vsed in the kings children of France or Ingland In France the world knoweth how women are not admitted to succed in the crowne be they neuer so neare in blood nether any of their issue though it be male For which cause I doubt not but you remēber how king Edward the third of Ingland though he were sonne heyre vnto a daughter of France whose three brethren were kings and left hir sole heyre to hir father king Phillip the fourth surnamed the fayre yet vvas he put by the crowne as also was the king of Nauar at the same tyme who was sonne and heyre vnto this womans eldest brothers daughter named Lewis Huttin king of Ftance which king of Nauar therby seemed also to be before king Edward of Ingland but yet were they both put by it and Philip de Vallois a brothers sonne of Phillip the faire was preferred to it by general decree of the states of France and by vardit of the whole parlament of Paris gathered about the same affayre Nether did it auayle that the two kings a fore said alleaged that it was agaynst reason conscience and custome of al nations to exclud vvomen from the succession of the crowne which appartayned vnto them by propinquity of blood seing both nature God hath made them capable of such succession euery where as it appereth by example of al other nations and in the old testament among the people of god it selfe wher we see women haue bin admitted vnto kingdomes by succession but al this I say preuayled not vvith the French as it doth not also at this day for the admission of Dona Isabella Eugenia Clara infanta of Spayne vnto the said crowne of France though by dissent of blood ther 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 agaynst the Prince of Lorayne that now liueth though he be a man and nephew to the last king for that his title is by a woman to wit his mother that vvas yonger sister vnto the last king Henry of France And albeit the law called Salica by the Frenchmen by vertue vvherof they pretend to exclude the succession of vvomen be no very ancient law as the French themselues do confesse and much lesse made by Pharamond ther first king or in thos ancient tymes as others without ground do affirme yet do vve se that it is sufficient to bynd al Princes and subiects of
that realme to obserue the same and to alter the course of natural discent and nearnes of blood as vve haue seene and that the king of Nauarr 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 crowne though in nearnes of blood they be farther of by many degrees from the last king Henry the third then either the foresaid Enfanta of Spayne or the Prince of Lorrayne that now is vvho are children of his owne sisters which poynt yet in Ingland vvere great disorder and would not be suffered for that our lawes are otherwise vvho made thes lawes but the common wealth it selfe By al vvhich vve see that diuers kingdomes haue diuers lawes and customes in the matter of succession and that it is not enough as often I haue said for a man to alleage bare propinquity of blood therby to preuaile for that he may be excluded or put back by diuers other circumstances and for sundry other reasons which afterward we shal discusse Yea not only in this pointe said he hath the commō wealth authority to put back the next inheritors vppon lawful considerations but also to disposesse them that haue bin lawfully put in possession if they fulfil not the lawes and condicions by which and for which their dignity vvas giuen them Which poynt as it cannot serue for vvicked mē to be troblesome vnto their gouernors for their owne interests or appetits so yet when it is done vppon iust and vrgent causes and by publique authority of the whole body the iustice therof is playne not only by the grounds and reasons before alleaged but also by thos examples of the Romans and Grecians alredy mentioned vvho lawfully deposed their kings vppon iust considerations chainged also ther monarchie and kingly gouerment into other formes of regiment And it might be proued also by examples of al other nations and this perhapps vvith a circumstance vvhich I know not vvhether euery man here haue considered the same to vvit that God hath vvonderfully concurred for the most part vvith such iuditial actes of the common vvealth agaynst their euel Princes not only in prospering the same but by giuing them also commonly some notable successor in place of the deposed therby both to iustify the fact and to remedy the faulte of him that went before To this al the company answered that they had neuer much thought nor made reflexion vppon any such circumstance and therefore that it could not be but a pointe of much nouelty to here the same discussed requesting him to say what he had obserued or read in that behalfe I am content said he but yet vvith this preface that I am far from the opinion of thos people of our dayes or of old who make so litle accompt of their duty tovvards Princes as be their title vvhat it wil yet for euery mislike of ther owne they are redy to band agaynst them whersoeuer they thinke they may make their partie good inuenting a thowsand calumniations for ther discredit without conscience or reason vvhom in deede I do thinke to haue litle conscience or none at al but rather to be those vvhom the Apostles S. Peter and S. Iude did speake of vvhen they said Nouit Dominus iniquos in diem iudicij reseruare cruciandos magis autemeos qui dominationem contemnunt audaces sibi placentes c. God knoweth how to reserue the wicked vnto the day of iudgment ther to be tormented but yet much more those vvhich do contemne domination or gouerment and are bold and liking of themselues thus much ther. Nay further I am of opinion that whatsoeuer a Princes title be if once he be setled in the crowne and admitted by the common wealth for of al other holdes I esteeme the tenure of a crowne if so it maye be termed the most irreguler and extraordinary euery man is bound to setle his conscience to obey the same in al that lawfully he may commaunde and this without examination of his title or interest for that as I haue said God disposeth of kingdomes and vvorketh his vvil in Princes affayres as he pleaseth and this by extraordinary meanes oftentymes so that if vve should examine the titles at this day of al the Princes of Christendome by the ordinary rule of priuate mens rightes successions or tenures vve should find so many knotts and dificulties as it vvere hard for any law to make the same playne but only the supreme law of gods disposition which can dispense in what he listeth This is my opinion in this behalf for true and quiet obedience and yet on the other side as far of am I from the abiect and vvicked flatery of such as affirme Princes to be subiect to no law or limitation at al either in authority gouerment life or succession but as though by nature they had bin created kings from the begining of the vvorld or as though the common vvealth had bin made for them and not they for the common vvealth or as though they had begotten or purchased or giuen life to the vvealpublique and not that the vvealpublique had exalted them or giuen them their authority honor and dignity so thes flatterers do free them from al obligation dewty reuerence or respect vnto the whole body wherof they are the heades nay expresly they say and affirme that al mens goodes bodies and liues are the Princes at their pleasures to dispose of that they are vnder no law or accompt-giuing whatsoeuer that they succed by nature and generation only and not by any authority admission or approbation of the common wealth and that consequently no merite or demerit of ther persons is to be respected nor any consideration of their natures or qualities to wit of capacity dispositiō or other personal circumstances is to be had or admitted and do they what they list no authority is ther vnder God to thasten them Al thes absurd paradoxes haue some men of our dayes vttered in flatery of Princes and namely of late one Belloy a French man as before I signified in tvvo bookes which he called appologies the one catholique and the other for the king both vvhich he semeth to vvrite in fauour of the king of Nauare and as other also cal him king of France but in my opinion he deserueth smal commendation or revvard to defend a kings title vvith such assertions and propositions as do destroy al law reason conscience and common vvealth and do bring al to such absolute tyrany as no realme euer did or could suffer among ciuil people no not vnder the dominion of the Turke himselse at this day vvher yet some proportion of equity is held betwene the Prince and the people both in gouerment and succession though nothing so much as in Christian nations Wherfore to auoyd thes two extremes I shal proue vnto you the meane before mentioned
good king and much commended by S. Isiodorus Arch bishop of Siuil who yet in the said councel vvas the first man that subscribed to his depriuation After the entrance of the moores also when Spayne vvas reduced agayne to the order gouerment of Spanish kings vve read that about the yeare of Christ 1282. one Don Alonso the eleuenth of that name king of Castile Leon succeded his father Fernando surnamed the sainct and himselfe obteyned the surname of Sabio and Astrologo that is to say of wise and of an Astrologer for his excellent learning peculier skil in that arte as may vvel appeare by the Astronomy tables that at this day go vnder his name which are the most prefect and exact that euer vvere set forth by iudgment of the learned This man for his euel gouerment and espetially for tyranny vsed towards two nephews of his as the spanish Chronicler Garauay writeth vvas deposed of his kingdome by a publique acte of parlament in the towne of Valliodolid after he had reigned 30. yeares and his owne sonne Don Sancho the fourth vvas crowned in his place vvho for his valiant actes was suruamed el brauo and it turned to great commodity of the common wealth The same common vvealth of Spayne some yeares after to wit abont the yeare of Christ 1368. hauing to their king one Don Pedro surnamed the cruel for his iniurious proceding with his subiects though otherwise he were lawfully seased also of the crowne as sonne and heyre to king Don Alonso the twelfth and had reygned among them 18. yeares yet for his euel gouerment they resolued to depose him and so sent for a bastard brother of his named Henry that liued in France requesting him that he would come with some force of french men to assist them in that acte and take the crowne vppon him self which he did and by the help of the Spaniards and Frēch souldiars he draue the said Peter out of Spaine and himselfe vvas crowned And albeit Edward surnamed the black Prince of Ingland by order of his father king Edward the third restored once agayne the said Peter yet vvas it not durable for that Henry hauing the fauour of the Spaniards returned agayne and depriued Peter the second tyme and slew him in fight hand to hād which made shew of more particuler fauour of God in this behalfe to Henry and so he remayned king of Spayne as doth also his progenie inioye the same vnto this day though by nature he vvas bastard as had bin said and not withstanding that king Peter left two daughters vvhich vvere led awaye into Ingland and ther maryed to great Princes And this king Henry so put vp in his place vvas called king Henry the secōd of this name and proued a most excellent king and for his great nobility in conuersation and prouesse in chiualry vvas called by excellency El cauallero the kinghtly king and for his exceding benignity and liberality vvas surnamed also el dela mercedes which is to say the king that gaue many giftes or the liberal franck and bounteful king which was a great change from the other surnamed cruel that king Peter had before so you see that alwayes I gyue you a good king in place of the bad deposed In Portugal also before I goe out of Spayne I wil alleage you one example more which is of Don Sancho the secōd surnamed Capelo fourth king of Portugal lawful sonne and heyre vnto Don Alonso surnamed el Gardo who whas third king of Portugal This Don Sancho after he had raigned 34. yeares was deptiued for his defects in gouerment by the vniuersal consent of al Portugal this his first depriuation from al kingly rule and authority leauing him only the bare name of king vvas approued by a general councel in Lions pope Innocentius the 4. being ther present who at the petition instāce of the vvhole realme of Portugal by their Embassadors the Archbishop of Braga bishop of Comibra and diuers of the nobility sent to Lyons for that purpose did authorize the saide state of Portugal to put in supreme gouerment one Don Alonso brother to the said king Don Sancho vvho was at that tyme Earle of bullen in Picardy by right of his wife and so the Portugales did further also a lytle after they depriued their said king and did driue him out of his realme into Castilla wher he liued al the rest of his life in banishment and dyed in Toledo without euer returning and this decree of the councel and Pope at Lyons for authorizing of this fact is yet extant in our Canon law in the sixt booke of Decretals now in prynt And this king Don Alonso the third vvhich in this 〈◊〉 was put vp against his brother was peaceably prosperously king of Portugal al the dayes 〈◊〉 his lyfe he was a notable king amōg other great exployres he vvas the first that set Portugal free from al subiection dependence and homage to the kingdome of Castile vvhich vnto his tyme it had acknowledged and he left for his successor his sonne and heyre Don 〈◊〉 Fabricador to wit the great buylder for that 〈◊〉 buylded and founded aboue forty and 〈◊〉 great townes in portugal and was a most 〈◊〉 Prince and his ofspring ruleth in Portugal vnto this day Infinite other examples could I alleage if would examyne the lyues and discentes of 〈◊〉 and other kingdomes with their Princes and namely if I would speake of the Greeke Emperors depriued fortheir euel gouerment not so much by populer mutyny which often happened among them as by consent and grane deliberation of the whole state and wealpublique as Michael Calaphates for that he had troden the Crosse of Christ vnder his feete and was otherwise also a wicked man as also the Emperor Nicephorus Botoniates for his dissolute life and preferring wicked men to authority and the like wherof I might name many but it would be to longe What should I name heere the deposition made of Princes in our dayes by other commō wealthes as in Polonia of Henry the third that was last king of France before that had bin sworne king of Polonia of which crowne of Polonia he vvas depriued by publique acte of parlament for his departing thence vvithout licence and not returning at his day by the said state appoynted and deuounced by publique lettres of peremptory commaundedmēt which are yet extant What should I name the depriuations of Henry late king of Suetia vvho being lawful successor and lawfully in possession after his father Gustauus vvas yet put downe by that common vvealth and depriued and his brother made king in his place who if you remember was in Ingland in the beginning of this Queenes reigne whose sonne reygneth at this day is king also of Polonia and this fact was not only allowed of at home
by al the states of that counttey but also a broad as namely of Maximilian the Emperor and approued also by the king of Denmarke and by al the Princes of Germany neere about that realme who saw the resonable causes which that common wealth had to proceed as it did And a litle before that the like was practised also in Denmarke agaynst Cisternus ther lawful king if we respect his discent in blood for he vvas sonne to king Iohn that reigned a fore him and crowned in his fathers life but yet afterwards for his intolerable cruelty he vvas depriued and driuen into banishment together with his vvife and three children al vvhich were disinherited his vncle Frederik Prince of Holsatia vvas chosen king whose progeni yet remayneth in the crowne the other though he were marryed to the sister of Charles the fifth last Emperor of that name and vvere of kyn also to king Henry the eight of Ingland yet could he neuer get to be restored but passed his tyme miserably partly in banishment and partly in prison vntil he dyed But it shal be best perhapps to ende this narration with an example or two out of Ingland it selfe for that no where els haue I read more markable accidents touching this poynt then in Ingland and for breuity sake I shal touch only two or three happened since the cōquest for that I wil go no higher though I might as appeareth by the exāple of K. Edwin others nether vvil I beginne to stand much vppon the example of king Iohn though wel also I might for that by his euel gouerment he made himselfe both so odious at home contemptible abroade hauing lost Normandy Gascony Guyenne and al the rest in effect which the crowne of Ingland had in France as first of al he vvas both excommunicated and deposed by sentence of the pope at the sute of his owne people and vvas inforced to make his peace by resigning his crowne into the handes of Pandulfe the popes legate as Polidor recounteth and afterwards faling back agayne to his old defects and naughtie gouerment albeit by his promise to the pope to go and make warr against the Turkes if he might be quiet at home and that his kyngdome should be perpetually tributary to the sea of Rome he procured him to be of his side for a tyme and against the Barōs yet that stayed not them to proceed to his depriuation which they did effectuate first at Canterbury and after at London in the eighteenth last yeare of king Iohns reigne and meant also to haue disinherited his sonne Henry which vvas afterward named king Henry the third and at that tyme a childe of eight yeares old only and al this in punishement of the father yf he had liued and for that cause they called into Ingland Lodouick the Prince of France sonne to king Philip the second and father to Saynt Lewis the nynth and chose him for their king and did sweare him fealtye with general consent in London the yeare of our Lord 1216. And but that the death of king Iohn that presently ensued altered the vvhole course of that designment and moued them to turne their purposes and accept of his sonne Henry before matters were fully established for king Lodowick it vvas most likely that France and Ingland would haue bin ioyned by thes meanes vnder one crowne But in the end as I haue said king Henry the third vvas admitted and he proued a very wor thi king after so euel as had gon before him and had bin deposed which is a circumstance that you must alwayes note in this narration and he reigned more yeares then euer king in Ingland did before or after him for he reigned ful 53. yeares left his sonne heyre Edward the first not inferior to himselfe in manhode vertue vvho reigned 34. yeares and left a sonne named Edward the second vvho falling into the same defects of gouerment or vvorse then king Iohn his great grandfather had donne was after 19. yeares reigne deposed also by act of parlament holden at London the yeare 1326. his body adiudged to perpetual prison in which he was at that present in the castle of vvallingford vvherher diuers both bishops Lordes knights of the Parlament vvere sent vnto him to denounce the sentence of the realme agaynst him to wit how they had deptiued him and chosen Edward his sonne in his place for vvhich act of choosing his sonne he thanked them hartely and vvith many teares acknowledged his owne vnwoorthines wheruppon he was digraded his name of king first taken from him and he appoynted to be called Edward of Carnaruan from that howre forward and then his crowne and ring were taken away and the steward of his house brake the stafe of his office in his presence and discharged his seruants of their seruice and al other people of ther obedience or allegeance toward him and towardes his mayntenance he had only a hundreth markes a yeare allowed for his expences and then was he delyuered also into the hands of certayne particuler keepers vvho led him prisoner from thence by diuers other places vsing him with extreme indignity in the way vntil at last they tooke his life from him in the castle of Barkley and his sonne Edward the third reigned in his place who if we respect eyther valor provvesse length of reigne acts of cheualry or the multitude of famous Princes his children left behinde him vvas one of the noblest kinges that euer Inglād had though he were chosen in the place of a very euel one as you haue séen But vvhat shal we say is this worthines vvhich God giueth commōly to the successors at thes changes perpetual or certayne by discēt no truly nor the example of one Princes punishment maketh an other to beware for the next successor after this noble Edward vvhich vvas king Richard the second though he were not his sonne but his sonnes sonne to wit sonne and heyre to the excellent and renounced black Prince of vvales this Richard I say forgetting the miserable end of his great grand father for euel gouerment as also the felicity and vertue of his father and grand father for the contrary suffered himselfe to be abused and misled by euel councellors to the great hurte disquietnes of the realme For vvhich cause after he had raigned 22. yeares he was also deposed by act of parlamāt holden in London the yeare of our Lord 1399. and condemned to perpetual prison in the castel of Pomfret vvher he was soone after put to death also and vsed as the other before had bin and in this mānes place by free electiō was chosen for king the noble knight Henry Duke of Lācaster who proued afterwards so notable a king as the world knoweth and vvas father to king Henry the fifth surnamed commonly the Alexander of Ingland for that as Alexander the great conquered the most parte of Asia in the space of 9. or 10. yeares so did this Henry conquere France in lesse then the like tyme. I might recon also in this number of Princes
