and irregularitie who after the example of their Master Bezas Resveille-matin do here as maliciously defame your Father as he did there your Majesties Grandmother Yet let us proceed and dive inâ—o the bottome and discover what they ayme at it is certaine they intend first to reforme the State and to suppresse Episcopall jurisdiction and casheere so many places of Baronies in the upper house and yet these men pretend to be friends and Patrons of Parliaments and order But by the words of the Practise of Princes I will make this appeare pag. 17. Ministers saith he are Christs Embassadours and therefore ought to have free libertie to speake in the word of the Lord to Kings anâ— Statesmen in good sort for things appertaining to the furtherance of Christs Kingdom and against such practises as hinder the same till they have thâ—t libertie Princes cannot say rightly that Christ hath his Embassadours or Kingdom received in their Courts which some undertake to prove cannot be till the Hieraâ—chie and Dominion of the Lord Bishops never by Christ ordained but forbidden be overthrown as dangerous to Protestant Princes and Staâ—es and so he stumbleth on à Malo in peius For first they would overthrow the Bishops and Councellors so as pag. 18. he directly saith Out of all which he that will may see that the losses dishonours and troubles that have fallen to this Land and indeed to our Religion and brethren in the Palatinate Germany and France have cheifly sprange from two fountaines First a corrupt Councell and Clergie in England then from a vaine policie of suppressing such Preachers and Parliament men as sought to discover the mischeife of treacherie I need not explaine their words being plaine enough nor seek to discover their intentions which the words reveale And surely the Bishops wer blinded if they should expect any favour or good allowance if God should so punish this Realme that your Majestie should dye without issue which God forbid for the Successor these men desire will deale with them as he did with the Luthâ—rans at Prague and according to the articles 1602. at Heidlebergh Totus Lutheranismus eorumliberi de medio tollantur Much more will he abolish Rochets and their titles for their Lands sake Notwithstanding this is not all for though they seeme to tax Bishops and Councellors yet they glance so farre as they dare at your Majestie and though they shoot at them they ayme at your perfidiouslie For marke their words and ponder them well pag. 11. men that take Gods word for their guide sc. that all the servants of that Prince are wicked that hearken to lyes they say that things can never go well with the Religion and State of England till the Councell which hath been so Dukeyfied be in a manner wholly changed and these men therefore count them fooles who think not if God should take away the King issuelesse and that the injured K. and Queen of Bohemia should come to the Crown things must needs mend which cannot except the Councell were also changed and made examples to keep others from the like treacherie So these men that take Gods word for their guide think if God take away the King issuelesse things must needs mend Surelie it is a speech untymelie and disloyall and uttered unseasonably the Queen being with Child and if not yet both of them being young and hopefull that speech did not become a good subject But could the State no otherwise mend except the King and Queen of Bohemia should beare and weare the Crown of England It seemeth so by these false Prophets For the Councellors must be made examples and punished for treacherie and the present King dares not do any thing but what they like and therefore the Scottish Minister did of late speake in Knoxes tone and Pereus That Princes may be deposed quando gravant conscientias subditorum And so this hot brayned Minister pag. 21. is become a Prophet for he is perswaded as he saith that who so live but a few yeares shall see a greater rott of Nobility and Prince-like Clergie then ever was seen in this Land which he gathereth from the never fayling word and truth of God as his words import So then it seemeth that great rott must be when the King dyeth issulesse and so they divine of your Majesties death and that is the day of the Lord they pray for They look for the rising of another Sunne which is treason to do before this be sett which now illuminateth England and God grant it may long and gloriously shine there I think surelie these men aliquid monstri alunt for they trust too much to faction and to a strong side for as T.T.T. said in Taverns ten healthes for one are drank to you forraigne Children more then to you and many weare Ribbands and favours as marks of their homage and loyalty to the Messias they look for I seeke not to prejudicate the Innocent but to advise your Majestie to use all due circumspection and be well armed against all treacherous plotts and projects For no tone sounds so ill in Kings eares as aspirations And I know well that in Queen Elizabeths time the Oath of association was publickly tendred to all Subjects for a lesse dangerous cause and against them that were in prison and miserie who had no such Tutors and School-masters as the Hollanders are Such quick-silver Ministers as the brood of the Palatinate we are not now troubled so much with Mar-Prelats as with Mar-Kings which is an accident unseparable from Calvinisme which never got sure footing in any Country but desolation followed Your Majestie may be pleased to call to mynd and set before your Eyes how miserably your Grandfather was made away of the disciples of Knox and how your Grandmother who had as good right and footing in Scotland as you have in England was deposed by the same spirits Remember also in what danger King Francis the second of France did stand by the conspiracie of Amboys and his brother Charles at Meaux by those Calvinists Praecones turbarum I speake nothing of Swedland nor of the Count of East-Freizeland whom not â seditione ferè totâ diditione pepulissent as Heisekenmus a learned Lutheran writeth and I will câ—nclude all with the reasons of these Calamities and tempests raised by the Consistorians which Sebastian Castalio giveth l. de praedestinat a man once nearely allyed to Calvin in divers opinions who maketh a difference between the true God and the God of Calvin He teacheth us that Calvins God ingendreth Children without mercie proud insolent and bloudie and that it cannot be otherwise he sheweth causes For that Calvins God is the Author of Sinne not by permission only but efficaciter and he predestinated the greatest part of the world not only to damnation but also to the cause of damnation and suggesteth to men wicked affections Wherefore if it be true that of malus corvus malâ—m ovum of evill
