Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	brother_n	mother_n	sister_n	2,328	5	9.5317	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31006	The history of that most victorius monarch, Edward IIId, King of England and France, and Lord of Ireland, and first founder of the most noble Order of the Garter being a full and exact account of the life and death of the said king : together with that of his most renowned son, Edward, Prince of Wales and of Aquitain, sirnamed the Black-Prince : faithfully and carefully collected from the best and most antient authors, domestick and foreign, printed books, manuscripts and records / by Joshua Barnes ...	Barnes, Joshua, 1654-1712.	1688 (1688)	Wing B871; ESTC R7544	1,712,835	942

they are not yet it seemeth that King Edward is to be preferred For Right of Inheritance in proper Nature is principally due unto Descendants whereupon the Law z L. Nam e●si parentibus ff de inoff testam saith that in Succession to those who die intestate the First Place is given to Children because they are a Inst de Her. qui ab intest in princip Descendants But it is certain that in respect of King Charles of whose Succession we now do treat King Edward is in the Third Degree of the Collateral descending Line But Philip is in the Fourth Degree in the equal Collateral Line Therefore seeing that King Edward not only hath Prerogative of Degree but also is favoured by reason of Descent it followeth that He is to be preferred before Philip c. Nonnulla desiderantur VII The Reasons which the French alledge for excluding Edward the Third King of England and his Posterity both from the Kingdom and the rest of his Inheritance in France for Brevity sake I shall reduce to these few Heads That either a Woman had Right to succeed or not if a Woman had then the Three Daughters of Lewis Hutin Philip the Long and Charles the Fair should have had the Right before the Mother of King Edward who was but Sister to those three Brethren Kings because the Daughters ought to be preferred before the Sister in the Succession of their Fathers as every Man doth know But here lies the Fallacy that whereas 't is acknowledged on King Edward's Part that the Daughters Persons are excluded and the Sisters also but not their Male Issue those Daughters at the time of the Vacancy of the Kingdom by the Death of King Charles the Fair had neither of them any Issue Male but King Edward the Son of the Sister was then a Male and actually King of England Then is urged the Force of the Salique Law which is said to have been approved and confirmed by Charles the Great by which means say they King Edward could not be admitted to the Crown of France since he could lay no Claim but by his Mother who could not give that to Him which she her Self never had nor in Right could or ought to have And to this purpose or effect the Use and Custom hath been at all times notoriously observed within the Realm of France that when a Woman is expelled from any Succession or from Succeeding in a Fee the Sons which are descended of her are always precluded and excluded from the same Neither shall it ever be found that a Woman hath succeeded to the Crown of France or b The Falsity of this appears l. 1. c. 22. §. 1. p. 289. given Right of Succession to a Man or to a Woman And so it appeareth evidently that the Law whereby a Woman is utterly debarred from the Succession to the Realm of France was not made in the Time of King Edward nor of his Mother nor in Prejudice of them For in Case a Woman might or should succeed to the Crown of France that Law should have been prejudicial to the Daughters of the Three Brothers Kings who Reigned successively in France and not to the mother of Edward who was but Sister of the said Three Brothers Then it is urged that King Edward before he began the War had done Liege Homage unto King Philip de Valois and it could not stand that King Edward should be Supream Lord and also Vassal of one and the same Thing And that this Liege Homage remain'd in the Treasury of the Kings Charters at Paris in the Letters Patents of King Edward with a silk Label and green Wax the Transcript whereof is extant c Vid. Lib. 1. c. 3. §. 