The Conclusyon.
Appetytes.
Synner.
The lorde.
Certayne, & sure am I (most gentyll reader) that all they whych shall peruse thys godlye boke, shall not therwith be pleased. For amonge feaders are alwayes sondry appetytes, and in great assemblyes of people, dyuerse, and varyaunt iudgementes, As the saynge, is, so many heades, so many wyttes. Neyther fyne paynted speche, wysdome of thys worlde, nor yet relygyouse hypocresye (whych for pryuate commodyte many men seketh) are herin to be loked for, And a reason why, For he that is here famylyarly commoned with, regardeth no curyosyte, but playnesse and truthe. He refuseth no synner, but is wele contented at all tymes to heare hys hombly tale. Hyde not thy selfe from me (sayth he) whan thu hast done amys, but come boldely face to face, and commen the matter with me. If thy synnes be so redde as scarlet, I shall make thē whyter than snowe. And though thy factes be as the purple, yet shall they apere so whyte as the wolle. Esa. 1. For as truly as I lyue (sayth he) no pleasure haue I in the deathe of a synner, but wyll moch rather that he turne and be saued. Eze. 33.
Dauid.
S. Iohā.
If the hombly speche here do to moche offēde, cōsydre it to be the worke of a woman, as she in the bygynnynge therof, haue most mekely desyered. And yet of nō other woman, than was most godly mynded. Marke Dauid in the psalter, whych was a man both wyse and lerned, and ye shall fynde hys maner in speakynge not all vnlyke to thys. Faythe (saynt Paule sayth) standeth not in floryshynge eloquence, neyther yet in mannys polytyque wysdome, but in the grace and power of God. 1. Cor. 2. If the ofte repetynge of some one sentence, engendereth a tedyouse werynesse to the reader, lete hym wele peruse the holy workes of S. Iohan the Euāgelyst, & I doubt it not but he shall fynde there the same maner of writynge. And hys occasyon is (as all the chefe writers afferme) the necessary markynge of the preceptes of helthe, or of matter chefely concernynge the sowles saluacyon. For a thynge twyse or thryse spoken, entereth moche more depely into the remēbraunce than that is vttered but ones.
Lady helisabeth.
Her first frute.
Lybrares.
And as touchynge the porcyon that my ladye Helisabeth, the kynges mostnoble syster hath therin, whych is her trāslacyon. Chefely haue she done it for her owne exercyse in the frenche tunge, besydes the spirytuall exercyse of her innar sowle with God. As a dylygent & profytable bee, haue she gathered of thys floure swetnesse both wayes, and of thys boke consolacyon in sprete. And thynkynge that other myght do the same, of a most fre christen harte, she maketh it here cōmen vnto them, not beynge a nigarde ouer the treasure of God. Math. 25. The first frute is it of her yonge, tender, and innocent labours. For I thynke she was not full oute xiiii. Yeares of age, at the fynyshynge therof. She haue not done herin, as ded the relygyouse and anoynted hypocrytes in monasteryes, couētes and colleges, in spearynge their lybraryes from men studyouse, and in reseruynge the treasure contayned in their bokes, to most vyle dust and wormes. But lyke as God hath gracyously geuen it, so do she agayne most frely dystrybute it.
The aged.
Youth.
Tuters.
Soch noble begynnynges are neyther to be reckened chyldysh nor babysh, though she were a babe in yeares, that hath here geuē them. Seldome fynde we them that in the closynge vp of their wythered age, do mynystre lyke frutes of vertu. An infynyte swarme beholde we of olde dottynge bawdes and beastes, that with cōscyences loaden with synne (as S. Paule reporteth them) taketh euery paynted stocke & stone for their God, besydes the small breades that their lecherouse chaplaynes hath blowen vpon. They shall not be vnwyse, that shall marke herin, what commodyte it is, or what profyght myght growe to a christen cōmen welthe if youth were thus brought vp in vertu & good letters. If soch frutes come forewarde in chyldehode, what wyll folowe and apere whan dyscressyon and yeares shall be more rype and auncyent? A most manyfest sygne of Godlynesse is it in the fryndes, where youth is thus instytute, and a token of wonderfully faythfull dylygence, in the studyouse teachers, tuters, and dayly lokers on.
Lerned.
Clauses added.
Nobylyte whych she hath gotē of bloude in the hyghest degre, hauynge a most vyctoryouse kynge to her father, & a most vertuouse, & lerned kynge agayne to her brother, is not in the earely sprynge dystayned with wanton ignoraūce, neytheryet blemyshed with the commen vyces of dyssolute youth, But most Plenteously adourned with all kyndes of languages, lernynges, and vertues, to holde it styll in ryght course. The translacyon of thys worke, were euydence stronge ynough, if I had not els to laye for the matter. But marke yet an other moch more effectuall and clere, at the whych not a fewe lerned men in Germany haue wondered. In .iiij. noble languages, Latyne, Greke, Frenche, and Italyane, wrote she vnto me these clauses folowynge. Whych I haue added to thys boke, not only in commendacyon of her lerned youth, but also as an example to be folowed of other noble men and women, cōcernynge their chyldren. The written clauses are these, whych she wrote first with her owne hande, moch more fynely than I coulde with anye prentynge letter set thē fourth.
