MAGNIFICE princeps, innata vobis probitas, & prudentum consilia (vt opinamur) simul agerent in officium, quòd singula hæreditaria iura, quæ ex natalitio vestram magnificant regiam maiestatem, temporibus vestræ discretonis altissima prouidentia munirentur illæsa; et si quæuis oppugnaret violentia, clypeo militari studeat regalis industria |815| fortiter defendere sua iura. Et quòd vestram regiam personam cōtingamus in affinitate, ni vetet Deus ipse, quin semper parati erimus vobis in vestris iuribus defendendis assistere cum duobus milibus lancearū, quando & quotiens disponemini ad bellica conuolare. Nec perire debeant iura propter verba aut promissa, quomodolibet ad hoc laborat versutia Gallicorum. Sanè serenissime princeps in orbem volat fama, nec ambigitur quòd propter lanam & innumerabilia vestra singularia commoda, sine quibus non viuit oriens neque auster, regna singula in pecunijs vos salutant. In comparatione igitur ad alios reges vobis confert Deus ipse diuitias centuplatas. Probitas etiam militaris, & arcuum asperitas, sine pari, taliter huc vsque extulere gentem magnanimam occidentis, quòd timor non paruus vestros inuadit aduersarios; & ad hunc diem impariter victoriosè dimicauit cum Gallicis Angliæ gens austera. In pusillanimitate igitur (potentissime princeps) contra naturam non obdormeat cor leonis; sed & quales vobis contulit vires natura, ipsas applicare dignemini actibus bellicosis, in defensionem reipublicæ; iuris hæreditarij sustentationem, augmentúmque meriti, & incomparabiliter chronicabilem probitatem cordis magnanimi tanti regis.
The same letter in plaine phrase verbatim Englished by A. F.
MOST mightie prince, your roiall prowesse and the counsels of the sage, should altogither (as we thinke) moue you in dutie, by the most profound & deepe foresight of your discretion in time to maintaine and defend all and singular your rights & inheritance vnharmed, which by birth doo magnifie and make great your roiall maiestie, and if anie violence whatsoeuer gainstand and assault the same, your kinglie diligence should indeuor with the shield of a warrior valiantlie to defend your title and right. And bicause we are neere you, & doo as it were touch your roiall person in aliance, vnlesse God himselfe doo forbid and hinder vs, we will alwaies be readie in all your rights to assist and aid you with two thousand pikes, when and how often soeuer you shall be disposed to rush out to battell. Your right ought not to be lost for words and promises, howsoeuer the craftinesse of the French labor to this purpose. Trulie most excellent prince, your renowme doth flie into the world, neither is it doubted but for your wooll sake, and other your singular commodities being innumerable (without the which the east and the south can not liue) all realmes with their coines doo greet you. In comparison therefore of other kings God himselfe hath bestowed vpon you riches a hundred fold. Your warlike prowesse also, & the roughnesse of your bowes, being peerelesse, haue hitherto so extolled the couragious nation of the west, that no small feare dooth inuade your aduersaries; and to this day the sterne people of England haue (none like them) victoriouslie incountered with the French. Therefore ô most puissant prince, let not the hart of a lion sleepe in cowardlinesse against nature: but what force and valiantnesse nature hath giuen you, the same vouchsafe to put in practise with feats of armes in defense of your common wealth, the maintenance of your right by inheritance, the increase of your desert, and the peerelesse prowesse of so great a kings couragious hart right worthie to be chronicled.
The flix gotten by excessive feeding on fruits.
The lord maior of London commended for his carefull prouision of corne from beyond the seas in the time of dearth.
The price of corne that had continued at an high rate, almost for the space of two yeares, began to fall immediatlie after haruest was got in, to the great reliefe of the poore, which before through immoderate eating of nuts and apples, fell into the disease called the flix, whereof manie died, and suerlie (as was thought) the death and dearth had beene greater, if the commendable diligence of the lord maior of London had not béene, in relieuing the commons by such prouision as he made for corne to be brought to London, from the parties of beyond the seas, where otherwise neither had the countrie béene able in anie thing to haue sufficed the citie, nor the citie the countrie. H. Knighton |816| referreth this scarsitie to the yeare 1390, and maketh a large discourse both of the miseries which it brought with it, as also of the cause whereby it was procured, and of the notable meanes whereby the same in most places was remedied.
Abr. Fl. out of Henrie Knighton canon of Leceister abbeie.
The cause of the scarsitie was not want of bread or corne.
Wooll sold dogcheape by the stone.
Prouision against scarsitie to relieue the poore.