deposed for defect in gouermēt though otherwise he vvere no euel man in lyfe this king Henry the fourths nephew I meane king Henry the sixt vvho after almost forty yeares reigne vvas deposed and imprisoned and put to death also together vvith his sonne the Prince of wales by Edward the fourth of the howse of yorke the same was confirmed by the commons and especially by the people of London and afterwards also by publique act of parliament in respect not only of the title which king Edward pretended but also and especially for that king Henry did suffer himselfe to be ouerruled by the Queene his wife and had broken the articles of agrement made by the parlament betwene him and the Duke of Yorke and solemnly sworē on both sides the 8. of Octob. in the yeare 1459. In punishment vvherof and of his other negligent and euel gouermēt though for his owne particuler life he vvas a good man as hath bin said sentence was giuen agaynst him partly by force and partly by law and king Edward the fourth vvas put in his place who was no euel king as al Inglish men vvel know but one of the renoumedst for martial actes and iustice that hath worne the Inglish crowne But after this man agayne ther fel an other accident much more notorious vvhich was that Richard Duke of Glocester this king Edwards yonger brother did put to death his two nephewes this mans children to vvit king Edward the fifth and his litle brother made him selfe king and albeit he synned greuously by taking vppon him the crowne in this wicked manner yet when his nephewes were once dead he might in reason seeme to be lawful king both in respect that he was the next male in blood after his said brother as also for that by diuers acts of parlament both before and after the death of thos infantes his title vvas authorized and made good and yet no man vvil say I thinke but that he vvas lawfully also deposed agayne afterward by the cōmō wealth which called out of France Henry Earle of Richmond to chastise him and to put him downe and fo he did and tooke from him both life and kingdome in the fielde and vvas king himselfe after him by the name of king Henry the seuenth and no man I suppose vvil say but that he vvas lawfully king also vvhich yet cannot be except the other might lawfully be deposed moreouer as I sayd at the beginning I vvould haue you consider in al thes mutations what men commonly haue succeded in the places of such as haue bin deposed as namely in Ingland in the place of thos fiue kings before named that vvere depriued to vvit Iohn Edward the second Richard the second Henry the sixt and Richard the third ther haue succeded the three Henryes to wit the third fourth and seuenth two Edwards the third and fourth al most rare valiant Princes who haue donne infinit importanr acts in their cōmon vvealthes and among other haue raysed many houses to nobility put downe others changed states both abroad and at home distributed ecclesiastical dignityes altred the course of discent in the blood royal and the like al which was iniust and is voyd at this day if the chainges and depriuations of the former Princes could not be made and consequently none of thes that do pretende the crowne of Ingland at this day can haue any title at al for that from thos men they discende vvho were put vp in place of the depriued And this may be sufficient for proofe of the two principal poynts which you required to be discussed in the beginning of this spech to wit that lawful Princes haue oftentymes by their common wealthes bin lawfully deposed for misgouerment and that God hath allowed and assisted the same with good successe vnto the weal publique and if this be so or might be so in kings lawfully set in possession then much more hath the said common wealth power authority to alter the succession of such as do but yet pretend to that dignity if ther be dew reason and causes for the same which is the head poynt that first we began to treate of saide the Ciuilian and with this ended his speech vvithout saying any more VVHER IN CONSISTETH PRINCIPALLY THE LAVFVLNES OF PROCEEDING AGAYNST Princes which in the former chapter is mētioned what interest Princes haue in their subiect 's goods or liues how othes doth binde or may be broken by subiects towards Princes and finally the difference betwene a good king and a Tirant CHAP. IIII. VVHEN the Ciuilian had ended his speech the temporal lawyer looked vppon the stāders by to see whether any would reply or no and perceauing al to hold ther peace he began to say in this māner Truly Syr I cannot deny but the examples are many that you haue alleaged and they seme to proue sufficiently that which you affirmed at the beginning to wit that the Princes by you named were depriued and put downe by their common vvealthes for ther euel gouerment And good successors commonly raysed vp 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 cal thes factes in question were to embroyle and turne vp-side-downe al the states of Christen dom as you haue wel signified but yet for that you haue added this vvord lawfully so many tymes in the course of your narration I vvould you tooke the payne to tel vs also by vvhat law they did the same seing that Belloy whom you haue named before and some other of his opinion do affirme that albeit by nature the common vvealth haue authority ouer the Prince to chuse and appoynt him at the beginning as you haue vvel proued out of Aristotle and other vvayes yet hauing once made him and giuen vp al their authority vnto him he is now no more subiect to ther cortection or restraynt but remayneth absolute of himselfe without respect to any but only to god alone vvhich they proue by the example of euery particuler man that hath authority to make his Master or Prince of his inferior but not afterwards to put him downe agayne or to depriue him of the authority vvhich he gaue him though he should not beare himselfe vvel and gratefully but discourtious rather iniuriously towards him that gaue him first this authority To which also they do alleage the speech of the prophet Samuel in the first booke of the kings vvher the people of Israel demaunded to haue a king to gouerne ouer them as other nations round about them had and to leaue the gouerment of the high Prieste vnder
vvith litle intention of performance But in al good and vvel ordered common vveathes wher matters passe by reason conscience vvisdom and consultation and espetially since christian religion hath preuailed giuen perfection to that natural light vvhich morall good men had before in matters of gouerment since that tyme I say this point of mutual and reciprocal othes betvveene Princes and subiects at the day of ther coronation or admission for al are not crowned haue bin much more established made cleare and put in vre And this forme of agreement and conuention betwene the common vvealth and their christian head or king hath bin reduced to a more sacred and religious kinde of vnion and concord then before for that the vvhole actiō hath bin donn by Bishopes and ecclesiastical Prelats and the astipulation and promises made on both sides haue passed and bin giuen receaued and regestred vvith great reuerence in sacred places and with great solemnity of religious ceremonies vvhich before vvere not so much vsed though alvvayes ther weare some And therfore our examples at this tyme shal be only of christian common vvealthes for that they are more peculiarly to our purpose as you wil confesse First then to begin vvith the East or Greeke Emperors of Constantinople as the most anicient among other for that after the Empire once translated from Rome to Constantinople by our Constantine the great and the first Christian Emperor that euer did publiquely shew himselfe for such thes Greeke Emperors were the most eminent Princes of al christianity among vvhom I do finde that albeit ther comming to the crowne were nothing so orderly for the most part as at this day it is vsed but many tymes the meanes therof vvere turbulēt and seditious yet find I as I saye that aboue a thousand yeares gone they vvere wont to haue an oth exacted at their handes by the patriarck of Constantinople vvho was their chiefe Prelate for thus writeth Zonaras of the coronation of Anastatius the first that succeded Zeno about the yeare of Christ 524. Antequam coronaretur fidei confessionem scriptam qua polliceretur se in dogmatibus Ecclesiasticis nihil esse nouaturum ab eo exegit patriarcha Euphemius vir sanctus orthodoxus The Patriarch Euphemius being a holy and catholique man required of Anastatius elected Emperor before he was crowned a confession in writing wherin he should promisse to change or innouate nothing in matters perteyning to the doctrine of the church thus much Zonaras the same haue Nicephorus Euagrius others And not only this but diuers other conditions also doth the same author insinuate that this Anastatius promised at his corouation before he could be crowned as among other things the taking away of certaine tributs and impositions the giuing of offices without money and other like points appertayning to reformation and good gouerment vvhich he performed for a tyme in the beginning of his gouerment but after fel into the heresies of the Eutichians banished this same good Patriach Euphemius that had crowned him he thriued therafter for that he vvas slayne by a thunder bolt from heauē after he had reigned 7. yeares and vvas accompted for a very wicked man by al vvriters for that he had broken as they said the conditions quas graui iuramento scriptis relato confirmasset That is to say the conditions which he had confirmed auowed with a graue oth as sayeth Euagrius The like I read about 300. yeares after recorded by the same author of the Emperor Michael the first in thes wordes Michael vbi diluxit magnam ecclesiam ingressus à Patriarcha Nicephoro imperatorio diademate est ornatus postulaio prius scripto quo promitteret se nulla ecclesiae instituta violaturum neque christianorum sanguine manus contaminaturum Which is Michel new chosen Emperor came early in the morning into the great church of Constantinople and vvas crowned ther with the Emperial crowne by the handes of Nicephorus the Patriach but yet so as hs was first required to swear and promise by writing that he would not violate the ordināces of the church nor contaminat his hands with christian blood which in effect is as much to say as that he should reigne godly iustly and many other such examples might be alleaged but by this it is easy to see what vvas the fassion of admitting and crowning thos gretian Emperors by their Patriarkes in the name of al the common wealth which common wealth was not satisfied with an oth except also it were set downe in vvriting And if we passe to the latine west empyre which about this very tyme was restored by Zacharie the pope and by the whole common wealth of Rome as before hath bin shewed and was giuen to Charles the great and his posterity vve shal fynd that this point is more setled and more in-violably kept yet in this empyre thē in the other for albeit that this empire of the west vvent by succession for the most part at the begining vntil afterwards it vvas appointed by Pope Gregory the fifth to passe by the election of certaine Princes in Germanie that now enioy that priueledge to be electors yet shal vve see alwaies that they euen before this cōstitution when this dignity went by succession were neuer admitted to the same vvithout this circumstance of swearing to conditions of righteous gouerment the forme and manner of which admission for that I find it set downe more perfectly and particulerly in the coronation of Otho the first then of any other Emperor and that by many authors and that this Otho was sonne and heyre vnto the famous Emperor Henry the first of that name Duke of Saxonie surnamed the faulkner for the great delight he had in the flght of faucons for thes causes I meane to begin with the coronation of this man before any other This Otho then sonne as I haue said to Henry the first though being his eldest sonne he vvere also his heyre and so named by Henry him self to the inheritance of the said crowne of Germany yet was he not admitted thervnto vntil he had made his oth and receaued his new approbation by the people for so the story saith that the Archbishop of Moguntia who is the chief primate of al Germany bringing him to the aulter wher he must swear said thes vvords vnto the people Behold I bring you heare Otho chosen by God appointed out by his father Henry our Lord and now made king by al the Princes of this empire if this election please you do you signifie the same by boulding vp your handes to heauen Thus far are the vvordes of the historiographer and then he addeth that al held vp their handes and that theruppon the said archbishop turned ahout to the aulter vvher lay al the oruaments and ensignes of the empyre as the sword vvith the girdle the cloke vvith
of obedience and allegiance and not before which argueth that before they were not bounde vnto him by allegeance and as for the princes of Ingland it is expresly noted by Inglish historiographers in ther coronatiōs how that no allegeance is dew vnto thē before they be crowned that only it happened to Henry the fifth among al other kinges his predecessors to haue this preuilege and this for his exceding to-wardlynes for the great affection of the people towards him that he had homage donne vnto him before his coronation and oth taken Wherof Polidor writeth in thes wordes Princeps Henricus facto patris funere concilium principum apud VVestmonasterium conuocandum curat in quo dum de rege creando more maiorum 〈◊〉 esse ubi continuo aliquot Principes vltro in eius verba mirare coeperunt quod beneuolentiae officium nulli antea priusquam rex renu nciatus esset praestitum constat a 〈◊〉 Henricus ab ineunte aetate spem omnibus optimae inaolis fecit Which in Inglish is this Prince Henry after he had finished his fathers funetals caused a parlament to be gathered at Westminster wher vvhiles consultation vvas had according to the ancient custome of Ingland about creating a new king behold vppon the sudden certaine of the nobility of ther owne free vvilles began to sweare obedience and leyaltie vnto him vvhich demonstration of loue and Good vvil is wel knowne that is was neuer shewed to any Prince before vntil he vvas declared king so great vvas the hope that men had of the towardlynes of this Prince Henry euen from his tender age thus far Polidor in his story of Inglād And the very same thing expresseth Iohn Stow also in his chonicle in thes vvordes To this noble Prince by assent of the parlament al the states of the realme after three dayes offred to do fealtte before he was crowned or had solemnized hu oth wel and iustly to gouerne the common wealth which offer before was neuer found to be made to any Irince of Ingland thus much Stow. in vvhose narration as also in that of Polidor it may be noted that king Henry the fift vvas not called king vntil after his coronation but onlv Prince though his fathe king Henry the fourth had bin dead now almost a month before and secondly that the parlament consulted de Rege creando more maiorum as Polidor his vvords are that is of making a new king according to the ancient custome of ther auncestors vvhich argueth that he vvas not yet king though his father were dead nor that the manner of our old Inglish ancestors vvas to accompt him so before his admission Thirdly that this demonstration of good wil of the nobility to acknowlege him for king before his coronation and oth solemnized wel and iustly to gouerne the realme was very extraordinary and of meere good wil. And last of al that this was neuer donne to any Prince before king Henry the fift al which pointes do demonstrate that it is the coronation and admission that maketh a perfect and true king whatsoeuer the title by succession be otherwise that except the admission of the common wealth be ioyned to succession it is not sufficient to make a lawful king and of the two the second is of far more importance to vvit the consent and admission of the realme then nearnes of blood by succession a-loue This I might proue by many examples in Ingland it selfe wher admission hath preuayled against right of succession as in William Rufus that suceeded the Conquerer and in king Henry the first his brother In king Stephen king Iohn and others vvho by only admission of the realme were kings against the order of succession as after more at large I shal shew you in a particuler spech vvhich of this point I shal make unto you and very specially it may be seene in the two examples before mentioned of the admission of the two kings Henry and Edward both surnamed the fourth vvhos entrances to the crowne if a man dovvel consider he shal find that both of them founded the best part and most surest of their titles vppon the election consent and good wil of the people yea both of them at their dying dayes hauing some remorse of cōscience as it semed for that they had caused so many men to dye for mayntenance of ther seueral rightes and titles had no better way to appease ther owne mynds but by thinking that they were placed in that rome by the voice of the realme and consequētly might lawfully defend the same punish such as went about to depriue them Moreouer you shal finde if you looke into the doings of Princes in al ages that such kings as vvere most politique and had any lest doubt or suspicion of trobles about the title after ther deathes haue caused their sonnes to be crowned in their owne dayes trusting more to this then to their title by succession though they vvere neuer so lawfully lineally discended And of this I could alleage you many examples out of diuers countryes but especially in France since the last lyne of Capetus came vnto that crowne for this did Hugh Capetus himselfe procure to be donne to Robert his eldest sonne in his owne dayes and the like did king Robert procure for his yonger sonne Henry the first as Girard holdeth and excluded his elder only by crowning Henry in his owne daies Henty also did entreat the states of Frace as before you haue hard to admitt crowne Phillip the first his eldest sonne vvhiles himselfe reigned and this mans sonne Luys lc Cros did the same also vnto tvvo sonnes of his first to Phillip and after his death to Luys the yonger both vvhich vvhere crowned in ther fathers life time this Luys agayne the yonger vvhich is the seuenth of that name for more assuring of his sonne named Phillip the secōd entreated the realme to admit crowne him also in his owne dayes vvith that great solemnity vvhich in the former chapter hath bin declared And for this very same cause of securitie it is not to be doubted but that alvvayes the prince of Spayne is sworne and admitted by the realme during his fathers reigne as before hath bin said The same consideration also moued king Dauid to crowne his sonne Salomon in his owne dayes as aftervvard more in particuler shal be declared and finally our king Henry also the second of Ingland considering the alteration that the realme had made in admitting king Stephen before him against the order of lineal successiō by propinquity of blood and fearing that the like might happen also after him caused his eldest sonne named likewise Henry to be crowned in his life time so as ingland had two king Henries liuing at one tyme vvith equal authoritie and this was done in the 16. yeare of his reigne and in the yeare of
this second tyme in the warr of Ierusalem and so lost therby his kingdome as before Henry hauing no other title in the world vnto it but by election and admission of the people which yet he so defended afterwards against his said brother Robert that came to clayme it by the sword and god did so prosper him ther-in as he tooke his said elder brother prisoner and so kept him for many yeares vntil 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 Emperor Henry the fift he dyed without issue and then vvas she married agayne the secōd tyme to Geffry Plantagenet Earle of Anjow in France to whom she bare a sonne named Henry vvhich this king Henry his grand father caused to be declared for heyre apparent to the crowne in his dayes but yet after his disceasse for that Stephē Earle of Bollogne borne of Adela daughter to William the Conqueror was thought by the state of Ingland to be more fitt to gouerne and to defend the land for that he was at mans age then vvas prince Henry a child or Maude his mother he vvas 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 Glastenbury and others vvho thought be like they might do the same with good conscience for the good of the realme though the euent proued not so wel for that it drew al Ingland into factions and diuisions for auoyding and ending wherof the states some years after in a parlament at Wallingford made an agrement that Stephen should be lavvful king during his life only and that Henry and his ofspring should succede him and that prince William king Stephens sonne should be dcpriued of his succession to the crowne and made only Earle of Norfolcke thus dyd the state dispose of the crowne at that tyme vvhich vvas in the yeare of Christ 1153. To this Henry succeded by order his eldest sonne then liuing named Richard and surnamed Cordelyon for his Valor but after him agayne the succession vvas broken For that Iohn king Henries yongest sonne to vvit yōger brother to Richard vvhom his father the king had left so vnprouided as in iest he vvas called by the french Iean sens terre as if you vvould saye Sir Iohn lacke-land this man I say vvas after the death of his brother admitted and crowned by the states of Ingland and Arthur Duke of Britaine sonne and heyre to Geffery that vvas elder brother to Iohn vvas against the ordinarie course of succession excluded And albeit this Arthur did seeke to remedy the matter by warr yet it semed that god did more defend this election of the common wealth then the right title of Arthur by succession for that Arthur vvas ouer-come and taken by king Iohn though he had the king of Fraunce on his side and he dyed pitifully in prison or rather as most authors do hold he was put to death by king Iohn his vncles own handes in the castle of Roan therby to make his title of succession more cleare which yet could not be for that as wel Stow in his Chronicle as also Mathew of westminster and others before him do write that Geffrey besides this sonne left two daughters also by the lady Cōstance his wife Countesse heyre of Britaine which by the law of Ingland should haue succeded before Iohn but of this smal accōpt seemed to be made at that day Some yeares after when the Barons and states of Ingland misliked vtterly the gouerment and proceeding of this king Iohn they reiected him agayne chose Luys the prince of France to be ther king and dyd sweare fealtie to him in London as before hath bin saide and they depriued also the yong prince Hēry his sonne that was at that tyme but of 8. yeares ould but vppon the death of his father king Iohn that shortly after insued they recalled agayne that sentence admitted this Henry to the crowne by the name of king Henry the third and disanulled the oth and allegeance made vnto Luys Prince of France and so king Henry reigned for the space of 53. yeares afterwards the lōgest reygne as I thinke that any before or after him hath had in Ingland Moreouer you know that from this king Henry the third do take their first beginning the two branches of York and Lācaster which after fell to so great contention about the crowne Into which if we vvould enter vve should see playnly as before hath bin noted that the best of al their titles after the depositiō of king Richard the second depended of this authority of the common wealth for that as the people were affected and the greater parte preuailed so were their titles ether allowed cōfirmed altered or disa nulled by parlaments and yet may not we wel affirme but that ether part vvhen they vvere in possession and confirmed therin by thes parlaments were lawful kings and that God concurred vvith them as vvith true princes for gouermēt of their people for if vve should deny this pointe as before hath bin noted great inconueniences vvould follow vve should shake the states of most princes in the world at this day as by examples which alredy I haue alleaged in part may appeare And vvith this also I meane to conclude and end this discourse in like manner affirming that as on the one side propinquity of bloode is a great preheminence towards the atteyning of any crowne so yet doth is not euer bynde the commō wealth to yeald ther-vnto if waightier reasons should vrge them to the contrary nether is the common wealth bound alwayes to shutt her eyes and to admit at hap-hazard or of necessity euery one that is next by succession of bloode as Belloy falsely fondly affirmeth but rather she is bound to consider vvel and maturely the person that is to enter vvhether he be like to performe his duety and charge committed vnto him or no for that otherwise to admitt him that is an enimye or vnfitt is but to destroy the common wealth and him together This is my opinion and this seemeth to me to be conforme to al reason law religion piety vvisdome and pollicy and to the vse and custome of al vvel gouerned common wealthes in the vvorld nether do I meane heereby to preiudice any princes pretence or succession to any crowne or dignitie in the vvorld but rather do hold that he ought to enioy his preheminence but yet so that he be not preiudical therby to the whole body which is euer to be respected more then any one person vvhatsoeuer Belloy or other of his opinion do say to the contrary Thus said the Ciuilian and being called vppon and drawne to a new matter by the question that ensueth he made his last discourse conclusion
