prolifical when they are past fifty years And for the Men it wold be Registred for a Miracle in Spain or France to finde ten men of a thousand years one with another as were found in Hereford about 60 years since within two miles compass of the town who were so vigorous strong and spriteful that they danced the Morice-dance in the Market-place for many hours with a Maid-Mariam of a hundred and three and a Tabourer of a hundred and five years old From the Fertility and Generousness of the Earth may proceed also the extraordinary Courage and Hardiness of the Peeple which hath been so well known and felt in other Countries beyond the Seas as the Examples in the former Paragraph do prove at so many signal and difficult famous Battails where the English Army was never half so numerous in any they got no not somtimes the third or fourth part in number to the Enemy and such an esteem they had in France that as their own stories relate when the Duke of Britany or Armorica was to encounter the French Army in a Battail he thought it a Policy to clothe a whole Brigade of his Soldiers after the English mode to make them appeer the more formidable to the French Nor doth that Primitive innate Courage languish a whit or decline in them as some think the World doth as we find it hath done in other Nations as the Iew and Greek with others but it continueth still at the same height as it appeerd in the year Eighty eight by Sea as was said before and in several Exploits in the Low-Country Wars as Newport the Retreat before Gaunt c. by Land Likewise by fresher Examples in the late Civil Wars twixt King and Parlement and since wherin the Power Strength and Wealth of England was never more discovered For the late usurper having such a Command over the Peeples purse and never wanting money made Spain and France strive who shold be his Confederat as also the Hollander the Swed and others I say in those times the ancient stoutness of the English appeerd in many Traverses of War as at Dunbar in Scotland and by Sea against the Hollander who were beaten and batterd into a Peace What a hazardous peece of service was performed when we invaded Barbary at Tunis but especially that desperat Exploit Blague did at the Canaries The French King confest that the Brigade of English before Dunkirk commanded by a little bold Britain though not the fifth part of the Army did contribut most to the late taking of that strong Praedatory Town And the King of Portugal acknowledgd that in this years great Defeat 1663. he gave Don Iohn of Austria neer Ebora that Brigade of English who servd there though not much considerable in number did perform the toughest part of the service and first shewd them the way of using the Rests of the Musquet to knock down the Enemy which made the French-men cry out Faisons comme les Anglois Let 's do as the English The Sixth Paragraph Touching the Ancient and Long-lind Extraction Decendency and Bloud-Royal of the Kings of Great Britain c. THe Races of Kings may be said to be like great Rivers that stream out into divers large Channels and Arms which become great Rivers of themselfs afterward Or like huge Trees which use to stretch their Branches beyond the Ocean where being inoculated and graffd they make divers other Royal Trees to sprout out of them in Forren Soyls Ther were divers Royal Ingraftings of this kind that Great Britain had with the chiefest Potentats and some of them Imperial The first was before the English took footing here between the Emperour Constantius and Helene a Britain born and Mother to Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour for this Iland was held in such high esteem by the Roman Emperours when they had almost all the world besides that divers of them kept their Courts here among whom Severus and Constantius died at York which City may deservedly vaunt of two things viz. that two Roman Emperours were buried and a third born in her viz. Constantin the Great After the Saxons came this Iland also continued in such a repute that Ethelwolph Son to King Egbert Anno 830. married the Lady Iudith calld the Fair for her extraordinary Bewty and Daughter to the Emperour Charles le Chauue Granchilde to Charlemain The Emperour Otho the Great married the Sister of King Athelstan whose friendship was so much sought by all his Neighbouring Kings that they wooed for it by rich Presents which made the King of France send him the sword of Constantin the Great in the Hilt wherof ther was one of the Nails that fastned Christ to the Cross He sent him also the Spear of Charlemain The King of Norway sent him a curious Ship with a Gilt Stem Purple Sayls and the Deck garnishd all with Gold The Emperour Otho his Brother-in-law sent him a Vessel of precious stones artificially made wherein were Landskips with Vines Corn and Reapers so much to the Life that they seemd to move and act c. Ther have been eight Nuptial Conjunctions twixt Great Britain and France besides the Scots alliance with that Country The first was about the yeer 900. twixt Charles the first of France and the Lady Ogine Daughter to Edward Son to King Alfred that admired Saxon King who is so famous in story for divers signal things for He cleerd the whole Kingdome of the Danes who had so much infested and harassd it He Founded the University of Oxford Anno 895. He was the first who divided England into Shires Hundreds and Weapontakes He divided the Natural Day also into three parts eight hours for Recreation and matters concerning his Health as sleep c. eight hours for Meditation and exercise of Piety and eight hours in Council and the publick Affairs of his Kingdome He Founded also Shaftsbury-Abby Winchester-Church and Eldinsey-Monastery The second Marriage with France was twixt Hen. 3. of England and the Lady Margaret Daughter to Lewis the seventh of France The third was between Edward the first that great Hero of his time and the Lady Margaret Daughter to Philip the Hardy of France The fourth twixt Edward the second and the Lady Isabel eldest Daughter to Philip le Bell King of France Mother to Edward the third of England who by right of her claimd and carried afterwards the Crown of France The fifth was twixt King Richard the second and the Lady Elizabeth Daughter to Charles the sixth of France but she was but his second Wife for his first was the Lady Anne Daughter to the Emperour Charles the Fourth The sixth was between Henry the fifth of England and the Lady Katharine another Daughter to Charles the sixth of France The seventh was twixt Lewis the twelfth of France and the Lady Mary second Daughter to King Henry the seventh of England The eighth and last Inoculation twixt the Rose and the Flower
in the I le of Britain Just according to the ancient Greek Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many Lords are not good let there be but One. Now from that time to this the King of Britain had and hath as Souveraign and incontroulable a sway as any 'T is true that he admits others sometimes to share with him in Counsel but not in Power by a kind of Influence he gives Light and Command to others but he himself receives none from any In the Neighbouring Monarchies it cannot be said so and particularly in France and Spain where it may be said ther is Regnum in regno ther is another Power à Legatus de latere that in a Court of Plea sways ore the Ecclesiastiques who make a considerable part of the Peeple Touching the latter the King of Spain is Feodary either to the Pope the Emperour or to France for all the Countries he hath The Kingdomes of Navarre and Granada were made Feodary to the Pope under Iulius the second Aragon to Innocent the third as also Sardinia in formula fiduciae Sicilia is relevant from the Church as also both the Indies and the Canary Ilands For the Kingdome of Naples and Calabria he sends a Mule with a Purse-full of Gold as a Heriot to Rome evry year for fear of an Excommunication the next day at the receit whereof the Pope says Sufficiat pro hac vice He holds the Dukedome of Milan from the Empire and most of the Provinces in the Netherlands from France whereof he is a double Peer as he is Duke of Burgundy and Earl of Flanders Now 't is questionable among the Civilians whether a Feodary or Homager may be call'd an Absolut Prince specially when Appeals may be made from him to another Court as the Spanish Clergy may from the King to Rome in divers cases The Kings of ENGLAND are free from Subordinations of that kind as the Fundamental Laws of the Land and all the ancient Learned Judges do evidence 'T is a Principle in the English Laws which is confirm'd by Baldus and other great Forren Jurists That Rex neminem habet in Dominiis suis nec Superiorem nec Parem The King in his own Dominions hath neither Superior nor Equal He may be said to be both Caesar and Pompey There is another Omnes sub Illo Ille sub nullo All under Him He under none Another yet Satis habet Rex ad poenam quod Deum expectet Ultorem 'T is enough for the King that God is to be his Judge which is expressed in this Distic Subditus in Regem peccat Legemque Fidemque At Rex in Solum Rex quia nempe Deum Ther are divers others that are conducing hereunto As The King must not be put to do any thing per aspertè but of his free plesure The King never dies but the Heir apparent is King Inchoative as soon as the former dies and the Coronation is but a meer Ceremony not Essential for divers Kings as Hen. 5. and others had Alleageance sworn unto them before they were Crowned There are more Maximes yet That the King can do no wrong but his Ministers may through whose mouths he pronounceth sentence Moreover Nullum tempus occurrit Regi Ther 's no Immemorial or Prescription against the King It is High Treson not only to contrive but to imagine ill against the King By the Kings Prerogative Life it self may be leased c. But that Traverse twixt King Iohn and the Legat Pandolpho when they say he transferred the Crown to the Pope is much insisted upon wherunto t is thus answered That ther are four great things whereof the Records cannot be found The first is that wherin the Emperour Constantine gave Rome to the Pope The second is that wherin Venice hath the Dominion of the Adriatic or Illyrian Gulph The third is the Salique Law The fourth is that Instrument wherby King Iohn pass'd over his Crown and made the Pope Lord Paramount of England Sir Thomas More who was so far devoted to Rome that he is canoniz'd for one of her Martyrs denieth absolutly that King Iohn either did or could make England Feudetary to the Pope because without the consent of his Barons an Act so much prejudicial to his Royal Successors was not valid and that the Peter-pence which they hold to be a Tribut relating to the foresaid Act was but a meer Alms which was given by King Ina 500 years before Moreover put case ther had been such an Act yet it stands upon good record that Innocentius the third did give a Release in these words Per Praeceptum Domini Papae 7 Iulii Homagium relaxatur omninò The Rome-scot also was but Regis larga benignitas the Kings bountiful kindness Adde hereunto that when the Pontificial Power was here at the highest pitch no Legat de latere was allowed but the Archbishop of Canterbury his Subject who by his Dignity is perpetual Legat de latere He is Legatus natus as he of Toledo is in Spain and the Primat of Armagh in Ireland and in point of Precedence at the Council of Clermont anno 1096. a Prerogative was given him for ever to sit at all general Councils at the Popes right foot Pope Urban at that time declaring in these terms Includamus hunâ—… in Orbe nostro tanquam alterius Orbis Pontificem Maximum Let us include him in our world as Pope of another world 'T is true ther have been other Legats de latere upon extraordinary occasions admitted but it was with the Kings leave and with this Proviso That he hath no Authority to hold Plea in the Realm prejudicial to the Laws thereof or derogatory to the King Thus it appears that no Extern power hath any thing to do in Great Britain and as the Pope so the Peeple neither whether consider'd Diffusively Collectively Representatively or Vertually partake any thing of the Souverain Power ther is no power either Co-ordinat Co-equal Corrival or Collateral with it The Kings of England have had always by the known Laws of the Land a pure underived Power not depending upon Pope or Peeple or any other Prince whatsoever They are Kings by the Grace of God which implies no earthly Dependency It stands upon good record how King Ina in the Preamble to his Laws for he was a great Legislator begins I Ina by the Grace of God King c. and this was above a thousand years ago about two hundred years before Charlemain in whose time that stile of Dei Gratia came first in use in the Empire And as on Land the King of Great Britain hath such a Latitude and Independence of Supreme Power so by Sea he hath the like which is such that without disparagement much less any injustice to any I may avouch no other Prince hath the like The greatest claim of Sea-Dominion that France makes is to the Coasts of Armorica or little Britany and a few Leagues in the Mediterranean The Spanish Laws are for the
