abide that desirous that in France there might shortly appeare as many robberies euen at the Kings his poore peoples costes as there be bridges and passages ouer riuers To be briefe to the end there might be no trafficke letters or purses which thirtene ribbauldes were not sufficient to visite from one place to another thereof to make reporte vnto the said Cardinal we must marke what order he tooke vnder colour said he to keepe the Protestantes from assembling togither to conspire against the Kinge As indeede that was one marke that he shot at together with certaine other more high attempts in case his enterprises against the Prince of Condye and the Admirall had had good successe Howbeit the commissiō which then he procured more manifestly did reueile the iniurie which he did to the King and the realme also his vehement desire to trouble al the estate to the ende to exalt his owne race through his enemies ouerthrowe This therefore was the tenour of the commission made about the time of the edict afore set downe namely in the moneth of Maye 1568. The King hath ordeined captaine N. in the towne of N. there to remaine Captaine and keeper of the bridge and passage to whome shal be deliuered twelue men to assist his person whome he may command whatsoeuer he thinketh meet conuenient for the Kings seruice which twelue men his maiestie shal pay ouer and besides the entertainment alowed to the said captaine He shal first procure to make a drawbridge ouer the sayde passage which he and his twelue men shall daye and night diligentlye and warily watche and keepe not permitting any to passe vnlesse he first knowe whence he commeth whither he goeth what his businesse is and who himselfe is Also seeing any numbers of men approching to the passage ouer the sayd bridge he shall presently cause it to be drawne not suffering the passage to be taken before he be assured of the same do know that they haue no meanes to hurt him Also to the ende that he his twelue men with him may continually remaine at the said bridge with al conuenient commodities he shal immediatly take order for the making of a lodge neere vnto the said bridge whither he and his souldiers may retire lodge and accommodate thē selues in not going from the saide bridge or abandoning the custodie thereof and to the same effect his maiestie hath written to the inhabitants of the same towne that they at their owne cost do make the said lodge and draw-bridge Also forasmuche as it may greatly aduantage the said captaine towarde his sure keeping of the said bridge and prouiding that there be no meanes to surprise the same to haue knowledge of things done in the said quarters he shal endeuour to discouer to his power the actions and intentes of those of the new religion and hearing of any thinge preiudicial to the Kings maiesties seruice he shal looke diligently to his charge and giue warning vnto the Captaine of the next bridge passage or towne and the like shal all other captaines do who haue commission for the keeping of any other bridges or passages til time the King be thereof aduertised so that he may take some order And although the principal cause which moued the King to commit this captaine to the charge of the bridge or passage aforesaid is for the safe custodie thereof yet shal he for his part take diligent heede that the Protestants haue no preachings or other exercises of their religion in any other place then his maiestie hath to them ordeined and established as wel by the contents of his edictes of pacification as also by the rule prescribed since the publication of the last edict He shal hearken and take good hede as much as possibly he may that the protestantes make no enroulings of men of warre no leuyes or collections of coyne no vnlawful assemblies or no motions of warre either where his charge lyeth or in any other place thereabout but shal prouide for faithful men to aduertise him and if neede be to send some of the skilfullest about him and such as haue any vnderstanding or do seme meet to penetrate into the said Protestants affaires to the end they may certifie him of whatsoeuer they can learne out He shal endeuour to knowe whether there be any gentlemen of the Kinges side that be displeased or do shewe anie countenance to fauour or followe the said protestants any whome they haue suborned or motioned to make any practises or drifts tēding to the surprising of any the Kings towns haue not disclosed the same to the end to keepe the said practises or enterprises the more secret farther from suspicion He shal also labour whē the said Protestants do holde their Synodes assemblies thorowly to detect vnderstand the causes of the same together with the conclusions therof He shal finde meanes to get in vnder such pretence as he shall thinke best some wise and trustie person who may know and smel out the ende of their intentes and giue him a good accompt of al that hath bene propounded or agreed vpon in the said assemblies he shal take hede that there be no assemblies made in any towne or place forbidden and defended either any secret exercise of their religion To the end also that his maiestie may be serued as appertaineth with good knowledge among his trusty faithful subiects the said captaine shal often commune with the gouernour who hath the charge of the towne of such matters as may fal out touching his said maiesties seruice the one not to encroche vpon the others authority lest any displeasure or controuersy should breed