so that part of King John ' s ransom is yet behind besides the Mony which was to be paid for Tournay in Henry VIII time the 500000 Crowns which Edward VI. was to have for Bolloign and those great expences which Queen Elizabeth was to have for sending her Armies to aid Henry IV. and the French Reformists two parts of three are not paid to this day but of these and other things more hereafter in their proper place THE WARS BETWEEN England and France ENGLAND exclusive of Scotland which had but very little share in the Wars we are to treat off is the greatest most Southern and best part of the Island of Great Britain heretofore called Albion and Britannia it lies together with Wales in the form of a great Triangle whereof the Southern Shoar is the base and Berwick the opposite Angle it was divided by the Romans into five parts by the Saxons into seven Kingdoms and now Wales included into fifty two Shires or Counties it s a fruitful Country full of valiant and industrious Inhabitants but in regard of its boundaries bears no proportion to France even considered in its narrowest Limits over which notwithstanding it has so often and so gloriously triumphed as will manifestly appear in the Series of the ensuing History But because the Wars with France in the time of the Saxons are very obscurely Recorded as to their Time Causes and Effects we will therefore begin with WILLIAM I. WHo was invidiously termed the Conqueror by the Monks of those times as the learned Sir William Temple has well observed though it s as true he could not claim in right of Succession himself being illegitimate and Edgar Atheline of the Saxon Blood Royal to take place before him but must therefore reign by vertue either of a compact or previous choise of the people of England the Sword which he had then in his Hand no doubt powerfully disposing of them also to such an Election he proved to be a Warlike King of England as he had been a successfull Duke of Normandy But tho he had wonderful Success in the Battle of Hastings which was fought October 14. Anno 1066. and got the day with the Slaughter of above 60000 of his English Enemies yet things did not succeed so well with him in his Kentish expedition for directing his March towards Dover with a design to reduce Kent first under his Obedience as considering this Country to be the Key of England and that what he had already done would be of little account if this were not accomplished The Kentish Men upon report hereof assembled to Archbishop Stigand at Canterbury and after serious Consultation resolved to arm and to force the Conqueror either to confirm their ancient Liberties or to die valiantly in the Field in defence of them and so under the command of the Archbishop and the Abbot Eglesine rendevouz'd at Swanescomb where it was agreed all the Passages should be stopped and that they should make use of the adjacent Woods for a covert from the discovery of the Enemy till he were fast within their Net the Duke next day expecting no such ambuscade in his March finds himself with part of his Army surrounded all of a sudden with numerous squadrons of Horse and Battalions of Foot which seemed the more surprizing to him because that every Man for a Signal as it was before agreed upon carrying a green Bough in his Hand they appeared unto him like a moving Wood wherein he was in danger quickly to lose himself Stigand approaches to the Duke tells him the occasion of such an assembly what their Demands where and what their Resolves if refused the Duke wisely considering the danger grants all their request and upon that was admitted into Rochester had the Earldom of Kent and Dover Castle yielded to him The former part of this Kings Reign as may be well imagined was taken up in making provision for his Adventurers and in subduing settling and modelling of his new English Subjects amongst whom were frequent Tumults and Insurrections occasioned mostly through the insults of the Normans that but too readily provoked them upon every occasion presuming no doubt very much upon the favour of the King their Countryman who on times shewed too much partiality in that regard 'T is true he had not been a year inthron'd before he was obliged upon some commotions there to pass over into Normandy but we do not find till about ten years after that he had any foreign Wars when passing over into Bretaign he laid Siege to the Castle of Dolence belonging to Earl Ralph which engaged Phillip King of France into the quarrel and so with a mighty Army marches against King William who finding himself hereby much streightned for Provision broke up his Siege not without loss both of Men and Horses and of some of his Baggage and hereupon ensued an accommodation but not a year after Robert the Kings eldest Son to whom upon his assuming of the English Crown he had assigned the Dukedom of Normandy in the presence of King Phillip of France because now his Father as he pretended would not suffer him to enjoy the said Dukedom in quiet went into France and being by the said King