Theodosius's in that of Honorius and in Valentinian's the III. The last day of the year 406. the Alains and the Vandals bringing along with them the Burgundians the Sueves and divers other barbarous People passed the Rhine and made an irruption in Gaul the most terrible that had been ever known Some conjecture it was at this time that they Massacred St. Ursula and her Glorious Train which have been called the Eleven thousand Virgins though in the Tombs said to belong to those Martyrs were found the Bones of Men and Children there are three or four different opinions on this Matter but neither of them without such difficulties attending as are not to be solved Year of our Lord 407 Those Barbarians having ravaged all Germania Prima and Belgica Secunda fell upon Aquitain In the year 409. some numbers of the Vandals and Sueves marched from thence into Spain Two years after the rest being affrighted upon the coming of Ataulphus King of the Visigoths out of Italy took the same course and follow'd them However there were some Alains still remaining in Dauphine and about the River Loire who had Kings amongst them for above Threescore years but in the end they submitted to the Dominion of the Visigoths and the Burgundians Year of our Lord 408 The Vandals and the Sueeves possessed Galicia the Silingi and Betica and the Alani part of Lusitania of Provence and Carthagenia Sixteen years afterwards the Vandals passed over into Africa but in the mean while Vallia King of the Visigoths who fought for the Romans utterly rooted out the Silingi and weakened the Alani so much that being unable to subsist alone they put themselves under Gunderic King of the Vandals The Suevi maintained themselves almost two Ages in Spain In fine their Kingdom was likewise extinguished by Leuvilgildus King of the Visigoths in the year 588. All these Barbarians were divided in several Parties or Bands and had each their Chief running about and scowring the Countreys without intermission so that at the same instant there were several of the same People in Places far distant from one another and of contrary Interests Year of our Lord 409 Ann. 408. Stilicon who was accused for bringing them in is Massacred by order of Honorius Alaric King of the Visigoths his good friend to revenge his Death besieged the City of Rome three times and the last time he takes it by Treachery the 20th day of August in the year 410. About the end of the same year he dyes in Calabria near Cosentia while he was making himself ready to go into Africa Ataulphus his Cousin succeeded him and Married Placid ia Sister to the Emperor Honorius whom he had taken in Rome Year of our Lord 412 Ann. 412. Ataulphus goes into Gallia Narbonnensis and takes Narbonna he remained there but Three years The Count and Patrician Constantius who was since Emperour and Married his Widdow Placidia compelled him tâ— go into Spain where he Year of our Lord 415 was kill'd by his own People in Barcelonna about the Month of September Ann. 415. They elected Sigeric in his stead and served him after the same manner within Seven days Vallia his Successor was recalled into Gaul by Constantius who gave him Aquitania Secunda with some Cities of the neighbouring Provinces amongst others Thoulouse where Year of our Lord 419 he fixed his Royal Seat Ann. 419. But he dyed in a few Months afterwards and Theodoric succeeded him Vnder this King and under Evaric or Euric the Visigoths made themselves Masters of all the Three Aquitani and the Two Narbonnensis Hitherto very few of the French had received the Light of the Gospel they yet Year of our Lord From the year 300 to the year 400. Adored Trees Fountains Serpents and Birds but the Gauls were most of them Christians unless it were such as dwelt in places less accessible as the Mountainous Woody and Boggy Countreys or in the Germanick or Belgick Territories which were perpetually infested by the incursions of the Barbarians The Faith had been Preached to them by some Disciples of the Apostles and even from the Second Age or Century divers Churches established amongst the Gauls at least in the Narbonnensis and Lugdunnensis Prima Under the Emperour Decius about the year 250. there were divers Holy Preachers sent from Rome who planted other Churches in several parts as Saturninus at Thoulouse Gatian at Tours Denis at Paris Austremonius at Clermont and Martial at Limoges The persecutions of the Heathen Emperours had sorely shaken them Constantine re-assured them afterwards the incursions of the Barbarians again destroys them especially those in Germania and Belgica and the Arian Heresie much troubled those in Aquitania Clowis restores them and endowed them plentifully In the fourth Age the Gallican Church produced a great number of Holy Bishops above all Hilary Bishop of Poitiers an invincible Defender of the Holy Trinity Maximin and Paulin de Treves who maintained the same Cause and at the same time with him the Great St. Martin of Tours parallel to the Apostles Liboire du Mans Severinus of Colen Victricius of Rouen all four contemporaries Servais de Tongres elder by some years and Exuperius de Tholouse who lived yet in 405. About the middle of the same Age many of those that had Devoted themselves to God came from towards Italy to inhabit in the Islands of Provence and the Viennensian Mountains as likewise a while afterwards great numbers flocked out from Ireland and took up their stations in the Forrests of the Lyonnoises and the Belgicks Their example and a Zeal to that Holy Profession drew many People either to come into their Monasteries or dwell in Solitude but still under the Conduct of the Bishops and the Discipline of the Canons Of these there were principally Four sorts such as lived in Community those were called Cenobites such as having formerly lived so retired into Solitude aspiring to a greater perfection these were the Hermits or Anchorits such as associated in small companies of three or four in a knot without any Superior or any certain Rule and such as wandred all about the Countrey on pretence of visiting Holy Places and finding out such Persons as were most advanced in Piety There were some also that strictly confined themselves to a Cell either within some City or in the Desert they were called Incluses or Recluses all lived by the labour of their Hands and most of them gave what they got to the Poor though in the greatest strictness they were not obliged to renounce their Wealth nor were they excluded from enjoying it in case they returned again to the World but such a return was indeed looked upon as a kind of a desertion Councils being extream necessary to preserve the Purity of the Faith and Ecclesiastical Discipline there were several held in Gaul An. 314. The Emperour Constantine caused one to be Assembled at Arles where there were Deputies from all the Western Provinces to determine
excommunicate and wrote very harsh Letters Year of our Lord 856 to young Lotaire threatning to deprive him of his Kingdom There is no craft nor submissions which this Prince did not put in practice to elude that Sentence But the Pope not valuing all those Arts sent a Legat into France named Arsenius who addressing himself to the German Louis called a Synod Year of our Lord 866 and taking upon him a Supream Authority declared to Lotaire that he must take his Wife again or remain excommunicated with all his Adherents The Kings his Uncles maintained this Sentence in such sort that for the time he was forced to obey But so soon as the Legat was departed France he began afresh to mis-use his Wife to threaten to make process against her for Adultery and prove that crime by combat The accused retires to the protection of Charles the Pope takes her business much to heart and excommunicates Valdrade and Duke Huebert Brother Year of our Lord 867 of this Queen rebelling against Lotaire plunders his Country kills his people and exercised all manner of cruelty till he was slain himself by Count Conrard Father of that Rodolph who was the First King of Burgundy beyond the Jour or Transjurain Salomon had fancied that the Kingdom of Bretagne though Neomene had obtained it rather by conquest then succession belonged to him because he was the Son Year of our Lord 867 of Rivalon eldest Brother to that King Thus having forgotten he was carefully and tenderly bred under his tuition he contrives a conspiracy against Herispoux his Son assaults him in the Fields then kills him in the Church to which he fled for safety and so puts the Crown all bloody upon his own head Neomene and he intitled themselves Kings of Bretagne and a great part of Gaule because in effect they possessed the Countries of Mayne and with that the lower Anjou which they had wrested from the French For this cause was Anjou divided in two Counties the one containing what is beyond the River Maine and held by these Breton Kings the other what lies on this side and remained to the French At the same time the Normans entring into Neustria by the Loire spread themselves all over Nantois Poitou Anjou and Tourraine Ranulfe Duke of Aquitain and Duke Robert the strong who was so called because he guarded those Marches against these Barbarians and the Bretons having attaqued them in a Post which they had fortified near the River were by misfortune both slain in the combat So that their Army wanting a Head though they got the advantage let those robbers get away from them Robert had two Sons very young Eudes and Robert whom we shall find to have reigned hereafter The Saracens tormented Italy no less Lotaire went thither with his Forces not only to assist the Emperor Louis his Brother but moreover by this means to deserve and gain the Favour of the Pope which was Adrian successor to Nicholas hoping in time to obtain the dissolution of his Marriage with Thietberge The Holy-Father received him very well because he assured him he had punctually obey'd to all that was enjoyned him but when both he and his came to receive the Holy Communion from his hands he obliged them all to swear it was true that he had quitted Valdrade Now it hapned shortly after that the most part of these Lords died of sickness or otherwise in such numbers and so suddenly as if they had been cut down by the Sword of an exterminating Angel and Lotaire himself was Seized with a Feaver at Luca which he drag'd along to Piacenza where he gave up the Ghost the 6 th of August Which some interpreted a divine Vengeance for the false and Sacrilegious Oath he and his Courtiers had made The Body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament being a destroying Sword to the wicked and unworthy Communicant Year of our Lord 868 His youngest Brother Charles King of Provence endeavoured to reap his succession and was Crowned at Mets by the Bishop Adventius But he survived not long after and died without Issue He was Interred in the Church of St. Peter's at Lyons LOUIS in Bavaria and Germany CHARLES in West-France Burgundy and Lorrain LOUIS II Emperour in Italy Year of our Lord 868. And 69. Charles who then held a Parliament at Poissy informed of the death of Lotaire went and Seized on the Kingdom of Lorraine neither minding the Emperor Louis Brother of the two last Kings to whom it should have belonged nor the Mediation of the Pope who desired him by an express Legation to do his Nephew Justice The Bishops of that Kingdom being Assembled at Mets gave him the Crown And Hincmar the Arch-Bishop chief promoter of that Decree put it on his Head with the usual Ceremonies Lotaire had one Son and two Daughters by Valdrade The two Daughters were Berte and Gisele Berte was first wife to Count Thibauld Father of Hugh Count and Marquess of Provence and by her second Marriage to Adelbert Marquess of Tuscany Father of Guy and Lambert Gisele was Wedded to Godfrey the Dane who Reigned in Friseland the Son was named Hugh who when he came to Age contended for the Kingdom of Lorrain Hermentrude Wife to Charles the Bald dying at St. Denis the 16 th of October Year of our Lord 869 he married for the second time Richende or Richilda his Mistriss Daughter of Earl Buvin or Boves and the Sister to Thietberge Widdow of King Lotaire III. It was with some justice but without legal power that the Pope should take Year of our Lord 870 any cognisance of the difference about Lotaire He dispatched a second Embassy to Charles the Bald to exhort him to surrender it to the Emperor Louis otherwise he would Excommunicate him And he wrote to the Bishops that they should forbear all Communion with that King unless they would be cut off from the Church of Rome Charles reply'd modestly enough to the Legats but the French Bishops went a higher Note and the Arch-Bishop Hincmar wrote very smart Letters to Adrian His Nephew of the same name Bishop of Laon was of an other opinion and with much heat maintained all those Orders brought from the Pope He had Excommunicated a Norman Lord because he detained some Lands belonging to his Church whereof the King had given him the Benefice His proceedings were blamed and condemned by the Bishops at the Synod of Verberie he appealed to the Pope for which cause his Uncle having cited him before the Council of Attigny which consisted of the Bishops of twelve Provinces he caused his Equipage to be Plundred by the way and when he came to the Assembly forced him to renounce Year of our Lord 870 his Appeal The Pope made grievous complaint of it and would have brought the Process and the two Hincmars to Rome but the Arch-Bishop reply'd with force and hindred him This dispute went so far that the Bishop of Laon was deposed and clapt in Prison
assign a Council in a place of safety where every one might come Friend or Foe as well those of the Clergy as the Laity to judge whether he or the Emperor had broke the Peace and to consider of some means to restore it again Gelasius II. said the same thing and that he would acquiesce in the Judgment of his Brothers the Bishops whom God had Constituted Judges in his Church and without whom a Cause of that Nature could not be determined Innocent III. wrote word That he durst not decide any thing concerning the Marriage of King Philip II. without the determination of a General Council and that if he should do it he might run the hazard of his Order and of his Office very remarkable words for that they seem to insinuate that a Pope may be deposed not only for Heresie but likewise for abusing his Power In those times they were likewise obliged to govern the Church by Advice of the Cardinals whose Power was raised to such a height since the year One thousand that they were the Collaterals and Coadjutors of the Pope saith St. Bernard that their Priviledges or Rights were greater then those of the Patriarchs and the Primates and that they had the Power of giving Authentick Censures against the Popes themselves The assistance and ability of so many great Men chosen out of all the Western Churches as fill'd this sacred Colledge did not a little help the Popes in bearing the great burthen of Affairs and maintaining and encreasing their Authority in the remotest Countries But when they were once become great enough by their assistance they freed themselves from their dependance and now they only ask them their opinions and do not think themselves at all obliged to follow what they Advise or Councel As for the disposing of Benefices they had gotten the greatest into their own power as the Archbishopricks Bishopricks and Abbies by making themselves Masters of the Elections under pretence of judging those Differences that hapned betwixt opposite Parties and the lesser as the Dignitaries and Canons of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches by their recommendations to the Chapters in favour of those Clergy-Men that follow'd their Court. When having often obtained the thing desired they at length turned such Recommendation into an absolute Command by the instigation of Flatterers and interessed People and then that was follow'd with Reservations and after with Expectatives the abuse whereof went on increasing still notwithstanding the Pragmatick of St. Louis and the Remedies Philip le Bel or the Faire would have applied and lasted till the time of the great Schism when King Charles VI. and after him Charles VII set roundly upon it and brought back all Elections Collations and Presentations to the same method and order as had been Decreed by General Councils without any regard or respect to those pretences and claims the Court of Rome had taken up and exercised In the Fifth Age not only the Bishops but almost all the Church-men on this side the Mountains had taken up that pious Custom of going to Rome to visit the Sepulchres of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul as it were to pay their Hommage and testifie they held the same Faith which those Apostles had preached At the same time they paid their Respects to their Holy Fathers who in length of time converted this Voluntary Devotion into an indispensable Obligation in so much as they highly reproached such as omitted it Dispensations were utterly unknown in the first Ages and when they did begin to give them it was not to allow them to infringe the Canons but rather to absolve those that had infringed them After the Eleventh Age the use grew very frequent I observe four or five causes The continual Wars between private Persons as well as between Princes The multiplicity of Decrees which were so numerous it was difficult to avoid breaking some or other of them The corruption of Manners and the little regard they had for Ecclesiastical Orders or Rules insomuch as they obliged to obviate that scorn by granting Dispensations and they thought to hide or conceal the Transgression by permitting it The Popes however did not dispense in things against our Faith nor against good Manners but in those that were only forbidden or permitted by positive Law As for the Divine Law they did not directly dispense with that but by Interpretation and by Declaration As for the Exemptions of Monasteries we have observed in the Sixth Age how they began by the concessions of the Bishops and how all the Grandees affected to obtain them for such as they founded The first we find that were allowed them was only to free the Monks from Temporal Payments and Duties Afterwards they obtained some kind of Priviledges to be added amongst others That they should chuse their own Abbots That they should be Masters of their own Discipline and that the Bishops should Ordain Priests for them at their Request In fine they found out means to extend them to the Spiritual Jurisdiction and free themselves from any dependance upon Bishops to which three things were required the Bishops Consent the Authority of the Holy Chair and the Pragmatick Sanction of the King The number of these Exemptions encreasing day by day the Pope arrogates to himself the power of giving them and of submitting the Monasteries to the Holy See maugre the Bishops Diocesans He did the very same in relation to some Bishops and some Chapters substracting these from their Bishops and the Bishops from their Metropolitans Vertuous Men could not held their Tongues upon these Disorders their Writings mention it yet St. Bâ—ruard though a Monk and very ✚ zealous for the Holy Chair highly condemned them For to exempt the Abbots from the Jurisdiction of the Bishops what was it else said that great Saint but to command them to Felony and Rebellion and was it not as monstrous a deformity in the Body of the Church to unite an Abby or a Chapter immediately to the Holy Chair as in a Human Body to joyn and fasten a Finger to the Head These favours were not bestow'd gratis at Rome the Abbots and Monks stript their Monasteries to purchase this independance and made them oft-times Tributary to the Holy See of many Silver Marks which they paid yearly The Abbots notwithstanding these Exemptions were still obliged after their Election to render Obedience to their Bishops and by a Writing but the most part refused it so that the Council of Rheims was forc'd to make a Decree to compel them and yet they did over-much care to submit to it which Disobedience was so far carried into a common Right that Henry II. King of England made bitter complaints to Pope Innocent II. for that Hugh Archbishop of Rouen exacted this said Duty of the Abbots of Normandy The Pope perceiving with what heat the King wrote to him sent to the Archbishop that he should for a time forbear to ask that Right too
228 c. Saint Amour William great quarrel with the Orders of the Friers Mendicants 307 Saintonge the subject of a great War 208 Saladin King of Egypt tears the holy City of Jerusalem out of the hands of the Christians 254 Saliens ancient People of the French 7 Salomon seizes on the Kingdom of Bretagne 140 His unhappy end 144 Sanc first of the Hereditary Dukes of Gascongne 137 Sanche Duke of Castille makes a Peace with the King of France 323 Saracens become Mahometans 59 Saracens of Africa become the Masters of Spain 77 Saracens pass from Spain into France and make some Conquests there 80 They enter into Languedoc and destroy all that Country 83 Wherefore called Moors 83 They over-run all Provence and lay it waste ib. Torment Italy 146 Savari de Mauleon General for the English in Guyenne 296 The Saxons revolt 52 Throw off the Yoak of the French Dominion 79 Divided into several People ib. Made Tributary to the French 91 Entirely subdued become Christians 108 Schism in the Church caused by the dispute concerning the Worshipping of Images 84 Sclavonians have a quarrel with the French Austrasians 55 Make inroads upon Turingia 56 Sergius II. elected Pope without permission of the Emperor 136 He was not the first who changed his name but Sergius IV. ib. St. Ademar Institutor of the Order of the Templers 290 Sicilia a Kingdom its beginning and extent 242 243 By what means Sicilia fell under the Dominion of the Kings of Arragon 310 Dismembred in two 326 Siege and taking of Angens 144 Sigebert King of Austrasia chastises the Avari out of Turingia 29 Marries Brunehaud 30 Unfortunate taking upon the City of Arles 31 War with Chilperic his Brother 31 Assassinated and slain 32 Sigebert Bishop 62 Sigeric King of the Visigoths 4 Sigismund King of Burgundy abjures Arianism and receives the Orthodox Faith 20 Causes his Son Sigeric to be Strangled his retreat into a Monastery 21 His unhappy end ib. Silingi a barbarous People 4 Silvester II. Pope Example of extream severity 209 Simon de Montfort does Cross himself to go into the Holy Land 260 Simon Count de Nesles Regent of the Kingdom in the absence of St. Lewis the King 312 Of Simony 18 Bishops of Bretagne accused and convicted of that Crime 136 Prelats in France who voluntarily renounced their Benefices for this cause 229 Simplicity too great in a Prince 167 Sobrarve a little Territory in the Kingdom of Arragon 125 Sorabes reduced to reason 121 Spencers Hugh Father and Son Favourites of the King of England 351 c. Their unhappy end 352 Stilicon Massacred 4 Succession of Males to the Crown by preference to the Females 346 Suedes embrace the Christian Religion 110 Suevi over-run and ravage Gaul and then pass into Spain 270 Swiss Their generous Conspiracy against the oppressions of the Lieutenants of the House of Austria 334 T. Tanchelin his errors Church of the Twelfth Age. Tancred Son of Rebert Guischard 224 Tancred causes great discord between the Kings of France and England 256 Tartars make their irruptions their Original 302 Tassilon Duke of Bavaria and his Son Theudon shaved and confined to a Monastery 103 Te Deum Sung by the Benedictins in time of Lent 231 Templers their Institution and Confirmation Church of the Twelfth Age. Are utterly exterminated and their Order abolished throughout all Christendom 333 Thassilon Duke of Bavaria gives an Oath of Fidelity to King Pepin 93 Theodad King of the Ostrogoths his death 23 Theodald Maire of the Neustrians Theodald Son of Grimoald his death 78 Theodebald King of Mets. 25 His death 26 Theodebert Son of Thierry makes War in Languedoc then named Septimania 24 Theodebert Son of Thierry succeeds to the Crown of his Father and makes War against Clotair his Uncle 24 25 Carries his Arms into Italy his death his Children 24 Theodebert Son of Chilperic his death 32 Theodebert King of Austrasia vanquished in Battle and exterminated with his whole Race 43 Theoderic King of the Visigoths joyns with the Romans against Attila his death 10 11 Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths establishes the Kingdom of Italy 14 Theoderic King of Italy passes into Gall and comes to relieve the Visigoths against the French and the Burgundians and becomes King of the Visigoths 16 His death 21 Theudis King of the Visigoths in Spain his death 25 Thibauld Earl of Chartres and Tours 216 Thibauld Earl of Chartres declares War against the King 235 Thibauld Earl of Champagne falls into the Kings disgrace and is severely handled 243 Thibauld Earl of Blois and Chartres 245 Thibauld Earl of Champagne his death 246 Thibauld Earl of Champagne 260 Thibauld Earl of Champagne difference about Alix Queen of Cyprus his Cousin 299 Thibauld Earl of Champagne becomes King of Navarre 301 Thibauld Earl of Champagne becomes Chief of a new Croisade His death ib. Thibaud King of Navarre 312 His death 315 Thierry King of Austrasia otherwise of Mets treacherously abandons Clodomir his Brother 20 c. Makes himself Master of Turingia 21 Chastises the Auvergnats who had revolted against him ib. His death ib. Thierry King of Neustria and of Burgundy 64 He is shaved and confined to the Monastery of St. Denis ib. Recalled and resetled in his Royal Throne 6 Fights unfortunately against Ebroin Maire of the Palace and falls into his hands His death his Wife and his Children 70 Thierry called de Chelles King of France 81 His death 83 Thierry Earl of Alsatia disputes the Earldom of Flanders and remains sole Master and Possessor 168 Thierry of Alsatia Earl of Flanders he passes into the Holy Land 243 Thierry first Earl of Holland 146 Thierry Earl of Alsatia and Flanders his death 249 Thibauld III. Earl of Blois 259 Thibauld Earl of Champagne 296 A Conspiracy against him 299 Tietgaud Archbishop of Triers deposed and Excommunicated 140 St. Thomas Aquinas his death 316 Thomas Prior of St. Victor assassinated in the Arms of a Bishop Church of the Twelfth Age. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury undertakes the defence of the Church is assassinated in his Cathedral ib. Thuringia falls under the Dominion of the French 22 Title of King of Jerusalem annexed to that of Sicilia 319 Treason divinely punished 178 Translation of a Bishop from one See to another condemned 160 Trebisond Kingdom its beginning 263 Truce between the French and the Saracens of Spain broken 123 Truce or Peace of God established in France to prevent Factions Murthers and Robberies 253 Truce with the English and the Fleming 327 Truce with the English 299 Truce granted to the Flemings 330 Trincavel Son of the Earl of Beziers comes hostily upon the Kings Territories 301 Toloze County subject of a War 138 Subject of a great quarrel between the Kings of France and the Kings of England 248 Totila King of the Ostrogoths his death 26 Touars Guy Duke of Bretagne 263 Tournay erected to a Bishoprick Church of the Twelfth Age. Troubles and Factions in Normandy
the Disputes of the Donatists in Africk There was one at Colen in 346. which condemned Euphratas the Bishop of that City who denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ One at Arles in 353. One at Beziers in 356. One at Paris An. 362. All three for the business of the Arians The two first were favourable to them against S. Athanasius the Third condemned them One at Valence in the year 374. about Discipline One at Bourdeaux in 385. to whom Priscllians Cause having been referr'd by the Emperor Gratian that Heretick perceiving cleerly he was going to be condemned appealed to the Tyrant Maximus but it was to his great misfortune One at Treves the year following where Bishop Itacus was accused for having contrary to the Spirit of the Church prosecuted Priscillian and his Abettors to the death his Party or Cabal caused his bloody proceedings to be approved which notwithstanding were condemned by the most Conscientious Bishops One at Turin An. 397. Upon the desires of the Gallican Bishops to compose the differences about Proculus de Marseille and that of the Bishop of Arles and Vienne Proculus pretended to Ordain Bishops in some of the Churches in Provence which had been dismembred from his or himself had instituted they allowed him that Honour for himself only the Bishops of Arles and Vienna disputed the Right of Metropolitain it was divided between them by provision This Cause having been transferred to the Holy Chair and judged variously by three or four several Popes was determined by Symmachus Ann. 513. who conformably to the Sentence of Leo adjudged to Vienne only the Bishopricks of Valence Tarentaise Geneva and Grenoble and all the rest to Arles Our Margent not allowing room enough to set down all the Popes without incumbrance it was thought necessary to place them in the Page with the Kings in the same Reigns wherein they sate in the Holy Chair Though for those of this Fourth Age it seems more fit to range them here to the time of Pharamond Silvester I. therefore held the Chair from the 1 of February An. 314. till the last of December in the year 336. In the time of his Pope-ship Constantine the Great was Converted to the Faith and the Holy Nicean Council was Assembled An. 324. Marcus Governed from the 16th of January following to the 7th of October of the same year Julius the I. from the 27th of the same Month to the 13th of April of the year 352. Liberius from the 8th of May to the 3 of September in the year 367. Damasius from the 15th of that Month to the 11th of December An. 384. In 381. was the Council of Constantinople Siricius was Pope from the 12th of January to the 24th of February An. 398. Anastasius from the 14th of March of the same year till about the end of April An. 402. Innocent I. from the 14th of May to the 28th of July in the year 417. And Zosimus from the 18th of August to the 26th of December An. 418. The First Race Pharamond King I. POPES BONIFACE in December 418. S. almost Five years CELESTINE I. The 3 of Nov. 423. S. 8 years 5 Months whereof Five years in this Reign Year of our Lord 412 DURING the great Revolt of the Armoricâ—e or Maritime People who were those of the coast of Flanders Picardy Normandy and Bretagne which hapned towards the end of the year 412 The French King being joyned with them occupied that part of Germania Secunda named Ripuaria and the People Ripuarians or Ribarols The Romans by Treaty or otherwise left them the free Possession thereof and it was a little after this that Pharamond began to Reign We find in the Historians of those times that the French had had several Kings before him I do not speak of those of the Monk Hunibaud they being as Fabulous as the Author But we find towards the year 288. Genebaud and Atec who came to Treves to Demand a Peace of Maximian An. 307. Ascaric and Rhadagâ—ise whom Constantine took in War and whom he exposed to wild Beasts as a punishment for that having given their Faith to Constantius his Father they had nevertheless taken up Arms again In the year 374. one Mellobaudes who being Grand Master of the Militia and Count of the Palace to the Emperour Gratian flew and vanquished Macrian King of the Almans and did the Empire many other Services About the year 378. one Richemer who had the like Office under Gratian as Mellobaudes An. 382. One Priam or Priarius whom some will have to be the Father or Grandfather of Pharamond In the year 397. Marcomir and Sunnon Brothers the first of which Stilicon banished into Tuscany and caused the other to be Massacred by his own People when he attempted to stir to Revenge the exile of his Brother And An. 414 or 415. One Theodemer Son of Richemer who was Beheaded with his Mother Ascila for having attempted against the Empire Nevertheless common Opinion hath ever begun to reckon the Kings of France from Pharamond whether because the preceding ones had never had any fixed abode in Gaul or because he re-established the Royalty amongst the French In effect it seems the Romans had in some manner subjugated this Nation and after the Treatment they had shewn to Marcomir and Sunnon and Theodemer they would no longer suffer them to have any Kings Year of our Lord 1418 He began to Reign not in 424. which is the common opinion but in the year 418. very remarkable for a great Eclipse of the Sun It may be doubted whether Pharamond be a proper Name or whether it be only an Epithet which signifies that he was as it were the Father and the Stock of the French Nation For Pharamond in the German Language imports Mouth of Generations For the manner of the inauguration of the French Kings the Lords or Chief Heads having Elected them or at least approving them set them up on a great Shield or Target and caused them to be carried into the Field where the People were Assembled in Arms who confirmed this choice with acclamations and applause The same Ceremony was practised for Emperours and Gothish Kings The Scottish Historians begin the Kingdom of Scotland An. 422. with King Fergus from whom they derive the succession of their Kings though withal they will have us believe that he only restored it and that it was first begun or formed 330 years before the Nativity of JESUS CHRIST from which time it lasted till the days of the Tyrant Maximus who ruined it about the year 378. Year of our Lord 427 The Vandals who had passed out of Gaul into Spain were from thence called into Africk by Count Boniface Revolted against the Empress Placidia They went over to the number of 80000 only under the Conduct of their King Genseric and within seven or eight years drove the Romans totally from thence and setled their own Kingdom there Year of our Lord 428 The Romans drive the French beyond
in the Kings House or in the Houses of great Officers and Trained up to all noble Exercises more honourably then Pages are in these days The Kings Revenues consisted in Lands or Demeasns and in Imposts which were taken only of the Gauls for it was thought odious to take any of the French Some of them were levied in Moneys others in Goods When they made the Division of Lands into Acres or Furlongs the Kings for their shares had much of the best especially about and near the greatest Cities They made their Residence and built them Palaces in the most pleasant places and especially near some great Forests for they delighted in Hunting and made a general one every Autumn In all those places which they called Villae Fiscales they had Officers or Servants who were named Fiscalins and he that commanded them Dom stick There they laid in Stores of Provision as Wines Wheat Forage Meat especially Venison and Pork Amongst the Lords they always chose out some to eat at their Table and that was one step towards the highest Employments They only took the Quality of Illustrious which was common to all the Grandees of the Kingdom Sometimes the Title of Dominus was given them which was likewise ordinary to all that were any way considerable also of most Glorious most Pious most Clement and Precellentissime The Kings wrote their names under that of the Bishops when they wrote to them On the contrary Pope Gregory I. and the Emperor Mauritius preposed theirs before that of any Kings Gregory II. did not do so The Popes and Councils stiled them sometimes their Sons and sometimes the Sons of the Catholick-Church Their Male-Children in their young age were named Damoiseaux and at their Birth they gave some Fiscalins their Freedom in all the Lands and Houses belonging to the King their Father They oft took Wives of mean Birth and servile Condition on whom they did not bestow the Title of Queen till after they had born Children nor always then neither The Daughter of a King had that Title as soon as they were Married They had their Dower in Lands some Possessions in proper which their Kindred inherited their share of the Houshold Goods and great Officers just the same as the Kings had Oft times the Sons of France before they came to Reign were called Kings and the Daughters Queens There were but two Conditions of Men the Free or Ingenuous and the Slaves Amongst the Free there were Nobles who were so by Blood and by Antiquity not by Exemptions and amongst the Nobles the Grandees optimates I believe that those they called Majores were the Noble and the Minores those that were not so One knew not then what People of the Gown or Robe meant all the French made profession of bearing Arms Justice was rendred by People Armed their Battle-ax and Buckler hung upon a Pillar in the midst of the Malle In the Kings House it was the Count of the Palace that administred it sometimes the King himself took the Seat together with the Bishops and the Grandees and having heard Causes of highest concern pronounced Sentence himself In Villages the Centeniers in Cities the Counts and Dukes that gave Judgment without any thing of Pleadings or Writings They were called in general terms Judges and Seniors The Kings gave them these Offices for time and frequently continued them for Money Sometimes it was left to the People to chuse them and perhaps it was their Right There were no Degrees of Jurisdiction all judged without appeal because they took Cognisance of nothing but what was proportionable to their Degree It is true the Parties had a way of carrying their Complaints to the King if they believed they had not been judged according to Law but if the Complaint were not made good they were condemned is * Persons of Quality to a pecuniary Mulct the other to be Whipp'd The Counts and Dukes had Viguiers or Lieutenant-Generals who did Justice in their absence and several petty Viguiers which administred it in the Country They had Assessors whom they called Rachinbourgs they sat on every eighth or every fifteenth day according to the multiplicity of Affairs But the Dukes held the Grand Assizes from time to time where the Bishops of the Province were bound to be present There were likewise a kind of Commissary's or Envoys some for the King others for the Dukes who went about to visit the Provinces In their Proceedings and Publick Acts they counted their Terms by Nights As the Galls governed themselves according to the Roman Rules and Laws they were forced to have Judges that understood them and the French might perhaps imitate and follow them in many of their Contracts for the Salick Law was not extensive enough to comprehend and regulate every particular case The same Counts and Dukes as judged the French led them to the Wars There were no other Soldiers but the Militia They commanded those of the nearest Provinces or of any Province as they thought fit those that failed were put to a Fine they gave Letters of Dispensation to such as were grown over-aged in the Service In all the Provinces and particularly on the Frontiers they had Magazines of Provisions and Forage but as I believe they had no pay but their Plunder which was brought together and so shared always equally amongst them They put those into the condition of Slaves or Servants whom they took Prisoners of War as likewise such as were sent them for Hostages if they broke their Faith The great ones that were accused of any Crime were judged Militarily by their Equals the Execution was performed with a Sword or Battle-Ax sometimes by Dukes and Counts themselves Often times their Kings would not wait till Judgment was given their Wrath or Covetousness made Death go before any Sentence As for the People of a meaner Stamp they were extended on a Stake and were either Strangled or Whipp'd In some places they were Hanged on a Gallows or they were branched upon a Tree For lesser Crimes they were condemned to grind like Mill-Horses to dig Vineyards to work in Quarries and sometimes they were Branded with a hot Iron When a Man was accused for a Crime of State they tore off his Military Girdle and his Clothes and dressed him all in Rags Between Private Persons they might seek their satisfaction with their Swords and do themselves justice whence proceeded infinite Murthers if the King did not prevent it Murtherers bought their Lives with their Money and the punishment of most Crimes unless they were Crimes of State were pecuniary and determined by the Law The whole Kindred were liable to the payment if the guilty Person were insufficient When the Parties wanted Evidence to prove the Fact they came to a Combat either in Person or by those Champions they could procure This they said was to determine a Cause by the Judgment of God Almighty The Ordeal-Trial by red hot Irons
for a Monastick Life we find Queen Radegonda Institutrice of the Monastery at Poitiers and Glodesina or Glosina of that which bears her name at Metz she was Daughter of Duke Guintrion Maur the Disciple of St. Bennet came to dwell in France about Anno 540. and brought his Order which in time increased so much that it abolished if we may call it so all the others Cloud or Clodoald lived in the Diocess of Paris Leufroy in that of Eureux Calais in that of Mans Cibard in Perigord Leonard in Limousin the Hermit Victor at the Diocess of Troyes Celerin in that of Sees and Senoc in Poitou The Church of Rome had in Gaul as in divers other Countries a certain Revenue in Lands which she called her Patrimony and the Popes had a Vicar who failed not to set a value on his Power to make this Commission of the higher value It was the Bishop of Arles from whom they had taken almost all the Rights and all the Authority he pretended to as well for the Antiquity of his Church Established by St. Trophime Disciple of the Apostles as from the preheminence of his City which the Emperor Honorius had made the capital of seven Provinces they pitched upon for fear he should make his too great a See to be their Vicar in Gaul and so he held two during pleasure which he might have held in chief and that Superiority which his Bishoprick gave him over the seven Provinces was absorbed by that which they gave him over the whole seventeen Moreover they favourably received all those that appealed to Rome Leo X. restored Chilidonius of Besanson deposed by Hilary of Arles his Vicar and Agapet restored Contumeliosus whom John II. his Predecessor had judged very Criminal As they had a right to see the Canons observed and the ancient Customs when any one desired any Prerogative or any License they applied to them so that by little and little it brought them to allow some small favour even in things of little weight but at length even to dispence with the Canons Pope Gregory I. amongst others gave it to several Churches which induced others to desire it also and sometimes pretend that his Predecessors had before granted them the like The question concerning Images made a noise in France even in the days of that Pope For he reproved Serein Bishop of Marselles for having broken them down but however applauded his Zeal from having hindred the People from adoring them because they might be used as Books to instruct the ignorant but not as the Objects of Divine Adoration We observe in this Age near forty Councils I shall quote those of whom we have any Canons or Acts. The first of Orleans which we mentioned before was assembled in 511. in the Reign of Clovis The second in 533. to abolish the remainders of Idolatry The third five years after The fourth in 541. and the fifth in 549. These four in the Reign and by the Authority of Childebert who likewise called another at Arles which was the fifth Anno 554. There were two held in the Reign of Sigismund King of Burgundy that of Epaon Anno 517. and the first of Lyons in the same year This last upon the account of Estienne his Intendant who had Married Palladia his Cousin-German and was upheld in it by that Prince There were two Convocated at Arles to wit that which is reckoned the fourth in Anno 524. by the consent of Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths to whom the Province at that time obeyed and the fifth above-mentioned in the Reign of Childebert Three met in the Countries of Atalaric King of Italy that of Carpentras in 527. of which there is but one Canon remaining the second of Orange two years a terwards and the third of Vaâ—son in the same year There were two in the City d'Avergne that is Clermont the first with the consent of King Theodebert in 535. and the second of his Son Theodebald in 549. Four at Paris viz. the second Anno 555. the third Anno 557. the fourth Anno 573. and the fifth Anno 615. The second and third were by order of King Childebert and the first of these two to review the Process against the Bishop Saâ—â—aracus who had been condemned and deposed the Sentence was confirmed the other to confirm some Canons touching the Discipline The fourth was held by the consent of Chilperic I. to suppress the attempt of Giles Metropolitan of Rheims who had ordained one Promotus Bishop in the City of Cbasteaudun though it depended on the Bishoprick of Chartres and had never been made an Episcopal See The fifth was summoned by order of Clotair II. for Reformation of Abuses I do not speak of that in the year 577. where Pretextat of Rouen was condemned having suffered himself by a credulous and weak condescention to be induced to confess such Crimes which he had not committed no more then that of Valence Anno 584. which confirmed all the Grants King Gontran his Wife and his Daughters had bestowed on the Church There were three at Lyons the first under Sigismond before noted the second in 567. and the third in 583. Two at Mascon the first Anno 581. the second four years afterwards all these four by the Authority of King Gontran One at Tours Anno 567. in the Reign of Cherebert which ordained many things and confirmed the Religious Congregation of Virgins instituted by St. Radegond One at Auxerre Anno 578. where none met but the Bishop of the Place his name was Aunaquaire with his Abbots and Priests King Recarede called one at Narbona Anno 589. Clotaire II. one at Metz Anno 590. and one at Paris which was the fifth Anno 619. as we have already hinted In that of Metz Giles Bishop of Rheims was condemned for the Crime of Treason deposed and banished to Strasburgh Of all these Councils there was only that of Orange that medled with Controversies having fully discussed the points of Grace according to the Judgment of St. Augustin and of the Holy Chair The rest spent their time to compose Quarrels and Disputes or about Discipline and especially such particulars as we have already mentioned This History not allowing us to quote more than some necessary Articles In the reading of these Councils one may observe that there were great multitudes of Lepers and of Jews in France perhaps the Jews had brought in and spread abroad that Leprosy That the Bishop took care to relieve the first and prohibited all manner of Communication with the other The Church had a particular care or the Poor of Widdows and Orphans the first being made as it were of the Family the rest under their Protection insomuch that they espoused their Cause in Courts of Judicature and the Judges never gave Sentence in any Cause of theirs but he first acquainted the Bishop thereof In her Judicature she followed that Order Established by the Roman or Written Law The Canons
