State and how much it will be expos'd to Misunderstandings and Tumults of the truth of this Allegation the Emperor's Edict which was then publish'd is a sufficient proof It was never their intention to plead in bar to the Jurisdiction of the Chamber in any Causes but those of Religion and they believ'd that Court could not prove the contrary upon them But they were very much troubl'd to hear from his Excellency that the Emperor had given the Chamber Authority to determine the quality of the Cause for they did believe all those Causes to be of a religious Nature and they were really such which could not be decided till the Extent of the word Religion was defin'd in a lawful Council which thing both by Letter and their Embassadors they had several times acquainted the Emperor and King Ferdinand with For this Dispute concerning the meaning and latitude of Religion is a preliminary Question and ought to be setled by the Council before other matters which relate to it are determin'd And in regard Benefices ought to be bestowed in consideration of Merit and Function They said they could not allow that those in their Dominions who were of a different Religion from themselves should enjoy the Revenues of the Church to which they had no manner of right because they were either unwilling to discharge their Office or wanted abilities to do it and since Conscience is more than ordinarily concern'd in the present case the usual Pleas of Law founded upon the right of Possession or Restitution ought not to be urg'd Moreover when the Treaty of Nuremburgh was on foot they particularly mention'd all those Suits and Difference which were then depending in the Chamber and in other Courts and represented them under the notion of Ecclesiastical Causes to the Princes of the Mediation who promis'd that they would endeavour to perswade the Emperor that they should be all exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Courts which was also promis'd by King Ferdinand at the Convention at Cadan besides it 's plain from that Clause in the Emperor's Edict which stops all Prosecutions of this nature that the Chamber of Spire has no Authority to determine the Quality of Causes And to say nothing more severe they could not choose but observe that the apparent Inclination of that Court to give Judgment against them had made a great many Persons much bolder and more contentious than they had formerly been which they were able to prove more than one way For when those of their Party moved that Court in any Cause their Suit was not only rejected but they were sent away with reproachful Language And lately the Hamburghers were commanded by them not only to restore the Clergy of their City their Goods and Estates but also to return them their old Religion and Jurisdiction back again and because they could not do this with a good Conscience they were amerced in a great Sum of Mony and therefore there needs no more Instances to let the Emperor understand what the Design of that Court is for if any Cause relates to Religion this certainly does But if the Judges are allowed to proceed in this manner the Truce serves to no purpose If the Rites and Ceremonies which were abolish'd may be lawfully restor'd by such Methods as these there will be no need of Council and yet the Emperor is pleas'd to grant that all Differences of this nature ought to be determin'd there and since their Exceptions against the Proceedings of the Court were not consider'd they were forc'd to decline the Jurisdiction of it As concerning the Persons of the Chamber there was not above one or two of the whole Bench of their Religion what Provision was made at Ratisbone for this Affair was well known it being apparent that those who were most violent against the Reformed were most acceptable to the Chamber nay a man may plainly discover how they stand affected by observing the air of their Countenances when they are trying of Causes and therefore they hope his Imperial Majesty will send them a positive Order to desist As for the Penalty which his Excellency mention'd was decreed at Ratisbone against Mal-administration that was no advantage to them Indeed if the Cause had related to Property and secular Affairs they might have had a compensation this way but matters of Religion were too weighty to be satisfied with Costs and Damages However if the Emperor is of opinion that they have intermix'd any civil Causes in their request they are willing this matter should be tried provided there may be a stop put to the Proceedings of the Chamber in the mean time Now as concerning those who came over to their Religion since the Pacification of Nuremburgh they confess'd that some few years since the Princes of the Mediation did insist at Schweenfurt that no more might be admitted into their Association which Proposition they then rejected and afterwards at the Convention at Nuremburgh they persisted in the same Opinion As to what his Excellency objects in reference to the Promises and Articles by which several of the States had engag'd themselves not to make any alteration in Religion To this the parties answer That some of them promis'd nothing others in private Treaties reserv'd this Liberty for themselves a third sort it 's true did engage themselves but it was upon the assurance which the Emperor gave them that a Council should be intimated within six Months and opened the year after But since this Assembly was delayed beyond their expectation and God had been pleas'd to give them a fuller apprehension of the true Religion they could not defer so good a Work any longer but thought it their Duty to make an open profession of that Doctrin which they were assur'd had both Truth and Piety to recommend it This the Canon-Law it self would justifie them in for from thence they had learn'd that if any Person had sworn to do a wicked Action this Oath did not oblige Besides as their Adversaries would not refuse any one who offer'd himself for a Convert so neither did they think it lawful to bar any person from coming over to themselves Therefore their earnest request to the Emperor was That the Judges might be check'd and that not only themselves but those who joyn'd them afterwards might be comprehended in the Peace For if matters should be otherwise carried and any violence should be offer'd they could not desert those they were allied to both by Vertue of their League and Religion This had been already declar'd to King Ferdinand at Vienna and that with a great deal of reason for the Cause of these later Confederates no less than their own belongs to the Cognizance of the Council But if the Judges of the Chamber will fore-stall the Hearing and hale in the business of the Council to their Court this is no less than down-right Force and Injustice against which by the Laws of Nature they are bound to defend themselves
a Vindication of himself wherein he denied the matter charged upon him and thereupon the Author of this Calumny being discovered he was deservedly executed And I hope this here will have the same event and that God who is the just Avenger of such ill Practices will discover the Authors of this pernitious Invention In the mean time I offer up my Prayers to God That he would give them a better mind and disappoint their wicked Counsels that they may not prevail to the Destruction of our Country For seeing this slander is of the same nature with the former it may easily be concluded the Authors of this had the same Design with the former or rather that it was made by it that what was discover'd and prevented then may now have its effect Now the main design of this Calumniator is to create a belief that the Pope and the Emperour have resolved to rescind the Decree made for the Peace of Religion by a War and that the King of England and the Bishops of Germany are to lend their assistances to it Now I say this feigned and false Invention is designed for the exasperating the minds of Men that their Prejudices and Disaffections being increased a Civil War may be stirr'd up amongst us to overwhelm our Country with the Blood of its Inhabitants And although I do not doubt but the Emperour and the othe Princes who are injur'd by this Seditious and Infamous Libel will take care to defend themselves and to right their own Cause yet at the same time I believe it is a part of my own Duty to clear the Reputation of our Supreme Magistrate And I protest whil'st I was at Rome in my presence or to my knowledge there was not one word spoken concerning the Peace of Religion and therefore it is very falsly laid to the Pope's charge that his main design is to persuade the Emperour and other Kings to destroy that Decree by Force and Arms I say this is false and can never be proved and by consequence what is charged upon the Emperour is false too for seeing there has been no Treaty between them how can a War be agreed and the recovering the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Conquest of Germany be resolv'd on This Slander pretends That the Truce is made between the Emperour and the King of France to the intent that the Souldiers which are disbanded on both sides may be employ'd in in this War Now the causes of that Truce are sufficiently set forth in the printed Copies of the Treaty and the Souldiers which were thereupon disbanded are not entertain'd by any Prince except what Forces King Ferdinand has order'd to be levy'd and sent into Hungary against the Turk and some few which have been taken into Pay by the Bishops of Ausburg Norimburg Bamberg and Wurtsburg that they may not be taken altogether unprovided So that all this Invention as it relates to the Pope the Emperour and the Bishops is false in all its parts Now as to what concerns my self I have hitherto followed the Ancient True and Catholick Religion as becomes a German pursuing the footsteps of my Ancestors and continuing in the Communion of that Church in which I had my Education as I have already declared by a Letter I sent to the last Diet and by my Deputies which I sent thither and I intend by the blessing of God to continue in this Opinion nor will I do any thing which is contrary to Honesty and my Duty and yet after all I desire to live peaceably with all men And whereas I am said to have entred into a secret Treaty with the Pope the Emperour the King of England some Princes of the Empire and some private persons to stir up a War this is most false and that also which concerns the Elector Palotine and the Duke of Wirtemberg and the Marquess of Brandenburg is most false and can never be proved and those who spread such Reports of me by Word or Writing are Slanderers and the Enemies of our Country That which relates to the Elector Palatine stands thus The Office and Dignity I enjoy requires me to endeavour the preservation of the Rights of my Bishoprick and that I should preserve the People committed to my Charge in the Ancient and Catholick Religion being therefore inform'd that Otto Henry Elector Palatine endeavorued to gain over to his Religion some Towns that were in my Diocess and that he had placed Preachers in them I could not but take this ill and I had just cause given me to defend my self against him by a Suit at Law and thereupon I being absent my Councel by my Order commenced a Suit against him in the Chamber of Spire where it is still depending nor have I in any thing else so much as in Word hurt or injur'd his Honour so far have I been from designing any thing against his Countries and if it had lain in my power to have served him his Countries or People I would not have omitted it and for this I believe his People would be my Witnesses because they know I have kept my Faith to them and have assisted them sometimes when they were in great distresses To which I may add That I have ever had particular affection for the Palatine Family and I have ever been ready to do it all the good I could nor is that Disposition at all changed in me and I have the same kindness for Christopher Duke of Wirtemberg who is a Good Wise Politick Prince and a great lover of Peace upon the account of these rare qualities I have had a great propension for him ever since I first knew him and have study'd to make this appear in my actions But then as to the driving Him or the Elector Palatine out of their Countries it never entred into my thoughts and if I had known of any Design which had tended to the damage of their Reputations or Estates I should certainly have been very much grieved and have done what was in my power to prevent it I have hitherto so behav'd my self at all times that I believe no man can find any thing in my actions which is contrary to my Profession and for the future I will ever carry my self so that I will raise a greater belief than I now have in the minds of men out of an hope that as I have given no just cause of offence to them so they at last will be prevail'd upon to remunerate me with an equal degree of kindness And as to the Case of Albert Marquess of Brandenburg he himself knows how greatly I am concern'd for his misfortunes for what is it which I have not done and tried in order to restore the Peace of the Empire and to put a stop to that Quarrel In truth I took so much pains and care in that Affair that tho' I aim'd at the Publick Good by it yet at last I was suspected by some as one that favoured his Interest
Electors opened the Case and told them That the whole Question consisted in three Points to wit Whether Francis King of France Charles King of Spain or else some German was to be chosen As to the French King saith he I think we are barred from chusing him by our Oath and Laws whereby it is provided That this Dignity of the Empire should not be transferred to Strangers and no Man doubts I think but that he is a Foreign Prince Again though his Country were no Hindrance yet it is not for the Interest of the Publick because the French King will think of enlarging his Dominions and make War against Charles King of Spain whom he hateth nay and hath already denounced it so that Germany will be involved in great Troubles But we ought to take Care That no Civil-War be raised among us Austria belongs to the Dominion of Charles If the French King invade this as certainly he will shall we leave it to his Mercy Hath the Emperour Maximilian deserved no better of us and the Empire Do you think that our own Liberty will be long safe if these Provinces be once subdued He hath lately enlarged his Borders by the accession of the Dutchy of Milan the same will he attempt to do in Germany We ought not to be moved by their large and magnificent Promises for Covetousness and Ambition transports Men commonly and makes them forget their Duty There were many Princes heretofore in France but now their Number is contracted within a very narrow Compass for the King now is in a manner sole Monarch they say he is a Prince of great Courage but that aims wholly at Monarchy Aristocracy is the Goverment we ought chiefly to retain They promise great Matters of making War against the Turks that were to be wished indeed as a thing of greatest Advantage to the State nor am I ignorant of how great Moment a conjunction of Germany France and Italy would prove but he will make the first Essay of all their Power and Prowess upon the Provinces of King Charles He 'll attempt the Netherlands and set upon Naples that he may recover it as an Hereditary Kingdom belonging unto him And shall we Arm him for the accomplishment of these things Nor is it to be said that I am Prophecying of future and uncertain Contingences for he is already raising an Army Since therefore the Laws our Oath and the Love of our Country lay an Obligation upon us I declare it to be my Opinion that we cannot chuse him Now will I proceed to the other parts Some of you I believe are against the Election of Charles because Spain lyes at a great distance from us and that Germany will suffer by his Absence either through a Turkish War or Civil Dissensions For my own part I not only acknowledge these things to be true but when also I consider them more attentively I am stricken with horror and apprehension For I think with my self that if the Emperour being any way provoked should come into Germany and bring Spaniards with him our Liberty would be in great danger Nay it runs in my mind too that the Spaniards will be very loath to part with or ever restore to us again this Imperial Dignity but if they chance by their force and valour to recover Milan will endeavour to keep it to themselves So that I am almost inclined to think it safest to chuse a fit Person of our own Country in Imitation of our Progenitors who passing by Strangers have been often content with Natives I would not be thought to deny this however the State of Affairs had another face then and the Age was much happier But now if we have an Emperour weak in Power do ye think that those of the Netherlands and Austria the Subjects of Charles of Spain will be Obedient unto him Or should the French King make War against Charles as he certainly will either in Flanders or Italy must he be an idle Spectator And must this our new Emperour suffer a great part of the Empire to be dismembred by Foreign Nations Nay as the Times are now it is probable that the Princes of Germany despising their own Emperour will make Alliances and Joyn some with the Austrians and others with the French. In the time of the Emperour Frederick III Charles Duke of Burgundy made War in Germany as Philip Maria Duke of Milan did in Italy without controul and certainly much to our disgrace Nay which was more ignominious the Emperour was at that time blockt up in Austria and driven out of his own Country by the Hungarians and nevertheless the Bohemians were then joyned with him as were also my Grand-father Albert Marquess of Brandenburg and Albert Duke of Saxony If that happened then you see what is to be expected at present when some will be Pensioners to some and others to other Princes not to mention many causes that may intervene why Princes and Cities will refuse to give obedience Grievous Troubles and Stirs seem now also to be threatned upon account of Religion for there are Debates arisen about Indulgences the Power of the Pope and Ecclesiastical Laws which look indeed as yet as if they were curable but will in a short time bring along with them great Desolation and Alterations in the Church for very many espouse that Cause and especially the Saxons and Switzers most valiant People nor can the evil be remedied but by a Council Now how can an Emperour low in Power either procure the calling of a Council or defend it especially if other Kings oppose the same There is a Turkish War also to be thought on and that not only Defensive but Offensive also that we may regain what we have lost and above all things restore Greece to its Liberty Now for accomplishing of this there will be need of the Forces of many Nations And how shall an Emperour of small Power and Authority be able to procure them For these Reasons then it is my Judgment that we should chuse some Potent Prince and that Charles Arch-Duke of Austria ought to be preferred before the other Princes of Germany As for those Inconveniences which may seem to scare us I think they are far less than those that would arise if the chief Government were put into the hands of any other For he is both a German by Extraction and has many Provinces holding of the Empire nor will he permit our common Country to truckle under the Bondage of any but will give us a solemn Oath That he shall neither suffer the Empire to be transferred nor our Rights and Liberties diminished The Reasons I have alledged are indeed of very great weight and yet I should not have been moved by them if his Temper and Disposition were not known for he is Religious Just and Modest a hater of Cruelty and a Prince of pregnant Parts These his Vertues will always mind him of his Duty and of the Care of the Government
of any thing that is acted contrary to the Customs and Liberty of the Empire and therefore cannot confer upon him the Title of King of the Romans But the Duke of Saxony adds this in his Letters to the Emperor That if the matter be carry'd on in a legal way he will not shew himself unlike his Ancestors Concerning the admittance of the Helvetians into the League which the Cities very much desire the Duke gives in this Answer by his Embassadors that he cannot enter into any Society with them because they entertain a different Opinion concerning the Lord's Supper He is not indeed ignorant of how great consequence their Accession would be upon the account of their Strength and Power but this is what he least of all regards lest the event thereof should prove as dismal as is recorded in Scripture to have faln upon them who for the strengthning of themselves had recourse to any sort of unlawful Assistances During this Assembly there were Letters brought from the Duke of Saxony and the Lantgrave to the Embassadors of the other Princes and Cities the Contents of which were to this effect That the Emperor had permitted the Bishop of Mentz and Lewis the Prince Palatine to be Mediators of a Peace who by their Letters had desir'd that they likewise on their parts would give them the same permission and that then they would appoint a day for a Meeting After some deliberation the Embassadors do return their consent and then the Lantgrave and the Duke of Saxony make the Mediators this Answer That they are not against the Expedient provided the Exchequer will be quiet in the mean time this therefore being obtain'd of the Emperor they appoint the 30th of August for the day of Meeting The Cities which had their Embassadors in this Convention were these Strasburg Vlm Lubesk Nuremburg Constance Rutelingen Memmingen Lindaw Bibrach Isenach Kempen Hailbrun Magdeburg Bremen Brunswick and Gottingen Wigand Bishop of Bamburg had some years before made a Complaint to his Associates of the Schwaben Confederacy against George Duke of Brandenburg the substance of which was this That he had disturb'd him in his Ecclesiastical Rights that he had very much sunk his Customs that he had converted the Revenues of the Church to other uses and forc'd the Priests into this Novel and false Religion or else ejected them for their non-compliance All which things are not only a Violation of the Pope's and Emperor's Edicts but also of common Equity and the Laws of the Country and since he highly suffers by them he desires that they would either by their Interest and Authority reduce him to his Duty or else afford him such Assistance as they are oblig'd to by the League whereby he may be inabled for the time to come to defend his own and recover what he had lost But when after various Disputes a day was appointed for the hearing of this Cause at Nordlingen the Embassadors of the Protestants at the Brandenburger's entreaty came thither in the month of July With the Bishop of Bamburg were the Bishops of Auspurg Wurtzburg and Aichstadt as his Assistants and Counsellors The Plaintiff puts in his Charge wherein he sets forth how great Injury and Damage he had sustain'd and withal declares that notwithstanding the Associates of the League had under a penalty commanded the Defendant to desist from his Undertaking and to restore the Plaintiff to his own yet nothing as yet had been effected He therefore prays that he may be proceeded against according to the Prescript of the League The Defendant on the other side demurs to that part of the Charge which properly belongs to Religion and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Appeals from their Edicts and Decrees to a Council But they after some days intermission reply that they very much wonder he should put in such an Appeal as this because it is unusual and against the Prescript of the League which takes care that the Plaintiff and Defendant shall be both concluded by the Determination of select Judges That in this they had all agreed to defend the Ecclesiastical Liberties and therefore the Cognizance of this Cause does properly belong to them And since He himself had hitherto without any exception acknowledged their Jurisdiction with what reason could he now reject it As for a Council they are not by any means to be superseded by that nor ought the Preference to be giv'n unto it in this matter for these reasons therefore they do not accept his Appeal but proceed to confirm their former Edicts and if he will not yield Obedience they declare that they must proceed against him according to the Stipulation The Defendant on the contrary protests that he will stick to his Appeal in what relates to the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction nor will he take any notice of their Sentence This Cause was managed by the Duke of Brandenburg both in his own Name and upon the account of his Nephew Albert Son to his Brother Casimire whose Guardian he was In the mean time the Emperor appoints a Diet of the Empire to convene at Spiers upon the Sixth of September for the composing of Religious Differences But upon the 21th of August there came to the Duke of Saxony the Counts of Nassaw and the Count de Newenar Men of great Reputation for their Vertue and being permitted by the Emperor to treat of a Reconciliation they to that end lay down five Propositions relating to the Supper of our Lord Ecclesiastical Rites the Goods of the Church Assistance against the Turk and the Election of King Ferdinand But when it appear'd from their Discourse that the Emperor lay under a perswasion as if the Duke was a Favourer both of Zuinglius his Doctrin and of the Anabaptists His answer was That 't is sufficiently known from the Augustine Confession what kind of Doctrin it is which he professes and which the Ministers within his Dominions do Preach in the Churches That 't is farther plain that while he was at the Diet of Auspurg he had held no Correspondence with those who are reputed Zuinglians nor yet afterwards till they had giv'n him an explication of their Opinion That he still continues in the same mind and shall by the Grace of God till his last breath persist in that Doctrin of which he made profession at Auspurg he therefore prays that as to that point they will vindicate him to the Emperor They tell him that as for their parts they were before very well satisfied of his Innocence and will therefore do him justice to the Emperor to whom they doubt not but this will prove very pleasing and acceptable News As to the other Propositions they were pleas'd to refer them to the next Imperial Diet. However they intreated him that he would either come himself in Person to that Diet or at least send thither his Son. His Answer was that truly he was desirous in all things to oblige the Emperor
Protestants send Ambassadors to the Kings of England and France who as has been said had lately made Peace to sollicite them for Succours In the mean time after that the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave had written privately to the Emperour as we said before they publish a Declaration July the thirteenth wherein they alledge That this War was a War of Religion and that it was the Emperour's Design under a certain colour and pretext of Rebellion and as if he intended but to punish a few to divide and break the Confederates that so he might afterwards more easily destroy them one after another For confirmation of this they bring several Proofs and give a Relation of what King Ferdinand Granvell Naves and others had privately said at Ratisbonne to wit That the Contempt of the Council was the cause of this War. They affirm also That the Emperour had sent Letters to the Magistrates of Ravensberg who had lately received the Reformed Religion That they should within a few days desist from their Enterprise else he threatned to give their Town and Lands to be plundred by his Soldiers but that the Messenger was recalled with his Letters when he was upon the Rode leâ—t it might become publick that Religion was the Ground of the War. That the Archbishop of Cologne also was for attempting a Reformation excommunicated by the Pope and deprived of all his Ecclesiastical Possessions and Dignities and is threatned almost with the very same by the Emperour What was that if not a plain Declaration of the Cause of the War For it was no light Report that went about That the Cardinal of Ausbourg a great Incendiary in these Troubles was by force to be put into his place That it was also given out by some That when they were once vanquished and subdued Forces should be dispersed all over Germany to see that the Decrees made in the Council concerning Religion should in the Emperour's Name be obeyed and put into execution Moreover that many Letters gave an account That the Archbishop of Toledo chiefly and many other Prelates of Spain did contribute vast Treasures for the carrying on of this War which they would not certainly do if any Secular Interest were the cause of it That it was known besides what sort of a Decree it was that past at Ausbourg sixteen years since when the Emperour declared That he could not endure that Sect and Doctrine of Luther but that he and his Friends would hazard all they had Life Strength Blood and all that he might destroy it Root and Branch For should they indeed be subdued which God forbid then would it soon appear that no favour was to be shewn to this Religion but that rather having killed their Ministers ravished their Wives and Children they would again restore Monks and Friars and the rest of that filthy Rout That it was not lawful for the Emperour to use violence against any State nor to proscribe any Man without a Trial nor yet to call into Germany Strangers or Forreign Forces nor indeed to aspire to any Hereditary Right or Succession to the Empire because to these Conditions he was bound by a sacred and solemn Oath For could he in right do otherwise there would be no lasting Form of Government in the Common-wealth That they could not imagine what the Cause of his Quarrel was For as for my part saith the Duke of Saxony all the Difference that he and his Brother King Ferdinand had with me was two years ago wholly ended at Spire and to cement our Friendship Eleanor the Daughter of Ferdinand was freely promised to my eldest Son provided we could agree about Religion The Emperour approved of that then and when I was returning home from the Diet he sent Granvell and Naves to my Lodgings to complement me in his Name and to assure me of his Kindness and of his Good-will towards my Person Children and whole Country What Crime can I have been guilty of since that time that he should from such cruel Resolutions against me But the truth is this is our Case as we said before we refuse the Pope's Counsel and therefore incur his Hatred However he had no reason to act so nor to design such things against the House of Saxony for he knows that after the Death of Maximilian this Imperial Dignity being offered to my Uncle Frederick he by his Vote and Interest secured it to him not to mention many other good Offices which at several times the Family of Saxony have done to the House of Austria But if perhaps he be offended that I turned Julius Pflugg out of the Bishoprick of Numburg as to that I both asserted my Right in a Publick Manifesto and referred my self to any unsuspected Judges and Arbitrators that the Emperour might appoint Now as for my part saith the Landgrave I was fully reconciled unto him five years ago at Ratisbonne and if that some years past I intended to make War against the Bishops and did after assist my Cousin the Duke of Wirtemberg in the recovering of his own for all that and whatever also I might have publickly or privately acted against the Statutes and Written Laws of the Empire I had a Pardon in due form What then should be the Cause of Prejudice or Animosity I cannot at all imagine Besides when I was to wait upon him lately at Spire he was so gracious and obliging to me both in Countenance and Speech that I could not perceive the least sign of Displeasure in him It was stipulated betwixt us five years since at Ratisbonne That if at any time he should attempt any thing against the Duke of Cleve I should not at all meddle in the matter He made War afterwards against him and I performed what I promised and when afterwards he received the Duke of Cleve into favour again which was before Venlo he pardoned all that had served under him or assisted him in his Wars But if he be offended at our Absence and that we did not come to Ratisbonne both of us made our Excuses the Duke of Saxony by Ambassadors and I personally in a Conference at Spire But what Liberty or Form of Government is there then in Germany if that should give a good Cause for War when not only in former Diets but in the very same Diet also of Ratisbonne several Princes were absent And as for the War of Brunswick we cannot be blamed for it is lawful for all Men to withstand Force by Force We frequently moved and earnestly desired in several Diets That a Restraint might be put upon his Boldness but unless it were fair Words and Letters we could obtain nothing And nevertheless the Publick Letters which at our desire King Ferdinand wrote to Duke Henry were accompanied with other Private ones whereby Duke Henry was given to understand that he was not to obey them These Letters under the King 's own Hand were found in Wolffembottel and if need were could be
in the Council of Trent and he dedicated his Answer with much Assurance to that Duke whereupon John Brentius wrote a large Reply and exposed all his Sophistry This last Piece was Translated into the Italian Tongue by Vergerius that the Italians might understand it and judge of the Controversy and which of the sides had the concurrence of the Scriptures About the middle of September George Count of Monbeliard married Bâ—â—baria a Daughter of the Landgrave's After the Arrival of the Duke de Alva in the Dukedom of Milan the French King sent more Forces and many expert Leaders under Brisac his General They finding the Town of Vulpiaâ—o which was then very strong and well Garrison'd by the Spaniards to be very troublesom to the progress of the French Arms in those Countries because that Garrison was able to make Inroads as far as Turin and sometimes further That they might remove this almost only Obstacle and open a way to the Supplies they might want besieged this Place with all their Forces about the end of August They suffered much in this Siege and acted great Things against the Town but the 22. of September the Place was yielded to them and they presently dismantled both the Town and Castle and reduced it into a meer Village Some few days after they took Moncalno a Town and Castle between Casale and Aste That Controversie concerning the Presence of Christ's Body in the Eucharist or Lord's Supper which had now for Thirty years together so much exercis'd the Pens of Learned men about this time broke out again the Ministers of Breme and Hamburg publishing some Pieces against Calvin and John à Lasko by Name Calvin answered with great sharpness and Bullinger bore his share in this Controversie and John à Lasko wrote a Book which he dedicated to the King of Poland in which he complains That this Difference was not treated of by comparing the two Opinions and then debating them in Conferences but they out of meer prejudice condemned his Opinion and after the manner of the Roman Catholicks would not hear of Arguments or Scriptures but thought to bear all down that stood before them by Force and Authority About the End of September Magnus the Second Son of Augustus Duke of Saxony was born whose Godfathers were Henry Duke of Brunswick and John Frederick Duke of Saxony I have said already how Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Ridley Bishop of London and Hugh Latimer were sent to Oxford and having there defended their Faith against the Roman Catholick Divines they were for it condemned to be burnt yet they were after this kept in Prison and the 16th of October this year they were both burnt at one Stake before Baliol-College in Oxford Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury was then brought out also and at the Stake openly implored the Mercy of God but he was after this remanded to Prison Hugh Latimer was very old In this Month the Cardinals of Lorain and Toures went to Rome and about the same time the Parliament of Paris made an Answer to the Edict brought them from the King by the Cardinal of Lorain as I have remembred above which was to this effect Your Majesty's Edict which was published above four years since has reserved to Your Majesty and Your Judges the sole Cognizance and Correction of the Lutheran Heresie nor is there any thing excepted but when the Heresie may need a Declaration or the Sentence was to be pronounced against a man in Holy Orders but this Edict which is now under consideration is directly contrary For it puts the People of your Kingdom under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Inquisition and diminisheth that Dignity which You now enjoy above all other Princes and it gives Your People a just Cause of Discontent to see themselves deserted by Your Majesty and subjected to a foreign Jurisdiction But there will much greater Mischiefs follow when the Lives Fortunes Safety and Honour of all Your Subjects shall be put into the hands of these men without the benefit of an Appeal For in truth Appeals are the Sanctuary and Refuge of wronged Innocency But now if the Inquisitors and the Bishops Officers shall once have a Right and Power given them of judging all Appeals being taken away this will certainly open a Window and plain a Way for the condemning of the innocent and the spoiling them of their Lives and Estates For when these men shall once see themselves Masters of this Regal Power they will soon forget their Duty and no longer regard any thing when they see all Orders of Men made subject to them and they have in their hands the Lives and Fortunes not only of Your meaner Subjects but also of your Princes and Great Men. Your Majesty may make use of this as a middle Way That Your own Judges may still take cognizance of these Causes and hear and determine them and if there be any Doctrine that is obscure it may be defined by the Ecclesiasticks and those that are in Holy Orders may be tried only by the Clergy And as for Appeals let a Bull be desired of the Pope for the allowing them to your Judges And when Judgment is to be passed upon these Appealers let some of the Clergy who are of Your Majesty's Privy Council be joyned with Your Judges or if there be none such then let other eminent and fit men supply their Places And in all Inquisitions let this Order be observed That the Pope's Inquisitor chuse and send into the Provinces good Men and of unspotted Fame and let the Bishop and not the Parties who are accused bear the Charge of the Inquisition but so that when the Case depending is determined the Charge may then be paid by those that ought to pay it The Design of all these Provisions is That all Suits of this Nature may be kept within some Bounds and Limits Moreover it appearing that all the Executions which have been made of Hereticks though they are necessary have yet rather made the Crime detestable than amended those that were infected and it being much better to prevent a Disease than to give it time to get strength and then attempt the Cure it will be fit Your Serene Majesty should in this follow the Custom and Footsteps of the Ancient and Primitive Church For she was neither established by Fire nor Sword but the diligence of the Bishops supplied the want of these by their frequent Preaching of the Word of God and the good Examples of an holy Life which She gave the People The Church then having been thus at first established it may without doubt now by the same ways be preserved if Your Majesty would but be pleased to do all that You lawfully may do towards it May then Your Majesty be pleased to take care that the Bishops who are the Shepherds should in person govern their own Churches and that the same be done by the inferior Clergy That they live piously and Preach
to these joyned themselves the Embassadors of Maximilian the Emperor and of Lewis XII King of France who were also embarqued in the same Design The time when this Council was called was the Nineteenth of May in the Year of our Lord 1511 that so the first Session might begin on the First of September next ensuing The Cause they alledg'd to justifie this their Proceeding was That the Pope had broken his Oath for that although so many years of his Pontificate were already elapsed yet he had not given them any the least hopes of his having any Inclination to call a Council and that because they had very great and heinous Crimes to lay to his charge they could not any longer neglect the care of the Church which was a Duty imcumbent on them as Members of the sacred College Their intent really was to depose him from the Popedom which he had obtained by Bribery and other such honest arts and means as all Persons make use of who aspire to the Infallible Chair And because they could no way safely convey this their Remonstrance to him they caused it to be publickly affixed at Regio Modena and Parma which were all three Towns belonging to St. Peter's Patrimony and they added a Citation to him to appear Personally at a certain day therein mentioned Julius having received Information of all this returned this Answer on the Eighteenth of July That before he came to be Pope he longed for nothing more than the calling a general Council as was very well known to several Kings and to the whole College of Cardinals and that purely upon this account he lost the Favour of Alexander VI. That he continued still of the same mind but that the state of Italy had been so unsetled for several years last past and was left so by his Predecessor Alexander That it was altogether impossible to have formed a Council while things continued in that distracted condition After this he shews them that their Summons was void in it self by reason of the shortness of the time limited in it and the inconveniency of the place for that Pisa had suffered so much in the late Wars that it was now nothing almost but an heap of Ruins and that the Country round about it was all wasted and desolate nor could there be any safe passage thither because of the daily Hostilities committed between the Florentines and those of Senese To this he adds in the last place That they had no legal Power of issuing out any such Summons and that the Reasons given by them for so doing were altogether false and groundless Therefore under pain of the severest Censures he forbids all Persons to yield any Obedience to them At the same time he by a Bull subscribed by One and twenty Cardinals called a Council to meet the next year which should commence on the Nineteenth of April and be held in the Lateran Church in Rome For this they say has always been one of the Papal Artifices that whensoever upon any Pretext they took occasion for some secret motives to decline the holding of a Council though called by never so lawful an Authority at the same time to Summon another to meet in such a place in which they could with the greatest ease influence all the Proceedings in it After this he admonishes the Confederate Cardinals to desist in time and return to Rome and accept of the Pardon now offer'd them But they continuing still refractory on the Twenty fourth of October he Excommunicates them all and those three that we mentioned before in particular by name as Hereticks Schismaticks and Traytors to the Apostolick See and sends Copies of this Bull to Maximilian the Emperor and several other Princes And because there were divers Bishops of France who adhered firmly to the Cardinals interests he Excommunicates them also unless they return to their Duty and make their Purgation within a prefixed time On the other side the Cardinals having several times in vain cited the Pope to come and appear before them there in Council by a Decree made in the Eighth Session suspended him from all Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and commanded all Christians for the future to renounce his Authority and acknowledge him no longer for St. Peter's Successor This was in the Year of our Lord 1512 on the Twenty first of April But you must take notice that although the Council were removed from Pisa to Milan yet it still kept its old Name and was called the Pisane Council At this time there was a very famous Civilian at Pavia whose Name was Philip Decius he having espoused the Cardinals Cause published a Book in Defence of their Proceedings against the Pope A little after this Maximilian strikes up a League with Julius and Ferdinand King of Spain and so leaves the Cardinals in the Church to shift for themselves and sends Matthew Langus Bishop of Gurk to Rome to sit as his Proxy in the Council that was holden there and him Julius immediately promoted to the Dignity of the Purple But Lewis II King of France who was truer to his Engagements and had lately routed the Popes Forces near Ravenna could not escape the thunders of the Vatican his Subjects were absolved from their Allegiance his Kingdom put under an Interdict and an Invasion of it was now no less than meritorious But after the end of the Fifth Session on the Twenty first of February in the Year of our Lord 1513 Pope Julius dies and Leo X is chosen by the Conclave to succeed him He immediately after his Inaguration proceeds to compleat what his Predecessor had begun and because the state of Affairs in Europe was now a little more calm than at any time during the former Pontificate a great many Kings and Princes sent their Embassadors to Rome to assist at this Lateran Council The Cardinals also whom Julius had Excommunicated having since his Death nothing to give any colour to their continuing in their Obstinacy made their humble Submission and Suit to be indemnified for what was past and being received into Favour by Leo were restored to their former Dignities and Preferments as Leo himself declares in an Epistle wrote by him to Maximilian The Council broke up on the Twelfth of March in the Year of our Lord 1516 there having been seven Sessions since the Death of Julius for there were but twelve in all the whole four years that this Council lasted from its first Convention to its Dissolution The chief Transactions in it were these The Praises of Julius and Leo were the Subjects of those luscious Panegyricks with which the Auditory were almost daily entertained There were some Motions made in order to the engaging in a War against the Turks and concerning the Reformation of the Church And also there was a Debate about the Immortality of the Soul which began to admit of a Dispute now in
depart allowing you one and twenty Days to return home in He will also inviolably observe the Safe-Conduct he gave you but charges you not to teach the People by Word nor Writing as you are upon your Way homeward Being thus dismissed he gave Glory to God and April 26 departed being conducted by the same Herald who brought him before He wrote to the Emperor upon the Road and after he had in few words resum'd all that had past he begg'd of His Imperial Majesty That since he had been alwaies hitherto and still was willing to submit to Conditions of Peace and Agreement and desired no more but that the Controversie might be determined by any impartial Judge according to the Authority of holy Scripture he would be pleased to Protect him against the violence and fury of his adversaries That 't was not his private Cause but the publick Concern of the whole World and especially of Germany whose safety and welfare he preferr'd before his own life To the same purpose also he wrote to the rest of the Princes and States and that whensoever it should seem good to the Emperor and them he would come upon safe conduct whithersoever they pleased and debate his cause before impartial and unsuspected Judges Whereas in this work there is frequent mention made of Huss the Council of Constance and the Bohemians I 'll give the Reader a short account of the whole matter In the year of our Lord 1393 there was one John Wickliff in England who wrote many things against the Roman Papacy which were afterwards carried into Bohemia At that time there was a famous University in Prague and therein slourished John Huss a Divine by profession This man Preach'd up Wickliffs Doctrin as holy and saving and dispersed it far and near But being accused of this he was cited to appear before Pope Alexander V. he by his Proctors alledged causes why he could not come And King Wenceslaus also interceded for him desiring the Pope to send Legats into Bohemia to try the matter there but that could not be obtained Huss being therefore condemned for an Heretick published a Book wherein he appealed from the Pope to Christ as Judge The Church of Rome at that time was in a very troublesom State. For the Cardinals being divided into factions had chosen three Anti-Popes Gregory XII Benet XIII and John XXIII which highly displeased other Kings as well as the Emperor Sigismund who having solicited Pope John he at length called the Council of Constance Now Sigismund who was the Brother of King Wenceslaus called John Huss thither and in October 1414 sent him a safe conduct in due form Whereupon Huss being accompanied by some persons of quality came to Constance on the third of November but three weeks after being called to a private Conference with the Pope and Cardinals he was detained prisoner The Emperor Sigismund was absent then and being inform'd of the matter was highly displeased and came thither But the Papists urging that Faith was not to be kept with Hereticks he not only remitted the offence though the Bohemians importun'd him to the contrary and demanded performance of the safe conduct but was also the first that spake bitterly against him In fine on the sixth of July following the Council condemn'd him as an Heretick and Seditious Person and ordered the Books he had written to be burnt Being thus condemn'd he was delivered over to the Emperor and burnt his ashes being afterwards cast into the Rhine that no relick of him might remain After him Jerome of Prague his Disciple and Hearer was put to Death in the same manner In this Council besides the Emperour were the Ambassadours of many Kings three Electoral Princes of the Empire Lewis Prince Palatine Rodulph Duke of Saxony and Frederick Marquess of Brandenburg and a vast number of the other Princes three Patriarchs of Aquileia Antioch and Constantinople eight and twenty Cardinals an hundred and fifty five Bishops very many Divines and Lawyers Italians Germans French English Hungarians and Polonians The Doctrin of Wickliff was here also condemned and a Decree made that his Body should be taken up and burnt in England It was besides Decreed that none but Priests should receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in both kinds and that all others should be content with one kind which had been impugned by Huss A Law was also made that Faith should not be kept with Hereticks or persons suspected of Heresie though they should come under the Emperours Safe-Conduct to be tryed in Council Lastly the three Popes were degraded and by common Consent Martin V chosen When the News of the Execution of Huss and Jerome was brought into Bohemia it occasioned a terrible Commotion and afterwards a very cruel and bloody War under the Conduct of John Zischa so that Sigismond was forced to beg the Assistanc of the Empire but the greatest Cruelty was exercised against the Priests in hatred to the Pope whom they Cursed whose Dominion they shook off and embraced the Doctrin of Huss adoring his Memory Much about this Time the Divines of Paris condemned Luther's Books and out of that which is entitled Of the Captivity of Babylon and some others also they gathered certain Heads as of the Sacraments the Canons of the Church the Equality of Works Vows Contrition Absolution Satisfaction Purgatory Free-Will the immunity of the Clergy Councils the Punishments of Hereticks Philosophy School-Divinity and many more of the like sort admonishing the Reader and all who professed the Name of Christ to beware of such pernicious Doctrins For that it was the Custom of Hereticks to propose specious Matters at first which sinking once down into the Mind could hardly ever be got out again but that under those alluring Words present Poyson lay hid Then they reckoned up in Order the Hereticks of the several Ages and among these Wickliff John Huss and last of all Luther whom they mightily blamed as an arrogant and rash Man that he should imagine himself alone to know more than all others contemn the Judgments of all the Holy Fathers and Interpreters of all Councils and Schools and that he should reject the Custom and Consent of the Church observed for so many Ages as if it were credible That Christ would have left all that while his only Spouse to wander in so great Darkness of Errour but that it was the usual way with Hereticks to wrest Scripture to their own Sense Having then reckoned up some Books written by him they shew what Hereticks Luther imitated in such and such Opinions and that seeing it properly belonged to their Office and Profession to stifle springing Heresies as much as lay in their Power they had therefore diligently perused his Books that they might direct all Men how to have a Care of them and that after much Reading of his Writings they found that his Doctrin was pernicious deserving to be burnt and that
that the One and twenty days which he had allowed him to return in being expired every one should endeavour to apprehend him and bring him into lawful Custody Banishing in the same manner all that should any ways aid or assist him He ordered all his Books also to be destroyed appointing a severe Penalty for Stationers that should meddle with them for the future And this Decree which he said was made with the common Consent and Advice of the Princes and States he commanded to be inviolably observed by all It was said that there were but a few who had a hand in framing this Decree For some of the Electors acknowledged that they were not privy to it as shall be said of the Elector of Cologn in its proper place The Elector of Mentz who is Chancellor of the Empire had a great stroak in Matters of that nature However it be the Emperor by this Sentence procured to himself much Favour so that the Pope fell quite off from the Frienship of France and made a League with him as you shall hear by and by After the Publication of this Sentence Duke Frederick appointed some Gentlemen in whom he could most confide to convey Luther into some more private place remote from the concourse of People that so he might be out of danger and this was performed with great secrecy and diligence In this his Retirement he wrote several Letters to his Friends and some Books also as one for abolishing private Mass which he dedicated to his Brethren the Augustine Friers Another concerning Monastick Vows dedicated to his Father John Luther and one against James Latome a Divine of Lovain He exhorted the Augustines to Courage and Constancy telling them that they had a strong support in Duke Frederick who was a wise Prince a lover of Truth and most averse from rash Judging They of all others were the first that began to leave off saying of Mass and therefore it was that Luther composed for them the Book we now mentioned that he might both encourage the weak and confirm the strong earnestly exhorting them to persevere in that purpose Duke Frederick hearing of this and fearing that some great disturbance might thereupon ensue commanded that the Opinion of the whole University should be taken about the matter and brought to him For that purpose the University chose four of their Members Justus Jonas Philip Melancthon Nicholas Amstorff and John Dulce These having had a Conference with the Augustines made a report of what their resolution was and at the same time declared how great injury was done to the Lord's Supper Wherefore they prayed the Duke that he would abolish that great Impiety not in one Church only but in all places also and restore the true use of the Lord's Supper according to the Institution of Christ and the Practice of his Apostles without regard to the Reproaches and Calumnies of Gain-sayers For that it was the course of this World that he who would undertake the defence of the true Doctrin of the Gospel must suffer many things That he ought to make it his chief study reverently to acknowledg that singular Mercy wherewith God had now blest him in making the Light of the Gospel to shine among the People To these things Duke Frederick made Answer That he would omit nothing that might conduce to the propagating of Piety but that since the matter was very difficult he did not think it fit to make too much haste and that hardly any thing could be effected by them who were so few in number But that if the Matter were grounded on Scripture many would certainly come over to them and then such a change as might seem to be pious and necessary would more conveniently be brought about That for his own part who was ignorant of the Scripture he could not tell when that accustomed Rite of the Mass which they condemned was first introduced into the Church and when that which the Apostles are said to have followed was left off That all Churches generally and Colleges wer founded for the Mass being endowed for that end with great Revenues so that should Mass be now abolish'd the Goods and Lands heretofore given for that use would be taken from the right Possessors That any Man might see what disturbance and confusion that would breed And that since they had referred the whole Affair to him it was his advice to them That having consulted the rest of the good and learned Men of the University they would proceed in the matter moderately and devise with themselves such means as might be proper for keeping Peace and Piety among them The Commissioners having consulted together made their Reply and again advise him to abrogate the Mass alledging that it might be done without Tumult and that though it could not yet that which was just and good ought not therefore to be omitted That their being fewer in number was no new thing since that from the beginning of the World the greatest part of Mankind had always opposed the true Religion That none would accept and approve the right way of administring and receiving the Lord's Supper but they to whom it should be given from above That Colleges were founded of old not for Mass but for the pious Education of Youth and these Possessions given for the Maintenance of the Masters and Scholars and for the Use of the Poor which Custom had lasted almost to the time of St. Bernard but that about Four hundred years since this trafficking about Masses came in play which now ought to be utterly abolished That though it were of ancient date yet such a Profanation was not to be tolerated And that if Stirs and Commotions should arise from thence it was not to be imputed to the Religion but to the Wickedness of the Adversaries who for Gain sake withstand the Truth against their own Conscience That however Men ought not to regard such inconveniences but to proceed absolutely whatever Tumults the World might raise for that all these things had been long ago foretold by Christ This year the Emperor's Brother Ferdinand Archduke of Austria married the Lady Ann Sister to Lewis King of Hungary Among so many Adversaries as Luther had Henry VIII King of England opposed him also in Writing and in the first place refuted his Opinion about Indulgences and defended the Papacy Afterwards he censured all his Disputations concerning the Sacraments of the Church taking occasion of writing from the Book of the Captivity of Babylon When this came to Luther's knowledge he wrote a most bitter Answer declaring That in defence of this Cause he valued no Man's Honour nor Greatness However Pope Leo gave the King an honourable Title for this calling him Defender of the Faith. How Charles of Austria came to be chosen Emperor hath be shewn before But some private Quarrels happening afterwards betwixt Him and the French King it came to a War at last though
yet considering with himself That the Course proposed might be profitable and advantagious to the Publick he therefore approved of a Council also but conditionally That it were called by the Pope's Authority and held in Time and Place convenient so that he himself might be present thereat as he was fully resolved to be But that they had appointed another Dyet to begin the eleventh of November wherein they resolved to adjust matters of Religion until the sitting of the Council That they had also appointed some learned Divines to collect and judge of the chief Points of Doctrin he could by no means nor would he consent to it but as by Duty he was obliged being Protector and Defender of the Roman Church he utterly disapproved that Decree left he should offend both God and the Pope For what could be more Reproachful to the Church of Christ than to see the Reverence which was done to the Supreme Power thus prostituted to see Germany which had been ever celebrated above all other Nations for Piety and Obedience alone to attempt so weighty an Affair as no Princes no not the Pope himself durst undertake which was to renounce and abolish that Religion which had so long flourished in the Christian World from which Religion no Man ever made defection but he felt the heavy Hand of God punishing him for his Crime That Luther indeed now opposed it and by alluring Words and crafty Insinuations seduced Men into Snares and made himself Popular just so as Mahomet formerly had done who by his Doctrin wrought more Mischief to Christendom than any armed Force could ever have done but that when Errours of that Nature under a Colour of Truth once made an Impression upon the Minds of Men it was not easie to efface it again That he prayed God to look favourably upon Germany and not to suffer so great a Calamity to overspread it during his Life That therefore they should obey the Edict of Wormes unless they would smart for it and not to meddle in Controversies about Religion till the Pope and he who were their chief Magistrates should think fit to call a Council To the same purpose also he wrote privately to some of the States and among others to the Senate of Strasburg so that that Decree for a future Dyet was vacated for the Emperour being ingaged in a War with France endeavoured by all means to gain the Pope This Summer Charles Duke of Bourbonne Constable of France who the Year before partly of himself and partly at the Emperour's Sollicitation had revolted besieged Marseilles but in vain Upon his Retreat from thence into Italy the King pursued him in great haste and having seized most of the Places in Lumbardy and taken the City of Milan it self towards Winter he laid Siege to Pavia a Town upon the River Tesino In the Month of November the Boors of Schwabenland began to rise against their Lord the Count of Lupsie pretending to be overcharged by him The same did afterwards some of their Neighbours also against their several Magistrates so that the Council of the Empire which as we said managed the Government in the Emperour's absence and sate then at Esling were obliged to send Commissioners to compose some Controversies However this Tumult ceased not for all that as we shall shew hereafter but was the beginning of an extraordinary and dangerous Commotion which in process of time imbroiled a great part of Germany As Luther's Doctrin began more and more to spread so the Clergy bestirred themselves more vigorously to oppose it finding that their Goods and Fortunes lay at stake And some of the Church-men of Strasburg made a heavy Complaint to the Council of the Empire That the Senate did many ways invade and infringe their Liberties and Priviledges that they promoted married Priests and Monks as Capito Bucer and others to Churches That they received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in both Kinds and that they had in a tumultary manner cast the Images out of their Churches Wherefore Frederick Prince Palatine and Philip Marquess of Baden two of the chief of the Council of the Empire which then was at Esling wrote to the Senate of Strasburg in the Month of January admonishing them to desist and to restore all things as they were before Some of the Switzers as particularly they of Schafhausen and Basil where John Oecolampadius preached began by little and little to relent in their spight against the Zurichers but the rest especially Lucerne Vri Switz Vnderwaldt Zug and Friburg could by no means be appeased And when the Governor of Turegie to which Country Zurich adjoyns was carrying off a Priest whom he had apprehended in the Night-time he called out for help and presently raised a Tumult of the People as is usual in such cases so that the Allarm flying into the Country all were presently in Arms. The Zurichers alledged that this was an injury done unto them because the Man had been taken within their Jurisdiction And having received many other Affronts besides on the Fourth of January they wrote to all their Confederates and Allies to this effect Christ say they commands That if one smite us on one Cheek we should turn up to him the other In obedience to this Doctrin we have indeed suffered many things and that patiently too But now that there is no end nor measure of Wrongs and Injuries we are forced to betake our selves to that which Christ himself made use of and if we have done any evil we desire to be convicted of it Since then we lye obnoxious to so much envy and are every where evil spoken of the thing it self certainly requires and extorts an Answer from us And therefore we will shew the Causes of this hatred refute the Accusations brought against us and make it appear how we stand affected towards the common Country And in the first place when Francis King of France had long and earnestly solicited a League and had therein obtained your consents though you had often dealt with us to engage therein yet we absolutely refused it and that for divers reasons but chiefly this That we did not like that course of letting out our Men to others for Money that they may fight against those who never did them any injury for that it was a thing of bad Example and accustomed them to idleness and if they should chance to die in the Wars they must leave their Wives and Children in extreme poverty Nay we looked upon it also as base and unworthy with our own loss to sneak so to any King as in a manner to enslave our Countrymen to his Will and Pleasure Wherefore we judged it our Duty to retain the liberty of Bodies and Estates which our Ancestors with great Valour and bloody Hands purchased for us and to defend it with the like Courage and Constancy Now this seemeth to be the source and cause of all the grudge
