my Glory in the Dust And compass'd me with cruel Wars and Woes They poyson'd my sweet beauteous tainted Rose By the Contrivance of my furious Queen My Children their own Father did oppose Such Fruit hath Lust such Malice jealous Spleen Crosses and Troubles made me curse my Birth In them I liv'd reign'd and was turn'd to Earth PRince Henry was in Normandy besieging a Castle injuriously seised by the French King when the News of the Death of King Stephen arrived whereupon his Friends and Followers earnestly persuaded him to raise the Siege and expedite his Voyage into England to prevent any Usurpation which might be designed To which Henry discreetly and courageously replied The Kingdom of England shall henceforth be at my command in despite of all that dare oppose me and so I will make these intruding Frenchmen understand before I go from hence This Resolution gained him Honour among his Friends and Terrour to his Enemies who understanding his Determination and fearing the worst quietly surrendred the Castle and submitted to Mercy which he graciously granted and then setling his Affairs there attended with many Lords and Gentlemen of Quality he arrived in England where he was soon after Crowned King and then employed himself in setling the Kingdom by making good Laws banishing Strangers who in Multitudes resorted hither and by their sparing Diet and extraordinary Industry enriched themselves and beggar'd the Natives He likewise exiled many of the Nobility who contrary to their Oaths adhered strongly to King Stephen judging them faithless and unuseful to him He caused all the Forts and Castles built by the order or permission of his Predecessor to be demolished as giving occasion of Insurrections upon the least Discontent He resumed into his Hands all Lands belonging to the Crown as also the Counties of Cumberland Northumberland and Huntington which had been given to David King of Scots by Stephen to hinder them from disturbing him in his Usurpation He chose himself a Council out of the gravest and wisest Nobility and restrained the Insolencies of some Grandees which raised Discontents among them and Hugh Lord Mortimer raised Forces at Bridgenorth in Wales against whom the King went in Person where he had been shot with an Arrow had not Hubert de Clare interposed and received it into his own Body In his thirteenth year he married Jeffry his younger Son to Constance the Daughter and Heir Apparent of the Duke of Britain his Son Richard to Adela Daughter of Lewis King of France and his Daughter Maud to Henry Duke of Saxony about which time his Mother Maud the Empress died Having quieted the Rebels at home he went into Normandy where he did Homage to Lewis for his French Provinces Normandy Anjou Aquitain Main and Lorrain some of them his own by Inheritance and others by his Wife Queen Eleanor and then made an Agreement between himself and his Brother Jeffry In his nineteenth year he sailed into Ireland with a mighty Army and fought victoriously against five Kings who at that time reigned there and at last conquered them all and became sole Lord of that Country which he annexed to the Crown of England After his return both out of fondness and for securing the Succession he caused his eldest Son Henry and his Wife Margaret Daughter of the French King to be solemnly Crowned in his presence at two several times in the last of which he for that day degraded himself from being King by waiting as a Servant upon his Son while he sate at Table which young Henry did little regard boasting That his Father did not hereby dishonour himself since he was onely the Son of an Empress whereas himself was Son both of a King and Queen Which proud Speech the unfortunate Father hearing said privately to the Archbishop then present I repent I repent me of nothing more than untimely Advancements In his latter days many Quarrels hapned between him and Lewis of France in all which Henry Jeffry and John his own Sons Robert Earl of Leicester Hugh Earl of Chester most unnaturally joyned with the French against him and likewise William King of Scots notwithstanding which the Courage of King Henry prevailed against them all and upon submission he pardoned his Sons and all the rest Yet were they justly punished by Heaven Henry dying before his Father in the flower of his Age and John after King was poysoned by a Monk The History of this Kings Reign declares him to be Learned Wise Just and Valiant and though he were concerned in many great Affairs and Wars both in France Normandy Anjou Ireland and other Places and never received any extraordinary Tax or Subsidy from his Subjects yet he left to his Successor above Nine hundred thousand Pound in Money besides Jewels rich Housholdstuff and all manner of Warlike Provisions And though in most Transactions he was prosperous and successful yet in three things he was very unhappy First In the unnatural Disobedience and Rebellions of his own Sons Secondly In his inordinate Love to Rosamond his endeared Concubine who was admirably fair but exceeding wanton and thereby wholly alienated his Affections from Eleanor his renowned Queen and enslaved himself to her Will and Pleasure so that while she lived she was seldom from his Right-hand and after her Death which Eleanor procured by Poyson he caused her with great Pomp to be solemnly buried at Godstow near Oxford fixing this Epitaph on her Tomb Hic jacet in Tumba Rosa Mundi non Rosa Munda Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet Within this Tomb lies the Worlds fairest Rose Though once most sweet she 'll now offend your Nose The third Infelicity of his Reign was the great Dissention between him and Thomas Becket the proud and insolent Archbishop of Canterbury which continued full seven years with all manner of asperity and fierceness For Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury had so great a favour for Thomas Becket a Londoner of mean Parentage that he made him Archdeacon of his own Church and still advancing him at last by the Power he had with the King made him Lord Chancellor of England which so pufft up Becket that he grew extreme haughty yet still shewed great Respect to the King who thereupon constantly encreased his Lands and Revenues which daily heightned him more Theobald dying the King preferred Becket to be Archbishop after which he began to discover his ungrateful Humour For going privately to Rome he was there invested in his Bishoprick by the Pope of whom he received the Pall and was made Legate and then returning into England he was much discountenanced by the King but Becket slighting it on a sudden surrendred his Chancellorship and Great Seal of which the King desiring a Reason he obstinately refused to give any These Quarrels encouraged the debauched part of the Clergy to commit many Insolencies and Villanies for which they received small Punishment though their Crimes were Murder Theft and Robbery for not being
Philip growing still more angry and pretending to fear some secret League between King Richard and the Turks to the prejudice of himself and his Followers he withdrew all the Troops belonging to the Emperour the Archduke and himself and leaving the King of England returned home Yet did not this discourage the gallant King Richard but with his own Forces and those of some other Christian Princes who submitted to his Conduct he prosecuted his Designs victoriously in all Places where he came It is related That there being a fair Opportunity for the taking of Jerusalem King Richard and the Duke of Burgundy marched in two Bodies from Acon to surprise it but when they approached near it Burgundy envying Richard's Glory signified to him That he would retire with his Soldiers because it should not be said the English had taken Jerusalem While this Message was delivering and King Richard grieving that such a glorious Enterprise should miscarry by Emulation an English Soldier came suddenly and cried out Sir Sir come hither and I will shew you Jerusalem But Richard throwing his Coat of Arms over his Face and weeping spake thus aloud Ah my Lord God I beseech thee that I may not see thy Holy City Jerusalem since I am not able to deliver it out of the Hands of thine Enemies The same Author writes That this Prince was so renowned for Valour that he was more dreaded among the Saracens than any Christian King ever was insomuch that when their Infants cried the Mothers to still them would say King Richard will come and take you which would affright them into stilness Yea when their Horses started at any time the Turks would spur them and cry What you Jades you think King Richard is here But while Richard was triumphant over his Enemies abroad his Affairs in England were very badly managed by the Bishop of Ely who being the Grandson of a Plowman and the Son of a Cow-keeper in the North after such high Advancement as Lord Chancellor and Protector of the Kingdom he grew insolent and exercised unusual Oppressions and Tyrannies over all sorts of Persons both in Church and State yea so ambitious and vain-glorious was he that when he rid abroad for his Recreation he would be attended by