properties which he hath geuen them by nature as when he made of the mouing water a standing wall and the fire so to lose his operacion that it consumed not the bodies of the three yonge menne that were caste into it and suche like Ex. 14. Dani. 3. all whiche deedes bee wonders and miracles and not the vvorke but the impedimente of nature Now if this hathe so beene ingrafted in the nature of al menne that no woman shoulde gouerne but all women shoulde bee subiectes then vvere there no more to be saide the matter were ended But because we see by many examples that by the wholle consent of nacyons by the ordinaunce of God and order of lawe wemen haue reigned and those not a fewe and as it was thoughte not againste nature Therefore it canne not bee saide that by a generall disposition of nature it hathe bene and is denyed them to rule But let vs here consider whether it be in a woman againste nature to rule as it is in a stone to moue vpwarde or in the fire not to consume In the stone or in the fire is no manner of aptnesse either for the one to go vpward or the other to preserue and not destroy and neither can be done in eyther withoute violence and outwarde force But in a woman is witte vnderstāding and as Aristotle saith the same vertues that be in a man 3. Polit. sauinge that they differ Secundum maius et minus that is moore in the man then in the woman There is the same shape the same language and sometime more giftes in them Artemisia Iust li. 2. then in the man as was in Artemisia as Iustine reporteth more prowes and witte to rule the armie then in the great Monarke Xerxes Only we can pul from them that they be not strong of body or commonly so couragious in minde graunte that it is so must they therfore be vtterly vnmete to rule nay if you saide vnmeter then men we woulde not muche wrastle with you For as Aristotle saithe the mannes rule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is more mete to rule But to reason thus wemen be not so mete as men Ergo it is against nature is an euill consequent King Edwarde for his yeares and tendernesse of age was not so mete to rule as was his father Kinge Henrye yet was it not againste nature onles you pronounce of him as Storie bothe vnlearnedlye and impudentlye sayde Ve terrae illi cuius puer rex est Storie Vnhappye is the realme that hathe a childe to their Kinge as thoughe thys worde child were not there a Metaphor but take an elder Cambises was not so mete to rule as his father Cyrus for he vvas a dronkard ād cruel Ergo his rule was vnnaturall It is a fallax a vitio consequentis If it wer vnnatural for a womā to rule because she lacketh a mannes strengthe Then olde Kinges whyche bee most mete to rule for witte and experience because they lack strength shuld be vnmete for the feblenes of the bodi Yea say you God hath apoynted her to be subiect to her husband Ad virum erit conuersio tua therfore she maye not be the heade 〈◊〉 3. I graunte that so farre as perteineth to the bandes of mariage and the office of a vvife she muste be a subiecte but as a Magistrate she maye be her husbands head For the Scripture saithe not Thine eye must be to the man but ad virum tuum to thy husbande Neither ovveth euerye vvoman obedience to euery man but to her ovvne husbande VVel if she be her husbandes subiecte she can bee no ruler That follovveth not for the childe is the fathers subiecte and the Father the childes ruler and as Aristotle saithe vvhome you so muche vrge his rule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is kynglike ouer his childe But the husbandes is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is ciuill then if the childe by nature a subiect maye be by lavve a heade yea the heade of his father and his father his subiecte VVhie may not the vvoman be the husbandes inferiour in matters of vvedlock and his head in the guiding of the common vvelth Lyuie reporteth hovve Quintus fabius Max cominge from Rome to his Sonne in the vvarre Liu. li. 4.3 dec came riding thoroughe all the Sergeants and officers vviche for the reuerence they bare to him boothe for his honoure and age and that he vvas the consuls father gaue him roome tyll at the laste his Sonne the consull bad thofficer staye him vvhereat the olde man alighted and doinge his dutie to his sonne say de I ment to try sonne vvhether you knevv vvhat belōged to the maiesti of your office vvherbi vvese that the father vvhich by nature vvas the sonnes hed is novv by order of polly cie his subiectt and yet is not this rule in the sonne vnnaturall Obiect But you vvill saye there is an aptnes in the sonne to rule but the vvoman is ordeined to obey and cleane exempt frō superioritie That I denye Ansvver For both nature and Gods vvorde giueth hir a kynd of superioritie by expresse vvordes not only ouer beasts and al creaturs ioyntly vvith Adam Gen. 2. but also ouer men and reasonable creatures 1. Tim. 3. Saynt Paule speaking of yong vvy dovves saith let them mary tende their busines and rule the hous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No man I am sure vvill deny but that the gouernment in the house is a kynde of superiorite and that ouer men Onles you vvyll as the Buoi dyd that the men shall rule the men and the vviues the vvomen or you vvill apoynte them such famylies as shall haue no men in them If then they may gouerne men in the house by saynt Paules commission and an houshold is a lytle common vvelth as Socrates in Xenophon saith Then I can not see hovve you can debarre them of all rule Xenophō in dict fact or conclude that to be heads of men is against nature VVhiche if you graunt is inough for the disprouing of your minor If you put to and saie in a common vvelthe yet it vvil not scrue for the profe of that is by cause say you she is the mans subiect I haue shevved hovve in that she is his vvyse not in that she is a vvomā For as you see she may be some mans head as in hir houshold But vvhyle you take this vvord nature to largely you deceiue yourself vvy ttingly thinking that because it is not so conuenient so profitable or mete therfore it is vnnaturall But that is to large a Scope Against nature diuersly vnderstand VVherfore that we maye vnderstande howe farre you stretche this woorde nature I wyll axe you whether you take it as it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is for the mooste parte or all together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is vniuersall If you take it as it is in the
order of nature for the moste parte As it is naturall for an olde man to haue whyte heere 's in his age or for a woman to brynge forthe one childe at a burden and then reason it is agaynst nature for an olde man to haue black heres or a gainst nature for a vvoman to bringe furth twoo children or three at a burden no man would allowe your reasonyng For though the one be accordynge to nature as it is for the moste parte yet is not the other that happeneth some tyme vtterly againste nature In lyke maner thoughe it bee for the mooste parte seene that men and not vvomen doo rule common welthes Yet when it happeneth somme tyme by the ordinaunce of God and course of enheritaunce that they beare rule it is not to bee concluded that it repungneth against nature no more then the old mans black heere 's or the vvomans two twynnes So that you see that in this acception of nature their rule can not be against nature On the other syde if you take it in a generalite as when so euer the stoone moueth vpvvarde it is violent and againste nature or vvhen so euer the fyer consumeth not the matter that is put to it then are you further vvyde For it chaunseth not seldome but ofte not in one countrey but in manye not emong the barbarous but in the chefest Empires and Monarchies and not only in them but in the common vvealth of the Ievves more then ones or tvvyse that vvomen beinge inheritours haue ruled after their parentes vvyues after their husbandes and Systers after their brethrē as I shal at large declare But before I come to that poynte I muste vvade a lytle further vvith hym in his argument of nature VVherfore I reason against him thus To preser ue cōmon vvealths is not agaist nature