grievously informed against him by some of that Faculty though unjustly and without a Cause That then he had appointed some great Men eminent for Learning to inspect his Books and Writings for which he stood accused But that they having carefully perused and examined them all had given him a very ample and honourable Testimony That seeing it was so and that he was had in gread Reputation by the Italians and Spaniards for the opinion they conceived of his Learning and Virtue as he hath since learnt he would therefore take it ill if that innocent Man should be molested or exposed to any Danger And seeing that if at any other time so now especially he would have Justice strictly administred throughout all his Kingdoms And again because for the future he intended by all ways to favour Men of Learning therefore he commanded them That if any Process had been commenced against them since his Departure they should make report of the fame to his Mother who managed the Government that he might be certified thereof by her and that they might expect his Will and Pleasure therein and not to proceed any farther but to supersede all Action until either he should return which he hoped by the Blessing of God would shortly be or else some Order should be taken in the matter by himself or his Mother These Letters dated at Madrid in Spain November the twelfth were delivered to the Parliament of Paris the eight and twentieth day of the same Month. It was a thing almost natural to the Divines of the past Age to teaze and molest learned Men and the reason was because they saw themselves despised for their Ignorance This Year there happened a change in the State and Government of Prusia a Province in the utmost parts of Germany upon the Baltick-Sea Let us trace the matter a little farther back During the Empire of Henry VI the Son of Frederick Barbarossa when the Christians were in War for the Recovery of Jerusalem the Knights of the German or Teutonick Order were instituted who because they fought for Religion wore a white Cross upon their Cloaths as a Badge and cognizance of their Profession This happened in the Year of our Lord eleven hundred and ninety The first Master of that Order was chosen as is reported in the Camp before Ptolemais Afterwards these Knights subdued Prusia in the time of the Emperour Frederick II And after that being grown strong they had for some time waged War with the Kings of Poland they were overcome in Battle and swore Allegiance to Casimire king of Poland the Father of King Sigismund From the first Master to Marquess Albert of Brandenburg there had been three and thirty Masters Now Albert was chosen in the Year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and eleven For the space of two Years he had a bloody War with Sigismund King of Poland and in the Year one thousand five hundred and twenty one a Truce was made for four Years In the mean time Marquess Albert often sollicited the Emperour and States of the Empire for Aid and came himself in Person to the Dyet of Norimberg We mentioned before where he took his Place as a Prince of the Empire for the cause of the War was because he refused to swear Allegiance to the King of Poland But now when the Emperour was ingaged in a War with France the Turk invaded Hungary and Germany was so embroiled by the Rebellion of the Boors that no help was to be expected from thence the Truce being likewise expired he made Peace with the King of Poland swore Allegiance to him as to his chief Magistrate and imbraced the Reformed Religion Hereupon he changed his Order challenged Prusia as his own and being before but Master was now by the King's consent inaugurated Duke of Prusia and some time after married the Lady Dorothy Daughter to the King of Denmark founding also the University of Coningsberg By this means he got the whole Order upon his Top For although he was in Possession of Prusia and under the Protection of the King of Poland yet by common consent Walter Cronberg was chosen in his place who retained the Name and represented the old Dignity of the Order and in all Dyets grievously accused Albert as you shall hear in the proper place But he having published a Manifesto gave his Reasons for what he had done and declared That being forsaken of the Empire he was driven by extream Necessity to submit himself to the King of Poland The Letters of Pope Leo X to Sigismund and Albert are extant wherein he exhorts them to Concord and either refer the Difference they had to his Legate whom he would send or submit it to the Determination of the Council of Lateran because it was most convenient that the Debates of Kings should be decided by a Council THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK VI. THE CONTENTS Luther-writes to the King of England and George Duke of Saxony to regain their favour But both reject him Now he had been put on to do so by Christiern King of Denmark The sickness of the French King who was Prisoner hastened the Treaty at Madrid The King having obtained his Liberty two of his Sons are left Hostages While the Princes of Germany meet in the Diet at Spire the Emperor of the Turks marches streight into Hungary A Disputation begun at Baden The Pope and Venetians make a League with the French King. The Emperor and King make bitter Complaints of one another Rome being taken by the Duke of Bourbon the King sends Lautreck into Italy The Errors of the Anabaptists begin to spread A Disputation appointed at Berne about Reformation of Religion A Context between King Ferdinand and the Vayvode of Transilvania Berken suffers Death at Antwerp The Emperor sends a Herald with a Challenge to the French King. Lautreck Besieges Naples but the Plague rages in his Camp. Mass is abolished at Strasburg A Dissention arises at Basil about Religion The Catholick Switzers make a League with Ferdinand A Dyet held at Spire and from thence the Name of Protestant had its Original A Civil War among the Switzers A Treaty at Cambray Solyman Besieges Vienna A new Disease breaks out in Germany The Protestants frame a League Erasmus his Book against Protestants Sforza is again received into favour with the Emperor WE gave an Account before of the King of England and Luther's clashing by Letters But Luther in the mean time having heard of some things that sounded to the King's Praise and Commendation was mightily rejoiced at the News and wrote very submissively unto him That he doubted not but that he had highly offended him by the Book he published but that he had not done it so much of his own accord as at the instigation of others which made him in confidence of his Royal Grace and Condescension so much applauded by many take the boldness to write to him
Article of that League was That they should resist the Invasions of the Turk and the Sect of Luther which was as dangerous as the violence of the Turk The Cardinal of England who could do any thing with the King was thought to have persuaded his Majesty to this Alliance for he bore no good-will to the Emperor because he look'd upon him as the cause why after the Death of Adrian he was not chosen Pope as the Imperialists have given it out in their Writings When Luther had read the King of England's Answer which was Printed and therein found Inconstancy objected unto him as if he had changed his Opinion in Matters of Religion which he looked upon not only as a private Injury done to himself but also to the Reformed Religion It much troubled him he said that to gratifie his Friends he had written so submissively unto him That Christiern King of Denmark had not left off to entreat and advise him both Personally and by Letters that he would write obligingly and had told him so much of his courteous Disposition that he had put him in hopes that being gently dealt with he would receive the Reformed Religion but that now he was sensible of his Error That he had been just so served by Cardinal Cajetane George Duke of Saxony and Erasmus of Rotterdam to whom at the desire of others he had written affectionately and all that he got by it was to render them more fierce and untractable That it was a foolish thing for him to imagin to find godliness in the Courts of Princes to look for Christ where Satan bore rule and to enquire after St. John Baptist among Courtiers who were clad in Purple That therefore since he could do no good by that gentle and loving way of Writing he would take another course for the future The French King being anxious and troubled in thoughts that the Treaty of Peace did not go forward fell into a fit of Sickness but being encouraged by the Emperor's discourse who bid him be of good cheer and hope the best he began at length to be somewhat better The Emperor also considering with himself what a great loss it would be unto him if he should chance to die inclined daily more and more to Peace So that January the Fourteenth all things were at length concluded at Madrid and in the Treaty of Peace it is stipulated among other things that the Emperor and King shall endeavour to extirpate the Enemies of the Christian Religion and the Heresies of the Sect of the Lutherans In like manner That Peace being made betwixt them they should settle the Affairs of the Publick and make War against the Turk and Hereticks excommunicated by the Church for that it was above all things necessary and that the Pope had often solicited and advised them to bestir themselves therein That therefore in compliance with his desires they resolved to entreat him that he would appoint a certain day when the Embassadors and Deputies of all Kings and Princes might meet in a convenient place with full Power and Commission to treat of such measures as might seem proper for undertaking a War against the Turk and also for rooting out Hereticks the Enemies of the Church Again that he would give leave to those Princes who laboured in so holy and pious a Work to collect and raise the Money which was usual and customary in such cases and also that he would impose a Tax upon the Clergy for the same purpose In this Pacification Eleanor the Emperor's Sister who had been married to Emanuel King of Portugal was affianced to the French King. The Emperor promised in Dowry with her Two hundred thousand Ducats and some Places in Upper Burgundy which were in Controversie betwixt them The King on the other hand promised within two Months after his return into France to deliver up to the Emperor the Duchy of Burgundy which the Kings of France had held ever since the Death of Charles Duke of Burgundy almost now fifty Years Besides he renounced all Right and Title to Naples Milan Asta Genoua and Flanders That he should not aid nor assist Henry King of Navarre Charles Duke of Gueldres Vlrick Duke of Wirtemberg nor Robert Count of Mark That he should carry on no secret Designs in Italy That when the Emperor had a mind to go into Italy he should assist him with a Navy of sixteen Galleys fitted out and equipped with all things necessary except Soldiers and also Two hundred thousand Crowns to Arm and Man them That the King should pay the yearly Pension which the Emperor was bound by Agreement to pay to the King of England That he should restore Charles Duke of Bourbonne and his Associates to all their Rights Lands and Possessions suffering them to enjoy their Estates and live where they pleased And that the King should at any time stand a Tryal at Law with the Duke of Bourbonne for the Province of Marseillies to which he claims a Title The King having sworn to the Emperour to observe these Conditions was set at liberty and returned home but upon his passing the Borders of Spain he left behind him his two Sons Francis and Henry little Boys as Hostages according as it had been agreed upon and in case he should fail in performance of Articles he promised to deliver himself up Prisoner again After this the Princes of Germany in great Numbers met at Spire according to appointment as we told you in the former Book among whom also was John Elector of Saxony and Philip Landgrave of Hesse The Emperour's Deputies were Ferdinand his Brother Bernard Bishop of Trent Casimire Marquess of Brandenburg Philip Marquess of Baden William Duke of Bavaria and Erick Duke of Brunswick When these had opened the Dyet June 25 and had told the Reasons why the Emperour had called it they farther added That above all things it was the Emperours Will and Command That the States of the Empire would with unanimous Consent take some course how the Christian Religion and the ancient Rites and Customs of the Church might be entirely and universally retained Again How they were to be punished and curbed that acted to the contrary if peradventure they should make use of Force And how also mutual Aid and Assistance was to be given that the Emperour's Edict of Wormes published five Years before and the Decree of the present Dyet might be observed and put in execution When a Committee of all the Princes and States had been chosen to treat of these things among whom were the Landgrave James Sturmey of Strasburg and Cress of Norimberg the Emperour's Deputies again assemble all the States August 3 and tell them That they understood there was a Committee of the whole appointed to confer among themselves about the matters proposed who as they supposed would first consult about Religion but that the Emperour's Will and Pleasure might be obeyed and that they might
been any need of his counsel Now that he might in his absence contribute what he could to the Publick Good he wrote a Book to the Bishops and other Prelates in that Dyet laying before them the state of the Church under the Roman Papacy how it had been overspread with thick Darkness Impious Doctrin and Foul Errours and admonishing them of their Duty in most weighty and serious Words he upbraids them with Cruelty and Bloody-mindedness Moreover he exhorts them not to let slip the Occasion of healing the Evil alledging That since his Doctrin agreed with the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles all counsels taken against God would be in vain Whilst the Emperour and Papists were thus venting their Rage and Threats against the Protestants Melanchthon was very much dejected and disconsolate not indeed for his own sake but Posterities and those who were to come after and wholly gave himself over to Grief Sighing and Tears But when this came to Luther's Knowledge he endeavoured to Comfort and Chear him up by several Letters and seeing this was not the Work of Man but of God Almighty he advises him to lay aside all Thoughtfulness and Anxiety and cast the whole Burthen of it upon him And why said he do you in this manner Afflict and Torment your self If God gave his own Son for us why do we Doubt and Fear why are we cast down and dismayed Is Satan stronger than he Will he who has bestowed so great a Blessing upon us forsake us in smaller Matters Why are we afraid of the World which Christ hath overcome If we maintain a bad Cause why do we not change our Mind If it be Just and Holy why do we distrust God's Promises Certainly the Devil can take nothing from us but our Life but Christ liveth and reigneth for ever who taketh upon him the Defence and Protection of the Truth he will not cease to be with us until the consummation of all things If he be not with us pray where is he to be found If we be not of the Church do you think that the Pope and the rest of our Adversaries are Sinners we are 't is true and that in many things yet Christ is not therefore a Lyer whose Cause we maintain Let Kings and the Nations fret and rage as much as they please he that dwelleth in Heaven shall hold them in Derision God hath hitherto without our Counsel governed and protected this Cause he also will henceforward bring it to the desired end What you write of the Laws and Traditions of Men may easily be answered For it is not lawful for any Man to appoint or chuse a new Work as the Worship of God since both the first Commandment and all the Prophets condemn such Works They may indeed be a bodily Exercise but if they come once to be worshiped they become Idolatrous As for any Reconciliation it is in vain hoped for for neither can we depose the Pope nor can the True Religion be safe so long as Popery continues That ye give the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in Both kinds and yield not to the Adversaries in that who will have it to be indifferent you do well for it is not in our Power to appoint or tolerate any thing in the Church which cannot be defended by the Word of God. We condemn the whole Church cry they But we say That the Church was unwillingly surprised and oppressed by the Tyranny of a divided and half-Sacrament and is therefore to be excused in the same manner as the whole Synagogue was to be excused when being captive in Babylon it observed not the Law and other Rites of Moses for it was hindered by Force that it could not Take special heed that ye grant not too great a Jurisdiction to Bishops lest more Trouble ensue thereupon hereafter For my part I dislike all this Treaty about accommodating the Difference in Religion for it is all Labour in vain unless the Pope would utterly abolish his Kingdom If they condemn our Doctrin why do we seek for an Uniformity if they approve it why are the Ancient Errours retained but they openly condemn it All they do then is but Sham and Dissimulation They take a great deal of Pains as it appears about Ceremonies But let them first restore the Doctrin of Faith and Works Let them suffer the Church to have Ministers that will perform the necessary Duties They require that Monks may be again put into possession but let them on the other hand give us back so many Innocent and Pious Men whom they have slain let them restore so many Souls lost by Impious and Erroneous Doctrin let them restore those great Revenues got by Fraud and Knavery let them in short restore the Glory of God dishonoured by so many Reproaches When once they have made Satisfaction as to these things then will we reason the case with them who has the best right to the Goods of the Church Since the chief and almost sole difference betwixt Luther and some others was about the Lord's Supper as we have said before and that that exceedingly rejoyced the Papists as it grieved the others Bucer with the consent of the Elector of Saxony and his own Magistrates went from Ausburg to Luther to attempt a Reconciliation and had a very fair Answer from him insomuch that he made a Progress from thence to Zuinglius and the Switzers that he might essay to unite them more closely in Mind and Opinion This then being the state of Affairs and all things tending to Stirs and Troubles the Landgrave concluded a League for six Years with the Cities of Zurich Basil and Strasburg That if any Violence should be offered upon the account of Religion they should mutually aid and assist one another And this League was made in the Month of November At the same time the Emperour wrote to the Elector of Saxony commanding him to come to Cologne by the 21 day of December about difficult and weighty Affairs â—elating to the Publick The same Day he received this Letter which was November 28 he had a Messenger with Letters from the Archbishop of Mentz the design whereof was to acquaint him That the Emperour had desired of him that he would assemble the Princes Electors about the election of a King of the Romans and therefore he cited him to be present at Cologne December 29. This thing being known the Duke of Saxony forthwith dispatched Letters to the Landgrave and the rest of the Protestant Princes and Cities praying them to meet at Smalcalde December 22 but in the mean time he sent away in all haste his Son John Frederick with some of his Counsellors to Cologne that they might be present at the Day appointed by the Emperour To them he gave Orders to represent That the Citation of the Archbishop of Mentz was not legally made and that this same creation of a King of the Romans was a signal Violation of
it might plainly appear That the Interest of the Publick and their native Country were dear unto them At the same time the Duke of Lunenburg the Landgrave and the Counts of Anhalt and Mansfield wrote at large to the Electors to the same purpose seriously advising them that they would not offer such Injury to the Laws and Rights of their Country and the rather since it was a common Report That there were Bribes and Promises in the case which was directly contrary to the Caroline Constitutions Afterwards on the last of December both the Princes and Cities we named before wrote to the Emperour a common Letter in all their Names wherein they resumed all the Proceedings at Ausburg what Sollicitations they had made for Peace what Answer his Majesty made at length especially concerning the Actions of the Crown and what kind of Decree was afterwards made there and that though his Majesty had himself qualified that Expression of the Elector of Brandenburg by telling them that the Agreement he had made with the rest of the Princes was not Offensive but only for the Defence of himself and Cause yet nevertheless if that Authority specified in the Decree should be given to the Imperial Chamber who could doubt but that it might extend to Force and Violence Since therefore both they and their Ancestors had given evident Proofs of their Zeal and Affection both towards him and his Predecessors they prayed That as he had in Word softned that Expression of the Elector of Brandenburg's so he would also really and indeed mitigate and put a stop to those Prosecutions of the Chamber that they might have assurance until the meeting of a Free and Holy Council that they needed not be afraid of any thing And that if they could obtain this at his Majesties Hands they would hereafter as in Times past contribute their Money Aid and Assistance not only towards the Turkish War but also for the other Publick Uses of the Government In the first meeting of the Princes Electors at Cologne the Emperour gave these Reasons for creating a King of the Romans Because he himself had several Kingdoms and People to govern and could not be always in Germany Because Christendom and especially Germany was in a Troublesome and Dangerous State by Reason of the Difference in Religion the Power and Force of the Turks the late Insurrection and Rebellion of the Boors and because many things were undutifully and disobediently acted in Germany for that though by their own Advice and Consent in former Years there had been a Senate and Judicature of the Empire appointed yet it was not obeyed as it ought to have been And that therefore it seemed absolutely necessary to him for the Welfare of the State that a King of the Romans should be chosen who might under him and in his absence be as it were another Head of the Empire that he ought to be a Man of Parts Vigilant Industrious and Powerful a Lover of Peace and Concord acquainted with the Affairs of the Empire and in short altogether such as he himself might Trust and Relie upon But that he knew no Man more capable of that Province than his own Brother Ferdinand King of Bohemia and Hungary whose Limits and Kingdoms were as a Wall and Rampart for the Safety and Preservation of Germany against the cruelty of the Turks The Princes Electors after deliberation had praid the Emperour that he would not leave Germany but settle his Court and Residence in it But he persisting in his Purpose on the Fifth of January they declared Ferdinand King of the Romans The Elector of Saxony did all he could which was to make his Son give Reasons why he could not approve that Election and to protest against it as illegall Long before the Dyet of Ausburg broke up there was a Report spread abroad That Ferdinand would be promoted to that Dignity From Cologne they went all afterwards to Aix la Chapelle where King Ferdinand was Installed on the eleventh of January who presently dispatched Letters to give notice of it all over Germany The Emperour also commanded by Proclamation That all should own him for King of the Romans and wrote separately to the Protestants to the same purpose In the mean while that the Emperour was at Cologne the Protestants Letter was delivered unto him wherein they desired to be exempted from the Prosecutions of the Imperial Chamber as we said before Thereunto he made answer at Aix la Chapelle January 13 by the Mouth of Frederick Prince Palatine That they needed not to go any farther or wait longer for any Answer for that he had not as yet considered of it but that he would in time think on what answer he should give them Having done so he went into Brabant a Province of the Netherlands THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK VIII The CONTENTS The Princes assembled at Smalkalde dispatch Letters to the Kings of England and France wherein they let them understand what false Reports are gone abroad against them They solicite the King of Denmark and the Maritime Cities to joyn with them in the League as far as they shall think it convenient The Switzers are not admitted into this Confederacy The King of France returns an Answer to the Protestants Letters and the King of England does the same The Embassadors of the Cities deliver in at Franckford their Sentiments concerning the Creation of a King of the Romans and there likewise the Controversie between the Bishop of Bamburg and George Duke of Brandenburg is agitated The Emperor appoints a Diet to meet at Spiers to which the Elector of Saxony refuses to come There are some Conditions laid down upon which the Protestants do promise to make their appearance there A Civil War breaks out between those of Zurich and the five Confederate Cantons in which Zuinglius is slain Soon after OEcolampadius departs this life A Treaty is held about entring into a Peace with the Protestants till such time as a Council should sit Christiern King of Denmark is taken Prisoner Solyman the Grand Seignior invades Austria and is driven out of it again The Elector of Saxony dies The Pope sends an Embassador into Germany to propound certain Rules and Methods for the holding of the intended Council to each of which the Duke of Saxony having diligently consider'd the matter returns a very full Answer within a few days IN the former Convention at Smalkalde this among other things was agreed upon that since the Adversaries were very busie in throwing dirt upon their Cause and endeavour'd every where by numerous Calumnies to bring their Profession of the Gospel into Disgrace the Kings of England and France should in the first place be written to that they would not suffer themselves to be influenc'd by such false Reproaches Accordingly on the 16 day of Febr. the Dukes of Saxony Brandenburg Lunenburg and the Lantgrave together with the Cities of Strasburg
the Popes Bull was not sufficient nor authentick She answer'd that it was too late to complain of the Bull now since they had approv'd it so long before And when the Dispute began to grow warm the Pope's assistance was desir'd to determine the Matter The Queen had miscarried several times neither did any of her Children live excepting the Princess Mary The Pope therefore undertook the Cause and delegated the hearing of it to the Cardinals Campegio and York And after a long debate when the King had hopes given him from Rome that things should go on his side Campegio by the Pope's Order when he was just upon the Point of the Sentence began to draw back and to throw in delays This Turn they say was occasioned by the death of General Lautrech and the loss of the French Army before Naples Andrew Auria likewise happening to revolt from Francis at the same time which made the Pope conclude that the Emperor Catharines Nephew by her Sister who was now so prosperous in Italy ought not in prudence to be disoblig'd Campegio therefore at last leaves England without bringing the Affair to any point at which the King was extreamly dissatisfied But that he might not seem to do any thing rashly he dispatch'd away several Agents into France Italy and Germany to Collect the sense of the Divines concerning his Marriage The Parisians and most of the rest seemed to declare for the unlawfulness of it though they were suspected to be bribed into their opinion Now there was one Anne Bolen in the Queens Service an incomparable handsome Maiden-Lady This Person the King began to set his Affections upon and discover'd intelligibly enough that he had a mind to marry her As soon as Cardinal Woolsey who was most intimate with the King and as they say moved first for the Divorce understood this design he changed his Resolution and writing to the Pope advised him not to null the Marriage for if he did another Woman infected with Lutheranism would succeed Catharine When the King was acquainted with the Cardinals proceedings by his Embassador at Rome he was very much offended with him and not long after removed him from his Office of Lord Chancellor and deprived him of two of the three Bishopricks which he held At last being reduc'd to a private Life and letting fall some passionate indecent Expressions importing a desire of revenge The King commanded him to dismiss the greatest part of his Servants and to come to Court with a small Retinue The Cardinal not being able to avoid it sets forward but before he reached the King he fell into an acute Distemper contracted by the dissatisfaction of his mind and died upon the way Now the Pope that Campegio might have some pretence for coming away revokes the Cause to himself at Rome And foreseeing the Marriage with Anne Bolen would be of very ill consequence to himself he plies the King with Admonitions and sometimes with Threatnings to give over his design But not being able to prevail there upon the 24th of March this year to oblige the Emperor he gave Judgment on the Queens side When the King was already divorc'd from her had declar'd his Daughter Mary Illegitimate and married the other Lady above a year since As soon as the King understood that Sentence was pronounced against him he began to hate the Pope mortally and immediately passeth an Act in which he declares himself Head of the Church of England next after Christ denies all manner of Obedience to the See of Rome and makes it death for any one to maintain the Pope's Supremacy He likewise refuseth to pay the yearly Tax which the Pope's Collector used to receive and forbids the Conveyance of any Mony to Rome under severe Penalties all which Injunctions were confirmed by the States of the Realm which they call a Parliament Francis the French King is thought to have struck a Considerable stroak in this Divorce that he might make an irreconcilable Breach between Henry and the Emperor As concerning the Tax which I mention'd the Case stands thus Ine King of England in the year 740. out of a sense of Piety made his Kingdom Tributary to the Pope as the History of those times informs us and charged every house with the payment of a peny From that time the Popes sent their Collectors thither yearly to receive this Duty which was commonly call'd Peter-pence This payment having been made by the English without any Interruption from the first Grant this Henry was the first who forbad the Continuance of it any longer I have given an account in the Fourth Book how Luther and Erasmus wrote against each other concerning the Subject of Free Will. This year the Pique between them broke out again For Luther in a Letter to a Friend takes occasion to charge Erasmus very high as if he ridiculed the Christian Religion and expos'd it to question and contempt and cites several places in his Writings to make good his Accusation He also objected that the other had an equivocal two-handed way in expressing himself and made a Tyrannical use of his Elocution And in regard he takes the liberty to play with religious Arguments at that ambiguous rate when he both can and is obliged to be more clear he ought always to be construed in the worst sense This Letter was afterwards answer'd by Erasmus and smartly too who was more sensibly concern'd for nothing than to keep up the Reputation of his own Writings About this time the Franciscans made a strange tragical piece of Work of it at Orleans in France The thing was thus The Provost's Wife of that Town had order'd in her Will to be buried without any Ceremony or noise For when any one dies in France it 's the Custom for Funeral Cryers who are hired for this purpose to go about the principal Streets in the City and call the common people together with their hand-Bells When they have done this they tell the Name and Quality of the Person deceas'd and exhorting the Company to pray to God for his Soul they let them know when and where he is to be buried When the Corps goes to the Grave the Mendicant Friers are usually invited to attend it and a great many Torches are carried before the Hearse In these Solemnities people commonly strive to out-do one another for the more expensive the Funeral is the greater Crowd there is to see and admire it But this Woman I spoke of would have none of all this Her Husband therefore who loved her entirely perform'd this part of her Will and burying her by her Father and Grandfather in the Franciscans Church presented these Gentlemen with no more than six Crowns whereas they expected a much greater Sum. Afterwards when he felled a Wood and sold it they desired him to give them some Timber but were denied They took this very heinously which with their former Disgust made them resolve to
For though he was bred and born to nothing but Gentleness and good Nature yet he was constrain'd for some time to put a force upon his Temper and act disagreeably to his Inclinations And as he was willing to hear Men discourse upon any Subject so he could not choose but be displeas'd with those who attempt any rash Alterations without consulting their Superiors whose right it is to Determine Besides those whom he had done Justice upon were of a quite different Perswasion from them Now as to their Religion the King is of opinion that whatever they have done in that was agreed by common consent but how justifiable their Tenents were he should not examine For in cases of that difficulty he was not willing to pretend to be a better Judge than others but believed there were some things to be approved and disapproved in both Communions For the nature of Man is such that if he is once allow'd to pronounce upon his own Sentiments he is in danger of falling into Error and Mistake Afterwards he endeavours to gain their good opinion more directly and confutes those Persons who say that the Germans ought to take care how they hold any Correspondence with foreign Embassadors maintaining that there was great disadvantage and slavery at the bottom of this advice For no State is so well fortify'd in it self as to be able to subsist and flourish for any considerable time without the Friendship and Alliance of its Neighbours Now there hath been a very ancient and intimate Correspondence between the Kings of France and the Princes of the Empire for both Nations are descended from the same Original and by reason of their situation and nearness they may be both a Guard and an Ornament to each other Therefore his Majesty is very much troubled when he hears of any Misunderstandings among the Germans and endeavours to his Power to make up the Breach And has often been afraid lest this disagreement in Religion should have some unfortunate consequence And since he now understands they have form'd an Association to defend their Priviledges and Honour not excluding those of a different Perswasion he hath great hopes that this Expedient will open a way for the reconciling of Opinions Being therefore acquainted with these Occurrences he was willing to send his Embassador to let them know his sense in the Case Now in regard the present State of Affairs is such that a free and general Council cannot be conven'd as yet The King thinks it most proper that all the Germans should meet in the mean time and by joynt consent pitch upon some Method for an Accommodation which may easily be effected provided things are not manag'd with obstinacy and Men do not account it a discredit to change their opinions upon Conviction and to yield to better Information If they proceed in this manner his Majesty will joyn with them and assist them in this Undertaking For the present Pope himself confess'd when the Case was moved to him by the King that Humane Traditions are not to be so rigidly insisted on but that they may be set aside when the exigency of the Times and the Peace of Christendom require it and declar'd that if the Controversie was regularly and fairly debated he would yield a great many things in compliance with the present Conjuncture and to promote a general Agreement Now if they are desirous that some learned French Divines should be present at this Conference or if they please to send any of their own Clergy into France upon this account his Majesty will be extreamly satisfy'd with it and leaves it wholly to themselves to do as they think convenient In fine he desires them that they would live amicably together and fortifie their Interest by keeping up a good Correspondence among themselves for this besides other advantages would contribute to the peace of their Country And as for his Majesty he would not assist their Enemies either with Supplies or Advice as long as they continued the same affection to him which they had hitherto shew'd In the beginning of this Book I observ'd that the Judges of the Chamber of Spire prosecuted the Protestants contrary to the Emperor's Edict The case was this These Judges were most of them Roman Catholicks and being address'd to for Justice by the Ecclesiasticks after the Emperor was return'd into Italy from the War in Austria who complain'd of the Protestants They order'd a Suit to be commenc'd against them And though the Protestants put in their Exceptions and alledg'd that the Cause was of an Ecclesiastical nature and consequently included in the Emperor's Edict who has barr'd all Process relating to Religion yet they over-rul'd these Allegations and went on in their way The Protestants therefore wrote into Italy to the Emperor complaining how they were disturb'd and procure another Mandate from him Upon this the Judges send the Emperor word that they were at a loss how to act and how to obey his Majesties Commands For the Parties often contested the nature of the Causes whether they belonged to Religion or not therefore they desire to know his Majesties Pleasure in this Case The Emperor answers their Request and gives them Authority to determine whether the Causes which come before them relate to Religion or not Being thus fortify'd they proceed briskly not only interposing in mixt Causes but in those which were purely Spiritual for besides Restitution to the Ecclesiasticks they command the Mass and all the Ceremonies and Worship of the Roman Church to be set up again Now while these things were doing it happen'd that the Elector of Saxony had occasion to go to Cadan to King Ferdinand about some other business where he complain'd how himself and his Confederates were us'd and after they had agreed those other Points which I have mention'd Ferdinand confirm'd the Imperial Edict and commanded the Pacification to be observ'd and order'd the Chamber to forbear all Prosecutions But they took no notice of this Order The Protestants therefore solemnly protested against the Jurisdiction of their Court assigning the Reasons they had to look upon them as Adversaries and refer the Dispute to Henry of Megelburg Robert Duke of Bavaria Christiern Duke of Holstein George Duke of Wirtemburg to the Senate of Auspurg and Wormes or to any other indifferent Arbitrators to determine whether the grounds of their Recusation were reasonable or not For things were come to that pass that their Council durst not speak out nor plead their Cause home for fear of disobliging the Court and coming into trouble But the Judges set aside this Recusation and declar'd it null and void as being contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Empire Afterwards the Elector of Saxony came to Vienna to King Ferdinand as hath been already related where he got a new Order against the Chamber but all to no purpose as shall be shewn in its place And because the Pacification granted by the Emperor
was to continue no longer than either till a general Council was conven'd or till the next Imperial Diet the Elector mov'd King Ferdinand that this last Clause might be omitted He also desir'd that those who profess'd the same Religion with other Protestants might enjoy the same Priviledges though they were not comprehended in the Treaty at Nuremburg and that no Prosecutions might be issu'd out against them To this Ferdinand reply'd that he could make no new Provision in this case without the Emperor's consent The Elector of Saxony reply'd that it was very hard since their Adversaries might recede from the Pacification when they pleas'd that himself and his Allies should be barr'd this Liberty The Security which was given them in the Treaty did not design without doubt to keep them in suspence and in the dark without being able so much as to know what they were to hope for or expect Besides as soon as ever a Proclamation for a Diet came out it would be look'd upon as a Signal to break the Peace and be like beating a Charge for new Disturbances from whence great Inconveniences would follow And he must add that if those of the same Religion with himself could not enjoy the benefit of the Pacification and happen'd to be proscrib'd or otherways aggreived it would be very uneasie to him and the rest of his Allies to connive at these things and desert their Friends in their Distress But the Elector gain'd nothing more of his Point by this Remonstrance only one of Ferdinand's chief Ministers reply'd that it was a long time yet before the Empire was to meet unless some great and unexpected occasion should happen and when there shall be a necessity for the holding of a Diet the present affair shall be setled by his Electoral Highness's and the Lantgrave's advice Upon this the Elector press'd this Request no farther But when he desir'd the Treaty might be ratify'd Ferdinand answer'd that he had not omitted to Command the Chamber to desist the last year pursuant to the Articles at Cadan But they told him that there were several Causes purely Secular and Civil intermixt with those that were Sacred now these were perfectly under their Jurisdiction for they did not relate to Faith and Religion but to Estates and yearly Revenues To this the Elector of Saxony reply'd that these mix'd Causes were the only reason which made them so earnest for a Pacification for though they did concern Mens Goods and Estates yet they were grounded upon Religion His Majesty may likewise be inform'd by the Princes of the Mediation the Elector of Mentz and the Palsgrave that these sort of Disputes were mention'd at the Treaty As for other Causes in which their Creed and their Consciences are only concern'd the Chamber never had any thing to do with those neither was there any necessity that himself and his Confederates should desire the Emperor to check the Judges upon such an account as this Besides long before the Pacification at Cadan the Chamber pretended that the fore-mention'd Causes were only Secular and therefore among other things there was a particular Provision made at Cadan that his Majesty should interpose his Authority to restrain that Court. After the Matter was thus discours'd at last the King yielded and promis'd to undertake that none of those Causes which his Highness and his Confederates at the Treaty at Nuremburg counted Religious should be try'd before the Chamber The French Embassadors Speech which I mention'd was answer'd by the Protestants as followeth Notwithstanding there goes various Reports concerning those Executions in France yet because his Excellency says those who suffer'd were contriving an Insurrection they could not blame the King's Proceedings since they did not tolerate such sort of Persons in their own Dominions But in regard all people have not every where the same Opinions of the establish'd Doctrins and Rites they entreat his Majesty that this Severity may not fall upon all Persons without distinction but that those may be spar'd who having laid open the Errors and Corruptions of the Times had reform'd their Creed into the same purity the Scriptures taught it and held to that Confession which themselves had made at Ausburg For it cannot be deny'd that many false and wicked Opinions have broke in upon the Church which are now very confidently maintain'd by ignorant and malitious Men upon Principles of Covetousness and Ambition Now it 's their way and they are Masters of it to forge Accusations against innocent and religious Persons that so they may exasperate Princes into rigour And since Kings and Princes are more peculiarly oblig'd to promote the Honour of God to purge the Church from Error and to check unreasonable Cruelty they earnestly beseech his most Christian Majesty that he would lay out his principal Endeavours upon so good a Work. If he pleases to do this they shall be assur'd that he hath a real regard for them which they hope may prove auspicious both to themselves and the Church What his Majesty discours'd concerning the ancient and constant Friendship between the French Kings and the Princes of Germany was wonderfully entertaining to them And they would make it their business that this Intimacy and good Correspondence might be continu'd for the future And whereas his Excellency offers to excuse the King from some Imputations they are very inclinable to gratifie him in this Point and acquiesce in his Apology desiring above all things that God would vouchsafe a general Peace to Christendom and Protect the Germans in their Liberties which were formerly gain'd at the expence of so much Blood. Now though that which his Excellency mention'd concerning an Accommodation in Religion belongs to an argument too large to be dispatch'd in a few words yet so prudent a Person as the King may easily perceive that the separation is wholly owing to the obstinacy of their Adversaries who have condemn'd all the reform'd Doctrin in a most violent manner They have desir'd nothing more for these many years than that the whole Cause might be argued before a lawful Council but the Pope and his Dependents have oppos'd this Overture with all the rigour imaginable 'T is true Clement the Seventh propos'd a Council under certain Conditions but then they were such as made it sufficiently apparent that he could not endure that Matters should be freely debated And this Pope though he promises a Council yet he will not suffer the Form and Method of it be disputed before-hand and besides he will have it conven'd out of the Territories of the Empire From whence it 's easie to conclude that there is foul play and deceit at the bottom and that nothing else is intended but to get the true Religion suppress'd by the Authority of a Council And since the calling of the Church together does not belong only to the Bishop of Rome but Kings and Princes are equally concern'd in it They beseech his Majesty to interpose so
safe unsuspected place where every one might freely speak his Conscience without danger Besides what I have mention'd he press'd them very earnestly to enter into a League with his Master indeed this was the principal reason of his Embassy But they insisting that they must except the Emperor whom they declar'd it was not lawful for them to Article against he concluded nothing with them and before he went away he told some Persons privately that he wondred they should refuse the Offer of sogreat a Prince and that there would come a time when they would heartily wish that they had gone in to his Interest Henry the Eighth of England also sent an Embassy to this Convention of which Edward Fox Bishop of Hereford was chief He began his Speech with telling them what a near Relation there was between the Kings of England and the Dukes of Saxony and that the King his Master had a great respect for his Electoral Highness and his Confederates especially since he saw their principal Design was to propagate the true Religion among their Neighbours And though they had a great many hard words given them upon this account yet these Reflections made no impression upon him neither did he believe them to be any other than good Men who would do nothing but what reason and their station oblig'd them to aiming only that the Gospel might be preach'd in its purity and God glorified by it This he said was also the King's Intention as appears sufficiently from the alteration which was lately made in England For now the greatest part of the Corruptions in the Church were removed by his Royal Command and the Pope's Supremacy and all his Legerdemain was banish'd the Kingdom by a general Consent no less than it was in Saxony And since there are the same Inclinations and Endeavours moving on both sides his Majesty hath a singular Esteem for them and desires them that they would go on as they have begun and unite in a general profession of the same Doctrin for this will lay a lasting foundation for Peace But how much diversity of Opinions are apt to embroil the State his Majesty is very sensible and the Anabaptists are a remarkable instance At this time the Pope pretends as if he was in earnest for a Council Now if there be any remaining Differences and they do not come up to an uniform Perswasion among themselves this will disorder their Measures when they are conven'd upon the place But here he would not be thought to reflect in the least upon their Divines for the Church was never so happy as to be perfectly free from Disputes no not in the Apostles times as appears from the clash there was between St. Peter St. Barnabas and St. Paul. We ought therefore to endeavour an Accommodation no farther than it 's warrantable by Scripture Now the Pope makes it his whole business to hinder the Church from agreeing upon such a Principle insomuch that as long as his cruel and tyrannical Government continues his Majesty despairs of seeing a Reconciliation For now this Idol this Antichrist rageth like a mad Man only because the English have lately thrown off the most scandalous Slavery and recover'd their Liberty by the King's assistance And being not able to attempt any thing by force he betakes himself to Artifice and Fraud and by forging false Accusations against his Majesty endeavours to provoke other Princes to make War upon him For though he will stick at nothing to keep up his pretended Authority yet now his particular Design is to exasperate both sides and set all in a Flame This his Majesty was willing to acquaint them with not that he feared the Pope for he was so well prepar'd that he neither valu'd him nor his whole Party but only that they might see what Antichrist was doing especially at this time when he seems so earnest for a Council though he meaneth nothing less 'T is true his Majesty grants that a regular Debate is singularly useful and very much for the advantage of Christendom but then all imaginable Care must be taken that such a Council be not conven'd as will manage the whole Controversie only for the establishment of the Pope's Greatness Therefore he entreats them they would take his advice and not allow of any Council till all Christian Princes were at Peace with each other withall desiring that the true Worship of God might be restored and that he was willing to engage with them for the compleating and support of so pious an undertaking These things he told them his Instructions obliged him to deliver publickly But besides he desired that he might discourse this affair farther in private with some persons deputed for that purpose For his Highness the King had that regard for Religion and themselves that he was ready to venture his Person and all his Fortunes in the Cause To this after some Ceremony passed upon the King for shewing himself so obliging and well disposed they answer That they desire nothing so much as that the Doctrin of the Gospel might be spread far and near that whatever they did in this case was done out of a principle of Duty And notwithstanding they have been affronted and injured in the grossest manner though they have highly disobliged Persons of the most considerable Interest though they have been often swagger'd at and meanced upon this account yet they have not slackned their industry and pursuit of the Holy Design Now the reason of all this violent and intemperate rage against them is only because they have taken the liberty to reject some false and wicked Opinions Now his Majesties promising so frankly to concur with them in this Work and his expelling the Popes Tyranny his Dominions which is the Spring-Head of all his wicked and erroneous Worship is very acceptable News to them and their Prayers to God are that he may still proceed They also return his Majesty many Thanks for his advice to them to take care of the ill Consequences of different Opinions but really there was no disagreement among them and they were resolved by Gods grace to continue in the same Religion they had profess'd at Ausburgh As to the Anabaptists they punish'd them severely when they could not be prevailed with to give over their Extravagance Besides this Sect domineer'd most in those places where the reformed Religion was prohibited What his Excellency discoursed concerning the Pope's Politick Designs gave them great satisfaction And now he had a Nuncio in Germany who promised a Council should be called at Mantua and had treated with the Elector of Saxony about it Now the Answer which they returned by common Advice to his Proposals was set down in a Paper a Copy of which should be delivered to his Excellency for the King that his Majesty might understand what their Thoughts were in this Case This Nuncio pretends as if it belonged only to the Pope to intimate and convene Councils But
they conceive other Princes and States will not yield him this Point without asking them leave especially at this juncture when so many Articles of Faith are concern'd and the cause of Religion lies at Stake so that now if ever a regular Examination of the matter ought to be secured And whereas his Excellency mentioned the Kings desire of an Alliance with them they are abundantly thankful to his Majesty for it And are resolved that neither pains nor danger shall discourage them from endeavouring to carry on the Progress of the Reformation not doubting but God Almighty will preside over the whole Action and make it successful notwithstanding all the opposition of their Adversaries And because he desires to treat more at large in private about this affair they had commissionated certain Persons to confer with his Excellency to whom he might impart what he had farther in Charge And lastly They request him to report their Answer to his Majesty and let him know how ready they are to serve him Upon the 12th of December the Elector of Saxony came to Smalcalde from King Ferdinand and upon Christmass-Eve they renewed the League which was within a twelve-month of expiring for ten years more Here also they setled those things which were necessary for its defence and agreed to receive all those into their Association who had a mind to it provided they would consent to the Ausburgh Confession and submit to the common charge and circumstances of the rest of the Confederates Those who were for engaging were the two Princes of Pomeren Robert of the House of Bavaria and Duke of Zweibrucken the Cities of Frankfurt Ausburgh Kempton Hamburgh and Hannover some of these desired to be admitted at present and the others gave them hopes of coming in afterwards Concerning the Chamber of Spire they came to this Resolution That in regard King Ferdinand had promised to ratifie the Pacification agreed by the Emperor they should all of them make use of this defence if they should happen to be cited by the Judges But if they would go on notwithstanding and fall a proscribing and press the Execution of their Sentence Then the Protestants were to publish a remonstrance in the name of the whole Confederacy in which the States of the Empire were to be desired and advised not to take any notice of the unreasonable Proceedings of the Chamber but to stand to what the Emperor and King Ferdinand have determined in the Case and to look upon such Sentences as these as null and illegal without offering violence to any Person upon this account For otherwise they must be forced to take satisfaction for the injury and to resolve upon a way to secure themselves and their Allies It was likewise agreed that the Article of the Pacification at Nuremburgh which provided that no Man should be forcibly disseized of his Estate should be punctually observed but with this construction That it should be lawful for them to reform what was amiss in the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Ceremonies and in other things of the like Nature At the same time William Count Naâ—â—aw was admitted into the League where though the Lantgrave would not give his consent because both of them laid claim to Catzenellobogen yet he declared that if the Earl was invaded upon the account of his being a Protestant he would assist him upon his request This year also the Senate of Ausburgh after a long contest came to a unanimous resolution for the reformed Religion and wrote to Luther desiring him to send Vrbanus Regius and some other faithful Pastors of the Church to them THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK X. The CONTENTS Bernard Rotman by his Preaching and private Perswasions prevails upon Munster to receive the reformed Religion Which made the Roman Catholicks and their Bishops leave the Town in a Disgust Notwithstanding by the mediation of the Lantgrave both parties are reconciled upon Articles John of Leyden a violent Anabaptist comes thither brings a great many over to his Opinion even Rotman himself and at last infects the Town with his Frensy to that degree that his Sect grew uppermost and introduced Polygamy and community of Goods After the death of their Head Prophet John Matthews John of Leyden succeeds in the Primacy and soon after they make him their King. The Barbarities of his Government and his Antick State described During the Siege of the Town a Convention is appointed at Coblentz to decree a speedy reinforcement of the Army The Anabaptists write to the Lantgrave and send him a Book wherein they explain their Doctrin at large the Confutation of which had already been undertaken by Luther At last the Town being straitned in Provisions is taken by Storm A Convention meets at Wormes to settle affairs there after its reduction The King and his Companions are taken A relation of their Execution The Duke of Savoy makes War upon the State of Geneva and is beaten The French King invades part of his Dominions to facilitate his Conquest of the Duchy of Milan upon this occasion the pretentions of the King to that Duchy are examined The Emperor understanding those things comes to Rome and chargeth the King with breach of Articles and presseth the intimation of a Council The Protestants make a League with the King of England The Pope intimates a Council at Mantua A War breaketh out between the Emperor and the French King. The Siege of Peronne The Arch-Bishop of Cologne reformeth his Church Erasmus dieth The French King his Daughter married to the King of Scotland The Duke of Florence murthered by Treachery The Swiss's Embassy to the French King to intercede for those of the Religion who are imprisoned The Town and Castle of Hesdin is surrendred Cardinal Pool is sent Embassador to the French King. I Am now to proceed to the Siege of Munster and I shall give an account of those Occurrences which happen'd from the beginning of the Siege till that time in which the Town was taken and the Authors of the Sedition punish'd In the first Book I gave a relation of Thomas Muncer how he Preached the Mobile into Sedition what his Tenets were and what end he came to From this Mans discipling there sprung a race of Men who from their Doctrin and Practices are called Anabaptists For they will not suffer Children to be Baptized and are rebaptized themselves affirming that all People ought to follow their example and that their former Baptism is wholly invalid Their Actions have an appearance of Holiness in them They assert that it is not lawful for Christians to go to Law nor to bear any Office of Magistracy nor to swear nor have any property but that all things ought to be possess'd in common These were the singular Doctrins they maintained at first but afterwards they broached others of a much more pernicious Consequence of which I shall speak hereafter Now when these People had spread