choice men at Arms in a Fleet of 60 Sayl of Ships with Arms for 12000 men more into Scotland Therupon an English Army being raisd it struck into Scotland like a Whirlwind and piercing the very heart of the Country advancd as far as Dundee and returnd Victorious Henry the Fifth took Iames the first Prisoner and carried him over to attend him in his French VVars In Hen. 8. time the Scots King although his Brother-in-Law taking his advantage when he was in France battring the Walls of Bullen with the flower of the English Nobility raisd the greatest Army that Scotland could make for invading England therupon King Harry sent a Commission to the Earl of Surrey to raise Forces accordingly The two Armies met at Flodden-field where the Scots King and the Archbishop of Saint Andrews his Brother were slain with twelve Earls 14 Barons and 12000 more Not long after Solmosse Battail was fought where eight Scots Earls were taken Prisoners with 200 Gentlemen and others insomuch that as the story saith ther was never an English soldier but had his couple of Scots Prisoners Four and thirty yeers after the same day both of the month and the week as the Historians observe Musselborough-Battail was fought which because it was the last and one of the most signal and sanguinary great Battails from the Conquest that was fought twixt the English and the Scots I will here particularize but with as much brevity as may be The Duke of Somerset was General of the English the Earl of Warwik his Lieutenant the Lord-Admiral Clinton had 60 ships of War which were to hold cours with the Land-forces the whole Army consisted but of about 13000 Foot 1200 men at Arms 2500 Light-horse 16 Peeces of Ordinance evry Peece having a Gard of Pioners who came to about 1400. From Berwick they entred Scotland and marchd as far as Musselburgh far within the Country they seizd upon three small Castles as they passd and with infinit pains overcame the Natural and Artificial Difficulties of the Ways They understood that the Scots Army far exceeded them in number and ther came Recreuts dayly unto it For the Fire-cross was carried about by the Heralds through all parts which is two Firebrands upon the point of a Spear that all above sixteen and under sixty yeers shold repair to the General Rendevous insomuch that the Scots Historians themselfs do mention that ther were above thirty thousand in the whole Army which was twice the number of the English The Battail was fought with much resolution and cagerness on both sides yet notwithstanding that the Scot was at his own home and that the English were tir'd by a long difficult march they obtaind an absolute Conquest ther were slain of the Scots about 14000 out-right upon the place wherof ther were 3000 Kirk-men as Fryars and Monks Huntley with other great Lords were taken Prisoners 30 Peeces of Ordinance were taken and shippd for England with 30000 Iacks as the Record says and the English plunderd the Country five days march further and did what they wold We will conclude with the late Battail at Dunbar still fresh in memory where ther were not much more then 8000 English and the Scot had them at a great advantage yet the English making a Vertu of Necessity utterly overcame an Army of about 24000 Scots an Army that had been long a moulding and consisted of many of their Nobility and Gentry they lost both Bag and Bagage Artillery and Arms ther were above 3000 slain 10000 taken Prisoners whereof ther were 260 Officers 15000 Arms and 30 Peeces of Ordinance and neer upon 200 of their Colours were brought to hang in Westminster-Hall for Trophies Out of what hath been said this Inference may be made That in all those Traverses and Encounters of War that England had with Scotland which were neer upon an hundred since the Conquest take small and great together the English did always foyl the Scot except in Ed. 2. time as shall be said hereafter In some Battails we may find how they carried away more Captives then they were common soldiers themselfs driving them as it were like sheep before them And observable it is that the greatest Battails were fought in Scotland it self after that the English had been tir'd and dispirited by long marches over uncouth and strange places being ignorant both of the Advenues and Advantages of them Tru it is that in Ed. 2. Raign they won two or three Victories wherof that at Bannocks-Battail was the greatest where Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester and about 40 Barons with 700 Knights and English Gentlemen were killd In Hen. 8. Raign they got also a small Victory when Sir Ralph Evers was slain In the time of the Long Fatal Parlement they did likewise many Insolencies and rush'd far into England but those Invasions may be rather termd Invitations by some spurious and unworthy-degenerated English-men who had contrivd their coming in long before whose memories will stink in the Nostrils of all Posterity But the English have taken four of their Kings Captives killd two other in the field carried away their Crown with the chiefest Ensignes of Royalty c. Nor were such high Exploits performed by the Kings of England on Land only but by Sea they have been as glorious Historians say how King Edgar had a Navy of three thousand six hundred ships and bottoms of all sorts which he divided to three Fleets that usd to coast about and scowre the Seas as far as Norway evry year and he in person would go often Admiral himself and be all the Summer abroad Philip the French King not long before the Battail of Cressy to hinder Edward the thirds return into France got a mighty Navy in Equippage of 200 sayl of ships besides Gallies in the Haven of Sluce wherof King Edward being advertised prepared such another Fleet and encounters the French with such resolution and success having the Wind and the Sun for him that he utterly defeated the whole Navy slew about thirty thousand men and so returned with mighty triumphs and the admiration of all Europe Philip the second of Spain having as he conceavd endured divers Affronâ—…s and Injuries from Queen Elizabeth conceald his Discontents a long time until he had provided the Invincible Armada as it was calld wherewith he hoped to have swallowed all England It was three years preparing it consisted of above 150 sayl wherof most of them were Galeons they were mannd by 8000 Mariners they carried 20000 Listed soldiers besides Volunteers they had 1600 Brass Cannons 1000 of Iron and 120000 Granado's with other Fireworks of all sorts This Prodigious Fleet stood the King of Spain in 10 Millions first and last from the time that she set sayl out of Lisbonne as t is found in their Annals she lookd like a Forest at Sea as she steerd along Q Elizabeth had first news hereof from Hen. 4. of France But then how did that Masculine Queen
whatsoever He did being done by fear duresse and compulsion was of no better force then a Covenant extorted by violence or made in prison by a private man which when he is at liberty he is not bound by Law to perform if it tend to his damage To this t is answerd That the case is far different twixt Souverain Princes and privat men for between the one ther fall out but Processes and Suits in law if they disagree or not perform what is a greed upon But between Princes bloud and Wars fire and Sword death and destruction somtimes of whole Countries and millions of human soules do Ensue Therfore when a King by the propitiousness of Heven and his own prowess by the hazard of his life loss of his peeple with infinit pains and expence of Tresure hath gaind a Victory by the justness of his Cause and Divine decree or reduâ—…d his Enemy to a streight All the Civilians concur in one unanimous opinion that he may make the best advantage he can of his good successes and reduce his Enemy to what terms he please And the Articles which shall then be capitulated consented and sworn unto are to be exactly performd otherwise there wold be no end of any War Now rhe French Chroniclers themselfs acknowledg that Henry the 5. might at that conjuncture of time and fortune have destroyed the whole Realm of France and taken the King prisoner or driven him quite out But he was so far from doing so that he sufferd him to enjoy the Kingdom while he livd and by taking his daughter to wife made her Issue therby capable not only of the French but also of the English Crown with all the Dominions thereunto annexed Whence some Authors observ that the English have bin usd in all Treaties and Stipulations to be over-reasonable merciful plain and downright But the French crafty double minded inhumane high and subdolous upon all advantages Insomuch that t is a question which was sharper the English blade or the French brain I will conclude this digressive discours with another argument of the French viz. That Charles the sixth could not legally disinherit his eldest son being Heiâ—… apparent to the Crown of France To this may be answerd that neither Charles the sixth was rightful King nor consequently his son heir apparent for since Edward the third of England all the French Kings were but Usurpers they were Kings de facto not de jure Moreover ther are many Examples how the eldest sons of the Kings of France have bin disinherited We read that Robert made his second son Henry King of France by disinheriting Robert his eldest who for compensation was made Duke of Burgundy Lewis le Gros with the consent of all the Peers and Estats of France made also Lewis his second son King and gave Robert his eldest the Earldom of Dreux Dagobert made Clouis his second son King of France by putting by Sigisbert his eldest son I have bin somwhat long in discours of this great Transaction twixt England and France because the chief aim of this Work being at Precedence the discerning Reader may regulat his judgment accordingly We will now go on to conclude this Paragraph the main scope wherof being Antiquity and continuance of Royal Bloud The Genealogical Tree of the Kings of this Iland as all other Countries hath had various Stems the first were Britains now calld Welsh who may contend for Antiquity and may be said to be coetaneous with the Iland it self yea before it was an Iland for ther want not some who hold that it was at first a continent or a peninsula tied to Gallia by an Isthmos or neck of land stretching from Dover to Bullen for the Rocks on both coasts being of a colour and shape look as if they were slented one out of the other Before the Romans took footing here which was neer upon 200 yeers before they could do it peaceably the Britains did still so bear up against them wheras Gallia or France was fully conquerd in less then 10 yeers I say before the Roman Eagle fixd his talons here ther had bin 65 Kings of the British Bloud But then that Race being interrupted by the Romans for above 400 yeers the Iland being freed of Them some of the old British Bloud came to be Kings again among whom some were very famous as 〈◊〉 and Arthur his son the chief Christian Worthy who was the first Founder of Warlike honour conferrd upon his Knights of the Round Table And this Race of the old British Kings lasted till the raign of Cadwallader Anno 689 yet ther were Welsh Princes that swayd still as among other Howel Dha the Great Legislator and stood stoutly for their Liberty until the raign of Edw. 1. in whose raign Leolâ—… the last Prince of the British Bloud being slain in battel his head was brought to King Edward who commanded it to be crownd with Iâ—…ie confessing that he had met with more valour in the Welsh then the Scots for he had fierce Wars with both But Cadwallader being dead the British Race was interrupted again till Owea Tewdors time who descended from Cadwallader as shall be shewd by a Gâ—…rman peeple inhabiting the lower Circuit of Saxony and so calld Saxons by the Welsh and Irish to this day They had a 〈◊〉 a long time but Egbert by conquest reduâ—…d them to a Monarchy and he was the first who calld himself King of England Then that English Race alâ—…o of Kings had two short Interruptions one by the Danes wherof ther raigned here three Kings but all their raigns extended not to â—…5 yeers Then by William of Normandy and that Interruption â—…asted about 40 yeers till Henry the first married the lady Matilda daughter to Malcolme King of Scotland by the Lady Margaret sister to Edgar Athelâ—…g wherby the English Bloud Royal was restord Then by a marvellous providence the British Royal Bloud after about 800 yeers Interruption was restoâ—…d by Owen Tewdor who married the Queen Dowager Katherine and so was Granfather to Hen. 7. which Tewdor by an exact 〈◊〉 that was made by the British Bards and confirmed by the English Heralds came lineally from the foresaid King Cadwallader and Leolin so ther were three Kings viz. Hen. 7. Hen. 8. Edw. 6. with two Queens viz. Mary and Elizabeth all Tewdors Then came in the Royal Race of Scotland by the Lady Margaret Tewdor eldest daughter to Hen. 7. and first branch of the two Roses Now by a due computation made of the premises it will be found that take British or English the source and series of the Bloud Royal of England is above a thousand yeers since And if from Cadwallader you go to the British Kings before the Romans interrupted the Royal succession therof it will be neer upon 3000 yeers which no kingdom â—…ls can say Moreover the Bloud Royal of Scotland some hundreds of yeers before was incorporated in the British for the mother of the first
