confirme the great Charter For by reason of the vvars in France the losse of Rochell hee vvas then enforced to coÌ„sent to the Lords in all they demanded In the 10â—â— of his reigne hee fined the citty of London at 50000 markes because they had receiued Lewes of France In the 11 th yeare in the Parliament at Oxford he revoked the great charter being granted vvhen he vvas vnder age gouerned by the Earle of Pembroke the Bishop of Winchester In this 11 th yeare the Earles of Cornevvall Chester Marshall Edward Earle of Pembroke Gilbert Earle of Gloucester Warren Hereford Ferrars Warwicke others rebelled against the King constrained him to yeeld vnto them in vvhat they demaunded for their particular interest vvhich rebellion being appeased he sayled into France in his 15 th yeare he had a 15 th of the temporality a disme a halfe of the Spirituality and vvithall escuage of euery Knights fee. COVNS But what say you to the Parliament of Westminster in the 16 th of the king where notwithstanding the wars of France and his great charge in repulsing the Welsh rebels he was flatly denyed the Subsedie demaunded IVST I confesse my Lord that the house excused themselues by reason of their pouerty and the Lords taking of Armes in the next yeare it was manifest that the house was practised against the king And was it not so my good Lord thinke you in our two last Parliaments for in the first euen those whom his Majestie trusted most betrayed him in the vnion in the secoÌ„d there were other of the great ones ran counter But your Lordship spake of dangers of Parliaments in this my Lord there was a deniall but there was no danger at all But to returne where I left what got the Lords by practizing the house at that time I say that those that brake this staffe vpon the K. were ouerturned with the counterbuffe for hee resumed all those lands which hee had given in his minority hee called all his exacting officers to accompt hee found them all faulty hee examined the corruption of other magistrates and from all these he drew sufficient mony to satisfie his present necessity whereby hee not onely spared his people but highly contented them with an act of so great Iustice Yea Hubert Earle of Kent the chiefe justice whom hee had most trusted and most advanced was found as false to the King as any one of the rest And for conclusion in the end of that yeare at the assemblie of the States at Lambeth the King had the fortith part of euery mans goods given him freely towards his debts for the people who the same yeare had refused to giue the King any thing when they sawe hee had squeased those spunges of the common wealth they willingly yeelded to giue him satisfaction COVNS But I pray you what became of this Hubert whoÌ„ the King had favoured aboue all men betraying his Majestie as he did IVST There were many that perswaded the King to put him to death but he could not be drawne to consent but the King seized vpon his estate which was great yet in the end hee left him a sufficient portion and gaue him his life because hee had done great service in former times For his Majestie though hee tooke advantage of his vice yet hee forgot not to haue consideration of his vertue And vpon this occasion it was that the King betrayed by those whom hee most trusted entertayned strangers and gaue them their offices and the charge of his castles and strong places in England COVNS But the drawing in of those strangers was the cause that Marshall Earle of Pembroke moued warre against the King IVST It is true my good Lord but hee was soone after slaine in Ireland and his whole masculine race ten yeres extinguished though there were fiue sonnes of them Marshall being dead who was the mouer and ring-leader of that warre the King pardoned the rest of the Lords that had assisted Marshall COVNS What reason had the King so to doe IVST Because he was perswaded that they loued his person only hated those corrupt Counselours that then bare the greatest sway vnder him as also because they were the best men of warre hee had whom if he destroyed hauing warre with the French he had wanted Commanders to haue served him COVNS But what reason had the Lords to take armes IVST Because the King entertayned the Poictouiâ—s were not they the Kings vassals also Should the Spaniards rebell because the Spanish King trusts to the Neopolitans Portagues Millanoies and other nations his vassals seeing those that are governed by the Vice-royes and deputies are in pollicy to be well entertayned and to be employed who would otherwise devise how to free themselues whereas beeing trusted and imployed by their Prince they entertaine themselues with the hopes that other the Kings vassals doe if the King had called in the Spaniards or other Nations not his Subjects the Nobility of England had had reason of griefe But what people did euer serue the King of England more faithfully then the Gascoynes did even to the last of the conquest of that Duchy IVST Your Lordship sayes wel I am of that opinion that if it had pleased the Queene of Eng. to haue drawne some of the chiefe of the Irish Nobility into Eng. by exchange to haue made them good freeholders in Eng. shee had saued aboue 2. millions of pounds which were consumed in times of those rebellions For what held