Scots entered England as far as Durham when King Edward preparing to meet them marched to York and there making a halt sent the Lord Montacute to oppose and hinder their further Progress but being encountered on Hedgly Moor by the Lords Hungerford and Ross together with Sir Ralph Peircey he after a sharp dispute took Sir Ralph Prisoner which success incouraged him to pass on and give battel to King Henry who lay encamped at Hexam where both Armies striving to do their utmost devoir a bloody conflict ensued but many being slain and much blood spilt divers of the Commanders wounded and disabled and taken Prisoners Victory declared against King Henry who finding himself unfortunate in War fled into Scotland in this battel 5600 were slain and the Duke of Somerset with three other Lords and one Knight taken Prisoners who were all beheaded And now King Henry returning privately into England in disguise was taken Prisoner and carried to the Tower so that Edward seem'd established in his Throne yet Fate not satisfied with English Blood though the wounded Nation had bled such Streams as made her faint and languish another cruel War arose and the Factions began again to bandy as fierce as ever for Warwick who was called afterwards the make King of those Times being sent to solicite a Marriage between King Edward and the Lady Bona Daughter to Lewis Duke of Savoy and having finished his Negotiation to the liking of the Lady and her Father found upon his return thaâ— the King was married to Elizabeth the Widdow of Sir John Gray slain in upholding the Cause of King Henry at which the Eatâ— supposing his Honour that had been ingaged in the Savoiards Court greatly to suffer grew much inraged and finding mean to withdraw himself joyned with diver Nobles raised a Power and proclaimeâ— King Henry declaring for him and epousing his Interest growing on a suddeâ— so strong that King Edward was forced tâ— draw out his Army and march against him pitching his Camp at Wolney four Milâ— from the Plain on which Warwick was encamped but his Guards being negligent and the Earl having notice thereof entereâ— the Kings Camp and took him Prisoner yeâ— used him very courteously allowing him for his Keeper his Brother George Nevilâ— Arch-Bishop of York who suffering him tâ— ride abroad a hunting and to follow otheâ— Recreations till one day being with a slender Guard far from the Castle and meeting a great Troop of his own Men those thaâ— were with him durst not speak to him 〈◊〉 returning to his Confinement but were glaâ— to leave him behind them and escape for their Lives so that being again at Liberty he was received by his Army with great Joy and passed to London to the great discontent and dislike of the Earl of Warwick Things being at this pass Sir Robert Wells Son to the Lord Wells raised an Army of 30000 consisting mostly of the Commons of Lincolnshire on the behalf of King Henry in revenge of which King Edward caused the Lord Wells and Sir Thomas Dimmock his Kinsman to be beheaded and so marched to fight Sir Robert when charging furiously upon the unexperienced Plebeans they scarcely sustained the second shock but throwing away their Coats and Weapons fled for their Lives from whence it was called the Battel of Loose-Coat-Field and the Execution â—eing hotly pursued by the inraged Soulâ—iers 10000 of them are accounted to be â—ain As for Sir Robert Wells and Sir Thomas Deland who commanded under him â—hey were taken Prisoners Upon the News of this Defeat the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence Brother to King Edward â—ed to Callais but being denied entrance â—hey departed thence to the Court of France where they found Queen Margaret where gathering great Forces they returned to England every where proclaiming King Henry so that the People from all parts hasted to their Standart as well the Nobles as the Commons viz. the Earl of Pembrook the Lord Faulconberg and others so that marching towards London and King Edward finding his Mandates in many places disobey'd thought it not convenient in that juncture to attend the Sequel but with divers of his trusty Friends leâ—â— England and fled to his Brother-in-Law the Duke of Burgundy who had a little before married his Sister so that King Henry waâ— Re-in-throned but continued not long iâ— that Estate before King Edward returned landing in the North with a small Army proclaiming King Henry as he passed and pretending he came only as a private maâ— to possess himself of his Inheritance bâ— which means deceiving the People hâ— surprized the City of York and having garrisoned it pulled off the Vizor and marched towards London reconciling himself by the way thro' the means of a Maiâ— who had been brought up by the old Dutches of York to his Brother the Duke of Clâ—rence whereupon the Citizens opening their Gates and every where proclaiming him King Henry was again taken Prisoner anâ— send to the Tower and now the whole weight of the War lying upon Warwicks shoulders he desperately resolved to carry the day or fighting courageously dye in the Bed of Honour and thereupon directed