Austrasia environned with fierce and rebellious People wanted the presence of Pepin He durst not take King Thierry with him lest he should displease the Neustrians but he left a Lord with him called Nordbert who disposed of all and gave him an account Year of our Lord 687 The French found no prejudice by this change the interest of a new Prince who desired to Establish himself being to gain the Affections of the People and indeed he repaired all the Breaches that he possibly could which had been made in the foregoing Reigns restored what had been ravished from the Church the Bishops to their Sees the Grandees in their Dignities and Lands resolved upon nothing without the Advice of the Lords and Prelates defended the Cause of the Oppressed of Widdows and Orphans and applied himself to give vigour to the Laws which are the only Shields for the weak against the mighty ones Year of our Lord 688 The second year of his general Command he drew the French Militia together and by the Advice of the great ones carried the War into Frisia and compelled the Duke or King Ratbod who revolted to render him Obedience and to pay him Tribute At his return he called a Council the place is not named wherein they Treated and Considered of the ways and means that should be taken to repress Disorders and Violence and for the defence of the Church of Widdows and Orphans He knew there were no greater Charms to make them love his Government then Piety and Justice Poor Thierry being stripp'd of the real part of his Royalty which is his just Power and reduced to be contented with a moderate Revenue in Lands ended his Year of our Lord 690 or 91. days but not his shame in the year 690. or 91. They allow him Thirty nine or forty years of Age and his Reign to be Seventeen entire that is Thirteen before Pepins Victory and four under the Power of that Mayre He had two Sons Clovis and Childebert and two Wives Clotilda and Doda unless that name of Doda were an Epithet of Crotilda who perhaps was so called because she was fat and plump His Tomb and that of this Doda are to be seen at St. Vaasts of Arras Clovis III. King XVI POPE SERGIUS Who S. four years in this Reign CLOVIS III. In Neustria PEPIN Mayre in Neustria Soveraign in Austrasia IF there had been two Kings there must have been two Mayres but Pepin would Year of our Lord 691 hold that Office alone besides he could not suffer any King in Austrasia because he held that as properly his own for this reason he gave to Clovis which was the eldest of Thierry 's two Sons the Title of King in Neustria and Burgundy but himself kept the whole Administration Perhaps the French according to their ancient Right had conferred upon him the Soveraignty of Austrasia but it is certain that all those People who were Tributary's to that Kingdom as the Turingians the Frisians the Saxons the Almains shook off the Yoak and made themselves Independents On the other hand the Aquitains and likewise the Gascons created each a Soveraign Duke of their own and the Bretons enlarged their little Frontiers Clovis according to some Reigned but two years others more probably give him Year of our Lord 694 four compleat He died about the end of the year 694. or in the beginning of 695. Year of our Lord 694 or 95. being Aged Fourteen or fifteen years and neither had seen nor done any thing that was Memorable in his Reign Childebert II. King XVII POPES SERGIUS Who S. five years and an half during this Reign JOHN VI. Elected in Oct. 701. S. three years two months JOHN VII Elected in March 705. S. two years seven months SISINNIUS In January 708. S. twenty days CONSTANTINE In March 708. S. six years whereof three iâ— this Reign CHILDEBRT II. Called the Young aged Eleven or twelve years PEPIN Mayre c. Year of our Lord 695 IN his room Pepin set up his Brother Childebert who because of his Minority was yet reduced to a lesser scantling of Allowance then his Brother had been The great Officers as the Count of the Palace the great Referendary or Chancellor the Intendant of the Royal Houses were all with the Mayre The Kings had only a small number of Domesticks which served rather as Spies and Jaylors then Officers And indeed they needed them not being ever locked up in a House of Pleasure whence they never went forth but in a Chariot drawn with Oxen and shewed not themselves to the People but once a year in the Assembly of Estates which was held the First day of March. Year of our Lord From 690 unto 700. In these days Egica King of the Visigoths had War with the French towards the borders of the third Aquitain the success we know not Norbert who was the sub-Mayre and Lieutenant to Pepin in Neustria being deceased Year of our Lord 696 and 97. Pepin caused Grimoald his young Son to be elected Mayre of that Kingdom and gave the Dutchy of Champagne to his eldest Son Drogo whom he would keep near him Ratbod King of the Frisons notwithstanding he had given his Faith and Hostages revolts a second time and is again beaten by Pepin near Dorstat There was nothing observable in the eight or nine following years Pepin besides his Wife Plectrude who was already old had taken a Concubine or if you will a lawful Wife for the French notwithstanding the sacred Canons and the Prohibitions of the Church repudiated their Wives when they pleased and Wedded others The Kings themselves according to the ancient Custom of the Germans had often many at one time This same was called Alpaide Pepin had a Son by her named Charles and since surnamed Martel Lambert Bishop of Liege a Zealous Defender of the Christian Truth having dared to reprove him several times and called that Conjunction Adultery in publick Dodon the Brother to Alpaide Assassinated him by consent of Pepin Soon after the Murtherer being eaten with Worms and enduring horrible Torments a while cast himself into the Meuse This infection of Worms was very frequent and as it were Epidemick at that time as have been St. Anthony's Fire and some other odd Diseases Year of our Lord 708 Not long after Pepin lost Drogo or Dreux his eldest Son who left two Sons Hugh and Arnold by his Wife Austrude who was the Widdow of the Mayre Berthier The Almans and Souabues made now but one People governed by the same Duke who appertained to the Kings of Austrasia or held of them But Godfrey the now Duke had cast off the Yoke to make himself independent Being dead Anno 709. Willehaire succeeded him Pepin in two Expeditions which he made thither vanquished him and triumphed over his Pride He could not wholly subdue it though so that it was found necessary to send a third Army into that Country but when Year of our Lord 711 they were just
Party the strongest by the help and addition of the Eastern French he obliged his Son Lotaire to come and submit to him in his Tent and give up the principals of the Confederates into his hands All the Lawyers and his Sons themselves Judged them worthy of Death He Pardoned them notwithstanding and did only command the Laity to be shorn and the Church-men to be shut up in Monasteries When he was got back to Aix he recalled his Wife and her Brothers who Year of our Lord 830 had been shaved at the beginning of the Commotion but he would not admit her till she had cleared her self according to the usual manner of every thing laid to her charge In the Easter-Holy-days he was so merciful that in Honour of him who with his own Blood had Redeemed all Mankind and obtained Pardon for Sinners He released and recalled likewise all those whom he had caused to be shorne and restored them to their Estates and Lands but he sent his three Sons into their own Kingdoms Bernard was admitted to purge himself by combat and there appearing no accuser to oppose him he purged himself by Oath Year of our Lord 832 After these broils neither of his three Sons shewed him a perfect obedience Pepin and Louis though he had enlarged their shares did not leave vexing him And Lotaire their elder did under-hand contrive all their practices Pepin being sent for to a general Assembly at Automne came not till they were broke up which made his Father keep him with him At the same time almost Louis was making ready to come and visit him with too great an Attendance But the Father going forth to meet him made him retire and pursued him as far as Augsburgh From thence he summoned him to be present at the Assembly of Franefort to which he obey'd Year of our Lord 832 When he had done with one another began anew He had intelligence that Pepin was again Arming himself he went therefore as far as the Palace of Iogontiac in Limosin where he Assembled the Estates of Aquitain The rebellious Son was forced to appear there And his Case having been discussed he was kept Prisoner As they were conveying him to Triers he escaped and assoon as his Father was out of Aquitain he got in again with the same evil Spirit In fine having been Summoned to appear at the general Assembly of Saint Martins he not obeying his Father punished his Rebellion by taking the Kingdom of Aquitain from him Year of our Lord 832 It was said that Gombaud the Monk enraged because Pepin hindred him from Governing the Emperor in recompence of his good Services stirred up his Fathers wrath against him and Judith with her Artifices compleating the Project pushed the young Prince on to these extreams that she might have his spoil for her own Son Charles as in effect the Emperor did bestow it on him and caused him to be acknowledged by the Lords of the Country to the great displeasure of the other two Sons who feared the like Treatment Year of our Lord 833 They therefore conspired all those afresh against him and the two youngest leave the management of it all to Lotaire who brings Pope Gregory along with him the better to Authorize him They take the Field with a numerous Army The Father on his side gets his Forces together at Wormes for they were arrived nigh Basle The Ambassadors he sent to his Sons and the Pope finding they urged the Pope to Excommunicate him declared before his face that if he came for that purpose he might return Excommunicated himself since he trangressed the Holy-Canons The two Armies remained encamped between Basle and Strasburgh Five or Six days during which time the Emperor and the Pope had some conference about a Peace But under the pretence of Treating his men were debauched and persuaded to forsake him and went to the service of his Sons In so much that himself was likewise compell'd to go over to them having before Stipulated that his Wife nor his Son Charles should either of them forfeit Life or Limbs They immediately confin'd young Charles to the Monastery of Prom but did not shave him and banished the Mother to Tortona in Italy maintaining that her Marriage was Null because she was of Kin to their Father within the degree prohibited which was truth And that in those days was accounted a crime so great by the Church that they punished it with the utmost rigour Add that the Prelats were mightily offended with her for that she had caused Frederic Bishop of Vtrecht a man reputed to be of Holy-life to be Massacred because he had dared to reprove the Emperor publickly as he was eating at his own Table The Debonnaire being thus detained Pepin returned to Aquitaine and Louis to Bavaria Lotaire assigned a general Assembly at Compiegne to be on the first of October leaving his Father under a strong Guard in the Monastery of Saint Medard Year of our Lord 833 of Soissons During the Assembly the French beginning to be touched with compassion towards their ancient Emperor some Lords with some of the Bishops who feared they should be punished if ever he were again restored contrived wholly to exclude him by degrading and condemning him to do publick Pennance Ebon Arch-Bishop of Reims his Foster-brother and his School fellow but Son of a Slave was the principal Author and Promoter of this Counsel The Ceremony of this Degradation was as follows The Bishops having remonstrated his Scandalous faults to him he sent for his Son Lotaire and his Princes and made his reconciliation with him Then they led him into St. Medards Church where prostrated before the Altar upon a Sack-cloth he confessed he had been the cause of great mischiefs and troubles to France and the Bishops exhorting him to name his Crimes openly he repeated them according to a writing they had given him containing amongst other things that he had committed Sacriledge Parricide and Homicide in that he had violated the Solemn Oath made to his Father in the Church and Presence of the Bishops consented to the Death of his Nephew and done violence to his Relations That he had broken the agreement made betwixt his Children for the Peace of the Kingdom and compelled his Subjects to take new Oathes which was Perjury from whence proceeded all manner of mischiefs in the Government That after so many disorders and infinite damages and losses to his People he had again brought them together to destroy each other For which he desired pardon of God Then he presented a Paper to the Bishops who laid it upon the Altar After this they took off his Military Girdle which was laid there likewise And lastly they disrobed him of his secular Habit and cloathed him with a Penitential one which was never to be quitted when once they had put it on The People that is say to the Soldiery who would dave trampled him under foot before he was depes'd now pittied
whereafter two years Persecution his Eyes were put out The two Brothers Louis and Charles after many persuasions used by the latter and by the mediation of the Bishops and Lords met in a place agreed upon on this side the Meuse each with a certain number of People and there divided the Kingdom of Lorrain in two without having any regard to their Nephew the Emperor Louis Whose cause the Pope still supporting sent a famous Legation to the two Brothers Louis sâ—nt them back to Charles and he taking time to delay advanced as far as Lyons as it were to confer with the Pope but it was in effect for a quite contrary design For very far from doing his Nephew justice he likewise seized on the Kingdom of Burgundy where he met with no opposition but from Berthe the Wife of Count Gerard who sustained a Siege in Vienne and surrendred it upon composition Charles the Bald gave this County in charge to Boson Brother to the Queen Richilda his Wife whom he also made Duke of Aquitain and Grand-Master of the Porters and raised him in such sort that he was shortly after one of those that dismembred the Monarchy Year of our Lord 871 During this Voyage he had left the Lieutenancy of his Kingdom to the Arch-Bishop Hincmar who by his Genius no less powerful then daring had rendred himself very necessary He had no small ado to hinder the designs and enterprises of Carloman eldest Son of his King This Prince had some years before conspired against his Father who had made him a Deacon in despite of him and having rebelled another time he put him in Prison The Prayers of the Popes Legates who came the year before into France had got him out again but abusing this mercy he fell again to his old Practices Now being fallen the third time into his Fathers hands he caused him to be condemned to Death and then changed that Sentence to a deprivation of his sight that he might have time to repent Some time afterwards a couple of Monks craftily got him out of Prison and convey'd him to his Uncle the German King who gave him an Abbey for his maintenance But Death did not leave him long in the enjoyment of it This cursed Custome of putting out Eyes and other ways of dismembring was the invention of the Greek Princes and it hath been long practised in the West so that Vassals in their Oaths of Fidelity swore they would defend the persons of their Lords and never consent they should be maimed in any part of their Bodies About these times the Gascons desiring to collect their Forces under a Duke of their own Nation and of the Race of their ancient Dukes to secure themselves against the fury of the Normans and the revenge of Charles the Bald went into Spain to the Son of Loup Centulle whom the King of the Asturias had made an Earl in old Castille to desire and get one of his Sons The youngest after the refusal of all his Brothers accepted the Honour his name was Sanche his surname Mitarra the Saracens had bestowed it on him because he was their Ruin and their Scourge From him are proceeded the Hereditary Dukes of Gascogny who lasted near 200 years He had a Successor of the same name and surname as himself This Son was Father of Garcia Sanchez the Crooked who had three Garcia Sanchez Duke of Gascogny William Count of Fezenzac and Arnold Count of Astarack This last not Born the natural way but by an incision they made in his Mothers Flank was surnamed Non-nat Not Born The Princes of the Carlovinian Line were for the most part of weak Spirits Fools or Sottish Louis Emperor of Italy though Pious and Valiant was so Year of our Lord 872 slighted by his Subjects that they would part him from his Wife because he had no Male-Children And even Adelgise Duke of Benevent made him Prisoner and extorted from him very unjust things Year of our Lord 873 The Children of Louis the German gave their Father a great deal of trouble and seemed to punish him for the disquiet he had given to his The eldest named Charles and afterwards surnamed the Gross troubled without doubt with horror for the conspiracies he had made against him had violent fitts of Madness believing he had seen the Devil and was possessed by him He was cured of that Frenzy for some time after many Devotions and Vows over the Graves of Saints but his Brain having been once so disturbed he felt it all his life afterwards Year of our Lord 873 The Normans had seized on the City of Anger 's about four years since and setled themselves there with their Families from whence when they had a mind to it they ran about the Loire and all those other Rivers which fall into it loading their Barks with the Plunder and Pillage of all the Country Charles assisted by Salomon King of the Bretons besieged them in that City The Siege was long the Bretons by great labour bring it to an end they turned the stream of the Maine and by this means their Vessels lay all on dry ground and gave them opportunity to aproach to the foot of their Wall The Pyrats could no way have escaped if they would have forced them however the Bald so terrible had they made themselves fearing the revenge such other Parties they had abroad in divers parts of the Kingdom might take not only did them no hurt but likewise gave them the liberty to depart with all their plunder They only made a promise never to return any more into France but at their departure from thence they went and nestled themselves in an Island within the Loire from whence they continued their old Trade Towards the Month of August an unknown cause brought towards the Coast or Borders of Germany a prodigious quantity of Locusts which were about the bigness of an inch having six wings and teeth as hard as a stone In less than an hour they had eaten up all the Herbs and Greens growing in a Country of seven or eight Leagues in length and two in breadth to the very Branches and Rinds of young Trees After they had done incredible mischiefs a strong Wind hurried them into the Brittish Sea where they were drowned But dead they did no less hurt then when living the great heaps thrown by the Waves upon the Shoar infecting the Country with the Plague Year of our Lord 874 While King Salomon who was become a good Man and devout to the doing of Miracles was thinking to retire into a Monastery and leave his Crown to his Son Gueguon two of his Cousin Germans Pasteneten or Pasquitan Son of Neomene and Vrsand assisted by Wygon Son of Duke Rodolph and some French Inhabitants of Bretagne whom he had treated ill conspired against him and besieged him in his Castle of Plelan where surrendring himself and his Son upon some false promises the French put out his eyes
Bishops together who having heard his Reasons were of opinion upon consideration of the publick good that he might take her for his Wife notwithstanding the Canonical Obstructions which was a kind of Dispensation Abbon who was Abbot of Fleury a vehement Man not having been able to dissuade him from this match bestirr'd himself with much heat to have it dissolved The Pope to whom Robert had made no Application Excommunicated the Bishops that had authorized it and the two Parties that were Contracted if they did not separate forthwith Year of our Lord 1003 The King not giving Obedience to a Sentence which appeared to him contrary to the good of his Kingdom the Pope by an unheard-of Proceeding put the whole Nation under an Interdiction To which the People so humbly submitted that all the Kings Domestick Servants excepting only two or three forsook him and they threw whatsoever was left at his Table to the Dogs no body thinking it lawful to cat of that Meat he had but touched These Severities and not a Monstrous Birth by his Wife whom the Miracle-mongers say was delivered of an Infant with the Neck and Feet resembling a Goose constrained him to part from her but that was not till two or three years after and we find that they made a Journey to Rome either to defend their Cause before the Pope Year of our Lord 1006 or to crave his Pardon However it were the Marriage remained Null I cannot forget one memorable Example of the Soveraign Power and the extream Rigour of the Pope it was Silvester II. Guy Vicount of Limoges was cited to Rome by the Bishop of Angoulesme because he had detained him Prisoner in a Castle The two Parties appeared The Cause pleaded upon the very Easter-day the Pope pronounced that Guy for Reparation of his Crime should be tied to the Necks of two Wild-horses and his Body thus torn and bruised thrown on the Dung-hill which was to be put in Execution three days after In the mean time Guy was delivered up into the hands of the Bishop but the Prelat being moved with pity pardoned him and stealing away in the night generously brought him thence into France again with him About this time Henry Duke of Burgundy Brother of Hugh Capet died without Children Now by the induction of Giselle his Wife Widow of Adelbert as above King of Italy and Son of Berenger II. he left his Dakedom by Will and Testament to Otho-William surnamed the Stranger issue of that Woman by her first Husband Year of our Lord 1003 who finding himself already Earl of Burgundy beyond Soane named Franche-Comte and besides assisted by Landry Earl of Nevers his Son-in-Law and Brunon Bishop of Langres whose Sister he had Married took possession of all Burgundy by vertue of that Grant But King Robert to whom this Dukedom belonged lawfully as Heir to his Uncle led a powerful Army thither with the aid of Richard II. Duke of Normandy suppressed the Usurpers Faction took Auxerre by Composition and Avalon by Battery the Walls as 't is said falling down miraculously before him and at length forced out Otho-William and confined him beyond the Saone where he became the Stock of the Earls of Burgundy Year of our Lord 1004 Otho Son of Prince Charles Duke of the Lower Lorrain being dead without ever Marrying King Henry gave his Dukedom to Godfrey Count of Verdun Bouillon and Ardenne without any regard to the Sisters of the Defunct who were Married Gerberge to Lambert Earl of Brabant and Hermengarde to Lambert Earl of Namur From these issued the Dukes of Brabaut and the Earls of Namur Year of our Lord 1005 c. Baldwin Earl of Flanders already an Enemy to the Emperor undertook the Quarrel of these Daughters The Emperor came to the Relief of Godfrey whom he had invested with this Fief and the King of France embraced Baldwin's Party who was his Vassal The Emperor in vain besieged Valenciennes and then Gaunt Finally this War being made at the Charge and Expence of the Flemming he agreed with the Emperor and restored Valenciennes Year of our Lord 1008 Afterwards the Emperor desiring to make use of his Valour in the great Troubles brought upon him by the Rebellion of the German Princes gave him that City again and withall the Island of Walcheren being part of Zeland whence proceeded a long and bloody Contest between the Flemmings and the Hollanders these pretending that Zeland appertained to them by vertue of a certain Grant which they alledged had been made to them by the Emperor Lotrire Son of Lewis the Debonnaire Year of our Lord 1007 I think we ought to place in the year 1007. the Marriage of Robert with Constance surnamed Blanch Daughter of William V. Earl of Arles Provence and Toulouze a Beautiful Princess but Haughty Capricious and Insupportable We must observe that the Authors of those times frequently called Provence Aquitain whether out of ignorance or because of its City of Aix Aquae Sextiae Year of our Lord 1009 The Saracens at the instigation of the Jews in France demolish the Temple of Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre which re-inflames the Devotion of the Western Christians and their hatred against the Jews whom they Banish or knock on the Head every where Year of our Lord 1009 10 c. The good King Robert addicted himself intirely to works of Piety Charity Mercy and Justice re-edified old Churches or built new ones and fed great numbers of poor People in all the Cities throughout his Kingdom He kept above Two hundred in his House whom he led every where having no aversion to see them even under his Table to touch their Ulcers and make the Sign of the Cross over them whereby they were oftentimes made whole He delighted to Sing in the Quire and Compose Words and Notes for the Songs and Responses in honour of God or his Saints The Church hath preserved some of them which they make use of to this day This year 1012. was seen towards the farther Southern parts a Star of an extraordinary magnitude which seemed to dart its bright Rays into the beholders Eyes It appeared for three months together sometimes contracting its self other while seeming much greater as if it took new Fire then again as it were quite extinguished Anno 1003. a Comet had likewise been observed which kept near the Sun and appeared but seldom which was about the break of day Eight years before viz. Anno 995. another had been observed upon St. Laurences-day And in 981. also another yet about Autumn Which I take notice of to shew that these Phenomena are not so rare as to make so much noise about them Year of our Lord 1013 The King having bestowed the Archbishoprick of Bourges upon Goslin his Natural Son Abbot of Floury the Clergy of that Church made great opposition saying That the Holy Canons admitted no Bastards to the Prelacy Which occasioned many Tumults that were not allaied till five
Military or even from Marriage that it might be the more humble and perfect S. Leo the Pope had only advised it his Successors made it a Law and the Councils of Toledo reduced it into practise towards their very Kings witness Vamba one of the most illustrious and most renowned of their Monarchs who being ordained Pennance while he was in the agonies of death not with his consent for he was deprived of all understanding but according to the custome of those times was yet obliged upon his recovery to renounce his Kingly Office Observe if you please that these Councils of Spain furnished the Popes with great advantages and presidents to bring other Sovereigns under their Command and Disposal For the Visigoth Kings being elective the Bishops had a great share in their Election and their Councils were as so many Assemblies where the Grandees and the Kings themselves were present There they corrected all the disorders of the Crown and imposed Laws upon them under the penalty of Anathema or Deposition if they infringed them The Bishops of France undertook the same thing by deposing Louis the Debonnaire and though it were a perfect Faction that Prince however did not resume the Crown but by the authority of another Assembly of Bishops Foulk Arch-Bishop of Rheims threatned Charles the Simple he would withdraw his Subjects from their Obedience if he made any Alliance with the Normans who were then Barbarians and Unbelievers Now the Popes believed it as an Article of Faith that their power was much greater then that of all the Bishops and that it had no other limitation then was express'd in the Canons of the Councils and the Decrees of the Apostolique See which never had forbid them to Depose Kings because it cannot be imagined the thoughts of such a thing could ever enter into their brains Gregory II. in Anno 730. having thundered his Anathema against Leo Isaurian suspended at least the payment of all Tribute and Obedience of his Subjects or perhaps wholly Absolved them as some pretended Moreover taking upon them as they did the Authority of creating Kings which was allowed by the ambition of such as desired that Title they imagined they might well take away the Crown from those that were unworthy since they could bestow one upon such as did deserve it There were besides all this many occasions which served not a little to confirm this opinion Amongst others the Prohibition of contracting Marriage between Kindred even to the Seventh Degree and betwixt Allies to the fourth and fifth The cognisance they took of all great Causes not only amongst the Ecclesiasticks but Temporal Princes and the Croisado's For as to the first they could easily find enough of Parentage or Alliance to dissolve a Princes Marriage and by this means made themselves formidable And for the second they were not less considerable for the power they had to judge of all Causes because all Parties have naturally a fear and a respect for their Judges and they having by this incredible affluence of Business an opportunity to employ great numbers of People it drew to their Court all those that had an ambition to be made use of by them or such as had the curiosity to be fashion'd or instructed in that most famous School of the whole Universe In effect all the greatest Wits of Europe flock'd thither to gain Employments and as we have still an Affection for those by whom we are advanced when they went from thence after they had done their Business or made their Fortune they proclaimed the Grandeur of the Popes in every Country with an ardent desire to set up their Maxims The Crusado's or Holy War made them likewise very powerful For in all the Expeditions to the Holy-Land they enjoyned Princes to list themselves they held the Soveraign Command of those Armies by their Legats and in a manner made themselves Lords of all those Adventurers not only because they exacted obedience from them but which was more because they took them under their Protection till their return which was as it were an Order of State to stop all Proceedings both Civil and Criminal In other Crusado's which were undertaken against Schismaticks and Hereticks they made it a Law That whoever were convicted of those Crimes should forfeit all their Goods Honours and Dignities In pursuance whereof they deprived those that were guilty or caused them to be deprived by Councils assembled by their Legats then gave the Spoil to such as had served well in those Expeditions without consulting the Soveraign Lords of whom they held those Estates because they durst not refuse Investiture to those whom so holy a Power had provided in that manner for But their greatest Power or Force consisted in that of the Clergy and Religious Orders Those great Bodies being in those times very firmly united for the maintenance of his Franchises and Liberties which they positively believed to be Jure Divino looking upon the Pope as a Chief Head and Potentate that would never fail them at need Indeed his absolute Authority lay heavily upon the Bishops Shoulders but when it pressed too hard they had recourse to that of the Prince as Protector of the Goods and Liberties of the Clergy Reciprocally they made use of the Power of the Pope to shield them from the Attempts of their Princes and governing themselves thus between the Power of both they endeavoured to moderate and qualifie the one by the other However they had cause to complain that the Popes took from them a good part of that Authority belonging to them as Successors to the Apostles as by drawing immediately to their Tribunal the Cognisance of all Causes not leaving them any thing almost to judge of Primarily or Originally By obliging them to give them their Oaths according to a certain Form to which Gregory VII had added some Terms which amounted to Fealty and Hommage By imposing the necessity for their going to Rome By arrogating to themselves the Right of Consecrating Metropolitans By granting Dispensations for not observing the holy Canons as if the whole Ecclesiastical Discipline depended only upon their absolute Authority By allowing Exemptions to Inferiors to withdraw them from their Obedience to their Superiors They complained moreover of their having reserved to themselves alone the power of receiving Caodjutories and that of dissolving the Spiritual Marriages of Bishops that is of separating them or putting them away from their Churches by Cession or Translation or Deposition and their taking upon themselves the disposing of most Benefices Let us say something more particular upon the chiefest of these points The differences between particular People were handled only in the Court of Rome in the Twelfth Age however when the Cause was very important or concerned the whole Church or a whole Kingdom they referr'd it to the Judgment of a Council Thus Gregory VII when the Quarrel betwixt him and the Emperor Henry V. came to be renew'd promised he would
of proceedings against them in the year 1245. in that of Beziers which was composed of Prelats of the Narbonnensian Province And that of Terragona Anno 1242. did the same thing against the Vaudensis whose Opinions were creeping into those quarters Besides the Albigensis the Vaudensis and that swarm of different Sects which had got in nestled and increased greatly in Languedoc and Gascongny there was one Amaulry of Chartres a Doctor of Paris who went about teaching his fancies for Truths saying amongst other things That if Adam had not sinned Men would have been multiplied without Generation that there was no other Paradice but the satisfaction of well-doing nor any other Hell besides the ignorance and obscurity of Sin That the Law of the Holy Ghost or Spirit had put an end to that of Jesus Christ and to the Sacraments as these had accomplished that of Moses and the Ceremonies of the Old Testament and that all such actions as were done in charity even Adulteries could not be evil This Doctrine being a great encouragement to lewdness and Scandal the Author was obliged to go and give an account to the Pope who forced him to retract which having done with his Mouth only and not from his Heart his Disciples persisted in his whimseys and added many others to them Peter II. Bishop of Paris and Frier Guerin Principal Counsellor to King Philip having made discovery both of the Persons and the Secrets of these Sectarics by an Emissary who crept in amongst them caused a great number of Men and Women Clergy and Laity to be laid hold on These People having been convicted in a Council held at Paris in the year 1209. were delivered over to the Secular power who gave the Women their Pardons and ordered the Men to be burnt The Friers Preachers and the Friers Minors endeavouring to out-vie each other in Scholast que Subtilties there were some that lost their way in that Utopian or Imaginary Countrey of Terra incognita and who were as soon restrained and corrected by the Sacred Faculty or by the Bishops Thus by Bishop Stephen II. at the Council of Paris which met in Anno 1277. was William the Frier Minor corrected who had published divers Heterodox propositions touching the Soul Free Will the Resurrection and the worlds Eternity but as soon as they were condemned he retracted them with great submission contrary to the custom of those singular Spirits who having once taken their flights do hardly ever stoop again We find likewise a certain David of Dinand who maintained that God was the Materia Prima St. Thomas hath Learnedly refuted him In the Fourth Tome of the Library of the Fathers we read That Anno 1242. William Bishop of Paris in an Assembly of the Doctors of Theology condemned some errors touching the Divine Essence the Holy Spirit the Angels and the place where Souls remain after death and several other propositions either rash or false which all proceeded from the contentious subtilties of Scholastique Doctors It would be too tedious to quote all those Councils that were held about Discipline and for other matters The two most famous were those of Lyons Pope Innocent III. presiding in the First Anno 1245. pronounced a Sentence of Excommunication against the Emperour Frederic II. In the Second which was in the year 1 74. the most numerous that ever was for there were Five hundred Bishops Seventy Abbots and a Thousand other Prelats Pope Gregory X. made divers Constitutions amongst others that which directs the Cardinals should be shut up in the Conclave for the Election of a Pope and he admitted the Emperour Michael and the Greek Church to a reconciliation with the Church of Rome Robert de Corceonne Cardinal Legate assembled one at Paris in the year 1212. for the reformation of Abuses and of Clerks as well Secular as Regulars Gerard de Beurdeaux held one of his Province at Cognac in Anno 1238. for the same purpose and to maintain the Rights of the Church Vincent de Pilonis Arch-Bishop of Tours likewise one of his Province at Rennes in the year 1263. for the Second point In that of Bourges in the year 1276. held by Simon de Brie Cardinal Legat they Treated of the Liberty of the Church of Elections of the power of Judges Delegates or Ordinaries of Bishops Courts of Tithes of Wills and Testaments of Priviledges of Canonical punishments of the Jews Simon de Beaulien Arch-Bishop of Bourges Assembled one in the year 1287. where he Collected and Reformed all the Constitutions his Predecessors had made in the divers Councils of that Province The Bishop of Beauvais pretending that the King it was Saint Lewis but as then very young had usurped on the Rights of his Church Henry de Brienne with all his Province of Rheims undertook this Cause very vigorously and held three Councils to have satisfaction two at St. Quentin in 1230 and 1233. and one at Laon in 1232. when he put the business so home that in fine the King gave them satisfaction Before Charlemain the Arch-Bishop of Bourges pretended to no Primacy over the other Metropolitans of Aquitain but that King having made this City the Capital of the Kingdom of Aquitain composed of the three Provinces of that name and the Narbonnensis Prima which is Languedoc would needs to link them together the better that they should all resort for Spirituals to Bourges and the Pope authorised this Novelty the colour for it being that Bourges was the Metropolis of Aquitania Prima Thus this Bishop took up the Title of Primate and that of Patriarch over the Arch-Bishops of Narbonna Bourdeaux and Ausch He of Narbonna shook off the yoak at the time the Earls of Toulouze became Marquis de Gottia He of Bourdeaux would have done as much when Aquitania Tertia was left to the Kings of England under the Title of Dutchy of Guyenne He of Bourges stood upon the possession for at least three ages and the Judgment of several Popes but the other defended himself by his common Right and the antient usages of the Gallican Church The quarrel lasted a long while he of Bourges assembled many Councils for that business one amongst the rest in that City in the year 1212. proceeding always against the other as his inferior even so far as that Giles de Rome about the year 1302. caused Bertrand de Got to be Excommunicated by Gautier de Bragas of the Order of the Minors and Bishop of Poitiers because he like himself took up the Title of Primate of Aquitain Bertrand was so offended that Gautier who was his Suffragan should joyn with that party and have the confidence to fulminate against him that when he was raised to the Papacy being at Poitiers in 1308. he Deposed him and sent him hack to his Convent A terrible punishment for a Monk and indeed he fell sick upon it and it was easier for him to go out of the world then get out of the
