same day landed at Calais some overtures of aâ— accommodation were made him from France before he took Shipping but he was no sooner arrived at Calais but the calm Winds of Peace began to blow for he found Maximilian was unprovided of the assistance promised for lack of Money which soon spread through the Army and upon the neck of this he received news also that Ferdinand and Isabel had made peace with Charles King of France upon his restoring unto them the Counties of Rousillion and Perpignan formerly mortgaged unto France by John King oâ— Arragon however October 15th he left Calais and directed his march towards Bulloigne where hâ— arrived in four days and so sat down before it 〈◊〉 the Siege continued for near a Month but without any memorable action or accident of War only Sir John Savage a valiant Commander was slain as he was riding about to view the Walls the Town was well fortified and had a good Garrison yet it was much distressed and ready for an assault which if it had been given 't was believed it would have been carried when the Commissioners appointed for that purpose concluded a Peace which was to continue for both the Kings lives wherein there was no Article of importance being in effect rather a bargain then a treaty as my Lord Bacon observes for all things remained as they were save that there should be paid to the King Seven Hundred Forty Five Thousand Duckats at present for his charges in that Expedition and Five and Twenty Thousand Crowns yearly for his expenses sustained in the aids of the Britons and besides this was left indefinitely when it should determine or expire which made the English esteem it as a tribute carried under fair terms and the truth is it was paid both to this King and to his Son King Henry VIII longer then it could continue upon aâ—y computation of charges but this Peace gave no great contentment to the Nobility and principal Officers of the Army who had many of them sold or engaged their Estates upon the â—opes of the War and they stuck not to say that the King cared not to plume his Nobility and â—nd People to feather himself and others made themselves merry with what the King had said in Parliament that after the War was once begun he doubted not to make it pay it self saying he had kept his Promise However Charles was by this peace assured of the Possession of Bretaign and free to prosecute his designs upon Naples which Kingdom he won though he lost it afterward in a kind of felicity of a Dream after he had passed â—he whole length of Italy without resistance so that it was true what Pope Alexander was wont to say That the Frenchmen came into Italy with Chalk in their hands to mark up their Lodgings rather then with Swords to Fight However Henry in the 11th year of his Reign upon this occasion entred into a League with the Italian Potentates for the defence of Italy He had many intestine broils and insurrections and his Reign is noted for Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck's impostures and no less remarkable for the immense treasure he left behind him a testimony of his avaritious nature and after above 23 years reign and having lived 52 he died April the 22d at his Palace of Richmond which himself had built Anno. 1508. The Causes of his Wars were partly for the relief of Bretaign partly on behalf of the Arch-Duke Maximilian and partly for the recovery of his own right in France HENRY VIII HEir to both Houses of York and Lancaster and the only surviving Son of Henry VII succeeded his Father at the Age of 18 and proved a Prince of great Vertues as well as Vices Towards the fourth year of his Reign the French King making war upon Pope Julius King Henry wrote him monitory Letters to desist as being his Friend and Confederate which letters being little regarded Henry sent to demand his Dutchies of Normandy Guien Anjou and Main and the Crown of France it self but this had the same effect with the former the French King continuing his war in Italy which provoked King Henry so that entring into Confederacy with the Emperor Maximilian Ferdinando King of Spain and other Potentates he determined by the advise of his Council to make War upon France and made preparations both by Sea and Land accordingly and in concert with Ferdinando sends over into Biscay an Army of 10000 Men all foot under the command of the Marquess of Dorset with a design to invade France on that side first for the recovery of the Dutchy of Aquitain but Ferdinand failing in the promises he had made of Horse Ordinance Carriages c. the English after they had waited from May till December for performance returned into England without any memorable action performed their number being considerably diminished through sickness Henry nothing discouraged hereat calls a Parliament who gave him a plentiful supply for carrying on the War wherefore with a Puissant Army wherein were many noble Persons and over which as Captain General was constituted the Earl of Shrewsbury under the King's Person he lands at Calais on the last day of June being the fifth Year of his Reign and the day following lands the Admiral of England at Whitsand Bay entred the Town and burnt it and then returned From Calais about the 21st of July the King marches in great state and good order of Battle towards Turwin where he arrives on the fourth of August and laies close siege to it the French attempting to impede his march but without success Seven daies after came the Emperor Maximilian whom the King received with great Triumph between Aire and the Camp