DAmaetas having long beene a Wood-man, and observed the Natures and Properties of ma­ny Trees, apprehended some Mystery and peculiar matter in the Genest, more then hee could attaine to, and meeting with Silenus, a man of great Learning and Au­thority, (for hee was held a Prophet) expo­seth to him his Conceit: Silenus by meanes of a late accident, was well able to instruct and re­solve him: For there had beene a complaint made lately to Apollo, against certaine unwor­thy fellowes, which presumptuously tooke Garlands off his ancient Tree the Laurell. He forthwith calling the Muses to Councell in He­licon, established Ordinances for the due wea­ring of that, and all other Garlands: And be­cause the ancient Garlands were abused and prophained with common and unworthy use, he made choyce of a new Tree, (viz.) the Ge­nest; and instituted Garlands thereof, giving them prerogatives above the rest, and appro­priated them to one imperiall Family, seated in Britania or Albion rather; vide Stanz. 13, and is ta­ken out of Or­pheus in his Argonaunt, where Master Camden rather readeth [...], then [...]. Albion, or Alba, rather then Pinaria. Leucëëssa; with expresse defence, that none [Page]else should weare them; that not all the Prin­ces of this Family should weare Garlands here­of: but some a Chappelet, and some onely a branch, or Plant; the compleate Garland re­served for his favorite Sub Daphnis quod nomen in hac Ecloga da­tus S.R. Caro­lo, sicut Julio Caesari olim in Ecloga 5. Virg. à Pastoribus. Daphnis. After Silenus declareth more particularly, who, and what these royall Worthies were.

Beginning with the great Henry, sonne of the Empresse Matilda, (the first King of this I­land, surnamed Plantagenet from Planta-Genistae, so call'd (as some say) for wea­ring a slip or stalk of broom in his cap or hat, who write that toward his latter days in penance & contrition for his past sins, he undertook to goe to the Holy Sepul­cher, in the poore and de­spised habit of a Broome­man, and to signifie him­selfe so, bore a broom-stalk in his cap: as I have read of other Princes, who in great penitece & humblenes for their sins, & for their better privacy & security, have travail'd thither like Carpēters Joyners, & other poore mechanicke Tradesmen, wearing in the same kind somebadge of the trade they seemed to professe. Others say, it was because he scourged himselfe with the stalks of broom, which grew upon the Plaines where once the holy City stood: But I shal expresse this occasion more amply in another place. He was also surnamed Courtmantle. Plantagenet) and so deducing a Geneologie from him, through his Royall po­sterity, to our present Sacred Soveraigne Charles, his now Heire, whom hee Crowneth with this Polyanthine Garland, &c. In whose Sacred Person are joyntly met and coalesced, the Royall bloods, Titles, and Interests not onely of great Britaine, but also of France, and Ireland. For Scotland, the Crowne and Scep­ter thereof, (missa per innumeros avos) all men acknowledge his ancient right therein. And his Majesties Title to Ireland, will be manifest in the Genealogy herein deduced from the Great Plantagenet King Henry the second, the first English Prince of Lyonell Planta Duke of Clarence, 3 Son of K. Edw. 3. married Eliz. Daughter and Heire of Will. Mure-Burk. Earle of Vl­ster, Lord of Conacht, from whom the Dukes of York are descended. Camden in Hiber. Ireland, and from his [Page]Heroicall posterity, (as well Marches as others) who have beene continually seized thereof un­till this day. His Maie­sties Title to France, see it more at large in the Argu­ment. So likewise his title to the crowne of France, sheweth it selfe cleerely, in the anci­ent possessions of these royall Plantagenets here presented. His Majesties Progenitors first Dukes of Normandy, then of Aquitaine; Earles of Poictou, of Aniou, of Maine, of Touraine, and of Britaine; and after Angolesme, and lastly Kings of all France, in the right of † Vide Iohn Froissard Tom. 3. Isabell, or E­lizabeth, sole Daughter, and Heire of Philip le bell, King of France, Mother of King Ed­ward the third, who made a most renowned and happy entry upon that his Royall inheri­tance: And he, his great Heires were not one­ly Titular Lords, but also Actuall possessors of France many yeares; and yet to this day (in token of that ancient right) have seisin of a Gersey, Ger­nesey, Alder­ney, &c. are parcels of Normandy, & so consequent­ly of France; yet possessed by the King of England. part of that Kingdome, notwithstanding that counterfeit-heathnish law Salica, maintained by al the power of France many ages against them.