handle her tytle to the crowne of Ingland and the third dyd answer the booke of Ihon Knox the Scott intituled against the monstruous gouerment of women Of al vvhich three pointes for that the second that conserneth the tytle is that vvhich properly appertayneth to out purpose and for that the same is handled agayne and more largely in the second booke set out not longe after by Ihon lesley lord bishope of Rosse in Scotland vvho at that tyme was Embassador for the saide Queene of Scottes in Ingland and handled the same matter more abundantly vvhich M. Morgan had donne before hym I shal saye no more of this booke of M. Morgan but shal passe ouer to that of the bishope vvhich in this point of succession conteyneth also vvhat soeuer the other hath so as by declaring the contentes of the one vve shal come also to see vvhat is in the other The intent then of this book of the bishope of Rosse is to refute the other booke of Hales and Bacon and that especially in the two points before mentioned which they alleaged for their principles to witt about forrayne birth and king Henries testament And against the first of these two pointes the bishop alleageth many proofes that ther is no such maxima in the cōmon lawes of Ingland to disherit a prince borne out of the land from his or her right of succession that they haue by blood And this first for that the statute made for barring of alliens to inherit in Ingland vvhich was in the 25. yeare of the reigne of king Edward the third is only to be vnderstood of particuler mens inheritance and no wayes to be extended to the succession of the crowne as by comparison of many other like cases is declared and secondly for that ther is expresse exception in the same statute of the kings children and of spring and thirdly for that the practise hath alwayes bin contrary both before and after the conquest to vvit that diuers princes borne out of the realme haue succeded The other principle also concerning king Henryes testament the bishop impugneth first by diuers reasons incongruities vvherby it may be presumed that king Henry neuer made any such testament and if he did yet could it not hold in law And secondly also by vvitnes of the Lord Paget that was of the priuy councel in those dayes of Sir Edward Montague lord chiefe iustice and of one VVilliam Clark that set the kings stamp to the writing al which anowed before the councel and parlament in Queene Maryes tyme that the said testament vvas signed after the king vvas past sense and memory And finally the said bishop concludeth that the line of Scotland is the next euery way both in respect of the house of Lancaster and also of York for that they are next heyres to K. Henry the eight who by his father was heyre to the house of Lancaster and by his mother to the house of york But after these three bookes was vvritten a fourth by one Robart Highinton secretary in tyme past to the Earle of Northumberland a man wel read in storyes and especially of our coūtrey who is said to be dead some yeares past in Paris This man impugneth al three formet bookes in diuers principal points and draweth the crowne from both their pretendors I meane as wel from the house of Scotland as from that of Suffolk and first against the booke of Hales and Sir Nicholas Bacon writen as hath bin said in fauour of the house of Suffolk Heghington holdeth with the Bishop and Morgan that thes two principles layd by the other of forayne birth and of king Henries restament against the Scotish line are of no Validity as nether ther reasons for legitrimating of the Earle of Hartfords children vvhich afterward shal be handled And secondly he is against bothe Morgan the Bishop of Rosse also in diuers important points and in the very principal of al for that this man I meane Highington maketh the king of Spayne to be the next and most righful pretender by the house of Lancaster for proofe vvherof he holdeth first that king Henry the 7. had no title in deede to the crowne by Lācaster but only by the house of York that is to saye by his marriage of Queene Elizabeth elder daughter to king Edward the fourth for that albeit himselfe were discended by his mother from Iohn of Gaunt duke of Lancaster yet this vvas but by his third vvife Catherin Swynford and that the true heyres of Blanch his first vvife duches and heyre of Lācaster to whom sayth he apperteyned only the successiō after the death of king Henry the sixth and his sonne with whom ended the line male of that house remayned only in Portugal by the mariage of Lady Phillip daughter of the foresaid Blanch to kinge Ihon the first of Portugal that for as much as king Phillip of Spaine saith this man hath now succeded to al the righte of the kings of Portugal to him appertayneth also the only right succession of the house of Lancaster and that al the other discendents of king Henry the 7. are to pretend only by the title of Yorke I meane aswel the line of Scotland as also of Suffolk and Huntington for that in the house of Lancaster king Phillip is euidently before them al. Thus holdeth Heghington alleaginge diuers stories arguments and probabilities for the same then adioyneth two other propositions which do importe most of al to vvit that the title of the house of Lancaster was far better then that of York not for that Edmond Crokback first founder of the house of Lancaster vvho was sonne to king Henry the third and brother to king Edward the first was eldest to the said Edward and iniurioufly put back for his deformity in body as both the said bishop of Rosse and George Lylly do falsly hold and this man refuteth by many good arguments but for that lohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster being the eldest sonne that King Edward the third had a liue when he dyed should in right haue succeded in the crowne as this man holdeth and should haue bin preferred before Richard the second that was the black princes sonne vvho vvas a degree further of from king Edward the third his grandfather then vvas lohn of Gaunt to whom king Edward vvas father and by this occasion this man cometh to discusse at large the opinions of the lawyers vvhether the vncle or the nephew should be preferred in the succession of a crowne to vvit vvhether the yonger brother or the elder brothers sonne if his father be dead vvithout being seased of the same which is a point that in the ciuil law hath great disputation and many great authors on each side as this man sheweth and the matter also wanteth not examples on both pattes in the succession of diuets Inglish kings as our frend the ciuil lawyer did signifie also in his discourse
to Stephen countie Palatine of Bloys Champagne and Chartres in France and the other two Polidor saith dyed before they were marryed and so their names vvere not recorded These are the children of king William the Conqueror among whom after his death ther vvas much strife about the succession For first his eldest sonne duke Robert vvho by order of ancestrie by birthe should haue succeded him in al his estares was put back first from the kingdome of Ingland by his third brother William Rufus vppon a pretence of the Conquerors vvil and testament for perticuler affection that he had to this his said third sonne William though as Stow writeth almost al the nobility of Inglande vvere against Williās entrance But in the end agreement vvas made between the two brothers vvithe condition that if William should dye vvithout issue then that Robert should succed him and to this accord both the princes themselues and twelue principal peeres of ech side vvere sworne but yet after when VVilliam dyed vvithout issue this vvas not obserued but Henry the fourth sonne entred and depriued Robert not only of this his succession to Ingland but also of his dukedome of Normandie that he had enioyed peaceably before al the tyme of his brother Rufus and moreouer he toke him prisoner so caryed him into Ingland and ther kept him vntil his death which happened in the castle of Cardif in the yeare 1134. And vvhereas this Duke Robert had a goodly prince to this sonne named VVilliam who vvas duke of Normandy by his father earle of Flanders in the right of his grand mother that was the Cōquerors wife daughter of Baldwin Earle of Flanders as hath bin said and vvas established in both these states by the help of Lewys the 6. surnamed le gros king of France and admitted to do homage to hym for the saide states his vncle king Henry of Englād was so violent against him as first he draue him out of the state of Normandy and secondly he set vp and maynteyned a competitor or two against him in Flanders by whome finally he was slaine in the yeare of Christ 1128. before the towne of Alost by an arrow after he had gotten the vppet hand in the feild and so ended the race of the first sonne of king William the Conqueror to wit of duke Robert vvhich Robert liued after the death of his saide sonne and heyre duke VVilliam six yeares in prison in the castel of Cardife and pyned avvay vvith sorrow and miserie as both the Frenche and Inglishe histories do agree The second sonne of the Conqueror named Richard dyed as before hath bin sayde in his fathers tyme and left no issue at al as did neither the third sōne Williā Rufus though he reigned 13. yeares after his father the Conqueror in which tyme he established the successiō of the crowne by consent of the stares of Ingland to his elder brother duke Roberts issue as hath bin saide though afterward it was not obserued This Kinge Rufus came to the crowne principally by the help and fauour of Lanfrancus Archbishop of Canterbury who greatly repēted himselfe afterward of the error vvhich in that point he had committed vppō hope of his good gouerment which proued extreeme euel But this king William Rufus being slayne afterward by the error of a crosbow in newforest as is vvel knowne and this at such tyme as the foresaid duke Robert his elder brother to vvhom the crowne by succession apparteyned was absent in the vvarr of the holy land vvher according as most authors do vvrit he vvas chosen king of Hierusalem but refused it vppon hope of the kingdome of Ingland But he returning home foūde that his fowerth brother Henry partly by fayre promises and partly by force had inuaded the crowne in the yeare 1100. and so he reygned 35. yeares and had issue diuers sonnes and daughters but al vvere either drowned in the seas comming out of Normandie or els dyed otherwise before their father except only Mathildis vvho vvas first marryed to Henry the Emperor fift of that name and after his death without issue to Geffrey Platagenet duke of Anjow Tourayne and Mayne in France by whom she had Henry which reigned after king Stephen by the name of Henry the second and thus much of the sonnes of William the Conqueror Of his two daughters that lyued to be maryed and had issue the elder named Constance vvas maryed to Alayn fergat duke of Britanie vvho vvas sonne to Hoel earle of Nantes and vvas made duke of Britanie by VVilliam Cōquerors meanes in manner following Duke Robert of Normandy father to the Conqueror vvhen he went in pilgrimage vnto the holy land in which voyage he dyed left for gouernour of Normandy vnder the protection of king Henry the first of france duke Alayne the first of Britanie vvhich Allayn had issue Conan the first vvho being a stirringe prince of about 24. yeares old when duke VVilliam began to treat of passing ouer into Ingland he shewed himselfe not to fauour much that enterprise which duke VVilliam fearing caused him to be poysoned vvith a payre of perfumed gloues as the French stories do report and caused to be set vp in his place and made duke one Hoel earle of Nantes who to gratifie VVilliam sent his sonne Alaine surnamed Fergant with 5000. souldiars to passe ouer into Ingland vvith him and so he did VVilliam afterward in recompēce heer-of gaue him his eldest daughter Constantia in mariage vvith the earldome of Richmond by vvhom he had issue Conan the second surnamed le gros who had issue a sonne and a daughter The sonne vvas called Hoel as his grand father was and the daughters name was Bertha marryed to Eudo Earle of 〈◊〉 in Normandy for that this duke Conan liked better his daughter and his sonne in law her husband then he did Hoel his owne sonne he disauowed him in his death bedde and made his said daughter his heyre who had by the said Eudo a sonne named Conan surnamed the yonger which vvas the third duke of that name and this man had one only daughter and heyre named Lady Constance who whas marryed to the third sonne of king Henry the second named Geffrey elder brother to king Ihon that after came to rayne by this Lord Geffrey she had issue Arthur the second duke of Britanie whom king Iohn his vncle put back from the crowne of Ingland and caused to be put to death as after shal be shewed and he dying without issue his mother Constance duchesse heyre of Britanie marryed agayne vvith a prince of her owne house vvhom after vve shall name in the prosecution of this lyne and by him she had issue that hath indured vntil this day the last vvherof hitherto is the lady Isabella infanta of Spaine that other of Sauoy her sister whom by this meanes we se to haue
placed in the Tower though soone after by the suddaine death of king Iohn that course vvas altered agayne Henry his sonne admitted for king And thus much of the sonnes of king Hēry the second but of his daughters by the same lady Elenor heyre of Gascony Belforest in his story of France hath these wordes following King Henry had foure daughters by Elenor of Aquiraine the eldest vvherof vvas marryed to Alonso the 9. of that name king of Castile of vvhich marryage issued Queene Blanch mother to S. Lewis king of France The second of these two daughters vvas espoused to Alexis Emperor of Constantinople The third vvas married to the duke of Saxony and the fourth vvas giuen to the earle of Tholosa thus being the french stories of these daughters Of the marriage of the eldest daughter of these foure whose name was Elenor also as her mothers vvas vvith king Alonso the 9. of Castile ther proceeded many children but only one sonne that liued whose name vvas Henry vvho vvas king of Castile after his father by the name of Henry the first and dyed quickly vvithout issue and besides this Henry tvvo daughters also vvere borne of the same mariage of which the eldest and heyre named Blanch vvas married by intercession of her vncle king Iohn of Ingland vvith the foresaid Prince Lewis of France with this expresse cōdition as both Polidor in his Inglish story Garibay the chronicler of Spayne do affirme that she should haue for her dowry al the states that king Iohn had lost in France vvhich were almost al that he had there and this to the end he might not seeme to haue lost them by force but to haue giuen them with the mariage of his Neece and so this mariage vvas made and her husband Lewis was afterward chosen also king of Ingland by the Barons and sworne in London as before hath bin saide hereby also the Infanta of Spaine before mentioned that is discended lineally from both these princes I meane as wel from Queene Blanch as from Lewys is proued to haue her pretence fortified to the interest of Ingland as afterward shal be declared more at large in dew place The second daughter of king Alonso the 9. by Queen Elenor vvas named Berenguela and vvas married to the prince of Leon in Spayne and had by him a sonne named Fernando vvho afterward vvhen king Henry her brother vvas dead vvas admitted by the Castilians for their king by the name of Fernando the fourth as before the Ciuilian hath noted and Blanch vvith her sonne S. Lewis though she vvere the elder vvas put by the crowne against al right of succession as Garibay the Spaniard Chronicler noteth and confesseth Heerby then some do gather that as the first interest which the crowne of Ingland had to the states of Gascony Guyne and Poyters came by a vvoman so also did it come to France by the right of this foresaid Blanch wherof the fauourers of the Infanta of Spaine do saye that she being now first and next in blood of that house ought to inherite al these and such like states as are inheritable by vvomen or came by womē as the former states of Gascony and Guvne did to king Henry the second by Queen Elenor his wife and Normandie by Mathilda his mother and both of them to France by this former interest of Blanch and more they saye that his lady Blanch mother to King S. Lewis vvhose heyre at this daye the infanta of spayne is should by right haue inherited the kingdome of Ingland also after the murther of Duke Arthur and his sister Elenor for that she was the next of kynne vnto them at that tyme vvhich could be capable to succede them for that king Iohn himselfe vvas vncapable of their succession whom he had murthered and his sonne Henry vvas not then borne nor in diuers yeares after and if he had bin yet could he receaue no interest therunto by his father vvho had none himselfe of al vvhich points ther vvilbe more particuler occasion to speak hereafter Now then I come to speak of king Henry the third vvho was sonne to this king Iohn and from whom al the three houses before mentioned of Britanie Lancaster and Yorke do seeme to issue as a triple branch out of one tree albeit the royal line of Britanie is more ancient and vvas deuided before euen from William Conquerors tyme as hath bin shewed yet do they knytt againe in this king Henry for that of king Henry the third his eldest sonne named prince Edward the first discended Edward the second and of him Edward the third from whom properly riseth the house of Yorke And of his secōd sonne Edmond surnamed crooke-backs county Palatine of Lancaster issued the dukes of Lancaster vntil in the third dissent vvhen the Lady Blanch heyre of that house matched vvith Iohn of Gaunt third sonne of king Edward the third from which mariage rose afterward the formal diuision of these two houses of Lancaster and Yorke also two distinct branches of Lancaster Besides these two sonnes king Henry the third had a daughter named lady Beatrix whom he marryed to Iohn the second of that name duke of Britanie vvho after vvas stayne at Lions in France by the fal of an old wall in the coronation of pope Clement the 5. of that name in the yeare of Christ 1298. and for that the frēdes of the Infanta of Spayne do seeke to strengthen her title by this her discent also of the royal blood of Ingland from Henry the third as afterward shal be declared I wil breifly in this place continew the pedegree of the house of Britanie from that I left before euen to our dayes I shewed before in this chapter that Geffrey the third sonne to king Henry the second and duke of Britanie by his wife being dead his two children Arthur and Elenor put to death by their vncle king Iohn in Ingland as before hath bin said it fel out that Constance duchesse and heyre of Britanie marryed agayne to Guy viscond of Touars and had by him two daughters wherof the eldest named Alis vvas duchesse of Britanie and marryed to Peter Brien earle of Drusse and by him had Iohn the first of that name duke of Britanie vvhich Iohn the first had issue Iohn the second vvho marryed lady Beatrix before mētioned daughter to king Henry the third and by her had the second Arthur duke of Britanie to vvhom succeded his eldest sonne by his first wife named Iohn the third who dying without issue left the very same trouble and garboyle in Britanie about the succession betweene the two noble houses of Bloys and Monford the one maynteyned by France and the other by Ingland as soone after vppon the very like occasion happened in Ingland betweene the houses of Lancaster York as after shal be shewed And not long after that againe the like
affliction also ensewed in France though not for succession but vppon other occasions betwene the great and royal houses of Burgundy and Orleans vvherby al three common wealthes I meane Ingland Britanie and France vvere like to haue come to distruction and vtter desolation And for that it may serue much to our purpose hereafter to vnderstand vvel this contiousie of Britanie I thinke it not amisse in few vvordes to declare the same in this place thus then it happened The foresaid Arthur the secōd of that name duke of Britanie and sonne of Lady Beatrix that was daughter as hath bin said to king Henry the third of Ingland had two vviues the first named Beatrix as his mother vvas and by this he had two sonnes Iohn that succeded him in the state by the name of duke Iohn the third and Guye that dying before his elder brother left a daughter and heyre named Ioan and surnamed the lame for that she halted who vvas marryed to the earle of Bloys that vvas nephew to Phillip of Valois king of France for that he vvas borne of his sister But besides these two children the said duke Arthur had by his second wife named Ioland countesse and heyre of the earldome of Monford an other sonne called Iohn Breno vvho in the right of his mother vvas earle of Monford And afterward vvhen duke Iohn the third came to die vvithout issue the question vvas who should succede him in his dukedome the vncle or the neece that is to saye his third brother Iohn Breno by half bloode or els his Neece Ioan the lame that vvas daughter and heyre to his second brother Guye of whole bloode that is by father and mother which lady Ioan was marryed to the earle of Bloys as hath byn said And first this matter vvas handled in the parlament of Paris the king himselfe sitting in iudgment vvith al his peeres the 30. day of Septemb. 1341. and adiuged it to the earle of Bloys both for that his wife vvas heyre to the elder brother as also for that duke Iohn by his testament and consent of the states had appointed her to be his heyre but yet king Edward the third and states of Ingland did iudge it otherwise and preferred Iohn Monford not knowing that the very like case vvas to fal out very soone after in Ingland I meane they iudged the state to Iohn Breno earle of monford yonger brother to Guye they did assist him and his sonne after him vvith al their forces for the gayning and holding of that state And albeit at the beginning it seemed that matters went against Monford for that himselfe vvas taken prisoner in Nantes and carryed captiue to Paris vvhere he dyed in prison yet his sonne Iohn by the assistance of the Inglish armies gat the dukedome afterward and slew the earle of Bloys and vvas peaceably duke of Britanie by the name of Iohn the fourth and his posterity hath indured vntil this day as briefly heere I wil declare This duke Iohn the fourth of the house of Monford had issue Iohn the fift he Francis the first vvho dying without issue left the dukedome to Peter his brother and Peter hauing no children neither he left it to his vncle Arthur the third brother to his father Iohn the fift and this Arthur vvas earle of Richmond in Ingland as some of his ancestors had bin before him by gyftes of the kings of Ingland This Arthur dying without issue left the dukdome vnto his nephew to vvit his brothers sonne Francis the second who vvas the last male child of that race and was he that had once determyned to haue deliuered Henry earle of Richmond vnto his enimye king Edward the fourth and after him to king Richard the 3. but that Henries good fortune reserued him to come to be king of Ingland This duke Francis had a daughter and heyre named Anna marryed first to Charles the eight king of France and after his death without issue to his successor Lewis the 12. by whome she had a daughter named Claudia that was heyre to Britanie though not to the crowne of France by reason of the law Salique that holdeth against vvomen in the kingdome of Frace but not in Britanie and to the end this dukdome should not be disvnited agayne from the said crowne of France this daughter Claudia vvas marryed to Francis duke of Angoleme heyre apparent to the crowne of France by vvhom she had issue Henry that was afterward king of France and vvas father to the last king of that country and to Ysabel mother of the Infanta of Spayne and of her sister the duchesse of Sauoye that now is by which also some do affirme that the said princesse or Infanta of spayne albeit she be barred from the successiō of France by their pretended law Salique yet is her title manifest to the dukdome of Britanie that came by a woman as we haue shewed and thus much of the house of Britanie and of the princesse of Spaine how she is of the blood royal of Ingland from the tyme of VVilliam Conqueror himselfe by his eldest daughter as also by other kings after him and now we shall returne to prosecute the issue of these two sonnes of king Henry the third to wit of Edward and Edmond which before we left I shewed yon before how king Henry the third had two sonnes Edward the prince that vvas king after his father by the name of Edward the first and Edmond surnamed crokback by some writers who vvhas the first earle and county Palatine of Lancaster and beginner of that house And albeit some writers of our tyme haue affirmed or at least wise much inclined to fauour a certayne old report that Edmōd should be the elder brother to Edward and put back only for his deformity of his body wherof Polidor doth speak in the begining of the reigne of king Henry the fourth and as vvel the Bishop of Rosse as also George Lylly do seeme to beleeue it yet euident it semeth that is was but a fable as before I haue noted and now againe I shall briefly proue it by these reasōs following for that it importeth very muche for deciding the cōtrouersie between the howses of Lancaster and yorke The first reason then is for that al ancient historiographers of Ingland and among them Matheus Westmonasteriensis that liued at the same tyme do affirme the cōtrary and do make Edward to be elder then Edmond by six yeares and two dayes for that they appointe the birth of Prince Edward to haue bin vppon the 16. day of Iune in the yeare of Christ 1239 the 24. of the reigne of his father king Henry and the birth of Lord Edmond to haue followed vppon the 18. day of the same moneth 6. yeares after to wit in the yeare of our lord 1245. and they do name the godfathers and godmothers of them both together with the peculier