where he enters into the King's Pay and as a Testimony thereof wore St. George's Cross with a Rose the Town made no extraordinary defence for notwithstanding the Garrison consisted of 4000 whereof were 600 good Horse yet they capitulated the 23d and marched away the day following but the King did not think fit to keep the place and therefore rased all the Works and burnt the Town removing first the Ordinance that was in it to Aire from hence he directs his march towards the City of Turnay and about the 21st of September sets down before it it was but weakly Garrisoned but full of Inhabitants and so on the 29th of the same Month was by Capitulation surrendred the Citizens which were to the number of 60000 swearing Allegiance to him Here Sir Edward Poinings was made Governour and of this City Wolsey then the Kings Almoner was made Bishop and so by the way of Calais Henry returns for England and on the 24th of October lands at Dover the Earl of Surrey during his absence having fought the Scots slain their King James IV. and defeated their whole Army The King's Arms thus prevailing by Land in France it self and against the Scots its confederates proved no less successful by Sea for Sir John Wallop
the Prince there was a contest who took him first and the King was desired to point at him so he pointed at Howel and said this is the Man who took me There are authentick Records in some Welsh Manuscripts that confirm this Moreover they have a general Tradition and some Songs which continue fresh to this day how Howel did put a Bridle in the French King's Mouth with many other Expressions touching this great Act. Now for that signal exploit the Prince knighted him in the Field and he was ever after call'd Sir Howel y Fuyall Sir Howel with the Axe he had the Constableship of Crikyth Castle given him with the farms of Chester mills and other considerable things conferr'd upon him which surely would not have been but for the merit of some high signal Service The British Records besides Tradition and common Report that mention this were to be found in Sir John Winn's Library an honourable knowing Knight who was a curious collector of Antiquities These and many other glorious exploits were done by this King in France who ceased not his pursuits till he had got the Key of it hanging at his Girdle to wit the Town of Calais that in those days was looked upon to be impregnable which he carried after a long Siege This Kings Reign is also memorable upon many other accounts as for the Institution of the noble Order of the Garter for removing the staple of Wool from Flanders into England for that great Champion against Rome the famous Wickliff and for his own numerous issue by his Heroick Queen Phillipa being no less then seven Sons and five Daughters his Sons were these Edward the Black Prince the hopes of England and who died before his Father William of Hatfield Lioneâ— Duke of Clarence John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Edmund of Langley Duke of York William of Windsor and Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester he died at Richmond in 1377. when he had Reigned 50 Years and odd Months The cause of the War twixt the English and French in Edward the III. time was a claim to the Crown and Kingdom of France in right of his Mother Isabel which they would make invalid by their Salique or distaâ—â— Law to which the greatest Civilians do allow 〈◊〉 essence at all and Du Haillan the great French Historian hath no better Opinion of it but to be a meâ— Chymera or Imaginary thing but of this more presently OF THE Salique Law HERE I judge it no ways impertinent to be a little more particular yet touching the claim of this King Edward to the Crown of France and what grounds the French had by vertue of this Salique Law for the exclusion of him claiming from a Female and first we will briefly state his claim as it then stood and then come to the Law it self and it was thus Phillip the IV. surnamed the Fair had three Sons Lewis the Contentious Phillip the Long and Charles the Fair all these successively reigned after him and died without issue inheritable he had likewise a Daughter named Isabel I purposely omit the other being foreign to the present affair married to Edward the II. King of England and so was Mother to Edward the III. The issue male of Phillip the Fair thus failing Phillip Son and Heir of Charles Earl of Valois Beaumont c. who was Brother to Phillip the Fair laid claim to the Crown as next heir male against King Edward who made answer to the objection of the Salique Law that admitting it was as they asserted yet he was heir-male though descended of a Daughter and this in a publick assembly of the States of France first about the Protectorship of the Womb for Queen Joan Dowager of Charles the Fair was left with Child and delivered of a Daughter named Blanch afterwards Dutchess of Orleans was had in solemn dispute by Lawyers on both sides and applied at length also to the direct point of inheriting the Crown and so adjudged against King Edward What followed hereupon we have in some measure traced in the Preceding History of his Wars and are more at large recorded in Walsingham Froissart Aemilius and a multitude of more modern Writers whereby it appears and will in the Wars of this King's Successors in France how the denial of this Soveraignty to him by the French cost the lives of many thousands of their Men and involved that Country into long and miserable Calamities But as for the Law it self whereby they pretended such an