ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

IN the Cretean Labyrinth a Monster was inclosed, called a Minotaure, the History whereof is well known: but the Labyrinth was framed by Dedalus, with so many intricate Ways, that being entred, one could either hardly or never return, being in the manner of a Maze, save that it was larger, the Ways being walled in on every side, out of the which, Theseus, by Ariadne's help, (lending him a Clue of Thred) escaped. Some report, that it was a House, having one half beneath the ground, another above; the Chamber doors therein so deceitful­ly inwrapped, and made to open so many ways, that it was held a matter almost impossible to return.

Some have held it to have been an Allegory of Mans Life: true it is, that the Comparison will hold; for what liker to a Labyrinth, then the Maze of Life, But it is affirmed by Anti­quity, [Page 9] that there was indeed such a Building; though Dedalus being a name applied to the Workman's excellency, make it sus­pected: for Dedalus is nothing else but ingenious or Artificial. Hereupon it is used among the ancient Poets for any thing curicus­ly wrought.

Rosamond's Labyrinth, whose Ruins, together with her Well, being paved with square Stone in the bottom, and also her Tower, from which the Labyrinth did run (are yet remaining) was altogether under ground, being Vaults Arched and Walled with Brick and Stone, almost inextricably wound one within another; by which, if at any time her Lodging were laid about by the Queen, she might easily avoid eminent Peril, and if need be, by secret Issues take the Air abroad, many Furlongs round about Woodstock in Oxfordshire, wherein it was situated. Thus much for Rosamond's Labyrinth.

Meander is a River in Lycia, a Province of Natolia, or Asia minor, famous for the sinuosity and often turning thereof, rising from certain Hills in Meonia: Hereupon are intricate Turnings, by a Transumptive and Metonymicall kind of speech, called Meanders; for this River did so strangely path it self, that the Foot seemed to touch the Head.

It might be reported, how at Godstow, where this Rose of the World was sumptuously interred, a certain Bishop, in the Visitation of his Diocess, caused the Monument which had been erected to her Honour, utterly to be demolished: but let that se­vere Chastisement of Rosamond, then dead, at this time also be passed over, lest she should seem to be the Shame of the World.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

THis Epistle of King John to Matilda, is much more Poe­tical then Historical, making no mention at all of the Time, or State, touching only his love to her, and the extremity of his Passions forced by his desires, rightly fashioning the Hu­mour of this King, as hath been truly noted by the most authen­tick Writers: whose nature and disposition is truly discern'd in the course of his Love; first, jesting at the Ceremonies of the Services of those Times; then, going about by all strong and probable Arguments, to reduce her to Pleasures and Delights; next, with promises of Honour, which be thinketh to be the last and greatest Means, and to have greatest power in her Sex▪ with promise of calling home her Friends, which be thought might be a great inducement to his desires.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

THis Epistle containeth no particular Points of History, more than the generality of the Argument layeth open: for after the Banishment of the Lord Robert Fitz-water, and that Matilda was become a Recluse at Dunmow (from whence this Reply is imagined to be written) the King still earnestly per­sisting in his Sute, Matilda with this chaste and constant Deny­all, hopes yet at length to find some comfortable Remedy, and to rid her self of Doubts, by taking upon her this Monastick Habit: and to shew that she still beareth in mind his former Cruelty, bred by the impatience of his Lust, she remembreth him of her Fathers Banishment, & the lawless Exile of her Allies & Friends.

[Page 34]Then complaining of her Distress; that flying thither, thinking there to find Relief, she seeth her self most assailed, where [...] hoped to have found most Safety.

After again, standing upon the precise Points of Conscience, not to cast off this Habit she had taken.

And at last laying open more particularly the Miseries sustained by her Father in England, the Burning of his Castles and Houses which she proveth to be for her sake; as respecting only her Ho­nour, more then his Native Country and his own Fortunes.

Knitting up her Epistle with a great and constant Resolution.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

MOrtimer being in the Tower, ordaining a Feast in honour of his Birth-day, as he pretended, inviting thereunto Sir Stephen Seagrave, Constable of the Tower, with the rest of the Officers, belonging to the same, he gave them a sleepy Drink, provided by the Queen, by which means he made his Escape.

Mortimer being got out of the Tower, swam the River of Thames into Kent; whereof she having intelligence, doubteth of his strength to escape, by reason of his long Imprisonment, being almost the space of three years.

Edward Carnarvan the first Prince of Wales of the Eng­lish Blood, married Isabel Daughter of Phillip the Fair, a Bulloine, in the presence of the Kings of Almain, Navarre and Cicill, with the chief Nobility of France and England. Which Marriage was there solemnized with exceeding Pomp and Magnificence.

Noting the effeminacy and luxurious wantonness of Gaveston, the Kings Minion; his Behaviour and Attire ever so Woman­like, to please the Eye of his lascivious Master.

It was urged by the Queen and the Nobility, in the disgrace of Pierce Gaveston, that his Mother was convicted of Witch­craft, and burned for the same, and that Pierce had bewitched the King.

A Complaint of the Prodigality of King Edward, giving un­to Gaveston the Jewels and Treasure which was left him by the ancient Kings of England, and enriching him with the goodly Mannor of Wallingford, assigned as parcel of the Dower to the Queen of this famous Isle.

Edward the Second gave to Pierce Gaveston in Marriage the Daughter of Gilbert Clare Earl of Gloucester; begot of the Kings Sister, Joan of Acres, married to the said Earl of Gloucester.

Albania, Scotland, so called of Albanact the second Son of Brutus; and Cambria, Wales, so called of Camber the third Son. The four Realms and Countries brought in subjection by Edward Longshanks.