1. p. 37. in the former Part of our History That yet notwithstanding King Edward unjustly and without good Tittle made mortal War by notorious Attempts upon the King of France his Leige Lord he laid Hand also upon the Person of his said Lord incurring the Crime of Felony and Treason wherein the said King Edward grievously offended and so lost by way of Confiscation all that which he had within this Realm whether in Aquitain or any other Place Insomuch as yet further neither he nor his Successors were afterwards capable or ought in Terms of Justice to have the same Lands and Dominions So much is the Crime of Treason by all Laws by all Rights by all Men of just Judgment disallowed and condemned That afterwards King John being taken Prisoner by Misadventure of War a certain Treaty was made at Calais in the Year 1360 whereby the English had the Dutchy of Aquitain and the County of Ponthieu and Monstreul and should have had also a certain Summ of Money whereof they received Fourteen Thousand Pieces of Gold which was no otherwise consented unto but that they should avoid all the Villages and Fortresses which their Followers or other Adherents then held in the Realm of France And further King Edward should have sent his Messengers or Procurators unto Bruges within a Year after that Treaty to accomplish certain Matters which both He and his Sons and other Great Lords of England had taken Oath upon the Holy Evangelists and upon the Holy Sacrament to perform And yet they neither came nor sent to the said place of Bruges And so the Messengers of the King of France expected them a long time for performance and accomplishment of that which had been agreed and promised on his Part. And as for the Avoidance out of the said Towns and Castles many Knights and Esquires and Others yet alive do know and can testifie as they who oftentimes armed themselves and travelled for Recovery of them by Sieges Assaults and other Means to the great Charge of the King of France Whereupon it followeth that the English are bound to the Restitution of all that which was deliver'd unto them by the said Treaty of Calais upon Condition and Limitation before expressed together with the Charges and the Interest since that time and the same Treaty is to be held void in Law. Then 't is declared how King Philip who was Earl of Valois succeeded to the Crown of France as next Heir Male of the said Crown drawing his Descent from Male to Male by the Right Line of Holy King Lewis Whereas it is but 214 Years or thereabouts since the English had first any thing in Aquitain It is further alledged how the English by acting many Outrages and Mischiefs disabled themselves from holding the Dutchy of Aquitain and the County of Ponthieu and Monstreul unless they would acknowledge the King of France for their Sovereign Lord. And therefore that the said King of France hath resolved by strong Hand and by way of Affecting the Execution of Justice to cause the said Lands and Dominions to be reduced into his own Possession and to be annexed to the Right of the Crown of France For that a Soveraign Lord hath no clearer Means of Purchase

Collateral to her Brother King Charles being disabled to Succeed by a continued Custom of that Realm or by a Statute lawfully published which excludeth Women from Succession in the Kingdom whether Edward her Son or Philip Son of the First Charles who was Uncle to this Last King Charles should carry the Crown and Kingdom of France according to the Lawfull Rules of Succession In which doubtfull Case I shall first lay down certain Reasons on the Behalf of Philip But before other Matters because the whole Knot of the Business is rooted upon the Custom and Statute whereof I have spoken lest the Foundation should fail I will strengthen that Statute with certain Reasons and First thus This Statute as it is presupposed in the State of the Question was lawfully made and published the Nobility of the Realm being thereto called and all those who had any Right or Interest in this Case to be called So that it proceeded from the whole Council of the Realm lawfully assembled Therefore whether Authority to make Statutes be a Matter of meer or mixt Empire or else of simple Jurisdiction the Statute is of Force and Good i Arg. l. Illicicitus §. Qui universis ff de Offic. Prasid l. H●manum C. de ●egibus l. Omnes populi ff de just jure junctis ibi n●tatis Barth in primâ questione principali saae repetitionis unà cum notatis ejusdem in l. Imperium in quaest suà quae incipit Quer. quibus Judicibas ff de Jurisdict Omnium Judic in Law. Again this Statute is greatly confirmed by the Apparent Profit which by the good Provision thereof is much procured to the Realm of France Lest if a Woman should succeed the Weakness of her Sex might become Fatal to the k Arg. ad haec Inst quibut alie licet non vel in Fi. primire State Whereto strongly maketh the Law Faeminae ff de Reg. Juris with other Laws which affirm l ff derpostuland l. 1. §. se●um junct ib. gl fac l. in multis ff de statu Hemin●● that Women must not exercise such Offices as appertain to Men. This is also made good in that Law which was in Force in the Middle Time of the Empire of Rome bearing more Favour unto Men in Succession of Collaterals of which Quality is this now in Question did sometimes dispose m Inst de Leg. Agnat succ §. C●terum ubi benè facit ratio ejusdem §. posita ibi Quod ideò C. de