also their place of honour and at the Mass That honour was seen by the place where they sate by the Censer and by the Pax which was given them in the time of the Mass Now whereas this Councill was held at three severall times under there several Popes Paul the III Jule the III and Pius the IV. In the time of Paul and Jule Charles the V was Emperour whose Embassadors without contradiction sat above the French Embassadors who in the sixteen first Seffions appeared very little and no place was held there under the title of Spain Yet some things hapned then which shewed the eminency of the French Kings above all others next to the Emperour In the Bull of the Indiction of the Councill Paul the III dated an 1542. the King of France is named after the Emperour in express terms and all the other Princes comprehended in one generall term and that twice Thus Charissimos in Christo filios nostros Carolum Romanorum Imperatorem Christianissimum Regem Franciscum duo praecipua Christiani nomins firmamenta atque fulcra orare atque obsecrare institimus A little lower Supra autem dictos Imperatorem Regemque Christianissimum nec non caeteros Reges Duces Principes quorum praesentia si aliàs unquam hoc quidem tempore maximè sanctissimae Christi fidei Christianorum futur a est salutaris rogantes atque obsecrantes per viscera misericordiae Dei c. In the beginning of the Council an 1545. Francis the I had appointed for his Embassadors Claude D'Urfé Seneschal of Forests Jacques de Liguieres President in the third Chamber of Enquests in the Parliament of Paris and the Deane Peter Danes since Bishop de la Vaur But being informed by some French Bishops that were at Trent that there was little hope that the Councell should do any good he called back his Embassadors who did not appear in the Councel Antony Filioly of Ganat Archbishop of Aix in Provence was there for the King who in the first Session when publike prayers were made for the Princes having required that the King of France should be named in expresse termes as he had been named in the Bull of the Indiction the Legats eluded that demand and said that the Fathers ought to be consulted about it and none was prayed for in expresse termes but the Pope and the Emperour all other Princes were comprehended in one generall term In the year 1546. Francis the I sent his Embassadour Peter Danes Bishop de la Vaur to the Councill At his reception he made a fine speech wherein he represented the State of Christendom and the great disorders crept into the Church even into the Court of Rome At which when a certaine Bishop did laugh saying Gallus Cantat Danes replyed readily Utinam isto gallicinio Petrus ad resipiscentiam fletum excitetur An Apophthegm which afterwards was rife in the mouth of the Fathers of the Councill An. 1547. when Paul the III to a void the plague the war of Germany would remove the Councill from Trent to Bolonia the Legates consulting the Fathers about it said that his Holinesse approved of it Communicato etiam consilio cum Imperatore Christianissimo Rege aliis Regibus ac principibus Christianis which is another expression of the honour which the Council did to the Kings of France But in the third Indiction of the Councill under Pius the IV. an 1561 in the Bull of the Indiction Pius the IV useth other words then Paulus the III and Julius the III had used before Thus Charissimos verò in Christo filios nostros Romanorum Imperatorem electum caeterosque Reges Principes quos optandum sanè esset Concilio interesse posse hortamur rogamus without any mention of the most Christian King Philibert de la Bourdesiere Bishop of Angoulesm Embassadour of France in the Popes Court expostulated with him by the Kings order for that neglect with protestation that notwithstanding that neglect he would not hinder the progress of the Councill yea that he had commanded his Bishops to go to the Councill The Pope answered that he had charged some Cardinals to form the Bull and that they had not heeded that Pointillo and that after they had named the Emperour they had not judged it necessary to name all the Kings but had comprehended them under one generall name The Embassador replyed that it was a Prerogative of the Kings of France not to be comprehended under a generall name The Pope answered that he could not foresee all things and that another time order should be given that the like errour should not be committed In the year 1562 the 18. of May Lewis de Saint Gelais Lord de Lansac came to Trent and three dayes after Arnault Ferrier President of the Enquests of Paris and Guy du Faur de Pibrac chiefe Judge of Tolosa sent by the King of France who were received with great honour by the Council yea great part of the Prelats subjects of the King of Spain went to meet them But Ferdinand de Avalo Marquess of Pesquera Embassadour to King Philip went out of Trent three dayes before and retired to Milan of which he was Governour pretending a feare from the Protestants of Daulphiné and the Switzers but in effect to avoid meeting with the French Embassadors who took their place in the general Congregation after the Imperiall Embassadors Pibrac made a fine Oration wherein he spake very freely against the disorders of the Church the small progress of the Councill in such a long time and for the liberty of voting in the Councill which was not to be expected from Rome He was seconded by the two other Embassadors