to come into their League and be stiled the Patron and Defender of it That the common opinion of the Pope's Supremacy should be for ever disown'd If there was War made upon either of them upon the score of Religion or for any other reason then the Aggressor was to have no assistance The King should pay an hundred thousand Crowns towards the defence of the League the moyety of which Sum the Confederates may lay out whenever their occasions shall require it but shall be oblig'd to defray the rest of the Charge out of their own Contributions And if the War happens to be of any long continuance and the Forces of the Enemy make it necessary the King shall assist them with two hundred thousand Crowns since when things come to that extremity they have oblig'd themselves not only to spend their Fortunes but their Lives too This latter sum should be manag'd the same way with the former and not be turn'd to any other use than their own Defence and when the War was ended the remainder should be return'd The Embassadors should write the King their Master an account of these Articles and when they understood his Resolution they should acquaint the Elector of Saxony and the Lantgrave with it to the end that afterwards an Embassy in the Name of all the Confederates might be sent to him As soon as the Embassadors had sent away these Proposals to the King they remove to Wittemburgh where they spent the rest of the Winter during which time they argu'd with the Town-Divines concerning the Doctrins then controverted The main of their Disputation was about the Celibacy of the Clergy the Lord's Supper the Popish-Mass and the Vows of the Religious particularly they desir'd the Divines would give their Approbation of the King's Divorce but they answer'd That the Scripture would not allow them to do this when the other offer'd several Arguments to perswade them particularly that Pope Clement had been of different Opinions in this matter and had declar'd his Sentiments in a private Conference with the French King The Divines reply'd That if the case stood thus the King had great cause to do what he did but when they were urg'd to say he had most just cause they refus'd it As soon as the Embassadors had receiv'd the King's Letters out of England in which he explain'd his mind upon the Point they acquaint the Elector with it And upon the 12th day of March at Wittemburgh whither the Duke was then come they enlarge themselves very much upon the King 's good Inclinations to the Cause and that he was satisfi'd with most of the Articles if some few things were amended in them and notwithstanding all things were quiet in England and the King had no reason to fear any Person for if there were formerly any grounds for such apprehensions they were now remov'd by the death of his Wife which was divorc'd yet to recover and settle the true Doctrin if the Alliance went on he was not unwilling to furnish them with that Sum of Mony which they desir'd and intended to discourse this Point farther by word of mouth with their Embassadors As for the Honour which they offer'd him of being Defender and Patron of their League he acknowledg'd their kindness and return'd them many thanks for it and though he was sensible what an invidious and disobliging Title this was yet for the sake of the Common Good he would not decline it provided the first and the second Article were accommodated For unless there was an agreement in Doctrin between them he was of opinion that this Undertaking would not be consistent with his Honour That he was extreamly desirous that the Learned of his own and their Dominions might be brought to a Uniformity of Opinion And since he saw this could not be done unless some Points of Doctrin in their Confession and Apology were first qualifi'd in a private Conference therefore he earnestly desir'd they would send their Embassadors to him and among the rest some one eminently Learned with power to debate and determine the whole Doctrin and Ceremonies And in regard he has been so liberal in his concessions he desires by way of return First If any one makes War upon him that they would supply him for four Months either with five hundred Horse or ten Ships well equipped Secondly That they would procure him at his own charge two thousand Horse and five thousand Foot. Lastly That they themselves would publickly approve the Opinion of the Divines of Wittemburgh concerning the Divorce and defend it in the Council which was to be call'd The Elector of Saxony answer'd That this Affair concern'd all the Allies and therefore he must consult them soon after they all agree to meet at Frankford upon the twenty fourth of April both about this and other business When they came thither they answer'd the Embassadors that notwithstanding some were just then receiv'd into the League and others upon the account of their distance from home had no power to determine because they could not report the matter to their Principals yet they would take care that the Embassy to the King should be setled and regulated in this Meeting and that those who were not empowred to conclude any thing now should declare their mind to the Elector of Saxony and the Lantgrave within a Month which should be immediately communicated to their Excellencies at what place they should please to appoint neither did they question but that this part of their Allies would approve the Embassy and be willing to be concluded by the Majority Afterwards they drew up the Commission of their Embassadors who were to go for England in which among other things it was provided that when they were arriv'd and came to Treat about the League they should in every point they agreed to expresly except the Empire and Emperor to whom they were bound to be subject both by their Oaths and Allegiance James Sturmius was design'd to represent the Cities in this Embassy The Divines were Melancthon Bucer and George Draco At this Meeting there were admitted into the League Vlrick Duke of Wirtemburgh Bernin and Philip his Brother Dukes of Pomeren George and Joachim his Brother Earls of Anhalt as also Ausburgh Frank furt Campodune Hamburgh and Hannover Other things were likewise debated relating to the League the method of their defence and the proceedings of the Imperial Chamber They also decreed to send some Persons to wait upon the Emperor with an Answer in writing to his Letter which was dated at Naples which I mention'd in the former Book I have frequently related already how violently averse George Duke of Saxony was to Luther's Doctrin Now this being the occasion of a great many Disputes between him and his Uncle the Elector of Saxony the Father of this present Elector at last the matter was thus compromis'd That there should be no misunderstanding between them upon the account
it namely because most of that Court were Roman Catholicks who are bound by Oath in giving of Sentence to observe the Canon-Law as well as the Constitutions of the Empire and that the Methods of these Judges were very singular was known to many others in Germany besides themselves To say they are tied up by Oaths does not clear them from suspicion notwithstanding this Allegation they may be lawfully refus'd which themselves were under a necessity of doing For what could they expect from those of a contrary Perswasion who condemn the Protestant Religion as impious Neither is it at all material that some few of them are delegated by his Majesty and most of them chosen out of the Provinces of the Empire for the main stress of the Cause lies in the Question of their Religion but how they ought to be qualifi'd in these respects the Decree made in the Diet at Ratisbone sufficiently shews Besides most of them are made by the Bishops or by others of their way and Interest Now when these Clergymen call all those Ecclesiastical Causes which relate to Rites and Ceremonies to the Pastoral Office and the Revenues of the Church why does not the Chamber put all those Debates which are of the same kind under the same denomination Therefore what they told him before was no more than truth that if they submit themselves to the Jurisdiction of the Chamber there will be no occasion for a Council and yet the Points contested ought to be decided there For those Gentlemen make no distinction of Causes but try all which are brought before them and are willing that their Ecclesiasticks should have not only their pretended Estates but their wicked Ceremonies restor'd them Now if such proceedings as these stand good all the Protestant Doctrin must be condemn'd They said likewise that their Lawyers were so much overaw'd and apprehensive of danger that they durst not defend their Right much less make any Exception against the Judges who if they were challeng'd kept the Bench notwithstanding and had lately sent back the Hamburgers their Letters of Recusation The reason why they instanced in the Monks and such sort of People was to let his Excellency understand that the Goods and Estates which he mention'd did not belong them but to the Ministers of the Church and were partly to be spent upon pious Uses Therefore in charging them with Rapine and detaining other Mens Goods he did them wrong neither was any thing of this nature ever objected to them before not only by one of his Quality but not by the Emperor himself They wonder he should say it was Violence to take away the Revenues of the Church from the Monks and Priests who contemn the true Religion and obstinately defend plain and notorious Errors For to these Estates which were most of them given by their Ancestors the Clergy had no other right than as they were formerly Ministers of the Church in their Dominions Now when they understood the true Doctrin and their Apprehensions were better inform'd they could not with a safe Conscience tolerate known Errors any longer and being oblig'd to remove these Corruptions they did not think it fit to let those Men enjoy the Profits of the Church who positively refus'd to reform their Religion Now if any are of opinion that they ought notwithstanding to have been tolerated in their Perswasion they are mistaken for they could not grant them such an Indulgence without being involv'd in their guilt for we may deny Christ and the Truth not only in our words but in our actions therefore his Excellency had charg'd them wrongfully in this Point For what a strange piece of imprudence would it be to endanger all their Fortunes their Reputation their Lives their Wives and Children and whatever was dear to them for the gaining such little and invidious Advantages They did not desire to possess other Mens Estates and which were not under their own Jurisdiction and if they were put upon it they could demonstrate by the Canon-Law that the Revenues of the Church did not belong to those who broached and maintain'd false Doctrin neither was worldly Interest propos'd by them in this case but their principal and only aim was That God might not be dishonour'd in their Territories and therefore those who profess'd the true Religion had been depriv'd of nothing Neither did they question but that they should give a better account of what they had taken from the Ecclesiasticks than those who assume the name of the Church to themselves and possess the Revenues of it without any right and spend them without any reason Now if they insist upon the right of Possession that is nothing to the purpose for to go no farther than the Canon-Law when Truth begins to display its light all Claims by vertue of Possession Prescription and Custom are to disappear and give place like so many shadows Therefore their Practices are contrary neither to Law nor Equity but are honest pious and consonant to the holy Scriptures That Objection likewise which his Excellency urgeth that he cannot approve that Men should be outed of their Estates is properly applicable to their Adversaries for when any of their Flock happens to turn to the true Religion he hath not only his Fortune but his life too taken from him That this is no Calumny they appeal to his Excellency who very well knows what Cruelties have been exercis'd and how much Blood hath been shed upon this one account for banishment and the ruine of their whole Families is the gentlest punishment such Converts are favour'd with And whereas he insists farther that an Accommodation would be very feasible if the point of Property was waved they grant the truth of this Allegation but then the strength of it ought to be turn'd upon their Adversaries who unless they valu'd their Wealth their Honour and their Luxury that dissolute and scandalous Life which they lead above any regard to Truth all Differences might be easily reconcil'd but though they are sensible of the Excesses and Prodigality of their Expences yet they will not endure a Reformation which is of so absolute necessity Now what truth there is in the Gentlemen of the Chambers Affirmation where they say they have done nothing contrary to their Office his Excellency may understand by what they have deliver'd to him already For their parts they desire nothing more than a legal Trial and have formerly moved that the reasons of their demurring to the Jurisdiction of the Chamber might be examin'd by Referees Now that the Causes which the Chamber have unjustly decided should be brought about again by the Emperor as his Excellency suggesteth this will be a very difficult matter to effect neither will the Parties who have had Judgment given on their side allow it And because he is desirous to know their Resolution in the present case They declare that they value nothing more than Peace that they have not done any thing
unacceptable to the King set forward to Canterbury where they murthered Thomas and plundered his Houses But the King when he heard of it pretended to be extraordinary sorry and dispatched away Embassadors to Rome to purge himself who at last prevailed with the Pope to send some Persons over into England to enquire into the Murther And when the Pope had sent over Two Cardinals with Authority to act in this Affair and no Person upon Examination could be proved Guilty the King clears himself by Oath but because of his former Displeasure against the Archbishop and some extraordinary Expressions let fall by him it was thought he was to be a little suspected and blamed therefore his Peace was at last made upon these Terms viz. That he should show the Clergy all manner of Favour for the future that within Three Years he should go in Person against the Saracens and march his Army into Syria This Murther was committed in the Year 1171. Not long after Thomas as they say begun to work Miracles and grew famous upon it which when the Pope understood by his Legates he had him Canonized At the time of the Interview at Nice de Provence Joachim Elector of Brandenburg and Son of Joachim sends Eustachius Sclebius his Ambassador to the Elector of Saxony in the beginning of June with these Instructions That Sigismund King of Poland and John Vaivod King of Hungary had acquainted him that the Turk was making very formidable Preparations to take in Buda and fortify it that he may make another Descent upon Germany with the better Advantage That the Sultan had signified thus much to the Vaivod Now in regard his Father was enjoined in the Diet of the Empire to acquaint the rest of the States with whatever he could learn concerning the Motions of the Turks therefore he thought himself obliged in Duty to the Commonwealth to give this Notice and was very much troubled at the News because he was afraid it would prove a general Calamity to Germany For this and other Reasons he lately took a Journy into Lusace to King Ferdinand whom he found preacquainted with this Invasion and while he was there his Majesty received fresh Accounts of it both by Letters and Expresses Therefore if these Encroachments were not checked they might be assured That they who were in the Neighbourhood of the War should shortly see the barbarous Enemy in their own Country For all the way from Buda to his Electoral Highness his Territories and his own there was neither Castle nor fortified Town which was able to hold out against so great an Army no River no mountainous Marches no Defiles or straight Passages to stop his Progress excepting Breslaw and Lignite And what an open and fruitful Country Moravia and Silesia is his Highness knows too well to need any Information concerning the Quality and Situation of them And notwithstanding the Prospect of the common Danger had made him promise his Assistance to King Ferdinand upon his Request yet it was plain such a Supply as that would signify nothing For the Opposition and Consequences they have reason to expect are so considerable that they require no less than the united Forces and Contributions of the whole Empire Now because this cannot be had but in a publick Diet and by bringing all the Germans to a good Understanding between themselves and the Danger is so far advanced upon us that it will not bear any long Delay to Debate its Prevention therefore he had importuned the King in his last Conference with him that he would use his utmost Endeavours that the Peace of the Empire might be established within it self upon a firm and legal Foundation To this Request King Ferdinand who tenders the Good of the Commonwealth and has an Esteem for his Electoral Highness gave an obliging Answer and promised him his Interest and that he would recommend the Proposal to the Emperor as soon as he understood what his Highness and the rest of the Confederates desired And since the Case stands thus he entreats him to consider it and to acquaint him freely with those Terms which he thinks it proper to insist upon in the Treaty of Peace And then he will undertake that Ferdinand shall intercede with the Emperor in his own Name and does not question but that those Proceedings will be of great Advantage to the Commonwealth Moreover at this time it was much easier to repel the Turkish Invasion than formerly because the Difference between the Vaivod and Ferdinand was adjusted this the King had acquainted him with as a Secret not being willing such a Report should be made publick least the Sultan should know it Hitherto a great part of Hungary hath been embroiled by the Christians engaging in a civil War with each other but now seeing they stand upon good Terms and all Discontents are removed a very fair Opportunity for Action presents it self which makes him the more importunate in his Entreaties with his Highness whom he once again desireth that he would join in the common Cause of the Empire This Joachim was married to Sigismund the King of Poland his Daughter who was John Vaivod his Niece by his Sister This Alliance was the occasion of that intimate Friendship and Familiarity between them The Elector also was of the Lutheran Religion and published a Book concerning it but he refused to come into the League and was in other Respects entirely devoted to the Emperor and Ferdinand In his Reformation he retained some thing more than ordinary of the Ceremonies and was of a reconciling Temper The Elector of Saxony immediately gives the Lantgrave an account of this whole Matter in a Letter and afterwards upon the Twelfth of June they both of them write an Answer to the Brandenburger to this effect Although the present Affair is of such importance that it ought to be communicated to their Confederates yet they are very sensible of the Inconvenience of Delays especially seeing the Turk is as Enterprizing as ever and that they have spent too much time already in debating the Measures for the Settlement of Germany and opposing the Infidels with the whole strength of the Empire For as to their preparation for a Defence against so Savage an Enemy which his Electoral Highness pressed by his Ambassador he was certainly in the right the Interest of the State requiring no less But their Circumstances were such that a Peace among themselves was absolutely necessary for them a Peace that was fair and honourable likely to hold and not drawn up in ambiguous Terms For His Highness could not but see how unsafe and imprudent it must be for them to exhaust themselves upon the Turkish War when their Neighbours had not laid down their Quarrels and Animosities against them As for them they were very desirous of Peace but if they could not obtain it and therefore did not detach any of their Forces for Foreign Service while things looked so suspiciously at
Vertue by Conrade Heresbach When the States were come to Frankfort in February according to appointment they had a long dispute upon several Points with vehemence enough but at last upon the Nineteenth of April they concluded these following Articles viz. The Emperor grants those who are now Confederates of the Ausburg Confession a Truce for Fifteen Months that there may be a Conference of learned Men concerning Religion and during that time commands all Persons to forbear giving them any disturbance upon the account of their Perswasion The Pacification at Nuremberg and the Emperor's Edict at Ratisbone are still to continue in force And if the differences about Religion are not adjusted before the Truce expires the Peace made at Nuremberg shall continue notwithstanding till the next Diet and if there happens to be a Meeting of the Empire within the Term of the Truce the former Pacification shall hold good notwithstanding till a second Diet is convened While the Truce lasts the Emperor will put a stop to all Suits commenced against the Protestants particularly to the Proscription of Minden and commands all Prosecutions to the contrary to be void and null The Protestants shall have no occasion to make their usual Objection for the future as if they could not have a fair Hearing in the Court upon the account of their Religion for they shall have Right and Justice done them without any manner of Exception On the other side the Protestants are to molest no Body nor admit any person into their League during the Cessation neither shall any of their Party have any Violence offer'd them upon the score of their Religion The Emperor will likewise undertake that none shall be received into the Counter-League during this interval The Protestants shall suffer the Ecclesiasticks wheresoever they live to enjoy those Revenues they are at present possessed of The First of August shall if the Emperor consents be appointed for a Meeting of the Roman Catholicks and Protestants whither candid and peaceable Men shall be sent who have nothing of Quarrelsomness or Obstinacy in their Disposition These Persons shall choose a certain Number of Divines to argue the Case of Religion in a dispassionate and amicable Way These Divines shall have others joined with them in the Conference who though they are not Clergy-men by Profession shall yet be Persons of Understanding and Temper The Emperor also and King Ferdinand shall if they please have their Embassadors present at this Debate and whatever is decreed there by common Consent shall be reported to the States who are absent after whose Approbation the Emperor's Embassadors shall confirm it Or else the Emperor himself shall ratify it in the next Diet and Pronounce it unalterable and inviolable All Warlike Preparations shall cease on both sides and whosoever shall appear to attempt any thing of this Nature shall give a publick Account in Court why he does so yet with this Proviso That necessary Defence shall be denied to no Man In all other Cases the Laws of the Empire shall be observed on both Sides The Anabaptists are not to be comprehended in this Truce nor any others whose Religion is different from the Confession of Ausburg The Protestants shall be obliged to have their Supplies for the Turkish War in a readiness that there may be no time lost And when the Electors and some others of the most considerable Princes and States shall by the Emperor's Order send their Embassadors to Wormes upon the Eighteenth of May the Protestants shall likewise send their Agents thither to conclude upon a Method for the Raising Forces against the Turk upon a sudden Occasion And whatever is there decreed by the Majority shall be signed by the Protestants And if the Turk happens to make War upon the Empire while the Truce lasteth they shall be obliged to fight him with the rest All which Articles are to stand good upon Condition the Emperor gives his Approbation within Six Months computing from the beginning of May. And in the mean time that which they have concluded about the Truce and against enlarging the League shall continue in Force But if the Emperor does not declare his Mind within Six Months yet the Pacification at Nuremberg shall be observed as formerly John Archbishop of Lunden was the Emperor's Embassador at this Diet for Eldo was gone into Spain as I observed before Ferdinand also sent his Embassadors hither There was likewise a great Appearance of the Protestants The Elector of Saxony and the Lantgrave came in Person and brought several Divines along with them The Palsgrave and the Brandenburger mediated an Accommodation The Elector of Saxony among other remarkable things made his Protest against Ferdinand's Title of King of the Romans and declared he would abide by the Articles of Cadan and Vienna This Archbishop of Lunden whom I mentioned was a German by Birth and Privy Councellor to the King of Denmark but when that Prince was forced to fly his Country the Archbishop was banished and deprived of his Jurisdiction upon which he returned into Germany and applied himself to the Emperor and was afterwards made Bishop of Conscance Now while they were treating about an Accommodation at Francfort a Party of Soldiers were got together in Saxony and ordered by their Commanders to march into the Territories of the State of Bremen of the Duke of Lunenburg and of others of the reformed Religion and to stay there till the Camp should move Who gave them their Commission was kept very private at first but afterwards it was certainly known that they were raised by Henry Duke of Brunswick and his Brother the Archbishop of Bremen Those who were damnified by these Soldiers applied themselves to the Chamber for Justice but to no purpose The Protestants therefore to prevent farther Mischief managed their Business so as to gain them over to themselves though when they had them they did not imploy them to give their Neighbours any Disturbance Stephen Faber whom I mentioned before was dismissed by the Lantgrave at the Entreaty of the Princes of the Mediation after he had given a convenient Security about his Behaviour He promised of his own accord not to return to his Master because he believed he would not trust him any more but after he was at Liberty he went directly to him In this Convention William Duke of Cleve gave in a Memorial to the Protestants by his Ambassadors in which he explained his Title to Guelderland and also desired them to intercede with the Emperor on his Behalf and to recommend his Cause to his Imperial Majesty's Ambassador there present The French King had by his Embassador acquainted Vlrich Duke of Wirtemberg That he heard he intended at the Instance of the Confederates to make War upon some of the Bishops in Germany Now this was an Undertaking which he did not understand and therefore out of Friendship and Respect to him desired him to forbear for otherwise the Consequence would be that
pleased to enlighten this Age in a particular manner with the Knowledge of his Gospel they were bound to submit to the Discovery which they did not with an Intention of disobliging him or any other Mortal whatever but only that they might go to Heaven and be made Happy for ever For in all other things they had de facto shown themselves obedient to his Majesty and now their Inclinations are still the same as is evident from the last Treaty at Francfort But about a Year since the Secretary of Henry of Brunswick happening to fall into the Lantgrave's Company near Cassell and being detained by him upon a violent Suspicion was the Occasion of discovering some Mens Intrigues whose Business it is to provoke their own Party to take up Arms by perswading them that the Protestants are preparing to begin with them already Now this Report being brought to his Majesty was without question the reason of his suffering the Counter-League to be made And after their Adversaries had concerted this League they fell to raising of Forces which at last themselves were likewise obliged to do in their own Defence insomuch that a great deal of Danger would have followed if the Secretary had not been taken up by chance and unless the Palsgrave and the Elector of Brandenburg had interposed with singular Integrity and Application And now since the Disloyalty and Odium of this Disturbance is laid upon them without any manner of Ground and that they abundantly justified themselves in Print from such Calumnies as these they conceive if his Majesty had been throughly acquainted with the whole Matter he would not have engaged in this new League which is so much talked of at present Therefore they humbly entreat his Majesty not to give any Credit to those Complaints which have been preferr'd against them and if they happen to be accused of any Misdemeanor for the future that he would please to let them know it that they may answer for themselves They also entreat his Majesty to enquire into the Designs and Actions of Henry Duke of Brunswick and to concern himself so far as to secure them from all such Apprehensions for the future And whereas they are represented as if they were not sollicitous about Religion and a just Reformation this is nothing but Aspersion and Untruth for Religion is the main thing which they appear for neither have they ever refused to referr their Cause to a fair Hearing Of this reasonable Proposal they are able to make good proof particularly it appears from the last Treaty at Francfort and from the Lantgrave's Letter to King Ferdinand after that Diet was ended In this Letter his Imperial Majesty was desired to order a Conference of Learned Men. This request they now humbly renew to his Majesty desiring him not to deal any otherwise with them than with those who are affectionately desirous of Unity and Agreement in Religion and of the Welfare of the Empire and are likewise willing to serve his Majesty in every thing as far as Conscience and Equity will give them leave About Four Years ago his Majesty was pleased to declare when he wrote from Italy that he would not make use of Arms and Violence but of Arguments and Truth to compose the Differences in Religion His Majesty had likewise lately expressed himself to the same Sence in his Letters to the Palsgrave and the Elector of Brandenburg in which he gave his Reasons why he could not then attend to the Affairs of Religion this account was extreamly satisfactory to them and their Prayers to God were That he would fortifie his Majesty in this Resolution Now at the late Diet at Francfort there were a great many things agreed upon and a Truce concluded provided his Majesty approved it within Six Months this he had not been pleas'd to do as yet though the half Year had been expired a great while since and besides the Judges of the Chamber gave Sentence against them in Causes which were purely Spiritual and executed the Proscription of Minden perfectly contrary to his own and King Ferdinand's Order Now how prejudicial this is to the Empire his Majesty is certainly very sensible therefore they beseech him that he would interpose his Authority for otherwise the measures for prosecuting the Turkish War cannot be adjusted nor the Conference of Learned Men begun which hath been so often wished for for in order to the right fettlement of the Government a firm and lasting Peace ratified by all the States of the Empire is absolutely necessary This Undertaking will be both very Honourable for his Majesty who hath already gained the Title of a Pacifick Emperor and also mightily for the Interest of all Germany They had their Audience of the Emperor upon the Twenty-fourth of February at Ghent Granvell being present where his Majesty told them He would take some time to consider and then give them an Answer Much about the same time that the Protestants sent an Ambassy to the Emperor they wrote likewise to the French King acquainting him That for some Years last past his Majesty had declared his good Affection to them both in his Letters and by his Ambassadors and had also a right Notion of a Council namely That Controversies in Religion are not to be determined by Blows and Fighting but by Reason and Truth This his Majesty's Inclination and Sence of things was extreamly satisfactory to them because they saw he was in Love with Equity and resolved to protect it And therefore by way of return they have always to their power endeavoured to show their gratitude and respect which makes them believe that he still continues his kind Intentions and Opinion of them Moreover that Friendship and good Understanding which was now between his Majesty and their Emperor was a blessing they were exceeding glad of and congratulated the good Fortune of Christendom upon several accounts but more especially because they hoped it would be remarkably instrumental in reconciling the Differences in the Church Indeed the Death of the Empress has hitherto prevented his Imperial Majesty from executing the Decree which was made the last Year at Francfort But now since both their Majesties are upon such good Terms they conceive the matter may be easily adjusted if he pleaseth to second the Emperor's Endeavours in it and lendeth as it were his helping hand to the Cause which they earnestly desire he would be pleas'd to do that so the Church may have the advantage of those Expedients which were agreed upon at Francfort They confessed they were fully satisfied concerning the Emperor's Intentions and excellent Temper and had also sent an Ambassy to him of which they hoped to be able to give a good account But their Adversaries are almost always contriving one Design or other to hinder these publick Measures from taking effect for the distrust they have of their Cause makes them that they will not endure to have the Merits of it examined in a
Emperor 's great Grandfather Philip the Grandfather of Charles Lowis Earl of Flanders Philip's Grandfather by the Mother side all whom the Emperor seemed now to have revenged nor were they ever brought so under as at this time Afterwards on the Eighteenth of April the Emperor wrote to the Elector of Saxony and Lantgrave That he had discoursed his Brother Ferdinand King of the Romans amongst other things about the State of Germany but especially the Difference concerning Religion which he wished were composed For as he had omitted nothing in time past that might have effected that so was he still in the same Mind provided they acknowledged this his Zeal and abused it not but made that desire of Peace which they had long pretended in Words and Promises appear now at length in Reality and Effect That for many Years past he had had frequent and very condescending Treaties with them but hitherto without any Success That all things now seemed to tend to the dissolution of the Government and great Disturbance of all the States of the Empire if some healing Course were not speedily taken That however though this was the present Case yet of his wonted Goodness he was willing to assign them another Diet to be held at Spire the Sixth of June Or if the Plague or Contagion did not allow it at such place as his Brother King Ferdinand should appoint there to treat of the Means how so great Danger as hung over Germany might be prevented and wholly avoided That in the mean time he hoped they and their Confederates would prize this Lenity of his somewhat more than hitherto they had done and that they would so carry themselves in all Consultations and Debates that he himself his Brother King Ferdinand and the other obedient Princes might plainly see that they were more inclined to Peace and Quietness than to Strife and Dissention That therefore they should come in Person to the place appointed by the Day prefix'd and let nothing but Sickness hinder them in which case they should send some of their intimate Counsellors Men that loved Peace were fit for Business and fully acquainted with their Minds That they should intimate the same to their Confederates that they also might be present at the Day That his Brother King Ferdinand would be there from whom they might expect a more ample Declaration of his Will and Pleasure and of the Effect of the Ambassy they sent to him That therefore they should so frame themselves for the Preservation both of themselves and Country that all matter of Dissention being removed they might to better Purpose consult of the other Affairs of the Empire That after all they needed not to fear any Danger for that he assured them upon his Royal Word and gave them the benefit of the Peace of Nurimberg nor would he suffer any Man to act to the contrary yet so that they reciprocally should not offend others To these Letters they answer May the Ninth That they return his Majesty their hearty Thanks for his good Inclinations to follow peaceful Counsels That as to the Admonition he gives them that they should acknowledge his Zeal and not abuse it there was no Cause said they that he should entertain any other Thoughts of them or their Confederates for that there was nothing dearer to them than Peace but why no Reconciliation had been hitherto made it was not to be imputed to them but to the greatness of the Cause and their Adversaries who would admit of no Explanation of their Doctrine That now they were very willing to obey his Majesty and be present at the Day appointed But because they would not tire out the King with needless Labour and Toil they thought fit to send their Mind in Writing Which was That his Majesty knew that from the very first Rise of this Dissention after much Debate in the Diets of the Empire it was looked upon by all to be the only proper Expedient that a lawful General Council should be called or a National Synod of Germany But when because of the shortness of time that way seemed not so convenient to others a future Conference was moved at Francfort and accordingly a Decree made That since this Matter was difficult and weighty whereon Mens Salvation did depend it would not be soon dispatched if they would effectually set about it and that therefore it would prove a hard Task not only to King Ferdinand but also to them and their Associates to attempt the Matter before a Conference were first had and the way prepared for it That upon this Consideration they thought it the best Course at present which was liked of by all at Francfort That if a National Council of Germany could not be had a Conference should be appointed for that in their Judgment a better way then that could not be found as they had also signified to the Count of Nuenar But that for themselves to come without the Advice and Consent of their Confederates they would not That again the time assigned betwixt and that Day was so short that hardly could their Confederates be called together and consult of the Matter That those who lived more remote could hardly with much adoe be present which therefore they acquainted him with that he might know their Thoughts That though it was so yet since his Majesty assured them that King Ferdinand would be there they would send thither their Deputies and write to their Confederates to do the like But on this Condition still that if nothing were done That then they might be free to take their other Courses from which they could not depart without the Consent of their Confederates That they would also give Instructions to their Deputies to direct all their Consultations to a peaceable Reconciliation as much as they could without offending God and their own Consciences and to prepare the Way as far as in them lay to an entire Agreement But that they hoped his Majesty would command that the Holy Scripture should bear the greatest Sway in all the Proceedings and that when their Adversaries deviated therefrom they should be made to stick to their Rule That when Matters were brought under Agitation if any Hopes of Success appeared they would not fail to come in Person That after all they prayed that the safe Conduct his Majesty promised might be extended to their Divines as well as Deputies since they were the Parties chiefly concerned in the Causes and that he would be pleased to let them know what his Pleasure was therein We mentioned Cardinal Farnese before He waited on the Emperor from Paris to Flanders being a Youth hardly of Mans Years and it was said that the Emperor was displeased that the Pope had not sent a grave Man of Age and Experience When therefore the matter of Religion and of the Turkish War came under Deliberation and Granvell had spoken his Mind Farnese at length in Presence of the Emperor
lately sent an Ambassador to the Pope to intercede for it it would not be difficult to begin the same especially since they themselves in a League lately made had promised upon Oath to use all their Endeavours to procure the calling of a Council That now was the fit time for it when there was a treaty of Peace with France on Foot and many signs of mutual Benevolence appeared so that the Bishops of their Dominions might without danger repair to it That besides it would much conduce to the Peace of their own Minds and Consciences if they referred all things to a Council and not make Decrees in private Conventions which might offend God for that so they would have nothing to answer for That moreover it would be useful also unto them since all the Care being referred to the Council they would have time and leisure to mind other Affairs as they should think fit and to enlarge their League also which would produce this Effect that the Protestants should either submit to the Decree of the Council or be by the Catholick Confederates reduced to Duty and so much for that That now as to the Turk He did earnestly exhort and beseech as he had often done already that the Emperor would make Peace with the King of France for that such a Peace would be so Advantageous to Christendom that without it it was to be doubted whether the Turk would be resisted That he had many times before shown the Benefits of that Peace so that it was not needful now to repeat them that the other States of the Empire might in the mean time be sollicited for aid and that if after the League should be enlarged and the Council Commenced the Protestants might be perswaded upon Security given them to come to the Council it would not be difficult to obtain Assistance also from them against the Turk But that if there was no obtaining of that but upon bad Conditions pernicious to Religion it was to be considered of two Evils which was to be chosen and whether it would be better to offend God by betraying Religion or to want the Subsidies of one Province against the Turk That the Truth was it could not easily be determined which withstood Christ most the Protestants or the Turks for that these exercised their Cruelty only upon the Bodies of Men but that these drew their Souls into eternal Damnation That therefore he thought it most expedient that a Council should be speedily called to Commence this Year and that no Matters of Religion should be handled in any Diets or Assemblies of Germany but that the League should be enlarged were it only for this that thereby the Protestants might be the more invited to concord That Peace was also to be made with the French King and in the mean time Assistance procured on all Hands against the Turkish Power that next Year he might be attacked with all the Force that could be made Cardinal Farnese had joined with him Marcello Cervino Bishop of Necastro to moderate his Councils who in this same Legation was made Cardinal When some Months after this Counsel of Farnese's came abroad John Calvin cloathed it in a short Commentary least any Man should mistake it and therewith it was printed and published About this time the Duke of Cleve now in possession of Gâ—elderland came to the Emperor to make up the difference he had with him but that proved in vain wherefore returning Home he began to join Counsels with the French King who since he had left all Hopes of Recovering Milan the Emperor having offered such Conditions as he little expected he fell quite off from the Emperor's Friendship though covertly complaining that he had been abused insomuch that the Constable who had been his great Favorite before began now to fall into his Disgrace because he had advised him to let the Emperor pass through France and had thereupon filled him with great Hopes Seeing then the King was casting about underhand how he might by any means annoy the Emperor and that the Duke of Cleve was not able alone to stand it out against so powerful a Competitor they began to think of mutual Engagements of Friendship The French King had a Neece Jane the Daughter of his Sister Margaret Queen of Navarr a Young Lady of about Eleven Years of Age the richest Fortune in France and of singular Beauty both of Body and Mind the King designed her in Marriage for the Duke of Cleve and therefore sollicited her Relations and especially the Queen his Sister for their Consent which at length he obtained as shall be said in its proper place At this time the Pope made War against the Perugians who refused to pay an additional Custom imposed by him upon Salt and other Commodities and so reduced the City under his Obedience having for the like Cause driven Asconio Colonna a very powerful Man out of all his Territories Cardinal Farnese finding no likelihood of any Success in the Peace betwixt the Emperor and French King which according to his Instructions he had propos'd and that unknown to him a Day was assigned the Protestants to meet and treat at Haguenaw he departed and about the Fifteenth of May came to Paris where on Whitsunday in the Cathedral Church he invested Anthony Uncle to Madam d'Estampes the King's Darling Cardinal of Mendon by the ceremony of putting a purple Hat lately sent from Rome upon his Head and then having saluted the King in passing he made all speed back again to Rome King Ferdinand afterwards leaving Flanders set out upon his Journey to the Diet at Haguenaw for because of the Plague it could not be kept at Spire The French King also by the Emperor's Advice sent his Ambassador Lazarus Baif to that Diet for both of them disguised their Discontent and as yet gave fair words to one another The King likewise the First Day of June emitted a most severe Edict against the Broachers of the Heresies and false Doctrine of Luther and his Followers which Twelve Days after was proclaimed at Paris and Printed according to Custom Much about this time the King of England struck off the Head of Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex whom from a very low Degree he had raised to great Honour He also put away his Queen Ann of Cleve and married the Lady Catharine Howard the Duke of Norfolk's Brother 's Daugther Cromwell had advised the King to the Match of Cleve but he falling afterwards in Love with the Lady Howard was thought to have been prevailed with by her to cut off Cromwell whom she look'd upon as her Adversary Besides he was not very acceptable to the Nobility and had fallen into a suspicion of designing the Ruine of the Roman Catholicks In the mean time Henry Duke of Brunswick accused all the Protestants to the Emperor and in particular Henry Duke of Saxony in that contrary to the Will of his
Brother George and the Condition expressed in his Testament he had made an alteration in Religion that he obstructed the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Mersburg and Misen and that he kept to himself the summ of Threescore thousand Florins left by his Brother for the use of the League Wherefore he moved the Emperor to reduce him to Duty and if he refused to foreclose him from his Brother's Succession according to the tenour of his last Will and Testament However he did not thus alone but some others of the League joined with him though he was the chief It is now time to speak of the Assembly at Haguenaw It was opened June the Twenty-fifth King Ferdinand having been there a Month before Some days before the Commencement the Protestants had made their Applications to the Electors Palatines Cologne and Treves to Erick Duke of Brunswick and the Bishops of Ausburg and Spire to all privately in their several Lodgings that they would promote a Peace King Ferdinand therefore having on the Day above-mentioned called the Protestants before him declared unto them the Cause of the Assembly And because the Princes came not in Person which the Emperor fully expected from them he required their Deputies to shew him their Commissions and Instructions After that he nominated Commissioners Lowis Prince Palatine John Archbishop of Treves Lowis Duke of Bavaria and William Bishop of Strasburg who being accepted by the Protestants the Treaty began A great many Protestant Divines came thither also as Justus Menius Pistorius Vrbanus Regius Bucer Brentius Blaurerus Osiander Schnepsius and many more but Melancthon fell dangerously sick upon the Rode. Every one of these preached privately in their own Lodgings as it was their Custom but then especially when all the Deputies met together to consult about any matter But this coming to King Ferdinand's Knowledge he discharged them to preach any more though on the other hand the Deputies alledged that they preached not publickly but privately and that his Majesty had no cause to be offended thereat When the Conference should begin the Lantgrave and Duke of Saxony intended to be present and were already on their own Frontiers expecting the News of it that so they might set out upon their Journey The Commissioners Pacificators afterwards required the Protestants to deliver unto them the Heads of the controverted Doctrines drawn up in short They make answer to this That the Confession of their Faith and Apology had been presented at Ausburg Ten Years before to which they still adhered being ready to satisfie any that found fault with it and since they knew not what it was that their Adversaries chiefly censured in that Book they had nothing to propound but rather were to demand of them what the Doctrines were that they thought contrary to the Word of God. That if they would do so and bring the matter to a Conference as had been thought fit at Francfort they were ready to come to any fair Agreement Some Days after the Commissioners make Report That seeing they stuck to the Confession of Ausburg they had in the mean time read over that Book and all the Treaty of Ausburg and find that some Points of Doctrine had been agreed upon there and some not That therefore they were ready to use all their Endeavours to accommodate these and desired them to tell them their Thoughts therein To this the Protestants reply That some Articles had been discoursed on indeed but nothing concluded therein nor any Conciliation made there The matter being thus tossed to and fro when the Protestants urged a Conference and the others alledged that they had Commands from the Emperor and King to proceed according to the Treaty of Ausburg King Ferdinand calling them all together on the Sixteenth of July told them That since nothing could be then determined and especially because the Duke of Saxony and the Lantgrave were absent another Day was to be appointed when the Deputies of both Parties and learned Men should meet in an equal number and conferr among themselves about the Points of the Augustane Confession but so that it should be no derogation to the Decree of Ausburg And that the Pope also if he pleased might send Commissioners thither That again since some complained that the Protestants had turned them out of their Possessions it was but just and reasonable that in the mean time whilst the Controversie about Religion depended those who were rejected should be restored to the Possession of their Church Livings or else be allowed to bring their Actions for them at Law. That moreover for avoiding all Commotions a longer Truce should be made wherein those should be now comprehended who were of the Augustane Confession before the Transaction of Nurimberg so that the Protestants should not reckon those of their Number who had joined with them since nor admit of any others neither for the future Five days after the Protestants declared what they had to expect against in these Proposals That they highly approved of a Conference and wished that the Emperor himself in Person and not his Deputies only might be present at it but that as to the Pope's sending Commissioners thither they should not prescribe Laws to the Emperor As to the Restitution of Church-Lands and the Judicature of the Imperial Chamber they made a long Answer as has been several times mentioned before alledging that the Controversie about Religion ought first to be determined but that they should exclude those who had associated with them since the Peace of Nurimberg and admit of no others for the future it was a thing they said they could not do and that they had no Instructions as to that particular On the other hand King Ferdinand and the Commissioners Pacificators urge the Restitution of Church Livings or at least that they should be put under sequestration until the Cause were determined Besides King Ferdinand told them that he would not grant them Liberty to admit of more into their Society and therefore advised them to comply with the Condditions proposed by him for that though they did refuse yet by Authority from the Emperor he would make a Decree and at the same time he appointed the next Convention to be held at Wormes the Twenty-eighth Day of October They return an Answer to him that they were satisfied with the time and place of the Conference but that they had robbed no Man and that the Question it self belonged to the Conference and future Treaty that besides no sequestration could be made without great prejudice to the State and Constitution of the Church within their Dominions and to the Schools and Poor And that since it was not long to the Time of the Conference they craved that the whole matter might be put off till then that there they would make it appear how much more sollicitous they were for the Glory of God and the Reformation of the Church than for Church-Lands and Revenues and that
though they could presently prove how some of their Adverse Party appropriated to themselves such Possessions yet they would deferr it till then At which time when the matter should come to be sifted it would plainly appear which of the two converted those Possessions more to their own private use than to the Honour of God. Concerning their Associates they answered as they did before praying that it might also be put off till the next Conference and that Peace might in the mean time be preserved King Ferdinand thereupon made a Decree July the Twenty-eighth wherein having recited the whole Proceedings he appointed a Conference at Wormes as we said before but conditionally if it pleased the Emperor The Princes Electors as also the Bishops of Magdeburg Saltsburg and Strasburg William and Lowis Dukes of Bavaria the Duke of Cleve and the Protestants are enjoined to send their Commissioners thither so that there should be Eleven on each side the same number of Clerks were also appointed to be there carefully to set down in Writing all the Proceedings in the Conference which was decreed to be about the Doctrines proposed at Ausburg and the Emperor was prayed to call a Diet of the Empire In the mean time by Command and Authority from the Emperor he charges all under severe Penalties to live in Peace and abstain from Violence And whereas it was urged by the Protestants that the Imperial Chamber had no power to judge of the Peace of Nurimberg he referred that to the Emperor's Cognizance The Decree being read the Protestants desired a Copy of it And because the Emperor having written to him from Brussels June the Fifteenth told him That he would declare his Thoughts as to the Imperial Chamber they begg'd to know what he had been pleased to signifie in that matter since there was no mention at all of that in the Decrce so that they knew not whether the Judges of the Chamber were discharged to proceed or not To this King Ferdinand made Answer That he had indeed Orders from the Emperor to acquaint them with his Resolution but it was upon Condition That all Church-Lands and Goods were restored or put under sequestration for that then all Proceedings were discharged but since they refused both he had no more to say but would make a Report of all to the Emperor Besides the Princes whom I named the Bishop of Trent was present and also Henry Duke of Brunswick but he went Home before the conclusion of the Assembly The Electors Palatine and Cologne and the Bishop of Strasburg were very Instrumental here for continuing the Peace for the rest hatched far different Counsels and urged the Decree of Ausburg saying That matters should not be put off with Conferences and Debates but that it ought to be taken into deliberation how the Protestants attempts might be quashed and restrained During this Assembly John the Vayvode King of Hungary died leaving behind him an Infant Son Stephen of whom Isabell the Daughter of Sigismund King of Poland had been lately brought to Bed. This was the Cause also that King Ferdinand having notice sent him of it hastened Home About this time also many Fires happened in Saxony and in Places about belonging to the Protestants for most part which burnt down some Towns and Villages The Duke of Brunswick was reported to have been the Author of this horrid Villainy as shall be said hereafter July the Fifthteenth one Robert Barnes Doctor of Divinity was burnt at London He had been for sometime banished England for the Protestant Religion but being afterward informed that King Henry applied himself to Piety and the Knowledge of the Truth he returned Home and was afterward employed in that Ambassy which was sent to Germany and was one of those who amongst other things treated with the Divines of Wittemberg about the King's Divorce as we told you in the Tenth Book But the King changing his Mind and in most things retaining the Popish Doctrine this Man who continued constant to the last was this Day Executed having at the Stake made a publick Profession of his Faith. Other two of the same Religion were burnt with him and the same Day Three others were burnt for maintaining the Pope's Supremacy and the Validity of Queen Catharine's Marriage In the Month of August died at Paris William Budey Master of the Requests a Man of extraordinary Learning and worthy to be Honoured by all Posterity were it only for this that he and Cardinal du Bellay Bishop of Paris were the Advisers of King Francis to that Noble and Generous Act of settling competent Salaries on the Professors of Languages and liberal Arts at Paris for it is hardly to be believed what plentiful Streams have flowed from this Fountain and watered not only France but other Countries also He ordered his Funeral to be made without any Pomp. This Year was memorable for extraordinary Heat and Drought however the Wine was excellently good The French King in the mean time about Autumn sent circulatory Letters to all his Bishops ordering Prayers and Supplications to be made in all Churches For though he was at Peace with the Emperor which he would not rashly break yet he was much afraid that the old Enemy of Mankind and hater of Peace might by his Engines and Instruments lay a Train for kindling a new War. The Emperor being informed of all that passed by Letters from his Brother King Ferdinand and the Commissioners Pacisicators comfirmed the Decree of Haguenaw and by Letters dated at Vtrecht the Thirteenth of August exhorted the Protestants that against the Day appointed they would send their Deputies and Divines to Wormes to all whom he granted a safe Conduct and assured them That since his Affairs would not suffer him to be there in Person he would send in his place some person of eminent Quality about him not doubting but that the Pope would send thither also for Reconciliation sake He promised likewise to call a Diet of the Empire where he intended to be personally present and to which Diet also the result of the Conference ought to be referred By other Letters afterwards dated at Brussels the Fifteenth of October he gives Granvell Commission to act and appoints him his Deputy at the future Conference Granvell was at that time at Besanzon a Town in the Franche Comte where he was Born and being so taken up with Business that he could not be there at the Day appointed he wrote to the Elector of Mentz and the other Princes designed for the Conference sending before on the Second of November John Naves of Luxemburg to excuse his Delay and crave their Patience For after he had upon some grudge wormed out Matthias Eldo as we said before he employed this Man in his place as being more obsequious and agreeable to his Humour In the mean time the Emperor called a Diet of the Empire to meet at Ratisbone in the Month of
Frederick Count Furstemberg In this Diet the Emperor on the Third of July made a heavy Complaint to all the States assembled of William Duke of Cleve for his seizing of Guelderland and at the same time presented unto them a Book which asserted his Right to that Province telling them that he had summoned him to appear there but that he had taken a Journey a quite contrary way meaning thereby into France as we said before There were Ambassadors from Cleve there present who excused their Prince and as they insisted in proving his Title the Emperor arose and departed On the One and twentieth of July all the Princes and States waited on the Emperor to make Intercession for the Duke of Cleve desiring that he might be taken into the Protection of the Empire and the Controversy referred to a friendly Arbitration wherein they promised their best Endeavours But that if the Matter could not be accommodated they humbly besought him to prosecute his Right by Law Whereunto the Emperor sent this Answer by John Naves That whereas in this Diet which was called for the sake of the Publick that Differences might be removed and Peace setled in Germany much time had been spent and to his great Trouble and Prejudice to his other Affairs nothing could be concluded because of the clashing of Opinions he wondered very much to find them so unanimous in this Cause alone which was properly his own And so he dismissed them not without Displeasure The Day following Raymond the French King's Ambassador made a long Speech wherein he reckoned up at large the Reasons why his Master had driven out of his Country Charles Duke of Savoy who some days before had accused the French King thereof before the Emperor and States During this Diet the French King sent Caesar Fregoso a Genoese and Anthony Rink a banished Spaniard Ambassadors to the Grand Seignior who falling down the River of Po on their Way to Venice were about the First of July taken and slain William de Bellay of Langey a Man of singular Sagacity and Industry was then the French King's Lieutenant in Piedmont who having Intelligence of the Fact immediately acquainted the King therewith and July the Fifth wrote also from Turin to Alfonso Davalo Marquess of Pescara Governor of Milan for the Emperor that he would procure the Releasement of the King's Ambassadors who were made Prisoners as it was manifestly known by his Men for that otherwise the Truce made Three Years before by the Intercession of the Pope would be broken Now he desired that they might be set at Liberty either because at first he knew not or else pretended not to know what was become of them The Marquess to clear himself from Suspicion made as if he knew nothing at all of the Matter and to purge himself sent Count Francisco Ladronio Ambassador to the King. Du Bellay wrote another Letter to Pescara on the Eleventh of July wherein he briskly told him I would not doubt said he to speak of Religious Matters in a general Council of the whole World and that as pertinently too as ever your Kinsman and Friend Thomas Aquinas of old did provided I knew as much in Divinity as some of your familiar Friends know of this Murther For you must know that Indico Alfonso's Grandfather by the Father side the Son of Rodorigo as Spaniard married a vast rich Fortune of the Family of Aquinas And this Alfonso was Cousin-Germain to Ferdinando Davalo of Pescara a most excellent Soldier and Commander From de Linieres a Town in Berry the King on the Twentieth of July wrote an Answer to Alfonso telling him that he should have Respect to his Honour and Reputation and that he could not slight the Injury done to his Ambassadors if they were not restored to Liberty Many Letters pass'd betwixt du Bellay and the Marquess about that Matter but nothing else was done the Marquess protesting that after diligent Enquiry he could not discover any thing and persisting therein the King complained also to the Emperor of the Injury by his Ambassador at Ratisbone where having receiv'd an Answer not to his Mind he gave sufficient Intimation that it would prove the Cause of a War. George of Austria the natural Son of Maximilian the Emperor and Archbishop of Valentia happened at that time to be upon his Return from Spain into the Low-Countries who coming to Lyons was apprehended and committed to Prison to revenge what had been done to Fregoso and Rink Much about this time Francis the Son of Anthony Duke of Lorrain married Christian the Daughter of Christiern King of Denmark Dowager of Milan The French King was vexed at this and the more that the Year before the Duke of Lorrain's Daughter was married to Renat Prince of Orange who was wholly at the Emperor's Devotion At the same time that the Emperor held the Diet at Ratisbone King Ferdinand besieged Buda wherein was the Widow of the Vayvode John with her young Son Stephen Now the Guardians of the Child and the Nobles of the Kingdom had craved Assistance from the Turks so that the Turk sent a General with Forces who in the Month of July came to Buda whither he himself came also not long after with the rest of the Army By this means King Ferdinand's Army consisting of Germans Moravians and Bohemians were forced to raise the Siege received a great Overthrow and lost Pest a Town overagainst Buda those that remained saving themselves as well as they could by Flight About the end of August the Grand Seignior sent Presents to the Child Stephen Vests of Cloth of Gold with some stately Horses acquainting his Mother at the same time that he had a desire to see the Boy and that she should send him out to him to the Camp. She being much terrified hereat but finding no other Course to be taken and that the Nobles advised her to it sent out the poor Babe with his Nurse and a great Train of Nobility to accompany him The Turk received them very courteously but afterwards caused a Proposal to be made to the Queen's Counsellors that they would deliver up Buda to him for that they were not able to defend it against the Enemy and for him to come back again with an Army when occasion required would be both troublesom and chargeable and that therefore it would be far better to let him have the keeping of the place whilst they being afraid of their own danger had not a word to say he presently gave orders to the Aga of the Janizaries to sieze the Town and the Child was not sent back to his Mother before the thing was done Being then Masters of the Town and all the Citizens disarmed they demanded also the Castle where the Queen then was In the mean time the Turk sent Messengers to com◠〈◊〉 her and bid her be of good Courage and withal made over Transilvania to her and her Son.