Leg. ber l. Lege XII Tab. that Inheritances should pass from one to another among the Male Kindred althô they were in a very distant Degree But the Women Kindred should then only succeed in case they were Sisters If they were more remote whether descended of Sisters or any other they were held incapable For if that Law could exclude Women Kindred from Lawfull Succession as it did because otherwise the Correction thereof comprised in these cited Laws had not been necessary for that which is not n ff de inj●st rupt irrit test l. nam e●si cannot be abolished broken or corrected Then this o Arg. praemiss ff de Legibus l. non est novum l. de quibus cum similibus Statute may do the same in the Kingdom of France Again that the Right of a Kingdom is carried by Hereditary Succession or by Prerogative of Custom it is brought in only by Positive and Civil Law p Le. no. 8. q. 1. c. Moses ibi glo Archid. to wit Custom Therefore it followeth that it may be taken away by the same Law and consequently by the Law of this Statute q Ar. ff de Reg. jur l. Nil tam naturale Inst de jur natur Gent. Civ §. Sed Naturalia inst de legit Agnat tutela §. Fi. or Custom By which it seemeth to be as clear as the Light that the Lady Isabell could not come to the Crown of the Realm of France as being altogether disabled and excluded by Statute So then upon this Foundation thus laid beforehand many Reasons may be raised against King Edward For lawfull Successions proceed by Degrees that is from one Degree to another So that as a Man is nearer in Order of Degree so r Inst de legit Agnat S●ccess §. Placebat ibi not is he stronger in Right of Succession But in Case of our Question the nearer and stronger Degree of Isabell is plainly disabled from Succession by Statute Therefore this Lawfull Succession as interrupted or stopped by Her cannot proceed to a further Degree viz. to King Edward Because Succession goeth on by Steps and not per saltum ſ In. tit qui feud da. poss §. quia facit l. ut Gradatim ff de munere oner injunct l. qui indignus ff de Senateribus as Baldus noteth And this Sequel is proved for t L●tria praedia ff de servit rust praed that the Overthrow of Order is also the Overthrow of that which is to be Ordered And upon u ff de Offic●ejus cui mandaest Jurisdictio l. 1. §. hajus rei argumentum Destruction of the Antecedent the Destruction of the Consequent doth ensue Again if King Edward should make Claim of any such Succession this must be by reason of the Royal Blood derived unto him from King Philip his Grandfather by the Mothers Side by the Mean of his Mother But the Mother had no such Blood in her self capable of Succession as it appeareth by that which hath been said Ergo x Arg. l. Nemo ff de Reg. Jur. l. traditio ff de acquirendo rerum Dommie She could not convey the same unto her Son. Again every y ff l. Plenum ff sinsus minister ii ff de usu hab Right by Derivation thereof is made more feeble Therefore if this Blood was not of Ability to succeed in the Mother as it appeareth before much less shall it be of that Ability being conveyed and deriv'd into King Edward The Form of Proof is taken à Majori ad Minus To the same Purpose an Argument may be drawn from z Filius familiâs ff de acquir Haered another Law where a Son being in the Power of his Father cannot appoint his Son and the Grandchild of his Father who holdeth Authority over both to take upon him to be the Heir of his Mother deceased upon Consideration of this Reason that the Father who giveth Authority is in that Case that by Himself in Person he cannot enter into such an Inheritance Therefore by parity of Reason in the Case of this Question the Mother Isabell cannot give Right of Succession to King Edward because by her Self in Person she is not able to succeed To the same purpose serveth the Law Filium habeo ff ad Senatusconsultum Macedonianum Again where a Nephew or Grandchild hath a Grandfather and a Father of divers Conditions the

Religious Persons nor Places but put all that came in their Reach to Fire and Sword. The mean while the Mariners of Newcastle with part of the Kings Fleet which Hector vainly makes to be so dreadfully shipwrack'd made shift to come in at the Mouth of the River Tay where they burnt a great part of the Town of Dundee which stands between Brechin and St Andrews And at the same time m Dugd. 1 Vol. p. 371. John Lord Darcy Justice of Ireland having well settled Affairs at home sailed with a Fleet of 56 Ships with the Chief of the Irish Nobles in his Company making a short cut to the Parts of Scotland next adjoyning to Ireland where having wasted the Isles of Aran and Bute he return'd with great Prey and Glory For which his Voluntary and Signal Services a while after King Edward granted unto him and the Heirs Male of his Body Lawfully begotten the Mannors of Rathwar and Kildalk in Ireland V. But however thô thus the poor Scots were Harassed on all sides yet were they resolved not to betray their Country either for want of Care or Courage but being in strength unequal to these Forces they were obliged to act more wisely and to lie chiefly upon the Catch nor altogether without Success For about this time n Knighton 2567. n 30. 