his tottering Crown The History of the Reign of Lewis XIII will discover to you my Lord the Reasons which Philip Frederick Henry had to foresee the Glory which was reserv'd for a Great King the Heir of his Blood and of his Virtues who gives you already signal Marks of his Distinguishing Favour 'T would be but a small Matter to learn from History The Interests of Sovereigns the Accounts of Battles and Sieges the Intrigues of Treaties and Negotiations the Good or Bad Quality of the different Actors It s greatest and principal End is to confirm in you the Good Sentiments of Religion Virtue and Probity which my Lord your Father hath took care to inspire you with They charm'd me the first Day I had the Honour to be in your Company and I bless God with all my Heart that they appear so pure and so deeply engraven in your Soul that we have all the Reason in the World to hope that the Contagious and insinuating Air of the Court and of the World will never be able to corrupt or wear them out and that you will never wander from the Paths of Piety Prudence and Valour which my Lord the Earl of Portland hath trac'd out to you Heavens grant which have design'd you to enjoy the great Advantages which a Father can leave to his Son that you may make an Use of them worthy of the Purity of the Holy Religion which we profess These are the ardent Desires of him who shall be all his Life with a prosound Respect and inviolable Fidelity My Lord Your most Humble and most Obedient Sevant MICHAEL Le VASSOR THE PREFACE Polybius in the beginning SInce all who have written History before me says an Able and Judicious Writer have taken pains to shew the usefulness of things past It would be to no purpose to excite the Curiosity of the Reader by a like Preface All Men are sensible that the reading of History is the most proper means to form the Mind and Inclinations of those who apply themselves to it with Reflection and Judgment They who are born to the first employs of the State learn here how to govern those whom Providence has placed under them and private Persons often find Instructions for the Conduct of their Lives To read the Ancients and Moderns and only fill the Head with a confus'd heap of different Facts is the vainest thing in the World and conduces most to Debauch the Mind But to run thrô History with a design to learn Human Nature to reflect on the Disorderly and Unjust Passions of Men to distinguish Solid and Real Virtue from that which consists in the mistaken Opinion of the Multitude This certainly is the most proper Study to form a Man for the World and Business Notwithstanding the reading History has these mighty Advantages there are few that profit by it The fate of those who spend their time in it is often the same with that of Persons who Travel live in a Court or Converse in the World A Man who has the Skill to make a good use of his Parts and Reason Accomplishes himself very much in Foreign Countries by Conversation with Courtiers and Men of Business But it ordinarily happens that Travellers only seek to Divert themselves in the places where they come A young Fellow returns out of Italy France Germany or England as ignorant as he went there And very often in stead of correcting his Domestick Vices he encreases them by the Addition of Foreign ones Most Men who come to Court or into the World only think how to wast away their Lives and spend their Time agreeably Very far from considering how private Interest and Passion play their parts on the publick Stage and reasoning with themselves oâ—… the different steps Men take and profitably observing their good and ill Qualities they only strive to please them and wiâ—… their savour by some Motives of Interest or Pleasure The greatest part of those whâ—… read History fall into the same Mistake They only aim to consume their Time and pass away the Tedious Hours It is enough for them if a Book be Pleasant and Diverting They are never in Pain to profit by the Examples of Virtue they meet with or reflect on the Faults of those who are exposed in it This Negligence proceeds from the little care taken to acquaint Youth with the Nature of Mankind and infusing good Principles of Morality into them before they are put on reading History sent into Foreign Countries or left to live at large in the World If their Tutors and Governors which had the Charge of their Education had accustomed them to Meditate on those Remarks which the Incomparable Author of the Search after Truth P. Malebranche de Recherche de la Verite has made on the Mistakes and Delusions of our Senses Imagination and Passions on the Maxims of Mr. de la Rochefancault and some other good Books published in our Times I do not in the least question but Minds thus prepared would draw a wonderful Fruit from Travelling Conversation in the World and Ancient and