the Office of the Tresurers Remembrancer fee for offering the Amercements 6l Clerk in the Office of the Pleas fee 3l The four Ushers of the Court of Exchequer for their fees in delivery of Processes and for Paper Wax and other necessaries by them provided and bought for the Officers of the Court amongst them 140l Four Porters Livery to evry one 4s Two Joyners for Tallies fees apiece 10l Two Deputy-Chamberlains to write the controulment of the Pell fees apiece 6l One Clerk to write the Tallies of Controulment fee 9l One Porter of the Baggs and Keeper of the Tresure-House-Keys fee 6l 6s 8d Four Messengers fee per diem 4d ob The Grooms of the Receits fee by Rewards and Allowances 2l To the Tresurers and Chamberlains Officers allowd for Parchment 6l Three Ushers of the Receits Fees for Diet Wax Paper Parchment c. 60l The Court of First-fruits and Tenths Chancellor fee 200 Marks Diet-money 100l Hire for a house for himself and for the Records 9l Tresurer fee 20l. Diet-money 10l House-rent 10l A Deputy 4l A Clerk 6l 13s 4d Attorney fee 26l 13s 4d Auditor fee 20l. Diet-money 51l 10s One Clerk 6l 3s 4d Other Allowances and Expences Clerk of the Court fee 40l Keeper of the Records fee 20l. Messenger fee 2l 10s 7d Allowance 13l 6s 8d Usher fee 2l 10s 7d Allowance 3l 6s 8d The Dutchy of Lancaster Chancellor and Allowance with 4l for Paper Ink and Parchment 142l 16s Survayor Fee and Allowance 66l 13s 4d Attorney Fee and Allowance 38l 10s 4d Clerk of the Court Fee and Allowance 27l 10s 4d Messenger Fee besides Riding costs 10l Assistants in the said Court One Attorney for the Dutchy in the Exchequer fee 100l Attorney likewise in the Chancery fee 20l. To the Usher of the Receits in the Exchequer fee 20l. Four learned men in the Law retained for Counsel for the said Dutchy fee evry one 7l 6s 8d Besides Auditors Receivers c. The Presidential Court in Wales or the Council of the Marches Lord President Diet for himself and Council per an 1040l Divers Counsellors to some 100 Marks To others 50l To others 40l Secretary his fee 13l 6s 8d Atturney fee 13l 6s 8d Sollicitor fee 10l Surveyor fee 6l 13s 4d Touching the Presidential Court in the North where ther was usd to be also a Lord President four of the Learned Counsel a Secretary and other Officers the King saves nere upon 2000l per an The like sum or therabouts is savd by the Court of Wards though the loss which the Crown of England hath receavd therby in point of honour by Tenures in Capite and Royal Pourvoyances c. be invaluable which makes our next Forren Neighbours in a kinde of jeer and the best of their wit lies in jeering to say that all the Noblemen and Gentry of England since Tenure in Capite was taken away are become little better then Roturiers then Yeomen that hold in Soccage The former Catalog of Court-Officers was delivered to King Iames at his first coming in And ther may be some alterations since Now ther is a mighty number of other Officers belonging to the Crown as Auditors Receavors Surveyors Escheators Customers Governors and Constables of Castles Keepers of Forts Points and Bulwarks Rangers of Forests Keepers of Chaces Parks and Woods c. which wold make a Volume of it self and is not so proper to the designe of this subject which aims principally at the Menial and domestick servants attending at Court though we have bin transported as we went along to other Offices Out of the premises this result may be drawn that besides the unparallelld plenty fatness and hospitality of the English Court in point of provision and munition de Bouche as the Frenchman calls it Ther is no Court in Christendom servd with more punctual attendance and state wheras if you cross ore the Chanel and take a view of the next transmarin Court one shall see common Laquays Scullions and greasie Galopins bring meat to the very rayls of the Kings Table And touching the Spanish Court t is so pitifully thin at dinner and supper-time that one wold think he were in some Monastery of Capuchins But go to either of their Kitchins one may break his neck as soon as break his Fast. While I was writing this a plesant Repartie came into my memory that happend twixt that worthy and warlike British Knight Sir Roger Williams who being General of an English Army in France Henry the Great confessd to be a better Soldier then himself Sir Roger being at an Ordinary in Antwerp where among others ther was a Spanish Alferez who began to speak much of the dainty Fruits and Salades of his Country Sir Roger let him go on a good while and at last answered bluntly 'T is tru Sir we have not such Lemons Orenges and Pomegranats which you have in Spain but we have in England good Chines of Beef and Sirloyns of Veal c. We have the meat and you have but sauce for our meat I will close up this Paragraph with this humble Advertisement That it highly concerns the common interest of the English Nation to introduce again and revive the most ancient and legal usage of his Majesties just rights of Preemption and Pourvoyance or compositions for them Otherwise it is impossible for him to keep a Court any thing sutable to a King of Great Britain The Eighth Paragraph Touching the diversity of Nations and diffring Original Mother-Tongs with other Dialects that are under the Dominions of the King of Great Britain As also Of the variety of Royal Recreations number of Palaces Forests Chaces and Parks which belong to the Crown c. THe greatest Antiquaries and Linguists that treat of Tongs and of their Originals do affirm that ther are eleven Maternal Tongs throughout all Europe which are 1. the Greek 2. the Latin 3. the High-Dutch Teutonick or German 4. the Slavonian which hath two Characters both a Greek and Dalmatian character which come neer the shape of the Latin Then ther is 5. the British or Welsh Toung 6. Irish 7. The Bascuence or Cantabrian which is the reliques of the old Spanish or Iberian toung 8. the Albanian of a peeple who inhabit about the mountains of Epirus 9. the Hungarian which came into Europe out of Asia with the Huns 10. Is that of Finland neer to which is that of Lapland in the North of Sweden 11. Is that of the Cosacks and Tartars Of all these the Slavonian is of largest extent for it is observed that three and twenty several Nations speak it Now The French King hath not one Mother and pure indeâ—… Toung spoken in all his Dominions they are but dialects Languages or Speeches derivd from other Toungs The purest French which is spoken at Court and upon the river of Loire is but a dialect of the Roman or Latin Toung so is the Walloon the Provensal the Gascoon the Limosin and others That of Bearn is but
first after the person of the Emperour who hath still preference given him before all secular Princes whatsoever Now the Question was never Sur le tapis was never controverted about Priority twixt France and Spain till the house of Austria started up to that enormous greatness And although before Charles the fifth ther were Six Emperours of that House and that the quality of Emperour gives precedence to any who legally possesseth the title be he of what Family soever yet that Prerogative is not given to any of their posterity being not calld to the Empire In regard in Electif States the Election adhering only to the person of the Elected gives the Eminence only to his person excluding all other yea his own Sons unless they be formally elected although in Successif hereditary patrimonial Estates t is otherwise Insomuch that the house of Austria hath no more right to the Empire then the house of Saxe Luxemburg or Brandenburg with other Families who were Caesars before them Another House which much strengthend that of Austria was that of Burgundy which yet was feudetary to France as also the Counties of Flanders and Artois though the rest of the seventeen Provinces which came to Spain by this alliance with Burgundy are Fiefs of the Empire The other Houses who did aggrandize Charles the fifth were Castile and Aragon Castile came to be a Kingdome but after the yeer 1000. And the Kings of England took always precedence of them Arragon was but a small State feodary to the Church of Rome until the Kingdome of Naples which is also a Fief of the Church was annexd unto it Hereunto as Fortune wold have it were added the West-Indies discoverd first by an Italian and offerd to the King of England Then by alliance with Portugal the East-Indies came also to the Crown of Castile This increase of Countries raisd the Spirits of the Spaniard to claim Precedence of France and England two of the most ancient Christian Kings And to go more methodically to work we will divide the State of the house of Austria to three times First to that which preceded the year 1519. when Charles was establishd in the Empire The second during his Raign until he retird to a Claustral Life Anno 1555 The third to his Progeny since Touching the first t is certain that notwithstanding the promotion of this Family to the Empire yet it continued still homageable to the Empire For Philip the Father of Charles the Emperour rendred solemn homage to the Chancellor du Rochefort and Charles after him for the Counties of Flanders and Artois Anno 1507. so that the said Charles being born in Gant was born a Vassal to the King of France That in the Interview of Lewis the twelfth and Ferdinand of Aragon Anno 1507. at Savona although King Lewis usd great civilities to Ferdinand coming to visit him upon his own Territories and so gave him Precedence yet the world knows that it was but by way of Complement But before Charles mounted the Empire this Dispute of Precedence never entred into the Spirit of Spain In the year 1519. Charles was created Emperour which Anno 1555. he resignd to his Brother Ferdinand and at the same time he made a voluntary and absolut Cession of all the rest of his Dominions to his Son Philip the second except the Archduchy of Austria and the dependences therof in Germany Philip though he succeeded in the Empire to which the Precedence only belongs yet he endevourd to keep it still under pretext that he succeeded the Emperour his Father in all his large her hereditary Dominions who always took place in all Assemblies Enterviews and Tretises specially in the great Council of Trent though it was confusedly because two qualities were in him of Emperour and King which could not be distinguished or separated But in the yeer 1555. when meditating upon a retirement he resignd the Empire to his Brother and all his Kingdomes to his Son Philip perceaving that his Son could not take precedence of the King of France because he was not Emperour He made use of another artifice for conserving this pre-eminence for his Son as well as for his Brother Before his retirement he revokd Don Francisco de Vargas his Ambassador in Venice who had always taken precedence of the French Ambassador without scruple Now after his resignation of the Empire he sends again the said Vargas to Venice as his and also his Sons Ambassador joyntly though indeed he was but Ambassador only to the King of Spain But he thought to over-reach the Venetian because he employd still the same man qualified in apparance as formerly Vargas demanded of the Senat the same precedence as formerly which the Bishop of Lodeve Ambassador at the same time to Hen. 2. of France opposd remonstrating to the Senat that Charles was no more considerable to the world being a reclusd person And if the Ambassador of Ferdinand to whom he had transferrd the Empire were present he wold yeild place unto Him but he wold not come after the Ambassador of King Philip. The Senat apprehending some ill issue from this Dispute orderd that neither of the Ambassadors shold be present at the Feast of St. Mark and so the business remaind at a stand by the irresolution of the Senat and the simplicity of the French Ambassador who at last was contented to give way to the Ordinance of the Republique in favor of Vargas But Anno 1558. Francis de Novailles Bishop of Acs succeeding him of Lodeve renewd the Dispute and the Ambassador of Ferdinand arriving about the same time Novailles demanded of the Senat to be maintaind in his Rights and to have the first place next the Imperial Ambassadors and so took it couragiously before Vargas who observing the cunning of the Emperour Charles who died in this conjuncture of time was discoverd and that he passd for no more then for the Ambassador of King Philip Vargas began to speak high of the Grandeur of his Master and to display the large Dominions and States he lorded over far more in numbee then those of the French King alledging that these Customs of Honor and Antecedences ought to be alterd according to the times That his Master was the greatest King of the world That he was able to assist the Republique with Arms Men and Mony more then the King of the French c. But the Bishop of Acs though much heat intervend obtaind of the Senat a Deerâ—…e wherby the precedence was adjudgd him before the Spanish Ambassador who loudly complaining therof the Senat made answer That the Republik did not trouble her self to examine the greatness of their Majesties but she found within her Registers that in all Acts both publik and privat in all Ceremonies Visits and Audiences the Ambassadors of France preceded those of Spain wherin she wold acquiesce This answer offended King Philip who therupon revokd his Ambassador But Michael Surianus Ambassador for the Republick in
Great Britain having intimation that ther might be some clash between the Coaches of the foresaid Ambassadors if they sent them according to custome to bring in the said new Ambassador He sent unto them that they wold forbear to send their Coaches because some inconvenience might arise Batteville answerd That he wold conform to his Majesties plesure provided l' Estrade did likewise do so But l' Estrade gave answer to the Kings Message That his Predecessor the French Ambassador immediatly before him had receavd a check at his return to France for omitting this ceremony and so was he like to do if he did not perform it So both of them sending their rich Coaches and Laquays to Tower-wharf where the new Ambassador was to land Batteville it seems had taken such a survey of the place that his Coach stood in such a posture that none could get before it and the Kings Coach besides he had causd the Rains and Harness of his Coach to be lin'd with Wire making them therby poof against the strokes of Swords so ther happend a hot and fierce Scirmige ther being Pistols on both sides besides Swords and the French had some horsmen also so the poor Horses were slashd and some Laquays killd on both sides and one Spanish Gentleman was killd in the Coach but Batteville stood firm to his ground and so his Coach went next to the Kings all the way News being sent herof to Paris it was much resented and the Spanish Ambassador there being confind to his House he presently dispatchd an Expresse to Madrid who being returnd He sent to the Louvre that he had receavd such Orders that wold give his Majesty satisfaction touching the late Traverses in England and so desired Audience which was appointed him the next day In the interim command was sent that the Princes of the Blood and chief Officers of the Crown shold be there The Spanish Ambassador being come and expecting a privat audience but finding such a solemn meeting was a little stunnd at first yet he went on and deliverd his Message to the King which was that touching the late Contest in England it was done without his Catholique Majesties direction and knowledge therfore he wold take a cours