his March towards London out of which King Edward drew his Forces to meet him and on Easter Day joyned Battel near Barnet since known by the Battel of Barnet-field where either of the Generals impatient of so tedious a War drew on their Forces with great force and fury Warwick charging upon the Kings Squadron broke in with his Sword and made such Distruction that they fled on that part and the Battel had gone on his side had there not been a mistake in part of his Men who by mistaking their Cognizances charged upon their fellows which making them suspect some Treason or sudden Revolt they threw down their Weapons and fled which Warwick perceiving and not finding it in his power to retain them or restore the Battel though he laboured by Example and Perswasion to do it resolving not to out-live the day â—he rushed furiously amongst the Squadrons of the Enemy and there fighting valiantly fell upon the heaps of the slain and with him died his Brother the Lord Montacute and three other Lords were slain on the part of King Edward and of the meaner sort on both sides 20000. The News of this defeat made known to Queen Margaret and Prince Edward her Son by such as fled the field she took Sanctuary in the Abby of Ceerne but the Lords that escaped the Battel of Barnet rallying their scattered Forces gave King Edward another Battel at Tewxbury in which they were overthrown with the loss of 3000 men and of Note the Earl of Devonshire and the Duke of Somerset's Brother there likewise Prince Edward was taken and soon after stabbed by Crook-back'd Richard Duke of Glocester in the Presence of King Edward and soon after King Henry was murthered and his Queen taken from Sanctuary and put to a great Ransom Thus stop'd the Stream of Blood
Anno 1390. THE Turkish Kingdom founded by Othoman in Asia having spread it self in a short time over the Hellespont into Europe and their Arms brought a Terror upon the Greek Empire now sick and languishing by reason of intestine broils to prevent the further incroachment of Amurath the Despot or Prince of Servia made a private League with the King of Bosna that with their united Powers they might defend their Territories which was not yet so secretly done at an interview between them but the Turk had notice of it and having overthrown Aladin the Caramanian King in Asia and stripped him out of his Countries he drew all his Forces into Europe to oppose the Princes who were raising what Power they could to march against him and knowing they had to deal with one of a fierce and cruel nature resolved to try what might be done by stratagem in order to which a Captain that kept a Castle on the Confines of Bosna hasting to the Camp of Amurath promised him for a large Reward no put the greater part of the strong holds into his hands if he would follow his directions confirming him in what he said by many specious Pretences and Protestations insomuch that the covetous Turk credited him so far as to send 20000 men under the leading of his Tutor Lala-Schahin which the Captain suffering for a while to plunder some inconsiderable Places to give them thereby the greater confidence of their security in the end he trained them into an Ambush of 30000 Besniacks who as they were stragling fell upon them and cut off 15000 of them the other 5000 with Schahin hardly escaping to make a relation of their welcom Amurath being not a little grieved and vexed at the misfortune and disgrace put upon him by one in whom he thought he might have confided considering the Rewards he had bestowed to ingage him on his part breathed nothing but Revenge against the Christians and in the height of his fury commanded his Army to march into Servia where somewhat contrary to his Expectation he found the Christians with a formidable Army ready to bid him battel when as some inconsiderable Towns being taken and possest on both parts and the dreadful day of battel drawing nigh the Armies as if by consent met upon the large Plains of Cossovia where the Generals and Great Captains on either side having made many Speeches and moving Orations to animate the Souldiers to try their utmost Power and Force and set them in battel array the charge was founded and the battalions joyned with such fury that the Earth trembled under their Feet and such was the horrid clashing of Arms the noise and shouts of the Conquerors the Groans and Crys of the vanquished and the neighing and trampling of Horses that many report the wild Beasts in the Mountains stood trembling at what it might signifie or whence so great a Clamour proceeded and that such as beheld the fight at a distance imagined the showers of Arrows that darkned the Plains descended from the Clouds and so furiously the Despot to revenge the mischiefs the Turks had done in his Country charged upon the right wing that he broke and disordered it and pierced the main battel But the Turks being double the number of the Christians and Bajazet Amurath s Son coming in with twenty thousand Horse restored the battel so that the Christians being wearied with slaughtering their Enemies and having done all