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
abolition contained in our present Edict and is liable to be inquired after or prosecuted yet nevertheless no Soldier shall be troubled whence may arise the renewing of troubles and for this cause We Will and Ordain that execrable cases shall only be excepted out of the said abolition as ravishing and forcing of Women and Maids Burnings Murders Robberies Treachery and lying in wait or ambush out of the way of hostility and for private revenge against the duty of War breaking of Pass-ports and Safeguards with murders and Pillages without command from those of the Religion or those that have followed the party of their Generals who have had authority over them founded upon particular occasions which have moved them to ordain and command it 87. We Ordain also that punishment be inflicted for Crimes and offences committed betwixt persons of the same party if Acts not commanded by the hands of one Party or the other by necessity of Law and Order of War And as for the Leavying and exacting of Money bearing of Arms and other exploits of War done by private authority and without allowance the parties guilty thereof shall be prosecuted by way of Justice 88. The Cities dismantled during the troubles may with our permission be re-edified and repaired by the Inhabitants at their Costs and Charges and the provisions granted heretofore upon that account shall hold and have place 89. We Ordain and our Will and Pleasure is that all Lords Knights Gentlemen and others of what quality and condition soever of the Reformed Religion and others who have followed their Party shall enter and be effectually conserved in the enjoyment of all and each of their Goods Rights Titles and Actions notwithstanding the Judgements following thereupon during the said troubles and by reason of the same with Decrees Seizures Judgements and all that shall follow thereupon we have to this end declared and we do declare them null and of no effect and value 90. The acquisitions that those of the Reformed Religion and others which have followed their Party have made by the authority of the deceased Kings our predecessors or others for the immovables belonging to the Church shall not have any place or effect but we ordain and our pleasure is that the Ecclesiasticks enter immediately and without delay be conserved in the possession and enjoyment really and actually of the said goods so alienated without being obliged to pay the purchase-money which to this effect we have cancelled and revoked as null without remedy for the Purchasers to have against the Generals c. by the authority of which the said goods have been sold Yet nevertheless for the re-imbursement of the Money by them truly and without fraud disbursed our Letters Patents of permission shall be dispatched to those of the Religion to interpose and equalize bare sums of the said purchases cost the Purchasers not being allowed to bring any action for their Damages and interest for want of enjoyment but shall content themselves with the re-imbursement of the Money by them furnished for the price of the acquisitions accounting for the price of the fruits received in case that the said Sale should be found to be made at an under rate 91. To the end that as well our Justices and Officers as our other Subjects be clearly and with all certainty advertised of our Will and Intentions and for taking away all ambiguity and doubt which may arise from the variety of former Edicts Articles secret Letters Patents Declarations Modifications Restrictions Interpretations Decrees and Registers as also all secrets as well as other deliberations heretofore by us or the Kings our predecessors made in our Courts of Parliaments or otherwayes concerning the said Reformed Religion and the troubles hapning in our said Kingdom we have declared and do hereby declare them to be of no value and effect and as to the derogatory part therein contained we have by this our Edict abrogated and we do abrogate and from henceforward we cancell revoke and anull them Declaring expresly that our Will and Pleasure is that this our Edict be firmly and inviolably kept and observed as well by our Justices and Officers as other Subjects without hesitation or having any regard at all to that which may be contrary or derogatory to the same 92. And for the greater assurance of the keeping and observing what we herein desire we Will and Ordain and it is our pleasure that all the Governors and Leivetenants General of our Provinces Bayliffs Chief-Justices and other ordinary Judges of the Cities of our said Kingdom immediately after the receit of this same Edict and do bind themselves by Oath to keep and cause to be kept and observed each in their district as shall also the Mayors Sheriffs principal Magistrates Consuls and Jurates of Cities either annual or perpetual Enjoyning likewise our Bayliffs chief Justices or their Livetenants and other Judges to make the principal Inhabitants of the said Cities as well of the one Religion as the other to swear to the keeping and observing of this present Edict immediately after the publication thereof And taking all those of the said Cities under our Protection command that one and the other respectively shall either answer for the opposition that shall be made to this our said Edict within the said Cities by the Inhabitants thereof or else to present and deliver over to Justice the said opposers We Will and Command our well beloved the people holding our Courts of Parliaments Chambers of Accounts and Courts of Aids that immediately after the receipt of this present Edict they cause all things to cease and upon penalty of Nullity of the Acts which they shall otherwise do to take the like Oath as above and to publish and Register our said Edict in our said Courts according to the form and tenure of the same purely and simply without using any Modifications Restrictions Declarations or secret Registers or expecting any other Order or Command from us and we do require our