and laid upon the Tomb of that Prince of the Apostles was received with huge joy by Pope Zachary and not without reason Thus there as upon all other occasions he contrived things so that all made still more and more for the Popes Severaignty and tended chiefly to that end As to the Discipline it was resolved that the Bishops should be re-admitted to their Sees the Churches to the enjoyment of their Goods and the Clergy to their Rules but the two first particulars were not brought to pass till the time of Charlemain The Canons which they made were principally to prohibit the Clergy from bearing Arms or going in the habit and garb of Soldiers and yet the Bishops could not be excused from going to their Wars and Armies till Charlemain exempted them by a particular Capitulary to take away their Wives and Concubines to hinder and prevent Incests and Adulteries the punishment whereof was left to the Bishops and also to abolish and root up the remainders of Pagan Superstition The Religious of both Sexes were enjoyned to walk by the Rule of Saint Bennet which Wilfred Bishop of York had set up and caused to be observed in England Till that time the Rules of Saint Colomban and Saint Cesarius of Arles amongst many others had born the greatest Vogue in France At the Council of Soissons were two men Condemned who were Consecrated but without any See Adelbert a Gaul and Clement of the Scotch Nation The first was an Hypocrite and Frantick rather then an Heretique he made the ignorant people follow him as having a particular Spirit of God built Oratory's and set up Crosses near Fountains in Woods and the midst of open Fields The other Preached divers Errours maintaining that Jesus Christ descending into Hell Redeemed Pagans as well as the Faithful that they ought according to the Jewish Custom to marry their Brothers Widdow and that which appeared more horrible he would needs keep his Wife and wear his Mitre at the same time At Leptines Carloman caused it to be ordained with the Consent of the Clergy either voluntary or extorted that to carry on the War which he had on every side of him he might take part of the Lands belonging to the Church and bestow it during pleasure or while that necessity lasted on his followers who for every Mansion or House should pay only a Crown in Gold or twelve Deniers in Silver and the Ninths or Tenths towards the reparation of the buildings and that such as held these Precaires or Leases during pleasure hapning to dye the Prince should give it to any other upon the like conditions In the Year 779. Charlemain made an Edict wherein he ordains that such as held those Lands should pay the Nones and the Tithes to the Church But moderates the Tax or Quit-Rent to a Sol for Fifty Manses and half a Sol for Thirty Besides the Council of Francfort and Lewis the Debonnaire in his Edict of 828. Charges the Possessours with the Reparation of Churches This was the beginning of the Alienation of those Lands by publick Act and Authorized by Law There are some that maintain that those Kings did not only invest the Laity with these Church Lands but the Tithes and all the Rights and Revenues of the Altar as the first fruits oblations distributions for Masses and other Prayers and even with the right of putting in Priests whence say they is derived the gifts and presentations claimed and exercised by many Lords in divers Churches Hence they are called Patrons a name found in the Council of Rheims held Anno 878. It had been ordained in the Council of Soissons that thenceforward a Council should be held there every year to stifle and suppress disorders and heresies at their first birth Likewise Pepin called one at the Royal Palace of Verberie Anno 752. where he would assist in person one at Mets the year following one at Vernon upon the Seine two years after one at Compiegn about the same distance of time and one at Gentilly right against Paris Anno 767. We have the Canons of the first four but nothing of that at Gentilly unless the two questions they propounded to wit Whether the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and the Son which the Greeks denyed and whether we ought to adore Images We may almost put in the Rank of Councils the Conventus or Assemblies which the Kings often held as that of Duria in 760. that of Neures of Wormes Attigny Orleance and Saint Denis which were held successively from the year 763. to 768. In all which the Lords being joyned with the Bishops they ordained such things as concerned the Polity and Government of the Church as well as what concerned the Temporal and Government of the Kingdom Of the decisions of Councils and the Ordinances made in those Assemblies partly Politique and partly Ecclesiastical were Composed those Laws which are called Capitulary the best and most holy that any Nation hath had since the Roman Law Never Prince had more affection for the Honour and the Discipline of the Church then Charlemain There hardly passed any year in all his life but there were either some of these Assemblies or Councils for that purpose I will not quote the years of the Councils held at Wormes which were Five at Valenciennes Geneva Duren and other places because we have only the names But that of Frankford is very considerable It might be called the Western Council for the Bishops of the greatest part of Italy with those of Germany and those of Gall were there It was called and appointed by Charlemain who it seems presided in it at least he reasoned and argued very learnedly against the Errors of Elipand of Toledo and Felix d'Urgel who taught that Jesus Christ was the adopted Son of God the Father according to the Flesh Those whimseys were Condemned and that Great King refuted them in a long Letter which he wrote to the Bishops in Spain very amply and very learnedly They also discussed the questions about Images The Council of Nice had ordained that they should be retained in the Churches and adored In France they would have them allowed to be set up in Churches as things proper to instruct the people but not to be adored Wherefore the Fathers in this Western Council Assembled disdaining to acknowledge that for Oecumenick rejected that Adoration in all respects and manners and condemned it by common consent and Charlemain wrote a Book to oppose it to which Pope Adrian made a reply There remains nothing of that of Aix la Chapelle held in 809. but that the question concerning the Procession of the Holy Ghost was again debated and no doubt but they agreed That the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and the Son For the French believed that so firmly that it was the cause of having it added as an express Clause in the Symbol of Faith or Creed The last year of his life he Convocated
and from whence came about Eighteen or Twenty good Friars who spread themselves in several Countreys where they are all at present prayed to as Saints nor the good Hermit Severin whom Clovis being long sick of a Fever caused to come from the Monastery d'Agaune that he might be healed by his Prayers Nor that other named Maixan who had his little Cell in that part of Poitou whereon there is built an Abby and at length a Town of his Name Clovis resetled the Bishopricks in Belgica bestowed great Possessions on the Church and built many The French who were Converted imitated his Pious Examples I do not know whether before his Reign there were many Parish Churches in the Countrey but since his time we find great numbers and likewise many Oratories in which the Sacraments were not administred We need not tell you that the Titles of Pope of Father of the Church of Beatitude and of Beatissimus of Holiness of Sovereign-Priest of Servant of the Servants of God of Apostolique were common to all the Bishops nor that almost every one of them erected Monasteries in their Episcopal Cities They often elected Widowers and Married Men provided they had been so but once and to a Maiden The Vote of the People passed in these things for a Call from God they were bound to obey and to live with their Wives as with their Sisters if they had any Children or Nephews that were Wise and Learned they often succeeded them Their Election was made by the Clergy of their Church and by the People the Confirmation by the comprovincial Bishops principally by the Metropolitan and never without him They were to have regard only to Merit oftentimes they considered his Birth and even in those early days there were some wicked enough to make use of Bribes and Corruption Simony is the most antient or first and will be the last of Heresies In all Ages it hath stuck like Rust on the Church the others did not make any great mischief in Gall during this age That of Eutyches did not extend so far but the Condemnation of him by the Council of Chalcedon was sent by Pope Leo I. who before had demanded the Suffrages of the Bishops the more to authorize that celebrated Letter which he wrote to the Council The Monk and Priest Leporius hatched an Heresie almost the same as that which Nestorius maintained since but having been for that reason expelled from his Church at Marseilles he retracted in Writing Anno 425. That of Pelagius a Monk of Great Britain who began to dogmatize towards the year 412. was first discovered by two of the Gallican Bishops named Heros and Lazarus who prosecuted his condemnation first in Palestine afterwards in Africa After St. Augustin had trampled that proud Heresie in the Dirt which made the Salvation of Man depend upon his own strength no body in France durst openly embrace it But in Provence there were Priests and Monks who framed a middle Opinion between that Error and the Doctrine of this great Bishop they were called Semipelagians As for Councils they were often held by Order from the Emperours and Kings Sometimes the desire of the Pope the request of a Metropolitan that of a single Bishop or the least occasion caused them to assemble It is not known in what place that was held which Anno 429. sent St. German and St. Lupus into England to oppugne the Errors of the Pelagians nor that which Anno 444. deposed Chelidonius Bishop of Besancon because he had been married to a Widow and had been assisting in Judgment of matters criminal but it is well known that the Council at Riez was held in 439. The first at Orange in 441. That of Vaison in 442. That of Angiers in 443. The second of Axles towards the year 452. The third of the same place Anno 455. That of Tours 461. That of Vannes 465. The fourth of Arles 475. That of Agde Anno 506. and that of Orleans the first that was celebrated under a French King Anno 511. All these Councils were composed only of the Bishops of the Province where they were held excepting that of Agde and that of Orleance whereof the first comprehended the three Aquitanes and the two Narbonnoises as yet subject to Alaric King of the Visigoths and the other of the three Aquitanes newly conquered by the French and the second third and fourth Lyonnoises for the first belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy At the third of Arles that Error was condemned which they call the Predestinati and there was another called at Lyon for the same purpose but both by the pursuit of Faustus de Riez who was a Semipelagian At the fourth of Arles was Treated concerning the difference of Foustus Abbot of Lerins with the Bishop Theodorus and there they made for the first time a notable breach upon the Authority of the Bishops in limiting their power over Monasteries they had ever had it entire even to that degree that they had the power of placing Abbots and to chuse them out of any of the Clergy In these Councils several Canons were made for Ordinations to prevent the encroachments the Bishops made upon one another to preserve the Rights the Priviledges and the Goods belonging to the Church To regulate the Functions of the Clergy hinder them from Pleading before Secular Judges Repress Usury and the liberty of running out of their Diocess To preserve the Chastity of Virgins and Widows touching Homicides and false Witnesses touching Penances and the Penitents touching the Holiness and Celibacy which the Priests and Deacons ought to observe To the same end tended the Epistles of the Popes Innocent Zozimus Boniface Celestin Leons Simplicius Felix Gelasius Anastasius Symmachus which they generally directed to the Bishop of Arles as their Vicar to be sent to the other Gallican Bishops As there were no great Bishopricks in Gaul the Gallican Church was much more submissive and subjected to those Bishops of Rome then the Eastern ones or those of Africk but yet much less then the Italians There was often recourse had to them upon the greatest occasions they were consulted withal touching the usages and meaning of the Canons and afterwards when they found that their Answers were held for Decisions they Ordained what they thought good even before they were consulted withal They made themselves immediate Judges of all Disputes between Bishops before the Cause had been brought to the Metropolitan intermedled in bounding their Territories and Jurisdictions deposed those that were not well Ordained or were Criminal and compelled them to trudge to Rome to prosecute their business before them The Power they had by the Primacy of their See to cause the Canons to be duly observed advanced them to this great Authority but the Bishops took great care they should not be infringed and themselves acknowledged they were obliged to walk by them Childebert I. King VI. POPES Year of our Lord 512 HORMISDA The 26 th of July 414. S.