the great Gascoigne firme to the Crowne of England of whom the Duke of Espernon married the inheritrix but his Earldome of Kendall in England whereof the Duke of Espernon in right of his wife beares the title to this day And to the same end I take it hath Iames our Soueraigne Lord given lands to divers of the Nobility of Scotland And if I were worthy to advise your Lordship I should thinke that your Lordship should do the King great service to put him in mind to prohibite all the Scottish nation to alienate and sell away their inheritance here for they selling they not only giue cause to the English to complaine that the treasure of England is transported into Scotland but his Majesty is thereby also frustrated of making both Nations one and of assuring the service and obedience of the Scots in future COVNS You say well for though those of Scotland that are advanced and enriched by the Kings Majesties will no doubt serue him faithfully yet how their heires successours hauing no inheritance to loose in England may be seduced is vncertaine But let vs goe on with our Parliament And what say you to the deniall in the 26 â— yeare of his reigne even when the King was invited to come into France by the Earle of March who had married his mother and who promised to assist the King in the conquest of many places lost IVST It is true my
they are justly or injustly laide IVST To impose vpon all things brought into the Kingdome is very auncient which imposing when it hath beene continued a certaine time is then called Customes because the subjects are accustomed to pay it yet the great taxe vpon wine is still called Impost because it was imposed after the ordinary rate of payment had lasted many yeares But we doe now a dayes vnderstand those things to bee impositions which are raised by the commaund of Princes without the aduice of the common-wealth though as I take it much of that which is now called custome was at the first imposed by Prerogatiue royall Now whether it be time or consent that makes them just I cannot define were they just because new and not justified yet by time or vnjust because they want a generall consent yet is this rule of Aristotle verified in respect of his Majestie Minus timent homines iniustum pati à principe quem cultorem dei putant Yea my Lord they are also the more willingly borne because all the world knowes they are no new Invention of the Kings And if those that advised his Maiestie to impose them had raised his lands as it was offered them to 20000 l more then it was and his wards to asmuch as aforesaid they had done him farre more acceptable seruice But they had their own ends in refusing the one and accepting the other If the land had beene raised they could not haue selected the best of it for themselues If the impositions had not been laide some of them could not haue their silkes others peeces in farme which indeed grieued the subiect tenne times more then that which his Maiestie enjoyeth But certainly they made a great advantage that were the advisers for if any tumult had followed his Maiesty ready way had beene to haue deliuered them ouer to the people COVNS But thinke you that the King would haue deliuered them if any troubles had followed IVST I know not my Lord it was Machiavels counsell to Caesar Borgia to doe it and K. H. the 8 deliuered vp Empson and Dudley yea the same King when the great Cardinall Woolsey who gouerned the King and all his estate had by requiring the sixt part of euery mans goods for the King raised a rebellion the King I say disavowed him absolutely that had not the Dukes of Norfolke and Suffolke appeased the people the Cardinall had sung no more Masse for these are the words of our Story The King then came to Westminster to the Cardinals palace and assembled there a great Councell in which he protested that his minde was neuer to aske any thing of his Commons which might sound to the breach of his Lawes Wherefore hee then willed them to know by whose meanes they were so strictly giuen foorth Now my Lord how the Cardinall would haue shifted himselfe by saying I had the opinion of the Iudges had not the rebellion beene appeal'd I greatly doubt COVNS But good Sir you blanch my question and answere mee by examples I aske you whether or no in any such tumult the people pretending against any one or two great Officers the King should deliuer them or defend them IVST My good Lord the people haue not stayde for the kings deliuery neither in England nor in France Your Lordship knowes how the Chauncellour Treasurer and Chiefe Iustice with many others at seuerall times haue bin vsed by the Rebels And the Marshals Constables and Treasurers in France haue beene cut in pieces in Charles the sixt his time Now to your Lordships question I say that where any man shall giue a King perilous advice as may either cause a rebellion or draw the peoples loue from the King I say that a King shal be advised to banish him But if the King doe absolutely commaund his seruant to doe any thing displeasing to the Common-wealth and to his own peril there is the King bound in honour to defend him But my good Lord for conclusion there is no man in England that will lay any invention either grieuous or against law vpon the Kings Maiesty And therefore your