Procurators-general to pursue immediately and without delay the said publication hereof We give in command to the People of our said Courts of Parliaments Chambers of our Courts and Courts of our Aids Bayliffs chief-Chief-Justices Provosts and other our Justices and Officers to whom it appertains and to their Leivetenants that they cause to be read published and Registred this our present Edict and Ordinance in their Courts and Jurisdictions and the same keep punctually and the contents of the same to cause to be injoyned and used fully and peaceably to all those to whom it shall belong ceasing and making to cease all troubles and obstructions to the contrary for such is our pleasure and in witness hereof we have signed these presents with our own hand and to the end to make it a thing firm and stable for ever we have caused to put and indorse our Seal to the same Given at Nantes in the Month of April in the year of Grace 1598. and of our
and the Re-establishment of all this Estate in its first splendor opulency and strength As on our part we promise to cause all to be exactly observed without suffering any contradiction And for these causes having with the advice of the Princes of our Blood other Princes and Officers of our Crown and other great and eminent Persons of our Council of State being near us well and diligently weighed and considered all this affair We have by this Edict or Statute perpetuall and irrevocable said declared and ordained saying declaring and ordaining 1. That the memory of all things passed on the one part and the other since the beginning of the month of March 1585. untill our coming to the Crown and also during the other precedent troubles and the occasion of the same shall remain extinguished and suppressed as things that had never been And it shall not be Lawfull or permitted to our Attorneys General nor other person or persons whatsoever publick or private in any time or for any occasion whatsoever it may be to make mention thereof Process or Prosecution in any Courts or Jurisdiction whatsoever 2. We prohibit to all our Subjects of what State and Condition soever they be to renew the memory thereof to attaque resent injure or provoke one the other by reproaches for what is past under any pretext or cause whatsoever by disputing contesting quarrelling reviling or offending by factious words but to contain themselves and live peaceably together as Brethren Friends and fellow-Citizens upon penalty for acting to the contrary to be punished for breakers of Peace and disturbers of the publick quiet 3. We ordain that the Catholick Religion shall be restored and re-established in all places and quarters of this Kingdom and Countrey under our obedience and where the exercise of the same hath been intermitted to be there again peaceably and freely exercised without any trouble or impediment Most expresly prohibiting all persons of what State Quality or Condition soever upon the penalties before-mentioned not to trouble molest or disquiet the Ecclesiasticks in the celebration of Divine Service injoyning of receiving of Tythes the fruits and Revenues of their Benefices and all other Rights and Duties belonging to them and we command that all those who during the troubles have invaded Churches Houses Goods and Revenues belonging to the Ecclesiasticks and those who detain and possess them to deliver over to them the intire possession thereof with a peaceable enjoyment and with such rights liberties and security as they had before they were deseized Most expresly forbidding to those of the Reformed Religion to Preach or exercise their said Religion in the Churches Houses and habitations of the said Ecclesiasticks 4. It shall be the choice of the said Ecclesiasticks to buy the Houses and Structures built upon their ground in profane places and made use of against their wills during the troubles or compell the possessors of the said buildings to buy the ground according to the estimation that shall be made by skilfull persons agreed upon by both Parties And to come the better to an agreement the Judges of the place shall provide such for them except the said Possessors will try the Title to whom the places in question belong And where the said Ecclesiasticks shall compell the possessors to buy the ground the purchase-money if of estimation shall not be put in their hands but shall remain charged in the possessors hands to make profit thereof at five per Cent. untill it shall be imployed to the profit of the Church which shall be done within a Year And after that time if the Purchaser will not continue any longer at the said interest he shall be discharged thereof by consigning the money to a responsible person with the authority of the Justice And for such places as are Sacred advice shall be given therein by the Commissioners who shall be ordained for the execution of the present Edict for which we shall provide 5. Nevertheless the ground and foundation of places used for the reparation and fortification of Cities and places in our Kingdom and the materials imployed therein may not be sold nor taken away by the Ecclesiasticks or other persons publick or private untill the said reparations and fortifications shall by our order be demolished 6. And not to leave any occasion of trouble and difference among our Subjects we have permitted and do permit to those of the Reformed Riligion to live and dwell in all the Cities and places of this our Kingdom and Countreys under our obedience without being inquired after vexed molested or compelled to do any thing in Religion contrary to their Conscience nor by reason of the same be searched after in houses or places where they live they comporting themselves in other things as is contained in this our present Edict or Statute 7. We also permit to all Lords Gentlemen and other Persons as well inhabitants as others making profession of the Reformed Religion having in our Kingdom and Countreys under our obedience high Justice as chief Lord as in Normandy be it in propriety or usage in