Lansac and Ferrier The Pope complained of it and said that the King of France had sent not Embassadors but Advocates of the Hugenots And indeed the ill opinion which the Fathers of the Councill had of the beliefe of these three men was a cause why the Councill and the Pope dealt with them with more rigor In the meane while the French Bishops came to the Councill conducted by the Cardinall of Lorraine who was most honourably received by the Cardinall of Mantua and the other Legates Soon after the coming of the Cardinall of Lorrain Philip the II having called back the Marquesse of Pesquera sent to Trent another Embassador Ferdinand Quigones Count de Luna who being gone to Germany before to be present at the Coronation of Maximilian Son to the Emperour Ferdinand would know of the Fathers of the Councill what place they would give him Upon which the Cardinall of Mantua the first Legate having consulted with the Embassadours of France and the Cardinall of Lorraine he propounded unto them this accommodation that as for them they should keep their place next to the Embassadors of the Emperour and that some other place might be found for the Count of Luna over against the Legates on the other side or after the Ecclesiastical Embassadors or
Dolphin Francis but was since neglected That au thenticall union of Britain with the Crown cannot be disputed since the consent of the whole Province did intervene and that in all publique businesses all private rights must bow and yield to the publique good Salus populi suprema lexesto 3. Besides ever since John of Montford by the battell of Auray An. 1364. remained Master of the Dutchy and excluded Jane his Cosen-German Wife to Charles de Blois objecting that she was a woman and that women vvere not capable Heirs of Estates of that nature Since that time I say it may be affirmed that Females were excluded from the succession of Britain And that if Anne Wife to the two Kings Charles the VII and Lewis the XII was admitted to it it was by toleration For by right after the death of Francis the last Duke the Dutchy was devolved to the Crown And truly Francis the last Duke by his great revolts had given sufficient cause to the Kings of France his Soveraigns to deprive him of his Estate 4. The French also may here set up the right of Aubeine which excludeth strangers admitted none but regnicolae inhabitants of the Kingdom to successions Which must especially be observed in great Estates and most of all in those that owe a liedge homage For whereas the Duke of Britain did owe personal service to the King how can a woman born in Spain tyed with blood and interesse unto a house alwaies jealous and often declared Enemy of the State of France perform that part of her duty to the Crown a duty absolutely necessary for the preservation of the body of the State unto which the establishing of all Fees must have regard 6. The French may deale besides with the house of Austria by right of represals For since that house withholds so many Dutchies and Counties from the Crown of France without any recompence or satisfaction they think not themselves bound to give ear to their pretences upon so little ground Second Point Of the third Chapter The pretences of the house of France upon that of Austria A Book was publisht An. 1634. intituled Inquisition of the rights of the King and Crown of France upon the Kingdoms Dutchies Countries Towns and Countries usurped by forraign Princes upon the most Christian Kings composed by Cassan the Kings Advocate in the Fresidial of Beziers wherein all that we have to say of this matter is fully and curiously set down Which though we will but summarily relate yet we hope to adde somthing to it both for order and matter Wee will stand here only upon those rights which are disputed against the house of Austria and the Empire both because it is our present businesse and because all other claims are stale and of small importance All the pretences of the French upon the possessions of the house of Austria are either antient and almost worn out as the pretences upon Castilia Portugal Arragon Catalonia or later and important upon Dominions to which they maintaine their rights and claim them from time to time to hinder a prescription joyning to their claim active prosecution by armes Though I might omit those first pretences as too stale yet I will here set them down among the rest for the information of curious Readers All the pretences either new or old of the French upon the Spaniard are either within or without Spain In that Peninsula called Spain inclosed within the great Ocean the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees since the invasion of the Saracens an 713. there hath been a great number of petty States under the Title of Kingdomes Dutchies Counties c. into which that great Province was divided either by the Moores when they conquered the Land or by the Christians when they reconquered it and it is but a hundred and fifty yeares since there was yet five remarkable distinct soveraignties in Spain Castilia Arragon Navarra Portugal and Granada four of which Castilia Arragon Navarra and Granada were united by Ferdinand the Catholique Portugal came to the House of Austria an 1580. under Philip the II. for here I speake not yet of the revolt of the Portugais and Catalans which hath cut off two considerable limbs of that great body of which we will say