a forrain Invasion especially when the party assailed shall be of their own Religion For when the Interdiction of the Pope could draw against Iohn King of England Lewis the 12. a side of their own Subjects as it did after in the same Kingdome against Hen. 3. though all 3. conformable in points of Religion to that See how much more will it work with the people devoted to their opinions in a State divided from their obedience For amongst us the Catholick Church hath many Iesuites to raise Faction and divert people from duty the Recusants many and Malecontents not few all which with warre will discover themselves but now by this happy calm unassured of assistance lock up their riches in security their hearts in silence And therefore by any enterprize it is not with the rule of Seneca safe concutere felicem statum For provoking of some adversary in respect of Papall protection they pick advantage to ground a quarrel of Religion then the sancta Expeditio the holy expedition against Lewis will be made Bellū Sacrum a holy Warre against us But admitting no lesse then in former times an easiness to attempt it is not a meditation unnecessary to think in generall of the dangers and impossibilities to retain For first we must more then transgresse Limites quos posuerunt Patres the Bounds which our Fathers owned Et penitus toto divisos or be Britannos And Britans from the world wholy divided and relinquish that defence of Nature wherewith she hath incirculed divided and secured us from the whole world Te natura potens Pelago divisit ab omni Parte orbis tuta ut semper ab hoste fores From all the Earth Nature hath parted thee With Seas and set thee safe from Enemy and commit our Frontiers had we never so much upon the next Continent to the protection of an Army which besides the continuall Charge if we give Ambitious and able Commanders as unable for our Interest we will not how ready shall it be in such a Leader and backt if he please to give Law to his own countrey For Trifles will be quarrels good enough for such as can make them good by Power And whensoever means and Ambition leads any to trouble the State he will be sure to colour his pretext with honest Titles Alli sicuti Iura populi defenderent Pars quo Senatus authoritas maxima foret bonum publicum simulantes some declaring to maintain the rights of the People others to uphold the authority of the Senate all pretending to act for the publick good Hence was it that Augustus refused to add any more of the Barbarous Nations to the body of his Empire which with great facility he might have done and to restrain that infinite and unsafe desire of enlarging left in Charge to his Successors that especiall point of advice coercendi intra Terminos Imperii to keep the Empire within due fitting bounds The like moderation from the same ground was in the late Queen who refused the soveraignty of the Netherlands so often and earnestly offered to her fore-seeing well that as her State should grow more respective by addition of People and augmentation of Territory so Factions and Discontents a common accident in worldly affaires would arise from superfluity Besides the State that may best admit increase is that unto which addition may be on every part indifferently Such was the advantage of Rome by being situate in the middest of Europe whereas we are thrust out of the world to which we have no other contiguity then an unsure element of fluxible foundation the Sea subject to tempest contrariety of wind and more commodious for a potent enemy to intercept then our selves to secure For how large soever any Kingdome is all great directions move from one place commonly from one man as the Heart in the Body It is therefore necessary that the seat be so placed that as well Intelligence as Dispatch may safely passe with indifferency and assured Speed And those Forms are most quick and easy in motion whole extremes are all equally distant from the Centre for the more different from the Circle the more slow and hard Rome may sufficiently example this For so long as the Orbe of that Empire so moved about her all things kept on their course with order and ease but after the Seate was by Constantine removed to an extremity of the Circle it stood a while still and in the end dissolved For either through the masse of Business the limitedness of any mans sufficiency or impossibility to consider all due Circumstances but in re praesenti there must fall out infinite defects in the directions Or if 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 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 discourse 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 structness wherein the soul of Government is comprised 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 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 prohibeat is 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
