more Masculine Spirit than to acquiesce in the forementioned dishonorable Conditions and because it was a Crown that the Duke of York chiefly affected She caused his Head to be cut off set upon a Pole and Crowned with Paper but the death and disgrace of the Father Edward Earl of March his Eldest Son doth speedily revenge to the utter ruine of the Lancastrian party Nor will this Edward as did his Father await anothers leasure and prove expectant of a Crown in reversion but immediately assumes it by the actual deposing of King Henry whom he takes Prisoner and commits to safe custody in the Tower of London But there was an accident which had well-nigh nipped the white Rose in the bud and restored the red Rose to its pristine vigour Edward the fourth late Earl of March now King of England sends his great General the Earl of Warwick to treat a Match between him and the Lady Bona Sister to the Queen of France But our youthful King in the mean time consulting only his own affections takes to Wife the fair Lady Gray Widdow of Sir Iohn Gray of Groby which so inceses warwick that he Rebels against his Master beats him not only out of the Field but also out of the Kingdom delivers King Henry from his Prison and reseats him in his Throne but all this is but as Lightning before Death Edward returns from beyond Seas fights with defeats and kills the Earl of warwick routs also Queen Margaret newly landed and the relicts of her Lancastrian Associates takes her and her Son Edward Prisoners which last is stabbed by Richard Duke of Glocester King Edwards Brother and not long it is but the Father Henry is dispatched by the same hand in the Tower of London whither he was remanded by King Edward after this fortunate and victorious successe The cruelty of Richard Duke of Glocester whose nature was more crooked than his body did not terminate in the blood of the Enemies but begins to practise on his Friends and nearest Relations For perceiving that King Edward by reason of his incontinency whereunto no English Prince was ever more subject was not long liv'd he secretly plots the attaining of the Crown for himself And for the more expedite compassing this ambitious design he first incenses King Edward against their common Brother George Duke of Clarence not only exaggerating the hainousaesse of his former disobedience which had been pardoned but insinuating a blind Prophecy that one whose name began with the letter G. should prove fatal to Edwards posterity Hereupon the Duke of Clarence is committed to the Tower and there by Richard drowned in a Butt of Malmsey however it was given out that he dyed of a discontented passion But the Ominous G. which the King so much dreaded was found in the sequele to appertain to Glocester himself who was the Contriver of this mischief and Butcher of Edwards innocent Sons of whom after the Kings decease he was made Protector The young Prince Edward the fifth was at Ludlow when his Father Edward the fourth dyed from whence his Mother was over desirous to have him forthwith conveyed to London But his Unkle the Duke of Glocester meets him by the way at Stony-Stratford and having secured all his faithful Attendants and Kindred by the Mothers side takes into custody the person of the young King which was the game that this mighty hunter did mainly intend Yet was there one obstacle to his aspiring ends still behind to wit Richard Duke of York the Kings Brother in Sanctuary with his Mother at Westminster whom to allure thence for to do it by Violence was accounted Religion in those days he imploys the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to perswade the Mother and in case she proves obstinate to interpose his Authority to part with her Son under colour that he might be a companion and great lenitive of the Melancholy disposition of his disconsolate Brother Glocester having thus compassed the Wardship of both his Nephews makes shew as if he would proceed to the Coronation of the Elder but whilst the Lords of the Councel are debaring of the time and manner of it he arrests and on a sudden makes shorter by the Head the Lord Chamberla in Hastings whom though he had used as a forward Coadjuter in depressing of the Queens Relations yet knew him to be altogether averse from yielding any Countenance to the disinheriting of his Masters King Edwards Children Hastings thus removed the Duke of Buckingham who had received several disgusts from his Brother-in-law Edward the fourth is pitched upon as the fittest agent to carry on this Devilish attempt who having prepared the Mayor and Citizens of London comes in their name pretending Bastardy and insufficiency of Edwards race to make a tender of the Crown to Protector Richard and in case of refusal with threats to elect some other worthy and deserving Person Richard in seeming amazednesse makes strange at first of this by himself-devised proposal but after some importunity grants his forfooth unwilling consent not without a dissembled regret of his Nephews condition whose murder in the Tower doth immediately ensue Buckingham supposed not privy to the making away of the harmlesse Princes upon this and other distasts retires from Court to his Castle of Brecknock where with his prisoner Morton Bishop of Ely he contrives the Match between Henry Earl of Richmond and Elizabeth Daughter of Edward the fourth which proves Richards downfall and the union of the Yorkish and Lancastrian line Henry Earl of Rickmond was the Son of Margaret Daughter of Iohn Duke of Somerset Son of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster by Katherine Swineford relict of Sir Ores Swineford and though this Iohn and other Children were born before espousals yet was the issue made legitimate by Act of Parliament and confirmed by a Bull from Rome Of this Henry there goes a tradition for current that in the heat of the Civil Wars between the House of York and Lancaster Henry the sixth having espied him in the presence laid his hand upon his