Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prince_n	law_n	power_n	sovereign_a	3,887	5	9.6410	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85750	A treatise of the antiquity of the commonwealth of the Battavers, which is now the Hollanders first written in Latin by Hugo Grotius, advocat fiscall of Holland, Zealand, and Westfriesland, &c. And afterwards translated into the Netherlandish Dutch, and perused by the author himselfe. And now again translated out of both the Latin and Dutch, into English, by Tho. Woods, Gent.; De antiquitate Reipublicae Batavicae. English.	Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645.; Woods, Thomas.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682, engraver.	1649 (1649)	Wing G2127; Thomason E1303_2; ESTC R202252	40,326	171

either in time of necessity or for some certaine consideration were brought thereunto who depending upon the Emperours have desired their protection which so happening without the consent of the States the same could neither prejudice the priviledge of the Common-wealth nor yet of the succeeding Princes In every respect we are certainly assured that neither those Earles of the house of Burgundy nor yet those Earles of the house of Austria the memory whereof is yet unfallible that they never in respect of Holland have done any homage unto the Emperours And that Holland never was subject neither to the Lawes nor Customes of the Emperour nor of the Empire which is the very principall point of all and that the Germanes themselves doe confesse from whence it is manifest that the principall Soveraignty over the Hollanders hath been among themselves and never depended upon any forraigne Authority It remaineth now that we consider the other that is what priviledge and authority the Princes had in the Common-wealth and what was the Authority of the States the which we should very particularly know if in case those Lawes were to bee found which concerning the Authority were given unto Dederick But besides that which formerly hath beene spoken that by the Germans books aswell of publike as of particular matters but very lately began to be registred so is also the memory of all those times excepting only of some certaine Warres and of some other matters which do not concerne this purpose utterly lost Yet even before these times there was not given so great a power as there was authority unto the Kings of the Battavers the which even in our fathers dayes hath been registred up by forraigne Writers That the command of the Princes of these Lands was as well limited with Lawes as it was moderated by the resolution of the States from whence we may assuredly collect that the Government of the time which was betwixt them both hath been the very same Government as was received from our Ancestors and left againe unto posterity Neither is it lightly to be credited that those worthy Cities and the Inhabitants that were so noble and so mighty as we have shewn to have been in those former times did fall from that equality of power whereunto they were accustomed unto such a sodaine unequality And on the contrary part it is manifest that afterwards when as the magnificence of the Earles by the adjoyning of other Principalities thereunto greatly increased and especially in the House of Bourgondy and of Austria that then the freedom or liberty rather decreased then increased These were then the principall Lawes of the Governement viz. That no Countesse should marry unto any man but with the consent and good liking of the States That none of the Officers as of the Counsell and Rent-masters and Pretorship should be confer'd upon no other but unto those that were born within the Land That the States shall have liberty to assemble upon the affaires of the Land and State and that as often as it shal please them without need to have consent of the Earle for that end That no new Tolls might be imposed neither any man freed from those that formerly were ordained but by consent of the States That the Prince should undertake no warre neither defensive nor offensive otherwise then by the consent of the States That the Princes should in all their writings use the Dutch Language That the Coine should be altered and appointed by the Prince according as the States find it convenient That the Prince might not make away any part of his Principality That the States may not bee warned to assemble upon any convocation out of the Provinces That when as the Prince shall have need of any impositions or collections that he himselfe personally and not by the mediation of his Lieutenant shall make intercession unto the States without exacting any thing otherwise then by a willing and voluntary free consent That he exercise and administer Justice and Law by the hands of ordinary Justices That the ancient Lawes and customes being holy should be inviolably observed and if the Prince should ordaine any thing contrary the reunto that no man is bound to observe the same These Lawes having been long maintained by meer custome were afterwards registred into Articles and subsigned by the Princes from time to time to this end that the natures of the same Princes might not be infected by the evill incitatations of flattering Courtiers unto the hope of an unlawfull domination And at the last in regard that the States made complaint of their grievances that most of the fundamentall points of the ancient Government were overthrowne by innovations even then was there a collection made of all these aforesaid Lawes and so by some others before but chiefly by Mary Countesse of Bourgondy they were sealed up for an everlasting memory And although the Hollanders now in the succession of the Earledome followed the order of lineall discent yet neverthelesse to the end they might shew that the command and authority did not proceed from a fatherly inheritance but from the consents of the people that is of the States therefore they never esteemed any for their Prince before that they had bound themselves by an oath unto the States to maintaine the Lawes and Customes of the Land the which being thus performed they promised againe to him fidelity and obedience in whatsoever the Lawes should command them Wherefore in regard that those Lawes being conditions and precontracts are connexed unto the Authority then hereby is manifest that those Princes had no power of themselves to loose or to dispence themselves from the aforesaid Lawes as it hath been very much discoursed and concluded upon by those that have written much of Government From whence it followeth that since the chiefe Power or Soveraignty cannot be in such a one as is bound unto any Civill Lawes or institutions like as most of the Northerne Princes be that even also the Earle of Holland being bound unto so many Lawes hath not had the right of the Soveraign power onely in himselfe All that which we now have declared from the words of the Laws or from other Covenants or Contracts even all them and divers other points of no lesse consequence are all approved by very old examples For whereas Arnoulffe the third of the Princes had two sonnes the eldest who was called Sifrid and of some Sicco for some certaine fault was denied the command and the Principality by the consent of the States was conferred upon the yonger whose name was Dederick Dederick the fourth dying without issue although there were as yet no example of a brotherly succession the States proclaimed Florence the brother of the deceased to be Prince The Wardship of Dederick the fift of that name whose yeares being yet unfit for government the States conferred upon his Mother the Lady Geertright and also married her unto Robert the sonne of an Earle of Flanders