King Edward offered his Right in France to Charles his Brother in law, and his Right in Scotland to Robert Bruce, to be ayded against the Barons in the Quarrel of Pierce Gaveston.

Edward Longshankes on his Death-bed at Carlile, com­manded young Edward his Son on his Blessing, not to call back Gaveston, who (for the misguiding of the Princes Youth) was before banished by the whole Council of the Land.

Thomas Earl of Lancaster, Guy Earl of Warwick, and [Page 44] Henry Earl of Lincoln, who had taken their Oath before the deceased King at his Death, to withstand his Son Edward, if he should call Gaveston from exile, being a thing which he much feared; now seeing Edward to violate his Fathers Command­ment, rise in Arms against the King, which was the cause of the Civil War, and the Ruin of so many Princes.

The two Hugh Spensers, the Father and the Son, after the Death of Gaveston, became the great Favourites of the King, the Son being created by him Lord Chamberlain, and the Father Earl of Winchester.

Edward Longshanks did Homage for those Cities and Ter­ritories, to the French King; which Edward the second neglect­ing, moved the French King, by the subornation of Mortimer, to seize those Countries into his hands.

Wigmore in the Marches of Wales was the ancient House of the Mortimers, that Noble and Couragious Family.

The Queen remembreth the great Overthrow given to the Ba­rons by Andrew Herckley Earl of Carlile, at Burrough Bridge, after the Battel at Burton.

This was Adam Torlton, Bishop of Hereford, that great Politician, who so highly favoured the Faction of the Queen and Mortimer; whose evil counsel afterward wrought the destru­ction of the King.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

ROger Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, had stood publick­ly condemned, for his Insurrection with Thomas Earl of Lancaster and Bohun Earl of Hereford, the space of three Months: and as report went, the day of his Execution was determined to have been shortly, which he prevented by his escape.

At what time the two Mortimers, this Roger Lord of Wigmore and his Uncle Roger Mortimer the elder, were ap­prehended in the West, the Queen, by means of Torlton, Bishop of Hereford, and Beck Bishop of Duresme, and Patriarch of Jerusalem, being then both mighty in the State, upon the submis­sion of the Mortimers, somewhat pacified the King, and now secondly she wrought means for his escape.

With strong Ladders made of Cords, provided him for the [Page 52] purpose, be escaped out of the Tower; which when the same were found fastened to the Walls, in such a desperate Attempt, they bred astonishment in the Beholders.

The two Hugh Spencers, the Father and the Son, then being so highly favour'd of the King, knew that their greatest safety came by his Exile, whose high and turbulent Spirit could never brook any Corrival in Greatness.

Roger Mortimer, called the great Lord Mortimer, Grand­father to this Roger, which was afterward the first Earl of March, erected again the Round Table at Kenelworth, after the antient Order of King Arthurs Table, with the Retinue of an hundred Knights, and an hundred Ladies in his House, for the entertaining of such Adventurers as came thither from all parts of Christendome.

Edward Longshanks willed at his Death, that his Body should be boyled, the Flesh from the Bones, and that the Bones should be born to the Wars in Scotland, which he was perswad­ed unto by a Prophecy, which told, That the English should still be fortunate in Conquest, so long as his Bones were carried in the Feild.

In the great Voyage Edward the Second made against the Scots, at the Battel at Striveling, near unto the River of Ba­nocksbourn [Page 53] in Scotland, there was in the English Camp such Banquetting and Excess, such Riot and Disorder, that the Scots (who in the mean time laboured for Advantage) gave to the English a great Overthrow.

Mortimer, so called of Mare Mortuum, and in French, Mortimer, in English, the Dead-Sea, which is said to be where Sodom and Gomorrha once were, before they were de­stroyed with fire from Heaven.

Gaustellinus and Lucas, two Cardinals, sent into England from Pope Clement, to appease the antient Hate between the King and Thomas Earl of Lancaster; to whose Embassy the King seemed to yield, but after their Departure he went back from his Promises, for the which he was accursed at Rome.

A Colony is a sort or number of People, that come to inhabit a Place before not inhabited; whereby he seems here to prophesie of the subversion of the Land, the Pope joyning with the Power of other Princes against Edward, for the breach of his Promise.

Charles the French King, moved by the Wrong done unto his Sister, seizeth the Provinces which belonged to the King of England into his hands, stirred the rather thereto by Mortimer, [Page 54] who sollicited her cause in France, as is expressed before in the other Epistle, in the Gloss upon this Point.

After the death of Thomas Earl of Lancaster at Pomfret, the People imagined great Miracles to be done by his Relicks; as they did of the Body of Bohun, Earl of Hereford, slain at Burrough Bridge.

ANNOTATIONS on the Chronicle History.

BAndello, by whom this History was made famous, being an Italian, as it is the Peoples custome in that Clime, rather to fail sometimes in the truth of Circumstance, then to forgoe the grace of their Conceit: in like manner as the Grecians; of whom the Satyrist,

Thinking it to be a greater Triall, that a Countess should be sued unto by a King, then by the son of a King; and consequent­ly, that the honour of her Chastitie should be the more, hath cau­sed it to be generally taken so: but as by Polydore, Fabian, and Froisard appears, the contrary is true. Yet may Bandello be very well excused, as being a stranger, whose errors in the truth of our History, are not so materiall, that they should need an In­vective, lest his Wit should be defrauded of any part of his due, which were not less, were every part a Fiction. However, lest [Page 36] a common error should prevail against a truth, these Epistles are conceived in those Persons, who were indeed the Actors: To wit, Edward, sirnamed the Black Prince, not so much of his Com­plextion, as of the dismall Battels which he fought in France, (in like Sense as we may say, A black Day, for some Tragicall event, though the Sun shine never so bright therein.) And Alice the Countess of Salisbury, who, as it is certain, was beloved of Prince Edward, so it is certain, that many Points now cur­rant in the received Story, can never hold together with likely­hood of such inforcement, had it not been shaded under the Title of a King.

