about him but Diuines and South-sayers who made prodigies of the lightest things more desirous of the health of his body then of his soule for hauing made a prayer vnto Saint Eutropeus to recommende vnto him the one and the other Claudius of Seissell said that hee caused the word Soule to bee put out saying That it was sufficient if the Saint made him to haue corporall health without importuning him with so many things Hee was growne so confident that his holy man would cure him as hee still sent to Plessis to tell him that it consisted onely in him to prolong his life The more hee trusted this good man the more he distrusted all his seruants b Such extraordinary guards and distrusts were not without cause for as Phil. de Commines saith some had an intent to enter into Plessis and to dispatch matters as they thought good for that there was nothing dispatched but they durst not attempt it wherein they did wisely for there was good order taken The Castle was well guarded the Walles were fortified with great barres of Iron The guard stood Centinell in the Ditches hauing command to shoot at any one that should aproch before the gates were opened Hee would willingly haue drawne the ladder after him going to bed hee daily changed his seruants and depended vpon the austere humors of Iohn Cottiere his Physitian to whom hee gaue monethly ten thousand Crownes not daring to refuse him any thing and promising whatsoeuer hee desired so as hee would chase away that fearfull apparition c Alexander Tyrant of Pherâ—a liued in such distrust as the Chamber wherin he was accumtowed to lye was kept by two terrible dogges hauing a â—â—dder to ascend vnto it of Death at the name whereof hee shrunke downe betwixt the sheetes This Physitian did sometimes braue him saying I know well that one of these mornings you will chase me away as you haue done others but I sweare by God you shall not liue eight dayes after This poore Prince in stead of vsing him as Maximin did his d Maximin the Emperour commanded his physitions to be slain for that they could not cure his wounds gaue him whatsoeuer he would Bishopprickes Benefices and Offices The holy man of Calabria on the other side watcht fasted and prayed continually for the King neither was it euer possible to diuert him from the thoughts of his pouerty The King could not giue enough to the one and could not force the other to receiue any thing e Antipather King of Macedon said that be had two friends at Athens Phocian Demades The one hee could neuer content with giuing and the other he could neuer moue to receiue any thing that bee offered him Plut. He sometimes attired himselfe richly Curiosity of Lewis the 11 th contrary to his custome but it was in a Gallery like to a flash of lightening and as one would say I am yet here or by his rarenesse to procure admiration to Maiesty and Grauity like to to the Kings of Egipt f The ancient Kings of Aegipt shewed themselues seldome vnto the people and alwayes after some newâ— manner carrying sometimes fiâ—e vpon their heads and sometimes a bird or a branch to moue admiration hee had not any in his Court but his Physitian and maister Oliuer Euery man began to bee weary of this solitarinesse The French desire to see and to presse neere their King They doe not Court it in vaine and doe not serue an inuisible maister Hee ordained diuers businesses both within and without the Realme sending to fetch diuers things out of farre Countreyes for ostentation and rarenesse g The more rare and vnknowne things that Princes haue the more apparant is their greatnesse and therefore they cause many beasts to bee kept for shew as Tygres Lyons and Ounces as little Lyons in Affricke Rayne-Deere and Buffes in Sweathland and Denmarke Allans in Spaine Mules from Sicile and little Grey-houndes out of Brittanie Hee changed his Officers cashiered his Captaines tooke away their pensions and all to bee spoken of fearing they should hold him to be dead although it bee very hard to conceale the death of a great King h There is nothing can bee lesse concealed then the death of a prince They might say of his designes as Stratonicus did of the Rhodians buildings That he vndertooke things as if hee had beene Immortall for hee feared that in doing nothing the people would bee curious to know what hee did not apprehending so much the hatred of his subiects as their contempt Stratonicus said that the Rhodians did â—ate as if they should dye soone and did build as if they had beene immortall Plut. In these last and extreame languishings hee caused the peace to be proclaimed at Paris Publication of the peace as the Archduke had done at Brussels for it had bin said that it should be published in the Courts of Parliament of France and in the chiefe Townes vnder the Archdukes obedience and sworne by the Abbots Prelats and Noblemen of the countries of Artois Burgondy to the end it might be known that it was not onely made with the Princes to continue during their liues but with the Princes and people The Princesse Margaret k This marriage was so displeasing vnto the Arch-duke as Phillip de CoÌ„mines saith he would willingly haue taken her fâ—om them if he could before she went out of the Country but they of Gand had giuen her a good Guard was brought to Hedin by the Lady of Rauestien base daughter to Duke Phillip The Earle of Beaujeu and the Lady Anne of France his wife receiued her and conducted her to Amboise whereas as the Dauphin was Shee made her entry into Paris in the beginning of Iune and was married in Iuly The Chronicle reports the pompe of this entry in these termes On Monday the second of Iune Entry of the Lady Dauphin into Paris about fine of the clocke in the euening the Lady Dauphin made her entry into Paris being accompanied by the Lady of Beaujeu and the Admirals wife with other Ladies and Gentlewomen and they entred by Saint Dennis gate whereas were prepared for her comming three goodly Scaffolds in the one and the highest was a personage representing the King as Soueraigne On the second were two goodly children a sonne and a daughter attired in white Dammaske representing the said Dauphin and the Lady of Flanders and in the other vnderneath were the personages of the Lord of Beaujeu and of the Lady his wife and of either side of the said Personages were the Armes of the said Lords and Ladies There were also foure personages one of the Husbandmen another of the Clergy the third of Marchandize and the last of the Nobility euery of which made a short speech at her entry The marriage being celebrated at Paris whereunto all the chiefe Townes of the Realme were inuited The King would haue his sonne
haue not bin exactly and curiously digested if in many places there be found defects it sufficeth to say that the worke hath been made following the Court and printed in my absence To conclude mens mindes should not be more difficult to please then the Gods of the ancients Hee that had no milke gaue them water and he that found no wine offered milke salt for incense leaues and flowers for fruits and fruits for beasts He that giues what he hath and doth what he can is bound to no more They that content not themselues with that which seemes good trouble themselues to seeke for better Whatsoeuer happen all these disgraces shall neuer tire nor daunt me Wee doe not leaue to till and sow the ground although the seasons be bad and the haruest vnfruitfull Hee that cannot content all the world must endeuour to content himselfe AN ELOGIE OF LEWIS THE eleuenth French King LEWIS of Valois only like vnto him-selfe and vnlike to all other Kings was borne at Bourges and presented at the font by Iohn Duke of Alancon he past his infancy in the ruines miseries of France and the most sensible afflictions of his father to whom there was a part of the Crowne remaining At eleuen yeares the greatest of the Realme abusing the innocency of his first age to couer their discontentment and ambition made him the head of a faction which was so vniust vnnaturall odious vnto the French as it was presently abandoned euen by them that were the Authors and lasted but nine months At fourteene yeares hee was married to the Princesse of Scotland at fifteene Generall of a royall Army into Normandy and Languedoc At twenty one hee put all Germany in alarum tooke Mombeliart besieged Basill defeated sixe thousand Swisses ouer-run Alsaâ—ia The bayes of this triumph were all couered with bloud and soone after with tears by the death of the Princesse of Scotland his wife The difficuly which hee felt to submit his yong and boyling humors to the temper of reason and his will to that of his father drew him from the Court and intertained him some yeares in Dauphine whereas he married Charlotte of Sauoy and made warre against the Duke of Sauoy his father in law drawing vnto his seruice some by promises others by fauour and presents but most of all by rigour seuerity oppressing his subiects of Dauphine with vnknowne charges so as the cyment of his designes was tempered with bloud sweat teares The King who was not insensible of Complaints and wept by his subiects teares made it knowne that he did loue his estate better then his sonne He came into Dauphine and at the first glance of his eyes he dispersed the designes of such as would trouble the order of nature and the Lawes of the Realme Lewis desiring rather to trust the enemies of his house then his fathers bounty retires to Bruxelles to Duke Phillip wheras he liued six yeares with Charlotte of Sauoy his wife and there receiued the first blessing of his marriage by the birth of his sonne Ioachim of Valois who dyed presently All this time taught him a lesson of patience being forced to make a vertue of necessity learning to be wise in prosperity and constant in aduersity In the end Charles gaue him place and left him the Realme vnited vnder the obedience of one the English being expelled and hauing nothing remaining vnto them but Calis All the forces of this powerfull house of Bourgondy did accompany him vntill hee had the Crowne set vpon his head which he tooke at Rhemes Paris receiued him as it were in triumph and all France seemed to reuiue againe at the rising of this Starre The contempt of Princes of the bloud the change of officers the seueritie in searching out things past with the oppression of the people were the cause of a league which was made against him betwixt the Duke of Berry his brother and the dukes of Burgundy Brittany Calabria and Bourbon with the greatest of the realme A powerfull and famous faction which abused the simple made the wicked mad and thrust good men into despaire The bad successe of the Battell of Montlehery was not able to shake the constancy and fidelitie of the subiect Paris whose motions had alwaies caused the rest of France to wauer held firme and this great storme fel and was dispersed before her wals The greatest Cities of the realme and the chiefe Prouinces coÌ„tinued constant in their duties the interest of priuat men being contented the pursute of the publike good was staied These arrowes being vnbound Lewis had good meanes to breake them The D. of Normandy is forced to quit Roan the D. of Brittaine auoids the storme by his submission The duke of Burgundy is troubled with the mutinies of his subiects who desirous of innouations change did more affect the Earle of Charolois then the Duke of Bourgundy Lewis to be reuenged kindles a fire in his estate and stirs vp them of Liege yet making shew that he desired nothing more then the obseruation of the treaty of Conflans relying too much vpon his wit and forces he ingaged himselfe indiscreetly in Peronne where the Castle was in show his lodging and in effect his prison he saw himselfe forced to arme against his friends to receiue a law from him to whom he thought to giue it The assembly of the estates at Tours iudge of the iniury of his promises and cannot yeeld that Normandy one of the goodliest flowers of the crowne of France should be dismembred they declare war against the D. of Bourgundy The King takes the towne of S. Quintin then Amiens and seeing that the Duke of Burgundy in the desolation of his affaires was prest to giue his daughter in marriage to the Duke of Guienne he doth not in this prosperitie imbrace the opportunitie but is content to haue amazed his enemy and grants him a truce during the which he sees as from the shore that cruell tempest of England which ouerthrew the house of Lancaster whom he fauoured assured the Scepter in that of Yorke succoured and supported by the D. of Burgundy The Duke of Guiennes death brake the truce and hopes of peace and brought all them to the brinke of death and despaire which had followed his fortune who were reduced to such misery as then the most miserable hearing the discourse found therein consolation and amazement Many families were ouerthrowne and that rich and famous house of Armagnac was full of strange tragedies and reuolutions The warre furiously inhumane began againe and the Duke of Bourgundy armed to reuenge his death vpon innocents The towne of Nesle saw heapes of dead carkasses in her streets and streames of bloud in her Churches Beauuais stayed the torrent of his fury and diuerted it vpon Normandy The D. of Brittany although he were gouerned by another head considering the danger wherein hee was submitted himselfe to the stronger and seeing the K. at
borne late are soone Orphlins The losse of this infant which first had giuen him the name of Father was so sencible vnto him as Phillip de Comines saith that he made a vow neuer to loue any other woman but his owne wife and yet in many parts of his Cronicle we see him among women we find some lost some married and their husbands from base fortunes raised to great dignites with many other actions which argue not a continency equall to that of Alexander p Alexander being perswaded to see Darius daughters who were faire and yong made answer I will haue a care not to be vanquished by woemen seeing that I haue vanquished men who being a victor would not see those beauties which might vanquish him nor to that of Cyrus q They intreated Cyrna to see Panthea which he refused to doe and being told that shee was very faire it is for that reason said he I may not see her for if I doe visite her now that I haue leysure she will bind me another time when I shall be full of affaires who would by no meanes see her who he thought might bind him to see her more then once The King bare the absence of his sonne very impatiently it was a thorne in his heart which time could not pull out Death of Ladislaus King of Hungary Hee grew sicke and his sicknes was seconded by a great affliction for the death of Ladislaus r Sorrow creepes sodainly amidst ioy whiles they treat of a marriage at Toure betwixt the L. Magdalen of France and King Ladislans his Embassadors receiue newes of his death on Christmas 〈◊〉 1457. King of Hungary to whom he had promised the lady Magdalen his daughter After his recouery he thought that all the cause of his ill grew from the Duke whom he accused to haue drawne away his son and corrupted his good nature resoluing to seeke a remedy rather with deedes then wordes He leuied a great army and no man knew how he would imploy it the duke fearing that it was to make some enterprise vppon the townes of the riuer of Somme which had beene giuen him by the treaty of Arras staid not to demand the reason t In occasions which presse we must not loose time with wordes men of courage should not haue their handes on their tongues but their tongues in their handes he armes and goes into Picardy to prouide for the safety of his townes and to hinder the Kinges entry with forces The King sendes word to the Duke of Bourgondy that he was in armes to take into his protection the goods of the Lord of Rodemart u Princes haue alwaies pretextâ— to make warre and he that wil breake with his friend neuer failes to find occasions The Duke answered that he was no subiect of France that his lands lay in the Dutchy of Luxembourg that the King should speak more plainely and that he desired to know whether the king had a will to keepe the treaty of Arras or not The King had a desire to haue his sonne otherwise then by the hazard of Armes or breach of a truce which cost so much blood and drawn so many Princes into danger x In the assembly of Arras for a peace betweene King Charles the seuenth and Philip Duke of Bourgundy were present the Embossadors of the Pope of the Councell of Basill of the Emperor and of all Christian Princes They numbred about four thousand horses He feared to ingage hmselfe in new miseries and to bring France to the hazard of shipwrack which she had escaped He went to the west of his life and knew that the greatest of the Realme had their eyes turned to the East Age had coold his military heat the vigour of his nature was without edge the blood of his courage was nothing but slegme y Princes are men and borne men wherfore their best qualities and dispostions are mutable and in the and discouer their inconstancie And although that this first force of his spirits was not altogether deiected yet was it much altered France did still produce some fantastick humors vnknowne to other Prouinces as Egypt doth bring forth Beasts and Nile Fishes which are not found in other countries nor in other Riuers The house of Bourgundy had beene so beaten with the like storme as it desired to continue in this calme Declarâ—tion of the house of Bourgundy the couetousnes of great men was glutted with the calamities of innocents z The people are for the most part innocent of the causes of warre they suffer al the calamities The couetâ—usnes of Souldiers is neuer satisfied but with the miseries of innocents Calamitatibus insontium expletur auariâ—a Tac. lib. 2. the most greedy of troubles were forced to commend rest It would haue seemed hard vnto the subiects to see themselues ouerwhelmed so suddenly with waues a It is alwaies dangerous to take from the people the ease and commodities wherein they liue The iudgement of Tiberius was long in suspence before he could resolue to draw the people from the sweetnes of peace to the discommodities of warre Tac. saith Populum per tot annos moliter habitum non audebit ad durioâ—avertere The Duke would not leaue a doubtfull peace with his subiects he desired to be satisfied of the Kings intention saying that if they forced him to raise an armie they should bury him in his armes that he had no will vnto it vnlesse he were forced that the Trumper should make no noise if violence were not offered and that this Eccho should remaine quiet in the ease of solitarines but if they moued him hee would not be silent vntill that they who had caused him to speake did first hold their peace These practises past away and the King was glad that they raised no stormes not holding it reasonable to resolue to warre more by the occasion which hee had then by the inconueniences which he did foresee b All occasion to make warre should not be rashly nor ambitiously sought for what shew of profit soeuer they had It is better to haue a care to keepe subiects in peace is people townes and to increase the commerce so discipline souldiers and together treâ—sâ—re together least he be surprised in necessity besides being now opprest not with yeeres but with cares which seemes to be inseparable accidents of the life of great men and the excesse of those pleasures which Nature had made short for that they are pernicious hee suffered himselfe to be carried away with melancholly and waywardnes two rockes against which the vessell suffered shipwracke Hee grew wayward after the condemnation of Iohn Duke of Alençon to lose his head the tenth of October 1458. After which melancholly and heauines had seazed on him hee changed the troubles of his life into a perpetuall prison at Loches and gaue his goods to his wife and children c Iohn D. of
Himbercourt A lye giuen â— the Lord â— Himbercourt A man of authority and great dignity will not be contradicted all the reynes of patience breake but truth is so precious an ornament vnto thersoule as when it is disroabed thereof it is no more knowne A lyar is like vnto a counterfeit peece no man will take it and when as the tongue hath once learned to lye and to gainsay her Conscience it is hard to reclaime her Euery lye especially in a gentleman deserues degradation of Armes for a Month or bannishment from Court and algood company for certaine daies i Alfonso K. of Castile sonne to King Ferdinand being at Burgos in the yeare 1368. made an order of Knighthood which he called the order of the hand wher among other statutes there were three remarkable That the knight shold bee alwaies true and that he that should tel a lye should goe a month without a sword That a Knight should alwaies haue good armes in hisâ— Chamber good horses in his stable a good laâ—ce at his gate and a good sword at his girdle vppoÌ„ pain to loose thâ—e name of a Knight That who so had eateÌ„ any stinking things as Garlick and Onyons should absent himselfe a month from the Court and not sit at the Knight tables Wherevppon the King who considered what force this iniury might haue with Himbercourt dispatcht a Gentleman presently with commandement not to probeed in any resolutions which concerned the Constable The Constable gets a saâ—e conduct to come vnto the King whom he commanded to come vnto him and gaue him all assurances which hee demanded hee so much desied to draw him from the Precipice whether his Ambition led him The King came neere vnto S t. Quentin spending the time in hunting about Noion Compeigne and la Fere to busie himselfe during his expectation of the Constable who knowing the humor of this Prince to be full of reuenge and disdaine and that contrary to the nature of Caesar hee neuer forgat iniurie hee did capitulate for his safety of going and returning with conditions too hardy for a subiect His health was in humility and he sought it in pride k It is a great error in a Prince to intreat a subiect like vnto a Soueraigne Prince By enteruiewes of such inequalitie there cannot grow any thing but contempt of the greater and vndoubted danger for the inferior which made his precedent faults to be more apparant and the least to bee reputed great They were forced to make a barre vppon a Causey three leagues from Noyon He comes vnto the K. vpon a Cauley toward la Fere vppon a riuer where the Constable had caused the Foards to be raisâ—d This barre did assure that which was on his side for the King had twise as many men as hee not daring to limit the number of those that should follow his maiesty He came first vnto the Causey the King sent Phillip de Commiâ—es to make his excuse for that he made him attend The King came presently after and found the Constable armed with his Cuirasse vnder a loose Cassock and followed by 300. Gentlemen An act of a distrustfull spirit and a guilty Conscience l Bodies which are easie to purge are also to cure but when the humor resists the Phisicke the cure is very difficult The Constable was sicke of a burning Feuer of Ambition the humor which entertained it was pride insteed of purging it hee nourished it withall that might augment it presenting himselfe before his Prince as before his companion A vassall should neuer m In certaine Nations barbarously wise no man how great soeuer presents himselfe before the King but in a tatâ—ered roabe which couers his good garments to the end that al the poÌ„pe should remain in the King shew himselfe with too much pomp or too great a traine before his Prince They are well aduised who do therin rather follow the way of the ancient simplicity then the new pollicy vain ostentation which the flattery of the late-come hath so much commended But in the most perfect iudgements we see great imperfections To stand alwaies firme and neuer trippe is an admirable and diuine thing The King obserued the Constables brauery yet made no shew of it The King dissembles the Constables pride insolencie and for that hee held dissimulation the cheefe of all royall vertues he did not forbeare to commend his wisedom and gouernment desiring that he should beleeue the contrary to that which his heart thought n It is a means to reclaime a spirit which hath strayed from his loyalty duâ—y not to seeme to doubt of either of them a seruant hath been ofâ—times made faithfull in thinking him to bee so Fiue or sixe Noblemen Gentlemen which were at this Parle grew amazed at his arrogancy which in the end would ruine him that did relye vpon it would ouerthrow this Colosse and break it in as many peeces as it had designes It was a very sensible discontent vnto the King o It is a Corosâ—ue to a great Prince to see a trecherous subiect treat and capitulate with him like vnto enemies Tiberius could not indure it in Tacfarinates although hee had great aduantages in Affrike demanding certaine Townes of safety and retreat he held himself contemned and the Senate of Rome wronged saith â—acitus to see that a trecher and a theefe treated with him like a iust enemy Quod deserto et Predo hostium more ageret to see that a subiect who had left him treated with him like vnto a iust enemy As he aduanced on his side of the barre the Constable did the like to meet him and doing his duty to his maiesty he began to make his excuse for that the iust apprehension of his enemies bad designes The Constable excused himselfe for that hee came armed who were about his maiesty and not able to charge him with any crime charged him with enuy had forced him to come in that equipage and to seeke a place of safety and an assured traine least their bad intents should be more powerfull then his maiesties wisedom and bounty That he knew many built their hopes vpon his graue and the succession of the office of Constable p Many times great men haue no greater enemies then their great offices and dignities Those that effect them handie to their ruine My house of Albe said a condemned Citizen is the cause of my miseries A quality which he desired not to hold but for his maiesties seruice and to make it knowne that it could not bee conferred vppon an honester man That in all thinges which did concerne the seruice of so great a Prince and of so good a King his affections should be without bounds The King receiued him graciously intreated him as his equall and seemed not to come with the maiesty of a King The King receiued him graciously Hee past q Maiestie
