let him enter a place sacred to our most mercifull God untill hee had granted to all there his mercy by a free pardon But this pardon betrayd them for on the Munday after they were taken out of the Church and all beheaded in the Market place at Teuxbury Among whom of principall note were the Duke of Sommerset and the Lord Prior of Saint Johns and many other Knights of great reputation and fortune By which violation of the Sanctuary he made good the opinion which the world before had conceived of him that Religion never could prevaile so farre upon his conscience as to bee any barre eyther to his pleasures or revenge The Queene halfe dead in her Chariot was taken in the battaile and not long after the Prince vvas brought prisoner to the King by Sir Richard Croft Who taking notice of the Proclamation vvhereby the revvard of a hundred pound by the yeare during life was promist to whosoever should yeeld the Princes body dead or alive up to the King with protestation not to offer any violence to his person if alive brought him unhappily to his death Which when the good Knight afterward found he repented what he had done and openly profest his service abused and his faith deluded For King Edward presently upon the delivery of the Prince caused him to be brought into his presence and intertained him with some demonstration of curtesie Mooved perhaps thereunto by the innocency of his youth compassion of his misfortune or the comelinesse of his person the composition of his body being guilty of no fault but a too feminine beauty At first it was supposed the King might have some charitable intention and resolve happily to have setled him in the Dutchy of Lancaster his Fathers inheritance a patrimony too narrow for a King and something too large for a Subject and thereupon to have enterd discourse with him whereby to make experience whether his spirit would stoope to acknowledge a Superiour He therefore question'd him what madde perswasion had made him enter into so rash an enterprise where the very attempt was rebellion being against his Soveraigne and folly being in opposition to a Prince so farre in power above him He expected an humble answer deprecatory for life or soft and gentle according to the complection either of his fortune or his face But he with a resolution bold as his Grandfather Henry the fifth would have replyed with answerd that to recover his Father miserably opprest and the Crowne violently usurped hee had taken armes Neither could he be reputed to make any unjust claime who desired no more then what had beene possest by Henry the sixt the fift and fourth his Father Grand-father and great Grandfather Kings of England And acknowledged by the approbation not of the Kingdome onely but the world and even by the progenitors of King Edward By the spirit of which language when the King perceived how much his life might threaten danger with a looke full of indignation hee turn'd from him thrusting him disdainfully away with his gantlet Which so mighty rage observ'd and his so distemper'd parting out of the roome The Dukes of Clarence and Glocester the Marquesse Dorset and the Lord Hastings seis'd suddenly upon the Prince and with their poniards most barbarously murthered him â— Of whom wee can make little mention his youth having perform'd nothing worth story though it promist much For under the governement of a Mother the worst education for a Sonne he had beene bred up untill this last sceane of life which hee acted alone and bravely so that posterity hath sence of his misfortune yet and applaudes the justice of the Almighty in punishment of his murtherers For all of them came to violent ends Glocester being executioner of the rest and of him the Earle of Richmond the next surviving kinsman of the butcher'd Prince The severity of which example holds a glasse before the eyes of the wicked and showes them how rotten is all that greatnesse which is not raised upon and maintained by vertue and as the conscience is ever after such a crying sinne inwardly tortured upon the racke of feare so seldome doth the body escape outwardly an exemplary death by violence After this generall defeate of the enemy the death of the Prince and all the great partakers with the house of Lancaster and the surprize of the Queene her selfe the King returned toward London This being the onely compleate victory he ever gain'd from which no man of eminency escaped and no man who might pretend to a competition was now preserved except King Henry and he issuelesse and in prison And to make this triumph resemble something of the Roman the King carryed with him his great captive the most afflicted Queene Margaret A woman most unfortunate to her selfe and most ruinous to this kingdome For after her marriage into England Soone finding her husbands weakenesse safe however in being directed and strengthened by sober councell she never left off inventing new machinations till she wrought him into her sole command with the destruction of his neerest friends So that to make the prospect from her greatnesse larger she broke downe and levelld his strong bullwarkes