was more then an heir apparant for they could not undo that which they had done and dispence with their Oathes no more then Henry the second of England could unKing Henry his Sonne though he take Armes against him because he was created King by order and Authoritie Besides after this Election by the Emperours investiture being possessed of the Electorate of Bohemia it stood as reall livery and seisin of his right honour and jurisdiction which no man could avoid or defeate and furthermore there is extant one Letter from the States and two from the Directors themselves written in the life time of Mathias which were sent to King Ferdinand wherein they all give him the title of King of Hungaria and Bohemia and call him their good Lord and Prince and moreover they all promised to provide him a Crown fitt for their King and Lord So soone as God should take to his mercy the Emperour Mathias Therefore if the State only had absolute power to Elect their King then was Ferdinand orderly generally and freely Elected And if they had not such power how had they power afterwards to create another how could the power serve the turne for Frederick and be defective for Ferdinand CHAP. 3. That the Crown of Bohemia is not only Elective BVt because Camerarius and Plâ—ssen the unhappy Advocats of an evill cause labour to defend a paradox that the Kings of Bohemia are only Elective which if it were true doth not prejudice Ferdinand whom the State have Elected and the Palatines own Declaration printed 1619. Cur Regns Bohemia Regimen in se suscepit why he usurped the title of King of Bohemia alleadgeth that Ferdinand leges regni fundamentales ever iâ— privilegia Provinciarum quas sibi subjugare voluit velut bared tarias cum libera erant Electiones The which assertion was very frivolous seeing Ferdinand holds Bohemia by Election aswell as by inheritance for it is evident by all Laws Customes records and histories of that Country that since Bohemia was a Kingdom the Crown and Electorate have passed not by Election only but also by Inheritance and succession and all Antiquaries have derived and drawn from Vratistâ—vius primus Anno 907. by eight descents the Inheritance of that Realme succeeding in one line and familie and therefore as we deny not a forme of Election So cannot Camâ—rarius deny the verity of succession Againe when Vratislavins the second was created King by Henry the fourth Emperour the Dominion continued still in the same race and blood for many descents jure successionis electionis And when Phillip the Emperour created Primislans Othocarus King of Bohemia and Crowned him at Mentz An. 1197. when for a time the title of a King had been suspended The Crown and Scepter continually remained as incorporated into that stock and familie for many yeares after Moreover Carolus the fourth was both Emperour and King of Bohemia and from him and his issue the Crown descended to Vladislaus since whose time the kingdom hath ever remained by succession in that familie without discontinuance oâ— interruption except when Podilradius a Hussite by practise sedition and forcible entrie usurped the Crown But to omitt other reasons Women and daughters have often inherited the Crown and is it not probable that they had it by Election only But admitt Bohemia ever heretofore had been Elective yet are the States of that Country restrained by Law never to Elect a stranger King but when theâ—e is none of the blood Royall left in remainder And that I prove by an authenticall record the Decree of Carolus the fourth wherein it is said Electionem Regis Bohemia in casu eventu auntaxa quibus do Geneal gia progenia aut pros pâ—a regali Bohemia Masculus vel Femella superstes legitimus nullus fuerit oriundus quod Deus avertat vel er quemcung al um modum vacare contigerit dictâ—m Regnum ad Praelatos Duces Principes Barones Nobiles Communitatâ—m dicti Regni pertinentiarum e usdem decernimus rite legitimè in perpetuum pertinere So here is granted a power of Election but limited by a duntaxat to make that free Election only when all the branches of the Tree are fallen and none remaineth of the Stock And let no man object that ancient Customes cannot be altered by Imperiall constitutions for here the Emperour interpreteth the priviledges of Former Emperours and declareth in what sence they are given Exponit non abrogat consuetudinem Besides 70 Aur Bvllae the fundamentall Law of the Empire it is enacted that all the Electorships should descend by inheritance wherein Bohemia was comprehended and that for want of heires Bohemia should not escheate to the Empire as other Seignories of the Electors did but that the States of the kingdom should make choice of their King And because practise and Custome are the best Interpreters of Laws I will shew an example Sigismond the Emperour Grandfather of Carolus the fourth being King of Hungaria and Bohemia called an Assembly of both States of both kingdomes at Snoyma a towne in Moravia where he put in his Sonnes claime and required them for the better setling of the Government