haue ministred vnto them with all vprightnesse and equitie Also to be aduised of such procurations as shall be necessary for the particularities depending vpon the sayd case to the end that by the xv day of December by which tyme his Maiestie hopeth to be retourned to his towne of Compiegne from the voyage that he presently maketh to the frontiers of his realme for conducting his brother the king of Polonia going towardes his kingdome his Maiestie being then aduertised of the whole by the sayd Lord Mareshal may giue order as to him shall seeme necessarie And where he is required by the sayd deputies to prolong the ceassing of armes his Maiestie will write to the sayde Lorde Mareshall to cause all actes of hostilitie to cease prouided alwaye that they of the religion giue order on their part that nothing bee atttempted to the contrary as of late hath bene done which his Maiestie doth expresly forbid At Villiers-Cotterets the 18. day of October 1573. Thus signed CHARLES And vnderneth FIZEL A request exhibited to the King by the Deputies of the third estate of the Countries of Languedocke Dolphine and Prouince SYr before we wēt in hande with the charge that was committed vnto vs by your most humble and obedient subiectes the people of the third estate of your coūtrie and Countie of Prouence Folcaquier the Landes bordering therevpon we wel foresawe three poynts which would make our sute odious or at leastwyse not so well fauoured as we gladly would haue desired that we might returne into our coūtrie with good speed of the thing for which we come present our selues sewters vnto your Maiestie The first is that it is an vnseemly thing for Subiectes to inquire of the peculiar affaiers of their King or to go about to demaund a reason why he doeth them The Second is that subiectes ought to haue a sure good opinion of their Princes good meaning towardes them and that hee will not greue them with extraordinary subsidies without great cause and vrgent necessitie and therefore that the sessing of them lieth not in the controlment of the Subiectes The third is that it is an vnseemly and intolerable rashnes of the Subiectes to intend to brydle or restrain the affaires of the state wherof they haue no knowlege but superficially and by coniecture And in very deed these three poyntes haue made vs to refuse our commission often tymes we had not condescended to haue receiued it but for three other considerations that were layed afore vs in the assembly of the three estates held in the Moneth of Iuly last past in your town of Aix One was the consideration of your natural goodnesse and clemencie sufficiently shewed by experience towardes your subiectes where through we ought to hope for gentle and fauorable audience in the wofull state of your sayd Countrie of Prouence wherof it may be that your Maiestie is not faythfully aduertised An other is that good Kings Princes and Potentates haue at al times not only harkened to the complaintes and griefes of their people but also receiued thē and gently disburdened the Deputies of such and so importunat charges The last is that in extremities mē ought to haue free and vnrestreyned recourse to him that is onely able to apply the needfull remedye Wherevnto we may ad that many things are don vnder the authoritie of Kings without their knowledg for which they be now and then displeased with such as haue not aduertised them of them Surely Sir all these considerations haue we set afore vs to the intent that all men may know that we come not as Mutiners Rebels or Sedicious persons to countermaund your treasure or to inquyre perticulerly of the imployment therof or to call in question the faithfulnesse and vpright dealing of such as haue the ordering of your receytes but onely to giue you true intelligence how great charges impositiōs aydes subsidies tallages taxes increases other contributiōs this poore miserable third state payeth and beareth But peraduenture Sir you will thinke it strange that we which are Deputies for Prouēce should also interlace the griefs and complaints of the Third estate of your Contries of Languedocke Dolphenie Neuerthelesse I which am the messenger am assisted by the Deputies of the sayd Contries here present who gaue me in commission so to do as we met to gether by chaunce at Tarrare bycause wee had all one message and sute Therfore sir it is done to the intent your Maiesty shuld not be troubled with the repetition of like matters And forasmuch as our griefes are all vpon the selfe same points and tend to one selfe same end they haue chosen me alone to speake indifferently for all the three countries alike which thing I haue so much the more willingly and boldly taken vpon me bicause your highnes hath had experience of my loyaltie honestie and sinceritie in your Countrey of Prouence where it hath pleased your Maiestie to aduaunce me to one of your chiefe roomes of your Counsel Sir your Countie of Prouence belonged of old time to the kyngdome of Austrasie and vntill the time of Reyner kyng of Sicili who made a gift of it to king Lewes the eleuenth it continued alwayes vnder the dominion of the Dukes of Lorraine Barre In the time of the sayd good kyng whom some haue seene that are aliue at this day the men of Prouence payd not any tallages impositions ayds subsidies gables or other maner of contributions at all but liued welthely merely of the reuenues of their demayns in peace withal