how much value the Courage and Conduct of a Prince is yet before he died by the contrivance of the Queen Mother Roger Mortimer and their Adherents such a dishonourable Peace is made with the Scots as exceedingly displeased the whole Kingdom and in the end proved fatal to the principal actor Mortimer For at this Treaty the King then in his Minority Sealed Charters to the Scots at Northampton contrived by the Queen her Favourite and Sir James Dowglas without the knowledge or consent of the Peers of England whereby that famous Charter called Ragmans Roll was surrendred to them with several Jewels and among them one of an extraordinary value called the Black Cross of Scotland all which were taken from the Scots by the Victorious King Edward I. The Scots Kings were likewise freed and discharged for ever from doing homage and fealty to the Kings of England or from acknowledging them to have any Right or Superiority over that Kingdom And that all Englishmen should forfeit their Lands in Scotland unless they went and resided there and swore Allegiance to that King Moreover under pretence of making reparation for damages King Robert was obliged to pay the King of England Thirty Thousand Marks Sterling which Money was given to Mortimer as a reward for his procuring this destructive and mischievous Treaty And to conclude all David Bruce Prince of Scotland a Child of Seven or Eight Years Old and Heir to K. Robert Married Jane Sister to K. Edward at Berwick whom the Scots in derision both of the Peace and Marriage scornfully nicknamed Jane Make Peace Lastly The Queen and Mortimer being sensible that some of the Principal Nobility disliked their proceedings and hindred their absolute Government they resolved to contrive some means for removing them out of the way and among others Edward Earl of Kent the King's Unckle To effect this it is said Mortimer caused a report to be spread abroad that K. Edward II. was still alive at Corf-Castle but not to be seen in the day time and to countenance the deceit for many Nights together there were Lights set up in all the Windows of the Castle and an appearance made of Masquing Dancing and other Royal Solemnities as if for the King's diversion This being observed by the Countrey People they confirmed the rumour of the late King 's being there which was soon dispersed throughout England The Earl of Kent hearing the news sent a Preaching Frier to the Castle to find out the truth of it who by giving Money to the Porter was admitted into the Castle lying very privately in his Lodg all day at night the Porter causing him to put off his own Priestly Robes and put on his the Frier was brought into the Hall where he saw as he imagined King Edward II. sitting in Royal Majesty at supper The Frier returning to the Earl assured him of the reality of what he had seen whereupon the Earl being discontented swore that he would endeavour by all ways possible to deliver his Brother out of Prison and restore him to his Throne To which purpose he ingaged several other Noblemen in the design with the Provincial of the White and Carmelite Friers the Bishop of London and others This Conspiracy being discovered though it were only a Lye and fancy the Frier being imposed upon only by a King made of Clouts Yet the Earl of Kent by his words and some Letters that were found about him was condemned as a Traytor for conspiring to set a dead Man at liberty But so generally was this Noble Lord beloved and honoured that he stood upon a Scaffold at the Castle-Gates at Winchester from Noon till five a Clock at Night for want of an Executioner none being to be found that would behead him till at length Mortimer sent for a poor wretched Fellow out of the Jayl who with much ado and many blows hack'd his Head from his Body The Malice and Ambition of Mortimer and his Associates in making so little conscience of shedding Royal Blood with the many other Male-administrations aforementioned raised inveterate discontents throughout the Kingdom against the Insolent Authors of them But in the mean time they who resolved to support their Grandeur in despight of Peers and People summoned a Parliament at Nottingham where Roger Mortimer appeared in the utmost splendor and glory being Created Earl of March and having greater attendance and stronger Guards than the King himself whom he would suffer to rise up to him and with whom he walked as his Companion yea went before him with his Officers He likewise very scornfully and insolently rebuked Henry Earl of Lancaster the King's Cousin that without his leave he had taken up Lodgings in the Town so near the Queen and obliged him with the Earl of Hereford and Effex to remove their Lodgings a Mile from Nottingham This notorious affront caused great murmuring among the Noblemen who said publickly That Roger Mortimer the Queens Gallant and the Kings's Master sought by all means possible to destroy all the Royal Blood thereby to Usurp the Crown and Government which some of the King's Friends being mightily concerned at endeavoured to make him sensible of his danger swearing that if he would espouse their Cause they would faithfully assist him and secure his Person The Young King began already to put on serious thoughts and acted the Man much beyond his years so that the Lords soon prevailed upon him to join with them in asserting his own Authority which he himself saw so much lessened by Mortimer's 〈◊〉 grown Power He was likewise informed that 〈◊〉 was commonly reported the Queen was with Child by Mortimer to the great dishonour both of his Mother and himself and to the grief of all his Loyal Subjects Hereupon he resolutely ingaged with the Peers to bring this Miscreant and his Abettors to punishment In order to which Robert Holland who had been long Governour of Nottingham-Castle and knew all the secret passages and conveyances therein was taken into the design Now there was in the Castle a private Passage cut through the Rock upon which it is built which was divided into two ways one opening toward the River of Trent which runs under it and the other went a great deal farther under the adjoining Meadows and was after called Mortimer's Hole The King lying one Night without the Castle was conducted by Torch-light through this Passage himself and his Valiant Attendants being all well Armed and their Swords drawn till he came to the door of the Queens Bed-Chamber which the secure and careless Lords had left wide open Some of the foremost entred the Room desiring the King to retire a little that the Queen might not see him and slew Sir Hugh Turpington who opposed them from whom they went towards the Queen Mother with whom they found Mortimer both just ready to go into Bed and seizing him they led him out into the Hall whom the Queen followed crying out Bel silz bel filz ayes pitie
de gentil Mortimer Good Son Good Son take pity upon the gentle Mortimer For she suspected the King was there though she did not see him Then were the Keys sent for and all the Castle with the Amunition and Provisions were delivered up to the King so secretly that none without the Castle had any knowledge of it but only the King's Friends This was counted a very daring enterprize in regard that Mortimer had usually 180 Knights besides Esquires and Gentlemen as a constant Guard for the security of his Person The next Morning early Roger Mortimer and his Accomplices were carried with mighty shoutings and rejoycings of the Common People the poor Earl of Lancaster though blind making up the cry toward London and was committed to the Tower And soon after in open Parliament at Westminster was Condemned by his Peers without being brought to Tryal by a Law of Mortimer's own contriving whereby the Earls of Lancaster Winchester Glocester and Kent were formerly out to Death The following Articles of High Treason were laid to his charge 1. That he was consenting to the Murther of the King's Father 2. That he Treacherously occasioned much loss and dishonour to the King at Stanhope Park by procuring the escape of the Scots for which he had received a great Sum of Money 3. That he caused several Ancient Deeds and Charters to be burnt wherein the King of Scots was obliged to do homage to the King of England and had made a dishonourable Contract between the King's Sister and David Bruce King Robert's Son 4. That he had prodigally and lewdly wasted the King's Treasures as well as those of the two Spencers 5. That he had been an Evil Councellor to the King and had been too familiarly conversant with the Queen Mother All which Articles are sum'd up in the following ragged Rymes which might very well have been in Prose but for their Antiqutty and brevity I will here insert them Five heinous crimes against him soon were had 1. That he caused the King to yield the Scot To make a Peace Towns that were from him got And therewithal the Charter called Ragman 2. He by the Scots was brib'd for private gain 3. That by his means King Edward of Carnarvan In Berkley Castle Treacherously was slain 4. That with his Prince's Mother he had lain 5. And finally with polling at his pleasure Had rob'd the K. and Commons of their Treasure For these Treasons he was sentenced to be hanged and afterward ignominiously drawn in a Sledg to Tyburn the common place of Execution then called the Elms and there upon the common gallows was as ignominiously Executed hanging by the King's command two Days and two Nights a publick and pleasing spectacle to the wronged People There died with him Sir Simon Bedford and John Deverel Esq as well for the expiation of the late King Edward's detestable Murther as in complement as it were to so great a Man's fall who seldom or never perish without company they suffered in 1330. The King by the advice of Parliament deprived the Queen of her excessive Dowry allowing her only a Thousand Pound a Year and confining her to a Monastery during Life but giving her the honour of a visit once or twice a Year though otherwise judging her scarce worthy to live in regard of her Debaucheries with Mortimer and her many other heinous practices From the sudden ruin of this great Favourite Mortimer we may Remark what Inchantments Honour Riches and Power are to the minds of Men how suddenly how strangely do they blow them up with contempt of others and forgetfulness of themselves And surely the frailty and uncertainty of Worldly felicity is very visible in this Great Person who when he was drunk as it were with all humane happiness so that he seemed to fear neither God nor Man was suddenly overtaken by Divine Justice and brought to utter confusion when he least dreamt of it But it was very equitable that he who would not take example by the wretched Fate of his Favourite Predecessors should himself be made an Example by the like shameful and Ignominious Death Remarks on the Life of Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham Favourite to King Richard the Third TWO Or three considerable Remarks do naturally result from the following History 1. That Tyrants being but single Persons could never perpetrate the many mischiefs which they are usually guilty of did they not meet with proper Instruments to imploy therein 2. That the pravity of Mankind is so deplorable that the temptations of Honour and Riches too often prevail upon Men and ingage them in the most vile and destructive designs 3. That those who are imployed by Tyrants must never boggle not strain at the greatest Villanies since if they be not as thoroughly wicked as their Master he will account them his implacable Enemies and they are subject to be justly ruined by his unjust and revengeful hand All these Maxims seem to be verified in the Life Actions and Fall of this Great Man Henry Stafford Duke of Buckinham He was Son to Humfry Stafford of Brecknock-shire in Wales who was created Duke of Buckingham and Lord High Constable of England by King Henry VI. Being descended from a Daughter of Thomas of Woodstock youngest Son to King Edward III. His Son succeeded him in his Titles and Honour and was a great Favourite to King Richard III. and very Instrumental in advising him to his Usurped Throne as by the following Relation appears When King Edward IV. died he left behind him two Sons Edward his Successor of thirteen and Richard Duke of York of eleven years of Age. The Young King and his Brother were by their Father's Will committed to the care of the Earl of Rivers the Queens Brother whom he made Protector of the King during his Minority The Court was at this time kept at Ludlow in Wales to retain the Welsh in obedience who began to be unruly and in the mean time the Earl of Rivers disposed of all Offices and Places of Preferment which very much dislatisfied the Duke of Glocester Brother to King Edward IV. and Uncle to the Present King who upon his Brother's Death possed from the North where he then was to London and finding the Queen and her Kindred had the whole Government of affairs about the King he was very much displeased as judging it a main obstacle to his Usurpation and and Advancement to the Throne which it seems he had long before designed for it was reported that the very night wherein King Edward IV. died one Misselbrook came early in the morning to one Potter living in Redcross street near Cripplegate and told him that the King was dead By my Troth man says Potter then will my Master the Duke of Glocester be King For surely if he had not been acquainted with his Master's Intentions he would not have thus spoke But the Duke knowing that a business of such consequence was not to be managed alone he
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The Unfortunate Court-Favourites OF ENGLAND Exemplified In some Remarks upon the Lives Actions and Fatal Fall of divers Great Men who have been Favourites to several English Kings and Queens Namely I. Peirce Gaveston Earl of Cornwall II. Hugh Spencer Earl of Winchester â—II Hugh Spencer the Son E. of Glorester â—V Roger Mortimer Earl of March V. Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham VI. Thomas Woolsey Cardinal of York VII Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex VIII Robert Devereux Earl of Essex IX George Villiers Duke of Buckingham X. Thomas Wentworth Earl of Stafford By R. B. LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey 〈◊〉 Cheapside 1695. The Kings and Queens of England to whom the following Unfortunate Great Men were Favourites I. PEirce Gaveston Earl of Cornwal Favourite to King Edward II. II III. Hugh Spencer the Father and Hugh Spencer the Son both Favourites to King Edward II. IV. Roger Mortimer Earl of March Favourite to Queen Isabel Widow to King Edward II. and Mother to King Edward III. V. Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham Favourite to King Richard III. VI. Thomas Woolsey Cardinal of York Favourite to King Henry VIII VII Thomas Cromwel Earl of Essex Favourite to King Henry VIII VIII Robert Devereux Earl of Essex Favourite to Queen Elizabeth IX George Villiers Duke of Buckingham Favourite to King Charles I. and King James I X. Thomas Wentworth Earl of Stafford Favourite to King Charles I. To the Reader NOthing is more obvious than that Ambition Envy and Emulation are the usual Attendants on the Courts of Princes and that the effects of them have been often very fatal to many Great Men who had the fortune to have a larger share in their Masters affections than others It is likewise as notorious That there are certain Crises of Government wherein Princes have been obliged to Sacrifice their darling Ministers either to their own safety or to the importunity of their People Lastly it is as evident That some Court-Favourites have justly merited the unhappy Fate they met with for their many Rapines Insolencies and Enormities as that others have been ruined meerly from the Caprichio or inconstant Temper of the Prince whom they served Of all these in my opinion the ensuing Favourites are pregnant Instances But I shall leave the Reader to particularise them according to his own Judgment and will only add That they are not all to be condemned as Criminal meerly because they all happened to be unfortunate R. B. Remarks on the Life Actions and Fatal Fall of Peirce Gavestone Earl of Cornwall and Favourite to King Edward the Second THAT Unhappy Prince Edward the 2d was certainly the most Unfortunate in his Favourites of any King of England either before or fince his Reign The first and Fatal Favourite he had was in his Youth before he came to the Crown whose name was Peirce Gaveston born in Gascoigne a Province of France and for the good Service performed by his Father in the Wars in that Kingdom his Son was taken into such Favour at Court that by K. Edward the First 's own appointment he was Educated and made a Companion to the young Prince And indeed his outward Accomplishments seemed to render him worthy of such great Honour being a Person of a sharp Wir an excellent Shape and of a valiant Temper of which he gave notable proof in a Battel against the Scots and for which they afterward bore him a mortal Hatred But all these worthy Qualities were utterly defac'd and clouded by his vicious Incliâ—ations so that as to his Christian and Moral Vertues which are only really commendable in Men Authors are very silent in mentioning them though all give large accounts of his Faults and Immoraâ—ities And King Edward was so sensible that his Son the Prince had been debauched by the corrupt Conversation of Gavestone that some time before his Death he was banished the Kingdom And upon his Death-bed commanding the Prince his Son to repair to him with all speed to Carlisle in Cumberland where he was with a great Army ready to invade Scotland He gave him many worthy Admonitions and much good Advice particularly That he should be merciful just and kind faithful in word and deed an incourager of those that were good and ready to relieve those that were in distress That he should be loving to his two Brothers Thomas and Edmund but especially to honour and respect his Mother Queen Margaret That upon pain of his Malediction and Curse he should not presume without common consent to recall Peirce Gavestone from Exile who for abusing his tender Years with wicked practices by common Decree of the Nobility was banished He also added a strange Injunction for a dying man namely That after his Death the Prince should not presume to take the Crown of England till he had honourably revenged the Injuries his Father had received from the Scots and finisht the present Expedition against them and that he should carry his Father's Bones about with him in a Coffin till he had marched through all Scotland and subdued all his Enemies assuring him that while they were with him he should be always victorious Lastly Whereas by the continual Attempts of Bruce King of Scotland he was prevented from performing his Vow of going in Person for the recovery of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Infidels that he should send his Heart thither accompanied with 140 Knights and their Retinue for whose support he had provided Thirty two thousand pounds of Silver That after his Heart was conveyed thither he hoped in God all things would prosper with them Adjuring the Prince upon pain of Eternal Damnation that he should not expend the Money upon any other use After these Admonitions and having taken an Oath of this vain Young Prince to perform his Will he gave up the Ghost After his Father's Death the Son soon made it appear how little regard he had to perform his dying Requests and to shew what his future Behaviour was like to be he in the first place revenged himself upon Walter Langton Bishop of Chester Lord Treasurer of England and Principal Executor of his Father's Last Will whom he imprisoned in Wallingford Castle seizing upon all his Estate no man daring to intercede on his behalf because of the extream hatred which the King shewed against him the Bishop's Crime being only in using a modest freedom in K. Edward's days in gravely reproving 〈…〉 for his 〈◊〉 meanours and not suffering him to have what 〈…〉 he required to waste prodigally upon his 〈…〉 Gavestone against whom he likewise made such great and just Complaints as occasioned the imprisonment of the Prince the banishment of his leud Favourite Soon after the young King married Isabel Daughter to Philip the Fair of France the March being concluded before his Father's death and was now performed with extraordinary Magnificence at Bullen At which Solemnity there were five Kings namely Philip the French King the
K. of Almain the K. of Sicily the K. of Navar and K. Edward the Bridegroom and four Queens Mary Q. of France Margaret the Q. Mother of England her Daughter the Q. of Navar and Isabel the Bride Q. of England There were likewise present a great number of Persons of Honour and Quality and among them the beloved Peirce Gavestone who was entertained with the tenderest affection imaginable by K. Edward but the Nobility had such a detestation of him that they resolved to have hinder'd the Coronation of the King and Queen which soon after followed had not King Edward solemnly promised to give them a reasonable satisfaction in the matter yet was he so far from it that none appeare◠more great in Attendants Bravery and all other grandeur than Gavestone and as a particular mark of Esteem the King ordered him to carry Sr. Edward's Crown before him at that Solemnity This still increased the Abhorrence of the Lords against him who having the power and favour of the King on his side slighted all their Attempts and Designs and resolved to provoke them to the utmost by abusing miscalling and scoffing at the chief Peers of the Land naming Thomas Earl of Lancaster the Stage player Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke Joseph the Jew because he wa◠〈…〉 pale and Guy Earl of Warwick the 〈…〉 of Ardern all whom at a Tur 〈…〉 a most contemptible manner 〈…〉 took little notice of these base Af 〈…〉 rather enconraged his Insolence by heap 〈…〉 daily upon him and Gavestone to establish himself was still contriving those Diversions which he knew to be pleasing to his vain Mind so that the Court was filled with Fidlers Players Jesters Flatterers and all such pernicious People as by sensualities and riotous practices might withdraw him from attempting any Noble Enterprizes in performance of his Father's Last Will or for the good Government of his People and led him into all kind of Debauchery and Dissoluteness while Gavestone himself revelled in all outward felicity and wasted the Treasure of the Kingdom in Riot and Folly or else converted it to his private use and likewise transported great Summs beyond the Sea that he might have somewhat to trust to if Fortune should happen to turn her back upon him and force him to a second Banishment And indeed he had so absolutely and intirely ingrossed the King's Favour that he had thereby frequent opportunities of inriching himself for all Addresses to the King for obtaining Offices Honours Pardons or any other Advantages passed through his hands who always espoused their business not according to Justice but by the value of the Presents made him and it is scarce credible to relate with what Prodigality the King squandred away his Money upon him yea so prodigious was his kindness toward him that he bestowed on him the best Jewels Gifts or Rarities that he had nay the Imperial Crown 〈◊〉 Victorious Father and a very fine Table and Stands all of pure Gold with many other rich Ornaments which Gavestone privately conveyed away to the great damage of the Kingdom Nay he treated him by the name of Brother and publickly declared that if it were in his power he would make him his Successor to the Crown The Lords who had hitherto past by the private Affronts and Injuries they had daily received in hope that the King might in time have seen his Errours which they by their daily Admonitions endeavoured to make him sensible of finding that he still persisted in the same Courses which grew now intolerable resolved more plainly to remonstrate the matter to him telling him That to their great grief they perceived that his Dotage and ill-placed Affection was unlimited toward Gavestone a Person of a wicked and infamous Life whose Father was a Traytor to the French King and was hanged for the same That his Mother was burnt for a Witch and that he himself was banisht for being a Confederate with her in her cursed Witchcrafts and that they did verily believe he had bewitcht the King or else certainly he could never retain such an unreasonable Passion for so profligate a Wretch That they much doubted he would abuse his Greatness so far as to bring Foreigners into the Land to defend him in his lawless and destructive Courses to the utter Ruine of the Laws Liberties and Estates of his Subjects They therefore humbly desire him to hearken to the Advice of his Peers which would be both for his own Honour and the Welfare of his People and particularly 1. That he would confirm and maintain those Antient Laws and Customs which were contained in the Charters of the Kings his Predecessors 2. That he would not force any man to part with his goods without payment of the full value thereof 3. That whatever Money Lands Jewels or other valuable things had been given away or alienated from the Crown since his Father's death might be restored 4. That he would remember the Oath he had taken to his Father before his death not to recall Peirce Gaveston from his Banishment And for prosecuting the War against Scotland and that he would rectifie all that had hitherto been amiss that so his Enemies might have no cause to rejoice nor his Friends be any longer troubled and disquieted Lastly That no man should be restrained by the King 's Writ from prosecuting his Suits in any Court of Justice for defending his Right and Property but that Justice might be impartially administred throughout the Kingdom both to Rich and Poor according to the antient and approved Constitutions Customs and Laws of England The King taking Counsel of Peirce Gavestone and his Complices commanded the Lord Chancellor to tell the Lords that he would give them satisfaction to their demands at the next Session of Parliament The Barons were no sooner gone out of London to their own homes but the King ordered the Gates of City to be shut and the Streets to be chained and and strict Watch to be kept then with some Forces both English and Foreigners marched in company of Gaveston to Wallingford Castle and as his Conscience did not trouble him for the breach of his Oath so their dislike increased his love to Gavesion for none but Gaveston must do all and nothing was acceptable nor grateful but what came from his hand However the King's lavishness having quite emptied his Exchequer he was compelled to comply with the Parliament at their next Meeting in London so far as to pass an Act for Gaveston's perpetual Banishment and for securing the Liberty of the Subject and the due execution of Justice which the King confirmed by a solemn Oath and for which they gratified him with a subsidy of the twentieth part of their Estates In pursuance of this Decree Gaveston is sent by the King into Ireland himself accompanying him in Person as far as Bristol and giving him a Commission to be Chief Governor of that Kingdom bestowing likewise on him no less then thirty
