Emperour of Greece Whose Death I have lamented when I was in my Youth When first the unhappy News arrived his Son Henry a Valiant Prince succeeded him in the Empire and his Eldest Daughter Jane in his Earldom of Flanders Their Country holds of me and is a Feudatory of my Crown as the Earl is a Peer of my Kingdom I wish I could alter the Course of Nature and that what has happened had not been that my dear Vncle the Father of my Cousin-German whose Name and Memory is of admirable Veneration in Greece could return to Life But I cannot lightly be perswaded from the belief I have of his death and the report which hath been confirmed through the course of so many Years Most humane things especially Empires subsist by the Testimony of men Tell me then for whom you would be received If for my Vncle shew it us by some authentick proof and because the thing is unexpected it will be so much the more agreeable and give me transports of joy and satisfaction when I am convinced I have wept for my Vncle without cause and for a false Opinion whilst he that I should Reverence like a Father is restor'd to me I am glad that a few short questions will make your self judge and witness in your own Cause which the World must needs know is of the greatest Importance I ask you then If my Father King Philip treated you as his Homager and whether he gave you the Investiture of the Earldom of Flanders In what place at what time in what manner and before what Witnesses did he gird on your Sword and made you a Knight And of what Order was it Who was the Wife you Married in France Who treated the Match In what place and with what Ceremonies did you Marry her for the true Baldwyn cannot be ignorant of these matters I have exactly made a Recital of all the Questions from Paulus Aemilius that admirable Historian It is very strange that he who had so well studied the Genealogies of the Flemish Lords could not tell what Wife he Married which was Margaret Daughter to the Earl of Champagne The Annals of Flanders say it was the Bishop of Beauvais President of the Kings Counsel that askt him all these questions which may be reduced to three 1. In what place he did Homage for his Earldom of Flanders 2. By whom and in what Place he was made a Knight 3. In what Place and on what Day he Married Margaret of Champagne But this Impostor as surprized with all these Questions askt three days to answer them Perhaps one might excuse a Man for not remembring several Circumstances of the principal Actions of his Life Besides such an August Assembly before so Great a King and Magnificent a Court a Subject of such consequence before an Audience no ways favourable with the Apprehension of the Danger might distract him and hinder his answering pertinently Guaguin says That speaking Haughtily to the Points in question without sufficient Proofs of what he pretended to be the King commanded him to go out of his Realm in three days but doing him no hurt because he had given him his safe Conduct This Impostor being thus shamefully Driven away retir'd to Valenciennes in Haynault where being abandon'd by those whose hopes of advantage by this Novelty had made them promise him great assistance he disguis'd himself like a Trades-man intending to have past into Burgundy hoping to find countenance and support there but he was watcht and taken on his way by a Burgundian Gentleman Erard Castenac who sold him to the Countess Jane for four hundred Marks She put him to the torture and forc'd him by his torments to Confess his Imposture He said he was Born in Champagne and his name was Bertrand de Rayns he was led through all the Cities of Flanders and Haynault where after having been shew'd to the People he was publickly hang'd at Lisle in Flanders Famâ ancipiti jurene an injuriâ The greatest part of Europe was in doubt whether the Countess justly put this Impostor to Death The example of Peter Courtney Successor of the true Baldwyn and Henry in right of his Wife Yolante persuaded the possibility of so straight a Prison as might not give him Opportunity to inform his Subjects and Friends what misfortune had befallen him The Catastrophe of this false Baldwyn happen'd in the year of Christ 1225. and of the World 5186. CHAP. VIII Perkin Warbeck OR THE COUNTERFEIT Duke of York Son of Edward the Fourth King of England THis Impostor continued longer than any of the rest and had more Chances and happy Hours The Cruelty of Richard Duke of Glocester Son of Richard Duke of York and Brother of Edward the Fourth King of England gave Henry Earl of Richmond Grand-son of Owen Tudor and Catharine of France a Pretension to Arm against him for the Recovery of the Kingdom of England which Edward the Fourth before Duke of York and Head of the Red-Rose had usurp't from Henry the Sixth Richard Duke of Glocester had also usurp't the Crown from Edward the Fifth a young Prince of Twelve years old Eldest Son and Successor to King Edward the Fourth as likewise from his Brother Richard Duke of York his two Nephews whom he unnaturally and cruelly murthered in the Tower of London in the year 1483. It was the Person of this last Richard Duke of York and only Brother of King Edward the Fifth that this Impostor Peter Warbeck commonly called Perkin Warbeck so artfully imitated for Five or Six Years time from 1494 untill 1499 putting all England into combustion and perplexity on that Subject and giving much trouble to the new Conqueror Henry the Seventh who was before Earl of Richmond Margaret Sister to King Edward the Fourth Widow of Charles the Hardy Duke of Burgundy and Soveraign of the Seventeen Provinces of the Lower Germany produced and instructed this Counterfeit to take the Crown of England if she could have effected what she had often endeavoured from Henry the Seventh Chief of the House of Lancaster or the White-Rose whom she mortally hated This is the Truth of the Story as Polydore Virgil Historiographer to Henry the Eighth relates it in the Twenty-sixth Book of his History of England This Princess a Woman of an Ambitious and Intriguing humour had conceived a great Aversion to Henry the Seventh Exterminator of the Usurper Richard Duke of Glocester The principal cause of her Hatred proceeded from the long Enmity between his Family of Lancaster and her 's of the House of York which made her continually endeavour by all means imaginable his extirpation with the satisfaction of her own Revenge in the removal of the Crown to One of her own Party But finding all her endeavours miscarried and those of John Earl of Lincoln were come to nothing her old Inveterate temper prompted her with new Expedients more difficult for Henry to prevent She met a young man at Tourney who was handsom
made him swallow Poyson without effect strangled him with his own hands reporting he had destroy'd himself when he had Reign'd Six Months and Eight Days The French and Venetian Army by Land and Sea continued in the Neighbourhood expecting the effect of young Alexis Promises which he not being able to perform in the time agreed on too earnestly endeavouring to raise the Money fell into the hatred of the People and was thus deprived of his Diadem and Life So bloody a Regicide deserved the Chastisement our Warriours intended him who drawing their Army down Besieged Constantinople for 72 Days Geofry de Vilhardouin writ the Story of this Siege and the particular Actions of the Heroes Murzuphle fled with his Treasures abandoning the City which was taken the 12th of April 1204. The Princes and other Lords resolved to choose an Emperor amongst them The Earl of Flanders with the Count of St. Paul named Five to give their Suffrages The Marquis of Montferrat and the Earl of Savoy other five The Venetians choosing the like Number In all 15 Voyces The Plurality were for Baldwyn This Prince was very powerful and a Great Souldier of which he had given many Proofs in the Siege He was Uncle by the Mothers Side to Lewis design'd Successor to Philip the August King of France He was Crown'd by Thomaso Morosini newly created Patriarch of Constantinople Boniface Marquis of Montferrat had from young Alexis for a Recompence the Island of Candia which he sold the Venetians for a great Sum of Money and was nevertheless made King of Thessaly Godfry Lord of Champagn was made Duke of Athens and Prince of Achaia John Earl of Brienne was sometime after made King of Jerusalem Baldwin had scarcely possest this new Dignity a Year before he went to Besiege Adrianople