although Boniface the Pope incited him thereunto His Sonne the second Edward anno 20. requireth the Bishops and Clergy to pray and offer alms for him and the people of this State the words are e ut Deus nos regat et dirigat in mundi hujus turbinibus that God would rule and direct us in the troubles of this world for that having sought all means with France he could for Peace ut Guerrarum discrimina vitaret that he might avoid the dangers of war he reaped nothing but bitternesse and detention of his Messengers Son and part of his Dutchy of Gascoigne his Rebels injoying all Protection and his Merchants all Inhospitality whose ships his enemy hostiliter cepit et Mercatores interfecit took in a hostile sort and slew the Merchants The Parliament quinto of Edward 3. a was especially called to a consult how Peace might be procured In his 17. year b the Peers and Commons petition him to labour a peace with France and to sollicite the Pope for mediation The truce from hence effected he would by no meanes violate but in the 20th year moveth peace by all the offers he c can as Contracts Intermarriage and to take up the Crosse with France in succursum Terrae Sanctae for succour of the Holy Land But all he could do could abate no whit of the French fury d who invaded by themselves Aquitain England by the Scots surprizing in breach of Truce his Nobility of Britain whom at Paris ignominiosae morti tradidit he put to shamefull deaths there and in Gascoign murdering the rest of his Subjects and rasing his Castles nor would upon a second mediation admit any way of peace War then was left his last refuge e Et pia Arma quibus nulla nisi in Armis spes est War is to that man just and lawfull who hath no hope of help but by war And this his Clergy was in joyned to open in sermons that he might eschew the infamy of Christian bloud-shed In his two and twentieth year finding war to have brought to his people f gravia onera et multa mala heavy burthens and many mischiefs as the Record saith and that the fortune of war cum splendet frangitur when it shineth clearest is then nearest breaking he passed over into France to seek peace divers times and to strengthen his affections with the best hopes he injoyneth all the Bishops of England to offer a devotas preces suppliciter ad Deum humble and devout prayers to God to direct his actions to Gods glory and the peace of his Country nec non ad totius Christianitatis commodum and the advantage of the whole Christian world which he believed could not follow but by a firm amity with his neighbours This is the dislike of war he openeth himself in the five twentieth year b in Parliament declaring the great means he had wrought by the Pope but could not effect it And in the third year after c calleth again the body of the State to devise with him the means to obtain it for that he saw his Subjects by war so greatly wasted But d when anno 29. to redeem himself and subjects from the hard tasks they had undertaken and to avoyd effusionem sanguinis Christiani quantum potuit vel decuit pacem quaesivit the shedding of Christian bloud he sought peace as much as in him lay and as far as was fitting sending the Duke of Lancaster to Avignon in intercession but all in vain he stood upon his own strength By which his confident adversary the year following captive that was afore obdurate justly found that one houre can overthrow simul parta et sperata decora at once both the honours we enjoy and those we hope for And we may truly conclude of this Kings successe as Livy e of the Romane fortune Propterea bella felicia gessisse quia justa that therefore his wars were prosperous because they were just To obtain his desire and Subjects quiet he was contented to disclaim f the interest that Right and Fortune had cast upon him And after though often again incited yet never would be drawn to the hazard of war for improbe Neptunum accusat qui iterum naufragium facit he blames Neptune very unjustly who suffers shipwrack the second time untill the French King a contra juramentum formam pacis contrary to his oath and the form of peace had vexillis explicatis with banners displayed invaded his dominions in France and with a Fleet intended to attempt England ad ipsum Regem viribus subvertendum utterly to undo the King by force of Arms Richard the second whom as well he left Successour to his troubles as to his kingdome entred in the decline of his Grandsires fortune and after many years of war and much losse had in the end an expectation of peace which opened to his Commons and Councel in Parliament b their longing affection was so much inclined thereto that they advised the King though it were in doing homage for Guien Callis and the rest he should not let slip that opportunity Untill Charles of France had received c that dangerous Rebell Owen Glendowr by the name of Metuâ—ndissimi Principis Walliae the most dread Prince of Wales into a strict confederacy against his Master whom he vouchsafed no other title then Henricus de Lancastria by contract and had harrowed the Isle of Wight by the Duke of Orleans and Earl of Saint Paul entred into Gascoign himself and prepared a Fleet and an Army to invade this land Henry the fourth did never disquiet his peace and after many prorogued Truces would not break out again untill Burgundy d that had wrested into his hand the Government of France meant with all his force to besiege Callis and annoy this Realm The uncle and Chancellour to Henry the fifth declared in a Parliament the desire his Master had to procure Peace and how the French King had refused all reason denying to render his prisoners or ransome those taken at Agin-Court battell so that the King was driven to his last hope which was by dint of sword to seek his peace concluding thus his speech Bella faciamus ut Pacem habeamus quia finis Belli Pax est Let us fight that we may obtain peace for the end of war is peace Henry the sixth to save the expence of his people and treasure offered b many large and liberall conditions but received in exchange nothing but scosses he was contented to part with the Dutchy of Mayne to make up a peace with his uncle of France Against the Duke of Somerset it was objected c by the Duke of York that he contrary to the Oath and Councell by breaking the Amity between the two Princes was the only ground of the losse of Normandy There is extant in the Treasury d a petition of 9. of
