time when it was most necessary to remain united would have occasioned the Kings ruine and the subversion of the State admitting with disorder and confusion in the Government advantageous opportunities for the Conspirators to execute with greater facility their intended designs Besides it appeared very reasonable to her that to such imminent dangers should be opposed the absolute power of some one experienced person of great reputation and that it was not fit to relie upon one of weak capacity who with doubts and delays might give the enemy that opportunity which he desired and take off from his own that resolution and freeness of courage which the urgency of the present affairs required And by the example of past occurrences which teach excellent lessons to govern the future she was put in mind that not only Kings who govern absolutely according to their will but even Re-publicks had conferred the supreme Authority upon one man when the occurrence of any great dangers seemed to require extraordinary and powerful opposition But besides these respects which concerned the welfare of her Son and the publick good she was perswaded to it by her own private interest For foreseeing afar off the desolation that must of necessity follow the enmities of the Princes of the Blood and the hate and envy that would fall upon her if she opposed it she thought it very fit for her purpose that the Duke of Guise commanding absolutely in chief all the blame and envy should fall wholly on him and she by that means preserve the love of the people and the liberty to bend her counsels that way which she should think most fit and advantageous for her self But Olivier the Chancellor a man in all times esteemed the Author of wise counsel and averse to such unlimited power seemed to stand doubtful and in suspence whether or no he should consent to the Kings Proposition and such was his constancy and authority that the business had been held longer in debate and with doubtful success if the Queen-Mother had not made it appear to him that the present danger was so extraordinary and so pressing that it could not be prevented with ordinary moderate counsels That it was necessary to provide for the urgency of the instant affairs and rather than ruine the present lay aside a little the consideration of future things which might be otherwise remedied by time and opportunity That it would be very easie this urging necessity once past to moderate with new Decrees and new Edicts the now unlimited power of the Duke of Guise which would quickly transport him beyond the limits of duty and reason if he were not restrained by his own vertue And finally it would be of advantage to every one that in the effusion of so much blood which it was foreseen must be spilt no other power nor authority should be used but the Dukes only neither the King himself his Friends or Ministers having their hands imbrued in those slaughters Which considerations moving the Chancellor he sealed the Commission drawn by l' Aubespine Secretary of State In which was granted to the Duke of Guise the Title and Authority of Lieutenant-General for the King in all the Provinces and places under his command with supreme Power in all causes Civil and Military The Duke of Guise having obtained this charge which he had ever aspired to began resolutely to attend the suppression of the Conspiracy and presently causing the Gate of the Castle into the Garden to be walled up and having placed the Switzers and French Archers which use ordinarily to guard the Kings person at the other he sent forth the Count of Sanserre with some Horse to scout abroad and give him continual advertisement what he could discover In the mean time Renaudie arrived with his Complices at the place appointed and finding the King was retired from Blois to Ambois nevertheless his courage not failing he went on in the same order towards the Court. The unarmed multitude came first who falling prostrate before the King were to demand Liberty of Conscience But they were not only not admitted to his presence but being roughly driven away from the Gates by the Souldiers that were in Guard they retired and scattered up and down in the fields and without either order or advice expected the coming of their other Companions Not long after Captain Lignieres one of the Conspirators either terrified at the point of execution with the greatness of the danger or else through remorse of Conscience leaving his Companions went a by-way to Ambois and acquainted the King and Queen-Mother particularly of the number and quality of the Conspirators the names of the Commanders the ways by which they came and withal their whole design Wherefore by the Kings order a Guard being set upon the Prince of Conde that he might in no manner be aiding to the Conspirators as he had promised them the Duke of Guise sent forth Iaques d' Aubon Marescal de S. Andre and Iames Savoy Duke of Nemours with all the horse they could make either of the Kings Guard or the attendance about the Court who being placed in Ambushes in the woods thereabouts intended to expect the coming of the Conspirators Mazeres and Raunay who led the Troops of Bearne were the first that fell into the Ambuscade laid by the Count of Sanserre and astonished with the sudden assault neither knowing how to flee nor defend themselves were taken prisoners without much dispute The Baron of Castelnau who led a great number out of Gascoigne being arrived at Noze and and there refreshing his Horse to continue their march was met by the Duke of Nemours who besieging him in that place where he had no manner of provision to make any defence they thought it best to yield themselves to the Dukes mercy who carried him and all his company prisoners to Ambois La Renaudie passing through the woods having avoided all the Ambuscadoes approached near the Gates of Ambois where encountred him Pardillian with a Squadron of resolute Cuirassiers yet seeing himself in good condition to fight he made a fierce assault but soon found that his men as it is ordinary in such tumults began to yield to the Kings old Souldiers Wherefore desiring to end his life honourably he spurred on his Horse to Pardillian and running him into the Vizor with his Tuck laid him dead upon the ground whereupon being shot in the thigh with a Carabine by Pardillian's Page who was near his Master he died fighting valiantly and the rest of his Companions without much resistance were for the most part all killed upon the place The next day the rest of the Conspirators Troops hearing of the death of la Renaudie and the defeat of their Companions and considering that the Country about being raised upon them there was no means to save themselves by flight they resolved under the conduct of la Mothe and Coccaville who were the only Commanders left to assault the
the Tent or Pavilion of a General in the midst of an Army Being come to the Gate and intending to go into the Court on horse-back which is a priviledge belonging to the Princes of the Blood they found the Gate shut and only the Wicket open so that they were forced to alight in the midst of the High-way and being neither saluted nor met but by very fâ—w were conducted to the Kings presence who placed between the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorain and compassed about by the Captains of his Guard received them in a much different manner from that familiarity which the Kings of France use to all men but especially to the Princes of their Blood From thence the King himself went with them but the Guises followed not to the Queen-Mothers Chamber who not forgetting her old Maxims to seem independent and not interessed in any party received them with the wonted demonstrations of Honour and with such an apparence of sadness that the tears were seen to fall from her eyes But the King continuing still the same countenance turning to the Prince of Conde began in sharp language to complain that he without any injury or ill usage received from him had in contempt of all humane and divine Laws many times stirred his Subjects to rebel raised War in divers parts of the Kingdom attempted to surprize his principal Cities and practised even against his own life and his brothers To which the Prince not at all dismayed boldly answered That these were the â—alumnies and persecutions of his enemies but â—hat he could soon make his innocence appear to all the world Then replied the King To find out the truth it is necessary to proceed by the usual ways of Justice and so departing out of the Chamber commanded the Captains of his Guard to seize upon his person Here the Queen-Mother who moved with the necessity gave her consent but forgot not the various changes of the world wholly applied herself with kind words to comfort the King of Navarre whilst the Prince not saying a word else but blaming himself to be so coâ—ened by the Cardinal his brother was led to a house hard by which being prepared for that purpose had the Windows walled up the Gates doubled and was reduced into a kind of Fortress flanked with Artillery and strait Guards oâ— every side The King of Navarre astonished at his brothers imprisonment after many complaints and long debate with the Queen-Mother who laying the fault upon the Duke of Guise Lieutenant-General sought to remove all jealousies and ill will from her self was carried to be lodged in a house joining to the Kings Palace where his ordinary Guards being changed saving the liberty of conversation he was in all other respects guarded and kept as a prisoner At the very same time that the Prince was committed Amaury Bouchard the King of Navarre's Secretary was arrested and all his Letters and Writings taken from him The same night also Tannequy de Carrouge went from Court towards Anicâ— in Picardy a place belonging to Magdalen dâ— Roye the Princes Mother-in-law and there finding her without suspition of any thing being but a woman he sent her away prisoner to the Castle of S. Germain and carried all her Letters and Papers with him to the Court. But the news of these stirs notwithstanding the Gates of the City were kept shut and Travellers forbidden to pass being come to the Constable who was still upon the way some few leagues from Paris he presently stopped his journey with a resolution not to go any further till he saw what would be the event of them In the mean while the Assembly of the States began where the first thing that was done was to make a profession of their Faith which being set down by the Doctors of the Sorbon conformable to the belief of the Roman Catholick Church and publickly read by the Cardinal of Tournon President of the Ecclesiastical Order was by a solemn Oath approved and confirmed by every one of the Deputies because none should be admitted into that General Assembly either unwittingly or on purpose that was not a true Catholick This solemn Act being past the High Chancellor in presence of the King proposed those things which were necessary to be consulted of for the Reformation of the Government Upon which and the demand of the Provinces they retired into their several Chambers where when they had debated them apart they were to make their reports thereof in publick But this was the least thing in every mans thought for the minds of all men were in suspence and expecting the issue of the Princes imprisonment whose commitment was confirmed by a solemn Decree of the Kings Council subscribed by the King himself the High Chancellor and all the other Lords except the Guises who as suspected of enmity absented themselves when the Princes of Bourbons cause was to be handled which was remitted to an Assembly of Judges Delegates who forming a Judicial Process should proceed to a final Sentence The Delegates were Christophle de Thou President in the Parliament of Paris Bartholomy de Faye and Iaques Viole Counsellors in the same Parliament and according to the Customs of that Kingdom Giles Bourdin the ordinary Atturney that prosecutes all Causes that either concern the Kings Rights or tend to the maintenance of the peace and safety of his Subjects Procuror fiscal to the King performed the Office of Plaintiff and Accuser Iohn Tilliet Chief Notary in the Court of Parliament wrote the Process and all the Examinations and Acts past in the presence of the High Chancellor In this manner proceeding upon the Examinations of the Prisoners which were on purpose brought from Amboyse Lyons and divers other places they were ready to examine the Prince upon the points already discovered and proved But the High Chancellor and the Delegates coming into the Chamber where the Prince was in prison to interrogate him he constantly refused to answer or submit himself to the Examination of any of them pretending as Prince of the Blood that he was not under any Justice but the Parliament of Paris in the Chamber called The Chamber of Peers that is in a full Parliament the King being there himself in person all the twelve Peers of France and all the Officers of the Crown which was the custom formerly and therefore he could do no other than appeal to the King against such an extraordinary and perverse way of Judicature This appeal being transferred to the Kings Council although according to the ordinary Forms and Customs of the Kingdom it appeared agreeable to reason notwithstanding the present case requiring quick and speedy Judgment and no Law making it necessary that the causes of the Princes should always be tried with such formality in the Chamber of the Peers it was declared not valid But the Prince having often made the same appeal and persisting still to make the same protestations the Kings