that no occasion shold be offerd for such differences herafter Besides these he pronouncd other Explanatory words that were equivalent to an acknowledgment of Precedence to his most Christian Majesty which were suddenly commanded to be registred in the Council for an Act of State and so to stand upon Record to Posterity Hereupon ther was a most prudent Act of State passd in the Privy Council of the King of Great Britain That in regard of the inconvenience and disturbances which did thence arise his Majesty commanded that no Forren Ambassadors Coaches shall for the future go to accompany and introduce any new Ambassador whatsoever because his Majesties Coaches are sufficient to accompany them in a fitting Equippage which Act I believe will be a leading case to all the Courts of Christendome Before we conclude this Section touching the Right of Precedence which the French King claims of other Princes we will adde what Mr. de Breves says in his Appendix of the Negotiations in the East where he says That in the Raign of Henry the Great he took Precedence of the Ambassadors of Rodulphus the Emperour in Constantinople at the Port of the Turks Court who values Christian Princes according to the merit of their Might WE will now proceed to weigh and winnow the Arguments of Spain in order to a Precedence which we will extract also and distil out of their own Authors as Valdesius Francisco Vasquez Camillo Borrello Besoldus Morales Augusto Cavaisll Caranato with divers others And let this be a Close to the second Section The third Section CONTAINING The Reasons wherby the King of Spain pretends and claims Priority of Place and Proximity of Session next the Emperour at all solemn Meetings and in all Publik Transactions of State c. Which Reasons We will reduce also to Ten Heads or Arguments The first Argument Proving That the Catholik King may challenge Precedence because Spain is the Noblest Kingdome of Europe as being always accounted the Head therof The second Argument Proving That the King of Spain may challenge Precedence by the Authority of General Councils and the Learned Doctors of the Church The third Argument Proving That the King of Spain may challenge Precedence because Spain first receavd and professd the Catholik Faith That the first Christian Church was built there The first Council celebrated The first Bishop was elected out of Her The first Emperour created c. The fourth Argument Proving That the King of Spain may challenge Precedence because He is the Catholick King which is a more ancient Title then Christianissimus The fifth Argument Proving That the King of Spain may challenge Precedence because that in magnitude of Kingdomes in Power and Tresure he excels all other The sixth Argument Proving That the King of Spain may challenge Precedence for Nobleness of Family and that the Kingdome of France did justly belong to Philip 3. The seventh Argument Proving That the King of Spain may challenge Precedence because he is King of Ierusalem The eighth Argument Proving That the King of Spain may challenge Precedence because of free and absolut Dominion and that he hath Empires under Him The ninth Argument Proving That the King of Spain may challenge Precedence because he hath done such great Offices to the Christian Church The tenth and last Argument Proving That the King of Spain may challenge Precedence because the Catholick Church receaves greater Protection and Emoluments from Him then from any other Prince whatsoever OF all these Arguments we shall treat distinctly in several divisions according to the former method and distil out of the chiefest Spanish Authors that write of this subject the Elixir and strength of their Reasons But let the Reader take this Advertisement That he must not expect here the particular Quotations and Marginals wherwith the Spanish Writers use to abound and which indeed belong to Civilians and Iurists No the Author here goes on in a freer and generous way and the Reader without abusing his Faith may believe what he delivers being extracted with much fidelity and care out of the forementiond Authors who write for the Crown of Spain and in their own expressions and so we begin with the first Argument viz. That Spain is calld the Head of Europe and consequently the Noblest Kingdome I. THe beginning of evry thing as it is the hardest so it is always accounted the worthiest and most Noble part as being the head and source whence the rest are derivd so our blessed Saviour is calld Principium Caput the beginning and Head wherof all the Faithful are Members He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And his Vicar-general upon earth the Pope is calld Caput Ecclesiae Militantis The
after they desird new audience which was suspended to be given them and in the interim the King sent Sir Edward Conway his principal Secretary of State and Sir Francis Cottington Secretary to the Prince both Lords afterwards to signifie unto the said Ambassadors that he desird nothing more then a continuance of frendship twixt the two Crowns therfore if they had any thing to say they shold communicat it to the said Secretaries as persons of trust which he employd expresly for that purpose and if they made any difficulty of this also then they might choose among his Council of State those whom they likd best and he wold command that they shold presently repair unto them and if this also shold seem inconvenient they might send him what they had to say in a Letter by whom they thought fittest and he wold receave it with his own hands But they gave no answer to all this therupon the said Secretaries told them according to their Instructions which they had receavd from his Majesty That they being the Authors of an Information so dangerous and seditious had made themselfs incapable to treat further with the King their Master and were it not for the respect he bore to the Catholik King his dear and beloved Brother their Master and that they were in quality of Ambassadors to such a Majesty he wold and could by the Law of Nations and the right of his own Royal Justice proceed against them with such severity as their offence deservd but for the reasons before said he wold leave the reparation to the Justice of their own King of whom he wold demand and require it Herupon Sir Walter Ashton Ambassador then in Spain for the Crown of England had audience of that King wherin he said That the King of Great Britain his Master had commanded him to demand refaction and satisfaction of his Majesty against the Marquiss of Inojosa and Don Carlos Coloma for scandalizing the Duke of Buckingham with other of his best subjects and through his sides aiming at the Prince himself for it is unlikely the Duke wold have cast himself upon such a designe without the communication of it to him and to know his plesure so he remonstrated the whole circumstance of the business c. And in conclusion he said That he humbly beseechd his Majesty to observe and weigh well the care and tenderness wherwith the King his Master had proceeded towards his Majesties Ambassadors not obliging them to any precipitat resolutions but giving them time and opening a way how they might have cleerd themselfs c. It was expected that the said Ambassadors at their return to Spain wold have bin punishd or at least checkd but matters growing daily worse and worse twixt England and Spain the said Ambassadors were rather rewarded then reprehended at their return Inojosa being made afterwards Governor of Milan and Coloma receavd addition of command and honors in Flanders But the high civilities of England at that time towards the said Ambassadors was much cryed up abroad that notwithstanding so pernicious a machination to demolish Buckingham and to discompose the whole English Court yet they were permitted to depart peaceably and Sir Lewis Leukner was commanded to conduct them to the Sea-side for prevention of any outrage upon their persons We have dwelt the longer upon this business in regard ther are extraordinary traverses of State in it being a Plot of an unusual reach of policy which will be found more amply related in the addition the Author made to Finets Ambassador but in regard it is so pertinent to this Paragraph he thought it fit to insert the substance of it here We will now resume things touching the Office of an Ambassador It is very necessary he shold have his Credential Letters exact and plain His Commission plenary and fortified with as much authority as he can The Spanish Ministers when the Prince of Wales was there objected against the Duke of Buchingham that his Commission for he came also in quality of Ambassador was not so compleat and authentik as that of the Earl of Bristols for he had his Commission under the Broad Seal of England wheras the Duke had his by the King only The Civilians make a question Si à Legato Mandata poscantur is adigi possit ad ea exhibenda Their opinion is That besides his Credential or Fiduciary Letters and his General Commission he is not bound to shew any more Touching his privat Instructions Paschalius saith Mala eum agitat res qui in Legati Secreta irreligiose irrumpit It is questiond further Whether it may stand with the Office and Honor of an Ambassador to receave Gifts and Presents from the Prince he is sent unto which the Civilians call Lautia a word peculiar only to Ambassadors some are for the Negative which the Hollanders do follow for their Ambassadors use to receave none not so much as a Bottle of Wine But most are for the Affirmatif But the Venetians who are reputed to have the best Rules touching Ambassadors though they allow it yet their Ambassadors are bound to exhibit their Presents to the Senat and t is thought much of St. Marks tresure consists of it They are also bound in a large Oration to give an account besides that of their Embassy what they observd most remarkable in the Government State and Quality of the Country of which Oration they bring also a Manuscript which is put up in their Archives Iohn Earl of Bristol at his departure from Madrid notwithstanding that the weather had grown foul twixt us and Spain receavd a Cupboard of huge massie Plate valued at 20000 Crowns of this King of Spain who also gave him a Diamond Ring off his Finger rated at 1500 l. sterling and the reason was because he had found him so wise faithful and industrious a servant to his King The Civilians make likewise a doubt whether it may not interrupt the Office of an Ambassador to have his Wife and Children along with him but they who hold the contrary are rather exploded then approved For to leave his Wife is for one to leave half himself behind him besides Conjugal society is counted the prime of comforts moreover it saves trouble of Writing and charges for Letters and Packets which come to no small sum at the yeers end c. We will conclude this Paragraph with two special things which the Civilians require further for the performance of the Office of an Ambassador viz. That he be reservd and secret in an intense degree he must not be Plenus Rimarum full of chinks and herin the Italian and Spaniard are eminently imitable for all the Drugs in Egypt cannot draw away a secret from them wheras a small Purge or Vomit will make others cast it up Furthermore that an Ambassador may facilitat the discharge of his Office the better it is requisit that he have a previous knowledg of the Court and Country wherunto he is
Successes Before I part with France at present t is very fit the main subject of this Work being of Precedence to speak something of the Black Prince while he was Governor of Aquitane where he performd such notable Exploits and among other of that fa mous Charter of Precedence which was given to the Crown of England by Don Pedro King of Castile who being detruded out of the Throne by Henry his younger Brother fled for succour to the Black Prince in Gascognie who had at that time two other Kings in his Court viz. Ricaredo King of Navarre and Don Iayme King of Mallorca Which Charter being yet upon Authentique Record and not specified in the story of either Nations may very well deserve to be inserted here and it runs thus Petrus Dei gratia Rex Castellae Legionis omnibus praesentibus pariter futuris praesentes literas inspecturis lecturis aut audituris salutem fidem plenariam iisdem adhibere Cum in largitione donatione concessione privilegiorum libertatum franquesiarum ac honorum Praerogativa illis nos liberales gratiosiores reddere debeamus à quibus multiplicia beneficia honores nos recognoscimus recepisse Cumque Illustrissimus Rex Angliae Edoardus ejus primogenitus Princeps Aquitantae Walliae consanguinei nostri nos praedecessores nostros Reges Castellae retroactis temporibus fuerint favorabiliter prosecuti specialiter cùm nuper per Henricum quondam Comitem de Trestamare qui factâ cum quibusdam suis Complicibus coadunatione Regna nostra invasit usurpavit etiam occupavit more praedonico hostili ea indebitè detinet occupata de Regno in regnum de Dominio in Dominium loco ad locum ad mortem nos esset insecutus à qua persecutione per receptationem dicti Dom. Principiâ—… in Terra sua de nobis factam fuerimus liberati per ipsum gentes suas comfortati ac honorabiliter recepti tractati Nos memores dicti accepti beneficii in aliqualem praemissorum Recompensationem alias de nostra certa scientia speciali dono regia donatione potestate damus concedimus pro nobis haeredibus successoribus nostris Regibus Castellae per praesentes dicto Illustrissimo Regi Angliae Edoardo ejus Primogenito Principi Aquitaniae Walliae Quòd quandocunque idem Rex ejus Primogenitus qui nunc sunt aut eorum Haeredes successores Reges Angliae eorum Primogeniti qui pro tempore fuerint voluerint venire in propria persona ad Guerram quam nos habebimus aut Haeredes nostri Reges Castellae habebunt contra Regem Granatae aut alios Fidei inimicos quod iidem Reges eorum Primogeniti habeant primum bellum sive la Delantera ante omnes Mundi Christianos omni tempore Ita tamen quod Nos possimus Haeredes nostri Reges Castellae si voluerimus ponere vexilla nostra in