the sayd L. Admirall throughout all places of his dominion that he meant not neyther would that any man should by any meanes alter his Edict of pacification it can not in any wyse agree with the warre which he maketh presently against his subiectes of the religion and much lesse with his own saying that he would not suffer any other Religion thā his owne within his realme By reason of which persuasions the prince cannot thinke that his Maiesties promising to succour him in the offer which he caused to be made to the sayd Earle without condicion was spoken with a playnmeaning hart but rather feareth that the same proceeded out of the selfesame shopp that the former things came because that in the letters of the Spanishe Ambassadour which were surprised a while agoe as they were comminge out of Fraunce to the Duke of Alua it was seene that the Queene mother vsed suche speech as this I cannot thinke that these so good Christians will make any agreement with the Heretikes shee spake those words of the Prince to his hinderaunce and therefore it is vnlykely that there was any good meaning towards the furtherance of his affayres The said Earle besecheth his Maiestie yit further to set before his eyes what hee hath oftentymes tolde him of the Cardinall of Lorreine namely that his dooings were so suspiciouse on all sydes that whereas he was in credit with his Maiestie and had the ordering of all his affaires it was not too bee thought so farre as could bee seene that hee would deale soundly or vncorruptly in any thing by reason of the great priuitie which he had with the Spaniardes yea and muche lesse in asmuch as it is reported that he hath offered his maiestie a great summe of money to imploy it against the protestants Moreouer the sayd Earle beseecheth his Maiestie to call to mynd what his highnesse hath sayd vnto him oftētimes namely that he considered well the mischiefes that had assayled him on all sydes and that if hee might by Gods grace once remedie them by the peace which he hath payned himself so much to make he would take good heed that he fell no more into them For wheras he is at this hower further ouer the shoes thā euer he was through the counsell of such as vnder his name doe bring those in suspicion which are called the heads of the factiōs and prouoke him to make cleane riddance of them by what meanes so euer it bee as hee dyd by the last slaughter his Maiestie maye wel see it was not to leaue of so but to make him bathe himselfe more than before in the bloud of his poore subiectes to the ende to hasten his own ruine the more wherof they haue layd the platt a long tyme afore hand which skarre his maiestie may yet for al this heale vp agayne by making a good peace in his realme by ceassing to trouble his subiectes of the reformed religion Finally the sayd Earle desireth his Maiestie to bethinke him of this poynt that although he had taken all the townes that are hild by the Protestantes in his Realme yit should hee not haue rooted out the Religion and to consider also that the late Emperour Charles the fifth did not onely take the townes but also had the persones in his hands that did set thēselues against his procedings seazed vpon their landes and beate downe their fortresses and yit for all that could nor driue the Religion out of Germanie because it is a thing so rooted in mennes hartes that it cānot be weeded out by force of armes VVherefore the sayd Earle most humbly beseecheth his Maiestie to take these reasons in as good part as the Earle hath without passion or particular affection soundly truly and with good conscience commaunded the Lord of Chastelier to preferre them to his vnderstanding and to wey them and consider them well and throughly not suffering himselfe to be flattered by such as play the leud Phisitions which tell not their pacient the least part of his disease wherevppon followeth his vndoing but rather crediting such as seeke nothing but his good furtherance and great increase If hee do so his affaires shal haue as good successe as he would wishe If not but that he continue stil in his former behauiour all that euer he can doo shall but turne to his vndoing and imbattell both God and men still more and more against him ¶ FINIS Concerning the conclusiō and effect that hath ensued of these requestes and aduises and touching rhe decease of the French Kyng IT is good for subiectes to trust and pray that Kyngs shall liue It is good for Kynges to thinke and knowe that kynges may and must die Many haue bin the examples therof and great is the fruite to the wise cōsiderers Gods is the iudgement and execution mannes is the good or harme as God is to dispose in wrath or fauour The end is Gods honour It is therfore good for all euen