Hen. 7. from the Captains and military men pro pace habenda that they might have peace Neither interest of right nor jealousie of increasing power could draw Henry the 8. unto the quarrell of France until the Church complained against Lewis the 12. e who neither esteeming of God good fame nor conscience deteined the revenues of the Clergy supported the Cardinall William to aspire to the Papacy aided in the siege of Boucy Alfonso of Ferrara and the Bentivogli both Traytours to the Papall Sea where he intended to lay the foundation of his Empire to usurp all Italy besought him for the pitty of our Saviour and by the virtue of his famous Ancestours for I use the words of the Popes Briefe a that never forsook the Church of God in distresse and by his filiall obedience the strongest bond to enter into that holy League they having elected him against Lewis Caput foeder is Italici Head of the Italian League Edward the sixth b until urged with the touch of his honour being by his neighbours neglected in the marriage of their Mistresse never attempted any war against them The quarrells of France in the time of his succeeding sister after the marriage with Spain◠were neither properly ours nor begun by us although in the end we onely went away with the losse Her Sister of holy memory to effect the peace with France forbore c the demand of Callis for 8. years neglected to urge a just debt of four millions from that Crown d And the labours she spent to confirm amity with Spaine by many friendly offices of mediation are apparent to the whole world though in the end of her desires she failed whether happily in prevention of the Spanish Monarchy eternizing her memory or that this work of peace was by divine providence reserved for him that could and hath best effected it I know not Onely I conclude that as the first Monarch in Rome so the first in Britain might justly write Pace Populo Britanno terra marique parta Ianum clausi having setled Britain in peace by land and sea I have shut up the doors of Ianus Temple Forreign armes the ground of trouble at home by the Enemy who to divert will attempt Subjects wearied with Toyl Taxation Feared with the effect of tyranny Inured to wars can never sure after to a quiet life It is evident by our own examples that for the most part the Civil or Forreign Armies that have oppressed this State have been either bred out of our first attempting of others or out of the grievance of the Nobility people either wearied with the toil and charge or feared with the effect of Tyranny which might corrupt the good fortune of their King or else a plague no lesse of war that the better sort inured to command abroad have forgotten to obey at home and the inferiour by living there upon rapine and purchase unwilling here to tye themselves again to order and industry There is in the Register of State no time that so well expresseth either the danger or damage we underwent in waking an adversary as that of Edward the third Out of many examples I will select some few beginning with the tenth of his reign at what time his intention was to attempt somewhat in France but diverted by Philip who mustring in partibus Britanniae ad invadendum Regnum Angliae in the parts of Britany to invade the Kingdome of England a puissant Army enforced Edward the third to fall from his first purpose and insist upon his own guard for which cause to the infinite charge of himself and people he levied 80000. men out of the Shires of this Kingdome To withdraw his forces from France in the thirteenth of his reigne they invaded the Realm and burned the Towns of Plymouth and Southampton places that suffered from the same motive the like calamity In the first of Richard the second after the Battell of Cressy when they feared our too much footing and we too much believed our own fortune for she cito reposcit quod dedit quickly calls for back what she gave us the a Duke of Normandy to draw home our forces levieth an Army of forty thousand men at armes and forty thousand foot sharing by idle contracts before-hand with his confederates not the spoils only but the Kingdome it self the Honour and some other portion of benefits he reserved as his own meed the possessions of many English Subjects in pure alms he voweth to the Church of Normandy and to the French King an yearly tributary Fee of twenty thousand pound In these termes this Realm stood almost all the time of Edward the third The Coast-dwellers were so frighted from their habitation as in the thirteenth year the king commanded the Earle of Richmond b and other Peers to reside at their border houses and was inforced in the two and twentieth to injoyn by Ordinance that none should remove that dwelt within sex leucas à mari six leagues of the sea It was no whit altered under his successour Richard the second for in his entrance the French burnt the Town of Rye and in the third year after Gravesend And in the tenth year of his reigne to change his intended journey for France in person the French King prepareth an Army to invade this land This quarrel led us almost into an eternal charge at sea and in the Northern limits they and our neighbours there being tyed of old in strict assurance of mutual aid by whose desperate and perpetual incursion for nescit Plebs jejuna timere an half-starved rabble fears nothing the fattest parts of our borders were left wast the men and cattel of England as 16. of Edw. 2. impetus Scotorum fugientes being fled for safety to the Forrests and desert places The like I find in the first of Edward the third they ever thus interrupting us in our expeditions into France as in 20. Ed. 3. in the first and second of Richard the second in the fifth of Henry the fifth and in the fourth of Henry the eighth when he undertook his holy voyage against Lewis the twelfth And either being no lesse ready to nourish the least spark of rebellion in this State as that of the French King to counterpoize King Iohn or work out Henry the third from his Dutchy of Normandy as France did or moving underhand by the Duke of Britain the Earl of Hartford to reach the Crowne of Richard the second and when he had got the garland suborning Owen Glendowr with whom he contracted as Prince of Wales to busie the same King at home that he might divert his intended purpose from France or Scotland WHen Henry the third had devoured in his mind the kingdome of Sicily the Nobility finding the expence of Treasure and fearing the exposing of their own persons grew so unwilling that by the bent and course of the record it ap a
appeareth not the least ground of that rebellion which after drew the King and his Son to so foul conditions A judgment there must be between powers and undertakings that though affections may carry a man to great things they make him not attempt impossible for where great minds are not accompanied with great judgements they overthrow themselves As in this Prince who by the Popes incitement simplicitatem Regis circumveniens circumventing the King in his honest meaning they are the words of the Authour b intending to riâ—â—e the fortunes of others was in the end inforced to play at dice for his own stake The Earls of Hartford Bohun and Bigot made the grounds of their commotions the distast they took at Edward the first for exacting their Service in the quarrel of Gascoign a forrein Country And they might seem to have some colour to refuse but in a more mannerly fashion either attendance or charge in recovery or defence of Provinces in France since so many consents in Parliament as c 20. of Rich. 2. 