three Days Journey from him and possest by his Enemies who very much annoyed him That Success he had in the beginning did not accompany him in this Affair since by the profound Secrets of the Divine Pleasure being attackt with great Numbers of his Adversaries Greek Fugitives Bulgarians and Tartars he was defeated and supposed to be kill'd in the Plaines of Orestes A nostris pro Mortuo deploratus est says Paulus Aemilius His Brother Henry Succeeding him in the Empire This Disaster happened in the Year 1205 though some Chronologists antidate it two or three Years Twenty Years after This Famous Impostor calling himself by the Name of this Emperour appeared in Flanders Jane eldest Daughter of this Baldwin by Mary the Daughter of Henry Earl of Champagne was at that time Countess of Flanders and Married to Fernando Infant of Portugal She had great Wars her Husband having been taken Prisoner at the Famous Battle of Bovines which King Philip the August gained over the Emperour Otho the 4th in year 1214. And was long a Prisoner in the Louvre at Paris Although this had been some Years past she still felt her losses and that great Consternation Robert Son of Peter de Courtenay Earl of Auxerre and Prince of the Blood of France and Yolente only Daughter and Inheritrix of the Emperour Henry Earl of Flanders then possest that Throne to which this Impostor pertended One would have thought he should first have gone to the place where he was taken Prisoner but he could hope no assistance from the Greeks On the contrary Theodore Lascaris who resided at Nice and always took upon himself the Title of Emperour of Constantinople would have used him worse than the Bulgarians if he had fallen into his hands As for Robert de Courtnay whose Mother Yolente was his pretended Niece he was no ways inclin'd to yield him the Empire he had too much difficulty in obtaining it His Father the Emperour Peter falling into the Hands of Theodore was cruelly put to Death by him So that this Impostor thought his Affairs would advance better and he be more kindly received in his Native Country The Earldome of Haynault was his first Inheritance for this Baldwin was Son to an Earl of Haynault of the same Name Sirnamed The Magnanimous and of Margaret of Alsace Heiress of Flanders For this Reason he was Joyfully received there and with more satisfaction to those Martial People who hated the Dominion of a Woman Besides it was Independant on the Kings of France The Flemings received him very coldly seeing but a small Train with him nor would they own him for their Earl or Emperour of Greece This Impostor affected an extraordinary Gravity in his Meine the better to draw Veneration and acquire the Majesty of an Emperour The Countess Jane refused to see him but was advised to interrogate him for the better discovery of his Practises The President of her Councel of State summon'd him to appear ask'd him many troublesome Questions Gravibus fatigare percontationibus ausus est and spoke to him in this manner If it be true that you are the Earl Baldwin and assume not a False Title to the Empire of Greece I demand of you Why you have abandon'd your Subjects in that Country Even those poor People laden with Miseries whom the Divine Providence by the Suffrages of so many brave Men had committed to your Protection Why forsake you them in their greatest need of your Conduct and Care having so many Generous and Experienc'd Captains to whom you owed the last and greatest Obligations for chusing you among the most principal Men in the World to be their Chief and set the Imperial Diadem upon your Head Why have you thus neglected them exposed to the rage of Barbarous Nations For this reason although you were the true Baldwin we have sufficient Cause to dissemble our knowledge of you sure then we shall not own you who are but a false and a counterfeit Badlwin Why when the Affairs of all the East were laid on your shoulders to be supported and sustained by you when they were in disorder and lost by your misfortune have you feign'd to be dead and conceal'd your being alive What could you expect from so strange a Deceit Or what could be the reason of such a supposition and imposture If you would so long dwell among the Dead why should we now believe you are alive not having appear'd in any place these twenty years And had you been what you pretend now why did you not come in the time of Philip the August your Brother in Law who Married Alix one of your Sisters and in the life time of so many persons of Honour who might either have proved your Imposture or authorized your Title Why came you not sooner out of the Grave In what darkness have you hid that Glorious Face known to the whole World And with what new one do you pretend to Enchant the eyes of Men after so many years I ask if you believe your self that we ought to give faith to a Man who after so vast an Interval shall say I am the Emperor Baldwyn Have we never seen nor heard that there
Cities opened their Gates to the Governour Lewis tired with the War which according to Carion in his Life of the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria lasted Nine whole Years though Lunclavius in his German History mentions Three only went into his Earldom of Tyrol which he had had by his Wife Margaret Daughter of Henry Duke of Carinthia and Earl of Tyrol leaving the Marquisate and Electorate of Brandenbourg to his Brothers Lewis of the same Name sirnamed the Roman with Otho his Youngest The Emperour Charles the Fourth confirming by his Letter Pattents at Budissine in the Year 1350. his Transferring the Electorate to his two said Brothers This Emperour Charles had as we may say extreamly longed for the Electorship being vext that the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria had been more Fortunate than he in disposing it to his Eldest Son when the Death of Voldemar was reported Lewis the Eldest of the Three Brothers in Possession of Brandenbourg deceased in 1361. and Maynard his Eldest Son left the World before he was Fourteen Years old though Married yet having no Heirs He was born in 1349. and dyed in 1363. The Two remaining Brothers the Roman and Otho consented by their Agreement with the Emperour Charles to exclude their nearest Relations if they dyed without Heirs Male and substitute Winceslaus his Eldest Son Elector But if neither He nor the Emperour left a Son then it should pass to John Marquis of Moravia They allowed Winceslaus to use the Arms and Title of Marquis of Brandenbourg obliging their Subjects to swear Allegiance to him This Agreement was signed at Nuremberg in 1363. where it is still to be seen Now the Roman dying without Children in 1366. left in possession hereof Otho his Brother Son-in-law to the Emperour by the Marriage of his Daughter Agnes who being also without Children consented to sell the Marquisate and Electorate of Brandenbourg in his Life-time for Two Hundred Thousand Hungarian Ducats to the same Emperour Charles his Father-in-law and to his Eldest Son Winceslaus there being delivered to Otho several Towns in Bohemia as Pawns for a Security till Payment of the whole Sum. Thus the Electorate of Brandenbourg after having with various Fortune been One and Fifty Years possest by Voldemar and his Party was by the Three Sons of the Emperour Levis of Bavaria conveyed into the Family of Lutzelbourg where it remained Four and Forty Years being governed by State-holders in the Reigns of the Emperours Winceslaus and Sigismond which last sold and absolutely disposed of both this Marquisate and Eleotorate to his Favourite Fredrick de Zoltern the Burggrave of Nuremberg whom he had before made Governour Giving him the Investiture at the Council of Constance with great Ceremony the last Day of April being the Eve of St. Philip and Jacob and the Year 1415. Since which time the Heirs-Male descended in a Right Line from the before-mentioned Frederick have justly possest and gloriously governed the Countries of the Marquisate and Electorate of Brandenbourg But let us return to Voldemar What Lunclavius says of his being Condemned and Burnt alive for his Imposture is not true though he affirms it in the Chronicle of Germany Translated by him But it is most certain that he died of a Natural Death not at a Place called Korckei or at Stendeil in 1322 but at Dessaw in 1354 Nine Years after his Return and was buried in the Chappel called The Holy-Ghost which is the ordinary Place of Sepulture for the Princes of