by his very first Treaty which was not to have been hop'd for by any long hostility which success though the execution seem'd not considerable amounted to a kind of Victory So that 't was no wonder he rested not contented with such a Proportion as he was before asham'd to wish for Ambition respecting not so much whence it comes as whither it is addressed pressing still forwards without any consideration but that of the felicity it aims at on which it fixes with so intense a look that it regards no dangers much less any faith being deny'd the Government of the Isle of Thanet he insisted upon that of the whole Province of Kent meeting with opposition there he supply'd force with fraud and both with Fortune and by the possession of that one only got the command of three Provinces more all lying so convenient for landing Supplies that this seem'd to be but an Earnest for an entire Conquest Neither thought he it sufficient to have the Power without he had the Title of a King Hitherto he had only studied his Security that being obtain'd he begins to affect Glory and in respect Kent was his Principal Seat he gives that the preheminence of giving the Name to his Kingdom being the first not to say the last too of the whole Heptarchy continuing near four hundred years supported by its own proper Forces before it fell under the common Fate of being incorporated into the Universal Monarchy of the English And as it was the first Kingdom so was it the first Christian Kingdom of the Seven from whom the East-Saxons borrow'd their light and from them the rest till an universal brightness oversp ead the whole Hemisphere which however it seems to have been a work of time as appears by that oâ—d Adage yet in use amongst us In Kent and Christendom was an occasion of so high regard to the People of that Province that all the Counties of England have ever since consented to allow them the honour of precedency in the Field by giving them the right of leading the Van as often as the Nation appears to give any Batgel Royal which Priviledge hath been by special Charter confirm'd to them from the time of King Knute the Zealous The long Reign of Engist not less as some say then fifty years contributed much to the Corroboration of his Conquest which being the Gift of Fortune rather then Nature he bestow'd it on his youngest Son Oeske from whom as I said before 't was call'd the Kingdom of Eskins which beginning at the time of Ambrosius the British King continued Three hundred seventy two years an intire Kingdom and after the West-Saxons reduc'd it under their Obedience had yet the repute of being a distinct Principality and by that Title was bestow'd upon the younger Sons of those Kings who defended it against the Danes till Ethelbert the second Son of Athelstan second Son of Egbert after the death of his Elder Brother Ethelwald entring upon the whole Monarchy of England Anno 860. united it inseparably to his Empire THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF SOUTH-SEXE II. I. date of accession 488 ELLA was the first King of this and second absolute Monarch of the whole Kingdom for which Honour he was more indebted to the length of his Reign then the greatness of his Dominions being indeed the very least of the Seven II. date of accession 514 CISSA his youngest Son the two elder being slain succeeded his Father he reigned peaceably seventy six years founded Chichester and Chisbury the one for the resort of his People t'other for the repose of himself where dying he left his Son III. EDELWOLPH to succeed the first Christian of this House who refusing to contribute to the War against the Britains in respect the West-Saxon lay betwixt him and danger Ceadwald the Tenth of those Kings sell upon him and slew him upon whose death IV. BERTHUN and AUTHUN Two Dukes collaterally sprung out of the Royal Stock of this Kingdome interpos'd themselves with equal merit in the common Calamity and Defence of their Country and forcing Ceadwald to retire rul'd jointly for six years till the same King returning upon them took from the one his Life from the other his Liberty whereby this became a Province to the West-Sexe BY the setting up of this Kingdom conteining no more but two Counties Sussex and Surrey and those none of the greatest we may take some measure of the Ambition of our Ancestors who had as great respect to their Glory as their Security being not content to have the Power without they had the Title of Kings This Ella was in the first place but a Colonel under Engist who made him Governour of Sussex to which having added Surrey with the loss of the lives of his two eldest Sons Kymen and Plenchin after the death of his General he set up for himself and being resolv'd to shew the greatness of his mind by the narrowness of his Dominions not onely declar'd himself the first King of the South-Sexe but made himself so considerable in the esteem of all his Country-men that they submitted to him as the second Monarch of the English which Glory he held up to the height near thirty years But that Sun which began in Kent the East part of the Isle and came towards him who was planted in the South hasted to set amongst the West-Sexe to whom his Successors were forc'd to become Tributary or if it may lessen the dishonour for these were all of them most deserving Princes we may say Contributioners towards the War against the Britains The West-Saxon Kingdom lying betwixt them and danger the non-payment of this Tax whether it were that the Kings hereof refus'd it as being too heavy a Burthen upon them or disdain'd the manner of Exaction or thought themselves not oblig'd to be longer charg'd having clear'd their own Territories is not certain was the first and only occasion of the downfall of this Kingdom being thereby ingag'd in a War with too potent a Neighbour against whom though they had no hopes to prevail yet they scorn'd to yield till their tottering State fell down about their Ears and buried them in the common Ruins of their Country which was so far wasted before it submitted to become a Province that when it was added to th' other it became rather a Burthen then a Strengthning for a great while so far had Famine and Plague the Peace-makers in all Civil Wars disabled them to all intents and purposes before this Curse fell upon them to be devour'd by their Friends which was so much more dishonourable then to be conquer'd by their Enemies by how much it was the first unhappiness of this kind THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF WEST-SEXE III. I. date of accession 522 CERDIC having conquer'd Natan-leod the Dragon of the Western Britains set up the third Kingdom which reaching from Hampshire to Cornwal was call'd the Kingdome of West-Sexe and gave him the repute of being the
an intestine War one with another undermin'd them by Land before they could perfect any great matter by Sea they had not contented themselves as they did with an Insulary glory having laid so good a foundation to an universal Empire and so much more lasting than any that were ever before it by how much they would have had it in their power to have secur'd the obedience of the rest of the World by their ignorance rendring themselves their Masters by a mystery of State not to be resisted because not understood whereof our Kings their Successors now absolute Lords of the Sea have happily made good proof For as a modern Poet hath well observ'd Where ere our Navy spreads her Canvass Wings Homage to th' State and Peace to all she brings French Dutch and Spaniards when our Flags appear Forget their hatred and consent to fear So Jove from Ida did the Hosts survey And when he pleas'd to thunder part the Fray Waller Ships heretofore in Seas like Fishes sped The greatest still upon the smallest fed We on the Deep impose more equal Laws And by that justice do remove the cause Of those rude Tempests which for rapine sent Did too too oft involve the innocent Rendring the Ocean as our Thames is free From both those Fates of Storms and Pitacy Thrice happy People who can fear no force But winged Troops or Pegasean Horse But considering as I said the difficulties they met with before without mentioning the dangers they encountred after they were setled the checks of Fortune whilst they were rising and the counterbuffs of Envy after they were up and mounted to their height whereof as Gildas relates they were forewarned by their Gods who being consulted about the Invasion gave answer that the Land whereto they went should be held by them 300 years half the time to be spent in conquering t'other half in possessing their Conquest which agreed with the measure of their Heptarchy Lastly Considering the fierceness of the Britains of the one side and the fraud of the Danes of the other those perhaps doing them more mischief by Treaties than t'other by admitting no cessation We may conclude with the Poet Nec minor est Virtus quam quarere parta tueri THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF KENT I. I. date of accession 445 ENGIST having broken in like a Horse for so his Name imports and trampled down all that withstood him made himself King of Kent and by being the first King was worthily esteem'd the first Monarch of the English a Title that during the Heptarchy was appropriated to some one above all the rest of the Kings He reigned 34 years and left his Glory to descend on his second Son II. date of accession 448 OESKE under whose Government the Kentish men thriv'd so well that they were contentedly named from him Eskins III. date of accession 512 OCTA had a longer but less happy Reign wasting 22 years without any memorable act that might render him more renown'd then his Successor IV. date of accession 537 IRMERICK who after 25 years Reign by Stow 's Accompt 29 by Savil's had nothing to boast but that he was the Son of such a Father as Oeske and the Father of such a Son as V. date of accession 562 ETHELBERT the first Christian King of all this Nation and the sixth Monarch of the English men A Prince who was therefore esteem'd great because good but his happiness ended with himself for his impious Son VI. date of accession 617 EDBALD was laid in his Bed as soon as he was laid in his Grave apostatizing from his natural Religion to gratifie his unnatural Lust he had many Sons but the Succession fell to the youngest VII date of accession 641 ERCOMBERT more like his Grandfather then his Father a pious publick spirited Prince he was the first divided Kent into Parishes and commanded the observation of Lent He was not so good but his Sons were as bad VIII date of accession 665 EGBERT the eldest made his way to the Crown by the murther of his two Cosins the right Heirs of Ethelbert and Sons to his Fathers Elder Brother Ermenred who being not able to do themselves right were reveng'd by his younger Brother IX date of accession 677 LOTHAIRE who gave the like measure to his two Sons putting them besides the Succession to admit X. date of accession 686 EDRICK who entred with more Triumph than Joy being within two years after depriv'd both of honour and life by his own Subjects upon which his Brother XI date of accession 693 WIGHFRED assumed the Government being rather admitted then chosen or rather gave himself up to be govern'd by one Swebard who they put over him by whose advice he rul'd not ingloriously 33 years and left his Kingdom to his Sons who alternately succeeded XII date of accession 726 EGBERT the Eldest most like his Father both in Person and Fortune reigned 23 years XIII date of accession 749 ETHELBERT the second reign'd but one year XIV date of accession 760 ALRICK the last of the three and indeed the last of the Royal Lyne did only something that made him more notably unfortunate then the two former in being overcome by the great Mercian Offa whereby the Kingdom became a prey to whosoever could catch it the first whereof that got that advantage was XV. date of accession 794 ETHELBERT the third firnamed Pren who entred in the Vacancy of the first Occupant and being disseized by that Wolfe Kenelwolph the thirteenth King of Mercia he put in one XVI date of accession 797 CUTHRED who enjoyed an undisturb'd possession eight years after whom XVII date of accession 805 BALDRED stept in who being little regarded abroad was less belov'd at home fearing his People might leave him he first left them and flying over the River Thames as soon as Egbert the West-Saxon entred his Territories left all to the Conquerour who without more trouble made this Kingdom and those of the South and East-Sexes an Appenage for his younger Son Athelstan IT is hard to resolve Whether Engist that erected this Kingdom were more beholding to Fortune or his own foresight or whether indeed the folly of Vortigern were not more advantageous to him then either who not trusting the incertain obedience of his own People cast himself upon the faith of this Stranger who in serving of him could have no other design but to serve himself upon him Neither did the frowardness of the Natives contribute less to his Greatness then the folly of their King who not consenting to the Ratification of that little which was promis'd him justifi'd him in the larger Demands he made afterwards when they durst not deny his Experience on the Seas taught him how to Laveer from point to point and shift as he found the wind failing to steer in a direct course but had the Britains kept Faith with him 't is probable he had not broke as he did with them taking that advantage
third Monarch of the English II. date of accession 534 KENRICK his Son succeeded him both in the Kingdom and Monarchy III. date of accession 561 CHEVLIN his Son was the fifth Monarch but his Power being not adaequate to his Fame he in 33 years time could not so settle himself but that he was dispossest by his Brother IV. date of accession 592 CEARLICK who being not so good at keeping as in getting the Kingdom into his hands was himself depos'd in like manner by V. date of accession 598 CHELWOLPH Son of Cuth fifth Son of Kenrick a Prince worthy the Greatness he inherited who notwithstanding he was assaulted by the Picts and Scots and East-Angles all at once kept his Ground and left it to his Successor VI. date of accession 622 KINGILLS a Prince famous for his piety and courage who left his Son VII date of accession 643 KENWALD to succeed him whose beginning may be compar'd to the worst his ending to the best of Kings renouncing first his Faith after his Wife both which though he afterwards retain'd yet the sin stuck so close to him that the first left him without a Kingdom the last without a Son whereby VIII date of accession 675 ESWIN of the Line of Chelwolph took place who for six years kept out the right Heir IX date of accession 677 KENWIN younger Son of Ringills who utterly expuls'd all the Briâ—ains and forc'd them to seek their safety in those inaccessable Mountains of Wales whereby his Successor X. date of accession 686 CEADWALD had so much leisure as to fall upon his nearest Neighbours the South-Sexe and weaken them so far that they were forc'd to yield to his Successor XI INE worthily esteem'd the greatest Prince of his time and the most magnificent yet withal the most humble he dyed in a Pilgrimage to Rome nominating XII date of accession 762 ETHELWARD the Son of Oswald the Son of Ethelbald descended from Kenwaâ—d his Successor who reign'd fourteen years and left the Scepter to his Brother XIII date of accession 740 CUTHRED whose heart being broken by seeing his Son murther'd the Crown came to XIV SIGEBERT one whose vices were less obscure than his Parentage who murthering one of the best of his Friends was himself slain by one of the basest of his Enemies a Swineherd whereby XV. date of accession 755 KENWOLFE succeeded a person worthy of better sate than he met with being slain by the hand of an Outlaw at a time when he did not expect and consequently was not prepar'd for death and so XVI date of accession 784 BITHRICK succeeded the last King of this House lineally descended from Cerdick who being poyson'd by his own Queen this Kingdom came to Egbert the Son of Ingils and Brother of Ine who reduc'd the whole Heptarchy into a Monarchy and therefore worthily led the Van to the absolute Monarchs of England THIS was the third Kingdom of the Heptarchy and deservedly so call'd if we consider the largeness of its extent which measur'd by the Line of Circumvallation reach't if some of our modern Geographers say true above 700 miles in compass being commonly call'd the Kingdom of the West-Sexe by Bede the Kingdom of the Genevises by Cambrensis from Genesius Grandfather to Cerdick who had the honour to be esteem'd the first Founder of it although in truth he rear'd but a small part of this stately Fabrick the rest being the work of Time and Fortune and came not to perfection in almost 500 years He was for his fierceness sirnam'd the Dragon possibly in imitation of the British Kings who had that title and having beaten * The Britaine call'd him Mâ—â—ge Coâ—â—â—â—â— Natanleod the Dragon of the Western Britains forc'd him to retreat and leave 5000 of his people behind him in possession of no more of their own ground than serv'd to make them one common Grave from whom 't is thought he took this Shield of the Dragon He was thereupon declar'd the third Monarch of the English men his Son Kenrick was the fourth and his Grandson Cheulin the fifth Each of these shar'd with him in the honour of being the first raisers of this Kingdom the establisher of it was King Kenwin the ninth Monarch who expuls'd all the Britains the first that enlarg'd it was Ceadwald the tenth King who having made his way to the Conquest of Kent by that of the South-Sexe left his Successor Ine worthily therefore sirnam'd the Great to give his Neighbours a true estimate of his power by that of his wealth and a measure of his wealth by that of his munificence whereof there needs no other instances than in the Foundation of the Abbey of Glastenbury the Furniture of whose Chappel only took up 2835 pound weight of Silver and 337 pound weight of Gold a vast sum for those days which being for the ornamental part only could not be comparable to that which was left for the endowment He Founded also the Cathedral Church of Wells the West part whereof is perhaps one of the most stately Fabricks in the known World Yet neither of these are more lasting Monuments than those of his Laws translated for their excellency by the learned Lambert into Latin as being the Foundation of what we are govern'd by so long since This was he that gave the first Eleemosinary Dole of Peter-pence to the Church of Rome which was exacted in the next Age as a Tribute In this mans Reign this Kingdom was at its heighth declining after his death insensibly till the time of Egbert who being the Darling of Fortune as well as of his own Subjects and a Prince of great towardliness after he had corrected his youth by the experience he had in the Wars under Charles the Great being the first of all the Saxon Princes that were educated abroad he got so far the advantage of all his home-bred Contemporaries that he easily soar'd above the common height of Majesty and beat up the seven Crowns into one which placing on his own head he not only gave those Laws but that Name to the whole Isle which continued till King James his Reign who uniting Scotland to the rest of the Terra firma not reduc'd altered the style of King of England into that which only could make it greater writing himself King of Great Britain to which August and most Imperial Title we now pay homage and may we ever do so THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF EAST-SEXE IV. I. date of accession 527 ERCHENWIN the Son of Offa Great-Grandson of Sneppa third in descent from Seaxnod third Son of Woden the common Progenitor of the Saxons began this Kingdom with the happiness of a long Reign which however it be seldome desir'd was certainly very advantagious to his Successor II. date of accession 587 SLEDDA who thought the readiest way to keep what his Predecessor got was to add to it what his Successors were not like to keep a Peace with the Kings of Kent his next Neighbours
tenth in descent from Whethelgeat the third Son of Woden was the last but by no means the least of the Heptarchs for he had seventeen intire Provinces which shews his head to be as active as his hands His Son II. date of accession 595 WIBBA thought he did enough in keeping what his Father got which he left well fortified to his Nephew III. date of accession 615 CEORL Son of Kinemund younger Brother to Cridda whose reign was neither long nor splendid perhaps overwhelm'd by the Glory of his Successor IV. date of accession 625 PENDA the Son of Wibba a minor when his Father dyed and so put beside the Crown but being King he over-aw'd all the rest that were Contemporaâ—y with him having slain six Kings of the East-Angâ—es and two of Northumberland But the last requited him blood for blood and took from him both Life and Kingdom which Oswy the Conquerour generously return'd to his eldest Son V. date of accession 655 PEADA who thereupon became his Son and his Subject and at once imbraced his Daughter and the Christistian Faith the last more fatal to him then the first his Life being thereupon taken away by her that first gave it to make way for his Pagan Brother VI. date of accession 658 WULPHERE who from his own Mother learnt to butcher his own Sons hearing that they were converted by St. Chad Bishop of Litchfield which yet could not prevent a Christian Successor for VII date of accession 675 ETHELRED came in after him his Son being under Age who as if he had had only intended to shew his Nephew what he would have him do devoted himself to a Religious Life to make way to VIII date of accession 700 KENRED who after eight years tryal being no better pleas'd with the sweet of Dominion surrender d to IX date of accession 709 CHELRED his Son who prov'd no less vigilant and valiant then his Grand father but being overmatch'd by the West-Saxon his Country lost a great part of the happiness and himself of the renown that justly might have been hoped from the continuance of his life whereby X. date of accession 716 ETHELBALD succeeded who was descended from a younger Brother of Penday against whom the villany of Whodert prevail'd more then the valour of his Enemies could being treacherously slain to make way for a stranger who yet was put beside the succession by XI date of accession 757 OFFA another Prince of the collateral Line descended from Koppa second son of Wibba who it seems was more indebted to Education then Nature and to Providence then to either for being born blind deaf and dumb he became miraculously restored to all his Senses and gave so great proofs of his Courage Prudence and Piety that his Reign is supposed to be the Meridian of the Mercian Kingdoms Glory for from his death it visibly fell under the Horizon XII date of accession 796 EGFRID his son succeeded who was the more famous in that he was made a King before he had a Kingdom but as Trees that blossom too soon never bear Fruit so his too early Honour was quickly blasted whereby XIII date of accession 796 KENULPH took place who was fifth in descent from Kenwalch younger Brother to Penda who seems to have been happier in himself then his Posterity for his Reign was not so long but XIV date of accession 820 KENELM his Sons was as short being murthred by his own Sister to make way for her Uncle XV. date of accession 820 CEOLULPH who was as barbarously dispatch'd by one XVI date of accession 822 BERNULPH an Usurper who prov'd a better King then he was a Man he contested hard with Egbert the West-Saxon and lost so much blood in the quarrel that his old Adversary the East-Angle perceiving how he was weakened set upon him and slew him XVII date of accession 826 LUDFCAN his successor attempting to revenge his death got his own whereupon XVIII date of accession 828 WITHLAF that came after him bought his security with a Tribute which his successor XIX date of accession 840 BERTULPH was content to continue but whiles he lookt foreright only an unexpected Enemy came upon him behind to wit the merciless Dane and over-run him but Ethelwulph the last Saxon recovering back the Kingdom gave it with his Daughter to one XX. date of accession 853 BURTHRED a Person worthy either who supported this tottering House ready to fall about his Ears till he was betray'd by his servant XXI CEOLWULPH whose treachery was rewarded by the Danes with the Title of King but King Edward the Eldest having slain him made it a Province of the English Monarchy THIS though it were one of the last was yet the very largest of all the Heptarchical Dominions and fitly setled to give Laws to all the rest as being in Umbilico Terrarum in the very Center or Navel of the Isle The wonder is how so great a Kingdom rose out of nothing with so little noyse the Founder leaving no more Constat of his Merit then of the method of his Ambition it being not yet known whether he attain'd that power that render'd him so great or receiv'd from Fortune the Greatness that render'd him so powerful Some ascribing it to his Wisdom others to his Courage but most to his Credit so that we may guess his Character to be not much unlike that which a foolish Athenian gave of God who being ask'd what he was answer'd He was neither Bowman nor Spearman Horsman nor Footman but one that knew well how to command all So 't is as probable this man was neither Souldier nor Scholar but as the Athenian said one that knew how to govern either otherwise he could not have dispos'd all things as he did so much to the advantage of his Successors that in fewer Months then others took up Years they spread their Wings over no less then six of the most goodly Provinces according to Ptolomey's accompt but by that of their own when they cantred the whole into Shires it was no less then seventeen which in Alfrids Tripartite Division made one third part of the whole Isle too great a Gripe to have been held long had not the Reign of his Successor who laid the Superstructure as wisely as he the Foundation fortunately confirm'd the Fabrick till it was setled and past shaking a happy beginning that made those that came after not only the Terrour of their Enemies but the Envy of their Neighbours whereof no less then Four assaulted his Grand-son at once and those not the meanest viz. the Northumber the East-Angle the West-Saxon and those of Kent keeping him at a Bay as a Lyon in a Toyl till Fate conspiring with his Forces drove some of them out of their Confidence others out of their Kingdoms and the rest out of the World Some compounding by a Tribute others by Homage the rest with loss of their Lives Prosperity prompting him to scorn all Conditions of Peace till he gave
them a greater advantage by their dispair then themselves could have hoped from their natural Fortitude for not knowing how to overcome he took from them all hopes of yielding and shewed them thereby a way to conquer him which they could not have found before he wrote himself Universal Monarch a Title he design'd to rip out of the Womb of Providence having not patience to expect the Birth of his Greatness His Fall so crush'd the growth of his Successors that they recover'd not in many years after but as backward Springs produce the best Fruit so the Glory that came late held the longer their heads proving as active as their hands their hands as bountiful as their hearts and their hearts as large as their purses Whilst they were Pagans they fortified themselves by extraordinary Acts of Cruelty but after they became Christians they rais'd them by as great works of Charity Once they were closely begirt and in so low a Condition that they were forc'd to redeem themselves by a Tribute from the Power of the Northumbers but having recover'd this they stood fair to have taken in the whole Heptarchy under the Government of Offa the Series of whose Prosperity had it not been interrupted by one unlucky Action the Guilt whereof not only dampt his own Spirit but cast a fatal Vale of Distrust on all his Successors had probably reach'd beyond the bounds of an insulary Glory as appears by the Emulation of his Contemporary Charlemain who much disdain'd he should have the honour to be stil'd The Great as well as himself but having inhospitably murther'd Ethelbert King of the East-Saxons coming to his Court under the Security of Publick Faith as a Suiter to his Daughter His Innocent blood was by Divine Vengeance charged so home upon his Posterity that their Greatness declin'd as Planet-struck from that very time So that of Nine Descents after him there was only one that had not a short but not any that had not a very sinister and unprosperous Reign till Fate drew the Circle of their Royalty to the full Compass stopping thereby the hand of Providence from any further motion So that from that time their Kingdom like a great Tree blown down but not quite rooted up lay so low that some Branches or other were lopt off daily from it till the West-Saxon seiz'd on the main Body as a Windfall due to him after it had stood the shock of Three hundred forty five Winters THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF EAST-ANGLES VI. I. date of accession 578 UFFA seventh in descent from Caesar second Son of Woden was the first King of the East-Angles from him call'd the Kingdom of the Uffins whose Reign was rather happy than long yet long enough to confirm the Succession to his Son II. date of accession 583 TITULUS who did nothing to make himself known more than being the Father of III. REDWALD who in assisting Edwin the Northumber lost his eldest Son and that broke his heart so that the second Son IV. date of accession 625 ERPENWALD took place the first Christian of this Race converted by the aforesaid King Edwin with so much dislike of his People that a base Villain adventur'd to murther him and so made a way to his younger Brother V. date of accession 636 SIGEBURT whose converse with Learning and Learned men being bred in France rendred him so favourable to both that the two Universities Oxford and Cambridge do to this day contend for the honour of having him their Founder He gave up his Royalty to his Kinsman VI. date of accession 638 EGRICK who with himself and the next in Succession VII date of accession 642 ANNA were all slain by the Pagan Penda who plac'd here the younger Brother VIII date of accession 654 ETHELHERD a Traytor to his Countrey and his own blood worthily depriv'd of Life and Kingdom by the famous Osâ— in the Northumber that put in IX date of accession 656 ETHELWOLD Regent in Trust for his Nephew X. date of accession 664 ALDULPH eldest Son of Ethelherd then a Child who wasted nineteen years without any memorable Action leaving his Brother XI date of accession 683 ELWOLPH to deserve a little of Posterity and his People Neither did the younger Brother XII date of accession 714 BEORN excel either of them for he left neither Wise Issue or Action to continue his memory whereby XIII date of accession 714 ETHELRED took place famous for nothing but being the Father of XIV date of accession 749 ETHELBERT the Unfortunate who was murther'd by Offa the Mercian after whose death the said Offa broke into this Kingdom of the one side and the West-Saxon on the other and the King of Kent on another side each preying like Vultures upon the headless Trunk or like Pikes in a Pond which devour one another till they were beaten off by a Stranger one XV. date of accession 771 EDMUND the Son of Alkmond a German Prince made Executor of one Offa a Prince of this Family and the next it seems in blood as well as in right who dying at Norimberg in his passage to the Holy Land adopted this Edmund his Heir who defending his Title was slain by the Danes who thereupon placed here a King of their own as will appear in its proper place THE Saxons having engaged their whole Nation to an entire Conquest of this Isle partly out of desire of glory but more of gain ceased not daily to oppress the dismay'd Britains with unequal numbers who growing base with their Fortune lost their Courage as fast as their Countrey fighting so faintly at the last that when they prevail'd they were afraid to pursue which made Fortune out of love with them that she seldom or never took their part The report hereof being carry'd into Germany every person that had any sense of Honour or Necessity emulous of his Neighbours Forwardness or asham'd of his own Sloth transplanted himself hither with whatsoever Forces he could get together And amongst the men that took advantage of this common Calamity was this Uffa in the beginning a Viceroy to the Kings of Kent in the Provinces of Suffolk and Norfolk who having over-run all the Countrey about the Isle of Ely to the uttermost parts of Cambridgshire joyn'd those to these and made up the sixt Kingdom stil'd the Kingdom of the East-Angles but with respect to him the Kingdom of the Uffins It was one of the least in dimensions but greatest in dignity of all the Seven for the Kings being but fifteen in number were deservedly esteem'd the wisest and valiantest of all this Nation by how much though their Title were the worst the best part obtain'd by treachery their Advantages the least their Territories the narrowest and their Adversaries the most numerous not to say the most puissant that is the haughty Northumber the implacable West-Saxon the cruel Mercian and the victorious Eskin the three last assaulting them all at one time yet they maintained a
that all Motions were actuated by his Command and Countenance who could not be idle at the Stem whilst his Subjects were so busie in the middle part of the Weather-beaten Vessel and perhaps 't was not without great Reason as things then stood that he reserv'd himself for Victories of a deeper Dye the Oppositions he had hitherto met with being like flying Clouds that rather portended a Storm then made one Nature and Providence conspiring to make him happy by a kind of unhappiness whilst by the shortness of his Reign not exceeding five years they took from him those greater Occasions of danger which carried with them so much Glory to his Successor ETHELRED date of accession 863 EThelberts Sun being set in a Cloud behold a more refulgent rising in his room the heat of whose Rayes kindled new Courage and Affection in each English Breast This was perhaps that only Prince that seem'd to have been as well fitted for the Times he liv'd in as the People he liv'd with at least he was the first that taught them the right use of Necessity which is a Vertue if well improv'd that like Powder imprison'd in the womb of a Rock which makes its way as soon as fired quickens its execution by resistance Harder it was for him to get up an Army together then being up to lay down his Arms this appears by those Nine set Battels he sought in One year with so various success that while the Enemy routed him he pursu'd them keeping his Circulation like a hunted Hare which follows the Dogs upon the same Trail that they pursue her The first Volley discharg'd upon him was by the two furious Danes Hungar and Hubba men of that Ambition that to be equall'd to him in Title as they were in Force they stiled themselves Kings as well as he and as Fortune was not wanting to them so neither were they to her attending her motions with such undaunted Resolution and improving her Favours with such incredible diligence that they neither stoop'd at petty Victories nor stopt at petty Repulses but pressing forward with obstinate boldness pierc'd through the Bowels of Mercia as far as Nottingham here King Ethelred fell upon them and forc'd them to Retreat but it was so slowly as if they had designedly gone back to seek a more convenient place to fight as afterwards they did getting this Reputation by not being beaten though they did not beat him that the Stake still remain'd undispos'd betwixt them The next year they came over Humber whose red Banks look'd as if they had been dy'd with the blood of those that weâ—e slain in opposing their Passage thence directing their Course towaâ—ds East-Anglia the Country that lay most convenient to receive their Recruits they there made a grand Holocaust to their Idol Gods delighted it seems with humane Sacrifices and amongst the rest of their abominable Offerings presented the Crowned Head of that holy Martyr St. Edmond then King of that Province whose fall so shook the whole Isle that it made every English heart tremble with fear or desire of Revenge Religion being now at stake as well as Liberty each side prepared for slaughter success swell'd the number of the Pagans as dispair increas'd that of the Christians both Armies oppressed as it were with their Multitudes divided into two Battalions but having so little room to fight in that they were forc'd to charge through each other the right Wings of both were routed those that pursu'd return'd and led by equal Courage and like Destiny began which hath rarely been seen another Battel upon the same day and that so much more dreadful then the former by how much it lasted till either side were so weakned or wearied that neither could fly away Here Ethelred perform'd Wonders worthy the admiration of a greater part of the World then he could ever hope to be Master of gaining indeed the Victory but at a price more valuable then any gain the loss of his own life however he departed into the other World with the same Majesty he rul'd in this being attended by no less then two Kings one on each side of him and at his feet lay dead nine Earls and two hundred Barons and round about them at further distance such a Mountain of common Carcasses as if design'd by Destiny for a Monument to which no other Kings could pretend but such as sell like him his Countries Sacrifice and his own ELFRID date of accession 873 NO sooner was Ethelred fall'n but Elfrid stept in to take up his Sword and Scepter as one alike entituled to his Trouble as his Glory who however he was the last in Succession was first in Ordination of all King Ethelwolphs Children being anointed King by Pope Leo before he had a Kingdom and which was more in the presence of his Father in the life time of two elder Brothers and in his own Minority A strange Riddle to Ambition which knows no greater punishment then to be so near a Crown in Title and so far distant in point of Right as he was But the same Providence that made him a King before he had a Kingdom resolv'd it seems after he had the Kingdom to make him no King again for he was no sooner in the Throne ere he was laid upon the Ground and forc'd after the fighting seven almost equal Battels to give up a part to secure the rest of his Dominions and at last to retire almost out of his Kingdom but wholly out of himself being reduc'd to such extremity that for self preservation he was necessitated to personate a common Minstrel and under that disguise was lost till he found tâ—e opportunity to recover that from Fame which Fortune had denied him by sending so many of his Enemies to tâ—e dead who believed him not alive that there were not enough left to defend that Sacred * Called the Reafan Banner in which they fondly supposed the Fate of their Nation to be wrapt up And now having all that became him as a Souldier after twenty seven years War in all which time he seem'd to fight rather for Life then Honour he resolved to lose no opportunity of performing such Noble acts of Peace as might draw his Subjects by his own example to the study of Arts as well as Arms In order whereunto he took the whole Frame of his Government asunder which he made up again like a Master-workman better then it was before thereby preventing all those Insolencies and Disorders which are the natural effects of turbulent Times the Commotions of War like those of the Sea which rouls and runs high a long time after the Storm is over being such as commonly end in Ryots and Rapine giving security to the whole by fixing every individual Person throughout his Kingdom within such known Limits of Shires Hundreds and Tythings is made them answerable to the Law in case of breach of Faith of Peace by mutual obligations each for other
a Tetrarchy but he was forc'd at the same time to banish Ten thousand of his other Country-men only to be rid of them two putting himself by an unusual Confidence upon the Faith of the English whom to oblige the more he taught the knowledge of their own Strength which till then they seem'd ignorant of shewing them the way to Victory in other Countries where while they became Conquerours under him they forgot the hate conceiv'd for being conquer'd by him Neither was he less careful in Peace to heal the wounds receiv'd in War by applying the Balsome of wholsome Laws in the making whereof he had a particular Art to meet with the Distempers of the Times wisely providing against such as were likely to have become Epidemical But more particularly severe was he against that sottish sin of Drinking then so much in fashion not without some secret instinct perhaps or presage of what did happen after that it would prove fatal to the Glory of his own House and not only cut off every Branch thereof but be the occasion of rooting out his Nation so full and wholly that in two Successions after him there should not be found scarce one Family in the whole Isle that could so trace their broken Pedigrees through the obscure windings and deviations of their so often interrupted History as to prove himself of Danish Extract both by Father and Mother But as it was too great an Undertaking to subdue the Vices of that indomitable Age where if they had not thirsted for wine they would perhaps for blood So much less was he able to contest with Heaven which had put them a period for a Penalty and bound them up by an invisible Chain of Causes beyond the length of which they could not make one step forward The Links whereof were peradventure no more and therefore the heavier then what was proper for the mystical number of their three Letter'd Name of DAN for as their Monarchy held only three Descents so the whole Systeme of their Conquest with every Action Accident and Atchievement therein seems to be circumscribed within the Circle of that hree corner'd square with like Fatality as the Britains were rul'd by the Number of Six and the Romans by that of Seven For as they were originally divided into three Tribes so each Tribe had as many Kingdoms and thereupon they gave for their ancient Arms three times three * Olao Worms Monument Dan. 431. Hearts which makes up Nine the great Square of the Number Three their Dominions then conteining just so many Islands as we learn from †Casp F. Epist Tho. Bartolinus to which they have added since Three Lions So when they began their Invasion here 't is observable they had but only Three Ships which yet landed not all at once but in three several places and that inconsiderable Party they brought over were conducted by three Generals each equal in Trust and Honour these were Gurmo Byorn and Sytherick who began that cruel war that followed upon their Departure came over Ingar Ivor and Hubbo three fierce Brothers which were seconded by Gurmo the younger Eskell and Amond as they again back'd by Cockric Hastang and Rollo The three great Triumviri in the height of the war were Edric Stroeg and Halidine after them succeeded Sytherick the Second Godfred and Anlaff after whom were Eric the Second Anlaff the Second and Swain not to mention Fran Frithegist and Frothoe whose names were over-whelm'd by Irtus Turkill and Knute who were the bringers up of the Rear and ended the war the last of whom was the first had the good fortune to shake off his right and left hand-men in the Government The like Order they observ'd in invading Ireland where the first Undertakers were Turges and the two Gurmo's Father and Son the second Expedition being managed by Thor Raglobert and Sytherick the same Sytherick I take it came after into England And as they had alwaies three Generals so all their Battalion's were divided into Tertia's and as divers Historians relate they never quit the Field how much soever over-press'd by their Enemies till they had been thrice broken Lastly as they had a Succession of three times three Kings here before they could get the intire Domination over the whole that is to say three in East-Anglia and twice three in Northumberland so they had three and but three Kings that continued the Succession after they became absolute And as their Monarchy held out but three Descents so it continued but three times nine years at longest Too short a space to compensate the loss of so much blood as the recovery of their short-liv'd Glory cost them much less to repair the Naufrages of the Common-wealth wasted by continual Storms whilst Fortune appear'd so indifferent which side to favour that there could be no measure taken of her Inclinations from the Success there being scarce any Battel fought in which the Conquerour had so much the better on 't to keep the Field long or the conquer'd so beaten as not to be able in very short time to take the Field again with confidence of getting the day next rising like Game-cocks after they were laid for dead to crow over them that had the better of them those that died intailing their Ambition on those that surviv'd infecting them if I may so say with their Courage So that that Character is very applicable to them which we find elsewhere Quos nulla fatigant Praelia nec Victi possunt absistere Ferro THE Order and Succession OF THEIR KINGS Before and after they got The Intire and Absolute Government OF ENGLAND I. date of accession 870 HUNGAR was the first Danish King in this Isle who assisted by his Brother Beorn that had marryed the Lady of Northumberland found Interest enough to give him admittance there whence marching directly into East-Anglia he sacrific'd King Edmund to the Ghost of his murther'd Father and possessing himself of that Kingdom left it to II. date of accession 874 GURMO a younger Brother of the Royal House of Denmark who to ingratiate himself to the English became a Christian and with his new Title took a new Name being by his Godfather King Elfred worthily call'd Athelstan that is to say as Verstegan interprets it the Noble he left his Title to his Brother III. date of accession 905 ERIC the first that had this name and last that had this honour who meeting with a Competitor that over-match'd him both in the dignity of his Person and the designation of his Power was betray'd by his own Subjects who put themselves under King Edward surnam'd the Elder the Northumbers and Mercians submitting to IV. date of accession 907 ERIC the Second or as some call him Sytherick a Norwegian who contracting an Allyance with King Athelstan and after the Example of Gurmo turning Christian was poyson'd by his own two Sons the eldest whereof V. date of accession 924 ANLAFF the First possess'd