Phillip assisted with Forces committed great Ravages in Normandy burning many Towns and at length engaged with the King his Father in a Battel near the Castle of Garberie in France the King according to his usual manner charged with great Resolution and spared not to expose his Person to all dangers insomuch that he had in this Action first the misfortune to be unhorsed himself his Son William wounded and many of his Family slain and as an addition hereunto through imtemperate anger to curse his Son Robert who it was observed never prospered after Things after this continued in a tollerable State of amity between Phillip and this King till the last year of his Reign when residing in Normandy and being grown very corpulent the French King was pleased to speak reproachfully of him saying The King of England lyeth at Roan and keeps his Chamber as Women lying in do and there nourisheth his fat Belly which so offended King William that he said Well when after my delivery I go to Church I shall offer a Thousand Candles to him and sware to the same by God's Resurrection and his Brightness and this he made good the latter end of August the same year when he entred France with Fire and Sword and burnt down the City of Meaux together with the Church of St. Maries and two Fires inclosed therein who superstitiously perswaded themselves they ought not to forsake their Cell in such extremity tho to the apparent hazard of their lives This King died at Roan Anno Dom. 1087. when he had reigned 20 Years 8 Months and 16 days and lived threescore and four Years and was buried at Caen in Normandy The Causes of his Wars were 1. An Irruption made by the French into Normandy
the Prince there was a contest who took him first and the King was desired to point at him so he pointed at Howel and said this is the Man who took me There are authentick Records in some Welsh Manuscripts that confirm this Moreover they have a general Tradition and some Songs which continue fresh to this day how Howel did put a Bridle in the French King's Mouth with many other Expressions touching this great Act. Now for that signal exploit the Prince knighted him in the Field and he was ever after call'd Sir Howel y Fuyall Sir Howel with the Axe he had the Constableship of Crikyth Castle given him with the farms of Chester mills and other considerable things conferr'd upon him which surely would not have been but for the merit of some high signal Service The British Records besides Tradition and common Report that mention this were to be found in Sir John Winn's Library an honourable knowing Knight who was a curious collector of Antiquities These and many other glorious exploits were done by this King in France who ceased not his pursuits till he had got the Key of it hanging at his Girdle to wit the Town of Calais that in those days was looked upon to be impregnable which he carried after a long Siege This Kings Reign is also memorable upon many other accounts as for the Institution of the noble Order of the Garter for removing the staple of Wool from Flanders into England for that great Champion against Rome the famous Wickliff and for his own numerous issue by his Heroick Queen Phillipa being no less then seven Sons and five Daughters his Sons were these Edward the Black Prince the hopes of England and who died before his Father William of Hatfield Lioneâ— Duke of Clarence John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Edmund of Langley Duke of York William of Windsor and Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester he died at Richmond in 1377. when he had Reigned 50 Years and odd Months The cause of the War twixt the English and French in Edward the III. time was a claim to the Crown and Kingdom of France in right of his Mother Isabel which they would make invalid by their Salique or distaâ—â— Law to which the greatest Civilians do allow 〈◊〉 essence at all and Du Haillan the great French Historian hath no better Opinion of it but to be a meâ— Chymera or Imaginary thing but of this more presently OF THE Salique Law HERE I judge it no ways impertinent to be a little more particular yet touching the claim of this King Edward to the Crown of France and what grounds the French had by vertue of this Salique Law for the exclusion of him claiming from a Female and first we will briefly state his claim as it then stood and then come to the Law it self and it was thus Phillip the IV. surnamed the Fair had three Sons Lewis the Contentious Phillip the Long and Charles the Fair all these successively reigned after him and died without issue inheritable he had likewise a Daughter named Isabel I purposely omit the other being foreign to the present affair married to Edward the II. King of England and so was Mother to Edward the III. The issue male of Phillip the Fair thus failing Phillip Son and Heir of Charles Earl of Valois Beaumont c. who was Brother to Phillip the Fair laid claim to the Crown as next heir male against King Edward who made answer to the objection of the Salique Law that