Bourdeaux shall be in the said City of Bourdeaux or at Nerat and that of Dauphine at Grenoble 32. The Chamber of Dauphine shall take Cognizance of the Causes of those of the Reformed Religion within the jurisdiction of our Parliament of Province without having need of Letters of Evocation or Appeal or other Provisions than in our Chancery of Dauphine As also those of the said Religion of Normandy and Brittan shall not be obliged to take Letters of Evocation or Appeal nor other Provision than in our Chancery of Paris 33. Our Subjects of the Reformed Religion of the Parliament of Burgundy shall have the choice to Plead in the Chamber ordained in the Parliament of Paris or in those of Dauphine and shall not be obliged to take Letters of Evocation or Appeal nor other Provisions than in the said Chanceries of Paris or Dauphine according as they shall make choice 34. All the said several Chambers composed as is said shall have Cognisance and by decree shall Judge in Soveraignty and last Appeal exclusive to all others the Process and differences that are already or shall arise in which those of the Reformed Religion are or shall be Parties Principalls or Guarrantees in demanding or defending in all matters as well Civil as Criminal if demanded before contestation in the Cause and commencing of the Suit whether the Process be by writing or verbal Appellation excepting nevertheless all customs belonging to Benefices and the possessors of tenths not infeoffed the Ecclesiastical Patrons and their Suits for their rights and duties and the demains of the Church all which shall be tryed and Judged in the Courts of Parliament exclusive to the said Chambers of Edict As also we will and require that as to Judging and deciding the Criminal Process which may happen betwixt the said Ecclesiasticks and those of the Reformed Religion that if the Ecclesiasticks are defendant in such case Recognizance and Judgment of criminal Process shall belong to our Soveraign Courts distinct as to the said Chamber and where the Ecclesiasticks shall be Plaintiff and one of the Reformed Religion Defendant the Cognizance and Judgment of Criminal Process shall belong in last Appeal to the said Chambers established And we acknowledge also the said Chambers in time of Vacations for matters attributed by the Edicts and Ordinances to belong to the said Chambers established for times of Vacation each within his Jurisdiction 35. The Chamber of Grenoble shall be from henceforward united and incorporated into the body of the said Court of Parliament and the President and Councellors of the Reformed Religion shall be called President and Councellors of the said Court and hold the rank and number of the same and to this end shall be first distributed through the other Chambers and then drawn from them to be imployed and serve in that which we now ordain of new with condition nevertheless that they shall assist and have voice and session in all the deliberations which the Chamber assembled shall have and shall enjoy the same Sallary authority and preheminence which the other Presidents and Councellors of the said Courts do enjoy 36. We will and ordain that the said Chamber of Castres and Bourdeaux be united and incorporated in the same Parliaments in the same manner and form as others and when need shall require and that the Causes which have moved us to make this establishment shall cease and shall not have any more place among our Subjects then shall the Presidents and Councellors of the same of the said Reformed Religion be held for Presidents and Councellors of the said Courts 37. There shall also be a new creation or erection in the Chamber ordained in the Parliament of Bourdeaux of two substitutes for our Procurators or Attorneys and Advocates Generall whereof one shall be Catholick and the other of the Reformed Religion which shall have the said Offices with competent Sallaries 38. These substitutes shall not assume other qualities than that of substitutes and when the Chambers or Courts ordained for the Parliaments of Tholouse and Bourdeaux shall be united and incorporated to the said Parliaments the said Substitutes shall have the Office of Councellors in the same 39. The dispatches of the Chancery of Bourdeaux shall be perused in the presence of two Councellors of the same Chamber whereof one shall be a Catholick and the other of the Reformed Religion In the absence of one of the Masters of Request of our Pallace one of the Notaries and Secretaries of the said Court of Parliament of Bourdeaux shall be Resident in the place where the said Chamber shall be established or else one of the ordinary Secretaries of the Chancery to sign the dispatches of the said Chancery 40. We will and ordain that in the said Chamber of Bourdeaux there shall be two Commissioners of the Register of the said Parliament the one Civil and the other Criminal who shall exercise their Offices by our Commissions and shall be called Commissioners to the Register Civil and Criminal but nevertheless shall not be revoked by the Registers of the Parliament yet shall be accountable for