the Lattine Tongue was banished out of the Schooles and they were filled with vnknowne Sophistries which were strange and barbarous The Schooles were no more the Fountaine of the Muses but Moates full of Frogges There were good wits as all ages doth produce as all Seas may breed Pearles But as there is a necessity to howle with Wolues they were forced to fit themselues to the common vse being impossible to wipe away the contumely which was done to the reading of good bookes It was a good Verse if it fell not twice or thrice vpon the Cadence of the same Sillable All Lyricke Poets medled with time as carelesse of elegancy as of reason The Latine tongue was harboured in some Cloisters and thence the Prouerbe came Not to speake Latine before Friers as if they should not handle any tooles before good worke-men nor dance before good dancers But they that haue written of those times shew that all the eloquence was nothing but a confused babling which brought forth new words as monsters bred of pride and ignorance So the greatest most famous actions were all made vpon the modell of Sermons and they alwaies tooke some Text of Scripture which they called the Theame of the Discourse r In those daie they busied mens wâ—ts with vnprofitable impertinent Etimologies They said in Schooles that the Scipio's and the Censorins were names of dignity That the Ethnickes came from MouÌ„t Ethna and that the Law Falcidia was so called a falâ—e for that like a Sithe it did cut off Legacies They did often adde ridiculous and foolish Etymologies and their inuentions were about Letters and Syllables The proofe heereof may grow of that which hath beene obserued in diuers places of this History as of the discourse which the first President of Grenoble made to Lewis the 11. Of the pleading which was in the Court of Parliament before the King of Portugall Of the Oration made at the opening of the Estates of Tours That which was made vnto the Millannois vnder the raigne of Lewis the 12. is an other marke of this great simplicity s The Millannois for a rebellioÌ„ made against King Lewis the 12. came in Procession to demaÌ„d pardon of the Cardinal of Amboise his Maiesties Lientenant M r. Michael Ris a Doctor of the Laws Councellour in the great Councell and Parliament of Dijon and in the Senate of Milan made a great discourse vpon this occasion the which he began in these termes Misertus est Dominus super Niniuem ciuitateÌ„ quod poenitentiam egit in cinere cilicio In like manner the Oration made by the Rector of the Vniuersity of Paris to Queene Mary second wife to Lewis the 12. When they haue searcht into the causes of this great desolation they haue found that auarice hath contributed most for when as they found that great wealth was not gotten by the profession of learning that they which had consumed most in good bookes had wasted their estates vnprofitably and contemned their fortunes that onely pleading got the graine and left but the straw for other professions Men studied no more to be learned but contented themselues to be Doctors The Law it selfe which makes a great part of polliticke knowledge was in a manner abandoned and her excellencies dishonoured with an infinite number of ridiculous glosses and vaine questions Wherefore Pope Innocent the 3. who laboured more seriously then happely to restore that Profession to honour did often complaine that auarice had made the Liberall Sciences Mechanicke and that many past impudently from the first precepts of Grammer to the study of the Lawes not staying neither at Phylosophy nor any other good Art Wherefore throughout all the East good bookes were not knowne but to some rare and eloquent spirit and in the West the Latine tongue was growne barbarous the Syriac vnknowne and the Greeke so odious as it was no ignorance in the most learned to skip a Greek word and not to reade it t Ignorance is so shamelesse as shee glories of that shee vnderstands not In those times when they met with a Greeke word they were dispenced with if they made no stay at it and the Reader said Graecum est non legitur The taking of Constantinople did wholly ruine learning in the East and was the cause to make it reuiue in the West by the care of Pope Nicholas the fifth and of great Cosmo de Medicis who gathered together the sad Relickes of this Shipwracke They caused the good bookes of all the Greeke Authours to be sought out and preserued and did lodge and entertaine them that were capable to make them speake Lattine This misfortune made them to arriue in Italy as into a Port of safety against the tempest of Greece or rather as some precious moueable rescued out of a great fire they found a sweete retreate and an honourable resting place in the house of Medicis Some time before Emanuel Chrisolara had beene sent by Iohn Paleologue to demand succours of Christian Princes against Bajazeth the first who threatned Greece with the seruitude which it hath endured vnder the Empire of his descendants Hauing done his charge he staid at Venice then at Florence and at Rome he read some lessons at Padua past into Germany and dyed during the Councell of Constance George Trapezonde by extraction from Trapizonde but borne in Candy and Theodore Gaza of Thessalonica continued these first beginnings Cosmo de Medicis made choice of Iohn Argyropile u Iohn Capnio was one of his Aâ—ditours the first time he entred Argyropyle asked him of whence hee was and what he would hee answered that hee was a Germain and would remaine at Rome to learne something of him in the Greek toÌ„gue whereof hee had already some knowledge Argyropile commanded him to reade and to interpret a passage of Thucidides Capnio did it after so elegant a manner and with so cleane a pronounciation as Argyâ—opile sighing said Graecia nostro exilio transuolauit Alpes Greece by our exile hath flown ouer the Alpes their companion to be schoolemaister to Peter de Medicis his soone then he went to Rome where he did publickely interpret the Greeke Histories and did so inspire the loue of learning into the hearts of good spirits as the Cardinals and Noblemen of Rome did not dsidaine to go and heare his Lessons Out of the Schoole of Emanuel Chrisolara came Gregory Typhernas who came to Paris and presenting himselfe to the Rector he said vnto him That he was come to teach the Greeke and demanded to haue the recompence allowed by the Holy Decrees The Rector was somewhat amazed at the boldnesse of this stranger and yet commended his desire and with the aduice of the Vniuersity staid him and gaue him the entertainement he desired Ierome of Sparta succeeded him The Shipwracke of Greece brought many other great personages to the roade of Italy Demetrius Chalcondyle x Demetrius Chalcondyle an Anthenian taught publickly at
seuere and difficult so euer The Duke of Bourbon 1411. who would make his profit of this diuision betwixt the father and the sonne Charles Duke of Bourbon and who was discontented to see the King contemne and reiect the Princes to fauour priuate men practised this diuision The Dauphin who was bred vp in the Castle of Loches vnder the charge of Iohn Earle of March y The Earle of March was gouernour to the Dauphin He wrought meanes to get out of his hands and to bee at libertie They said then that King Charles should not haue married him so soone to entreat him like a child saw him carried away by the bastard of Bourbon and was content to goe and to be ridde of his gouernor who suffered him to enioy conuenient libertie thinking it vnfit to treat the first sonne of France seuerely being now great and married Hee was led to Moulins whereas the Duke of Bourbon attended him Thither came the Duke of Alençon and Chabannes Earle of Damartin beeing incensed for that the King had called him Captaine of Bandilieres These were men who after the peace of Arras like vnto some after the treaty of Bretigny z When as treaties of peace are concluded they must prouide for the retreat of forraine troopes elâ—e they wil ouerrun the Prouinces After the treaty of Brâ—tigny in the yeare 1360. the English trooopes did ouerrâ—n and spoile France and defeated them that sought to stop their violencâ—s at â—regnay neere to Lyon did ouercome and spoyle all the whole country leauing the peasant nothing but his shirt There imbarked in the same ship the Earle of Vandome the Earle of Dunois Bastard of Orleans and the Lord of Chaumont Tremouille Boucicaut and Prye There resolution was not to yeelde him vntill that an order were setled in France the Princes in Authoritie and the malecontents in fauour If their intention had appeared in her true and naturall forme her deformitie had displeased all the world for it was nothing but a meere conspiracie of great men who abusing the youth of this Prince ingaged him in an vnnaturall ingratitude and thought to make him greater then eyther nature or God himselfe had yet ordained that vnder his shadow a He that wil enioy the shadow of his Prince must reioyce at his greatnes so as it be not raised vppon a foundation of Iniustice and ingratitude they might liue at their ease and make their profit of the publicke ruines To giue some forme to this illusion they deuise supposed members and giue it for a face the b All deformities and imperfections are so foule being seene bare as like vnto them that haue both their armes and â—egs cut off make other of Ironâ— or wood euen so they that haue had deseignes do couer them with some goodly pretext maske of reformation of disorders protesting that they had no other intention but to settle the Dauphin to the end that all things might bee done by his authoritie with the aduise of the Princes of bloud They had sought to imbarke the Duke of Bourgundy with them Duke of Burgundy refuse to enter into the league but he who would not reuiue a quarrell if not altogether quencht yet at the least smothered And knowing the folly of this designe sent them word that he would liue in peace and that at the end of the course whereinto they were entred there was an ineuitable downefall c of rash designes we may easily foretell theâ— vnfortunate euents and hopes whcih haue vniust foundations cannot long continue That they should doe wisely to returne into the way which they had left for that they more they went into this the more they should wander that of all the miseries that would fall abundantly vpon them they should not be d He that is the cause of his owne misery hath small reason to complaine and few men pitty him lamented of any for that they were knowne to bee the causers That although there were some disorder in the state yet could it not be so great as that which should grow by this diuision and France should be little beholding for her help to those which had made her so sicke to cure her e It is a desperatee cure when as healtâ— must be beholding to siicknes and peace to Ciuil warre for that neither the disordred gouernement of affayres nor the vaiust commandement of the Prince would not cause so many ruines and inconueniences as disobedience and rebellion f Ruines and miseries grow not by them that command but by such as obey Obedience hath made Estates to prosper and florish vnder vniust and tiâ—ranous commâ—n â—ementâ— The common weale of Spaâ—ta was happy not for that their Kings commanded wel but for that this subiects obeyed well Theopompus That for his part he could not seperate himselfe from the King his Lord without forsaking himselfe That his armes and forces were alwaies at the Dauphins commandement so as his designes were not disauowed and that he would more willingly employ himselfe to bring him to his fathers presence then to withdraw him The Princes of this league were very sorrie for this declaration For they considered that if they could haue kindled a hatred betwixt these two houses they would haue beene more violent and yet they made this yong Prince beleeue by reasons fuller of oftentations then truth Letters of Lewis to the good Townes that all would doe well They dissembled the g In enterprises of 〈…〉 â—onsiâ—er the ground and iustice of the cause rather 〈◊〉 the issuâ— and successe The Romans had this glory neuer to enter into it wrongfully They did not so mucâ— glory saith Titus Liuius in the prosperous successe as to hauâ— beguâ— it vppon a reasonabâ—e and lawfull occasion Iniustice of this warre and flatter him with sweet hopes of the euent They write letters in his name to the townes of Auuergne and other prouinces whereas they thought these designes would be well liked of and this Innouation pleasing But they were reeeiued of the wise with more amazement for this defection then desired to adhere vnto them and although there be no cause so bad but it findes some refuge and some one to fauour it and that which is held a crime h All the actions of men are taken by two ends some commend them others blame them Coesar is commended for that he attemptâ—d against the liberty of Rome Brutus iâ— blamed who opposed himself to his deseignes to reuenge his contries libertâ—es Some blame Cateline for that hee would haue done and others commend Caesar for that hee did in some is commended by others as a publique seruice yet all the townes did abhor this rebellion They held it impossible that such a diuision could prosper and that France would bee made a Theatre of a new Tragedie that the reasons whereof they did ground it were like vnto false stones which haue some transparant shining like
vnto fire but they haue neither the vertue nor the hardnes They found not any spirit well setled that would follow them but euery man stopt his eares at the first brute as if they had been inchantments All were amased i An vniust rash enterprise strikes horror into good men who foresee the miserable euents at the ignorant vulgar holds them fauorable they must stop their cares to their first prâ—positions for if they enter into the soule 〈…〉 it with confusion Claudendae sunt aures malis voelbus et quidem p. imis Nam cum initium fecerunt admissaeque sunt pâ—us audent Sen. at their boldnes and euery man said that fury would draw these wilde Bores into the toyle that the Foxes craft would not free them from the snare The Nobility of Auuergne giue them to vnderstand that if the Kinge came into the Country The declaration of the nobâ—lity of Auuergâ—e they could doe no lesse then to open their gates This name of Kinge and such a King against whâ— they could not arme but the reliques of his victories who had made so great proofes of his valor and courage made the most mutinous to tremble k A Prince whose great actions purchased the name of valiant and wise is alwaies feared and respected This authority disperseth all kind of factions and conspiracies when as carelesnes and contempt giues them life It was an Anuill which would weare all hammers Euery man said vnto the Dauphin I am yours without exception reseruing my duty to the Kings seruice The King could not yet dispatch his affaires with the English The Kinge of England had failed of the assignation made on the first day of May at S. Omer The King armes against the Dauphin to consider of a peace and made himselfe be sought vnto This trouble could not be but to the profit of the enemies of France He resolued to goe himselfe against this conspiracy before that time and the Innouation the auncient Idol m Caesar blamed the Gaules for a curious deâ—iâ—e of Inouations They are said he very inconstant in their opinions most commonly desire change of the French had giuen it more force Hauing fortified the frontiers against the English he aduertised his sonne of his duty but good wordes serue but as oyle to feede the lampe of this yong Princes desires He must vse sharper tearmes to force obedience n Good wordes are of no force to haue a difficult commandement â—bserued He that wil be obeyed in rigorous things must vse seueritie and authoritie So saies Machâ—auel in the third of his Discourses an vnpleasing commaund requires not milde speches He came to Poietiers he sent to the Duke of Bourbon to deliuer him his sonne and to the Duke of Alençon to yeeld him his Townes of Niort and St. Maixant and to both of them to yeeld an account of those combustions to come vnto him and to call their fidellity vnto them They were farre of this storme could not hurt them They were no Children to be afraid of this thunder The Duke of Bourbon would not obey at the first summons without caution for his obedience He had rather haue his absence o To flie iudgement is to confesse the fault but oftentimes the innocâ—nt teach no defence against the persecution of one more mightie but absence a witnesse against him then repent him for his presence He had a good pawne in his possession he had Townes and Subiectes which had sworne to follow his fortune thinking that the war being betwixt the Father and the Sonne all that were actors in it should gaine by it at the least they should be free from danger for the Fathers bounty would refuse nothing to his Sons humility and that oftentimes fidelity was worse rewarded then p There haue beene ages seene so full of confusion as they must haue done ill to reap good If vertue â—ere not of it selfe a great recoÌ„pence to good men they migâ—t haue some reason to repent themselues of doing well when as their condâ—tion is infeâ—iour to that of the wicked rebellion The Duke of Alençon thought he should alwaies haue Niort and St. Maixant to make his peace He had sent la Roche to defend the Castell of St. Maixant S. Maixan taken by the King but the Towne intrencht it selfe and put it selfe in armes against him It was presently assisted with the kinges forces who sent the Admirall Coitiui and la Varenne Seneâ—hall of Poictou thither The Castell being forced la Roche escaped making a shewe to goe for succors and the Captaines which he left within it were hanged The Kinges forces attempted not any Towne but they took it q A Prince that hath to deale with his subiects performes great matters in time how diffâ—cult soeuer Some endured the Cannon and were spoiled Rion and Aigues perces opened their gates at the first summons Clermont and Mont-Ferrand who had neuer giuen eare to the perswasion of the Princes of the league receiued the King The Estates of the Country assemble at Clermont to order this diuision Estates assembled at Clermont which separating the sonne from the father diuided one heart into two The King thinking it fit that a busines of that importance which concerned the safety of them all should be consulted of by many r Although that a soueraigne Prince may resolue of any thing of his own motion yet it is fit hee should commun cate it So Augustus made a pleasing sweet medlâ—y as Dion saitâ— of a Monarchie and a popular state hee appointed this assembly There they represented freely the ruines which threatned the Realme and that the English had occasion to mocke at the boldnes of the Princes of the bloud which had attempted against the head of their house and banded the Sonne against the Father That it was fit euery man should returne to his dutie the King by the way of his bounty and clemencie to them that had offended him by that of iustice to his estate to serue s To raign is to serue Tiberius comprhendâ—d the dutie of a Prince in three words and three kinds of subiects A good Prince who is ordained for the safety of his subiects must serue the Senat serue his subiects in generall and serue euery priuate man To serue the Senate is to follow their Councell to serue all is to procure the publike good and to serue euery man is to do him iustice that demands it the which hee was ordained of God as well as to command and the Princes by that of obedience and repentance with amendment for their faults that although the iustest cause to arme against the Prince were vniust yet the King should consider that a great Prince should apprehend nothing more then to see his subiects ill satisfied t A priuate man is pleased in satisfying himselfe but the condition of a Prince is bound to content his subiects and to saâ—isfiâ—
of the Dauphins wife Death of Margaret Stuard and his heauines was so apparent as the whole Court did participate thereof But there was more then teares to witnesse that hee loued this Princesse and that the remembrance of her should not end with weeping k Affection is not tryed by teares onely To ceace to weepe is not to forget the remembrance is too short which lasteth no longer them teares for he receiued the Princesses of Scotland her Sisters with all kindes of honor whom she had greatly desired to see They came at the time of her Funerals and finding themselues as it were vnknowne in a country whereas that which should make them to be knowne and respected was wanting they dyed for griefe All consolations made their greefes comfortles l We must giue time and ayre to sorrow to euaporate it In those which are extremâ— it is a part of the griefe to heare of consolations and made them desire that the Queene their sister being in the bosome of the earth had them vpon hers But the King to witnes that the affection which he bare vnto their Sister was not dead made them to feele the effects He married the one to Francis Duke of Brittaine and the other to Sigismond Archduke of Austria m Iohn Duke of Brittanie sent Ambassadors into Scotland to treat the marriage of his Sonne with Isabel daughter to the King of Scotland at whose returne he enquired what the Princesse was Who made report That shee had beautie sufficient a bodie well disposed to beare children but shee had no ready speech To whom he answered That she was as he demanded and that he held a woman learned enough if she could make a difference betwixt her husbands doublet and shirt Annal. of Aquitaine It is impossible to finde truth in an enemies tongue The iudgement of two Historians of England Hony how sweet soeuer it be is sharpe and offensiue to a mouth vlcered with passion and slander Edward Hall and Grafton two writers of England seeing that their imposture would take no hold vpon the manners and actions of this Princesse haue indiscreetly written that she was vnpleasing to her husband n Buchanan in the tenth booke of the Historie of Scotland saith that two Historians of England hauing as little sufficiencie as modestie haue beene so Impudent as not finding any thing wherewith to slander this Princes haue said Ob oris graueolentiam marito fuisse ingratam But there are records yet to be seene both in France and Scotland of the griefe which Charles the seuenth and the Dauphin his Sonne had for her death and Monstrelet speakes as of a Princesse who excelled in beautie both of minde and bodie She fauoured the good wits of her age Alain Charretier was held at that time one of the first of the Court and this Princes did esteeme him so rare as shee honoured him with a singular fauour for passing by a Chamber whereas he slept vpon a forme she kist him and to satisfie the amazement of the Ladyes of her traine she added I kisse not the man I kisse the mouth from whence haue come so many goodly Discourses Yet it was one of those mouthes which haue learned to talke and not to bee silent o There is no such itching of the spirit as a desire to write It is not cured but by silence Eusenius demanded of Apolonius Thianeus why hee did not settle himselfe to write for that said hee I haue not yet learned to hold my peace This warlike and Marshall season was debarred both of learning and learned men For whereas warre speakes learning is silent The Prouinces troubled by armes neither teach nor are taught and the money which should serue for the stipend of publicke Readers is imployed for the musters of souldiers p The Emperor Leon made an answere to one that counselled him to imploy his treasure in the entertainement of souldiers vtinaÌ„ meis temporibus eueniat stipendia militum in doctores artium absumi I would it might happen in my time that the stipends of souldiers might bee imployed vpon Doctors of Arts. The yeares of Truce being expired The warre renues the warre was renued with all violence against the English The Historie speakes nothing of the actions of Lewis vntill his retreat into Dauphine neither are the causes thereof well exprest Shee hath well obserued his discontents His Father held him somewhat short and his actions were not so temperate The wretched life of a great King but they gaue him some cause of suspition that he had a desire to be master q The opinions of children should be limitted in that sort as it is not lawfull for them once to thinke to aduance the time they must suffer heauen the order of nature to work The King being come to an end of his affayres would recompence the troublesome nights which hee had past r A troubled youth requires a quiet age he that hath liued in the waues desires to dye in the Port. when as melancholly had dryed vp his bones that all his demeanes were engaged the chiefe forts of the Realme in the power of the English that his table often fayled and that hee liued in such frugalitie as hee had no need of excellent Cookes such as those of the Romans were 1446 for they found him not with three or foure Dishes like vnto Charlemaine but with a messe of Pottage made with a rumpe of Mutton and a couple of Chickens rosted for his whole seruice s The sobrietie of Charlemaine hath beene commended he had but foure dishes hee dranke but thrice and neuer betwixt meales he did eate some fruits after dinner Eghinard The great toyles which hee had past deserued some good daies but he sought them not in his family nor in his children t Rest after their trauels is iust and lawfull but it is most sweet in his owne house And therefore Hercules was represented playing with a little Child The familie hath consâ—iations Bella planè accinctis obeunda sed reuertentibus post laborem quid honestius quam vxorium leuamentum TAC. His spirit plunged it selfe in delights He giues himselfe to delights and to Ladies for the which like vnto another Iupiter he transformed himselfe into diuers shapes vnworthy of his Maiestie and although he was impatient of seruitude as all Kings be yet he vowed himselfe to the seruice of Ladies which followed the Queeene Aboue all their appeared the fayre Agnes beautifull in the flower of her age and as louely as worthily to bee beloued u The Obiect of Loue is Beauty and Beautie is the marke of many desires It is for blind men to demaund why Kings loue fayre things She stole the Kings heart who made her Mistris of the Castle of beautie as she was Queene of all the beauties but beauty was in her a bad Hostes in a goodly lodging The Historie which