betweene the said gouernour him He shal curiously enquire who be the superintendēts ouer the protestants affaires in the said country what their pensions are and whether they do send any messengers into forein coūtries to what end He shall also certify the King of al such matters as he hath learned touching any the said matters or other things tending to his maiesties seruice neither shal he faile of sending weekly one or more messengers according as matters shal fal out the same shal he addresse to my Lord the Kings brother and lieutenant general who shal giue him answere And the said captain may certifie the King my said lord his brother of al that he knoweth by sēding his letters to him that shal haue the custody of the next bridge so from hand to hand shal the same be conueied by other captaines hauing like commission vnto the King or my Lord his brother Now may any man hauing wit or discretion consider in this cōmissiō wonderful policies of the Cardinal new preparatiues for warre by the meanes wherof he aduanced him self Also how by these drifts the third ciuil warre was sone kīdled for in lesse thē two moneths after the peace there were aboue ten thousand persons slaine here there in the
vnto diuers that he had not of long time heard anie newes that more contented him Ye haue heard already how the estates holden at Orleās were proroged vnto May and afterward through diuers disturbances of such as intended to giue no account but on horseback in armour they were adiourned vnto the end of August at Pontoise where they had bene appointed There among other things which touched the Guisians but especially the Duke of Guise there present the propositiō of the lord Bretagne in his oratiō in the name of the third estate cōcerning the euil dealings of the said Guisiās did chiefly pinch them the wordes because they be notable haue we here set downe Your subiects said he speaking to the King haue bene molested with infinite subsidies both ordinary extraordinary wherupon haue ensued also the augmēting of impost the wages of fiftie thousand footmē the collations the twentie franckes vpon euery steeple in the Realme the leuie of eight crownes vpon the officers royal sixe vpō the aduocates of the Parliament foure vpō the Burgeses widowes artificers two vpon the rest of the aduocates practitioners notaries and sergeants borowed not borowed free holdes new gaines money leuied after the battaile of S. Laurence alienation of the demaines helpes gables fines taken vpō offices both olde new the suppressiō of certain of the same money for cōfirmations coyne raised vpon houses towne houses pay leuied vpon consignatiōs vessels of gold siluer billeted warlike munitions victuals for campes and armies leuied within these thirty yeres horse and furniture of artillarie erecting of sales of wine furniture apparrel and food for souldiers wages and pay for souldiers in diuers particular townes saultpeter and poulder which the people must furnish officers wages men of armes and footmen vnpayd conduct money into Bretagne with other infinite sūmes vnder sundry names and titles and al tending to the getting of your subiects money so that by reason of the said in supportable charges your pore subiects are so weakened enfeebled impouerished that at this present Sir they haue nothing left to offer or present vnto your maiesty other thē their good faithful willes They oftē haue examined them selues tryed their whole abilities in your maiesties affaires but to their great griefe they haue foūd themselues destitute of al meanes of helping or succoring you and therefore doe most desire that it may please you to deferre put of the succour which you at this time do attend at their hāds vntil some other time whē through as wel their own diligēce labour trauail sparing sobriety as also through such good entreaty as they hope for at your hands they shal haue recouered part of their former abilitie power Neither can they be perswaded considering the great subsidies of them leuyed during the reigns of the Kings your late father and brother that you can be so greatly endebted Calling also to minde whatsoeuer all auncient histories or recordes as wel holy as prophane haue left of al antiquitie as testimonies of valiant deedes they do finde that neuer any monarch King or soueraigne Prince hath died indebted in such excessiue summes as did the late King Henry your Honorable father how long or continual warres the said Monarches haue susteined or enterprised for the augmenting of the boundes and limites of their realmes and empires And to say the trueth so great and wonderful are the debts that quite emptying al the treasuries of your dominions and particularly researching euery subiect yet shal you hardely finde goulde or siluer in their possessions equiualēt vnto the said sūmes Which notwithstanding it seemeth very hard and incredible yet is the knowledge thereof more grieuous vnto your subiectes because their power is not equal to their desires This therefore hath moued them to coniecture that such great summes of money leuied among your people neuer came wholy into your coffers neither was euer conuerted to the cōmoditie of your predecessors but through vnreasonable giftes and such other meanes haue in part remained in the hands of some particular persons whose houses do now triumph and florish through the harmes of your said subiects For the reparation therefore of such former gouernment also to preuent that in time to come you