forth with Bag and Baggage and all their Galleys and Vessels that were in Port. He made his entrance upon Christmass-Day Year of our Lord 1523 The Grand Master Peter de Villiers-l'Isle-Adam to whose conduct and Heroick Vertue the greatest Honour of this Generous defence was due setting Sail with his Knights and four thousand of the Inhabitants as well of that as of the Islands depending on it retired to Candia where he Winter'd From thence he went to Sicilia and three months after to Rome the Pope giving those Knights his City of Viterbo for their Retreat Six Years after in Anno 1530. they placed themselves in the Island of Malta The Emperor bestowed it upon them to cover his Kingdom of Silicia and they accepted it with the consent of all other Christian Princes in whose Territories their Order had any Lands or Possessions Year of our Lord 1523 The loss of Rhodes being partly occasioned by Pope Adrian's Fault it concerned him in Honour to repair it Therefore upon that consideration and to make his name glorious he employ'd all his cares to procure a Peace or at least a Truce betwixt all Christian Princes that so they might make War upon the Insidels with their united Force Francis would yield to nothing but a Truce and that a very short one this did not sute with the Popes designs So that not being able to overcome him by his Exhortations nor by the threats of the English nor upon the consideration that he made himself odious to all Christendom he would needs bring him to it by Force and thus of a Common Father he became a Partial and open Enemy Prompted with this Spirit he acted so powerfully with the Venetians that he broke them off from his Alliance and made a League with them the Emperor and the King of England to thrust him out of Italy The King had therefore all the great powers of Christendom against him nevertheless his passion to recover Milan did so over-rule his mind that he was resolved to go thither in Person at the Head of his best Men had not the Conspiracy of the Duke of Bourbon which he happended to discover kept him back And though this did strangely embarass him yet he sent Bonnivet thither with an Army For divers years past Madame had sought all opportunities of doing some displeasure to Charles de Bourbon and the Chancellor and Admiral employed themselves most willingly to gratifie both her passion and their own For Bonnivet Year of our Lord 1523 imagin'd if he could ruin him he should have the Connestables Sword and the other had a secret grudge against him for having denied his Family some Favour in Auvergne It did not satisfie Madame that she had deprived him of the Chief Functions of his Office and hindred his Marriage with Renee the Kings Sister she had process against him likewise in Parliament to strip him of the Dutchy of Bourbon and the other great Estate of Susanna his Wife who Died without Children in the year 1521. The Succession whereof as she pretended did belong to her as the next Heiress Indeed she was Daughter of Margaret and Philip who was Lord of Bresse and afterwards Duke of Savoy and that Margaret who was Daughter of Charles I. Duke of Bourbon and Sister to Peter who had the same Dutchy after John II. his Brother and was Father of this Susanna above mentioned As for Charles de Bourbon he was Son of Gilbert Earl of Montpensier who was Son of Lewis Uncle of Duke Peter and by consequence he was farther removed than she But besides that he made it appear by very ancient Titles by Solemn Judgments and Decrees and by many Examples that the Lordship of Bourbon was a Feif Masculin he shewed likewise how in his Contract of Marriage with Susanna he was acknowledged the right Heir of that House and as for the other Estate there was a mutual donation between him and his Wife by vertue whereof he enjoy'd it 'T is true that Susanna was then in minority and not authorized by the Judge but she was authorized sufficiently by the presence of King Lewis XII the Cardinal d'Amboise and four or five and twenty Princes Bishops and Eminent Lords He believed his cause would have been very good in any other times and against any other Party But as soon as they Commenced this process he imagin'd it was before resolved and concluded and that he must Infallibly be cast before Judges who were all Creatures of Madame's or of the Chancellor And this last Affront which reduced him to extream inconveniences blinded him so with rage and revenge that without any consideration of what he was and what he might come to be he casts himself into the Emperor's Arms having Treated with him by the assistance of the Lord de Beaurien Son of Adrian de Crovy Count de Rieux The King of England came into this Treaty It imported That all three were to share France betwixt them That Bourbon should have the Ancient Kingdom of Arles with the Title of King and as a Seal to this Alliance the Emperor should give him his Sister Eleonor who was the Widdow of Emanuel King of Portugal Bourbon had a particular pretension of his own Head to Provence because Year of our Lord 1523 Rene Duke of Lorrain had yielded up the right he had to Anne of France the Mother of Susanna and Anne by her Will and Testament had given it to him Now while the King was at St. Peter le Monstier on the Confines of Nivernois and Bourbonnois two Normand Gentlemen Matignon and d'Argouges Houshold-Servants belonging to the Connestable discovered all their Masters correspondence to him He would needs be satisfied from his own Mouth saw him in the City of Moulins and told him his whole mind The Connestable owned that he had been Sollicited by the Count de Rieux but stiffly denied that he had given any ear to it They would perhaps have laid hands on him if they durst But indeed the attempt would have been dangerous in the midst of his own Country for he was mightily beloved by the People and the Nobility and the King had but four thousand Foot with him and five hundred Horse so he only commanded him to follow the Court. The Connestable taking his Litter under pretence of some indisposition went easy Journeys At la Palice he had news that a Decree was made the of August which put his Estate under Sequestration thereupon he dispatches Huraut Bishop of Autun his Confident to the King to beseech him to stopt he execution of it and to assure him that this favour would bind him for ever to his Service but he was informed they had stopp'd the Bishop six Leagues from that place Then flying from the King's indignation he retired to his Castle of Chantelle where all his richest Goods were And there having intelligence that four thousand men were coming to besiege him he went forth by Torch-light When he had Rode a
the French and the Venetians joyned together 262 Returns from the hands of the Latins into that of the Greeks 309 Constantius Count and Patrician in Gall. 3 Crimes how punished amongst the ancient French Divers means to purge themselves thereof 49 Crimes they justified themselves by Combat Croisades and beyond-Sea Expeditions advantageous to Popes and Kings but disadvantageous to the great Lords and the People 224 First Croisade and their happy Exploits 224 25 Croisade preached over all Christendom 223 Croisade for the recovery of the Holy Land 260 Croisade against the Albigeois 264 Croisades affirming the Popes Authority 262 Croisade new of French Lords for the Holy Land 301 Croisade new by St. Lewis for succouring the Christians in the Levant 312 Croisades during the Thirteenth Age. 336 Cunibert Bishop of Colen 56 D. Dagobert Son of Clotaire the miraculous protection of his Person 45 Builds the Abby of St. Denis ib. His Father gives him the Kingdom of Austrasia 46 His Marriage quarrel between the Father and the Son ib. Dagobert I. of that name King of Neustria Austrasia and Burgundy 54 He gives part of Aquitain to his Brother Aribert 54 Too much licence in his Marriage ib. Remains sole King after the death of his Brother Aribert 55 Establishes his Son Sigebert King of Austrasia 56 Disposes of Neustria and Burgundy in favour of his Son Clovis ib. Subdues the Gascons and brings them to reason 57 His death ib. Dagobert Son of Sigebert King of Austrasia shaved and banish'd 60 Is recalled and acknowledged King of Austrasia 66 His death 68 Dagobert II. King of France 77 The Danes and Normands infest the Coasts of France 106 Continue their Piracies 211 St. Denis Areopagite his Corps found intire in the Monastery of St. Denis in France 233 Devotion and Piety admirable in our ancient Kings of France 73 St. Didier Bishop of Lyons suffers Martyrdom 43 Didier King of the Lombards conceives the design of abating the power of the Popes and making himself Master of Italy excites Troubles and Schisms in the Church of Rome 98 Causes of particular enmity between him and Charlemain 98 Is dispossest of his Estate 99 His death ib. Didier is elected King of the Romans after the death of Astolphus Anno 755. Differences between Hugh de Vermandois and Artold for the Archbishoprick of Reims 180 Difference between King Lotair and the Children of Hugh the Great 184 Dispensations their beginning 182 Dissentry horrible in France 34 Divorce of a Marriage the cause of great Troubles 243 Dol in Bretagne made a Metropolitan 134 Brought again under that of Tours 274 Dominion Example of an enraged passion for Dominion 296 Dominicans their Institution and Establishment 339 Dreux Bishop of Mets. 127 Drogo or Dreux Son of Pepin 72 Drogon Duke of Bretagne his death 184 Dutchy of Lorrain given to Godfrey Earl of Verdin Bouillon and Verdun 209 Dutchies of two sorts in France 183 Duel proposed to the King by his Subjects 235 E. Ebles Count of Auvergne and Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine 170 Ebles Baron de Roucy a famous Warrier humbled and brought to reason 227 Ebon Bishop of Reims deposed and degraded 128 Ebroin Maire of the Palace perfidious and wicked 62 69 Is shaved and confined to the Monastery of Luxieu 64 Quits the Monastery to take up Arms. 67 His retreat into Austrasia he there supposes a false Clovis in the place of King Thierry whom he feigns to be dead 67 Causes St. Leger to attaqu'd in his City of Autun puts his Eyes out and shuts him up in a Monastery ib. Is received Maire of Thierries Palace 68 Great Tyranny his death 69 Eclipse of the Sun 213 Ecclesiasticks go to Rome to visit the Holy Places 269 Edmund Brother of Edward King of England his death 326 Edward eldest Son of the King of England goes to make War in the Holy Land 312 Edward Son and Successor of Henry King of England 315 At his return from the Holy Land passes thorough France ib. Passes by Sea and comes to the City of Amiens 319 His Voyage to Burdeaux by France 322 Employs himself to accommodate the differences betwixt the Kingdoms of Arragon and Sicilia 323 A Riot between some particular People makes him break the Peace with France 324 325 Makes a powerful League against France 326 Attaques the Scots and brings them under his Laws 327 Marries with Margaret of France 330 Makes Peace with the King of France 331 His death 334 Edward Son of King Edward Marries Isabella of France 327 Edward II. King of England 332 His Contest with Charles the Fair King of France 351 Odious to his People by reason of his Favourites his unfortunate end 352 Ega Maire of the Palace of Neustria his death 58 Election and the Investiture of the Popes in the power of the Emperor Otho 186 Election of Popes 3â—6 Elections to Benefices 285 Emma Queen of France 168 Emma or Emina Wife of King Lothaire 198 Empire Rome when it ended 13 Empire troubled about the Election of an Emperor after the death of Henry VI. 259 Empire of Greece difference between Michael and Baldwin determined 318 Empire ruined by its dis-union Engelberge Wife of the Emperor Lew's of Italy 156 Enguerrand de Marigny his unhappy end 336 Enterprise of the Pope upon the Bishops of France 203 Enterview of the three Kings of France of Germany and of Burgundy 170 Enterview between Lewis Transmarine and Otho of Lorraine 180 Enterview of the Emperor Henry and King Robert 211 Enterview and Enterparlance of the Emperor Henry III. and Henry King of France 217 Enterview of the King of France Lewis the Young and the Emperor Federic 247 Enterview of the Kings of France and Arragon 308 Enterview of the two Kings of France and England in the City of Amiens 319 Enterview of the Kings of France and Castille at Bayonne 323 Enterview of the King of France and the Emperor at Vaucouleurs 328 Eon de L'Estoille His ignorance passes for a great Prophet is apprehended his death 291 Erchinoald Maire of the Palace 61 Era or manner of accompting of the times by the Mahometans 47 Estate of the Gallican Church after the Conversion of Lewis or Clovis the Great 50 The Fourth Age. 4 During the Fifth and Sixth Ages 17 The Seventh 73 The Eighth 112 The Ninth 170 The Tenth 205 The Eleventh Age or Century 228 Eudes Duke of Aquitaine 80 Makes a League with the Sarecens of Spain and draws them into France 81 c. His death 82 Eudes Count of Paris and Duke of France succeeds in the Estates of Hugh the Great his Brother 155 Is raised to his Dignity and declared King of West France 156 Defeats and cuts the Normans in pieces 157 Quarrel betwixt him and Charles the Simple 159 His death 160 Eudes first Earl of Champagne 203 Eudes Count de Pontieure 211 Eudes Son of King Robert Earl of Champagne disputes the Crown with Henry his Brother 214 Reduced to reason 215 Undertakes
LVII * Pairies * His name was after changed to Henry and he was King Perugia * The Huguenots followed the Doctrines of Zuinglius and Calvin Beginning of the War for Religion Their own Authors blame them for it and say that by this furious zeal they drew upon them the Peoples hate and Massacres * By this word is meant the Duke of Guise the Constable and the Mareschal de Saint André and by Confederates they and the King of Navarre * They were Sons of Brother and Sister Half a League from Orleans * Or Jurisdiction Emperor Solyman and Maximilian II. R. 22 years and 3 Months * He was 13. years old * She was called Peace because she was Married to King Phil. 1559. as a pawn for the Peace Emperor Maximilian II and Selim. II Son of Solyman Reigned 8 years 2 Months * Or distinct Courts of Judicature * Artic. 48. * Artic. 54. * Artic. 57. * Or Beggars a nick name given the reformed * Boucicaut Montclar Paulin Serignan Caumont Rapin and Montaigue * Or Field Marshal * The Lame Peace * Angels of Gold * Duke of Zwee-Brughen or Two-Bridges * He was afterwards Duke * Not mistake him for the Count de Montrevel whose sirname is la Baume * Vide beforâ— in March 1568. * Or Light Galleys * â—lluzzali * Acquittances for Money due but never paid c. 1574. December Emp. Amurat II. Son of Selim. II. Dead the 13 th of Decemb R. Twenty years and One Month. And Maximilian II. * Vulgarly Senetaire * Because he razed or shaved them to the quick by his exactions * German Horse * Or Courtâ— Half Protestants half Catholiques like our party Juries * In despite of their Teeth Emp. Rodolph II. Son of Maximilian who died in October R. Thirty five years Three Months And Selsin II. * Why did he meddle with them * This was called the Pacification of Ghent * Revenue or Treasury * For his Purse * Chap 5. of the year 1142. * L'Ordre du Sainct Fsprit * The Country word for the Mouth of the River Vide The Memoirs of Sully Vol. 1. Fol. 79. * Quarente-cinq 'T is the proper term * His name was Robert * The Barrâ—cado's * This Castle is distinct from the Citadel * Forty-five * Forty-five * Viâ—â— in March preceding * Or Suburbs St. James It is now the Hostel de Conde * A Measure about Twelve Bushels * In the Marca of Ancona * Tiers Party * Or Ordinary Judge * It was said of the Parisians they knew better how to fast then fight * Anroux Emonot Ameline Louchard * It was called Pillebadand * The death of the Duke of Guise was that of Henry III. * Or advised too late * Or Gluttons c. Emperor Rodolph II. and Mahomet III. Son of Amurath after he had caused twenty of his Brothers to be drowned he Reigned ten years * Or Wand * Cateâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Capelle D 〈◊〉 lens 〈◊〉 Calais and Ardres * Or Bills * Vulgarly called Aâ—aâ—tel * Or True good Frenchmen * Or a Camp Massacre * The Duke of Savoy called him so * It is now called Bellagarde End of the League and the War * Or Priaepisme * Mattins in Lent in the 〈◊〉 C. Churches * A Nose-gay given from one to another which appoints who shall Treat next * Afternoon Sittings c. * These are the Pieces of 27 Sols now * A Priviledgâ— elsewhere Related * They called him Pater Ney * Son of la Blanche first President in the Court des aiides Massacred at the St. Bartholâ— mews * Or Telescopes * East and West-Indies * Or Luee-Brughen * Or Wolfgang * He was not very old but very much broken * Imagination contributes much towards the shaping of these Figures Church * Monsieur de Marca Archbishop of Toulouze and afterwards of Paris Church * E'in-rauch in High-Dutch and Capnos in Greek signifie Smoak Church Causes of the Progress of Lutheranism Other Causes which obstructed it * Therefore He treated them as Hereticks all his life time Church * La Vaupute Fraissiniere Pragela Argentiere c. Church * Pigge Market Beginning of the new Opinions in France and the cause of their Progress Church Church * Vide in the Year 1534. How the Novators were treated in France Church Causes of the Progress of Calvinisme in Fr. Church Council of Trent Church Church Church Church Church * Forty five Church Church Councils of the Gallican Church * Town-Hall Disorders in the Church * They were called Custodines Church Religious Orders * Some had worn them before Church * or John of God 〈◊〉 Regulars Church Religious Orders of Women * Or Penitent Whores * At present the Hostel de Soissions Church Military Orders Illustrious Prelates Church * He was Nephew to the Dutchess d'Estampes Bishops Church * Or Robertus Cenalis * Or Saint Faiths Church Bishops who fell into heresit Church
and from whence came about Eighteen or Twenty good Friars who spread themselves in several Countreys where they are all at present prayed to as Saints nor the good Hermit Severin whom Clovis being long sick of a Fever caused to come from the Monastery d'Agaune that he might be healed by his Prayers Nor that other named Maixan who had his little Cell in that part of Poitou whereon there is built an Abby and at length a Town of his Name Clovis resetled the Bishopricks in Belgica bestowed great Possessions on the Church and built many The French who were Converted imitated his Pious Examples I do not know whether before his Reign there were many Parish Churches in the Countrey but since his time we find great numbers and likewise many Oratories in which the Sacraments were not administred We need not tell you that the Titles of Pope of Father of the Church of Beatitude and of Beatissimus of Holiness of Sovereign-Priest of Servant of the Servants of God of Apostolique were common to all the Bishops nor that almost every one of them erected Monasteries in their Episcopal Cities They often elected Widowers and Married Men provided they had been so but once and to a Maiden The Vote of the People passed in these things for a Call from God they were bound to obey and to live with their Wives as with their Sisters if they had any Children or Nephews that were Wise and Learned they often succeeded them Their Election was made by the Clergy of their Church and by the People the Confirmation by the comprovincial Bishops principally by the Metropolitan and never without him They were to have regard only to Merit oftentimes they considered his Birth and even in those early days there were some wicked enough to make use of Bribes and Corruption Simony is the most antient or first and will be the last of Heresies In all Ages it hath stuck like Rust on the Church the others did not make any great mischief in Gall during this age That of Eutyches did not extend so far but the Condemnation of him by the Council of Chalcedon was sent by Pope Leo I. who before had demanded the Suffrages of the Bishops the more to authorize that celebrated Letter which he wrote to the Council The Monk and Priest Leporius hatched an Heresie almost the same as that which Nestorius maintained since but having been for that reason expelled from his Church at Marseilles he retracted in Writing Anno 425. That of Pelagius a Monk of Great Britain who began to dogmatize towards the year 412. was first discovered by two of the Gallican Bishops named Heros and Lazarus who prosecuted his condemnation first in Palestine afterwards in Africa After St. Augustin had trampled that proud Heresie in the Dirt which made the Salvation of Man depend upon his own strength no body in France durst openly embrace it But in Provence there were Priests and Monks who framed a middle Opinion between that Error and the Doctrine of this great Bishop they were called Semipelagians As for Councils they were often held by Order from the Emperours and Kings Sometimes the desire of the Pope the request of a Metropolitan that of a single Bishop or the least occasion caused them to assemble It is not known in what place that was held which Anno 429. sent St. German and St. Lupus into England to oppugne the Errors of the Pelagians nor that which Anno 444. deposed Chelidonius Bishop of Besancon because he had been married to a Widow and had been assisting in Judgment of matters criminal but it is well known that the Council at Riez was held in 439. The first at Orange in 441. That of Vaison in 442. That of Angiers in 443. The second of Axles towards the year 452. The third of the same place Anno 455. That of Tours 461. That of Vannes 465. The fourth of Arles 475. That of Agde Anno 506. and that of Orleans the first that was celebrated under a French King Anno 511. All these Councils were composed only of the Bishops of the Province where they were held excepting that of Agde and that of Orleance whereof the first comprehended the three Aquitanes and the two Narbonnoises as yet subject to Alaric King of the Visigoths and the other of the three Aquitanes newly conquered by the French and the second third and fourth Lyonnoises for the first belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy At the third of Arles that Error was condemned which they call the Predestinati and there was another called at Lyon for the same purpose but both by the pursuit of Faustus de Riez who was a Semipelagian At the fourth of Arles was Treated concerning the difference of Foustus Abbot of Lerins with the Bishop Theodorus and there they made for the first time a notable breach upon the Authority of the Bishops in limiting their power over Monasteries they had ever had it entire even to that degree that they had the power of placing Abbots and to chuse them out of any of the Clergy In these Councils several Canons were made for Ordinations to prevent the encroachments the Bishops made upon one another to preserve the Rights the Priviledges and the Goods belonging to the Church To regulate the Functions of the Clergy hinder them from Pleading before Secular Judges Repress Usury and the liberty of running out of their Diocess To preserve the Chastity of Virgins and Widows touching Homicides and false Witnesses touching Penances and the Penitents touching the Holiness and Celibacy which the Priests and Deacons ought to observe To the same end tended the Epistles of the Popes Innocent Zozimus Boniface Celestin Leons Simplicius Felix Gelasius Anastasius Symmachus which they generally directed to the Bishop of Arles as their Vicar to be sent to the other Gallican Bishops As there were no great Bishopricks in Gaul the Gallican Church was much more submissive and subjected to those Bishops of Rome then the Eastern ones or those of Africk but yet much less then the Italians There was often recourse had to them upon the greatest occasions they were consulted withal touching the usages and meaning of the Canons and afterwards when they found that their Answers were held for Decisions they Ordained what they thought good even before they were consulted withal They made themselves immediate Judges of all Disputes between Bishops before the Cause had been brought to the Metropolitan intermedled in bounding their Territories and Jurisdictions deposed those that were not well Ordained or were Criminal and compelled them to trudge to Rome to prosecute their business before them The Power they had by the Primacy of their See to cause the Canons to be duly observed advanced them to this great Authority but the Bishops took great care they should not be infringed and themselves acknowledged they were obliged to walk by them Childebert I. King VI. POPES Year of our Lord 512 HORMISDA The 26 th of July 414. S.
after to take the Field again with the assistance of the Frisons their Allies but they were as ill handled as before In fine their two Bravest Leaders Albion and Vitikind being disheartned by so much ill success gave ear to the Friendly persuasions which the King being touched with a real esteem for their great Courage had made use of to bring to their duty Having taken their Sureties they appeared before the Estates at Paderborne and thence followed him into France where they were Baptised in his Palace of Atigny He gave the Dutchy of Angria to Vitikind who from that day forward led so good and Christian a life that some have placed him amongst the Saints From him many do derive the descent of the Race of the Capetine Kings Year of our Lord 785 At this Assembly of Paderborn Lewis King of Aquitaine came to his Father with all his Forces He often sent for him and his Brother Pepin either when he wanted them or to call them to an accompt thereby to keep them in subjection Year of our Lord 786 After Easter in the Year 786. the Army went and fell upon Bretagne whose Princes thought themselves independent and had their little Kingdom apart These likewise were compell'd after they had lost divers strong Places to submit to the Grandeur of Charles and to send several Lords to him to take their Oaths of Fidelity But not believing themselves bound to do so they kept them no longer then till they found an opportunity to violate their Faith without danger Year of our Lord 786 In the mean time Adalgise Son of the unfortunate Didier was at Sea with an Army solliciting his Brother in Law Tassillon to fall into Italy at the same time as he should land for the same purpose having made sure of Aregisa Duke of Benevent who married his Sister Charles to prevent the execution of their Designes passes the Mountains the fourth time and having taken Benevent and Capova from Aregisa who would be called King forces him to give sufficient Pledges and renounce that vain Title He had seen the Pope at his passing by Rome upon his return he saw him again Year of our Lord 786 In this Voyage to please himself he brought into France the Gregorian Singing and the Liturgy or Mass that was used at Rome and would needs abolish the Musick and Service of the Gallican Church This change begot many difficulties and stirred up Persecutions against the Ancient Galls who persisted in keeping their own Customs This good Prince was so wedded to this Singing that he made it a considerable business and a main point of Religion whereas several of the Ancient Fathers held it as a very indifferent thing Year of our Lord 787 Whilst he was last at Rome Tassillon's Ambassadors came thither to intreat the Pope to reconcile Charles perfectly to him The holy Father and the King willingly hearkned to it But when the King press'd them to name the time wherein their Master would perform what he promised they replyed that they had nothing in Commission but to carry back his answer So that the King perceiving he did not walk uprightly resolved when he got again into France to make him speak clearly Having therefore held the Estates at Wormes he drew three Armies into the Field his Son Pepin's in Italy one of the Eastern French and a third which himself Commanded Year of our Lord 787 When Tassillon saw them all upon his Frontiers the first in the Valley of Trente the second on the Borders of the Danube and the other under the Walls of the City of Augsburgh not knowing which way to turn he came with all humility to begg his pardon and delivered up Thirteen Hostages whereof his Eldest Son Theudon was one Yet the hatred he had for the French and the correspondence he held with Adalgise his Brother in Law still prompted him secretly to sollicite the Bavarian to take up Arms and to joyn in League with the Huns his Neighbours who held Pannonia which is Hungary and Austria Part of these were led by his persuasions but the rest apprehending the Calamities of War gave the King notice hereof For which cause this Duke being a second time summoned to the Assembly of Estates which met at Ingelhenin and there accused by his own Subjects and convicted of Treason was by his Peers condemned to lose his Life Howbeit the King in favour of him as being neer of Kin commuted that punishment so that both he and his Son Theudon were only Shaved and sent to the Cloister of Loresheim and then to Jumiege And at this time The Dutchy of Bavaria was Extinguished and divided into several hereditary Counties Year of our Lord 788 Out of these ruines sprung a more powerful Enemy The Huns angry for the loss of their Allie and that the French were become their Neighbours began a most bloody War with them which lasted for Eight Years together This Year let them however know what the Event was like to be for they lost three Battles against them one in Friul and two in Bavaria At the same time Adalgise having obtained some Forces of Constantine the Emperor of Greece who was netled for that Charles had denied him his Daughter Rotrude in Marriage descended into Italy by Calabria imagining the rest of the Lombards would take up Arms in his Quarrel But he was mistaken in his reckoning Grimoald Son of his Sister and Aragise Duke of Benevent whom Charles had gratify'd with the Dutchy after the death of his Father Hildebrand Duke of Spoleta Vinigisa who was so after him and some other of King Pepins Captains fought him at his going forth of Calabria and obtained an entire Victory That unfortunate man falling into their hands alive was cruelly put to death as generally most Princes are that endeavour to regain their own when they suffer themselves to be taken Year of our Lord 789 Of the German People there was hardly any but those that Inhabited along the Baltick Coasts who did not acknowledge Charlemain or held themselves Enemies to the French and their Allies Those nearest to his Frontiers were the Wilses seated on the further side of the Elbe in the Southern part of the Country He built a Fort upon that River which he strengthened with two Castles and having made an inroad even to their Principal City which they called Dragawit brought such astonishment amongst them that they all submitted without striking one blow Their chief Head named Viltzan coming forth together with the most eminent of them to take the Oath of Fidelity and offer him pledges for Security Year of our Lord 790 He spent the Year 790. in his Palace of Wormes without undertaking any Military expedition He addicted himself to works of Piety sent great Almes to the Christians in Syria Egypt and Africa who groaned under the Saracen yoak and besought the amity of those Infidel Princes thereby to oblige them to treat the Christians more mercifully Year of
Six at Arles at Ments at Reims at Towrs and at Chaalons on the Soan of all which the Canons are still to be found Thus the Church of France could not miss the being reformed and Pope Adrian would needs contribute towards it by giving several Reglements to Charlemain drawn from the Councils of the Greek and Latine Churches and the Papal degrees which he sent to him in the Year 789 by Ingilram Bishop of Mets. The Ecclesiastiques had their particular Judges for their Lands where the Kings Judges had no inspection neither for things Civil nor Criminal and as for their persons they were judged by none but of their own Body Now it was almost impossible to Convict them for mean and reproachful people were not admitted to accuse them and there were to be Seventy and Two Witnesses to Convict a Bishop Forty for a Priest Thirty Seven for a Deacon and Seven for others of inferiour degree all without exceptions and if they were of the Laity only such as had Wife and Children This last condition was required in all sorts of Testimonies at least in matters Criminal Charlemain excessively encreased the power of the Bishops by renewing in all his Dominions the Law of Constantine the Great quoted in the Sixteenth Book of the Theodosian Code which allows of one of the parties pleading before a Secular Judge to bring the Cause before the Bishops and leave it to their Arbitration without Appeal though the other party doth not consent thereunto Which would have still continued perhaps had they not corrupted the effects of so holy a Law by infinite deceits and by appeals to the Metropolitan and from thence to the Court of Rome against the express terms of it It was in the Eight Century that the Metropolitans commonly took up the Title of Arch-Bishops for there are none mentioned in the foregoing Those that subscribed the Council of Chaalons and to the immunity of the Abby of Saint Denis had not this Title as yet Towards the end of the same Age or about the beginning of the Ninth began the Devotion and Pilgrimages to Saint Jacques or James the Great in Gallieia This Apostle suffered Martyrdom at Jerusalem however his body was immediately carried into Spain and being hid in the times of the Pagan Persecution was not found out again till about that time by the Bishop of Iria near Compostella where King Alphonsus built him a Church at the recommendation of Charlemain Pope Leo transferr'd thither the Episcopal See of Iria and Two Hundred years afterwards Pope Calistus II. the Metropolis of Merida We find by the Ecclesiastical Capitulary's of Charlemain that there were besides some Chorevesques and although they were only the Successors of the Seventy Disciples they pretended nevertheless to do all Functions of Bishops who were Successors to the Apostles There were indeavours for Five or Six Hundred Years together used to bring them to the just bounds they ought to have kept it were difficult to describe it and in the end it was found much more easie to abolish then to regulate them The ignorance amongst the Bishops was amazing since they were enjoyned even to learn to understand the Lords-Prayer and Charlemain after so great a reformation had much ado to bring them only to make some little kind of exhortations to the Peple To dissipate these Clouds of Darkness it was ordained there should be Schools in the Bishopricks and the Abbeys but they only taught the Psalter Musick to Compose and Grammer I find one Capitulary that enjoyns them to send their Children to study Physick it does not mention at what place Under so ignorant a Prelacy the People could not but be blockish unpolished and very illiterate all their Religion was turned into Superstition and there were a great many Soothsayers Enchanters Tempestaries and other such infamous Sorcerers who were very wicked because they thought themselves such or would have others believe so We must not wonder if amidst such gross Ignorance even the very Women would needs Usurp a Power in the Church There were some Abbesses so vain without doubt because many of them were of great Families as to give their blessing to people with the sign of the Cross and Vail some Virgins with the Sacerdotal Authority Likewise the better to reform the Clergy it was ordained that they should live by Rules and in common The superiours of those Communities were called Abbots and they Chanons which is to say Regulars In those very times there were found to be certain Amphibies if I may so say Who put on the habit of the Religious and yet would neither be Monks nor Priests It was said they should be compelled to one of the two Professions it being fit they should make their choice to be either one or other The Covetousness of the Clergy was not less apparent then their ignorance all the Councils from the Fifth Century and all the Capitulary's are full of Rules and Orders to Tye them up from Selling of Holy Things They took Money for Ordinations for Visits for the Crisme for Baptising for Preaching for Confirmation and for every thing People of servile condition were not admitted to Orders which we should have noted before If such had been admitted their Masters had power to disband and turn them out of that sacred Militia and bring them back to the Slavery and Chains of their former mean condition Even the Free-men could not be admitted to enter into Orders or into a Monastery without Letters from the King because many were otherwise apt to creep in either out of base Cowardise as afraid to serve in the Wars or for want of understanding being seduced thereto by such as had a mind to get their Wealth and Estates from them Because the Arch-Deacons managed the Almes and Offerings the Laity would needs get that preferment and this abuse had been introduced in the former Ages Whatever Orders Pepin could make they still held the most part of the Abbeys and Bishopricks and enjoyed the Revenue allowing but a small portion thereof to the Bishops and Abbots Charlemain did almost quite root out this abuse and restored the liberty of Elections at least his Capitularies bear it however History makes mention that he often named and recommended people to Benefices Tithes were become obligatory so that such were excommunicated who did refuse to pay them after three admonitions and it was even exacted upon the encrease of Cattle Pious Donatives were not restrained unless by one Law which prohibited the Church from receiving any which disinherited Children and the next of Kin. Charlemain had a very great care of the poor Of every thing that was bestowed upon the Church there was Two Thirds alloted for them the other third only being for the Clergy unless in some places where they were richest they shared them equally afterwards they made the Division in Four parts one for the Bishop one for the Clerks one for the Poor and
of Justice But Charlenain made them ordinary and I observe that there were Intendances fixed and prpetual but no Intendants that were so Neither do I find that they hadany iâ— Aquitain nor in Lombardy He most commonly joyned in such Commissions 〈◊〉 Count and a Bishop Seldom do we find two of either of these qualities joynd in the same Commission they were called Missi Dominici and their Jurisdicton Missaticum The People found them Lodging and a certain quantity of Proision They took care chiefly to publish the Kings Orders and put them in Excution to hear the Peoples Complaints and do them right to punish the Cont or Bishop if they were faulty to reform and reverse unjust Judgments and coâ—pel the refractory to obey And if they wanted strength or power to effect it hey gave notice to the King They likewise drew up into Writings and Dâ—ds such Grants of Lands as the King and the Church bestowed in Benefice They roe their Circuits Four times a Year in January April July and October They coâ—d not keep Courts but in those Months and in Four different places if they thâ—ght fit They summoned the Counts and were forced to let them hold alâ—the rest They Elected Sheriffs with the consent of the people as also Aâ—oyers and Notary's The Sheriffs were if I mistake not the Assessours of the Câ—nts â—hose that were Free-men were only obliged to be at Four Assizes or Pleadings a â—ar This was a most Christian Method that the cause of the Poor was the firâ—of all determined the Kings business next then what belonged to the Church and last of all that which concerned the People in general The Centenier had not power of Condemning to death The King gave Audience one day in every Week before whom were brought only such Causes as concerned the Grandees who had no other Judge but himself or such whom the Commissioners or Counts had refused to do Justice to or had adjudged contrary to Law The licentiousness in times of War had made most part of the Frenchmen turn Thieves and Robbers and some of them false Coyners The greatest difficulties the Judges met withal were to suppress these disorders Those that made counterfeit Money had their hand cut off the other accomplices escap'd only with a Whipping They were forced to reduce all their Money to one sort of species and to punish such as harboured a Thief with the same severity as the Thief himself and that was the loss of an Eye for the first fault the loss of the Nose for the second and the third cost them their life Even in those days drunkenness was very frequent particularly in the Armies since they were fain to punish such as forced another to drink and he that made himself drunk was Excommunicated and Condemned to the Pennance of drinking Water only for a certain time The Law permitting every one to take his own satisfaction or revenge for an affront or injury unless he chose rather to accept of a certain Sum of Money Taxed by Law Murthers were very frequent Charlemain Commanded the Judges to be very careful in agreeing such as had any thing of a quarrel and if any appeared too obstinate to bring them before him There was three sorts of restraint the one was imprisonment another was a Guard set upon them the third was bail or caution who obliged themselves to answer for the Parties Homicide committed on a Clergy-man cost them much dearer then upon any other of equal condition for they were to pay 800 Sols of Gold for killing a Bishop 600 for murthering a Priest 400 for a Deacon and as much for a Monk Year of our Lord 814 The Method of making War and arming themselves was much changed since the Reign of Clovis They had as much Cavalry as Infantry almost and they used great Launces which they darted or retained in their hands after they had struck their blow They were Armed Cap a Pie their very Horse were barded so that a Squadron seemed to be all of Iron The Infantry had no Cuirasses on Armour but cover'd themselves admirably well with their Bucklers They also began to learn the use of Engins in some Sieges Whoever deserted the Army without leave incurred Capital Punishment Every one was obliged to carry Three Months Provision and Arms and Cloatâ—s for Six to be reckoned from the time they went beyond the Marches or Limâ—ts of their own Country This when they came from Aquitain hitherward wa the Loire to those that went thence into Spain it was the Pyrrenean to thoâ—e of Neustria when they made War on Germany it was the Rhine and to thoâ—e in the Provinces beyond that River when they were to march far into Germany it was the Elbe which were thus set as their Limits or Frontiers The Solders were allowed to take nothing but in an Enemies Countrey Those Lords tat led them were responsable for their pilfering and they were disbanded presenly in the Field if they did not justly punish them When the Captains cameo Court they were presented with some Gifts or Regalia and it was the Queenâ—d the care and charge of such distributions or in her absence the grand Chambriar â— Chamberlain Though the Demeasnes of the King and those of the Church were inalierble they had been necessitated either to reward such as had served them or to â—tain such as could do them mischief to bestow upon several but it was â—ly for life and by title of gratification wherefore they were called Benefiâ— which term remains only in the Church Which had of two sorts the onef such Goods as are effected to such as deserve which at the present we call a Beâ—fice and the other certain Lands which they gave to Seculars to hold of 〈◊〉 during Life There were even in those times Arts and crafty ways to confound the demeasnes of the Crown with the Lands of particular People and this substraction was accounted for a Crime since it was punished with Banishment and Confiscation of Goods There were besides another sort of Lands which were called Dominicates appropriated to Dominus which was the King but which were Rented by particular Men at about the Ninth of the Profits These were ordinarily only some little Farmes or petty Portions of Lands perhaps lopp'd off from the greater ones belonging to the Crown which could not all be set to the most advantage The Levying of Moneys was of three sorts either by Poll or upon the fruits and growth of the Earth or Merchandize and Goods for Traffique But of the last kind the Carlovinian Princes took none but of the Trading Merchants For every one besides sent his Goods up and down in Carts or any other ways for his own Families use without paying the least Toll no more then those that supplyed the Kings Household or even those that went to the Wars We may again in some other place according as occasion requires take a summary Notice of certain Laws and