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 Stae the words are 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. was especially called to a consult how Pace might be procured In his 17 year 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 20 th year moveth peace by all the offers he 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 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 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 injoyned 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 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 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 in Parliament declaring the great means he had wrought by the Pope but could not effect it And in the third year after 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 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 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 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 until the French King 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 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 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 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 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 〈…〉 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 many large and liberall conditions but received in exchange nothing but scoffes 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 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 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 not
jealousie of increasing power could draw Henry the 8. unto the quarrell of France until the Church complained against Lewis the 12. 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 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 foederis Italici Head of the Italian League Edward the sixth 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 Spaine 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 the demand of Callis for 8. years neglected to urge a just debt of four millions from that Crown 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 sute 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 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 is 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 feare nothing the fattest parts of our borders were left wast the men and cattel of England as 16. 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 apappeareth 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 intending to rifle 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 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 la terre 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 distastfull then the former of Service this kingdome being as it is sayd of the Roman Provinces occasioned by war made desert and the people desperate by Exactions In the Conquerours time the Bishop of Durham was killed by the tumultuous people opposing an imposition levied by him There was 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 16 th year Cives Londinenses Ioannem odio habuerunt pro injustis Exactionibus quibus Regnum fatigaverat the Londoners detested King Iohn for his timing out the Kingdome with unjust taxations 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 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 26 th 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 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 dataomnes de Regno ita gravarentur depauperarentur 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 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 foreign expeditions was answered by Ranulph Earle of Chester the mouth of the Layety That in the former Aides Pecuniam suam effuderunt quod inde paupers 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 dissolved the Parliament The Clergy of the Realm in the 24. of Edward the first denyed the demand of Contribution 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 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 who stoned to death Proclerus for perswading Theodoret the Goth to crave a Subsidy The Clergie in the 12. of Edw. 3. 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 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 Quod cum Populus Regni sui variis Oneribus Tallagiis Imposittionibus praegravetur ut idem Archiepisc 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 Pol-mony imposed by Parliament 3. of Richard the second to defray the warres in France there were dirae imprecationes in Regem magnae 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 quod non trahatur in consequentiā that it should be no example for the future appointing peculiar Treasurers of their own to give account upon Oath the next Parliament and such Grants which they professed to proceed ex libera spontanea voluntate Dominorum Comitatuum from the free voluntary grant of the Lords and respective Counties to
be void if Conditions on the Kings part were not performed And this unfortunate King had cast upon him as an argument of his unworthiness to govern the exacting of so great Subsidies and extorting so much money from the Shires that submitted their Fortunes unto his mercy And when Henry the 6. in anno 20. would have had a Relief from his Subjects de aliqua summa notabili of some considerable summe he had in answer Propter inopiam c. populi illud non posse obtineri that in regard of the poverty c. of the people it could not be granted The like 24. of the same King Great men have been disposed sometimes to humour the waste of Treasure in their Princes either to subject Power by Need to their devotion and awe for Princes dare most offend them whom they have least cause to use or to force Necessity to extend Praerogative