Satisfaction And now his Senses were charmed with the Sound of War-like Musick as well as with the softer Concerts of his Wedding Courriers were sent into England to observe what Preparations were making for Resistance But all being quiet the Scotch Army with their King at the Head entred Northumberland where they pillaged burnt ravished and killed sparing neither Age nor Sex behaving themselves without Humanity Till the Soldiers laden with Plunder refused to March further pretending no English joyned them The Counterfeit Richard one day hearing the Crys of the poor plunder'd English seemed much afflicted saying Oh! how wretched am I and my Heart as hard as Steel not to be troubled at the Misery of my People Intreating the King to prevent the Cruelty of the Soldiers and not suffer them to destroy his unhappy Country feigning great Commiseration and Tenderness Who answered him very coldly He might concern himself with his own Affairs and not with other Mens calling England his Country and People where none came to his Assistance though a War was undertaken for his Cause So chiding this Mock-King's Dissimulation and changing from that time his Respect to him Neglecting and contemning him when he found neither his Actions nor the Event of things correspond with his former Promises King Henry prepared to meet and repell the Scotch-Men at the News of this their Cruelty and Infidelity when the Lords on the Marches informed him of their Retreat They having done the best they could by Intrenching Fortifying themselves with an Intent as they did by their frequent Allarms and Skirmishes to wast and tire out the Enemy Just before this Advice he Summons a Parliament at London where several good Laws were made for the Publick Safety But Money being the Sinews of War they concluded on the Methods of raising it Giles Lord Dawbeney who was General of the Army had Orders to begin his March for the Frontiers of Scotland But he had scarce set forward when the Cornish Men took up Arms alledging for their Pretence great Taxes laid on them as they said for an Inconsiderable Scotch-War which was ended already when indeed it was but just begun And then their Barren Land and hard Labour of Mineing making them Incapable to pay them Thomas Flammock a Country-Lawyer and Michael Joseph a Farrier two bold Fellows being at the Head of the Rebels they Marched toward London and demanded the Heads of John Morton Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Sir Reynald Bray both Privy-Counsellors And at Wells they were Joyned by James Twichet Lord Awdley and some other Gentlemen King Henry considering these Troubles should be first appeased recalled the Lord Dawbency with his Army sending Thomas Howard Earl of Surry in his stead a most experienced Souldier To whom he had given his Life and Liberty after the Famous Battle of Bosworth-Field which he had won of Richard the Usurper afterwards honouring him with the Office of Lord High Treasurer of England upon the Death of John Lord Dinham This Earls Commands were to raise what Men he could about the County of Durham and oppose the Incursions of the Scots till Giles Lord Dawbeney should have Dissipated and Chastized the Rebels of Cornwall and Joyn'd him with his Army Polydore Virgil Names the Lords and the Gentlemen who met the Royal Army commanded by Dawbeney increasing it with their Tennants About this time Charles the 8 th of France sent an Ambassador to give the King an Account of his Conquering the Kingdom of Naples and to renew his Allyance with England Henry sent some Lords to meet them so soon as he knew they were arrived at Calais and also to amuse them at Dover that they might not understand the Revolt in the West till it was supprest in which he was exactly obey'd In the mean time the Rebels decamped from Wells Marched to Salisbury and so to Canterbury hoping those People would Joyn with them but they were much deceived for they found them Armed and ready to oppose them being Commanded by George Earl of Kent and John Lord Brook with Fifteen or Sixteen other Lords The Resolution and Fidelity of these Men so astonisht the Rebels Army that many abandoned them Running from their Camp in the Night But they were too far advanced for a Retreat so continued their March to Black-Heath near London where they drew up themselves in Order to a Battle upon the Hill Thither the King sent Henry Bourcheir Earl of Essex Edmund dela Pool Earl of Suffolk Sir Richard Thomas and Sir Humphrey Stanly all Great Souldiers with detached Parties to encompass them and hinder their Flight whilst he March't streight to charge them with Dawbeney followed by the best Men of his Army Commanding Sir Richard Thomas to attack them at the same time from his Post which was so vigourously executed that notwithstanding all their resistance the Rebels were broken and lost Two Thousand Men besides vast Numbers of Prisoners the King missing but Three Hundred He pardon'd those wretched People only making their Chiefs Examples among whom was the Lord Audley who was drawn from Newgate to Tower-Hill and there beheaded Thomas Flammock and Michael Joseph were Hanged and Quarter'd and their Heads and Limbs set up in London and several places of Cornwall for the Terror and Example of others They admired the Constancy of Michael the Smith who contented himself that he should always be talked of A Deo says Polydore Medios ac insimos viros perinde ut Summos Gloriae cupiditas incendit The Scotch King taking Advantage by these Disorders entred the County of Durham giving his Men all manner of Licence With some of his Troops he Besieged Norham a Castle of Great Importance on those Frontiers into which Richard Fox the Vigilant Bishop of Durham had put a strong Garrison and well fortified the Place having foreseen the Siege He then advertised Thomas Earl of Surry who had already raised a considerable Army in Yorkshire and hearing the distress that Norham was in he Marched with all speed having a Great number of Gentlemen and Knights with him and a Body of near Twenty Thousand Men besides a considerable Fleet at Sea King James informed of his Advancing being within Two Days March Hastily raised his Siege and retired into Scotland where he was followed by the Earl who being in the Enemies Country plundred all he could and took several Towns But having no opportunity to furnish himself with Provisions he returned into the County of Durham During the War about this time Peter Hyalas a wise and prudent Man came Ambassador and Mediator from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain a most Incomparable Princess King Henry appointed for his Ambassador Richard Bishop of Durham who was near the Place of Treaty where they met the King of Scotlands Privy Counsellors and treated of the Conditions of Peace The greatest difficulty arose concerning Perkin Warbeck Henry Positively persisting to have him delivered up as being the Disturber of his Kingdoms Peace and the
Occasion of so many Rebellions The King of Scotland could not in Honour yeild to deliver up a Man to Death whom he had raised and made his Kinsman So at last it was agreed that he should quit his Interest and command him out of his Dominions These Articles were agreed on and a Peace was made between them in the Year 1498. Henry King of England sent home this Spanish Ambassador Loaden with Presents and with great Thanks to his King and Queen Then was the Marriage projected of Prince Arthur the Kings Eldest Son and Katharine the Infanta afterwards Marryed to Henry the VIII his Second Son whose Famous Divorce caused so many Revolutions in the Kingdom About the same time King Henry Received two other Embassies One from the King of France the Other from Prince Philip Earl of Flanders Son to the Emperour Maximilan who renewed his Alliance with Him The King of Scotland exactly observed the Articles of Peace touching Perkin Warbeck being wholly disabused concerning him He sent for him and told him in short what he had done in his Favour but he found himself obliged to conclude a Peace with England and now was no longer in Circumstances to give him assistance or allow him his Court for a Retreat Therefore advised him to retire and hope a better Fortune Though this was a Fatal Blow to Warbeck it came not unforeseen by him who wanted not Understanding but extreamly thanked the King assuring him he could never acknowledge his Favours as he ought and desired acquiescing in his Orders After this with his Wife he went for Ireland with Intention either to go for Flanders to his Aunt or head the Cornish Malecontents But resolving on the latter he found the Minds of those People irritated by their Losses and easily engaged them to Mutiny He then gave out his Commissions and Formed his Army with Design to surprize some considerable Towns which might serve for a Refuge in case of ill Success With this intent he Besieged Exeter using all Endeavours to carry it by Assault and trying to seize the Gates for Petards nor Rams were not then in Use he brought Great Stones and Axes instead of those Engins which not taking effect he employ'd Fire and heaping Wood against the Gates indeavoured to burn them The Besieged used the same Expedient Fireing great quantity of Wood within their Gates by Flames preventing their Danger by Fire He then raised his Scaling Ladders and commanded the Attack to be made which was better repulsed many of his Men being left dead under the Walls the very Women throwing Stones and Scalding Water on the Besiegers King Henry being Informed what Danger the Besieged were in advanced with great Marches to their Assistance sending Detached Partys to declare His Coming In the mean time several Men of Quality got into the City with supplyes Amongst whom was Edward Courtney Earl of Devonshire and several of his Family Peter Edgcomb and William St. Maure and other Men of Noto This extreamly perplexed Perkin he could not cover his Men in any strong Place who for the most part of them were ill provided of Armes as well Offensive as Defensive and considering he was not able to resist so Powerful Enemies as were advancing towards him he raised the Siege and Marched to Taunton where he Muster'd his Men and drew them up in Battalia of which the King hearing directed his March that way many Lords Joyning Him and giving Demonstrations of their Zeal to express and Signalize their Loyalty on that Occasion The King Commanded my Lord Brook my Lord Dawbeney and Sir