Not that the Lid is transparent; for no part of the Skin is trans­parent: but for that the Gem which that Closure is said to contain, is transparent: for otherwise, how could the Mind understand by the Eye? Should not the Images slide thorow the same, and replenish the Stage of the Fancy? But this belongs to Opticks. The Latines call the Eye-lid Cilium (I will not say of Celando) as the Eye-brow Supercilium, and the Hair on the Eye-lids Palpebra, perhaps quòd Palpitet, all which have their distinct and necessary vses.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

THE two Husbands of which she makes mention, objecting Bigamy against her self, as being therefore not meet to be married with a Batchelour-Prince, were Sir Thomas Holland Knight, and Sir William Mountague, afterward made Earl of Salisbury.

A thing incredible, that any Prince should be so unjust, to use the Fathers means for the corruption of the Daughters Chastity, though so the History importeth; her Father being so honourable and a Man of so singular desert: though Polydore would have her thought to be Jane, the Daughter to Edmund, Earl of Kent, Uncle to Edward the third, beheaded in the Protector­ship of Mortimer, that dangerous Aspirer.

Roxborough is a Castle in the North, mis-termed by Ban­dello, Salisbury Castle, because the King had given it to the Earl of Salisbury: in which, her Lord being absent, the Count­ess by the Scots was besieged; who, by the coming of the English Army, were removed. Here first the Prince saw her, whose Liberty had been gained by her shame, had she been drawn by dishonest Love to satisfie his Appetite: but by her most praise-wor­thy Constancy, she converted that humour in him to an honoura­ble purpose, and obtained the true reward of her admired Ver­tues.

Lest any thing be left out which were worth the Relation, it shall not be impertinent, to annex the Opinions that are uttered concerning her, whose Name is said to have been Elips: but that being rejected, as a Name unknown among us, Froisard is rather believed, who calleth her Alice. Polydore contrary­wise, as before is declared, names her Jane, who by Prince Edward had Issue, Edward dying young, and Richard the Second, King of England, though (as he saith) she was divorc­ed afterward, because within the degrees of Consangumi­ty, prohibiting to marry: The truth whereof, I omit to discuss. Her Husband, the Lord Mountague, being sent over into Flan­ders by King Edward, was taken Prisoner by the French; and not returning left his Countess a Widow: in whose Bed succeeded Prince Edward; to whose last and lawful Request, the rejoyce­ful Lady sends this loving Answer.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

POmfret Castle, ever a fatal place to the Princes of England, and most ominous to the Bloud of Plantaginet.

When Bullenbrook returned to London from the West, bringing Richard a Prisoner with him; the Queen, who little knew of her Husbands hard Success, stayed to behold his coming in, little thinking to have seen her Husband thus led in Triumph by his Foe: and now seeming to hate her Eyes, that so much had graced her mortal Enemy.

She remembreth the meeting of the two Dukes of Harford and Norfolk at Coventry, urging the justness of Mowbray's Quarrel against the Duke of Harford, and the faithfull assu­rance of his Victory.

Charles the French King her Father, received the Duke of Harford, and relieved him in France, being so nearly allied [...] Cousin German to King Richard, his Son in Law; which he did simply, little thinking that he should after return to England and dispossess King Richard of the Crown.

King Richard made a Voyage with his Army into Ireland, against Onell and Mackmur, who rebelled: at what time, Henry entred here at home, and robbed him of all Kingly Dig­nity.

William Wickham, in the great Quarrel betwixt John of Gaunt and the Clergy, of meer Spight and Malice (as it should seem) reported, That the Queen confessed to him on her Death-Bed, being then her Confessor, That John of Gaunt was the Son of a Flemming, and that she was brought to Bed of a Wo­man-Child at Gaunt, which was smothered in the Cradle by mischance, and that she obtained this Child of a poor Woman, making the King believe it was her own, greatly fearing his dis­pleasure. Fox. ex Chron. Alban.

Shewing the true and indubitate Birth of Richard, his Right unto the Crown of England, as carrying the Arms without Blot or Difference.

Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, son of Earl Roger Mortimer, which was Son to Lady Philip, Daughter to Lio­nel, Duke of Clarence, the third Son to King Edward the [...]hird; which Edmund (King Richard going into Ireland) was proclaimed Heir apparent to the Crown; whose Aunt, cal­led [Page 80] Elinor, this Lord Piercy had married.

The Abbot of Westminster had plotted the Death of King Henry, to have been done at a Tilt at Oxford: Of which Confederacy, there was John Holland, Duke of Excester, Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey, the Duke of Aumerl, Montacute Earl of Salisbury, Spencer Earl of Gloucester, the Bishop of Carlile, Sir Thomas Blunt; these all had bound themselves one to another by Indenture to perform it, but were all betrayed by the Duke of Aumerl.

Henry going towards the Castle of Flint, where King Richard was, caused Scroop, Green and Bushy to be executed at Bri­stow, as vile Persons, which had seduced the King to this lasci­vious and wicked life.

After Henries exile, at his return into England he took his Oath at Doncaster, upon the Sacrament, not to claim the Cro [...] or Kingdom of England, but only the Dukedome of Lancaster his own proper Right, and the Right of his Wife.

This was the brave couragious Henry Hotspur, that obtained so many Victories against the Scots; which, after falling [...] right with the Curse of Queen Isabel, was slain by Henry the Battel at Shrewsbury.

