, or Belus, who was the eldest sou of Robert Beale, a descendant from the family
, or Belus, who was the eldest sou
of Robert Beale, a descendant from the family of Beale,
of Woodbridge, in Suffolk, appears to have been educated
to the profession of the civil and canon law. He was an
exile on account of religion, in queen Mary’s days, but
some time after his return, married Editha, daughter of
Henry St. Barbe, of Somersetshire, and sister to the lady
of sir Francis Walsingham, under whose patronage he first
appeared at court. In 1571 he was secretary to sir Francis
when sent ambassador to France, and himself was sent in
the same character, in 1576, to the prince of Orange.
Heylin and Fuller inform us that he was a great favourer
of the Puritans, and wrote in defence of their principles.
About the year 1564 he wrote in defence of the validity of
the marriage between the earl of Hertford and lady Catherine Grey, and against the sentence of the delegates,
which sentence was also opposed by the civilians of Spire,
and of Paris, whom Beale had consulted. Strype, in his
life of Parker, mentions his “Discourse concerning the
Parisian massacre by way of letter to the lord Burghley.
”
His most considerable work, however, is a collection of
some of the Spanish historians, under the title “Rerum
Hispanicarum Scriptores,
” Francf.