head and in a Prophetick manner said Behold this youth who is to enjoy that for which we now contend Which his Mother observing and treasuring up in her heart sent him into Britany in France as into a safe Harbour to be there educated and preserved till the sury of the tempest were over which then did so terribly rage throughout the Land Richard the third earnestly Solicites the Duke of Britany to deliver up Richmonds person to him which was well-nigh effected by the treachery of Peter Landoys the Dakes especial Favourite But Richmond having timely notice of this Clandestine negotiation flyes to the French Kings Court for at that time the Dukedom of 〈◊〉 was a distinct Principality from whence having sworn to consummate the projected marriage with the Lady Elizabeth he hastens to redeem poor England from the jaws of an usurping Tyrant Richmond Lands at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire where he was heartily
Monarchiae Britannicae singularis Protectio OR A BRIEF Historicall Essay Tending to prove GOD's especial PROVIDENCE Over the BRITTISH MONARCHY AND More particularly over the Family that now enjoys the same By HAMLETT PVLESTON A. M. and Fellow of Jesus Colledge Oxon. LONDON Printed by R. D. for the Author 1661. Reader AMong the manifold Discouragements which have so long prorogued and had well nigh altogether stopped the Publication of this Treatise one is the multitude of Errata's too many for so small a Pamphlet it is accompanied withall most of which thou shalt find here amended and for the remainder as mis-placing or omitting of Comma's and some other few literal mistakes I leave them to thy Candid and favourable correction Pag. 2. line 30. for Normandy read Norway p. 6. l. 2. for Prince r. King p. 10. l. 27. dele and. p. 12. l. 23. dele too l. 24. for nad r. and. p. 13. l. 14. for my r. our p 22. l. 14. dele his p. 33. l 15. r. though not l. 19. dele Sister p. 35. l. 25. r. beginner p. 36. l. 11. for as yet r. as if p. 43. l. 23. for yet r. if p. 44. l. 21. dele been p. 46. l. 1. for by r. buy p. 48. l. 29. r. unto for Practisers r. Practises p. 51. l. 12. r. But Bruse urging l. 18. r. upon the Popes p. 53. l. 26. add Mary the Daughter and Heir of Iames the fifth p. 55. l. 10. for divert r. direct IT is observed by Edmond Howe 's a diligent Compiler of our Countries Annals That in this Island there hath happened five remarkable alterations and each of them alwayes about the period or revolution of five hundred years whereof in his Historical Preface he gives this insuing account 1. The first alteration sayes he was presently upon the death of Gorboduc seventeenth in descent from Brute Founder according to him of the British Monarchy This Gorboduc had caused his youngest Son Porrex to be joyntly crowned with his eldest Son Ferrex These two fall at difference among themselves the younger kills the elder him the Mother her the Multitude hence Civil Wars at length Malmutius Dunwallo Duke of Cornwall having subdued all Competitors translates the Kingdom to another line which continues without any memorable interruption untill 2. The second grand alteration in the Reign of Cassibeline forty fourth Successor of Malmutius begun by the invasion of Iulius Caesar General of the Romans in Gaule but not perfected before Claudius the Emperors time from which date the Aera or computation of the Romans absolute Dominion here is to commence whose departure recalled by their Domestick dissentions and Fore in inundations carrying with them also the ablest of the Britains was the occasion of 3. The third famous alteration for the Britains bereaved of their own proper strength and destitute of the accustomed aid of their Champions the Romans were necessitated to implore the asistance of the Saxons a people of Germany against the Picts and Scots who grie vously infested the Northern borders To these Saxons Vortigern the late elected King an Author of these Strangers imployment in contemplation of their service most improvidently allots first the Isle of Thannet then all Kent afterwards more to inhabit besides his marriage with Rowena the Daughter of Hengist one of their principal leaders gave them so firm a footing that they not only could not be removed but even forced their Landlords the Britains into the least most desart and most mountanous parts whilst these new intruding guests injoy the greatest the best and richest share which they portioned into an Heptarchy or seven petty Principalities who contending among themselves for superiority and wearying out one another with mutual discord administred opportunity unto 4. The fourth and indeed a twofold alteration but in regard of its immediate connexion is reckoned but as one first by the Danes a people likewise of Germany who after many conflicts obteined the Soveraignty but did not long retain the same But the second which took its original almost where the other determined and chiefest mutation both for its continnance and universality was that by the Normans a Nation primarily issued out of Normandy but then possessing the South of France who introdnced a general innovation in all things but Religion which also suffered its vicissitude or turn in 5. The fifth and last alteration under Henry the eighth who gave the first blow unto it by his with-drawing his obedience from the Romish Sea in whose communion England had persevered since its first conversion and by suppressing Monasteries who were the main Pillars and Supporters thereof But his Son Edward the sixth proceeds further to the abolition of the Rites and Doctrine of that Church which were yet again restored by his Sister Mary and again excluded by her Sister Elizabeth who was therein imitated by her Successour Iames conjoyner of the two separated Kingdoms England and Scotland which our Author makes a parcel of this last alteration and where he concludes his general History of the several revolutions of this Island from the first foundation of a Monarchy