great party of the youth who were of unquiet spirits factious and inclined to a desire of Novelties So that the disposition of the Inhabitants answering the instigation of the complices already a great part of the people were willing to take Arms. And that things might be done in due order the Prince had the day before sent Monsieur de Andelotte to the City who entring thereinto secretly at the same time that the Prince seised upon the Court should endeavour likewise to make himself Master of the Town But though it so fell out that the Prince could not arrive at Court Andelotte not knowing what had happened armed three hundred of his followers and at the day appointed suddenly seised on S. Iohn's Gate Upon which accident Monsieur de Monterau Governour of the City getting together some few men of Monsieur de Sipierres company who by chance were then thereabouts very hotly assaulted the Conspirators with no little hope that they should be able to drive them away and recover the entrance of the Gate where they had not had time enough to fortifie themselves so that joyning in a bloody fight after a conflict of many hours Andelotte at length began to yield to the multitude of the Catholicks who ran thither armed from all the parts of the Town and had surely received an affront if he had not been opportunely assisted by an unexpected succour For the Prince of Conde not finding the Court at Fountain-bleau and therefore desisting from his voyage returned much sooner than he thought and marching with great diligence approached near to Orleans at the same time that the fight began and knowing it to be very violent by the continual shot and incessant ringing of Bells which might be heard many miles off he presently gallopped with all his Cavalry towards the City to succour his Confederates who were already in great danger of being defeated They were more than three thousand horse and ran headlong with such fury that the peasants though astonished with the unusual spectacle of civil arms in the midst of their fright and wonder could not forbear to laugh seeing here a horse fall there a man tumbled over and nevertheless without regarding any accident run furiously one over another as fast as their horses could go upon a design which no body knew but themselves But this haste so ridiculous to the Spectators had very good success to the Princes intentions For coming with such a powerful succour and in so fit an opportunity of time the Governour being driven away and those that resisted suppressed at last the Town which was of exceeding consequence was reduced into his power and by the Authority of the Commanders preserved from pillage But the Churches escaped not the fury of the Hugonot-Souldiers who with bruitish examples of barbarous savageness laid them all waste and desolate Thus the Prince having taken Orleans and made it the seat of his Faction he began to think upon War And first having appointed a Council of the principal Lords and Commanders he advised with them of the means to draw as many Towns and Provinces to his Party as was possible and to get together such a sum of money as might defray the expences which at the beginning of a War are ever very great The Catholick party were intent upon the same ends who being come to Paris with the young King and the Queen held frequent consultations how best to order the affairs for their own advantage in which Councils the Duke of Guise openly declared that he thought it most expedient to proceed to a War with the Hugonots so to extinguish the fire before it burst out into a consuming flame and to take away the roots of that growing evil On the contrary the Chancellor de l' Hospital secretly set on by the Queen proposing many difficulties and raising doubts and impediments upon every thing perswaded an agreement by which both parties absenting themselves from the Court the power of the Government should be left free and quiet to the Queen and the King of Navarre But being sharply reproved by the Constable and after the news of the revolt of Orleans injuriously treated under pretence of being a Gown-man he was excluded from the Council that was now called the Council of War by which means also a principal instrument was taken from the Queen who having no power left in that Council for there were newly admitted to it Claud Marquess de â—oisy Honore Marquess Villars Louis de Lansac Monsieur de Cars the Bishop of Auxerre the Sieurs de Maugiron and la Brosse who all absolutely depended upon the Constable and the Guises every thing on that side likewise tended to the raising of Arms. At the first as it ever falleth out their pens were more active than their swords For the Prince of Conde and his adherents willing to justifie in writing the cause of their taking Arms published certain Manifests and Letters in print directed to the King the Court of Parliament in Paris the Protestant Princes of Germany and to other Christian Princes in which very largely but no less artificially dilating themselves they concluded that they had taken Armâ— to set the King at liberty and the Queen his Mother who by the Tyrannical power of the Catholick Lords were kept prisoners and to cause obedience to be rendred in all parts of the Kingdom to his Majesties Edicts which by the violence of certain men that arrogate to themselves a greater Authority in the Government than of right belonged to them were impiously despised and trodden under foot and therefore that they were ready presently to lay down their Arms if the Duke of Guise the Constable and the Mareshal de St. Andre retiring themselves from the Court would leave the King and the Queen in a free place in their own power and that liberty of Religion might be equally tolerated and maintained in all parts of the Kingdom The Parliament at Paris answered their Manifest and the Letters shewing that the pretence was vain by which they sought to justifie their taking of Arms which they had immediately raised against the Kings Person and his Royal Authority for so far was the King or the Queen his Mother from being deprived of liberty or retained in prison by the Constable and the Guises that on the contrary they were in the capital City of the Kingdom where the chief Parliament resided and in which commanded as Governour Charles Cardinal of Bourbon Brother to the Prince of Conde and one of the Princes of the Blood That the King of Navarre Brother also to the same Prince of Conde held the chief place in the Government and the Queen-Mother the charge of the Regency both chosen by the Council according to the ancient custom and confirmed by the consent of the States-General of the Kingdom that every day they assembled the Council composed of eminent persons to consult of fit remedies for the present evils
cost pains nor danger but using all military force and industry to storm it yet the Citizens and Souldiers and even the very women as well as men defended it with admirable valour and constancy sustaining for a long time the force and power of a whole Kingdom and holding out against hunger and famine no less than against the assaults and batteries of the Enemy Amongst the various events of this Siege Monsieur de la Noue had opportunity to regain the Kings favour and get leave to live privately at his own house for while the Council of the Citizens treated of yielding to that force which they saw they could not much longer resist he being fallen into a contestation with some of the Ministers whose authority was infinite over the minds of the common people and who without any regard to reason exhorted them still to constancy one of them named la Place was so bold and inconsiderate that after having basely abused him and many times called him Traitor he insolently offered with his hand to strike him in the face which injury though he seemed to pass by for quietness sake and though the Minister was kept in prison many days for a mad man yet inwardly it troubled him very much and moreover foreseeing that at the arrival of the Count Montgomery who was expected with supplies from England the chief command would be taken from him and conferred upon the Count with whom by reason of an ancient emulation he had no very good correspondence he resolved within himself to leave the Town and the next day sallying out of the works as he often used to skirmish with the Enemy he went over with some few in his company to the Duke of Anjou's camp making that pass for the fulfilling of his promise to the King which upon new considerations he resolved to do either for revenge of the affront he had received or for the securing of his own safety which he saw exposed to the calumnies and practices of the Ministers But whatsoever the motive was his example was followed by a great many Gentlemen and Officers yet all that shaked not the perseverance of the Citizens nor abated the courage of the Souldiers supporting with gallant resolution the furious bloody assaults which night and day were made against them on every side and enduring with constancy of mind the great scarcity of victual and the perpetual duty which they were forced to undergo without intermission For towards the Sea were raised two Forts one at the point called de Coreille the other over against it in the place which they call Port-neuf which being mann'd with a thousand Souldiers were kept by Captain Cossein and Captain Gas each with fifteen pieces of Cannon and between them a great Carack was fastened at anchor which furnished with Culverins shot into the mouth of the Haven and hindred the entrance into it so that by continual industry it was blocked up on that side and on the other toward the Land all the Princes and Lords of the Army had divided the work among them in such manner that the Trenches and Redoubts touched one another every where not did they cease to redouble their assaults every hour and yet the resistance of those within equalled the courage and industry of those that were without The valour and constancy of the Defendants was much increased by the intelligence which they secretly received from their friends which were in the Camp for not only among the private Souldiers but also among those that commanded there were some that did not desire the destruction of Rochel nor the extirpation of the Hugonot Faction and Byron who commanded the Artillery following his former intentions did with great dexterity as many were of opinion delay the progress of the Batteries and strengthened the resolution of the besieged But for all these arts their most constant Citizens and most valiant Souldiers were already consumed the hopes of relief from England and Germany were vanished of themselves for the Protestant Princes perswaded by Gaspar Count of Schombergh who was sent to them by the King had resolved not to interpose in the commotions of France there being now no Prince of the Blood who with his authority and supplies of money might maintain the War and the Queen of England to whom the King had sent Alberto Gondi for the same cause had refused to send them either men or shipping and the Count de Montgomery being departed to relieve the besieged with a good number of ships but ill mann'd and armed though with much ado he got a ship of Ammunition to enter the Haven yet being chased by the Kings Fleet and despairing to do any more good in the business he made out to Sea laid aside all thoughts of raising the siege or relieving the City now brought to extremity and only as a Pyrate annoyed the coasts of Britagne and Normandy Their victuals were likewise quite spent and their ammunition almost all wasted and on the other side though the Duke of Anjou in a siege of so many months had lost the Duke of Aumale killed in the Trenches with a Cannon-shot an infinite number of Gentlemen and Officers and above twenty thousand Souldiers killed and dead of the sickness and the Duke of Anjou himself whilst he was viewing the works wounded though but lightly in the neck in the side and in the left hand by a Harquebuze a croc charged with tarling had more need of rest than continual action yet neither the fierceness nor frequency of the assaults were at all allayed but there arriving daily new forces at the Camp among which six thousand Swisses newly entered into pay the siege grew rather streighter and the service hotter than at first so that the City was reduced to an impossibility of holding out longer and would at last have been taken by force and utterly ruined by the King if a new far-fetcht occasion had not saved it and prevented its so imminent destruction There had been a treaty many months before of electing the Duke of Anjou to be King of Poland the hope whereof being begun in the life of Sigismund Augustus King of that Kingdom with this proposition That the Duke taking Anne the Kings Sister to Wife should by the States of those Provinces be declared Successour to the Crown after his death it was much increased for though Ernest Arch-Duke of Austria Son to the Emperour and Sigismond King of Sweden were both Competitors in the same design yet neither of them seemed comparable for valour and glory to the Duke of Anjou whose name by reason of his many victories flew through all parts of Europe with a most clear same of singular vertue and renown The King of France applyed his mind wholly to that end and much more the Queen-Mother for the infinite love she bore to that Son and therefore they neither spared money promises pains nor industry necessary to effect that business which being brought very