The Duke of Glocester which might perhaps a little checke her ambitious eye but being taken quite away left her open to every tempest Having therefore by fomenting dissention at home lost except onely Callice all our void territories abroad by the murther of the good Duke her Husbands Vncle shee gave liberty to the house of Yorke to make their just claime to the Crowne and in the end to put her out of that governement shee prepoâ—terously managed In her prosperity shee was rather ambitious then wanton though from the last opinion did not absolutely acquit her Which aspersion certainely was cast upon her by reason of her too intimate familiarity with some of the younger and finer Lords For the more discreete and aged either dislikt her projects or were disliked by her as persons too cautious to consult with a giddy woman Her mighty confidence in the Duke of Suffolke who wrought her marryage with England hath left the largest part of that false suspicion upon his name For who are just to her memory cannot but say beside that she was religious shee was even too busie to thinke of Love matters But perhaps the misfortune of her carriage gave some small occasion of the report Her prosperous fortune presents her to us in the worst colours a factious busie and imperious Queene â—er adverse in the best a most industrious woman to recover what her folly had lost an excellent Wife and a most indulgent Mother And had she never appear'd in action but when misfortune had compell'd her to it she had certainely beene numbred among the best examples of her Sex But now the merits of her later part of life by redeeming the errours of the former serve onely to lâ—vell her with the indifferent The time shee continued a prisoner in
the chance of warre why was not an honorable peace to bee prefer'd Especially since if wee had faild in the successe how wretchedly had our forces beene broken in opinion and how impossible on the sudden to re-inforce the Armie And if the French had declin'd the battaile into what necessities had wee falne the Summer almost paste and both Burgundie and S. Paul refusing to let us have townes to winter our men And if wee looke upon the peace it selfe nothing is in it disadvantagious to our honour or profit Considering it brought not onely a great present summe and annuall revenue but brought it from the then greatest Prince in Christendome enforc'd by feare And for convenience the marriage of the Kings daughter to the Dolphin could not be but esteemed of maine consequence why then wonne that apothegme so much reputation that reported our King to have gain'd nine battailes in which hee personally fought and never to have â—ost any but this Since in this hee overcame a Prince of farre greater power then hee ever fought with before with no disadvantage but that the victory was purchast without blood which should be esteemed an addition to the glory of it And if you cast your eye backe upon the course held in the most famed Empire and especially in the Roman which was the noblest you shall finde they never refused their friendship to any Prince who supply as Lewys of France to King Edward requested it And tooke more glory to have Kings their tributaries then their Kingdomes farm'd out to a more profitable revenue But of this enough and but enough since it tends onely to vindication of the English honour which the French vaunted so much to have suffered in this treaty In which they thinke us by their wits miserably overreacht and perhaps indeed wee were if the articles be onely judged by their feares and not by the difficulties of our army at that time and the just jealousie of the King that his confederates intended not his but their owne businesse The newes of this Peace no sooner came to the Court of the Duke of Burgundy but in all hast he poasted to the English Campe attended onely by sixteene Horse The distraction of his looke and gesture exprest the wildnesse of his thoughts so that the whole Army discovered his discontent before he utter'd it His first addresse to the King was in question of the truth of the common report that spoke a peace concluded betweene him and King Lewys Which when he was resolv'd was true hee presently broke into a most passionate fierce language Obrayding the King with inglorious sloath and the indefatigable courage of former Kings of England upon whose attempts waited ever the noblest victory He made a scornefull repetition of the mirth his enemies would make at his returne as if hee had come over with so huge an Army Merchant like to trafficke for a little mony and the contempt hee must needs become to his owne people when they should perceive the great conquests their contributions have brought home And when it was intimated to him that he and the Duke of Brittaine were included in the Peace he disdainefully rejected it protesting the love he bore the English name not care of his owne safety had perswaded King Edward to this enterprize And to show how little dependancy his Fortune held on any other and how without mediation of an allye he was able to make his owne peace he vowed to conclude none