here untill the time wherein he wrote But since there hath happened another alteration no lesse if not in some respect more considerable than any of the former when not only the Person but the Office not only a King and that in an unparalleld manner but even Kingship it self was destroyed a design that was never so much as attempted by our Ancestors and instead thereof an unheard-of kind of Common-wealth erected which was soon suppressed by an insolent Usurper who thought under a different title to have established the whole power to him and his But by Gods providence and the perfidiousnesse of his own Relations his purpose was defeated his Son dethroned a shadow of a Common-wealth retrived once more dismissed again revived and finally dissolved the old Government renewed and lawfull Heir recalled and all this came to passe within the space of twelve years yea most of it within the circuit of one year whereof we can only say with the Psalmist This is the Lords doings it is marvelous in our eys And truly if we consider things impartially there is great cause of admiration that God should not only preserve among us for so many ages a Monarchy the best of Regiments in general and in particular most agreeble to the situation of this Country and constitution of the people but even continue it maugre all the Plots and policies of men to the contrary in that very blood and Family which as far as creditable Genealogy will extend hath been first known to have been invested there-withall For we may safely affirm that our present King Charles the second in whose posterity we trust it will remain as long as the Sun and Moon endures deduces his pedegree in an indisputable line from all that ever did or could pretend a title or interest to the Crown which we think can hardly be verified of
over-commer to take all But there proving equality in the fitght there was likewise made equality in the command between them yet did not Edmona long enjoy his share being circumvented by the practice of Edric Earl of Stratton the Arch-Traytor of those times whose falshood had ruined the Father and now his ambirion destroys the Son for which Cnute invents a suitable reward causing his head to be set upon the highest place of the Tower of London therein performing his promise of advancing him above any Lord of the Land which was the mark that this faithlesse wretch aimed at and now attained but in a far different sence from that which he had vainly proposed to himself Cnute being thus rid of a Rival denied copartnership to the Sons of Edmond as pretending the whole to appertain to the Survivor and for fear they might prove thorns in his side he sent them far enough out of the way into Swedeland say some there to be murthered but they were mercifully preserved and conveyed to the Court of Hungary where Edmond dyed without issue but Edward had by Agatha Daughter to Henry the fourth Emperour of Germany a Son named Edgar and a Daughter called Margaret who was the cause as hereafter shall be shewed that the Saxon stem which now seemed withered doth once more reflourish though inocculated we confesse upon another stock Notwithstanding this transportation of Edmonds Sons yet did not Cnute hold himself sufficiently assured of his new accquired Kingdom till he had married Emma widdow of Ethelred whereby he gained the love of the English but the promise he made in marriage that the Children begotten on her should succeed was for some time frustrated by the preoccupation of Harold sirr named Harefoot the eldest son of Cnute by a Concubine but his reign was brief as likewise was that of his Brother Hardi Canute the lawfull Son of Cnute and Emma with whom expired the Danish Dominion here which had been but of a short duration though their incursions and molestations had continued for a longer space Edward styled the Confessor to distinguish him from Edward the Elder and Edward the Saint was next King being the Son of Emma also but by her first Husband Ethelred the Unready and did in some sort restore the Saxon blood For in truth there was a nearer relation to the Crown extant though not so near at hand for the present to wit Edward surnamed by reason of his Forein education the Outlaw the Son of Edmond Ironside the eldest Son by his first Wife of the above mentioned Ethelred the Unready who ought by the Law of Nature and Nations to have preceded Yet did the Confessor wanting Issue himself do his Nephew the Outlaw so much right as to recall him with his Children out of their Banishment in Hungary and designed him his Successor but the Outlaws death before the Confessors prevented that determination Neverthelesse the Confessor without delay pronounced Edgar the Outlaws Son and his own Grand Nephew Heir apparent and gave him the surname of Etheling which in those dayes were only peculiar to such as were inhopes and possibility of a Kingdome And more than so this poor Etheling never was For first he was debarred by his own Guardian Harold the Son of Goodwin Earl of Kent who disdaining the title of Regent which he was only constituted assumed that of King Afterwards by William Duke of Normandy who though he pulled down Harold yet did he not set up Edgar laying claim himself to the Crown by virtue of a pretended Donation from his Cosen Edward the Confessor which had been too weak a plea had it not been justified by a long sword which hath ever since given him the appellation of William the Conquerour Robert the eldest Son of the Conquerour should by right of primogeniture have succeeded his Father in all his Dominions but having proved a Rebel at the French Kings instigation he had only the Dukedom of Normandy assigned to him and the Crown of England was bequeathed to his Brother William surnamed Rufus who dying without any legitimate off-spring and Robert being absent in the Holy-land Henry the youngest Son of the Conquerour as Duke of Normandy but eldest as King of England seized upon it and to ingratiate himself with