in the Kings House or in the Houses of great Officers and Trained up to all noble Exercises more honourably then Pages are in these days The Kings Revenues consisted in Lands or Demeasns and in Imposts which were taken only of the Gauls for it was thought odious to take any of the French Some of them were levied in Moneys others in Goods When they made the Division of Lands into Acres or Furlongs the Kings for their shares had much of the best especially about and near the greatest Cities They made their Residence and built them Palaces in the most pleasant places and especially near some great Forests for they delighted in Hunting and made a general one every Autumn In all those places which they called Villae Fiscales they had Officers or Servants who were named Fiscalins and he that commanded them Dom stick There they laid in Stores of Provision as Wines Wheat Forage Meat especially Venison and Pork Amongst the Lords they always chose out some to eat at their Table and that was one step towards the highest Employments They only took the Quality of Illustrious which was common to all the Grandees of the Kingdom Sometimes the Title of Dominus was given them which was likewise ordinary to all that were any way considerable also of most Glorious most Pious most Clement and Precellentissime The Kings wrote their names under that of the Bishops when they wrote to them On the contrary Pope Gregory I. and the Emperor Mauritius preposed theirs before that of any Kings Gregory II. did not do so The Popes and Councils stiled them sometimes their Sons and sometimes the Sons of the catholick-Catholick-Church Their Male-Children in their young age were named Damoiseaux and at their Birth they gave some Fiscalins their Freedom in all the Lands and Houses belonging to the King their Father They oft took Wives of mean Birth and servile Condition on whom they did not bestow the Title of Queen till after they had born Children nor always then neither The Daughter of a King had that Title as soon as they were Married They had their Dower in Lands some Possessions in proper which their Kindred inherited their share of the Houshold Goods and great Officers just the same as the Kings had Oft times the Sons of France before they came to Reign were called Kings and the Daughters Queens There were but two Conditions of Men the Free or Ingenuous and the Slaves Amongst the Free there were Nobles who were so by Blood and by Antiquity not by Exemptions and amongst the Nobles the Grandees optimates I believe that those they called Majores were the Noble and the Minores those that were not so One knew not then what People of the Gown or Robe meant all the French made profession of bearing Arms Justice was rendred by People Armed their Battle-ax and Buckler hung upon a Pillar in the midst of the Malle In the Kings House it was the Count of the Palace that administred it sometimes the King himself took the Seat together with the Bishops and the Grandees and having heard Causes of highest concern pronounced Sentence himself In Villages the Centeniers in Cities the Counts and Dukes that gave Judgment without any thing of Pleadings or Writings They were called in general terms Judges and Seniors The Kings gave them these Offices for time and frequently continued them for Money Sometimes it was left to the People to chuse them and perhaps it was their Right There were no Degrees of Jurisdiction all judged without appeal because they took Cognisance of nothing but what was proportionable to their Degree It is true the Parties had a way of carrying their Complaints to the King if they believed they had not been judged according to Law but if the Complaint were not made good they were condemned is * Persons of Quality to a pecuniary Mulct the other to be Whipp'd The Counts and Dukes had Viguiers or Lieutenant-Generals who did Justice in their absence and several petty Viguiers which administred it in the Country They had Assessors whom they called Rachinbourgs they sat on every eighth or every fifteenth day according to the multiplicity of Affairs But the Dukes held the Grand Assizes from time to time where the Bishops of the Province were bound to be present There were likewise a kind of Commissary's or Envoys some for the King others for the Dukes who went about to visit the Provinces In their Proceedings and Publick Acts they counted their Terms by Nights As the Galls governed themselves according to the Roman Rules and Laws they were forced to have Judges that understood them and the French might perhaps imitate and follow them in many of their Contracts for the Salick Law was not extensive enough to comprehend and regulate every particular case The same Counts and Dukes as judged the French led them to the Wars There were no other Soldiers but the Militia They commanded those of the nearest Provinces or of any Province as they thought fit those that failed were put to a Fine they gave Letters of Dispensation to such as were grown over-aged in the Service In all the Provinces and particularly on the Frontiers they had Magazines of Provisions and Forage but as I believe they had no pay but their Plunder which was brought together and so shared always equally amongst them They put those into the condition of Slaves or Servants whom they took Prisoners of War as likewise such as were sent them for Hostages if they broke their Faith The great ones that were accused of any Crime were judged Militarily by their Equals the Execution was performed with a Sword or Battle-Ax sometimes by Dukes and Counts themselves Often times their Kings would not wait till Judgment was given their Wrath or Covetousness made Death go before any Sentence As for the People of a meaner Stamp they were extended on a Stake and were either Strangled or Whipp'd In some places they were Hanged on a Gallows or they were branched upon a Tree For lesser Crimes they were condemned to grind like Mill-Horses to dig Vineyards to work in Quarries and sometimes they were Branded with a hot Iron When a Man was accused for a Crime of State they tore off his Military Girdle and his Clothes and dressed him all in Rags Between Private Persons they might seek their satisfaction with their Swords and do themselves justice whence proceeded infinite Murthers if the King did not prevent it Murtherers bought their Lives with their Money and the punishment of most Crimes unless they were Crimes of State were pecuniary and determined by the Law The whole Kindred were liable to the payment if the guilty Person were insufficient When the Parties wanted Evidence to prove the Fact they came to a Combat either in Person or by those Champions they could procure This they said was to determine a Cause by the Judgment of God Almighty The Ordeal-Trial by red hot Irons
or Brass that by boiling Water or cold Water and another likewise by presenting themselves before the Cross were in use also by the approbation of the Bishops Such as had any Quarrels and Contests gave their Oaths for caution and security in publick which were made upon the Shrines of Saints or on their Tombs This was also the way to purge or clear themselves of any Crime when accused in a Court of Justice and the Accused in certain cases as Adultery and the like when it could not be fully proved was allowed to bring several of their Friends to make publick Oath either Men or Women according to their Sex As for Marriages they took the liberty to repudiate or cast off their Wives when they could not endure them Their Kings had sometimes several at the same time and the Proximity of Blood or Degrees of Parentage never hindred them from satisfying their Desires When it pleased them the Children of their Mistresses succeeded them as well as the Legitimate They made Money of the Gold they found in their own Country and Coyned it more fine and of a much higher value than the Visigoth Kings a Mark of the Excellency of their Royalty above all others Payments were made as much with Gold and Silver not Coined as Coined But we shall elsewhere more amply Discourse and Explicate the Manners and Customs of this Nation and all the Orders they observed in their Judicatories their Wars and in their Government The natural Language of the French was the Teutonick or German the Austrasians at least those nearest to the Rhine kept to it ever and use it still but much changed or corrupted Those the most distant on this side and the Neustrians left it by little and little for that of the Galls which was the Romanick or Romanciere otherwise called the Rustick Latin engendred of the Rust and the Corruption of the Roman or Latin wrested and turned according to the genius of the Nation and the Idioms of the several Provinces as well for the inflexion and signification of Words as the Air Accent and Phrase Notwithstanding the Conversion of Clovis and all the care of the Prelates who by Authority of the Kings pulled down the Temples there were yet a world of Pagans especially amongst the French and those of the most Principal and as for those that were converted they had much ado to wean them from their ancient Superstitions they bore a Reverence still to the places where the Gentiles had Worshipped and Adored and still retained some remainders of their Ceremonies their Festivals Augures and the Witchcrafts of Paganism which they mingled with the Exercises of the Christian Religion Since the Baptism of Clovis the Gallican Church not only enjoyed in all liberty the Gifts the Galls had bestow'd upon her but likewise acquired much greater ones by the liberality of the French Her excessive Riches begot envy in the Ambitious and the Covetous To enjoy them they Courted and Caball'd for Bishopricks which they would not have desired if there had been nothing but Study and Labour The Grandees of the Court renounced the noblest Employments for a Miter where they met with Honour Authority Riches and assurance against Disgrace There was no need of forbidding them to chuse Lay-men against their Wills but rather not elect them when they used underhand dealings to obtain it There were few chosen but of noble Race and the Elections were ever made with the Kings leave never against his Will Oft times he forced them by his absolute Commands or prevented them by Recommendations which were all one as a Command The Bishops knew well enought this was to violate the Canons but the fear of bringing things to greater disorder Interest and Complaisance shut up their Mouths and tied their Tongues The only Man Leontius of Bourdeaux had the courage or boldness to call a Councel at Saintes to thrust out one Emerius a young Youth who had been named for Bishop of that Church by Clotair I but King Cherebert his Son received him but very scurvily that was put in his place and caused him to be carried into Exile in a Chariot full of Thorns These unworthy Elections and Intrusions bred most infinite Disorders publick Simony which spread it self from the Head even over all the Members the Non-Residence of Bishops their servile and perpetual adherence to the Court a disgust to Christian Vertues and the Functions of their Ministry the love of Vanity and the things of this World which led them into all manner of Pleasures and Secular Employments as Feastings sumptuous Cloaths Hunting and the use of Arms. From hence arose the scorn of the People towards these false Pastors who were crept in at the Windows and in the Civil Wars a wonderful desire and itch to invade the Wealth and Goods of the Church as esteeming it only the taking from such as were wholly unworthy of enjoying them thereby to correct their excess by paring away what was superfluous It cannot be denied but there were some extreamly irregular as Salonius d'Ambrun and Sagittarius de Gap who should rather be termed Bandits then Bishops Giles de Rheims a perfidious and factious Firebrand of Civil Wars Saffarac Bishop of Paris and Contumeliosus of Riez both of them as I think guilty of Uncleanness and Deposed for that Crime and that Cautin of Tours of whom Gregory recounts most horrible wicked things But in Recompence there were a great many who having edified their Flocks by a most Religious Conduct have left their Names and Memory in great veneration amongst all the Faithful In the beginning of this Age flourished Remy de Reims and Vaast d'Arras whom I have mentioned in the last but were still in being Gildard of Rouen Aquilin d'Eureux Contest de Bayeux Melaine de Rennes Avite de Vienne Cesarius d'Arles Venne de Verdun a little after Ageric or Agroy of the same City Lubin de Chartres Firmin d'Vzez and Macutus or Malo first Bishop of Quidalet This City having been ruined the Bishoprick was transferr'd to another which was raised out of its Ruines and bears the name of this holy Prelate About the middle of the same Age were Nicetius de Treues Paul de Leon in Bretagne Felix de Nantes Aubin d'Angers Lauto or L de Coutances Medard de Noyon Saulge d'Alby Germain de Paris This last died Anno 579. and was Interred in the Church of St. Vincent which was likewise called St. Croix and is at this day St. Germain des Prez And about the latter end lived Gregory de Tours who hath written the History of the French till within a year or two of the time of his Death it hapned as I believe Anno 595. Sulpicious de Bourges whom they surnamed the Severe to distinguish him from the Affable who since fat in the same Bishoprick St. Gall de Clermont Milleard or Millard de Sees Arigla de Nevers and Sanson de Dol. Amongst those most holy
for a Monastick Life we find Queen Radegonda Institutrice of the Monastery at Poitiers and Glodesina or Glosina of that which bears her name at Metz she was Daughter of Duke Guintrion Maur the Disciple of St. Bennet came to dwell in France about Anno 540. and brought his Order which in time increased so much that it abolished if we may call it so all the others Cloud or Clodoald lived in the Diocess of Paris Leufroy in that of Eureux Calais in that of Mans Cibard in Perigord Leonard in Limousin the Hermit Victor at the Diocess of Troyes Celerin in that of Sees and Senoc in Poitou The Church of Rome had in Gaul as in divers other Countries a certain Revenue in Lands which she called her Patrimony and the Popes had a Vicar who failed not to set a value on his Power to make this Commission of the higher value It was the Bishop of Arles from whom they had taken almost all the Rights and all the Authority he pretended to as well for the Antiquity of his Church Established by St. Trophime Disciple of the Apostles as from the preheminence of his City which the Emperor Honorius had made the capital of seven Provinces they pitched upon for fear he should make his too great a See to be their Vicar in Gaul and so he held two during pleasure which he might have held in chief and that Superiority which his Bishoprick gave him over the seven Provinces was absorbed by that which they gave him over the whole seventeen Moreover they favourably received all those that appealed to Rome Leo X. restored Chilidonius of Besanson deposed by Hilary of Arles his Vicar and Agapet restored Contumeliosus whom John II. his Predecessor had judged very Criminal As they had a right to see the Canons observed and the ancient Customs when any one desired any Prerogative or any License they applied to them so that by little and little it brought them to allow some small favour even in things of little weight but at length even to dispence with the Canons Pope Gregory I. amongst others gave it to several Churches which induced others to desire it also and sometimes pretend that his Predecessors had before granted them the like The question concerning Images made a noise in France even in the days of that Pope For he reproved Serein Bishop of Marselles for having broken them down but however applauded his Zeal from having hindred the People from adoring them because they might be used as Books to instruct the ignorant but not as the Objects of Divine Adoration We observe in this Age near forty Councils I shall quote those of whom we have any Canons or Acts. The first of Orleans which we mentioned before was assembled in 511. in the Reign of Clovis The second in 533. to abolish the remainders of Idolatry The third five years after The fourth in 541. and the fifth in 549. These four in the Reign and by the Authority of Childebert who likewise called another at Arles which was the fifth Anno 554. There were two held in the Reign of Sigismund King of Burgundy that of Epaon Anno 517. and the first of Lyons in the same year This last upon the account of Estienne his Intendant who had Married Palladia his Cousin-German and was upheld in it by that Prince There were two Convocated at Arles to wit that which is reckoned the fourth in Anno 