Latyne.
Stultus dixit in corde suo, non est Deus. Illi corrupti sunt, & abhominabiles in sua impietate, nullus est qui aliquid boni facit.
Frenche.
Le foldisoit en sō cœur, il n’a nul Dieu. Ilz sont corumpus & sont abhominables en leur impiete, il n’a nul qui faict bien.
Italiane.
Is stulto disse uel suo core, non v’ e alcuno Dio. Corrutti sono & abhominabile nella loro impietà, nissuno è buono.
Greke.
Ton theon phoboŭ, tous de goneis tima, tous de Philous aeschynou.
The first clause in thre lāguages, latyne, Frenche, and Italyane, comprehēdeth thys only sentence, as I shewed afore in the Epystle dedycatory.
Antichrist Hys clergy.
The fole sayth in hys harte, there is no God. Corrupt they are, and abhominable in their wyckednesse (or blasphemyes agaynst God) not one of them doth good.
The Greke clause is thus to be Englyshed.
Christiane.
Feare God, honoure thy parentes, and reuerence thy fryndes.
The pope.
Writers.
Women.
All sortes.
Thus haue she geuen vs coūsell, both to go and to come, to leaue and to take. Todeclyne from the euyll, and to do that is good Psal. 36. To flee from the Antichrist & hys great body of synne or blasphemouse cruell clergy, & to returne to God by a perfyght feare, honoure, and loue. So lyuely Apothegmes, or breue and quyck sētences, respectynge christyanyte, haue seldom come from women. I haue serched Plutarchus, Boccatius, Bergomas, Textor, & Lander of Bonony, whych all wrote of the vertues and worthy actes of womē. But amonge them all haue I founde no counsels so necessary to the cōmen welthe of our christyanyte. I denye it not, but excellent thynges they vttered, and matters of wysdome wonderfull, concernynge morall vertues. But these most hyghly respecteth the kyngedome of fayth and regymēt of the sowle, whych Iesus Christ the eternall sonne of God, from heauen by hys doctryne and death so busyly sought to clere. Many graue sentences had they concernynge pryuate causes. But vnyuersally these are for all sortes of people, hygh, lowe, hayle, sycke, ryche, poore, lerned, & vnlerned, that myndeth to haue fredome by Christes deadly sufferynges, or to be delyuered frō helle, synne, deathe, & the deuyll, by the pryce of hys precyouse bloude.
Guendolena.
Cordilla.
Cambra.
Lawes.
No realme vndre the skye hath had more noble women, nor of more excellent graces, than haue thys realme of Englande, both in the dayes of the Brytaynes, and sens the Englysh Saxons obtayned it by valeaunt conquest. Guendolena the wyfe of Locrinus the seconde kynge of Brytayne, beynge vnlaufully dyuorced from hym for the pleasure of an whore, whom he longe afore had kepte, tryed it with hym by dynte of the swerde, had the vyctory, and reigned after hym as kynge the space of .xv. yeares, tyll her sonne Maddan come to laufull age. Cordilla the doughter of kynge Leyer, and least of all her systers, as her father was deposed, & exyled out of hys lande, she receyued, conforted, and restored hym agayne to hys princely honoure, and reigned alone after hys deathe, for the space of .v. yeares. Cambra the doughter of kynge Belyne, and wyfe to Antenor than Kynge of France, ded not only excede in bewtie, but also in wysdome. In so moch that she first instructed the noble men how to buylde cyties, castels, and other stronge holdes, the cōmē people more comely maners, and the womē a most semelydeckynge of their heades. She made their cyuyle lawes, whych vpon her name were called. Leges Sycambrorum. She taught them to sowe flaxe and hempe, to watter it, drye it, dresse it, spynne it, weaue it, whyten it, and fashyon it, to all maner of vse for the bodye.
Martia.
Constantia.
Agasia.
Būdwyca.