exclusion of him it may well be said with Drayton in his Poly-Albion that every mouth speaks of it but few understand the thing it self or so much as the Etymology of its name and therefore to clear this point as well as we can we are necessitated to ascend a little higher then these times wherein it was made use of in prejudice to the English claim and to begin with the Original of the Francks with whom they affirm it was brought into France The Francks therefore according to many modern Historians came originally from Asia into Germany though others and perhaps upon better grounds make their original to be in Germany it self but this is certain that upon the decline of the Roman Empire they inhabited Franconia a Province of Germany and about the year 413 or according to Davila 119 invaded France under Pharamond whom they chose to be their King and Leader which Pharamond they make to be Son to Marcovir a Prince that governed them in Franconia but first before they began their Expedition they held a general Assembly near unto a River named Sala and there by the advice of the Salij their Priests or as others of the Salians whom they make to be the same with Francks enacted Laws for Government and amongst the rest one for the Exclusion of Females from inheriting the Crown which from the aforesaid appellations whether one or all it matters not came to be denominated the Salique Law But Goropius that fetches all our of Dutch and this perhaps more tollerably then many of his other Etymologies deriving the Salians name from Sal which in contraction he makes to be from Sadel inventors whereof says he the Salians were interprets them to be as much as Horse-men a name fitly applied to the War-like and most noble Persons of any Nation as Equites in Latin Chevaliers in French and Marchog in Welch do very well agree to so that upon the whole the Salique Law is made by him to be as much as a Chivalrous Law and Salique Land Quae ad equestris ordinis dignitatem in capite summo in caeteris membris conservandam pertinebat which very well agrees with a sentence given in the Parliament at Bourdeaux upon an ancient Will devising all the Testator's Salique Lands which was in point of Judgment interpreted to be a Fief and who knows not but that Fiefs were originally military Gifts but if things be so how then comes Salique to extend to the
but the Island grew quickly too hot for him Plymouth also was plundered and divers Houses burnt whereupon the Western men were permitted to set out Ships of War whereby they sufficiently revenged themselves of the French and at one time took 40 Sail. The French take footing again in the Isle of Wight with 1000 Men but they were repelled with the slaughter of many hundreds afterwards the Admiral of Britany with the Lord of Castile and 30 sail attempt Dartmouth where at a fierce assault du Castile was slain with his two Brothers The English during this Reign had occasion also to signalize themselves by Land in France upon two several occasions for a great Feud happening between the Duke of Burgundy whom the French King and his eldest Son favouredâ— and the Duke of Orleans whose Father had been put to death by the procurement of the former it came at last to open Wars between them but Burgundy finding his adversary had powerful assistance from the Kings of Navarre and Arragon the Dukes of Bituria Bretaign and others makes his application to King Henry for aid who aâ—â— first gave him good Counsel and afterwards seâ—â— him good force under the command of Thomas Earl of Arundel the famous Sir John Old-castâ—â— Lord Cobham and others with which reinforcement he prevailed powerfully against his Enemy insomuch that about a year after Orleans also becomes a Suiter to the same King Henry for assistance against Burgundy which the King also granted and dispatched away under the command of Thomas Duke of Clarence Edward Duke of York c. many valiant Men who landed in Normandy where Orleans was to meet them but did not at the time appointed however they prosecuted their design and took many strong places and at length Orleans and Clarence meâ— and having settled their Affairs the English departed to their Winter Quarters in Aquitain Henry like a wise Prince designed to make use oâ— these Dissentions in France and exprest as much to the Archbishop of Canterbury saying Behold now is the acceptable time let us go into France and win with small adâ— that which is our right but being then labouring under a great Sickness he was by his Lords with much difficulty perswaded to the contrary and thus ended his Wars in France he himself dying soon after this last expedition under Clarence to wit on the 20th of March Anno 1412. Aged 46. when he had Reigned 13 Years and about 6 Months and was buried at Canterbury by his first Wife the Lady Mary Daughter to Bohun Earl of Essex he had issue four Sons Henry that succeded him Thomas Duke of Clarence John Duke of Bedford and Humphry Duke of Glocester of whom it was said they could not be distinguished for their excellency save that Henry was the Eldest He had also 2 Daughters Blanch Dutchess of Bavaria and Phillipa Queen of Denmark The causes of this War was first self-preservation and that the French assisted the Scots against England and had also sent 12000 Men to Owen Glendower a Brittish Prince who was up in Arms against the King but a few daies after they landed at Milford Haven they ran again back to their Ships HENRY V. COmmonly called Henry of Monmouth the eldest Son of Henry IV. proved a great Prince