Anhalt as is testified by the Chronicle of Magdebourg The Reasons which oblige me to believe he was the True Voldemar contrary to the Opinion of those Historians whom we have cited are the Attestations of the Princes of his Family who then were the Electors of Saxony the Dukes of Lavemboâ—rg and the Princes of Anhalt which two last Branches are still in being These Princes would not have so much abused themselves to give such Honours to an Impostor nor have mingled his Ashes with Theirs who without doubt are one of the most Illustrious Sovereign Houses of Europe I have heard John George Head of the House of Anhalt Earl of Ascagne Lord of Zerbst and Bernberg Governour of the Provinces of the Marquisate of Brandenbourg say That he kept his Seal and believed him the True Elector Secondly The Arch-bishop of Magdebourg Primate of Germany a Man of great Vertue would never have owned him there being no Advantage in doing it and giving an ill Example to so many People Nor would the Emperor Charles the Fourth of whom we have been speaking and those other Princes have exposed their Lives and caused the Effusion of so much Blood for an Impostor Thirdly The ill Agreement where this pretended Counterfeit was born Sometimes he was a Miller of Landreslaw at other times of Beltzize which convinces me it is rather an Imposture to perswade it And further There was a Letter from the Electoral Colledge writ to the Pope at that time who had been a Cisterian Monk named James Tournier but then Bennet the Twelfth born at Saverdun in the Earldom of Foix. This Letter was sent Sixteen Years after his Absence and Seven before his Return in which his Name is with the rest of the Electors Henry Arch Bishop of Mayence Dean of the Electoral-Colledge is the first after him Baldwin Arch-Bishop of Treves Walram of Collen and this Voldemar the First of the Secular Electors that is before Rodolph Palatine and Rodolph Duke of Saxony contrary to the common Method of Precedence for sometimes the Younger let the Elder precede them out of Respect as the Elector of Saxony did to Joachim the Second Elector of Brandenbourg whom he always called Father Though there is no Date to this Letter it declares That they agreed on the Fifteenth of July 1338 to meet at Rinsse on the Rhyne near Franckfort and treat of Affairs of Importance which was to advertise the Pope that neither He nor his Successors could have any thing to do in the Election of Emperors either by their Consent Approbation or Confirmation or any other Matter belonging to it as likewise to oblige him to revoke his Excommunication against the Emperour Lewis This Letter is to be seen in the Archives of the Elector Palatine The ingenious Marquard Freherus one of his Councellors has inserted it in a Volume of the German History from Charlemaine to Frederick the Third It is to be observed that the Family of the Palatinate is the same with Bavaria and made War to extirminate Voldemar as an Impostor Therefore there was much Contradiction and Absurdity in these Elector's Proceedings who writ to the Pope in favour of the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria who had given the Electorate of Brandenbourg to his Son as vacant by the Death of Voldemar in putting his Name to this Letter if they believed him Dead for that was doing a notable Prejudice to Lewis Son of this Emperour who then possest the Dignity of Elector and the Marquisate to own
Whisks this and that way to no purpose and his best Reasons as once his Squibbs destroy themselves and endanger no Body so much as their Author If he could possibly be made capable of Good Advice I would counsel him only to play the Fool in Bartholomew-Fair there let him be Laureat to King Oberon and at his own Booth be Zany and Poet. But let not his own Life and Manners be the Subject of his next Puppet-Show lest it Debauch the Rabble his great Admirers These and many other Scriblers have been Selected as the Propogaters of the Cause but they are generally so Vile and Inconsiderable that I chuse to despise them and scorn to do them the credit of Remarking I would stop here but Difficile est Satyram non Scribere as fast as I cut off New Heads arise from my Hydra Legion of Old left Man for Swine and now for Swine enters Man again Such Impostors have appeared amongst us of late that it is incredible to think that our Senses and Understandings should have been so much imposed on as they have Wretches most profligate in all sorts of Wickedness as Cheating Thieving Forgery Coyning Lying Perjury nay Sodomy have on a suddain been entertained and credited as most Pious Sober Virtuous Christians and True Protestants What greater Prodigy than that such Spirits of Darkness should pass for Angels of Light Yet in respect to the Sense and Justice of my Country I will keep in bold Truths and spare even the Impostor with a Witness But when any Man shall think it convenient in proper Colours to draw the true Lineaments of some of these Counterfeits the History of their Lives though writ with the greatest Impartiality will appear as improbable as Rablais his Garagantua In the mean time let them be tormented with their Secret Crimes and in their Consciences which are as a Thousand Witnesses confess Ambiguae si quando citabere Testis Incertaeque rei Phalaris licet imperet ut sis Falsus admoto dictet perjuria Tauro Summum crede nefas vitam praeferre pudori Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas Juvenal Sat. 8. I could have Paraphrased this into English but will content my self with Doctor Holliday 's Translation When in a Doubtful Cause thou needs must stand A Witness should Phalaris bid thee be False shew his Bull and dictate Perjury Life before Vertue count it lewd to choose Do not to save Life th' Ends we live for loose A TABLE OF THE Histories contained in this Book Chap. I. THe False Smerdis only Brother of Cambyses King of Persia and of the Medes Pag. 1. Chap. II. The False Nero. Pag. 26. Chap. III. The False Messiah called Bencochab Chief of the Revolted Jews Pag. 30. Chap. IV. The False Moses Pag. 33. Chap. V. John Bulchold King of the Anabaptists called John of Leyden Pag. 35. Chap. VI. The False Clotaire called Gondoald Pag. 38. Chap. VII The False Baldwin Emperour of Greece and Earl of Flanders Pag. 58. Chap. VIII The False Richard Duke of York and pretended Son of Edward the Fourth King of England called Perkin Warbeck Pag. 76. Chap. IX The False Don Sebastian King of Portugal Pag. 113. Chap. X. The False Voldemar Marquis and Elector of Brandenbourg Pag. 139. Chap. XI The False Mustapha Son of Bajazet the First of that Name Emperour of the Turks Pag. 154. Chap. XII The False James Heraclides Despot of Moldavia and Wallachia Pag. 179. A LIST OF INFAMOUS Impostors OR THE LIVES Of Several Notorious Counterfeits who from the most Abject and Meanest of the People have usurped the Titles of Emperours Kings and Princes CHAP. I. Of the False Smerdis ONE of the most Profligate Impostors I can write of is the Counterfeit Smerdis who was a Magus which taking the word in its most favourable Acceptation signifies a Scholar an Astrologer or Philosopher But I am more inclin'd to believe he was a Magician who for some Crime escap'd the Justice of Cyrus with the loss of his Ears The Frenzy and Distraction into which Cambyses King of Persia and Son of Cyrus the Great fell gave this Impostor an Opportunity to shew himself and for eight Months to ascend the Throne of one of the Greatest and most Potent Empires in the Universe For the King when fallen into this Distemper caus'd his only Brother to be put to Death he being then Governour of Persia Whose Person this Magician so acted as obtain'd him the Quality and Empire of Smedis The untimely Death of this Prince gave him the Opportunity of being so great an Impostor the Distraction of Cambyses was the cause of his Death and the Sacrilege of Cambyses in mortally wounding the God Apis of Epaphus the Occasion of that Punishment This Apis the Aegyptians blinded with Idolatory ador'd in the Figure of a Calf The Fable of this Divinity is known to proceed from Jupiter's loving the Princess Jo Daughter of Inachus King of Phoenicia Juno contrived to surprize him with her wherefore Jupiter turn'd her into an Heifer to secure her against the Revenge and Jealousie of the Goddess But that was not sufficient to extinguish her Jealous suspitions which prompted her to beg that beautiful Cow of Jupiter who could find no excuse to