vvhat so euer preserueth commō vvealthes and destroyeth them not is not againste nature but the rule of vvomen hath prese rued common vvealthes ergo it is not against nature The maior is playne for it is mooste naturall to preserue and maynteine the societe of men seing man and cities vvhiche consiste vpon the companie of menne be the chiefest vvoorke of God by nature for all other thynges bee prepared for that as the chiefe ende That menne lyuinge together in a cyuill companye maye peaceablie and quietly honour GOD the author and preseruer of that societie So that there is no doubte of the maior For the minor vvhiche is that the rule of vvomen preserueth common vvealthes it muste be proued by histories VVhiche I truste to make so manifest that not only the matter shal be out of controuersie But also that men of indifferent iudgement shall see playnlie that this man fell chiefly into this errour either by cause he red not or conferred not thauncient histories vvhiche record this matter I shall therefore not onely oute of the Histories of the people of GOD the Ievves but also oute of the Ethnikes and Christian Stories proue that in alages in many coūtreis and vnder euery monarck wemen haue not only ruled Many coūtreis haue bene vvel gouerned by vvomē but happely and vvell yea whiche is a great matter cmong those that in that sexe bare rule you shal fynde none or very few in vvhose reigne their countrey vvas the vvorse for their gouernment but muche the better VVhere of the cōtrary hovv many misfortunes ouerthrovves chaunges and translations of monarchies haue happened vnder the regiment of men it is harde to nūber and impossible to declare But hereby I meane not either to preferre or matche this sexes gouernement vvith the mās For I coūt it in dede the more conuenient only my meaning is to shevv that such kynde of regiment is not so heinous and intollerable or in any vvyse euel as this man maketh it Deborah shal marche in the first ranke and haue the first place both for thantiquite of the tyme Deborah the authoritie of the story and the happy successe of hir reigne Deborah saieth the scripture iudged the people of Israell Iud. 5. and the people resorteth vnto hir she delyuered them out of thraldome and set them at libertie In this vvomans doinges is playnlie set out that she both gouerned in peace and in vvar and so did cōsequently al that any ruler by ciuil authorite might or is vvont to do She iudged saith the scripture and she sent Barake to the vvarre vvho beinge of lesse courage or lesse zeale then she vvas refused to goo onles she vvent vvith him And vvhen they came to encoūter vvith their enemies if she had not bene both Barake and al his souldiors lyke vvite lyuered warriars had geuen backe ānd marred all This woman is coūted of some of the Hebrues to be Barakes wife and yet sent she him to the warre gaue him his commission and made him the generall whereby apeareth that to be true which we saide before that a woman as a wife must be at commauudement but a woman as a magistrate may lawfullye commaunde but this exāple the blast bloweth awai as a peculier example and extraordynarie because wee finde no more the like in the Scripture but that is no sound reason it is but once in the Bible Ergo it is no suffient example we rede not in the scripture more then once or twise that a childe reigned therfore shall it followe that a childes reigne is not by that example stablished VVe find not in the scipture that the Apostles were baptized and yet we thinck they wer VVe rede but once in the scripture that Peter checked a Magistrate and yet some there be that dare affirme and wryte bokes of it that it is not only lawfull to checke but to kil an euil Magistrate But that you may see that wemen reigned in Iudah ofter thē at one time though it be not conteigned in the Bible I shall proue out of Iosephus a Iew born wryting the Iewish history that diuers beside this woman gouerned Iohannes ruler of the Iewes 470. yeares after the captiuitie of Babilon at his deathe left his wife Quene and gouernes who ruled as it apereth rightwel vntil thambition of her sonne contrary to his fathers order troubled her gouernmēt for at the last as a wicked graft Iosep li. 1. de capt he conspired against her and pined her in prison vnto death Not long after Ioseph li. pri Egesip lib pri cap. 12 Aristobulus beinge ruler of Iewrye at his deathe lefte his wyfe Quene to gouerne in his place vnder whose gouernment the lande was in quyet And after she crowned Alexander her husbandes brother whome Aristobulus hadde imprisoned and gaue ouer her title to him VVhereby it do the appeare that she did not onlye gouerne but hadde also authoritie to place a Kinge This Alexander dyinge lefte Alexandra his wife Alexandra Quene of the Countrey who vsed suche mercye and modestie towarde her people that she kept them in peax and wanne their good
Deuels blessinge The receiuing of the Popes absolutiō in the Parliament brought vnto them by satans Apostle the Cardinal God forgeue him for the doing and them for obeying But to what purpose is all this To declare that it is not in England so daungerous a matter to haue a woman ruler as men take it to be For first it is not she that ruleth but the lawes the executors whereof be her iudges appoynted bi her her iustices of peace and such other officers but she may erre in chusing such so may a Kinge and therfore they haue theyr counsel at their elbow which by trauail abrod know men howe fit or vnfit they be for suche offices 2. she maketh no statutes or lawes but the honerable court of Parliament she breaketh none but it must be she and they together or els not 3. If she shuld iudge in capitall crimes what daunger were there in her womannishe nature none at all For the veredict is the 12. mennes whiche passe vppon life and deathe and not hers Onlye this belongeth to her mynisterie that when they haue founde treason murdre or felonie she vtter the paine limited in the lawe for that kind of trespasse Yea but this she can not do because a womā is not learned in the lawes No more is your kinge and therefore haue they their ministers whiche can skill if they be cruell wicked handmakers and bribers it is their faulte and not the Princes onles he know them to be such and winke at it VVhat maye she doe alone wherein is pearill She maye graunte pardon to an offender that is her prerogatiue wherein if she erre it is a tollerable and pityfull error to saue life She maye mispende the reuenues ōf the crowne wantonlye so can kings do to VVhere mistreies be vvomens gouernment cannot be dangerus and cōmonlye do and yet may they be kings if on thother part the regiment were such as all hanged vppon the Kinges or Quenes wil and not vpon the lawes wrytē if she might decre and make lawes alone without her senate If she iudged offences accordinge to her wisdome and not by limitation of statutes and laws if she might dispose alone of war and peace if to be short she wer a mere monark and not a mixte ruler you might peraduētute make me to feare the matter the more and the les to defend the cause But the state being as it is or ought to be if men wer wurth theyr eares I can se no cause of feare nor good reason why Saint Paule forbiddinge her to preache shoulde be thoughte to forbidde her to rule nether Saint Chrisost Amb. li. q vet no. test hētr 33. q. ◠Amb. Theoph. or Primassius writinge vppon that place gather anye suche thinge as you strain out of it I knowe verye well that Ambrose saithe they maye not teache be witnesses nor iudge and Aug. in li. 2. gen et hab 23. q. s. Est ordo saith he It is a naturall order in men that the women shuld obey theyr husbandes and children their parents Saint Hierom thought them vnmete to iudge alone by their discretion Ergo to beare rule and conserre in pollitike matters with other Nay it is a fallax adicto secundum quid ad simpliciter for he forbiddeth them to iudge in a respect neither hauinge rule by enheritaunce nor iudging and conferring with other and you therfore gather that simplie they are forbidden Deborah iudged and that lawfully which cam not to it by enheritaunce but by extraordinarye