A short Historical COLLECTION, Touching the Succession of the Crown.  
WHether the History of the Succession of the Crown will allow so good and clear an Hereditary Right, Jure human, the Reader will best judge by the short Historical Collection touching the Succession hereto subjoined.  
In the Heptarchy there was no fixed Hereditary Right, one King tripping up the heels of another, as he had Power, till one got all.  
After no fixed Hereditary Right, for Athelstan the Great King was a Bastard, and so were several others, who by their Courage and Policy got the Crown; so that a Law was made under the Saxon Monarchy De Ordinatione Regum, that directed the Election of Kings, prohibiting Bastards to be Elected.  
Edward the Confessor was not King Jure H●reditario.  
William the First, called the conqueror, had no Right but from the Peoples Election.  
William Rusus was Elected against the Right of his Elder Brother.  
Henry the first came in by the same way.  
King Stephen was Elected à Clero& Populo, and confirmed by the Pope.  
Henry the Second came in by Consent, yet he had no Hereditary Right, for his Mother was living.  
Richard the First was charged before God and Man by the Archbishop upon his Coronation, that he should not presume to take the Crown, unless he resolved faithfully to observe the Laws.  
King John his Brother, because his Elder Brother's Son was a Foreigner, was Elected à Clero& Popul●, and being divorced from his Wife, by his new Queen, had Henry the Third.  
Henry the Third was confirmed and settled in the Kingdom by the general Election of the People, and in his life-time the Nation was Sworn to the Succession of Edward the First, before he went to the Holy-Land.  
Edward the First, being out of England, by the Consent of Lords and Commons, was declared King●  
Edward the Second, being misled, and relying too much upon his Favourites, was deposed, and his Son was declared King in his life-time.  
Richard the Second for his Evil Government, had the fate of the Second Edward.  
Henry the Fourth came in by Election of the People, to whom succeeded Henry the Fifth, and Henry the Sixth, in whose time Richard Duke of York claimed the Crown, and an Act of Parliament was made, That Henry the Sixth should enjoy the Crown for his life, and the said Duke after him; after which King Henry raised an Army by Assistance of Queen and Prince, and at Wakefield in battle kills the Duke, for which in Parliament, 1 Ed. 4th. they were all by Act of Parliament attainted of Treason, and one principal Reason thereof was, for that the Duke being declared Heir to the Crown after Henry, by Act of Parliament, they had killed him.  
Edward the Fourth enters the Stage, and leaves Edward the Fifth to succeed, to whom succeeds Richard the Third, confirmed King by Act of Parliament, upon two Reasons: First, That by reason of a Pre-contract of Ed. the Fourth, Ed. the Fifth his Eldest Son, and all his other Children were Bastards. Secondly, For that the Son of the Duke of Clarence, Second Brother to Edward the Fourth had no Right, because the Duke was attainted of Treason by a Parliament of Edward the Fourth.  
Henry the Seventh comes in, but had no Title▪ First, because Edward the Fourth's Daughter was then living. Secondly, His own Mother, the Countess of Richmond, was then living.  
After him Henry the Eighth wore the Crown, who could have no Title by the Father. In his time the Succession of the Crown was limited three several times, and the whole Nation Sworn to the Observance.  
Sir Thomas Moor declared that the Parliament had a Power to bind the Succession, and would subscribe thereto.  
Edward the Sixth succeeded, but his Mother was married to King Henry, while Katherine of Spain his Wife was living.  
Queen Mary was declared a Bastard, and by virtue of an Act of Parliament of Henry the VIII. she succeeded; which Act being repealed in the first of her Reign, and the Crown being limited otherwise by Parliament; all the Limitations of the Crown in Henry the Eighth's Reign were avoided; so that.  
Queen Elizabeth who was declared a Bastard by Act of Parliament in Henry the Eighth's time, and limited to suceed in another Act in his time, and that Act repealed by Queen Mary, became Queen in the force of her own Act of Parliament, which declared her Lawful Queen.  
The Crown was ential'd in Richard the seconds time, again in the time of Henry the Fourth, again in the time of Henry the Sixth, again in the time of Edward the Fourth, again in the time of Richard the Third, again in the time of Henry the Seventh; thrice in the time of Henry the Eighth.  
And upon the Marriage of Queen Mary to King Philip of Spain, both the Crowns of England and Spain were entailed, whereby it was provided, that of the several Children to he begotten upon the Queen; one was to have the Crown of England, another Spain, another the Low-Countries; the Articles of Marriage to this purpose were confirmed by Act of Parliament▪ and the Pope's Bull.  
So that it was agreed by the States of both Kingdoms, and the Low Co●●tries, and therefore probably the Universal Opinion of the great Men of that Age, That Kings and sovereign Princes, with the Consent of their States, had a Power to alter and bind the Succession of the Crown.  
FINIS.