so far untill by putting all into Combustion some may attain unto the end of their Ambition others the redresse of supposed Injuries Thus did the Faction of Hen. the fourth in the one and the Nobility under Hen. the third in the other who hereby quitted the State oppressed as they thought with the Kings Half-brothers the Poictovins and other Strangers Subjects feare to have the enemies of their Soveragins too much weakned least themselves become Tyrants And it is in the farthest respect in the Baronage under John Henry his son and Edward the second to feare asmuch the absolute Greatness of their Soveraign as they did the Diminution of their own estates And therefore when they found their King to grow too fast upon any neighbour Adversary then would they lend their best aid to diminish his power or fortune least by inlarging himself upon the other that poized his greatness he might forget and become a Tyrant as one saith of Henry the first Assumpserat cornua audacia tam contra Ecclesiam quam Regni universalitatem Roberto fratre aliis inimicis edomitis having once overcome his brother Robert and other enemies with audacious and presumptuous horns he goared as well the Church as the rest of the Kingdome breaking his Seal his Charter and his Oath The memory of this caused the Nobility to call in the French Kings Son when John their Soveraign began to know his own authority as they thought too much And the French Subjects aided on the other side Henry the third against their Mr. when he was almost cooped up in his Britain journey This as the Stories report being a practice usuall in those dayes THe last mischief is the disposition that Military education leaveth in the mindes of many For it is not born with them that they so much distaste peace but proceeds from that custome that hath made in them another nature It is rarely found that ever Civil troubles of this State were dangerously undertaken but where the plot and pursuit was made by a spirit so infused King Iohn had been after sine Regno without a Kingdome as he was at first sans terre without land if his rebenediction had not wrought more upon the disloyall designs of Fitzwalter and Marshall whom his own elective love had made great in opinion by the Norman Services then either his rebated Sword or blasted Sceptre could If Simon Montfort had not been too much improved in Experience and his own Opinion by the many services he underwent in the government of Gascoâ—gn he had never so much dared against Duty as to come over at the first call to make head against his Master and pursue him with that fury of Ambition untilt he had forced him to redeem the liberty of his person by the blasting of so many flowers of his Imperiall Crown and to set himself so far below the seat of Majesty as to capitulate with them upon even conditions which not performed I use his own words Liceat omnibus de Regno nostro contra nos insurgere it shall be lawfull for all persons in our Kingdome to rise up against us and to do omnia quae gravamen nostrum respiciant ac si Nobis in nullo tenerentur so to act all things in reference to the grievances from us upon them as if they were by no ty obliged to us If Richard Duke of York had never learned to be so great a Souldier at the cost of his Master Henry the sixth in another State he had never disquieted the calm of his Times or given just occasion to his Opposite Somerset to say That if he had never learned to play the King by his Regencie in France he had never forgot to obey as a Subject when he returned into England Our own times can afford some whose spirit improved by Military imployment and made wanton with popular applause might have given instance of these dangers if good successe had been a relative to bad intentions And every age breeds some exorbitant spirits who turn the edge of their own sufficiency upon whatsoever they can devour in their ambitious apprehensions seeking rather a great then a good Fame and holding it the chiefest Honour to be thought the Wonder of their times which if they attain to it is but the condition of Monsters that are generally much admired but more abhorred But warre some may say mouldeth not all men thus for vertuous men will use their weapons for ornament amongst their Friends against Enemies for defence And to those men their own goodness is not safe nam Regibus boni quam mali suspectiores sunt for Kings suspect good men sooner then bad Kings must have their Ministers pares negotiis fit for their businesse and not supra above it or too able for it For another mans too-much sufficiency as they take it is a diminution of their respectiveness and therefore dangerous THe meaner sort having forgot the toile of their first life by inuring themselves to the liberty of Warre which leaveth for the most part the lives of men to their own looseness and the means of getting to their own justice can never again endure either order or labour and so return but to corrupt the Common-wealth with their lawlesse manners For living more riotously then the rapine of forrein victory could warrant as for the most they doe in contempt of their own private Want and Fortune they desire a change of the publick Quiet In Tumults and Uproars they take least care for their livings howere the world goes they can be no loosers for like Silla's Army making no difference between sacred and profane Robberies for the vitors Sword seldome teacheth either mean or modesty they will be ready upon every advantage to pillage their Country-men at home For who can expect men dissolutely disciplined can ever use their armes with moderation Against the fury of such seditious Outrages many Parliaments as in the 22. of Hen. the 6. have been sollicited for redresse And that