500 Archers of England with other Footmen upon some occasion returning homeward in great Security as having seen no appearance of an Enemy in Scotland were suddenly set upon being intercepted by Andrew Earl of Murray Patrick Earl of Dunbar and Sr. William Douglas by whom they were all put to the sword In this season John the young Earl o Holinshead Engl. Chron. p. 898. of Namur whom the Scotch Writers by mistake call the Earl of Gueldre with his Brother Sr. Robert of Namur came into England to serve King Edward for the Sake of Sr. Robert of Artois their Uncle and boldly undertook to enter Scotland only with a Choice Band of an Hundred Men of Arms and seven or eight Knights and Barons their Leaders which came over with them and a few English from Barwick for their Guides But before the Earl could recover Edenburgh he was so hotly assaulted by the Earl of Murray and Dunbar and the Lord William Douglas that althô the Strangers bare themselves Right Worthily yet being oppressed by Multitude they were compelled to give back thô honourably by little and little still maintaining the Fight and by sudden Chargings defending themselves till they reached Edenburgh and recovered the Hill whereon the Castle had stood thô now it lay in ruines Here they most manfully kept their Ground till the next day when despairing of any Succour and utterly destitute of either Meat or Drink they were content to yield themselves on certain Conditions The Scots not willing to drive these Men to despair whose Natural Valour they found scarce matchable and knowing that the weak Estate of their Country required them to be frugal of their Persons accepted their Conditions And here the Earl of Murray either of Generosity or Policy or for the sake of the Leader the Noble Earl of Namur whom he admired or hoped by obliging to gain to his Side quitted them all of their Ransom and gave them present liberty of returning into their own Country he himself for their further Security and desirous to gratifie the King of France whose near Kinsman the Earl of Namur was conducting them as far as the Borders But this Compliment was ill-timed for upon his Return p Walsingh hist p. 116. Holingshead p. 898 being unhappily encountred by an English Party belonging to the Garrison of Roxborough he was by them overthrown himself being taken Prisoner by Sr. William Priestwood and the Lord William Douglas escaped very narrowly but his Brother Sr. James Douglas was there slain upon the Spot with many more Among the q Holingshead Scotland p. 236. Bodies of those few Strangers that were slain in the passage to Edinburgh 't is reported that there was found the Body of a Woman of exact Beauty but more than ordinary Stature She had been observed in the beginning of the Battle to step forth before all her Companions where singly she overthrew a strong Esquire of Scotland named Richard Shaw and long and well she fought with the Scots till finally she not flinching and her Company not able to come up to her being encompassed by the Scots unknown as she was she was there slain 'T is thought because she was left in so desperate a condition that her own Party was ignorant of her Sex and it might be that for the love of Sr. Robert of Namur who was a Batchelour young beautifull and couragious or thrô some Heroical Disposition proceeding from high Birth or Conscience of unusual Strength or desire to emulate the ancient Viragoes called Amazons she thus adventur'd to take the Field But her indiscreet Obstinacy to the Death when Retreating was not inglorious shew'd her unwife and too much a Woman But of the Fight wherein the Earl of Murray was taken Others report a little otherwise saying r Knighton p. 2567. How these Scotch Lords now in their passage toward the Borders were no less than ten thousand strong as resolving upon some notable Exploit either thereby to requite their Losses at home or to oblige King Edward to leave Scotland for the Defence of his own People and especially for his Queens sake whom hearing to be as then in Bamburg an impregnable Castle of Northumberland they went thitherward to invest the Place But being on their way met by 5000 English 't is probable as appears by and by under the Conduct of Prince John of Eltham who was coming this way at that time either before parted from the King his Brother or not till now come to joyn him however after a sharp Conflict