to accept and acknowledge for his Successor Albert of Austria who had married Elizabeth his only daughter and heir of both Realmes so to establish that by consent which was his right by Law and why they should do it he gave them this reason because by the marriage of Mary the undoubted heir he himself possessed Hungaria in her right and his Grandfather John inherited the Crown of Bohemia in his wives right both which are confrmed by the testimony of Dubravius l. 27. Histor. Bohemia and by Francisc Resieres câ—m 4. Besides Dubravius l. 28. relateth that Pâ—tasco Embassadour from the States of Bohemia to Frederick the Emperour perswaded him ut sumeret sibi regni gubernicula and make himself King in respect he was the principall of that Stock and roote of the Tree of Austria id quod ei licebat said he ex antique sedere inter Bohemos Austrios icto de successione Regni the which pact was called Pactio Iglaviensis made between Rodolphus primus and Primislaus the summe whereof was this Vt nullo relicto haereâ—e Regni Bohemiae ad Rodolphi posteritatem Regnum deferatur So here is an argument cited to authorise the same which had been an Idle part and a frivolous argument if no other Prince should weare the Crown but one Elected by the States only without regard of his blood And although to dazell the eyes of men some have objected that Ferdinand the first did sollicite the States in his life time to Elect his Sonne Maximilian and Maximilian used the like mediation in the behalf of Rodolphus his Sonne which proveth the States had power to chuse their King I answer The times were then troublesome and the Country dangerously infected and so as it was probable that factions
in Religion would breed factions in the State And therefore seeing Abundans caut la non nocet to prevent all sinister practises they provided wisely to settle their Successor in assurance and security with advice and consent of the kingdom the which they did in their life time by way of request because the States of Bohemia were not yet bound to settle the heires for haereditas non est viventis sed defuncti heires are ever in expectation till their Parents dye and when they take possession they cease to be heires and become owners Besides it is no good argument because the consent of the States were demanded therefore succession hath no place For all well governed kingdoms successive have also a shew and a forme of Election In England King Henry the second requested the consent of the Parliament that in his life time he might see his Sonne crowned King so did King Edward the third sollicite for Rich. 2. and when Rich. 3. was Elected King the words of the act are we do chuse you our Soveraign Lord and King ex Rotul Parl. 1. R. 3. therefore it is plaine that Election doth not exclude succession but succession guideth the Election For in the same record this is expresly added it is agreed by the three estates that K. Rich. 3. is lawfull King of England by inheritance and due election So as inheritance and election are not two things incompatible especially in those kingdomes where Custome hath given a Royall prerogative to the blood of a Familie But yet I will make the matter clearer Anno 1547. it was enacted in Bohemia as by the record appeareth that according to the Edict of Carolus quartus and the order of Vladislaus and to the literae reversales of Ferdinand 1. the States should ever and only proceed and no otherwise And the States of Bohemia cannot now claime any such Laws Liberties or Customes to eject a King out of the right line and familie wherein the Crown hath been so long invested specially till the issue be extinct For by the words of the Law non aliter eis competeret libera Electio and whereas they tell a tale of a Custome in Bohemia to chuse strangers and the Sonnes of the King of Poland eminent for their vertue they may aswell tell a tale of Amadis de Gaule And for that which Aeneas Silvius reporteth of Carolus the seventh of France Sternbergius was the primus Motor of that to the King of France to avoid a mischeif by an hereticall intrudor who desired that a Catholique Prince might prevent George Podibradius an Hussite who as he did foresee was like by violence to usurpe the Crown as appeareth by Dubravius l. 30. And although I confesse that the Champions of this cause artificially lay their colours yet can they not make black white but as Iuglers only make it seeme so to others For this my last argument is unanswerable The Princes Electors when the States of Bohemia laboured at Franckford that they would not accept Ferdinand as an Elector but suspend his voice quod nunquam plenarium adeptus est Imperium they rejected them and their motions and made this answer to the Bohemians That ex cap. 7. Auâ— Bullae only he who was the lawfull Successor of Mathias ought to be admitted to the Election as King of Bohemia And they so judged it first because the States of Bohemia the seventh of Iune 1617. Solemnly accepted Ferdinand for their King and confirmed their act by Oath therefore no question ought to be made of his claime and title Secondly they alleadged that Jurisdictio Electoralis nulli competit nisi Regi Bohemiae jure haereditario nemo alius nisi Rex ad Electionem unquam erat vocatus Thirdly they said King Ferdinand had lawfully received of the Emperour Mathias his Investiture the Office of Electorate and the cheif Cup-bearer and was put in possession thereof and further they added that Maximilian the second Anno 1562. was summoned by the name of King of Bohemia and Elector to be at Franckford to choose the King of the Romanes and this being in his Fathers life time he signed the Decree though he had no other Election Ceremony or possession then Ferdinand had and the like they avouched of Rodolphus Therefore seeing the Noblest Iudges the Colledge of Electors have adjudged this controversie by reason custome presidents and law who will