MarginaliaThe insurrection of the L. Cobham against the king iudged by circūstāce.Thus, you see Maister Cope, or els maister Harpsfield, or whatsoeuer ye be, to gainstand a king, and with open force to encounter with him in his owne land, and in his owne chamber of London, where he is so sure and strong, what a matter of how great cheuance it is, wherin so many and so great difficulties do lye, the attempt so dangerous, the chances so vncertaine, the furniture of so manie things required, that scarce in any kings daies heretofore, any peeres or nobles of the Realme, were they neuer so strongly assisted with power, wit, or counsaile, yet either were able, or els well durst euer enterprise vpon the case so dangerous, notwithstanding were they neuer of themselues so far from all feare of God, and true obedience. And shal we then thinke, or cā we imagine (maister Cope) that Syr Iohn Oldcastle, a man so well instructed in the knowledge of Gods word, beyng but a poore Knight by his degree, hauing none of all the peeres and nobles in all the world to ioyne with him, being prisoner in the Tower of London a litle before in the moneth of December, could now in the moneth of Ianuary, so sodenly, in such an hoat season of the yeare, start vp an army of xx. thousand fightyng men to inuade the kyng, to kill two Dukes his brethren, to adnulle Christen fayth, to destroy Gods law, and to subuert holy Church? And why doth not he adde moreouer, to set also all London on fire, and to turne all England into a fishepoole? Belike these men which geue out these figmentes of Syr Iohn Oldcastle, dyd thinke him to be one of Deucalions stocke, who castyng of stones ouer his shoulder, could by and by make men at his pleasure, or els that he had Cadmus teeth to sowe, to make so many harnest men to start vp at once.

MarginaliaA rebellion to be of 20. thowsand, and yet no countrey to be knowen from whēce they came, it is not like.But let vs consider yet further of these xx. M. souldiours so sodenly without wages, without vitall, or other prouision cōgregated together, what they were, frō whēce out of what quarter, countrey, or coūtreys they came. In an other kyngs dayes, whensoeuer any rebelliō is against the king, moued by the commons, as when Iacke Straw and Wat Tyler of Kent, & Essex rose in the tyme of kyng Richard 2. When William Mandeuill of Abingdon, Iack Cade of Kent, in the tyme of kyng Henry the 6. In the tyme of kyng Henry the 8. when the cōmotion was of rebels in Lyncolnshyre, then in Yorkeshyre. When in kyng Edward the 6. tyme Humfrey Arundell in Deuonshyre, Captaine Kyte in Northfolke made styrre against þ^e king, the coūtrey & partes from whence these rebels did spring, where both noted and also diffamed.MarginaliaNeuer was any rebelliō of commons in England but the speciall coūtrey from whēce they came was noted and knowen. In this so trayterous cōmotion therfore let vs now learne, what mē these were, and from what coūtrey or countreys in all England they came. If they came out of any, let the Chroniclers declare what countreys they were. If they came out of none (as none is named) then let them come out of Outopia, where belike this figment was first forged, and inuented. Wherfore seyng neither the countreys from whence they came, nor yet the names of any of all these xx. M. doe appeare what they were either in Chronicle or in recorde, but remaine altogether vnknowen, I leaue it (gentle reader) to thy iudgement, to think thereupō, as thy wisedome shall lead thee.

(D)Marginalia(D) It foloweth more in the foresaid preface: MarginaliaAn other false reporte of sir Iohn Oldecastle that he intēded to kill all maner of estates in the realme.And to destroy all other maner of estates, of the same Realme of England, as well spirituall as temporall, &c. By þ^e course of this preamble it appeareth, that the sayd sir Iohn Oldcastle, was a wonderfull cruell tirant and murderer, who being not yet satisfied with the bloud of the king, nor of the two Dukes his brethren, would also make hauoke and swepestake, of all maner of estates in the Realme of England. What, & leaue no maner of estate aliue? No, neither Lord spiritual nor temporall, but altogether should be destroied. And what had all these estates done, thus so miserably to be destroied? Although percase the moode of this mā might haue bene incensed & kindled against the king, and the Lords spiritual, by whom he had bene cōdemned, as is aforesaid: yet why should all other maner of other estates both spiritual and temporal be killed? If none of all the estates in Englād, neither Duke, Earle, Baron, Lord, Knight or other gentleman had bene his frend, but all his enemies, how then is it like, that he hauing all the estates, peeres, nobles, and gentlemen of the Realme against him, and none to stand with him, either could or durst attempt any commotiō against the whole power of the land, he being but one gentleman onely with sir Roger Acton, and maister Browne left alone? At least, good reasō yet would, that those hundreth Knightes should haue bin spared out of this bloudy slaughter, whom he offred to produce vnto the king before, for his purgation, page. 159. And finally, if this was his purpose that all these estates both spiritual & temporall should haue bin cut down, what needed thenthat he should haue made himselfe a Regent, when hee might as well haue made himselfe a king, or what else he would, being left then Prince alone?

