expedition of warr It shalbe nedelesse to examine the righte that Don Anthonio pretendeth to the crowne of that country since it is soone answered in his illegitimation VVhich being by M. Cecill dispensed withall albeit he be but vicar generall and not the supreme head himself requireth no further question Don Anthonio then accompaigned with Sir Iohn Norrice and Sir Frauncis Drake departed from Englād with aboue 20. thousand soldiers and mariners Don Anthonio with full resolution to take possession of Portugall but M. Drake with a farr other secret designement which being vttred by him self vnto the queene I would be lothe here to repeat were it not for feare of leauing the reader in erronius suspitiōs M. Drake forsoothe did promisse the Q. very cōfidently to bring the king of Spaine to kisse her pantofle or els to bring him I know not to what woful lamentation But such was the disastrous effect of that iorney that neither Don Anthonio obtained his expected kingdome nor Captaine Drake would once enter on shore in Portugall to take the king of Spaine with him VVhereof two mighty inconueniences haue ensued the one is that the realme of Portugall is still possessed by the right owner and the other that the Queenes pantofle is yet vnkist by the kinge of Spaine Neuerthelesse excepting some 2. or 3. thowsād all the rest of the soldiers and mariners shewed more valour thē their leaders for that they neuer returned back againe but either remained still in Portugall or aboute that coast It is further to be noted that albeit in that voyage they could not effectuate their desyre against their enemyes they did yet without partialitie so set vpon their freindes that they seazed vpon 50. shippes of the Easterlinges which were bound to Spaine with marchandize and caried those away with them and so returned home vnto Plimouthe VVhere enen at their very landing there hapned a more strāg encounter thē before in the whole iorney they had found For the women of Plimouth whose husbandes by ill vsage were lost in that voyage being armed with distaues other vnusuall weapōs without any respect vnto kingship or knighthoode began so fiersly to assault Dō Anthonio Drake that they were faine to defend them selues by force of legges This voyage being thus ended the progresse thereof was printed and published both in Latin and English But the author thereof in myne opinion mighte well haue spared his paines because all mē manifestly knew without booke what successe the said voyage had had VVhat sithence hathe bene dōne in the sending of Shippes and forces towardes the Terceraes and els where and the successes thereof being ryf in our memorie I will here omitt and proceed to giue the reader such satisfactiō as the scope of the premisses haue directed me vnto Not withstanding the manifold iniuries donne by the English vnto the king of Spaine where-of many haue here bene recyted the most of thē do lie opē to the view of the whole world it is strange that they cannot yet conteyne their malice against him within the limites of ciuill speeches who not only permitting euery hedgeminister and cōtemptible person to raile vpon him at his pleasure to make this base kynde of dealing more authenticall haue not letted in the very preambles and fore frontes of sundrie late proclamations to note him to be ambitious an vsurper and a Tyrant and in this later to call him the only disturber of the vniuersall peace of Christēdome VVhich vnseemely disordered speeches dothe il beseme the publike writinges of Princes which ought to haue no affinitie with defamatorie libells A thing which the King of Spaine hathe euer detested to do against thē or other his enemyes who leaveth the directnes of his cause to sustaine it self without the credit which mighte be giuen thereunto by railing Let vs therefore now consider whether thesaid King hathe soughte the disturbance of the state of England or of any other potentate or state Christian or whether any may iustly complaine that euer he hathe endeuored to patronize himself of their crownes or countries or to encroache or incorporate oughte of theirs vnto his considering his incomparable greatnesse the neere situation of his and their dominions Let vs looke first into Italy whether the territories of the Church Venice Piemont Florence Genua or any other prince or state els have cause to cōplaine Looke whether he hathe bene offensiue to Lorraine Treuers Cleue Colē Liege or to the Esterlinges Did not the realme of Portugall next vnto him stand in it self with all the iles and remote places belonging to thesame in all peace and securitie til by iust discent the tytle of all fell vnto him and do not the people now liue vnder him excepting the trooble they sustaine by the English in as great felicitie as euer they did vnder any their former princes vvhat great impudēcie is it then for any so palpably to be-lie him in whome the cleane contrary to their slaunderous reproches is most euydēt to the end that the vniust calumnies of the aduersary may be more apparent let vs also consider the Kinges procedinges aswell towardes some other Christian princes as to the Queene and realme of England in particular First it is very manifest that after his departure from the lowe countries at which tyme he peaceably possessed those the rest of his kingdomes and dominions his firme resolutiō was for the generall defence of Christendome to make warr against the Turk and