with France untill the English army had been three monthes at home After hee had throwne forth these disordered speeches in much discontent hee left the King Who wondered to heare himselfe to disdainefully intreated Having seldome beene accustomed to any language but what was pollisht to delight by flattery But they who misliked the Peace commended the spirit of the Duke overjoyed to heare their unquiet thoughts which feare restrained from utterance so freely spoken But the Count Saint Paul assertained of this accord was seized upon by a farre other passion For by dissembling with these three Princes in hope to winne into love and reputation with the more fortunate hee had offended them all so farre that hee knew not to which confidently to flye for refuge France was irreconciliable because he had beene ever in practise against the quiet and safety of that state and who both by the tyes of allyance as having marryed the sister of King Lewys his wife and loyalty as who held much Land in France and executed the place of Constable being oblieged to seeke the preservation of his Country had for many yeares nourisht treason and sometimes brought the Crowne it selfe to the hazard Then from England or Burgundy there was no probability of friendship both having beene deluded by his promises and in the last businesse at S. Quintin provoked to the highest indignation For although the English onely sustained the losse in point of safety for the present expedition yet in point of honour the Duke had his share in sufferance Hee having before the Kings passage out of England covenanted for the faith of the Count Saint Paul But certainely the misery of a petty Prince is lamentable and his estate most unsafe when there is any jealousie growing betweene his more potent neighbours For Neutrality is incompatible with his fortune in regard his Country shall then lye open to the spoyle of every army if he deny to declare himselfe and if he declare himselfe he must run the hazard of anothers Fortune And oftentimes the very scituation of his Principality enforceth him to take part not with the stronger or juster but with the nearer neighbouring as in danger of whose rage his estate is most subject But in addition to the misery of his Fortune S. Paul had the unquietnesse of minde raised up into a high ambition by the cunning of wit For he had so many and so farre fetches in his imaginations and of them some had prospered so much to his advantage that it made him presumptuous of his abilities to dissemble and therefore continue in it till at last the discovery tooke away all beliefe from his after pretentions and happily too from his reall intentions But among the greatest of his misfortunes is to be reckoned the time he lived in For had he not met with so polliticke a Prince as Lewys of France who had likewise the start of him in good lucke he questionlesse might have attained some one of those many designes he so wittily and probably contrived But in the conduct of their affaires Princes shall finde a discreet honesty not onely toward God but even to the depraved World the safest rule of humane actions For the absolute dissolution of a state was never knowne to happen by observance of faith or Religion and seldome in the time of a good Prince I meane if his goodnesse were active not over-ruled by evill Counsell to misgovernement S. Paul in this distraction of thoughts endeavoured to recover a
game quite lost and made his addresses to the King of England whom he believed to be of the easiest nature and from whom he expected lesse severity because the King had suffered lesse then the others by his dissimulation He therefore first excused the distaste given the English at S. Quintin casting the whole fault upon the unhappy rashnesse of his Souldiers billited in the Towne and the jealousie of the Townesmen Then hee advised him to be wary of giving too much faith to King Lewys who was resolved after the departure of the English army to observe no covenant wherefore his safest course would be to demand Eu and S. Valerie to billet his Souldiers in this Winter which he was secure Lewys his feares durst not deny and by which grant hee would not be necessitated to so sudden a returne Lastly observing the avarice of the Kings disposition in the last treaty hee tendered him the loane of fifty thousand Crownes and promise of all faithfull service in the future But the memory of former unfaithfull passages and desire to enjoy the pleasures of peace defend the King so farre to these new propositions that it ended even in scornefull language of the offerer which drove S. Paul into utter despaire For the King was not to be remooved from his new begunne amity with Lewys which every day by the interchange of favours and by laboring to excell each other in confidence gathered increase For presently upon conclusion of the Articles betweene the Commissioners a truce being made untill the peace were ratified by the oathes of both the Princes the English souldiers had free admission into all the French townes And one day so great number of the army went to make merry in