Edmund Mortimer Erle of March had Issue and leefully bare Rogier Mortimer Erle of March her Son and Heir Which Rogier Erle of March had Issue and leefully gate Edmund Erle of Marche Rogier Mortymer Anne and Alianore which Edmund Rogier and Alianore dyed without Issue And the seyd Anne under the Sacrament of Matrymony copled unto Richard Erle of Cambridge the Son of the seyd Edmund Langley fifth-begoten Son of the seyd King Edward as it is afore specified had Issue and leefully bare Richard Plantagenet commonly called Duc of Yorke The seyd John of Gaunt the fourth-goten Son of the seyd King Edward and younger Brother of the seyd Leonell had Issue and leefully gate Hen. Erle of Derby which incontinent after the tyme that the seyd King Richard resigned the Corones of the seyd Reaumes and the seyd Lordship of Ireland unrightwysely entered upon the same then being on live Edmund Mortymer Erle of Marche Son to Rogier Mortymer Erle of March Son and Heir of the seyd Phelippa Daughter and Heir of the seyd Sir Leonell the third Son of the seyd King Edward the Third to the which Edmund the Ryght and Title of the seyd Corones and Lordship by Lawe and Custome belonged Before we pass over these three Usurpers we must take notice of a Passage in Polydore Virgil concerning Henry V. in these Words Princeps Hen. facto Patris funere Concilium Principum ad Westmonasterium convocandum curat in quo dum de Rege creando more mojorum agitabatur Ecce tibi de repente aliquot Principes ultro in EJVS VERBA jurare coeperunt Quod Benevolentiae Officium nulli antea priusquam Rex renantiatus esset praestitum constat adeo Hen. ab ineunte aetate spem omnibus optimae indolis fecit Creatur itaque Rex ad quintum Iduum Aprilis eo Anno quo Pater e vita excesserat Quintus ejus Nominis Henricus dictus est The Author of the Brief History of Succession thus renders this Sentence Immediately upon the death of Hen. IV. a Parliament MET at Westminster and there according to the Custom of the Realm it was debated who should be King But all men had entertained so good thoughts of Prince Henry that without staying till the whole Assembly had declared him King divers of them began to swear Allegiance to him a thing strange and without president as only occasioned by extraordinary Opinion which was generally conceived of him before and the certain Title vested in him by Act of Parliament In his Citation of the Latin he leaves out these Words which belong to this piece of Story and do declare the meaning of it Creatur itaque Rex ad quintum Iduum Aprilis eo Anno quo Pater e vita excesserat c. He was Crowned King on the fifth of the Ides of April the same year his Father died Tho. Walsingham who lived at this time says Hen. IV. died Mar. 20. 1413. And then eodem Anno coronatus Londoniis Henricus Primogenitus Regis Henrici nuper defuncti quinto Iduum Aprilis c. The same Year Henry the First-born of King Henry lately deceased was Crowned at London on the fifth of the Ides or tenth of April By which Words of Walsingham 't is evident he hath mistaken the meaning and falsly translated the Words of Polydore for they ought to be Englished in this manner Prince Henry having buried his Father caused a Council of the Chief Men of the Nation to be called at Westminster in which they treat or debate about Crowning the King according to the Custom of his Predecessors forthwith some of the Great Men began to swear as he dictated to them which officious Benevolence was performed to none before he was declared King such hope he had given from his Childhood of an excellent Disposition therefore he was Crowned King on the fifth of the Ides of April that Year his Father died and was called Henry the Fifth An intelligent Man would wonder how the Writer of the Brief History c. should SQVEEZE his Translation out of these Latin Words But Polydore who as I hinted before was very unfit to write the English History hath very oddly in Latin express'd this Relation as he likewise hath done many other Stories His Character take from Sir Hen. Savile in his Epistle to Queen Elizabeth before his Edition of the old English Writers after Bede Polydorus saith he ut homo Italus in rebus nostris hospes c. quod caput est neque in Republika versatus nec magni alioqui vel judicii vel ingenii pauca ex multis delibans falfit plerumque pro veris amplexus Historiam nobis reliquit cum caetera mendosam tum exiliter sane jejune conscriptam Polydor as he was an Italian and a Stranger in our Affairs and which was the chief matter not understanding our Government and Laws nor otherwise of great Wit or Judgment chusing a few things out of many and oft-times taking false things for true hath left us a very faulty History slightly and pitifully written After the Reign of these three Usurpers and Deposition of Henry the Sixth in the first of Edward the Fourth the Proceedings against Richard the Second are Repealed where 't is said That Henry Earl of Derby afterwards Henry the Fourth temerously ayenst ryghtwisnesse and Justice by Force and Arms ayenst his Faith and Ligeance rered Werre at Flynt in Wales ayenst King Richard the Second him tooke and imprisoned in the Tower of London in great violence and usurped and intruded upon the Royall Power Estate Dignity c. And not therewith satisfyed or content but more grievous thing attempting wickedly of unnatural unmanly and cruel Tyranny the same King Richard King Anointed Crowned and Consecrated and his Liege and most Soveraigne Lord in Earth against Gods Lawe Mans Ligeance and Oath of Fidelity with uttermost punicion attormenting murdered and destroyed with most vile hainous and lamentable Death c. The Commons being of this present Parliament having sufficient and evident knowledge of the said unryghtwyse Usurpation and Intrusion by the said Henry late Earl of Derby upon the said Crown of England knoweing also certainly without doubt and ambiguity the Right and Title of our said Soveraigne Lord thereunto true and that by Gods Lawe Mans Lawe and the Lawe of Nature he and none other is and ought to be their true ryghtwyse and natural Liege and Soveraigne Lord and that he was in right from the Death of the said Noble and Famous Prince his Father very just King of the said Realm of England doe take accept and repute and will for ever take accept and repute the said Edward the Fourth their Soveraigne and Liege Lord and him and his Heirs to be Kings of England and none other according to his said Right and Title And that the same Henry unryghtwysely against Lawe Conscience and Custome of the said Realm of
England usurped upon the said Crown and Lordship and that he and also Henry late called King Henry the Fifth his Son and Henry late called King Henry the Sixth his Son occupied the Realm of England and Lordship of Ireland and exercised the Governance thereof by unryghtwyse intrusion usurpation and no otherwise That the Amotion of Henry late called King Henry the Sixth from the Exercise Occupation Usurpation Intrusion Reign and Governance of the same Realm and Lordship done by our Soveraigne Lord King Edward the Fourth was and is rightwyse lawfull and according to the Lawes and Customes of the said Realme and soe ought to be taken holden reputed and accepted Further Some if not all the Grants made by Henry Earl of Derby called Henry the Fourth the said Henry his Son or the said Henry called Henry the Sixth or by Authority of any pretenced Parliament in any of their days were reputed null and void That the unrightwyse and unlawful Usurpation and Intrusion of the same Henry upon the Crown of England and Lordship of Ireland was to the great and intolerable hurt prejudice and derogation of Edmund Mortimer Earle of Maroh next Heir of Blood of the said King Richard at the time of his Death and to the Heirs of the said Edmomd and to the great and excessive Damage unto the Realm of England and to the politick and peaceable Governance thereof by inward Wars moved and grounded by occasion thereof In the First of Richard the Third the Three Estates after having much faulted the Government Marriage and Person of Edward the Fourth and affirmed That the Right and Title of the Issue of George Duke of Clarence was barred by his Attainder and extolling the Parts Wisdom and Justice of Richard his Brother declared him undoubted Heir of Richard Duke of York Father to Edward the Fourth very Inhaeritor of the Crown of England and Dignity Royal and as in Right King of England by way of Inheritance and therefore having in his great prudent Justice Princely Courage and excellent Vertue singular Confidence did by Writing in all that in them lay chuse him their King and Sovereign Lord to whom they knew of certain it apperteined to be so chosen c. And do further declare That the Right Title and Estate which King Richard the Third had to and in the Crown and Royal Dignity of the Realm of England with all things thereunto within the said Realm and without it annexed and apperteining was just and lawful as grounded upon the Laws of God and Nature and also upon the antient Lawes and laudable Customes of this said Realm as also taken and reputed by all such Persons as were learned in the abovesaid Laws and Customs And then they proceed and say Yet nevertheless forasmuch as it is considered that the most part of the People is not sufficiently learned in the aforesaid Laws and Customs whereby the Truth and Right in this behalf of likelyhood may be hid and not clearly known to all the People and thereupon put in doubt and question And over this how that the Court of Parliament is of such Authority and the People of this Land of such a nature and disposition as Experience teacheth that Manifestation or Declaration of any Truth made by the Three Estates of this Realm assembled in Parliament and by Authority of the same maketh before all other things most faithful and certain quieting of Mens minds and removeth the occasion of Doubts and seditious Language Therefore at the Request and by the Assent of the Three Estates of this Realm