dicto bello pariter cum vexillis Regis Angliae vel Ipsius Primogeniti Item quod si contigerit dictos Reges aut eorum Primogenitos ad Guerram quam Nos Haeredes nostri habebimus contra Regem Granatae aut Alios Fidei inimicos non venire aut nolle vel non posse venire volumus concedimus quòd unum vexillum de Armis Regis Angliae sit omni tempore in dicta guerra in primo bello sive in la Delantera honorificè prout decet nostris successorum nostrorum Castellae regum propriis sumptibus expensis Item quia Patria ejusdem nostri Consanguinei plurima damna expensa innumerabilia sustinuit tempore quo ipse pro nostro succursu exercitus suos congregabat prout oculis propriis conspeximus licet flebiliter gereremus in recompensationem praemissorum privilegiamus volumus concedimus quòd omnes homines incolae nobiles peregrini cujuscunque status sexus aut conditionis existant Regni Patriae dominii Angliae principatus Aquitaniae sint immunes ab omni pedagio leuda costuma maletota ceu aliis quibuscunque Impositionibus Exactionibus in Regnis nostris impositis seu in posterùm imponendis Ita quòd dicti homines dictorum Regni Patriae Dominii Angliae Principatus Aquitantae transeundo morando redeundo per Regna nostra per mare velper terram Costumam Pedagium Leudam Maletotam seu quamcunque aliam Impositionem vel Exactionem minimè solvere teneantur nisi dicti homines causâ Mercimonii vel pro emercimiando aliquid emerent Super quo an causa Mercimoniandi empta existant nec ne per officiarios nostros receptorum dictorum pedagiorum stare volumus dictorum hominum juramenta de quibus rebus causa Mercimoniandi emptis non compellantur solvere nec aliquid ultra ab iis exigatur quà m caeteri Mercatores solvere consueverunt Et juramus ad Sancta Dei Evangelia à nobis corporaliter manu tacta in verbo promittimus Regio concessiones donationes privilegia praedicta omnia singula in praesentibus Litteris contenta tenere complere inviolabiliter observare In quorum singulorum Praemissorum testimonium ad ipsorum Majorem firmitatem his praesentibus Nos manu propria Subscripsimus iisdem sigillum nostrum in pendenti duximus apponendum Volentes concedentes ac etiam requirentes vos Magistrum Iohannem de London publicum Autoritate Apostolicâ Notarium quatenus ad perpetuam omnium singulorum praemissorum memoriam vos cum praesentibus testibus subscribatis praesentesque Literas signo vestro solito consignetis Datum apud Liborniam Diocesi Burdegalensis die 23 Mensis 7 bris Anno Dom. 1366. Praesentibus praecharissimo Consanguineo nostro Domino Iohanne Duce Lancastriae Regis Angliae filio ac fratre dicti principis Reverendis in Christo Patribus Dom. Helia Archiepiscopo Burdegalensi Dom. Barnardo Episcopo Xancton Iohanne Electo Bathoniensi Wellensi Cancellario Aquitaniae Iohanne Shandos Constabulario Thoma de Felton senescallo Aquitaniae Nigello de Loereyn Camerario dicti Principis Balboyno de Frevilla senescallo Xancton aliis testibus ad praemissa Yo el Rey. I the King Et Ego Iohannes de London Cler. Winton Diocesis publicus Authoritate Apostolica Notarius undecima die mensis Februarii anno Domsupradicto Indictione quinta Pontisicatus sanctissimi in Christro Patris Domini nostri Dom. Urbani divina providentia Papae quinti anno quinto infra castrum Civitatis Baionae in capella ejusdem castri unà cum testibus infrascriptis fui praesens quando dictus Dom. Rex Petrus promissa omnia singula innovavit confirmavit juramento suo vallavit tangendo propriis manibus suis sancta Dei Evangelia quando ipse Rex manu sua propria se subscripsit me requisivit mandavit ut praesentibus Literis me subscriberem signum
two of the fairest flowers in the English Crown in lieu wherof it may be sayd ther is set in an ear of barly with a Chimney Wallflower ther is froth and fume given in exchange which doth so much sully the luster of it for as I intimated before the state and plenty of the Court was accounted the greatest glory of the Crown of England as Forren Authors of most Nations do acknowledg in their public Writings Now wheras some do affirm that the yeerly benefit of the Excise doth make a full compensation for the Court of Wards and tenures in Capite out of which ther was also computed fifty thousand pounds yeerly towards the Diet at Court It is too well known that the said Excise doth not make the King any Equivalent satisfaction for his Tenures alone if well managd much less for his Pourvoyances Preemptions and Carriages For ther was an exact account made by his Majesties special command of the last yeers expence that ther were Seventy three thousand six hundred and seven pounds fourteen shillings and seven pence spent more in the Court-diet and provision of the Stables then were in the time of Pourvoyance besides the extraordinary charge of Carriages for his Removes and Navy Royal. Now in expending those provisions that were servd into the Court by way of Pourvoyance and Composition ther was the greatest care and Oeconomical good husbandry usd that possibly could be for when ther were more Beefs and Muttons with other provisions servd in then the Court wanted The faithful Officers of the Green-cloth caused them to be Sould and with the moneys arising thence they were commonly usd to buy Napery and other Houshold-things for the service of the Kings House as also in paying the arrears of som of his Servants wages with the surplusages But now that we dance after the French Fiddle so fast as we always did so for the back and now begin to follow him also in things relating to the Belly by Board-wages c. I wish the time may not come that we do not follow him too farr As that one cannot put a grain of Salt in his pot unless he buy it of the King wherby in making Salt his own Commodity the French King raiseth by the meer Gabel which ariseth thence above 20 millions of Livres evry yeer which is two millions Sterling which sum is twice more then the King of Great Britain hath from all Incoms whatsoever as Crown-lands Customes and Imposts Excise and Chimney-money with other perquisits and casualities And as the French thus cannot put a grain of Salt in his pot so the Spaniard cannot put a corn of Peper into his Olla unless he hath it from the King Nor can he buy a pair of Cards or Dice to pass away the time withal unless he hath them of the King Nay he cannot buy half a sheet of Paper to write either Bond or Bill Acquittance or Receit or other legal Instrument but he must buy all of the King Which adds millions to his yeerly Revenues yet the peeple of Spain are cryed up for a free peeple But touching the Imposition of Excise which is given the King for his Royal Tenures and House-keeping I well remember the time that Excise was held such an abominable word that my Lord Carleton but only for naming it once in the Parlement-House yet to no ill meaning at all was violently cryed to the Bar and though a person of that eminence as being then a Privie Counsellor and principal Secretary of State he hardly escapd being committed to the Tower The Excise was then calld the Dutch Devil because it came first from Holland with other fine words as plunder storming c. which were all made free Denizons of England by that so longd-for Long Parlement And observable it is that the first imposing and use of Excise in England was to enable Rebels to make War against their King and Country Having thus briefly run over the Sumptuary part of the English Court we will now proceed to the Servants and Officers to the Attendance and State thereof which comes not behind any other Court whatsoever And this might be the ground of that ancient Proverb in England and nowhere els There is no Fishing to the Sea nor Service to the Kings The Court is the randevous of Vertu of Cadets and persons well qualified It is the Scale by which they rise the King being the fountain of Honour as well as of Bounty But before we come to speak of the Officers at Court and of their Diet and Bouche which by a pitiful corruption is vulgarly calld budg wheras it is bouche a mouth therfore it is a French phrase Il a bouche à la Cour He hath a mouth at Court viz. he hath a Diet I say before we come to speak of the Dishes and Diet at Court let the Reader take this small Advertisement in the way that evry Dish at Court was computed to cost the King viis modis at the years end 100 l. a dish But now since the Preemption and Pourvoyance is taken away evry dish doth stand in four times as much at least The Kings Court or Houshold The Lord Great Chamberlain and Earl Marshal are rather Officers of State and as it were extraneous in relation to the Houshold so in a manner are the four Officers of the Crown who use to have Houses abroad viz. The Lord Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal of England The Lord high Tresurer The Lord Privie Seal The Lord high Admiral But the properst Domestick Officers are as follow viz. The Lord Steward of the Houshold who hath allowed him evry day besides his Fee 32 dishes The Tresurer of the Houshold 32 dishes and besides his table he hath a Fee of 123 l. 14 s. 4 d. The Controuler besides thirty two dishes a day hath a Fee of 167 l. 17 s. 4 d. The Cofferer besides his Table hath 100 l. The principal Secretary of State hath besides his Table 100 l. The Secretary for the Latin Toung Fee 40 l. The Secretary for the French Toung Fee 66 l. 13 s. 4 d. The Clerks of the Signet Fee every one 40 l. Four Clerks of the Privie Council Fee evry one 50 l. Clerk of the Council in the Star-chamber Fee 26 l. 13 s. 4 d. Two Clerks of the Parlement Fee The first 40 l. Two Clerks of the Parlement Fee The second 10 l. Clerk of the Market Fee 20 l. Post-master Fee 20 l. Thirty standing Posts appointed by the Post-master evry one Fee 18 l. 5 s. Two Carriers To one 24 l. 3 s. 4 d. Two Carriers To the other 12 l. Officers above Stayrs Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold besides his Table of thirty two dishes a day hath a Fee 100 l. The Groom of the Stole who is always a Gentleman of the Bed-chamber hath evry day 32 dishes Vice-chamberlain Fee 100 Marks Knight-Marshal Fee 100 Marks The Gentlemen of the Privie Chamber whose
a Dialect of the Bascuence and Gascon That of Britany or Armorica is but a dialect of the ancient British continued so wonderfully in Wales after so many revolutions and changes of diffring Nations to this day Indeed the King of Spain hath an old Maternal Toung under his Dominions which is the Cantabrian or Bascuence all the rest are but several Idiomes or Dialects derived from the Latin and inlayd with a multitude of Morisco words The Castilian the Portugues the Catalan the Valenciano are Dialects of the Latin But the King of Great Britain hath two pure ancient Mother-Toungs within his Dominions which is the British or old Comraecan Toung And the Irish or Hibernian Toung which are subsistent of themselfs and have no derivation or affinity at all with any other Toung Ther are six Dialects also spoken in his Kingdomes The English which is a dialect of the Saxon or high Dutch Ther is the Scotish which is a sub-dialect of the English Ther is the Mankmen or they of the I le of Man which is also a sub-dialect of the Welsh Ther is the Highlander or Redshank which is a dialect of the British and Irish Ther is the Cornish which is a dialect of the Welsh And the Language of Iersey and Gernsey the only remains that are left us of Normandy which is a dialect of the French Now It cannot be soberly denied but that it is an addition of Honour to the King of Great Britain to have more Mother-Toungs reservd yet in his Dominions and as it were unconquerd then his two Neighbour-Kings Touching variety of Palaces and change of Royal Mansions he may compare if not out-go any of the other Kings For within half a days journey of London he hath eight several Houses and divers elswhere wheras the French King hath but the Louvre Fountainbleau Bois de Vincennes St. Germain de Laye and Madrid a small ruinous pile of stones which Francis the first causd to be erected in commemoration of his captivity so many yeers in Madrid in Spain in a small Brick House wherinto ther was a low little dore built by the command of the Emperour Charles the fifth of purpose to make the King stoop when he entred which he observing because he should not bow his head went in backward putting in his bum first The King of Spain hath but his Palace and La Casa de buen retiro in Madrid he hath Aranjuez with the Pardo between Madrid and the Escurial where he hath a Royal House yet it is but a Cantle of a Monastery t is but the handle of a Gridiron which that great structure resembles in memory of the Martyr St Laurence Philip the second having bin forced for the advantage of avenues to batter down a Convent dedicated to that Saint a little before the battail of St Quinten where he provd Victorious against the French and to perform a Vow he then made he built the Monastery of Saint Laurence at the Escurial Now touching all the foresaid Palaces in France and Spain Winsore-Castle may compare with any for Magnitude Majesty and State As Sir Thomas Roe who had bin Ambassador at the great Mogors Court at the Seraglio of the Gran Senior at the German Emperours at the French Polonian Danish and Swedish Courts I say Sir Thomae Roe did confidently and knowingly affirm that Winsor-Castle may not only compare but have the precedence of all the rest in point of Grandeur Majesty Situation and Stateliness Moreover the King of Great Britain hath Lodges and other places of plesure without number In regard of so many Forests â—…haces and Parks that are annexd to the Crown Touching Forests ther is no Potentat on Earth hath so many I may truly avouch Now a Forest is a Franchise of so Princely a tenure that according to the Laws of England none but the King himself can have a Forest if he chance to pass one over to a subject t is no more Forest but a Frank Chase. A Forest hath peculiar Laws of her own to take cognizance of and punish all Trespasses A Forest hath her Court of Attachments or Swainmote-Court where matters are as legally pleadable as at Westminster-Hall The Hart the Hind the Hare the Bore and the Wolf are Forest-beasts The Buck the Doe the Fox the Matron the Roe belong to a Chace and Park And all these kind of Recreations the King of Great Britain hath in so many Forests wherof ther are in England besides thirteen Chaces and seven hundred eighty one Parks these whose names follow alphabetically Forests name County 1. Applegarth Ebor. N. Rid. 2. Arundel Sussex 3. Ashdown Susses 4. Bear-Forest Hamp 5. Birnwood Buck. 6. Blackmore Wilt. 7. Blethvay Radnor 8. Bowland Lanc. 9. Braden Wilt. 10. Buckholt Hamp 11. Cantselly  12. Cardith Caermar 13. Chur. Hamp 14. Charnwood Leicester 15. Chul Wilt. 16. Coidrath Pembr 17. Copland Cumb. 18. Dallington Suff. 19. Dartmore Devon 20. Delamere Chesh. 