himself of Northumberland Godfrid his younger Brother held Mercia but King Athelstan fell upon both and took from the last his Life from the first his Kingdom which was recovered again not long after by his Son VI. date of accession 946 ANLAFF the Second thereupon esteem'd the third King of the Northumbers His reign was not long for his Subjects weary of continual wars set him besides the Saddle to make way for VII date of accession 950 ERIC the Third or as some call him IRING Son of Harold the Grandson of Gurmo King of Denmark recommended to them by Milcolmb King of Scots but he being elected King of Sweden the Northumbers submitted to Edgar the younger Brother or next in succession to Edwyn and from that time it continued a Member of the English Crown till about the year 980 when VIII date of accession 980 ANLAFF the Third understanding they were affected to his Nation arriv'd with a fresh Supply and making his Claim was admitted King but being over prest the Title came to IX date of accession 1013 SWAIN King of Denmark who made this his first step to the Engâ—ish Throne into which as he was mounting death seiz'd on him and kept the Room empty for his Son Knute DANES Absolute Kings OF ENGLAND I. date of accession 1017 KNUTE was deservedly surnam'd the Great as being the very greatest and most absolute King that ever England or Denmark knew those of the Roman Line only excepted for he was King of England Scotland Ireland Denmark Norway Sweden and Lord of a great part of Poland all Saxony some part and not a little of Brandenburgh Bremen Pomerania and the adjacent Countries most of them not to say all besides Denmark and Norway reduc'd under his Obedience by the valour of the English only upon his death Denmark and Norway fell to his Son Hardycanute the rest as Sweden c. devolv'd upon the right Heirs whilst England was usurp'd by his Natural Son II. date of accession 1036 HAROLD surnam'd Harfager or Golden Locks who being the Elder and having the advantage to be upon the place entred as the first Occupant thereby disappointing his legitimate Brother III. date of accession 1041 KNUTE surnam'd the Hardy design'd by his Father to be the next Successor to him as bearing his Name though upon tryal it appear'd he had the least part of his Nature for he had not the Courage to come over and make any claim as long as Harold liv'd and after his death he drown'd himself in a Land-flood of Wine losing all the Glory his Predecessors had gotten by wading through a sea of blood which made the way to his Throne so slippery that those English that came after him could never find firm footing But upon the very first Encounter with the Norman caught such a Fall that could never recover themselves again This Gurmo came out of Ireland I take it in the second year of King Elfrid not without a confident hope of making good his Predecessors Conquest which had cost already so much blood as made his desire of Rule look like a necessity of Revenge the Monarchy of Denmark it self being put if I may so say into a Palsie or trembling Fit by the loss of the Spirits it had wasted here So that he came with this advantage which those before him had not That the Cause seem'd now to be his Countries more then his own who therefore bore him up with two notable props Esketel and Amon men of great Conduct and known Courage the one of which he plac'd as Vice-Roy in Northumberland t'other in Mercia And having before expelled Burthred the Saxon he fixed himself in East-Anglia as being nearer to correspond with Denmark and most commodious to receive Reâ—ruits Upon his first advance against King Elfrid Fortune appear'd so much a Neuter that either seem'd afraid of other and striking under line preferr'd a dissembled Friendship before down-right Hostility And to shew how much the edge of their Courage was rebated they mutually accorded to divide the Land betwixt them Gurmo was to be Lord of the North and East Elfrid to hold the South and West part of the Isle The politick Dane after this suffered himself to become what the English would have him to be a Christian to the intent that he might be what he would have himself to be absolute changing his Pagan name of Gurmo into that of Athelstan which being of all others the most grateful to the Saxons he render'd himself by that Condescension so acceptable to the whole Nation that they consented to his Marriage with the fam'd Princess Thyra King Elfrids vertuous Sister by whom he had Issue Harold Blaatand that liv'd to be King of Denmark after himself and another Knute whom he left in Ireland to make good the Acquests of the first Gurmo there a Prince of so great hopes and so belov'd by him that the knowledge of his death being slain at the Siege of Dublin gave him his own for he no sooner apprehended the tidings thereof by the sight of his Queens being in mourning but he fell into such a violent fit of Grief as left him not till he left the World whereby the Crown of Denmark fell to his Son Harold the Title and Possession of East-Anglia with its Appurtenances he bequeath'd to his Brother Eric who having perform'd the first Act of Security to himself in having taken an Oath of Allegiance of all his Subjects suffer'd them to perform the last Act of Piety towards him in giving him all the Rites of an honourable Interment at Haddon in Suffolk which place it seems he purposed to make the Burial place of all the East-Anglian Kings But this Ambition of his beginning where it should have ended with a design of assuring to himself more honour after he was dead then he was able to make good whiles he was living ended as soon as it began as will appear by his Story following Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Upon which his Queen frighted with the horrour of their Inhumanity fled back to her Brother Athelstan to seek from his Power Justice Protection and Revenge whiles Anlaff took upon him to be King The Equality of Power as well as of Ambition ripen'd the Factions on both sides very fast by the heat of their Contest But before they came to Maturity there was a Parliament conven'd at Oxford that took the matter into consideration where the Lords fearing that the Question if delay'd might be decided by Swords and not by Words out of a deep sence of the lingring Calamities of a new War all the wounds of the old being not yet cured or at least not so well but that the Scars were yet fresh in many of their Faces they declar'd for the King in possession but with such a wary form of Submission as shew'd they did it rather out of regard to themselves then him whereupon Goodwin produced the deceased Kings Will in opposition to theirs but the
the Earl of Bolloigne the Kings Brother in law whose Harbingers being kill'd in the Scuffle the King commanded Goodwin as Lord Lieutenant of that County to do Justice on the Offenders but he deny'd returning this popular Answer That it was against his Conscience to execute his Country-men unheard upon the complaint of Strangers This coldness of his rais'd such a sudden heat in the Common People that there wanted nothing to set the whole Kingdom in a Flame but to tell them their Liberties were in danger and that there was no body durst assert them but the Earl Goodwin King Edward perceiving his design and doubting least it might bring him himself into suspition with his People being upon the matter a Stranger as having been alwayes brought up in Normandy he resolv'd to question him in open Parliament and accordingly he summon'd him and his Sons to give their attendance but they refusing to appear both sides armed London was divided in the Quarrel for the King possessed all on this side the Thames the Earl all on the other side next Kent But such is the terrour of Guilt that the Night before the Battel was to be fought the Rebels quit their General and by that commendable Treachery forc'd him to quit the Realm who taking shipping at Greenwich fled away as fast by water as his Complices did by Land The King upon this turn was so changed in his humour incensed at this their gross contumacy that he grew extreamly cholerick and peevish discharging his Anger with that violence upon all the Earls Friends that it recoil'd back upon the spotless Queen her self whom in the transport of his Passion he accus'd of a * Incontinency Crime which if she had been guilty of himself could not have been Innocent having as he was not ashamed afterwards to confess never perform'd the Duty of a Husband to her under which pretended Jealousie she was forced to suffer a years Imprisonment in a Cloyster partaking patiently the Pennance of those who were under a Vow never to know any man only to satisfie him who had before vowed never to know any woman This Indignity offer'd to the Innocent Daughter in whom saith Ingulphus there was no fault but that she was a Rose of that prickly stock did so stimulate the guilty Father for whose sake she suffer'd that he meditated nothing but the extreamest Revenge and by frequent Piracies so disturb'd all Trade that the King finding that the popular were on his side was glad to compound with him for his quiet upon his own tearms yielding to the banishment of all Strangers which Concession did his business but undid the Kingdoms For as it made way for his Son to be as he design'd him a King so it was the fatal occasion of that unexpected Invasion of the Normans abetted by the Earl of Bolloigne that had the first affront given him which not long after not only overwhelm'd the particular honour of his own Family but the glory of the whole English Nation by a Conquest so universal and sudden as if the Strangers they banish'd had gone out of the Country for no other end but to fetch in more However Heaven suffered not him to see either the fruit or punishment of his dark purposes it so falling out that whilst he design'd to have devour'd the whole Kingdom he was himself choak'd with a small morsel of Bread that went the wrong way down and by his death put such a full point to all great Actions as shews that either he did all that was done then or the King did not long survive him whose Reign being nothing else but a Commentary upon that Earl's Ambition 't is no marvel that his Fame began where t'others ended being sounded upon Opinion rather then Action whilst his Magnanimity was interpreted Patience and his Patience judg'd the Effect of Wisdom But they that duly examine the whole course of his life will find that the active part of it declar'd him scarce a good man the passive certainly not a good King and however the Clergy who were well brib'd extoll'd his Chastity and Piety yet 't is evident that the first was not without manifest wrong to his Wife whom not to use was the highest abuse the last with no less Ingratitude towards his Mother whom upon like suspicion he put to such a kind of Purgation as might have condemn'd the greatest Innocence causing her to pass the * To go over 9 red hot Houghshares bare-footed blinded laid at uncertain distances either of which if she touch'd she was hold guilty Ordeale or Fiery Tryal then in fashion But this unkindness to them is the less when compar'd with that to himself in the total disregard of all Posterity affecting more to be a Benefactor to then a Father of his Country as believing Religious Houses more lasting Monuments then Religious Children whereby it came to pass that for want of Issue of his own Body he was fain to leave the Succession to one that was both a Child and a Stranger little knowing and less known to the English as not having so much of the Language as might serve to demand or declare his Right when he was to recover it nor so much Spirit or Judgment as to shew himself sensible of the Injury when he was afterwards put besides it A fit adopted Successor for such a Sacerdoting King of whom if I should give an impartial Character I must say that he was rather cold then chast rather superstitious then religious fitter to be a Monk then a Monarch indeed so sottish that as 't is reported of Vitellius he would have forgotten he was born a Prince if others had not put him in mind of it So that 't is no marvel considering either his own weakness or his that was to have come after him that his Steward Harold by having only the rule of his Houshold should take upon him as he did to rule the Kingdom and he thought the fittest man however half a Dane to support the English Monarchy HAROLD date of accession 1065 AS there is no temptation so powerful as that which arises from the knowledge of a mans Power so there is no Consideration of that force as to make a man quit his Ambition that thinks he hath merited a Crown Harold having resolv'd to be a King tarries not till the People made him so but to take the charge of Injustice off from them boldly steps into the Throne the better to out-face his Rivals from thence who being no less then three two on a pretended and one with a real Right he conceiv'd they must justle one another before they could come at him The pretenders were Swain King of Denmark whose claim was as the undoubted Heir of the last Knute and William Duke of Normandy that set up a Title by Gift and Conveyance from the last King Edward But of these the first was ingaged in a War with the Swede the last imbroyl'd in
by taking off his Caution so that after Dinner he would needs go hunt in the New Forrest and taking his Bow to shoot a Deer in that ominous place where before a * His Brother Richard Brother and a †The Son of Robert Duke of Normandy his elder Broth r. Brothers Son of his had both met with violent Deaths Tyrel his Bow-bearer being plac'd right against him as the best Marks-man let fly an Arrow that glancing against a Bough miss'd the Deer and found out him Pectus dum perforat ingens Ille rapit calidum frustrâ de Vulnere Telum Unâ eademque viâ Sanguisque Animusque sequuntur Being thus quietly stated he sweetned his Government by taking off all Taxes to shew his Beneficence and some of the principal Taxers to shew his Justice By the first he pleas'd the Multitude in point of Relief by the other the better sort in point of Envy and Revenge gratifying their Spleen by sacrificing the griping Bishop of Durham a man who being rais'd from a base Condition by baser means had attained to the honour of being Chief Minister to his Brother King William and was grown learn'd in the Science of selling Justice by the distribution of whose Bribes he brib'd those whom he thought fit to make his own Ministers neither thought it he enough to be an English man himself without assuring the State that he intended all his Posterity should be so too and therefore to the end to make sure the wise men that were as apt to be jealous as the weaker sort to be querulous he married Maud Sister to the Scotch King and Daughter to Margaret Sister to Edgar Atheling the right Heir of the English Blood a Lady that brought him an Inheritance of Goodness from her Mother and a good Title of Inheritance from her Uncle Thus firmly did he intrench himself before his Brother whom he had made a King in fame only that he might the easier make himself a real one return'd home who arriving unlook'd for was welcom'd by the Nobility of Normandy with more then ordinary Joy by whom being inform'd of what was done in England he made it the business of the first year to provide an Army and in the second landed it at Portsmouth in order to the recovery of his lost Right whereof he was the more assur'd in respect of those of the Norman Nobility here as he thought inclin'd to him who mov'd with revenge or discontent would be glad of any Occasion to Revolt This as it was a storm King Henry saw at a distance so he provided so well for it by cutting off all Assistances that Duke Robert and those with him doubting the success and seeing themselves certainly lost if they prevail'd not it being in his power to fight them where he pleas'd and when upon his desire to save the effusion of Christian Blood yielded to Articles of Peace the Substance whereof was this That Henry being born after his Father was rightfully King and being now invested in the Crown by act of the Kingdom should enjoy the same during life and pay Robert 3000 Marks per Annum as an Earnest of the Reversion after his Death in case Robert out-liv'd him With these Conditions Robert rather blinded then satisfied returns back again into his own Country and it had been well if he had never been blinded otherwise But such is the frenzie of Ambition that it suffers not unhappy Princes to consider either what they ought to do or what to suffer whilst like the Superior Orbs they are hurried with restless Motion without understanding by what Intelligences they are actuated Finding himself fallen from the height of his Expectation into some degree of Contempt with his own Subjects he assai'd by Profusion which some call Liberality to raise his Reputation at least to disguise his Impotency spending so freely that the Nobility fearing the Revenues of the Dutchy would not suffice to support his vanity complain'd thereof to King Henry who to shew his own power and t'others weakness sent for him over to chide him and indeed reprehended him so sharply as if he had been his Father and not his Brother and as if he would have him to know he rather expected the Reversion of the Dukedome after his death then to be accomptable to him for the Kingdom after his own and whether it were that he threatned him with a Detention of his Pension or drew him being of a yielding Nature as most indigent men are to give him a release for some inconsiderable Sum of ready Mony is not certain but so it was that upon his return he could no longer conceal the indignation he had conceived at it but took the very first Occasion to shew it by joyning himself with some mutinous Lords who having before begun an unsuccessful Combustion in England had fled over thither to commit what Outrages they could there King Henry for a while pretended himself touch'd in Conscience with the foulness of a Fraternal War but was indeed apprehensive that such trivial Injuries as the taking a few Castles was not worthy the trouble of drawing him over in Person at least not worth the charge of entring into such a War as might justifie the requiring his Dukedom for a satisfaction but having let them alone till he believ'd his sufferance had elevated them beyond the temper of hearkning to any conditions he then took his time to chastise their folly and by one single Battle upon the very same day and in the very same manner as 't is reported that his Father just forty years before won England he won Normandy and having made his brother prisoner depriv'd him first of his liberty after of his country and lastly of that which was dearer than either the light of his Eyes requiting his attempt which was but natural to escape out of prison with a punishment that was of all other most unnatural and as much beyond death as it was short of it which inhumanity to his brother though it was perhaps but a just judgment from Heaven upon him for his inhumanity to his Father whose life he had twice attempted being wilfully blinded by the King of France yet 't was such as was altogether undeserv'd as from him for t'other had him fast enough within his power circumscrib'd by all the rules of Hostility besieged within a Fort and half starv'd he was so far from pressing upon him that he pittied him and broke with his brother Friend to save his brother Enemy Poor Prince Robert how was he betraied by the goodness of his own Nature and tempted like a Child to save the bird which was to pick out his Eyes How did he live to see himself buried before he was dead invelop'd in dark and dismal thoughts whilst he contemplated his Sons loss with more affliction than his own a forward Prince born to two Crowns but now reduc'd to that necessity to borrow one to buy him bread So long
much better success than he that the victorious Empress was forc'd to give place to the more victorious Queen and so hardly escaped that to save her life she was content to be reckon'd amongst the dead being carried off in a Coffin as if she had been kill'd and so forc'd to leave him a prisoner behind that was indeed the life of her Cause the Earl of Gloucester her Brother and her General whose liberty being set against that of the Kings both sides became even again in the list of their fatal Contention And now the Kings Party labours to recover what they had lost those of the Empress her Faction strove only to keep what they had gain'd till both having tired out and almost baffled the Courage of their partakers at home sought for recruits abroad Maud sends into Normandy the King into Flanders each side seems to fright from this time forward not so much for Victory as Revenge But whilst they fright the people with a noise of their great preparations the bubble of expectation swollen to its full height broak and the hopes of either side sunk so low by the death of Prince Eustace Son and Heir to the King and that of the Earl of Gloucester the only pillar which supported the Empress this the party by whom that the party for whom the War was first begun not to say miantain'd that they concluded a Peace for want of strength rather than of stomach all things ending as they began by determination of the free vote of the people who in an open Parliament at Winchester parted the Stakes as evenly as they could giving to King Stephen the Crown during life to Henry Son of Maud and as some think by him the reversion expectant after his death who if he were not his Natural was thereupon made his adopted Son and so ended the troubles of this King which seem to have been so agreeable to his nature that as soon as they ceased he ceased to live surviving the War no longer than just to take leave of his Friends being evicted by an Ejectione firmâ brought against him by Fate to let in the Son of his Enemy after he had held the possession notwitstanding the continual Interruption given him nineteen years with great prosperity though little or no peace witness those many works of Piety done by himsel or others in his time there being more Instances of that Nature during his short Raign than had been in many years before He was the first King of the Plantaginets and began his Raign as the Great Solomon who was near about his Age did his with the choice of wise Councellors to take off all objections against his youth with the expulsion of all Strangers to take off all objections against his being a forrainer with the resumption of all aliened Crown Lands to take of the fear as well as the necessity of Taxes which as it increas'd his reputation no less than his revenue so he pleas'd many with disgusting but a few After this he pluck'd down all those Castles which being erected by King Stephen's permission had proved the nurseries of the late rebellion and he did it with the less clamour in respect the people thought it contributed as much to their quiet as to his own Lastly by expelling those false Lords that contrary to their oath given to his Mother took part with the Usurper Stephen he at once satisfi'd his Revenge and confirm'd the opinion conceiv'd of his Justice and Piety Thus having got the start in point of honour as well as of Riches of all the neighbour Princes his Contemporaries one would have thought so prosperous a beginning must have concluded with as prosperous an ending but it sell out quite otherwise for to the rest of his Greatness was added that of having great troubles and troubles of that durance as ended not but with his life Nor could it well be otherwise for he was of a restless spirit seldome without an Army seldomer without an Enemy but never without an Occasion to provoke one for he was a great ingrosser of glory whereby being necessitated to set himself against every one every one set themselves against him and the confederations against him were so well timed that in one day they invaded him in England Normandy Acquitain and Britain but that which made his unhappiness seem singular was that the greatest part of his Enemies were those of his greatest Friends I mean not such as were of remoter relations as subjects servants confederates or allies c. but those of nearest propinquity his brother his wife his own children such as were flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone so that he could not possibly sight for himself without fighting against himself like those who to preserve life are constrain'd to dismember themselves wherein the malice of his Fate seem'd to exceed that of his Foes whiles it drew more cross lines over his Actions than Nature had drawn over his Face rendring all his undertakings so disasterous that even when he had the best on 't he seem'd yet to have the worst on it and lost his honour though he got his enterprize Thus when he recover'd the Earldome of Northumberland from David King of Scots and the Dukedom of Anjou from his brother Geoffry the first by the power of his Wisdom the last by the wise management of his power both which contests ended not without giving to each of them full satisfaction for their pretentions yet one brought upon him the clamor of injustice t'other the scandal of Avarice two vices ill beseeming any man worse a King So in the dispute he had with the Earl of St. Giles about the County of Tholosse which was his Right though t'others Possession he was fain to ask peace of one that he knew was unable to carry on the War and after he brought him to his own terms was himself so hamper'd with the same Fetters he put upon him that in conclusion he suffer'd no less in the opinion of his wisdom than he had before in that of his power So when he married his Son Henry to the daughter of his great Enemy the King of France with a prudent design of being reconcil'd to him in a nearer combination he found that instead of keeping him out of his Territories which was all he had to care for before the Match he had now let him into his House to do him more mischief with less difficulty there being more danger by his undermining than battering whiles himself permitted the pit to be made in which the foundation of his Sons greatness was to be laid to whom having given too early an expectation of his Kingdom by allowing him the title of King without being able to give him the Grace to tarry for his death he found when 't was too late that a Crown was no estate to be made over in Trust yet this he did not by chance neither as one transported by any Fatherly
to him then his Wife especially since the right Heir took the wrong side Upon the first apprehension he recall'd them home but upon second thoughts he forbids their Return at first he seem'd impatient of their absence as the only Friends he could conside in but on a sudden he dreads their approach as the most Mortal Enemies he had forbids their landing by Proclamation and sets out no less then three Admirals to prevent it they in like manner whilst he prest for their Company delay'd their Recess but when they found themselves banish'd grew as impatient of being kept out The King of France not owning so vile a design so as to give any ready assistance to it they withdrew into Holland whose Earl being a rich and politick Prince upon the contracting Prince Edward to his Daughter he furnished them with Money and Shipping to transport them Landing at Harwich they were so welcom'd by the discontented Nobility that the poor King foreseeing the ensuing danger and not finding that Faith in the Londoners which he expected withdrew into the West in order to passing over into Ireland but meeting with a Storm at Sea that threatned as eminent danger as that by Land he was forced to comply with the contrary Winds and direct his Course towards Wales where destitute of Councel as well as Courage he lay obscurely till his Majesty extinguish'd like a Torch held downwards His Son though he was as yet under Wardship himself was made Guardian of the Kingdom a Title so much greater then that of King by how much he had the Superiority over both readily was he prevail'd with to take away the lives of the two fatal Favourites the Spencers so that 't was thought he would not be over-modest in taking the Crown after it being so easie a Temptation to consent to depose him who had already upon the matter depos'd himself However Nature prevail'd so much over Ambition contrary to all their Expectations or Grace rather over Nature that he refus'd to accept it till his Father might be prevail'd with to give it him as a Blessing who thereupon resign'd it but with such a moving Meekness as for the present time melted the very Queen her self and seemingly touch'd her with so much Regret at the Renuntiation that the Bishop of Hereford the great Engineer of this prosperous Treason doubting her Constancy in point of Malice to be as uncertain as her Faith in point of Affection or perhaps rather dreading the young Kings Piety back'd with the old Kings power hastned his Death by all means possible but finding himself for some time disappointed by the force of Providence or the strength of his Nature which neither ill Air ill Diet nor want of Rest could impair he put him into the hands of two Miscreants sit to be imploy'd in so black a Purpose to whom he inclos'd in a Letter one onely Line which was so twist up as might serve to strangle any Prince whatever comprehending a double sense to warrant them and excuse himself if need were the words were these Edvardum regem occidere nolite timere bonum est This being not pointed the Devil who invented it instructed them in the true meaning of the damnable Oracle which accordingly they put in execution with so much cruelty and horror that never King died as this poor Planet-struck Prince did having a Pipe thrust up into his Fundament to the intent that the Marks of their Violence might not be perceiv'd outwardly and through that with a red hot Iron they penetrated his Bowels to his Heart yet was not this Death possibly more miserable or grievous to him then his Life after he became forsaken of all his Subjects Friends and Allies in general and particularly of his own Wife Son and Brother not to say of himself too if so be we do not reckon them a part of himself considering with what strange abjection he resign'd first his Crown after his Life For to say truth never was King turn'd out of a Kingdom or out of the World as he was Many Kingdoms have been lost by the chance of War but this Kingdom as one observes was lost before any Dy was cast for it no blow struck no Battel fought lost before it was taken from him whilst by betraying himself first he taught others to do it after strange Riddle of State that a Crown should be gain'd forcibly yet without force violently yet with consent both Parties agreed yet neither pleas'd for he was not willing to leave his Kingdom and he that was to have it as unwilling to take it without he gave it him the Queen was not pleas'd he should part with it without he parted with his Life too judging that by having a part he might recover the whole or that her self having parted with the whole could not intitle her self to any part but by his Death and therefore having taken the Kingdom from him openly there was a kind of necessity of taking away his Life secretly Poor Prince how unkindly was he treated upon no other account but that of his own over-great kindness Other Princes are blam'd for not being rul'd by their Counsellors he for being so who whilst he liv'd they would have thought to be a Sot but being dead they could have found in their hearts to have made him a Saint How far he wrong'd his People doth not appear there being very few or no Taxations laid upon them all his time but how rude and unjust they were towards him is but too manifest But their Violence was severely repaid by Divine Vengeance not only upon the whole Kingdom when every Vein in the Body Politick was afterward opened to the endangering the letting out of the Life-blood of the Monarchy in the Age following but upon every particular Person consenting to or concern'd in his Death For as the Throne of his Son that was thus set in blood though without his own guilt continued to be imbru'd all his Reign which lasted above fifty years with frequent Executions Battels or Slaughters the Sword of Justice or his own being hardly ever sheath'd all his time So 't is said that the Queen her self dyed mad upon the apprehension of her own in Mortimer's disgrace who was executed at Tyburn and hung there two dayes to be a spectacle of Scorn His Brother Edmond had this punishment of his Disloyalty to be condemn'd to lose his Head for his Loyalty it being suggested and happy it had been for him if it had been prov'd that he indeavoured the Restoration of his Brother his death being imbitter'd by the mockery of Fortune whilst by keeping him upon the Scaffold five hours together before any Body could be found that would execute him he was deluded with a vain hope of being saved The Fiend Tarlton Bishop of Hereford who invented the cursed Oracle that justified the murther dy'd with the very same Torture as if the hot Iron that fear'd his Conscience had been thrust into
Troyes she should be there to be espoused to him and with her he should have the Assurance of the Crown of France after the Decease of her Father and to gain the more Credit the Bishop secretly deliver'd him a Letter from the Princess her own hand which contained in it so much sweetness as had been enough to have made any other man but himself have surfeited with Joy his happiness being now so full and compleat that he had nothing beyond what he enjoyed to hope for Upon his Marriage with her he was published Regent of the Kingdom and Heir apparent to the Crown the Articles being published in both Realms and the two Kings and all their Nobility Sworn to the observance of them only the Daulphin stood out in utter Defiance both of his Right and Power Against him therefore the two Kings his Father and Brother together with the King of Scots who was newly arrived the young Duke of Burgundy and the Prince of Orange the Dukes of Clarence Gloucester and Bedford and twenty one Earls forty five Barons and Knights and Esquires sans nombre advanc'd with an Army of French English Scotch and Irish to the number of six hundred thousand if the Historians of that time may be credited and having taken in all the Towns and Places that denied to yield they return'd to Paris where King Henry the Articles being ratified the second time and a Counterpart sent into England began to exercise his Regency by Coyning of Money with the Arms of England and France on it placing and displacing of Officers making new Laws and Edicts and lastly awarding Process against the Daulphin to appear at the Marble Table to answer for the Murther of the Duke of Burgundy But being willing to shew his Queen how great a King he was before she brought him that Kingdom he left his Brother Clarence his Lieutenant General there and brought her over into England where he spent some time in the Administration of Justice and performing such Acts of Peace as spoke him no less expert in the knowledge of governing then in that of getting a Kingdom But he had not been long here before he received the sad News of the death of his Brother Clarence who betrayed by the Duke of Alansons Contrivance into an Ambuscade was slain together with the Earls of Tankervile Somerset Suffolk and Perch and about two thousand Common Souldiers whereupon he deputed the Earl of Mortaine in his room and not long after went back again himself with his Brother Bedford to reinforce the War taking in all the Fortresses in the Isle of France in Lovaine Bry and Champagne during which time the Daulphin was not idle but industrious to regain Fortunes savour if it were possible made many bold Attempts upon several places in possession of the English But finding the Genius of our Nation to have the Predominancy over that of his own he diverted his Fury upon the Duke of Burgundy betwixt whom and King Henry he put this difference That as he dreaded the one so he hated the other Accordingly he laid Seige to Cosney a Place not very considerable in it self but as it was a Town of the Duke of Burgundy's King Henry was so concern'd to relieve it beyond any of his own that he marched Night and Day to get up to the Enemy and making over-hasty Journeys over-heat himself with unusual Travel and fell so sick that he was fain to rest himself at Senlis and trust to the Care of his Brother the Duke of Bedford to prosecute the Design who relieved the Town and forced the Daulphin to retreat as he thought a great Looser by the Seige but it prov'd quite otherwise For the loss of the Town was nothing in comparison of the loss of King Henry who died not long after and which made his Death the more deplorable was That he no sooner left the World but Fortune left the English whereof having some Prophetick Revelation 't is thought the knowledge thereof might not be the least reason of shortning his Dayes by adding to the violence of his Distemper For 't is credibly reported that at the News of the Birth of his Son Henry born at Windsor himself being then in France even wearied with continual Victories he cryed out in a Prophetick Rapture Good Lord Henry of Monmouth shall small time Reign and get much and Henry of Windsor shall long time Reign and lose all but Gods will be done Which saying has given occasion to some to magnifie his Memory above all the Kings that were before him not to say all that came after him in that he was in some sense both King Priest and Prophet HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE A Prince of excellent Parts in their kind though not of kindly Parts for a Prince being such as were neither sit for the Warlike Age he was born in nor agreeable to the Glory he was born to but such rather as better became a Priest then a Prince So that the Title which was sometimes given to his Father with relation to his Piety might better have been applyed to the Son with reference to his that he was the Prince of Priests Herein only was the difference betwixt them That the Religion of the one made him bold as a Lion that of the other made him as meek as a Lamb. A temper neither happy for the times nor himself for had he had less Phlegme and more Cholar less of the Dove-like Innocence and more of the Serpentine subtilty 't is probable he had not only been happier whilst he liv'd but more respected after he was dead whereas now notwithstanding all his Indulgence to the Church and Church-men there was none of them so grateful as to give him after he was murther'd Christian Burial but left him to be interr'd without Priest or Prayer without Torch or Taper Mass or Mourner indeed so without any regard to his Person and Pre-eminence that if his Obsequies were any whit better then that which holy Writ calls the Burial of an Ass yet were they such that his very Competitor Edward the Fourth who denied him the Rights of Majesty living thought him too much wronged being dead that to him some kind of satisfaction he was himself at the charge of building him a Monument The beginning of his Reign which every Body expected to have been the worst and like to prove the most unsuccessful part in respect of his Minority being but Nine Months old when he was crown'd happen'd to be the best and most prosperous there being a plentiful stock of brave men left to spend upon who behaved themselves so uprightly and carefully that it appear'd the Trust repos'd in them by the Father had made a strong Impression of Love and Loyalty to the Son The Duke of Bedford had the Regency of France the Duke of Gloucester the Government of England the Duke of Exeter and the Cardinal Beauford had the Charge of his