the profits of the Offices to the said Registers which Commissioners shall be Sallaried by the said Registers as the said Chamber shall think fit to appoint there shall be ordained some Catholick Messengers who shall be taken in the said Court or elsewhere according to our pleasure besides which there shall also be two de novo freely chosen of the Reformed Religion And all the said Messengers or Door-keepers shall be regulated by the said Chamber or Court as well in the exercise of their Offices as in the Profits or Fees which they shall take There shall also be a Commission dispatched for payment of Sallaries and receiving of Americaments of the said Court which shall be such as we shall please to appoint If the said Chamber shall be established in other place than the said City the Commission heretofore agreed for paying the Sallaries of the Chamber of Castres shall go out in its full and intire effect and there shall be joyned to the said Office the Commission for the receipt of the Amerciaments of the said Court 41. There shall be provided good and sufficient assignations for the Sallaries of the Officers of the Chambers ordained by this Edict 42. The Presidents Councellors and other Catholick Officers of the said Chambers or Courts shall be continued so long as we shall see it to be for our service and the good of our Subjects And in the dismissing any of them others shall be admitted in their places before their departure they having no power during their Service to depart or be absent from the said Chambers without the leave of the same which shall be judged of according to the Ordinance 43. The said Chambers or Courts Mypartis shall be established within six Months during which if the establishment shall be so long in doing the Process commenced and to be commenced where those of
by our present Edict there shall be made by us a good and ample Reglement betwixt the said Courts and Chambers and such as those of the Religion shall enjoy entirely from the said Edict the which Reglement shall be verified in our Courts of Parliaments and kept and observed without having regard to precedents 64. We inhibit and forbid all our Courts Soveraign and others of this Realm the taking Cognizance and judging the Civil or Criminal process of those of the Religion the Cognizance of which is attributed by our Edict to the Chambers of Edict provided that the Appeal thereunto be demanded as is said in the Fortieth Article going before 65. We also Will and Command for the present and untill we have otherwise therein ordained that in all Process commenced or to be commenced where those of the Religion are Plaintiff or Defendants Parties Principals or Guarrantees in matters Civil in which our Officers and chief Courts of Justice have powâ—â—… to judge without appeal that it shall be permitted to them to except against two of the Chamber where the Process ought to be Judged who shall forbear Judgement of the same and without having the cause expressed shall be obliged to withdraw notwithstanding the ordinance by which the Judges ought not to be excepted against without cause shown and shall have farther right to except against others upon shewing cause And in matters Criminal in which also the said Courts of Justice and others of the Kings subordinate Judges do Judge without appeal those of the Religion may except against three of the said Judges without showing Cause And the Provosts of the Mareschalsie of France vice-Bayliffs vice-Presidents Lievetenants of the short Robe and other Officers of the like Quality shall Judge according to the Ordinances and Reglements heretofore given upon the account of Vagabonds And as to the houshold charged and accused by the Provosts if they are of the said Religion they may require that three of the said judges who might have Cognizance thereof do abstain from the Judgement of their Process and they shall be obliged to abstain therefrom without having cause shewn except where the Process is to be judged there shall be found to the number of two in Civil and three in Criminal Causes of the Religion in which case it shall not be lawfull to except without Cause shewn and this shall be reciprocall in the like cases as above to the Catholicks upon the account of Appeals from the Judges where those of the Religion are the greater number not understanding nevertheless that the chief Justice Provosts of the Marshalsies vice-Bayliffs vice-Stewards and others who judge without appeal take by virtue of this that is said Cognizance of the past Troubles And as to crimes and excess happening by other occasions than the troubles since the beginning of March 1585. untill the end of 1597. in case they take Cognizance thereof We will that an appeal be suffered from their Judgement to the Chamber ordained by the present Edict as shall be practised in like manner for the Catholick and Confederates where those of the Religion are Parties 66. We Will and Ordain also that henceforward in all instructions other than informations of criminal Process in the chief Justices Court of Tholouse Carcassonne Roverque