of one man but then the counsell and advice for the effecting of businesses was in the persons of many At other times the Soveraigntie was in many but the Administration in the person of one man At some times the Lawes were subject to the Prince at other times the Prince subject to the Lawes All which if a man will deliberately ponder hee shall easily find that that Commonwealth which is at this present among us hath not had its begining now of late but that the very same Commonwealth that in former times hath been is now made more manifest and appeareth more cleare and evidenter then ever before For like as a house may continue standing though some parts thereof be altered and changed but if the foundation bee overthrowne it cannot continue standing Even so the altering and changing of names and Offices of some Magistrates doth not make presently another Common-wealth in regard that the principall Power and Soveraignty and as it were the very soule of that whole body which hath its being moveth and keepeth together and doth remain and continue one and the very self-same It remaineth then Noble and most worthy Lords that we pray unto the Lord God who is the establisher and maintainer of this State That it will please him to defend and maintaine that Liberty the which is not so much defended by your especiall providence and the worthy valor of the Burgesses and Souldiers as it hath been hitherto and is yet defended by his heavenly assistance and may yet extend it selfe for many yeeres to come and GOD grant that it may continue among us and be made our owne even all these blessings that we now at this present do enjoy but before all things grant us as an assured pledge of the common Tranquillity Piety Equity and Vnity thus prayeth he who is Your Lordships Servant THO. WOODS A TREATISE OF The Antiquity of the Common-Wealth of the Battavers which is now the Hollanders The first Chapter What a Principality is in a Government of Nobles And what they be that are called States ALI Nations are governed either by the Common People or else by the Nobles or else by one Man only The Government of the Nobles is either with a Principality or else without a Principality I call that a Principality which is a more excellent and eminent Authority in the person of one man only being limited by the Power and Laws of others By which markes this is different from that which is called properly a Regall Authority And for this occasion it is that Tacitus maketh mention how that Piso had reported of Germanicus that hee was the sonne of a Prince of the Romans and not of a King of the Parthians And Suetonius reporteth of Caligula that it wanted but a very little but that he had transformed the shape or frame of the Principality into a Regall Authority even as Caesar also reporteth of the Father of Vercingetorix that he being a Prince of the Walloons for divers Considerations suing to have brought the same to a Regall Authority was made away by the Burgesses And Pliny speaking of Trajan reporteth that hee possessed the Seat of the Prince because that there should bee no place for a Lord Yet neverthelesse the Principality being improperly spoken is called a Regall Authority And in like manner saith Aristotle it was in the dayes of the Worthies that the Regall Authority had his originall beginning and that when as the People having gotten and received any exceeding great benifit from them their Parents or Ancestors as for example By whom they had gotten and obtained good Lawes or by whom in time of Warre they were protected and defended them they gave the ful Authority of the War with the power of judging of the Affaires which Regall Authority hee reporteth to bee over them that voluntarily consented thereunto and were also limited with Lawes The same also reporteth Thucidides that amongst the Greeks the Authority of the Kings is the most Ancient the which descended from the Parents unto the Children by Succession being clad with certain Titles of Honour From whence then appeareth that in the Government of the Nobles the Principalities were distributed according to the order of the kindred from whence we have an excellent example from them of Lacedemonia Moreover the Nobles in whom the Soveraignty consisteth doe give their voyces either each of them apart like as the Venetians doe or else in the behalf of any Society which Societies are either of one or else of divers sorts Those that were of one sort were like unto those of Achaia whose Convocation consisted of the Deputies of the Cities The other which were of divers sorts were of the Burgesses and of the Societies consisting of the Burgesses arising from the diversities of the Qualities according unto the which some of them were ordained to the Government some by one meanes and some by an other meanes And for this occasion those same Qualities and also those Societies themselves were called by the Latins Ordines which in Common Language wee doe usually call the States Which States Hippodamus made of three sorts as of the Artificers the Husbandmen and the Souldiers Plato made the Survayers the Souldiers and the Husbandmen The Egyptians made the Priests the Souldiers and the Tradesmen The old Walloons made the Druides the Horsemen and the common People So that oftentimes the Nobles then were different and apart in respect of the States Those that have then the chief sway in the Government wee call a Government of States Like as at this present in Germany where the chiefest sway consisteth together in the Princes Electors the Princes the Cities If in case then that this Authority of the Nobles being united together with the States whereunto also appertained a lawfull Principality then such a Government must bee esteemed for the most choyse and best tempered Government For since in all matters mediocrity is most commended and that mediocrity is nominated sometimes from that which is separated from both the Ends and sometimes from that which is partaking of both the Ends so that then it appeareth that this Government in such manner is placed between the Regall Authority and the Authority of the Common People so that it avoideth the evils of both of them and draweth unto it selfe from them all which is good after it For first of all since that it tolerateth not all things neither only one man to govern which is subject to many errours not yet the Common People who are ignorant so that by this meanes without all doubt much danger is avoyded Again in regard that a Regall Authority is commended in respect of the exceeding Majesty and Dignity thereof And the Authority of the Common People commended in respect of the equall Liberty Yet the Government of the Nobles obtaineth that exceeding Majesty and Dignity by the Principality and also giveth as much equall Liberty as is convenient when as they unto every one