should be but short were easily drawn into many desperate Conspiracies which ending with the Forfeiture of their own brought her Life and Government into continual Jeopardy The next great thing that feâ—l under her Consideration was the point of Marriage and Singularity For it being doubtful in what state the Kingdom would be left if the Queen of Scots Title should ever take place who besides that she was an avow'd Papist had married the French Kings Son who in her Right bore the Arms and Title of England as well as of Scotland it was told her she would not shew her self a true Mother of her Country without she consented to make her self a Mother of Children Whereunto King Philip of Spain as soon as he heard of Queen Mary his Wives death gave her a fair Invitation by his Ambassador the Conde Feria whom he sent over publickly â—o Congratulate her as a Queen but privately to Court her as a Mistress assuring her that he much rather desired to have her to be his Wife then his Sister and as the Report of her being Successor to his Queen had much allay'd the grief he conceiv'd for her death so he said 't was his desire she should take place in his Bed as well as in his Throne that so by giving her self to him she might requite the kindness shew'd by him when he gave her to her self after her Sister left her exposed to the malice and power of her Enemies In fine he omitted no Arguments to gain his end that might be rais'd from the Consideration of her Gratitude or his own Greatness But she being naturally Inflexible not to say as some have said Impenetrable lest it to her Councel to return this grave Answer for her That she could not consent to have him of all men for a Husband without as great reflection on her Mother as her self since it could not be more lawful for two Sisters to marry the same Husband then for two Brothers to marry the same Wife Secondly That she could not consent to a Match that was like to prove so unfortunate as this would be if without Issue and yet so much more unfortunate with it in respect her Kingdom of England must by the same Obligation become subject to Spain as she to him Thirdly That nothing could more conduce to the Establishing that Authority which had been so industriously abolish'd by her Father and Brother of blessed Memory and conscientiously rejected by her self Fourthly That it could neither be satisfactory to her self or Subjects to have such a King to her Husband whose greatest Concerns being necessarily abroad could neither regard her nor them as he ought much less as they desired This Denial though it seem'd reasonable enough yet King Philip inferring that she dislik'd his Person rather then his Proposal very temperately recommended his Suit to his more youthful Kinsman Charles Duke of Austria second Son to the Emperour Ferdinand who was Rival'd by Eric eldest Son of Gustavus King of Sweden as he by Adolph Duke of Holst Uncle to Frederick III. King of Denmark But neither of these being more successful then his most Catholick Majesty the whole Parliament became Suiters to her to think of Posterity and to eternize her Memory not so much by a Successor like her self as by one descended from her self Which serious address she answer'd with a Jest telling them she was married already And shewing them a Ring on her Finger the same she had received at her Coronation told them it was the Pledge of Love and Faith given her by her dear Spouse the Kingdom of England which words she delivered with such an odd kind of Pleasantness that all the Wise men amongst them thought she made Fools of them and the Fools thought themselves made so much wiser by it as to understand her meaning to be that she would not look abroad for a Husband but take one of her own Subjects Amongst the rest thus mistaken was Leicester himself who having the vanity to believe he might be the man obstructed his own preferment when he was propos'd as a fitting Husband for the Queen of Scots The Catholick King however he had been rejected hoping that the Catholick Religion might find better acceptation continued his Frâ—endship a long time after his Courtship was ended being so respectful to the Nation not to say to the Queen her self that he would make no accord with the French at the Treaty of Cambray without the restoration of Calais to the English But when he understood how far the Queen had proceeded in point of Reformation how she had as resolutely refus'd to be the Popes Daughter as to be his Wife how she had disallow'd the Councel of Trent and set up a Synod of her own at London he not only left her as slightly as she left him but made such a Conclusion with the French as gave her more cause of Jealousie being not his Wife then she could possibly have had if he had been her Husband For marrying the Lady Isabella eldest Daughter to that King it was suspected that the two Crowns might thereupon unite against England upon the account of the Queen of Scots her Claim who being the Daulphins Wife and the next in Succession after Queen Elizabeth or as some will have it in Right before her as being the undoubted Heir of the Lady Margaret eldest Daughter of Henry the Seventh was therefore the only Person in the World to whom she could never be reconciled holding her self oblig'd by the Impulse of Nature Honour and Religion to oppose her as after she did to the death wherein perhaps there was no less of Envy then Reason of State being as much offended with her Perfections as her Pretensions For that t'other was a Lady that equall'd her in all surmounted her in some and was inferiour to her in no respects but Fortune only This as it prov'd a Feud that puzled that Age to unriddle the meaning of it charging all the Misunderstanding betwixt them upon the despite of Fate only which to speak Impartially was never more unkind not to say unjust all Circumstances of the Story considered to any Soveraign Princess in the World then to that poor Queen so it was the wonder of this till we saw by the no less fatal Example of that Queens Grandson our late Soveraign how the best of Princes may fall under the power of the worst of men For it was Flattery and Feminine Disdain questionless that first divided them beyond what the difference of Nation Interest or Religion could have done which heightning their mutual Jealousies insensibly ingag'd them before they were aware in such a Game of Wit and Faction as brought all that either had at last to stake and made them so wary in their Play on both sides that the Set ended not as long as the one liv'd or the other reign'd The Queen of Scots had the advantage of Queen Elizabeth by the Kings in her Stock the Kings of
the Thirteenth to reassume the Country into his hands as one of the Kingdoms reputed parcel of St. Peter's Patrimony and held of the Church as he alledged by the Kings of England upon no other Condition but that of Fealty to the See of Rome and therefore Forfeited by the Heresie of the Queen His Holiness who has been ever very captious of all Advantages of this kind was easily prevail'd with to bestow it upon his Natural Son the Marquiss of Vincula to whom one Stukely an Englishman being therefore dignified with the Title of Marquiss of Lempster and Earl of Wexford was appointed General having Eight hundred Italians under his Command Before whom was sent as a Vant-Currier one Fitz-Morris with a Consecrated Banner two Priests and three Ships These dull Rebels were to joyn with those more active ones the Earl of Desmond and his Brothers and were to take Livery and Seisin till the rest could come upon the Place But as was the Cause so was the Success and sitter it was that he should meet with a Cross then a Crown that being but Christs Vicar should be so ambitious of having a Kingdom in this World when his Lord had none for himself Stukely ended his life before he began his Rebellion Fitz-Morris was betray'd by his Fellow-Traytors before his own Treachery could take any effect San Joseph that succeeded him one that was half Jew and half Italian was glad to secure his own with the loss of all their Lives that were under him whiles Desmond the Great Rebel was forc'd to yield to lower Conditions then any of them and the two Priests that attended the holy Banner were starved upon the Mountains But after these there started up yet several others as the Mac Williams since call'd the Burks the Mac Connels in Connaught the Mac Mahons and O Rorks in Monagan the O Connors and O Mulloys in Ophaly and some of the O Brians and Cavenaghs in Lempster who did what they could to raise Tumults but so faintly that we may rather call them Riots then Rebellions signifying no more to her than the bitings of Fleas to a Lion However doubting how she might be pestred with more such Vermine in the heat of the Summer following she took timely care to prevent the worst and having Intelligence given her that they intended to dispute her Soveraignty at Sea as they had done her Right by Land she muster'd up all her Naval Forces determining to carry the War as far from home as possibly she could These were commanded by the famous Drake who resolving to fight them in the other World as well as in this advanced to the place where 't was said the Golden Apples grew where finding no Dragon to keep them so fierce as himself he made himself Master of as much Treasure as might have been a sufficient Found for a greater Empire then that he fought for had either his Covetousness held any proportion with his Courage or his Ambition with his Activity for he brought home besides what was imbezled and conceal'd above two thousand pound weight of uncoyn'd Silver and twelve Chests of ready coyn'd and no less then five hundred pound weight of Gold besides Jewels of an inestimable value having several Carcanets of Diamonds Rubies Topazes Saphires and Emeralds of an incredible Magnitude issued Silks and other rich Commodities of the growth and manufacture of the Country being thought not worth the Portage This added no less to the Fame then to the Wealth of this great Queen who being before compar'd to Solomon for her Wisdom seem'd now not unlike him for her Opulence But not content with this single income of Glory she commanded her Fortunate Admiral back again the second time to brave them at Land as before at Sea where after having taken St. Jago St. Domingo and Cartagena three of the most considerable Towns they had he return'd even surfeited with Victory his Head being as giddy with new Contrivances as his mens were with the Calenture who in the midst of all their Abundance wanting health only were forc'd to take leave of the place being troubled that they could bring home no greater a booty then what was esteem'd at One hundred thousand pounds Sterling and Two hundred and forty pieces of brass Cannon to report their Victory But because this look'd like wounding that King in the hinder parts only she was not satisfied till she gave him one blow in the Face and accordingly sent to defie him before his own Doors entring his chief Port of Cales in which they took and fired no less then One hundred Ships and furnishing themselves with great store of Ammunition and Victuals made for the Cape of St. Vincent where having demolish'd the Forts they pass'd on to the Assores under the great Meridian where they took a great Carack returning from the East-Indies which having the name of St. Philip it was by the Superstitious Seamen look'd on as an ominous Presage of the Future ill Fortune of their King Philip by Sea Whilst Drake was thus active to the Southward Candish was no less busie to the Westward who having destroy'd several Colonies in Chily Peru and Nova Hispania return'd home Laden with the Spoils of Nineteen rich Ships taken in his way And now King Philip provok'd no less by the shame then the continued loss he had sustain'd for above two years together with redoubled diligence and charge got ready a mighty Fleet hoping to perform some wonders suitable to the Expectation of the Time as well as of the Importance of the Affair it being by Astronomers call'd The wonderful Year and being the great Clymacterich of the World they concluded it must produce some extraordinary Effects Neither indeed was there any thing then in the World so extraordinary and amazing as the sight of that moving Wood of his consisting of no less then One hundred and fifty tall Ships which carri'd in them besides all Habiliments of War Twenty thousand men and expected Fifty thousand more to be joyn'd with them that the Duke of Parma was to bring out of Flanders all which were to be Landed in the Thames mouth that so by seizing on the Head they might the more easily command every Member of the whole Body of the Kingdom Well may we imagine that the report of such a Preparation as this the work of no less then three years time was heard further then the noise of their Cannon could though 't is incredible how far they were heard and one would have thought the Sound of that terrible Name they gave their Fleet El Invincible Armado might have been sufficient to have made an universal Earth-quake throughout Christendom But it seems the Adamantine hearts of the Neighbour Princes were so impenetrable that it did not much move them for being satisfied in the Counterpoise of the Queens Power they stood at Gaze seemingly unconcern'd The Queen had prepar'd a double Guard one for the Land t'other for the Sea that by
as his Reason and the Greatness of his Mind much more impregnable then that of his Power wherein though his Patience came not so near to that of our Saviours as his Passion did or as their barbarity rather did to that of those Souldiers imploy'd in that accursed drudgery of his Execution yet it appears to have been such as was as much above their Expectation as himself was above their Malice Witness his Exit not like a Lyon but a Lamb For notwithstanding the sight of those Ropes and Rings which they had provided in case he had strugled with them to bind him down to the Scaffold as a Sacrifice to the Altar had been enough to have disorder'd the Passions of any man much more a King yet having a firm belief that his honor should not suffer with him but as his own words are * In his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rise again like the Sun after Owls and Batts had had their freedom in the night to recover such lustre as should dazle the eyes of those feral Birds and make them unable to behold him he was so well fortified with that assurance that he despised the shame and endured the fatal stroak with alike Magnanimity as that Great †Galbaâ— Emperor who stretch'd forth his neck and bid the Souldiers strike boldly if it were for their Countries good Here seem'd to be the Consummatum est of all the happiness of this Kingdom as well as of the Life of this King For upon his Death the Vail of the Temple rent and the Church was overthrown An universal Darkness overspread the State which lasted not for twelve hours only but twelve years The two great Luminaries of Law and Gospel were put out Such as could not write supply'd the place of Judges such as could not read of Bishops Peace was maintain'd by War Licentiousness by Fasting and Prayer The Commonalty lost their Propriety the Gentry their Liberty the Nobility their Honour the Clergy their Authority and Reverence The Stream of Government ran down in new-cut Chanels whose Waters were alwayes shallow and troubled And new Engines were invented by the new Statesmen that had the stâ—erage to catch all sorts of Fish that came to their Nets some were undone by Sequestration others by Composition some by Decimation or Proscription In sine it appear'd when too late that the whole Kingdom suffer'd more by his suffering then he himself who being so humbled as he was even unto death falling beneath the scorn mounted above the Envy of his Adversaries and had this advantage by their Malice to gain a better Crown then they took from him whiles not induring that he should be their King they consider'd not that they made him their Martyr Quando ullum invenient parem Horat. Ode 24. lib. 1. Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE DIEV ET MON DROIT Now whether the Plot of this imaginary Structure came first from Hell or Holland matters not much but so it was that like the New-buildings there it cost more to make good the Ground it stood on then the Superstructure was worth which made the People in a very little time so weary both of the Projection and the Projectors that it was not long ere it fell into visible decay Now as ill-built Houses whose Foundations fail do not suddenly fall but cracking sink by degrees so the wiser Brethren the Scots foreseeing what the end would be withdrew themselves betimes whereby they not only avoided the danger of being crush'd under the ruins of so ill-grounded a Democracy but did themselves that right to be theÌ„ first return'd to as they were the first went from their Allegiance and however many then thought they did but like Foxes who having once slipt Collar are hardly ever to be chain'd up so fast but that they will one time or another get loose again yet this honest Apostacy of theirs made such a Schism for the present in the Brotherhood that had not Cromwell very opportunely stept into the Gap to stay them the whole Flock like frighted Sheep had then broke out to follow the right Shepheard Non aliud discordantis Patria remedium est quam ut ab uno regeretur Tacit. Annal. This he very well knew and resolving to make the advantage to himself like a second Antipater that would not wear the Purple outwardly but was all Purple within under an humble habit of Meekness he so deluded them that they chose him for their Supream Magistrate under the Title of Protector of the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland Now least they should discover his Ambition before he could master their affection he began his Government not much unlike Tiberius who saith Tacitus would have all things continue at the manner was in the ancient * Meaning under their Consuls Free State for as he was willing to be thought irresolv'd whether to accept of the Empire or not and thereupon would not permit any Edict though it were but to call the Lords of the Senate to Councel to be proclaimed by the Vertue and Authority of any other but a Tribune himself being one so Cromwell retaining still the name of Common-wealth that his Tyranny might seem to differ from the former no otherwise then a Wolf doth from a Dogg submitted all to the Authority of the Parliament whereof himself was a Member And to assure the faithful of the Land that the Rule over them however it were by a single Person disser'd much from Antichristian Monarchy he did so far adventure to deny himself as to admit of those Popular Votes which every Body thought were so incompatible with all Kingly Principles that it was impossible for any one ever to cheat them into Allegiance again As 1. That the People under God are the Original of all just Power 2. That the Commons of England in Parliament assembled being chosen by and representing the People have the Supream Authority of this Nation 3. That whatsoever is enacted by them and declar'd for Law hath the force of Law 4. That all the People of this Nation were concluded thereby although the consent and concurrence of the King and House of Peers were not had thereto But long it was not ere he extracted out of the dreggs of these Votes certain Spirits that made those about him so drunk with Ambition and Courage that they forgat all their Republican Resolves and as 't is said that Caesar incouraged the fearful Pilot that was to waft him over Sea in a Storm by only telling him he carried Caesar and his Fortunes so they were animated by the confidence they observ'd in him who on the sudden was exalted to that wonderful pitch of boldness as altered his very Countenance made it not much unlike that of * Sutton Vit. Neron Lucius Domitius the great Ancestor of the Aenobarbi whose face being stroked by two Cluii or familiar Damons
death Jus Vitae Necis The Kings of this Isle the First Anointed Christian Kings 9. And as the Quatuor Vncti were before all other Kings so I take it that the Kings of this Isle ought to have the preference amongst them for that they were the first (g) Rhivallus ap Tooke in charism Sanct. Cap. 6. anointed Christian Kings as appears by the undeniable Testimony of the learned Gildas in his Book De excidio Britanniae written above a thousand years since which I take to be beyond any Remain of the like Extant in any Records of the Eastern or Western Empire (h) De Comitiis Imperat Cap. 2. Onuphrius would have that Ceremony to begin in the East with the Emperour Justin circ Ann. 525 but most of the learned Writers upon this Subject differ in opinion from him supposing he was more beholding for that honour to the gratitude of the Orthodox Clergy whom he always favour'd then to any real truth or Certainty in the thing The vulgar Historians will have it to begin in the West with the Merovignian line amongst the French but neither does Du Hailan Tilly nor those of the best Authority agree to it Regino and Sifridus go no higher then King Pepin who they say was the first anointed by Boniface Arch Bishop of Ments Ann. 750 which mistake may possibly be better understood by distinguishing betwixt the Ceremonies of the Regal and those of the Ecclesiastical Unction the last being no more but a sacred complement us'd in those times as a preparatory designation to an expected Regality whereof our own History is not without some Instances in which we find that Egbert Son to the great Mercian Offa was anointed in the life time of his Father Ann. 780 which was twenty years before Charlemaine who is suppos'd by most Writers to have been the very first King of the Francks anointed by Leo the Fourth Ann. 800. The like we read of Elfred the Son of Egbert anointed by the same Pope near about the same time in the presence of his Father but taking it to be as early in use with them as they themselves would have it thought to be yet falls it short of the times of our King Arthur affirm'd by J. of Monmouth to be a King anointed Cirea Ann. 505. and perhaps with sufficient Reputation if his be consider'd with the concurrent Testimonies of Bede and Malmesbury who prove the frequent use of it here not long after as likewise that of St. Oswald the most Christian King Ann. 635 that was two hundred years before Pepin As for the Kings of Jerusalem and Scicily however reckon'd in the Rank of the four yet were they not in being for near five hundred years after the honour they had therein being by composition with the Pope to whom they humbled themselves for this advancement so far as to declare themselves content to hold their Kingdoms of the Church whereas both Ours and those of France claim'd only by divine Right confirm'd if the Traditions of that age might be credited by manifestations from Heaven the Oil that consecrated those of France being brought down by a Dove in a Golden Viol and continu'd many hundred years after unwasted at Rheims that of ours being said to have been confirm'd to be coelestial by three distinct manifestations in three different Ages which certainly were as much abus'd themselves as they abus'd us if they conspired to transmit an untruth to us no more to their own advantage The first in the time of St. Oswald before mention'd when 't is said that there descended a great Quantity of holy Oil like Dew from Heaven and fell upon him by the sight and scent whereof for it perfum'd the place divers People were converted to the faith as (i) Bede Hist Aug. lib. 3. c. 3. Bede affirms The Second was at the time when the English Line were cut off by the Danes beyond any hope of Recovery the Danes being in quiet Possession of the Throne when St. Peter appearing to the holy Monk Brightwold assur'd him that England was God's Kingdom for whose Successors he would take due care and at the same time gave him a little Cruise of Oil telling him further that whomsoever he anointed therewith that man should be King and have power to heal the People by his Touch which was accordingly perform'd in the Person of Edward the Confessor on whom the Monk privately bestow'd the holy Unction with which he received likewise the gift of healing that disease call'd by Physitians (k) Now called the Kings Evil See Polidor Virgil. Hist 8. Scrofula continu'd to our Kings in a wonderful manner to this very day insomuch that 't is notoriously known how a Maid at Deptford born blind by reason of that distemper was cur'd by no other visible means but the Touch of a Cloath dipt in the blood of the late King Charles the Martyr The Third Manifestation was in the time of Henry the Second who having banisht St. Thomas Beckett the Virgin Mary appear'd to the holy Exile as the Clergy of that age stiled him and delivering into his hands another Golden Viol in form of an Eagle assur'd him that all the Kings who were anointed with the oil therein should be Patronizers of the Church and as long as they kept that Sacred Viol this Blessing should rest upon them that if any of their posterity should happen to be beaten out of their Kingdom they should be peaceably restor'd again Which Oil Walsingham an Author of unquestionable Credit affirms to have remain'd unwasted to the time of Henry the Fourth who saith he was anointed therewith but amongst other the dismal mischiefs attending the fatal War of the two houses of York and Lancaster this was not the least that it gave opportunity to some Sacrilegious hand unknown to convey this Viol away who stealing the Gold could not yet rob us of the Blessing which hath been miraculously made good to us in the happy Restauration of our present Soveraign Charles the Second of whom we may say with respect to this providence as the Poet in another case (l) Horace Hic posuisse gaudet In him likewise we find that other blessing confirm'd in the gift of healing that noisome disease afore mention'd which by long continuance of time having become Hereditary hath now got the known name of the Kings-Evil so call'd because it is hardly to be cur'd by any other human means but by the Kings touch only whereof we have every day so many and great Examples that I shall forbear to say what might perhaps be pertinent enough to this Subject The Kings of this Isle the First Christian Kings in the World 10. But besides that of their Chrism there hath been a further Circumstance of personal Excellence peculiar to the Kings of our Nation above most not to say all other Princes in respect to the Sanctity of their blood as deriving their (m) Bale
absolute and that no less perhaps for the Subjects sake than their own (t) Plin. vit Trajan Nil majus à te Subjecti animo factum est quam quod Imperari Coepisti and the learned Grotius gives the genuine reason for it in his Treatise of Soveraignty because saith he as no man can be limited but by something superiour to him Seven Imperial Rights Inherent in the Kings of this Isle so no man can be superiour to himself But in respect that I find Seven general Topicks of absolute Soveraignty agreed by all the Feudists We will examine the Prerogative of the Kings of this Isle with relation to each of those Particulars apart 1. Census nummorum 22. The first I take to be that unlimited power of giving the form weight allay and value to all Moneys which as it hath been always and in all Nations esteem'd a Prerogative purely Imperial so it hath been as antient in use here as the knowledg of Money it self and so uncontrolled that we find some of our Kings I speak it not to their honour since the abasement of Coin is certainly an abasing of Majesty as betraying a necessity that shews a defect in Government have impos'd upon us Copper others Tinn and (u) Hen. 8. at Bulloigne One once Leather Money making it as currant as Silver or Gold neither have any of our Kings at any time Communicated this Priviledg to any of their Subjects though some of them have had the Title of King conferr'd on them but have kept that power in their own hands as one of the great Inseparabilia not to be parted with Whereas the Kings of France who have been more prest and less provident in that point have thereby given occasion to those Allodiarii that enjoy'd that priviledg to esteem themselves as indeed they were absolute and free Princes stiling themselves accordingly Dei gratia to publish they own'd no Subjection 2. Jus Vectigalium 23. The Second Prerogative stil'd Jus Vectigalium which I take to be that (w) Seld. Dissertat ad Flet. 478. 479. Jus Caesarium first brought in by the great Lawyer Papinian Temp. Imp. Severi is diversly understood sometimes comprehending all those Duties which the antient Feudists place under the heads of Angariae and Parangariae by some extended to Plaustrorum Navium praestationes by others to those Jurafisci under which our Civilians comprehend almost all kind of Impositions and Services Pecuniary and Personal Under all or either of these considerations we find the Kings of this Isle as well entituled as any other Princes of the World both De facto and de Jure whereof there needs no other proof in the time of our primitive Kings the Britains than the Impresses on their Coins stamping sometimes an Oxe or Sheep sometimes a Blade of Corn other while Instruments of Husbandry or perhaps an Armed man or Chariot and Horses denoting as the skilful in that Science tell us the several Tributes and services to which those Moneys had respect or for which they were paid Then passing by the Romans we find amongst the Saxons the next to them this Prerogative exercis'd by several Names as first by that of (x) Fitzherbert Nat. Brev. 226. Thol or Tol a Tax pro libertate vendendi emendi Secondly by the names of Bordland Drofland Burland and Drinkland Names given according to the several Natures of the Duty they related to being generally call'd in Cromton's Translation of Canutus's Laws Firmae adjutorium that held all the Danes time and was by the Normans comprehended under the common name of (y) Mat. Paris Edw. 1. Cap 35. Ed. 3. H. 4. H. 5. Curialitas The Common Lawyers have taken it in several Senses when it respects Releif for War they term it (z) 25 Ed. 1. Aides when it is related to a civil supply they stile it Loane-money which however latter times have familiarly call'd Benevolence yet we find by the Stat. of the twentieth of Hen. the Sixth The King demanded it in right of his Soveraignty and by Law and accordingly appointed Commissioners for gathering it who extorted it with Penalties so in the seventeenth of the said King the same was demanded upon pain of Imprisonment and Confiscation of Goods 'T is true that Statute of H. 6. seems to be branded by a Repeal in the third of Queen Mary But that Law that Repeal'd it being afterwards it self Repealed the King seems now in Remitter to his antient Right a Right so antient that it suffers more perhaps by its Antiquity than any unreasonableness in the thing 24. Touching that call'd Jus Comitiorum I need say nothing 3. Jus Comitiorum it being so well known that no man can be an officer of this Realm that holds not of the King whether it be Jure Magistratus or per Deputationem either as being Commission'd by a Writ or by Patent from him Et sine Warranto Jurisdictionem non habent saith Bracton neither can any of them so much as appoint a Substitute under him but is bound to Officiate propria Persona the Justice in Eyre only excepted and that by a particular Statute for Reasons therein express'd So that by consequence the King must have also in him that 4. Jus Armorum 25. Jus Armorum which our Lawyers call the defence of the Force of Arms and all other force against the peace of the Kingdom which the Civil Law brings under those two heads Bellum decernere Foedera inire This is so inherent a right in our Kings that it seems to have been always lodg'd in Scrinio Pectoris in the Shrine of his own breast as appears by the practice of all Times but it may suffice to look no further back than that Address of the Parliament to King (a) In the fifty fourth year of that King Edward the Third where they humbly beseech him to enter into League with the Duke of Brabant and those Addresses in the eighteenth and fourty fifth year of the said King which I should have first mention'd in the first whereof they desire him to break the peace with Flanders in the other to declare against the Easterlings So in the fiftieth year of the said King praying some alteration of the Articles of peace made with the Hollanders The Kings answer was he would do what seem'd meet to himself The same Answer was given in Terminis by Richard the Second his Grand-Son on the like occasion So by Henry the Fourth in the second year of his reign Henry the sixth in the II. of his upon Petitions against Merchants Strangers that related to Violations of a Peace concluded And as by the Julian Law Lib. 3. it was deem'd Capital for any man without leave of the Emperour to take upon him to denounce War so it is declared Trayterous by our Law and void in it self if any Subject shall presume to do the like without the Kings Commission
Neither is it so in the Case of a particular Person only but if the whole Body of the people of this Nation should take upon them to do the like absque assensu Regis The Judges holding that where a War shall be so declared against any in League with the King without his consent and allowance the League is not thereby broken The like holds in all cases of Confederacies and Combinations which forced the late Rebels in the time of Charles the First to declare this Kingdom a Common-wealth before they could prevail with any Forrain Princes to treat with them and very few did it then Wherefore it is recorded as a wise answer of that Parliament in the Seventeenth of Richard the Second who when that King out of a necessitous compliance with the People offer'd them leave to take into their consideration some concerns of War and Peace Replied It did not become their Duty neither in Truth durst they presume ever to Treat of matters of so Transcendent Concernment No doubt then can there be of that Jus Foecialis 5. Jus Foecialis or right of Legation in directing sending and receiving all Embassies which Curtius calls Jus Regium a Power so Singular and Absolute that as (b) Bod. de Repub. Bodin and (c) In State Christ printed Anno 1657. H. Wotton both men of sufficient Authority affirm divers of our Neighbour Princes who yet call themselves absolute as the Kings of Hungary Poland Denmark Bohemia c. have nothing like it being bound up to consult with their People about all publick concerns before they can make any Conclusion of Peace or War Whereas all Addresses of State are made to Our Kings as I shewed in part before without any Obligation of their parts to communicate any thing to any of the Members of their great Council Privy Council or Common Council much less to either of the Ministers of State whether Secretaries or others however sworn to Secrecy and Trust Nor needs there a more pregnant Instance of the Kings inherent and determinate Prerogative in this point than that verbal Order of King Henry the Eight to the Lord Gray Governour of Bullen who upon a dispute about demolishing a Fort the French were then erecting by the name of Chastilons Garden contrary to the Sence of all the Lords of his Council expressed in Scriptis and which was more the formality of his own Letters confirming their Order did by a verbal Commission only privately whisper'd to him Justifie him in flinging down that Work which was a manifest breach of the Peace with the French and consequently a Capital crime in the Governour had not the same breath that made him forfeit it given him his life again which President as it was very remarkable so it proves that which follows 6. Jus Vitae Necis 26. Jus Vitae Necis that highest power of Life and Death to be only in the King being signaliz'd by the Ceremony of carrying the Sword before him in all publick Processions and is in truth so antient and undoubted a Right of the Crown that upon this Account only we find all the Pleas touching life and member to be call'd by the Lawyers Placita Coronae and all Capital Offences of high treason are termed Crimina Laesae Majestatis in proceeding whereon no Original Writ is necessary as in civil Causes but every Constable as the Kings Deputy may Ex Ossicio without any Process seize on any Murtherer Traytor or Felon and till the Statute of Magna Charta 17 of King John it is manifest that every mans Person was so subjected to the King by his Oath of Allegiance from those words De vita de membro that the (d) Vita Membrasunt in Potestate Regis Bracton l. 1. fol. 6. Cap. 5. Sect. 18. King at his pleasure might Imprison any man without process of Law or giving any cause for it and however the King has been pleas'd to circumscribe himself by Law since for the greater assurance of his Grace to his People yet the Judges have still so far respect to the Kings honour in this particular that upon the Commitment of any person by the Kings Command or by Order of the Lords of his Council they do not take upon them as perhaps by strictness of Law they might to deliver the Person till the Cause be first shewn and then expecting a Declaration of the Kings further pleasure bind him to answer what may be objected in the Kings behalf 7. Jus Rerum Sacrarum 27. The last and highest Prerogative as being purely Spiritual is that Jus Rerum Sacrarum to which no Princes in the World had a fairer Pretence than those here if considered as the only Christian Kings foster'd with the milk of a distinct National Church The Kings of great Britain the only Kings of a distinct national Church that may as properly be called the Sister as those of France Germany and Italy are call'd the Daughters of Rome and therefore the Pope when he naturaliz'd as I may say all the Christian Nations within the bosom of the Church he declared the Emperour to be Filius Major the French King Filius Minor but our King Filius Adoptivus neither matters it much though they prove our Church to be the younger Sister that disparagement if any it be being abundantly recompensed by being as indeed she is the most innocent the most beautiful and perhaps the most fruitful Parent of the two having Matriculated no less than eight Nations now as great almost as her self in the first Ages of Christianity and been the Foster-Mother to as many more in this last and most knowing age The Protestant Religion more properly called the Catholiâ—k Religion than that of Rome whereby the Reformed Religion as it is now vulgarly called to difference it from that of Rome is become as universal as that they call with so much Ostentation Catholick which if confined within the Range of the Church of Rome is not above a (c) Purchas Pilgrim cap. 13. lib. 1. fourth part of Christendom if so be the Computation of our modern Geographers be not mistaken who put Sweden in the Scale against both the Iberia's Italy and Spain and England Denmark and the Hans Towns against France which yet we know is Checquer'd in their Religion having divers Towns of the Reformed Judgment besides those Lesser Congregations in Poictou Gascony Languedoc and Normandy and take out of Germany suppos'd to be the third part of Europe two intire parts the whole being divided into three that at this day are integrally Protestant that is to say in the East Poland Lithuania Livonia Podolia Russia minor with divers Parts of Hungary and Transilvania even to the Euxine Sea in the West the Cantons of Swizzerland the United Provinces with the Grisons and the Republick of Geneva the South and North parts being yet more intirely Protestant and the heart of it every
confirm'd by an Allyance with Ethelbert the Proto-Christian who converted his Son III. SIGEBERT that in honour to his Religion made that League perpetual which after his death was broken by his three graceless Sons IV. date of accession 609 SERED SEWARD SIGEBERT Who rul'd together like Brethren in Iniquity persecuting all that were Christians till Ingill the West-Saxon converted but a little before revenged the holy Cause by putting a period to their Triumvirat upon which V. date of accession 623 SIGEBERT Son of the middlemost took place he was surnam'd The Little probability of his little Credit rather then his little Person being so detested by his People that they put by his Son and Brother to admit another of the same Name but of different Temper VI. date of accession 640 SIGEBERT the third Son of Sigebald younger Brother of Sigebert the first who declaring for Christianity was surnam'd The Good and being murther'd during the minority of his Son his Brother VII date of accession 661 SWITHELM succeeded as if to taste of Royalty only falling under the same fate by the same hand and for the same cause by whose death VIII date of accession 663 SIGEHERE the Son of Sigebert the Little assisted by his Uncle Sebba got into the Throne His Successor was IX date of accession 664 SEBBA the Saint on whom Bede fastens that famous Miracle of lengthning the Marble Chest in which his Body was laid which he says was too short by a foot for the Corps till the Body was put into it which who so believes must stretch his Faith as much Successor to him was X. date of accession 694 SIGEHERE the Second one fitter to be a Monk then a Monarch giving up his Scepter for a pair of Beads to his Brother XI date of accession 698 SEOFRID who if he rul'd not with him rul'd very little after him and then came XII date of accession 701 OFFA the Son of Sigehere to succeed who impoverish'd himself by inriching the Church and having quit his Wife to perform a Pilgrimage to Rome tempted her to quit the World and become a Nun whereby either lost the other and both the hopes of any Issue which made well for XIII date of accession 709 SELRED the Son of Sigebert the Good whose old Age was crown'd with an unexpected Succession but he took not so much pleasure in it as to survive it whereby XIV date of accession 740 SUTHRED fill'd up his place who involv'd in the Fate of Baldred King of Kent attacht by the West-Saxons lost this as t'other did that Kingdom whereby it became a Province under the Victorious Egbert IN the midst of the Universal Conflagrations that near about this time began to spread over the Face of the whole Isle the flames whereof were not otherwise to be quench'd but by the blood of the miserable Natives it so â—apned that Essex however nearest to those Countries that first felt the sharpness of the Saxon Swords had the good Fortune to preserve it self untoucht till about the year 527 when Erchenwin landing in Norfolk and taking thence a view of the neighbouring Vales imagin'd there went no more to the taking possession then to enter and make a boâ—d claim But finding the Inhabitants obstinately resolv'd to make their Graves in no other place but where their Bones might mix with those of their Ancestors 't is hard to say Whether his Fury or his Fear prevail'd most with him whilst being ingaged beyond the safety of a Retreat he made his way into the heart of their Country with that precipitate Courage as if he had designed to fly through them into the Provinces beyond which they perceiving like men well acquainted with the violence of such Land Floods made him way to pass into Kent where promising to become a Feodary to that Prince he return'd him with that additional Strength as made him not only Master of this but by uniting Middlesex and a great part of Hertfordshire gave him the honour of setting up a fourth Kingdom call'd that of the East-Sexe which however it was not very great was well fortifi'd with the Ocean on the East the Thames on the South-side the River Coln on the West and the Stour on the North-side and being establish'd by the advantage of a long and peaceable Reign and the reputation of the Allyance he had with the potent King of Kent he was secur'd so far on that side as to put him in condition of securing himself on the other till such time as the East-Angles and the Mercian by the Interposition of their Territories betwixt him and the Common Enemy left him regardless of any further danger but withal so enervated his Successor that being seldome arm'd and never active Fortune grew out of Love with them and never vouchsafed any one of them the honour to be rang'd amongst the Monarchs of the Isle a favour every other House alternately enjoy'd according to the variation or vicissitude of their Successes but however they attained less it appears they aim'd at greater Glory then any of their Neighbours being the second Kingdom that oppenly profess'd Christianity and those that gave it the best entertainment Sacrificing to the Church what others spent in War being repaid with Pardons Benedictions and Indulgences whilst they liv'd and with Shrines Miracles and Canonizations after they were dead Kings in that Age being no less ambitious to be Sainted then Saints in our Age to be made Kings And to say truth they were better Men then Monarchs taking more care of the business of Religion then of State relying more on the Forces of the Kings of Kent with whom they had contracted a perpetual League having been hatch'd under their wings then on their own proper Strength whereby it fell out that they were crush'd with t'others fall and at the same time submitted to the same Fate to be a Province to the West-Saxon So easie it is to conquer those that contribute to their own destruction taking upon them to protect the unfortunate Baldred when they were not able to defend themselves But it is less strange that they fail'd now then that they held out so long their Territories being the very least of the whole Heptarchy and they the laziest of the whole Nation their Majesty being preserv'd by a kind of Antiperistasis lying incompassed with three puissant Neighbours Kent Mercia and West-Sexe who like three great Doggs equally match'd kept this Bone untouch'd betwixt them for two hundred and eighty years in which large portion of time they were preserv'd as by Miracle from the fury of either of them that wanted not appetites to desire nor mouths to devour nor perhaps occasion to urge them to fall upon them but restrain'd by the sense of eithers equal Power they left it to Fortune to give the odds who having declared on the West-Saxon side he run down all at last THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF MERCIA V. I. date of accession 560 CRIDDA the