the highest to feare God and to gouerne subiectes as Gods people And sweete is the comfort to those noble Princes whose hearts and consciences the spirite of God feelingly assureth that they haue lead their people in truth holden them in Iustice and preserued them in mercy and equitie Let the one Realme of Fraūce in their Kyngs their subiectes and their state preach to Christendome the mortalitie of kyngs the miseries of ciuill warres the losses by disloyaltie of word and deede the fruits of truth right and peace Gods is the iustice and iudgement whose be the honour of all things seeming to men good or euill The valiant and famous French king Henry the second when he was in greatest apparance of felicitie and ioye in the entric of peace in the feastes of mariage in the very actes of triumph and euen than when after execution of sundry for the cause of conscience he had Annas du Burg and other counsellers of the Parliament of Paris in prison whom for their Religion he thought meete and intented to haue put to death was hurt and slaine to the great losse dissolution lamentation of that mightie kingdome His sonne Francis the second enriched with one kingdome more than euer his father or his auncestors enioyed the Realme of Scotland when after execution of many persons vppon the tumult of Amboise the death of the Vidame of Chartres he had the prince of Cōde Madame de Roye and other noble persons gentlemen prisoners in the Bastile of Paris and elsewhere was suddenly taken away by the hand of God to the great destitution and sorow of those that depended vppon his Maiestie Charles the ninth now lately deceased second sonne of King Henry and yonger Brother to the sayd Frauncis when he thought himselfe deliuered of those whom he supposed daungerous to his estate and whom he charged with most haynous conspiracie found afterward mightie resistance by the remnants of that execution by whom these Articles of request were presented vnto him whereuppon hath not followed such full conclusion as had ben to bee wished for the quiet of that kyngdom Since which time and the lamentable troubles depending when the sayd kyng had his owne Brother with the next Prince of his bloud his greatest Mareshals of his Realme and a number of noble men in custodie and prison and dayly expectation was of a totall destruction of some part of his subiectes God hath added him to his auncesters The circumstances of his disease the cause occasion and maner of his death pertayneth not to vs It was the woorke of god No doubt hee lacked not the care of a mother the counsell of Phisicians and cunning persons the helpe aduise wish and praier of the famous king his brother and all that men might do But Kynges who to vs in resemblance are Gods to them selues in Nature be men God giue to all Princes not that opinion onely but also that cogitation both to thinke it and thinke vppon it God giue quiet to that christiā region of our neighbours and an hart to all Christiā gouernour to haue care of the safetie and peace of their posteritie For beyond all posteritie there is a Kyng of Kynges to be aunswered And GOD giue vs Englishmen quiet and thankfull hartes that we may rest in vnitie cleaue to present state abhorre changes and so vse our Religion that God find it not necessary to withdraw our highest treasure Amen
haue ministred vnto them with all vprightnesse and equitie Also to be aduised of such procurations as shall be necessary for the particularities depending vpon the sayd case to the end that by the xv day of December by which tyme his Maiestie hopeth to be retourned to his towne of Compiegne from the voyage that he presently maketh to the frontiers of his realme for conducting his brother the king of Polonia going towardes his kingdome his Maiestie being then aduertised of the whole by the sayd Lord Mareshal may giue order as to him shall seeme necessarie And where he is required by the sayd deputies to prolong the ceassing of armes his Maiestie will write to the sayde Lorde Mareshall to cause all actes of hostilitie to cease prouided alwaye that they of the religion giue order on their part that nothing bee atttempted to the contrary as of late hath bene done which his Maiestie doth expresly forbid At Villiers-Cotterets the 18. day of October 1573. Thus signed CHARLES And vnderneth FIZEL A request exhibited to the King by the Deputies of the third estate of the Countries of Languedocke Dolphine and Prouince SYr before we wēt in hande with the charge that was committed vnto vs by your most humble and obedient subiectes the people of the third estate of your coūtrie and Countie of Prouence Folcaquier the Landes bordering therevpon we wel foresawe three poynts which would make our sute odious or at