and after made duke of Hereford by king Richard the second and after that came to be duke also of Lancaster by the death of his father and lastely vvas made king by the deposition of his cosen germaine the said king Richard and reigned 13. yeares by the name of king Henry the fourth and vvas the first king of the house of Lācaster of the right of vvhose title examination shal be made afterwards The first of the two daughters vvhich Iohn of Gaunt had by Blanch vvas named Phillip vvho was marryed to Iohn the first of that name king of Portugal by whom she had issue Edward king of Portugal and he Alfonsus the fift he Iohn the second so one after another euen vnto our dayes The second daughter of Iohn of Gaunt by lady Blanch vvas named Elizabeth vvho was marryed to Iohn Holland duke of Excester she had issue by him an other Iohn duke of Excester and he had issue Henry duke of Excester that dyed without issue male leauing only one daughter named Anne vvho vvas marryed to Sir Thomas Neuill knight and by him had issue Raffe Neuill third earle of Westmerland whose lineal heyre is at this day Lord Charles Neuill earle oft Westmerland that liueth banished in Flanders And this is al the issue that Iohn of Gaunt had by lady Blanch his first vvife sauing only that I had forgotten to prosecute the issue of Henry his first sonne surnamed of Bolenbrok that vvas afterward called king Henry the fourth which king had 4. sonnes and tvvo daughters his daughters vvere Blanch and Phillip the first marryed to William duke of Bauaria and the second to Erick king of Denmarke and both of them dyed without children The four sonnes vvere first Henry that reygned after him by the name of Henry the fift and the second vvas Thomas duke of Clarence the third vvas Iohn duke of Bedford and the fourth vvas Humfrey duke of Glocester al vvhich three dukes dyed vvithout issue or vvere slaine in vvarres of the realme so as only king Henry the fift their elder brother had issue one sonne named Henry also that vvas king and reigned 40. yeares by the name of Henry the sixt who had issue prince Edward both of them I meane both father sonne were murthered by order or permissiō of Edward duke of Yorke vvho afterward tooke the crowne vppon him by the name of king Edward the fourth as before hath bin said so as in this king Henry the 6. and his sonne prince Edward ended all the blood royal male of the house of Lancaster by Blanch the first wife of Iohn of Gaunt and the inheritance of the said lady Blanch returned by right of succession as the fauorers of the howse of Portugal affirme though others deny it vnto the heyres of lady Phillip her eldest daughter marryed into Portugal vvhose nephew named Alfonsus the fift kinge of Portugal liued at that day when king Henry the 6. and his heyre were made away and this much of Iohn of Gaunts first marriage But after the death of the L. Blanch Iohn of Gaunt marryed the Lady Constance daughter and heyre of Peter the first surnamed the cruel king of Castile who being driuen out of his kingdome by Henry his bastard brother assisted therunto by the french he fledd to Burdeaux vvith his wife tvvo daughters where he founde prince Edward eldest sonne to king Edward the third by vvhom 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 withe hym which daughters being sent afterwards into Inglād the eldest of them named Constance was marryed to Iohn of Gaunt and by her title he named himselfe for diuers yeares afterward king of Castile and went to gayne the same by armes when Peter her father vvas stayne by his foresaid bastard brother but yet some yeares after that againe their vvas an agrement made betweene the said Iohn of Gaunt and Iohn the first of that name king of Castile sonne and heyre of the foresaid Henry the bastard vvith condition that Catherine the only daughter of Iohn of 〈◊〉 by lady Cōstance should marry vvith Henry the third prince of Castile sonne and heyre of the said king Iohn and nephew to the bastard Henry the 2. and by this meanes vvas ended that controusie betweene Ingland and Castile and the said L. Catherine had issue by king Henry Iohn the 2. king of Castile he Isabell that marryed with Ferdinando the Catholique king of Aragon and ioyned by that marriage both those kingdomes together and by him she had a daughter named Ioan that marryed Phillip duke of Austria and Burgundy and by him had Charles the fifth that vvas Emperor and father to king Phillip that now reigneth in Spaine vvho as we see is descēded tvvo waies from Iohn of Gaunt duke of Lancaster to vvit by two daughters begotten of two wiues Blanch and Constance nether had Iohn of Gaunt any more childrē by Constance but only this daughter Catherine of vvhom vve haue spoken vvherfore now vve shal speake of his third vvife that vvas Lady Catherine Swinford This lady Catherin as Inglish histories do note vvas borne in Henalt in Flanders was daughter to a knight of that country called Sir Payne de Ruet and she vvas brought vp in her youth in the duke of Lancasters house and attended vppon his first wife lady Blanch and being fayre of personage grew in such fauour vvith the duke as in the tyme of his second wife Constance he kept this Catherin for his concubin and begat vppon her fower children to vvit three sonnes and a daughter vvhich daughter vvhose name vvas Iane was marryed to Raph earle of Westmerland called commonly in those dayes Daw Raby of whom descended the Earles of VVestmerland that insued His three sonnes were Iohn Thomas and Henry and Iohn vvas first earle and then duke of Sommerset Thomas vvas first marques Dorset and then duke of Excester Henry vvas Bishop of VVinchester and after Cardinal And after Iohn of Gaunt had begotten al thes 4. children vppon Catherin he marryed her to a knight in Ingland named Swinford vvhich knight lyued not many yeares after Iohn of Gaunt comming home to Ingland from Aquitaine vvher he had bin for diuers yeares and seing this old concubine of his Catherine to be now a widow and himselfe also without a wife for that the lady Cōstance vvas dead a litle before for the loue that he bore to the children which he had begotten of her he determyned to marry her and therby the rather to legitimate her childrē though himselfe vvere old now and al his kyndred vtterly against the marriage and so not ful two yeares before his death to wit in the yeare of Christ 1396. he married her and the next yeare after in a parlament begun at Westminster the 22. of Ianuary
so as this is al that is needful to be spoken of the house of York in which vve see that the first and principal competitor is the king of Scots and after him Arbella and the children of the earles of Hartford and Darby are also competitors of the same house as discended by the daughter of the first brother Edward duke of Yorke and king of England and then the Earle of Huntington and his generation as also the Pooles Barringtons and others before named are or may be titlers of York as descended of George duke of Clarence second sonne of Richard duke of Yorke all vvhich issue yet seme to remayne only within the compasse of the house of Yorke for that by the former pedegre of the house of Lancaster it seemeth to the fauorets of this howse that none of these other cōpetitors are properly of the line of Lancaster for that king Henry the 7. comming only of Iohn of Gaunt by Catherin Swinford his third wife could haue no part in Lady Blanch that vvas only inheritour of that house as to these men seemeth euident Only then it remaineth for the ending of this chapter to explane some-what more clearly the discent of king Henry the 7. and of his issue for better vnderstanding vvhereof you must consider that king Henry the 7. being of the house of Lancaster in the manner that you haue heard and marrying Elizabeth the eldest daughter of the contrary house of Yorke did seeme to ioyne both houses together make an end of that bloody controuersie though others now wil say no but how soeuer that vvas vvhich after shal be examined cleere it is that he had by that mariage one only sonne that left issue and two daughters his sonne vvas king Henry the 8. vvho by three seueral wiues had three children that haue reigned after him to vvit king Edward the 6. by Queene Iane Seymer Queene Mary by Queene Catherine of Spaine and Queene Elizabeth by Queene Anne Bullen of al which three children no issue hath remayned so as now vve must returne to consider the issue of his daughters The eldest daughter of king Henry the 7. named Margaret vvas married by her first mariage to Iames the fourth king of Scots vvho had issue Iames the 5. he againe Lady mary late Queene of Scots and dowager of France put to death not long ago in Ingland vvho left issue Iames the 6. now king of Scots And by her second mariage the said Lady Margeret after the death of king Iames the 4. tooke for husband Archebald Duglas earle of Anguys in Scotland by whom she had one only daughter named Margeret which vvas married to Mathew Steward earle of Lenox and by him she had two sonnes to vvit Hēry Lord Darly and Charles Steward Henry marryed the foresaid Lady Mary Queene of Scotland vvas murthered in Edinbrough in the yeare 1566. as the world knoweth and Charles his brother marryed Elizabeth the daughter of Sir William Candish in Ingland by whom he had one only daughter yet liuing named Arbella an other competitor of the crowne of Ingland by the house of Yorke and this much of the first daughter of kinge Henry the 7. Mary the secōd daughter of king Henry the 7. yonger sister to king Henry the 8. vvas maried first to Lewis the 12. king of Frāce by whom she had no issue and afterward to Charles Brandon duke of Suffolk by whō she had two daughters to witt Frances and Elenor the lady Francis vvas marryed first to Henry Gray marques of Dorset after duke of Suffolk behedded by Queene mary and by him she had three daughters to vvit lane Catherine and Mary the lady Iane eldest of the three was married to L. Guylford Dudly sonne to Iohn Dudly late duke of Northumberland vvith whom I meane with her husband father in law she was beheaded soone after for being proclaymed Queene vppon the death of king Edward the fixt the lady Catherine second daughter maryed first the lord Henry Herbert earle of Penbroke and left by hym again she dyed afterward in the tower wher she vvas prisoner for hauing had two childrē by Edward Seymer earle of Hartford vvithout sufficient proofe that she vvas married vnto him and the tvvo children are yet liuing to vvit 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 vvilton and maryed after to Martin keyes gentleman porter yet hath she left no issue as far as I vnderstand This then is the end of the issue of Lady Francis first of the two daughters of Queene Mary of France by Charles Brandon duke of Suffolk for albeit the said lady Francis after the beheading of the said Henry Lord Gray duke of Suffolk her first husband married againe one Adrian Stokes her seruant had a sonne by him yet it liued not but dyed very soone after Now then to speak of the yonger daughter of the said Frenche Queene and duke named Elinor she vvas married to Henry Clifford Earle of Comberlād who had by her a daughter named Margaret that vvas married to Lord Henry Stanley earle of Darby by whom she hath a plentiful issue as Ferdinand now earle of Darby William Stanley Francis Stanley and others and this is al that needeth to be spoken of these discents of our Inglish kings princes peeres or competitors to the crowne for this place and therfore now it resteth only that vve begin to examine what different pretentions are framed by diuers parties vppon these dissents and genealogies vvhich is the principal point of this our discourse OF THE GREAT AND GENERALL CONTROVERSIE AND CONTENTION BETVVEENE the two houses royal of Lancaster and York and which of them may seeme to haue had the better right to the crowne by way of succession CAP. IIII. AND first of al before I do descend to treat in particuler of the different pretences of seueral persons and families that haue issued out of these two royal linages of Lancaster and Yorke it shal perhaps not be amisse to discusse with some attention what is or hath or may be said on both sides for the general controuersie that lyeth betweene them yet vndescided in many mens opinions notwithstanding their hath bin so much sturr about the same not only writing and disputing but also fighting and murthering for many yeares And truly if we looke into diuers histories recordes and authors vvhich haue written of this matter vve shal find that euery one of them speaketh commonly according to the tyme wherin they liued for that al such as wrote in the tyme of the three Henries fourth fift and sixt kings of the house of Lancaster they make the title of Lancaster very cleare and vndoubted but such others as wrote since that tyme 〈◊〉 the house of Yorke hath held the scepter they haue spoken in far different manner as namely
of three bretheren the elder dye without issue and the second leaue a sonne yet in the inheritance and succession of the crowne it goeth otherwise as by al the former eight examples haue bin shewed and this is the first they saye about the common law The second pointe which they affirme is that the ground of our common lawes consisteth principally and almost only about this pointe of the crowne in custome for so say they we see by experience that nothing in effect is written therof in the common law and al old lawyers do affirme this pointe as vvere Ranulfus de Granuilla in his booke of the lawes and customes of Ingland vvhich he vvrote in the tyme of king Henry the second and Iudge Fortescue in his booke of the prayse of Inglish lawes vvhich he compiled in the tyme of king Henry the sixt and others Wherof these men do inferr that seing there are so many presidēts and examples alleaged before of the vncles case preferred before the nephew not only in forayne countryes but also in Ingland for this cause I saye they do affirme that our cōmon lawes cannot but fauour also this title and cōsequently must needs like vvel of the interest of Lancaster as they auouch that al the best old lawyers did in those tymes for example they do record two by name of the most famous learned men vvhich those ages had who not only defended the said title of Lancaster in those dayes but also suffred much for the same The one vvas the forenamed iudge Fortescue Chancelor of Ingland and named father of the common lawes in that age vvho fled out os Ingland vvhith the Queene vvife of king Henry the sixt vvith the prince her sonne and liued in banishment in france vvhere it seemeth also that he vvrote his learned booke intituled de laudibus legum Angliae And the other vvas Sir Thomas Thorope chiefe Baron of the excheker in the same reigne of the same king Henry the sixt vvho being aftervvard put into the tower by the Princes of the house of Yorke for his eger defence of the title of Lancaster remayned ther a long tyme and after being deliuered was beheaded at hygate in a tumulte in the dayes of king Edward the fourth These then are the allegations which the fauourers of the house of Lācaster do lay downe for the iustyfying of that title affirming first that Iohn of Gaunt duke of Lancaster ought to haue succeded his father K. Edward the third immediately before king Richard and that iniury vvas done vnto him in that king Richard vvas preferred And secondly that king Richard vvere his right neuer so good vvas iustly orderly deposed for his euil gouerment by lawful authority of the common wealth And thirdly that after his deposition Henry duke of Lancaster sonne heyre of Iohn of Gaunt vvas next in succession euery vvay both in respect of the right of his father as also for that he vvas two degrees neerer to the king deposed then vvas Edmond Mortimer descended of Leonel duke of Clarence and these are the principal and substancial proofes of their right and title But yet besides these they do add also these other arguments and cōsiderations following first that vvhat soeuer right or pretence the house of Yorke had the princes therof did forfeit and leese the same many tymes by their cōspiraces rehellions attainders as namely Richard earle of Cambrige that married the lady Anne Mortimer and by her tooke his pretence to the crowne vvas conuicted of a conspiracy against king Henry the fift in Southampton as before I haue said and there vvas put to death for the same by iudgment of the king and of al his peeres in the yeare 1415. the duke of Yorke his elder brother being one of the iury that condēned him This earle Richards sonne also named Richard comming afterward by the death of his vncle to be duke of York first of al made open clay me to the crowne by the title of Yorke But yet after many othes sworne and broken to king Henry the sixt he was attaynted of treason I meane bothe he and Edward his sonne then earle of march which aftervvard vvas king vvith the rest of his ofspringe euen to the nynth degree as Stow affirmeth in a parlament holden at Couentry in the yeare 1459. and in the 38. yeare of the reigne of the said king Henry and the very next yeare after the said Richard was slayne in the same quarrel but the honse of Lācaster say these mē was neuer attainted of any such crime Secondly they saye that the house of Yorke did enter only by violence by infinite blood-shedd and by wilful murthering not only of diuers of the nobilitie both spiritual and temporal but also of both king Hēry the sixt hym self and of prince Edward his sonne and by a certaine populer and mutinous election of a certaine few souldiers in Smithfield of Lōdon and this vvas the entrance of the howse of Yorke to the crowne vvheras king Henry the fourth first king of the house of Lancaster entred vvithout bloodshedd as hath bin shewed beinge called home by the requestes and letters of the people and nobility and his election admission to the crowne vvas orderly and authorized by general consent of parlament in the doing therof Thirdly they alleage that king Hēry the sixt put downe by the house of Yorke was a good and holy king and had reigned peaceably 40 yeares and neuer committed any act vvorthy deposition vvheras king Richard the second had many waies deserued the same as him selfe came to acknowledge and ther vppon made a personal solemne and publique resignation of the said crowne vnto his cosen Henry of Lancaster the which iustified much the said Henries entrance Fourthly they alleage that the housa of Lancaster had bin in possession of the crowne vppon the pointe of 60. yeares before the house of Yorke did raise trouble vnto them for the same in vvhich tyme their title was confirmed by many parlaments othes approbations and publique acts of the common vvealth and by the nobles peeres and people therof and by the states both spiritual and temporal and vvith the cōsent of al foraine nations so that if there had bin any fault in their first entrance yet vvas this sufficient to authorize the same as we see it vvas in the title of king William the Conqueror and of his two sonnes king William Rufus and king Henry the first that entred before their elder brother and of king Iohn that entred before his nephew of his sonne king Henry the third that entred after his fathers depriuation and after the election of prince Lewis of france as also of Edward the third that entred by deposition of his owne father of al which titles yet might there haue bin doubt made at the begining but by tyme and durance of possession and
by confirmation of the commō wealth they were made lawful vvithout controuersie Fiftly they say that if we consider the fowre king Heuryes that haue bin of the house of Lancaster to vvit the 4. 5. 6. and 7. and do compare thē vvith the other fower that haue bin of the house of York to wit Edward the fourth Richard the third Henry the eight Edward the sixt al their acts both at home abroade vvhat quietnes or troobles haue passed what the common wealth of Ingland hath gotten or lost vnder each of them vve shal finde that God hath seemed to prosper and allow much more of those of Lancaster then of those of Yorke for that vnder those of Lancaster the realme hath enioyed much more peace and gayned far greater honor and enlarged more the dominions of the crowne then vnder those of Yorke and that it had done also much more if the seditions rebellions and troobles raysed and brought in by the princes of the house of Yorke had not hindered the same as saye these men it vvas euidently seene in the tyme of king Henry the sixt when their contention against the princes of the house of Lancaster vvas the principal cause vvhy al the English states in France vvere lost and what garboiles and troubles at home haue ensued afterwards and how infinite murthers and man slaughters vvith chainge of nobility haue bin caused hereby and increased aftervvard vnder the gouerment and rule of the princes of Yorke neadeth not say these men to be declared One thing only they note in particuler vvhich I vvil not omit and let it be the sixt note and that is that the princes of Yorke haue not only bin rigorous and very bloody vnto their aduersaires but also among themselues and to their owne kynred vvhich these men take to be a iust punishment of God vppon them And for proofe heerof they alleage first the testimonie of Polydor vvho albeit he vvere a great aduocat of the house of Yorke as before hath bin noted for that he liued and vvrote his story vnder king Henry the eight yet in one place he breaketh foorth into these wordes of the princes of this house Cum non haberent iam inimicos in quos soeuitiam explerent saturarent in semetipsos crudelitatem exercuerunt proprioque sanguine suas pollure manus When these princes now had brought to destruction al those of the house of Lancaster so as they had no more enimyes vppon vvhom to fill and satiat their crueltie then began they to exercise their fiersnes vppon themselues and to embrevv their handes with their owne blood thus far Polidor Secondly they do shew the same by the deedes of both sides for that the loue vnion trust confidence fayth fulnes kyndnes and loyaltie of the princes of Lancaster the one tovvardes the other is singuler and notorious as may appeare by the acts and studious endeuours of the lord Henry bishop of Winchester and Cardinal and of the lord Thomas duke of Excester and marques of Dorset brothers of king Henry the fourth to vvhom and to his children they were most faythfull frendly and loyal as also by the noble proceedings of the lordes Thomas duke of Clarence Iohn duke of Bedford and Humfrey duke of Glocester sonnes of the foresaid Henry the fourth and brothers of king Henry the fist the first of vvhich three gaue his blood in his seruice the other two spent their whole liues in defence of the dignity of the Inglish crowne the one as regent of France the other as protector of Ingland by the worthy acts also and renomed fayth fulnes of the dukes of Somerset cosen germans to the said king Henry the fourth and to his children and the proper ancestors of king Henry the seuenth al vvhich dukes of Somerset of the house of Lancaster being fiue or six in number did not only as Polydor sayeth assist and helpe their soueraine and the vvhole realme Vigilijs curis pcriculis that is to saye with watchfulnes cares and offering themselues to dangers but also fower of them one after an other to with Edmond with his three sonnes Henry Edmond and Iohn wherof two successiuely after him vvere dukes of Somerset and the other marques dorset were al fower I say as so many Machabyes slayne in the defence of their country and family by the other factiō of the house of Yorke which thing say these men shewed euidently both a maruelous confidence that these men had in their quarrel as also a great blessing of God towards that familie that they had such loue and vnion among them selues But now in the house of Yorke these men endeuour to shew al the contrary to witt that there vvas nothing els but suspition hatred emulations among themselues and extreme crueltie of one against the other and so vve see that as soone almost as Edward duke of Yorke came to be king George duke of Clarence his yonger brother conspired against him did help to driue him out againe both from the realme and crowne In recompence vvherof his said elder brother afterward notwithstanding al the reconciliation and many othes that passed betweene them of new loue and vnion caused him vppon new grudges to be taken murthered priuily at Calis as al the world knoweth And after both their deathes Richard their third brother murthered the two sonnes of his said elder brother and kept in prison vvhiles he liued the sonne and heyre of his second brother I meane the yong earle of Warwick though he were but a very child vvhom king Henry the seuenth aftervvard put to death But king Henry the eight that succeded them passed al the rest in crueltie toward his owne kynred for he weeded out almost al that euer he could finde of the blood royal of York and this either for emulation or causes of meere suspicion only For first of al he behedded Edmond de la Pole duke of Suffolk sonne of his owne aunt lady Elizabeth that was sister to king Edward the fourth vvhich Edward vvas grand father to king Henry as is euident The like distruction king Henry vvent about to bring to Richard de la Pole brother to the said Edmond if he had not escaped his handes by flying the realme whom yet he neuer ceased to pursue vntil he vvas slayne in the battel of Pauia in seruice of the king of Frāce by whose death vvas extinguished the noble house of the de la Poles Agayne the said king Henry put to death Edward duke of Buckingham high constable of Ingland the sonne of his great Aunt sister to the Queene Elizabeth his grādmother and therby ouerthew also that vvorthy house of Buckingham after againe he put to death his cosen germaine Henry Courtney marques of Excester sonne of the lady Catherin his Aūt that vvas daughter of king Edward the fourth and attainted iointly vvith him his
