12.29. The answer of the king to the patriarch. Chap. 29.

The answer of the king to the patriarch. Chap. 29.

[...]Daie for answer herof being appointed at last by the king at London, manie as well knights as of common sort, by the admonish|ments of the patriarch, as the sermons of Baldwin the archbishop were croised to the seruice of Christ. At the last the patriarch receiued this an|swer of the king, that it was not good to leaue his realme without defense and gouernement, & leaue open his lands beyond sea to the rapacitie of the Frenchmen that hated him: but as concerning monie, he would giue both that which he sent thi|ther, to be reserued for him, and more also for the defense of the holie land. To whome the patriarch answered by following this aduise. O king you doo nothing: and by this meanes you shall neither saue your selfe, nor reserue Christes patrimonie. We come to séeke a prince, and not monie. Euerie part of the world almost sendeth vs monie, but none sen|deth vs a prince. Therfore we desire a man that may want monie, and not monie that may want a man. This was the saieng of The mis [...]o|cles. But, when the patriarch could get no other answer of the king, he taketh an other deuise: he desireth him to giue to their aid one of his sonnes, and if none other, yet his yoongest sonne Iohn, that the bloud descending from the An [...]owes might in a new branch raise vp the kingdome.

Iohn himselfe, albeit he was readie to passe into Ireland giuen him by his father, with a great armie, (prostrating himselfe at his fathers féet) desired (as they saie) that he might be sent to Ierusalem, but he obteined it not. So the patriarch séeing he could doo nothing, and draw no oile out of the hard stone, hée spake thus against the king, in th'audience of manie, with a threatfull and propheticall spirit. O glorious king, thou hast reigned hitherto among the princes of the world with incomparable glorie, and your princelie honour hath hither to dailie increased to the type of highnesse. But now doubtlesse is this triall being forsaken of God, whom you forsake, and desti|tute of all heauenlie grace. From hensefoorth shall your glorie be turned into sorrow, and your honor to reproch so long as you liue. I would to God the king had auoided this threat by penance, like the king of Niniuie, and had caused this sentence to be altered!

EEBO page image 50 The holie man spake this thing thrise, first at Lon|don, then at Douer, and lastlie at Chinon castell be|yond the sea. And I would to God the patriarch had béene a man without that propheticall spirit, & had ra|ther spoken a lesing, that we may for more euidence touch such things brieflie as were before spoken by that true forespeaker, which we saw shortlie to take effect. Whereas the king reigned thirtie and fiue yeares, thirtie years were granted him for worldlie glorie, expectation of his conuersion, & triall of his de|notion; but the last fiue years fell vpon him, as vpon an vngratefull, reprobate, and abiect seruant, in re|uengement, sorrow, & ignominie. For in the two and thirtith yeare of his reigne, immediatlie after the comming of the patriarch, his first enterprise of sen|ding his sonne Iohn into Ireland, both the labour and cost was frustrate and lost. The thrée and thir|tith yeare, whereas he neuer lost land before, he lost to king Philip (being but a child) almost all Aniou. The foure and thirtith yéere he lost the castell Rader, and welnéere all Be [...]ie. The fiue and thirtith yeare of his reigne, and the fourth yéere after the comming of the parriarch, not onelie king Philip of France, but his son Richard of Poitiers rising against him, he lost the cities of Towres and Maine, with manie castels, and himselfe also; according to that in saint Gregorie: Those that the Lord hath long forborne, that they might be conuerted, if they doo not conuert, he condemneth them the more greeuouslie.

12.30. The croising of kings. Chap. 30.

The croising of kings. Chap. 30.

BUt perchance the king was reserued by heauenlie disposition to the victorie of deser|ued loue. How much greater is it to repare things cast downe, than to vnderprop things likelie to fall? And who had knowne Hector, if Troie had continued in prosperitie? By so much as aduer|sitie is more instant and vrged, by so much the glorie of valiantnesse will shine the brighter. For by the se|cret iudgement of God, within two yeares after the victorie was giuen to the pagans and Parthians, a|gainst the christians, either to reuenge the cold deuo|tion of the east church, or to trie the deuout obedience of the westerne men; the worthie Richard earle of Poitiers hearing this ouerthrow, tooke deuoutlie the croisure vpon him at Towres, giuing an example to other princes in that matter. Whervpon the king of England, the earles father, and Philip king of France, who had bin before at variance (with Gods grace, and the archbishop of Towres persuasion) in that place and that houre, at their conference at Gui|sors were croised, with manie other great men of the clergie and laitie. And as kings folowed the example of the erle, so after their example the emperour Fre|derike, through the persuasion of the duke of Alba, with manie states of Almane were croised in the lords court at Mentz. So as it is thought, the king of England being reserued more than all other to the restoring of the decaied state of the holie land, if he had finished his life in this victorie; doubtlesse that famous prophesie of Merlin Ambrosius had beene verefied in him. His beginning (saith he) shall wauer A prophesie of Merlin tou|ching the king with wild affections, and his end shall mount to heauen.

12.31. The discord of the kings. Chap. 31.

The discord of the kings. Chap. 31.

A Sudden discord rose betwene the kings and that (which was woorse) betwéene the fa|ther and the earle, through the working of the old enimie, & their sinnes deseruing the same, to the great hinderance of their noble enterprise: as though they bring vnfit for it, the honor thereof was reserued for other; or perchance according to the sen|tence of Gregorie: Aduersitie, which is obiected a|gainst good vowes, is a triall of vertue, and not a signe of disproofe. Who is ignorant how happie a thing it was that Paule was driuen into Italie, and yet he suffered shipwracke? But the ship of his heart was safe among the surges of the sea. Likewise therfore as vertue is perfected in infirmitie, and gold tried in the fire: so the constancie of faith that can|not be craized with tribulations, dooth increase more as sinapis; and the courage of the mind is more va|liant againe than troublous assaults of fortune. O how much rather would I, that these kings accom|panied with a few men acceptable to God, had ta|ken vpon them this laborious, but yet a glorious iourneie, than to war proud for the great wealth that they had gathered of manie people to this end. Read ouer the whole bible, and consider thése latter times, and you shall find, that victorie hath béene gained, not with force and humane power, but with Gods grace and store of vertues. For as Cassiodorus saith: An armed people without the Lord is vnarmed. And as Seneca saith, Not the number of the people, but the vertue of a few get the victorie. Of the foure before named, the emperour Frederike, albeit he was the last croised, yet in the execution thereof he was the first: whome therefore I account so much the more woorthie of victorie in heauen, and glorie in earth, that he forsaking large kingdomes and his empire, delaied not out the matter.