fall not into any such bottomles pit of debts they do most humblye besech you to ordeine that the treasurers ouer seers of your treasury who hitherto haue had the hādling disposing of the same during the reignes aforesaid may come bring in an accōpt of their administration before such delegates as your selfe shal chuse or through the assistance of the estates euery prouince and gouernment shal name by this meanes may such be quailed and reuoked to their dueties as in time to come might cōmit the like trespas Again one of the first articles conteined in the roules which the third estate presented were these wordes That such might bring in their accompts as were accomptable had had the ordering of the treasurye for that the said thirde estate could not beleeue but that thereby sundrye great abuses might be found out also that in the meane time aswell such as were accomptable as also al other who had bene dealers in the treasurie euen being of the priuie counsaile might neuerthelesse be forbidden entrie into the said council together with the execution of their said offices vntil the said accomptes were made other where then in the chamber of accompts and in the presence of the delegates of the estates and that al restes and debtes were payed also that especial reuiew might be made of the accompts of those who had receiued the particular loanes of the sommes of eight six foure and two crownes the twenty frankes of eche steple the munitions and victuals the furnitures of the sales of wines and other necessary things for the warres the money leuied vpon the walled townes after the battaile of S. Laurence and al other extraordinary payes leuied vpon the people Also that al excessiue pensions vnreasonable giftes whatsoeuer might be reuoked without exception of any person sauing the Queene mother who had sollicited the estates to pursue these matters for the causes rehearsed in the discourse of her gouernement for that it was euident that this money had neuer bene employed vnto such vse as it had bene destined vnto namely the relieuing of the kings affaires now may we wel thinke whether these motions clawed the Guisians The Cardinal more staied thē his brother the Duke made no shew of ought as if he had sought to make ready his accompts but in the others forhead a man might reade a thousand threats against the estate of the realme the effects whereof appeared within fiue or six moneths after For their better prouiding therefore for their own affairs they determined as touching the giuing vp of their accompts that they would practise al meanes possible rather then be brought into any such necessitie also that in case
vnder pretence of religion they found no way then would them selues endeuour to make one by associating to them their partakers and so falling vpon the Protestantes who they were assured that the Prince of Condie the Admiral other Lords would defeÌ„d by this meanes they should so mingle these accompts that together with forreine succours they would exalt themselues higher then euer and hauing this faire preteÌ„ce of religion they coÌ„sequently did assure theÌ„selues of the fauour of al Catholikes Moreouer the Cardinal beholding such numbers of people dayly declaring themselues protestants according to his wont smiled in his sleue saying that this was the reward of the souldiers who had more need and a proper meane to content manye both great and smal who sought nought but the spoile The disputation also at Poissy betweene the ministers who were to treat vpon religion the Prelates who also were called to helpe to pay the Kinges debtes was freely graunted vnto which was in hope to moue some controuersie betweene them and the Germaines that held with the confession of Ausbourg either peraduenture because he accompted them ignorant as he had euery where tearmed them so to be to the end in so notable an assembly to astonish them either els with his prating together with the sophistical reasons of some Sorbonistes who were sent for there to dispute vtterly to take away their speches and make them dumbe But afterwarde more deepely weying the matter he called to minde an other drift which was to keepe the Popes legate in a readinesse to the end that if this disputation turned more to the protestants aduaÌ„tage then he wished he then might in time breake of this assembly referring the ministers to the general council appointed at Trente He also minded thereby still to bridle the Queene mother whose inconstancie the Guisians greatly mistrusted although wrongfullie seeing that she was more perfecte in playing her parte then them selues although shee communicated not her whole minde vnto them but suppressed whatsoeuer she thought not conuenient for their aduauncemente Now had they alreadye shaken the Kinge of Nauarre by meanes of the Lorde d' Escars that wall muste they therefore wholy pul downe to the ende that gatheringe vp the stones thereof they might with the same stone the protestants as afterwarde they did Large promises were thereunto requisite wherein the Popes legate and the Kinge of Spaynes ambassadour at the Guisians suite did lustily set to their helpe As for the disputation at Poissy in asmuch as the orations and discourse thereof is already published and also shal hereafter more largely be declared we need not here stand long therevpon seeing also that hereafter we will cast out some worde in discoursing vpon the Cardinals diuinitie and religion and of his braue oration made in