Princes are as you see many their Designs as you have heard too viz. to conserve and to increase their own and the means to effeâ—t and accomplish their Desires as you shall understand many in number and divers in nature Of the Princes their Designs and their Means I will deliver unto you my opinion in General and in Particular Generally You see and I consider that by the Competencies Pretensions Titles Quarrels and Debates of all these Princes the general Estate of Christendom is greatly weakned and the strength of the common Adversary daily increased That all their Realms and Dominions are either molested by continual Wars within the very Bowels and poor inward parts of the same or grieved with intollerable charges in sending out Men and Munition with other things necessary unto the said Wars That their Subjects are greatly impoverished by reason of these Charges and their hearts sorely oppressed with grief and anguish because of these troubles Lastly That some of these Princes fain would and cannot others can and will not redress those Enormities Now seeing all this you cry out with the time against the time with the time you accompany their just complaints with your sorrows who lament the iniquity of the time and against the time both you and they say that it is more wicked dangerous and troublesome then ever it was You think it impossible to find a Magistrate so just as Aristides An Emperor so good as Trajan A King so fortunate as Augustus A Prince so valiant as Alexander A Captain so chaste as Scipie A Councellor so faithful as Hephestion A General so expert as Hannibal A Conqueror so merciful as the Romans You see no Princes in this our corrupt Age surnamed Gods as was Demetrius amongst the Athenians The delight and love of the people as was Titus amongst the Romans The wonder of the world as was Otho the third amongst the Germans The Founder of their Cities as was Caius Marius amongst the Romans The Father of the common people as was Cyrus amongst the Persians The Son of fortune as was Charles the Great amongst the Bohemians The Buckler of the Common-wealth as was Fabius Maximus Or the Sword of the Country as was Marcus Marcellus You rather find that some Princes may be called Tyrants as was Dionysius The Scourge of God as was Attila Epicures and God Bacchus as was Antonius Lords and cruel Governors as was Cambises Covetous and Merchants as was Darius Lecherous and Effeminate as was Sardanapalus You see no Honours done unto Princes of our time as was done in times past If they be in Adversity their Subjects put not on mourning weeds as the Romans did when Manlius was in trouble If they be in Prison the Clergy giveth not their Treasure and the Commonalty the fourth part of their goods for their Liberty as the Clergy and Commonalty of England did for the Ransome of R. 1. If God calleth them to his mercy neither do the women bewail their deaths ten Moneths together as the Roman Dames did the death of Coriolanus nor the men poll their Heads their Horses and their Mules or fill the Air with cries the Rivers with tears or the Fields with continual lamentations as the Persians did for Masistias But contrary wise some of them are wrongfully driven from their Kingdoms as in Don Antonio of Portugal others continually molested with Domestical Wars as is Henry King of France some untimely done to death by their unnatural Subjects as was the late French King others unjustly persecuted by their unmerciful enemies as is the merciful Queen of England you see the Godly called ungodly as the Princes of France and England are commonly termed Heretiques and those which are far from the Catholique faith called Catholiques as the present King of Spain and a few of his Predecessors You see Subjects licensed to rebel against their Soveraigns as in France and England You see Fathers bear Arms against their children and Brethren war against the seed of their Mothers Womb as they do in France and Flanders You see Fields that were wont to be fruitful to lye now barren and unfertile Cities that were rich and populous to be poor and desolate Merchants that lived in wealth and prosperity to languish in need and penury Gentlemen that neither wanted ease or pleasure to lack all manner of rest and contentment And lastly Men Women and Children that knew not what murther and massacres meant cruelly murthered and daily massacred You see Germany pestered with divers Religions Poland infected with sundry Heresies France divided into many opinions Flanders distressed by plurality of Religions and England troubled with Genevian Puritans and obstinate Barrowists You see in all or some of these Regions Monasteries subverted Religious Houses destroyed Ecclesiastical living abused and Benefices unworthily collated You see Justice corruptly administred Laws dissolutely executed good counsel negligently followed and dissembling flattery more then diligently embraced You see new charges daily invented unaccustomed Subsidies yearly imposed extraordinary grievances hourly practised and unknown Offices unadvisedly established You see secret wars under the name of peace hidden enemies under the colour of amity privy seditions under the pretence of ancient confederacies You see Nobility to degenerate in vertue from their Ancestors Sons to vary in opinion from their Fathers Neighbours to dissent in Religion with their next Inhabitants and Judges not to agree in matters of Justice with their fellows in Office You see the Puritan ready in outward appearance to dye for his Religion the Anabaptist for his the Papist for his the Lutheran for his the Barrowist for his and other Sectaries for their several Sects and Heresies Briefly you see Offices dearly sold which were wont to be freely given Women impudently bold which were accustomed to be honestly minded Men transformed into mis-guised Atires and children brought up and misled in unknown vices and impersections Now seeing all this you fear that variety of Religions may subvert the Countries wherein it is suffered as it did in Bohemia and Hungary That new exactions may chance to cause a Rebellion in the Regions wherein they are levyed as it did in France and Flanders That Princes degenerating from their Antecessors may be driven from their Imperial Crowns as they have been in Spain and Germany That Towns not inhabited may cause penury amongst the Nobility want amongst the Merchants and extream poverty amongst the other Inhabitants as they do in France and Flanders And lastly That all and every one of these Mischiefs and Miseries may breed further inconveniencies as they have done in other Countries in which they have been either in old time or within our memory practised This sight therefore and this fear ingendreth in your heart a just and worthy dislike of the present time and a great desire and delight in the Age of your fore-Fathers You condemned
things Since Might overcometh Right and Blood asketh Blood What man liveth in this Age whose Predecessors endured not the torments that he suffereth Saw not the miseries that he seeleth Tasted not the bitterness that he swalloweth Felt not the wrongs that he supporteth Lost not the blood that he loseth The Sun shineth now as it hath done the Stars keep the course they were wont to do the Sea ebbeth and floweth as it ever did and the Rivers run the same way which they always ran I mean and you may understand how I mean that all things proceeding from nature duly keep and observe their Natures I mean therefore and you may perceive how I mean that as long as nature hath created and shall create Princes of diverse dispositions so long their Subjects have been and shall be subject unto contrary fortunes unto good if they be good and godly and unto bad if they be naught and wicked In the good they have enjoyed and shall enjoy the benefit of Peace In the bad they have felt and shall feel the discommodities of War In the good they had and shall have all things which they desire In the bad they wanted and shall want nothing that may discontent them In the good their estate was and will be such as you commend In the bad their condition was and shall be such as you condemn For as Princes retain the Prerogatives given and granted unto Princes so Subjects maintain still the conditions and qualities incident and proper unto Subjects Every Prince hath his qualities and every sort of people hath his conditions The Spaniard varieth from the Italian the Italian from the French the French from the German the German from the English-man and the English-man from the Scots And such as all and every one of these Nations have been such they will be as long as they do and shall inhabit the same Climate and receive breath from the same Air. And as these Nations naturally hate one another so by nature they desire not to be subject one unto another and therefore if against their nature one of them chance to have never so little authority over the other the one commandeth imperiously and the other obeyeth most unwillingly and yet it so hapneth oftentimes that the Commander is commanded and they that once obeyed many times command So did Padua command Venice and now Venice commandeth Padua So did Rome rule Spain and now Spain ruleth Rome So did France sway the Empire of Germany and now Germany precedeth France So did France command the King of Navar and now Navar either doth or should command France So did Portugal hate Spain and now doth Spain rule over Portugal So did Italy bear sway over most part of Christendom and now some part of Christendom is Mistris over Italy And when things happen as these do contrary to nature contrary to mens expectations contrary to mens desires can there be Peace where there are so many occasions of War Love where there is such cause of hatred Upright dealing where there are so many motives and incitements unto wrong Is it possible that proud men should agree with the humble and meek Plain dealers with common Deceivers Men of peace with men of war Simple Subjects with subtile Princes Especially since Kings of strange natures or Countries never ruled well or long people varying from them in nature or conditions Whence came it that the Danes were driven out of England the French-men out of Naples the English-men from France and of late years the Spaniards out of Flanders Forsooth because Conquerors are odious and why are they odious truely because they are most commonly insolent And wherefore are they insolent verily because they think it lawful for them to do what they list And what moveth them to be of that mind The good opinion conceived of themselves and the bad conceit which they have and hold of the Conquered What think they of themselves marry that they are valiant happy victorious and fortunate And what is their opinion of the Conquered Undoubtedly they hold them for Cowards base minded vile Slaves and effeminate persons And what are the effects of these sundry opinions Certainly that the Conquerors heaping cruelty upon cruelty and the Conquered seeking all means possible to free and mancipate themselves from bondage and servitude they by negligence commit many errors and these by wary circumspection and providence take advantage of their follies Whence they lose their conquest and these recover their Liberty I take oftentimes great delight to read our English Chronicles and especially the Reigns of Edward the Third and of Henry the Fifth because I see therein the continual success which they both had against the Frenchmen It delighteth me greatly to consider what sway Edward the black Prince bare through all Christendom to see how Princes Courted him to read how Kings sought unto him to behold how he restored Kings to their Kingdoms and drave Usurpers from their Usurpations To remember how valiantly he fought at Poitiers and Cressy two of the most famous Battels that ever were fought in Europe To Record how he took the French King and most part of the French Nobility Prisoners How he brought the King and them into England how reverently he carryed himself towards the Captive Prince how Honourably he was received by his Father and his Subjects and how lovingly the two Kings entertained one another and in the end departed one from the other But my joy is turned into sorrow and my delight into grief when I see that the Frenchmen naturally hating Englishmen that the Prince forcibly overcharging the Conquered with new Subsidies and unaccustomed Tributes that the Gascoins disloyalty forsaking their obedience unto their natural Prince and that the French King unkindly taking hold of the occasions that were offered unto him they with him and he with them set upon the poor Prince when he was unprovided invaded his Country when he thought little of their coming and drave him into England who had driven them out of France The like hapned unto Henry the fifth and his Successors for the one was not so fortunate in Conquering as the other was unfortunate in his losses but hereof hereafter And now more plainly to my purpose let me confer the miseries of this Age with the calamities of former times They that inveigh against the present State wonder at many things which I will begin in order and let you see and understand that in times past all things were in as evil case as they are at this present They first wonder that the common Adversary of Christendom being in Arms and ready to invade part of Austria the civil Wars in France and Flanders cease not but continue in as great fury rage and extremity as ever they did That the Princes of Christendom labour not to appease and finish the said Wars but rather nourish and maintain them That the Popes Holiness whose
England but because England holpe France in their wars against them What pretence had they to conquer Scotland but that Scotland succoured England Why hindred they the Switzers going into France with intention to conquer France but that they thought it a better morsel for themselves What colour used they to overcome the residue of the world but sometimes a pretence to defend their Confederates sometimes a shew to maintain the liberties of their Neighbours sometimes a feigned and hypocritical zeal of Religion when as indeed they oppressed them whom they pretended to defend brought into bondage for whose liberty they would seem to fight and were in all respects as irreligious as they whose Religion they seemed to condemn So to be short they cunningly enlarged their Confines by seeming to be careless of Conquests made themselves Monarchs by pretending to suppress Tyrants and did wrong unto all men by bearing an outward shew to suffer no manner of injury to be done unto any man This cunning in aspiring unto Forrain Dominions begun in the Infancy of the Romans prosperity continued in the riper years thereof and practised even until their declining Age was not only proper unto them but passed as their Empire did from them unto other Rulers by what name or title soever they were called taking advantage of the time omited no means to attain unto their desires and purposes Though therefore the name of Rebels in all Ages hath been odious their Cause was never unjust and the voluntary Aid given unto them never was honourable unto him that aided them yet the Chronicles not only of our Nation but also of other Regions Realms and Dominions are full of Examples of many Princes not inferior to the Princes of our Age be it in Might in Power in Authority or in Goodness who rather regarding the propagation and increase of their Dominions then the conservation and maintenance of their Honours did as our Princes do now not only receive their Neighbors Rebels into their protection but also use them as means and instruments to molest and persecute their Neighbours by whose decay and downfall they might rise and aspire unto higher Authority Neither hath the League of Amity the bond of Kindred and Parentage the duty of children to their Parents the affection of one Brother to another moved Princes to withdraw their helping hand succor and assistance from those who being tyed by all or some of those Bands rebelled