of Eugenius They did alwaies obiect vnto his Nuncios that it was a shame to gainesay himselfe to ouerthrow the worke of his owne hands and that Dignities had changed the Maximes of conscience Wherefore in the end of Aprill 1463. he made a declaration containing a great repentance of that which hee had done in the Councell of Basill against the Pope i This Bull was directed to the vniuersitie of Collin to the which he wrot many things against Engenius ending with these wordes Haec est nostra sententia filii haec credimus profiteâ—ur haec iam senes et in Apostolatus aeque constituti pro veritate asserimus si qua vel nobis vel aliis conscripsimus aliquando quae huic doctrinae repugnent illa tanquam erronea â—uueneli animo parum pensata iudicia reuocamus atque omnino respuâ—mus and directed it to the Vniuersitie of Collin He excused himselfe by his youth comming but newly from the Schooles the force of the perswasions of so many great prelates whom hee saw banded against Eugenius the example which had seduced him and ignorance which should excuse him thinking not to erre after so many great Doctors and especially of the Schoole of Paris whose reputation was then very famous and of the vniuersities of Germany k Nos homines vt homines errauimus neque imus inficias multa quae diximus scripsimus egimus damnari posse verum non vt Arrius â—â—thyces Macedonius aut Nestorins alia blasphemorum turba ex animo damnatum viam eligimâ—s seducti peccauimus vt Paulus ignoranter persecuti fuimus Ecclesiam Dei Romanam primamque sedem propter quod prostrati ante oculos diuinae pietatis supplices oranâ—us Delicta inuentutis meâ— ignorantias ne memineris pudet erroris paeniteut fecisse vt male dictorum scriptorumque vehe menter poenitet plus scripto quam facto nocuim us Who declared Eugenius vnworthy of Peters chayre for that he had broken and hindered the course of the counsell which he himselfe had called and refused to approue and effect their decrees But that now knowing this Error he coniured all the world to note the distinction betwixt Aeneas Stluius and Pius the second betwixt a priuate man and the great Vicar of Iesus Christ betwixt the errors of a youth without experience and the thoughts of an age touched with the Spirit of God Then hauing made a great repentance of his opinions he published his beliefe of the Popes Authoritie Words of S. Bernard and said of the person of Eugenius the fourth that which S. Bernard had said of Eugenius l Tu es sacer dos magnus summus pontifex tu princeps EpiscoruÌ„ tu haeres Apostolorum tu primatu Abel gilbernatu Noe Patriarchatu AbrahaÌ„ erdine Melchisedech dignitate Aaron auctoritate Moyâ—es iudicata Samuel potetestate Pâ—tâ—us Vnctione Christus Tu es cui claues traditae cui oues creditae sunt Sunt alijquideÌ„ coeli ianitores gregum pastores sed tu tanto dignius quanto differentius vtrumque prae illis nomeÌ„ haereditasti Habentilli signatos sibi greges singuli singulos tibi vniuersi crediti vni sumus Nec modo â—uium sed et pastoruÌ„ tu vnus omniuÌ„ pastor Haec Bernardus ad Eugenium 3. scribit cui supremaÌ„ omnimodam in ecclesia potestatem concedit quod ille in tertio testatur Eugenio hoc nos de quarto omnibus aliis Romanis Pontificibus profitemur the third Thou art the great Priest the Soueraigne pastor the prince of Bishops the Heyre of the Apostles thou art Abel in primacie Noah in gouernment Abraham in the Patriarchat Melchisedech in Order Aaron in Dignitie Moses in Authoritie Samuel in Iustice Peter in Power and Christ in vnction Notwithstanding all these goodly words and the great reasons wherewith the Nucios were armed to let the King know the great wrongs he did vnto himselfe The â—talians called the Council of Basill a conuenticle to breake with the Pope in fauouring the Decrees of a Councell which Rome held to be but a Conuenticle a monopole and Schisme They found not any one in his Councell which thought it fit to breake such holsome Decrees and the King who had been with King Charles his Father at the assembly at Bourges remembred how carefully they had beene examined solemnely published and profitably obserued fiue and twenty whole yeeres The Pragmatick Sanction was a law also for all the accidents of the policie of the Church a soueraigne balme for all the vlcers The summe of the Pragmaticke Sanction which auarice dissolution and ignorance might cause in her members m Frustra iâ—hiberetur inferioribus â—â—ipse qui aluÌ„s debet esse omnium bonerum virtutum exemplar non abstineret Vt enim ille sanctissimus doctissimus Leo Papa inquit totius familia domini status or do nutabit si quod inquiritur in corpore non inuenitur in capite Integritas enim praesidentium salus dignoscitur esse inferiorum Pragm Sanct. tit de collatib ¶ frustr And for that they labour in vaine to keepe the body in health if the head bee sicke it did somewhat restraine the Popes authoritie binding him to hold a Councell euery ten yeares and to obserue the Decrees which should be made yea that which the councell of Basill had made touching the Elections Reseruations and Collations of benefices It did forbid expectatiue graces and citations to the Court of Rome but in certaine great causes and as for Appellations they did no more passe the mountaines the Pope did appoint Iudges vpon the places for Appellants which depended immediately vpon the sea of Rome and as for others they might appeale to the next superiour It tooke from the Pope a great part of the profits of his Chancerie forbidding the payments of vacances and Anuates and reseruing onely the iust fees for expedition of Buls Pope Eugenius considering the consequence of this Decree sent his Nuncios to the Councell of Basill to haue it suspended but the fathers intreated him not to suffer such an abuse any longer then declaring such as should pay them Simoniacall it added that if the Pope did scandalize the Church in contemning the obseruation it should be referred to a Councell n Etsi quod absit Romanus Pontifex qui prae caeteris vniuersalium conciliorum exequi custodire debet canones aduertus hanc sanctionem aliquid facien do ecclesiam scandalizet vt generali concilio deferatur Caeteri vero pro modo culpa iuxta canonicas sancti â—nes per suas superiores digna vltione puniantur Prag Sanct. tit de Annat ¶ Non fiant It would not allow the Pope to make Cardinals after his owne phantasie but with aduise of the other Cardinals that there should not be aboue foure and twenty chosen out of all the churches of Christendome to the end the number should not abase the
literae expeditae per Praelatos personas Ecclesiasticas dictiregni receptae non fuerunt nec ipsi Praelati personae Ecclesiastâ—cae illis parere nec monitis Sixti Innocentii Iulii aures praebere sed eidem Pragmaticae constitutioni inhaerere voluerint The Buls of Sixtus the third Innocent the eight Alexander the sixt and Iulio the second were fruitlesse The Decre of the Councell of Lateran serued to no purpose and this Pragmatick Sanction ended not before the Concordants were past at Bolonia betwixt Pope Leo the tenth and king Francis the first They did iudge by the kings first actions 1461. what the manner of his gouernment would be The King discontents the Nobilitie and that he would beautifie the diuinations of his raigne with other trophies then of clemencie t Clemencie is the Ornament of the raigne of Kings they should begin with it Nouuâ— imperium occupantibus vtilis clementiae â—ama Tacit. lib. 4. Hist. Hee disappointed in a manner all the officers and seruants of king Charles his Father taking a great delight to vndoe that which hee had raised and to raise that which hee had puld downe He gaue Berry onely to his brother for his portion vpon condition that it should returne vnto the Crowne if he dyed without issue male u There was a time when as the Kings of France left vnto the Princes of their bloud the proprieties of their portions Philip of Valoiâ— left the Countie of Valois to Charles his younger brother Philip the Faire was the first that ordained by his Câ—dicill that the County of Poictou giuen by him with other lands to his yonger sonne Philip of France who afterwards was K. Philip the Long should returne to the crowne for waÌ„t of Heyres male vpon condition the King which should then raigne should marrie his Daughter Hee tooke the Seales from Iuuenall of Vrsins and gaue them to Peter of Moruilliers The Duke of Alençon was a prisoner in the Castle of Loches whom he set at libertie Hee caused the Earle of Dammartins processe to be made and after that the Court of Parliament had condemned him to dye hee gaue him his life vpon coÌ„dition that he should imploy the remainder in the I le of Rhodes for the seruice of Christendome and should put in caution but not able to find any hee had the Bastil for his prison from whence he escaped in the night by a hole which he had made in the wall at the same time when as the Duke of Berry passed into Brittanny Taneguy of Chastell x Taneguy of Coastel Nephew te him that â—lâ—w the Duke of Bourgunay was master of the horse to K. Charles the seuenth hee retired into Brittany where the Duke made him his high steward Chamberlaine being discontented for that he was not satisfied the money which he had aduanced for the funerals of Charles the seuenth retired himselfe to Francis Duke of Brittany This Prince had succeeded to Arthur of Brittany Earle of Richmond his Vncle Francis the second Du of Brittany and was well informed of the humor and designes of Lewis and therefore in the beginning hee sent his seruants throughout the Realme disguised in the habites of Iacobins and Franciscans to moue the people to looke vnto the beginning of this Raigne and to coniure them to defend their libertie with tooth and nayle y The Embassadors of Sparta beeing sent to Xerxes said vnto Gidarne who commended the felicity of such as serued the King If thou didst know Gidarne what libertie were thou wouldest counsell vs to defend it not with the launce and target onely but with our teeth and nayles aduising them that this King entered into the Realme as into a countrey of Conquest that he held all that pleased him to be lawfull That he forced great men not to obey but to serue The people not to bee gouerned but tiranized and to prepare themselues to liue in such sort as they might say they had not any thing Being aduertised of the Duke of Brittaines practises The Kings voyage into Brittany he went to see him vnder coulour to visit the Church of S. Sauiour of Redon Deuotion was the pretext and a desire to know the Dukes country and forces the cause of this Pilgrimage z It is a great aduantage to know the forces of an estate which one meanes to assaile and to measure them with his It was the aduise of Xenophon Chabrias said that theron consists a part of the Generals dutie He was not resolued to leaue him in peace He knew well that three or foure yeares before hee had sought to make himselfe a companion to King Charles the seuenth hauing refused to doe him homage vpon his knee and without his sword for the Dutchie of Brittanie a In the homage which Francis the second Duke of Brittany did vnto King Charles the seuenth at Moâ—bason in February 1458. Iohn of Estoteuille said vnto him My Lord of Brittanie you should put off your girdle And Chauuâ—n Chancellor of Brittany answered He ought not It were an innouation he is as he should be hee had also discouered that hee and the Earle of Charolois had giuen their faith to runne the selfe same fortune although that the remembrance of the Death of the Duke of Orleans his grandfather by the mothers side had beene able to disswade him from the house of Bourgundy and that it had beene better for him to ioyne with his Cozens the Dukes of Orleans and Angolesme and to continue his designe vpon the Duchie of Milan to recouer his grandmothers inheritance whereof Francis Sforce had ceazed b Francis Duke of Brittanie sonne to Richard of Brittanie and Margaret of Orleans Daughter to Lewis D. of Orleans and Valantyn of Milan had vndertaken to make warre against Francis Sforce Anâ—al of Brittanie The Venetians and Borso of Este Duke of Ferrara gaue eare to the propositions which they made giuing hope to assist the rights of the house of Orleans These first years of the Raigne of Lewis were very sharpe and those which followed altogether insupportable Great men were depriued of their Dignities Rigor in the beginning of Lewis raigne and the meaner opprest with great charges There was couetousnes for men of merite and prodigalitie for the rest c It is good aâ—ter a prodigall Prince to haue one that is couâ—tous who may restraine those excessiue prâ—fusion he that findes not any thing to giue cannot be liberall He said he would gather money together to redeeme the townes vpon the Riuer of Some He had knowne what a crowne was worth and how many peeces would make one They that haue past by the indiscretions of necessitie proceed very discreetely in their expences If all the time that hee had beene banished from the Court he had no want of necessarie things so had he no great abundance superfluous His sparing was the lights which swelled by the leannesse
which belonged vnto him The Parlament did then consider the iustice not the fortune and respected the Maiesty of the King though hee were a prisoner intreating the King to rest satisfyed with the Regency of the Realm and to assure the succession to his house after the death of Henry He accepted the declaration of the Parlament but considering that Queene Margaret had a great Army on foot to set her husband at liberty Battell at Wakefield he resolued to fight with her He gaue her battell at Wakefield against the aduise of his Councell who intreated him to stay vntill the troupes which his sonne Edward Earle of March brought him were arriued Presumption troubleth his spirits with a motion contrary to that of Reason which should haue diswaded him from fighting y The violence of courage is dangerous vppon the point of a battell for it darkens the clearenes of Iudgement doth easily change it to the trouble of reason and to that perturbation which the Philosoph call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Some haue written that the Queene caused the head of the Duke of York to bee cut off carrying a Crowne of paper others say it was the Lord Cliffords deed for their forces were not equall although in the courage of the Commanders there was no other difference but that of sexe No no it shall not be said that the Duke of York who had so often fought in France without any other trench or defence then his owne armes is shut vp that he attends a woman and doth not go forth to fight with her He spake this and went forth with 5000. men and met her The Combate in the beginning was terrible and furious The Queen cuts off the Earle of Salisburies head The Queene shewed her selfe among the troupes exhorting the Souldiers to honour glory Richard Duke of York was slaine Richard Earle of Salisbury whose head soon after the Commons who hated him cut off the which with many others of the same faction was set vpon the walles of York to bee a terror and an example to other Rebells After this victory the Queene whose courage was eleuated vppon the apprehension of all sorts of dangers 2. Battell at St. Albons and who held them lesse then the captiuity of her husband resolues to loose her life or to restore him to liberty She goes directly to London and comming to S. Albons she encounters the Earle of Warwick who aduanced to succour his generall with the same courage that she had defeated the Duke of Yorke shee chargeth the Earle of Warwick puts him to rout and frees the King a The excellency of courage shewes it selfe when as the soule is carried beyond all showes and apprehensions of dangers fortitudo contemptrix est timendorum Senec. Epi. 89. Edward Earle of March being aduertised of the death of the Duke of York his father refused not to tread in his steppes and to imbrace the toile Edward Earle of March succeeds the Duke of York his father in his authority from whence he expected his greatnes and glory He staid in the Prouince of Wales and expelled Iasper Earle of Pembrooke The Earle of Warwick ioyned with him and with all their forces he came to London where he was receiued with incredible ioy and acclamations He was one of the goodliest Princes of his time and in great reputation his bounty courage and liberality were powerfull charmes to winne mens hearts the English thinking that hauing him they had all and that their felicity was tyed to the long continuance of his Raigne b A Prince can desire no greater proofes of the affection of his people then when hee beleeues that nothing can saile him so as hee faile not them From thence are come these goodly acclamations Augusto Constantine Dâ—te nobis seruent vestra salus nostra salus â—od Theod lib. 7. tit 20. In te omnia per te omnia Antonine habemus A El. Lamprid Dion reports an excellent one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we haue all in hauing you He is proclaimed King and for that hee would haue no companion in his royalty hee resolues to fight with King Henry and marched directly to York lodging in a little village called Touton Henry being prepared to receiue him would not shew himselfe for that it was Palme sunday desiring to spend that day in the seruice of God but the souldiers seeing themselues so neere would not referre the partie vntill the next day They come to hands the combat continued tenne howers and the victory hauing beene long doubtfull and in ballance betwixt both Armies sodainely inclined to Edward The King and Queene seeing all their troopes put to flight they saued themselues in Scotland with their seruants c The Regent of Scotland led K. Iames the third to meet with King Henry the 6. and Q. Margaret The good reception with the succor which he receiued caused him to restore Barwick to the Realm of Scotland and from thence Margaret passed into France to her father to demand succors Henry the 6. flies into Scotland Edward returned triumphing to London and caused himselfe to be crowned King at Westminster the 28. of Iune 1461. he called a Parlement where all that had bene decreed by King Henry the sixt was reuoked After that Henry had gathered together some forces in Scotland he returnes into England being followed by a great number of his ould seruants The Iustice of his cause gaue him good hope d Hee that hath reason on his side is alwaies accompanied with good hope hee pursues his quarrell with more courage and assurance be exposeth himselfe to all dangers and his subiects serue and succour him more willingly and in all accidents the iustice of his cause doth comfort him but he was repulsed with great dishonor by Iohn Marques of Mountague King Edward beeing aduertised of the practises of Margaret both in France Scotland and England to restore her husband to his crowne he sets guards vpon the Ports and passages of Scotland to stop her entrie but as there is no miserie more insupportable then the remembrance of what we haue been King Henry bare this change of condition so impatiently as not apprehending the danger neither of his life nor of his first captiuitie and not considering that fortune had neuer done him so much good but might doe him more harme e Miseries doe but begin when as they seeme to end There is not any man but may haue more harme then hee hath had good Neminem eo Fortuna pronexit vt non tantum illi minaretur quantum permiserat Sen. Epi. 4. he returned into England in a disguised habite where hee was discouered taken and presented to Edward Hen. the sixt put into the Tower of London who lodged him in the Tower of London If he had thought that he had gone forth as hee did to get the crowne hee would haue giuen him one of copper made fast
France did belong vnto him The Earle of Foyx sent his Ambassadors and Deputies to the King being at Bordeaux to conclude the treaty p The cheife condition of the Marriage was that the children which should be borne without distinction of malâ— or female should succeed in the counties of Foix and Bygorre He past to Bayonne to end a controuersie betweene the 2. Kinges of Nauarre and Aragon 1462. and Henry King of Castile his Nephew A controuersie begun with great spleene and was continued with the like and had not ended without excesse if he had not dealt in it for the parties flattered themselues in their pretentions were blind in their interests and found that the obscurenes proceeded rather from the thing then their owne blindnes But behold the causes and the effects After the death of Charles the third q Charles the third King of Nauarre taking delight to build at Olîta died suddenly in September 1425. the threescore and foure yeare of his age and the thirty nine of his raigne he was buryed at Pampeluna King of Nauarre the Crowne past from the house of France and Eureaux into that of Castile and Aragon not without trouble and discord Iohn second sonne to Ferdinand of Aragon married Blanch Infanta of Nauarre presumptiue heire of the Realme of Nauarre and widdow to Martin King of Sicilie and it was agreed by a treaty of marriage that in case she should die before her husband hee should raigne the rest of his life in Nauarre after king Charles the third his father in law Of this marriage was borne at Pegna Charles Prince of Viana born Charles Prince of Vianna a title belonging to the eldest Sonne of the King of Nauarre r Charles the the third King of Nauarre ereected Viana into a principalitie and did affect it to the eldest son of Nauarre in the yeere 1421. as Dauphin to that of France The Asturiez in Castille and Wales in England Charles the third his grandfather made him to bee sworne heyre of the Realme by the Estates after the death of Iohn his Father Charles being dead Iohn was declared King of Nauarre by some and Blanch his wife was acknowledged Queene by others yet both were crowned at Pampeluna Iohn had great warres with his brother the King of Castille Marriage betwiâ—t the Prince of the Asturies and Blanch of Nauarre who did confiscate the lands which he held in Castille Iohn Earle of Foyx reconciled them by a marriage betwixt Henry Prince of the Asturies sonne to Iohn King of Castille and Blanch Daughter to Iohn king of Nauarre s By the constitution of the marriage of this Princesse which was of 42112. Florens of gold wee may iudge in what estate K. Charles the third had left the Realme of Nauarre The marriage was celebrated with great pompe and solemnitie but the Prince was vnable to consummate it The which the Princesse did long dissemble Shee had great cause to complaine of this want and to wish her selfe to be a widdow or her husband vnmarried t The dissembling of couiuâ—all imperfections is very seemly especially in a woman Tullia a great Romane Lady is blamed for her ordinarie complaints murmùring at her husbands disabilitie De viro ad fratrem de sorore ad viruÌ„ se rectius viduam illuÌ„ caelibem futurum Tit. Liu. but like an other Eusebia shee did long suffer for the disabilitie of Constans desiring rather to wrong her youth and beautie then her modestie A while after Blanch Queene of Nauarre died and king Iohn married againe with Ione Henriques Charles Prince of Viana fearing that his alliance would keep him back from the hope of raigning and from the inheritance of the Queene his Mother did not dissemble his discontent u A desire to raigne makes the father iealous of the sonne Plutarc saith in the life of Demetrius that the greatest and most ancient of all Alexanders successors did glorie that he feared not his sonne but suffered him to approch neere his person holding a Iauelin in his band pretending that by the lawes of the Realme his Father by marrying againe had lost the fruit of the Crowne Behold all naturall affection is altered betwixt the Father and the Sonne The desire of rule makes them enemies the Father growes iealous and would not suffer his Sonne to come neere him armed On the other side this second wife seeing her selfe mother to Ferdinand did what she could to show that she was mother in law to Charles x What will not an ambitious mother doe and vndoe for her children D. Ioane lying in the bed of death by reason of a Cankar which did consume her remembring what she had done to assure the Realme vnto her Sonne spake often these words with sighes which are reported in the 21. booke of the history of Spaine O my Son thou hast cost me deare For him she had caused Don Charles to bee poysoned and neuer ceast vntill this young plant were quâ—â—â—ht by the nipping cold of her bad intentions seeking to haue a share in the regencie of the Realme in the absence of the king who had reuiued the warre in Castille Hence sprung those two great factions Factions of Beaumont and Grandmont that of Beaumont which followed the intent of of the Prince against the King and that of Grandmont which was for the father against the sonne so as presently the Realme was diuided into two kings two constables Lewis of Beaumont Earle of Lerin was Constable to the Prince and Peter of Perault was Constable to the king The kings cause as the better and more iust remained victorious the Prince beeing twice ouerthrowne is forced to flye to Alfonso king of Arragon Valencia Sardinia Maiorca Minorca and Sicile hee had recourse vnto his clemencie and besought him to pardon him The king who could not forget the loue of a Father vnto him who shewed the dutie of a Sonne receiues him but hee had new aduertisments that hee made secret practises to trouble him wherefore he sent him prisoner vnto the Alferie of Saragossa from whence hee was drawne by the Cattallans who tooke armes for his libertie Charles of Nâ—uarre poisoned by his mother in law but he went out of the prison to enter into a graue y Charles Prince of Viana died being forty yeares old a valiant Prince a great Historian a subtill Philosopher and a good Poet hee translated Aristotles Ethicks into the Castilain tongue and hee wrote the History of Nauarre vnto the time of King Charles his Grandfather For the very day of his deliuerie he was poisoned and dyed with much repentance for that hee had rebelled against the king his father The Infant Don Ferdinand was acknowledged heyre of the crowne of Arragon They of Cattellonia tooke armes to reuenge the death of Prince Charles The seditious who blow the cole of this desection said that his soule walked in the