the Scots were wholly broken and routed leaving 5000 of their Companions on the ground with Sr. James Douglas only the Earl of Murray of their Captains being taken Prisoner but Earl Patrick and Sr. William Douglas escaped This Victory however cost the English 400 Men 't was fought so obstinately before the Day inclin'd to them It is certain ſ Aug. 1. Holinshead p. 899. that about Lammas-tide Prince John of Eltham Earl of Cornwall and the Kings Brother with the Forces of Yorkshire and Northumberland and the Lord Anthony Lucy of Cockermouth with the Men of Cumberland and Westmorland entring Scotland t Hector B●eth l. 15. fol. 320. n. 40. ravag'd and destroy'd in Galloway Carrick Kyle and Cunningham and all the Western Parts which held against the Bailiol or had lately revolted from him The Lord William Douglas indeed with certain Troops of light Horse still coasted them from far waiting for some Advantage but by the Policy of their Princely General they ever kept good close Order so that at last without any considerable loss Prince John with his little Host passing by

at this time was found to amount to One Hundred and Ten besides those in Ireland Aquitain and Normandy King Edward now thought fitting because of his Wars intended against France to confiscate unto his own Use all the Goods of the said Priories with all the Lands Tenements Fees and Advowsons of the same Letting out their Houses to Farm as his Grandfather before him had done in the 23 Year of his Reign upon the like occasion And this was Customary not only before this but also afterwards r id Clem. Reyner in Append Par. 3. p. 146. when ever the Wars brake out between England and France for the Kings of England to seise all the Possessions of the Cluniacks and other Aliens into their Hands and to put them out to Farm to the Religieux themselves on consideration of an annual Pension But when the War ended there was full Restoration made of all again as particularly we shall find four and twenty Years hence or in the 35 of this King. VI. While King Edward was thus busied at home and his Ambassadors equally concern'd in his service abroad there ſ Junii 9. obiit Vt apparet ex illius Historiâ in l. dicto Time's Storeh p. 720. Alii 6 Junii ponunt died at his Palace in Valenciennes William the Third Earl of Heinalt Holland Zealand and Friseland Father to Philippa King Edward's beloved Queen who for his Great Mercy temper'd with Justice and other Princely Vertues was sirnamed the Good. One Example of his Exact Justice I shall shew whereby we may guess at his other Perfections The Deed was done not long before his Death upon a Bayliff of South-Holland t Vid. Time's Storeh p. 720. l. 7. c. 30. Engl. Atlas 4 Vol. p. 153. who had unjustly taken a goodly fair Cow from a poor Peasant which had been the sole support of himself his Wife and Children As there are some Kine in that Country which can give twenty u To enforce the truth of this Relation a little Conradus Gesner hath these Words The Oxen of the Belgian Provinces especially in Friesland and Holland are of very great stature For it hath been found by experience that one of them hath weigh'd Sixteen Hundred pounds Trey Weight And when the Earl of H●ochstadt was at Machlin in Friesland there was presented unto him a Fair Large Ox which being killed weigh'd above Two Thousand Five Hundred Twenty Eight Pounds which I reckon to amount to 180 Stone and 8 Pounds Wherefore that succeeding Ages might not mistrust the Truth of so strange a Matter the said Earl caused the Picture of the said Ox to be set up in his Palace at his full Proportion with an Inscription signifying his Weight and the Day and Year when this Ox was deliver'd and killed Conrad Gesner Hist of Foursccted Beasts p. 70. Engl. folio Pottles of Milk and more in a Day The Earl lay then sick on his Death-Bed as it proved but it was his Custom never to Debar the meanest Suitors whether he was sick or well So that upon this poor Countrymans Complaint and Examination duly had the Bayliff was adjudg'd to give unto the Peasant an 100 Crowns of Gold for the great Wrong he had done him which was accordingly performed But then for his Affront to Publique Justice since he was an Officer and had thus abused the Authority entrusted to him the Earl sent for an Executioner and caused him to strike his Head off by his own Bed-side I shall only crave leave to add one more small digression of a matter happening in his Days which thô not pertinent to the History is yet well worthy Memory for its great Rarity In the Eleventh Year of this Earls Government which was the Tenth Year of the Reign of King Edward the Second of England and the Year of our Lord 1316 there happen'd even in England a great Scarcity of Corn as appears by x Walsing hist p. 83. our