21. Dene Gloc. 22. Dereford Salop. 23. Waterdown Suss. 24. Exmere Devon 25. Feckenham Wigorn. 26. The Forest. Cardig 27. Fromselwood Somers 28. Gaiternack Wilt. 29. Gautry Ebor. 30. Gillingham Dors. 31. Hatfield Essex 32. Harwood Salop. 33. Haye Heref. 34. Holt. Dors. 35. Huckstow  36. Inglewood Cumb. 37. Knaresburg Ebor. 38. Kings wood Gloc. 39. Knuckles Radnor 40. Leicester Leicest 41. St. Leonards Suss. 42. Lounsdale  43. Lowes Northumb. 44. Lune Ebor. 45. Leyfield Rutl. 46. Mallerstang Westm. 47. Mocktry Salop. 48. Narborth Pemb. 49. Neroch Som. 50. New Forest. Hamp 51. New Forest. Ebor. 52. Peak Derb. 53. Pewsham Wilt. 54. Pickring Ebor. 55. Radnor Radnor 56. Roscob Card. 57. Rockingham Northam 58. Sapler  59. Savernack Wilt. 60. Sherwood Notingh 61. Selwood Som. 62. Saucy North. 63. Wabridg Hunt 64. Waltham Essex 65. West Forest. Hamp 66. Westward Cumb. 67. Whichwood Oxf. 68. Winfield Westm. 69. Whitehart  70. Whittlewood Northam 71. Whitway  72. Wyersdale Lanc. 73. Winsore Bark 74. Wolmer  75. Wood. Ebor. 76. Worth Suss. 77. Wutmer Hamp This is the old number of Forests in England wherof a few as Blackmore in Wiltshire with others are deforested which Forests cannot by the Laws be in any ones hands but the Kings and the reason is because none hath power to grant a Commission for Justice in Eire but the King which Iustice is to keep a Court evry three yeers once but the Swainmoot-Court evry one yeer thrice Forests were at first for the Kings Princely delight Venery and plesure meerd with unremoveable marks and boundaries And the old Law is Omnis homo abstinent a Venariis meis super poenam vitae It was capital to hunt in any of the Kings Forests without leave Now if one shold make the Perambulation of all France and Spain he will not find half the number of Forests in both Kingdoms And whether this be not a notable advantage to the King of Great Britain in point of Honour let any unpassionat and sober-minded man determine
The Ninth Paragraph Touching the Prudential Laws and Constitutions of Great Britain relating to Prince and Peeple As also The Eminence and Variety of Honours which the King can confer c. VVHat the Arteries Nerfs and Cartilages are to the Body Natural the same are Laws to the Political they are the Ligaments of a Kingdom which connect and tie all sorts of peeple though of so many different humors in one Goverment and under one Souverain head The Common Law of England though in some things it differs from the Civil by which most parts of Europe are governd yet it hath the rationability and justness the general notions and aym of the Civil Law which is to preserve evry one in the possession of his own and the Souverain Prince in honour power and Safety The main quarrel against it is that it wants Method and that it is not reducible to any or capable to be digested into such a Pandect as the Civil Law is Wherunto it may be answered That the Common Law of England hath for its grounds 1. Custome 2. Iudicial Records And 3. Acts of Parlement or Statuts The two later being declarations of the Common or Customary Law of the Land are methodizd and digested to order as the book of Statuts c. whence the Sheriffs the Justices of peace and Constables with other Officers may learn their duties and how to execut their places and any subject els may know how to keep himself within the bounds of his obedience But the Common Law of the Land consisting of Cases Precedents and Judgments as also of Immemorial and Uninterrupted Municipal Customs which being no Written Things Therfore it is no wonder that the professors therof have not bin so curious to attempt hitherto the Methodizing of that Art which consists most of Custom and Usage yet fair Essays are made daily for better retaining the same in memory by putting particular Cases under general Rules wherof ther are divers Volums frequently publishd of late yeers Now the Laws of England look two ways either upon the Souverain Prince or upon the peeple Touching the later ther is no Law upon earth so careful and tender of a mans life or livelihood be he the meanest subject under the Crown as the Common Law of England is For wheras in other Countries a single Judge and Witness may take away ones life or estate wherof the one may be subornd the other corrupted t is not so in England but besides Witnesses and Judges ther be two sorts of Iuries one the Grand Inquest which consists of twenty four Gentlemen or able Freeholders to consider by a previous consultation of all Bills of Inditement to be preferd to the Judicial Court which upon strict examination they either approve and transfer to the Court by writing upon the Bill Billa vera or they disallow it by writing Ignoramus Such causes as they approve if they concern Life and Death are further referrd to another Iury to consider of because the case is of such importance but others of lighter moment are upon their allowance fined by the Bench without more ado Except the party traverse the Inditement or chalenge it for insufficiencie or remove the Cause to a higher Court by a Certiorari in which two former cases it is referrd to another Jury and in the later transmitted to a higher and presently upon the allowance of this Bill by the Grand Inquest the party is said to be Indited but such as they disallow are deliverd to the Bench by whom they are forthwith cancelld or torn The Indited party being to stand afterwards at the Bar and desiring to be tryed by God and his Country ther is a Petty Jury empannelld of Twelve who bear the publick repute of honest men and the Law of England is so indulgent of life that the prisoner may challenge or except against any to such a number and withal a Butcher who is inurd to bloud and slaughter is incapable by the Law to be a Jury-man for life So the said Jury after a strict and painful examination of the Fact with all the least circumstances therof deliver their Verdict according to their consciences wherby the Judg doth acquit or condemn the party according to the quality of the offence nor can any pecuniary Mulct satisfie for the life of any as it is in other Countries And as the Common Law of England is thus so tender of humane life so it is as cautious indulgent and careful of the livelihood and propriety of the meanest subject in the Land which in case of controversie is done also by Jury and put home to the Consciences of twelve indifferent good men and not left only to the breast and opinion of any one Judge be he never so learned and incorrupt The English Law likewise favors Widows and Orphans and the poor have Counsel appointed them gratis c. It appeers out of the premisses what a great regard the Common Law of England the Lex Terrae hath to the lifes and properties of the peeple in point of Justice Now in point of Reverence and Loyalty to the Souverain Prince which is more pertinent to this disourse ther is no Law hath higher regards likewise that way nor also to his honour and dignity to his welfare and safety to his Royal Prerogatives and glory which Prerogatives intrinsecally stick and are inherent in the Crown yet are they and the Liberties of the Subject determined and bound by the Law The Laws of England make the King their Protector and reason good for they are his own Productions t is he that puts life into them They bear such reverence to his person that in his Presence none can be seizd or violently layd hands on or arrested his very presence being a Protection for the time He who giveth but a blow to any in his Court the Law adjudgeth him to loose his Right hand The Law sayth that the King hath his Title to the Imperial Crown of Great Britain and to his Kingly Office and power not as a fiduciary thing conveyed from the peeple but by inherent birthright and inalienable heritage immediatly from God from Nature and from the fundamental Constitutions of the Land He hath not only Ius paternum a paternal power over his subjects but Ius despoticum herile he hath dominion over them which Dominion is devolvd upon him gratiâ Dei by Divine dispensation and favour Ther is no Alleageance or Fealty due to any other power but to the King The Law is so careful of the sacred person of the King that it reacheth unto the very thoughts and restrains them from machination of any evil against him For the Law says it is Treson to Imagine mischief against the King much more to attempt act and execute it The Common Law of England makes the King the Supreme and independent Governour And all other persons derive their power and authority from him either by his Royal Writ Patent or Commission
The Law presupposeth that he sits not only at the Kings Bench but in other Courts of Judicature for the Writs go Teste meipso And because the Law sayth that the King must govern in Mercie and Justice the sole power of Pardoning is in Him Moreover the power of Coinage is only in the King with the enhancing or decrying the price of money He is the sole Gran Master of the Mint wheras in France others partake with the King in this high Prerogative Nor doth any Kings Face shine in purer Metal for it shines onely in pure Gold and Silver and that of the finest Standard Mixture and Allay of any in Europe wheras I have seen and felt the face of the French King in Copper and Brass with other mixt mongrel stuff As also of the King of Spain's though he terms himself the Monark of Gold and Silver Mines yet the common currant Coyn twixt Merchant and Mechanick is Copper wherin the Hollander by his cunning hath done him a world of mischief from time to time by counterfaiting that Copper Coyn and â—…oysting it in by divers artifices as in a ship laden with Lead and Tin ther wold be somtimes divers Sows of Lead hollowed and crammd with quartils as also in hollowed Masts with other inventions Insomuch that one time when all the Vellon or Copper Coin was calld in and a scrutiny made how much had bin coynd ther were many millions more found to be brought in and counterfaited then had bin stampd in the Kings Mint By the Common Law of the Land the King of Great Britain hath three Royal Ensignes which cannot belong to any other He hath the Crown the Scepter and the Polemical Sword as I have mentiond in another Treatise and is proper to touch here By the first He reigns by the second he makes Laws by the third viz. the Sword He protects them Concerning the Crown or Royal Diadem the Laws of England assert that it descends upon his head by a right Hereditary line though through dâ—…vers ancient Royal Races wherof some were Conquerors The Crown is His as much as any mans Cap 's his own And ther is no Crown stuck with fairer Flowers I mean Royal Prerogatives wherof divers were spoken of before Concerning the Scepter it may be calld an Individual Copartner or a Royal Appendix to the Crown It doth capacitate the King to Enact Laws for before his Assent all the Results and Determinations of Parlement are but Bills they may be said to be but abortive things and meer Embryos nay they have no life at all in them till the King by his breath infuseth vigour and animation into them and the ancient Custom was for the King to touch them with the Scepter then they are Laws and have a virtue in them to impose an universal obligation upon all sorts of peeple Now it is an undeniable Principle of the Law of England That nothing can be generally binding without the Kings Royal Assent nor doth the Law take notice of any thing without it This makes Them to be calld afterwards the Kings Laws and the Judges are said to deliver the Kings Iudgments nay he himself is always Lord Chief Justice of England which Title is not assumable by any Subject Now before an English Law is made ther is mature and mighty long deliberation goes before for first the business is agitated and canvasd many days in the House of Commons which represents all the peeple of England till it comes to the ripeness of a Bill The Bill being drawn is read thrice in the House and having passd the brunt of all Exception t is engrossd and transmitted to the Lords and there also t is read thrice and debated with much deliberation Then by concurrence of both Houses t is presented to the King who consults with his Learned Counsel whether ther be any thing therin derogatory to his Prerogatives if not He gives his Royal Assent and then t is created a Law and generally binding Touching the power of the Sword it is more proper to treat of it in the next Paragraph Moreover the Lex Terrae the Common Law of England makes the King the Fountain of Honour nay without any disparagement or offence be it spoken He can confer Honor upon other Kings and Souverain Princes as he is Souverain of the Order of Saint George wherof ther have bin eight Emperors five Kings of the French four of Spain seven of Portugal two of the Scots four of Denmark three of Naples one of Poland and another of Sweden two Dukes of Urbine one of Millain one of Ferrara one of Savoy one of Calabria one of Holland one of Gueldres four Princes of Orenge seven Counts Palatin of the Rhin two Dukes of Brunswick two of Holstain one of Brandenburgh and one Duke of Wittenberg with divers other Forren Princes Now among all Orders purely Military ther is not any now remaining in the Christian world either more ancient or honorable then the Noble Order of Saint George wherof the Garter is a Symbole therfore are they calld Equites periscelidis Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter which Order was first instituted by that Victorious King Edward the third who was offerd to be Emperour Anno 1350. which was threescore yeers wanting one before the Institution of the French Order of S. Michael by Lewis the eleventh and 229 yeers before the Order of St. Esprit by Henry the third and full fourscore yeers before the erection of the Order of the Golden Fleece by Philip Duke of Burgundy It is also 209 more ancient then the Order of the Knights of the Elephant which was devisd by the Kings of Denmark and much more then that of Amaranta excogitated by Sweden c. Now observable it is that among all these Orders l'ordre del toison d'or the Order of the Golden Fleece related to the English Wools which were transported to Flanders by our Merchants wherby all the Provinces adjoyning did so infinitly enrich themselfs And this Order of the Golden Fleece as it is one of the highest Esteem so it hath most affinity with our Order of St. George in point of Regulation as also that ther are so few of it For our Order is accounted far the Nobler because it hath constantly kept it self to the same number of Knights viz. 26. since the primitive Institution wheras the French Orders have multiplied so fast in number of Knights that one said the Order of the French Knighthoods are now become Collers for every Ass to wear about his neck And as this high Order of St. George hath the precedence of all other now worn by any King in point of Antiquity so the ground and designe of it was very Noble For when the first Idea of erecting a new Order of Knighthood entred into the head of the foresaid Heroick King Edward the third his thoughts reflected upon King Arthur who indeed was the first founder of Knighthood not only