done The Count de Randan held the command in Auvergne and in Provence the Marquess de Villars and the Sieur de Vins an old adherent to the House of Guise The Dukes of Ioyeuse Father and Brother to him that was slain in the Battel of Contras fighting against the King of Navarre had the Government of Gascogne in which Province except the City and Parliament of Tholouse the party of the Confederates was not very strong and in Dauphine Languedoc and Guienne the League had but very slender Forces But before all these preparations the Duke dispatched Lazare Coqueille Counsellor in the Parliament of Paris to Rome and with him were gone two Doctors of the Sâ—rbonne to confirm the Decree of their Colledge by which they had determined That the King had forfeited his right to the Crown and that his Subjects might justly withdraw their obedience from him the Duke foreseeing well that the popular Cause wholly founded upon the pretence of Religion was to look for and take its increase and nourishment from the Apostolick Sea and the Popes approbation But the King who afflicted with his wonted melancholly though he dissembled it had since the death of his Mother been many days troubled with a Bloody Flux was no less sollicitous concerning the affairs at Rome than the Duke of Mayenne as well because being a very great honourer of Religion he could not be satisfied to live disobedient to the Apostolick Sea as because making the same judgment as they of the League he saw that the greatest foundation of the adverse party consisted in the approbation and encouragement from Rome Wherefore though he had caused absolution to be given him for the death of the Cardinal by vertue of a Breve granted to him a few months before by the present Pope to make himself be absolved in all reserved cases by his own Ordinary Confessor yet seeing that that was not enough he sent Claude d' Angennes of his beloved Family of Rambouillet Bishop of Mans a man of profound Learning and singular Eloquence to the end that being informed of all his Reasons he might as his Sollicitor sue for an absolution from the Pope and endeavour to reconcile him to the Apostolick Sea to which so he might but secure himself he was ready to give the most exact satisfaction The Bishop of Mans came to Rome and having conferred with the other Ambassadors they went together to receive audience from the Pope where after words of compliment full of most deep submission they first argued that the King had not incurred any Censure not having violated the Ecclesiastical Liberties and Immunities for the Cardinal was guilty of the crime of Rebellion in which case the Prelates of France notwithstanding any dignity whatsoever are understood to be subject to the Secular Jurisdiction and so much the rather because he having been a Peer of France his causes naturally ought to be judged in the Court of Peers which is no other but the great Court of Parliament with the assistance of the Princes and Officers of the Crown so that if the King had infringed any Jurisdiction it was that of the Parliament and not the Ecclesiastical one which hath nothing to do with the Peers of France But because this reason was not only disapproved by the Pope but that also he seemed more displeased and offended at it alledging that the eminency and Priviledges of the dignity of Cardinal were immediately subject to the Pope and no other the Ambassadors began to dispute that the Kings of France could not incur Censure for any Sentence they should give and urged the Priviledges of the most Christian Kings and the Jurisdiction of the Gallique Church But this incensed the Pope so much the more who bad them take heed how they proposed things that had a touch of Heresie as this had for he would cause them to be punished To which though the Marquiss replied That as Ambassadors they could not be medled withal nor punished and that no fear should make them forbear to propose the Kings right yet having received Commission to appease and not to exasperate the Pope they alledged in the third place That the King by virtue of the Apostolick Breve granted to him by his Holiness had caused himself to be absolved and therefore they insisted only that his Holiness knowing the Pardon he had granted him would either confirm it or not be displeased if the King valuing it as he ought had made use of it in a seasonable occasion For not having in the heat of danger considered so particularly and having never had any intention to offend the Jurisdiction of the Apostolick See after he had been made sensible of it he being moved with scruple of Conscience had prostrated himself at the feet of his Confessor and had begged and obtained absolution for as much as need should require though he thought he had not transgressed effectively To this the Pope answered That the Breve was granted for things past but could not extend to future sins the absolution whereof cannot be anticipated That such a case as this in which the Apostolick See was directly offended and all Christendom scandalized was not comprehended under that Breve and that the Exposition was to be demanded from him who had granted it which now he declared affirming that it had never been his intention to enable the King to receive absolution for his future faults and for so evident a violation of the Dignity of Cardinal This Treaty having been often repeated and discussed with great allegations of Right and Authority in the end the Ambassadors were contented to petition in writing for the Popes absolution who expressed a desire to have it so and that it was the means to appease and satisfie him Wherefore after good Offices done by the Venetian and Florentine Ambassadors in favour of the King having received order from their Princes to take great pains in his behalf the Bishop with a Petition of a very submissive form demanded absolution of the Pope who with pleasing words answered That he would willingly grant it when he should be assured of the Kings contrition whereof he would have this token that he should set at liberty the Cardinal of Bourbon and Archbishop of Lyons it being vain to grant him absolution for one thing whilst he persisted in the act of another which did infer the same prejudice to the Apostolick See which he could not dissemble At this the Ambassadors and those that favoured them were exceedingly perplexed conceiving themselves to have been deceived and thinking that another kind of moderation ought to be used towards a King of France wherefore laying together all those reasons already alledged in the former Conferences they concluded that the King by setting those Prelates at liberty should but increase the fire in his Kingdom with the evident danger of his own Life and Crown and that therefore it was not fit to free them To which the Pope
that he should have the advantagâ— after the winning of a Battel the the same Prayer was reiterated not by us who were not then in a condition to do it but by persons of honor desirous of the publick good and repose of the Kingdom as it hapned likewise in the siege of Paris by Prelates of great authority who moved by the Prayers of the besieged disposed themselves to go unto him to find some remedy for their miseries At which time if it had been resolved or rather if the Holy Ghost without whom none can enter into his Church had so put into his mind he might have caused the Catholicks to hope much better of his conversion who justly do suspect a sudden change and are sensible in a thing that so nearly touches the honor of God their lives and consciences which can never be secure under the dominion of Hereticks But the hope he then was in to subdue Paris and by consequence with the terror of his Arms and the means which he promised to himself he should find in it to possess the rest of the Kingdom by force made him reject that Counsel of reconciling himself to the Church which might have united the Catholicks and preserved Religion But after that the City was freed by the help of the Princes and Lords of a good number of the Gentry of the Kingdom and of the Army of the Catholick King who hath alwayes with his Forces upheld this Cause for which we are most obliged to him sent under the Command of the Duke of Parma a Prince of happy memory sufficiently known by the reputation of his name and of his great deserts he ceased not nevertheless to enter into his first hopes because this forraign Army assoon as it had raised the siege went out of the Kingdom and he having commanded his own party drew together a great Army wherewith he made himself Master of the field and then caused openly to be published without dissembling it that it was a crime for any to intreat him or speak to him about Conversion before they had acknowledged him and taken the Oath of obedience and fidelity to him that we were obliged to lay down our Arms to present our selves before him so naked so disarmed to beseech him and to give him absolute power upon our lives and fortunes and upon Religion it self to use it or abuse it as he pleased by our baseness putting it in eminent danger whereas by the authority and means of the holy See the help of the Catholick King and other Potentates who assist and favour this cause we have alwayes hoped that God would be so merciful to us as to preserve it who all would have had nothing more to do in our affairs if we had once acknowledged him and this quarrel of Religion would have been decided with two much advantage to Hereticks between him the Head and Protector of Heresie armed with our obedience and the whole Forces of the Kingdom and us who should have had nothing to resist him but bare weak supplications addressed to a Prince more desirous to hear them than to provide for them But how unjust soever this will is and though the following of it is the true means to ruine Religion yet among those Catholicks that assist him many have suffered themselves to be perswaded that it is rebellion to oppose him and that we ought rather to obey his Commands and the Laws of that temporal policy which he would establish anew against the ancient Laws of the Kingdom than the Decrees of the holy Church and the Laws of his Predecessors from the succession of whom he pretends to the Crown who never taught us to acknowledge Hereticks but on the contrary to reject them and make War against them and not to hold any to be more just and necessary than it though it be exceeding dangerous Here let us remember that he himself often took Arms against our Kings to introduce a new Doctrine into the Kingdom That many defamatory Books and Writings were made and published against those that opposed it and counselled to extinguish the growing evil betimes while it was yet weak That then he would needs have his Arms to be believed just because for matter of Religion and Conscience and that we defend an ancient Religion received into this Kingdom assoon as it began and with which this Crown grew till it became the first and most potent of all Christendom which we know very well cannot be kept pure inviolable and without danger under a Heretick King though at first to make us lay down our Arms and make him absolute Master he dissemble and promise the contrary Late examples reason and that which we find every day ought to make us wise and teach us that Subjects willingly follow the life customs nay and even the Religion of their Kings to maintain themselves in their favour and to have share in the Honors and Benefits which they alone can distribute and that after they have corrupted some with their favours they have alwayes means to constrain the rest by their power and authority We are all men and that which hath once been accounted lawful though it were not shall afterwards be so again for another cause which shall appear to us no less just than the first that made us erre Many Catholicks have thought that for some consideration they might follow an Heretick Prince and assist to establish him nor hath the sight of the ruine of Churches of Altars and of the Monuments of their fathers whereof many died fighting to destroy the Heresie which they maintain nor the present nor future danger of Religion been able to divert them How much more suspected ought his Forces and adherents be to us if he already were established King and absolute Master since that in such a case every one would be so afflicted and tired or rather ruined with the late unhappy War that provided they might but live secure in repose and also with some hope of reward they would chuse rather to suffer any kind of trouble than make opposition with danger Some are of opinion that in a such case all the Catholicks would unite themselves unanimously to conserve Religion and that therefore it would be an easie matter to interrupt the design of whosoever should attempt Innovations Certainly we ought to desire that happiness but yet we dare not hope it on such a sudden but admit that the fire being extinguished there should in one instant remain no heat in the embers and that Arms being laid down all our hatred likewise should be quite extinct yet it is most certain we should not therefore be exempt from all other passions which sometimes make us run into errors and that the danger would always hang over our heads of being in spite of us subject to the motions and passions of Hereticks who finding that they had the advantage of having a King of their own Religion which is as
having been privy to the death of the Prince her Husband and the sentence that had been given against her by Judges that were not competent nor capable to sentence her they demanded that she having till then been kept in prison at S. Iehan d' Angely the King disanulling the first sentence would be pleased to grant that the Parliament of Paris a natural and competent Judge might hear her cause and having discussed the proofs give sentence upon it to which Petition the King answered That if the Princesses Kinsmen would oblige themselves to put her into the power of the Parliament of Paris he would disanul and make void the sentence that had been given and would refer the case to the aforesaid Parliament into whose power the Princess was to be delivered within the space of four months This served for a colour and excuse to take away suspicion from the Hugonots to deprive them of power to detain the person of the Princess and of her Son And the King sent the Marquiss de Pisani to S. Iehan who though the Hugonots murmured at it brought them both away to Paris where the Princess having declared that she would live for the time to come in the Catholick Religion was absolved by the Parliament of that imputation that had been layed against her the Prince of Conde remaining not only in the King's power but instructed and bred up in the Catholick Religion The Duke of Montmorancy came likewise to the City of Dijon and there took possession of his Office of Constable the Hugonots being thus deprived of those props wherewith they had designed to uphold themselves The Pope was by these lively effects very much confirmed of the King's sincerity who already was wholly averse from them and wholly intent to secure the State of Religion within his obedience He shewed the same inclination by the strict orders and particular Commissions which he had given to restore the use of the Mass in all those places from whence it had been taken and he laboured continually in seeking means to restore the estates of the Clergy possessed by others which by reason of the difficulty of the matter proved very hard and troublesome for the Lords and Gentlemen who in reward of their services had obtained them and had already possessed them a great while could hardly be brought to leave them without equivalent recompences which by reason of the number of the pretenders and the narrowness of affairs in a time of so great distraction it was not possible to satisfie yet the King with infinite patience and dexterity studied how to compose things so that if he could not altogether he did at least in part satisfie the Clergy though of necessity many of the principal