in very good Order but this unexpected and dismal Discomfiture of his Horse in those mischievous Ditches utterly confounded all his measures so that he was compelled after some disordered Resistance to leave to the Scots the greatest Victory that ever they obtained against the English in any Age either before or since King Edward could hardly be persuaded to make his Escape it being the first time that ever he discovered any symptoms of the Courage of a Valiant English King but at length being over-persuaded by his Friends himself and his cowardly Favourite Spencer whom K. Edward's own Historian calls A Faint-hearted Kite fled with all speed to a place of safety All things proved unfortunate in this Battle for when the Foot perceived the Horse in that wretched condition they shot their Arrows at the Scots who came to kill them but they being Armed in their fore-parts received little or no damage so that they slew a great number of their Friends whose backs were towards them unarmed The loss fell much upon the Nobility for there was slain in this Battel Gilbert Clare Earl of Glocester a Man of singular Valour and Wisdom the Lord Clifford with several other Peers besides seven hundred Knights Esquires and Officers of Note The slaughter of the rest could not be great since the Scots fought on foot Hector Boetius saith There were 50000 English kill'd though no other Author will allow of above 10000. The Riches and Plunder taken doubtless was very valuable Among the Prisoners the chief was Humphrey Bohun Earl of Hereford who was after exchanged for King Robert's Queen who had been long time Prisoner in England This Battel was fought at a place called Bannocks Boum near Sterling in Scotland on Midsummer day June 24 1314. and King Robert having been formerly Resident in England Treated the Prisoners with all kind of Civility and sent the Bodies of the Earl of Glocester and Lord Clifford to England to be honourably buried with their Ancestors From this Overthrow King Edward and his Minion Spencer made their Escape to Berwick and came from thence to York where he publickly declared That he was resolved instantly to raise new Forces and to regain the Honour he had lost or else to lose his Life in the Attempt But all his Designs of that kind proved utterly fruitless For soon after the strong and almost impregnable Castle of Berwick was treacherously betrayed into the hands of King Robert by one Peter Spalding whom the King of England had made Governour thereof but he instead of the promised Reward was hanged by the King of Scots for his Treachery After this the King raised another Army against the Scots but received a second great and unhappy Overthrow returning home with much Ignominy and Shame leaving his Subjects in the North distrest and unrelieved from the continual Ravages of their Implacable Enemies the Scots in as lamentable a manner as ever any People were abandoned by an unworthy and careless Prince Of these Disgraces Losses and Troubles we may make this useful Observation That as the Heroick Virtues of excellent Princes are usually crowned with Blessings from Heaven so for the Iniquities and heinous Transgressions of wicked and ungodly Kings both themselves and their Subjects likewise are severely punished by the Almighty before whom Princes must fall as well as common Men except their true and hearty Repentance with amendment of their Lives do procure his Mercy and Favour before it be too late And indeed the Hand of God seem'd now stretcht out against this Kingdom for about this time so great a Pestilence and Mortality happened that the Living were hardly sufficient to bury the Dead This was attended with a dreadful Famine occasioned by immoderate Rains in Harvest which destroyed all the Corn almost throughout England and at length the Dearth grew so terrible that Horse-flesh was counted dainty Victuals The Poor stole fat Dogs to eat them yea some compelled with hunger are their own Children and others stole their Neighbours Children to eat them Thieves in Prison kill'd and tore in pieces those that came newly in and greedily devoured them half alive As for Cows Sheep Goats c. they were generally rotten and corrupted by eating the Grass which was infected as it grew so that those who eat of them were poisoned But neither these woful Visitations nor the innumerable dishonours afflictions and discontents under which the Nation lay had any influence upon the King or his Ministers which gave encouragement to one John Poydras a Tanner's Son at Exeter to attempt a very daring Enterprize he boldly affirming himself to be the truly begotten Son of the last King Edward the first and said That he was changed in his Cradle by his Nurse for a Carter's Child offering divers colourable Allegations to prove the same and among the rest he strongly insisted upon the unprincely and unworthy qualities and actions of the King such as none could be guilty of that was not of a mean sordid and obscure Birth and Descent His confident Claim and daring Assertions quickly affected the Minds of the common People so that many gathered to him and acknowledged him for their King But at length he was apprehended and having confest his Treason he was Condemned and Executed for his folly near Northampton declaring that he did it by the motion of a Familiar Spirit whom he had serv'd three years in the likeness of a Cat. About the same time divers notorious Thieves and Robbers near two hundred in number being all clothed like Grey Friers robbed and murdered and destroyed the Inhabitants of the North-Countrey without regard to Quality Age or Sex but some Forces being sent against them took the greatest part who were deservedly Executed for the same The Nobility and Gentry perceiving that the Distempers and Mischiefs in the Realm did daily increase and grow more dangerous they like good Physicians determined to search narrowly into the Causes of all these Maladies and to provide some Remedy for their Redress before it were too late and the miserable Oppressions and Violencies daily committed in their view made them take courage to inform the King That the two Spencers by their Mismanagement and ill Conduct in the Affairs of State of whom alone the King took Advice and Counsel were the immediate and only occasion of all those Calamities and Misfortunes which now miserably afflicted and disturbed the whole Kingdom and plainly told him That they had so great an Interest in the King's Person and Government that they judged themselves bound in Honour and Conscience to inform his Highness of all such Misdemeanours aâ— were committed by any of his Subjects which tended â—o the subversion of the State and to the disturbing of the Publick Peace thereof They concluded 〈◊〉 â—umbly imploring his Majesty That he would be pleased to dismiss the two Spencers from his Preâ—ence Court and Council for ever 〈◊〉 corrupted â—im with monstrous Vices and render'd him altogeher careless
Bridg thy Bowels taken out and Burnt thy Body quartered and thy four Quarters set up in four principal Cities of England for an example to such heinous Offenders And this Sentence was accordingly executed upon him Thus ended this unfortunate expedition to the great reproach and loss of the English and the scandal of the King who was grown sufficiently infamous already for making the Kingdom a shambles for the Nobility Yet in the midst of these calamities the two Spencers rid Triumphant in the Chariot of Favour Power Honour and Riches enjoying great part of the Estate of the late unfortunate Earl of Lancaster and in this grandeur they continued for the space of five years notwithstanding the utmost efforts of their potent and numerous adversaries who continually meditated their destruction During which time the Queens Interest extreamly declined who for shewing some relentings for the severity used to the Lords and expressing her dislike of the overgrown authority of the two wicked Favourites by whose persuasions she was sensible the King her Husband abandoned her Company and Bed was extreamly hated by them So that they continued their impious Artifices to allure the King with the Company and Dalliance of Leud and Lascivious Harlots and to avoid any converse with her And it did appear that these evil minded and vile men working upon the King's inclination were the principal Authors and Advisers of that sharp revenge taken upon the Lords for their own ambitious and avaritious ends whereby at length they brought inevitable ruin upon the Crown Dignity and Life of their Soveraign Which the following instance seeâ—… plainly to confirm Among those who were condemned for joining with the Earl of Lancaster the King's Uncle there was one very poor Fellow for whose life because he had long continued at Court many great Courtâ—…rs interceeded very earnestly and pressed the matter so far that the King in a rage replied 'A plague upon you for a company of Cursed Whisperers malicious Backbiters Flatterers and wicked Counsellors who can beg so heartily for saving the life of a notorious wicked Knave and yet could not speak a word in the behalf of the most noble Knight Earl Thomas of Lancaster my near Kinsman whose Life and Counsels would now have been of great use and service to the Kingdom Whereas this wretch the longer he lives the more villanies will he commit having already made himself notorious throughout the Realm for his horrid Crimes and desperate Outrages For which by the Soul of God he shall dye the death he hath justly deserved And he was accordingly executed This may be some evidence that the King was over persuaded to commit those Tragedies upon the Lords 〈…〉 was reckoned to be naturally merciful and 〈◊〉 according to the Religion of those times but 〈◊〉 â—…iâ—led by depraved Counsellors though he 〈…〉 inexcusable since it is usually said That good 〈◊〉 cannot satisfie for publick Errors and Mischiefs The Spencers still continued their Rapines and Profligate courses and aspiring to more absolute Dominion resolved to leave nothing unattempted that might rivet them in the affections of the King and inrich themselves which begot implacable enmity in the People both against them and their Master their insolence rising to such an height that they abridged the Queen of her usual allowance so that she had not wherewith to maintain her self while themselves abounded in all manner of plenty and magnificence Which caused her publickly to complain ' That the Daughter and Sole Heir of the King of France was Married to a miserable Wretch who did not allow her necessaries and that being promised to be a Queen she was now become no better than a waiting Gentlewoman subsisting only upon a Pension from the Spencers And dreading their malice she took her Eldest Son Prince Edward and privately withdrew into France to her Brother King Charles by whom she was kindly received and comforted with solemn Oaths and Promises that he would effectually assist her against all her Enemies and redress the grievances of the Kingdom A while after the Barons by their Letters assured her of their best help and service to her Self and Son declaring that if she would return to England with the aid of only a thousand valiant men at Arms they would raise so great a strength here to join them as should make the Spencers feel the smart of their unsufferable follies The Queen was exceedingly rejoiced with the hopes of her fortunate success But the two Spencers much doubting the event if she should return with Forces and having the Treasure of the Kingdom at command they corrupted King Charles and his Council with such prodigious sums of Gold and Silver and of Rich Jewels that not only all succour was denied her but the French K. reprimanded her very sharply for having so undutifully and imprudently forsaken her Lord and Dear Husband Yea the Pope likewise and many of the Cardinals being ingaged with rich Presents by the Spencers required King Charles under the Penalty of Cursing to send the Queen and Prince to King Edward And doubtless she had been unnaturally betrayed by her own Brother had she not privately and speedily made her escape to the Earl of Heynault in Germany where she was entertained with extraordinary joy by the Earl and the Lord Beumont his Brother who resolved to accompany her to England In the mean time King Edward and his profligate Favourites having intelligence of their Intentions he sent to demand his Wife and Son to be returned home but not succeeding and the Spencers knowing that if an happy Agreement should have been made between the King his Queen and the Barons they must both have been made Sacrifices of Peace-Offering to appease the resentments of the People they therefore resolve to make the Breach irreconcileable by persuading the King to proclaim the Queen and Prince with all their Adherents Traytors and Enemies to the King and Kingdom banishing all that he thought were well-affected to them and keeping a severe Eye over the discoâ—ented Barons and it was reported That a secret Plot was laid to have taken away the Lives both of the Queen and her Son While the Queen continued in Heynault she concluded a Marriage between the Prince then about fourteen years old and the Lady Philippa that Earl's Daughter and with the Money of her Dowry Listed Souldiers in Germany and soon after with three hundred Knights and gallant Warriours and about 1700 Common Souldiers Germans and English commanded by the Earl of Heynault with the Earls of Kent Pembroke the Lord Beumont and many other English-men of Quality she safely arrived at Orwell in Suffolk Upon the first Intelligence of their Landing the Lords and Barons with joyful hearts and numerous Troops of resolute Gallants compleatly Armed repaired to her Assistance with all speed so that her Forces hourly increased Her Arrival being reported to the King He poor Prince was so surprized that he knew not what course to take
to the Seaside near Portsmouth where happily meeting with a Ship bound for France he passed over thither and lived in the French Court several years His Uncle Roger was detained in a loathsome Prison five years after and at length died and was Buried at Bristol King Edward was so inraged at his escape that he turned Sir Stephen Seagrave out of his place of Constable of the Tower and several Citizens were seized and accused of being accessary to his getting away and of corresponding with and maintaining him beyond Sea but there note being sufficient proof against them they were all acquitted Mortimer continued in France till Queen Isabel and the Prince arrived there to avoid the insults of the two insolent Spencers He after attended the Queen into Germany and came over with her and the rest of the English Lords accompanied with the Earl of Heynault and several German and English Forces And upon King Edward's Flight and afterward his Seizing and Imprisonment Mortimer presumed to manage all affairs according to his own pleasure and therefore the death of the Spencers Reading and some others not satisfying his revenge being high in the Queens favour who could not deny him the Heads of a few of his Enemies he procured that the Earl of Arundel and two Gentlemen more named John Daniel and Thomas Mochelden against whom he had a particular aversion should be Beheaded at Hereford After this the Queen her Son and the beloved Mortimer went to Wallingford Castle where they kept their Christmass with all manner of jollity From thence they proceeded to London where the Queen and Prince were received with much Joy and many rich Presents and a Parliament being called it was concluded that King Edward should be Deposed and his Son advanced to the Throne In the management whereof Mortimer discovered very much zeal activity and diligence as hoping thereby to become Chief Minister of State as well as principal Favourite of the Queen King Edward was Deposed accordingly and confined to Kennelworth Castle the Queen Roger Mortimer and Torlton Bishop of Hereford having concluded to allow him an hundred Marks a month for his necessary Expences And now it was hoped that the Kingdom having suffered so many Concussions and Miseries for several years would have been settled and restored to its former peace and tranquility But it soon appeared that though the Nation had changed its Master yet other evil Instruments succeeded to trouble and disquiet the already harassed People So that one Historian writes thus The beginning of the Reign of King Edward III. was very troublesome for he by reason of his tender Age being but fifteen years old when he came to the Crown was drawn aside by evil Counsel and committed many foul errors of State and Government The chief occasion of which were the Queen her Darling Roger Mortimer and some others For first they procured so great a part of the Revenue of the Nation to be settled for maintaining the Queen and her Family that the young King had scarce a third part of it for himself and his necessary Attendants and Officers So that she and her Favourite Mortimer lived in the greatest State and Grandeur imaginable and the People began to exclaim against him and say publickly That the great zeal and hatred he had shewed against the Rapines of the Spencers was not because they had been oppressive to the Subject but that he was desirous no Body should abuse them but himself Secondly The Queen and he having intelligence that several Great Persons and the whole Order of Friers Preachers taking pity of the late King's Captivity seemed to Consult for his deliverance and knowing that his Restoration would be their confusion they wickedly plotted and contrived to add Murther to their former Impieties and therefore Roger Mortimer was sent with that ambiguous Order to his Keepers devised by Torlton Bishop of Hereford Edwardum occidere nolite tinere bonum est To shed King Edward's Blood Refuse to fear I count it good Where by leaving out the stops they sufficiently incouraged the Murtherers and yet afterward produced the Writing under Queen Isabels Seal for their own Justification when the horrid Fact was committed Though this was very far from clearing them from the guilt of it in the opinion of the Vulgar whose Tongues spare none and who had before heard that though the Queen in her outward deportment pretended much grief and sorrow for the Imprisonment of the King her Husband yet instead of visiting him in his distress which he often desired as still retaining a very great love for her She only sent him fine Clothes and kind Letters but contrary to the Laws of God and Man refrained from rendring him any Nuptial Duties which they plainly reported she bestowed freely enough upon her bloody Adulterer Mortimer Pretending in the mean time that Reasons of State would not allow her to converse with him And soon after this desolate Prince was by an express order from the Young King wholly procured by them removed from Kennelworth to Corf Castle and there miserably deprived of his life Thirdly In the second year of the young King's Reign Robert Bruce King of Scotland denounced War against him and his Kingdom which occasioned the raising of a strong Army consisting of above fifty thousand men with which the King accompanied by the Queen Mother Roger Mortimer the Lord of Heynault John Lord Beumont and many others of the Nobility and Gentry marched toward the Scots who had Invaded England And had so happily incompast them in the Wood of Wiridale and Stanhope Park that the English seemed fully assured of Victory Yet by the Treachery of Roger Mortimer they were not only suffered to make a total escape without any loss but Sir James Dowglass in the dead of the Night with 200 Light-Horse assaulted the King 's own Pavilion and had certainly killed him had not one of his Chaplains a Valiant Man sacrificed his own life in defence of his Soveraign's Dowglass after this bold attempt escaped back without damage but not without honour for his daring Courage this misfortune was afterward charged upon Mortlmer as designing by the death of the King to Usurp the Crown The Scots left their Camp entire behind them wherein the English found 500 Oxen and Cows ready killed a Thousand Spits full of Roast-Meat 500 Caldrons made of Cow-hides new with the Hair on full of Flesh Boyling over Fires And Ten thousand pair of Shoes made of raw Hides with the Hair outward All which became a welcome booty to the hungry English Souldiers Fourthly After this dishonourable retreat of the King who was extreamly grieved to return so ingloriously notwithstanding the expence of a vast Treasure and the imminent danger of his own Person and just before the death of King Robert who died of the Leprosie being accounted one of the most Valiant Warriors of that Age as having redeemed his Country from Slavery and by whose loss it appeared of
assured of their intent he appears to them in the Gallery to prevent any sinister practice against him The Duke of Buckingham with great reverence tells him That he hoped his Highness would pardon him in what he was going to declare in the behalf of the Lord Mayor and Nobility there present and after many circumstances proceeds to discover the cause of their coming That in regard of the urgent necessities of the Common-wealth they all humbly intreated him to take upon him the Government of the Kingdom in his own Right to whom they all tendered their Alleglance At which word the Protector started back as if extreamly surprized and passionately replied ' I little thought good Cousin that you of all Men would have moved me in a matter which of all things in the World I must decline Far be it from me to accept of that which without apparent wrong to the Children of my dear deceased Brother and my own upright Conscience I cannot well approve of And pretending to proceed in this dissembling Harangue the Duke seemed abruptly upon his Knees to stop him ' Since your Grace says he has been pleased to give free liberty to offer to you in the Name of this Great Assembly the free tender of their Obedience to you I must further add That it is unanimously concluded that your late Brother King Edward's Children as being generally known to be Illegitimate shall never be admitted to the Crown of England and therefore if your Grace shall neither regard your self nor us so far as to accept of the same we are fully determined to confer it upon some other of the House of Lancaster that will be more sensible of his own and our good â—hese words seemed to have such powerful effect upon the Protector 's mind that with a pretended change of countenance and feigned perturbation He replied ' Since I perceive the whole Kingdom are resolved by no means to admit my dear Nephews being but Children to Reign over them and since the Right of Succession justly belongs to me as the undoubted Heir of Richard Plantaginet Duke of York my Renowned Father We are contented to condescend to your Importunities and to accept the Regal Government of the Kingdom and will to the utmost of my power endeavour to procure and maintain the quiet and welfare thereof After this he came down from his Gallery and very formally Saluted them all which so pleased the giddy and inconstant Mobile that they presently shouted out Long live King Richard our Dread Soveraign Lord and so every Man departed Having thus Usurped the Soveraignty He was soon after Crowned Creating his Son Edward a Child of Ten years old Prince of Wales advancing several of the Nobility to higher Honours and Dignifying others And to shew his Clemency and good Nature several whom he suspected would have hindered his proceedings and had been therefore Imprisoned were now released but Morton Bishop of Ely who would never consent to the disinheriting King Edward's Children was committed to the custody of the Duke of Buckingham who secured him in his Castle of Brecknock in Wales And now King Richard with his Queen the Lady Ann Youngest Daughter of the Great Earl of Warwick and the Widow of Prince Edward Son to King Henry VI. whom he had newly Married made a progress to Glocester upon pretence of visiting the place of his former Honour But in truth to be absent while he had a special villany to be acted For though he had satisfied his Ambition by depriving his Nephews of their Livelyhood yet he could not remove his fears without taking away their Lives To perpetrate this villany he durst not use the assistance of his old Friend and Favourite the Duke of Buckingham as being sensible of his abhorrence thereof However it was too easie to find wicked Instruments for Money and upon inquiry he heard of two Brothers in his Court Sir Thomas and Sir James Tyrril the first of an honest sober temper but the other of a proud ambitious humour and ready to commit any wickedness for preferment Being told of this Man as he was at the Close-Stool he instantly rose and went to him whom he found more free to undertake the work than he was to imploy him so the bargain was soon made and nothing remained but an opportunity to effect it King Richard had before sent John Green one of his Privadoes to Sir Robert Brackenbury Lieutenant of the Tower to require him to do the deed he being raised by him but the Lieutenant declaring an absolute aversion thereto Good Lord says the King Whom can a Man trust So that finding he must be removed or else it was impossible to effect it he sends him an absolute Order by Sir James Tyrril immediately to deliver up the Keys of the Tower to him Tyrril being now Lieutenant for the time hires two Rascals like himself Giles Forest and James Leighton his Hostler a stout lusty fellow to join with him in the Murder of these Innocent Children who coming into their Chamber in the Night accompanied only with one Black Will or William Slaughter another bloody Villain they suddenly wrapt them up in the Bed-cloaths and keeping down the Pillow and Bed-cloaths with all their strength upon their Mouths they so stifled them that their breath failing they surrendred up their Innocent Souls to Heaven The Murtherers perceiving First by their strugling with the pangs of Death and then by their long lying still that they were thoroughly Dead they laid their Bodies out upon the Bed and then called Sir James to see them who presently caused their Bodies to be buried under the Stairs under a heap of Stones from whence they were afterward removed to a place of Christian Burial by a Priest of Sir Robert Brackenbury who dying soon after it was never known where they were laid which gave occasion to the Imposture in K. Henry VII Reign of Perkin Warbeck who pretended to be Richard Duke of York the Younger Brother that by the compassion of the Murtherers was saved and sent to seek his Fortune Others write that King Richard caused their Bodies to be taken up and being closed in Lead to be put into a Coffin full of holes hooked at the ends with Iron and so thrown into a place called the Black Deep at the Thames mouth to secure them from being ever seen or rising again But Divine Vengeance soon reached the Murtherers Miles Forrest rotting away alive peice meal at St. Martins Le Grand Leighton dyed at Callice detested of all Men and in great misery Sir James Tyrril was afterward Beheaded for Treason at Tower-Hill and King Richard himself after this execrable Fact never was quiet in mind being tormented with fearful Dreams starting out of his Bed and running about the Chamber with great horror as if all the Fiends in Hell had been about him to torture his vexed Soul And here we may observe That Confederacies in Evil seldom continue long but usually