whole moiety or third part to have in such of their houses of the said high Justice or Fiefs as abovesaid which they shall be obliged to Nominate for their principall residence to our Bayliffs and chief Justice each in their jurisdiction the exercise of the said Religion as long as they are Resident there and in their absence their wives or families or part of the same And though the right of Justice or whole Fief be controverted nevertheless the exercise of the said Religion shall be allowed there provided that the abovesaid be in actual possession of the said high Justice though our Attorney Generall be a Party We permitting them also to have the said exercise in their other houses of high Justice or Fiefs abovesaid so long as they shall be present and not otherwise and all as well for them their families and subjects as others that shall go thither 8. In the Houses that are Fiefs where those of the said Religion have not high Justice there the said Exercise of the Reformed Religion shall not be permitted save only to their own Families yet nevertheless if other persons to the number of thirty besides their Families shall be there upon the occasion of Christenings Visits of their Friends or otherwise our meaning is that in such case they shall not be molested provided also that the said Houses be not within Cities Burroughs or Villages belonging to any Catholick Lord save to us having high Justice in which the said Catholick Lords have their Houses For in such cases those of the said Religion shall not hold the said Exercise in the said Cities Burroughs or Villages except by permission of the said Lords high Justices 9. We permit also to those of the said Religion to hold and continue the Exercise of the same in all the Cities and Places under our obedience where it hath by them been Established
Judges and Officers to seize the same 22. We ordain that there shall not be made any difference or distinction upon the account of the said Religion in receiving Scholars to be instructed in the Universities Colledges or Schools nor of the sick or poor into Hospitals sick houses or publick Almshouses 23. Those of the Reformed Religion shall be obliged to observe the Laws of the Catholick Church received in this our Kingdom as to Marriages and Contracts and to contract in the degrees of consanguinity and affinity 24. In like manner those of the said Religion shall pay the rights of Entry as is accustomed for Offices unto which they shall be chosen without being constrained to observe or assist in any Ceremonies contrary to their said Religion and being called to take an Oath shall not be obliged to do it otherwise than by holding up the hand swearing and promising in the name of God to say all the truth Nor shall they be dispensed with for the Oath by taken in passing contracts and obligations 25. We Will and Ordain that all those of the Reformed Religion and others who have followed their party of what State Quality or Condition soever they be shall be obliged and constrained by all due and reasonable wayes and under the penalties contained in the said Edict or Statute relating thereunto to pay tythes to the Curates and other Ecclesiasticks and to all others to whom they shall appertain according to the usage and custom of the places 26. Disinheritations of Privations be it in disposition in life-time or Testimentary made from hatred only or for Religion sake shall have no place neither for the time passed or to come among our Subjects 27. To the end to re-unite so much the better the minds and good will of our Subjects as is our intention and to take away all complaints for the future We declare all those who make or shall make profession of the said Reformed Religion to be capable of holding and exercising all Estates Dignities Offices and publick charges whatsoever Royal Signioral or of Cities of our Kingdom Countreys Lands and Lordships under our obedience notwithstanding all Oaths to the contrary and to be indifferently admitted and received into the same and our Court of Parliament and other Judges shall content themselves with informing and inquiring after the lives manners Religion and honest Conversation of those that were or shall be preferred to such offices as well of the one Religion as the other without taking other Oath of them than for the good and faithful service of the King in the exercise of their Office and to keep the Ordinances as they have been observed in all times Also vacancies hapning of such of the said Estates Charges and offices as shall be in our disposition they shall be provided by us indifferently and without distinction of Persons as that which tends to the Union of our Subjects Understanding likewise that those of the Reformed Religion may be admitted and received into all Councells Deliberations Assemblies and Functions depending upon the abovesaid things without being rejected or hindred the injoyment thereof by reason of the said Religion 28. We ordain for the interrment of the dead of the said Religion throughout the Cities and places of this Kingdom that there shall in each place be provided for them by our Officers and Magistrates and by the Commissioners that we shall depute for the execution of our present Edict or Statute a place the most Commodious that can be and the burying places which they have had heretofore and whereof they have by the troubles been deprived shall be restored unto them except they be found to be converted into buildings of what quality or kind soever it be in which case a compensation shall be made another way 29. We enjoyn most expresly our officers to look to it that no scandal be given in the said interrments and they shall be obliged within fifteen dayes after request made to provide those of the said Religion with convenient places for Sepulchres without delay upon penalty of five hundred Crowns in their own proper and private names And it is also forbidden as well to the said officers as to all others to exact any thing for the conduct of the said dead bodies upon