of which were more desperately bent against each other then either Picts or Britains against both The whole Continent of their Dominions took up six Counties as we now reckon them viz. Northumberland properly so call'd Westmerland Cumberland Yorkshire Lancashire and Durham These falling to the Charge of Otho and Ebusa they made an equal Dividend betwixt them taking three to each the first had all betwixt Humber and Tine and call'd it the Dukedom of Deira The second had all from Tine to the Frith of Edinburgh which was entituled the Dukedom of Bernicia Ninety nine years it continued under the distinct Government of their Posterity each independent of other and each as often as the Common Enemy gave them any rest pecking at the other with equal Enmity and not unequal Fortune till the time of Ella and Ida two famous Captains the one descended from Wealdeag fourth Son of Woden t'other from Bealdeag his fifth Son who thinking themselves less in Title then in Power urged by a mutual Emulation elevated their Dignity to the height of their Fortunes and stil'd themselves as all the rest of their Country-men Kings the last was the first Monarch the first the last King One getting the Start of Priority in Degree the other the advantage of Survivorship by which means it happened that the Government which hitherto had been as it were Party per Pale not long after became Checquy Fortune according to her Constant Inconstancy alternately deposing sometimes one sometimes the other disposing the Diadem like a Ball toss'd from one Hazzard to another so that the Spectators knew not which side to beat on till those of the House of Ella making a Fault Ethelrick won the Sett having got the honour to be the first absolute Lord of the whole which he united under the Title of the Kingdom of Northumberland banishing the other Names of Distinction This Malmesbury ascribes more to his Fortune then his Merit making him beholding to the bravery of his sprightly Son Ethelfrid the Wild for the continuance of any Memory of his Name which shews us the Founders themselves are oftentimes as the Foundations they lay under Ground unknown and obscure taking their Honour from the Superstructure that they rear not from themselves But as those of Bernicia claim'd the honour of building the House so those of Deira boasted they were the first took the Possession their Dignity becoming them so much the better in that they made their Power known where their Title was not by the Courage of their Magnanimous King Edwin who inlarged his Dominions as far as the Mavian Isles but by that Prosperity of his render'd himself rather Glorious then Great drawing himself out of his proper Strength by an Extent that weakned him and drew on him a more powerful Enemy then that he had subdued to wit the Neighbouring Mercian who by his death and his Sons made way to let in the Bernician Line again which continued uninterrupted ten Descents after which follow'd a Succession of Six Usurpers out of distinct Stocks who wasted near Thirty years with so little advantage to themselves or their Country that at length it became a Prey to several petty Tyrants of so low Rank that only One of Ten had the Confidence to stile himself a King which confusion tempted the Dane to fall in upon them with so resistless fury that they were fain to crave Protection of the West-Saxon who made them a Province unto him after they had stood the shock of Two hundred thirty five years with repute of being an absolute and intire Kingdom THE ORDER OF THE English Kings AFTER THE HEPTARCHY Was reduc'd into an Absolute Monarchy VIII I. date of accession 800 EGBERT was the first gave himself the Imperial Stile of King of England differing therein from his Predecessors who stiled themselves Kings of the Englishmen having reduc'd the Heptarchy into a Monarchy he gave Kent and Sussex to his younger Son Athelstan the rest descending on his eldest Son II. date of accession 837 ETHELWOLPH who put off a Myter to put on a Crown being Bishop of Winchester at the time of his Fathers death and being fitter to be a Monk then a Monarch he was accordingâ—y justled out of his Right by his ungracious Son III. date of accession 857 ETHELBALD whose ill got Glory pâ—ov'd so transitory that â—t serv'd him only to perform an act of Infamy outlasted it possessing himself of his Fathers Bed as well as of his Throne which prov'd his Grave so that his Brother VI. date of accession 858 ETHELBERT before Lord of a part as Heir to his Uncle Athelstan became now Lord of the whole and by managing that he learn'd how to manage this the number of his troubles exceeded that of the Months of his reign so that not able to bear up under the weight of the burthen of the Government he died and left his Brother V. date of accession 863 ETHELRED to succeed him as Heir both to his happiness and unhappiness who being likewise wearied rather then vanquish'd hy the continual Assaults of the Danes left the glory with the danger to his Brother VI. date of accession 873 ELFRID a Prince that in despight of War perform'd all the noblest Acts of Peace making as good use of his Pen as of his Sword at the same time securing and civilizing his People His Son VII date of accession 900 EDWARD surnam'd the Elder enjoy'd thereby such a happiness as was only worthy the Son of such a Father as St. Elfrid and the Father of such a Son as VIII date of accession 924 ATHELSTAN who knew no Peace but what he purchas'd with his Sword being more Forward then Fortunate and therein like his Brother IX date of accession 940 EDMOND who escaping all the Storm perished in a Calm being kill'd after he had escaped so many Battels in a private Fray betwixt two of his own Servants in his own House X. date of accession 946 EADRED succeeded who gave himself the stile of King of Great Britain a Title too great it seems for his Successor XI date of accession 955 EDWIN who discontinued it shewing thereby that Nature was mistaken in bringing him into the World before his Brother XII date of accession 959 EDGAR who reassum'd that Title again yet not before he had made himself Lord of the whole Continent but as one surfeited with Glory he dyed as we may so say before he began to live leaving his Son XIII date of accession 975 EDWARD surnam'd the Martyr to support his memory who fell as a Sacrifice to the Inhumane Ambition of a Step-mother who murther'd him to prefer his younger Brother but her eldest Son XIV date of accession 978 ETHELRED an excellent Prince had he not been blasted by the Curse of his Mothers Guilt who as an ill-set Plant wither'd before he could take firm Root being wind-shaken with continual storms all his reign which his Son XV. date of accession 1016 EDMOND from his
miserable but lost them their Freedom by the same way they hop'd to preserve it For K. Edward was so incensed at the sight of their Butchery that however the Paracide made for him to the recovery of that whole Kingdom yet he determin'd to give the Traytours no Conditions Upon which they fled into Northumberland where he thought not fit to pursue but left the Glory of clearing that Province to his Successor who neither deceiv'd his nor the Kingdoms expectation ATHELSTAN date of accession 924 THEY that will take the height of this King must begin near about the time his Reign began to end his rising being like that of the Sun in a Cloud which being not discernable at first after looks red and bloody but at last recovers its wonted lustre and brightness The inequality of his Mothers condition to that of his Fathers being but a private Gentlewoman contracted to him in the life of the Grandfather so obscur'd his Birth that there were great doubts whether he were not illegitimate and that which gave the suspicion of it was his Fathers not owning of him after he came to be King who caus'd his second Brother to be Crown'd in his own life-time to entitle him the nearer to the Succession in order to the putting this man by By which frowardness of Fate or rather of his own Friends he was so over-shadow'd at the time of his Fathers death that had he not shew'd himself to be the true Son as well as the eldest and the undoubted Heir of his Courage if not to his Crown fitted for Government by parts as well as by years 't is probable he had been wholly set aside it being scarce possible for him to have penetrated so thick a cloud of malice as his merit had exhal'd much less to have sustain'd the shock of his Fathers envy alone who malign'd him upon no other account but that of his Grandfathers Indulgence who was so fond of him that 't was thought he would have given him a share of the Government with himself whilst he lived as an earnest of the rest when he was dead to the hazard of setting aside his Son Edward Thus the kindness of his Grandfather and the unkindness of his Father being alike unfortunate to him 't is no marvel the melancholly he had contracted thickned his blood and corrupted his good nature inclining him to frowardness and cruelty after he recover'd the Zenith of his Power taking a president of unnaturalness from his Father to fall upon his innocent Brother jealousie the canker of Majesty having so far eaten out the coar of his vertues that he could entertain no other thoughts but what were rank with revenge being so far transported that when death had remov'd the Brother that was his Rival he was not satisfied till himself had remov'd the other that was not whom resolv'd it seems to have no body stand near his Throne he expos'd to the rage and fury of the Sea in a Bark without Sails or any kind of Tackle where the helpless Youth believing that rude Element more merciful than his Brother cast himself into its bosom and so put a speedy end to his unhappiness and fear This was so crying a crime that it needed not a second to weigh down all his vertues and would questionless have condemn'd him to all eternity had he not timely condemn d himself for it and by a suitable Penance which ended not but with his own life pacifi'd the Ghost of his murther'd Brother and the horrour of his own guilty Conscience that came to be as strangely awaken'd as it was at first abus'd by the very same person who put him upon that execrable action who as the Story goes stumbling accidentally in his presence as he was bringing up a Dish of meat to his Table having recover'd himself without falling said as he thought pleasantly but unwittingly See Sir how one Brother meaning one Leg helps another which unexpected Jest gave so sudden a touch to the Kings Conscience that in as sudden a passion he reply'd Villain it was thou that didst cause me to murther my innocent Brother and so commanded him to be strangled in his presence This was thoâ—ght to be an effect of rage rather than remorse till it appear'd otherwise by those voluntary punishments he afterwards laid upon his own Person and more upon his Purse the expiating of this one sin costing him no less Treasure than all his Wars though he knew no Peace all his Reign and had it not been for this blood in the beginning of his Story no King had left his Name to Posterity under a fairer Character for being just in his promises resolv'd in his purposes constant in his resolutions and as his Father before him fortunate in that constancy having rul'd well liv'd better and at last dy'd desired which could not have been had he not been as much Lord of himself as others and rightly temper'd to maintain by his Courage what be got by his Wisdom of both which Qualifications he gave so signal proof that the memory of his Magnanimity hath outlived himself it being agreed by all Historians that he once oppos'd himself single to the force of a whole Army and notwithstanding the odds of number kept them at a stand till he was reliev'd by his own People who turn'd the Duel into a Battle but could not part the Enemy and he till he had made his way through them to their King with whom he fought hand to hand he yielded himself Prisoner after which as if he were not satisfied with conquering him but once he dismist him again with a generous scorn saying 'T was greater to make a King than be one Pity 't was that Nature was not so kind to him as Fortune for this made his way to the Crown but t'other deny'd him Issue to enjoy it so that for want of Heirs of his own Body he was forc'd to leave the Succession to his younger Brother the first Son of his Father by a second Venter EDMOND date of accession 940 THIS Prince being but three years old at the death of his Father and not full fifteen at the death of his Brother lost all those Advantages he might have hop'd for by observing the Vertues of the one or the Vices of the other however the loss of the Example of his Father was so well supply'd by the Care and Providence of his Mother who gave him an Education fit for those active times that he may worthily be said to have been fitted for Majesty before Majesty was fitted for him shooting up to that unexpected height that the Danes finding they could not keep down his growth by open Hostility endeavour'd to supplant him by unperceiv'd Hypocrisie casting themselves under the Sanctuary of Religion as profess'd Proselytes to the two great Prelates that then rul'd him and his Kingdom the Archbishops of Canterbury and York By the solemnity of which holy Cheat ratifi'd with the Seal
valiant and wise he despair'd by sensible degrees and as one grown weary of Greatness became less concern'd as he found Fortune more froward till at length he fell under the lowest Reproach that could befall an active Prince to be stil'd The Unready for so was he mis-call'd the apprehensions of which indignity so wholly relaxed his Spirits that he resolv'd to purchase what he could not win a little rest I cannot call it peace being rather like a Submission than a Cessation which yet he paid an incredible price for indeed no less than 10000 pounds a vast Sum for those times and so much the dearer pennyworth to his poor people in as much as it was the occasion of a Tax which not only was the very first they ever knew but was executed with so much rigour that the shame and indignation he conceived thereupon put him upon washing off the Stain of his dishonour with a deluge of innocent blood exasperating him to the hazard of the worst of remedies a general Massacre throughout his Territories which afterward was executed upon the Danes with so much secrecy and so little compassion that very few if any of them escap'd 'T was thought this one Act however cruel would have freed him from all future fears of the like necessity for the time to come but that weight which would have fixt the pillars of his Government upon their Bases had they continued upright leaning on one side overcharg'd and crack'd them for the bold Executioners of his rage upon the first preparation the Enemy made for Revenge finding themselves disappointed in the main ends of their Cruelty turn'd Cowards and by a strange infatuation quit his Protection to seek refuge from those whom yet they believ'd implacable who having no colour of right till this wrong was done to them had now so fair a Pretence to do what e're was foul that King Swain himself thought it obligatory upon him to cross the Sea to see right done to the incensed ghosts of his People The terrour of whose first approach made such impressions upon the very wisest of the English that they thought it better to give him the possession of their Country than hazard his undertaking it from them yielding up most of the great Towns and Cities to disappoint his Fury by unexpected submission Only London stood firm to King Ethelred in this extremity and left him not till he left them who having before the Storm came sent away his Wife and Children into Normandy follow'd them himself not long after leaving Swain in the sole possession of the Kingdom who from thence forward had nothing more to do but to bind those he had thus conquer'd with chains of Allegiance But see the mockery of human greatness whilst he thought himself above all Enemies having one foot upon the step to mount into the Throne death the common Enemy of mankind struck him to the ground the winged news of which unexpected Event taking its flight into Normandy so imboldned Ethelred that he believing himself now reconcil'd to Fortune immediately return'd and shew'd his People he was not that Unready man the World misnam'd him to be but behold instead of an aged Enemy who had more to do to contest with his own infirmity than with his Forces there appear'd a Successor more youthful and vigorous than himself one that was equal to him in conduct but surpass'd him in Ambition this was Knute the Son of Swain who finding the only way to be great at Land was to be Master at Sea made it his first business to corrupt the Fleet and by that advantage gave so fatal a blow to Ethelred's power that he could no longer resist the force of Desperation but languishing in mind as before in Body left the justice of his Title to be disputed with more equality by his Son Edmond who hoping to Overcome by yielding lost the whole by giving up a part only EDMOND Iron-sides date of accession 1016 THE unexpected Death of the last King surcharg'd with misfortunes rather than years as it made way for his Son to the Throne so happening before he was sufficiently prepar'd for so important a Charge it was was not the least occasion of the total overthrow of the English Monarchy However we may call this rather his Fate than his Fault being a Prince worthy a happier Father and a nobler Destiny who had Providence been pleas'd to have post-dated the birth of his glory till time had purg'd away the guilt of his Family and left him no more Enemies to grapple with than what his Sword could have reach'd might possibly by his personal Gallantry have recover'd his languishing power at least prevented those dire disputes which afterwards cost his Posterity more blood than the Dominions they Contended for could supply But the same hand that wrote his name in this period of Succession and as 't was thought ingrav'd his Destiny in that (*) Edmond signifying in the old Saxon Blessed Peace Name contrary both to the literal sense of it and the hopes conceiv'd by them that gave it him turn'd that of Blessed and Peaceable into that of Iron-sides an Adjunct which carried horror in the sound and perhaps more proper for him who was condemn'd to fight three set Battels in the space of three Months on the success of each of which depended no less than half a Kingdom which yet was his all the rest being in possession of his Foe who fought him with his own Weapons bringing Subject against Subject English against English King Edmond's General was the Earl of Essex the Earl of Northumberland was the Danes both men of great Conduct and Courage Not far distant from these appear'd the Earl of Merkland with another Body by his Father of English Descent by his Mothers side a Dane who pretending to affect both sides could by no means be drawn to declare for either having secretly however supported each till he had so far weakned them both by his Incouragements that neither was in Condition to punish his Treachery much less to refuse his Courtesie And now being drawn up in Battel to decide the great question of right he shew'd seeing him hovering at a distance with such a neutral party as gave them just apprehensions of both his Force and Fraud trusting to no Sword but their own they mutually accorded to decide the Justice of their quarrel by Combat rather than Battel obliging their respective Armies to submit to the success of him that conquer'd upon which entring singly into an Island on the Severn they charg'd each other with so much fury and so little Caution as if the desire of assaulting had wholly taken away the care of defence but being equal in Stomach and strength the Fight continued pois'd in the uncertainty of any advantage on either side till at length both being tired neither vanquish'd either hoping to win both scorning to yield with like desire though not with like reason they agreed
to divide the Kingdom between them And to make the attonement appear as acceptable to their Armies as to themselves they transacted their Persons by exchange of Cloaths and Arms Edmond appearing to the Danes in dress like Knute Knute like K. Edmond to the English a fatal exchange for this poor Prince who whilst they seem'd thus to become each other he only remain'd not himself falling by degrees from being half a King to be very shortly after none betray'd by false gâ—ounds of security into an unpittied Ruine whilst he prefer'd a bad Peace before a good War and neglected those means for the preservation of life which he might have learn'd from the continual expectation of death and that which made his end more deplorable was that with him perish'd the English Monarchy For however it seem'd to have recover'd it self again in the same age yet it prov'd like a plant new set after it had been long out of ground which whiles there remains any sap in the root will send forth fresh Sprouts but those so weak and tender that the least bruise makes them wither and die the mistaken Majesty of the Kings that succeeded him being no less crazed and infirm than they themselves who fainted away upon the first wounds given them and bled themselves to death in one single Battle THE FOURTH DYNASTY OF DANES OF DANES THE Danes were a People whose Original Tradition hath with much ado trac'd through the Dusky Foggs of the Euxine Sea unto the Fens of Meotis which being the first place they were ever known to Inhabit they liv'd there under the obscure name of the Cymeri till they were expuls'd thence by the Scythians who as Orosius Olaus Magnus and others affirm have continued there ever since Vellius will have it that they were drove out thence by a sudden Inundation of the Country upon which they petition'd the Romans then Lords of almost all the World for the assignation of some vacant place in their Dominions But the meanness of their Condition inclining the Romans to slight if not deny their request they were necessitated to rove up and down in an unsetled Condition for some years At last 't is said they fix'd in Scandia where possessing themselves of the strongest Part of those cold Islands in the Baltick Ocean they found an opportunity to justle out divers Roman Colonies This begat a quarrel and that at last a War in which the Romans lost several of their Generals before they could reduce them to any Terms of Submission A little after this which was yet before the Incarnation they began to undermine their next Neighbours the Jutes who as Munster relates dwelt right over against them on the Chersoness that jets out into the Aoust Sea By that Contest they gave the World so good an account of their skill in Naval Fights that the Jutes weary of their Vicinity left them the possession of that Promontory and came themselves over into this Isle of ours Thus by commanding the Sea they made themselves first Lords at Land and with their new Seats they got a new Name the broad-mouth'd Northern People about those parts calling them the DANS whether from Dan their King as some too ancient to be refuted fancy or from Dom the abbreviation of Dominus as the Spaniards got the Stile of Don amongst them being of that haughty humour that they would be called by no other name after they came hither but Lordanes or whether from DAN which as Junius tells us signified a Firr-tree whereof they had there such abundance that it continues yet their Staple Commodity I will not take upon me to determine Certain it is that most Writers reckon them amongst the Minores Gentes but if their own Records speak Truth we must look on them as the off-spring of the Scythians the noblest Race of People in the World from whom all the Northern Nations were as ambitious to derive themselves as those in the East from the Medians those in the South from the Aethiopians or those in the West from our Ancestors the Germans There are who reasonably enough conclude them to be a branch of these last For the Posâ—erity of Gomer planting in Italy disburthen'd part of their numbers into Germany and part into Gaul From those in Germany sprung two Branches the Francks and the Danes as * Fuag 8. lib. Goth. Procopius tells us both promiscuously at that time call'd Normans From those in Gaul sprung our Ancestors the Britains and those of Belgia by which 't is evident We that at this day are call'd English were originally all of one Stock Neither hath the change of Names or Nations much altered our Natures but that we continue to be still the same in humour as we were ever in point of Constitution They were as indeed most of the Inhabitants of the Septentrional part of the world a hardy and bold I cannot say brave People for their behaviour was plain and rude and they so affected their own manners that however they were led by Providence into Countries where they pertook more of Civility and the Sun yet they would not be mov'd to change any of their ancient Customes having but little sense of honour and less of danger aiming more at gain then glory Insomuch that they were altogether strangers to such gay distinctions of Honour as are since in fashion and wherewith those now in Denmark have been but very lately acquainted the reason was for that all their Dignities were Personal and not Hereditary held by no other Charter but that of their Vertue So that their wise Kings observing that old Adage Virtutis Laus Actio never suffered them to want fresh Occasions of Action whereby they sold them the honour they pretended to give them by parting with it not so much as a Reward of past as an earnest of future Services Neither did this a little inhance the value of their Nobility which being for term of life only as it fell sooner into the Kings hands to be remunerated again with better improvement and advantage so the Persons dignifi'd were not apt to be infected with those haughty conceipts which most usually puff up the minds of such as are born Noble who believing something to be in their Blood that differences them from the common Rank of Subjects the Obligation whereof they have either forgotten or hold to be discharg'd by their Ancestors grow insolent and factious and by their disloyalty not seldom disturb both their own Families and the Kingdoms peace Of this Knute had so sad a proof that as soon as he came to be King of England he indeavoured to discharge all his Grandees that might any way pretend to have any share in his Conquest crushing the two great Paladines Irtus and Turkill the one Earl of Northumberland t'other of Merkland each of whose Principalities were so independent and govern'd by such distinct Laws as made them so absolute that the Monarchy till then looked like
Bowl once put besides its Byass goes the further from its Mark the more 't is inforced THE FIFTH DYNASTY OF NORMANS OF NORMANS THE Normans so call'd by the French in respect of the Northern Clime from whence they came heretofore call'd * Dionis Patav l. 8. c. 4. Scandia since Norwey were another Branch of the antient Cimbri seated near the frozen Sea whose Country being too barren to nourish so fruitful a People they disonerated their Multitudes wheresoever force could make way for them Some stragling as far as the Mediterranian others farther Southward some few lost in the Frozen Sea attempting the Desert Isles far Northward but most following the Sun infested their Southern Neighbours About the time of Charles the Great they began to grow very troublesome by their frequent Pyracies making several Inroads into England but especially into France pressing so hard upon Lewis the Holy that he was fain to empty all his frontier Garrisons and quitting the Maritime draw them into the interior and more considerable parts of his Empire as the Spirits are drawn to the heart upon all Commotions to preserve life Their Successes in Germany England Scotland and Holland having made them so bold that they doubted not to advance as far as Paris where after divers disputes with Charles the Bald Charles le Grosse and Charles the Simple which concluded with an honourable Composition they six'd their two Chiefs Hastang and Rollo in the most fertile and best parts of that goodly Country the first being made Earl of Charters the last Duke of Neustria from him call'd afterwards Normandy the seventh in descent from whom was Duke William better known to us here by the Name of The Conquerour who with like confidence and not unlike Injustice invaded England as his Ancestors did France pretending a Donation of the Soveraignty from his near Kinsman King Edward the Confessor confirm'd as he alledged by his last Will and Testament in the presence of most of the English Nobility a pretence that could have been of no validity had it not been back'd by more then humane Power to disinherit Edgar Atheling who as being of the whole English Blood was rather Heir to the Kingdom then to the King and so by no Law could have his Right collated to a Stranger but the use he made of it was to convince the World that he had more Reason not to say Right to demand than Harold to detain the Crown who having put Prince Edgar besides the Succession desied the Justice of all Mankind as he was an Usurper and so it was a design worthy his Sword who had so fortunately vanquish'd even before he wrote Man those great difficulties at home given by the Opposition of Domestick Rivals no less puissant and populous then Harold to put him at least out of Possession But that which seems strange and was questionless a great surprize upon Harold was the conjunction of the Peers of France in an Action that was so apparently hazardous to the greatness of their own State every addition to so near and dangerous a Neighbour grown long before too powerful being a kind of diminution unto them whereof there can be no probable Cause assign'd beyond their natural affectation of Glory and wantonness of Courage but that Influence which the Conquerors Father in Law Baldwin Earl of Flanders had by being then Governour of the King and Kingdom of France who not only ingaged most of the grtatest Persons there as the Duke of Orleance the Earls of Champaigne Blois Brittain Ponthieue Maine Nevers Poictiers Aumale and Anjou but drew in the * Henry IV. Emperour himself and many of the German Princes to side with him This Preparation being such as it was it cannot be thought that the English lost any honour by mingling blood with men of that Quality and Condition the sound of whose Names was perhaps little less terrible then that of their Arms much less takes it from the reputation of their Courage to have heâ—d up the dispute but for one day only having fought it out as they did till the number of the slain so far exceeded that of the living as made the Conqueror doubt there would not be enough left to be conquer'd Who knows not that Fate made way for the Normans where their Swords could not guiding them by a Series of Successes near about the same time to the expectation of an universal Empire having but a little before made themselves Lords of Apulia Calabria Scicily and Greece and inlarged their Conquests as far as Palestine But what we allow to the Courage we must take from the Wisdom of the English that being subdued they continued Nescia vinci vexing the Conqueror after they had submitted to him by such continual Revolts as suffered him not to sheath his Sword all his Reign or if he did urged him to continue still so suspicious of their Loyalty that he was sorc'd alway to keep his hand upon the hilt ready to draw it forth having not leisure to intend what was before established much less to establish what he before intended So that they put upon him a kind of necessity of being a Tyrant to make good his being a King Yet such was the moderation of his mind that he chose rather to bind them stricter to him by the old Laws then to gall them with any new guarding his Prerogative within that Cittadel of the Burrough Law as they call'd it from whence as often as they began to mutiny he batter'd them with their own Ordnance and so made them Parties to their own wrong and however some that design'd to pre-occupate the grace of Servitude gave him the ungrateful Title of Conqueror which he esteem'd the greatest misfortune his good Fortune had brought upon him thereby to proclaim his Power to be as boundless as his Will which they took to be above all Limitation or Contradiction yet we find he suffered himself to be so far conquer'd by them that instead of giving to he took the Law from them and contentedly bound himself up by those which they call'd St. Edward's Laws which being an Abbreviation of the great triple Code of Danique Merke and West-Sexe Laws was such a form of Combination as he himself could not desire to introduce a better and if any thing look'd like absolute 't was his disarming them when he found them thus Law-bound hand and foot After which he erected divers Fortresses where he thought fit dispos'd all Offices of Command and Judicature to such as he could best confide in and by that Law of Cover feu obliging them to the observation of better hours of Repose then they had formerly been us'd to gave himself more rest as well as them As for his putting the Law into a Language they understood not whereby they were made more learn'd or less litigious then they were before it was that the Lawyers only had cause to complain of whose practise at the first perhaps was a
fondness but out of a provident care to settle the Succession and as reasonably to fix his Sons Ambition Neither was his severity to his younger Sons less fatal to him than his indulgence to his Elder whilst thinking to recover the power he lost there by keeping a stricter hand over those here he was bereft of them too by the same way he thought to make them more surer to him for as the eldest by having so much was easily perswaded there was more due to him so the younger brothers believing they ought to have had something more than they had because their elder brother had so much more than he should press'd him out of necessity as much as t'other out of wantonness This looking so like a judgment from heaven gave both the world and himself so full a view of his fate and his failings that from this time he began sensibly to languish under the grief and shame of being so affronted the rancor of his thoughts so festring inwardly that though he asswaged it by all the Lenitives imaginable yet the wound broke out as fast as it was heal'd till the Cause was taken away by the death of those that were the two most unnatural Sons whose ends prov'd to be as violent as their natures after which yet he was no less afflicted by the no less unnatural obstinacy of the two surviving Brothers Richard and John But that which made the troubles of his own house more insupportable was the meeting with as great troubles in Gods house where the disobedience of his Children was out-vied by the contempt of a servant who advanced by destiny to make a mock of Majesty finding a purpose in him to curtail the growing greatness of the Clergy that was arriv'd to that height that they were able to make a King without a Title and might as he suspected by tampering with Posterity be able in time to set up a Title without a King resolv'd to wrestle both single and to compare authority and however he knew the design to be so well backt by the envy of the Laiety that the Pope himself and all the Conclave despair'd of weathering it yet such was his obstinacy having got the help of opinion and the belief of Integrity on his side that he stood the breach of this unhappy Kings Indignation and defied his Thunderbolt till the very minute it blasted him by whose death every one thought the King had got the better of it in that he had the satisfaction of a full Revenge without being touch'd with the guilt since those that murther'd him however they did it to please the King did it yet without his knowledg or privity But such was the Tyranny of Fate that he who in his life time only made him how being dead brought him upon his knees and forced him to acknowledg him as much above his faith afterwards as he was above his will before and then which nothing could be more unfortunate for the very same cause he prosecuted him in his life time as a Traitour being dead he ador'd him as a Saint It were too troublesome to tell of all the troubles of this great Prince much more to bring them into any method which coming from himself and not ending as I said before but with himself however they seem'd to vary in the Lines kept still in the circle of his Family mov'd by the same Causes though not by the same Persons for as his Son Henry before so his Son Richard afterwards was tempted to capitulate with him and to shew the world he was his Brothers successor in point of disobedience as well as of right he did with as great ambition but greater passion require an assurance of the same Kingdom and the same Wife both equally dear to the Father both alike fatal to the Sons wherein meeting with a denial the present fit of Love that was upon him heightened into an extream of hatred with the contagion whereof for it ran in a blood his brother John was not long after infected and so joyning together they made the last Effort upon their now almost tired fathers patience besieging him in the beloved Town where his Father was buried and himself born which he not long after took from him and in it her that was dearer to him than his life the fair Lady Adela now become the old Kings avowed Mistress however affianc'd before to his Son Richard This as it was an indignity that flaw'd his great heart at one single stroak and wounded his spirit beyond all recovery so the loss of the City provok'd him to blaspheme God and the loss of the Lady to curse all his posterity and what sence nature retain'd of the loss of his life that took away the sence of all other losses appears by the intelligence it held with his revenge after death which over-acting its part if I may so say to charge the guilt upon the unnatural offender forced the blood out of his nostrils as he lay bare-fac'd upon his hearse as soon as his Son Richard the murtherer approach'd with dissembled reverence to kiss his hand Thus Thus as he had constant troubles whilst he liv'd so it seems he had no great rest when he was dead being ordain'd by Destiny to be an Example of unparalleld Desolation and which made this unhappiness a kind of Riddle that which renders all other men happy undid him viz. great Wisdom great Power and great Possessions either of which makes great Friends at least great numbers of those that profess themselves to be so whiles he liv'd to see himself forsaken of Wife Children Family Friends and if he were not himself as in Charity we ought to think when he blasphem'd God for the loss of Mentz we may say forsaken of himself too then which there could be no sadder Epilogue to humane Glory And wherefore was all this toyl and charge imbarasing himself and his Subjects but only to hold up the vain-glorious reputation of his Courage and make good that Bestial Adjunct of Coeur de Leon which was not improperly given to him if we consider that the same Creature is as much noted for his Voracity as Courage yet was the excess of his Valour mostly spent in private quarrels the King of France who was ingaged with like Devotion and he falling together by the Ears as soon as they met in Scicily and after he came into the Holy Land he had the like quarrel with the Arch-Duke of Austria with both upon the same point of Precedence though not with like reason the other having out-brav'd him in the common Cause and planted his Colours upon the Walls of Acon before him which he plucking down in scorn t'other made him vail Bonnet to it that is surrender up his Cap of Maintenance as 't was then call'd as a Pledge of his Homage to the Emperor when he acknowledg'd him his Supream Lord. And what was the end of this great Enterprize after having tarried above a
his Friends charging all his misfortunes upon disloyalty of the Earls and Barons that refus'd him aid whom therefore he fin'd first the seventh part of their Goods after that the thirteenth part of all their Moveables and not content with the aid of their Purses forced them at last with the hazard of their Persons to attend him in the prosecution of a no less chargeable then disadvantageous War where the recovery of part of his own indangered the total loss of their own Estates This as it was grievous to the Subject in general so more particularly to the Nobility being most of them descended out of Normandy and by his ill management shut out of their ancient Inheritances there had no other satisfaction for their Losses but by improving what was left here who finding themselves thus doubly damnified were inraged to that degree that using a Martial freedom sutable to the necessity of that stimulation by which they were urg'd they began to recollect all the wrongs done them by his Grandfather Father and Brother and to shew they were in earnest insisted upon renewing the great Charter of their Liberties neither were they unprovided of Arguments or Arms this contumacy of theirs being countenanced by the sullen Retirement of his own Brother Jeoffry the Archbishop who chose rather to cast himself into voluntary Exilement then submit any longer to his Tyranny In vain now demands he Pledges of their Faith whilst they believed him himself to have none Sending to the Lord Bruce for his Son to be deliver'd as an Hostage to him he receiv'd an answer from the Mother which it seems exprest the affections if not the sense of the Father That they would not commit their Son to his keeping who was so ill a keeper of his own Brothers Son which rash return cost him afterward his Estate her her life with the loss of two for the saving one only Child a Revenge so fully executed that it could meet with no counterbuff but what must come from Heaven Here began the breach that disjoynted the whole frame of his Government the King resolving to keep what by advantage of time and sâ—fferance he had got the Barons continuing as obstinately bent to recover what their Predecessors had so tamely lost Both sides prepare for War and whilst they face and parle like men loath to ingage yet scorning to quit their Cause either alike confident to hope the best and not unlike active to prevent the worst a new accident parted them by presenting a new Enemy which made the War give place as it were to a single Combat The Pope not allowing the King the Priviledge of Nominating a Successor to the deceased Arch-Bishop of Canterbury he makes a Truce I cannot call it a Peace with his Domestick Adversaries to try his Fortune with his Forreign Foe The Contest was not like that of Jacob and Esau who should be born first but like that of Caesar and Pompey who should be uppermost Now as desire of Rule brought these two great Champions into the List so the confidence each other had in his strength and skill to handle his Weapon made them unreconcileable The Pope made the first Pass who threatning to interdict the Kingdom was answer'd with a Menace of confiscating all the Lands of the Clergy and banishing their Persons The second Thrust given by his Holiness was a Threat of Excommunication of the Kings Person To this he returned that he would utterly disavow his Authority Thus far they were upon the even Terms and as it were hit for hit upon the next Pass they closed and as men desperately bent either maked good his Charge The Pope shuts up the Church doors the King those of the Cloysters the first took away all the Sacraments leaving the dead to bury the dead without Priest Prayer or Procession The last seized on all the Ecclesiastical Revenues and disposed them into Lay-hands Whilst they were thus in close grapple the King of France appeared as second to the Triple Crown Had the Barons then stept in as second to their King they had not only made good their own Honour as well as his but probably had secur'd the Liberties they contended for without any force there being more to be hoped for from this Kings Generosity then his Justice but which was most degenerous and leaves a stain upon their memory never to be washed off they finding him thus overlaid turn'd all their points upon his back poyson'd with the venome of the most opprobrious Calumnies that ever Majesty suffer'd under the Infamy of being not only a Tyrant but an Infidel all which he was fain to bear with more Constancy of Mind then Fortune But as we see a wild Boar when beaten out of breath chuses rather to dye upon the Spears of the Hunters then to be wearied by the Dogs so his Rancor turning into disdain he yielded to his Nobler Enemies and chose rather then not have his Revenge upon them whom he thought God and Nature had put under his dispose to humble himself to the Church hoping as 't is thought by their Keys to unlock the Rebels Power but over-acting his Revenge he stoop'd so low that the Crown fell from his Head which the Popes Legate taking up kept three dayes before he thought fit to restore it verifying thereby the Prediction of a poor innocent Hermite who foretold that there should be no King of England which however it was true yet being in some sense untrue too 't was in the Prerogative of him who never spar'd where he could shed Blood to make his own Interpretation which cost the poor Prophet his Life The Barons finding him thus incens'd and seeing how to make good his Revenge he had quit his Soveraignty they resolv'd to quit their Allegiance to make good their Security intending to call in the Dolphin of France and swear Fealty to him whilst the Common People were left to their Election whether to take the wrong King that promis'd to do them Right or the right King that persisted to do them so much wrong who as little understanding the Principles of Religion as the dictates of Reason the Bonds of Command and Obedience that should hold them together seem'd so wholly slackned that there was upon the Matter no other Tye on them then that of their Interest which sway'd them variously according to the divers Measures they took of it But as there are many Ligaments in a State that bind it so fast together that 't is a hard thing to dissolve them altogether unless by an universal concurrence of Causes that produce a general alteration thereof it being seldom seen of what temper soever Kings are but that they find under the greatest desertion imaginable a very considerable Party to stand by them upon the accompt of Affection or Ambition Honour or Conscience so this King the first of England we find put to this streight had yet many Members of Note and Power besides his chief