wherefore that these old Customs were so strictly maintained by these People as well in particular as also in publick matters which tend more to an outward shew then to any powerfull effect of Government I could easily perswade my selfe that even of old time they have had such Lawes concerning the Government as the Custome of succeeding times hath declared Yet must wee make enquiry in whom was this highest power or Soveraignty besides in the Kings and Generals I finde that by the Germans excepting the Clergy that there was two sorts of States amongst them viz. the Princes and the Comonalty now when I speak of Princes I do not understand nor mean those that each of them had their Authority over a whole Nation like as that name is commonly used for such Princes were the Kings and the Generals themselves whereof we have already spoken But they were such as that each of them took care for one part of the Nation which parts being great were called Quarters and being little were called Villages of which Caesar thus speaketh They have no common Magistrate but the Princes of the Countreys and of the Quarters doe minister Justice unto them which are under them and doe decide the Controversies Tacitus saith that those Princes doe minister Justice both in the Quarters and in the Villages Tacitus also sheweth unto us that those Princes were usually chosen where he saith In that Convocation were also the Princes chosen But they went so to work that ever after they had regard unto those that were nobly born and of the choycest of the Nobility or rather the meritorious deeds of their Predecessors being applyed even to their young Youths did afford them that worthinesse to bee Princes From whence I believe is come that those Jurisdictions both of Quarters and Villages having long continued in the Houses of the Nobility are at last become hereditary By reason whereof those Princes by the worthinesse of their Offices their ensuing Posterity afterwards were those which were called Barrons and Nobles yet the Government was not so much in their persons that the Common People were held as Slaves like as the Walloons were in the time of Caesar But unto each Prince as Tacitus testifieth were adjoyned a hundred men which were chosen out of the Comonalty to be as their Companions serving for Counsell and Estimation Those were the Princes that Caesar reporteth who together with the Officers divided the Lands into Portions and Pastures So then were those same Regions governed partly by those which were chosen out of the Common People and partly by those Princes of each Common-Wealth And they in this manner governed each of them their Quarters having being altogether the Soveraignty of the whole Common-wealth and that by a form of Convocation Tacitus saith that of all the small matters the Princes did consult upon but the great Affairs were dispatched by the Princes in generall yet in such a manner that whatsoever was decreed by the generall Princes the Comonalty was acquainted withall He saith that the Convocations of the Germans was of two sorts whereof the one was little in the which the daily Affairs which often hapned were decided and this Convocation consisted only of the Princes And the other was greater in whom was the power of deciding even of the most highest and weightiest Affairs and this consisted of both the States For whereas Tacitus saith in generall that same is not so to be understood as if every one should come thither like as it usually hapned upon the Assemblies of the Romans in such manner that every man should leave his house and home for such could not conveniently be amongst so great a popularity especially like as the Battavers were among whom Pliny reckoneth up seven Nations as the Battavers which were properly so called the Kennemers the little Freises the Friesiabonds the little Cauches the Tusians and the Marsacians Now these altogether were called the Convocation it self whereunto some persons were sent from each Region and State Tacitus expoundeth that same where hee speaking of the Semnomes saith that all the people of one discent assembled together at appointed times by those that were deputed thereunto in a wood the which was sanctified by the old Devotion and Prophecies of their Ancestors And of the Germanes in generall hee saith thus that they assembled upon certaine days unlesse that accidentally any thing happened which required haste and was some extraordinary matter And there after he saith thus This abuse proceeded of their liberty that they did not assemble altogether nor yet when as they were commanded or warned but oftentimes they let passe two or three dayes before they did assemble so that then the Soveraignty was in the persons of this Assembly of both the Estates whereupon he saith thus Before this Assembly was any man to be accused and challenged upon life and death Againe hee saith In this same Assembly the Princes were elected and also those hundred men which were chosen out of the Commons and adjoyned as companions unto them The Kings themselves and the Generals were heard in this Assembly as is before said more with Authority to counsell then with any power to command And although this was common unto all the Germanes and not appertaining unto the Battavers as being not able to attaine thereunto Yet the History of Civilis approveth that the Battavers had this manner of Government to the end that the wars might orderly be decreed against the oppression of the Romanes for that end saith he hee assembled together the Princes of the Nations and the ablest of the common people Wherein appeareth then that the Battavers used the government of Nobles and yet in such sort that there was a Principality annexed thereunto which was either continually under the name of a King or temporally under the name of a Generall That also the Nobles were of two sorts that is of the Princes the which were called the first and the greatest and those that were elected out of the Common people these two being conjoyntly in the Assembly had the Soveraignty of the publike matters but in regard that this same Assembly did seldome meet the matters were commonly dispatched by the Kings according to the advice of the Princes That also the Government of each quarter was in such manner in each of these Princes which had their owne Jurisdiction as in those Magistrates which were chosen out of the second State the which in such a wonderfull musicall consort doth expresse that Government which Plato so much commendeth in which the Nobles together with the mutuall agreement of the Common People had the Soveraignty Yet this must be added hereunto That in one matter the Battavers doe seeme to differ from other Germans as namely That the Germans dwelt all in open Villages and had no fenced Cities nor walled Towns On the contrary part it is apparent that the Battavers as soon as they had Possessed the Iland made fenced Cities to