THAT IS TO SAY The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of this Land assembled in this present Parliament and by the Authority of the same be it pronounced decreed and declared That our said Sovereign Lord the King was and is the very undoubted King of this Realm of England with all things thereunto belonging within the said Realm and without it united annexed and apperteining as well by Right of Consanguinity and Inhaeritance as by lawful Election Consecration and Coronation Haereditary Right and Right of Blood was the Ground of this Establishment Henry the Seventh having no Haereditary Title of his own and being always averse to take upon him the only true and undoubted Title of his Queen eldest Daughter and Heir to Edward the Fourth procured an Act of Parliament That the Inhaeritance of the Crown of the Realms of England and France with all the Preheminencies and Dignities Royal to the same apperteining and the Ligeances to the King belonging beyond the Seas c. shall be rest remain and abide in the most Royal Person of our most Sovereign Lord Henry the Seventh and in the Heirs of his Body lawfully coming perpetually and so to endure and no otherwise It may be noted from these words That the inheritance of the Crown should rest remain and abide in the King c. That he designed not a Declaration or Recognition of his Right but rather an Establishment of that Possession he had gotten by the Sword for not thinking this Act a Sufficient Security for him nor depending on this Parliamentary Title he extended his pretences beyond this Establishment in at much as he procured it to be confirmed the year following by the Bull of Pope Innocent the Eighth in which this Statute with his Titles of Couquest and Descent are mentioned and confirmed The Bull says That the Kingdom of England belonged to him by undubitable right Non modo jure Belli ac notorio indubitato proximo successions Titulo verum etiam omnium prelatorum procerum Magnatum Nobilium totiusque ejusdem Regni Angliae plebis Electione et noto ac decreto statuto et ordinatione ipsius Angliae Regni trium Statuum in ipsorum conventu Parliamento nuncupato That is Not only by the right of War and the notorious and indubitable next Title of Succession but also by the election of all the Prelates and great Men and of the whole Commonalty of the Kingdom of England and by a known and decreed Statute and Ordinance of the Three Estates of the same Kingdom of England their meeting called a Parliament And afterward in the Thirteenth of his Reign he got his Bull renewed and the Act confirmed again by Pope Alexander the Sixth under pain of Excommunication and Curse to such as should upon any pretence whatsoever disturb the peace of the Nation and create trouble against this Title of Henry the Seventh So that notwithstanding this Act of Parliament which was cunningly penned to Establish his possession he had obtained by the sword He thought that and the Popes Bulls of Confirmation his best Title yet not omitting his own pretended indubitable next Right of Succession Henry the Eighth next heir to the Crown by Proximity of Blood as right Heir to his Mother Elizabeth Daughter and right Heir to Edward the Fourth succeeded his Father in
and her Council secretly thought of her own Personal Title Yet upon the Treaty or Marriage with the Duke of Anjon in the Answer to the sixth Article delivered by the French Ambassador it is declared that the Succession in her Kingdoms was and ought to be Hereditary according to nearness in Blood The words are Liberi ex hoc matrimonio prognati in materna haereditate succedent in regnis secundum jura consuetudines regnorum viz. primogenitus filius in Coronam quam Regina mater habet si nulli extabunt filii Masculi filioe si extabunt viz prima sola maxima natu c. Atque idem ut fiat in hoereditate paterna loequum est quomodo consuetudines locorum id ferent intelligi parest That is The Children begotten of this Marriage shall succeed in the Mothers Inheritance in the Kingdoms according to the Laws and Customs of the Kingdoms that is to say The First born Son shall enjoy the Crown which the Queen Mother hath And if there be no Issue Male the Daughters if there be any shall succeed that is to say the Eldest first and alone c. And that it is just the Succession should obtain after the same manner in the Paternal Inheritance if the Custom of the places would allow it After the death of Queen Elizabeth the Act of Recognition made Upon King James his coming to the Crown doth not take notice of the Title raised by Act of Parliament to Henry the Seventh and the Heirs of his Body But declares that he was Lineally Rightfully and Lawfully descended of the Body of the most excellent Lady Margaret eldest Daughter of this most renowned King Henry the Seventh and the high and noble Prinress Queen Elizabeth his Wife eldest Daughter of King Edward the Fourth The said Lady Margaret being eldest Sister of King Henry the Eighth Father of the High and Mighty Princess of famous Memory Elizabeth late Queen of England In consideration whereof the Parliament doth acknowledge King James their only Lawful and Rightful Leige Lord and Sovereign And further say as being bound thereunto both by the Laws of God and Man they do recognize and acknowledge that Immediately upon the Dissolution and Deceasy of Elizabeth late Queen of England the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England and all the Kingdoms Dominions and Rights belonging to the same did by inherent Birth-right and lawful and undoubted Succession descend and come to His most excellent Majesty as being lineally justly and lawfully next and SOLE HEIR of the Blood-Royal of this Realm as it is afore said And thereunto they do most humbly and faithfully submit and oblige themselves their Heirs and Posterities for ever until the last drop of their Bloods be spent What can be clearer than that the Succession to the Crown of England was always thought judged had taken and reputed to be from Nextness of Blood by the Opinion of all sober Men by Law and Custom by this and other Acts of Parliament and Statutes before cited This then being the true History and Case of Succession to the Crown of England and its being only founded upon Proximity of Blood the Author of the Brief History of Succession c. ought to have called it An History of Vsurpations Seditions and Rebellions It was written and intended for a purpose he will not own that is to shew that In the English Monarchy there is not Right of Succession but that Parliaments or Armies may set up whom they please This I confess hath been practised in this Nation and it was the main Cause of the War between the Families of Tork and Lancaster that proceeding from the Right of the one Patty and Possession of the other and the Contrarieties of Acts of Parliament was caused by the Alternate Victories of both But the doing of a thing makes it not lawful Repeated Wickedness or the frequent Repetition of Wiekedness gives no Authority to any one to commit that Wickedness as the frequency of Adulteries or Robberies doth not justifie either of them I think it 's no good Argument to say Edward the Second was deposed and murthered therefore Richard the Second might be deposed and murthered or That they were both deposed and murthered therefore Charles the First might be deposed and murthered or Because King Charles the First was deposed and murthered therefore King Charles the Second may be deposed and murthered Precedents are of force only in things lawful obscure or dubious but never in things unjust The Depositions and Murthers of Edward the Second and Richard the Second the Usurpations and unlawful Actions of Henry the Fourth and Richard the Third were in their own times condemned by all good Men even as the Actions of that Parliament began in 1641. in ours which I suppose is the reason why the Author of the Pamphlet brings not them in as a Precedent which would have served his turn better than all his other Instances But besides their impious Instances we ought to take notice of the Expressions of these Men of Jesuitical Principles They call Usurpation the Election of the People a Faction the Commonwealth the Actions of a few they impute to all They call Rebellion a just and judicial Proceeding often and open Perjury an orderly Revoking of a Sentence God's secret Judgment in permitting Injustice to prevail his owning and allowance thereof the Inconsistency and present Humour of the heedless Multitude who judge of things not by Reason or Justice but either by Opinion which commonly is partial or else by Report which is usually full of Incertainties and Errors the most part Doing because others Do all easie to be drawn in to serve any wicked and ambitious Men's Attempts they call the presumed Will and Consent of the People According to which say they the Succession of the Crown is to be directed And by these Arts they do very much impose upon their unwary Readers To this History of Succession belongs the Act of the Thirteenth of Elizabeth cap. 1. intituled An Act whereby certain Offences are made Treason which as many great and learned Persons think was upon the debate and making of it intended and designed to declare a Power in the Queen and her Successors for ever by Authority of Parliament to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient force and validity to limit and bind the Crown of England and the Descent Limitation Inheritance and Government thereof Sir Edward Coke says Many Acts of Parliament are hardly to be understood unless the History of that time be joyned thereunto This Parliament met April 2. 1571. 13 Eliz. and was dissolved May 29. following This Parliament we see was holden in the beginning of the Year 1571. Some Years before but most especially in the Year1570 immediately preceding there had been many Practices and Seditious and Treasonable Contrivances against Queen Elizabeth by Foreign as well as Domestick Enemies By the Pope and