6. and 9. of Henry the fourth the first and seventh of Henry the fifth affirm the Commons not to be bound pour supporter ses Guerres en laterre de France ou Normandie to support his wars either in France or Normandy declaring no less by publick protestation then they did by undutifull denial For the burden of Charge it was no lesse distast full then the former of Service this kingdome being as it is sayd d of the Roman Provinces occasioned by war made desert and the people desperate by Exactâ—ons In the Conquerours time the Bishop of Durham was killed by the tumultuous people opposing an imposition levyed by him There was a murmuratio et imprecatio Praelatorum in Regem Ioannem mutterings and curses from the Prelates against King Iohn for demanding in the eighth of his reigne a relief of them and the Layety for his wars In the 16th year Cives Londinenses Ioannem odio habuerunt pro injustis Exactionibus quibus Regnum fatigaverat the Londoners detested King Iohn for his tiring out the Kingdome with unjust taxations b The sink of his expence in war was so bottomlesse that as the story saith he was constrained desaevire quotidie cum incremento to grow every day more unreasonable in his carriage towards the Church and Commonwealth eas bonis suis variis modis spoliando by despoiling them severall wayes of their goods c Hinc secutum est Bellum inter Regem et Barones quod cum morte Ioannis solum finem habuit This was it which kindled that war betwixt the King and his Barons which nothing could quench but the death of Iohn himself In the 26th of Henry the third ob exactionum frequentiam est Regi cum Baronibus contentio by reason of the continuall exactions there arose a contention betwixt the King and his Barons d At the Parlee of peace with them being demanded a reason of that their action they answer that since he came to the Crown being not twelve yeares multoties ei auxilium dederunt they had many times supplyed him and expressing the particulars besides in the same place he had received tot Escaetas so many Escheats by the vacancy of rich Bishopricks death of so many Barons and others that held of him that those alone would have made him rich if they had been well imployed That the Itinerant Justices had by amercing the defaults gleaned them so near that per illa Amerciamenta et alia Auxilia prius data omnes de Regno ita gravarentur depauper arentur ut parum aut nihil habeant in Bonis by those Amercements the Subsidies they had formerly given him all the Kingdom was so crushed impoverished that they had little or nothing left them And that was the ground of their resistance a Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis et alii Praelati resistunt Regi the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Prelates resist the King when in his fifteenth yeare he demanded Scutage And although he laid open to the Parliament his great debt causa bellicae expeditionis in partibus transmarinis occasioned by his forriegn expeditions was answered by Ranulph Earle of Chester the mouth of the Layety That in the former Aides Pecuniam suam effuderunt quod inde pauperes omnes recesserunt unde Regi de jure auxilium non debebant they had powred out their mony so liberally as that being all impoverished by it they were not obliged to assist him any farther And thus b dissolved the Parliament The Clergy of the Realm in the 24. of Edward the first denyed the demand of Contribution c in expeditionem Regis contra Gallos et ad reprimendos Scotos towards the Kings expedition against the French and the repressing of the Scots And ob has crebras exactiones magnus fit tumultus inter Regem et Barones by reason of these frequent extorsions there arose a great difference betwixt the King and the Barons One of the Articles of treason objected against Mortimer a in Parliament 4. of Edward 3. was the offence he bred in the Commonwealth by causing a Subsidie to be exacted This humour of the people did somewhat suit with that of the Inhabitants of Trevers b who stoned to death Proclerus for perswading Theodoret the Goth to crave a Subsidy The Clergie in the 12. of Edw. 3. c deny such a grant of their Wools as the Laiety had yielded to for supplying the King in his affairs of France The like answer they make 44. of the same King when he d demanded in Parliament a Subsidy of them the Commons of 100000l And the same King grown doubtfull of his people prest down with Impositions requireth the Archbishop e Quod cum Populus Regni sui variis Oneribus Tallagiis Impositionibus praegravetur ut idem Archiepi sc. Indulgentiarum muneribus piis Exhortationibus aliis modis eundem Populum placare studeat ipsum Regem excuset that since the Subjects of his Kingdom were over-charged with many Burthens Tallages and other Impositions the said Archbishop would by grant of Indulgences seasonable Exhortations otherwaies endeavour to pacify the people and excuse the King By reason of the Census per Capita Polmony imposed by Parliament 3. of Richard the second to defray the warres in France there were f dirae imprecationes in Regem magna post perturbationes in Regno ex Plebis insurrectione heavy and bitter imprecations against the King which were followed with great troubles in the nation by the insurrection of the Commons And as well in the reign of this King as some other of his Predecessours and Successours the Parliament was so tender in grant of Subsidy other Taxes that they added into their Act a quod non trahatur in consequentiaÌ„ that it should be no example
King to the end of his Son Edw. 6. this place did cost the Crown 371428. l. 18. shil. From the first purchase of it by Edward the 3. untill the losse thereof by Queen Mary it was ever a perpetuall issue of the Treasure of this Land which might in continuance have rather grown to be a burthen of Danger to us then any Fort of Security For from the waste of money which is Nervus Reipublicae the Sinew of a Common-wealth as Ulpian saith we may conclude with Tacitus Dissolutionem Imperii docet si fructus quibus Respub. sustinetur diminuantur it foreshews the ruine of an Empire if that be impaired which should be the sustenance of the Common-wealth And therefore it was not the worst opinion at such time as the Captivity of Francis the French King incited b Henry the 8. to put off that Kingdome although in the close major pars vicit meliorem the greater party out-voted the better that to gain any thing in France would be more chargeable then profitable and the keeping more then the enjoying The issue was in Tournay Bullen and this Town manifest Besides the jealousy that Nation ever held over our designes and their own liberty For as Graecia libera esse non potuit dum Philippus Graeciae Compedes tenuit Greece could never be free so long as Philip had the Fetters of Greece in his custody so as long as by retention of Callis we had an easy descent into and convenient place to trouble the Country a Fetter to intangle them they neither had assurance of their own quiet nor we of their Amity And it was not the least Argument from Conveniencie in the detention of Callis after the 8 yeares expired of Re-delivery used by the Chancellour of France a That we should gain much more in assured peace which we could never have so long as we were Lords of that Town then by any benefit it did or could yield us It was never but a Pike and Quarrell between the two Realms For upon every light displeasure either Princes would take by and by to Callis and make war there God hath made a separation naturall betwixt both Nations a sure wall and defence Et penitus toto divisos Orbe Britannos That is the English were divided from all the world But a little more to inform the weight of these Charges it is not amisse to touch by way of comfort that from which we are so happily by the infinite blessings of God and benignity of a Gracious King delivered and also that other of burthen still though much lightened untill conformity of Affections and designs of Councells shall further effect a Remedie The Charge of Barwick and the Frontiers in 20. b Edward 3. was 3129. l. for three yeares In the end of Richard 2. entrance of Henry the 4. c 10153. l. And d 11. of Henry 6. the Custodie of the Marches 4766. l. In the 2. Mariae the annuall Charge of Barwick was 9413. l. e And in an. 2. Elizabeth 13430. l. And an. 26. 