Amiens as might have endangered the surprisall if there had not beene faithfull intentions in King Edward But hee to shew the integrity of his mind and to take away all occasion of jealousie of any underhand designe sent to King Lewys to intreate him to give order for restraint if by entering in so large multitudes the souldier endangered suspicion which Lewys never overcome in Complement refused with many protestations of his confidence onely desiring our King if he disliked the absence of so considerable a part of his Army from the Campe to send some Yoemen of his Crowne to guard the gates in regard he was resolved no French man should stop the passage of the English But our King strained his curtesie much too high when to out-vye King Lewys his favours he offered to give him a catalogue of all the French Noblemen who had conspired with S. Paul in this warre and had given faith to revolt to the English For as in the rule of common justice this discovery could give no better an attribute to the King then that of state Informer so could it not but infinitely prejudice the affaires of England considering it would shut up for ever the passage to all intelligence if this peace should chance to breake hereafter And indeed by so voluntary undertaking that office which an honest minde thinkes it selfe unhappy to be forced to presents his nature to us most ignoble since this treason was onely intentionall and as the state of businesses now stood in France reconciled to the English it no way concerned the safety of his new confederate On the other side King Lewys showed himselfe most affectionate to the English when contrary to the circumspection of his nature hee rejected all the suspicions of his Councell who wisht him to be watchfull that King Edward by pretending this peace did not betray him to a ruinous security When likewise he sent such exceeding plenty of all provision to the English Campe and liberally feasted those so innumerable multitudes who dayly resorted to Amiens But perhaps some state Critickes will interpret the former in him not a good opinion of our faith but a conceit of a dull ignorant honesty in our Nation not quicke to take advantages and the later onely an obsequious way to continue us in our former resolution for peace What ever passion prevaild with him in other curtesies I am confident hee exprest more Noblenesse then in any other action of his life When he refused to destroy the English army having oftentimes so faire opportunity by reason of the many disorders the truce begot While these passages of endearement lasted betweene the two Kings a place convenient for an enterview was found out at Picquigny a Towne three leagues from Amiens standing upon the River Some Commissioners to provide there should be no danger of treason in the place for the King were the Lord Howard and Sir Anthony S. Leger for the French the Lord of Bouchage and Comines In the choyce of which place Comines layes a grosse oversight to our Commissioners For he affirmes by reason of a Marish on both sides the causey on which the King was to come to the Bridge where the meeting was his person might have beene in danger if the French had not meant good faith And if this were true it certainely deserved a signall reprehension in regard the sad experience of those times taught there could not bee too much circumspection at such an enterview But the successe guilty of no infelicity cleered the Commissioners either quite from the fault or from much of the blame At the meeting there was as much interchange of curtesie as could bee betweene two Princes The French King was first at the grate for these two Lions could not without danger of combat meete but at so safe a distance and our King was a Gallant in manage of his body by bending himselfe lower at salutation In which he exprest youthfullnesse and Court ship In their language was much of sweetenesse and endearing and in their behaviour an apparence of a congratulatory joy Each labouring to obtaine the victory in the expressions of a cordiall affection and indeed the maine businesse tooke up lest part of the time Twelve persons of principall name attended on each Prince according to the nature of the Ceremony out-vying each other in the curiosity and riches of their apparell On the English side the Duke of Glocester was absent in regard his presence should not approve what his opinion and sence of honour had heretofore disallowed And that there might bee no fraud nor treason on the English side were foure of the French and on the French foure of the English who watchfully observed every word and gesture So much jealousie waits upon even the most friendly meetings and so suspected is the faith of Princes Eight hundred men at armes attended on the French King on the King of England his whole Army Which set in battell array to the best advantage for the eye afforded a prospect of much delight and bravery to them who at a more unfriendly encounter would have trembled at the sight The Chancellor of England made an Oration congratulatory for the happy accord whereby so much blood was preserv'd in