the good or ill do easily concerne and Deane of the Peeres of France e The Duke of Bourgondy is first Peere of France in this quality hee made a protestation to King Charles the sixth saying that hee might not asist at the iudgement of the K. of Nauarre vvhich did onely belong vnto the Peeres a Prince renowned for honor and iustice as it appeareth by your great deedes conduct and gouernment of your great signories knowing that the disorders of the said Realme haue and doe displease you as reason is I would desire with all my heart to haue an assembly with you and other noblemen my kinsmen that by your counsell we might prouide for all matters which for want of order Iustice and policy are at this day in all the estates of the said Realme His designe of arming to reforme disorders and for the ease of the poore people f The opression of the people was not great being only for matters which were not accustomed who can beare no more and to set such an order in all places as it may be pleasing vnto God to the honour felicity and good to the said Realme and to the retribution of honour and perpetuall commendation of all those that shall imploy themselues I do intreat you most deere and louing vncle that in this matter which is great for so good an end it would please you to aid and assist me and to cause my brother in law of Charolois your sonne to imploy himselfe in my ayd as I haue alwayes assured my selfe he will doe And to the end that you and I may meet which is the thing I most desire for that my intention is shortly to enter into the Country and to keepe the fields with the other Princes and noble-men g The Princes and Noblemen of this party were Charles the Kings brother Phillip Duke of Bourgondy Francis Duke of Brittaine Charles Earle of Charolois Iohn Duke of Bourbon Iohn Duke of Calabria Peter of Bourbon Lord of Beauieu Charles Cardinall of Bourbon The Earle of 〈◊〉 the Duke of Nemours The Earle of Armagnac The Earle of Albretâ— The Earle of Dammartin The Earle of St. Paul The Prince of Orange The Earle of Newchastell The Bastard of Bourgondy which haue promised to accompany and ayd me I intreat you that you will be pleased to leuy and draw forces out of your Country towards France and in case you cannot doe it that you would cause my said brother in law of Charolois to come with a good power of men and withall to send vnto me one of your Counsell which is faithfull to assist for you in all matters which other Princes of the bloud shall think fit to be done for the good of the said Realmeâ— And by whom you may be stil informed of my good and iust intentions the which I will gouerne by you and other Princes of the bloud and no otherwise And that which my said brother in law in your absence shall doe or say for the publique good of the Realme h Vnder the Consideration of the publique weaâ—e many which had beene put from their places made vse of their interests Nâ—w Princes doe commonly fâ—ile in these changes If the Prince succeeds a good Prince whose raigne hath beene iust and happy then needs no chaÌ„ge if hee were not so he must not imploy such as wee his Ministers and therfore Galba was blamed to haue imployed the chiefe councellors of Neroes cruelties wickednes and ease of the poore people I will maintaine vnto the death and thereof you may bee assured Most deare louing vncle let me alwaies vnderstand if there be any thing wherein I may pleasure you and I will do it willingly praying God to giue you a good life and that which you desire Written at Nants in Brittany the 15. day of March the subscription was Your Nephew Charles and on the top To mine Vncle the Duke of Bourgondy Such was the language which they that were about this yong Prince made him to hold Death of Pope Piuâ— the second who knew well how to commend the good and to excuse and flatter the euill which he did and who indiscreetly drew him to designes whereas the danger was certaine and the profit doubtfull The Pope had made his profit of this diuision if death i Pius the second died at Ancona Platina saith that bee spake vnto the last gaspe and dispuâ—ed long with Lawrence Rouerella Bishop of Feâ—ara a learned Diuine Licerit ne extremam vnctioneÌ„ iterare qua semel invnctus fuerat Dum Basileae pestilentia grauissime egrotaret Whether hee might reiterate the extreme vnction wherwith hee had being anointed being sore sicke of the Plague at Basill had not disappointed a desseine which he had to reduce Francâ— wholly vnder the obedience of the Sea of Rome and to depriue it of the rights and priuiledges which doth free it in temporall things for in those which concerne the spirituall and orthodoxall Faith she hath alwaies been a dutifull and obedient daughter This Pope was lamented of all Christendome for he had great conceptions for her glorie and libertie in those places where shee was opprest vnder the tyranny of the Ottomans Beeing at Ancona to imbarke himselfe for the voyage of the Croisado after that hee had giuen audience to the Embassadors of France and of the Duke of Bourgundy who excused themselues that they could not serue in person in this voiage a slow continuall Feuer which had long held him depriued him of life He had no cause to grieue that hee had liued for that his life had been honored with so great and worthy actions as he might rightly say he had not been borne in vaine They onely blame him for that being Pope he had contradicted that which he had written being a priuat person His birth and fortune with so great Passion as hee discribed Pope Eugenius to bee the wickedst man in the world k AEneas Siluius in the beginning of the second booke of his Comentaries of the Councell of Basill saith that MeÌ„tita est iniquitas Gabriell Eugenius was called Gabriel Condelmar et perdidit cum Dominus in malitia sua quosynodali sententia ex Apostolica sâ—de precipitato factus est Dominus in refugiuÌ„ Ecclesiae suae And in the end of the first Necessarium fuit illud decretum ad reprimendam Romanorum Pontificum ambitionem vt deâ—â—ceps animam a temporalium rerum sollicitudiâ—e retraherent and his deposing a profitable and fit action for the church He was issued from the Picolhomini of Sienna and seeing that his father had beene expelled the Citie with many others of certaine families reuolted by the mutiny of the people he resolued to seek his fortune at Rome where shee hath alwaies done great miracles He was first of all Secretary to Dominike Grap and followed him to Basill when as he came to complaine that Pope Eugenius refused him a
could not be giuen to any other Plut. where they dranke to his health as to Iupiter the Deliuerer The Assembly of Noblemen and Ladies was great he related his great dangers his diligence and toyle He drew teares of ioy and pitty from the hearers euery man said all is well z The King reported his aduentures and in so doing spake and declared many goodly words and pittifull where at all wept aboundantly Chro Martin seeing the King is wel a The health of a good Prince is the health of his Estate the people said of Alexander Seuerus Saluâ— Roma quia saluns est Alexander Lamprid. Hee assured all his seruants that he would neuer cease vntill he had chased all his enemies out of his realme Yet his designe was to doe what he could to end it other-wise then by Armes He sent the Bishop of Paris to the Earle of Charolois Bishop of Paris sent to the Earle of Charolois to let him vnderstand that he desired to know to what end he was entred into his Realme with so great a troupe for that hee could remember that when as he went into Flanders in the time of King Charles the seauenth his Father hee was not followed with so great a traine He commanded him to let him know the iniustice of his desseine That he vndertooke a warre vnder collour of the publik-weale to vndermine the whole estate and to set fire of the house to driue them out that clensed it That there was no such Phrensey as to make ones selfe sick to vse remedies b Peace is sweet after warre but much more proffitable before It is better neuer to haue beene an enemy then to bee reconcyled being naturall for a sick man to desire health But for him that was found to make himself sicke vpon hope of cure was folly and madnesse The Bishop of Paris went and hauing represented vnto the Earle of Charolois the Kings intentions and complaints Say vnto the King answered the Earle fretting the bitternesse of his ambition with humanity and myldnesse c Princes desirous to raigne haue made seruitude sweete with courtesie and mildnesse By this poysoned mylâ—nesse Caesar ouer threw the common-wealth of Rome that I am not come to doe any ill but to procure the good of his Realme hauing liued in such sort with mine army as noe man hath occasion to complaine that being as I am able to serue and succor my friends and to anoy myne enemies I am not bound to yeeld any other reason of my desseignes But not to conceale them from him I am heere for two reasons the one not to fayle of my word to the Princes which haue taken armes for the publike good the other to haue two men which the King hath fauored and supported against me d Priuat interâ—st are alwaies mingled with the sublike causes of warre The E. of Charolois was an implacable enemy to the Earle of Neuers and the Lord of Croy be added this hatred to the causes of war If I be come well accompanied it is to defend my selfe in France from that harme which the king would haue done me in Flanders That when he came hee was receiued honorably richly and quietly and then was not that done vnto him which hee had a will to doe vnto mee That in a word France had more need of a warlike and armed liberty then of a quiet and miserable seruitude After the Battell the Earle of Charolois caused the whole army to bee lodged at Estampes and there abouts Armes of the League loged at Estampes The commodity of this lodging saued that which one more discomodious had lost e â—f time and occasion giue leaue to chose a lodging to stay there they must consider two things which the ancient Romans haue alwaies obserued in their lodgings The helthfulnesse of the place for one and water with commodity of victualls for the other They knew what places were not helthfull obseruing their scituation the coÌ„plexion of the inhabitants In this place as the Earle of Charolois spake vnto Mounsieur at a window with great attention and affection a Britton cast a squib which strooke against the barre where they leaned and being amazed at this accident they thought it done of purpose to hurt them The lodging was presently enuironed with souldiers to gard them There was a dilligent search made for him that had done it who beeing only couered with his inocency descouered him-selfe and said that it was but a squib which he had cast to shew them pastime wherevpon this great amazement was turned to a iest All their forces being vnited they tooke councell how they shold imploy them Their opinions were alwaies applyed to their passions and desseines Charles the Kings brother weary of the warre An ordinary mischiefe in enterprises where there are many commanders f The pluralâ—ty of heads is alwaies rumous and vnproffitable euery one seekes to prefeâ—re his owne reasons and counsells They doe and vndoe indespight on of another Tâ—ndendo ad sua quisque consilia cum aliud alii videtur ad inuasioneÌ„ loâ—um hosti apperiunt Tit. Lâ—u lib. 4. That of the duke of Brittain was not answerable to that of the Earle of Charolois Monsieur seemed already weary of the warre he lamented those that were slaine hurt or maymed in the army which shewed that matters were represented to his imagination of another collour in the vndertaking then in the executing g Matters wheÌ„ they are conceiued and proiected haue an other fâ—ce then when they are executed He wisht that they were to begin greeuing that they made him the cause of so many miseries h A generous spirit is not sensible of the ruines and desolations which grow by warre and ciuill broyles The Duke of Berry was heauy seeing so great a number slaine and hurt in the Battell of Mâ—ntlehery The first slaughters of warre sticke terror into them that haue not seene them as of humain miseries the most lamentable is that which proceeds from his fault that complaines He had kindled the fire yet could not endure the flame he had begun the tragedy nay rather a cruell game whereas men made but a sport to force spoyle burne and kill He is not esteemed a soldiar that cannot doe al this in ciuill wars the most wicked of all others whereas by a fatall disorder they saw the fathers bury their children i When Craesus was prisoner to Cyrus by this reason that in the time of peace the children buried the frather and â—n warre the fathers bury their children be preferred peace before warre And of all warres ciuill is the most vniust iâ—humaine furious SummuÌ„ Brute naefas ciuilia bella fatemur Luc. These words were well obserued by the Earle of Charolois King of England sends the garter to the Earle of Charolois who from that time perswaded him-selfe that there would be noe great difficulty to reconcyle the
by Religion The receit was made in a little house called the Toll-house The most seditious who would eate their bread with all libertie x A multitude neuer remaines long in an estate which seemes vniust intollerable vnto them Wâ—ere there is no will there can be no bond That which is done by force lasteth no longer then the present necessitie Haud credi potest vllum populuÌ„ in ea conditione cuius cum peniteat diutius quam necesse sit mansurum Tit. Liu. goe not to the Duke to demaund abolition of this impost but vnder coulour of a procession which they made the day after his entrie they take the case with the bones and relikes of a Saint of their deuotion come to this house and strike the case against it saying that the Saint y People haue often couered the causes of their mutinies with some respect of religion to cut off a great circuit of the Procession would passe through the house wherewith in an instant they ruined it to the ground The rest of the mutines were in Armes in the market place to fauour the passage of this Saint and to oppose against any one that would hinder it The Duke aduertised of this tumult comes to a house whose window did open vnto the place The Duke comes to heare of the sedition where he spake vnto these mutyns and commanded them to carrie the relikes of their Saint vnto the Church Some take it vp to carrie it away and others hinder it Hee desires to know what they would haue and not any one dares speake alone a In the coÌ„motion of a people if there be not one head that leades them there is not any one that dayes answere when the people of Rome retyâ—ed to the holy mountaine the Senate sent to know the cause of this retreat Not any one had the courage to answere and Tit. Liu. saith That they wanted not matter of answere but they wanted one to make the answers but altogether They were but confused complaints and insolent answeres demanding Iustice against some priuate men as in these Commotions there is alwaies some one charged to be the cause of the publike miseries He promised to doe them Iustice commanding them to disarme and to retire But they grow obstinate and continue their eight dayes at the end whereof they present themselues vnto the Duke demanding that all which the Duke his Father had taken from them might bee restored which was the threescore and twelue banners of their trades and the renewing of their priuiledges To refuse this was to hazard himselfe to their furie and they let the Duke vnderstand that whether hee would or no the Councels were taken beeing resolued to take that which they demanded for hee had no sooner spoken the word to grant them b They must somtimes grant vnto the people that which â—hey desire as they doe vnto childreÌ„ 〈◊〉 cry to mad men which rage But wâ—en a seditioÌ„ is pacified they take away iustly which they had allowed vniustly their banners He is forced to grant them what he will take away but at the same instant they saw them planted on the market place Thus the Towne of Gand from whence the Duke would draw examples of fidelitie and obedience seemed to the rest for a mirrour of reuolt and sedition for seeing that the Gantois had sped well with this boldnes many other Townes did the like and slew some of the Dukes Officers who was forced for the time to seeme to be ignorant c It is a gracious kind of pardoning not to take knowledge of an offence of that which these mutyns had done who deserued to bee intreated with such rigour as they should haue nothing remaining free but the sights of their repentance With the like wisedome and dexteritie as the King had diuided the forces of the Princes that were in league against him The King separates the heads of the league d It is an act of great prouideÌ„ce in a Prince to breake off the communication intelligence which may bee betwixt tow personages which are mighty of turbulent spirits he labors now to breake their intelligences He sets such good gards vppon the passages as the Duke of Brittanie is forced to cause such as he sends to the Duke of Bourgundy to passe first into England and then to Calice In this great circuit before their aduertisements be giuen the Councels be vnited the occasions lost and the mischiefes without remedie He hath his eyes open on euery side as he is seuer e They must punish crimes when they are committed and hinder conspiracies in the breeding to punish crimes when they are committed so is he vigilant to breake conspiracies before they bee made Hee resolues to plague them one after an other and to let them know that he repents soone or late that attempts against one that is more mighty The Duke of Normandie beeing retired into Brittanie bare and naked was sufficiently punished with the Councels of his youth The Duke of Brittanie held himselfe too weake to support him against so mightie a brother the Deputies which he had sent vnto the King to intreat him to moue him to pittie had brought nothing back but that they saw much discontentment in the King for that his brother demanded a portion with his sword in his hand The King who was then towards Mont S t. Michael sent an Armie of fiftie thousand men into Brittanie The King sends an Armie into Brittanie As the Duke of Alençon had giuen passage vnto the Brittans so his Sonne the Earle of Perch yeelds the same towne of Alenâ—con vnto the French whereat Monsieur was so offended as hee called him the right Sonne of his Father f Infidelitie is so odious as it makes the Actions of the children which are borne of them which haue beene attained to bee suspected and suspiâ—ions in others are crimes in them Brittanie was ouerrunne aboue thirty leagues compasse The Duke of Brittanie coniured the Duke of Bourgundy to succour him but he could not doe it beeing ingaged with the Liegeois who rather tired with warre then vanquished had made a new reuolt and spoiled Liny vpon the assurance the King had giuen them of his protection He had sent them foure hundred lances vnder the command of the Earle of Dammartin of Salezard of Conyhen Leigeois supported by the king and Vignoles and six thousand Archers The Constable of S t. Paul came and ioined with them with some troupes They played the madde men and did not consider the danger their hostages were in whom they had giuen for the assurance of their obedience and fidelitie The Duke held a Councell whether he should put them to death Consultation to put the Hostages of Liege to death The question require good deliberation for if he had beene constant in his first resolution they were vndone And therefore in such difficulties a
King by him q It was neuer a wâ—se and aduised resolution to hazard all his fortune and not all his forces and being in danger to loose all if he had been too weake distrust was auailable The Duke commanded the Marshall of Bourgondy who led the foreward Siege of Liege to lodge with in the Citty either with their wills or by force The Pope had a Nuncio within the Citty to end the Controuersies which were in a manner perpetuall betwixt the Bishop and the people who changing his power and forgetting his duty vppon a designe to haue this Bishoprick exhorted the inhabitants to defend themselues and caused them to make a sally with such fury as they that were without had no hope to enter but victors Clearchus made a sally put all his 〈◊〉 in battell then he commanded the gates to be shut and the keyes to be cast ouer the wall to take all hope of entry from the Soldiers vntill they had lost or wenne This Sally was so vnfortunate as he repented him of his Councell and apprehending the danger gets out of the towne and flies away but he was stayed by the Dukes men who promised to them that had taken him to make their profit vsing no speech to him But whilst they contended for their shares in his ransome they came vnto the Duke being at Table who blamed that in publique which he had commended in secret Popes Non cio set at liberty declaring the prize not good and causing the Bishop to come vnto him â—he honored him and caused all his goods to be restored leauing repentance vnto the rest who had not done that without brute which they should haue done s There are some things to be done before they aske if they shall doe them It is the answer which Pompey supping with Anthony in a ship made vnto an officer who told him that he had a good opportunity to be reuenged of them and that if hee would ther should not one remaine before they asked leaue The marshall of Bourgondy and Iâ—bercourt winne the suburbs and march directly to the Towne-gate which stayed not vntill that necessity should force the Inhabitants to demand a peace in mourning gownes t Although the Athenians had no reputation of great courage yet they neuer demanded any accord but in mourning robes prest with extreame necessity vpon their first approch the Deputies present themselues to Parle The beseeged demand a Parle but hope and desire of spoile would not giue them hearing Night surprised the assailants before they were lodged and doth so disorder them as they know not whether to goe but calling one another in confusion they gaue courage to the besieged to make a Salley u Hee that chargeth first by night hath the aduantage for it is alwaiesâ— presumed that he is the strongerâ— flight doth coÌ„monly follow amazement The night hath no shame They arme some for feare others without feare Sallie made by them of Liege and issue out vppon them by diuers places for their walles being razed the yeare before gaue them passage where they slew seauen or eight hundred Foure Canâ—ons discharged against the gate along the great street crye quittance and keep them from comming forth who through fauour of this first Sally had a great desire Yet for all this they that were come forth would not retire into the Towne but barricadoed themselues or as Phillip de Commines saith insconsed themselues with wagons which they had wonne and remained there vntill day Iohn de vilette x In sallies the Commander should alwaies stand firme to maintaine the besieged in their duties by his presence and to fauour their retreat hauing a care that being repulst the enemy doth not enter pel mel with them When as they of Liege had lost their head in the first sally their defence was desperate the sole Commander of the people was hurt and slaine The suburb was kept by the Marshall of Bourgondy who had committed a grosse error hauing giuen no better order for his lodging y The first duty of a good Captaine is to know how to lodge his men For this only respect Hanibal in the iudgement of Phirrhus was the first Captaine of Greece next to Alexander a principall part of the duty of a good Captaine The Prince of Orange was hurt there and in this action the History giues him the glorious surname of a man of vertue as it commends the valour of the Lordes of Lau and Vrfe and reprocheth the contempt of honor to aboue two thousand men who vnder fauour of this night had sacrifized their safeties and honors to flight This first defeat aflicted the Duke and hee would not that the King should haue knowne it if he could haue concealed it amidst so many passions and diuers Interests The Dukes troupes ill intreated in the suburbs Beleeuing that the brute was greater then the losse he went himselfe to tell it him The King was very glad but this ioy was more grounded vppon discretion then iustice for if the Dukes designes had not prospered the King had had cause to repent him and therefore he did apply his spirit to the motions of the Dukes approuing that it is a hard seruitude for a great man to force himselfe to the humors of his inferiour He was aduised to goe and refresh his foreward plunged in the mire besieged with hunger and benummed with cold The Duke sent 300. horse with some victualls to refresh them that were ready to faint z A famished soldier hath neither courage nor force to fight It was a great negligence in the Dukes Captaines to haue ingaged the soldiers so neere the enemy and not prouide to make them eat Asdruball lost his men against Scipio by this defect Vliffes blames Achilles for that hee would lead his men to the warre before they had eaten hauing not eaten of two dayes Hee came also and lodlodged in the midst of the suburbe and the King in a farme halfe a mile off This first night about midnight there was a hot alarme although it were in the heart of a very sharp winter The King shewed himselfe vnto the Towne as soone as the Duke Alarum giuen and the King goes to horse and they were amazed at his diligence the name of King and his presence put the Duke out of countenance a The Duke saith Phil. de Commines held not soe good a countenance as many men wisht for that the King was present tooke the word and authority of Command The Adamant hath no vertue neer vnto the Diamond the King would not seeme other then a King he takes the word and commands what should be done b It is an act of a great Captaine in accidents not forescene to reduce things speedily into order No other but he in so sodaine an accident could haue assured the amazed and that with such iudgement courage and maiesty as