Historians but in this y Time's Store-house p. 720. Earls Country there was so terrible a Dearth and Famine that poor people fell down dead in the Streets for Hunger Many also were found Dead in the Highways and in Woods and Fields whither they went to seek for Herbs and Roots to stop the Importunities of craving Nature Little Children would die as they indeavour'd to suck at their starving Mothers Breasts and some Women could not refrain eating their Children In this time of Famine a certain Poor Woman of Leyden being extreamly opprest with Hunger came to a Sister of her own who was far better to pass begging of her for Godsake to lend her some Bread which she promised with Thanks to repay when it should please God to enable her The hard-hearted Sister deny'd her oftentimes notwithstanding the other was so importunate and withall told her that she was assured by her Countenance how she must needs have sufficient for her self if not to spare Hereupon the unmercifull Wretch lying both to God and her poor Sister said If I have any Bread to help my self withall I wish to God it may all instantly be turned into Stone It seems the heavy Displeasure of Almighty God laid hold on those rash Words of hers for going soon after to the Cupboard to relieve her self she found all her Loaves of Bread most plainly converted into solid stones so that she her self died for want of that which she had so wickedly deny'd her own Sister It is most credibly told us z Time's St●●ehouse ibid. that one or two of those Stone-Loaves are yet to be seen in St. Peters Church at Leyden in Memory of this most just and extraordinary Judgement However this Good Earl William King Edward's Father-in-Law having been all along a most Vertuous Prince Victorious in War Wise and Judicious Well-spoken and Learned a great Friend to Peace affable to all Men and universally Beloved after he had Governed his Provinces of Heinalt Holland Zealand and Friesland for the space of 32 Years died as before we said and with a Frois c. 29. great Pomp was buried at the Fryers in Valenciennes The Bishop of Cambray himself sang the Mass and besides the English Lords there were present many Dukes Earls and Barons of sundry Countries as well for the manifold Alliances he had abroad as for that his Fame was Singular and his Memory Dear to all Men. He was succeeded by William the Fourth his Son and Heir who had Married the Lady Joan Daughter to John Duke of Brabant giving her for her b Vid. l. 1. c. 24. §. 7. Joynture the Land of Binche upon the Haysne a fair and goodly Inheritance As for the Lady Johanna Countess Dowager of Heinalt the young Earls Mother and Sister to King Philip of France she resolved to spend the rest of her Days in a Nunnery at Fontaine on the River Scheld where being soon admitted she gave her self wholly to Devotion Almsdeeds and other Pious Offices VII And now

or Encrease than by way of Confiscation especially of that which riseth upon the Crime of Treason as it is in this present Case It was also set forth at large by the Letters and Rescripts of King Edward how the King of France never renounced either the Reversion or Soveraignty of those Lands which were deliver'd to the King of England by the Treaty of Calais And it was said by way of Corollary that neither the Dutchy of Aquitain nor any other Lands whatsoever ought ever to be deliver'd to the English upon any Respect because among other Reasons the English never yet had althô it were but one Foot of Land in France whether it were by Marriage or otherwise but in the end they always raised Wars and Troubles against the King and State of France And further there were noted and set down many Expeditions made into Aquitain both before and since the time of Charles the Great occasion'd by Justice of the Kings of France for Condemning and Depriving many Dukes of Aquitain because of their Rebellions and other bad Behaviour declaring manifestly that the said Dutchy of Aquitain was sometime the Proper Right and Inheritance of the Kings of France and that did evidently appear in that Charles the Great made and ordained Lewis the Gentle his Eldest Son King of the said Country of Aquitain as King Dagobert long before made Hubert his Brother by the Fathers side only Many other things are there contained which pretend to answer all that the English could say or alledge But We shall now hear what the King of England could say in his own Behalf when We have first set down a short Genealogical Table of the Descent from St. Lewis to King Edward and Philip of Valois VIII THE PEDIGREE OF THE Kings of FRANCE From Philip the Son of St. Lewis untill Charles the Fair. King Philip the Son of St Lewis King Philip the Fair. King Lewis Hutin Jane Countess of Eureux King Philip the Long. Margaret Countess of Artois