Officers whom their places confirm'd that stuck close to him and serv'd him to the last by whose Assistance he not only recover'd Ireland reduced Wales and kept those of Scotland to their good behaviour but notwithstanding all the Troubles he had at home forc'd the Chief men of either Place to give him as the manner was in those dayes their Children to be pledges of their future Subjection by which may be guest how far he had gone in the Recovery of his Transmarime Dominions had not the cross-grain'd Barons stood it out as they did who refusing to aid or attend him until he was absolv'd by the Pope and after he was absolv'd stopt until he had ratified their Priviledges and after they had the Grant of their Priviledges declined him yet until they had back the Castles he had taken from them resolv'd it seems to have both Livery and Seisin of their ancient Rights but whilst they thus over-bent the Bow they made it weak and unserviceable the visible force us'd upon him in bringing him to that Concession unloosing the Deed and taking so much from the validity of so solemn an Act by the bare illegality of their Coertion that his new Friend the Pope to whom themselves forced him to reconcile himself thought it but a reasonable recompence of his Humility towards him to discharge him from all his Condiscentions towards them dispensing with his Oath by which all the Agreement was bound and by definitive Sentence declaring the whole Compact null which was confirm'd by the Excommunication of the Barons till they submitted to the Sentence Here the Scene chang'd again and now the Pope being ingag'd on the Kings side the French King on the Rebels behold the whole Kingdom in Arms but because there were so few to be trusted at home the King sends for Forces abroad whereof he had so great Supplies that had there not been which is almost incredible to relate no less then forty thousand Men Women and Children drown'd coming over Sea out of Flanders he had even eat his way out to a Conquest of his own People as universal but more miserable then that of the Norman for with those he had left he marched over most of the Kingdom in less then half a years space reduced all the Barons Castles to the very Borders of Scotland and made himself once more absolute Master of all the Cities of note London only excepted which in regard of their united Power being so desperate as they were he thought not safe to attack This Extremity of the Barons drew over the French King in person to their relief who making incredible speed to land at Sandwich as quickly became Master of all Kent Dover only excepted which never would yield through which marching up to London he was there received with such universal joy that several great Lords quitting King John came to render themselves to him In the mean time the Pope pursued him with an Excommunication to please King John who all this while acted the part of a General so well beyond that of a King that many who never obeyed him in Peace were content to follow him through the War It was near a year that this unhappy Kingdom continued thus the Theatre of Rapine and Cruelty enduring the oppression and horrour of two great Armies headed by two great Kings each chasing the other with alternate Successes through the most fertile parts of the Isle till it pleased Providence in Mercy to the innocent People to take off this Indomitable Prince whose heart long flaw'd with continual Crosses broke at last by the slight stroke of a small loss the miscarriage of some few of his Carriages which in passing the Washes betwixt Lynn and Boston were it seems overtaken by the Tyde a misfortune which though of no great Consideration yet falling out in such a juncture of time when the Indisposition of his Body added not a little to that of his Mind carried him out of the World with no less Violence then he forced into it who however born to make himself Enemies had yet perhaps been happy enough had not himself been the very greatest Enemy himself had Upon his Death the King was crown'd as his unfortunate Father and Uncle before him the second time being willing the World should know he was now arriv'd at a degree of understanding to rule by himself which occasion the jealous Barons took hold of to press again for the Confirmation of their Liberties the Denyal whereof had cost his Father so dear This put him to a pause and that discover'd his inclination though not his intent for by not denying he hop'd to be thought willing to grant and yet not granting he had the vanity to be thought not to yield But this cunctation of his which shew'd him to be his Fathers own Son plunged him into such a Gulf of mistrust before he was aware of it that it was nothing less then a Miracle he had not perish'd in it for as he could never get clear out of it all his Reign the longest that ever any King of England had so he was necessitated as all shifting men are that entertain little designes they are asham'd or afraid to own to make use from that time of such Ministers onely as in serving him would be sure to serve their own turns upon him which reduced him to that indigence that had he not found out a way to prey upon them as they upon the People he had undoubtedly perished as never King did being at one time come so near to Beggery that for want of Provisions at his own he was forc'd to invite himself shamefully to other mens Tables his Credâ—t being brought so low that he could not take up an hundred Marks and his Spirit so much lower that he told one that deny'd him that Sum that it was more Alms to give him then to a Begger that went from Door to Door A speech betraying so strange abjection that it takes off the wonder of those affronts put upon him afterwards when a weak Woman durst tax him to his face with breach of faith and honour and a pitiful Priest threaten him with being no King when a private Lord durst give him the Lie publickly and tell him he was no Christian and which is undecent to tell had it not been so well known one of his * Hubert de Bâ—ughâ— was charg'd to have said thus own servants call'd him Squint-ey'd Fool and Leaper The first great action he was ingaged in was the recovery of the Ground his Father lost in France into which he was drawn not so much out of affectation of Glory as by the Solicitation of his Father in Law Hugh Earl of March who having a quarrel with the Queen Dowager of France upon the accompt of some dispute that had pass'd between her and his Wife the Queen Dowager of England call'd in the King her Son to take advantage of the present discontent Divers of the
great men of Poictou Britain and Normandy being offended that the Regency of the young King should be committed to a Woman and a Spaniard But this design ending with like precipitation as it was begun after the Expence of some Blood and more Treasure neither of which he could well spare he return'd home attended with a petty Army of those Poictovins and Britains who by taking his part had forfeited their own Estates at home These therefore he conceiv'd himself obliged in point of honour to provide for and which way to do it but by displacing such of his principal Officers who were in places of greatest benefit he knew not These were his Cheif-Justiciary his High Treasurer and the Marshal of his Houshold upon whom therefore he permitted the envious Rabble to discharge a volly of accusations to the end that driving them out with shame and loss he might fill up their places with those strangers These great Pillars for they were men whose wisdom he had more need of then they of his favour being thus thrown down and broken to peices by their fall so shook the whole frame of his Throne that every body expected when he would have fallen himself too divers of the Nobility that were nearest to him removing themselves for fear of the worst Amongst the rest was that famous Richard who after the death of his brother William was Earl Marshal a man questionless of great honour and Probity who finding his violences to increase being heightned by the ill advice of the two Peters De Rupibus and De Rivallis the one a Britain t'other a Poictovin now become the two great Ministers of State combined with the rest of the English Nobility to fetch him off from these Rocks first intreating and after threatning him that unless he would put these and all other strangers from him they would remove both him and them and chuse another King Upon this bold menace the plainest and boldest that Subjects could give a Prince De Rupibus advised him to require pledges for their Allegiance which they refusing to give without any Process of Law he causes them to be Proclaym'd Out-laws and Seizes on all their Lands with the profits whereof he rewards the Poictovins This brought both Parties to Arm again with like animosity but more Cruelty then in his Fathers time So that for two years together there was no cessation from all the violences and depredations that usually attend a civil War till the Bishops finding by the much blood had been shed that the heat on either side was much abated interpos'd with the King to do the Barons reason and forc'd him to yeild though he could not consent to a restoration of their Lands and Liberties and to the banishment of all strangers This however proved to be but a temporary shift which the present necessity of his affaires drove him to for not long after the two great Incendiaries were admitted again to Grace and so near came he to the example of his Father as to endeavour a revocation of his Grants by the Popes Authority being done as he alleadged beyond his Power and without consent of the Church by which harsh Intention though it took not effect it is scarce imaginable how much he added to the conceiv'd displeasure of the People to whom however he had no regard till he had wasted himself so far by his profusion and supine Stupidity that he was reduc'd through extremity of want to truckle under his Parliaments who knowing their own Power and his dependence on them for money for as a modern * Sir R. Bakeâ— Vit. H. 3. writer observes his taxations were so many they may be reckon'd amongst his annual revenues scarce any year passing without a Parliament but no Parliament breaking up without a Tax as so many Tyrants press'd no less upon him one way then he upon them the other till at last he became as weary of asking as they of giving him supplies and having no other means to maintain his Riot after he had canvass'd his Officers by chopping and changing of places and rais'd what he could without right or reason he fell to selling his Lands mortgaged Gascoin pawn'd his Jewels and after his Crown and when he had neither Credit nor pawns of his own left he expos'd the Jewels and Ornaments of Saint Edwards Shrine to whoever would lay down most for them After this he preyd upon the Jews the People that always felt the weight of his necessities Neither were his Christian Subjects so free but that he found means to squeeze them by Loans Benevolences and New-years gifts all which not sufficing he fell at last to down-right Beggery and sent to the Clergy men for several Summes to be given him as Alms. And being reduc'd to this incredible lowness when he found he could not prevail upon their Charity he try'd how far he could work upon their piety by pretending to undertake the Cross but that Project failing him too the last and most fatal shift he had was to resign to the King of France whatever right he had in the Dutchy of Normandy the Earldoms of Anjou Poictou Tourene and Main and all for no more then three hundred Crowns and that of Anjovin money too a pitiful Summ to redeem a half lost Crown The Prince likewise unfortunately participating in the wants of his Father was driven to Mortgage several pieces of his Lands too to supply his Particular Necessities And now all things being gone that were valuable or vendible the Barons finding him naked and disarm'd thought not fit to delay the matter longer but being call'd to that fatal Parliament at Oxford in a hot season of the year when all their bloods were boyling and out of temper without more debate they first secur'd London the onely Magazine to begin a Rebellion by shutting up the Gates and after secur'd the Kingdom by shutting up the Ports to prevent the inlet of Strangers appointing twenty four Conservators as they call'd them to manage the Government whereof twelve were to be nam'd by the King twelve by themselves But he thinking it too great a Diminution of his Majesty to consent to any nomination of his own left their twelve call'd the Douze Peers to take the Reâ—ormation into their hands who displacing aâ—l whom they pleas'd to call Evil Counsellors left none about him that were able or perhaps willing to give him advice and grew so insolent at last as to banish amongst other Strangers some of his nearest Relations Out of these as it happens upon all Changes where the People are to be amus'd with Novelty there was chosen afterwards a Triumvirate to be Super-intendent over the Twelve These were the Earl of Leicester the Earl of Gloucester and the Lord Spencer to whom the three great Ministers of State the Chancellor the High-Treasurer and the Chief Justiciar were appointed humble assistants And because 't was believ'd that the Liberty of the People depended on the
maintenance of their Authority the King himself was compell'd by Oath as he was a Man a Christian a Knight a King Crown'd and anointed to uphold them and acquit them of their Legal Obedience whensoever he went about to infringe the great Charter by which they held this Prerogative Here they had him bound up hand and foot with that Curse upon him which his Father of all others most dreaded and with which his Flatterers most terrified him whenever the Dispute of Liberty came in question of being a King without a Kingdom a Lord without a Dominion a Subject to his Subjects for they had invaded his Majesty usurp'd his Authority and made themselves so far Masters of his Person that they might seize it whenever they pleas'd to declare for a Common-wealth And now to make the Affront more notable as if they had forgotten what was the Fundamental Grievance on which their Usurpation was grounded the Entertainment of Strangers they take a Stranger to head them making Monford who was a French man by Birth and Descent their Chief who having designs of his own different from theirs as the Earl of Gloucester his Compeer found when 't was too late indeavour'd so to widen all Differences betwixt King and People that if possible there might never be a right Understanding betwixt them The King therefore well knowing his Malice and not being ignorant of his Ambition fell first upon him causing the Lord Mortimer to break in amongst his Tenants who quickly righted himself upon those of Mortimer's with whom the Prince thereupon took part as Llewellin Prince of Wales with t'other The Prince takes Brecknock-Castle Monford that of Gloucester and after that those of Worcester and Shrewsbury from whence he marched directly to the Isle of Ely without Resistance The King fearing his approach to London like those who to save their Lives in a Storm are content to sling their Goods overboard demanded a Peace and willingly yielded up all his Castles into the hands of the Barons to the intent they might be as a publick Security for the inviolable Observation of the Provisions of Oxford conceding to the banishment of all the Strangers that were left This Condescention of his however occasion'd rather a Truce then a Peace of which he had this benefit to gain time till he could be better provided A Parliament being hereupon call'd at London the freedom of Debate there renew'd the Quarrel and each side confident of the Justice of their Arms at Northampton they came to Battel which however it was well fought yet the worst Cause had the worst Success The Barons were beaten and amongst other Prisoners of note that were then taken was the young Monford the Heir and Hope of his Father Leicester and Fortune thus uniting with Authority made the Barons stoop though they could not submit to beg the Peace they had before refus'd wherein being rejected with scorn they became desperate who were before but doubtful which Leicester perceiving and being a man skilful in such advantages took that opportunity to bring them to a second Battel in which he supply'd his want of Hands with a Stratagem that shew'd he had no want of Wit placing certain Ensigns without Men on the side of a Hill not far from the place where he gave the onset whereby he so fortunately amuz'd the Enemy that he easily obtain'd a Victory and such an one as seem'd to turn the Scale beyond all possibility of Recovery For in it were taken the King himself his Brother the late King of the Romans the Prince and most of the principal Lords and by killing Five thousand of the common People on the place he so terrified all the rest of the Royal Party that for a year and an half afterwards no body durst look him in the Face all which time he spent in reducing the Kingdom under his own dispose putting in and out whom he pleas'd and filling up all places Military and Civil with Creatures of his own carrying the King about with him as a skilful Rebel to countenance the Surrender of Towns and Castles to him continuing thus the insolence of his Triumph till it swell'd to that disproportionate Greatness that his Confederate Gloucester began to be jealous if not afraid of it and out of that Distrust quarrel'd with him upon pretence of not having made equal distribution of the Spoil nor Prisoners charging him to have releas'd whom he pleas'd and at what rate without the consent of the rest of the Confederacy urging further that he did not suffer a Parliament to be conven'd as was agreed betwixt them to the end himself might be Arbitrary Lastly objected that his Sons were grown Insolent by his Example and had affronted several of the adhering Barons who would have satisfaction of him During this Dispute the Prince by connivance of some of the discontented Faction broke Prison to whom Gloucester joyn'd himself and rallying together the scatter'd Parties that had long attended the advantage of such a turn they made themselves so considerable that in short time they were able to bring the business to a poise Leicester put it to the Decision of another Battel but not without apparent dispondency as appears by what he said when they were going to give the first Charge for he told those Lords that were nearest him That they would do well to commit their Souls to God for that their Bodies were the Enemies However he omitted nothing that might speak him as he was a brave and valiant General till his Son first and after himself were slain at the instant of whose fall there happen'd such a Clap of Thunder as if Heaven it self had fought against him and that none could have given him his death but that power to which he owed his life And so the King was rid of him whom he once declar'd to have been more affraid of then of Lightning and Thunder a Person too great for a Subject and something too little to be a King But had he as he was descended from the stock of * His Father was Simon youngest Son of Simon Earl of Fureux descended from Almerick base Son of Robert sirnam'd the Holy King of France Kings master'd the Fate of this day he had undoubtedly made himself one and broke off the Norman Line to begin a new Race not less noble This happy Victory gave the King some ease but 't was not in the power of any Force to give him perfect rest whilst the distemperature of the Time was such that the Wound which seem'd perfectly heal'd broke out afresh Gloucester himself though he had deserted his old Competitor Leicester would not yet quit the good old Cause but imbracing the very first Occasion of Discontent he met with retired three years after from Court and having got new Forces sinds out new Evil Counsellors to remove Mortimer the great Man of merit with the King is now become the Object of his Envy and rather then not have
his Head he resolves once more to venture his own In the mean time those of the Isle of Ely the remainder of Leicester's Party that had held out from the time of his death with incredible courage and patience taking new life and hope from this Revolt make many excursions and spoils to the great charge and vexation of the King and the Publick Neither could the Pope 's Legate prevail with him to come in though upon tearms safe and honourable tendering the Publick Faith of the Kingdom and which was then thought greater that of the Church to them So much were they transported with the Opinion of their Cause or by the falshood of their hopes till this stubbornness of theirs provok'd the King to raise a new Army the Command whereof was given to his Son Edward that prosperous Prince whose Fortune then being not able to resist he had the honour to conclude that War and consequently to put a Period to all his Fathers turmoâ—ls who being shaken at the Root did not long survive the happiness of that tranquillity the end of whose Troubles were the beginning of his own ingaging upon the conclusion of that in a War so much more dangerous by how much more distant the benefit whereof was to be expected only in the other World this was that Undertaking in the Holy Land which separating him from his Father beyond all hope of ever seeing him again gave some occasion to question the old Kings Understanding others his good Nature But as the great concerns of Religion are as much above Reason as that is beyond Sense so we must impute that to the resolute Zeal of the Son which we cannot allow for Devotion in the Father who had he had any thoughts of going into the other World as his great Age might have prompted him to would rather have taken care for a Grave for himself then for so hopeful a Successor who only by seeking Death escap'd it Now whether the ingratitude of the Clergy or the Ambition of the temporal Lords were a greater tryal of his wisdom or Power I know not but the course he took to reduce either to terms of modesty and submission shows the world he had no want of understanding however he was forc't to put up the front of his Lay-peers in order to the facillitating his Revenge upon the other whom he mortified by a strain of State which none of his Ancestors durst venture upon Whilst he not only put them out of his Protection but all men out of theirs denying them not only his favour but his Justice not only the benefit of his ordinary Courts but the priviledg of sitting in that higher Court of Parliament A severity not to give any worse name to it of so acrimonious a nature that it not only expos'd them to all the injuries and affronts triumphant malice and scorn could put upon them but was made more intollerable and grievous by his docking their Revenues as after he did by several * Stat. 3 Edw. 1. cap. 19.33 Stat. cont formum collation Statute Laws amongst which I cannot but take notice though by the By of the particular contempt express'd in that odd Statute aginst †Stat. de Asportatis Religiosorum c. An. 3 cap. 34. ravishment where it is declared Felony to use force to any Lay-Woman and only a trespass to ravish a Nun. Neither was it thought enough to make what abscission he thought fit without their greatness were rendred incapable of any further growth to which intent he cauteriz'd if I may so say the wounds he had given them by that Statute of ‖ An. 3. C. 32. Mort-main which as it was the most fatal of all others to them so it might have prov'd so to himself had he not at the same time he thus disoblig'd them oblig'd the Laity by another suppos'd to be the wisest Law that ever was made to wit that of Westminster the second entituled De Donis Conditionalibus which tending so much to the preservation of particular Families and adding to their greatness no less then their continuance is by some Historians call'd Gentilitium Municipale and had this good effect that it brought the temporal Nobility firmly to adhere to him against the Pope when amongst many others that intituled themselves to the Soveraignty of Scotland a Kingdom too near to be lost for want of putting a claim his Holiness became his Rival and thought to carry it as part of St. Peter's Patrimony This Victory at home which brought the proud Prelates to purchase his Justice at a dearer rate then probably they might have paid for his mercy had their submission been as early as it was afterwards earnest I take to be much greater then all those he had got abroad by how much fortune had no share in it and fame was the least part of his gains extending to give him not long after as great an advantage over the Lay Nobility whom having first discern'd of their Patronage wholly and of their other priviledges in a very great part he did as it were cudgel them into Submission by the authority of his * vid. lib. Assis fol. 141.57 Trail Baston a commission which however it were directed to the Majors Sheriffs Bayliffs Escheators c. and so seem'd to have been aim'd at those of the lower rank onely which were guilty of those Enormities of Champorty Extortion Bribery and intrusion crimes much in fashion in those days yet by a back blow it knockt down several of the great Men who either countenanc'd or comply'd with the offenders and which was more terrible this writ was kept as a Weapon in the Kings hands to use as he saw occasion And to say truth he was so expert at it and indeed at all other points of skill that brought him in any profit that he was too hard at last for the Lawyers themselves those great masters of defence Canvasing his Judges as well as his Bishops when he found both alike rich both alike corrupt Beyond these he could not descend to the consideration of any Criminal save the Jews only for whom perhaps it had been no great Injustice to have taken their Estates if at least he could have been prevail'd with to have spar'd their Lives but as so great Courage as he had would not be without some mixture of Cruelty so 't is the less wonder to see that Cruelty heightened by Covetousness as that Avarice by Ambition the adding to his Treasure by these Exactions being in order to the adding to his Dominions which were not yet so entire as consistent with his safety much less the Glory he aim'd at Wales being then as a Canton of the same Piece divided by a small seam which yet had a Prince of their own blood descended from the antient Stock of the Unconquer'd Britains who it seems had so little sense of the inequality of Power betwixt them that he had given this King great provocations
as often as any advantage was offer'd to him during the Barons War playing fast and loose sometimes as an Enemy otherwhile as a Friend as it made for his turn and having it alwayes in his Power by being in Conjunction with Scotland without which he had been inconsiderable to disturb the Peace of England at his pleasure never neglected any occasion where he might gain Repute to himself or booty for his People Upon him therefore he fastened the first Domestick War he had entring his Country like Jove in a storm with Lightning and Thunder the Terrour whereof was so resistless that that poor Prince was forc'd to accept whatsoever terms he would put upon him to obtain a temporary Peace without any other hope or comfort then what he deriv'd from the mental reservation he had of breaking it again as soon as he return'd whereunto he was not long after tempted by the delusion of a mistaken Prophesie of that false Prophet Merlin who having foretold that he should be crown'd with the Diadem of Brute fatally heightened his Ambition to the utter destruction both of himself and Country with whom his innocent Brother the last of that Race partaking in life and death concluded the Glory of the ancient British Empire which by a kind of Miracle had held out so many hundred years without the help of Shipping Allyance or Confederation with any Forreign Princes by the side of so many potent Kings their next Neighbours who from the time of the first entrance of the English suffer'd them not to enjoy any quiet though they vouchsafed them sometimes Peace Wales being thus totally reduced by the irrecoverable fall of Llewellen and David the last of their Princes that were ever able to make resistance and those ignorant People made thereby happier then they wish'd themselves to be by being partakers of the same Law and Liberty with those that conquer'd them he setled that Title on his eldest Son and so passed over into France to spend as many years abroad in Peace as he had done before in War in which time he renew'd his League with that Crown accommodated the Differences betwixt the Crowns of Scicily and Arragon and shew'd himself so excellent an Arbitrator that when the right of the Crown of Scotland upon his return home came to be disputed with Six some say Ten Competitors after the death of Alexander the Third the Umpirage was given to him who ordered the matter so wisely that he kept off the final Decision of the main Question as many years as there were Rivals put in for it deferring Judgment till all but two only were disputed out of their Pretensions These were Baliol and Bruce the first descended from the elder Daughter of the right Heir the last from the Son of the younger who having as 't was thought the weaker Title but the most Friends King Edward privately offered him the Crown upon Condition of doing Homage and Fealty to him for it the greatness of his Mind which bespoke him to be a King before he was one suffer'd him not to accept the terms whereupon King Edward makes the same Proposition to Baliol who better content it seems with the outside of Majesty accepted the Condition But see the Curse of ill-got Glory shewing himself satisfied with so little he was thought unworthy of any being so abhor'd of his People for it that upon the first occasion they had to quarrel with his Justice as who should say they would wound him with his own Weapon they appeal'd to King Edward who thereupon summon'd him to appear in England and was so rigid to him upon his appearance he would permit none else to plead his Cause but compell'd him in open Parliament to answer for himself as well as he could This being an Indignity so much beneath the sufferance of any private Person much more a King sunk so deep into his Breast that meditating nothing after but Revenge as soon as he return'd home securing himself first by a League and Allyance with the King of France to whose Brothers Daughter he married his Son he renounced his Allegiance and defied King Edward's Power no less then he did his Justice This begat a War betwixt the two Nations that continued much longer then themselves being held up by alternate Successes near three hundred years a longer dated difference perhaps then is to be found in any other Story of the World that Rancor which the Sword bred increasing continually by the desire of Revenge till the one side was almost wholly wasted t'other wholly wearied Baliol the same time King Edward required him to do Homage for Scotland here prevailed with the French King to require the like from him for his Territories there this began the Quarrel that the Division by which King Edward which may seem strange parting his Greatness made it appear much greater whilst himself advanc'd against Baliol and sent his Brother the Earl of Lancaster to answer the King of France Baliol finding himself overmatch'd as well as over-reach'd renew'd his Homage in hopes to preserve his Honour But King Edward resolving to bind him with stronger Fetters then Oaths sent him Prisoner into England whereby those of that Country wanting not only a Head but a Heart to make any further resistance he turn'd his Fury upon the King of France hastning over what Forces he could to continue that War till himself could follow after But Fortune being preingaged on the other side disposed that whole Affair to so many mistakes that nothing answered Expectation and which was worse the Fame of his Male-Adventures spirited a private person worthy a greater * Wallis Name then he had to rise in Scotland who rallying together as many as durst by scorning Misery adventure upon it defied all the Forces of England so fortunately that he was once very near the redeeming his despairing Country-men and had he had less Vertue might possibly have had more success For scorning to take the Crown when he had won it a Modesty not less fatal to the whole Nation then himself by leaving room for Ambition he made way for King Edward to Re-enter the second time who by one single Battel but fought with redoubled Courage made himself once more Lord of that miserable Kingdom all the principal Opposers Wallis only excepted crowding in upon Summons to swear Fealty the third time to him This had been an easie Pennance had they not together with their Faith resigned up their Laws and Liberties and that so servilely that King Edward himself judging them unworthy to be continued any longer a Nation was perswaded to take from them all the Records and Monuments whereby their Ancestors had recommended any of Glory to their Imitation Amongst other of the Regalia's then lost was that famous Marble Stone now lodg'd in Westminster-Abby wherein their Kings were crown'd in which as the Vulgar were perswaded the Fate of their Country lay for that there was an ancient Prophesie
his Bowels Of the two Murtherers one was taken and butcher'd at Sea t'other dyed in Exile perhaps more miserable And for the Nobility in general that were Actors in the Tragedy they had this Curse upon them that most of their Race were cut off by those Civil Discords of their divided Families to which this strange violation gave the first beginning not long after HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE DIEV ET MON DROIT He was a Prince of that admirable composure of Body and Mind that Fortune seem'd to have fallen in Love with him and as she contributed much to the making him a King and yet more to the preserving him so so she elevaâ—ed him so far above the reach of Envy or Treachery that all the Neighbour Princes dazled with the splendor of his Glory gave place to him not so much out of any sense of their own defects as of his power whereof they could not but have some glimpse as well as himseâ—f who from his very first Ascent unto the Throne had a prospect of two Crowns more then he was born to the one placed within his reach which was that of Scotland to which there needed no more but an imaginary Right to gain him the Possession the other more remote which was that of France but better secur'd in respect of a reputative Title which however oppos'd could not be deny'd To the attaining the first there was a fair opportunity offer'd by the unreconcileable contest of two well-match'd Rivals whose Right and Interest were so evenly poys'd that the least grain of his Power might turn the Scale either way to the Recovery of the other there was yet a fairer Opportunity given him by the Revolt of Philip of Artois one of the first Princes of the Blood of that Kingdom and Brother in Law to the present King Philip de Valois who being incens'd by a Judgment given against him for the County of Artois recover'd by his Aunt the Dutchess of Burgoigne came over into England with a Resolution to set aside his Title who had before set aside his Neither wanted he a Power suitable to his desired Revenge for being well acquainted with the secrets of that Kings Councel all which he reveal'd to King Edward and being able to give him good security for the affections of several of the chief Governours there that depended on him 't is no marvel he so quickly blew that spark of Glory which he found wrapt up in the Embers of King Edward's ambitious Thoughts into such a Flame as threatning the Destruction of that goodly Country made all Christendom afraid of the Consequence The great Question of Right betwixt the two greatest Kings of Europe being thus set up which in effect was no more then this Whether the French King should take place as Heir Male of the Collateral and more remote Line or the English King as Heir of the Female but direct Line and one degree nearer Those of the other side the Water obstinately refus'd to tye their Crown as they said to a Distaff to which King Edward reply'd he would then tye it to his Sword Upon this they joyn'd Issue and both sides prepar'd for the decision by Arms. King Philip had a double advantage of the English first in the Loyalty and Affections of the French as being their Natural Prince secondly by the authority of the Salique Law which however it was not so clear but that it might admit of much dispute yet being back'd with a Possession which made up eleven of the twelve Points controvertable there having been a Succession of three Sons of Philip le Bell Queen Isabels Father by whom King Edward claim'd each inheriting Successively as the next Heir Male notwithstanding each of them left Daughters by which the present King Philip came now in as Heir Masculine it seem'd so like an adjudged Case that King Edward thinking it better to cut the Knot then lose time in trying to untie it resolv'd to put it to the Determination of a Battel This Resolution of his was so lowdly proclaim'd every where abroad as well as at home that like Thunder before a Storm the very noise of his Preparations made all Christendom shake and so shake that it fell into Parties the Princes of each Country round about like Herdsmen before a Tempest flying some to one side some to another all seeking rather to shelter themselves then to add any thing to the Party they flew to With the English King took part the Emperor and all the Princes of Germany of the first Rank the Arch-Duke of Austria and the Earl of Flanders only excepted whose People yet were on this side for their Trades sake the Earl of Holland the Dukes of Brabant and Gelders the Marquess of Juliers the Arch-bishop of Cologne and Valeran his Brother and divers of the more Northern Princes With the French were the King of Bohemia the two Dukes of Austria and the Earl of Flanders before mention'd the Bishop of Metz the Marquiss of Montferrat the Earl of Geneva the Duke of Savoy and divers of the Princes of Italy to the number saith Du Hailan of 10000 Persons and which perhaps was more considerable by how much he was nearer then all the rest was his inraged Brother in Law David Bruce King of Scots a weak but a restless Enemy who had reason to take part with the other side for that he as t'other fought against a Competitor too King Edward having set up Baliol to vie with him What the number of the English Forces were is not certain unless we may guess at them by the Charges of their Entertainment which as Walsingham tells us cost us not so little as One hundred thousand pounds Sterling in less then a years time a vast Sum for those days but very well repaid with the Glory of the two Confederate Kings Ransoms who being both taken Prisoners and brought into England the first to wit the King of Scots redeem'd himself for 10000 Marks the last to wit the King of France payed for his Liberty Three millions of Crowns of Gold whereof Six hundred thousand were laid down presently and Four hundred thousand more the Year after and the Remainder the next two years following The Captivity of these two Kings at one time shews at once the Power and Glory of this great King who riding triumphant on the wings of Fortune never wanted the means to make or continue himself Victorious and prevailing no less over his own Subjects then over his Enemies these subdued by his Wisdom as those by his Courage Some have made it a doubt whether he got more by his Scepter or his Sword the benefit of Ransoms abroad notwithstanding the many Princes taken Prisoners being much short of the Aids given him at home so that they that have taken the pains to state his Accompts reckon that out of that one single Imposition upon Wool which continued Six years he was able to
dispend a thousand Marks a day which I have the rather noted to shew how the Kingdom flourish'd as well as the King gaining as all wise States do by their layings out for the whole Revenues of the Crown in his Grand-fathers days were esteem'd to be not much above a hundred thousand Marks a year Five years the French King continued Prisoner here in England time enough to have determin'd the Fortune of that great Kingdom and dissolv'd their Canton'd Government into parts had it not been a Body consisting of so many strong Limbs and so abounding with Spirits that it never fainted notwithstanding all its loss of Blood but scorn'd to yield though King Edward came very near their heart having wounded them in the most mortal part their Head The Scotch King could not recover his Liberty in double the time being the less able to redeem himself for that he was upon the matter but half a King the other half being in the possession of Baliol who to secure a Moyety to himself surrendred the whole to King Edward whose Magnificence vying with his Justice he gave it back again upon Terms more befitting a Brother then a Conqueror shewing therein a Wantonness that no King perhaps besides himself would have been guilty of nor probably he neither had either his People been less bountiful to him or Fortune less constant which to say truth never forsook him till he like his Father forsook himself leaving all Action and bidding adieu to the World ten years before he went out of it declining so fast from the fortieth year of his Government that it may rather be said his famous Son Prince Edward commonly call'd the Black Prince reign'd then he and happy 't was for him that when his own Understanding fail'd him he had so good a Supporter who having it in his power to dispose of Kingdoms whilst he liv'd ought not to be denyed after he dyed the honour of being esteem'd equal to Kings in the Prerogative of a distinct Character Begin we then the Date of his Government from the Battel of Crassy which happening in the Sixteenth year of his Age makes the Computation of his Glory to commence near about the same time his Fathers did who however he was King at fourteen rul'd not till after Mortimer's death by which Battel he so topt the Fortune of France as his Father had that of England that he may be said to have taken thereby Livery in order to the Seisin of that Kingdom And after the Recovery of Calais it may be said the Keys of the Kingdom rather then of that Town were deliver'd into his hand for that he therewith open'd all the Gates of almost every Town he came to till the King of France incompassed him like a Lion in a Toil with no less then 60000 of the best Men of France and brought him to that streight that it seem'd alike disadvantageous to sight or yield and which made the danger more considerable as things then stood England it self was in some hazard of being lost with him here he seem'd to have been as well accomptable to his Country as to his Father for his Courage and Discretion and how well he acquitted himself appears by the Sequel when forcing Hope out of Despair like fire out of a Flint he necessitated his Men to try for Conquest by shewing them how impossible 't was for him to yield and by that incomparable Obstinacy of his made Fortune so enamour'd of his Courage that she follow'd him wherever he went while his Sword made its way to Victory and his Courtesie to the Affections of the Conquer'd whom he treated with that regard and generosity that many of them were gainers by the loss being dismiss'd with honourable Presents that made his second Conquest over them greater then the first the King of France himself being so well pleas'd with his Bondage that he return'd voluntarily into England after he was redeem'd to meet two Kings more that might be Witness of his Respect and Gratitude In short he was as King of England on the other side the Water as his Father was on this side keeping so splendid a Court in Acquitaine that no less then three Kings came to visit him too all at once these were the King of Majorque Navar and Castile the last of which craving Aid of him against an Usurper who was back'd by an Army consisting of no less then One hundred thousand men if the Writers of those times say true was re-instated accordingly by his single power to shew the World that he could as well make Kings as unmake them His second Brother who had the Title of King by marrying with the King of Castile's Daughter and Heir being principally indebted to him for the honour of that Title and it prov'd a fatal Debt both to him and his Son Richard the Second costing the one his Life the other both Life and Kingdom too for as himself never recover'd the health he lost in undertaking that Expedition so his Son never recover'd the disadvantage put upon him afterward by his Uncle Lancaster who by that means having got the Regency of his drooping Father King Edward who tyred with Action rather then Age fatally submitted to the loss of more years of his Government then he got by his unnatural Anticipation from his own Father and suffer'd himself to be buried alive as we may say under his Cradle put fair for setting his Nephew aside but wanting a Colour for so apparent an Injustice his jealous Father the Black Prince having declar'd him his Successor in his life time to prevent all tricks he thought it enough to make way for his Son to do it and accordingly put such an impression of dislike upon the innocent Youth at his very first Edition as prov'd Indelible in his riper years for the very same day he was presented to take his Grandfathers Seat in Parliament as Heir apparent to the Crown being then but eleven years old he taught him to demand a Subsidy purposely to turn the Peoples blood who were then big with their Complaint of Taxes But possibly he is made more splenetick as well as more politick then he was for it was scarce possible to make the Youth more odious then he had made himself before by disgusting those two potent Factions of the Church and the City of London who to shew how weary they were of his governing the old Child his Father would not after his Death let him longer Rule the young Child his Nephew but purposely depos'd him to the end as they said that he might not depose the other Thus this great King ended as ingloriously as he began who having stept into the Throne a little before he should 't is the less wonder he left it a little before it was expected he would especially if we consider that in out-living the best Wife and the best Son in the World he had a little out-liv'd himself being so unfortunate