deny her Juno committed her to the keeping of Argus with his hundred Eyes at which Jupiter being extreamly vext sent Mercury his Bastard and stole her away while Argus slept This so engaged Juno that her Revenge fell on Jo whom she commanded the fury Erinnys to make distracted and possess with wild Fancies which made her wander about the World untill grown weary and Faint she stopt in Aegypt where she was restor'd to her former Shape and Person and brought to Bed of Epaphus The Egyptians Worshipping both her and her Son Ovid tells this Story at the end of his first Book of Metamorphosis Cambyses although the eldest Son and Successor to so great a King and in the Possession of such mighty Provinces as the Persiaen Empire contain'd burn'd with an unlimited Ambition to extend his Conquests which he did over Aegypt stripping Psalmneticus the King Son of Amasis the Usurper of all Regal Power But this not being enough for his vast Thoughts he undertook three great Wars at the same time though very unseasonably and to his disadvantage making the Carthaginians the Aethiopians and the Arabians his Enemies Against each of these he had ill Success He could not attack the Carthaginians but by Sea and the Phoenicians his only Subjects that could assist him with Ships mutin'd and refused to lend him any belleving it unnatural to contribute towards the Ruin of the Carthaginians who proceeded from them To advance towards Aethiopia the Army had vast Deserts to march over and this young unadvised King took so ill Measures and made so small Provisions that he hardly got the Fifth Part of the way ere his Army wanted and were forced to eat their own Horses and Camels and afterward by Decimation
He was in Echatana in Syria The Oracle of Butis having foretold he should die in Echatana he believed it the great City of that Name in Media where he kept his Treasure and commonly resided Flattering himself he should end his days there in his old Age but troubled at the Imposture of the Magician and grieved for the Excesses of his past Life his Wound having made him languish twenty days he sent for the most considerable Officers and spoke thus to them Fate will that Cambyses the Son of Cyrus die here and now I am constrain'd my dear Persians to discover what I have hid from you hitherto When I was in Aegypt I dreamt a Dream which made me fear my Brother should usurp my Crown This Fear made me act with more Precipitancy than Reason I find Man has not the Power to hinder what shall happen I too rashly sent Prexaspes to kill Smerdis at Susa After which Crime I thought my self secure not imagining when he was out of the World any mortal Creature dar'd to rise up against me But I see I am miserably abused and have been to no purpose my Brother's Murtherer For notwithstanding I am rob'd of my Empire it was this Smerdis the Magician the Doemon shew'd me in my Sleep and 't is he was to take Arms against me Think not when I am gone to have Smerdis the Son of Cyrus for your King They are two Magicians would have the Empire One I made Governour of my House the Other is Smerdis his Brother But Oh deplorable unhappiness He that should have revenged his Insolence is basely murthered by his nearest Relations Next I conjure you in the Name of the Gods in whose Protection Crown'd Heads are and which I hope to obtain of you my most dear Ackemenides since the Kings of Persia proceed from you never suffer such a Meanness of Spirit as may let the Empire and Sovereign Power return to the Medes If they obtain it by Fraud or Force use the same Methods to tear it from them and if in this you obey my Orders I beseech the Gods your Fields your Wives and your Cattle may be fruitful But if you do not as I command on the contrary may all Miseries fall on your Heads and your Ends be unhappy as mine Having ended this Discourse he wept abundantly deploring his so early Fate The Persians that were by found his griefs so moving they tore their Garments and shed many Tears crying out for sorrow His pain augmented till the Wound gangreen'd perish't the Bone Death giving a Period to his Reign which was Seven Years and Five Months without any Children The truth of the Imposture and Usurpation of the Magicians could not enter into the minds of the Persians it seem'd incredible to them They thought the Death of Smerdis of which Cambyses informed them was only a Pretext to make the Name of the Persians odious and believed firmly that Smerdis by this Rebellion had placed himself on the Throne Which opinion they continued in the longer by Prexaspes's utterly denying the Murther though if he had own'd it he had certainly been destroy'd when Cambyses was Dead who authorized and avow'd it for the Persians would have been very rigorous with him that had dar'd to shed the Blood of that Great King Cyrus The Magician after the Death of Cambyses bearing the Name of Smerdis Reign'd without trouble or contradiction Seven Months together during which time he exercised his Liberality and Munificence to the Subjects of the Empire which were so extraordinary that after his Death the People of Asia except the Persians lamented his loss extreamly He sent his Proclamations through all the Provinces to exempt the People from Taxes promising them Peace and Rest Declaring he he would List no Souldiers for the War in three Years But in Eight Months his Villany was in this manner detected Otanes Son of Pharnaspes who was one of the greatest Lords of Persia suspected the Magician not to be Smerdis the Son of Cyrus and his suspition was grounded on his recluse way of Living for he never came out of the Palace nor gave Audience or access to any Persian Lord. This just doubt made him send a faithful Servant to Phedina his Daughter who with the rest of the Wives of Cambyses was in the possession and enjoyment of the Magician to ask what kind of Man lay with her if it were Smerdis the Son of Cyrus or some other She sent him word by the Messenger she could not resolve him because she had never seen Smerdis nor could she describe what kind of Man he was that had access to her Upon this her Father desir'd she would ask Attossa the Sister and Wife of Cambyses and now in the Number of those in the Possession of the Usurper To which she reply'd She could not speak to Attossa nor any other Woman the King lay with for this Man whatever he be since he became King keeps us all in different Apartments Otanes being confirmed in his suspicion by these Answers sent his faithful Servant a third time to propose what follows That she being of a Noble Family should not fear exposing her self in a danger her Father advised her to for if this Man were not Smerdis the Son of Cyrus but he whom he suspected she ought not to be enjoy'd by him nor he possess the Soveraignty he Vsurp't over the Persians but be punished as his Insolence deserved Therefore she should endeavour to feel his Head when he was asleep and if she found his Ears he was undoubtedly Smerdis the Son of Cyrus if not he must as certainly be Smerdis the Magician Phedina could not dissemble her apprehensions of the danger for if he surpriz'd her in that curiosity she could expect nothing but Death nevertheless she promised to venture and obey her Father Cyrus had cut his Magicians Ears off for some Villany committed in his time and she feeling when he was asleep found he had none and early in the Morning gave her Father notice Otanes inform'd Aspathines and Gobrias of this affair who before extreamly suspected it therefore were easily perswaded of the Truth 'T was their opinion each of them should choose a Colleague able to Act and advise with them Otanes took Intaphernes Gobrias Mâ—gabysus and Aspathines chose Hydarnes They were six in Number when Darius arrived from Susa the Metropolis of Persia of which Hystaspes his Father was Governour They joyn'd him to their Number being now seven of the Greatest Lords in the Persian Empire They consulted and reciprocally gave their Faith to each other When it came to Darius his turn he spoke in this manner For my part I believ'd no body knew the Magician Reign'd but my self and that Smerdis the Son of Cyrus was not in the World I came hither on purpose to exterminate this Impostor but since I find you are all equally inform'd of it I think it convenient now to agree what is to be done