that could be expected from true Valour for the space of eight hours for so long the battel lasted they were at length overset and put to the worse in all parts and the Plains were made mountainous with the heaps of the slain so that they in some measure hindred the pursuit though the Christians like men desperately resolved to conquer or dye fled not till Lazarus the Despot and all the great Captains were killed valiantly fighting or whilst there was any hopes of Victory or of an honourable Retreat Those that fell in this battel on both sides not being accounted less than 50000. But of this Victory Amurath had but small joy for whilst he was glutting his Eyes with the vast heaps of the slain a Christian Souldier named Cobelites half dead and faint with Wounds and loss of Blood rising as it were from a Golgotha or Grave came staggering towards him falling two or three times in twenty paces whilst those that were about him would have hindred his approach but Amurath forbad them to hinder him as supposing he came to petition for Life when on the contrary without a word speaking suddenly drawing out a Dagger he stabbed him into the Belly for which he was hewen in pieces by those that attended their King who likewise died of that wound soon after and for this Reason the Turks when any one is admitted to his Audience of the Emperour lead him by either Arm c. Thus were Cossova's Plains made fat with Blood And Death was glutted with a Crimson Flood The tot'ring State of Christendom found there A fatal Scar which still she 's forc'd to wear A Description of the Memorable Battel fought on the Plains of Sennas in Asia between Tamerlane the Great Prince of the Tartars and Bajazet the First of that Name King of the Turks c. BAjazet succeeding Amurath who was kill'd on the Plains of Cossovia not only prosecuting his Wars against the Christians but stripping the Mahometan Princes out of their Dominions in the lesser Asia and they hearing of Tamerlane's Conquests in the great Kingdom of China where he had wrought Wonders and of his Power with the Tartarian Emperour whose Daughter he had married many of them fled to him for Refuge imploring him by Arms to restore them to their just Rights that had been wrongfully taken from them which so far prevailed with him being at the same time sollicited by Emanuel the Greek Emperour whom Bajazet had besieged in Constantinople the chief City of his Empire as to send Ambassadors to the Turk with Presents on their behalf requiring him to cease from molesting his Allies and more especially so worthy a Person as the Greek Emperour had been represented to him to be but instead of answering his Expectations Bajazet in a proud manner not only rejected his Presents but in opprobrious Terms made him many foul Reproaches telling his Ambassadors He desired nothing more than to meet him in the Field and so dismiss'd them with Threats and Scorn which so enraged the Tartar that being before perswaded by Axalla his great Favorite a Genoa by Birth and by Profession a Christian and having an Inclination to assist the Christian Emperour whose Opinion he favour'd to raise an Army he now resolved to do it and such an Army as should cover the Countries he passed through which he soon did in those vast Dominions and taking leave of his Father-in-Law and his Wife passing the Mountains marched through divers Countries drawing a World of People after him none daring oppose
when drain'd near dry Thus our Pharsalia England's Tragedy Was Acted in a bloody Scene till Death With slaughter tir'd was almost out of breath What Lands what Kingdoms might our men have â—ane With that Bloods loss which Civil hands have drawn Such Pow'rs united as our Fields distain'd By Conquering on vast Empires might have gain'd Have overset bold Ott'mans Rising Throne And seen his Conquests far beneath their own A Description of the Battel of Bosworth-field fought between Richard the Third King of England and Henry Earl of Richmond known afterward by the Title of King Henry the Seventh c. AFter the Death of Edward the Fourth Richard Plantagenet Duke of Glocester having caused his two Nephews to be murthered usurped the Throne endeavouring to establish himself therein as he had first acquired it viz. by blood so that greatly oppressing his Subjects and especially the Nobility as also causing Queen Ann his Wife secretly to be made away that he might marry Elizabeth his Neece Daughter to his Brother King Edward the Fourth divers conspired against him and amongst the rest the Duke of Buckingham who had been the main Instrument in helping him into the Throne but raising Forces and being unsuccessful in his attempt his men flying and leaving him to shift for himself he resorted to the House of one Banister who had been his Steward and had got a good Estate under him where for a time he secured himself in disguise to attend his better fortune though it proved otherwise for King Richard seting 1000 l. upon his head the same Banister in whom he confided discovered him to the Sherif of the County who seizing upon him in the Disguise or Habit of a