the Barons came in Person with a very strong Party before the Castle many of the Queen Friends who were formerly on the other side joining with him The Lord himself was gone with the rest of the Noblemen to destroy the Lands and Estates of the two Spencers having left his Wife and Children in the Castle and a Captain to command there After some time spent in the Siege the Besieged finding little hope of relief were forced to surrender it to the King at Mercy who hanged five or six of the principal Persons And committed the Lord Badlesmere's Wife and Children to the Tower After which many of the Barons misdoubting their strength deserted their Chief the Earl of Lancaster which now made the Victory the more easily incline to the King The third day after the Battle the King resolving to take his full swing of Vengeance upon the Barons sate in Judgment in Person at Pomfret Castle together with the Earls oâ— Kent Pembroke Surrey and the two Spencers Before whom the Earl of Lancaster and the rest being brought Sentence was pronounced against them to be drawn hanged and quartered as guilty of High Treason by Andrew Harkley a man of small fortune but made Earl of Carlile and Lord Chief Justice for taking the Earl of Lancaster and several other Lords Prisoners after the late Fight The Earl of Lancaster being the King's Uncle was only Beheaded the same day at Pomfret but the other Lords were hanged and quartered in several parts of the Realm As the Lords Lisle Touchet Manduit Bradburn Fitz Williams Cheyney at Pomfret The Lords Clifford Mowbray and Deynvile hang'd in Chains at York The Lord Gifford at Glocester The Lord Teys at London The Lord Aldenham at Windsor and the Lords Badlesmere and Ashburnham at Canterbury And several other Baronets Knights Esquires and Gentlemen were executed in other places Never before did English Earth at one time drink up so much Blood of her Nobility and Gentry shed in so vile a manner which whatsoever was pretended was reckoned by the People to be spilt upon the account and in the quarrel of the two Ravenous Favourites the Spencers nor was it long unrevenged with the destruction of the principal Actors After this the King likewise seized all their Estates as forfeited to the Crown This havock being made of the Nobility to the astonishment of the rest and the terror of the Vulgar the Spencers were elated so intolerably with Pride by this Victory that instead of making good use thereof and reforming those abuses that might occasion the like again and giving the King good Counsel they now proceed to commit greater Rapines and Violences than before making their Will a Law in all things And then presuming that all affairs should for the future be managed according to their pleasure they advise the King to call a Parliament at York in which he created Edward his eldest Son Prince of Wales and Duke of Acquitain He also created Sir Hugh Spencer the Father Earl of Winchester and Sir Hugh the Son Earl of Glocester And exacted the sixth Penny of all Mens Estates and Goods to support his intended Wars against the Scots the levying of which Tax caused much murmuring and discontent among the People who affirmed That they were already totally impoverished and ruined by War Famine and the disordereâ— Government of the King and his Evil Counsellors The King was fully persuaded that his late Successes had rendered him as terrible to the Scots as to his own Subjects and that they were no way capable of resisting so great a Power as he had raised against them resolving now to call them to a strict account for all their Inroads Murthers and Robberies The Scots being secretly inform'd that King Edward was intended to Invade their Country and to revenge those wrongs he had received from Robert Bruce their King endeavoured to divert him by landing a great Army in Ireland but the King having timely notice of their design made such provision that the greatest part of the Assailants were slain and the rest fled to their Ships and returned shamefully to their own Country The King after this marched with a very gallant Army into Scotland and being arrived the Scots Nobility with some thousands of men pretended to give him Battel but intended nothing less For at his approach they retired in good Order into the Woods Forests and Mountains of their Country insomuch that the English were quite tired and dispirited in pursuing them through those difficult and uneasie passages so that in a short time for want of Provisions and Necessaries and by reason of the Rains Hail Snow and Frosts which are incident to that cold Region the King's Forces were so afflicted with Sickness and Mortality that they were obliged to retire without having performed any thing suitable to such mighty preparations Which when the Scots perceived they pursued them with much cruelty and one night assaulted them with so much fury that the King himself very narrowly escaped and finding his Forces broken and his Army scattered he was forced to save his Life by an ignominious flight and to leave behind him his