above a thousand Horse and would be waited on by the Sons of the Principal Nobility to whom he would marry his beggarly Kindred with little or no Fortunes But perceiving himself at length generally hated and abhorred he resolved to forsake the Kingdom and disguising himself in the Habit of a Country-man with a Piece of Cloth under his Arm he travelled toward Dover but being there discovered he was furiously assaulted by the People and dragged along upon the Sands after which being sent to London he was by the Nobility committed to the Tower where he cont nued till the King's Return but was then restored to his Liberty and Offices though he enjoyed them not long for he died soon after travelling to Rome to the great Joy of the wronged English Subject King Richard heard of these Transactions and of the great Discontent of his Brother John who out of hatred to the Bishop of Ely had seised divers Towns Forts and Castles into his Hands and onely wanted the Peoples Favour to make himself King He had advice likewise of the Inroads and Invasions of Philip the French King into Normandy in his absence These Tidings enforced him for preserving his Royalty to make a Peace with the Turks for three years even when he was in the height of Success and to return home In the way he again won the Isle of Cyprus from the Knights Templars to whom he had formerly sold it and then exchanged it with Guy of Lusignan for the City of Jerusalem he being the last Christian King thereof upon which Richard was called King of Jerusalem and so were many of his Successors long after Proceeding in his Voyage homeward he was by a violent Storm Shipwreck'd upon the Coast of Istria near Venice and travelling into the Territories of Leopold in Austria he was taken Prisoner and by him sold to the Emperour Henry the Sixth for 6000 Marks who taking good Security of Richard for paying him 100000 l. he gave him his Liberty In short time he arrived in Normandy and raising a stout Army he quickly revenged himself on the French for their Injuries against him and recovered all that had been unjustly taken from him While the King was thus employed his Brother Joâ—n came to him and humbly desired his Pardon alledging That what he had done was onely occasioned by the unsufferable Pride and Insolence of the Bishop and therefore he now freely surrendred all again into his Hands The King being mollified by this ingenuous Confession said God grant that I may as easily forget your Offences as you may remember wherein you have offended and then not onely gave him his Pardon but received him into his special Grace and Favour He then returned into England and summoning a Parliament he caused himself to be crowned the second time imposing very heavy Taxes upon the People for his Ransom and seising the Treasures of several Monasteries And to increase his own Revenue he resumed into his Hands all those Honours Mannors Castles Privileges and Offices which he had formerly sold to his Subjects forcing them to be contented with the Profits they had received By which ways he got together 80000 l. toward his Ransom the rest Leopold forgave him being curst by the Pope for making Richard a Prisoner coming from the Holy War After this the King transported another Army into France where he fought very successfully against the French and in one Battel took 100 Knights on Horseback 200 great Horse 140 of them being barbed and armed with Iron In these Wars Philip Bishop of Beavoirs and Peer of the Blood-Royal fighting valiantly in a Skirmish was taken Prisoner and order'd to be committed and Irons put on his Legs as being an inveterate Enemy to King Richard This hard Usage being complained of to the Pope he writ earnestly to Richard not to detain his dear Son an Ecclesiastical Person and a Shepherd of the Lords but to send him back to his Flock The King in a pleasant Bravery sent the Head-piece Back and Breast of Iron in which he was taken to the Pope with the Question of Jacob's Sons to their Father Behold this we found him in Is this thy Sons Coat Nay says the Pope it is the Coat neither of my Son nor a Son of the Church but of some Son of Mars therefore let him procure his Liberty as well as he can for I will not concern my self therein Soon after King Richard was cut off in the midst of all his Glory for the Lord Limoges having found a vast Treasure of Gold and Silver he sent the greatest part thereof to him as Lord thereof but the King resolving to have all came to besiege the Castle of Chalms where he judged
of Cheshire as if that were more honourable then to be King of the Realm and to sweetten these things honours were bestowed upon divers Noble-men his Cousen Henry Bullingbroke Earl of Darby Son and Heir apparent to the Kings Fourth Uncle John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster was created Duke of Hereford his Cousen Edward Plantaginet Earl of Rutland was created Duke of Albemarle and several others were advanced He also granted free pardon to all but fifteen whom he should name whereby he kept the Nobility in fear and awe so that if any offended him he would declare him to be one of the fifteen and put his life upon Tryal for pretended Treason It happened about this time that the Duke of Hereford hearing daily complaints of the Kings misgovernment and his extream arbitrary and illegal proceedings he privately disclosed his grief thereat to the Duke of Norfolk intreating him to inform the King thereof and to beseech him to be more favourable to the Lords who were with too great severity condemned for High-Treason The Duke of Norfolk regarding more his own advancement then the Common good resolved to rise by the fall of his friend and therefore told all to the King with the most malicious and aggravating circumstances imaginable whereat the King inraged summoned his Cousen to answer who freely acknowledged what he had privately and friendly desired might be reformed but denied the false suggestions added thereto and challenged the Duke of Norfolk to a single combate to vindicate himself which was accepted and consented to by the King but when the day came and they entted the Lists for fight the King would not suffer them to proceed but banished the Duke of Norfolk for ever who soon after died at Venice and the Duke of Hereford for six years who went into France and was honourably received by that King and not long after his Father John Duke of Lancaster died and the King unjustly seized all his honours and estate into his hands which he divided among his Flatterers and Minions which unworthy act so much displeased his Uncles the Duke of York and the Duke of Albemarl that they left the Court and retired to their own Houses In the mean time the King was wholly misled by the lewd conduct of William Scroop Earl of Wiltshire Sir James Bagot Sir John Bushie and Sir Henry Green by whose advice without consent of his Counsel he raised a great Army farming the whole Revenues of his Kingdom to these his favourites for several years and sailing into Ireland wholly subdued that rebelling Nation but in his absence Henry now Duke of Lancaster with his old friend Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury returned to England to claim his Dutchy of Lancaster and landing in the North great numbers of armed Troops admiring his Nobility and virtues joined with him so that within a few days he marched to London and was there received and entertained with much joy King Richard returning soon raised great Forces which he conducted against the Duke but perceiving his Subjects daily revolt from him and hearing that his three unworthy Favourites Scroop Bushie and Green on whom he most relied were taken and beheaded he voluntarily came to the Duke of Lancaster and confessing his own insufficiency and weakness to govern well praised the singular Qualities of the Duke as worthy of a Kingdom offering to resign it to him if he would accept thereof Though the Duke was very willing to wear a Crown yet hoping to have it by the free consent of all the Nobility and People he caused the King to be guarded to the Tower of London and then calling a Parliament twenty four Articles of Misgovernment were publickly charged against the King and sent him by both Houses of Parliament who not only confessed them to be true acknowledging his inability to Rule better but by an Instrument in Writing under his Hand and Seal resigned his Crown and Kingdom to Henry Duke of Lancaster which being read and generally approved of by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons they deposed King Richard and made Henry King and his old Friend Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury installed him in the Royal Throne Richard was then sent to Pomfret Castle but Henry fearing his Government could not be safe while Richard lived he was soon after assaulted by Sir Pierce of Exton and eight more with Bills and Poleaxes in his lodging and after valiant resistance made was overpowered and murdered by them in the twenty second year of his Reign and the thirty third of his Age 1399. In this Age lived Sir John Mandevil of whom so many