case I should seek for a Forraign example to this purpose I can finde none more like hereunto then in the Common-Wealth of the Lacedemonians the which by Plato Polybius and very many wisemen yea by Apollo himselfe is affirmed so to be and is by them commended before all other for in these the Kings succeeded one after another by the order of their Consanguinity in so much that in place of the Kings those that were the Protectors or Dictators which they called Prodicos had the Authority in their hands But the Kings were not admitted to the Authority before they had taken their Oath to use their Authority according to the Custome of the Lawes of the Land Now the Kings had power over each one but above the Kings were the Survayers or Ephori together with the Councell The Ancient Fathers doe very much commend a notable Speech of Theopompus King of the Lacedemonians who being disdainfully reproved by his own wife because that hee had diminished his own Highnesse by the Institution of the Office of the Survayers hee Answered thereunto That he should leave unto his Children a lesser but yet a more permanent Authority For of a truth it is even so as the Ancient Fathers used truly to report That every Common-wealth consisteth in a certain melody or consort the which being once broken all cometh to naught which melody in my opinion consisteth not in any sound or in strings but in the well tempered unity of the Prince with the People and of the People with the Prince or of severall States the one with the other In this melody have the Princes the Nobility and the Comonalty long time flourished when as each one respected the Prince and the Prince himself respected the Laws and the common Assemblies and whilst the Nobility kept their Reputation and the Comonalty their Liberty From hence issued the good successe of Warre from hence it proceeded that this Nation like as in former times they were Confederates with the Romans even so thereafter though being little have sought unto great Alliances Hereof the Treatises of the Confederacies do plainly shew for presently at the very birth as it were of the Principality there were two Dedericks as it is generally believed who were Brothers in-law unto the Kings of France Arnolffe the third Earl had to wife a daughter of the Emperour of Constantinople whose sister was marryed unto the Emperour of Germany Divers others that succeeded were marryed unto the House of Saxon who then possessed the Empire Florence the third was marryed unto the House of the King of Scotland William the Second of that name Earl of Holland was elected Emperour of Germany and as I think for no other cause but for that he was used in his own Countrey unto such a moderate Government This mans Sonne Florence the Fourth was earnestly solicited unto on the one side by the King of England and on the other side by the King of France for his Confederacy with the presentation of each of their Daughters in marriage with great gifts But Iohn his Son with the advice of the chiefest Nobles of the Land marryed the daughter of England And presently after William the Sixth marryed the daughter of the King of France Again the daughters of the Earls were bestowed into very great Houses as the Lady Margarite the daughter of William the Fourth unto an Emperour of the House of Beyeren Iacoby unto a Dolphin of France And all these whilst they were but only Earls of Holland and Zealand and some of Henault After that by the daughter of Albrecht who was marryed unto one of the house of Burgondy did Holland obtain the same Prince who was before Prince of Brabant and of Flanders and many other Nations And by this meanes were severall Nations not differing in manners Lawes and Customes from each other being at a speciall unity and under one publick Authority thereby the more fortified Thereafter the Lady Mary of Burgondy had by her Husband the Arch-Duke of Austria a Sonne unto whom befell for his marriagegood the greatest part of Spaine and with Spaine the expectation of Terra nova and many other Titles which are spread far and wide over divers Countreys But from this great Magnificence of the Prince proceeded a great alteration in the Government the which I will briefly touch The sixth Chapter How that the intended Alteration of the Government was the occasion of the Warres THe nature of man is much addicted and is easily inclined to domination from whence according to the saying of Aristotle proceedeth Tyrannicall Government especially when as the Prince transgresseth the limits of the Laws of the Land And it seldom hapneth but that men attempt the taking of more in hand then they are able to perform unless the very hope of the performance of that which is desired be utterly extinguished Therefore those ancient Princes whose hope and repose depended altogether upon their Native Countrey as having no expectation of Forraign power to relie upon were obedient unto the Lawes were lovers of equity were respecters of the States as well knowing upon whose power and meanes both their honour and reputation consisted The Burgondians descended of Royall Progeny were the first that climbed up the first step unto domination yet very secretly the Liberty continuing never the lesse not only in outward shew but also for the greatest part thereof in her full face Afterwards Charls being Emperour and King of other Countrys was not therewithall well contented that herewithall he should be called but a Prince But yet he for affection and some certaine respects was restrained in regard that he was born and brought up here in the Countrey and besides did exceedingly respect this People as being very convenient Instruments for the enterprising of any great exploit and such as were of themselves very faithfull but yet very soon displeased and exceeding powerfull when as their Liberty should be but once toucht Now the Church of God at that time being overwhelmed and poysoned with palpable Heresies and longing for a wholsome medicine to purge the same yet he resolving by violence to maintaine that which was in use amongst them sent his bloody Commissions that whosoever should bee found to be of any other Religion should bee punished with death never respecting nor enquiring what was the meaning and resolution of the States in so weighty a businesse But his Son Philip being of that unsatiable nature that was content with nothing else but with an absolute power envied all Nations that would prescribe a Law unto their Prince The which the People of Aragon to their great ruine have proved The Spaniards who had the Education of King Philip in his youth took hold of this occasion very earnestly to prosecute the same against the Hollanders and the rest of the Netherlanders since which time there hath been a continuall jealousie and contention betwixt them which of them should bee best in the Princes favour whereupon