524. by the consent of Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths to whom the Province at that time obeyed and the fifth above-mentioned in the Reign of Childebert Three met in the Countries of Atalaric King of Italy that of Carpentras in 527. of which there is but one Canon remaining the second of Orange two years a terwards and the third of Vaâ—son in the same year There were two in the City d'Avergne that is Clermont the first with the consent of King Theodebert in 535. and the second of his Son Theodebald in 549. Four at Paris viz. the second Anno 555. the third Anno 557. the fourth Anno 573. and the fifth Anno 615. The second and third were by order of King Childebert and the first of these two to review the Process against the Bishop Saâ—â—aracus who had been condemned and deposed the Sentence was confirmed the other to confirm some Canons touching the Discipline The fourth was held by the consent of Chilperic I. to suppress the attempt of Giles Metropolitan of Rheims who had ordained one Promotus Bishop in the City of Cbasteaudun though it depended on the Bishoprick of Chartres and had never been made an Episcopal See The fifth was summoned by order of Clotair II. for Reformation of Abuses I do not speak of that in the year 577. where Pretextat of Rouen was condemned having suffered himself by a credulous and weak condescention to be induced to confess such Crimes which he had not committed no more then that of Valence Anno 584. which confirmed all the Grants King Gontran his Wife and his Daughters had bestowed on the Church There were three at Lyons the first under Sigismond before noted the second in 567. and the third in 583. Two at Mascon the first Anno 581. the second four years afterwards all these four by the Authority of King Gontran One at Tours Anno 567. in the Reign of Cherebert which ordained many things and confirmed the Religious Congregation of Virgins instituted by St. Radegond One at Auxerre Anno 578. where none met but the Bishop of the Place his name was Aunaquaire with his Abbots and Priests King Recarede called one at Narbona Anno 589. Clotaire II. one at Metz Anno 590. and one at Paris which was the fifth Anno 619. as we have already hinted In that of Metz Giles Bishop of Rheims was condemned for the Crime of Treason deposed and banished to Strasburgh Of all these Councils there was only that of Orange that medled with Controversies having fully discussed the points of Grace according to the Judgment of St. Augustin and of the Holy Chair The rest spent their time to compose Quarrels and Disputes or about Discipline and especially such particulars as we have already mentioned This History not allowing us to quote more than some necessary Articles In the reading of these Councils one may observe that there were great multitudes of Lepers and of Jews in France perhaps the Jews had brought in and spread abroad that Leprosy That the Bishop took care to relieve the first and prohibited all manner of Communication with the other The Church had a particular care or the Poor of Widdows and Orphans the first being made as it were of the Family the rest under their Protection insomuch that they espoused their Cause in Courts of Judicature and the Judges never gave Sentence in any Cause of theirs but he first acquainted the Bishop thereof In her Judicature she followed that Order Established by the Roman or Written Law The Canons
feared an absolute re-union between the King and his Subjects or whether the Tears of his Daughter Gerberge and compassion to behold a King so ill treated by his means moved his heart he roughly refused Hugh who sought his amity and Year of our Lord 946 profer'd Louis his assistance to revenge himself Year of our Lord 946 Lewis accepted it and soon after he was out of his imprisonment went to Otho at Cambresis where Arnold Earl of Flanders had joyned Forces with him So that they had together above thirty Legions And which is remarkable all these combatants except the Abbot of Corbie in Saxony had all Straw-hats without doubt to defend their heads from blows or from the cold Year of our Lord 946 One would imagine such a prodigious Army must overwhelm Hugh and all his Allies but after they had tried Laon driven away Arch-Bishop Hugh from Reims and restored Artold to his See having shewed themselves before the Gates of Senlis and the Suburbs of Paris they ran themselves on ground and Shipwrackt against Rouen The death of Otho's Nephew and a great number of Saxons who were slain there the autumnal Rains the approaching Winter Arnolds desertion who withdrew in the night time with his Forces apprehending to be delivered up to the Normans constrained Otho to raise his Siege and retire Year of our Lord 947 Afterwards Hugh besieged Reims and King Lewis Monstreuil held by Rotgar Son of Count Herluin but both without success In August the two Kings Louis and Otho conferred together on the Kar or the Cher concerning their affairs This River which coming from the Country of Luxemburgh falls into the Meuse between Sedan and Mouson hath ever since made the bounds or separation of the Kingdoms of France and Lorrain as it did heretofore of Neustria and Austrasia Year of our Lord 947 Anno 947. Italy suffer'd a New change Auscare and Berenger one Brother and the other Son of Adelbert Marquiss of Ivrea having ingratefully conspired against King Hugh that Prince put Auscaire to Death and Berenger escaped to Herman Duke of Suabia Now this man having good information that Hugh had rendred himself very odious to the Italians having sounded their affections repassed the Alpes He was received in Verona and in Milan and seemed welcom to most part of the Nobility Nevertheless the People moved with pity towards Lotaire the Son of Hugh a handsom young Prince not above 14 or 15 years old would have the Title of King to be preserved for him And Berenger consented for that time the more willingly because all the Authority was in him The agreement made Hugh returned into Provence with his Treasure where he died the same year Lewis in France Conrad in Transjurane and Arles Otho in Germany Lorraine LOTAIRE and Berenger in Italy The dispute for the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims between Hugh of Vermandois and Artold was a mighty business It was first treated of at Douzy by some Prelats Year of our Lord 948 who having not power to determine it referr'd it to a Synodical Assembly of Gallican and German Bishops which was held at Verdun in the middle of November Robert Arch-Bishop of Triers presided there Hugh appeared not but having sent thither certain Surreptitious Letters from the Pope which they little valued the enjoyment of the Arch-Bishoprick was awarded to Artold and Hugh was excluded for his contumacy till he should appear before the General Council in the Month of August following and had purged himself of the crimes imputed to him Hugh makes complaint to the Pope who sent a Legat to Otho to injoyn him to Year of our Lord 948 call a general Council of the Gallicans and Germans to determine this difference as also to decide the quarrel between King Lewis and Hugh le Blanc He convocated them at his Royal Palace of Ingelheim he and King Lewis assisting there and sitting on the same Bench. The Council heard the Kings complaint and then Artold's Petition The King declared all the mischiefs Hugh had done him even ☞ to the detaining him a Prisoner a whole year and offered if any one could reproach him that the troubles and calamities of the Kingdom were by any fault of his to justify himself in such manner as the Council should advise even by personal proof in the Field of Battel Upon these complaints they wrote Letters to Hugh le Blanc and his adherents to admonish them to return to their duty under pain of an Anathema and doing justice upon the Petition of Artold they confirmed the Arch-Bishoprick to him and excommunicated Hugh his competitor till he duly repented With this Otho assisted Lewis with good Forces the Lorrain Bishops his Vassals took Mouson and razed it excommunicated Thibault who maintained the City of Laon for Hugh and caused Hugh himself by vertue of the Legats letters to be cited to appear before the Council of Triers to give satisfaction for the damage he had done the King and the Church Who not appearing was excommunicated Year of our Lord 949 The War was not abated by this and divers Castles were taken by the two rivals for the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims as well as by the Kings Forces and those that belonged to Hugh This year hapned the death of Fulk the Good Earl of Anjou a mighty Religious Prince and a lover of Learning who being one day informed that the King scoffed at his going so often to Sing in the Quire wrote only these words to him Know Sir that a Prince without Learning is a Crowned Ass Year of our Lord 949 The Hungarians being fallen An. 949. upon Lombardy Berenger compounded with them for eight Bushels of Silver and upon pretence of raising that money committed violent extortions About that time Lotaire either out of grief to find himself despised or by some poyson fell into a Phrensie and died without Children towards the end of the same year Berenger immediately caused himself to be proclaimed King and was Crowned together with his eldest Son Adelbert Year of our Lord 950 Otho very glad of the disturbances in France gave slight assistance to Louis who in the necessity of his affairs relied much upon him and often went to him or sent his wife Gerberge He also made cessations from time to time In one of which he and Hugh meeting by consent at the Marne the River between them Year of our Lord 950 they patched up I know not what Peace upon which Hugh was to surrender up to him a great Tower which he held in the City of Laon. Peace being made on this side Lewis takes his progress towards Aquitain to secure himself of the Fidelity of the Lords of that Country For during these revolutions the Subjects faith was grown so wavering that often in less then a years time they swore obedience and fealty to three or four several Kings Which was indeed because they would have had none had it been in their power This year 951. Ogina Mother to
Favour contracted his Daughter Luciana but ten years old to Prince Lewis Year of our Lord 1103 Ebles Baron de Roucy a famous Captain who often raised Soldiers with which he went into Spain not so much to fight the Saracens as to find opportunity to plunder and pillage the Churches vexed all those of Champagne upon complaint of the Clergy Lewis hastens to Reims his Celerity astonished the Plunderer so much that he laid down his Arms and promised to forbear those Robberies Year of our Lord 1106 The protection he gave to Thomas Lord of Marle against Enguerrand de Boves his Father was not so just Thomas by means of his Castle of Montagu in Laonnois committed a thousand Cruelties and Robberies insomuch that his Father was forced to besiege him Lewis upon the request of Thomas re-victuals the Castle at which Enguerrand and the Lords were so enraged that they declared they owned him no longer for their Sovereign since he protected the wicked They were almost ready even to give him battle but being brought to a Conference they kissed his Hand and swore Service to him The unhappy Emperour Henry IV. against whom the Popes had stirred up first his eldest Son Conrad then he being dead Henry his Second Son being taken prisoner by this unnatural Child wrote very pathetical Letters to King Philip and Prince Louis which begot a great deal of compassion towards him but no help Being got out of prison he died in the City of Liege the Second of August and Henry V. his Son succeeded him in his quarrel with the Pope as well as in his Estates Pope Paschal II. not willing to go to this Henry because said he the Germans are yet enough humbled came into France passed to Clugny la Charite Tours Paris and went to St. Denis where the King and his Son paid him their Respects by bowing Year of our Lord 1106 down to the very ground At Chaalons he Treated with the Ambassadors of Henry V. and held a Council at Troyes In this Council whether by the zeal of the Prelats or the suggestion of Prince Lewis the Pope pronounced the Dissolution of his Marriage not yet consummated with Luciana Guy de Rochefort discontent for the Divorce of his Daughter retires from Court Anseau and Stephen de Garland the Brothers exasperate Prince Lewis's Spirit against him which they swayed Rochefort commits some hostilities at his Castle of Gournay upon Marne Lewis besieges the place a League is formed between Rochefort and Thibauld Earl of Blois and Chartres Lewis goes to meet the Army of these discontented Gentlemen defeats them and returning to the Siege takes Gournay Year of our Lord 1108 King Philip quite wasted with excess of pleasures dies at Melun the 26th of July aged 56 years whereof he had Reigned 48 and two Months From thence he was carried to St. Bennets Abby on the Loire where he had chosen his Burying place He was a Prince of a good shape and stature but his softness and amorous Commerce had rendred his Body unactive and heavy and stupisied his Conscience and Courage He had had two Wives Berthe the Daughter of Florent Earl of Holland and Bertrade of Simon de Montfort The First brought him two Children Lewis who Reigned and Constance who Married Boemond Prince of Antioch An. 1106. By Bertrade were born two Sons Philip and Florus or Fleury and one Daughter named Cecely The two Sons were Married but had no Male-issue The First was Earl of Mantes Mâ—un upon Yeurre and Montlehery the Daughters first Husband was Tancred Prince of Antioch the Second was Ponce de Toulouza Count of Tripoly The Tenths the Offrings the Presentations and the very Churches as we have related had been Infeoffed to the Laity by a strange abuse whereof the Footsteps are yet to be seen in Gascongne The Lords took the investiture of the Prince and held them of him in Fief so that they could not alienate them without his consent and when they sold them it was upon condition of preference for the Curate or for the Bishop if he would Now to bring them back by little and little to the Ordinarys it had been ordained by the Councils especially by that of Mets under King Arnulf that the Laicks should not put them off of their hands nor give them to the Monasteries without the permission of the Diocesan Bishops or the Pope which was since confirmed by the Council of Rome in the year 1078. and by that of Melfe An. 1090. When it hapned then that the Seculars would discharge their Consciences and restore those Possessions to the Church which their Fathers had usurped during the Wars the Ordinaries believed they ought not to suffer the Monks should draw these to themselves and joyned together to make them revert to the benefit of the Hierarchical Order This was the subject of an obstinate and bloody quarrel between the Bishops and the Monks the First held divers Assemblies to preserve their Rights There was one amongst the rest in the Abby of St. Denis about the end of the Tenth Century where Seguin de Sens venerable both for his Age and Virtue presided The Monks perceiving the Council was going to pronounce against them raised a furious Sedition to scatter them Abbon de Fleury was accused to have been the Boute-feu How ever it were Seguin was wounded with an Axe betwixt the two Shoulders and Arnold d'Orleans a particular enemy to Abbon had lost his Life there had he not fled away betimes As the conduct of the Prince is the Rule to all his Kingdom the Piety of Robert served not a little to contain the Ecclesiasticks in their Duty and incline them to the exercise of their Religion and the study of good Literature We ought certainly to reckon him the first amongst the Learned Men of this age not so much for his quality and rank as for his capacity which was not little for those times and to him we may add Gauslin his bastard Brother Arch-Bishop of Bourges who amongst other Works composed a Discourse about the causes of the showre of Blood that had fallen An. 1017. in Aquitain for three days together and had this of wonderful in it That it could not be wiped or rubbed off from any Flesh Cloaths or Stones but out of Wood the spots might be easily taken away and leave no stain behind Amongst other persons of erudition those that most excell'd were Foulk and Yves Bishops of Chartres Leoterick of Sens Gervas de Reims Chancellour of France Beranger Arch-Deacon of Anger 's Hildebert du Mans his Disciple and Admirer and Gefroy de Vendosme these two passed very far in the other age Lanfranc Abbot of St. Stephens at Caen Durand Bishop of Liege and the Monks Sigebert of Gemblours Glaber of Clugny and Helgaud de Fleury who all three labour'd in History We must take notice besides those most eminent Servants of God Odillon whom we have already