soule as often as he returned from any exploits of war which were more admirable then imitable Wherefore hauing resolued to make warre against George Lord of Misia i Misia is commonly called by the Turke Segoria and comprehends Seruia Bosnia Russia and the Prince is called Despote of Seruia he made him Generall of his Armie as well for that he had not any one more capable as also to be rid of him thinking that being forward and fierie by nature hee would thrust himselfe into dangers from which he should not free himselfe for his braue and generous Captaine like an other Cato k Cato as Tit. Liu. saith wold be euery where and execute euery thing in person sparing himselfe no more then the least of his soldiors hauing no other aduantage ouer them but the honour of his commandements would see all himselfe and had no other aduantage in militarie labours then to haue the honor to command them and to be the first to execute them But as often as hee went so often did Andrinopolis see him returne laden with honor and victories A remarkeable worke of Gods prouidence to preserue this braue courage for his seruice At length Scanderbeg Scanderbeg leaues the Turke who had alwaies the heart of a Christian and an Albanois being wearie to liue in the continuall disquiettings of so many distrusts and conspiracies to kill him resolues to quit Amurath m Scāderbegs retreat was in the year 1444. hee conferred with Huniades of his enterprise that vnder a coulour of making warre against him hee might retire on his side whereupon hee ioined with Huniades Prince of Transiluania He ioynes with Iohn Huniades and with him defeates the Basha of Romania who had fourescore thousand men he caused his Secretarie to be taken and setting a dagger to his throat forced him to write letters to the Gouernor of Croy carrying a commandement in Amuraths name to consigne the place vnto him The Gouernor of Croy obayed and receiued Scanderbeg Entrie of Scanderbeg into Croy. all the Infidels were put to the sword and the Christians preserued and such as would become Christians He besieged the other places of Albania and in few daies with much paine and no money he recouered his forefathers estate and made the black Eagle n The house of Scanderbeg caried an Eagle sables in a field gules When as the people of Albania saw them in his Exsignes Standards they presently renewed the ancient affection they bare vnto their Princes with two heads to be seene in all places Hitherto hee had fought for himselfe now he fights for Christendome Ladislaus King of Hungary and Poland intreats him to assist him against Amurath hee was hindred by Huniades o Iohn Despote of Transiluania otherwise called Huniades being discōtented with the King of Hungary for that certaine places in Seruiae which had bin granted him in reward of his vertue were detained from him refused passage to Scāderbeg to ioin with the Christian Army Despote of Transiluania neither did the cause of the warre seeme iust for it brake a peace solemnely sworne with Amurath Battell of Varna It was decided in the valley of Varna on the limits of Misia or Segoria vppon the Euxin Sea within foure dayes iourney of Andrynopolis to the dishonour of the Christians who were put to flight but the triumph cost Amurath so many men as his ioy was turned to repentance If hee made some triumph Scanderbeg reapt the profit for seeing that hee had retired his forces hee went to field p These say that Amurath hauing escaped this danger grew more sad then he had been accustomed and being blamed by his followers he answered I would not win after this manner Amurath caused a pillar to be set whereas the Battell was giuen with an inscription of the victory and at this day the heapes of dead mens bones are to bee seene which shew that the slaughter had been wonderfull and made such sharpe warres as the Turke wrote vnto him rather to stay his exploites then to threaten him with reuenge and yet his Letters were full of reproches and pride Letters frō Amurath to Scanderbeg the ordinarie Passion of an incensed spirit Hee sweares that if hee will returne vnto him hee will forget all his offences past for that hee is more mindfull of the seruices hee hath done him then of his ingratitude hee offers to leaue him the Towne of Croy and the Lands which his Father held vpon condition that hee should yeeld vp all the other Townes of Albania and Misia These letters were receiued with that contempt they deserued q The letters beginne after this manner Amurath and Ottoman Soueraigne of the Turks and Emperour of the East sends no salutations to Scanderbeg his ingrateful nurschild He saith that he knowes not what wordes to vse to him for that hee doth not merit any good for his ingratitude and a rough sharp speech would make his arrogant nature more insolent Scanderbeg thinking that Amuraths feare who grew old and broken had made him to write them hauing a desire to leaue his Empire in some safety Scanderbegs answer yet he made him an answer and after that hee had told him that he should remember the good which he had receiued from him if the numbring did not renew the remembrance of a greater number of ills he concluded with these wordes Such fortune as it shall please God to giue vs we will beare In the meane time we aske no councell of the ennemy of that we intend to doe neither do we sue for peace of you but hope with the helpe of God r A Christian Prince should not referre any thing to fortune but to the prouidence of God who is the only cause of all causes guids al things after his will the moouable by their motions the immoueable by their firmenesse the voluntary by their liberty and the reasonable by their will to haue victory ouer you Within a while after he was victorious ouerthrew great armies which Amurath sent into Epirus the first led by the Basha Ferise and the other two by Mustapha He wonne the Battell of Drinon against the Venetians Battall of Drinon in Dalmatia and vsed this victory so well as the Venetians to make him raise the seege from before Dayne s Dayne is a little Towne planted vppon a high hill as in a manner all those of Epirus bee yet the soile of it is fat and the aire good and holsome they haue store of Venison and bees and all kindes of trees and fruites which was in their protection yeelded that he should haue a part of the Country of Scutarii which was very commodious for him Amurath besieged Sfetigarde where as Scanderberg flew in single Combate Seege of Sfetigarde Ferise Basha Generall of the Army yet it was taken and presently besieged againe by Scanderbeg but he was forced to raise the siege
and without condition C. Blosius said that he would do all that Tiberius Gracchus should coÌ„mand him yea hee would burne Iupiters Temple if â—e would Val. Max. lib. 45. 7. if he pleased He should not haue perswaded the Duke of Bourgondy to this marriage with reasons of feare and amazement A great courage doth neuer any thing to shew that he feares This course was odious vnto the Duke but much more vnto the King being offended that the Constable would make such an alliance and not acquaint them with it for the same fault a Nobleman of the same quality dignity lost his head in Spaine u Amongst the causes for the which the Coâ—stable of Aâ—alos was beheaded at Vailledâ—lit in the yeare 1453. They marke for that he presumed to make the marriage of the Sonne of D. Pedro of Portugal without the permission of the K. of Castile his maister The Duke had other thoughtes then to marry his Daughter Many beleeued that he would not do it whilst hee liued contenting himselfe to leaue her pleased in this liberty Desseins of the Duke vppon his Daughters marriage to hold many hopes in seruitude for he entertained them that might assist him or anoy him with goodly discourses of this allyance The Daughters of Soueraigne houses are not married to all them they are made sure vnto x When as they wondred why Hercules of Este Duke of Fâ—rrara had married Lucretia daughter to Pope Alexander the sixth hauing been made sure to three husbands was then widdow to Gismond Prince of Bisselli whom the Duke of Valentinois had â—â—aine the only coÌ„sideration of the safety of his estate and of his affaires tooke away the amazement Guichard Lib. 5. Princes in marrying do not regard their pleasure but the necessity and profit of their affaires But seeing the Constable propound no other remedy but this marriage of Monsieur and his daughter and that yeelding vnto it hee should fill the world with a beleefe that hee had consented for feare of his enemies y A free spirit cannot indure â—o bee forced Vt in Principaâ—â— beatisâ—imum est non cogi ita miserrimum non suaderi he beganne then to hate him deadly and to sweare his ruine The King who iudged of the future by the knowledge of things past z Things past carry a light before iudgment which searcheth into the obscurity of future things The world goes alwaies after his manner There is not anything spoken or done but hath some ancient example Thinges goe and come vnder diuers names and other coullers â—â—ut a wise man doth discernâ— them trusted him no more for he had discouered that in this war he regarded his own priuate interest more then the good of his seruice that hee had made himselfe the instrument of an allyance which was so much the more vnpleasing vnto him for that hee ment to keepe him in Iealousie with his brother and to hold his greatnesse suspect Although the Duke of Brittany did still intertaine the Duke with feares and amazements sending him word that the King had desseins vpon Amiens Bruges and Brussells that hee was resolued to beseege him a These aduertisements were deliuered vnto the Duke of Bourgondy by mouth by a footman of the Duke of Brittaines To whom the Duke answered sodainely that his maister was ill aduertised and that the Townes whereof he spake were too great to bee beseeged where hee should find himselfe deceaued euen in Gand The King discouers the Constable yet hee went to field with his Armie beeing resolute to passe the riuer of Somme vppon a bridge which hee had made at Piqueny and to fight with the King if hee sought to hinder him Hee remained sixe weekes before Amiens saying that hee attended vntill the King who was then at Beauuais should come and force him to dislodge But the King by his temporizing let him know that hee did not fight by the fortune of his enemies but by his owne b A Prince should not suffer himselfe to be driuento that extremity as his eâ—nemy should prescribe him a Law and bind him to fight Biorix King of the Cimbrians seeing the Consull Marius to lye still offred him Battell But Marius answered that the Romans were not accustomed to fight at their enemies pleasures Romanorum reos est suo non hostrium Arbirrio dimicare The Towne was fortified with the presence of the chiefe men of the realme the Constable the Lord Steward the Admirall and Marshall were within it with one thousand and foure hundred men at Armes and foure thousand franke Archers They had resolued to sally foorth vppon the Duke and to ingage him betwixt the king and them Seâ—ge of Amens but the King would not his mind was so resolute to end or to continue the warre as any wauering might cause his will tend to the one side or the other c When themind is in suspence betwixt doing and not doing a small matter turnes the ballance A lâ—ght reasonor any president makes the waight but there is a great difference betwixt the irresolution and suspencion of the mind which growes by the concurrence equality of reasons When as a mighty Prince doth not all he can vnto his inferiours it argues that eyther hee hath some great desseine to circumuent him or that warre is vnpleasing vnto him Wherefore the Duke beeing aduertised that the King had not allowed of this desseine sent Simon of Quingey with a letter of six lines written with his owne hand in tearmes of great humility and exceeding greefe to see that warre begun vnder coullor of his seruice to satisfie another mans passions adding that he beleeued if the King had beene well informed of all things hee would not haue done it The King who would not doe all hee could for oftentimes hee that would haue all looseth all d A Prince should not desire to haue the extremity of all things The wise men of Italy say Volere ostinatamente ill sommo di turte cose Somtimes in thinking to draw more frute from an occasion then it can in honesty yeeld it ruines the affaires tooke delight in this letter hauing discouered the practises of his Brother of the Duke of Brittany and the Constable wherefore hee sent backe Simon of Quingey with good words and granted a truce to the Duke of Bourgondy which sent euery man home A Truce granted dissolues the Armies the King into Touraine Monsieur into Guienne the Duke into Flanders and the Constable to Saint Quentin where he still continued his practises and not onely tormented himselfe with his owne discommodities but with that which succeeded happily to either of these two Princes e A miserable folly and a foolish misery of those which ar not content to torment themselues with their owne miseries which are but too great but they aflâ—ct theÌ„selues with the felicities of other men The King who knew well that the Duke of Bourgondy
which he ware about his neck and which resisted poyson but the Chancellor kept it to present it vnto the King This disposition beeing made they led him to a great seaffold from the which they did ascend to an other which was lesse but higher where he should receiue an end of his life u Death is sweet when it is the end not the punishment of life And they say it is a troublesome thing to die before one be sick for a punishment Vpon the greater were the Chancellor the Siegneur of Gaucourt and some other of the Kings Officers all the place and all windowes were full euen to the tops of houses He went vp vnto the Scaffold with his hands vnbound He is executed at the Greue the executioner bound them with a little cord They presented him a Cushion of other stuffe then those be wheron the Constables x The Chancellors Constables of France take their oth vnto the King kneeling vpon a cushion of veluet here they offer the Constable one of wooll with the Armes of the City of Paris of France take their oth vnto the King He remoued it with his foote and set it right and then he kneeled downe with his face towards our Ladies Church There in the sight of heauen and of two hundred thousand people the fire-brand of warre was quencht the 29. day of December 1475 He dyed much amazed but full of deuotion and repentance He dyed trembling To dye trembling after that manner was not to dye like a man who had carried the sword of France The executioner should not haue been more hardy to strike y In what place soeuer death assailes a generous man hee should die generously The generosity of courage doth something abate the infamie of the punishment Rubrius Flauius being condemne thy Neâ—o to loose his head when as the executioner said vnto him that he should stretch forth his neck boldy he answered Thou shalt not strike more boldly then I will present my head then he to offer his neck to receiue the blow Thus he who had no care nor thought but of diuision had his head diuided from his sholders the which as full of winde goes into the Ayre and the bodie fals to the earth the life which remained caused some little motion which makes the head to moue apart and the bodie apart but it is without soule for that is not diuided The Franciscane Friars carried the bodie to their Church and they said then vpon the dispute which they had with the Curate of S. Iohn at the Greue that two hundred Friaâ—s had had their heads cut off Wee must conclude this discourse with so certaine a Maxime as whosoeuer shall affirme it cannot lye Neuer any one that dealt craftily with his Prince but in the end he was deceiued and there is nothing more certaine by considerations of presidents experience and reason that who so keepes his Master in feare forceth him to free himselfe This place remained vnsupplyed aboue fortie yeares ImportaÌ„ce of the office of Constable for the command is so great ouer all the forces of the Realme and the name of such lustre as if it fals into the hands of an ambitious man that is able to make his authoritie march equall with the Kings if of a Prince of the bloud he is the Kings King if of an other the Princes and great men of the Realme will not obay him and his commandement as Bertrand of Gueschin said z Berâ—rand of Gueschin refused to accept the Office of Constable for that he was but a simple Knight and durâ—t 〈◊〉 presume to command the kings bâ—others Câ—zins 〈…〉 not your selfe by this meanes for I haue neither Brother Cozin nor Nephewes Earle nâ—r Baron within my realme but shal obay you willingly if any one should doe otherwise hee should displease me Froislard doth concerne the great rather then the lesse The Constables goods beeing forfeited were restored to Francis of Bourbon Earle of Vendosme marrying Mary of Luxembourg Her slender and small stature brought into this house the smalnes of bodies of those great Princes who before were of that goodly and rich stature The first beauty of men admired and desired in Kings As the King had shewed an example of his Iustice in the Constables death Duke of Alencon set at libertie so did hee one of his bounty to the Duke of Alençcon a The D. of Alencon was coÌ„ducted from the Louure to the house of Michel Luillier on Thursday the 28. of December 1475 at six of the clock at night by Iohn Harlay Knight of the watch with foure torches as the Author of the Chronicle doth obserue whom he suffred to go out of the Louure where he was a prisoner and to be lodged in a Burgesses house of Paris The fortune of this Prince was to be pittied and the consideration of his birth bound the Princes to commiseration Hee was of the bloud of France and the house of Alençon was a branch of that of Valois Charles of France Earle of Valois had two sonnes Philip of Valois King of France and Charles of Valois b Charles of Valois Brother to Philip of Valeis King of FraÌ„ce had four sonnes by Mary of Spaine his second â— wife Charles who was a Iacobin and then Archbishop of Lyon Peter Earle of Alencon Philip Archbishop of 〈◊〉 and Robert Earle of Perch Earle of Chartres and then of Alençon who dyed at the Battell of Crecy He was father to Iohn first Duke Duke of Alençon who married Marry of Brittanie and by her had this Iohn the second of that name Duke of Alençon his sonne Rene Duke of Alençon married Margaret of Lorraine by whom he had Charles the last Duke of Alençon married to Margaret of Orleans the onely Sister of King Francis the first and died without children By the Constables death the Duke of Bourgundy receiued from the King St. Quentin Profit and blame of the Duke for the Constables death Han and Bohain and the spoiles of the dead which might amount to fourescore thousand crownes He was sorie that he had lost him who had made him haue so good a share in France He was blamed to haue giuen him a safe conduit and then c Behold the iudgment which the Lord of Argenton makes vpon this deliuerie There was no need for the D. of Bourgundie who was so great a Prince of so famous and honorable a house to giue an assurance to the Constable to take him which was a great crueltie the Battel where he was certain of deth and for couetousnes deliuer him 1476. and to deliuer him to him that pursued him after the assurances of Protection and defence This breach was noted for an infallible presage of the ruine of his house The Annales of the Franche Contie of Bourgundy adde an other cause which was that the Duke had seazed of a great sum of money at Aussone