being to advise at the price of his own Head the Arch bishop of York like a man of great Faith was of Opinion to sight them with such present Strength as the King had trusting to the Justice of the Cause the Dukes of Ireland and Suffolk men of Action but wanting the means were for delivering up Calais to the French King to purchase his Assistance But the Majority of Voices coming from such men whose Fears made them rather wise then honest were for appeasing the Enemy with fair promises till there were a fit opportunity to suppress them the first Proposal was thought very hazardous the second much more besides there was such a bitterness in the Pill that no preparation could make the King to swallow it who not knowing what effect it might have when it was done utterly rejected it upon which they secretly withdrew that gave the Counsel and left him to himself Whereupon the Lords Regent found an opportunity to be admitted to a Parley with him who producing to him Letters from the King of France which they had intercepted pursuant to the Design of bringing in a Forreign Enemy they mov'd him no less by shame then dread of the Consequence to consent to the calling another Parliament Upon the day of the Convention the King came not to the House being infinitely troubled in his mind at News he had just then received of the Earl of Derby's Intercepting the Duke of Ireland who being gone as far as Chester in order to his passing into that Kingdom was set upon by the said Earl and totally defeated who hardly escaping fled into the Low-countries where not long after he dyed The Lords heightened with this Success sent a very harsh Message to him letting him know that they attended him there and if he would not come to the House according to promise they would chuse another King that should hearken to their faithful advice This though it were in effect no other but to tell him they would depose him without his consent if he would not come and consent to be depos'd yet having no Retreat from it but down a steep Precipice he chose rather to compâ—y and put himself under the mercy of Providence then under the uncertainty of their Mercy Upon his first appearance they presented him with a black Roll of those whom he call'd his Friends they his Enemies some to be prescrib'd some to be imprison'd and others banish'd and in this last List there were not only Lords but Ladies found Delinquents Some were accus'd of imbeziling his Treasure others of purloyning his Affection all for robbing him of his Honour whereupon some were to be try'd for their Lives others for their Fortunes and all for their Liberties but in respect of their other great Affairs which were in order to what followed they referred it to the succeeding Parliament not unfitly call'd the Parliament that wrought wonders which contrary to all other Parliaments that used to swear Obedience to the King requir'd an Oath of him himself to observe such Rules and Orders as they should prescribe to him Here now we have this unfortunate Prince brought to the last year of his Rule though not of his Reign beginning then to enter into his Wardship as he call'd it when he thought he was just got out of it All power was put into the hands of the Dukes of Lancaster and Gloucester who managed all Treaties abroad concluded War and Peace as they thought fit and were indeed absolute in every point but the Command of their own Passions and uncontroulable by any but themselves The Duke of Lancaster having now digested the Kingdom in his thoughts procures the Dutchy of Acquitaine to be setled on him as an earnest of what was to follow being the Inheritance of the Crown and descended on the King from Prince Edward his Father and having married up the King to a Child of eight years old by whom 't was impossible he could have Issue with a Portion that scarce defraid the Charge of the Solemnity he secur'd his own Pretensions by Legitimating three of his Bastard Sons in case his lawful Issue should fail The Duke of Gloucester had the same Ambition in his heart as well as the same Blood in his Veins but Nature having put a disadvantage upon him by placing him so far behind being the sixth Son of King Edward the Third he was forc'd to gratifie his Envy instead of his Ambition and rest content with the hopes of doing his Brother a Mischief when time serv'd without any great probability of doing himself good Accordingly he made a Faction who conspir'd with him to seize the King his two Brothers Lancaster and York and to put them all up in Prison and after to execute divers Lords whom he thought to be more his Enemies then their Friends but the end of his Treason being to be himself betray'd by those he made use of Lancaster came thereby to stand single like a great Tree which being at its full height spread his Limbs the wider and grew to be so conspicuous that the succeeding Parliament desired to shelter themselves under the shadow of his power hereupon he reduced the number of the thirteen Regents to seven only which being all his Confidents he with them concluded aforehand all Affairs of moment and directed how they should pass in Parliament An Example not less mischievous to the Kingdom then the King so that now there wanted no more to make him the Soveraign but the putting on the Crown But see the uncertainty of humane Glory Having just finished the great work of his Usurpation an unexpected blow from that invisible hand that turns about the great Wheel of Causes broke the frame of his projection in pieces His Son Henry Duke of Hereford accused by the Duke of Norfolk of Treason was forc'd to purge himself by the Tryal of Combat a Law that might condemn but never acquit him since it was only possible to discharge himself of the danger but never of the suspition of the Crime This being urg'd so far that they were both brought into the List there was no way left to avoid the uncertainty of the Fight but banishment of both wherein though the Duke of Lancaster got the favour to make the Exile of his Son but temporary when the others was perpetual yet the affront that Fortune seem'd to give him by this accidental Disgrace came so near his heart that his Son had no sooner taken leave of his Country but he bid adieu to the World and so left the King once more Hors de page Thus Time and Fortune seem to have conspir'd in vindicating the wrongs of this abused Prince ridding him at once of those two great Corrivals in Power whose Authority had so far outweighed his that they kept him in the condition of a Minor till they had made the People believe him insufficient for Government the one being remov'd beyond all possibility the other beyond all
Loyalty and good Affections 7. That he order'd an Impeachment against those Lords that took upon them the Government by Authority of Parliament Indeavouring to reduce those under the Law that had so apparently broken through all Law 8. That in the management of that Affair he consulted with all the Judges Whereas it had been fitter perhaps to have consulted with all the Sword-men of his Kingdom 9. That he caus'd his Uncle Gloucester to be made away privately at Calais When he found he had not power to take him off publickly at home 10. That he took off the Earl of Arundel 's Head notwithstanding a Charter of Pardon given him but a little before Finding that he continued to abuse his Favour by carrying on the old Conspiracy 11. That he defended himself with Force When the Lords assail'd him with Force 12. That though he had made Proclamation that the Lords whom he Arrested were not Arrested for any Crime of Treason yet when he was better inform'd by his Councel he laid Treason to their Charge and prov'd it 13. That he grievously Fined those that took part with the Lords against him Which being paid out of the Estates forfeited to him was a great Discouragement to all honest men that should ever have a mind to turn Rebels afterwards 14. That when he went over into Ireland he carried with him the Plate and Jewels of the Kingdom Without asking any body leave that he might appear as like a King there as he did here which could not but be very displeasing to them that would have him like one no where Upon these scarce grievous Articles he was depos'd or rather he depos'd himself for the Duke who had laid the Foundation of his Hypocrisie lower then to fear any under-mining refusing by the Example of his Grandfather to accept the Crown unless he would tender it to him he became so humble not only to do so but which was yet viler made it his Suit to the Usurper to accept of it from his hand and as it were brib'd him with the Signet on his own Finger which he deliver'd as a Seal to ratifie his voluntary Resignation Strange Metamorphosis When the Lion instead of indeavouring to take that noble Revenge which makes all the Herd to tremble as often as they see him offended crouches and fawns like a Dog on him that beat him Who was not tempted to quit his Allegiance that saw their King thus turn Traytor to himself making good the dismal Presage of that River which but a little before to the amazement of all men turn'd its natural Course and left the Channel dry forgetting the miserable Example of his Great-grand-father who hoping to save his Life by not strugling for it lost it with more horror and less pity Who knows not that the Prisons of Princes are their Graves from whence they ne're return till the general Resurrection The Usurper could not sleep at all after the Resignation till the depos'd King slept his last the Wrong that he had done him beating a continual Alarm upon his Conscience neither could he eat his meat with alacrity but sighing as he sate at Table bemoan'd his having no Friend so faithful or rather so faithless as to deliver him from his Fears leaving those about him to guess what he meant And no sooner did these Thoughts of his take vent but a ready Paracide taking his Cue to be the Executioner of his black purpose hasted unbidden to the place where the Captive King was and tim'd his Treason so near to that of his Order as to take him off just as he was at meat assailing him with eight Ruffians arm'd with Holberts four of which this wretched King kill'd before he sunk and possibly had deliver'd himself from the rest had not their Captain Paracide Sir Pierce Exon whose Name for Infamy sake must never be forgotten come behind him and beat out his Brains with a Pole-Axe Thus fell Richard the Second as his Great-grand-father Edward the Second and both as unhappily as their Ancestors William and Henry the Second long before neither of whom dyed a dry death the first being kill'd by his own Servant t'other by his own Sons And whether there was any thing fatal in that Number I know not but so it was that the Seconds of those Kings amongst the Danes were not much more fortunate Eric the Second Anlaff the Second and Canute the Second all came as well as those amongst the Normans to untimely Ends the first being butcher'd by the hands of his own Sons the second kill'd upon a mistake by one of his own Domesticks and the last made as it were Felo de se having drunk himself so dead that he fell down with the Cup at his Nose And as amongst the Normans and Danes so 't is observable amongst the English Monarchs that Edward the Second thereupon surnam'd th◠Martyr was murther'd by his Mother in Law and Ethelred the Second though he dyed not a violent scarce dyed a timely death being perfectly worn out with continual Troubles whilst he found himself unable to recover the Consumption either of his Body or his Estate However none of these were yet so unfortunate as this King who being so unwilling and unfit to dye yet contributed most to his own Death HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE And 't is observable that he claim'd in the name of the Father not of his Father for thereby hung a Tale his own Father being but the fourth Son whereas King Richard's Father was the first Son of Edward the Third Secondly he claim'd in the name of the Son forgetting whose Son he put by for King Richard deriv'd himself from Edward the First the eldest Son of Henry the Third he but from Edmond Earl of Lancaster the second Son of that Henry the Third Lastly he claim'd in the Name of the Holy Ghost smothering that check of Conscience which he was afterwards forc'd to reveal when he came to give up the Ghost But this we may the less wonder at if we consider that 't was in a time when the Devil was seen in the likeness of a Frier as our Histories tells us and therefore an Usurper might as well appear in the likeness of a Saint although he had no more Morality then what * Lib. 1. Tacitus observ'd in the Emperor Galba whom he describes to be Magis extra vitia quam cum virtutibus Such was his power that no man contradicted him Heaven having decreed that he should contradict himself for at the same time he made out his Title by Descent he acknowledged that he came in by Conquest assuring the People that every one should enjoy his own as freely as in times of Lawful Succession they are his own words but when he came to treat with Forreign Princes that were as well vers'd in the nature of Politick Treacheries as himself he pretended then to be chosen by the unanimous Consent and
France set forth his own Eloquence and the Kings Title so well deducing his Descent in a direct Line from the Lady Isabel Daughter to Philip the Fourth and Wife to his Grandfather Edward the Second and refuting all the old beaten Arguments brought from the Salique Law to oppose it as being neither consistent with Divinity Reason or Example he at once pleas'd and convinced all his Hearers but most especially the King himself who seem'd to be inspired with a Prophetick confidence of that success which after he had but scorning to steal any Advantage or wrong the Justice of his Title somuch as to seem to doubt 't would be denied before he would make any kind of preparation for the Conquest he sent Ambassadors to Charles the Sixth to demand a peaceable surrender of the Crown to him offering to accept his Daughter with the Kingdom and to expect no other pawn for his Possession till after his death This Message as it was the highest that ever was sent to any free Prince so he intrusted it to those of highest Credit and Trust about him these were his Uncle the Duke of Exeter a man of great esteem as well as of great Name the Arch-bishop of Dublin a very politick Prelate the Lord Gray a man at Arms the Lord High Admiral and the Bishop of Norwich the first as much renown'd for his Courage as the last for his Contrivances to whom for the greater state there was appointed a Guard of five hundred Horse to attend them The Report of this great Embassy as it arriv'd before them so it made such a Report throughout all this side of the World that all the Neighbour Princes like lissening Deer when they hear the noyse of Huntsmen in the Woods began to take the Alarm and consider which side to sly to it being so that England and France never made any long War upon one another but they ingaged all Christendom with them However the Court of France pretending themselves ignorant of the Occasion of their coming dissembled their disdain and treated them with that magnificence as if they had design'd to Complement them out of their business but after the Message was delivered with that faithful boldness that became so great an Affair they were all in that confusion that it was hard to judge whether they were more ashamed incensed or afraid giving such a return as seem'd neither compatible with the honour wisdom or courage of so renown'd a People as they are For first as they did neither deny nor allow the Kings Title but said they would make Answer by Ambassadours of their own So in the next place they were so hasty in their Counsels and the dispatch of their Ambassadors hither that they arriv'd in England almost as soon as those sent hence And lastly at the same time they desired Peace and offer'd to buy it with the tender of some Towns they gave the King an Affront which was a greater Provocation then the denyal of ten such Kingdoms for the Daulphin who in respect of the King his Fathers sickness I might rather say weakness managed the State affecting the honour to give the first Box or perhaps desiring to make any other Quarrel the ground of the approaching War which he foresaw was not to be prevented rather then that of the Title which had been already so fatally bandi'd scornfully sent the King a Present of Tenis-balls which being of no value nor reckoning worthy so great a Princes acceptance or his recommendation could have no other meaning or interpretation but as one should say he knew better how to use them then Bullets The King whose Wit was as keen as t'others Sword return'd him this Answer That in requital of his fine Present of Tenis-balls he would send him such Balls as he should not dare to hold up his Racket against them Neither was he worse then his word however his preparations seem'd very disproportionable for so great a Work For the Army he landed was no more but six thousand Horse and twenty four thousand Foot a Train so inconsiderable and by the Daulphin judg'd to be so despicable that he thought not fit to come down himself in Person to take any view of them for fear he should fright them out of the Country too soon but sent some rude Peasants to attend their Motion who incouraged by some of the Troops of the nearest Garrisons as little understanding the danger they were ingaged in as they did the language of the Enemy they were ingaged with fell in upon the Rear of his Camp but as Village Curs which fiercely set upon all Strangers having the least Rebuke with a Stone or a Cudgel retreat home whining with their Tails betwixt their Legs so they having a Repulse given them ran away and made such Out-cries as dishearten'd the Souldiers that were to second them so much that after that he marched without any Resistance as far as Callice Neither indeed saw he any Enemy till he came to give Battel to the united Forces of France at that famous Field of Agencourt where notwithstanding he was out-numbred by the French above five for one he fought them with that Resolution as made himself Master of more Prisoners then he had men in his Camp to keep them an Occasion Fortune gave him to shew at once her Cruelty and his Mercy who whilst he might have kill'd did not but when he should not was forc'd to be cruel beyond almost all Example for as he gave Quarter in the beginning of the Battel to all that ask'd it his Clemency and Gentleness being such that as he was then pleas'd to declare he consider'd them as his Subjects not as his Captives So being over-charged with their Prisoners Numbers upon a sudden and unexpected accident however of no great Consequence if it had been rightfully understood he was forc'd to write the dismal Fate of France in cold Blood and in order to the saving life destroy it For as he was seeing his wounded men drest having gotten an intire Victory as he thought and as afterward it proved a sudden out-cry alarm'd his Camp occasion'd by a new Assault of some French Troops who being the first had quit the Field were the first return'd into it again in hopes by fighting with Boyes to regain the honour they lost in refusing to fight with men these under the Leading of the Captain of Agencourt set upon the Pages Sutlers and Laundresses following the pursuit with that wonted noyse as if they would have the English think the whole Army was rally'd again and chasing them Upon this the King caus'd all the scatter'd Arms and Arrows to be recollected and his stakes to be new pitch'd and put himself into a posture of Defence neither were the English only deceived by the Shreiks and Cries of those miserable People that fell into these mens hands but all those of the French likewise that were within hearing insomuch that the Earls of Marle and
Falconbridge who with six hundred men at Arms had all the while stood conceal'd to take the first advantage offer'd them advanc'd upon the same mistake to reinforce the Battel who seeming in the Night more then they were for indeed the English suppos'd it the whole Body of the French Army return'd again upon them the King not knowing how to disperse them commanded all the Prisoners to be forthwith slain save some few Persons of Note who for common security were bound back to back This made it a bloody Victory indeed that look'd more like a Miracle before there being ten thousand of the Enemy slain and if we may believe Caxton not above twenty six of the English side P. Aemilius their own Historian saith not above ten private Souldiers two Knights and two Lords which were the Duke of York and the Duke of Suffolk that bore no proportion to the five hundred Knights and twenty six Lords lost on the other side amongst whom the Daulphin himself may be reckon'd for one though he died not on the place for struck with the apprehensions of this loss he surviv'd it a very little time after However the English got only the glory of being Victors but not a foot of ground more then they had before Providence having so ordained that King Henry should only gain a Name in Arms by his first Expedition that upon his next Arrival they might the more contentedly give him up the Crown and with it her that dazled his Eyes more then all the Jewels he found there the incomparable Lady Katherine to whose Excellency of Beauty was added that of Innocence which made her yet more desirable for a Wife then the other made her for a Mistress Not long after this Battel he return'd home as if to give and take breath and during the time of his stay here the Emperour Sigismund attended by the Arch-bishop of Rheimes gave him a personal Visit in hope to have made a Peace betwixt the two Kings at least 't was so pretended but time that is the best Expositor of all great Actions shews his coming to have had some further design in it otherwise his Mediation had not ended as it did in a League Offensive and Defensive leaving King Henry to follow Providence in the pursuit of his predestin'd Conquest who upon his second Expedition invaded Normandy and having in a short time taken in the City of Caen with most of the lesser Villes came at last to that proud Town of Roan which spent him some time longer then he expected in taking it But it prov'd not time lost for the Essay they made of their own Strength and Courage being at the beginning of the Seige no less then two thousand Persons in it most able to make Defence gave the World such proof of his that he gain'd much more in Interest then he lost in recovering the Principal there being surrendred to him upon the Fame of taking in that great City Hunflew Munster Devilliers Ewe New-castle Vernon Mant La Roch Gwyon and indeed the best if not the most part of that rich Province the ancient Inheritance of his Progenitors That which contributed much to his Success was the difference betwixt the new Daulphin and the old Duke of Burgundy The first as much disdaining that the other should have the Government of the King who was taken with a frenzy that made him incapable of Business as the other that he should have the Government of the Kingdom either thinking himself immediately concerned in the danger of the others Power neglected the Publick to abet their Private Factions The Queen Mother who could not be a Neuter took part with the Duke into whose hands she put the King purposely to curb the Daulphins pride that had most insolently seiz'd and detain'd her Jewels Plate and Money contesting for the Superiority without regard to him that put fair for subduing both But the noise of King Henry's unexpected Success in subduing almost all Normandy awaken'd them and now when 't was too late they reconcil'd to each other in hopes to drive back the English But finding that they had taken rooting in too many places to be suddenly over-turn'd the Duke of Burgundy proposes a Personal Treaty betwixt the two Kings whither came King Henry attended by his Brothers the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester his Cosin the Duke of Exeter his Uncle the Cardinal Beauford the Earls of March and Salisbury and a thousand Men at Arms being met by the Queen Regent and her Governour the Duke of Burgundy the Earl of St. Paul and several other Persons of the greatest Quality as well Ladies as Lords who were obliged to attend her Amongst the rest and therefore indeed did the rest come that they might be as Foyls to her appear'd the Princess Katherine design'd as it fell out after to conquer the Conqueror A Lady of that Perfection both of Body and Mind that had she not been the Daughter of a King she had yet been fit to be the Wife of one No sooner did King Henry look upon her but his Heart seem'd to melt within his Breast no Arms being proof against the Darts she shot yet his Wisdom had so much the better of his Affection that he conceal'd his Passion both from her and the Observation of the French Lords till the Duke of Burgundy trifling with him upon presumption of her Charms provok'd him to give a Reply more like an English then a French King and created such a Distast as broke off the present Treaty Happy had it been for that Duke if he had closed with him although his Enemy rather then agree as he did with his Friend the Daulphin who finding his turn serv'd by him in breaking off the Treaty having no further use of his Authority rewarded his Service with a Poniard which Butchery being perform'd in the view of all the Peers of France was look'd on like a piece of Justice rather then of Tyranny in respect the Duke himself had but a little before caus'd Lewis Duke of Orleance to be taken off in the like barbarous manner Successor to this slain Duke both in his Estate and Authority was his Son Philip Earl of Carolois a Politick Prince and Temperate who finding it would be an unequal Contest between him and the Daulphin if he should avowedly indeavour to revenge his Fathers blood wisely promoted Overtures of Peace betwixt the two Crowns in order to the doing that Execution by another Hand which his own was too weak to perform Ambassadours were thereupon sent to King Henry who having been all this while a Martyr to Love was no longer able to indure the Flames within his Breast but giving it vent told the Ambassadours he would not credit their Propositions unless the Lady Katherine would joyn with them whose Innocency he knew would never abuse him Notice hereof being given to the Queen the Bishop of Arras was dispatch'd away to signifie to him that if he would come to
Person and each of these whilst they stood as free Agents and counterpoiz'd each others Greatness kept the Scale â—even maintaining by the Sword what was got by the Sword But after the King came to be declar'd Major and at his own dispose having not the Judgment to conceal his own Weakness much less to controul their Potency Faction and Ambition broke in upon the Government and made such a Rupture in the Reputation of their former Successes that the French King back'd by many Seconds who yet were not so much his Friends as Enemies to the English took that advantage to reinforce his Credit and press'd so hard upon them that all the well-built Frame of their Fortune crack'd from top to bottom However there were three fatal Breaches made in it before all fell to pieces The first Flaw was occasion'd by the Rupture betwixt the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Burgundy who divided about a meer Punctillio of Honour who should first come to the place where they had appointed to treat of the Differences betwixt them The Duke of Bedford thought the other ought to attend his coming in respect he was Regent of France t'other thought he ought rather to expect him it being in his own Dominions where he was absolute Soveraign upon which they parted the Duke of Burgundy lest the English and the Duke of Bedford not long after the World And this unhappy King became so much the greater Sufferer by how much the reparation of that loss prov'd more fatal then the loss it self for as it was as difficult as necessary to find out a good Successor to that great Trust so he was not a little opprest by the Importunity of two Competitors who being men of like Anger and Ambition caus'd a more fatal Breach then the former These were the Dukes of Somerset and York the first Grandson to John of Gaunt and Grandfather to Henry the Seventh the last yet greater in respect of his Descent from Lyonel Duke of Clarence being Head of the White-rose Faction both equal in Blood and Merit either too Great to be displeas'd much more too Ambitious to be pleas'd In this Contest the Duke of York got the Ball and from his Success concluded 't was possible as he did afterward to get the Scepter too being by the Mothers side the right Heir to Richard the Second but the Duke of Somerset resolving to revenge his loss by the hazard of loosing the whole gave him so many Interruptions in his Dispatch of that great Charge that before he could arrive in France the Parisians had shuck off their Yoke and by their Example the Revolt became so general that even the Normans themselves ever before firm to the English were upon the point also of changing their Allegiance The third and most fatal Breach was that betwixt the Uncle and Nephew the Cardinal Beauford and the Duke of Gloucester The Duke charg'd the Cardinal with Affectation of Pre-eminence even to the Derogation of the Kings Prerogative and Contempt of his Laws the Cardinal not finding Matter to recriminate so Personally upon him himself accus'd his other self to wit his Wife to be a Sorceress and one that by Witchcraft attempted to take away the Kings Life Which whether it were true or no was so well managed that her pretended Crime was in effect made his for by the help of the Queen to whom the King had been espoused by advice of the Cardinal and the Marquiss after made Duke of Suffolk his Creature against the advice of this good Duke for so the People call'd him they prevail'd with the weak King first to exclude him the Councel after to deprive him of all Commands and lastly to take away his Life too not foreseeing so improvident was their Malice that as long as he liv'd his Primogeniture being descended from the Fourth Son of Edward the Third would have kept back the Duke of York's Claim that came from the Fifth Son For his Death gave the first Occasion of beginning that desperate War betwixt the two alike cruel Houses of York and Lancaster who so wasted themselves by Alternate Successes like Plants which cut in the Spring bleed themselves to death that they left no Issue to inherit their dear-bought Titles and were thereby necessitated for the same Reason to unite in the last as they divided in the first place to wit to entail that fatal Glory upon their Posterity which they found to wither do what they could as the Roses they gave for their Cognizances which by being so often cut down came at last to be over-topt by the Thistle of Scotland The Dukes of Somerset and Suffolk being the two principal Councellors that govern'd the Queen who govern'd the King and managed the whole Prosecution of the Duke of Gloucester The People after the Death of the Cardinal who did not long Survive the Execution of that good Duke for so they commonly call'd him fixt their Mark of Evil Councellors and prest so hard for their amoval from the King that the Queen was forc'd as commonly it falls out in such Cases to let go her hold and leave them to shift for themselves The last was the first fell into their Hands who attempting to fly their Fury being Impeached in Parliament was taken at Sea and Executed according to the Popular way of Justice without Ceremony or Sentence by chopping off his Head on the side of a Boat The Duke of Somerset being more above their reach one Mortimer whom for that end the Duke of York allow'd the honour to be reputed of his kindred better known by the name of Jack Cade alias Captain Mend-all undertakes to bring him to a Bay and backt with a multitude inraged with the sence of their just Complaints arriv'd to that power as to possess himself of London where he took off the head of the Kings Chamberlain and grew so terrible that the King himself was constraâ—ned to retire and give place but before he could reach the Duke of Somerset he fell himself Whereupon the Duke of York was forced to take off his Vizard and own the Justice of his Complaint barefac'd who having an Army ready to second them prevail'd so far with the Parliament as to get the Duke twice arrested but finding him to be still releas'd as soon as they were up who therefore were dissolv'd to the end that he might be discharg'd he advanced towards London to do himself as he said and the Kingdome Right But before he could pass St. Albans the King met him and gave him Battel wherein the unfortunate Duke of Somerset gave the last Testimony of his Loyalty to the King in the loss of his Life and the unhappy King the last Test of his Affection to him by the loss of his Liberty being forced to render himself a Prisoner to the Victor who was so modest as not to declare his Title to the Crown but contented himself to be by the good favour of the
next Parliament declared Protector only and so moderate as to permit his two great Supporters the Earl of Salisbury then Lord Chancellor and the Earl of Warwick Captain of Callice to share with him for a while in the power who making up a kind of Triumvirate for the time being placed and displaced whom they pleased Upon which the King foreseeing the evil Consequences was moved with a condescention beneath his Majesty to offer an Accommodation which not taking effect both sides prepared to begin the War afresh which ended not with themselves The principal Persons for Quality Power and Interest that stuck to the King were the young Duke of Somerset the Dukes of Exeter and Buckingham the Earls of Oxford Northumberland Shrewsbury Pembroke Ormond and Wiltshire the Lords Clifford Gray Egremount Dacres Beaumont Scales Awdley Wells c. who having muster'd all the Forces they could make incamped near Northampton Thither came the Earl of March Son and Heir to the Duke of York his Father being then in Ireland to give them Battel assisted by the Duke of Norfolk the Earls of Warwick Salisbury Huntington Devon Essex Kent Lincoln c. all men of great Name and Power with whom were the Lords Faulconbridge Scroop Stamford Stanley c. and so fierce was the Encounter betwixt them that in less then two hours above ten thousand men lost their Lives amongst whom the principal on the Kings side were the Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Shrewsbury the Lords Egremount and Beaumont the unfortunate King being made Prisoner the second time who by the Earl of Warwick was conveighed to the Tower Upon which the Queen taking with her the Prince and the young Duke of Somerset fled The rumour of which Victory brought the Duke of York over who laying aside all disguises in the next Parliament call'd for that purpose pâ—aced himself on the Throne and with great Assurance laid open his claim to the Crown as Son and Heir to the Lady Anne Daughter and Heir to Roger Mortimer Earl of March Son and Heir of Philippa sole Daughter and Heir of Lyonel Duke of Clarence third Son of Edward the Third and elder Brother to John of Gaunt Father of Henry the Fourth who was Grandfather to him that as he said now untruly stiled himself King by the Name of Henry the Sixth This though it was no feign'd Title but known to all the Lords yet such was their prudence that they left the King de facto to enjoy his Royalty during his Life and declar'd t'other only Heir apparent with this Caution for the Peace of the Kingdom That if King Henry 's Friends should attempt the disanulling of that that then the Duke should have the present Possession But this nothing daunted the Queen who having raised eighteen thousand men in Scotland resolv'd to urge Fortune once more and accordingly they met the Yorkists at Wakefield where to mock her with a present Victory Fortune gave her the Duke of York's Life who vainly had stil'd himself Protector of the Kingdom being not able it seems to protect himself but pity it was he could not save his innocent Son the Earl of Rutland a hopeful Youth of not above Twelve years old who being brought into the Army only to see fashions was inhumanly murther'd by the Lord Clifford kneeling upon his knees and begging for his life that angry Lord making him a Sacrifice as he said to appease the injured Ghost of his Father murther'd by t'others Father which Cruelty was fully and suddenly repaid by the Earl of March who in the Battel at Mortimer's Cross slew three thousand eight hundred of the Lancastrian Forces and having put the Earl of Ormond to slight cut off the head of Owen Tuthor who had married King Henry's Mother which it seems did not so weaken or dishearten them but that they recover'd themselves and took their full revenge at the Battel of Barnet-heath where the Queen was again Victorious But such was the activity of the Earl of March that before she could recover London he came up to her and passing by entred the City in Triumph before her whereby he had so far the Start in point of Opinion that he was forthwith elected King by the Name of Edward the Fourth leaving King Henry so much more miserable in that he lost not his Life with his Majesty But herein consisted his happiness That he was the only Prince perhaps of the World that never distinguish'd betwixt Adversity and Prosperity being so intent upon his Devotion as to think nothing Adversity that did not interrupt that Nature having rather fitted him for a Priest then a King and perhaps rather for a Sacrifice then a Priest that he might not otherwise dye then as a Martyr that had lived all his time so like a Confessor HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE The sudden end of these his Competitors gave K. Edward as sudden an end to all his Troubles though not to his Wars For having setled peace at home he was provok'd to take Revenge upon his Enemies abroad falling first upon the King of France after upon the King of Scots but they thinking themselves as unable to grapple with him as two Foxes with the Lion bought their Peace and avoided the ill Consequences of his Fury till Death the common Foe of Mankind made him turn another way forcing him to end the Race of his Fortune as he began it like the Great Augustus Caesar who at the same Age succeeded his slaughter'd Predecessor and by a like Fate was disappointed of his intended Successor HON · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE This was as much as Humane Policy could do but in vain doth he strive to preserve what Heaven had decreed to overthrow Having by his Will declar'd his ambitious Brother Gloucester Protector of both the Children he was resolv'd to let this act the part of King and no King no longer then till his Tyranny could support it self by its own Authority who having to do with the Mother a weak Woman for to her from whom they received their Lives was these helpless Princes to owe their Deaths he had that respect to her Frailty as to keep time with her slow pac'd fears in deferring his intended Paracide till she that was their Nurse thought it fit time to bring them to bed Unhappy Youths to whom the Tenderness of their Mother must prove no less fatal than the Cruelty of their Uncle Had she in the first place Insisted upon the keeping them herself as what fitter Guardian then their own Mother or had she not in the last place Rashly consented to the taking off that Guard which her Husband had so providently placed about them or had at least suffer'd the King to have continued for a while longer at that distance he was when his Father dyed where by his Education and Acquaintance he might have as well secured the Peoples Faith as he was secur'd by
it or had she kept the Second Son which she had in her own hands after she saw what was like to become of the eldest that was in his 't is possible the one might have been a security for the other since without taking both the Treason had not been worth the hazard much less the guilt of destroying t'other and 't is more than probable she might have stop'd him upon the very last step to the Throne But yet it is hard to call that the Mothers fault which might be the Sons fate design'd by Destiny for ought we know to a Death as private as his Birth who was born whilst she was in a Cloyster and his Father in Banishment Fain she would have recover'd her Error when it was too late craving Protection for her self and the younger Children in a Sanctuary but in vain seek they Refuge from The Treachery of others who have been of the Plot to betray themselves the Protector resolved to have them all into his hands to effect which he makes the Effect become a Cause for finding the young King more than usually melancholly with the Apprehensions he had of the danger of his present condition he made that Melancholly an important reason for his brother to be brought to keep him company and because this could not be done without the Queens consent but by offering some Violation to the rights of Sanctuary it being reasonably to be supposed that she would never let the Child go without apparent force upon her he singled out a Clergy-man to be the Picklock of Priviledge a grave State-drudge and by his degree no worse a man then an Arch bishop who having only so much Divinity as to know that Obedience was better then Sacrifice so far perswaded or rather terrified the disconsolate Queen into a Complyance that she consulting with her Fears only gave up the innocent Infant to his Grace who thereby had the honour to be the third great Instrument in that great Treason that followed The Monster having thus got his desired Prey within his own Denn did not yet think fit to devour them immediately but before he entred upon so solemn an act of horrour as the plunging himself into that fathomless Gulf of Cruelty he thought fit to wade in blood by degrees that sounding the depth of the danger as well as of the guilt he was to enter into he might at the same time harden and secure himself First then he cut off all their Friends beheading the Lord Rivers Sir Anthony Woodvill and the principal persons of the Queens Relations upon pretence of treachery against his Person and Government which being in some sense true for doubtless they meant to oppose his intended Usurpation he thought it a reasonable Justification for taking their Lives In the next place he charged the Queen her self with Sorcery making the poor Innocent Jane Shore to be her Hand-mate in the Inchantation with whom the Lord Hastings having had a known Familiarity from the time of the death of King Edward he most maliciously design'd him to be their Accuser who scorning to assist him in such dark purposes was himself made a Conspirator with them being deservedly executed as a Traytor because he refused to be one his Execution following so close upon his Sentence and the Proclamation of his Treason so close upon that that at the reading of it in the Street a stander by observing how fairly they had drawn the foul Charge against him being ingrossed at large in Parchment he cried out aloud That it was written by Prophecy Thus having clear'd the Foundation and sufficiently tamper'd his Mortar with blood to make it more strong and binding he laid the Ground-work of his Usurpation upon the Illegitimacy of the two young Princes pretending that the King their Father was never lawfully married to the Queen their Mother but was before God Husband to the Lady Elizabeth Lucy This as it had something of Truth in point of Fact for 't is said he was betrothed to her so being matter of Divinity in point of Right it was agreed that a Chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham who was his great Confident and bound to him by the stipulation of a Match betwixt their Children and a promise of equal partition of the Treasure of the Kingdom should open the Case at large in a Sermon at Paul's Cross who taking his Text from that place where 't is said that Bastard Plants shall not Inherit so over-acted his part that he not only made King Edward's Children but he himself a Bastard too and all the Children of his Father the Duke of York the Protector only excepted who he said was the express Image of his Father and pre-ordained by God to the great Charge of the Kingly Office But all this was delivered with so apparent flattery and dissimulation that not believing himself 't is no wonder the People gave so little credit to him who instead of crying out thereupon as 't was expected they should God save King Richard cryed out the Devil take the shameless Preacher This scorn put upon the Priest or rather upon him did not yet so deter him but that two dayes after he sent the Duke himself into the City to see whether his Authority might move any thing more then the Doctors Eloquence who confidently affirm'd to the Citizens at Guild-hall That all the Nobility judging the Issue of King Edward spurious had chosen him to succeed and only expected a Declaration of their Consents But as it was not likely that they who but two dayes before could not be moved when they were told the Lord from Heaven had made choice of him should now concur in the Election with any Lords on Earth so neither could the Rhetorick of his Greatness prevail for any other confirmation then what was couched sub alto silentio This gave little satisfaction to his Lordship for that he knew it would give none to his Master and therefore rather then depart without something like a Vote he secretly ordered some few of his own Servants at the lower end of the Hall to cast up their Caps and cry King Richard King Richard which impudence of theirs though it apparently abasht the greatest part of the Company there yet his graceless Grace taking it up at the first bound for an unanimous consent said it was a goodly Cry and such as shew'd their universal approbation requiring thereupon the Mayor and his Fraternity to meet him the next day at the Protectors Court in Baynard's Castle in order to Petition him to accept their freely offer'd Subjection And here I cannot but think it worth the notice although we that have lived in these latter times have seen perhaps more exquisite Scenes of Hypocrisie to observe the instability and levity of the common Peoples Faith who like the Sea to which they are compared have their fluxes and refluxes of Loyalty It was not two dayes since they shew'd as great Affections to the Son as