callinge Muche more may she that to Gods callinge hathe ioygned thordinarie meanes of enheritaunce her commons consent Ansvvere to the fathers and confirmaciō of lawes To Saynt Austen and all the rest which wolde haue women in the subiection of their husbandes is to be answered as before that their meaning and speaking was of euery priuate woman in the bonds of mariage And not of those which God by birth hath called to the gouernments of realmes Neither is it to be thought that any of thold fathers wold be so iniurious to any heirs female as to take frō thē their fathers patrimony or that wold that al other mēs daughters shuld haue ād enioy their right and kings daughters shuld be put frō their righte Either so seuer thinheritaunce from the dominion Vvomans inheritāce linked vvith the dominiō Nu. 27. that they maye haue th one withoute the other whiche wil be harde for you to do or els graunt them both as you oughte to do The daughters of Silphad by the iudgement of God and not of man were enhabled to their enheritaunce And shall we take vppon vs to iudge in our pollicie otherwise then God did in his Againe Saint Augustine Hierome the Cannon law and Arist meddle not wyth those rules and gouernmentes whiche come by lyneall discentes coincydent and linked with the inheritaunce but with such as stand in election VVherfore it is to be noted Thediuer sities of Magistrates that there be .iii. maner of Magistrates One chosen by lotte as was the house of Saul A nother by Suffrages and election as in Venice Polonia the fre Cities of Germany and thempire And the thirde prouided of God by lineall succession as in Fraunce England and other Kingdōs if any were to be chosen by lotte or suffrage I would not in dede that any woman should stand in the election but men only for I say with Aristotle that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the male is by all ly kelihod meter to rule then the womā in many respectes And vndoubtedly in the whole number of men might be founde some one that shoulde in all respectes passe the beste among women in wisdome grauite learning vnderstanding sobrietie temperauncie hablenes to take paines warly kenes iustice fortitude c. But when it standeth in no mans election but in his hande that shapeth male or female in the wombe of the mother at his pleasure In Englād God hath al the voices in his ovvn hād Then hath mans voyce no authoritie by cause he hath gyuen ouer his right in chusing by cōmon consent vnto God That he according to his inscrutable wysdome may chuse and dispose as he pleaseth This being doone shall man pull back his graunt or call God to accompt and say Nay when we agreed the matter should be referred to your iudgemēt we ment not that you should send vs a woman to rule ouer vs or we had forgottē to put that in the cōdicions and therfote you must geue vs leaue to reuoke our graūt for we can prouide better then thus our selfes VVere not this a foly she plea thinke you and a mad enterprise wold he not sone aunswer vs. Oh you presumptuous fooles Gods aunsvver to mens soly that haue suche opinion of your own wyt who made empires and kyngdomes dominions and rules who preserueth and mainteineth them whose be they yours or myne must you haue the orderyng or I If they bee myne
wyll whiche her husbande throughe his crueltie rigoure and vnmercifulnesse hadde vtterlye loste She is muche commended in the stories for her good and pollitike gouernment not onlye in kepinge that was lefte her but also for encreasinge it vntill the churche menne the Pharisies and Priestes abusinge her pitye and deuoute mynde gatte authoritie to empry son murder and kill whome they listed Not muche vnlike in thys poynte to the late Quene Mary who bearinge and wearing Quene Mary a womans hart coulde not I thincke haue vsed suche rigoure and extremitie in impry soning banishinge rackinge hanginge dravving hedding burninge flesinge and fleainge withal manner of extremitie not sparinge her owne bloude no not her natural sister Onles she had bene so bewitched and endoted by her Cardinall Bishoppes and Church-men of whome some be gone before her to taste of those rewardes whiche she and they by suche extremitie deserued And those that remaine muste follovve onles they vvashe avvaye the spottes of bloude that hange vppon their Rachets vvith fluds of teares of repentaunce Oh they may thanck God The Prelates haue time of repentance that they haue this time to brethe them and bethink them of their naughtie and hellishe crueltie and to call daily and hovverly for pardon and forgeuenes for let them thincke that if they be not punyshed in this life nor repent God accompteth their dedes so vile and the faultes so heynous that no temporall paines be inough for suche offences and therfore reserueth them to eternall damnaciō Oh hovvld and vvail you priests and prelats not for the daūger you stād in of losing your bishopriks ād benefices Note you Prelates your pōp and your pride your dignities ād honors your riches and vvelth but for that hel hathe opened hys mouth vvide and gapeth to svvallovve you for the shedding of so much innocēt blud for the murdring of so many martirs and spoiling Christes church of so many glistering and glorious ornamēts cōmended of al men for learning and discōmended of none for their liuinge But to returne to my storye The Quene deceiued by her churche men this Quene Alexādra vvas so inuegled of the church mē that as Iosephus saith she ruled other and the Pharisies her It is an easy matter for them that be of deuout mindes and godly dispositiōs to be broughte into error by those vvhom they think to be godly And therfor that cōmō vvelth is hapy saith Plato vvhose gouerner is a philosopher or a Philosopher their gouerner vvhē princes be lerned thē selfes Learnyng in prynces thei shal not hang alone vpō the mouths of the prelates but iudge thē selfes hovv true it is they teache that they may saye with the Samaritanes woman we do not beleue it because thou say est it but because we haue sene our selues Ioh. 4. VVhat shoulde we saye of the Quene of Saba whome Christ with his own mouth commendeth for her desire to heare Salomons wisdom and calleth her by the name of Quene 1. Reg. 10. Luc. 11. If she had vnlawfully and against nature vsurped that authoritie surely he would as well haue founde faulte with her vnlawful rule as he commended her diligēt trauail But Christ knowing the boundes of hys office wold not meddle with externe pollycies trāslating of realms Luc. 12. ād depriuing of true inheritors No when he was desired to be arbiter betwixte two brethern he axed not how the pleastode but who made him an officer Diuines me thinke shoulde by this example not geue them selues to much the bridle Spirituall mē shuld not medle vvith policies and to large a Scope to meddle to farre with matters of pollicie as this is wherupon depēdeth either the welfare or ilfare of the whole realm If those ii offices I meane Ecclesiastical and Ciuil be so iumbled together as it may be lawful for both parties to meddle in both functions there can be no quiet nor any wel ordered common welth But because this argument requireth a long treatise I leaue it and go forwarde with my matter I passe ouer here the sister of Antigonus and Salome The sister of Antigonus Salome the sister of Herode of the which one was Quene of Hircania and tho ther appoynted by Augustus Cesar to rule ouer Iammam Azotum Phasalidem and Astaloniam and the same regiments she after left to Iulia Tiberius motherād Augustus wife Ioseph 1. li. ca 13. These are euidente argumentes that whyle the Romaynes at that tyme the Monarkes of the worlde did so bestowe kyngdomes vpon womē they thought it not to be against nature for that sexe to gouerne Many other exāples of such regimentes there be in the histories of the Iewes which I might alledge for this matter if I thought not these sufficient but that it may appeare that not only it was in vse and practise in that nacion to bee ruled by that sexe but also emong the gentiles which were rather ledde by the lawe of nature then hedged in with gods pollycie I will shortly runne ouer some of their prophane histories