Richard Thomas with a Party of chosen detached Men to begin the Charge but both his Orders and their Resolutions were needless For Warbeck through his own Natural Cowardize or believing himself betray'd ran away and left his Army flying into the Monastery of Beaulieu His Officers seeing themselves abandonned lost their Resolution and tryed to save themselves by Flight The wretched Multitude being left without a Head knew not what to do whether to resolve to dye Fighting or to Implore the Kings Mercy But choosing the latter they threw down their Armes and on their Knees begged Pardon which the King granted them For certainly if their Officers had not left them it would have cost him very dear they being resolved to overcome or dye Partyes of Light-Horse were sent every way for the Apprehension of Warbeck and the Chief of his Gang But though they missed him they took most of the others his Accomplices Some of the Searchers found Katharine Huntley Wife of Perkin with her Women Her they brought to the King who was much furprized to see so Beautiful a Lady extreamly pittying her Misfortune And considering such a Noble Prize was not fit to be the Souldiers Prey but worthy an Emperor He sent her to London where he presented to the Queen this unfortunate Lady so unhappily Sacrificed to the Humour or Interests of the King her Uncle Match't to a Villain and Impostor instead of a Legitimate Prince whom she justly Merited and not the extream Grief of seeing this Counterfeit her Husband suffer the deserved Reproaches and Calumny of the Basest Profligates The King Encompast the Monastery of Beaulieu with his Army for the better securing Perkin Not being willing to Violate the Sanctuary he himself having been protected the same manner in Bretagn when Richard the Usurper demanded him Besides such was the Custome of those days Wherefore he sent him word by the Religious Men of the Monastery that he would spare his Life assuring him of his Clemency yet nevertheless at Exeter he beheaded several of the Principal Rebels punishing many of the rest which were taken in their Flight thanking that City for their Zeal and Fidelity With Warbeck in his Power he return'd for London where the People in Multitudes Flock't to see Perkin with astonishment admiring that a Forreigner of so mean Birth should undertake by his Impostures the Overthrow of so great a Kingdome and perswade so many Princes Lords and People to the Destruction of many of the Truth of those Falsehoods he till then spread abroad both of his Person and Birth There is no doubt but that the King kept him close Prisoner and justly punish't those remarkable Rebels of Cornwall Devon and Sommersetshire for which Service he sent Thomas Lord Darcy Sir Anyas Pawlet and Robert Sherburn Dean of St. Pauls with his Commission into the West where they soundly Fined Amerced every one that had Assisted or Favoured the Rebels before or after their Defeat at Black-heath But yet with consideration of such Persons who either through Fear or by Force were compell'd to do it There happened about this time a Quarrel between the English and Scotch that had like to have renewed the War Some Scotch were observed to walk under the Walls of Norham which a little before they had Besieged and the next day doing it again the English Garrison fearing they had some Design sent
made him swallow Poyson without effect strangled him with his own hands reporting he had destroy'd himself when he had Reign'd Six Months and Eight Days The French and Venetian Army by Land and Sea continued in the Neighbourhood expecting the effect of young Alexis Promises which he not being able to perform in the time agreed on too earnestly endeavouring to raise the Money fell into the hatred of the People and was thus deprived of his Diadem and Life So bloody a Regicide deserved the Chastisement our Warriours intended him who drawing their Army down Besieged Constantinople for 72 Days Geofry de Vilhardouin writ the Story of this Siege and the particular Actions of the Heroes Murzuphle fled with his Treasures abandoning the City which was taken the 12th of April 1204. The Princes and other Lords resolved to choose an Emperor amongst them The Earl of Flanders with the Count of St. Paul named Five to give their Suffrages The Marquis of Montferrat and the Earl of Savoy other five The Venetians choosing the like Number In all 15 Voyces The Plurality were for Baldwyn This Prince was very powerful and a Great Souldier of which he had given many Proofs in the Siege He was Uncle by the Mothers Side to Lewis design'd Successor to Philip the August King of France He was Crown'd by Thomaso Morosini newly created Patriarch of Constantinople Boniface Marquis of Montferrat had from young Alexis for a Recompence the Island of Candia which he sold the Venetians for a great Sum of Money and was nevertheless made King of Thessaly Godfry Lord of Champagn was made Duke of Athens and Prince of Achaia John Earl of Brienne was sometime after made King of Jerusalem Baldwin had scarcely possest this new Dignity a Year before he went to Besiege Adrianople three Days Journey from him and possest by his Enemies who very much annoyed him That Success he had in the beginning did not accompany him in this Affair since by the profound Secrets of the Divine Pleasure being attackt with great Numbers of his Adversaries Greek Fugitives Bulgarians and Tartars he was defeated and supposed to be kill'd in the Plaines of Orestes A nostris pro Mortuo deploratus est says Paulus Aemilius His Brother Henry Succeeding him in the Empire This Disaster happened in the Year 1205 though some Chronologists antidate it two or three Years Twenty Years after This Famous Impostor calling himself by the Name of this Emperour appeared in Flanders Jane eldest Daughter of this Baldwin by Mary the Daughter of Henry Earl of Champagne was at that time Countess of Flanders and Married to Fernando Infant of Portugal She had great Wars her Husband having been taken Prisoner at the Famous Battle of Bovines which King Philip the August gained over the Emperour Otho the 4th in year 1214. And was long a Prisoner in the Louvre at Paris Although this had been some Years past she still felt her losses and that great Consternation Robert Son of Peter de Courtenay Earl of Auxerre and Prince of the Blood of France and Yolente only Daughter and Inheritrix of the Emperour Henry Earl of Flanders then possest that Throne to which this Impostor pertended One would have thought he should first have gone to the place where he was taken Prisoner but he could hope no assistance from the Greeks On the contrary Theodore Lascaris who resided at Nice and always took upon himself the Title of Emperour of Constantinople would have used him worse than the Bulgarians if he had fallen into his hands As for Robert de Courtnay whose Mother Yolente was his pretended Niece he was no ways inclin'd to yield him the Empire he had too much difficulty in obtaining it His Father the Emperour Peter falling into the Hands of Theodore was cruelly put to Death by him So that this Impostor thought his Affairs would advance better and he be more kindly received in his Native Country The Earldome of Haynault was his first Inheritance for this Baldwin was Son to an Earl of Haynault of the same Name Sirnamed The Magnanimous and of Margaret of Alsace Heiress of Flanders For this Reason he was Joyfully received there and with more satisfaction to those Martial People who hated the Dominion of a Woman Besides it was Independant on the Kings of France The Flemings received him very coldly seeing but a small Train with him nor would they own him for their Earl or Emperour of Greece This Impostor affected an extraordinary Gravity in his Meine the better to draw Veneration and acquire the Majesty of an Emperour The Countess Jane refused to see him but was advised to interrogate him for the better discovery of his Practises The President of her Councel of State summon'd him to appear ask'd him many troublesome Questions Gravibus fatigare percontationibus ausus est and spoke to him in this manner If it be true that you are the Earl Baldwin and assume not a False Title to the Empire of Greece I demand of you Why you have abandon'd your Subjects in that Country Even those poor People laden with Miseries whom the Divine Providence by the Suffrages of so many brave Men had committed to your Protection Why forsake you them in their greatest need of your Conduct and Care having so many Generous and Experienc'd Captains to whom you owed the last and greatest Obligations for chusing you among the most principal Men in the World to be their Chief and set the Imperial Diadem upon your Head Why have you thus neglected them exposed to the rage of Barbarous Nations For this reason although you were the true Baldwin we have sufficient Cause to dissemble our knowledge of you sure then we shall not own you who are but a false and a counterfeit Badlwin Why when the Affairs of all the East were laid on your shoulders to be supported and sustained by you when they were in disorder and lost by your misfortune have you feign'd to be dead and conceal'd your being alive What could you expect from so strange a Deceit Or what could be the reason of such a supposition and imposture If you would so long dwell among the Dead why should we now believe you are alive not having appear'd in any place these twenty years And had you been what you pretend now why did you not come in the time of Philip the August your Brother in Law who Married Alix one of your Sisters and in the life time of so many persons of Honour who might either have proved your Imposture or authorized your Title Why came you not sooner out of the Grave In what darkness have you hid that Glorious Face known to the whole World And with what new one do you pretend to Enchant the eyes of Men after so many years I ask if you believe your self that we ought to give faith to a Man who after so vast an Interval shall say I am the Emperor Baldwyn Have we never seen nor heard that there