His Majesties title and descent from the anci­ent Kings of Great Britaine, (and which is least knowne) may thus readily be derived. His Maje­sties Title frō the British Kings. The Welch Bardes, as also our best Heralds, Re­cord that (1) Ruffin. Rhese-ap-Gruffith (surnamed Ar­gluid) Prince of South-Wales, about the yeare of our Lord 1196, (and issued from Cadwallader, the last British King) had a Daughter named (2) Faire Iu­lian. Gwenlhiam, married to (3) Edmund. Edneuet Vachan, [Page]Lord of Bransencle, and chiefe Justice of Wales, and bare to him a sonne called (4) Gerion, or Jeronim. Grono, this Grono had (5) Theodore. Tedor, Tedor had Grono, Grono had Tedor, Tedor had (6) Veridik. Meredith, Meredith had Owen; which Owen married Katherine, (Widdow of King Henry 5, and Daughter of the French King Charles the sixt) by whom he had Edmond, created Earle of Richmont, by King Hen. 6. his Brother Vterine: And this Ed­mond was father of King Hen. 7, who was Fa­ther of Queene Margaret his Majesties great Grandmother.

And lastly, to finish his Majesties Titles to all those Diadems mentioned in this Poësie, His Majesties title from the Saxon Kings. I have inserted a Genealogie of the Saxon Kings, drawne from the first uniter of the Heptarchy, and the Godfather of Anglia King Egbert, un­to Matilda the Empresse, Daughter and Heire of King Hen. 2. Ancestour of all the English Kings untill this day, from whom this Poësie is a continued Pedegree unto his Majesty, and his most excellent Sonne, &c.

But it may be objected, why I derive not his Title and Genealogie from some of the ancient Monarchs of this Isle Britons, or Saxons, or at the least from K. William the Conqueror, I must answere, that to have chosen any of the most ancient Kings, I must have looked so farre backe as I should not onely have beene too te­dious, but also lost my selfe in obscure wayes, [Page](as they know, which know what our ancient Stories bee. But as for William the Conquerour, there bee many reasons why I should not begin with him; (although I goe as neare him as his Sonnes Daughter) for first he was a Bastard, Vide Lib. 5. Stephani Ca­domensis de Gulielmo Conquestore editum, An. Dom. 1603. and yet not that of the blood Royall of England) his chiefe Title to the Crowne, being but violence, and his Sword, as he confessed with remorse of conscience, at his Death. Secondly, he was never possessed of one halfe of Britaine; for hee had neither Scotland, nor Wales, and in Ireland not one foote. Fur­thermore Girard Du. Haillan, and other French Antiquaries according to their Salike Heraldry, say that his line ended in his Sonne King Hen. 1. Philosalicus. for all they hold as a Maxime (La famille se co­tinuè es masles, et se finist aux filles) and yet Du. Haillan (notwithstanding or forgetting this) affirmeth in another place: that the race of the Kings of England, issued out of the house of Aniow, (viz.) from our great Henry, and his an­cestours, continueth untill this day; from whom there be many reasons on the other side, why I should deduce the Genealogies of our Kings passed, K. Henry 2. the greatest King, &c. and of our present Soveraigne Lord King Charles: for this great Henry was not one­ly rightfull Heire and King of England, but al­so the greatest King (of whom there is any cre­dible Story extant) which hath beene in this Isle of Britaine, since the time of the Roman [Page]Emperours, (who were reputed Lords of all the World) which thus I demonstrate briefly. He was King of England in the right of his Mo­ther Matilda, King Malcolm Knighted this King Henry 2. at 15. yeares of age. Neu­brig who wri­teth much in the honour of this K. Mal­colm, lib. 2. Cap. 20. the Empresse, Daughter and Heire to King Henry the first by Matilda Bona, Daughter of King Malcolm Canmoir, and of Margaret his wife, who was the Daughter of Edward Exul, the Saxon Prince, the Sonne of Edmund Ironside, King of England, Anno Dom. 1016. This Edmund was Sonne and Heire to King Etheldred, who in ancient Charters is written Totius Britanniae Rex, (quod nota) be­cause an Anonymus in a little booke dedicated to King Iames, affirmeth that never any Prince was King of this whole Isle untill then; but hee is deceived; (for besides Constantius Chlorus and his Sonne our Country-man, Constantine the great, Constans, Aurelius Ambrosius, Vter, and others; (which were Lords of all great Bri­taine) Edgar also, the Father of this King E­theldred, was absolute Monarch of this Island, and so puissant in forces both by Land and Sea, as he was surnamed the Great, and was styled Totius Albionis Basileus, & Anglici Orbis Basi­leus, (as G. Malmsburiensis & Florentius Wigor­niensis witnesse: Britaria ab adventu Saxo­num in insu­lam appella­tur Anglica, Ioan. Salisb. in Policratico. Whereupon (to note also by the way) some thinke that the word Anglia was sometimes used for the whole Isle, and which Ion Lidgate disertly assevereth in King Arthurs complaint, in these words: Great Bri­taine [Page]now called England; and so likewise doth Geoffry Chaucer in the Franklins tale, viz. Ranulfus Hi­geden in Poli­chronic. in England, that Clepid was Britaine, and Ranul­phus Cestrensis, a graver Authour, peremptorily affirmeth, that King Egbert after his Conquests ordayned, and commanded that the Saxons and Iutes should be called Angles, and this Bri­taine should be called England; but I leave this to be discussed by Antiquaries.