be of Alboin's coming into Italy and conjured him to countermand and hinder it all he could When the Pope and he were returned to Rome and considering how they might remedy this Misfortune Narses died whose body was carried to Constantinople and there magnificently buried Gondoald after this Accident crossed the Sea and made his Court to the Emperour Justin and the Empress Sophia his Wife an Ambitious and Airy Princess His good Meen and Intriguing Humour made him extreamly considered in that Court Venerationem sibi ac Majestatem conciliarunt says Paulus Aemilius He remained at Constantinople all the time of Justin the Second a pusillanimous Prince who suffered his Wife to govern the Empire contrary to his Honour and Interest During the Reign of Tiberius which was seven years he made several Campaigns in the Wars of Persia under Mauritius who was after chosen Emperour and Successor to Tiberius for Gondoald dared not to venture himself in the Court of France where he had been so ill treated having many sad Examples of his Relations Cruelty even to their own Blood Clotaire his Father without Pity or Mercy burnt Cramnus or Granus his own Son with his Wise and Children in a House where they Fled for Refuge He overcame kill'd in Battle Senabut Duke of Britain He Burnt Conobald Duke of Guienne in the Chappel of S. Martin where he ran for safety because he had assisted Granus in his Revolt to whom he Married his Daughter This Clotaire also was Guilty of that abominable parricide of dipping his hands in the Innocent Blood of his two young Nephews Theobald and Gontier Sons of Cladomir his Brother King of Orleans Gondoald considering he had little Reason to expect a better Treatment from his Fathers Brothers Sigebert and Chilperic chose rather to Live quietly in Justin's Court But when he was Informed how matters went in France he resolved to hasten thither encouraged by the Empress Constantina and the Emperour Mauritius Son-in-Law to Tiberius who promis'd him their Assistance His two Sisters-in-Law Brunechilde the Daughter of Athanagilde King of the Wisigoths in Spain Married to his Brother Sigebert and Fredegonde Woman of the Bed-chamber to the Queen Galsond Wife to Chilperic his other Brother King of Paris who first became Mistress and then Wife to that King These two Women disturbed all France Their Husbands having been Traitorously Murthered which was the occasion of his Return after having been Twenty Years in the East He Landed at Marseilles with a splendid Equipage where Theodore Bishop of that Diocess received him with much Honour it being reported he brought Vast Riches along with him and was able to give great Rewards having made the best Advantage of his Happiness in the Eastern Court besides the finding a mighty Treasure hid by Narses the Eunuch His Royal Qualities and Majestick Person were admired The Fame of his Actions having gain'd him the Reputation of a good Captain Scholler to the Incomparable General Narses Didier who absolutely Commanded the Countrys adjacent to Tholouse Mummol much talkt of for his Service in the Wars against the Greeks and Lombards and thought one of the best Souldiers in his time besides many Lords both Visigoths and Romans who kept the Frontiers of Spain declared for him Thus having acquir'd such powerful Friends and reduced to his Obedience a great part of the People and Cities of Guienne the Peregordins and Bourdelois those of Tholouse and Anjou followed his Fortune Childebert King of Mets the Nephew of Gondoald was then angry with his Uncle Gontran King of Orleans for refusing to deliver into his hands his Mother-in-Law Queen Fredegonde the Murtheress of King Sigebert his Father which reason perswaded him to declare for Gondoald sending him Ambassadors and stiling him King to give him the more Majesty for the obtaining the Hearts of the French advising him to take the Name of Clotaire his Father The occasion of Gontrans refusing to deliver to him the Queen Fredegonde was that young King Clotaire the Second her Son was under his Tutelage and he thought it below a Generous Prince to give up the Mother of him whom he intended to make his Successor Gontran was a Prince extreamly Good Pious and Charitable I can find no other Reason why he preferr'd Clotaire his Nephew who was but Four Months Old when his Father Chilperic was Assassinated by the Infidelity of Fredegonde his Wife Gondoald having before so much cause to doubt whether Clotaire were Lawfully begot or no his Mother being of a very scandalous Life in her Husbands time abandoning her self to the Maire or Stewards of the Pallace Londry de la Tour. Unless he thought the Decision of the Laws sufficient that Filius est quem nuptiae demonstran That Child is Legitimate who is Born of a Woman who hath a Husband He hoped to give good Impressions to the young Prince being like soft Wax capable of any he would make But Gondoald's Humour he extreamly apprehended for his fierceness and resentment of the usage he received in his younger Days That Divine Quality so Admirable in a Prince to forget Injuries received when 't is in his Power to Revenge them never having been exercised by Clotaire his Father who always prefer'd his own private Resentments This made him not acknowledge Gondoald that came from the Court of Constantinople when the Grecian Artifices Treachery and Cruelty were much in use The Affection and tenderness he had for the Innocent Child prevail'd over his aversion to the Vices and conduct of Fredegonde his Mother Raymond Bishop of Paris a Person of an Exemplary Life first spoke to the good King in Favour of this young Prince he having before saved Fredegonde from the Fury of the People inraged by the Death of their King Chilperic of which she and her Gallant Landry were shrewdly suspected he giving her with her Son and Treasure refuge in his Church The Merciful King continued his Clemency to his Death which happened the 28th of March 594. Still assisting the Queen with his Councel and Protection He perswaded her by his remonstrances with the fear and respect she had to offend him to Live a more retir'd Life He caused what the Courtiers and Domesticks of his Brother Chilperic had unjustly taken from several particular Persons to be restored He did many Favours to the Church making those dues to be paid which Chilperic had supprest or diverted and largly assisting the Poor All which he had reason to believe Gondoald would not do being greedy of Money wanting all the Treasure he could get to recompence his Creatures and support the Luxury he had Learnt at Constantinople I will not stop to relate the Encomiums which Gregory of Tours and Fredegarius in their Chronicles give this King Gontran only say it was the greatest misfortune or if you please an effect of Gods Judgment to want his protection and be rejected by him Though Gondoald did all he could to obtain his Favour He chose two
the Pursuit believing the old Governour Gerald Earl of Kildare favoured them underhand wherefore he cunningly seized his Person and brought him to the King before whom this Earl so pleaded his Cause that he was sent back and restored to his Government being thought the most prudent way in that Conjuncture because of his great Interest and Authority with the Irish While these things were transacting in England Warbeck was extreamly grieved his Conspiracy was discovered and many of his chiefest Friends Executed Yet he notwithstanding resolved to cross the Sea accompanied by a great number of Vagabonds such Fugitives as would follow him 'T is true he had some Lords and good Captains in his Train to strengthen his hopes of the Crown His Fleet came upon the Coast of Kent where the weather being calm he Landed some of his Men for the better securing or persuading the Country People to his Party But the Impostor was already known every where and they had suffered much Misery and Desolation in the late Wars They knew the Soldiers of this false Richard were all Strangers who would make no distinction of Friends or Enemies where they were strong enough to Plunder and Pillage nor have respect to Churches or Places Sacred believing God had left them since several of their Party had been put to shameful deaths as a punishment of their Guilt Wherefore these Inhabitants endeavoured to destroy this Counterfeit by persuading him to Land all his Men promising to give notice to their Neighbours and make a considerable body while he prepared for his March Perkin distrusted their Intentions knowing the common People use no Ceremony in their Emotions but run on without Reason or Deliberation Therefore he resolved