the Chapter chosen to succeed in his place but the Elector of Saxony pretended that the Chapter had no Right to do so without his Consent and therefore in exclusion to Pflug he substituted Nicholas Amstorff a Divine of Wittemberg of a noble Family in his place whom in the Month of January Luther installed and afterwards published a Book in the vulgar Tongue wherein he asserted That the Flock of Christ was not to be committed to Pflug as being an Enemy to the pure Doctrine of the Gospel Pflug being in this manner rejected made a publick Appeal to the States of the Empire wherein he justified his Right and complained of the Wrong that was done him The Elector on the other hand answered the Writing of Pflug and having enlarged much upon the Right of the House of Saxony which he proved by ancient Precedents amongst other Reasons why he could not admit of him as Bishop he alledged this also That he openly opposed the Augustane Confession After the Overthrow in Hungary which we mentioned before a Diet was called by King Ferdinand in the Emperor's Name to begin at Spire in the Month of January wherein the Emperor appointed his Brother King Ferdinand to preside in his Name and gave him for Assistants Hugh Count of Monfort and John Naves The Princes who appeared there were the Elector of Brandenburg Frederick Prince Palatine Albert Duke of Meckleburg Ernest Marquess of Baden the Bishops of Mentz Wormes Spire Constance and Heildesseim The rest sent Deputies thither When they came to a Session which was the Ninth Day of February King Ferdinand in the Emperor's Absence opened the Diet by a Speech as is customary telling them That it was known to all how great Diligence and Care the Emperor had used both that Religion might be setled and the Government entirely established But that when Differences would not be wholly adjusted in the former Diet his imperial Majesty for weighty Reasons went from Germany into Italy where having treated with the Pope about a Council and the Turkish War he prevailed so far at length that his Holiness had promised to send a Legate to this Diet that he went afterwards with a Fleet into Barbary that having taken Algiers which was in the Enemies Hands and which did great damage to Spain and his other Provinces he might obtain a competent aid from his Subjects against the Turk after he had removed the Danger and secured the Sea Coast but that being by a Storm prevented from effecting what he had proposed he returned to Spain that he might again prepare himself to make War against the Turk both by Sea and Land. And that because the Turk had lately made himself Master of Buda the chief City of Hungary and of the Town of Pest over against it into which he had put Garrisons he had called this Diet to advise what was fitting to be done That seeing the Turk had left in those two places all the great Guns which he had either brought with him or taken from the Christians there was no doubt but he would come back again in the Summer time that he might not only take the remaining part of Hungary but also invade all the Provinces bordering upon Germany For that since Buda was taken and all other Passes laid open there was nothing now that could stop or divert him That therefore these were weighty and necessary Matters to be now consulted about at which Consultations the Emperor would willingly have been present but that being hindred by time he had committed that care to him who though the State of his own Religion did chiefly require his Presence yet was resolved not to desert the publick at such a Pinch Having made this preamble he declared to them what the Austrians Hungarians Bohemians and the Neighbouring People nay and what the Church Men of his Dominions would contribute to this War praying and exhorting them to do the like for that the Danger stared all Men in the Face and the condition of Affairs was now such that either the Enemy was to be driven out of Hungary or all were to expect and soon after undergo the extremity of Miseries After the Diet of Ratisbone John Gropper Deputy from the Archbishop of Cologne being returned Home mightily commended Bucer saying That of all Men he was the â—ittest to be intrusted with the Reformation of Religion for that he was both very Learned a lover of Peace and of a good and upright Life Wherefore the Bishop who knew Bucer before and had thoughts of employing him sent him word that he had a desire to speak with him Bucer therefore going this Year in the Month of February to Cologne was most courteously received and particularly by Gropper who had prevailed with him to come thither from Bonn. So after some conversation with the Bishop he gave him leave to be gone upon condition that when he should be sent for at another time he would come back again as shall be said hereafter About this time also King Henry of England cut off the Head of his Queen Catharine Howard for that having Married her for a Virgin he found that she had been defloured before He that defloured her had got some place in Ireland but being recalled by her when she was Queen and taken into her Family he was also Beheaded after her as some others were partly for the same Crime and partly for concealing it When she was out of the way the King married a Sixth Wife the Lady Catharine Parr The French King sent an Ambassy to the Diet at Spire and Francis Oliver Chancellor of Alenzon was the chief person in it who in a full Assembly of all the States when they were consulting about the Turkish War February the Fourteenth spoke to this purpose That he needed not use many words to plead for a favourable hearing at their Hands since all understood how well affected the King his Master stood towards the Interests and Welfare of Germany that what he had to say also was of so great moment that he doubted not but they would willingly listen to the King's Counsel and Proposals Seeing that when the Diet of Ratisbone was busie in Accommodating the Difference of Religion News being brought That the Turk was preparing to Invade Hungary with a vast Army the King had forthwith sent Ambassadors to the Grand Seignior to avert if he could the War from Hungary for the sake of Germany which lay next to it but that his Ambassadors had been apprehended by the Emperor's Soldiers and that it was as yet uncertain whether they had been kill'd or were still alive whereby not only the Truce but the Law of Nations was also violated Now that they were sent for that Cause the King would make it out by the very Letters and Instructions which were then intercepted by the Imperialists That afterward a false Report had been spread abroad as if the King had called in
Irksomness of their Condition But that they should always have in their Thoughts what St. Peter and St. Paul wrote of the Duty of Bondmen That however when they make War against Christians they should rather hazard their Lives than serve them for that they were Robbers made War against the Saints as Daniel saith and shed innocent Blood That therefore it should be their chief Care not to be partakers with them in so great a Crime and Wickedness Unto this Discourse he subjoins a Form of Prayer against the Fury of the Turks and towards the end enlarging upon the Vices of the Times which reigned amongst all Ranks and Degrees of Men he concluded that Germany which was so wholly corrupted and defiled could not continue long in Safety Now this is the Form of Prayer which he prescribes O Eternal Father we have indeed deserved to be punished but do thou thy self punish us not in thy Wrath and Displeasure but according to thy great Mercy seeing it is far better for us to fall into thy Hands than into the Hands of Men and Enemies for thy Mercy is infinite and above all thy Works We have sinned against thee O Lord and broken thy Commandements yet thou knowest O Heavenly Father that the Devil the Pope and the Turk have no Right nor Cause to afflict us for we have not wronged them but thou usest them as a Rod to correct us with who have many Ways provoked thee all our Life time They I say have nothing to charge us with but would rather that after their Example we should for ever grievously offend thee that we should sin against thy Divine Majesty by Idolatry and false Doctrine by Lying and Deceiving by theft Robbery and Rapine and by Adultery Fornication and Sorcery That 's the thing they most desire But because we worship thee God the Father and thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord with thy Holy Spirit one God everlasting that is our Crime and Wickedness for which they so hate and persecute us Should we make Defection from thee and renounce this Faith we needed not to expect any Hurt from them Look graciously towards us then O Father and help us for they are more thine Enemies than ours when they smite us they smite thee for the Doctrine we profess is not ours but thine The Devil indeed cannot endure it but would be worshipped in thy place and force Lyes upon us instead of thy Word And the Turk also would place his Mahomet in the room of thy Son Jesus Christ Now if it be a Sin to profess thee Father Son and Holy Ghost to be the only true God then certainly thou art a Sinner who teachest us so to do and requirest this Duty at our Hands And when for this Cause they persecute us they hate and afflict thee Awake then O my God and avenge thy Holy Name which they pollute and profane suffer not this Injury at their Hands who punish us not for our Sins and Trespasses but endeavour to extinguish the Light of thy Word amongst us and to destroy thy Kingdom that thou shouldest not have a People to worship and adore thy Name Now as to the Origin and Growth of the Turks since so many have writen of it it is no purpose to discourse here Their Rise hath been as great as their Beginning was small and the first of their Emperors is reckoned Ottoman who reigned about the Year of our Lord 1300. After him succeeded in order Orchanes Amurath who first crossed the Hellespont and brought an Army into Europe invading Thrace Bajazet Cyriscelebes Moses Mahomet Amurath Mahomet Bajazet Selim Solyman Much about this time Alfonso Davalo Marquess of Pescara whom we mentioned before published a Declaration addressed to the Princes of Germany wherein he Accuses and Blames the French King that in such troublesome Times he should plot and contrive new designs on purpose to frustrate and hinder the honest Endeavours of the Emperor and all the States pretending a very slight and trivial Reason for it to wit the intercepting of Anthony Rink and Caesar Fregoso after whom he had made most diligent Inquiry but could not learn what was become of them This coming to the French King's Knowledge he declared that he had a great Injury done him in that his Ambassadors had been so barbarously used That he had several times complained of it both to the Pope and Emperor and desired Satisfaction but all in vain And that therefore if he should let so unworthy an Act pass it would be to his dishonour and the greatest stain imaginable to his Reputation Afterwards on the Second of May he wrote to the Parliament of Paris to this Effect To the end said he that God may illuminate our Hearts and grant us Constancy in our Faith bring those that go astray if any such be into the right Way of Salvation again and send us Peace by means of Satisfaction for the Injuries we have received by Usurpation of our Right and Violence done to our Ambassadors or if in dispair of Peace there be a necessity of going to War that he may grant us Victory our Will is that Processions be made and Prayers in all Churches and that able Preachers be employed to give the People an account of the Cause hereof Moreover we Charge and Command that if there be any who entertain sinistrous Thoughts of our Faith and Religion and do not promise amendment that they be publickly punished for their Crime Not long after he sent the Duke of Longueville to the Duke of Cleve who having raised Men against the Summer under the Conduct of Martin Van Rossem waited for an opportunity of Action The Pope in the mean time on the First of June calls a Council and by way of preamble gives a large account how he had often before called a Council and last of all suspended its sitting till a more convenient time wherefore he clears himself of all the Blame and professes he could delay no longer though the Affairs of Christendom were still in a doubtful State. So then he appointed it to be held at Trent on the First of November whither he Summoned to appear all Patriarchs Bishops Abbots and others who had Right and Privilege to sit and Vote in Councils He exhorted also the Emperor and French King that they would either come themselves or send Ambassadors and command their Bishops to repair to it But before all others he invited the German Bishops because for their cause and at their desire chiefly all that pains was taken In the Month of July the French King declared War against the Emperor in a very cutting Stile of Language giving his Subjects free Liberty by publick Proclamation to use all manner of Hostilities against him and his Countries both by Sea and Land. Longueville and Van Rossem had a little before made an Incursion into Brabant where they put the People who were unprovided into great Terror
thereof most part of the Citizens begg'd earnestly of the Senate that they would not Silence them they themselves promising all due Obedience William Farell came thither also who at first taught privately within the City and afterwards in a convenient Place without But when the Emperor's Letters came to the Senate wherein he charged them not to suffer any Innovations in Religion but punish Offenders that way the Citizens were prohibited to be present at any Sermon unless the Preacher were Licensed by the Bishop and Senate This Summer infinite swarms of Locusts flew over Germany and the hither part of Italy They were of an extraordinary bigness and where-ever they fell devoured all the Corn and Grass We have had several times occasion to speak of Henry Duke of Branswick of his bitter Invectives against the Duke of Saxony and Lantgrave and of his burning of certain Places in Saxony Now at length when he went on in his way plaguing Goslar and Brunswick to Imperial Cities of the Smalcaldick League with continual Incursions and Devastations and would neither obey the Emperor nor King Ferdinand's Edicts who at the humble Desire of the Protestants had commanded him to desist from all Force the Duke of Saxony and Lantgrave of Hess make War against him in Name of all the Confederates and in a short time subdue his whole Country taking by composition Wolfem-Battel a Castle of his near to the City of Branswick wherein he had placed all his Hopes Nor did he himself stay the coming of the Enemy but saved himself by flight and with his Eldest Son Charles Victor went to the Dukes of Bavaria In the Castle we now mentioned many Letters were found which clearly discovered the attempts of the Bavarians Elector of Mentz Held and others but that shall be related in its proper place The Protestants published a Declaration giving a full account of the Causes that made good what they had done and proving that they were not the Aggressors in the War but of necessity obliged to defend their Confederates who were attack'd In the late Diet at Spire the Protestants had made Application to King Ferdinand that he would both in the Emperor's and his own Name command him to abstain from the People of Goslar King Ferdinand who then needed their help against the Turk complied with their desire and by his Ambassadors rebuked him and charged him to forbear but he returned a haughty and disdainful Answer and went on which occasioned the defensive War we have been speaking of For they had plainly told King Ferdinand at Spire that if he obeyed not Orders they would not sit still and see their Confederates wronged July the Thirteenth there was another Diet of the Empire held at Nurimberg for so it was decreed at Spire upon occasion of the Hungarian War. King Ferdinand was there in person and the Emperor's Deputies were Frederick Prince Palatine the Bishop of Ausburg Frederick Count Furstemberg Monfort and Naves King Ferdinand opened the Assembly by a Speech wherein he told them That what they had done in sending an Army into Hungary was very Acceptable to the Emperor who had resolved to have been present in the War with his own Forces and had therefore called a Convention of States in Spain but that whilst he was consulting about the matter he had fallen dangerously Sick and was forced to put off that Convention to another time and that when now he had determined vigorously to push on the matter and to send before his Forces from Italy and Burgundy the sudden enterprizes of his Enemies had prevented him in the very nick so that dangers threatned him not only in Italy but in the Low Countries too though in the mean time he had given no cause for it since Peace and Quietness had been his chief desire But that they themselves were convinced that ever since the Diet of Spire the Enemies had left nothing unessayed that by drawing over the Suisse and German Souldiers to their party they might begin the War so that the Emperor quite contrary to his Inclination was hindered and retarded either from coming in person or sending Succors since he stood in need of them for his own defence That nevertheless he was fully resolved to return into Germany before the end of the Year and prosecute the War as he had intended that he would likewise have a Fleet out at Sea well Mann'd and Equipag'd that the Turk being engaged in a double War might not turn all his Force against Hungary That when also he should come into Germany he would omit nothing that might conduce to a pious and tolerable Reconciliation of Religion That after all it was very prejudicial to the publick that all did not obey the Decree of the last Diet for that some of the States had sent no Souldier others again had sent indeed but not their compleat quota and that some had sent Souldiers but no Money and that Artillery and Ammunition which others had promised were wanting That this was the reason why all Action was at a stand and that the Army to the great prejudice of the Empire did nothing at all That the Generals and Commanders made heavy complaints of it and that he himself had been an Eye Witness thereof That since it was a matter of great concern he was come to represent the same in person to the Diet not without great Inconvenience to his own Affairs That therefore he earnestly besought them that they would not be wanting to the common Cause in such a time of need Before King Ferdinand left Vienna to go to the Diet at Nurimberg being informed of the War of Brunswick he had sent a Messenger to disswade them from their Enterprize but now that he was arrived at Nurimberg Commissioners were sent by the Advice and Consent of the whole Diet with Instructions to this Effect That they should not decide their Quarrel by Arms especially at this time least that might hinder the War against the Turk and occasion a Civil War in Germany To this the Duke of Saxony and Lantgrave on the Eleventh of August give their Answer from the Camp before the Castle of Wolfem-Battle and tell at length the Reasons why they engaged in that Defence seeing it was impossible to order the Matter otherwise and that though they were necessitated to wage that War to their great Charges yet they had faithfully contributed what Assistance they ought to the Turkish War and would not be deficient for the future so that if all the rest would do the like no body needed to fear the dispersion of the Army but that it was known by the Letters and Report of many Persons where the defect lay Since it was so then and that there was no other way of curbing the Duke of Brunswick who had slighted the Edicts both of the Emperor and King Ferdinand and the Decrees of the Empire they prayed them not to misinterpret
the Emperor's Subjects in the Netherlands because of King Christiern who was kept Prisoner and he desired Assistance from the Protestants but they alledged that that Cause had no Relation to the League for it was only stipulated That if any made War against him upon account of Religion that then they should join with him and assist him The Duke of Cleve having made his Peace with the Emperor sent an Ambassador to the French King to renounce the League he had with him and to demand his Wife to be sent unto him for whose Passage he had obtained a safe Conduct from the Emperor The King made Answer to the Ambassador That it was none of his Fault but that he had had both his Wife delivered and an Army sent him but that he himself was in the blame who had sent word that there was no free Passage for them through those Places nor could they be supplied with Provisions That he himself had generously performed what-ever he had promised and more too But that the Duke had not done well who forgetting his Lineage and Quality had cast himself into such Bondage That as to his Neece he might inform himself of her Parents and her self what their Resolution was for that he was no longer obliged to him in any thing The Emperor having settled of his Affairs in Guelderland came with a vast Army before Landrecy Thither also came the French King with all his Forces and there was no other likelihood but of a Battle betwixt them But the French having put Provisions into the place drew off so silently in the Night time that the Enemy perceived it not before it was Day Then at length they pursued and came up with the Rear of them of whom they slew a great many But because Winter now approached the Emperor thought it not fit to attempt any thing else only he sent some Forces to the Siege of Luxenburg and so dismissed the rest of his Army to Winter Quarters Duke Maurice served the Emperor as a Volunteer at Landrecy whereby he procured much good Will and opened himself a Way to his Friendship In the Winter time the Duke of Lorrain and some others mediated for a Peace but to no purpose The Emperor being returned home from Landrecy sent Ferrante Gonzaga Vice-Roy of Sicily to the King of England that he might edge him on more and more against the French King. We have several times spoken of Count William of Furstemberg He being now somewhat alienated from the French King made way by the means of Granvell to be received again into the Emperor's Favour and for a Proof of his Fidelity having raised some Companies of Foot in his own Territory in the middle of Winter he marched to Luxenburg and joined the Imperialists there But the French under the Command of the Duke of Longueville having put Provisions into the Place he retreated without doing any Exploit having lost many of his Men by Hunger and Cold. It was said before that the Emperor had appointed a Diet of the Empire to meet the last Day of November Therefore the Protestants assemble before at Franckfort to consult about the Affairs they were to treat of in the Diet And seeing the Meeting of it was deferred because of the French War the Elector of Saxony and Lantgrave wrote to the Emperor in November promising to come to the Diet provided he himself came and did grant them and their Confederates a safe Conduct Hereunto the Emperor wrote an Answer from Brussels dated the Tenth of December that he would come and that in the Month of January too and at the same time sent a safe Conduct Wherein nevertheless he excluded those who were engaged to his Enemies by Faith or Compact intimating thereby the secret Agents and Spies of the French King. So in the beginning of January he left the Netherlands and came to Spire On the Twenty sixth Day of this Month there happened a great Eclipse of the Sun which was beheld by all not without Admiration There were Three total Eclipses of the Moon also this Year a very prodigious thing indeed and such as Astronomers said had not happened before since the time of Charlemagne Cardinal Alexander Farnese having made his Journey through France met the Emperor on his Way to the Diet and took his Leave of him at Wormes It was believed that he was sent to mediate a Peace This Diet of Spire was exceeding great For not only was King Ferdinand present at it but all the Electors also which is a rare thing and generally all the Princes amongst whom was the Duke of Cleve too The Elector of Saxony came on the Eighteenth of February and was met upon the Rode by the Lantgrave the Archbishop of Cologne Frederick Prince Palatine and the Vice-Roy of Sicily Two Days after the Diet commnced which was opened by the Emperor's Speech to this effect That he had acquainted them by Letters from Genoa with the Causes that made him leave Spain to make another Journey into Germany and call this Diet Nor needed he now represent to them how much he had always studied the Safety and Wellfare of the Publick that all things being setled and composed at Home he might have turned his Arms against the common Enemy of Christendom and that therefore in the former Diet at Ratisbone he had earnestly proposed the raising of Forces and Supplies but that when the Year following the War undertaken against the Turk had proved unsuccessful their last Deliberations concluded in this That for the present the frontier Places should only be well fortified and garrisoned That now though it had been his earnest Desire then to have been personally present in the War according to the Duty of his Charge yet it was publickly known by whom and upon what Occasion he was and is still hindered and retarded For that by the Perswasion and Money of the French King a Turkish Fleet came last Year upon the Coast of Italy and made a Descent in the Country of the Duke of Savoy a Prince of the Empire where having taken the Town and Harbour of Nizza with all their Force they besieged and battered the Castle and that though upon the Approach of his Forces they were forced to raise the Siege yet they carried the War into other Places both of the Empire and of Spain having now nothing less in their Thoughts than to Ruin and Destroy all So that Matters are brought into extream Danger and are in a manner at the last Cast insomuch that if the Enemy be not resisted with joint Hearts and Hands Germany might too late see and bewail its own Calamity That he had many times wished he could have remedied those Evils but that the French King having attacked him at several Places at once he could neither return into Germany nor join his Aid with theirs Now that the Turk did so confidently invade Germany and
that the War against him hitherto hath been so unsuccessful the Reason was plain For first He was informed of the Difference in Religion of the publick and private Janglings of the States of the Temper of Affairs and of what was done and acted in the Empire upon all Occasions by the French King to whom these things were carried In the next place because he was sure of Aid and Assistance from the French King as it was by Letters and Witnesses made out in the last Diet and hath been since verified in effect and though it would have been Advantageous to the Publick to have instantly withstood those Enterprises of France and nipp'd them in the Bud that they might not spread farther yet he was pleased with the Answer they made as to that particular in the last Diet of Nurimberg That however since he animated and excited the common and most cruel Enemy of Christendom against the Publick it was his Expectation that they would look upon the War which he was obliged to make against them no otherwise than if it were undertaken against the Turk himself And that they would not only condemn his Actions and Counsels but also give him their Assistance that being delivered from a Domestick Enemy he might be able to employ all his Force against the Turk That moreover he heard to his Trouble that the Aids which were decreed in former Diets were not given as they ought to have been and much too late for the Necessities of the Publick For that since his Brother King Ferdinand had placed all his Hopes in them who was not able to do much himself as being exhausted by the Charges of the former Years the Turk had this last Year taken from us other Towns and Castles which Misfortune might certainly have been prevented if the Aids that were decreed had been seasonably furnished That since that was the State of Affairs then and that it was the main Design of the Turk that Hungary as the Rampart being subdued and many Ways made open into Germany he might over-run it since the thing it self required it that the Hungarians should be relieved least being destitute of Succours they might be forced to submit to the Turkish Yoke and of Friends to become Enemies it was his Desire that in a Matter of so great Importance they would take it into Consideration how to raise present and lasting Aids not only for a defensive but offensive War also that so they might preserve their Wives Children and Country from utter Ruin and Destruction That in the mean time as to those things which have hitherto been a great Hindrance to all publick Actions he desired as much as in him lay to apply a Remedy That in the matter of Religion they themselves were sensible what Labour and Pains he had been at for many Years past and lately also at Ratisbone but that seeing Differences could not there be accommodated the whole Affair had been referred to a Council and other Diets And then that the Pope at his Sollicitation had called a Council wherein he had resolved to have been present himself if the French King had not made War against him That what had been done in the mean while they had learn'd without doubt from his Deputies But now that the same Difference still remained and was very pernicious to the Publick he put it to themselves to consider on it what way chiefly it might be removed and ended and to represent to him what they themselves thought best to be done in the Matter That he had also taken care already and would omit nothing for the future That the Judicature of the Imperial Chamber the Ground-Work and Stay of publick Peace might be lawfully constituted The same Day King Ferdinand's Ambassadors made a long Narration of the Turkish Invasions and demanded Assistance Presently after the Elector of Saxony the Lantgrave and their Confederates addressing their Speech to the Emperor You know say they most Victorious Emperor that from the very beginning we professed that in this most Honourable Assembly we would declare the Ground of our defending our selves by Arms against Henry Duke of Brunswick and we are still in the same Mind and Resolution not doubting but that after a full hearing of the Matter it will clearly appear to you that we had just and weighty Causes which necessarily obliged us to undertake that defensive War and that he ought not to sit here and consult with the Princes But since we perceive he thrusts himself into this Assembly without our Approbation and Consent all that we can and may lawfully do that the publick deliberations may not be hindred or retarded is that we protest we neither own nor acknowledge him for a Prince of the Empire and that his Presence shall be no ways prejudicial to our Right Whereunto the Duke of Brunswick immediately made Answer by the Mouth of his Chancellor The Elector of Saxony saith he the Lantgrave and their Confederates in defiance to all Law both of God and Man contrary to the Constitutions of the Empire and the publick Faith and Peace have by force of Arms and the highest Injustice robbed me of my Country for which they stand indicted before the Imperial Chamber so that they can have no place in the Diet of the Empire and if any had they have now lost it by that Crime and deserve that all Men should avoid their Company But if I must needs sit with them in Publick Consultations I protest that I consent not that they should have this place and that it shall be no prejudice nor derogation to my Cause The Protestants were then for having read their Plea containing the whole matter of Fact and the Reasons of what they had done in Writing least his Accusation might appear to be true or make an impression upon the Minds of those that heard it But the Emperor ordered Frederick Prince Palatine and Naves to desire them to deferr it till another time because the Day was far spent promising to assign them a Day for a Hearing to which they acquiesced And because the Lantgrave happened then to 〈◊〉 next to the Duke of Brunswick John Prince Palatine arose and to prevent any Quarrel sate himself down in the middle betwixt them having first protested that the same should be no prejudice to him nor his Family and this was thought to have been done by the Emperor's Advice The Day before the Duke of Saxony and Lantgrave had prayed Frederick Prince Palatine and Naves that they would procure the Emperor's Order for Brunswick not to appear in the publick Session But that could not be obtained the Emperor alledging that he could not be excluded till the Causes of it were first known The French King might easily imagine that the Emperor would make a sad complaint of him to the Princes of the Empire he therefore resolved to send a most splendid Ambassy to them in the Persons of Cardinal John du Bellay
Reformed the Differences of Kings and Princes composed and Measures taken for carrying on a Turkish War But that as yet he had seen no Fruits of all his Labour and Pains For that the cause of the common disease still remained and all the parts of the State were in a visible Consumption and Decay That he took it very well at their Hands that they so affectionately recommended to him the Defence of the Castle of Nizza and that he would make it his whole care for the future that not one place only should be provided for but that the infection also might not spread to other Places and that Christendom should be delivered from the Turks and such like ungodly Men For that it was his Duty to provide for all the Members in general and to apply Remedies to the languishing Body That therefore as they recommended Nizza to him so did he again recommend to them the State of Christendom which was very much afflicted and weakened That the Chief and only way to cure it was Peace and Reconciliation amongst Kings and Princes for that all Disorders sprang from that source But that if these Dissensions were removed the whole Body would recover its former Comeliness and Beauty For that before these Clashings and Animosities there were neither any Heresies in Germany nor Turks in Hungary and Italy But that so soon as a vent was given to civil Discord then presently sprang forth Heresies and Factions both private and publick Hatred and Dissensions which was also the Cause that the meeting of the Council had hitherto been hindred and retarded That Peace was therefore to be established and in imitation of Physicians the Root of the Evil removed For that Peace would banish both War and Turk and a Council assembled in Peace and Quietness would soon Root out Heresies and reform whatever was amiss that otherwise they needed not think that either Nizza could be defended from the Enemy or any part of Christendom be exempt from Danger but on the contrary that all would be involved in the same Calamity and Destruction In the Month of March Ludovick the Elector Palatine died to whom succeded his Brother Frederick The Electors and all the other States by the Advice of the Emperor on the Second day of April wrote to the Switzers That they the Cantons had been informed by the Ambassadors which King Ferdinand and they had sent to them of the Reasons why two Years before they had decreed a War against the Turk and that it grieved them they had not then a franker Answer from them That the Emperor had then resolved to have commanded in Person in that War but that he had been diverted by the French King who had not only made War against him in divers places but had likewise sollicited Aid from the Turks And that the Year before a Turkish Fleet having at his Charges and Procurement come upon the Coast of Italy had attacked the Duke of Savoy and taken Nizza That the same Fleet was still in the Ports of France and waited only for an opportunity of doing the Emperor and Empire all the Mischief they could That this so horrid and unparallelled an Action of the French King's was so much the more to be detested that it tended directly to the aggrandizing of that wicked People and to the highest danger and disadvantage of Christendom That to them therefore it seemed very strange that they who had no less cause to be afraid of the Turks than the Germans themselves should have sent Forces to the Assistance of the French King in that War who had the Turk for his Ally and Assistant For that without their Aid he would not rashly have undertaken this Civil War That they were told also now that he was again solliciting them about fresh Supplies But since it concerned all equally not only to resist the Force of the Turks but also to take from their Confederates all Aid and Assistance for the Safety of Christendom they earnestly desired that for the future they would not suffer their Subjects to serve the French King who because of his accursed League ought to be taken for a publick Enemy but that they would recal those who were already perhaps in his pay and so demean themselves that it might appear they did not slight the publick Welfare of Christendom Whilst the Matters proposed by the Emperor were under Deliberation the Elector of Saxony the Lantgrave and Confederates on the Fifth of April accused Henry Duke of Brunswick before the Emperor King Ferdinand and the whole Diet of the Empire charging him with most enormous Crimes and exhibiting against him a Bill in Writing containing an exact Relation of all the Damage he had done to the Cities of Brunswick and Goslar their Friends and Confederates for whose defence they had been necessitated to resist Force by Force and to repress his Usurpations Then they alledged against him That for some Years he had done nothing but sought after occasions of making War against them which they proved by the Letters we mentioned before that were found in his chief Castle that was taken after he had been driven out of his Country In those Letters which where all in a manner written to the Elector of Mentz the Duke of Bavaria and Eldo before he was expelled he frequently wished for the Emperor's coming out of Spain and when any Hope 's offered he huffed and threatned but after that the Emperor was come and proceeded a little too slowly he complained of his remissness and delay and lamented that neither he nor his Associates had Satisfaction and that the League made at Nurimberg was not regarded accusing and laying all the Fault upon Granvell who was as he said corrupted by the Protestants Money whom he railed against and prayed that he might come to a shameful End as he deserved He frequently also affirmed That the Emperor was a-sleep and could not be rouzed and that he made use of his Name only for a Cloak and Terrour as Fowlers used to do when they frightened the Birds with a dead Hawk Many Letters of his were read containing such stuff as this whereby he vented his Purpose and Inclinations Much to the same purpose the Duke of Bavaria and Eldo had written to him again And because Duke Henry Brother to Duke George of Saxony changing his Religion as we said had entered into the Protestant League the Duke of Brunswick had plied the Emperor by Letters and Messengers to divest him of all his Lands and Goods hoping that he himself might be put into the Possession of his Country Letters to this purpose were also read Afterwards they alledged That he was an impious Man who slighted and made a Derision of the Popish Religion Whereof he would be thought the Defender which they proved by a very notable Instance The Duke of Brunswick had Married the Lady Mary Sister to Vlrick Duke of Wirtemberg who amongst other Ladies that
waited on her had one Eve Trottine a Young Lady of extraordinary Beauty and a noble Family The Duke began to be desperately smitten with her and having by his Courtship prevailed enjoyed her and had some Children by her But that the intrigue might not be discovered and that he might still have her Company he put a Stratagem into her Head that she should pretend to return Home to her Parents and he furnished her with a Waggon Horses and all things necessary for her Journey Away went she and it was thought she was going Home but she was conducted another Way to a Castle of his whereof the Governor was before-hand instructed by him what he was to do and had a Woman or two in whom he most confided to assist him in the Plot. Some Days after Eve came there she took her Bed pretending to be Sick. Now the Duke had before caused an Image to be made of Wood representing the Head Neck and Breast of a dead Body The other Parts of the Body were done and shaped in Linen which the Women stuffed with Dust or Earth that so it might seem to be solid and then fitted the wooden Head and Bust to it which was likewise covered over with the Linen Cloth. The Body then being thus ordered and wrapped in a Shroud was laid forth on the Floor and presently one of the Women ran to the Governor's Parlour Door crying out that Eve was dead Whereupon he streight ordered a Coffin to be made to put the Body in And to scare People from approaching the Corps it was given out that she died of the Plague and Juniper Berries and other Odoriferous Things were burnt to perfume the Rooms Afterwards the Corps was carried in funeral Pomp to the Grey Friars Church where it was honourably buried the Franciscans performing all the usual Ceremonies and praying for the Soul departed as they did for a whole Year after and in their Sermons exhorted the People to do the like By the Duke of Brunswick's Order also an Office of Funeral was performed for her in the Chapel of the Castle where it was said she died Priests being invited thither from the Neighbourhood The same was done in the chief Castle Wolfem-Battel which is not far distant from the City of Brunswick For hither came also the Report of her Death Now at this Office his Wife the Dutchess was present with her Women and Maids all in Mourning Many Priests were invited to it who had afterwards a Dinner and every one of them a piece of Money in Gratuity according to the ancient Custom observed amongst the Papists In the mean time Eve whose Death was bewailed by so many was in very good Health in the Castle of Stauffenburg where she was still visited by Duke Henry who since that time had Seven Children by her He also perswaded his Dutchess to write to the Lady Eve's Parents and Relations to acquaint them with her Death But when afterwards there was a Report raised That she was still alive and kept in Stauffenburg his Dutchess who had some inkling of that conceived a violent Suspicion and enquired of the Servants about the Truth of the Matter But he commanded that none of whom she might learn any thing should come near her However that Suspicion stuck in her Mind as long as she lived which made her write many Letters to him bewailing her own Misfortune This prank of his amongst other things was also publickly read in that Session that all might know what Opinion he had of his own Religion The Effect of the Accusation was to shew how just and necessary Causes they had of taking up Arms against him who despising the Edicts of the Emperor and King Ferdinand had disturbed the publick Peace and done all the Injury he could to their Associates and Confederates The Duke of Brunswick was not present at this Action it being the Emperor's Pleasure that he should not For the Protestants wished he might have been there to have heard all and had for that purpose made Application to the Emperor On Easter Monday which then fell on the Fourteenth of April the Imperialists under the Conduct of Alfonso Marquess of Pescara fought a Battle with the French in Piedmont near the Town Carignan and were defeated with the loss of many Thousands of Men. The French General was the Duke of Vendosme whom we mentioned before Many thought that the News of this overthrow would have inclined the Emperor to admit of a treaty of Peace but he continued firm in his purpose of War. The Duke of Brunswick on the Thirteenth of April gave an Answer to the Accusation of the Protestants and foully bespattered them with Reproaches laying to their Charge Conspiracy Rebellion Treachery Rapine French and Turkish Leagues and what not As to the Letters found in his Castle he justified himself as well as he could Alledging That if their own Closets were searched far worse might be found in them but he slightly touched at that which was objected to him concerning his Intrigue with his beloved Mistress Eve. To this Recrimination the Protestants replied And since the Emperor would have no more of it in the publick Diet they exhibited and dispersed a written Paper of the whole matter which Brimswick also afterwards did April the Eighteenth Charles Duke of Savoy by his Ambassadors accused the French King in the Assembly of the Princes That besides the Violence and Injuries done him in former Years he had stirred up Barbarossa the Turkish Admiral who being assisted by French Forces had taken his Town of Nizza by Surrender and contrary to Faith and Promise had Plundered and Burnt it carrying away many into slavery He therefore craves their Aid in this his distressed Condition especially seeing it was more than probable that the Enemy would return to the Siege of the Castle That having demanded Assistance from the Pope he had only granted him the yearly Rent which he used to receive from the Clergy But that that was but a very small matter in his so low and mean Condition when he scarcely possessed the Tenth part of his own Dominion He likewise excused himself for not coming to the Diet in person because of his Age the length of the Journey and the imminent danger of the Enemy and besides that he was not able to bear the Charges of it having scarcely enough to maintain himself his Son and Family About the end of April the Switzers who then held a Convention at Baden answered the Letter of the States of the Empire That having put the Question to their Commanders and Officers they affirmed That they had seen no Turks in the French Camp nor had heard any thing of Aid from them otherwise they would not have served the French. That when they had put the same to the French King he complained that the Ambassadors he sent last Winter had been rejected who if they had been heard would easily have refuted that
that cannot be performed by man. That every one ought to confess his sins daily to God and beg his mercy and forgiveness that if the Conscience be disquieted by any scruple counsel is to be had of a Minister of the Church for comforts sake but that that Auricular Confession and Enumeration of ones Sins had neither any warrant in Scripture nor was it possible to be done but was a very dangerous racking of the Mind That he never doubted of the Perpetual Virginity of the Virgin-Mother Some days before he was brought to tryal he wrote of all these things to his Wife and the rest of his Friends who earnestly had begg'd that of him making use of the assistance of his Sister And being condemned in another Letter he acquainted his Wife with the kind of Death he was to suffer the day following telling her for her comfort That the Servants condition ought not to be better than that of his Master and prescribing her also some Rules of good Life The Divines of Paris two years before had made some Decrees of Religion as hath been already mentioned Now again by the Kings command they assemble at Melun a Town standing upon the Seine about ten miles above Paris The King was in the neighbouring Palace of Fontainbleau and had summoned them to meet that since the Peace being concluded there was now a Council to be they might consult about and resolve upon such necessary Points and Articles for the Church as they thought might be defended in the Council that publick Theatre of all the Christian World. The issue of this Convocation was that though there had been a great deal of Jangling amonst them yet they altered nothing in those Articles which they had already published at Paris as hath been already said In imitation of the Parisians the Divines of Louvaine draw up Articles also and afterwards by the Emperour's License publish them They were in number thirty two and exactly of the same kind as those of Paris we mentioned before which the Emperour confirmed and established by an Edict March the 14th the Divines published their Letters signifying that they had the more willingly put themselves to that pain because they certainly knew it would be very acceptable to the Emperour who had already a good while ago earnestly craved some such thing to be done In the Pacification of Soissons it was agreed as we said before that the Emperour and French King should use the utmost of their power for resetling the ancient Religion as they called it so that what we have been now relating seems to look that way and the Cardinal of Tournon who had been in Flanders with the Duke of Orleans was thought to have contributed not a little to that design But Luther by contrary positions answers the Divines of Louvaine calling them Bloud-thristy Hereticks who teaching impious Doctrines which they could not make good neither by Reason nor Scripture betook themselves to force and disputed with Fire and Sword. For they as also the Parisians laid down only bare Rules and directed what was to be followed but alleadged no Texts of holy Scripture and withal incited the Magistrate to severity and animadversion At that time there was an Imperial Diet held at Wormes but the Emperour who resolved to be there being hindered by the Gout came not to it till it was late The Deputies he had there were the Cardinal of Ausbourg and Frederick of Furstenberg March the 24th in absence of the Emperour King Ferdinand opens the Diet telling them That it was known to themselves for what that Diet was called to wit for setling Religion Right and Peace and for considering of the Turkish War. That the Emperour indeed wished he might have been present at these Deliberations by the time appointed and as it was decreed at Spire but he could not because of his sickness and that therefore he had prorogued the Diet first to to the second day of January and then to the first of February but that seeing his Disease lasted longer than he expected he had changed his mind and that he might no longer be a hinderance to the publick Deliberations especially those concerning the Turkish Affairs he had pressed him to supply his place which for the Publick sake to his so small detriment he had undertaken That therefore they should take into deliberation the Affairs of publick and common concern that when the Emperour himself should come some things might be in a readiness to pass into Laws for that the daily Advices both by Messengers and Letters giving a good account of his health he made no doubt but he would soon be there for the publick good That for this cause also he had made Peace with the King of France his Ally and had therein preferred the publick before his own private Interest to wit that all things being quieted Religion might be setled and reformed and then an Expedition with all force and alacrity made against the Turks That the advantage of this Peace extended to all Germany and especially to the States of the Empire That the King of France had also promised assistance against the Turk and by his Plenipotentiary Embassadours in Flanders approved the Council of Trent and resolved to be present at it himself or to send thither a most ample Embassie That the Emperour had likewise prevailed with the Pope again to call the Council which he had before prorogued so that the 14th of March past was the day appointed for its meeting to which Embassadours were already sent both from the Emperour and himself That the Emperour having sollicited the Pope also that for the dignity of his place and character he would give Aid against the Turk his Answer was that in this Diet he would by his Legat signifie what he intended to do as to that That they themselves were not ignorant what trouble the Emperour had been at in procuring a Council to be called how industriously he had dealt with Clement VII at Bononia afterwards with Paul III. at Rome Genoa Nizza Lucca and lately at Busset And that though the Emperour after the last Diet at Spire was taken up about most weighty Affairs yet he had not neglected what was enacted at Spire but had employed some good and learned men to frame a Model of Reformation which he had also received from them But that this being a matter of very great moment requiring long and serious deliberation and that because of the approaching Council and the threatned irruption of the Turk to consult about that reformation was not seasonable the Emperour thought it proper that waving it now the progress of the ensuing Council was to be expected And that if it appeared that there was no Council like to be that then before the dissolution of this another Diet of the Empire should be appointed upon this very account As to what concerned the Peace and every mans Right that the Emperour
intervals though he did not see them that they should presently fly for their lives And at the same instant two of those who had betaken themselves to Mus come and having got notice of the Enemies approach advise the Minister of the Church and the rest of those few Guards that as we said were left with the Women to be gone having shewed them a steep way through the Wood by which they might escape all danger in their flight Hardly were these gone when the raging Soldiers came in shouting and making a heavy noise and with drawn Swords preparing for the butchâ—ry However at that time they forbear to kill but having committed many insolencies and robbed the poor things of all their Money and Provisions they carry them away Prisoners They had purposed to have used them more basely but a Captain of Horse prevented it who by chance coming in threatned them and commanded them to march streight to Meinier so that they proceeded no farther but leaving the Women there who were about five hundred in number they carry off the Cattel and Booty In the mean time Meinier came to Merindole and finding it forsaken by the Inhabitants â—he plunders and sets it on fire which was ushered in by a very cruel action for having found there one single Youth he commands him to be tied to an Olive-tree and there shot to death He marches next to Cabriere and begins to batter the Town but by the mediation of Captain Poulain he perswades the Towns people upon promise of indempnity to open the Gates which being done and the Soldiers let in after a little pause all were put to the Sword without respect to Age or Sex. Many fled to the Church others to other places and some into the Wine-Cellar of the Castle but being halled out into a Meadow and stript naked they were all put to the Sword not only the Men but also the Women and many of these with Child too Meinier also shuts up about forty Women in a Barn full of Hay and Straw and then sets it on fire and after that the poor creatures having attempted but in vain to smother the fire with their Cloaths which for that end they had pull'd off betook themselves to the great Window at which the Hay is commonly pitched up into the Barn with a purpose to leap down from thence they were kept in with Pikes and Spears so that all of them perished in the flames and this happened the twentieth of April Meinier after this sends part of his Forces to besiege the Town of Coste but when they were just upon their march those were found who as we said a little before had fled into the Wine-Cellar of the Castle a noise being thereupon raised as if there had been some ambush laid the Soldiers are recalled who put every Man of them to the Sword. The number of the slain as well in the Town as abroad in the Fields amounted to Eight hundred The young Infants which survived the fury were for the most part rebaptized by the Enemy Affairs thus dispatched at Cabriere the Forces are sent to Coste The Lord of that Town had transacted before-hand with the Inhabitants that they should carry their Arms into the Castle and in four places make breaches in their Walls which if they did he promises them that he would use his interest which he knew could easily prevail with Meinier that they should receive no damage Being over-perswaded they obey and he departs with a purpose seemingly to treat and intercede for them but he was not gone far before the Soldiers met him who nevertheless proceeded in their march and attacked the place At first onset they did but little but next day they more briskly renew the assault and having burnt all the Suburbs about they easily become Masters of the place and the rather that the Night before most had deserted the Town and fled having got down over the Walls by Ropes After the victorious had put all that stood in their way to Fire and Sword they run into a Garden adjoyning the Castle and there satiate their Lust upon the Women and young Girls promiscuously who in great fear and consternation had fled thither and for a Day and Night's time that they kept them shut up there so inhumanly and barbarously they used them that the big belly'd Women and younger Girls shortly after died of it In the mean time the Merindolanes and many others who wandered with them over the Woods and Rocks being taken were either sent to the Galleys or put to death and many also were starved Not far also from the Town of Mus we mentioned before some five and twenty Men had got into a Cave and kept lurking there but being betrayed all of them were either smothered with smoak or burnt so that no kind of cruelty was omitted Some however that had escaped this butchery got to Geneva and the places thereabouts Now when the News of this was brought into Germany many were highly offended thereat and the Swizers who are not of the Popish Religion interceded with the French King that he would be merciful to those who had fled their Countrey But the King made them answer that he had just cause for what he had done and that what he did within his own Territories and how he punished the guilty concerned them no more to know than it did him what was done amongst them The Year before the Waldenses had sent the King a Confession of their Faith in Writing thereby to clear their innocence And the Heads of their Doctrine are Of God the Father Creator of all things Of the Son the Mediator and Advocate for Mankind Of the Holy Ghost the Comforter and Teacher of Truth Of the Church which they say is the Congregation of all the Elect and has Jesus Christ for the Head. Of the Ministers of the Church who they say are to be turned out if they perform not their Duty Of the Magistrate whom they confess to be God's Minister for protecting the Good and punishing the Bad that not only Honour but also Tribute and Custom is due to them according to the example of Christ who himself payed Custom Of Baptism which they say is an external and invisible Sign which represents to us both the renewing of the Spirit and the mortification of the Members Of the Lord's Supper which they say is a giving of thanks and commemoration of the benefits received by Christ. Of Matrimony which being a holy thing and instituted by God they think ought not to be denyed to any Of Good Works which they teach are to be done and practised as the Holy Scriptures declare Of false Doctrines which because they lead us away from the true Worship they say ought to be avoided In short they alledge the Old and New Testament for the Rule of their Faith and profess to believe all that is contained in the
produced Now had we acted with the same severity against the Duke of Brunswick as the Emperour does now against us though innocent there would have been no War at all But because he attacked us who are obnoxious and exposed to great hatred upon account of the Gospel and our Religion all his Trespasses were connived at Nor is the Emperour ignorant that we both put the Province we had taken under Sequestration and offered our selves to submit to the Verdict of Arbitrators appointed by his Majesty concerning the Defence we undertook against him If he had followed this course and had not in contempt of the Emperour's Edicts rejected the Sequestration and raised new Stirs but come to a fair Trial at Law with us all would have gone in the right way For if being cast we had not submitted to the Sentence then would the Emperour have had a good and lawful Cause of putting the Laws in execution against us whereas for what now he does he has none Nay more since the time Duke Henry and his Son were made Prisoners the Emperour never demanded any thing of us upon that account We are not then to be accused of Undutifulness Now if it be laid to our charge That we hinder the Course of Justice it is the greatest wrong can be done to us for since for many years past none were admitted to be Judges and Assessors in the Imperial Chamber but the sworn Enemies of our Religion that these slighting all Transactions and Agreements gave Sentence against us and our Confederates in Causes of Religion that in Civil Causes also they would do us no Justice we did no more but what we might lawfully do in refusing them as suspect and our Enemies offering withal to give more ample Reasons for our declining them before Judges chosen for that purpose Nothing then can be objected to us as to that Besides it was decreed at Spire two years since That the Chamber should be equally constituted and it cannot be imputed to us and our Associates that it is not done It is known also to the Emperour that in the Diet at Worms last year none did more oppose that Decree of his than those very Princes who would seem to be most dutiful and obedient for that very Reason That because they are our Adversaries they might be our Judges We are moreover informed That it is laid to our charge as a Crime that we endeavour to bring over some of the Nobility to our Party But it is strange that we should be blamed for that it being manifest from the Records of the Empire that it was the Practice of our Forefathers to associate to themselves not only the Nobility but the Bishops also And grant there were any fault in that is it therefore lawful without a fair Trial to make War against us Now though the Emperour be excepted in that Herediatary League which is betwixt the Houses of Saxony Brandenbourg and Hesse yet it is still so to be understood provided he abuse not his Power and Authority Let Albert and John Marquesses of Brandenbourg who have engaged in the Emperour's Service against us seriously consider then what they do and remember the Oath they are tied by We have thought fit to make this known to them and to those also who being our Vassals serve under them in this War. Nor will it excuse them to pretend that it is the Emperour's Design only to punish some Princes for their Disobedience since they themselves know that no such thing can justly be objected to us But if the Emperour had laid any Crime to our charge as in reason he ought to have done and we could not have justified our selves there would have been no necessity then of using such Artifices or of solliciting our Confederates to a Defection seeing if the Crime had been proved most part would have forsaken us of their own accord and few would have ventured a Risque with us in a bad Cause Furthermore when two years since we with others concluded to assist the Emperour against the French King he then promised That so soon as that War was ended he would march into Hungary in Person against the Turk But now when the Turks as it is reported by many do with vast Armies make Incursions into Hungary and the adjacent Countries and have besides strong Garrisons in Buda and Pest the poor Wretches of that Country are left as a Prey to the cruel and harbarous Enemy and no care taken of them that the Blood of those who profess the Name of Christ may in the mean time with more ease be shed in Germany This being so we are in good hopes that most Men will pity and commiserate our Condition and not joyn with our Enemies who have no other intent than to stifle the Light of the Gospel amongst us as we see it is in all other Places of their Dominions and to bring us under the worst kind of Bondage and Slavery but that they will acccept of moderate Pay with us rather than serve in the Armies of the Antichrist of Rome and his Adherents whose chief Endeavours are that even with the Ruine and Destruction of Germany they may again establish their impious and impure Doctrine And since now we are forced after we have earnestly begg'd for Peace and are convicted of no Crime to defend our selves against unjust Violence we trust that God Almighty will side with Truth against Falshood and in this his own Cause be our Chief Leader and Standard-bearer against the wicked Contrivances of the Pope For to him alone we wholly commit our Cause praying his Divine Majesty that he would confound the Devices of blood-thirsty Men and more and more promote his own Honour and Glory The same day they write to John Marquess of Brandenbourg wishing him as being one of the Protestant League which might be proved by his own Letters and then as an ancient Confederate of theirs also upon a particular account not to take Arms against them but to act and demean himself according to the Articles and Covenants of the League for that otherwise they would divulge the Matter and publickly accuse him of transgressing his Duty To which he made answer That he denied not but that he served the Emperour since he had given him assurance that his Design was not against the Religion That he was indeed of the Smalcaldick League but in so far only as concerned the Augustane Confession That as to the private League the Emperour was expresly therein excepted which being so that they had no reason to find fault with him for his Service nor to accuse him of having done any thing contrary to his Honour and Obligation Having received that Answer they publish a Manifesto and amongst other things refute what he had said of the Augustane Confession proving by his own Letters that he was bound to assist them and the Confederates if Matters should come to that pass although it