with their Enemies the People of Norway and that now the Enemy was more furious in regard that our Battavers had lately embraced the Christian Religion held a publick Consultation Resolution as may well be imagined how that they not would content themselvs with certaine retreats which they had long used against the violence of their Enemies but also how they might deliver their native Country both for the present and future time from such unwelcome Guests whereunto the mutable and temporary command of the Generals was not sufficient they thought it good after the example of their fore-fathers who had Kings yet their liberty not infringed to ordaine a Prince over the whole body of the Common-Wealth which they intituled not with the Title of King as being such a one as was not employed any otherwayes then in the chiefest and absolute Authority but entituled him by that accustomed and usuall name or Title of Gravii that is Judge or Earl yet with this difference that he was not called Earl with an addition of any Quarter thereunto but simply as being Judge himselfe over the other Judges Vnto this command out of all question he was chosen that was the very principall both for Nobility and power amongst all other Princes This was Dederick who in the old Records was called the Freise Now that these Battavers which dwelt upon the Sea-side were called Freises we have shewed already and the same is manifestly proved with the afore-said place of Schaffnaburgensis Iohn Vander Does the Father Seigneor of Noortwick a man as exceedingly well known amongst his own people by reason of his Nobility as also to all others by reason of his Learning manifestly sheweth in his books wherewith hee hath perpetually obliged his Native Countrey by an everlasting benefit unto him out of Regino an old Writer that this Dederick had a Brother whose name was Walgar and that this Walgars and Dedericks Father was one Gerloffe whom Regino a very faithful French Historiographer affirmeth to have been an Earl of the Frieses Dederick was then before an Earl and an Earls sonne but Earl of some one certain Quarter and not of the whole Nation which honour is bestowed upon him principally through the favour and good affection as may bee well supposed of the Lords and the People of the Towns And also because that in the Maps of Vtrecht there is mention of a Region or Quarter called Holland so peradventure it is likely to be true that this same Region was the Earldom of Dederick and his Predecessors And that thereafter the whole body of the Common-wealth being concredited unto him grew into a Community of the same name to this end that those Freises which dwelt upon this side of the River Flie should properly be called the great Freises only to make a difference between those Freises which dwelt on the other side of the Flie yet neverthelesse that part which is next unto the Flie even to this present day is called West Freisland the which with Holland maketh a Common-wealth Vnto this is very conform that which the States of Holland alledged in that famous Controversie which was disputed upon by them and the Brabanders before the Emperour Charles the Fifth Prince of the Netherlands where the Brabanders affirmed that the Emperor Charls the Fourth had granted them a certain Priviledge that they out of their own Countrey might not be sued at the Law maintaining therewithall that it was not lawfull for the Hollanders to proceed against the Brabanders by manner of Arrest after the Hollanders manner Whereupon the States of Holland shewed to the contrary That that Priviledge did not concern them in regard that they and their Earles from all Antiquity had the Soveraignty all manner of Juridisction without giving any manner of acknowledgement unto any other And that since the time that Dederick the First recovered the Land of Holland from the Barbarous Nations the which was then subject under the power of no King that the same Earls of Holland at all times ever had the like Authority in their own Earldoms as the Emperours of Germany or of Italy had in their Empire without being bound or beholden to any by manner of Leen that is either Free forme or Coppy-hold The which may be gathered even from that succession that the women had in the Earldom And also from hence That the Earls have set out great parts of the Earldom as the Lordships of Foirne Arckel and Putten and others and that even to hereditary Free-farme or Coppy-hold without the Consent of any other Forraign Power Although that the Ordinances of the Germane Empire with what generall Title soever they might be written or Registred were never so much as once published in Holland neither were they in any one point obedient thereunto the which they also proved with a very memorable late Example for whereas the Germanes had ordained very many Lawes for the obtaining of succession without testament even to the derogation of all customes to the contrary yet neverthelesse the Heritages in Holland were never assigned by no other Law then by their owne customes to that very day that also the affaires neither of the Earles nor of the States were never sentenced by the Germaine Senators The which being thus alledged and proved by the Hollanders the Declaration followed that that priviledge which was given unto the Brabanders was of no force in Holland Besides this Philip of Leyden writing a Book of the Governement at what time as the first William of Byeren governed Holland and dedicated the same Book unto his Prince he then professing the Law in France saith often in the same Book That the Earle of Holland is Emperour in his Earledome Wee know that the Germane Emperours and also the Francks as it is before reported out of Procopius usually pretended that not onely the Earles of Holland and other Princes but even the Kings themselves were their Vassals the which although it were granted unto them yet in that respect the Hollanders were neverthelesse free In such like manner as Proculus an ancient Lawyer proveth very well The particulars which are defended by others doe not therefore lose their freedome because they are not of equall worth with their protectors And in like manner the freedome of the people is not diminished because in their Covenant there is contained that they with all courtefie should respect the Soveraignty of another from whence also the name of free Leenen that is as Free Copy-holders hath its Originall But neverthelesse this same Covenant of free Leen or after what sort or manner the same might or could be termed the Earles never consented unto as easily may be understood by that which before hath been said as also out of the History of the Warres with the first Earles and namely Dederick the fourth for the maintenance of their reputation and worthinesse undertook with good successe against the Emperours And put the case that any of those Earles