Modern History Perhaps too the small number of good Authors in this and former Ages is another cause of the little Progress made by those who promiscuously run over all without Choice or Distinction Herodotus whom the Ancients call the Father of History Cicero Liv. 1. De Legibuâ—… is a polite Writer and pleasant to read One may learn good Jonick in him Let him if you will have it so be a good Model of an Elegant and Clean Style but what Solid Knowledge can be gained out of an Author fill'd with Fables and Falsities who only aims to Divert and not to Instruct The History of Cyrus is thought to be a Romance devised by Xenophon I do not know whether the Plan of the Work do not come nearer Truth than what Herodotus delivers of the Birth Conquest and Death of Cyrus The one at least is more probable than the other However this be a Man of good Sense will ever prefer the Reading of Xenophon to Herodotus If the former did not design an exact History of the Life of Cyrus he draws at least the Idea of a good and just Government This should make us value the Eight Books of the Cyropedia of Xenophon more than the nine of Herodotus his History though they have the Name of the nine Muses given them This may amuse me indeed but the other will instruct me I find a thousand Maxims a thousand Reflections proper to improve my Mind and Reform my Passions Discourse of the manner of writing History Thucidides was very sensible of Herodotus his Fault Notwithstanding the great Reputation of a Man who first writ History among the Greeks I had rather said he as Lucian Reports displease by speaking the Truth than please by relating of Fables If I do not please my Reader so well I shall profit him more I would not prejudice him by Accommodating
Crown to be Entailed on his Heirs Male in short for setling Luther's Reformation in his Country and Abridging the too great Power of the Clergy Eric the Eldest Son of Gustavus Succeeded him but wanted the Virtues of his Father He introduced into Sweden the Dignities of Count and Baron which before were unknown there It was thought this was done to divide the Nobility among themselves The too great Union of this Powerful Body was able to create Trouble to a Family newly raised to the Throne The Dignities bestowed on some gave a Jealousie to the rest Those who had most Ambition made their Court to the King to obtain the same Distinction And the New Nobility were obliged to support the Authority of the King and adhere here to his Family to preserve their Privileges Eric made himself Odious by his Cruelties and Despicable by his Debauches and Extravagancies His ill Treatment of John Duke of Finland and Charles Duke of Sudermannia obliged them to rise and put themselves at the Head of the Malecoutents These two Princes Attacked Eric in Stockholm it self He first delivered up his Favourite whom all the Kingdom Exclaimed against They inflicted an Infamous punishment on him John and Charles would have something more than all this They agreed to take the Sovereign Power from Eric who abused it unjustly and that the Duke of Finland should be declared King and the Duke of Sudermannia should share with him in the Government without having any outward Marks of Royalty John thought himself now discharged from the Oath he had taken when Eric delivered him out of a close Prison where he had kept him three or four years The Duke had given Assurance by a Writing under his Hand that he would continue faithful to the King and not aspire to the Crown neither before nor after the Death of the King his Elder Brother and that he would acknowledge those Children for lawful Heirs of the Kingdom which Eric had by a Mistress of Mean Birth whom he afterwards Marryed Solemnly But John was not very anxious about the Religious observing his Promises When he was Master of his Eldest Brother not contented with shutting him up in a Castle he soon poisoned him John and Charles continued to attack Stockholm The Senate of the City delivered it up to them and poor Eric reduced to Extremity was left to the Discretion of his two Brothers The States of Sweden declared him fallen from the Crown and John Duke of Finland was set up in his place John King of Sweden endeavours to alter the Religion Established by his Father The New King of Sweden was not truer to the Duke of Sudermannia than he had been to his Predecessor Charles had no share in the Administration of the Kingdom Men promise any thing when they are to ascend a Throne but when they are once Established in it they find other Principles of Religion and Honour John had Married Catherine Jagellon Daughter to the King of Poland Whether the Princess had inspired her Husband with an Aversion to the Protestant Religion or the Reading the Books and Conversation of able Men of the Papal Communion had raised doubts in him or he