Fictitious Relations have been written that it may be judged he was never in being But very credible Historians assert that there was such a person born at St. Albans in Hartfordshire who attaining to Learning had an earnest desire to visit Asia and Africa which he accordingly performed travelling thirty four years into Scythia Armenia Egypt Lybia Arabia Media Mesopotamia Persia Chaldâ—â—a Greece Illyria Tartary and divers other Kingdoms of the World and committed what he had observed to Writing at his return wherein though there may seem some things incredible yet it may be supposed many of them were taken from fabulous Authors and added to his Book and others were written by report from others for that he did not design to relate lies may appear because he kept his Religion after all his wandrings and and did oft complain of the corruptions of that Age saying often Virtus cessat c. In our time it may be certainly said that Virtue is departed the Clergy err the Devil reigneth and Simony beareth sway Some Authors write he died at Leige in Germany where they shew the Furniture of his Horse and Spurs worn in his Travels yet the Town of St. Albans will not allow of it but claim the honour of his Interment and have a riming Epitaph for him upon a Pillar near where they judge his Body lies which Mr. Weaver says in his Monuments being set to some lofty tune as the Burning of Antichrist or the like will be worth singing It is as follows All you that pass by on this Pillar cast Eye This Epitaph read if you can 'T will tell you a Tomb stood once in this room Of a gallant Spirited Man John Mandevil by name a Knight of great fame Born in this honoured Town Before him was none that ever was known For Travel of so high renown As the Knights in the Temple cross legg'd in Marble In Armor with Sword and with Shield So was this Knight grac't which time hath defac't That nothing but ruins doth yield His Travels being done he shines like the Sun In Heavenly Canaan To which blessed place O Lord of his Grace Bring us all Man after Man HENRY the FOURTH King of England c. From misled Richard I the Crown did wrest Which wrongfully upon my Head was plac'd Vncivil Civil Wars the Realm molest And Englishmen do England
all sold by Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultry near Cheapside I. DElights for the Ingenious In above Fifty Select and choice Emblems Divine and Moral Ancient and Modern Curiously Ingraven upon Copper Plates With Fifty Delightful Poems and Lots for the more Lively Illustration of each Emblem Whereby Instruction and Good Counsel may be promoted and furthered by an honest and pleasant Recreation To which is Prefixed An Incomparable Poem Intitled Majesty in Misery or an Implorâ—tion to the King of Kings written by his late Majesty King Charles the First with his own Hand during his Captivity in Carisbrook-Castle in the Isle of Wight 1648. With a curious Emblem Collected by R. B. Price Half a Crown II. Two Journies to Jerusalem containing first A strange and True Account of the Travels of two Engl sh Pilgrims some years since Secondly The Travels of Fourteen Englishmen in 1669. from Scandaroon to Tripoly Joppa Ramah Jerusalem Bethlehem Jericho the River Jordan the Lake of Sodom and Gomorrah and back again to Aleppo By S. B. With the rare Antiquities Monuments and memorable places and things mentioned in the Holy Scripture Beautified with Pictures Price One Shilling III Unparallel'd Varieties Or the Matchless Actions and Passions of Mankind Displayed in near four hundred notable instances and examples Discovering the transcendent effects 1. Of Love Friendship and Gratitude 2. Of Magnanimity Courage and Fidelity 3 Of Chastity Temperance and Humility and on the contrary the Tremendous Consequences 4. Of Hatred Revenge and Ingratitude 5. Of Cowardice Barbarity and Treachery 6. Of Vnchestity Intemperance and Ambition Imbellished with Proper Figures Price One Shilling IV. Surprising Miracles of Nature and Art in two parts containing 1. The Miracles of Nature or the wonderful signs and Prodigious Aspects and Appearances in the Heavens Earth and Sea With an account of the most famous Comets and other Prodigies to 1682. Likewise a true Account of the Groaning Board II. The Miracles of Art describing the most Magnificent Buildings and other curious Inventions in all Ages as the Seven Wonders of the World and many other excellent structures and rarities throughout the Earth Beautified with sculptures 1 s. V. Extraordinary Adventures of several famous Men with the strange Events and signal Mutations and Changes in the Fortunes of divers Illustrious Places and Persons in all Ages Being an account of a multitude of St pendous Revolutions Accidents and observable matters in States and provinces throughout the whole world Price One Shilling VI. Wonderful Prodigies of Judgment and Mercy discovered in above 333 memorable Histories containing 1. Dreadful judgments upon Atheists Blasphemers perjured Villains 2. The miserable ends of many Magicians Witches Conj rers c. with divers strange apparitions and illusions of the Devil 3. Remarkable predictions and presages of approaching death and how the event has been answerable 4. The wicked lives and woful deaths of several Popes 5. Fearful Judgments upon bloody Tyrants Murderers c. 6. Admirable Deliverances from imminent Dangers and Deplorable Distresses at Sea and Land Lastly Divine Goodness to Penitents with the Dying Thoughts of several famous Men concerning a future state after this Life Imbellished with divers Pictures Price One Shilling VII The Young mans Calling or the whole Duty of Youth in a serious and compassionate Address to all young Persons to remember their Creator in the days of their Yâ—uth Together with Remarks upon the Lives of several excellent Young Persons of both Sexes as well ancient as modern who have been famous for Virtue and Piety in their Generations namely on the Lives of Isaac and Joseph in their youth On the martyrdom of seven sons and their mother of Romanus a young Nobleman and of divers holy Virgins and martyrs On the Live of K. Edward 6. Q. Jane Q. Elizabeth in her Youth P. Henry eldest Son to K. James and the young L. Harrington c. with 12 curious Pictures Illustrating the several Histories Price Eighteen Pence VIII A Guide to Eternal Glory Or Brief directions to all Christians how to attain to Everlasting Salvation To which are added several other small Tracts As 1. A short Directory for Self-Examination 2. A Brief Dialogue between a Learned Divine and a Beggar 3. Cordial Meditations or Beams of the Spirit Enlivening Enlightning and Gladding the Soul Lastly Divine Hymns upon the Lords Supper with some others Price six Pence IX Excellent Contemplations Divine and Moral Written by the Magnanimous and truly Loyal A. L. Capel Baron Hadham Together with some Account of his Life and his Affectionate Letters to his Lady the day before his Death with his Heroick Behaviour and last Speech at his Suffering Also the Speeches and Carriages of D. Hamilton and the E. of Holland who suffered with him With his Pious Advice to his Son the Late E. of Essex Price One Shilling All Sold by Nathaniel Crouch at the Bell in the Poultry near Cheapside FINIS
sent for Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside out of Hungary who for his long absence was called the Outlaw but he dying soon after he declared Edgar the Outlaw's Son to be Heir and sirnamed him Atheling or Adeling a Term appropriated to the Presumptive Heirs of the Crown He had also a Daughter named Matilda who was married to the King of Scots and was Mother to David King of Scotland and Maud Queen of England When King Edward was on his Death-bed he observed all present weeping and lamenting for him to whom he said If you loved me you would forbear weeping and rejoyce because I go to my Father with whom I shall receive the Joys promised to the Faithful not through my Merits but by the free Mercy of my Saviour who sheweth Mercy on whom he pleaseth After the Death of Earl Godwin Harold his Son grew into great Favour with King Edward and was by him made Lieutenant of his Army against the Welch who with his Brother Tosto or Toston utterly subdued that Rebellion After which Harold still increasing more in favour with the King there grew such Hatred between the two Brethren that Tosto coming to Hereford slew all his Brothers Servants and cutting them in pieces salted them and put them into Powdering-tubs It hapned afterward that Harold going beyond Sea was by Tempest driven into Normandy and being seised and carried before Duke William he made him promise That after the Death of King Edward he would secure the Kingdom for him according to King Edward's Will Which Oath having taken Harold came back and told King Edward what he had done who seemed well content therewith saith the Historian which if it were true he had surely forgot his former Declaration concerning Edgar Athâ—ling However after the Death of King Edward Harold neither regarding his Oath to Duke William nor Edgar's Right whom he despised for his tender Age caused himself to be Proclaimed King