Protection if they obey and that such as refuse and are disobedient to Our Commands shall be punished in the same manner as the Principals July the two and twentieth Gerard Feldwig who lately returned from Constantinople is sent back again thither from Ratisbonne When the Emperour perceived that there was no business to be done in this Diet of the Empire he Prorogues it to the first of February the year following We spake before of the Pope's Letters sent to the Suizzers now so soon as Jerome Franco his Holiness's Nuncio had received them he sent them forward from Lucerne with Letters of his own dated July the twenty-fifth wherein he acquaints them That three days before he had received Letters from the Pope and Colledge of Cardinals and that though they were much to the same purpose with some other former Letters of theirs yet because they contained somewhat that was new he had sent them in all haste a Copy of them promising to produce the Originals in the next Assembly and that because in the League which the Pope and Emperour had concluded about the latter end of June there is place left for others who would engage in the same Confederacy and because also it was stipulated That the Emperour should first try if without a War his and the Enemies of the See of Rome could be reclaimed and brought to their Duty his Holiness did earnestly desire of them that they would in plain terms tell whether or not they would enter into that League and submit to the Decrees of the Council of Trent Wherefore since they had appointed him a Day at their next Assembly at Baden to give him an Answer to his former Demands he did now write of these things unto them that they might in the mean time consider of them That therefore he begg'd of them for the Blood of our Saviour Christ's sake that they would seriously reflect how glorious and advantagious it would be to them and to their Children also if they did contribute in extinguishing the Flames of Division in Germany and approve the Decrees of the Council In that the Pope divulged the Cause of the League some looked upon it as cunning Fetch that by that means he might entangle the Emperour in many Difficulties for it is certain as shall be said hereafter that he took it very ill that the Emperour had pretended another Cause for the War. About this time Albert Son to the Duke of Bavaria married the Lady Anne Daughter to King Ferdinand and William Duke of Cleves the Lady Mary her Sister For seeing the Duke of Cleve had in vain expected the Daughter of Navar from France as hath been said before he was dispensed with by a Bull from the Pope to marry another He therefore married this Lady and both Marriages were celebrated at Ratisbonne amidst the Tumult and Noise of Wars and were designed as a Bond to strengthen a new Alliance The Session of the Council of Trent was appointed to be about the latter end of July as hath been said but it was put off to the beginning of the next Year as will appear in its proper place There was at Trent at this time besides the Cardinal-Legats the Cardinal of Trent and Cardinal Pacieco a Spaniard four Archbishops thirty three Bishops and of these 〈◊〉 French five Spanish and one Sclavonick the rest were all Italian Bishops 〈◊〉 of Divinity who were of Religious Orders thirty five and twelve others were Secular for most part all Spaniards Moreover two of those Archbishops were Titular only Olaus Magnus of Upsale and Robert Venant a Scottish-man Now the occasion of this was When Gustavus King of Sweden the Neighbour of Denmark made an Alteration in Religion in the Year 1537. John Magnus Archbishop of Upsale who disliked that Reformation leaving his own Country fled to Rome whither he came with small Attendance Afterwards going to Venice he was made Vicar and as they commonly call it Suffragan to the Patriarch of that City But being afterwards weary of that Office he returned to Rome and there being reduced to such Straits that he sold his Horses and broke up his Family he was by Pope Paul placed in the Hospital of the Holy Ghost and there died in a poor and low Condition He had a Brother Olaus with him to whom the Pope gave that Gothick Archbishoprick though it was not within the Pale of the Roman Church and sent him to the Council with an Allowance of fifteen Duckets a Month for his Maintenance The other the Scottish-man having informed the Pope of the Archbishoprick of Armagh in Ireland obtained it from him in Title He was a blind Man and nevertheless not only said Mass but rid Post also These two then the Pope would have to be present at the Council only for ostentation as if those two so distant Nations the Swedes and Irish had acknowledged his Power when in reality they enjoyed no more but the Shadow and bare Title of Prelates We told you before That Duke Maurice after a private Conference with the Emperour left Ratisbonne and went home King Fendinand following not long after he went to wait upon him at Prague Afterwards on the first of August the Emperour sent to Duke Maurice from Ratisbonne a Copy of the Proscription we mentioned before and in his Letters to him and the People relates the same things almost that were contained in the Ban and Instrument of Proscription And because he was related in Blood and Affinity to the Parties Outlawed so that he might claim some Right and Title to their Estates and Goods he strictly charges him to assist him with all his power in seising and taking possession of their Provinces nay that for preservation of his own Right he should with all diligence put himself in possession of all else the first Possessor whoever that might be should have all without any regard had to his Consanguinity and the Rights of Entail That besides if he slighted his Emperour's Command he should incur the same Pains that they had done He charges also the Nobility Gentry and Commons upon the same Penalty to obey his Proclamation and faithfully assist the Prince These Letters were equally directed to Duke Maurice and his Brother Augustus The Whole Protestant Army was now come to the Danube There the Duke of Saxony Landgrave and Council of War August the third wrote to William Duke of Bavaria signifying That it was to no purpose for them to say much of the Emperour 's Warlike Preparations since the whole Matter was well known to himself That though they had never been wanting to the Emperour in any kind of Dutifulness nor did think they had ever given him any cause of offence yet had they long since learned both from his Answer and the Discourses of other Men also that he intended a War against them as disobedient Subjects when in the mean time they were neither convicted
only we but all those also who profess the Reformed Religion are in danger and that the great Design in hand is wholly to re-establish Popery Let all men judge then of the fairness of their Proceedings when in the late Diet at Ratisbonne they endeavoured to perswade and solemnly averred that they would use only lawful and peaceful Remedies for healing the breaches of Religion Lately said the Landgrave he told me at Spire That he was not engaged in any League with the Pope the same also said Granvell This then is that Fatherly Affection that Zeal for and Love of Peace whereof they so much brag and so often Was ever the like heard that they should endeavour to perswade Princes of one thing and in the mean time resolve the quite contrary We are sensible enough of the Duty of the Princes to the Emperour and what on the other hand he is engaged to perform as we stand obliged to him so is he mutually to us Now that he Proscribes and Outlaws us without a fair hearing and endeavours to turn us out of all he therein dissolves the Obligation in Law whereby the Lord or Superiour is mutually bound to his Tenant or Vassal That he objects to us the Crime of Rebellion it is a meer sham also and he himself knows that he does us wrong in that For not long since said the Landgrave he gave me Thanks at Spire that I had used my utmost diligence to compose the Differences about Religion Now whereas he says that I prepared for War and exacted Money of some States I do not indeed deny it and weighty reasons I had too for making Preparations But it is publickly known that by the mediation of Louis the Elector Palatine and of Richard Archbishop of Traves that whole matter was husht nay he himself acquainted me by his Letters that though he had been highly displeased with me for what I had done yet because I had laid down Arms he required no more besides when sixteen years ago he spoke to me of the same Affair at Ausbourg I justified my self so well in presence of King Ferdinand Frederick Prince Palatine and some others that he was satisfied therewith he cannot then make that any part of his present quarrel That I assisted Ulrick Duke of Wirtemberg at the intercession of the Duke of Saxony and George Archbishop of Mentz that matter was also taken up and I received again into favour which transaction he himself ratified and afterward at Ratisbonne fully pardoned me upon his Royal Word He now also speaks of the War of Brunswick but the cause of that we made manifest by a publick Declaration and two years since gave a fuller account of the same in a most frequent Diet of the Empire where he was present Duke Henry did indeed answer then but the Emperour refused to hear our Replies Now the reason why he did not bring the Tryal to a full issue and with the Advice of the rest of the Princes give Sentence therein at that time was forsooth because demanding then Supplies against the French and Turks he purposely put a stop to the Suit and ordered a Sequestration wherein we also condescended to him at Wormes though we were not obliged and it was agreed on both hands that Frederick Prince Palatine and his Cousin John Prince Palatine of Simmeren should hold and govern the Province which we had taken until the Cause should be brought to a final decision according to Law this being done he past his Word to us that the Duke of Brunswick should likewise comply and by Letters strictly enjoyned him to do so but he slighting the Orders raised War against us and therein was made Prisoner as appears by a Declaration published by me and Duke Maurice In this War then we did nothing undutifully nothing contrary to Law and appeal to impartial Judgment But from that very thing it will easily appear what his Intentions are as to our Religion For though Duke Henry most sawcily despised his Orders and when he heard of the Sequestration reviled him in very reproachful Language yet because he is an implacable Enemy to our Religion he was never called to any Account for it Where he saith That we have brought some under subjection to us it is far otherwise and has been answered by us several times before But that may be truly said of him who hath reduced some Provinces and Bishopricks of the Empire under his Jurisdiction and against this War hath had in many places Meetings of Nobles that he might to our destruction engage them to himself This we acknowledge indeed That we have received some into our Protection upon account that if they should incur any danger for professing the Gospel we might stand by and defend them and that we look upon to be our duty since God commands us to help the afflicted Now for many Years past and at this time especially none stand more in need of Help and Protection than they who are reckoned Lutherans In other things that related not to Religion we never gave them any Countenance but always exhorted them to give the Magistrate his due He objects to us also That we disswaded others from repairing to the Diet but that is very impertinent since on the first of April last we sent Orders to our Deputies who met at Wormes when he was going to Ratisbonne That waving all other Business they should repair to that Diet and that we either came in Person or sent our Deputies to all the other Diets of the Empire What he saith of the Imperial Chamber and the interruption of Justice hath been many times refuted already He moreover brings an Instance of the Heathen Magistrates to shew That it is not lawful to resist him Whereas we have not only done our Duty but more also than either we ought or our Forefathers were accustomed to do to our own great loss and prejudice and that upon that account he hath not the least cause of complaint it will appear by what shall be said hereafter A certain Embassadour lately sent to him from the French King hapned occasionally to speak of this War telling him That he undertook a Matter of very great concern That he would do well to consider with himself how powerful Germany was and how dangerous the Attempt That if one or two perhaps had offended a Course might be taken to accommodate the Matter without a War. Whereunto he is said to have made this Answer That there was no need of an Accommodation That he would subdue Germany or put all to the risque for that the Strength thereof was not so very great that he needed to be afraid of it That it was now above twenty years since he had laid down his Measures for accomplishing that Design That in several Wars they had given him frequent Supplies and lately too against the King his own Master That they had been at great Charges in several Diets That they had lost
desist from Hostility else the Duke of Saxony would not be destitute of assistance Since then that whole Country was exposed to present danger and that the Elector importuned them for help they could not but assist him that they had resolved indeed to have given him part of the Army they had but because the Enemy lay near them and that they were in hopes to bring the matter shortly to the decision of a Battle wherein all their safety consisted It had not been thought convenient that they should weaken themselves by lessening their number at such a time that that was the thing the Enemy expected that being diverted and employed in other places they could not bring their whole strength against them That since that was the case then they pray'd them that upon the publick account they would with all expedition send some supplies of Foot to Wittemberg and Weimar and that what money they were still owing by virtue of the League they would pay it all in to the Electors Son and Counsellors For that the common cause lay at stake and that if their Confederates should once be run down it would be their own case next Mention has been made of the Bohemians before These served King Ferdinand in his Wars indeed but much against their will because of an ancient League they had with the House of Saxony and then also because in their opinion there was no necessity for the War and that it was generally thought that the Elector had wrong done him But King Ferdinand overperswaded them and sent for Souldiers out of Hungary and Silesia that he might constrain them to it whether they would or not The Hungarian Horse are commonly called Hussars a rapacious and fierce sort of Men. When these Forces were now mustered and ready to march out of their own Country Sebastian Weittemall their General on the twentieth of October proclaimeth War against the People of the Duke of Saxony for that some years since their Prince had seized into his Hands the Abby of Dobrilugh and that he had lately renounced his Allegiance to the Emperour and his Allies thereby violating the League that was made betwixt the Bohemians and House of Saxony And although there was no need of a Denunciation of War in respect that he stood Outlawed by the Emperour yet lest any thing should seem to be omitted he was willing by this Intimation to discharge his Duty At this time the Deputies of the Confederates met at Ulm that they might consult about their common Affairs and seeing frequent Advices came from Saxony of the present State of Affairs there the Elector October the twenty seventh wrote to his Representatives at Ulm That they should lay the whole Matter before the Confederates and desire them that they would consider his Case since he had spared no Labour nor Danger that he might keep that Storm from falling upon the Upper Germany That the Council of War had indeed some days past sent word to the Cities and others within the Circle of Saxony that they should assist him but that it was uncertain what they would do and that though they should do it yet he was apprehensive that they would be over-matched by the Multitude of the Enemies and that there was danger lest before they could be in a readiness the Enemy might have already invaded the Country That they should therefore demand these things of the Protestant Deputies in the first place That because it would be a great Trouble and Inconvenience to him in this Extremity to be any longer absent from his Wife Children and People they would give them their Advice as to that Particular In the next place That they would grant him more ample Supplies which the Landgrave and Council of War had already put him in good hopes Lastly That they would not make Peace with the Enemy till all that were taken from him should first be restored The Deputies give a generous and frank Answer to these Proposals and in the first place beseech him to stay with the Army until the Emperour should send his Soldiers into Winter-Quarters laying before him how dangerous a thing it would be if he should leave them That if King Ferdinand and Duke Maurice used any violence against him they promised Assistances seeing it is not to be doubted say they but that the Confederate Princes and States will be true to him and stand by him as by their League they are obliged and make no Peace before he be restored to all his own That if he thought it fit they would also as the Landgrave and Council of War had done signifie the same to Duke Maurice That they were also most confident that the Confederate States of the Circle of Saxony would do their Duty in that particular The same day we mentioned to wit the twenty seventh of October Duke Maurice writes to the Elector from Dresden That he had been lately informed by the States of his Dominion what Orders he had received from the Emperour and in what danger his Affairs were but now that the Emperour had given him and his People security as to their Religion he had therefore with the Advice of his Council resolved to take such a Course as that he may both satisfie the Emperour and secure his own Right and Property lest his Lands and Country should fall into the Hands of Strangers and that therefore he signified so much to him both in his own and Brother Augustus his Name That if he chance hereafter to be reconciled to the Emperour and King Ferdinand he shall not refuse provided they be willing that the States of his Dominion determine any Debate that may be betwixt them He writes almost in the same words to John William the Elector's Son willing him to take care that the Letters he had written might be transmitted to his Father In the mean time the Bohemians and Hussars make an Incursion into Voetland the next Land belonging to the Elector and commit all sorts of Villanies burn slay plunder and ravish But the Bohemians made but a short stay for seeing as we said they served unwillingly November the eleventh they forsake their Colours and return home The Hungarians however and King Ferdinand 's mercinary Soldiers joyn Duke Maurice who takes by Surrender Zuirkau and afterwards Schneberg and Aldenburg and most of the rest of the Elector's Towns whom he forced to swear Fealty to him except Gothen Isenach and Wittemberg When this News was brought into the Emperour's Camp it caused great Rejoycing which was expressed by the discharging of Great Guns as the Custom is At the same time the Emperour removes his Camp for the same Cause as before chusing a drier and more commodious Ground that he might refresh the Soldiers who were extreamly harassed and supply the want of Provisions Most part were of opinion that the Soldiers should be sent into Winter-quarters but he
sent a Person of Quality as Embassadour to you to acquaint you with the Reason why we undertook this War and to desire you to live in Peace and Quiet whereby you might expect all Favour from us Nevertheless setting light by all these things and having no regard to the Allegiance you owe to us you have espoused the Cause of the Outlawed Princes and their Confederates fallen into the same Crime of Rebellion with them and with Men of your Faction surprised first some Towns belonging to our Brother King Ferdinand and other States and afterward some within our Dominions also Nor content with all this you have with extraordinary boldness declared War against us and with opprobrious and scurrilous Language bespattered our Fame and Reputation have endeavoured to deprive us of our Crown and Dignity renounced your Allegiance to us and have had the boldness with the rest of your Conspirators to appear against us with an Army in the Field doing Outrage to a great many of the Dependents and Vassals of our Brother King Ferdinand and us For all which you have incurred the Penalty due to Outlawed Persons and those that are guilty of High Treason Now though this be your Case and that we have weighty and just Causes wherefore we should most severely punish you according to your Deserts nevertheless out of our accustomed Grace and Clemency and that a wretched Multitude of People may not be ruined we strictly command and charge you That upon receipt of these our Letters you forthwith deliver up your self your whole Province Goods and Fortune and whatever you can call your own without any Condition or Restriction into our hands to be disposed of at our pleasure certifying you That unless you obey we will with Fire and Sword pursue you and yours to the last For the Letter which four days since you wrote to us in your own justification does not at all satisfie nor is it sufficient to excuse you or attone for your Crime A Copy of that Letter he sent at the same time to his Subjects commanding them not to obey him for the future but send Deputies to him the Emperour to know what they were to do and absolving them from their Oath of Allegiance unto him Which if they did do he promises to take care that they may live with more ease and safety for the future but if not he threatens them with the same Penalty that he would inflict upon their Duke When the Emperour wrote this Letter his Forces under the Command of the Duke of Alva were upon the Borders of the Dutchy of Wirtemberg Duke Ulrick in the mean time betakes himself to the Castle of Tuel seated out of his Country upon a very high and steep Hill and having received the Emperour's Letters upon the Road on the twentieth of December he wrote to him in a supplicant and very submissive manner That it extremely grieved him he had so far incurred his Displeasure nor would any Accident in the World have more afflicted him but that since some had interceded for him and that he himself had earnestly begg'd Pardon for his Fault he had conceived good hopes that his Anger would have been appeased That he entertained still the same hopes since he was convinced by Experience of the Clemency which he used to shew to humble Supplicants of which many Instances might be given and those but a few years since manifested to some of the Quality of Princes who perhaps had given him much greater cause of Offence than he had done That he made no doubt but that if he would have heard his Embassadours he would have written much more mildly unto him That therefore he implored his Mercy and begg'd that for Christ's sake he would pardon him and not use the Rigour against him a poor wretched Prince nor against his miserable Subjects At this time there came a Recruit to the Emperour of about Five hundred Neopolitan Cuirassiers under the Command of John Baptista Spinelli and not long after his Imperial Majesty went to Hall a Town in Schwabia lately reconciled unto him and thither the Elector Palatine Frederick came to wait on him He had sent Four hundred Horse to the Assistance of the Confederate Protestants when they were at Ingolstadt and therefore it was his Business with the Emperour to perswade him that he had not sent those Troops to fight against him but only because he was bound to do so to the Duke of Wirtemberg by virtue of a private League that was betwixt them The Emperour took him up very sharply and having reckoned up the Favours he had done him severely chid him However he pardoned him wishing him to make amends for that Fault by a more exact Fidelity for the future When in the beginning of the War the Elector Palatine had thoughts of reforming the Church within his Territories he sent for Paulus Fagius an eloquent and learned Man to come to him from Strasbourg to Heidelberg that he might be a Guide in the Doctrine of the Gospel and shew the way to others But the good Fortune and Success of the Emperour overturned all the Fabrick which was there begun to be reared Some days after the Deputies of Ulm come to the Emperour and upon a humble Acknowledgment of their Fault are received into Grace This is the chief City of all Schwabia for Power and Authority so that the dismembring of them from the rest of the Confederates was a matter of great moment But about the latter end of December they acquaint their Friends by Letters That the Reason why they did so was because the Emperour intended presently to have besieged the Town and that they were in a miserable condition deserted by their Friends and had no appearance of any humane help to defend them against so great a power And then also because some of the Confederates of best quality were seeking privately to make their peace with the Emperour They were adjudged to pay to the Emperour an hundred thousand Florins furnish him with twelve pieces of Ordnance and to receive a Garrison of ten Companies of Foot. In the mean time the Count of Buren entering the Country of the Landgrave that is above Frankfurt took the Town of Darmstadt partly by force and partly by composition burnt the Castle and spared the people The place was only defended by the Inhabitants and a Rout gathered together out of the Country Afterward he proceeds beyond Frankfurt and having no hopes of taking it by force especially at that time of the year and when the Souldiers were out of order he orders part of his Forces to pass the Rhine and to stay for him at Mentz and when there was nothing less in his thoughts being about to return home unexpected by the people of Frankfurt sent Deputies to surrender the Town and promise to obey what Commands should be laid upon them Without delay he marches thither and
15th of March the Emperour dismissed at Nordligen that he might go and raise fresh Troops came thither also bringing his new Forces with him The Emperour leaving Nordlingen went to Norimberg and from thence to Egra a Town belonging to King Ferdinand upon the skirts of Bohemia The King had several times commanded those of Prague to lay down their arms and the rest of the States being by them informed of this April the fourth they write back to him That the reason why they had taken up Arms and marched with their Forces was that they might stand upon their own and Countries defence against any unjust Invasion especially now that he was absent In the mean time they begg'd of him that he would intercede with the Emperour not to pursue the War against the Duke of Saxony but refer the matter to an amicable Arbitration they also desire that he would call a Convention of States as he had promised Much about this time the Emperour came to Egra and April the 7th the day after King Ferdinand and Duke Maurice arrived there wrote to all the States of Bohemia and having repeated what he wrote the month before he told them that his designe was only against the Duke of Saxony that therefore they should supply him with Provisions furnish him Corn and return home for that otherwise both he and his Brother King Ferdinand would take it very ill That they needed not to be in any apprehensions as concerning the matter of Religion for that during the whole War he had molested no man for his Conscience At the same time the Commissioners who were at Prague send Letters again into all parts earnestly importuning the States that they would in all hast arm and come to the defence of their Country which was now in extream danger King Ferdinand April the 11th answers their last Letters from Egra writing much to the same effect that the Emperour had done That they would therefore desist from their Enterprize if not that he would take a course to bridle that rashness of theirs That he wondered exceedingly they should intercede for the Duke of Saxony since he deserved no such thing neither of the Emperour nor of himself nor yet of Bohemia That as to the Convention of States they desired he should do what was fitting as to that In the mean time the Duke of Saxony advancing takes Friburg and Meisen a Town lying upon the Elbe from Duke Maurice About this time also the Fathers of Trent remove to Bolonia and made no more Decrees after that Session wherein they treated of the Sacraments as we mentioned before The cause of their departure was given out to be the unwholsomness of the Air of the place in the judgment of Jerome Fracastorius of Verona who was Physician to the Council and had a Salary from the Pope of threescore Dukats a month The Emperour was highly offended at the matter and commanded the Bishops and Divines of his Dominions not to stir a foot from Trent So that the Council was divided one part of it being at Trent and the other at Bolonia When the Emperour came to Norimberg from Nordlingen Maximilian Count of Buren who kept Franckfurt with a Garrison of twelve Companies of Foot and about four hundred Horse being sent for came thither to him and returning afterwards to Franckfurt again April the 12th he caused two persons to be put to death of whom one named William Verden was a Townsman but the other John Gelluse a Subject of the Landgraves The reason why they were put to death was that they were said to have been suborned by the Landgrave to get a Smith to make and sell them the Keys of one of the Gates to set fire to the Town in four several places to nail up the Canon by the help of their Associates to kill the Count of Buren his Friends and Attendants the Consul and Senate of the Town in the hurry and confusion of the fire and to poyson the Fountains and Wells of the Town and especially that which served the Count of Buren's Kitchin and another in the Court. Afterwards there was a Writing published declaring that they had confessed the Conspiracy in Prison and owned the same at the place of execution But the Landgrave purged himself affirming that since Franckfurt fell into the Emperours hands he had never attempted any thing and confuting the Crimes objected against him by many and weighty reasons That sometimes indeed he had ordered John Gelluse to inform himself what way the Emperour and Count of Buren marched with their Forces and that that was all Now if through the violent pain they suffered on the Rack they confessed what was false and thereby wronged not only others but himself also he hoped that no man would therefore entertain the worse opinion of him that it was dangerous and unsafe to lay any stress upon what was extorted from men by over-rigorous torture whereof this was a proof that they themselves when they were brought to execution declared those very persons innocent whom they had named before as Complices in the Conspiracy April the 13th the Commissioners at Prague writ again to the States of the Kingdom and earnestly advise them to fulfil the League which they had with the House of Saxony they complain also that it hath been already infringed by some and therefore command that it be punctually observed by all for the future The same day they write to King Ferdinand praying that he nor the Emperour would not be offended at these their military proceedings nor attack the Elector of Saxony first because of the League they are mutually bound in and then because he was desirous the Cause might be brought to a fair tryal The very same day also King Ferdinand sent John Bishop of Olmuntz and some other Counsellors to the Convention of States at Prague which was appointed to meet the 18th day of April By them he excuses himself that he could not come in person and then demands of them that they would annul the League they lately made and lay down their Arms for that otherwise there could be no free Convention If this were denied the Commissioners had instructions to treat no farther but if they obeyed then to proceed in course however to determine nothing but refer all to him The Emperour the same day set out from Egra accompanied by his Brother King Ferdinand who had with him six hundred Cuirassiers a thousand Hussars and ten Ensigns of foot Duke Maurice and his Brother Augustus were also there with as many men At length after ten days continual march on the 22th of April he came near to Meisen where the Duke of Saxony then was who having intelligence of this drew out of the Town burnt the wooden Bridge and encamped near to Mulberg upon the Elbe But the Emperour fearing that he might retreat to Wittemberg a strong
and period of this Captivity then said the Landgrave or by what space of time is it to be limited Though the Emperour should detain you for the space of fourteen years or more said Alva yet he would do nothing contrary to his promise The Landgrave then that he might recover his liberty as soon as he could payed in all the Money not long after razed his Castles and delivered up his Artillery Now the Emperour had got a vast number of great Guns partly from him partly from the Dukes of Saxony and Wirtemberg and the Free Towns which as they say amounted to Fifty in number Of these he sent some to Milan some to Naples others to Spain and the rest he distributed in the Low-Countries there to be kept as the Monuments and Trophies of his Victory Ebleben a worthy Gentleman who as we said had been the Messenger and Truchman in negotiating the Landgrave's Pacification took his Captivity extremely ill and shortly after died for grief of it as most People thought The Emperour had resolved to fall upon the City of Magdenburg which lies upon the Elbe two days Journey below Wittemberg for they were the only People that stood it out but at the very same time Henry King of France employed Sebastian Vogelsbergh to raise Men in Germany to the number of ten Ensigns a thing the Emperour began to be jealous of Wherefore partly for this cause and partly because he thought he had another way to humble them leaving Hall he marched into Upper Germany and June the seven and twentieth sent the Marquess of Matignan with an Aid of eight Ensigns of German Foot to his Brother King Ferdinand Ferdinand was then at Leutmeritz expecting an Opportunity of Action and so soon as he had received Intelligence of the Emperor's Success and the taking of the Landgrave he wrote to those of Prague July the first commanding them to appear before him in the Castle of Prague the sixth of the same Month to answer for what they had done Being come thither with his Forces he lays open before them in a publick Assembly all the past Transactions and how many ways they had offended him accusing them of High-Treason and bidding them answer to every Particular There they humbly submit to his Will and Pleasure beseeching him not to use the Rigour of Law against them Wherefore at the Intercession of young Ferdinand the Son Augustus the Brother of Duke Maurice and some other great men the King on the tenth of July proposes these Conditions unto them That in the next Convention of States they wholy annul the League they had entred into by cancelling it and breaking all the Seals That they deliver up to him all their Charters and Writings of Liberties and Priviledges to the intent he may reform some of them and grant and confirm to them anew such as he shall think fit That they also resign all the Charters of Liberties and Immunities granted to Companies and Incorporations because some of them did give occasion to Stirs and Commotions That in like manner they give up their Castles and renounce all Jurisdiction and Customs as also all Instruments of Leagues and especially of that Association which they made amongst themselves and of that Alliance they had entred into with John Frederick That they pay for ever the Excise of Beer which had been granted him only for three years That they bring all their Artillery and Ammunition into the Castle and all their private Arms into the Town-house If they thus do he promises to spare the Multitude excepting some few whom he resolved to punish as they deserved and keep Prisoners for the Publick Good. The People being acquainted with this and fifty Prisoners set at liberty the Conditions were accepted and agreed unto Some of the Nobility being cited and not appearing at the day were sentenced to have forfeited Honour Life and Goods so that some other Cities and Nobles submitted without any Condition as Prague had done But Caspar Pflug whom the Confederates had made their General as we said was condemned of High-Treason and a Reward of Five thousand Florins set upon his Head. Afterwards in the Convention of States the League was abrogated and cancelled and the King obtained from them every thing almost that he had demanded Whilst the Emperour is triumphing in Germany a dangerous Sedition broke out at Naples The Cause of it was That the Viceroy Peter of Toledo would after the Spanish manner inquire into their Faith and Religion The Citizens murmured heavily at this and being weary of the Spanish Government rose in Arms But after a great deal of Butchery and Bloodshed committed in the City the Spaniards who were Masters of the Forts and Castles got the better on 't So that some of the Seditious being fined the rest were banished Now the Spanish Inquisition which makes such a noise now adays was heretofore set up in those Places by King Ferdinand and Isabel against the Jews who after Baptism observed their own Rites and Laws But now that Luther's Name was up it was promiscuously practised and that with great Severity and short Process too against all who were in the least supected At the very same time the French King sends seven Cardinals to Rome commanding them to stay there till fresh Orders That was thought to have been done that by their means the Pope might be wholly inclined to the Amity and Friendship of the King and that if he chanced to die being now fourscore years of age they might procure another to be chosen that was no Enemy to his Majesty Nor were there wanting some who gave it out that it was done by the advice and interest of the Constable that they being out of the way he might alone do all with the King for generally they all followed the Court whithersoever the King went. A little before the Pope had sent a Legat into France Jerome Roman a Cardinal with a most ample Commission to dispence with many things prohibited both by the Laws and Decrees of Councils At that time also he created Charles the Son of Claude Duke of Guise and Archbishop of Reims Cardinal as knowing him to be the King's Favourite On the other hand the King of France to ingratiate himself the more promises his Natural Daughter a young Lady of nine years of age in Marriage to Horatio Farnese the Pope's Grandchild by his Son. The Emperour leaving Hall came to Bamberg that at so near a distance he might awe the Bohemians the more and give Strength and as it were Sinews to his Brother King Ferdinand Whilst he was here on the third day of July he called a Diet of the Empire commanding all to meet the first of September at Ausburg the Princes in Person and all the rest by Deputies with full Power and Commission and declaring That the War had hindred him from holding a Diet at
manner he forced the Body of Cosmo Cherio Bishop of Fano having made his Servants hold him by violence till he did the Fact which abominable Villany lay so heavy upon the poor mans Heart that it is said he died of grief Nor are there wanting some who think he was poysoned by him lest he should have informed the Emperour of that detestable Sodomy Pope Paul nevertheless tenderly loved this Bastard making it his whole care to promote him and when sometimes he was told of his lewd Practices he is reported not to have been much troubled thereat but only to have usually said That he had not learn those Vices of him We mentioned before that the Fathers of the Council leaving Trent had removed to Bolonia This the Emperour was highly displeased at and when he came now to Ausburg he moved the Colledge of the Princes to represent the matter to the Pope Wherefore September the fourteenth the Bishops wrote to him representing the State and Danger of Germany which they say might have been prevented if a timely Remedy had been applied to the growing Distemper to wit a Publick Council wherein they had several times importuned the Emperour that he would procure it to be held within the Limits of Germany that so the Bishops of that Country who were most concerned might be present for seeing their Jurisdiction waâ— of ample extent it was not expedient for them especially at that time to be at a great distance from their own Charge That at length when no man would repair to Mantua or Vicenza a Council indeed was by the diligence and care of the Emperour got to be called and begun but without the Bounds of Germany still to wit at Trent which belongs rather to Italy That for that reason also not many of the Germans had come to it nor indeed could they especially in time of War when the Ways were every where beset and intercepted but that now the Storm being over when the Vessel was brought almost into Harbour and all men were in good hopes contrary to all expectation the Council wherein the Publick Safety wholly consisted should be translated to another Place or rather indeed divided was a thing that exceedingly grieved them because of the danger it threatned for that Germany had now no less than these six and twenty years struggled with new and pernicious Doctrines and Sects that the Bishops had lost almost all their Authority and that in this â—esolation and Confusion innumerable thousands of men endangered the Salvation of their Souls That in short whatever was formerly sound and sincere was by that pestilent Contagion spoil'd and corrupted and that the States of the Empire being rent asunder had lost all mutual Love and Correspondence That in these their so great Calamities they had no Refuge but to the Apostolick Church That therefore they most earnestly begg'd he would restore the Council which if he did he might expect any thing from them but if not that they could not tell where to look for Help for that noise of stormy Winds and Tempests was heard on all hands against which God had appointed the Church of Rome to be as a strong Bulwark and firm Rock of Defence That he should then have regard to their Demands and reject with himself that if he had not a care other Course may be taken to set things to rights That after all they prayed him to take these things in good part for that both the necessity of the Times and the obligation of their Duty had constrained them to write About this very time also the English obtain a great Victory over the Scots under the Conduct of the Duke of Somerset the King's Uncle The Cause of the War was the same that was before in the time of King Henry his Father to wit because the Scots would not give their Queen in Marriage to King Edward as it had been agreed upon After this Victory the English took many Places in Scotland and advanced a great way into that Country All the Diet was not of the same mind as to the Emperour's Demands for the Ecclesiastical Electors urged the Council of Trent without any Limitation or Condition And again the Deputies of the Elector Palatine Duke Maurice and Brandenburg did not refuse it provided it were free and holy wherein the Pope should not preside but should absolve the Bishops from the Oath they had taken to him wherein their Divines might also have a decisive Vote and the past Decrees be recalled However the rest of the Princes and States urged the Continuation of the Council and that the Protestants might have Safe-conduct to go thither and be heard and then be compelled to submit to and obey its Decrees The Emperour being informed of all their Opinions gave his Answer October the eighteenth desires them all to submit to the Council and deals privately with the Elector Palatine and Duke Maurice that they would assent The Prince Palatine besides was over-awed because of the late Offence he had given the year before as we said that Sore not being as yet well skinned over Duke Maurice who was both desirous that the Landgrave his Father-in-law might be set at liberty and had been lately highly promoted by the Emperour thought himself obliged to do somewhat Wherefore the Emperour having by Messengers given them large Assurances of his Favour and Good-will and put it to them that they would refer themselves to his Faith and Promise at length October the twenty fourth they give their Assent There remained no more now but the Free Towns who thought it a matter of great danger to submit themselves indifferently to the Decrees of the Council These did Granvell and Hasen industriously manage and in the mean time a Report went over the Town that they were stubborn in refusing that which all the Princes had already approved Some Threats were also let fall that they should be far more severely dealt with than formerly At length they found a way both to satisfie the Emperour and to secure themselves Being therefore called before his Imperial Majesty they told him that it was not their part to correct the Answers of the Princes but at the same time present a Paper to him declaring the Conditions upon which they were willing to approve the Council The Emperour having heard their Speech makes them an Answer by the mouth of Selden That he was very well satisfied that after the example of others they referred the matter to him and gave their consent with the rest So that he attributed more unto them than they were desirous of for they had not consented with the rest but that they might give no cause of offence were unwilling to censure the Judgment of the Princes and nevertheless that they might not afterwards be concluded thought fit to give in writing the Conditions upon which they accepted the Council that so they might leave to Posterity some
acquaint you with for my own Justification The very same day the States give Duke Maurice and the Elector of Brandenburg an account of this Relation of the Emperours whereunto they next day make answer to this effect That they now confess what hitherto they had always done that they had no cause to accuse or find fault with the Emperour in this particular but that nevertheless they had had several and private Negotiations with King Ferdinand before he went home from the Camp before Wittemberg and with some of the Emperours Counsellors though not many and that perhaps through a slip of Tongue some mistake might have happened which they will not much contend about That however it be they had for the preservation of the innocent Multitude and that Germany might recover its long wished for Peace advised the Landgrave when he had not the least apprehension of Custody or Confinement to come to Hall beg the Emperours Pardon and accept of the Conditions of Peace But now that he had lost his liberty and was still kept Prisoner to the great danger of his health was a thing that no man but must see did extreamly reflect upon their Honour and Reputation That therefore they did most earnestly desire them that they would joyn with them in an Address to the Emperour and beseech his Majesty that it would please him to have more regard to them who had faithfully served the Empire than to the Landgrave's Offence and not to suffer them to be any longer exposed to Obloquy and Censure but to restore him to his liberty especially since all the Conditions were in a manner fulfilled and that the Emperour had most ample security for the performance of them to the least title So then an Intercession was made in the common name of all and the Landgrave 's Wife prevailed with the Lady Mary the Emperour's Sister to second it but it was all in vain And because Duke Maurice and the Elector of Brandenburg said that they had past their promise and obliged themselves by Bond to the Landgrave 's Sons so long as he should be detained Prisoner the Emperour sent John de Lire to the Landgrave who then was at Nordlingen being removed thither lately by the Spaniards requiring him to deliver up all his Writings and amongst the rest also the Letters of safe Conduct and obligation of Security He told him That they were not in his keeping but that his Sons and Counsellors had them That although he should write to them it would be to no purpose for that they had told him at parting that they would not deliver them up before he were set at liberty That nevertheless if he might have assurance from the Emperour of the time of his enlargement he would do what lay in his power to perswade them to deliver all up The Emperour dissatisfied with that Answer shortly after removed his Servants from him allowing him but one or two at most About the latter end of November Peter Martyr a Florentine who had for five years with great applause taught at Strasburg went now with leave from the Senate into England whither he had been invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the King's Name and was made Professor of Divinity in Oxford His Companion that went along with him was Bernardine Ochino of Siena who being in high esteem in Italy for his Eloquence and the opinion Men had of his Virtue forsook his Monastick Life and embraced the Reformed Religion and going first to Geneva and from thence afterward to Ausburg published some Sermons of his in print Much about this time King Henry's Laws about Religion which we mentioned in the twelfth Book are by publick Proclamation abolished all over England and Images and Pictures removed out of the Churches which was the beginning of the Reformation there On the ninth day of December the Cardinal of Trent discharged the Commission the Emperour had entrusted him with in a full Consistory of Cardinals where the Pope himself presided representing in an elaborate Speech what Pains and Danger the Emperour had undergone for the sake of the Council and that now through his Diligence and Authority Matters were brought to that pass that all the States were willing to obey and submit to its Decrees That therefore by all that was Sacred he besought the Pope in name of the Emperour King Ferdinand and the whole Empire first That he would order the Fathers at Bolonia to return to Trent there to perfect the Work begun which was so very necessary for the Publick Good next That he would send a Legat or two into Germany that with their Advice and Counsel some Rules of Good-living might be established until the Council should be ended and that the Clergy might be reformed Lastly That he would also consider and determine that if the Pope should happen to die during the sitting of the Council whether or not the power of Election ought to lie in the Fathers of the Council or in the Cardinals lest if the Case should happen it might give occasion to new Commotions Five days after the Cardinal of Trent had had his Audience James Mendoza by Orders from the Emperour spoke in the same Auditory to the same purpose and besides That if the Pope did make any delay or excuse he said he was commanded by his Master to joyn with the Embassadors of other Kings and Princes and openly protest against the Council The very same day which was the fourteenth of December the Archbishop of Rheims who as we said already was made Cardinal the Summer before being by the French King sent to Rome makes an Harangue to the Pope and Cardinals In the beginning he commends the late King Francis that amongst other his Virtues he was so tender of the Rights and Liberties even of other Princes that upon that account he never declined Danger nor Cost That his Son King Henry did in no ways degenerate from him in Manners and Inclination who so soon as he was seated on the Throne and had performed his last Duty to his deceased Father had nothing more in his thoughts than how to make appear his Zeal and Duty towards the See of Rome therein treading the Steps of his Ancestors the Kings of France who had given so many and illustrious Instances of their Affection towards the Popes of Rome that they were justly reckoned the first and went before all other Nations in that Character And that since now adays there was a Race of froward and saucy People sprung up that opposed and railed against the Majesty of that Place it was a matter of greatest moment that at the same time a most potent King did as it became the eldest Son of the Church and Chief Captain of Christian People submit himself and all he had to the same Church for the maintenance and defence of whose Dignity he was ready to employ and sacrifice all that was near
Cardinals therewith and in name of the whole Empire to demand the continuation of the Council at Trent He ordered Mendoza also to do the same but the Pope took time to consider of it and having thought fit to consult you about the matter obtained from you a dubious crafty and captious Answer Besides he answers the Emperour oddly and shews sufficiently by his tergiversation that he is little concerned for the Publick for the cause of the removal ought to have been proved by credible Witnesses The Emperour King Ferdinand and the Princes by Letters and most ample Embassies declared what the mind of the States was concerning the Council but the Pope believed and preferred the Report of some mean and base People before the Testimony of all these How many tedious and irksome Journeys hath the Emperour made upon the account of the Council What Charges and Expences hath he been at And must all these be lost For most weighty and necessary causes was the Council both called and begun at Trent the Emperour and Germans demanding it and all other Christian Princes consenting thereunto so that unless the publick Authority of all States intervene it cannot be translated to another place for indeed there was no cause for the Translation only something invented for an excuse as some slight Feaver and badness of Air forsooth and for that purpose some Physicians were suborned but chiefly Serving-Maids and Cooks Now what a trifling cause that was the thing it self and the event declared You say that you went away without the Pope's knowledge and advice but the Letter he wrote to you and the Answer he gave the Emperour imply the quite contrary Certainly you ought not to have departed nor changed the place but with consent of the Emperour to whom it belongs to protect all Councils but you posted away in so much haste that ye rejected the Opinion of those who said that the Emperour and Pope ought first to be consulted Now if you must needs have been removing ye ought to have observed at least the Decrees of the Holy Councils and remained within the bounds of Germany that the Germans for whose cause chiefly the Council was called might safely come to it but now ye have chosen Bolonia a Town seated in the heart of Italy and under the Jurisdiction of the Church of Rome whither it is certain the Germans will not come and therefore have you chosen it that to the great prejudice and disgrace of Christendom the Council may be either dissolved or managed at your pleasure The Emperour therefore requireth and that most earnestly that you return to that place which pleased all before especially since all things are now safe and quiet and no more cause of any fear remains But if this you refuse I do here in the name and by command of the Emperour protest against this Translation of the Council as frivolous and unlawful and that all that has been done or shall be done therein is of no force nor effect I also publickly declare That that Answer of yours is silly and full of Lyes and that the prejudice and inconveniences which hereafter shall ensue to the Publick are not to be imputed to the Emperour but to you affirming withal that you have no Power nor Authority to remove the Council And because you neglect the publick Welfare the Emperour as Protector of the Church will take the care of that upon himself in so far as it is lawful for him by Law and the Canons of Holy Church When he had read over that Protestation he delivered a written Copy of it and desired it to be entered upon Record With that the Cardinal de Monte having highly commended the pious intentions of the Fathers called God to witness that they had wrong done them saying They were ready to suffer death rather than that such a practice should be brought into the Church that the Civil Magistrate might call or controul a Council when and how he pleased That the Emperour was indeed a Son of the Church but not the Lord and Master That he and his Colleagues were the Legates of the Apostolick See and did not refuse even then to render first to God and then to the Pope an account of their Commission That after all within a few days they should have an Answer to their Protestation Much about the same time Mendoza having received Instructions from the Emperour made a Protestantion to the same effect at Rome before the Pope and Colledge of Cardinals and in presence of all the Forreign Embassadours whom according to his Instructions he had invited to be Witnesses of it THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH BOOK XX. THE CONTENTS In the beginning it is hotly disputed whether Prussia belong to the King of Poland or rather to the Empire The Pope makes a large Answer to the Harangue that Mendoza made before The Emperour being informed of that and seeing but very little hopes of a Council causes the Book which is called the Interim to be made The Protector of England in a very long Letter to the Scots counsels them to Peace and demands their Queen Vogelsberg is beheaded The Emperour invests Duke Maurice in the Electorship which he had bestowed upon him in the Camp before Wittemberg Bucer refuses to subscribe to the Interim The Pope also publishes a Censure of it which many of the Electors and Princes also did and many refuse it though it was published by the Emperour The Duke of Saxony though a Prisoner with great magnanimity rejects it The Landgrave by Letters which were published from the Emperours Court seems to approve it that he may obtain his freedom Whil'st the Mass is abolished in England by Act of Parliament the free Towns of Germany are solicited to accept of the Interim and especially Strasburg which is pressed by Threats to do it WE have shewn in the former Books that Marquess Albert of Brandenburg did Homage to the King of Poland and altered the Government of Prussia for which he was Outlaw'd by the Imperial Chamber As also that the King of Poland had several times solicited the Emperour and rest of the States in the Publick Diets to reverse that Outlawry because he was his Vassal and under his Protection But since to this day nothing could be obtained and that by this Victory of the Emperours some greater danger seemed to be threatned the King of Poland sends an Embassy to this Diet whereof the chief was Stanislaus Alaski He in the month of January delivered to the Emperour and Colledge of the Princes a Speech in Writing whereof the substance was That the Cause of Prussia had been some times already debated but because it had been always put off to other Diets he was commanded to open it again that the King was in good hopes because of the civil Answers he had often received from them and of the equity of his Cause they would Consider his Affair yet not as
Judges but as Honourable and Worthy Prince And in the first place saith he for clearing of the matter I am to speak some things of the Prutenick Order The Kings of Poland made over a good part of Prussia to this Order which is commonly called the Teutonick Order upon condition that they would serve them in the Wars against Infidels and the Enemies of Christendom But they having most ungratefully rebelled turned their Arms against their own Sovereigns So that many times they had Wars together and many times in Treaties the Conditions were renewed which by reason of their antiquity it is to no purpose to relate And I shall only mention that which happened almost in our memory King Casimire the Father of Sigismund having overcome them in a great Battel forced them to accept of Conditions of Peace Amongst other things it was agreed upon at that time that for the future they should acknowledge the King of Poland for their chief Magistrate and swear Allegiance unto him But there were some Masters of that Order afterwards who violated the Conditions and put themselves under the Protection of others Amongst these was Albert of Brandenburg for one who being by his Tenure obliged to do Homage to the King his Uncle within six months refused to do it so that the King who was a great lover of peace was forced to make War against him And though it never came to a pitcht Battle betwixt them yet much mischief was done by Inrodes plundering burning of Houses and smaller skirmishes in so much that Albert being overpowred came to make a Truce with the King. At the very same time some forces came to his assistance out of Germany which made him depart without concluding any thing and begin the War again afresh But being forsaken of them not long after he was now forced to do in good earnest what he had only pretended to do before that he might obtain a Peace So that by the mediation of some Peace was at length concluded upon these Conditions That he should swear Allegiance to the King and perform all those things that a true and faithful Vassal ought to do to his Liege Lord. It is certain then That Prussia hath time out of mind and ever since the Christian Religion was planted there both by the Law of Arms and by Mutual Compacts and Agreements belonged to the Crown of Poland for if any others have claimed right to it that has been done by the Insolence and Injustice of the Masters of the Order who being by the permission of our Kings Natives of Germany have often attempted to bring Prussia under the Dominion of Strangers which hath occasioned many broils and quarrels betwixt the Poles and Germans and was the cause of the Decree whereby Albert stands proscribed But what power had they who proscribed him over the Vassal of another For that he did not appear in Judgment when he was cited by those who were not competent Judges he did so by the Kings Command on whom the whole blame is to be laid if any there be Now if he be outlawed for acknowledging the King to be his chief Magistrate it is really very unjust that a Man should be punished for doing his Duty Wherefore it is the earnest Suit of the King my Master to you most Triumphant Emperour and most Noble States that that unjust and unlawful Decree of Proscription may be abolished Nor is it to be thought that the King out of any ambitious or covetous design intends to enlarge his Dominions by the accession of Prussia For how can he be suspected of any such thing who has refused most ample Provinces offered unto him And indeed he values not this Country so much but that if he could do it with his Honour he could easily dispense with it but since it properly belongs to his Dominions as it hath been already often made out he can do no otherwise for that there have been frequent strifes and contentions about it it hath been always the fault of the Masters of the Order as hath been said whom God failed not now and then to punish for their Audacious Crimes Your Grandfather Maximilian most mighty Emperour and King Ferdinand knew this very well who being mindful of the injuries which both he and his Father Frederick had received from them made a solemn promise to King Sigismund when they had an Interview at Vienna and this Promise he made too both in his own and your Names that he would never give any assistance to that Order Now Maximilian in this did no new thing but therein followed the footsteps of his Ancestors for both Sigismund the Emperour in an Interview with Ladislaus my Masters Grandfather promised not only as much but also to give assistance against them and your Great Grandfather Frederick the Emperour joyned Forces and Arms with Casimire the Father of King Sigismund against Matthias King of Hungary and the Order we now speak of who were at that time Confederates And though King Casimire being entangled in the War of this Order could not send Auxiliaries to the Emperour Frederick yet he supplied him with the Money that he owed him by virtue of their League and Agreement So that it plainly appears that this Order hath been always an Enemy to the House of Austria which hath ever been most closely united to Poland by the Bonds of Leagues and Alliances and that King Sigismund now refers to your serious Consideration For if there be any of that Order that look upon themselves as bound to fight for the Christian Religion there is nothing for them to do in Prussia since all Neighbouring States profess the Faith of Christ They are to look for other places then where they may imploy themselves and indeed Jerusalem for some Ages now has been in the possession of a harbarous Enemy for the defence of which place this Order is said to have been instituted Constantinople also is in the hands of the same People Here is work enough cut out for them if they have a mind to be doing Or if they think the pretension too old and the place too far distant there have been many strong Holds of Christendom lately taken why do not the Order march thither that either they may regain what is lost or defend what remains from the Enemy But if they delight more in Civil War any Man may then judge how ill they deserve their Name This indeed is the Case It is an Order that hath always been out of order And therefore they were not only driven out of Prussia but an hundred years ago out of Bohemia also nor hath any Man as yet sued for a Donation of those places in Bohemia out of which they were expulsed as being publick and vacant Poland alone is thought fit to be molested that way whereas it ought most of all to have been favoured for though that Order is offensive to many yet none has suffered so
much from it as Poland does Because excepting some few and those too the first Masters hardly any of the rest ever did their Duty Nay for the most part letting the Barbarians alone they turned their Arms against their own Sovereign the King of Poland And not only so but they Negotiated also a League with the Tartars a cruel sort of Men and implacable Enemies to the Christians as it is reported of Michael Cochmester So that if one should reckon up the Labours Perils Charges Wars Tumults Battels Slaughters and Desolations that this Order above all others has been the cause of he 'll find it to be hardly worth so much Now it is the Kings desire that once for all an end may be put to these Evils for if any make War against Albert Duke of Prussia the King cannot sit still and see him wronged because he is both his Uncle and Patron The threatnings of some flie about and are brought to the Kings Ears and he is very much troubled thereat for he loves peace and quietness and above all the Concord of Christendom However if any offer Violence it will be against his will indeed to take up Arms but for all that he will do it for the defence of him and his He desires the friendship of all Princes but yours especially most mighty Emperour and King Ferdinand and wishes it may be perpetual therefore he hath often interceded with you by Letters and Messengers that the Decree of Proscription against Albert might be recalled And that it hath not as yet been done he imputes it not so much to you as to the troublesome times But now that all rubs and impediments are removed out of your way he thinks it is now in your power to accomplish what sometimes you generously promised when in more Letters than one you assured him that you wanted ability rather than good will to gratifie his desires Now in case the Order will not be quiet but raise Stirs and War he is very confident that you will observe the Articles and Compacts of your Predecessors the Emperours Maximilian and Frederick One thing more I have in my Instructions and that concerns the Cities of Dantzick and Elwang Though these are under the Dominion of Poland yet are they called to the Diets of the Empire the King therefore desires that no such thing may be done for the future and since no Man but he hath any right to them that henceforward they may be suffered to enjoy their own Laws When the Emperour had heard his Demands he made a Report of them to the Diet of the Empire and gave a Copy of the Speech to Wolfgang Master of Prussia who January the Twenty third made an Answer to it in the vulgar Language and having begun with a little Preface The Hinge of the whole Controversie turns upon this saith he Whether Prussia belong to the Dominion of Poland or to the Empire and if I make out the last the decision will be very easie The State of the Case then most Triumphant Emperour most Potent King most Noble Princes and States is thus as I am about to shew you About four hundred years since when a publick War was undertaken against the Barbarians who exceedingly distressed those of our Religion in Asia and Africa the Order we now speak of was instituted by Emperours afterward bountifully endowed and by Popes confirmed The Knights of that Order for some years after sustained most difficult and dangerous Wars in those parts for the good of Christendom but at length having received a great overthrow they were scattered and dispersed into several places It happened about that time that Conrade Duke of Muscovy was sadly put to it by the Prussians who were then Enemies to the Christian Religion He being unable to defend himself any longer against them implored first the Pope of Rome that as the Custom was he would publish a Croisadoe and by promises of Heavenly Rewards encourage Men to become Soldiers Then next he joyned to himself this Order of mine bestowing upon them all the Country of Culm bordering upon Prussia and the more to excite them afterwards all Prussia it self The Emperour Frederick II. confirmed this Donation and made a promise to Horman Salcie then Master of the Order That if he would make War against the Prussians and overcome them their Land should be his for ever This was in the year 1226. so that my Order having by the help of the Emperours Popes and Princes of the Empire carried on a continual War against the Prussians for almost filty three years at length they subdued Prussia and converted it to the Christian Religion adorning it with some Bishopricks and Colledges and strengthening it by Castles and Towns which they built that for the future that Country might be as a Wall and Bariere to the Empire and a Sanctuary for the Nobility of Germany Thus one part of that Country continued in our hands until the year 1450. and the other till the time of Albert of Brandenburg When in process of time afterwards the Lithuanians joyning with the Tartars made War against the Poles and Muscovites our Knights being mindful of their Order and Institution took Arms totally routed the Lithuanians and invaded their Country So that we had a lasting Peace and Amity with the Poles until a certain Prince of Lithuania was chosen King of Poland He to revenge the loss and affront that his Country had received suddenly set upon us and with the Assistance of the Barbarians did us much hurt But being by our Men forced to retreat and stript of a considerable part of his own Dominions he made but an unlucky end of the War so that he preferred his Grievances to the Council of Constance whereupon a Decree was made That our Order should restore that part of Poland which they held by the Law of Arms. Having in this manner recovered what he had lost he forgot the kindness that was done him and renewed the War pretending that some Provinces of our Order belonged to the Dominion of Poland And though by the Mediation of the Kings of Hungary and Bohemia the matter was taken up yet the sore broke out again and at length the Cause was brought before Sigismund the Emperour who approved the former Composition that was made by the two Kings However the King of Poland could not rest thus but raised another War which lasted till twenty four years after in the Reign of Ladâ—slaus it was made an end of at Torn In which Pacification he quits all Claim and Title calls not himself Lord or Inheritor of Prussia and obliges all his Successors that within a year after they come to the Crown they swear to Ratifie that Peace make the Bishops and other States of the Kingdom take the same Oath and that every tenth year the same be renewed It was then also Stipulated that if thenceforward any King of Poland should wage War against