hoped to be King of Poland after the Death of Sigismund Augustus his Brother-in-Law who had no Children as soon as John had made a Peace with Denmark by the Treaty of Stetin in Pomerania he applied himself seriously to change the Religion which his Father had setled in Sweden It is not a place here to relate all the Artifices he made use of to prepare the Minds of his People for the Alterations he designed I shall only observe that the King who wanted not Wit or Judgment was convinced there were a great many things to be altered in the Worship and Doctrine of the Church of Rome He can neither be reckoned among the good Catholicks nor the true Protestants Ever uncertain and wavering sometimes he relished the Project of Accommodation which Cassander had given to the Emperor Maximilian II. at other times he was inclined to the Greek Church The Answers of Jeremiah Patriarch of Constantinople to the Divines of Wirtembergh pleased him so much that he once thought to unite with that Communion Possevin a Learned Jesuit whom Pope Gregory the XIII had sent into Sweden thought he had persuaded King John to Reunite himself in earnest to the Church of Rome He confessed himself to that Jesuit the Popes private Nuncio he received the Communion in the Form used in that Church Possevin imposed as a Pennance on him for the Murther of his Brother Eric whom he had poysoned to fast every Wednesday throughout the year It is said John observed this Practice regularly all the rest of his Life Nevertheless he frequented the publick Service of the Church of Sweden There was a New Liturgy used which himself had introduced and the Pope refused to approve of The Mixture of these two Religions was one of the ways by which this Prince pretended insensibly to bring the People to forsake the Worship and Belief of the Protestants of the Ausburgh Confession Several Romish Churchmen came into Sweden The Irresolution of King John and his Indulgence drew them thither Several of his own Subjects too favour'd his dissembled Designs By their manner of Discourse the more unthinking People took these Preachers for free Protestants But others observed in spight of their Disguises all they spoke tended to insinuate into the Minds of the People the Doctrines of Popery The Archbishop of Vpsal suffered himself to be won by them Some Prelates and divers ignorant or ambitious Churchmen follow'd his Example There were some Bishops ordained according to the Roman Pontifical The Bishop of Linkoping several of his Brethren and a great number of Churchmen couragiously defended the Reformation setled by Gustavus Ericson The Clergy of the Dutchy of Sudermannia shewed a firmness of Mind which much confounded King John Charles his Brother declared highly for the Ausburgh Confession He opposed this Alteration with all his Might Neither the King nor I can make any Innovation in the Religion established by Law he replied to those sent to dispose him to comply All things are well regulated by the last Will and Testament of the late King our Father We must fix there For my part I am resolved never to depart from it The States of Sweden shew'd great Vigour on several Occasions They represented to the King that mighty Jealousies were risen in Sweden and Foreign Countries that his Majesty would overthrow that Constitution which his Father had wisely established and that to put an end to all those Rumours it concerned him to declare publickly that the Reformation received in that Kingdom was conformable to the Sense of the Primitive Church Farther the States commanded several Popish Books brought into that Country to be suppress'd they press'd the King to place able Men of unblemish'd Reputation in the Publick Schools to instruct the Youth In the last
to obtain his consent The Advocate Montholon seeing what Confusion his Clients were in had a greater Presence of Mind than the good Father Provincial The Jesuits says he will readily follow the Laws of the Vniversity When these four Propositions shall be Signed by the Sorbonne the Jesuits will not make any scruple of subscribing them The dextrous Montholon knew there were so many Leaguers and Doctors in the Pope's Interest amongst the Sorbonists that they would never agree in these four Propositions And if the Faculty would have resolved to have Signed them the Court was so afraid of offending the Pope they would not have suffer'd them to do it So much Respect and Deference had Mary de Medicis for his Holiness The first President himself embarassed by the Advocates Reply would seem not to understand it being well pleas'd that the Jesuits had not handsomly explained themselves on what was proposed to them He pronounced a Decree forbidding any of that Society to teach the Youth at Paris or read any publick Lecture there The Members of the University Triumphed made