vvife the lady Gertrude taking from her al her goodes landes and inheritance and committed to perpetual prison their only sonne and heyre lord Edward Courtney being then but a childe of seuen yeares old vvhich remayned so there vntil many yeares after he vvas set at libertie and restored to his liuing by Queene Mary Moreouer he put to death the lady 〈◊〉 Plantagenet Countesse of Salisbury daughter of George duke of Clarence that vvas brother of his grandfather king Edward the fourth vvith her he put to death also her eldest sonne and heyre Thomas Poole lord Montague and committed to perpetual prison where soone after also he ended his life a little infant named Henry Poole his sonne and heyre condemned to death by act of parlament although absent Renald Pole brother to the said lord Montague Cardinal in Rome wherby he ouerthrew also the noble house of Salisbury and vvarwick nether need I to go further in this relation though these men do note also how Edward the sixt put to death two of his owne vncles the Seymers or at least it vvas done by his authority and how that vnder her Maiestie that now is the Queene of Scotland that vvas next in 〈◊〉 of any other liuing the chiefe titler of the honse of Yorke hath also bin put to death Lastly they do note and I may not omit it that their is no noble house standing at this day in Ingland in the ancient state of calling that it had and in that dignity and degree that it vvas in vvhen the house of Yorke entred to the crowne if it be aboue the state of a barony but only such as defended the right and interest of the houses of Lancaster and that al other great houses that toke parte vvith the house of Yorke and did helpe to ruine the house of Lancaster be either ceased since or extyrpated and ouer throwne by the same house of Yorke it selfe which they assisted to gett the crowne so at this present they be either vnited to the crowne by confiscatiō or transferred to other Images that are strangers to them who possessed thē before As for example the ancient houses of Inglād that remaine at this day were stāding whē the house of Yorke begā ther title are the houses of Arōdel Oxford Northūberland Westmerland Shrewsbery for al other that are in Ingland at this day aboue the dignity of Barons haue bin aduanced since that tyme and al these fiue houses vvere these that principally did stick vnto the house of Lancaster as is euident by al Inglish chronicles For that the earle of Arondel brought in king Henry the fourth first king of the house of Lancaster and did helpe to place him in the dignity royal comming out of France vvith him The earle of Oxford and his sonne the lord Vere were so earnest in the defence of king Hēry the sixt as they were both slayne by king Edward the fourth and Iohn earle of Oxford vvas one of the principal assistāts of Hēry the seuēth to take the crowne frō Richard the third The house of Northumberland also was a principal ayder to Henry the fourth in getting the crowne and two earles of that name to wit Henry the second and third were slayne in the quarrel of king Henry the sixt one in the battel of S. Albons and the other of Saxton and a third earle named Henry the fourth fled into Scotlād vvith the said king Henry the sixt The house of Westmerland also vvas chiefe aduācer of Hēry the fourth to the crowne the secōd earle of that house vvas slayne in the party of Henry the sixt in the said bartaile of Saxton and Iohn earle of Shrewsbury vvas likevvise slayne in defence of the title of Lancaster in the bartaile of Northamptō and I omit many other great seruices and faithful endeuours vvhich many Princes of these fiue noble anciēt houses did in the defence of the Lancastrian kings vvhich these men say that God hath revvarded vvith continuance of their howses vnto this day But on the contrary side these men do note that al the old houses that principally assisted The title of Yorke are now extinguished and that chiefly by the kings themselues of that house as for example the principal peeres that assisted the family of Yorke vvere Moubray duke of Norfolke de la Poole duke of Suffolk the earle of Salisbury and the earle of Warwick of al which the euent was this Iohn Moubray duke of Norfolke the first confederat of the house of Yorke dyed soone after the exaltation of Edward the fourth vvithout ifsue and so that name of Moubray ceased and the title of the dukedome of Norfolke vvas transferred afterward by king Richard the third vnto the house of Howards Iohn de la Poole duke of Suffolke that married the sister of king Edward the fourth was his great assistant though he left three sonnes yet al were extinguished vvithout issue by helpe of the house of Yorke for that Edmond the eldest sonne duke of Suffolke vvas beheaded by king Henry the eight his brother Richard driuen out of the realme to his destruction as before hath bin shewed Iohn their brother earle of Lincolue was stayne at Stockfild in seruice of king Richard the third and so ended the line of de la Pooles Richard Neuel earle of Salisbury a chiefe enemy to the house of Lancaster and exalter of York vvas taken at the battaile of VVakefild and there beheaded leauing three sonnes Richard Iohn and George Richard vvas earle both of Salisbuty and Warwick surnamed the great earle of Warwick vvas he that placed king Edward the fourth in the royal seate by whome yet he vvas slayne afterward at Barnet and the landes of these two great earldomes of Salisbury and Warwick were vnited to the crowne by his attainder Iohn his yonger brother vvas Marques of montague and after al assistance giuen to the said king Edward the fourth of the howse of Yorke vvas slayne also by him at Barnet and his lands in like māner confiscate to the crowne vvhich yet vvere neuer restored againe George Neuel their yonger brother vvas Archbishop of Yorke vvas taken sent prisoner by the said king Edward vnto Guynes vvho shortly after pined avvay and dyed and this vvas the ende of al the principal frendes helpers aduancers of the house of Yorke as these men do alleage Wherfore they do conclude that for al these reasons many more that might be alleaged the title of Lancaster must needes seeme the better title which they do confirme by the general consent of al the realme at king Henry the seuenth his comming in to recouer the crowne from the house of Yorke as from vsurpers for hauing had the victory against king Richard they crowned him presētly in the field in the right of Lācaster before he married with the house of Yorke
To the last pointe of religion they answer that this impediment is not vniuersal not admitted in the iudgment of al men but only of those Inglish that be of different religion from her But to some others and those many as these men do vveene her religion vvil rather be a motiue to fauour her title then to hinder the same so that on this ground no certaintie can be buylded and this is as much as I haue to say at this tyme of these two families of Clatence and Britanie OF THE HOVSE OF PORTVGAL VVHICH CONTEYNETH THE CLAYMES AS VVEL OF the king and prince of Spayne to the succession of Ingland as also of the dukes of Parma and Bragansa by the house of Lancaster CAP. VIII IT hath bin oftentymes spoken before vppon occasions offred that the princes of the house of Portugal at this day do persuade thēselues that the only remaynder of the house of Lancaster resteth among them as the only true heyres of the lady Blanch duchesse and heyre of Lancaster first wife of Iohn of Gaunt which pointe of these princes descents from the said duchesse of Lancaster though it be declared sufficiently before in the third and fourth chapters yet wil I briefly here also set downe and repeat agayne the reasons therof vvhich are these that follow Iohn of Gaunt vvas duke of Lancaster by the right of his first vvife lady Blanch and had by her only one sonne as also one daughter of vvhom vve neede heere to speake for that the other hath left no issue now liuing The sonne vvas king Henry the fourth vvho had issue king Henry the fift and he agayne Henry the sixt in vvhom vvas extinguished al the succession of this sonne Henry The daughter of Iohn of Gaunt by lady Blanch vvas called Phillip vvho vvas married to Iohn the first king of that name of Portugal vvho had issue by him king Edward and he agayne had issue king Alfonsus the fift king of Portugal and he and his ofspringe had issue agayne the one after the other vntil our tymes and so by this marriage of lady Phillip to their first king Iohn these princes of the house of Portugal that liue at this day do pretende that the inheritance of Lancaster is only in them by this lady Phillip for that the succession of her elder brother king Henry the fourth is expired long ago This is effect is their pretence but now vve vvil passe on to see vvhat others say that do pretend also to be of the house of Lancaster by a latter marriage Iohn of Gaunt after the death of his first vvife lady Blanch dyd marrye againe the lady Constance daughter of king Peter surnamed the cruel of Castile and had by her one daughter only named Catherin vvhom he married afterward back to Castile againe giuing her to vvife to king Henry the third of that name by vvhom she had issue king Iohn and he others so as lineally king Philippe king of Spayne is descēded from her vvhich king Phillip being at this day king also of Portugal and the cheife titler of that house vnto Ingland he ioyneth the inheritance of both the two daughters of Iohn of Gaunt in one so we shal not neede to talk of these two daughters hearafter distinctly but only as of one seing that both their discents do end in this one man The only difficultie and dissention is then about the issue of the third marriage vvhich vvas of Iohn of Gaunt vvith lady Catherin Swinford whom he first kept as a Concubine in the tyme of his second wife lady Constance as before hath bin shewed in the third chapter and begat of her fower children and after that his wife lady Constance vvas dead he tooke her to vvife for the loue he bare to his children a litle before his death and caused the said children to be legitimated by authority of parlament and for that none of these fower children of his haue left issue but only one that vvas Iohn earle of Somerset we shal speake only of him ommitting al the rest This Iohn then earle of Somerset had issue an other Iohn which was made duke of Somerset by king Henry the sixt who vvith his three sonnes vvere slayne by the princes of the house of Yorke in the quarrel of Lancaster so left only one daughter named Margaret who by her husbād Edmond Tydder earle of Richmond vvas Countesse of Richmond had by him a sonne named Henry earle of Richmond that was after king by the name of king Henry the senenth and from him al his discendents both of the house of Scotland and Suffolke do pretend also to be of the house of Lancaster which yet can be no otherwise then now hath bin declared to wit not from Blanch first wife heyre of the duchy of Lancastee but frō Catherin Swinford his third wife vvherin riseth the question vvhether those men I meane king Henry the seuēth his discendents may properlie be said to be of the true house of Lancaster or no wherunto some do answere vvith a distinctiō to wit that to the duchy of Lācaster wherof the first wife lady Blāch was heire these of the third marriage cannot be heyres but only the remaynder 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 crowne of Inglande which came by Iohn of Gaūt himselfe in that he vvas third sonne of K. Edward the third and eldest of al his children that liued vvhen the said king Edward dyed by vvhich is pretended also that he should haue succeded immediatly after him before king Richard the secōd as before in the fourth chapter hath bin declared to this right I saie to this interest of the crowne which came by Iohn of Gaunt himselfe not by lady Blāch or by any other of his wiues the discendents of king Henry the seuenth do say that they may and ought to succede for that Iohn earle of Somerset eldest sonne of Iohn of Gaunt by lady Catherin Swinford though he vvere begotten out of matrimony yet being afterward made legitimate he vvas to inherite this right of Iohn of Gaunt his father before the lady Phillip his sister for that so vve see that king Edvvard the sixt though yonger and but halfe brother vnto the lady Mary and Elizabeth his sisters yet he inherited the crowne before them and in like manner is lord Phillippe prince of Spaine at this daye to inherite al the states of that crowne before his two sisters that be elder then he so likewise saye these men ought Iohn of Somerset to haue donne before Phillippe his eldest sister if he had bin aliue at that tyme vvhen king Henry the sixt vvas put downe and dyed and consequently his posterity vvhich are the discendents of king Henry the seuenth ought to enioye the same before the princes of
Portugal that are the discēdents of Lady Phillippe his sister thus say the issue of king Henry the seuenth But to this the princes of the house of Portugal do reply and say first that by this it is euident at least that the dukedome of Lancaster vvherof the lady Blanch vvas the only heyre must needs apperteyne to them alone and this vvithout al doubt or controuersie for that they only remaine of her issue after extinguishing of the posterity of her elder brother K. Henry the fourth which vvas extinguished by the death of king Henry the sixt and of his only sonne prince Edward and for this they make no question or controuersie assuring themselues that al law right and equity is on their side Secondly touching the succession and right to the kingdome they saye that Iohn earle of Somerset being borne out of Wedlock and in adultery for that his father had an other vvife aliue vvhen he begatt him and he continuing a bastard so many yeares could not be made legitimate afterward by parlament to that effect of succession to the crowne and to depriue Queene Phillip of Portugal and her children borne before the others legitimation frō their right and succession vvithout their consents for that Iohn king of Portugal did marry the said lady Phillip vvith condition to enjoy al prerogatiues that at that day vvere due vnto her and that at the tyme vvhen Iohn of Gaunt did marry the said lady Catherine Svvinford made her children legitimate by act of parlament vvhich vvas in the yeare of Christ 1396. and 1397. the said lady Phillip Queene of Portugal had now tvvo sonnes liuing named don Alon so and don Edwardo vvhich vvere borne in the yeares 1390. and 1391. that is six yeares before the legitimation of Iohn earle of Somerset and his brethren and therby had ius acquisitum as the law saith vvhich right once acquired and gotten could not be taken away by any posterior act of parlament afrervvard vvithout consent of the parties interressed for vvhich they do alleage diuers places of the canon law vvhich for that they hold not in Ingland I do not cite but one example they put to shew the inconuenience of the thing if it should be otherwise determined then they affirme vvhich is that if king Henry the eight that had a bastard sonne by the lady Elizabeth Blunt vvhom he named Henry fitzroy made him both earle of Notingham and duke of Richmond and Somerset in the 18. yeare of his reigne at vvhat tyme the said king had a lawful daughter a liue named the princesse Mary by Queene Catherin of Spayne if I say the king should haue offred to make this sonne legitimate by parlament with intent to haue him succeede after him in the crowne to the preiudice and open iniury of the said lawful daughter these men do say that he could not haue done it and if he should haue done it by violence it would not haue held and much lesse could Iohn of Gaunt do the like being no king Nor was the act of parlament sufficiēt for this pointe 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 farforth only as it doth not preiudice the right of any other Nether helpeth it any thing in this matter the matriage of Iohn of Gaunt with lady Catherin for to make better this legitimation for that as hath bin said their children vvere not only naturales but Spurij that is to saye begotten in playne aduoutrie and not in simple fornication only for that the one partie had a wife a liue and consequently the priuelege that the law giueth to the subsequent marriage of the parties for legitimating such children as are borne in simple fornication that is to say betweene parties that vvere single and none of them married can not take place here so as these men conclude that albeit this legitimation of parlament might serue them to other purposes yet not to depriue the princes of Portugal of their prerogatiue to succede in their mothers right which she had vvhen she vvas married to their father And this they affirme to haue bin law and right at that tyme if the said Queene Phillip earle Iohn had bin aliue together vvhen Henry the sixt and his sonne vvas put to death that this questiō had bin then moued at the deathe of king Henry the sixt whether of the two to vvit either the said Queene Phillip or her yonger brother Iohn earle of Somerset by the fathers side only should haue succeded in the inheritance of king Henry the sixt in vvhich case these men presume for certaine that the said Queene Phillippe legitimatly borne and not Iohn made legitimate by parlamēt should haue succeded for that by common course of law the children legitimated by fauour albeit their legitimation vvere good and lawful as this of these children is denyed to be yet can they neuer be made equal and much lesse be preferred before the lawful and legitimate by byrthe But now say these men the case standeth at this present somewhat otherwise and more for the aduantage of Queene Phillippe and her ofspring for vvhen king Henry the sixt his sonne were extinguished and Edward duke of Yorke thrust hym selfe in to the crowne which vvas about the yeare of Christ 1471 the foresaid two princes lady Phillip and earle Iohn vvere both dead as also their children and only their nephewes vvere aliue that is to saye their liued in Portugal king Alfonsus the fift of that name sonne to king Edward vvhich Edward vvas child to Queene Phillip and the death of king Henry the sixt of Ingland happened in the 38. yeare of the reigne of the said king Alfonsus and in Inglād liued at the same tyme lady Margaret Countesse of Richmond mother of king Henry the seuenthe and neece of the foresaid Iohn earle of Somerset to vvit the daughter of his sonne duke Iohn of Somerset so as these tvvo competitors of the house of Lancaster that is to say king Alfonsus and lady Margaret were in equal degree from Iohn of Gaunt as also from king Henry the sixt sauing that king Alfonsus vvas of the vvhole blood as hath bin said and by Queene Phillip that vvas legitimate and the countesse of Richmond vvas but of the halfe blood as by Iohn earle of Somerset that vvas a bastard legitimated The question then is which of these tvvo should haue succeded by right of the house of Lancaster immediatly after the death of king Henry the sixt and the lady Margaret alleageth that she vvas descended from Iohn earle of Somerset that vvas a man and therfore to be preferred and king Alfonsus alleaged that he being in equal degree of neernes of blood with the same countesse for that both vvere nephewes he vvas to be preferred