without any great Ceremony or Celebration none much approving or disapproving thereof And to ingratiate himself with the People he eased them of several severe Taxes laid upon them by his Predecessor and was affable and kind to all But this was a short Calm before a great Storm for soon after Duke William sent his Ambassadors to him to mind him of his Oath but he returned answer That it was extorted from him in his Imprisonment and therefore was no way obliging At this Answer the Duke was much inraged and prepared Forces for gaining the Kingdom by Force Neither was Harold idle but made Provision to withstand him At which time a dreadful Comet appeared in the Heavens which was then judged and after proved to be a fatal Omen During these Preparations Tosto Brother to Harold and Harfager King of Denmark with three hundred Ships invaded the Country landing in Yorkshire Harfager claiming the Crown as Son of Canutus but the Nobility of those Parts opposing them were routed which Harold hearing marched against them and at Stamford-Bridge he encountred them where his whole Army was withstood by one single Dane who slew forty of his Men and made good the Bridge till a Soldier in a Boat rowing under the Bridge thrust his Spear through a Crevice and so slew this valiant Champion After which the King fell upon the D nes and got an intire Victory over them killing King Harfager and Tosto his own Brother Olave the Son of Harfager and Paul Earl of Orkney were taken Prisoners with abundance more who begging their Lives the King ordered Twenty of their Three hundred Ships to carry them to Denmark with sad News of the loss of their King and his whole Army No sooner was this Storm over but a worse began for Duke William having prepared a great Army and Navy resolved for England having the free Consent of his Nobility for his Voyage many of them assisting him therein But first he sent to Pope Alexander to confirm his Title to the Crown who did it readily and withal sent him a Consecrated Banner an Agnus Dei and a Hair of St. Peter with a Curse to all Opposers to carry in the Ship wherein he himself sailed Being thorowly furnished he and his Men embarqued at St. Vallery where they staid a long time for a Wind at length setting Sail Sept. 28. 1066. he arrived with his Fleet at Pevensey in Sussex where as soon as he landed it hapned one of his Feet stuck so fast in the Sand that he fell to the Ground whereupon one of his Attendants catching him by the Arm and helping him up said Stand up my Lord and be of good Courage for now you have taken fast Footing in England and observing that he had taken up Sand and Earth in his Hand he added You have now taken Livery and Seisin of the Country it being the Custom that when Possession is taken of Land a piece of Earth is given to the Possessor A Wizard or Necromancer had told Duke William That he should safely arrive in England with his whole Army without any hindrance from Harold which after it came to pass King William sent for this Conjurer to confer further with him but it was told him That he was drowned in that Ship which alone of the whole Navy miscarried whereupon the Conquerour said He would never put confidence in that Science which was of more benefit to the Ignorant than the Skilful therein for it seems he could foresee my good Fortune but not his own Misfortune After his Landing the Duke set all his Ships on fire to assure his Men that they must either conquer or die He then marched toward Hastings declaring the Cause of his coming to be to inherit the Kingdom which was given him by King Edward and strictly charging his Soldiers not to wrong any of the People in the least since they were so soon to become his Natural Subjects He then sent Messengers to Harold either to deliver him up the Country and be subject to him or to fight it out in the sight of both Armies in single Combate or lastly to stand to the Pope's Determination But he returned answer That unless he did suddenly depart he would give him cause to repent this his rash Invasion and that the next day it should be tried by more Swords than One. Accordingly Harold marcheth couragiously against Duke William who put himself into a posture to receive him It hapned that the Morning before the Battel William's Armourer by mistake put on his Back-piece before and his Breast-plate behind which being observed by some of his Attendants was judged an ill Omen and therefore they advised him not to fight that Day To whom the Duke replied I value not such Fooleries but if I have any skill in Soothsaying as in truth I have none I am of the opinion it doth fore ell that I shall change my Condition and of a Duke shall this day become a King The Armies being Marshalled Harold placing the Kentish-men with their heavy Axes
the freer Access to the French and Normans if the English should rebell he plucked down and ruined Thirty six Churches with many Towns and Villages for many Miles even from Salisbury to the Sea making his New Forest there But this Offence did not escape unpunished for in this very Forest Richard the Kings second Son was goared by a Deer and died William Rufus his third Son was slain by an Arrow shot at an Hart and his Grandchild Robert Curtoyse being in pursuit of the Game was struck by a Bough into the Jaws and died there 14. His chief Pleasure being in Hunting he seised all Chases and Forests of the Kingdom into his Hands making very cruel Laws against such as presumed to hunt in them without License as the loss of Eyes Limbs and the like 15. He gave large Territories and Farms to his Favourites who leased them out to their Slaves and Servants creating them into Mannors and calling themselves Lords thereof He reserved some Tenures to himself whereby his Tenants were obliged to serve him in the Wars or attend his Person to which they were sworn in Publick Courts by which Tenure he disposed of their Heirs in Marriage having Possession of their Estates till they were Twenty one years of age By which Example other Great Lords did the like This was the Model of King William's sharp and severe Government wherein he rather used the Power of an insolent and lawless Conquerour than the Legal Administration of a gracious King whereby he was feared by many but loved by few and such as were most in favour with him were discountenanced upon every slight occasion These violent Proceedings especially in raising such intolerable Taxes occasioned a Rebellion in Devonshire and another in Northumberland the second Year of his Reign but his good Fortune soon suppressed them as it also did the next Year the Invasion of Swanus King of Denmark who was incited thereto by the English that fled thither for Succour from the Cruelty of King William but he no sooner saw them almost e're he made them fly back to their Ships and to revenge the Infidelity of the English he utterly destroyed their fruitful Lands about York and Durham so that the Ground lay waste nine years after and abundance of People died with Want and Famine The next year he summoned a general Convocation of the Clergy wherein he bitterly accused several grave and learned Bishops Abbots Priors and others of many pretended Crimes and Offences for which he absolutely deprived them of their Dignities and Estates which he bestowed on others either for Love or Money These insufferable Acts provoked Marcarus and Edwin the Earls of Northumberland and Mercia with Egilwyn Bishop of Durham to raise an Insurrection But the King quickly drove Edwyn into Scotland Marcarus was taken and imprisoned in the Tower of London where he long continued and the Bishop was inhumanely famish'd to death in Abington Abby At this time great difference arose about the Primacy of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York but at last it was adjudged in favour of the first and York submitted accordingly In his fifteenth year his eldest Son Robert by the instigation of Philip the French King rebelled against him in Normandy which occasioned his Father to go thither with an Army where he was so stoutly encountred that he was unhorsed and in great danger of his Life by his Son unknown but he hearing his Fathers Voice rescued him again and was after reconciled and received Pardon of his Father and the King with great loss returned again to England Soon after William to revenge divers Injuries and Affronts offered him by King Phi ip in Normandy went with a gallant Army into France where finding Odo Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux his Brother by the Mother to hold secret Correspondence with the French King he complained thereof to the Lords whereupon Lanfrank Archbishop of Canterbury advised the King to commit him to Prison What says the King are you for committing a Clergy-man You need not said Lanfrank commit the Bishop of Bayeux but you may very justly imprison the Earl of Kent Which was done accordingly Sometime before this Pope Hildebrand dying a Magician told Odo That he foresaw he should succeed him upon which Odo having already swallowed the Papacy in thought sent Money the most prevailing Messenger to Rome before-hand and purchased