the same assembly the sixtenth day of September in the yere of our Lord 1561. In this place it shal be sufficient to note certaine of his policies against the quietnes of the Realme First then to cause fooles to thinke that the Preâ—ates were not thither assembled for nothing he framed diuers articles touching the institution of Bishops the dignitie of Cathedral Churches and such other like but not mentioning anie one point of doctrine For they al were before agreed not to yeelde anie thing vnto the ministers for feare of being taken for seducers and so of making an irreparable breach in the dignitie of the Romish seate In this wise did the Cardinal scorne the King and al his council who pretended to anie reformation The ministers of the reformed Churches in the Realme were willed to send thither some of their fellowes and so they did therin obeying the commandements of the King and the Queene mother Peter Martyr and Theodore Beza were brought from Zurich and Geneua where they professed diuinitie to the end more precisely to consider of al controuersies The Cardinal then seing him selfe to farre shipped in matters wherein he was but a nouice thought to preuent it So soone therefore as Theodore Beza was come he went to him into the Queene mothers chamber where after certaine talke he was forced to say to the sayd Beza that he was glad he had heard him speake also that be hoped they should wel enough agree together But this was but dissimulation as the Ladie of Cursol at his departure shewed him saying that for that night he was become an honest man but in the morning he woulde be turned as more playnely appeared in that his suppostes did publish abroade that the Cardinal had stopped Beza his mouth and brought him to his opinion But when the contrarie was seene in the oration of the sayde Beza the Cardinal was so abashed that beeing among the Doctours and Prelates he coulde not but say I woulde to God that that man meaning Beza had either bene dombe or our selues deafe Thereunto perceiuing that they must answere it was thought expedieÌ„t that a Sorbonist named DespeÌ„ce an assured seruant of the house of Guise together with certaine others should pen the oration which the said Cardinal did afterward pronounce wherein nothing answering to the Ministers propositions they determined to stand vpon two only pointes namely of the Church and of certaine questions thereupon dependinge also of the Lordes Supper wherein he did nothing but playster vp certaine sophistical syllogismes and therefore I thought it superfluous here to inserte the same oration which more fitly may be seene in the history of our time After the end of this oration followed certaine ample discourses of Despence Sainctes and other Iesuites and Monckes whom the Ministers sufficiently answered Now was the Cardinal gladde to set eche party in a heat with other to the ende that the audience being vexed all might be referred to some conference either priuatly or in writing whilest in the meane time the Pope might send some new precept wherewith to stoppe the Prelates mouthes who waited for nothing els hauing for certaine moneths thus debated when the Queene perceiued that the Ministers and Prelates could not in any one pointe agree no not so much as in the article of worshiping of Images also that the Prelats Doctours did not very wel agree in the same poinct she brake vp the said disputation whereof the Sorbonistes were so gladde that they could not refraine from shewing a thousand tokens of friendship vnto Theodore Beza their principall enemie out of whose handes they escaped better then they hoped for But the Cardinal had procured the Pope to write vnto the Prelates that vnder payne of Excommunication they should referre the determination of such controuersies vnto the council of Trente which came in good time for those our masters who were then sore busied As for the confession of Ausbourg which was the trappe whereinto the Cardinal hoped to haue brought the Ministers they so wisely behaued them selues that he stumbled thereinto so that all the shame returned vpon him selfe During these disputations the renowmed edict of
of in the middest of his course Sometimes he woulde thrust his finger into the wounde as if he were extremely chafed against the surgeons and Physitions who coulde not prolonge Francis the second his life also as if he coulde not giue them one good looke because he sawe himselfe ensnared Finally after he had forgiuen his wife and lefte his children to the Cardinals tuition not without straight charge to reuendge his death and bring his driftes to their perfection which so often had bene frustrated he was as ye would say by death tyed to the suburbes and gate of Orleans This was the end of the fiercest of all the Guisians who fretted said manye in that he shoulde die in the towne where a King had dyed either that nowe aliue he shoulde come into the Citie which he and his partakers had destined for the death of a Prince of the blood and many good officers of the crowne The Catholikes especially of Paris who neuerthelesse had smal cause as afterward appeared did greatly bewayl his death Whē the King of Nauarre was slaine at Rouen the Duke of Neuers and the Marshal of S. Andrews at Dreux and diuers others in other places there was no token of sorow But for the Duke of Guise who had abandoned his captain who fought because he would not be accomptable to the estates of France who had violated the Kings edictes and