the divertisement with women and taking counsel only of the lowest and meanest People gave the Lords of Lorraine just cause to forsake him to submit themselves to Louis Those that had the Government of this young Prince brought him purposely to Thionville where they put the Crown upon his Head and Zuentibold endeavouring to revenge it was slain in a Battel fought between them the Year of our Lord 900 3 d. day of August in this year 900. He Reigned five years Charles in Neustria or West-France Louis in Germany Lorraine Rodolph I. in Burgundy Louis in Provence Lambert and Berenger in Italy In the War which Arnold Earl of Flanders made against Hebert Earl of Vermandois Eudes had favoured Hebert and King Charles took part with Arnold to whom he was in some sort obliged for what he enjoy'd Now Eudes being dead Hebert who was subtil and insinuating found means to make friends with Charles and got into so much credit with him that this simple and un-knowing King took the City of Arras from Baldwin and gave it to Count Altmar that he might restore Peronne to Hebert Baldwin or Baudouin coming to the King to beseech him to let him have his Town again was denied with rough language Now Fulk Arch-Bishop of Reims great both by birth and merit was then chief Counsellor to Charles and holding the Abbey of Saint Vaast had excommunicated Baldwin for invading the Lands thereof Wherefore Winomach Lord of the Island Vassal to the Count imputing the affront his Lord had received to the Counsel of this Arch-Bishop way-laid him in a Wood and murthered him for which being pursued and excommunicated by all the Bishops made his escape into England where he was eaten up with Lice It seems this was an Epidemical distemper in those days For we find divers persons in History that died thereof amongst others Arnold the Emperor the preceding year and King Rodolph of whom we shall hereafter make mention The Hungarians began to make themselves known about the latter end of the Reign of Charles the Fatt They then seated themselves in Pannonia having chased out the Huns and from thence became a Scourge to all the Provinces beyond the Rhine and the Year of our Lord 900 Danube as the Normans were to all on this side They were Originally a People of Scythia Brutish and Barbarous beyond all imagination Their Mother 's trained them to inhumanity from their Birth gashing and mangling their Faces that they might have nothing of humane and by swallowing down blood mixed with their own tears before they sucked their first Milk they might grow Blood-thirsty and pitty-less to all mankind They caroused in blood and fed upon raw flesh cut the hearts of those they took Prisoners in quarters and swallowed the gobbets reeking warm had no faith nor truth nor honour no wit but to defraud and contrive mischief always a turbulent and furious courage either against an Enemy or against one another The women were yet worse then the men They had scarcely any other weapons besides Arrows but were so dextrous in the use of them that every one they shot did some execution and every wound almost was Mortal They were all Horsemen very serviceable in flat and open Countries who would notably harrass an Army within their Bow-shot but aseless in Mountainous or Woody places or for Sieges Nor indeed would they ever adventure to come to handy-blows but ever made a running Fight King Arnold had brought them in to fall upon the back of Zuentibold a Sclavonian Prince who would have usurped Moravia and make himself King He being dead they were not afraid to fall upon the Countries belonging to Louis his Son And this year they gained a great victory against his Forces near the Year of our Lord 901 City of Augsburgh and afterwards Plundred Bavaria Scwaben Franconia and Saxony Year of our Lord 902 The year following having good information of the Civil War betwixt Berenger and Louis the Son of Boson they marched into Italy The Italians An. 899. tired with the Government of Berenger and above all with Adebert Marquiss d'Yvree Father of another Berenger who was likewise King of Italy had called in Louis But Berenger I. had made himself so strong with the assistance of Adebert Marquiss of Tuscany that he hemm'd him in and forced him to a promise he would renounce the Kingdom upon condition he would give him free liberty to march home again without farther lett or molestation The oaths of ambitious Princes are as frail and short liv'd as the vows and promises of Lovers the same Adelbert who had supported Berenger's cause turning Coat and solliciting Louis to return thither again that un-advised Prince confides in Faithless men But he had time to repent at leasure For they delivered him up to Berenger who deprived him both of his Empire and his fight That done he forces the Pope it was John IX to Crown him Emperor but so soon as he was gone from Rome the Pope sent for Lambert who was then private in some corner of Italy and Crowned him Which was confirmed by a grand Council held Year of our Lord 902 at Ravenna Berenger Governed 22 years we might say happily enough had it not been for the incursions of the Bulgarians In the Month of August this same year they again entred Italy with a numerous Army and having ransack'd the Territory of Aquilea Verona Coma and Bergamo came at last towards Pavia Berenger mean while had got his Forces together When they saw his numbers three times more then they expected they endeavoured to make a retreat and when he followed and pursued them so close that they could not get off without fighting they profer'd him all their Plunder and their own Baggage The Italians would hear of nothing less then to have them all upon discretion Necessity converted their fear into fury and dispair the Hungarians now attaque their pursuers and cut their Army all in pieces And Lombardy did afterwards become their prey Nor did they attempt to drive them thence but with their money a Bait so sweet that it allured them to return again often In the year 903. a Star appeared near the Pole-Artick which darted from the North-North-East towards the South-West along Train resembling a Lance which passing between the Signs of the Lyon and the Twinns crossed the Zodiack It was seen for three and twenty days For seven or eight years together there was nothing so remarkable as the cruel incursions of the Normans An. 903. Heric and Haric two of their Captains burnt Year of our Lord 903 the Castle of Tours and Saint Martin's Church Year of our Lord 905 An. 905. Rodolph and Gerlon two other Commanders of the same Nation took the City of Rouen upon composition and there setled their Habitation fortifying the Castles that were near them From thence for five years space they made Incursions into all the neighbouring Provinces conquered Constentine and Inhabited
Italy and at her second to the Emperor Otho I. LOUIS in France Conrad in Burgundy Arles Otho in Germany Lorrain HUGH and Lotaire his Son in Italy Year of our Lord 937. 938. The second year of his Reign Lewis Transmarine took the Government in hand and sent for the Queen his Mother to come to Laon to have the Benefit of her Counsel To settle his Authority the better he first began with some petty Rebels by little and little then falls upon Hebert himself whom he thought the more easily to overcome because he was grown odious for his Treachery against Charles the Simple And indeed he gained some places very quickly But Hugh fearing they would set upon him likewise joyned with Hebert who was besides his Uncle by the Mother And because he judged there would be little security in a person that had broke his Faith he armed himself likewise with the Alliance of King Otho by Wedding his Daughter named Havida The King on his side fortified himself in a more strict Union with Arnold Earl Year of our Lord 938 of Flanders a Mortal Enemy to Hugh Artold Arch-Bishop of Reims Hugh le Noir Brother of the Defunct King Rodolph and some others but this year Giselbert Duke of Lorraine being come to the assistance of Hugh the Great his Brother in Law Arnold and the Noir negociated a Truce till the first day of January of the following year between the King and that Duke As soon as that was expired the War began afresh Whilst the King was in Burgundy to divide it with the Noir Hugh le Blanc Hebert William Duke of Normandy over-ran and Burnt the Territory's of Arnold The Bishops censures had not power enough to stop them but the Kings Return gave them more cause of dread and made them renew the Truce to the Month of June Henry the younger Brother of Otho fancied to himself that the Kingdom of Germany belonged to him he being Born when his Father was a King whereas Otho came into the World before he was so Giselbert very powerful in Lorraine and who had married Gerberge Sister to these two Princes instead of behaving himself as a Mediator between them takes part with the Younger These two Brothers in Law thus Leagued sent to King Louis to put themselves under his obedience After which Otho having beaten and forced them at a passage over the Rhine the dispair they were under made Giselbert and some other Lorrain Lords come even to Laon to do him Hommage Louis wanted but very little of having the whole Kingdom of Lorraine surrender to him he got into Alsace and was well received every where But when he came to treat those as a conquered people who had voluntarily submitted to him it soon alienated their affections Year of our Lord 939 Mean time Hugh the Great Hebert William Duke of Normandy and even Arnold of Flanders not thinking it expedient for themselves that King Lewis should make himself so potent re-allied themselves with Otho who having quitted thâ— Siege of Capremont which was Giselbert's impregnable Fortress and joyned with them easily drove Louis out of Alsatia then laid Siege before Brisac a place very considerable in those days and where they shewed notable Feats of Arms. Whilst Otho was at this Siege a party of his especially the Clergy abandoned him But Giselbert and Everard were defeated by his men at their passage over the Rhine near Andernac where the last remained dead on the spot and the other that had been the Fire-brand of all these Wars was drowned This unhoped for advantage having ruined Henry's Party he grew wise and timely yielded Year of our Lord 934 himself up to the discretion of his Brother who sent him away Prisoner for some time In the interim Brisac surrendred and all Lorrain was his the Government whereof he bestowed upon Henry himself and soon after upon Count Otho The year following King Lewis thinking to strengthen himself on that hand or perhaps gain Vassals and Friends amongst the Lorrainers married that Kings Sister Gerberge the Widdow of Giselbert by whomshe had two Children Regnier Lambert Year of our Lord 940 Count Hebert of Vermandois had by craft and force got his Son but ten years of Age to be nominated Arch-Bishop of Reims which being contrary to the Rules of the Church the Clergy placed one Artold in that Episcopal See who by consequence was an Enemy to Hebert and a great friend to the King The contest about this Arch-Bishoprick begot a War which lasted 18 or 20 years and greatly molested all Champagne Year of our Lord 940 This year after some other inconsiderable actions Hebert with Earl Hugh and Wlliam Duke of Normandy besieged Reims The Inhabitants being terrified forsook Artold and opened their Gates to them Artold thorough the like fear suffers himself to be persuaded to renounce the Arch-Bishoprick and accept of an Abbey whereof repenting again the King embraces his defence and the quarrel revived again From thence the Confederates went and planted the Siege before Laon but upon the noise of the Kings March who was returning from Burgundy they retired towards Otho and having led him as it were in Triumph to the Palace of Atigny they put themselves into his protection King Louis having refreshed Laon retires into Burgundy His strength lay that way because of Hugh le Noir who together with William Count of Poitiers accompanied him King Otho having a potent Army pursued him thither and struck Hugh le Noir with so much terror that he made Oath never to employ his Forces more against Hugh le Blanc nor against Hebert who were his new Vassals Year of our Lord 941 The next year Louis notwithstanding besieges Laon wherein was Count Hebert but it was to his own great dammage for being surprised in his Legements by his base Subjects he beheld above one half of his men slain with his own Eyes and could not save himself but by a shameful flight After which forsaken of all his Neustrian Subjects he took shelter under Charles Constantine Earl of Vienne his Cousin German being the Son of Louis the Year of our Lord 941 Blind King of Italy and Arles and a Sister of Queen Ogina's Thence he had recourse to the Pope the Lords of Aquitain and to William Duke of Normandy The Pope sent a Legat to exhort the Lords of Neustria to be faithful to him those of Aquitain came and tendred him Hommage at Vienne and profer'd their assistance And William quitting the Associates treated him magnificently in his City of Rouen and served him with his Forces as did likewise the Bretons With these Forces he sought all opportunities to fight his Enemies but they were retreated on this side the Oise and having broken down all the Bridges would not come to any Engagement Therefore a Truce was made between them Year of our Lord 942 and by the mediation of King Otho a Peace was concluded by
to St. Omers But as he was retreating towards Monstreuil Eustace Earl of Boulogne who had a great Body of Reserves took Robert and carried him to St Omers He that Commanded the place surrendred it to deliver Richilda for which the King was enraged that he sacked and burnt the City Year of our Lord 1071 The same year Richilda though still assisted by the French lost another Battle in which Eustace Earl of Boulogne being made prisoner his Brother Chancellor of France and Bishop of Paris to obtain his freedom obliged the King to intermedle no more in that dispute Nay which was more he made him Marry Bertha the Daughter of Florent I. Earl of Holland and Gertrude of Saxony who had taken Robert for her second Husband By this means he was engaged to maintain the Cause for his Father-in-law who by his assistance defeated Richilda's Army the Fourth time and so remained Master Year of our Lord 1071 of Flanders Roger Brother of Robert Guischard Duke of the Normans in Puglia was by his Brother sent into Sicilia which was possessed by the Saracens he conquerd d the City of Panormus and Messina which opened him a way to become Master of the whole Island Year of our Lord 1073. and 4. After the death of Baldwin the Regent King Philip being arrived to the age of Adolescency ran into many disorders and vexations with his Subjects Whereupon Pope Gregory VII who sought but the occasion to constitute himself the Judge and Reformer of Princes wrote to William Duke of Aquitain that together with the Lords he should make him some Remonstrances and Declare that if he did not amend he would Excommunicate both him and all the Subjects that obey'd him and would place the Excommunication upon St. Peters Altar to re-aggravate it every day Year of our Lord 1076 The death of Robert I. Duke of Burgundy his Son being deceased before him had left two Sons Hugh and Otho the first of these succeeded his Grandfather Year of our Lord 1077 After William the Conquerour had entirely subdued England suppressed the Rebellion of his Son Robert and quelled the Manceaux he went into Bretagne to reduce them to his Obedience and laid Siege to Dol. The Duke or Earl Hoel implored the Kings help who marching in person to his assistance made them raise their Siege A Peace immediately follow'd but was broken almost as soon again upon another Year of our Lord 1076 score which was for that the Conquerour in the Kings Presence having given the Dutchy of Normandy to his Son Robert before he went to invade England Robert would take possession of it the Father hindred him and the King justified the Son in his demands This was the subject of a new War The Father besieges his rebellious Son in the Castle of Gerbroy near Beauvais In a Sally the Son wounds him and turned him off from his Saddle with his Lance but Year of our Lord 1077. 78. and the following coming to know who it was by his voice he helped him up again with Tears in his eyes and the Father at length overcome by the sentiments of nature and the intreaty of his Wife and Barons gave him his pardon and quitted the Dutchy to him then returned into England Gozelon Duke of the Lower Lorrain who in favour of Baldwin Earl of Monts Year of our Lord 1077. and 78. the Son of Richilda had fought and defeated Robert the Frison being a while after this Victory assassinated in Antwerp the Emperour detained the Dutchy of the lower Lorrain and gave only the Marquisate of Antwerp to Godfrey Duke of Bouillon the Son of Adde Sister of Gozelon and Eustace Earl of Boulongne but Twelve years after for his great Services he gave him the said Lorrain Year of our Lord 1080 The Lords of Touraine and of Maine extreamly pressing Foulk Rechin by force of Arms to set Gefroy his Brother at liberty this barbarous Man rather then release him chose sooner to give the County of Gastinois to King Philp that he might maintain him in his unjustice Some time after his own Son named Gefroy likewise and surnamed Martel moved Year of our Lord 1080 with the miseries of his Uncle forced his Father to set him free but whether it were the Melancholy he had contracted or some Drink they had given him he could never relish the sweetness of his liberty The famous Robert Guischard Prince of the Normans in Puglia after he had gained Year of our Lord 1085 two Naval Victories one over the Venetians and the other over the Greeks died this year 1085. He had two Sons Boemond and Roger the eldest being then upon the coasts of Dalmatia with a Navy his younger Brother seized on the Dutchies of Pouille and Calabria for which the Brothers were contending till the time of the first Croisado or Holy War when the French Lords passing that way to the Holy Land brought them to an agreement Their Uncle Roger held Sicily with the Title only of Earl Year of our Lord 1085 Upon complaints about the vexations and ill Treatment Duke Robert shewed to his Norman Subjects his Father the Conquerour comes over out of England to chastise him but his paternal tenderness did easily admit of a reconciliation The death of Guy-Gefroy-William his Son William VIII aged but 25 years succeeded him Year of our Lord 1086 King Philip a very voluptuous Prince being disgusted with Berthe his Wise made use of the pretence of Parentage which was between them and having proved it according to the course then in use caused his Marriage to be dissolved by authority of the Church though he had a Son by her named Lewis about Five years old and a Daughter named Constance He banished his Divorced Wife to Monstreuil upon the Sea-side where she lived a long time poorly enough Year of our Lord 1087 This Divorce according to Rule and a judicial Sentence being made he demanded the Daughter of Roger Earl of Sicilia named Emma who was conducted as far as the coasts of Provence however he did not Marry her the reason is not given Year of our Lord 1088 William the Conquerour become crazy was under a strict regiment of Dyet at Rouen to pull down his over-grown fatness which did much incommode him The King rallied at him and asked when he would be up again after his Lying in the Duke sent him word that at his Uprising he would go and visit him with 10000 Lances instead of Candles and indeed as soon as he could he got on Horseback he destroy'd all the French Vexin and forced and burnt Mantes But he over-heated himself so much in the assaulting of that place that it set his own Blood and Body on fire and brought a fit of Sickness so that he returned to Rouen where he dyed in a few days By his Will he gave the Kingdom of England to William called Rufus who was bat his Second Son Normandy to Robert who was
against the Infringers even to the killing them in the very Churches which served as a Sanctuary to all other the most enormous Criminals William the Conqueror had Establish'd this Law in England and in Normandy Anno 1080. Raimond Berenger Earl of Barcelonna in his Country Anno 1060. the Council of Clermont had confirmed it Anno 1096. and that of Rome Anno 1102. Now as these Truces were but ill observed and Languedoc and a part of Guyenne principally upon occasion of that War betwixt the King of Arragon and Raimond Earl of Toulouze were most miserably tormented with Factions Murthers and Robberies a certain Carpenter named Durand who seemed a plain simple Fellow Year of our Lord 1183 found the Remedy against these Calamities and a Means to enrich himself He asserted that God had appeared to him in the City du Puy in Auvergne commanding him to proclaim Peace and for proof of his Mission had given him a certain Image of the Virgin which he shewed So that upon his Veracity the Grandees the Prelats and the Gentry being Assembled at Puy on the day of the Feast of the Assumption agreed amongst themselves by Oath upon the Holy Evangelists to lay down all Animosities and the remembrance of former Injuries and made a Holy League to reconcile Mens Spirits and entertain Love and Peace which they named the Peace of God Those who were of it wore the Stamp of this Image of our Lady in Pewter upon their Breasts and Capuches or Hoods of white Linnen on their Heads which this Carpenter sold to them Which had such power over their Minds and had made such Impression that a Man with those Badges was not only in security but likewise in Veneration amongst his most mortal Enemies Year of our Lord 1184 Whether the three Princes of Champagne Brothers to the Queen Mother had gotten the upper hand at Court and put the King out of conceit with the Earl of Flanders or for some other cause the King summon'd him to surrender up Vermandois which Louis the VII had given him only as was pretended for a certain time The Earl being very Potent would maintain the possession passed the Somme with a great Army and came as far as Senlis But upon tidings of the Kings march he turns back the way he came and went and besieged Corbie from whence he decamped again immediately for the same cause The King not being able to overtake him besieges Boves the two Armies drew near to engage Some Mediators put a stop to their impetuous haste and made up the Peace The Earl yielded all Vermandois excepting Peronne and Saint Quentin which they let him enjoy during Life Year of our Lord 1184 To this Agreement the King called all the Bishops Abbots Earls and Barons that served in his Army with their Vnder-Vassals And such was then the Rights of the French The Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Prior of the Hospital of St. John's deputed on the behalf of the Christians from the Holy-Land brought the Keys of the Holy City to King Philip imploring his assistance and representing to him the extream danger it was reduced unto Whereupon having held a great Assembly of Prelats and Lords at Paris he enjoyned them to Preach the Cross or Croisade and to publish it every where and in the mean time sent at his own Expence a considerable Relief of Horse and Foot into that Country The Complaints of the Clergy of Burgundy whom Duke Odo had plundred and the Year of our Lord 1184 Lord de Vergy whose Castle that Prince besieged ingaged the King to march that way and besiege Chastillâ—n on the Seine the strongest Bulwark belonging to that Rebel Who finding his Fort taken by Assault came humbly to submit to his Commands promised to pay 30000 Livers for Reparation to the Clergy and gave up four Castles which however were soon after put into his possession again without doubt because they had some need of him Year of our Lord 1183 84. In Berry there were several Bands of Robbers that wasted the Country they were named Cottereaux and were believed to be tainte â—ith the Heresie that spread in Languedoc because they aimed chiefly to do mâ—schief to the Churchmen the Berriers getting together with the help of some Men sent them by the King cut them in pieces killing seven thousand upon the place The vast Multitudes of eople that flocked to Paris the Kings Train encreasing with his Authority made the Streets so dirty and 〈◊〉 that there was no going in them The King sent therefore for the Citizens and their Provost and enjoyned them to remedy it which they did by Pav ng it with Stone at their own expences I find about this time that one Girard de Poissi who managed the Exchequer brought in thither of his own proper Moneys or Fund Eleven thousand Mark in Silver It is to Year of our Lord 1185 be imagin'd that he had gotten them by the King but however we may say that this Example ✚ will be singular and that we shall never meet a Chequer-man will follow his Example What ever can be done that sort of People will sooner go to the Gibet then be brought to make Restitution Year of our Lord 1185 Margaret of France Widow of Henry the Young King of England is Re-Married to Bela III. King of Hungary Gesroy Duke of Bretagne and Brother of that Henry being come to wait on the King who tenderly lov'd him died of a Distemper at Champeaux and was Interr'd at Nostre-Dames in Paris He had one Daughter named Alienor and one Son only aged but three years The Bretons would give him the name of Artur in memory of that famous King whom the Romancers make to be the Author of the Knights of the Year of our Lord 1185 round Table and many high feats of Arms. He remained under the Guardianship of his Mother and the Protection of the King in despite of all the Efforts of Henry and Richard his Son who made several Attempts to seize upon his Person that they might get Bretagne into their possession The Widow Constance afterwards Married Guy Lord de Thouars The memory of Gefroy is still very famous amongst the Bretons because of that Law he made in his Parliament or Estates General which was called the Assize of Count Gefroy Whereby it was ordained that in the Families of Barons and Knights the Estates should not be shared or equally divided as heretofore but that the eldest should reap the whole Succession and bestow such part upon the younger as himself and the rest of his Kindred should think fit This hath since been thus proportion'd the Thirds amongst all the younger Children during Life to the Males and Inheritance to the Female In time the rest of the Gentry not to yield in Quality to the Barons would needs be comprehended herein likewise Towards the end of the year 1186. a War was raised between King Philip and Henry of England for
Lord 1197 Amongst all the events of this War which amounted only to Burnings and Plunderings is to be observed what hapned to Philip de Dreux Bishop of Beauvais Cousin german to the King This Bishop being taken in the War Armed and Fighting by some of Richard's Soldiers was detained a long time in an uneasie prison The Pope would interpose his recommendation to Richard for his deliverance and in his Letters he call'd this Bishop His most dear Son But Richard having sent word back in what posture and manner he was taken and having sent his coat of Maille all Bloody with order to him that carry'd it to ask him Behold Holy Father whether this be the Coat of your Son The Pope had nothing to reply but that the Treatment they shewed to that Prelat was just since he had quitted the Militia of Jesus Christ to follow that of the World Death of the Emperour Henry As he had manifested himself as rude an enemy to the Popes as his Predecessors and besides was very odious for his cruelties Innocent III. strongly opposed the Election of Philip his Brother excommunicating all his Adherents and stood up for Otho Son of the Duke of Saxouy and a Sister of Richards who was Crowned at Aix la Chapelle so that there was a Schism in that Empire which had often occasioned one in the Church The King of England the Earl of Flanders and the Arch-Bishop of Colen supported Otho and King Philip on Year of our Lord 1197 the contrary made a League with his Rival The same year died in the City of Acre or Acon the generous Henry Earl of Champagne Titular King of Jerusalem his Nephew Thibauld or Theobald III. of that Name Earl of Blois inherited those Lands he had in France in prejudice of his Year of our Lord 1197 Uncles two Daughters The eldest was named Alix and was Queen of Cyprus and by her was born a Daughter of the same Name whom we shall find making War against Thibauld IV. The Second was called Philippa who was Married to Erard de Brienne Year of our Lord 1198 These bloody and obstinate Wars the particulars whereof cannot be brought within the compass of an Abridgement caused much mischief in France but the greatest was that Philip grew extreamly covetous and became too greedy in heaping up Treasure under pretence of the necessity of raising and maintaining great numbers of standing Forces which are truly very proper to make Conquests and new Acquisitions but some times become oppressive to the Subjects and destructive to the Laws of the Land As he was the First of the Kings of France that kept Men in pay and would have Soldiers always ready to employ them in what he pleased he set himself likewise upon making great exactions upon the People ransoming or taxing the Churches and recalling the Jews who were the introducers of Usury and Imposts But however he was very frugal and retrencht himself as much as possible knowing and considering ☜ that a King who hath great designs ought not to consume the substance of his Subjects in vain and pompous expences Year of our Lord 1199 At the end of two years War the Pope by his intercession procured a Five years truce between the two Kings during which Richard as covetous of Money as he was proud having intelligence that a Gentleman of Limosin had found a vast Treasure and carried it into the Castle of Chalus he went presently and besieged him he was wounded there with a Cross-bow and his debauchery having envenom'd his wound he died of it the Eleventh day of April in this year 1199. He had introduc'd the use of Cross-bows in France before that time Sword-men were so generous and brave that they would not owe their Victory but to their Lances or Swords they abhorr'd those treacherous weapons wherewith a coward sheltred or conceal'd may kill a valiant Man at a distance and thorough a hole Year of our Lord 1199 He had no Children therefore the Kingdom of England and the Dutchy of Normandy belonged of right to young Arthur Duke of Bretagne as being the Son of Gefroy his Brother elder then John without Land but John having seized the Money gained Richards Forces and stept into the Throne In the mean while the Earl of Flanders with his Allies regained the Cities of Aire and St. Omers It hapned that the Kings party took his Brother Philip Earl of Namur and Peter Bishop Elect of Cambray The King refusing to release this last the Popes Legat puts the Kingdom of France under a prohibition so that after three Months time he was constrained to set him free Year of our Lord 1200 The day of the Ascension in the year 1200. Peace was concluded at a solemn Conference between the two Kings between Vernon and Andeley It was warranted by Twelve Barons on either part who made oath to take up Arms against him that should break it and moreover confirmed by the Marriage of Blanche Daughter of Alfonso VIII King of Castille and Alienor Sister to King John with Lewis the eldest Son of Philip to whom King John in favour of this Alliance yielded up all the Lands and Places which the French had taken from him Each had a care to secure his Partisans John was oblig'd to receive his Nephew Arthur into favour who did hommage to him for his Dutchy of Bretagne but yet remained with Philip. Reciprocally Philip pardon'd Renauld Earl of Boulogne and some while after Treated the Marriage between his Son of his own name whom he had by his Queen Agnes and that Earls Daughter Since the repudiation of 1semburge of Denmark King Philip had kept her in a Convent at Soissons and at three years end that is Anno 1196 he had espoused Mary-Agnes Daughter of Bertold Duke of Merania and Dalmatia Pope Celestine III. upon the complaints of King Canut Brother of the Divorc'd Lady had Commissioned in the year 1198. two Legats to take cognisance of this Affair who had assembled a grand Council at Paris of the Bishops and Abbots of the Kingdom but all those Prelats being partly terrify'd and some corrupted durst give no Sentence and the Legats were suspected to favour the Cause of Agnes Afterwards the Holy Father more importunately desired to do justice had sent two more One of them in the month of Decemb in the year 1199. having called the Prelats of France to Dijon notwithstanding the Appeal interjected by Philip to the Pope pronounced Sentence of prohibiton upon all the Kingdom in presence and by consent of all the Bishops and nevertheless that he might have leasure enough to get away into some place of safety he was willing it should not be publish'd till twenty days after Christmass He had reason to fear Philips anger In effect it burst out with furty against all his Subjects against the Ecclesiasticks first whom he believ'd to be all accomplices in this injury for he drove the Bishops from their Sees cast the
A prodigious Comet appeared in the Heavens shortly after and whether it were the Sign or were the Cause or perhaps neither the one nor the other a Quartain Ague seized King Philip which continuing and wasting him near a years time did in the end bring him to his Grave Amaulry de Montfort had profer'd to give up all his Conquests in Languedoc to Prince Lewis But Philip knowing the Constitution of his Son was too delicate and tender could not give consent he should undertake so toylsom a War notwithstanding the Pope and the Clergy press'd mightily to have them make an utter destruction of those Hereticks who without any respect still aimed at their Persons Year of our Lord 1223 and Estates principally They had therefore at Paris called a grand Assembly of Prelats and Lords to compleat this business John King of Jerusalem and the Popes Legat were Assistants Philip sick as he was would needs be amongst them and went expressly from Chasteau de Pacy on the Epte where he had diverted himself When he arriv'd at Mantes the Distemper so encreased upon him that he was forc'd to stop there and some days after gave up the Ghost the Twenty fifth of July in the year 1223. The length of his days was Fifty eight years that of his Reign from his Coronation Forty four His Monument is at St. Denis whither his Corps was convey'd with great Ceremony By his Will made the year before he ordained and appointed that 50000 Livers or 25000 Mark of Silver at 40 Solz to the Mark should be put into the hands of his Executors to be restor'd and paid to those from whom it should appear he had detained or unjustly taken any thing He bequeathed likewise Ten thousand Franks to Queen Isemburge ..... to Lewis his Son to employ for the defence of the Kingdom and no other use 53500 Mark of Silver to the King of Jerusalem 2000 to the Templars and as much to the Hospitallers of St. Johns towards the Recovery of the Holy Land 21000 Livers Parisis to the Poor to Orphans to Widows and Leprous People and 20000 to Amaulry de Montfort to redeem his Wife and Children out of the hands of the Albigois He Married three Wives Isabella Daughter of Baldwin IV. Ears of Haynault Isemburge Daughter of Waldemar the Great King of Denmark and Agnes Daughter of Bertold Duke of Merania Of the first he had no Child remaining but Prince Lewis who Reign'd by the second he had none but he had two by Agnes these were Philip who had the Earldom of Boulogne by Marrying the Heiress which was Mahauld or Matilda Daughter of the unfortunate Regnauld de Dammartin and Mary who was first joyned in Marriage Anno 1206. with Philip Earl of Namur and afterwards Anno 1212. with Henry IV. Earl of Louvain and Duke of Brabant He had also a Natural Son named Peter Charlot who was Treasurer of Tours and afterwards Bishop of Noyon Of all the Kings of the Third Race he annexed most Lands to the Crown and most Power to those that succeeded him wresting Normandy the Counties of Anjou and Maine Touraine Berry and Poitou from John Without-Land he did not a little contribute on his part towards the lessening or pulling down the Earl of Toulouze and by ruining those two Princes took away the Counterpoise that balanced his own Power in the Kingdom After which he brought the Grandees more easily both to respect and fear him and the People to bear greater Burthens and Taxes then they had done under his Predecessors The French gave him the name of Conqueror which Paulus Emilius has rendred in Latin Augustus and this seemed so proper and sounded so well to all that have written since that they have follow'd and continued it and have almost forgotten the other He was well shap'd and without any Corporal defect excepting that one of his Eyes was half obscured by an Amblyopia for which some Italian Authors have called him One ey'd He was a brave Cavalier and excellent Captain laborious and active happy in his Enterprizes because he undertook with Deliberation and Counsel and executed with celerity and heat sometimes a little Cholerick and oversway'd with Passion but bating that a great Politician who knew where it was fit to use Caresses where to employ Threats whom to Reward and whom to Punish somewhat more enclined to Severity then Mercy Splendid and Magnificent highly Charitable to the Poor zealous in doing Justice to his Subjects and no less zealous in Religion taking as much care to preserve the purity of Faith by rooting out all Heresie and defend the Goods and Liberties of the Church against Usurpers as to maintain the Rights and Honour of the Kingdom and therefore he was respected by the Clergy and People as the Defender of the Church and Father of his Country It is to be observ'd that in his Reign and in his Fathers and Grandfathers there were five great Officers of the Crown that is the Grand-Seneschal in Latine Dapifer great Chamberer Butler Constable and Chancellor I believe they were in the Kings Gift who might both place and displace I do not know what the Formalities were he used or whether the Grandees and Parliament or General Assembly of Prelats and Lords had any part in the nomination but I know they were not perpetual and did in some measure resemble rather Commissions then Offices that nevertheless their Function was so necessary that whoever held those Places signed all Acts and Writings of importance so that if any one of these were vacant it was ever noted down at the bottom of such Writing or Act. The Author of the Lives of the Ministers of State hath very curiously observed that the Office of Constable was a Member taken from the Grand-Seneschal and that of Great Chamberlain from the Grand Chamberer That the Constable had no Power or Command in the Armies till about the year 1218. after Philip Augustus had long left the Office of Grand-Seneschal vacant on purpose to destroy it as I suppose because it had too great Power He likewise proves very plainly that the High-Chamberlain had the management of the Kings Treasury and that the Office of Chancellor was the lowest of the five great ones we have specified till Guerin Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and afterwards Bishop of Senlis having that Place conferr'd on him by Lewis VIII after he had held the Seal Five and twenty years together raised it to a higher pitch of Honour and Degree then ever Towards the end of this Reign Families began to have fixed certain and hereditary Surnames The Lords and Gentlemen took them most commonly from the names of their Lands and Estates they had in possession Men of Learning from the places of their Nativity and Jews when they were Converted as likewise the Wealthy Merchants from the place of their abode As for what has given Surnames to the Plebeians some had it
Island so named Apulia Calabria and some other neighbouring Countreys which Roger held in Italy Now although William Duke of Aquitain had suffer'd himself to be brought back to the Obedience of Innocent II. in the year 1135. yet Gerard nevertheless stood up obstinately for Anaclet to the end of his days but some while after he was found dead in his Bed horribly black and blew and swoln About three years after viz. in An. 1138. Anaclet died also his Relations placed another Cardinal in his stead to whom they gave the name of Victor In fine Innocent found it better to buy his peace of them then to leave these Divisions smothering and smoaking any longer and when they were agreed Victor laid down the Tiara and cast himself at his Feet Notwithstanding Roger held out still some time not owning him for Pope because he would not own him for a King till having taken him prisoner in War An. 1193. he came fairly to an agreement with him and got the Title of King confirmed to him Frederick I. being come to the Empire young haughty and ambitious as he was undertook to recover its dignity to which the easiness of Pope Anastasius seemed to chaulk out a way but Pope Adrian IV. who succeeded Anastasius resolv'd to obviate his designs and keep him under as his dependant Hence proceeded a mortal enmity betwixt them which however came not to an open rupture but made Frederick more plainly sensible that it was necessary to have a Pope at his Devotion Adrian being dead An. 1159. it hapned that all the Cardinals excepting three elected Cardinal Rowland who took the name of Alexander III. but whilst he was shewing some kind of unwillingness to accept the Popedom those three that were not for him Elected immediately the Cardinal Octavian who was named Victor The Emperour having notice of it favour'd him first underhand thereby to frighten Alexander and bring him to his bent then openly when he found he could not lead the other as he pleased So he causes his Election to be authorised by the Council of Pisa which he had call'd by his own authority after the example of former Emperours and employ'd all his Interest to perswade other Princes to adhere to him The Kings of France and of England who had been at war having now agreed assembled their Bishops Abbots and Barons the one at Beauvais and the other at Newmarket to discuss the right of the two concurrents the Legats both of the one and other side having been heard Alexander was approved by all and Victor Excommunicated This hapned in the year 1161. The good Title and Right of the former was this year confirmed by a great number of miracles as many Authors write and yet there is one affirms likewise that God wrought some in favour of Victor after his decease In the mean time this last being most powerful in Rome Alexander seeks his refuge in France and remained there three years at the end whereof his Affairs going in a better method in Italy the Clergy and People call him back to Rome An. 1164. To defray the Expences of his journey he was sorced to impose a Year of our Lord 1164 Collection on the Gallican Church Year of our Lord 1164 The same year Victor his Rival died in the City of Luca. Some Prelats of his Faction being assembled at the same place gave the Popedom to one of those two Cardinals that had elected him which was Guy de Crema He lived five years and deceased An. 1170. Those of his party substituted another I cannot tell what Abbot not known but by his debauches they call'd him Calistus III. and Frederick supported him as he had done the two others At the same time there were great stirs in England King Henry stickling to preserve certain pretended Rights which he called Customs of the Kingdom and Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury not to suffer them as being contrary to Ecclesiastical liberty It would be thought strange in these days if a Bishop should hold his Head up so high against his Prince for the like cause but then the best of Men were perswaded that such Liberties were the pillars of Religion The contest lasted seven or eight years and ended not but by the death of the Archbishop who was murther'd in his Cathedral in the year 1170. and the Kings penitence which was so great and so publick that the Church was edified more by such an example then it had been scandaliz'd by his offence The Emperor Frederick was not more fortunate then the two Henrys so that being shatter'd by the Popes Thunder-bolts and more severely yet by his ill fortune driven out of Italy and apprehending the sudden Revolt of Germany he could find no other way to save himself but to ask pardon of the Holy Father and prostrate himself at his Feet to gain his Absolution which was done at Venice in An. 1177. His Anti-Pope Calistus did as much the following year throwing himself at the Feet of the same Alexander Afterwards Frederick had again some Disputes with the Popes Lucius Vrban and Clement III. of that name but he was reconcil'd to Clement and lived well enough with the See of Rome to the time of his death Henry VI. his Son was Crowned by Celestine III. in the year 1191. He undertook nothing directly against the Popes but yet he suffer'd himself to be Excommunicated for detaining Richard King of England prisoner and for not restoring the Money he had extorted from that Prince to purchase his liberty He died without Absolution Anno 1197. Let us now speak of Heresies About the end of the Twelfth age the opinions of one named Rousselin had made a great deal of noise He said the three Divine Persons were three separate or distinct things as three several Angels were but in such sort nevertheless that all three had but one and the same Power and one and the same Will and that if custom would permit it one might say that they were three Gods or otherwise it would follow that the Father and the Holy Ghost had been incarnate These Sophistical impieties were condemned in a Council held at Soissons notwithstanding the Author did not refrain Teaching in private and perhaps he might have made a greater progress if there had not been some watchful persons amongst the rest Yves de Chartres who broke his measures I cannot tell whether it were the same against whom St. Anselme when he was but Abbot du Bec. wrote his Treatise of the Incarnation of the Word which he sent to Pope Vrban II. to examine An. 1094. About the year 1125. one Tanchelin the most profligate of all Mankind infected Brabant and the neighbouring Countreys with his Errors he asserted that the Ministry of Bishops and Priests was a cheat and that the Communion of the Holy Eucharist availed nothing to our Salvation He drew people after him by the magnificence of his Feasts and the pomp of his dress