the Duke of York and in the King's Name streightly command them to find all Objections as might he laid against the same in fortifying of the King's Title Who on Monday following on the 20th of October answered that the matter was so high and touched the King's high Estate and Regalio which is above the Law and passed their Learning Wherefore they durst not enter into any Communication of the same for that it permined to the Lords of the King's Blode and th'Apparage of this his Londes and therefore besought all the Lords to have then utterly excused Then the Lords sent for all the King's Serjeants and Attorney and gave them streight Commandment in the King's Name that they sadladly and avisely shuld serch and take all such things as might be best and strongest to be allegged for the King 's Avail in Objection and defeating of the Title and Cleym of the Due They answered that if this matter passed the Lerning of the Justices it must needs exceed their Lerning and also that they durst not enter into any Communication in that matier and prayed and besought all the Lords to have them excused by geveing any Avice or Counsell therein But the Lords would not excuse them and therefore by the in Advice and Assistance it was concluded by all the Lords that the Articles following should be objected agenst the Clayme and Title of the Duc. First It is thought that the Lords of this Lond must needs call to their remembrance the great Oaths the which they have made to the King the which may be leyd to the said Duc of York and that the Lords may not break their Othes Item It is thought also that it is to be called to remembrance the great and notable Acts of Parliament of divers of the King's Progonitors The which Acts be sufficient and reasonable to be leyd agene the Title of the said Due of York The which Acts be of much more Authority than eny Chronicle and also of Authority to defete eny manner of Title made to eny Person Item It is thought that there is to be leyd ayent the Title divers Inteyles made to the Heires Mules of Henry the Foureth as for the Crown of England as it may appear by divers Chronicles and Parliaments Item It is thought to be allegged the Title of the seid Due that the tyme that King Henry the Fourth toke upon him the Corone of England he said he entered and toke upon him the Corone as right Inheritor to King Henry the Third and not as a Conqueror To which Articles the Duke answered First That noe Oath being the Lawe of Man ought to be performed when the same leadeth to suppression of Trueth and Right which is against the Lawe of God To the second and third That in trouth there been noo such Acts and Tayles made by eny Parliament heretofore as it is furmised but only in the seventh yere of King Hen. IV. a certain Act and Ordinance was made in a Parliament by him called wherein he made the Reaums of Englond and France amongst other to be unto him and to the Hetres of his Body comeing and to his four Sons and to the Heires of their Body comeing in manner and fourme as it apperith in the same Act. And if he might have obteyned and rejoysed the Corones c. by Title of Inhaeritance Discenter or Succession He neither needed or would have desired or made thaim to be granted to him in such wyse as be by the said Act which tacketh noo place neither is of eny force or effect ayenst him that is right Inhaeriter of the sayd CORONES as it accordeth with Gods Lawe and all Natural Lowes howe it be that all other Acts and Ordinances made in the seyd Parliament â—â—then been good and sufficient ayenst all other Persons To the fourth That such seyeing of the King Henry the Fourth may in noe wise be true and that the contrary thereof which is trouth shall be largely enough shewed approved and justified by sufficient Autorite and matter of Record and over that his seyd seying was onely to shadowe and cover fraudulently his seyd unrightwyse and violent Vsurpation and by that moyen to abuse disceyveably the People standing about him Upon consideration of this Answer and Claim of the Duke of York it was concluded and agreed by all the Lords That his Title could not be DEFETED and therefore for eschuying the great Inconvenients that may ensue a mean was found to save the Kings Honor and Estate and to appease the said Due IF HE WOULD which was That the King should enjoye the Corone during Life the Duke to be declared the true Heir and to possess it after his Death c. In the first Article of this Agreement or Accord as 't is there called the Title of the Duke of York is set forth and the Judgment of the Parliament given what then was and before had been the Foundation and ground of the Succession to the Crown of England tint is Proximity of Blood The Articles follow so much of them as is pertinent to this matter First Where the seyd Richard Due of Yorke hath declared and opened as above his seyd Title and Cleyme in manner as followeth That the right noble and worthy Prince Herry King of Englond the Third had Issue and leefully gate Edward his first-begotten Son born at Westminster the xv Kalend of Juyle in the Vigil of St. Mart. Marcellian the Yere of our Lord M.CC. XXXIX and Edmund his second goten Son which was born on Seint Marcell day the Yere of our Lord M. CC. XLV The which Edward after the death of the seyd King Herry his Fader entituled and called King Edward the First had Issue Edward his first-begoten Son entituled and called after the decease of the seyd first Edward his Fader King Edward the Second which had Issue and leefully gate the ryght Noble and Honourable Prynce Edward the Third true and undoubted King of Englond and of France and Lord of Ireland Which Edward the Third true and undoubted King of Englond and of France and Lord of Irelond had Issue and leefully gate Edward his first begotten Son Prynce of Wales William Hatfield second begotten Leonell third-begoten Duc of Clarence John of Gaunt fourth-begotten Duc of Lancaster Edmund Langley fifth begoten Duc of Yorke Thomas Woodstock sixth-begoten Duc of Gloucester and William Wyndesore the seventh-begotten The seyd Edward Prynce of Wales which dyed in the lyfe of the seyd Edward King had Issue and leefully gate Richard the which succeeded the same Edward King his Grandfather in Royal Dignity entituled and called king Richard the Second and dyed without Issue William Hatfield the second-goten Son of the seyd Edward King dyed without Issue Leonell the third-goten Son of the same king Edward had Issue and leefully gate Philippa his oonly Daughter and Heir which by the Sacrament of Matrymony copled unto
A True and Exact HISTORY OF THE SUCCESSION OF THE CROWN OF ENGLAND Collected out of Records and the best Historians Written for the Information of such as have been deluded and seduced by the Pamphlet called The Brief History of the Succession c. pretended to have been written for the Satisfaction of the Earl of H. LONDON Printed for Cave Pulleyn in the Year MDCLXXXI A True and Exact History of the SVCCESSION of the CROWN of ENGLAND IN the Year 1594. Parsons the Jesuit or as Mr. Camden says He Cardinal Allen and Sir Francis Inglefield under the name of R. Doleman wrote a Book entituled A Conference about the next Succession to the Crown of England divided into two Parts The first pretended to have been the Discourse of a Civil Lawyer concerning Succession by Proximity of Blood in general contains for the most part in nine Chapters the very Principles of Sedition and Rebellion proved and maintained as is there also pretended by Examples and Texts of Holy Scripture Examples in France Spain Germany England and other Nations The English Examples and Instances generally are partially cited or mis-applied or not fully understood by the Author and are matter of fact only The Second Part is there said to be the Speech of a Temporal Lawyer about the particular Titles of all such as might pretend within England or without to the next Succession after Queen Elizabeth which according to his Account were ten or eleven yet this Author says if any body will believe him That this Treatise was wrote out of singular Affection and Devotion to that excellent Princess and with special care of her Safety It was dedicated to the Earl of Essex with design after the Queen of Scots was taken off to baffle the Title of King James who was her immediate Heir and either to fix it upon the Earl for whom he had made a Title or to promote a Contention between the King and him about it while by some means or other which was their main intention the Infanta of Spain by a far-fetch'd Title might obtain the Kingdom and thereby advance their own Purposes and Religion How justly this Book is censured by the Judicious Camden and branded with Perfidiousness and Design to delude and abuse the People raise Tumults and Seditions the Reader may see in the places cited in the Margin In the Year 1648. as a Preparative to the Deposition and Murther of King Charles the First there was published a Pamphlet and printed at London by Robert Ibbitson under the Title of Several Speeches delivered at a Conference concerning the Power of Parliaments to proceed against their King for Mis-Government And the Heads in the Title Page upon which these Speeches are pretended to be made are in number nine and the very same verbatim with the Titles of Doleman's nine Chapters in his first Part of the Conference touching the Succession to the Crown and the Matter and words of the Speeches themselves almost in all things are the very same except the Transitions Connexions and some few not material passages which are left out From these Conferences of Doleman which by crafty Men were published by Retail in several Pamphlets Speeches Declarations pernicious Deductions c. and from the nine Speeches last mentioned all the Factions in the late times of Rebellion were furnished with Arguments Reasons Examples and Pretences for their Seditious Practices And the Suggestions of the Act for the Tryal of King Charles the First and the Materials of the long Speech Bradshaw made to