12391. l. The Kingdome of Ireland beyond the Revenues was 29. E. 3. f 2285. l. An. 30. g 2880. l. and h an. 50. 1808. l. All the time of Richard 2. i it never defrayed the charges And came short in 11. Henry 6. 4000. Marks a of annuall issues The Revenue there in omnibus exitibus proficuis in all the rents and profits yearly by Accompt of Cromwell Lord Treasurer not above 3040. l. But passing over these elder times in the Reign of the late Queen when the yearly Revenue was not 15000. l. the expence for 2. yeares b ending 1571. amounted to 116874. l. In anno 1584. for lesse then 2 yeares came it to 86983. l. c The charge there in two years of S. Iohn Parrots government ending 1586. was 116368. l. In anno 1597. the Receipt not above 25000. l. the issue was 91072. l. And when in 35. Elizabeth the Rents and Profits of that Kingdome exceeded not 27118. l. the Disbursments in 7 moneths were 171883. l. The Charge 1601. d for 9 moneths 167987. l. And for the two yeares following accounted by the allayed money 670403. l. And in the first of the King 84179. l. Whose government although it hath blessed both us and that Kingdome with the benefit of Peace yet hath it not delivered himself from a large and yearly expence here for supportation of that State out of his own Treasure And thus far in answer of the Argument from increase of Revenue by forreign Dominions As to the Arguments of Honour by addition of Titles and forreign Territories it may suffice in answer That so long as this Crown was actually possessed of any such Signiorie the Tenure and Service did ever bring with it a note and badge of Vassallage then which nothing to so free a Monarch as the King of England who is e Monarcha in Regno tot tanta habet Privilegia quot Imperator in Imperio a Monarch in his Kingdome and hath as many and as large Priviledges therein as an Emperour in his Empire could be more in blemish or opposition To write Domino Regi nostro Franciae To our Lord the King of France as during the time we held the Provinces in France we usually did in all our Letters and publick Contracts with that Crown can be called no addition of Honour And whether upon every command to act in person those base services of Homage and Fidelity as first in putting off the Imperiall Crown the kneeling low at the foot of that King and taking an oath to become Homme liege du Roys de France a liege subject to the Kings of France c. we in performing so the duties of a Subject do not much more disparage the dignity of a Soveraign is no question of doubt From these considerations of Reputation and Honour the greatest stayes that support Majestie and retain Obedience our Kings of England have as far as to the forfeit of those Signiories either avoided or refused the services As King Iohn did Normandy and Edward the 2. resigned to his Son the Dutchie of Aquitain to put off the act of homage from himself to whom it could not in respect of his Regaltie but be a dishonour As appeareth in Henry the 2. who having made his Son Consortem Imperii a King of England with him Homagium à Filio noluit saith the Record quia Rex fuit sed securitatem accepit would not receive Homage of him because he was a King but took his Security In the 17. of Richard 2. the Lords and Justices would not consent to a Peace with France unlesse the King might not do Homage they held it so base supposing thereby the liberty of the Kings Person and Subject wronged And thus much of the little Reputation that either in Title or Territorie those subordinate Dutchies in
France added to this Crown As for the Kingdome of France the people of England were so little in love with that Title as any Honour to them that by Acts of Parliament 14. Edward 3. and 8. Edward 5. they provided that the Subjects of England should owe no Obedience to the King as King of France not the Kingdome of England be in any wise subjected by such Union to that Crown And so much we have ever been in fear of that place left it might leave this State to the misery of a Provinciall Government as in 17. of Henry 6. the Commons urged to contribute for the recovery of that Crown answered that the gaining of any footing in France would induce the Kings aboad there and by such absence cause great decay and desolation in this State besides the transport of our Money in the mean time which would inrich that Countrey and impoverish the Realm at home whereby we should justly again say a Britannia servitutem suam quotidie emit quotidie poscit The Britans are every day begging to be slaves every day giving money for it THe last motive is the advantage we now have of greater Facilitie and assurance of Successe in any forreign enterprise by this happy Union of both Kingdoms then ever any of our Ancestours had To which in answer nothing can be more full then laying down the motives and means that led on the Kings of this Realm to attempt and prosperously effect their undertakings in other parts weigh how they suite these times and whether that any or all the advantages we now have may be to them of equall worth and valuation The first consideration is in Place the next in Person In the wars of France whether those for the defence of particular Signiories or competition of the intire Kingdome we had ever Ports to land at Forts to retire to which now we have not The coast of Normandy was our own by which we might enter the midst of France And Edward 3. when he intended to annoy the East part sided with Montfort against Charles de Bloys whom he invested with the Dutchie of Britain that so he might have there an easy footing Thus by leave of his Confederats in Flanders he had safe entrance for all his Army to invade the other side and a sure retreat when upon any occasion he would come back as he did to Antwerp And wheresoever any army may have a quiet descent the greatest difficultie is overcome for the rest consisteth in Chance wherein Fortune is rather wont to prevaile then Vertue But a ibi grave est Bellum gerere ubi nullus est Classi Portus apertus non ager pacatus non Civitas Socia non consistendi aut procedendi locus quocunque circumspexeris hostilia sunt omnia There 't is a hard task to wage war where there is no Port open for our Navy the Countrey our enemy no City our Confederate no place to make a stand or to march out from but whithersoever a man looks he can see nothing but hostile intentions against us And this must be now our case which was never our Ancestours Advantage personall was either A Party found made For the Persons considerable they are the Subjects to our enemies or our own Confederats Of the first our Kings heretofore did either work upon the opportunity of any dissension ministred or by Pension Reward either make a fraction in Obedience or Neutrality in Assistance with the Subjects of their Adversary The