Emperour of Greece Whose Death I have lamented when I was in my Youth When first the unhappy News arrived his Son Henry a Valiant Prince succeeded him in the Empire and his Eldest Daughter Jane in his Earldom of Flanders Their Country holds of me and is a Feudatory of my Crown as the Earl is a Peer of my Kingdom I wish I could alter the Course of Nature and that what has happened had not been that my dear Vncle the Father of my Cousin-German whose Name and Memory is of admirable Veneration in Greece could return to Life But I cannot lightly be perswaded from the belief I have of his death and the report which hath been confirmed through the course of so many Years Most humane things especially Empires subsist by the Testimony of men Tell me then for whom you would be received If for my Vncle shew it us by some authentick proof and because the thing is unexpected it will be so much the more agreeable and give me transports of joy and satisfaction when I am convinced I have wept for my Vncle without cause and for a false Opinion whilst he that I should Reverence like a Father is restor'd to me I am glad that a few short questions will make your self judge and witness in your own Cause which the World must needs know is of the greatest Importance I ask you then If my Father King Philip treated you as his Homager and whether he gave you the Investiture of the Earldom of Flanders In what place at what time in what manner and before what Witnesses did he gird on your Sword and made you a Knight And of what Order was it Who was the Wife you Married in France Who treated the Match In what place and with what Ceremonies did you Marry her for the true Baldwyn cannot be ignorant of these matters I have exactly made a Recital of all the Questions from Paulus Aemilius that admirable Historian It is very strange that he who had so well studied the Genealogies of the Flemish Lords could not tell what Wife he Married which was Margaret Daughter to the Earl of Champagne The Annals of Flanders say it was the Bishop of Beauvais President of the Kings Counsel that askt him all these questions which may be reduced to three 1. In what place he did Homage for his Earldom of Flanders 2. By whom and in what Place he was made a Knight 3. In what Place and on what Day he Married Margaret of Champagne But this Impostor as surprized with all these Questions askt three days to answer them Perhaps one might excuse a Man for not remembring several Circumstances of the principal Actions of his Life Besides such an August Assembly before so Great a King and Magnificent a Court a Subject of such consequence before an Audience no ways favourable with the Apprehension of the Danger might distract him and hinder his answering pertinently Guaguin says That speaking Haughtily to the Points in question without sufficient Proofs of what he pretended to be the King commanded him to go out of his Realm in three days but doing him no hurt because he had given him his safe Conduct This Impostor being thus shamefully Driven away retir'd to Valenciennes in Haynault where being abandon'd by those whose hopes of advantage by this Novelty had made them promise him great assistance he disguis'd himself like a Trades-man intending to have past into Burgundy hoping to find countenance and support there but he was watcht and taken on his way by a Burgundian Gentleman Erard Castenac who sold him to the Countess Jane for four hundred Marks She put him to the torture and forc'd him by his torments to Confess his Imposture He said he was Born in Champagne and his name was Bertrand de Rayns he was led through all the Cities of Flanders and Haynault where after having been shew'd to the People he was publickly hang'd at Lisle in Flanders Famâ ancipiti jurene an injuriâ The greatest part of Europe was in doubt whether the Countess justly put this Impostor to Death The example of Peter Courtney Successor of the true Baldwyn and Henry in right of his Wife Yolante persuaded the possibility of so straight a Prison as might not give him Opportunity to inform his Subjects and Friends what misfortune had befallen him The Catastrophe of this false Baldwyn happen'd in the year of Christ 1225. and of the World 5186. CHAP. VIII Perkin Warbeck OR THE COUNTERFEIT Duke of York Son of Edward the Fourth King of England THis Impostor continued longer than any of the rest and had more Chances and happy Hours The Cruelty of Richard Duke of Glocester Son of Richard Duke of York and Brother of Edward the Fourth King of England gave Henry Earl of Richmond Grand-son of Owen Tudor and Catharine of France a Pretension to Arm against him for the Recovery of the Kingdom of England which Edward the Fourth before Duke of York and Head of the Red-Rose had usurp't from Henry the Sixth Richard Duke of Glocester had also usurp't the Crown from Edward the Fifth a young Prince of Twelve years old Eldest Son and Successor to King Edward the Fourth as likewise from his Brother Richard Duke of York his two Nephews whom he unnaturally and cruelly murthered in the Tower of London in the year 1483. It was the Person of this last Richard Duke of York and only Brother of King Edward the Fifth that this Impostor Peter Warbeck commonly called Perkin Warbeck so artfully imitated for Five or Six Years time from 1494 untill 1499 putting all England into combustion and perplexity on that Subject and giving much trouble to the new Conqueror Henry the Seventh who was before Earl of Richmond Margaret Sister to King Edward the Fourth Widow of Charles the Hardy Duke of Burgundy and Soveraign of the Seventeen Provinces of the Lower Germany produced and instructed this Counterfeit to take the Crown of England if she could have effected what she had often endeavoured from Henry the Seventh Chief of the House of Lancaster or the White-Rose whom she mortally hated This is the Truth of the Story as Polydore Virgil Historiographer to Henry the Eighth relates it in the Twenty-sixth Book of his History of England This Princess a Woman of an Ambitious and Intriguing humour had conceived a great Aversion to Henry the Seventh Exterminator of the Usurper Richard Duke of Glocester The principal cause of her Hatred proceeded from the long Enmity between his Family of Lancaster and her 's of the House of York which made her continually endeavour by all means imaginable his extirpation with the satisfaction of her own Revenge in the removal of the Crown to One of her own Party But finding all her endeavours miscarried and those of John Earl of Lincoln were come to nothing her old Inveterate temper prompted her with new Expedients more difficult for Henry to prevent She met a young man at Tourney who was handsom
going out of the Kingdom except with good Passes and to hinder all great Assemblies For the better disabusing the English from their false opinions he sent his subtlest Spies through all the Towns of Flanders to understand the Birth and Original of this Counterfeit promising large Recompence to those that could discover it Writing to his Friends on the same Subject These Emissaries exactly obeyed their Orders some of them coming to Tournay found the false Richard was Born there of the Meanest of the People his name being Peter Warbeck of which they brought very authentick Attestations Upon this the King sent a solemn Embassy to young Earl Philip in Flanders of which Sir Edward Poinings and William Warham Dr. of Laws were chief The latter of these was also a Church-man of extraordinary Parts and Modesty He made a Speech to the Lords of the Young Princes Counsel who was not of Age yet to take the Government upon himself He laid the impiousness of the Impostor before them putting them in mind of the like happening in their Country about 250 years before in the time of their Countess Jane Likewise telling them that the Effects of the King his Masters Friendship to Maximilian Father of the Prince in the War of France should not be so quickly blotted out of their memory sharply reflecting on the Conduct of the Dutchess Margaret who brought forth in her elder Years not a Child at nine Months but a Prodigy of nine score Months old The Councel after a long Debate reply'd That to gratifie the King their Earl would give no assistance to Perkin But for the Dutchess Dowager She was Mistress of her Joynture and her Actions and they would neither prescribe nor forbid her any thing The Ambassadors being return'd Henry sent divers Emissaries some to discover the Names of the Conspirators by feigning to enter into the design others to endeavour the persuading Sir Robert Clifford and William Barklay to return with the assurance of their Pardon Clifford was prevailed on but Barklay continued obstinate not returning till two Years after and till he was certain of the Kings Mercy Some of the Kings Messengers came back after having discovered many of the Conspirators Others staid longer to accompany Clifford whose coming home so much discountenanced the Plotters that they knew not whom to trust The King being informed who several of the Conspirators were caused them to be Seized and Committed to Prison in London the Chief were John Ratclif Lord Fitz-Walter Sir Simon Montfort and Sir Thomas Thwaites Knights William Dawbeney Robert Ratclif Richard Lacy with divers others Some Priests William Richeford and Thomas Ponys Dominican Fryers William Sutton Robert Laybourn and William Worsley Dean of St. Pauls The rest finding their practises were discovered fled to several places of Refuge They were all Condemned as Traytors but only these Principal were Beheaded Robert Ratclif William Dawbeney and Simon Montfort John Ratclif Lord Fitzwalter was carried to Calais where for endeavouring to make his Escape he lost his Head likewise The rest the King Pardoned Not long after Sir Robert Clifford Arrived and the King chose to speak with him in the Tower that in case he accused any Great Men about his Person he might secure them there Much discourse there was touching Cliffords Conduct some thought him all along to have been imploy'd by the King to discover the rest This was occasioned by the ready obtaining his Pardon and his Return made him equally decry'd by both Parties his Friends believing him a Cheat but the small consideration the King had of him generally convinced People he acted as he thought through his Inclination to the House of York being deceived into the persuasion it was the true Prince He threw himself at the Kings Feet giving an account what passed in Flanders and naming amongst his Accomplices Sir William Stanley It much astonished the King he being his Lord Chamberlain to whom he trusted his most Important Affairs and who had gain'd him the Crown which was wore by his assistance in the Battel against Rich. the Third the Usurper Clifford pretending to know his ill will to the King from the beginning he having declared He