Loragais Beziers Montpellier and Nimes the Magistrate or Commissary deputed for the said instructions if he is a Catholick shall be obliged to take an Associate who is of the Religion whereof the Parties shall agree or where they cannot agree one of the Office of the said Religion shall be taken by the abovesaid Magistrate or Commissioner as in like manner if the said Magistrate or Commissioner is of the Religion he shall be obliged in the same manner as abovesaid to take and associate a Catholick 67. When it shall be a question of making a criminal Process by the Provosts of the Marshalsies or their Leivetenants against some of the Religion a house-keeper who is charged and accused of a crime belonging to the Provost or subject to the Jurisdiction of a Provost the said Provost or their Leivetenants if they are Catholicks shall be obliged to call to the instruction of the said Process an Associate of the Religion which Associate shall also assist at the Judgement of the difference and in the definitive Judgement of the said Process which difference shall not be judged otherwise than by the next Presidial Court assembled with the principal Officers of the said Court which shall be found upon the place upon penalty of nullity except the accused shall require to have the difference Judged in the Chambers ordained by the present Edict In which case upon the account of the house-keepers in the Provinces of Guyenne Languedoc Province and Dauphine the substitutes of our Procurators general in the said Chambers shall at the request of the said house-keepers cause to be brought into the same the Charges and Informations made against them to know and judge if the Causes are tryable before the Provost or not that according to the quality of the crimes they may by the Chamber be sent back to the Ordinary or judged tryable by the Provost as shall be found reasonable by the contents of our present Edict and the Presidial Judges Provosts of Mareschalsie vice-Bayliffs vice-Stewards and others who Judge without Appeal shall be obliged respectively to obey and satisfie the commands of the said Chambers as they use to do to the said Parliaments upon Penalty of the loss of their Estates 67. The outcries for sale of Inheritances and giving notice thereof by warning passed or chalked according to order shall be done in places and at hours usual if possible following our Ordinances or else in publick Markets if in the place where the Land lies there is a Market-place and where there shall be none in the next Market within the jurisdiction of the Court where Judgement ought to be given and the fixing of the notice shall be upon the posts of the said Market-place and at the entry of the Assembly of the said place and this order being observed the notice shall be valid and pass beyond the interposition of the sentence or decree as to any nullity which might be alledged upon this account 69. All Title and papers instructions and documents which have been taken shall be restored by both parties to those to whom they belong though the said Papers or the Castles and houses in which they were kept have been taken and seized by special Commission from the last deceased King our most honoured Lord and Brother in Law or from us or by the command of the Governors and Lievetenant Generals of our Provinces or by the authority of the heads of the other party or under what pretext soever it shall be 70. The children of those that are retired out of our Kingdom since the death of Henry the Second our Father-in-Law by reason of Religion and Troubles though the said Children are born out
Notwithstanding the Clergy would not have given themselves the trouble to copy out so long an Article for nothing And this without doubt is their design Namely to cut off the end of this twentieth Article of the Edict in which it is ordained That the inquisition after the violation of the Feasts should not be made by any other than the Officers of Justice And in place of those words they substituted these That the Feasts should be declared by the sound of a Bell or proclaimed by the diligence of the Consuls or Aldermen but this addition is of little benefit instead whereof the end of the twentieth Article is absolutely necessary to repress the ill humour of the Parish Priest and other Ecclesiasticks who will pretend to be Competent Parties against them of the P. R. R. in the not observation of Feasts and who will bring against them an infinity of Suits if they be not excluded from this inquiry by attributing it to the Officers of Justice only Therefore this Article of the Declaration making a breach upon the Edict ought to be expunged to the end that that of the Edict may abide in force ARTICLE LIV. Sale of Meats on dayes forbidden That they of the P. R. R. may not retail or sell Victuals publickly on the dayes which the Catholick Church hath appointed for abstinence therefrom THis Prohibition is needlesly made against them of the P. R. R. For they will not give this occasion of offence to the Catholicks ARTICLE LV. Ringing of Bells That the Bells in the Temples of