before her for that he was a man and of the vvhole blood to the last kings of the house of Lancaster and that she was a vvoman and but of the halfe blood so that three prerogatiues he pretended before her First that he vvas a man and she a vvoman and secondly that he descended of the lawful and elder daughter and she of the yonger brother legitimated and thirdly that he vvas of vvhole blood and she but of halfe and for better fortifying of this proofe of his title these men do alleage a certayne case determyned by the learned of our dayes as they say vvherin for the first of these three causes only the succession to a crowne vvas adiudged vnto king Phillip of Spayne to vvit the succession to the kingdome of Portugal vvhich case was in al respects correspondent to this of ours for that Emanuel king of Portugal had three children for so much as apperteyneth to this affaire for afterward I shal treat more particulerly of his issue that is to say two sonnes and one daughter in this order Iohn Elizabeth and Edward euen as Iohn of Gaunt had Hēry lady Philippe and Iohn Prince Iohn of Portugal first child of king Emanuel had issue an other Iohn and he had Sebastian in whom the line of Iohn the first child vvas extinguished but Iohns sister Elizabeth vvas married to Charles the Emperor had issue K. Phillip of Spayne that now liueth Edward also yōger brother to Elizabeth or Isabel had issue two daughters the one married to the duke of Parma the other to the duke of Bragansa so as king Phillip vvas in equal degree vvith these ladies in respect of king Emanuel for that he vvas sonne to his eldest daughter and the two duchesses vvere daughters to his yonger sonne vppon this rested the question vvhich of these should succeede and it vvas decided that it apperteyneth vnto king Phillip for that he vvas a man and his mother vvas the elder sister though if king Phillips mother and the two duchesses father I meane lord Edward of Portugal had bin aliue together no doubt but that he beinge a mā should haue borne it away vvhich these men say holdeth not in our case but is much more to our aduantage for that it hath bin shewed before that if Queene Phillippe had bin aliue vvith earle Iohn of Somerset at the death of king Henry the sixt she should haue bin preferred as legitimate by birth and therfore much more ought her nephew king Alfonsus to haue bin preferred afterward in that he vvas a man before the neece of the said earle Iohn of Somerset that vvas but a vvoman thus farr they And besides all this they do adde as often before I haue mentioned that king Alfonsus vvas of the vvhole blood vnto al the three king Henries of the house of Lancaster the countesse of Richmond vvas but of the halfe blood and for more strengthening of this argument they do say further that besides that interest or right to the crowne vvhich king Henry the fourth that vvas the first king of the house of Lancaster had by his father Iohn of Gaunt in that the said Iohn vvas third sonne of king Edward the third the said king Henry had diuers other interestes also which came of himselfe only and not from his said father as vvere for example his being called into the realme by general voyce of al the people his right gotten by armes vppon the euil gouerment of the former king the personal resignation and deliuery of the kingdome by solemne instrument made vnto him by king Richard his election also by parlament coronation by the realme and finally the quiet possession of him and his posteritie for almost threescore yeares vvith many confirmations of the whole realme by diuers acts of parlament othes and other assurāces as the world knoweth so many I meane and so autētical as could possibly be deuised or giuen and besides al this that vvhen king Richard vvas dead he vvas next in degree of propinquitie vnto him of any man liuing for that the sonnes of Roger Mortimer vvere two degrees further of then he as hath bin shewed before Al vvhich particuler rightes and interestes vvere peculier to Henry the fourth his person and vvere not in his father Iohn of Gaunt and therfore cannot possibly discend from him left by the last duke of Parma lord Ranutius that is now duke of Parma and lord Edward that is Cardinal and the lady Catherine duchesse of Bragansa that yet liueth hath issue diuers goodly princes as the lord Theodosius that is now duke of Bragansa and three yonger brothers to vvit Edward Alexander and Phillip al yong princes of great expectation and these are the children of king Emanuel vvhose particuler successions and issues I shall declare somwhat more yet in particuler Prince Iohn of Portugall afterward king by name of king Iohn the third had issue an other Iohn that vvas prince of Portugal but dyed before his father and left a sonne named Sebastian vvho vvas king and slayne afterward by the Moores in Barbary and so ended this first lyne The second sonne and fourth childe of king Emanuel vvas named lord Lewis and dyed also vvithout issue legitimate as is supposed for that don Antonio his sonne that afterward vvas proclaymed king by the people of Lisbone and now liueth in Ingland vvas taken by al men to be vnlawful as presently more at large shal be shewed so as after the death of king Sebastian their entred the Cardinal lord Henry vvhich vvas third sonne to king Emanuel and great vncle to king Sebastian lately disceased for that he was brother to king Iohn the third that vvas grand father to king Sebastian and albeit their vvanted not some accordinge as the authors wryte vvhich afterward I shal name vvho affirmed and held that king Phillip of Spayne should haue succeded king Sebastian before the Cardinal for that he vvas neerer in consanguinitie to him then vvas the Cardinal for that besides that king Phillip was sonne of king Emanuels eldest daughter he vvas brother also to king Sebastians mother yet the said Cardinal entred peceably and by consent of al parties but for that he vvas old and vnmarried and not like to leaue any child of his owne there began presently the contention in his dayes vvho should be his successor To vvhich succession did pretende fiue princes of the blood royal of Portugal besides the lady Catherine Queene mother of France who pretended by her mothers side to be discended of one lord Raphe earle of Bulayne in Picardy vvhich Raphe vvas eldest sonne of Alfonsus the third king of Portugal which Alfonsus before he vvas king to wit in the tyme of his elder brother king Sanches of Portugal was married to the countesse and heyre of Bullayn named Mathildis and had by her this Raphe but afterward this Alfonsus comming to be king of Portugal he married agayne
how we can denye him his right to the said dukedome at least of Lancaster wherof if vve would giue him but the possession with al the appurtenances as they lye it were no euel interteynmēt for him in our country vntil he could gett the possession of the crowne in his owne After the exclusions of these two pretenders to vvit of the duke of Sauoy and of Don Antonio the whole controuersie for Portugal remayned betweene the other three vvhich were the king of Spayne sonne of lady Isabel eldest daughter of king Emanuel and the tvvo duchesses of Parma and Bragansa daughters of the yonger sonne of the said king Emanuel to vvit of the lord Edward infant of Portugal And first of al for that the eldest of these two Ladyes to vvit Mary duchesse of Parma vvas now dead her eldest sonne lord Ranutio now duke of Parma entred in her place and alleaged that he represented his mother and she her father lord Edward which Lord if he had bin aliue he should no doubt haue bin preferred before his elder sister lady Elizabeth mother of king Phillip and consequently that the said lord Edwards issue ought to be preferred before her issue and this he alleaged against king Phillip And against the duchesse of Bragansa he alleaged that his said mother vvas the elder sister and for that cause he vvhich now possessed her right and represented her person vvas to be preferred before the said lady Catherine duchesse of Bragansa so that the foundation of this pretence of the duke of Parma vvas that he vvas nephew to the lord Edward by his eldest daughter and that to king Emanuel he was nephew once remoued by his sonne vvheras king Phillip vvas nephew but by his daughter only and that the lady Catherine of he was of the right discendant lyne of K. Iohn and the Cardinal vvas but of the collateral or transuersal lyne and that al law alloweth that the right lyne shal first be serued and preferred before the collateral shal be admitted so that heerby representation is nothing furthered This exclusion of representation did greatly further and aduance the pretence of king Phillip for the excluding of both these ladyes and their issues for that supposing as this answere auoucheth that their is no representation of father or mother or predecessors to be admitted but that euery pretender is to be considered only in his owne person then it followeth said these men which plead for the king that king Phillip being in equal degree of propinquitie of blood with the two ladyes in respect as wel of K. Hēry yet liuing for that they were al three children of brother and sister it followeth that he was to be preferred before them both as well in respect that he was a man and they both Women as also for that he was elder in age and borne before them both And albeit the duke of Parma alleaged that he was also a man yet was it answered that he was one degree further of from the foresaid kings then was king Phillip so as not respecting representation of their parentes that is to say not considering at all that king Phillip discended of a Woman the two duchesses of a man but only respecting their owne persons as hath bin declared these men auouched that king Phillipps person was euidently to be preferred for that he was a degree neerer in blood then the duke of Parma and superior in sex age to the lady Catherine of Bragansa Moreouer the lawyers of king Phillipps side affirmed that he was neerer also in propinquitie of blood to king Sebastian the last king then vvas the very king Cardinal himselfe much more than any of the other two pretenders for that he was brother to the said king Sebastians mother and the Cardinal was but brother to his grādfather And besides this they alleaged that Portugal did belong to the crowne of Castil by diuers other meanes of old as for that it could not be giuen away by kings of Castil in marriage of their daughters as the principal partes therof had byn as also for that whēking Iohn the first that was a bastard was made king of Portugal by election of the people the inheritance therof did euidently apperteyne to king Iohn of Castil that had to wife the lady Beatrix daughter and heyre of Ferdinand king of Portugal from which inheritance of that crowne by open iniurye both she and her posteritie vvhose right is in king Phillip at this day vvere debarred by the intrusiō of the said Iohn master of Auis bastard brother of the foresaid king Ferdinand These reasons alleaged diuers lawyers in the behalfe of king Phillip and those not only Spaniards but also of diuers other countryes nations as my authors before named do anow and many bookes were written of this matter and when the contention vvas at the hotest then died the king Cardinal before he could decide the same controuersie vppon which occasion the king of Spaine being persuaded that his right vvas best that he being a Monarch and vnder no temporal iudge vvas not bound to expect any other iudgment in this affayre not to subiect himselfe to any other tribunal but that he might by force put himselfe in possession of that which he tooke to be his owne if otherwise he could not haue it deliuered vnto him for so write these authors by me named seing also don Antonio to pretend the said kingdome by only fauour of some populer partie that he had In Lisbone the said king Phillip entred vppon Portugal by force of armes as al the world knoweth and holdeth the same peaceably vnto the day And I haue byn the longer in setting downe this contention about the succession to the crowne of Portugal for that it includeth also the very same pretence and contention for the crowne of Inglād For that al these three princes before named may in like manner pretend the succession of that interest to the house of Lancaster and by that to the crowne of Ingland which doth discend from Queene Phillippe eldest daughter of Iohn of Gaunt duke of Lancaster and sister of king Henry the fourth as hath largely bin declared And albeit that some men Wil saye that this matter is now decided which of these princes of the house of Portugal hath the interest to Ingland for that king Phillip being now preferred in the succession of Portugal entreth also therby to the other right of succession of Ingland yet others vvill say no for that the lawes of succession in Portugal and Ingland be different For that in Ingland representation taketh place so as the children of the sonne though they be women shal euer be preferred before the children of the daughter though they be men vvherof these men do inferr that seing the lady Phillipps right before mentioned to the dukedome of Lancaster and therby also to the crowne of Ingland is to be preferred according to
in his description of those countryes the whole wealth and riches of the world seemed to slow thither and I my selfe can remember to haue seene such exceding abundance in very ordinairy men of this country both for their dyet apparrel furniture of house and the like as was wonder ful besides that for their nobilitie they were al great Princes for that euery one had his prouince or great towne in gouerment which they ruled whith that pompe and honor as if they had bin absolute lordes themselues by reason of the farr distance of their supreme Prince and so they were receaued whith publique honor of al citties and townes their charges borne wheresoeuer they passed as such high estates are wont to be And albeit they had euer commonly a strainger for supreme gouernor among them vnder their kinge which bare the name to be aboue them yet did he in deed nothing but as they would haue him and this partly for that his time of gouerment being but short he alwaies attended principally to gett the good willes of the people and to hold them contented and therby to be grat-ful to his king at his returne home and partly also for that if he should attempt to do any thing against their myndes and liking they made reply by their president and Chancelor and other of their owne Councelers residing for the Flemish nation in the court of Spayne for this nation hath alwaies a particuler councel ther about the king as al other forayne nations also haue that are vnder him and by this meanes they obteyned lightly what they would and brought the gouernor to what they pleased so as in effect they were absolute kings in themselues wrought their willes in euery thing this in that tyme while the country was quiet But now since their reuolt which hath indured almose these foure or fiue and twenty yeares what hath succeded surely their hath not a quarter so many bin punished or put to death in al these yeares by order of Iustice of their king absent as before I haue shewed that there were in one day by their owne earles and dukes when they were present that vppon far lesse occasion and cause giuen then are these for if we take away the two noble men Egmond and Horne put to death at the beginning of these Flemish troobles by the duke of Alua for which some men say also that he had no thanke afterward by the king no man of importance hath bin since executed and the cheefest townes that haue bin and are agaynst the king in Holland and Zeland are suffred vntil this day to traffique freely into Spayne and yet we know that for a little beginning of a certayne tumult this last yeare past in Spayne it selfe to wit in the kingdome of Aragon many heades haue bin stroken of and much iustice done where of then riseth this differēce no doubt for that the Flemmings are straingers far of and the other neere at home natural borne so as this circumstance of being a stranger and dwelling far of doth them great pleasure and giueth them priuilege aboue the homborne subiects The like I might shew for this matter of punishment in the fore said states of Italie where if a mā do compare the number of them that were put to death pulled downe or afflicted by order of Iustice and other wise at the commandement of the Prince in tyme of their owne home-borne kings with that which hath bin since especially of the nobility you shal not finde one for twenty and the reason of this is for that their owne kings were absolute and had to giue accompt to no man of their doings and for that they were men and had their passions and emulations with the nobilitie and might put the same in execution without accompt or controlment they pulled downe set vp at their pleasure and made oftentymes but a iest of noblemens liues and deathes but now these that are gouernours viceroyes for a forraine prince first they haue not so great authority or comission as to touch any such principal persons liues whithout giuing relation therof first vnto their king councel and receaue againe particuler order for the same and then they knowing that after their three yeares gouermēt is ended they must be priuate men againe and stay their 40. dayes as subiects vnder the next new gouernour to giue a reconning of their doings against al that shal accuse them which in these countryes they call to make their residence they take heede what they doe and whom they offend so as the condition of nobility is far different vnder such a strainge gouerment as this is termed then vnder a natural Prince of their owne country which oppresseth them at his pleasure But now to draw neer homward if we wil examine and considerer what hath passed in Ingland in this point of massacring our nobility by our domestical Princes it is a matter lamentable for it may seeme that they haue serued oftentymes for our Princes to make disport to play whith their heades And to let passe al those which in tyme of warres rebellions comotions haue bin cut of which occasions may seeme more iustifiable I do read also in our chronicles that 2 Sangue freddo as the Italian sayth that is to say in tyme of peace and by execution of iustice at the Princes appoyntment these noblemen following and knyghts by name were put to death with in the space of one fiue yeares in king Henry the fourth his dayes The duke of Excester the duke of Surrey the Archbis hop of Yorke the earles of Salisbury of Glocester of Worcester and of Huntington The earle mowbray earle marshal The Baron of Kinderton S. Roger Clarington bastard sonne of Edward the black Prince S. Thomas Blunr S. Barnard Rocas S. Richard Vernon And agayne soone aftervnder king Edward the fourth in almost whith in as litle space The dukes of Somerset and of Excester The earles of Deuonshire of Oxford and of Keyns The Lord Rosse the Lord Molyns S. Thomas Tudingham S. Phillip Wentworth S. Thomas fyndam and many others afterward for this was but at the beginning of his reigne which number of nobility if a man should haue seene them aliue together with their traynes before they had bin put downe he would haue said they had bin a very goodly company pitiful that so many of our owne nobilitie should be brought by our own Princes to such confusion But yet this matter may seeme perhapps the lesse maruelous and more excusable vnder those two kings for that troobles and contentions had passed a little before in the realme about the succession and heervppon so many of the nobility might be cut of but let vs see then what ensued afterwards when thinges were established and al doubt of contention about the succession taken away as in king Henry the eight his dayes it was and yet do
no more preferment then that common vvealth and state can giue and if their should be many vvorthy men borne their at one tyme then were this his condition vvoorse for then must he part also vvith other men though their were not sufficient for himselfe and the most he could aspire vnto if he vvere an ecclesiastical man were the greatest benefice within that state and on the other side if he vvere a temporal man he could not hope for much for that the state hath it not to bestow but an other that is borne vnder a great monarch as is the king of France or Spayne in these our dayes that hath so many great bishoprickes for example sake and other spiritual lyuings to 〈◊〉 vppon the cleargie and so many high gouerments and employments both of vvarr and peace to giue vnto temporal men that can deserue the same this man I say hath a great aduantage of the other in respect of preferment at this day but much more was it in old tyme to be borne vnder the Romā Empire when it had the preferments of al the vvorld to bestow for that euery subiect therof vvas capable of al the said preferments so far fourth as he could make himself vvorthy and deserue the same For better explicatiō of vvhich point yet I haue thought good to cite in this place the woordes of a certaine learned kinght that in our dayes hath written the liues of al the Roman Emperors and in the life of one of them that vvas an excellent gouernour named Antoninus Pius the said kinght hath this discourse ensuinge Their vvas in this mans gouerment said he great contentment and ioye on al hands great peace and quietnes and very great iustice and truly it is a thing vvoorthy in this place to be considered what vvas the humane power and how infinite the forces of the Roman Empire at this day and how great vvas the libertie quietnes securitie welth and contentment of the subiects that liued vnder that gouerment when good Princes had the menagingetherof as vvas this Antoninus and his sonne Aurelius that followed him and as vvere Adrian Traian and diuers others What a thing was it to see their courtes frequented freely by al the noble valiant and lerned men of the vvorld to see the vnion and frendly dealing of different nations together when al serued one Prince so as a man might haue gone ouer the vvhole vvorld or most and beste partes therof vvith al security and without al feare al nations and countreyes being their frends neyghbours or subiects nether vvas their neede at that tyme of any pasports or safeconductes not ofso often change of coyne to trauaile as nowe their is nether yet were their new lawes euery foote as now be founde in different countryes neither vvas their danger of enimies or to be taken prisoners and captiues nor could any malefactor do a mischief in one country and flie into an other ther-by to be free from punishment and he that was borne in the very Orcades or furthest parte of Europe was at home thoughe he vvere in Africa or Asia as free denizen as if he had bin borne their marchants also might passe at that daye from country to country vvith their marchandize vvithout particuler licences or feare of forfeits and finally the temporal state of a subject vvas vvonderful happy at that tyme. Thus far discourseth that learned knight no doubt but that his discourse and consideration is founded in great reason and he that vvil leaue at this day the many commodities of being vnder a great and potent Prince if it lye in his owne hands to chuse for this only circumstance rhat he is not borne in the same country vvith him is a man of smale judgment and capacitye in these mens opinion and measureth matters of publique vtility vvith a false vvaight of fond affection And thus much may be sayd of the first waye of being vnder strangers and forayne gouerment which is that which vulgar men do most abhorre and inueigh against to vvit to be vnder a forraine Prince that liueth absent and ruleth by his gouernours But besides this their is an other manner of being vnder a forraine Prince as vvhen an allien Prince cometh to dwel among vs and this by either of two vvayes to vvit that either this Prince cometh without forces as did king Stephen and king Henry the second that were frenchmen as hath bin saide and came to liue and gouerne in Ingland but vvithout external forces and as king Phillip of Spayne came afterwards when by marriage of Queene Mary he became king of Ingland and as the last king Henry the third of France vvent into Polonia by the free election and inuitation of that nation and as his brother Monsieur Francis duke of Alenson should haue entred aftervvard to haue bin king of Ingland if the marriage pretended betweene her maiestie and him had gone forvvard and taken effect as many thought once that it should This I say is one way and an other is that this Prince do bring forces vvith him for his owne assurance and these either present as the Danish kings Sweno Canutus Haraldus and Hardicanutus did and as after them the Norman Princes also vsed I meane not only William Conqueror himselfe but also his two sonnes Williā Rufus and Henry the first who either by help of the Normans al ready in Ingland or by others brought in by them afterward vvrought their vvil or els that this Prince so entring haue foraine forces so at hand as he may call and vse them vvhen he vvil for that they haue no sea to passe vvhich is the case of the king of Scotts of both these waies these men do giue their sentence distinctly For as concerning the former vvay vvhen a forraine Prince entereth vvithout any forces atal and with intention to liue among vs they hold that their is no danger nor yet any incōuenience can iustly be feared for that in this case he subiecteth himselfe rather to the realme and nation then they to him and if he liue and marry in Ingland both himselfe and his children wil become Inglish in a little space And for his owne assurance he must be inforced to fauour and cherish and make much of the Inglish nation and be liberal gentle and frendly to al for gaining their good willes and frendship And in one very great and important pointe his condicion is different and better for the Inglish then any Inglish kings can be which is that he entreth vvith indifferent mynde towards al men hath no kynred or alliance within the land to whom he is bounde nor enimye against whom he maye be inticed to vse cruelty so as only merit or demerit of each mā must moue him to fauour or disfauour which is a great foundatiō say these men of good and equal gouerment Agayne they say that in respect of the state present of Ingland and as