his hand which descouered his heart l The discommodities of great Princes cannot be hiâ—den Ariston saith that pouerty is a lampe which doth lighten and make all the miseries of the world be seene The Kings affaires would not suffer him to bee more liberall to this Prince of good effects then of good words Lewis refuseth him succors If he had no other consideratioÌ„ but of the estate of Spaine he had taken an other course but he had alwaies for a perpetual obiect the greatnesse of the house of Bourgondy whereof he durst nor iudge so long as the Duke was armed and therefore he had rather fayle his friends then himselfe To resolue of the succors which the King of Portugall required of him hee consulted rather with reason then affection m Resolutions taken by the Counsell of affection are subiect to change those which are grounded vppoÌ„ reason last perpetually which layed before him his great expences in Germany and Lorraine for the entertainment of his armie which he might not dismisse vnlesse hee would runne the hazard of a surprize and scorne not to haue foreseene that which concerned himselfe n Wise men see all accidents in their thoughts they cannot bee surprized 〈◊〉 word I did not think it coms neuer out of their mouthes Seneca cals it the word of ignorant men Audimus aliquaÌ„do voces imperitoruÌ„ diceÌ„tiumâ— Neâ—ciebam hoc mihi restare sapiens scit sibi omnia restare quicquid fattum est dicit sciebam VVe sometimes heer the words of ignorant meÌ„ saying I did not know that this would haue happened A wise man knowes that all things may happen Hee saith whatsoeuer is done I knew it The King of Portugall thinking that if he might soe reconcile these two Princes affaires The King of Portugal mediats a peace in vaine as they might haue no subiect to doubt one another he should dâ—aw succors from them both he vndertook to goe into Lorraine to perswade the Duke to reconcile himselfe vnto the King His voyage was not long for vppon the first propositions he found that his enterprise was impossible and so returned to the King who continuing the honors which he had done him at his arriuall intreated him to see Paris and in the meane time procured a dispensation for him from Pope Sixtus the fourth o Notwithstanding that D. Ferdinand D. Isabella of Castille made great oppositioÌ„s at Rome against the marriage of King Alphonso of Portugall and D. Ioane his neece his sisters daughter yet the Pope granted a dispensation at King Lewis his instance to marry with D. Ioane his Neece The Chronicle and Martinienne make a curious relation of his entertainement which was the 23. of Nouember 1476. The Lord of Gaucour Gouernour of Paris Reception of the King of Portugal into Paris and Robert of Estouteuille Prouost of Paris went to meet him on the way to Orleance towards the wind-mill The Chancellor of Oriole with the Presidents and Councellors of Soueraigne Courts and many Prelats went forth The Magistrates presented him a Canopy at Saint Iames gate The Rector of the Vniuersity with the Doctor and Regents receiued him at St. Stephens the Bishop and Clergy of Paris at our Ladies Church The short dayes and the long speeches added fire to the greatnes of the ceremony p Fire carried before the Prince was one of the ornaments of Maiestie it was not in a Linke or Torch but in a Lampe or Lanthorne Prenuncius ante Signa dedit cursor posita de more Lucerna Corippus lib. 2. Herodian saith that Pertinax came vnto the Senate not suffring them to carrie fire or any other markes of the Empire before him The President Bertier saith that the same honor was giuen to the Patriarks in the Greeke Church and the tiâ—le of Balsamon In Respons de Patriarch Prâ—uileg They caused fifty torches to march before him to conduct him to a Marchants house called Laurence Herbelot in the street of Prouuelles The shewed him the singularities and beauties of Paris hee saw the Court of Parliament of peeres the most sacred Senate of Europe where he did number as many Kings as Senators Francis Hale Archdeacon of Paris A cause pleaded in Parliament by two 〈◊〉 the Kings aduocate and Peter of Brabant an aduocate of the Court and Curate of S. Eustache pleaded a cause the Chronicle saies that it was a goodly thing to heare Heere the ignorance of those times moues me to pitty few men were learned and few learned men taught in France Italy had gathered vp some wits of that great shipwrack of Greece The tyrant of the East would not allow of any exercise of learning q Greece hath giuen these goodly wits vnto Italy Emanuel Chrisoloras an Athenian George of Trebizoâ—de Theodore de Gaza a Macedonian Ierâ—nimo Spartiate Gâ—egory Typhernas Iohn Argyropile of Constantinople Laoâ—â—â—c Chalcondile Athenian Marcus Musurus of Candie and Iohn Lascaris For they make him beleeue that learned men are soone possest with great and heigh resolutions against the seruitude which keepes them vnder r Books Sciences teach men of iudgement more then any other thing to know themselues and to feele the smart of seruitude the losse of libertie But this light could not passe into France through squadrons of men of war and good books which are not preserued but in the Temple of peace lay yet in the dust of Cloysters they were not made common to the world and they feared much that the masters in speaking well and eloquently in a Chamber would not be so in doing well in field in sight of the enemies s Cato perswaded the Senate to send away Carneades who was come to Rome on the behalfe of the Atheniens for that his cloquence drew the youth of Rome to follow him disposed the rather to immitate to speake well the to doe well in war in the managing of affaires Plut. that all eloquence was growne rusty in Barbarisme These great and goodly actions of those times in the which they must spread the maine failes of eloquence were giuen to Doctors of the Sorbone They vndertooke to make Ouerture at the Estates and to iustifie or condemne Princes before the Kings Councell See heer a Curate of the greatest parish in Paris who makes proofe of the grace and greatnes of the French eloquence in the first Parliament of France before a strange King the Ignorance of those times found none more capable he deserued to haue money giuen him to be silent rather then to speake t The ancient Orators got money both to speak and to be sâ—â—et One demaÌ„ded of Demosthenes what he had gotten for speaking hee answered I haue sold the silence of one day for fiue talents Plut. After that the King of Portugall had stayed somtime in Paris they put into his immagination as iealousie doth easily possesse aflicted mindes that the King who had at the same time confirmed
would haue their share wheÌ„ it was taken saying that they had assisted theÌ„ and alwaies follow'd them you were not for vs answered the Wolues it was the prey that drew you thither if it had succeeded ill and that we had beene taken you wold not haue spared our owne flesh Experience teacheth many examples to confirme this Maxime Those estates which haue no other suport but by forraine forces suffer great discommodities in time of peace and receiâ—e small profit and succours in time of warre they are alwaies declining to their ruine the which is not deferred but by the slacknesse of the occasion or the small courage of the assailant Men of warre are not ordained but to preserue or conquer Obseruations of the aduaÌ„tages of Foot-men ouer horsmen to defend or take townes and to decide by a battell the rights and differences of Princes and Estates In all these occasions foot-men are more proper then horse-men A towne which is kept by hors-men receiueth such discommodity for provision as oftentime it is more prest by necessity within then by the enemies without and alwaies horse do more trouble a h Philip. father to Alexander seeking to campe in a place of aduantage for the souldiers but vnfit for the horse cryed out that it was a great pitty of our life which must be subiect to the commodity of horse Generall to feed then to discipline his souldiers At assaults of places hors-men are of small seruice if they leaue not their horse serue on foot At battels foot-men which haue meanes to entrench and couer themselues and haue good store of pikes are alwaies more then equall to horsemen It is true that the Cauallary hath great aduantages for a horse-man hath better legges then his owne hee chargeth more furiously and hath more force heat and breath then a foot-man Foot-men are leuied more speedily are led and lodged with more facility are paid and entertained more commodiously fight more safely couragiously and rally themselues againe more i We are not now in the time of the old warres when as Gentlemen onely gaue themselues to the exercise of Armes At this day euery man hath liberty to seeke it without the Realme and many are growne Souldiers and neuer went out of their Village easily For the facility of the leuy it is so great in France since that the ciuill warres haue armed the people as there is not any parish where you find not Souldiers which haue carried Armes and others which are resolued to run that fortune The Prouinces are so peopled France cannot be disarmed of footmen as if the King should loose as many battels as the mightiest conquerer could giue him yet could he not disarme him of Foot-men Adde hereunto that horse fit for the warre are alwayes deere and rare and that we euer finde more men then horses k The Romans to repulse the Gaules who had seized vpon some Townes of Lombardy made a description of their forces and of the number of men fit for the warre they found six hundred thousand foot and threescore thousand horse Touching the pay we know that the difference is great betwixt the pay of a man at Armes and that of a foot-man and that it is easier to raise a thousand foot then a hundred horse For the facility of lodging foot-men couer and entrench themselues in field and fortifie themselues within a Towne if they be lodged in a village they lye close to defend themselues and not scattering like vnto horse-men For the aduantage of fight it is true that horse-men haue sooner done l but also wee haue seene battels lost by the disorder and violence of the horse who can hardly keepe their ranks nor recouer them beeing lost and oftentimes they fall vpon the foot and breake them with more disorder then the Elephants of the Antients m One of the greatest forces of the Armies of the East consisted of ElephaÌ„ts They must of necessity saith M. de Montagne giue great credite to their beasts and to their discourse abandoning vnto them the head of the Battle wherâ—s the least stay they could make for the greatnesse and heauinesse of their bodies the least amazemeÌ„t that had made theÌ„ turne head vpon their owne men was sufficient to ouerthrow all to whose discretion they did commit the head of the Army A Foote-man fights more surely and more resolutely then a horse-man In what perplexity doth a valiant man fight vpa faint-hearted Iade and what is a Coward or a mad-man vpon a couragious horse How many haue we seene carried away by their horses into dangers not foreseene who can no more stay them in the flight then in the heat of their fight n They that speake of warre with knowledge and experience hold that commonly when as the Cauallary aduanceth to giue the first charge it is the cause of the losse of the victory returning often vpon their foot and striking a great amazement into them for that hauing conceiued a great opinion and assured themselues often to winne the Battell they finde themselues suddenly deceiued and therefore the Rout of the Cauallary is alwayes full of amazement For the commodity of the leading bee it to march lodge or fight the foot-men passe in all places whereas the Cauallary comes often into such difficult passages as the men at Armes should rather desire flying then ordinary horses Speaking hereof with a braue French knight very well knowne in these last warres and who hath yet command amongst the Kings men at Armes he said vnto me That the discommodity of forrage had beene so great as the horsemen were sometimes fifteene or twenty leagues from the campe to supply their wants That some went to warre with fiue or sixe Horse who fought but vpon one and yet the people were forced to feed these vnprofitable beasts with their keepers That ten horse-men had more Carts then a company on foote And if his aduice might purchase credite they should therein imitate the Spaniards who giue honors recompences and markes of vertue to the foote and the contrary to horse-men o It is more honourable in Spaine to bee among the foot companies then among the Horse The contrary is obserued at Rome Valerius the Consull said vnto his Troope Agite Iuvenes prestate virtute peditem vt honore ordini prestatis Goe to yong men excell the foot-men in vertue as you do in honor and order Liv. The Horse-men were the losse of the battell at Courtray and the footmen defeated the Earle of Flanders before Gand. The horsemen seeking to haue all the honour of the battell at Poitiers came to charge before that the foot companies had meanes to ioyne this was the cause that the English whose force consisted wholly in Foote wonne the Battell At the Battell of Guinegaste the Arch-duke Maximilians Horse-men abandoned the Foote who stood firme and kept the place of Battell Wee haue formerly seene that
loyall Officers Seruants and Subiects g Bodâ—n writes in the fourth booke of his Common-weale Chap. 4. that K. Lewis the 〈◊〉 made another Edict declaring all offices perpetuall if resignation death or Fortune did not cause some change and hee ordained that a Destitution by forfeite should not take place if the forfeiture were not adiudged Item Wee haue also expressely commanded and enioyned him that when it shall please God he come vnto the said Crowne of France that he shall maintaine all the Noble-men of our Bloud and Linage and all other Noble-men Barons Gouernours Knights Esquires Captaines and Commanders at warre in their Offices and charges and all other hauing the command of men and guard of Townes places and Forts and all other Officers either of Iustice or other of what condition soeuer not changing or disappointing any of them vnlesse they bee duely found faulty and disloyall h An Officer which feares to be disappointed holds all his actions pure and keepes himselfe from failing Yet a Prince should neuer displace without cause and one of the greatest commendations which they giue to king Robert is that he neuer disappâ—â—â—ed any Officer if he had not offended and that there may be a due declaration made by Iustice as is requisite in that case Item Vnto the end our sonne may and will consider of entertaine and accomplish our said Ordinance Iniunction and commandement wee haue laid before him the great miseries inconueniences and ir-repairable losses which befell vs soone after our comming vnto the Crowne for that we had not maintained them in their estates charges Offices i King Lewis the eleuenth coming to the Crowne did suddenly disappoint all his fathers ancient seruants who handled him in such sort as he was ready as hee confest after-ward to quit his Crowne and his estate the which hath continued long to the great oppression and ruine of many of our Countries and Subiects and doth yet continue although that God be thanked we haue not lost any thing of the Crowne but haue augmented it with great Lands and possessions hoping shortly with the pleasure and good will of our Creator to settle peace and tranquility And that if our said sonne should doe the like and should not continue the said Noble-men and Officers the like or worse might happen vnto him and that as hee loues the good honour and increase of himselfe the said Realme and others our Countries and Signiories hee should haue a speciall care not to doe any thing to the Contrary for what cause soeuer Which Remonstrances made by vs to our sonne the Dauphin for the good of the Crowne of France and to the end the said Ordonances Commandements and Iniunctions made vnto him should take effect and bee in perpetuall memory wee haue demanded of our said sonne k A marke of great mildnesse in a seuere Prince and of great bounty in a difficult Father hee doth not vse his authority ouer his sonne for so iust a command Hee first sounds his will then hee suffers him to consult with his obedience the bond whereof is sealed with the Seale of Nature the which hath not giuen to men any Commission to command others and to make them subiect except the Father whom Procles calleth The Image of the Soueraigne GOD. what hee thought and whether he were content willing and resolued to entertaine the same things and other deliuered by vs and especially touching the said Charges and Offices Whereunto he hath humbly made answere and said That he would willingly obey acomplish and performe with all his power the Commandements Instructions Ordonances and Iniunctions which we gaue him for the which he did most humbly thanke vs. Moreouer wee commanded him to retire himselfe with some of his Officers which were there present and conferre with him vpon those matters which hee had propounded vnto him and resolue whether hee would entertaine all that wee had enioyned him The which hee hath done and then he spake these or such like words vnto vs Sir with the helpe of God and when it shall bee his pleasure that these things happen I will obey your commandement and pleasure and will performe and accomplish all that you haue enioyned me Wherevpon we said vnto him That seeing he would doe it for the loue of vs he should hold vp his hand and promise so to do and hold The which he hath done Item After many other things declared by vs concerning the same matter and also of many Noble-men our aduersaries within our realme l A Prince cannot leaue a more profitable and fruitful precept vnto his sonne then to make him knowe the friends of his Estate to cherish them and the enemies to beware of them the one and the other are known by the effects but men regard but the face and God seeth the heart who haue alwayes beene contrary to vs and our said Crowne from whom part of the miseries and inconueniences aboue mentioned haue sprung to the end he might haue a watchfull eye ouer them we haue recommended vnto him some of our good and loyall Seruants and Officers which were there present and some absent letting him vnderstand how well and faithfully they had serued vs as well against our enemies and about our person as also in many and diuers sorts Of which things and of euery their circumstances and dependances we haue ordained and commanded our louing and faithfull Notary and Secretary M r. Peter Parrent to make all Letters Provisions Patents and declaratory clauses of our said will and commandement that shall bee needfull as well during our said Reigne as that of our Sonne and in the beginning of his said Reigne by manner of confirmation to the said Officers and confirming theÌ„ in their said Charges and Offices and we haue so coÌ„manded enioyned our said sonne to cause it to be done by the said Parrent as our Secretary and his Wee also command by these Presents our louing and faithfull Councellours of our Courts of Parliament m Presently after the death of Lewis the Parliament of Paris decreed that the Officers should continue in their charges as they had done before attending the answere of the new King the which shewes that charges are suspended vntil that his pleasure hee knowne according to an ancient Decree made in October 1382. of the said Realme and Dauphine Exchequer of Normandy Maisters of our Accounts Generals and Councellors of our Treasurie of Iustice and of our Aids Maisters of requests of our houshold Prouâ—st of Paris and all Bailiffes Seneshals Provosts and other our Iustices and officers or their Lieuetenants and euery of them to whom it shall belong which are at this present or shall be hereafter in our time or our sonnes that they obserue entertaine and accomplish and cause to be obserued entertained and accomplished from point to point inviolably our present Ordonances and Declarations and all and euery thing contained in these Presents with their
all his other afflictions seeme light Hee feares his sonne should deale with him as he had done with Charles the seuenth his father and that he would bee the head of a faction When as Peter Duke of Bourbon his son-in-law entred into his chamber he would see if they of his traine were not armed Hee liued in as great feare amongst his owne followers as a passenger can doe in a thicke Forrest which is haunted with Theeues and Murderers k The Prince is happy which distrusteth not his subiects but can sleep safely with them yea among the woods as Eberhard Duke of Wittemberg said Hee feareth lest they should aduance his dayes that the old factions would reuiue In former times hee dissembled all now hee distrusts all he doth not remember what was past but to be reuenged of offences he doubts his son-in-law distrusts his daughter and feares his sonne And to the end the weakenesse of his minde should not bee iudged by the indisposition of his body and to make it knowne that they be not the legges l Authority and Seuerity should support the contempt of olde age the Empeperour Seuerus being full of the gout the great men of his Count contemned him and gaue the Title of Emperour vnto his sonne Seuerus caused himselfe to bee carried vnto the Pallace and commanded those prooâ—d heades which contemned him to bee cut off who being prostrate at his feete to demaund pardon hee said vnto them Learne that it is the head which commausndes and not the legges but the minde which commaundes and reignes hee makes diuers Ordonances which make the people thinke that they cannot come but from a sound iudgement and a firme and vigorous disposition for although that these desires seemed to haue ridiculous causes yet they proceede from a great and constant resolution to end his life in action But he was no more but a walking Anatomy and euery man wondred how hee could liue Philip de Commines saith that in the voyages which hee made to diuers places after his first sickenesse at the Forges of Chinon His great Heart carried him Now hee hath not any about him but two or three men of base condition and bad fame who after his death were presently chased from Court hee did often change the Groome of his Chamber and all other sorts of seruants and to excuse this change hee said that it was one of the pleasures of nature Hee did not suffer them to speake vnto him of any Affaires but such as could not bee dispatched but by his Commaundement A Prince in his perfect health should not bee troubled nor importuned with euery thing m Whilest that a Prince busieth his head about matters of small consequence the most important passe away and are forgotten It is not fit to trouble a prince with all sorts of Affaires nor to binde him to play the part of a Chauncellor or President Maius aliquid excellentius à principe postulatur Some greater matter and more excellent is expected from a Prince Tacit. Humane remedies failing to cure him they had recourse to extraordinary and did things which the originall calleth strange Philip de Commines saith That Pope Sixtus the fourth being informed that through deuotion he desired to haue the Corporall whereon S. Peter sang Masse he sent it presently vnto him with many other Reliques the which were returned backe againe n Of this for that the Turke sâ—â—t to offer him the Rediques which were â—ound at Constantinople Phil de Commines concluddes that this Prince was estemed and honoured throughout the world It seemeth that Philip de Commines doth great wrong vnto the memory and courage of such a Prince when hee saith that neuer man feared death so much or did so many things to thinke to auoid it and who in the apprehensions he had that they would aduance it he neither trusted sonne daughter nor son-in-law what a madnesse to offend Nature to auoid that which shee hath ordained What a blindnesse to thinke to resist time which carrieth away all Turne thy head of all sides thou shalt see the ruines of Townes and why not of Men Behold Megara before thee Aegina at thy backe Pyrea on the right hand and Corinth on thy left What is all this but ruine contempt solitarinesse and horror o Sulpitius comforts Tully by the ruines of these foure Townes which were sometimes most flourishing saying Hemnos honumculi indignamur si quis nostrum interijt cum vni loco tot appidorum cadauera proiecta sint Are wee poore men angry if any of vs dye when aâ— the carkasses of so many Townes are cast into one place They told him that in Calabria there liued one called Francis of Paulo an Hermite of an admirable holinesse and austerity of life who did great miracles he neuer ceased vntill he had obtained leaue from the Pope to draw him into France thinking that by his presence and prayers he might prolong Life and recoile Death This holy man had not purchased the reputation of sanctity by false Titles he had made profession from his Infancie p Francis of Paulo borne of meane parentage profest himselfe an Hermite from his youth Hee went out of his Hermitage to build a little Church neere vnto Paulo where hee layd the first foundations of his Order vpon humility calling them Minimes that shold make profession and vpon austerity binding them by a fourth vow to a â—perpetuall lent He died at Tours being 93 yeares old by an incredible humility and austerity of life God had giuen him the gift of Prophesie and had vsed his hands to make his power knowne He had past the straight of Sicile vpon his Cloke spred vpon the Waues the Maister of the Barke refusing to receiue him and reiecting him as an vnprofitable burthen The King sent men expresly to Naples to haue him come hee past by Rome where he was honoured of all men for the holinesse of his life Entring into the Kings Chamber hee cast himselfe at his feet intreating him to prolong his dayes he would willingly haue had the Sunne descend ten degrees and the shadowes of his Diall to haue gone backe Philip de Commines doth not report the Answere of this Hermite and hath depriued vs of so iust a curiosity hee saith onely That hee answered as a wise Man should doe Hee went not with that ostentation which we finde in them that are learned for hee was such a one as Saint Francis desired his Religious men should bee more skilfull to pray then to reade q Francis of Assise said that hee had rather haue his religious men skilfull in praying then in reading hee had a sweete pleasing and easie speech and his language was Italian not common or much knowne vnto the French which made him to bee admired Wee must beleeue that this light of the Spirit of God shining clearely in a minde purged from worldly affaires r As the sonne is