leastwyse not so well fauoured as we gladly would haue desired that we might returne into our coūtrie with good speed of the thing for which we come present our selues sewters vnto your Maiestie The first is that it is an vnseemly thing for Subiectes to inquire of the peculiar affaiers of their King or to go about to demaund a reason why he doeth them The Second is that subiectes ought to haue a sure good opinion of their Princes good meaning towardes them and that hee will not greue them with extraordinary subsidies without great cause and vrgent necessitie and therefore that the sessing of them lieth not in the controlment of the Subiectes The third is that it is an vnseemly and intolerable rashnes of the Subiectes to intend to brydle or restrain the affaires of the state wherof they haue no knowlege but superficially and by coniecture And in very deed these three poyntes haue made vs to refuse our commission often tymes we had not condescended to haue receiued it but for three other considerations that were layed afore vs in the assembly of the three estates held in the Moneth of Iuly last past in your town of Aix One was the consideration of your natural goodnesse and clemencie sufficiently shewed by experience towardes your subiectes where through we ought to hope for gentle and fauorable audience in the wofull state of your sayd Countrie of Prouence wherof it may be that your Maiestie is not faythfully aduertised An other is that good Kings Princes and Potentates haue at al times not only harkened to the complaintes and griefes of their people but also receiued thē and gently disburdened the Deputies of such and so importunat charges The last is that in extremities mē ought to haue free and vnrestreyned recourse to him that is onely able to apply the needfull remedye Wherevnto we may ad that many things are don vnder the authoritie of Kings without their knowledg for which they be now and then displeased with such as haue not aduertised them of them Surely Sir all these considerations haue we set afore vs to the intent that all men may know that we come not as Mutiners Rebels or Sedicious persons to countermaund your treasure or to inquyre perticulerly of the imployment therof or to call in question the faithfulnesse and vpright dealing of such as haue the ordering of your receytes but onely to giue you true intelligence how great charges impositiōs aydes subsidies tallages taxes increases other contributiōs this poore miserable third state payeth and beareth But peraduenture Sir you will thinke it strange that we which are Deputies for Prouēce should also interlace the griefs and complaints of the Third estate of your Contries of Languedocke Dolphenie Neuerthelesse I which am the messenger am assisted by the Deputies of the sayd Contries here present who gaue me in commission so to do as we met to gether by chaunce at Tarrare bycause wee had all one message and sute Therfore sir it is done to the intent your Maiesty shuld not be troubled with the repetition of like matters And forasmuch as our griefes are all vpon the selfe same points and tend to one selfe same end they haue chosen me alone to speake indifferently for all the three countries alike which thing I haue so much the more willingly and boldly taken vpon me bicause your highnes hath had experience of my loyaltie honestie and sinceritie in your Countrey of Prouence where it hath pleased your Maiestie to aduaunce me to one of your chiefe roomes of your Counsel Sir your Countie of Prouence belonged of old time to the kyngdome of Austrasie and vntill the time of Reyner kyng of Sicili who made a gift of it to king Lewes the eleuenth it continued alwayes vnder the dominion of the Dukes of Lorraine Barre In the time of the sayd good kyng whom some haue seene that are aliue at this day the men of Prouence payd not any tallages impositions ayds subsidies gables or other maner of contributions at all but liued welthely merely of the reuenues of their demayns in peace withal their neighbors and passing their time in making those excellent kind of peytings which are yet still to be seene in the pallace of Aix the chiefe Citie of Prouence Kyng Lewes at his taking of possession of the countrey of Prouence graunted and confirmed all their priuileges which they had in the time of good kyng Reyner which continued so to the time of the great king Francis the first who vppon necessity of the defence of the same countrey when Charles the fifth came downe into it made the people therof taxable and subiect to other impositions of his Realme The countrey of Viennoys Dolphenie at such time as it was sold to your Maiesties predecessors by Sir Humbert Dolphine did enioye like fraunchises and liberties as the coūtrey of Prouence So likewise did the countrey of Languedoc in the times of Raymond Berrager Earles of Tholouze And to say the truth neither taxes ayds subsidies nor impositiōs were heard of any where throughout all the shires of the Realme till the Englishmen had gotten the better part therof for the dispossessing of whose vsurpations our kynges were constrayned to rayse great powers and armies of men And bicause the soueraigne dominiō was held by the Englishmen the Frenchmen whose faythfulnesse and loyaltie passeth al other nations of the earth graūted to kyng Charles the sixth to tax thē and cease them and that was the first time that tallages