would never bear Arms against that Young Man if he were convinced he was the Son of King Edward Polydore Virgil says his Resentment proceeded from his not being rewarded as he thought he had deserved to be Benesicium post hominum memoriam Maximum per quod Henricus a periculo vitaeliberatus conservatusque Regnum sibi quaesivit For when the King was over-power'd at the Battel of Bosworth and like to be torn in pieces by that Squadron where his Enemy Richard was Sir William Stanly by order of his Brother Thomas who Commanded the Reserve effectually helping where he found most need charging Richard he disingaged the King and gave him the Victory These Considerations made him in some suspence but the consequence of the Example prevail'd and he was Beheaded as the rest were The King was under a necessity to use that Rigour for hindring the Insolent discourses of the common People who talkt Maliciously and Cursed him at their little Meetings saying aloud They expected every day the Duke of York and to see him on the Throne But these Executions and the Method he used in his Affairs extinguished great part of those Heats and restored many People to their Duty Giles Lord Dawbeney whose Prudence and Fidelity the King was well assured of possest the Place of Lord Chamberlain Vacant by the Death of Sir William Stanley The Irish more than ever persisting in their rash unadvisedness it was resolved to endeavour to crush those Seeds of Sedition Perkin had sown amongst them the precedent Years For which Intent the King sent Henry Denny Abbot of Langton a Wise and Contriving Man whom he designed to make Chancellor of that Kingdom making Sir Edward Poynings his Colleague who was to command the Army These two Persons representing the two Arms of Justice one holding the Scales the other the Sword shewing above the Cheats of an Impostor the Majesty of a Lawful King Non solum Armis decoratam sed Legibus armatam They had order to go where he had been and take an exact account who they were that resolved to assist him and to Arm all they could to pursue the Accomplices Ireland was divided into two sorts of Inhabitants the one Civilized through the converse with other Nations but especially the English The others Wild and Savage as any upon Earth living by Theft enclin'd to Rebellion and Novely destroying one another according to the Inclinations and Avarice of those they follow Perkin knowing the Genius and Turbulent Spirits of the latter addressed himself to them These Sir Edward Poynings attackt chiefly knowing them most Guilty but they would never stand the shock always flying to their Boggs and Mountains The other Irish did not obey his Orders nor send him Succours as they promised which made him give over
the Pursuit believing the old Governour Gerald Earl of Kildare favoured them underhand wherefore he cunningly seized his Person and brought him to the King before whom this Earl so pleaded his Cause that he was sent back and restored to his Government being thought the most prudent way in that Conjuncture because of his great Interest and Authority with the Irish While these things were transacting in England Warbeck was extreamly grieved his Conspiracy was discovered and many of his chiefest Friends Executed Yet he notwithstanding resolved to cross the Sea accompanied by a great number of Vagabonds such Fugitives as would follow him 'T is true he had some Lords and good Captains in his Train to strengthen his hopes of the Crown His Fleet came upon the Coast of Kent where the weather being calm he Landed some of his Men for the better securing or persuading the Country People to his Party But the Impostor was already known every where and they had suffered much Misery and Desolation in the late Wars They knew the Soldiers of this false Richard were all Strangers who would make no distinction of Friends or Enemies where they were strong enough to Plunder and Pillage nor have respect to Churches or Places Sacred believing God had left them since several of their Party had been put to shameful deaths as a punishment of their Guilt Wherefore these Inhabitants endeavoured to destroy this Counterfeit by persuading him to Land all his Men promising to give notice to their Neighbours and make a considerable body while he prepared for his March Perkin distrusted their Intentions knowing the common People use no Ceremony in their Emotions but run on without Reason or Deliberation Therefore he resolved not to Land himself but to venture part of his Men who were no sooner out of sight when the Country People Charged them driving them back to the Sea so that only the most Nimble and most Cowardly escaped the Stoutest and Robust were killed or wounded The latter were not treated as Prisoners of War but like Pirats and Thieves 150 being Hanged along the Shore The King himself was on his March from London against these Vagabonds till meeting the news of their Defeat he returned sending only Sir Richard Guilford to thank the Kentishmen for their Loyalty and assure them of his Grace and Favour incouraging them to persist in the same Fidelity and Zeal for his Interest Though this ill success troubled Warbeck and his Friends who returned to Flanders they gave not over for it taking new Resolutions of Landing in Ireland and Levying Men there for the Invading the Western parts of England And if that failed to go for Scotland which Nation had never Peace long with the English His Aunt giving him Money for the equipping a Fleet and making some Levies He Sayled with good Weather to the Irish Coasts where he soon found the inequality between those unarmed unexperienced People and the English Forces yet not daring to expose his Men to the Slaughter he rather chose the other Project of passing into Scotland where James the Fourth was not displeased at the Arrival of a Person so much discours'd of through all Europe out of the Aversion his People had for the English giving him Access to his Royal Person where Polydore Virgil says he made this Speech I know Great Prince you cannot be Ignorant what Calamities have late befallen the Family of Edward the Fourth King of England whose Son I assure your Majesty I am having by a Miracle escaped Death My Father e're he dyed made Richard Duke of Glocester my Uncle Guardian to Edward my Elder Brother and my self hoping the great kindness he always favoured him with would oblige him to more tenderness of us But alas how was he deceived for our Guardian became our Murderer Transported by his Ambition of Reigning he gave his positive Commands for our Destruction The Person he instructed with his Orders frighted with the horror of the Crime obey'd but half his Instructions For after he had taken away my Brother's sparing my life he suffered a faithful Servant to convey me out of the Kingdom who left me not till I was past all danger By these Methods my Vncle Richard seized the Crown as if it had been the Reward of his Crimes whilst I after this Deliverance wandring about the World almost forgot who I was At last coming to my Aunt Margaret Widow of that most excellent Prince Charles late Duke of Burgundy she received me with unspeakable joy as risen from the dead But that Princess having only her Joynture in Flanders and not able to assist me with Force enough for the recovery of my Kingdom I have been constrained to have Recourse to other Princes And by her advice I am come to Your Majesty though slenderly accompanyed Yet knowing your Princely Generosity which has filled the World with your Glory particularly for your Inclination to protect the Vnhappy Dispossessed of their Rights who becoming Objects of the Cruelty of wicked Men are so much the greater of Your Royal Clemency This encourages me to implore Your Majesty's Assistance for this Vnhappy Prince here before You for the Recovery of his antient Kingdom And I assure you I and my Successors will so acknowledge Your Majesty's Grace and Favour that this Crown will not repent the Kindness though to say truly it is above all we can do to express our Gratitude as we ought King James answer'd his Speech very civilly exhorting him to take Courage and assure himself he should not repent his coming thither He Assembled his Council who were much divided in their Opinions some taking him for an Impostor others whose Advice prevailed affirming that if he were the true Duke of York both He and all his Posterity must acknowledge this Favour and for it be obliged to Scotland Or although he should prove a Counterfeit this Pretence of War would make the English treat with more inclination to grant what they desired for the dis-engaging the Scots from his Interest This last Advice was followed by the King who shewed Perkin extraordinary Respects stiling him Highness and Duke of York And to advance his Credit he married him to his Kinswoman Katharine Daughter of Alexander Earl of Huntley a Lady of incomparable Beauty and Vertue whose Obedience to the King rather than the Ambition of having her Head Crowned one day with a Royal Diadem o're-came the Repugnance she had in her Heart to marry a Man so unknown whom many called an Impostor The Motives which perswaded the King to this Match were for a specious Pretext of War and breaking the Truce with the English He being by this obliged to protect his new Kinsman and Ally without being accounted rash in his Assistance if the Deceit should be discovered for this Marriage must needs perswade the World he thought him the true Duke of York King James raised Men and formed an Army which you will suppose gave the Impostor great