against their Sovereigns Iames King of Scotland being not only in League with Henry the seventh being King of England but also by Oath and Homage bound unto him as his Vassal did not only favour and receive into his protection a young Man named Perkin who was suborned by Margaret Dutchess of Burgondy to call and carry himself for one of the Sons of her Brother King Edward but also married the said Perkin unto Katherine Daughter unto Alexander Earl of Huntley and his own neer Kins-woman and with him and for him invaded England Here you see the Vassal favour and succor the Rebels of his Sovereign and the neer Kins-woman conspire against her Leige Lord and King Richard Earl of Poictou because his Father Henry the second denyed him that Honour although by the death of the young King Henry he was become his eldest Son to marry him with the French Kings Sister Alice and to declare him immediately for his immediate Successor became the French Kings Man to serve him against his Father Robert Son unto William the Conqueror having tasted the sweetness in Commanding others so far that he loathed to be commanded by others Rebelled against his Father and was aided and succoured in his Rebellion by the French King Henry Son unto Henry surnamed the Grosse because his Father was Excommunicated by the Pope and as an Excommunicated person was not in his opinion to hold and sway the Empire was not only animated by the Pope to Rebel against his Father but also assisted by him until he took his Father Prisoner Here you see the Sons Rebelling against their own Fathers protected and succoured by them which either were or should have been Friends and Confederates unto their Fathers Henry base Brother unto Peter King of Castile knowing that his Brother for his evil and licentious life was generally hated of all his Subjects Rebelled against him and with the help of the Kings of France and Portugal deprived him of his Life and Crown Here you see the Brother bearing Arms against his Brother ayded by two Kings who should rather have favoured a Lawful King then an Usurper The Marquess of Villona and the Archbishop of Toledo both neer Kinsmen unto Ferdinando and Isabel King and Queen of Aragon and of Castile Rebelled against them both and received aid and succour in their Rebellion from Alonso King of Portugal Here you see the Kinsmen Rebelling against their own blood ayded by their Sovereigns Kinsman and Conâ—ederate And seeing all this how can you marvel that in this Age against the corruption whereof you and others inveigh most bitterly Princes ayd the Rebels of other Kings betwixt whom there is no manner of Alliance Or if there be any the same is long since dissolved and resolved into hatred and enmity For albeit the King of Spain Married the Sister of the Queen of England and of the late French King by which Marriages he was Allied unto both in League of Friendship and Affinity Yet you know and shall hereafter see that many occasions besides the deaths of his Wives have changed his love into hatred and his good will into malice So that it is no marvel since every injury asketh a revenge every enemy seeketh all means possible to hurt and annoy his Adversary and every Prince can be content to take such advantage for the enlargement of his Confines and for the maintenance of his Estate as the time and opportunity doth or shall yeild him If the Spaniard who hath purposed in his heart to devour and swallow up the Kingdom of France useth the Rebellion of the Guyzards for his best means and instruments or if the Queen of England who findeth no better ways to keep the Spaniard from invading and subduing her Realms and Dominions then to busie and to find him continually occupied in defending or in recovering his own doth succour his pretended Subjects of the United Provinces for indeed they are not his Subjects and vouchsafeth daily to send them such supplies of Men and Money as seem most necessary for their defence The Third Point whereat they wonder dependeth somewhat upon this Point which is Why the Flemmings being always reputed a fearful and timerous Nation And the Frenchmen having at all times most worthily carried the names of the most Faithful and Loyal Subjects of Europe the one in hatred of the Spaniard Rebelleth against the Spaniard and the other at the Instigation of the Spanish King beareth Arms in his behalf against their natural Leige Lord and Soveraign But if it
Point I likewise Answer briefly That the Law that provideth for the remedy of such as by Imprisonment or by violence and just fear and such as the Law â—aith cadet in fortem virum have yeilded to any inconveniency extendeth not in my simple conceit her force unto the Contracts of Princes which are celebrated and concluded after long Wars betwixt them For if Conquerors might not impose what conditions of Peace they please upon the conquered there would never be any end of Wars And as private men being in troubles may even in cases which admit no giving or taking on any side as for Ecclesiastical livings betwixt Ecclesiastical persons redeem their troubles by giving or taking whatsoever shall be agreed upon and with the best conditions they may so in Wars Princes who have lost the field and so weakned their Forces that they are able to make no longer resistance may lawfully alienate the more part of the Revenues of their Crown to purchase their liberty and their Subjects quiet who if their Princes might not capitulate with his and their Adversary in such manner as the Conqueror shall demand should be deprived of their lives liberties and Livings of all which three every King is sworn to have a special care and regard and to seek all means possible to preserve them all And in consideration hereof it is usual amongst Princes rather to lye in durance a long time then to yeild to the unreasonable demands of their enemies whilst they are in the heat of their choller and indignation because when their wrath is somewhat asswaged and either time or intercession of other Princes who commonly in such cases interpose their helping hands and be Mediators of Peace mitigated and moderated their anger they are willing to yeild to reasonable conditions For confirmation hereof I could alleadg many examples but I will deal with a Frenchman at his own weapon Guicciardine in his before mentioned History discoursing at large of the hard measure that was offered unto Francis the first King of France after he was taken Prisoner at Pavia in Italy by the Army of the Emperour Charls the fifth saith That there were never but two Kings of France taken prisoners in the field to wit King Iohn and the said Francis King Iohn was so kindly used in England where he lay above 2 years priâ—oner that after he was delivered thence he would needs go thither again to see his good Host for so he termed the King of England whereas Francis the first albeit he greatly desired to be transported out of Italy into Spain being in great hope and confidence that the Emperor who had seen the change and variety of time and also the inconstancy of fortune would have some Princely compassion upon him found all things contrary to his conceived hope and expectation for he was committed to hard prison kept with a continual and strong guard not attended upon as a Prince of his might and greatness ought to have been hardly suffered to speak with his Sister who was sent out of France on purpose to comfort him and never brought unto the Emperours sight and presence until that through grief and melancholy he fell into so dangerous a sickness as made the Phisitians almost despair of his recovery the Emperour not for love as Guicciaraine affirmeth but for fear to lose by his death all that he hoped to get for his Ransome went to visit and comfort him The reason of this hard usage was to inforce him by long durance and want of liberty to redeem his troubles upon hard conditions And although he had oftentimes answered the Emperour that he had rather dye in Prison then yeild to his unreasonable demands which could not be well performed without the great prejudice yea almost the utter subversion of his Kingdom and had accordingly written unto his Nobility and Council in France that they should make no more account of his life or liberty because the demands of his Ransome were too too unreasonable yet he was forced at length to subscribe and consent unto such hard conditions and Articles as were agreed upon by Charles the fifth and his Council Which indeed were so hard that although his Sons lay in Spain as Hostages for their performance yet after he was delivered he would not see them accomplished but fell a fresh to Wars with the Emperor and in the end by the intercession of other Princes made a more reasonable end But King Iohn as both the French Chronicles and ours do report was set at liberty with more equal conditions and yet the same were not performed And the Frenchmen in all Treaties of peace with us have either gone so far beyond us with their wits that they have oftentimes greatly deceived us or have so fraudulently violated all or the more part of the Articles of their Agreement that our victories being many against them never yeilded unto us any great commodity or advantage The consideration whereof moved one of their Writers to say that we never won any thing of them by the dint of Sword but they recovered the same again by the sharpness of their wits And another Historian of theirs mocketh us in his writings and saith That when we come to treat with them of Peace we sit down proudly and with great words extoling our exploits valour and good success against them in the beginning of our parts we do demand no less then the whole Kingdom of France but in the end of them we fall from Mountains unto Molehills Now sithence we by their own confession have been so courteous and reasonable that we have yeilded them far better favour and better conditions of peace then they hoped for and they contrarywise have dealt so craftily and so deceitfully with us both in the time of King Iohn and others before the Reign of Charles the Sixth that we cannot be blamed for dealing more hardly with them in the said contract and for using the surest way we could devise for our security and assurance of that which was promised unto us And certainly as the Treaties and Conclusions of peace made with King Iohn and King Francis were in the opinion of the best and learnedst Lawyers of Europe held lawful although they were not in all points performed so the Contract made betwixt Charles the Sixth and his Son-in Law Henry fifth of England was undoubtedly agreeable to Law and Equity for otherwise Princes should be in worse condition then Subjects who are bound to perform every point of a reasonable contract or agreement which they make But it was hard to demand and take a whole Kingdom True if conquests were not lawful we should have dealt so favourably with Charles the Sixth as our Predecessor did with King Iohn it might be we would have done so if King Iohn and his Successors had not before oftentimes deceived us Princes do not usually take advantage of their enemies when they have the upper hand over them
confirmeth the same more apparently then that which our Histories report of Henry the third King of England This King by reason he had Reigned many years saw sundry alterations in divers Kingdoms and as Princes who continue long are oftentimes sought unto he was honoured of all the Kings and Potentates that lived in his time and many of them were glad of his amâ—ty and friendship for as he was mighty so was he very wise and therefore able to help them with his strength and counsel them with his wisdom yet neither so strong nor so wise but that his power was abated and his wisdom abused by the Popes subtle policies There was a time when Conradus king of Sicily began to be somewhat grievous and offensive to the Pope who to be revenged of his supposed wrongs had suborned divers Princes against him and when all had either failed him or faintly proceeded in their quarrel against Conrade he fled for his last refuge unto the said Henry the third and to induce him to shew his readiness and good will to drive Conrade out of his Royal Seat and Dominion he used divers sinister means and many subtle devices First he defamed the said Conrade accused him of Heresie layed murther to his charge burthened him with the death and poysoning of his own Brother thereby making him odious to the world Then not thinking it sufficient to disgrace and discredit him for that the Princes neither then nor in those days did easily undertake Wars one against another in hatred of the vices which possessed them but in hope of the Kingdoms which they enjoyed he to encourage our King the more gave him the Kingdoms of Apulia and Sicily and entituled his Son by the name of king of both those Countries And understanding that he wanted sufficient men to imploy in that service he dispensed him to take those Souldiers which had enrolled themselves for the Wars of the Holy Land and publishing that his Adversary for grief was dead and forsaken by his friends With these devices and his Embassadors subtleties he induced our King to bind himself upon pain of loss of his Kingdom to spend and send 140 m Marks to those Wars and this promise was so readily performed and men by our King so willingly transferred for that service that the whole Realm in very short time felt great want both of men and of money Thus you see that Naples and Sicily have been both troublesome and chargeable to as many Nations as I before named And yet you see not how they came directly unto the house of Spain nor with what Right and Title king Philip possesseth them at this day To the end therefore that herein as well as in other Points you may be fully satisfied I will let you understand the late claims and challenges layed and made to those Kingdoms Charls the eighth king of France challenged the Kingdom of Naples because Renatus Duke of Anjou his very near Kinsman dying without children and being made Heir of the same kingdom by the last Will and Testament of Ioan Queen of Naples had made and declared in his last Will and Testament Lewis the eleventh for his Heir unto the same kingdom which Lewis was Father unto the said Charls who followed the Claim with such speed and expedition that he got the kingdom by force of Arms in so short a time that a notable Historiographer writing thereof saith That an Embassadour would almost have spent as much time in going thither from France as the said Charls did imploy in conquering thereof The Frenchmen enjoyed not their Conquest many years for Ferdinando king of Spain began to lay claim unto the kingdom of Naples because that although Alphonsus king of Aragon had bestowed the same kingdom upon Ferdinando his base Son yet both Iohn his Brother and Successor in the kingdom of Naples and also Ferdinando himself being Son unto the said Iohn had just cause of claim and title therâ—unto because that Alphonso having gotten the same both with the Forces and with the treasure of the Realm of Aragon it should of right belong unto that Crown This claim of Ferdinandos was furthered by Pope Iulio the second who either being wearied of the insolency of the Frenchmen or desirous to follow the steps of his inconstant Predecessors or rather willing to revenge the wrong offered unto his Predecessor by Charls the eighth what time he imprisoned him in the Castle of S. Angelo and enforced him to give him for his ransome or deliverance the Castles of Civita Vecchia of Forracina and of Spoleto to hold them until he had made full conquest of Naples and also constrained him to invest himself in the said Kingdom besought Ferdinanâ—o king of Aragon to undertake the defence of the Church and of the States and Dominions thereof against all those who persecuted the same and especially against Lewis the 11. of France and to make him the more willing and ready to accomplish this his desire he sent him the Investure and Gift of the same kingdom with a very small and reasonable yearly Tribute for the same Ferdinando thinking his Title the better by the Popes Grant and his possibility to prevail the greater because of his assured help and furtherance prosecuted his claim by open Wars upon the Frenchmen wherein he had so good success that he drew the French King to make a friendly division of the kingdom between them This composition as all agreements betwixt Princes most commonly are was kept inviolable until Gonsalvo General for the Aragonian king in those parts who was afterwards for his Excellency called the Great Captain as Pompey was amongst the Romans took these occasions following to dispossess and drive the Frenchmen out of all that they possessed within the Realm of Naples First he alledged that the division was not equally made because the Dogana of Puglia which indeed was the best and greatest Revenue of that Crown was wholly allotted unto the Frenchmen and neither any part thereof nor any thâ—ng else that might countervail the same in worth value and goodness was assigned unto the Spaniards Secondly there fell such a disease amongst the Frenchmen by reason of the abundance of fruit which they eat daylie and because the waters which they drank as it was thought were poisoned by the Spaniards that most part as well of the private souldiers as of the chief Captains died thereof and many for fear thereof departed from the French kings Camp Thirdly that poor and small remainder that was lest presuming that this composition should be held inviolable grew so negligent and careless that they suffered the Spaniards to do all that they would and never distrusted them until it was too late Lastly Gonsalvo being required to desist from Wars because there was a peace concluded betwixt the Spanish and French kings in regard whereof the French General had long before surceased all acts of