a thousand Verses some good some bad in praise of their Judges and their Advocate The Jesuits obeyed the Decree They dismist their Scholars continued silent and did not write at all or at least did it under the borrowed Names of their Friends Here they comforted themselves on their Disgrace shewed the Imprudence of those who would renew Disputes out of Season which might create Differences between France and the Pope Every Man discoursed of the Decree of Parlement as his Fancy led him Some took part with the Jesuits others with the University The Pope's Nuncio complained of the Parlements having required such a Subscription of the Jesuits The Cardinal Gonzaga was then at Paris He was offended the good Fathers had been so ill spoken of Mercure Francois 1612. Montholon whose Voice was so low in his short pleading to the Audience printed a more ample Argument the following year This Discourse was divided into three Parts In the two first he justified the Conduct and Institution of the Jesuits The third answered the Objections made against the Doctrine of the Society and the Perverse Consequences which its Adversaries drew from it Disputes concerning Grace and Predestination The Zeal which the Jesuits shewed the latter end of the last and the beginning of this Age for the Doctrine opposite to that of St. Augustin and Thomas Aquinas in the Matter of Grace and Predestination drew still a greater number of Enemies on them the Advocate of the University Reproaching them with this in his Plea Not only the Order of Dominicans which is more Potent in Italy and Spain than in France where it is trampled on with the rest of the Mendicants had declared openly against the Jesuits But a great Number of the Doctors of Paris and Louvain bigotted to the Hypotheses of St. Augustin and Aquinas condemned too against the Society They decreed it as Pelagian At least said they she attempts to revive the Sentiments of Cassian and the old Priests who were called Semipelagians The Dispute began in Spain upon occasion of a Book of Molina a famous Jesuit This Author boasted of having found out a new System to reconcile the Certainty of God's Fore-Knowledge and the Operation of Grace with the Liberty of Man The Invention pleased the Society and she adopted it This was a Deviation from the first Laws of the Founder who ordered she should follow the Doctrine of Thomas Aquinas When the Jesuits reproached their Adversaries with maintaining the Sentiments of Luther and Calvin condemned in the Council of Trent they recriminated instantly Your Hypothesis said they to the good Fathers is the same with that of the ancient Enemies of St. Austin in Gaul The Dispute was so warm in Spain that the Matter was remitted to Rome Clement VIII resolved to determine this Controversie It is reported that he not only made Preparations for this by a serious Examen of all the Questions for which he setled a famons Congregation of Divines and Cardinals but farther had recourse to Prayer Fasting and extraordinary Mortifications The Holy Father believed that the Holy Ghost had inspired him to condemn the Sentiments of the Jesuits The Bull was ready But to speak after the manner of the People beyond the Mountains God did not permit Clement to pass on the Church his private Illusions for Divine Oracles The Pope died very luâ—…kily for the Jesuits Paul V. pleased with the Zeal the good Fathers had shewn for the Interests of the Holy See in the Difference between the Pontif and the Republick of Venice suppressed his Predecessors Bull. He imposed silence on the Dominicans and Jesuits Few except these two Orders had engaged publickly in this first Dispute The Universities of Doway and Louvain declared too against the Jesuits and their Doctrine of Grace was condemned there After this the Book of Jansenius Bishop of Ipres caused a long and famons Contest in the Faculty of Paris and all the Gallican Church At the same time that Paul V. endeavoured to stifle in his Church the Disputes concerning Grace and Predestination the Protestants of Holland were divided on the same Questions Luther and the first Reformers had at first embraced the Hypothesis of St. Austin either because they were prepossessed or because it seemed most proper to combat the Dogms of the Roman Church and settle those of the Reformation However Luther himself or at least his first Disciples soon saw the Inconveniences and ill Consequences of the Augustinian System That of the Greek Fathers appeared both more Ancient and Reasonable Melancthon took to this and his moderate Sentiments prevailed with those of the Ausburgh Confession Calvin Zanchy Beza and the greatest number of the Reformed adhered strongly to the Opinions of St. Austin Some strain'd them higher and used harder Expressions The rigid Thomists did the same in the Roman Church Towards