open remedy and wanted no displeasure for inward grief Duke Ernestus Marches Albert and Lazarus Swendy sate at supper togethers as they were talkyng of the Interim the Marches soddenly brast out into a fury saying what deuill will the Emperour neuer leaue striuyng with God in defacyng true Religiō and tossyng the world in debarryng all mēs liberties addyng that he was a Prince vnkynd to euery man and kept touch with no mā that could forget all mens merites would deceiue whom soeuer he promised The Duke liked not this hoate talke in hys house and at his table but sayd Cosin you speake but merely and not as you thincke adding much the prayse of the Emperours gentlenes shewed to many and of his promise kept withall Well quoth the Marches if he had bene either kynde where men haue deserued or would haue performed that hee promised neither should I at this tyme accuse hym nor you haue sit here in this place to defende hym for he promised to geue me this house with all the landes that thereto belongeth but ye be affrayd Cosin quoth the Marches lest this talke be to loud and so heard to farre of when in deede if the Commissarie here be so honest a man as I take him and so true to his master as he should be he will not fayle to say what he hath heard and on the same cōdition Commissary I bryng thee good lucke and drancke of vnto hym a great glasse of wine Lazarus Swendyes talke then sounded gētly and quietly for he was sore affrayed of the Marches But he was no soner at home with the Emperour but word was sent straight to Duke Maurice that the Marches who was as thē come to Madenburg if he would needes serue there should serue without wages Ye may be sure the Marches was chafed a new with this newes who already had lost a great sort of hys men and now must leese hys whole labour thether and all his wages there besides the losse of hys honour in takyng such shame of hys enemies receiuyng such vnkyndnes of the Emperour The Marches was not so greeued but Duke Maurice was as well contented with this commaundement for euen then was Duke Maurice Secretary practisyng by Baron Hadeckes aduise with the French kyng for the sturre which dyd follow and therfore was glad when he saw the Marches might be made hys so easely whiche came very soone to passe so that the Marches for the same purpose in the ende of the same yeare went into Fraunce secretly and was there with Shertly as a commō Launce Knight and named hymselfe Captaine Paul lest the Emperour spials should get out his doynges where by the aduise of Shertly hee practised with the French kyng for the warres which followed after This matter was told vnto me by Iohn Mecardus one of the chief Preachers in Augusta who beyng banished the Empiere when and how ye shall heare after was fayne to flye and was with Shertly the same yeare in Fraunce The Marches came out of Fraunce in the begynnyng of the yeare .1552 and out of hand gathered vp men but his purpose was not knowne yet the Emperour mistrusted the matter beyng at Insburg sent Doct. Hasius one of hys counsell to know what cause he had to make such sturre This Doct. Hasius was once an earnest protestāt and wrote a booke on that side was one of the Palsgraues priuy counsell But for hope to clime higher he was very ready to be entised by the Emperour to forsake first his master then God By whō the Emperour knew much of all the Princes Protestants purposes for he was commonly one whom they had vsed in all their Dietes and priuate practises which thing caused the Emperour to seeke to haue hym that by his head he might the easelyer ouerthrow the Protestantes with them God and hys word in all Germany This man is very lyke M. Parrie her graces cofferer in head face legges and bellye What aūswere Hasius had I can not tell but sure I am the Marches then both wrote his booke of complayntes agaynst the Emperour and set it out in Printe And also came forward with banner displayed and tooke Dillyng vpon Danuby the Cardinall of Augustus towne which Cardinall with a few Priestes fled in post to the Emperour at Inspurg where he found so cold cheare and so litle comfort that forthwith in all hast he posted to Rome Horsemen and footemen in great companies still gathered to the Marches and in the ende of March he marched forward to Augusta where he Duke Maurice the young Lansgraue the duke of Mechelburg George and Albert with William Duke of Brunswycke and other Princes confederate met together and besieged that Citie Where I will leaue the Marches till I haue brought Duke Maurice and hys doinges to the same time and to the same place ¶ Duke Maurice NOt many yeares agoe whole Saxony was chiefly vnder two Princes the one duke Iohn Fredericke borne Elector who yet liueth defender of Luther a noble setter out and as true a follower of Christ and his Gospell The other hys kynsman Duke George who is dead Knight of the order of the Golden Fleece a great mā of the Emperour a mayntainer