declare the Grounds of the Sentence and aggravate the things laid to his charge by mis-applying both Law and History were borrowed from these Books as likewise was much of the most seditious part of Milton's Book entituled The Defence for the People of England Also in the Year 1655. at London was printed an Abstract of Parsons his Book containing the Substance and often the Words of it The Chapters being divided into several short Sections with Titles to each of them this bears the name of a Treatise concerning the broken Succession of the Crown of England To what end it was at that time published I cannot guess unless to set up a Foreign Title or make way for Oliver Cromwell's Kingship And how lately there hath come forth a Pamphlet under the name of A Brief History of the Succession collected out of the Records and most Authentick Historians for the Satisfaction of the Earl of H. Much or the Materials of this Pamphlet and most of the History contained in it concerning the Succession are taken out of the Jesuit's Book the Speeches and Abstract before mentioned but this Author's industry leads him further than Polydor Virgil who is mostly cited by his three Predecessors and sometimes Stowe and Hollinshead And for the making his Work more plausible and passable and more readily to be received by his ordinary Readers he takes very little notice of Polydor who pointed him to his Authors and Places but cites William of Malmsbury Henry of Pluntington Simeon Dunelm Ailredus Abbas Rievallensis Brompton and others ancient Writers in his Saxon Instances especially whose Words if faithfully cited would have been of no use to him for often in the middle of the Sentences and of Records he hath cited he hath left out such Words and Matters as would have ruined the Design or his History A Paralel of his Words with the true Words of the Authors from whence he had them will be given at the latter end of this Treatise Hence we proceed to the Succession by a true History whereof Men will be able to judg what was the Government and how the Crown hath Hereditarily discended for many Ages in this Nation And though History is so deficient and the many Rencòuntèrs and Invasions of one another's Territories and Bickerings between the petty Kings and Governors of the Saxons in the time of the Heptarchy the Succession cannot be well made out yet though not in all we may be able to make out a Succession in the greatest and most Illustrious Kingdom of them which was that of the West-Saxions The Saxon Succession Egbert who is commonly said to be the first Saxon Monarch though he brought not the whole Heptarchy under his Power and Government succeeded Brihtric King of the West-Saxons The Words of the Saxon Chronicle are these only BEORHTRIC CYNING FORTHFERD ECGRYHT FENG to WEST-SEAXNA RICE Which words the Translator thus renders Beorhtricus Rex Occidentalium obiit Egbryhtus Occidentalium Saxonum Regnum Capessit And Florence of Worcester who strictly follows this Chronicle says Rex Occidentalium Saxonum Brihtricus obiit Egbertus successit that is Brihtric died and Egbert King of the West-Saxons took the Kingdom or succeeded him Simeon Dunelmensis says Defuncto Rege glorioso Brihtrico Occidentalis regni suscepit post ipsius obitum Regnum Impertum Egbertus Rex qui ex regali illius gentis prosapia
exortus Diadema totius regni capiti imposuit William of Malmsbury is more particular in this matter and reports the Jealousie Brihtric had of Egbert Quem solum regalis prosapiae superstitem validissimum suis utilitatibus obicem metuebat Franciam fugandum curavit Who only of the Royal Line was left and the greatest Cheek to his Design he caused to fly into France Nam ipse Brihtricus caeteri infra Inam Reges licet naturalium splendore gloriantes quippe qui de Cerdicio originem traherent non purum tamen linea regiae stirpis exorbitaverant For though Brihtric himself and the rest of the Kings since Ina boasting of their Lineage as drawing their Origin from Cerdic yet they did not a little exorbitate from the true Royal Line The Pedigree of Egbert Egbertus fuit filius Ealmundi Ealmundus Eafae Eafa Eoppae Eoppa fuit filius Ingildi Egbert was the Son of Ealmund Ealmund of Eafa Eafa of Eoppa Eoppa of Ingild the only Brother of Ina King of the West-Saxons who left his Kingdom went to Rome lived a Monastick Life and died Childless Ethelwolfe succeeded his Father Egbert in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons and he gave to his other Son Aethelstan his Conquests Kent East-Sex Surrey and Sussex of which he made him King Malmsbury saith thus Ethelwolphus West-Saxonum regno contentus caetera quae pater subjugaverat Appendicia Aethelstano filio contradidit qui quanto que fine defecerit incertum Ethelwolph by Will divided his Kingdom between his Sons Ethelbald and Ethelbert To Ethelbald he gave West-Saxony to the other Kent c. and by Will gave the Kingdom of West-Saxony to his Sons Ethelred and Elfred after Ethelbald's Death Successively Ethelbald lived but five Years when Ethelbert possessed the whole Kingdom Vt justum èrat says Asser Florence of Worcester and Simeon Dunelmensis Ethelred third Son to Ethelwolph and Brother to Ethelbert succeeded him in his Father's Kingdom who Reigned five or six Years Alfred fourth and youngest Son of Ethelwolph succeeded his Brother Ethelred Fratribus suis Sccundarius fuit He was a Coadjutor or Assistant to his other Brothers Asser fol. 7. 50. To whom succeeded his Son Edward called the Elder To him succeeded his Son Ethelstan EADWEARD CYNG FORTH FERD and AETHELSTAN his SUNN FENG to RICE King Edward died Ejusque filius Aethelstanus capescit regnum And his Son Aethelstan succeeded in the Kingdom These being the usual Saxon and Latin Words by which the Succession is expressed Florence of Worcester and Simeon of Durham both say Rex Edwardus Sen. ex hac vita transiens Aethelstano filio regni gubernacula reliquit King Edward the Elder dying left the Government of the Kingdom to his Son Aethelstan Malmsbury says thus in the History of Edward the Elder Jussu Patris in Testamento Aethelstanus in Regem acclamatus est By the Command of his Father in his Will Aethelstan was proclaimed King By some Aethelstan is affirmed to be a Bastard from the report of William of Malmsbury in the Book and Chapters last cited Who tells us that one Alfred a Man of great Insolence and his Faction opposed Aethelstan upon pretence he was a Bastard Occasio contradictionis ut serunt says the Historian quod Aethelstanus ex Concubina natus csset The occasion of Contradiction was that Aethelstan was born of a Concubine as was reported Sed ipse praeter hanc notam si tamen vera est nihil ignobile habens But he had no other Mark of Ill upon him but this if it were true And telling the story how King Edward the Elder as it was reported stole a Leap with a Shepherd's Daughter by the help of his sometimes Nurse of whom it is fabled he begat Aethelstan he says he had it from trite Tales and Songs and that he related it not to defend the truth of it but because he would keep nothing from his Readers Nor indeed is the story credible for the same Author in the same Chapter reports that his Grandfather famous King Alfred in his Life-time wished him a prosperous Reign embracing him as a Child of great Hope and excellent Behaviour and Knighted him in his Childhood putting on him a Scarlet Cloak and girding him with a Belt set with Gems and a Saxon Sword in a Golden Scabbard This so wise and great a King as Alfred was would never have said and done to a Bastard Edmund his Brother succeeded Aethelstan in the Kingdom After him Edred third Brother to Aethelstan succeeded in the Kingdom and was consecrated King by Odo Arch Bishop of Canterbury This was done in the Nonage of King Edmund's Sons when they were very young and the Nation under great difficulties The Saxon Chronology says EADRED AETHELING his Brother FENG to RICE regnum â—apessit Florence of Worcester Edredus proximus haeres fratris succedens regnum suscepit Malmsbury Edredus tertius e filiis Edwardi regnum suscepit Simeon Dunelmensis Edredus frater Edmundi in regnum successit Edwy the Son of Edmund succeeded his Uncle Edred He banished Dunstan turned out Monks and placed Secular Priests in Monasteries and was so displeasing to the Mercians and Northumbrians that they rejected him and chose his Brother Edgar who also succeeded Edwy in the Kingdom of the West-Saxons Eadwigus Rex Kal. Octobris obiit and Edgar his Brother FENG to RICE Edwy died on the First of October and Edgar his Brother took the Kingdom Flor Wigorn. Abomni Anglorum populo Electus regnum suscepit Malmsbury Edgarus adolescentulus se decem annorum regnum adipiscit Edward his Son called the Martyr succeeded him filiumque suum Edwardum regnt morum haeredem reliquit And left his Son Edward Heir as well of the Kingdom as of his Vertues and Endowments But there happening a Contest between him and this Brother about the Succession Quidam Regis silium Edwardum quidam illius fratrem eligerunt Ethelredum quam ob causam Archipresules Dunstanus Oswaldus cum Co-episcopis Abbatibus â—ucâ—busque quamplurimis in unum convenerunt Edwardum ut pater eius praeceperat eligerunt Electum consecrarunt in Regem unxerunt Some elected Edward the King's Son some his Brother Ethelred wherefore the Arch-Bishops Dunstan and Oswald with the Bishops Abbots and very many Noble-Men being gathered together elected Edward as his Father had commanded consecrated and anointed him King This Contest was managed and set on foot by Elfrida second Wife to Edgar and Mother in Law to Edward Who by her Contrivance being murthered was succeeded by his Brother Ethelred FENG ETHELRED AETHELING his BROTHER to RICE and Ethelred Aetheling his Brother enjoyed or possessed the Kingdom The Danes ever since the beginning of King Egbert having by continued Invasions harassed and grievously wasted and molested England in the Reign