it selfe to the tyrany of vice hee is not wicked with one kind of crime onely Quisnam hominum est quem tu coâ—tentum videris vno Flagitio What is hee among men whom thou shalt sâ—e content with enâ— villany Iuvâ—n killing his children so soone as they were borne Hee was hanged at Paris and his daughter was burned at Magny neere vnto Pontoise Three Serieants forced a Priests chamber in Paris and did beate him outragiously they were condemned to bee whipt through the Streetes of Paris A Religious man of the Temple had his Throate cut by one of his brethren The great Prior of France being assisted by the Commanders and Knights condemned him to bee kept prisoner in a Dungeon and there to be fed with the bread of sorrow and water of heauinesse A faire Burgesse of Paris who was much esteemed among the women of best fame gaue eare to the Earle of Foix who attempted against her honour suffered her selfe to be wonne and left father mother husband and children to follow him A Hosier being accused of many Thefts cut out his owne tongue for that hee would not confesse any thing There were many scandalous Libels cast abroad in Paris against the Kings chiefe Officers namely against the Constable of Saint Paul An Archer was condemned to be hanged at Paris for e â—he Schoole oâ— Physitions at Paâ—â—s dere an 〈◊〉 to be cut that they might see how the stone is framed and how it lyeth in mans body for that there were many troubled therewith in those daies he was cured and his life saued sacriledge hauing robbed the Church of Meudon A Franciscan Frier Preaching indiscretly was banished the Realme in the yeare one thousand foure hundred three score and eighteene in the month of October a Monke Hermaphrodite vsing both Sexes became great with childe Behold how that in those times as well as in ours excesse and disorders were common The world is nothing but a sincke of all filthinesse O what a vile and abiect thing said an Ancient is man if hee doe not raise himselfe aboue man Wee see few become good men for the onely respect of integrity and honesty If they enter into the Temple of Vertue it is alwaies by some false dore Lewis the eleuenth had three sonnes and three daughters Ioachim died yong Children of Lewis the 11. and this death drew with sorrow from the fathers heart a Vow neuer to know any other woman but the Queene Francis Duke of Berry died in the yeare one thousand foure hundred three score and foureteene This losse caused him to shut himselfe vp for some few daies in the Castle of Amboise refusing to see or to bee seene of any not considering that Kings children were men borne in the cries and groanes of their mothers and bewayling their owne miseries like to other men f Stratonicus an Artificer of Athens hearing that the mother of Timotheus cryed out at her deliuery said How wold she haue cryed if she had made an Artificer Hee mocked at that common slattery which spake of Kings children as of the children of the Gods Atheneus This griefe was humane and should haue beene lamented humanely and comforted by this reason That the thing which is restored to him to whom it belongeth cannot be said to bee lost But it is hard to see a goodly flower die at the breake of day A vaine reason he that maketh it to grow may gather it when and how he pleaseth Louyse his eldest daughter dyed also in her Infancy Anne was betrothed to Nicholas Marquesse of Pont Grand-childe to René Duke of Anjou but hee did not marry her for the Duke of Bourgundy being iealous of this Alliance propounded vnto him the marriage of Mary his onely daughter to draw him by this vaine hope from the seruice of this Crowne Shee was married to Peter of Bourbon Ioane his third to daughter was married to Lewis the twelfth and put away in the first yeare of his raigne So as finding her selfe hatefull vnto her husband and vnpleasing to many shee left the world g Being vnmarried she wedded herselfe to solitarinesse the which shee had desired all her life In her Infancy the King demanded of her of what Order shee would haue her Confessour and shee made choice of the Gardien of the Franciscan Fryers at Amboise Her father loued her not for that Nature had giuen him cause to complaine of her deformity hauing not ingrauen any makes of her fauours neither vpon her face nor on her person for she was blacke little and crooked h Beauty is a peece of so great recommendation as they that are not fauored there-with are lesse pleasing eueÌ„ to them that by Nature should loue them The Signior of Lesguiere her Gouernour did hide her often vnder his Gowne when as the King met her to the end hee should not bee troubled with the sight of her The hatred of King Lewis the eleuenth her father the death of Charles the eighth her brother and the diuorce of King Lewis the twelfth her husband changed all the sweetenesse of her life into the bitternesse of the Crosse and imbarkt her as in a tempestuous Sea whereas shee found no other Port but that of death The children of great men to become the children of God are bound to drinke of the cuppe of affliction i Happy are those paines and afflictions which are to amend saue not to ruine destroy the afflicted The Crosse is the marke of the Cittizens of heauen they whom the hand of God disdlaines to strike are such as he disdaines to amend as well as the meanest The way to heauen is full of Thornes The flaming sword appeared at the entring of Paradice The Land promised to the faithfull aboundeth with plenty of Milke and Honny Milke is first bloud before Milke Honny is drawne from bitter flowers Roses grow among Thornes Her husband loued her not Cause of the dissolution of the marriage of Lewis the twelfth and yet during the time of his imprisonment in the great tower of Bourges he receiued no other succour nor assistance but from this Princesse The cause of their Diuorce was Sterrility and want of consent in marriage CLAVDIVS of Seyssell saith that hee gaue her vnto him to the end that sterrility and barrenesse might depriue him of all meanes to haue children so much he hated and abhorred the Bloud Royall k The cause of this diuorce was fterility and want of consent in marriage Lewis declaring that King Lewis the 11. had forced him to marry her Her consolation was in this solitarinesse for that shee recouered the liberty which shee had long desired The King gaue her the Dutchy of Berry for her portion the Towne of Bourges was her retreate with a yeerely pension of one thousand two hundred pounds Sterling Shee made the Order of the Religious of the Annunciado otherwise called the Order of the Virgin Mary the which was allowed and
Priuiledges of the Parisians and the profit which it feeles by the ordinary presence of their Maiesties he gaue leaue to euery Burgesse to take yearely a certaine measure of salt for their prouision paying the Marchants right onely and to be freed of the forraigne imposition paying six deniers vpon the Liuer in Paris and twelue vpon the furthest parts of the Realme not being bound to giue caution for the sale of it That they should not bee forced by any harbinger to lodge the kings Officers nor any Souldiers but at their owne pleasures f These priuiledges were amplâ—fied and confirmed during the warre of the Common-weale and for that the people did apprehend that they might bee reuoked when it did cease the Chronicle saith that he declared in a great Assembly that hee desired rather to augment them then to cut off any thing Not to be bound to plead any where but in Paris for what cause soeuer To be freed from all duties and seruices for the fees they held yet vpon condition to haue sufficient and defencible Armes according to the value of their fees for the guard and defence of the Citty In like manner the Citty of Lyon that mighty Bulwarke of the State is bound vnto him for the establishment of the Faires Commerce is a great meanes to drawe forraigne commodities into a State but it may cause a dangerous transport of gold and siluer if it bee not entertained by the exchange of Wares And as it should not bee lawfull to transport those that bee necessary and whereof the Subiects may haue need g One of the iustest and most ancient meanes to augment a kings tributes is vpon the entry going forth and passage of Merchandise It is the forraigne Imposition an ancient right to Soueraignes and it is called Portorium quod mercium quae importantur exportanâ—urve nomine penditur neither those which are vn-wrought so the permission should be easie and free for those which are needfull for strangers that the subiects may thereby gaine the profit of their hands This Prince being giuen to vnderstand that the Faires at Geneua did draw a great quantitie of Money out of France he erected foure Faires at Lyon h The Estates of Tours after the death of King Lewis the eleuenth required to haue these Faires â—ept but twice a yeare at Easter and at the Feast of All-Saints and in some other Towne then Lyon for that it was too 〈…〉 â—â—â—thest bounds of the Realme and gaue them his letters patents at Saint Michael vpon Loire the 20 th of October 1462. Trafficke cannot receiue a more sencible iniury then by the calling downe or raising of Money which wrongs the Law of Nations If there bee any thing in an estate which should bee immutable it is the certainty of their valour Wisedome is not commended but for the constancy of that which she resolues i A Prince who is the warrant of publicke Iustice subiect to the law of Nations should not suffer the course of Money to bee variable vncertaine to the preiudice of his subiects strangers which treat traffick with them Wherfore the Kings of Arragon comming to the Crowne tooke an Oath not to alter the Coines which were allowed she learnes fit accidents which are mutable and immutable to reason which is constant and one and not reason to accidents When as the course of Money is disordered and vncertaine all is in confusion Lewis the eleuenth changed the course of coins in the yeare 1473. hee ordained that the great Blankes should goe currant for eleuen Deniers Turnois which before were worth but ten he reduced another coine called Targes Orders for Coins to eleuen Deniers which past for twelue The Crowne at thirty Souls three Deniers Turnois and after this proportion all other peeces Then considering that one of the causes of the weakning of Coines grew for that the Officers tooke their Fees and entertainements from the rights of the Mint which should bee vnknowne in great Estates k The Ancients knew not what the right of Minting meant and the Coines were not imparted for the fees of officers which were taken froÌ„ other kindes of mony to the end that the coyning of money should be free from all suspition of deceit it was done in publicke places as at Rome in Iuno's Temple and Charlemain did forbid any to bee coined but in his Palace and are not seemely but in petty ones where they draw profite from euery thing and augment their Reuenues by the coining of money In the yeare 1475. he displaced the Generals and Maisters of the Mint and set foure Commissioners in their places Germaine de Merle Nicholas Potier Denis the Britton and Simon Ausorran and ordained that the Kings crownes of Gold which before had course for foure and twenty Souls Parisis and three Turnois should goe for fiue and thirty peeces of eleuen being worth fiue and twenty Souls eight Deniers Parisis and they should make other Crowns which should haue a Halfe-moone in stead of a Crowne which was on the rest and should be worth thirty six peeces of eleuen of the value of twenty six Souls six Deniers and new Dozains at 12 Turnois a peece Liberality Wee should lye in calling this Prince couetous as well as in saying he was liberall Liberality he neuer knew what it was to spare no not in his age when as couetousnesse doth most trouble the mind when it hath least need of it l Couetousnesse which comes in the end of mans life is inexcusable What auails it to prouide so many things for so smal a iourny Auaritia senilis maxime est vituperanda Potest enim quicquaÌ„ esse absurdius quam quo minus viae restat eo plus viatici quaerere Couetousnesse in age is much to be blamed Can there bee any thing more obsurd then when there is least way to go to make most prouision Cat. Mâ—i One thinking that there was nothing so honest as to demand and receiue demanded of King Archelaus being at supper a cup of gold wherein he dranke The King commanded his Page to go and giue it to Euripides who was at the table and turning towards him that had beg'd it â—e said As for thee thou art worthy to demand and to be refused for that thou dost begge but Euripides is worthy to be rewarded although he demands not he knew not what it was to giue with reason and discretion to whom how much and when Hee gaue not with a refusing countenance but cheerefully and freely No man holds himselfe bound for that which is giuen by importunity and which is rather wrested away then receiued Slow graces are as troublesome as the swift are sweete Bounty should preuent demands sometimes hopes and neuer merit Shee doth not consider who receiues how farre the greatnesse of his courage and fortune goes that giues and doth fore-warne him that there are some that deserue to bee refused when
of Paris This dissolution was one of the causes of the rarenesse of Gold and Siluer which was no more to bee found but in Chaines of gold and in their purses who had had meanes to transport it out of the Realme to haue Silkes The Estates of France complained at Tours and it was said That euery man was clad in Veluet and Silkes and that there was not a Fidler Groome of the Chamber Barber nor Souldier but ware it that they had Collers or Rings of Gold on their fingers like the Princes and that there was not treason nor villany but they committed to continue this disordered sumptuousnesse of apparrell Science Science If hee were learned by Art or by Practise wee must looke vnto the effects of his good Conduct with the which like vnto Perseus with Mineruas Courtelax he had cut off the head of the Medusa of reuolts and sedition in his Realme If it bee true that in his time simple honesty q Innocency doth commonly lodge with Ignorance and Simplicity The troubles which haue molested the world are not come from the simple The learned or they which presumed to know all things haue framed them Simplex illa aperta virtus in obscuram solertem scientiam versa est That simple and open vertue is turned into obscure and cunning knowledge and ignorant vertue were degenerated into a Science or knowledge of dissembling or subtilty we must hold him for the most learned Prince that euer bare Scepter in his hand or Crowne vpon his head Hee had saith Philip de Commines his speech at commandement and his wit perfectly good without the which bookes serue to small purpose They make men learned but not wise and the difference is great to haue a full head or a head well made to bee sufficient or learned instructed in contemplation or in action r They teach men diuers Sciences for their vse and to excell in them Princes should learne Regere Imperio populos To gouerne the people A Princes Science is to know how to command Philip de Commines saith that hee was learned enough The Author of the Annals of Aquitane writes That hee had gotten more knowledge as well Legall as Historicall then the Kings of France were accustomed to haue And although hee were not of those times when as they met with Emperours going to the Schooles with Bookes vnder their Armes s Lucius met with M. Antony who went to see Cyrus the Philosopher son to one of Plutarkes sisters this Prince said vnto him That it was a goodly thing to learne euen for a man that grew old To whom Lucius all amazed answered O Iupiter RomanoruÌ„ Imperator iam apetente senio gestans librum qui pueris mos est preceptoreÌ„ adit O Iupiter the Roman Emperour growing old goes vnto his maister carying a book as school-boyes vse to doe nor was not of the humour of that other Emperour who forgat his Dinner to heare Lessons t Charles 4. Emperour loued learning in such sort as being in in the schooles at Pragne some comming to put him in minde of dinner hee said vnto them that hee had dined preferringâ— the contentment of the mind before that of the body Aen. Silv. yet that great leasure which hee had in Dauphiné and afterwardes in Flanders accompanied with a desire to learne which is the first steppe to mount vnto knowledge could not leaue him in the ignorance of things necessary to reigne well On a time he vsed his Latine to good purpose Pope Sixtus had sent Cardinall Bessarion u Cardinall Bessarion borne at Trebisond and Monke of S. Basil was made Cardinall at the Councell of Florence by Eugenius the fourth and sent Legat into Germany to reconcile the Emperour and the Archduke Sigismond brethren a Grecian borne to mediate a peace betwixt him and the Duke of Bourgondy Hee had beene imployed in great Embassies in the time of Pope Eugenius who had made him Cardinall and of Pius the second the which hee ended happily This was the cause of his death for hauing begun with the Duke of Bourgondy as holding him the most difficult to draw to reason the King tooke it ill and imputing it to contempt or to some priuate passion as hee presented himselfe at his Audience hee laid his hand vpon his great beard and said vnto him Barbara Greca genus retinent quod habere solebant x The Grecians called all other nations barbarous Plat. in Menoxeno An Arrow shotte not against Greece which gaue the name of Barbarous to all other Nations but against the Birth and Inciuilite or Indiscretion of this Cardinall whom hee left there and commanded to bee so speedily dispatched as he knew his stay there was no more pleasing vnto him then his Indiscretion The feeling hereof did so afflict him as soone after returning to Rome hee fell sicke at Thurin died at Reuenna and confirmed that Truth That Embassages ambitiously affected doe neuer succeed happily z A graue and true sentence spoken by Iohn Caruagial Cardinal of S. Agnolo Nessuna legatione ambita puo hauer desiderato fine No Embassage affected can haue a desired end Ier. Garimbert Who so had the Apothegmes the goodly speeches and good words of this Prince should enrich this discourse with so many pearles and pretious stones There comes nothing from the mouth of a great King full of wisedome and experience but should be as curiously gathered vp as the crums which fall from the table of the Gods a Damis did curiously collect the words of Appollonius Some misliking that â—e busied himselfe with such trifles said that he had done like vnto dogs which gather vp all the crums and fragments which fall from their maisters tables Damis answered You say well but this is a banquet of the Gods and all that assist at it are Gods also the Officers suffer nothing to be lost Philip de Commines hath obserued this A King hath more force and vertue in his Realme where he was annointed and crowned then he had without it To haue serued well doth sometimes loose men and great seruices are recompenst with great ingratitude Iudgment vpon the recoÌ„pence of seruices but this may happen as well through the errour of them that haue done the seruices who too arrogantly abuse their good fortune as well to their Maisters as their Companions as through the mistaking and forgetfulnesse of the Prince b Princes seeing the merites and seruices to bee so great as they cannot recompence them but by great aduancemets they doe not willingly looke vpon them who as often as they present themselues vnto their eyes seeme to demand recompence Beneficia eo vsque laeta sunt dum videntur exolui posse Vbi multum antevenere pro gratia odium redditur Benefits are so long pleasing as they thinke they can bee payd but when they haue exceeded hatred is repayed for thankes Tacitus lib. 4. To haue
Aduentures vnto the thirtieth yeare Predictions vpon the life of Lewis the eleuenth hee aduertised King Charles the seuenth of his rebellion and how his gouernment would be wonderfull to men k This man was much esteemed by Duke Amedeus the Pope hee foretold the Schisme of the Church and the warre betwixt France and England Manasses a lew of Valencia continued these predictions vnto the battel of Montlehery Peter of Saint Valerien a Chanon of Paris and a great Astrologian was sent in the yeare 1435. into Scotland for the marriage of the Lady Margaret during his abode in Flanders hee consulted alwaies with Astrologians of future things and these impostors more hurtfull to a Common-wealth then Players l Sights entertaine the people and breed them vp â—n idlenesse And therefore Phillip Augugustus by an Edict banisht Plaiers out of France Nihil tam moribus alienum quam in spectaculo desidere Sen. whom his predecessours had chased away were alwaies in his eares Hee caused many iudgements to be made by Iohn Coleman his Astrologian who taught him to vnderstand the great Almanacke and vpon the great Coniunction of Saturne and Mars which was the eighth of Aprill about ten of the clocke eighteene minutes in the yeare 1464 He spake plainely of the troubles of the League and so did in like manner Peter of Grauille whom Lewis the 11. caused to come out of Normandy Conrade Hermgarter a Germaine left the Duke of Bourgundies seruice for the Kings who gaue him great entertainements But aboue all hee made great esteeme of Angelo Catho a Neapolitan who came into France with the Prince of Tarentum m Iohn Spirink did also foretel the Duke of Bourgundy that if he went against the Suisses it would succede ill the Duke answered that the fury of his Sword should vanquish the course of heauen and had foretold the Duke of Bourgundy and the Duke of Guelders their misfortunes The King gaue him the Arch-bishopricke of Vienna wherein hee could not reside for the great crosses he receiued from them of Dauphiné but was forced to retire himselfe to Rome His Chronicle doth also speake of the death of Maister Arnold his Astrologian during the plague in the yeare 1466. the which hee had foreseene and which vnpeopled Paris of aboue 40000. persons France had other kinds of men which did better deserue the fauour and bounty of the King then these Deuiners God is offended at the rashnesse of this science which vndertakes the knowledge of future things which is onely reserued to his eternall Prouidence and which in regard of man is all composed in with clouds and impenetrable darkenesse Vanity of Iudiciary Astrology The curious are deceiued for they tell them things that are either true or false n Fauorinus with this Dilemma mockes at Iudiciary Astrology Aut aduersa dicunt prospera Si dicunt prospera fallunt miser fies frustra expectando Si aduersa dicunt mentiuntur miser fies frustra timendo Either they tell aduerse things or prosperous If they fore-tell prosperous things and erre thou art a wretch in vaine expectance if they tell aduerse things and lye thou wilt be a wretch in fearing without cause They make themselues miserable in the expectation of prosperity which neuer happens They are miserable also in the apprehension of aduersities which they feare incessantly happen not but when they least dreame of them thinking they haue escaped them and howsoeuer lying deceiues hope and augments feare o Iudiciary Astrologyis forbidden by the reasons which Epiphanius produceth against the Manicheans Basâ—le in his Exameron Chrisostome vpon Genesis Hom. 5. Augustin lib. 4. cap. 3. of 〈◊〉 Cofessionâ— and by the Counciles of Tolâ—do The Church which hath the eternall truth for the verticall Starre of her establishment which doth alwaies looke vnto the Sunne of Iustice and Constancie not gouerning her selfe like vnto the Synagogue by the inconstancy of the Moone hath religiously and iudiciously detested the practice of Iudiciary Astrology which filles the eares with vanity and curiosity and the conscience with amazement If the curiosity had had any reflexion to the aduancement and beautifying of learning Barbarisme had not tyranized so long ouer so many good wits Princes cannot adde goodlier Crownes to the Palmes and Bayes of their vertues then those which good wits do dedicate vnto them as an acknowledgement of their fauours to learning p The glory which a Prince doth get by Armes is great That which comes from the fauour and protection of learning is immortal Intâ—r omnia quae vertute principum ac felicitate recreantur sint licet for tasse alia magnitudine atque vtilitate potiora nihill est tameÌ„ admirabilius haec libertate quam fouendis honorandisue literarum studijs iâ—partiuÌ„t Among all the things which are delighted with the vertue and felicity of Prinalthough it may be there are some to be preferred in greatnesse and profite yet there is nothing more admirable then that liberality which is bestowed to nourish honour the study of learning Eumenes Rhoetâ—r in orat pro instau scho King Charles the seuenth father to Lewis and King Charles the eighth his sonne had some care of the Vniuersity of Paris The first set downe an order for the decision of causes referred to the Court of Parliament The last declared what men should enioy the priuiledges of the Vniuersitie and how they should be inrowled in the booke of Priuiledges But wee do not finde that Lewis hath done any thing either with it or against it The President Thou whose History Europe doth no lesse admire for his eloquence and boldnesse then Italy did Titus Liuius and Greece Thucidides speakes of Iohannes Vulceus of Groningue and saith that he reformed the Vniuersity during the raigne of this King and this reformation shewes that there was some disorder The negligence of men was not so much the cause as the violence of times full of troubles and confusion which did not permit them either to teach or to learne These clouds of Ignorance were as darke in other Nations Barbarisme in in the time of Lewis The misery of that age was so great as who so should represent the potrraite of that Barbarisme would moue the minds of men both to pitty of so great ignorance and to feare that our negligence would bring vs soone into the like The sweetenesse of the Muses was but bitternesse their flowers all withered and their light all confusion the men of those times did not onely contemne learning but they did abhorre her beauty and said that it did not agree with the grauity and seuerity of other Sciences q Barbarisme being banished the schooles whereas the taught good learning it remained long among the Lawiers King Francis the first hauing seene these words in a Decree debotauit debottat commanded that alâ— the Actes of iustice and contracts should be made in Lattine For this cause the purity of