them of the P. R. R. in the places where the exercise is permitted cease to Ring from Holy Thursday at ten of the Clock in the morning untill Holy Saturday at mid day as those of the Catholicks are wont to do IF the Bells of those of the P. R. R. were rung at divers hours of the day If they were in great number to make much noise or had a shrill sound or had an harmonious chime like those which are heard on the Feast dayes and upon occasions of Joy it would be thought less strange that they would impose silence on them so long as those of the Catholicks are silent But those Bells which are never more than one in every Temple and which ring not but one moment in the day to give notice of the hour of the Sermon and whose sound is exceeding simple there is no more reason to cause the Bell to cease which calls to the Temple than that of the Clock which tells the hour of the Sermon and Prayers ARTICLE LVI Bells in Temples in places of Citadels and Garrisons That in Towns and Places where there are Citadels or Garrisons by our Order they aforesaid of the P. R. R. may not assemble by the sound of a Bell nor place any in their Temples THe same design which the Clergy have already made appear in divers Articles is remarkable also in this It is this that they would bring the Fidelity of those of the P. R. R. into suspition as if there were some cause to fear that they would make use of their Bells as a signal to betray the Places where there were a Citadel or a Garrison But the knowledge which his Majesty hath of their inviolable zeal and faithful affection which they have unto his Service will cause him to pierce through all the vain Clouds of unjust suspitions which they would give him and to revoke an Article so injurious to his Subjects whose obedience is without reproach and who deserve not in this point to be treated otherwise than the rest of their fellow Citizens and Country Men. ARTICLE LVII Judgment of the validity of Marriages And being we have been informed of certain actions occurring not yet decided by any Decrees to prevent altercations and differences betwixt our Catholick Subjects and those of the P. R. R. We ordain that the Marriages made and contracted in the Catholick Churches or before their proper Rector shall not be judged but by the Officials of the Bishops who may take Cognizance of their validity or invalidity And if the said Marriages be made in the Temples of those of the said Religion or before their Ministers in this case if the Defender be a Catholick the said Officials shall have the Cognizance thereof in like manner and if the Defender be of the P. R. R. the Royal Judges shall have the Cognizance thereof and by Appeal the Chambers of the Edict THis is a rude blow which the Clergy would reach the Edict of Nantes in favour of the Officials of the Bishops For the Edict in the 41 Article of the Particulars had ordained that the Cognizance of Processes concerning Marriages should appertain to the Judges Royal and by Appeal to the Chambers of the Edict then when both Parties are of the P. R. R. not attributing the Cognizance to the Officials but when the one of the Parties is of the C. A. R. R. And so much the more if he be Defendant But the Article of the Declaration is contrary hereunto in two manners For first It wills that the Marriages which are made before the Parish Priests or in the Catholick Churches should be judged by the Officials of the Bishops though the Defendant be of the P. R. R. Secondly this Article is couched in such sort that even when both the Parties are of the P. R. R. It gives to understand that notwithstanding if their Marriages were made in the Churches of those of the C. A. R. R. or before their Papish Priests it should belong for all that to the Officials to take Cognizance and Judge thereof Thus here they of the P. R. R. who are in no sort at all justifiable by the Ecclesiasticks are subjected unto their Tribunals and what may they expect from Judges prejudiced and passionate but rigorous condemnations This Article then takes them of the P. R. R. out of the hands of the Kings Judges to put them in the hands of the Officials This is properly to repeal the Edict whose settlement in this matter is so Just and so Reasonable that the new Commentator who hath imployed all his Spirits to endeavour to take away this Sacred Buckler of the Edict from them of the P. R. R. hath notwithstanding said nothing at all to elude this 41 Article of the Particulars on the contrary he hath elsewhere confirmed it by the conference of Fleix on the 23 Article of the Generals So also the usage hath alwayes been hitherto conformable to the Edict They of the P. R. R. have hitherto never pleaded in causes Matrimonial but before the Judges Royal and those of the Chamber of the Edict This is therefore an innovation which the King out of the design which he hath to cause the Edict of Nantes to be exactly observed without doubt cannot suffer ARTICLE LVIII Tythes infeoft That Criminal Causes in which the Ecclesiasticks are Defendants may be handled before the Royal Judges and the Stewards and in