commanded that King Edward's Laws should be observed with such Amendments as his Father had amended them And further says that very many great Men sent for Duke Robert over and promised him the Crown and Kingdom and coming they did some of them adhere to him and others dissembling their Kindness and Affection stayed with King William until they had an opportunity of shewing it But the Bishops the Common Soldiers and English stuck close to King Henry by whose means he raised a very great Army and were ready to fight for him when they came to an Agreement by the Mediation of the wise Men of both Parties Eadmer tells us that most of the great Men either did or were ready to revolt from King Henry but Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who had given him great Assistance in raising his Army upon great Promises made that all the Church-Affairs should be left to his direction and disposing and that he would for ever after obey the Decrees and Commands of the Pope procured the great Men to assemble and then so wheedled and cajoled them and their Army that he altered theit Intentions And it was from his Fidelity and Industry that Henry lost not the Kingdom This King Henry was a plain right down Usurper he had no pretence of Donation no Testamentary Right from his Father and therefore as Malmsbury shews us more particularly he was advanced by a Faction there being only five great Men Robert Fitz-Haymon Richard de Redvers Roger Bigot Henry Earl of Warwick and Robert Earl of Mellent his Brother all Normans that favoured him and by the contrivance of Henry Earl of Warwick he was elected King All others sent privately to Duke Robert to come and be their King or openly reproached Henry This was an excellent Election made by a Faction and an Army and perhaps with a bawling multitude after them and indeed there could be no other Election than such an one as this for Rufus was slain in New Forest on the 2d of August being Thursday and Henry was Crowned on the 5th of August being Sunday So that it was impossible for all that were or ought to be concerned in such an Election all the Kingdom over to have notice meet and dispatch that Business in two days time These Historians lived at the very time these things were done It is true he says in his own Charter That he was Crowned King by the Common Council of the Barons of England Sciatis me misericordia Dei Communi Concilio Baronum Regni Angliae ejusdem Regni Regem Coronatum esse And he must say this or nothing for no other Pretence or Title he could have and there never was any other Usurper in his Circumstances but must say so or some other thing to make out a Title King Stephen in his Charter of Liberties says He was elected A Clero Populo King John in his Charter of Fees of the Seal affirmed himself right Heir to the Crown when Arthur Duke of Britain and his Sister Eleanor Son and Daughter to his Elder Brother Jeffrey were then living and they were both vain Affirmations as will appear in their several stories Some later Historians than these as Matthew Paris who wrote above an hundred Years after them Mat. Westminster and Hen. de Knighton and Brompton who wrote at least two hundred and fifty Years after them all say he was elected But only Knighton amongst them all tells us the most considerable reason why Robert his elder Brother was rejected Robertus says he semper contrarius adeo innaturalis extiterat Baronibus Regni Angliae quod plenario consensu consilio totius Communitatis Regni IMPOSUERUNT EI ILLEGITIMITATEM QUOD NON FUERAT PROCREATUS DE LEGITIMO THORO WILLIELMI CONQUESTORIS UNDE UNANIMI assensu suo ipsum refutaverunt pro rege omnino recusaverunt Hen. frem in Regem erexerunt Robert was always averse and so harsh to the Barons of England that they by full Consent and Advice voted him Illegitimate because he was not begotten lawfully by William the Conqueror and for that reason by unanimous Assent they refused him and set up Henry his Brother to be their King From this Passage of Knighton we see the Community or Baronage of all England fixed the Right of Succession in the Legitimate Right of Blood and therefore this King his two elder Brothers being dead without Issue desired to secure the Succession unto his Lawful Issue by Right of Blood To that end all Freemen of England and Normandy of what Order and Dignity soever and of whatsoever Lord they held or were Fendataries to were forced to do Homage and swear Fealty to his Son William then but twelve Years old And in the twenty seventh of his Reign he caused all the great Men of England after the death of his Sons William and Richard to recognize Maud the Empress his Daughter Queen to whom the only Lawful Succession was due from her Grandfather Uncle and Father that were Kings and from her Mother many Generations In the thirty first of King Henry he and his Daughter coming into England at a great Meeting of the Nobility or Parliament at Northampton those which before had sworn Fealty renewed their Oaths to her and those which had not done it before then did it Paris tells us that the Clergy and Great or Noble Men made Conditions with Henry who promised them what is before related and in that gave them satisfaction But as all Usurpers ever did so he changed his Mind and his Canting Speech had no other effects than to enslave them for with a seared and cahterized Conscience he had obtained the Kingdom and usurped upon his Brother Robert who had manifest Right impudently violating the Laws and Promises by which he had drawn in all Men to serve him and afterward taking him Prisoner caused his Eyes to be pulled out and kept him in Prison twenty four Years until he died King Henry having thus provided for the Security of his Daughter Maud being asked in his Sickness by Robert Duke of Gloucester and the Noble Men that then were with him about a Successor Filiae omnem terram suam citra ultra mate Legitima perenni successione adjucavit Adjudged his Daughter his Lawful Successor in all his Territories Radulphus de Diceto Dean of Saint Paul's who died Anno Dom. 1210. says that Hath Bigot Steward of the King's Houshold made speed out of Normandy where the King died into England and made Oath before the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that King Henry upon his Death-bed upon some differences which happened between him and his Daughter the Empress did dis-inherit her and made Stephen Earl of Boloign his Heir Whereupon William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury giving too much credit to the words of the Steward consecratcd Stephen Earl of Mortaigne King at Westminster If this story
was impeached in Parliament for divers Felonies and Treasons for assuming to himself Royal Power making Dissention between King Edward the Second and his Queen and for murdering of him and many other great Treasons and adjudged to be Drawn and Hanged and was executed accordingly And the Earl Marshal was commanded to do the Execution and the Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs of London and Constable of the Tower to guard and assist him Many of his Accomplices had the same Judgment In the Fiftieth of Edward the Third the Parliament do acknowledge Richard the Second to be very Heir to the Crown as Son to Edward the Black Prince very Heir to the Crown and petition the King his Father being dead to make him Prince of Wales Who after his Grandfather's death was immediately by all people the Londoners especially acknowledged owned and addressed to as King and not long after Crowned with great Solemnity He lived continually in Tumults and by his Great Uncles his Reign was made uneasie and at length was deposed and murdered by a Potent Faction The Author of the Brief History of Succession fol. 7. recommends to his Readers the thirty three Articles drawn up against Richard the Second as well deserving to be read with hope and design as easily may be guessed to make them believe and think he was justly deposed and murdered But Mr. Hollingshed a moderate Writer who hath truly related these Articles and all the Transactions of his Deposition and Murder tells us y that whatsoever Writers do report touching the state of the time and doings of this King yet if he might boldly speak what he thought He was a Prince the most unthankfully used of his Subjects of any one of whom ye shall lightly read For although through Frailty of Youth he demeaned himself more dissolutely than seemed convenient for his Royal Estate and made choice of such Counsellors as were not favoured of the People whereby he was the less favoured himself Yet in no King's days were the Commons in greater Wealth if they could have perceived their happy State Neither in any other time were the Nobles and Gentlemen more cherished nor Church-men less wronged But such was their Ingratitude towards their bountiful and loving Sovereign that those whom he had chiefly advanced were readiest to control him for that they might not rule all things at their Will and remove from him such as they misliked and place in their rooms whom they thought good and that rather by strong Hand than by gentle and courteous means Which stirred such malice betwixt him and them The chief Instruments in deposing this King were Henry Duke of Lancaster late Earl of Derby and Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who assisted by others reduced the unfortunate King to so great Straits as he was weary of his Government They having him in their power kept him safe in the Tower of London until a Parliament was called which was suddainly done by directing Writs in the King's Name to those who of Right ought to be there All things were prepared for the Resignation of his Crown against the time of the meeting of the Parliament He was by certain Commissioners appointed by it deposed or had rather a Resignation of the Crown extorted from him though he seemed willing and forward to do it And then the Duke of Lancaster claimed the Crown in Parliament and challenged the Realm AL 's DESCENDIT BE RYGHT LYNE OF THE BLODE COMEYNGE FRO THE GUDE LORD HENRY THERDE Postquam