the Natives and to corroborate his Title he Married Maud Daughter of Margaret by Malcolme King of Scots Sister to Edgar Etheling Son of Edward the Outlaw Son of Edmond Ironside Son of Ethelred the Unready Son of Edgar the peaceable Son of Edmond Son of Edward Senior Son of Alfred and by which means the Royal seed of the Saxons became to be replanted in the English Soil For this Henry the first had not to mention his Son William who perished by water whilst he was young by the foresaid Maud a Daughter of the same name whom he first espoused to Henry the fifth Emperour of Germany afterwards to Ieffrey Plantagenet Earl of Aniou by whom she had a Son called Henry in whom did fully concur the Norman and Saxon Race But the true hereditary succession was some what intercepted by Stephen Earl of Bologne Son of Adela the Conquerours Daughter from whom he could derive but a slender title For had the Conquerours line Masculine failed then ought Theobald Earl of Bloys Stephens Eldest Brother by the same Adela to have been prelated And therefore his surest Tenure proceeded from his Election by the Nobility who notwithstanding their natural Allegiance and twice repeated Oath and among them Stephen himself is reckoned to be one that had sworn Fealty to Maud and her Heirs in the Reign of her Father Henry admitted this stranger and that for no other reason though other were alleged as that Maud was a woman and consequently uncapable of anointing that she was married out of the Realm without the consent thereof which if of any moment should before their solemn engagement have been taken into consideration than that he being a Creature of their own erecting was more obliged to them and would upon all occasions be more ready to gratifie their aspiring humour Yet wanted not the Empresse and her Son adherents both within and without the Kingdom to assert their right who raised such a cloud of trouble to Stephen that he could not dispel it during his whole reign so that at length he came to a composition and his own Son Eustace whom he had designed his Successour being already dead he adopts Henry fitz-Empresse and proclaims him heir apparent with this Proviso That he himself should enjoy the Crown as long as he lived which was not a full year after this peaceable agreement Henry the second of that name is now possessed of the Throne in processe of time adding the Lordship of Ireland to it and that upon a treble account First by vertue of the late Treaty with King Stephen Secondly by title of conquest as being great Grand-Child to William the Norman but Thirdly and chiefly by the equity of
his Mothers claim who was the true descendent of the long-rejected but now restored Saxon linage He took to wise Elenor the repudiate of Lewis the seventh King of France by whom he had large Dominions in that Kingdom but notwithstanding it augmented his estate yet was it the occasion of much trouble and vexation to him For the French King jealous of his growing fortunes and his own Queen of his fidelity to his marriage-bed incited his Sons Herry Richard Jeffrey and John to frequent rebellions to whom neverthelesse upon their submissions he was entirely reconciled Henry Sans issue departed this life before his Father Richard succeeded in the Throne but dyed childlesse also Jeffrey though extinct himself before it came to his turn had yet left a Son in being Arthur Duke of Britany who ought to have been considered of but him John prevented more too by power favour of the Nobles than by any colour of Justice â—ad whilst the young Prince endeavours the recovery of his right he is taken prisoner as he besieged the Castle of Mirabell in France conveyed to the Tower of Roan and there killed if not by the hands yet at least by the command of his inhumane Uncle However the course taken to be thus rid of a Competitor was utterly unlawfull yet being gon Iohn becomes the lawful proprietor of the Crown but pays dear for the manner of this his amisse procured purchase For the Pope excommunicates him his Subjects for sake him the French King invades him and bereavs him not only of his large Territories in France but also of the greatest part of his Kingdome of England and he dyes miserably not without suspicion of Poyson a just judgment upon him for his enormous Acts especialy the murder of his innocent Nephew Now though God shewed himself a severe inquisitor for blood yet did he seem appeased with the punishment of the person that was guilty of it For he so disposed the hearts of the English Nation that they generally withdrew themselves from the French party and notwithstanding the iniquity of the Father most willingly embrace the Son then a minor as naturally inclined says my Author to love and obey their Princes Such this Prince Henry the third found his Subjects at his first admission whilst he was governed by a wise and faithfull Councel but afterwards suffering himself to be ruled by strangers that more intended their own than the publick good he so alienated the English affections as they were earnest at first to promote his interest To the former he adds new grievances to wit reiterated breach of Charters granted by his Predecessors and himself whence such discontents are engendred that at length there is begotten between the King and his people an actual commonly known by the name of the Barons war Hereof Simon de Monfort Earl of Leicester on the Barons side was head who in a set Battail takes King Henry and his Son Edward prisoners but Edward escapes collects an Army defeats and kills Leicester and redeems his Father the beginning of whose reign was overcast with a French mist the middle was very tempestous by reason of the Barons commotions but the Catastrophe or latter part was serence and concluded in a perfect Calm Edward the first of that name since the Norman conquest having proved the deliverer of his Father from captivity makes an expedition into the Holy-land to perform the like office to the Christians