Duke of Burgundy Earls of Britain Dreux and others in France offended with their Sovereign a Confoederati erant Comiti Britanniae Henrico Regi Angliae became Confederates with Henry Earle of Britain and King of England and thereupon drew him over into Britain b The same King by yearly Pensions of 7000. l. kept divers in Poictou in fraction against their Lord and their own Loyaltie Edward 3. had never undertaken the conquest of France if c Robert de Artoys displeased with the Sentence of Philip his Master for that Earldome had not incited and complotted for him as Godfrey of Harecourt did after Nor Henry d 5. if the unsound memory of the French King the jealousy of those Princes Orleantial Faction had not made his way and Fortune Confederates THe Confederates our Kings held formerly for mutuall Aide were of such consequence in all their affairs that those so best strengthened atchieved ever the greatest and most glorious victories As the first and 3d. Edwards the 5th and 8th Henries Whereas Henry the sixth that was of all the rest left most naked to himself although the greatest otherwise in opportunity lost all the purchase of his Ancestours in the end It is not amisse in such a foundation of Greatness as Confederacy to lay down successively first with whom we tied that knot of love then what were the motives or assurances and lastly whether the same in both is left to our occasions and will now or no Henry the first but to assure his own possessions beyond Sea a adscivit in praesidium Comitem Britanniae Theobaldum Comitem Blesensem called to his aide the Earle of Britain and Theobald Earle of Bloys Henry the second did the like with b Robert Earle of Flanders And again c cum Theodorico Comite Flandriae Baronibus Castellanis caeteris hominibus Comitis with Theodoric Earle of Flanders the Barons Governours of Castles and other the Subjects of the said Earle who stood bound to serve him in summonitione sua sicut Domino pro feodis quae de ipso teneant upon a summons as well as their own Lord for the Fees which they held of him Baldwin Earle of Flanders contracteth under Bond d mutui subsidii quod sine Rege Richardo Angliae non componeret cum Rege Francorum of mutuall aide that he would not come to agreement with the French King without Richard King of England And the e Britains relicto Rege Franciae Regi Richardo adhaeserunt forsaking the King of France did joyn with King Richard Between King Iohn a and the Earle of Flanders there was a Combination mutui auxilii contra Regem Francorum of mutuall assistance against the French King b The like with the City of Doway and Earle of Holland Henry 3. an. 11. drew c Peter Duke of Britany into Confederacy against the French and Fernand Earle of Flanders with a Pension annuall of 500. Marks d And anno 38. Alfonsus King of Castile combineth with him and his heirs contra omnes homines in mundo against all the men in the World To whom he remained so constant that an. 8. and 10. Edw. 1. he would not grant a Truce to the French King but ad preces instantiam at the instant suit of the King of England Edward 1. an. 13. e
in our troubles should now apply their cares for our repose and that after they have cast us down headlong they should reach us a plank for to come ashore Let the wise Reader here whilst I determine nothing allow me at least a little distrust it is the Mother of Safety The Trojans who could not be overcome by Armes perish't by a pledge of peace All the French civilityes are faire and good but in the bottome Quicquid id est timeo Gallos dona ferentes Let us see what reasons can oblige them to interest themselves so passionately in our agreement Is it Religion surely no for that which they professe is contrary to that of this Kingdome and the little Charity they have for their own ought not to perswade us that they have much for ours Is it for the inclination they have to peace surely no for if they esteemed it a benefit they would seek it first for themselves It is perhaps for an acknowledgement of their obligations to us in the late warres and for the assistance we gave to those of Rochel I this would be truely Christian indeed to render us good for evill They will say that they are the bands of blood and parentage which bind them to the Queen and yet they have let the Mother beg her subsistence and retreat among strangers which she could not find with them and having beheld her without pitty and succour in her greatest extremities they advise to offer her a remedy upon the declining of her ill But if this be the reason of their admittance I conceive them no lawfull nor indifferent Mediators since they are so much concern'd in one of the parties They will whisper us in the eare that the designe is to pacify us and to ingage us in a league with them against the Spaniard although at the same time they designe Ambassadours for Munster to endeavour a peace with him O we should wrong them very much to believe it though they might seem in an humour to desire it of us They are too gallant spirited to pretend it they know that we are better advised then to serve them to pull their Chesnut out of the fire that a body recovering health from a long sicknesse ought not to expose it self to a violent agitation that the State will find it self loaden with debts and the Subject exhausted by Contributions that we ought to preferre the evident profit of traffick before the uncertain vanity of a conquest that Iealousies being not yet removed nor aemulations supprest all kind of arming would be suspected by the State fearing least some under pretense of a forrain warre might study private revenge or the oppression of the publick liberty that in the end it will be our gain to see them deal with Spain and to make our advantage of their troubles or not to meddle at all with them unlesse by adding secretly according to the revolution of affairs a little weight to them that shall be found the lighter If then it be none of these motives it remains that it must be either Generosity or deceit O Generosity that hast so long since withdrawn thy self to heaven there to keep company with the faire Astraea or rather who wer 't buried in France in the Sepulchre of Monsieur Gonin is it possible that thou shouldst be risen again or that France should have recall'd thee with her exiles since the death of her King and that the first labour she should put thee to should be in favour of England against whom but few dayes since she shewed such violent resentments for an offence received by a pretended violation of the treaties which had past between us Truely if it be she we must reverence her with extraordinary respects but before we give her the Honours due unto her we must know her for feare of Idolatry in adoring her masque for her self or embracing a cloud in stead of a Goddesse Let us give a thrust with our launce into the Trojan horse to see if there be no ambush within In walking lately with some French Gentlemen as this nation is free enough of their discourse a word escaped from one of the company without making reflexion as I think of what Countrey I was That amongst their Prophets there was one which said That the Conquest of England was promised to their young King This thought cast into the aire though inconsideratly seemed