to him and rais'd the Expectations of his future Successes to that height that the Emperour Maximilian who had before submitted though Lord of no less then eight Kingdoms to serve him in the condition of a private Souldier for the wages of One hundred Crowns a day now as some report profer'd to surrender his Empire and Dutchy of Milan to him and the King of France resolving to purchase his Friendship at any rate condition'd to pay yearly to him and his Successors Kings of England for ever Forty six thousand Crowns de Soleile and twenty four Sols Turnois with One thousand five hundred Crowns more as a Tribute out of the Salt of Brovage as may appear by the Agreement Anno 1527. the confirmation of which Treaty cost his Son Charles after the death of his Father who did not long survive the Composition a Million of Crowns more Now if his Enemies had such dread of him what esteem must we imagine the Pope had who owed his Deliverance to him Silver and Gold he had none to tender but such as he had Glorious and Grateful Titles he was very prodigal of For besides that of Liberator Urbis Orbis the Stile of his Ancestor Constantine the Great and therefore though only fit for Henry the Great it being occasional and temporary the Conclave had under consideration such as might be perpetuated to all Ages Some mov'd to have him call'd Defensor Romanae Ecclesiae others propos'd Protector Sedis Apostolicae others again lik'd better to have him stil'd Rex Apostolicus as some Rex Orthodoxus but at last all agreed in that of Defensor Fidei After this he was made Head of the Holy League out of belief That there could no Authority Superior to his be interpos'd either for the Conservation of good men in Peace or repressing those that are ill by War for so are the words of the Fourteenth Article of the League This shews that he was so much greater then any of the Kings were before him by how much they only gave Laws at home but he throughout all Christendom disposing War and Peace as made most to the advantage of his own People who were thereupon so well satisfied with the Conduct of his Government that his Will seems to have been the Supream Law For as he needed to have said no more to his Parliaments then as one of the Roman Emperors cited by Suetonius was used to say to the Senate Scitis quid velim quibus Opus habeo So they could say no more to him nor indeed any Parliament to any King then was declar'd by their giving up themselves and their Liberties wholly to him in that Act of highest Trust and Confidence that ever Subjects pass'd when they consented that he should in case he had no Issue of his own dispose the Imperial Diadem of this Realm as his Highness pleas'd by Will or Patent Thus great was this King whiles he continued to be himself keeping the Rains of Government in his own hands but after he suffer'd himself to be govern'd by others who took advantage of his to serve their own Lusts like one drawn from his Center his motions were so irregular and the intreagues of State so perplext that we cannot wonder at those Disorders which followed to the great interruption of his Peoples peace and prosperity but much more of his own whilst that which private men esteem their greatest happiness fell out to be his greatest curse the enjoyment of a most vertuous discreet and loving Wise who being a Lady of that quick-sight that she look'd thorough all his great Ministers Ambitions and occasionally detected their Designs was undone by the same way she hoped to preserve her self and him For the jealous Cardinal Wolsey his great Minister doubting that she might interpose her self betwixt the King and him as the Moon betwixt the Sun and the Earth and thereby deprive him of those warm influences of Grace from whence his power took life he design'd to blast her as it were by Lightning from Heaven or rather by a Spark from Hell casting a Scruple into the Kings Conscience which quickly set it on fire upon the apprehension of being guilty of the incestuous Sin of knowing his Brothers Wife This was so craftily managed that it was not known for a while out of what Quiver the Arrow came but a Treaty being had about a Marriage of the King of France with the Lady Mary the Kings Daughter by her it was so order'd that the Bishop of Tarbe the principal Commissioner on that side should make some doubt of the Legitimacy of the Princess thereby to bring on the Question of Incest This though it was urged with somewhat more then usual vehemency yet his Authority not being such as to move the King much at that time The Cardinal secretly ingaged the Bishop of Lincoln his Majesties Confessor to press him farther upon it knowing well as he acknowledged afterward that whatever was once put into the Kings head would hardly ever be got out again nothing doubting withal but that it was in his power at any time to conjure the Devil down again as soon as he had done his Service and after be had tumbled the Queen down or at least brought her into a necessity of making use of his Friendship wherein he had two great ends First to flatter his great Patron the French King with the hopes in case of a Divorce of marrying his fair Sister the Dutchess of Alanson to the King whose Alâ—yance was then of great Importance to that Crown Secondly to perform a very real Service to his distressed Chief the Pope who beâ—ng now more persecuted by the Emperour then before by the King of France and at that pâ—esent in Duress might possibly be releas'd by the very menace of such a Divorce as this the Emperor both as Uncle to the Queen and as Competitor with the French King for the Universal Monarchy being moved by Affection and Interest to prevent so violent a breach in his Allyance But as a Mine when it is sprung doth oftentimes other kind of Execution then they who fire it intended it should so happen'd it in this Case For instead of making a small breach upon the Kings Peace that might amount to no more but the causing a temporary abstinence from the Queens Bed de praesenti only to which 't was hop'd she her self might give occasion by a voluntary Retirement into some Cloyster where she might remain civilly dead till his Excellency the Cardinal made up the breach again it begat such a rupture in his Thoughts that he could have no rest and as one sick at heart thought himself not safe in the hands of any one Physician neither indeed of all those that he had at home till he had the Opinions of those in all the Universities abroad which made the business so publick that Luther who had a little before set up for himself finding there might be a good
Learned Bishop of Rochester and the Judicious Chancellor Sir Thomas Moore whose Contradiction could no way determine the Point though it was the occasion of determining their Lives their Cases being made worse by the same way they thought to have made their Causes better The first being found Guilty of saying too much for himself t'other of saying too little The Bishop desiring to add to his Oath those words by way of Explanation Quantum per Christi Legem liceret had this interpretation by the Lawyers upon his Interpretation that the addition amounted to a flat denial and depriving the King of his Title and Dignity within the Statute of 26. being in effect that per Christi Legem non liceret The wise Chancellor admonish'd as he thought sufficiently by the Bishops error to avoid the danger of any Interpretation ran into a worse for answering nothing when the Kings Councel ask'd his Opinion of the Supremacy his Silence was interpreted Misprision of Treason within the Statute aforesaid for that as the Indictment run Malitiosè Silebat Paul the third being in the Chair at the time when these two eminent men suffered hearing the King had seal'd his new Title in Blood thought it in vain to expect longer his Return to the Apostolick Obedience as he call'd it and therefore peremptorily summon'd him by a terrible Bull to appear within Ninety dayes and make his submission otherwise he and all that assisted him should be given up to utter Damnation as judged Hereticks The King depriv'd of his Realm the Realm depriv'd of his Benediction all the Issue by the last Match declar'd Illegitimate all Ties of Allegiance discharged all Commerce with other States forbidden the Leagues made by other Princes with him nullified the Nobility commanded to take up Arms against him and the Clergy to depart the Kingdom Now because this last seem'd to be the greatest Menace at least the Pope would have it thought so both in respect of his power over them and theirs over the Conscience the King took the first advantage of it and sent away many of them against their wills dissolving no less then Six hundred forty five of their Societies which much forwarded his Designs with the Confederate Princes of Germany whose Friendship now he seem'd to have some need of they believing by this he would wholly renounce all Papistry to which his late Queen was highly disaffected and against which his great Minister Cromwell was deeply ingaged and from which himself was sufficiently discharged by the Popes declaring him as he did a Heretick for now could he be no further bound to Paul the Third then his Ancestor Henry the Second was to Alexander the Third the first Pope that was ever acknowledged here to whom he made only a Conditional Oath Quod ab Alexandro summo Pontifice ab Catholicis ejus Successoribus non recederet quamdiu ipsum sicut Regem Catholicum habuerint Gern Dowbern Col. 1422. 18. then thereupon dispatch'd an Ambassador to him to desire him to accept the Title of Patron and Defender of their League But the News of Queen Anne's Execution which for the suddenness and severity of it not to say any thing of the Injustice because some were of Opinion that the least Cause of Jealousie in Queens is equivalent to guilt in private Women begat such an abhorrence of his dire Inconstancy for she was flourishing accused condemned beheaded and another placed in her room at Bed and Board and all within a Months space that they fell off again from the Treaty they had entertain'd almost as soon as they began it believing it a Scandal to their Cause as some of them said to need the protection of the Devil However the great Ministers here gave it out that the Discrepancy of Interest was the only cause of the Breach they requiring Money of him without being able to answer the Reciproc on their part But the true State-Reason was that some of the wiser sort conceiv'd they could not safely admit his Supremacy for fear they should be oblig'd by the same rule to set up a Title for their own Soveraign the Emperor in his Dominions which would be more inconvenient then to leave it where it was in the Pope who being at further distance could not so easily reach them But long it was not ere the unexpected cause of that Innocent Queens sufferings was made manifest by the unexpected Labour of Queen Jane her Successor who made so good speed to bring the King a Son and Heir which was the thing he desired above all things in the World that being married on the Twentieth of May she fell in Labour the Twelfth of October following But Providence that had decreed she should only Conceive but not bring forth to signalize the Revenge of Queen Anne's Death by that of hers put it into the Kings heart to turn himself Man-Midwife rather then lose the hopes of a Kingdom who accordingly commanded the Child to be rip'd untimely out of her Womb an act of great horrour and so much more unwillingly perform'd for that he was unprovided of another Wife for the present In this Condition Bishop Gardner found him at his Return out of Germany who putting him out of all hopes of any Closure with the Protestant Princes unless he would come under the Standard of their Faith and allow of the Augustan Confession easily perswaded him to purge himself of the scandal of Heresie by shewing the World he had only shook off the Pope but not the Religion Here the Scene chang'd again and the first thing appear'd was that bloody Statute containing the Six Articles which being discharg'd as a Murthering Piece amongst the new Reformists cut off most of those who stood in its way the Report whereof was so loud and terrible that the two great Prelates Latimer Bishop of Worcester and Shaxston Bishop of Salisbury were frightned out of their Bishopricks who not being willing to have any hand in the approbation or execution of them suffer'd as patiently under his Title of Defender of the Faith as the Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas Moore had before under that of his Supremacy And now Conscience being revolted from its ancient way of resolving Doubts to an abrupt Decision of the Common Law that did not instruct but force the Offender◠'t is not so much a wonder how so many came to suffer death under his Reign as how so many surviv'd it all Papists being in danger to be hang'd and all Anti-papists to be burn'd Yet in this great Storm Cromwell behav'd himself like a wise Pilot who finding he could not prevent the running of the Vessel in a contrary Course to his mind thought it enough that he kept it from being quite over-set and accordingly with great dexterity he brought on the Treaty once more with the Confederate Princes who were it seems alarum'd by the Counter-League which the Roman Catholicks set up under the Title of The Holy League the
consequences of which being justly to be suspected he made use of their present apprehensions to renew the Treaty and by his contrivance there came a Letter to the King from Melancthon to whom the King seem'd alwayes to have great regard exhorting him to perfect the Reformation begun as well in the Doctrinal as the Ceremonial part of Worship To which the King by advice of Gardiner gave this Answer That he would make a League with them in honest Causes as he had done with the Duke of Juliers and after that he would treat of an Accord in Religion This being no way satisfactory to them much less to Cromwell who had slatter'd them with hopes of a better Accommodation he cast about another way to compass his end and knowing very well that the King did alwayes prefer his Pleasure before his Revenge as those that mean to take great Fishes bait their Hooks with flesh so he held up the Treaty with the Proposal of a new Match that he believ'd could not but be very acceptable not only in respect of the Kings having been near three Years a Widower but for that it was such as he said would at once anger and curb the Emperor the Popes only Executioner to make good his late Fulmination This was a Daughter to the Duke of Cleve who being a Protestant and Father in Law to the Duke of Saxony and next Neighbour to the Emperors Dominions in the Low Countries there seem'd to be in the Proposal great considerations of State besides that of Riches and Beauty the last being the first thing in the Kings Thoughts wherein Hans Holbin the famous Painter contributed much to the deceiving him which whether it prov'd more unfortunate to her or Cromwell I cannot say but it so fell out that the King disgusting her after he saw her was easily prevail'd with to repudiate her and consequently to reject the Match-maker who having it in his Fate to be undone as he was at first set up by the Smock was sacrificed to the Envy of the People rather then his Masters Displeasure who let them lay the load of his Faults upon him and being a Prince that drew upon all his great Ministers more blame then either they could bear or durst answer he left him to perish under the weight of it And which made his Case more deplorable perhaps then that of most others that felt the weight of his Iron Rod and therefore look'd more like a Judgment from Heaven then Earth was First that he suffer'd him to be condemn'd at the same time all other men by a general and free pardon were indempnified from the same Crimes of which he stood accus'd Secondly in that he died like Phalaris by an Instrument as some say of his own inventing Thirdly and lastly that after having been Vicegerent to the Defender of the Faith he should dye as an Heretick for opposing the Faith after having had the repute of a faithful Servant indeed so faithful that as Cranmer's Letter to the King yet to be seen testifies he cared not whom he displeas'd to serve his Majesty he should dye like one that had merited no favour from him That he who was so vigilant to detect all Treasons in their Embrio should dye like a Traytor himself That he that had no bounds set to his Authority should dye for exceeding his Commission Lastly That he who was the only Master of Requests and gave an answer to all men that made any Addresses to the King should himself dye unheard as well as unpitied But when we consider all this we must conclude the end of some mens Rise is to keep others from Falling Providence oftentimes upholding Justice even by Injustice that so by correcting some men causlesly she may certainly teach all men Caution The King having thus rid himself of his new Wife and his old Servant both submitting to his Will the first with the loss of her Estate and Dignity for instead of being his Queen she was adopted his Sister the last with the loss of both his Estate and Life he found the means to repair the want of the one though he could not of the other by taking to his Bed perhaps with no disparity to his Greatness if there had been none betwixt her own Vertue and Beauty the fair Lady Katherine Howard Neece to the Duke of Norfolk who seems to be born to be a Scourge of the Injustice shew'd to his former Wives whilst her Incontinence under the veil of a clear and most modest behaviour appear'd so notorious that being confessed by her self he himself was forc'd to suffer in the shame with her which he was so sensible of that we find by a Law ex post facto he labour'd to prevent the like for the future And now being as it were weary of Pleasures of that kind this being his fifth Wife that was executed or suffer'd worse his Love gave place once more to his Ambition which he gratified with a new Title or rather the Superfoetation of an old one causing himself to be stiled King of Ireland whereas none of his Predecessors were otherwise stiled then Lords thereof which as it was in the first place intended by him as an additional honour to that Nation rather then to himself so in the last place he did it to prevent James the Fifth of Scotland who had an Invitation from some of the discontented Nobility there to have taken it on him having before affronted him by assuming the Title of Defender of the Faith with the addition only of the word Christian as if there were any other Faith but what was in truth so and because he was resolv'd to quarrel him upon it he sent to require Homage to be paid him for that Kingdom urging that the Kings of that Nation had for many Ages submitted themselves in a qualified Condition of Vassalage under the Kings his Ancestors both before and since the Conquest This begat a War which ended not with the Life of that King being struck to the heart with the melancholy apprehensions of being over-match'd who dying left a young Daughter to succeed whom King Henry thought a fitting Wife for his Son Prince Edward and accordingly afterward in despight of all the tricks of the French Party that then rul'd there he brought it to such a Treaty as amounted to a Contract being under Hands and Seals of both sides But the Scots shewing themselves by their wonted breach of Faith to be true Scots all ended in War wherein though he were victorious yet the main business was nothing advanc'd by the Success there being more done then became a Suiter for Alliance and too little for one pretending to Conquest Hereupon he was forc'd to try the Fortune of another Treaty with the discontented Earl of Lenox who having formerly been set up by the French to be Governour of the young Queen and the Kingdom but deserted by them when he had most need of their aid he was
was it long that the Protector bore up after his Brothers Fall the great care he took to build his * From his Tittle call'd Somerset-house House being no less fatal to him then the little care he had to support his Family whiles the Stones of those Churches Chappels and other Religious Houses that he demolish'd for it made the cry out of the Walls so loud that himself was not able to indure the noise the People ecchoing to the defamation and charging him with the guilt of Sacriledge so furiously that he was forced to quit the place and retire with the King to Windsor leaving his Enemies in possession of the strength of the City as well as the affections of the Citizens who by the reputation of their power rather then the power of their repute prevail'd with the King as easily to give him up to publick Justice as he was before prevail'd with to give up his Brother it being no small temptation to the young King to forsake him when he forsook himself so far as to submit to the acknowledgement of that Guilt he was not conscious of The Lawyers charged him with removing Westminster-hall to Somerset-house The Souldiers with detaining their Pay and betraying their Garrisons The States-men with ingrossing all Power and indeavouring to alter the Fundamental Laws and the ancient Religion But he himself charg'd himself with all these Crimes when he humbled himself so far as to ask the Kings pardon publickly which his Adversaries were content he should have having first strip'd him of his Protectorship Treasurership Marshalship and Two thousand pound a year Land of Inheritance But that which made his Fate yet harder was that after having acquitted himself from all Treason against his Prince he should come at last to be condemn'd as a Traytor against his Fellow-Subject whilst the Innocent King labouring to preserve him became the principal Instrument of his Destruction who by reconciling him to his great Adversaries made the Enmity so much the more incompatible who at the same time he gave the Duke his Liberty gave the Earl of Warwick and his Friends the Complement of some new Titles which adding to their Greatness he reasonably judg'd might take from their Envy The Earl himself he created Duke of Northumberland and Lord High Admiral of England and to oblige him yet more married up his eldest Son the Lord Dudley to his own Cosin the second Daughter of the Duke of Somerset whom he gave to him for the more honour with his own hand and made Sir Robert Dudley his fourth and his beloved Son the same that was after made by Queen Elizabeth Earl of Leicester one of the Gentlemen of his Bedchamber And to gratifie the whole Faction he made the Marquiss of Dorset Duke of Suffolk the Lord St. John Earl of Wilts and afterwards Marquiss of Winchester Sir John Russel who was Northamberland's Confident he created Earl of Bedford Sir William Paget another of his Tools he made Lord Paget This the good natur'd King did out of sincere Affection to his Uncle in hopes to reconcile him so thoroughly to Northumberland so that there might be no more room left for Envy or Suspect betwixt them But as there is an invisible Erinnis that attends all Great men to do the drudgery of their Ambition in serving their Revenge and observing the Dictates of their power and pride so it was demonstrable by the most unfortunate issue of this so well intended purpose that by the same way the King hoped to please both he pleas'd neither Somerset thinking he had done too much Northumberland thinking that he had done too little who having drunk so deep a Draught of Honour grew hot and dry and like one fall'n into a State-Dropsie swell'd so fast that Somerset perceiving the Feaver that was upon him resolv'd to let him blood with his own hand And coming one day to his Chamber under the colour of a Visit privately arm'd and well attended with Seconds that waited him in an outward Chamber found him naked in his Bed and supposing he had him wholly in his power began to expostulate his wrongs with him before he would give him the fatal stroke whereby t'other perceiving his intent and being arm'd with a Weapon that Somerset had not a ready fence for an Eloquent Tongue he acquitted himself so well and string'd upon him with so many indearing protestations as kept the point of his Revenge down till it was too late to make any Thrust at him Whereby Northumberland got an advantage he never hop'd for to frame a second Accusation against him so much more effectual then the former by how much he brought him under the forfeiture of Felony as being guilty of imagining to kill a Privy Counsellor for which he was the more worthily condemn'd to lose his Head in that he so unworthily lost his Resolution at the very instant of time when he was to vindicate his too much abus'd Patience thereby betraying those of his Friends that came to second him into the scandal of a Crime which had it succeeded would have pass'd for a magnanimous piece of Justice in cutting off one whom however he was content to spare Providence it seems was not reserving him to die a more ignoble death and by a worse hand The sorrow for his ignominious fall as it much affected the Consumptive King his Nephew who was now left as a Lamb in the keeping of the Wolf the Duke of Northumberland having got as high in Power as Title by ruining the Family of the Seymours so his end which was not long after put an end to the Reformation and made way for the Dudley's to aspire with incredible Ambition and not without hope of setling the Succession of the Crown in themselves For the Duke finding that the King languish'd under a Hectical Distemper and having better assurance then perhaps any one else could from his Son that alwayes attended in his Bedchamber that it was impossible for him to hold out long for Reasons best known to him he cast about how to introduce the far fetch'd Title of his other Son who had married the Lady Jane Gray eldest Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk by the Lady Frances one of the Daughters and Heirs of Charles Brandon by his Wife Mary Queen of France the second Daughter of Henry the Seventh And however this seem'd to be a very remote pretention yet making way to other great Families to come in by the same Line in case her Issue fail'd as to the Earl of Cumberland who had married the other Daughter of Charles Brandon and to the Earl of Darby that had married a Daughter of that Daughter and to the Earl of Pembroke that had married the Lady Jane's second Sister it was back'd with so many well-wishers that it was become not only terrible to the Kingdom but to the King himself However there were two Objections lay in the way the one the preference that ought to be
headless Queens The Lady Anna Buloigne and the Lady Katherine Howard either as far divided in Religion as they were in their Affections Eight dayes and upwards past between the proclaiming of this Queen and the calling her first Parliament during which time the two Religions were publickly permitted with equal Indulgence The Divine Service being so blended with Superstition that as one observes the State of England before her Persecution was not much unlike that of the Jews after theirs who presently upon the Captivity took a mid way between Hebrew and Ashdod on the same day that Mass was sung in the Quire at Westminster the English Service was sung in the Body of the Church And the two Religions if divided Opinions may deserve that Name being thus brought to confront each other no marvel if the Demagogues of each Perswasion justled for Precedence the Protestants being back'd by the present Laws the Papists by the Prerogative these incouraged by the Queens Opinion those by her Promises But as in the close of Day light and darkness contesting for Superiority seem equally match'd till in the end the latter prevails So happen'd it now upon the death of the late King whose Religion being different to that of his Successor the Question was which must take place and become the Religion of the State She her self being not so forward to declare after she came to be Queen as she was before But to palliate the matter in discharge of her Obligations to the Loyal Protestant Gentry of Suffolk and Norfolk that were the first set her up she seem'd content to call a Parliament that might take off the Odium from her making way to it by a general pardon which had so many Exceptions in it as shew'd there would be more found at the Convention And now being fearless of any more danger by Rivals happy in the single possession of her self and Throne there wanted nothing to compleat her felicity save that she knew it not Whereby it fell out so unluckily that she brought upon her self very great hatred and clamor by that whereby most Princes secure the love of their People to them whilst being wholly guided by those of her Councel she submitted her Reason to their Passions who under the pretence of Religion ingaged her in the greatest Persecâ—tion that ever was known under any Christian Government causing her to shed more Blood although she reign'd only five years four months and some odd dayes then was spilt by those two great Tyrants Richard the Third and her own Father putting both together there dying for Religion only not to mention what suffer'd on Civil Accompts no less then Three hundred whereof there was one Arch-bishop four Bishops and twenty one Divines of note But that which made it the more supportable was that however she was prodigal of her Subjects Lives she was yet more sparing of their Livelyhoods For she began with a rare Example in pardoning the very first Subsidy she had and she never had but one more So that putting that which was remitted against that which was received she had upon the matter none at all all her time And yet we find she was in continual Action at home or abroad having alwayes as her Father before her occasion to make use of men at Arms either to defend or inlarge her Dominions For as she was obstinate in the Resolution she had taken of restoring the Popes Authority contrary to the promise she made to those who first set her up being perswaded by the Priests that rul'd there that she had no such way to manifest her Faith as by the breach of it So she cut out so much matter for Rebellion by the Violence she offer'd both to Conscience and Interest that she had little Rest but no Peace all her dayes Now whether it were a natural Distrust of her weakness as she was a Woman or a Feminine Diffidence of her Wisdom as she was a Maid or that in truth she desir'd a help meet for satisfaction of her Affections as well as for support of her Affairs is not otherwise to be judg'd then by the choice she made But so it was that finding she could not stand by her self without a Husband no more then an Adjective without a Substantive she propos'd it as the first thing to her Councel directing them to make choice of such an one for her as might be as fit to give Laws to her as she to them Three there were in Proposal for her Philip Infant of Spain Son to the Emperour Charles the Fifth the old Cardinal Pool and the young Marquiss of Exeter to each of which as there were some Motives to draw her Affections so there were many Arguments to disswade her from them Those that had respect to the settlement of the Kingdom thought Philip the fittest match as being a Puissant King strengthned with many great Allies and who had as great an Enmity to the French the only Enemy England ought to fear as they themselves But against him the first Objection was That he was a Stranger The second That being Native of Spain he probably might by this Match bring England into some danger of Subjection to that Kingdom And lastly That there was somewhat of undecency not to say inequality in respect to his Person for that it seem'd strange that she should be the Wife of the Son now who thirty years before should have been Wife to the Father Those that stood for the Cardinal urg'd his Love to his Country and the Love the Country had for him in respect of his great Sanctimony and Wisdom which rendred him particularly acceptable to the Queen then for his Dignity he was not much inferiour to Kings and by his Mother descended from Kings and for his Age it was more agreeable to that of the Queens then that of either of the other two But the principal end of Marriage being Procreation he fell under an exception not to be answer'd as being a Batchelor of near Sixty four years old and so needed a Nurse rather then a Wife The Youth of the Lord Courtney being a brisk Cavalier and by Birth as well as the best Blood of England and France could make him gave him the preferrence above the Cardinal But some of the Juncto objecting That he lov'd Popularity more then ever he could be brought to love the Queen and that he smell'd too ranck of Lutherism to be her Bed-fellow they carried it by a general Vote against him for King Philip as well to take off all Exceptions by the Disparagement of marrying a Subject as for those seasonable and most Incredible Advantages it brought to England which were express'd in the Instrument of Marriage yet extant whereof there needs no further mention then the addition of the Netherlands and Burgundy to be for ever a Member of the Imperial Crown of this Realm in case there had been any Issue betwixt them All this notwithstanding such was the
unsettledness of the Times or of mens Minds rather whilst some were led by Conscience others by their Temporal Concerns some out of Love to Reformation and others out of fear of Superstition some again out of desire of Change but most out of dread of Forreign Servitude that the Conclusion of this Match gave beginning to a desperate Rebellion which though at first it seem'd despicable enough being headed by no better a man then Sir Thomas Wyat a private Knight of Kent the Duke of Suffolk who was in the Conspiracy being apprehended almost as soon as he appear'd yet before it could be supprest the wise Match-makers found they had met with their Match in that Rebel who was so fortunate as to rout the Queens General and take all their Ordnance and Ammunition Upon which he march'd up with full Assurance of taking the chief City into which though he brought but sive Ensigns 't is probable he might have carried it had not Heaven taken part against him as usually it doth against Rebels first arming them with Impudence and then disarming them with Fear making the Arch-Traytor a terrible Example of unparallel'd Insolence who whiles he was at large continued bold as a Lion but being once apprehended prov'd so base a Coward that brib'd with the hopes of Life he made himself guilty of a greater Treachery then he was to dye for accusing Edward Earl of Devon and the Princess Elizabeth the Queens Sister to have been privy to his Conspiracy which gain'd Credit not so much from the Suspect of any private Affection betwixt them two although he alleadged they were to be married as from the secret disaffection either of them had he to the King that should be as being his Rival she to the Queen that was as being her Disseisor the two Sisters as little agreeing in point of Right of Succession as their two Mothers in point of Right of Marriage but fain he would have acquitted them when he found he could not be acquitted himself by it for having serv'd their turn of him the Statesmen gave the fatal turn to him However the malitious Chancellor Gardner resolving to take the Truth at the wrong end and believe it as he pleas'd secur'd them in several Prisons till he were at leisure to examine the matter being then deeply ingaged in providing Fire and Faggots for those Learned Hereticks Cranmer Ridley and Latimer c. who were to make a Holocaust preparatory to the Queens Nuptials which having been defer'd by this unexpected Rising was now propos'd in Parliament For the greater confirmation the three States of the Kingdom assenting thereto upon the Conditions following First That King Philip should admit no Stranger into any Office but only Natives Secondly That he should Innovate nothing in the Laws and Customes of the Realm Thirdly That he should not carry the Queen out of the Realm without her consent nor any of her Children without consent of the Councel Fourthly That surviving the Queen he should challenge no Right in the Kingdom but suffer it to descend to the next Heir Fifthly That he should carry away none of the Crown Jewels nor remove any Shipping or Ordnance Sixthly and lastly That he should neither directly nor indirectly intangle the Realm of England with the Wars betwixt Spain and France Upon which Terms 't was hop'd by those affected not the Match that Philip would knock off there being neither Youth or Beauty to tempt him But as the House of Austria did ever prefer their Ambition before their Love so designing the universal Monarchy he thought he made a great step to it by being put in possession of England and so near intituled to France And now the most Catholick King being joyn'd with the Faith defending Queen it cannot be imagin'd but that they must begin with Religion In order to the Regulation whereof Cardinal Pool being first restored again in blood and reputation was sent for over who arm'd with his Legatine Power and a natural Force of Eloquence press'd hard upon the Parliament and shewed them the danger they were in by their late Schism being become as he said Exiles from Heaven and in no capacity to have been ever readmitted had he not brought from Rome the Keys that opened the gates of Life and thereupon he advised them to abrogate those Laws which lay as blocks in their way urging them thereto from the Example of their good King and Queen who he said had resigned their Title of Supream Head to shew themselves true Members of the Mystical Body and had made Restitution of those Lands which had been sacrilegiously taken from the Church by their Predecessor Which Speech of his being very Methodically digested and delivered with great gravity startled many of the Lords who reflected upon their Fore-fathers Devotion to the holy See but those of the lower House having it seems lower thoughts and deeming it a rare Felicity to have shaken off that heavy Yoke that had so long gall'd their Fore-fathers necks did not so readily assent to receive his profer'd Fenediction at so dear a rate as to part with their Lands which having been divided by the Queens father amongst them were by several Settlements and Alienations so translated from one Family to another that without great Inconvenience they could not be sever'd from their Temporal Proprieties However they so far complyed as to agree That the first Fruits and Tenths granted by the Clergy to King Henry Anno 1534 should be remitted But after they came to consider the Poverty of the Treasure the reason of the several Pensions that had been granted in Lieu thereof by the said King to divers Religious Persons that were still living they revok'd their Decree again Upon which the Legate not skilful enough to deal with a Multitude as appear'd afterward by his loosing the papal dignity desisted content it seems with the honour of having prevail'd over the more devout Queen the heat of whose Zeal had so softned her heart that it was fit for any Impression Now as he had a better Faculty in Canvassing of the Feminine Sex which Cardinal Carraffa afterward Pope Paul IV upbraided him withal in the open Conclave so he prevail'd with her to give up all that she had in her own possession who to move others to imitate her piety did it with that detestation of the Sacriledg of her Predecessors that when one of her wise Counsellors yet of the same Religion told her it would be a great Diminution to the Revenues of her Crown she answered piously and as she thought prudently that she had another Crown to look after that she valued a thousand times more then that But while she is thus careful for the eternal King Philip her Husband was no less busie to secure his Temporal Crown In order to which he went over to receive the Blessing of the Emperour his Father then in Flanders who upon his Arrival delivered up to him the possession of the Low