Lordships must share it amongst you COVNS For my part I had no hand in it I thinke Ingram was he that propounded it to the Treasurer IVST Alas my good Lord euery poore wayter in the Custome-house or euery promoter might haue done it there is no invention in these things To lay impositions and sell the Kings lands are poore and common devices It is true that Ingram and his fellowes are odious men and therefore his Maiestie pleas'd the people greatly to put him from the Coffership It is better for a Prince to vse such a kinde of men then to countenance them hang-men are necessary in a Commonwealth yet in the Nether-lands none but a hangmans sonne will marry a hang-mans daughter Now my Lord the last gathering which Henry the seuenth made was in his twentieth yeare wherein hee had another benevolence both of the Cleargy and Laity a part of which taken of the poorer sort hee ordained by his Testament that it should bee restored And for King Henry the eight although hee was left in a most plentifull estate yet he wonderfully prest his people with great payments for in the beginning of his time it was infinite that hee spent in Masking and Tilting Banquetting and other vanities before hee was entered into the most consuming expence of the most fond and fruitlesse warre that euer King vndertooke In his fourth yeare hee had one of the greatest subsedies that euer was granted for besides two fifteenes and two dismes hee vsed Dauids Lawe of Capitation or head-money and had of euery Duke ten markes of euery Earle fiue pounds of euery Lord foure pounds of euery Knight foure markes euery man rated at 8 ◠in goods 4 markes and so after the rate yea euery man that was valued but at 40 paide 12 ◠and euery man and woman aboue 15 yeares 4 ◠Hee had also in his sixt yeare diuers subsedies granted him In his fourteenth there was a tenth demaunded of euery mans goods but it was moderated In the Parliament following the Clergie gaue the King the halfe of their spirituall liuings for one yeare of the Laity there was demanded 800000 ' which could not be levied in England but it was a marveilous great gift that the king had giuen him at that time In the Kings seuenteenth yeare was the Rebellion before spoken of wherein King disavowed the Cardinall In his seuenteenth yeare hee had the tenth and fifteenth giuen by Parliament which were before that time paide to the Pope And before that also the monyes that the King borrowed in his fifteenth yeare were forgiuen him by Parliament in his seuenteenth yeare In his 35 yeare a subsedy was granted of 4 ◠the pound of euery man worth in goods from 20◠to 5 ◠from 5 ◠to 10 l and vpwards of euery pound 2. And all strangers denisens and others doubled
the K. the Prince were cōstrained to yeeld to the Lords A cōstrained consent is the consent of a Captiue not of a K. therefore there was nothing done there either legally or royally For if it be not properly a Parliament where the subiect is not free certainely it can be none where the King is bound for all Kingly rule was taken from the King and twelue Peeres appointed and as some writers haue it 24 Peeres to gouerne the Realme and therefore the assembly made by Iack Strawe other rebels may aswell bee called a Parliament as that of Oxford Principis nomen habere non est esse Princeps for thereby was the King driuen not only to cōpoūd all quarrels with the French but to haue meanes to be revenged on the rebell Lords but he quitted his right to Normādy Aniou Mayne COVNS But sir what needed this extremity seeing the Lords required but the confirmation of the former Charter which was not preiudiciall to the King to graunt IVST Yes my good Lord but they insulted vpon the King and would not suffer him to enter into his own castles they put downe the Purvey or of the meate for the maintenance of his house as if the King had beene a bankrupt and gaue order that without ready money he should not take vp a Chicken And though there is nothing against the royalty of a King in these Charters the Kings of England beeing Kings of freemen and not of slaues yet it is soe contrary to the nature of a King to bee forced euen to those thinges which may be to his advantage as the King had some reason to seeke the dispensation of his oath from the Pope and to drawe in strangers for his owne defence yea Iure saluo Coronae nostrae is intended inclusiuely in all oathes and promises exacted from a Soueraigne COVNS But you cānot be ignorant how dangerous athing it is to cal in other natiōs both for the spoile they make as also so because they haue often held the possession of the best places with which they haue beene trusted IVST It is true my good Lord that there is nothing so daungerous for a King as to be constrained and held as prisoner to his vassals for by that Edward the second and Richard the second lost their Kingdomes and their liues And for calling in of strangers was not King Edward the sixth driuen to call instrangers against the rebels in Norfolke Cornewall Oxfordshire and elsewhere Haue not the K s. of Scotland beene oftentimes constrained to entertaine strangers against the Kings of England And the King of England at this time had he not bin diuerse times assisted by the Kings of Scotlād had bin endāgered to haue bin expelled for