did again inspire them with new and dangerous Questions and Propositions but besides all these another sort of poysoners came out of Italy into France bringing along with them the most pernicious venom of the Manicheans and these were they in my opinion who first infected the Diocess of Alby for which reason those Heretiques were named Albigensis They were convinced at a Conference in that City at the Bishops who was chosen Arbitrator by both parties in presence of many Lords Prelats and Constance the Wife of Raimond Earl of Toulouze and Sister to the King of France Gozelin the Bishop of Lodeve refuting their errors by arguments and proofs drawn out of the New Testament This Conquest could not wholly destroy these unwholsom Seeds they multiplied every day more and more and soon mastered Toulouze the capital City of Languedoc The Kings of France and England were almost resolved to make use of Fire and Sword to destroy them however they thought fit to send some Preachers first amongst them to labour and endeavour to convert them or confound them and to cut them off from all communion with the faithful that they might corrupt no more of them The Popes Legat went thither in Anno 1178. accompanied with Four or Five Bishops and several other Clergy-men they discover'd many of these people in Toulouze amongst the rest the oldest and the richest and as I may say the cock of all the others who let them have his Towers to Meet and Preach in They forced him to submit to a publique pennance pull'd down his Towers or Turrets and excommunicated and banished several of those Heretiques who retired into Albigeois that was as it were their Fort or Cittadel because Roger Earl of Alby favour'd them and made use of them to keep the Bishop of his City a prisoner These Countries of Languedoc and Gascongny as well because of their distance as their situation and likewise the fiery warlike disposition of their people were filled with another sort of wild Beasts and such as delighted in Blood I mean Troops or Herds of Bandits who hir'd themselves to any one that wanted them to take revenge upon their Enemies or else roved all about to seek prey for themselves They sought not only after Money and Goods but took their Persons or their Lives away sparing neither condition nor age nor sex They were of no Religion but help'd the Heretiques thereby to have some pretence to rob Churches and Church-men some of them were called Brabanders Arragonians Navarrois and Basques as coming from those Countreys Others Cottereaux and Triaverdins a Nick-name whose original I do not know and their Horse-men Routiers from the German name Reuter The General Council of Lateran which was held in Anno 1179. Excommunicated both the one and the other forbid the burying them in Holy Ground and exhorted all Catholiques to fall upon them seize upon their Goods and bring their Persons into slavery allowing all those that took up Arms against them Indulgences and Relaxations of pennance proportionable to their Services and at the discretion of the Bishops Amongst these Heretiques there were some that were called Popelicans who held a great many strong Castles in Gascongny where they had cantoniz'd themselves and made up a body ever since they were cut off from the Church Henry who from being Abbot de Clervaux had been made Bishop of Albe having in quality of Legat gathered a good force together by his Preachings and Exhortations went to visit them with a strong hand in Anno 1181. They feigned to avoid this storm they would abjure their errors but the danger being over they lived as before This contagion spread it self in many Provinces both on this and the other side of the Loire one of these false Apostles by name Terric who had kept himself conceal'd a long time in a Grott at Corbigny in the Diocess of Nevers was taken and burnt Divers others suffer'd the same death in several places particularly two horrible old Women in the City of Troyes to one of whom as it was said they had given the name of Holy-Church and to the other that of St. Mary that so when they were examin'd by the Judges they might swear by St. Mary they believed no other then what was the belief of Holy Church These Popelicans amongst other things did openly repugne the reality of the Body of Our S. J. C. in the Sacrament for which cause there were divers miracles wrought in those times to confirm people in the faith of that mistery They were condemned in the Council of Sens of the year 1198. as were likewise the Vandois the Patarins and the Cathares The name of Patarins came from the Glory they took in suffering for the Truth patiently that of Cathares because though falsly they professed great purity of Life These last were called in Flanders Pifles and in France Weavers because the most part of them lived by the labour of their hands which they employed in that Trade It would require a whole Treatise to enumerate and particularize all these Sects their several Names and their Opinions which agreed in some points and were quite different in others but in my judgment they may be all reduced to two that is Albigeois and Vaudois and these two held almost or very near the same Opinions as those we call in our days Calvinists There arose if not an Heresie at least some great doubts touching the resurrection of the Body in the time of Maurice Bishop of Paris by reason whereof to testify what his Faith was concerning this Article he ordain'd they should engrave upon his Tomb the first Response which we find in the Office for the deceased After his example many other Ecclesiastiques gave Order before their death that these words should be affixed upon their Breasts in writing and put into the Graves with them These Schismes and Errors thwarting the power of the Pope and the Clergy confirmed and increased it the more For First the Popes gained the whole advantage upon the Emperours concerning those Disputes about Investitures Then when they had gotten that liberty of Elections they would needs extend it likewise to the persons and Goods of the Ecclesiastiques they said the Church owed no Contribution but to her own Head who is the Vicar of JESVS CHRIST on Earth and that the Clergy could not be corrected but by their Superiours which they founded upon that Maxim That the less Noble or Worthy ought not to command the more Noble or Worthy nor the inferior be judge of him that is above him However this point striking at and diminishing the Authority of all other Temporal Princes as well as the Emperours could not pass for current but in the Countreys of those that were weak and on the other side of the Mountains The third subject of the differences they had with the Emperours was they pretended it belonged to them to dispose of or give
St. Riquier undertook to Confess some Seculars and to Preach without leave of the Ordinary of which complaint was made against him at Rome the Pope caused him to be cited before him but he pleaded his Cause so well that the Holy Father allowed him both the one and the other and gave him Sandals which in those times were the Marks or Badge of a Preacher The Clergy busied themselves mightily in multiplying the Ceremonies the Ornaments and practise of Devotions and in making a great many frivolous Disputes upon each of these The profession of Physick and that of Law were hardly exercised by any but the Churchmen the Laity being very little addicted to Study and as they were very profitable the Monks and Regular Canons had likewise an itch to practise them The Council of Latran under Innocent II. did expressly forbid their medling with either of them The Mortifications and Austerities the Sackcloth Shirt of Hair knotted Girdle and voluntary Fustigation which they called Discipline was much in practise at least in the precedent Age since Peter Damianus mentions it as a thing that was very common When they desired to appease the Wrath of God or obtain some particular favour from his Bounty the Pope and sometimes the Bishops of their own Heads would ordain new Fasts Thus in the year 1187. Gregory VIII sorely afficted for the loss of Jerusalem thought fit thereby to animate the Christians to Arm themselves powerfully for its Recovery to command all both Men and Women to fast every Friday for five years successively with the same strictness as in Lent and to abstain from Flesh the Wednesdays and Saturdays He enjoyn'd all the Cardinals and their Families to do the same and imposed it upon himself and all his As for the Fast of Lent it was then very strictly observ'd they eat but once in the whole day and that after Sun-set all the Divine Service and Masses being then over We may see some footsteps of it remaining to this day in that they say Vespers with the Mass before Noon Some gave themselves the liberty of eating at the hour of Noon which is Three hours after Twelve or Dinner time The Friers fasted but till that hour from the Septuagesima to the Quadragesima but from the Quadragesima till Easter they nor any of the Faithful did eat till after Vespers The Princes and great Persons did not omit this abstinence nor fasting neither which did not so much impair their Health as it abated their Concupisence and in these Holy Times the least Devout were obliged at least in Honour to give Alms every day The Functions of those in holy Orders were yet different and different and distinct the Priest seldom did the Office of a Deacon or Sub-Deacon Many out of humility remained Deacons still or at least a long time not taking upon them the Order of Priesthood till near the end of their days We read that Celestine III. at the time he was elected Pope was but a Deacon and had lived Sixty five years in that Order without aspiring to be a Priest They sometimes tolerated the Marriage of Sub-Deacons but it was Sacriledge in a Deacon Baptisin was commonly not Ministred or Conferr'd but at the time of Easter if those that were to receive it were not in danger of Death They plung'd them three times in the Sacred Font to shew them what operation that Sacrament hath on the Soul washing and cleansing it from Original Sin After they had given the extream Unction to the Sick they ordinarily laid them upon a Bed of Straw where they gave up the Ghost Some would needs die upon a Bed of Ashes with their Heads lying on a Stone In those times the Clergy called all those Martyrs of their Order that were kill'd though it were neither for Religion or the maintaining of Christian Doctrines We find in the Decretals some Apostolical Letters of Alexander III. which forbids they should honour the Prior of the Monastery of Gristan as a Martyr The History is strange and odd enough The Monks of that House distributed to the People I know not what sort of Water which they hallowed with certain Prayers and by that invention got store of Alms wherewith they made good Chear It hapned one day that their Prior being drunk wounded two of his Friers with his Knife who immediately beat out his Brains with a Staff that was at hand by chance The rest of their Fellows instead of concealing this Scandal had the impudence to make advantage and profit of this accident and feigned divers Miracles upon his Corps by vertue whereof they Crowned him with the Laurel of Martyrdom and the silly People gave credit to the Cheat. They had been mightily puzled in the other Age to bring the Priests to Celibacy There were some yet that could not agree to it The Popes Calistus II. and Eugenius III. compell'd them by divers Punishments and amongst others deprived them of their Benefices and Excommunicated all such as went to hear them say Mass Now it not being allowed them to make use of the rights of Nature by Marriage there were some though but few in number who made use of things against Nature burning with such flames of Lust as ought not to be extinguished but by Fire from Heaven As for the greater part of the rest the Law of God that is to say his Church forbidding them to have Children the Author of all Confusion substituted great Throngs and Crowds of Nephews in their stead and from thence follow'd great Disorders for if those Nephews were Ecclesiasticks they perpetuated the Benefices in their Families by Coadjutories or otherwise and possess'd as by Right of Inheritance the Sanctuary of the Lord If they were of the Laity and thrifty People they made their Uncles grow Covetous Usurers and Extortioners to heap up Riches for them or else they endeavour'd by all ways imaginable to alienate the Lands of the Church and joyning them to their own appropriate all to themselves Often times they became Masters of their Parents House and living there with too great a Train squandred away the Patrimony of the Cross and the Poor in Feasting Equipage of Hounds and Horses and sometimes in things much worse We might quote a great many Examples of this scandalous Nature I shall instance one which is of the Nephews of an Archdeacon of Paris who committed extraordinary Violences and Exactions in his Place whereof Thomas Prior of St. Victors having often given him warning they Murther'd this holy Holy Friar in the very Arms of the Bishop himself near Gournay as he returned from a Visit The Councils of the Gallican Church having now but little Authority because their Decisions were often annul'd at Rome without hearing their Reasons the Bishops took not so much care to call any I cannot tell in which it was where an old Bishop appear'd with ill Cloaths a Crosier half broken and a Mitre out of order to
let them see by that Equipage to what a vile Condition those holy Assemblies were reduc'd Most of those held in France during this Age were called either by the Popes themselves or by their Legats The Popes were Personally present in Six Paschal II. in that of Troyes Anno 1107. and there the Simoniacks and the Laicks that conferr'd Benefices were Excommunicated Gelasius held one at Vienne in the year 1119. where he thundred his Anathema against the Emperor Henry V. and 〈◊〉 Anti-Pope Calistus II. his Successor Guy Archbishop of Vienne did the same thing in that of Rheims the following year which had been denounced by Gelasius Those that made sale of things Sacred and took Money for burying the dead for the Crisome and Baptism were likewise Excommunicated Innocent II. held one at Clermont in Anno 1130. and another at Rheims in Anno 1131. where he fulminated the Anti-Pope Anacletus and his Adherents Eugenius III. did Celebrate one at Rheims in the year 1137. where divers excellent Regulations were decreed And Alexander III. one at Tours in Anno 1163. where he gave an acount of his Election and proved the nullity of Octavian's his Rival These are a good part of those called by the Legats One at Troyes in Anno 1104. in which the Bishop of Senlis was accused of Simony by some ill designing People but the Bishops rejected them as no good Evidence He desired nevertheless to purge himself from that suspicion by Oath before the Legat to which he was admitted Two Cardinal Legats assembled one at Poitiers in Anno 1109. to reform the Manners and Habits of the Clergy They were forbidden to take any Benefice from the hands of the Laity The Abbots to use Gloves Sandals or the Ring Monks to Exercise Parochial Function as to Baptise or to Preach which nevertheless was allowed to the Regular Canons There was one at Vienne Anno 1112. where Godfrey Bishop of Amiens was President in Quality of Legat because the Archbishop Guy had no very fluent Tongue The Emperor Henry V. was Excommunicated there As were also those guilty of Simony and such of the Laity as gave the Investiture of Benefices There were three in the year 1114. one at Soissons one at Beauvais and another at Rheims to Excommunicate Henry V. and Burdin his Anti-Pope One at Toulouze in Anno 1124. which condemned certain false Brothers or counterfeit Monks who declaimed against the Temporal Riches and Incomes of the Church and against the Sacraments One at Troyes Anno 1127. where the Order of the Templers was confirmed The Abbots Stephen de Cisteaux and Bernard de Clervaux were assistant there and the latter drew up the Rules of that Order of Knights Templers There was one Assembled at Estampes in the year 1130. to condemn the Anti-Pope Anacletus One likewise at Jouars the same year to avenge by Canonical Punishments the Murther of the B. Thomas Prior of St. Victors Another at Soissons Anno 1136. which condemned the Errors of P. Abailard One at Sens four years after for the same business King Lewis the Young was present there Another at Vezelay in Burgundy in the year 1145. for the Expeditioin to the Holy Land That of Paris in the year 1147. confuted the Opinions of Gilbert Poree Bishop of Poictiers who REcanted before Pope Eugenius at Rheims after the Council was dissolved which had been held in that City That of Fleury in the year 1151. was to annul the Marriage of King Lewis VII and Alienor of Aquitain In that of Auranches in Normandy Anno 1173. the Legats gave for the second time the Absolution for the Murther of St. Thomas of Canterbury to Henry II. King of England That of Alby which was in Anno 1176. condemned the Heresie of the Albigensis In that of Dijon which was held about Michaelmas in the year 1197. the Legat from Pope Innocent III. put the whole Kingdom of France under an Interdiction to comple Philip Augustus to quit Agnes de Merania whom he had Espoused in prejudice of Isemburge his Lawful Wife In that of Sens which was held in the year 1198. the Abbot of St. Martins of Nevers and the Dean of the great Church of the same City being present were convicted of the Heresies of the Popelicans the Abbot deposed the Dean suspended and both of them sent to Rome We hardly find above three or four that were called by the Kings order and the Authority of the Bishops of France Amongst others one at Rheims Anno 1109. one at Estampes Anno 1130. and two at Paris the first in the Year 1186. the other in 1188. Both of them were called by King Philip to consider of the best means to relieve the Holy-Land and in the last they agreed to raise the Tenths which was called the Saladine Tythe That of Estampes was called by King Lewis VII to judge whether of the two Popes they were to own either Innocent or Victor That of Rheims was by the proper motion of the Bishops of that Province to do right to Godfrey Bishop of Amiens against the Monks of St. Valery He had made discovery that certain Letters of Exemption by them obtained of the Holy See were false their Cause was worth nothing in France they transferr'd it to Rome and found such Advocates there as obtained a Sentence to their advantage The Bishops complained to the Assembly We find in the LX VIII Epistle of Peter de Blois that sometimes the like counterfeit Letters were discovered These were declared such by the Council Thus it is related by Nicholas Moine of Soissons who has written the Life of this holy Bishop A modern Author hath endeavour'd to invalidate this Narrative by contradicting of the Dates of times assigned his proofs may be examined Monastick Discipline was in its vigour in the newly Establisht Orders but some of the ancient Monasteries as well of Men as Virgins and the old Canons were greatly in disorder having run into much irregularity Sometimes there were Bishops that took care to reform them by gentle means but when the Debaucheries were too great they put Regular Canons or some new Monks in those places There were time out of mind some Canons in the Church St. Genevieve du Mont which was called the Chapter St. Peter and who upon the Recommendation of King Robert had been exempted from dependance on the Bishop and immediately subject to the Holy See it hapued that Pope Eugenius being lodged in their House a Quarrel arose between them and his Officers these would needs take away a rich Silk Carpet which the King had made a Present of to his Holiness to cover the place he kneeled on at Prayers the others pretending it ought to be left to their Church From words they came to blows the Canons fell upon the Popes Officers so rudely that several of them were hurt the King himself had like to have been so while he was endeavouring to prevent the Scuffle For punishment of this
last by a Decree of the Twenty eighth of December maintained them in their possession protesting it was his hearty desire to augment the Rights and Priviledges of the Church rather then any way dimish or infringe them for which reason they gave him the Surname of the Good Catholick Notwithstanding after this shock the Authority of that Body hath been so much weakned especially by Appeals in all Cases that now they really believe they have more just cause of Complaints against the Secular Judges then the Seculars had in those times against them Year of our Lord 1330 France being in Peace King Philip following the foot-steps of his Predecessors had conceived a desire of undertaking an Expedition into the Holy-Land To this purpose upon his return from a Pilgrimage he made to Marseilles with a very small Attendance in performance of a Vow he had made to St. Lewis Bishop of Toulouze he visited the Pope in Avignon and discoursed in particular with him about his design Towards the end of the year he summon'd the Estates of his Kingdom and laid before them the passion he had for the Holy War By their advice he sent to demand permission of the Pope to levy the Tenths of all the Clergy in Christendom and many other things but so extraordinary that he could obtain no favourable Answer Year of our Lord 1331 The English could not well digest that Edward had so easily renounced to the Crown of France They ceased not from spurring him on opportunity seeming to present it self favourably because Scotland which France was wont to make a counterpoise to England was extreamly embroil'd For Edward the Son of John Baliol who for a long time led a private Life at his House in Normandy with a small Force had recover'd that Crown and driven out King David who was retired to the Court of France together with his Wife and Children After the death of Mahaut the Earldom of Artois sell Jane of Burgundy Wife of Philip the Long and according to the Articles of Marriage was given to Blancb her Daughter the Wife of Eudes Duke of Burgundy Robert d'Artois who could not yet forbear his pretentions to that Earldom renewed the Process and produced certain Grants under the great Seal which he said he had found by Miracle He believed the King being his Brother-in-Law and owing him so great obligation would not search too deep after the truth of it But the King because it concerned the interest of his Daughter who was much nearer to him then his Sister caused these Letters Patents to be examin'd so exactly that they were found to be false and a Gentlewoman of Artois that had counterfeited them was burnt alive for it they having accused her as being a Sorceress Robert enraged for the loss of his Process and of his Honour slew to reproaches against the King so much the more injurious as they were true and so exasperated his anger that he was pushed on to the utmost extremity against him They seized upon his Confessor whom they obliged by force or promises to bear Witness against him his Wiâ—e was laid hold on though she were the Kings own Sister and after some delay for want of appearing he was Banished by sound of Trumpet and Proclamation through all the Suburbs of Paris and his Estate was declared to be Confiscate He then knew there was no more quarter for him and would have taken Sanctuary at the Earl of Hainaults but the Kings wrath did not suffer him to be so near he excited the Duke of Brabant to make War upon the Hanuyer Robert not to be a Cause of the ruine of his Friend went out of those Countries and resolved to all the extremities whereunto dispair does usually hurry Men of courage he goes to the King of England and by force of blowing the Coals kindled the Flame that set all France on Fire Year of our Lord 1332 In the mean time the King of England strenghned himself with Alliances Moneys and all sorts of Ammunitions for some great Enterprize He had in his Party the Earl of Haynault the Emperor Lewis his Brother-in-Law several German Princes with the Cities of Flanders and to have the greater power in the Low-Countries and over the Princes along the Rhine he purchased at a dear rate the Quality of Vicar of the Empire The King was secure of the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Lorrain the Earl of Bar the Kings of Castille of Scotland and of Bohemia but especially of this last whom he had made fast by many several ties For besides that he had Married a Sister of his and his Son Charles born of that Wedlock had been bred in the Court of France he also Married his Daughter Bonne to John Duke of Normandy The Nuptials were compleated at Melun The Designs of the English being not yet formed gave Philip no apprehension so Year of our Lord 1332 that he was taking up the Cross for the Holy Land and with him three other Kings Charles of Bohemia Philip of Navarre and Peter of Arragon with a great number of Dukes Earls and Knights The Clergy took but small joy in it so mightily were they oppressed with extraordinary Exactions as if they had a design to ruine the Churches of France to go and restore those in Palestine Year of our Lord 1333 Upon the design of this War Philip endeavour'd to make Peace between all his Neighbour Princes he brought the Duke of Brabant to an agreement with the Earl of Flanders and the Earl of Savoy with the Dauphin de Viennois The difference betwixt the first was for the City of Malines It belonged to the Bishop of Liege and to the Earl of Guelders the Bishop had sold his part to the Earl of Flanders the Duke of Brabant claimed it saying he was the Lord of the Fief It was concluded it should remain to the Flemming unless the Duke would rather chuse to reimburse him 85000 Crowns With that was agreed the Marriage of three Daughters of the Brabanders with Lewis eldest Son of the Flemming William Earl of Holland and Renauld Earl of Guelders Year of our Lord 1333 Pope John XXII had publickly preached at Avignon That the Vision or Joyes of the Blessed Souls and the Pains or Torments of the Damned were imperfect till the final day of Judgment and endeavour'd to make this opinion pass current for the Doctrine of the Church The Faculty of Theology of Paris courageously opposed it He tried to get them to own it by two Nuncios whom he sent to them the one was the General of the Cordeliers the other a famous Jacobin Doctor The most Christian King did not judge the Pope to be infallible but order'd the question to be discuss'd by Thirty Doctors or the Faculty of Theology who confounded the Cordelier Nuncio whereupon a Decree was made and Sealed with their Thirty Seals which he sent to the Holy Father exhorting him to believe those who
affectionate to the Princesses which hapned the Sixth day of January in the year 1386. Year of our Lord 1386 The same year the Widow-Queen and her Daughter going into the Countrey fell into the hands of Horvat Governour of Croatia one of King Charles's Partisans or Confederates who to revenge the death of his Master caused the Widow and the Murtherer Gato to be massacred He kept the Princess some time then sent her to Sigismund having first obliged her by all sorts of Oaths to pardon him Sigismund did not think himself bound by her promises and therefore having surprized him made him dye amidst a thousand torments Year of our Lord 1386 The news of Charles's Murther being brought into Italy Thomas de Sanseverin caused Lewis II. eldest Son of the deceased Duke of Anjou to be proclaimed King and Clement VII to be owned Pope Afterwards Marguerite the Widow of Charles being retired to Cajeta with Ladislaus or Lancelot her Son aged about Ten years he reduced almost the whole Kingdom and Naples it self Thus all things went on smoothly for Lewis till Mary de Blois his Mother and Governess having sent Clement de Montjoye Nephew to Pope Clement with the Title and Authority of Vice-Roy the Sanseverins thinking themselves under-valued were alienated from her Service and turned to Ladislaus Year of our Lord 1386 In the mean while Lewis was put into possession of Provence and invested with the Kingdom of Naples by Clement but it was not without great trouble before the Provensaux would acknowledge him the Kings Counsel themselves inciting them underhand to a Rebellion upon divers motives because they would have disposed them to give themselves up to France After Five or Six years Truces and petty Wars the Council resolved to attacque the English not in Guyenne only but even in their own Island For this end they made the most formidable preparations of Men Engines and Ships that ever yet were seen They bought up or hired all the Vessels they could light on from the Ports of Sweden to those in Flanders they built a City of Wood which was to be taken in pieces to shelter themselves upon their Landing The King went to Sluyce to take a view of his Army and Navy consisting in Nine hundred Vessels The Duke of Berry's envy and jealousie retarded the progress he would needs break the design because he was not the contriver In order to which he made them wait for him till the Fourteenth of September when the Seas began to appear un-navigable So the Forces drew off into Quarters part of this numerous Fleet were scattered by Tempests the English pickt up many that were wrack'd or stragled Year of our Lord 1386 There was no reason to trust the Duke of Bretagne too much because of his too many Obligations to the English and the consideration that their suppression must he his ruine wherefore they warily minded his actions but he to justify himself laid Siege to Brest which they yet held as a bridle to Bretagne The Constable assisted him in the undertaking the place was mightily streightned but when they were at the last gaspe the Duke of Lancaster who was going into Spain with great Forces made them raise the Siege The occasion of his voyage was this Ferdinand last King of Portugal had no Child but a Daughter born of a Lady whom he had taken from her Husband He caused this Girl to be owned as his presumptive Heyress as likewise the Mother had been owned Queen and married her to John King of Castille who was a Widower and had two Sons but when he died the principal Cities of Portugal apprehending the Castillan bondage had more mind to have a bastard Brother of Ferdinands for their King his Name was John Froissard names him Denis thorow a mistake instead of saying he was Grand Master of the Order D'Avis The fortune of the War was favourable to the Bastard he gained a Battle at Juberot against his adversaries the Castillans having out of an ugly jealousie suffer'd the Gascons and French to be defeated who took their part with above Eight thousand Men and then were afterwards themselves defeated Notwithstanding this advantage it was to be feared the Castillan would be able yet to crush them and therefore the Bastard sent to the Duke of Lancaster inviting him to come and pursue the right he had to the Kingdom of Castille as on the other hand the Castillian had recourse to France Year of our Lord 1386 The Duke of Lancaster passed therefore into those Countreys with a huge force conquer'd a part of Castille and struck such a terror into all the rest that King John made some overtures of Peace but he spun out the Treaty awhile expecting the French succours when he sound those did not come the Duke of Bourbon their Conductor marching very slowly he concluded the Treaty the Duke of Lancaster Sealed it by the Marriage of two of his Daughters one with the King of Portugal and the other with the Castillans eldest Son This little piece of Honour cost the English very dear the losses they suffer'd by contagious Sicknesses in Spain and afterwards by Storms in their return were so great that the Duke of Lancaster hardly carried home the sixth part of his Men and not one but in a languishing condition half dead with malady and pain At last by a just punishment from Heaven Charles the Wicked who had blown up so many flames and burnt so many entrails with his violent poysons was most cruelly burnt himself He had caused his Body to be wrapp'd all over with Sheets drenched in Spirit of Wine and Sulpher to corroborate the natural heat decay'd by his debauches this took fire I know not by what accident and broiled him to the very bones whereof he died three days after being the First of January in the year 1387. Charles called the Noble his Son succeeded him Year of our Lord 1387 The Constable Clisson and the Admiral John de Vienne had so fill'd the King's Head with the expedition for England that he makes another preparation to execute it this year The state of Affairs was very favourable all England was in combustion against King Richard because he had put mean and vile People into places of the highest Trust who bear all the sway which his Uncles could not endure nor indeed would they have the Power lodged in any other hands but their own Now when France was on the point of making advantage of these troubles the Duke of Bretagne either of intelligence with the English or without thinking of them was cause of interrupting the Enterprize this time as it had been formerly Clisson was then in Bretagne to dispatch the Forces that were at Treguier that they might go and joyn with those at Sluyce but at the same time he was Treating of the Marriage of one of his Daughters with John the Son of Charles de Blois whom he had purposely got out of the hands
the Fortunate Islands a little Island which they named Madera because it was full of Wood or Materials fit for building From thence steering along the exteriour coasts of Africa they there discover'd several large Countries and in time sailed to the East-Indies which till then were unknown at least those parts towards the Sea Pope Martin and after him his Successors bestowed upon the Portugals all those Lands by them discover'd or to be discover'd from the Cape which lies at the end of Mount Atlas to the Indies When the King of England had sojourned some weeks at Paris he laid Siege to the City of Meaux the only place the Dauphin had left upon the Rivers of Seine and Year of our Lord 1420 Marne After a three Months brave defence the Besieged capitulated the ninth of May the Inhabitants had their lives and liberties but all the Soldiers were sent Prisoners to divers places where they let them cruelly perish for hunger The Bailiff named Lewis de Gas had his Head cut off in the Halles at Paris The City taken King Henry went into England to draw over a new supply of Men and Money So great was the fondness of the French for the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples that Lewis Duke of Anjou forgetting those disasters of his Father and Grandfather and abandoning his own Country to the mercy of the English suffers himself to be cajolled by the promises of the Pope and Sforza who called him to dispossess Queen Jane a Princess lost in her Reputation by her continual Galantries Year of our Lord 1421 or Amours The Affairs of Lewis being in a pretty good posture in that Country Alphonso King of Arragon who held the Island of Sicilia undertakes the protection of Jane she having adopted him her Son Sforza does reconcile himself to her and in a word there was nothing left for the poor Angevin but the way to walk home again Year of our Lord 1421 One of the first seeds of division between the English and the Duke of Burgundy was about Jacqueline Countess of Hainault Holland Zealand and Friseland After the death of John Dauphin of France they had Married her to John Duke of Brabant Son of Anthony and Cousin German to Duke Philip but the young Gossip not being satisfied with her second Husband a Man of little merit prosecuted for a Divorce and consederated with some Captains to carry her away as it were by force into England where she Married Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Brother of King Henry This undertaking turned much to the contempt of Philip who besides observed that the English began to treat him with more pride and endeavour'd so to settle their affairs as they might have no further need of him Year of our Lord 1421 The War was very hot in every Province on this side the Loire particularly in Champagne Picardy and in the Countries of Perche Maine and Anjou The Duke of Clarence Brother to King Henry having got together eight or ten thousand Men went and besieged Bauge in Anjou John Earl of Bouchain a Scot and the Mareschal de la Fayette marched to its relief gave him battle and won it He was slain upon the place with two thousand of his Men the rest escaped through the Country of Mayne into Normandy This Earl of Bouchain had brought three or four thousand Men from his own Country to the Dauphins service in recompence he gave him the Constables Sword Year of our Lord 1421 The Field being clearly left to the French the Dauphin accompanied with his new Constable and the Duke of Alenson regained some places in the Countries of Perche and the Chartrain In the mean time Henry being come back from England with a great reinforcement and in a rage and fury for the defeat and death of his Brother did endeavour all that was possible to meet with the Dauphin He marched by Chartres and Chasteaudun lodged in the Suburbs of Orleans and not meeting him in the Field but a violent Dysentery that took off three thousand of his Men he falls upon the City of Dreux which being surrendred upon Composition he goes to rest himself at Paris and sends over his Queen who was great with Child to be deliver'd in England Year of our Lord 1421 Whilst he lay at the Siege of Dreux an honest Hermit unknown to him came and told him the great evils he brought upon Christendom by his unjust ambition who usurped the Kingdom of France against all manner of right and contrary to the will of God wherefore in his holy name he threatned him with a severe and suddain punishment if he desisted not from his Enterprise Henry took this exhortation either for an idle whimsey or a suggestion of the Dauphinois and was but the more confirmed in his design Year of our Lord 1422 But the blow soon followed the threatning for within some few Months after he was smitten in the Fundament with a strange and incurable Disease the acuteness of its pain made him go to Senlis to seek for cure The Queen his Wife was a while before this returned out of England having brought forth a Son to whom they gave the same name as his Fathers Both she and her Husband made their entry with great splendour into Paris and kept open Court at the Louvre upon the Feast of Pentecost each Crowned with their Royal Diadems but the People that went to see the Ceremony had cause to regret regret the liberalities of their ancient Kings and detest the niggardliness or pride of the English who gave them none of their good Cheer nor did vouchsafe to profer them one Glass of Wine The Dauphin in the mean time had besieged the City of Cosne on the Loire and the place had capitulated to surrender if they were not relieved by a prefixed day with an Army able to give them battle The Duke of Burgundy got a great number of Men to go thither the Dauphin being informed of his march did not think fit to stay for him but raised his Siege Year of our Lord 1422 The King of England though already indisposed was gotten into his Litter that he might be present at this memorable Action While he was at Melun his distemper encreased so much that he could proceed no further but made them bring him back to Vincennes where he died the eight and twentieth day of August He had only one Son who was named Henry he left him to the education of the Cardinal of Winchester his Uncle who bred him in England gave the Government of that Kingdom to the Duke of Gloucester and the Regency of the Kingdom of France to John Duke of Bedford to whom he recommended above all things to give content to the Duke of Burgundy never to make any Peace with the Dauphin unless Normandy were yielded to be left in full Soveraignty to the English and not to release those Prisoners that were taken at the Battle of Azincour till his Son were
Apostles had possessed any thing either in common or in particular One Berenger who was Lecturer in their Convent undertook the affirmative and maintained it was an Article of Faith and very far from any thing of Error The difficulty was laid before the Pope at Avignon Whilst he was ordering it to be examined by all the Universities the General Chapter of the Friers Minors assembled at Perouse declared that they would hold to the Decretal of Nicholas which said it was so and as for that abdication of all propriety it was certain that Jesus Christ and his Apostles had taught it both by their Preaching and Example Which having by their Letters signifi'd through all Christendom and all their Doctors teaching the same in their Schools and in their Pulpits John XXII netled for that they had prevented his Judgment declared that the assertion in reference to our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles was erroneous for they might have sold changed or given away the things that were presented to them and for the Friers Minors That the Bull mentioned was not to be understood of things that consumed because the propriety of such things cannot be separate from the use of them but only of immovables For which he forbad them to make any further prosecution or proceedings in the name of the Roman Church For under that colour they troubled many People and often contended with the Prelats All this was but words and air for whether they had the property or simply the use only of the Meat and Drink bestow'd upon them they neither eat nor drank more nor less nor could the Pope have any advantage by it whether it were so or not so These Bulls nevertheless did so anger them that a great many went to the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria with their General Michael de Cesene The others that did not follow them in their Schism however stood stiff in the maintenance of their opinion saying that John XXII was an Heretick in this point Neither was he sparing to them in his Ecclesiastical Censures nor in punishing them with Faggot and Fire A great number of them were burnt in several Countries Anno 1324. and such had a cheap and easie bargain of it that had nothing but their Writings condemned to the Flames as it luckily hapned to Peter John de Serignan one of their Readers in Theology I fear I should fall into the ridicule should I set down the disputes they had about the colour the fashion and the Stuffs for their Cloaths whether they ought to be white black grey or green whether their Hoods or Capouches should be pointed or round large or streight whether their Garment was to sit loose or close to their body long or short Cloth or Serge. We shall only observe that concerning these Debates they were fain to Consult as much with his Holiness hold as many Chapters assemble Congregations publish Books and Manifesto's as if the whole weight and being of Religion and Christianity had depended upon it At the same time Philip Son of the King of Majorca and Cousin to the King of France took a fancy to have this Rule observed in its pure literal sence as not to live but by the labour of their hands and by Alms but to preserve their full liberty to own no Superior and to ramble wherever they pleased The Pope having deny'd him his Request he vented his anger against him in the same terms as the Begards and the Minors of Michel de Cesene The same Spirit of presumption possessed two Monks of the same Order John de Roquetaillade and one Haibalus if at least they were two distinct Persons who undertaking to speak against the abuses of the Court of Avignon and withall to make Prognosticks of Divine Punishments that were to fall upon the Pope and his Cardinals of the coming of Antichrist and the end of the World were detained a long time in Prison by Pope Innocent VI. These fogs thus obscuring the Order of the Friers Minors being dispell'd they soon recovered their credit But the Preaching Friers or Jacobins who had gotten the upper hand in this went and entangled themselves in the Controversy concerning the Immaculate Conception It befell them what we have observed elsewhere in speaking of John de Monteson To which I shall add that they moreover lost the honour and priviledge they had enjoy'd so long while of providing the King with a Confessor of their own Order and the Peoples hatred grew so outrageous against them that some beggerly Rascals having poysoned the Wells and Fountains these were accused as Authors thereof and hardly did they escape the fury of the Populace It would be an easie Task to fill a whole Volume with the wicked Prelats of this Age who sailed and steered by the Compass of the Court and Wind of the World who dishonoured their Profession betray'd the Body of the Church by flattery or sold her for Interest and in fine chose rather to be famous for their Crimes then for their Acts of Piety I shall observe only for the singularity of the Fact that Hugh de Geraud Bishop of Cahors whom Pope John XXII degraded of the Episcopacy for having conspired against him and deliver'd him over to the Secular Power who caused him to be Flayed drawn on a Hurdle and burnt alive The names of those other wicked Pastors deserve as little to be inserted in History as in the Holy Canon But the names of St. Roch born of a noble Family at Montpellier much called upon in a time of Plague of St. Gertrude a Nun at Delft in Holland of St. Peter of Luxemburgh made a Cardinal by Clement VII Pope in Avignon of John Peter Birelli General of the Chartreux and Roger le Fort Archbishop of Bourges of Peter d'Alenson of the Blood of France who enroll'd himself in the Order of St. Francis and was afterwards made a Cardinal much against his will are worthy of and immortal remembrance Besides the Begards the Bisoches and the Frerots who appeared in the former Age and the Flagellants of whom we are going to speak if there had been any other errors in France we might have called them the Off-spring of School-Divinity One John de Paris of the Jacobins Order to whom they had given the nick-name of Point-lasne subtilized I know not what Proposition touching the situation of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist the Bishops William of Paris Gilles of Bourges and another William of Amiens with the Doctors in Divinity having examined him forbid him to teach any more In the fourth Tome of the Biblioth of the Fathers we find that in Anno 1347. the Bishop of Paris together with the Doctors condemned certain Propositions made by one John Mercaeur of the Order des Cisteaux touching Volition and the Will of our Lord the causes of Sin and other such like which sounded but ill In the year 1348. we find that a Doctor named