more before we have done This is not a fit place to examine how these severall States were founded and how united as they are now We consider onely that there be six pieces within Spain upon which the French have pretences Castilia Portugal Navarra Arragon Catalonia and the County of Roussillon And out of Spain they claim a right to the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily the Dutchie of Milan the Common-wealth of Genoa and the Counties of Flanders and Artois Paragraphe I. Of the Kingdome of Castilia The Saracens Moores having invaded Spain an 713 were manfully opposed by two Catholique Princes Inigo Imenes surnamed Arista Count of Bigorre who conquered upon them part of the Pyrenees and founded the little Kingdom of Suprarba called afterward Navarra The other Prince was Don Pelagus Uncle or Cousin to King Rodriguez dispossest before by the Saracens This Prince founded a Kingdom towards Asturia called Gallicia or Leon or the Kingdom of Oviedo He and his Descendants and people stretching themselves towards the plains recovered the Country as farre as the Strait of Gibralter and built many Castles upon their Frontier to keepe out the Saracens Whence the Country was called Castilia which remained under the subjection of the Kings of Oviedo till the year 896. when the Castilians incensed against their King Frocla who had usurped the State of his Nephews cantonned themselves and chose two soveraign Judges The two first were Nugno Rasuro and Flavio Galvo But about 40 years after an 939. Sanchez King of Oviedo and Leon made himselfe Master of Castilia and reunited it unto the Kingdom of Oviedo where it remained till Dom Sanchez surnamed the Great King of Navarra who had Castilia by his Wife made that famous partage between his three Sons giving Navarra to Garcias his eldest Son to Ferdinando Castilia and Leon and to Ramires his bastard Arragon That partage was about the yeare 1036. which is the date of the birth and distinction of those three States in Spain From that Ferdinand King of Castilia descended long after Alphonsus the IX the Father of three Children one Son called Henry and two Daughters Blanch and Berengera Henry reigned after his Father and dyed without issue Blanch was married to Lewis the VIII King of France and was mother of St Lewis Berengera was married to Alphonsus the IX King of Leon After the death of Henry Blanch as the eldest was the undoubted Heir of Castilia and Beringera had no right to it being the yongest Yet because Beringera was within the Country and Blanch lived in France very farre she seized upon the state and with it invested her Son Ferdinand although many of the Grandees opposed it standing for the right
time of Charles the VIII was spent in Civill Wars or in the Conquest of Naples And Lewis the XII Grandchild of Valentina comeing to the Crown an 1498 had no more in the Dutchy but the County of Ast the rest being held by Ludovick Sforza Son to the invader Francis and himself invader of the State of his Nephews But Lewis following his right comes to Milan takes it and expells Ludovic who returning not long after enters into Milan but there being suddenly invested by Lewis he is taken carried into France where he dieth a Prisoner Lewis remaining Master of the Dutchy But because Ludovic had two Sons protected in Germany by the Emperour Maximilian I. Lewis to strengthen his right made meanes to win the Emperours favour of whom in the end he obtained two investitures of that Dutchy The one An. 1506 for Lewis and his children and lawfull Heirs and Lewis for the acknowledgement of this investiture paid him sixty thousand livers and promist to give him every year a pair of golden spurrs at Christmas Also in that investiture the exclusion of Sforza is precisely exprest and a marriage concluded betweene Charles the Grandchild of Maximilian who since was the Emperour Charles the V. and Claude the eldest daughter of Lewis the XII which also was comprehended in that investiture The other was an 1509. wherby the same Emperour confirms the former investiture with a condition of the marriage between Charles and Claude which indeed was not effected but that hinders not the validity of the investiture which was absolute the first at least By vertue of that right Lewis remained possest of that Dutchy but towards the end of his reigne Maximilian Sforza was put in possession of that Dutchy by the Switzers by the consent of the Emperour Maximilian who was displeased that Claude promised to Charls his Grandchild had been married to Francis who after was Francis the first King of France which he took for an affront and this was the first seed of the jealousies between the two houses of France and Austria Francis the first having regained the Dutchy and taken Maximilian neglected to do homage to the Emperour and a while after Charles having succeeded his Grandfather in the Empire the animosities grew to a great height betwixt these two Princes and they became implacable fighting with great might about Milan till that by the Treaty of Madrid Francis the first yielded his right as we will relate in the next Chapter To sum up the pretences of the French upon Milan They are grounded 1. Upon the contract of marriage of Valentina who is substituted Heir of the Dutchy the lawfull Heires male failing and the contract is valid as confirmed by the Pope in the vacancy of the Empire 2. The investiture given by the Emperour Maximilian in favour of Lewis the XII and his Heirs yea of Claude and her children 3. The second investiture an 1509. 