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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	matter_n	see_v	3,060	5	3.1155	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07765	A letter written by a French Catholike gentleman, to the maisters at Sorbonne. Concerning the late victories obtained by the king of Nauarre, aswell against the Duke of Ioyeuse at Coutras vpon Tuesday the twentieth of October, 1587. as els where	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.	1588 (1588)	STC 18144; ESTC S107518	29,846	82

great preparatiues for war against him did make me stedfastly to belieue that hee could haue no means to kéep himselfe from vs wherevpon my selfe as well as many other did according to my duetie bring in whatsoeuer I was able togither with my own person and notwithstanding all our delaies and the lingering of our purposes yet did I not neuertheles dispaire of good successe but now am I forced to pluck my pin from the stake and earnestly to open mine eies to perceiue the causes of our misfortune togither with the necessitie of a farther cause of mischiefe wherof this late one is but the first or at the least the most apparant beginning Not my maisters that I will resemble those foules which so soone as colde weather commeth on doe habandon euerie climate by anie rash alteration of my wil which so long and resolutely I haue alwaies kept For I protest that of all the reasons that may bee imagined in this noueltie I do admit onely the same which setteth before me the preseruation of that estate for the which so farre I am from all feare of the losse of my first pretence that I wish rather to lose my selfe and in the name of God doo exhort you so wel to try my aduice that you may allow therof and ensuing the same shew so good an example to the rest of Frāce that sith your selues are the light that should lighten vs this estate may also by your meanes recouer her auncient brightnesse and this oppressed people perfect reliefe from all their afflictions To enter therefore into the matter my selfe haue alwaies béene through zeale to religiō thrust for ward whensoeuer there fell out any spéech of the defence thereof I came as hotely as might be desired Now this religion I alwaies held in such sort as I receiued of my predecessors and as I account it true saluation of my soule I preferred it before all other whatsoeuer worldly considerations Wherein I was confirmed not onely by this domesticall example but also by that doctrine which your selues haue alwaies deliuered vnto vs referring al that possibly I might vnto the authoritie which long you haue obteined and kept among our nation I will not bee ashamed to say that in this case I haue willingly reposed my selfe vpon you as imagining that you would not damme your selues in sport as also that in so good company I could not doo amisse In consideration wherof I neuer troubled my selfe much about the search into the depth of these misteries and difficulties wherein your schoole is as it were plunged leauing to you the arguing in words and reseruing to my selfe the decisions in action wherewith as néede required to yéeld authoritie to your decrées and for my part stoutly to oppose my selfe against all those that woulde withstand you howbeit vnder the authoritie of the soneraigne magistrate to whom I neuer doubted of my due obedience Hereupon I alwaies supposed that our warre was not lawful against al such as shot against you and sought to subuert your doctrine accounting them verie heretikes Apostataes from the Church with whom we were to striue euen for life considering that their opinions did for the most part kill vs by rauishing from vs through their frowardnesse that which I supposed you had imparted vnto vs in sincere and faithful consciences For this which I haue often heard you say did I take for an infalible principle that is to say That our Church can not erre also that to accuse you of error was such an error as deserued to be pursued with fire and sworde Thus was I neuer of any other mind but that we had a most firme and more than necessarie foundation euery way to persecute those whom men tearme Protestants So presumpteous a title could not I like of as in these latter ages Gods spirit threatneth vs with sundrie seducers so haue I alwaies accounted these men to be whereupon I haue detested their companies so farre haue I béene from sparing whatsoeuer I could possibly doe to vse against them all rigors whereby to roote them out For this cause doe I make great account of the deuotion which diuers of our kinges haue at sundrie times shewed But séeing that the more we striue the more this people increase the large expertence of these affaires maketh mee the more stacke in these matters and their late victorie which God hath giuen them causeth me to imagine that hee doth wholy fauor their cause also that whatsoeuer crosses hee doth by our hands lay vpon them hee doth neuerthelesse reserue vnto them a happie a comfortable end Disorder saith a certaine auncient breedeth good decrees and the reiteration of our transgressions when wee finde them doe worke vs to our knowledge wisedome yea the apprentiship of our owne losses is more strong and forceable then that which proceedeth of others harmes I doe therefore willingly suffer my selfe to bee carried away with that whose effects doe teach me to procéede further not that I will search out all the contentious pointes betwene the one and the other for as yet I haue not taken so much paines but onely in respect of the proceedings vsed against their persons and goods First you are all to debate in matter of religion you differ in sundrie articles and yet doe agrée in the ground which is one onely Iesus Christ mediator betwene God and man and sole head of the Chruch I pray you is this a matter to be decided by your murders is it such a controuersie as may bee so determined how can you graunt life to his soule whose bodely life you haue taken away how can you saue those to whom you graunt no time to belieue or how would you haue them to belieue without preaching vnto These be the ordinarie complaintes wherewith they vsually appeale from our pursutes which notwithstanding they séeme iust yet doe we stop our eares against them as against the maremaids song But why doe you denie them all frienndly conference for the decision of your controuersies I know you will answere that it is a matter that hath already beene preferred and yet hath not profited But the Lawiers haue taught me that whatsoeuer hath béene fraudulently done is accounted as wonne for in all our assemblies our procéedings haue béene vnperfect for proofe whereof I referre my selfe to the acts of the Councel of Trent and lately to the parley at Poyssy Concerning the first there was neuer action more impertinent then that wherein they were condemned and yet neither were or could be heard considering that their aduersaries were also their iudges as also your selues doe know that the French Church did neuer in all and through all alow of it witnesse the appeales there against made albeit I say nothing of the opposition of our kings whereby this counsaile may not be admitted as irreuocable in Fraunce otherwise we shall reueale our partialitie in ruling their condemnation after our owne fantasies and not according to the