the beginning of this Age divers of the Reformed Divines opened their Eyes after the Example of the Lutherans Upon examining the Scripture more attentively the Sense of St. Chrysostom and the ancient Greeks appeared preferrable to that of the Bishop of Hippo who did not certainly very well understand the Old or New Testament The Rise of Arianism in Holland As the Books of Erasmus Melancthon and Bulllinger were much esteemed in Holland where these Works had much conduced to give a Relish to the Reformation so the most knowing of the Magistrates and Laiety were inclined to the mild and moderate Sentiments of these Divines on Predestination and Grace rather than the rigid Hypothesis of the first Reformers They thought at least they were very tolerable and compatible with the Reformation which that Province had embraced But the greatest part of the Ministers on the contrary who had only studied Religion Grotius Apolog eorum qui Hollandiae praefueâ—…unt in the Books of Calvin and Beza stifly maintained the Opinions of
abuses a Religion the principles of which reduce him to the simple Quality of a preacher of the Gospel and an Overseer of a particular Church The Methods used by the Court of F. to content the Pope The Regent of France and her Ministers were pleased with the Marquiss of Trenel for having engaged the Pope to take the way of Negociation for his obtaining Satisfaction concerning the Decree of the Parlement of which he so bitterly complain'd Siri Memo recondite Tom. III. p. 269. 270. c. 'T was not that the Court of France were afraid of the Menaces of the good Man His Quarrel with the Republick of Venice had taught the World that though his anger might make him take a violent Resolution yet he soon repented of it and became more mild when when he was steadily Opposed No one could imagine that a Man of his Age and Experience would have ever been so Imprudent as to break with France This Step would have done the Pope and the Roman Religion more mischief than it would those whom he threatned with his Thunders and Anathemas This would have been matter of Triumph to the Protestants They would have certainly have yet more insulted over the arrogance of Paul V. on whom they had already bestowed many sharp and ingenious Raileries He would thus have expos'd himself to the Indignation of all Wise and Judicious Catholicks who would have highly blamed him for an Effort so contrary to good Sense and the true Interests of those of their Communion The Court of France resolved therefore not to meddle with the Decree of Parlement They had good reason to disgrace Suarez his Book And at this Juncture 't was not convenient to put the Chief Magistrates of the Kingdom out of humour They applied themselves only to find means to content the Pope and to quit themselves of this Affair with Honour When Vbaldini the Nuncio presented the Brief which the Pope had written with his own hand to the Queen she answered him very handsomely Her Majesty intimated that she should be very glad that the Nuntio should agree with the French Cardinals upon an Expedient which might please his Holiness The Jesuits bestir themselves at Rome for to have the Decree of tae Parlement burnt there The Jesuits at Rome were more inraged against the Decree of the Pralement than the Pope and his Ministers If we will believe their Founder that Society is to do every thing for the great Glory of God But did not he secretly Inspire this Principle into his Disciples that the Honour of their Society ought to be dearer to them than the Glory of God and the welfare of his Church This hath been the Temper of the Jesuits ever since they have been taken notice of in the World They don't care what Scandals and Divisions they cause in the Church of Rome so that that they can preserve and increase the pretended honour of their Society This they have plainly enough discovered in the business which I am speaking of If Paul V. had been carried away with the first motions of his Anger he might have lost France as Clement VII did England The Jesuits were not concerned to prevent the Pope from exposing himself to the same Inconvenience They used their utmost endeavours that the Holy Office might avenge the honour of Suarez by Condemning the Decree of the Parlement of Paris as Heretical and ordering it to be burnt by the hand of the Common Hangman in the Field of Flore To stop this impetuous Zeal the Marquiss of Trenel was forced to admonish them that they run the risque of being a Second time driven out of France The Court injoined also the chief Jesuits at Paris to write to Rome and to declare to their inraged Brethren that if the Pope took any violent Resolution her Majesty would impute it to the Suggestions of that Society and that she knew how to punish them sufficiently The Declaration of the K. in his Council