Whisks this and that way to no purpose and his best Reasons as once his Squibbs destroy themselves and endanger no Body so much as their Author If he could possibly be made capable of Good Advice I would counsel him only to play the Fool in Bartholomew-Fair there let him be Laureat to King Oberon and at his own Booth be Zany and Poet. But let not his own Life and Manners be the Subject of his next Puppet-Show lest it Debauch the Rabble his great Admirers These and many other Scriblers have been Selected as the Propogaters of the Cause but they are generally so Vile and Inconsiderable that I chuse to despise them and scorn to do them the credit of Remarking I would stop here but Difficile est Satyram non Scribere as fast as I cut off New Heads arise from my Hydra Legion of Old left Man for Swine and now for Swine enters Man again Such Impostors have appeared amongst us of late that it is incredible to think that our Senses and Understandings should have been so much imposed on as they have Wretches most profligate in all sorts of Wickedness as Cheating Thieving Forgery Coyning Lying Perjury nay Sodomy have on a suddain been entertained and credited as most Pious Sober Virtuous Christians and True Protestants What greater Prodigy than that such Spirits of Darkness should pass for Angels of Light Yet in respect to the Sense and Justice of my Country I will keep in bold Truths and spare even the Impostor with a Witness But when any Man shall think it convenient in proper Colours to draw the true Lineaments of some of these Counterfeits the History of their Lives though writ with the greatest Impartiality will appear as improbable as Rablais his Garagantua In the mean time let them be tormented with their Secret Crimes and in their Consciences which are as a Thousand Witnesses confess Ambiguae si quando citabere Testis Incertaeque rei Phalaris licet imperet ut sis Falsus admoto dictet perjuria Tauro Summum crede nefas vitam praeferre pudori Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas Juvenal Sat. 8. I could have Paraphrased this into English but will content my self with Doctor Holliday 's Translation When in a Doubtful Cause thou needs must stand A Witness should Phalaris bid thee be False shew his Bull and dictate Perjury Life before Vertue count it lewd to choose Do not to save Life th' Ends we live for loose A TABLE OF THE Histories contained in this Book Chap. I. THe False Smerdis only Brother of Cambyses King of Persia and of the Medes Pag. 1. Chap. II. The False Nero. Pag. 26. Chap. III. The False Messiah called Bencochab Chief of the Revolted Jews Pag. 30. Chap. IV. The False Moses Pag. 33. Chap. V. John Bulchold King of the Anabaptists called John of Leyden Pag. 35. Chap. VI. The False Clotaire called Gondoald Pag. 38. Chap. VII The False Baldwin Emperour of Greece and Earl of Flanders Pag. 58. Chap. VIII The False Richard Duke of York and pretended Son of Edward the Fourth King of England called Perkin Warbeck Pag. 76. Chap. IX The False Don Sebastian King of Portugal Pag. 113. Chap. X. The False Voldemar Marquis and Elector of Brandenbourg Pag. 139. Chap. XI The False Mustapha Son of Bajazet the First of that Name Emperour of the Turks Pag. 154. Chap. XII The False James Heraclides Despot of Moldavia and Wallachia Pag. 179. A LIST OF INFAMOUS Impostors OR THE LIVES Of Several Notorious Counterfeits who from the most Abject and Meanest of the People have usurped the Titles of Emperours Kings and Princes CHAP. I. Of the False Smerdis ONE of the most Profligate Impostors I can write of is the Counterfeit Smerdis who was a Magus which taking the word in its most favourable Acceptation signifies a Scholar an Astrologer or Philosopher But I am more inclin'd to believe he was a Magician who for some Crime escap'd the Justice of Cyrus with the loss of his Ears The Frenzy and Distraction into which Cambyses King of Persia and Son of Cyrus the Great fell gave this Impostor an Opportunity to shew himself and for eight Months to ascend the Throne of one of the Greatest and most Potent Empires in the Universe For the King when fallen into this Distemper caus'd his only Brother to be put to Death he being then Governour of Persia Whose Person this Magician so acted as obtain'd him the Quality and Empire of Smedis The untimely Death of this Prince gave him the Opportunity of being so great an Impostor the Distraction of Cambyses was the cause of his Death and the Sacrilege of Cambyses in mortally wounding the God Apis of Epaphus the Occasion of that Punishment This Apis the Aegyptians blinded with Idolatory ador'd in the Figure of a Calf The Fable of this Divinity is known to proceed from Jupiter's loving the Princess Jo Daughter of Inachus King of Phoenicia Juno contrived to surprize him with her wherefore Jupiter turn'd her into an Heifer to secure her against the Revenge and Jealousie of the Goddess But that was not sufficient to extinguish her Jealous suspitions which prompted her to beg that beautiful Cow of Jupiter who could find no excuse to deny her Juno committed her to the keeping of Argus with his hundred Eyes at which Jupiter being extreamly vext sent Mercury his Bastard and stole her away while Argus slept This so engaged Juno that her Revenge fell on Jo whom she commanded the fury Erinnys to make distracted and possess with wild Fancies which made her wander about the World untill grown weary and Faint she stopt in Aegypt where she was restor'd to her former Shape and Person and brought to Bed of Epaphus The Egyptians Worshipping both her and her Son Ovid tells this Story at the end of his first Book of Metamorphosis Cambyses although the eldest Son and Successor to so great a King and in the Possession of such mighty Provinces as the Persiaen Empire contain'd burn'd with an unlimited Ambition to extend his Conquests which he did over Aegypt stripping Psalmneticus the King Son of Amasis the Usurper of all Regal Power But this not being enough for his vast Thoughts he undertook three great Wars at the same time though very unseasonably and to his disadvantage making the Carthaginians the Aethiopians and the Arabians his Enemies Against each of these he had ill Success He could not attack the Carthaginians but by Sea and the Phoenicians his only Subjects that could assist him with Ships mutin'd and refused to lend him any belleving it unnatural to contribute towards the Ruin of the Carthaginians who proceeded from them To advance towards Aethiopia the Army had vast Deserts to march over and this young unadvised King took so ill Measures and made so small Provisions that he hardly got the Fifth Part of the way ere his Army wanted and were forced to eat their own Horses and Camels and afterward by Decimation
and Lot to feed on every Tenth Man till at last he with the Wrack of this miserable Army got back to Thebes in Aegypt The Third which was of Fifty Thousand Men was commanded to waste the Country round the Temple of Jupiter Hammon and to burn that famous Temple with the Statue of Jupiter When they had advanc'd as far as the City Oasis seven days Journey beyond Thebes being the mid-way to the Town of Dasis the Country they were to attack they halted in a Valley where an impetuous Wind blowing Mountains of Sand from all parts buried them together not one escaping so that Cambyses could have no other News but only the probability of this Accident The God Apis so much ador'd by the Aegyptians shew'd himself that Year which he had not done along time before These blind People when they found a Calf of extraordinary Largeness and Beauty made it their False God using all Shews of publick Joy they could express Cambyses being angry and ill humour'd with his late Disasters believed they rejoyced at his ill Fortune and took a Pretext to do it for the Apparition of their God He was then at Memphis where he commanded the Magistrates to come before him and give an Account why they took so ill a Conjuncture for their Mirth and Feasting No Excuses would serve nor no Submissions prevail but he caused them all to be put to Death He also commanded the Priests of Apis to be brought with the Calf they ador'd which was black and had a large square Spot in his Fore head another in the resemblance of an Eagle on his Back a Cross under his Jaws and at the End of his Tail a thick forked Tuff of Hair Cambyses drew his Sword and wounded him in the Ham though his intention was to have kill'd him calling the Priests contemptuous Names saying You deserve no better Gods than Flesh and Blood that can feel and smart with a Wound Then in derision caus'd them to be cruelly beaten commanding his Guards to kill whoever they found rejoycing on that Occasion This severe Order soon put an end to their Feasting The God Apis was carried into the Temple where he languish't till he died and was privately buried by his Priests Heaven as the Aegyptians believed punish'd Cambyses for these Sacriledges taking away his Reason and making him distracted One of the saddest Effects of his Frenzy was the Death of his own Brother Smerdis a very accomplish'd Prince and of so extraordinary Strength that it caused his Brother's Jealousy so far as to deny him Access to his Person by sending him into Persia while he remain'd in Aegypt His Ambassadors or rather his Spies in Aethiopia amongst other Rarities brought home with them a Bow of so large a size that no Persian had strength enough to bend it but Smerdis only who did it with two Fingers which was the first subject of his Disgrace as that which follows was the cause of his Death Cambyses dream't that a Courrier came in great haste brought him news that Smerdis sat on his Throne that his Head reacht Heaven This made him resolve his Death and gave Prexaspes one of his Officers Orders to see it done which he did near Susa as he accompany'd him a Hunting Others say It was by throwing him into the Red-Sea as he walk'd on the Cliffs I need but mention the other Cruelties of Cambyses The Murthering one of his Sisters whom he had Marry'd kicking her many times on the Belly when she was with Child of which she died The Occasion she gave him was wittily reproaching him of his Killing Smerdis He shot the Son of Prexaspes with an Arrow and then rip 't him open so paying his Father for Murthering Smerdis He put twelve of his great Lords to a cruel Death burying them alive with their Heads downwards and would have kill'd the best of his Counsellors the wise and famous Croesus who lost his Kingdom of Lydia with his immense Riches on whom Cyrus his Father had pity These were the Praeludes or rather the Causes which preceded and encourag'd this Impudent Impostor of whom we treat During the time Cambyses committed these Excesses of Cruelties and that his Frenzy made him more hated than a wild Beast there were two Brothers by Profession Magicians One of them called Patazithes was an Officer of his House These conspir'd against him Patazithes knowing the Death of Smerdis which was hid from the Persians had Insolence enough to undertake this Enterprize which follows He had a Brother of the Age and Features of Smerdis and of his Name also him he contrived to set on the Throne and instructed him in all the Arts he should use He sent Heralds into Aegypt commanding the Officers of the Army for the future to obey Smerdis the Son of Cyrus and no longer to own Allegiance to