And to returne to the ancient Saxon Kings Progenitors of this Henry, and also possessors of the whole Isle, it is to be shewed (for the better confirmation of that, which hath beene said against the opinion of the Anonymus) in diuers ancient Records, and Charters of Do­nations of these Kings to Monasteries, and to Cathedrall Churches, Ex archiv is Ciscestrensis Ecclesiae. and in other ancient Monuments in these styles: Ephoca. Ego Athelstanus Rex Anglorum Dominicae Incarnationis, DCCCCXXX. Regni verò mihi gratis Commissi vj. Indictione iij. Ephoca. Epacta xviij. Concurrente iiij. Nonis Mensis Aprilis iij. Lunae rotigerae va­gationis, i. per ejusdem omni-patrantis dextram totius Britanniae regium solio sublimatus, &c. Ego Edmundus Rex Anglorum, caeterarumquègentium in circuitu persistentium Gubernator & Rector Anno Domini 945. Ego Edredus, King Edred was Uncle to Edgar Ingulf, Rex terrenus sub Imperiali potentia Regis saeculorum, aeterniquè Principis, magnae Britaniae, temporale gerens im­perium, &c. Anno Domini 148. Ego Edgarus [Page]totius Albionis Monarcha, &c. An. Dom. 966. and in another; Ego Edgarus totius Albionis, fi­niti-morum (que) regnum Basileus, An. Domini 974. These three last styles hath Ingulfus Abbot of Croyland transcribed by him, from the Char­ters of the Monastery: and the other two be­fore going, are copied out of the Records of Chichester Cathedrall Church, as also these three next following.

Ego Eadwis Basileon totius Albionis, If [...], sub. Rex. This Edwis, or Edwin was eldest Brother to the great K. Eadger. Asser in Histo. de Gestis Eal­fridi. &c. Anno Domini Dcccc. Lvj. Imperij antem i. And in another place; Ego Edwin Rex gentium Albio­nis, &c. And in the date of a Charter of Bishop Brighthelmus Anno secundo imperij Edwin toti­us Albionis Insulae imperantis; there is also (in Asser Meneuensis) Aelured, or Aelfred a more ancient Saxon King then these written: Omni­um Britanium Insulae Christianorum Rector, An. Dom. 872.