quidem vindicationem clameum tam Domini Spirituales quam Temporales omnes status ibidem praesentes singillatim communiter interrogati quid de illa vindicatione clameo sentiebant Iidem status cum toto populo absque quacunque difficultate vel mora ut Dux praefatus super eos regnaret unanimitur consenserunt After which Claim and Challenge as well the Lords Spiritual as Temporal and all States there present being severally asked what they thought of that Challenge and Claim the same States with all the People without difficulty or delay consented the aforesaid Duke should reign over him And then shewing to the States the Signet of King Richard which he gave him as token of his desire to have him succeed him The Arch-Bishop taking him by the Right Hand placed him in the Throne Here we see the Foundation of the Parliament's Consent that Henry should be King was a pretended Right of Blood and the desire of King Richard that it might be so Henry the Fourth was Son to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster fourth Son to Edward the Third by Blanch his Wife Daughter and Heir of Henry Duke of Lancaster Son of Henry Earl of Lancaster Brother and Heir to Thomas Earl of Lancaster eldest Son to Edmund called Crouch-Back the First Earl of Lancaster Second Son to King Henry the Third Upon Consideration had of this Title it was conceived to be insufficient and that it would pass for a Blind and Pretence only And therefore king Henry upon the day of his Coronation caused to be proclaimed That he claimed the Kingdom of England First By Right of Conquest Secondly Because King Richard had resigned his Estate and designed him for his Successor And Lastly Because he was of the Blood-Royal and NEXT HEIR MALE UNTO KING RICHARD In this Claim he takes no notice of any Election by the People nor doth own the least Right in them to elect him but founds his Title upon Conquest and Proximity of Male-Blood and Donation of Richard the Second Henry the Fourth Fifth and Sixth held the Crown by Vsurpation without much disturbance until the thirty ninth Year of Henry the Sixth when Richard Duke of York put in his Claim as Hein to Philippa Daughter and Heir to Lionel the third gotten Son of King Edward the Third to whom the Right Title Dignity Royal and Estate o the Crowns of the Realms of England and of France and of the Lordship and Land of Ireland of Right and Law and Custom appertaineth and belongeth before any Issue of John of Gaunt the fourth gotten Son of the same King Edward The Lords Spiritual and Temporal the Question being put what they thought of the Duke's Claim answer that The Matier was so high and of such wyght that it was not to any of the King's Subjects to enter into Communication thereof without his high Commandment Agreement and Consent had thereto The Duke pressing for an Answer all the Lords went unto the King and opened the Claim by the Mouth of the Chancellor of England and it pleased him to pray and command all the said Lords that they should search as much as in them was to find all such things as might be object and leyde against the Cleym and Title of the Due Whereupon in the Morning October 18. the Lords sent for the King's Justices to defend his Title against the Claim of
his Kingdom who in all Extravagant Acts concerning his Queens and the Succession ever founded it in pretended legal Proximity of Blood and Lawful next Heirs of Blood according to the due course of inheritance the pretended want of which was the only suggestion for passing these Acts. In the Twenty fifth of Henry the Eighth there was an Act for the Succession the preamble this In their most humble wyse shewen unto your Majesty your most humble and obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament c. That since it is the natural inclination of every man to provide for the suerty both of his Title and Succession although it touch his only private Cause we therefore reckon our selves much more bounden to beseech and instant your I lighness to forsee and provide for the perfect suerty of both you and your lawful Succession and Heirs upon which dependeth all our joy and wealth in whom also is united and knit the only meer TRUE INHERITANCE and TITLE of this Realm without any contradiction And then mentions that certain divisions arose upon ambiguities and doubts not perfectly declared from froward intents to expound them contrary to the right legalty of the Lawful Succession and posterity of the lawful Kings and Emperours of this Land After this confirming the Divorce of Queen Katherine as also the King's Marriage with Anne Boleyn the Parliament entayles the Crown upon him and his Heirs Male by her and for want of such Issue upon Elizabeth their eldest Daughter and their Heirs Females according to the due course of Inheritance From whence it appears that the Succession was founded upon inheritance and the design of the Act was that Henry the eighth might have Lawful Issue to inherit the Crown that so all Ambiguities and Doubts about the Succession might be taken off And all the Kings Subjects were bound under pain of misprision of Treason to swear to observe the Contents of this Act. The Act for Succession 28 Hen. 8. c. 7. affirms there were many Lawful impediments unknown at the making of the Act of Succession 25 Hen. 8. c. 22. which since that time were confessed by the Lady Anno before Themas Archbishop of Canterbury sitting Judicially for the same By reason of which impediments the Kings Marriage with her was never good nor consonant to the Lawes and therefore Q. Elizabeth was declared Illegitimate and it was declared Treason for any Man to judge or believe the Marriage between the King and the Lady Katherine or Anne to be good lawful or of any effect It was also in this Act declared Treason for any one to take accept name or call any of the Children born and procreate under those unlawful Marriages legitimate or lawful Children of the King And therefore the Crown was settled upon the King and his Heirs Males by his Lawful Queen Jane and for want of such Issue by her upon his Heirs Males by any other Lawsul Wife and for want of Heirs Males upon his Heirs Females by Queen Jane or any other Lawful wise And for lack of Lawful Heirs of his Body to be procreated and begotten as is limitted by this Act to such person and persons in Possession and Remainder as should please the King and according to such Estate and after such manner form fashion order and condition as shall be expressed declared named and limitted by his Letters Parents or by his last Will. And then follows And we your most humble and obedient Subjects do faithfully promise to your Majesty by one Common Assent That after your decease and for lack of Heirs of your Body lawfully begotten as is afore rehearsed We our Heirs and Successors shall accept and take love dread serve and alonely obey such Person and Persons Males or Females as your Majesty shall give your said Imperial Crown unto by authority of this Act and to none other and wholly to stick to them as true and faithful subjects ought to do to their Regal Rulers Governours and supream Heads To provide for Lawful Heirs was the pretended Ground of this Act of succession not to exclude them and to give the King a strange unheard of Power to dispose of the crown c. The Thirty fifth of Henry the Eighth cap. 1. recites how the Crown was entailed 28. Hen. 8. and what Power was given to him to dispose of the Crown To the intent therefore that His Majesty's disposition and mind therein might be openly declared and manifestly known His Majesty designing a Voyage beyond Sea it was enacted by his Highness with the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled and by Authority of the same That in case it should happen the King's Majesty and Prince Edward Heir Apparent to die without Issue of their Bodies lawfully begotten so as there be no Heirs Male or Female of either of their Bodies to have and inherit the said Imperial Crown that then it should be to his Daughter Mary and her Heirs lawfully to be begotten under such Conditions as should be limited by the King's Letters Patents or his last Will And for default of Issue to his Daughter Elizabeth upon the same Conditions But if no Conditions were appointed then the Succession to each of them one after another abosolutely And for want of Heirs by his Queen Katherine his Lawful Wife and for want of Lawful Issue or Prince Edward his Daughters Mary and Elizabeth then the King to dispose of the Crown at his only pleasure from time to time All these Acts of Succession were made by the King's Sollicitation Authority Command or other Procurement and were not other wife moved contrived or offered to him In the First of Queen Mary there is an Act declaring the Queen's Highness to have been born in most just and faithful Matrimony and also repealing all Acts of Parliaments and Sentence of Divorce made or had to the contrary The intention of this Act was to declare the Succession to be in Inheritance by Right of Blood In the First of Elizabeth the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do declare and confess th t Queen Elizabeth and in very deed and of most meer Right ought to be by the Laws of God and the Laws and Statutes of this Realm their most rightful and lawful Sovereign Queen And that she was rightly and lineally and lawfully descended and come of the Blood-Royal of this Realm of England in and to whose Princely Person and the Heirs of her Body lawfully begotten after her without all Doubt Ambiguity Scruple or Question The Imperial Crown and Dignity of this Realm was rally and entirely vested In this Law whether it were true or not in her the right lineal and lawful Descent of Queen Elizabeth was the Ground upon which she was declared to be by God's Laws and the Laws and Statutes of this Realm most rightful and lawful Queen And whatever she