the Pucelle wounded at the foot of the Wall She was willing to have returned to her own Village after she had executed the two points of her Mission but was overpersuaded by the Soldiery to stay with them which succeeded not so well for her Heaven being not obliged to assist her in what it had not commanded her to undertake That attempt failing the King takes his march towards Berry En passant he recovered Lagny upon the Marne Soon after he made his approach near Burgundy thinking to conclude an Agreement which was Negociating at Auxerre with the Duke but the business was not ripe But his good fortune was put to some kind of stand by the differences at Court which lasted almost a year concerning the Vicounty of Touars which the Lord de la Trimouille had usurped and held Lewis d'Amboise in Prison whose Cause the Constable had taken in hand as being of his Kindred La Trimouille had so prepossessed the Kings mind that he made him turn his Sword against his Constable and by this means gave the English time to breath The raising the Siege of Orleans had not much troubled the Duke of Burgundy if he had not found the Kings success go on with greater speed then he desired He was little less amazed at this suddain revolution then the Duke of Bedford He who had lately scorned his intercession in the Affair of Orleans began to seek and court him with submission and earnest application On the other hand the Kings Agents offer'd him an Accommodation and granted him a Pass-port to come to Paris upon some hopes they had that he would reduce them to the obedience of the King But when he had conferr'd with the Duke of Bedford he found it better to renew with the English who gave him a Blanc and together with that the Countries of Champagne and Brie only the Homage reserved Year of our Lord 1429 and 30. The Duke of Savoy and Lewis de Chalon Prince of Orange and Partisans of the Duke of Burgundy had promised to themselves to share the Country of Dauphine betwixt them Grenoble and the Mountains were to have been the Dukes and Viennois for the Prince Lewis de Gaucour Governor of that Country for the King soon spoiled the Market He gained a great Battle between Colombiez and Anton against the Prince slew and took eight hundred Gentlemen and afterwards seized upon all the places he held in those Countries It is related that in the rout the Prince chose rather to leap into the Rhosne on Horseback Armed and venture to swim over then fall into the Enemies hands Year of our Lord 1429 Towards the end of this year 1429. the City of Sens was reduced to the obedience of King Charles Melun recover'd themselves by shutting their Gates against the Garrison who had been making inroads in Gastinois The Kings kindness to such Cities as returned to him was a great bait for others to do the same Year of our Lord 1430 At his departure from Paris the Burgundian returned to the Low-Country where on the Tenth of January he Wedded in second Marriage Isabella Daughter of John I. King of Portugal Then was it that to grace the Solemnity at Bruges he instituted the most illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece composed only of thirty Compagnions or Knights nor did he quite fill up that number making then but twenty four The King of Spain as Heir to the House of Burgundy holds it an honour to be their Chief and maintains it in all its splendour not only by the great dignity of those on whom he bestows it but likewise by not making it cheap by too great a multitude Year of our Lord 1430 Amongst the many Sieges in every Province that of Compeigne was the most remarkable for the disgrace the Burgundians met with as being forced to raise it and much more yet by the Pucelles misfortune who was there taken Prisoner the Four and twentieth day of May upon their retreat after a Salley made the misfortune hapning to her by the imprudence or else the malice of William de Flavy Governor of the place who shut her out of the Barricado She fell into the hands of a Gentleman of Picardy who sold her to John de Luxemburgh one of the Generals he sold her again to the English for the Sum of Ten thousand Livers ready Money and five hundred Livers yearly pension Year of our Lord 1430 The wonders of this Shepherdess having succeeded so well at Orleans as we have mentioned Renaud de Chartres Chancellor of France the Mareschal de Boussiac and Poton de Saintrailles resolved to go to Rouen upon the faith of a simple Shepherd who told them that God had sent him to lead them into that place but the English having notice of it way-laid and fought them in their march defeated part of them and took Poton Prisoner Year of our Lord 1431 An Arragonian Captain named Francis de Surienne who was in the English Service surprized the City of Montargis after this manner Having made himself familiar with a Damsel who was in Love with the Governors Barber he promised her great Sums of Money and a Contract of Marriage if she would introduce his Men into the place thorough her House which was adjoyning to the Wall The Damsel gained the Barber with the temptation of Money without mention of the other part concerning her Marriage Both of them assisted the English in setting up their Ladders and getting in but the place being once taken they were turned out for fear they might play the same trick again by some bargain for the French and got nothing but scoffs and reproaches for reward Year of our Lord 1431 In exchange the French surprized the City of Chartres by the contrivance of a Fellow that carried Goods in a Wheele-barrow Whilst he pester'd the Draw-bridge with his load of Merchandize a hundred Men running out of a Cellar hard by where they had lain hid that night and upon a Signal by them given the Bastard of Orleans and Gaucour who were within a League hastned thither with three thousand Men. The Garrison without striking a blow sled to Evreux by another Gate Some Burghers made resistance by the example of their Bishop John de Fritigny a zealous Burgundian but he was slain with his Weapon in hand upon the steps of the great Church The Pucelle was a Prisoner of War and they could use her no otherwise without violating the common right of all People But the English too much enraged for their being beaten by a Maiden could not endure her glory who caused their shame They thought to repair their honour by branding her with infamy so that having obliged that remnant of an University which yet remained at Paris to make a Request to their King desiring Justice might pass upon her they carried her to Rouen and accused her in the Ecclesiastical Court for a Witch a Seducer an Heretick and one that had forfeited her
Kingdom This year he held a great Assembly of Notables and Deputies of the Lords of the Estates at Orleans where it was resolved that a Peace should be endeavoured without which all designs for reformation would be useless and indeed impossible and that in the mean while the Souldiery should be all reduced into Companies established and well regulated every Gentdarm to three Horses who should be paid every Month. Before this they had seven or eight and a great number of Roguy-boys who devoured all the Country where-ever they passed Year of our Lord 1440 This reform could not be pleasing to the Grandees nor Captains who grew fat by eating up the People whose misery was their happiness They interrupted it by a dangerous Commotion which was named La Praguerie The Dukes of Alenson Bourbon Vendosme the Bastard of Orleans and divers others had a hand in it They complained that the King allowed no share in his Government but to three or four private Persons and thereupon entred into a League against his Ministers La Trimouille who was in disgrace joyned also with them that so he might by any means whatever be brought into play again at Court Year of our Lord 1440 The Conspiracy being made the Duke of Alenson hies to Niort to debauch the Dauphin who was his Godson aged but Sixteen years but Married already to Marguerit Daughter of James I. King of Scotland and turned away the Count de Perdriac his Governor and all those the King had placed about him The King ran immediately to quench this new lighted Fire after he had well provided his Frontiers against any attempts of the English he takes the Field accompanied with his Constable the Earls de la Marche and Dunois whom he had drawn off from that League with eight hundred Men at Arms and three thousand others He pursued the Leagued so smartly into Poitou and from Poitou into Bourbonnois taking all the places where they thought to stand at Bay and make Head that they were forced to give up his Son to him and come and beg his pardon on their knees Year of our Lord 1440 A marvellous change Charles Duke of Orleans who was detained Prisoner in England for five and twenty years was delivered from captivity by that hand from which he had the least hopes in the world to expect it It was by Philip Duke of Burgundy who desiring to put a final end to the mortal quarrel between his Family and that of Orleans by a principle of goodness as generous as it was politique contrived the deliverance of this Prince and helped him to pay his Ransom which was three hundred thousand Crowns These two Princes by a sincere and cordial Reconciliation quenched the mortal Enmities their Fathers had begot Philip received Charles with great honour in his Year of our Lord 1440 City of Graveline the Twentieth of November gave him his Order of the Fleece and accepted the Order of the Porcupine from him Moreover Charles Married his Niece Daughter of his Sister and of Adolph first Duke of Cleves In fine each strove to shew the other all the marks and tokens of the most sincere and perfect amity Amongst the Mareschals of France there was one Giles Lord de Raiz of an illustrious House and very valiant but a great squanderer of Wealth whose mind was so depraved that he addicted himself to all sorts of Vice and Sins both against God and Nature entertaining Sorcerers and Enchanters to find out Treasures and corrupting young Boys and Girls whom he afterwards Murther'd that he might have their Blood to compound his Charm and Spells This being a publick Scandal he was put into the hands of Justice the Bishop of Nantes made his Process the Seneschal of Renes Judge-General of that Country assistant the Cause being of a mixt nature He was condemned to be burnt alive in the Field of Nantes The Duke was present at his Execution but mitigating the Sentence he permitted them first to strangle him and then to bury his Body not much consumed by the Flames I think I do remember in his Process that there was some Crime of State against the Duke who was glad he had this occasion to revenge that offence in punishing those hainous offences against Almighty God Year of our Lord 1441 The King had laid Siege before Pontoise which charge the Parisians were to defray The City having been re-victualled three or four times by Talbot the honour of the English Commanders his heart seemed to fail and he withdrew to Poissy but observing this retreat despicable he courageously returns commanded a general assault and by his presence so animated his People that he carried it by main strength That done he went to clear all the Country of Poitou and Angoulmois of those Robbers that infested them and to effect this he turned all the pilfering Captains out of their places and put honest Men in their steads Returning thence he came to keep his Court at Limoges during the Feast of Pentecost where he received the Duke of Orleans and his Wife and gave him 160000 Franc's towards the payment of his Ransom and six thousand Livers Pension From thence he went to Gascongne saved Tartas which had Capitulated to surrender to the English if they were not relieved by a prefix'd day He presented himself Year of our Lord 1442 before the place on the Eve of St. John's day with so considerable an Army that the Enemy durst not appear St. Sever was forced Dacqs compounded so did Marmande and la Reole But so soon as the King had but turned his back the English by correspondence regained Dacqs and St. Sever. The King spent the Winter at Montauban Year of our Lord 1442 which was so sharp that all the Rivers in that Country were frozen up and kept the Soldiers in their quarters not able to stir abroad Year of our Lord 1442 Whilst he was there he secured himself of the succession to the Earldom of Cominges Matthew de Foix had for his fourth Wife Married Jean who was the Countess of it As she was very aged and had no Children by him he kept her Prisoner in a Castle to compel her to make a donation of all she had to him The King having received the good old Womans complaint fails not to take this advantage for himself and at the same price delivers her and brings her into his Court. Year of our Lord 1443 Dying shortly after in Poitiers the Earl of Armagnac who had at his second Marriage wedded a Daughter of hers by another Husband seized upon her Lands He did not hold them long the Dauphin Lewis going into that Country ensnared him with fair words and clapt him in Prison as also his Wife and his Children The Earl of Foix by his intercession got him out again but not without much trouble and a surrender of all the Lands he had usurped Year of our Lord 1443 The Eight and twentieth of the Month of August John V.
Year of our Lord 1465 days after This was the 4 th of January In hatred towards that good Prince and in prejudice of the pretensions he had to Milan the King had a little while before acknowledged Francis Sforza for Duke of Milan and with that had not only given up to him all the right the French had to the Seigneury of Genoa But had also remitted and given him Savona which he yet held declaring to all the Princes of Italy that whosoever should assist the Genoese against Sforza should be his enemy So that Sforza by the support of his great name made himself master of Genoa and of all that Signeury Year of our Lord 1465 The Author of the Antiquities of Orleans says that the River of Loire was Frozen this year in the Month of June If this prodigie were true we must needs conclude it proceeded from a natural cause since Chronology demonstrates to us that the thing upon which he would have it to be a Miracle could not happen in that time as he hath put it The Breton having dispatched his Ambassadors to Tours to demand the Term of three Months carried his practises on so cunningly that his League was ready for their purpose before the King had discovered any steps of it The Dukes of Bourbon and Alenson all the other Princes of the Blood except the Counts d'Estampes de Vandosme and d'Eu almost all the Grandees and all the late Kings old Captains were in it amongst others the Duke of Nemours and the Counts of Armagnac of St. Pol of Dunois of Dammartin who made his escape from the Bastille through a hole the Mareschal de loheach the Lords D'Albret de Bueil de Gaucour and de Chaumont d'Amboise They called it a League For the Publick Good because the Princes gave it that fair pretence While the King was at Poitiers the Bastard d'Armagnack Siezed his only Brother Charles and carryed him into Bretagne All the zealous Servants of the Deceased Charles his Father flocked in to him and got him to write a Manifesto to all the Princes of France inviting them to unite with their Party for the easing of the People and the reformation of the Kingdom After the King had attempted in vain to reclaim them by fair promises and flattering words he went to strike the first blow at them who had the first declared themselves These were the Dukes of Bourbon and Dammartin who had begun the War in Berry Bourbonnois and Auvergne All Berry submitted except Bourges which was guarded by the Bastard of Bourbon Rion in Auvergne waited a Siege and sustained it John Duke of Nemours the Count d'Armagnac and Charles Sire d'Albret brought a considerable reinforcement to the Duke nevertheless he gave Ear to a Treaty with the King promising to summon his Confederates to a Peace and to abandon them if they would not accept of reasonable conditions Nemours gave his positive word to the King to side with his Party but he kept it not and the King kept the Oath he made to himself to be revenged in time and place convenient Year of our Lord 1465 In this Country the King had notice that the Count of Charolois had taken the Field with the Duke his Fathers leave who had assured him when they parted that if he fell into any danger he should not want an Hundred Thousand Men to bring him out again He knew likewise that this Count had fifteen Hundred men of Arms eight Thousand Archers and a great equipage of Artillery and Waggons that he had made his Rendevous before Paris and that the Duke of Bretagne and Monsieur were to joyn him Year of our Lord 1465 The Charolois sent the fairest pretence in the World before him the Abolition of Imposts and the publick good He burned the Seats of those Officers at all the places of Receipts and tore their Registers paid the expences of his Soldiers and kept them in good Discipline If this good order could have held all had been his own or if the Breton had come at the time appointed they had been Masters of Paris there being few Soldiers in it and many male-contented and lovers of Novelties The fear of losing Paris made the King leave his other game to get to Paris before the Charolois As soon as he had repassed the Loire the Duke of Bourbon Dammartin Nemours and Albret broke their words with him and having gotten together ten Thousand men marched to joyn with the other Confederates The Lords of the League were all to be at St. Denis towards the end of the month of June the Charolois waited for them ten or twelve days and in the interim attempted the Suburbs of Paris by several Skirmishes When he found none stirred in his favour and that he had no certain news of them nor of the Bretons march he was in great perplexity and thought to retire back again Nevertheless the Vice-Chancellor Romille a Normand and very subtil shewing him from time to time Letters from his Master which he wrote upon blanks Signed before wrought so far that he engaged him to pass the River Seine over the Bridge at St. Cloud to go and joyn the Breton towards Estampes where he thought to have met him He quartered that day at the Village of Lonjumeau his advanced Guard at Montlehery The King returning from Berry kept the same Road and came to Quarter at Chastres a League on this side of Montlehery Both Armies were mightily surprised to find themselves so near each other The Kings design was to slip aside and reach to Paris without hazarding a Battel but Peter de Breze Grand Seneschal of Normandy concerned that he should ask him whether he had not given his Hand and Seal to the Princes engaged them to fight where he was killed one of the very first Thus hapned it to be a rencounter rather then a Battel It was on Tuesday 16 th of July near Montlehery from whence it took Year of our Lord 1465 name Both Armies to speak properly had the worst and neither of them any advantage The Kings left Wing and the Burgundians right were broken and in the rout the fright was so great that there were run-aways both of the one and other Party that posted it for fifty Leagues together without baiting or looking behind them each of them declaring they had lost the Battel on their â—â—de The two Chiefs fought Valiantly in person the Burgundian was twice near being taken Prisoner or slain In the Evening the King tyred with being on Horse-back all the day was conducted by the Scotch-men of his Guards to the Castle of Montlehery His men seeing him no more believed him to be dead And the Count du Mayne and the Lord de Montauban withdrew themselves with Eight Hundred Lances The Burgundian Army being half broken all in a Consternation fearing a new Engagement the next day which they could not have sustained the Principal Officers were in deliberation to dislodge that
d'Imbercourt They likewise called in the Bishop of Liege the Duke of Cleves and the Son of the Count de St. Pol. They were all divided about the marriage of the Princess Ravastein desired to have her married to his Nephew the Son of the Duke of Cleve The Chancellor Hugonet and the Lord d'Imbrecourt to the Dauphin and the Gauntois to some German Prince The Deputies from these were gone to the King of France in behalf of the States of Flanders and said they had full power to negociate a Peace The King shewed them maliciously some Letters from the Princesses Council which mentioned the quite contrary Their brutish Pride believed the Council plaid upon them and prompted them immediately to revenge As soon as they were return'd to Gaunt they laid hold on Hugonet and Imbercourt made Process against them under pretence of some concussions and cut off their heads not being moved with the humble Prayers and Intreaties or the abundant Tears of their Princess who with dishevel'd Hair came to the place of Execution to Implore the Lives of her two faithful Servants With the same fury they took away Ravastein and the Dutchess Dower from her gave her a Council of their own chusing and drew Adolph of Guelder out of Prison to command their Forces Ever since the War for the Publick Good the King had always had a Mortal desire for revenge against James de Armagnac Duke of Nemours This Lord after the Death of the Count d'Armagnac had retired himself into the strong Castle of Carlat in Auvergne in the year 1476. Peter de Bourbon-Beajeu had order to take him He could not have compassed it by force he makes use of fraud giving his Faith he should have no hurt yet nevertheless he brings him to the Bastille About seven or eight Months after the Parliament had orders to proceed against him Those men of honesty could not find any thing charged upon him sufficient to make him Guilty the King sends them to Noyon the 20 th of June to teach them their Lesson and put out of their places such Counsellors as refused to conclude he deserv'd Death The rest returning to Paris Chancellor Peter Doriole presiding they condemned him the 4 th of August to lose his Head and the same day the Sentence was put in Execution The King would have his two Sons who were yet but Children stand under the Scaffold that their Fathers Blood might run down upon their Heads Year of our Lord 1477 The Flemmings and the Duke of Bretagne earnestly Sollicited the King of England not to suffer the Heiress of Burgundy to perish without assisting her but the King amuzed him still with the Marriage of the Dauphin to his Daughter and spared neither Presents nor Pensions to all that were about the King who besides was over-burthned with Fat too much addicted to his pleasures and who feared dangers greatly because he had greatly suffer'd His Brother George Duke of Clarence having medled too much in his affairs or for some other cause which was never known fared but very ill he caused him to be drowned in a But of Malmesey In these times Oliver le Daim the Kings Barber who made himself a man of great importance had taken a Commission to reduce the City of Gaunt thinking he had much Credit amongst them because he was a Country mans Son of those parts The Gauntois baffled him as he deserved Retreating thence he by surprize got the Kings Forces into Tournay that from thence he might molest the Flemmings The Gauntois having taken Arms went Head-long to attack this place But they were ill handled and Adolph de Gueldres killed in their retreat This was about the beginning of July Year of our Lord 1477 It had been their design that he should Marry the Princess who very glad to be so deliver'd from him resolved in fine to determine which to take of the many that aimed to get her She therefore chose Maximillian Son to the Emperor Frederic to whom she had plighted her Faith in her Fathers Life time The Marriage was Consummated at Gaunt about the end of July He was so poor that his Wife was forced to be at the charges for the wedding for his Equipage and the maintenance of his Servants At first she got no advantage by a Husband who had no assistance from his Father very covetous nor his Uncle Sigismond rich enough in money but of a very poor Spirit Nevertheless upon the consideration of his Father who was Emperor the King being entred into some Conferences with him found it fit to grant him Truce for a year and to restore to him Quesnoy Bouchain and Cambray which were in the Territories belonging to the Empire Others say they drove out the French Garrisons and rendred themselves to Maximillian The Lord de Craon this was George de la Trimoville who commanded the Kings Army in Burgundy treated the Prince of Orange ill and did not restore him to his Lands as the King had promised notwithstanding he had express orders This was the cause that the Prince joyned himself again with Claude de Vaudrey and some other Noble-men of the Country and led away almost all the Province from him It is true that the Battel he afterwards lost nigh Montguyon brought back the Dutchy but the War did not end there as to the County Amongst other events the Lord de Craon shamefully raised the Siege before Dole The King was so angry that for this and his plundrings he set him aside and put Charles d'Amboise Chaumont in his place This man laid the foundation of the first League which the Kings of France have had with the Swisse He stipulated that the King should give a Pension of 20000 Livers yearly to the Cantons and as much to some particular people for which they should furnish him with six Thousand men to be paid by him and should give him the first Rank amongst all their Allies at which they made some difficulty because the Duke of Savoy had ever held it The Truce being expired Maximillian caused some Forces to enter Burgundy who more by the Factions of the People that regretted their ancient Princes then by their own proper strength took Beaune Chastillon Bar Semur and divers other places with so great facility that if the Emperor Frederick had assisted his Son never so little he had at that time re-conquered all the Dutchy The Lord d'Amboise who had money and men in abundauce chased them almost as easily out again as they gotten in and thereupon the Truces were renewed for some Months The Kings of France had for a long time had a good number of Gentlemen Pensioners to attend and to Guard them King Lewis encreased the number and gave them a Captain ✚ His impatience to know speedily all that passed in every part of his Kingdom was the occasion of setling the Posts and Couriers who for a long time were only for the Kings Service Italy had divided it self in
Anno 1436. being Aged but 14 years and then Anno 1451. Charlotte Daughter of Lewis Duke of Savoy The first he loved not much by reason of some secret imperfection neither had he any Children by her She died in the year 1445. He would have visited the Second as little had it not been for the desire of having an Heir he had three Sons by her of which Charles only Survived him who Reigned divers even suspecting that this had been suppos'd and three Daughters Lowise Anne and Jane Lowise died young Anne was wife to Peter de Bourbon Lord of Beaujeu and as for Jane the Father constrained Lewis Duke of Orleance to Espouse her and to Consummate the Marriage whereof he made his secret Protestations CHARLES VIII Called The AFFABLE AND THE COURTEOUS King LV. Aged XIII Years II. Months POPES SIXTUS IV. one year under this Reign INOCENT VIII Elected the 29th of August 1484. S. Eleven years wanting one Month. ALEXANDER VI. Elected the 25th of August 1493. S. II. years and some days whe reof five years under this Reign Year of our Lord 1483 THe Deceased King had by his last Will left the Government to the Dame de Beaujeu his Daughter without mentioning the Regency because his Son was entring into his fourteenth year Two Princes of the Blood Lewis Duke of Orleans and John II. Duke of Bourbon disputed it with her and maintained that King Charles ought to be counted a Minor seeing the weakness of his Complexion and his not being well Educated his Father haing always kept him shut up in the Castle of Amboise bred amongst inferior Servants Lewis pretended to it as first Prince of the Blood but himself was not yet come to Majority and the Duke of Bourbon as having married the Kings Aunt and esteeming himself more worthy and proper for it then a Woman who in France were not thought capable to Govern since they were not held fit to Reign The three Competitors not able to agree whose right it was referred the contest to the General Estates and the Kings Coronation to the following year Year of our Lord 1483 In the interim a Council of fifteeen was chosen whereofso m were put in by one Prince some by another but they were all such as belonged to the former Court and bred up to ill Maxims who having learned nought but what was indeed Evil could produce nothing that was really good Year of our Lord 1484 In the Month of January the Estates Assembled at Tours The King attended by the Princes of his Blood and all that were Eminent in the Kingdom went thither William de Rochefort his Chancellor open'd it the fourteenth of the Month in the great Hall belonging to the Arch-Bishop It was there ordained that the King since he had attained the Age of fourteen should be reputed Major That he should preside in the Council the Duke of Orleans in his absence and in case he failed the Duke of Bourbon That the Dame de Beaujeu should have the Government of the young King for whom a Council of Twelve persons should be chosen consisting of Princes of the Blood and others of the most considerable in the Nation In the mean time the Constables Sword was given to the Duke of Bourbon Governments and Pensions bestowed upon the Duke of Orleans and the rest of the Princes Never had they so fair an opportunity to rectify abuses and raise up strong Bulwarks against all oppression But the President of the Estates many Ecclesiasticks the Deputies of the City of Paris and some others suffered themselves to be deluded Sailed and Steered by the Court-gale and Compass and betray'd the publick cause They could not however hinder them from annulling most of the Acts made by Lewis XI from exclaiming against his excessive gifts from setting a Brand-mark upon the memory of those that had been the Executors of his injustice nor from discharging the People of a great part of their Taxes and Soldiers Quarter'd upon them Year of our Lord 1482 This meeting of the Estates being over the Attorney General of the Parliament upon certain Accusations made process against two of the most Rascally Insolent Ministers of the late Kings These were Oliver le Diable Barber to Lewis XI and John Doyac This Oliver had changed his Surname very suitable to his behaviour into that of Daim and bare the Title of Earl of Meulanc Doyac was a Fellow of the same stamp and yet his Master had made him Governor of Auvergne The first was trussed up on the Gallows the second lost his Ears and was Whip'd first at Paris then at Montferrand in Auvergne the place of his Nativity There were perhaps others more Guilty but there were none more odious and besides they had spoken ill of the Princes Doyac having secur'd his money regained his Credit upon the Expedition into Italy having been very serviceable in contriving to convey the great Guns over the Hills Year of our Lord 1484 Francis II. Duke of Bretagne had one about him of the very same Mettal as impudent and much more wicked yet then these but withal more crafty and able Peter Landais a Taylors Son of the Suburbs of Vitre He governed his Prince above fifteen years and had raised up People of his own Quality and some of his Kindred to places of Trust amongst others the Guibez Sons of his Sister for which cause the Lords did much envy him But this was only whisper'd from one to another all the time the Duke was in Health and Vigour but when his Senses began to grow weak and fail him it proceeded to Intrigues and then to Factions to ruin him Especially when he went about to support himself by Crimes and had cruelly suffered the Chancellor John Chauvelin and James de Lespenay Bishop of Renes to be starved in Prison It happened therefore that in the time they were holding the Estates at Tours the Lords of the Country assumed the confidence to try to force him away from the Duke but having missed their enterprize he let loose all the Authority of his Prince against them and reduced them to the troublesome necessity of defending themselves The Duke of Orleans who was then at Tours having a design in his Head of acquiring Bretagne by marrying the Dukes Eldest Daughter goes Year of our Lord 1484 down into that Country to proffer this Fellow his assistance persuading himself that by obliging him in this manner he might help him to that great Match The Lords would willingly have taken shelter under the Protection of this young Prince in whom appeared many signs of Probity and Honour But Landais having Year of our Lord 1484 fore-stalled them they made their Addresses to the Dame de Beaujeu his Enemy who presently espoused their cause This fire lying hid for some years under its ashes did at last break forth to the ruin of Bretagne Year of our Lord 1484 The 5 th day of June King Charles was Crowned at Reims with
themselves against the revolted it had been easie for King Francis to have regained that Kingdom but he did not dream of it till the Spring following and then he sent an Army thither commanded by Andrew de Foix Lord de L'Esparre Brother of Lautree who recover'd it all in few days He met Year of our Lord 1521 no resistance but at the Castle of Pampelonna who stood out till he battered them and then surrendred upon Composition Innigo de Loyola d'Ognez a young Gentleman of Guipuscoa who had put himself into the Castle with some other Volunteers was wounded upon the Walls with a Splinter by a Cannon Shot which broke his Thigh and made him Lame all his Life After which being retired to his own House he was touched with a most fervent Zeal and Devotion and was afterwards Institutor and Head of the great and famous Company or Society of Jesus which hath extended it self into all the Parts of the World L'Esparre instead of satisfying himself with Navarre and putting it in a good Posture entred upon Castille and besieged Logrogne The Vice-Rois who returned from subduing the Rebels and who nevertheless would not have thought of assaulting him if he had not first fallen upon their Country marched Year of our Lord 1521 directly to him to fight him Now his Lieutenant General Saincte Colombe having cashier'd part of his Men that he might put half by his false Musters into his Pocket he found himself too weak and retired near Pampelonna And there he committed a second Fault greater then the first for without staying for a re-inforcement of six thousand Men who were coming to him out of France he rashly gave them Battle and was beaten for his Pains and so grievously wounded in the face that he remained blind Pampelonna and all the rest of the Kingdom was lost in as short a time as it had been reconquer'd The Emperors Councel to prevent the Revolts of the Nobility of the Country affectionate to their Natural King caused all the Castles to be demolished and dismantled all the Towns excepting Pampelonna du Pont de la Reine and d'Estella Year of our Lord 1521 This War did not contravene to the Treaty of Noyon since the six Months were expir'd but there were otherguess Subjects of hatred between Charles and Francis For this last complained that Charles did not pay him the hundred thousand Crowns as he had promis'd by the Treaty of Noyon for the maintenance of his Daughter and by consequence that he had no mind to compleat the Marriage That his Agents had spoken ill of him in the Diets and in the Courts of the Princes of Germany That he had debauched Philbert de Chaalon Prince of Orange from him and that he cabaled in Italy to put the Dutchy of Milan in disturbance Charles on the contrary was angry that he had taken under his Protection William Duke of Gueldres a sworn Enemy to his House and to the Low-Countries and said that he unjustly detained from him the Dutchy of Burgundy Francis was the more forward to undertake because he levied Subsidies as he pleased whereas Charles could get no Money without a great deal of trouble the Kingdoms of Spain and the Low-Countries having yet in those Times all their Liberties and Priviledges entire but then he was a much better Manager and made but very few idle Expences In such a disposition were they towards each other that nothing could be able to prevent them from coming to Daggers-drawing but a third Party The King of England kept himself Neutral enough and designed only to be Arbitrator The Pope did not do the same for he first Treated a private League with the King wherein he obliged himself to assist him for the regaining the Kingdom of Naples for his second Son upon condition he should bestow a part thereof upon a Nephew of the Holy FAthers and that the other Part during the Minority of the young Prince should be governed by a Legate from the Holy See Year of our Lord 1521 This was to speak properly to keep it all for himself Then three Months after he changed his Mind and turns to the Emperor's side Some believed he did this as burning with a desire of regaining Parma and Piacenza which Julius II. had possessed himself of though unjustly Others said it was that he was angry they did not receive his Bulls at Milan with submission enough nay that sometimes they rejected them with scorn Whatever it were he entred into a League with the Emperor for the mutual defence of their Countries to re-establish Francis Sforza in the Dutchy of Milan and to recover the Dutchy of Ferrara for the benefit of the Holy See to which it appertained The Lord de Chevres who was then at the Diet of Wormes having heard of this Treaty which was made without his knowledg died of grief repeating these Words often Ah! what a World of Mischiefs His Brother the Archbishop of Toledo whom he had taken along with him went out of this World sometime before him The King being at Remorentine in Berry upon Twelfth day as he was sporting and in jest attacked the Count de Sainct Pol's House with Snow-Balls who with his Companions were defending it with the same Artillery it infortunately hapned that a Fire-brand thrown by some hot-brained fellow hit him on the Head and grievously wounded him for which they were forced to cut off his Hair Now he having a very large high Fore-head and besides the Swiss and Italians wearing short Locks and long Beards he found this Fashion more pleasing to his Fancy and follow'd it His example made all France coppy this Mode who held it till the Reign of Lewis XIII when by little and little they shortned their Beards and let their Locks grow till at last they left neither Hair on the Cheeks nor on the Chin and Nature not being able to furnish them with a stock so thick and long as they fancied would be most becoming they have thought it best shave their Heads and wear Perruques of Womens more delicate and longer Hair for Ornament Year of our Lord 1520. 21. Now here begins the event of the Melancholly Prognosticks of the Lord de Chevres Robert de la Mark Lord of Sedan and Duke of Bouillon having suffer'd disgrace in the Court of France because of the many Robberies committed by his Gentsdarmes went to the Emperors whither he was enticed by the Bishop of Liege his Brother a man very powerful there Now it hapned that the Emperors Councel received an Appeal from a Judgment which the Pairs of his Dutchy of Bouillon had given in a certain Cause between the Lords de Simay and Year of our Lord 1521 d'Emery Robert being turbulent and impetuous took this for an Affront to his honour and would revenge it He came therefore to the King at Remorentin who was under cure of his Wound and his Wife having before-hand prepared the way reconciled himself to him
to do great things Notwithstanding Philippine gained Victory Moncado the Vice-Roy of Sicilia was there Slain with above twelve hundred of their Bravest Men. This great Success much heightning the hopes of Lautrec did much increase his Negligence many things were already wanting in his Army first water to drink the Enemies having Poisoned that little which was good In the second place Forage for their Horses from whence followed another inconvenience for having sent his Horse to all the Neighbouring Towns those belonging to the Enemies were then strongest and fetched divers little Convoyes into Naples and likewise cut off his Provisions Besides this they sent the Plague into his Army by some People who carried Cloaths thither which were Infected and to all these was added Manifest Defection of Andrea Doria and all those of his House Lautrec foreseeing that his discontent would burst out with some great execution dispatched William de Bellay Langeay to the King to let him know that his Affairs absolutely required he should give all satisfaction and content to a man that was so necessary Langeay passed through Genoa heard the complaints and demands of Doria and reported them to King He had been pacified would they have restored Savonna to the Genoese but the Mareschal de Montmorency who was in favour being interested there for the Imposts that were paid in the Port of Savonna belonged to him The Chancellour who flattered him when the business was brought before the Council rejected the Proposition as Extravagant treated Doria as a Proud and Insolent Person and brought it to a Resolution of Seizing upon him The order for it was given to Barbesieux of the Family de la Roche-Foucaud with the Title of Admiral in the Levant Seas and the Command of fifteen Galleys and some Vessels whereon they Embarqued five or six thousand men for the Siege of Naples But the business was not carried so secretly but he had some hint of it he retires from Savonna where he then was to Genoa Barbesieux went to confer with him told him what Commands he had Doria answer'd That he had taken good care he should not put them in Execution and promised to give up the Kings Galleys but he caused them to be Stolen away basely by Antany Doria and withdrawing to Portofin prefected his Treaty with the Emperour with conditions very advantagious Barbesieux was constrained by this change to remain some while in the River of Genoa and to leave near three thousand of his men to bridle that City He was again stopt almost three weeks by the Pope to besiege Civita-Vecehia and in the mean while Philippine having received orders from his Brother quitted the French and before he went away put some Provisions in to Naples which he could not have done if Barbesieux had been there Year of our Lord 1528 The Supplies he put on Shore were but eight or nine hundred men Commanded by Peter de Navarre Two thirds of Lautrec's Army were already destroy'd by Sickness which no more sparing the Chief Commanders than it did the private Souldiers had carried off the Count de Vaudemont Charles Bastard Brother to the King of Navarre and many other Persons of Note It had some days before Seized likewise upon Lautrec his Officers advised him to retire to Capoua and made it appear that Naples would fall of its self having no other places on the Land that could Support it But he had Vow'd either to take it or die in the Attempt His Stubbornness made the last a truth For his Distemper increasing put an end to his Life and his Enterprize the sixteenth day of the Month of August After his Death the Marquess de Salusses took the Command of those Languishing Forces and continued the Siege for some days not with any hopes of taking the City but to wait for Rance de Cere and the Prince of Malfe that he might be able to make his Retreat to Capoua That City being gained by the Enemy he retired into Aversa They pursued him without Intermission and having defeated a Party of his men upon their Retreat and got a great many Illustrious Prisoners amongst others Peter de Navarra they blocked both him and all his up in that place Being wounded with a Culverin Shot in the Knee he Capitulated promising on his part to do what lay in his Power to procure the Surrender of such Places as the French held in that Country by which means he obtained Life and Liberty for the Garrison to retire but not for himself For he remained a Prisoner of War and died soon after as did likewise fifteen or twenty Eminent Lords and above four hundred Officers or Gentlemen The Prince of Malfé who had taken part with France and Rance de Cere a Roman Barron kept Barletta and some other Maritime Places till the Treaty of Cambray A little before the Death of Lautrec the Duke of Brunswic had undertaken to bring twelve thousand Lansquenets and six hundred Horse to the relief of Naples And the King had given five hundred men of Arms as many Light-Horse and six thousand Foot to the Count de Saint Pol to oppose him in his Passage The Count being informed that Brunswick for want to Pay was returned back again staid in the Dutchy of Milan and having joyned the Confederates Army regained some Places but most of his Troops Disbanding for the same cause as Brunswic's he did not great Exploits In the mean time Andrea Doria knowing the French Garrison in Genoa being reduced to a samll number had Quartered themselves in the Castle by reason of the Plague almost Depopulated the whole City approached with his Galleys and Landing only about six hundred men made himself Master of the place The French Navy fearing to be shut up in the Harbour left it in all hastle and retired to Savonna The Castle held out some Months and was not Surrendred till the following year When Andrea Doria by his Treaty with the Emperour had obtained the sole Authority in Genoa he made use of it very generously to restore it to its Liberty And without attempting or designing to make himself Soveraign of his Native Countrey as the Medicis did in theirs Established a form of Government almost the very same at it is yet to this day He thought such an act of eminent Vertue above the Power and reach of time or Fortune to destory was a much safer way to gain Immortal Fame then with injustice to acquire a petty Soveraignty which every little accident might have overthrown and which he could not have maintained without continual trouble and hazard The Lutherans and the Sacramentaries gained upon the minds of those that were lovers of Novelties by their Writings and Emissaries who crept into the Universities and amongst the curious The Chancellour Duprat lately made Cardinal and Arch-Bishop of Sens assembled a Provincial Council of his seven Suffragans in the Augustin Convent at Paris where he made divers excellent Decrces to stop