now it standeth and for the publique good not only of the common subiects but also of the nobility and especially and aboue others of the Inglish competitors and pretendors that cannot al speede no vvay vvere so commodious as this to avoid bloodshed to wit that some external Prince of this tyme should be admitted vppon such compositions and agreements as both the realme should remayne whith her ancient liberties and perhapps much more then now it enioyeth for such Princes commonly vppon such occasions of preferment vvould yeeld to much more in those cases then a homborne Prince vvould and the other pretenders at home also should remayne vvhith more security then they can wel hope to do vnder any Inglish competitor if he come to the crowne who shal be continually egged on by his owne kynred and by the auerhon emulation and hatred that he hath taken alredy by contention against the other opposite houses to pul them downe and to make them away and so we haue seene it by continual examples for many yeares though no occasion say these men hath euer bin offied to suspect the same so much as now if any one of the home Inglish blood be preferred before the rest and this is so much as they say to this second kinde of being vnder forrayne Princes To the third they confesse that it standeth subiect to much danger and inconuenience to admit a forayne Prince to liue among vs with forces either present or so neere as that without resistance he may call them when he listeth and of this their needeth no more proofe say these men then the examples before alleaged of the Danes and Normans and the misery and calamity which for many yearee the Inglish passed vnder them and further more the reason heerof is euident say these men for first in this third kinde of admitting a strainger king we are depriued by his dwelling amongest vs of those vtilities before mentioned which Ireland Flanders Britanie Naples and other states enioy by liuing far of from their Princes which commodities are much more libertie and freedome lesse payments lesse punishments more imployments of the nobility and others in gouerment and the like And secondly by his comming armed vnto vs we cannot expect those commodities vvhich before I touched in the second kynd of forraine gouerment but rather al the incommodities and inconueniences that are to be found either in domestical or foraine gouerments al I saye do fall vppon this third manner of admitting a stranger as easily shal be seene For first of al the greatest incommodities that can be feared of a domestical Prince are pride crueltie partiality pursuing of factions and particuler hatred extraordinary aduansing of his own kynred pressing pynching and ouer rigorous punishing of his people without feare for that he is euer sure of his partie to stand whith him within the realme and so hath he the lesse respect to others and for that al these inconueniences and other such like do grow for the most part by the Princes continual presence among his subiects they are incident also to this other though he be a strainger for that he is also to be present and to liue among vs and so much the more easely he may fall into them then a domestical Prince for that he shal haue both external coūcel of a people that hateth vs to prick him forward in it as also their external power to assist him in the same which two motiues euery domestical Prince hath not Agayne they say that the woorst greatest incommodities of a forraine gouerment that may be feared are tyranny and bringing into seruitude the people ouer whō they gouerne and filling of the realme with straingers and deuiding to them the dignities riches and preferments of the same al which they say are incident also by al probability to this third kinde of forraine gouermēt where the Prince strainger lyueth present and hath forces at hand to woorke his vvil and this is the case say they of the king of Scotts who only of any forraine pretender semeth may iustly be feared for these and other reasons alleaged before when we talked of his pretence to the crowne To conclude then these men are of opinion that of al these three manners of being vnder straingers or admitting forraine gouerments this third kynde 〈◊〉 as it vvere to the kinge of Scottes case is to be only feared and none els for as for the second they say that it is not only not to be feared or abhorred but rather much to be desyred for that of al other sortes it hath the least inconueniences and most commodities for which causes we read and see that wher kings goe by election commonly they take straingers as the Romans and Lacedemonians did often at the beginning and after the beginning of the Roman Monarchie their forraine borne Emperors were the best and most famous of al the rest as Traian and Adrian that were Spaniards Septimius Seuerus borne in Africa Constantine the great natural of Ingland and the like and the very woorst that euer they had as Caligula Nero Heliogabolus Commodus and such other like plagues of the weale publique were Romans and in our dayes and within a few yeares we haue seene that the Polonians haue chosen three kings straingers one after an other the first Stephen Battorius Prince of Transiluania the second Henry of France and last of al the Prince of Swecia that vet liueth and the state of Venetians by way of good polliei haue made it for a perpetuall Law that when they haue warr to make and must needs choose a general Captayne and commit their forces into his handes he must be a stranger to wit some Prince of Italie that is out of their owne states heerby to auoyde partiality and to haue him the more indifferent and equal to them al which yet so many prudent men vvould neuer agree vppon if there vvere not great reason of commodities therin so as this point is concluded that such as speake against this second kinde of hauing a forrayne Prince speake of passion or inconsideration or lacke of experience in matters of state and common vvealthes As for the first manner of being vnder foraine gouerment as a member or prouince of an other bigger kingdome and to be gouerned by a deputie viceroy or strange gouernour as Ireland Flanders Naples and other states before mentioned be vvith certayne and stable conditions of liberties and immunities and by a forme of gouerment agreed vppon on both sides these men do confesse also that their may be arguments reasons and probabilities alleaged on both sides and for both parties but yet that al things considered and the inconueniences hurtes and dangers before rehearsed that subiects do suffer also oftentymes at the handes of their owne natural Princes these men are of opinion for the causes alredy declared that the profittes are more and far greater then the damages or
primogenitura Genes 15 49 Deut. 21. 15. 2. Patalip 21. 3. Exod. 3. 2. Rom. 9. 13. Genes 28 27. Tvvo points to be noted Genes 29 49. Exod. 1. 2. Reg. 5. 1. Paral. 3. Tvvo cases resolued The remede of inconueniences by succession Election succession do helpe the 〈◊〉 thothen Ansvver to the 〈◊〉 principal questions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 VVhat an heyre apparent is before 〈◊〉 coronatiō Examples of tnatiage VVhat respect is devv to an heyre apparent VVhy Princes do cōpt ther yeares from the death of ther predecessors Girard de Haillan l. 3. de l'estate pag. 241. No heyre apparent K. before his coronation An euident Argument A rare example of King Henry V. Polydor. virg lib. 22. hittor Angliae in vita Henrici V. Stovv in the beginning of the life of king Henry V. Notes of this act 2. 3. 4. Admissiō of more importan ce then successiō See ther lastvvords to ther frendes in Sir Tho Moore Stovv VVhy diuer kings caused ther sonnes to be crovvned in ther ovvne dayes Hirrd du Haillan lib. 6. hist. an 1001. An. 1032. An. 1061. An. 1131. An. 1180. 3. Reg. 1. Polyd. Stovv in vita Henrici 11. The occasion of the next chapter The Ciuilian cloyed vvith copy Obiectiēs The example of the Ievves 3. Reg. 8. King Saule 2. Reg. 2. 21. An obiection ansevered 2. Reg. 9. King Dauid made by electiō 2. Reg. 2. 5. Psal. 131. 2. Paral. 6. Adonias the elder sonne relected 3. Reg. 1. The motiues of Adonias 〈◊〉 to King Dauid to make Salomō his successor 3. Reg. 1. The coronation of Salomon 〈◊〉 Reg. 1. A poynt to be noted The manner of admission of the prince Roboam 3. Reg. 12. 3. Reg. 11. 5. Reg. 12. 21. Foure races of Spanish Kings Ambros. moral Lib. 11. 〈◊〉 c. 12. 2. Race Ambros. moral lib. 13. c. 3 Moral lib. 37. e. 42. 43. 44. 3. Race Garibay lib 20. c. 〈◊〉 4. 〈◊〉 Examples of the first race Concil Tol. 3. c. 3. Conc. tol 4. cap. 74. Examples of the 2. race Episcop Tuyens l. 1. histoin Ludou de Molin li. de hared King Don Pelayo Ambros Mor 1. 13. cap. 6. 9. 10. Sebast. Epise Salam in hift Hisp. K. Don Alonso y Dö fruela Moral li 13. cap. 17 An. 768. Many breaches of succession Moral e. 21. King Don Aurelio King Don Sile. King Don Alonso the chast Mor I 15. cap. 25. A strange deliberation Great authoritie of comon vvealth K. Alonso the chast reyneth the secōd tyme. Moral e. 28. 29. An. 791. Moral li. 13. cap. 45 46. Anno 842. A horible tribute King Dō Ramiro 1 by election Moral e. 51. The kingdom of Spayne a Maiorasgo K. Don Ordonio An. 924. Moral 1. 16. cap. 1. An. 924. Don Alonso 4. Don Ramiro Moral lib. 19 cap. 20. An. 930. Don Ordonio 3. An. 950. Don Sancho 1. Moral l. 16. cap. 29 An. 950. Mor. l. 17. c. 1. 2. 3. 4. The end of the race of Don Pelayo Of the disceues follovving Spanish examples in the second discent 〈◊〉 1201 Carib li. 11. cap. 12 37. Lady Elenor an Inglish vvoman Q. of Spayne Garib l. 13. cap. 10 An 1207. An Inglish Qgrād mother to tvvo king saints at once An other brech of successiō The Cerdas put bark from the crovvne 1276. Garabay l. 15. c. 1. an 1363. Many alterations of lineal discent Dō Iohn the first a bastard made king of Portugal Garib l. 15 cap 22. li. 34. c. 39. Of the state of france An. 419. An. 751. An. 988. Examples of the 2. rancke of French Kings King Pepin by election An. 751. K. Charles by election Girard du Haillan l. 3. an 768. Eginard Belfor li 2. cap. 5. The vncle preferred before the nephevv Paul mili hist. Franc. King Luys de bonnaire An. 814. Girard l. 5 An. 834. An. 840 An. 878. Baudin en la Chroni que pag. 119. Girard l. 1 An. 879. Tvvo bastards pre ferred An. 881. Luys faineant K. of France An. 886. Charles 4 le Gros. King of France Girard li. 5. An. 888 Odo a king and after Duke of vvhom came Hugo Capetus Rafe 1. King of France An. 927. An. 929 Luys 4. d'Outremer The true geyre of France excluded Hugh Capet othervvise Snatch cappe 988 Belfor li. 3. cap 1. An. 988. Defence of Hugh Capetus title The embassage of the states of France vnto Char les of Loraine Girard 1. 6 an 988. Note this comparison Examples out of the third tyme of France Girard li. 6. an 1032 K. Henry 〈◊〉 preferred before his elder brother VVilliam conqueror hovv he came to be duke of Normandie Girard 1. 6. Anno 1032. 1037. Sonnes excluded for the fathers offences Girard lib. 7. An. 1110. Belfor l. 4 c. 1. l. 5 Cōmzus in comen tar l. 1. in vita Ludouic 11. Examples of the realme of Ingland Diuers races of Inglish Kinges Thename of Ingland and Inglish King Egbert the first monarch of Inglād Polidor hist. aug li. 4. in fine An. soz King Pepin of France king Adel vvolfe An. 829. King Alfred 872. King Edvvard elder An. 900. King Aleston the Bastard 〈◊〉 An. 924. Polid. 1. 5. hist. Angl. Stovv pag. 130. An. 924. King Edmond r. An. 940. The vncle preferred before the nephevvs 946. Polid. 1. 6. Stovv in his chronicles Edgar a famous king King Edvvard Martirized K. Etheldred 978. Polid. 1. 7. hist. Ang. K. Edmēd 〈◊〉 Quere Emma mother to King Edward the 〈◊〉 Many breches of lineal succestiō Sonnes of King Edmond Ironside King Canutus the first 〈◊〉 King Edvvard the confessor made K. against right of successiō Prince Edvvard the out lavv and his children put back Polyd l 8. Harald second K. by election 1066. Polid. vbi sup VVilliam Duke of Normādy King of Ingland An. 1066. by election Girard li. 6. an 1065 Chron. Cassin l. 3. cap. 34. Antoninus part z. chron tit 16. cap. 5. 9. 1. Examples after the conquest Polyd. in vita Gul. Conq. VVilliam Rufus King An. 1087. Henry 1. An. 1100 Mathild the empresse King Stephen entred against successiē 1135. An act of parlamēt about successiē 1153. King Richard and king Iohn 1190. Prince Ar tur put back Tvvo sisters of prince Artur Duke of Britaine K. Iohn and his sonne reiected 1216. The titles of york Lācaster The con clusion of this-chapter Causes of excluding Princes VVhe must iudge of the lavvful causes of exclusiōs Open iniustice to be resisted VVhat are the cheete pointes to be regarded in a princes ad mission VVhence the reasons of admitting or re iecting a prince are to be taken Girard li. 3. de l'Estar pag. 242. Three principal points to be considered VVhy he resolueth to treat of religion principally The cheef end of a common vvealth supernatural Philosophers and lavv makers vvhat end they had of ther doings The com mon vvealth of beastes The natu ral end of mans cōmon vvealth Sacrifices and oblations by
nephevves The case of succession to Portugal The proper interest of K. Henry the 4. cānot discend to king Hēry the 7. Issue of K. Iohn the 3. of Portugal L. Levves father of Don Antonio King Hen ry Cardinal The pretence of the Queene mother in France to Portugal Fiue pretenders of the Grovvne of Portugal The contention about the succession of Portugal Atturneyes sent to Portugal sentēce of illegitimation against Don Antonio VVriters of this cō trouerfie 1. The 〈◊〉 vvhy don Antonio vvas pronounced illegitimate 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Don Antonio his pretēce to Ingland Three principall pretenderes of Por tugal Pretence of the duke of Parma K. Phillippes pre tence to Portugal Diuers allegations for king Phillip Hieron Fraki lo Pet. VipeIanus The case of pretece of the hovvle of Portugal to Ingland An obiection vvith the ansvver Obiections against the pretenders of Portugal Ansvvers Note this By vvhat title king Hēry the 7. did enter About forrayne povver in Ingland About forrayne gouerment The occa sion of the next chapter about foraine gouerment Reasons against forraine gouerment Polit. Arist. Demosthenis Philipicae in AEfhines Attēptes to deliuer realmes from strāgers Quint. Curt. li 5. 6. de gest Alex. Vespere Sicilianae an 1265. Leand. in descript Siciliae Polyd. li. 〈◊〉 Hollings in vit Camiti The rage of the french against Inglish The conclusion against 〈◊〉 Authority of scripture against strangers Deus 15. The ansvvere in defence of fortaine gouerment The effect of go uerments to be con sidered not the gouernours An example Lytle importeth the subiect of vvhat country his go uernour is so he be good 〈◊〉 Reg. 12 Not the country but the good gouerment importeth Note these examples VVho are properly straingers Diuers manners of being vnder strangers To be vnder Strangers by Coquest Hovv Cōquerors doe proceede tovvards the Conquered Polydor Virg. lib. 8 histot 〈◊〉 Clemēcie of the Romans Lib. 5. Mechab cap. 8. Strangers most fauoured to vvise gouerments Gascoynes Britons Candians States of Italie The condition of Irish vnder the Inglish Of the states of Flanders Girard du Hailan lib. 18. an 1381. Prosperity of Flanders vnder the hovvse of Austria Io. Guicciard nella descrittione delli pasi bassi The anthority of the Fleminges at home The indulgence vsed to offenders in Flanders The Spaniard punis heth lesse in Italie thē 〈◊〉 home Viceryes do giue accompt of ther gouerment Much slaughter of nobility in Ingland Executiō of nobility by Hēry the eight Vnder King Edvvard and Queene Mary States gouerned happely by torrayne Princes Old afflictions of Naples Millan VVhether a great or little Prince be better An exam ple to shevv the former diffetēce Pedro Mexia en vit de Antonino Pio. The felicity of the Romā gouermēt The seeōd vvaye of being vnder a forraine Prince A fortayne Prince vvithout forces not preiudicial Note this vtilitie 〈◊〉 a forayne king The māner of forayne Prince more cōmodious for the present A third vvay of being vnder forraine gouerment Dangers of domes tical gouerment Inconueniences of this go uerment Strang gouer nours desired in some Realines The ansvver to 〈◊〉 against forrayne gouermēt Ansvver to the Grecian Philosophers aud orators Demosthenes The trooblesome state of the Grecian cittyes Arist. l. 2. polit c 1. 〈◊〉 2. Ansvver to the obiectiō out of Deutronomye Deut. 15. Secōdary Lines Ambiguite of preuailinge Tvvo groundes of probabilitie of speeding Three religions in Ingland The greate importance of religion in this actions The Cleargie The Coūcell and nobilitic Persons designed or fauoured by the protestant partie Foraayne frends of the protestants Of the party Putitan Persons affected by the Puritans External frends 〈◊〉 The Puritan at home Those of the Romā Religion The Roman partye great vvhy 1. Reg. 234 Effects of pressing an religiō Frends allies abroade The Lordes Beacham the earle of Darby Alliance of the earle of Darby Alliance of the Seymers Alliance of the Stanleys Alliāce of the old countesse of Darby The states of the Lord Beacham and the earle of Darby Religion of these Lords The earle of Huntington Alliāce of the earle of Huntington The povver of London Polydor. 24. Hollingshod in vita Henrici 6. The houses of Britaine and Portugal Infanta of Spayne Duke of Parma The duke of Bragansa Povver of forrayne pretēders The 1. Cōiecture that their vvilbe vvarre vvhye 1. 2. 3. 4. Sup. c. 4. 5. 6. A consideration to be marked The secōd cōiecture no mayn battayle probable 2. The third coniecture vvho is lykest to preuaile For the Infanta of Spayne For the earle of Hartfords seconde sonne 1. Sup. c. 〈◊〉 2. 3. For the children of the Coūtesse of Darbie 1. Garibay l. a5 c. 36. Polydor in rit Steph. 3.
discended from king VVilliam the Cōqueror by his eldest daughter lady Cōstance as also by diuers other participations of the blood royal of Ingland as aftervvards vvil appeare Now then to come to the second daughter of king VVilliam the Conqueror or rather the third for that the first of al vvas a Nonne as before hath byn noted her name vvas Adela or Alis as hath bin saide and she vvas marryed in France to Stephen counte Palatin of Champagne Charters and Bloys by whom she had a sonne called also Stephen vvho by his grand mother was earle also of Bollayne in Picardie and after the death of his vncle king Henry of Ingland vvas by the fauour of the Inglish nobility and especially by the helpe of his owne brother the Lord Henry of Bloys that vvas Bishop of Winchester and iointly Abbot of Glastenbury made kinge of England and this both in respect that Mathilda daughter of king Henry the first was a woman and her sonne Henry duke of Anjou a very childe one degree farther of from the Conqueror and from kings Rufus then Stephen vvas as also for that this king Henry the first as hath bin signified before vvas iudged by many to haue entred vvrongfully vnto the crowne and therby to haue made both himselfe and his posterity incapable of succession by the violence vvhich he vsed against both his elder brother Robart and his nephew duke VVilliam that vvas sonne and heyte to Robert vvho by nature and law were bothe of them held for soueraintes to Iohn by those that fauored them and their pretentions But yet howsoeuer this were we see that the duke of Britany that liued at that day should euidently haue succeded before Stephen for that he was discended of the elder daughter of the Conqueror and Stephen of the yonger though Stephen by the commodity he had of the neernes of his porte and hauen of Bullayne vnto Ingland as the French stories do saye for Calys vvas of no importance at that tyme and by the frendship and familiarity he had gotten in Ingland during the raigne of his two vncles king Rufus and king Henry and especially by the help of his brother the Bishop and Abbot as hath bin said he gat the start of al the rest and the states of Ingland admitted him This man although he had two sonnes namely Eustachius duke of Normandy and William earle of Norfolk yet left they no issue And his daughter Marie was maried to mathew of Fladers of whom if any issue remaines it fell afterward vppon the house of Austria that succeded in those states To king Stephen who left no issue succeded by compositiō after much warre Henry duke of Aniou sonne and heyre to Mathilda before named daughter of Henry the first which Henry named afterward the second tooke to wife Elenor daughter and heyre of VVilliam duke of Aquitaine earle of Poytiers which Elenor had bin marryed before to the king of France Lewis the 7. and bare him two daughters but vppon dislike conceaued by the one against the other they were deuorced vnder pretēce of being within the fowerth degree of consanguinitye and so by second marriage Elenor vvas vvife to this said Henry who afterward was king of Ingland by name of K. Henry the fecōd that procured the deathe of Thomas Becket archebishope of Canterbury and vvas both before and after the greatest enimye that euer Lewis the king of France had in the vvorld and much the greater for his marriage by vvhich Henry vvas made far stronger for by this woman he came to be duke of al Aquitaine that is of Gascony and Guyene and earle of al the coūtrey of Poytiers wheras beforealso by his fathers inheritance he vvas duke both of Anjou Tourayne and Mayne by his mother Mathilda king Henries daughter of Ingland he came to be king of Ingland duke of Normandie and by his owne industry he gat also to be lord of Ireland as also to bring Scotland vnder his homage so as he enlarged the kingdome of Ingland most of any other king before or after him This king Henry the second as Stow reconteth had by Lady Elenor fyue sonnes and three daughters His eldest sonne vvas named VVilliam that dyed yonge his seconde vvas Henry vvhom he caused to be crowned in his owne life tyme vvherby he receaued much trouble but in the end this sonne died before his father without issue His third sonne vvas Richard surnamed for his valour Cor de leon who reigned after his father by the name of Richard the first and died vvithout issue in the yeare of Christ 1199. Hys fovverth sonne named Geffrey maried lady Constance daughter and heyre of Britanie as before hath bin said and dying left a sonne by her named Arthur which vvas duke of Britanie after him and pretended also to be king of Ingland but vvas put by it by his vncle Iohn that tooke him also prisoner and kept him so in the castel first of fallaise in Normandie and then in Roan vntil he caused him to be put to death or slew him vvith his owne hands as Frēch stories vvrite in the yeare 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 fynde but one named by the french stories which vvas Elenor whom they saye king Iohn also caused to be muthered in Ingland a a litle before her brother the duke vvas put to death in Normandie and this was the end of the issue of Geffrey whose vvife Constance duchesse of Britanie marryed againe after this murther of her children vnto one Guy Vicond of Touars and had by him two daughters wherof the eldest named Alis was duchefse of Britanie by vvhome the race hath bin continued vnto our tyme. The fift sonne of king Henry the second was named Iohn who after the death of his brother Richard by help of his mother Elenor and of Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury drawen therunto by his said mother gat to be king and put back his nephew Arthur vvhom king Richard before his departure to the war of the holy land had caused to be declared heyre apparent but Iohn preuayled and made away both nephew and Neece as before hath bin saide for which fact he vvas detested of many in the world abroade and in France by acte of parlament depriued of al the states he had in those partes Soone after also the pope gaue sentence of depriuation against him and his owne barons tooke armes to execute the sentence and finally they deposed both him and his yong sonne Henry being then but a child of 8. yeares old and this in the 18. yeare of his reigne and in the yeare of Christ 1215. and Levvis the 8. of that name prince at that tyme but afterward king of France was chosen king of Ingland sworne in Londō and