view of these fine beauties and to offer our service to them The Cardinal replied they were welcome whereupon having saluted all the Ladies a great Cup of Gold filled with Crown Pieces was opened and they thrown on the Table to play withal After they had play'd some time the Gentlemen came and threw down their winnings before the Cardinal being about two hundred Crowns Have at all quoth he and throwing a Die he won it whereat the company seemed much pleased Then said the Cardinal My Lord Chamberlain Pray go and tell these Gentlemen that I am of opinoin there is a Nobleman among them who better deserves to sit in this place than I and to whom I would gladly surrender it according to my duty if I knew him The Lord Chamberlain spoke to them in French and they replied That they must confess there was such a Noble Personage among them whom if his Grace could distinguish from the rest he would then discover himself and accept of his Place The Cardinal taking a strict review of them said I believe the Gentleman with the black Beard is he and thereupon he role up and offered him his Chair with the Cup in his hand But it was Sir Edward Nevil who was very like King Henry and the King seeing the Cardinal's mistake could not forbear laughing and pulling off his Vizor and Sir Edward's likewise discovered himself to all his Guests and then withdrawing clothed himself in his Royal Robes In which short space the former Banquet was clear taken away and the Tables new covered again with perfumed Linnen and the King and his Masquers returning again in their rich Cloths a Royal Banquet of two hundred Dishes was brought in where they continued Feasting and Dancing till the next Morning As these Entertainments discover the extream Magnificence wherein the Cardinal lived so they also shew the familiar temper of King Henry whom one Historian says was so free from Pride that he was rather too humble at least he conversed with his Subjects in a more familiar manner than is usual with Princes VVhich is confirmed by a Passage in the eleventh year of his Reign when the Privy Council complaining that certain young Gentlemen in his Court â—…ith whom he was over-familiar were so Frenchified that forgetting the respect due to his Royalty they used many unfeemly actions and discourses with him they were thereupon with his consent banished the Court and several other antient grave Knights and Gentlemen placed in their Rooms about the King's Person Neither did the Cardinals grandeur consist only in the aforementioned instances but likewise in erecting costly and magnificent Houses and Palaces as York Place at Westminster so named by him from his Archbishoprick now Whitehall Hampton Court his stately buildings at Christ Church and Windsor He likewise designed to have built two new Colleges in Oxford and Ipswich the Town of his Birth and obtained a License of Pope Clement to suppress forty Monasteries and seize the Revenues thereof to perform the same And for the farther support of his Dignity he enjoyed at one time no less than seven rich Bishopricks that is York Winchester Lincoln Tournay Bath VVorcester and Hereford so that he seemed a Monster with seven Heads each of them honoured with a Miter He being thus imperiously Great more like a Prince than a Priest was continually inventing new ways for getting of Money For he required an account of the Captains Treasurers and other Officers that had been imployed in paying the Souldiers in the VVars some of whom he obliged to refund great sums of their ill gotten Estates who made themselves poor to inrich him Others compounded with him for half they were worth But those that had deceived the King and then prodigally spent what they had wrongfully gained were exposed to publick shame and punishment So that none suffered though deeply Criminal but only for the Mortal Sin of Poverty He likewise erected several Courts of Equity as he called them but the People named them Courts of Iniquity in which upon pretence of relieving the poor from the rigour of the Law he brought such a multitude of Causes into them that the other Courts of Justice were abandoned and he thereby gained vast Treasures to himself Till at length the People perceiving that he only grew Rich and themselves poor and that the Verdicts in these Courts would not stand in Common Law they utterly left them and returned to the former course of Proceeding He likewise erected another new Court which he called the Legantine Court whereby he visited all Bishopricks and Monasteries punishing such Clergymen as were unable to bribe him but inriching himself by those who were full of Money and full of Faults By the same Authority he supprest several Abbies and Priories seizing all their Goods and Lands leaving only a small Pension to the Abbots and Priors whereby he purchased great riches and and great hatred from the Clergy who in many places opposed his Visitor Dr. Allen who rid in a Velvet Gown with a great Train following him and for which they were openly cursed by Dr. Forrest at Paul's Cross so that the Cardinal prevailed against them all and caused the generality to murmur and complain that by his Visitations Probate of Wills granting of Faculties Licenses and other Tricks he made his constant revenue equal to the King 's besides great sums which he yearly conveyed out of the Realm to the Court of Rome In 1517. The Citizens of London were so highly provoked by the multitude of French and Walloons who setling here undersold their goods and thereby impoverisht them that they resolved to endeavour to rid themselves of this annoyance all at once Whereupon John Lincoln a Broker persuaded one Dr. Bell to represent this great grievance to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in a Sermon at the Spittle on Easter Tuesday The Doctor undertook the business and took these words for his Text The Heaven is the Lord's but the Earth he hath given to the Sons of men From hence he infer'd that this Land was given to Englishmen who were obliged to defend the same as Birds do their Nests and to fight for their Country by the Law of God against all Strangers and Foreigners who to the great trouble vexation and ruin of the People had now over-run the Land and for which there was no redress to be had but by the Commons uniting themselves together and extirpating them out of the City and Kingdom and thereby avenge themselves of the many affronts and abuses which they had lately publickly offered them This Sermon inflamed the Minds of the Citizens who were sufficiently inraged before so that they took all occasions to qâ—arrel with the Foreigners and a rumor was spread that the next May day would be very remarkable The Cardinal and Council hearing of it ordered the Lord Mayor to keep strong Watches throughout the City However on May Eve several hundreds of young Fellows got together and
should the most celebrate the same and of which I have given a particular relation in a Book called Vnparallell'd Varieties or the Transcendent effects of Gratitude c. of the like value with this His Charity was very apparent in that foreseeing himself declining in the King's favour he like a kind and loving Master provided beforehand for almost all his Servants and gave twelve Children of his Musick twenty pound apiece And likewise in delivering many out of danger for having broken Popish Laws and Constitutions His Humility was very eminent in several instances particularly that He and Archbishop Cranmer riding once in state through Cheapside Cromwell seeing a poor Woman to whom he had formerly owed Money called her to him and bid her go to his House where he not only discharged the Debt but setled a Pension of four pound a year upon her during Life At another time observing a poor man at the Court of Sherin imployed in Sweeping the Cloysters and Ringing the Chappel Bell He in the Company of several Lords called him by his name and said This poor mans Father was a great friend to me having given me many a meals meat in my necessity and therefore I am resolved to provide for him as long as I live which he did accordingly His Wisdom and Policy in state affairs was very obvious in the management of all Treaties Negotiations and Transactions both at home and abroad with the utmost prudence dextegity and success Lastly and Principally his fervent zeal for the true Religion was sufficiently discovered by the Injunctions Proclamations and Articles published by his advice for promoting and advancing the same In a word many Ages before and since have not been blest with two such excellent Persons as the Lord Cromwell and Archbishop Cranmer who both flourisht together at this time Remarks upon the Life Actions and Fatal Fall of Robert Devereux Earl of Essex Favourite to Queen Elizabeth BY the fall of this Great Man we may observe that the Love of a People may be of no less dangerous consequence to a Subject to trust to than their hatred proves satal to such Princes as are so unwary to procuse it Nor is the affection of a Prince to a Favourite to be much relied on since their love is oftentimes inconstant and their anger deadly Of both which we can scarce find a more pregnant instance than in the Life and Death of this Eminent Favourite Robert Devereux was born in 1566. and was not above ten years of Age when his Father Walter Earl of Essex and Earl Marshal of Ireland deceased at Dublin Premonishing his Son never to forget the thirty sixth year of his Age as the utmost term of Life which neither himself nor his Father before him survived and which his Son never attained to After his Father's death he was under the Tuition of the Pious and Learned Dr. Whitgift and at sixteen years performed his publick Acts as Master of Arts. His first advancement at Court was procured by the Earl of Leicester his Father in Law and was thought to be designed not so much out of love to him as envy against Sr. Walter Rawleigh His Descent was very honourable his Title being derived from Evereux a City in Normandy His Title of Lord came by Marriage with Cicily the Daughter of William Bourchier whose Grandmother was Sister to Edward IV. King of England whose great Grandmother was Daughter to Thomas of Woodstock Son of King Edward III. born of one of the Daughters of Humfry Bohun Earl of Hartford and Essex whereupon the Title of Viscount Hartford was bestowed upon his great Grandfather Walter by King Edward VI. and that of Earl of Essex upon his Father by Q Elizabeth So that this high Birth might fill him with some ambitious thoughts He was with much ado at first made Master of the Horse the Queen being displeased with his Mother but afterward when by his observance and duty he had procured her full favour she forgave a great debt that his Father owed her made him a Knight of the Garter and a Privy Counsellor when he was scarce twenty three years old His first appearance in action was at Tilbury Camp in 1588. being made by the Queen General of the Horse to whom in the fight of the Souldiery and People she discovered a more than ordinary kindness And now Queen Elizabeth to follow the blow that she had given the Spanish Armada the next year sends Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norris with a Fleet and some Forces to the aid of Don Antonio who pretended a Right to the Crown of Portugal but Philip II. of Spain being both ambitious and powerful sent the Duke of Alva with an Army thither who drove this new King out of his Country and after many skirmishes wholly possessed himself of that Kingdom for his Master The English Forces landed near the Groin in Gallicia and took the lower Town During this Voyage the Earl of Essex unwilling to be idle when honour was to be gotten went privately to Sea without the Queen's knowledge or consent and joined the Fleet At which she was much disturbed saying This young Fellow is so ventrous that he will certainly be knockt on the Head one time or other The English likewise took Peniche another Town in Portugal and approached Lisbon took the Castle of Cascays burnt the Town of Vigo and finding that the Portuguese did not declare for Don Antonio as he expected sickness likewise increasing among the Souldiers the Fleet returned home After this the Popish Princes of France entring into a League that they would have no Protestant reign over them raised an Army against the King of Navar their rightful Soveraign who thereupon craved aid of the Q. who readily assisted him with money and then with men under the Earl of Essex who gave sufficient proof of his Valour upon all occasions his Brother Walter being slain before the Walls of Roan Upon which the Earl challenged Villars the Governor of the City to a single Combat which he durst not accept of The Earl a while after returned to England being informed by his friends that many envious Courtiers were contriving to throw him out of the Queen's favour In 1595. Arch-Duke Albert Governor of the Spanish Netherlands for the King of Spain suddenly Besieged Callice and took it the news whereof so surprized the Queen because of the near Neighbourhood of this Potent Enemy that to divert the Tempest from England She and the States of Holland instantly set out a Navy of 140 Ships whereon were imbarqued about seven thousand Souldiers and as many Seamen commanded in chief by the Earl of Essex and Charles Howard joint Admirals with several other Inferior Commanders of great Courage and Conduct who Sailing to Cadiz in a short time took both the Town and Castle no man of Note being lost in this Expedition but Captain Wingfield and after having Ransackt the Town and Island whereon it is built
they would renounce their Allegiance and prosecute him as a perjured Prince But the obstinate King would not condescend to their desires resolving to lose all rather than part with his dear Gaveston and therefore he instantly sent for several Foreign Souldiers and having hired three hundred Horsemen commanded by the Earl of Hannow and the Viscount Foix in their passage through France for England they were seized by that King who kill'd most of the Souldiers and hanged up the Officers He then solicited aid from Robert Bruce King of Scotland from 〈…〉 Thomas a Great man in Ireland and likewise from the Welsh but they all denied to give him any assistance against his Barons Whereat being inraged he fortified Windsor Castle and built Forts in several other parts of the Kingdom The Lords likewise raised Forces and resolved to march toward York from whence the King was gone to Sea for his recreation leaving Gaveston behind him who lodged in the Castle and caused that and the City also to be strengthned with new Fortifications The Barons rendezvoused at Bedford where they made Gilbert Earl of Glocester Lord Keeper of England and ordered strict Guards to be set upon the Sea-Coasts for preventing any Foreign Forces from landing to assist the Ring From hence they proceeded to York at whose approach Gaveston fled from thence to Scarborough the Lords pursued him thither and Besieging the Town they quickly took it and made him a Prisoner committing him to the Custody of Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke who carried him to a Village called Dathington between Oxford and Warwick designing to have conveyed him the next day to Wallingford Castle and going that night to lodge with his Countess who was hard by the next morning Guy Earl of Warwick with a strong Party took him away from thence and brought him to Warwick Castle And the Lords having called a Council of War it was unanimously resolved by the Earls of Lancaster Warwick and Hereford that he should be instantly put to death as a subverter of the Government and a notorious Traytor to the Kingdom And thereupon he was carried to a place called Blacklow and afterward Gaveshead where he was beheaded in the presence of the Lords aforementioned in 1312. His Body was by the Friers Predicant conveyed to Oxford and there kept above two years till the King caused it to be removed to Kings Langley in Hartfordshire where he in person to demonstrate his endeared affection to him dead as well as living attended with the Archbishop of Canterbury four Bishops with many Abbots and principal Clergy Men caused him to be interred in the Friers Church which he had built with all manner of Funeral Pomp and Solemnity Few or none of the Temporal Lords being present whose great Hearts could not comply to honour him being dead whom they so mortally hated when alive This was the fatal end of this angracious Favourite who if he had used moderation and discretion might have long enjoyed the grandeur to which he had arrived but the publick wrongs he was guilty of together with the private and personal abuses offered to the principal Nobility made him odious and abhorred no injuries being harder to be forgiven or forgotten than Scoffs and Jeers at mens Personal defects which have occasioned the destruction of many in all Ages and made this unfortunate man dye unpitied and unlamented being reckoned to fall a just Sacrifice both to publick and private vengeance Remarks on the Lives Actions and Fatal Fall of Hugh Spencer the Father Earl of Winchester and Hugh Spencer the Son Earl of Glocester Both Favourites to King Edward the Second INnumerable are the mischiefs that a Kingdom is subject to which is governed by a perverse and wilful Prince which commonly occasions great calamities both to himself and his People and of which we have scarce a more pregnant instance than in the Reign of that unhappy King Edward the second who though he had suffered so many troubles for his inordinate and unreasonable favours to Peirce Gaveston and by whose removal the Nobility seemed so well contented that he might now have settled himself and the Realm in Peace yet his violent nature was such that instead thereof he made it his Study how â—o destroy those Lords who had deprived him of his beloved Gaveston whose death so afflicted him that he seemed as if he had lost half of himself and whose Blood he designed to revenge upon them to the utmost as the only means to revive his languishing Spirit and remove the mourning and sorrow that had lain upon his mind ever since his fatal Fall The Barons were very sensible of his rage and displeasure against them and therefore resolved not to 〈◊〉 down their arms till they had sufficiently provided for their future security and settled the Government upon its antient and legal foundation This unnatural division between the King and his Peers was much heightned by the ill Offices of the Queens Kindred and Countrymen the French who coming over in great numbers to attend the solemnity of the Baptizing the King's Son afterward the Victorious King Edward III. who was about this time born at Windsor they so aggravated these proceedings of the Lords against him that he who was too much inflamed before seemed now irreconcileable to them So that nothing but the miseries of an Intestine War were expected To prevent which the young Queen the Bishops and some other Noblemen procured an enterview between them where the King sharply charged the Barons for their rebellious and presumptuous taking up Arms against him and for seizing and wickedly murdering his dear and faithful Friend Peirce Gaveston The Lords resolutely answered That they were not guilty of Rebellion nor had done any thing but what deserved his Royal thanks and favour since they had not raised any Forces against his Sacred Person but only in their own defence and to bring to Justice that impious Traytor Peirce Gaveston the publick Enemy and Fire-brand of the Realm But though both were very fierce in words yet the Queen and Bishops used all manner of means to prevent their coming to action and by their incessant endeavours wrought so effectually that the King seemed willing to be pacified if they would acknowledge their Fault And the Lords for preventing the dangers which now threatned them from Robert Bruce King of Scotland were contented to make their humble submissions to the King in open Court at Westminster and desired him to forgive all their offences against him which the King graciously granted them offering his Pardon to all that would Petition him for the same Upon which happy agreement the Parliament then sitting being sensible of the King 's great want of money freely granted him a fifteenth of their Estates for his support But Guy Earl of Warwick did not long survive this happy union being secretly Poisoned as the Lords reported by some of the King's Friends The Office of Lord Chamberlain being vacant by