not to Land himself but to venture part of his Men who were no sooner out of sight when the Country People Charged them driving them back to the Sea so that only the most Nimble and most Cowardly escaped the Stoutest and Robust were killed or wounded The latter were not treated as Prisoners of War but like Pirats and Thieves 150 being Hanged along the Shore The King himself was on his March from London against these Vagabonds till meeting the news of their Defeat he returned sending only Sir Richard Guilford to thank the Kentishmen for their Loyalty and assure them of his Grace and Favour incouraging them to persist in the same Fidelity and Zeal for his Interest Though this ill success troubled Warbeck and his Friends who returned to Flanders they gave not over for it taking new Resolutions of Landing in Ireland and Levying Men there for the Invading the Western parts of England And if that failed to go for Scotland which Nation had never Peace long with the English His Aunt giving him Money for the equipping a Fleet and making some Levies He Sayled with good Weather to the Irish Coasts where he soon found the inequality between those unarmed unexperienced People and the English Forces yet not daring to expose his Men to the Slaughter he rather chose the other Project of passing into Scotland where James the Fourth was not displeased at the Arrival of a Person so much discours'd of through all Europe out of the Aversion his People had for the English giving him Access to his Royal Person where Polydore Virgil says he made this Speech I know Great Prince you cannot be Ignorant what Calamities have late befallen the Family of Edward the Fourth King of England whose Son I assure your Majesty I am having by a Miracle escaped Death My Father e're he dyed made Richard Duke of Glocester my Uncle Guardian to Edward my Elder Brother and my self hoping the great kindness he always favoured him with would oblige him to more tenderness of us But alas how was he deceived for our Guardian became our Murderer Transported by his Ambition of Reigning he gave his positive Commands for our Destruction The Person he instructed with his Orders frighted with the horror of the Crime obey'd but half his Instructions For after he had taken away my Brother's sparing my life he suffered a faithful Servant to convey me out of the Kingdom who left me not till I was past all danger By these Methods my Vncle Richard seized the Crown as if it had been the Reward of his Crimes whilst I after this Deliverance wandring about the World almost forgot who I was At last coming to my Aunt Margaret Widow of that most excellent Prince Charles late Duke of Burgundy she received me with unspeakable joy as risen from the dead But that Princess having only her Joynture in Flanders and not able to assist me with Force enough for the recovery of my Kingdom I have been constrained to have Recourse to other Princes And by her advice I am come to Your Majesty though slenderly accompanyed Yet knowing your Princely Generosity which has filled the World with your Glory particularly for your Inclination to protect the Vnhappy Dispossessed of their Rights who becoming Objects of the Cruelty of wicked Men are so much the greater of Your Royal Clemency This encourages me to implore Your Majesty's Assistance for this Vnhappy Prince here before You for the Recovery of his antient Kingdom And I assure you I and my Successors will so acknowledge Your Majesty's Grace and Favour that this Crown will not repent the Kindness though to say truly it is above all we can do to express our Gratitude as we ought King James answer'd his Speech very civilly exhorting him to take Courage and assure himself he should not repent his coming thither He Assembled his Council who were much divided in their Opinions some taking him for an Impostor others whose Advice prevailed affirming that if he were the true Duke of York both He and all his Posterity must acknowledge this Favour and for it be obliged to Scotland Or although he should prove a Counterfeit this Pretence of War would make the English treat with more inclination to grant what they desired for the dis-engaging the Scots from his Interest This last Advice was followed by the King who shewed Perkin extraordinary Respects stiling him Highness and Duke of York And to advance his Credit he married him to his Kinswoman Katharine Daughter of Alexander Earl of Huntley a Lady of incomparable Beauty and Vertue whose Obedience to the King rather than the Ambition of having her Head Crowned one day with a Royal Diadem o're-came the Repugnance she had in her Heart to marry a Man so unknown whom many called an Impostor The Motives which perswaded the King to this Match were for a specious Pretext of War and breaking the Truce with the English He being by this obliged to protect his new Kinsman and Ally without being accounted rash in his Assistance if the Deceit should be discovered for this Marriage must needs perswade the World he thought him the true Duke of York King James raised Men and formed an Army which you will suppose gave the Impostor great
thing which concerns their Relations He came to Parma where he sent the Dutchess word that a Gentleman of Portugal had something to tell her which he could declare to none but herself The Dutchess had lately received an account by a Courrier from Lisbone of the Death of the Cardinal Don Henry who last filled that Throne which she now demanded for her Son Rainuccio she being the Daughter of Edward one of the Sons of King Don Emanuel There were also other Pretenders to this Crown of Portugal such was Emanuel Philibert Duke of Savoy by his Mother Beatrix a Daughter of King Don Emanuel Katharine the Sister of Mary joyned her Right with that of the Duke of Braganza a Prince of the Blood Royal of Portugal for her Son Theodosio and who indeed by the Law of Lamega which as they affirm excludes a Forreigner from the Throne of Portugal had the most just Pretence to it Catharine de Medicis Queen of France claimed it though at greater distance And Pope Paul the Fourth came in with his Title saying That Crown was a Fief of the Holy-See and therefore at his Disposal Philip the Second King of Spain was Son of Isabel Daughter of the same King Don Emanuel and Mary his Wife was yet nearer being Daughter of Don John the Third Son and Successor to Don Emanuel He was the nearest in Blood the nighest Neighbour and the most Potent so got Possession of the Crown but not without fighting for it by Sea and Land The Naval-Fight which his Admiral the Marquis de Santa Cruz obtained of Peter Strozzi a Florentine and Marshal of France who undertook by Force to dispute the Title of Catharine de Medicis his Mistress and kinswoman was no small Part of Philip's good Fortune The Three Estates of the Kingdom of Portugal were Assembled to determine this great Controversy when Don Sebastian appeared in Italy The Dutchess of Parma had also her mind filled with these things but when she perceived Him she gave a shrieck and ran to the Other end of her Closet much astonished I bring you Madam said he approaching her Extraordinary news which will much surprize you the King Don Sebastian is alive and not far from hence not much distant from you for he now speaks to you What Madam continued he without hesitating does then Don Sebastian Fright you He hoped that a better Reception would have been the reward of those pains he has endured to find you At the tone of his Voice the Dutchesses trouble was so great she could neither speak nor move out of her place Recollect your self my dear Cozen said he with a Passionate Air I am no Phantasme but the same Don Sebastian you once honoured with your Favour and now returned as full of your Idea as I was before I went to Affrica With these Discourses the Dutchess came to her self and suffer'd the False Don Sebastian to approach nearer giving him her hand and when she was assured that this pretended Monarch was a Man and no Ghost Ah my Lord said she Whence are you come where have you been so long hid And by what Miracle are you among the Living When you are in a Condition to hear me replyed Don Sebastian I will answer you all this But first be not so disturbed and believe that I am really the King of Portugal and if neither my Stature nor my Face assure it let the Passion of my Eyes convince you I have now recovered my Spirits said the Princess sitting down by him and confess your Sight did affright me