of Cocleus and a notable piller of Papistry Duke Iohn Fredericke is now 50. yeares of age so byg of personage as a very strong horse is scarse able to beare hym yet is he a great deale bygger in all kynde of vertues in wisedome iustice liberalitie stoutnes temperancy in hym self and humanitie towardes others in all affaires and either fortunes vsing a singular trouth and stedfastnes so that Luice de Auila and the Secretary of Ferrare who wrote the story of the first warres in Germany and professe to be his ernest enemies both for matters of state and also of Religion were so compelled by his worthynes to say the truth as though theyr onely purpose had bene to write his prayse He was fiue yeares prisoner in this Court where he wan such loue of all men as the Spanyardes now say they would as gladly fight to set hym vp agayne as euer they dyd to pull hym downe For they see that he is wise in all his doynges iust in all hys dealynges lowly to the meanest princely with the biggest and excellyng gentle to all whom no aduersitie could euer moue nor pollicy at any tyme entice to shrincke from God and his word And here I must needes commend the Secretary of Ferrare who beyng a Papist and writyng the history of the late warres in Germany doth not kepe backe a goodly testimony of Duke Frederickes constancy toward God and hys Religion When the Emperour had taken the Duke prisoner he came shortly after before the Citie of Witemberg and beyng aduised by some bloudy coūsellours that Duke Frederickes death should by the terrour of it turne all the Protestantes from theyr Religion caused a write to be made for the Duke to be executed the
priuate cause to say wel on him do speake it boldly and openly that he was such a one as neuer could content his couetousnes with money nor neuer satisfie his crueltie with bloud And so by this foule meane many gentlemē in Naples haue lost some theyr liues but moe theyr liuynges and almost all theyr libertie And there be at this day as men say here that know it a good sort of thousandes Neapolitanes named Foriensuti who beyng spoyled at home by violence robbe other abroad for neede which comber so the passage betwixt Rome and Naples as no man departeth commonly from Rome without company which commeth to Naples without robbyng The whole body of the kyngdome of Naples was so distempered inwardly with this misorder with a litle outward occasion it would easely haue burst forth into a foule sore A lesse matter then the rauishyng of Lucrece A meaner ayde then the helpe of Brutus was thought sufficient to haue stirred vp this inward grudge to open reuenge But see how God prouided for the Emperour and the quyet of that kingdome For God in takyng away one Spanyard hath made Naples now more strong then if the Emperour had set xx thousand of the best in Spayne there for euen this last Lent. 1553. Don Pietro di Toledo dyed at Florence by whose goyng away mens hartes in Naples be so come agayne to the Emperour as he shall now haue lesse neede either to care for the fyne fetches of Fraunce or to feare the great power of the Turke A gentleman of this Court a true seruaunt to the Emperour sayd merely in a company where I was that his master the Emperour had won more in Naples by the death of the Uiceroy then he had lost in Lorraigne by the forgyng of Metz. But to my purpose not many yeares agoe diuers in Naples made their cōplaint to the Prince of Salerne of their griefes who was thought would be most willyng for his good nature and best able for his authoritie to seeke some remedie for them by way of intercessiō to the Emperour The Prince beyng here at Bruxels humbly besought hys Maiestie to pitie the miserie of hys poore subiectes who by this sute gat of the Emperour for hys cliantes wordes without hope and of the Uiceroy for him selfe hatred without ende The Prince yet alwayes bare hym selfe so wisely that he could not without some sturre be thrust downe openly and ridyng on his iourney he was once shot with a dagge secretly Thus he seyng no ende of displeasure in the Uiceroy no hope of remedy in the Emperour when he saw the Turke on the Sea the French kyng in the field Duke Maurice and the Marches vp and a good part of Italy either risen or ready to rise thinkyng the tyme come of theyr most hope for helpe by the Princes and of least feare of punishment by the Emperour came forth to play his part also amongest the rest who whē flying first to the French kyng and after by hys counsell as it is sayd to the Turke is compelled to venture vppon many hard fortunes And what succes he shall haue either of helpe in Fraunce or comfort of the Turke or mercy of the Emperour I can not yet write But this last winter he hath lyen in the I le of Cio and now I heare say this sommer he is on the Sea with 63. Gallyes of the Turkes at his commaundement what enterprice he will make or what successe he shall haue when we shall heare of the matter I trust I shal