ANNOTATIONS on the Chronicle History.

RIchard the Second, at the Resignation of the Crown to the Duke of Harford, in the Tower of London, (deliver­ing the same with his own hand) there confessed his disability to govern, vtterly denouncing all Kingly Authority.

Before the Princess Isabel was married to the King, Lewes Duke of Burbon sued to have had her in Marriage; which was thought he had obtained, if this Motion had not fallen out in the mean time. This Duke of Burbon sued again to have received her, at her coming into France, after the imprisonment of King Richard; but King Charles her Father then crossed him, as before, and gave her to Charles, son to the Duke of Orleans.

When the Combate should have been at Coventry, betwixt Henry Duke of Harford, and Thomas Duke of Norfolk (where Harford was adjudged to Banishment for ten years) the Commons exceedingly lamented; so greatly was be ever favoured of the People.

When the Duke came to take his leave of the King, being then at Eltham, the King, to please the Commons, rather then for any love he bare to Harford, repealed four years of his Banish­ment.

Henry, the eldest son of John, Duke of Lancaster, at the first, Earle of Darby, then created Duke of Harford; after the death of Duke John, his father, was Duke of Lancaster and Hartford, Earl of Darby Liecester, and Lincoln: and after he had obtained the Crown, was called by the name of Bullenbrook, which is a Town in Lincolnshire; as vsually all the Kings of England bare the name of the place where they were born.

Edward the third had seven sons; Edward, Prince of Wales, after called the Black-Prince; William of Hatfield, the second; Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the third; John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the fourth; Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, the fifth; Thomas of Woodstock, Dukes of Glocester, the sixt; William of Windsor, the seventh.

As disabling Henry Bullenbrook, being but Son of the fourth Brother; William and Lionel being both before John of Gaunt.

Edward the Black-Prince taking John, King of France, Prisoner, at the Battel of Poictiers, brought him into England; where, at the Savoy, he died.

Called the Black-Prince, not so much of his Complexion, as of the famous Battels he fought; as is shewed before, in the Gloss upon the Epistle of Edward to the Countess of Salisbury.

In the next Parliament, after Richard's Resignation of the Crown, Henry caused to be annihilated all the Laws made in the Parliament, called the Wicked Parliament, held in the twentieth year of King Richards Reign.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

NEar unto Melans, upon the River of Seyne, was the ap­pointed place of Parley between the two Kings of England and France; to which place, Isabel, the Queen of France, and the Duke of Rurgoyne, brought the young Princess Katherine, where King Henry first saw her.

Henry the fifth, and Queen Katherine, were taken as King & Queen of France; and during the life of Charles the French King, Henry was called King of England, and Heir of France: and after the death of Henry the fift, Henry the fixth, his son, then being very young, was crown'd at Paris, as true and law­full King of England and France.

Troy in Champaine, was the place where that victorious King Henry the fift married the Princess Katherine, in the pre­sence of the chief Nobility of the Realms of England and France.

Few Queens of England, or France, were ever more Prince­ly allied then this Queen, as it hath been noted by Historiographers.

Noting the Descent of Henry her Husband from John, Duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of Edward the third; which Duke John was sirnamed Gaunt, of the City of Gaunt in Flanders, where he was born.

Alluding the Greatness of the English Line, to Phoebus and Phoebe, fained to be the Children of Latona, whose Heaven­ly kind might scorn to be joyned with any Earthly Progeny: yet withall, boasting the Blood of France, as not inferiour to theirs. And with this Allusion; followeth on the History of the strife betwixt Juno and the Race of Cadmus, whose Issue was afflicted by the Wrath of Heaven. The Children of Niobe slain; for which the wofull Mother became a Rock, gushing forth con­tinually a Fountain of Tears.

Lewellin, or Leolin ap Jorwith, Married Joan, daughter to King John, a most beautifull Lady. Some Authors affirm, that she was base born. Lewellinap Gryfith Married Elinor, daughter to Simon Monfort, Earl of Leicester, and Cousin to Edward Longshanks; both which Lewellins were Princes of Wales.

Camilot the Ancient Palace of King Arthur; to which place, [Page 97] all the Knights of that famous Order yearly repaired at Pentecost, according to the Law of the Table: and most of the famous home born Knights were of that Country; as to this day is per­ceived by their ancient Monuments.

Noting the ill success which William Rufus had in two Voyages he made into Wales; in which, a number of his chief Nobility were slain.

Noting the divers sundry Incursions that the Welshmen made into England, in the time Rufus, John, Henry the second, and Longshanks.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

THE Arms of Tudor, was three Helmets; whereof he speaketh, as a thing prophetically foretold of Merlin.

Owen Tudor being a courtly and active Gentleman, com­manded once to dance before the Queen, in a Turn (not being able to recover himself) fell into her Lap, as she sat upon a little Stool, with many of her Ladies about her.

This Berdh, as they call it in the Brittish Tongue, or as we more properly say, Bard, or Bardus, be their Poets, which keep the Records of Pedigrees and Descents, and sung in Odes and Measures to their Harps, after the old manner of the Lyrick Poets.

Cadwallader, the last King of the Britains, descended of the Noble and ancient Race of the Trojans; to whom an Angel appeared, commanding him to goe to Rome to Pope Sergius, where he ended his Life.

Caer-Septon, now called Shaftsbury; at whose Building it was said, an Eagle prophesied (or rather one named Aquila) of the fame of that Place, and of the recovery of the Isle by the Britains, bringing back with them the Bones of Cadwallader from Rome.

This Encon was slain by the Rebels of Gwentland; he was a notable and worthy Gentleman, who in his life did many noble Acts, and was Father to Theodor, or Tudor Maur, of whom descended the Princes of South-Wales.