Berosus a Babilonian borne Lib. 5. and for the truthe of his storie preferred before all the Grekes and worthely for he followed no fables as they commonly dyd but the recordes of the Caldies saith that Noah whiche was called Ianus for iain signifieth wyne whiche he inuented made his daughter Cranā quene and gouernes of Italy Crana Noahs doughter which thing being true as it is moste lyke howe dare men saye that their regiment is against nature VVhiche that worthy father whome God thought amyddes his vnspeakeable wrath against the whole world not only to saue and preserue but also to make hym the author of the newe worlde did not only suffer as a thinge tollerable but apoynted as an order most honest If we cōdempne his dede we must also condēpne Gods choise who could not fynde or pick oute a worthier or wvser man to be the restorer of mākind then hym that should so shamefully erre as they saye against nature In the monarche of the Babilonians Hero li. 1. were very notable Semiramis and Nicocris both for their vvisdome and selicite in gouerning also for the notable monuments they lest behind thē Semiramis Semiramis after the death of hir husbād Ninus fearing least the late conquestes and countreis vvoulde not be kept in avve by hir sonne yet yōg of yeares vnskilfull in gouernmēt and not of courage mough to play the king in the persone of her sonne for the tyme of his nonage ruled so as Berosus saith of hir that she passe in seates of vvarre in triumphes conquestes and vvelthe all that vvere then lyuinge or before hir She buylded Babilō she cōquered Ethiopia she inuaded India vvhether neuer king nor Emperour came Iust lib. 1. but Alexander the great Thother Nicocris as Herod reporteth vviser then the former Hero li. 1. desēdid hir empire agaīst the Medes who thē sought the monarchie of
the vvorlde She vvrought suche a vvonder in the great flud Euphrates as al men then vvere amased at it and yet thinke it almoste incredible for she made it coÌ„trary to all mens expectacioÌ„ to leave thold course and to folow hir deuise to fro to serue the citie most coÌ„modiously So that she did not only passe all meÌ„ in wyt but ouercaÌ„e the elemeÌ„ts with povver VVheÌ„ she died she caused to be ingraued in hir sepulchre these vvordes If any king of Babilon stande innede of treasure let him searche my tombe Nicocris byl in hir tombe But not onles he be in nede This sepulchre was neuer touched til Darius wan BabiloÌ„ vvho digging vp hir graue fouÌ„d nothing but a vvriting to thê effect If thou weert not an vnsaciable rauenour thou vvouldest not scrape for riches emoÌ„g dead mens bones I thinke that some fault vvilbe found in these specially in Simiramis by cause she attyred hir selfe lyke hir sonne and that shal be thought a sufficieÌ„t refutacioÌ„ For it is the maner of the world to blot out many good and honest dedes with obiecting of one euil But that can not hurt my matter nor helpe his For so that I wyn at his hand that these womeÌ„ reigned and kept their couÌ„treis in as good order or better then any men did it is a great likelihod that this sexe is not so vnapt to rule as he maketh theÌ„ AmoÌ„g the Masagits reigned Thomirê Thomiris a womaÌ„ of such fame for hir wisdom and power Hero li. 1. that Cirê° that noble Persian and first monarche after the Medes seÌ„t to hir for mariage to whome she made answer Thomiris aunsvver that she knew his meaning was to mary hir kingdome and not hir which answer if Quene Mary had gyuen to Philip Calles Hams and Guisnes had not bene lost nor thê good lady hir sister and our souereigne so lefte in the breers besett about on euery syde almoste with mightie enemies empouery shed and robbed of hir common treasure and hir subiectes so flesed that they must scrape nere the boones that vvill get any more This Thomiris vvith this ansvvere kyndled Cirus vvrath so muche Kinges caÌ„ not beare repulses that no remedy he muste vppon hir and haue hir by force vvhome he could not gett by fayre meanes And hadde at the first so good lucke against hir that he kylled hir sonne and the moste parte of his armie But this noble Quene let it not long go vnreueÌ„ged for coÌ„ming to the field hir self and pitching a battell against him ouercame hym that hadde before ouercome all other cutte of his head and thrust it into a vesselful of bloud saying drinke thy fill vvhiche hast euer so thirsted bloud In this story by the vvay is to be noted that if kings be vvovvers and no speders there can be small hope that they vvill be faithfull friendes after For greate men can not beare great repulses specially vvhen their povver is such as they can vvhen they vvill reuenge it And a mynde or harte vvhere loue hath dvvelt if it begynne ones to hate is lyke a sponge vvhiche sucketh vp as muche vvater of malice as it had before hony Mother vnto this greate monarke Cirus vvas Mandane MaÌ„dane doughter vnto Astiages king of Media who hauing no more children but hir because he drempt that out of his doughters vvombe sprong a tree vvhich shadovved all Asia thought by destroing hir child begotten of Cambises a Persian Hero li. 1. he should auoide the destenie And therfore assone as the child vvas borne deliuered it to one Harpagus a trusty maÌ„ of his Iust lib. 1. to be made avvay and destroyed But Harpagus forcasting lyke a vvyse polytike selovve that if he killed the childe the mother enheriting after hir father vvould be on his bones for it and call him to accompte founde the meanes that it vvas saued This mans forsight vvas not muche vnly ke the polly cie of some by sshops in Englande Harpagi in EnglaÌ„d in the late quenes dayes vvho being more vvyse and lesse furious then the rest though they serued at an ynche in their calling in ambassages to fetche in the holy father to minister vngracious counsell and do all that vvas commaunded yet vvould they not appeare to be any of the broylers of the milde martirs or the common hang men as the rest vvare least the day might come that Mandane might axe accompt of these Harpagi for her children and seruantes but the rest as desperate dicks went forward in their busines Desperate dickes good Bishops in England spared none dred no pearill looked no further then their fote but with to the and naile cried downe with the side hang some racke some beheade some banish some broile some fetch them vp with numbers of harnessed men into the Tower wyth them spare neither kithe nor kin sister nor other it made no matter so they might shew them selfes obedient subiects to the Quene and disobedient traytors vnto God and the realme Harpagi signifyeth raueners These were Harpagi in dede and furi but not in wit and forsight Now to mi purpose if it hadde not bene an order in Media that the daughter shuld succede the father yea in the whole Monarchie of Asia what needed Harpagus to haue mistrusted Mandanes reuenge So that it is more theÌ„ euident that women might not only enherite after their fathers in prouinces and small kingdoms but in great Monarchies and Empires which shuld not haue bene so permitted in all places if it had bene so much against godes forbid If I shuld here tarye in the setting oute of Artemisias noble courage Artemisia excellent wisdom and felicitie in Gouernment of whom Herod maketh mencion I should easely finde Hero li. 8 how to begin but hardly how to end wherfore I say onli of her as Herod Iust and all other writers do Iust li. 2. that she was more mete to haue gouerned that heuge army of Xerxes which for the greatnes dranke dry all the riuers it came to then he him self was For when he inuaded Grecia and by the subtiltie of Themisto cles was discomfited at Salamine and like a coward was glad to take his feete She not onlye encouraged her souldiours so as they passed al other in the conflict but also gaue the king such counsel as if he had followed it all Gretia had smarted for it and he vndoubtedly haue bene the conqueroure But he like a braynsick beast thinking as many do that it had ben a shame to be well counseled or ruled by a woman had rather follow his owne fansy to his vtter vndoing In couÌ„sell looke not to the person but to the reasoÌ„ then her wisdom to saue his country and army And therfor he went home not like a king but like a cockescome not like a conqueror but like a coward not like a man but like a mouse in a fishers boote with one or two with