there that were grievously afflicted under the Turkish servitude but the news of his Fathers death quickly recalls him from further prosecution of that honourable enterprize wherein he had no lesse honourably demeaned himself And as he had encreased his own and Countries reputation abroad so doth he likewise enlarge their power and jurisdiction at home by subduing most of Scotland and totally reducing of Wales of which last because it was then first annexed to this Crown it will not be impertinent to afford the Reader a brief and summary relation Wales the small remnant of this Island that was left to the Britains the antient possessors of the whole had hitherto though not without much difficulty and struggling continned under their own proper Princes But the fatal period of their liberty which they had so long so stoutly maintained against so potent a Kingdome as this is now arrived Llewellin the then Prince of that Cnutry being summoned to our Kings Coronation refused to appear saying He too well remembers the end of his Father Gryffin who came in safety to London but never returned thence This neglect Edward makes the ground of a quarrel enters into hostility against Llewellin forces him to a submission whereof he soon repents flyes out again is overcome and slain in fight his head cut off and that Merlins Prophecy might be fulfilled or eluded which as he interpreted had promised him the Diadem of Brute it is Crowned with Ivy and set upon the Tower of London After the death of Llewellin and his brother David whose head was shortly sent to accompany the others in the same place Edward contrives the perpetual union of these two too long divided Nations And though he found the Welsh Nobles very cautious how they brought their necks under a Forein yoke yet doth he accomplish his ends by this neat and Artificial devise He conveys secretly into the Castle of Carnarvon his Queen great with Child whom when he understood to be delivered of a boy he Assembles the Welsh Nobles and proposeth to them whether they would accept of a Prince of his Nomination that was born in their own Country could speak nere a word of English and against whom for Life or Conversation no objection could be made Whereunto when they had assented he produces his own little Son Edward to whom the aforesaid qualifications did exactly agree Hence the custom took its original of investing our Kings eldest Sons in the Principality of Wales but because there may here seem to have been a mixture of force and fraud we shall indeavour when order brings us to it to find out a more unexceptionable Title whereby our Kings lay claim to that Dominion Edward the second called Edward of Carnarvon for the cause but even now rehearsed much degenerated from his Fathers Noblenesse and lost not only Scotland which his Father had well-nigh gained but ever England it self being deposed by his own Wife Isabel having only this comfort left him that his Son Edward was to succeed in the Throne Edward the third of that name Son of the late deposed and shortly after murdered King was when he came to years of Discretion Gods Instrument to revenge his Fathers death even upon his own Mother the Queen and her Minion Mortymer who was the Author and Procurer of the same But the chiefeft passage of this Princes Reign and that of nearest Alliance to our Subject in hand which is to declare the Titles our Kings have to the Kingdoms they possesse or challenge was his
had took upon him the Crosse and according to the Custom of those days warred in the Holyland Thus appears the invalidity of Henryes claim whether from the Father as unsound or the Mother as suspitious and deceitful or from King Richard receding as extorted by force in restraint and so of no force or of consent of the many there being no Custom in the English Nation for popular elections or by Conquest which in a Subject against his Soveraign is Insurrection and Victory high Treason as was well observed by the Bishop of Carlile in his speech in that very Parliament where this business was agitated and transacted Nay further there is a tradition that Iohn of Gaunt Father of this Henry was not at all the Son of King Edward but that the Queen being deliver'd of a female child knowing how unacceptable it would be to her Husband exchanged it for a boy with a Dutch woman who had been brought to bed about the same hour This the Queen at her death confessed to William of Wickman Bishop of Winchester who acquainted none with it but Iohn of Gaunt himself and that when he perceived Iohn to affect the Crown in which case the Mother had left the Bishop free But this being but a report and grounded on uncertainties would have been no bar to Henry's title had it been clear in all other respects Henry as he had injuriously obtained a Kingdom so doth he laboriously preserve the same for the manifold conspiracies against him testifie that quiet is not a Concomitant of usurped greatnesse and was in a manner bereaved of his Crown before he was of his life For he being seized upon by a deep fit of the Apoplexy his Son Henry seized upon the Crown whereof when the Father reviving demanded the reason his answer was That in his and all mens judgement there present he was dead and then says he I being next Heir apparent to the same took it as my indubitat right Well said the King and sighed Son what right I had to it God knoweth but saith the Prince If you dye King I doubt not to hold it as you have done against all opposers Which expression this incomparable King Henry the fifth did make good even to supererogation for abandoning his youthfull extravagancies whereof he is severely taxed he embraces more solid courses and to vent any discontented humours at home which by standing still might corrupt and gather putrefaction he meditates a war with France and awakens the English title to it which had lyen dormant ever since his great Grand-Fathers days But whilst he is in preparation for this great affair he