began as the Registers of the Parliament and of the chamber of accompts doo beare record When these so light Taxes and of so small estimation could not counteruaile so great an enterprise he desired the estates to help him in that necessitie Then they gaunted him a Twentith of their wines afterward an Eighth and a Fourth In the end it came to setting of impost vppon Salt. And all these Impositions were named helpes as the end of their deuice witnesseth which was to take place but so long as the Warres lasted as the Recordes of the sayd Court and Chamber of accountes do purport Neuerthelesse the People of Fraunce are so obedient to their Kinges that they haue continued the paying of them freely are verye wel contented to continue thē still notwithstanding that they had ceassed for a time after that the Englishmen were driuen quite cleane out of the Realme The great King Frauncis who was as sore vexed and weried with warres as was possible died happely without ouer charging of his people saying with a custome of the xx penny set vppon the Marchandises that went out of the Realme and with certaine tolles set vppon the wines that were brought into the great Townes wherunto were added certayne tenthes taken of the Clergie King Henry inhaunced againe the Tenths and established the rights of Douāne high passage forreine warres and forrein Impositions As for the poore people they for their owne succor were charged with no more but Taxe faithfully ordeyned for the payment of the men of War and yet it is well knowne that the sayd good Prince was combred with as many affaires as any Prince At this daye Sir it is cleane contrarie to that it was in King Lewis the Eleuenths time For the ordinarie taxes of Dolphenie were but lxx Thousand Poundes turnoyes and the taxes of Languedocke were sixe score and twelue Thousand Pound Turnoyes In the time of great King Frauncis and at his taking at Pauie they were increased in Dolphenie fortie thousande pound Turnoys and in Languedocke three score ten thousand eight hundred Which ought to be counted no great matter considering the great need that was for the deliuerance of the king and of the Princes his children Afterwarde in the tyme of kinge Henrie the taxes of Dolphine Languedocke were let alone in the same state that they were at the decease of King Frauncis Likewise also were the taxes newly imposed vpon Prouence which were fower score six thousand pound turnoyes And at that time the tallage was for Prouence but two and thirtie thousand for Dolphine seuen and twenty thousand and for Languedoc fiftie two thousand three hundred three score and two pounds turnoyes At the beginning of your Maiesties reigne which was altogyther peaceable and without ciuill dissention the ordinarie taxe of Languedocke was raysed to fyue hundred and twelue thousand seuen hundred fower score and ten poundes The taxe of Prouence to three hundred three score sixtene thousand fower hundred twentie and eight pounds turnoyes with the increases of two three fower sowses of the pound amounting to more than a moytie of the foresaid summes And the tallages are doubled Vpon euery tonne of wyne is set an impost of fyue shillings And imposition is set vppon the Oyles by assignation of processe Leuies of money haue bin made now six times already by extraordinarie Commissioners and loans as well generall as particular amounting in Prouence to twelue hundred thousand pound turnoyes comprehending therein the taxes of the parishes in Dolphinie to nine hundred thousand poundes and in Languedocke to more than two millions three hundred thousande poundes turnoyes besides the vent of Ecclesiasticall goods and the tenthes which is fower times as much as the old taxation was wont to bee togither with a general subsidie neuer erst sessed vpon the cities great townes to be payed in three yeeres whereof the last payment fel out the last yeere and a new custome is set vpon cloth We speake not of other small gatheringes of money that haue bin made in those three Shyres for the waging furnishinge and intertayning of men of war during these