either by some priuate letter from hence or by present talke at home fully satisfie you therin ¶ Albert Marches of Bradenburge ALbert Marches of Bradenburge in the begynnyng of his sturre .1552 wrote a booke and set it Print wherin he declared the causes of hys fallyng from the Emperour wittely alledgyng common misery as a iust pretence of hys priuate enterprise makyng other mens hurtes his remedy to heale his own sores and common wronges hys way to reuenge priuate displeasures shewyng liberty to be last and Religion to be defaced in all Germany lamentyng the long captiuitie of the two great Princes and all the dispossessyng of hys father in law Duke Otto Henrick sore enueyng against the pride of the Spanyardes and the authoritie of straungers which had now in their handes the seale of the Impiere and in theyr swynge the doyng of all thynges and at their cōmaundement all such mens voyces as were to be called the Imperiall Dietes cōpellyng the Germanes in their owne countrey to vse straunge toungs for their priuate sutes wherin they could say nothyng at all or nothyng to the purpose vsing Camera Imperialis at Spires for a common key to open all mens coffers when they listed and these were the chiefest points in Marches booke The Marches also sore enueyed agaynst Luice de Auila for writyng and agaynst the Emperour for suffring such a booke as Luice de Auila wrote wherein the honor of Germany and the Princes therof by name Marches Albert who was in the first warres on the Emperours side was so defamed to all the world yea the Marches was so throughly chafed with this boke that when I was in the Emperours court he offred the combat with Luice de Auila which the Emperour for good wil and wise respectes would in no case admit Not onely the Marches but also the Princes at the Diet of Passan this last yeare made a common complaint of this booke I knew also the good old Prince Fredericke Palsgraue of the Rhene in September last when the Emperour lay at Landaw beside Spires goyng with his great army to Metz complayned to the Emperour hym selfe and to his counsell of a certaine spightfull place in that booke against him The good prince told me this tale him selfe at hys house in Heldibirge whē I caried vnto him kyng Edwardes letters the Lord Ambassadour him selfe beyng sicke at Spires And wise men say that the Duke of Bauiere also is euill contented for that which is written in that booke agaynst his father when he deserued of the Imperials to haue bene rewarded rather with prayse and thankes then with any vnkynde note of blame and dishonour of whom the Emperour in his warres agaynst the Lansgraue and the Duke of Saxonie receiued such kindnes as no Prince in Germany for all respectes in the case was able to affourde hym as first he had his whole countrey of Bauiere for a sure footyng place to begyn the warre in and had also both men and vittaile of hym what he would and at lēgth should haue had that countrey his onely refuge if that in warre he had come to any vnderdele as he was like enough to haue done But it was Gods secret will and pleasure to haue the matter then go as it did And for that cause men say Duke Albert of Bauiere that now is that hath maryed the Emperours niece was more straunge this last yeare to the Emperour
next mornyng vppon a solemne scaffold in the sight of his wife children and the whole Citie of Wittemberg This write signed with the Emperours own hand was sent ouer night to the Duke who whē the write came vnto hym was in hys tent playing at Chesse with his Cosin and fellow prisoner the Lansgraue of Lithenberg and readyng it aduisedly ouer layd it downe quietly beside and made no countenance at all at the matter but sayd Cosin take good heede to your game and returnyng to his play as quietly as though he had receiued some priuate letter of no great importance dyd geue the Lansgraue a trim mate The Emperour I doubt not chiefly moued by God secondly of his great wisedome and naturall clemency when he vnderstode his merueilous constancie chaunged his purpose and reuoked the write and euer after gaue him more honour and shewed him more humanitie then any Prince that euer I haue read of haue hetherto done to his prisoner He is also such a louer of learnyng as his Librarie furnished with bookes of all tounges and sciēces passeth all other Libraries which are yet gathered in Christendome For my frend Ieronimus Wolfius who translated Demosthenes out of Greeke into Latine who had sene the Frēch kings Library at Augusta hath told me that though in six monethes he was not able onely to write out the titles of the bookes in the Fuggers Library yet was it not so byg as Duke Frederickes was which he saw in Saxony I thinke he vnderstandeth no straunge toung saue somewhat the Latin and a litle the French And yet it is merueilous that my frend Iohannes Sturmius doth report by writyng what he heard Phillip Melancthon at a tyme say of this noble Duke