either makes or discovers a plot against his life by Richard Earl of Cambridge who had married Anne Sister and Heir of Edmond Mortimer Earl of March before remembred who was the true heir of the Crown and was the true cause of Earl Richards execution for it cannot be imagined that money alone would induce so noble a person to so foul an undertaking And the event shews that there was somwhat more than Bribery in this attempt when we shall find the Son of this late executed Earl dispossessing his Son who was the Author of his Fathers Tragedy Henry having thus eased himself of a great Pretender proceeds to his intended design on France where he so prosperously speeds that he is constituted Regent declared Heir apparent of the doting French King whose Daughter Katherine he marries by her hath a Son named Henry of whom the King is said to have thus prophesyed I Henry born at Monmouth shall small time reign and much get and Henry born at Windsor shall long reign and lose all And so indeed it came to passe through the secret operation of all-disposing Providence which is seldome propitious to the owners how good in themselves soever they be of ill gained inheritances beyond the third succession And hereof our present Henry the sixth is a great example who was the meekest and most religious of all our Kings that had been before and yet for no other transgression that we know of than the original Sin of his Grand-Father Henry the fourth medling with the forbidden fruit of a Crown his ere it was ripe for him is he chased out of the terrestial Paradise of all his Kingdoms and sent to be a partaker of a Celestial one somwhat more early than the due course of nature had designed him for it For that covert fire which had a long time burned in the breasts of many to see the Lancastrian race enioy anothers right doth now break forth into open combustion of which Richard Duke of York is the prime incendiary the Son of Richard Earl of Cambridge who was beheaded in King Henry the fifths reign for supposed Treason the Son of Edmond Duke of York the fifth Son of King Edward the third But Duke Richard waves all pretensions by the Fathers side as not being ignorant that Iohn of Gaunt from whom our present Henry is directly descended was elder brother to his Grandsire Edmond and therefore in Parliament only produceth his title by the Mother as being the Son and Heir of Anne Sister and Heir of Edmond Son and Heir of Roger Mortymer Earl of March Son and Heir of Philippa the sole Daughter and Heir of Lionel Duke of Clarence the third Son of Edward the third and elder Brother of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Father of the Usurper Henry the fourth Grand-Father of Henry the fifth who was Father to him who now says Richard untruly stileth himself King Henry the fixth Besides his holding forth his claim to the Crown in this demonstrative and undeniable manner which yet the judicious could only penetrate the Duke addeth many Rhetorical aggravations which were more suitable and intelligible to vulgar ears As that the King was simple and of weak capacity that he was Governed by the Queen a stranger and Woman of an unsufferable ambition that the Privy Counsellors were naught and corrupt through whose faithlessenesse and inabilities France was lost and England disquieted and that greater judgements were to be expected if the true Heir were any longer debarred from his lawful right The Duke by these plausible arguments had so engaged the multitude unto him that he is able to dispute his Title in the Field with the King whom he takes Prisoner and calling in his name a Parliament it is there concluded that King Henry during his life should retain the name and Honour of a King that the Duke of York should be Proclaimed Heir apparent to the Crown and Protector of the Kings Person and Dominions that if at any time King Henries Friends Allies or Favorites in his behalf should attempt the disannulling of this Act that then the Duke should have present possession of the Crowu But this was more than what his destiny had allotted for him for he was shortly after slain at the Battail of War field by Queen Margaret who was of a
welcomed and readily assisted by the Welsh from whose Princes he was descened as being the Son of Edmond of Haddam the Son of Owen Ap Teudor who could in a direct line derive his pedigree from the Noble Race of Cadwallader last King of the Britains on this side Severne as hath been before touched though a modern Writer more for the jest sake than out of reality sayes he was a Gentleman of no extraordinary lineage but lineaments which he makes to be the motive that induced Katherine of France Dowager of England after the death of Henry the fifth to take him for her second Husband Richmond having much increased his Army among his Country-men marches forward as far as Bosworth in Leicestershire where King Richard meets him and there the great controversy is finally decided in Battail Richard is slain and Richmond by a kind of military election saluted and in a manner Crowned King in the Field Henry the seventh for so must we now call him that was but lately Earl of Richmond sensible that the tumultuary approbation of Souldiers did of it self give him neither just or durable possession knowing likewise the weaknesse of the Lancastrian plea in opposition to that of York maries according to his solemn preingagement Elizabeth eldest Daughter of Edward the fourth which brought security to his estate and happinesse to the Kingdom the two Roses whose divisions had put the English to much expence of blood being thereby concorporated and for ever after linked in a most firm and indissolvable knot But as in a body that hath been troubled with a Cronique Disease though recovered yet are there still some peccant humours to be purged out so notwithstanding this Union and Recorciliation there remains dregs of discontents whereof the Queen Mother was the supposed Parent and Margaret Dutchess of