of them could not be absolutely contented but discreet persons commended both the King's inclinations and dexterous manner of finding a way to compose interests that were so oppositely diverse and repugnant These things brought by fame unto the Court of Rome did opportunely promote the King's interests but much more were they helped on by the contrary circumstances which troubled the mind of the Pope and of that Court for Schism was in a manner totally setled the Parliament continued diligently to hinder that none should go suâ— for Benefices at Rome and whosoever procured any by such sutes did not certainly obtain the possession of them the King by some one of the great Council did still dispatch Spiritual Oeconomies to the Bishopricks and other cures of Souls that were vacant the name of the Apostolick See seemed to be utterly forgotten and the King's Forces prospering it was doubted he would demand Absolution no more the Duke of Nevers having sâ—id publickly at his departure that they should not look to have any more Ambassadors sent to Rome wherefore though the Treaty was set on foot again by means of Cardinal Gondi and that d' Ossat continued to treat with Sannesio and with Cardinal Aldobrandino yet the Pope fearing the mischief that was imminent and considering the example of other States that had withdrawn themselves from the obedience of the Apostolick See was wonderful anxious by reason of the danger of this division To this was added the Kings confederacy contracted with the States of Holland and the League which was still in treaty with England whereupon it was doubted that so near confederacy being made with Hereticks Religion would in some part be injured by it That which the more incited the Pope was the sharp War made by the Turk in Hungary for being constrained to think of the progress of the common Enemy on that side he desired to appease the tumults of France that he might turn all his Forces for the maintenance and benefit of the Commonweal of Christians for all these reasons being resolved within himself to condescend to the Kings benediction to which he thought himself obliged in Conscience he began to think of softning the Catholick King and therefore besides satisfying him in all his demands he resolved to send his Nephew Giovan Francesco Aldobrandino into Spain under colour of treating of the affairs of Hungary but withal to negotiate the absolution of France to which he laboured to bring the King of Spain gently by shewing that he depended much upon his consent In the mean time by the means of Monsieur d' Ossat he secretly let the King know that things were already ripe and that if he sent new Ministers to treat the absolution perchance might be concluded The King desirous to reconcile himself fully to the Church thought at first to send a gallant Embassy but being informed of the Popes intention who desired that the business should pass privately and with terms of very great submission he determined to send only Iaques Davy Sieur du Perron who should treat of matters together with d' Ossat being also desirous in case the business should not take effect that the manner of treating might not make it the more eminent and remarkable These men seasonably making use of the conjuncture of present affairs managed the Kings intentions modestly and dexterously shewing no less the prosperousness of his enterprizes which at last had gained him the whole Kingdom than his Piety and most ardent affection towards Religion from whence proceeded his infinite patience hardened to bear so many repulses as had been given him by the Pope But those that were well versed in the affairs of the World gave loose reins to their discourse concerning those very things which much troubled the Pope and said freely through the Court that in the end the Kings patience would turn into fury and that having subdued his Enemies and made himself a peaceable Master of his Estate it was to be doubted he would care but little to reconcile himself to the Pope or rather it was to be feared that with a dangerous Schism in the Church of God he would attempt to revenge so many past injuries and persecutions and upon these
Pope's obedience by any adversity whatsoever being now freed from that impediment closed up the Treaty of Agreement in which as Head of the Parâ—y he reserved an entrance for all those that would follow him In the Treaty of this Accommodation there arose two wondrous great difficulties which were very hard to be overcome one the great sum of the debts contracted by the Duke of Mayenne not only in many places and with many Merchants of the Kingdom of France but also with the Switzers Germans and Lorainers for the raising of Souldiers for the Duke of Mayenne standing upon it to have them paid by the King and he at that present not having money to satisfie them it was very difficult to find a mean in that business the Duke being resolved that his estate should not be lyable to the payment and on the other side the Creditors neither consenting to transfer nor defer what they had trusted but would have satisfaction in ready money The other difficulty was the commemoration of the late King's death for all the Decrees and Agreements made in favour of those of the League who were returned unto the Kings obedience having still contained pardon and forgiveness of all past offences except the death of Henry the Third which had always with express words been distinguished and excepted The Duke of Mayenne would have such a kind of mean found out whereby on the one side he might not appear to have been the Author of it and on the other he might not be subject to the Inquisition which might be made concerning that business for the future lest under that pretence occasion might be taken some time or other to revenge past injuries It was extreamly difficult to untie this knot for not only the King thought it very hard to let pass into oblivion so hainous a fact and pernicious an example of attempting against the persons of Kings but also the Parliament would not suffer it and it was most certain the Queen Dowager who often had demanded justice would oppose it These two difficulties hindered the concluding of the Accommodation in Bourgongne and the King being necessitated to go speedily into Picardy had taken President Ieannin with him to continue the Treaty but nothing at all having been concluded in the journey much less could it be done when they were come to Paris for the affairs of the War with the Spaniards were brought into so great danger that the King and all his Ministers were taken up and afflicted both in mind and body wherefore the President was fain to follow the Army into Picardy whither the King marched with an intent to relieve the City of Cambray but the speedy victory of the Spaniards having taken away the necessity of relief the King being come to Fol-ambray a house of pleasure built by King Francis the First for a hunting-seat called all his Council to him that the things appertaining to the peace with the Duke of Mayenne might with maturity be discussed and determined After much treating and much debating obstacles and oppositions arising in all things it seemed most expedient to send for the proofs and inquisitions that had been made by the Parliament touching the Kings death and also for some of the Presidents and Councellors of that Court to see what clearness there was in them and that they might determine which way was the best to manage the expedition of that business The Writings being seen and the matter put into consultation though some signs appeared diversly against divers persons yet did there not appear any such thing as was sufficient to determine the proceeding against any body and though neither the Queen Dowager as Plaintiff had yet brought in the particulars of her accusation nor the Parliament had dived very far into the discussion and inquiry into that business yet it was thought the not appearing at that present that the Duke of Mayenne or any of his were guilty of that fact might serve for a pretence of finding out a mean to satisfie his honour and likewise free him from the danger of future inquisition Wherefore it having been many days consulted of between the High Chancellour the first President Harlay the Sieur de Villeroy the Count de Schombergh and President Ieannin they at last determined That in the Decree which the King was to cause to be published and registred in the Parliament there should be a clause inserted which in substance should contain That the King having caused the Process made upon the death of the late King to be viewed in the presence of himself the Princes of the Blood and the Officers of the Crown in Council there had not been any token found against the Duke of Mayenne nor against any other Prince or Princess of his Blood and that having been desirous for the greater certainty to hear what they alledged about it they had sworn that they had not any any knowledge of nor participation in that crime and that if they had known it they would have opposed the execution of it Wherefore he did declare that the Duke of Mayenne and all the other Princes and Princesses his Adherents were innocent of that fact and therefore he prohibited his Atturney-General to urge at any time that they should be proceeded against and likewise forbad the Court of Parliament and all other Officers and Lawyers to make any inquisition about it The difficulty concerning the payment of debts was also taken away for the King promised secretly to disburse unto the Duke of Mayenne Four hundred and twenty thousand Crowns for the payment of his debts contracted to particular persons and as for the debt of the Leavies the King freed the Duke of Mayenne from it constituting himself Pay-master for him and transferring the debt upon the Crown forbidding the Duke or his estate to be molested for that occasion It was likewise established though not without dispute that peace should be made with the Duke of Mayenne as Head of his Party which the King had refused by reason of the multitude of those that were severally come in to his obedience and chiefly in respect of Paris and the other principal Cities And the Duke of Mayenne for his own honour and the reputation of his agreement stood obstinately for it The King granted three places to the Duke of Mayenne for his security which were Soissons Chalon and Seure the Dominion of which he was to hold for the space of six years and after the said term to restorâ— them He confirmed all the Collations of Offices and Benefices that had been vacant by death during his Government provided the Possessors should take new Patents for them under the Kings Broad-Seal He made a Decree of oblivion and silence of all things past intelligences with Foreign Princes raising of Moneys exactions of Taxes impositions of Payments gathering of Armies demolishings or buildings of Cities and Fortresses acts of Hostility killings of Men and particularly
with them as soon as she saw they had assembled such a force as might be sufficient to resist the power of their Adversaries And on the other side she made protestations to the King of Navarre the Constable and the Duke of Guise that she would never forsake the Catholick party nor ever consent to the establishment of the Hugonots further than granting them a moderate liberty such as by the advice of persons well-affected should be thought necessary for the quiet of the State Her Letters concerning this business were no less ambiguous than her words nor did she declare her self more openly abroad to foreign Princes than at home within her own Kingdom but often changing the tenour of her discourse and varying the instructions she gave to Ambassadors in other Courts and particularly to Monsieur de l' Isle who resided in Rome sometimes restraining them other while giving them a larger scope so confounded the understandings of all men that they could not conclude any thing But now she began to have a hard task For the heads of both parties were grown by experience to be no less their Crafts-masters than her self and in such a long time that she had held the Regency they had had the commodity to discern and understand her arts besides now that the King began to grow of age she was necessitated to cut off those delays which she formerly used many things being in apparence just which when He should come to years to govern of himself depended absolutely upon his judgment and arbitrement which none could oppose without manifest delinquency of Felony whereas at the present every one might pretend that they did not withstand the Kings will but the wicked pernicious counsels of his Ministers The Duke of Guise who being of a more violent disposition and resolute nature than the rest absolutely swayed the resolutions of his party having already drawn to his opinion the Constable and the King of Navarre perswaded them that going presently together to Court they should bring the King and the Queen-Mother to Paris and afterwards make them confirm such Determinations and Edicts as seemed necessary for the present times and not by expecting run the hazard of being prevented or suffer their Adversaries to seize first upon the Kings person and so invest themselves with the authority of his Name The Prince of Conde had the same intention who when he left Paris retired first to Meaux a Town in Brye ten leagues distant from thence and then to la Ferte a place of his own there to assemble his Forces To this resolution he was advised by the Admiral invited by the promises of the Queen-Mother and perhaps further induced by the design of the Catholicks which was not concealed from him as for the most part in civil dissentions through the infidelity of Counsellors and frequency of spies it is very easie to penetrate into the very thoughts of the Enemy But the Catholick Lords with their ordinary followers were sufficient to manage this design besides they were near to Paris which depending absolutely upon their wills afforded strength and commodity to effect it Whereas on the other side the Prince of Conde being far weaker than they and but few of his men armed he was forced to expect the other Lords and Gentlemen of his party who being sent for from divers Provinces of the Kingdom were not speedily to be brought together In the mean while the Catholicks prevented them and on a sudden appeared in great numbers at the