admitting it was as they asserted yet he was heir-male though descended of a Daughter and this in a publick assembly of the States of France first about the Protectorship of the Womb for Queen Joan Dowager of Charles the Fair was left with Child and delivered of a Daughter named Blanch afterwards Dutchess of Orleans was had in solemn dispute by Lawyers on both sides and applied at length also to the direct point of inheriting the Crown and so adjudged against King Edward What followed hereupon we have in some measure traced in the Preceding History of his Wars and are more at large recorded in Walsingham Froissart Aemilius and a multitude of more modern Writers whereby it appears and will in the Wars of this King's Successors in France how the denial of this Soveraignty to him by the French cost the lives of many thousands of their Men and involved that Country into long and miserable Calamities But as for the Law it self whereby they pretended such an exclusion of him it may well be said with Drayton in his Poly-Albion that every mouth speaks of it but few understand the thing it self or so much as the Etymology of its name and therefore to clear this point as well as we can we are necessitated to ascend a little higher then these times wherein it was made use of in prejudice to the English claim and to begin with the Original of the Francks with whom they affirm it was brought into France The Francks therefore according to many modern Historians came originally from Asia into Germany though others and perhaps upon better grounds make their original to be in Germany it self but this is certain that upon the decline of the Roman Empire they inhabited Franconia a Province of Germany and about the year 413 or according to Davila 119 invaded France under Pharamond whom they chose to be their King and Leader which Pharamond they make to be Son to Marcovir a Prince that governed them in Franconia but first before they began their Expedition they held a general Assembly near unto a River named Sala and there by the advice of the Salij their Priests or as others of the Salians whom they make to be the same with Francks enacted Laws for Government and amongst the rest one for the Exclusion of Females from inheriting the Crown which from the aforesaid appellations whether one or all it matters not came to be denominated the Salique Law But Goropius that fetches all our of Dutch and this perhaps more tollerably then many of his other Etymologies deriving the Salians name from Sal which in contraction he makes to be from Sadel inventors whereof says he the Salians were interprets them to be as much as Horse-men a name fitly applied to the War-like and most noble Persons of any Nation as Equites in Latin Chevaliers in French and Marchog in Welch do very well agree to so that upon the whole the Salique Law is made by him to be as much as a Chivalrous Law and Salique Land Quae ad equestris ordinis dignitatem in capite summo in caeteris membris conservandam pertinebat which very well agrees with a sentence given in the Parliament at Bourdeaux upon an ancient Will devising all the Testator's Salique Lands which was in point of Judgment interpreted to be a Fief and who knows not but that Fiefs were originally military Gifts but if things be so how then comes Salique to extend to the
A THEATRE OF WARS BETWEEN England France In all the Kings Reigns from the time of William the Conqueror to the Conclusion of the Peace on the 10th of September 1697. in the Eighth Year of the Reign of our Gracious Sovereign K. William III. Containing The Causes of the War the Battels Sieges State Policies Naval Fights Treaties and the several Truces Peaces Concluded Leagues made and broken c. With a large Discourse of the Salique Law by which to prevent the Right of other Princes the French pretend to Exclude Females from Enjoying the Crown of France and many other Transactions between the two Nations both Publick and Private With a Map of England and France on a Copper Plate By D. Jones London Printed for W. Whitwood at the Rose and Crown in Little-Britain 1698. A Map of ENGLAND and FRANCE To the Right Honourable ROBERT Lord Viscount LISLE c. My Lord THe Topicks usually insisted upon to engage the Favours of the Great are those of Honour and Goodness of both which your Lordship has no common share and if upon others they have been so powerfully influential in Addresses of this kind Your Lordship will Pardon me if being carried with the same current I presume to commit this little Treatise to Your Patronage as to a safe Azilum sufficient to skreen it from all the assaults of Male-volence and if it be an Argument of Imprudence to range far abroad for that Good which is attainable nigh at hand my Vicinity to your Lordship will not only justifie this my Practise but should I have neglected the improvement of it upon this occasion as I would hardly be brought to forgive my self for being guilty of the grossest Folly so would it bear a Semblance of the highest indignity offered to Your Honour and