Gwenellian, the daughter of Rees ap Grisseth ap Theodor Prince of South-Wales, married Ednivet Vaughan, Ancestor to Owen Tudor.

This is the Lowhelin, called Leolinus Magnus, Prince of North-Wales.

In the Voyage that Henry the Second made against the Welshmen, as his Souldiers passed Offas Ditch at Croggen Castle, they were overthrown by the Welshmen: which word Croggen hath since been used to the Welshmen's Disgrace, which was at first begun with their Honour.

The Welshmen be those ancient Britains, which when the Picts, Danes and Saxons invaded here, were first driven in­to those parts; where they have kept their Language ever since the first, without commixtion with any other.

Caer-Marden, or Merlin's Town, so called, of Merlin's being found there. This was Ambrose Merlins, whose Prophe­sies we have. There was another of that Name, called Merlin Sylvestris, born in Scotland, sirnamed Calidonius, of the Forrest Calidon, where he prophesied.

situation might remain an assured Monument of his Wisdome, if there were no other memory of the same.

It should seem, that there were two Islands, both of them called Mona, though now distinguished, the one, by the name of Man, the other, by the Name of Anglesey; both which, were full of many infernal Ceremonies: as may ap­pear by Agricola's Voyage, made into the hithermost Man, de­scribed by his Son-in-Law, Cornelius Tacitus. And as Su­perstition, the Daughter of Barbarism and Ignorance; so a­mongst those Northerly Nations, like as in America, Magick was most esteemed.

Druidae were the publick Ministers of their Religion, as throughly taught in all Rites thereof: Their Doctrine concerned the Immortality of the Soul, the Contempt of Death, and all other Points which may conduce to Resolution, Fortitude, and Magnanimity: Their abode was in Groves and Woods, where­upon they have their Name: Their pewer extended it self to master the Souls of Men deceased, and to confer with Ghosts, and other Spirits, about the success of things.

Plutarch, in his profound and learned Discourse of the defect of Oracles, reporteth, That the outmost British Isles were the Prison of a sort of fictious Demi-gods: But it shall not need to speak any farther of the Druidae, then that which Lucan doth:

Noting the prodigious and fearful signs that were seen [Page 117] England, a little before her coming in: which Elinor expresseth in this Epistle, as afore-shewing the Dangers which should ensue upon this unlucky Marriage.

The Instruments which Bullenbrook used in his Conjurati­ons, according to the divelish Ceremonies and Customs of these unlawful Arts, were dedicated at a Mass in the Lodge in Harn­sey Park, by Southwel Priest of Westminster.

This was one of the Articles that Duke Humphry urged a­gainst Cardinal Beauford, That he conspired the death of Henry the fifth, by conveying a Villain into his Chamber, which in the Night should have murthered him: but what ground of Truth he had for the same, I leave to dispute.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

THe three famous Battels fought by the Englishmen in France; Agincourt, by Henry the fifth, against the whole Power of France; Cravant, fought by Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, and the Duke of Burgoyne, against the Dolphin of France, and William Stuart, Constable of Scot­land: Vernoyle, fought by John Duke of Bedford, against the Duke of Alanson. and with him most of the Nobility of [Page 124] France; Duke Humphry an especial Counsellor in all these Expeditions.

Here remembring the ancient Amity which in his Embassies he had concluded betwixt the King of England, and Sigismund Emperor of Almain, drawing the Duke of Burgoyne into the same League, giving himself as an Hostage for the Duke at Saint Omers, while the Duke came to Calice, to confirm the League: With his many other Imployments to forreign King­domes.

Henry Beauford Cardinal of Winchester, that proud and haughty Prelate, received the Cardinals Hat at Calice, by the Popes Legate; which dignity Henry the fifth his Nephew, forbad him to take upon him, knowing his haughty and mali­cious spirit, unfit for that Robe and Calling.

As willing to shew, the House of Cambridge to be descended of Edmund Langley, Earl of York, a younger Brother to John of Gaunt, his Grandfather (as much as in him lay) to smother the Title that the Yorkists made to the Crown (from Lionel of Clarence, Gaunts elder Brother) by the Daughter of Mortimer.

Noting the ancient Grudge between the House of Lancaster and Norfolk, ever since Moubray Duke of Norfolk was ba­nished, [Page 125] for the Accusation of Henry Duke of Harford (after that, King of England, Father to Duke Humphry:) Which Accusation, he came as a Combatant, to have made good in the Lists at Coventry.

James Stuart King of Scots, having been long Prisoner in England, was released, and took to Wife the Daughter of John Duke of Somerset, Sister to John Duke of Somerset, Neice to the Cardinal, and the Duke of Excester, and Cousin-German removed to the King: This King broke the Oath he had taken, and became afterward a great Enemy to England.

ANNOTATIONS on the Chronicle History.

HE alludes, in these Verses, to the Faulcon, which was the ancient Device of the Pools, comparing the greatness and haughtiness of his spirit to the nature of this Bird.

The Commons, at this Parliament, through Warwicks means, accused Suffolk of Treason, and urged the Accusati­on so vehemently, that the King was forced to exile him for five years.

The Duke of Suffolk being sent into France, to conclude a Peace, chose Duke Rayners Daughter, the Lady Margaret, whom he espoused for Henry the sixth; delivering for her, to her Father, the Countries of Anjou and Main, and the City of Mauns. Whereupon the Earl of Arminack (whose Daughter was before promised to the King) seeing himself to be deluded, caused all the Englishmen to be expulsed Aqui­tain, Gascoyne and Guyne.

[Page 134]This Richard, that was called the great Earl of Warwick, when Duke Humphry was dead, grew into exceeding great favour with the Commons.