ever COVNS But yet you knowe those Kings were deposed by Parliament IVST Yea my good Lord being Prisoners being out of possession and being in their hands that were Princes of the blood and pretenders It is an old countrey prouerbe that might overcomes right a weake title that weares a strong sword commonly prevailes against a strong title that weares but a weake one otherwise Philip the second had never bin Duke of Portugal nor Duke of Millayne nor K. of Naples Scicilie But good Lord Errores not sunt trah udi in exemplum I speake of regall peaceable and lawfull Parliaments The King at this time was but a King in name for Glocester Leycester and Chichester made choise of other Nyne to whom the rule of the Realme was committed the Prince was forced to purchase his liberty frō the Earle of Leycester by giuing for his ransome the County Pallatine of Chester But my Lord let vs judge of those occasions by their events what became of this proud Earle was hee not soone after slaine in Euesham was he not left naked in the field and left a shamefull spectacle his head being cut off from his shoulders his priuy parts from his body laid on each side of his nose And did not God extinguish his race after which in a lawfull parliament at Westminster confirmed in a following parliament of Westminster were not all the Lords that followed Leycester disinherited And when that foole Glocester after the death of Leycester whom he had formerly forsaken made himselfe the head of a second rebellion and called in strangers for which not lōg before he had cried out against the K. was not hee in the end after that hee had seene the slaughter of so many of the Barons the spoile of their castles Lordships constrained to submit himselfe as all the suruiuers did of which they that sped best payd their sines and ransomes the King reserving to his younger sonne the Earledomes of Leycester and Derby COVN Well sir we haue disputed this King to his graue though it be true that he outliued all his enimies brought them to confusion yet those examples did not terrifie their successors but the Earle Marshall and Hereford threatned King Edward the first with a new warre IVST They did so but after the death of Hereford the Earle Marshall repented himselfe and to gaine the Kings favour he made him heire of all his lands But what is this to the Parliament for there was never K. of this land had more giuen him for the time of his raigne then Edward the sonne of Henry the third had COVNS How doth that appeare IVST In this sort my good Lord in this kings third yeare he had giuen him the fifteenth part of all goods In his sixt yeare a twentith In his twelfth yeare a twentyeth In his fourteenth yeare hee had escuage to wit forty shillings of euery knights Fee in his eighteenth yeare hee had the eleventh part of all moueable goods within the kingdome in his nineteenth yeare the tenth part of all Church liuings in England Scotland and Ireland for sixe yeares by agreement from the Pope in his three twentith yeare he raised a taxe vpō wooll and fels on a day caused all the religious houses to be searched al the treasure in thē to be seized brought to his coffers excusing himselfe by laying the fault vpō his treasurer he had also in the end of the same yeare of algoods of all Burgesses of the Commons the 10 ◠part in the 25 ◠yeare of the Parliamēt of S t Edmūdsbury he had an 18 th part of the goods of the Burgesses and of the people in generall the tenth part Hee had also the same yeare by putting the Clergy out of his protection a fift part of their goods and in the same yeare he set a great taxe vpon wools to wit from halfe a marke to 40 ◠vpon euery sacke wherevpon the Earle Marshall and the Earle of Hereford refusing to attend the King into Flanders pretended the greeuances of the people But in the end the king hauing pardoned thē cōfirmed the great Charter he had the ninth penny of all goods from the Lords and
Kings stay in Ireland hee had a 10 th and a 15 th graunted COVNS And good reason for the King had in his army 4000 horse and 30000 foote IVST That by your fauour was the Kings sanity for great armies do rather devour themselues then destroy enimies Such an army whereof the fourth part would haue conquered all Ireland was in respect of Ireland such an army as Xerxes led into Greece in this twentith yeare wherein hee had a tenth of the Cleargy was the great conspiracy of the Kings vnkle the Duke of Glocester and of Moubrey Arundell Nottingham and Warwick the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Abbotte of VVestminster and others who in the 21 â— yeare of the King were all redeemed by parliament what thinkes your Lordship was not this assembly of the 3 states for the kings estate wherein hee so prevailed that hee not onely overthrew those popular Lords but besides the English Chronicle sayth the king so wrought and brought things about that hee obtained the power of both houses to be graunted to certaine persons to 15 Noblemen and Gentlmen or to seauen of them COVNS Sir whether the king wrought well or ill I cannot judge but our Chronicles say that many things were done in this parliament to the displeasure of no small number of people to wit for that diverse rightfull heires were disinherited of their lands