to me very considerable and having given me an occasion to reflect upon all things both past and present it served me as a light to guide me in the obscurity of this Labyrinth upon which before I had reasoned but superficially From thence being returned to my lodging I opened accidentally a book of Monsieur de Rohan intitled The interest of the Princes of Christendome and I fell presently upon a passage where he said That one of the surest wayes to make ones self Master of a State is to interpose and make himself arbiter of its differences I had no need of any other Oedipus to expound to me the riddle of the Prophesy these first motives of suspicion having cast me into more profound thoughts I revolved in my mind how France had managed the whole business both before since the beginning of our troubles and weighed all the circumstances of this Ambassage Why such a solemne Ambassage in a time when all things seem most exasperated and furthest from accommodation Why then not sooner while differences were not yet irreconcileable between the two parties Why such a warlike Prince who is not experienced in the affaires of this Kingdome to manage a negotiation of a peace the most nice and intricate that the world at this time affords Why at the same time levying of Souldiers in Normandy when all the other troops are in their quarters Why therefore should they supply one of the parties with mony when they come to act the persons of mediatours if not to cast wood and oyle into the flame Why at the same time an Agent in Scotland who propounds to them openly a League with France Why begin they onely to turn their cares upon England when they are upon the point of concluding a peace with Spain May not we well judge that it is to prepare themselves for a new employment since they themselves confesse that their boiling and unquiet temper hath need of continuall exercise and that the onely means to prevent troubles at home is continually to furnish them with matter whereupon to evacuate their choler abroad Why doth onely France afford us this so suddain and unexpected Charity after all the fresh wounds which bleed yet among them because of the expulsion of the Capuchins after the continuall cares she hath taken for so many years to lay the foundation of our troubles by the secret negotiations of the Marquis of Blainville by the intriques of the cardinal of Richelieu with Buckingham by the long plots in Scotland and by the open sollicitations of
Hidage and was sessed by the Hide or Plough-land like to that Jugatio per jugera taxation by the acre in Rome yet by no rate definite with this as with another Exaction taken as the Monk of S. Albans a saith sive per fas sive per nefas by fair means or by foule He passed over into France into the list of charge he ranked the Bishops and Abbots sessing upon them and at their charge a proportion of Souldiers for his service exiling many worthy men that opposed this thraldome William Rufus anno 7. set upon the heads of so many as he mustered up for the French wars 10. shil. a man and so discharged them In an. 9. he to the same end spoiled the Churches of their Ornaments and Holy vessels and levied 4 Hidages of every Plough-land a Tributis Angliam non modo abradens sed excorians not only shaving but even flaying England with his impositions so that wearied with warre and expence ne respirare potuit Anglia sub ipso suffocata England was quite stifled by him and could not so much as breath b Quid jam non Regibus ausum Aut quid jam Regno restat Scelus What durst not Kings then do What mischief could the Nation suffer more in this Kings time c Henry the first anno 5. magnam à Regno exegit Pecuniam exacted a great summe of his Kingdome with which he passed into France and by this means d gravabatur terra Angliae oppressionibus multis England was born down with many oppressions e He took in the 10. year 6. shillings Danegeld f And in the 17. Quod inter eum Regem Francorū magnū fuit dissidium Anglia fuit variis depressa Exactionibus Bonis sine peccato spoliata by means of the great difference betwixt him and the King of France England was oppressed with divers exactions men spoild of their goods for no offence at all Of King Stephen there need no more then the words of the Monk of Gisborn g Post annum sextum Pax nulla omnes partes terrebat violenta Praedatio after the 6. year of his reign there was no quiet but all parts of the land became a prey and spoil to violent men Henry the second alluding not unlike to the Feoda given the Eremitae in the decline of the Empire as Salaries by which they stood bound to defend the Frontiers against the Incursions of the Barbarous Nations continued the Policy of his Progenitours who allotted the land into such and so many equall portions as might seem competent for supportation of a Knight or man at Armes from whom as occasion required they received either service or contribution This Tenure now esteemed a Thraldome began upon a voluntary and desired submission for who from his gift would not of the Prince accept land upon the like conditions so it toucheth not the Soveraign as a wrong to the Subject but as in right his own And therefore respecting their first immediate dependency upon the Crown which is a great part of the Kings Honour their duties and Escheats a great benefit and their attendance by Tenure in warre at their own charge to the number of 60216 at the least for the Knights Fees in England are no lesse a great ease strength and security to his State for they are totidem Hostagia so many Hostages as Bracton saith it were a thing perillous now to alter after such a current of time custome This King to understand the better his own strength publico praecepit edicto quod quilibet Praelatus Baro quot Milites de eo tenerent in Capite publicis suis instrumentis significarent he caused it to be proclaimed that every Prelate and Baron should notify by publick deed how many Knightships they held of him in capite By this rule of Scutage constant in the number he levied alwayes his Subsidies and relief though divers in the rate Of the first which was neare the beginning of his Reign there is no record The second Scutage a which was anno 5. amounted to 124 millia librarum argenti thousand pounds of silver which reduced to the standard of our mony 5 shil. the ounce whereas that was not five groats will amount to near 400000l An. 7. a Scutagiū fuit assessum ad duas Marcas pro Exercitu Tholosae a Scutage was assessed 2 Marks for the army at Tholouse wch if summed up by the received number of Knights Fees being 60216 in the hands of the Layety onely of our moneys cannot be lesse then 250000l The like in the next year In an. 11. b there was an Aid pro servientibus inveniendis in exercitu to find men to serve in the wars of 2d de unaquaque libra in every pound And 4. sequentibus annis de singulis libris singulis denariis in the four following yeares a penny in the pound was taken of all men the estates of mens Fortunes being delivered upon their Oaths In the 14. yeare a Scutage was assessed c ad Marcam unam de singulis Feodis one Mark on every Fee And anno 18. d Scutagium pro quo libet Feodo a Scutage for every Fee A Tenth of all moveables was granted in the 35. of his Reign In which year dying 