not rather obey learned authority then be misled by wrangling subtilâ—y Aâ— for Moravia Silesia and Lusatia which Maximilian the second did hold ex testamento patris they were Seignories descended to K. Ferdinand the first by inheritance and though annexed to Bohemia yet as properly appurtenant to the King and not to the kingdome of Bohemia Now for as much as upon this Axis vêªt the supposed nullity of Ferdinands Election and the invalidity of his Title in succession all the motions and commotions of Bohemia were carryed and seeing the weakenesse of that Axis is apparent that it cannot beare the burthen layd upon it they have more cause to lament their error then to defend it CHAP. 4. For the title of the Palsgrave IT remaineth now to demurre upon the title of the Palatine Quo titulo ingressus est Wherein I must first humbly pray your Majestie that I may speake the truth freely and not abuse you or flatter them He only and barely upon no other tiâ—le thâ—n a supposed election by Count Thurn some of the States and the directors by whom the Crown was offered unto him and he accepted it Paenam pro munere poscit How can this action bee justified judge you how can a second election and contract prejudice a precontract solemnly made and satified with all ceremonies And which is no small disadvantage the twentieth of March Mathias being dead 1619. the 25. of August King Ferdinand was chosen Rex Romanorum and Emperour And shortly after a few factious subjects conspiring together made the Count Palatine their King whom they Crowned the fourth oâ—November after whose Coâ—onation was no more than Raptus Helena and his agents Proci alienae sponsae Here is first to bee considered what pretences could be alleadged to dispossesse Ferdinand and divorce him and the Realme secondly who they were and by what authority â—he did elect Frederick The Count Palatine in his Declaration printed 1619. Cur Regni Bohemia Regimen in se suscepit alleadgeth certaine cavills and unmateriall pretences for the same First that Leges Regni fundamentales evertit privilegia provinciarum quas sibi subjugare voluit cum liberae erant electionis his supposed oppression of their liberties is a scarre-Crow a shew without substance and already confuted and rejected Therefore two other hainous crimes and crying sinnes they charge him with for which he ought to forfeit his claime to the Crowne Tyranny and depopulation Tyranny in tormenting their consciences Depopulations by spoyling the Country with hostility contrary to his oath For the first they
Officers of the Realme the President Slavata Methansky Marshall of the kingdom and Secretary Fabricius whom they cast headlong out of a window forty cubitts high from the ground who yet miraculouslie were preserved and afterwards they Hollandized bravely for they took the Scepter and Crown of Bohemia into their own hands and to make good their tumultuous proceedings they leavied an Army and took upon them to create new Magistrats whom they called Directors to govern the State and to excuse themselves of these insolencies they writ their Letters to King Mathias dated the 27. of March 1618 and alleadge a few poore reasons to excuse and shaddow their proceedings First that the President and the rest were enemies to the State and sought to disturbe the peace of the Realme and also whereas King Rodolphus granted them free exercise of their Religion which say they was confirmed by your Majestie that these men purposed to deprive us of the benefit of these your grants and therefore said they we were forced for our defence to enter into league against them so they oppressed the Magistrats before they sensibly felt the smart of persecution and to prevent a thing only purposed as they gave out they really actually rebelled But this was only a cunning shift for they practised to draw the Provinces of Moravia Silesia and Lusatia to joyne with them and not content to keep themselves within the limits of Bohemia they did rise a degree of mischeif higher and sollicited the upper Austria the Emperours own inheritance and no way subject to their Directorship to runn the like desperate course with them as if their end and scope had been to set all the Empire in combustion and to have a King and a Religion of their own Edition Although these excesses of disorder were inexcusable to be offered to the Emperour whom in their own Letters they acknowledge to be á Deo sibi prastitum Regem Dominum ac Magistratum clementissimum yet King Mathias with great mildnesse and clemencie sought to pacifie rather then to provoke their furies and therefore on the 6. of Iune 1618. he answered their Letters thus That it did not become Subjects to take Armes against his Lieutenants though they had offended before they did complaine of their injuries received and sought redresse by order of Justice For he protested he never intended to abrogate or suspend their priviledges or revoke his letters of tolleration and therefore they did him injurie without better grounds to forge such slanders against his Governour And further he promised to compound all quarrells and ease their greivances by a moderate course of commission Lastly seeing there appeared no enemies in Bohemia to molest and persecute them he advised them to dismisse their Armies and levie no more forces and he assured them reciprocally he would dismisse his Souldiers cui causam said he dederat vestra conscriptio and for the better assurance he vouchsafed to write unto them againe the 18. of June and a third time also to ratifie what he had graciouslie promised To all which letters they never returned thankes nor answer but like Salvages marched to Budvise and Comotonium where they compelled the Magistrats to revolt from the Government of the Castle and which was a treason in the highest degree they took Carleistein where the Kings Crown and treasure were kept they deposed the Burgrave seized