extern and ciuil to the vtter vndoing of the realm that they wer glad to grow to agrement and suffer her son to haue his right and the vsurper had not only neuer a good day so loÌ„g as he reigned but also by the iust iudgement of God first was imprisoned and next lost his soÌ„ne Eustachiê° in whoÌ„ was all his glory thinking he shuld haue reigned after him what shuld we say God hath not onli shewed his displesure and wrath against such as haue sought vnder this pretence to defeat true heirs but also hath in this our realme raised vp greate houses by their menes as the house of York by Philippa aÌ„d Anna which by mariage brought the title into the house of the Morty mares And King Henry the .7 and all that line Poly. colde not claim but by the woman which was daughter to Henry the .6 and mother to Richard Duke of Richmond Charles the .8 refused Maximilians daughter to whoÌ„ he was betrothed aÌ„d maried the heir of Britain called Anna despoused to Maximilian but seduced by certen noble womeÌ„ bribed of the french King aÌ„d by that mariage became Lord of the couÌ„try against the wils of al the nobles For they thought it better to marrye one whiche might be their seueral Lord then to ioign Britaine with such a realm as shuld drown the name of it and bring them as they be to slauery Amias was defended by a womaÌ„ against tharmy of MaximiliaÌ„ Arnoldus it had ben els lost as al the french men confessed her name was Catherina licia A maid defeÌ„ded Orliance A vvomaÌ„ noble and happye in vvarres in armor against the duke of Burgundie and the English army and after with the same her army led the yoÌ„g king Charls the .7 to Rome aÌ„d ther crowned him Before this maids time the English euer prospered and the french wer eueÌ„ at the last cast geuing vp the goste but she brought them into that condicioÌ„ that afterwarde they grewe and we appaired The firste healpe of the french a vvoman Helena the Quene of the Adiabenits ruled so wisely and godli that after her deth the Iewes erected a monumeÌ„t for her remembrance at the gates of Ierusalem She ministred to the nede of the pore liberally in the greate dearth that than was in Iury. Euseb li. 2. cap. 10. Thus thou seest good Reader that if this man take nature so generallye as it may stretche to all conntries all tymes and al coÌ„mon welthes and then saye it is against nature for a woman to rule That is againste the generall confente and order engrafte by nature in al peoples and mennes mindes that then it is mooste vntrue For I haue proued that neither the Iewes nor the GeÌ„tils nor yet the christiaÌ„s had that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that coÌ„moÌ„ opinioÌ„ plaÌ„ted bi nature in their harts that it stode not with good order of nature that one of that sex shuld rule But shortly I reasoÌ„ thus with him whatsoeuer is natural the same is vniuersal But that womeÌ„ shuld not rule is not vniuersall Ergo it is not naturall If to rule in women be vnnaturall then not to rule is naturall But not to rule is not vniuersall Ergo it is not natural That it is not vniuersal we haue proued by a great number of histories which testify that wemen in al ages and all countries haue gouerned Again what so euer is naturall hath in the mind of maÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as that there is a God all menne haue it in their mindes ingrafted by nature that al societies must be ruled and ordered by magistrates and lawes that murder is wicked and against nature c. which be common opinions in the table of mannes minde written by the finger of God with the pen of nature but of this that only men must rule and not women when it pleaseth God there is no such principle vniuersal in mens mindes For you see that a number of countries decree the contrary wherefore it can not be said that it fighteth with nature But you will reply vpon me thus peraduenture Nature hathe made her a subiect Ergo she can not rule I deny your argument for nature hath made the childe and the seruaÌ„t subiects And yet they may rule as Fabius soÌ„ne and the Kinges seruaunt may be my master wherefor you must vnderstand the argument thus that if nature haue made her a subiect in that state she is a subiect and in respect of them to whome she is subiect she can not be their ruler As a thilde in the dutie of a childe towarde his father is his fathers subiect And a seruaunt in respecte of his master and the duty of a seruaunt can not be his masters heade But in respect of Ciuil pollicie the sonne bearing office may be in that functioÌ„ his fathers head and the kings seruaunt an other mans maister Gen. 39. as Ioseph was in the house of Putiphar So the woman being eyther as a childe to hir father or a seruaunt to hir maister or a wyfe to her husband respecting these persones can not be head ouer them in those offices that is in the office of a father a maister or a husband But in the office of a ruler and a magistrate she may be this maÌ„s wyfe that is his subiect and his head that is his magistrate So that this argument by destinction is nothing for it is a Fallax called ignoratio elenchi as resolue it and you shal see the faulte VVho so euer is one mans subiect can not be another mans ruler or the same mans ruler in an other respect But awyfe is hir husbandes subiect ergo she can bee none other maÌ„shead nor his in an other respect This is false for the contradictorie is true That a wyfe may be this mans wyfe and that mans maistres and this mans subiect in the dutie of matrimony and the same maÌ„s head in thauct horite of office Thus we se that al reasons well set out are lyke a wel kempt buss he wher neuer a here lyeth amysse so longe as he hath a hous to couer him But when he cummeth into the wynde it is sone ruffled Or lyke a paynted madams face whiche so longe as no maÌ„ bloweth vpon it nor sweat ryseth in it is gay glistring but any of these meanes make the wrinkles sone to appere So a false argumeÌ„t decked with fayre wordes semeth good but turne it naked and you shall sone see the botches The seconde Argument is this that the scripture forbiddeth that a woman should rule The secoÌ„d ArgumeÌ„t and therfore it is not tollerable the prouses be out of tholde testament Gen. 2. Esai 3. First that after the false of Adam through the womans intrcement it was enioyned hir and hir posterite as a penauÌ„ce to be at the beck and coÌ„maundemeÌ„t of the maÌ„ 2 That Esai pronouceth as a curse that the rulers for the peoples vnrulines shal be
are lyke to enfect the best heads in Europe I meane the Italyans if God prouide not remedy Shall it be easy thynke you for euery man to ioyne with them I can not tell howe simple they be But one man of that sect so distourbed a whole vniuersitie in Germany that all the learned men there and the Prince him self Tubinga in Sueuia was not hable to scrape out that he had wickedly grauen The Swingfieldians the Maioranes the Pelagians the froward freewyll men the Adiaphoristes the Osdrianistes thenewe Marcionistes the Anabaptistes with infinite other swarmes of Satanistes do you thinke that euery pulpit man wyll be hable to aunswer them I pray God there be many that can I saye therfore because there is so muche required in a spirituall minister that all men bee not mete for the office And therfore that with good reason women bee debarred from it Albeit at some tymes it pleaseth God to vse their ministrie euen in this poynt Ioh. 4. as the woman of Samaria whiche was the fyrst preacher to hir cytezens of the Messias and the women Math. 28. Marc. 16. Ioh. 20. Ruff. li. 10 cap. 10. Theo li. 1. cap. 23. the fyrst Apostles and messengers of the resurrection And as we reade in the Ecclesiasticall historie A certen woman vnder Const Mag. was the Apostle of the Iberians whiche turned first the Kynge and Quene and then the whole countrey to the fayth of Christe This coulde not bee done without some talke in thasseÌ„blies nor without a kynde of preachyng Yea Theodoretus sayeth that she dyd preache