Burgundy the known Nurse the first because she thought her Daughter not sufficiently respected for King Henry is not accused to have been over uxorious or indulgent to his wife the other being Sister of Edward the fourth bore an endlesse hatred to any of the Lancastrian Race The first Spirit they raised to disturb King Henryes quiet was one Lambert Symnell a stripling but so instructed by Simon a Priest who had higher directors that he could well personate the young Earl of Warwick Son of George Duke of Clarence whom the credulous Irish greedily entertain and acknowledge for their King And when Henry to detect the forgery had publickly shown in London the very Earl of Warwick whom he kept his Prisoner they retort the fiction upon himself and give out he had suborned a counterfeit on purpose to delude the simple multitude But this Pageantry quickly vanished the Conspirators are dispersed and Lambert taken who had the honour to be first made a Turn-spit in the Kings Kitchen but was afterwards preferred to be one of the Kings Falconers This was but the Prologue as it were to a more deep contrived Comi-Tragaedy that was to follow whereof the restlessâ— Dutchesse of Burgundy was the Inventer and one Perkin Wâ—rbeke the principal Actor But the Name and Scene is somewhat altered His Cue assigned him is to play the part of Richard Duke of York second Son of Edward the fourth who is feigned to have miraculously escaped the hands of his bloody Unckle Perkin was so good a proficient and had learned and could repeat his lesson so exactly that not the silly Iriâ—h alone but the French and Scotish Kings with many of the Nobility and Gentry of England were or would be deceived Nay Sir William Stanly himself Lord Chamberlain the Kings especial favorite is so far trâ—panned as to utter this improvident Speech which was construed high Treason that if he certainly knew that the young man was the undoubted Son and Heir of King Edward the fourth he would never fight or bear Arms against him for which he became headlesse though he had been the chief help and setter of the Crown upon King Henryes head Perkin at length is taken and committed to the Tower where soliciting the Earl of Warwick to make an escape he hastens both his own merited and that poor Earls undeserved execution Henry having thus composed his affairs at home seeks honourable matches for his children abâ—oad and marries his eldest Daughter Margaret to the Scotish King providently foreseeing that in case his issue Male failed this conjunction might be a means to associate the separated Kingdoms as his own had the Roses and so remedy the inconveniences of two distinct estates in one single Island Arthur his eldest Son Prince of Wales was espoused to Katherine Infanta of Spain but he dying before consummation we mean as to conjugal duty his brother Henry by dispensation from the Pope takes her to wife who on the wedding day was aâ—tired all in white in token that she was a pure and spotlesse Virgin It is conceived that the young Prince who henceforward is to be styled Henry the eighth had never any great fancy to the Lady as somwhat his Superiour in years but did raâ—â—â—r comply with his Fathers will than his own iâ—clinations However for a long time he lived with her in an outward loving seeming respectful manner But at length satiated with her company whom from the beginning he had not truly affected he meditates a divorce and hopes by money and Cardinal Woolseys interest in the Court of Rome with speed to effect the same Woolsey who by his obsequiousnesse to the Kings pleasure in all things had from a mean condition mounted to the highest degree of favour and power that a Subject is capable of is reported to be the first that injected the scruple into the Kings head touching the unlawfullnesse of his marriage with his Brothers Wife which once in could not in haste be put out again But in the prosecution the King and Woolsey had different ends Woolsey to revenge himself of Charles the fifth Emperour of Germany and Nephew to Katherine who had been a back-Friend to Woolsey in his attempted advancement to the Popedom and by proposing a match to the King out of France he thought to ingratiate with that Crown which might be more auspitious in promoting his towring designs But the King had another though not so deep a reach which more concerned his own private satisfaction than policy or reason of State For he desired to be unyoked from his old Queen that he might make a new one of one of her maids of honour Anne of Bolen with whom he was desperately in love which the Cardinal smelling out proves cold in the businesse delays to exercise his legantine power instigates the Pope to recall the cause to himself and proceeds slowly therein all which is performed accordingly but it concludes with the ruine of Woolsey's and the Popes Authority For impatient of these procrastinations Henry discards the one and renounces the other rejects Katherine marries Anne grows weary of her of incest with her own Brother cuts off
Kings person was not only for countenance of his Independent proceedings against the opposite Presbyterian faction but after their depression the better to be enabled to destroy the King himself for his own advancement For having once entrapped this Royal Lyon he doth dayly more and more entangle him within his toyles and never thinks him fast enough till he had got him in his pit-fall of the Isle of Wight whether he had allured the good King who thought others as free from guile as he knew himself to be by setting before him the danger he was in while he remained at Hampton Court how he lay open and exposed to the wicked machinations of the Agitators of the Army who intended to Act that which he poor Soul did even tremble to utter But what the King hopes to find a temporary Sanctuary proves to him a constant prison from whence he is not to be delivered but in order to his Tryal and Execution the Barbarity of which fact as we