Court. Yet the Queen nothing dismayed at their so unexpected coming though doubtful that her former arts would no longer prevail began to perswade the King of Navarre that the Princes and other Lords that came with him should presently withdraw themselves from about the Court that every one plainly perceived the cause of their coming which was to force her being unarmed and the King yet in minority to order things in the State according to their humours and to accommodate publick affairs to passions and private interests which was not only far from the loyalty and integrity they professed but absolutely contrary to the peace and safety of the Kingdom which they pretended only to desire For to seek new Edicts and new Institutions different from those which were already enacted was no less than to arm the Hugonots who bold enough of themselves and ready for Insurrections would believe and publish to all the World that they had reason on their side if without any cause that Edict should be recalled which by a general consent was confirmed and established That it was expedient whilst the King was under age to avoid the necessity of a War and the troubles and inconveniencies that accompanied it left besides the universal prejudice a greater brand of infamy might be fixed upon them who held the greatest authority in the Government That she for this reason consented to the Edict of Ianuary for this cause left Paris to take away all manner of pretence and opportunity for that mischief to break out which secretly crept up and that to return to a place suspected and to disturb the Edict already published would be openly to foment the violence of it Withal she put the King of Navarre in mind and the other Catholick Princes that to raise Civil Wars was only proper to those who were either of unsetled or desperate fortunes and not for such who possessing riches dignities estates and honours lived in a flourishing eminent condition That the King of Navarre should enjoy the principal Command of the whole Kingdom which already without contradiction he was possessed of the other Princes should enjoy their estates greatness and dignities and should comply with the people that by enjoying or believing they enjoyed a borrowed and momentary liberty they might suffer the King without War to accomplish the age of his majority That nothing had been done which was not forced by an absolute necessity That only was given which could not be sold and that liberty granted to the Hugonots which of their own power they arrogated to themselves And therefore the Catholick Princes should have patience that this so frantick humour might be overcome with art and dexterity and not wilfully be an occasion by anticipating the remedies before the time the King came of age to anticipate likewise the disease which would carry along with it many adverse revolutions and dangerous accidents and if they were positively resolved to regulate the Edict that it was to be done insensibly and with opportunity of times and occasions and not with such open violence which would afford that commodity to the seditious which they themselves desired and sought after These reasons effectually expressed and reiterated would have moved the King of Navarre and perhaps the Constable also if the Duke of Guise had consented thereunto But he having setled his hopes not only to recover but enlarge his former greatness by the fortune of the war and desirous as
of Ferrara left three male children Henry Duke of Guise a youth of singular hope and exceeding expectation Lodovick destined to the Church and the dignity of Cardinal and Charles first Marquiss then Duke of Mayenne he who in the late Wars maintained the Catholick League against Henry the Fourth These Sons who neither for greatness of mind nor courage degenerated from their Father though they were very young yet being upheld by the fierceness of the Duke of Aumale and the authority of the Cardinal of Lorâ—in their Uncles boldly attempted to make themselves the Heads of the Catholick party and therefore indeavoured to gain credit in the world and to promote new motives to maintain the ardour of the Faction For which cause having assembled a great number of their kindred and servants they went together all clad in mourning to the King demanding very earnestly and with great clamour of the people of Paris who ran in multitudes to this spectacle that justice might be done upon those who had so bruitishly caused their Father to be murthered whilst in the service of GOD and the Crown loyally and gloriously bearing arms he laboured for the good of the Commonwealth To which demand the King not being able to make other answer than that in due time and place he would not fail to do exemplary Justice upon those that were found guilty of so hainous a crime the Brothers of Coligny became more diffident than before and were brought as it were into an inevitable necessity again to arm their Faction that they might be able to withstand the powerful enmity of the Guises But if all Arts were used to raise the Catholick party the endeavour was yet greater to suppress the Calvinists For the Cardinal of Lorain knowing that the interests of his Nephews being united and mingled with the cause of Religion they would gain greater honour and render themselves more strong and powerful as soon as the Council of Trent was broken up which hapned this present year in the month of November he went to Rome and perswaded the Pope Pius Quartus who was ill satisfied with the Peace concluded in France that he should press the King and the Queen-Mother to cause the Council to be published and observed in their Kingdom promising that his Nephews with the whole house of Lorain and the greatest part of the French Nobility would be ready and united to cause declaration thereof to be made and sufficient afterwards by force to suppress the followers of the Hugonot Doctrine The Pope was sollicited to the same effect by the Catholick King and the Duke of Savoy being entred into a jealousie that the nearness and introduction of the Hugonots might endanger their States seeing the Low-Countries belonging to King Philip were already infected and not only Savoy but even Piedmont also exceedingly pestered with them where through the neighbourhood of Geneva they had sowed the seeds of their heresie Wherefore they both desired that this dangerous fire kindled in so near a Country might without further delay be extinguished Nor was it a difficult matter to perswade the Pope to be earnest in a business which more than any thing else concerned the greatness of the Apostolick Sea and the Authority of the Papacy For which reasons they resolved to join together to send Ambassadors to the King of France to exhort him that he should cause the Council to be published and observed with proffers of forces and aid to expel and extirpate heresie out of his Dominions This Embassie which to give it the more credit was sent in the names of them all exceedingly troubled the King and the Queen-Mother For though they concurred with the Pope and other Princes to irradicate and suppress the Hugonot Faction which they knew to be the source of all the troubles yet they judged it not agreeable to their interests to do it tumultuously and with such a noise on a suddain nor to precipitate their deliberations which being designed with great wisdom were not yet come to maturity And they took it wondrous ill that the Catholick King and much more the Duke of Savoy should presume as it were by way of command to interpose in the Government of their State Besides that this so pressing sollicitation put them in an evident necessity either to alienate the Pope from them and with publick scandal and ignominy of their names to separate themselves from the obedience of the Apostolick Sea or else to discover the designs with which proceeding leisurely they had determined without the hazard of War to attain by the benefit of time to the same end but if they were by this means discovered whilst they endeavoured with their uttermost skill to conceal them it was evident that the knowledge thereof coming to the Hugonots not only a Civil War would be kindled again in the bowels of the Kingdom but a way opened for stranger Nations to invade and spoil the best parts of France as the example of the past War had sufficiently proved For which reason there being no other way but by art and dissimulation to render this negotiation of no effect they received the Ambassadors privately at Fountain-bleau a house remote from the concourse of people that by the little ceremony used at their reception their business might be thought of less consequence Afterward they endeavoured by delaying their answer and dispatches to make the Negotiation antiquate it self and by degrees fall to nothing And lastly sought by ambiguous speeches capable of divers interpretations to leave the Ambassadors themselves doubtful of their intentions concluding in the end that they would forthwith send Ministers of their own to the Pope and the other Princes to acquaint them particularly with their resolutions The Ambassadors being thus dispatched away at the end of Ianuary in the year 1564. the King and the Queen resolved to visit all the Provinces and principal Cities of the Kingdom meaning by this progress to advance those designs which was the only end they aimed at for the present For coming to a Parley with the Duke of Savoy in Dolphine with the Popes Ministers at Avignon and with the Catholick King or else with the Queen his Wife upon the confines of Guienna they might communicate their counsels to them without the hazard of trusting French-men who either through dependence or kindred had all the same interests to have them revealed to the Hugonots So that in this manner preserving the amity of the Pope and the other Catholick Princes they might by common consent have leisure enough to bring their projected designs to maturity They thought it also no little help to have the opportunity to treat in person with the Duke of Lorain and by his means with the Protestant Princes with whom they hoped to make so firm an alliance that they should not need to fear they would any more shew themselves in the favour of the Hugonots or interpose in the affairs of
broken and often charged through still rallied his men and with a wonderful courage maintained the force of the Battel but after the flight of the Van and afterward of the Rear being charged on all sides by the Conquerors and an innumerable company of the Enemy yet he fought desperately with those that stood to him till the last for as he was rallying his men being hurt with a blow on the leg by a Courser of the Count of Roch-fou-caults having afterwards his own Horse killed under him in the fight and being grievously wounded in divers places he still with one knee upon the ground couragiously defended himself till Monsieur de Montesqueou the Dukes Captain of his Guard shooting a Pistol in his head laid him dead upon the place There was slain by his side Robert Stuart he who in the Battel of St. Denis killed the Constable Tabaret Melare and in a manner all the Nobility of Poictou and Xaintonge who being invironed by the Catholicks Squadrons could not find any way to save themselves in the heat of which Battel the Duke of Anjou fighting valiantly beyond the force of his age in the head of his Squadrons and having his Horse killed under him was in exceeding danger of his life if he had not been succoured by the courage and address of his Souldiers and of his own valour and those that were near about his person had not defended him from the fury of the Enemy who fighting desperately compassed him on all sides But after the death of the Prince and the defeating of his Squadron in which were the most valiant Souldiers in the Army there was no body made any resistance but every one thinking how to save himself fled a several way and the night that was drawing on advantaged them not a little in their escape The Admiral and Andelot went to St. Iean d' Angely Acier to Cognoc Mongomery to Angoulesme all the rest and particularly the Foot which had not fought dispersed themselves into several places not any one Regiment save only Pluviauts and Corbousons being present at the business This was the Battel of Brissac that happened the sixteenth of March in which the quality of the slain was much more considerable than the number for the Hugonots lost not in all above seven hundred men but they were most of them Gentlemen and Cavaliers of note for their chief strength consisted in their Cavalry and on the Catholick side very few were killed but amongst those Monsieur de Monsalez Hypolite Pic Count de la Mirandole Prunay and Ingrande for Monsieur de Lignieres whom some have named amongst the dead died many days after at Poictiers of a natural death The Duke of Anjou pursuing the Enemy entred the same night of the Battel victorious into Iarnac whither the body of the Prince of Conde was carried as in triumph upon a poor Pack-horse all the Army making sport at such a spectacle which whilst he lived were terrified with the name of so great a Person The Duke permitted not any contempt or violence to be used to the body being satisfied that what could not be done by Policy or Justice was effected by the War wherefore a few days after to shew that respect to the dead which he thought due to the Royal Blood he restored it to Henry Prince of Navarre his Nephew who without any other pomp save only the abundant tears of all the Faction caused him to be buried at Vendosme in a Tomb belonging to his Ancestors Thus lived and thus died Lewis of Bourbon Prince of Conde who by having so many times stirred up Civil Wars in his own Country and with the brand of having been the chief Disturber of the Catholick Religion in the most Christian Kingdom obscured those excellent endowments of the mind which for boldness constancy and generosity would otherwise have rendred him most considerable amongst the first Princes and Captains of that age The day after the battel those who in the terrour of the flight were scattered in divers places understanding that the most part of the Foot being untouched was retired to Cognac endeavoured by several ways to get all to the same place so that before many days were past besides Monsieur de Aciere who saved himself there at the first there met there the Counts de la