they sought to make the Liberty of the Netherlands very hatefull And on the contrary to demonstrate how that the Cities in Italy and the Countreys of America and the West-Indies in such and such manner were kept in subjection with their Garrisons and that there was an absolute obedience without any limitation At what time as the warres in France ending and King Philip being requested in behalfe of the States that hee would draw the Garrisons of the Spaniards out of the Countrey which reasonable request of theirs hee took very hainously and in ill part and being returned againe into Spaine from that time for the most part after never permitted the publike affaires of Holland nor of the Netherlands to be governed by the Lords that were the Inhabitants and borne in the Countrey whereof according to old custome the principall and permanent Councel of the State of this Land did ever consist but by the resolutions which were concluded in Spaine leaving heere the Cardinall Granvell to bee the executioner of the Spanish Precepts The matters concerning Religion were brought to that passe that although it had bin a matter of great offence to have beleeved any otherwise then the Pope of Rome should thinke convenient yet neverthelesse a good Prince should not have atempted to have punished the same in regard of the great multitudes of those that might be accused therewithall from whose consciences that Religion of what sort soever it might be would never by no feare have been extinguished or qualified For this occasion the principall Lords and also the chiefest Cities and Provinces made their Declaration that neither their traffique nor yet the common tranquillity of the Land could bee maintained unlesse those corrisive Commissions concerning the Religion were lenified and mitigated the which was so farre contrary to his minde that King Philip should follow their counsell therein that hee contrary thereunto ordained that such a search and inquisition should be made even to the very secret motions and cogitations of the heart and that after a very new strange and unusuall manner of proceeding the like whereof was never heard before in such manner as if it had been against those Jews or Mahumetists which shelter secretly in some parts of Christendome and is practised in Spaine To this end and purpose were there here and there new Bishoprickes erected and distributed with great contradicting and in despite of the States without whose consent in former time the Clergy-men might not bee augmented considering now that all this without all doubt tended to the great confusion of the publike affaires and first of all those Lords that were in the Councell of State and afterwards a great number of noble personages assembling to this end and purpose under whom also was the Lord of Brederode descended of the Family of the Princes of Holland who did both counsel and entreat that they should proceed unto that remedy the which in former times was very often used in matters of lesse moment viz. to a Convocation of the Generall States although King Philip before his departure and at his departure had excessively commanded to hinder the same that there might be no Convocation of the Generall States from hence there arose an uprore not by any common consent but by the enterprise of some certaine particular persons of the poorest and common people about the taking away of the Images out of the Churches in regard that it was a high trespasse and sinne to make supplication and intercession unto them And after that this uprore was pacified by the authority of the principall Lords it pleased the King of Spaine and the Spaniards under the pretext of this one inconsiderate particular contrary to all right and reason to charge the whole Nation generally with the offence of Rebellion whereupon the Duke of Alba was sent with a very rigorous Commission to take possession of the absolute Soveraignty being naturally a very rigorous man as all Germany can testifie he very openly published that both the States Cities and People of the Netherlands and every person in particular had forfeited all their priviledges and that from hence forward they were to expect no other Lawes but what it pleased the King to command whereof he himselfe was a sufficient testimony that the Lawes were abolished he being a stranger and none of the Princes blood and yet neverthelesse against all right and custome was sent to possesse the generall Government The judgement of matters was also withdrawne from the lawfull and ordinary Colledges and by the erection of a new Judgement Seat or Bench where the matter of Lesae Majestatis or the abusing of His Highnesse should be decided by the Spaniards and by their adherents such as made themselves slaves unto the Spaniards having gotten under their power not only the lives but also the goods of all the inhabitants whereof not onely many thousands of the common people were executed but also the very Earles themselves of Egmond and Horne being condemned by false accusations were forced to present their necks to the violent stroak of the Hangman William Earle of Nassaw Prince of Orange being one of the chiefest Lords of the Netherlands with divers others were banished of wch persons Egmond had his Earldome in Holland and the Prince of Orange was Governour of Holland The Marquesse of Berghen and the Lord of Montignie who had carried the Requests and Remonstrations of the people and of the States into Spaine were both made away the one being openly executed and the other according to common report poysoned Thereafter according to the custome of all those that will bee Dominators the Cities were planted with Spanish Garrisons or else Cittadels and Castles built therein Moreover and above to the end that this Nation which before to this present time had been a free people might the more openly publish their slavery by maintaining and providing for themselves food and rayment they were inforced at that time by the terrible threatnings of their Deputy to bring up the twentieth penny at the sale of every house or parcell of Land and every tenth penny of all Moveables which their Princes themselves in former times were accustomed to Then the Fidelitie and the Liberty of those people were long contending with each other but in regard it was not possible to endure any longer the oppression of their Lawes and they setting at nought of the States and the Governement which had continued so many hundred yeeres and that the Libertie of their posteritie could not longer bee maintained then the States of Holland unto whom appertained the protection as well both of the Lawes as also of the generall and their owne particular Rights in the yeere 1572. upon the 19. of Iuly in the Assembly at Dordrecht consisting of certaine Nobles and of the Deputies of the greatest part of the Cities according to the example of their Fore fathers who tooke up Armes against the Romanes when as they pressed to bee