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 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 suffocâ—ta England was quite stifled by him and could not so much as breath 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 Henry the first anno 5. magnam à Regno exegit Pecuniam exacted a great summe of his Kingdome with which the passed into France and by this means gravabatur terra Angliae oppressionibus multis England was born down with many oppressions He took in the 10. year 6. shillings Danegeld And in the 17. Quod inter eum Regem FrancoruÌ„ magnuÌ„ 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 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 protions 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 praecepti 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 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. ScutagiuÌ„ fuit assessum ad duas Marcas pro Exercitu Tholosae a Scutage was assessed 2 Marks for the army at Tholouse w ch 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 there was an Aid pro servientibus inveniendis in exerciu 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 ad Marcam unam de singulis Feodis one Mark on every Fee And anno 18. 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 millia librarum in auro argento praeter utensilia jocalia reliquit he left in mony 900000 pounds besides Plate and Jewels Richard the first in the beginning besides Scutagium Wallae 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 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 millia marcarum argenti ad pondus Columniensium 150000 marks of silver to pay his ransome as also a Scutage assessed at 20 shil In the 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 saith of Centesima Quinguage fima 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 to redeem the same yeare their woolls fine Pecuniaria at a Fine For his Army into Normandy he took a Scutage assessed at 20 shillings And 4. years after of every Plough-land 5. shillings and of every Borough and City duos palfridos totidem summarios 2. horses and as many summaryes and of every Abbot half asmuch Then loosing of purpose his great Seale proclaimed that Omnes Chartae Confirmationes novi Sigilli impressione roborarentur all Charters and Assurances should be confirmed by the new Seal Whereby anew he drew from all men a composition for their Liberties This fashion was afterwards taken up by some of his Successours as of Henry the 3. when all again were enjoyned qui
of ann 38. Ille per multos labores expensas inutiliter recuperavit Castra sua propria Vasconiae with a great deal of toyle and expense he unprofitably recovered his own Castles in Gascoign of which the Labour was more then ever the Benefit could be And thus it appeareth to have continued for an 17. of Edward the second the money disbursed out of England to defray the surcharge there came to 46595. l. 9. shillings 7d. besides 29660. Qâ—arters of Gram and of Beeves and Bacons an infinite proportion In the first of Edward the 3. the issues of Gascoign were 10000. l. above the Revenues The Signiories in Aquitain cost in 8. years ending 36. of this King 192599. l. 4. shill 5d. de receptis forinsicis onely It was delivered in Parliament an 1. Rich. 2. that Gascoign and some few other places that were then held in France cost yearly this Crown 42000. l. And in the 17 th of this King a Parliament was summoned for no other cause especiall then to provide money to clear the annuall expences of those parts The charge of Bordeaux but one Town surmounting in half a year all Rents and perquisites there 2232. l. As Fronsack in Aquitaâ—n 5787. l. for double that time when the intire Dutche exceeded not 820. l. in yearly Revenues The Charge of Guien all the Reign of Henry 4. was 2200 l. annually out of the Exchequer of England By accompt Aquitain besides Guien 6606. l. was the first of Henry the fifth in surplussage of charge 11200. l. the Town of Bordeaux the 5. first years of the same King 6815. l. In the 11. of Henry the 6. Sir Iohn Radcliffe Steward of Aquitain received from the Treasury of England pro vadiis suis c. 2729. l. and for expense in custody of Fronsack Castle onely he payed 666. l. 13. shill the profits of the Dutchie no wayes able to cleare the Accompts The Benefit we reaped by any footing in Britanny may in a few Examples appeare Henry the third confesseth that ad defensionem Britanniae non sufficiebant Angliae Thesauri quod jam per triennium comprâ—bavit that the Treasure of England would not suffice to maintain Britanny which he had found to be true upon 3 years tryall and left in the end tam laboriosis expensis amplius fatigari to tire himself farther with such toilsome expenses The Town of Brest cost Richard the second 12000. Marks a year and it stood him in an 9. in 13118. l. 18. shillings For Callis I will deliver with as much shortness as may be from the first acquisition untill the losse in every age the Expense for the most part either out of the Treasury or Customes of England disbursed From the 18. of Edward the 3. untill the 21. in which space it was taken the Charge amounted to 337400. l. 9. shil 4d. Anno 28. of the same King for little more then a yeare 17847. l. 5. shillings In an 29. 