cannot so neither need we aggravate the whole world both then and still detesting the Authors and Actors of that abominable Tragedy Charles the first being thus execrably murthered his eldest Son Charles the second ought to have succeeded but the wicked Regicides not only disavowed his Title but proceeded to abolish even Monarchical Government it self introducing in its place a Free-State or Commonwealth empty notions to delude the Vulgar and leaving no course unessayed to debar the Right Heir whom God Nature and the Law of the Land had designed to yea and the Peoples wishes notwithstanding the fore-mentioned popular pretences had already seated in his Fathers Throne And as they are careful to secure themselves at home so are they no less active to defeat His Majesties preparations abroad Cromwel is sent into Ireland who but too soon brings under that almost happily recovered Kingdom From thence he is recalled to invade Scotland where an Agreement such an one as it was had been made with His Majesty Thither Cromwel comes ere it was sufficiently provided to entertain so trouble some and unexpected a Guest This with some intestine feuds among the Scots themselves yielded Cromwel a cheap Victory at Dunbar and was the cause of the over-hasty rendition of the impregnable Castle of Edenburgh not without suspition of Treachery in the Governor thereby facilitating Cromwels passage into Fife which necessitated His Majesty before His Affairs were fully setled there to a disadvantageous March into England where coming as far as Worcester he was so surrounded that a Battel was imposed upon him upon most unequall terms there being no proportion between the multitude of the Rebels and paucity of the Royall Army Notwithstanding the loss of the Day numerousness of the Pursuers eagerness in the pursuit large promised Reward to the Taker or Discoverer great threatned punishment to the Harbourer or Concealer His Majesty most miraculously escapes which opened a Door of Hope to his Friends that he was not in vain thus wonderfully preserved but that there was some greater future Good intended to Him and these Nations than the present face of things did seem to promise or portend For though His Majesty's Person by His safe getting beyond Sea was somewhat more secure yet was there but small visible appearance of strength either forreign or domestick whereby He might be suddenly enabled to re-gain His lost Kingdoms nay those very slender presumptions which remained of better times did dayly more and more lessen and decrease till Divine Providence which is never wanting to afflicted innocency in its greatest extremity but alwaies maketh choice of such seasons to manifest its power and goodness in was pleased to interpose when all other means had failed and were vanished into nothing and bring that to pass by an unthought of Instrument which humane considerations had rendred improbable if not impossible to be effected It would be superfluous to dwell long upon particulars which are so fresh in all mens memories and the only Theme of all Tongues and Pens how cold a Reception after this great Deliverance His Majesty met withal in the Court of France how unworthily he was dismissed thence how not invited into the Spanish Territories till the breach with Cromwel was unavoidable and there rather afforded succour to them than procured any from them how His Well-wishers were totally subdued in Scotland and constantly upon every rising betrayed and suppressed in England All which misfortunes with many others being laid together to believe that His Majesty should so soon and so easily obtain the quiet possession of His Dominions required a greater portion of Faith than the World at that time for the Majority was stocked withall But among all the Wounds given to the Royal Cause none pierced deeper than that it received in Cheshire which though it might seeme but as a slight scar in regard of the small quantity of blood that was then drawn yet by reason of that far greater effusion that was feared would ensue it was concluded little lesse than mortall for it is not to be doubted that yet those mercilesse Empiricks who had once more undertaken the Cure of the Body Politick had continued in any longer practice they would have so exhausted the vitall spirits we meane the Nobility and Gentry of the Land who were for the most part engaged in the designe though not in the particular Action that it should have pined away in a most desperate Consumption and never have been able to have held up either head or hand again Matters being thus in a manner grown helpless and most men heartless it is high time for God himselfe to appear in the Bush which he doth but not in such a fire as he appeared in unto Moses in the Wilderness which consumed not the Bush but in such a fire as in Iothams Parable went out of the Bramble and devoured the Cedars of Lebanon that is God sent a spirit of division between Lambert and the rump-Parliament for by that contembtible appellation was it commonly called so that they are now no less earnest to destroy than they were lately zealous to build up each others fallen and decayed Interest For Cromwel had long ago cashiered that infamous Conventicle and though Lambert for a long while after remained an especiall Creature and favorite yet perceiving that that office of Protectorship which he out of hopes to have been old Nol's second had in its primitive institution been contrived elective was converted to hereditary he became discontented thereat and was discharged of all Civil and Military Imployment But Oliver being laid in the dust his son Richard like a Puppet set up in his room Lambert ful of indignation and ambition awaited but his first opportunity to pul downe this painted and Counterfeit Idol which opportunity soon offered it self in a Parliament of Richards calling where the Elections having been somewhat freer than formerly much more of the old English courage was to be discovered than in