900 e millia librarum in auro argento praeter utensilia jocalia reliquit he left in mony 900000 pounds besides Plate and Jewels f Richard the first in the beginning besides Scutagium Walliae assessum a Scutage assessed upon Wales at 10. shil. levied as in the succour of the Holy Land a Subsidie out of all the Moveables in the Realm to his own use g Et eleemosynae titulo vitium Rapacitatis inclusit cloaking his ravenous extortion under the fair name of a pious almes A contribution there was in the 6. yeare of 150 h millia marcarum argenti ad pondus Columnien sium 150000 marks of silver to pay his ransome as also a Scutage assessed at 20 shil. In the i 7. he imposed for his warrs a contribution called Tenementale Extremity for by his waste and imprisonment he had almost exhausted the wealth of the State invented nova varia praedandi vocabula new and sundry words to expresse his exactions as Tacitus a saith of Centesima Quinguage sima an hundredth part and a fiftieth part names that since have found reception and use with us This was 2. shillings of every Plough-land from the Husbandman and from the Gentry and Nobility the third part of their Military service He inforced the Cistertian Monks b to redeem the same yeare their woolls fine Pecuniaria at a Fine For his Army into Normandy c he took a Scutage assessed at 20 shillings d And 4. years after of every Plough-land 5. shillings and of every Borough and e
who not only claimed Soveraignty over most but a proprietary interest in part and therefore had reason to give aide and Armes to such a Confederate as did by a diversive war secure and by particular Immunities inrich that State But now growing into Spain they need no such assurance in the one and we almost undone by their draping of our wooll which is happily called home not able to return them the benefit of the other cannot presume upon any such assurance of their aide as heretofore Spain may seem to give us the best hope of a fast Confederate for 2. respects First for that he is absolute and that we be equally devoid of demand neither having against the other any Titles Next for that the entercourse of Trade is more reciprocall between us then France and our Amity founded upon long love and old blood To this may be made a two-fold answer from the change of their Dispositions First for that they never assist any now but to make themselves Master of their State Thus ended they the strife between the Competitors of Portugall And when they were called into Naples by the Queen against the French they combined with her Adversary and divided the Kingdome And after upon the River of Garillon under their Leader Gonsalves taking an advantage they defeated the whole Army of the French holding ever since that entire Kingdome themselves For Spain will admit neither Equallity nor Felowship since upon Union of so many Kingdomes and famous Discoveries they begun to affect a fifth Monarchie The other that the late hostilitie between them and us hath drawn so much blood as all formes of ancient Amity are quite washt away and as Paterculus a saith of Carthage to Rome so may we of Spain to England Adeo odium Certaminibus ortum ultra metam durat ut ne in victis quidem deponitur neque ante invisum esse desinet quam esse desiit The hatred begot by former quarrels doth endure so lastingly that the very conquered party cannot forget it in such a case the very places must cease to be before the hatred and envy towards it can cease BEsides these locall considerations there will 2. other Dangers now fall out from any Contract of mutuall aide The one from diversity of Intention and the other of Religion In the one when either the Confederate hath safely attained his own secret End whatsoever he pretendeth in the entrance he leaveth the other to work out his own designes Thus was Hen. 3. served called over by the Earls of Tholouse and March they in the mean time having made their Peace with France a Et expertus â—am infidem â—mo perfidiam Picta vensium turpiter recessit festinans non pepercit Calcaribus insomuch that having found the treachery and perfidiousness of the Poictovins he was forced dishonourably to retreat and for haste to spurre away the perill the poore King was left in being so great He was handled like to this by Pope Alexander the fourth who having drawn him into the warres of Apulia against Manfred in the end depauperato Regno Angliae undique bonis suis spoliato his Kingdome of England being impoverished and wholly despoiled of its Goods left him to his own shift The King of Navarre calling in the aide of Edward 3. b against France and appointing the Isle of Gersey the Rendezvous of their forces revolteth to the French after he had by countenance of that preparation wrought his Peace Maximilian the Emperour to induce Henry 8. not onely contracteth to aid him in person to recover the Crown of France pro tyrannico Rege repellendo and to remove the tyrannicall King they are the words of the League but conferreth upon him in the same Coronam Imperialem Imperium Romanum the Imperiall Crown and the Roman Empire in reversion and estateth the Dutchie of Millain after recovery upon his person suorum naturalium masculini sexus haeredum modo feodorum Imperialium and his heires male lawfully begotten to hold in Fee of the Empire yet in the close left the King to his own fortune his turn for Millain and Verona served Charles the fifth when by the incuision of the French he saw his portion in Italy distressed in safety whereof consisted the whole Pulse of the Spanish as he used himself to say for it supplied his Army with great Levies and was fitly seated for a fifth Monarchy he then ingaged Hen. 8. in the wars of France and bound himself as Bourbon his Confederate that he would assist him to the full Conquest of that Kingdome and the other should become Homager to Hen. 8. as to his Soveraign But after that Bourbon had advanced his Army and distressed the French King he in his answer to Master Pace the Kings Ambassador refused that assurance of duty and gave a just suspition that he by help of his Party intended to usurp upon that State himself which the Emperour never meant to the King of England least by such footing in France he might grow so great as to give law to his neighbours And to fall off upon such grounds hath ever been excusable howsoever the bonds of Alliance were Thus did Hen. 8. as often change his hand of help as either Princes of Spain France got ground of the other And the Spaniard now to keep the States in Italie disunited compoundeth differences at his pleasure or taketh part with the weaker not suffering any though his own dependant to grow too strong which was lately seen in patronizing the D. of Mantua against Savoy according to the Rule of Quinctius in Livy Non tantum interest AetoloruÌ„ opes minui it doth not stand us so much in hand to break the strength of the Aetolians yet they were enemies quantum non supra modum Philippum crescere as it doth to see that Philip grow not too potent who was their friend The difference in Religion may bring likewise a twofold danger The one with our Confederates the other with the Subjects of this Crown For whensoever we shall attempt upon a Catholick Prince as France where we have the fairest pretences for with any other we are like to have no question then is all Contract of mutuall aide left to the election of our Danger by difference in Religion in respect of the Confedrates who May break by dispensation though both Catholicks Confederate who may with all easiness procure from the See of Rome a discharge of all Contracts although they were by Oath For if in Leagues where either party have been Catholicks as that between Edward 3. and Iohn King of France that between Iohn of Gaunt and the King of Castile they ever out of such suspect inserted this Clause That neither side should procure dispensationem c. either per Ecclesiam Ramanam vel per aliquam aliam a Dispensation ought to break out of the Rom. doctrine one