from the colour or cut and fashion of their Hair the habit or defects of their Bodies from their Dress or Age Profession Office or Trade some from their good or ill Qualities others from the Province they dwelt in or the Town or Village where they were born But for the most part they were called by some proper name which was current in the Family or even some Nick-name which descended to their Generations Whoever shall take the pains to examine these Heads throughly and distinctly will find that there are few others can be made out Through all this Age there were two great and cruel Evils predominant in France but which were not new the Leprosie and Usury the one infecting the Bodies the other consuming the Estates of most Families Those that were tainted with the first were secluded from all Society and shut up in places far distant from the Habitations of other People but yet upon or near the greatest Roads The number increased so fast that there was not one City or Burrough that was not forced to build some Hospital for their Retreat They were called Lazar-houses and the Leprous Lazars from St. Lazarus the Patron of the Poor and the Sick whom the Vulgar by corruption called St. Ladre Now the publick Foundations the Gifts of the Relations and Kindred of the Infected the Alms of particular People and with these the Immunities and Priviledges granted by the King and the Clergy to these miserable Wretches made them live so much at their ease that in length of time they became rather Objects of envy than of pity at least in respect of the meaner sort of People They were taxed of leading Lives guilty of great Disorders and sometimes of Crimes But when they were convicted of any they were burnt alive that so the Fire might at the same time purifie and purge the infection both of their Bodies and Souls I have read that there were some Men so apprehensive of this villanous loathsom and shameful Disease that they guelt themselves to avoid it and be preserved from it Usury was very common and yet more excessive the Jews practis'd it with so much cruelty that they did not seize upon Peoples Goods only for satisfaction but likewise upon their Persons and reduced them to slavery The Popes oftentimes endeavour'd to suppress them but it was in vain for the Princes and especially King Philip upheld them receiving Tribute from them for suffering their Exactions and withal they had it in their power to squeese these Blood-suckers whenever their occasions required it Since the first Birth of the Church there had not been any Age wherein she was so much shatter'd and rent with Schisms as she was in this same I speak not of the Schism caused by the Emperor Henry IV. for that was more in the preceding Age then this though it did never end but with the Life of that Emperor who died at Liege Anno 1106. after he was unfortunately deprived of his Empire by his own Son I must note however that his Tyrannical and Scandalous Deportment gave a fair opportunity to Gregory VII whose Life was irreprovable and exemplary to constitute himself his Judge to summon him before his Tribunal upon the universal complaints of his Subjects to Excommunicate him and depose him from his Empire and after all this to wrest from him the disposition of great Benefices Which seemed the more favourable because that Prince made a most infamous and shameful Traffick of it giving them to the worst and investing them with the Ring c. before they were Consecrated But after this Schism there were three more two occasioned by the Quarrels that the Emperor Henry V. Son of the abovenamed Henry and then Frederic II. surnamed Barberossa had with the Popes and a third which hapned between these two through the ambition of Cardinal Peter Leonis That of Henry V. began in the year 1118. the Emperor having caused one Maurice Burdin Archbishop of Braga in Portugal to be elected and ended Anno 1122. the Anti-Pope named Gregory VIII falling into the hands of Calistus and Henry afterwards obtaining Absolution of that Pope The Schism that Frederic caused lasted from the year 1159. under three Anti-Popes Octavian Guy de Crema and John Abbot de Strume who assumed the names of Victor IV. Paschal III. and Calistus III. and did not cease till the year 1183. For although Frederic were absolv'd at Venice Anno 1177. he was not fully reconciled with these Popes till six years afterwards The Schism of Peter Leonis began in 1139. for in that year he got to be Elected to the Papacy concurrently with Alexander III. taking the name of Anaclet and was extinguished Anno 11 After his death the Peace of the Church lasted but Seven years and then was disturbed by the Rebellion of the City of Rome Arnauld Clerk of the City of Bresse stirred it up in the year 1145. The people of Rome by his instigation would needs shake off the Priestly yoke and restore the ancient Republick These disturbances ceased An. 1155. for that incendiary being expell'd the City went to the Emperour Frederick who sacrific'd him to his Interests delivering him up to Adrian who caused him to be hang'd and burnt During the troubles of these Schismes and the combustions Arnauld promoted in Rome there were Five Popes that sheltred themselves in France Paschal II. An. 1106. Gelasius IV. An. 1118. Innocent II. An. 1130. Eugenius An. 1147. and Alexander III. An. 1161. without reckoning Calistus II. who sojourn'd there some time after his Election which was made at Clugny An. 1119. The Son of the unfortunate Henry IV. of his Fathers Name and who had compell'd him to resign the Empire made it plainly appear he did not rebell against him out of any zeal to Religion since so soon as he thought himself well setled in the Throne he began to tread in the same steps and the very next year following 1107. he made it known to Pope Paschal and the Council of Troyes that he intended to enjoy the Apostolique priviledge of instituting Bishops which he pretended had been given to Charlemain This question was referr'd to a general Council to be held at Rome in the year 1110. Paschal therefore returns but Henry coming thither with an Army seizes on his person and forces him to Sign an agreement wherein he allows him the investitures obliging both him and his Cardinals by the most Sacred Oaths to observe it All the Prelats in Europe cried out against this agreement which by leaving such Elections in the power of Temporal Princes caused great disorders in the Church They held many Councils in several Provinces to damne it Excommunicated the Emperour and gave out it was an Heresie to say that Investitures could be made by the Laity not considering that this proposition made the Pope himself an Heretique since he had newly granted it to the Emperour The same question of Investitures had
St. Riquier undertook to Confess some Seculars and to Preach without leave of the Ordinary of which complaint was made against him at Rome the Pope caused him to be cited before him but he pleaded his Cause so well that the Holy Father allowed him both the one and the other and gave him Sandals which in those times were the Marks or Badge of a Preacher The Clergy busied themselves mightily in multiplying the Ceremonies the Ornaments and practise of Devotions and in making a great many frivolous Disputes upon each of these The profession of Physick and that of Law were hardly exercised by any but the Churchmen the Laity being very little addicted to Study and as they were very profitable the Monks and Regular Canons had likewise an itch to practise them The Council of Latran under Innocent II. did expressly forbid their medling with either of them The Mortifications and Austerities the Sackcloth Shirt of Hair knotted Girdle and voluntary Fustigation which they called Discipline was much in practise at least in the precedent Age since Peter Damianus mentions it as a thing that was very common When they desired to appease the Wrath of God or obtain some particular favour from his Bounty the Pope and sometimes the Bishops of their own Heads would ordain new Fasts Thus in the year 1187. Gregory VIII sorely afficted for the loss of Jerusalem thought fit thereby to animate the Christians to Arm themselves powerfully for its Recovery to command all both Men and Women to fast every Friday for five years successively with the same strictness as in Lent and to abstain from Flesh the Wednesdays and Saturdays He enjoyn'd all the Cardinals and their Families to do the same and imposed it upon himself and all his As for the Fast of Lent it was then very strictly observ'd they eat but once in the whole day and that after Sun-set all the Divine Service and Masses being then over We may see some footsteps of it remaining to this day in that they say Vespers with the Mass before Noon Some gave themselves the liberty of eating at the hour of Noon which is Three hours after Twelve or Dinner time The Friers fasted but till that hour from the Septuagesima to the Quadragesima but from the Quadragesima till Easter they nor any of the Faithful did eat till after Vespers The Princes and great Persons did not omit this abstinence nor fasting neither which did not so much impair their Health as it abated their Concupisence and in these Holy Times the least Devout were obliged at least in Honour to give Alms every day The Functions of those in holy Orders were yet different and different and distinct the Priest seldom did the Office of a Deacon or Sub-Deacon Many out of humility remained Deacons still or at least a long time not taking upon them the Order of Priesthood till near the end of their days We read that Celestine III. at the time he was elected Pope was but a Deacon and had lived Sixty five years in that Order without aspiring to be a Priest They sometimes tolerated the Marriage of Sub-Deacons but it was Sacriledge in a Deacon Baptisin was commonly not Ministred or Conferr'd but at the time of Easter if those that were to receive it were not in danger of Death They plung'd them three times in the Sacred Font to shew them what operation that Sacrament hath on the Soul washing and cleansing it from Original Sin After they had given the extream Unction to the Sick they ordinarily laid them upon a Bed of Straw where they gave up the Ghost Some would needs die upon a Bed of Ashes with their Heads lying on a Stone In those times the Clergy called all those Martyrs of their Order that were kill'd though it were neither for Religion or the maintaining of Christian Doctrines We find in the Decretals some Apostolical Letters of Alexander III. which forbids they should honour the Prior of the Monastery of Gristan as a Martyr The History is strange and odd enough The Monks of that House distributed to the People I know not what sort of Water which they hallowed with certain Prayers and by that invention got store of Alms wherewith they made good Chear It hapned one day that their Prior being drunk wounded two of his Friers with his Knife who immediately beat out his Brains with a Staff that was at hand by chance The rest of their Fellows instead of concealing this Scandal had the impudence to make advantage and profit of this accident and feigned divers Miracles upon his Corps by vertue whereof they Crowned him with the Laurel of Martyrdom and the silly People gave credit to the Cheat. They had been mightily puzled in the other Age to bring the Priests to Celibacy There were some yet that could not agree to it The Popes Calistus II. and Eugenius III. compell'd them by divers Punishments and amongst others deprived them of their Benefices and Excommunicated all such as went to hear them say Mass Now it not being allowed them to make use of the rights of Nature by Marriage there were some though but few in number who made use of things against Nature burning with such flames of Lust as ought not to be extinguished but by Fire from Heaven As for the greater part of the rest the Law of God that is to say his Church forbidding them to have Children the Author of all Confusion substituted great Throngs and Crowds of Nephews in their stead and from thence follow'd great Disorders for if those Nephews were Ecclesiasticks they perpetuated the Benefices in their Families by Coadjutories or otherwise and possess'd as by Right of Inheritance the Sanctuary of the Lord If they were of the Laity and thrifty People they made their Uncles grow Covetous Usurers and Extortioners to heap up Riches for them or else they endeavour'd by all ways imaginable to alienate the Lands of the Church and joyning them to their own appropriate all to themselves Often times they became Masters of their Parents House and living there with too great a Train squandred away the Patrimony of the Cross and the Poor in Feasting Equipage of Hounds and Horses and sometimes in things much worse We might quote a great many Examples of this scandalous Nature I shall instance one which is of the Nephews of an Archdeacon of Paris who committed extraordinary Violences and Exactions in his Place whereof Thomas Prior of St. Victors having often given him warning they Murther'd this holy Holy Friar in the very Arms of the Bishop himself near Gournay as he returned from a Visit The Councils of the Gallican Church having now but little Authority because their Decisions were often annul'd at Rome without hearing their Reasons the Bishops took not so much care to call any I cannot tell in which it was where an old Bishop appear'd with ill Cloaths a Crosier half broken and a Mitre out of order to
John of Salisbury who governed the Church of Chartres the first in the beginning of this Century and the last towards the end Godfrey d'Amiens of whom we shall speak hereafter Peter of Poitiers who courageously opposed William VIII Duke of Aquitain who would force him to absolve him of the Excommunication wherewith he was fetter'd Gilbert Poree who held the same See as Peter but Twenty five years after Arnoulf Bishop of Lisieux Robert de Beauvais he was the Son of Hugh Duke of Burgundy John surnamed de la Grille who transferr'd the Bishoprick of Quidalet to that place now called St. Malo's Simon de Noyon and Guerin de Senlis In the time of Simon whilst he was at Jerusalem with King Louis VII in the year 1146. the Church of Tournay was cut off from that of Noyon to which it had been joyned in the days of St. Medard and had for their first Bishop Anselme who was Abbot of St. Viucent of Laon Guerin de Senlis was very great in the Reign of Philp II. and of Louis VIII Keeper of the Seals under the first Chancellor under the second I shall conclude with four Bishops of Paris whose Memory ought to be dear to that great City and the whole Gallican Church Stephen de Garlande Peter Lombard Maurice and Odon These two last bare the name of Sully Maurice because he was a Native of that place but of very poor Parents Odon because he was of that illustrious House Issue of the Earls of Champagne Stephen had been Chancellor of France under Louis VI. Peter Lombard was called the Master of Sentences from that Book so well known through all Christendom and which was the Foundation of all School-Divinity Maurice had a noble Soul liberal and magnanimous He founded the Abbies de Herivaux and de Hemieres as likewise two Monasteries for Virgins Gif and Hieres and laid the Foundation of the Church Nostre-Dame one of the greatest Buildings to be seen in France Odon his Successor finisht it and founded a Monastery for Women of the Order de Cisteaux at Port Royal being assisted in that Pious Work by the Liberality of Matilda Daughter of William de Garland He laboured also to root out an ancient but ridiculous Custom which had been suffer'd in the Church of Paris and in divers others of the Kingdom It was the Holy-day or Feast of Fools in some places they called it the Festival of Innocents It was observ'd at Paris principally upon the day of the Circumcision the Priests and Clerks went in Masquerade to Church where they committed a thousand Insolencies and from thence rode about the Streets in Chariots mounted upon Theaters or Stages singing the most filthy Songs and acting all the tricks and postures the most impudent Buffoons are wont to shew to divert the Rascally and Sottish Populace Odo or Odon endeavour'd to put down this detestable Mummery having to that effect obtain'd an order of the Popes Legat who made his Visitation there but we may well believe that his desire had not its full accomplishment that Custom lasting Two hundred and fifty years afterwards for we find that in the year 1444. the Masters of the Faculties of Divinity at the request of some Bishops wrote a Letter to all the Prelats and Chapters to damn and utterly