King of Spain Duke of Guise in France Duke D'Alva in the Netherlands the Fugitive English c. abroad And at home frequent Conspiracies to deliver the Queen of Scots out of Prison Attempts upon the Queen's Person the Rebellion in the North by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland the Match of the Duke of Norfolk with the Queen of Scots her Usurpation of the Crown of England with the Title and Arms thereof and the Bull of Pope Pius the Fifth by which he declared her a Heretick c. and impiously and without any Authority other than Papal Tyranny deprived her of her Title Dominions and Kingdoms and absolved all her Subjects from their Obedience and Allegiance All these but more particularly the Pope's Bull and the Conspiracy of Norfolk created much trouble in the mind of Queen Elizabeth And she sent to the Queen of Scots Cecyl and Sir Walter Mildmay to consult with her by what means most conveniently the Dissentions of Scotland might be compounded her self restored and Queen Elizabeth and her young Son safe and secure Amongst the Propositions made to obtain these ends these were two That the Queen of Scots should renounce her Title and Claim as long as Queen Elizabeth and the Children lawfully born of her Body should live That if the Queen of Scots should attempt any thing by her self or any other against Queen Elizabeth she should ipso facto forfeit all her Right and Title she claimed to England To which the Deputies of the Queen of Scots Lieutenants answered That the Title should be renounced as long as Queen Elizabeth lived And That the Queen of Scots should be excluded from all Right of Succession in England if she attempted any thing against the Queen of England ' s Right so as if the Queen of England would be likewise bound in some equivalent Penalty if she should attempt any thing against the Queen of Scots There was no Agreement upon these and other Propositions then made because the Scots-Deputies thought thorn too hard and severe and not to be assented unto without the greatest Inconveniencies imaginable And thence followed new Designs and Contrivances for the Relief of the Queen of Scots c. The Marriage of the Duke of Norfolk with the Queen of Scots was first propounded by her great Enemy the Regent Murray and afterwards carried on by the Earls of Arundel Northumberland Westmerland Sussex Pembroke and Southampton with many Barons and by the Earl of Leicester himself who with his own hand drew up Articles which he sent to the Queen of Scots in number six two whereof were That she should do nothing which might be prejudicial to the Queen of England or to the Children born of her in the Succession of the Kingdom of England That she should revoke her Assignment of the Kingdom of England to the Duke of Anjou The occasion of this Article was that Murray had reported that the Queen of Scots had made over her Title to England to the Duke of Anjou and that her Conveyance was confirmed at Rome which the Queen utterly denied And it was afterwards discovered to be an invention of Murray's to alienate Queen Elizabeths mind from her To obviate all these Mischiefs and Designs The Queen and her private Ministers the Earl of Leicester Lord Burleigh and Sir Francis Walsingham thought fit to improve the insinuation and Overture of a Match made by the Queen Mother of France but not very vigorously pursued untill the Year 1571. 13 Eliz. and in the time of the Sitting of the Parliament of that Year though 't was not in that Assembly or their Journals taken notice of it being secretly managed by order of the Queen by her two then great Confidents the Earl of Leycester and the Lord Burleigh by the Mediation of Sir Francis Walsingham then Embassador in France Whether Leycester meant honestly and seriously in this Affair I cannot determine he made great Professions that he did the then Posture of Affairs being represented to him by Walsingham in a Letter dated from Paris May 14. 1571. in these Words MY very good Lord The Protestants here do so earnestly desire this Match and on the other side the Papists do so earnestly seek to impeach the same as it maketh me the more earnest in furthering of the same Besides when I particularly consider her Majesties Estate both at home and abroad so far forth as my poor Eye-sight can discern and how she is beset with Forreign Peril the Execution whereof stayeth only upon the Event of this Match I do not see how she can stand if this Matter break off No particular Respect as God is my Witness moveth me to write thus earnestly but only the Regard I have to God's Glory and Her Majesties Safety Your Lordships to command Fr. Walsingham How necessary this Match was at this time for the safety of the Queen and Nation we have the Opinion of this great Statesman and Minister with whom Leycester and Burleigh concurred in Opinion as appears by their several Letters relating to these Transactions And since the French in the Sixth Article delivered in by the French Ambassador the Thirteenth of April 1571. propounded the Succession to be secured to the Issue of this Marriage according to the Laws and Customs of the Realms to which Queen Elizabeth according to the common Opinion of the Understanding Men of those Times not having Right by Inheritance or Proximity of Blood might think by this Act of Parliament that in effect doth grant the general Surmise to make good her Title and by this way and means to notifie it to be according to the Laws and Customs of the Realm For the Duke of Anjou could not but have notice of the pretended Defectiveness of her Claim though not mentioned in the Treaty and therefore this might haply be done as much as could be to meet with and satisfie that Objection if it should be made and that this might be a private though none of the great Considerations of procuring and passing this Act. He that will but observe these Particulars of History and will take the pains to compare them with this Act may easily perceive it was made as a Provision against such things pretences and attempts for the future during Queen Elizabeths Reign as had then been done used and practised it being then doubted whether the Laws and Statutes of this Realm then in force were sufficient for the Preservation of the Queens Person The Title of the Act is An Act whereby certain Offences are made Treason And the Bill in the Commons Journal was called A Bill for Treasons The Preamble upon the Parliament-Roll is Forasmuch as it is of some doubted whether the Laws and Statutes of this Realm remaining at this present in force are vailable and sufficient enough for the Surety and Preservation of the Queens most Royal Person in whom consisteth all the Happiness and Comfort of the whole
State and Subjects of the Realm which thing all dutiful faithful and loving Subjects ought and will with all careful Study and Zeal consider foresee and provide for By the neglecting and passing over whereof with winking Eyes there might happen to grow the Subversion and Ruine of the Quiet and most happy State and present Government of this Realm which God defend Therefore it was Enacted Declared and Established That if any Person or Persons whatsoever within the Realm or without should compass imagine invent devise or intend the Death or Destruction or any Bodily harm tending to Death Destruction Maym or Wounding of the Person of Queen Elizabeth or to Deprive or Depose her of or from the Stile Honour or Kingly Name c. or to levy War against her Majestie within the Realm or without or to move or stir any Forreigners or Strangers with Force to Invade this Realm or if any Person of Persons whatsoever shall maliciously and advisedly declare and publish That Queen Elizabeth during her Life is not or ought not to be Queen of England c. or That any other Person or Persons ought of Right to be King or Queen of the said Realm or That shall maliciously and advisedly set forth and affirm That Queen Elizabeth is an Heretick Schismatick Tyrant Infidel or Vsurper That then all and every such said Offence and Offences shall be taken deemed and declared by the Authority of this Act and Parliament to be High Treason And be it also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and every Person and Persons of what Degree Condition Place Nation or Estate whatsoever they be which shall at any time in the Life of Queen Elizabeth in any wiâ—e claim pretendi utter declare affirm or publish themselves or any of them or any other than Queen Elizabeth to have Right or Title to have and enjoy the Crown of England during or in her Life-time or shall usurp the same Crown or Royal Style Title and Dignity during or in her Life-time or shall hold and affirm That she had not Right to hold and enjoy the said Crown or shall not after demand effectually acknowledge her to be in Right true and lawful Queen They and every of them so offending shall be utterly disabled during their Natural Lives onely to have or enjoy the Crown or Realm of England or the Style Title or Dignity thereof at any time in Succession Inheritance or otherwise after the Decease of the Queen as if such Person were naturally dead Any Law Custom Pretence or Matter whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further Enacted That if any Person shall during the Queens Majesties Life maintain hold and affirm any Right in Succession Inheritance or Possibility in or to the Crown or Realm of England or the Rights thereof to be in any such Claimer Pretender Vtterer Declarer Affirmer Vsurper Publisher or Not-acknowledger shall be a High Traytor and suffer and forfeit as in Cases of High Treason And for the Confirmation and making good what had in this Law been hitherto Enacted as much as might be it was further Enacted That if any Person should in any wise hold and affirm or maintain That the Common Laws of this Realm not altered by Parliament ought not to direct the Right of the Crown of England or That our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth with and by Authority of the Parliament of England is not able to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient force and validity to limit and bind the