with the Queen Mother the Princes of Montpensier and de la Roche Sur-Yon the Guises and all the great ones of the Court went to Orleans after he had quartered his Gent-darmerie and other Soldiers in all the Cities Forty Miles about and disarmed the Citizens of Orleans for the most part tainted with the new opinions and suspected to have intended to deliver it up to the Prince of Condé as they did two years after He forthwith sent Messengers into several Provinces to lay hands upon all such as the Guises had a mind to involve in the Conspiracy an ill omen for the Prince of Condé And indeed as soon as he and his Brother were Arrived and had saluted the King Philip de Mailly Brezé and Francis le Roy Chavigny Captains of the Life Guards Seized him and Convey'd him to a House in the Market place called l'Estape at the Corner whereof they had raised a kind of Bastion of brick with a Platform defended by several Small Cannon The King of Navarre his Brother was not secured but perceived he was very narrowly observ'd and forsaken by all excepting the Admiral and the Cardinal de Chastillon his Brother who faithfully accompanied him Dandelot more apprehensive had retired himself to his Wifes Estate in Bretagne The Dame de Roye Mother in Law to the Prince of Condé was likewise Arrested some few dayes after in his own House and carried to the Castle of Saint Germains en Laye So was Hierosme Grollot Bailiff of Orleans accused of holding Correspondence with the Religionaries and Bouchard Chancellor to the Navarrois was brought from Saint Jean d'Angely as a material Witness that knew the most for the Conviction of the Prince The Order for seizing the Prince was proposed by the Mareschal de Brissac who boldly exposed himself to all for the Guises the King signed it and after him the Chancellor though with regret The Chancellor Christopher de Thou a President in Parliament and two Councellors with the Procuror or Solicitor General Bourdin and the Register Du Tillet went to interrogate him He refused to answer them and said he owned no other Judges then the whole Body of Parliament together with the Pairs and the King there presiding But this appeal and all such others he made afterwards were declared null by the Kings Council and upon the Sollicitor Generals Petition it was order'd that he should answer or that he should be held as fully Convict and that in the mean time the Witnesses should be re-examined whereupon he demanded Councel they assigned him two Advocates of Paris Peter Robert and Francis de Marillac He was afterwards confronted with Witnesses which were brought in from all Parts and then saw himself in most eminent danger But the Queen Mother found her Authority in no less hazard for the Guises who thought themselves already above all by the approaching ruine of their Enemy began to slight and despise her of whom they stood no longer in need Grollot being Condemned to die his Sentence was looked upon by all Men as a prejudication and fore-runner of the Princes Now upon the Seventeenth of November the King being ahunting that he might not be present at the Execution of this unhappy man was seized with a heaviness in his head which in some dayes turned to an imposthume voiding it self by his Ear. The first Five or Six dayes the Distemper did not appear so dangerous in the mean time they carried on the Process against the Prince with so much hast and precipitation that stepping over many formalities they Condemned him to loose his Head The Sentence was signed by the greatest part of the Councellors of State and Men of the Robe excepting the Chancellor and the President Guillard de Mortier who observing the encrease of the Kings malady were so crafty as to spin out the Year of our Lord 1560 time and deferr it Amongst all the Knights of the Order and the Lords so much were they devoted to the Guises there was not one but the Count de Sancerre who refused it notwithstanding three express Orders from the King At the same time this terrible Sentence was forging the Physitians who in the case of Persons of so eminent a quality never give their Judgment clearly till the extremity declared that the King was very near his end Then did the Guises do their utmost to oblige the Queen to have the King of Navarre secured likewise but she having taken advice of the Chancellor could not resolve to give her consent That prudent Minister made her very sensible how the detention of those two Princes would necessarily leave and confirm all the Authority in the hands of the Guises whereas she ought to get it all to her self and over-rule both Parties by keeping them in equal balance And indeed both of them dreading her became her suppliants the Princes for their Lives which she had at her disposal the Guises for their Grandeur which she could soon pull down with the assistance of the Princes and submitted themselves to such Conditions as she pleased Anthony promised under his hand to yield the Regency to her which belonged to him as first Prince of the Blood reserving only the Title of Lieutenant General and the Guises swore to serve her for and against all Things being in this posture the King gave up his last gasp of breath the Fifth day of December He was Aged Sixteen years ten Months and a half of which he had Reigned only one year and five Months wanting five dayes He had no Child by Mary Stuart his Wife who the year following returned into her Kingdom of Scotland His Servants because of the Innocency of his manners and disposition called him The King without Vice a Title much more glorious then any other can be bestowed when it hath for it's Foundation not the imbecillity of mind and understanding but Wisdom and Vertue His death hapning favourably for the Princes and for the Montmorancies gave an occasion to their Enemies to say it had been hastned by Ambrose Paré his Chyrurgeon who was a Creature of the Constables and had injected Poison into his Ear. Others but a long while afterwards observing the perverse ambition and the Conduct of Queen Catherine de Medicis suspected her as guilty of that Crime as well as of the death of the Daufin Francis his Brother in Law and of Charles IX his second Son Those that judged with more modesty found the cause to be in himself and said that having been generated of corrupt blood his Mother conceiving him after ten years sterility which proceeded from a suppression of ... he had ever been indisposed especially in his Head which did at no time discharge it self by the ordinary Channels so that the pituitous matter corrupting there caused that Imposthumation whereof he died All the Court Grandees were so busie about the contriving of their own Affairs that neither his Mother nor his Uncle took any care for his
Montmorency being suspected by them When the Parisians had recover'd their Armes again the Prince of Condé was the weaker and durst not Challenge the upper hand or dispute the Wall with the Triumvirs but to salve these sores a Composition was made by means of the Cardinal his Brother That the Heads of both Parties should leave the Town at the same time He therefore retired to his House de la Ferté-Aucou near Mâ—aux and the Duke of Guise went to Fountainbleau where the King was carrying so great a Convoy along with him that he made the Queen quickly sensible his Forces were much more numerous then the Princes She was gone thither amidst her irresolution which she ought to chuse either to cast her self into the Arms of the Prince and follow him to Orleans for he was to be there upon her first notice or to suffer her self to be carried to Paris by the Confederates Either of these made her a Captive the first was the more odious because of the great peril she would have put the Catholick Religion into and the latter appeared to her the more dangerous month March She would willingly have been in a Capacity of keeping them in equal balance on both hands and for that purpose had sent for the Prince who having gotten his friends together was Travelling towards her and had passed over the River at Saint Cloud His approach put the Parisians in Arms as if they might have been besieged by a handful of Men and gave occasion to the Confederates to let the Queen know it was necessary to remove the King to Paris lest he should fall into the Huguenots hands The King of Navarre carried her this unwelcome Message and she seeming to hesitate he told her plainly that if she were not pleased to go along with them she might stay behind She had not leasure to consider upon it but must follow or else loose the Party for at the same moment they carried the weeping King to Melun the next day to Bois de Vincennes and then to Paris Thus were all Addresses from that Queen fruitless and all the prudent Counsels of the Chancellor de l'Hospital which tended but to prevent a Civil War that he foresaw would be inevitable as soon as ever the King was in the hands of either Party Year of our Lord 1562. April In effect the Prince of Condé partly out of spight and revenge for having been deluded by a Woman for so he guessed it partly anger to see his Enemies Masters of the Kings Person and fear likewise of being left to their Mercy or suffer the zeal of his Friends and the Huguenot Party to grow cold ran post hast with two thousand Horse to Orleans where Dandelot had slily seized upon one of the Gates the day before which was the first of April This was as it were the place of Armes and Capital Seat of all his Party Now to keep them in Unity and under good Discipline the only bonds necessary to all establishments he took an Oath from all that were there That they would remain united for the defence of the Kings Person and of the Queens for the reformation and the benefit of the State That they should lead a Life without reproach and Christian-like observe the Laws of the Land and Military Year of our Lord 1562 Rules and should take care to provide Ministers to Preach the word of God to them That they should own him for their Head should obey all his Orders serve him with their Persons and should furnish him with Armes and Money He afterwards wrote to all the German Princes setting forth the cause of his taking up Arms and then sent the Queen Mothers Original Letters to perswade them thereby to send him some Assistance and lend a friendly and helping hand to redeem both the King and her from their Captivity At the same time he published a Manifesto to all the Kingdom to the same purpose and some dayes after sent after it the Copy whether real or supposed of a League made between the Pope the King of Spain and the Guises to exterminate all the Sectaries of the new Religion month April This was a strong motive to draw those Princes to his side who made profession of it and to retain and bind fast to him the Huguenots of France for the Kings Council thinking to dis-unite or lull them asleep by a deceitful security put out a Declaration upon the very same day directed only to their Bailiffs and their Lieutenants which confirmed the Edict of January granted Indemnity for all that was past forbid the molesting or doing them any injury for matters of Religion and gave them the Liberty of exercising the same in all places excepting within the City and Suburbs of Paris When the Prince had declar'd himself the Officers that took his part and the Huguenots of themselves seized upon several Cities as Mans Anger 's Vendosme la Charité upon the Loire Angoulesme Lyons Valence Romans and almost all those in Daufiné a great number of those in Guyenne and Languedoc In Normandy upon Rouen Caen Dieppe Havre de Grace Bayeux Saint Lo Vire Falaise and many others Matignon the Kings Lieutenant in that Province under the Duke of Bouillon who was Governor saved Granville and Cherbourg This was a signal Service for those Ports would have given an easie entrance to the English Wherever the Huguenots were Masters they utterly abolished the exercise of the Catholick Religion overturn'd the Altars broke the Images in pieces burned the Reliques and cast the ashes into the Air Tormented and Massacred the Monks and Priests not observing that equality and moderation herein which they expected should be measured to themselves but rendring their Party execrable to the People by the horrible profanation of all things Sacred The Prince neither by Intreaties nor by Remonstrances nor even by punishment had power to stop their fury which he knew must be very prejudicial to his cause And indeed they were even with them in many Cities where they Massacred huge numbers as particularly at Cahors Sens Amiens and at Beauvais and their pulling down and plundering continuing the Parliament by a Decree of the last of June enjoyned all persons to fall upon them and destroy and slay them in all places wherever they should find them as People that were mad and declared Enemies both to God and Man Though all the Kingdom were in a flame the Chancellor a right good Frenchman endeavour'd to remedy that evil he could not prevent and sought wayes for an Accommodation which did not seem impossible to him since their Forces had not yet engaged nor any Blood as yet been drawn but what was spilt in Tumults and Seditions The Queen consider'd likewise finding the Huguenots Masters of so many places that the Triumvirs might seize upon the rest and so both her Son the King and she might be wholly stripped of all and therefore she sent the Baron de la Garde to find
dispatched to the other World by several sorts of Death and Torments That at Lyons they defended themselves against Tavanes and afterwards against the Duke of Nemours who besieged that City the one after the other That above Fifty Thousand of theirs were Slain as well in Battle as in Tumults Seditions and Up-roars and that where-ever they were strongest they broke or melted all their Shrines Reliquaires and sacred Vessels of Gold and Silver which the Prince Coined into Money with the Arms and Effigies of the King and this made Money much more common in France then ever it had been known before this War The dread the Pope was in lest they should hold a National Council in France obliged him to assemble the General Council of Trent The Cardinal de Lorrain went thither this year upon the fifteenth of November with great equipage accompanied by forty Bishops and a good number of the most learned Doctors His Holyness had some reason to take the Allarm upon it the power of this great Cardinal gave him so much jealousie that he called him the Pope on the other side the Mountains And apprehended hended he would bring the Doctors of the Ausbourg Confession into the Lists For Year of our Lord 1562 he had given some hints and tokens at least in appearance that he did not disapprove their Confession altogether and they well knew that in his passage by Inspruc he had conferr'd with the Emperor So that the Pope as if he had beâ—n to deal with the greatest enemy of the Church Muster'd up all his Forces sent for all the Bishops in his own Dominions where they are very numerous borrowed even of his Neighbours and pray'd the King of Spain to assist him with his to strengthen his party in the Council that he might be able to make head against those of France and Germany Though Philip had lost his cause at Venice about precedency he failed not to revive it again in the Council Claude Ferdinand de Quinones Count de Luna his Ambassador before he would come to Trent had demanded of the Pope what place he should have there the Pope instead of giving a direct answer eluded and referred the decision of that right to those Legates who presided for him in the Council The Cardinal de Gonzague who was chief of them found an expedient to satisfie the Spaniards and not much prejudice the French Which was that the Ambassador of France should keep his place next the Emperor and in their Congregations he of Spain should by provision only have one apart by himself either next to Ecclesiastiques or on a Seat distinct just opposite to the other Ambassadors The Cardinal de Lorrain out of the apprehension he had lest this dispute should break up the Council obliged Lansac the Kings Ambassador to accept of this condition and to allow the Count should have a Seat apart near the Secretary to the Council He took this place therefore and having Commanded his Orator to speak went out the first of any for fear of some dispute at the Door But the difficulty was not determined as to the other Assemblies particularly the Sessions of Council and at solemn Mass where the Seats were not placed in the same manner so that the French demed the Spaniard the like favour there The Legates durst not decide it of their own heads but when they had received Orders from the Pope to give him the like rank at all ceremonies they contrived another expedient Vpon Saint Peters Day the Fathers of the Council being at Chappel there appeared a Seat between the last Cardinal and the first Patriarch and the Spanish Ambassadors sate there They had likewise given private Order to have two Censers that they might give the Incense to the French and him at the same time The French would not suffer it the Divine Service was interrupted the Legates the Ambassadors and some Bishops to prevent the scandal endeavour'd to find a Medium which was that they should omit the giving of Incense c. that day After this Council the same controversie was renewed at Rome by Lewis de Zuniga Requesens Great Commander of the Order of Saint James Ambassador of King Philip Henry Clutin de Oysel who was so for the King courageously maintained the right of France The Spaniard caused divers expedients to be propounded whereby he aimed to preserve an equality but they were all rejected by the French who would not only keep his ancient place and station but would have the Spaniard do so too that is beneath him So that the Pope after he had vainly sought to find out expedients did most solemnly adjudge the precedency contended for to belong to the French and maintained him in the possession of it Which was performed on the day of Pentecost in the year 1564. Requesens having protested against this Judgment and not appearing at the Celebration of that Festival Year of our Lord 1562. November Notwithstanding since that time the Ambassadors of Spain have many times disputed for the Precedency with those of France though for the most part to their own shame as well at Rome as in other Courts of Princes till in our dayes the most August King Lewis XIV upon a contest hapned in England between his and one from Spain obliged Philip IV. expresly to renounce it by an Authentick Instrument in Writing The 12 th of November Dandelot Arrived at Orleans with Twelve Cornets of Reisters making Six and Twenty Hundred Horse and Twelve Ensignes of Lansquenets under them near Three Thousand Men whom the Landegrave of Hesse had furnished him withal and some few dayes before Duras had brought in the Remnants of the Battel de Vere This Crime of bringing strangers into the Kingdom was in some sort excusable in them by the example of the contrary Party who had first caused both Horse and Foot to be raised in Germany by the Rhingrave and Count Rocandolf who were Protestants and had likewise called in some Spaniards which they might very well have let alone since there were above an hundred Catholicks in France for every Huguenot Year of our Lord 1562 The Princes Army being Twelve Thousand fighting men took the Field Their resolution was to go directly to Paris believing that upon the first and sudden fright they might force them before the Triumviri could return or put the Queen in so much dread that she would be brought to a more reasonable accommodation The event made the vanity of this Design plainly appear he could not so much as take the little Town of Corbeil and besides when he was lodged at Arcueil and other neighbouring Villages the Queen engaged him in divers Conferences wherein she pretended mildly to yield to him in divers points to hinder him from falling upon the Suburbs till the Parisians were recover'd from their terrible consternation and to debauch his best Officers amongst which number was Genlis who retired to his own home but yet remained ever a Huguenot
Kings promise the Council were divided upon it The Duke of Nevers Governour for the King beyond the Alpes who was gone to the Bathes d'Acqui in Monâ—â—â—rrat for his wounds sent a long Remonstrance to the King to disswade him from it His main Reasons were the Right of Conveniency and Self-Interest which he confirmed by the examples of many Princes who never did restore what was more advantageoâ—s if kept The King much applauded his Zeal but however whether prompted by generosity and the honour of making good his Word or that he really thought Year of our Lord 1574 Justice was a Virtue that obliged Princes as well as private persons he would needs restore the three places to the Duke of Savoy and ordained Henry Grand Prior of France his Bastard-Brother and Fises Secretary of State to go and make the said Evacuation As for the Duke of Nevers he not only demanded a discharge of his Government beyond the Alpes and an Act importing Tâ—at nothing of this restitution should ever hereafter be imputed to him nor to his but likewise made his protestations in the Council established in those forreign parts and in the Parliament of Grenoble and obtain'd a Decree that his Protest should â—e Registred in those Courts and an Inâ—â—rument for his discharge should be allowed him At the beginning of his Reign the King made several excellent Regulations for the Officers of his House for those that were to come into his Chamber the times to give Audience and Petitions to be presented to him Touching these last he order'd the Petitioners should draw them Ticket-wise in few words which he would answer himself then deliver them to a Secretary of State for their dispatch These Orders held but a short while he grew weary of observing them and they left off presenting any Placets or Tickets to him wâ—â—n they found it was but time lost in addressing themselves to him when such Grants were disposed of by another power There were two parties in his Council the one who above all things labour'd for Peace and the Reformation of the State the other were for exterminating the Huguenots at what rate soever The Chancellor de L'Hospital had been once the Head of the First Paul de Foix Christopher de Thou First President and Pibrac succeeded him in those Sentiments and Inclinations Morvilliers was of the Second a very good Man but addicted to new Devotions and one that follow'd the motions of Forreign Cabals which having their rise in Spain and at Rome made Religion subservient to the exaltation of their own Power This Second Party being found conformable to the interest of the Mother-Queen was the more prevalent and made them resolve on a War against the Hugnenots In Poitou Montpensier besieged Lusignan he could not take it till four Months after and demolish'd it In Daufiné his Son attaqued the little Town of Pousin which interrupted the commerce between Lyons and Marseilles by the River Rhosne as Livron hindred it by Land The place being reduced to extremity St. Romain gets into it Year of our Lord 1574 by broad day-light under the favour of a brisk combat and the night following happily led out all the Soldiers and Inhabitants The next day the Besiegers set it on Fire Being just on the point to besiege Livron the Queen-Mother ordered the Command of the Army to be given to the Mareschal de Bellegarde This was because she would not have all the power in the House of Bourbon and withal she thought by this means to break off the correspondence and amity which was between Bellegarde and Damville whom she had undertaken to ruine It was for this purpose she carried the King to Avignon the better to stir up Languedoc and entangle the said Lord in some artificial Negotiation In this perplexity and confusion of Affairs Galantry was the most serious occupation of the Court. By this means the Queen-Mother bred and maintained continual jealousies between the King of Navarre and the Duke of Alenson and thought likewise to captivate the King her Son with Beauties Fetters The Dame de Chasteauneuf his antient Mistriss and two other Maids belonging to the Queen-Mother seemed to have some little share in his Heart but it was the Princess of Conde that Reigned in full possession there He had resolv'd to Marry her and to that end labour'd to vacate her Marriage with the Prince for his crime of Heresy for she continued still a Catholique ever since the dismal St. Bartholomew Though the Queen had neither perswasive Language nor power enough to prevail with him to lay aside this design yet death came to her aid and cutting the thred of that fair Princesses Life put an end to that pernicious prosecution leaving great cause of doubt to the more suspicious how it should just fall out at that very nick of time The grief the King resented was almost mortal he mournâ—d three whole days without either eating or drinking And when they had prevailed with him to live not by consoling him but by pretending to increase his sorrows it was some time before he would cast his Eyes on any but the most melancholy Objects dark Rooms dejected Countenances wearing even at the taggs of his Rubans and on his Shooe-knots little Deaths-heads then after a while recover'd himself all on a sudden rowzed up his drooping Spirits and was so much ashamed of his own effeminate weakness that he endeavour'd to perswade the world there must have been some enchantment in it Year of our Lord 1574 This death hapned whilst he was yet at Lyons During his stay at Avignon the Court was afflicted for that of the Cardinal de Lorrain Some said it came by a grievous cold he had taken by walking barefoot in the Procession of Penitents others imagined it was from the steams of some poysoned Flambeaux carried purposely before him Bellegarde in the mean time did not much advance before Livron he was forced to detache a party of his Men to go and make head against Montbrun who very much harassed Daufine On the other hand Damville had besieged and taken St. Gilles whence the thundering of his Cannon was heard in Avignon and afterwards having taken Aigues-Mortes by surprize he threatned to pass the Rhosne insomuch as the King finding his Presence in that Countrey only made his Authority seem despicable returned by way of Lyons As he passed along the Camp that was before Livron the besieged railed and called after him in outrageous Language and he had the displeasure of not being able to revenge the insolency His Forces were so shatter'd that he gave Orders to raise the Siege spreading a report that he wanted them to attend and assist at his Coronation Thus he stumbled at the very entrance into his Kingdom and gave his own Aâ—thority and Power so rude a shock as made it ever after in a weak and staggering condition Year of our Lord 1575. January and February He parted from Lyons
that of Prince did secure him of all the Nobility and the best places upon his first arrival Laverdin had promised him to seize upon Mans and Chartres by the assistance of Roquelaure Lieutenant of his Company d'Ordonnance Fervaques was to have done the same at Cherbourg but both of them failed of their Enterprizes month March The Princes Army having cross'd the Bourbonnois joyned the Duke of Alensons near Moulins the Eleventh day of March and both of them mustered in the Plain Year of our Lord 1576. March de Souzé where the Prince having made an excellent harangue to the Duke of Alenson with that Eloquence which is natural to the Princes of that House resigned the Command of the whole Army to him It consisted of above Thirty thousand of the best Men that one should see notwithstanding with these great Forces no great matter was undertaken For the marvellous dexterities of the Queen which the Huguenots termed Enchantments the extravagant and changeable humour and designs of the Duke d'Alenson and the usual rough temper of the Reistres made them halt at every step Withal great discords were crept in among their Chiefs for the Consistorial Huguenots would not conside in the Duke of Alensons Council wholly composed of People both interressed and persidious The Duke had taken some jealousie upon the King of Navarre's going away the Prince of Conde was no less troubled that he was not the Chief Commander of that Army which had been the fruits of his own labour and care And Damville who had formed his Tetracby in Languedoc apprehended to see his Authority swallowed up by the Princes and which was more the Money he had for his own purposes collected in Languedoc and which his Wife had with much care and covotousness locked up as prisoners of the better sort in her own Coffers All joyn'd together they might have had whatever they desired the Duke of Alenson might have obtained a good part of the Kingdom for Appenage and the Princes such Governments and Pensions as they would the Huguenots a firm and solid Peace ☜ and inviolable securities but a way was found out to divide them with baits of particular Interests which however cannot be attained with so much advantage by any other method as a strickt union of the whole party in all its members The most easy to be taken off was the Duke of Alenson as appeared at the Conference they had at Moulins concerning a Peace However nothing was there concluded but only the sending of some Propositions to the King by John de Laffin Beauvais and William Dauvet Darenes After the Council had examined them with great deliberation but without any fruit the Queen-Mother returned a second time to her Strayed Son so she called him who was in the Abbey of Beaulieu near Loches in Touraine taking along with her the Mareschal de Montmorency in whom that Prince had a great deal of confidence and a great Troop of very fine Women whom she set forth in all her Negotiations as Lime-twigs or Nooses to catch those with whom she Treated Year of our Lord 1576 Prince Casimir obstructed the accommodation for some time he obstinately persisting to have the Government of Mets Toul and Verdun in chief and would have had the Churches belonging to the Catholiques to be in common for the Huguenots without the trouble and charge of building any others The Queen-Mother having discoursed him in private found an expedient to stop his Mouth and satisfy him by promising great sums of Money to make him desist from those demands So that the Treaty was finished the Ninth of May and Signed the day following The Edict month May. was drawn the Fifteenth and verified in Parliament the same day the King being present that there might be no cause of delay It were much more advantageous for the Huguenots then the precedent ones for it allowed them the free exercise of their Religion which from that time forward was to be called The pretended Reformed Religion over all the Kingdom without exception either of time or place provided they had the permission of the Lords of those places allowed them places for burial of their dead especially that of the Trinity at Paris Moreover the faculty of being admitted to all Offices and into Colledges Hospitals and Spittles Forbid the making any search or inquisition after such Priests and Monks as were Married amongst them and declared their Children Legitimate and capable of succeeding and inheriting their Estates and Moveables expressed great sorrow and regret for the Murthers committed on the St. Bartholomew exempted the Children of such as were then Massacred from the Arrier-ban if they were Gentlemen and from Tailles if they were Plebeian revoked all Sentences given against la Molle Coconas John de la Haye Lieutenant-General in the Presidial of Poitiers as also those whereby they had condemned the Admiral Brequemaut Caevagnes Montgomery Montbrun and others of the Religion owned the Prince with Damville and his Associates for his good Subjects Casimir for his good Allie and Neighbour and accounted all what they had done as done for his Service Granted to the Religionaries that they might have equal justice done to them Chambers My-Parties in each Parliament and for places of security Beaucaire and Aigues-Mortes in Languedoc Perigueux and le Mas de Verdun in Guyenne Nions and Serre in Daufiné Issoire in Auvergne and Sene la Grand Tour in Provence They promised also to Prince Casimir the Seignieury of Chasteau-Thierry in Principality a Company of an hundred Men at Arms the Command of Forty thousand Reistres Twelve thousand Crowns of Gold in Pension Seven hundred thousand Crowns Year of our Lord 1576 of Silver ready Money for the payment of his Army and Rings and Jewels in pawn for the rest To the Prince of Conde the effectual enjoyment of the Government of Picardy whereof he had the Title already and Peronne for his place of Residence The conditions for the Duke of Alenson were the best they gave him in augmentation of his Appenage the Countreys of Berry Tourain and Anjou with the right of nomination to consistorial Benefices as his Brother Henry formerly had and besides an hundred thousand Crowns Pension month October The greatest difficulty was to find the Money they wanted for Casimir to whom they had assigned the Bishoprick of Langres for Quarters where he lived German-like while waiting for his Pay They sent Peter de Gondy Bishop of Paris to Rome to ask consent of his Holiness to alienate as much as amounted to Fifty thousand Livres Rent of the Demeasnes Ecclesiastical the Holy Father agreed to the Demand and gave a Bull directed to the Cardinals of Bourbon Guise and Est and to some other French Prelates the Parliament verified it but without approving that clause which mention'd That the distraction should be made even manger the Possessors The Duke of Anjou so we shall name him henceforward whom we have hitherto called
each for himself the Duke of Mayenne for his eldest Son and sometimes when he found any difficulty he thought of proposing the Cardinal de Bourbon then after divers agitations of mind he found there could be no better Resolution taken then that which in effect was worst of all and that was to take none at all Whilst he floated amidst these Uncertainties the Parliament of Paris being Assembled upon the Rumour then on wing of the Election of the Infanta made it appear they are infallible when concerned for the Fundamental Laws of the Monarchy of which they have ever had a tender and useful care For they made a grand Decree Ordaining that Remonstrances should be made to the Duke of Mayenne that he would look to the maintaining of those Laws and hinder the Crown from being transferr'd to Strangers and declared null and illegal all Treaties that had already been or might hereafter be made for that purpose as being contrary to the Salique Law Conformably to this Decree John le Maistre who held the place of First President went and deliver'd the Message boldly and shewed him how the Government of Women in France even that of Regents had never produced any thing but ✚ Seditions and Civil Wars whereof he instanced in ten or twelve examples most remarkable amongst which he did not omit Blanche de Castille and that of Catharine de Medicis the principal and almost the only cause of these last Troubles During these Transactions the King causes Dreux to be besieged he took the Year of our Lord 1593 Town upon the first Assault and the Castle afterwards upon Composition but not month June and July without much trouble and time The Spaniards finding by the Decree of Parliament and the loss of this City that the Affairs of the League were beginning to decline did the more press them for the Election of a King and at last in a Council they held with the Duke of Mayenne named the Duke of Guise Never was any Mans astonishment like to that of the Duke of Mayennes the trouble of his Soul appeared thorough all the coverings of dissimulation His Wives indignation was greater yet then his she would have overturned all rather then obey that meer Boy as she called the Duke of Guise In this pressing occasion when he knew not what to reply Bassompierre found out an Expedient for him which putting the business off for a while did in the end dash it utterly in pieces and that was to demand eight days time to give notice of it to the Duke of Lorrain his Master During this delay the Duke of Mayenne set all his Engines at work sometimes with the Duke of Guise to dissuade him from accepting this nomination as a thing ruinous both to him and all the House of Lorrain sometimes with the Spaniards to let them know it was not yet the Season for it and in fine with the Estates to incline them to his Sentiments His attempts proved altogether ineffectual upon the two first especially the Spaniards of whom it was reported they had endeavour'd to persuade the Duke of Guise his Nephew to kill him as being the only Remora to his Advancement But as to the Estates he plaid his part so successfully amongst them that they consented to the drawing up an Answer the Twentieth day of July By which the Duke and the Lorrain Princes most humbly thanked the Catholick King for the honour he did their House protesting they would ever persevere in their acknowledgments and a willingness to serve him and declared they were ready to promise before the Legat to persuade the Estates of the Kingdom to approve the said Election when there should be Forces sufficient to maintain it and when they should have agreed to such Conditions as were reasonable to be secured to the Chiefs of the Party Hereupon great Contests arose between the Partisans of the Duke and those of Spain these requiring they should go on with the Election the others that it should be deferr'd The Spaniards heard all without once opening their Mouths in the end finding their Votaries were fewer by a third part then the other they let go their hold And which was more the Duke without any regard to their Requests concluded month July to Treat for a Truce with the King and named his Deputies for that purpose Many Prelats some Doctors and even three Curats of Paris of whom one was he of St. Eustache named Rene Benoist being sent for to St. Denis the Two and twentieth of July the King came thither the next day and entred into Conference with them to satisfie himself as it were of certain scruples yet remaining touching Year of our Lord 1593 month July some points of Religion He was soon convinced but the Cardinal de Bourbon was not so that any other Bishop besides the Pope had right to give him Absolution the contrary notwithstanding was allowed maugre his under-hand dealings and vehement Remonstrances The formulary of his Confession of Faith was drawn up and the day appointed to make it the following Sunday Some Prelats out of an ignorant Zeal had thrust in certain trifling things which were not very necessary the King whose judgment was solid could not relish such trash wherefore they pared away all that was not essential to Faith and yet they sent it as it was first drawn up to the Pope the better to persuade his Holiness of his entire Conversion The Ceremony was performed in St. Denis Church by the Archbishop of Bourges as may be seen in the Memoirs of those times seven or eight Bishops being present and all the Grandees of his Court even Gabriela d'Estree who had not a little contributed to the Conversion of the King having already conceived great hopes he would Marry her The same night all the Fields from Montmartre whither he went after Vespers to visit the Church of the Holy Martyrs to Pontoise were enlightned by great numbers of Bon-fires which was soon after imitated by the Cities of the Royal Party and accompanied with Feastings Dancings and all other Tokens and Expressions of publick Rejoycing From that very day the People of Paris shewed plainly it was purely their aversion to Huguenotisin had engaged them to reject this Prince for they ran forth in multitudes to this Ceremony notwithstanding the prohibition of the Duke of Mayenne and on a suddain changing that hatred they had for him into a real affection began to call him their King and not the Bearnois as they had hitherto done scoffing at all the declamations of their Preachers who strove to make them persevere in their former Sentiments The Duke of Mayenne rejoycing also or pretending to rejoyce at his Conversion Treated with him about a Truce for three Months and both of them agreed to send to the Pope to get his Absolution without which the Duke would by no means hearken to a Peace His intentions an◠interests as he protested being no other but to preserve the