other Mahomertaines And to that end he first vpon his peace made with Fraunce called all his forces of Spaniardes and others oute of Flaunders and sent them into Italy and thence employed them against the enemies of Christianitie First at Pinion de velis then to Zerbi then to La Racha and other places of Africa And the Isle of Malta being strongly besieged in very great perill to be lost he sent thether a great army to succor it and defeated the forces of the Turk He also prouided such troopes for the yeare ensuing which he sent thether vnder the conduct of the Marquis of Piscara that the Turk was forced to giue ouer leave his second enterprize albeit he came very strongly prouided for the taking thereof therein to recouer his honor lost the yeare before And after all this the king of Spaine for the more repose and tranquilitie of Christendome ioyned in league against the Turk with the Pope the Venetians whereof followed the great victory obtained by Don Iohn de Austria his generall at Lepanto These pointes albeit but briefly touched may serue for a demonstration of his princely resolution to maintaine the concord of Christians and to offend their comō enemy Yea the king of Tunis being by the Turk expulsed he restored him again vnto his kingdome But moste redy he was to giue aid and assistance to Christian princes VVhen being oppressed by the insolencie of their rebells they desired his
familie are pressed sent foorth of the realme vnto the warres of forein parts contrary to the lawes of the coūtrie by the which it is prouyded that none ought to be pressed but only to defend the realme or to recouer some lost patrimony of the crowne whereof it is not knowne that either Spaine Portugall the lowe countries or the Indies euer were And yet so exceeding great haue bene the multytudes of men that by compulsiō haue these late yeares bene sent vnto those partes that being well employed they might haue conquered whole kingdome and not withstāding this great iniustice and iniury donne vnto them whē in these seruices and euill actions they haue lost their lyues they are rewarded with infamy after their deaths euen by those that constrained them thereunto and most contemptibly called the scum rascallitie of the countrie whereof it is happely deliuered And such as after the great miseries which comonly they do sustaine do returne home againe into England they haue by the very report of being Soldiers purchased the hatefull names of rogues vagabondes being for want of payment brought vnto pouertie nakednesse are made subiect vnto the conductiō and punishement of euery beadle catchpole and lastly euen for very trifles to the fynall dispatch of the hangman VVhat a most vile and hatefull vsage is this to men of any valor and how intolerable to be borne by any that beareth in his brest the harte and courage of a soldier or hathe euer bene conducted by a captaine in the feild what wrong and iniury can be greater to any one that retayneth the shape of a man or how is it possible for any English soldier to endure it or for any other to extend it vnto him except this only naturall enemy to all men of armes that could neuer abyde that euer any man of seruice capitaine soldier or person of braue spirite should be rewarded but with reproche misery whose condition and state of lyf is in all countries in the world most honorable and was neuer made slauish in England before England came vnto a Cecilian gouernment Thus rewardeth he those whome himself employeth to his owne purpose in the losse and hazarding of their lyues And yf we shall now consider what infynite numbers of the inhabitants of the land he hathe by one meanes or other cōsumed dayly entendeth to cōsume we might iustly feare that this his course continuing he would in tyme bring the realme to be a Republike of Amasones yf he had not alredy drawne into it treble as many strangers as King VVilliam the cōqueror planted therein after his subduing thesame wherewith himself as it seemeth doth meane to erect and fortify his new imagyned kingdome Let vs also consider the great decay of Trafike that of late yeares the countrie is brought vnto whereby not only many principall marchantes which were wont to transport great riches and comodities to the realme are become banckruptes and sundry of them enforced to turne their trade of marchandize into meere piracie but also diuers whole townes are decayed the people compelled to beg that before were honestly sustained by the trade of clothing VVhat should I speake of the generall abuses of the realme since they are so great and so infynite There were neuer somany sutes in lawe nor there was neuer lesse redresse of wronges The lawe is exempt from Iustice and all causes are gouerned by bribes and partialitie Conscyence is least accompted of and coosinage is in summo gradu The prisons were neuer in any princes daies so full of debtors and malefactors The highe wayes were neuer so replenished with thieues robbers yet were there neuer so many executed for stealing There were neuer such numbers of beggers in all partes of the realme and except lawyers vsurers very fewe mē are furnished with mony But it is a woonder to consider what great grieueous exactions haue from tyme to tyme bene generally emposed vpon the people as all the Lones the Lottery gathering for the steeple of Paules newe impostes and customes of wynes clothes and other marchandize forfaictures and