4. Francis the I. having yielded all his rights by the Treaties of Madrid Cambray and Crespy as we shall see afterwards one may say that besides the nullity of that cession by the right of the Kingdom Francis may have quitted the right that came to him by his great Grandmother Valentina but that hee hath not quitted that which came to his children by Claude his wife who being daughter of Lewis the XII had for her and her issue the right of investiture both of 1505. and 1509. which her Husband could not take from her And Francis made use of this reason among the nullities which he objected against the treatie of Madrid In what time these cessions were made and of what strength they are the next Chapter will shew The Commonwealth of Genoa had also some dependance from the Kings of France That City with the Country depending from it having shaken the yoke of the Emperours as the other Commonwealths of Italie while the Italian and German Princes were contending for the Empire form'd itself into a most flourishing State In the Wars of the East and Conquests of the Holy Land Genoa was very considerable no lesse than the Venetians and Pisans possest many Countries in the Levant the I le of Chio the Town of Capha upon Mar Major in Taurica Chersonesus and others But the Commonwealth being weakned by the jealousies of two potent Families the Fregosi and the Adorni the State submitted it self unto Charles the VI of France an 1390. who taking them under his Protection sent to them the Marshall of Boulicaut who received their Oath of fidelity But great confusions being risen in France by reason of the weaknesse of Charles the VI. for 29. years by the invasion of the English and by the extremity that Charles the VII was brought to that right over Genoa was neglected But in the year 1458. the same Genoese being opprest with their own divisions sent Peter Fregosa into France to Charles the VII who received them under his protection and sent them John Duke of Lorrain eldest Son to the Duke of Anjou And after Charles the VII having again given themselvs to Lewis the XI some Historians say that he neglected that Conquest so that they were forced to submit themselves to John Galeas Duke of Milan Others say that Lewis the XI invested that Galeas in the Lordship of Genoa upon condition of doing homage for it to the Crown of France And Charles the VIII passing to the Conquest of Naples invested against Ludovick Sforza in the same by the Treaty of Vercel an 1494 he paying thirty thousand ducats of entry in consideration of the auxiliary forces which Ludovick promist unto Charles for the Conquest of Naples After Charles the City of Genoa remained subject to the Kings of France as Dukes of Milan and Lewis the XII made a triumphant entry into it and received of them all the honours and deferences of Subjects to a Soveraign an 1502. and gave them a Governour John of Cleves his Kinsman But an 1527. while Charles the V and Francis the I were in the heat of their quarrell the City of Naples being besieged by Monsieur de Lautree Andrew Doria of Genoa subject to the French King and Generall of his Fleet being ill satisfied of Francis the I revolted from him turned to the Emperour and was the cause of the losse of Naples The Emperour to win him to his service offered him la carte blanche that is what conditions soever he would have The first demand of Andrew was the liberty of his City which he obtained and it was freed from all subjection to the Dukes of Milan But if the French have any right in the Dutchy of Milan they have the like in Genoa for Charles the V. could not cut off that limbe from it fince it did not belong to him Paragraphe IX Of the Counties of Flanders and Artois These two Counties were antiently before the conquest of the Romans parts of Gallia Belgica and so under that Empire and under the first and second race
in some other place out of the bench of the Embassadors To which the French answered that they were sent by their King not to judge causes or to decide of the Rights of King Philip who was a good friend brother in law to their King Charles the IX but if any would take their place they were resolved to stand for it against all sorts of persons which if the Councill denyed them they had order to withdraw with all the French Prelates and to protest of the nullity of the resolutions which should be taken in their absence To which the Legate answered nothing That declaration of the French though generous gave occasion to the affront which soon after was offered to them in the Councill for they are censured by posterity for not requiring absolutely that the Spaniards should sit under them An. 1563. The Legates fearing some division between the French and Spanish Doctors about their order in speaking gave order that without distinction of Nations every one should speak according to his seniority of Doctorship But because some among the French Divines had the seniority over the Spanish these made great complaints to the Legate pretending that this preference of the French would be a prejudice against the dispute which the Count de Luna was forming against the French Embassadours The Legats rebuked them shewing that the Doctors though sent by the Princes did not represent their persons