these examples move them to do the like when as the like occasion of fear or of envy is offered unto them Hannibal counselled as you have heard Antiochus to war upon the Romans in Italy when they were far stronger then the Spaniards is and no man had better experience of the Romans or of Italy then Hannibal had The reasons therefore enforcing Hannibal to give that Counsel to Antiochus may as they have many times serve to move the French King to follow his counsel the rather because experience proved it to be true and Antiochus failed of his purpose because he hearkned to Hannibal's perswasion But this difficulty will be better cleared if I shall let you understand the opinion of one of the best Warriors of our Age as well touching the wealth as the strength of the French King Monsieur de la Nove who dyed but a few years past and when he lived was generally reputed and esteemed the best Captain of our time in his Book of Military discourses delivereth that the French King Henry the second levyed yearly by ordinary means of his Subjects fifteen Millions of Francks part whereof were engaged and pawned for his debts and yet saith he our King levieth no less at this day Here you see the French Kings Revenues were in some measure comparable unto the Romans For Plutarch in his before mentioned History writing of the life of Pompey who was surnamed the Great reporteth That the yearly and ordinary Revenues of the Roman Common-wealth before the Conquest obtained by Pompey came but to five Millions of Crowns which is fifteen Millions of Francks the just Revenue of the French King until that Pompey increased the same and brought it to eight Millions and 500 m Crowns and brought unto the Treasure-house ten Millions of Jewels and ready coin So if you remember that as it hath been shewed the Romans never flourished more then they did when they were governed by Consuls and not by Kings or by Emperours yea you shall see that the French King coming not much behind them in yearly Revenues may be thought in some respect equal unto them The same Mounsieur de la Nove in his twentieth Military Discourse talking of the might and puissance of the French King deliverâ—th That he may very conveniently set forth an Army of 60. Companies of men at Arms of 20. Cornets of light Horse-men and of five Companies of Harquebusiers on Horseback which were in all 10000. Horse-men besides 4000. Royters and 100. Ensigns of French Foot-men and 40. Ensigns of Swizzars and yet he shall leave his Frontier Towns sufficiently well armed and furnished with men and munition as well to defend as offend the enemy Du Haillan in his 14th Book of the History of France setteth down That Philip de Valois when as he warred with Edward the Third King of England for the Crown of France had an Army of 100 m fighting men The same Authour in his sixteenth Book writeth That Charls King of France meaning to go into England against King Richard as I take it the second brought to the Sluce in Flanders a Navy of 128â— Ships all loaden with men and munition which I have thought good to let you understand to the end you may see that if the Alps should be made unpassable by the Spaniard for the Frenchmen which was the Emperour Charls the fifth's purpose and intention to do if in his life time he could possibly have brought it to pass yet the French King is not unable or unfurnished of ships to convey and carry as his Predecessors have done a sufficient Army by Sea into Italy Plutarch in the life of Iulius Caesar recordeth that the Frenchmen came with an Army of three hundred thousand fighting men to raise Iulius Caesars Siege before Alexia a huge number and such a number as the Romans never used the like against any Forrain Enemy as the same Plutarch testifieth in the life of Fabius Maximus where he affirmeth that the greatest power which the Romans ever had against any enemy whatsoever was but eighty eight thousand souldiers and Andreas Ficcius in his book de Repub. reporteth that they seldome or never passed the number of forty or fifty thousand a less number then which Charls the fifth the present King of Spain's father held to be sufficient as I have said before to encounter with any Christian Prince and I have thought good to repeat because hearing what you have heard of the French power you may think the French King well able to annoy any King of Christendom For although I should grant that his power is weakned and he not able to arm such multitudes as his Predecessors have done for which I see no reason if he were freed of his Civil wars yet it must needs be granted that he could easily make an army of that number and therewith greatly prejudice the Spaniard in Italy especially since a Captain of valour and experience will adventure to set upon innumerable multitudes nothing fearing their number with a few well trained and experienced souldiers as Alexander the great did upon Darius his innumerable hoste and Hannibal did upon the Romans who as Polibius testifieth in his second book with scant twenty thousand feared not to fight with the Romans in Italy amounting unto seven hundred thousand footmen and seventy thousand horsemen Thus as in Revenues so in multitudes of Souldiers at the leastwise in such multitudes as they commonly used you see the French King is in some measure comparable to the Romans but especially in no respect inferiour unto Hannibal for men or money and therefore without all doubt and controversie as likely and able to war with the Spanish King within the very bowels of Italy as he was to contend with the Romans when they were strongest as all Princes are most commonly within their own Realms and Dominions especially if they have as the Romans had the same wholly and entirely to themselves But although this point touching the King of France his possibility and means to molest and trouble the Spanish King in Italy be well and sufficiently cleared by that which is said yet I cannot so leave it for I hold it convenient to let you know the opinion of his Father concerning the same matter He therefore considering the variable affections of the Princes of Italy the hidden and secret malice which they inwardly bear unto all strangers and forreigners the many pretensions which the French King hath unto Naples and Milan together with sundry prosperous attempts and journeys which of late years they have made into Italy counselled the present King of Spain his son at the time he resigned all his Kingdoms unto him a very rare and commendable act to carry a watchful and wary eye over the French King he willeth him to be jealous of his greatness and to seek all means possible to weaken him he adviseth how to war against France and how by his own
by the on-set which he gave upon France and by the great Power and Authority which he had even then in Italy that he went about to make himself Lord of the most part of the world And seeing that Francis the first King of France had lately won Milan from the said Emperour they entred into League with the French King against Charls the fifth as secretly as they might possible You have heard before how Leo the tenth taking the kindness shewed unto him by the Emperour at the Diet of Worms very kindly was moved thereby to leave the French party and to become one of the Emperours Faction Now you shall hear how Pope Paulus the third having the Cardinal Farnesius for his Embassadour with the said Emperour and finding that his Majesty had proclaimed a Diet to be held at Wormes touching the deciding of certain matters and controversies of Religion took it in so evil a part that the Emperour would intermeddle with the hearing of spiritual causes the cognizance whereof belonged unto the Pope that he commanded the said Cardinal to depart from the Emperors Court without taking leave of his Majesty and to leave the Cardinal Marcello Corvino in his place which was an indignity never offered unto any Prince unto whom either the Embassadour or his Majesty bear any love or affection This evil conceit of the said Paulus Tertius towards the same Emperour was encreased by three special Causes The first because the Emperour to strengthen himself against the above named French King had lately entred into League and Alliance with Henry the eighth King of England who was then fallen from that obedience which the See of Rome looked for at his hands The second because Caesar had so quickly forgotten the wrong done unto his Aunt lately divorced from the same King The third because the Emperor would neither sell unto him the Dukedom of Milan nor make his Son Pier Lewis Duke of Parma and Placentia I might proceed in the recital of many other Examples like unto these but from these you may sufficiently gather that the wisest both Popes Emperors and Kings that ever lived of late years have made it a matter of small or no conscience to break their Leagues for very small occasions especially if they found that any King or Emperour by reason of their League presuming to finde no resistance able to withstand his intent and purpose went about to incroach upon other Princes and to make himself Lord of the world You may also perceive by the mutability and inconstancy of the Princes of Italy and of their falling from France to Spain and again from Spain to France how greatly they fear the greatness of the one or the other in Italy how ready they have been to supplant him that waxeth great amongst them and how careless negligent and secure they are now since they notwithstanding not as their predecessors always did before them the aspiring Ambition of the Spaniard Moreover these Examples may teach you what opinion was conceived of Charls the fifth what jealousie and suspition other Princes had of him and what an high and aspiring mind he carryed The which having left as an Inheritance to his Son with a number of precepts forged in so dangerous and ambitious a conceipt no marvel though he do somewhat imitate his Father But great marvel it is why the Princes of our Age do not foresee and fear in him the same minde the same desire the same ambition and the same purposes which were in his Father But the more careless other Princes are herein the more commendations our Gracious Soveraign deserveth who for better then these thirty five years hath as I have said often and cannot say too often mightily crossed his endeavours without the help of any other that ever would vouchsafe to joyn with her Majestie in so honorable an Action Neither may it be imputed to her Highness as a fault that she hath forgotten the ancient league which was betwixt the house of Burgundie and her Predecessors but rather as he amongst private men is highly commended who forsaketh his dearest friends in their unjust causes and when they go about to oppress and overthrow their Neighbours so her gracious Majestie is worthy of everlasting praise and fame because it hath pleased her Highness to prefer the justice and equitie of good causes before the iniquity of any League or confederacie Besides since that the League that was betwixt England and Burgundy was as it may be gathered by the Chronicles of both Nations rather with the people subject unto the Princes of Burgundy then with the Princes themselves her Majestie continuing in Amitie with the States and People of the United Provinces and being ready to do the like if the like occasion were offered with the other of the seventeen Provinces doth not any thing in the prejudice of the Antiquitie of that League but as her Predecessors have done before her as namely Edward the third and Richard the second her Majestie hath thought it meet and convenient to stand with the poor and afflicted people against the unkind and unnaturall crueltie and oppression of their Soveraign The which action being most commendable and such as might be approved by infinite Examples they do her Highness great wrong who not considering the indignities wrongs and injuries done unto her by the late house of Spaine and not remembring the first occasion of displeasure between the Crowns of England and Spain to have risen from Spain blame her Majesty as the first breaker of that ancient League These men besides many other things which are already refuted or remain to be fully answered hereafter in their several and fit places more maliciously then wisely object unto her Majesty that about the year 1569. her Ships intercepted 59 chests full of Ryals of Spain amounting unto the sum and value of eight hundred thousand Ducats which were sent unto the Duke of Alva out of Spain to pay his souldiers withal the which wrong gave as they affirm the first or greatest occasion of breach of amity and friendship betwixt Spain and England For by the intercepting of this money the Souldiers were disappointed of their pay and the Kings credit and authority was greatly impaired and weakened in the Low Countries But those men neither consider that Spain had long before this time offered great wrong unto England nor remember that when the Spaniard complained unto her Majesty hereof that it was wisely and sufficiently answered That her Majesty understanding that the said money was sent to pay certain debts of the Spanish Kings which he owed unto divers Merchants of Genova who being well able to spare the same and her Highness having urgent occasion to use so much thought she might be so bold as the Spaniard had been to borrow the said money for a small time paying them as he did some yearly consideration for it Which Answer might well have contented the King of Spain