Dominators undertook the warre against the Duke of Alba re-establishing againe the persons that were unlawfully banished and acknowledged William Prince of Orange for their Governour and Generall The seventh Chapter In what estate the Common-wealth of the Battavers was in the time of Warre and is now at this present since the Warre SInce which time the Soveraignty of the States which was not a little obscured and darkned by that usurped Authoritie of the last Princes is brought againe shining more cleare in the light And afterwards when as the States of the neighbouring Provinces had taken Armes with them of Holland for the maintenance of their Liberty and were knit together by an assured alliance and confederacie And that King Philip whose reputation even yet hitherto hath not been toucht neither by intreaties nor by admonition could bee brought into a better minde then at last the generall States upon the 26. of Iuly in the yeare 1581. declared that King Philip by reason of the nullifying of their Lawes of Government according to all Lawes and ipso jure had forfeited his Principality in the same manner like as many free Nations have oftentimes condemned their Prince as the Lacedemonians condemned Pausanias the Romanes Nero the Venetians Falerius and the Danes Christiern Yet neverthelesse these Nobles did not govern the Commonwealth without a Principality But like as in former times in place of the Kings succeeded the Generalls even so did the Prince of Orange the title of Earle being taken away obtained the lawfull Authority under the Title of Governour This Prince his singular unity with the States whilst hee gave place unto their Mightinesse and they on the contrary part both loved and respected him as being their common Father brought the affaires of Holland from little beginnings to a great growth wherefore although the neighborings Provinces had ordained first Matthias Archduke of Austria and after him the Councell of State and yet after them the Duke of Anjoy over them yet neverthelesse the States of Holland and Zealand maintaining firmly the confederacie with their Neighbours and never consenting unto any alteration in their own lands continually maintained not only the same manner of Government but even also the very outward form of the Government After the death of the Prince of Orange the generall Government was resign'd unto the Earle of Leicester who had brought over English Souldiers with him to aide these Lands but in regard that he being of a Kingly prodigality and unacquainted with our Customes and following evill Counsellors began to speak against the Government of the States and to bring in many innovations therupon the States took occasion to shew that their power from the which Leicester had received his Commission was the most righteous and the most ancient power Also certaine persons who to pleasure him sought by uproars to bring in alterations they punished with death which the Earle of Leicester understanding left both the Government and the Land And thereupon Prince Maurice the sonne of William Prince of Orange took upon him the chief government over Holland and of certaine of the Neighbouring Provinces Under his Government hath been great concord so that by the twenty yeeers tranquillity of the Commonwealth and by the inlarging of their borders by fortunate Battales by Seidges so ably enterprized as also more ably resisted have the States obtained the fame of exceeding wise Governors and Prince Maurice the fame of the worthiest Generall The Reputation of this Commonwealth is yet augmented since that Kings have accepted the same into confederacy with themselves For in the yeer 1597. was a Confederacy agreed upon betwixt the King of France the Queen of England and the States of the united Netherlandish Provinces Yet neverthelesse the States did so reverence their deposed Prince that whilst King Philip lived the habilities of these Lands contained themselves within the necessity of their owne defence but after his death was the Warre more openly manifested and that warre was sent back againe into Spaine which first came from themselves Yea and even unto the very furthermost parts of India is our Trafficque sailed being defended with Armes And in those places also by the occasion of the common enemy and by the known valour and fidelity of the Hollanders is there occasioned both friendships and Confederacies with Kings and Nations so that the Lords the States have been saluted by Embassadours comming so farre as out of the other world Hitherto hath the warres continued There hath been often dealing for peace both whilst King Philip lived as since his death As also when as the Netherlands were resigned unto his daughter and son in-law But ever the States disdained those conditions whereby either their Liberty or that lawfull resolution which they had justly decreed and pronounced against King Philips Authority might any way be impeached or toucht like unto the example of the Ancient Romans who never esteemed any Peace so highly that they therefore would receive in again the banished Tarquins Lastly when as the Archduke Albertus and Isabel and King Philip the Second Philips Son shewed themselves to be ready to acknowldge the freedome and Liberty of the States then through the Intercession of the Kings of France of Great Britaine and of Denmark and of some other Princes did begin a communication And in regard that many difficulties hindred the Peace there was lastly in the year 1609 a Truce concluded upon for the space of 12 years with a formall Declaration of the Archduke both in their own names as also in the name of King Philip from whom to that very end they had received Commission and procuration that they should make Truce with the Lords the States Generall of the United Provinces as respecting and holding them to be in quality of free States of their Lands Provinces and Cities where over they have nothing to pretend This short Relation beginning long before the time of Iulius Caesar and ending at these times sheweth that continually during more then 1700 years the Battavers which now are called the Hollanders have used the same Government the Soveraignty whereof hath alwayes remained in the States hands and so is it at this present So that neverthelesse a Principality hath belonged thereunto sometimes in a greater and sometimes in a lesser manner of administration In former time comming thereunto by Succession but very often and at this present by voyces being ever subject under the Laws This then is the shape or rather to say the face of the whole Government Now if any man would know all the particular members thereof They are these as followeth Holland is very populous and exceedingly well stored with Cities and Villages The especiall care of the Cities is committed to the Senators and Magistrates of each City unto whom it is permitted within their own Liberties to make certain Laws and Forfeitures and to ordain certain Impositions for the Cities necessaries The Senators are perpetuall The Magistrates are yearly