himself a Palace there providing likewise for his Journey thither but King William for his Presumption and other Misdemeanours staid and committed him saying Offensive foolhardiness must be restrained in time While the King was in Normandy he fell sick and the French King hearing his Distemper was in his Belly scoffingly said Our Cousin William is now in Childbed Ah what a number of Candles must I offer at his going to Church Sure an hundred thousand will hardly be enough King William hearing of this Jest said Well I hope our Cousin of France shall be at no such Cost for after this my Childbirth at my going to Church I will saith he swearing by the Resurrection and Brightness of God find him a thousand Candles and light them all my self Alluding to the Candles that Women used to carry in that Age when they went to be Churched And soon after he performed his Word destroying the People Towns and Cities on the Frontiers of France with Sword and Fire but in burning the City of Mantz he came so near the flames that with the heat of his Harness he got a Sickness which being increased by the Leaping of his Horse burst the inner Rim of his Belly he being very Corpulent of which he soon after died at Roan Upon his Death-bed he said I appoint no Successor to the Kingdom of England but I commend it to the Eternal God whose I am and in whose Hands all things are He much lamented his Severity and Cruelty to the English Nation He was buried in the Abby of St. Stephen at Caen in Normandy though his Funerals were interrupted by a Norman Gentleman who would not permit him to be buried till he had received Satisfaction for that Ground which the Conquerour had unjustly taken from him Thus this victorious Conquerour whose Mind could not be confin'd to one Kingdom while he lived being dead could hardly get a place to be buried in The Charters and Conveyances in his Reign were not so tedious as now adays but very short and plain as appears by this following transcribed out of an Authentick Record I William King the third of my Reign give to Norman Hunter to me that art both leif and dear the Hop and the Hopton and all the Bounds up and down under the Earth to Hell above the Earth to Heaven from me and mine to thee and thine as good and as fair as ever they mine were To witness that this is sooth I bite the white Wax with my Tooth Before Jug Maud and Margery and my youngest Son Henry For a Bow and a broad
in a short time from the Holy Land to England where he was joyfully received both by the Peers and People and soon after Crowned King in the One and thirtieth year of his Age at which 500 Great Horses were let loose for any to take that would in honour of so Martial a Prince After the Battel aforementioned wherein Simon Montford Earl of Leicester his Son Henry and many other Lords were stain and the Lady Eleanor his Daughter was banished but kindly received by Philip the Hardy of France thereby to gain the Good-will of many English Lords who being discontented with the last Kings Government were not well pleased with his Son who constantly assisted his Father against them Philip being likewise sensible of the Courage of King Edward to prevent his own danger he secretly incited Lluellin Prince of Wales to rebell promising him likewise the Lady Eleanor in Marriage But Edward having private notice of this Contract and that the Lady was coming over to Wales he intercepted her at Sea and kept her Prisoner upon which Lluellin took the Field with many thousand Men but mean and thievish Fellows On the other side King Edward resolving to make himself terrible to the Welch raised a very formidable Army but Lluellin being sensible or his inability to resist and out of his extreme Love to the Lady submitted himself to the King and made many solemn Oaths of his Fidelity to the King against France and all others whereupon Edward who was inclinable to Mercy freely granted him his Pardon his Favour and his beloved Lady so that all was ended without a drop of Blood But a few years after David his Brother of a mutinous Temper and yet one much in favour with the King persuaded Lluellin to put himself again into Arms and many sharp Conflicts passed between him and Sir Roger Mortimer but at length they were both taken and their Heads sent to the King who caused them to be set upon the Tower of London Yet were the Welchmen so perversely bent to ruine themselves that within a few Months after they twice rebelled but were soon subdued by many terrible Slaughters and severe Executions And because they maintained their Wars more by hiding and shifting among vast Woods and Forests the King caused all the Woods to be cut and burnt down by which means they were reduced to more Civility and applied themselves to Arts and Trades like other Men. In his eighteenth year Alexander King of Scots fell from his Horse and broke his Neck leaving no Issue behind him He had three Sisters the eldest married to John Baliol Lord of Galloway the second to Robert Bruce Lord of Valley Andrew and the third to John Hastings Lord Abergaveny in England These three contended for the Crown losing many Men on all sides and the Country much ruined whereupon King Edward as their Sovereign Lord went into Scotland to compose those Differences and in the end they were all contented to refer themselves to his Judgment by an Instrument under their Hands and Seals Whereupon King Edward chose Twenty Englishmen and as many Scots of good Understanding and Discretion who consulted thereof and upon their Determination he declared John Baliol who had married the eldest Sister to be King who thereupon received the Crown from King Edward and did him Homage for the same And now the French King wrongfully invading the English Territories in Gascoign and Guyen the King to supply his Necessities seised upon all the Plate Jewels and Treasure of the Churches and Religious Houses within the Kingdom being advised thereto by William March Lord Treasurer who alledged That it were better this money should be stirring and according to the Name Currant and go abroad to the Use of the People than to lie rusting in Chests without any Use or Advantage whatsoever The King likewise compelled the Clergy to give one half years Revenue of all their Ecclesiastical Dignities which when they scrupled at affirming That by a Canon lately made at the Council of Lions they were excused from all Temporal Supplies he told them plainly Since you refuse to help me I will also refuse to help you If you deny to pay Tribute to me as your Prince I will deny to protect you as my Subjects And therefore if you be spoiled robbed or murdered expect no Succour nor Defence from me nor mine But to get some Amends they humbly petitioned the King to repeal the Statute of Mortmain or the Will of a Dead Mans Hand which forbad all Persons to give any Houses or Lands to the Church either at their Deaths or before without leave from the King But he resolving never to gratifie them in any thing replied That it was not in his Power without the Consent of a Parliament to make void any Law whatsoever So that they were forced to be contented though with much inward Vexation Having thus fleec'd the Clergy he laid a new Tax upon Wooll and Hides exported out of the Kingdom and required the tenth part of every Mans Estate to be paid him to maintain his Wars He caused the Clergy to bring into his Treasury all such Sums of Money as they had promised to pay the Pope for the War against the Turks and took up 100000 Quarters of Wheat which he sent to his Armies in Normandy where they fought with doubtful Success sometimes winning and then again losing In his Twenty fifth year 1296. John Baliol King of Scots by the secret incitement of the French King and some others about him sent a proud Defiance to King Edward and a Renunciation of his Fealty and Homage and with a tumultuous Army entred the Northern Borders cruelly destroying all with Fire and Sword Whereupon Edward upbraiding him with his many Favours and Honours received from him resolved to revenge his Ingratitude and with strong Forces marched thither taking the Castle of Berwick with the Slaughter of 25000 Scots He likewise won Dunbar Edinburgh and all other Places of Strength The King of Scots observing no Safety in Resistance humbly submitted himself to the King and surrendred the Kingdom into his Hands who with a strong Guard sent him Prisoner to the Tower of London but with large allowance of Liberty and Attendance and then committed the Government of Scotland to John Warren Earl of Sussex Sir Hugh Cressingham High Treasurer and Wistiam Earnly Lord Chief Justice of that Kingdom Having so happily performed this he then turned his Arms to France who to divert him animated the Scots again to rebell but King Edward resolving not to leave the French if possible without fighting continued still in Normandy sending Orders to the Earl of Northumberland and others to suppress that Rebellion which they did with a very bloody slaughter Upon which the French King perceiving himself disappointed would not venture to engage the English Army but sent honourable Propositions of Peace which were accepted by the King and a general Peace was proclaimed After his return