Roch-fou-cault and Montgomery Monsieur d' Ivoy who with his Brother being killed called himself Ienlis Iaques Boucbard Teligni Bouchavanes and at length the Admiral himself and Andelot came thither from St. Iean d' Angeli After this defeat the affairs of the Hugonots were in a very uncertain tottering condition for there was no doubt the Prince of Conde being dead but that the first place either for dignity or reputation of wisdom was due to the Admiral and it was not forgotten that after the Battel of Dreux in which the Prince remained Prisoner the charge of the Army was by a general consent conferred upon him but there were many who for birth riches and other advantages did not willingly yield to him on the contrary at this very time there was a common slander laid upon his reputation That through his sloth and negligence the Catholicks got an opportunity to pass the River whilst he suffered himself to be deluded by the stratagems of a youth who then only entered upon the rudiments of War and that after the passage of the Army he had basely yielded in all places giving a beginning by his flight to the success and victory oâ— the Enemy which imputations though he fully answered shewing that the passage of the Catholicks happened only because his Orders were not obeyed and because those who were appointed to guard the passes for conveniency of quarter left â—heir posts without leave so that he who could not be every where was not advertised soon enough to remedy it yet that his flight ought indeed to be attributed to greatness of courage for the Army being routed and the Victory desperate he chose rather to save himself that he might rise again as a new Anteus to the ruine and perdition of his Enemies than by despairing of the future through dejectedness of mind to die unprofitably out of season and without having effected any thing nevertheless partly through envy partly through ambition partly through grief of the late loss and the death of the Prince he was spoken against and hated by many Besides this it was thought that wanting the Authority and Name of a Prince of the Blood the foundation and credit of the Faction would fail for neither the people would so readily believe and follow a man of private condition nor stranger Princes much trust to his fidelity nor would the reasons of their cause have that wonted pretence to make War for the publick good and service of the State the nature of this charge being such that whosoever undertook it ought to be the nearest allied Princes of the Blood Royal. To this was added
that many accustomed to the liberality candour and integrity of the Prince of Conde abhorred and feared the disposition and carriage of the Admiral who was thought a man exceeding covetous of deep thoughts of a treacherous subtil nature and in all things inclined wholly to attend and procure by any means his own ends And it happened at the same time that Andelot and Iaques Bouchard the one Brother and the other streightly united by interests with the Admiral either spent with labour or overcome with grief and trouble of mind fell both into a grievous sickness of which they died not many months after whereby that party which desired the greatness and advancement of the Admiral not knowing how to manage their business remained extreamly weakned But he with his subtilty overcoming all these impediments resolved by despising ambition and speciousness of titles still to retain in himself the chief Power and Authority for transferring the name of Heads of the Faction and the titles of Generals of the Army to Henry Prince of Navarre and Henry Son to the deceased Prince of Conde he saw the common cause would not only keep the same authority and the same reputation of being upheld by the Blood Royal but they being both in a manner children the sole administration of the whole business should still remain in him so to quiet the ambitions and pretences of the great ones so to satisfie the expectation of the people and by this means to renew again that league amongst the Faction which through diversity of opinions seemed now in a manner broken With this resolution not attempting that which could not be obtained he presently sent to Queen Iane to come to the Army shewing her the time was now come to advance her Son to that greatness which properly belonged to him and to which she had so long aspired Queen Iane wanted neither willingness nor courage being before fully resolved despising all danger to make her Son Head of that Faction wherefore with a readiness and quickness answerable to the occasion she went instantly with both the Princes to the Camp which was then at Cognac full of discords within it self and in a condition rather to dissolve than to keep together to remedy the disorders and losses already hapned There the Queen of Navarre after she had approved the Admirals counsels the Army being drawn together with wonderful courage and manly speeches exhorting the Souldiers to remain united and constant in the defence of their Liberties and Religion proposed to them the two young Princes whose presence and aspect moved the affections of them all to be their Generals encouraging them under the auspicious conduct of those two branches of the Royal Blood to hope for a most happy success to their just pretentions and the common cause at which words the Army which through the past adversities and present discords was in a manner astonished and confounded taking new vigour the Admiral and the Count de la Roch-fou-cault first submitted and swore fidelity to the Princes of Bourbon by whose example the Gentlemen and Commanders doing the same the common Souldiers likewise with loud applause approved the Election of the Princes for Protectors and Heads of the Reformed Religion Henry of Bourbon Prince of Navarre was then fifteen years of age of a lively spirit and generous courage altogether addicted and intent to the profession of Arms wherefore through the inclination of his Fate or the perswasions of his Mother readily without any demur attempting the invitation of the Army in a short Souldier-like speech he promised them To protect the true Religion and to persevere constantly in the defence of the common Cause till either death or victory brought that liberty they all desired and aimed at The Prince of Conde rather by his actions than words consented to what was done for he was so young that he could not express himself otherwise so that in all other things likewise yielding to the maturer age and pre-eminence of the first Prince of the Blood the chief Authority of the Faction was established in the Prince of Navarre wherefore Queen Iane in remembrance of this Act caused afterwards certain pieces of Gold to be coyned which on the one side bore her own Effigies and on the other her Sons with this word PAX CERTA VICTORIA INTEGRA MORS HONESTA The Princes then being chosen Heads of the Faction they presently called a Council of the chief Commanders to deliberate in the presence of Queen Iane how to manage their business what remedies were expedient to repair their past losses and how to divert the extream danger that threatned them There before any thing else it was determined That the Admiral by reason of the minority and little experience of the Princes should govern the Army and all things else belonging to the War but Monsieur de Aciere should be General of the Foot which charge first by the infirmity and afterwards by the death of Andelot was vacant and Monsieur de Genlis General of the Artillery which was formerly supplied by Bouchard After which Elections discoursing how to proceed with the War many not yet assuted from their fears would that the Army should be drawn into the Cities and strong holds about Rochel shewing it would be impossible for the Duke of Anjou to make any attempt upon those places which were so invironed with waters and marsh grounds whilst there was any reasonable strength to defend them but this appeared to the Admiral the other Commanders of best esteem being of the same opinion a too cowardly resolution and therefore it was determined That all the Army should be divided into the several Towns upon the Rivers to keep them and to hinder the progress of the Conqueror till they had certain news of the forces the Duke of Deux-ponts was bringing to their aid out of Germany who when he came near the Army should draw together again to meet him wheresoever he was and use their utmost endeavours to join with him for by obtaining that end they should remain at least equal if not superiour in strength to the Kings Army and if they could not effect it they should be separated and carry the War into divers places and the King likewise being constrained to divide his Forces they might make War upon even terms which things being resolved on Queen Iane went to Rochel to sollicite for new aids and provisions the Admiral with the Princes retired to S. Iean d' Augâ—li Monsieur de Piles took upon him the Defence of Xaintes Montgomery and Pâ—viaut turned about to Angolesme Monsieur d' Aciere with the greatest part of the Foot remained at Cognac and Genlis with a strong Garison shut himself up in Loudun all places either for strength of their situation by help of art or in regard of the Rivers which in that Country are many and very deep likely to hold out a long time In the mean while the Duke
promises to observe at the time of his Consecration and Coronation with protestation not to do any thing against that which shall be ordained and setled by the States Thirdly To restore unto the Provinces of this Kingdom and to those other States which are under it those ancient Rights Pre-eminences Liberties and Priviledges which were in the time of Clovis the first most Christian King or yet better and more profitable if any such can be found under the said protection In case there be any impediment opposition or rebellion against that which is aforesaid be it from whom it will or proceed it from whence soever it may those that enter into this Covenant shall be bound and obliged to imploy their Lives and Fortunes to punish chastise and prosecute those that shall attempt to disturb or hinder it and shall never cease their endeavours till the aforesaid things be really done and perfected In case any of the Confederates their Friends Vassals or Dependents be oppressed molested or questioned for this cause be it by whom it will they shall be bound to imploy their persons goods and estates to take revenge upon those that shall have so molested them either by the way of justice or force without any exception of persons whatsoever If it shall come to pass that any man after having united himself by Oath unto this Confederacy should desire to depart from it or separate himself upon any excuse or pretence which God forbid such Violaters of their own Consciences shall be punished both in bodies and goods by all means that can be thought of as Enemies to God Rebels and Disturbers of the Publick Peace neither shall such revenge be ever imputed unto the aforesaid Associates nor they liable to be questioned for it either in publick or in private The said Associates shall likewise swear to yield ready obedience and faithful service unto that Head which shall be deputed to follow and obey him and to lend all help counsel and assistance as well for the entire conservation and maintenance of this League as for the ruine of all that shall oppose it without partiality or exceptions of persons and those that shall fail or depart from it shall be punished by the authority of the Head and according to his Orders to which every Confederate shall be obliged to submit himself All the Catholicks of several Cities Towns and Villages shall be secretly advertised and warned by the particular Governours of places to enter into this League and to concur in the providing of men arms and other necessaries every one according to his condition and ability All the Confederates shall be prohibited to stir up any discord or enter into any dispute among themselves without leave of the Head to whose arbitrement all dissentions shall be referred as also the determining all differences as well in matters of goods as good name and all of them shall be obliged to swear in this manner and form following I swear by GOD the Creator laying my hand upon the holy Gospel and under pain of Excommunication and Eternal Damnation that I enter into this holy Catholick League according to the form of that Writing which hath now been read unto me and that I do faithfully and sincerely enter into it with a will either to command or to obey and serve as I shall be appointed and I promise upon my life and honour to continue in it unto the last drop of my blood and not to depart from it or transgress it for any command pretence excuse or occasion which by any means whatsoever can be represented to me The Copies of this League framed with so much art by the Guises that making a shew to obey and maintain the King took from him all his obedience and authority to confer it upon the head of their Union were very carefully and with much cunning dispersed by the hands of discreet wary men and such as were deeply engaged to them so that by little and little it began to spread in every place the cause or original not at all appearing whereby making very great but hidden proceedings because custom had already disposed mens minds to a desire of novelties they easily and in a short time drew all those into one body whom either for zeal of Religion dependance of interest desire of change or hatred of the Hugonot Princes they thought fit to bind together in that League and Confederacy But it being necessary to provide moneys for the nourishment and maintenance of that United Body and to find out some protection of great power and authority to shelter and defend it from the Kings forces the Lords of Guise turning their eyes out of the Kingdom thought that both for their Religion and themselves it was as lawful for them to make use of the help and favour of foreign Princes as it had been for the Hugonots to require the assistance of the Queen of England and the Princes of Germany and therefore they began secretly to treat at Rome for protection and in Spain for men and money nor did they find in any place any averseness to their desires for the Pope being displeased at and affraid of the Peace concluded with the Hugonots willingly gave ear to those things which might conveniently oppose their establishment and the Catholick King grown jealous that the designs of the Duke of Alancon would at last break out upon Flanders and that the King to quench the fire of his own house would be content to kindle it in his Neighbours willingly concurred to foment those in France who laboured to renew the War hoping that the discords in that Kingdom might one day give him an opportunity of some grand design and in the mean time preserve the peace and quietness of all his own Nicholas Cardinal de Pelle-ve bred up in the house of Guise treated the interests of this Union at Rome which by Gregory the Thirteenth a man of great candour and goodness but of a facile nature was hearkened unto with much readiness it pretending nothing but Faith Religion Charity Zeal to the publick good correction and reformation of abuses though in effect it contained private passions mingled with particular interests which not being unknown to the Court of Rome many discoursing of so new and high a design ascribed the cause of it to a desire the Guises had to govern the Kings will who excluding their help and counsel shewed that he would rule as it pleased himself others drawing the business another way attributed it to their care of conserving their own greatness which they had with so much sweat and labour been so long a building up Nor did there want those who passing yet further perchance through the malice they bore to that party taxed the Heads thereof to aim at vaster ends which whether true or false were after published to be the deposing of the King himself as a dissolute incapable mean-spirited man and in time to settle the Crown in