the death of Peirce Gaveston the Nobility recommended Hugh Spencer the younger to the King to succeed in his place because he had been formerly of their Party and they did not doubt but he would be a very faithful Counsellor But as the Proverb says Honours change Manners for though the King before hated him yet he soon insinuated himself so far into his weak Mind that he became as intimate a Favourite and succeeded in all the Graces Familiarity and Power of his Predecessor as well as in the Hatred and Envy of the Nobility and People occasioned by his Insolence Ambition and Lewdness wherein he seemed to equal if not exceed the Wicked Gaveston and thereby rendred himself so acceptable to the vitiated Soul of King Edward Hugh Spencer his Father an antient Knight was yet living and accounted a Person of great vertue a wise Counsellor and a Man of Valour but seeming very forward in promoting his Son's Interest and Grandeur he was likewise introduced into Court and in great favour with the King so that he was made partaker of the guilt and calamity of his Son rather out of Natural and Paternal Love and Tenderness than from the wilfulness or depravity of his Mind But young Spencer was nâ—… of a more lovely shape and comely Personage than he was of a profligate and flagitious temper The Spirit of Pride Rapine Oppression and all the most intolerable vices seeming to have wholly possest him So that in comparison of him the People were ready almost to wish for Gaveston again By his leud advice the K. pursued his former course of Debauchery spending his Time and Treasure among lascivious Harlots and Concubines and utterly renouncing the sweet Conversation of his excellent Consort which made him a scorn to Foreign Princes and hateful in the sight of all Civil Men. He was the cause of the ruin of divers Widows and Fatherless of the destruction of many Noblemen and Gentlemen and at length of the utter overthrow and confusion of Himself his Father and the King also This evil management of Affairs caused new dscords between the King and his Nobility whereby many mischiefs happened in the Kingdom and their Enemies had a fair opportunity to put in practice their designs against them Among others the Scots having joyfully Crowned the valiant Robert Bruce for their King resolved to use their utmost efforts for recovering their Country and Liberties which had been Ravished from them by the valiant King Edward I. who had made an entire Conquest of their Kingdom and appointed John Cummin Earl of Buquan a Scot to be Governour thereof for the English Him King Robert had vanquisht in Battel and was now grown so powerful while King Edward was buried in soft and unmanly luxury and delight that he sent his Brother Edward to Besiege the Castle of Sterling which bold attempt began to awaken the King of England out of his destructive Slumbers So that with all speed raising a very potent Army he with all diligence marched toward the relief thereof Hector Boetius the Scots Historian gives a very surprizing account of the number of Soldiers that King Edward carried with him to this Siege which he reckons to be one hundred and fifty thousand Horsâ—â—en and as many Foot and because this may seem incredible he adds That besides the English he had likewise the assistance of the Hollanders Zealanders Flemings Picards Boulonis Gascoigns Normans and many more from other Provinces in France and other Countries Besides which three hundred thousand Men of War he relates that there were a vast multitude of Women Children Servants yea whole Families with their House-hold-stuff which followed the Camp wherein this Author may be thought to have designed the magnifying the Valour of his Countrey-men who with far more inconsiderable Forces defeated this mighty Host His Darling Spencer accompanied the King in this Expedition but the Earls of Lancaster Warren Warwick and Arundel the greatest Peers of that Age positively refused to attend him since He and his Evil Ministers continued their Invasions and Depredations upon the Liberties and Estates of the People notwithstanding the provisions they had so often made and he had so often consented to for securing the same And as this must needs diminish his strength so it likewise deprived him of their Counsel and Conduct which was so absolutely necessary in Military Affairs However his number of Men was sufficient if Multitude without Discipline Piety or Courage could always obtain Victory But K. Edward and his Army seemed rather to be going to a Wedding or a Triumph than to engage a rough and hardy Enemy for their Targets Bucklers and other Habiliments of War were so glorious with Gold and Silver and their bright Armour gave such a dazling lustre against the Sun-beams as raised wonder in the admiring Spectators and seemed very much to correspond with the wanton Humour of the Prince And herein it is very apparent what great Advantages true and sober Courage usually obtains against vain Gallantry and ungrounded Confidence King Robert with his Forces which were much inferiour to the English being incampt near King Edward's he published a strict Order the Evening before That his Souldiers should prepare themselves for Battel the next day and that they should make humble Confession of their sins and offences in order to the receiving of the Blessed Sacrament and then no doubt the Lord of Hosts would give them Victory since they designed only to free themselves from the many woful Calamities which they had suffered from the English and to recover the Liberty and Freedom of their Countrey Far otherwise was it in the Camp of K. Edward for the Scots having the day before surprized and cut off several English Horse-men he was so far from being discouraged at such a slight presage of ill Fortune that he resolved the very next day to take a terrible Revenge upon them of which he had such a confident assurance that he triumpht before the Victory his Souldiers drinking carousing and threatning their Enemies with the utmost Cruelties that could be executed upon them But the Scots to obviate their strengâ—h by Policy had digged before the Front of their Battalions several Trenches three foot in depth and as many broad wherein they placed sharp Stakes with their points upwards and covered them over so exactly with Hurdles that Foot men might pass lightly over but Horse would certainly sink in and this Strategem nâ—xt to the Anger of Heaven against the English for their Vain-glory and Effeminacy was the principal cause of the Defeat of King Edward for he reposing much Confidence in his Cavalry the fury of their first Charge was intercepted and stopt by these Pit-falls into which the Horses plunging in great numbers the Riders were miserably destroyed with much ease by the Scots whom King Robert marching on foot in the head of led on with the utmost Courage and Gallantry The King of England had marshall'd his Army
the Barons came in Person with a very strong Party before the Castle many of the Queen Friends who were formerly on the other side joining with him The Lord himself was gone with the rest of the Noblemen to destroy the Lands and Estates of the two Spencers having left his Wife and Children in the Castle and a Captain to command there After some time spent in the Siege the Besieged finding little hope of relief were forced to surrender it to the King at Mercy who hanged five or six of the principal Persons And committed the Lord Badlesmere's Wife and Children to the Tower After which many of the Barons misdoubting their strength deserted their Chief the Earl of Lancaster which now made the Victory the more easily incline to the King The third day after the Battle the King resolving to take his full swing of Vengeance upon the Barons sate in Judgment in Person at Pomfret Castle together with the Earls oâ— Kent Pembroke Surrey and the two Spencers Before whom the Earl of Lancaster and the rest being brought Sentence was pronounced against them to be drawn hanged and quartered as guilty of High Treason by Andrew Harkley a man of small fortune but made Earl of Carlile and Lord Chief Justice for taking the Earl of Lancaster and several other Lords Prisoners after the late Fight The Earl of Lancaster being the King's Uncle was only Beheaded the same day at Pomfret but the other Lords were hanged and quartered in several parts of the Realm As the Lords Lisle Touchet Manduit Bradburn Fitz Williams Cheyney at Pomfret The Lords Clifford Mowbray and Deynvile hang'd in Chains at York The Lord Gifford at Glocester The Lord Teys at London The Lord Aldenham at Windsor and the Lords Badlesmere and Ashburnham at Canterbury And several other Baronets Knights Esquires and Gentlemen were executed in other places Never before did English Earth at one time drink up so much Blood of her Nobility and Gentry shed in so vile a manner which whatsoever was pretended was reckoned by the People to be spilt upon the account and in the quarrel of the two Ravenous Favourites the Spencers nor was it long unrevenged with the destruction of the principal Actors After this the King likewise seized all their Estates as forfeited to the Crown This havock being made of the Nobility to the astonishment of the rest and the terror of the Vulgar the Spencers were elated so intolerably with Pride by this Victory that instead of making good use thereof and reforming those abuses that might occasion the like again and giving the King good Counsel they now proceed to commit greater Rapines and Violences than before making their Will a Law in all things And then presuming that all affairs should for the future be managed according to their pleasure they advise the King to call a Parliament at York in which he created Edward his eldest Son Prince of Wales and Duke of Acquitain He also created Sir Hugh Spencer the Father Earl of Winchester and Sir Hugh the Son Earl of Glocester And exacted the sixth Penny of all Mens Estates and Goods to support his intended Wars against the Scots the levying of which Tax caused much murmuring and discontent among the People who affirmed That they were already totally impoverished and ruined by War Famine and the disordereâ— Government of the King and his Evil Counsellors The King was fully persuaded that his late Successes had rendered him as terrible to the Scots as to his own Subjects and that they were no way capable of resisting so great a Power as he had raised against them resolving now to call them to a strict account for all their Inroads Murthers and Robberies The Scots being secretly inform'd that King Edward was intended to Invade their Country and to revenge those wrongs he had received from Robert Bruce their King endeavoured to divert him by landing a great Army in Ireland but the King having timely notice of their design made such provision that the greatest part of the Assailants were slain and the rest fled to their Ships and returned shamefully to their own Country The King after this marched with a very gallant Army into Scotland and being arrived the Scots Nobility with some thousands of men pretended to give him Battel but intended nothing less For at his approach they retired in good Order into the Woods Forests and Mountains of their Country insomuch that the English were quite tired and dispirited in pursuing them through those difficult and uneasie passages so that in a short time for want of Provisions and Necessaries and by reason of the Rains Hail Snow and Frosts which are incident to that cold Region the King's Forces were so afflicted with Sickness and Mortality that they were obliged to retire without having performed any thing suitable to such mighty preparations Which when the Scots perceived they pursued them with much cruelty and one night assaulted them with so much fury that the King himself very narrowly escaped and finding his Forces broken and his Army scattered he was forced to save his Life by an ignominious flight and to leave behind him his Treasure Ordnance Tents and Furniture a joyful prize to the Victorious Scots This last disaster and danger was occasioned principally by the Treachery of Sir Andrew Harkley the new made Earl of Carlile who under pretence of making Peace with the Scots secretly agreed to Marry the Daughter of King Robert whereupon he was seized and carried to London in Irons and being brought to the Bar before the Judg Sir Anthony Lucy in the Robes of an Earl with his Sword girt Hosed Booted and Spur'd the Judg spake thus to him ' Sir Andrew the King for thy Valour and Good Service hath advanced thee to great Honour and made thee Earl of Carlile notwithstanding which thou as a Traytor to thy Lord and King leddest a Party that should have assisted him at the Battel of Bayland in Scotland away by Copland through Lancashire by which Falseness and Treason of thine our Lord the King was discomfited by the Scots whereas if thou hadst arrived in time he might have gained the Victory And this Treason thou didst wilfully commit for a great sum of Gold and Silver which thou didst receive from James Dowglas a Scot and the King's Enemy For which great Crime our Lord the King hath commanded that thou be deprived of the Order of Knighthood wherewith he hath honoured thee for a terror to all other Knights to avoid the like Treachery Then his Spurs were hewed from his Heels and his Sword with which he was Knighted and Girt when created an Earl was broken over his Head he was then unclothed of all his Robes of Honour and State and his Coat of Arms defaced After which the Judg proceeded thus ' Andrew thou art now no Knight but a Knave and for thy Treason the King hath appointed that thou shalt be hanged thy Head smitten off and placed on London
from the People drag'd to a Gallows set up on purpose fifty foot high where being hanged he was afterward cut down and beheaded and quartered His head set upon London Bridge and his Quarters in four principal Towns of the Kingdom Simon Reading was hanged ten foot lower on the same Gallows and Robert Baldock was committed Prisoner to Newgate where with grief and hard usage he soon after died This happened in 1326. Thus Divine Vengeance pursued these two ambitious and profligate Wretches the Spencers Father and Son and brought those who set at defiance the Nobility Gentry and People of the Realm to such shameful and ignominious deaths as by their vile actions they had justly merited Since by their leud and prosligate Counsels they prevailed upon the King to commit all manner of Enormities by forsaking the Company and Bed of his lawful Wife and living in all manner of debauchery with common Strumpets By destroying and ruining his Nobility and Gentry by all manner of Rapines upon the Common People by suffering their Enemies to Plunder and Beggar them without any redress and by all other misdemeanors which rendred him odious to his Subjects and made him rule rather like a Tyrant than a King And thereby occasioned his Deposition and Death which soon after followed For the Queen having summoned a Parliament it was by General consent of the three Estates concluded That King Edward should reign no longer but his Son the Prince should be advanced to the Throne The Archbishop of Canterbury Preaching a Sermon and taking for his Text this Maxim Vox Populi Vox Dei The Voice of the People is the Voice of God Exhorting all his Auditors to Pray to the King of Kings to bless and prosper the King that they had Elected The Queen seemed very sorrowful and even distracted at her Husband's deposition and the P. lamented for his Mothers grief swearing that he would not accept of the Crown without his Father's consent To content them both Commissioners are sent to the King who persuaded him to make a formal Resignation of the Government and then his Son was Crowned King And not long after the Father being removed to Corf Castle was barbarously murdered by his Keepers who through a horn run a burning hot Spit into his Fundament of which he instantly died I shall add no more having already given a particular account of his Resignation and Death in a Book called Admirable Curiosities and Rarities in every County in England c. Remarks upon the Life Actions and fatal Fall of Roger Mortimer Earl of March Favourite to Queen Isabel Widow to King Edward II. and Mother to King Edward III. SUCH is the Malignity of Humane Nature that though there are daily examples of Divine Vengeance executed upon notorious Offendors yet men continue to perpetrate the same crimes that plunged their Predecessors into misery and ruin Of this Roger Mortimer is an obvious instance who though he were an Eye-witness of the fatal fall of the three unfortunate Favourites Gaveston and the two Spencers with divers of their Associates in the former Reign Yea though he himself was very instrumental in their destruction and very active in pretending to reform the Grievances of the Kingdom Yet no sooner was King Edward by his means deposed and a young Prince advanced to the Throne under the Government and Management of his Mother but he by managing the Queen occasioned many mischiefs not much inferior to those of the former abhorred Minions yea exceeding their wickedness in one point namely in being criminally concerned with the Queen Dowager that being one of the Articles the Parliament charged him with But as he wilfully disregarded these warnings and impudently committed the like faults so the Justice of Heaven visited him with the same deserved punishment He was descended from Roger called the Great Lord Mortimer of Wigmore in the Marches of Wales who was his Grandfather and revived and erected again the Round Table at Kennelworth after the Antient Order of King Arthur's Table with the Retinue of an hundred Knights and 100 Ladies in his house for the entertaining of such Adventurers as came thither from all parts of Christendom This young Roger inherited his Estate and Grandeur And Queen Isabel Wife to King Edward II. and Daughter to Philip the Fair King of France being in the glory of her youth forsaken by the King her Husband who delighted only in the company of Peirce Gaveston his Minion and Favourite she fell passionately in love with this Lord Wigmore though before she was accounted the most virtuous chast and excellent Lady of that Age. After the ignominious but deserved death of Gaveston the King instead of being reformed was presently infatuated with the love of two others the Spencers Father and Son who were as bad if not worse than he for all manner of leudness and debauchery Whereupon the Earls of Lancaster Hereford Warwick Lincoln and others rise in Arms against them they having taken an Oath to King Edward I. on his death bed to oppose and withstand his Son Edward if he ever recalled Gaveston from Exile and finding that his death had not much bettered the state of the Kingdom they thought themselves obliged by the same Oath to endeavour the ruin of them also and thereby the redressing the many oppressions and violencies under which the Nation groaned This Roger Lord Wigmore a man of an invincible Spirit and his Uncle Roger Mortimer the Elder resolved to join with the Lords in this attempt and being very busie in raising Forces were taken before they could muster them and by the King committed to the Tower of London But the Queen by means of Torlton Bishop of Hereford Beck Bishop of Durham and Patriarch of Jerusalem then both Mighty Men in the State prevailed so far with the King that upon the submission of the Mortimers the King was somewhat pacified But afterward when He had gained a great Victory against the Barons the young Lord Wigmore and his Uncle were condemned to be Drawn and Hang'd at Westminster and the day of Execution was appointed Whereupon the Younger Spencer some time before pretended to make a great Feast in honour of his Birthday inviting thereunto Sir Stephen Seagrave Constable of the Tower with the rest of the Officers belonging to the same and after he had made them very merry he gave to each a large Cup of a sleepy Drink prepared by Queen Isabel by which means he made his escape breaking through the Wall of his Chamber and coming into the Kitchen near the King's Lodgings and getting into the top thereof came into a Ward of the Tower and so with a strong Ladder of Ropes provided by a Friend he got over the Wall leaving the Ropes fastened thereunto which the next day the Spectators beheld with much astonishment considering the desperate danger which he ventured in the attempt He then swam over the Thames into Kent and avoiding the Highaways came at length
will for it would turn highly to the dishonour of God and to the displeasure of the People if the priviledge of that Holy place should be now broken which had so many Years been inviolably preserved which so many good Kings and Princes had granted and confirmed and which Holy Ground was 500 Years ago by St. Peter in his own Person accompanied with great numbers of Angels by Night so miraculously hallowed and Dedicated to God And for proof whereof they have St. Peter's Copy yet in Westminster Abbey to show and from that time to this there was never any King so indevout and prophane that durst violate that Sacred place nor any Bishop so Holy that durst as to presume to Consecrate it and therefore quoth the Archbishop God forbid that any Man for any Earthly thing should presume to break the Priviledges and Liberties of that Holy Sanctuary and I hope in God I shall not need to fear it for my utmost endeavours shall not be wanting The other Bishops and Clergy in the Council were of the same opinion that no violence ought by any means to be used toward the Queen or that Sacred Place The Archbishop added But my Honourable Lords If the Mothers fears or Womanish dread render my message ineffectual I hope I shall receive no prejudice in your judgments thereby Womanish fear nay Womanish frowardness replied the Duke of Buckingham for I dare take it upon my Soul she very well knows there is no just cause for her to fear any danger can accrue thereby either to her Son or her self for surely no Man will make War with Women I would to God that some Men of her Family were Women too and then we should all be quickly quiet Yet are none of them the less respected because they are her Relations but by reason of their ill actions but if we had no kindness for her or her Kindred yet no Man can believe that we have any hatred or evil design against the King's Noble Brother who is a Kin to us all for whose Honour and welfare if his Mother had so much regard as we of the Nobility have She would not suffer him any longer to be without his Brother's society nor give occasion to Men to think that we have any surreptitious intentions toward him For though she be a Wise Princess yet I hope she does not so presume upon her own Wit as to prefer it before the Wisdom of this Illustrious Assembly nor suspect any unfair dealing from us whom she knows to be devoted to the Service both of the K. and his Brother Her refusal must therefore be the effect of her pevishness and preversness and not of her real fears unless she dreads her own shadow Besides if upon pretended doubts she is not willing to part with him we have the greater reason to take him out of her hands lest to prevent us she should convey him out of the Kingdom and it would much reflect upon the discretion of this Honourable Council to suffer the King's Brother to be carried out of the Realm before our Faces I am therefore clearly for taking him from her not that I would have Sanctuary violated but as I would not break the Priviledges they have so long enjoyed so if they were now to be given I would not be one that should consent to confirm them I will not deny but it may be necessary that those Men whom unfortunate accidents and not their own ill Husbandry have reduced to Poverty should have a place of security from their cruel Creditors Likewise If their be a Contention about the Rights of Princes to the Crown whereby sometimes one Party and soon after another are declared Traytors as it has lately happened I judge it convenient that there be some places of refuge for both But for Thieves and especially wilful Murtherers whom God Almighty commands should be taken from the Altar and put to Death I know no reason that they should have any protection For if either necessity self defence or misfortune brings a Man into danger he is either acquitted by the Law or the King out of his Clemency has power to grant him a Pardon Now let us consider how few Sanctuary men are necessitated to go thither and how great a number their own flagitious crimes drive into them What a rabble of Thieves Murtherers Traytors and other heinous Offenders shelter themselves from Justice in two Sanctuarys only The one in the Elbow of the City as I may call it I mean this at Westminster the other in the very bowels of it St. Martins Le Grand and I dare avow that if we compare the mischiefs that are occasioned by them with the benefits received from them we must conclude that we were better without both This I affirm though they were not abused as they are and having so long continued bad there is now little hope of redress since no Man dares presume to talk of reforming them and Men thereby seeming to make God and St. Peter the Patrons of Profligate and Vitious People For how many live prodigally and run in debt upon the incouragement of securing themselves in these places How many Rich Villains carry in thither Poor Mens Goods and leave them and their Families to Starve for want of their just dues How many Women run away from their Husbands with their Plate and Money and are there protected to spend it upon their Gallants How many Robbers bring Stolen Goods thither and live bravely upon them there they contrive new Robberies going out at Night to commit them and having Stolen Plundred and Murdered they return thither again with their prey as if such places gave them not only security to perpetrate these Villanies but a Licence to continue them But much of this mischief might be prevented if good Men would in earnest put their hands to it which might tend much to the honour of God and yet be no breach of Priviledge For since former Popes and Princes who were more Politick than Pious have granted them these long immunities We and others since out of fear have confirmed them we must be content to suffer them and in God's name let them stand in force as far as reason will permit but not in such force as to hinder us from taking this Young Prince out of Prison and restoring him to his Liberty Honour and Estate A Sanctuary is to preserve those Men or Women that are in danger of the Law abroad but not to wrong nor cheat any body by going in thither Now this Prince is in peril by no Law his Youth and Innocence free him from all suspicion of danger as well as his near Alliance to the King therefore he neither needs nor can have any benefit by Sanctuary and I dare say is very angry with those that keep him there But suppose the Duke is willing so long to continue there yet it is my opinion that he may be taken from thence against his will as