Gardiner carried him to Salisbury where by the Command of the King without Arraignment or Tryal he was beheaded And now by a secret Contract the Earl of Richmond being betroth'd to the Lady Elizabeth Eldest Daughter to Edward the Fourth after having escaped many Dangers beyond the Scas and his Faction being strong in England prepares with such an Army as he could well gather by the favour of the Duke of Brittany and increased by such English as fled to him for fear of the Usurper for England and landed at Milford-Haven his Retinue not exceeding 2000 but was soon increased to a far greater number by those that daily came to joyn him which made King Richard advance with his Army to oppose him and pitched his Tents at Radmore near Bosworth in Leicestershire and both Armies being drawn up in Battalia the Lord Stanly with a great Detachment kept aloof on the Hills and the King suspecting he intended to revolt from him to his Enemy sent to him to advance but he refused saying he would do it when he saw his time whereupon King Richard in a great Rage commanded his Son whom he had in Hostage for the Fathers Fidelity instantly to be beheaded but was by some of his Favorites perswaded to defer it till the Battel was over by which means the young man escaped for both Armies joyning with great fury a bloody and doubtful fight ensued so that for a long time the Scale of Victory hung in an equal poise King Richard commanding and fighting courageously in all parts but the Lord Stanly when both Armies had tried their Strengths and were weary with fighting coming in with his fresh men bore down all before him so that King Richard perceiving the Fortune of the War to go against him like a man in despair resolving not to survive it charged with great fury amongst the thickest Squadrons and having killed and beaten down many was at length over-pow'red and himself slain falling upon heaps of his Enemies his Crown was afterward found in a Hawthorn-bush and himself stripped naked was carried all bloody upon a Horse to Leicester and there buried in the Grey-Friars with much Solemnity after its being exposed two days to the People In this Battel called the Battel of Bosworth-field 6000 men on either side were slain and amongst them divers of Note And now the Earl of Richmond being Crowned in the Field marched to London and soon after solemnly married the Lady Elizabeth joyning the Houses of Lancaster and York he being the Heir of the one and she the Heiress of the other And so the Discord to soft Concord yields That with the Bones o' th' slain made white the Fields Dividing Friends in an unfriendly Jar Rending the tor'ring State with Impious War Whilst Father against Son Brothers with Brothers fight Not caring who was wrong or who was right But smeer'd with Blood in Cruelty delight Being emulous who most cou'd vent his Rage Such is the fate when Civil Arms ingage A description of the Battel of Seminara fought in the Kingdom of Naples between King Ferdinand then intituled to that Kingdom and the Great Gonsalves Caâ—tain of the Spaniards on the one part and the Lords Obignny and Persive for Charles the French King on the other part Anno 1495. CHarles the French King victorious in Italy having won many strong Places and Countries and amongst the rest the Rich and Fertile Kingdom of Naples Ferdinand in whose right it was raising an Army of Spaniards Sicilians Italians c. and entred the Provinces the French had a little before brought to their Subjection in order to recover them advancing as far as the Country of Seminara to oppose whom the Lord Obignny Governour of Calabria for the French King and the Lord Persive Governour of Bosilicula marched with their united Forces from their appointed Rendezvous at Terranova to Seminara to fight the King or besiege him in the Town who knowing nothing of their Conjunction and ignorant of their number issued out of the Town upon news of their approach to give them Battel not staying for the Troops he expected from Puglia Campagnia and Arbuzzo though Gonsalves counted the expertest Captain of his Age laboured to disswade him from fight for being in the flower of Youth and height of his Spirit he rather strove to expose his Valour than hearken to good Counsel and so having made an excellent Speech or Oration to animate the Captains and Souldiers to do their utmost he marched towards Terranova three miles along the Hills and coming to the River lodged his Foot on the left Bank and his Horse-men he stretched on the right to serve for a Wing and so continued to expect the Enemy By this time the French and Switzers came in sight and Obignny cast the latter into a firm Battalion placing the Foot raised in Calabria behind them as a Battel of Succour dividing the Squadron of Horse between them being Men at Arms and in the same order the light Horse-men and so in a square Battel they pass d the River whereupon the Spanish Horse advanced to oppose them but being hotly charged by the thick Battalion of the French in the Advaunt-guard after many of them were beaten down and slain the rest were obliged to retire by