that he thought the Duke did priuately read write more euery day thē did both he and D. Aurifaber which two were counted in all mens iudgementes to be the greatest readers and writers in all the Uniuersitie of Wittemberg And as hee doth thus read with such diligence euen so he can report with such a memory what soeuer he doth read and namely histories as at his table on euery new occasion he is accustomed to recite some new story which hee doth with such pleasure and vtterance as men be content to leaue their meat to heare him talke and yet hee hym selfe is not disdaynfull to heare the meanest nor will ouerwhart any mans reason He talketh without tauntyng and is mery without scoffyng deludyng no man for sport nor nippyng no man for spight Two kindes of men as his Preachers did tell me at Vilacho he will neuer lōg suffer to be in his house the one a commō mocker who for his pride thincketh so wel of his owne wit as his most delight is to make other mē fooles and where God of his prouidence hath geuen small wit he for his sport wil make it none and rather then he should leese his pleasure he would an other should leese his wit as I heare say was once done in England and that by the sufferaunce of such as I am sorry for the good wil I beare them to heare such a report the other a priuy whisperer a pickthācke a tale teller medling so with other mēs matters as he findeth no leysure to looke to his owne one such in a great house is able to turne and tosse the quietnes of all Such two kinde of men sayth the Duke besides the present troubling of others neuer or seldome come to good end them selues He loueth not also bold and thicke skinned faces wherein the meanyng of the hart doth neuer appeare Nor such hid talke as lyeth in wayte for other mens wittes But would the wordes should be so framed with the toung as they be alwayes ment in the hart And therfore the Duke him selfe thincketh nothyng which he dare not speake nor speaketh nothyng whiche hee will not do Yet hauyng thoughtes grounded vppon wisedome his talke is alwayes so accompanied with discression and his deedes so attende vppon true dealyng as he neither biteth with wordes nor wringeth with deedes except impudency follow the fault which Xenophon wittely calleth the farthest point in al doyng and then he vseth to speake home as he did to a Spanyard this last yeare at Villacho who beyng of the Dukes garde when he was prisoner and now preasyng to sit at his table when he was at libertie Because many nobles of the Court came that day to dine with the duke The gentleman Husher gently desired the Spanyard to spare his rowme for that day for a great personage ▪ But hee countenancyng a braue Spanish bragge sayd Seignor ye know me well enough and so sat him downe The Duke heard him and preuentyng hys mans aunswere sayd In deede you be to well knowen by the same tokē the last tyme you were here you tooke a gobblet away with you therfore when you haue dyned you may go without farewell and haue leaue to come agayne when ye be sent for In the meane while an honest man may occupy your place But in remembryng so good a Prince I haue gone to farre from my matter And yet the remembraunce of him is neuer out of place whose worthynes is neuer to be forgotten Duke George of Saxony a litle before he dyed hauyng no child did dishinherite Duke Henry his brother by his last wil because he was a Protestant and gaue away his whole inheritaunce to Ferdinando kyng of Romaines But Duke Iohn Fredericke by force of armes set and kept his Cosin Duke Henry in his right And he dying soone after left behynd hym two sonnes Duke Maurice and Duke Augustus who likewise in their youth were defended in theyr right by the wisedome and force of Duke Iohn Fredericke Duke Maurice was brought vp in Duke Iohn Frederickes house as if hee had bene hys owne sonne and maryed the Lansgraues daughter After it came to passe that the Emperour attempted to establish Papistry in Germany with the sword agaynst which purpose the Lansgraue and duke Iohn Fredericke armed them selues not to resist the Emperour as the Papistes say but to kepe Gods Religion vp if any by violence would pull it downe refusing neuer but requiryng alwayes to referre them and theyr doctrine to a lawfull and free generall Councell where truth in Religion might be fully tryed in the hearyng of euen and equall iudges and that by the touchstone of Gods Canonicall Scriptures Duke Maurice in the begynnyng of his warre was suspected neither of the Lansgraue nor of Duke Fredericke beyng sonne in law to the one and nighe kinsman to the other and agreeyng in Religiō with both Yea he was not onely not suspected But as I heard skilful mē say he was ready with his counsell promised his ayde to helpe forward the enterprice or els Hance Fredericke beyng a Prince of such wisedome would not haue left at home behind hym an enemy of such a force Francisco Duke Maurice Agent with the Emperour was