upon the Kings rents and revenues and converted all to their own use which was an Apish imitation of the union of Vtreche So here is Riott in the beginning tumult in the proceedings and treason in all But now for the lawfull authority of the Directors whence had they their lawfull vocation and commission they took upon them an absolute power more like Tribuni plebis then Officers of the Crown nay a more high power to degrade a new King and at their own pleasures to create such Magistrats as they liked and to dispose at their pleasures the Crown and the kingdom a power unknown in any orderly State greater then the Ephori and Hermostae of the Lacedaemonians or the Archontes of Athens or Highstewards of England who notwithstanding were ordinary and lawfull Magistrats and established by consent of the States but these arrogate and usurpe a power to degrade old Kings and create new a transcendent prerogative which no wise State will admit nor trust any subjects with such unlimited power and if they be not Magistrats Idolum nihil est and if they be Magistrats I follow the Bishop of Rochesters judgment à superiore est potestas eorum ab eo solo destitui possunt à quo instituuntur Answer me then Categoricallie were they chosen by the King or States generall or were they his Lieutenants or Regents in his absence or Procuratores Regni No such thing no commission no durante beneplacito no authoritie appeareth no power from those that had power and superioritie to grant it Neither were they chosen by the Kings and States of the Countrie but by Assemblies of a faction who contrary to order and Custome presumed to usurpe Authoritie and Domineere over the Countrie The King is the head of the State the Clergie a part of the State yet neither was the King nor the Archbishop of Pragu nor the Bishops of the Realme the Chancellor the President of the Councell the Marshall nor the principall Secretarie nor the Burgrave nor most of the Nobilitie present either at the creation of their irregular Officers or at the Election of the Palsgrave All this was done by Count Thurn and a few seditious persons who had no power themselves to give such power to others and could have no supreame power unlesse they would unking Mathias which no man could do by Law or order for it is a false Paradox that the States of any kingdom are above the Prince and may bind his hands depose him And no man can demonstrate that the states and Directors of Bohemia had ever power to depose one and Elect another Prince In Denmark and Poland kingdoms meerelie Elective yet the Kings Office is to assemble the States as the Emperour doth at the Diett and the Danes also are bound to choose the Sonne of the last King as they confessed themselves in their apologie 1523. And therefore they did Elect Schioldus Sonne of that Monster Lother King of Denmark Moreover where a Prince is Soveraign no Subject can be partaker of his Soveraigntie which is a qualitie not communicable for it resideth in the union of a bodie politique and if it be devided without the Princes consent it looseth the Soveraigntie An. 42. Hen. 3. certain Officers were elected and appointed to see the performance of orders set down by the Parliament and to correct the transgressors thereof and the Kings brethren and the Barons did take their Oathes to see the same observed yet that act had no force till the King consented 1. Rich. 2. as Ranulphus Higdensis testifieth constituti
Empire in a pure mould and refine the governement they designed to swallow up the house of Austria whereupon that Atheist Bethâ—ehem Gabor assured the great Turke by his letters that the Palatine and Brandâ—nbergh would not endure nor suffer the advancement of Ferdinand And so did Anhalt write to Danau besides to weaken Austria the union agreed to assist Gabor to ravish the crowne of Hungaria and possesse it Moreover Anhalt councelled Danau by his letters 1619. to surprize a City which should be worth thirty two millions I wil be breife and omit infinite impietiâ—s never was there any plot so prophane and gracelesse as this one sclt to set open the gates of christendome to the Turk and suffer him to march into the heart of it I will draw the curtaine and reveale the mysterie of iniquitie to amaze their favoriâ—â—s and make themselves blush for undoubtedly to bring in the Turk to subdue the Emperour is all one as to fight by Mahomet to expell Christ yet so did Gabor certifie the Turk that al the Princes of the union Sultan et toti nationi Mahomâ—tica corde et animâ— omn a officia fidelissimi praestabunt and that thortly Ferdinand should be forced to abandon Germany and upon this monster the Palsgrave so much relyed asby his letters to him July 13. 1623. appeareth in their Chancerie where he honoureth him with the name of Father and Gossip as if yet he hoped for a sun-shine day by his intercession And that thâ—se things may not be denyed because they had not successe wherefore did Count Thurne the Author of those tumults accompany Gabors embassadour to the Turk onely to crave succour against the Emperour and draw the Janisaries into his Country 1622. wherefore did the Palsgrave in his prosperity at Prague receive a Chaous from the Turke and after treaty with him dispatched an Embassadour to the Port and wherefore did he afterward by his letters dated the twentieth three of Iuly 1623. and directed to the confederate Provinces advise them to consider de augendo legationis Turciae splâ—ndore And wherefore was John of Coelen sent to Constantinople by the union Wherefore did Count Hohenloe often threaten that the Turke should come in to vex their enemies whereupon did Gabor solicite the Grandvizier for aide to prosecute the warres of Hungaria Whereupon did the Turke write his letters to the Palsgrave and to the Prince of Orange that he had given order for the aide they desired and exhorted them to take the field couragiously against