above my Power of commanding my Disturbance But Sir all is now dissipated Therefore pray tell me to what Wonder we owe your Life and return to Love Madam answered Sebastian a Passion that had once made me touch your Heart must needs defend me from all Accidents Then he told her how Xerine found him among the Dead his getting into the Isle of Mucazen and his Living at Hoscore but carefully concealed how Don Sebastian had Loved Xerine before that Action and more his Marriage to her in Affrica Though that Princess used her utmost Power with Muley Boabdelin her Cozen and a Prince of the Blood Royal to oblige him to it by assuring him the Princess Mary was Married to the Duke of Parma But said that sometime after being informed she was a Widow He escaped as he pretended with difficulty out of Prison and came to lay himself at her Feet so full of Love that he had Lived on the very Thoughts of being esteemed by her Why then said the Dutchess did you not Write to me That I did many times reply'd he and doubtless Xerine who hoped that from my Misfortunes which she could not expect from my Re-establishment gave such Orders as prevented their coming to your hand My Restraint was very severe I was treated like a Valued Lover and had no Opportunity or Liberty to deliver my self from that Title The Dutchess must needs be Transported at the Recital of a Constancy so well invented She Ordered an Apartment for him whom she thought the King her Cousin together with an Equipage in all respects sutable and sent for the most Intelligent Persons to depute to the Estates of Portugal on his behalf which Deputation extreamly surprized them They sent Six of the Chief in their Assembly of whom some had been Ministers to Don Sebastian to see their Monarch Their Eyes assured them he was the same they ask't him several Questions which they thought Don Sebastian only could Answer But he was so well instructed by Xerine as convinced the Ambassadors that none but He in the World could so reply Insomuch that they assured the Estates he was really their King Those who were interested against him accused him of being a Counterfeit and Practizer of Deceit requiring this Sebastian to go and be present in Person at the General-Assembly of Estates to be Interrogated there in Form concerning his Pretentions While those who were affectionate to the Memory and Person of Don Sebastian thought there was no Security in that Demand The Kingdom was hereupon divided Those were called Royalists who adhered to the King and Those who declared for the several Princes pretending to the Crown Leaguers During these Disorders he that caused them lived at Parma expecting an Army should take the Field for his Interest At the Head of which he intended to demand what he said was his Right This supposed Prince after some time fell into disgrace with the Dutchess of Parma I know not whither or no by the Accident which Mademoiselle des Jardins relates on this manner That one Day walking with her by the side of that Canal which is one of the most Beautiful Things belonging to the Palace of Farnese she observed the Ribbon of a Letter-Case hanging out of his Pocket which she softly pulled out wherein she found Letters and Verses that discovered his Love some of them having the Greatest Liberties of his Marriage with Xerine for
so many Pens for a Counterfeit and placed in the number of Notorious Impostors whose Lives we treat of But this is the true History Voldemar the Second Marquis and Elector of Brandenburg was the Thirteenth descended in a Right Line from Albert de L'Ours of the Family of the Earls of Ascagne who bore that Dignity From which Albert are also descended the Dukes of Saxon Lavemburg and the Princes of Anhalt Voldemar was the Son of Henry stiled Without Land who dyed in 1313. and of Agnes or as others say Matilda de Sangerhuse the two Electors John the Third and Voldemar the First who preceded him were his great Uncles whom he Succeeded He had scarcely been three years Elector when a Fit of Devotion according to the Custom of those Times perswaded him to go a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land He left his Brother John the Fourth in Possession of his Country and discharged all his Servants except two whom he reserved for his Voyage not giving his Brother his Relations nor Subjects any Account which way he travelled nor what adventures befell him in his Journey For indeed there were then no Posts in use it being difficult sending from Forreign Countrys unless by express Messengers Voldemar believed he had taken sufficient Care of the Succession his Brother being only left alive of the Eldest Branch though in a short time there had been Nineteen Persons of the same who by Wars and Inveterate contentions for Avarice and Ambition drew God's displeasure on the Family and were suddenly scattered like the Dust of the Earth He obliged his Subjects not to receive the Princes of Anhalt who were of their House of the Counts of Ascagne for this Sovereigns in Case his Brother and He should dye without Heirs This their Subjects had Sworn justly to obey and execute But it not being Authorized by the Electors nor approved in the Empire the Emperor Lewis thought he had Power to dispose of it when he should receive News of Voldemar's Death He left his Country in the Year 1322 and appeared not till Three and Twenty Years after being in 1345. His Brother who govern'd in his Absence dyed Four and Twenty Days after he departed I know not whether by Sickness or Poison However Lewis of Bavaria then possessing the Empire disposed of the Electorate investing in it his Eldest Son Lewis by his First Wife Beatrix of Poland as a vacant Fief of the Empire Most of the German Histories tell this much in Favour of the House of Bavaria as follows Rodolph Duke and Elector of Saxony design'd to take the Electorate of Brandenbourg from Lewis of Bavaria Son to the Emperor Lewis the Fourth who had Invested him in it after the Death of John the Fourth State-holder and Governor of Brandenburg in the Absence of Voldemar his Elder Brother Rodolph pretended that being of the House of Ascagne of which Voldemar was the Head He ought to possess it before any Other or at least some Prince of his Family since Two Electorates could not possibly be in one and the same Person The better to compass his Design he reported his Cousin the Elector Voldemar was alive who had not appeared in Twenty Three Years Till understanding how matters went after many Pilgrimages to Holy Places like an ordinary Man and having escap't from the Captivity and Imprisonment of the Infidels he was now returned to his Country and to personate this Prince he brought on the Stage for a Principal Actor in this Tragedy a Miller of Landrestaw or as others say of Beltztize called James Rebok a Cunning Fellow and a Subtle Lyer being near the Age of Voldemar with something of his Meen Shape as much as so many years absence the changing of his Hair the Misery and Trouble he had suffered with the Weakness of Age could allow or perswade He had Lived many Years in Saxony where he was throughly instructed in the Life and Family of Voldemar His Application and Address made his Deceit very Successful for to all Persons he seemingly gave eminent Proofs that he was no Counterfeit but the true Marquis Voldemar The noise of his Return from Palestine and Turky where he had so many Years been detained spread through the Country and all Germany over he being assisted by the Emperor Charles the Fourth who was also King of Bohemia Grand-son of the Emperor Henry the Seventh who brought that Dignity into his Family of Luthzelburg This Prince recommended him to the Cyrcles of the Empire and severely treating many of his Enemies The Occasion of his Enmity to Lewis the Elector was because he got from his Brother Henry Margaret Countess of Tyrol with her vast Fortune His other Friends were the Dukes of Brunswick Pomerania and Mekelbourg the Arch-Bishop of Magdebourg Primate of Germany besides Fifteen others The most Zealous for his Interest being those of his own Family the Duke of Saxony and the Princes of Anhalt so that he wanted very little of expelling the Elector Lewis of Bavaria Voldemar presently Summoned an Assembly in the Year 1348. The Circle and near all the Nobility of the Marquisate acknowledging him for their Prince reiterated their Loyalty and Homage being transported with Joy to see their Antient Master His Old Subjects either touched