Religion and their own Consciences wherefore it was not fit to reduce the publick Cause to a particular Duel an effect very contrary to the end they had propounded to themselves and with other such like reasons they opposed those alledged by the King of Navarre who being advertised of the conclusion of peace between the King and the Lords of the League writ Letters to the King which were published in print grievously complaining that whilst he to obey his Majesties command laid upon him by Letters under his own hand had forborn to take Arms or to undertake any new enterprise an Agreement was established with his Enemies with condition to break the Edicts of Peace already published and contrary to promise already made again to begin the War against the Reformed Religion That he earnestly exhorted and besought the King to consider that to comply with the passions of those that rebelled against him he took Arms against his good and faithful Subjects and Vassals and that he should foresee how the destruction of his whole Kingdom was contained in that War which was preparing against him but that if he did persist to contrive his ruine he could do no less by the Law of Nature than defend himself and he hoped that God for the justness of his Cause would deliver and preserve him from the persecutions of men and one day make his innocence manifest to the whole World Besides this he writ other Letters to the Nobility others to the People and others to the Parliaments excusing himself blaming the League and labouring to make appear that he having punctually observed the conditions of Peace was now contrary to them unjustly assaulted After which Declarations having called unto him the Prince of Conde and the Mareshal d' Anville whom he knew to be no less persecuted than the Hugonots they established with common consent all that was to be done for their own defence and the maintenance of those places which they held of their party and because they already knew by so many proofs that nothing was more available for their defence than the supplies of men out of Germany which diverted the power and forces of their Enemies into very remote places they presently made a dispatch to the Protestant Princes to treat and conclude a strong Levy and that charge was undertaken by the Duke of Bouillon who as in his own inheritance derived from his Ancestors had setled himself in Sedan an exceeding strong place upon the Confines of Champagne and Lorain and by Monsieur de Chastillon Son to the Admiral de Coligny who was Governour of Mompellier for the Hugonots and was now secretly gone out of Languedoc disguised unto Geneva In the mean time the King in private with his Mother and the Cabinet-Council consulted about the manner of executing the Agreement with the League Secretary Villeroy with whom Bellieure and Ville-quier concurred was of opinion that the King had no better nor surer way to extinguish the combustions of his Kingdom and frustrate the designs of the Guises than sincerely to imbrace the War with the Hugonots to manifest to all the World his zeal toward the Catholick Religion and the ill will he bore to the Calvinists to put Offices into the hands of the most flourishing Nobility of his Kingdom to settle the form of Petitions of granting favours and of the disposal of moneys after the old way observed by his Predecessors and to satisfie their designs in particular who were alienated from him out of discontent because they were not able to do any thing at Court they shewed that this was the way to disfurnish the League of all pretences to draw the applause and love of the people to himself who because they saw him averse from those ends did now adore and follow the Lords of Guise as Defenders of Religion and Restorers of an indifferent equality and of the general quietness that it was necessary at last to take away that worst Schism of discords sowed first and principally by the Hugonots and to re-unite unto himself all his Subjects and Vassals in the same charity in the same Religion for the same unanimous universal end and in conclusion that he could neither more honourably nor more easily ruine the League than by doing well carrying himself sincerely and shewing himself altogether contrary to what the Heads thereof had divulged of him for by that upright manner of proceeding he might cross more designs and take away more followers from the Guises in one day than he could do by cunning dissimulation and politick inventions in the whole course of his life though it should last a hundred years The Queen-Mother inclined though warily to this advice for knowing her self to be already reported a favourer of the Guises and a persecuter of the King of Navarre for her Daughters sake she would not shew her self partial on the Catholick side and being angry though secretly that the King as it were not trusting her absolutely had sent the Duke of Espernon to Nemours for the conclusion of the business negotiated with the League she was very reserved in shewing her opinion perhaps doubting she should lose her authority with her Son or as some said desiring to see him intangled in those troubles that he might once again acknowledge the helpful hand wherewith she assisting in the Government with prudence and moderation had so often withheld the imminent ruine of the Crown But the King was otherwise inclined and utterly averse from the opinion of his Councellors The reasons that perswaded him to the contrary were two one that being to make War in good earnest against the Hugonots it could not chuse but be both long and difficult it was necessary to put Offices into the hands of the Guises which would increase their power and gather them Dependents besides the glory of the Victory would be attributed to them it being evident that they had constrained him by force to consent unto the War the other that the Hugonot party being destroyed which bridled their power and hindred the excessive strength of the Guises he should be left a prey unto their Force which would then have no restraint nor would they ever be without pretences to take up Arms though that of Religion were taken away it not being likely that such ready wits and such daring spirits should want other inventions These were the reasons alledged by the King but to them were secretly joined his most bitter hatred nourished a long time and now much more incensed against the House of Guise his inclination to his Minions whose grace and power his heart would not suffer him to abase his covetous desire of disposing the wealth and revenues of the Kingdom his own way to satisfie the prodigality of his mind and the continuation of his old resolution to destroy both Factions in the end by keeping them up against one another Nor to say the truth was he much to be blamed for having seen the
pretensions and the other places were in possession of the League wherefore he at last propounded and by sending the Sieur de Salettes a Hugonot Gentleman gave firm promise to the Queen that he would lay siege to the City of Rouen towards the taking whereof if the English would help with Men and Money he would give them some reasonable jurisdiction in it to the end that they might freely and securely traffick and then if he could take Caudebec and Harfleur Towns near that City he would consigne unto them one of those Ports which might serve for a free open retreat for their shipping To which Conditions while the English unwillingly consented and while they were treated of on both sides with usual caution the coming of the Germans was protracted nor could they ever be got to move till the first One hundred thousand Ducats were paid down and assignments given for the other Two hundred thousand On the other side the Duke of Monte-Marciano and the Forces which from Milan marched towards Flanders at the Duke of Savoy's urgent importunities had received orders to stay for some dayes within his State to the end that with their countenance and assistance he might recover some places which had been taken from him and repress the Forces of Monsieur Les Diguieres who fiercely bestirred himself sometimes in Dauphine sometimes in Provence The Duke was troubled that the Kings party had taken some places though of no great importance but he was much more troubled at a Fort which Les Diguieres had begun to raise over against Montmeillan Wherefore having obtained that the Italian Army and likewise Four thousand Swisses raised by the Pope should stay some time with him he spurred up Don Amadeo for the recovery of that Fort called Morestello from the place where it was built and he with other Forces entred into Dauphine another way while Count Francâ—sco Martinengo with the greatest strength of his Army besieged and streightned the Town of Barre in Provence Monsieur Les Diguieres who was forced sometimes to assist in the affairs of Dauphine sometimes to help Monsieur de la Valette in Provence was now set forward to raise the siege of Barre while la Valette besieged and battered Gravion but being arrived so late that the Defendants had already articled to surrender it after some slight encounters he was returned with exceeding great celerity to relieve Fort Morestello and with Four hundred Horse and Three thousand Foot was advanced as far as Ponte Chiarra a place near and proper for his intetention which being known to the Savoyards who were strengthned with part of the Popes Forces they rose silently from the siege which they had continued already many days and leaving the Fort behind them encamped themselves upon the same way by which they saw the French Army would advance But Les Diguieres having himself viewed and discovered the Camp and number of the Enemy and making no great account of the raw men that were in that Army in comparison of his old Soldiers resolved to sight thinking with a fierce boldness easily to strike a terror in them Wherefore both the Armies being between the Mountain and the River Isare in a narrow place which favoured the small number of his Forces he parted his Infantry into two Bodies one of which he sent up by the steep of the Hill and the other along the bank of the River and he keeping the Plain with his Cavalry divided into four Squadrons with some Muskettiers mixed and placed among the Horse advanced resolutely to attack the Enemy The Savoyards having drawn up the Army in very good order advanced likewise and received the encounter in the Front very couragiously but while they fought and in fighting had their eyes and mindes wholly taken up with the Enemy that was before them they were suddenly charged in the Flank by the Foot that were come about by the way of the Hill which they had not taken care to make good Wherefore being staggered at that unexpected accident they broke their ranks and without making much resistance easily took flight But being come into the Plain that was behind them recovering courage they fell to rally again and once more to face about and so much the rather because their being stronger in Horse and having a very spacious open field gave them very great advantage in renewing the Battel yet nevertheless the Conquerors following up with wonderful speed and fury they were terrified in such manner that being dispersed they were pursued to the very Walls of Monmeillan with the loss of Fifteen hundred men two Cornets Eighteen Foot-colours and great store of spoiâ— and baggage But this unhappy accident which cut off all hopes of making any further progress at that time and the importunities of the Dukes of Mayenne and Lorain to have the Popish and Spanish Forces to march to hinder the passage of the Germans were the causes that Savoy being left they advanced through the Country of Bourgongne directly towards Lorain The Duke of Mayenne since the taking of Noyon to put in order and increase his Army had staid still at Han whilest the King victoriously advancing over-ran the whole Country in which place President Ieannin being returned from the Court of Spain found him but brought back no pleasing answer to any of those things he had negotiated with the Catholick King The Duke of Mayenne had been of opinion that the artificial reserved proceedings of the Spaniards had sprung from the nature and will of the Ministers ill-affected to his person or desirous to do more than what was given them in charge by the Royal Council he thought that the D. of Parma a very wary prudent Soldier would unwillingly hazard his reputation against the King followed by almost an invincible Nobility and in his actions prompt fearless and resolute he believed that Diego d' Ivarr and Mendozza who for many particular accidents were ill-disposed towards him either to make him lose his credit or out of covetousness did convert those Moneys that were sent to other uses and often disposed of them without his privacy at their own pleasures and did assuredly think that as soon as the Catholick King was once fully informed of the affairs of France of the interests of every one and of his pains endeavors and authority he would soon resolve in favor of him give him sufficient assistance to make an end of the War and permit him to negotiate the getting of the Crown for himself For this cause he had deprived himself of the help and counsel of President Ieannin sending him to the Court as one privy to all his most secret thoughts well informed of all particulars full of wary prudence and for experience and eloquence able to undergo the weight of so difficult a business But both he and the President found themselves much deceived in their opinion for whether that had been the aim of the Spaniards from