confiscations of the goodes of Catholikes forced bene uolences for the sucouring of rebellious bretherē huge masses of mony raised by priuy seales and last of all the great number of subsidies which haue bene more in the tyme of this Queene thē those that haue beene leuyed by diuers of her predecessors and do amount to many millions of poundes yfall these do not lie hoorded vp in the Queenes cofers the Lord Trecherer I trust cāgiue her maiestie and the realme good accomptes of them in books and papers But in the meane while the comons are brought vnto comon beggery and by the continued and intended exactions they are lykely to be daily more oppressed then other Infynite are the domesticall miseries that he hathe deliuered the realme vnto most infamous hath he made the English name and nation abrode for vice for cruelty for vnfaithfulnesse and breach of all lawes with their freindes and confederates In Fraunce they are counted Churche-robbers bloody and vnmerciful in Portugall disordered and foole hardie of all nations in generall the pyrates of euery sea the sowers of sedition in all countries the maintainers of all rebellions and the only Butchers persecutors of innocent priestes and Catholikes that peaceably liue vnder their subiection Behold then good reader into what condition the late so goodly and flowrishing estate of England in a fewe yeares is brought how iustly it may be said to be blessed with peace and tranquillitie in regard of former ages Call to remēbrance in what amitie that realme was with other countries at the Queenes entrāce to the crowne those likewise at the same tyme one with another which mighte happely haue continued for many yeares together yf the vnhappy enemy of Christian cōcord had not bene the only let and hindrance as neither the princes of Fraunce or Scotland notwithstanding their great molestatiōs by the English did neuer attempt any reuenge no more did the King of Spaine make any shewe of hostillitie against them albeit the iniuries don by them vnto him without intermissiō haue bene lōgest cōtynued insomuch that the English haue scarsly left him or his subiects any countrie of quiet habitation but disturbed thē in Spaine in Portugall in Italy and in the Indies letted not to robbe spoile them in all partes of the occean and mediteraneā seas And hauing for the space of twēty yeares together assisted the rebelles of the lowe countries and lastly in the open viewe of the world put thē selues in possessiō of diuers of the kinges townes and cities being parte of his patrimony he was in the end euē drawne by extreme violence to some attempt for the recouery of his right hauing before somany yeares together for borne the reuenge of all former wronges and now as it seemeth because he will not giue thē assurance
brother and the house of Montmorancie against him for the prosecuting whereof the brother of the said Montmorancie and the Prince of Condie came into England and there receyued the somme of 50. thowsand poūdes which was past ouer by exchange by way of Antwerp and Colen for the first leuy of men and bringing in of Casimire By meanes of which forces the king was constrained to giue vnto his brother Aniow Main Towrain Tours whereby his partage was made greater thē any brother to any king of Frannce before him Now when by this meanes the French king was thus-much feebled then was the said Duke of Aniow broughte into England to be made the make-fyre betweene the two most potent realmes of Christendome Spaine and Fraunce but vnder the colour and countenance of matrimony which being in the end conuerted into a mock-mariage Monsieur receyued his errand to go into the low countries of the king of Spaine there was he made Antiduke of Brabant the which laudable deuice yf any in Englād had cōtriued except M. Cecill or yf it had euer bene practized in any other princes tyme thē in this it could haue bene no lesse then highe treason For that to put an heire apparent of Fraunce in possessiō of Flaunders is a matter of no lesse moment thē to giue dooble strengthe vnto an auncient enemy and to leaue England for a future breakfast vnto a French king But it pleased God soone to quench the fire that mōsieur was sent to kindle For the new duke of Brabant being subdued by his subiectes was in the nonage of his raigne forced with much dishonor to returne into France VVhere the remembrance of the deceatful dealinges of England and the shame that lately he had sustained in the low countries did make his owne indiscretions apparent vnto himself and so aggrauated his sicknesse that the reuenge which he threatned vnto Englād he was faine to leaue vnto God and his duchie of Brabant vnto the right owner For soone after his arryuall in Fraunce with very much grief of mynde he died Monsieur being thus departed this world it was necessarie that some nevv occasion were soughte out for the continuance of M. Cecill his eternall resolution which the sinister practizes past and the iniquities of the tyme present suffred not to be ōg sought for For he foorwith discouered that the French king had entretained an il opiniō of the princes of the house of Guyse vnto the which house albeit that the King and his bretheren the late kinges before him had bene as much beholding as a king could be vnto his subiectes yet by the suggestion of a leud mignion all their manifold desertes were vngratefully forgotten And then for the better now rishing of these