King that Don Iohn de Austria in his Letter unto the King is fain to intreat his Majesty that if Don Alonsâ— moved with the same passion which possessed him when he chid hand-smooth with him should so much forget himself as to write Alganalibertag some unbeseeming speech unto his Majesty Como la ha hecho a mi as he hath done â—aith he unto me it might please his Majesty not only to dissemble but also to comfort favour and promise him some high reward assuring his Majesty that whatsoever recompence his Grace should bestow upon him he would take the same as bestowed upon himself yea further beseeching his Majesty to let Don Alonso understand what he had written in his behalf and that his commendations hath not a little availed him to the end saith he Salga de la opinion que ya concedido he may conceive no more so evil an opinion of me as he hath done Was not this think you a point of great disobedience in a base Souldier as Don Alonso had been Was it not a bold part of a Souldier to rail at his General unto his face Was it not a fault severely punishable to refuse to march under a Leader chosen by consent of an whole Councel at War Was not that General in an evil case who was constrained to flatter so mean a Souldier Or can that king be thought to have obedient and loyal Souldiers who must of necessity be inforced not only not to punish but also to pardon and not to tolerate alone but also to recompence a rebellious and insolent Captain for fear of some inconvenience that might follow of his discontentment or punishment But this was not all And Don Alonso alone shewed not himself discontented Sancho de Avila the Colonel Mudragon the Captain Monteselega the Colonel Verdugo the Castellan Francisco Hermandes de Avila and many other of the most especial Captains of that time were likewise so displeased and uttered their discontentments in such manner as that Don Iohn was compelled as he testifieth in the same Letter to pacifie them not only by granting them their whole pays out of Wars which they had in Wars but also by promising them that they should have the like charges and Offices in the Dukedom of Milan as they had in Flanders Now whereas the wisest best and most serviceable Captains shew manifest signs of undutiful carriage and intolerable arrogancy may the meaner Souldiers be justly blamed if they fall into the like offence Or can that Nation be worthily commended for loyal and obedient Souldiers whose chief Officers do so highly forget and neglect their duty especially in a matter of such weight and importance as the departure of the Spaniards out of Flanders was at that time unto the King but this kind of disobedience is not usual and whereas there be good Masters there most commonly be likewise good servants So the Spanish King being better furnished with notable Captains then any other Prince in Christendom he must likewise have sufficient and good Souldiers And because it hath been said that not the number and multitude but the goodness and valour of Souldiers maketh their Kings victorious it must needs follow as a necessary consequent that the King of Spain whose Captains pass the Captains of all other Princes both in number and experience cannot be without good Souldiers and therefore is strong enough to encounter with any Adversary whatsoever To this Argument it is easily answered that although the valour of Souldiers is better to be regarded then the number yet that Prince who hath valiant Souldiers not being able to bring into the field a proportionable and equal number unto his enemies especially such enemies as rather excel then yeild unto his Subjects in valour and Chivalry may undoubtedly be held and reputed a Prince of no great strength and puiâ—sance If then you remember as you cannot forget that the Christian Adversaries with whom the king of Spain hath any great contention are the king of France and the Queen of England the Subjects of either of which Princes are neither inferiour unto the Spaniards in number or in valour you cannot chuse but perceive and see that the King is not of might and power sufficient to contend at once with both these Princes This was well known unto his Father who as it hath been said before so carried himself in all his life time that when he had England for his enemy France was his friend and when he fell at variance with France he presently procured the friendship and alliance of England Besides there is nothing more usual then to make conjectures of things to come by things that are past and to measure the present forces of Princes by their own or their Predecessors strength and power at other times for although a Kingdom be at sometimes more populous then at others yet because man in reason hath a better regard of that which is commonly and dayly seen then of that which happeneth very seldom he cannot greatly be deceived that measureth a new raigning Princes might and power by his own and his Predecessors former puissance But before I enter into the due consideration hereof it shall not be amiss to let you understand whence it cometh to pass that the Spaniards are lately become so famous as they are you know that in this our corrupt Age as men are friended so they are favoured that they who are highest in Authority are most commonly as high in praise as they are in preheminence that all men covet to win favour with the Mighty that no man can so securely as perhaps boldly derogate the least jot that may be from their credit and reputation who in common opinion are held praise worthy Common same is by Law a certain kind of proof and our common Proverb saith That it may be an untruth which two or three report but that can hardly be untrue which all or most men affirm to be certain and manifest yea such is the force of common same that whensoever it proceedeth first from grave and honest personages it carrieth great credit and he shall hardly be credited that shall venture to gainsay or control the same Since therefore divers Authors of great Antiquity of marvellous gravity of singular learning and rare wisdom have attributed in their speeches in their conferences in their writings more praises and far greater commendations unto Spain then unto any other Country many for fear to be reputed unwise if they should not subscribe to their opinion some to follow the new received custome of open and intolerable flattery and others for affection which easily deceiveth very wise men have of late years either thought it a duty or a degree and step to preferment to concur in opinion both openly and privately with as many as have dedicated their Studies and devoted themselves and their uttermost endeavours to the setting forth maintenance and augmentation of Spain and of the Spanish Kings honour and reputation Thence
sent presently Ambassadors unto Rome to pacifie the Pope by making his kingdom Tributary unto him and by promising to hold the same of him to take him for his Superior and to bee obedient unto all his commandements The good old man presently changeth his mind pacifieth his own wrath and of a deadly foe becometh the Kings great friend insomuch that he revoketh whatsoever was before decreed excommunicateth the King of France for robbing the Patrimony of the holy Church and commandeth the English Subjects to return presently unto the dutifull obedience which they owe unto their King Is there any Man so ignorant within this Realme that hath not oftentimes heard how many times the later Popes of Rome have sent not only secular Men but Seminary Priests into England to murther our gracious Soveraign There are some Widowes and Orphans within this Kingdom who lament even at this day the death of their husbands and of their Parents which have lost their lives because they would have deprived our mercifull Queen of her life at the Popes instance and instigation It were to be wished that poor France had not lately felt the great miseries which follow after the Popes heavie indignation It should not have lost within the space of 15 years 14 hundred thousâ—nd men not Strangers but naturall French men it should not have lost in so small a time above 142950. French Gentlemen it should not have lost in so unhapy a time their late King the first King that ever was murthered by his owne Subjects in France it should not complaine that the Father had killed the son the child hâ—s parent the brother the seed of his mothers Wombe and the kinsman the next of his owne kin briefly it should not be pestred and plagued with such unnatural Subjects as delight in the slaughter of their owne Country men as comment and approve of the wicked horrible and most odious and detestable Murther of their owne Leige Lord and Soverraigne Now seeing that either the Approbation of murther as in the Emperor Phocas or the Allowance of unlawfull usurpations as in Charles the great or the Toleration of wicked Rebellions as in Henry the son against the Emperor Henry the Father or the maintenance of wrong Titles as in King Pipin of France or the practise of subtile and devillish devices as in the before mentioned Popes hath caused the Advancement of Popes It must needs follow that they have not lawfully attained unto the Authoritie which they now challenge But to omit all that might here be conveniently spoken against the Succession of Popes against their Authoritie their Pride their abuses and the Iniuries offered unto all Nations that either voluntarily or forcibly have lived under their obedience To leave to tell you how many Catholick Princes they have excommunicated as Hereticks how many Seditions Tumults and Wars have been raised in the world by them and in the defence of their causes To leave to declare unro you how â—thany religious Princes and Kings have nothing esteemed their excommunications how many had good occasion to commend and bless them briefly to avoide that prolixitie which could not be avoided if I should enter into this discourse I will onely signifie unto you the great Wrongs losses and Indignities which our Realme alone hath received by receiving the Pope and his Authoritie for of a brief declaration hereof will follow this great benefit that when it shall appeare as it may appeare unto as many as will vouchsafe to reade the before named Marsilius Pativius that their Authoritie is usurped and that by receiving and acknowledging the same our Realm fele many inconveniences and many Miseries from which it is now freed no man should think her Majestie to be Lawfully excommunicated whome the Pope hath anathematized for not reverening him and his Authoritie whom her Predeâ—effors long since rejected There was a time when as our Kings blinded with the same zeale and affection which now possessâ—th the hearts of those Princes which are wholie devoted unto the Popes holiness honored him as those Princes now do then there was no Realme comparable to ours neither for number nor for beautie of religious houses There was no Country that yeilded greater Obedience unto the Sea of Rome no people that was more readie to receive and entertaine the Popes Legats to honor and reverence them and to fulfill and accomplish whatsoever they required at our hands This great zeale and obedience of ours whereas it should have purchased us especiall favors for he that loveth most ought to be required with most love procured us in time great hatred for no Nation had the like injuries offered unto them as were proffered unto us Whence this hatred proceeded I shall not need to relate our Hâ—storiâ—s ease me of that labour and paine and the manifold Abuses which are suffered will manifestly prove the same There is nothing that derogateth more from the Majesty of a King then to be ruled by Forrein Laws nor any thing that grieveth or offendeth Subjects so much as to be drawen from home into remote and far distint places to prosecute their Right and Suits in Law The first is odious because it disgraceth the Country whose Prince endureth that Jndignitie and the last is grievous because it is both troublesome and chargeable In the time of our Superstitions and foolish zeale unto the Sea of Rome Thomas Archbishop of Cant. was slaine in his Cathedrall Church by William Tracey Reynold Ursin Hugh Marvell and Richard Britton who thinking it noâ— convenient that a proud Prelate should prefer the Popes Commandment before our Kings Authoritie and being grievously offended with the great Indignities that were offered unto our King and his kingdom for his superstitious and contentious Bishops sake came out of Normandie of purpose to end by his death those troubles and vexations from which they thought that our Realme could not be freed so long as he lived The King whenâ—this Murther was committed in England was in Normandy where hearing the News thereof he greatly lamented his death Clothed himself in Sack-Cloth confessed himself unto Almighty God and protested before his divine Majestie that he neither was guilâ—ie or privie to the Archbishops death unless he might be held for guilâ—ie which had just occasion not to love him over well besides Henry the second for he was then King having for this Bishops sake tasted somewhat of the bitter fruits of the Popes Indignation and fearing that when his death should be known at Rome he should incurr his further displeasure sent presently certain Ambassadors unto Rome to excuse him and to signifie his Innocency unto the Pope but his Holiness would not admit them unto his sight untill that certaine of his Cardinals told him that they had express commission from their King to signifie unto his Holiness that he would stand to the Popes and his Cardinals Iudgment and undergo what Penance soever it should please him and them to
The same King seemed in appearance to be offended with his Lord Chancellor for concluding the Truce with the French King and therefore took the Seal from him and caused a new to be made proclaiming through all his Dominions that not any thing sealed with the old Seal should stand in force both for that his Councellors had wrought more indiscreetly then was convenâ—ent and because the same Seal was lost when his Vice-Chancellor was drowned wherefore all men were commanded to come to the new Seal that would have their Charters and Writings confirmed The same King having levied two shillings once before of every Hide of land levied 5 s. of every Hide of Land for a Subsidie rating every Hide to certain hundred acres Lastly the same King caused Turneys to be exercised in divers places for the better trayning of men at Arms in Fâ—ats of Arms whereby he raised no small sums of money for granting license to his Subjects so to Tuâ—ney every Earl paid for his license twenty Marks every Baron ten Marks and every landed Knight four Marks and those that had no land two Marks Now from this King unto others King Iohn in the year 1204 levied a Subsidie of two Marks and an half of every Knights Fee belonging as well unto Spiritual as unto Temporal men the which exaction must needs be very great considering that there were better then forty thousand Knights Fees in England and that every shilling then was worth three shillings in these dayes according to the rate which Sir Thomas Smith maketh in his Book de Republica Anglorum Henry the third revoked all lands granted in his Minority unto his Servants and called to an accompt all his Officers displaced some fined others sold his Plate and borrowed so much money as he could get of the Londoners of Priors Abbots and of the Jews of one of which named Aaron it is written that he had at one time above 30000 Marks Henry the third again obtained certain Authentick Seals of the Prelates of England and sealed therewith certain writings and instruments wherein it was expressed that he had received certain sums of money for dispatch of business pertaining to them and to their Churches of these and the Merchants of Florence and of Sienna whereby they stood bound for repaiment by the same Instruments made by him their Agent in their names The Pope yeelded his consent unto this shift because it should go unto the discharging of the kings debts into which he was run by bearing of the charges of the Wars whereof I have made mention in another place against the king of Sicilie The same Henry caused a Proclamation to be made that all such as might dispend 15 l. in land should receive the honour of Knighthood and those that would not should pay their Fines and five Marks were set on every Sheriffs head for a Fine because they had not distrained every person that might dispend 15 l. land to receive the order of Knighthood as was to the same Sheriffs commanded The same Henry in the Forty fourth year of his Reign had granted him a Scutagium or Escuage that is fourteen shillings of every Knights Fee The same Henry in the second commotion of the Earl of Glocester engaged the