HVGO GROTIVS Aet. 49 Ao 1632 De positum coeli quod jure Batavia mater Horret et haud credit se peperisse sibi Talem occulis talem ore tulit se maximus Hugo Instar crede hominis caetera crede Dei So●ld by Io Walker Tho C●●ss sculpsit A TREATISE OF The Antiquity of the Common-wealth of the BATTAVERS which is now the HOLLANDERS First written in Latin by HUGO GROTIUS Advocat Fiscall of Holland Zealand and Westfriesland c. And afterwards Translated into the Netherlandish Dutch and perused by the Author himselfe And now again Translated out of both the Latin and Dutch into English By THO. WOODS Gent. LONDON Printed for Iohn Walker at the signe of the Starre in Popes Head Alley MDCXLIX To the most famous and Illustrious Lords my Lords the States of Holland and West-freisland NOble and mighty Lords I present unto your Lordships a little Book or rather it presents it selfe which though the quantity thereof bee very small yet being of a great quality and altogether appropiate unto your Lordships for it maintaineth your command your Right and Soveraignty The scope and drift thereof is to demonstrate and prove as it were cursively and running over the times past even from the beginning of this so famous Nation unto this very present day how that the chief Soveraignty of the publike affairs hath ever had place in the principall of the two States which were then the Battavers but now are the Hollanders and the West Freises The which Soraignty through a long continuall consequent Succession is now at this present established in your Lordships This Soveraignty and power of the States hath been the foundation of the Common-wealth the harbour of perfect moderated equity and the bridle of the Principalities prodigality This power in former times hath been a terror and for feare thereof even the chiefest Commanders and those Regents of the State of the Land have willingly submitted their magnifience thereunto yea whether they were Kings or Generals or those which in these latest times were called the Earles thereof The very Lawes and Priviledges thereof which are holy and unviolable have likewise also continually been preserved safely in the custody and possession and as it were in the bosome of the States By the resolutions of their Lordships is that Liberty which in former times the Hollanders have had and is now againe so farre famous sailed through those mighty raging tempests even unto these happy dayes and times For what greater dangers could have hapned to any for their Liberty then that which hath hapned unto them as first that the Romish power and afterwards that of the Spanish power which is the next unto the Romish or else according unto their own opinion farre greater then the Romish power it self was Yet neverthelesse that Liberty hath wrestled and strugled it self through both of those hideous dangers and when they were enforced to take Arms They first opposed against the violence of their Oppressors the reasonablenesse of their Cause a good politick Order and an invincible courage The happy event thereof hath declared it self at two severall times unto the admiration of all Nations upon the face of the Earth and with the Warre is the fame and power thereof encreased even as it pleaseth the wisedome of God commonly first to prove and assay those with great travels and dangers whom hee will afterwards advance to great honours Under the condition of those same Lords and Governours hath ever appeared that great fidelity of the Battavers which was never lesse then the valiantnesse of their deeds in Warre which fidelity the Romans can sufficiently testifie of in the times of your Lordships Predecessors And the Neighbouring Kings doe now acknowledge the same in your Lordships And not only they but also even those which are our Antipodes and which behold another Firmament and Stars The recitation of all which things according unto their deserts would be matter for the furnishing of a great History It may suffice for this present shortly and summarily to relate the Antiquity of this Government which hapned under the Government of the Nobles or States the labour whereof I doubt not but it will be profitable for the Inhabitants and very acceptable unto Strangers for although it be very true that which in old time was reported of Alcibiades and also Augustus which is That a good Subject is bound to defend the present estate of the Common-wealth and to seek for no Alteration Yet neverthelesse we desire and more earnestly affect such a kinde of Government as we our selves enjoy and besides we perceive hath been pleasing to our fore-fathers whether it be as the best in it self or whether it be that which is most convenient for them the which our Fathers have maintained and defended even with their dearest lives having left the same as their own proper inheritance unto their succeeding posterity Hereunto may also be added that in all matters Antiquity is much respected and of great worth yea so much esteemed that they of Marseilles whose Common-wealth is anciently reported to be so exceeding famous and for which they are so highly commended that they even from the first foundation of that City have themselves used the sword for the execution of Justice upon Malefactors shewing thereby that also even in the smallest matters all the least points of Ancient Custome ought to be maintained for Antiquity in some respects commeth nearest unto God by way of resemblance that it hath with Eternity From whence also it proceedeth that in our hearts there is bred a reverentnesse and respect unto Antiquity which Antiquity in the Common-Wealth ought much more to bee had in estimation rather then in the persons of men in regard that in the persons of men which are mortall their Antiquity or Antientnesse is a sign of their approaching Death But Antiquity in the Common-wealth being once settled and grounded upon hope of never to die doth beget from time her vertue and force and becommeth the more old the more able for continuance is an infallible demonstration of a well framed policy from hence proceedeth an assurance and affection unto the Government even from the very hearts of the Inhabitants And this is the very principall occasion of the continuance and standing of a Common-wealth because that in former times it so continued It was also reason that I had some respect unto Strangers to the end that those which are exceeding desirous to be informed of the state of this Common-wealth by reason of the greatnesse of those famous Acts atchieved by the same might not only know the estate thereof as it is at this present but also in what estate the same hath been in times past Also taking away an abuse which oftentimes proceedeth from names that are alike in matters that are differing for the Princes themselves were not alwayes alike nor yet the States neither for sometimes the Chief Power and Soveraignty was in the person