Treasure Ordnance Tents and Furniture a joyful prize to the Victorious Scots This last disaster and danger was occasioned principally by the Treachery of Sir Andrew Harkley the new made Earl of Carlile who under pretence of making Peace with the Scots secretly agreed to Marry the Daughter of King Robert whereupon he was seized and carried to London in Irons and being brought to the Bar before the Judg Sir Anthony Lucy in the Robes of an Earl with his Sword girt Hosed Booted and Spur'd the Judg spake thus to him ' Sir Andrew the King for thy Valour and Good Service hath advanced thee to great Honour and made thee Earl of Carlile notwithstanding which thou as a Traytor to thy Lord and King leddest a Party that should have assisted him at the Battel of Bayland in Scotland away by Copland through Lancashire by which Falseness and Treason of thine our Lord the King was discomfited by the Scots whereas if thou hadst arrived in time he might have gained the Victory And this Treason thou didst wilfully commit for a great sum of Gold and Silver which thou didst receive from James Dowglas a Scot and the King's Enemy For which great Crime our Lord the King hath commanded that thou be deprived of the Order of Knighthood wherewith he hath honoured thee for a terror to all other Knights to avoid the like Treachery Then his Spurs were hewed from his Heels and his Sword with which he was Knighted and Girt when created an Earl was broken over his Head he was then unclothed of all his Robes of Honour and State and his Coat of Arms defaced After which the Judg proceeded thus ' Andrew thou art now no Knight but a Knave and for thy Treason the King hath appointed that thou shalt be hanged thy Head smitten off and placed on London
her ready wit and brisk temper neither too full nor too sparing in discourse jesting oft without abuse but very pleasantly so that her company was extream entertaining King Edward used to say That he had three Concubines who were excellent for three different Qualities One being the merriest another the most politick and subtile and the third the most devout Harlot in the World who when he sent for to his Bed was usually at Prayers upon her knees in the Church the other two were Persons of greater Quality but Jane Shore was the merriest and therefore the King took much delight in her conversation for though he had many Mistresses yet he may be said only to love her and to say the truth she never abused the kindness he had for her to the detriment or hurt of any but to the relief of very many appeasing the King's anger toward some getting abatement of Fines restoring others to favour dispatching their Suits and Affairs and all for little or no reward Valuing any thing that was fine or pretty above great Summs of Money being contented either with the pleasure of doing kindnesses or of being Courted and Petitioned for them to shew what power she had with the King or lastly because wanton Women are not always Covetous It may be thought says Sir Thomas More That this Woman is too slight a Subject among matters of a greater consequence but says he She to me seems worthy of Remark that she should now be a miserable beggar without Friends or Money but what she gets by Charity who was formerly in such great favour with a renowned Prince was adored by the Courtiers addressed unto by Persons of the highest Quality for expediting their business as much as the greatest Favourites of this Age Had abundance of Riches and all other goods of fortune And yet should become so wretched a Creature as she is at this day being obliged to beg of those now living that must have begged themselves if it had not been for her kindness toward them To proceed It was contrived by the Protector the Duke of Buckingham and the the other bloody Councellours that the very day the Lord Hastings was Beheaded in the Tower and at the very same hour he himself consenting to it the Lord Rivers and the other Lords and Knights that were taken from the King at Northampton were Beheaded at Pomfret which was done in the presence and by the order of Sir Richard Ratcliff whose service the Protector much used in these affairs he being a Man of a malicious wit and cruel nature and fit for any mischievous designs Who bringing them out of Prison to the Scaffold and telling the People they were Traytors not suffering them to declare their Innocence lest their words should have inclined the People to pity them and hate the Protector he caused them hastily without Tryal Witnesses Sentence or any Legal Process to be Beheaded only because they were Loyal to the King and too near a Kin to the Queen his Mother These Noblemen being thus dispatched the Protector now resolved to advance himself to the Crown whilest the Peers and People being amazed and terrified at these proceedings durst not interpose to hinder him But because the matter would seem exceeding odious he and his wicked Council consulted how to put a fair gloss thereupon Several ways were proposed among the rest they thought it necessary to bring in Edward Shaw then Lord