liuings with which wrongfull doings the people were much offended so that the King with those that were about him and chiefe in counsell came into great infamy and slander IVST My good Lord if your Lordship will pardon mee I am of opinion that those Parliaments wherein the kings of this land haue satisfied the people as they haue beene euer prosperous so where the king hath restrained the house the contrary hath happened for the K â— atchiuements in this parliament were the ready preparations to his ruine COV You meane by the general discontetmet that followed and because the King did not proceede legally with Glocester and others Why Sir this was not the first time that the Kings of England haue done things without the Counsell of the land yea contrary to the lawe IVST It is true my Lord in some particulars as euen at this time the Duke of Glocester was made away at Callice by strong hand without any lawfull triall for hee was a man so beloued of the people and so allied hauing the Dukes of Lancaster and Yorke his brethren the Duke of Aumarle and the Duke of Hereford his Nephewes the great Earles of Arundell and VVarwicke with diuerse other of his part in the conspiracy as the King durst not trie him according to the law for at the tryall of Arundell and VVarwicke the king was forced to entertaine a petty army about him And though the Duke was greatly lamented yet it cannot be denyed but that he was then a traytor to the King And was it not so my Lord with the Duke of Guise your Lordship doth remember the spurgald proverbe that necessitie hath no law and my good Lord it is the practice of doing wrong and of generall wrongs done that brings danger and not where kings are prest in this or that particular for there is great difference betweene naturall cruelty and accidentall And therefore it was Machiauels advice that all that a king did in that kind he shall do at once and by his mercies afterwards make the world know that his cruelty was not affected And my Lord take this for a generall rule that the immortall policy of a state cannot admit any law or priuiledge whatsoeuer but in some particular or other the same is necessarily broken yea in an Aristocratia or popular estate which vaunts so much of equality and common right more outrage hath beene committed then in any Christian Monarchy COVNS But whence came this hatred between the Duke and the King his Nephew IVST My Lord the Dukes constraining the King when he was young stucke in the kings heart and now the Dukes proud speech to the King when hee had rendred Brest formerly ingaged to the Duke of Brittaine kindled againe these coales that were not altogether extinguished for he vsed these words Your grace ought to put your body in great paine to winne a strong hold or towne by feares of armes ere you take vpon you to sell or deliuer any towne gotten by the manhood and strong hand and policy of your noble progenitours VVhereat sayth the story the King chaunged his countenance c and to say trueth it was a proud and maisterly speech of the Duke besides that inclusiuely hee taxed him of sloath and cowardize as if he had neuer put himselfe to the adventure of winning such a place vndutifull wordes of a subiect do often take deeper roote then the memory of ill deedes do The Duke of Biron found it when the King had him at advantage Yea the late Earle of Essex told Queene Elizabeth that her conditions was as crooked as her carkasse but it cost him his head which his insurrection had not cost him but for that speech who will say vnto a King saith Iob thou art wicked Certainly it is the same thing to say vnto a Lady thou art crooked and perchance more as to say vnto a King that he is wicked and to say that hee is a coward or to vse any other wordes of disgrace it is one and the same errour COVN But what say you for Arundell a braue and valiant man who had the Kings pardon of his contempt during his minority IVST My good Lord the Parliament which you say disputes the Kings prerogatiue did quite contrary and destroyed the kings charter and pardon formerly giuen to Arundell And my good Lord do you remember that at the Parliament that wrought wonders when these Lords compounded that parliament as the King did this they were so mercilesse towards all that they thought their enemies as the Earle of Arundell most insolently suffered the Qu to kneele vnto him three houres for the sauing of one of her servants and that scorne of his manebat alto mente repostum And to say the truth it is more barbarous vnpardonable then any act that ever hee did to permit the wife of his Soueraigne to kneele to him being the Kings vassaile For if he had saued the Lords seruant freely at her first request as it is like enough that the Qu would also haue saued him Miseris succurrens paria obtinebis aliquando For your Lordship sees that the Earle of Warwicke who was as farre in the treason as any of the rest was pardoned It was also at this parliament that the Duke of Hereford accused Mowbray Duke of Norfolke and that the Duke of Hereford sonne to the Duke of Lancaster was banished to the Kings confusion as your Lordship well knowes COVNS I know it well and God knowes that the K. had then a silly and weake Counsell about him that perswaded him to banish a Prince