And Edward (surnamed Pius and Confessor) was from the yeare of our Lord 1050. King of this whole Ile, (if there be any credit to be gi­ven to our Stories) & was styled Rex Albionis, Io. Twinus in Albionicis. as Iohn Twin avoweth out of his Charters given to the Abby of Abington; and that same King Etheldred before cited, was styled in the Char­ters of Glastonbury, Etheldred Anglicae nationis, caeterarum (que) gentium triniatim intra ambitum Britan. Insulae degentium, &c. Basileus, and a­nother King in old inscription Britinniae Anax; [Page]and many such more which were too long to recite. And some Kings of the Norman race, (which is more rare) have beene so styled: For the Lord Bishop of Bristow voucheth a Coine of King Iohn, wherein is stamped Ioannes, In his Trea­tise about the Union. Rex Bri­tonum: But his Grand-child K. Edward 1. and af­ter him K. Edw. 3, Vide Th. Wal­singham in K. Edw. 1. & in Ed. 3. were greater Monarchs here then he. But this great Henry Plantagenets Em­pire extended beyond the bounds of the Brita­nish world; and his greatnesse so farre excee­ded all other Kings his Ancestours, that hee was styled Maximus Britaniae Regum, as I will shew by and by, and by good right, Jo. Praesul Carnotensis in Policratico. for besides this his great Britaine and Ireland, he was pos­sessed of a great part of France by these Titles: Hee was Duke of Normandy, by right of Inhe­ritance from his Grandfather King Henry 1, K. Edw. 3. e­rected Aqui­taine into a Princedome for his eldest sonne Ed. Duke of Normandy, &c. He was Duke of Aqui­tain, (that is) Gascoine, and Guien, (some­times a iKngdome) and Earle of Poictou by the marriage of Queene Elinor, Daughter and Heire of William Duke of Aquitaine, Jean de la Hay. and Earle of Poictou, (whose wife Ieanne was daughter of David, King of Scots. He was Earle of Aniou, (Seminary of Kings) of Touraine and Maine, (his native Countrey) by right of inheritance from his Father Geoffry le Bel, Earle of them all: He swayed in little Britaine, which authority he acquired partly by the Marriage of Const. daughter and heire of Conan, Earle of Brita. [Page]with his third sonne Geoffry, Earle of Richmond, but chiefly by his Sword; as it appeareth by Gu. Lib. 11. Cap. 18. Neuburgensis, who then lived, and thus writeth; Cum a potentioribus in Britania inferio­res premerentur, Regis Anglorum auxilium ex­petentes, ejus se ditioni spontanè subdiderunt, &c. ipsos (que) potentes viribus subegit, sic (que) in brevi tot a Britania potitus est. He also conquered Auuergne. For Ireland, he twice invaded that kingdome, and by Armes seconded with Letters of fa­vour of his good Friend Pope Adrian, (an Eng­lishman) hee brought the discording Princes there, Girald Cambr. in Hibern. ex­pugnata, & G. Canden. to submit their differences and their Ti­tles to him, and so obtained the possession of the Isle.

As for those parts and parties in this our Great Britaine, viz. of England, Scotland, and Wales, which did not acknowledge his Soveraignty) he reduced them in good time, to the ancient subjection and obedience which they owed to the British and Saxon Kings, his Progenitors. The Welch-men in their Stories acknowledge this; but for the other, (if any doubt be made) G. Neuburgensis ( veridicus Autor, as Polidore Virgill observeth him) will thus satisfie him, speaking of this King Henry, and of David K. of Scots, his prisoner, being then both at Yorke, Occurrit ei Rex Scotorum cum universis Regni no­bilibus, qui omnes in Ecclesia beatissimi Apostolo­rum Principis, Regi Angliae, tanquam principall [Page]Domino hominum cum Ligeantia, (id est) solem­ni cautione standi cum eo, & pro eo contra omnes homines (Rege proprio praecipiente) fecerunt; ip­se quoquè Rex Scotorum coram universa multitu­dine nobilium utriusquè regni Regem Anglorem modis solemnibus Dominum suum, se (que) hominem & fidelem eius declaravit, eiquè tria praecipua regni sui munimina (scilicèt) Rokesburke, Ber­wick, & Castellum puellarum loco obsidum tradi­dit, &c. But Iohn Bishop of Chartres, maketh his Empire yet much greater, Jo Bish. Car­notensis in Po­licratico. for he boundeth it to the Southward with Spaine, and to the North­ward with the Isle of Orkney, and might as well (if it had pleased him) with the North-Pole (as Giraldus Cambrensis did) and then styleth him maximum Britaniae Regum, and goeth further, and compareth him to Alexander, and ascri­beth (as some interpret) the first discovery of the West-Indies, (which was made by Madok a younger sonne of Owin Gwineth, D. Powell. Prince of North-Wales, An. Dom. 1170.) to this King, because it was done by his auspices: as we may as well also attribute to him the redeeming of our great Arthur from the injurious imputation of a fabulous Heros, because he caused his Mo­nument to be sought out, (which was sunke deepe into the ground in the Isle of Aualon) by the occasion of a Bardes song, D. Powell in the Hist. of the Princes of Wales. which he heard in Pembrooke: but I will set downe Gyraldus his owne words, written in manner of a Panegy­rick, [Page]to this King elegant enough for those times: Sil. Giraldus in Tepographia Hiberniae, Cap. 47. & 48. di­stinct. 3. Certant cum orbe terrarum victoriae ve­strae; à Pyrenaeis enim montibus us (que) in occiduos, & extremos Borealis Oceani fines Alexander noster occidentalis brachium extendisti. Quan­tum igitur his in partibus natura terras, tantum & victorias extulisti, si excursuum tuorum metae quaerantur, prius deerit Orbis quàm aderit finis. Animoso enim pectori cessare possunt terrae, cessare nesciunt victoriae, non deessse poterunt triumphi, sed materia triumphandi. Qualiter titulis vestris & triumphis Hibernicus accesserit Orbis? Quan­tâ & quàm laudabili virtute Oceani secreta, & oc­culta Naturae deposita transpenetraveris, &c. Qualiter fulguranti adventus vestri lumine atto­niti occidentales reguli tanquam ad lucubrum a­viculae ad vestrum statim imperiū couvolaverunt. And much more, Jo. Salisbur. in Policratico. lib. 8. cap. 24. which for brevity I omit: That which the Bishop of Chartres writeth of him before mentioned, and promised, is this; Rex illustris Anglorum Hen. secundus Regum Brita­niae maximus, &c. circa Garumnam fulminat, & Tolosam faelici (cingens obsidione, non modo pro­vinciales, usquè ad Rhodanum, & Alpes terri­tat, sed munitionibus dirutis populisquè Profligatis. subactis, (quasi universis praesens immineat) timore Prin­cipes concussit Hispanos & Gallos. And to these adde onely William Neuburoughs Elogie for a Corollary. G. Neubourgh Lib. 11.