Countries having given him the Kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem before of the first of which the Pope either envying or fearing the Emperour's Greatness had made the French King some Assurance purposely to ingage him thereby in a War that might weaken them both Great Preparations were made by either Party to secure themselves both with Arms and Alliances the Emperor leaving all his Dominions on this side to his Son whilst himself retires into Spain to alarm the French on the other side and by his Vicinity to Italy whose petty Princes he suspected not to be firm to his Interest makes himself as terrible to his Neighbours as his Enemies But whilst this great design was in Prospect only King Philip was suddenly called home by a Brute that his Queen was with Child the Joy whereof was so universal that it is strange to tell how much it transported the whole Kingdom raising them by the hopes of a young Prince to a degree of seeming Infatuation for they not only mock'd God Almighty in the Church with causeless Thanksgivings but troubled the King and Queen every hour in Court withâ—s groundless Petitions for Places of Attendance on the unborn Child and so far did the Delirium prevail to delude even the Parliament themselves with extravagant apprehensions of their future happiness by the enjoyment of such a Prince who however he were like to be Lord of the greatest part of Christendom would yet in all probability make England the Seat of his Empire that they humbly besought the King in case the Queen should dye in Travel that he would be pleas'd to take upon him the rule and government of the Child and Kingdome such ado have great Princes to be born as well as to dye in quiet But this mistaken Embryo proving at length to be nothing else but a Mis-conception whereof she could not be delivered so as to make way for any better Conception turning to such a fleshy inform Substance as Physitians call a Mole and we vulgarly English a Moon-Calf it put King Philip so ouâ— of Countenance that he tarried not a Month here after her time of Reckoning was our but passing into Flanders put it out of his head since he could not put it out of her belly by beginning a War with France whereto he had a good ground upon the account of the Five years Truce being broken that had been made but a little before The Queen to requite him for her late Miscarriage broke with her People and resolving not to stand Neuter whilst her Husband was ingaged found occasion to make the French Aggressors upon the Crown of England Whereupon the Earl of Pembroke was sent over with Ten thousand Horse and Four thousand Foot who joyning with the Kings Forces which were Thirty five thousand Foot and Twelve thousand Horse before they came they all of them sate down before St Quintins a Town of great importance which the French in vain indeavouring to succour lost Twenty five thousand upon the place Amongst whom were divers of the greatest Quality as John of Bourbon Duke of Anguin the Dukes of Monpensier and Longevile the Viscount Turein c. the Lord Chadenier the Mareschal St. Andrew the Rhinegrave the Constable Mount Morency and his Son Brother to Count Lodowick Gonzaga Brother to the Duke of Mantova the Admiral Coligny and his Brother with divers other Lords of no less eminence who being all taken with the Town made it look like the beginning of a War which every Body judged could not end till the Rupture reach'd to the middle of France The report of this Victory gave great matter of rejoycing to every Body but most especially to the Queen her self yet could it not divert that Melancholy occasioned by the conceit of her Misconception which brought her into a Distemper that not long after kill'd her by her Physicians mistaking her Malady who giving her improper Medicines without regard to the over-cooling of her Liver which it seems is the mischief attends those Moles found not their error till she was so far gone into that desperate kind of Dropsie which they call Ascites that there was no help for her now That which added to her Distemper was an over-nice resentment of the Popes displeasure who offended at her breach with the French punish'd her as Princes use to be by whipping their Favourites with taking away the Legatine Power from her beloved Minister Cardinal Pool to whom as she had ever a great regard so she opin'd that the disgrace put upon a Man of so great Authority and Credit who had been so active in the Conversion of the Nation would as indeed it did not only reflect something on her honour but hazard much the reputation of the Catholick Cause whiles the Roman Religion was not so fully establish'd as she design'd it should and the Enemies of the Church no less dangerous to that of her State This gave her great trouble of Mind and that trouble being heightened by the absence of her beloved Husband brought her into a burning Feaver that foretold a death that might have proved a living one had it not been hastned by the news of the revolt of Calais which being lost in less then six dayes time after it had continued English above Two hundred years came so near her heart that drying up all her Blood brought her under such a fix'd sadness as left her not till she left the World Now to say truth she had great reason to resent the loss for as it was the only Key left to let her into France so it was no small over-sight to hang it by her side with so slender a String as she did there being not above Five hundred Souldiers in it when it was attach'd which were much too few to defend a place of that Importance where there was a kind of necessity to keep the Gates alwayes open HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE Christ was the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And what the Word did make it That I believe and take it Which however it seem'd an obscure and uncertain Solution so baffled all her Adversaries that the Priests themselves who hop'd with like Success to have soil'd her as the First Temptor did the First Woman upon the First great Question of Take and Eat found themselves left in the dark to grope after her meaning as well as they could whilst she shut her self up from further Pressures within the Closet of her own private Sense But as Wisdom is perhaps the only Vertue that is distrustful of it self so to shew how little Confidence she had in the strength of her own Abilities she made it her first business to fortifie her self with able Counsellors In the choice of whom her Affections gave place to her Judgment as her Fears to her Foresight admitting divers of her Sisters great Ministers who having been privy to all the Secrets of State were like sharp
others all men of good Families and of as good Education one would have thought it a soberer and deeper design then it proved to be Some think their intention was to have seiz'd on the Persons of the King and Queen and their Children and so to have made Conditions with him for the Kingdom in general and perhaps for themselves in particular being perswaded by some cunning Casuist amongst them That it could be no Treason being enter'd into before the King was Crown'd and Anointed And in case they could not bring the King to their terms 't was said they resolv'd to set up the Title of the Lady Arabella as the next presumptive Heir to the Crown being sole Daughter of Charles Earl of Lenox younger Brother to the Kings Grandfather whom the King when her Father dyed put besides that Title as by Custom of Scotland he might being a Donation during his Minority to give it to his Cosin Esme Lord Aubigny the Heir Male of the Lord John the other younger Brother Now that which gave colour to this unreasonable Conjecture of setting up this Lady was the particular respect Sir Walter Rawleigh profest to her but if his enmity to Spain had not been a more unpardonable sin then his amity with her the Charge Count Gundamore brought against him could not have been so much more pressing upon him then the Attorney Generals upon his Fellows to make his much Merit no less criminal then their much Guilt and which was more unlucky to render him a greater Sufferer by the Kings Mercy then divers of them were by his Justice who having freed him after Condemnation was prevail'd with by the Spaniard to condemn him after that freedom contrary to the opinion of divers learned Gown-men who held that his Majesties Pardon lay inclusively in that Commission he gave him afterward upon his setting out to Sea it being incongruous that he should have had the disposing of the lives of others who was not clearly Master of his own But herein those that were his particular Friends and Relations were not more surpriz'd then all the World beside For as they expected to have been indebted to his Sword for bringing home more Gold then would have paid the price of his forfeited Head so every Body eâ—se hoped to have been no less indebted to his Pen for finishing that most excellent Piece of his The History of the Old World which ended as untimely as himself by attempting a Discovery of The new One Now as this Plot seems to have been as dark as the place it self where it was first hatch'd so it was made yet darker by the wisdom of the King who kept the Cause unknown to the intent it might have no Seconds However some have concluded from the appointment of that Conference of Divines which hapned not long after at Hampton-Court that whatever Reasons of State topt the Plot Religion lay at the bottom of it which being at all times a sure foundation for any treasonable practices was at this time so much more seasonably pretended by how much the King being as yet a stranger and unsetled not knowing whom to suspect much less whom to trust would necessarily be dâ—stracted with various apprehensions and not think himself secure in the Glory of being Defender of the Kingdom till he appeared to be The True Defender of the Faith here in England as well as Defender of the True Faith for so run his Title in Scotland Neither were they deceiv'd that took this measure of his Zeal or Fears it being well known that he was as ambitious to shew the first as other Princes were careful to conceal the last Witness the pleasure he took in wrestling as I said before with Pope Pius the Fourth not as Jacob wrestled with the Angel to obtain his Blessing but as he contested with Esau to shew how little he regarded his Cursing After which he entred the List to grapple with that more dreadful Monster the Presbyter who professing to hate the pomp of Superstition disdain'd to give Obedience to any kind of Order in the Church being like the Chymara which the * Vid. Ovid. Metam lib. 6. Poets feign'd to have breath'd out fire having the head and breast of a Lyon a bold voracious Creature but very dull with the belly of a Goat and therefore much followed by the Female Sex and the tail of a Dragon to sting the Consciences of those that follow him and make them spiritually mad Betwixt him and the Pope finding Religion to be placed as his own Arms were betwixt the Lyon and the Unicorn who trampled under their feet his Beati Pacifici with as much scorn as they have since Diâ—u Mon Droit He thereupon deferr'd the matter no longer but calling before him the ablest of those that took upon them to oppose the Monarchy of the Church he resolv'd to preside himself in the Controversie betwixt them and the Bishops He that was the Prolocutor of the Non-conformists hapning to be a man worthy a better imployment then that Religious Drudgery they had ingaged him in was so modest notwithstanding it was his business to oppose all Formality as to offer nothing that was altogether void of Form beginning with a General Discourse of the Necessity of a thorow Reformation he brought the Desires of his dissatisfied Brethren under four Heads beseeching his Majesty that there might be 1. An establishment of true Doctrine in the Church as if that receiv'd from Christ and his Apostles had not been as yet sufficiently clear'd 2. That there might be a settlement of true and faithful Pastors meaning men of known simplicity and plainness and if not Fishermen as were the Apostles yet of any other Trade or Occupation 3. That there might be a sincere Administration in point of Government meaning that the Presbyter might he joyn'd in Commission with the Bishop as Calves-head and Bacon are better meat together then either of them alone that by his letting in as many at the back door as the Bishop did at the fore door great might be the multitude of Preachers 4. That the Book of Common Prayer might be fitted to a more increase of Piety by lengthening the Prayers which as one of the Fraternity and doubtless a Taylor objected were like short shreds or ends of threds that were too quickly wrought off and spiritualizing them with some less intelligible Phrases to prevent praying by rote These Proposals of his being inforced by a not unlearned Discourse however more like an Orator then a Divine he concluded with sundry Objections 1. Against Confirmation as being altogether needless and unnecessary because it added nothing as he said to the Validity and Sufficiency of the Sacrament To which Answer was given That the Church held it no essential part of the Sacrament but judg'd it a thing most reasonabâ—e that Children who at their Baptism had made Profession of their Faith by others should so soon as they came to years of
alienated or dispos'd otherwise then by their Orders Which last Request was grounded upon two Reasons 1. To render the Irish more desperate by cutting off all hopes of ever recovering their Estates again 2. To incourage all that would take up Arms under their Commission to hope that they might be stated in them as many of them since have And lastly that none might under pretence of arming against the Irish raise any Forces to allarm them wherein they were so cautelous that they would not consent that the King who earnestly desired it should go himself in Person This unexpected breach upon him gave him the second Provocation to make another breach upon them for being well assured that the Five Members were the great Botefeus that kept in the fire he caus'd a Charge of High Treason to be drawn up against them upon the Articles following 1. As having indeavour'd the Subversion of the Kingdom and Laws 2. The depriving him of his Legal to set up an Arbitrary Power 3. To have indeavour'd to alienate his good Peoples Affections from him by divers false Scandals 4. To have attempted to corrupt his Army 5. To have invited a Forreign Power to Invade the Kingdom 6. To have design'd the Subversion of the very Rights and Beings of Parliament 7. To have raised and countenanced Tumults to over-awe him and the Parliament 8. To have trayteroâ—sly conspired to leavy and actually had leavy'd War against him The next day after these Articles were exhibited he himself went in Person to the House of Commons to demand Justice But this as it was like the breaking into an Hornets Nest so the confus'd buzze that followed him to the Court Gates shew'd how dangerous an Undertaking he had past The tumultuous Citizens keeping him awake with continued Complaints of decay of Trade of the danger of Popish designs and the general Fears arising from his †Having â—â—â—â—ed â—ome â—â—anon to be â—râ—ught to prevent the forcing open of his Gates Fortifying of Whitehall as they call'd it the Invasion of the House of Commons the Restraint of the Five Members c. shewing by the Insolence of their Deportment that there wanted nothing to blow up the Government but to give Fire to the Train that was already laid What Tempestuous Weather it was like to prove at Westminster the whole City being already thus overshadow'd with a Cloud oâ— Popular discontent was easie to foretell and accordingly his Majesty thought fit to remove into the clearer Air of Hampton Court whence he return'd the Parliament a very gracious Message assuring them That if they would digest all the Grievances of the Kingdom into one Body he would so far redress them that as he said he would not only equal but exceed the most Indulgent Princes that ever this Nation had But this Condescention of his contributed much to the increasing their Insolence as soft Medicines do cause proud Flesh for as they found he gave ground they press'd the more upon him sending him word That the only Catholicon to cure the growing Distemper was to deliver up the Militia into their hands That of London and the Tower he did not long dispute with them and that of the Country he was content to part with so as their Power were confined within some limited time but they having past the bounds of modesty in asking could not contain themselves within any moderation of acceptance but rejecting all his Concessions proceeded to take the Power he would have given without tarrying for any Confirmation and resolving to magnifie their own Cause rather then his Grace they possessed themselves of the Fleet the trust whereof they committed to the Earl of Northumberland a Person that rather honoured their Cause then was honoured by it But because it was a preposterous thing to provide for War before there was any Cause given to fear a breach of the Peace much more to fly to Arms before there was any prospect of an Enemy they resolved to Treat with him no longer least he should be too hard for them and undeceive the inconstant Multitude not yet sufficâ—ently hardned with Envy or Ignorance From this time therefore they began downright to quarrel with him taking occasion from the late Impeachment of their Members the Information against whom though it were with-drawn and quash'd and the prosecution wholly declined yet they would abate nothing of their Resentment of it being as they alledged a Reflection upon the whole House that they required the Informers might be deliver'd up to them and at the same time they would not allow the dishonour of having any of their Members accus'd they sent a personal Accusation against the King himself Charging him 1. To have attempted the Incensing the late Northern Army against them 2. To have been the Author of all the Troubles of Scotland 3. To have under-hand promoted the Irish Rebellion 4. To have sent away the Lord Digby but a little before in order to the bringing over Forreign Forces to invade the Kingdom malitiously affirming That the Popes Nuntio had been very earnest with his privity in soliciting the Kings of France and Spain to send over Eight thousand men to his Assistance Having thus spit in his Face it could not be expected he should not return it with a blow upon which both sides arm'd They vote him guilty of a breach of the Trust repos'd in him by his People making it contrary to his Oath to defend himself and tending as they said to the dissolution of his Government He to requite them set forth a general Declaration wherein he took notice of all their bold Proceedings which he said he expected to break out into all Disloyal practises and forasmuch as they had already most preposterously declar'd for him against himself as indeed they did thereby to betray well-meaning People into Rebellion he forbid all his Loving Subjects to be any wayes aiding or abetting to them in those their trayterous Attempts to bring on a Civil War and by no means to leavy any Forces or contribute any thing to such Leavies contrary to the known * 1 Ed. 1. 2 Ed. 3. 11 R. 2. Laws without express Licence from him Here the two great Interests IMPERIUM LIBERTAS res olim insociabiles saith †Vit. Agricolae The beginning of the War Tacitus began to Incounter each other like those two unruly Elements of Fire and Water neither of which yielding to one another whilst the one proscrib'd by a Divine t'other by a natural Right begat so horrible a Confusion that the Cause on either side seem'd better in the Pretension then the Prosecution Those who stood up for the Plebiscitum professing only to defend their just Proprieties made use of all Advantages that time or sufferance had intitled them to and as men that at the same time they drew their Swords had slung away the Scabards scorning Pardon as they hated Peace foâ—low'd Providence as their expression was thorow all Dangers and
when he was so seemingly lost by the help of the same Invisible Hand that after led his Son thorow many greater dangers and brought him home safe beyond all hope but stooping to this low Pitch to subject himself to those who had so much despis'd all Subjection they thought it a Complement to him to estimate him at so high a rate as that of their Arrears Had he cast himself upon the Parliament in the first place 't is possible by letting go his hold so unexpectedly as he did he might have given them the Fall when they were so hard tugging with him it being more then probable that the long abus'd People finding how he not only sought Peace but pursu'd it might have been mov'd to have indeavour'd his Restoration as tumultuously as they did his Dethronation restoring his Dignity as disorderly as they took it from him which how much the Hogen Mogens of Westminster dreaded appears by the surprize upon them when a little before his giving himself up to the Scots it was bruted that he was conceal'd in London But as in great Storms great Pilots are forc'd when they can no longer bear Sail to let the Vessel drive and take its chance so he being no longer able to Stem the Tide after having done all that could be hop'd for from Prudence was fain to commit himself to Providence and follow it without Light or Compass thorow many dark Dispensations and fantastick Changes the result of their Inconstancy Inhumanity and Impiety from whom he was afterward to expect his doom Trust makes us our own Traytors nor could he Alâ—yn Vit. H. 7. Be sav'd by Faith but Infidelity Having now lost his Authority from the time he lost his Liberty as the last was the occasion of ending the first Civil War so the first was the cause of beginning a second For now all the Doggs fell together by the Ears over the Marybone The Army quarrelled with the Parliament they with one another the Commons differed from the Lords the Scots divided as much from the English the Presbyterians from the Independants Great was the Dissention amongst the Brethren and all for Place Power or Profit for either of which the King appearing to be the best Pawn the Army took him from the Parliament Commissioners to secure him in their own Custody which was so ill resented by the ruling Members that all their Consultations were about disbanding them Upon which the Army drew up a Charge and disbanded Eleven of them the first * The now Lord Hollis whereof was the first of those Five Members impeached by the King who were so little able to trifle with them as they did with him that they were fain not only to quit the House but the Kingdom After this the Army sent up a †The A mies Representation An. 1647. Representation as they call'd it to the two Houses propâ—sing 1. To purge out all those that ought not to sit there meaning all the Presbyterian Party 2. To disable those who had shew'd themselves disaffected to the Army that they might do no mischief meaning those who had voted with the Eleven Secluded Members 3. To settle a determinate Period for their Sitting intending to have all rul'd by the Sword 4. To give Accompt of the vast Sums they had received during the War intending the Overplus to be divided amongst themselves This so incouraged the Independent Party that they voted in favour of the Army to take the Militia of the City of London out of the Citizens hands who were for the most part of the Presbyterian Faction Upon which a Party of Apprentices came down and making the grand Representatives Prisoners in their own House did as I may say ram their Vote down their Throats making them not only retract it but Vote the Militia back again to the City Hereupon they call'd for Aid to the Army and the apprehensions of what Effects their coming up might have divided the Common-Councel of London as much as the last Riot had those of Westminster so that the General easily entred at the breach and possess'd himself of the Strength of the City Now as Maggots are ingendred by warmth out of Corruption so by the heat of these corrupted Factions there was kindled a Generation of Vermin call'd Agitators which were like the Locusts that rose out of the smoak of the bottomless Pit mentioned in the Revelations c. 9. v. 3. to whom sayes the Text was given power like as the Scorpions of the Earth have power who not liking that the King should continue so near as Hampton-Court found an expedient to fright him from thence by muttering something like an intended Assassination the discovery whereof they knew would quickly be brought to him and tempt him to make a private Escape knowing well that they had him as a Bird in a string and could take him again when they pleas'd which Counsel if it had been rejected by him 't is probable he had been murther'd in good earnest but he flying thereupon to the Isle of Wight where he was secur'd by their fast Friend the * Hamen Governour there they thought they might adventure to treat with him at that distance Accordingly they consented that the Parliament should tender him these four modest Propositions following to be reduced into Acts. 1. That it should be lawful for the Parliament to order and dispose the Militia as they pleas'd for the future without his consent and Treason for any to assemble in Arms above the number of Thirty without Commission from them 2. That the Houses should sit at what time they pleas'd and adjourn their sitting to what place they pleas'd and meet at their own pleasure and discretion for ever after 3. That all Oaths Interdictions and Declarations set forth in Publick by the King against either House should be accompted and declared void 4. That all whom the King had dignified with any Titles from the time himself departed with the Great Seal should be degraded of their Honour Which the Scotch Commissioners we must remember it to their Honour thought so derogatory to that of the Kings and contrary to former Ingagements that they follow'd after the Parliament Commissioners with a kind of State Hue and Cry and protested against them I hope it was not all a Juggle for they had been undone doubtless if the King had sign'd them but it took effect as they desired The King refused them and thereby gave them as they would have it thought just cause to refuse him Whereupon they pass'd that never to be forgotten Vote of Non-Addresses After which the Agitators vanish'd and the Committee of Darby-house took place which consisting most of Officers were now the Plenipotentiaries of the Kingdom And near the same time the Power of England was thus given up to them they had the Resignation made of that of Ireland too The King being now civilly dead and one would think buried the Prisons of Princes proving
as himself observ'd for the most part their Graves the Vote of Non-Addresses being as Earth flung upon him Fortune cruelly brings him to Life again by the Cordial of unexpected hopes heightned by the Zeal of several Counties declaring for him Divers Lords in Arms again at Land and his own Son with others at Sea these incouraged by the Revolt of several Towns those by the coming in of several Ships so that there were no less then Two thousand in Arms for him at Sea with Twenty good Ships and not so litt e as Ten thousand at Land with Horses Arms and Ammunition suitable And which was yet more considerable the Grand * Call'd The Committee of Danger Committee of State in Scotland whose very name carried Danger in it allarm'd them by sending the Propositions following 1. To bring the King to London or some of his Houses near with Freedom and Safety 2. To disband the Army 3. To punish those that had deteined him in Obscurity 4. To restore the Secluded Members 5. To establish the Presbyterian Government and suppress Sectaries And that they might yet appear more like a Committee of Danger they sent a formidable Army under the Conduct of Duke Hamilton to make good their Demands and to give their Nation the Honour of being the last as they were the first in Arms in this unhappy War The terror of these formidable Preparations incourag'd by several Petitions out of the City and Country moved the affrighted Parliament to consent to a Personal Treaty whilst the Army was busie in disputing the Points with the Sword and accordingly they recalâ—'d the Vote of Non-Addresses and sent their Commissioners to wait on the King at the Isle of Wight where he argued so like a Divine with the Divines so like a Lawyer with the Lawyers so like a States-man with their Matchiavillians that they went all away fully satisfied in their belief of his Wisdom Piety and Justice and upon the publishing his Conditions the Houses voted him to be in Honour Freedom and Safety according to the Laws Here seem'd to be nothing wanting now but a Sword in his hand to have once more disputed it with the Sword-men too and then possibly he might have saved himself and the despairing Nation But just as every man was making ready to bring in his Peace-Offering in Confidence that the King and Parliament were fully agreed the inraged Army returning home from the Conquest of all those that had oppos'd them doubly dyed with Blood and Treason alike Enemies to Peace and Reason broke down the great Chain of Order which binds even the Divels themselves and first seizing on him next on them sent no less then Forty of their principal Members to Hell a Place purposely made their Prison not so much for any conveniency of Reception or nearness of Scituation as the Uncoughness of the Name that by the conceipt of being typically damn'd they might bring them into despair and tempt some of them as after they did to become their own Executioners Ninety more they turn'd quite out of the House and appointed a day for turning out all the rest In the mean time they publish'd a Modification which to make the more acceptable they term'd The Agreement of the People by which the number of the Representatives of the Nation was reduc'd to Three hundred half which were to have power to make a Law and during the Intervals of Sessions a Councel of State was to govern This Model was put into the hands of those Members of their own Faction who besides the Confirmation thereof had Instructions given them for passing six other Votes 1. For renewing that of Non-Addresses 2. For annulling the Treaty and Concessions at the Isle of Wight 3. For bringing the King to publick Justice to answer with his own all the Blood shed in the War 4. For summoning in his two Sons the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York to render themselves by a day certain to give satisfaction on their parts otherwise to stand exil'd as Traytors to their Country 5. For doing publick Justice upon all the Kings Partakers 6. For paying off all their own Arrears forthwith How obedient Slaves this Rump of a House were to these their own Servants who could not find in their Heart to pay the least respect to their natural Prince appears by the Sequel For immediately they gave them or rather permitted them to give themselves above Sixty thousand pounds and voted that the General should take care to secure the King and the Councel of war to draw up a Charge of High Treason against him Lord Faulâ—land Behold the frailty of all humane things How soon great Kingdoms fall much sooner Kings This as it was an Insolence beyond all hope of pardon so nothing could justifie it but such a Violation of all sacred and humane Rights as must not only out-do all Example but out-face all Divinity and Majesty at once by erecting that High Court of Justice as they call'd it to try him as a Rebel against himself Preparatory whereunto they made Proclamation at Westminster-hall Cheapside and the Old Exchange that all that had any thing to say against him should come in at the prefix'd time and be heard And for the greater solemnity of their intended Paricide the Law was silenced that is the Tearm put off for fourteen dayes in order to the better formalizing the disorder that was to follow And now having brought the Royal Prisoner to their Judgment Seat they proceed to arraign him with not unlike Impudence and Impiety to that of the Rascal Jews when they brought the King of Kings to Tryal whom as they charg'd to be a Perverter so these charg'd him with being a Subverter of his People both Prisoners being in this alike Guilty that eithers Crime was the owning himself to be a King which as the Jews could not indure then so neither could these now Their King thought not fit to give any Answer to his Accusers this King preparing to give sitting Answers could not be heard But he had this satisfaction to hear Pontius Bradshaw the President by whom he was to be condemn'd condemn himself first and all his Fellow Paricides by a Reply to him not less absurd then observable For his Majesty reasoning upon the unreasonableness of not being suffer'd to speak for himself said Where is there in all the World that Court in which no Place is left for Reason to which t'other unwittingly reply'd Sir you shall find that this very Court is such an one Nay then retorted the King in vain will my Subjects expect Justice from you who stop your Ears to your King ready to plead his Cause Thus they strangled him before they beheaded him and designing to murther his Soul if possible as well as his Body added to their Denial of Justice so many Contumelies Indignities and Affronts as were enough to have tempted him to despair had not his Faith been as strong
regard they had to the living being more prevalent then that of the dead the Queen urged her Articles of Marriage by which it was covenanted that her Children should Inherit to which their Lordships had all subscrib'd which being acknowâ—edged by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the principal Verb in the Sentence his Authority led the sense of the whole Clergy and having as he was Legate the Scepter and Crown in his hand he laid them down on the Altar challenging the Usurper to take them up thence if he durst whereupon King Harold as quick of Apprehension as he was nimble of Foot allai'd this Thunder-clap with a shower of Go den Promises vowing to defend the Churches Rights with his Blood for which as he gave some Pledges in publick but many more as 't is thought in private so he carried the Cause with more Facility then Applause And now being fix'd I cannot say setled not without the suspiâ—ion of some foul play on Earl Goodwin's part whose unexpected Submâ—ssion sheâ—d that he had either quit his Wisdom or his Honesty he began he pleâ—sure of his Reign with that of Revenge and as he dreaded those Sons of the Queen she stood not for to wit those of the English Line Edward and Alfred more then him she did so he found out a Bait accorâ—inglâ— to draw the youngest of them who was the onâ—y man of Spiriâ— and oâ—rage within his reach by the temptation of a feigned Letter as from his Mother that invited him over into England to head an Army against the Usurper for so he was pleas'd to call himself when it serv'd his own turn assuring him there wanted neither hearts nor hands to serve him The Person who was to give him the first Reception after landing was the unsuspected Goodwin who pretending to conduct him privately to his Mother betray'd him into the Vulture's power who immediately put out his eyes manifesting to the World the necessity those have to be cruel that dare be unjust For as Ambition is that illustrious sin that claims Kinred with every great Vice so it hath this Prerogative above them all in respect of its noble Extract that the deeper 't is dyed the better colour it takes and of all Colours so none so natural to it as that Crymson Si jus violandum est regnandi causa violandum For he that cannot rule himself well may yet rule others better and make satisfaction for being an ill man by becoming a good King But this was not Harold's intention the Ills that he seard could not be secur'd but by those he did and therefore he provided for greater first banishing the innocent Queen after consiscating all her Estate to his own use and having little apprehensions of any danger from that dull Rival the elder Brother who seem'd to affect a Myter rather then a Crown he turn'd his thoughts toward his own Brother Knute resolving to reach h m by poyson under a gilded Pill which he believ'd he could not want hands to administer whilst the Furies were in Confederacy with him to secure the ill-got Greatness they had bestowed upon him Several persons were corrupted with golden promises of great Preferments in case they could effect the black deed but Providence being more kind to him then he to himself prevented his further guilt by putting an end to his loathed life which yet had concluded happily enough if either his infamy had ended with himself or himself had been at rest when he ended But being the Peoples terrour whiles he was alive the King his Adversary that succeeded him took that advantage to make him their scorn after he was dead raking up his Ashes out of the Dust where it was laid to expose it to another Element as restless as was himself whereby though in effect he did no more but rob the Worms to gratifie the Fishes yet the Common sort judging there was something more of Inhumanity in the manner then perhaps of Injustice in the matter of the Revenge it melted down their hate into a kind of pity and as their spight for the most part ends with their fears so forgetting their own they became so sensible of his wrong that from that time they withdrew their affections from that King and had doubtless expos'd him had he not prevented it by exposing himself to some danger as great as that he met with ENGLISH EDWARD the Confessor date of accession 1042 THE Danish Line being broken off before the ambitious Goodwin could fasten his Hook to it and all claim on that side made void by the immediate Revolt of Norwey and their dissentions at home he had only this advantage and it was a great one to make his own choice out of all the English that pretended to the right of Succession and to take whomsoever he thought would be the fittest mold for him to cast the Model of his own designed Greatness in The first in right to the Crown were Prince Edward and Edmond the Sons of Ironsides but the remoteness of their Persons being of greater consideration then the nearness of their Titles having ever since the death of their Father continued as Out-laws in Hungary to which Crown they were so nearly allyed that he was put beside all hope of tampering with them he prefer'd their Uncle Edward one of the younger Sons of Ethelred a Prince so soft and plyant that he seem'd to be fram'd by Nature for every Impression that was to be put upon him to him therefore he gave up the Crown and with it as a Bribe a Jewel perhaps of greater value if it had been rightly us'd or understood his vertuous Daughter Edith a Lady of so incomparable person and parts that he might be very well confident he had made all cock-sure as we vulgarly say knowing that whenever he came within the Circle of her Arms he must be so charm'd if he had any thing of man in him as never to be able to get loose again This assurance made our Politician very bold with his Son in Law that boldness quickly turn'd to Arrogance that Arrogance attracted great Envy and that Envy rais'd great Opposition Those of the Nobility that were men of Action became his Rivals in Glory performing as great things against the Scots as he and his Sons could do against the Welch whilst those that were men of Counsel made it their business to counter plot his Intreagues wherein they likewise prevail'd so far as to prefer Gemensis Bishop of London the very greatest Enemy he had to be Arch-bishop of Canterbury but he being a Norman which crossed a wise Ordinance made at the coming in of the King that no stranger should be admitted into any place of Profit or Trust Goodwin made it the Kingdoms grievance more then his own and rather then want an Occasion to puzzle the short sighted Multitude he took a very slight one from an accidental Fray at Canterbury between the Towns-men and some of the Followers of
thought the fittest Person to be tampered with for regaining the Point or at least to keep all quiet there whilst the King assisted by the Emperour with whom he had newly entred into a strict League sought more considerable Glory in the Invasion of France whither he resolved to go again in Person where notwithstanding that King out of dread of his power had summon'd all his Feises and brought together his Arrereban as they call them to oppose him he took the Town of Bulloigne and had undoubtedly inlarged his Conquests to the very Walls of Paris had not the Emperour privately patch'd up a Peace without him Upon notice whereof he thought fit to return home to reinforce the War in Scotland where though he did not much yet 't was more perhaps then was expected at that time For notwithstanding their conjunction with the French who entred upon one side whiles they prest in on the other both setting upon him like two Mastiffs upon a Lion yet he only rowsing himself shook them off again and pursuing them home to their own doors did them so much more mischief then they were able to do to him that they call'd for quarter choosing rather to treat then fight upon which there ensued a Peace the Conditions whereof whoe're examines will find that he knew how to yield as well as how to conquer giving them the reputation of having back their good Town of Bulloigne but they were to pay him for it Eight hundred thousand Crowns and the possession was to be his till the last payment were made And now having as it were tired himself with Victory it was time to retire into the consideration of taking his eternal rest having seen many of his brave men go before him as the valiant Lord Poynings the Hardy Duke of Suffolk his constant Favorite the Noble Lord Ferrers of Chartley the brave Lord Grey c. And it being now the Eight and thirtieth year of his Reign and the Six and fiftieth of his Age labouring under an unusual heaviness of Body and perhaps a greater of Mind having made Peace with all Enemies but the Scots and Pope having dis-joynted the Frame of Religion and drove away most of those that should put it in frame again having by the Severity of his Justice taken off two Queens two Cardinals for Pool stood condemn'd though not apprehended three Dukes Marquisses Earls and Earls Sons twelve Barons and Knights eighteen which could not but irritate much the Temporal Nobility and of Bishops Abbots Priors Monks Priests which as much incenst the Clergy no less then Seventy seven having offended his Roman Catholick Subjects by disowning the See of Rome and his Protestant Subjects by rejecting the Reformation he was brought at last to that unhappy period to leave the Crown to a Child whose condition was like to prove as uncertain under the Government of a Protector as the Kingdom under his which in case of want of Issue of his Body was to descend to his two Sisters successively of whose Legitimacy Religion and Title there were as many scruples before they parted from the Soveraignty as ever their Father conceiv'd in point of State Conscience or Honour before he parted from their Mothers So from the Catastrophe of his whole Story we may bring this remark That as no man could measure his Happiness by his Greatness so neither can they take any scantling of his Greatness by any thing that the World calls Happiness it being very true which the Marquiss of Dorset told him very plainly and not unpleasantly at a time when he was ill dispos'd to hear a Jest and not well prepared to be serious to wit That no man could be truly merry that had above one Wife in his Bed one Friend in his Bosom and one Faith in his Heart HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE Now whether his Lady that had been the Wife of a King before did while she was alive put him upon any hopes of being so now for ambitious Men like seal'd Doves mount the higher for being blinded is not certain but certain it is that as soon as she died which was not long after he resum'd the confidence to approach so near the Throne as to Court the Lady Elizabeth the second time now grown a little riper for consent then when he first mov'd the Question to her Neither was it carried so secretly but that his Brother had an insight into the whole practice and at last discover'd the whole Plot but conceal'd his knowledge of it either out of pity or prudence as loath to ruin him with the hazard of losing himself or as doubting perhaps that the Sword of Justice was not long enough to reach him at least not sharp enough to cut thorough the knot of the whole Conspiracy But as Fate never fails undoing the man she has determin'd to destroy and when she falls upon him makes the first stroke at his head so happen'd it in this unhappy Lords case who being unexpectedly undermin'd was blown up by a Train that seems to have taken fire as it were by Lightning from Heaven his Treason being first detected out of the Pulpit and the Protector his Brother so prest by an eloquent Sermon of Bishop Latimer to Impeach him that he being not able to clear him was in some sence obliged to clear himself by a Speech which prov'd as ominous as it was obvious saying at the same time he caus'd him to be apprehended That he would do and suffer Justice And so he did when he sign'd the Warrant for his Execution after the Parliament found him Guilty with his own Hand A singular piece of Self-denial and such as is rarely found in Story there being very few that so much prefer the publick before their own private Interest as not to spare their own flesh and blood However looking so like Revenge it was by most men judg'd unnatural and taking no less from the honour of his Justice then t'other intended to have taken from the Prerogative of his Honour so shuck the frame of his Authority that it broke in pieces presently after and both Factions of Papists and Protestants falling off from him he was expos'd to the cunning of Warwick and the scorn of the Marquiss of Dorset his most unreconcileable Enemies The Papists quit him as believing the Obligation ceas'd by which when he ceas'd by whom they were held in having been true to him no otherwise but for his Brothers sake only The Protestants fail'd him because they doubted he might fail them for how could they think he would give them any Assistance that had given to his own Brother so little Thus when two great Trees grow up together out of one and the same Stock we see that the cutting down of the one commonly indangers the blowing down of the other which remaining single and expos'd to every storm cannot stand unless it have a firm ground as well as a spreading Root Neither