Cambyses These Heralds so well acquitted themselves of their Commission that one of them met Cambyses with his Army at Echatana in Syria to whom he boldly shewed his Order who was astonish'd at his Resoiution and turning towards Prexaspes spoke to him in these words Is it thus you have executed the Commands I gave you No Sir replyed Prexaspes it is not true that your Brother can ever Rebel or Fight more or less against your Authority for with my own Hands I obey'd your Orders And if those who are out of the World can fight you have more reason to apprehend Astyages King of the Medes but if your Majesty have no cause to think of him you have no other to fear your Brother Smerdis I beseech you Sir continued he grant me some of your Guards to pursue this Herald and bring him back that you may learn from him if he have seen or spoke to Smerdis This Advice pleased the King The Herald was brought back and ask't If he received his Orders from the Mouth of Smerdis or from some of his Ministers only He ingenuously confest he had not seen him since the War Cambyses made in Aegypt but had his Orders from the Magician whom his Majesty made Intendant of his Affairs in Persia who said in these words Smerdis the Son of Cyrus commands this to be done Cambyses was satisfied by this Answer that Prexaspes had obey'd him whom he otherwise had certainly put to Death He ask't him If he could conjecture who were the Authors of this Rebellion and Imposture I doubt said Prexaspes they were the Magicians Patazthes Governour of the Houshold and Smerdis his Brother When Cambyses heard the Name of Smerdis he seem'd Thunder-struck remembring the Truth of his Dream and knowing too late his fatal Error wept bitterly for his double Murther of his Brother and Sister In this transport of Grief hastily mounting his Horse to chastise the Rebels at Susa the Scabbard of his Sword dropt off and he found himself wounded in the same Place with the Point where he hurt the God Apis. It surpriz'd him more when they told him
out to know their Reasons and whether they came not as Spies From Words they soon came to Blows which put the Scotch who were fewer in Number to Flight leaving several Dead on the Place At this the King of Scotland was incensed demanding the Violaters of the Peace in his Letters where he highly complain'd of them The King of England tryed to appease Him promising exemplary Punishment on the Aggressors Richard Fox Bishop of Durham being extreamly displeased that the Garrison he had placed there should give Occasion of Variance between those two Monarchs who with so great Difficulty were brought to an Accord sent his Letters to King James assuring him he might expect all possible Satisfaction This Prince who very much esteemed him honoured him with an Answer and an Invitation to come and discourse of Matters The Bishop immediately informed the King his Master who permitted him to go It was in this Visit that King James told him If He did not fear a Denyal he would ask the Princess Margaret his Master's Eldest Daughter in Marriage The Bishop encouraged his Hopes undertaking to sound the Affair without ingaging His Honour in it King Henry rejoyced at the Overture and accepted it with all His Heart It was from this Marriage of the Princess Margaret to James the Fourth King of Scotland that James the Sixth of Scotland and since King of England as next Heir Inherited the Crown of England after the Death of Queen Elizabeth in the Year 1603. Now we will declare the Catastrophe and Death of the Impostor Perkin together with that of the Unfortunate Prince Edward Earl of Warwick Warbeck's Turbulent Spirit ill brooking so strait an Imprisonment endeavoured to make his Escape and finding his Guards to abate something of their first strictness got out of Prison directing his Flight towards the Sea-side for Shipping off privately which in England after Proclamation to the contrary is very difficult He was quickly miss'd and every way pursued He carefully watching hid himself in Ditches and behind the Hedges till the Horsemen that sought him were past When despairing to get out of the Island and finding himself reduced to the utmost Distress he waited the Obscurity of the Night and got to a Monastery where asking for the Prior and throwing his Arms about his Neck he declared his Misfortune The Father touched with his Misery promised to speak to the King which accordingly he did whose Piety granted his Life without other present Punishment provided he no more attempted to escape The Counterfeit was then led in Chains to London where before Westminster-Hall he was in a pair of Stocks exposed a whole Day to the Scorn and Mockery of the People The next day enduring the same in the City where he declared his Parentage the Place of his Birth and all the Passages of his Life and by what Means he was induced to make this Attempt and from thence he was conveyed into the Tower As for Young Edward Earl of Warwick he had been a Prisoner from his Cradle bred up out of the Sight of Men or Beasts So that he could not distinguish a Goose from a Hen and incapable of doing any thing worthy of death He was nevertheless brought to it by the Crimes of Others That Age being Fruitful in Impostors an Augustine Monk called Patrick suborned a Youth whose Name we find not with Promises of Raising him to the Crown and to better Fortune than Perkin Warbeck's provided he would pass for the Earl of Warwick and but leave him alone to Act the rest Ambition had such Charms with the Young Man that he undertook it and hazarded all was desired of him So they came to Canterbury where they told their forged Adventure The Fryar declaring how dextrously he had got the Earl of Warwick out of Prison and some credulous People believing the Story But before they had time to cheat the World the King sent and apprehended the Two Sparks Hanged the Youth and Immured the Monk according to the Custom of those Times Perkin continued still the same contriving and endeavouring to break loose once more and having corrupted some of his Guards design'd to Murther the Lieutenant of the Tower and carrying the Earl of Warwick with him to get out by Force which being discovered he was by the Judges condemned for this last Action only and a few days after hanged accordingly As for the Earl of Warwick he lost his Head for listening to him and intending to Escape with him This Unhappy Prince bearing the Iniquity of his Father George Duke of Clarence who was the Barbarous Murtherer of Prince Edward only Son and design'd Successor of Henry the Sixth You may imagine the Astonishment and Affliction the Dutchess Margaret was in for the Unfortunate End of her Pretended Nephew whom she had taken such Pains to set on the English Throne by so many Impostures CHAP. IX THE COUNTERFEIT Don Sebastian KING of PORTVGAL THe first Prince that gave Beginning to the Royal Family of Portugal was Henry who Married Teresa or Taresia Alphonso King of Castile's natural Daughter in the Year 1090 having the Earldom of Portugal for her Portion The King hoping he would make as Vigorous a War against the Moors as his Brother Hugh Duke of Burgundy had done giving him that Country for a Bulwark to defend his own from those Infidels towards whom it was the Frontiers He was the Son of another Henry Duke of Burgundy Grand-son of Robert Duke of the same who was Grand-son to Robert King of France Successor to Hugh Capet I do not mind the Opinions of several Historians who are much perplext to find out of what Family and Country this Henry was Theod. Godefroy one of the most Learned and most Curious Persons of his Time first discovered this Original of the Kings of Portugal and those Famous Twins Scevola and Lewis de St. Martha have Authorized it in their Genealogical History of the House of France The Princes of this Race have held the Royal Dignity and Signaliz'd their Conduct by many Victories over the Unbelievers even beyond our Hemisphere But to give an Account of their Actions is no part of my Subject therefore I will only say They have generally held the Scepter with Great Glory and without any Interruption in the Royal Family to this very Don Pedro who now Reigns with the Title of Prince Regent no Objection being to be made except two or three suspicions of Illegitimacy so that it has always been supported by the same Blood Royal. Don Sebastian whose misfortune we treat of which gave an opportunity for an Impostor to aspire and pretend to his Diadem perswading the World he Escaped from the Unhappy Battle of Alcazer at three Years Old which was in the Year 1557. Succeeded Don John the Third his Paternal Grand-Father He was Grand-son to the Emperor Charles the Fifth by his Mother Jane In his Youth he had been under the Tutulage of Donna Catharina of Austria his
thing which concerns their Relations He came to Parma where he sent the Dutchess word that a Gentleman of Portugal had something to tell her which he could declare to none but herself The Dutchess had lately received an account by a Courrier from Lisbone of the Death of the Cardinal Don Henry who last filled that Throne which she now demanded for her Son Rainuccio she being the Daughter of Edward one of the Sons of King Don Emanuel There were also other Pretenders to this Crown of Portugal such was Emanuel Philibert Duke of Savoy by his Mother Beatrix a Daughter of King Don Emanuel Katharine the Sister of Mary joyned her Right with that of the Duke of Braganza a Prince of the Blood Royal of Portugal for her Son Theodosio and who indeed by the Law of Lamega which as they affirm excludes a Forreigner from the Throne of Portugal had the most just Pretence to it Catharine de Medicis Queen of France claimed it though at greater distance And Pope Paul the Fourth came in with his Title saying That Crown was a Fief of the Holy-See and therefore at his Disposal Philip the Second King of Spain was Son of Isabel Daughter of the same King Don Emanuel and Mary his Wife was yet nearer being Daughter of Don John the Third Son and Successor to Don Emanuel He was the nearest in Blood the nighest Neighbour and the most Potent so got Possession of the Crown but not without fighting for it by Sea and Land The Naval-Fight which his Admiral the Marquis de Santa Cruz obtained of Peter Strozzi a Florentine and Marshal of France who undertook by Force to dispute the Title of Catharine de Medicis his Mistress and kinswoman was no small Part of Philip's good Fortune The Three Estates