Martia the wyfe of kynge Guythelyne, a lady excedyngly fayre, wyse, & lerned in all the lyberall scyences, inuented thynges wonderfull by the hygh practyse of her wytt. After the death of her husbāde she reigned .vij. yeares as kynge, tyll Sicilius her sonne came to age. She redressed the commen welthe, refourmed the grosse maners of the people, and made most honest lawes, called of her name, Leges Martiane. So delyghted the Frenche kynge Nicanor in the wysdome, lernynge, and comely maners of hys wyfe Constantia, the doughter of kynge Eliodorus, that he not only holpe her brother Geruntius in see battayle agaynst the kynge of Orchades, but also sent hys most dere sonne Priamus into Brytayne to haue the same selfe bryngynge vp. The Scottysh kynge Finnanus, thought hys pryncely honour most gloryously increased, as he had obtayned Agasia the doughter of kynge Blegabridus, to be coupled in maryage with Dorstus hys sonne, for the manyfolde graces that he behelde in her. What though the seyd vngracyouse Dorstus, in spyght of the Brytaynes, ded afterwarde vse her most wyckedly. Bundwyca a womā both hygh of stature, and stomacke, also of myst noble lynage amonge the Brytaynes, perceyuynge the hauoke whych the Romanes dayly made in the lande, with great pusaunce of worthy warryours she inuaded them, slewe them, hynge vp their captaynes, and folowed the remnaunt of them to the very Alpes of Italy. Where at the lattre by reason of dayly labours, she syckened and so dyed, euen the uery glory of women, sayth Ponticus Virunnius.
Voada.
Voadicia.
Athildis.
Claudia Rufina.
Voada the first wyfe of kynge Aruiragus, a woman of wonderfull force & hart strongly armed her selfe, her .ij. doughters, and .v. thousande women more of the Britannysh bloude in battayle agaynst the furyouse fearce Romanes, to suppresse their tyranny and execrable fylthynesse in abusynge maydes, wyues, and wydowes. But as she behelde the vyctory vpon their sydes bycause she wolde not come vndretheir captyuyte, she poysened her selfe, & so dyed. Voadicia her yonger doughter, afterwarde escapynge the handes of the seyd Romanes, with a myghty power of the Brytanes entered into the yle of Māne, and in a nyght battayle, there slewe thē in a wonderfull nombre, destroyenge their fortalyces, and holdes. Notwithstandynge at the lattre beynge taken, she was byheaded, her eldar syster beynge maryed to kynge Marius. Athildis the doughter of the seyd kynge Marius, was also a most noble woman, whom the Frenche kynge Marcomerus marryed for the only naturall gyftes and scyences whych she had aboue other women, and had .vij. sonnes by her. Claudia Rufina, a noble Brytayne, wyttye and lerned both in Greke and Latyne, hauynge to husbande one Aulus Rufus a lerned knyght, a poete of Bonony & a phylosopher of the Stoycall sort, is moch cōmēded of Martialis the poete, for the Epygrammes and poemes whych she than compyled in both those tunges.
Emerita.
Helena Flauia.
Cōstātia.
Vrsula.
Emerita the syster of kynge Lucius, whych is called the first christened kynge, a lady most vertuouse and faythfull for cōstauntly affermynge the veryte of Christ, suffered most tyrannouse death and was brent in the fyre. Helena Flauia, the doughter of kynge Coelus, and mother to great Constantyne the Emprour, was a woman of incomparable bewtie and lernynge. Non coulde be founde lyke her in the artes lyberall, neyther yet in the fyne handelynge of all instrumentes of musyke. She excelled all other in the dyuerse speches of nacyons, specyally in the Latyne, Greke, and Hebrue. She made a boke of the prouydence of God, an other of the immortalyte of the sowle, with serten Greke poemes, epystles, and dyuerse other treatyses. Constantia her doughter, was also a woman of most excellent giftes, had she not in the ende declyned to the detestable secte of the Arryanes, by serten hypocrytysh prestes. Vrsula Cynosura, the floryshynge douter of Dionothus the duke of Cornewale, was so nobylly brougt vp in all lyberall dyscyplyne, that Conanus the kynge of lytle Brytayne desyred her to wyfe, and as she went thydrewarde with .xi. thousande Brytaynes wyues more, by chaūce of wether and vyolence of see rouers both she and they peryshed by the waye.
Annae duae.
Morganis.
Hermelinda.
Hylda.
Tres filiae.
Alenora.
Anna the syster of Aurelius Ambrosiuswhych was afterwarde marryed to Lotho the kynge of Pyctes, & Anna the twynne syster of kynge Arthure, are of writers magnyfyed, for their dyuerse and excellent graces. Morganis a woman of incomparable loue towardes her parentes, and contraye, so secretly and wysely conuayed the body of kynge Arthure, the most worthy gouernour of the Brytaynes, that the Englysh Saxons coulde neuer come to it, to do their vyolēce theron. Hermelinda, rysynge of the Englysh Saxons bloude, for her excellent bewtie and noble behauer became the wyfe of Cunibertus the kynge of Lombardy. Hylda, a noble woman, both godly, wyse, and lerned, not only dysputed in the open Synode at Streneshalce in the North contraye agaynst the prelates, concernynge their newly founde out celebracyon of Eastre, and their crowne shauynge, with other ceremonyes, but also wrote a treatyse agaynst byshopp Agilbert a Frenche man, the busyest amonge them. The thre doughters of kynge Alphrede, Elfleda, Elfritha, and Ethelgora, were wonderfully experte in the lyberall scyences. Alenor the wyfe of kynge Henry the seconde, was lerned also, & wrote dyuerse epystles to pope Celestyne the thirde, & also to kynge Iohan her yongest sonne.