abolish it and the Council of Sens which was held in Anno 1460. does yet speak of it as an Abuse which ought to be Retrencht The Bishops labour'd assiduously to edifie and instruct the Faithful by their Works and Doctrine most part of them have left their Writings whereof many have been published the rest as yet lie hid in several Libraries And truly as this Age was not ingrateful to Persons of Merit the liberty of Elections giving them opportunities to reward them there were more Men of worth and parts to be found then had been heard of in a long time who improved the Sciences with good success and drew an incredible number of Students to learn Philosophy and Divinity at Paris Human Learning or Les belles Lettres made some Attempts and Essays to raise it self which were not altogether in vain It appears in the Writings of Hildebert of John of Salisbury and Stephen de Tournay Peter Comester or the Eater Dean of the Church of Troyes and afterwards a Monk of St. Victors compiled the Ecclesiastical History and he was called the Master of it and Elinand Native of Beauvais a Monk of Froidmont wrote the Universal History to the year 1212. in Forty eight Books We have three Latin Poets or Versisicators who are not to be despised Galternus William le Breton and Leonius The first made a Poem of Alexanders famous Exploits which he Intitled Alexandreides Le Broton in imitation composed the Philippides containing the History of Philip Augustus and Leonius made himself known by several Copies which though not very long are gentile and full of Wit He was Canon of St. Victor I shall not set down all those whom in this Age the Church put into her number of Saints but only the two Bernards the one being the first Abbot de Tiron of St. Bennet's Order and the other Abbot of Clervaux whose Wit and clear Judgment his Zeal and Piety his Conduct and Capacity in business of the greatest weight made him appear with more luster then any other in his time Three Institutors of new Religious Orders Robert Abbot de Molesme that of the Cisteaux Stephen that of Grandmont and Norbert that de Premonstre Five Bishops Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury whom I place amongst the French though he were a Native of the Valley d'Aost because he Studied in France and was Abbot du Bec Peter Abbot de la Celle then Bishop of Troyes another Peter Bishop of Poictiers Aldebert de Brabant Bishop of Liege and Godfrey Bishop of Amiens They relate an action of this last which our times would sooner wonder at then imitate It was the Mode then for such as would be Gallants to wear long Hair curled and tressed this courageous Prelat one time refuses to admit any to the holy Table who came tricked up in that fashion and that refusal put them to such shame and confusion that they all cut it off themselves chusing rather to lose that vain Ornament of their Heads then the Comfort of eating the holy Bread of Angels When he found them so well disposed he admitted those as Men and Christians whom he before had turned away as dissolute Women or Men wholly effeminated About the year 1180. the People Reverenced a certain Maiden as a Saint whose name was Elpide or Alpaida dwelling in the Village du Cudot in the Diocess of Sens who for Ten years together would swallow nothing but the Sacred Host and though a simple Country Girl had great light and knowledge of things Natural and Divine This debility hapned after a severe fit of Sickness which had turned all her Body into a corrupt and stinking purulent Matter extreamly infected I
Lord 1300 Boniface was grown obstinate in his design for the expedition to the Holy-Land and perswaded himself he had a right to oblige all Christian Princes to it He therefore sent Bernard Saisset Bishop of Pamiez to Philip with a charge to exhort him to this voyage and also to summon him to make good his word to the Earl of Flanders by setting his Daughter at liberty He acquitted himself of his Commissions in such high terms and it was told the King that he held discourses upon several occasions so injurious to his Person and so factious against the quiet and peace of the Kingdom that he made him be seized and kept prisoner Then their hatred ran up to the extremity the King besides all this being mightily heated by the ill reports of William de Nogaret For he informed him that when he was sent Ambassador to the Pope to acquaint him of his Alliance with the Emperour Albert he perceived that his Holiness was very ill inclined towards him that he had bad designs and that he led a scandalous life and most unworthy of the Succession to the Apostles Year of our Lord 1301 On his part Boniface dispatched the Arch-Deacon of Narbonna to Command him to set the Bishop of Pamiez at liberty and let him know there was a Bull importing that the King was under his correction for the sins he committed in his Temporal Administration as well as for others That the collation of Benefices did not appertain to him and that the Regalia was an usurpation By another Bull he suspended all the priviledges granted by his predecessors to the King to those of his House and to his Council And by a Third he ordered all the Prelats of the Kingdom should come to Rome to find out some remedy against Philips disorders and the Enterprizes he made upon the Ecclesiastical State Year of our Lord 1300 The King upon the earnest intreaties of the Clergy put the Bishop of Pamiez into the hands of the Arch-Bishoy of Narbonna his Metropolitan but he forbad the Prelats for going out of the Kingdom or the transporting of any Gold or Silver And for that point which he believed did concern his Sovereignty he thought it best to support himself with the Authority of all the Estates of his Kingdom against Boniface The Estates assembled in Nostre-Dame the 10th of April in the year 1301. Year of our Lord 1301 declared that they owned no other Superiour in Temporals besides the King and in conformity to that the Clergy wrote to the Pope as the Nobility and the third Estate did to the Cardinals who in their answers assured that it had never been the Popes intention to attribute that Superiority to himself During these quarrels a prodigious Comet appeared in the Heavens it began to shew it self in Autumn towards the West and in the Sign of Scorpio darting its Rays sometimes to the Eastward and sometimes to the Westward It was seen but one Month. The Earl of Artois Nogaret Peter Flote Chancellor to the King and the Colona's whom Boniface had thrust out of all proscribed and imprisoned exasperated all things more and more Many nevertheless were scandalized that they should contend against the Pope and therefore it was thought decent to maintain that he was not so and that by opposing his Person they did not oppose the Vicar of Jesus Christ but an ill Man that had intruded himself into the Papacy The King being therefore at the Louvre Nogaret in presence of divers Princes of the Blood and Bishops presented a Petition the Twelfth day of March accusing him of Heresie Simony Magick and other enormous crimes and demanding the Kings assistance that there might be a general Council called to deliver the Church from this oppression The Pope had dispatched into France a Cardinal named John Le Moyne a native of the Diocess of Amiens a knowing Man and very Learned upon pretence of negotiating some agreement with the King but indeed to sound the inclination of the Clergy in his favour Now being but ill satisfied with the answers the King made to his Quaeries he sent another Bull which declared him Excommunicate for having hindred the Prelats from going to Rome forbid them to admit him to the Sacraments or Mass Commanded them to be at Rome within three Months and summoned some by name upon the penalty of being deposed Year of our Lord 1302 During these Contrasto's Charles Earl of Valois was gone into Sicilia with a great Army with design to reduce it to the Obedience of Charles the Lame his Nephew He made so little progress that he thought fitter to make peace between both parties In effect he succeeded better in it then in his War The conditions of the Treaty were That Frederic should marry his Daughter Eleonor for whose Portion Sicilia should remain to him under the Title of the Kingdom of Trinacria but if he had no Children by her the Island should return to Charles the Lame or to his Heirs upon their payment of a hundred thousand Ounces of Gold Before his expedition into Sicilia he had been sent to Florence by the Pope to calm the Factions wherewith that Republick was most horribly tormented During five Months time that he remained there his Care nor his Authority could by no means prevent the Guelphs and Black from proscribing the White who were for the most part Gibbelins and from ruining their Houses Dante Aligeri one of the rarest wits of his time who was of the faction of the White though otherwise he were a Guelph was put into the number of the banished and could never obtain to be recalled He lays the fault upon the Earl of Valois for not having provided against those injurious proceedings and tried to place his revenge upon all the House of France by the cruel bitings of his Pen which certainly would have made some impression upon their posterity had there not been prooss much clearer then the Sun at Noon-day which dispelled that Satyrical calumny Year of our Lord 1302 There are some Authors that assign in this year 1302. the Invention of the Mariners Compass or Needle by one Flavio a native of Melplus However since we find some mention of it in Authors long before this timeâ— we can at most but give this Flavio the honour of having brought it to greater use and perfection This same year 1302. Flanders revolted and was lost as to the French Those people irreconcileable enemies to Taxes and heavy oppressions could not endure the violence and imposts wherewith their young Governour James de Chastillon vexed and tormented them by the evil Counsels of Peter Flote a violent and most covetous Man and indeed he was one-ey'd They therefore called in William Son of the Earl of Juliers and a Daughter of â—arl Guy's to be their Chief whose younger Sons with the Sons of his Brother John came into the County of Alost to support this Rising Year of our Lord 1302 The Fire began
of proceedings against them in the year 1245. in that of Beziers which was composed of Prelats of the Narbonnensian Province And that of Terragona Anno 1242. did the same thing against the Vaudensis whose Opinions were creeping into those quarters Besides the Albigensis the Vaudensis and that swarm of different Sects which had got in nestled and increased greatly in Languedoc and Gascongny there was one Amaulry of Chartres a Doctor of Paris who went about teaching his fancies for Truths saying amongst other things That if Adam had not sinned Men would have been multiplied without Generation that there was no other Paradice but the satisfaction of well-doing nor any other Hell besides the ignorance and obscurity of Sin That the Law of the Holy Ghost or Spirit had put an end to that of Jesus Christ and to the Sacraments as these had accomplished that of Moses and the Ceremonies of the Old Testament and that all such actions as were done in charity even Adulteries could not be evil This Doctrine being a great encouragement to lewdness and Scandal the Author was obliged to go and give an account to the Pope who forced him to retract which having done with his Mouth only and not from his Heart his Disciples persisted in his whimseys and added many others to them Peter II. Bishop of Paris and Frier Guerin Principal Counsellor to King Philip having made discovery both of the Persons and the Secrets of these Sectarics by an Emissary who crept in amongst them caused a great number of Men and Women Clergy and Laity to be laid hold on These People having been convicted in a Council held at Paris in the year 1209. were delivered over to the Secular power who gave the Women their Pardons and ordered the Men to be burnt The Friers Preachers and the Friers Minors endeavouring to out-vie each other in Scholast que Subtilties there were some that lost their way in that Utopian or Imaginary Countrey of Terra incognita and who were as soon restrained and corrected by the Sacred Faculty or by the Bishops Thus by Bishop Stephen II. at the Council of Paris which met in Anno 1277. was William the Frier Minor corrected who had published divers Heterodox propositions touching the Soul Free Will the Resurrection and the worlds Eternity but as soon as they were condemned he retracted them with great submission contrary to the custom of those singular Spirits who having once taken their flights do hardly ever stoop again We find likewise a certain David of Dinand who maintained that God was the Materia Prima St. Thomas hath Learnedly refuted him In the Fourth Tome of the Library of the Fathers we read That Anno 1242. William Bishop of Paris in an Assembly of the Doctors of Theology condemned some errors touching the Divine Essence the Holy Spirit the Angels and the place where Souls remain after death and several other propositions either rash or false which all proceeded from the contentious subtilties of Scholastique Doctors It would be too tedious to quote all those Councils that were held about Discipline and for other matters The two most famous were those of Lyons Pope Innocent III. presiding in the First Anno 1245. pronounced a Sentence of Excommunication against the Emperour Frederic II. In the Second which was in the year 1 74. the most numerous that ever was for there were Five hundred Bishops Seventy Abbots and a Thousand other Prelats Pope Gregory X. made divers Constitutions amongst others that which directs the Cardinals should be shut up in the Conclave for the Election of a Pope and he admitted the Emperour Michael and the Greek Church to a reconciliation with the Church of Rome Robert de Corceonne Cardinal Legate assembled one at Paris in the year 1212. for the reformation of Abuses and of Clerks as well Secular as Regulars Gerard de Beurdeaux held one of his Province at Cognac in Anno 1238. for the same purpose and to maintain the Rights of the Church Vincent de Pilonis Arch-Bishop of Tours likewise one of his Province at Rennes in the year 1263. for the Second point In that of Bourges in the year 1276. held by Simon de Brie Cardinal Legat they Treated of the Liberty of the Church of Elections of the power of Judges Delegates or Ordinaries of Bishops Courts of Tithes of Wills and Testaments of Priviledges of Canonical punishments of the Jews Simon de Beaulien Arch-Bishop of Bourges Assembled one in the year 1287. where he Collected and Reformed all the Constitutions his Predecessors had made in the divers Councils of that Province The Bishop of Beauvais pretending that the King it was Saint Lewis but as then very young had usurped on the Rights of his Church Henry de Brienne with all his Province of Rheims undertook this Cause very vigorously and held three Councils to have satisfaction two at St. Quentin in 1230 and 1233. and one at Laon in 1232. when he put the business so home that in fine the King gave them satisfaction Before Charlemain the Arch-Bishop of Bourges pretended to no Primacy over the other Metropolitans of Aquitain but that King having made this City the Capital of the Kingdom of Aquitain composed of the three Provinces of that name and the Narbonnensis Prima which is Languedoc would needs to link them together the better that they should all resort for Spirituals to Bourges and the Pope authorised this Novelty the colour for it being that Bourges was the Metropolis of Aquitania Prima Thus this Bishop took up the Title of Primate and that of Patriarch over the Arch-Bishops of Narbonna Bourdeaux and Ausch He of Narbonna shook off the yoak at the time the Earls of Toulouze became Marquis de Gottia He of Bourdeaux would have done as much when Aquitania Tertia was left to the Kings of England under the Title of Dutchy of Guyenne He of Bourges stood upon the possession for at least three ages and the Judgment of several Popes but the other defended himself by his common Right and the antient usages of the Gallican Church The quarrel lasted a long while he of Bourges assembled many Councils for that business one amongst the rest in that City in the year 1212. proceeding always against the other as his inferior even so far as that Giles de Rome about the year 1302. caused Bertrand de Got to be Excommunicated by Gautier de Bragas of the Order of the Minors and Bishop of Poitiers because he like himself took up the Title of Primate of Aquitain Bertrand was so offended that Gautier who was his Suffragan should joyn with that party and have the confidence to fulminate against him that when he was raised to the Papacy being at Poitiers in 1308. he Deposed him and sent him hack to his Convent A terrible punishment for a Monk and indeed he fell sick upon it and it was easier for him to go out of the world then get out of the