among Christians but of any other Nation upon earth As also the first King who gave Royal Arms His Coat being Azure nine Crowns Or marshalld 3. 3. 2. and 1. Afterwards the Saxon Kings gave Arms And Edward the Confessors Coat was Azure a Cross patence between four Martelets Or. And as King Arthurs Round Table which is yet to be seen at Winchester had seats for twenty six Knights so it seems King Edward proportiond his number Now the occasion of it was That he having resolvd upon a War with France for attaining that Crown which was due unto him by his Mothers side He conceavd it advantageous to invite and engage to his party such as were of a Martial spirit And to that end erected a round Table at Windsore in imitation of King Arthur where they were entertaind with Tilts and Tournements magnificent Feasts and other Princely ways to unite and encourage them Philip de Valois who was in possession of the Crown of France went about to countermine him by erecting also the like Table in his Court and so drew many gallant and adventurous spirits that way and some out of England so that King Edward not finding this designe answerable to his mind he fell on another such as might prove more adherent and binding unto Him to which end he establishd this high Order of Chivalry consisting of twenty six persons of eminent note wherof He Himself and his Successors Kings of England were to be perpetual Souverains All of them were to be men of Heroick parts and such as shold be obligd by Oath and Honour to adhere unto Him upon all occasions which might be the probablest cause that he made the Garter for a Badg therof to be fastned about the left leg with a Buckle of Gold to be continually worn therfore are They stild Equites Periscelidis as was touchd before which hath its Etymologie from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Crura ambiens girding about the knee which alâ—…udes that those Knights shold be bound in one League and Confederation of love and affection severally one unto another and all of them in joynt service to the Souverain Some ther are who are of opinion that the Garter was given because that in a Battle where King Edward provd Victorious he had given the word Garter for a Signal Others in a derogatory way wold ground it upon the Countess of Salisburies Garter falling off from her in a dance and so taken up by the King But the Black Book in Winsore which deserves most faith in this point gives the first Reason for it Among other Laws that were enacted in the Chapter when this Order was first raysd one was That evry Knight by solemn Oath upon the Evangelists was sworn to defend the Honor and Quarrels the Rights and Lordship of the Souvrain c. Such a Sacramental Oath the Knights of the Bath also take which is To love their Sovrain above all earthly cretures and for his right and dignity to live and die c. Therfore I have often stood astonishd at the largeness of the consciences of some Knights of both these Orders who besides other astringing Oaths as those of Allegeance Supremacy c. could dispense with them All in the late Rebellion so far as not only not to adhere to their Sovrain Liege-Lord and King when his life was sought for by small and great Shots with other instruments of open hostility and slaughter but to appeer for to serve and stick unto the contrary party all the while Truly under favor I wold be-loth to exchange souls with them We will put a period to this Discours of the ancient Noble Order of St. George with a signal observation of Bodin's Decretum fuit in Collegio Equitum Periscelidis in Anglia ponere stemmata Regis Francorum ante caetera omnia post Principem Ordinis It was decreed in the College of the Knights of the Garter in England to put the Stems of the King of the French before all other except the Prince of the Order And the reason I conceive was that Philip the second whiles King of England was formerly put before But Bodin was herin deceavd for the Emperours Arms wherof ther have bin eight of the Order go before and have the precedence Out of the premises may be deducd this cleer Conclusion as a Meridian Truth that the Common Law of England in all things ayms at the Honour and glory the power and authority the Safeness and incolumity of the Sovrain Prince more then the Laws of any Country And wheras we had some touches before how the Common Law which is peculiar only to England hath the rationability of the Civil Law though not so digested to Method in regard it consists most of Custom Cases and presidents we will conclude this Paragraph with some principles wherin they both agree As Actori incumbit onus probandi The proof lies on the Accuser Nemo oportet esse sapientior legibus No man ought to think himself wiser then the Laws Ubi lex non distinguit ibi non est distinguendum We must not distinguish where the Law doth not Accessorium non ducit sed sequitur suum principale The Accessory doth not lead but follow the principal Volenti non fit injuria No wrong can be done to him who is willing Agentes Consentientes pari poena plectuntur Actor and consenter are to be punished alike Apices Iuris non sunt Iura The punctilios of the Law is no Law Nemo potest esse Iudex in propria causa No man can be Judge in his own cause Caveat Emptor Let the Buyer beware Contraria allegans non est audiendus Who alledgeth contraries is not to be heard Cujus est dare ejus est disponere The Giver may dispose of his gift as he pleaseth Quilibet in Arte sua est credendus Evry one is to be believed in his own Art Potestas derivativa non potest esse major primitiva A Commissioner cannot have greater power then He who gave him the Commission Dies Dominicus non est Iuridicus The Lords day is no day of Law Dormit aliquando Lex moritur nunquam The Law may sleep a while but never die Dilationes in Lege sunt odiosae Delays in Law are odious Facinus quot inquinat aequat All are principals in a crime Generale nihil certi implicat No certitude can be had out of generals Ignorantia non excusat Legem Ignorance of the Law doth not excuse the breach of it Lex non cogit ad impossibilia The Law doth not tie us to impossibilities Lex est summa Ratio The Law is the highest Reason Lex citius tolerat privatum damnum quà m publicum malum The Law tolerats a privat damage rather then a publick Mala Grammatica non vitiat Chartam False Latin doth not destroy a Deed Linea Recta semper praefertur transversali A right Descent is always preferrd before a Collateral in
we think that Right to appertain still to the Crown of England notwithstanding that the Territories and Dominions of the Kingdome of Spain be propagated and amplified which in the right estimation of things prevails not or ought to prevail twixt Christian Princes touching this question For then other Kings and Princes would assume a right of Precedence above others to whom now they grant it ever and anon if their Dominions increase Moreover touching this present controversie about Precedence ther is another thing which doth not unworthily offer it self to be examined by your Judgements which is That one of Us which the most serene Queen our Mistress hath chosen her Ambassador to conclude this Treaty of Peace is one who daily resides in that quality in the Court of the most Christian King which Dignity with all Prerogatives he retains as long as he sojourns in France But the first of you although he be Ambassador to the Catholick King with the most serene Archduke and being out of the Dominions therof he puts off that quality and dignity We think also that our Ambassador in whom this Dignity is multiplyed and shines more ought by right to be preferred before any that is appointed by a single and bare title onely for this great Treaty Therfore if you please let this Question be pretermitted with deep silence and let this Prerogative remain and dwell in the most serene Queen our Mistress to whom it justly belongs and appertains so we shall more cheerfully apyly our selfs to the business for which we are come All this we desire may be candidly and frendly accepted according to the prudence and moderation of your illustrious and magnificent Lordships as proceeding from the Observances and Religion of our Office not with any dessein to consume time or raise contentions Bullen 26 Maii 1600. Henry Nevil Iohn Harbert c. The Spanish Ambassadors made an answer herunto which we reserve for the third Section wherin the Arguments of Spain for Precedence are set down wherof one of the strongest he urgeth is the Multiplication and encrease of Dominions which according to Besoldus and Cassaneus with other great Civilian Jurists is no Argument at all in regard it doth not hold among ordinary Nobility As for example He of Arundel is first Earl in England He of Angus in Scotland And He of Kildare in Ireland by the Laws of Heraldry and Hereditary Right Put case that some other of their fellow Earls in either Kingdome shold grow richer and have more Mannors Possessions and Lordships yet they will not offer to take place or precedence so the Argument may hold A minori ad majus For if it be so among Noble-men much more shold this Rule have validity among Souvrain Princes I will go on with a passage that happend in Paris a little above twenty years since Hugo Grotius residing at Paris in quality of Ambassador for the Crown of Sweden attempted to make his Coaches go before those of the Earl of Leicester pretending a right of Precedence because the King of Sweden whom he represented was King of the ancient Goths and Vandals c. which was under favor but a feeble Argument For ther were Kings of Great Britain thousands of years before the Goths or Vandals were scarce known to the Christian world nor do any stories make mention of them until a little after the declinings of the Roman Empire about the year 350 from the Incarnation nor came they to be Christians till a long time after And it is the Position of Grotius himself in his Book de Iure Belli Inter Reges quâ—… primo Christianismum professi sunt praecedunt Who first professd Christianity ought to precede Moreover the King of Denmark entitles himself King of the Goths and Vandals as well But my Lord of Leicester carried himself so like himself that our Swedish Ambassador was put behind with a Disgrace somewhat answerable to his Presumption and to the explosion of the Spectators Now Let the prudent and unpassionat Reader weigh with leasure the foregoing Particulars and reserve his Judgement till he hath run through the Reasons and Arguments of the other two Kings in order to a Precedency T is time now to cross over to France and produce the Arguments of that King faithfully extracted out of the most receavd and celebrated Authors who assert his Right to sit next the Emperour upon all occasions As Cassanaeus Ferhaut Besoldus Carolus de Grasseliis Hierome Bignon Pierre Matthieu c. And let this be a close to the First Section The second Section Consisting of the Reasons wherby the French King pretends and claims Priority of Place and Proximity of Session next the Emperour at all Solemn Meetings and in all publik Transactions of State c. Which Reasons In regard they lie confusd and scatterd in other Authors we will reduce to Ten Heads or Arguments wherof the first shall be drawn 1. A Nobilitate Regni from the Nobleness of the Kingdome 2. The second A Nobilitate Regionis from the Nobleness of the Country 3. The third A Noblitate Regiminis from the Nobleness of the Government 4. The fourth A Religione Nobilitate Ecclesiae from Religion and the Nobleness of the Church 5. The fifth A Nobilitate Gentis multitudine Subditorum from the Nobleness of the Nation and multitude of Subjects 6. The sixth A plenitudine Regiae Potestatis from the absolutness of Regal Authority 7. The seventh A Potentia ipsius Regni from the Power of the Kingdome it self 8. The eighth Ab opulentia ipsius Regni from the Riches thereof 9. The ninth A Fortitudine Rebus in Bello gestis from Valour and Exploits done in the War 10. The tenth and last Argument shall be drawn ab Exemplo Antiquitate from Examples and Antiquities Of the first Argument A Nobilitate Regni from the Nobleness of the Kingdome THer is a speech drawing neer to the nature of a Proverb Great Britain for an Iland France for a Kingdome Milan for a Duchy and Flanders for a County or Earldome are preferrable before all other They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their kind this shews the supereminence of the Kingdome of France Ther is also a signal saying of the Emperour Maximilian the first who being in some Critical Discourses with his Lords about the Dominions of Europe broke out into this high Encomium of France That if it could stand with the Order of Nature and the Plesure of the Almighty that any mortal Man were capable to be a God of the Elementary world and that I were He I would so make my last Will and Testament in the disposing of my Estate That my eldest Son shold be God after me but my second shold be King of France This saying or excess of speech must be interpreted with a sane sense for the Emperour meant nothing els hereby but to intimate his opinion touching that potent and noble Kingdom which Kingdom hath continued an Heredetary