Mayor of London who upon promise of advancement should prepare the Peoples Inclinations and because Clergy-men are hearkned to in Matters of Conscience therefore Doctor Shaw the Lord Mayor's Brother and Doctor Pinke Provincial of the Augustine Friers are likewise ingaged in the Affair both great Preachers but of more Learning than Virtue and of more fame than Learning having a notable estimation among the Vulgar These two were appointed to Preach the one at Paul's-Cross and the other at the Spittle and to display the excellent Qualities of the Protector Pinke in his Sermon so lost his Voice that he was forced to break off and come down in the midst and Doctor Shaw by his Sermon lost his reputation and soon after his Life for he was so ashamed of it that he never after came abroad But the next perplexity was to get some plausible pretence for deposing the Young King and advancing his Uncle After several alterations they at length concluded to alledge Bastardy either in King Edward IV. himself or in his Children or both to lay Bastardy publickly to King Edward would reflect upon the reputation of the Mother both of his Brother and himself The Protector therefore ordered that point to be handled tenderly but the Bastardy of the Children he would have openly and boldly asserted and to ground their Allegations upon the following pretext After King Edward IV. had deposed King Henry VI. and got Possession of the Throne he determined to Marry and thereupon Richard Nevil the Great Earl of Warwick is sent to France to Treat of a Marriage between the King and the Lady Bona Daughter to Lewis Duke of Savoy and Sister to the Lady Carlote then Queen of France The proposition is readily imbraced in France the Match soon concluded In the mean time King Edward being Hunting in Wichwood Forrest near Stony Stratford happened to come to the Manour of Graston where the Dutchess of Bedford then lay and where her Daughter by Sir Richard Woodvile called the Lady Elizabeth Gray Widow of Sir John Gray of Groby Slain in the Battel of St. Albans came to Perition the King for some Lands of which her Husband had made her a Jointure With whose beauty and graceful mein the King was so surprized that he presently fell to Courting her The Lady perceiving his intent told him plainly That as she thought her self not worthy to be his Wife so she esteemed her self too good to be his Concubine The King who very seldom was denied such favours his handsomeness and dignity making him acceptable to most Ladies so much admired her Virtue that he resolved to Marry her His Mother having notice of it endeavoured to prevent the Match telling him That it would be both honourable and safe to Marry some Great Princess and thereby strengthen his Government by Potent Alliances That it was below him to Marry his own Subject and especially a Widow that had Children he being a Young Man and a Batchellor Lastly that he was already Contracted to the Lady Elizabeth Lucy The King Answered That as to Honour and Alliances they might bring more trouble than profit and whereas you object Madam says he That the Lady is a Widow and has Children By God's Blessed Lady I am a Batchellor and have some Children too and so we have both proof that we are not like to be Barren and for your alledging that I am already Contracted to the Lady Elizabeth Lucy Let the Bishop saith he charge me with it when I come to take Orders for I understand
demolisht the Forts burnt most of the Houses filled their Ships with Plunder and burnt several Spanish Vessels the Fleet returned victoriously home The King of Spain having lost in this Gallant Expedition thirteen of his best men of War forty Merchants Ships from New Spain an hundred Cannon with such vast Stores of Ammunition and Naval Provisions that he was not able to fit out another Fleet for many years after and the Spaniards themselves gave this Character of the brave English That they were Hereticks in Religion but in all other affairs Warlike Politick and truly Noble This happy Success advanced Essex in the opinion both of the Queen Souldiery and Common People though his making so many Knights some of them of very mean fortunes produced this Libel A Gentleman of Wales with a Knight of Cales And a Laird of the North Countree A Yeoman of Kent upon a Rack Rent Will buy them out all three The Queens indulgence increasing by this fortunate Expedition he grew wanton with her favours and was offended if she prefer'd any but those recommended by himself as particularly Sir Francis Vere being made Governour of Brill in Holland and Sir Robert Cecil Secretary of State both which he had designed for other Persons he discovered so severe a resentment for it that his Enemies and Enviers turn'd it at length to his disadvantage After this Essex is made Admiral of a Fleet that were sent against the Islands of Azores belonging to the Spaniard where the Island of Graciosa and Faial yielded to him and likewise Villa Franca And then returning Essex who would be sole Favourite had great contentions with Sir Walter Rawleigh