dislikes an extraordinarie league of amitie was concluded with the french King who soone after became so attentiue vnto good instructions that he cōmitted most horrible murthers vpon tvvo of the princes of the said house and what end himself shortly after came vnto is manifest enough But to leaue Scotland and Fraunce in those termes vvherunto they are novv led vve vvill come vnto Spaine as to the matter of greatest momēt the subiect of this discours The King vvhereof hauing left the Q. of England presently vppon Q. Maries deceasse in full possessiō of that kingdome and by sundry demonstratiōs giuen proof of his entire loue and amitie vnto her and also of his firme intention to continevv the old concord that had so long endured betweene the kinges of England and the house of Burgundie being also at peace with the French king hauing placed for the gouernmēt of the Netherlandes the Duchesse of Parma he departed into Spaine And albeit as it is wel knowne he hath euer bene a prince that by nature is disposed vnto peace yet cōsidering the greatnesse of the Turk and his incessant attemptes in the inuading of Christendome whereof some vniuersall danger mighte be feared to ensue he determined to employ such meanes as God had giuē him to withstand the intention of this comon enemy The which soone after he began to put in practize as hereafter shalbe declared But this cours of proceeding lyked not him that had designed his plots vnto other purposes and that rather sought to woork some speciall domage to the king of Spaine then to haue the potēcie of the Turck diminished And therefore for an introduction thereunto to make him odious vnto the people certaine players were permitted to scof and iest at him vpon their comō stages And the lyke was vsed in contempr of his religiō first to make it no better thē Turkishe by annexing vnto the very psalmes of Dauid as thoughe the prophet himself had bene the author thereof this ensuing meeter Preserue vs lord by thy deere woord From Turck and Pope defend vs lord That bothe would thrust out of his throne Our lord Iesus Christ thy deere sonne And after by making it farr more odious and woors then was the religion of Mahomet As diuers ministers did at diuers tymes insinuate vnto the people And one of them in a sermon at Paules crosse affirmed that it was a more better acte to assist Turks then Papistes For the which woordes the L. Buckhurst the same day reproued him at the shirif of Londons table but M. minister stoode vnto his tacling and had as it seemed learned his lesson of the superintēdent of VVinchester who published in a printed booke that it was better to sweare vnto the Turk and turkery then vnto the Pope and popery and that the Pope is a more perillous enemy to Christ then the Turk But in the meanewhyle it is a good Gospell that maketh him that tearheth vs to beleeve that Christ is the sonne of God and sauior of the world and him by whose meanes our forefathers were baptised in the name of the Father Sonne holy Ghost to be woors then he that denyeth Christ to be the sonne of God and constreyneth Christians to renounce their christendome These preparatiues being thus made the Moores that inhabited the kingdome of Granada were excited to rebellion Vnto whome althoughe the English would not openly send forces of men yet they sent them succors of powder shot artillery other munition of warr There were also certaine French pirates that vnder colour of authoritie from the Q of Nauar◠that then was the prince of Condie the Shatillion and others were sent foorth to robbe and endomage the king of Spaine and his subiects all these had free passage and entrance to and from the portes and hauens of England And soone after one Kirkham and diuers other English of the westcountrey were permitted to go foorthe to robbe and spoile the Spaniardes wherof the Spanish Ambassador then resident in England instantly demaunding redresse and restitution was denied of either And the goodes thus taken by piracie were brought into diuers townes west ward and there openly sold But in the meane
help and amonge others to the French king Vnto whose ayd he sent in the first troobles 3. thowsand Spaniardes who were present at the battaile of Dreux And afterward from the lowe countries he sent the Counte of Mansfeild at two seuerall tymes both with horse and foote He sent also the Counte of Arenberg the Baron of Erge and diuets others to assist thesaid king at sundry tymes All which forces sent by the King of Spaine from tyme to tyme into Fraunce himself of his princely and liberall mynde euer maintayned payed at his owne charges And there is nothing that more declareth his moderation iustice and equitie towardes his Christian neighbours then his sweete and Christianlyke demeanour towardes the realme of Fraunce VVhere neither by the minorites of the late kinges nor ciuill discentions of the subiects he would take aduantage to chalenge or encroache any parte of that countrie VVhereas yf he had bene so greedy and ambitious as his aduersaries do bely him to bee he would not haue omitted in so many oportunities to have chalenged all Fraūce to hymself VVho hathe at this present thesame right by his daughter and farr more cleere then had somtyme the noble prince King Edward the third of England thereunto And yet as the world seeth he neither thē nor now hath chalēged any such thīg at all this is a singular praise and an eternall glory to