was a mirror of Magnanimity and stands to this day one of the greatest Ornaments of our English Chronicles he no sooner mounted the Throne but he had his Eye presently upon France for recovering his Royal Right to that Crown in order whereunto he alter'd in his Arms the bearing of Semy Deluces and quarter'd the 3 full Flower Deluces as France her self did bear them thereupon he sent the Duke of Exeter in a magnificent Embassy attended with 500 Horse to Paris to demand the Crown and receiving no satisfactory answer but rather a jeer the Dauphine sending King Henry a sackful of Racket Court-balls to employ his time he replied that for every one of those Balls he had so many fiery Bullets to bandy at the proudest Towers of France as he should quickly find and so he presently got over and encounter'd the French Army at Agen-Court the French King himself being at the head of it which he utterly overthrew and took more Prisoners then he had common Soldiers the battel was fought upon a Sunday Morning about the time of high Mass for having sent notice to England before that extraordinary prayers should be made in all Churches about ten a Clock in the Morning he stood upon the defensive part all the while till then but then making a moving oration to his whole Army and among other strains telling them how all England was praying for them at that very hour he obtained a most glorious and compleat Victory Besides that great Act of Piety another of Policy was us'd for the King to prevent the fury of the French Cavalry appointed divers stakes studded with Iron at both ends of about 6 foot long to be pitch'd behind the Archers and ordered that Pioners should attend to remove them as they should be directed which invention conduc'd much to the good success of the Action The King himself charged the Duke of Alanzon who being beaten off his Horse was slain there was also a great slaughter of all kind of French Prisoners because the number was so great that nothing could give assurance of safety but by making them away At length after many wonderful Feats and Successes performed especially by himself and noble Brothers the Dukes of Clarence Bedford and Glocester he was upon Articles agreed between him and Charles VI. then King of France made Regent of that Kingdom and proclaimed both there and in England Heir Apparent to the French Crown and did thereupon take Katherine the said Kings Daughter to Wife but the Dauphin afterwards Charles VII who judged himself much aggrieved hereby made a strong Party in the Kingdom and with a great Army laid Siege to the Town of Cosney which King Henry was so concerned at that he resolved to go in person to the raising of it but he was so eager and over-hasty in his March that he could reach no further then Senlis trusting to his Brother the Duke of Bedford's care in the prosecuting of that design who relieved the Town and obliged the Dauphine to retreat and there his Fever so increased upon him that he made his last Will and appointed his Jewels to be sold for the payment of his Debts and ordained his Brother the Duke of Bedford to be Regent of France and Normandy and so died at Vincennes leaving no issue but a young Son whose Education he left to the Cardinal of Winchester and the Government of England during his Minority to Humphrey Duke of Glocester being the year of our Lord 1422. Aged 38 and having Reigned 9 Years and odd Months he had the mortification to have his Brother Clarence slain with many fine Soldiers at the Siege of Bauge in Anjou before he died but
of June at Carickfergus where he was Received with great Joy and marched to joyn the other Camp And having put all things in good order fought with the Irish and French headed by K. James on the first of July and having gained the Pass of the River Boyne utterly Defeated them so that K. James flying to Dublin soon after left the Kingdom where King William Arriving settled the Affairs appointing Sheriffs and other Officers and having Reduced many Places passed to the Siege of Limerick which was not Successful this Year However the Important Town of Cork and Kingsale were taken at the Siege of the former The Noble Duke of Grafton was Slain as the Valiant Duke of Schomberg and Dr. Walker had been at the Battle of the Boyne The next Year the King preparing for Flanders The Baron d'Ginkle was appointed to Command the English Forces in Ireland who had the good Success to take Ballymore Athlone Galloway and give a Total Defeat to French and Irish at Agarhim where Monsieur St. Ruth the French General was Killed with a Cannon Shot and then laying a straight Siege to Limerick after a tedious Battery it was Surrendered on advantageous Articles and with it all Ireland submitting to its due Obedience Whilst these things passed in Ireland Scotland had been perplexed with War But the Viscount Dundee who was the Head of the adverse Party being Slain in a Battel with Major General Makâ—y King James's Interest soon declined there the Castle of Dublin Surrendered as sometime after did the Bass and all Scotland was quieted So that now the Scene of War lay on and beyond the Seas For the Earl of Torrington not well prepared as appears to Engage the French Fleet a considerable Loss was sustained particularly on the part of the Dutch who too eager to gain the Windward fell on too soon not staying for the coming up of the English So that most of their Squadron was either Taken Burnt or Sunk Upon this French Insulted our Coast and burnt Tingmouth a little Fishers Village But hearing all