and Cecil c. and likewise with Charles Howard who was now made Earl of Nottingham because the Queen had given him part of the honour of the Victory at Cales However the Queen's affections so blinded her that she passed by many Indignities offered her by him and to pacifie him created him Earl Marshal of England In 1598. Some Proposals being offered for concluding a Peace with Spain the Earl of Essex opposed it urging the Spanish Ambition for gaining the Universal Monarchy his inveterate hatred against the Queen and the Kingdom his Maxim That no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks and that the Pope could dispense with him to break all Leagues when for his advantage these and many such cogent Reasons made a Peace with him impracticable But other great Courtiers whether for Reasons of State or that they had received some Spanish Gold were very much displeased so that the Lord Burleigh told him That he breathed nothing but War and Slaughter and turning to the Psalm he bid Essex read that verse as seeming to presage his future Fate Blood-thirsty men shall not live out half their days Yet many much admired his Conduct as really designing nothing but the honour and security of his Country However the Queen and Essex were of a contrary opinion both as to the Peace and to a fit Person to be sent Lord Deputy into Ireland The Queen judged William Knolles the Earl's Uncle proper for the imployment Essex affirmed George Carew to be much fitter and because he could not persuade the Q. to be of his mind he contemptibly turn'd his back and seem'd to scoff at her At which she growing out of patience stept forward and giving him a sound box on the Ear bid him be gone with a vengeance At which he laid his hand upon his Sword but the Admiral coming up to him he vowed and swore ' That he neither would nor could put up so great an Indignity which he would never have taken from her Father King Henry much less from the hand of a Woman And then in a great rage he withdrew from Court Afterward the Lord Keeper sent him several Letters exhorting him to come and ask the Queen pardon whom if he had justly wronged he could not make her satisfaction and if she had wronged him yet his Prudence Duty and Religion should oblige him to submit himself to so good a Queen since there is a great inequality between a Prince and a Subject Essex answered very haughtily to these Advices and his Followers published his usual expressions upon this account As ' That he appealed for Justice from the Queen to God Almighty That no Tempest rageth more than the indignation of an Impotent Prince That the Queens Heart was hardned I know said he what I have to do as I am a Subject and what as I am an Earl and Marshal of England I cannot live as a Servant and a Bondslave If I should confess my self guilty I should both injure Truth and God the Author of Truth I have received a Dart through my whole body It is absolutely a Sin to serve after having received so great a disgrace Cannot Princes Err Cannot they Injure their Subjects Is their Earthly power Infinite 'T is the Fool says Solomon that being struck laughs They that receive benefit who by the Errors of Princes let them bear the injuries of Princes Let them believe the Queen's Power Infinite believe that God is not Omnipotent As for my part I being rent in pieces by injuries have long enough endured bitterness of Soul for them Yet after all the Queens Passion for him soon admitted of an easie submission so that he was pardoned and restored to favour by her who could be angry with him but could never hate him and soon after made him Lord Deputy of Ireland which was then in an ill condition by the Rebellion of the Natives and impowered him with so ample a Commission as was thought to be contrived by his Enemies on purpose by inflaming his ambition to procure his ruin for he had liberty to pardon or punish the Irish Rebels suitable to his own Will and Power to reward with Lands or Honours all he esteem'd worthy These were such Flowers of the Crown as they seemed designed by his Enemies to deck that head they meant to Sacrifice to their malice and revenge Upon his arrival in Ireland the Earl spent so much time in subduing the petty Rebels while he not only neglected the chief one Tyrone with whom instead of fighting he Treated and made a Truce that the Queen unsatisfied with his dilatory proceedings first reproaches his Conduct and then recalls him Essex was much discontented because the Queen in her Letters had chid him for making the Earl of Southampton General of the Horse and that Cecil his Enemy was prefer'd to be Master of the Wards in his absence So that within a Month after he unexpectedly returned to England having some thoughts to bring so great a force with him as to secure himself from any danger but was dissuaded therefrom by the Earl of Southampton and Sir Christopher Blunt So that only accompanied with six he comes to the Court at Nonsuch to inform the Queen of the affairs of Ireland In the way he met the Lord Grey of Willon his chief Adversary