as the Embassadors did and that the question was onely of the seniority of the degree not of the preference of the Nations Notwithstanding these satisfactory Reasons the Spaniards were angry and threatned the Councill of their Kings displeasure who should take off his protection from them The French seeing that the Spaniard stood upon points in such a clear business and that of Doctors they would make Embassadours did obstinate themselves also to have the preference even in the disputes of the Divines And because the Popes delegates spake first without contradiction the French asked to be admitted to speak next after them which the Legates were constrained to grant and it was decreed that after the Jesuite Salmeron the Popes Divine Nicolas Maillart Dean of the faculty of Paris should speak and that after that all should speak according to the seniority of their degree which was followed Yet to content the Spaniards it was enacted in the Register of the Councill that the French Doctor had spoken the first by the right of his seniority in the degree of Doctor not by the preference of his Nation The same year 1563. upon Easter-day the Count of Luna was received at Trent and in his entry mached between the Embassadors of the Emperour and of France This Ceremony past with much honour and civility between the two Nations And at the same time the Cardinal of Lorrain writ to the Emperour perour Ferdinand who was at Insprugh in the County of Tirol three dayes journey from Trent upon divers affaires of the Councill and in the end of the Letter desired him to find some temper to lay down the dispute about the preference between the two Crowns so that it might not appear in the Councill But his Country-men blamed him for it saying that he ought not to have taken notice of a dispute so ill grounded Or if he had spoken of it it should not have been to have desired a temper but to maintaine his Kings right The Emperour answered him that it belonged not to him to decide the disputes between the Kings of France and Spain but since he had desired him to speak his sense about it if your Embassadours said he maintaine their rank after mine and that none take that place from them what does it import you what place be assigned unto the Spaniards A verdict ill taken by the French who held it to be of a dangerous consequence For in an order of sitting who so leaveth his place say they is thought to despise it and to ask a higher which cannot be done without moving a dispute against those that sit in a higher seat The Count of Luna after that solemn entry was hidden forty dayes and appeared not in any ceremony of publique action being in great perplexity how to behave himself sometimes he had a mind to enter into the assembly in the midst of the two Embassadors of the Emperor who were injoyned to bear him company and after they had taken their place stand by them till his Commission had been verified by the Councill and then retire to his house But considering that this would not be a generous maintaining of his Masters honour he made means that the French Embassadors should be desired not to appeare in the Assemby that day which being denyed him he sent some Spanish Bishops to the Legates to propound unto them that the secular Embassadors of Princes should not enter into the generall Congregations but the day of their reception but should content themselves to be present at the Ceremony the day of the Session maintaining that it had been so observed in the Councells before But all the Embassadors of Princes having opposed that motion he could obtain nothing Again he caused some Bishops to propound some point to the Congregation at the discussion whereof the French ought not to be present as interessed parties for example to represent what damage would result to the whole Church by a peace of the King of France with the Hugonots or some such thing But all that being rejected and the Congregation being put off from day to day by his obstinacy in the end that the businesses of the Councell might not be retarded the Cardinall of Lorraine and the French Embassadors declared to the Legates that if they might keep their place immediately after the Emperours Embassadors they did not care what place the Embassador of Spain should take The French to this day exclaim against that action of the Cardinal and the French Embassadors saying that it was a great weaknesse and that they had betrayed their Masters honour Yea the Fathers of the Councell disliked it And when the Cardinal de la Bourdestere Resident for the King of France by the Pope complained to him of that Spanish ambition and novelty introduced against all ancient orders the Pope it was Pius the IV. answered that he should complaine to the French Embassadors whose weakness he condemned saying that although he had been solicited before and after the entry of Count de Luna into Trent to favour that designe he had remained constant and inflexible and that he wondred how the French had so easily yea so freely yielded The day of the Congregation being come and each Embassador having taken his place the Count of Luna enters stands over against the Legates some what far from the Embassadors seat presents his Orders and declares his Masters will Then he protested that although the first seat was due to him next to the imperiall Embassadors as representing the greatest Prince of Christendome