upon the Decree of Parlement One of the first things the young King did who was become of Age the end of the Month September was to give the Pope Satisfaction His Majesty having had the Decree of Parlement read to him in full Council Ordered an Act to be drawn up in which after having expressed his Zeal for the Honour of the Apostolick See and the desire he had of satisfying the Pope Lewis XIII declar'd that his Intention in Executing of the Decree Siri Memo. Recondite Tom. III. p. 303. is not to do any prejudice to the Pope's lawful Authority nor to the priviledges of the See which his Predecessors had always acknowledged When the Declaration was read to the Nuncio Vbaldini he thought fit to object against that part which supposed that the Temporal Power of Kings is Supreme and Independent This was in the Opinion of the Italian Minister very unreasonably to reject the pretensions of the Court of Rome who would have that Crowned Heads should at least be subject to the Authority of the Pope in some particular Cases but they did not much concern themselves about the long reasonings of the Nuncio The Pope is not content with the Ks. Declaration His Master was no better pleas'd than he with the Declaration of the King Paul V. said plainly that that would not remedy the Disgrace which they had thrown upon the propositions of Suarez with relation to the Authority which Jesus Christ had given to St. Peter and his Successors Siri Memo. Recondite Tom. III. p. 298 299. c. This Author said the Pope like a Divine well vers'd in the Holy Scriptures and the Ecclesiastical Antiquity had good reason to maintain that I have Power to Excommunicate Heretick Princes and even to Depose them when they continue obstinate in their ill Opinions and endeavour to eompel their Subjects to embrace them If Jesus Christ had not given this Power to St. Peter and and his Successors they would have wanted a Power requisite for the preservation of his Church God forbid that I should be guilty of a base prevarication by ceasing to defend the Right of the Chair of St. Peter to which God hath advanced me Thus the Popes are pleas'd to form a Plan suitable to their Ambition according to which Jesus Christ in their Opinion ought to Govern the Church Who told them that the Saviour of the World would not have Established a good Order in his Religion if he had not followed the fine System they give us Should God have called them to his Councils The Ancient Popes who Deposed neither Constantius nor Valens nor Julian the Apostate were then either downright Fools or base Prevaricators Is it credible that they did not know the Power which Jesus Christ had given them for the welfare of his Church And if they did know it why did they not imploy it against those Emperors who endeavoured to re establish Idolatry or to force their Subjects to
place they desired that Sigismund the King 's eldest Son should be bred in the Protestant Religion because that young Prince began to give some Umbrage Queen Catherine Jagellon his Mother had so strongly tinctured him with the Principles of the Church of Rome that the Senators of the Kingdom having one day threatned him that he should lose the Right of Succession to the Crown if he did not soon renounce the Religion he had imbibed and embrace the Ausburgh Confession I prefer replied he boldly the Kingdom of Heaven to all the Crowns in the World No other Answer could be got from him On some Occasions the States of Sweden had more Complaisance for the King All seem'd dispos'd to receive the new Liturgy and the Accommodations he had invented Charles of Sudermannia the Clergy of his Provinces and some great Lords were the only People who defended the Reformation but the Interest of the Duke and the effectual Remonstrances of the rest brought back several whose Hopes and Fears had abated their Warmth and Zeal The King himself had lost much of that Ardor the Jesuit Possevin had inspired into him Whether he could not accommodate himself to the haughty Humour of Sixtus V. Successor to Gregory XIII or his Doubts were not sufficiently cleared or the great Power of his Brother kept him in awe John humbled the Catholicks who thought themselves now Masters of all things He drove out the Jesuits and demolished their College Gennila Bielke whom the King married after the Death of Catherine Jagellon cooled the Fervour her Husband had before shewed for the Roman Religion Kings often think they do that of their own Heads which a dextrous and insinuating Woman inspires into them John King of Sweden thought he had solid Reasons to doubt of the Truth of the Protestant Religion But his principal Motive though he scarce knew it himself was his great Complaisance for Catherine Jagellon The Queen Gennila might have brought him back to his first Religion in the same manner as the other