of the Kingdom of Portugal were Assembled to determine this great Controversy when Don Sebastian appeared in Italy The Dutchess of Parma had also her mind filled with these things but when she perceived Him she gave a shrieck and ran to the Other end of her Closet much astonished I bring you Madam said he approaching her Extraordinary news which will much surprize you the King Don Sebastian is alive and not far from hence not much distant from you for he now speaks to you What Madam continued he without hesitating does then Don Sebastian Fright you He hoped that a better Reception would have been the reward of those pains he has endured to find you At the tone of his Voice the Dutchesses trouble was so great she could neither speak nor move out of her place Recollect your self my dear Cozen said he with a Passionate Air I am no Phantasme but the same Don Sebastian you once honoured with your Favour and now returned as full of your Idea as I was before I went to Affrica With these Discourses the Dutchess came to her self and suffer'd the False Don Sebastian to approach nearer giving him her hand and when she was assured that this pretended Monarch was a Man and no Ghost Ah my Lord said she Whence are you come where have you been so long hid And by what Miracle are you among the Living When you are in a Condition to hear me replyed Don Sebastian I will answer you all this But first be not so disturbed and believe that I am really the King of Portugal and if neither my Stature nor my Face assure it let the Passion of my Eyes convince you I have now recovered my Spirits said the Princess sitting down by him and confess your Sight did affright me above my Power of commanding my Disturbance But Sir all is now dissipated Therefore pray tell me to what Wonder we owe your Life and return to Love Madam answered Sebastian a Passion that had once made me touch your Heart must needs defend me from all Accidents Then he told her how Xerine found him among the Dead his getting into the Isle of Mucazen and his Living at Hoscore but carefully concealed how Don Sebastian had Loved Xerine before that Action and more his Marriage to her in Affrica Though that Princess used her utmost Power with Muley Boabdelin her Cozen and a Prince of the Blood Royal to oblige him to it by assuring him the Princess Mary was Married to the Duke of Parma But said that sometime after being informed she was a Widow He escaped as he pretended with difficulty out of Prison and came to lay himself at her Feet so full of Love that he had Lived on the very Thoughts of being esteemed by her Why then said the Dutchess did you not Write to me That I did many times reply'd he and doubtless Xerine who hoped that from my Misfortunes which she could not expect from my Re-establishment gave such Orders as prevented their coming to your hand My Restraint was very severe I was treated like a Valued Lover and had no Opportunity or Liberty to deliver my self from that Title The Dutchess must needs be Transported at the Recital of a Constancy so well invented She Ordered an Apartment for him whom she thought the King her Cousin together with an Equipage in all respects sutable and sent for the most Intelligent Persons to depute to the Estates of Portugal on his behalf which Deputation extreamly surprized them They sent Six of the Chief in their Assembly of whom some had been Ministers to Don Sebastian to see their Monarch Their Eyes assured them he was the same they ask't him several Questions which they thought Don Sebastian only could Answer But he was so well instructed by Xerine as convinced the Ambassadors that none but He in the World could so reply Insomuch that they assured the Estates he was really their King Those who were interested against him accused him of being a Counterfeit and Practizer of Deceit requiring this Sebastian to go and be present in Person at the General-Assembly of Estates to be Interrogated there in Form concerning his Pretentions While those who were affectionate to the Memory and Person of Don Sebastian thought there was no Security in that Demand The Kingdom was hereupon divided Those were called Royalists who adhered to the King and Those who declared for the several Princes pretending to the Crown Leaguers During these Disorders he that caused them lived at Parma expecting an Army should take the Field for his Interest At the Head of which he intended to demand what he said was his Right This supposed Prince after some time fell into disgrace with the Dutchess of Parma I know not whither or no by the Accident which Mademoiselle des Jardins relates on this manner That one Day walking with her by the side of that Canal which is one of the most Beautiful Things belonging to the Palace of Farnese she observed the Ribbon of a Letter-Case hanging out of his Pocket which she softly pulled out wherein she found Letters and Verses that discovered his Love some of them having the Greatest Liberties of his Marriage with Xerine for
in his Place the absent Voldemar whom they believed was dead They knew that Lewis bore a mighty Hatred to the House of Ascagne the two Electors of that Family Rodolph Duke of Saxony and Voldemar the First having opposed his Election declaring for Frederick of Austria his Rival in the Empire in the year 1313 at the Diet of Franckfort Voldemar the First starving Nicholaas Booch his Envoy in Prison for falsifying his Letters of Procuration razing out the Name of Frederick to insert that of Lewis contrary to his Master's Intention and Pleasure All these Considerations make me reasonably conclude they either thought him Living and had some News of him or were perswaded the Emperour Lewis only gave his Son the Administration of the Marquisate and Electorate of Brandenbourg till he returned or his Death was better confirmed It is almost impossible he should die in a strange Country and tell no Body who he was as likewise that the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria should send no Messengers to be assured of the Place and Circumstances of his Death when it would have saved him so much Trouble and secured so rich a Prize How many Examples are there of Princes who have quitted their Country thro' the same Motives that Voldemar did William Duke of Guienne and Earl of Portou whose eldest Daughter and Heiress Elenor was repudiated by Lewis the Seventh King of France called the Young and Married to Hen y the S cond King of England in the year 1152 also of the Old Blood of the Earls of Anjou which Lady became the occasion of most cruel Wars between those Martial Nations while her Father went on Pilgrimage to St. James of Galicia feigning himself Dead he in the mean time travelling like a miserable unknown Wretch about the World that he might exercise those rude Pennances for his Crimes after his Death being made a Saint to eternize his Memory Fiacre Son of Eugenius the Fourth King of Scotland lived a Hermite unknown to all near Meaux in France chusing a Spade before a Scepter Him also they made a Saint Julius Sabinus an Illustrious Gaul near Langres who boasted that he was descended from Julius Caesar and in the time of the Civil War between Vitellius Otho and Vespasian caused himself to be proclaimed Emperour by several Legions but having the worst in Fight lived Nine Years in a â—ave with his dearly beloved Wife Eponina where in the greatest Extremity to Poverty he had several Children by her but could not so conceal himself to avoyd Death by the Cruelty of the Emperour Vespasian who destroyed him with his Wife and Children The Proverb says Ill gotten Goods are soon lost Which was verisied in the Posterity of Lewis of Bavaria Marquis of Brandenbourg for neither He nor his two Brothers Lewis the Roman nor Otho ever possest it quietly but were constrain'd to abandon it to the Emperour Charles the 4th Thus as Carion concludes in the Fifth Book of his Chronicle the Bavarians were deprived of this Electorate and Marquisate of Brandenbourg by the same Deceits which they had used to frustrate the Princes of Anhalt after the Absence and Death of Voldemar who were justly the next Heirs CHAP. XI THE False Mustapha SON of BAJAZET The First of that Name Emperor of the Turks THere 's none can be so ignorant in History as not to have heard of Tamberlain Emperour of the Tartars and of the Victory he gain'd over Bajazet the First of that Name Emperor of the Turks In the Turkish Annals these two Monarchs are called the one Temir Can and the other Gilderum Can. The Title Can which signifies King or Lord being commonly used to any other Tartar Prince or Turkish Lord. But the Name of Tamberlain or Tamerland was given him because he was Lame which Land expresses in the Persian Tongue Some called him Temir Cuthlus signifying in the Tartarian Language a Fortunate Sword His Sirnames were The Terrour and Desolation of the East Terror Clades Orientis He also stiled himself the Wrath of God or the Instrument of his Indignation As for Bajazet he was Named Gilderum or as others say Hildrim which in the Language of the Tartars signifies the Terrour of Thunder and Lightning The Greeks called him Lelapa that is a Violent Torrent The Imposture of this False Mustapha who called himself the true Son of Bajazet certainly believed to have been killed in this great Battle where his Father was defeated and made a Prisoner obliges me to look backward and tell you of Bajazet with the Subject and Circumstances of the War Bajazet was a most Cruel and Bloody Parricide being the First who taught the Princes of his Family to Imbrew their Hands in the Blood of their nearest Relations he causing his Brother Jacup or Jacob to be strangled whom Paulus Jovius calls Solyman His Ambition was so great that without having any right but the sharper Scymitar he drove many Soveraign Princes out of their Countrys As Techrin Prince of Erzingue or Erzrum in the Greater Armenia whom some call Scander and make him King also of Armenia together with the Prince of Germian the Duzinon or Lord of Adem and others sadly experimented He had also much Afflicted Constantinople and made great Devastations in the Countrys of Emanuel Emperour of the East These expelled Princes being thus cruelly used went in Person to implore the Protection of Tamberlain against the Tyranny and Injustice of Bajazet The same Greek Emperour groaning under the severe Yoak of this Tyrant paying him Three Hundred Thousand Crowns Tribute every Year Tres myriadas Auriorum as Carion has it in his Chronicle was constrained to surrender up the City of Philadelphia to him which the Tyrant had so often Besieged in vain giving him also Hostages and being Obliged to furnish such number of Souldiers for his Wars this made him also send Ambassadours to represent his miserable condition Axalla the bravest of Tamberlain's Generals was a Christian of Genoese Extraction born at Copha in Taurica Chersonesus which was then a City and Collony under the Dominion of that State of Genoa This generous Man endeavoured also by his entreaties to perswade his Master to re-establish these Persecuted Princes and beat down the Pride and Insolencâ— of Bajazet Tamberlain was pleased to hear him express what Glory it would be to his Reputation if he should deliver the Emperour of Constantinople and the other Princes from so unjust a Tyranny The Tartar was so sensibly touched with their Misfortunes that he dispatched away a Herald to require Justice on their behalf from Bajazet at the same time sending a very Rich Vest which is always by them presented from a Superior to an Inferior This so enraged the Turk that a War was soon declared Bajazet bringing an Army of Eight Hundred Thousand Men into the Field Paulus Jovius says a Million where in a bloody Fight he was absolutely defeated and taken Prisoner The Turkish Annals mention not the numbers of either Army only