penalty of Extortion 30. To the end that Justice be given and administred to our Subjects without any suspition hatred or favour as being one of the principal means for the maintaining Peace and Concord we have ordained and do ordain that in our Court of Parliament of Paris shall be established a Chamber composed of a President and sixteen Counsellors of the said Parliament which shall be called and entituled the Chamber of Edict and shall take cognisance not only of the Causes and Process of the said Reformed Religion which shall be within the jurisdiction of the said Court but also of the Appeals of our Parliaments of Normandy and Bretagne according to the jurisdiction which shall be hereafter given to it by this present Edict or Statute and that until in each of the said Parliaments there shall be established a Chamber for rendring Justice upon the place We ordain also That of four Offices of councellors in our said Parliament remaining of the last erection which hath by us been made there shall be presently provided and received in the said Parliament four of the said Reformed Religion sufficient and capable which shall be distributed to wit the first into the Chamber of Edicts and the other three in like manner shall be received in the three Chambers of Inquests and besides the two first Offices of Councellors of the said Courts which shall come to be vacant by death shall be supplied by two of the Reformed Religion and the same distributed also in the two other Chambers of Inquests 31. Besides the Chamber heretofore established at Castres for Appeals from our Parliament of Tholouse which shall be continued in the Estate it is we have for the same reasons ordained and we do ordain that in each of our Parliaments of Grenoble and Bourdeaux there shall be in like manner established a Chamber composed of two Presidents one a Catholick and the other of the Reformed Religion and twelve Councellors whereof six shall be Catholicks and the other six of the said Religion which Catholick President and Councellors shall be by us chosen and taken out of the body of our said Courts And as to those of the Religion there shall be made a new Creation of one President and six Councellors for the Parliament of Bourdeaux and one President and three Councellors for that of Grenoble which with the three Councellors of the said Religion which are at present in the said Parliament shall be imployed in the said Chamber of Dauphin And the said Officers shall be created by a new Creation with the same Salleries Honours Authorities and Preheminences as the others of the said Courts And the said seat of the said Chamber of
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
the Religion shall be parties within the jurisdiction of our Parliaments of Paris Rouen Dyon and Rennes shall be presently removed to the Chamber or Court established at Paris by vertue of the Edict of 1577. or else to the great Councell at the Election of those of the said Religion if they require it and those which shall be of the Parliament of Bourdeaux to the Chamber or Court established at Castres or to the said grand Councell at their Election and those which shall be of Provence to the Parliament of Grenoble And if the said Chambers or Courts are not established within three Months after the presentation of our Edict that Parliament which shall make refusal thereof shall be prohibited the Cognizance and Judgement of the causes of those of the Religion 44. The Process not yet judged depending in the said Courts of Parliaments and great Counsel of the quality abovesaid shall be sent back in what Estate soever they be to the said Chambers or Courts each within his jurisdiction if one of the Parties of the Religion require it within four Months after the Establishment of the same and as to those which shall be discontinued and are not in condition of being judged those of the said Religion shall be obliged to make Declaration upon the first intimation and signification to them of the Prosecution and the time past shall not be understood to require the dismission 45. The said Chambers or Courts of Grenoble and Bourdeaux as also that of Castres shall keep the forms and stile of Parliament where the jurisdiction of the same shall be established and shall judge by equal numbers of the one and the other Religion if the Parties consent not to the Contrary 46. All the Judges to whom the Address shall be made for execution of Decrees Commissions of the said Chambers and Patents obtained in Chancery for the same together with all the Messengers and Serjeants shall be obliged to put them in execution and the said Messengers and Serjeants shall do all Acts throughout our Kingdom without demanding a Placet or peremptory Warrant upon penalty of suspension of their Estates and of the expenses damages and interests of the Parties the Cognizance whereof shall belong to the said Chambers 47. No removal of causes shall be allowed to any whereof the Cognizance is attributed to the said Chambers except in cases of Ordinance the removal by which shall be made to the next Chamber established according to our Edict And the dividing of the Process of the same Chambers shall be judged by the nearest observing the proportion and forms of the said Chambers where the Process shall be proceeded upon except the Chamber of Edict in our Parliament of Paris where the Process divided shall be distributed in the same Chamber by the Judges which shall be by us named by our particular Letters Patents for that effect if the parties had not rather wait the removing of the said Chamber And happening that one and the same Process be divided in all the Chambers Myparty or half on Religion half th' other the division shall be sent to the Chamber of Paris 48. The refusal that shall be proposed against the Presidents and Councellors of the Chambers half one Religion and half the other called the Court of Edict may be judged by the number of six to which number the parties shall be obliged to restrain themselves otherwise