surrender to the King that they might be at ease the Peasants and Commons of the upper Guyenne rose and took up Arms to defend themselves from the plundrings of the Nobility and the cruel vexations of Tax-gatherers They gave them the nick-name of Tard-Advisez and they again retorted the appellation of Croquants because in effect they feed upon and devoured the poor Country People Their first Rendezvous was in Limosin Chambret who was Governor there for the King beat and dispersed them Those of Angoulmois who endeavour'd to do the same were likewise scatter'd by Massez the Kings Lieutenant in that Country But it was not so facile to appease those of Perigord A Country Notary first brought them together in the Forest of Absac within a League of Limiel and they afterwards had divers other Assemblies where they increased to the number of Forty thousand The Mareschal de Matignon enervated their whole Strength by inveigling from amongst them all such as had born Arms of whom he formed several Companies and sent them into Languedoc the King allay'd the rest of the Storm by remitting the remainder of their Tailles Bretagne and Burgundy were yet standing out not having submitted to the King We may say one part of Provence also for he thought it worse in the hands of Espernon then in those of the League The Inhabitants of Laval introduced the Mareschal d'Aumont into their City Lesonnot Governor of Concarneaux treated with him Talhouet soon after did the same for Redon and made himself Master of Morlaix by the assistance of the Bourgeois and of the Castle after a long Siege There were five thousand Year of our Lord 1594 Spaniards in the Province commanded by one Don Juan d'Aquila and the Duke of month October Mercoeur had three thousand very good Men so that if they could have agreed together they would have been stronger then the Royalists but the jealousie of those two Nations and the peeks between the two Chiefs rendred them incompatible Aquila refused to joyn with the Duke to relieve the Castle the Duke did the same when Aumont had besieged the Fort of Crodon which the Spaniards had built with great expence upon the point de la Langue which divides the Gulf of Conquet and commands it Before this Quinpercorentin being only invested had surrendred to the Mareschal and soon after the Town of St. Malo perfected their Treaty wherein her Merchants made it appear they were neither ignorant in their Interests nor in their Politicks As for Provence the King durst not overtly set aside the Duke of Espernon as well because of the Intelligence he might contract with Spain and Savoy as because of his Alliances with the Mareschal de Bouillon the Duke de la Trimouille and Ventadour who besides were very much discontented and even with the Constable de Montmorency I call him so for the Sword was given him the precedent year He therefore only sent for him to come to Court to do equal Justice upon his and the Countries Complaints But the said Duke having four thousand Men lent him by the Constable and five and twenty hundred which himself had raised he returns into his Fort and held the City of Aix by the throat as he did the Count de Carces and the Parliament exercising his revenge upon all those that fell into his hands Lesdiguieres moved by their re-iterated cries quitted the Affairs of Savoy to go and succour them He passed the River of Durance at Ourgon and intrenched himself month May c. at Senas Espernon came bravely forth to meet him and try'd him by great Skirmishes but could not stop his march for the Constable would not risque his Men but even withdrew them quite This Lord who after a long Series of Troubles and Crosses was become huge Circumspect found it much safer to make himself a Mediator then a Party in a Cause wherein it was to be feared the King would declare He therefore procured a Truce for three Months during which time the Fort was deposited in the hands of Lafin a perpetual Negociator Lafin had undertaken to put three hundred Men in Garison there to keep it in Sequestration Lesdiguieres found means to slip in a great many Soldiers that belonged to him amongst those others so that by his invention the Fort was in his disposition Being therefore one day the Eleventh of July gone month July out of Aix as if to fetch a walk he approaches insensibly to the Fort and when he was near enough commands the Captain in the name of the King to give it up that it might be razed He no sooner spake but the Garison set open the Gates to him in despite of the Captain and at the same time he abandons the said Fort to the Provencaux who in less then two days ruined that vast work which the Spanish Year of our Lord 1594 Army had been above a year in raising month July That done he returned into Daufine apprehending the great preparations for War the Duke of Savoy was making Lesdiguieres had taken several little places in his Country This Prince having regained them all during his absence did also take Briqueras even in his sight making good use in this Enterprize of the Milanese Forces month August who were going to wage War in Burgundy month November The King going after the taking of Noyon to visit his Frontiers of Champagne this was in the Month of November agreed to a Peace with the Duke of Lorrain who had endeavour'd to make it above a twelvemonth before by Bassompiere He promised this Duke to do right to him and his Children as to the Succession of Catharine de Medicis their Grandmother without prejudice to what the Duke pretended as well in his own behalf as theirs to the Dutchies of Bretagne and Anjou and the Counties of Provence Blois and Coucy He left the propriety of Marsal to him and to his Successors the Cities of Dun and Stenay in exchange of Jamets which the Duke rendred to France And moreover promised him the Government of Toul and Verdun for one of his Sons and to the Brother of that Son that should survive him Bassompiere had the Lands of Vaucouleurs engaged to him for an old Debt of Sixty eight thousand Crowns and for thirty six thousand more he lent in ready Money to the Treasury In the same Month of November was in like manner concluded the Treaty between the Duke of Guise and the King who by this means retrieved likewise the Cities in Champagne which were yet in the Leaguers hands Some Months before this young Prince having none that were considerable in his absolute disposal had secur'd himself of Rheims after this manner St. Pol a Creature of his Fathers and who saved his Life the day before the Barricado's master'd this Town by means of a Redoubt he had built at the Gate called Mars and pretended by this piece and some others which he held to make the King confirm his
Kingdom and the opinions was held of them that by means of their Colledges and Auricular Confessions they perverted the minds of the Youthful and of the tender Conscienced which way best pleased them gave occasion to the Parliament to involve the whole Society in the same punishment due for the Crimes of particulars Thus by one and the same Decree which was pronounced the Nine and twentieth of the Month and executed by Torch-light they condemned John Chastel to suffer the pains accustomed for the like Parricides and Ordained that the Priests and Scholers of the Colledge of Clermont and others calling themselves of the Society of Jesus as being Corrupters of Youth Disturbers of the Common Peace and Enemies to the King and State should within three days leave their House and Colledge and in fifteen the whole Kingdom and that all what belonged to them should be employ'd to pious uses accordingly as the Parliament should dispose of it Some other Parliaments following the same Sentiments with this of Paris banish'd them by a like Decree but that of Bourdeaux and that of Thoulouze refused to conform to it so that they sheltred themselves in Guyenne and Languedoc till they were recalled By another Decree John Guignard having owned his Defamatory Writings was condemned to be Hanged not for the having made them but for having kept them By another also John Gueret under whom Chastel had gone thorough his Courses of Philosophy and the Father of this wretched Parricide were banished the Kingdom the first to perpetuity and the second for nine years and it was Ordained his House should be demolished and in its place a Pyramid of Carved Stone to be erected which should contain the cause of it Upon one of the four Faces was the Decree engraven and on the other three divers Latin Inscriptions in Verse and Prose in detestation of the Memory of that horrid Attempt and that Doctrine which was held to have been the occasion of it Year of our Lord 1594 month December Now the term the King had prefixed to the Hennuyers and Artesians being expir'd without their giving him any answer he caused a Declaration of War to be published against King Philip and his Subjects it hapned some weeks after that the Arch-Duke Ernest Governor of the Low-Countries died the One and twentieth of February King Philip committing the Administration to Peter Henriques Guisman Count de Fuentes till he had otherwise disposed of it The Duke of Nemours having made his escape from the Castle of Pierre-Encise disguised in the habit of a Valet and carrying the Pan of his Closs-stool got immediately on Horseback and with his Friends and three thousand Swiss lent him by the Duke of Savoy took several Forts round about Lyons whereby he thought to famish that great City but the Constable de Montmorency who brought a thousand Maistres and four thousand of the Kings Foot having received Order to remain in that Country Year of our Lord 1595 shut up the Duke himself in Vienne so close that his Swiss weary of the great month January want they endured retired into Savoy to the Marquiss de Trefort General of that Dukes month December in 1594. and January c. Army who far from being able to relieve him was forc'd to let the Constable Soldiers winter in Bress where they had taken Montluel Year of our Lord 1595 Whilst the Duke of Nemours was gone to the Constable of Castille with design of engaging him to come into Lyonnois Disimieu his most intimate Confident to whom month April he had committed the Guard of Pipet chief Castle of Vienne treated his Accommodation the Twelfth of April drew his Men into the Town and invited the Constable thither who took the Oaths of the Inhabitants Nemours who thought this bosom Friend had been proof against all Temptations was like to have lost his wits when he heard of this infidelity Such as were inclined to believe the worst and who judge of others actions by their own interpretation which is too often true said the motives that guided Lisimieu had more of self-interest then duty and chose rather to call him Traitor to his Friend then faithful to his King And even when Nemours fell sick whether for grief or some other cause they reported he had given him a Fig to prevent his Resentment month January Really this Prince was invaded by a strange malady and almost like that of Charles IX Blood flowed in great quantities from his Mouth His more then ordinary courage did for some time resist the violence of this Distemper but when he was so much attenuated that he could no longer stand upon his Feet he desired to be carried to his Castle of Anecy in Savoy and there having languished for some Months in such a dismal condition as drew tears from the Eyes of every one that beheld him he resigned up his Soul about mid July aged twenty eight years The Marquiss de Sainct Sorlin his Brother succeeded him in the Dutchy of Nemours and other Territories and soon after came to an agreement with the King month February The Duke of Mayenne had not so much love for him as to be grieved but the pejoration of his Affairs brought grief enough upon him from elsewhere In the Month of February the Inhabitants of Beaulne to whom the King the preceding year had granted a four Months Truce fell upon that Garison the Duke had re-inforced and called the Mareschal de Biron to their aid who then besieged the Castle Year of our Lord 1595 month February de Monstier-Sainct Jean hard by This Mareschal having forced three hundred Soldiers who yet defended themselves in the City to capitulate laid Siege to the Castle which surrendred within a Month having in vain expected the Duke of Mayenne month April would have joyned his Forces with the Duke of Nemours to deliver them The Cities of Autun and Aussonne finding his declining condition did also quit his Party the first by the advice and management of their Maire the second by a Treaty Senecay made with the King who left him the Government of it By the example of Beaulne the Inhabitants of Dijon took Arms in the beginning of May and finding themselves too weak to drive out the Garison had recourse to Biron who gained all the Quarters of the Town and at the same time besieged the month May. Castle and that of Talon which was within a quarter of a League whither the Count de Tavanes had retired The Constable of Castille named Ferdinand de Velasco was descended into the Franche-Comte in the Month of April with an Army of Fifteen thousand Foot and three thousand Horse This Mareschal apprehended lest he should fall upon his back with all his Forces the Constable de Montmorency had the same fear upon him and both these press'd the King extreamly to advance that way His Mistress by her Caresses made him resolve it She desired he might conquer the Franche-Comte for her
in revoked and converted it into a moderate Subsidy For Imposts though they be Year of our Lord 1602 abolished like Wounds do ever leave some cicatrice and ill-favour'd Scar behind them Whil'st the King was in Poitou the Parliament the Chambers assembled after a Mercuriale and chiefly at the instance of the President Seguier seconded by the Examiners ordained that all Advocates or Attorneys pursuant to the 161 Article of the Estates at Blois should at the end of all their Briefs or Writings put down the particulars of all they had received for their Fees and give a Certificate of what they had gained from their Clients for their Pleadings He made this Decree the Thirteenth of May upon the desire the King had to reform the gross Abuses in Law-States and upon Complaint made to him by the Duke de Piney of an Advocate that had demanded Fifteen hundred Crowns of him to Plead one Cause The Advocates refusing to obey there was a second which enjoyned those that would not Plead to make such Declaration to the Register after which they were forbidden to exercise their Profession upon peine de faux i. e. Loss of Life and Estate month May. The Morrow after this had been pronounced in full Court they all went by two and two out of the Chamber of Consultations to the Number of 307. and going to the Registers laid down their Caps and declared that they obey'd The Palace or Court was dumb for Eight or Nine days Some of the Courtiers persuaded the King to leave them in that humor which they would have been weary of â—ooner than himself But having Business of much greater weight than this and the Brouillery beginning to look like a Commotion he would needs determine it and caused an Order to be dispatched which restored the Advocates to their Function and commanded them to return to the Bar and obey the first Article Which was only for the Formality For the Judges themselves who made it wink'd at it and let it fall to nothing It was with much reason suspected that the Commotions in Guyenne were a Train leading to those other Mynes contrived by the Mareschal de Biron and it looked as if at the same instant that he was to spring them the Spaniards were prepared to give the Assault and enter upon the Kingdom For they had raised a numerous Army by Land which was kept upon the Frontiers and were fitting another for Sea under the Command of Juan de Cardonna They gave out that the first was to be sent into Flanders and the second to execute some Enterprize upon Algiers by the assistance of the King of Fez But it was apprehended rather to be designed against Burgundy and to surprize some Sea-port Town in Provence The Spaniard shewed plainly enough by his Treatment of Alexander Caretta Marquiss de Final who was comprised in the Number of the King's Allies that he cared not over-much to observe the Treaty of Verwins for Fuentes seized upon Final having paid the Garrison of that place for Ten or twelve Musters that were due to them The very Old-Age of that poor Lord who was near upon Fourscore and his being destitute of Children gave him the Confidence to make this Vsurpation for which the good Man never had any other Satisfaction but only I know not what Pension allow'd him in the Kingdom of Naples The fear of some terrible Event keeping the King in perpetual alarms he came back from Poitou to Fontainebleau that he might search into the bottom of the Conspiracy believing that if once it were but laid open it would not be so month May. dangerous And therefore he would needs at what rate soever have Laffin be brought before him who was privy to the whole Secret We have told you what cause of discontent this man had against Biron It is conjectur'd he had given notice to the King of all his Practises for a long while before this time at least it is most certain he had thoughts of doing so and of providing himself with Evidence to verifie his Accusation And this they ground it upon Biron had with his own hand written a Project of the Conspiracy Laffin perswaded him it was dangerous to keep it by him and that he needed but to have a Copy Biron gives it him to Transcribe in his presence When he had done so he rowls up the Original between his hands like a ball and cast it into the Fire but Biron not minding it further the negligence of a great Lord he craftily draws it out agen and puts it into his Pocket So that some will needs believe this man over-whelm'd with Debts Year of our Lord 1602 Crimes and other Misfortunes soothed the passionate Mareschal in his Designs on purpose to make a fortune by betraying his Secrets and that if he would he might easily have prevailed with him to lay them all aside especially after the Queen was deliver'd of a Son For amongst the Letters the Mareschal had written to him there was one that said That since God had bestowed a Daufin upon the King he would think no more of his former Follies and pray'd him to return When Biron understood Laffin was press'd upon by the King to go to Court he sent a Gentleman to put him in mind of his Oathes to let him consider he had his Life and Honor in his hands to intreat him above all things to burn all his Letters and Papers and to rid himself of a certain Curate whom they had employ'd in some ill-favour'd Business Laffin being come to Fountainebleau revealed all to the King gave him all the Letters and Papers and named the Conspirators to him amongst whom he involved so many Persons of Quality even Rosny that the King amazed at the greatness of the Peril was for some time in much doubt whom to confide in His secret Council thought convenient to dissemble in respect of many of the accused and indeed there lay no other proof against them but the Depositions of Laffin It had been the ready way to have set all France on a flame should they have fallen upon so many great ones at once it was safer much to allow them time to repent than to have put them to the necessity of seeking their particular safety in a desperate general Rebellion And therefore 〈◊〉 all the Letters Laffin produc'd they publish'd none but those which made mention of Biron only month May. there were Five and twenty of them The King gave them into the Custody of the Chancellour who for fear they should be lost sowed them within the lining of his Doublet All this was done before the King went to Poitiers During his Voyage Peter Fougeu Descures and then the President Janin being sent into Burgundy labour'd to dispose Biron to come to Court His Conscience his Friends those Prognostications wherein he put much confidence divers ominous Presages the pressing haste of those that would have him go dissuaded him On the
of them lost so much at play they were not in a condition had they intended it to make any considerable disturbance I have heard it affirm'd that a refined Italian having bought up all the Dice that were in Paris and furnished the Shops with false ones made for his purpose fell in with the Court Gamesters and knowing exactly which would run high or low made a prodigious gain which he shared with Persons of the highest Quality However it were the huge Sums the King expended in these three Articles not including those he employ'd on other more necessary ones those which he had issued out for the payment of his debts and redeeming part of his demeasnes and those also which he collected and heaped up for the carrying on the projects he had conceived could not possibly be raised without grinding his people whatever care and Methods he took Besides he was too easie in granting to his Courtiers and Ladies either new Monopolies or new Imposts and made Gifts that were of profit to particulars but which tended to the general ruine Moreover the Nobility and old Commanders were discontented in their minds to see him by little and little reduce the Companies d'Ordonnance and the old Regiments to so narrow a condition and instead of keeping those old bodies full and compleat he gave Pensions to above twelve hundred men who most commonly were chosen rather upon recommendation then for their merit The Cardinal d'Ossat had otherwhile taken the liberty to presage that these discontents would become universal and one day break forth into some great disorders Some Sparks of it were to be seen in the Provinces of Quercy Perigord and Limosin The Servants of the Duke of Biron furiously bent to revenge the month June July and August death of their Master employed all sorts of means 〈◊〉 render the Kings person odious and contemptible and to stir up the people against the pretended violence of the Government The friends of the Mareschal de Bouillon whether they had orders from him or acted by their own proper motions believing he would own them if they succeeded made divers Assemblies of the Nobility and gave earnest Money for the levying of Soldiers but in such pitiful Sums that it plainly appeared this advance-money came out of some little private Purse only And yet to give life to their Partisans they every hour reported some forged news of the Mareschal sometimes affirming that if they held together but till the Month of October some great matters would be done in favour of him another while that they should find him in France sooner then his friends imagined or his Enemies desired Then that the reason of his stay was but to bring such Year of our Lord 1605 Forces with him from Germany as would be able to enter into the very heart of the Kingdom and bide Battel in the open Field Besides all these Rumours which at so great a distance made the Rebellion appear a hundred times more formidable than it really was the King had frequent notice that the Spaniards held Intelligence and had Designs upon the most important Frontier places as Toulon Marseilles Narbonne Bayonne and upon Blaye He apprehended also lest the whole Party of the Reformed Religion should embrace the Mareschals defence and by the Directions of so able and knowing a Person should be inclined to form a separate Republick in the Kingdom for they talked of setting up Councils in each Province of not admitting such as were Officers of the Kings to any Consultations that concerned the Good old Cause to make Orders and Regulations for raising of Men and Moneys and to make Leagues with Strangers To these Dangers he opposed the Cares of Rhosny who having had Interest and Credit enough to preside in their Assembly of Chastelleraut stifled all Motions of Affairs of that Nature and besides mightily qualified the hottest amongst them by presenting to them on the behalf of the King a Brevet dated the Eight of August which prolonged their holding the Places of Security for Three years When all was out of danger on that Side the King prepar'd himself about the end of August to take a Journey into the Provinces where the Fire was kindling and to clear the way before him he order'd Ten Companies of the Regiment of month September October and November Guards and Four or Five Troops of Horse to March Commanded by the Duke of Espernon with two Masters of Requests John Jacques de Mesme Roissy and Raimond Vertueil Fueillas The first went to take Information in Limosin the second in Quercy but caused all the Prisoners to be brought to Limoges Bouillon's Friends could never have believed they durst have attaqued his Castles because they were comprised amongst those places of Security granted to them of the Religion they were much startled when they found that consideration could not protect them Bouillon being informed of it sent them Orders to Surrender upon the King 's first Demand As to themselves the wisest preferring a timely retreat before an obstinate stay withdrew some as Rignac and Vassignac to Sedan others to other places of Safety Many had recourse to the King's Clemency and purchased their Pardon by discovering the whole Series of the Conspiracy the Cities they were to have Surprized the Places where they were to be Armed those that had promised to declare for them and many more Particulars which being thorowly examined had little other foundation but their own credulity and foolish imaginations Nor was any thing produced in Writing against the Duke of Bouillon nothing appearing but the Evidence of such people whose profligate reputation destroy'd the Credit of what they would have asserted The more Unfortunate fell into the hands of Justice Roissy made their Process assisted by Ten Councellors of the Presidial Five or Six paid down their Heads which were planted over the Gates of Limoges the Bodies burnt and their Ashes dispersed in the Air. Some others were hung up in Effigie But these Executions were not till after the King had been gone a Month who seeing the Fire was put out returned to Paris towards the end of November As he was going to Limosin being at Orleans he took the Seals from the Chancellour de Bellieure to give them to Sillery but still left him the honor to be Chief of the Council a sorry Comfort for so great a Disgrace and which gave Bellieure occasion to say That a Chancellour without the Seals is a Body without a Soul At Paris the King met with new cause of disquiet the Business of the City month Novemb. Rents and the Demands of the Assembly of the Clergy As for the first he had of a long time resolved to Suppress those Rents or Revenues for the creation whereof no Money had been given and to redeem such as had been purchased at a mean price To this purpose he had named Commissioners who were the Presidents de Thou Nicolai and Calignon a Master of
Paris and Orleans and Duke of France 175 Hugh le Noir or the Black 176 Hugh the Great otherwise le Blanc i. e. the White makes a League with Hebet Earl of Vermandois against their King 176 His death his Children Hugh Capet Son of Hugh the Great 183 Earl of Paris and Orleans ib. Is made Duke of France 184 Elected and Crowned King of France 201 Why he would never put the Crown on his Head after his first Coronation 202 Of the State of the Kingdom of France at that time ib. He assocates his Son Robert to Reign with him 202 Sends his Son Charles and his Wife Prisoners 203 Re-unites the County of Paris and the Dutchy of France to the Crown ib. His death his Wives his Children 204 Hugh de Beauvais Favourite of King Robert 212 Hugh Son of King Robert Associated and Crowned by his Father His death 211 212 Hugh Earl of Vermandois chief of the second House of that name 218 Hugh Duke of Burgundy after the death of Duke Robert his Grandfather 221 Hugh de Saint Pol. 225 Hugh the Grand Brother to King Philip of France chief of the first and second Croisade his death 224 225 Hugh de Crecy 235 c. Hugh III. Duke of Burgundy his death 237 Hugh Count de la Marche is constrained to render Homage to the Earl of Poitou 303 Hugh Abbot of Clugny receives the Ornaments of a Bishop 284 Humbert with the White Hands Earl of Maurienne and of Savoy chief of the Royal House of Savoy 215 Humond Father of Gaifre resumes the Title of Duke of Aquitaine to his confusion 302 Huns make War upon the French 312 Huns Avari in Civil War I. James the Great of Arragon and the finding his Corps about the beginning of the Ninth Age. 114 James King of Arragon 312 James King of Majoraca and Minorca 320 Jane Countess of Flanders 304 Jane of Burgundy 324 Jane Queen of France Heiress of Navarre builds and founds the Colledge of Navarre at Paris 331 Her death ib. Jane of Burgundy 345 Jerusalem Kingdom its end 254 Images and the manner of Worshipping them in France 172 Imbert de Beaujeau commands the Kings Army against the Albigensis 238 Imposts excessive stir up the People to Rebellion makes them lose the respect and love they owe to their Prince 330 Indulgence general otherwise called Jubilee its institution 328 Ingonde Daughter of King Sigebert Espouses Hermenigilde Son of the King of Spain Leuvigilde 38 Her death ib. Ingratitude of Wenilon or Ganelon Archbishop of Sens. 138 Innocency justified by Combat 46 Innocent II. Pope makes War against the Duke of Puglia and is made Prisoner 240 Thwarted by an Antipope he takes refuge in France ib. He Excommunicates the King of France and puts his Kingdom under Interdiction 243 Innocent III. Pope puts the Kingdom under Interdiction 264 He Excommunicates Raimond Earl of Toloze 266 Owns the Authority of the Council and that a Pope may be deposed ib. Innocent IV. Pope takes refuge in France 303 Inquisition established in Saxony 108 Who first exercised it 264 Intendants of Justice or Law 117 Interdict pronounced against England 264 Interdict pronounced against France 259 Interest every thing yields to it amongst the great ones 302 Investitures of Benefices 236 Jourdain de l'Isle in Aquitain hanged on a Gibbet at Paris 351 Irene Empress chaced by Nicephorus 107 Isaac Angelo Emperor of the East deprived of the Empire of sight and of liberty 261 Isabella Widow of John King of England 302 Isabella of Tholoza her death 316 Isabella of France Married to Thibauld King of Navarre Her death ib. Isabella of France 327 Isabella Queen of England passes into France 351 Sent away from Court she retires again into France ib. At her return into England she revenges her self of her Husband by a most horrible treatment Afterwards chastised her self in her turn 352 Isemburge of Denmark Wife of King Philip Augustus repudiated by her Husband 277 c. Italy become a Kingdom 13 In trouble 134 Is horribly rent by the Guelfs and the Gibbelins 303 Italians inconstant 168 Judicael in Bretagne 157 Judith Daughter of Charles the Bald stolen by the Earl of Flanders 140 Judith second Wife of Lewis the Debonaire 129 Suspected and even accused of impurity 130 Ives Bishop of Chastres a great defender of the Discipline of the Canons 223 Justice exercised by such as made profession of bearing Arms under the Kings of the first Race 48 Punishment of Crimes and divers means to purge themselves of several Crimes 48 49 Justification by cold Water by hot Water and by Fire ib. L. St. Lambert Bishop of Liege Divine punishment of his Murtherer 72 Lambert Earl of Nantes 134 Lambert Son of Guy Crowned Emperor in Italy 160 Landry Maire of the Palace 41 Language natural of the first Frenchmen 50 Lasciviousness of a Prince cause of great evils 30 c. Latilli Peter Bishop of Chalons and Chancellor of France put out of his Office and imprisoned 344 Launoy John Viceroy of Navarre 323 Lauria Roger Admiral 320 Legats sent into France 230 Leger Saint Bishop of Autun Persecuted and confined in the Monastery of Luxeu 65 Re-established in his Episcopal See ib. His Eyes put out the Soles of his Feet cut away and his Lips then shut up in a Monastery 67 68 His death ib. Leo IV. Pope his death 138 Leo Emperor disputes the Worship of Images and will have them taken out of the Churches 84 Leo elected Pope 105 Ill treated at Rome has recourse to Charlemain and comes to him 105 c. Makes another Voyage into France 108 Leo Pope acts of severity his death 121 Leo VIII elected Pope in the place of John the XII 185 His death 186 Leo IX Pope comes into France and holds a Council at Reims 217 Is made Prisoner by the Normands of Italy 218 Leo Isauric Excommunicated 266 Letters of Exemption false counterfeited by certain Monks 290 Leudesia Maire of the Palace 67 Levies of Moneys of three sorts 111 Leutard an Heretick his unhappy end 228 Levigildus King of Spain causes his Son Hermenigilde to be strangled 38 His death ib. Lezignan Guy 257 Liturgy or Mass according to the Church of Rome brought into France 102 Locusts in a prodigious quantity 144 Lombards pass into Italy and establish a Kingdom 29 Descend into Provence and the Kingdom of Burgundy to their own confusion 30 Will have no more Kings and commit the Government to thirty Dukes 31 Restore Kingly Government 36 Lombards reduced to reason 186 Lorraine parted in two 143 Given to the Kings of Germany 149 The Soveraignty of that Kingdom remains in Lothaire King of France 188 Lothaire eldest Son of Lewis the Debonaire is made King of Italy and associated in the Empire 122 Lothaire King of Italy His Marriage with Hermengarde 123 Is Crowned Emperor by the Pope ib. Lothaire King of Italy seizes on the Empire of his Father and shuts him up in St. Medard at Soissons then
causes him to be degraded after his publick Pennance 127 128 Lothaire King of Italy difference between him and Charles his Brother touching their shares after the death of their Father 134 Reconciliation with Charles his Brother 138 Changes his Imperial Purple for a Friers Frock ib. His Wife and Children ib. Lothaire II. of Lorraine 139 He repudiates Thietberge his Wife to Espouse Valdrade and that made a great deal of noise 140 The said Marriage annull'd and he Excommunicated by the Pope 141 Passes into Italy against the Saracens his death by Divine Punishment 142 His Children ib. Lothaire Son of the King of Italy 179 Lothaire King of France 183 His Marriage with Emma or Emina Daughter of Lothaire King of Italy 187 Enterprize upon Lorraine 188 Repels and chases the Germans out of France where they had made an irruption 189 Repasses into Lorraine Causes his Son Lewis to be Crowned and to Reign with him ib. His death 189 Lothaire Duke of Saxony elected Emperor 238 Lothaire II. Emperor his death 243 Louis of Aquitaine passes into Italy to the assistance of his Brother Pepin 104 Besieges and takes Narbonne and Tortosae 106 c. Louis or Lewis the Debonaire his coming to the Crown 120 Purges the Court of Scandal ib. His Coronation and of the Empress Hermengarde His continual exercises of Piety and Devotion 122 Concerns himself in the reformation of the Clergy and draws upon him the hatred of the Churchmen 122 Associates Lothaire his eldest Son in the Empire and shares for his other Children ib. Severely punishes the King of Italy his Nephew who had conspired against his Person and his Complices 122 123 Causes all his Bastard Brothers to be shaved ib. Reduces Bretagne to a Dutchy ib. Marries a second Wife after the death of Hermengarde ib. Marries all his Sons 124 Subdues the Bretons ib. Gives occasion of discontent to his Children who conspire against him and shut him up Prisoner in the Abby St. Medard of Soissons 125 c. Does publick Pennance and is degraded 126 c. Is re-established in his Royal Throne 128 Divides again his Estates of France Eastern and Western 129 His death his Wives his Children 130 Of his great care in regulating all that concerned the advantage and administration of the Church the discipline of the Clergy c. 170 Louis Son of Lewis the Debonaire is made King of Bavaria 122 Louis King of Bavaria embraces the Cause of his Father Lewis the Debonaire afterwards turns against him 126 Louis Emperor King of Italy 138 Louis the Germanick usurps Neustria upon his Brother Charles 139 Divides Lorraine with him 142 Troubled and disquieted by his Children 144 His death ib. Louis the Emperor and King of Italy despised by his Subjects 138 Makes a League with Lewis the Germanick against Charles the Bald. 139 Difference about Lorraine 143 Is despised of his Subjects ib. His death 144 Louis the Stammerer Emperor and King of Neustria or West France Aquitain and Burgundy 148 Is Crowned Emperor by Pope John ib. His death 149 Louis III. and Carloman his Brother Kings of West France Burgundy and Aquitain 148 c. Death of Lewis 152 Louis Son of Boson seizes upon Provence 156 c. Louis Son of Arnold Emperor of Germany and King of Lorraine 162 His death 163 Louis the Blind King of Provence 170 Louis IV. called Transmarine is recalled from England owned and Crowned King of France 175 6 Abandoned of all his Subjects in Neustria is constrained to save his life by a shameful flight 177 Makes a Peace and is reconciled to his Subjects 179 Seizes Richard Duke of Normandy ib. His precipitate revenge draws great difficulties upon him 178 Is carried Prisoner to Rouen ib. Is restored to liberty 179 Brouilleries in France 180 c. Is reconciled with Hugh le Blanc and they make Peace together 181 His death ib. Louis King of Aquitain chastises the Revolt of the Gascons 110 Associated to the Empire and declared Emperor by Charlemain his Father 111 Louis King of France called the idle or Lazy Marries a Princess of Aquitain named Blanch. 198 His death ib. Louis called the Gross Son of King Philip designed King takes up the Government of Affairs 226 Passes into England 227 Betrothed to Luciane Daughter of Guy de Rochefort 227 His pretended Marriage with Luciana broken by the Pope ib. Quarrels and brouilleries with his Subjects 234 Defeats the English in Battle about Gisors 35 Renewing of the War between those two Princes 236 Strongly opposes the Emperors Efforts who would needs be revenged because he had protected Pope Calixtus II. 236 c. Reduces the Count d'Auvergne to reason 238 Revenges the Parricide committed on the Person of the Earl of Flanders 239 Causes his Son Philip to be Crown'd ib. Becomes an Enemy to the Clergy his Subjects and is Excommunicated 239 c. His death his Wives his Children 241 Lewis the Young Crowned in the life time of his Father Lewis the Gross 240 Louis the Young he Marries Alienor Daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine ib. Establishes Justice and secures the publick safety 242 Is Excommunicated and his Kingdom put under an interdiction by the Pope 243 Receives Pope Eugenius into France 244 Takes the Cross and goes into the Holy Land ib. His return into France 245 Repudiates Queen Alienor and Marries the Daughter of Alphonso VII King of Castille 243 Goes to St. Jago in Gallicia out of Devotion 246 Difference with Henry King of England for the County of Touloze 248 He makes Alliance by Marriage with the House of Champagne 249 Suppresses the disorders of his Kingdom ib. Enters into War again with the King of England their Reconciliation ib. Takes the protection of the King of England's Children against their Father 250 Passes over into England and goes to visit the Tomb of St. Thomas of Canterbury ib. His death his Wives his Children 251 Louis VIII King of France his Birth 254 Parlies with the Emperor Federic II. 266 His Coronation at Reims 295 Enterview with Henry Son of the Emperor Federic 295 Crosses himself against the Albigenses and makes War upon them in Person 296 His death his Wife and his Children 296 297 St. Louis King of France his Coronation 298 Great disturbances in the State at the beginning of his Reign ib. c. He Vowes to make War against the Infidels 303 Voyage to the Holy Land 304 c. His Army entirely defeated and he made Prisoner of War by the Infidels 305 Is set at liberty with all the rest of the French Prisoners 306 Whether it be true he gave a Consecrated Wafer as a pawn for his Word 305 He visits the Holy Places in the Holy Land 307 His return into France ib. He entertains the King of England magnificently ib. Regulates his Kingdom by good Laws and exercises himself in good Works 308 Endeavours to accommodate Affairs between the Barons and their King Henry 309 Undertakes a new Crosade for relief of
concerning Degrees prohibited were different according to the different Countries In the beginning in some Churches they hardly prohibited the Marrying with two Sisters or two Brothers But the Council of Agde the third of Orleance and other following Councils extended it to a Niece to the Aunt to the Brothers Widdow and the Uncles to the Wives Sister to Cousins and Cousin-Germans There were Sanctuaries in the most famous Churches which the Bishops made good to the utmost of their power Their intercession often times obtained Pardon for the greatest Criminals and whatever failings themselves did fall into they most commonly came off only with Degradation or Banishment their Brethren most times persuading the Kings to spare their Lives St. Augustin had began to persuade the Faithful to give the Tithe of their Goods for the relief and support of the Poor grounded upon this Principle That Christians were obliged to a greater Perfection then the Jews who had allowed it to the Levites The Prelates of the second Council of Tours exhorted the People to pay them to God according to the example of the Patriarch Abraham The second of Mascon ordained it as being a Right and Duty Established in the Old Testament and which they affirmed had been of a very long time observed by the Christians The Temporal Lords to whom they primarily belonged bestowed much upon the Monasteries little on the Bishops and Curats to whom notwithstanding in case they were of Divine Right they ought to belong There were â—ew Festivals observed as Holy in all Churches except Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide The noblest of the Diocess were obliged to keep them in the Episcopal City the Country Curates the same as likewise to meet as the Synod which was yearly held at a time certain The King solemnised these Holy-days in what City he pleased and the Bishops ambitiously courted and strove who should have that honour in his own Church Since that Method being altered and the Charms of the World being stronger to allure the Bishops to Court then the Duties of Christianity were to draw the Court to the Church the Kings celebrated those Festivals in their Palaces and the Bishops forsaking their Flocks went thither in greater Crowds then was desired New Cells or Hermitages were not suffered to be made nor new Congregations of Monks without the Bishops allowance An Abbot durst not run forth nor absent himself from his Monastery when he fell into any fault the Bishop might displace him and give him a Successor and if he were rebellious he was not admitted to the Communion Shame alone could not confine and keep those in their Monasteries who had Vowed and Dedicated themselves to God but the Church compell'd them to continue by all the Penalties that were in her power No Tribute or Tax was raised upon any thing belonging to the Church neither upon their Foundations their Goods nor their Persons and neither the Judges nor the Kings Receivers could exercise any Power or Jurisdiction on their Lands But those Bishops and Abbots who desired to obtain the King's or the Grandees favour and protection having begun to make them Euloges or Presents this Custom grew into a necessary Right and Duty which was afterwards exacted from them when they failed to do it voluntarily Dagobert I. King XI POPE HONORIUS I. Who S. nine years and an half during this Reign DAGOBERT I. Aged Twenty six years in Neustria Austrasia and Burgundy ARIBERT Aged Thirteen or fourteen years in part of Aquitain Year of our Lord 629 PRince Aribert being with King Clotaire when he died it might be thought that in the absence of his Brother Dagobert who was in Austrasia he might with his Fathers Treasure have raised Men and Friends enough to have seized on the Kingdom but as he was young and perhaps his Father had bequeathed him no part in the Kingdom by his last Testament it was in vain that Brunolph his Mothers Brother endeavoured to stir up the Neustrians in his behalf Dagobert used such diligence that he made himself secure of the Kingdoms of Neustria and Burgundy so that Aribert with his Uncle were constrained to go and meet him and to submit It was in the beginning of the Seventh year of his Reign in Austrasia Year of our Lord 629 Nevertheless as it were out of pity and according to the counsel of the French Lords he gave him Saintonge Perigord Agenois Thoulousam and all the third Aquitain Aribert setled his Royal Throne at Thoulouse As soon as he was acknowledged in Neustria he went to visit Burgundy which in many years had not beheld a King but was governed by Mayers neither had they had any Mayer since the death of Varnaquier Being at St. John de Laone he heard the complaints of his People rendred Justice to all his Subjects took a care to compose all their Disputes but it seems all these fair appearances were but to cover a Villanous Murther for which purpose perhaps he had undertaken this Journey For one Morning going into a Bath he commanded three Lords of the Court to kill Brunolph who had followed him though he were guilty of nothing unless being affectionate to the Interest of his Nephew Aribert they might apprehend he would be again stirring and acting something for him It seems the Neustrian and the Austrasian Lords did each of them struggle who should possess the King The first carried it from the others by taking him on the blind side and flattering him in his Passions The Queen Gomatrude was an Austrasian of Kin to Cunibert and Pepin who were present at her Wedding the Neustrians who knew the amorous inclination of their Prince persuaded him to repudiate her upon the pretence of Barrenness to Marry Nantilda one that served him By this means Ega Mayer of the Neustrian Palace got the highest place in the young Kings favour who presently dismissed Cumbert but retained Pepin still at Court not to make use any more of his Counsel but for fear he might cause the Kingdom of Austrasia to revolt his Office of Mayer of the Palace and his Vertues giving him too great a power Nantilda was soon deprived of the Affection of her Husband by another Woman Being gone into Austrasia and delighting to shew himself in his Royal Habit to those Provinces with great Pomp and a splendid Court he in her room took a very beautiful Virgin named Ragnetrude Sometime after he Married two more Women Wlfegunde and Bertechilde for Kings thought they had this Priviledge of having several and took as many Mistresses as the desire and gust of change could wish for which is infinite After he had thrown off his two prudent Governours who kept him within compass he let himself loose to all the heats of his Youth and the violence of his Soveraign Authority The first cast him into all sorts of Pleasures The second made him heap up Money and lay his griping Hand upon his Subjects Treasure as if all had been his own It