with divers Torments as Conspirators for delivering the Town to the French which was thus gallantly regained to King Henry The Duke of Exeter Tutor to the Kings Person dying at this time the Earl of Warwick was sent to England to take that Charge and the Renowned Earl of Salisbury with an Army of 10000 Men was sent into France with which he besieged the strong City of Orleance upon the River Loyer which had been lately strongly fortified where after two Months Siege the Earl was slain and the Earl of Suffolk succeeded as General who pressed the Siege so close that the Besieged being hopeless of Succour offered to surrender the Town to the Duke of Burgundy who refused it without the Consent of the Duke of Bedford the Regent who though persuaded thereto would by no means consent since he himself had undergone all the Trouble hitherto This Answer pierced the Duke of Burgundy to the Heart so that from thenceforward his Affections grew cold toward the English and he became a secret Well-willer to the French During this Parley a young Maid of about eighteen years old was presented to the French King at Chinon who pretended she was sent from God to deliver France from the English Bondage and thereupon she was called The Mother of God however she in this extremity was believed by the Common People and being armed like a Man she rides to Blois and in company with the Admiral and Marshal of France enters Orleance with fresh Forces and Provisions which so encouraged the Besieged that they issued out at midnight and fell upon the English staying 600 of them in an instant but assaulting the Bastile where the Lord Talbot was he issued out so courageously that they were forced to fly on every side and with very great Loss hardly escaped into the Town but however the next day the Earl of Suffolk raised the Siege This Deliverance was attributed by the Citizens of Orleance to the Conduct of the Martial Maid who was called Joan of Arc and therefore they erected a Monument wherein she and Charles the Seventh King of France were represented kneeling in Armour with their Hands and Eyes toward Heaven After this the English had very doubtful Success for the next day after raising the Siege the Lord Talbot won the strong Town and Castle of Laval and a few days after the Duke of Alanson with Joan of Arc took the Town of Jargeux and in it the Earl of Suffolk and one of his Brothers Prisoners killing another The Duke of Alanson's Army being newly reinforced to near 20000 Men hapned to meet with the Lords Talbot Scales and Hungerford who were marching with onely 5000 to fortifie another Town upon whom the French fell with great fury insomuch that the three Lords were taken Prisoners and 1200 of their Men slain the rest flying into the Town Upon this Defeat several Cities Towns and Castles immediately surrendred to the French King who soon after took Rhemes and was there Crowned which gained him a great Opinion and caused many more Places to be delivered to him and then attempted to take the City of Paris but by the Valour of the English were repulsed and defeated The Duke of Bedford observing the Success which followed upon the Coronation of King Charles caused King Henry likewise to be Crowned at Paris in the Tenth year of his Age and Reign having been Crowned two years before at Westminster About this time a Truce was concluded for Six years which yet lasted not Three And now the Duke of Bedford's Lady who was Sister to the Duke of Burgundy dying soon after her Brother forsakes the English and joyns with the French King which was followed with the taking of St. Dennis and within two years after the Regent died and was buried at Roan whereat the Citizens some years after complained to Lewis who succeeded Charles but the King publickly protested That he deserved a more sumptuous Sepulchre who in his Life-time scorned to stir a Foot back for all the Power of France and that there was no greater Sign of Baseness and Cowardice than to insult over those when dead whom they durst not withstand while alive The French King now proceeds victoriously and Joan of Arc afore-mentioned accompanying the Duke of Alanson takes in many Towns and endeavouring to raise the Siege of Champaigne they enter the City in despite of the English but afterward sallying forth their Troops were beaten and Joan her self taken Prisoner by John of Luxemburgh a Burgundian Knight who for the value of 10000 l. and 300 Crowns a year delivered her to the English who sent her to the Bishop of Bevoirs in whose Diocess she was taken by whom for Sorcery Blood-shed and unnatural use of Manly Apparel she was burnt to death at Roan Many Opinions were held of her Some thought her miraculously raised for the Deliverance of France others that she was a Cheat and Impostor and her Epitaph seems to infer the same Here lies Joan of Arc the which Some count Saint and some count Witch Some count Man and something more Some count Maid and some a Whore Her Life 's in question Wrong or Right Her Death 's in doubt by Law or Might Oh Innocence take heed of it How thou too near to Guilt dost sit Mean while France a Wonder saw A Woman rule ' gainst Salique Law But Reader be content to stay Thy Censure till the Judgment-day Then shalt thou know and not before Whether Saint Witch Man Maid or Whore After the death of the Noble Regent the valiant Duke of Bedford Richard Duke of York succeeded in his room to the great regret of Edmond Duke of Somerset the Kings Cousin which occasioning private Hatred made way for publick Mischief For soon after the City of Paris revolted and divers others followed that Example At this time Queen Katherine the Kings Mother died who after the King her Husbands death married a handsom Gentleman named Owen Tudor who though of mean Estate yet was descended from Cadwallader the last King of tâ—e Brittains by whom she had two Sons Edmund and Jasper the eldest of whom was by King Henry the Sixth created Earl of Richmond and married Margaret sole Heir to John Duke of Somerset on whom he begot Henry the Seventh In a little while the Duke of York is removed and the Earl of Warwick is put in his Place by the Council of England and from henceforth the Affairs in France succeeded worse every day which was occasioned by the Wisdom of the French Nobility who grew sensible of their miserable Divisions and now united against the English Another Reason was the unhappy Marriage of the King with Margaret the Daughter of Reyner King of Sicily a poor Prince so that he had nothing with her and which was worse King Henry was obliged by the Articles of this Marriage to give to her Father all his Right and Title to the Counties of Anjou and Mayn which bordered upon Normandy
the Queen and she have so done The Protector furiously interrupting him Thou Traytor said he dost thou tell me of If 's and And ' s I tell thee they have done it And therewith struck his Hand very hard upon the Table upon which the Room was presently filled with Soldiers one of whom at his entrance struck at the Lord Stanley's Head with an Halbert who to save his Life fell under the Board though not without much loss of Blood The Protector himself seised upon the Lord Hastings and accusing him of Treason in general without any Trial or Answer caused him to be beheaded upon a Log on the Green in the Tower Which Execution hapned the same day and hour that the afore-mentioned Lords suffered without Trial at Pomfret by the Advice and Consent of this very Lord Hastings After this the Protector committed the Archbishop of York the Bishop of Ely and the Lord Stanley to Prison and presently putting himself and Buckingham into ragged Clothes he sent for several eminent Citizens to whom he declared with great passion That the Lord Hastings and his Confederates had conspired to take away his Life this Morning at the Council had he not timely prevented it by the sudden Execution of him and seising the rest Within two hours after the Lord Hastings's his death a long Proclamation written fairly in Parchment under the Great Seal was read in divers parts of the City by an Herald at Arms with great Solemnity whereby it appeared to be contrived and written some days before Richard having thus dispatcht those that he thought stood in his way he caused Dr. Shaw a wicked Priest in a Sermon at Paul's Cross the Sunday after to display the Honourable Birth of the Protector with his Virtues and Valour and to defame King Edward for his Wantonness with Shore's Wife and others and stigmatized his Children for Bastards as being before his Marriage contracted to Elizabeth Lucy He likewise charged the Protectors own Mother with Incontinency when King Edward and the Duke of Clarence were born and that none of her Children were Legitimate but Richard whom he extolled to the Skies for his Goodness and Virtues at which time Richard appeared among the People the Doctor expecting they should have shouted and cried God save King Richard but every one stood silent and astonished to observe how unworthily and villainously