the house of Yorke their was yet no question as appereth also by Stow in his chronicle vvho setteth downe how that after the said deposition of Richard the Archbishop of Canterbuty asked the people three tymes whom they would haue to be their king vvhether the duke of Yorke their standing present or not and they answered no and then he asked the seronde tyme if they vvould haue his eldest sonne the duke of Aumaile and they said no he asked the third tyme yf they would haue his yongest-sonne Richard earle of cambridge and they said no. Thus writeth Stow vvher-by it is euident that albeit this earle of Cabridge had married now the sister of Edmōd Mortimer by whom his posterity claymed afterward yet could he not pretend at this tyme her brother being yet aliue who after dying vvithout issue left al his right to her by her to the house of Yorke for albeit this earle Richard neuer came to be duke of Yorke for that he vvas beheaded bv king Henry the fift at Southampton as before hath 〈◊〉 said vvhile his elder brother vvas a lyue yet left he a sonne named Richard that after hym came to be duke of Yorke by the death of his vncle Edmund duke of Yorke that dyed vvithout issue as on the other side also by his mother Anne Mortimer he vvas earle of March and was the first of the house of Yorke that made title to the crowne So that the question now is whether after the deposition of king Richard Edmond Mortimer nephew remoued of Leonel which Leonel vvas the second sonne to king Edward or els Henry duke of Lancaster sonne to Iohn of Gaunt which Iohn vvas third sonne to king Edward should by right haue succeded to king Richard and for Edmond is alleaged that he was heyre of the elder brother and for Hēry is said that he vvas neerer by two degrees to the stemme or last king that is to say to king Richard deposed then Edmond was for that Henry vvas sonne to king Richards vncle of Lancaster and Edmond was but nephew remoued that is to say daughters sonnes sonne to the said king Richards other vncle of Yorke And that in such a case the next in degree of consanguinitie to the last king is to be preferred though he be not of the elder lyne the fauourers of Lancaster alleage many proofes wher of some shal be touched a litle after we haue seene the same practized in our dayes in France where the Cardinal of Burbone by the iudgement of the most part of that realme was preferred to the crowne for his propinquity in blood to the dead king before the king of Nauarre though he were of the elder lyne Moreouer it is alleaged for Henry that his title came by a man and the others by a vvoman vvhich is not so much fauoured either by nature law or reason and so they saye that the pretenders of this title of lady Phillippe that vvas daughter of duke Leonel neuer opened their mouthes in those dayes to clayme vntil some 50. yeares after the deposition death of king Richard Nay more ouer they of Lancaster say that sixteene yeares after the deposition of king Richard vvhen king Henry the fift vvas now in possession of the crowne cerrayne noble mē especially Richard earle of Cambridge that had marryed this Edmond Mortimers sister offred to haue slayne king Henry and to haue made the said Edmōd Mortymer kinge for that he was discended of duke Leonel but he refused the matter thinking it not to be according to equitie and so vvent and discouered the whole treason to the king wheruppō they vvere al put to death in Southampton within fowre or fiue dayes after as before hath bin noted and this hapened in the yeare 1415. and from hence foreward vntil the yeare 1451. and thirreth of the reigne of king Henry the sixt vvhich vvas 36 yeares after the execution done vppon these conspirators no more mention or pretēce was made of this matter at vvhat tyme Richard duke of Yorke began to moue troobles about it againe Thus say those of the house of Lancaster but now these of Yorke haue a great argument for themselues as to them it seemeth vvhich is that in the yeare of Christ 1385. and 9 yeare of the reigne of king Richard the second it vvas declared by act of parlament as Polidor writeth that Edmond Mortimer vvho had marryed Phillip daughter heyre of Leonel duke of Clarence and was grandfather to the last Edmond by me named should be heyre apparent to the crowne if the king should chance to dye without issue To which obiection those of Lancaster do answere first that Polidor doth err in the person when he sayeth that Edmond husband of lady Philippe was declared for heyre apparent for that his Edmond Mortimer that married lady Philippe dyed peacably in Ireland three yeares before this parlament vvas holden to witt in the yeare of Christ 1382. as both Hollings head Stow and other chroniclets do testifie and therfore Polidor doth erre not only in this place about this man but also in that in an other place he sayeth that this Edmond so declared heyre apparent by king Richard vvas slayne by the Irish in Ireland 12. yeares after this declaration made of the succession to vvit in the yeare 1394. vvhich vvas in deede not this man but his sonne Roger Mortimer heyre to him and to the Lady Phillip his wife vvho vvas declared heyre apparent in the parlament afore said at the instance of king Richard and that for especial hatred malice as these men say vhich he did beate against his said vncle the duke of Lancaster and his sonne Henry vvhom he desired to exclude from the succession The cause of this hatred is said to be for that presently vppon the death of prince Edvvard father to this Richard which prince dyed in the yeare of Christ 1376. and but 10. monethes before his father king Edward the third their vvanted not diuers learned and vvise men in Ingland that were of opinion that Iohn of Gaunt duke of Lancaster eldest sonne then liuing of the said king Edward should haue succeded his father iure propinquitatis before Richard that vvas but nephew and one degree further of then he but the old king vvas so extremly affectionate vnto his eldest sonne the blacke prince Edward newly dead that he vvould not heare of any to succede him as Frosard saith but only Richard the said princes sonne Wherfore he called presently a parlament vvhich vvas the last that euer he hold and therin caused his said nephew Richard to be declared heyre apparent and made his three sonnes then liuing that were vncles to the youth to vvitt Iohn of Gaunt duke of Lancaster and Edmond Langhly duke afterward of Yorke and Thomas woodstock duke of Glocester to sweare fealtie vnto Richard as they did And albeit Iohn of Gaunt al his life
France and her father the king of spaine should be better able to defend and recouer his or her right to the crowne of Ingland then Eleanor his owne sister should be who vvas also in the handes of his said vncle for that he supposed that she also should be made away by him shortly after as in deede the french chronicle affirmeth that she vvas and howsoeuer this matter of duke Arthurs testament were yet certaine it is that vvhen he and his sister vvere put to death the next in kynne that could succeede them in their right to Ingland vvas this lady Blanch and her mother Queene Elenor that was sister to Arthurs father Geffrey duke of Britanie For that king Iohn their vncle was presumed by al men to be vncapable of their inheritance by his putting of them to death and child yet he had none and this is the second pointe that these men do deduce for the lady Infanta of Spayne by the title of Queence Eleanor and her daughter Blanch to whom the Infanta is next heyre A third interest also the same men do deriue to the Infanta by the actual deposition of king Iohn by the Barons and states of his Realme in the 16. yeare of his reigne and by the election and actual admission of Lewis prince of Frāce husband of the foresaid lady Blanch whom they chose with one consent and admitted and swore him fealtic and obedience in London for him and for his heyres and posteritie in the yeare 1217. and gaue him possession of the said citie and Tower of London and of many other cheefe places of the realme albeit afterwatd the most parte of the realme chainged their myndes agayne vppon the suddaine death of the said king Iohn and chose and admitted his yong sonne Henry the third a child of nync yeares old yet do the fauourers of the Infanta say that their remayneth to her as heyre vnto the said Lewis vntil this day that interest which by this election oth and admission of the realme remained vnto this prince Lewis which these men affirme to be the very like case as was that of Hugo Capetus in France who came to be king especially vppon a certayne title that one of his ancestors named Odo earle of Parris had by being once elected king of France and admitted and sworne though afterward he were deposed agayne and yong Charles surnamed the simple was admitted in his place as Henry the third was in England after the election of this Lewis But yet as the other continued euer his right and clayme vntil it was restored to Hugo Capetus one of his race so say these men may this Infanta cōtinew and renew now the demaund of this right of king Lewis her ancester for that titles and interestes to kingdomes once rightly gotten do neuer dye but remaine euer for the posterity to effectuate when they can thus much of this matter But after this againe these men do shew how that the said Infanta of Spayne doth discende also from Henry the third sonne of king Iohn by the dukes of Britanie as before in the secōd chapter hath bin declared and in the arbor and genealogie following in the end of this conference shal be seene for that king Henry besides his two sonnes Edward and Edmond which were the beginners of the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster had also a daughter named Lady Beatrix married to Iohn the second of that name duke of Britanie and by him she had Arthur the second and so lineally from him haue descended the princes of that house vntil theire vnion with the crowne of France and from thence vnto this lady Infanta of Spayne that now is who taketh herselfe for proper heyre of the said house of Britanie and heyre general of France as hath bin said By this third coniunction then of the house of Britanie with the blood royal of Ingland the frendes of the Infanta do argue in this manner that seing she discendeth of the sister of these two brothers which were the heades of the two opposite houses of Lancaster and Yorke and considering that each of these houses hath oftentymes bin attainted excluded from the succession by sondry actes of parlament and at this present are opposite and at contention among themselues why may not this right of both houses say these men by way of composition peace and comprimise at least be passed ouer to the issue of their sister vvhich resteth in the Infanta Agayne they saye that al these three branches of the lines of Inglish kings to wit by the lady Constance daughter of king William Conqueror by the lady Elenor daughter of king Henry the second and by the lady Beatrix daughter of king Henry the third it is euidēt that this lady the infanta of Spaine is of the true and ancient blood royal of Ingland and that diuers wayes she may haue clayme to the same vvhich being graunted they inferr that seing matters are so doubtful at this day about the next lawful succession and that diuers of the pretendores are excluded some for bastardie some other for religion some for vnaptnes to gouerne and some for other causes seing the common wealth hath such authoritie to dispose in this affaire as before the Ciuil lawyer hath declared why may there not consideration be had among other pretenders of this noble princesse also saie these men especially seing she is vnmarried and may therby cōmodate many matters and salue many breaches satisfie many hopes and giue contentment to many desires as the vvorld knoweth And this is in effect as much as I haue hard alleaged hitherto in fauour of the Infanta of Spayne but against this pretence others do produce diuers arguments and obiections as first of al that these her clayme 's be very old and vvorne out and are but collateral by sisters Secondly that she is a stranger and allien borne Thirdly that her religion is cōtrary to the state vnto al which obiections the fauourers aforesaid do make their answeres and to the first they say that antiquity hutteth not the goodnes of a title vvhen occasion is offred to aduāce the same especially in titles apperteyning to kingdomes which commonly are neuer presumed to dye as hath bin 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 lynes do eyther fayle or are to be excluded for other iust respects as in our case they hold that it happeneth And as for the second pointe of forraine birth they saye there hath bin sufficient answered before in treating of the house of Scotland that in rigor it is no barr by intention of any Inglish law yet whether in reasō of state politique gouerment it may be a iust impedimēt or no it shal after be handled more al large vvhen we come to treat of the house of Portugal
nature Gen 8. Iob. 1. The chife end of a common vvealth magestrates is religion Genebrard l 1. Chronolde 1 aetate Genes 25. 20. Deut. 21. 2. Paral. 〈◊〉 Regard of religion among gentiles Cicero li. 1. quest tusc. de natura deorum lib. 1. Plutarch aduersus Colotem Aristo l 7 politi c. 8. The absurd Athisemo of our tyme in politiques See before the othes made by princes at their coronations in the 4. chapter The oth to gouernors for defence of religion Collat 2. Nouella constit Iuflin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Note the forme of this othe vvryten An Dn̄i 560. Hovv great a defect is vvant of religion in a Magestrate Lack of religion the chefest cause to exclud a pretendor Vide Digest li. 23. fit 1 leg 8 10. Math. 14. Marc. 10. 1. Cor. 7. Lib. 4. decret Greg. tit 19. c. 7. VVhether 〈◊〉 in religiō be infidelity Act 23. 1. Cor. 8. 2. Cor. 5. 3. Pet. 3. Math. 18. Hovv he that doth agaynst his ovvne consciēce sinneth Rom. 14. 1. Cor. 8. 10. See vppō this place of S. Paul S. Chrisost hom 36. in 〈◊〉 epistolā Orig. l. to Theodor. in hune locum Hovv dāgrous to fauour a pretender of a contrary religion Against vvisdom and policy to preferre 〈◊〉 prince of a contrary religiē The conclusion of the vvhole speech A protestation of the lavvyer VVhy the vvil not determyne of any one title The book of Hales and Sir Nicholas Bacon The but of Hales book First reason 2. Reasun The booke of M. Morgan and iudge Browne Ansvver to the 1. reason To the 2. reason Heghingtons booke George Lilly in fine Epitchronic Anglic. Sundry importag pointes Diuers other notes and pampletes Sir Richard Shelly Franc. Peto A treatise in the behalfe of the Infāta of spaine Discent of V Villiam the Conqueror The children of the conqueror Polid. 1. 2. in fine Stovv in vita Guliel The miseries of Duke Robert and his sonne Stovv in vit Gul. Cōquest VVilliam soune of Duke Robett Belfor 1. 3. cap. 42. An. 1128. King VVilliam Rufus 〈◊〉 l. 2 del hist. del mondo K. Henry Polydor. in vita Henrici 1. The house of Britany by the elder daughter of the Conqueror Belfor l. 3 Pag. 423. Conan Duke of Britanie poysened by VVilliam Con queror Belfor l. 3 cap. 12. An. 1065. ex chronic dionis The daughters of spaine are of the blood royal of Ingland The houses of Aloys VVhy Stephen vvas admitted king of Girard l. 6 Belfor l. 3 The issue of king Stephen K. Henry the 2. Belfor l. 3 cap. 50. An. 1151. Gerard. l. 8. pag. 549 K. Henry the 2. his issue Stovv in vita Henci King RIchard Duke Geffrey Paradyn apud Belforest Belfor l. 3 cap. 71. An. 1203. Belfor l. 4 cap. 4. K. Iohn and his issue Miseries that fell vppō king Iohn Polid. Hol lings Stovv in vitae Iohannis The issue of king Henry the 2. hys daughters Belfor l. 3 cap. 49. An. 1152. The issue of Lady Eleanor Queene of spaine Polidor l. 15. in vit Iohan Stephen Garib li. 22. cap. 31 Queene Berenguela Garibay li. 12. c. 52 Pretences of the Infanta of spayne to Inglish French states K. Henry the 3 and his issue The meeting of three houses Prince Edvvard Duke Edmond Lad. Beatrix daughter of king Henry 3. The pede gree of the dukes of Britanie The great contention betvveene the houses of Mō ford and Bloys in Britanie Burgundy and Orleance The controuersie betvveene the house of monford and Bloys A Questiō about successiō betven the vncle and the neece The house of Blois ouer come The suecession of the Monfords in Britanie Francis last Duke of Britany Hovv the dukdome of Britanie vvas vnited to france 3. The issue male of king Hēry the 〈◊〉 The Bishop of Rosle in his booke of the Q. of Scotts title George Lilly in fine epitomes chron Anglic. That Edvvard vvas the elder Matheus vvest in vit Henrici 3. bollings Ibidem pag. 654. 2. 3. Holling head in vit Henrici 3. pag. 740. 777. 4. Edmonds line neuer pretended to the crovvne 5. Note this consequent 6. The elder ship of Edmond a fiction Polyd in fine vitae Hent 3. The issue of king Edvvard the first The issue of Edmond Crock-back Collateral lynes of Lācastez Fyue sonnes of K. Edvvard 3. The redd rose and the vvhite issue of the black prince The issue of leonel the 2. sonne The issue of Edmond the 4 sonne The issue of Thomas the 5. sonne The issue of the 3. sonne duke of Lancan The issue by Lady Blanch. L. Phillip marryed into Portugāl and her issue Lady Elizabeth second daughter The issue of King Henry the 4. The issue of Iohn of Gant by his 2. vvife The controuersie in Spaine betvveene King Peter the cruel and his bastard brother Garibay l. 15 c. 26. Of Lady Catherin Svvinford hollings head in vita Richardi 2. pag. 1088. The duke of Lancasters ba stards made legitimate Hollingh in vita Rich. 2. pag. 1090. The issue of Catherin Svvinfords chil dren K. Hēry 7. The dukes of Somerset Polidor hist. Ang. lib. 23. Hollings in vita Edvvadi 4. pa. 1314 1340. VVhat heyres of Lancaster novv romaine in The issue of the house of York Richard Earle of Cambrige executed Richard duke of York slayne Edvvard duke of York and King his issue The lyne of the Pooles The lyne of the hastings The Baringtons King Richard 3. Issue of king Henry the 7. Issue of the lady Mary of Scotland Issue of mary 2. sister to K. Henry Lady Francis Stovv An. 7. Edvvard 6. Of Lady Elen or of Suffolk Varietie of authores opinions about this controuersie Polydor in fine vit Henr. 3. initio vit Henr. 4. in vit Rich. An. 1386. The allegations of the house of yorke The storie of the controuersie betvveene Lancaster York Polydor. in vita Richard 2. lib. 20. King Richards de position Cheefe points of the controuersie betvveene Lancaster and York Three pointes about king Richards depositiō That a trevv K. maye be deposed 〈◊〉 Reason 2. Authority 3. Examples VVhether the causes vvere sufficient of King Rich. deposition The house of York chiefe doer in deposing King Richard Polyd. lib. 20. histor Angl. Addit ad Polycromicon Testimony of stories The euil gouermēt of king Richard Stovv in vit Rich. 2. pag. 502 regni 11. Agreat insolēcy The euel parlamēt Stovv an 21. regni Richard The duke of Laneaster called by common request Frosard VValsingham VVhether the manner of deposing King Richard vvere good 1. Roboam deposed by his subiects of ten tribes 2. Reg. 11 12. 2. Paralip cap. 10. Ioram his mother Iesabel deposed by force 4. Reg. 9. 5. Athalia depriued by force 4. Reg. 11. VVhether Lancaster or Yorke should haue entred after king Richard Polidor L. 20. in vit Richard Stovv 〈◊〉 vita Richard 2. VVhether the earle of march or duke of Lancaster should haue luc ceded
to king Richard The title of Yorke is by a VVomā Stovv in vit Henrici 5 au 3. regni The earle of Cambrige executed for conspiracy An obiection for Yorke that Edmond Mortymer vvas declared heyre apparent Polydor l. 20. Stovv in vit Rich. 〈◊〉 an 1385 Hollings-head in vit Rich. 2. pag. 1088. Stovv an 1382. Polydor li. 20. an 1394. The cause of hatred be rvveeue king Richard and the house of Lancaster Iohn frosard in histo Polydor. Hollings Stovv in vita 〈◊〉 2 Tho vvassing in vit Richardi 2. pag. 341. 344. Iohn Fros sard in vit Hēri VVhy Ro ger Mortimer vvas declared heyre apparent Hollings in vit Richard 3. pag. 1406. in vit Edvvard 6. pa. 1715 The declaration of king Edvvard 6. in fauour of the Lady Iane Gray Girard de Haillan l. 15. his Fran. initio VVhether vncles or nephevves to be preferred in Succession Barthol in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 C. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And example of the vncle before the nephevv in spayne Garibay li. 13 cap. 14 and 1276. An other example in France and Flanders Polidor l. 25. in vit 〈◊〉 3. An other example of Britanny Supra c. 2 An other example in Scotland The conuentiō of the houses of Balliol Bruse in Scotland 8. Examples in Inglād 〈◊〉 head in vit Regis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 142. Hovv Arthur duke of Britanny vvas declared 〈◊〉 apparent 〈◊〉 1. 14 〈◊〉 in vit Richar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 420. 2. 3. Hollingli in vit Richar 〈◊〉 pag. 496. 499. 4. Hollingshead pag. 540. VValsing in ypodig Neustriss Opinions of lavvyers for the nephevv vncle Benedict Cap. Ranutius verb in eodem testam Baldus in lib. vt in test cap. de suis leg hered per. li. vnicam pro 20. sui autē nouissimo Touching the common lavv of Ingland Different rules in successiō of the crovvne and of other inheritances The common lavv grounded in custome Ancient lavvyers that defended the house of Lancaster Holling 〈◊〉 vit Hēric 6. pag. 〈◊〉 00. The summe of this controuersie repeated 1. 2. 3. Other arguments of Lancaster Stovv in vita Henrici 5. pag. 587. The princes of Yorke often attained Stovv in vita Henrici 6. 2. Yorke entred by violence Stovv in fine vit 〈◊〉 6. 3. The house of Yorke put dovvne a holy king 4. Long pos sessions of the house of Lancaster 5. The difference of kings of both houses 6. The princes of Yorke cruel one to the other Polydor virg hist. Anglie lib. 24. Great vnion faythfulnes of the princes of Lancaster Polyd. lib. 23. Diffentions in the house of Yorke King Edvvard 4. King Richard 3. King Hēry 3. hovv many he put to death of his ovvne kynred The de la pooles The house of Buckingam The house of Courtneis The house of Salisbury Seymers put to death Queene of Scots 7. No old noble house standing in Inglād but such as tooke parte vvith Lācaster Siue ancient noble hovvses Arondel Oxford Northum berland VVestmerland Shrevvsbury Houses that fauo red York deftroyed The Mon braies The de la Pooles The house of Salesbury VVarvvicke King 〈◊〉 the 7. crovvned in the fild in respect of the house of Lancaster only thoughe his tytle that vvay vvas not great A diuisiō of the families that do precend Of the house of Scotland Arbella In fauour of the king of Scots 1. 2. 3. Argumēt against the king of Scots 1. The king of Scots not of the house of Lancaster 2. The king of Scots foraine botne The controuersie about somayne 〈◊〉 Movv strāgers may inherite Reasons vvhy the statute toucheth not our case The crovvne not holdē by allegeance The king of Scots excluded by the starute of association Other cōsideratiōs against the King of Scots Ioyning of Inglād and Scotland together 1. Polydor. lib. 17. in vit Edvvardi primi 3. Inconueniences of bringing strāgers into Ingland A consideration of importance Polydot hist. Ang. l. s. 9. Example of Spaine Garibay l. 20 c 42. An Dn̄i 1207. Example out of Portugal Garibay l. 34. c. 38. An. Dn̄i 1383. Stovv pa. 54. 59. 95. 76. Of the religion of Scotland Of the title of lady Arbella 1. 2. An Inglish vvoman Against Arbella 1. Not of the house of Lancaster 2. The testa ment of king Hēry 3. The coun tesse of darby neerer by a degree Illegitimation by bastardye The testimonie of the lord Vvillian hovvard Other reasons of state against Arbella Gouerment if vvomen Bolyd l. 12 Garibay li. 〈◊〉 c. 41 The issue of Charles Brandon Issue of lady Fran cis Stovv an 7. Edon 6 The issue of the L. Catherin The issue of L. Eleanor Allegations of the houses of Darby hartford the one against the other Charles Brandon had a vvyse a lyue First bastardie against the issue of hartford Stovv in vita Edvvard An. 〈◊〉 2. Bastardie 3. Bastardie The fourth be 〈◊〉 cōmon to both famines of Suffolk The ansvvere of those of hartford to the foresaid bastardies Of the marriage betvveen the earle of hartford and the L. Catherin Gray Concil Trid. Sess. 24. cap. 1. Hovv the second sonne of the earie of hart ford mav be legitimate Allegations of the house of Darby VVhy the earle of Huntingtōs house is said to be of the house of Clarence Issue of the house of Clarence Issue of S. Geffrey Poole The interest pretēce of the earle of Huntington Obiectiōns against the earle of Huntington 1. 2. Attainders in the house of Huntington Restitution may be in blood vvithout restitutiō of dignitie The pretence of the Pooles against Huntington Obiectiō of Religion The house of Britanie The course of inheritan ce in the crovvne of Frāce First pretence of the Infan ta to Ingland 1. 2. Polydor. in vita Guliel Rufi 3. Second pretence of the Infanta of Spaine 3. Pretence by Arthur duke of Britanie Belforest I. 3. cap. 71 hist. Fran. Electiō of Levvys the 8. to be King of Inglād Polydor. l. 15. hist. Angl. Holling Stovv in vita Ioannis Belfor li. 〈◊〉 cap. 67. Girard li. histor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 france Pretence by dissent from Hēry the third Admissiō by composition Obiectiōs against the Infan tas pretence The princes of Portugal are of the house of Lācaster The issue of lady Phillip Queene of Portugal Issue of Iohn of Gaunt by his later vviues Sce the arbor in the end of this booke The point of difficultie Issue of Catherin Svvinford The principal question Ansvver Duchie of Lācaster The crovvne An exam ple of Edvvard the sixth of the prince of spaine Replies of the house of Portugal The duke dome of Lācaster The legitimation of Catherin Svvinfords children not lavvful Stovv in vit Richardi 2. Garibay his Portugal l. 33 cap. 4. Note this example Stovv in vit Henrici 8. Iohn of Gauntes marriage vvith Catherin Svvinford helpeth not the legitimation The question betvveene lord Phillip and Iohn of Somerset The question betvveene the