their enemies meaning the house of Austria c. They pretend that religion moved them to this and esteeme nothing for truth but the word and therefore let them heare sic dicit Dominus cap. Esay 30. vae qui ambulatis ut descendatis in Egyptum et os meum interrogatis sperantes auxilium in fortitudine Pharâ—nis et habentes fiduciam in umbra Egypti That is as he saith cap. 31. peribunt qui spe in Deumâ—r licto câ—nfugiunt ad humanum auxilium what a blindenesse then was this to invite the Turke for their ambitious pretences to march into the Empire and sucke the bloud of Christians that favoured the house of Austria And therefore upon so great and imminent dangers to the Church and State the league was made by the catholike Princes at Mulhowes in Turingia 1620 for their necessary defence against which the Palatine published an invective and tearmed it a Councell of blood But to omit all these who can by law defend or warrant the raising of such an army against the Emperour in the Empire as the Palatine had or their confederations with Yagendorffe P. Aubalt On lizbaâ—h the Marquesse of Auspack Durlack Baden and the Duke of Wittenbergh besides the assistance of Nurembergh Frankfort and many imperiall townes or the association with Holland Denmarke and the Duke of Bullion or the large contributions which Cogmandolo setteth downe to have beene taxed upon each of them particularly from the yeare 1608. to 1619. against the Emperour What Orator then can excuse the Count Palatine extenuate his offence or pleade against his proscription specially seeing which arrogateth his offence that hee still is content to usurp the tiâ—le of Bohemia and not to renounce it Nay though the Duke of Baviere sent an herald to the Bohemians they despised his letters the Eâ—ector of Saxony disswaded the States exhorted and admonished them but surdiscecinet they would listen to no pacification The Emperour himselfe wrote his moniteriall letters unto them but the Palsgraâ—e too obstinately refused all for a crowne is an infectious and tempting baite and as men stung by scorpions which breed the infection so nothing pleased Phâ—eton and his aspiring ambition but to guide currum solis rather desirous to dye then live losser then a King Therefore the Emperour had just cause to proscribe him and publish the Bann If you aske whether for the order of proceedings it were lawfully done I answer that the cause is already judged where the offence was committed for in the Imperiall-diet at Ratisbone the Embassadors of the Duke of Saxony and the M. of Brandenbergh Electors and Lewis Lantgrave of Hessen made this answer to the Emperours propositions Anno 1624 that they condemned the hostilities of Mansfield and the proceedings of the Hollanders a Westphalia and so in their consciences that they condemned the practises and proceedings of the Palsgrave and they acknowledged that the Emperour had cause to publish the Bann because they would not give eare to the councell of the Electors nor cease to assaile the Emperour in his owne territories but still disturbe the peace of the Empire And the Ecclesiasticall Electors joyned with them that all of them had deserved the Bann both for the causes aforesaid and for prosecuting the Emperours principal officers of Bohemia and for soliciting the Turkes enemies of Christ to invade the west Empire and put the whole State in danger and confusion So here is the Decree and Judgment of the Electors themselves Peeres to the Vicarius Imperij and his Iudges without appeale And here is also a concurrence of the whole Diett although Charles the fifth proscribed great Iohn Frederick and the Lantsgrave who never pleaded that in Barr that they were not justly condemned because not by their Peers But let the Law it self determine the question First for his Dignitie there is no doubt to be made by the feudall constitutions for by Aurea Bulla it is forfeited tit. 1. 10. the which was made by Carolus the fourth Imper. ex communi omnium at singulorum Electorum multorum S. Imperij Romani Principum Comitum Nobilium ac fidelium concilio consensu And by Farinaecius qu. 116. num 72. and all Lawyers agree that for rebellion they loose all Feuda old and new inheritance and expacto both Father and Sonne So Gigas l. 3. q. 4. Hernia Farinaccius de crimine laesae Maâ—estatis q. 116 num 80. Molina l. 4. c. 11.
as Hen. 6. preserved amitye with the Netherlands he prospered and flourished Yea say the enemies of peace but now the case is altered Burgundy was then in mediocrity now it is in extreames for the King of Spaine is growne too great too potent and seekes to over shadow his neighbours and terrifie them with his titles of greatnesse as if Iupiter would ravish Europa These are vaine thunderbolts of fancie for the benefites which the Realme may reape by peace with Spaine being well setled are of farre more advantage then can any way be expected by joyning with Holland For thereby you shall againe establish commerce and traffique set all trades on work in the Realme enrich your merchants advance your Staples which bee your Maiesties Indies increase or at least continue your customes and so store and furnish your Exchequer by peace which the warres will continuâ—ally exhaust and draw drie Moreover by this peace you may better hold Holland in awe and a little restrain their insolency by a virtus unita and I see there is need to do so if you wil bridle their headinâ—sse you must keep them between hope and feare neither make them despaire of your aide by entertaining their enemies nor give them cause to presume by rejâ—cting the amity of Spaine And so holding them in suspence they wil seek by all good offices to win you for they know that England onely can curbe them and advance their enemie And so a state alwaies living in Armes must be used because they are more dangerous neighbours then all others and want neither will nor meanes to offend and