of the basest diffidence of Your Goodness The Subject My Lord must be acknowledged to be of an Heroical Nature and therefore a fit entertainment to Heroick Minds and consequently cannot but be so to Your Lordship however the structure may have suffered through the debility of the Architect who yet has this humbly to offer to your Lordship and under Your Patronage to the World that Truth is the great standard I have endeavoured to fix my Eye continually upon having strenuously avoided all false Idea's of the actions of my Country and herein have done both the Enemy that justice due to them in their various conflicts with us and made it appear there was no need of any such prevarication in that True Glory has been no stranger to the English Arms through the series of many hundred years together and though things may not here be exposed in their Native Lustre and Excellency yet I cannot otherwise then perswade my self but they retain still their Native and Original verity But to dwell no longer upon the Products of my own Teeming Fancy I submit all to Your Lordships adequate Judgment and if in this my studied Brevity you meet with any thing grateful or divertive so as that it may conciliate Your Lordship's Good Opinion of me his highest ambition is gratified who begs leave to subscribe himself My Lord Your Honours most Humble and most devoted Servant D. Jones TO THE READER GReat and Various have the Actions been between England and France since the Invasion of the Normans Anno Dom. 1066. which makes September next just 629 Years but that the French Nation should make a Conquest of England hereby nothing is more manifestly untrue that People being a distinct Nation from the French who conquering that Province by main force from Neustria call'd it Normandia in the Reign of Charles le Simple whence by the way 't is worth the remarking what kind of Kings France hath often had and what sort of Epithetts their own Cronicles give them which stand upon publick Record to all posterity as Charles le Simple Charles le Chauve Charles le Gros Charles le Gras Charles le Phrenetique Philip le Long Lovis le Begue c. Now tho there have been many and mighty Quarrels War-like Encounters and Feuds betwixt England and France yet in the reign of the Saxon Kings the Historians make little mention of any but since England was joined as it were to the Continent by addition of Normandy there have been as frequent traverses of War as have happen'd between any two Nations for of those 28 Kings and Queens which have reigned here from William the First to William the Third now Regnant there have been but a very few of them free from actual Wars with France yet in so long a tract of time when the French were at their highest pitch of Power they never did nor had any adequate power to invade England 't is true that they took footing once or twice in the Isle of Wight but it quickly grew too hot for them And touching Lewis the French King's Son who did stay and sway the Scepter here about two Years whereof they so much vaunt That was no Invasion but an Invitation being brought in by the discontented Barons in England so that in a manner France was the Theater of the War between the two Nations down from William I. to the present time As for the great Battles which were fought from time to time 't is confessed by the French Historians themselves that the English were at most but half in number to them in almost all Engagements insomuch that by pure prowess and point of the Sword the English possess'd two parts in three of that populous Kingdom and how all came to be lost again will appear by the sequel of the Story but here I cannot omit one remarkable accident that was concomitant with the English Arms in France and that is that when the English were at the height of their conquests in that Kingdom the Pope came to reside at Avignon in France and there was a common saying which continues still in memory among the Vulgar Ores le pape est devenu Francois Christ est devenu Anglois i. e. Lo the Pope is become a Frenchman and Christ an Englishman which related to the marvelous Exploits and Successes the English had in that Kingdom which were such that Sir Walter Rawleigh speaking of the famous Punick Wars puts this Quaere If one should ask which was the valiantest the Roman or the Carthaginian one might answer the Englishman who performed greater feats of Arms then either of them insomuch that some foreign Authors give this Character of France that it was the stage whereon the English acted their valour so often 'T is true that in canvassing of Treaties in subtleties or shuffling the Cards and mental reservations they were mostly too hard for the English who naturally use down right dealing and real integrity but in point of performance of what was stipulated especially if the Article related to Money whereof we drew from them vast summs they seldom exactly performed the Capitulation of any Treaty as Foreign Writers observe