the Country was in Arms durst not Advance so with doing little other Damage they returned home But this was Revenged in due time by Admiral Russel with an entire Defeat of their whole Navy Commanded by Monsieur Tourvil whereof 36 great and small were Burnt and Sunk and their Coasts the following Years were hazarded and Insulted with Fire and Sword Diep and Haverdegrace mostly layed in Ruins Calis Dunkirk and St. Maloes Bombarded and a great number of other Ships Burnt Sunk and Taken in the narrow Seas and in the Mediterranean where Admiral Russel with the Royal Navy Insulted and Blocked them up in their own Harbours of Marseiles and Toloun so that we were every where entire Masters of the Sea Whilst things passed thus on the watery Empire War with extended bloody Banners Raged on the Shoar The King having settled Affairs with the Congress of Princes Marched into the Field the Duke of Brandenburg having before taken several Towns from the French as Bon c. And the French layed in Ashes Worms Spires Hydelburg Openheim c. They had also taken Mons and soon after Namur But the Duke of Savoy coming into the Confederacy Diverted part of their Army into Piedmont and the Valleys of Lucern giving free Tolleration to the Vudois who greatly Assisted him in the War So that he took Casel and some other strong Places but being hardly pressed and overthrown in a Battel by Monsieur Catinat wherein the Valiant Young Duke of Schomberg who Commanded the English being Slain he was so disheartned that by the French Artifice Marrying his Daughter to the Dauphin's Eldest Son he was brought over to make a League with France contrary to the Mind of the Confederates The English being now strong in Flanders were mainly Instrumental in stopping and forcing the whole French Army to Retreat at Walcourt where else the Dutch had in all probability been They shewed no less Courage and Bravery at Enghein where the French lost a great many of their best Soldiers and Mentz was taken by the Imperialists The French in the mean while surprized Newport and Bruges and afterward Denyse and Dixmude taken before from them and several small Places were taken and re-taken on each side as Hall Heye c. The King endeavouring to bring the French to a Battel they strongly Encamped behind a Bullwork besides narrow Passes Hedges and Breastworks before them but the undaunted English Danes and some others Encouraged by His Majesty's Heroick Example and Lead on by their Brave Commanders had forced the Pass and in all probability utterly Routed them had they been according to expectation Succoured by other Nations But that neglected a great many Brave Men Officers and Soldiers were Slain as soon after was the Worthy Lieutenant General Talmash attempting to force his Landing at Cameret Bay near Brest The Duke of Bavaria by this time being made Governour of the Spanish Netherlands The Duke of Wirtemberg was sent out with about 25000 Horse and Foot to Force the French Lines which he Successfully did and entering French Flanders put it under Contribution and took great Booty But the Duke of Luxemburg General of the French main Army taking this Advantage knowing our Camp was weakened by this large Detachment bore down upon it near Landen to force the Lines where the Fight at a distance beginning by break of day and so coming on nearer continued exceeding hot till near Sun Set When the French pouring on their great Numbers being double ours forced a Passage into the Camp with the loss of near 20000 of their best Men. The King in this Bloody and long doubtful Fight Signilizing the Conduct and Courage of an Experienced Commander and Valiant Soldier Leading up the Battalions and Squadrons to the Face of the Enemy but necessity at last constrained him and the Duke of Bavaria to Retire which they did in good Order and the Army being Recruited soon took the Field again and forced the French to Retreat to their former Camp And this Year Died the Duke of Luxemburg after which the French did little of Moment rather making in Flanders and on the Rhine a Defensive than Offensive War So that Catinat was recalled from Savoy Namure lost and a great many of their Party 's cut off their Plots and Stratagems likewise mostly failing so that being weary of War they began earnestly to seek for Peace Imploring the King of Sweden to become a Mediator in it and all they have since done as the last faint Stroak was to take Barcelona in Catalonia though it is thought had the Vice-Roy been diligent in Succouring it it could not have fallen into their Hands One part of it lying open and besides this Monsieur Ponti Plundered Cartagena belonging to the Spaniards in the West-Indies and got much Riches having the Luck to Escape our Squadron which was in Quest of him And now Peace being hearken'd to on all Sides the Ambassadors Plenipotentiaries met at the Kings Pallace at Ryswick in Holland and after many Memorials delivered and Debates passing between them came to a Friendly and Amicable Agreement The French King by the Treaty being obliged to deliver up a great many important Places to the Confederates and to comply with many other advantageous Things and particularly to Restore the King of England the Principality of Orange with its Appendancies and Revenues since it has been Seized and unjustly Detained Also what has been taken during the War in the West-Indies c. And so the Articles being Ratified and Peace Proclaimed the King returned and passed through the City of London in a Triumphant manner on the 16th of November 1697. FINIS