by necessity are forced to respect onely themselves and to use all extreame shifts to uphold so broken and corrupt a state And for that argument of the greatnesse of Spaine I say it is therefore the greater honour to England to have so great a Prince to seeke and imbrace your amity Philip the third 1604. sent the great Constable of Castile with an olive branch in his hand to seeke peace bury al offences and reconcile the two Kingdoms with a perfect Amnestia here you see their greatnesse is no obstacle to amity and the rather because there never was till of late betweene England and Spaine any nationall contention nor any antipathy between the two crowns but now there is true but ab initio non fuit sic and cursed be he that would make variance continue perpetually betweene Kings and Realmes But that your Highnesse may know how great and entire the love and amity long continued betweene Spaine Portugall and England hath been the records shew that Anno 36. Hen. 3. Alphonsus King of Castile made a league with England for him and his successors solemnly contra omnes homines which he constantly observed So as when the French solicited a truâ—e betweene them he denyed cessation of armes and would hearken to no motions of a treaty till King Edw. 2. did mediate for it and the knot was so fast tyed betweene these two Realmes that Edw. 1. did marrie Elenor the Kings sister who proved a deare and loving wife unto him and plausible to the whole Realme in respect of which contract and marriage King Alphonsus renounced and râ—signed to King Edw. all his right and title to Aquitaine And his love and amity still increased for Iohn Protectour of Castile Anno 18. Edw. 2. sent a thousand horse and ten thousand foote to aide the King of England against France and so afterwards 18. Edw 3. before he made his challenge and invaded France King Peter of Castile agreed with King Edw. mutually the one to aid the other and the same King made the like league with Ferdinand King of Portugall But of all others John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster by his actions his marriage and his titles did incorporate in a perfect union these two crownes as if nature had determined by an holy Sacrament inviolably to couple and linke together these three Kingdoms and by an union of blood to confirme that amity for of him all the Kings of Spaine and Portugal are descended Wherupon after the civil warres in Eng. were ended K. H. 7. a politick Prince sought to match his Sonne Prince Arthur with the Lady Katherine of Spaine that there might continue a perpetuall succession of consanguinitie between the two crownes and therefore renewed the old league with Philip the first of Austria an. 1505. the which continued warmely and faithfully untill the schisme and unkindnesse of Hen. 8. made some variance unfortunately betweene them But all this notwithstanding they object that the like is not hereafter to be expected of Spaine which by the union and accesse of Austria Portugall and both the Indies cannot be contained in any circle nor tyed by any pact to hold friendship with any Prince farther then he pleaseth These are the scar-crowes of Amsterdam vaine and untrue for Maximillian the Emperour after that great union made a league with King Hen. 8. 1507. and held so good correspondency with him that at Turvey he did his Maiesty the greatest honour that ever was done to England to take a hundred crownes a day to serve under his standard and he further promised King Henry to assist and aid him to take possession of the crowne of France Besides Carolus 5. on whom the greatnesse and glory of Spaine and Austria was most eminent and powerfull did be not come to visit King Henry in England did he not make the treaties of entercourse with him Anno 1515. and 1520 did he not confirme their amity by the treaty of Cambrâ—y 1529 So as there was a reciprocall and inviolable friendship betweene them till the Kings divorce from Queene Katherine the disgrace of his Aunt the schisme of England and King Henries confederation with the French King did much alien the Emperours heart from him but it was no rooted hatred For notwithstanding all his supereminent of titles and Kingdomes Anno 1543 they embraced one anothers friendship and renued it againe tractatu auctioris amicitiae And lastly King Edw 6. being dead the same Charles 5. as if hee had foreseene how one of these crownes stood in neede of the other married his legitimate son to Queene Mary with such conditions as were most honourable and profitable And after her death nothing but a quarrell of Religion ambition and faction broke the bond which prudently and out of his temperate disposition King Philip 3. laboured to tye a new and binde with a faster knot if his Royall offer had beene as wisely accepted as by the Count of Villa Mediana it was nobly tendred By all which appeareth their folly and vanity that thinke there can be no peace made with Spaine nor articles kept nor faith nor fidelity observed But consider who can oppose this peace with reason The Hollanders will I doubt not and they have meanes and spies in your Court I dare not say in your Councell as others here confidently affirme that know it but their quarrell