his Religion and perchance for his own interest it displeased him not that the King should turn Catholick to the end the first place among the Hugonotsa might remain to him Wherefore all these obstacles being removed and necessâ—ty urging for already the Cardinal of Bourbon and Count Soissons with many other began to talk very plainly and the States assembled by the League being in much greater consideration with the King than perhaps they were with the Confederates themselves after many consultations with the Duke of Bouillon the Duke of Nevers the High-Chancellor and President de Thon to whom by reason of his learning and experience the King gave much credit he resolved that the Catholicks should make this Overture with intent either to interrupt the course of the State by that means or else to resolve upon an Accommodation and Reconciliation with the Apostolick See and the Lords of the house of Lorain As soon as the Writing was read in the presence of the Duke of Mayenne and the other Lords the Cardinal of Piacenza rose up in choler and without consultation or deliberation said angerly that that Proposition was full of Heresies and that they were Hereticks that should take it into consideration and therefore it was by no means fitting to give any Answer to it Cardinal Pelle-ve and Diego d' Ivarra assented without any demur but the Duke of Mayenne remained in suspence as also the rest that were present who durst not immediately oppose the Legate's words But Villeroy and Ieannin not losing courage without contradicting the Cardinal found another evasion and said That the Writing not being directed to the Duke of Mayenne alone but to the whole assembly of the States and the Trumpet having freely said so to many at his entrance into the City whereby the business was become publick it was fit to communicate it to the States and refer it to them to the end that the Deputies might not be disgusted in the very beginning and believe that they were not freely and fairly dealt withal but that endeavors were used to conceal many things from them and to deceive them That this would be an ill beginning and would not onely cause suspition but also disunion among the Deputies The Count de Belin added that the Trumpet had not onely told that the Writing was directed to the whole Assembly but had also scattered some copies of it among the People as he thought he had heard whereby it was so much the more publick and could not be concealed from the Deputies It was determined that every one should consider of what he thought most convenient to resolve about it in the same place against the next day which being come though the Legate and Spanish Ambassador laboured stifly that the Writing might be suppressed and rejected the Duke of Mayenne nevertheless with the votes of the major part concluded not to use his Deputies ill nor give them cause of distaste but bearing that respect to them which was fit would have the Writing read in the full Assembly where afterwards that should be resolved on that should be thought most convenient which while it was deferred by reason of the contrariety of opinions and of the Obstacles that were interposed the King being at Chartres published a Manifest upon the nine and twentieth day wherein after having briefly attested his singular affection toward the general good and safety He said he was extremely grieved to have happened in such perverse times wherein many degenerating from that fidelity towards their Princes which had ever been peculiar to the French Nation did now use all their studies and endeavors to oppugne the Royal Authority under pretence of Religion which pretence how falsely it was usurped by them was clearly seen in the War twice attempted against the happy memory of Henry the Third which it was not possible to value so much as to think the cause thereof could be attributed to matter of Religion he having ever been most Catholick and most observant of the See of Rome and imployed with his Arms even against those that were not of the Catholick Religion to subdue them at the same time when they having furiously taken Arms ran to Tours to suppress and besiege him and that now it was more clear than the Sun it self how improperly and unjustly they made use of the same colour against him for by how much the more they sought to mask and palliate their malignity under that specious cloke so much the more breaking forth did it shew it self clearly to the eyes of all men nor was there any one who knew not that their conspiracy attempted for the oppression and ruine of their Country was not caused by zeal to Religion but that their union appeared manifestly to be composed of three kinds of Persons for three different reasons First the wickedness of them who led by an incredible desire to possess and dissipate the Kingdom had made themselves Heads and Authors of this Rebellion Secondly the craftiness of Strangers antient enemies to the French name and Crown who having found this opportunity of executing their inveterate designs had voluntarily joyned themselves with their assistance to be Companions in so perfidious a Conspiracy And lastly the fury of some of the meanest dregâ— of the People who being abandoned by fortune to extreme beggery and misery or else led by their misdeeds in fear of Justice out of a desire of spoil or hope of impunity had gathered themselves together to this factious confederacy But it being the custome of Divine Providence to draw good out of evil so it had now miraculously come to pass since that the Duke of Mayenne by setting down in Writing his reasons of assembling a Congregation in Paris by him called the States had clearly laid open and manifested his designs by his own confession for striving with all his power dissemblingly to represent the face of an honest man and to make it believed that he had no thought of usurping that which belonged not unto him he could not in the interim give greater testimony of his ambition and impiety toward his Country than by framing an Edict and sealing it with the Royal Seal for the Convocation of the States a thing reserved onely to the Royal-Power and never communicated to any other whereby he had made clear to the World his usurpation of the Royal Office and Majesty and his crime of High-Treason having taken upon him the Royal Ministry and the proper marks of Soveraignty But What eye was so dazeled or what mind so blinded as not to see how false those things were which he had inserted in his Edict with so much pomp of words That the Laws permitted him not to â—ender due observance and obedience to the King God had given him a Lye as apparâ—nt as it is true that the Salique-Lam a wholesome fundamental one born at one birth with the Kingdom hath ever been the basis of the Subjects obedience and
at Sun-set again it is plain the Author meant 2 hours within night which according to the time of Sun-set there in that season of the year must needs be before Nine a Clock for after 2 they could not have had time enough before day-light to march so far and to make a several attempts to scale the City The King marches towards St. Denis but in the midst of the night gives a scalado to the walls of Paris yet the vigilancy of the Duke of Nemours makes it ineffectual The Kings soldiers return at break of day to scale the walls again â— ladders are set up but being discovered they are repulsed with the death of the first that went up Errors imputed to the King and his Army Excuses in favour of the King The King being come to St. Denis without money or victorâ— separates his Army which was oppressed with many diseases The King assaults and batters 〈◊〉 so violently that upon the third day he takes and sacks it Câ—aude Prince of Iainville defends Troyes and beats back Monsieur de Tinteville who had like to have surprised it by intelligence with some of the Citizens The Duke of Parma against his own will lays siege to Corbeil The French of the League begin to hate the Duke of Parma's Souldiers The Duke of Parma takes Corbeil Rigaut the Governour is slain with most of the defendents and the place sacâ—ed The death of Siâ—tus Quintus The Duke of Parma though earnestly intreated to stay in France prepares nevertheless for his departure Vrban the VII created Pope after Sixtus V. he lives but twelve days and is succeeded by Gregory XIV a Milanese The ordering of the Spanish Army in their return into Flanders The Baron de Guiry recovers Corbâ—il and Lagny which had been taken by the Duke of Parma The Spanish Army marching towards Flanders and the Kings Army following they skirmish many dayes but upon the 25 of November the King making shew that he would fight the Baron de Biron engageth himself so far that being relieved by his Friends he had much ado to escape with help of night The King assaults the Spanish Army again and his Horse having encompassed the enemies Rereguard would have cut it in pieces if Georgio Basti a famous Captain of those times had not disengaged them with his Lanciers The Duke of Parma takes leave of the Duke of Mayenne leaving him a Tertia of Italians and another of Spaniards and 500 Horse The Duke of Mencoeurs pretensions to the Dutchy of Bretagne The Prince of Dombes Governor for the King in Bretagne opposes the Duke of Morcoeurs designs and causes Fort Dombes to be built which is demolished bâ— the Spaniards The Sieur de Vins and the Countess de Seâ—â—x conclude to give the superâ—â—â—ity of Provence to the Duke of Savoy he goes to Aiâ— and is by the Parliament declared Head of the Politick and Military Government The Duke of Mayenne writes resentingly to the Parliament of Aix and to the Sieur de Vins who repenting himself begins to dis-favour the Duke of Savoys designs Grenoble in Dauphine after a long siege returns to the Kings obedience 1591. The King assaults Corby and takes it 1591. The Catholicks make great complaints for the Kings persevering in Calvinism Remedies used by the King to conserve the affections of those of his party and keep them in obedience The King recalls the Duke of Espernon to the Army and other Catholick Lords to reconcile them unto him * The Visâ—ount The Viscount of Turenne obtains asâ—istance from Queen Elizabeth the Hollanders and the Protestant Princes of Germany The party of the League take a disgust against the D. of Mayenne which is fomented by the Spaniards The Lords oâ— the House of Lorain begin to be displeased and to grow jealous of one another The Duke of Nemours for some discontents received from his brother the Duke of Mayenne refuses the Government of the City of Paris which the Duke of Mayenne confers upon his eldest Son the Duke of Esguillon appointing the Marquiss of Belin his Lieutenant The Complaiâ—ts of the Widow Dutchess of Guise 1590. The Duke of Mayenne is troubled at the attempts of those of his Family at the designs of the Duke of Savoy and at the delays of the Spaniards The Duke of Mayenne is not satiâ—fied with the new Pope Gregory the 14. doubting his too great dependency upon Spain and the unactiveness of his nature The Duke of Mayenne dispatches President Ieannin to the King of Spain and the Sieur des Portes to the Pope to sollicite aid 1591. The Chevalier d' Aumale goes to surprise St. Denis and without resistance enters with all his men but the Governor with only thirty Horse charges and routs the enemy the Chevalier d' Aumale being run thorow the throat and left dead It was observed that the Chevalier d' Aumale fell dead before an Inn whose sign was a Sword embroidered with Golden Flower-de-luces and that his body being set in the Church was gnawn by Moles The French says Rats President Brisson one of the principal adherents to the League having changed his mind plots insurrections in favor of the King Eighty Captains and other Reformadoes disguised with as many horseâ— load of Corn and Meal receive order to go up to the Port St Honore about midnight and to attempt to surprise Paris The Marquis de Belin Lieutenant Governour of Paris advertised of the Kings design and of some tokens of President Brissons practices makes a severe Proclamation and orders and disposes the Militia and the Citizens for the defence of the the City * Or Wards The order observed by the Kings Souldiers for the surprising of Paris The fourscore disguised Reformadoes are discovered by the Sieur de Tâ—emblecourt The Parisians that they might not be lest unprovided receive a Teâ—â—ia of Spaniards and another of Neopolitans into the City The Duke of Mayenne jealous of the Spanish designs procures a Treaty so far that for many days the Peace was certainly thought to be concluded Pope Gregory the XIV resolves to send meâ— and money to assist the League Marsilio Landriano a Milanese is chosen Legat to the Kingdom of France by Gregory the XIV Gregory the 14. assigns 15000 Crowns by the month for the service of the League The description of the siâ—uation of Chartres before which the Mareschal de Byron lays siege The Sieur de Chastillon's stratagem to cast up his Trench by night without errour For want of Ammunition the Battery goes on so slowly at Chartres that the King thinks to raise the siege The Defendents of Chartres not being relieved surrender the Town The Duke of Mayenne besieges Chasteau-Thierry a place more pleasant than strong the Governor whereof was the Secretary Pinart Secretary Pinart having brought all his goods into the Castle for fear of losing them treats a Composition with the Sieur de Villeroy The Duke of Mayenne receiveth the place and Castle with the