Here the miserable Impostor was Hanged over the Battlements of the City-Wall For certain Death is always equally the Punishment or the Misfortune of those who of the Ottoman Family aim at or seem to have any pretence to the Scepter 'T is neither the Innocence of Age the Merit the Proximity of Blood the Sincerity nor Justice of the Cause can ever preserve them if they fall into the Hands of the Conqueror I have taken this Lamentable End of Mustapha word for word out of the Turkish Annals and the Pandects of Lunclavius with the History of that War and its Accidents Indeed till Sultan Amurath was delivered from this considerable Opponent he could not think himself secure nor fast settled in his Throne Which happened in the Year of Christ 1425 and of the Hegira or Mahometan Computation 827. It is true that one of his Brothers also named Mustapha who was in Natolia gave him much Trouble but he overcame it and geting him into his Power caused him to have his Throat Cut Others say to be Strangled at Nizar or Nicea where he was delivered into his Hands by his own Governour Which seems to have been a mistake occasioned by the Conformity of the Names of the two Mustapha's Du Verdier writing the Adventures and Death of our Mustapha believes him no Impostor and tells his last Flight and miserable Catastrophe in another manner as follows After he found himself says he deserted he cryed out Oh how hard it is to preserve a Great Heart against the Power of Fortune There were many Proofs of his Courage His Pretension to the Empire was no weak Mark of it But a Crown was then no longer in Controversie The Question was How to save his Life For which purpose when his Troops left him he no more thought of Glory Honour nor Interest but only fled quitting all his Pretensions for the Hopes of Life which for a little while he preserved by the Assistance of the Greeks who received him kindly into their Vessels and gave him the Opportunity of gaining the Fortress of Gallipoli But all this only served to ruine him more shamefully for Amurath pursued him so obstinately that he besieged him in the Place he chose for his Retreat compelling him to get out of it in mean Equipage and at last finding him hid in a Bush on the Mountain Toganum he caused him to be strangled in his Presence that he might be sure he had of him no Competitor left Lunclavius in the 83. Chap. of his Pandects makes a Parallel between this Mustapha and Voldemar saying That Two Eggs were never more alike than these two Men were Whom he puts in the Rank of Imposters Both of them had mighty Allies Mustapha having for him John Paleologus the Grecian Emperor and Voldemar had Charles the Fourth Emperor and King of Germany whose Empire was more Flourishing than the Others CHAP. XII IAM Heraclides THE FALSE DESPOT OF Moldavia Wallachia LVnclavius in his Supplements to the Turkish Annals brings in this Man whom he affirms he both saw and knew He says That he had a Noble Meen was of a middle Stature had a Body strong and nervous that he was discreet in his Discourse and used four Languages very well to wit the Latin Greek French and Italian He was called James Heraclides and Baziliquez pretending to be of the Race of the Antient Despots or Waywoods of Wallathia and Moldavia Lord of the Isle of Samos and Marquis of Paros in the Archipelago He found some Lords in Poland credulous enough to believe him no Impostor who were so much affected with his Person that with an Army they Establish't him Despot of Moldavia and Wallachia The Principal of these Polish Lord were Aâ—â—ere Lasens Philiponischy and Lassotchy whose Army was much Inferior in Number to that of Alexander the Despot whom they indeavoured to expel for the putting this Impostor into his place However the Victory fell on their Side Alexander was driven out and James Establish't Despot and confirmed in his Principality by the Turkish Emperor Soliman This was effected by the influence of his Presents which he sent the Bassa's of the Port. The Victory gain'd by this Impostor happen'd the 18th of November in the Year 1561. But yet three Years after though he governed his Subjects gently enough they suspected him to be an Impostor and the Wallachians Murthered him in cold Blood FINIS Some Books Printed for William Cademan at the Popes-Head in the Lower-walk of the New-Exchange in the Strand Folio AN Institution of General History or the History of the World By William Howel L. L. D. in Two Volumes Historical Collections or an Exact Account of the Proceedings of the Parliaments in Queen Elizabeth's Reign A Journey into Greece by George Wheeler Esq in Compuny of Dr. Spon of Lyons In Six Books Containing 1. A Voyage from Venice to Constantinople 2. An Account of Constantinople and the Adjacent Places 3. A Voyage through the Lesser Asia 4. A Voyage from Zant through several Parts of Greece to Athens 5. An Account of Athens 6. Several Journeys from Athens into Attica Corinth Boeotia c. With variety of Sculptures Pharamond Compleat in English an Excellent Romance Clelia a Romance in English Parthenissa Compleat in English An Historical Heroick Poem on the Life of the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Ossory with his Picture neatly engraven on a Copper-Plate Written by Elkanah Settle A Protestant Plot no Paradox or Phanaticks under that Name Plotting against the King and Government The English Jeroboam or the Protestant Reforming Magistrate and what the Church of England may expect from such a one Considerations Offered to all the Corporations of England containing Seasonable Advice to them in their Future Elections of Burgesses to serve in Parliament Quarto An Historical Relation of the First Discovery of the Isle of Madera The Protestant Religion is a Sure Foundation c. By the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Derby The Jesuits Policy to Suppress Monarchy By a Person of Honour A Warning Piece for the Unruly in Two Visitation Sermons by Seth Bushel D. D. The Great Efficacy and necessity of Good Example especially in the Clergy in a Visitation Sermon at Guilford by Thomas Duncomb D. D. A Sermon Preached before the King by Miles Barn Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty A Sermon Preached at the Assizes at Lancaster by Henry Piggot B. D. Praise and Adoration a Sermon on Trinity Sunday before the Vniversity at Oxford 1681. by Thomas Manningham M. A. late Fellow of New-Colledge in Oxford A New-years-gift for the Anti-prerogative Men or a Lawyers Opinion in Defence of His Majesties Power-Royal of Granting Pardons as he pleases wherein is more particularly discussed the Validity of the Earl of Danby's Pardon Octavo The Spanish History or the Differences that hapned in the Court of Spain between Don John of Austria and Cardinal Nitard with all the Letters and Politick Discourses relating to those Affairs Rapin's Reflexions on Antient and Modern Philosophy The English Princess or the Dutchess Queen a pleasant Novel Court Songs and Poerns being an exact Collection The Temple of Death with other Poems By a Person of Honour Hogan Moganides or the Dutch Hudibras Liquor Alchahest or the Immortal Dissolvent of Paracelsus and Helmont c. A Philosophical Essay or the History of Petrification by Dr. Sherly Gulielmus Ferrarius de bello Batavico Westminster Quibbles very Pleasant Zaide or the Spanish History a Pleasant Romance Memoirs of the Dutchess of Mazarine Anima Mundi an Historical Narration of the Opinion of the Antients concerning Mans Soul after this Life according to unenlightened Nature Clarks Manual a Book of Presidents Saunders his Astrological Physick A Copy of the Two Journal Books of the House of Commons in which is the whole History of the late horrid Popish Plot. The Wits Paraphrais'd or Paraphrase upon Paraphrase In a Burlesque on the late several Translations of Ovid's Epistles Two Discourses the First shewing how the Chief Criterions of Philosophical Truth invented by Speculative Men more eminently serve Divine Revelation than either Philosophy or Natural Religion The Second manifesting how all the Foundations of the Intellectual World Viz. Reason Morality Civil Government and Religion have been undermined by Popish Doctrines and Policies By Thomas Manningham M. A. Fellow of New-Colledge in Oxford and Rector of East Tysted in Hantshire Machiavel Redivivus being an Exact Discovery or Narrative of the Principles and Politicks of our Bejesuited Modern Phanaticks The Present State of Geneva with a brief Description of that City and the several Changer and Alterations it hath been subject to from the First Foundation thereof Amarillis to Tityrus being the First Heroick Harangue of the Excellent Pen of Monsieur Scudery a Witty and pleasant Novel Englished by a Person of Honour Twelves The Amours of the Count Du Noy a witty Novel The Penitent Hermit or the Fruits of Jealousy a Novel The English Mounsieur a Comical Novel History of the Pollas Royal or the Amours of the French King and Mademoiselle de la Valiere The Amours of Madam and the Count de Guiche The Novels of Queen Elizabeth in Two Parts