Richard Plantaginet Duke of York, in the time of Hen­ry the Sixth, claymed the Crown (being assisted by this Ri­chard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury, and Father to the great Earl of Warwick, who favoured exceedingly the House of York,) in open Parliament, as Heir to Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the third Son of Edward the Third, making his Title by Ann his Mother, Wife to Richard Earl of Cambridge, Son to Ed­mund of Langley, Duke of York: Which Ann was Daugh­ter to Roger Mortimer, Earl of March; which Roger was Son and Heir to Edmund Mortimer, that married the Lady Philip, Daughter and Heir to Lionel, Duke of Cla­rence, the third Son of King Edward: to whom the Crown, after King Richard the Seconds Death, lineally descended, he dying without Issue; and not to the Heir of the Duke of Lan­caster, that was younger Brother to the Duke of Clarence. Hall. cap. 1. Tit. Yor. & Lanc.

Humphry Duke of Glouster, and Lord Protector, in the five and twentieth year of Henry the Sixth, by means of the Queen and the Duke of Suffolk, was arrested by the Lord Beaumont, at the Parliament holden at Bury, and the same Night after murthered in his Bed.

In these Verses he jests at the Protectors Wife, (who being accused and convicted of Treason, because with John Hun, a Priest, Roger Bullenbrook, a Necromancer, and Margery Jordan, called the Witch of Eye, she had consulted by Sor­cery to kill the King) was adjudged to perpetual Imprison­ment in the Isle of Man, and to do Penance openly, in three publick places in London.

In the sixth year of Henry the Sixth, the Duke of Bedford being deceased, then Lieutenant General, and Regent of France; this Duke of Suffolk was promoted to that Dignity, having the Lord Talbot, Lord Scales, and the Lord Mountacute, to assist him.

This was Charles the Seventh, who after the death of Hen­ry the Fifth, obtained the Crown of France, and recovered a­gain much of that his Father had lost. Bastard Orleance was Son to the Duke of Orleance, begotten of the Lord Caw­nies Wife, preferred highly to many notable Offices, because be being a most valiant Captain, was a continual Enemy to the Englishmen, dayly infesting them with divers Incursions.

Vernoyle is that noted place in France, where the great Battle was fought in the beginning of Henry the Sixth his [Page 136] Reign, where most of the French Chivalrie were overcome by the Duke of Bedford.

Aumerle is that strong defenced Town in France, which the Duke of Suffolk got after four and twenty great Assaults given unto it.

Tours is a City in France, built by Brutus, as he came into Brittain: where in the one and twentieth year of the Reign of Henry the Sixth, was appointed a great Diet to be kept; whither came Embassadors of the Empire, Spain, Hungary and Denmark, to intreat for a perpetual Peace to be made between the two Kings of England and France.

Rayner, Duke of Anjou, Father to Queen Margaret, cal­led himself King of Naples, Cicily and Jerusalem, having the Title alone of the King of those Countries.

The Duke of Suffolk, after the Marriage concluded between King Henry and Margaret, Daughter to Rayner, asked in open Parliament a whole Fifteenth, to fetch her into England.

[Page 137] Deep is a Town in France, bordering upon the Sea, where the Duke of Suffolk, with Queen Margaret, took Ship for England.

Porchester, a Haven Town in the South-West part of En­gland, where the King tarried, expecting the Queens arrival; whom from thence be conveyed to Southampton.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

PHilip, Duke of Burgoine and his Son, were always great Favorites of the House of Lancaster; howbeit, they often dissembled both with Lancaster and York.

The chief Lords of the North parts, in the time of Henry the Sixth, withstood the Duke of York at his Rising, giving him two great overthrows.

The Duke of York, at the death of Henry the Fifth, and at this Kings Coronation, took his Oath, to be true subject to him and his Heirs for ever: but afterward dispensing therewith, claymed the Crown, as his rightful and proper Inheritance.

The Duke of York had four Sons; Edward Earl of March, that afterward was Duke of York, and King of England, when he had deposed Henry the Sixth; and Edmund Earl of Rutland, slain by the Lord Clifford, at the Battle at Wake­field; and George Duke of Clarence, that was murthered in the Tower; and Richard Duke of Gloucester, who was (after he had murthered his Brothers Sons) King, by the Name of Richard the Third.

This Richard (whom ironically she calls Dick) that by Treason, after the murther of his Nephews, obtained the Crown, was a Man low of stature, crook-back'd, the left shoulder much higher than the right, and of a very crabbed and sowr coun­tenance: His Mother could not be delivered of him; he was born Toothed, and with his Feet forward, contrary to the course of Nature.

The Red Rose was the Badge of the House of Lancaster, and the White Rose, of York; which by the marriage of Henry the Seventh with Elizabeth, indubitate Heir of the House of York, was happily united.

The Earl of Warwick, the setter up and puller down of Kings, gave for his Arms the White Bear rampant, and the Ragged Staff.

The Daisy in French is called Margarite, which was Queen Margarets Badge; wherewithal the Nobility and Chivalry of the Land, at her first arrival, were so delighted, that they wore it in their Hats in token of Honour.

The ragged and bearded Staff was a part of the Arms be­longing to the Earldom of Warwick.

Rayner, Duke of Anjou, called himself King of Naples, Cicile, and Jerusalem, who had neither Inheritance, nor re­ [...]eived any Tribute from those Parts; and was not able, at the Marriage of the Queen, at his own Charge, to send her [Page 146] into England, though be gave no Dower with her: Which, by the Duchess of Gloucester, was often, in disgrace, cast in her Teeth.

This was Jack Cade, which caused the Kentish Men to re­bel, in the eight and twentieth year of King Henry the Sixth.