their neighbors and passing their time in making those excellent kind of peytings which are yet still to be seene in the pallace of Aix the chiefe Citie of Prouence Kyng Lewes at his taking of possession of the countrey of Prouence graunted and confirmed all their priuileges which they had in the time of good kyng Reyner which continued so to the time of the great king Francis the first who vppon necessity of the defence of the same countrey when Charles the fifth came downe into it made the people therof taxable and subiect to other impositions of his Realme The countrey of Viennoys Dolphenie at such time as it was sold to your Maiesties predecessors by Sir Humbert Dolphine did enioye like fraunchises and liberties as the coūtrey of Prouence So likewise did the countrey of Languedoc in the times of Raymond Berrager Earles of Tholouze And to say the truth neither taxes ayds subsidies nor impositiōs were heard of any where throughout all the shires of the Realme till the Englishmen had gotten the better part therof for the dispossessing of whose vsurpations our kynges were constrayned to rayse great powers and armies of men And bicause the soueraigne dominiō was held by the Englishmen the Frenchmen whose faythfulnesse and loyaltie passeth al other nations of the earth graūted to kyng Charles the sixth to tax thē and cease them and that was the first time that tallages
so great sumes of money hitherto leuyed of your people haue bene imployed and to cause the men of warre to be well payd hereafter which is the onely meanes to make them liue in order vnder good rule and warlike discipline and the people of the sayde thirde Estate will praye to GOD for the preseruation and increase of your highnesse in all prosperitie and health ¶ The Kings aunswere to the Deputies of the third State of the three Countries of Dolphine Languedocke and Prouence THE King hath taken in very good parte the complaintes griefes and requests made by the deputies of the third state of the Countries of Languedocke Dolphine and Prouince and assureth them that he will relieue thē as soone as his affaires may giue him leaue It maruelously greeueth his Maiestie that his poore people haue suffered so many wrong full troubles For the appeasing whereof he hath caused his Edict to be proclaymed intending to haue it kept and will to the vttermost of his power reache out his hand yit further to a greater pacification And his sayde maiestie doeth all his subiectes to vnderstand that he is charged with allowances to the Princes his bretherne and of the Ladies his Sisters with the interteynement of the Queene with the dowries of his mother and of the Scottish Queene with the allowances of the old Queene Elinor of the Duchesses of Berrey and Ferrara wherwith the kyngs his Grandfather and Father were not charged ouer and besides an infinit masse of dettes wherof the sayd kyngs his Graundfather and Father left him in arrerages which things haue ben the cause of his further charging of his saide people to his great grief Made to Villiers-Cotterets the 18. of October 1573. ¶ The aunswere and aduertisement of the Lord Lodowicke Earle of Nassau to the Kyng THe Lord Lodowicke Earle of Nassau for the zeale which hee hath of the good successe of the kynges Maiesties affaires hauing not long agoe talked freely and plainely with the Lords of Schombert and Fregouza at Frankford and afterward with the sayd Lord Schombert at Cassel thought that his Maiestie shold haue had intelligēce of all as well by the letters of the sayd Lord Schombert as by word of mouth of the said Fregouza hoping also that hee would haue taken all things in good part according as it proceeded from a hart that was at his commaundement Neuerthelesse the sayd Earle perceiueth by instructions from the sayde Fregouza lately roturned vnto him and vnderstandeth throughly by his wordes that his Maiestie taketh all things as though hee had ment to bridle him in his owne Realme VVherein notwithstanding it was the said Earles intent but to shew his Maiestie freely and vprightly the only meanes whereby he knew he might attaine to the thing that he pretended which was to knit a firme friendship and good league with the Protestant Princes and to put away and bury the euill report that went of his Maiestie as well by common deuises of pictures as by reprochfull Bookes and finally to assure him selfe of good aid against the kyng of Spaine in whō he espieth dayly diuers euill meanings towards him And forasmuch as his Maiesties sayd mistaking of things hath caused the sayd Earle to feare least he were not informed of the thing which hee woulde faynest haue him to know and which hee thinketh in sound conscience to be the fittest waye to bring the thing to passe which his Maiestie pretendeth he hath dispatched to him the Lord Chastelier to informe him more particularly of his meaning and of the thinges which he seeth to be expedient for the compassing of his desire Humbly beseechinge his Maiestie to beleue that his so doing is not vppon any peculiar passion or for any affection that he hath to any other thing than to see him in better estimation and reputation than he is among strange Princes and Potentates and further of from the destruction that preaseth hard at his heeles The meanes for him to come to the foresayd ends with the sayd Protestant Princes and to recouer the reputation wherof the former outrages haue bereft