the Catholicks by them It is most certain but for them the old Religion must have given place to the new Sect. The Regent favour'd them in show that they might not fly out to extremes In the mean time the Navarrois desiring to enlarge his power began a quarrel by demanding to have the Keys of the Kings House brought to him not to the Duke of Guise that honour being his due in respect of his Office of Grand-Maistre The pretence was but slight but the King of Navarre carried it on so high that he was upon leaving the Court with all the Princes of the Blood and the Constable to come to Paris and deliberate concerning the Government of the State What did the Queen She regains the Constable and that he might have a plausible excuse to break their intended project prevailed with the King to command him in presence of the Four Secretaries of State not to forsake or leave him So that the Navarrois apprehending they might perhaps do well enough now without him was advised to stay and came to an agreement with the Queen who augmented his power of Lieutenancy From that time the Constable began to fall off from the Princes of the Blood The same proposition concerning the repetition of gifts being renew'd in the particular Estates of Paris he was made believe it was chiefly aimed at him because he had in truth received an Hundred Thousand Crowns under Henry II. whereof he had given no account To the apprehension he was under of being obliged to repay this Sum were joyned the several exhortations of his Wife the Dutchess of Valentinois Honorat de Savoy Count de Villars his Brother in Law his Son Henry Lord of Danville all which under the specious pretence of preserving the Catholick Religion persuaded him to enter into a League with the Duke of Guise and the Mareschal de Saint André the remonstrances of the Prince the Coligny's his Nephews and his Son the Mareschal esteemed one of the wisest Lords in the Kingdom were not so prevalent as to hinder it The Huguenots named this Union the Triumvirat These Brouilleries had hitherto retarded the Kings Coronation When these three Lords were thus united they carried him to Reims where he received the Crown the fifteenth day of May from the hands of the Cardinal de Lorrain Arch-Bishop of that See The Duke of Guise pursuant to the ancient Order of the Kingdom which gives place according to the dignity of their Lands or antiquity of Peerage not according to their birth did there precede the Duke of Montpensier a Prince of the Blood the Queen-Regent having so adjudged it though on the other hand she would have Alexander Monsieur her second Son Year of our Lord 1561 precede the King of Navarre who had a more eminent Title which was not so practised at the Coronation of Francis II. It had been agreed by the Treaty of the general Peace that within three years the right of the Kings pretensions to the Territories of the Duke of Savoy should be Examined and settled by Commissioners on either part King Francis II. and the Duke had named Deputies for that end in the year 1560. Anthony Seguier President in Parliament and Anthony de Chandon Master of Requests who were for the King made Six Demands 1. The County of Nice which they said was a Member of the County of Provence 2. The Cities of Turin Cony Montdevis Albe Querasque and Savillan 3. The County of Ast which had been given in Dower to Valentine de Milan Wife of the Duke of Orleans 4. The Dependancies of the Marquiss de Salusses specified in an Arrest or Decree of Parliament in the year 1390. 5. Homage of that Duke for what he held in Daufiné on this side Guyer le Vif and elsewhere in Focygny and in Genevois and the inheritance of Louisa Mother of Francis I. They produced their Titles and their Pleas the Deputies for the Duke their exceptions and their answers but seeing on either side they acted rather as Advocates then Judges they could not agree upon any thing and made their reports severally and diversly The Duke could not therefore obtain any thing till the year following when he was so earnest with the King that by Letters Patents of the eight of August he commanded that they should restore to him Turin Chivas Quiers and Villa-Nuova d'Ast excepting only the Ammunitions and Artillery in exchange for Pignerol Savillan and Perouse with all the Lands within their Limits Imbert de la Platiere Bourdillon the Kings Lieutenant beyond the Alpes started many difficulties sent warm Remonstrances to the Council to prevent the Execution of that Order and would not obey till after three express Commands and upon the most solemn and authentick discharges that could be imagined Which yet would have availed but little if the Dukes had not paid all the Arrears that were due to the French Garrisons in the said places and had not moreover lent a Hundred Thousand Crowns to the King The Ambiguous conduct of the Regent fomented the Troubles On the one side she feigned to give a favourable ear to the Huguenots for she permitted John de Montluc Bishop of Valence and Peter du Vall Bishop of Sées to Preach even in the Kings Family such Doctrine as was very much like theirs She wrote a long Epistle to the Pope wherein she said that till there were a General Council they might safely be admitted to the Communion of the Roman Church since they held or taught nothing contrary to Holy Scripture or the seven first Oecumenical Councils She set forth an Edict which commanded all men to leave them in peace and released from Prison and call'd home from Banishment all such as had been prosecuted upon that single account This was the first they ever had in their favour and on the other side she incited the Constable to complain aloud and openly of these things thus done to the prejudice of the Roman Church Honour would not allow the Constable to joyn himself openly with the Duke of Guise whilst the Prince of Condé continued to be his Enemy wherefore he begg'd the Queen to make an accommodation between them Both of them being therefore commanded to come into the presence of the King the Princes Cardinals and great Officers the Duke of Guise Addressing his Speech to the Prince assured him he had no way contributed to his imprisonment the Prince replied he held him for a Rascal and a Traitor whoever were the Author of it the Duke answer'd he believed so to and that this did no way concern him This past the King Commanded them to embrace and promise each other a sincere and cordial amity An instrument hereof was drawn up in writing which was signed by the two Secretaries of State The Parliament was in such a heat against the Edict the Queen had obtained in favour of the Huguenots because they had sent it only to the Presidials and not to
the Disputes of the Donatists in Africk There was one at Colen in 346. which condemned Euphratas the Bishop of that City who denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ One at Arles in 353. One at Beziers in 356. One at Paris An. 362. All three for the business of the Arians The two first were favourable to them against S. Athanasius the Third condemned them One at Valence in the year 374. about Discipline One at Bourdeaux in 385. to whom Priscllians Cause having been referr'd by the Emperor Gratian that Heretick perceiving cleerly he was going to be condemned appealed to the Tyrant Maximus but it was to his great misfortune One at Treves the year following where Bishop Itacus was accused for having contrary to the Spirit of the Church prosecuted Priscillian and his Abettors to the death his Party or Cabal caused his bloody proceedings to be approved which notwithstanding were condemned by the most Conscientious Bishops One at Turin An. 397. Upon the desires of the Gallican Bishops to compose the differences about Proculus de Marseille and that of the Bishop of Arles and Vienne Proculus pretended to Ordain Bishops in some of the Churches in Provence which had been dismembred from his or himself had instituted they allowed him that Honour for himself only the Bishops of Arles and Vienna disputed the Right of Metropolitain it was divided between them by provision This Cause having been transferred to the Holy Chair and judged variously by three or four several Popes was determined by Symmachus Ann. 513. who conformably to the Sentence of Leo adjudged to Vienne only the Bishopricks of Valence Tarentaise Geneva and Grenoble and all the rest to Arles Our Margent not allowing room enough to set down all the Popes without incumbrance it was thought necessary to place them in the Page with the Kings in the same Reigns wherein they sate in the Holy Chair Though for those of this Fourth Age it seems more fit to range them here to the time of Pharamond Silvester I. therefore held the Chair from the 1 of February An. 314. till the last of December in the year 336. In the time of his Pope-ship Constantine the Great was Converted to the Faith and the Holy Nicean Council was Assembled An. 324. Marcus Governed from the 16th of January following to the 7th of October of the same year Julius the I. from the 27th of the same Month to the 13th of April of the year 352. Liberius from the 8th of May to the 3 of September in the year 367. Damasius from the 15th of that Month to the 11th of December An. 384. In 381. was the Council of Constantinople Siricius was Pope from the 12th of January to the 24th of February An. 398. Anastasius from the 14th of March of the same year till about the end of April An. 402. Innocent I. from the 14th of May to the 28th of July in the year 417. And Zosimus from the 18th of August to the 26th of December An. 418. The First Race Pharamond King I. POPES BONIFACE in December 418. S. almost Five years CELESTINE I. The 3 of Nov. 423. S. 8 years 5 Months whereof Five years in this Reign Year of our Lord 412 DURING the great Revolt of the Armoricâ—e or Maritime People who were those of the coast of Flanders Picardy Normandy and Bretagne which hapned towards the end of the year 412 The French King being joyned with them occupied that part of Germania Secunda named Ripuaria and the People Ripuarians or Ribarols The Romans by Treaty or otherwise left them the free Possession thereof and it was a little after this that Pharamond began to Reign We find in the Historians of those times that the French had had several Kings before him I do not speak of those of the Monk Hunibaud they being as Fabulous as the Author But we find towards the year 288. Genebaud and Atec who came to Treves to Demand a Peace of Maximian An. 307. Ascaric and Rhadagâ—ise whom Constantine took in War and whom he exposed to wild Beasts as a punishment for that having given their Faith to Constantius his Father they had nevertheless taken up Arms again In the year 374. one Mellobaudes who being Grand Master of the Militia and Count of the Palace to the Emperour Gratian flew and vanquished Macrian King of the Almans and did the Empire many other Services About the year 378. one Richemer who had the like Office under Gratian as Mellobaudes An. 382. One Priam or Priarius whom some will have to be the Father or Grandfather of Pharamond In the year 397. Marcomir and Sunnon Brothers the first of which Stilicon banished into Tuscany and caused the other to be Massacred by his own People when he attempted to stir to Revenge the exile of his Brother And An. 414 or 415. One Theodemer Son of Richemer who was Beheaded with his Mother Ascila for having attempted against the Empire Nevertheless common Opinion hath ever begun to reckon the Kings of France from Pharamond whether because the preceding ones had never had any fixed abode in Gaul or because he re-established the Royalty amongst the French In effect it seems the Romans had in some manner subjugated this Nation and after the Treatment they had shewn to Marcomir and Sunnon and Theodemer they would no longer suffer them to have any Kings Year of our Lord 1418 He began to Reign not in 424. which is the common opinion but in the year 418. very remarkable for a great Eclipse of the Sun It may be doubted whether Pharamond be a proper Name or whether it be only an Epithet which signifies that he was as it were the Father and the Stock of the French Nation For Pharamond in the German Language imports Mouth of Generations For the manner of the inauguration of the French Kings the Lords or Chief Heads having Elected them or at least approving them set them up on a great Shield or Target and caused them to be carried into the Field where the People were Assembled in Arms who confirmed this choice with acclamations and applause The same Ceremony was practised for Emperours and Gothish Kings The Scottish Historians begin the Kingdom of Scotland An. 422. with King Fergus from whom they derive the succession of their Kings though withal they will have us believe that he only restored it and that it was first begun or formed 330 years before the Nativity of JESUS CHRIST from which time it lasted till the days of the Tyrant Maximus who ruined it about the year 378. Year of our Lord 427 The Vandals who had passed out of Gaul into Spain were from thence called into Africk by Count Boniface Revolted against the Empress Placidia They went over to the number of 80000 only under the Conduct of their King Genseric and within seven or eight years drove the Romans totally from thence and setled their own Kingdom there Year of our Lord 428 The Romans drive the French beyond
before Gondiochus King of the Burgundians was dead and his Four Sons Gondebaud Godegesile Chilperic and Gondemar had shared his Kingdom amongst them Now Anno 477. Gondebaud the eldest and the most knowing of all had Year of our Lord 477 Leagued himself with the Second to dispoliate the two others at first he was defeated and kept himself hid for a time then when they thought him dead he comes forth on a suddain and surrounds them in Vienne Gondemar was burned in a Tower where he was defending himself Chilperic fell into the Victors hands who caused him to be Massacred with his two Sons and his Wife thrown into the River with a Stone tied to her Neck but spared the Lives of his two Daughters They were called Sedeleube and Clotilda both of them were of the Orthodox Faith though their Father and Vnkle were Arrians The First Consecrated her self to God the other Gondebaud kept and had her bred up in his own House King Childerick upon his return from an Expedition against the Almains is assaulted by a Fever and dyes aged at least 45 years of which he had Reigned 22 or 23. He left Four Children one Son whom they named Clouis and three Daughters Andeflede who espoused Theodorick King of the Orstogoths Alboflede and Lantilda Year of our Lord 481 These two received Baptism with their Brother Alboflede being Converted from Paganism and Lantilda from the Arrian Heresie These were not Married It is conjectured that he held his Royal Seat at Tournay because in our times in the year 1654. digging under some Houses there was a Tomb discovered and amongst other singular Curiosities was found a Ring whereon his Effigies and his Name are Engraved Clovis King V. Aged Fifteen years POPES FELIX III. The 8th of March S. Twelve years GELASIUS I. in March 492. S. Four years nine Months ANASTASIUS II. the 28 th Novemb. 496. S. Two years SYMMACHUS the 20th Novemb. 