Shrines of Saints and other Jewels and Relicks of the Church of Westminster for great sums of money wherewith he got Aid out of France and Scotland Briefly the same Henry caused all the weights and measures throughout all England to be perused and examined and laid great Fines on their heads that were found with false Weights and with false Measures Edward the second for his defence against the Scots had the sixth penny of temporal mens goods in England Ireland and Wales And Edward the Third for the recovery of France besides other Subsidies took the ninth Lamb Fleece and Sheaf of Corn through England Riâ—hard the Second had a Mark of the Merchants for every Sack of their Woolls for one year and six pence of the buyers for every pound of Wares brought in from beyond the Seas and here sold. He had likewise towards his charges for the Wars of France a Noble of every Priest Secular or Regular and as much of every Nun and of every married or not married man or woman being sixteen years old four pence and forty shillings of every Sack of Wooll of which ten shillings to be imployed at the â—ings pleasure and thirty shillings to be reserved for his necessity In the 24. year of Henry the Eighth his Reign when his Majesty married with her Highness Mother the Lady Ann Bullein Writs were directed to all Sheriffs to certifie the names of all mâ—n of 40 l. lands to receive the honour and order of Knighthood or else to make a Fine It is written by Philip de Comines that our Kings when they wanted money were wont to feign that they would go into Scotland or into France with an Army and that to make great sums of money they would levy men and pay them for a matter of two or three months within which space they would again dismiss their Armies although they had taken money of their Subjects enough to maintain them for a whole year or more and many times they had money of the King of Scotland or of France towards the charges of their Wars It is written by du Haillan in the Tenth Book of his French History that Iohn King of England being in great want of money enjoyed for six years together all the Bâ—nefices of his Realm and all his Bishopricks Abbeys and Monasteries wherewith he defraied the expences of his House and of his Armies which he might do very well because the Revenues of such Benefices as Italian Priests enjoyed sometimes in England came by just computation to above seventy thousand Marks by the year And it was declared in a Parliament held in the 11. year of King Henry the Fourth his Reign that the King might have of the temporal possessions Lands and Revenues which were lewdly consumed by the Bishops Abbots and Priors of England so much as would suffice plentifully to finde and maintain 150 Earls 1500 Knights 6209 Esquires and an hundred Hospitals more then were at that time The same King Iohn accused sometimes one sometimes another Nobleman of England that they lost his Towns and Cities beyohd the Seas by their negligence and fined them at great sums of money Thus I have with as much brevity as might be waded through the several reigns of most of the longest-lived Kings of our Realm and have set you down about thirty sundry and divers kinds of ways which they have used to make money in time of their want and necessities of all which her Majesties greatest enemies cannot truly shew or prove that her Highness in thirty six years that her Grace hath now reigned ever used as much as one and if it may please those that being Fugitives abroad and most envy and malign her peaceable and
quiet Government at home to confer the necessities of her Predecessors with the urgent occasions that her Grace hath had to use much ready money they shall finde that her Ancestors never had so just occasions of necessary expences as her Majesty had of late years yea almost for the whole time of her reign For albeit her Majesty hath not had continual open Wars as some of them had yet her charge hath been nothing inferior unto theirs For first Wars are now adays as I have said far more chargeable then they were wont to be Then her Grace hath had no other Princes to contribute towards her expences as her Predecessors had Next her Loans to foreign Princes as to the Kings of France of Navar of Scotland to the late Duke of Alencon and to the States of the Low Countries have been very great And lastly her charges both by land and Sea could not chuse but amount yearly to infinite sums considering how many times her Highness hath been constrained to send her Navy to the Seas and her Land Souldiers forth of the Realm Besides her Predecessors charges were for the most part voluntary being undertaken to conquer and not to defend their Realms to get other Princes Dominions and not to conserve their own to revenge forein injuries and not to repulse domestical invasions briefly their Wars were for their own profit and hers for her Subjects benefit considering therefore that whatsoever her Grace hath levied not granted unto her by her Parliament without any contradiction without any accusing her of Prodigalâ—ty wâ—thout any such exception taken against her demands as hath been taken against other her Predecessors without any suspition of hâ—r evil Government therefore without any consigning the managing and government of the same unto others then unto them who by her Majesties appointment have the custody thereof it is a manifest argument that her Subjects were always most willing to yeeld to all manner of contributions that her Highness in her Princely Wisdom and Discretion did take to be necessary for the defence of her Realm And if these malicious Accusers would look upon the governments upon the Exactions upon the extortions of such Princes in whose Realms they either live by Alms or wander up and down as Vagabonds their own consciences if at least they have any would condemn them of malice of untruth or of gross ignorance for the wisest amongst them may and are well able to make large volumes of such Subsidies Taxes Impositions and Grievances as are levied in France Italy Spain of which the hundreth parts are unknown much less practised in England and this must needs appear to be most true and manifest since it cannot be denied that in some Dukedoms of Italy the Circuit of which is not comparable unto one Shire of England the yearly Revenues of the Duke far exceed the Revenues and Rents of the Crown of England Moreover if it may please this Viperous generation of Fugitives to call to mind the Interest that Princes have in their Subjects Goods and the great power that is given unto kings in the Old Testament over the Lands and Possessions of as many as live under their Obedience and also to remember that Princes the longer they live the more absolute Imperious and self-conceited they are in the Execution of their Government and the more Experienced in their proof they must rather commend then condemn her Majesty whom neither continuance of time nor fulness of Authority nor presumption upon the good Wills of her people nor confidence upon the Equity of her Cause nor the consideration of her Subjects weal wholly depending upon her welfare nor briefly the remembrance of her gentle and sweet-Government hath ever imboldened to be over-chargable unto the Realm or over-burthensome unto her Subjects This grievous accusation is more truly then briefly refelled Now leaving the rest of these Fugitives suggestions unto another place wherein I shall have occasion to handle them more fitly I will end this point with condemning the King of Spain for being too light in crediting these Rebels in two principal points For first he ought to have considered that neither the vain Pamphlets disspersed by his lying Ambassador Mendoza nor the malicious book written by Cardinal Allen was able to alter remove or shake the natural and dutifull affections of our English Subjects they were too well acquainted with the Ambassadors old and inveterate malice with his hostile practices and his desperate intents They knew the Cardinal to be a Religious Fugitive to sell his tongue and the use thereof for money to be like unto Richard Shaw that was hired to preach at Pauls-Cross and there publickly to justifie the wrongfull usurpation of Richard the third to resemble the Duke of Buckingham who neither feared nor blushed to commend the same cause for just and most lawfull in the Guildhall London to imitate Iohn Petit a Preacher of France who for a far less bribe then a Cardinalship allowed approved and commended in Pulpit and in writing the most horrible murther committed by the Duke of Burgoigne on the person of the Duke of Orleans And lastly to follow his example who without all example was not ashamed to write a large volumn against the late king of France and therein to deduce many reasons many causes for and by which he maintained that the said King might be lawfully deposed and another set up and established in his place Secondly he might have considered that those Fugitives are for the most part peevish and discontented Schollers fitter to mannage a Pen then a Lance to dispute of Philosophy then to discourse of War to be partial in their own conceits then to be prodigal in their assurance briefly to be ready to say more then they know especially when they are either assured or in good hope by saying much to obtain much he might have remembred that Iohannes Viennensis sent into Scotland by Charles the sixth of France although he was a man of great experience a Captain of long continuance aud one that by his long abode in Scotland knew England and her Forces far better then our Fugitives do deceived his King at his return out of Scotland in reporting unto him the strength of our Nation he had fought with many of our Armies had seen 60000 Footmen 8000 and Horsmen of ours in the Field was of opinion that our Country was easie to be conquered within the Realm howsoever it prevailed and conquered abroad And lastly he both knew and signified unto the king that the Duke of Lancaster was absent in Portugal with the Flower and chief Youth of England These reason moved the French king to determine to invade England presently to carry an huge Army to Sluce in Flanders to assemble all the Nobility and Peers of his Realm for that voyage and to proâ—â—se unto himself an assured victory against England But what event had this Journey What effect followed of this perswasion The
king hearing that the Duke of Lancaster was returned out of Portugal and that in England fâ—r greater Forces were prepared to resist his invasion then Iohn of Vienna had mentioned withdrew his Forces from Sluce unto the places from whence they came and as the Spaniards would cover their dishonour received in their attempt against England by the Duke of Parma his not joyning with them in convenient time as it was decreed in Spain before they departed out of Spain so they laid the fault of not proceeding in the journey upon the Duke of Berry who knowing the Forces of England as undoubtedly the Duke of Parma did far better then those that took upon them to make report thereof came not unto the French king at Sluce until the dead of Winter when it it was too late to depart thence to invade England And as the Frenchmen falsly charged the Duke of Berry that he had received Bribes of the king of England to divert his king from his intended enterprise against England So the Spaniards more indirectly then justly blame the Duke of Parma that in consideration of some reward either received or promised from us he held not his promise to joyn his power with the Spanish strength against us And lastly as of the French vain enterprises and all the preparations thereof there came nothing else into England but certain great Tents and lodgings of Wood capable as their Authors report of all their kings huge Army So of the Spanâ—sh invincible Navy and of their mighty Army nothing was seen in England but the spoil of their strong Armado and the flags of their tallest ships which were brought to Paulsâ—Cross â—Cross and there shewed unto the People as notable monuments of their wonderous overthrow Now followeth the death of the Queen of Scots a Queen in whom God had joyned some vertues with many vices a happy Queen if she had not been too much affected unto the Pope of Rome too much lead and counselled by the Spanish King a Pope and a King that have overthrown more noble Families in England France Flanders and Scotland then they have true and good Noblemen within their Realms and Dominions Of this Queen because she was nobly descended and the mother of a most noble King I forbear to set down what Buchanan hath written And yet because her Majesty is charged to have done her to death wrongfully I cannot but relate what another reporteth of her Another that was neither an Englishman nor a Scot but a German Another that writeth of her as Cornelius Tacitus doth of his Emperors Sine ira studio without hatred or affection for she was unto him as those Emperors were to Tacitus neither known for any good turn that ever he received of her nor hated for any wrong that ever she did unto him This Queen saith my Author being weary of her second husband whose life was often sought and at length unhappily shortned not long after his death married James Hepborn Earl of Bothwel whom during her Husbands life she had used most fumiliurly Certain Noblemon of Scotland being greatly moved with the indignity of so wicked a deed and desirous to revenge so horrible a Parricide raised an Army against the Queen and forced her to resign her Kingdom unto her young Son But they confined her unto a certain Island whence escaping the next year by corrupting her Keepers and the Hamiltons Forces which fought in her defence but overthrown by the Lord Protector of Scotland she meaning to go unto her Mothers friends into France took her journey by England where she was detained and when as certain Treasons intended by the instigation of the Pope against the Queen of England her State for the delivery of the Scottish Queen and establishing her in both Kingdoms were revealed and discovered she was more straightly kept and lookt unto until at length because she had used many means to deprive the Queen of her life she was condâ—mned to death in the year 1586. by the Lords and Commons of the Parliament House and executed the same year accordingly Against this Sentence and his execution there are made these exceptions First it is said That the late Queen of Scotland being an absolute Prince as well as the Queen of England could not be condemned to death by her because Par in parem non habet potestatem Next it is alleadged that if a Prince should so much forget himself as not onely to pronounce but also to execute a sentence of death upon his Equal over whom he hath no manner of Jurisdiction or Authority other Princes will be greatly offended with this Sentence and never endure that it should be put in execution To these Reasons there is added a Third That since there is no Law as yet written to punish a Prince with death they think it unlawful to make new Laws new Statutes for the punishment of a Prince and in case it were lawful it is not known who should make these Laws who should adminster them who should execute them and therefore sithence there is no law against Princes there can be no great punishment inflicted upon Princes and because there was never any custom known or practised to proceed so severely against Princes Lives it must needs be against all good Custâ—m to call their Behaviour in question or their Lives into danger The favourers of this cause proceed further and look upon the malice and wickedness of Subjects who as soon as they begin to hate their Prince unjustly and for no occasion would quickly by themselves or by other Princes by open violence or by secret conspiracies be rid of their Princes So say they would it come to pass that by whom Princes ought to be preserved by them they should perish and by whose help they mould be delivered against all others through their hatred they should be destroyed by themselves The Patrons and Advocates of this Queen bring another reason to confirm their opinion For say they if a Prince fall willingly into another Princes hands or if it happen that flying from his malicious Subjects or from his foreign Enemies or being driven by Tempest or other casualty into one Kingdom when he meant to go into another or that being in the field one Prince is detained by another the detainer that shall not ransom but execute such a Prince shall break and violate the Laws of Arms of Humanity or of Hospitality Lastly the Laws of Nations require that Princes Ambassadors even in the hottest broils and most bloody contentions that are betwixt Princes shall have free ingress and egress into and out of the Kingdoms into which they are sent But if the Laws permit or rather command Ambassadors who do but represent the persons of Princes to be free from all dangers what honest or just pretext can there be to violate or wrong their Lords and Masters For it is against all reason against common practâ—ce and experience to spare the