they shall be passed over without having regard to the said Refusal 49. The examinations of the Presidents and Councellors newly erected in the Chambers of Edict Mypartis shall be made in our privy Council or by the said Chambers each in his Precinct when they shall be a sufficient number and nevertheless the Oath accustomed shall be by them taken in the Courts where the said Chambers shall be established and upon refusal in our Privy-Council except those of the Chamber of Languedoc in which they shall take Oath before our Chancellor or in the same Chamber 50. We Will and Ordain That the reception of our Officers of the said Religion judged in the said Chambers half Papist and half of the Reformed Religion by Pluralities of Voices as is accustomed in other Courts without being needfull that the opinions surpass two thirds following the ordinance which for the same cause is abrogated 51. There shall be made in the said Chambers Mypartis the Propositions Deliberations and Resolutions which shall appertain to the publick Peace and for the particular State and Policy of the Cities where the same Chambers shall be 52. The Article for the jurisdiction of the said Chambers ordained by the present Edict shall be followed and observed according to its form and tenure even in that which concerns the execution or breach of our Edict when those of the Religion shall be Parties 53. The Kings subordinate Officers or others whereof the reception belongeth to our Courts of Parliament if they be of the Reformed Religion they may be examined and received in the said Chambers viz. those under the jurisdiction of the Parliaments of Paris Normandy and Bretagne in the said Chambers of Paris those of Dauphine and Provence in the Chamber of Grenoble those of Burgundy in the said Chamber of Paris or Dauphine at their choice those under the jurisdiction of Tholouse in the Chamber of Castres and those of the Parliament of Bourdeaux in the Chamber of Guyenne without that others may oppose themselves against their reception and render themselves Parties as our procurators General and their Substitutes and those enjoying the said Offices Yet nevertheless the accustomed Oath shall be by them taken in the Courts of Parliaments who shall not take any Cognizance of the said receptions and in refusal of the said Parliaments the said Officers shall take the Oath in the said Chambers after which so taken they shall be obliged to present by a Messenger or Notary the Act of their reception to the Register of the said Courts of Parliaments and to leave a coppy thereof examined by the said Register who is enjoyned to Register the said Acts upon penalty of all the expence dammage and interest of the Parties and the Registers refusing to do it shall suffer the said Officers to report the Act of the said Summons dispatched by the said Messengers or Notaries and cause the same to be Registred in the Register-Office of their said Jurisdiction for to have recourse thereunto when need shall be upon penalty of Nullity of their proceedings and Judgments And as to the Officers whereof the reception hath not been accustomed to be made in our said Parliaments in case those to whom it belongs shall refuse to proceed to the said examination and reception then the said Officers shall repair to the said Chambers for to be there provided as it shall appertain 54. The Officers of the said Reformed Religion who shall hereafter be appointed to serve in the body of our said Courts of Parliaments grand Counsell Chambers of Accompts
Reign the ninth signed HENRY And underneath the King being in Council FORGET And on the other side VISA This Visa signifies the Lord Chancellors perusal Sealed with the Great Seal of Green-wax upon a red and green string of Silk Read Published and Registred the Kings Procurator or Attorney-General Hearing and Consenting to it in the Parliament of Paris the 25th of February 1599. Signed VOYSIN Read Published and in-Registred the Chamber of Accompts the Kings Procurator-General Hearing and Consenting the last day of May 1599. Signed De la FONTAINE Read Published and Registred the Kings Procurator-General hearing and consenting at Paris in the Court of Aids the 30th of April 1599. Signed BERNARD OBSERVATIONS Upon the KINGS TWO DECLARATIONS Given at St. GERMAINS In Laye the Second of April 1666. The one concerning the Affairs of those of the pretended Reformed Religion The other Entituled against the Relapsed and Blasphemers The Preface of the First Declaration LEWIS By the Grace of God King of France and Navarr To all those to whom these Presents shall come Greeting Our greatest care since we came unto the Crown hath been to maintain our Catholick Subjects and those that be of the pretended Reformed Religion in perfect Peace and Tranquility observing exactly the Edict of Nantes and that of the Year 1629. But although the Laws foresee those Cases which happen more ordinarily so as to apply thereto necessary pre-cautions yet seeing a multiplicity of Actions which daily occurr cannot be reduced to one certain rule It was therefore necessary to make particular provisions assoon as difficulties of any sort did occasionally arise and therein to make Judgement and Decision by the ordinary Rules and Forms of Justice Which thing hath made way for many Decrees made in our Council and sundry others passed in our Chambers of the Edict of which there having been no publick notice given our Subjects have found themselves often ingaged in Suites and Contestations which they might have then avoided if they had known that the like questions had been already decided by former Judgements Insomuch that for preventing the like inconveniencies and to nourish Peace and Amity amongst our Subjects as well Catholicks as those of the pretended Reformed Religion the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Ecclesiastick Deputies in the General Assembly of the Clergy which is held at present by our permission in our good City of Paris have very instantly besought us to reduce the said