his purposes as easily as he would wish neither can he at this day desire or put in execution any thing whatsoeuer with greater honour hauing obteined such a braue victory against vs which is perfect in all notable parts The death and imprisonment of all the chiefe Captaines except the L. of Lauerdin who séeing our conflict a far off went to saue him selfe and few others the winning of the field the taking of the artillery the burning of our armies lodgings the chace pursued foure leagues and a thousand other particularities which I heere omit Concerning the king of Nauarre I haue heard credibly reported that hée was one of the sharpest in fight buckled earnestly yea so farre foorth as by force to cary away Chasteau-renauds Cornet also to haue receiued a taint in the necke with a speare other blowes that bruised his hands and face To be briefe that hee shewed himselfe a Captaine in ordering his battailes and a souldier in fight As for the Prince of Conde that hee fought valiantly had one horse killed vnder him also that being horsed againe he tooke the L. of S. Luc prisoner who had before borne him downe That the Earle of Soisons in this first reencounter shewed so good proofe of his courage that he greatly cōtented his partakers gaue them good hope of himselfe for he ioyned earnestly and with his owne handes tooke the Marquesse of Piennes prisoner so as these thrée Princes fighting with their enemies fought so reciprocally whose vertue should best appeare that they haue no cause one to enuy an other sith they all shewed all duetie according as the occurrences ministred occasiō Neither is it to be doubted but these so assured Captaines did greatly assure their members among whom the L. of Turenne also had his horse slaine in the battell and entered verie farre as also did the L. of Trimouille who was noted of great courage and assurance in the front of his light horsemen Finally that there was no troope in all their army but had a share in the glorie of our ouerthrow Herein haue wee cause to be sory sith the hurt that we do to them do but prouoke our men and that either early or late they will finde meanes to requite vs howbeit at this time it is much more then a requitall neither is there any comparison betwéene all the harme that we haue done them yea albeit you set togither all that haue happened since the beginning of the troubles and the same which wee haue receiued in this battell One onelie short day hath recompēced all that they haue lost in two yéeres and a halfe which is the time since the league was reuealed and as farre as I sée wee are yet farre in their debts We haue séene all the mightie armies which the king hath sent out of all the prouinces of the realme to make an ende But shew mee now what fruit hath come of them The taking of townes wee haue taken none but such as they made no great account to kéepe and all but loures which were neuer as a mā should say of any name but through mishap And how haue we gotten them with large time excessiue expences and a world of labor and pollicie which heeretofore would not haue béen practised at the siege of Metz S. Quintins and other good Townes in our daies What haue we gained we haue taken nothing by assault and all our sieges haue ended by profitable and honourable composition for the besieged Neither haue our sieges any whit diminished their number sith the lawes of warre haue freed them from the fury of our weapons And which is worse Castillon the Duke of Mayns proudest trophee the taking whereof cost sixe weekes worke and six hundred thousand francks hath the Lord of Turenne recouered in one houre without any expense The king of Nauarre hath in lesse then thrée wéekes taken Tallemōt S. Messan Fontenay Maillezay Mauleon fiue or sixe good Castles more The said D. of Ioyeuse came to recouer these losses but hee spent most of his time in preparatiues and in the end at the siege of S. Maissā was driuen to discharge 113. Cannon shot against the which it had not cost the said king two hundreth Harquebuze shot and had it not béene for the ouerthrow that the said D. of Ioyeuse gaue to the Mothe of his two regiments of Collters and Clounes togither with the controuersies among the besieged we had not had it so soone or so easily As for Maillezay which the said Duke of Ioyeuse also tooke he did rather suprize then take it besides that the smal number of souldiers therein feared his purposes But Fontenay was of ouer hard digestion the Catholike forces gaue place to the Protestants of whom wée made so small account And whereas there died a good number of them as could not be otherwise chosen so if wée peruse the rowles of our army we shal find the the rule of substraction may séem sufficient to finde out our accounts The swoord the bad weather pouertie pestilence or other diseases haue taken away so many that wee haue but fewe left to habandon to the like mishappes and the woorst is wee neuer séeke to spare but rather doo séeme to practise this detestable saying Let our friends perish so as our enemies may perish also Moreouer wherein are their affaires empaired Wee haue kept the field but how For the most part in such seasons as the retraite into the Townes had béene more fit and safe against the iniuries of wind and snow in such a season I say as albeit they had béene as well able to haue kept the field as we yet had it béen wisedome to to habandon it vnto vs so to suffer vs to consume our selues with a million of inconueniences which fought against vs although they meddle not at all Likewise when the time fauoured our voyages besides that the same was but ouer short we haue found such resistāce in them they haue giuen vs so small hold that our selues haue beaten our selues with our owne paines and haue reaped but the dishonour of doing nothing and blame for working too much mischiefe and to be briefe all our fires are in the ende conuerted into smoake which hath choked vs. The raising vp of our bucklers were haughtie but when we came to the matter to take hold wee brought foorth nothing but confusion disorder wherein the king of Nauarres part hath béene rather vpheld then shaken so as we séeme to bee but the winds which breake vpon their constancy or magnanimitie Twentie yeares ago more might I haue learned how hard a matter it was vtterly to ouerthrow him but I neuer thought it vnpossible vntill these our last trials wherein he hath taught vs that hée either is a greater one then wée or else that he hath more supporters then wée haue force or both I will not be ashamed to confesse that at the beginning of these troubles our