This Jack Cade, instructed by the Duke of York, pretended to be descended from Mortimer, which married Lady Philip Daughter to the Duke of Clarence.

The Duke of York being made Deputy of Ireland, first there began to practise his long pretended purpose, and strengthning himself hy all means possible, that he might, at his return into England, by open War, claim that which so long before he had privily gone about to obtain.

Henry Beauford Bishop and Cardinal Wincester, Son to John of Gaunt, begot in his age, was a proud and ambiti­ous Prelate, favouring mightily the Queen and the Duke of Suffolk, continually heaping up innumerable Treasures, in hope to have been Pope, as himself on his deah-bed confessed.

[Page 147] Edmund Duke of Somerset, in the four and twentieth year of Henry the Sixth, was made Regent of France, and sent into Normandy, to defend the English Territories against the French Invasions: but in short time he lost all that King Henry the Fifth won; for which cause, the Nobles and Com­mons ever after hated him.

Humphry Duke of Buckingham, was a great Favorite of the Queens Faction, in the time of Henry the Sixth.

The Witch of Eye received answer from her Spirit, That the Duke of Suffolk should take heed of Water: Which the Queen fore-warns him of, as remembring the Witches Prophesie; which afterwards came to pass.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

THis Epistle of Edward to Mistres Shore, and of hers to him, being of unlawful Affection, ministreth small occasion of Historical Notes; for had he mentioned the many Battels betwixt the Lancastrian Faction and him, or other Warlike Dangers, it had been more like to Plautus boasting Souldier, than a Kingly Courtier. Notwithstanding, it shall not be amiss to annex a Line, or two.

Edward the Fourth was by nature very Chivalrous, and very Amorous, applying his sweet and aimable Aspect to at­tain his wanton Appetite the rather: which was so well known to Lewis the French King, who at their interview in­vited him to Paris, that as Comineus reports, being taken at his word, he notwithstanding brake off the matter, fear­ing the Parisian Dames, with their witty conversation, would detain him longer than should be for his benefit: by which means, Edward was disappointed of his Journey. And albeit Princes, whilst they live, have nothing in them but what is admirable; yet we need not mistrust the flattery of the Court in those times: For certain it is, that his share was excellent; his Hair drew near to a black, making the favour of his Face seem more delectable: though the smalness of his Eyes, full of a shining moisture, as it took away some Comeliness, so it ar­gued much sharpness of Understanding, and Cruelty mingled together. And indeed, George Beucanan (that imperious Scot) chargeth him, and other Princes of those Times, with af­fection of Tyranny; as Richard the third manifestly did.

Edwards intemperate desires, with which he was wholly overcome, how tragically they in his Off-spring were punished, is universally known. A Mirrour, representing their Over­sight, that rather leave their Children what to possess, than what to imitate.

Alluding to their Opinions, who imagine Crystal to be a kind of Ice; and therefore it is likely, they who come from those frozen parts, should bring great store of that transparent Stone, which is thought to be congealed with extream Cold. Whether Crystal be Ice, or some other liquor, I omit to dispute; yet by the examples of Amber and Coral, there may be such an induration: for Solinus out of Pliny mentioneth, That in the Nothern Region a yellow Gelly is taken up out of the Sea at low Tides, which he called Succinum, we, Amber; so likewise, out of the Ligustic Deep, a part of the Medi­terranean Sea, a greenish Stalk is gathered, which hardened in the Air, comes to be Coral, either white or red. Amber notwithstanding is thought to drop out of Trees; as appears by Martials Epigram:

To behold a Bee inclosed in Electrum, is not so rare, as that a Boys Throat should be cut with the fall of an Ice-sicle, [Page 157] the which Epigram is excellent, the 18. li. 4. He calls it Phaetontis Gutta, because of that Fable which Ovid reher­seth, concerning the Heliades, or Phaetons Sisters, meta­morphosed into those Trees, whose Gum is Amber, where Flies alighting, are oftentimes tralucently imprisoned.

ANNOTATIONS on the Chronicle History.

TWo or three Poems written by sundry men, have magni­fied this Womans Beauty; whom, that ornament of En­gland, and Londons more perticular glory, Sir Thomas Moor, very highly hath praised her for beauty, she being alive in his time, though poor and aged. Her Stature was [Page 164] mean, her Hair of a dark yellow, her Face round and full, her Eye gray, delicate harmony being betwixt each parts pro­portion, and each proportions colour, her Body fat, white, and smooth, her Countenance chearful, and like to her Condition. That Picture which I have seen of hers, was such as she rose cut-of her Bed in the morning, having nothing on but a rich Mantle, cast under one Arm over her shoulder, and sitting in a Chair, on which her naked Arm did lie. What her Fa­thers name was, or where she was born, is not certainly known: But Shore, a young man of right goodly person, wealth, and behaviour abandoned her Bed, after the King had made her his Concubine. Richard the Third causing her to do penance in Pauls Church-yard, commanded that no man should relieve her, which the Tyrant did not so much for his hatred to sin, but that by making his Brothers life odious, he might cover his horrible Treasons the more cunningly.

Rumney is that famous Marsh in Kent, at whose side Rie, a Haven Town, doth stand. Hereof the excellent English An­tiquary, Master Camden, and Master Lambert in his Per­ambulation, do make mention. And Marshes are commonly called those low Grounds which abut upon the Sea, and from the Latin word are so denominated. Isis is here used for Thamesis by a Synecdockical kind of speech, or by a Poetical liberty, in using one for another: for it is said, that Thamesis is compounded of Tame and Isis, making when they are met, that renowned Water running by London; a City much more renowned than that Water: Which being plentiful of Fish, is the cause also why all things else are plentiful therein. More­over, I am perswaded, that there is no River in the World beholds more stately Buildings on either side, clean throw, than the Thames. Much is reported of the Grand Canale in Venice, for that the Fronts on either side are so gorgeous.