to them wherfore me thinke euen in this poynte wee muste vse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certen moderacion not absolutelie and in euerye wyse to debarre them herein as it shall please GOD to serue Christe Are there not in Englande women thynke you that for their learnynge and wysdome coulde tell their housholde and neighbours as good a tale as the best Sir Ihon there And what if by occasion not by common office they shoulde sumtyme make their neighbours partakers of their giftes were it so heinous a matter 1. Tim. 2. I pray you what more vehemencye vseth Paule in the forbiddynge of women to preache then inforbydding them to vncouer their heads He sayeth of the one 1. Cor. 11. it is euyll fauoured and of the other that it is against nature As vvomeÌ„ be forbidden to preache so be they to go bare headed And yet you knowe that in the best reformed churches of all Germany all the maides be bare headed whiche the preachers and learned men make noo greate accompte of This I saye not because I allowe either for I assure you I dooe not But that wee should not in suche pointes grate vpon the woordes to sore as though in no respecte a woman may opeÌ„ hir mouth to edifie But if this be vtterly taken from them in this place what maketh it against their gouernment in a politike weale where neither the woman nor the man ruleth If there be no tyraunts but the lawes For as Plato saith Plato de leg lib. Illi ciuitatiparatuÌ„ est exitiuÌ„ vbi magistratê° legibus inperat et noÌ„ leges magistratui That cytie is at the pits brinke wherin the magistrate ruleth the lawes and not the lawes the magistrate VVhat could any kyng in Israell do in that coÌ„mon wealth besides the pollycie appoynted by Moyses They be but ministers obeyed for the lawes sake and not for their owne Nowe what vnhablenes is in a woman for the ministring of lawes She knoweth not the lawes no more doth your kyng She sitteth not in iudgement howe oft doth your kyng Onles you call determining matters in his priuie chamber iudging She is not mete to go to the warres she hath that bee mete Tillius Arnoldus Iust Herodot and some wemen haue gonne and sped wel She is not of so sound iudgement peraduenture beter of more lerning then your kyng as it happeneth at this tyme that you can neuer shewe in al Englande synce the conquest so learned a kyng as we haue now a Quene Men will not stande in aweso muche of a woman as of a man that is their faulte and not hirs No more will they of a childe and yet be they traytours that do disobey him Solin 43. cap. Solinus writeth that the neighbours of Sambri haue a dogge to their kynge and by his beckes and fawnings they gesse what they must do But thei were foles in obeying a brute beast and you bee Traytours in not obeying a reasonable creature It is lesse daunger to be gouerned in EnglaÌ„d by a vvoman then any vvhere els They are to obedient a shrewed faulte and you to disobedient that is no faulte VVell a womaÌ„ may not reigne in Englande Better in England theÌ„ any where as it shall wel appere to him that without affection will consider the kinde of regiment whyle I conferre ours with other as it is in it selfe and not may med by vsurpacion I can fyndenone either so good or so indifferent The regiment of Englande is not a mere Monarchie as some for lacke of consideracion thinke nor a meere Oligarchie nor Democratie The kind of gouernment in England Amonarchie is vvher one alone rule An Obligarchie vvhere a fevv rule A Democratie vvher the people rule Architas de leg iustit but a rule mixte of all these wherein ech one of these haue or shoulde haue like authoritie Thimage whereof and not the image but the thinge in dede is to be sene in the parliameÌ„t hous wherin you shal find these .3 estats The King or Quene which representeth the Monarche The noble men which be the Aristocratie And the Burgesses and Knights the Democratie The verye same had Lacedemonia the noblest aÌ„d best city gouerned that euer was thei had their kings their senate aÌ„d Hippagretes which wer for the people As in Lacedemonia none of these could make or breake lawes order for warre or peax or do any thing without thother the king nothinge without the Senate and commons nor either of theÌ„ or both withoute the kinge Albeit the Senate and the Ephori had greater authoritie then the Kinge had In like maner if the parliament vse their priuileges the King can ordein nothing without them If he do it is his fault in vsurping it and their follye in permitting it wherefore in my iudgement those that in King Henry the .viii dais The Parliament in Kinge Henry .8 daie would not graunt him that his proclamacions shuld haue the force of a statute were good fathers of the countri and wurthy coÌ„mendacion in defending their liberty Vvold God that that court of late daies had feared no more the fearcenes of a woman then they did the displeasure of such a man Then should they not haue stouped contrary to their othes and alledgiaunce to the crowne againste the preuilege of that house vppon their marye bones to receiue the
Nunquid sacerdote maior esse poterat Exproprat Psalmus quia et ipse sacerdos erat Moises et Aarō c. In that place Aaron is plainly called a priest but of Moises it is not said that he was a priest If he were not that what was he than Could he be greater then a priest The Psalme doth vtter it that he was a priest To this exposition I saye myne answere is that saint August Not vnderstanding the Hebrewe was easely deceaued and being wrapped in these two places of scriptures wherin there semed cōtradictiō leaueth thē at a iarre as he found thē the one to say he was and the other he was not whiche maner of interpretacion reconciliation of scriptures howe it is to be lyked I leaue to the learned reader to iudge 24. Exod. Heb. 9. 3. That whiche Moises is reported in Exodus and the Hebrewes to haue done as a priest it hurteth vs nothing For he might do sometimes that extraordinarely which be longed to the priest as we read that kinges readde the boke of the law and yet were no priestes Yea al the children of Israel at their cōming out of Egipt dyd as much as this came to for euery one sprīkled bloud vpon theit dore postes in the passeouer and yet they could not all be pristes And this sprincling of bloud vpon the aultar was but a solempne ceremony for the time done and not suche a function as than was proprely appointed to the priestes But to put the matter out of doubt If Moises were a prieste than were there two highe priestes at ones whiche coulde not be by the lawe and also Moises must nedes be in feriour to Aaron because Aaron and not he is there called the highe priest Thus we se how lightly light argumentes may be aunswered and I would wyshe that as easely obstinate men could be satisfied The last is of as litle force as the rest and therfor I say to it shortly that it is grounded vpon a false principle or maxima whiche is that none can giue to another that it hath not it selfe VVe see that as the phisicions say the braine being the origine of the senewes giueth to the whole body sensum motū sense and mouing and yet by their opinion lacketh it selfe Againe the earth giueth to all frutes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche Arist saith is spēs motus that is that they should growe and moue to a greater quantitie and yet the earthe it selfe neither moueth toward bygnes nor increaceth one way nor other And if a prince may geue to a lawyer authoritie to plead lawe though he can not pleade him selfe and prescribe a Tanner how he shall tanne though he tanne not him self being neither a lawyer nor a tanner why may he not I pray you in lyke maner constitute apoint correct and ouerse the church men though he be no churche man him self But the meaning of these mē is to driue prīces frō ouerseing them that they might in the meane time liue out of subiection And now the name being odious because theire dissolute lyfe hath purchased them an euell name they thinke when no shifte els will serue that princes will not medle with the authoritie les they should be combred with the priestes infamie VVhat the Princes authorite was ouer the