with the Misfortunes and Calamities which he had suffred or pleased with Novelty being weary of the Bavarian Dominion after having Experimented the Glory and Justice of Voldemars Family the space of One Hundred and Eighty Years They lent him Mony to acquire his Right and drive out Lewis All the Citys in the Marquisate declaring for him except Francfort on the Oder Spandaw and Brizack Lutinger observes in the Two and Twentieth Book of his Commentarys of Brandenburg that the Family of Lockhow one of the Greatest in the Marquisate continued on Lewis's Side having the Principal Commands in his Army during the War which lasted Nine Years with various Success according to the Chance of Fortune Voldemar King of Denmark whose Name seemed a good Augury to Voldemar the Elector was nevertheless quite contrary for Carion in the Fifth Book of his Chronicle says He was the First that stop'd the Course of his Victorys and prevented his absolute Repossessing his Country Cassimir King of Poland Lewis called the Roman for his being Born at Rome Brother by a Second Venter to the Elector Lewis the Duke of Stetin that Dutchy being then separate from Pomerania with many Lords of Poland and Silesia then assisted Lewis Notwithstanding which Voldemar the Assailant gain'd a very Signal Battle absolutely defeating the Army of Lewis his Rival commanded by Lewis the Roman his Brother who very hardly himself escaped The Duke Rodolph Palatin of the Rhyne with Seventy nine Gentlemen bearing Shields of Arms of which number were Forty of Poland Fourteen being of the Family of Lettizia he maâ—e Prisoners of War and Trophies of his Victory This Blow extreamly lessened Lewis's Courage and reduced his Affairs to such a Point that many
that Bajazet's was as numerous as Tamberlain's And that the Occasion of Bajazet's defeat proceeded from the generosity of the Tartars in freeing of Diest and other Nations as Germian Mentez c. which Bajazet had subjugated whose Princes were in Tamberlains Army There was none but Bulcis or Bulcogli for so they called George Son of the Despot of Servia who followed not the good Example endeavouring to exterminate the Tyrant by abandoning him as the rest did His Men behaved themselves so well to the Glory of the Christians that Tamberlain cry'd to those about him See how valiant and resolute those Dervices are Proh quam feroces truculenti sunt isti Dervisii till some of his Great Officers told him They were Christians and not that sort of Religious Turks called Dervices Turlacks The Victory fell on Tamberlain's side One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Men being Killed upon the Place This Battle was Fought in the Year 1399 and according to the most probable Opinion in the great Plain called Cassobe or Descanards near Mount Stella Memorable for the Famous Defeat that Pompey the Great gave there to Mithridates King of Pontus I find very different Accounts of this Action but follow the Turkish Annals which say that Zelebis or the Noble Mustapha the Name of Zelebis being given to all the Children of the Turkish Emperor was killed in this Fight And he being the Subject of this Discourse who must appear and pretend to the Ottoman Empire and dispute it with his Brothers and with Amurath the Second his Nephew It seemed necessary to dispose the Reader for the History and Adventures of this Impostor by the recital of what preceded it to give him a more full Idea and clear knowledge thereof The Disasters of his Father Bajazet being so annexed to his Death I will say something farther concerning them without resting on what several Authors report of Tamberlains being the most Inhumane and Bloody of Mankind and of his Extraction from the meanest of the People having been very well informed by that Excellent Book of this Conqueror's Life Written by Monsieur Sainctyon which was taken from an Arabian Historian called Alhacent who was an Occular Witness of his Actions and Military Expeditions and familiar with him which Life is very different from that Written by one Acamed Son of Gueraspes a Creature of the Ottoman Family and by consequence an Enemy to Tamberlain He was the Son of the Potent Monarch Og King of Saketay or the antient Pâ—â—shia nearly related and Successor to the Great Cham of Tartary He had two Sons Cham Sentrokius which signifies the Love of Mankind and Letrokius whose Variance occasioned the Desolation of their Country But he for the Goodness of his Life his Royal Vertues and above all his Justice and Victories might be equal'd with Alexander the Great So far was he from those Vices of Cruelty Barbarity and Rage which Paulus Jovius accuses him of Feritatem truculentiam ore truculento recedentibusque Occulis semper minaci And the Turkish Annals call him Inhumane for this reason that when Gilderum or Bajazet was taken and brought to him he conducted him to his Tent receiving him on foot with great Honour Gilderum was on Horse-back because of his Wounds supported by Tamberlain's People and being brought in they both sate down and eat together Tamberlain saying thus to him Prince we ought to give God infinite thanks and to sing Hymns of Praise to him that he has given me who am a poor Lame Man so vast an Empire extending from the furthest Parts of India to the Gates of Sivas which is Sebaste And to Thee from the Walls of this same City to the Confines of Hungary God having thus disposed so great a Part of the World between us what can such a Cripple as I desire of him more 'T is for this his great Goodness that we ought to make him our Acknowledgments It may be thou hast not done this heretofore as thou oughtest but hast been ungrateful to his Bounty for which Reason this misfortune is come upon thee Philip Camerarius in the 54th Chapter of his Historical Meditations makes him continue it further as follows Can we think the Soveraign Disposer of the World thought us the most worthy to Command so many Millions who are wiser and stronger than we That it should please Him that Thou who art almost blind shouldest be Emperor of the Turks And I who am a Tartar and Lame be the Soveraign of so many People No certainly it was not our Merit but a pure Effect of his Grace and Bounty Tamberlain sent him Doggs and Hawks either to divert him in his Trouble or reproach his extraordinary Delight in those Creatures The Turkish History saying that Gilderum kept Seven Thousand Faulconers and Six Thousand Dogs He talked so insolently to Temir on this Occasion that he exposed him to the Contempt of his Army setting him on a Mule and commanding him to be led through it Thus enduring the Mocks of the Souldiers and causing his Wife the Daughter of Eliazar the Despot of Servia whom he passionately Loved to wait half naked at his Table One Day Temir or Tamberlain asked him and desired him to Answer ingenuously If he had fallen into his Power how he would have used him Gilderum or Bajazet who was a Man of a terrible and cruel Temper answered him in a Rage thus To say the Truth if Fortune had given me the Victory and made me thy Master I would have shut thee up in an Iron Cage and so carried thee about with me Tamberlain was not ignorant of the Lex Talionis nor of that natural Law which the Emperor Alex. Severus as saith Lampridius so often repeated Do to another what you would have done to you Following the Law of the Twelve Tables of the Romans and of that famous Edict mentioned by Aulus Gellius in the First Chapt. of his Noctes Atticae where the Curious Discourse is between Sextus Cecilius the Lawyer and Phavorinus the Philosopher And therefore accordingly he shut him up in an Iron Cage Yet the Turkish Annals say He still continued his Humanity always before he decamped going to see and civilly saluting his Prisoner He assured him he would â—ere long grant what he should desire But telling him he would first carry him to Samarcand where he kept his Court and from thence send him to his own Country Bajazet was so afflicted with this that he killed himself in the Fourteenth Year of His Reign and the Fourth of his dreadful Imprisonment in the Year 1403. and of the Hegira or Flight of Mahomet 804. Theod Spandugin relates these Circumstances of it That having no other way to end his Life filled with Rage and Despair he frequently and with such violence beat his Head against the Bars of his Cage that he broke his Skull and died distracted This Emperor left Five Sons of whom Mustapha Zelebis the Eldest was lost at the Battle The Annals