have I to believe that since my Kindred are as Innocent as my self and all the malice against us is because we are so near a kin to the King As for the Gentleman my Son I intend he shall be where I am till I see farther for I assure you the more earnest I see some men to have him away without any real ground the more I dread to part with him And truly Madam quoth the Archbishop the more loth you are to part with him the more afraid are other men that you should convey him away and therefore since he can have no privilege that does not ask it nor for any fault can want it they will think it no breach of privilege to take him from you by force Ah Sâ—r quoth the Queen hath the Protecter so much love and tenderness for him that he only fears he should escape him Alas whither should I send him if he be not safe in this Sanctuary the privilege whereof there was never any Tyrant so wicked or devilish to break But it seems my Son deserves no Sanctuary and therefore cannot have it What is this place of security for a Thief and not for an Infant But he is in no danger say they I would to God he were not I wish the Protector may prove a Protector to him but the matter is plain he hath one Son already in his Hands and could he get the other and destroy them both he would then Usurp the Crown I shall give no other account why I have such a fear but only what the Law gives which as Learned men tell me forbids any man to have the custody of one by whose Death he may inherit far less than a Kingdom I shall say no more but that whosoever breaketh this holy Sanctuary I pray God he may soon have need of one but not enjoy it The Queen then proceeded in severe reflections upon the Protector 's designs which the Archbishop did not then believe and was therefore loth to heaâ— but told her in short That if she would deliver her Son to him and the rest he durst pawn his Soul and Body for his safety but if not he much doubted she would be obliged to do it against her will and that he would never move her any more in that matter These words made the Queen stand silent and considering she had no time or place to secure him from them the Sanctuary being strongly guarded and that she did believe the Archbishop and some of the rest of the Lords were good men and would not see her Child wronged and finally that if the Protector was resolved to have him he would scruple at nothing to compass his ends she concluded to deliver him her self to their fidelity and taking the young Duke by the Hand she said My Lords I neither mistrust your prudence nor am jealous of your faithfulness of which I now give you a convincing proof and wherein if I should be mistaken it would be a very great affliction to me and would bring much mischief to the Realm and eternal reproach upon your selves For behold here is the Gentleman you require whom I doubt not but I could have kept safe in this place whatever is alledged to the contrary Though I do not question but I have some such deadly Enemies to my Family and Blood abroad that if they thought they had a drop of it in their own Bodies they would let it out For we have had many examples that the ambition of Soveraignty makes void all tyes of Kindred and Alliance for this cause Brothers have been the ruin of Brothers and may the Nephews find better usage from their Uncle While these Children are apart the life of one is a defence to the other and their safety consists in each others welfare Keep one safe and that will secure the other but nothing is more dangerous than that they should be in one place for no wise Merchant will venture all his Estate in one Ship But however here I deliver him and his Brother in him into your hands of whom I shall require them both in the sight of God and the World I know very well that you are both Just and Wise and that you want neither Will nor Power to preserve them if you think otherwise pray leave him with me But one thing I earnestly recommend to you to be very cautious lest while you count me too fearful you your selves be not too fearless and secure Then turning to the Child Come my own sweet Son said she let me Kiss you before you go for God knows whether ever we shall kiss one another again to whose holy protection I commit you Having Kissed and Blessed him she turned aside and wept and then went away leaving the Child weeping as fast as she The Lords having received the Duke brought him into the Star Chamber where the Protector and Council were sitting As soon as he was entred the room the Protector rises up and takes him in his Arms Kissing and Imbracing him saying Dear Nephew you are welcome with all my heart for next to my Soveraign Lord your Brother nothing gives me so much contentment as your presence And herein it was thought he did not dissemble having now got the prize which he so much desired Soon after upon pretence of removing the two Princes into a place of more security till the Peoples minds were settled the Protector caused them to be carried in great Pomp and State through London to the Tower there to continue till the King's Coronation from whence they never after came abroad The Protector now began more openly to prosecute his designs but the work being great he must make use of Great men in it and at that time none was more potent than that Duke of Buckingham Some have writ that the Duke was privy to all the contrivances of the Duke from the death of King Edward IV. Others thought the Protector never durst adventure to discover a matter of such great consequence to him and that he now imployed some cunning people to insinuate into the Duke that the young King had a secret hatred to him for being accessary to the Imprisonment of his Kindred and that if he were ever in a capacity he would revenge it upon him for if they should be again at liberty to be sure they would incite him to it and if they should be put to death this would the more inrage the King against him That there was no way for the Duke to retreat or make his Peace with the King since the King himself with his Brother and Kindred were now in such safe custody that the Protector with a word of his Mouth could destroy them all and him also if he found him fall off from his Interest Though the Duke might be troubled at what he had done yet being sensible of the Protector 's cruelty and his own danger he resolved to join with him in all his trayterous enterprizes and
so it was agreed between them that the Duke should assist the Protector to advance him to the Crown In recompence of which service the Protector 's only Son and Heir should marry the Duke's Daughter and should likewise have the Earldom of Hereford settled upon him and his Successors which he had claimed as his Inheritance from Edward IV. but could never obtain it He also promised the Duke a large sum of the King's Money and a great quantity of his Houshold-stuff Having entred into this cursed combination to delude the People they pretend to make great preparations for Crowning the young King To which purpose all the Lords of the Council were summoned to appear in the Tower Where they met accordingly but the Protector being sensible that the Lord Hastings would be a great obstacle in his way because of his firmness and fidelity to his old Master King Edward's Sons he resolved to be rid of him which he effected in the manner following The Protector coming into Council complemented all the Lords very affably seeming more than ordinarily merry and after some other discourses My Lord says he to the Bishop of Ely I hear you have very good Strawberries in your Garden in Holbourn pray let us have a dish of them With all my heart replied the Bishop and instantly sent for some The Protector then rose hastily up desiring them to excuse his absence for a while And returning about an hour after he appeared so extreamly disturbed and changed in his countenance uttering so many grievous sighs and using such passionate gestures that the Lords were in much admiration of the cause thereof He knit his Brows and bit his Lips appearing extreâ—mly concerned After long silence the more to prepare their attentions he asks confusedly what punishment they deserved who had compassed imagined and contrived the destruction of him who was so near allied to the King and Protector of his Person and Kingdom At this question the Lords were all amazed and sate looking upon each other without speaking a word at ength the Lord Hastings by the instigation of the Duke of Buckingham presuming upon his intimacy with the Protector replied That whoever they were they deserved to be punished as Traytors to which the other Lords assented Whereat the Protector rising up Why it is says he that old Sorceress my Brother Edward's Widow and her Partner that common Whore Jane Shore that have by Witchcraft and Inchantment contrived to take away my life And though by God's Mercy they have not been able to finish their Villany yet see the mischief they have done me for behold and then he shewed his left Arm naked and withered how they have caused this dear Limb of mine to wither and grow useless and my whole body had been in the same miserable plight if they had executed their Wills upon me The Lords who knew the goodness and virtue of the Queen and that his Arm had been always withered from his birth found it a false pretence but were so astonish'd at his confidence that they durst not utter a word till the Lord Hastings thinking to lay all the fault upon the Queen and excuse Jane Shore whom he had taken for his Mistress and Bed-fellow ever since King Edward's death and from whom he had risen that Morning submissively answered If the Queen have conspired which he had no sooner said but the Protector looking fiercely upon him What says he in a great rage dost thou tell me of If 's and And 's I tell thee they and none but they have done it and thou art Confederate with them in their Villany Who I my Lord quoth he Yea thou Traytor says the Protector and therewith striking a sound blow with his hand upon the Table Treason was cried in the next room and immediately a great number of armed men came rushing in as if to guard the Protector one of whom with a furious blow of a Pole-axe wounded the Lord Stanley in the head and had certainly kill'd him but that with the stroke he sunk under the Table The rest of the Council were seized and secured in several Rooms The Lord Hastings the Protector charged with High Treason and wished him to make haste and Confess himself swearing by St. Paul his usual Dath that he would neither eat nor drink till his Head were off It signified nothing to ask a reason for he knew the Protector would give none so he was carried to the Green in the Tower before the Chappel where his Head was laid upon a long peice of Timber and there struck off and his Head and Body afterward buried in Windsor Chappel near King Edward IV. In the Tragical end of this Lord we may observe how inevitable the strokes of destiny are for the very Night before his Death the Lord Stanley sent a secret Message to him at Midnight in all hast to inform him of a Dream he had in which he thought that a Boar with his Tusks had so goared them by the Heads that the Blood ran about their Ears and because the Protector gave the Boar for his Arms or Cognizance this Dream had made so dreadful an impression upon his mind that he was fully resolved not to stay any longer and had his Horse ready requiring the Lord Hastings to go along with him and that they might Ride so fast as to be out of danger before Morning But the Lord Hastings returned this Answer by the Messenger Ah good Lord Doth thy Master insist so much upon Trifles and has he such faith in Dreams which either proceed from fancy or from the thoughts of the preceeding Day but if they foretel things to come why may they not presage that if we run away and should be taken then the Boar might have some reason to use us ill Therefore commend me to thy Master and bid him 〈◊〉 merry and fear nothing for I am as sure of the â—…an he woteth of as I am of my own Right hand The 〈◊〉 he meant was one Catesby a Lawyer who was at 〈◊〉 advanced by his favour and now grown so intimate 〈◊〉 the Protector that he did not doubt but he would discover any ill design against him But he was much mistaken for after he became so great with the Pretector Catesby was the first Man that advised the taking off the Lord Hastings Likewise the same Morning he was Beheaded his Horse stumbled twice or thrice almost to falling which though it often happen by chance yet has been sometimes reckoned a token of misfortune Moreover at the same time coming to Tower-Wharf he there met a Pursivant of his own Name which made him recal what had happened to him some time before in that place for he was accused by the Lord Rivers in King Edward IV. Reign of some Crimes which for a time cast him out of the King's favour and indangered his Life but was after restored again into Grace Now seeing this Man Ah Hastings quoth the Lord
Thou canst not forget that the last time I met thee here it was with a heavy Heart Yes my Lord said the Purfivant I remember it very well but thanks be to God your Enemies gained nothing nor had your Lordship any damage thereby and now the danger is over Thou wouldest say so indeed said the Lord if thou knewest as much as I do for the World is well changed now and my Enemies are in greater danger as thou mayst happen to hear in a few days the Enemies he meant were the Lord Rivers and others of the Queens Kindre◠who were that very day secretly ordered to be Beheaded at Pomfret-Castle of which he had knowledge and I was never merrier nor in more safety since I was Born By this we may learn that there is no greater sign of ill fortune than to be too secure and that Men are blind as to their own Fate and though the Ax hangs over their Heads yet are not sensible of it but are oft most in danger when they think themselves safe and most safe when they judg themselves in danger For this Lord notwithstanding his great confidence lost his Head two hours after he spoke these words The same Morning as the Lord Hastings was going to the Council in tht Tower a Knight who pretended kindness to him but was thought to be privy to the Protector 's designs and sent to meet and hasten him thither offered to accompany him The Lord Hastings staid by the way in Tower-street to discourse with a Priest whom he met the Knight jokingly interrupted their talk saying Pray my Lord make haste for you have no need of a Priest yet seeming to be in jest but it was thought meant in earnest that he would in a short time have occasion for one The news of the Death of the Lord Hastings soon flew into the City and much surprized the People but the Protector to prevent any Commotion sent for several of the Principal Citizens to come to him with all speed At their appearance himself with the Duke of Buckingham received them in Old Rusty Armour to make a shew as if the present danger had obliged them to take what they could first come by and then the Protector declared to them That the Lord Hastings and other Conspirators had contrived to have slain him and the Duke of Buckingham in Council and then to have taken upon them to Govern the King and Kingdom at their pleasure Of which Treason they had made discovery but few hours before it should have been acted so that their sudden fear had caused them to put on such Armour as they first met with but that God had so far prevented their Traiterous purposes as some had already received their deserts This he required them to report to the People The Citizens seemed as if they had believed what he said though they all knew nothing was more false Presently after a Proclamation was published throughout the City reciting the aforenamed particulars and adding several reflections upon the Lord Hastings as that he was an Evil Councellour to King Edward IV. Advising him to do many things to his great Dishonour and the damage of the Kingdom by his ill Example and Conversation particularly in the lewdness of his Life which he still continued with Shore's Wife who was one of the principal Conspirators with whom he had converst the very last night and that it was no wonder if such a wicked course of Life had brought him to such an untimely Death which he was condemned to suffer by the special command of the King and his Honourable Privy Council before whom he was clearly Convicted to have contrived this horrid Treason and whose sudden Execution according to his demerits they hoped would prevent the other Conspirators from proceeding in their Traiterous purposes and secure the Peace of the Nation Now this Proclamation was published within two hours after the Lord Hastings was Beheaded and was so exactly perceived and fairly Written in Parchment and withal so long that all the World perceived it had been prepared long before which occasioned the School Master of St. Pauls at the Proclaiming it to say Here is a gay goodly cast foul cast away for haste To whom a Merchant Answered That it was written by Prophesie or Revelation After this the Protector like an Innocent continent Prince sent the Sheriffs of London to Jane Shore's House who lived from her Husband with an order to seize all her Goods which they did to the value of two or 3000 Marks and committed her to Prison He charging her with bewitching him and with conspiring with the Lord Hastings to destroy him but having no proof of any thing be then gravely accused her of what all the Kingdom knew before and she her self could not deny that she was Unchaste of her Body which made Men smile that it should be now told as new Hereupon he caused the Bishop of London to put her to open Pennance for Incontinency and the next Sunday she was brought out of Ludgate going before a Cross in Procession with a Wax Taper in her hand and though she was then in mean Apparel having only her Girdle on yet she appeared so fair and lovely the crowd of Spectators raising a comely blush in her Cheeks and withal so modest and sober that she was much commended by them who had more love for her Body than for her Soul yea those that hated her vitious life and were glad to see Sin punished yet pitied her misery and hard usage from him who inflicted it for wicked and politick ends and not out of love to Virtue or Chastity This Woman was a notable instance of the mutability of Fortune she was born in London of a good Family and very well Married to one Shore a sober worthy Citizen and Goldsmith but it was thought a little too Young so that she never shewed much affection to her Husband whom she was 〈◊〉 a capable of loving which might incline her the 〈…〉 imbrace King Edward's Kindness Which being attended with Honour Riches Fine Cloaths Ease Pleasure and all other humane delights was hardly to be resisted by such a tender heart as she had When the King had taken her for his Mistriss her Husband wholly abandoned her Bed After his Death the Lord Hastings who had an extream passion for her during the King's Life but either out of respect or faithfulness forbore Courting her now took her home to his House and maintained her in great splendor She was very fair and proper and nothing amiss in her whole Body but that some thought her not tall enough as some report who knew her in her Youth saith Sir Thomas More but now she is Old saith he who saw her she is lean withered and her Skin so extreamly shrivelled that it is scarce to be imagined so much beauty and comeliness ever resided in that wretched Carcass Yet she was not more admired for her handsomeness then for
her ready wit and brisk temper neither too full nor too sparing in discourse jesting oft without abuse but very pleasantly so that her company was extream entertaining King Edward used to say That he had three Concubines who were excellent for three different Qualities One being the merriest another the most politick and subtile and the third the most devout Harlot in the World who when he sent for to his Bed was usually at Prayers upon her knees in the Church the other two were Persons of greater Quality but Jane Shore was the merriest and therefore the King took much delight in her conversation for though he had many Mistresses yet he may be said only to love her and to say the truth she never abused the kindness he had for her to the detriment or hurt of any but to the relief of very many appeasing the King's anger toward some getting abatement of Fines restoring others to favour dispatching their Suits and Affairs and all for little or no reward Valuing any thing that was fine or pretty above great Summs of Money being contented either with the pleasure of doing kindnesses or of being Courted and Petitioned for them to shew what power she had with the King or lastly because wanton Women are not always Covetous It may be thought says Sir Thomas More That this Woman is too slight a Subject among matters of a greater consequence but says he She to me seems worthy of Remark that she should now be a miserable beggar without Friends or Money but what she gets by Charity who was formerly in such great favour with a renowned Prince was adored by the Courtiers addressed unto by Persons of the highest Quality for expediting their business as much as the greatest Favourites of this Age Had abundance of Riches and all other goods of fortune And yet should become so wretched a Creature as she is at this day being obliged to beg of those now living that must have begged themselves if it had not been for her kindness toward them To proceed It was contrived by the Protector the Duke of Buckingham and the the other bloody Councellours that the very day the Lord Hastings was Beheaded in the Tower and at the very same hour he himself consenting to it the Lord Rivers and the other Lords and Knights that were taken from the King at Northampton were Beheaded at Pomfret which was done in the presence and by the order of Sir Richard Ratcliff whose service the Protector much used in these affairs he being a Man of a malicious wit and cruel nature and fit for any mischievous designs Who bringing them out of Prison to the Scaffold and telling the People they were Traytors not suffering them to declare their Innocence lest their words should have inclined the People to pity them and hate the Protector he caused them hastily without Tryal Witnesses Sentence or any Legal Process to be Beheaded only because they were Loyal to the King and too near a Kin to the Queen his Mother These Noblemen being thus dispatched the Protector now resolved to advance himself to the Crown whilest the Peers and People being amazed and terrified at these proceedings durst not interpose to hinder him But because the matter would seem exceeding odious he and his wicked Council consulted how to put a fair gloss thereupon Several ways were proposed among the rest they thought it necessary to bring in Edward Shaw then Lord Mayor of London who upon promise of advancement should prepare the Peoples Inclinations and because Clergy-men are hearkned to in Matters of Conscience therefore Doctor Shaw the Lord Mayor's Brother and Doctor Pinke Provincial of the Augustine Friers are likewise ingaged in the Affair both great Preachers but of more Learning than Virtue and of more fame than Learning having a notable estimation among the Vulgar These two were appointed to Preach the one at Paul's-Cross and the other at the Spittle and to display the excellent Qualities of the Protector Pinke in his Sermon so lost his Voice that he was forced to break off and come down in the midst and Doctor Shaw by his Sermon lost his reputation and soon after his Life for he was so ashamed of it that he never after came abroad But the next perplexity was to get some plausible pretence for deposing the Young King and advancing his Uncle After several alterations they at length concluded to alledge Bastardy either in King Edward IV. himself or in his Children or both to lay Bastardy publickly to King Edward would reflect upon the reputation of the Mother both of his Brother and himself The Protector therefore ordered that point to be handled tenderly but the Bastardy of the Children he would have openly and boldly asserted and to ground their Allegations upon the following pretext After King Edward IV. had deposed King Henry VI. and got Possession of the Throne he determined to Marry and thereupon Richard Nevil the Great Earl of Warwick is sent to France to Treat of a Marriage between the King and the Lady Bona Daughter to Lewis Duke of Savoy and Sister to the Lady Carlote then Queen of France The proposition is readily imbraced in France the Match soon concluded In the mean time King Edward being Hunting in Wichwood Forrest near Stony Stratford happened to come to the Manour of Graston where the Dutchess of Bedford then lay and where her Daughter by Sir Richard Woodvile called the Lady Elizabeth Gray Widow of Sir John Gray of Groby Slain in the Battel of St. Albans came to Perition the King for some Lands of which her Husband had made her a Jointure With whose beauty and graceful mein the King was so surprized that he presently fell to Courting her The Lady perceiving his intent told him plainly That as she thought her self not worthy to be his Wife so she esteemed her self too good to be his Concubine The King who very seldom was denied such favours his handsomeness and dignity making him acceptable to most Ladies so much admired her Virtue that he resolved to Marry her His Mother having notice of it endeavoured to prevent the Match telling him That it would be both honourable and safe to Marry some Great Princess and thereby strengthen his Government by Potent Alliances That it was below him to Marry his own Subject and especially a Widow that had Children he being a Young Man and a Batchellor Lastly that he was already Contracted to the Lady Elizabeth Lucy The King Answered That as to Honour and Alliances they might bring more trouble than profit and whereas you object Madam says he That the Lady is a Widow and has Children By God's Blessed Lady I am a Batchellor and have some Children too and so we have both proof that we are not like to be Barren and for your alledging that I am already Contracted to the Lady Elizabeth Lucy Let the Bishop saith he charge me with it when I come to take Orders for I understand