his Brother Walter Devereux a brave young Gentleman slain with a Musket Bullet before Roâ—n the last succors was to the number of 2000 and put under the command of that excellent Soldier Sir Rogâ—r Williams who was always forward for the greatest attempts and did here excellent service He beat the leaguers that blockt up the Passes about Diep upon such unequal terms that Henry IV. could not but take notice and highly extoll his valour in his letter to the Queen this Queen after a glorious Reign of 44 Years 5 Months and odd days at the Age of 70 Years Anno 1602. and lived longer then any of the Kings of England since the Conquest dyed at Richmond and lies buried at Westminster The causes of the War in this Queen's time were not direct but collateral in behalf of the King and Reformists of France JAMES I. THen the sixth King of Scotland of that name t was immediately upon the death of Queen Elizabeth proclaimed King of England Scotland France and Ireland c. as being descended from the united Roses of Lancaster and York King Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth his Wife whose issue by the Male failing in the late deceased Queen Elizabeth the off-spring of Margaret their eldest Daughter was next heir which Lady was married to James IV. King of Scotland by him had issue James V. whose only daughter Queen Mary was Mother to this our Monarch This King was of a timorous Nature and peaceable Disposition so that Beati Pacifici was his Motto and was so far from making any pretensions to the Crown of France or any part of its Dominions notwithstanding his great power and the flourishing state of the Nation that he suffered his Son-in-Law the Palsgrave and his own Daughter Elizabeth his Wife with their numerous issue not only to be beaten out of Bohemia but even from their just Patrimony the Palatinate and to live many years in great want and Penury to the Kings great dishonour who was nothing but a bluster of Words and ever and anon sending Embassadors till all was quite lost and unretriveable this King died at Theobalds March 27th in 1625. in the 59 year of his Age having reigned 22 years compleat CHARLES I. THe only surviving Son of King James for that noble Prince Henry died before his Father succeeded to the Imperial Crown of England the reformed in France in the beginning of this King's Reign lay under great oppressions from their King Lewis XIII and his prime minister of state Cardinal Richieu in so much that they were forced for their fafty to have recourse to Arms under the command of that ever famous Cap. the Duke of Roan by Land and Monsieur Sobiez his Brother who rid Admiral at Sea and by that means Rochel besieged by the French King's Arms was relieved upon all occasions hereupon thro' the contrivance of the Duke of Buckingham an English Fleet was sent to join that of the French under the Duke of Momerancy the Dutch then basely concurring with some Ships of their alsos with which united force Momerancy fights and utterly defeats the Fleet of the Rochellers under Monsieur Sobiez and then reduced the Isles of Rhee and Oleron under the French Power but Buckingham soon after changing his Sentiments the grounds whereof we 'll assign in the causes of this War there is a Declaration of War published against France and 〈◊〉 the Prosecution of the same with Vigor the Duke is commissioned Admiral and General of a Navy of an 100 Sail and 6 or 7000 land Soldiers with which he came before Rochel still besieged by the French where Sobiez came on Board of him and for several reasons it was agreed to land the Army on the Island of Oleâ—on and not on the Isle of Rhee But Sobiez going to perswade the Rochellers to join with the English the Duke before his return lands on the Isle of Rhee in spight of the opposition made by the French but instead of pursuing the blow not only neglects to take the Fort la Prie to secure his retreat and prevent the French from landing supplies but staies five days whereby Toiras the French Governour incouraged his Men and also got more Force and Provisions into the Cittadel of St. Martins the French were so allarmed at this invasion that the King offered the Duke of Roan and the Rochellers any terms to join against the English which both refusing caused both their Ruins The Enemies retreat upon the landing of the English was so hasty that they quitted a Well about 20 paces from the Counterscarp which supplied the Cittadeâ— with Water which not being possest by the English upon their first approach the French drew a work about it which ouâ— Men could not force and without which Well the besieged could not have subsisted however the Duke resolves to take the Fort by Famine buâ— instead of pressing it with a strait Siege he entertains a Treaty of surrender with Toiras and several complements past between them subscribed your Humble Servant Buckingham and you Humble Servant Toiras till the latter got relief 〈◊〉 Men Victuals and Ammunition and then brokâ— off the Treaty with the Duke soon after thâ— the French landed Forces on the Island by thâ— neglect of the English to oppose them and