bysshoppes and priestes aperith in the .2 of the kinges 2. Re. ca. 12 where Ioas checketh the bysshop and priestes for not bestowing the offeringes vpon the reparation of the the temple and enioyneth them to do it If the prince hadd not this authorite ouer his bisshoppes and priestes why should S. Paul haue said omnis anima Let euery soule be subiect to the higher power Rom. 13. he saith not al tēporal soules or al saue priests This authorite kept the prīces emperours after christs time vntil the beast of Rome made thē worse thē beasts as apearith by Cōstantinus Magnus who was the moderator of the great counsell of Nece And by Iustiniane whiche writeth to Peter the maister of his chappel matters Neceph lib 8. Tripart hist cap. 5 where he saieth Iuuemus we commaunde that all Bysshops and Priestes do not from henceforth whisper thir Seruice but so pronounce it with an audible voyce that the people may heare vnderstāde thē c. In nouell consti 123. This Emperour euen in matters of the churche toke vpon him thauthoritie to appoint them an order in their Seruice howe dare then our proude prelates very fooles in deede to them that were then wrastle with the Prince in this matter But to oure matter we see by these examples that the Princes hadde authorite in spiritualties to ouersee them and order them but meddled not with the function in executing for that belonged only to the Priestes Lo I truste you nowe perceaue howe the functions doo differ But thautorite ouer both may lawfully be in one And that maketh not the Prince beynge a woman vtterlye vnmete to gouerne because she hath in somme repect to doo in bothe This I haue sayde by the waye lest our aduersaries the Papistes should snatche this at my hande whyle I thus seuer thoffices that I meane as they doo to pull from the Prince the ouersight and gouernmēt of the churche I may not tary longer in that matter at this tyme. A tyme shall come peraduenture when it shall be more largly handeled In the meane tyme I retourne to my purposed argument Furthermore where it is sayde thou shalt chuse a Kynge amonge thy brethren and not among thy systers Deut. 17. And thereuppon is inferred that we may haue no Quene It is the like reason as if a man shuld say Mar. 2. Christ said Veni ad vocandum peccatores ad penitentiam that is I am come to cal men sinners and not women sinners Therfor either womē be no sinners or if they be they shal not bee saued or as one resoned examinet se ipsū homo let a mā examin him self and thē cōmunicate ergo 1. Cor. 11. womē may not And Christ shal at the latter day saye Venite benedicte ād not Benedicte Therfore the womē shal not com in heauē or nearer to this our purpose Math. 18 Luk. 18 si peccauerit in te frater tuus If thi brother offēd the neuer so oft forgeue him hereupō I gather that I nede not to forgeue mi sister In al tōgs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a singuler good grace and speciallye in the Hebrue tonge wher Ach which signifieth a brother dothe not only comprehend also a sister but a nephewe to Ach. signifieth brother sister and Nephevv And through out the whole scripture the masculine comprehendeth the feminin or els sure we must say with the phrenitik postellus that women be not yet redemed but men and that they must haue a woman to dye for them aswell as men hadde Christe Postellus phrensy That place of
whether he be suche a one or no and so without racking wresting and tormenting the deede maye be founde But in deede at these dayes it is growen to great corruptiō and that thorow one speciall meanes or two which be these If there be any noble man dwellinge in the countrey either a Duke a Marques an Earle or Baron The iuries and quests corrupted He shall lyghtlye haue in his retynewe all the cobbes in the countrey whiche be the questmōgers and if any matter be touchinge him his man or his frende whether it bee a cryme capitall or Nisi prius sent downe for landes the case shal wey as he wil. The freholders reteinours to great men For his deteynors must nedes haue an eye to my lorde though they should go to the deuill for it and so be some innocentes knyt vp and some offenders delyuered some titles of inheritaūce lost agaīst al iustice and right Another is if my lord wyll not offend the Statute of retynewe then must the hyghe Shrife be his frende And the vnder thefe vndershrise I should saye his man He empaneleth the quest either suche as dare not displease my lorde or for good will will not And so that way betwixt the highe these and vnderthese my L. and the curstmongers The corruption of the Sherifs poore mē are out weyed This corruption if it be not loked to wil not make this order whiche was the best that could be to be the wickedst that can be But as I sayde in it selfe me thinke it hath much more iustice equytie and indifferencie then the cyuill or rather cruel rack hath If I should peruse and compare all poyntes wherein ours differ from the cyuill and shewe that for our countrey it is muche meeter I should neuer make an ende VVherfore these shal be sufficient to shewe that you must brynge our owne weyghtes to weye our matters by and not straungers or els we must take you for an euell Clarke of the markett Therfore if you will iudge well of our municipall matters you muste let vs alone with our own coate and geue the great boye his Nowe I passe to certen inconueniences whiche are thought to come of womens rule The incōueniences that folovve vvo mens rule The first Many inconueniences do commonly followe the rule of women and their enheritinge of kyngdomes as the losse of holdes and auncient possessions as experience teacheth of late daies by the departing from Hams Guisnes and Calyce with all that we hadde in Fraunce besides the daungeringe of the realme to be gouerned by straūgers which thing of late was muche feared and not vnlyke to happen For the first it is to trewe that in that womās reigne Englande was put to a sore plunge through hir wylfulnes which wold moue warre when she might haue bene at peax vpon no iust cause but because as you wold haue her she wold shew her a louing worme and an obediente wife rather then a catefull gouernes That follye was accidente to her person England hath hitherto taken greater losse by mens rule then by vvomens and not proper to her sexe But admit it to be throughe the fault of a woman haue we not had as greate and greater by men who loste olde Brytaine to Iulius and the Romaines men Vvho loste it againe to the Saxons men Of whom wone it VVilliam conquerour of men who lost it to the Danes mē who lost Normandie Brytanie Gascoigne and Guine and al our right in Fraunce men who lost Bulloigne Bullenois and all the rest a man VVho killed the Scottish King when Henry 8. was in Fraunce a woman or at the least her army who brought in the light of gods worde into Englande a woman who lighteth now again the candle after it was put oute a woman whereby it is euident that we haue not yet so muche cause to complaine of losse by them as by men And in oure histories whiche we haue before cited wee maye see manye common welthes by women enlarged or at the leaste well preserued but fewe ey ther muche weakened or vtterlye destroyed Onles you tell me of the destruction of Troye which notwithstandinge was rather thorowe the follie of Paris then anye rule of Helena and as for thys losse we haue nowe I doubte not but as the olde fathers are wonte to saye that as by a woman came death so by a woman was broughte fourthe life In like manner as bi a womans whether negligence or misfortune I wote not we haue taken this woūd so bi anothers diligence and felicitie we shal haue it againe healed If euerye man coulde perswade him selfe of as good successe by her as I do my selfe I doubte not but the Frenche and the Scottes bothe shoulde haue theyr handes full I praye God oure vnthanckfulnes make vs not to fare the worse The .2 inconuenience The next and greatest incōuenience and daunger to be feared is that if a woman inherit the realm by mariage shall be transserred to straungers A greate matter I confesse if it so bee yet GOD maye do with his owne what he liste Scitote saith the Prophet quia deus