ciuill troubles But the straunge thinges that haue bin done in the playne Countrie and the fyning raunsoming of the poore people in the sayd Shyres dooth in estimation exceede all the taxes increaces helpes subsidies impositions and all other leuyings ordinarie and extraordinarie For if the Souldiour were not payed his wages he burst out intoo all licentiousenesse of pilling pollinge oppressinge raunsoming and other outrages which ar not wont to be done in the cōntries of enemies or of conquest See I beseeche you howe youre Maiesties poore people haue their fatte their flesh and their bloude drayned from them Let your highnesse thinke you see a true anatomie of a mans bodie whereof there remayneth nothing but skinne and bones yet those also all too torne and broozed For your people resembleth it with great compassion desiring too bee relieued and strengthened agayne which thing can not bee among so many impositions specially with warre A true King is lykened to a good Shepherd whose propertie it is to fleece his sheepe but not too flea them Wherfore your Maiesties people of the third state of those three poore and desolate Countries doe moste humbly beseeche your Highnesse to vouchsafe to prouide for the generall pacification of these troubles and to haue regard of the miseries ruines pouertie calamities desolations murthers wastinges sackinges of townes hauockes exactiōs oppressions pillinges ransominges mischeues forcing of wiues deflouring of maydens and other wickednesses comming thervppon and to bring the sayd shyres again to good tranquilitie vnion and concord by such meanes as your Maiestie shall perceiue most reasonable for other wise it is impossible for men too liue in such disorder as the vngratiousnesse of the time hath brought vppon the sayd shyres which are drayned so drye both of money and means that the people of the sayd third state can hardly shift to liue bycause the men of warre haue pilled and fleesed awaye all that euer is so as there remayneth not any great Cattel or money for the people to helpe them selues withall These are the causes that driue vs to sue vnto your Maiestye to discharge the thyrd estate of the sayde Countries for these sixe Yeares of the sayde taxes Increaces and other Subsidies and of all other impositions both ordinarie and extraordinary and after the sayde terme of six years to bring all thinges againe to the state that they were at in the time of King Lewis the twelfth or at the leastwise vnder the reigne of Francis the first Neuerthelesse in cases of necessity euen during the sayd terme the people of the sayde Third estate doe willingly offer your Maiestie all their goodes their liues without restraint Which sute we beseech your Highnesse to wey well and to apoynte some trustie faythfull men of authoritie to inquire to what vses
his Maiestie should bee intreated and sued vnto to take that great dignitie vpon him That was the very cause why they of the lowe coūtreys perceiuing their Prince to depart frō his promises and frō the condiciōs whereunto he was bound that on the cōtrary part his Maiestie vsed his subiectes so louingly wished withall their hearts to haue him to their soueraigne Lord casting themselues into his armes to the end to haue the freedome of their consciences and the exercise of their religion and generally to inioy the selfsame benefit which his Maiesties subiectes then did by his permission It was the selfsame and the chiefest reason that moued the Queene of England to make league with his Maiestie a litle before the murther But now contrariwise his Maiestie is nere his fall his state is weakened on all sides and he is as it were abandoned to the praye to whosoeuer listeth to take it bycause that through his last outrage and former warres made to force the consciēces of his subiects he is so destitute of noble men and men of warre yea and of the strongest fortresse or hold of his Realme which is the loue and good will of his subiectes that he is become like an old house that is dayly shored vp with some proppes and yit in the end cannot be kept from falling downe His Maiestie maye see how the Spanishe kyng his mortall enemie maketh his hand of the backwardnesse of his estate laughing with open mouth at his misfortunes and imploying al his studie indeuer to maintayne trouble in his realme assuringe him selfe and not without good cause that it is the onely meanes to attayne to his purpose without stroke stryking sith that the Spaniard hath more weakened his Maiestie by the former warres late slaughter present troubles than if he had made thirtie yeeres warre against him himselfe Furthermore the Spaniard serueth his owne turne against his Maiestie euery where where he can with the late outrage