none either by reason of Distance they come too late or if not by reason of Remoteness he who is to execute will be bolder with his Instructions then is fit for a Minister to be How dangerous is it then by addition of Territories for our Master a Alterum pene Imperio nostro suo quaerenti Orbem whilest he is seekng to joyn another world in a manner to his and our Empire to alter either the setled order of directions or walls of our securitie Besides as in the Frames of Nature Anima rationalis the rationall soul cannot informare give life sense or disourse to the matter of an Elephant or a Fly or any other body disproportionable to a Form so qualified so is there as well a bound of amplitude and strictness wherein the soul of Government is comprised b Between which extremes there are many degrees of Latitude some approaching to the greatest that nature seldome or never produceth some to the least and some to the mean beyond which proportions respectively though some may have a will to effect they never can have a power to attaine And this we may see in the former accession of so much to us in France which we could never either with Profit or Assurance retain being gotten by Conquest and but tacked to by Garrison contrary to the nature of Hereditary Monarchies For some Kingdomes in which number this may be accounted are of the same condition that Demosthenes c maketh the Athenians Non ea vestra ingenia sunt ut ipsi aliis vi oppressis Imperiateneatis sed in eo magnae sunt vires vestrae ut alium potiri principatu prohibeatis aut potitum exturbetis It is not your way violently to oppresse other States and seize the Government but in this is your strength manifest that you can hinder another from possessing the Government or when he is possessed of it throw him out again Since then by Situation and Power we are the fittest either to combine or keep severall the most potent and warlike Nations of the West it is the best for Safety and the most for Honour to remain as we were Arbiters of Europe and so by Neutralitie sway still the Ballance of our mightiest Neighbours which by holding of our hands and onely looking on we shall easily do since Spain and France hang so indifferently that a little weight will cast the Beam imploying ours as Claudius did his Forces in a Germanie ut subsidio victis Victoribus terrori essent ne forte elati Pacem turbarent to assist the Conquered party and to over-awe the Victor lest he should be puffed up with pride and disturb our peace Thus did Hen. 8. with the French and Spanish Princes using as his Motto of Honour and Power this Cui adhaereo praeest He rules whom I stick to And the late Queen studied rather how to guard her Allies then to inlarge her Dominions multiplying her Leagues more by giving then receiving gratuities winking at her own wrongs rather then willing to revenge And as the great Mistris of the world once did what rather became her Greatness then what severity of Armes required Hence were her Seas for the most part freed from Pirates and her Land here cleared of Enemies For according to Micipsae's counsell to Jugurth Non exercitus neque Thesauri praesidia Regni sunt Neither Armyes nor Treasure are the safety of a Kingdome but such Allies as neither Armes constrain nor monyes purchase sed officio fide pariuntur And since by fortune of the times succeeding this State hath grown more upon Opinion then Deed and that we know Magis fama quam vi stare res nostras that our affairs stand rather by Fame then Force it is most safe neither to discover weakness nor hazzard losse by any attempt Besides standing as we do no waies obnoxious by Site to any of our neighbours they will alwaies be ready to referre the judgement order of their differences to us As the a Brabanters and Henowayes to the Arbitrement of Edward the third and b Charles the fifth and Francis the French King the decision of their quarrel to Henry the eighth Thus every part shall woe us all Princes by their Oratours shall resort unto us as to the Common Consistorie of judgement in their debates and thereby add more to our Reputation then any power of our own For as well in States as in Persons Suitours are an infallible token of Greatness which Demosthenes c told the Athenians they had lost since none resorted to their Curia or Praetorium By this way shall we gain the Seat of Honour Riches and Safety and in all other but endlesse Expence Trouble and Danger Robert Cotton Bruceus FINIS THE FRENCH CHARITY WRITTEN In French by an English Gentleman upon occasion of Prince Harcourt's coming into ENGLAND And translated into English by F. S. J. E. LONDON Printed by Roger Daniel Anno MDCLV THE FRENCH CHARITY ALthough we see that naturall causes produce sometimes contrary effects that the Sun which draws up the Clouds can also scatter them that the same Wind both lights and blow's out the taper that Vipers serve for wholesome medicaments and Scorpions carry about them an Antidote to their own poison it is not so neverthelesse in morall and politick affairs wherein that which is once ill is alwayes accounted such from whence is begot in us that quality which we call Experience whereby wise men are accustomed to judge of present and future actions by those that are past Which is the foundation whereupon all Monarchies and Republicks have established the Maxims of their subsistence and found out both what they ought to follow and what to avoid The Charity which France hath testified to pacify our differences is so great that it is become incredible so unseasonable that it is suspected and so contrary to their former proceedings that it is quite otherwayes understood Philosophers say we cannot passe from one extremity to another without some mean I cannot see by what steps they are come to this perfect goodness nor what good Genius can have made them in an instant so good friends of such dangerous neighbours to us I will passe my censure upon nothing yet let me have the liberty to judge of all I find so great a wonder in this change that I find a conflict in my self to believe it It is no common marvell that those who have for so long a time beheld all Europe in a flame and could not be moved by the bloud and destruction of so many people to cast thereon one drop of water should now have their bowells so tender as to compassionate the dissensions arising in a corner of the world which hath alwayes bin fatall to them That those who have made it their chiefest interest to divide us should now make it their glory to reunite us That those who place their rest