is de capite for which they seeke their owne ends not yours and though some of your puritan Subjects will dare to contradict it yet let traffique be heard and consult with your merchants who can best tell where entercourse and commerce is to be for their most advantage And I am sorry that so religious a King and so magnanimous as the King of France for privatum odium singulare commodum I should lay any block in the way of peace yet your highnesse knoweth that France hath their particular exceptions and piques against Spaine which no way concerne England and pretend what they will for your good it is their owne they seeke and keepe Spaine low and draw dry their finances but you shall shew to the world both great policy and vertue to glorifie your judgement if you can keep them both your friends albeit è duobus milibus utrum 〈◊〉 tibi ut your Majesty and Councell can best judge Therefore I beseech your Majesty consider what inconveniences may happen to England if either you should bee councelled to restore the Palatine or revenge his quarrell in despight of justice whom the law and justice have cast downe For cui bonos it can be no honour to defend a mans errours who might have said with Albinus Arma ameus capio let not a non putaram be laid to your charge The Realme hath no such interest in the quarrell of Forreigners but by alliance and I should pitty that Councellours weaknesse who should advise your Highnesse to the contrary for nothing is so neere and deare to a King as his Crowne and solus populi supreme lex est it is not your case but by consequence and participation and if you would attempt to restore or revenge him by indirect courses how are you provided to performe it Vana est sine viribus ira and to breake with Spaine and doe the Palatine no good is to damnifie England undoe your merchants and blemish the honour of your judgement CHAP. 7. Reasons why the Count Palatine is not to bee restored by Armes CAll therefore most gracious Prince true polici experience and vertue to give you councell and consult whether that your attempt be honourable falsible and for a King of England Cicero at Rome the best schoole of civill government being asked his opinion in a case like to this whether it were good for Lentulus and the common-wealth to undertake the charg to restore Ptolomy and put him in possession of his Kingdome out of which he was ejected he gave this advise li 1. epist familia si exploratum tibi sit posse te illius regni potiri non esse constandum si dubium non esse conandum and why totius facti tui judicium non tam ex concilio tuo quam ex eventu homines esse facturos si cecidisset ut volimus et optamus omnes te sapientur et fortiter si aliquid est offensum eosdimillos te et cupidè et temerè fecisse dicturos apply this to your selfe and you cannot erre Ptolomy was a Prince deposed and to be restored by force of armes who had cast his self into the protection of the Romanes and yet the danger hazard and uncertainty of that action did disswade and discourage the whole state I will shew another president to guide your judgment neerer to your case Christian the second King of Denmarke was deposed by his uncle Fredericke and his owne subjects his wife Isabella sister to Charles the 5th as the Palatines wife is to your highnesse and afterward hee was betrayed by Canutus Gulderstein who promised him in Fredericks name security and capitulations but notwithstanding he was taken and imprisoned many yeares yet the Emperour his brother maintained her and her children very nobly but though his cause was just his title without question his case lamentable Halfnia Malbogia and both Burgers and Paisants seeking his restoration and his cause depending in suite at Spires where he was like to have judgement for him as is manifest by the acts and records there Denmark contra Denmark in causa spolij as Melchior Geldastus testifieth yet for divers causes the Emperour resolved not to hazard himselfe and his people in a war so dangerous and unnecessary and for a man of forlorne hope and especially he himselfe being engaged in other occasions of more importance touching his honour and safety hee neglected this which though it were a crosse to his friends yet for their good hee was not to neglect himselfe and his State But if the practises of your predecessours may bee thought best to guide you Queene Isabell wife to King Edw. 2. flying to her brother the King of France for succour against the Spencers the Kings minions the French Kings Councell advised him to give her money and leave her to solicite such friends as she could procure but in no sort to appeare in the action nor give commission to levie men against the King of England for so he should give cause to renue the warre and set France in an uproare and danger which were a thing incommodious to himselfe and inconvenient to the State such was their warinesse and providence to preferre the place safety and prosperity of their Country farr above the respect of particular persons not regarding the Queene his sister so much as his crowne and safety And afterwards when Sir Iohn Heynault Lord Braumont undertooke to restore her both the heart of Heynault and his cheife officers opposed it as an enterprize of more courage then wisedome and although good successe made it seeme good yet it was not so of it selfe but by accident for the Queene having strong partie in England as now the Palatine hath in Germany the Barons sent over the Archbishop of Canterbury to assure her of their assistance and besides she carried over into England with her solem orientem Prince Edw. the Kings sonne and heire It was lately objected to me that the famous blacke Prince aided Don Pedro King of Castile against his Subjects who rebelled and wrongfully expelled him and therefore King Charles ought to doe the like for the aide of his sister I denie that he ought and I say also that the consequence is not good for the Prince aided a lawfull King against rebels you shall aide a usurper against a lawful King and an Emperour so in the cause there is odds Besides have you a blacke Prince the mirrour of all martiall Princes to be imployed in this expedition Or have you in Spaine or Ger. such a Rendezevous to let in your Forces with facility as he had in Aquitaine And besides you shall break a treaty of peace solemnly sworne which the Princes did not I adde also that valiant Candâ—is disswaded the Prince from undertaking the action you ought saith he to be content with the state you have and not to pull upon you the malice of forreign Princes but Prince Edwards owne reason why he