it is forbidden to a Priest but I never heard before that it was prohibited to a Prince and soon after he Married the Lady Elizabeth Grey Upon this Pretext the Protector would found the Bastardy of King Edward's Children That he had been formerly Contracted to the Lady Elizabeth Lucy though the Lady her self upon Examination acknowledged she had a Child by him but denied there was any Contract between them However upon this ground Doctor Shaw took for his Text Bastâ—… Plants shall take no deep root and in his Sermon 〈…〉 King Edward was never Lawfully Married to 〈◊〉 Queen but was before God Husband to the Lady Lucy and so his Children were Bastards adding that those in the Family had great jealousie that neither King Edward IV. himself nor his Brother the Duke of Clarence were begotten by his Father they much resembling other Persons in Court that were well known but that the Noble Prince Richard Lord Protector had the the very Lineaments Complexion and Countenance as well as the Courage and Magnanimity of the Renowned Richard Duke of York his Father Now it was contrived That at the uttering these words the Protector should have come in and appeared to the People that the Preacher's words and his presence thus corresponding it might be thought he had spoke them by the special Inspiration of the Holy Ghost But this trick failed for either by the Protector 's delay in coming or the Doctor 's haste in Preaching he had proceeded for some time upon other matters At length observing the Protector was coming he without order or reason diverted from the matter he was upon and began to repeat the same words again This is that Noble Prince the Father 's own Picture his own Face and the express Image of his Father's Person In the mean time the Protector with the Duke of Buckingham pressed through the crowd to the Pulpit and there sate to hear the Sermon But the People were so far from crying out God save King Richard as was expected That they cried shame on the Preacher for abusing his Calling to such vile purposes The Tuesday following the Duke of Buckingham with divers Lords and Knights came to Guildhall London and the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons being their assembled the Duke of Buckingham made a long Speech to them to this effect ' That the Lord Protector and the rest of the noble Peers were come to acquaint the worthy Citizens with a matter of great consequence and which they did not doubt would be very pleasing and acceptable to them A matter they had long in vain desired and which was â—bsolutely necessary to their welfare and happiness even the future security of their Lives Wives Children and Estates which had been all indangered by the ill government of the late King Edward IV. who by tricks and shams endangered their Lives and by â—…reasonable Taxes Pillings and Pollings to maintain his Riot and Prodigality wasted their Estates and what people he respected most appeared by his favours to Shore's Wife who in his Reign was more sought unto and managed greater affairs by her influence over his vain mind than the greatest Peer in England whereby he raised the hatred and ill will of the People both against himself and his Children He then reminded them of the Doctor 's Sermon the last Sunday who being a Preacher of God's Word had by his God's Authority declared the just Right and Title of the Protector to the Crown of this Realm which he doubted not but they would regard considering the honesty and wisdom of the Preacher beyond what he could say to them he having so clearly proved that King Edward was before Married to the Lady Elizabeth Lucy and that therefore his Children by the Lady Gray cannot be Legitimate so that for want of lawful Issue the Lord Richard had an undoubted Right and Title to the Crown by whose Renowned Virtues and Valour he did not doubt but the Kingdom would enjoy all happiness and be freed from that woe which the Wise Man pronounces that Nation to be subject too whose King is a Child All which the Lords of the Council having taken into consideration had thereupon agreed to accept of him for their King ' And now said the Duke I am come to acquaint you with it and to require your consents which I do not doubt but for your own benefit you will readily give both in electing so worthy a Prince and thereby also obliging his Majesty who will be kind to those who are most zealous for his advancement to the Throne Having ended his long Oration the People stood mute as admiring at the motion but none cried King Richard King Richard as was expected At which the Duke being amazed supposing the Lord Mayor had before informed and prepared the Common Hall he whispered to him to know the meaning of this sullen silence The Lord Mayor answered It may be they did not hear or at least understand what he had said Hereupon the Duke repeated the same words more audibly and earnestly but this obstinate silence still continued Then the Duke desired that the Recorder who usually spoke to the People might move them in it But the Recorder named Fitz Williams being an honest man and newly come to his Office repeated the Duke's words only without adding any of his own So that this nothing prevailed upon their resolved sullenness At last the Duke told them plainly That all the Nobility and Commons of the Realm were determined to chuse the Protector for their King as the true and undoubted Heir and that it was only out of respect and kindness to the Citizens that they had acquainted them with it desiring them freely to speak whether they would join with them in this Election or No. Upon this some of the Duke's Servants and others planted on purpose at the lower end of the Hall threw up their Caps and shouted aloud King Richard King Richard while the Citizens stood murmuring and inquiring among themselves what the meaning of it was However the Duke took the advantage of it as of an unanimous consent A goodly cry quoth he Giving them all thanks for their universal approbation promising he would acquaint the Protector with their great kindness toward him requiring the Lord Mayor and Citizens to meet the Protector the next Morning at Baynard's Castle Being met accordingly the Duke of Buckingham sends up word to the Lord Protector that the Lord Mayor and his Bretheren were come to present a supplication to him in a matter of great consequence The Protector though pre-acquainted with the matter yet pretended to admire what the business should be and though he did suspect no ill from any thing which the Duke of Buckingham should offer yet desired some hint of what it might be It was Answered That the business was to be communicated only to himself in person and therefore they humbly desired to be admitted into his presence Hereupon as if not well
end in reciprocal ruin And thus it happened with King Richard and the Duke of Buckingham his intimate Favourite who had been Confederates in the Death of many which now dissolves in the destruction of them both What the cause of the first breach was could not be known Whether the Duke did not think he was sufficiently rewarded for his Services Or that King Richard did not judg himself safe whilest he that set him on the Throne remained so Great Or that the Duke being Ambitious and Aspiring grew envious at his own ast in advancing him The last of which conjectures he seemed to confirm by pretending sickness to avoid being present at the Coronation Which King Richard was jealous of and therefore obliged him to come by sending word That if he did not he would ferch him Whereupon the Duke came with so ill a will that ever after there was no good understanding between them retiring presently after to his Castle at Brecknock And here the inscrutable depth of Divine Providence is very remarkable which the greatest Polititians cannot Fathom For the King had committed the Bishop of Ely to the Duke's custody as one that would secure him from doing any hurt and therefore designed it for the Bishop's punishment Whereas this very thing occasioned the Bishop's liberty and advancement and was a means of King Richard's destruction For the Duke retiring home seemed to be much disturbed and discontented in his mind and wanting rest would be sometimes talking with the Bishop who being a Man of great Wit and Judgment the Duke became at length extreamly pleased with his company and opened himself more freely to him whereby the Bishop perceived that the chief cause of his trouble was his envy to King Richard and thereupon he took an opportunity to discourse him to this purpose My Lord ' You know that formerly I took part with King Henry VI. and could have wished his Son had enjoyed the Crown but after God had ordained King Edward IV. to Reign I was never so mad to contend for a dead Prince against a living one and so I was a faithful Chaplain to King Edward and would have been glad his Child had succeeded him but since by the secret judgment of God it hath happened otherwise I will not strive to set up that which God hath pluck'd down And as for the Lord Protector and now King Here the Bishop made a sudden pause saying He had already medled too much in the World and would for the future be concerned with nothing but his Books and his Beads Because he ended with King the Duke was impatient to have him proceed saithfully promising no hurt should come from it but it may be much good assuring him that the reason why he desired the King to put him under his custody was that he might secretly ask his councel and advise My Lord Said the Bishop I humbly thank your Grace but I confess I do not much care to talk of Princes since it may often prove dangerous though nothing be ill meant But a Man's words may be interpreted not as he intended them but as the Prince pleases to construe them which puts me in mind of one of Aesop's Fables The Lyon had published a Proclamation That upon pain of death no Horned Beast should continue in an adjoining Wood now a certain Beast that had a bunch in his forehead flying away in great haste was met by a Fox who ask'd him whither he ran so fast Fast quoth he I think it is time to run if I intend to save my life Why Brother Reynard han't you heard of the Proclamation against Horned Beasts What then you Fool quoth the Fox That does not concern you for I am sure you have no Horns on your Head Ay marry quoth the Beast that I know well enough but what if the Lyon should call my bunch a horn where were I then Brother Reynard The Duke laughed at the story and said My Lord I warrant you neither the Lyon nor the Boar shall pick any matter out of any thing that has been spoken for it shall never come near their Ears In good faith Sir says the Bishop What we have said if taken as we meant it could only deserve thanks but being wrested as some would do might be of ill consequence to us both The Duke intreated him to go on in his former discourse My Lord said the Bishop As for the late Protector since he is now King in possession I shall not dispute his Title but for the good of the Kingdom I could wish he had in him those excellent Virtues wherewith God Almighty has qualified your Grace Here he stopt again My Lord said the Duke I much wonder at these sudden pauses which so interrupt your discourse that I can neither comprehend your thoughts of the King nor your affection to my self I therefore beg of you not to conceal your thoughts any longer but freely to discover your sentiments and upon my Honour I will be as secret as the Deaf and Dumb person is to the Singer or the Tree to the Hunter The Bishop upon the assurance of the Dukes thus followed his discourse My Lord ' I plainly perceive that this Realm is in great danger of being brought to confusion and desolation under the present Government but I have still some hope remaining by the dayly observation of your Noble Personage your Justice your ardent love to your Countrey and likewise the great love the People have toward you and should think the Kingdom fortunate which had a Prince so fit and apt to be their Governour as your self whose Person and actions contain in them all that is truly great just and honourable He then reproached the King for his many Murders Cruelties and Oppressions adding ' And now my Lord If you love God your posterity or your Native Country you must your self take upon you the Imperial Crown and Diadem of this Realm But if you refuse the same I then adjure you by the Faith you owe to God and the regard you ought to have for your Native Land in your Princely Wisdom to contrive some means whereby the Kingdom may be setled in Peace Liberty and safety under a Legal Government and if you think fit to advance again the House of Lancaster or to Marry the Eldest Daughter of King Edward IV. to some powerful Prince the new Crowned King may be quickly removed from his Usurp'd Throne and thereby Peace and Plenty and Tranquility will again be restored to the Nation The Bishop having ended his Speech the Duke remained silent for some time only breathing forth many deep sighs which much startled the Bishop and made his colour change The Duke perceiving it Be not afraid my Lord said he All promises shall be kept and so for that time they parted Next day the Duke sent for the Bishop and having repeated their former discourse he proceeded ' My Lord of Ely Because I discern you have a real
demanded so that governing all things according to his own mind he seemed to Rule more than the King himself In the first Year of King Henry's Reign a difference happened between him and the French King Lewis XII who upon some private quarrel with Pope Julius II. Marched with a great Army into Italy and possest himself of the Rich City of Bolonia King Henry having a great respect for the Pope because he had dispensed with his late Marriage with Queen Katherine of Spain his Brother Arthur's Widow and likewise finding the Pope was unable to defend himself offered to be a Mediatour of Peace between them But the French King flushed with Success refused or neglected his Proposal which so inflamed the vigorous mind of the Young King that he declared to the World As he scorned to be neglected so he abhorred to be idle in this affair and therefore resolved by Invading the Dominions of France to withdraw that King out of the Pope's Territories In pursuance of this couragious resolution he instantly sends Ambassadors to King Lewis requiring him to deliver up to him the peaceable possession of his two Dutchies of Guien and Normandy together with his Ancient Inheritance of Anjon and Mayn which had for many Years been wrongfully detained from his Predecessors and himself The little acquaintance that the French King had with Henry and the contempt of his Youth caused him to return a slighting denial of this his demand whereupon King Henry proclaimed War against him and resolved to Invade his Countrey in Person with a gallant Army and believing no Man more proper to make provision for this great Expedition than his Almoner Woolsey The King committed the sole management thereof to his Wisdom and Policy and he scrupling no command of the King 's undertook this difficult charge and proceeded therein so dexterously that all things were in a very short time provided necessary for this noble Voyage Upon which the King Marched with his Army to Dover and Transporting them to Callice he proceeded in order of Battle to the strong Town of Tymyn which he vigorously assaulted and took In which Siege the Emperor Maximillan with Thirty Noblemen repaired to his Camp and were all inrolled in the King's Pay The King Marched from thence to Tournay which he likewise attack'd with such briskness that it was soon surrendred to him which Bishoprick the King bestowed upon his Almoner Woolsey in recompence for his care and diligence in this Expedition And then the King returned into England where he was welcomed with the News of a great Victory obtained by the Earl of Surrey against James King of Scotland he himself being Slain with divers of his Nobility and 18000 Scots and French who came to his assistance After the King's return the Bishoprick of Lincoln becoming void he bestowed the same upon his Lord Almoner and then the Archbishoprick of York which was likewise vacant Lastly he obtained of the Pope to be made a Cardinal and his Master Henry for his great Zeal to the Holy Chair had the new Title of Defender of the Faith confer'd upon him Being suddenly mounted to such a mighty height and the King's affection daily increasing it made him so extream proud and insolent that he thought none to be his equal and erected Ecclesiastical Courts and had the boldness to summon the Archbishop of Canterbury and all other Bishops and Clergymen to appear before him And as his Authority was superiour to all so he exceeded them all in Covetousness and Ambition so that for many Years the Kingdom groaned under his monstrous Oppressions and violent Depredations Yet his Ambition was so excessive that he still hunted after greater Dominion intermedling with affairs wherein he was not concerned especially in the Chancellorship which then pertained to the Archbishop of Canterbury who being Old and perceiving how great a Favourite Woolsey was with the King he chose rather to deliver up the Seals than have them taken from him Upon this surrender the King delivered them to Woolsey which Favours and Dignities might have satisfied any but the insatiable mind of this Mighty Prelate who was now Cardinal Archbishop Lord Chancellor and Councellor of State But he still aimed to be Higher and to gratifie his humour this occasion offered In 1517. Pope Leo sent Cardinal Campeius as his Legate to King Henry to Solicite him as he had done the Kings of France and Spain and the Princes of Germany to join in a League against the Turks who made horrible ravages into Christendom The subtil Cardinal being sensible that when Campeius arrived he must have the precedency of hiâ— upon all occasions on the account of his Legateship he privately sent two Bishops to Callice as if to attend on him who cunningly insinuated into Campeius that his Journey would be ineffectual unless Woolsey were joined in equal Authority with him in this matter Whereupon Campeius dispatched an account thereof to Rome and in Forty Days received a new Commission whereby Woolsey was made the Pope's Legate and joint Commissioner with him But Woolsey having notice of the ragged condition of his Brother's Retinue he instantly sent a great quantity of Red Cloath to Callice wherewith to Cloath his Servants answerable to the Dignity of so great a Personage When all things were ready Campeius passed the Seas and landed at Dover and in his passage to London by Woolseys Order he was received with Procession by the Clergy and Magistrates through every Town he came to and attended by all the Lords and Gentlemen of Kent Being arrived at Black-heath near Greenwich he was there met by the Duke of Norfolk a great number of Prelates and Clergy and many Persons of Quality The Cardinal was brought into a Tent covered with Cloth of Gold where he shifted himself into his Cardinals Robes Furred with Rich Ermin and then mounting his Mule rid toward London having Eight Mules more laden with his Equipage attending him but these not being sufficiently Magnificent in proud Woolsey's Eyes he therefore sent him twelve more to make the Pageantry more gay through the Streets of London The next day these Twenty Mules were led through the City as if loaden with treasures and other necessaries to the great admiration of the People that the Legate should be possest of such vast Riches but their wonder quickly ceased by an unlucky accident which turned all this vain Pomp into ridicule For in going through Cheapside one of the skittish Jades affrighted with the multitude of Spectators broke the Collar he was led with and running upon the other Mules put them all into such disorder that they threw their Sumpters to the ground which flying open discovered the Cardinal's gallant Wealth some of them being filled with old Cloaths Rags old Boots and Shoes Horshoes and old Iron Others with Marybones Scraps of Meat Roasted Eggs Mouldy Crusts and a great deal of other Trumpery which gave sufficient diversion to the People who shouted and clap'd
their hands at this ridiculous sight crying Behold the Cardinal 's Rich Treasure The Muliteers were much ashamed at this discovery however quietly gathering up these hungry relicks they peaceably marched on Cardinal Campeius was conducted through the City to St. Pauls where having bestowed his blessing upon the People he was then brought to Cardinal Woolsey's Palace where he lodged having his Golden Crosses Pillars Guilt Axe and Mace carried before him And now as Cardinal Woolsey had the Power so he maintained the Port and Grandeur of a Prince of which we have this account He had in his Hall three long Tables to which belonged three several Officers a Steward who was always a Priest a Treasurer a Knight and a Comptroller an Esq He had also in the Hall a Confessor a Doctor three Marshalls three Ushers two Almoners and two Grooms In the Hall Kitchin two Clarks a Comptroller a Surveyor over the Dresser a Clerk of the Spicery two Cooks twelve Labourers and Children In the Kitchin a Master Cook Clothed in Velvet or Sattin with a Gold Chain two Under Cooks six Labourers four Scullery-men two Yeomen of the Pastry and two Past-layers under him In the Larder a Yeoman and a Groom In the Buttery two Yeomen and two Grooms In the Eury as many In the Cellar three Yeomen three Pages In the Chandery two Yeomen In the Wayfary two Yeomen In the Wardrobe of the Beds the Master and twenty Persons besides In the Landrey a Yeoman a Groom and thirteen Pages two Yeomen Purveyors and a Groom Purveyor In the Bake-house two Yeomen two Grooms In the Woodyard a Yeoman and a Groom In the Barn a Yeoman Two Yeomen and two Grooms Porters at the Gate A Yeoman of his Bing A Master of his Horse A Clerk and Yeomen of the Stables A Farrier and Yeoman of the Stirrup A Malter and sixteen Grooms every one keeping four Geldings His Chappel was furnished with a vast number of costly Ornaments and Rich Jewels Forty four Copes gloriously imbroidered with Gold and Silver Silver Candlesticks and other necessary Utensils In which were the following Officers a Dean a Sub-Dean a Repeater of the Quire a Gospellor an Epistoler of the Singing Priests a Master of the Children In the Vestry a Yeoman and two Grooms beside other Retainers that appeared at principal Feasts He had likewise two Cross-bearers and two Pillar-bearers in the Great Chamber and in his Privy-Chamber the Chief Chamberlain Vice Chamberlain Gentleman Usher twelve Waiters six Gentlemen Waiters Also nine or ten Lords who had two or three Men to wait on them and the Earl of Darby five Then he had Gentlemen Cup-bearers Carvers and forty Sewers of the Great and Privy Chamber six Yeomen Ushers eight Grooms twelve Doctors and Chaplains daily Guests besides his own a Clerk of his Closet two Secretaries two Clerks of his Signet four Councellours Learned in the Law As he was Lord Chancellour of England he had a Riding Clerk a Clerk of the Crown of the Hamper of the Check four Footmen with gallant Liveries a Herald at Arms a Serjeant at Arms a Phisician an Apothecary four Minstrels a Keeper of his Tents when upon a Journey and an Armourer Also in his House a Surveyor of York a Clark of the Green Cloth All these attended daily At Dinner he had every day eight Tables furnisht for his Chamberlains and Gentlemen Officers half of whom were young Lords who had two or three Persons to wait on them and all the rest had one These were all his inrolled Servants besides Retainers and other Persons that came about business who daily Dined in his Hall which according to the List amounted to eight hundred Persons So that he was as bountiful an House-keeper as any in that Age and much superior to any since When he went to Westminster Hall to hear Causes as Lord Chancellor his Magnificence was as conspicuous as in other Offices He was clothed in red like a Cardinal his upper Garment all of Scarlet or else fine Crimson Taffety or Crimson Satrin in Grain A black Tippet of Sables about his Neck and an Orange in his hand the Meat taken out and filled with Confections to prevent the ill scents from the Crouds of People Being mounted his two Cross bearers and his two Pillar bearers all in fine Scarlet upon tall Horses rid before him then one with the Purse and Great Seal of England Another with his Cardinals Cap then a train of Gentlemen with every one a Pole-ax next the Cardinal himself attended on each side by four Footmen In the same State he used to go every Sunday to the Court at Greenwich in a very rich Barge and furnisht with Yeomen all round where when he arrived he was attended by the Lord Treasurer Comptroller and other principal Officers of the King's House who conveyed him in State into the King's Chamber In this grandeur he continued for fourteen or fifteen years managing all affairs of State to whom all foreign Ambassadors made their application and all Addresses and Petitions were offered And to secure this Soveraign Power which he had gained over the King's affections he contrived all kind of pleasures and divertisements suitable to his juvenile temper as Masking Dancing Banquetting Young Ladies and variety of other Pastimes I saw the King saith my Author come one time suddenly to the Cardinals Palace at Westminster now White-Hall which he had newly built with a dozen Masquers attired like Shepherds in cloth of Gold and Silver imbroidered with six Flambeux And others in Vizors clothed all in Sattin The King came thither privately by Water and arriving at the Stairs several great Guns were discharged which much surprized the Noblemen Gentlemen and Ladys a great number of whom the Cardinal at that time was treating at a sumptuous Supper he himself sitting at the upper end of the Table under a Cloth of State a Gentleman and Lady being placed together through all the Tables The Cardinal at the great noise as if ignorant of the matter desired the Lord Chamberlain to inquire the meaning thereof Who looking out of the Window into the Thames returned again and told him that he believed there were some Noblemen and Strangers coming to the Landing â—tairs My Lord said the Cardinal I intreat you who can speak French to go and receive them and conduct them to our Banquet desiring them to sit down and be merry with us The Lord Chamberlain went into the Hall And with twenty Torches and a great number of Drums and Trumpets brought them into the Dining Room who by two together went up to the Cardinal's Chair and saluted him To whom the Lord Chamberlain said My Lord Cardinal these Gentlemen being Strangers and not speaking English desire me to inform your Grace that they hearing of your Triumphant and Magnificent Banquet this Night and of such a number of handsome Ladies as were assembled thereto they presumed upon your Graces goodness to intrude into your Palace to take a