partakers of it foolish in a King and Capital in a Subject Eumenes was King but of a poore Castle and yet he would not accknowledge mightie Antigonus for his Superior Pompey was a Subject and yet he could not endure any one man to bee above him Caesar a Citizen of Rome and yet he could not brooke an equall And the late Prince of Orange a Prince of no great Power or Wealth and yet he held himself for as absolute a Prince as the mightie Monarch of Spain This again is proved by a notable example of the Emperor Charles the 4. who coming into France in the time of Charles the 5. King of France to end all debates and quarrells betwixt him and our King was mett upon the way by the French King which is a ceremony observed by them who acknowledge themselves to bee inferior unto him whom they meet but the Emperor as soon as they were mett would have yeilded the highest place unto the King and accepted it not without great ceremony and it was written that it was given him but of Curtesie a Curtesie usuall among Princes aswell as amongst private men for as private men in their own houses and at their own Tables will of Curteâ—ie sett meaner men then they are before themselves so Princes when strange Kings come into their country will preferr them before themselves It is ceâ—tain that the Emperor precedeth of right all the Princes of Christendom And yet when Francis the first King of France was brought from Pavia where he was taken Prisoner into Spain at their fiâ—st meeting the Emprror and he embraced one another on horseback with their Capps in their hands and in covering their heads there passâ—d great ceremony betwixt them each of them striving to bee the last that should bee covered and after that they had talked a while they both covered their heads at one very selfesame time And after that there was a new strife betwixt them for the right hand This again is proved by the Emperor Sigismond who when hee would have made the Earle of Savoy as you have heard upon an other occasion Duke at Lyons hee was commanded by the Kings Attorney not to attempt any such thing in France aswell because it was thought that being in an other Kings Country he lost his Authority and Power to create a Duke as for that it seemed unto the French King that he was not to suffer him to use any Royall Authority within his dominions The Queen of Scotts therefore when shee was in England was inferior unto the Queens Majesty and this inferioritie is proved by three other principal Reasons The one because there is an inequalitie betwixt Kings one of them being better then an other The other because she was her Majesties Vassall and the third because she was deposed and so no longer a Queen First for the inequality it is certain that the Kings of Spain and of France be both resolute Princes and yet France challengeth precedency before Spain for five principal causes The first because the consent and opinion of the learned is for France and not for Spain The second because the French Kings have a long time had the honor to be Emperors and not the Kings of Spain The third because the French Kings have been called most Christian Kings these many hundred yeares and Ferdinando the fift was the first and that but lately that was called the Catholick King of Spain The fourth because at the Feast of St. George in England France even in Queen Maries time was preferred before Spain The fift because the house of France is more ancient then that of Spain which raigned long before the Castle of Hapsburg was builded The sixt and last because the book of ceremonies which is kept at Rome preferreth France before Spain Next to France is England as appeareth by the same book which putteth England in the second place and Spain in the third Again those Kings are best which are Crowned and by the same book it is evident that France England and Spain only have Crowned Kings Next it seemeth that the meaner sort of Kings also strive for Precedency and one of them will be accompted better then another For it is written that Matthew King of Hungary thinking himself better then Ladislaus King of Bohemia when they met once together Matthew went bare-headed and tyed about the head with a green Garland because hee would not put off his Capp unto the Bohemian but have him put off his unto him which the King of Bohemia perceiving deceived his expectation by tying his own Capp so fast unto his head that when they met hee could not put it off and so the Hungarian being bare-headed saluted the Bohemian that was covered But to leave these Inequalities and to come unto the second point which being proved it must needs follow that the Scottish Queen was farr inferior unto our Queen uâ—â—o whom shee owed honor homage and obedience Many of our Kings have challenged the Soveraignity over Scotland but none prosecuted the same more eagerly then Edward the first who because hee would be sure that his right thereunto was good caused all the Monasteriâ—s of England and Wales to bee searched to see what evidences or bookes he could finde in them to prove his Title The King found in the Chronicles of Mariamis Scotus of William of Malmesburg of Roger of Hoveden of Henry of Huntingdâ—n and of Radolph of â—ucet that King Edward his Predecessor in the yeare of our Lord nine hundred and ten subdued the Kings of Scotland and Câ—mberland and that the Subjects of both these kingdoms in the nine hundred and eleventh year chose the said Edward for their Soveraign Lord. He found further that Adeslaus King of England subdued in the yeare nine hundred twenty six Scotland and Northumberland and that the People of both Countries submitting themselves unto him swore unto him both fidelity and homage Hee found again that King Edgar overcame Rinad the son of Alphinus King of Scots and that by that victory he became King of Four kingdoms namely of England Scotland Denmarke and Norway He found also that St. Edward gave the kingdom of Scotland to bee held under him unto Malcolm son unto the King of Cumberland and that William the Conqueror in the sixt year of his raigne conquered the said Malcolm and took an oath of homage and fidelity of him The like did William Rufus unto the same Malcolm and unto his two Sons who raigned one after another Besides it appeareth unto the said Edward that Alexander King of Scotland succâ—eded his brother Edgar in his kingdome with the consent of Henry the first King of England that David King of Scots did homage unto King Stephen and William unto King Henry the second unto Henry the third unto King Richard and unto King Iohn It appeared again by the Chronicles of St. Albans that Alexander King of Scots in the thirty year of King Henries
the Laws of Humanity or Hospitality are or can justly be said to be broken if such a Prince be severely punished for since he first violateth these Laws himself he giveth thereby just occasion unto him whose death he seeketh by unlawfull means to use the benefit of Law for the shortning of so unthankfull a Guests life especially if before his attempt and conspiracy his detainor always used him gently and curteously But it was never seen say the Scotish Queens friends that a Prince flying from the violence of her Subjects or passing by another Princes Realm as the Scotish Queen did to go into another Country was detained prisoner It is a thing never heard of never practised in any Age or by any Prince were he never so barbarous never so void of Humanity This is a vehement Objection but not so vehement as ridiculous For as a private man cannot come upon his neighbours ground without his leave so Princes may not set their feet on their neighbours Territories without asking them leave and license and the Prince that shall presume to come into another Princes Country without his leave is thought too indiscreet and unwise although the occasion of his coming be never so just and lawfull It is written of Baldwine the Emperor of Constantinople that when he being driven from his Imperial Seat came into England to demand aid of our King the cause of his coming was very just and equitable but when landed at Dover word was sent him by our King that he had done unadvisedly and otherwise then it became a king of his Magnificence and Majesty to adventure to come into our Realm without making them privy before hand to his coming and because he vouchsafed not to ask leave it was held for a manifest sign of great pride and contempt Was there ever Prince that took a more just and necessary and commendable voyage then Richard the first king of England did unto the Holy land Was there ever any journey of which followed better success then of that his voyage Had ever Prince more just occasion to hope to pass by another Princes Country without danger or detriment then he had And yet as he returned although he was disguised in apparel to the end he might not be known and pass safely he was intercepted by Leopald Duke of Austria and held a long time in prison by him and afterwards dilivered unto the Emperor And albeit that the Pope and other Princes considering that he was unlawfully detained became Mediators and Intercessors for his liberty yet he could not be delivered before he had endured twenty two moneths imprisonment and had paid better then one hundred and fifty thousand pounds for his Ransom Both our Chronicles and the Scotish Histories report that Iames son unto Robert King of Scotland when his Uncle being Governor of the Kingdom had murthered his Elder brother and purposed to have made him away also was sent by his father into France or into England with letters of recomenmdation unto both Kings wherein the poor and distressed Father besought both Kings to have compassion of his wofull and unhappy estate and to receive and entertain his Son with all kindeness The young Prince after that he had been but a small while upon the Seas not brooking them very well commanded the Master of the ship to land him in England He is presently brought unto the presence of King Henry the first to whom he shewed his Fathers letters The King having perused them called his Councel together they deliberate what were best to do with the Prince some think it good to send him into France others whose opinion was followed perswade the king to detain him as prisoner I might alledge a number of Examples like unto these two but they may suffice to refute this frivolous Objection And the late Queen of Scots might have learned of either these Princes how to have carried her self in the time of her Captivity King Richard was a valiant a mighty and a notable wise Prince His case was lamented of all the Princes of Christendom His Subjects were both willing and able to have constrained his Detainers to deliver him His journey was undertaken for the benefit of all Christendom and therefore it behoved all Princes to be offended with his imprisonment Briefly neither the Duke nor the Emperor had just occasion to detain him and yet during the long and tedious time of his durance he neither sought any unlawfull means to escape out of prison nor practised any treacherous wayes to be revenged of his Detainers The Scotish Prince doubtless was to be pittied The cause of his flight was just and honest and the detaining of him prisoner waâ— rather hatefull then honourable and yet this poor Prince carried himself not onely honestly and faithfully as long as he was prisoner in England but also when our king caused him to attend upon him into France where he might have easily escaped from his keepers or quickly haâ—e procured some violent means to purchase his liberty he continued stâ—ll a faithfull prisoner And was so far at all times from seeking revenge for his hard and long imprisonment that he alwayes thought that he was well and courteously used and in requital of that courtesie when as Henry the sixth Son unto the same Henry who kept him Prisoner was driven out his kingdom he not onely haâ—boured him but also helped to restore him to his kingdom The good carriages of these two Princes condemneth the Scottish Queen and the general custom of Princes as not onely to crave leave when they come into other Princes Dominions but also to provide for their safety and security as long as they shall be there confuteth this foolish this fond this ridiculous and childish Objection It is written of a King of Navarre that when he had occasion to come into England in the four and fortieth year of Edward the Third his reign not to conspire against us but to intreat a League with us and to fight for us he not onely demanded leave but also durst not adventure to come before that the King had sent unto his Realm certain Bishops Earls and Barons to remain as Hostages and Sureties that he should be well used so long as he continued in England And surely Princes have great reason to require such Assurance since many Kings and Princes have been in great danger to be killed yea and some have been killed when they met of purpose to talk of Common Affairs So was Iulius Caesar in danger to have been in conference with Ariovisâ—us so was William Duke of Normandy killed in conference with Arnold Earl of Flanders so was the Duke of Burgundy muâ—thered at a meeting with the Dolphin of France And these examples have made Princes more provident and wise then they were wont to be for that they will hardly be perswaded or intreated to any such Enterviews or if they must needs meet they cause places to be made of