30581. l. 18d. for 2. years compleat In 30. received by Richard de Eccleshal Treasuâ—er of Callis from the Bishop of Winchester Treasurer of England 17847. l. And in the yeare following 26355 l. 15. shillings In the second of Richard 2. de receptis forinsecis which was money from the Exchequer at Westminster 20000 l. for 3 yeares compleat Anno 5. 19783. l. For three yeares ending anno 10. 77375. l. For the like term untill ann 13. 48609. l. 8. shillings And for the 4. succeeding yeares 90297. l. 19. shil And for the last 3 yeares of his Reign 85643. l. From the end of Richard 2. untill the 4 of Henry 4. for 3. yeares 62655. l. 17. shillings And for one succeeding 19783. l. The Charge in Victuall and Provision for 2 yeares 5. moneths in this Kings Reign 46519 l. 15. shillings In the first 4. and peaceable yeares of his Son there was issued from the Treasury of England 86938. l. 10. shil for this place And from anno 8. untill the 9. 65363. l. It cost Henry the 6. above all Revenue 9054. l. 5. shillings in an 11. The Subsidies in England were an 27. levied in Parliament to defray the wages and reparation of Callis And the 31. of this King there was a Fifteen and 2. shil of every Sack of Wooll imposed upon the Subjects here to the same end And the Parliament of 33. was assembled of purpose to order a course for discharge of wages and expence at Callis and the like authority directed 4. of Edward the fourth that the Souldiers there should receive Victualls and salary from out of the Subsidies of England The disbursement thereof one yeare being 12771. l. And in the 16. of the same King for like term there was de Portu London Hull Sancti Botolphi Poole Sandwico by the Ports of London Hull Boston Pool Sandwich 12488. l. paid to the Treasury of Callis And in an 20. from out of the Customes of the same Ports to the same end 12290. l. 18. shillings And in 22. 11102. l. And the year following 10788. l. The setled ordinary wages of the Garrison in this Town yearly was 24. Henry 8.8834 l. And about 30 th when the Viscount Lisle was Deputy 8117. l. And from the 30 th of this 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 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 has
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 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. Edward 3. was 3129. l. for three yeares In the end of Richard 2. entrance of Henry the 4. 10153. l. And 11. of Henry 6. the Custodie of the Marches 4766. l. In the 2. Mariae the annuall Charge of Barwick was 9413. l. And in an 2. Elizabeth 13430. l. And an 26. 12391. l. The Kingdome of Ireland beyond the Revenues was 29. E. 3. 2285. l. An. 30. 2880. l. and an 50. 1808. l. All the time of Richard 2. it never defrayed the charges And came short in 11. Henry 6. 4000. Marks 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. years ending 1571. amounted to 116874. l. In anno 1584. for lesse then 2 yeares came it to 86983. l. 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. 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 Monarcha in Regno tot tanta habet Privilegia quot Imperator in Imperio a Monarch 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 in 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 nor 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 lest 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 Britannia servitutem suum 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 is 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
at his call with a Salary of 14000. l. yearly Before he adventured to avow and maintain his Challenge to the Kingdome of France he made up to his partie Lodowick the Emperour who the better to countenance his enterprise elected him Vicarium Imperii Vicar of the Empire Reginald Earle of Geldres Lewis Marquesse of Brandenburg Conrade Lord of Hard who served him with 50. men at Armes the Cardinall of Genoa and his Nephew who aided him with Galleys the Magistrates of Colen Bruxells Lorrain and Mechlin and Iaques de Artevile head of the Gantois Faction who having quitted all duty to the banished Earle submitted themselves and most of Flanders to the service and protection of Edward 3. who to free them of two Millions of Crowns wherein as a Caution of obedience to the Crown of France they stood bound as well by Oath as Obligation took upon him the Title of King of France and imployed Iohn Duke of Brabant and Lorrain William Marquesse of Iuliers and the Earle of Henault and Holland his assured Friends Procuratores suos ad vend candum Regnum Franciae his Procurators to claim the Crown of France These his Allyes nor long after meeting him at Tournay with 100000. men as Robert de Artoys did with 50000. at S. Omers against the French King And thus he attired and furnished his first enterprise weaving into his Faction and support more and more as often as either pretence or just occasions would give him leave By colour of Marriage he drew in the King of Sicilie in the 18 th