Crown of this Realm and the Descent Limitation Inheritance and Government thereof or That this present Statute or any part thereof or any other Statute to be made by the Authority of the Parliament of England with the Royal Assent of the Queen for Limitting of the Crown or any Statute for Recognizing the Right of the said Crown and Realm to be justly and lawfully in the most Royal Person of the Queen is not are not or shall not or ought not to be for ever of good and sufficient force and validity to bind limit restrain and govern all Persons their Rights and Titles that in any wise may or might claim any Interest or Possibility in or to the Crown of England in Possession Remainder Inheritance Succession or otherwise howsoever Every such Person so holding affirming or mainteining during the Life of the Queens Majesty shall be judged a High Traytor c. And every Person so holding affirming and mainteining after the Decease of the Queen shall forfeit all his Goods and Chattels This Statute was a peculiar Law made for the Preservation of Queen Elizabeths Person and Title and this last Enacting Clause and Paragraph was made to strengthen and confirm the former part of the Statute which was a Provision and Security against such Pretences and Practices as were ennumerated in the preceding Historical Account And if we consider how much if not altogether her Title to the Crown depended upon statute-Statute-Law and how Questionable her Birth-right was generally reputed to be no man can much wonder if for her own advantage and safety she attributed more to an Act of Parliament than otherwise she would have done She was necessitated to take this course to establish her self against the Pretences of the Queen of Scots when her Birth-right could not do it it being very doubtful whether she was Legitimate considering the Proceedings in the Divorce of Queen Katherine Marriage of her Mother and her Mothers Confession to Archbishop Cranmer when the Statute was made for the declaring the Marriage null and void between Henry the Eighth and Anne Bolein by which Statute she was also solemnly Bastardized And although Queen Elizabeth at the entrance upon her Government was acknowledged to be rightly lineally and lawfully Descended from the Blood Royal of this Realm which if true had been a sufficient Title She being then the only remaining Issue of Henry the Eighth yet her right was recognized as depending upon the Lawes and Statutes of the Realm and by express mention of and reference to the Thirty fifth of Henry the eighth by which Statute the Crown was settled upon her and the Heirs of her Body lawfully begotten in several places whereof she is by the King her Father implicitly reputed and declared illegitimate and the settlement in that Act is made to her as not being lawfully begotten or having right to inherit In the first of her Reign before cited when the Crown was declared to be vested in her and that Declaration and Recognition as also the Limitation and Declaration of the Succession of the Imperial Crown of this Realm mentioned and conteined in the Act of 35 Hen. 8. were to stand remain and be the Law of this Land for ever Which notwithstanding when Mary Queen of Scots had claimed the Crown by right of Inheritance and had spread abroad that Title unto it and also the Title of the House of Suffolk and other
Titles were whispered up and down the Act of 35 Hen. 8. or this Act of Recognition were not thought sufficient to secure the Queen Elizabeth Then was this Act in the Thirteenth of her Reign made meerly either to create or strengthen her Title and not to Exclude the Queen of Scots from the SUCCESSION unless she attempted any thing against her or laid Claim to the Crown which was also in its own nature a securing Clause to Queen Elizabeth But the great Clause of Security to Queen Elizabeth in this Act was that Clause by which it was made Treason for any man to affirm that she by Authority of Parliament could not make Lawes and Statutes to bind the Succession of the Crown or that this Act or other Lawes to be made by the Parliament of England by her Royal assent for limiting the Crown and recognizing the right to be lawfully and justly in her person is not are not or shall not or ought not to be for ever of good and sufficient force This Clause was levelled against the Opinion That the Queen of Scots had the best Title which began to spread and gain much credit as well amongst the Nobility as Commons By all which it is manifest this whole Act was but Temporary and therefore we may note with Pulton that it expired with Queen Elizabeth and it was no Act of Exclusion but a Law only to secure her Person and to make and confirm unto her a Title which without statute-Statute-Law was in it self at least doubtful And the new Clause which was added That it should be High Treason during her Life for any Person to affirm she by Authority of Parliament had not Power to bind the Crown and Succession thereof or That the Right of the Crown and Realm was not justly and lawfully in her Royal Person cannot affect the Title of a lawful Successor by Inheritance nor be brought or made use of as a Precedent to exclude him from the Succession But it may be said There is a great Forfeiture inflicted upon every Person holding and affirming after her Decease That Queen Elizabeth and a Parliament could not limit the Succession and fix the Crown upon her own Head This Clause could take no effect after her death and therefore was added to preserve her Memory from being defamed after her Death or slanderously charged with the hainous Crime of Vsurping the Crown which in must have been the inevitabble Consequence of affirming she and her Parliament could not limit the Succession For she valued much her Credit and Reputation and would seem to maintain still that he acted nothing against the Queen of Scots and therefore the Law is made in general Words against every Person or Persons whatsoever of what Degree Place Nation or Condition whatsoever that should affirm she was not in Right true and lawful Queen or that should claim the Crown c. In the Point of Succession she could never be brought expresly by Name to exclude the Queen of Scots or name any other Successor as is clear from these several Passages in Camden Dudley desirous by all means to oblige and obtain the Favour of the Queen of Scots accused the Lord Keeper Bacon to the Queen That he had intermedled against the Queen of Scots in the matter of Succession for which he lost the Queens Favour and was with much ado at last restored to it again by the Mediation of Cecil upon which our Author says Certainly the Queen never heard any thing more unwillingly than that the Right of Succession should be called in question or disputed The same Year Queen Elizabeth hearing of a Match like to be between the Queen of Scots and Henry Lord Darly to prevent it advertifed her by her Lieger Randolph That that Marriage was generally so dishked by all the English that she had Prorogued the Parliament to another time against the minds of her Council left the Estates of the Realm being incensed shou'd even for this cause Enact somewhat against her Right to the Succession Which that it might not be done afterwards she recommended Leycester unto her for a Husband whom chiefly for that Reason she had created Earl In the Year 1566 a Parliament was called to meet on the First of November They began to Debate roundly about the Succession and the Earls of Pembroke and Leycester and Duke of Norfolk thought that an Husband was to be imposed upon the Queen or a Successor publickly designed by Act of Parliament even against her will Whereupon they were excluded the Presence-Chambcr and denied Access to the Queen but they soon submitted themselves to her and obtained pardon Yet the Upper House did by the Lord Keeper Bacon advise move and pray her to Marry and to appoint a Successor if she or her Children should die without Issue But some in the Lower House handled these things more tumultuously Bell and Monson great Lawyers Dutton Paul Went worth and others who grated upon the Queens Authority too much and amongst other things maintained That Kings were bound to design a Successor At last they offered her far greater Subsidies than they were wont upon condition that she would design a certain Successor She absolutely refused that extraordinary Offer and accepted an ordinary Sum commending their Affection The last day of the Parliament she made a Speech and gave the busie Men a smooth Reprehension I find saith she that in this Parliament DISSIMVLATION hath walked up and down masked under the Vizor of LIBERTY and SVCCESSION Some of your Number there are that thought it LIBERTY to dispute of the SVCCESSION and that the Establishment of the same is absolutely to be granted or denied If I had granted it these Men had had their desire and had triumphed over me but if I had denied it they thought to have moved the Hatred of my People against me which my greatest Enemies could never yet do But their Wisdom was unseasonable and their Counsels over-hasty neither did they foresee the Event Yet hereby I easily perceived who inclined toward me and who were averse unto me c. Upon this Speech Camden makes this Remarque Thus a Woman's Wisdom suppressed these Commotions every day so qualified them shining clearer and clearer that very few besides such as were seditious and fearful were troubled about a Successor And certainly most men whatever they pretend have no more sense of Publick Matters than what concerns their own Private To these Testimonies of the Queens aversion to pass a Bill of Exclusion of the Q. of Scots may be added a very clear and convincing one out of the Journal of the House of Commons in the Fourteenth of her Reign after the passing this Act which is said so much to favour a Bill of Exclusion Mr. Treasurer of the Houshold Sir Francis Knolles from the Queen advised the House of Commons to go forwards against the Queen of Scots with a second Bill