and their Commission being read the Cryer called Henry King of England who answered Here Then he cried Katherine Queen of England come into the Court the Queen made no answer but rising out of her Chair came to the King and kneeling at his Feet she in broken English spake thus to him ' Sir I beseech you do me Justice and right and take some Pity upon me I am a Poor Woman and a stranger Born out of your Dominions having here no indifferent Council and less Assurance of Friendship Alas Sir how have I offended you that you thus intend to shorten my Days I take God to witness I have been to you a True and Loyal Wife ever conformable to your Will and never contradicting your desires but have always complied and submitted to your Pleasure in all things without the least grudging or discontent For your sake I have loved all Men whom you loved whether they were my Friends or Enemies I have been your Wife these twenty Years by whom you have had many Children and when I first came to your Bed God and your own Conscience knows that I was a Virgin If you can prove any dishonesty by me whereby you may lawfully put me from you I am willing to leave you with shame and rebuke but if I am guilty of none I beseech you set me have Justice at your hands The King your Father was a man of excellent VVisdom in his time and accounted a second Solomon and the King of Spain Ferdinand my Father was reckoned one of the wisest Princes that has reigned there for many years And doubtless they had both as wise Counsellors as any are at this day And who could never have imagined when you and I were Married that such new devises should have been invented as to compel me to submit to the decrees of this Court from whom I may expect to receive wrong and may be condemned for not answering but not to have Right administred to me since I can have no indifferent Council assigned me to plead my Cause but must make choice of your own Subjects who know your Mind and dare not contradict your VVill. Therefore I most humbly beseech you spare till I know how my Friends in Spain will advise me But if you will not you may do your pleasure Then making a low Curtesie to the King she departed out of the Court Upon which the King bid the Crier call her back which he did but she refused to return saying It is no indifferent Court to me I will not go back VVhen she was gone the King declared to the Court that she had been a loyal loving and obedient Wife to him and was endued with all the good qualities and virtues of a Woman either of her Dignity or of any meaner Estate After which Cardinal Woolsey said ' I humbly beseech your Highness to declare to this audience whether I have been the first and chief Mover of this matter to your Highness or not for I am much suspected of all men The King declared he was not but rather advised the contrary but that the special cause that moved him in this matter was a certain scruple of Conscience upon some words spoken by the Bishop of Bayon the French Ambassador upon a debate about a Marriage between the Lady Mary his only Daughter and the Duke of Orleans second Son to the French King and the Bishop desiring time to consult his Master whether the Lady Mary were Legitimate as being born of his Brother Arthur's Wife This discourse so affected him considering he had no Heirs Male they all dying as soon as born that he judged God Almighty was displeased at this match Hereupon considering the state of the Realm and dispairing to have any more Children by his Queen whereby the Kingdom might be endangered for want of a Prince to succeed him and to quiet his own mind which was tossed with the Waves of troublesome doubts he desired to have the opinion of the Learned Prelates and Pastors of the Realm whether by the Laws of God and the Land he might take another Wife if his first Marriage were not Legal by which he might have more Issue Affirming in the presence of God that he had no dislike to the Person nor Age of the Queen with whom he could be content to live if it were the Will of God Nor out of carnal Concupiscence or desire of change but only for the setling of his Conscience After this the Court sate daily where many subtile and learned Arguments and Disputations touching the lawfulness or insufficiency of the Marriage were handled but the Queen Appealing to the Court of Rome for deciding this Question from which she could not be dissuaded The King expected a final â—efinitive Sentence on his behalf the two Legates declined to give it which so iâ—raged the King who now perceived their dissimulation and that they purposely contrived delays that from this time he had a mortal hatred against his false Favourite Woolsey whom from a contemptible Birth and Estate he had prefer'd to be Abbot of St. Albans his Almoner a Counsellor of State Bishop of Winchester Durham Lincoln Bath Worcester Hereford Tournay Archbishop of York an Ambassador to Kings and Princes his Chancellor and a Cardinal who by contriving this business thereby to render himself Gracious with the King and to be revenged of his Enemies brought ruin and destruction at length upon himself For notwithstanding the King excused him from being the Author of this scruple of Conscience yet Woolsey seemed at first very forward in promoting it and to incline to have it determined according to the King's Mind but afterward perceiving the fatal consequences which might ensue thereupon so as at length to shake the Infallibility of the Papal Chair if the Case were decided according to the Scriptures he declined proceeding therein For if the Marriage was unlawful then the former dispensation of Pope Julius was null and void and if it was lawful then the Judgment of so many learned Universities as had given their Opinion to the contrary was false In this difficulty his Collegue Campeius went out of the Kingdom before the day of the final determination of the matter leaving Woolsey to bear all the weight of the King's Indignation Another cause of the Cardinal 's opposing the Divorce was that the King during the Ventilation of this Knotty Case had fallen in love with Mrs. Ann Bullen who he after Married one of the Maids of Honour to Queen Katherine and Daughter to Sir Tho. Bullen afterward Earl of Wiltshire a Lady no way favourable to his Pontifical Grandeur nor to the Superstitions of the Church of Rome So that when the King discovered his great affection for her the Cardinal upon his Knees used many arguments to dissuade him from it Which the Lady had notice of and therefore when the King once entertained him at a great Feast She being present among other discourses said ' Sir is
it not a marvellous thing to think into what great Debt this great Cardinal hath brought you to all your Subjects How so quoth the King Why says she there is not a man in your whole Kingdom worth an hundred pounds but he hath made you a Debtor to him Meaning the Loan which the Cardinal had borrowed for the King some years before and which he procured the House of Commons who were most the King's Servants to discharge without repaying a farthing to the great loss of the People Nay added she how many violencies and oppressions is he guilty of to your great dishonour and disgrace in divers parts of the Realm so that if my Lord of Norfolk my Lord of Suffolk my own Father or any other Nobleman had done but half so much wrong as he they well deserved to lose their Heads Then I perceive said the King that you are no friend of my Lord Cardinal 's Why Sir quoth she I have no cause no more have any others that love the King Neither has your Grace any reason to be kind to him considering his indirect and unlawful actions The King said no more but went away The Council and the Nobility perceiving that the King's Heart was estranged from Woolsey they resolved if possible utterly to depress him for he was generally hated for his excessive Pride insulting Tyranny grievous oppressions monstrous injustice unsatiable covetousness abominable debauchery malicious and cruel revenge and likewise for his secret Intreagues with the Pope and Church of Rome whereby the King's Authority and Prerogative Royal in all things touching the Church and Clergy were made void Hereupon they concluded him guilty of a Praemunire and that consequently he had forfeited all his Promotions Spiritual and Temporal with all the rest of his Estate and likewise his Liberty to the King These crimes the Nobility drew into Articles which were ingrossed and signed with their hands and then delivered to the King Which were as followeth I. That by subtil and indirect means he had procured himself without the King's consent to be made a Legate whereby he deprived the Bishops and Clergy of England of all jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical Affairs II. That in all his Letters to Foreign Princes he used the insolent stile of Ego Rex meus I and my King as if the King were his Inferior or Servant III. That he unchristianly and abominably slandered the Church of England to the Pope affirming That they were Reprobates and without Faith and that there was an absolute necessity for him to be made a Legate to reduce them to the true belief IV. That without the King's consent he carried the Great Seal of England to Flanders only for vain Glory and to the great damage of the Subjects of England V. That he being filthily powdered with the French Pox by reason of his excessive Letchery and Debauched Life did oft presume to discourse with and cast his unwholesome Breath into the King's Face VI. That he caused the Cardinals Hat to be put on the King's Coin VII That to obtain his Dignities he had conveyed out of the Realm 240000 l. at one time and incredible sums at other times And to inrich the K. again had of his own accord sent out Commissions for exacting infinite sums contrary to Law which raised hatred and insurrections among the People against the King These with many other Articles being charged against VVoolsey he with his own Hand freely Subscribed to them confessing all of them to be true throwing himself upon the King's mercy hoping he would have forgiven him but afterward finding that he disposed of his Offices and part of his Estate he secretly procured a Bull from the Pope to Curse and Excommunicate the King unless he would restore to him all his Dignities and Lands who likewise declared that the King himself nor no other authority on Earth but the Pope alone had power to punish any Clergyman for any crime or offence whatsoever This Bull with the Letters sent him by several Cardinals to incourage him not to faint or be discouraged assuring him of his Restoration and that the King should be certainly crost in the business of his Marriage so animated the Cardinal that he did not doubt of his re-advancement if not with yet without the King's consent so that he made great preparations for his in stalment into his Archbishoprick of York which he designed to solemnize with extraordinary Pomp and Magnificence to which purpose he had erected a stately seat of an extraordinary height in that Cathedral resembling the Throne of the King and writ Letters to the Nobility and Gentry of the North wherein he kindly invited them to be present at his Instalment for which he had made extraordinary provision of all manner of Dainties These mighty preparations being made without acquainting the King therewith and seeming to be in contempt of him who had been so kind to allow him the Bishopricks of York and VVinchester though justly forfeited to the Crown caused the King to put a stop to his aspiring purposes so that he sent order to the Earl of Northumberland to Arrest him and deliver him to the Earl of Shrewsbury Lord High Steward of the Houshold The Earl accordingly went to his Mannor of Caywood about seven Miles from York and coming into his Chamber told him he arrested him for High Treason in the King's name The Cardinal was so astonisht that for some time he stood speechless at length recovering himself he said You have no power to Arrest me who am both a Cardinal and a Legate and also a Peer of the See Apostolick of Rome and ought not to be Arrested by any Temporal Power for I am Subject to none and none I will obey Well said the Earl here is the King's Commission and therefore I charge you to submit I remember when I was sworn Warden of the Marches you your self told me that with my staff only I might Arrest any man under the degree of a King and now I am stronger for I also have a Commission for what I have done The Cardinal at length recollecting himself Well my Lord said he I am contented to submit but though by negligence I fell into the danger of a Praemunire whereby I forfeited all my Lands and Goods to the Law yet my Person was under the King's Protection and I was pardoned that offence therefore I much wonder I should be now Arrested especially considering I am a Member of the Sacred College at Rome on whom no Temporal Man ought to lay hands Well I find the King wants good Counsellors about him He was then kept close in one of his Chambers and Dr. Austin his Physician was at the same time Arrested for High Treason and sent to the Tower The Cardinal's Goods were all seized and his Servants discharged And he himself was so dejected that he continually lamented his hard fortune with such a mean and unbecoming forrow as such haughty Spirits are
his Apostles being now discovered to them they thought it very fit that they should be governed by the King their Supream Head and therefore resigned their Abbies to him So that in the whole one hundred fifty nine Resignations were made to the King before the Meeting of the next Parliament who made an Act for the Total Dissolution of all the Abbies in England the Rents of which were then valued at being one hundred thirty two thousand six hundred and seven pound six shillings four pence but they were worth above ten times as much in true value These Proceedings against the Pope and Holy Church caused the Rude Ignorant and wilful People in Lincolnshire to assemble in Arms to the number of twenty thousand The King levied a strong Army and went in Person to suppress them and approaching them they sent him an humble Petition that if he would reestablish the Monasteries and the Popes Authority they would freely lay down their Arms and return to their Duty hut the King disdaining these Rusticks should dictate Politicks to him rejected their Petition sending them Word that if they did not instantly deliver up a hundred of the principal Rebels into his hands he would immediately fall upon them with the utmost Fury and Sacrifice them all to his resentment This daring Resolution so daunted the Hearts of this undisciplined Multitude that their Leaders expecting each would deliver the other up to the King they secretly deserted them and returned home but Captain Cobler their Chief Commander otherwise Dr. Makarel and some other being taken were executed according to their merits and the Common People being left without Officers made haste home and were pardoned by the King This was succeeded by another Insurrection in the North where 40000 got together upon the same pretences calling themselves ' The Holy Pilgrims who intended nothing but the establishing of the true Religion and restoring the Rights of Holy Church The Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk were ordered to suppress these brainsick Zealots who seemed very joyful they were to fight not doubting of success in this Religious War but the Night before the intended day of Battel a little Brook which ran between the Armies and might have been passed over dry foot grew so broad by the next Morning by a violent Rain which fell that they could not approach each other which being reckoned by both Parties a great Miracle the Rebels upon promise of free pardon quietly departed home In these commotions those men whose profession was only their Books and their Beeds mistaking the Command of Christ To sell their Coats and buy a Sword came armed into the Field and being taken several Abbots Monks and Priests were executed The Kingdom being again setled in peace Cromwell proceeded in the Work of Reformation and because the People seemed discontented that the abuse of these Monasteries should be turn'd to the utter ruin of them from whence they used to have relief and alms Therefore Cromwell thought fit to make them sensible of the Cheats and Tricks which the Priests had imposed upon them And many Impostures about Relicks and Wonderful Images or Roods were now discovered to which Pilgrimages had been formerly made As at Reading where they shewed the Wing of the Angel that brought over thither the point of the Spear which pierced our Saviour's side And so many pieces of the Cross were found in several Abbies as joined together would have made a large Cross The Rood of Grace at Boxley in Kent which had drawn so many Pilgrims to it was brought to St. Paul's Cross which by many springs used to bow down and lift up it self to rowl the Eyes shake the Head Hands and Feet move the Lips seem pleased or angry by bending the Brows which the credulous multitude imputed to a Divine Power but was now made appear to be a Cheat and the Springs openly shewed that governed its several motions Likewise the Images of our Lady of Walsingham and Ipswich adorned with rich Jewels and divers others both in England and Wales were removed out of the Churches and being brought to London were openly burnt in the presence of the Lord Cromwell at Chelsey The blood of Christ was shewed in a Glass Vial at Hales in Glocestershire and the Priests said it was not visible to any that were in Mortal Sin So that after the People had well paid it became visible to them and the deluded Souls went away well satisfied that they were now free from any damnable transgression But this was proved to be the Blood of a Duck renewed every Week and put into a Glass thick on one side and thin on the other so that till the Pilgrim had offered what the Priest thought fit the dark side was turned to him and afterward the light side Several such Impostures were discovered which tended much to undeceive the People But the richest Shrine in England was that of St. Thomas of Becket that great Rebel to King Henry II. and for whose death he severely whipt himself a great way to the Cathedral of Canterbury where he was killed by four of King Henry's officious Servants and he thereupon Canonized a Saint to whose Altar greater Oblations were made than to that of our Saviour or the Virgin Mary Every fiftieth year there was a Jubilee and an Indulgence granted to all that came and visited his Tomb who were sometimes thought to be an hundred thousand on that occasion he prints of their kneeling and devotion remaining in the Stones to this day So that it was immensly Rich with Gold Jewels Plate and Money the Gold only being so heavy that it filled two Chests which required eight men a piece to carry them out of the Church The Timber work of this Shrine was covered with Plates of Gold Damasked and Imbossed with VVires of Gold garnished with Images Angels great Orient Pearls and Precious Stones the chief whereof was a rich Jewel offered by Lewes seventh of France who came over in Pilgrimage to visit this Tomb and to obtain that for the future no Passenger should be drowned betwixt Dover and Callice It was valued to be the richest Jewel in Europe St. Thomas's Skull which had been so much VVorshipped was proved an Imposture for the true Skull was with the rest of his Bones in the Coffin and were now so mixt with other Bones that it had been a Miracle indeed to have distinguisht them afterwards Then the Axes and Hammers went to work in pulling down the Nests of Superstition and Idolatry whose number as Camden reckons them were six hundred forty five Monasteries ninty Colleges an hundred and ten Hospitals and two thousand three hundred seventy four Chauntries and free Chappels and their Lands and Revenues being by Act of Parliament settled on the Crown the King by the advice of the Lord Cromwell politickly exchanged them for others with his Nobility and Gentry allowing them good Bargains for their Incouragement many of whose Estates do now consist
wholly of Possessions of this nature or else were greatly inlarged by them and the restoration of them to their former uses was thereby rendred so impracticable that all the flaming zeal of Queen Mary for Popery was never able to effect any thing of that kind And this may be thought to have been one strong Barrier and Security of this Nation against Popish Slavery to this very day notwithstanding the many attempts that have since been made to reduce us back to that House of bondage The Churches being thus cleansed from rubbish the magnanimous Lord Cromwell resolved to place better Ornaments in them and therefore he sent out Injunctions requiring the Clergy to set up English Bibles in their Churches and to incourage all to read them Exhorting the People not to dispute about the sense of difficult places but to leave that to better Judgments Ministers were likewise commanded to instruct the People and to teach them the Creed the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments in English and that once every Quarter there should be a Sermon to declare the true Gospel of Christ and to exhort the People to works of Charity and not to trust to other mens Works to Pilgrimages or Relicks or telling their Beads which was only Superstition Also the folly of offering Candles to Images and that to make any use of Images in Divine Worship was Idolatry and the praying to Saints unnecessary These struck at some of the main Points of the former Superstition but the free use of the Scriptures gave the deadliest blow of all Yet all the Clergy submitted to them without murmuring The Death of Queen Ann Bullen who was beheaded some time before for several pretended Crimes which she utterly denied at the Scaffold and of which a great number of worthy men thought her Innocent gave fresh hopes to the Popish Clergy that a stop would have been put to any further Reformation of which she was reckoned a great promoter and inconrager And the Succession of the Crown being likewise altered by Parliament By whom Queen Mary was declared Illegitimate as born of Queen Katherine in unlawful Marriage and a new Oath imposed upon all the People to acknowledge the Children of the Queen Ann to be rightful Heirs to the Crown and she leaving one Daughter who was afterward the renowned Queen Elizabeth that Party had likewise expectations that she being dead the Lady Mary would succeed to the Crown to which end she was persuaded to submit her self to the King and own him as Supream Head of the Church of England which she had hitherto refused But within twenty days after this Tragedy was over the King Married the Lady Jane Seymour Daughter of Sr. John Seymour by whom he had the most excellent Prince Edward who succeeded him though within few days after the good Queen died The birth of a Son blasted the Papists expectations and therefore Gardiner Bonner and the rest of that Clergy seemed now very zealous in promoting the Injunctions that Cromwell had lately published Yet Gardiner still retaining a secret hatred against the Reformation he by his Artifices and Flatteries prevailed much with the King persuading him that his zeal against Heresie was the greatest advantage that his Cause in renouncing the Pope could have over all Europe Which meeting with the King 's own persuasion of the Corporal presence of Christ in the Sacrament caused him to sit in Person upon the Trial of one John Lambert a learned man who because he would not recant his opinion about Transubstantion was cruelly burnt in Smithfield and in the next Parliament an Act was made for making it death not to consent to the six Articles following which were after called the six bloody Articles I. That after the words of Consecration the Real and Natural Body and Blood of Christ was in the Sacrament II. That Communion in both kinds was not necessary to Salvation III. That Priests by the Laws of God ought not to Marry IV. That Vows of Chastity are to be observed V. That private Massies were agreeable to the Word of God VI. That Auricular Confession was necessary to be retained Against most of these Cranmer argued several days and Cromwell promoted Bonner to the Bishoprick of Hereford to be a faithful second to Cranmer in his Pious designs though he afterward proved a violent Persecutor and indeed Cranmer wanted support against the other Bishops who made great complaints of the rashness of the Protestant Preachers who were very furious against some things not yet abolished Upon which Letters were writ to the Bishops to take care that as the People should be rightly instructed so they should not be offended with too many Novelties Thus was Cranmer's interest so low that he had none but Cromwell to depend on There was not a Queen now in the King's Bosom to support them and the refusal of owning these Articles caused the death of many Protestants as the denying the King's Supremacy cut off several Papist so that at the same time Protestants were burnt on one side Smithfield and Papists hanged on the other which made Forreigners admire as not understanding what Religion King Henry was of Hereupon Cromwell contrived how the King should be ingaged in a nearer Alliance with the Protestant Princes of Germany with whom he had already setled a League and who was acknowledged its Patron he sending over an hundred thousand Crowns a year for the support of it all ingaging That they would join against the Pope as the Common Enemy and set up the true Religion according to the Gospel Now that the King might be prevailed upon both by Affection and Interest to carry on what he had thus begun Cromwell resolved to bring about a Match between the King and the Lady Ann Sister to William Duke of Cleve whose other Sister Frederick Duke of Saxony a very zealous Protestant had espoused And the King unwilling to live any longer a Widower both the Emperor and the King of France proposed Matches to him but Reasons of State inclined him powerfully to that with the Lady Ann. Her Father had before Treated with the Prince of Lorrain about Marrying her but it went no farther than a Contract between the two Fathers And the famous Painter Hans Holbin much favoured her in the Picture which was sent to the King who never liked the Original so well as he did that The Duke of Saxe dissuaded the Match because the King was going backward in the Reformation as appear'd by his enacting the six bloody Articles but Cromwell carried it on with the greatest vigor Some write that the Lady was handsome enough but could speak only Dutch which the King understood not neither had she learned Musick and was also so stiff in her Carriage as no way suited the King's temper However the Marriage was concluded and arriving at Rochester the King was so impatient to see her that he went thither incognito but was much dampt at first sight for he thought