Regis supra omnes, qui unquam hactenus in [Page]Anglia regnasse noscebantur, latius dominantis, (hoc est) ab ultimis Scotiae finibus ad montes us (que) Pyrenaeos, nomen in cunctis Regionibus celebre ha­bebatur, &c. hunc finem habuit inclytus ille Rex Henricus 2. inter Reges terrarum nominatissi­mus, & nulli eorum, vel amplitudine opum, vel faelicitate successuum secundus. Thus much for the testimony of the greatnesse of his con­quests, and of his Empire: as for his other great­nesse, his Wisedome, Justice, Magnanimity, Bounty, and other Heroicall Vertues, I shall not neede to produce any proofe; for his wise and politicke administration of his great af­faires and estate, his Victories and high at­chivements secretly intimate them at the full. Gyral. Cambr. He was also well learned, as Giraldus affirmeth, and which was his best praise, hee was ve­ry charitable and pious (incomparabilis Eleëmo­synarum largitor, et praecipuus terrae Palestinae sustentator) And Radulph de Diceto writeth, that in the time of an extreame dearth in Aniou and Maine, hee relieved with bread, An. Domini 1176. tenne thousand people dayly, from Aprill till har­vest: And William of Newburrough addeth, that hee received with great devotion the Cha­racter of the sacred Militia for the recovery of the holy land. And afterward (because he was not able to goe by reason of infirmities, and for the great dangers wherein his estate should stand in his absence, which Giraldus [Page]sheweth, he gave towards the expedition the summe of 47. Jo. Stoan an­nal. M. l. or thereabouts. Iean de la Hay also writeth that hee built S. Andrewes in Bourdeaux, and St. Peters in Poitiers, and foun­ded a Bishops sea there, and enlarged the Towne by the one halfe; Fabian. he reedified the Ab­by at Waltham in Essex, and the Charter house of Witham in Wiltshire; He loved hun­ting and haw­king excee­dingly. Giral. he first kept Lyons & made of the armes of Normandy viz. the 2 Leopards, and of the single Lyon of A­quitaine one Coat of armes for England: as it is yet borne: Nic. Ʋpton. John Carnoten: Lib. 16. Cap. 18. hee repaired and much beautified the Monastery of Font Everard (or Fronteaux) neare Ogle in Normandy and foun­ded the Priories of Staneley, and of Dover: Hee also beganne the stone worke of London bridge, which was finished by his sonne King Iohn, (or caused to bee finished) for it is all one to a common wealth; and hee instituted the circuit of the judges, and not to bee tedious in the enumeration of such particulars, in a word, he was as Iohn Carnotensis who knew him well: testifieth, Rex optimus apud Britanias, Norma­norum et Aquitanorum Dux faelicissimus, et primus tam amplitudine rerum, quam splendore virtutum, quam strenuus quam magnificus, quam prudens, et modestus quam pius ab ipsa, (ut ita dicam) infantia fuerit, nec ipse livor silere, nec dissimulare potest: cum oper a recentia, et manifesta sint, &c. And after these his great workes, his high Atchievements, his victories, Trophees of his Heroicall and Christian vertues, a long and happy Raigne, he departed at Chinon in Tou­raine, the 35 yeare of his raigne, and the 61 [Page]yeare of his age, An. Dom. 1189. and was with all due funeral Enterred at Fronteuaux, and upon his Tombe had this inscription ingraven.

Thus this great Henry left his great name, and his glory to the world, and his Kingdomes and his Dominions to his posterity, the Princes aranged in this following Poesy.