employd that he be well versd in the Speech therof for it is a sad thing when one is sent Ambassador to see fashions and learn the Language of a Country Lastly ther 's nothing more concerns the Office and Duty of an Ambassador as it was touchd before then to be true to his Instructions Brunus tells us that Qui extra Mandatum agit aliud agit Who acts beyond his Commission acts another thing Yet it cannot be denied but many things in point of circumstance are left to the discretion of a Plenipotentiary Ambassador therfore as I take it ther was by the twelve Tables in Rome a latitude of power left to Legats Quae bonum Patriae eminenter tangunt etiamsi non Mandentur agunto What eminently concerns the publik good though not commanded let them be done The eighth Paragraph Touching the Laws of England relating to Ambassadors in point of Reception Audience Treatments and Rewards as also what prudence hath bin usd for composing of Contestations betwixt them in point of Precedence c. HAving spoken hitherto generally of the concernments of Ambassadors and the privileges of Legation We will now make some inspections in particular into the Constitutions and Common Laws of England which may be calld Civil and very complying in this point The Law of England as the great Father of it my Lord Coke says That Honor Legati honor mittentis est The honor of an Ambassador is the honor of him who sent him That Legati aut Proregis dedecus redundat in Regem The affront offerd an Ambassador redounds to his King By the Common Law of England t is High Treson to kill an Ambassador as among others ther are Examples in the persons of Iohn Kerby and Iohn Algore the one a London-Mercer the other a Grocer who were both arraignd convicted and condemned for killing Iohn Imperial who was Ambassador from Genoa for a Patent he had got of the King for the sole importing of all Commodities from the Levant parts I. Hill was also condemned of High Treson for killing of A. de Walton who was Ambassador c. Then the high civilities that were shewd by King Iames to the Marquiss of Inojosa and Don Carlos Coloma the Spanish Ambassadors notwithstanding their high misdemenures for calumniating the last Duke of Buckingham and through him the Prince of Wales his sole Son and Heir apparent to the Crown as it is mentiond in the next preceding Paragraph And as the Law of England is so respectful of Ambassadors so for her own she useth to furnish them with as political Commissions and Instructions and as exactly couchd as any other Kings Ambassadors whatsoever I will produce only two Examples the one ancient the other modern the first is of Ambassadors sent to the Council of Basile which runs thus Ad Concilium Basiliense sub Eugenio Papa destinati sunt per Regem Ambasciatores Oratores Episcopus Robertus London Philippus Exoniensis Iohannes Roffensiis Iohannes Bajocens Edwardus Comes Moriton Abbas Glastoneensis B. M. Eboracensis Prior Norwici Henricus Bromflet miles Dominus Vesciae Thomas Browne Legum Doctor Decanus Sarum Iohannes Coleville Miles alii Dante 's damus iis Ipsorum majori parti potestatem Mandatum tam generale quà m speciale nomine nostro pro nobis in eodem Concilio interessendi tractandi communicandi concludendi tam de iis quae Reformationem Ecclesiae Universalis tam in Capite in Membris quà m in iis quae Fidei Orthodoxae fulcimentum Regumque ac Principum Pacificationem concernere poterint Nec non de super Pace perpetua guerrarumque abstinentia inter Nos Carolum adversarium nostrum de Francia ac etiam tractandi communicandi appunctandi consentiendi insuper si opus fuerit aissentiendi iis quae juxta deliberationem dicti Concilii initi statui ordinari contigerit Promittentes promittimus bona fide nos ratum gratum firmum perpetuò habiturum totum quicquid per dictos Ambasciatores Oratores Procuratores nostros aut Majorum partem Eorundem actum factum ceu gestum fuerit in praemissis singulis praemissorum Et Hoc idem cùm de super iis certiorati fuerimus ad Nos Christianum Principem attinet executioni debitae curabimus demandaâ—…i In cujus rei testimonium has Literas nostras fiâ—…ri fecimus Patentes Datum sub sigillo nostro Magno in Palatio nostro West monasteriensi x die Julii c. We delegat to the Council of Basil under Pope Eugenius for Ambassadors and Orators Bishop Robert of London Philip of Exceter c. Giving and do herby give them and the major part of them power and command as well general as special in our name and for us to be present to treat communicat and conclude things as well concerning the Reformation of the universal Church as the Pacification of Kings and Princes and likewise of and concerning a perpetual peace and abstinence from VVar betwixt Us and Charles of France our Adversary and also to treat communicat appoint and to consent besides and if need be to dissent from such things that shall happen to be appointed and ordained according to the deliberation of the said Council Promising and we do promise in good Faith to hold for ratified acceptable and firm to perpetuity whatsoever shall be acted or done by our said Ambassadors Orators or Proctors or the greatest part of them in relation to the Premises and any part therof whensoever we shall be certified and as becomes a Christian Prince we shall have a care that all be put in due execution In testimony wherof we have causd these our Letters to be Patents Given under our Great Seal in our Palace at Westminster x Iulii c. Ther repaird to this Council also Henry Beaufort Son of Iohn of Gaunt Bishop of Winchester and Cardinal of St. Eusebius having had license to transport 20000 l. in Gold and Silver which was a mighty sum in those daies which money as the story hath it though mute yet they were moving Ambassadors The second example shall be of Robert Sydney now Earl of Leicester in an extraordinary Embassy to the King of Denmark and other Princes of Germany whose Instructions were these following CHARLES R. Instructions for our right trusty and right well-beloved Cosen Robert Earl of Leicester Vicount Lisle and Baron of Sulney our Ambassador to our dear Uncle Christian 4. King of Denmark c. VVe have preferrd you before others to this honorable Employment because we have observd your constant application to vertuous and noble courses and wold have it known to all that we esteem Titles not of those that bury them in obscurity and Vice but of such that improve their worth for publik service in VVar or Peace wherby tru Nobility raiseth it self above the common sort VVe send you to a great King whom we love and honor not only for his
quam in serenissimi Archiducis Commissione omissam esse superiùs demonstravimus quà m primùm commodumque videbitur quod polltcitae sunt vestrae illustres magnificae personae petimus inserendum Quod verò illustres magnificae vestrae personae asserunt insolitum novum videri quod proposuimus de Praerogativa Praecedentiae dignitate serenissimae Reginae Dominae nostrae semper debita non possumus dissimulare nos valde mirari illud viris vestrae conditionis eruditionis judicii novum esse insolitum quod universo orbi terrarum notum est celebratissimum Res enim est exploratissima quod Regio Hispanica cum distributa fuerit in diversa Regna devoluta in manus Regis Ferdinandi Reginae Isabellae Regumque Granatae insuper ei adjunctum unà cum caeteris partibus Indiarum Occidentalium orta est contentio speciosè magis quà m solidè recteque fundata de Praecedendi dignitate cum Regno Anglorum tempore quo Papatum occupavit Alexander ejus nomini sextus natione Hispanus quae perducta ad tempora Iulii secundi Volatarranus Author imprimis bonus Historiographus Italus nullo privato beneficio Angliae obstrictus quique eodem tempore Romae vixit ea de causa quemadmodum Res actae gestaeque fuerunt probè potuit intelligere de hac Re ita refert Inter Oratores Henrici septimi Regis Angliae Hispaniae Regis inter sacra sedendo orta est contentio quae etiam sub Alexandrio caeperat Iulius Locum honoratissimum Anglis pro tempore adjudicavit quod quidem Ius praerogativam Regis Angliae possidentes tenuerunt usque ad tempora Caroli quinti Imperatoris qui licet ratione Caesareae Majestatis supremam sedem dignitatis inter Principes 〈◊〉 Illud tamen privilegium ad posteros suos in praejudicium aliorum Principum transmittere non potuit Ideóque post obitum ejus quaestio illa Praecedentiae ad eosdem terminos unde ante digresserat reversa est Cum igitur Reges Angliae semper tenuerunt priorem augustiorem sedem prae singulis illis Regibus priusquà m Regna eorum in unum reducta fuerint reductisque in unum indeque ea de requaestione motâ jus suum ex sententia Papae retinuerint de quo nullo unquam tempore aut occasione cesserunt Extra controversiam igitur putamus illud de Iure pertinere ad Coronam Angliae utcunque propagata amplifica sunt Territoria Dominia Regni Hispaniae quod recta rerum aestimatione nihil valet aut valere debet inter Christianos Principes ad hanc Praecedentiae quaestionem Alioqui plurimi Reges Principes assumerent sibi Praecedentiam in multos alios Principes quibus jam liberè libenter concedunt Amplius de haec praesenti controversia de Praecedentiae dignitate hoc ipso tempore aliud est quod se non indignè offert judici is vestris examinandum nempe quodunus è nobis quem serenissima Regina Domina nostra ad hunc tractatum pacis concludendum elegit Legatus ejus est qui quotidie residet apud Christianissimum quam dignitatem unà cum omnibus Praerogativis quae eam comitantur retinet quoad in Regno Galliae commoratur Primus vero è vobis licet sit Legatus Catholici Regis apud serenissimum Archiducem cùm jam sit extra territorium Archiducis qualitatem eam dignitatemque exui censemus quoque nostrum in quo multiplicata ista dignitas elucet dominatur Iure praeferendum unicuique qui singulari nudo titulo deputati scilicet ad tractatum pacis inductus prodit Vobis igitur si placeat quaestio ista alto silentio praetermittatur haecque praerogativa de qua agitur maneat habitetque in serenissima Regina Domina nostra ad quam Iure spectat pertinetque Ita alacrioribus animis ad conventum colloquiumque cujus causà huc accessimus feremur Ista omnia pro prudentia moderatione vestrarum illustrium magnificarum dominationum petimus amicè candidè accipi ut quae profecta sunt ab observantiis religione officii nostri non à studio tempus consumendi aut contentionis excitandae Datum Boloniae 26 Maii stylo veteri 1600. Renderd thus in English Illustrious and Magnificent Lords We have read through the Writing which your illustrious and magnificent Persons sent us yesterday and touching those heads which appertain to the power of your substitutition and the vigor of the Seal we have resolvd not to prosecut further confiding in the sincerity of the most serene the Lord Archduke and acquiescing in the integrity of your illustrious and magnificent Persons which doth promise us a good faith in the business we are to agitat with the greatest candor and humanity that may be And touching the Clause we demonstrated before we desire it may be inserted as soon and as conveniently it may be as your illustrious and magnificent Persons have promised And wheras your illustrious and magnificent Persons assert that it is unusuall and new what we proposd concerning the Prerogative and dignity of Precedence due always to the most serene Queen our Mistress we cannot dissemble but we much wonder that that shold seem new and unusal to men of your condition learning and judgment which is so well known and most celebrous to all the world For it is a most explored truth That the Region of Spain distributed to divers Kingdoms when it was devolvd to the hands of King Ferdinand and Isabella wherunto the Kingdome of Granada was adjoyned and the West-Indies a Contention did arise more speciously then solidly and rightly grounded touching the dignity of Precedence with the King of England at that time when Alexander the sixth who was a Spaniard born held the Papacy which continued to the time of Iulius the second and Volaterranus a special good Author and an Italian Historiographer being not engagd to England for any privat benefit and one that was well capable to know how matters passd and were transacted doth relate that betwixt the Ambassadors of Henry the seventh King of England and the Ambassador of Spain a contention did arise about Precedence of session in the Church and Iulius adjudgd the most honourable place to the English which Right and Prerogative the Kings of England possessd until the time of the Emperour Charles the fifth who in regard of Caesarean Majesty had the supreme place among all Princes But he could not transmit that privilege to his posterity to the prejudice of other Princes Therfore after his decease that question of Precedence returnd to those terms whence it had formerly digressd Since therfore the Kings of England always held priority of place and session of those several Kings before their Kingdomes were reducd to one a question being movd therabouts they have retaind their Right by the Popes sentence and never yeilded it upon occasion Therfore without controversie