ordeâ— were given to draw the English out of the Trenches which the French possess whereupoâ— the English were forced to Retreat at last the Duâ—â— makes a vain storm upon the Castle but 〈◊〉 beaten off and two days after retreats the 〈◊〉 being now equal to him in Foot and superior Horse when the English were intangled in thâ— Retreat the Duke having neglected to take la Prie or build a Fort upon a narrow Lane or Causey to secure their Retreat the French charged the English Horse in the Rear and rout them who rout the foot in the narrow passages between the Salt-pits and Ditch but in this confusion and adversity the bravery of the English appear'd for a few having past the Bridge the French following the English rallied and faced about gallantly to charge the French who cowardly retreated over the Bridge and of this a Forraign Author speaking saith The English were magis audaces quam fortunati and withall taxeth them for want of secrecy in their Counsels and Conduct of so great an affair the Duke of Buckingham upon his retreat from the Isle of Rhee promised the Rochellers to send them speedy relief now close besieged by the French King and upon return sent away the Earl of Denbigh his Brother-in-law with a Fleet to that purpose who on the first of May 1628. arrives before Rochell where he found the French Fleet consisting of 20 Sail had blockt it up by Sea upon the Earls approach the French retire towards their Fortification and anchored within two cannon shot of our Fleet and so continued till the 8th of May. The Earl promised the Rochellers to sink the French Fleet when the Waters increased and the
Life as to Forreign Affairs for he died not long after to wit in the Year 1547. the Fifty Sixth of his Life and of his Reign the Eight and Thirtieth The causes of this War with France were partly reasons of State and partly the League which King Henry had made with the Emperor EDWARD VI. BOrn at Hampton Court succeeded his Father King Henry VIII at the Age of nine Years a most excellent Prince and the wonder of the the Age both for Learning and Piety but England did not long enjoy the fruit of the Blessings coutched in his Person his Reign being shortned by an immature Death as it had been in a great measure rendred uneasie through the Feuds of the Nobles during his Life this together with the Reformation carried on at home made the Enemy insult abroad insomuch that the French assumed the boldness in Conjunction with the Scots to attack us in our own Borders for in the second year of this King's Reign on St. Peter's Eve Monsieur Dassey the French General with 10000 French and Germans besides Scots laid siege to Haddington a Town in Scotland but then in the hands of the English the Town made a most vigorous defence and at length came 1300 Horse from Berwick with intent to relieve it but failed in the attempt for most of the Horse being surrounded by the Enemy were either slain or made Prisoners together with Sir Robert Bowes and Sir Thomas Palmer their Commanders but for all this great discouragement and misfortune the Garrison would not flinch but continued making frequent and successfull Sallies upon the Enemy till Aug. 20. when the Earl of Shrewsbury with 16000 Men 4000 whereof were Germans came to succour the Place the Enemy had no sooner intelligence thereof but they marched away with all speed but first highly applauded the bravery of the Garrison the Earl revictualled the place for that time and then returned tho it was thought afterwards convenient to demolish it which was accordingly performed the 20th of September following by the Earl of Rutland The Year following i.e. the 3d. of the Kings reign it came to an open rupture between England and France the French thinking to surprise Jersey and Guernsey came suddenly with many Gallies upon our Fleet there but were received with that Resolution and Bravery that they were forced to flee with great loss both of Men and Shipping News came to the King and Protector Aug. 28th that the French had taken Blackness Hamiltoun and Newhaven near Bulloign by the means of one Sturton as 't was said a natural Son of the Lord Sturton who betrayed this last place into the Hands of the Enemy and took service himself in the French Army hereupon the Captain of Bulloign Bark fearing the consequence after he had conveyed the Stores and Ordinance to the High Town blew up the Fort the French made all possible preparations to attack the Place and for the more vigorous carrying on of the Siege and encouragement of the Soldiers the French King comes before Bulloign in Person where were many famous exploits done both by the Assailants and Defendants but the brave Sir Nicholas Arnold who was Governor began and continued to make so prudent as well as brave resistance that the French were constrained at last to quit their Enterprize and hereupon were made some overtures of Peace which at last was concluded and wherein it was agreed that Bolloign should be delivered up to the French upon condition there should be a reservation of King