afterwards at Vicenza but thither hardly any and hither but a few came And the Legats that I sent for six months stayed expecting the rest of the Bishops whom I called by Letters and Messengers sent unto all Parts Now you say that these Towns were not fit for Men of different Nations to meet in but Trent with you is a proper place And yet all Men know that Trent is not to be compared with them either for bigness or plenty of all things It was not the inconvenience of the place then but the Wars of Princes that was the hindrance Tell me then now which of the two was most zealous in this particular the Emperour who by Wars and Commotions hindered the Council or the Pope who was always a Lover and Promoter of Peace who never sided with any Prince but the Emperour alone and that too only in that War which seemed to secure a way for a Council Whether the Emperour was forced upon War and unwillingly engaged in it or not I shall not dispute but it is certainly known that the Wars put a stop to the progress of the Council I enter not willingly unto this Comparison because it is a contending for the praise of Virtue and Goodness which is all to be ascribed unto God but you have put me upon it my Lord Ambassadour However I will not insist any longer only advise you to reflect seriously on the several years of my Pontificate and attentively consider what care and pains we have taken And indeed the two things which I always proposed to my self were that I might entertain peace amongst Princes and call a Council wherein I have spared neither cost nor labour though I be stricken in years but neither do you find fault with any thing that preceded the Council and only accuse the Legats that without my knowledge they removed to Bolonia Then it offends you too that I call the Assembly of the Fathers at Bolonia a Council and you think that therein I do an injury to those who are at Trent but what hurt is there in that for so all Men speak The Council is translated from Trent to Bolonia Wherefore if I would do the duty of a just Judge I cannot but call it so till I be otherwise convinced by contrary Evidences especially since the greater part of the Bishops went thither with my Legats Nor ought the smaller part as you affirm but the greater to be reckoned the sounder in a dubious case And it is certain that it is in the Councils power to remove to another place but whether or not it be lawfully removed which is the thing in controversie I reserve that to my own Judgment to which it is referred and in the mean time give the name of Council to that Assembly But you say that the Authors of the Translation are devoted to me Do you think that is to be found fault with then You consequently praise those who remained at Trent because they are not so complaisant Consider what danger there is in that for Schisms and Dissentions that are very pernicious to the Church commonly spring from this when Bishops withdraw themselves from their obedience to the Pope But if by being addicted to me you mean Factious Men that right or wrong take my part I own no such For I have no other private Concerns but those of a Father towards his Children and of a Pastor towards his Flock nor hath there any such Controversie been as yet started in the Council that I should stand in need of any such addicted and pre-engaged Creatures but I chiefly required of the Bishops that they have regard to the liberty of their Conscience and I laid strict Injunctions on my Legats when they departed from me to the Council that they should take special care that the Fathers might have no cause to complain that they were not allowed the freedom of speaking their Judgments You find fault also that I will not be prevailed with by the Intreaties neither of the Emperour King Ferdinand nor of the States of the Empire to recal the Fathers to Trent and from thence gather that I take no care of Germany especially seeing with great pains and trouble the Emperour has brought it about that those who heretofore were fallen off from the Church would not now refuse the Decrees of the Council provided it were continued at Trent Truly I never refused in positive terms but that they might return to Trent if it might be done lawfully and without giving offence to other Nations Now how desirous I am of the welfare of Germany is manifest from this that I have called the Council there twice already and twice sent my Legats where the Cardinals Pairizio Morono and Pool in the first Legation stayed the space of seven Months expecting the coming particularly of the Germans and yet you your self know that none came then There came indeed from the Emperour Granvell the Bishop of Arras and you your self my Lord Ambassador and you can bear witness with how much patience our Legats expected the rest But what was the issue Ye your selves did not tarry and though my Legats prayed that one of you three at least might stay because it would be an example to others nevertheless you alledged a certain kind of excuse and a few days after departed Then two years after being indeed a more convenient time there was a second meeting there and I sent Legats the Cardinals de Monte Santacruce and Pool whither you also and Don Francesco de Toledo came But you may call to mind what a tedious expectation there was and how many Months spent in vain before any thing was done Nay more after that they had fallen to Business and many useful Decrees were made you know how few of those came who chiefly wanted that Remedy Not any of the Bishops came some few sent their Proxy's and in short they gave no hopeful signs that they would admit of any Remedy For when many flocked thither out of Spain France Italy and more remote Provinces scarcely one came from Germany which is the next of all But the state of Affairs is now much altered you say and the Emperour whose Power and Authority is now much increased will engage that if the Council return to Trent all the Germans shall submit to its Decrees Good my Lord Ambassadour if what you say be true and if the Germans be in that mind why do not they absolutely submit to the Council wherever it be Yet I would not be so understood neither as if it much concerned me in what place the Council be held But you stick so close to Trent that you say Germany is lost unless it be finished in the same place where it was begun But take heed what you say For whil'st you fasten us to the Walls of one City you do an injury to the Holy Ghost God of old set apart Jerusalem as the peculiar place of his Worship so
apprehensive of a change to lay aside all their fear and give credit to his Letters and Testimony And that as for such who went about to spread such Reports they were not to expect to go unpunished if they persisted to do so Moreover that by his Order some Heads were abstracted out of the Decree lately made at Leipsick which he would have to be taught that therefore they should enquire and learn whether the Ministers did follow that form in the Churches or openly condemned it in their Sermons However it were that they should give him notice of it that if any doubts were started the Divines of Wittemberg and Leipsick were to be consulted and that he commanded these things to be declared unto the People At this time died the Landgraves Wife and Duke Maurice's Mother in Law being heart-broken with sorrow and care for her Husbands Imprisonment and many other Calamities she had suffered There happened now a Popular Insurrection in England upon a double account the one was for enclosing of Lands for it was a Vulgar Grievance that the Nobility and Gentry had taken in and Emparked a great deal of Land which had formerly been Common and made Parks thereof for Deer the other Pretext was Religion for though the Devonshire-men were also against new Enclosures yet their chief Quarrel was for the alteration made in Religion and therefore they demanded that the six Articles made by King Henry the Eight which we mentioned in the Twelfth Book might be restored Since then they were up in Arms a thing of no small danger and would not listen to any Admonition or Advice the King and Council much against their Wills were obliged to send Forces against them that routed and killed some thousands of them The French King who exceedingly longed to recover Boloigne again laid hold on this occasion and partly by Storm and partly by Surrender took some Castles and Forts along the Sea shoar betwixt Boloigne and Calais whereby he reduced the Garison of Boloigne to great difficulties and streights The Nobility of England highly resented this Accident and because the whole Government was in the hands of the Protector the Kings Uncle all the blame was laid upon him that he had not in time provided the Places with Necessaries This Accusation and Envy increasing daily more and more the Protector by the joynt consent of the Peers was in the beginning of October apprehended at Windsor where the King then was and sent to the Tower of London The Nobles afterward by a publick Printed Proclamation signed with all their Hands declare to the People the causes of it and charge him with bad Administration of the Government And the Ringleader of them in this attempt was John Earl of Warwick Whil'st the French King is thus employed against the English the Emperour goes with his Son through Flanders Haynault and Artois making the People of those Provinces swear Allegiance to him and then both return to Antwerp about the Thirteenth of September There the Emperours Son was received in a most magnificent manner not only by the Towns people but also by the Foreign Merchants Spanish Italian German and English and being afterwards accompanied by his Aunt the Regent he visited the other Provinces also and received Homage from them We mentioned before how the Senate of Strasburg had sent a Deputy to the Emperour for adjusting the Controversy that they had with their Bishop wherefore with the Emperours leave Arbitrators were chosen on both sides to take up the matter These met in the Month of October and after a long debate the Senate allowed the Bishop three Churches that according to the Decree lately made he might therein have the Exercise of his Religion and took all the Clergy into their Care and Protection The Bishop on the other hand grants the Senate the College of St. Thomas for a publick School and all the rest of the Churches The Clergy also was to pay a yearly Tribute and some Money to the Senate and were exempted from all other Charged and Duties The Emperour as we said before prosecuted those of Magdeburg with Edicts and Proclamations and solicited the States of Saxony for Aid Most part did not refuse provided all the other States not only of Saxony but of the Empire also did the same But the Lubeckers and Luneburghers at that time having obtained leave from the Emperours Deputies went to Magdeburg with a design to make their peace but it was in vain No Man indeed attempted any open Hostility against them but being outlawed they were in continual dangers and durst not stir abroad out of the City without risking their Lives and Fortunes for it was lawful for all Men to fall foul on them The Senate therefore having in a publick Declaration complained before only of the Injury and Violence received from their Neighbours do now emit a Manifesto directed to all in general but chiefly to those that lived next to them complaining that Calumnies and false Reports went abroad of them as if they behaved themselves stubbornly and arrogantly towards the Emperour and Empire slighting Peace and publishing reproachful Papers but that therein they were wronged That they owned Charles the Emperour for their chief Magistrate and had by publick Proclamation charged all their People not to presume to utter any the least undutiful Expression of his Majesty or of any of the States that they had given no other cause of offence but that they professed the Gospel of Christ and that all the rest were but Calumnies forged by their Enemies That it was not unknown to them who had been present but in some few Assemblies how desirous they had been of peace for that they not only understood but had tasted the sweetness and comfort of it and on the contrary the miseries and calamities that attended War that it would be also a great grief and trouble to them if for their sake their Neighbours should be exposed to danger or receive any prejudice that moreover they confessed that it was neither lawful for them nor in their power obstinately to stand it out against the Emperour and Empire but that being necessitated to defend themselves from injury they had demolished some Houses and seized some Castles small Towns and Villages in time of War not indeed with a design to appropriate them to themselves but that they might not fall into the hands of Strangers nor would they refuse to deliver them up provided their Neighbours would live quietly That there were two main Reasons why they could not obtain a Peace first because they retained the pure Doctrine of the Gospel and rejected the Idol of Popery and then because the other Conditions proposed were not only heavy but intolerable to them and altogether such as could not be performed for that to betray their Liberty which had been granted them by the Emperour Otho the Great the first of that Name and
that having done so when their Guns were discharged they were treacherously boarded and carried away It was wondered at by most Men that the French King durst break with the Emperour at a time when he flourished with so much success and prosperity and as it is said the Emperour himself expected no such thing For though he had a quarrel with Farnese Duke of Parma he would not therefore seem to be at enmity with the French with whom he had made a Peace seven years before But the French King who thought himself wounded through Octavio's Side had certain intelligence that the Turks were at Sea with a Fleet was informed by Agents of the intentions of Duke Maurice and believed that the Emperour now crazy and valetudinary could not live long bravely attempted the matter Near to the same time the Turkish Fleet having in vain attempted Malta took Tripoly in Barbary The blame of this the Emperour laid upon the French King and by his Envoys told the Princes and Free Towns that it was occasioned by French Treachery So soon as the King came to know this he justified himself affirming the cause of the Turkish War to be that the Emperour did not according to his promise restore a Town of theirs that he kept in Barbary that King Ferdinand had seized and fortified the Castle of Zolnock seated on the frontiers of Hungary within the Dominion of the Turks that he payed not his yearly Tribute and attempted Innovations in Transilvania Afterward he published a Narrative in confutation of the Emperours Relation wherein it was given out Tripoly was lost by the Treachery of d'Aremont the French Ambassadour and confirmed it by the Grand Signiors Letters During these Transactions the First of September the day of the Sessions of the Council came and then were present besides the Italian and Spanish Bishops the Archbishops of Mentz and Treves in appearance mightily congratulated and welcomed by all who were followed not long after by the Archbishop of Cologne For the Emperour had both personally at Ausburg and by Messengers and Letters dealt earnestly with them that they should be there and indeed they far exceed the rest in Dignity and Splendour and have most of the Bishops of Germany under their Jurisdiction Now seeing they thought that they were like to make a long stay there they kept but a few Horses and sold all the rest laying in Houshold Provisions also for a considerable time There came also the Bishops of Strasburg Vienne Constance Off and Naumburg the rest being detained by Business Sickness or Age begg'd leave and sent their Vicars and Proxies Cardinal Crescentio was Legate and President for the Pope to whom were joyned the Archbishop of Siponto and Bishop of Verona as his Nuncio's The Emperour sent thither Don Francis of Toledo Hugh Count of Montfort and William of Poictieres and some were there also to represent Ferdinand King of Hungary When all were assembled in Session then on the First of September in the Cathedral Church and that Mass and the rest of the Ceremonies which are commonly performed in the beginning were over unexpectedly came in the Abbat of Bellosane Ambassadour from the French King with a Letter directed to the Assembly of Trent Having delivered it to the Legat who read the Superscription a Debate arose Why he called them an Assembly rather than Council That the Letter was not to be received nor read cried they unless he did shew that he had a Commission And when in the heat of the contest a heavy noise and clamour was made especially by the Spanish Bishops and that he told them that his Commission was contained in the Letter the Popes Legate arose and called the Fathers into the Vestry The matter being canvassed they concluded that he was to have Audience because the Inscription could admit of a good sense The Letter being then read privately wherein the King briefly expressed his grief and complained that he had wrong done him they all took their places again and then the Letter being read publickly they made Answer That whereas the King called the Council an Assembly they took it in good part and would not harbour any sinistrous suspicion of him who bore the Name of Most Christian but if he meant otherwise that they lookt upon the Letter as not addressed unto them and then he was bid to speak what he had to say He therefore read a long Speech in Writing And first the King tells them what de Terme his Ambassadour at Rome had done with the Pope and Colledge of Cardinals that none of these ways could prevail though he had made all Overtures of Peace And that Pope Julius who in imitation of his Predecessors ought to compose the Controversies of Princes had raised an extraordinary Combustion in a time that he ought least of all to have done so considering the sad and distressed state of Christendom that since it was so and because he dealt so roughly and implacably with him who was the Eldest Son of the Church he protested as it had been also done at Rome first that by reason of the Troubles and Wars he could not send the Bishops of his Dominions to Trent Again that he owned not that Council for Publick and General but lookt upon it rather as some private Assembly gathered together not or publick good but for the profit and advantage of some few And lastly that neither he nor any of his Subjects could be obliged to submit to the Decrees thereof but on the contrary that if occasion required he would apply those Remedies which in the like case his Ancestors were accustomed to make use of that his Intentions indeed towards Religion and the Church of Rome should always be right and sincere nor would he do any thing that might deserve a Censure but that since he was undeservedly loaded with the injuries and hatred of some Men he could not do otherwise at this time That therefore they should take his protestation in good part and give him an Instrument thereof that he might acquaint the rest of the Princes and People of Christendom with the whole affair Now as to what he said of using Remedies according to the custom of his Ancestors the meaning of it is this As in all other Provinces so also in France if any Bishoprick or Abby fell to be vacant the free Election belonged to the Canons and Monks but for smaller Benefices which are not Elective as they tearm it the Bishops and Patrons bestowed them and then all Suits about Benefices or Church Matters were decided in the several Provinces Now the Popes of Rome as they grew more covetous began to overthrow these Elections and by Reservations and Expectative Graces as they call them drew all the Profit to Rome and to themselves and removed all Suits even those which they call of the first instance primae instantiae to Rome The beginning of this
enough penn'd sharpened them and skrewed them up to the highest pitch of Rigour inviting and encouraging Informers by ample promises of Rewards Which the King as it was thought did with this design that he might curb those who were desirous of a change of Religion in France that they should not take to themselves the greater liberty because of his clasing with the Pope at this time Again that they who honoured the Church of Rome might entertain no suspicion of him as if his mind hankered after a new Religion And lastly that both the Pope and College of Cardinals might perceive that they might have access still to his Friendship when they pleased Afterward a Declaration came forth out of the Emperour's Court wherein the original of the War of Parma is related and how just a cause of Offence the Pope had against Octavio and the Prince of Mirandula of how restless a mind the French King was who laid hold on all occasions and made it his whole study and endeavour to hinder and disappoint the Emperour's most honest and lawful Designs But that the Emperour was so little moved at all these things that he would proceed with greater Courage and Resolution Octavio had given it out that he was necessitated to put himself under the protection of the French King because of the Injuries and Treacheries of Ferdinando Gonzaga but in this Declaration that is refuted For that if there were any cause of fear he himself gave the occasion who had oftener than once laid wait for the life of Gonzaga Then there is an account given how Piacenza fell into the Emperour's hands for that Petro Aloisio the Pope's Bastard Son being invested into Parma and Piacenza governed the Poeple tyrannically and like another Nero practised his detestable Lust not only upon Women but Men also as his custom was that therefore he was slain and murdered in his own House by the Citizens who could no longer suffer so great Cruelties That the Towns-people then perceiving the present danger they were in if they should fall again under the Jurisdiction of the Pope and Church of Rome had no other way of security left than to resign themselves over to the Emperour especially since of old they had been free Denizons of the Empire That therefore they had applied themselves to Gonzaga praying him to receive them into the Emperour's protection for that otherwise they must look for help and patronage somewhere else That it was an idle thing in him then to pretend fear seeing the Emperour had bestowed many favours upon the Family of Farnese that he had chosen Octavio to be his Son-in-law given his Father Peter Aloisio the City of Novara in Fee and Inheritance and honoured him with the Title of Marquess But that they had been very ungrateful at all times but particularly when under a counterfeit mask of Friendship they assisted him in subduing some Rebels of Germany their whole design was at the same time to have taken from him Milan and Genoua for that Joannin D'Oria a brave and valiant Man was basely killed in that Scuffle and Tumult whilst he discharged his duty to the Emperour and stood up for the safety of his Country There came out an answer to this afterward in name of the French King wherein a relation is given how that the Emperour to endear Paul III. to himself had given to his Son Petro Aloisio the Title and Quality of Marquess how that he had taken his Son Octavio to be his own Son-in-law how that he had gratifyed and obliged his other Son Alexander with many Ecclesiastical Preferments and in short how that he had made a League with the Pope wherein it was provided as it is said that the Emperour should confirm the Decree of the College of Cardinals concerning the Principality of Parma and Piacenza to the Family of the Farneses But that when the Emperour was at War in Germany and pretended it was not for Religion but to punish the Rebellion of some that he had taken up Arms it was a very unacceptable Contrivance to the Pope as wel perceiving that by so doing he minded only his own private Concerns and aimed at Dominion And that he had not been out in his Judgment neither for that when the War being over the Emperour stood not much in need of the assistance of the Farneses he had given no dark intimations of his ill will to the Pope for that then his Governours in Italy had had an eye and mind to Piacenza and that not long after Ruffians being subborned to murder Petro Aloisio in his Chamber before that the Citizens heard of the Murder Soldiers had been brought into the Town who seized the Castle in the Emperour's Name That if the Emperour had not been privy to the Fact it had been but reasonable that after the death of Paul the Third he should have restored it to the Church but that he not only restored it not but had also endeavoured to take Parma from his Son-in-law and had even in the life-time of Paul laid his measures for effecting it insomuch that the Trouble and Vexation which the Pope thereupon conceived shortened his days That afterwards Assassines had been apprehended at Parma who voluntarily confessed That they had been employed by Ferdinando Gonzaga to kill Octavio that being reduced then into such streights that they from whom he expected help and his own Father-in-law too had designs upon him to rob him both of Life and Fortune he had implored help and protection from him which upon his humble Supplication he could not refuse THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH BOOK XXIII The CONTENTS The Fathers of Trent meet in Session aâ—d draw up the form of a safe Conduct for coming to the Council The French King consents not nay he persuades the Switzers to send none to it Peace is fully concluded with the Magdeburgers The Conditions of the Peace are set down Some Cities of Germany send Deputies to the Council The Ambassadors of the Duke of Wirtemberg are deluded Duke Maurice having sent Ambassadors to the Emperour about the Landgrave and obtaining nothing but shifts and delays he presently resolves upon a War. The Bishop of Waradine lately made Cardinal by whose help King Ferdinand had made himself Master of all Transilvania almost is slain in his own House The Emperour in his Letters which he sendeth to appease the Electoral Archbishops tells them That he expects nothing but what is fair and honest from Duke Maurice who the better to cloak and conceal his designs sends his Deputies also to the Council with whom others joyn and demands a safe Conduct for his Divines to come but especially that they who are of a contrary persuasion should not sit as Judges in the Council They depart without success when it began to be spread abroad that their Master Duke Maurice was a preparing for War. The Tridentine Fathers disagree among themselves Shortly after news
a Dalmatian Bishop of Waradin Cardinal He was a Man of great Authority in Hungary and commonly called Monk because he was of the Order of Paul the first Hermit It has been declared before that the French Ambassador was ordered to attend on the eleventh of October to receive his answer provided the King owned the Council but he came not and nevertheless in name of the Council a Letter to the King was published And first they tell him that for many Reasons they had expected every thing that was good and great at his hands but that upon the coming of his Ambassdor and reading of his Letter it was a great Grief to them to find themselves frustrated of their hopes and that nevertheless since they were not conscious to themselves of any wrong they had done nor of any cause of offence that they had given they had not as yet wholly laid aside the hopes they formerly conceived of him that the Opinion he entertained then as if the Council had been called for the particular interest and advantage of some few ought least of all to take place in that so great an Assembly That the Causes of calling the Council were published not only by the present Pope but also by his Predecessor Paul III. to wit that Heresies might be rooted out that Discipline might be reformed and that the Peace of the Church might be restored Was not that manifest enough Could there any thing be done more Piously or Christianly That Heresies did now spread not only over Germany but in some manner over all Provinces that the Council would apply a Remedy to this great evil that this was the ground and this also the end of all their Deliberations and that all they did aimed only at that that therefore he would suffer the Bishops within his Dominions to come and assist in carrying on so holy a Work that he had no cause to fear but that they should have liberty to speak freely what they thought that with much patience and attention his Ambassador had been lately heard though his Message had not been so very pleasant and that since a private person had been heard with so much mildness and favour why should any Man believe that that would be denied to publick persons and Men of such Dignity too That notwithstanding though he should not send one single person yet both the Authority and Dignity of the Council would subsist as being both lawfully called at first and for just Causes now again restored but that as to what he intimated of using Remedies such as his Ancestors had made use of they did not think that he would ever proceed so far as to revive those things which have heretofore been abolished to the great advantage of the Kings of France And that seeing God had blessed him with so many benefits and favours they could not but hope that he would not do any thing whereby he might seem unthankful to God or to holy Mother Church That he should only look back upon his Progenitors upon his own Title of Most Christian King and in a word upon his Father King Francis who honoured the former Council by the Ambassadors and most learned Bishops whom he sent to it that he should imitate that late and domestick Example and sacrifice private Offences to the publick Good. The Emperour and Pope had exhorted the Switzers to come to the Council but it was in vain And the Pope as we said before made use of the Ministery of Jerom Francâ— his Nuncio there to bring that about But the French King sent Instructions to the Ambassador La Morliere who resided in those places that he should endeavour to persuade them all not to send any person to it La Morliere finding that to be a difficult task sent for Vergerio an expert Man in those Affairs to come to him from amongst the Grisons who supplied him with Arguments and a little after published a Book against repairing to the Council La Moliere thus provided came to the Convention at Baden and there alledging his Reasons he persuaded not only those who long before had shaken off Popery but also all the other Cantons to what he desired of them so that none came from them to Trent From the Grisons came by Orders from the Pope Thomas Plant Bishop of Coyre but when the Grisons understood from Vergerio what the Pope was driving at that is by his means to recover his Authority over them he was recalled The Spaniards who Quartered here and there in the Country of Wirtemburg were about this time called out by the Emperour and sent into Italy because of the War of Parma By their departure the whole Province was relieved from a very heavy Bondage under which it had groaned for almost five whole years only the Castle of Achsperg the Emperour still retained with a Garison of Germans in it About the same time also Henry Hasen at the Emperour's Command went over Schwabia and in all places changed the State of the Government putting in new Senators as had been done three years before at Ausburg He turned out also all Preachers and School-masters as had been done lately at Ausburg unless they would obey the Decree about Religion That Duke Maurice and the Duke of Wirtemberg had ordered the Heads of Doctrine to be drawn up which should afterwards be exhibited and that the Senate of Strasburg joyned with them also in that design it hath been said before The Duke of Wirtemburg therefore sent two Ambassadors John Theodorick Plenninger and John Heclin with Instructions publickly to produce that written Confession of Doctrine and to acquaint the Council That Divines would come to treat of it more at large and to defend the same provided they might have a safe Conduct granted them according to the form of that of Basil So soon as they arrived at Trent which was about the later end of October they waited upon Count Montfort shew him their Commission and Credential Letters and acquainted him that they had some things to pâ—opose in Council in their Princes Name His Discourse seemed to insinuate that it behoved them to apply themselves to the Pope's Legate But they perceiving that if they should have any Communication with him it would be construed as if they owned him to have the chief Right and Authority in judging which would be a prejudice and great disadvantage to their Cause did not go to him but gave their Prince an account of what they had done and expected new Orders from him how to behave themselves In the mean time the Divines were employed after their usual manner in examining and discussing the Points we mentioned of Penance and Extream Unction November the third Count Heideck came from Duke Maurice to Magdeburg and having called out the Officers of the Garison to a Castle hard by the City he fully concluded a Peace and thereupon drew up and signed Articles wherein
assurance that they would not annoy him nor his Friends for that he had been put in good hopes by the Letters of a great many that if Liberty were once restored the Peace of the Church might also be upon lawful terms established all ambition and desire of private lucre being set aside That these were the things he thought fit to declare unto them that they might know what his will and purpose was That therefore he did require that no Person would offer to hinder or molest him or his Friends in the prosecution of so just a War and so necessary for the welfare of Germany for that otherwise if any Man should so much forget the love and duty which he owed to his Country as to think of making resistance he would destroy him with Fire and Sword and though it would be against his will to do so yet if any such should be he must be cut off as a rotten and corrupt Member from the rest of the Body lest he might hurt by Contagion and so be restrained from doing of Mischief That they might learn the rest from his Ambassador the Bishop of Byonne that he sent to them with fuller Instructions to whom he willed them to give Credit This Declaration was Printed and Published in the vulgar Tongue with a Cap betwixt two Daggers over head and this Motto The Emblem of Liberty underneath was the title of the King who called himself the Defender of the Liberty of Germany and of the Captive Princes Some say that this cognisance was to be found on ancient Medals and was given by the Murtherers of Julius Caesar Whereas he said that the Emperor had allotted a reward to those who should kill some of his Collonels the Story is this The Emperor had by a late Edict again proscribed the Rhinegrave Recrod Rifeberg and Scherteline who all served the King of France as we said before and had promised a reward of four thousand Florins to him that should bring in any one of them dead or alive for they were great promoters of the Cause and after the League we mentioned was made went into Germany and there raised Soldiers whom they carried into France Now Scherteline was in a manner forced to fly over to the French King after he had for some years in vain sollicited but could not by any man's Intercession be received into favour again with the Emperor nor King Ferdinand These declarations of the Princes and French King being dispersed over Germany wrought hope in some but in many fear and anxiety Duke Maurice who disguised all things held a convention of the States of his Dominion on the first of March and amongst other things declared unto them that being cited to appear by the Landgrave's Sons he could no longer shuffle with them nor frustrate their Expectation that he was therefore going to them that he might fullfil his Promise and Engagement that in the mean time they should obey his Brother Augustus whom he left to govern them in his absence and to raise Men for the defence of the Frontiers that they might not be unprovided if any thing should happen The Elector of Brandenburg was present there it being the day he had been cited to appear on but having obtained leave from the Landgrave's Sons to appear another time when he should be summoned to come and fulfil his Promise he returned Home In the mean time Duke Maurice having settled all things at home and assigned some Counsellors to his Brother Augustus went with few in Company to the Forces which as I said he had lying in Thuringe and marching forwards a little waited for the coming of the Landgrave's Son. Before he parted from home Henry Burgrave of Misnia a Man of Illustrious Birth and Chancellor of Bohemia had in King Ferdinand's Name treated earnestly with him about an accommodation Now when on the eighteenth of March the Landgrave's Son was come with his Forces to Erlebach the French Ambassador being there also they both wrote to the City of Frankfurt requiring them amongst other things not to admit a Garrison from the Emperor and although their answer from within was not plain enough nor to their satisfaction yet there was nothing else done because it concerned him to hasten his March forwards Six days after he joyned Duke Maurice and so in three days more all the Army came to Schuinfurt there Duke Maurice told him that King Ferdinand offered to Mediate and had both by Letters and Agents plainly enough intimated that he had Power also to treat about his Father's Liberty He therefore making the French Ambassador privy to it was willing he said to hear what conditions and demands King Ferdinand would propose That being resolved upon they march in great haste by Rotenburg Dinklespiel and Nordlingeâ— to Donawert at Rotenburg they were joyned by Albert Marquess of Brandenburg with his Forces both Horse and Foot wheresoever they past they brought the Towns-People under Subjection and made new Magistrates in place of those the Emperor put in whom they turned out making them also furnish Money and Ordnance and because Ausburg was but meanly Garrisoned and that about the same time part of the Wall and Rampart was fallen down on the first day of March they set forward and marching all night came before it the first of April about noon where by making some Incursions they shewed themselves to be Enemies The Emperor had sent four Companies of Foot into the Town but when four days after the Towns-People surrendred the Place they had leave given them to March away Then they summon the Cities of upper Germany and Norimberg amongst the rest commanding them to appear at Ausburg by the end of April That also sollicite Ulm which is but nine Miles distant from Ausburg to assist them with all thins necessary and enter into Society with them Much about the same time the Prince of Salerno upon occasion of a quarrel which he had with the Viceroy of Naples revolted from the Emperor and went into France Whilst these things are acting in Germany the French King having taken the Field with a vast Army made himself Master of Toul and Verdan two Imperial Cities upon the Frontiers of France After ward he marched to Lorrain and sent the young Duke a Boy of nine years of Age into France though his Mother the Dutchess Dowager had begged earnestly to the contrary and promised to give him his Daughter in Marriage Whilst he himself is taken up about these affairs the Constable Ann of Momorency who commanded the Van possesses himself of Metz a famous Imperial City on the tenth of April there being but a small Garrison in it and the French having made fair Promises protesting that their King had taken up Arms only for the defence of their Liberty For when March the fifteenth the King marched over the borders of France by Letters and Messengers whom he sent unto them he
the League and to demand of them Ammunition Provisions and a great summ of Money but after a long Treaty when all the other Conditions being set aside they had paid down an hundred Thousand Florins they promised them Peace both in their own Names and in the Names of all their Associates and thereupon gave them an instrument under Hand and Seal in most ample form Being therefore now attacked by Marquess Albert they send their Complaints to them and because Duke Maurice was not as yet come back from Lintz on the third of May the Landgrave's Son wrote back to them from Gundelfingen bidding them be in good Hopes but five days after when Duke Maurice was come back they both wrote promising to observe the Treaty and disapproving the action of Marquess Albert as quite contrary to their Expectation and they assure them besides that they will endeavour to have all restored that hath been taken from them and that they will instantly recall the Forces which they lent him The Norimbergers having received Marquess Albert's Letter wrote him an Answer the same Day shewing him what Duke Maurice and the Princes had promised them by Treaty and telling him that that was the reason why they had not sent Deputies to him Wherefore they earnestly pray and beseech him to restore to them the Castle in good condition and thereby gratify his Confederates He again wrote back three days after that since it was unknown to him what Transaction the Princes had made with them and that the case much concerned the French King to whom he was no less engaged than to them he demands a safe Conduct for a person of Credit whom he would send into the Town to whom they should shew the instrument of their Treaty they comply and produce the same Notwithstanding all this though Duke Maurice and the Confederate Princes carefully interposed on the eleventh of May he again sent them a threatning Note requiring them in the French King's Name chiefly to give him within a few Hours a positive Answer whether they would obey what was commanded them or not and having received an answer not to his liking he plundered burnt and razed to the Ground the Castle of Lichtenaw with the adjoyning Town and having exacted Money of the Towns-People and forced them to take an Oath to be true to him and his Cousin-German George Frederick he laid Siege to the City Wherefore the Landgrave's Son forthwith recalled two Troops of Horse which he had lent him against Wolfgang Master of the Teutonick Order commanding them to return back to him whereat he was mightily offended He therefore began a cruel War and having Plundered an Hundred Villages within their Territories about seventy Mannor and Farm-Houses belonging to the Citizens with the Churches he Burnt not only them but also three Thousand Acres of Wood in a vast Forrest of theirs which supplied both them and their Neighbours with Timber and Fuel He had before this declared War against the Nobility and others who lived thereabouts if they would not obey and especially against the Bishops of Bamberg and Wurtzburg whom also in this state of Affairs he forced to submit to very hard Conditions Insomuch that the Bishop of Bamberg to save himself and whole Province from imminent danger bought a Peace of him at a very dear rate for he was fain to make over to him twenty Towns and Lordships within his Dominion by Deed and Conveyance which he Signed the nineteenth day of May and therewith all his Superiorities and Vassalls But the Bishop of Wurtzburg paid him down two Hundred and twenty Thousand Florins and took upon him the Payment of his Debts which amounted to about three hundred and fifty Thousand Florins more The free Towns of Schuabia which as we said before assembled at Ausburg to the number of twenty six but especially those of Ausburg taking Pity on this sad and deplorable condition of the Norimbergers sent Deputies chosen out of their whole number to mediate an accommodation who being come upon safe Conduct to Norimberg exhorted the Senate to Peace for many Reasons telling them that Erenberg and the Passes of the Alpes were all in the Power of the Confederates and that the state of Italy and Hungary was such that no help nor relief was to be expected from any hand and then they shew them the Conditions proposed by Marquess Albert. The Senate gave them thanks for their Affection and the Pains they had put themselves to and having represented to them how that Marquess Albert had no cause to make War against them and how they had capitulated with Duke Maurice and the Confederates they plainly told them that since the Conditions were such as neither they could perform them nor if they did could justifie themselves to the Emperor and King Ferdinand for so doing they resolved to suffer the Extremity and commit their Cause to God being so well satisfied with their own Innocence that they could make not only the Emperor but all Princes nay the Relations and intimate Friends of Marquess Albert himself their Judges in the case When the Mediators had in as soft and fair words as they could given Marquess Albert the Senate's Answer and found him so far from relenting that he broke out into most outragious threats by Letters dated the fourth day of June they acquaint the Besieged that his Mind was implacable and that they could not by any means bring him to more reasonable terms In the mean time Marquess Albert batters the Town again more furiously than before throws Fire into several places and one Night gives the Assault burning at the same time one of the Suburbs for the greater terror At the same time came to the Camp George Thannenberg and William Schachten Ambassadors sent joyntly from Duke Maurice and the Landgrave's Son to treat of Peace These taking to them the assistance of the Deputies of the Cities who otherwise were about to depart as despairing of any Success after a tedious and laborious negotiation prevailed with both at length and clapt up a Peace for not only was Marquess Albert reinforced with fresh recruits that came to the Army under the Command of James Dalbeck and Christopher Oldenburg but Duke Maurice had written to the Senate also that though he was extreamly troubled at what Marquess Albert did yet he was not able to remedy it at present These were the conditions of Peace that they should pay two hundred Thousand Florins deliver six pieces of Ordnance with their Appurtenances and entertain amity with the Confederate Princes as they of Ausburg did on the other hand that he should restore all he had taken from them Wherefore about the twentieth of June the Siege was raised from before Norimberg one not only of the most famous powerful and Wealthy but also strongest Cities in Germany The Marquess puffed up with this so brave Success wrote from the Camp to those of
parts of one and the same Empire under one Prince and governed by the same Laws but that when in the vicissitude of time the Empire devolved upon the Germans the Dukes of Saxony and other Emperors as deriving their Original from the Kings of the Francs entertained constant Friendship with the French insomuch that Philip the August King of France caused that ancient League which was almost worn out by time to be written of new in Golden Characters and to be laid up in a more Sacred place and not without just Cause neither for that so long as this Union lasted both People lived in a most flourishing State That the force of Germany was then so great that they gave Laws not only to the Hungarians Bohemians Polanders and Danes but to the Italians also and the Kings of France again who fought for the maintenance of Religion obtained many glorious Victories in Europe Asia and Africa over the Saracens and Turks the declared Enemies of Christendom But that the times proved more unlucky afterwards when some Emperors as being ingrafted upon the Stock but no natural Germans nor worthy of that Dignity forsook the amity of the Kings of France and brought great Calamities upon the Empire but that through God's Blessing this Wound was Healed by the Illustrious Family of Luxembourg which hath produced some Emperors Princes of great Merit and most intimate Friends of the Kings of France For the Father of Charles IV died fighting for the King of France that the Princes of the House of Austria have entertained the same Amity and Kindness and particularly Albert the first whom neither the Promises nor Threats of the Popes could move to make War against France that he mentioned these things with this Intent that they might be convinced how little some of the Counsellors and Courtiers of the most mighty Emperor Charles V. tendered the wellfare of the Empire whilst they make it their Business not only to divide and rend asunder those two most renowned Nations but also did by their Arts and Cunning so far prevail formerly that King Francis a most excellent Prince was by their Procurement judged an Enemy and no reason given why That they did those things for their own private Gain and Advantage indeed but to the great Prejudice of the Publick That this alone was enough to shew how difficult it would be for them so long as Friendship continued betwixt both Nations to infringe the Liberty of Germany and to erect their own Monarchy that the fear of the French Arms made them now proceed more remissly and not so much urge their Spanish Yoke of Bondage as formerly that these were the Men who by Prayers and Tribute obtained Peace from the Turk that they might under the Colour of Religion and Loyalty raise Feuds and Animosities in Germany that being aided by the Forces of Germany they might make War against Germany that they might squeeze Money from all and reduce the Empire to a sad and miserable Condition placing here and there Spanish Garrisons exhausting the Magazines and making way for Arbitrary Rule For that matters were now brought to this Pass that the great Seal of the Empire the Judicature of the Imperial Chamber and the right and liberty of Diets all depended on the Will and Pleasure of one Man the Bishop of Arrus For what instance could be shewn or reason given that free-born Germans who for a livelihood served Strangers in their Wars should be Punished Proscribed and have Princes set upon their Heads Not to mention so many Murthers lascivious Practices Devastations plunderings of Towns but especially the varying and altering of Religion according to occasion and the turn of Times That there was no doubt to be made but that whatever had been done of this nature for many Years past tended only to this that the Laws of the Empire being Confounded King Ferdinand either forced or wheedled by Promises and the Princes of the Empire over-awed the Prince of Spain might be designed Emperor Were not Death more eligible to brave Men than to live and see the Sun with so great Misery That no Man certainly could be imagined so Barbarous as not to be moved at these things That it ought not to be thought strange then that some Princes should at length arise and amongst others Duke Maurice Elector of Saxony who thought the danger of their Lives too little for recovering the liberty of their common Country But that finding themselves inferiour in Strength they had implored the Aid and Assistance of the King of France and that he setting aside all the Provocations received in former Years had not only imparted to them his Treasure but also employed himself wholly in the Affair having made a League with them wherein amongst other things it was provided that no Peace should be made with the Emperor without the Advice and Consent of the King Moreover that Duke Maurice though he lay under that Obligation yet that he might serve his Country and comply with the Desires of King Ferdinand had lately demanded of the most Christian King that he would let him know upon what terms he would be willing to make Peace That the Proposal had been made somewhat contrary to his Expectation indeed for considering what a great Favour he had done he thought that in matters concerning himself he ought to have Treated Personally and not at so great distance But that nevertheless since he preferred the publick far before his own private Interests he was not willing to deny any thing to a Confederate Prince That therefore if the Wounds of the State might be Healed as they ought to be and such Care taken that they might not for the future Fester again if the Captive Princes might be set at Liberty upon the Conditions prescribed by the League if the ancient Alliance betwixt France and the Empire and the League made lately with the Princes might be confirmed so as it should be perpetual if all these things might be procured the King was so well affected towards the Publick that he not only assented to the Treaty of Peace but would render hearty Thanks to God that by Counsel and Assistance he had contributed thereunto That as to private affairs since the Emperor detained many things by force and upon no just Cause had made War the King thought it reasonable that he who had first done the wrong should first also make the Satisfaction That for his part though he did not distrust his Strength yet he would so behave in all things that it should appear he was not only desirous of Peace but willing also to gratify Duke Maurice and them all To these things the Princes make answer that the Commemoration of the ancient Alliance betwixt Germany and France brought from the Records of former times had been very pleasant unto them nor was it less acceptable to understand that the King preferred the Publick before his own private Advantages and that he was willing
Leave to manage the War at their own Pleasure and that though whilst he himself lay still with his Army upon the Rhine the Enemy had invaded his Country at Home yet he did not stir till he had Information from Duke Maurice that those things for which the War had been undertaken might be obtained in a peaceable manner That he had not a little rejoyced at that News seeing matters went according to his own Hearts desire For that it had been his Advice and Counsel first that the Princes should not let slip so fair an occasion as they had offered them nor that they should not be so far overseen as to suffer themselves to be imposed upon and gulled as formerly and then that since he had given them so eminent an Instance of his Good-will and Friendship a firm Amity might be setled betwixt the two Nations that so he might afterwards have more leisure to mind the other concerns of the Publick That now since Duke Maurice had desired to know of him upon what terms he was willing to listen to Peace It was his Opinion and he must say it that the Emperor had made War against him for no just Cause but that it was not the Custom of the Kings of France to sue for Peace from an Enemy especially from one to whom neither in Strength nor any thing else they were inferiour So that to propound any thing unless there were certain hopes that it would be granted he did not at all think it proper That he entertained so good Thoughts of them that he was confident they would require nothing of him but what might stand with his Honour and Dignity and that he on the other hand had so great a Love and Esteem for them that were they to Treat of the General Peace of the whole World he would be ready for their sakes to remit part of his own Right That he was very willing they should have the Cognisance and Determination of his Demands provided the Emperor submitted to the same and earnestly wished that with the first occasion some Meeting might be held upon that account and that if so then all Men should understand both how much he loved the Publick and how falsly it was given out by his Enemies that he had made a League with the Turks But that if nothing of what he said should take place if all Consultations conspired for his ruin and that the Alliance which he had good reason to expect with the Germans should not be contracted the blame ought not to be imputed to him if greater Troubles did arise This Letter was publickly read before the Princes on the first of July Duke Maurice came to Passaw by the day appointed and next day was the Emperor's Answer brought to King Ferdinand who having thereupon called a Meeting told the Princes that the Emperor had written his Mind but that he did not assent to most things proposed and that since it was so it was to no purpose to tell them what Answer he had given to every Particular But nevertheless that he might make it appear how desirous he was of Peace and how well he wished Germany he would go himself in great Diligence to the Emperor and doubted not but that he might be able to perswade him That in the mean time he earnestly desired Duke Maurice would not be impatient but condescend to a short delay of eight Days which was the least time he could take to go and come in This the Duke immediately refused and King Ferdinand pressed it very hard but all in vain for Duke Maurice calling together the Princes and Ambassadors told them that they themselves knew very well who had been present at all Transactions for the space of a whole Month that he had omitted nothing which might have contributed to the setling of a Peace and doubted not but they would upon Honour testifie as much That therefore he desired them to continue their Good-will and Favour towards him and promote the common Cause of Germany That no more could be granted by him and that because of his forwardness to Treat he began almost to be suspected by his Confederates The Princes having made him a generous Answer and commended his Zeal for the Publick apply themselves to King Ferdinand and desire that in the Emperor's Name he would come to a final Determination That they believed whatever he should do would be ratified by his Imperial Majesty King Ferdinand made Answer that he had no such Power granted him by his Brother else he would not offer to take upon him the trouble of that Journey and that indeed he durst not transgress the Limits that were prescribed to him We told you before that the Princes Mediators had by Letters of the sixteenth of June exhorted the Emperor to Peace To these Letters now the Emperor wrote an Answer from Villach the last day of the same Month to this purpose That from his first entring into the Government he had always been studious of Peace and desired nothing else at present That they needed not then to have recommended it so much unto him but to those rather who had been the Authors of these Troubles they should have have spoken in that Strain and that by their Allegiance to him and the Empire he required them to do so That as to his own private Concerns he was ready for their Sakes to condescend to many things provided that in the way of Treaty the Imperial Authority might not be impeached nor matter left for greater Broils but that as to the substance of the Pacification he had signified his Mind to his Brother King Ferdinand from whom they might learn the Particulars To these Letters they wrote back an Answer on the fifth of July when King Ferdinand returned to the Emperor representing to his Majesty that at his desire and suggestion they came to this Treaty and the more willingly too because he had declared That he would do any thing for the publick Good That with great Labour Care and Diligence they had found out a way of Pacification and that therefore they begged and that most earnestly that he would consider the case of their common Country That many and those the chief States of the Empire had already suffered great Calamity and that the condition of Affairs was such now and so little time given to Deliberation that the rest of the Princes and States especially those who were nearest the Flame could not how willing soever they might be perform the Duty and Loyalty they owed him nay that they were necessitated to take such Courses as might soonest rid them of the imminent Calamity and Misery wherewith they were threatned That if he would not incline to Peace but try the fortune of War sad disorders and dangerous alterations would thereby be occasioned in Germany which might afterwards be communicated to his own Provinces That he could not do better then than to acquiesce to
Souldiers and to others when speaking of the Pacification of Passaw you call'd it a betraying of Germany reflecting more particularly upon Me and Plaw the Chancellor of Bohemia my good Friend Nor am I ignorant of what you attempted the last Winter when I was in Hungary to ruine me and my Countries by the Forces of the Earl of Mansfield which then quartered in the Dukedom of Brunswick And after you were reconciled to the Emperor it is well known to those who were present in the Camp how frequently sharply and injuriously and sometimes how threatningly you spoke of me and my Provinces during the Siege of Metz And when that Siege was ended and you were returned home being desired by me in a Letter to acquaint me with the Truth of these things and to let me know how you were affected towards me you proudly replied That you well remembred what you had spoken of me or others and would not deny it and as to your Affections your Answer was such as I could not certainly tell what you meant And after that writing to me from Heidelberg and dissembling my former Enquiry you suggested some things concerning some of the Nobility which I suppose was done that you might bring me to suspect and distrust them But on the other side I took no great notice of these things but advised and perswaded you not to break the Peace and desired you to let me know what I must expect from you But then in your Letters to the Elector of Brandenburg though you spoke with some Moderation of me yet where you mentioned the Pacification of Passaw you did not obscurely hint how you stood affected to me and within a short time after you more plainly declared your Mind for in some of your latter Letters you desired I would recal those Forces which I had in Franconia in the Service of my Allies or otherwise you should have just cause of a War against me And after this you passed through mine and my Brother's Territories when you had not before acquainted us with it which is directly contrary to the ancient and received Custom of Germany You pretend indeed that you did me no Injury in this Passage but I have received other accounts from my Subjects and yet if this were true I should not attribute it so much to your good Disposition towards me as to the necessity of your Affairs It is well known how fast you Marched and how weary your Soldiers were not were you ignorant how easy it was for me in case you had used any Forces against my Country to resist it considering the weariness and weakness of your Men and the nearness of my Forces which were then in Franconia and might in a short time have been recalled no your Intentions were to fall upon me in your Return nor did your Soldiers dissemble it And in your March through Thuringe you Plundered some Villages belonging to Erfurdt which City is under our Protection and this you could not deny in your Letters to me from Brunswick And in your March through my Brothers Territories your Soldiers slew some of his Subjects near Bickling and beat and took Prisoners two Gentlemen who appealed to me Yet all these Injuries could not provoke me to take Arms against you but I rather chose to write to you and to exhort you to Peace which was then to be Treated of at Franckfurt by Mediators desiring also you would inform me how you stood affected towards me and my Allies But then how Injuriously and Passionately you replied may be seen by your Letter for you would neither discover your Intentions as to the one and as to the other you pretended to suspect the Treaty of Franckfurt so that all that I could gather from that Letter was that you were resolved to prosecute the War in Franconia and that I and my Allies were to expect no great Favour from you as occasion served which appeared more clearly in the Treatment those of Erfurt and others received from you For you levied great Sums of Money on the Bishoprick of Halberstad and over and besides you plundered their Colleges in the open Country and damnified them otherwise though you knew that Diocess was put under my Protection by the Emperor You did the same by the Archbishoprick of Magdeburg and you extorted Money also from the Cities of Northausen and Mulhausen which are under my Protection You Prosecuted also Henry Duke of Brunswick with Fire and Sword so soon as ever you knew there was a League between him and me though it was very just and agreeable to the Treaty of Passaw and after the same manner have you Treated all my other Allies which actions are very contrary to the Tenor of your late Letters Now therefore tho' King Ferdinand I and my Allies do earnestly desire to preserve the Peace of Germany and ever since the Treaty of Passaw have made it our greatest Care to keep the Empire in Tranquillity and especially this Part of it which many of the Nobility of Brunswick who are now in your Camp can testifie yet seeing you have brought the War into these Parts and by your Invading my Allies have not obscurely discovered your Intentions toward me and forasmuch as there is a common Fame that you are raising greater Forces under hand and in anothers Name which you can enver maintain except you suffer them to Rob Spoil and commit all manner of Injustice so that not only Franconia but the rest of the Neighbour Provinces are in danger of being ruin'd by you which you have not been able to dissemble neither but have given out Words that your Condition should not be inferiour to that of others for these Causes I say and for that you have left us no other way open of preserving the Peace King Ferdinand I and my Alies being near Neighbours to the Danger are resolved to take up Arms for our defence to the Intent we may repel your Force and unjust Violence offered to us defend our Country and restore the publick Peace For this is not only allowed but commanded by the Laws of Germany and we are also enjoyned by the Supream Authority of the Imperial Chamber to assist and defend our Neighbours in Franconia And although now you are Levying Forces you pretend to do it in the Name of the Emperor and give out that you have his Order for it yet we are certain this is a meer empty Pretence for the Emperor has not discovered his Mind to you only but to us and others also and in a short time you shall have a further Account of it And whereas our Enterprise tends to the Publick Good and therefore we were not strictly obliged to make any Previous Declaration of our Intentions yet lest you should pretend Ignorance we have thought fit to let you know that we are resolved to put a stop to your Lawless and Tyrannical Cruelty as the necessity of Affairs requires we should and we And our Allies