had seduced him from it Sigismond Prince of Sweden is chosen King of Poland After the Death of Stephen Battori King of Poland Ann Jagellon his Widow and Aunt of Sigismond Prince of Sweden managed the Polish Nobility so well that the greatest part declared for him The contrary Faction chose the Arch-Duke Maximilian Brother to the Emperor Rodolphus But Sigismond's Friends carried it He was received in Poland beat the Arch-Duke and Maximilian being taken Prisoner redeemed his Liberty by renouncing all his Pretensions to the Crown of Poland The Swedes made their Conditions before the Prince left that Kingdom as the Poles made theirs before they received him The Principal thing which the Senate of Sweden stipulated with Sigismond was the preserving the Priviledges and Religion of their Country They added this Clause in the Treaty that if the King of Poland becoming King of Sweden after the Death of his Father should contravene any of the Articles agreed on that then the Swedes should be discharged from the Oath of Allegiance they had taken It is very probable that Sigismond before his departure from Sweden urged the King his Father to pursue his Design of causing his new Liturgy to be received together with the ancient Ceremonies which he had establish'd a little after his coming to the Crown When Princes have begun a Work that makes a great Figure they are loth to quit it and soon resume it when they see the least Prospect of Success Sigismond hoped his late Advancement would make it easie for him to accomplish the Work which his Father had drawn a rough Draught of And the King of Sweden strengthned by the new Alliance of Poland flatter'd himself that Charles of Sudermannia would not dare to oppose him He was deceived in his Conjectures The Churchmen of the Dutchy agreeing perfectly well with the Prince refused to receive his Liturgy This disturbed the King so much who was now at greater variance with his Brother than ever that he thought of recalling Sigismond in earnest The new King himself was tempted to return into his Country He would willingly have done it if the Poles had not briskly opposed it A Foreign Prince is easily dazled with the glittering Title of King of Poland But he soon takes distaste at the false Lustre of a Crown which only appears fair at a distance Those who have left their Hereditary Countries to go into Poland have repented This is the way to hazard the loss of an Effective Sovereignty for a Title which has more Pomp than Reality Sigismond knew by Experience the Truth of this Maxim The King his Father finding so great opposition from the Swedes who were more upon their Guard since the Election of Sigismond had nothing else to have Recourse to but to reconcile himself speedily to the Duke of Sudermannia and admit him to a Share in the Administration of Affairs The Apprehensions of John were something lessened by Charles's losing his Wife She left no Issue behind her and John pretended his Brother promised him never to think of a second Marriage If it were so the Duke in his turn broke his Word He soon after married Christina Daughter of Adolphus Duke of Holstein It is reported Sigismond courted this Lady before he went into Poland But a Sister of King John diverted the Prince her Nephew from the Match He after married Constance of Austria Daughter of Charles and Sister of Ferdinand Arch-Duke of Gratz in Stiria Christina enraged at this Contempt conceived so great a Hatred against Sigismond that after she was married to Charles of Sudermmannia she incessantly urged him to force the Crown of Sweden from Sigismond King John was not well satisfied with this second Marriage of Charles But his ill Humour did not last long He died soon after at Stockholm The Duke of Sudermannia was active as soon as he heard this News He set at liberty the Senators and Clergymen Sigismond King of Poland succeeds in the Kingdom of Sweden whom the late King had confined for opposing his Designs Sigismond very much distrusted his Uncle To prevent his enterprizing any thing to his Prejudice the new King writes that he was making all Preparations to come speedily into his Hereditary Countries In the mean time the Duke of Sudermannia takes the Administration as next of Kin to the King Puffendorf Introduction à Histoire Tom. IV. p. 11. Rhap 1. 2. John left another Son by his second Wife but he was yet a Minor The Senators without prejudice to their Oath taken to Sigismond promised to obey Charles in every thing he should order with their Consent for the Glory of God the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the maintaining the just Rights and Priviledges of the Nation The Duke promised of his Part not to transact any thing of weight without the Advice and Consent of the Senate A Council is thereupon assembled at Vpsal to regulate Matters of