honors and deserued great aduancements in the house of Bourgondy he receiued the Coller of the golden Fleece when as D. Charles did first solemnize the order at Bruges after his fathers death f Charles 〈…〉 should haue stood with these words which are read in a Chronicle M. S. of the Kings library The Earle of Neuers being adiourned by the letters patents of the most high and most excellent Prince my redoubted Lord the Duke sealed with the seale of his order of the Fleece to appeare in person at this present Chapter there to answere vpoÌ„ his honor touching witchcraft and abusing the holy Sacraments of the Church hath not appeared but hath made default And to auoid the sute and depriuation of the order to bee made against him he hath sent back the Coller and therefore hath been and is declared out of the order and not called in the offring when as the Earle of Neuers was degraded more vnworthily then the respect of his house made him to hope from a Prince his neere kinsman The Duke gaue him the gouernment of the County of Boullein afterwards of Artois He came vnto the Kings seruice and deliuered into his hands the Towne of Arras after the Dukes death It seemes that Philip de Comines would not speake all he knew nor call a Fig a Fig. He knits it vp shortly in these words He could not mistake in submitting himselfe vnto the Kings seruice vnlesse he had taken a new oath to the yong Lady of Bourgondy and in yelding vp that vnto her which he held of hers They haue and will speake diuersly hereof wherfore I referre my selfe to the truth Tristan the Hermit whom the rigor of this reigne hath made so famous for the suddennesse of his executions was high Prouost Tristan the Hermit King Charles the 7 th made him knight after the siege of Fronsac g After the siege of Fronsac there were made knights Iohn of Bourbon Earle of Vendosâ—ne Iohn of â—ourbon his base brother the Vicount of Turaine the Lords of Rochefautaut Commery Rochechouart Grignaux de Barres Mommorin Bordeilles Fontenelles and Estauge The name of Tristan was giuen to Princes borne in some great affliction Iohn of France was surnamed Tristan for that he was borne at Damiete during the Imprisonment of S. Lewis his father In like manner the sonne to the King of Sicile was called Tristan for that he was borne in Catelonia when his father was a prisoner Philip de Commines Lords of Argenton Philip de Commines Some haue thought that he freed the king from the danger of Peronne and that it was the cause of the great fauour which he had purchased with the king I haue wondred why the king did not adde the honour of the Order of S. Michael and how it was possible that it should faile a man who wanted not any thing and who was so much fauoured and so familiar with the king as he did often lye in his Bed eate at his Table sit at his Councell and carried his most secret designes to Princes treated q Wee doe often finde the 〈…〉 of the secrets in Lawyers books Procopius sayth that the wâ—ters of 〈◊〉 were called a Secretis Honor qui tunc dabaâ—ur egregijs dum ad Imperiale Secretum tales constet eligi in quibus reprehonsionis vitium nequeat inveniâ—i An honour which was then giuen to worthy men whilst such are chosen to the secrets of the Empire in whoÌ„ no vice of reprehension can bee found happily but by them that know them by the beginning Secretarie of state a necessary Office progresse and effects by whose eyes and hands they see them and then dispatch them Sufficiency Experience and Fidelity serue as a lampe in obscurest deliberations and giues them Ariadâ—es threed which keepes them from meeting the Minotaure of repentance r The Venetians whose state is Aristocraticall change all their Officers yearely and some euery two moneths but the Duke the 〈◊〉 of S t. Marke the Chancellor and the Secretaries of State are for life the which the Florentines ordained in their state whâ—â— as Lewis the twelfth freed them from the tyranny of Count Valentine in the intricate Labyrinth of Enterprises For this reason in some well-gouerned Common-weales where as Offices are annuall that of Secretary is perpetual to the end that one alone may be Register of that which is concluded by many and an inviolable Guardian of Secrecie which is the soule of affaires and returnes neuer when it is once let slip s Secrecie is the soule of affaires and as Valerius calles it Optimum ac 〈…〉 agendâ—rum vinculum The best and safest hand for the managing of Affaires France cannot passe without the Counsell and experience of him who for that hee hath serued foure Kings in that great and painfull charge is held by all Europe for the Oracle of all resolutions and reuolutions There is not any thing vnpenetrable to his Iudgement who entring into the most confused and obscure affaires doth presently draw light But it is time to go to land This name so famous and renowned throughout all the world is the rocke of Adamant which drawes my ship Hee is the Port of this Nauigation which I finish he shall be the North-starre of another which I continue The profit of them shall redound to all in generall the thankes vnto the King and the glory vnto God The end of the History of Lewis the eleuenth MAXIMES IVDGEMENTS AND POLITIKE OBSERVATIONS OF PHILIP DE COMMINES Lord of Argenton VPON THE LIFE REIGNE AND ACTIONS OF LEWIS the eleuenth and of diuers other occurrents PLACES AND TITLES of these Maximes Prouidence of God Princes Realme Salique Law Enter-view of Princes Gouernments Councels and Councellors Court of Parliament Embassadors Treasure of the Prince Assemblies and Treaties People and Subiects Townes and Nations House of Bourgondy Enemies Enterprises Battels Warre Souldiars Sieges Victories Changes Prosperity and Aduersity Diuision Tumults and Sedition Liberalitie Iustice and Iniustice Punishment Iniury and Offence Wisedome Secresie Experience Knowledge Historie Nourishment Nature Hope Age. Fore-sight Carelesnesse and Vigilance Pride and Presumption Treacherie Dutie A good Man POLLITICKE MAXIMES PROVIDENCE OF GOD. ALL well considered our onely hope should be in God In the end of the first booke for in him consists all our assurance and all goodnesse which cannot bee found in any other thing in the world But wee do euery man acknowledge it too late and after that wee haue neede yet it is better late then neuer Grace and good fortune comes from God Lib. 1. chap. 4. In all enterprises wee must haue God of our side Lib. 2. chap. 1. God hath alwaies loued the Realme of France Lib. 4. chap. 1. To see things which God hath done in our time Lib. 4. chap. 13. and doth daily shewes that he will leaue nothing vnpunished And we may see plainely that these strange workes come
pride or folly for any one to hold himselfe too strong Lib. 2. Cha. 10 and yet Captaines doe it sometimes to be held valiant or for that they doe not well vnderstand the busines which they haue in hand Among other things that are fit to make conquest if there bee not a great iudgement all the rest is of no force and I thinke that it must come from the grace of God He that hath the profit of the Warre hath the honor There must bee no hast nor precipitation when they vndertake Lib. 5. Chap. 28 and begin a warre And I tell you that Kings and Princes are much the stronger when they vndertake it with the consents of the subiects and are more feared of their enemies When it is a defensiue warre this cloud is seene comming a farre off especially if it be from strangers and therein good subiects should not complaine nor refuse any thing and the accident cannot be so sudden but they may call some men such as shall bee named It is not done without cause and therein they vse no fixion nor entertaine a pettie warre at pleasure and without cause to haue occasion to leuy money The greatest miseries come commonly from the stronger For the weaker seeke nothing but patience Souldiours I Hold that men at Armes entertained are well imployed vnder the authoritie of a wise King or Prince Lib. 3. Chap. 3. but when he is otherwise or that he leaues Infants the vse wherevnto their Gouernours imploy them is not alwaies profitable neither for the King nor for his subiects Men at Armes lie continually vpon the Country without paying any thing committing infinite insolencies and excesse as all others know For which they are not content with an ordinarie life and with that which they finde in a labourers house from whom they are payed But contrariwise they beat the poore men and force them to fetch bread wine and victuals from abroad And if he hath a faire Wife or a Daughter hee shall doe well to keepe her safely Yet seeing there is pay it were easie to reforme it so as the men at Armes were payed euery two monethes at the farthest and so they should haue no excuse to commit those insolencies which they doe vnder coulour of want of pay For the money is leuied and comes at the end of the yeare I speake this for our Realme which is more opprest in this case then any other that I know and no man can help it but a wise King Other neighbour countries haue other punishments Sieges ALthough that sometimes sallies bee very necessarie yet are they dangerous for them that are in a place for the losse of Ten men is greater to them then a hundred to the enemie without their numbers not being equal neither can they recouer more when they will and they may loose a Commander or a Leader which oftentimes is the cause that the rest of the souldiors demand nothing more then to abandon the place In sieges of places the losse of one man alone is the cause to preserue his Master from a great inconuenience Lib. 5. Chap. 3. although he be not of his house nor of any great extraction but onely hath iudgment and vertue Example in Cohin an Englishman who being slaine with a Canon shot within Nancy the Englishmen whom he commanded mutined and caused the Towne to be yeelded After that a Prince hath laid siege against a place Lib. 5. Chap. 6. and planted his Artilerie if any come to enter and to relieue it against him they are worthy of death by the law of Armes Yet it is not practised in our Warres which are more cruell then the wars of Italy or Spaine whereas they vse this custome Despaire of succors make men besieged to put all things in hazard Example by the furious sallie of them of Liege who had like to haue taken or slaine the King or the Duke of Bourgundy Victorie THey doe alwaies augment the number of the vanquished Lib. 2 Chap. 2. I haue seene in many places whereas for one man they said they had slaine a hundred to please them and with such lies they doe sometimes abuse their masters Hee that gaines in warre growes in greater reputation with his Souldiors then before Lib. 2. Chap. 2. His obedience encreaseth They grant him what hee demands and his men are more hardie and couragious Changes THe changes are great after the death of great and mighty Princes In the Prologue where some loose and others gaine Great changes proceed not from fortune Lib. 1. Chap. 12. which is nothing but a Poeticall fiction The Author speakes this vppon the Constables ruine and concludes in these tearmes He should be very ignorant that should beleeue that fortune or any such like thing should cause so wise a man to be hated of these two Princes at one instant who in their liues did neuer agree in any thing but in this and most of all of the King of England who had married his Neece and did wonderfully loue all his wiues kindred and especially those of this house of S t Pol. It is likely and very certaine that hee was depriued of the grace of GOD to haue made himselfe an enemie to these three Princes and not to haue any one friend that durst lodge him one night and there was no other fortune that had any hand in it but God and so it hath happened and will happen to many others who after great and long prosperities fall into great aduersities When as a great man hath lost all his owne he soone wearies them that support him Example of Rene Duke of Lorraine who retired into France after the Duke of Bourgundie had taken his Country God giues extraordinarie willes vnto Princes when it pleaseth him to change their fortunes Lib. 5. Chap. 5. Example of Charles Duke of Bourgundie who grew obstinate at the second siege of Nancy against the aduice of his Councell Prosperitie Aduersitie A Misfortune neuer comes alone Lib. 3. Chap. 5. Prosperitie makes people proud Lib. 4. Chap. 3. Example of them of Arras Princes are proud and seeke not the true remedies in their misfortunes Lib. 5. Chap. 5. whereof the first is to returne vnto God and to consider if they haue offended him in any thing and to humble themselues before him and acknowledge their errors For it is he that iudges of such suites whereas no error can bee propounded After this it will doe him great good to conferre with some priuate friend and boldly to discouer his griefes vnto him for it doth ease and comfort the heart and the spirits recouer their vertue conferring thus with some one in priuate or else he must seeke another remedy by exercise and labour for of necessitie seeing we be men such griefes must passe with great passion either in publike or in priuate In time of aduersitie euerie one murmures and contemnes all the actions of the
from him for they are supernaturall and his sodaine punishments and especially against them that vse violence and cruelty Who commonly are no meane men but great Personages either by their owne absolute power or by the Princes authority When God meanes to change the fortune of a Prince Lib. 1. chap. 3. from good to bad or from prosperity to aduersity he prepares him enemies of no force suffers his seruants to become treacherous and makes him distrustfull and iealous of them that are most faithfull Example of Charles Duke of Bourgundy God giues the Prince as he meanes to punish Subiects Lib. 5. chap. 9. and to Princes Subiects and disposeth of their affections towards them as he meanes to raise or ruine them God hath not created any thing in this world Lib. 5. chap. 18. neither men nor beasts but he hath made him some thing opposite to keepe him in feare and humility God speakes no more to men neither are there any more Prophets which speake by his Mouth For his Faith is ample and plaine to all those that will heare and vnderstand it and no man shall be excused for Ignorance at least they which haue had hope and time to liue and which haue had their naturall wits The misery of Princes is when as God is so offended as hee will no longer endure them Lib. 5. chap. 18. but will shew his force and his Diuine Iustice and then he doth first of all take away their iudgements which is a great wound for them it toucheth He troubles their house and suffers them to fall into diuision and murmure The Prince fals into such indignation with God as hee flies the counsell and company of wise men and doth aduance Vp-starts Indiscreete Vnreasonable Violent men and Flatterers who applaud whatsoeuer he saith If he must impose a peny they say two If he threatens a man they say he must be hanged and in like manner of all other things And that aboue all things they cause themselues to be feared They carry themselues insolently and proudly hoping that they shall be respected and feared by this meanes as if Authority were their inheritance Princes THere is good and euill in Princes In the Prologue for they are men like vnto vs and to God onely belongs perfection When as the vertues and good conditions of a Prince are greater then his vices In the same he deserues great praise for that such personages are more inclined to all voluntary things then other men as well for their breeding and little correction they haue had in their youth as for that comming to the age of man most men seeke to please them and to applaude their humours No man should attribute any thing to himselfe Lib. 1. chap. 4. especially a great Prince but should acknowledge that grace and good fortune comes from God Great Princes are much more suspitious then other men Lib. 1. chap. 5. for the doubts and aduertisements which are giuen them and oftentimes through flattery without any necessity Princes and they which rule in great Estates should bee very carefull not to suffer any faction to grow in their house from whence this fire flies throughout the whole Prouince But this happens not but by a Diuine instigation For when as Princes or Realmes haue beene in great prosperity and wealth and haue forgotten from whence that Grace did come God hath raysed them enemies of whom no man doubted God doth a great fauour vnto a Prince when he makes him capable to winne men Lib. 1. chap. 9. and it is a signe that he is not infected with the odious vice and sinne of pride which doth purchase hatred with all men Princes and great men that are proud and will not giue eare to any Lib. 1. chap. 10. are sooner deceiued then they that are affable and heare willingly God shewes a great grace vnto a Prince Lib. 1. chap. 10. when he knowes good and euill especially when the good precedes Aduersity teacheth a Prince to be humble Lib. 1. chap. 10. and to please them that he hath need of Example of Lewis the eleuenth expelled from his fathers Court in his youth A Prince which hath entred into league with others Lib. 2. chap. 12. should dissemble many things which may breed diuision betwixt them and as he is the stronger so should hee bee more wise It is the counsell which the Lord of Contay gaue vnto the Earle of Charolois who was discontented for that the Dukes of Berry and Britany held councels in his chamber and presence diuided from him I neuer knew Prince that could discerne the difference of men Lib. 2. chap. 12. vntill he had beene in necessity and in action Princes haue sometimes need of them whom they haue contemned Example in King Lewis the 11. Edward the 4. and the Earle of Charolois Princes impart their authority to them that are most pleasing vnto them both for the age which is most sortable vnto them and for that they are well conceipted of them or sometimes they are led by them who know and gouerne their delights But they which haue vnderstanding returne soone when there is neede I haue seene Princes of two humours some so subtile and suspitious Lib. 1. chap. 16. as no man knew how to liue with them and they did still imagine that they were deceiued the others trusted enough in their seruants but they were so grosse and vnderstood their owne affaires so ill as they could not discerne who did them good or euill And these are presently changed from loue to hatred and from hatred to loue And although that of both sorts there are few found good nor any great assurance in them yet I had rather liue vnder the wise then vnder fooles For there is more meanes to purchase their fauour but with the ignorant there is no meanes to be found for that there is nothing done with them but with their seruants whom many change often Yet euery man must serue and obey them in the Countries where they are for they are bound vnto it To pardon to be bountifull or to do any other grace are things belonging to the Office of Princes A Prince or any other man that was neuer deceiued cannot be but a beast nor haue knowledge of good and euill nor what difference there is Men are not all of one complexion Lib. 1. and therefore the Prince for the lewdnesse of one or two should not forbeare to doe pleasure to many For one alone being the least of all those to whom he hath done any good may happily do such seruice as it shall recompence all the villanies which the others haue committed Example in the Hostages of Leige whom the Duke sent away free contrary to the opinion of the Lord of Contay who concluded to put them to death some made the Liegeois grow obstinate in their reuolt others were the cause of their reduction and the instruments
of the wise negotiation of the Lord of Imbercourt to draw in the Duke One of the greatest signes of Iudgement that a Prince can shew is to draw vnto him vertuous and honest men For he shall be held in the opinion of the world to be of the disposition and humour of such as are neerest about him God hath not ordained the Office of a King or Prince to be executed by beasts nor by them who through vaine glory say I am no Clarke I refer all to my Councell I trust in them and so giuing no other reason go to their sports If they had beene well bred in their youth they would haue other reasons and bee desirous that both their persons and vertues should be esteemed God cannot send a greater plague vnto a Country then a Prince of weake vnderstanding for from thence proceed all other miseries First growes diuision and warre for he alwaies puts his authority into an other mans hand the which hee should be more carefull to keepe then any other thing and from this diuision proceeds famine and pestilence and all other mischiefes which depend of warre Princes hate them mortally that seeke to keepe them in feare Wise Princes do alwaies in their Designes seeke some honest and apparant coulour Example in Lewis the eleuenth who caused the Estates to assemble at Tours and there made his complaints against the Duke of Bourgundy to haue a Subiect to breake the peace Of those bad Princes and others hauing authority in this world which vse it cruelly and tyrannously not any or few haue remained vnpunished but it is not alwaies at a prefixed day nor at such time as they that suffer desire it It is no blemish to Princes to be suspitious and to haue an eye ouer those that go and come But it is a great shame to be deceiued and to loose by his owne errour yet suspitions should haue a meane for to exceed is not good A weake and couetous Prince endureth any thing Example in the Emperour Fredericke whom the Authour cals a man of a faint courage and who endured all for feare of spending There is no reason a Prince should thrust himselfe into danger for a small matter Lib. 1. chap. 1. if God hath not abandoned him Example in the Duke of Bourgundy who vndertooke a war against the Suisses for a very light occasion and without hope of profite considering the nature of the people and country Princes giue not honours and riches at their pleasures that demand them In the 〈◊〉 Princes feare not to thrust a seruant into danger if neede require Lib. 3. The Duke of Bourgundy had commanded Phillip de Commines to go to Calice which he durst not do without some assurance The Duke commanded him to passe on although he should be taken promising to redeeme him A Prince gouerned by other counsell then his owne doth in the end returne to that which is most necessary for him Lib. 3. chap. 10. Example in the Duke of Brittany A Prince should alwaies feare to put any thing in hazard Lib. 6. chap. 2. There is not any man Lib. 6. chap. 12. of what dignity soeuer but doth suffer either in secret or in publicke and especially they that cause others to suffer The condition of two Princes which haue beene enemies is therin miserable that they cannot by any meanes assure themselues one of an other Example in Lewis the eleuenth and Charles Duke of Bourgundy When they were together at Leige there were not fifteene daies past that they had made and sworne a Peace and yet saith the Authour there was no trust The old age of a Prince makes him patiently to endure many things Lib. 1. chap. 2. Example of the Duke of Bourgundy who dissembled that which the Earle of Charolois his sonne did against the house of Croüy Realmes GOD hath had Lib. 4. chap. 7. and hath still the Realme of France in speciall recommendation The diuisions of Realmes are made in heauen Lib. 1. chap. 3. Example of the houses of Lancaster and Yorke and of the crownes of Castile and Portugall Lib. 5. chap. 18. God hath giuen to the Realme of France the English for Opposites Lib. 3. chap. 18. and to the English Scots to Spaine Portugall to Castile Grenado to the Princes of Italy the Common-weales to the house of Arragon the house of Anjou to the Sforca's that of Orleans to that of Austria that of Bauaria and the Swisses to that of Cleues that of Guelders to that of Guelders that of Iuliers The Princes and Townes of Germany are opposite one to another and it is necessary it should be so throughout the world Salique Law VVIth wise and great deliberation Lib. 6. chap. 3. and the Assistance of Gods Grace that Law and Ordonance was made in France that the daughters should not inherite the said Realme least it should fall into the hands of a forraigne Prince for hardly should the French euer haue endured it neither do other Nations And in the end there is no great command whereas the Country doth not remaine to them which are of the Country the which you may see by France whereas the English haue had a great command within these forty yeares and at this day they haue nothing left but Callice and two little Castles which cost them much to keepe The rest they lost with much more ease then they conquered it and they lost more in one day then they got in a yeare The like wee may say by the Realme of Naples the Iland of Sicile and other Prouinces which the French haue enioyed many yeares and at this day there is no signe nor memory of them but by the Sepulchres of their Predecessours And although they should endure a Prince of a Forraine Nation with a small traine well ordered and himselfe wise yet shall they hardly do it with a great number of men For if he brings with him a great Traine or he sends for them vpon any occasion of warre they fall out with the Subiects as well for the diuersity of their humours and conditions as for their violence and for that they are not beloued in the Countrey as they that are borne there and especially when they seeke Offices Dignities and the Managing of great affaires in the Country A Prince that will shew himselfe wise when he goes into a Forraine Country must reconcile all his Townes and if he bee endowed with this vertue which onely comes from the grace of God it is to be esteemed before any other thing And if hee liue the age of a man hee shall haue great troubles and affaires and all they that shall liue vnder him especially when hee shall come to age and his men and seruants shall haue no hope of amendement Enterueiw of Princes IT is almost impossible that two great Lords shall euer agree Lib. 1. chap. 14. for the reports and suspitions which they haue howerly