against him yet in the first of those Meetings we offered that if he would lay down his Arms and commit the case to the Determination of the Law with good Security we also would lay down our Arms and submit our Cause to the Arbitriment of the mediating Princes or to the Judgment of the Emperor and the States and the same Condition was tendered by the Bishops also by the Advice and Command of the Ambassadors of King Ferdinand The Council of the mediating Princes out of a desire of Peace proposed that if the Confederates in the Circle of Franconia would promise to restore him his Territories as they then were both sides should lay down their Arms and take new Securities for the future that then the Proscription should as to that part be â—oid and the whole Controversy should be committed to a friendly and a legal Treaty But he in Contempt and Scorn called the Intercessors his Enemies Broakers and said he would not suffer himself to be reduced into such Streights that he did not desire the Outlawry should be reversed that he would hazard the loss of what was left and many other such like things using light and scurrilous Reflections mixed with Threats against all the Princes and States as may be shewn in his Letters Printed at Holansperg And in the next Congress though we offered him more advantageous terms yet he was never the more inclined to a Peace no his whole design then was to prevail against us by Frauds and Ambushes which deserved no great Commendation and are very unworthy of a Prince For at the request of the Mediators he promised to lay down his Arms and to referr the whole Case to the Emperor and some Princes This Compromise was accordingly confirmed by the Emperor's Letters of the fourth of April from Brussells wherein he commanded the States of Franconia to lay down their Arms and to commit the Affair to his Diligence and Faith but the close design which Albert had in this was as it appears by what followed to stop the Emperor's Proceedings for a time that the Execution of the Outlawry might not be committed to the other Provinces of the Empire also that in the mean time he might bring that Army he was then underhand Levying into the Field and oppress us before were aware But by the Blessing of God this Project was discovered his Letters about that time which he sent to his Captains who were dispersed here and there being Intercepted In which he said that he had submitted to the terms Proposed at Rotenburg that he might gain time and surprize his Enemies that if the Interceeding Princes should require them to disband they should not comply with them in it but should continue in a Body and upon no terms be separated and that by way of Excuse they should alledge there were many Months Pay due to them and that they could not disband till they had that Money but that they would remain where they were without doing any Injury till their Arrears were Payed To the same purpose also are his Letters to his Commanders to fall promiscuously and without distinction upon whomsoever they could When therefore his secret Treachery was thus discovered and his Ambassadors at Rotenburg would give ours no positive and certain Answer whether he would stand to the Arbitriment of the Emperor or no by the advice of the Ambassadors of Ferdinand we were forced as we say in our Letters sent then to the Emperor to commit our Cause to God the Emperor and Empire This being the true state of things any Man will hereby be able easily to understand that we are loaded with so many Reproaches Slanders and Miseries only because in Obedience to the Emperor and the Imperial Chamber which is our Supream Court we have endeavoured to repress his Violence and Fury And therefore we earnestly desire all those who love Vertue and Justice and hate Force and Injury that they would consider that if the Sentence given against him by the Imperial Chamber be not put in Execution and his Insolence humbled not only we but they too will thereby be equally in danger Let no Man therefore give him any Assistance Refuge or Protection but as it becomes Princes and the Lovers of their Country let them not only not hinder the Execution of the Decree but with all their might promote the Execution of it and in all things act so that others may by this Example be deterred And we beseech them not to give any Credit to his defamatory and slanderous Libels against us and that if he shall again enter into any Designs against us that then they would lend us their Help and Advice In the Month of May Albert having received the Money above-mentioned for the Ransom of Aumale went into Saxony and getting some forces together marched by unfrequented ways toward Schweinfurt and the tenth of June he entred the Town on that side it was not Besieged with eight hundred Horse and seven Foot Companies But finding the Town very much Impoverished the third day after he entred it he Plundered it and in the Night time drew out all the Soldiers as well Horse as Foot to the number of eighteen Companies together with the Cannon and leaving no Guards to secure the Gates he marched in the dead time of the Night to Kitzingen a Town seated a little lower upon the Mayn When the day broke and the Besiegers saw the Gates of the City without any to defend them they gave the Alaâ—â— in the Camp and began to prepare to follow him but in the Interim many of the Soldiers and especially those that served under Henry Duke of Brunswick rushed into the Town and took and destroyed what the other had left So that the Princes and Commanders were forced to set Fire to the Town in several Places to compel their Soldiers to return to the Camp that Albert might not have time to escape whilst they were Plundering the Town Though Albert had the advantage of some hours in his March yet being retarded by the Cannon and other heavy Carriages he was easily overtaken and forced by the Van-Guard to make a stand to defend himself but the rest of the Army soon coming up when he saw that he was not able to defend himself against so great a Number advising his to shift for themselves as well as they could he with a few Horsemen took his Flight and Swimming over the Mayn arrived safely at Kitzingen with the loss of all his Baggage and Cannon The eighth day after his principal Fortress called Blasseburg was surrendred and fell into the Hands of Ferdinand King of Bohemia Henry Plaw Chancellor of Bohemia the indefatigable Enemy of this Place died before it some few days before it was yielded Thus Albert Marquess of Brandenburg was driven out of all his Territories Whilst things went thus in Franconia Henry Duke of Brunswick demanded Money of most of the Princes Nobility and Cities in the
in Italy In France Henry the Second having been won by the Arts of Cardinal Caraffa to break his Oath the Admiral Coligni the Sixth of January attempted to surprise Doway but was discovered and prevented but he took and plundered Leus a Town in Artois using the people with great barbarity In the mean time the Duke of Guise had passed the Alps in the depth of the winter with an Army of Twelve Thousand Foot and Five Thousand and Three Hundred armed Horse and Eight Hundred and Eight Light-Horse with which Forces he besieged Valenza a strong Town in the Dutchy of Milan and after he had battered it five daies storm'd and took the Town the twentieth day of January and a few daies after the Castle He dismantled the Town but at the request of the Pope he preserved the Castle From thence he passed into the Dukedome of Ferrara where he was respectively entertained by the Duke who had declared for the Pope but he would not go with him to Bononia fearing his Countries might be invaded by the Spaniards and their Allies in his absence but however the Duke of Guise went thither with his Forces where he found an hearty welcome but no Forces to joyn with him which much displeas'd him In the mean time the Pope finding the inconvenience of having Ostia in the enemies hands which deprived Rome of the benefit of the Sea and sending some Forces thither it was Surrendred after a short defence upon the account of an Inundation of the River After which the Pope recovered most of the other Towns as easily as he had lost them In the Spring the Duke of Guise began the War with the Sack of Compli a small City of Abruzzo which being taken by Scalado was severely treated the Spoil of this City was estimated at two hundred thousand Crowns great part of which was found in the Ruines of the City where it had been hid many Ages and was unknown to the Inhabitants The 24 of April the Duke of Guise sat down before Civitella a City of Abruzzo built upon an high Hill and very steep on the North on the top of which it had a Castle ruined by its own Inhabitants in the time of Charles VIII for fear it should have been Garrison'd by the French. This City would not yield and therefore the Duke of Guise was forced to stay before it till the Cannon could be brought from Ancona and Ferrara to batter it but when all was done this small place by the nature of its situation and the Courage of its Inhabitants baffled all their Attempts and forced the French after a long Siege to retire and leave it The Women of this Town contributed very much to the saving of it not only by working at the Breaches tho' many of them were slain by the Enemies Shot but also by taking mens Cloaths and appearing in Arms among them in the sight of the Enemy so that the Defendants seemed more numerous than indeed they were In the mean time Alva having brought an Army of 16000 Foot and 2000 Horse consisting of Spaniards Germans and Italians together with a good Train of Artillery brought him by Sea he marched out of Pescara May 10 and drove the French out of Givlia a Sea-port-Town about ten miles east of Civitella whereupon the Duke of Guise having lost above half his Army left Civitella the 15 of May when they had lain before it twenty two Days The Duke of Florence took the Opportunity of this distracted State of Affairs and by pretending he was much inclin'd to joyn with the French and Pope against the Spaniards which would certainly have ruined their Power in Italy forced King Philip to give up the City and State of Siena to him who accordingly took Possession of it July 19. This whole intreague is described at length by Thuanus but I am forced to be very short the nature of this Supplement not admitting such long Digressions Towards the latter end of the Summer Segni a strong City of Compagnia di Roma having made the best Defence it could fell at last into the Hands of the Spaniards who plundred and burnt it and slew the greatest part of the Inhabitants When the Pope heard the deplorable News of the Sack of Segni he fell into a fit of Melancholy and said He desired to be with Christ and would with great Constancy and Satisfaction expect the Crown of Martyrdom As if says Thuanus this had been the Cause of God And that he had not been brought into this great Danger and Trouble by a War which his Relations had involv'd him in with great Rashness and Ambition Those that were about him could not forbear Smiling and knowing very well That as the Pope had begun this War without Cause or Provocation so he might end it when he pleased upon Just and Honourable Terms King Philip and his General the Duke de Alva being both extremely addicted to the See of Rome And therefore taking this Opportunity they persuaded the Pope to send Alexander Placidi a Knight of great esteem to the Duke of Alva to treat about a Peace by whom also the Cardinal of Sanfloriano sent a private Account of the beating the French at S. Quintin which as it sunk the Pope's Interest so it raised the Spanish Upon this the Duke de Alva took up a Resolution to surprize the City of Rome by Night and treat with the Pope within the very Walls of Rome and he came very early in the Morning under the Walls of Rome and found the City in a profound Quiet and altogether unprovided so that in all probability he might have surprized it without the least Resistance but as he took an Oath of the Captains That they should not suffer their Soldiers to plunder or sack the City so it is verily thought upon great Reasons That his Fear the Switz and Germans would have done this whatever he or his Officers could have done or said to prevent it made him stop and by his Presence try if he could affright the Old Pope into a Compliance However Thuanus is of Opinion he truly designed to surprize the City but that his Heart failed him when it came to the Point of Execution At the same time there came Letters from the King of France to recal the Duke of Guise into France where his Presence was absolutely needful and the Pope had his Hostages returned and was left at Liberty to take the best care he could of his own Affairs Yet when the Duke of Guise came to ask the Pope's leave to return upon the account of the great Necessity of his Master's Affairs there was a sharp contest between the Duke and the Pope insomuch that his Holiness told the Duke He had done very little towards the advancing his Masters Interest or the Good of the Church in this Voyage and much less for the Improvement of his own Honour and Reputation In the
Holy Tribunal and here he shewed a very great severity bringing not only Men suspected of Heresie but of some other Crimes within their Jurisdiction Then commanding all Monks and Nuns to their several Houses he Imprison'd some and sent others to the Gallies for not presently obeying him His Rigour was so great in this last that many left his State and went and setled in the State of Venice He spent Fifty thousand Crowns in Corn to relieve the Poor in a time of Scarcity and setled Bishops at Malacha and Cochin two Cities belonging to the Portuguese in the East-Indies and made the Bishop of Goa an Archbishop exempting him from the Jurisdiction of the Bishoprick of Lisbon He also erected many new Sees in the Low-Countries at the request of Philip King of Spain to the Diminution of the Jurisdiction and Diocesses of many French and German Bishops These Sees were setled at Mechlen Antwerp Harlem Daventrie Leewarden Groningen Midleburg Bosleduc Namur St. Omers Ipress Gant and Bruges and were put under the Archbishops of Cambray Mechlin and Vtrecht This change gave great offence to the Low-Countries who esteem'd itrather an Inslaving than an Honouring of their Country to have so many New Sees setled among them and the more because among other Reasons assigned by the Pope one was That these Countries were on all sides encompass'd with Nations which had cast off the See of Rome so that the Salvation of the Souls of this People was much endanger'd by Schism which rendred this Settlement hateful to all those who favour'd the Reformation so that this was one of the principal Causes of the War which followed which in the end proved fatal to many of these New Bishopricks In the interim this Consideration had that effect upon the Spirit of King Philip that it greatly disposed him above all others to enter into a Treaty of Peace with France He saw that not only the Licence which attended a War but the vast number of Germans which he was forced to employ by their conversing with his Subjects in the Netherlands begat in them a good Opinion of Luther and the Reformation Henry II of France imprudently communicated to William of Nassaw Prince of Orange when he was Embassador for Philip in France when they were one day Hunting together That King Philip and he had agreed first to extirpate all the Sects which were then rising in the Netherlands and after that they would joyn their Arms and do the like in all other places which being discovered by that Prince to the Netherlanders they entred into Consultation for the preserving themselves from the Pride of the Spanish Government and made those insolent Demands of King Philp when he was going into Spain This Counsel was then generally attributed to the Cardinal of Lorain and Perrenot Bishop of Arras and all concluded That under the pretence of suppressing Heresie King Philip and Henry of France had laid a Design of Ruining the Civil Liberties of France and the Netherlands When the Commissioners met for the concluding the Treaty of Peace between these Princes they found themselves delivered from one difficulty the Restitution of Calais by the Death of Queen Mary of England but then Thionville Verdun and Toul three Imperial Cities had been taken in this War by the French and King Philip thought he was bound in Honour and by his Interest too to see them restored to the Empire and yet he saw the French were as well resolved to keep them Nor was indeed his Interest in the Restitution so great as that of the French was to keep them he having very effectually provided for his own Security and Benefit by the gaining other Places Hereupon these Princes by mutual consent sent Embassadors to the Dyet of Germany began this Year the Twenty fifth of February at Ausburg The first thing that was done in them was the celebrating the Funeral of Charles V with great Solemnity His Encomium was pronounced by Lewis Madruse then Bishop of Trent the afterwards a Cardinal After this Ceremony an Account was given of the Conference at Wormes for the Reconciling the Differences of Religion and there appearing no hope of an Accommdation Ferdinand the Emperor promised he would take care to have the General Council renewed and that all should obey its Decrees and Determinations But the Deputies of the Duke of Saxony and of several other Princes of the Empire opposed this affriming that there being no hopes of restoring the Peace of the Church by a Popish Council the Edicts of Passaw and Ansburg were religiously to be observed But the Emperor persisting in his former Opinion they said they were not against a Free and General Council in Germany so be it were legally assembled by the Emperor and not by the Pope and in which the Pope should appear as a Party subject to the Council and not as President and Judge of all others and provided the Bishops and Clergy might be freed from the Oath they had taken to the Pope that they might freely speak their Thoughts That the sacred Scriptures might be the only Rule by which they should judge and determin these Controversies rejecting all humane Traditions and Customs that were contrary to the Word of God If the Divines who had embraced the Augustane Confession might not only be heard but admitted to give their votes in the Decision of these Controversies and have good Security given them for their going thither and that they should enjoy the Liberty granted them by the Decree of Ausburg without any fraud or violence That the Points in Dispute should not be determin'd as is usual in Civil Affairs by the plurality of Votes but by the Rule and Prescription of the Word of God That in the first place the Decrees of the Council of Trent already made should be cancell'd as vitious and not legally assembled and that these things should be debated a new And lastly That if these things could not be obtain'd of the Pope the Emperor should maintain the Peace of Religion and the Edict of Passaw These were the Conditions the Protestants proposed for the holding of a Council The Emperor who despaired of reconciling the differences of Religion on these Terms and having no other way left him for preserving the Peace of Germany Confirm'd the Peace of Passaw After this they took into Consideration the Reduction of the Monies of Germany to their ancient value and purity and heard the Complaints of William of Furstemberg Great Master of the Knights of Livonia who obtain'd a Grant of an Hundred thousand Crowns for the Levying of an Army for their Protection against the Russ But this Sum seeming less than the necessity of their Affaris and of the Times required the Livonians neglected it and betook themselves to the Protection of Sigismund Augustus King of Poland to whom they assign'd Nine of their strongest Places upon condition that they might at any time redeem them by
the publick Inns That they should deliver in all the Books written or printed by David George and not keep any by them in the Dutch Tongue and that they should send their Children to the School of Basil to be instructed That they should pay a Pecuniary Mulct if required and that they their Wives and Children should appear in the Church and make Profession of the True Faith and-Renounce that of David George Two days after his Body was sentenc'd to be taken up and burnt together with his Books and Effigies by the Hands of the Common Hang-man in the place where they usally executed Malefactors and all his Goods they sez'd to the Publick Treasure adding That if any Person presum'd to blame this their Decree he should be liable to the same Punishment His Body was found very perfect so that it might be known by his yellow Bâ—ard from another Man's though he had been buried two Years and six Months and was accordingly burnt in a vast concourse of Men. In the beginning of February the Ambassadours met again at the Castle of Cambray to conclude the Treaty which was broke up upon the Death of Mary Queen of England Queen Elizabeth who succeeded her Sister Mary a Princes of a Masculine Soul and of a Prudence above her Sex fearing if she relied upon the Spaniard she might either be deserted or dishonoured by his Protection had in the mean time made a separate Peace with France After which she changed the Religion of England in her first Parliament abolishing all the Laws made by her Sister Mary and reviving those made by her Brother Edward VI and rejecting all Obedience to the Pope of Rome This Peace with France did much facilitate the Treaty of Cambray In which among other things these Princes promised to do their utmost that a General Council should be held as soon as was possible to the Glory of God and the pacifying Men's Consciences This last Clause by the perverse Counsels of these Princes in a short time raised a War in the Low-Countries and France which was more lasting and more fatal than any former Wars This Treaty was signed at Cambray April 3. These two Kings having thus regained their Peace and disburthened themselves of the Cares which the War brought upon them they betook themselves solely to the Care of Religion which in France had been under consideration the two foregoing Years and was then omitted on account of the War and Treaty but was now reassumed in the heat of a Marriage-Feast There was one Diana Dutchess of Valentinois a Court-Lady and one of the King's Mistresses who used to beg the Estates of all such as suffered for any Crime And the Duke of Guise who were the Promoters of this Persecution the latter aiming at nothing but Popular Applause These two insinuated this Belief into the King That the Venome of Heresie was much spread in France and that in truth he was not King of those Provinces in which that prevailed That the Impudence of those who imbraced it was so great that they did not whisper it as heretofore in the Ear but preached it openly and boldly throughout the Kingdom by which the name of God was blasphemed and his Majesties Royal Authority was endangered for when the Law of God was once confounded who can Question say they but that all Human Laws will soon be subverted And that they might the more easily prevail they employed Giles Maistre president of the Parliament Jean de S. Andre Anthony Minart and Giles Bourdin the King's Attorney and principally the first of these who was a Man of a fierce Disposition and Temper to incense the King's Mind against the Sectaries he being no way inclined to such Severities To this end they tell him That there would little be gained by the Peace of a more cruel War was fomented and carried on at Home For that the Disease had already got such Strength that if his Majesty dissembled a little longer the Sword of the Magistrate and the Laws of the Land would not be able to suppress it but he must levy Armies and himself take the Field against them as had been done in the case of the Albingenses That what had hitherto been done had not had its desired effect because all the severity had been spent upon the populace and the mean people the hatred and detestation of which had affected all Men but very few had taken example by it That now it was fit to begin with the Judges many of which had imbraced their Doctrin secretly or favoured them on other accounts and by their connivance nourished the Distemper suffering this Offence either to go unpunished or very lightly corrected This they said was the very Root of the Evil and that all labour was in vain tâ—ll it were pulled up Not long after this the King was prevailed upon to come into the Parliament in Person whilst the Members were debating about the Punishment of the Sectaries June 14. He seemed rather to labour to conceal his Anger than to have come with a calm Mind Among other things he told the Parliament That having made a Peace he hoped it would turn to the general Good but he was much concerned that the business of Religion which was one of the principal Cares of a good Prince had been during the War tumultuously and seditiously treated by some That therefore he desired for the future more care might be taken of the Christian Religion And because he heard that affair was this Day to be debated by them he was come thither and he admonished them to proceed in it with Freedom saying It was God's Cause who knew all our Hearts and Thoughts Tho' the Members of the Parliament knew the King was brought thither to deprive them of their Liberty yet there were some who resolved to retain their ancient Freedom at the price of their Lives and having declaimed against the Manners of the Court of Rome and its ill Customes which had degenerated into most pernicious Errors and given occasion to the rise of many Sects they thence inferred That the Penalties of Heresie were to be mitigated and the Severities of the Law abated till the differences of Religion were composed by the Authority of a General Council and the Discipline of the Church reformed And this was the Opinion of all the good Men in the Parliament Arnold du Ferrier President of the Criminal Court an honest and a wise Person and the best Lawyer in France was the first who proposed this Method and was followed by many others among which was Lewis du Faur a Man of great Sense and of a generous Temper who added That all were agreed that the Differences in Religion had occasioned great Disturbances but then said he we ought carefully to enquire Who caused these Disorders lest as Elijah answered Ahab when he reproached him as the Troubler of Israel it might be said to us It is thou that hast
troubled Israel Then Anna du Bourg beginning with a Discourse of the Eternal Providence of God to which all things are subject when he came to the Question proposed said There were many Sins and Crimes committed by Men which the Laws had already forbidden and yet the Gallows and Tortures which were imployed had not been able to prevent the frequent Perjuries Adulteries profuse Lusts and Profane Oaths which were not only connived at but cherished On the contrary every Day new punishments are invented against a sort of Men who could never yet be convicted of any wicked Attempt for how can they injure the Prince who never name him but in their Prayers for him Are they accused of breaking our Laws perverting the Allegiance of our Cities or Provinces No the greatest Tortures could never extort a Confession that they so much as thought of any such thing Are they not accused of Sedition only because they have by the Candle of Scripture discovered the shameful and encreasing Villanies and corruptions of the Roman Power which they desire may be reformed Christopher Harlay and Peter Seguier the two Presidents said with great Modesty that the Court had hitherto justly and rightly discharged its Duty in this Particular and that it would still do the same without changing to the Glory of God and therefore neither the King nor People of France would have cause to repent the trusting to it Christopher de Thou with great freedom reflected on the King's Attorney and Advocates for presuming to defame the Proceedings of that Court and indangering its Authority Renatus Baillet desired the Judgments which were blamed might be re-examined and more maturely considered Minart having made a short Preface to soften the Envy which had been raised against them only added That he thought the King's Edicts were to be observed After these Maistre the President made a sharp Harangue against the Sectaries instancing in the Severities which Philip the August is said to have employed against the Albingenses 600 of which he burnt in one day and in the Waldenses which were massacred with Fire and Smoak partly in their Houses and partly in the Dens and Caves they had fled to The King having obliquely reproached the Court for entring upon this Debate without his Order added He now clearly saw what he had heard before That there were some among them who despised both his Authority and the Popes That this was the fault of but a few but it was dishonourable to the whole body of them but only they that were guilty should suffer the Punishment And therefore he exhorted the rest to go on in their Duty The Reflections of la Faur and du Bourg who mentioned the Story of Ahab and the frequent Adulteries exaseperated the King more than the rest and therefore he commanded Montmorancy to apprehend them who again ordered Gabriel de Montgomery a Captain of the Guard to take them and carry them to the Bastile Afterwards Paul de Foix Anthony Fumee Eustace de la Porte were also taken into Custody but la Ferriere du Val and Viole were concealed by their Friends and escaped this Storm Men censured these Proceedings as they stood affected but the Wiser were much disgusted That the King should be so far imposed on by others as to come personally into his Court to subvert those Laws he ought to have protected That he should make use of Threats and Imprisonments saying That this was a clear Instance that he was subject to the Passions of others and who could think but these things were the foreunners of great Changes The Ministers of the Reformed Religion notwithstanding held a Synod at S. German June 28 one Morelle being President in which they setled the order of their Synods the Authority of the Presidents the taking away the Supremacy in the Church the election of Ministers and their Office and Duty Deacons and Presbyters Censures the Degrees of Consanguinity and Affinity of contracting and dissolving Marriages which yet were only temporary Decrees to be varied as future Synods should think fit but to oblige particular Persons till so altered About the same time came Embassadours from the Protestant Princes of Germany with Letters to the King subscribed by Frederick Cout Palatine of the Rhine Augustus Duke of Saxony Joachim Elector of Brandenburg Christopher Duke of Wirtimberg and Wolfang Count of Weldentz In which they represent to the King How much they were afflicted to see so many Pious Quiet and Holy Men who professed the same Religion Imprisoned Spoiled Banished and put to Death as Seditious Persons in France That they thought themselves bound by Christian Charity and the Alliance which was between them and France to beseech him well to consider this Affair which concerned the Name of God and the Salvation of so many Souls that he ought to free himself from Prejudice and imploy great Judgment and Reason in it They assured him they were no less solicitous for the Glory of God and the Salvation of their Subjects than he and upon the Differences of Religion had maturely considered how they might be composed That they had found by degrees and insensibly through Avarice and Ambition many Corruptions had crept into the Church which were dishonourable to the Majesty of God and Scandalous to Men and that they ought to be reformed by the Testimonies of the Holy Scriptures the Decrees of the Primitive Church and the Writings of the most Ancient Fathers That the Corruptions and Disorders of the Court and Church of Rome had long since been complained of in France by W. Parisiensis John Gerson Nicholas Clemangius and Wisellius of Groeningen the Restorer of the University of Paris under Lewis XI and other Divines That King Francis his Father of Blessed Memory was convinced of this and had wisely endeavoured to put an end to the Differences of Religion and to reform the Discipline of the Church That now France was not involved in War abroad they besought him the Difference of Religion might by his Authority and Conduct be quietly ended That this might easily be effected if the King would but appoint Learned and Peaceable Men who should examin their Confession of Faith without Partiality or Prejudice by the Holy Scripture and the Ancient Fathers That in the interim he should suspend all Legal Severities discharge the Imprisoned recal the Banished restore their Estates to those that had been ruin'd This they said would be acceptable and pleasing to God Honourable to the King Profitable to France and very Grateful to them The King entertained the Embassadors kindly and having read the Letter said he would suddenly send them a satisfactory Answer but by that time they were arrived at the Borders of France the Fire their coming seem'd to have abated raged more horribly than ever June 19. a Commission was issued to Jean de Saint Andre the President and Promoter of these Troubles Jo. James de Memme Master of the Requests Lewis Gayaut
when it was discovered so to be they went unpunished the Hatred against the Sectaries drowning the Voice of Publick Justice However the Places of Meeting being thus discovered great Numbers of Men and Women were taken and imprisoned and others left the Kingdom whose Goods were seized and confiscated Many Children were left by their Parents which filled the Streets with their Cries and Lamentations to the great Affliction of almost all Men. This Example was soon after followed at Poictiers Tolose Aix and generally in the Province of Narbonne George d' Armagnac the Archbishop of that See a Cardinal imploying all his Interest and Industry that the suspected might be taken up They were by this time become so numerous that their very Number gave them Boldness which being thus exasperated vented it self in severe Reflections on the King Queen and Guises in which there seemed to be more than a private Anger and Liberty The King of France had been a long time afflicted with a tedious Quartane Agne but overgrowing that Disease he shot up in heighth and grew apace but was very Pale and of a sickly Constitution being removed to Blois which was his Native Air his Face of a sudden was overspread with Redness Spots and Carbuncles whereupon a Report was raised That he had the Leprosie and that a great number of Children of less than six Years of Age had been torn out of the Arms of their Mothers about the Loire to make a Bath of their Blood for the Cure of the King. It was uncertain whether the Guises or their Enemies had invented this Story for different Ends but the Blame of it was certainly cast upon the Protestants and the King by that means was exasperated against them by the Guises The Protestants on the other side put out a Book to shew that this Story was invented and fathered on them by the Cardinal of Lorrain And after this one of the Spreaders of this Report being executed for it averred with his last Breath That he had Orders from the Cardinal so to do In the mean time the Process was carried warmly on against Anna du Bourg and the rest of the Members of the Parliament who were Prisoners in the Bastile who were sent thither by the Orders of Henry II. Du Bourg had appealed first to the Parliament of Paris and after to the Archbishop of Sens but his Plea was over-ruled by both and the Sentence of the Bishop of Paris was also confirmed by the Archbishop of Lions He declared himself willing after this to be degraded That the Sign of the Beast in the Revelation being blotted out he might have nothing of Antichrist left in him However this variety of Appeals prolonged their Process some Months After this he sent them a plain Confession of his Faith which agreed in all things with that of Geneva Frederick Elector and Count Palatine of the Rhine also so far espoused his Cause as to write a Letter to the King in his behalf desiring his Life might be spared and that he might be sent to him December 18. Anthony Minart the President was shot dead in the Night as he returned Home which was charged upon du Bourg as done by his Procurement because he had foretold That he would be forced from giving Sentence against him if he did not willingly forbear it upon his challenging him as his suspected Enemy However it hastened the Sentence of Death against du Bourg who heard it with great constancy of Mind he saying He pardoned his Judges who had pronounced it according to their Consciences tho contrary to the Word of God and sound Knowledge At last he advised them to extinguish these their Fires and repent of their Sins and taking his Leave of them said He went willingly to the Stake From thence he was carried in a Cart to the Place of Execution and having spoken a few Words to the People was first hanged and afterwards burnt He only said My God forsake me not that I may not forsake thee He was 38 Years old and was born at Riom in Auvergne of a Rich and Noble Family Anthony du Bourg a Branch of which had been Chancellor of France under Francis I. He took his Degrees at Orleance and was esteemed a good Lawyer and an upright Judge and many of the most zealous Catholicks interceeded for him during his Imprisonment and his Death was deplored by many very heartily His Constancy partly confirmed and partly exasperated the Minds of the Protestants so that from his Ashes there sprung up a Crop of Rebellions and Conspiracies which for a long time kept this once most flourishing Kingdom in a low condition The rest of the Members were restored by the Court at last de Thou one of the Members of that Court opposing and at length mastering the more bloody Guisians The meaner People who being then in Prison were dispatched with less Difficulty some being condemned to Death others to Renuntiation and others to Banishment About the same time there was another Project set on foot in France they erected Images of the Saints and Virgin Mary in the Streets and Market Places and burnt Candles before them in the day-time singing Songs to their Honour and seting Chests and if any passed by without giving Money and worshiping the Images he was presently set upon by the Rabble as an Heretick and he escaped well if he was only beaten and trodden into the Channel and lost not his Life Which only served to irritate and unite the Protestants the more King Philip having made a Peace with France resolved this Year to return into Spain in order to this he came to Gaunt and there summoned a Chapter of the Knights of the Golden Fleece from thence he went to Zealand committing the Government of the Netherlands to Margaret Dutchess of Parma the Wife of Octavio his Sister with a guard of 3500 Spaniards which were all distributed on the Borders of France in the Fronteer Towns. After the Peace he had principally imployed Granvel Bishop of Arras who had advised him to leave this Guard for fear of the Lutherans which were very numerous in these Provinces by reason of their Neighbourhood to Germany The principal Care of these Countries was committed to William Prince of Orange and the Count of Egmont who were Men of great Birth and had particularly deserved well of Philip in his last War with France these remonstrated against the leaving of the Spaniards and freely said They had not much mended their Condition if when they had preserved their Country with their Swords they must now be exposed in Peace to the servile Yoke of Foreign Forces and an Insolent Soldiery King Philip was inwardly displeased with this Liberty yet suppressed his Resentment and that he might not seem to go thence offended with these Great Men he promised to withdraw those Forces within four Months After this he took Shipping at Flushing August 26.
knew nothing of Navar but heard that Conde should have been their Captain Whence the Duke of Guise concluded That Coligni and Andelot were cetainly in it though Queen Catherine was of a contrary Opinion but however Conde who was then in the Castle with the King was commanded not to depart without leave which he wisely dissembled Some few were Tried for this Conspiracy but many more were Hang'd up by Night and many Merchants were Slain as they travelled about their business for their Mony but under Pretence they were in the Conspiracy so that there was nothing but Slaughter and Murthers to be seen About the same time Oliver the Chancellor of France died not so much of Old-age or Sickness as Discontent at the Cruelcy and Iniquity of the Times his Death was foretold by some of the Conspirators who reproached him for his unworthy Complyances And when the Cardinal of Lorain visited him in his last Sickness he express'd his Resentments against him and died weeping and sighin for what he had done Michel de l' Hospital a great and a good Man succeeded him by the procurement of Queen Catherine Though this Conspiracy was principally design'd against the Guises yet they desired the World should believe these Men had first made a Defection from God by Heresie and then had conspird against the King Queen Catherine and the King's Brothers The Thirty first of March the King wrote to all the Governors of the several Provinces to take great care that the Reliques of this Conspiracy did not imbroil their Provinces after which there was the like Account sent to the Elector Palatine and the rest of the Protestant Princes of Germany The Princes of Germany thereupon among other things desired the King to consider whether he had not yielded more than was fit to some about him meaning the Guises who out of an inbred Malice and Cruelty exercised great Cruelties on Men that were never convicted of any Crime There they beseech his Majesty that he would put a stop to the Sufferings of these Innocents and seeing they imbrace the same Religion with us we cannot but desire an end may be put to those cruel and hasty Executions This Germany has found say they to be the only Remedy and France has no other left to restore its Peace than by granting a Peace to the Minds and Consciences of Men. Coligni the Admiral leaving the Court Queen Catherine ordered him to go into Normandy and to enquire diligently into the Causes of the late Conspiracy He laid the blame of it on the boundless Ambition of the Guises and advised the Queen to observe inviolably the late Edict for Liberty of Conscience and to put a stop to the Persecution of the Innocent as she valued the safety of the King and the quiet of the Kingdom Some of the Captives who had escaped out of the Prisons at Blois wrote Letters to the Cardinal of Lorain telling him they knew the Escape of the Conspirators was very afflictive to his Eminence That therefore they were gone to seek them and hoped in a short time to return better attended This rallery was a great Mortification to that fearful Minister who feared new Commotions and persuaded the King to put out a General Pardon for all Roman Catholicks In May the King put out another Edict which was call'd the Edict of Romoraulin by which he took the Cognizance of Heresie from the Civil Magistrates and gave it solely to the Bishops which about five years before had been so vigorously opposed by the Parliament of Paris De l' Hospital the Chancellor is said to have consented to it only to prevent the violent Guises from introducing the Spanish Inquisition which they had recommended to Henry II and were now promoting with all their might in France From henceforward the Cardinal of Lorain became more placable to those of the Religion and to stop the Mouths of those who desired an Assembly of the three Estates persuaded Queen Catherine to call an Assembly of the Princes at Fountain-bleau to consult of the Publick Affairs About this time Conde left the Court and by a Letter gave his Brother the King of Navar an Account of the Ill-will the Guises bore towards him and that a Debate had been held in the King's Cabinet-Council for the taking him into Custody That therefore he had been forced to betake himself to him into Bearne This Letter was soon after discovered to the Guises who had entertained Spies in the Family of Conde who presently wrote a Letter to Conde full of sugared Expressions of Kindness and Affection which Conde presently sent to his Brother who very much approved his Resolution but advised him to return to Court and clear his Innocence which Conde did not think safe Perrenot the Brother of Cardinal Granvell in an Audience he had of Queen Catherine told her there was no way to restore the Peace of France but by Banishing the Guises some time from Court and Recalling the Princes of the Blood and Montmorancy to their former Stations The Twenty first of August the Assembly of the Princes and Notable Men of France was Opened at Founain-bleau The Chancellor in his Speech among other things complained That the Hearts of the People of France were incensed against the King and his Principal Ministers but the Cause of it was not known and therefore it was so difficult to find out and apply a fitted Remedy For That the greatest part of the Men of this Kingdom being weary of what is present fearful of what is to come divided by different Religions and desirous of Change are willing to imbroil the Kingdom And therefore their principal Business was to find out the cause of this Disease and apply a fitting Remedy to this Sickly Body Coligni the Admiral who was present the next day presented a Petition to the King which had been given him whilst he was in Normandy by a vast number of his Subjects desiring that the Severity of the Laws against them might be mitigated till their Cause had been duly considered and determined That they might have Publick Places assigned them for the Exercise of their Religion lest their Private Meetings should be suspected by the Government And they invoked God to bear Witness That they had never entertained any disloyal Thought against his Majesty nor would do so But on the contrary they offered up to God most devout Prayers for the Preservation and Peace of his Kingdom The Bishop of Valence a Learned Grave and Experienced Person confirmed this Opinion shewing the great Corruptions in the Church had given Birth and promoted these Divisions in the Minds of Men which were rather exasperated than extirpated by harsh means and bloody Persecutions Then he shewed the great Use of General Councils for the composing the Differences in the Church And therefore he said He wondred how the Pope could quiet his Conscience one Hour whilst he saw so
was by the late King's Order and would explain the Mystery no further About twelve Days after he went to the Castle of Hane in Picardy and there attended the Orders of the new King. Francis the Second was buried with small State and less Expence to the great hatred of the Guises who in the mean time were very busie to revive the Differences between Queen Catharine and the King of Navarr who wisely prevented their Design by offering the first Place to the Queen and reserving the second to himself as President of the Kingdom This passed into a Decree the twenty first of December The Protestant Religion which had got such footing in France that it seemed not possible to root it out without the Ruine of that Kingdom began this Year to shew it self more openly in Flanders and the Netherlands the Nobility espousing it in great numbers together with the rest of the States Nor could Margaret their Governess under King Philip obtain the continuance of the Taxes for the maintenance of the Spanish Forces Nor would they of Zealand acquiesce tho the Pay was sent from other Places till these Troops were sent into Spain Nor would they grant any Supplies to be disposed of by the Governess but reserved that to themselves that the Soldiers in the Frontier Towns might be certainly and regularly paid This was vigorously opposed by the new Bishops instituted by Paul IV as tending to the remitting the Reins of the Ecclesiastical Government as well as the Civil Bartholomeo Caranza Archbishop of Toledo in Spain was also suspected to incline to the Protestant Religion and on that account was imprisoned by the Inquisition and his Revenues were brought into the King's Treasure By an Appeal to Rome he saved his Life but was never able to recover his See again but died many Years after at Rome in a Private State. Thuanus saith He knew him and that his Learning Integrity and the Holiness of his Conversation was such as made him worthy of that Dignity The great Progress of the Protestant Religion in all Places made all Good Men saith Thuanus desire that the General Council which had been intermitted might be reassumed and carried on but Pope Pius IV had the same Fears of it his Predecessors had lest his own Power should be abated And therefore though he judged this the only means to root out Heresies and very necessary yet he delayed it and unless he were compelled by Force or some present Danger it was apparent he would never admit it But having resolved on the other side right or wrong by Force or Fraud to accomplish his own Desires and hoping to reap great Advantages from the Ruine of the Caraffa's though he had been much assisted by them in the obtaining of the Papacy he applied himself to this with great Application and Industry and under the Mask of Friendship And having laid his Plot he committed Charles Caraffa the Cardinal and his Kinsman the Cardinal of Naples to the Castle of S. Angelo But Anthony Marquess de Monte Bello being then not at Rome though cited also escaped the Danger and fled for his Life Though daily Accounts came to Rome of the Tumults and Disorders of France the Pope took no notice of them Though the Duke of Florence who was great with him for he pretended to be descended of that Family did very much urge his Holiness to consider the State of Affairs in France and Scotland And told him It was Uncharitable to see so many thousands of Souls Lost and Impolitick to necessitate Princes by the despair of a General Council to betake themselves to National Synods This was much inforced by the Noise the Speech of the Chancellor of France had made in the late Assembly which was then very hot in Italy He had among other things assured the French Clergy That if the Pope would not hold a General there should very speedily be a National Council assembled in France and had exhorted all the Bishops to prepare themselves for it To this the Pope answered with great anxiety seeking Pretences of Delay and pretending he was going to Ancona and that by the way he would speak with the Duke of Florence who was a wise Prince and his Kinsman and regulate that Affair by his Advice Cosâ—â—us Duke of Florence perceiving that this Journey of the Pope to Ancona was a Sham and being invited by the Pope to Rome resolved to go thither to promote this and some other Private Business he had with the Pope Before this King Philip having heard of the National Council designed in France had sent Anthony de Toledo to advise the King and Council in this and lay before them the inevitable Danger of a Schism which would follow upon it On the other side Ferdinand the Emperour insisted That seeing the Council was begun on the account of the Germans it should be renewed in Germany and all that was already determined should be re-debated anew Others thought it reasonable That seeing the French were now equally concerned with the Germans the Council should be assembled in some City in the Confines of France and the Empire as at Constance or if the Germans would agree to it at Besanzon The Pope was rather inclined to have it at Trent or rather to bring it deeper into Italy and had some Thoughts of Vercelli a City in the Borders of France though he could not yet resolve certainly to hold it any where for he good Man was more desirous that Geneva which had much infected France and Germany should be reduced by a War than that the Controversies of Religion should be committed to the peaceable Determination of a Council And to that end he had persuaded the Duke of Savoy to make a War upon the Vaudois his Subjects Whilst the Pope was in this incertainty in October the Duke of Florence came to Rome and persuaded the Pope by his Arguments to resolve on the calling of a Council the next Year that he might provide a General Remedy for a General Disease He shewed him That there was no Danger such a Council would pass any severe Sentence on the Manners and Abuses of the Court of Rome And that it was fit he should desire the Discipline and Corrupt Manners of the Church of Rome should be reformed That he ought sincerely to promote it and cause select Divines to be assembled out of all Christian Kingdoms and to hear them favourably that so the Peace of Christendom might be restored which was now torn in Pieces by Diversity of Opinions About the same time the Death of Francis II the Advancement of the King of Navarr and the great Kindness Queen Catharine on his account shewed to the Protestants very much terrified the Pope and compelled him to entertain the Thoughts of a Council in good earnest which till then had been talked of with no great sincerity The Pope thereupon sent Lawrence Lenzi Bishop of Firmo
had before carefully enquired into the Numbers and Riches of the Protestants that she might know what she and the King might expect from them but she could not be assured of any thing only that there were 2150 Assemblies in the Nation the Delegates of which proffered her and the King their Services in case of Necessity but when she desired a more particular and exact account they suspected she had some ill design against them and declined giving her an exact account of their Secrets reflecting on her inconstancy which they much suspected In the mean time Conde was coming to Court as the Queen had ordered him and was at Pont Sainct Clou within two Miles of Fontain-bleau which when the Queen heard all things were put into Confusion as if a Siege had been expected the Populace running into disorder and the Magistrates conniving at it Nor was the disorder less in the Court. The Queen fearing not without cause that some mischief would ensue if Conde came up the Confederates being in possession of the King and resolving to carry him and the Queen to Paris The Queen would gladly have stood Neuter but the Confederates told her plainly they knew Conde was come to get the King into his Power and they were resolved to carry him to Paris and if she pleased she might follow him and so they carried him to Melun not giving her any time to consider of it The Queen followed and took such Lodgings as they assigned her in the Castle Here she would have made her Escape with the King if the Jealousie of the Confederates had not prevented it They knowing this would give a great Reputation to the Party that could gain it and make the opposite Party look like Rebels Next Morning the Queen fell to flatter the Confederates to get them to go back to Fontainbleau and that she might speak with Conde But the Duke of Guise disappointed all her Projects and carried the King and his Brother to the Castle de Vincennes within two Miles of Paris the King weeping as if he had been carried into Captivity by force The next Morning Montmorancy entred Paris pull'd up the Seats and Pulpit of the Protestant Meeting-House near Port St. Jean in the Suburbs and burnt them publickly the people rejoycing greatly at it And in the Afternoon did the same thing without Porte de St. Antoine to another such House but here the Fire took the next Houses which abated the Joy though there was at last too much bestowed on so ridiculous an Enterprize Upon this many good Men were injured by the Rabble in the Streets as being suspected in the Point of Religion yet it came not to Blood. The next day after the King and the Queen were brought up to the Louvre the Confederates pretending they were not safe elsewhere And here they began to talk of Declaring a War against the Prince of Conde which was opposed by the Chancellor whose Judgment was slighted by Montmorancy because he was a Gown-man But he replied That tho he was no Soldier yet he knew very well when War was fit and when not but the violence of the Confederates at last excluded him from that Consulation The Prince of Conde was coming towards the Court but hearing that the Queen out of levity or fear was joyned with the Triumvirate and was gone to Paris he seeing the Enemy in possession of the King's Person concluded they had got a great Advantage over him and yet that the Die being cast it was too late to go back so he went to Orleans to meet d' Andelott and sent to Coligni the Admiral to come thither to him Innocent Tripier de Monterud was then Governour of Orleans for Charles de Bourbon Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon he in the beginning had been very favourable to the Protestants and had equally imployed them with the Catholicks in the Guard of the City but seeing the Queen was now joyned with the Confederate Catholick Lords he changed his Mind and took in more Forces by stealth that he might thereby over-power the Protestants But Andelott entering the place with a small Attendance quickly got together 300 of the Protestants and seized St. John's Gate and immediately sent to the Prince of Conde to come up so that though Mon. de Monterud endeavoured to recover this Post yet it was in vain and the Town fell into the Hands of the Prince of Conde and Monterud was forced to obtain the Prince's Leave to be gone The Seventh of April the Prince of Conde sent a Letter to all the Protestant Churches and Nobility in France to bring to him all the Forces and Moneys they were able to raise for the Rescuing of the King out of Captivity and the delivering him out of the Hands of some great Men who had first violated the Laws or Edicts of France and then seizing the Person of the King by force Abused his Authority to the breaking the Peace of that Kingdom The next day he put out a Manifesto wherein he largely unfolded the Truth that the bottom of their Design was to deprive the Protestants of France of that Liberty which had been granted them by the King's Edict which he proved amongst other things by the Massacre of Vassy which he said was design'd for a Signal to the whole Nation to do the like He call'd God to Witness his only Intentions were to restore the King and his Brothers and the Queen and the Council to their Liberty to preserve the Veneration due to the Royal Edicts and especially that solemn Edict of January last and to prevent the Moneys given by the States in the last Assembly for the payment of the Debts of the Crown from being mispent or turned to other uses for as for him and his they would manage this War at their own Charges He desired that whilest the King was in their Power no Credit should be given to any Edict Warrant or Commission though under the great Seal or Signed by the King. As for his Brother the King of Navar he should pay him always the Respect that was due to his Character and Place but he desired the Duke of Guise and his Brothers and Montmorancy should lay down their Arms restore the King and his Council to their liberty and suffer the Edict of January to continue in force till the King were of Age and then he would lay down his Arms and he and his would return to their own homes If they refused these just and equal Conditions and attempted any thing with force against him he said he would not bear it but would rescue the King and his People from their violence and they should answer for all the Calamities and Miseries which should follow He wrote two days after this to the Princes of Germany and ordered the Ministers to do so too that the greater Credit might be given to his to the same purpose And in the Conclusion desired
they would not be wanting to the King Queen and Kingdom at a time of so much need nor suffer themselves to be prejudiced by the false pretences of his Enemies but rather would support and strengthen him in the War which he had engaged in for the Glory of God and the Safety of the King and Kingdom The 11th of April he caused the League which the Protestants had entred into to be printed also which was to last only till the King should be of full Age to undertake the Government of his Kingdom in his own Name and at the same time he caused that entred into by the Triumvirate to be printed which they pretended was Confirm'd by the Authority of the Council of Trent which was about that time opened The same Seventh day of April the King and Queen put out a Declaration at Paris wherein they affirmed that the report of their Captivity was false and scandalously feigned by the Prince of Conde for a colour to his Seditious Practises And that they came willingly and not by force to Paris that they might consult of the means of settling this Commotion The Third day after another Paper was Published by the Queen Navar Bourbon the Cardinal and Duke of Guise and Montmorancy by the Advice of Aumale the Chancellor St. Andre Brisac and Montmorancy the Younger for the Confirming the Edict of January the Pardon of all past offences and forbidding the troubling or endangering any Man on the account of Religion And giving liberty to the Protestants to meet and Preach any where except in Paris and the Suburbs thereof At the same time an Envoy was dispatched to the Elector Palatine and the rest of the Princes of Germany to consult them about the Council of Trent About the same time there was a Barbarous Massacre made of the Protestants at Sens by the Procurement of Hemar President of Sens and as it was believed not without the knowledge of the Cardinal of Guise who was Archbishop of that See who was thereupon said to have had a hand also in that of Vassy There was a report spread in the City that the Protestants had a design to surprize the City and deface the Images whereupon the Rabble rose and drowned in the River and Slew in all 100 People of all Ages and Sexes Plundered and pull'd down their Houses and rooted up their Vines of which Conde made a grievous Complaint to the Queen in a Letter of the 19th of April But there being many Complaints of the like nature brought from other parts of the Nation against the Protestants the thing was neglected And Davila takes no notice of it About the same time many Cities throughout the Kingdom of France were surprized by the Protestants which was in many places not possible to be done without Slaughter and the Profanation of the Churches though their Captains at first carried themselves as moderately as they could The Prince of Conde understanding by a Letter he received from the Elector Palatin That the Princes of Germany were much divided about the Causes of this War and Especially the Catholicks He wrote a Letter to Ferdinand the Emperor the 20th of April to inform him of the Causes of these Tumults asserting the King and Queen were carried away against their wills and that he had been forced to betake himself to Arms to restore them to their former Liberty and therefore he beseeched the Emperour to favour him as an Asserter of the Royal Interest The 15th of April Roan was taken by the Protestants almost without any Tumult or Resistance And when Henry Robert de la Mark Duke de Bouillon Governour of Normandy was sent thither by the King of Navar to Command them in the King's Name to lay down their Arms they slighted his Authority and gave Reasons for what they had done alledging amongst others the Attempts upon the Protestants at Amiens and Abbeville which they said were sufficient to terrifie the most Peceable from laying down their Arms but then they were willing to deliver the Keys of the City to him and to keep it for his use and in his Name He leaving the City thereupon they took St. Catherine's a Monastery without the City and put a Garison into it A Tumult arising the next Night some of the Catholicks were slain and others put into Prison So from the Third of May till the City was re-taken the Exercise of the Romish Religion was totally omitted Soon after they took Pont de l' Arche which being taken by the Roman Catholicks the Protestants took Caudebec beneath Roan and when they might have demolished it they endeavoured to keep it but it was soon after re-taken by the Roman Catholicks and so the City was restrain'd on both sides Upon this 300 Horse and 1500 Foot were sent against them which for some time had the better of the Citizens The Protestants took Diepe the 21th of April without any Resistance and pull'd down the Images and Altars in the Churches The 21th of June Aumale left Roan and Besieged Diepe In the County of Calais the Protestants were the stronger were also taken and Reform'd by the Protestants Man 's was taken by the Protestants the Third of April without Resistance and in the mean time Forces were raised by both Parties the Queen in her Heart being pleased to see the Prince of Conde Espouse her Cause and desiring to abate the Pride of the Guises and therefore she was earnest to have a Treaty hoping by this means to have both the Parties at her Devotion The Prince of Conde the first of May had sent her a Letter with some Terms for an Accommodation which were That the Edict of January which had been violated by the Conspirators should be observed 2. The Injuries committed upon the Protestants severely punished by the Magistrates 3. Guise and his Brothers and Montmorancy who had raised this War should leave the Court and return to their several Governments till the King was of Age to undertake the Government and determine himself this Controversy And then he would lay down his Arms and retire to his home The Fourth of May it was Answered That the King would observe the Edict of January every where but at Paris That all Slaughters Spoilings and Injuries committed should be inquired into and punished but he would not send Guise Montmorancy and St. Andre from the Court because he was satisfied as to their Loyalty needed their Counsel and ought not to set any Mark of Dishonour on them But then they were willing for the sake of the Publick Peace to retire if those that were in Arms in Ocleans and all over the Nation would first go home restore the Places taken by them to their former Liberty and yield that Obedience to the King they ought and that the King of Navar should still retain the Command of the Army The Prince of Conde perceiving by this Answer that the
Triumvirate were resolved not to leave the Court and that they only pretended the Danger of laying down their Arms before him without taking any Notice of the Hostages he had offered for their Security in that case suspected there was fraud in the bottom and would not comply neither alledging That the King's Presence was their security whereas he had nothing but the Equity of his Cause to Plead After this the Triumvirate put in a Petition to the King Desiring that an Edict might be made 1. That no Religion but the Roman Catholick should be Admitted in the Kingdom 2. That all the King 's Domesticks Captains Governours and Magistrates should be of that Religion and whoever did not publickly profess it should be deprived of all Honour and Publick Employments saving to them their Estates 3. That all Bishops and Clergymen should profess the same or be deprived of their Revenues which should be brought into the Exchequer 4. That all the Churches which were destroyed spoil'd or defaced should be restored and those that were guilty of these Sacriledges punished 5. That all should lay down their Arms upon what pretence soever they had been Listed or by whom soever And they that had no Commission from the King should be treated as Traitors That the King of Navar only should have the Right of Levying Men till these Troubles were ended by a Treaty or a Victory and they to be paid out of the Treasury And on these Terms they were willing not only to leave the Court but the Nation and to go into Exile And till this was done they could not leave the Court. This was Answered at large by another Paper Printed the 20th of May with great sharpness The 26th and 27th of May the King of Navar commanded all the Protestants to depart from Paris ordering that no injury should be done to them or their Goods in their retreat or absence on pain of Death And perceiving that nothing could be effected by Treatise the Triumvirate drew their Forces out of Paris consisting in Four thousand Foot and Three thousand Armed Horse about which time the Queen invited the Prince of Conde to a Conference and they met in the beginning of June at Thoury a Village in la Beausse with all the Cautions usual in such Cases But that Treaty proving ineffectual the Prince of Conde drew his Army out too which was then Four thousand Foot and Two thousand Horse The Prince of Conde had more of the Nobility of France in his Army than the other fide either out of Love to the Religion or hatred to the Guises or by the secret Orders of the Queen Besides his Army had a severe Discipline and Publick Prayers were said Morning and Evening at the head of each Company There were no Oaths no Quarrels heard of but the Psalms were devoutly Sung in the Camp there was no Dice no Tables no Rapines all was Modesty and the least Faults were severely punished so that the Country Man or Merchant might live or travel by the Army in perfect security and their great desire was that they might be led against Paris The 21th of May the Army marched from Orleans and there was another Treaty for a Peace and another Conference with the Queen who thanked him and all the Great Men that camâ— with him for the good Service they had done her and the King in a time of such great need saying they were worthy of the highest Rewards and Honours and praying them to persevere in it and to Consult the good of the Kingdom She excused what she had done in the mean time for the other Party by saying They were more in number who embraced the Roman Catholick Religion and therefore it was necessary there should be no other Religion suffered in France than that At this Conde replied he could not submit to so hard a Condition For if the Peace of Religion were taken away a War would follow which would be very difficult and lasting This proving ineffectual too the Prince of Conde marched to La Ferte Alez and took and sack'd Boigency a Town upon the Loire The Triumvirats Army marched right to Blois which the Protestants had taken not long before and Garison'd but the Place being weak they retreated to Orleans and left it to the Catholicks who Exercised unheard of Cruelties and put most of the Protestants to the Sword or drown'd them in the River though they recovered the Town without one blow striking From thence they marched to Tours which had but a little before been surprized and reformed by the Protestants contrary to the will of the Wiser People who foresaw the ill consequence of it The Country in the mean time was exposed to Rapine under pretence of Extirpating Hereticks the great Men conniving at it or being well pleased And a War was Proclaimed against the Protestants and all Men were commanded to treat them as the Enemies of Mankind on the account of the Sacriledges committed in the Churches because the Church Plate was taken to be Minted for Money to pay the Army and the Images and Altars were generally beaten down where the Protestants prevail'd Whereupon the Peasants left their Work and fell to Rob and Plunder their Neighbours and to exercise unheard of Cruelties and Barbarities they thinking the Protestants were to be treated like Mad Dogs This forced the Gentry in a short time to Arm against them and they treated the Monks and Priests in their own Kind and Hang'd up those Catholick Peasants The Protestants took Anger 's the 5th of April almost without any opposition and both Parties lived peaceably to the 21th when they pulled down the Images in the Churches which so incensed the Roman Catholicks that the 5th of May they let in Succours in the Night whereupon followed a Fight in which the Protestants were worsted and the Roman Catholicks prevailed The other Party were plunder'd whereupon some Women were ravished and others slain to the Number of about eleven Tours being retaken all the Protestants were by one means or another made away the President of the City not escaping their Cruelty because he was suspected to be a Protestant tho' he had never declared himself such so that the Governours were forced to erect Gallows to put a stop to the bloody Barbarity which they themselves had raised in the People The Protestants of Mans were much affrighted when they heard of the Massacre of those of Tours because they also had broken down the Images and pulled up and defaced some of their Tombs Whereupon the 12th of July they left the City in the Evening to the number of 800 and went to Alenzon The Bishop upon this put in 500 Roman Catholicks for a Garison who reacted all the Cruelties upon the Protestants and suborned Men to swear against such as they supposed had defaced the Images or prophaned the Churches whereupon they were severely punished for others Faults The