Ioanna.
Margareta.
Elisabeth.
Names.
Ioāna the yongest doughter of the seyd kynge Henry, so moch delyghted in good letters, that before she shulde be marryed to kynge wyllyam of Cycyll, she caused her father to sende ouer .ij. lerned men of Englande, walther and Rycharde with a French doctour called Petrus Blesensis to instruct hym in them, specyally in the arte of versyfyenge. And at her cōmynge thydre, the one of those Englysh men was made archebyshop of Panorme, & the other byshop of Siracusa, in recompēce of their labours. Margarete the noble mother of kynge Henry the .vij. so plenteously mynded the preferment of scyences & goynge forewarde of lernynges, that she buylded in Cambryge for the same porpose, the colleges of Christ & of S. Iohan the Euāgelyst, and gaue landes for their mayntenaunce, as quene Helisabeth ded afore, to the quenes college there. Longe were it to rehearce the excedynge nombre of noble women, whych in thys lande of Brytayne or realme of Englande, haue excelled in bewtie, wytte, wysdome, scyence lāguages, lyberalyte, polycyes, heroycall force,and soch other notable vertues, and by reason of them done feates wonderfull. Eyther yet to sort out their Names and regestre them one by one, whych haue bene marryed out of the same, to Emprours, kynges, dukes, earles, worthy captaynes, Phylosophers, phesycyanes, astronomers, poetes, & other of renomed fame and letters, only for their most rare graces and gyftes.
Writers.
Alenora Cobham.
Double honoure.
Though non in thys lande haue yet done as ded amonge the Grekes Plutarchus, & amonge the Latynes Boccatius with other authours afore named, that is to saye, left beynde them Cataloges or Nomenclatures of famouse and honorable women, yet haue it not at any tyme bene barrayne of them. No, not in the dayes of most popysh darkenesse. As apereth by Alenor Cobham, the wyfe of good duke Vmfrey of Glocestre, brother to kynge Hēry the fift. Whom Antichristes grande captaynes, the byshoppes than of Englāde, in hate of her name and beleue, accused of sorcerouse inchauntmentes and experymentes of Necromancy agaynst their holy horned whorysh churche. And at the last slewe her noble husbande in a false parlement at Bury, by their owne hyred slaughter man Pole, as they neuer are without soch. If they were worthy prayse, whych had these aforenamed vertues syngle, or after a bodyly sort only, we must of congruence graunt them worthy double honoure, whych haue them most plēteously doubled. As now sens Christes Gospell hath rysen, we haue beholden them, & yet se them styll to thys daye in many noble women, not rysynge of flesh and bloude as in the other, but of that myghty lyuynge sprete of hys, whych vanquyshed deathe, helle, and the deuyll.
Anne Askewe.
Noble.
Women.
Prayer.
Consydre yet how strongly that sprete in Anne Askewe, set them all at nought with all their artyllery and mynysters of myschefe both vpon the racke and also in the fyre. Whose memory is now in benedyccyon (as Iesus Syrach reporteth of Moses) and shall neuer be forgotten of the ryghteouse. She as Christes myghty membre, hath strongly troden downe the head of the serpent, and gone hence with most noble vyctory ouer the pestyferouse seede of that vyperouse worme of Rome, the gates of helle not preuaylynge agaynst her. What other noble women haue,it doth now, and wyll yet herafter apere more largely by their godly doctryne and dedes of fayth. Marke thys present boke for one, whose translacyon was the worke of her, whych was but a babe at the doynge therof. Marke also the graue sentences, whych she geueth fourth to the worlde, & laude that lyuynge father of our lorde Iesus Christ, whych hath thus taken hys heauenly wysdome from the great graue senyours, that only are wyse in their owne consaytes, and geuen it so largely to chyldrē, Math. 11. That heauenly lorde graūt her and other noble women longe contynuaūce in the same to hys hygh pleasure. That lyke as they are become gloryouse to the worlde by the stody of good letters, so maye they also apere gloryouse ī hys syght by dayle exercyse in hys dyuyne scriptures, Whose nature is in processe of tyme to kyndle their myndes and inflame their hartes in the loue of Christ their eternall spouse, as thys present boke requyreth, So be it.
Thus endeth thys godly Medytacyon of the christen sowle concernynge a loue towardes God and hys Christ, aptely translated into Englysh by the ryght vertuouse lady Elyzabeth doughter to our late souerayne Kynge Henry the .viij.