Edward's Title to the Crown of France and due payment made unto him of 500000 Crowns This King being about Sixteen Years Old died at Greenwich July 6th having reigned Six Years and about Five Months The cause of this War was the King's Minority and Feuds at home whereof the French thought to take advantage MARY ELdest Daughter to King Henry VIII by Q. Katherine of Spain succeeded her Brother Edward Anno 1553. pursuant to their Father's Will though contrary to her Brothers who left the Lady Jane Grey his Successor and after some small opposition by the foresaid Lady's Party more especially the Duke of Northumberland her Husbands Father got peaceable possession of the Throne and was crowned at Westminster the last of April in great State and Magnificence the former part of her Reign which in all was but short was much taken up in restoring Popery and the papal Power in her Dominions which she effected in a great measure through the shedding of much innocent Blood which has left a bitter stain upon her Memory in the Records of time as well for her Cruelty as Superstition tho Authors generally represent her to be a Princes of her self Compassionate and good natur'd she was married to Phillip King of Spain on St. James day in the second year of her Reign and this marriage engaged her about the fifth year of her Reign in a War with France for King Phillip passing over to Calais and so to Flanders made great preparations against the French King and was assisted therein with a Thousand English Horse Four Thousand Foot and 2000 Pioneers whereof the Earl of Pembrock was General with this reinforcement King Phillip directs his March to St. Quintin and after a sharp Siege takes the place the English of whom the Lord Henry Dudley who first advanced the Standard upon the Wall was here slain doing him mighty service herein which the King generously rewarded with the spoils of the Town but this Action may be truly said to have been fatal to England in regard 't was the principal cause of the loss of Calais for while the greatest part of that Garrison was imployed in the foresaid Siege and before Calais was reinforced having then but 500 men in it the Duke of Guise with a Powerful Army advances towards it entrenches himself at Sand-gate sent one detatchment along the Downs towards Risebank and anotherb to Newnem-Bridge he soon possesses himself of oth for the few Soldiers that guarded them had fled secretly into the Town the next day they raised a Battery from the Hills of Rise-Bank against the Walls of Calais between the Water-gate and the Prison and continuing the same for three days made a small breach by which they could not well enter neither was it so designed for while the English were busie in the defence of this place the French making their way through the Ditch which was full of Water entred the Castle designing thence to pass into the Town but here the brave Sir Anthony Hagar withstood them and stopped their further progress though to the loss of his own life For there was not a man besides killed during the Siege till the Governour the Lord Wenthworth that same Evening which was the fifth of January considering succours far the Enemies nigh approach and the weakness of the Garrison thought fit to capitulate and so it was agreed the Town with the Ammunition and Artillery should be delivered to the French the
Treaty of Peace they were forced to restore all to the English again but they left St. Christophers in so pittiful a plight by destroying all the Plantations that it seemed in a manner to be as much a Wilderness as when first the English took footing in it About Seven Years after things veer'd about the French joining with the English against the Dutch in a second Dutch War during this Reign and here a late learned Author has observed that as the English were so succesful in the former War against both and the Dane to boot and were never beaten but once and that when the Fleet was divided so in this the English in all the Fights they had which were Four came off with more loss then the Dutch but the truth of it is the French only came out to learn to fight both in the one and the other War for they stood still looking on or firing at a very great distance while the English and Dutch battered one another and Monsieur de Martel for falling on and engaging bravely was recalled check'd and dismissed his imploy in so much that the Parliament who began to smell the French designs moved November the 4th 1673. that the Allyance with France was a Grievance and so a Peace was concluded with the States and our King sets up for a Mediator at Nimeguen between the French and Dutch with their Confederates and in the mean time having got considerable supplies from his Parliament raises Forces for the French King had during this Navall War possessed himself of a great part of Flanders and the Territories of the States but before a Peace was shuffled up or at leastwise before the Prince of Orange knew or would know of its being concluded the Prince not staying for Eight