Decisions into one single declaration adjoyning thereunto certain Articles touching some Actions thereupon occuring to the end that the whole may be made more notorious and publick to all our Subjects and that by this means they having no cause to pretend Ignorance may conform themselves thereto and cause to cease the discords and altercations which may arise on such like actions and that what hath been Judged and decided by the said Decrees may be for ever confirmed and established and may be put in Execution as a Law inviolable For these causes with the advice of our Counsel and of our certain knowledge full power and authority Royal We have by these Presents signed with our hand said and declared say and declare We Will and it is our Pleasure that the said Decrees made in our Counsell be kept and observed according to their form and tenour in such manner Observations upon this Preface IF this Declaration which contains fifty nine Articles had hurt them of the pretended Reformed Religion only in points of Commodity and Convenience they have so much respect for whatsoever bears the August name of their Soveraign they would have contained themselves in silence and not have troubled by the importunity of their Complaints the satisfaction which this great Monarch doth injoy in the sweets of Peace and prosperities of his Estate But the deplorable extremity to which they see themselves to be reduced doth forcibly draw from them whether they will or no those groans which they would have stifled if their Sorrows had not been extreme For this Declaration which they esteem as the greatest and most rigorous blow by which they could be smitten like a clap of Thunder doth throw them into the greatest terrors and doth not suffer them to be silent And it seems to them that they should make themselves Criminals if upon this so pressing an occasion which threatens their Goods their Honours their Families their Lives and which is yet more and more dear unto them their Religion and the Liberty of their Consciences they should not cause their sad voice to be heard by his Majesty for that were no other than to testify an injurious distrust as if his Justice and his Royal protection could be wanting to his miserable Subjects who come to prostrate themselves at the feet of this extraordinary Prince given of God expresly for this end that he might do good unto men and that his Scepter no less Just than Puissant might be the Sanctuary of afflicted Innocence So that it is not only their necessity but their sence of their Duty it self which gives them of the pretended Reformed Religion the boldness to address themselves unto the King to demand of him with all profound Humility the revocation of an Ordinance which is not properly his own work but of them of the Clergy who have suggested it Kings have alwayes at the highest point of their Grandeur and of their Puissance made no difficulty to change their most absolute Oders when they have been caused to understand that they had been surprised And yet even from this also they have received Glory because to give Laws is only to rule over others but to revoke those which Persons interessed have imposed upon the Spirit of the Prince is to Reign over Himself and this is the means by which Soveraign Force may make it self to be acknowledged through all the World as truly worthy of Empire if the love of Justice be more powerfull in his heart than that of his Soveraign Authority There is then reason to hope for these generous sentiments from a King whose Soul is yet more noble than the Crown it self which he wears and whose resolution hath already begun to display it self in naming Commissioners of the highest dignity to review the Declaration now in debate Which is a Piece that appears so many strange wayes that they themselves who made it would confess it to be so if they could but for some moments of time devest themselves of their prejudice I. First of all the Declaration sets forth That it was granted at the request and upon the very instant supplications of the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Deputies in the Assembly of the Clergy Which had it not been so clearly expressed might nevertheless have been easily known by reading the Memoires of the Clergy those publick Memoires which were Printed in the Year one thousand six hundred and sixty six For all the same things which were remarkable and which the Clergy pretended to at that
time all the demands which they made all the Decrees they proposed to themselves to obtain are found in the Articles of this Declaration In regard whereof they can be looked upon no otherwise than as the Execution of those so destructive Memoires since therein may be seen all the pretentions of the Clergy turned into form of Rules and Ordinances II. Besides who else but the Ecclesiasticks that is to say most passionate Parties could ever have conceived that thought which they had and which they have by surprize caused to be set in the Preface of this Declaration where it is said that what hath been judged and decided by the Decrees of the Counsell should be confirmed and established for ever and be executed as a Law inviolable For to desire that the Decrees in generall made in Counsel that is to say Decrees whereof many were given upon a Petition only and without Cognisance of the Cause or upon particular Actions and upon circumstances extraordinary should pass into a Law inviolable throughout the Realm certainly is a thing that cannot easily be conceived There is no thing more common than to see the Decrees of the Counsel annulled by others subsequent because the King being better informed of the State and truth of things Wills that the Rights of Justice should be maintained on the same Tribunal where the artifice of the Parties would have given it some defeat Decrees being indeed no Rules of the Law but on the contrary the Law the true Rule of Decrees III. The Form and Tenure of the Articles makes it no less clear that the Declaration was a surprize For they