sought to suppresse the house of Valois did they make hearses and vsed al other funeral solemnities as if he had bene a king Now therefore like as after the decease of Francis the second al the whole courte which enuironed the Guisians vanished away and al their multitudes at the same instant conuerted into solitarinesse yea that manye who before had followed them were now ready not onlye to hold the basen to whōsoeuer would cut their throats but euē thēselues to paunch thē so after the death of their eldest brother they remained as a body without members being forsaken of most men and through the vnreasonable authority which they had vsurped become odious vnto such as to them were most vprignt The Cardinal now being at Trente sought new meanes how to begin at an other end and first dealt with the Spaniard as himselfe did since disclose to one of the chiefe counselers of a certaine noble french Lorde for hauing declaimed against and reproued the estate of matters of France he toulde him that the Spaynishe gouernement was excellent and goode where the Great Lords of the country doe so bridle their King that they permit him scarsely to sport him self handling him after the maner of counters of which a man maketh that which somtime is worth but one somtime worth tenne sometimes worth a hundred sometimes worth ten thousand and immediatly reducing it againe to nothing at his pleasure neither were it said he a very harde matter to reduce France to the same poincte In the meane time he counterfaited the mourner writing such consolatory letters vnto his mother as a man would hardly reade without laughīg especially where he writeth these words Madame I say vnto you that God neuer so greatly honoured any mother neither at any time did so much for any his creature excepting alwayes his owne glorious mother then he hath done for you But this good childe of the most blessed mother in the world next to the virgine Marie inuented other new practises against the estate of his King and country as we now shal perceiue The Duke of Guise his mouthe beyng stopped peace presently ensued but in such maner as did easelie shewe that such remembraunces as the Cardinal lefte at his goynge to the Councille were of greate force For the edicte made in the moneth of Ianuarye was in maner extinguished the Prince of Condye displaced from the rowme which to him apperteined as to the first Prince of the blood the Admiral and other great Lordes expulsed the Courte but principally the sayde Admirall who was charged with procuring the shotte at the Duke of Guise which neuerthelesse was but a policie which the Cardinal and his fautours practised to the ende still to keepe the water troubled and them selues out of accomptes in whiche poincte the Queene mother somewhat fauoured the Guisians in that she was glad to put from her sonne al honourable persons to the ende to bring him vp and frame him according to her own humors the effects wherof haue since manifestly appeared Many things chanced in France betwene the first and second troubles wherein the Guisians sleightes diuersly appeared to the destruction of the realme wherof we wil touch some the most notable particularities not staying ouermuch vpon the circumstance of Dayes in that that entreating of their iniuries offred to the Princes of the blood to the nobilitie to the estates and to other priuate parties in the Realme we may beholde such matters as nowe we wil passe ouer First the Cardinal laboured the Queene mother to grant the estate of great master vnto his nephue Henrie sonne to the late Duke of Guise So that notwithstanding this childe was not capable thereof yet to the great dishonour of the King and the Realme and in despite of the Constable and the Protestants whome the Queene began to hate he was chosen great Master standing in deede in greater neede of a Scholemaster and roddes After the King of Nauarre was dead the Queen mother became a Catholike for she douted lest the Prince of Conde then first Prince of the blood would holde his estate knowing her humours through the assistāce of the Chastillōs the Cōstable himself whose heate began now to coole reduce her to order take the gouernemēt from her The Cardinal foreseing also that if this were brought to passe both he and al his should be plucked away determined to take some order At the assemblie at Orleans the estates with one common consent had made great complaintes of the vnreasonable giftes which both King Henrie and King Francis the second had giuen to sundrie persons of whome some were vnworthie others had had too much seeking to cal to accounts those who had the charge and gouernement of the treasure The first part of these complaintes touching the vnworthinesse of persons concerned especially and from the bottome of their hearts the Duchesse of Valentinois and al her abomination The second of excesse did pinche to the quicke the Guisians the Marshal of S. Andrewes and some others An other point of this complaint tended wholy against the Guisians as hauing relation only to the time of Francis the second whom they had ordered at their pleasures in whose time much money was spent and consumed On the other side the reformation of the ecclesiastical estate wherupon the nobilitie and third estate did earnestly call killed the Cardinals heart outright Wherefore to the end to procure this pursuite to vanish away he and his brethren could inuent no better shift then by kindeling the ciuil warre aforesaide