as he did alate in Poleland as his Maiestie vnderstandeth well ynough and the same was the only cause of courtesie and faithfulnesse which the Duke of Alua vsed towardes the sayd Earle at his goinge out of Mons as he himselfe reported to diuers afterward namely that hee did it to shew that hee would not commit so foule a trecherie as the French kyng had done and that he was not sory for the Admirals mischaunce bycause hee was the kyng his Masters deadly enemy but yit hee had leuer to haue lost both his armes than to haue done that deede And if his Maiestie continue his purpose of making warre against the protestants and wil not suffer them in his realm the sayd Earle can assure him that the Duke his brother leauing him in that plight to goe into Polonia shall neuer bee welcome thither But the people of that coūtry thinking that he cōmeth to set them in a broyle as Fraunce is will count him but as a cypher in Agrim and the Princes of the land in steed of comming foorth euery where to meete him on the waye for his honor will drawne back a ten leagues of for feare to see him And contrary wyse if he make himselfe a meane of good peace in Fraunce be fore he goe thence he shal bee receyued loued and honored as much as hart can think-and the foresayd Princes will wayte for him by the way to doe him all the honor and solemnitie in receiuing him that they can deuise And so long as his Maiestie abydeth in the same mind that he is in at this day the sayd Earle seeth not that it is to any purpose for him to hope that the Prince Elector the Palsgraue should send to the Queene of England for the accomplishing of mariage betwene hir and the Duke and much lesse that the sayd prince Elector should consent that the Prince Casimire his sonne should serue his Maiestie for the sayde Earle was sure that it shold smally boote him to moue the matter neither could he doe it with a safe conscience so longe as his Maiestie is in armes against the protestants His Maiestie hath all occasions that can be wished to drawe awaye his armed hande from his subiectes and to ceasse his warres against them besides that the Duke his brother the chosen king of Polonia if hee desire to be well receyued and to assure those country men that his being among them shall not be to trouble them or to disquiet their consciences but to maintaine them in the freedome wherein hee found them may also as the Duke his brother vppon like occasion make meanes to his Maiestie not to disquiet the protestantes and that if they depart otherwyse the one into Poland and the other into Englande besydes that it should fall out ill for them selues in respect of the reasons aforesayd they should leaue his Maiestie with such a warre vppon his hand as should be so much the more harde and daungerouse in respect of the abatemēt of his power with the smalnesse of his comfort and which worse is for that he should not haue any man whom hee might truste with the leading of his armie for as much as some are too seruisable and affectioned towards the Spanish King as his feed men his Maiestie could not trust any man by reason of the things that had passed Moreouer the sayd Earle could not forget to aduertise his maiestie that beyond the seas men began to bee greeued at the French fashions and to waxe loth to deale with them bycause they bewray themselues to goe vnsoundly to worke and to seeke for nothing but dissimulation as not long ago whyle the Queene of England was deliberating vppon the treatie of mariage betweene hir Maiestie and the Duke in the meane whyle shippes of warre were sent priuily in to Scotlande to stirre vp and mayntayne troubles there and to make them spred by little and little into England Agayne the brute goeth commonly here that the men whom his Maiestie sendeth abroad are all of them spies which come to discouer what is done in princes houses moreouer that all the discourses which his Maiestie maketh with Ambassadours specially in the name of the Pope and all the dispatches which he maketh vnto Rome are but tales and colours of assurance of good will too ouerthrowe the protestantes on all sydes and namely the foresayd princes And that there appeareth so much dissimulation and vntruth in his maiesties letters and wordes as men cannot tell howe to trust them in any good case lyke as in his letters written to the sayd princes vpon the wounding of the Lord Admirall when hee had giuen them to vnderstande that he was sore displeased at the receyt of suche a mischaunce and would make such an example of iustice of it as shoulde bee remembered while the world indured A two dayes after he caused it to be proclaymed that it was his owne dooing Furthermore how much assurance so euer his maiestie gaue after the death of