this most puissant prince of all ages and in this tyme especially to be maruayled at that he attēpteth nothing nor wageth any warres that are not iust honorable and allowed bothe by the lawes of God and man And as touching the Queene of England I will omitt some great and especiall acts of amitie shewed by himself vnto her whē he was maried vnto her sister whereof her self is not ignorant but dothe best know them And I will briefly relate some points before touched First vpon the deceasse of Queene Mary his wyf he gaue vnto this Queene al her Iewelles which rightly appertayned vnto himself And being aboute the conclusion of a peace with the Frēch king after the taking of S. Quintynes he delt very instantly for the rendring of Calis vnto the English insomuch as vvithout the restoring thereof he refused the accord stode so resolute vpon this point that in the end the French vvere faine to tell him that albeit the English did solicite him to include the deliuery of Calis in his peace yet had they secretly alredy cōcluded their peace with them without that condition And this was donne by a close practize of M. Cecill who sent ouer one Guido Caualcante an Italian to conclude it vvithoute the knowlege of the Queenes Ambassadors vvho vvere there appointed to solicite it VVhich extreme duble dealing could not yet brede any auersion in his mynde against the English insomuch that after they began to fall from the doing vnto him one iniurie in the neck of another which still encreased from a fewe to many and from lesser to greater yet would he neuer begin any attempt against them nor neuer make somuch as any shewe of any one acte of hostilitie whatsoeuer vntill such tyme as they came so farr as to the very taking of his townes into their owne possessions as is aforesaid VVhich is a most great and sufficient argument of his grounded affection vnto that Queene and countrie For moste rarely is it foūd that any King or Prince could so continually disgest and ouersee such great vvronges and iniuries as he hathe receyued from England and much lesse himself that hathe greater meanes to reuenge them then any other potentate lyuing in the world And had doubtlesse lōg since dōne it had it not proceeded of a most singular affectiō vnto that Prince and people hope of redresse and amendment Thus much may serue to shewe whether the King of Spaine hathe soughte so many yeares to trooble the state of England But contrariwise vvhether the state of England hathe so long soughte the disturbance of him and almost of all other their neighbours I leaue the reader to iudge by the premisses the cōfirmation of those I referr to the testimony of all the nations of Europe to the end there may be a sufficiēt number of witnesses to check the extreme impudenof the malitious aduersary who is not ashamed to say that the repose of Christendom by the king of Spaines vvarres by no other meanes is nowdisturbed which otherwise mighte come to an vniuersall peace But as touching the vniuersall peace yf it were to be such as this pacifier would prescribe it vnto him I must needes confesse that I do greatly doubte vvhether the king of Spaine would thereunto be perswaded because in al-lykelyhode it must be in this manner First that he should recall such forces as of great compassion vnto the naturall people of Fraūce he hathe sent thether to defend them against a relapsed Huguenote that vvould make them renegates from the faith as himself is Secondly that he should suffer his rebells of Holland and Zealand quietly to possesse the places they do hold and to take vnto them all the rest of the low countries also conditionally that the English mighte still kepe the possession of such porte townes as they haue haue some half a dosen more annexed vnto them Thirdly that the English rouers might peaceably go to his Indies and there take away his treasure and his Indies also And these fewe aricles being thus accorded then might England Fraunce the Netherlandes and Germany be in farr better possibilitie to extirpate the Catholyke religion in Italy to bring the Moores into Spaine then to conclude that vniuersall peace which passeth all vnderstanding And include in the-same the great Turk the king of Fesse and Marrocco and other infidells with whome England is alredy leagued And thus hauing declared sundrie of the iniuries dōne by the English vnto other princes and people espetially vnto the King of Spaine his subiects also in what laudable most honorable manner the said King hathe demeaned himself vnto thē and other his Christian neighbours It shall now be necessary to touch the presēt estate wherein the realme of Englād stādeth The which for the better intelligēce of the reader I will reduce into fower pointes and in conclusion it shall manifestly appeere vvhether some fewe persons accused or their chiefest accuser are or is the cause of the present and expected calamities of England The first shalbe touching matters of faith and religiō wherein there was neuer such great and wonderfull confusion The second touching exterior enemyes whereof the realme had neuer somany nor none so puisant The third of the sundry competitors for the crowne and the vncertainty of the successor The fourth and last shall concerne the ouerthrow of the Nobilitie and the generall oppression of the people THE realme of Englād hathe at sūdry tymes bene subiect to diuers great molestations aswell throughe ciuill dissentiō as