King Charles the Fair. Blanch Dutchess of Orleans Isabell Queen of England Edward the III. K. of England Charles of Valois Philip of Valois IX Reasons alledged by the KING of ENGLAND for his Right and Title to the Kingdom of FRANCE UPON Supposal as it is evident and notorious in Fact that Philip of Famous Memory sometime King of France the Father of Charles of Honourable Remembrance King of France last deceased and of the most Gracious Lady Isabell Queen of England our Mother 1 Reason Proximity in the Descending Line was our Grandfather by the Mothers Side Then was no Male surviving nearer than We to the same King Charles at the time of his Death of all those who were descended with him from our Grandfather Philip Uncle to our Adversary Now the Person of a Woman is not capable of that Kingdom by a Law therein anciently observed which Law by way of final Cause respecting the Favour of that Realm lest the State thereof should decline under the Weak Government of a Woman by Excluding the Person of a Woman doth not therefore exclude the Person of a Man descended of a Woman so excluded Lest Matters Odious should be extended which is Odious in Law from Person to Person from Sex to Sex from Cause to Cause from Hatred to Favour And lest the Feminine Gender which is contrary to all Rules of Law should comprise the Masculine 2 Reason Restraint of things odiou● 3 Reason the Femin Gender compriseth not the Mascaline 4 Reason Derivation of Right from the Grandfather by the Mother 5 Reason Absurdity in Law. 6 Reason The Descending preferred before the Collateral 7 Reason the cause or reason of the Law ceasing especially in a case of an Odious Nature For to this end the Law before mention'd excludeth the Weakness of Women from bearing Rule that more Profitable Provision might be made for the State and that the next Male no otherwise debarred might be Assumed into her Place especially to that Right which did not first spring from the Mother so excluded but is originally derived and propagated from the Grandfather to the Grandchild Otherwise by this odious Enlarging another Absurdity in Justice would ensue that the Nearer Collateral should be excluded and the more distant and remote brought in Seeing that by the Law of Nature and of Nations Brothers and Sisters and their Sons are preferred in mutual Succession before other Collaterals in another Line So that upon this Statute which is made in Favour of the Kingdom and in Hatred of a Woman being debarred from the Kingdom Occasion should arise both of Violation to Law and of Injury to such Males as are descended from a Woman Neither can We conceive that the Intent of the Law here mention'd is so unjust as that the Mother and the Son upon Dislike Reason should be condemned and punished alike Yea by the Contrary Judgment of the same Law whereby the Mother is expelled from Succession the Son entring into the same Degree of his Mother succeedeth in her Place like unto that Son who riseth into the Degree of his Father or Mother deceased 8 Reason the Son entreth into the Degree of his Mother to succeed his Grandfather 9 Reason One vexation not to be added to another that he may be received in equal Terms with his Uncles to the Succession of his Grandfather That so the Sorrowfull Mother being stripped of her Royal Inheritance by Rigour of this Statute should in Right receive some Sol●ce by Substitution of her Son and not one Heaviness to be heaped upon another which the Upright Consideration of Law doth abhorr as we see even where a Charge of Calamity cometh not by the Law but by Misadventure as in that Law whereby the Custom is condemned which permitteth another Man to take the Goods of them that suffer ship●reck By which Reason that which is corrected in express Disposition of Law for avoiding an Encrease of Grief is more strongly prohibited in the secret Disposition Let it therefore more than fully suffice that by the Law of the Realm of France the Mother is cut from the Royal Stem not by any Default in her Self but by the Fact of Nature which framed her a Woman And that by Express Law she suffereth a certain Shipwrock in her own Disinheriting althô she be not by any secret Consequence of the same Law contrary to the Course of Justice wrecked again with her Disinherited Son 10 Reason One not to be burthen'd with anothers Hate And so against all Rules and Reasons of Law one should be burthen'd with anothers Hate Whereas the Right from which the Mother is excluded is in such sort given unto the Son that the Mother receiveth nothing by this Office and Charge of the Son. So likewise we shall find Punishment enlarged without Offence whereas it should be mollified and restrained 11 Reason Punishments to be restrained 12 Reason from an Instance of great Authority even where there