her demeanour so rude that he askt whether they had brought over a Flanders Mare to him and thenceforward had an absolute aversion for her Person Neither had he any kindness for her Religion and many Virtues she being a very Devout Protestant So that he resolved to break the Match if possible but for fear of disobliging the German Princes his affairs making their friendship very necessary to him at this time to obviate the designs of the Emperor Pope and French King now projecting against him he Married her but exprest his dislike of her so plainly that all about him took notice of it and the day after he told Cromwell that he had not consummated his Marriage with her and did believe he should never do it complaining of ill smells about her and that he suspected she was not a Virgin which so much increased his dislikes that he thought he should be never able to endure her Cromwell endeavoured in vain to overcome these prejudices so that though the King lived with her five Months and lay often in the Bed with her yet was his aversion rather increased than abated About this time all the ground that the Reformation gained after so much had been lately lost was a liberty for all private persons to have Bibles in their Houses the managing of which was put into Cromwell's hands by a particular Patent And a new Parliament being called as the Lord Chancellor declared the matters of State to them so the Vicegerent Cromwell spake to them concerning Religion telling them ' That the King desired nothing so much as an entire Union among all his Subjects but that some Incendiaries opposed it as much as he promoted it and that rashness on one side and inveterate Superstition on the other had raised great dissentions which were inflamed by the reproachful names of Papist and Heretick and though they had now the Word of God in all their hands yet they rather studied to justifie their Passions than amend and govern their Lives by it To remove which the King had appointed several Bishops to settle the Doctrine and Ceremonies and to publish an exposition of the Doctrine of Christ without corrupt mixtures and yet to retain such Ceremonies as should be thought necessary resolving afterward to punish all Transgressors of either side At this time Cromwell was created Earl of Essex which shâ—ws that the King's dislike of the Queen was not the chief cause of his ruin otherwise he had not now advanced him The Popish Bishops especially Gardiner being glad to be any way rid of a Protestant Queen heightned the King's aversion to the Lady Ann of Cleve by all means possible and persuaded the King to move for a Divorce The Queen seem'd little concerned at it and exprest much willingness to discharge him from a Marriage so unacceptable to him The Lords addrest to him that he would suffer the Marriage to be examined which being granted a Commission was sent to the Convocation to discuss it and Witnesses being heard it appeared that her Pre-contract with the Prince of Lorrain was not fully cleared And that the King had Married her against his Will And not having given an inward and compleat consent he had never consummated the Marriage so that no Issue could be expected from the Queen Whereupon the Convocation publisht an authentick Instrument under the Seals of the two Archbishops declaring to the Christian World that the King's Marriage with the Lady Ann of Cleve was a nullity void frustrate and of none effect because the said Lady under her own hand had upon due examination confest that the King never had nor could perform to her that Benevolence which by a Husband was due to a Wife This Sentence was confirmed by Parliament adding that it was lawful according to the Ecclesiastical Laws for the King to Marry another Wife and for the Lady Ann of Cleve to take another Husband according to the Laws of Holy Church And all such as by Writing Printing or Speaking did maintain the contrary should be punisht as for High Treason During this Transaction a sudden turn happened at Court The Lord Cromwell was suddenly Arrested for High Treason by the Duke of Norfolk in the Council Chamber at White-Hall and committed Prisoner to the Tower The lowness of his birth procured him many Enemies among the Nobility to see a Blacksmiths Son prefer'd to such high Dignity He being at the same time Lord Vicegerent Lord Privy Seal and Lord High Chamberlain of England Earl of Essex and Master of the Rolls The Popish Clergy hated him mortally the suppression of the Abbies and the Injunctions about Reformation in the Church being imputed to his Counsels And the King being freed from the fear of the Confederacy betwixt the Emperor and French King against him who could not agree upon the Terms Cromwells Counsel's now became useless to him and he hoped the making him a Sacrifice might somewhat appease the People who were much disturbed at some late proceedings And surther he now intended a Match with Katherine Howard Neice to the Duke of Norfolk a Papist and an Enemy to the Reformation The King was likewise told that Cromwell was an Enemy to the Six Articles and incouraged those that opposed them Of the truth of the fast we read this following Passage About two years before the King ordered Archbishop Cranmer to put in Writing all the Arguments he had used in Parliament against the six Articles He likewise sent Cromwell and the Duke of Norfolk to Dine with him and assure him of the continuance of his favour and kindness to him At Table they acknowledged that Cranmer had opposed the Articles with much Prudence and Learning expressing a great value for him and telling him that those who differed from his opinion could not but esteem him highly for his worth and since the King seemed to approve of them he need fear nothing Cromwell added That the King had so much respect for him above his other Counsellors that he would not give ear to any complaints against him and that as Cardinal Woolsey lost his friends by Pride the other gained upon his Enemies by his Humility and Moderation The Duke of Norfolk replied he could speak best of the Cardinal having been his man so long Cromwell replied warmly That he never liked his Manners but said he If he had been Pope I never intended to have gone into Italy with him as you my Lord Duke designed to have done The Duke swore he lied and gave him ill Language which put all the company into disorder and they were never friends afterward Cranmer drew up his Reasons against the six Articles and gave them to his Secretary to transcribe fairly for the King's use but crossing the Thames met with a very odd accident For a Bear being baited near the River broke loose and running into the Water overturned the Boat wherein the Secretary was whereby his Book fell into the Thames and was taken up
by the Bearward who shewed it to a Priest he presently perceived it was a Refutation of the six Articles and told the Bearward that the Author would certainly be hanged The Secretary coming to demand his Book which he said was the Archbishops and offering him a Crown to Drink for saving it The Fellow being an obstinate Papist replied he would not part with it for five hundred Crowns The Secretary acquainting Cromwell with the matter he sent for the Bearward who guessing at the business brought the Book with intent to have delivered it to Stephen Gardiner or Sir Anthony Brown both inveterate Enemies to Protestancy Cromwell seeing him snatcht the Book from him and giving it to the Secretary Here says he I know this is your hand take it with you and Sirrah says he to the Fellow you deserve to be punisht for detaining a Privy Counsellor's Book when demanded you being fitter to meddle with Bears than matters of State And so Cranmer was preserved from the danger of Fire which at this time threatned him by Water The blow at Cromwel was suddenly given and being in disgrace he had the common Lot of discarded Favourites to be forsaken by his Friends and insulted over by his Enemies of whom Gardiner was the most implacable only Cranmer stuck to him and in a Letter to the King on his behalf he assured him He had always found that the Lord Cromwel ever loved his Majesty above all things and that he had served him with such Fidelity and Success that he was of the Opinion no King of England had ever a more faithful Minister wishing the King might find a Councellor who was as willing and able to do him Service as he was But the King being freed from his Marriage and having made Katherine Howard his Queen in a few Weeks after the Duke of Norfolk had now an opportunity to be revenged on him she being Daughter to the Lord Edmund Howard Brother to the Duke So that from henceforth the King looked discontentedly upon his former intimate Favourite and inward Counsellor as being told that he was the cause of all his late Troubles Those who had long desired his Downfal soon perceiving this Alteration drew up a long Bill of Attainder against him in the House of Lords which was read twice in one day and sent to the Commons who after ten days debate passed it whereby he was condemned for High Treason and Heresie by that unjust way of Attainder without coming to an Answer wherein it was set forth That though the King had raised him from a low Estate to high Dignities yet it appeared by many Witnesses that were Persons of Honour that he was the most corrupt Traytor that ever was known That joining with the last Queen Ann he had favoured the Lutherans above measure and so strongly supported them against the Catholick Prelates and Priests of this Kingdom that when he was told by some of the Clergy that they doubted not but the King would shortly curb their Boldness and Presumption the said Lord Cromwel did reply That he was sure of the King and that about two Years before he had said the Preaching of Barnes and other Hereticks was good and that he would not turn though the King did turn but if the King turned he would fight in Person against him and all that turned and drawing out his Dagger he wisht he might be pierced to the Heart with it if he did not do it And that if he lived a Year or two longer it should not be in the King's Power to hinder it That he had set many at liberty who were condemned or suspected of Misprision of Treason That he had given Licenses for Transporting out of the Kingdom things prohibited by Proclamation had granted Pasports without searching and had dispersed many erroneous Books contrary to the belief of the Sacrament And had said that every man might administer it as well as the Priest That he had Licensed several Preachers suspected of Heresie and had discharged many that were committed on that account That he had many Hereticks about him and had discouraged Informers He was likewise charged with Bribery and Oppression and that when he heard some Lords were consulting about him he threatned that he would raise great disturbances in England Many of these things were charged upon him in general but no particulars produced And the words about the King being sworn to have been spoken two years before it was strange that they should be so long concealed considering the powerful Adversaries which he had As to the Licenses it was thought he had the King's Order for what he did in it Bribery and Oppression seem to be added only to render him odious who always appeared of a quite contrary temper And therefore Authors think that the chief cause of the King's Indignation was that having discovered his affection for the Lady Katherine Howard to him Cromwell used some words in defence of Queen Ann of Cleve and in dislike of the Lady Katherine which so much displeased the King that he thereupon delivered him up into the hands of his Enemies who thirsted for his Blood and fearing that he would clear himself from all their Calumnies by a Legal Trial they Tried Judged and Condemned him by a way which seems both against Nature and Reason and Justice not being suffered to appear or speak a word in his own defence When he was Prisoner in the Tower several Commissioners were sent thither to examine him who found him in a very composed sedate frame bearing his affliction with a Patient and Christian Constancy of Mind not at all ruffled with the suddenness of his Fall for he foresaw the Tempest before it came and prepared for the same And being sensible of the vigilance power and malice of his adversaries he called his Servants before him and told them that he found himself upon a very uncertain foundation and that a storm was approaching and therefore charged them that they should manage all their affairs with Uprightness and Justice that so he might not be blamed or suffer by any misdemeanors of theirs He entertained the Commissioners with much gravity and freedom and answered all their Interrogatories with great moderation and discretion being as well informed in all matters Ecclesiastical or Civil as themselves He once desired one of these Commissioners supposed to be Stephen Gardiner his most implacable Enemy to carry a Letter from him to the King who replied That he would carry no Letter to the King from a Traytor Then said the Lord Cromwell Pray deliver a Message to him by word of Mouth This he consented to provided it were not against his Allegiance ' Well my Lords said he to the rest pray be witnesses of what this Lord hath promised Pray then present my duty to the King and tell him That when he hath tried and proved you so throughly as I have done he will find you the falsest man that ever he had
demolisht the Forts burnt most of the Houses filled their Ships with Plunder and burnt several Spanish Vessels the Fleet returned victoriously home The King of Spain having lost in this Gallant Expedition thirteen of his best men of War forty Merchants Ships from New Spain an hundred Cannon with such vast Stores of Ammunition and Naval Provisions that he was not able to fit out another Fleet for many years after and the Spaniards themselves gave this Character of the brave English That they were Hereticks in Religion but in all other affairs Warlike Politick and truly Noble This happy Success advanced Essex in the opinion both of the Queen Souldiery and Common People though his making so many Knights some of them of very mean fortunes produced this Libel A Gentleman of Wales with a Knight of Cales And a Laird of the North Countree A Yeoman of Kent upon a Rack Rent Will buy them out all three The Queens indulgence increasing by this fortunate Expedition he grew wanton with her favours and was offended if she prefer'd any but those recommended by himself as particularly Sir Francis Vere being made Governour of Brill in Holland and Sir Robert Cecil Secretary of State both which he had designed for other Persons he discovered so severe a resentment for it that his Enemies and Enviers turn'd it at length to his disadvantage After this Essex is made Admiral of a Fleet that were sent against the Islands of Azores belonging to the Spaniard where the Island of Graciosa and Faial yielded to him and likewise Villa Franca And then returning Essex who would be sole Favourite had great contentions with Sir Walter Rawleigh and Cecil c. and likewise with Charles Howard who was now made Earl of Nottingham because the Queen had given him part of the honour of the Victory at Cales However the Queen's affections so blinded her that she passed by many Indignities offered her by him and to pacifie him created him Earl Marshal of England In 1598. Some Proposals being offered for concluding a Peace with Spain the Earl of Essex opposed it urging the Spanish Ambition for gaining the Universal Monarchy his inveterate hatred against the Queen and the Kingdom his Maxim That no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks and that the Pope could dispense with him to break all Leagues when for his advantage these and many such cogent Reasons made a Peace with him impracticable But other great Courtiers whether for Reasons of State or that they had received some Spanish Gold were very much displeased so that the Lord Burleigh told him That he breathed nothing but War and Slaughter and turning to the Psalm he bid Essex read that verse as seeming to presage his future Fate Blood-thirsty men shall not live out half their days Yet many much admired his Conduct as really designing nothing but the honour and security of his Country However the Queen and Essex were of a contrary opinion both as to the Peace and to a fit Person to be sent Lord Deputy into Ireland The Queen judged William Knolles the Earl's Uncle proper for the imployment Essex affirmed George Carew to be much fitter and because he could not persuade the Q. to be of his mind he contemptibly turn'd his back and seem'd to scoff at her At which she growing out of patience stept forward and giving him a sound box on the Ear bid him be gone with a vengeance At which he laid his hand upon his Sword but the Admiral coming up to him he vowed and swore ' That he neither would nor could put up so great an Indignity which he would never have taken from her Father King Henry much less from the hand of a Woman And then in a great rage he withdrew from Court Afterward the Lord Keeper sent him several Letters exhorting him to come and ask the Queen pardon whom if he had justly wronged he could not make her satisfaction and if she had wronged him yet his Prudence Duty and Religion should oblige him to submit himself to so good a Queen since there is a great inequality between a Prince and a Subject Essex answered very haughtily to these Advices and his Followers published his usual expressions upon this account As ' That he appealed for Justice from the Queen to God Almighty That no Tempest rageth more than the indignation of an Impotent Prince That the Queens Heart was hardned I know said he what I have to do as I am a Subject and what as I am an Earl and Marshal of England I cannot live as a Servant and a Bondslave If I should confess my self guilty I should both injure Truth and God the Author of Truth I have received a Dart through my whole body It is absolutely a Sin to serve after having received so great a disgrace Cannot Princes Err Cannot they Injure their Subjects Is their Earthly power Infinite 'T is the Fool says Solomon that being struck laughs They that receive benefit who by the Errors of Princes let them bear the injuries of Princes Let them believe the Queen's Power Infinite believe that God is not Omnipotent As for my part I being rent in pieces by injuries have long enough endured bitterness of Soul for them Yet after all the Queens Passion for him soon admitted of an easie submission so that he was pardoned and restored to favour by her who could be angry with him but could never hate him and soon after made him Lord Deputy of Ireland which was then in an ill condition by the Rebellion of the Natives and impowered him with so ample a Commission as was thought to be contrived by his Enemies on purpose by inflaming his ambition to procure his ruin for he had liberty to pardon or punish the Irish Rebels suitable to his own Will and Power to reward with Lands or Honours all he esteem'd worthy These were such Flowers of the Crown as they seemed designed by his Enemies to deck that head they meant to Sacrifice to their malice and revenge Upon his arrival in Ireland the Earl spent so much time in subduing the petty Rebels while he not only neglected the chief one Tyrone with whom instead of fighting he Treated and made a Truce that the Queen unsatisfied with his dilatory proceedings first reproaches his Conduct and then recalls him Essex was much discontented because the Queen in her Letters had chid him for making the Earl of Southampton General of the Horse and that Cecil his Enemy was prefer'd to be Master of the Wards in his absence So that within a Month after he unexpectedly returned to England having some thoughts to bring so great a force with him as to secure himself from any danger but was dissuaded therefrom by the Earl of Southampton and Sir Christopher Blunt So that only accompanied with six he comes to the Court at Nonsuch to inform the Queen of the affairs of Ireland In the way he met the Lord Grey of Willon his chief Adversary
fit to give or no. Are we come to an end of our Countries Liberties Are we secured for time future We are accountable to a Publick Trust and since there hath been a Publick Violation of the Laws by the King's Ministers nothing will satisfie but a Publick Amends and our desire to vindicate the Subject's Right is no more than what is laid down in former Laws Let us be sure that the Subject's Liberties go hand in hand with the supply and not to pass the one till we have good Ground and a Bill for the other Upon the Petition of Right which the House of Lords would have had this addition to ' We present this our Humble Petition to your Majesty with the care not only of preserving our own Liberties but with due regard to leave intire that Sovereign Power wherewith your Majesty is trusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People Sir Tho. Wentworth spake thus ' If we admit of this Addition we shall leave the Subjects worse than we found them and we shall have little thanks for our labour when we come home Let us leave all Power to his Majesty to punish Malefactors but these Laws are not acquainted with Soveraign Power VVe desire no new thing nor do we offer to intrench on his Majesties Prerogative but we may not recede from this Petition either in part or in whole The King hearing of his ability and understanding used all means to gain him to himself by bestowing of Titles of Honour and Places of Trust upon him Creating him Viscount VVentworth Earl of Strafford and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whereby he made him wholly his own In Ireland he was very active in augmenting the King's Revenues and advancing the Royal Authority by all ways within his Power And upon his return into England he advised the King to go into Scotland and settle the Peace of that Kingdom by his Coronation there he having intelligence that if it were defer'd any longer the Scots might perhaps incline to Elect another King Upon the troubles that rose soon after there on the account of imposing the Common Prayer upon them and the King resolving to raise an Army to reduce them but doubting the Parliament would not supply him the Lords told the King that they would ingage their own Credits to forward the business and the Earl of Strafford for the incouragement subscribed 20000 l. other Noblemen following his example conformable to their Estates and some of the Judges contributed largely April 13. 1639 a Parliament being assembled the Earl of Strafford was led into the House of Peers by two Noblemen to give an account of his proceedings in Ireland having there obrained the Grant of four Subsides for maintaing 10000 Foot and 1500 Horse Implicitely hinting thereby that they should propostion their Supplies accordingly But the Parliament doubting that the Irish Forces might indanger Religion and seeming to allow the justness of the Scots Cause and of the good that might be obtained by favouring them in this Conjuncture the King doubting they might vote against the War with the Scots whom he resolved to Treat severely for not complying with his Will and Pleasure he thereupon suddenly Dissolves them to the great discontent of the People who for eleven years past durst scarce mention the name of a Parliament Being hereby disappointed of a supply the King sends to the Citizens of London to lend Money and to all Knights and Gentlemen who held Lands of the Crown to provide Men Horses and Arms for his Assistance The Citizens generally refused pleading poverty and want of Trade but by the assistance of the Gentry an Army was raised with great celerity of which the Earl of Strafford was made Lieutenant General and the King commanded in Chief The Scots having notice of these preparations speedily raised an Army with which they marched into England to make this the Seat of War The Lord Conway doubting they would take in Newcastle drew off 3000 Foot and about 1200 Horse to secure the Pass at Newburn Lesly the Scots General marching forward sent a Trumpeter to the Lord Conway to desire leave to pass to the King with their Petition which being denied they fell upon the English and kill'd 300 of them Which being accounted an unhappy Omen several of the Lords Petitioned the King for a Parliament which was seconded by another from the Scots and a third from the City of London At length the King consented to it having first by advice of the Peers consented to a Treaty with the Scots at Rippon they refusing to send their Commissioners to York alledging That the Lieutenant of Ireland resided there who proclaimed them Rebels in Ireland before the King had done it in England and against whom as a chief Incendiary they intended to complain in the next Parliament For the Parliament meeting Nov. 3. 1640. the Scotch Commissioners coming to London had many private Conferences with some of the House of Commons and it was concluded that the Earl of Strafford should be immediately Impeached at his first coming into the House of Lords which was done accordingly and thereupon he was instantly taken into Custody and in March following he was brought to his Trial in Westminster Hall The King Queen and Prince were present in a private Closet where they could here all but were seen of none And then Mr. Pym Impeached the Earl of twenty eight Articles of High Treason in the name of the Commons of England sharging him That he had Trayterously endeavoured to subvert the fundamental Laws and Government of England and Ireland and to introduce an Arbitrary Tyrannical Government by Trayterously assuming to himself Regal Power over the Laws Liberties Persons Lands and Goods of his Majesties Subjects Had countenanced and encouraged Papists Had maliciously endeavoured to stir up enmity and hostility between the Subjects of England and Scotland Had wilfully betrayed the King's Subjects to death by a dishonourable retreat at Newburn that by the effusion of blood and the dishonour and loss of New-Castle the People of England might be ingaged in a National and Irreconcileable quarrel with the Scots And that to secure himself from being questioned for these and other Trayterous Courses he had laboured to subvert the Rights of Parliament and to incense his Majesty against them by false and malicious slanders and that upon the Dissolution of the last Parliament he did treacherously and wickedly counsel and advise His Majesty to this effect That having tryed the affections of his People he was loose and absolved from all rules of Government and was to do every thing that power would admit Since having tried all ways he was refused so that he would now be acquitted both by God and Man And that he had an Army in Ireland meaning the Army of Papists who were his Dependants which the King might imploy to reduce this Kingdom to his obedience That he falsly maliciously and treacherously declared before some of the