are all prejudicial to the Pretended Reformed Religion And in the mean time the King in the beginning of the Preface doth say expresly that his greatest care since his coming to the Crown hath been to maintain his Catholick Subjects and those of the Petended Reformed Religion in perfect Peace and Tranquility And a few lines after that the design of this Declaration was to nourish Peace and Amity amongst his Majesties Subjects as well Catholicks as those of the Pretended Reformed Religion In pursuance of this design truly worthy the Justice and Goodness of the King the Declaration ought to have been conceived in such sort that in giving satisfaction to the one some regard might have been had at least of the weal and subsistence of the other and that not only they of the Roman Catholick Religion but they also of the Pretended Reformed Religion might have found therein some matter of contentment But contrary to this so just a Maxim this whole Declaration is to the disadvantage of the latter and so far from being proper to nourish Peace and Amity that it can serve for nothing else but to beget eternal troubles and divisions This is one manifest proof that it was neither the King nor his Counsell that formed this Declaration not only so partial but so openly contrary to so considerable a party of his Majesties Subjects For Kings have not been wont to deal after this manner in the Regulations which they make for the union and repose of the persons whose differences they would appease They do alwayes conserve the interest of the one part with the other betwixt whom they seek to establish Concord and good Understanding The Edict of Nantes hath been conceived by this true Spirit of Royalty For it propounds so to regulate the Affairs of those of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion and those of the pretended Reformed Religion that both the one and the other might find therein some cause to be contented And also for the composing thereof Henry the Great called unto his person the most prudent and best qualified of the two Religions that he might confer with them He received their Bills he hearkned to their Complaints and to their Remonstrances to the end he might not be surprized in any point But here they of the pretended Reformed Religion were neither heard nor called the Ecclesiasticks only in this rencounter had the honour to approach unto the person of the King and having disguised matters unto him according to the dictates of their passion they have imposed upon him sinister impressions to the prejudice of the truth to the end they might cause him to set forth a Declaration which they had a long time before framed in their own bosoms It is then the Clergy who have suggested it through the motives of their hatred against them of the pretended Reformed Religion and who were desirous therein to accumulate all things whatsoever their passion could enable them to imagine as most proper to atchieve their overthrow and ruine IV. But that which renders this surprize in every respect sensible and palpable is the pablick protestation which the King makes in the entrance of this Declaration that he will observe exactly the Edict of Nantes and that of 1629. for it will be found that this Declaration is so very far from exactly observing those Edicts so authorised that it repeals them in many of its Articles so that none can doubt but that it is contrary to the intention of his Majesty and that they who have obtained it have surprised him in the sincerity of his heart For where is the person so rash or so wicked as to dare to say that the King doth indeed protest that he will observe the Edict of Nantes but that notwithstanding it is not his intention They are none but the enemies of France and of the glory of our illustrious Monarch who can make such discourses They of the pretended Reformed Religion who are resolved to live and die in the respects which they owe unto his Sacred Majesty can never have such a suspicion of so admirable a Prince and the Grand-Child of Henry the Great For that great Heroe who hath transmitted unto him his Vertues with his Blood gives us very well to understand that his posterity are uncapable of any such procedure when he pronounces these generous words which the History hath preserved and he addressed in so firm a tone to them of the Parliament of Paris about the matter of the Edict of Nantes I find it not good saith he to intend one thing and write another and if any have done so I will not do the same Cousenage is altogether odious but most of all in a Prince whose word ought to be unchangeable The Successor then and worthy Imitator of Henry the Great having given his Royal word and willed himself that the Publick should be thereof both depositary and witness even of this his word by which he hath engaged to observe exactly the Edict of Nantes it cannot be denyed that all that whatsoever it be which clashes with this perpetual and irrevocable Edict is at the same time contrary unto the Will of his Royal Majesty Being then it is so that almost in all the Articles of the Declaration of 1666. there are contrarieties to the Edict we must needs conclude that