and death over their subjects yet he is to be accompted a Tyrant that causeth any of his Subjects to be done to death without having deserved to lose his life and this authority given them by Law and common consent of their subjects tendeth to no other purpose nor respecteth any other end then that sin may be punished and malefactors not permitted to live both to the scandal and detriment of well doers If therefore Escovedo committed no offence worthy of death the King had no power no warrant no authority to take away his life his offence therefore must be known the nature quality and circumstances thereof well examined and duly considered and according as his crime shall fall out and prove to be great or small pardonable or capital so shall the Kings actions seem punishable or excusable All that Antonio Peres his Book chargeth him withal is that he had secret intelligence with the Pope the King of France and the Duke of Guise wherein he was set on by his master Don Iohn de Austria who was the King's Lieutenant General and by vertue of this office represented the Kings own person and was armed with his authority if not in all things yet in as much as concerned the execution of his charge and commission The question then must be whether the Secretary unto such a Lieutenant performing that which is commanded by his master may be taken and condemned for a Traytor Treason hath many branches and is of divers kinds and it would be tedious and troublesome to make a recital of them all And it shall suffice to declare whether any of the actions specified in this accusation be within the compass of Treason He wrote Letters to whom To the Pope Why He was no enemy but a friend to the King of Spain What was the tenor and contents of this Letter Nothing else but that it might please his Holiness to recommend one Brother unto another Why That was an office of kindness and not of treason And for what purpose desireth he to have him recommended Forsooth for the employment in the service and enterprise that was to be made against England Why that service liked the King and proceeded first from him it tended to his benefit it was to be undertaken in revenge of his supposed wrongs against his enemy and all this is no treason And for whom wrote he For Don Iohn de Austria his Kings Brother the Pope's Darling and Turks scourge the Princes of Italies Favourite the Queen of Englands terror and the whole Worlds wonder But he wrote without the King's privity How shall he know that Had he not good cause to think that all that he did was done with the King's counsel and consent Had he not eyes to see and ears to hear and discretion to consider that whatsoever was done against England should be both grateful and acceptable unto the King I but he might think that the King would not be content to have his Brother made a King Why He was his Lieutenant already and so next to a King He had done him great service and was to do him more and so deserved no small recompence he had the Title of a Duke but no Living fit for a Duke the vertues and valour of a King but no possibility to be a King but by his Brothers favour and furtherance briefly he desired that honour and Escovedo perhaps thought the King meant to prefer him to that honour the rather because the King might be led to advance him to a Kingdom in his life time by his fathers example who prefers his Brother Ferdinando to the Empire before he died himself why then be it that he was either deceived in his cogitation or beguiled with the love of his Master or went further then he had warrant to go why lawful ignorance extenuateth the gravity of and as to annoy a Princes enemy so to pleasure his friend was never punishable or at any time accounted treason But when the enterprise against England failed he solicited the Pope for the Kingdom of Tunis but how Not to have it without the Kings good leave and liking And when made he that motion Even then when the Princes of Italy and the wisest Counsellors of Europe stood in fear of the common enemy doubted that Tunis might be recovered by the Turk and therefore thought it meet to have so valorous and victorious a Prince there as was Don Iohn de Austria who having the Kingdom in his own right would be the more willing and ready to defend it and was this desire an offence Or could this motion be counted treason He might have remembred that Don Iohn de Soto was removed from serving Don Iohn de Austria because he furthered him in the like enterprizes But he saw him preferred to a place of greater honour and commodity which gave him just occasion to think that the King rather liked then disallowed his actions Thus you see there is no desert of death in practising with the Pope Now it remaineth to consider how this dealing in France with the King or the Duke of Guise may be justly esteemed a crime capital It appeareth that the French King was then in League with the Spaniard whose Ambassador was then residing in his Court and Ambassadors are not permitted to remain but where there is a League of Amity betwixt Princes The Guisards affection hath been declared to have been always greater towards Spain then towards France And the enterprize of England might seem unto Don Iohn de Austria very difficult yea impossible without some favour without some help from France if then to favour this enterprize he had some secret intelligence with France is he therefore blame-worthy Or hath it ever been counted a fault in a servant or Lieutenant to seek all lawful and honourable ways to bring to pass his Masters desire and purpose Do Princes prescribe unto their Lieutenants or Ministers all that they can do to compass and effect their designs Do they not rather give them a few short Instructions and leave it to their discretion and wisdom to foresee and use other means to further their intentions Is not this the reason why they make choice of wise and discreet men for such employments Is not this the cause that when they send young Noblemen either to Wars or Ambassadors or to forraign Governments they are ever accompanyed with grave and wise Counsellors Briefly Is it not this that moveth them to command that their young Lieutenants Ambassadors or Governours shall do nothing without their Counsellors I know that it is very dangerous to be employed in Princes affairs Danger in conceiving a message and Danger in delivering the same and danger in reporting an answer thereunto And yet be it that a messenger conceiveth not a business rightly that he delivereth not his will and pleasure as he should do and that he faileth in report of his answer to whom he is sent yet he committeth not a
short time Both ours and the French Histories agree in this Point That either in or immediately after the happy and prosperous Reign of Henry the fifth we flourished and possessed most in France and lost all or most part of all in the time of his Son Henry the sixth The ways how this came to pass were many I have reduced them unto four and twenty the least of every of which was and hath been enough to lose whole Estates and Kingdom not gotten by Conquests which are easily recovered but descending by Inheritance which are hardly lost The first Cause of our loss of whatsoever King Henry the fifth had gotten in France was the death of King Charls the sixth for when he was dead many of the French Nobility which before either for fear of the English puissance or for the love which they bore unto King Charls favoured and furthered our part revolted from us unto the Dolphin his dis-inherited Son and it is usual in Factions the head of one side being dead or suppressed the residue be so weakned or feared that either all or the most part either fly unto their Adversaries or else make their peace with them with as reasonable conditions as they can possibly as was seen by the death of Pompey whose Adherents fled unto Caesar or sought his favour after their principal Ring-leader and Guide was slain The second Cause was the sparkles of sedition and strife which began betwixt us and the Duke of Burgundy our principal Aider and Abettor who was highly discontented with us because that Humphry Duke of Glocester either blinded with ambition or doting with the love of the Lady Iaquet sole Heir unto the County of Holland had married her notwithstanding that her Husband Iohn Duke of Brabant and Brother to the Duke of Burgundy was then living The third Cause was the liberty of Iames King of Scotland who being Ransomed with courtesie and having sworn Loyalty unto the young King Henry the sixth was no sooner in his own Country then he forgot his Oath and allyed himself with the French King The fourth was the Revolt and departure of the Duke of Britany and his Brother from us unto the French King The fifth Cause was the dissention betwixt the Bâ—shop of Winchester and the Duke of Glocester who governed the young King for appeasing whereof the Duke of Bedford Regent of France was called home The sixth the liberty of the Duke of Alancon who being Ransomed in the Regents absence did greatly strengthen the Dolphins power The seventh the death of the Earl of Salisbury and of the worthiest and most fortunate Captain that ever England bred at Orleans After whose decease the English good and prosperous fortune presently began to decline The eighth was the refusal of the Duke of Bedford to suffer Orleans to yeild to the Duke of Burgundy Of which refusal there proceeded two great inconveniencies The one That they of Orleans offering to yeild themselves unto the said Duke because they held it less dishonourable to yeild unto a Frenchman then unto an English Prince although it were to the behalf and use of the King of England and seeing their offer refused grew as many both before and since have done upon the like occasion so wilful obstinate and desperate that we could never get their Town but suffered great losses in laying and continuing our Siege thereat a very long time and indured such shame by departing thence without taking the same that even until this day as I saw of late years my self they yearly celebrate this day as Festival to our great dishonour whereon they compelled us to withdraw thence our overwearied and bootless Forces The other That the Duke of Burgundy thinking by this refusal that we envyed his Honour too much who had rather lose a Town of such strength and importance as Orleans was then to suffer it to yeild unto him although it were as I have said to our own use and advantage began by little and little to remove his affection and unfeigned friendship and furtherance from us The ninth The often conveying of Forces out of England into Holland and in succour of the Duke of Glocester against the Duke of Brabant who as mortal enemies warred one upon the other for the cause above mentioned and also into Bohemia by the Bishop of Winchester for the Pope Martin who intended to make a Conquest of Bohemia The tenth The Dolphins policy who refused divers times to put tryal of his cause to the hazard of a Battel The eleventh The mistrust and jealousie which the Regent had of the Parisians for fear of whose wavering and unconstant minds a fault whereto they have always been greatly subject the said Regent left divers times very good and advantagious occasions to fight with the Dolphin and return to Paris The twelfth The variance and strife betwixt the Duke of Bedford then Regent and the Cardinal of Winchester proceeding of this cause especially for that the Cardinal presumed to command the Regent to leave off that name during the Kings being in France affirming the chief Ruler being present the Authority of the substitute to cease and to be derogate The thirteenth The death of the Dutchess of Bedford Sister unto the Duke of Burgundy with whom dyed the true friendship between the two Dukes The fourteenth The foolish pride of the Duke of Bedford who coming from Paris of purpose to St Omers a Town belonging to the Duke of Burgundy and appointed and chosen a convenient place for them to meet and end all contentions betwixt them both thought that the Duke of Burgundy should have come to his Lodging to have visited him first as Son Brother and Uncle unto Kings And the Duke of Burgundy being Lord of that place would not vouchsafe him that Honour but offered to meet him half way which the Duke of Bedford refusing they departed the Town discontented and without seeing one another and never after saw and conâ—erred together The fifteenth The Duke of Burgundy displeased with this occasioâ— and won partly by the outcries of his own people overwearied with wars and partly by the general councel held at Arras for the according and agreeing of the two Kings joineth with the French King The sixteenth The death of the Duke of Bedfore who being a man throughly acquainted with the humors and wars of France by reason of his long continuance in the one and conversation with the other died the fourteenth year of Henry the 6. his Reigne and presently after many French Noblemen and worthy Souldiers who followed the said Duke with-drew themselves from the English Faction The seventeenth The Duke of York his Successors so long stay in England occasioned by the malice of the Duke of Somerset that before his coming into France Paris and many other good Towns of France had yeilded unto the Dolphin The eighteenth The sending over but of hundreds yea of scores where before thousands were sent to keep
had rather have the French King a profess'd enemy then a dissembling friend And not satisfied with the indignity of this disdainful Answer he sent presently after him another Embassadour into France to tell the King thereof That the Spaniards were not so foolish and so unwise as not to see and perceive that whatsoever the Duke of Alencon did was done by permission counsel consent and furtherance of the King his Brother Out of this Answer and this Embassage I gather thus much That it is better for a Prince to have an open enemy then a deceitful friend And to prove the Spaniard to have been always such a friend unto the State of England I use these Demonâ—trations First It is not unknown as I have said before all the Treasons and Conspiracies which have been attempted intended and practised against her Majesty ever since her first coming to the Crown have had their beginning or their comfort their counsel or their furtherance their countenance or their invention from Spain Witness to omit others of lesser moment and yet of most dangerous consequence the Treasons of the late Duke of Norfolk since whose death it is better then twenty years and more then forty since he first began to be a Traytor Is it not more then twenty one years ago that Robert Rudolphy a Florentine Merchant who had lived many years in England departed out of England for fear that the Duke being committed to prison should reveal the practises and means which he had used by the solicitation of the King of Spain and of the Pope to draw the Duke unto those Treasons which he afterwards intended and had executed had he not been happily discovered did not the same Redolphy go from hence to Rome and there communicated with the Pope how the Duke was apprehended and thereby their Plot and device broken and prevented Was he not sent from Rome into Spain there to make the same relation and to consult with the Spanish king what means might be used for the liberty of the said Duke and if that might not be happily wrought and effected for some other kind of of annoyance to be done to England Was it not publiquly noised and certainly beleeved that the Duke of Alva should have joined with the said Duke and have done us more wo then I may boldly speak of and my heart can even without extream grief to relate or remember Witness again the most unnatural practises of the late Queen of Scots unnatural because she was a Queen as her Majesty was because she was her neer kinswoman and her Vassal beholding unto her Highness for her life and for the life of her own only child which unto good and loving Parents is always more dear then their own life Lived not this unthankful ungracious and unfortunate Queen more then twenty years prisoner in England and which of all those years lived her Majesty free from some Treason or other But hereof in another place Now let it suffice that it is apparent to all the world that she had secret Messengers secret help and counsel from Spain as well before as after her Imprisonment to animate encourage and set her forward in all her mischievous endeavours and purposes against our gracious Sovereign and her Realms Is not then the Spaniard a deceitful friend unto England Is he not then by his own confession more to be feared and more to be disliked then an open enemy Or are not we so wise as the Spaniard to see and perceive such deceitful proceedings and seeing them shall it not not be lawful for us to think of him as he thought of the king of France and to deal so with Spain as he dealt and dealeth with France such justice as a Magistrate useth unto others such must he expect himself saith the Emperour Iustinian He that seeketh dayly to increase his own power purchaseth to himself envy and batred So Said Sabellicus The Prince that desireth Cities that are far off cannot but covet those which are near at hand So said Leo Aretinus and it is hard and difficult to beware of such friends which secretly play the part of enemies So said Dionifius Hallicarnesus If therefore the king of Spain hath nourished civil dissention in France if he hath been so ready to maintain the Rebels thereof against their King that rather then the Realm should be without troubles he hath relieved and succoured the very Protestants of France and the heads of their Faction against their Sovereign and other their professed enemies And if he hath done all this to the end the French king might not be able to encroach upon him in Italy Flanders or any other of his Dominions Why may not our Queen who as a woman is fearful and timerous and as a Prince ought to be careful and provident for the safety of her Realm and of her Subjects relieve the States of the United Provinces being her ancient friends and Allies to the end that he Spaniard being busied in those parts may have no time leisure or commodity to work any manner of open or secret prejudice unto her Realm and her Subjects Dinothus a true Historiographer of the civil Wars in Flanders reporteth That when the King of Spains Embassador said unto the late French King that it was neither seemly nor convenient for his Majesty to receive the States who were Rebels unto his Master The French king Answered him that he neither received nor harboured them as Rebels unto his Master but as men wrongfully oppressed and that Christian Princes have always used to grant and give help and succour unto the oppressed And further that the States had assured him that they had oftentimes sent many supplications unto their King therein submiting themselves unto his mercy and humbly beseeching his Majesty to remit their offences and to receive them into his favour yea and when they might have any commodity they delivered themselves such supplication unto the Kings own hands but could never have any reasonable Answer from him And that therefore it was lawful for them to appeal from him that denyed them justice and to seek aid against him where they might hope to find the same If then the king of France a Prince of contrary Religion unto the States a Prince of as neer Alliance and of later Affinity unto the Spanish king then our Queen is a Prince that in his own Realm could never endure Protestants because he thought it very dangerous to suffer two Religions in one Kingdom held it the part of a Christian Prince to succour the oppressed and to be their Protector unto whom justice was openly denyed Why should it be a fault imputed unto our Queen that she releeveth her oppressed neighbours since she doth it not in malice towards the Spaniards but in mercy towards the afflicted not so much to offend him as to defend them not to enlarge her Dominions but to preserve her Realms and Subjects for how can she