year the Duke of Millain and the King of Castile for mutuall aide and Simon But angre Duke of Genoa and his Subjects for hire and reward In the 19. yeare the questionable Title of the Dutchie of Britain assured him of Iohn de Montford against whom the French King maintained Charles de Bloys for that Dutchie In an 24. he renewed the Contract with the Genoeses and in 30. made a convention of Peace mutul auxilii cum Rege Navarrae and of mutuall aide with the King of Navarre In the 37. with Peter King of Castile and in that and 41. an alliance of Aide and Amity he entred with the Duke of Britain and an 45. again with the Genoeses and Lewis Earle of Flanders and Duke of Brabant and an 46. with Ferdinand King of Portugall Richard the second rene weth in an I. the confederation that his Grandfather had with the Duke of Britain and with whom anno 3. he contracted anew as he had done anno 2. with Lewis Earle of Flanders In the 6. yeare he combineth with the Flemings contra intmicos communes against the enemies of them both with the Kings of Naples Sicille Navarre and Arragon de mutuis auxiliis for mutual aiâ—e with Wenceslaus the Emperour contra Carclum Regem Franciae Robertum Regem Scotiae against Charles King of France and Robert King of Scotland In an 8. with the Kings of Ierusalem Sicilie Portugall In the 10. with Portugall who at his own charges aided this King with 10. Galleys And with William Duke of Gueldres de mutuis auxiliis for mutual1 aide And an 12. 18. and 19. with Albert Duke of Bavaria And an 20. with the Earle of Ostrenant de retinentiis contra Regem Franciae against the King of France And Rupertus Count Palatine of the Rhene an 20. became a Homager for term of life to this King Henry 4. entred alliance of mutuall aid in 2. yeares with William Duke of Gueldres and Mons. In the 12 th with Sigismond King of Hungaria And in the 13. by fiding with the Factions of the Dukes of Berry and Orleans layed the basis upon which his Son that succeeded reared the Trophies of his Renown For Henry the fifth going forward upon the Advantage left and daily offered strengthened himself anno 4. by a League perpetuall with Sigismond the Emperour renewing that of Richard the 2. with Iohn King of Portugall as his Father had done He entred a contract with the Duke of Britain and with the Queen of Ierusalem and Lewis her Son for the Dutchie of Anlou and Mayn and with the King of Portugall and Duke of Bavaria for supplie of men Munition by them performed And the yeare before the battle of Agincourt sendeth the Lord Henry Scrope to contract with the Duke of Burgundie his Retinue for Wages in servitio suo in Regno Franciae vel Ducatu Aquitaniae in his service in the Kingdome of France or the Dutchy of Aquitain esteeming the alliance of that house the reaâ—iest means the attaine his end Henry 6. so long as he held the Amity of Britain for which he contracted and the confederacy of Burgundy his friend or eldest assurance and best advantage which he did to the 16 th yeare of his government there was no great decline of his Fortune in France But when Burgundy brake the bond of our assurance betook him to the Amity of France and dealt with this Crown but as a Merchant by way of intercourse first at the Treaty of Bruges 1442. then at Callis 1446. the reputation and interest we held in France declined faster in the setting of this Son then ever it increased in the rising of the Father And Edward the fourth who succeeded sensible of this losse woed by all the means either of Intercourse or Marriage to winne again the house of Burgundy which in an 7. he did to joyn for the recovery of his right in France And drew in the yeare following the Duke of Britain to that Confederacy In the 11. yeare he renewed with Charles of Burgundie the bond of mutuall Aide and contracted the next yeare the like with the King of Portugal And in an 14. pro recuperatione Regni Francae contra Ludovicum Usurpantem for the recovery of the Kingdome of France out of the hands of Lewis the Usurper as the Record is entered a new Confederacy with the Dukes of Burgundy and Britain And in the end wrought from them a round Pension of money though he could not any portion of land Henry the 7. an 5. 6. entertaineth an Alliance with Spain against the French King The like in the 8. with the King of Portugall and in the 10. with the house of Burgundy for Intercourse and mutuall Aide Henry the 8. in an 4. reneweth the Amity of Portugal and the next yeare combineth with the Emperour Maximilian against Lewis the French King who aideth him out of Artoys and Henault with 4000. horse and 6000 foot whereupon he winneth Tournay Consilo Auxilio favoribus Maximiliani Imperatoris with the advice assistance and countenance of the Emperour Maximilian In anno 7. to weaken the French King he entreth league with