them the more cruel they fell next upon the Priests and Monks as the Authors of their Calamities this more incensing the Roman Catholicks And they again using the most horrid barbarities that were ever practised by Men the Protestants rose likewise in their Executions on them so that if this War had continued a few years France must have been depopulated Now though in all this the Roman Catholicks were the first Agressors and forced the Protestants to this severity in their own defence yet their Writers cunningly omitting the Provocation or softing the Actions of their own Party set forth at large the Cruelties of the Hereticks as they call them and many times aggravate them above what is true but Thuanus though a Roman Catholick was too great a Man to be guilty of so false a representation and who ever pleaseth to consult him will and I have been very favourable to the Roman Catholicks in this Abstract and have not sought occasions to make them odious without cause A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE Reformation of the Church BOOK IV. The CONTENTS The Cardinal of Ferrara leaves France The Causes of the Delay of the Council The Pope's Legates sent to Trent The Prohibition of Books taken into Consideration The French Ambassadors arrive at Trent The French King's Reflections on the Proceedings of the Council The French Clergy arrive there The Pope's Fear of them Maximilian Son of Ferdinand the Emperor chosen King of the Romans The Emperor dislikes the Proceedings of the Council The Spanish Ambassadors received in the Council The Fathers of Trent much Displeased with the Peace made in France The Queen of Navarr cited to Rome and many of the Bishops by the Inquisition The French King's Declaration against these Proceedings The Queen Mother of France complains of the Council The Pope Gains the Cardinal of Lorrain to his Side That Councils have no Authority over Princes The Ambassadors of France Protest against the Council and retire to Venice The Council ended The Censure of the Council The State of Religion in Piedmont A Tumult in Bavaria for the Cup. The Romish Reasons against granting Marriage to the Clergy and the Cup to the Laity The Siege and Surrender of Havre de Grace Charles the IX declared out of his Minority The Scotch Affairs HAVING thus dispatched what concerns the first French War I now return to the Affairs of the Rest of Christendom in the Year 1562. And here I will first begin with the History of the Council of Trent Whilst the recalling this Council was agitated with great heat the Cardinal of Ferrara the Pope's Legate in France after the Revocation of the Edict of January seeing all things there in the state he desired he took his leave of the King and returned into Italy Before he went however he took care to furnish the King with Money to carry on the Siege of Orleans which he took up of the Bankers of Paris He had raised a vast Expectation of this Council in the minds of all those who had yet any Kindness left in their Hearts for the See of Rome and the more because they thought the Edict of January which had caused the War would then fall of Course it being made only by way of Provision till a Council should determine otherwise As the Cardinal was in his Journey Fifty Horsemen came out of Orleans under the Command of one Monsieur Dampier and surprized all his Mules Horses and Treasures and when he sent a Trumpeter to demand them again the Prince of Conde made Answer That this magnificent and warlike Equipage did not befit Pastors and the Successors of St. Peter but rather Commanders and Generals of War who were in Arms for Religion Yet if he pleased to recal the 200000. Crowns which he had furnished the Triumvirate with to carry on the War against him and the Italian Forces out of France he would then restore all he had taken to his Eminence The Council which was appointed to meet at Easter of the former Year was delay'd to the beginning of this the Pope putting it off because he was as much afraid of the Spanish Bishops as of the French National Council He had been necessitated to grant great Contributions to King Philip to be levied upon his Clergy and he thought the Bishops would on that score come with exasperated Minds to the Council and all his Thoughts were bent on the keeping the Papal Power undiminished rather than on satisfying the just Compaints of the Nations At last being forced by an unresistable necessity he sent Hercules Gonzaga Jerom Seripand and Stanislaus Hosio out of his Bosom to be his Legates at Trent And not long after he added to them James Simoneta and Mark Sitico Bishop of Altemberg in Transylvania who had orders to open the Council again the Eighteenth of January 1562. That those things might be therein treated of which the Legates should propose and in the same Order for the taking away the Calamities of these Times the appeasing the Controversies of Religion the Restraining deceitful Tongues the Correcting the Abuses of depraved Manners and the obtaining a True and Christian Peace by such means as the Holy Council should approve of The French Clergy insisted That mention should be made of a Free and General Council to be call'd for the Quieting of their Differences because their Protestants would never submit to the Determinations of the former Sessions On the contrary the Spaniards professed they would only continue the former Council and therefore they used a middle way and decreed A Council should be Celebrated The Spanish Bishops were as much dissatisfied because all the Power of proposing was given to the Legates and taken from the other Bishops and complained of it to King Philip who Ordered his Ambassador to treat the Pope about it that the Council might be free The Pope Answered the Ambassador That he was not at leisure to dispute about Ablative Cases Positive and the Genders of Words and that he had something else to do And in private he spoke of the Calamities and Dangers of France with the same unconcernedness For when one of the French Cardinals deplored the Danger the See of Rome was in of losing that Kingdom he replied What then if as long as I am Bishop of this City I shall not be forced to abate any thing of the Greatness of my Table and the Magnificence of my Buildings And when they insisted to have the Manners of Men and the Discipline of the Church throughly Reform'd he said In that Particular he would satisfie France to the full and take such Care in it that they should all of them Repent that they had mentioned a Reformation Adding That he foresaw that the Kingdom would be divided on the account of Religion but he did not value the loss of it a Farthing All which Expressions saith Thuanus Are in the Letters of the French Ambassador that was then at Rome out
he was resolved to treat France without any favour In order to this the Pope puts out a Bull dated the 7th of April by which he grants power to the Cardinals appointed Inquisitors General for all Christendom to proceed smartly and extrajudicially as shall seem convenient to them against all and singular the Hereticks and their Abettors and Receivers and those who are suspected to be such abiding in the Provinces and places in which the filth of the Lutheran Heresie hath prevailed and to which it is notorious there is not a safe and free entrance tho' the said persons are adorn'd with the Episcopal Archiepiscopal Patriarchal Dignity or Cardinalate without any other proof to be made of the safety or freedom of the Access But so that Information be first made and that they be cited by an Edict by them to be affixed to the Doors of the Palace of the Holy Inquisition c. admonishing and requiring them to appear personally and not by their Proctors before the said Inquisition within a certain and limited time as the said Inquisition shall think fit upon pain of Excommunication denounced Suspension and other lawful pains And if they shall not so appear they shall be proceeded against in the secret Consistory and a sentence decreed against them tho' absent as convict and confirm'd with a clause of Derogation Tho' this Bull was contrary to all Laws yet the Inquisitors presumed upon it to cite some Bishops of France and with them Odet de Coligni Cardinal de Chustillon who had embraced the Opinions of the Protestants and was now call'd Count de Beauvais he having been formerly Bishop of that City St. Roman Archbishop d'Aix John Monluck Bishop of Valence Jean Anthony Caracciolo Son of the Prince de Melphe Jean Brabanson Bishop of Pamiez Charles Guillart Bishop of Chartres And as if this had been intended but for a step to her the Princess Joan Labrett Queen of Navarr Relict of Anthony late King of Navarr All which I say by a Bull dated the 28th of September and affixed at Rome were cited to appear before the Inquisition within six Months and the Queen was told That if she did not she should be deprived of her Royal Dignity Kingdom or Principality and Dominions as one convicted and the same should be pronounced to belong to whosoever should invade it The King and Queen of France and all the Nobility were extremely exasperated with these proceedings of the Pope and the Bull being read in the Council of State D'Oisel the then Ordinary Ambassador in the Court of Rome was ordered to acquaint the Pope That the King could scarce give any credit to the first reports which were spread in several Pamphlets in France till the Citation which was fixed up in several places in Rome was read to him at which he was much troubled because the Queen of Navarr was in Majesty and Dignity equal to any other Prince in Christendom and had from them the Title of Sister 2. That the danger which threatned her was of ill example and might in time be extended to any of them and therefore they were all bound to assist and defend her in this common cause and the more because she was a Widow 3. But the King of France above all other because nearly related to her and her late Husband who was one of the principal Princes of the Blood Royal and had lost his Life in his service in the last War against the Protestants leaving his Children Orphans the Eldest of which was now in the King's Court and under his care That the King could not neglect the cause of this sorrowful Widow and her Orphan and Children who appeal'd to his fidelity and the Memory of his Ancestors who had in all times of affliction succoured the Princes of Germany Spain and England That Philip the Bold the Son of St. Lewis had with a potent Army defended an Orphan-Queen of Navarr and brought her into France where she was after Married to Philip the Fair from whom Joan the present Queen of Navarr was lineally descended And that John Labrett the Grandfather of this Queen being in like manner persecuted by one of the Popes and driven out of a part of his Kingdom the rest had been defended and preserved by Lewis the Twelfth and his Successors That the Popes themselves have heretofore fled to the French for protection when they have been expelled out of their Sees who had often restored them defended and enriched them with the grant of many Territories That this Queen was so near a Neighbour and such an Allie to the Crown of France that no War could be made upon her without the great damage of France That all Princes were Interested in the Friendship and Peace of their Neighbours and obliged to keep all Wars at a distance from them for the preservation of their own quiet and security Since therefore his Majesty saw by this Bull that there was a design to deprive his Ancient Allies of their Dominions and at pleasure to set up others in their stead he had just reason to fear that as the Spaniards had heretofore on such pretences possess'd themselves of all the Countries to the Pyrenaean Hills so that in time they might pass them too and descend into the Plains of France and so a dismal and destructive War might be rekindled between these powerful Princes to the great hazard and ruin of Christendom Lastly the Queen of Navarr being a Feuditary of the Crown of France and having great Possessions in that Kingdom was under the Protection of the Laws of it and could not be drawn out of it to Rome either in Person or by Proxy no Subject of France being bound to go to Rome but if the Pope had any cause against them he was obliged to send Judges to determine upon the place even in those Cases that came before him by Appeal That therefore this Citation was against the Majesty Law and Security of the Crown of France and tended to the diminishing of the esteem of that King and Kingdom That if the Form of this Proceeding were considered what could be more contrary to the Civil Law than to force a man out of his proper Court and condemn him in another without any hearing For there are Laws That no accused person shall be cited out of the Limits of the Jurisdiction in which he lives and that the Citation shall not be obscure and perfunctory but declared to the proper person or to his family And the Constitution of Pope Boniface the Eighth That Citations set up in certain places of Rome should be of force was recall'd by Clement the Fifth and the Council of Venna as hard and unjust or at least mitigated and it was decreed that they should not be used but when there was no safe coming to the person accused But in France where the Queen of Navarr resides it cannot be pretended that there is no safe coming to
her And what can be more contrary to Natural Equity than to condemn unheard It is forbidden by the Canons and Decrees of Councils and there is a noble example of this in Ammianus Marcellinus where Pope Liberius being urged by Constantius to condemn Athanasius chose rather to be banished than to sentence him without hearing And in the Judgment against Sixtus the Third who was accused of Incest Valentinian the Emperor observed the same method and made him appear and answer in a Synod before Fifty Bishops For the same reason the Sentence of Nicholas the First against Lotharius the Son of St. Lewis for having two Wives was thought void and null Nor was this Sentence against the Queen of Navarr of better force because she was absent and unheard That the Popes have always shewn that respect to Crown'd heads as to admonish them by their Legates before they decreed ought against them So Alexander the Third sent two Cardinals to Henry the Second into England when he was accused of the Death of Thomas a Becket A. B. of Canterbury That he might purge himself before them of this crime So of late Clement the Seventh did the like in the case of Henry the Eighth to whom he sent Cardinal Campeius And if it were granted that the Judgment were rightly passed how could the Dominions of the Queen be exposed for a prey and given to the first Invader they belonging to the King as Lord of the Fee Therefore the King believes that the Pope is deceived by false reports and instigated by the craft of his Ministers who not regarding the publick peace have drawn him from his natural goodness to Counsels which are dishonourable to his Holiness and destructive to his Authority and to that of the See of Rome tending to the alienating of the hearts of his friends from him and the disturbing of the Peace of Christendom And his Majesty is the more perswaded of the truth of this because his Holiness so earnestly espoused the Interest of Anthony the Husband of this Queen in his life-time and endeavoured to perswade King Philip to restore to him the Kingdom of Navarr or at least to give him the Island of Sardinia as an Equivalent But then there is nothing more offends the King than the considering that whereas so many Kings Princes and Free States above Forty years since have defected from the See of Rome and committed the offence charged upon the Queen and so by the rule of Justice ought to be first punished as first offending yet the Pope has not proceeded in the same way or with equal severity against any of them so that from hence it is clear that an occasion is sought by her enemies to oppress and ruin her by surprize whilest she is a Widow her Children Orphans the King of France who ought to protect her being a Minor and disturbed by Civil Wars and for this reason the King is the more obliged to defend her from injury and himself from contempt seeing without acquainting him with it they have begun this Process against a Queen so nearly related to him That if this Accusation had been made on the account of Religion and for the Glory of God the Pope ought in the first place to have shewn his care of her soul and from the Word of God to have administred fitting Remedies and not to have proscribed her Kingdoms and Dominions and given them for a prey to the first Invader The Pope has a Supremacy given him That he may consult the Salvation of Souls and the repose of Christendom and not that he may deprive Princes of their Kingdoms and dispose of their possessions at his pleasure which the former Popes have never been able to do in Germany and other places without bringing great reproach and dishonour on the Church and disturbances upon the World. That therefore the King desired with the greatest humility that he could or ought that the Sentence against the Q. of Navarr should be revok'd and all the Pope's Ministers should be inhibited from proceeding in this cause by a publick Act and if this were not done the King should be forced against his will to make use of the same remedies his Ancestors had imployed in the like cases according to the Laws and Rights of his Kingdom But before all things he protested he should do this unwillingly and therefore they only should bear the blame who by their rashness had forced him to use the power God had given him in so just a cause and to implore the assistance of his friends against them There was at the same time distinct Memorials and larger Instructions sent to the French Ambassador for the Defence of the Bishops and D'Oysel who was an active Minister prevail'd upon the Pope to have the Proceedings against the Bishops stopt and the Sentence against the Queen of Navarr revok'd and abolished So that at this day it is not to be found amongst the Constitutions of Pope Pius the Fourth The 18th of May there having been no consideration had of the XXXIII Articles put into the Council the 4th of January the Queen wrote to Lanssac her Ambassador complaining very bitterly of the delays and shifts which had been made in this business and said that the hope good men had hitherto had of the success of this Council and the opinion of their sincerity who met in it would both vanish without any fruit and their dissimulation and connivance would more and more inflame the wrath of God against us who had now made it manifest unto all men that the affairs of the Church needed a Reformation and a severe correction and to that purpose had invited and brought together from all parts of the Earth so many men famous for their Piety and Learning to this Council and if after all this he shall see us still stubbornly resist his will he will be necessitated to punish those men who have hindred so good a work and so necessary to the peace of the Church That therefore the King had wrote to the Cardinal of Lorrain to assemble a Congregation of the French Clergy and after a mature deliberation had amongst themselves to demand earnestly of the Fathers of the Council that these things might be considered and determin'd as soon as was possible But the Cardinal was by this time won over to the Pope's side and was willing to sacrifice the safety of France and the King's Will to the Interest of the former In order to this he delayed the Execution of his Orders from day to day and at last that he might totally disappoint them asked leave of the King to go to Rome believing the Kings Ambassadors would do nothing in his absence And not long after Lanssac obtained leave to return into France The Cardinal of Lorrain went from Trent towards Rome the 18th of September and with him five of the French Bishops But the other French Ambassadors did nevertheless insist stoutly
several Towns for the Protestants 388. Routed by Duke Maurice 504. Taken into the service of Duke Maurice Assists the Magdeburghers 514. Henry the VII Emperor refuses to pay Allegiance to the Pope 38. Henry the VIII Writes against Luther 50. Is called defender of the Faith Ibid. Is Pensioner to Charles the V. 51. His Daughter Mary is Betrothed to Charles Ibid. Writes to the Princes of the House of Saxony against Luther 65. Receives a Golden Rose from the Pope 75. Writes a Scornful answer to Luther's Letter 101. Makes a League with France in the absence of King Francis 102. Makes a League with Francis against Charles 112. His answer to the Protestant Princes of Germany 150. Is dissatisfied about his Marriage with Catharine 169. Sues to be Divorced Ibid. They are Dilatory at Rome Ibid. He Marries Anne Boleyn 170. Is declared in Parliament head of the Church Ibid. Revokes Peter Pence Ibid. Sends Fox Bishop of Hereford Ambassador to the Protestants at Smalcald 188. His Ambassadors winter at Wittemberg 205. His Letter to the Protestants Ibid. He beheads Anne Boleyn 206. Quells a rising in England 209. His Reasons against the Council of Mantua 231. His Reasons against the Council at Vicenza 250. He enacts in Parliament several things about Religion 251. Marries Anne of Cleve Ibid. His Answer to the Elector of Saxony's Ambassador 255. Beheads romwel Earl of Essex 267. Is divorced from Anne of Cleve Ibid. Marries Catharine Howard Ibid. Burns Papists and Protestants for Religion 269. Beheads Catharine Howard for Adultery 289. Marries Catharine Parr Ibid. Makes a successful War in Scotland 324. He makes an Expedition into France 327. Takes Bologne Ibid. Makes a Treaty of Peace with France 355. Forewarns the Protestants in Germany of their danger 356. Dies 418. Henry of Zutphen suffers for Religion in Germany 75. Henry Duke of Saxony refuses to change his Religion to gain the Dutchy 249. But gains it by George's Death 250. Henry Dauphin of France has a Daughter 382. Henry the II. of France succeeds to Francis the I. 424. Is Crowned 435. The Ceremony of it Ibid. Persecutes the Lutherans severely in France 456. Enters Paris in State 484. Crowns his Queen Ibid. Persecutes the Lutherans Ibid. Makes a League with the Switzers Ibid. Regains several Places from England 485. Publishes another Edict against the Lutherans 492. Sends a Letter to the Pope about his assisting Octavio Farnese 514. He declares War against the Emperor with his reasons 517. Justifies himself from Leagues with the Turk 518. Sends the Abbot of Bellozane to Trent with a Letter to the Council Ibid. He Publishes an Edict against the Pope 521. And another against the Lutherans Ibid. Answers the Emperors Declaration 522. Hinders the Switzers from sending Ambassadors to the Council of Trent 528. He sends Ambassadors to Duke Maurice 529. Makes Peace with the Pope 548. He declares War against the Emperor 553. Calls himself Protector of the Liberties of Germany 554. He takes Toul Verdun Metz 555. Takes an Oath of Allegiance from the People of Metz Ibid. His Treaty with the Strasburghers 557. His answer to the Princes Ambassadors 558. The reasons of his leaving Germany 559. His answer to the Switzers Ibid. He Wastes Luxembourg 563. His Ambassadors Speech at the Treaty of Passaw 564. He Sollicites again by Letters from Aichstadt 567. He brings his Men from Luxembourg back into Artois 571. Is offended with the Pacification at Passaw 572. Writes to the Emperor 576. Sends a Declartion to the States of the Empire 577. Carries on the War in the Low Countries 603. But is beaten in Tuscany in the Sienese War 604. His Letter to the Diet at Francfort Ibid. Takes Casal 613. Carries on the War into Montferrat 617. Hereford vide Fox Herman vide Cologne Hesse vide Philip Landgrave Hildesheym a City in the Dutchy of Brunswick embraces the Protestant Religion 300. they are accused by their Bishop to the Emperor 313. Hogostratus James a Dominican writes against Luther 4. Commissioned by Maximilian to Examine Jewish Books 30. Writes against Reuchlin Ibid. Is cast by the Bishop of Spire Ibid. Appeals to Rome Ibid. Leaves his Cause Ibid. Examines two Augustine Friars at Brussels 63. Holland an Inundation there 137. Hooper John Bishop of Glocester burnt for his Religion 607. Huberine Caspar an Interimist Preaches at Augsbourg 535. Hugh Capet makes himself King of France 150. Huglie John a Protestant burnt for Religion by the Bishop of Constance 105. Hungarians beg for assistance at the Diet of Spire 324. Their Horse join Duke Maurice 409. Husse John Preaches Wiclef's Doctrine 46. Appeals from the Pope to Christ Ibid. Went to the Council of Constance with safe Conduct 47. There burnt Ibid. Hutton Ulricus a Noble Man of Franconia 65. Favours Luther and dies Ibid. I JAmes the V. of Scotland Marries King Francis's Daughter 209. His Queen dies 230. Makes a War with England unsuccessfully 304. Dies Ibid. Jerome Bishop of Brandenbourg 2. Jerome of Prague burnt at the Council of Constance 47. Jerome Bishop of Ascoli summons Luther by P. Leo's Order to appear at Rome 5. Jews compared with Roman Clergy 29. Illyricus Matthias Flaccius Writes against the Adiaphorists 498. Imperial Chamber Vide Protestants is set up again in the Diet at Augsbourg 466. The Judges fly from Spire for fear of the Confederate Princes 557. They answer Marquess Albert's Deputation about the Franconian Bishops 577. They decree in Favour of the Bishops 578. Indulgences Preacht up in Germany 1 2. Confirmed by Pope Clement's Decree in the Extravagants 9. Why granted 273. Indult vide P. Paul the III. P. Innocent the III. Decreed to the Electoral Princes a right of chusing the Emperor 21. His decree de Majoritate Obedientia 107. Inquisition its Original 434. Inquisitors about the Emperor's Edict of Religion in the Netherlands how they proceed 498. Interim drawn up at Augsbourg 454. The heads of it 458. Often Revised and Corrected 459. Sent to Rome ibid. The Electors differ in their Opinion about it ibid. Those who draw it up are rewarded 468. It is disliked on both sides Ibid. Confuted by the Saxon Divines 481. Joachim Elector of Brandenbourg sends an Embassie to the Elector of Saxony 242. Sends Agents to Eysenach 244. Made Geneali ssimo against the Turks 292. He Strikes in with the Papists in the War against the Smalcaldick League 375. Interposes for a Peace 418. With the Landgrave Ibid. Intereedes for Saxony 427. And his Life was spared at his Intercession 428. Intercedes for the Landgrave 429. Remonstrates to the Emperor for him at Hall 433. Calls Bucer to Augsbourg 454. Angry with him for not subscribing the Interim 457. Receives the Interim 461. Acts with Duke Maurice in the Magdeburgick War 505 506. He sends Ambassadors to the Conncil of Trent 526. His Ambassadors with those of D. Maurice Sollicite the Emperor about the Landgrave 531. John XXII P. vide Aquinas John King of Denmark overthrows the Swedes 62. Dying leaves his Son
Landgrave The Landgrave again speaks to the Emperour The ignorance of the Archbishop of Cologne observed by the Emperour The Emperour to the Landgrave The Conferences of some Princes Granvell speaks The Landgrave answers Granvell's words Divines are awkward and obstinate The Landgrave's words The Opinion of Paphnutius about the Lord's Supper and marriage of Priests Granvell speaks after the Landgrave The Landgrav's Answer The Elector Palatine's Opinion in this Conference Granvell's Answer The Landgrav's Speech The Landgrave Arbitrator betwixt the Dukes of Saxony The Emperour advises the Landgrave to come to the Diet. The Emperour thanks the Landgrave The Landgrave's Answer to the Emperour The Emperour to the Landgrave The Landgrave to the Emperour The Emperour to the Landgrave The Landgrave's Answer Spede's soppishness The Landgrave takes leave of the Emperour An Assembly of the Protestant Deputies at Wormes They of Ravensbourg enter into the Protestant League The third Session of the Council of Trent and the Acts of it The Speech of Don Francisco de Toledo in the Council The Pope's Letters to the Bishops of Switzerland The Switzers highly commended The Archbishop of Cologne excommunicated by the Pope The Emperour 's coming to Ratisbonne Diazi's murder unrevenged The Emperour's Speech at Ratisbonne Truce with the Turk by the mediation of the French King. A Division amongst the Electors The Protestants opinion of the Council of Trent A constant report of a War against the Protestants The Cardinal of Trent is sent to Rome to sollicit the promised assistance The Preparations of War. Albert and John of Brandenbourg take charge under the Emperour The Landgrave's Segacity The Protestants ask the Emperour the warlike preparations The Emperour answers the Protestants The Emperour's Letter to the Protestant Cities The Emperour writes to the Duke of Wirtemberg Granvell and Naves discourse the Deputies of the Protestants Cities A Decree of the Council of Trent The Office of Pastors Decrees concerning Original Sin. The Decree of Sixtus IV. concerning the Virgin Mary The Speech of the French Embassador He means the King of England The Demands of the French King. The Answer of those of Strasbourg to the Emperour Duke Maurice had a private Conference with the Emperour The Protestant Deputies return home The Emperour's Embassie to the Suizers The Duke of Wirtemberg and the Towns of Vpper Germany rise in Arms. The first of the Protestant Commanders Balthazar Gutling's Speech to the Soldiers A Meeting of the Protestant Deputies at Vlme Their Letters to the Venetians the Nobility of Germany the Grisons and those of Tyrol The Emperour's League with the Pope against the Reformed The Church Revenues in Spain given for maintaining a War against the Lutherans Peace betwixt France and England Henry the Dauphin of France has a Daughter The Cardinal of Scotland killed The Pope's Letter to the Suizers The Embassadours of the Protestants to the Suizzers Wolffembottel is demolished The Prince Palatine enquires after the cause of the War. The Elector Palatine desires to reconcile the Protestants to the Emperour Saxony and the Landgrave arm The Protestants Letters to the Emperour The Authors of the War against the Protestants The Emperour's Letter to the Archbishop of Cologne The Protestants send Ambassadors to the Kings of England and France Saxony and Landgrave publish a Declaration concerning the War. The Bishop of Ausbourg a great Incendiary The Protestants Letters to the Marquess of Brandenbourg Brandenbourgs Answer A Manifesto against Brandenbourg The Forces of the Landgrave The Landgrave sends his Son to Strasbourg The Duke of Brunswick offers to betray the Papists Councels against the Protestants The first Exploit of the Protestants Fiessen taken Erenberg is taken by Scherteline Francis Castlealto Dilinghen and Donawert taken by the Protestants These of Ausbourg furnish the Emperour with Money The Emperour's Forces at Ratisbonne The Duke of Saxony and the Landgrave Outlawed by the Emperour The Marriages of Bavaria and Cleves amidst the noise of War. The Session of the Council is put off The number of the Fathers of the Council of Trent Titular Archbishops Olaus Magnus of Vpsale and Venant a Scot. The King of Sweden reforms Religion The Archbishop reduced to poverty dies Duke Maurice his Progress to King Ferdinand The Emperour's Letters to Duke Maurice and to his Brother Augustus wherein he desires them to take possession of the Inheritances of the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave and so prevent others The Protestants Letters to the Duke of Bavaria A great Misfortune occasioned by Lightning at Mechelin The Suitzers Answer to the Protestants The Protestants Demand of the Suitzers The Protestants declare War against the Emperour The Emperour refuses to receive the Protestants Letters The Emperour's Answer to the Protestants Messenger A Dispute about what Title should be given to the Emperour The Protestants march to Ratisbonne The Pope's Forces come to the Emperour The Officers of the Pope's Army The Horse of the Duke of Florence and Ferrara A bloody Saying of Farnese The Commanders of the Emperour's Army German Princes in the Emperour's Camp. The Princes in the Protestants Camp. The Emperour marches to Ratisbonne A Skirmish betwixt the Landgrave's Men and the Spanish Garrison The Spaniards break into the Protestants Camp. The Count of Buren marches with his Forces to joyn the Emperour The Landgrave's bold and good Advice The oversight of the Protestants in not laying hold on their oppertunity was the beginning of their miscarriage in the War. The Emperour 's great Courage The Answer of the Suitzers to the Emperour The Pope and Emperour pretended not the same Cause for the War of Germany The Emperour's Letter to the Protestant Suitzers The Protestant Cantons Answer to the Emperour The Protestants Address to the Bohemians The Protestants Declaration concerning Incendiaries and Poysoners sent out by the Pope The Protestants Answer to the Instrument of Proscription The Emperour's Expression about the subduing of Germany * Who had refused the Empire when it was offered unto him The Protestants raise their Camp. The Count of Buren joyns the Emperor The French King refused to send the Protestants Assistance The Protestants grosly deceived by Stroza an Italian The Protestants write to the Reformed Suitzers The Suitzers Answer The Catholick and Protestant Camps near one another The River Egra Albert of Brunswick dies of his wounds Donawert surrendered to the Emperor The Duke of Alva insults over the Landgrave A change of affairs in Saxony Duke Maurice consults against the Protestants The Letters of Duke Maurice's Friends to the Protestants Duke Maurice writes to the Landgrave to the same purpose The Embassie of John William of Saxony to Duke Maurice Scherteline leaves the Protestant Camp. The Emperor Master of the Danube The Protestants lose an opportunity of taking the Emperour A Stratagem A Skirmish betwixt the Landgrave and Prince of Sulmona Another Stratagem used by the Emperor The Plague in the Emperors Camp. Farnese with some Troops returns home The Landgrave's Answer to the Mauricians The Landgrave's
Letter to Duke Maurice's Son-in-Law The Letter of the Council of War to Duke Maurice The Protestants Letters from the Camp to some Imperial Cities and Princes The Bohemians invade Saxony unwillingly Hussars Hungarian Horse Ferdinand's General denounceth War against the Saxons A Convention of the Confederate Deputies at Vlm. The Duke of Saxony's Demands from the Protestants The Answer of the Deputies Duke Maurice his Letters to the Elector His Letters also to the same purpose to the Elector's Son. An Irruption into the Province of the Elector of Saxony The Bohemians depart The Hungarians joyn Duke Maurice Most of the Towns of Saxony fall into the hands of Duke Maurice The Emperour removes his Camp. Duke Maurice ill spoken of Pasquils against Duke Maurice Duke Maurice justifies himself by a publick Manifesto The Persecution of Meaux in France William Briâ—sonet Fourteen burnt The Archbishop of Cologne appeals to a Council An Embassie into France and England The Duke of Saxony and Landgrave in great danger Bophinghen Nordlingen Oetinghen and Dinkespiel surrender to the Emperour The Duke of Saxony raises Money of the Papists The Landgrave's Letter to Duke Maurice his Son-in-law The Emperour's Letter to the Duke of Wirtemberg The Emperour commands the Duke of Wirtemberg to deliver up himself and all his into his hands And his Subjects not to obey him Wirtemberg's supplicatory Letters to the Emperour Neopolitan Cuirossiers come to the Emperour Frederick Elector Palatine is reconciled to the Emperour Paulus Fagius called to Heidleberg The City of Vlm reconciled to the Emperour The Landgrave's Country harassed by the Imperialists Buren takes Darmstadt Frankfurt surrenders to Buren His free Jest that he put upon them The cause of the surrender Frankfurt is reconciled to the Emperour and is fined The Elector of Saxony's Letter to the States of Duke Maurice The King of Denmark sent no aid to the Protestants The Duke of Alva invades the Dutchy of Wirtemberg 1547. The Conditions upon which the Duke of Wirtemberg is reconciled to the Emperor The Emperor's Answer to the Embassadors of Wirtemberg The Protestant Cities of Memmingen Bibrach Ravensburg Kempen and Isne are reconciled to the Emperor Memmingen fined A Sedition in Genoa against the Family of Doria. Joannin Doria killed A Decree of the Council of Trent concerning Justification The Siege of Leipsick The Duke of Saxony recovers his own and takes Duke Maurice's Towns. The Bohemians refuse to take Arms against the Duke of Saxony King Ferdinand's Answer to the Bohemians Demands Marquess Albert of Brandenburg is sent with assistance to Duke Maurice The Emperour goes to Vlm. Lindaw and Esling are received into his Favour Adolph Count Schavenburg is put in the place of Herman Archbishop of Cologne The Emperour's Embassadors perswade the States to relinquish Herman and accept of Schavenburg for their Archbishop The Duke of Cleve mediates and gets Herman to divest himself of his Bishoprick Herman resigns the Bishoprick of Cologne Frederick Herman's Brother turned out of the Provostship of Bonne which was given to Gropper The Death of Henry King of England to whom his Son Prince Edward succeeds Severity against Norfolk Henry detested the Pope not his Doctrine Henry left Guardians to his Son. Thomas Cranmer Primate of England They of Ausbourg capitulate with the Emperour Scheterline odious to the Emperour The Elector of Brandenburg Interposes for Peace and with the Landgrave too The Emperour raises new Forces against Saxony Joyce Grunning compels Count Deckelburg the town of Minden and others to obey and take Orders from him Saxony's Letters to those of Strasbourg Mendoza the French Embassador to Strasbourg The City of Strasbourg send an Embassie to the Emperour Naves dies George Selden succeeds John Marquard Henry Hasen King Ferdinand's Demands to the Bohemians The Nobility and Citizens of Prague desire a Convention of States to be called The League of the Bohemians Rochliez kept out by Marquess Albert. The Duke of Saxony takes Rochiltz by Storm and carries off the Enemies Ordnance Marquess Albert made Prisoner Wolf Theodorick dies of his Wounds The Duke of Wirtemberg makes his Submission to the Emperor The Seventh Session of the Council of Trent concerning the Sacraments And also concerning Ecclesiastical Benefices King Ferdinand's Letters to the Bohemians Strasburg's Pacification with the Emperour Their Fine The Conditions proposed to the Landgrave The Landgrave rejects them The Emperour's Letters to the States of Duke Maurice As also to those of Prague Caspar Pflug Head of the Bohemian Confederates The Bohemians Letters to King Ferdinand and Duke Maurice Ferdinand answers the Bohemians Saxony's Embassador to the Bohemians The Bohemians Letter to the Moravians Francis the French King dies to whom Henry succeeds A change of Affairs in the French Court. Francis the Mecenas of Scholars His Learning A famous Library His liberality towards the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave The death of the Kings of England and France advantageous to the Emperour The overthrow of an Imperial Army Grunning dies Bremen besieged The Bohemians Letter to King Ferdinand The Emperors Letter to the States of Bohemia The Bohemians prepare for War against King Ferdinand's Forces King Ferdinand writes to his Bohemians Saxony takes some Towns from Duke Maurice Some of the Fathers of the Council of Trent go to Bohemia The Count of Buren holds Francfurt Two men put to death at Franckfurt The Landgrave's Justification The Bohemians friends to the Duke of Saxony King Ferdinand's Commissioners to the Convention of the Bohemians Ferdinand's Army The Emperor's Expedition against the Duke of Saxony The Emperours celerity in overtaking the Saxons The Elector of Saxony made Prisoner Duke Ernest of Brunswick taken A Prodigy of the Sun. King Ferdinand's Commissioners to the Bohemians and their Deputies to him The Duke of Saxony condemned to death by the Emperour The great fortitude of Saxony Brandenburg's intercession for Saxony The Conditions proposed by the Emperour to Saxony Albert of Brandenburg and Ernest of Brunswick set at liberty Who were excluded out of the Peace A Diet of the Empire at Ulm. King Ferdinand's Letter to the Bohemians The Duke of Saxony discharges the Soldiers in Wittemberg of their Military Oath and then they surrender the Place to the Emperour The Dutchess of Saxony makes intercession to the Emperour for her Husband The Funeral of King Francis Duke Erick of Brunswick defeated The Intercession of Duke Maurice and the Elector of Brandenburg for the Landgrave Christopher Eblben Duke Maurice's Letter to the Landgrave The Articles of Peace The Landgrave accepts the Conditions Wittemberg falls to Duke Maurice Lazarus Schuendi razes Gothen King Ferdinand's Letter to the Bohemians What was done at the Diet of Vlm. This Diet is adjourned to Ausbourg The Landgrave comes to the Emperour at Hall. A Draught of the Articles of Peace presented to the Landgrave different from that which he had received The Landgrave signes the Articles of Peace The Landgrave begs Pardon of the Emperour The Emperour's Answer to the Landgrave by the
the Pragmatical Sanction The Pragmatical Sanction in danger A Transaction about it The pragmatick Sanction a curb to the Popes Twelve Archbishopricks in France And ninety six Bishopricks The order of Sessions in a Council Subjects allotted to the Divines Who chiefly examined all Points The way of making Articles of Faith. The way of making Canons The Holy Ghost in the Pope's hands The French King's Edict against the Pope A most severe Edict of the French King's against the Lutherans The Emperour's Declaration against the King of France The French King's Justification The cause of the difference betwixt the Emperour and the Pope For making Peace with Magdeburg Duke Maurice holds a Convention of States He also desires a safe Conduct from the Council for his Divines The Decree of the Council concerning the Lord's Supper Four Heads left undecided to be disputed about The form of the safe conduct from the Council Brandeburg's Ambassador claws the Fathers of the Council Frederick of Brandeburg elected Archbishop of Mâ—gdâ—burg The end of the War of Magdeburg Duke Maurice makes the Hessians swear Aâ—legiance to him The Protector of England again made Prisoner Martinhausen made Cardinal The Council's Letter to the French King. The French King frightens the Switzers from the Council Vergerio's Book about avoiding the Council The Bishop of Coyre recalled from the Council The Duchy of Wirtemberg rid of the Spaniards Hasen's Exploits in Schwabia The Duke of Wirtemberg's Ambassadors at the Council The Pacification of Magdeburg The Conditions of Peace The Magdeburgers having received Duke Maurice swear to be true to the Emperour Duke Maurice's Complaint to the Preachers of Magdeburg The Preacherâ— Answer The constancy and renown of the Magdeburgers Duke Maurice hatches a War against the Emperour An Ambassadour from the French King Duke Maurice Maximilian comes from Spain His Ships plundered by the French. Sâ—eidan sent Deputy from Strasburg to the Council Thirteen Cardinals created The Decree of the Council concerning Penance The Decree concerning Extreme Unction Wirtemburgs Ambassadours apply themselves to the Cardinal of Trent And are gulled The Deputy of Strasburg applies himself to the Emperours Ambassadour The Ambassadours of Duke Maurice and the Elector of Brandeburg solicited the Emperour about the Landgrave The names of the Princes that interceded for the Landgrave The Speech of their Ambassadouâ— The Danish Ambassadour intercedes for the Landgrave The Emperours Answer to the Mediators The Conference of Duke Maurice and Prince William the Landgrave's Son. 1552. Maximilian honourably received at Trent Groppers immodesty in the Council The Bishop of Waradin murdered in Hungary King Ferdinand gets Transilvania Huberine an Interimist The Soldiers of Magdeburg create trouble to the Elector of Mentz The Letters of the Spiritual Electors to the Emperour The Emperours Answer The Wirtemberg Ambassadours desires to Count Montfort The Ambassadours of Duke Maurice come to the Council And declare their Instructions The diligence of the Protestant Ambassadors in the Council The Protector of England beheaded The Discourse of the Emperour's Ambassadors with those of Duke Maurice A draught of the safe Conduct given to the Ambassadors of Duke Maurice The safe Conduct of Basil perverted and altered The form of the safe Conduct of Basil Upon examination of the Council's safe Conduct a new form of one is drawn up according to the Decree of Basil The Speech of the Wirtemberg Ambassadors to the Fathers at Trent and the Exhibition of the Confession of Doctrine The Confession of Wirtemberg given in to the Fathers The Ambassadours of Saxony sent for by the Fathers The Confession of Faith written by Melanchton is not produced Another Session of the Council The safe Conduct is delivered without any alteration Poictiere's Discourse as to the Ambassadours Demands The Answer made to the Demands of the Ambassadours The Ambassadours of Wirtemberg depart from the Council The Divines of Saxony come to Norimberg on their way to the Council The bitter Reflection of Ambrose Pelarg upon the Protestants The Ambassadour of Duke Maurice his Complaint of the sawciness of Pelarg. Pelarg Justifies himself before the Cardinal of Trent Duke Maurice's Letters to his Ambassadours The Elector of Treves returns home A Rumour of a War with the Emperour Indulgences published by the Popes Legate The Electors of Mentz and Cologne return home New Ambassadours from Wirtemberg to the Council Duke Maurice's Ambassadours depart secretly from Trent Divines of Wirtemberg and Strasburg come to Trent The Confession of the Duke of Wirtemberg The Protestation of the Ambassadours of Wirtemberg The Deputy of Strasburg's Discourse with the Ambassadour Poctieres The Deputy of Strasburg being upon his return home is stopt Divisions amongst the Fathers of the Council The French King negotiates a Peace with the Pope The Demands of the Protestant Divines to the Council Duke Maurice takes Ausburg upon surrender The Ambassadour Poictieres Conference with those of Wirtemberg and Strasburg The flight of the Fathers at Trent The Writing of the Wirtemberg Ambassadours given to the Imperialists The different Opinions and Intentions of the Fathers of the Council The last Session of the Council of Trent at this time Peace betwixt France and the Pope The death of the Popes Legate The number of Bishops and Divines in the Council of Trent The cause of the Sickness of the Popes Legate The care Duke Maurice took for the Landgrave his Father-in-Law His League with the French King. Duke Maurice's Declaration to the States of the Empire The Declaration of Albert of Brandenburg against the Emperor The French King's Declaration against the Emperor Germany the Bulwark of Christendom The badge of Liberty The French King calls himself the Defender of the Liberty of Germany and of the Captive Princes The out-lawed Men who served the King of France Duke Maurice taketh the Field Albert of Brandenburg joyns Duke Maurice and the Landgrave's Son. Ausburg surrendred to the Princes The Cities are summoned to come to Ausburg The Prince of Salerno revolts from the Emperor The French King takes Toul Verdun and Metz. Lenencour Bishop of Metz. The French King takes an Oath of Allegiance of the Senate and People of Metz. The Princes go to Ulm and besiege it The German and French Hostages are set at Liberty Albert of Brandenburg wastes the Country about Ulm. Conditions of Peace propounded by Duke Maurice to King Ferdinand King Ferdinand's Demands Duke Maurice his Answer Otho Henry Prince Palatine recovers his own Province The Emperor raises Soldiers The Judges of the Imperial Chamber fly from Spire The French King's demands from the Strasburgers The answer of the Senate of Strasburg The Constable chides the Strasburgers They address themselves to the King. The King's Speech to the Deputies Strasburg provides a Garrison against the French. The demands of some Princes made to the French King. Duke Maurice's Letters to the French King. The French King's answer to the Ambassadors of the Princes The reasons of the French King 's leaving Germany The French King's Answer
' Arche and Caudebec Diepe Caen and Bayeux Man 's taken by them The Triumvirate desire no liberty should be granted to the Protestants The Triumvirate draw out of Paris The Prince of Conde maintain great Order in his Army at first A second Treaty between the Queen and Conde Boigency sack'd Bâ—ois Tours Anger 's taken by the Protestants Tours retaken by the Roman Catholicks Mans deserted by the Protestants Amiens Senlis Normandy The Roman Catholicks retake Poictiers and Bourges The Siege of Roan resolved on The Terms of the Protestants League with England The King of Navar shot at the Siege of Roan He dyes 〈◊〉 surrender'd to the King. And also Caen. Diep retaken by the Protestants The Protestants beaten in Guienne Andelot hardly obtains Succours in Germany The Prince of Conde takes the Field Pluviers taken by the Prince of Conde Corbeil besieged by the Prince of Conde The two Armies come in view of each other A Treaty with the Queen and the Terms proposed by the Prince of Conde The Prince marcheth towards Normandy to meet the English Succours * Ablium The King's Army overtake the Prince The Battel of Dreux Montmorancy taken Prisoner St. Andre by the advice of the Duke of 〈◊〉 turn the Fortune of the day and gains the Victory on the King 's â—â—de The Prince of Conde taken 〈…〉 slain 〈◊〉 Coligni The Duke of 〈◊〉 force 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 Coligni would have â—ought the next day Coligni General of the Protestants 1563. The Pope fondly overjoyed with the Victory at Dreux The Prince of Conde carried to Blois The Siege of Orleans The Duke of Guise wounded by one Poltrot The Death and Character of the Duke of Guise The Queen earnestly desires a Peace The Treaty of Peace between the Prince of Conde and Montmorancy The Articles agreed on Coligni not pleased with the Peace The Cardinal of Ferrara leaves France The Causes of the Delay of the Council The Pope's Legates sent to Trent * Proponentibus Legatis The Prohibition of Books taken into consideration A debate whether Episcopacy and Residence are of Divine Right The French Ambassadors Arrival The Demands of the French Ambassadors in the Council The French Kings Reflections on the Proceedings of the Council The Cardinal of Lorrain and the French Clergy arrive at Trent The Pope allarm'd at it as if so many Enemies had invaded him The Popes fears of the French Bishops never to be stopp'd Maximilian Son of Ferdinand chosen King of the Romans Polano in his History of the Council of Trent saith the Election was made the 24 th of November So that the first date seems to be the day of the opening of the Diet. The Emperor dislikes the Proceedings of the Council The Ambassador of Spain received in the Council The Fathers at Trent much dissatisfied with the Peace made in France The French Court shew their Reasons for it The Pope's Bull to the Inquisitors Several French Cardinals and Bishops cited to Rome And the Queen of Navarr also The French King declares against these Proceedings against the Queen of Navarr The Deposing of Princes and disposing of their Dominions the cause of great Calamities The Bishops defended by the King also The Queen complains of the Proceedings of the Council The Pope gained the Cardinal of Lorrain to his side Who went to Rome The Council has no Authority over Princes * Pag 721 The Ambassadors of France put a severer Protestation into the Council The Emperor opposeth the intended Proceedings of the Council against Queen Elizabeth The French Ambassadors leave Trent and go to Venice The last Session of the Council of Trent The censure of the Council The Emperor goes from Inspruck before the Council was ended His sense of the Council The Reasons why the Council had no better success The State of Religion in Piedmont A Tumult in Bavaria for the Cup. Reasons against granting Marriage to the Clergy And the Cup to the Laity The French Affairs after the Peace till the end of the Council The Siege of Havre de Grace The Protestants fight against the English Havre de Grace surrendred to the French. A Plague in London Charles the Ninth declared out of His Minority by the Parliament of Roan The Scotch Affairs in 1562. And 1563. John Hamilton Archbishop of St. Andrews committed for hearing Mass John Knox call'd before the Council for Sedition His bold Answer
great change that was made in the Publick Religion and the Laws betook themselves to Germany some to Wesel and others to Franckfort and Strasburg John Alasco a Polander of Noble Birth and great Learning who was the Brother of Jerome before this Winter began went thence to Denmark but being not so kindly entertained there on the account of his differing from them in the Point of the Eucharist and being denied an Habitation on the same score in the Lower Saxony at length he went to Emden a City of Friseland and there he setled The Fourth Day of March the Queen put out a Book of Articles or Injunctions wherein she commanded the Bishops and their Vicars not to admit any man into Holy Orders who was suspected of Heresie That they should extirpate Heresies suppress and destroy hurtful and pestilent Books That they should prescribe certain Rules to all School-Masters and Preachers and suppress those who did not conform That they should deprive all Married Priests and punish them as their wickedness deserved but that those who with the consent of their Wives should promise to divorce themselves and to abstain for the future should be treated with more gentleness and that they should restore all those that would do Penance for this Offence to their Livings again That all Publick Prayers should be in the Latine Tongue and according to the ancient Forms That all the ancient Holy-days Fasts and Ceremonies should be again observed That all Children already Baptized when they grew up should be brought to the Bishop to be confirmed And that they should be taught in the Schools how they are to minister to the Priest in the Mass at the Altar When Henry the Eighth abolished the Papal Supremacy in England as I have observed in the Ninth Book of this History he passed an Act of Parliament that no man should be admitted to any Ecclesiastical Function or Dignity unless he had first taken an Oath in which he acknowledg'd him and his Successors Supream Head of the Church of England and that the Pope had no Authority over the Church nor was better than a Bishop of Rome with whom they would have nothing to do This Oath the Queen even now remitted and commanded the Bishops not to exact it of any man and thereby did tacitly restare the Pope's Supremacy That which concerns the Publick Prayers went thus Henry the Eighth had commanded them to be said in the vulgar Tongue and in them amongst other things they prayed that God would deliver them from the Seditions Conspiracies and Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and this Printed Form of Prayer was by this Order of the Queen abolished Soon after this Elizabeth the Queens Sister a Lady of great Learning was committed to the Tower because she was suspected to have had an hand in Wiat's Rebellion In the End of March the Enemies of Albert Marquess of Brandenburg returned to the Siege of Schweinfurt In April there came over into Germany Sir Richard Morison Knight whose Embassie I have mentioned in the Book before this Sir Anthony Cook and Sir John Cheeke Knights both the King's Schoolmasters and Men of great Learning and these all afterwards travelled into Italy And soon after Dr. John Poinet Bishop of Winchester came over also who together with many other Bishops was about this time displaced by reason of this Change of Religion The Forces of the Duke of Florence and the Pope besieging Siena about this time Peter Strozza who defended that City in the Name of the King of France learning something of their state by his Spies on a sudden made a Sally upon them and slew a great number of their Souldiers but they recruited their Army and continued the Siege for all that Loss whereupon the King of France levied Three Thousand Swiss for the relief of that Place The Duke of Florence also marries his Daughter to Ascanio the Pope's Nephew and the Methods of advancing his Fortunes by this Marriage were taken into consideration About this time also Ferdinand Gonzaga Governor of the Duchy of Milan came into Flanders to the Emperor Baptista Castaldus whom the Emperor had sent some years since into Hungary as I have said came also about this time to him About the middle of April Sir Thomas Wiat was executed at London He declared that neither the Lady Elizabeth nor Courtney Earl of Devonshire were acquainted with the Rebellion About the same time Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury and Hugh Latimer Bishop of London were removed first to Windsor and then to Oxford and a Disputation being mannaged against them by the Students both of Oxford and Cambridge the 16th 17th and 18th of April concerning Transubstantiation and the Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass and they continuing stedfast in their Former Opinion they were again committed to Prison At the same time there was a Parliament sate in England wherein the Queen especially recommended to the States her Marriage and the restitution of the Pope's Supremacy The first of these she carried upon certain Conditions but the latter was so vigorously opposed by the Upper House that she could not then bring it about In the mean time Cardinal Poole having spent some time with the Emperor in Flanders went to the King of France and endeavoured to bring these Princes to make a Peace but his Mediation had no good success In the end of April Albert of Brandenburg having received 60000 Crowns set Aumale his Prisoner at Liberty A little before this time Holansperg another of his strong Places was taken from him by the Confederates Not long after this the Emperor being then at Brussels by his Letters confirmed the Outlawry decreed the last Winter in the Imperial Chamber of Spire against the Marquess of Brandenburg in which having complained that the Marquess had with impunity committed such Ravages and made such Devastations in the Empire he in the next place severely commands all the Princes and States and especially those that lay next him to execute the said Sentence against the Marquess There had before this been two Meetings at Rotenburg a City of Franconia upon the River Tauber in order to the putting an end to this War but they being both frustrated the Emperor put out this Decree against him which was set up in all places and soon after there was a Diet of the Circle of the Rhine holden at Worms concerning this Business I have often mentioned the General Diet which was summoned in August but the Emperor being hindred from being present in it both by Sickness and Wars Ferdinand his Brother at his Request undertook the management of it and sollicited the Princes to meet who excused their Appearance there on the account of the troubled state of Germany The Emperor had already sent thither some of his Council and amongst them the Cardinal of Ausburg but none of the Princes coming thither for the Causes aforesaid it was deferred to a fitter opportunity Albert had
published a Remonstrance against the City of Norimberg written with great spight and bitterness insinuating that in the late War they had under-hand joyn'd with the French King and his Confederates and furnished them with Money That they and the Bishops their Confederates suspected the Emperor and had said many things of him which discovered their adhering rather to the French King than the Emperor That they had stirred up this War against himself and laboured for nothing more than that the Bishops might not keep their Pacts and Promises to him That they of Norimberg were the Aggressors in this War and had forced him to defend himself That they designed to ruine all the Nobility and Princes of Germany That they had violated that Faith which they had given under their Hands and Seals That they had made a wicked and a cruel War upon his Subjects That they had brib'd the Imperial Chamber against him Lastly he spred Pamphlets in Germany in which he call'd them Traytors This being known to the Norimbergers who in the Sack of Holansperg found some of these Papers the 18th of May they published a large Answer addressed to all the States of Germany in which they refuted all his Accusations in order retorting the greatest part of them upon himself They shewed upon what Conditions they had furnished Maurice with Moneys and shewed who was the Author of the present War For say they at the very time when the Princes who were the Mediators met at Heidelburg he by his Emissaries under-hand levied what Forces he could in Saxony which may be proved upon him by the Letters which William Grumpach one of his Couriers or Messengers sent to him Dated the 29th of March and by several others That if King Ferdinand Maurice Duke of Saxony and Henry Duke of Brunswick had not opposed all their Forces and hazarded their Lives against him he had certainly caused an horrible Desolation throughout Germany He had indeed necessitated the Bishops of Franconia to submit to most unjust and unreasonable Terms but then the Emperor had cancell'd that Treaty and had permitted them to recover what was their own That the Bishop of Bamberg had recovered some Towns and Bayliwicks out of his Hands before he was reconciled to the Emperor and then when being involved in the guilt of Treason not only his Estate but his Life might lawfully have been taken from him As for us say they by the Command of the Emperor we entred into a League for the defence of our own Territories as others have also done After this he was indeed reconciled to the Emperor and obtained a confirmation of this Treaty but it was upon condition that he should be faithful to him and the Empire But then he say they though the Emperor had not allowed him the use of any force from the Camp before Metz wrote to his Subjects That they should terrifie the Bishops and if they did not presently restore what they had taken from him that they should take it by force Whereupon his Subjects in the Month of January falling suddenly upon the Bishops in a short time by Force and Arms recovered all the Places they had retaken before from him Whereupon the Bishop of Bamberg sent an Account to his Allies and desired them to send him Succors according to the League yet we say they being desirous that nothing might rashly be done sent Letters and Envoys more than once to exhort and perswade the Marquess to preserve the Peace but he on the other side with great pride and contempt said That the more Enemies he had the more Glory they would bring him He said this in the beginning of March and a short time after the Treaty of Heidelburg was began And when there were very advantageous Terms offered to him and rejected by him though some of his near Relations and Kinsmen who were the Mediators perswaded him to Peace when he returned home from that place and was raising an Army we being again say they sollicited and called upon by the Bishops did then first profess our selves Enemies to him which was in the beginning of April of the last Year And whereas he has made a bloody and cruel War in Germany beyond the Example of all Stories he now endeavours to lay this Crime upon us But in truth what he says is false and there has been no complaint of our Army brought to us by any Person besides he But then his Souldiers have omitted no sort of Cruelty and they have sometimes in our Sight hung up the poor Plowmen they causally found in the field at Work old and young they forced the Women they found alive and digged up the Graves of those that were dead One Nicholas Eglofstein a Nobleman of Franconia in the Month of May last year being forced to surrender his Castle of Conrut the said Marquess not only burnt it but also commanded forty Countrymen which he found in it together with a Minister to be Hanged in the Garden near the Castle and carried his Wife and Mother Prisoners away with him It is true he endeavoured to excuse this Action afterwards to the Nobility of Franconia but to small purpose How he treated those he made Prisoners during the War is well known to both our own and the Bamberg Hostages who were shut up every where in his Goals He was not contented to demand great Ransoms of those he took but he also cruelly tormented them and starved some of them to death with Hunger and Cold and others were forced to cut off their frozen Limbs to save their Lives And some of them having nothing to redeem themselves with or to buy them Bread he forbad any Victuals should be given them And if the Garrison Soldiers had not been melted by their Lamentations and miserable Crys and had not cast them some dry mouldy fragments of Bread which no Beast or Vermin would have eaten or touched but in the extremities of Hunger these had all Perished to a Man. And when some of them had from their Friends obtained some Money for their subsistence they were hardly able to get Water and Straw Thus many of them were destroyed with Hunger and Thirst in the horrible nasty stinking recesses of his Prisons in which there was nothing but Worms creeping things and filthiness And when they were thus dead their Carkasses were not drawn out and removed but were left amongst the Living and the Sick. On the other side how well we treated those Soldiers of his which we took Prisoners and amongst them those very Leaders and Captains which deserved the worst of us though they yielded themselves into our Hands at discretion he may know if he please from themselves How averse he is to Peace will easily appear by the two Treaties at Rotenburg which is known to those Illustrious Princes who were there in Person or by their Ambassadors For though we have been grievously injured by him And though also the Outlawry was then published