things were managed to make the Protector King The next day the Duke of Buckingham endeavoured by the same Arguments to persuade the Londoners at Guildhall to acknowledge Richard for the true and undoubted Heir of the Crown which they then did not assent to yet the next day they were forced against their Wills at Baynards Castle to accept of him for their lawful King praying him to undergo that Burden for their Security which he often hypocritically refused yet at last with a pretended unwillingness accepted And here ended the short Reign and soon after the Life of this young innocent Prince having enjoyed it onely two Months and 13 days being murdered by his barbarous Uncle in the 13th year of his Age 1483. RICHARD the THIRD King of England c. A Moition that never is content Which Angels threw from Heaven unto Hell That for a Plague upon mankind is sent Ambitiously made me Aspire Rebel Ambition that damn'd Necromantick spell Made me clime high with shame to tumble down By Blood and Murther I did all expel Whose Right or Might debar'd me from the Crown My smiles my Gifts my favour or my frown Were mischievous in blood I took delight By cruel Tyranny I sought renown Till Heaven's just Judge me justly did requite By Blood I go by Blood I lost the Throne Alive detested Dead bewailed of none RIchard being crowned King used all means possible to ingratiate himself with the people and tâ—ough he heard that the Lord Strang Son to the Lord Stanley was raising forces in the North for the relief of his Father the Lord Stanley who was wrongfully imprisoned by Richard he took no notice thereof but instead of punishing him set him at liberty and made him Steward of his House he likewise inlarged the Arch Bishop of York but committed Morton Bishop of Ely as a Prisoner to the Duke of Buckingham which was afterward the cause of Richards destruction as well as his own he conferred great honours upon several creating his only Son Edward Prince of Wales John Howard was made Duke of Norfolk his Son Thomas Earl of Surrey the Lord William Barkley was made Earl of Nottingham and Francis Lovel viscount Lovel having firmly settled himself as he imagined he sent Ambassadors to the French King to conclude a Peace with him who so much abhorred his detestable cruelties that he would neither see nor give audience to their Message This affront and several others so tormented him that he thought he should never be acknowledged nor honoured as King whilst the young Princes lived as though such horrible murders could ever gain him love or reputation among the People Having with his confederate the Devil contrived this execrable villany he took his progress toward Glocester as if he intended to honour the place of his Title and Dignity vainly imagining that if this heinous fact were committed in his absence he should be thought innocent thereof and first he attempted to perswade Sir Robert Brachenbury whom he made Lieutenant of the Tower to perpetrate this cursed act which he generously refusing Richard swore and stormed like a fury but remembring there was a needy profligate fellow belonging to the Tower named James Tirrel he by Letters earnestly perswades him to commit this hellish murder with promises of great reward who quickly assenting thereto demands by Richards Letters the keys of the Tower to be delivered to him by the Lieutenant and then next night he sends Miles Forrest and John Dighton two Imps of Hell into the innocent Childrens Chamber who smothered them both in their beds and buried them at the stairs foot from whence they were removed and privately buried in some unknown place The news of the death of the two young Princes raised a lamentable consternation in the minds of the Nobility and People only the Tyrant and his favourites gloried in this admired peace of policy whereby they thought Richard had now securely setled himself and his posterity in the Kingdom but soon after Edward his only Child died to his great grief and trouble And now returning to London from his progress he called a Parliament and made divers good Laws and by his executing them with mercy his liberality to the poor and his courtesy to all persons he endeavoured to insinuate himself into the favour and affections of all which it seems had effect upon some for several Gentlemen of divers Counties in England offering him a Benevolence of a good sum of money he refused it saying I had rather have your hearts than your money which considering his savage nature it may be doubted in
the Lord Lovel and Richard gave the Hog for the supporter of his Arms whereupon one Collingborn made the following Rime and was executed for the same as a Traytor The Rat the Cat and Lovel the Dog Rule all England under a Hog Thus lived and thus died King Richard after he had reigned as a Tyrant two years two months and two days and of his Age thirty nine 1485. HENRY the SEVENTH King of England c. I Was the Man by Providence assign'd To purchase to this restless Kingdom rest I York and Lancaster in one conjoyn'd That by long Wars each other had opprest My Strength and Wisdom both by Heav'n were blest With good success even from first to last And the Almighty turned to the best A world of dangers which I over past I did unite the White Rose and the Red By a Conjugal Sacred Marriage Band Traytors and Treason both I quite struck dead For I was guarded by a Mighty Hand In Honour and Magnificence I Reign'd And after death a glorious Tomb I gain'd HEnry Earl of Richmond being Crowned by the name of King Henry the Seventh he according to his Oath and Promise married the Lady Elizabeth eldest Daughter to King Edward the Fourth thereby uniting the two Houses of Lancaster and York whose differences had been the death of many Thousand gallant men He then chose a select number of men for the security of his Person whom he called the Yeomen of the Guard or Crown and rewarded his Friends with Honours and Offices and among others Edward Stafford Son of the Duke of Buckingham was restored to his Fathers Dignity and Estate and calling a Parliament at Westminster all Acts which made him and his adherents guilty of High Treason were repealed and cancelled and the Crown was intailed upon him and his Heirs In his second year Francis Lord Lovel Humphrey and Thomas Strafford who had taken sanctuary for their safety at Colchester animated many People in the North to a Rebellion but King Henry soon raising an Army and pursuing them their Commanders fled and left the poor Rebels who upon submission were pardoned by the King Strafford again took Sanctuary in an Abby near Oxford but was violently forced from thence as not being sufficient enough to protect Traytors who being condemned was executed but his Brother was pardoned as Acting by his instigation No sooner was this Fire quenched but another broke out for the next year Sir Richard Symond a knavish crafty Priest knowing that Edward Plantaginet Son and Heir to George Duke of Clarence Brother to King Edward the Fourth who was now seventeen years old had from his Infancy been kept Prisoner by the two last Kings in the Castle of Sherry Hutton in Yorkshire and that he had been lately removed from thence to the Tower by King Henry he got a young Boy named Lambert Simnel a Bakers Son whom he instructed in all Court accomplishments and then told him that he was the onely Son of the Duke of Clarence and first Heir Male of the House of York The Youth being Ingenious was soon fired with this Discourse so that he could talk thereof very subtilly as if he had received his knowledge by Inspiration This Priest having throughly instructed this apt Scholar he conveyed him into Ireland and was soon entertained and believed by that barbarous and fickle Nation who gave him all Honour and Reverence yea divers of the Nobility after much conference with him did really believe what he affirmed to be true and among others the Lord Chancellor and Sir Thomas Gerandine pitying his condition were very liberal toward him He then gave private notice thereof to the Lady Magaret Dutchess Dowager of Burgundy and Sister to King Edward the Fourth who though she certainly knew he was a Countefeit yet bearing a mortal hatred to King Henry and the House of Lancaster and hoping if the Design succeeded it might procure the inlargement and advancement of her true Nephew Edward to the Crown she published the report thereof in England and all other places and that the Irish had received him for their Sovereign neither would she be wanting to support him with Men Money and Arms to the utmost These vain reports caused her Sister Eiizabeth the Lord Lovel and several other of the discontented English Nobility to transport themselves to her into Flanders and she having raised about 2000 men sent them to Ireland to joyn with 2000 more all resolving for England In the mean time King Henry to discover the Cheat caused Edward the young Earl of Warwick to be brought publickly through the City from the Tower to St. Pauls Church where vast numbers of Nobility and Commons discoursed with him And now Lamberts Forces landed near Lincoln to whom Henry sent an Army who