CHURCH of ENGLANDBiblio.com
Ein Schrifftliche vermanung zum Friede und Einigkeit des öbersten Gubernators und anderer der fürnemsten Regenten und Rethe des Königreichs Engellandt An den Adell und Gemeine Stende auch alle andere Einwohner des Reichs Schottenlands. Auß Englischer Sprach ins Latein verdolmetscht unnd hernach verdeutschet. Den hohen Potentaten und Regenten sehr nützlich Wie sich solches im lesen an vielen stücken selbst erfindet
1549réf. 5178Erfurt: Gervasius und Wolffgangus Sthürmer gebrüder 1549. SOLE GERMAN EDITION. Printed by the brothers Gervasius and Wolfgang Stürmer. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in modern quarter vellum and marbled boards. A very good copy with broad margins with some faint marginal foxing mainly in the upper margin and a small faint damp-stain in the lower corner of the final 3 leaves. Translation of title: "A written exhortation to peace and unity from the Lord Protector and other leading regents and councilors of the Kingdom of England addressed to the nobility the common estates and all other inhabitants of the Kingdom of Scotland. Translated from English into Latin and subsequently into German. Highly useful to exalted potentates and rulers-as becomes evident in many passages upon reading." This is a German translation via an intermediate Latin version of Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset's "An Epistle or Exhortacion to Unitie & Peace" - the Lord Protector's open letter to the Scots urging them to honor the Treaty of Greenwich and accept the marriage of the English boy-king Edward VI to the infant Mary Queen of Scots. English troops were already prosecuting a war in Scotland. By refusing the marriage the Scots would show that they "preferred discord to unity war to peace." The letter is dated 5 February in the second year of King Edward VI's reign 1548. The English edition ESTC S110952 was printed at London in early 1548 most likely February since the Latin edition was also printed in London on 5 March ESTC S117203. In North America the English edition is held by Folger and Huntington; the Latin by Huntington only. I have not traced a copy of the German edition in North America. Edward Seymour was the brother of Queen Jane Seymour the third wife of King Henry VIII. Following Henry's death in 1547 he became Lord Protector of the realm for the young King Edward VI who was still a minor. As regent of England Seymour openly promoted Protestantism a stance that antagonized conservative Catholics-including Princess Mary the young king's eldest half-sister and successor. Seymour's military campaign against Scotland-an attempt to force a marriage between Edward VI and the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart at that time only an infant-ended in financial disaster for England. Increasingly unpopular among the nobility Seymour was overthrown in December 1549 and beheaded on Tower Hill on January 22 1552. On 1st July 1543 in the reign of King Henry VIII the Treaties of Greenwich were signed between England and Scotland. Part of the agreement was that Henry's five-year-old heir Edward and the princess Mary Stuart later Mary Queen of Scots should eventually be married. The Scots repudiated the treaties in December 1543. Henry's response was the war that later came to be known as the "Rough Wooing." It began with the sack of Edinburgh and Leith in May 1544 and continued into Edward VI's reign. In the end it pushed Scotland toward France. Mary then only four years old was betrothed to the Dauphin and sent to France under the Treaty of Haddington. "The timing of the Somerset's Epistle was important. In February 1548 the English were masters of Scotland; two invasions were about to be launched one up the River Nith to Drumlanrig another to Haddington. Furthermore it was becoming apparent that considerable French aid would shortly be sent to Scotland. At this critical juncture Somerset hoped to lay before the Scots the fullest and most moderate case he could and the Epistle was a direct comment on the circumstances at that time. Though short it was complicated with three basic elements: the exposition of the justness of the English case an elaboration of the advantages of the union and a demonstration of the lack of any alternative course of action. "The Epistle was the high water mark of the English propaganda campaign aimed at the Scots. Events were rapidly outstripping the presses. By June the French were disembarking at Leith by July Haddington was besieged and by August Mary had embarked for France the betrothed of the Dauphin. Scottish collaborators rapidly melted away. Consequently it is not surprising that no subsequent piece of propaganda can be seriously thought to be directed at a Scottish audience. "Efforts were made to insure that the Epistle had as wide a readership as possible. To begin with four different editions were printed: an English version in octavo and quarto executed by Grafton and two Latin editions by Wolf. Every other piece of propaganda had only one edition. Moreover the pamphlet was widely circulated. "Not only was the Epistle seen in Scotland. The Emperor read one of the Latin editions and did not find all of it to his liking. German Protestant concern has no more striking piece of evidence than a German translation of Wolf's Latin edition printed in Erfurt in 1549."Merriman The Rough Wooings Mary Queen of Scots p. 274-279 Somerset's Epistle present the English as Scotland's benefactors rather than its conquerors. As victors who have "overcome you in war and now become masters of the better part of your realm" they could have dictated terms but instead they come as "a father deals with his son an elder brother with a younger or a skilled physician with the sick" and ask the Scots to regard them "rather as friends than foes rather as brothers than masters." Centuries of war between the two kingdoms are truly lamentable because the two nations which share a common tongue and inhabit the same island are separated only by "the rival dominion that divides them." The natural conclusion is that they should where possible become a single realm under one rule. Since two hereditary realms cannot merge "without the downfall of one of them - except through the bond of marriage" the marriage of Edward and Mary offers the only means to effect the union of England and Scotland preserving "the rights of both" nations. Seymour sees the hand of Providence at work. King James V's two sons had died leaving only the infant Mary and Henry VIII had only sired one son by Jane Seymour. England promises to give up any title of conqueror and -remarkably- to set aside "the glorious English name itself" so that both peoples would resume "the old common name of Britons." Scottish laws would stand as England France and Rome all tolerated regional diversity of law and Mary would become "an heir in England as well." Against this the epistle sets the danger of relying on France. Foreign troops would "defile your houses waste your lands" and carry off the Queen to marry wherever it suited them. "This foreign help will be your shame this garrison your ruin even victory itself your bondage." The epistle closes with the promise of free trade between both kingdoms. Scottish merchants who register with border officers and pledge to the cause will receive safe-conduct into England to trade "exactly as though they were His Majesty's own subjects." A united Britain it is promised would have "the sea our wall brotherly love our garrison God Himself our protector.". Gervasius und Wolffgangus Sthürmer, gebrüder hardcover
Liber Antiquus · États-Unis4 500,00 $US≈ 4 012,48 €