(E)Marginalia(E) The preamble as it began with vntruth, and continued in the same figure, heaping one vntruth vpon another: so now endeth with another misreport as vntrue as the rest, shewing & declaring, the intent of sir Iohn Oldcastle was also to destroy all maner of policie, & finally the lawes of þ^e land, &c.MarginaliaAn hard matter to destroy all policie and lawes of a land. We read of William Cōquerer, otherwise named William Bastard: who being a puisant Duke in his countrey, whē that the crown of Englād was alotted to him, and he cōming ouer with all his peres, nobles, & barons of his whole land, into this Realme, & had with great difficulty obteined victorie against king Harold: yet to alter and destroy the policy and the lawes of the land: it passed his power. Insomuch that it had not bin permitted vnto him to haue proceded so far as he did, vnlesse he had first sworne to the nobles of this lande, to retaine still the lawes of King Edward, as he found them. And albeit he afterward forsware himselfe, breaking his othe in altering and changing many of the foresaid lawes, yet wild he, nild he, could not so destroy them all (for the which much war and great commotiōs endured long after in the Realme) but that he was constrained and also contented to allow and admit a great part of the said lawes of king Edward, page. 167. And if he being king and Conquerour with all his strength of Normands and Englishmen about him, was too weake and insufficient to destroy all maner of policie, and lawes of this land, which he had conquered: how much lesse then is it to be supposed, that Sir Iohn Oldcastle being but a priuate subiect, and a poore Knight, and a condemned prisoner, destitute and forsaken of al Lords, Earles, and Barons, who to saue his owne life, had more to do, then he could well compasse, would either take in hand, or conceiue in his head anye such exployt, after the subuersion of Christian faith, and law of God, after the slaughter of the king, and of all maner of estates, as well spirituall as temporall, in the Realme of England, after the desolation of holy Church, to destroy also all maner of policie, and finally the lawes of the land? Which monstruous and incredible figment, how true it may seeme to M. Cope, or to some other late Chroniclers of the like credulitie, I can not tell: Certaine to me, and as I thinke to all indifferent readers it appeareth as true, as is the Verse of the Satyre, wherewith it may well be compared.

Nil intra est oleam, nil extra est in nuce duri.

MarginaliaObiection.But heere will be sayd again perhaps, that the matter of such preambles and prefaces being but pursuantes of statutes, and containing but words of course, to agreuate, and to geue a shew of a thing, which they would to seeme more odible to the people, is not so precisely to bee scande or exquisitely to be stand vpon, as for the ground of a ncessary case of trouth.

MarginaliaAunswere.This is it (M. Cope) that I saide before, and now doo well grant & admit the same, that such preambles or forefaces lyned with a non sequitur, containyng in them matter but of surmise, and wordes of course (and rather monsters out of course) and many tymes rising vpon false informatiō, are not alwayes in themselues materiall, or necessary probatiōs in all pointes to be followed: as appeareth both by this statute, & also by the statute of this kynges father. an. 2. Henr. 4. chap. 15.MarginaliaEx originali statut. Hen. 4. cap. 15. beginnyng Excellentissimo. &c. And yet notwithstandyng out of these same preambles, & forefrontes of statutes, & other inditementes, which cōmonly rising vpō matter of informatiō, runne onely vpō wordes of course of office, and not vpō simple truth, MarginaliaThe reason and cause, how chroniclers oft times be deceiued.a great part of our Chroniclers do oftē take their matter, which they insert into their stories, hauyng no respect or examination of circumstaunces to be compared, but onely following bare rumours, or els such wordes as they see in such fablyng prefaces, or inditementes expressed. Whereby it commeth so to passe, that the younger Chronicler followyng the elder, as the blind leadyng the blind, both together fall into the pit of errour. MarginaliaAlanus Copus deceiued by his chroniclers.And you also (maister Cope) followyng the steppes of the same, do seeme likewise to erre together with them, for good felowshyp. And thus concernyng the face of this statute hetherto sufficiently.

Now let vs cōsider and discusse in like maner, first the coherence, then the particular contentes of the said statute. As touchyng the which coherence, if it be well examined, a mā shall finde almost a Chimera of it. In which neither the head accordeth with the body, nor yet the braunches of the statute well agree with themselues. Wherein he that was the drawer, or first informer thereof, seemeth to haue forgot his Verse and art Poeticall.MarginaliaHorat. art. Poet.

Atque ita mentitur, sic veris falsa remiscet,

Primum ne medio, medium ne discrepet imo.
 

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Citation from Horace, Ars Poetica 1.151

Foxe text Latin

Atque ita mentitur ... discrepet imo.

Translation

John Wade, University of Sheffield

And he so makes things up, and so mixes falsehoods with truths, that the beginning is not at variance with the middle, nor the middle with the end.