est dominator in regno hominum et ipsius regnum est cuicunque vult dabit illud if he will translate it Ecclesi 10. who can let it Yea in another King Henries daies And some translation and ioigning of realmes maye turne to muche good and the wealth and tranquilitie of many As if we had had a Kinge for your Quene or you a King for oures it had bene a goodly translacion to haue vnited bothe realmes in dominion regiment and law as thei be in nature lāguage ād maners I suppose a great dele better for your coūtry thē as it is now thus to be matched yea subiected and slaued to the proudest vntruest and the mooste tirannicall nacion The heny yokes of the french vnder the sonne I except not the Spaniardes whose dominion the Italians in Millane Naples Scicilie and elsse where can muche better brouke and abide then the light and inconstant French Caesar in comment as Cesar calleth them If you and we had ioigned together it had made no great matter on which side the kinge had bene so he had bene religious I graunte if all thinges answer it is better ioignynge at home then chusing abrode As if he be no verye base or meane person if he loue and feare God if he be of the same religion The orna mentes of an honieborie ma. indued with good and commendable qualities of wisdome Iustice Manhode Temperaunce giftes of languages knowledge of Countries pitifull mercifull constaunte sobre no hearer of flatterers continent not prodigal but liberal no extorcioner c. Such a one if God shoulde lot any Quene were to be preserred to any abrode Onles all these myght be found in a straunger and therto iouned nobilitie and auncientnes of lynage and the nation beyng such as vse not to rule
Scripture which commaundeth a brother to be a king emong the Iewes had no relacion to a sister as these meÌ„ make it but to straungers For it followeth non constituus regem alterius gentis Thou shalt not make the a kinge of a straunge nation For the people of God hauing no neighbours that worshipped the true God as thei did could not haue chosen any straunger to be their kinge but they shoulde haue bene in daunger of swaruing from God and falling to Idolatrie And therfore was it necessary to apoynt great coate to Englande no more than you wolde apoint the English law which is the litle cote to Rome our lawe muste direct vs because it best agreeth with our country we haue no further to do with the ciuil law then in arch matters that is for testaments mariages and such other as for landes and enheritance pains for offences and many other poynts touching the law ours doth meruelously iarre with the ciuill law as we shall in some poyntes declare VVherfore to burden vs with the ciuil lawe is asmuch as if you shoulde perswade the Scottes to vse the Garamantes law to kil men at .50 and women at .40 because the countrey being somwhat barren can not wel norish such as by their age can do no greate good But that you may see that the ciuill lawe and oures agreeth like harpe and harrowe we wil confer them in a fewe poyntes And because this matter wherof we treate concerneth enheritaunce we wil first speake of inheritance In England the Eldest sonne inheriteth the sathers landes only sauing in Gauel kind And in mi opinion it is good pollicie for the continuaunce of houses For nothing soner destroieth greate houses then the deuision of then heritance as it appeareth in Germany The deuision of inheritance destroyeth noble houses and wil more hereafter to our posterity when the yong brothern shall not be made abbottes bishops and cardinals as they haue hitherto bene In the Ciuil law the children succede indifferentlye in their fathers patrimony in fendis the sonnes and in other both sonnes and daughters l. max. vit ff sancimus C. de lib. praet IteÌ„ in Autent de hered ab intest in princ et in ff 〈◊〉 et ff cum filius Iust de hered VVhere you see not only our lawe farre to disagree with this But also that the ciuil lawe graunteth enheritaunce to the females whiche you would plucke away The cyuill lawe geueth the father power ouer his childe in lyse and death specially that whiche is called Ius vetus as it aperith Le. 2. C. de par qui fil dict et le in suis Edelib et posth C. de pat ptateÌ„ But in England if any father should kill his sonne he should be try sed vp for his labor The cyuill lawe maketh the children of traytors Infames but committeth them not to perpetual prison as they do in Englande In the cyuil lawe the king or lorde of the soile T it de legtute ff lo. Ti. Iust de le app tut hath nothinge to do with wardes or tutorshippes but the next of kynne if the father in his lyfe tyme apoynte none but in our law the kyng hath the wardeship of all that holde of him in capite or knightes seruice And as it was graunted to the crowne vpon a necessary respect So must it not be pulled away VVardeships are not rashly to be pulled from the prince so longe as the same cause remaineth It was geuen him at the first in consideration of the great charges in warre and the smale reuenues that belonged to the crowne And though suche orders seme hard thorough thabusing of theÌ„ by some gredy guttes Yet the realme hauing alwaies almost contynuall warres with the Frenche or Scottes or both who so euer goeth about to pul from the crown suche helpes vnwittingly maketh a breache for the enemy to inuade vs. VVherfore I would wishe that suche as out of gods boke will comptroll the kinges exchequer should well vnderstand the matter befor he brought it into the pulpit In the ciuill lawe CoÌ„st Iust l. fin C. quÌ„d tut velcur esse desinuÌ„t the tutorshippe endith in the males at .14 yeares of age and in the females at 12. But our lawe kepeth him in nonage vntill 21. yeres The cyuil lawe by ndeth not him to marry by the force of his wardship where his Tutor wyll Lâ—nec sil Cde nup. I sisil famile si puel tut l. in coÌ„ uict C de nup. C. de nup. Marriage must be free and in his own choise and may not be compelled by his father muche lesse by this tutor But in England he tutor hath his mariage or maketh him to paye tor his libertie how that coÌ„meth to passe and how in different it is let the lawyers answer I medle no surher but to she we that it is so The cyuill lawe so sauoreth lyfe that it graunteth a traitour his aduocate to defend his innocencie L. seruuÌ„ ff publ vi castr nu 5 Bart. but in our lawe he can haue none to speake for him but him self For the fault is couÌ„ted and that iustly so heynous that it taketh froÌ„ him all maner of helpe to put other in feare Againe the cyuill lawe coÌ„dempneth no man onles he either confesse the faulte or be openly conuicte by witnes sufficieÌ„t But our lawe coÌ„mitteth it to the veredict of 12. meÌ„ indwellers in the couÌ„trey wher the trespas is coÌ„mitted The triall of capitall crimes by 12. men who pronounceth giltie if they thinke so whether he confesseth it or no and oft tymes rather vpon their own coÌ„science then ani great witnes or other euideÌ„ce This order as it was in it self at the first without corruptioÌ„ was maruelous concionable and godly and in my iudgemeÌ„t much better then the cyuil order For they to wring out the coÌ„fession of the fault coÌ„mitted are driuen to vse tormentes and to puny she before they haue tried the faulte wherein they are ofte ty mes deceaued by rackynge those whiche haue not offended and dryuinge them for paynes of tormentes to saye that they neuer did as I haue harde happened at Tubinga in the wirtenberg lande Against racking that a man was broken vpon the whele for murdring an other which after was fouÌ„d a liue the smarts of the tormentes made him to confesse it and lye of him self In monument wherof his image standeth yet in a glasse wyndowe of the churche euen as he was vpon the whele Agayne there was in Englande an Italian not longe agoo who as they saye passed thorowe all the tormentes in Venice and escaped without confessing the faulte whiche in deede he hadde committed On the other syde our The quest mongers 12. men the questmongers being indwellers in the countrey and men of skyll shall learne by the circumstannces as by the life of the maÌ„ the commoÌ„ fame of the people or their own search in the matter