yea some of them have come also to that excess as to threaten to raise the Country against the Bearers and those which did accompany the Bier Being this is an inhumane action and which natural compassion cannot suffer that the earth should be forbidden to any dead person whatsoever the King is most humbly besought to imploy his authority in this matter and to ordain that either in every Village some Burying place be delivered to them of the P. R. R. according to the twenty eighth Article of the Edict of Nantes or that in such places wherein they have no Burying place they of the said Religion may carry their dead to some Burying-place which they have in some Neighbour-Parish ARTICLE XXVI Process for Cases reserved to Provosts That House-keepers of the said P. R. R. against whom the Presidial Courts shall issue Process in any case subject to the Jurisdiction of the ordinary Judges or Provost shall not cause the Competence to be Judged in the Chamber of the Edicts when the said Presidial Courts have commenced the Suit before the Provosts or Ordinary Judges but the Competence shall be Judged by the said Presidial Courts in which case the Defendant may refuse three Judges without cause known according to the sixty fifth Article of the Edict of Nantes Notwithstanding the said House-keepers of pretended Reformed Religion being Defendants upon any Crime under the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary local Judges may demand their remission to the Chambers of the Edict for to cause the Competence to be there Judged where the Provost or Ordinary local Judge shall begin the Suit according to the 63 and 67 Articles of the Edict which shall be executed as to Vagabonds according to their form and tenor And the Judgement made upon the Declinator by the said Chamber for the Housholders of the said P. R. R. shall take place for the Catholicks Defendants for or upon the same Crime where the Process shall be made conjunctly THe Import of this Article is terrible in that it respects the Lives of those of the P. R. R. whom it throws back especially those of the Provinces of Guyenne Languedoc Province and Dauphine into the first condition in which they were before the erection of the Chambers of the Edict which were expresly agreed upon for their sakes that they might not be left exposed to the passions of the inferiour Judges whose Motions are commonly more suddain more hot and violent than those of Soveraign Courts This notwithstanding this Article withdraws the House-keepers of the P. R. R. from under the Chambers of the Edict to subject them in Causes in the Jurisdiction of ordinary Judges unto the Presidial Court that they may Judge of them with Soveraign authority Which the Clergy pretends to ground on this pretence So it is say they that the Edict of Nantes in its sixty seventh Article hath not attributed to the Chambers ordained by this Edict the power of judging of Competencies in Process Criminal but only when they are brought by the Provosts ordinary local Judges and not when they are brought by Presidial Courts But there can be nothing more unreasonable than this imagination of the Clergy For if Presidial Courts cannot Judge of the competition of Provosts inferiour Judges and are obliged to remit their Judgement to the Chambers of the Edicts when the Defendant requires it how much less are they capable to Judge of their own proper Competence For being herein they are concerned in their own personal and particular interest there is cause certainly wherefore they should be the more suspected what appearance of Reason can there be to make them Judges of their own proposals And to what danger shall not the lives of them of the P. R. R. be exposed for the future if they be abandoned to those Judges out of whose hands they have been withdrawn so many years by the Edict who come now to revenge themselves on them for the time they have lost Neither may they pretend to diminish this danger by saying that the Presidents cannot make Criminal Process against any House-holder of the P. R. R. but only in cases subject to Provosts ordinary local Judges for if they be once established Judges of their own Competencies all Crimes shall become Provostall in their hands wherein persons of this Religion shall be concerned so instead of one Provost Inferiour Judge from whom the Edict doth exempt them they shall have many who shall treat them severely upon all occasions And it will come to pass oftentimes that the Presidial Courts by a suddainness as formidable as that of the most fiery Provosts ordinary Judges will dispatch an honest man in twenty four hours time because he hath not any means to bring himself before his proper Judges who are the Chambers of the Edict Farthermore it appears manifestly by the settlement of this 67 Article of the Edict of Nantes that the intention of the Law-giver was to comprehend equally under the same Law the Provosts and the Presidial Courts for after that he had ordained that the Competency should be judged by the said Chambers if the Defendant did require it he adds That as well the Judges in Presidial Courts as the Provosts Marshal vice-Bayliffs vice-Sheriffs and all others that Judge finally should be obliged respectively to obey and satisfie the commands given them by the said Chambers in such manner as they have been accustomed to do to Parliaments upon pain of deprivation from their Estates Where it is manifest that the right of Judging Competencies granted unto those Chambers respects the one as well as the other for the Presidials have not received power to Judge finally in the four Provostal Cases i.e. which belong to inferiour Judges otherwise than those Provosts had it before So that the authority of the one ought not to be priviledged more than that of the others who first exercised it In a word there needs but one thing to be noted for discovery of the surprize in this Article of the Declaration which is this That the Edict hath absolutely taken away from Parliaments the Cognizance of Process Criminal against them of P. R. R. and the Declaration hath attributed soveraign Judgements of the same unto the Presidial Courts Is it because the Presidial Courts are more capable more illuminate and less passionate than the Parliaments who sees not in this the surprize of the Clergy from which may it please the King to secure those of the said Religion by a revocation of this Article But they have need that his Majesty would herein also redress another mischief For they have attempted to ruine their liberty likewise in regard of criminal Process which they make against them by the Provost Marshals or by their Leivetenants Witness the Decree got from the Council by surprize the 15 of October 1647. which declaring that the Crimes of making and uttering false Moneys altering the species and clipping of Gold or Silver and the Adherents and Accomplices