Thousand English that were on their march to join him did with the assistance only of Ten Thousand English under the command of the Duke of Monmouth and Earl of Ossery storm the Duke of Luxemburg's Camp fortified with all Imaginable Art before Monts with that resolution and bravery that he beat him out of it and relieved the place and this was the last act of Hostility between England and France of any kind during this Reign this King afterwards instead of putting a stop to the growing greatness of that Kingdom fell in more and more with the interest of it and the Nation during the latter part of his Reign was almost rent to pieces with the Parties of Whig and Tory which are but too much felt to this day and he himself at last died on the 6th of February 168 4-85 in the Fifty Fifth Year of his Age and the 37th of his Reign computing it from his Father's Death JAMES II. ONly Surviving Brother to Charles II. immediately assumed the English Crown of which notwithstanding the opposition made against him in the preceding Reign he got a peaceable possession but had not been long invested with the regal Dignity when the Earl of Argyle landing in Scotland and the Duke of Monmouth in the West of England put him in no small danger of losing that he had so lately attained but this storm blew over and ended in the Execution of both the aforesaid Chiefs with a multitude of their followers and that in a very barbarous manner which execution as it drew no small emulation upon his Person so the success egged him on with so much violence in the pursuits of his designs for the advancing of the Papal Power in these Kingdoms that it made the Subjects now in danger of the loss both of their Religion and Civil Properties have recourse for relief to that Prince who has since so worthily filled the Abdicated Throne and who then readily embraced their Quarrel and in the most perillous season of the Year with an Army from Holland landed at Torbay Novemb. 5th 1688. a day and year memorable in the Annals of time for the English deliverance and having wished success was the 13th of February following with his Princess Proclaimed King and Queen of England c. King James having sometime before withdrawn himself into France with whom he was so far from having any Wars during his absent four Years Reign that he entred into a stricter Alliance with that Crown but since his present Majesty's ascending of the Throne what traverses of War there have been between England and France by Sea and Land and what the Causes of them were consists in the following Pages WILLIAM III. UPon King James's withdrawing himself out of the Kingdom and retiring into France in consideration the French had committed many Hostilities in the Palatinate on the Rhine and on the Frontiers of Flanders and assisted the Irish in Rebellion with considerable Naval and Land Forces a War was Proclaimed and the King of England entered into a strict confederacy against the French King with Brandenburgh Spain and the United Provinces c. to hinder the Excessive Power and growing Greatness of France from Insulting over the Neighbouring Princes and Forces were sent over under the Command of the Earl of Marlborough and others who gained considerable advantages over the French Parties But as yet the greatest Scene of War on our Part was in Ireland where the Earl of Tyrconnel had declared for King James and put most of the Irish Papists especially in Arms stopping the Ports and hindering the Escape of many English nor was it long e'er King James Landed there with a great many French Officers and Soldiers so that most of the Principal Places in that Kingdom fell into his Hands A Party of the Iniskilling Men and London-Derry being almost all the Loyal English held in Ireland and these two acted wonders and in fine baffled the Enemies Power for the former gained in several signal advantages in the Field and the latter the Town being commanded in chief by one Mr. Walker a Minister a very valiant Man though enduring the Extremity of Famine that no unclean thing was left uneaten held out a Siege of 105 days Killing a great number of the Enemy in Salleys and from the Wall whose Army against it was at least 40000 so that the Besieged being relieved with Provisions by the way of the River the Besiegers despairing of success drew off and were pursued loosing a great many Men and some Cannon Tents and Ammunition in the Retreat On the 13th of August 1689. the Duke of Schomberg with a fair Army from England Landed at Carickfergus whereupon the Garison of Antrim deserted and Carickfergus after a short Battery surrendred the Garison being only allowed to march out without Baggage to the next Garison and that Winter the Duke Encamped after reducing some other Places on the Plains of Dundalk whose unhealthy Air and Dampness destroyed abundance of our Men yet in that Season Parties were daily out took some Places and got great Advantage over the Enemies Parties in the Field In 1690. The King with a Royal Army set forward and landed the fifteenth