him is that his Maiestie should first and formest surcease his warres against them of the Religion which is the true and onely ground woorke whereuppon he may build his reputation new againe whatsoeuer he listeth besides with the Protestant Princes For otherwise it is impossible for him to preuayle And it is no brideling of his Maiestie but a receiuing of fauour at his hand when the sayd Princes may so trust in him as in them selues and shall see in good earnest that there lurketh none euill meaning towardes them which thing cannot be so long as his Maiestie shall persecute them of the same Religion in his Realme whereof the sayde Princes make profession and whereuppon they ground themselues By reason wherof they can neuer hope for any stedfast friendship or league with his Maiestie so long as he sheweth him selfe so sore against them in the chiefe poynt namely Religion which is the thinge that ouer ruleth the doinges of men VVherefore it is requisite to giue his Maiestie a Blanke wheron he might contitinually set his eye that first and formest he let the Protestants alone in peace And to the end that his Maiestie shoulde thinke that these be no discourses in the aire the sayd Earle beseecheth him to remēber that the same had ben the welspring of all his reputation and to call to mind what he had sayd to his hignes the first day of his comming to Bloys in the euening and many other times duringe the treatie of the king of Nauarres mariage namely that forasmuch as his Maiesty had labored so much to set peace among his subiectes and freely graunted the Protestāts the exercise of their Religion the sayd Lords and Princes desiring to be mayntained in like libertie bare him so hartie good will that in deuising ere whiles among themselues whō they might wish to be their Lord if the case shoulde so fall out as to come to election they desired his Maiestie with one mind wishing his auauncement and increase and hauing not any thing more common in their mouthes than his prayses VVhereuppon the sayde Earle sayd vnto his Maiestie that he hoped one day to see the imperiall Crowne vppon his head and that his Maiestie might beleue that that saying of his came not of himself but of such as hauing the authoritie and power to do it made their full accompt to chuse him to be kyng of Romanes VVherin his Maiestie should haue this aduantage that wheras other Princes were wont to buy and purchace it by all meanes and to offer all maner of condicions of aduauntage that they could deuise for the purpose like as the Emperour now present his Maiesties father in law had neuer ben chosen without earnest sute and solemne promises made wherof one among many other was that hee sware to maintaine euery man in freedome of conscience and exercise of the Religion
the sayd L. Admirall throughout all places of his dominion that he meant not neyther would that any man should by any meanes alter his Edict of pacification it can not in any wyse agree with the warre which he maketh presently against his subiectes of the religion and much lesse with his own saying that he would not suffer any other Religion thā his owne within his realme By reason of which persuasions the prince cannot thinke that his Maiesties promising to succour him in the offer which he caused to be made to the sayd Earle without condicion was spoken with a playnmeaning hart but rather feareth that the same proceeded out of the selfesame shopp that the former things came because that in the letters of the Spanishe Ambassadour which were surprised a while agoe as they were comminge out of Fraunce to the Duke of Alua it was seene that the Queene mother vsed suche speech as this I cannot thinke that these so good Christians will make any agreement with the Heretikes shee spake those words of the Prince to his hinderaunce and therefore it is vnlykely that there was any good meaning towards the furtherance of his affayres The said Earle besecheth his Maiestie yit further to set before his eyes what hee hath oftentymes tolde him of the Cardinall of Lorreine namely that his dooings were so suspiciouse on all sydes that whereas he was in credit with his Maiestie and had the ordering of all his affaires it was not too bee thought so farre as could bee seene that hee would deale soundly or vncorruptly in any thing by reason of the great priuitie which he had with the Spaniardes yea and muche lesse in asmuch as it is reported that he hath offered his maiestie a great summe of money to imploy it against the protestants Moreouer the sayd Earle beseecheth his Maiestie to call to mynd what his highnesse hath sayd vnto him oftētimes namely that he considered well the mischiefes that had assayled him on all sydes and that if hee might by Gods grace once remedie them by the peace which he hath payned himself so much to make he would take good heed that he fell no more into them For wheras he is at this hower further ouer the shoes thā euer he was through the counsell of such as vnder his name doe bring those in suspicion which are called the heads of the factiōs and prouoke him to make cleane riddance of them by what meanes so euer it bee as hee dyd by the last slaughter his Maiestie maye wel see it was not to leaue of so but to make him bathe himselfe more than before in the bloud of his poore subiectes to the ende to hasten his own ruine the more wherof they haue layd the platt a long tyme afore hand which