Mantuan, a Pastoral Poet, in one of his Eclogues bitterly inveyeth against Womankind; some of the which, by way of an Appendix, might be here inserted, seeing the fantastick and insolent Humors of many of that Sex, deserve much sharper Physick, were it not, that they are grown wiser, than to a­mend for such an idle Poets speech as Mantuan, yea, or for Euripides himself, or Seneca's inflexible Hippolitus.

Ovid, a most fit Author for so dissolute a Sectarie, calls that place, Chastities Shipwrack; for though Shores Wife wantonly pleads for Liberty, which is the true humor of a Ci­tizen; yet much more is the praise of Modesty, than of such Liberty. Howbeit the Vestal Nuns had Seats assigned them in the Roman Theatre: Whereby it should appear, it was counted no impeachment to Modesty; though they offending therein, were buried quick: A sharp Law for them, who may say as Shores Wife does.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

KIng Henry the Eight, with the Queen and Nobles, in the sixth year of his Reign, in the Month of Septem­ber, brought this Lady to Dover, where she took shipping for France.

It was agreed and concluded betwixt Henry the seventh and Philip King of Castile, Son to Maximilian the Emperor, That Charles eldest Son of the said Philip, should marry the Lady Mary, Daughter to King Henry, when they came to age: Which agreement was afterwards in the eight year of Henry the Eight, annihilated.

[Page 175] Henry the Eight, after the long Siege of Turney, which was delivered to him upon composition, entred the City in Tri­umph, under a Canopy of Cloth of Gold, born by four of the Chief and most Noble Citizens; the King himself mounted upon a gallant Courser barbed with the Arms of England, France and Ireland.

The King being at Turney, there came to him the Prince of Castile, and the Lady Margaret, Dutches of Savoy, his Sister, to whom King Henry gave great intertainment.

At this time there was speech of a Marriage to be concluded, between Charles Brandon, then Lord Lisle, and the Dutchess of Savoy; the Lord Lisle being highly favoured, and exceed­ingly beloved of the Dutchess.

The King caused a rich Tent of Cloath of Gold to be erected, where he feasted the Prince of Castile, and the Dutchess, and entertained them with sumptuous Masks and Banquets, during their abode.

[Page 176] Maximilian the Emperor, with all his Souldiers, which served under King Henry, wore the Cross of Saint George, with the Rose on their Breasts.

The black Eagle is the Badge Imperial, which here is used for the displaying of his Ensign, or Standard.

Henry the Eighth, at his Wars in France, retained the Emperor and all his Souldiers in Wages, which served under him during those Wars.

Thomas Wolsey the Kings Almoner, then Bishop of Lincoln, a Man of great Authority with the King, and after­ward Cardinal, was the chief cause that this Lady Mary was married to the old French King, with whom the French had dealt under-hand, to befriend him in that Match.

Francis, Duke of Valoys, and Dolphin of France, at the Marriage of the Lady Mary, in honour thereof proclaimed a Justs; where be chose the Duke of Suffolk and the Marquess of Dorset for his aids, at all Martial Exercises.

[Page 177]This Count Galeas at the Justs ran a Course with a Spear, which was at the Head five inches square on every side, and at the But nine Inches square, whereby be shewed his won­drous force and strength. This Bounarm, a Gentleman of France, at the same time came into the field, armed at all points, with ten Spears about him: in each Stirrop three, under each Thigh one, one under his left Arm, and one in his Hand; and putting his Horse to the Career, never stopped him till he had broken every Staff. Hall.

ANNOTATIONS of the Chronicle History.

THe Duke of Longavile, who was Prisoner in England, upon the Peace to be concluded between England and France, was delivered, and married to the Princess Mary, for Lewis the French King, his Master.

As the Queen sayled for France, a mighty storm arose at Sea, so that the Navy was in great danger, and was severed, some driven upon the Coast of Flanders, some on Brittain: the Ship wherein the Queen was driven into the Haven at Bul­len, with very great danger.

King Lewis met her by Abvile, near to the Forrest of Arders, and brought her into Abvile with great Solemnity.

Expressing the sumptuous Attye of the Queen and her Train, attended by the chief of the Nobility of England, with six and thirty Ladies, all in Cloth of Silver, their Horses trapped with Crimson Velvet.

King Lewis was a man of great years troubled much with the Gout, so that he had long time before little use of his Legs.

The Duke of Suffolk, when the Proclamation came in­to England, of Justs to be holden in France at Paris; be, for the Queens sake, his Mistress, obtained of the King to go thither: With whom, went the Marquess Dorset, and his four Brothers, the Lord Clinton, Sir Edward Nevil, Sir Giles Capel, Thomas Cheyney, which went all over with the Duke, as his Assistants.

A true description of the Queens entring into Paris, after her Coronation performed at St. Denis.

The Dukes of Alanson, Burbon, Vandom, Longavile, Suffolk, with five Cardinals.

Francis Valoys, the Dolphin of France, envying the glory that the English Men had obtained at the Tilt, brought in an Almain secretly, a Man thought almost of incomparable strength, which inccuntred Charles Brandon at the Barriers: but the Duke grappling with him, so beat him about the [Page 186] Head with the Pummel of his Sword, that the blood came out of the sight if his Caske.

Sir William Brandon, Standard bearer to the Earl of Richmond, (after Henry the Seventh) at Bosworth-Field, a brave and gallant Gentleman, who was slain by Richard there, this was Father to this Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.