were as yet not seen moved with reverence prepared the Ark to the saving of his Household By faith Abraham obeyed God when he was called to go into a place which he should afterwards receive for an Inheritance By faith Sarah received strength to coâ—ceivâ— Seed and was delivered of a Child when she was past Age. By faith Moses forsook Egypt By faith he with his people passed through the red Sea as on dry Land By faith the Walls of Iericho fell downe after they weâ—e compast about seven dayes And by faith â—he Prophets subdued Kingdoms stopped the mouthes of Lyons quenched the violence of Fire escaped the Edge of the Sword of weak were mâ—de strong waxed valiant in Battaile and turned to Flight the Armies of the Aliens Then since faith is of this force and efficacy shall not the faithfull bee able to convert them by whose conversation they shall reape no small benefit for if any man hath erred from the truth saith St Iames and some men hath converted him know that he that hath called the sinner from going astray out of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins And is it not a thing commendable before men acceptable unto God and worth the lâ—bours of any good Christian to save a soul and to hide a great multitude of sins But to leave these Divine arguments and to come unto humane reasons because they are more pleasing and acceptable to children of this world whom mee thinketh it should suffice for proof that Papists and Protestants may live in peace and quietness together because that in Poland where there are many Religions professed you seldome heare of any civil contention and in Switzerland in many Townes thereof the Papists and Protestants eate together lye in bed one with another marry together and that which is most strange in one Church you shall have a Mass and a Sermon and at one Table upon Fish daiâ—s Fish and Flesh the one for Papists the other for Protestants And whosoever shall look upon the present State of Spaine or the present Government of Italy in this Age in which Countries there is but one Religion professed shall finde no greater peace no more assured Friendship no streighter League of Amiâ—ie amongst them then there is amongst the people of Poland Switzerland and other Nations which give Friendly entertainment unto pluralitie of Religions neither can any mâ—n say with reason that the Protestants of Flanders have been the occasion of the unnaturall variance and civill dissention which now troubleth their Country For there is no man that reverenceth the Magistrate obeyeth the Laws of God and man or fulfilleth the true sense and meaning of boâ—h Laws more willingly then they as their Supplications their Leâ—ters their Apologies do testifie It is not they but their Enemies not they but their evill Governors not the Inhabitants of their Country but the Strangers sent into the Country and delâ—ghted wiâ—h the pleasures and the profits thereof that have occasioned these Troubles Neither is it to be thought that so many Princes as the King of France the Queen of England the Archduke of Austria and the late Duke of Anjou being all strangers unto them would ever have undertaken their defence and pâ—otection if they had thought or seen that the principal câ—use of Sedition might justly be imputed unto them It was the Tyranny of Don Iohn de Austria the Crueltie of the Duke of Alva the intolerable Priâ—e of the Spaniards in general the unreasonable exaction of the Hundreth the Twentieth and the Tenth Penny of â—vâ—ry mans substance together with other Causes mentioned in the bâ—ginning of this discourse that caused the forcible distraction of them from the usuall and dutifull Obedience Devotion service and observance of their Prince Iâ— the time of Philip the Fairâ— King of France as now in the Raigne of Philip the second King of Spaine whereby it may appeare that the name of Philip hath been fatall unto this Country there were the like troubles is Flanders as there are now and as now there were some of the Country it selfe that favoured Spaine more then their owne libertie so then there were many Liliari that tendred the French Kings Factions more then the safetie of their owne Connâ—ry and as now so then those Liliari together with the King of â—â—ance imputed the cause of the Troubles and Wars unto the peevish willâ—ullness of the poor Flemings and not to the perverse obstinacy and obdurate malice and crueltie of the French King and his Councellors Moreover as now so then diverse flourishes and shâ—wes of peace were made unto the Flemings not because they that offered those conditions of peace meant to performe them but to make the world believe that they were desirous of Peace whereas indeed their tender of peace was but to save themselves from the hazard of a Battel when they saw there was no way but to take it either with some great disadvantage or to forsake it with great dishonour Such offers of peace were those that have been lately made unto the United Provinces and such were they that were tendered many years ago by which the Spaniards received alwaies some benefit sometimes he got a Town a Hold or a Castle sometimes he distracted some of the Nobility from the Prince of Oranges faction and at other times he avoided some eminent danger which could not otherwise be escaped This will appear most true and manifest unto as many as shall read divers Apologies set out by the Prince of Orange and the States of the Low-Countries And therefore I know not with what conscience or with what shew of truth the cause of this Civil Discord may be ascribed unto the Subjects of Flanders and not unto the king of Spain and his evil Officers The first and second Reasons are sufficiently refuted Now to the third He hath promised the Popes Holiness not to admit any other Religion but his in any part of his kingdoms or Dominions How is his promise proved What ground hath it Upon what Reasons standeth it He is in some manner subject unto the Pope Be it he holdeth all or most of his kingdoms and dominions of him Let it be so he beareth the title of the Catholick king as an especial gift from him or his Predecessors It shall not be denied Lastly it is he whose friendship and amity â—is father willed him to embrace and entertain this must also be granted But what of all this He may not break promise with his Holiness True if the promise be possible for no man is bound to things impossible And is this promise impossible It is or at least-wise like to a promise that standeth upon â—mpossibilities â—r whatsoever cannot be done by a Prince without offence â—o God without effusion of blood without ruin of his Estate and without manifest and great prejudice unto his honour and dignity that may in some respect be esteemed impossible and whosoever
lay and inflict upon him The Pope sendeth two Cardinals into England before whom the King sweareth that the Murther of the Archbishop was undertaken and performed without his consent and privitie And yet because he confessed that in his wrath and anger he had spoken some words that might perhaps embolden the Malefactors to committ the same he could not be Absolved before he promised to give the Cardinals so much readie money as would maintaine 200. soldiers for a year in the Holy land and also that all his Subiects should have libertie to appeale from his Courts unto Rome a great punishment for a small offence For what a trouble and grief was it thinke you unto the Subjects of this Realme to have all causes carried unto Rome where they spent their travel and their money many years before they could be ended and received no indifferent Iudgment because their Contentions were for the most parâ— as you shall heare with Italians who found better favour either for money or for love then our Countrimen which were meer Strangers unto the Judges But these griefs are nothing in respect of those which we endured in the time of Henry the third the which were so grievous that the King together with the Clergie and Nobility complained thereof unto the generall Councell which was held in Pope Innocent the third his time at Lyons They complained first that the Pope not being contented with his Peter-pence did newly exact new contributions of the English Clergy and still intended to extort more and more from them contrary to the ancient Customes and Liberties of England Next that the Patrons of Churches when they fell void could not present fit Clerks unto them as by grant from the Pope they might do but their Churches were collated unto Italians who understood not our Mother tongue and therefore could not instruct their People whose Soules for lack of discipline and good instructions perished Thirdly they complained that the Pope imposed upon their Churches more Pensions then he had formerly promised to take of them and leavied divers taxes within this Realme without the Kings knowledge or consent Fourthly and lastly that Italians succeeded unto Italians in the best Benefices and Ecclesiastical livings of England Of which followed these Inconveniences First there was no Hospitality kept for the releif of the Poor Next the word of God was not preached to the edifying of mens Soules their divine Service was not celebrated to the comfort of mens consciences and lastly churchâ—s were not repaired to the benefit of their next Incumbents It was further shewed that the Clergy of England was enforced to maintain and arme some Ten Souldiers others five and others fifteen to bee sent with sufficient Armor and horses to serve the Pope in what place soever it pleased him Again it was declared that although there was an Ancient priviledg in England that no Legate should come into the Realme unless the King required and allowed him yet they came continually one after another and the later still exceeded the former in troubling and overcharging the Realme Moreover it was proved that besides the Popes Tributes and Subsidies Italians held Benefices in England to the yeerly value of 60 Thousand marks and transported out of the kingdom tâ—e most part of that money to the great impoverishment of our Country Neither were these griefes so lamentable but that it grieved all estates in our Country much more that our best wits for lack of such preferment as was due unto Learning were fain to leave the Universities and to betake themselves unto Mechanical Trades and such Occupations as were not fit for men of their Gifts and capacities whereby our Realme was almost induced unto a very Barbarisme The Ambassadors that made this complaint were men of great dignity mature Judgment and of exceeding great learning But what could they prevaile in a Councell where the Popesâ— Faction was so strong that at the very self same time he deposed the Emperor Frederick and sent away our Ambassadors greatly discontented For he gave them a chargâ— streightly to command all Bishops in England to set their hands and seales to that detestable Charter which King Iohn made to the Pope for a yeâ—rly pension to be paid unto the Sea of Rome unto which commandement all the Bishops more indiscreetly then wisely shewed themselves most obedient But the King protested that although the Bishops had bowed their knees unto Baal yet he would stand stoutly in the defence of the Liberty of his Realme and would never pay any yearly pension unto Rome under the name of a Tribute I might here take occasion to tell you how this Tribute grew but you must remember that I have already touched the same somewhat in all that may be said in the behalf of the Pope and for the maintenance of that Pension it hath been lately confuted in a leamed Treatise called Anti-Sanderus I might also proceed in declaring other inconveniences which our Realme hath endured by our voluntary subjection unto the Pope But these may suffice to commend those our Kings for their wisedome and magnanimitie which cast off that yoke amongst whom there are none that deserve greater commendation then the Queens Majesty that now raigneth and her Noble Father and godly Brother For some of their predecessors indeed permitted not the Pope to overcharge their Subjects but they have discharged them of all kind of Grievances which he was wont to put them unto and have both wisely and boldly excluded him and his Authority which he wrongfully usurped Whereat both his Fatherly reverence and our Romish Sâ—ctaries so much repine that they cry out with open mouth that it is against all Reason all Divinitie and Scriptures that secular Princes should have and arrogate unto themselves any manner of Authority in Ecclesiastical causes This and the Substraction of such Taxes and Impositions as the Sea of Rome was wont to impose upon the Englâ—sh Clergie are the true and only Causes why the Pope thundereth his Interdictions and Menaces against our Gracious Sovereigne and her kingdom although he pretendeth that her dissent and diversitie from his Religion only moveth him to excommunicate her Majesty You have heard sufficient Reasons to justâ—fie the taking away of those duties and services And the same might be warranted by the Examples of many Forreine Examples who upon the like occasion have done the like But I may not handle every matter that is worth the handling in this discourse which already is grown to be far large then I thought it should have been And yet considering the Impudency of our Adversaries in denying all kind of Authority unto Temporall Princes in spiritual Causes and for satisfying you somewhat in that point who especially Charged me to yield you some satisfâ—ction therein I will in few words and by a few Examples fetcht from the holy Scriptures prove unto you that this her Majesties proceeding in Ecclesiasticall Causes is waranted by holy Scriptures