496. S. Fifteen years Eight Months whereof Three years in the following Reign CLovis or Louis for 't is the same Name handsome well shap'd and personally brave was not so soon at age to Command but he undertakes a War against Siagrius Son of that Gillon who had been set up in the place of his Father Childeric he Fights him and Defeats him near to Soissons the unfortunate Man flies to Aleric King of the Visigoths for refuge but Year of our Lord 481 Clovis by Threats forces him to send him back and when he hath him in his hands he puts him to death having first secured all his Towns to himself which were Soissons Rheims Provence Sens Troye Auxerre and some others and thus there remained nothing in the hands of the Romans amongst the Gauls Year of our Lord 484 It was a Law amongst the French that all the Plunder should be brought in common month Or 485. and shared amongst the Soldiers there had been taken a precious Vase or Vessel in a Church by his People he desired as a favour they would set it apart to restore it to the Bishop who had besought him for it an insolent Soldier opposed it and gave it a blow with an Ax saying he would have his share Clovis took no notice of it for the present but a year afterwards upon a general Review he quarrell'd with him because he did not keep his Arms in good Order and cleft his Head with his Battle-Axe a bold undertaking and which made him to be the more dreaded by the French From the year 489 Theodoric King of the Ostrogoths was entred into Italy after Year of our Lord 489 various events having overcome and put to death Odoacer King of the Heruli he setled a potent Monarchy there Anno 494. Year of our Lord 489 Clovis subdues a part of the Thuringians and imposes a Tribute upon them Year of our Lord 494 His Victories and his Conquests increase his Renown and his Dominion and lift him above other Princes his Power must have been great since Gondebaud King of the Burgundians was either his Vassal or his Officer perhaps Grand Master of his Militia Towards the end of the year 491 he Married Clotilda Daughter of King Childeric and Neece to that Gondebaud who consented not to that Match but out of fear Aurelian a French Lord was the Mediator and had the County of Melun for a recompence The Almains one of the most puissant people of Germany who then inhabited Suabia part of Retia on this side the Rhine Swisserland and perhaps the Countrey of Alsatia to Strasbourg were entred in hostile manner upon the Lands of Sigebert King of Colen or of the Ribarols Clovis his Kinsman went to his assistance Year of our Lord 496 and gave them Battle near Tolbiac it is guessed to be Zulg within Ten Leagues of Colen In the midst of the Engagement his Men gave ground and ran into disorder the greatness of the danger made him then think of Praying to the God of his Wife and to make a Vow that if he delivered him from that peril he would be Baptized Immediately the Scene of the day changed his Men returned to the Charge the Enemies were put to flight and left their King and a multitude of their Army slain upon the place He hotly pursued his Victory entred upon their Countrey and without Mercy exterminated all that were on this side of the Rhine the others saved themselves Year of our Lord 496 in Italy under the protection of Theodoric King of the Ostrogoths It is to be believed that at the intreaty of this great Prince who was his Brother-in-law he suffered such as desired it to return to their own Dwellings but he perfectly subdued them gave them some Counts and a Duke to Govern them and shared their Lands amongst his Captains After this check they had no more Kings and were but inconsiderable till the time of the Emperour Frederick the II. under whom in my opinion they gave the Name to all Germany As he returned from this Expedition his Wife took care to send some Holy Men to him to exhort him to keep his Word and to instruct him in the Orthodox Faith St. Vaast who was as then but a Priest and dwelt at Verdun Catechized him by the way St. Remy Arch-Bishop of Rheims powerful in Works and Eloquence confirmed him mightily in the belief of Christianity Having therefore brought the most part of his Captains to have a good opinion of this Conversion he received Holy Baptism with great Ceremony in the Church of Rheims on Christmass day Anno 496. The Bishops plunged him in the Consecrated Lavatory Three thousand of his French Subjects followed his example and this regenerated Flock with their Leader wore the White Robe eight days together according to the Ceremony then practised in the Church Year of our Lord 496 It is said that Heaven in favour of his Conversion Honoured him and the Kings of France his Successors with many miraculous and singular Favours
the Daughter of Theodoric was yet in his insancy The Fame of Clovis his Valour spread even to the East The Emperour Anastasius thereby to engage him the closer to the Empire sent him Consulary Honorary Letters and the Imperial Ornaments viz. The Purple Robe the Mantle and the Diadem Clovis having put them on in St. Martins Church Mounted on Horseback in the Portall and bestowed a Largess on the People after that day he was ever Treated with the Title of Consul and August which were not altogether useless to him towards the bringing the Gauls to better Obedience by those Titles for which they had still some reverence Theodoric King of the Ostrogoths jealous of his success takes in hand the Defence Year of our Lord 508 and 509. of his Grand-Son and sends a great Army on this side the Mountains made up of Goths and of Gepide and Commanded in Chief by the Count Ibba The French held then the City of Carcassonne besieged and the Burgundians that of Arles the first quitted their Siege and joyned the others at Arles to hinder him from passing the Rhosne There hapned many Combats and at last a bloody Battle the Count gained it having killed 30000 French and Burgundians and afterwards wrested from them all Year of our Lord 510 they had conquer'd in Provence and in Languedoc excepting Thoulouse and Vzez After this advantage Theoderic remained King of the Visigoths and having taken away the Crown and Life of Gesilac joyned what they held in Gaul and in Spain to his Kingdom of Italy till his Grandson Amalaric should be come of age Clovis fretted at these losses distemper'd with a long Fever and having the Spirit Year of our Lord 510 and 511. of a Conqueror that is to say Unjust and Sanguinary lays snares for the other petty Kings of the French who were his Kindred and rids himself of them by methods full of Cruelty and Treachery He incited Chloderic Son of Sigebâ—rt King of Colen to kill his Father and caused him afterwards to be Massacred by his own Domestiques He compelled Cararic and his Son we know not in what Countrey they Reigned perhaps it was at Triers or Arras to enter into Holy Orders and being informed that the Son expressed some threatnings he sent and caused the Throats of both to be cut He cleft in two the Heads of Ragnacaire King of Cambray and Riquier his Brother with a Battle-axe they being both delivered into his hands by their own Subjects and his Satellites assassinated Rignomer King of Mans in his own City He dyes himself at Paris the 26 th of November in the year 511. and is interred Year of our Lord 511 in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul which he Built and where St. Genewiefue had been buried the same year his Reign was 30 years and his Age 45. Some have made him parallel with Constantine the Great and find great resemblance betwixt them both for Good and Evil. He had four Sons living Thierry Clodomir Childebert and Clotaire the first by a Concubine the other three by Clotilda and by the same also a Daughter named Clota or Clotilda who Sixteen years afterwards married Amalaric Ring of the Visigoths in Spain Under his Reign the French wholly freed themselves from the Roman Empire and became their Allies on equal terms till then as I believe they had been stipendaries or tributary to them That part of Gall which reaches from the Rhine to the Loire was called France The French measured those Lands and took the third or fourth part which they shared amongst themselves There were but two sorts of People or Conditions amongst them the Free-men and the Slaves all the Free-men bore Arms. Gall which was almost a Desert began to be re-peopled and to rebuild their Towns The Galls paid a Tribute to the French but the natural French paid hardly any thing but their personal Service These lived according to the Salique Law the Galls Conformed to the Roman Institutions These were called Romans all the other Nations which flocked thither from beyond the limits of the Empire were named Barbarians They were bred to the exercise of War from their greenest years of a good shape and stature enured to Labour strong and so nimble that they were upon the Enemy almost as soon as the Dart they had thrown against them They had left off the use of Arrows and employ'd in their stead for offensive weapons the Sword the Angon which was a Dart of moderate length having an Iron bearded Head and cheeks of Iron and the two-edged Axe which they called Francisque This might be darted as well as the Angon but neerer at hand For defensive Aâ—ms unless it were their Commanders they had only the Buckler which they managed very dextrously to shelter and Tortoise-like cover themselves when they went to make a Charge or an Assault Their whole Armies were Infantry or if there were some few Horse they served only to attend the General and carry his Orders They retained a good part of the establishment made by the Romans as the manner of raising Imposts but much lesser of providing Magazines for the subsistance of their Forces of maintaing Horses and Carriages for Travellers on the great Roads of publick Sports Horse-racing and combats of wild Beasts and their Kings believed themselves as absolute as Emperours created Dukes Counts and great Masters of their Militia nay even Patricians and perhaps the Mayers of the Palace held the Office of Praefecti Praetorii In the Fifth and Sixth age the Gallican Church received few into the Church for Bishops but Saints or such as they made so They were for the most part the greatest Lords of the Countrey who to secure themselves from the suspicions and Year of our Lord 400. unto 500. or thereabouts jealousies the Visigoths and French might have against them cast themselves into the Church as a safe Harbor or Asylum They reckon amongst the most Holy Honorat d'Arles being of the Monastery of the Isle of Lerins which bears his Name to this day Hilary his Successor and Eueheres of Lyons coming from the same place German d'Auxerre and Loup de Troyes Palladius or Palais de Bourges Brice de Tours Agnan d'Orleans Simplicius de Vienne and Mamertus his Successor This was he who instituted or rather revived those Processions or Litanies we call Rogations which all the Church hath received All these did not survive the one half of this Age unless Loup or Lupus who lived a long while after In the Second lived Apollinaris-Sidonius of Clermont Alcimus Avitus the Successor to Mamert Eleutherius of Tournay Remy de Reims the true Apostle of the French and Vaast of Arras these three survived a long time after Clovis We should not omit the illustrious Virgin Geneviefve who even in her life time was the Patroness of Paris and remaineth so still nor St. Maximin or Mesmin Abbot of Micy near Orleans which Place now bears his Name
a right to concern themselves and to intermeddle about the Marriage of their Kings offended at so unnatural an act and besides touched with a just sence of pity for Wisgard whom Theodebert had contracted seven years before obliged the King to repudiate Deuteria and take Wisgarda This lived but two years and made room for a third Wife Year of our Lord 541 The following year Childebert's Uncle and he fell unawares upon Clotaire he had only time to retire with what people he could get together to the Forrest d'Arelaune neer the Banks of the Seine and to stop up the Avenues with great Trees cut down and laid across When they were ready to force him in this Post the Heavens moved by the Prayers of the Queen Clotilda excited a miraculous Tempest which not hurting the Camp of Clotaire and thundering upon theirs did so astonish them that they sent to him to desire a Peace and his Amity Theudis Reigned then over the Visigoths the French being ever their mortal enemies Year of our Lord 543 Childebert and Clotaire passed the Pireneans and ravaged all Arragon The City of Saragossa being besieged the Inhabitants bethought themselves of making a general Procession round their Walls in the habit of Penitents and Mourners carrying instead of a Banner the Vest of St. Vincent Martyr their Patron This extraordinary Spectacle amazed Childebert and mollisied him insomuch as he accepted of some Presents made him by the Bishop amongst which was the Robe of St. Vincent which he brought to Paris where he built a Church in Honour of that Martyr and put that precious Relique there in Depositum The Spanish Authors say that upon their return the French were beaten at their passage to the Mountains by one of the Generals of the Visigoths who was called Tediscle If this be so there is some likelyhood that they made two Expeditions into Year of our Lord 544. or 545. Spain at different times yet soon after one another In the year 548. Theudis King of the Visigoths was killed in his Palace and this Theudiscle set upon his Throne but within two years after be was Treated in the same Year of our Lord 548 manner and Agila put in his place Whilst the Imperialists and the Ostrogoths were engaged with each other Theodebert who was already master of Rhetia of Vindelicia and of Suevia would needs take his advantage of that War and by his Lieutenants Hamingue was the Principal made himself Master of the lesser Italy that is to say what they have since called Lombardy Year of our Lord 548 After which Justinians Forces having gained some advantage over his That Emperour had the vanity to thrust in amongst his other Titles that of Francica which is to say Conquerour of the French Theodebert not able to suffer it would cross over Panonia and Mesia and bring all his Power into Thrace to let him see the French were not vanquished As he was preparing for this Expedition a mournful accident took away his Life Being one day a Hunting an exercise fatal to many Princes a wild Bull pursued by his Huntsmen whom he waited for with a Javelin in his hand broke down a Branch which hit him so rudely upon the Head that a Fever seized him whereof he dyed in the 14th of his Reign and about the 43 of his Age. He had one Son and one Daughter Theodouval or Theodebaldus and Bertoaire Theodebaldus born of Deuteria succeeded in his Estates a Prince of a weak Mind and Body who became impotent and benummed from his Waste downwards Bertoaire kept her Virginity and served the Church with great Devotion About the time of the death of Theodebert hapned that also of Clotilda who piously ended her days at Tours She retired her self thither to pray to God on the Year of our Lord 548 Sepulchre of St. Martin where in those times were the greatest Devotions of the Gauls and French As Theodebert had been a Prince of vast Undertakings he had mightily burthened Year of our Lord 548 or 49. his Subjects with Imposts even the French Partenius had been the chief Author and Minister he was a terrible Glutton as most of those Men or Cattle generally are who took Aloes to digest his Meat wherewith he cramm'd himself and so emptied his Belly more Beast-like then he filled it The French Men being stirred up to do Justice upon him he besought two Bishops to convoy him to Tryers he was in no more safety there then at Mets the People seeking for him to murther him and having haled him out of a Church Chest where those Prelates had concealed him affronted him by a thousand Outrages and after tied him to a Post where they stoned him to death CHILDEBERT in Neustria at Paris CLOTAIRE in Neustria at Soissons THEODEBALDUS Aged 13 or 14 years in Australia Burgundy belonging to both these  Ambassadors from Justinian sollicited Theodebaldus to abandon the Defence of the Year of our Lord 551 Ostrogoths and to make a League with the Empire he refuses the one and the other and nevertheless sends his to Constantinople to Treat of some difference concerning the Cities he held in Italy They had full satisfaction from Justinian but could not prevail with him whatever instances they urged upon the requests of the Italian Bishops to restore to their Sees Pope Vigilius and Datius Bishop of Milan whom he detained and Treated very ill Year of our Lord 552 c. A Civil War being broke out amongst the Visigoths between King Agila and Athanagildes this last had recourse to the assistance of the Emperour Justinian who failed not to make use of so good an occasion The Patrician Liberius having conducted several Forces there on his behalf seized on several Towns and was going to regain all Spain as Belisarius had Africk if the Visigoths had not killed Agila and Elected Athanagildes which did not however prevent the Romans by the Alliances they made in the Countrey and with the assistance they received from time to time to maintain themselves there about 90 years till the Reign of Suintila who drove them quite out from thence Year of our Lord 552 Totila King of the Ostrogoths too proud of the Victories gained over the Romans is Defeated and slain in Battle by Narses the Eunuque Lieutenant to the Emperour Justinian Teia his Successor hath the same misfortune a short time after and Narses brought under the Imperial Laws the greatest portion of what that Nation possessed Thus the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths was extinguisht in Italy where it had subsisted but 58 years The remainder of the Ostrogoths having implored the assistance of the French two Alman Lords who were Brothers they were called Leutarius and Bucelinus by the permission rather then by Order of Theobaldus descend into Italy with 75000 Combatants partly Almans and partly French and ravage it both on the Right and Left even to the further end of the Countrey Year of our Lord 554 The Army of