be before the hatred and envy towards it can cease BEsides these locall considerations there will 2. other Dangers now fallout 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 pretended 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 Et expertus jam infidem imo perfidiam Pictavensium turpiter recessit festinans non pepercit Calcaribus in so much 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. 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 Confederates who Subjects May break by dispensation though both Catholicks ought to break out of the Rom. doctrine one accounted heretick 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 Caunt and the King of Castâ—le they ever out of such suspect inserted this Clause That neither side should procure dispensationem c. either per Ecctesiam Romanam vel per aliquam aliam a Dispensation either by the Church of Rome or any other way to do contra formam Tractatus contrary to the form of Agreement how much more must their jealousie be to us And therefore in a Consultation in Henry the 8s. time whether with best security we should confederate with France or Spain it was resolved that either of them may slip off their advantage by colour of our Separation from the Church of Rome if there be no better hold in their Honesties then in their Bonds For it will be held not onely worthy dispensation but merit to break all Leagues with the enemies of that Church by the Doctrine of that See which teacheth all Contracts with any Catholick Prince to be instanti dissolved because we are by them ranked in the list of Hereticks which holds proportion with the Rule and Direction that Urban the sixth sent by Bull to Wenceslaus King of Bohemia and Charles then Emperor before the Councill of Constance declaring all Confederations Leagues and Conventions to be Lege Divina temerariae illicitae ipso jure nullae etiamsi forent fide data firmatae aut Confirmatione Apostolica roboratae to be by the Law of God invalid void and in law null although confirmed by the plighting of faith nay though strengthened by confirmation Apostolicall if the parties were separatae ab Unitate sanctae Ecclesae separate from the Unity of Holy Church when the league was made or si postea sint effecti if they become so after What assurance can there then be either with France who is received by his Rebenediction into the Bosome of the Church and his sonne made Adoptivus Filius Ecclesiae an adopted Son of the Church or against him with Spain who being Protector and Champion of that See Apostolick submitteth himself as he hath ever done to the Popes pleasure and designe and must not onely forsake but aide against us in any warre we should there undertake Besides it is considerable howsoever all sides of our own will joyn in point of defence to a mutuall aide whether they will so in
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 intite 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 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 Confederates 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 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 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 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 5. if the unsound memory of the French King the jealousy of those Princes Orleantial Faction had not made his way and Fortune 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 the 3d. Edwards the 5 th 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 posses sions beyond Sea 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 Robert Earle of Flanders And again 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 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 Britains relicto Rege Franciae Regi Richardo adhaeserunt forsaking the King of France did joyn with King Richard Between King Iohn and the Earle of Flanders there was a Combination mutui auxilii contra Regem Francorum of mutuall assistance against the French King The like with the City of Doway and Earle of Holland Henry 3. an 11. drew Peter Duke of Britany into Confederacy against the French and Fernand Earle of Flanders with a Pension annuall of 500. Maâ—ks And anno 38. Alfonsus King of Castile combineth with him and his heirs contra omnes homâ—nes 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. by a pretence of inter-marriage dâ—ew Florence Earle of Holland from the French to his party and the yeare following by mediation of the Lord of Black-mont the Earle of Flanders who is an â—0 assisted him in the wars of Gascoign In the 22. he combined with Adolph King of the Romans and the Earle of Gueldres tying the Nobility of Burgundâ—e with a yearly donative of 30000. l. Turonensium to aid him contra Regem Franciae against the French King He had Guido Earle of Flanders and Philip his son for 100000. l. Turonensium in pay against the French King an 24 25 and 31. of his Reign retaining the Earle of Gueldres by pay of 1000000. l. the Duke of Lorrain by 1600000. l. the Nobility of Burgundy by a Pension of 30000. l. and Wallerand Lord of Montay by 300. l. Turonensium in his service the same yeare And in an 34. Reginaldum Comitem Montis Beliardi alios de Burgundia contra Regem Franciae Reginald Earle of Mont-Belliard and other Burgundians against the King of France Edward 2. had auxilium tam maritimum quam terrestre à Genoensibus assistance as well by Sea as by Land from the Genoeses And in an 18. besides his Alliance with Flanders Iohn Protectour of Castile aideth him contra Gallos cum 1000. equitibus peditibus Scutiferis 10000. against the French with 1000. horse and foot and 10000 other armed men Edward the 3. had by the Marriage of Philip the Earle of Henault Holland her Father assured to him and retained Iohn of Henault and his Followers qui venerunt in auxilium adrogatum Regis who came to assist the King