skarre his maiestie may yet for al this heale vp agayne by making a good peace in his realme by ceassing to trouble his subiectes of the reformed religion Finally the sayd Earle desireth his Maiestie to bethinke him of this poynt that although he had taken all the townes that are hild by the Protestantes in his Realme yit should hee not haue rooted out the Religion and to consider also that the late Emperour Charles the fifth did not onely take the townes but also had the persones in his hands that did set thēselues against his procedings seazed vpon their landes and beate downe their fortresses and yit for all that could nor driue the Religion out of Germanie because it is a thing so rooted in mennes hartes that it cānot be weeded out by force of armes VVherefore the sayd Earle most humbly beseecheth his Maiestie to take these reasons in as good part as the Earle hath without passion or particular affection soundly truly and with good conscience commaunded the Lord of Chastelier to preferre them to his vnderstanding and to wey them and consider them well and throughly not suffering himselfe to be flattered by such as play the leud Phisitions which tell not their pacient the least part of his disease wherevppon followeth his vndoing but rather crediting such as seeke nothing but his good furtherance and great increase If hee do so his affaires shal haue as good successe as he would wishe If not but that he continue stil in his former behauiour all that euer he can doo shall but turne to his vndoing and imbattell both God and men still more and more against him ¶ FINIS Concerning the conclusiō and effect that hath ensued of these requestes and aduises and touching rhe decease of the French Kyng IT is good for subiectes to trust and pray that Kyngs shall liue It is good for Kynges to thinke and knowe that kynges may and must die Many haue bin the examples therof and great is the fruite to the wise cōsiderers Gods is the iudgement and execution mannes is the good or harme as God is to dispose in wrath or fauour The end is Gods honour It is therfore good for all euen the highest to feare God and to gouerne subiectes as Gods people And sweete is the comfort to those noble Princes whose hearts and consciences the spirite of God feelingly assureth that they haue lead their people in truth holden them in Iustice and preserued them in mercy and equitie Let the one Realme of Fraūce in their Kyngs their subiectes and their state preach to Christendome the mortalitie of kyngs the miseries of ciuill warres the losses by disloyaltie of word and deede the fruits of truth right and peace Gods is the iustice and iudgement whose be the honour of all things seeming to men good or euill The valiant and famous French king Henry the second when he was in greatest apparance of felicitie and ioye in the entric of peace in the feastes of mariage in the very actes of triumph and euen than when after execution of sundry for the cause of conscience he had Annas du Burg and other counsellers of the Parliament of Paris in prison whom for their Religion he thought meete and intented to haue put to death was hurt and slaine to the great losse dissolution lamentation of that mightie kingdome His sonne Francis the second enriched with one kingdome more than euer his father or his auncestors enioyed the Realme of Scotland when after execution of many persons vppon the tumult of Amboise the death of the Vidame of Chartres he had the prince of Cōde Madame de Roye and other noble persons gentlemen prisoners in the Bastile of Paris and elsewhere was suddenly taken away by the hand of God to the great destitution and sorow of those that depended vppon his Maiestie Charles the ninth now lately deceased second sonne of King Henry and yonger Brother to the sayd Frauncis when he thought himselfe deliuered of those whom he supposed daungerous to his estate and whom he charged with most haynous conspiracie found afterward mightie resistance by the remnants of that execution by whom these Articles of request were presented vnto him whereuppon hath not followed such full conclusion as had ben to bee wished for the quiet of that kyngdom Since which time and the lamentable troubles depending when the sayd kyng had his owne Brother with the next Prince of his bloud his greatest Mareshals of his Realme and a number of noble men in custodie and prison and dayly expectation was of a totall destruction of some part of his subiectes God hath added him to his auncesters The circumstances of his disease the cause occasion and maner of his death pertayneth not to vs It was the woorke of god No doubt hee lacked not the care of a mother the counsell of Phisicians and cunning persons the helpe aduise wish and praier of the famous king his brother and all that men might do But Kynges who to vs in resemblance are Gods to them selues in Nature be men God giue to all Princes not that opinion onely but also that cogitation both to thinke it and thinke vppon it God giue quiet to that christiā region of our neighbours and an hart to all Christiā gouernour to haue care of the safetie and peace of their posteritie For beyond all posteritie there is a Kyng of Kynges to be aunswered And GOD giue vs Englishmen quiet and thankfull hartes that we may rest in vnitie cleaue to present state abhorre changes and so vse our Religion that God find it not necessary to withdraw our highest treasure Amen