soon routed the Irish for want of Arms and dispersed the rest most of their Commanders being slain Symonds the Priest and Lambert were taken Prisoners the first being committed to perpetual Imprisonment and Lambert was first made Scullion Boy and afterwards the Kings Falkoner In his fourth year a Tax being raised by Parliament for assisting the Duke of Brittain against the French the Countrey People in Northumberland and Durham refused to pay it and cruelly murdered the Earl of Northumberland who was employed in raising thereof and increasing in number they committed many Insolencies but the King sending a compleat Army against them under the Earl of Surry and following himself in person the Rebels as Men amazed soon fled after which followed severe execution upon all whom the King suspected to dislike his Government In his seventh year King Henry sailed with an Army into France and Besieged Bulloign assaulting it fiercely but the French King by the Mediation of his Friends and Money soon procured a Peace very honourable to Henry About which time his ancient and inveterate Enemy the Dutchess of Burgundy set up another Pageant against him having instructed a Dutch Boy called Perkin Warbeck to personate Richard Duke of York second Son to Edward the Fourth and Brother to King Edward the Fifth instructing him exactly in the Pedegrees of the Houses of Lancaster and York and telling him she resolved to advance him to the Crown whereby the youth in a short time became as expert in the Language and Linage as any Englishman whatsoever The French King expecting daily an English Army to be raised in Brittain sent for Perkin and promised to assist him in regaining his Kingdom honouring him with all manner of magnificence so that the youngster could not but strongly imagine that he was born to be a King But in the midst of his flattering hopes the Peace between France and England aforementioned was concluded upon which for fear he should be delivered up to King Henry he fled secretly out of France to his Titular Aunt the Dutchess who received him joyfully entertaining him like a Prince with plenty of Money and costly Apparel and ordering thirty Gentlemen of Quality to wait
French King and his Mother out of the hands of so dangerous a Faction by aiding such of the French Subjects as preferred the service of their Soveraign and Country above all other respects and for preserving the reformed Religion from universal destruction and maintaining her own subjects in Peace and safety this she publisht in a Manifesto to the World and accordingly assisted the Hugonots with Ships Amunition and six thousand men The Papists apprehending the Queen would lay the Ax to the Root of their Religion contrived several horrid and dangerous Conspiracies against her life which were all happily prevented Differences growing great between the Queen of Scots and her Nobility they imprisoned her from whence she escaped into England and put her self under the Protection of the Queen who after mature deliberation concluded to detain her as one taken by the Right of War and not to dismiss her till she had made satisfaction for assuming the Title of England and the Death of Darnley her husband who was an English subject born and Commissioners were appointed to examine the cause at Tork and Murray the Regent of Scotland was summoned to answer the complaints of the Queen of Scots who entred a Protestation against these proceedings as being a free Princess and obnoxious to no earthly Princess on the contrary the English alledged that they would in no wise admit of her Protest as being in prejudice of the rights which the Kings of England have anciently challenged as Superior Lords of Scotland At last after she had continued Prisoner in England eighteen years she was brought to a Tryal and being charged with having been privy to several conspiracies against the Queens Life the Commissioners of the Star Chamber pronounced sentence against her and she was soon after beheaded though after her Death Queen Elizabeth was very much troubled and grieved The Duke of Alva a man of Tyrannical and Arbitrary Principles being sent Governour into the Low Countries by the Court of Spain a War broke out with great fury for he being an enemy to their nation destroyed all their priviledges brought in the Inquisition and endeavoured by all manner of cruelties to extirpate the Protestant Religion whereupon the Hollanders confederate together in a League Offensive and Defensive constituting the Prince of Orange their Commander in chief but finding their Forces too weak to oppose the King of Spain they sent an honourable Ambassy to Queen Elizabeth offering her the Soveraignty of Holland and Zealand as she was descended from the Earls of Holland by Philippa the Wife of K. Edward the third after consideration the Queen thanked them for their good Intentions toward her but added she could not receive those provinces into her protection yet would endeavour to prevail with the King of Spain for concluding a Peace Yet she afterward sent them twenty thousand pound which with several other provocations both upon the account of Policy and Religion so inraged the Pope and Spaniard that they conspired her utter destruction the King of Spain having prepared a Navy which the Pope Christened The Invincible Armado wherewith he designed to conquer and take possession of the Kingdom of England bestowed on him by the Pope but Queen Elizabeth providing a Fleet under the Lord Howard Sir Francis Drake and other valiant Commanders fell upon them and after several days fight utterly defeated them insomuch that the Spaniards lost in this expedition above fourscore Ships thirteen thousand five hundred Souldiers and above two thousand Prisoners taken in Ireland Zealand and the Low Countries so that there was no considerable family in Spain but either lost Son Brother or Kinsman in this great defeat The French King Henry the Fourth afrer long Wars with the House of Guise and the confederate Papists of the Holy League fearing that they would at last destroy him now turned from the Protestant Religion and having acquainted Queen Elizabeth with the necessity thereof she endeavoured to divert him therefrom writing to him in these very terms Alas VVhat grief what anxiety of mind hath befallen me since I heard this news VVas it possiâ—le that worldly respects should make you lay aside the fear of God Could you think that he who hath hitherto upheld and kept you would now at the last leave you It is a dangerous thing to do evil that good may come thereof but I hope your mind may alter In the mean while I pray for you and beg of God that the hands of Esau may not hinder the blessing of Jacob To which K. Henry replied That though he had done this in his own Person out of necessity yet he would never be wanting to those of the reformed Religion but would take them into his special care and Protection However this his compliance did not save his life for having raised a great Army one Ravilliack a bloody Villain murdered him in his Coach in the Streets of Paris declaring the chief motive thereof to be because he suspected him still a Hugonot and that those Forces were designed against the Pope The Queen now assisted the Hollanders with considerable Forces under the Earl of Leicester and others and sent the Earl of Essex with a gallant Navy who took Cales the Castle being redeemed for 580000 Duckets and a vast quantity of Amunition and Money found in the Town The Spaniards offered Sir VValter Rawleigh two Millions of Duckets to free their Ship from firing but he said He was sent to destroy Ships not to dismiss them upon Composition the loss was judged 20000000 of Duckets by this Expedition In the mean time Tyrone breaking into Rebellion in Ireland got a great victory over the English and after some debate the Earl of Essex was sent thither with ample Authority but not meeting with expected success he returned to England without the Queens permission whereupon he was committed to custody and brought to a private Tryal but upon his submission was again set at liberty yet being reproached with want of Courage by some of the Cabal he turned Malecontent and used all means to gain the Peoples love resolving to seize on the Queen but being disappointed he retired into the City endeavouring to ingage the Citizens on his side which not being able to effect he at length surrendred himself to the Lord Admiral and was sent to the Tower with his great friend the Earl of Southampton both whom being Try'd were found guilty of Treason and Essex was beheaded but Southampton pardoned several of their confederates being likewise executed Soon after Queen Elizabeth died at Richmond in her Bed after she had wonderfully escaped abundance of Popish Conspiracies against her life there being above 100 Persons executed at several times during her Reign for designing to destroy her whereof sixty seven were Jesuits she reigned forty four years lived sixty nine and died March 24. 1602. of whom this Epitaph was written None like Elizabeth was found in learning so divine She had the perfect skilful art of