Leutaire which had pierced as far as Otranto thinking to bring their Plunder to some safe place was beaten near Fano in the Province Emilia and from thence being Retreated by very difficult ways into Venetia which then belonged to Theobaldus when they thought to rest themselves in a little Town the small and unwholsome Lodgings bred so furious a Contagion that it destroyed them all not one Soldier escaping That of Bucelin who staid in the Countrey de Lavour being already weakned very much with the like Plagues was made an end of in a Battle which Narses gave them neer Capoiia from whence only Five Men escaped The year following the Duke Amingua another General of Theodebaldus being joyned with the gleanings Year of our Lord 555 of the Ostrogoths whom the Count Vidin had gathered up had the same fate as Bucelin there remained nothing to the French in Italy but the passage of the Alpes After such bloody Losses Theodebaldus ended his languishing Life being in the 20th of his Age and the 7th of his Reign He had Married but one Wife Valdrade Daughter of Wacon King of the Lombards by whom having no Children his Succession returned to his Two Great Uncles But Clotaire who was the strongest because he had Five Sons all bearing Arms seizes upon it immediately and on his Wife likewise whom he Married As touching the Kingdom Childebert who had none but Daughters durst not then speak a word but as for the Wife the Bishops made him so many Remonstrances about that Incest that he quitted her and gave her in Marriage to Garibald Duke of Bavaria CHILDEBERT in Neustria at Paris and CLOTAIRE in Neustria and Austrasia Burgundy to them Both. The Saxons who were Tributaries to the French even from the time of Thierry Year of our Lord 555. and 556. of Mets having heard of his death took occasion to Revolt conjoyntly with the Turingians Clotaire straightway goes thither and having beaten them near the Weser plundered the Countreys both of the one and the other Year of our Lord 556 The following year they revolt again but when saw him him on the Frontiers they sent Deputies to implore Mercy and to submit to any Conditions The French would give no Ear but resolved to chastise them and because he refused to lead them on they tore down his Tent and forced him to go in the Front and indeed they were beaten with a horrible slaughter and the King gladly proffer'd the Saxons that Peace which had been denied them Year of our Lord 557 His Brother Childebert jealous of his prosperities incited them a third time to take up Arms against him and at the same instant set his own Son Chramne to rebel against him Clotaire had bestowed on him the Government of Aquitain where he had behaved himself so tyrannically that great Complaints were brought against him his Father had therefore recalled him to Court to give an account of his actions he having refused to come he sends his two other Sons Charibert and Gontran into Aquitain to compel him to Obedience and in the mean time marches against the Saxons whom he brought under by several Defeats and imposed a Tribute on them of 500 Oxen. While he was in Saxony a rumour was spread that he was slain Childebert falls into Champagne and ravages it the two young Brothers being affrighted retired into Burgundy Chamne pursues them and from thence comes to Paris where he engages himself by an Oath to Childebert never to reconcile himself to his Father Year of our Lord 558 Childebert returning from Champagne was struck with a troublesome malady which having made him languish for some time ended not but in death St. Germain Bishop of Paris buried him in the Church of St. Vincent which he had Erected Amongst his Virtues he was eminent in his Charity towards the Poor and his Zeal for Religion The first made him part with all his Gold and Silver Plate to bestow it in Charity the other was signalized by the several Foundations for pious Uses and by his care to propagate the Faith and preserve its Purity For he made an Edict to demolish all the Pagan Temples and the Pope Pelagius being suspected guilty of the Errors condemned by the Council of Chalcedon he sent to him to know his Profession of the Faith that he might take some course against that scandal His Wife Ultrogoth survived him a long time and led a Holy Life with two Daughters she had by him they were named Chrotherge and Chrotesinda they never Married Their Uncle Clotaire whether in hatred to their Father or for fear lest they should pretend to the Succession detained them in prison with their Mother till he had secured himself of the Kingdom This is the First Example of the Salique Law in favour of the Males to the Crown Clotaire succeeded to the exclusion of his Nieces and he was so happy that having survived his three elder Brothers he rejoyned in his own person the entire Succession of the Grand Clovis Clotair I. King VII POPE JOHN III. 559. In March S. 14 years Two only under this Reign Year of our Lord 560 THe Prince Chramne destitute of the protection of Childebert reconciled himself to his Father but soon after he flies off again and retires into Bretagne to Conober one of the Princes of that Countrey for there were divers and such as did not depend upon the French His Father hotly pursues him and fought him neer the Sea-side History does not exactly mark out the place but that the Bretons were defeated Conober killed in the Fray and Chramine taken prisoner The cruel Father orders his People to burn him with his Wife and his Children which they presently executed on the spot putting Fire to a place filled with Straw where they had locked them up So cruel an action caused in him a cruel Repentance in vain he strove to appease Year of our Lord 560 that remorse by his Devotions and great Donations to the Church Coming back from a great Hunting in the Forrest of Cuise a burning Fever seized on his Bowels whereof he died at Compiegnè He was in the 61 year of his age and about the Year of our Lord 561 end of the 49th of his Reign His four Sons conducted his Corps with great Pomp the Priests Singing all the way of the City of Soissons where they buried him as he had ordained in the Church and before the Altar of St. Medard He had four or five Wives amongst the rest he kept two Sisters together at one time Ingonde and Haregonde by the First he left three Sons Cherebert Gontran Sigebert who Reigned and a Daughter named Clodosuinda who Married Alboin King of the Lombards By Haregonda he had Chilperic who Reigned likewise and by Ghinsine the unhappy Chramne Many Authors antient enough give him a Daughter named Blitilda and Marry her with the Senator Ansbert whom they make paternal Grandfather to St. Arnold Some modern
of Soissons and Paris in Neustria CHILDEBERT II. called the Young aged Five years in Austrasia Year of our Lord 575 The death of Sigebert was followed with a suddain and general Revolution the Austrasians raised the Siege of Tournay and having joyned with those who were at Vitry they retired in confusion the Neustrians returned to the Obedience of Chilperic and Brunehaud found her self surrounded and cooped up in Paris where she then was with her Children and knew not how to get thence But the wisdom of the Duke Gombaud the greatest Lord of Austrasia found out a way to save the Pupil Childebert having let him down over the Walls in a Basket and put him into the hands of a faithful Person who himself carried him into the City of Mets. Already some of the Austrasians had made their Composition with Chilperic but the rest being assembled together in great numbers according to their custom set the young Prince upon the Royal Seat on New-years-day and put him under the protection of Gontran so that Chilperic lost his hopes of invading that Kingdom but he seized upon that of Paris and banished Brunehaud to Rouen and her two Daughters to Meaux Year of our Lord 576 He had sent Meroveus his eldest Son by Queen Audovere to seize upon Poitou which belonged to the Kingdom of Childebert Meroveus instead of putting this design in execution went to Tours and from thence to Rouen where he suffered himself to be so much surprized with the charms of Brunehaud as then aged at least 28 years that he Married her Pretextat Bishop of Rouen God-father to the young Prince making the Marriage The Father hastens thither and having by deceitful words drawn those so newly Wedded out of a Church where they had taken shelter he set a Guard upon Brunehaud and carried his Son away with him Mean time the Austrasian Lords who were come to submit to him returned again to Childebert Godin amongst others who to carry somewhat with him that might bid him welcom armed the Champanois and made himself Master of Soissons where he wanted but little of surprizing Fredegonda Chilperic was quickly there vanquishes him and re-takes the Town but Fredegonda believing that Godin had not undertaken so bold an enterprize without the participation of Meroveus and Brunehaud obliged her Husband to confine that young Prince and a while after to force him to turn Priest and send him to the Monastery of Aunisse which is called now St. Calas the name of its first Abbot The Austrasians demand their Queen Brunehaud with so much earnestness that Year of our Lord 576 he sent her to them and yet he could not forbear to invade the Lands of Childebert His Son Clovis took the Town of Saintes but the Duke Didier going to besiege that of Limoges met in his way the Patrician Mummole whom Gontran sent to Year of our Lord 577 defend the Country belonging to his Pupil the Fight was so obstinate that there were slain Thirty thousand on both sides three parts of them were Didier's who saved himself with much ado About the same time Meroveus escaped from the Monastery and secured himself in the Church called St. Martins of Tours prompted thereto by Gailen his most intimate Confident who was come to visit him and drawn by Gontran-Boson who had sheltred himself in that place as we have related The Step-Mother Ferdegonda favoured this Boson for the same reason that Chilperic would put him to death and maintained a private Commerce with him that he might destroy Meroveus as he had made his Brother Theodebert to perish The young Prince having notice that Fredegonda sought by all means to take away his life did not find himself there in security He goes out from thence accompanied with this Boson whose treachery he knew not of and would go to find out Brunehaud but the Austrasians refused to admit him he remained then some time concealed and a Vagabond in Champagne After which this Boson and Giles Bishop of Rheims upon the pretence of delivering up the City of Teroüenne to him made him fall into their Ambuscades surrounding and taking him Prisoner in a Village of which they gave immediate notice to Chilperic he went thither with Year of our Lord 577 all diligence but found that his unfortunate Son was dead he had been Poynarded by the order of Fredegonda who made him believe that apprehending he should be put to tortures he had borrowed the helping hand of Gailen his favourite to dispatch him A while before the Bishop Pretextat his Godfather was accused before the Bishops assembled in Councel at Paris where no proofs appearing strong enough against him touching what was alledged he suffers himself to be induced by two false Brothers upon an assurance the King would pardon him to confess more than they could desire for which he was banished to an Island near Coustances but with hopes of returning because he pretended he had not been degraded though they had placed Melantius in his See Death having snatched away the two Sons which Gontran had by Austrigilda his second Wife although he were not above the age of getting Children not being above Fifty he desired the Austrasians to bring his Nephew Childebert to him and Adopted him having placed him in his Royal Seat These two Princes being thus allied sent to Chilperic to demand their part of the Kingdom of Paris and declared War against him Chilperic did but scoff at them diverting himself in building of Cirques or places for publick Spectacles at Paris and at Soissons where he would have entertained the People with Chariot-races could he have found Charioteers that had skill enough The Bretons about the year 441. had possessed themselves of Vannes afterwards Year of our Lord 578 Clovis had taken that place again and likewise the Cities of Nants and Rennes at that time governed by Roman Captains This year 578. Waroc or Guerec a Count of Bretagne had the boldness to seize again upon Vannes which appertained to the Kingdom of Chilperic and march up to the French who were encamped on the Banks of the River Vilain They had some Companies of Saxons or Sesnes-Bessins in their Army one night he passes the River and beat up their Quarter but three days afterwards finding himself too weak for so potent an Enemy he desires Peace swore fealty to the King and renders up the City of Vannes upon condition he should remain Governor A short while after he again seizes it and so long as he lived put the French to a great deal of trouble Chilperic and his wicked Wife Fredegonda over-burthened the People with Imposts they had taxed an Amphore of Wine upon every half Acre of Vineyard several other Charges upon things of another kind and a Tribute upon the head of every Slave and indeed a kind of Poll-money for every Freeman insomuch that their Subjects ran away out of the Kingdom as a place of Torment and peopled
concerning Degrees prohibited were different according to the different Countries In the beginning in some Churches they hardly prohibited the Marrying with two Sisters or two Brothers But the Council of Agde the third of Orleance and other following Councils extended it to a Niece to the Aunt to the Brothers Widdow and the Uncles to the Wives Sister to Cousins and Cousin-Germans There were Sanctuaries in the most famous Churches which the Bishops made good to the utmost of their power Their intercession often times obtained Pardon for the greatest Criminals and whatever failings themselves did fall into they most commonly came off only with Degradation or Banishment their Brethren most times persuading the Kings to spare their Lives St. Augustin had began to persuade the Faithful to give the Tithe of their Goods for the relief and support of the Poor grounded upon this Principle That Christians were obliged to a greater Perfection then the Jews who had allowed it to the Levites The Prelates of the second Council of Tours exhorted the People to pay them to God according to the example of the Patriarch Abraham The second of Mascon ordained it as being a Right and Duty Established in the Old Testament and which they affirmed had been of a very long time observed by the Christians The Temporal Lords to whom they primarily belonged bestowed much upon the Monasteries little on the Bishops and Curats to whom notwithstanding in case they were of Divine Right they ought to belong There were â—ew Festivals observed as Holy in all Churches except Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide The noblest of the Diocess were obliged to keep them in the Episcopal City the Country Curates the same as likewise to meet as the Synod which was yearly held at a time certain The King solemnised these Holy-days in what City he pleased and the Bishops ambitiously courted and strove who should have that honour in his own Church Since that Method being altered and the Charms of the World being stronger to allure the Bishops to Court then the Duties of Christianity were to draw the Court to the Church the Kings celebrated those Festivals in their Palaces and the Bishops forsaking their Flocks went thither in greater Crowds then was desired New Cells or Hermitages were not suffered to be made nor new Congregations of Monks without the Bishops allowance An Abbot durst not run forth nor absent himself from his Monastery when he fell into any fault the Bishop might displace him and give him a Successor and if he were rebellious he was not admitted to the Communion Shame alone could not confine and keep those in their Monasteries who had Vowed and Dedicated themselves to God but the Church compell'd them to continue by all the Penalties that were in her power No Tribute or Tax was raised upon any thing belonging to the Church neither upon their Foundations their Goods nor their Persons and neither the Judges nor the Kings Receivers could exercise any Power or Jurisdiction on their Lands But those Bishops and Abbots who desired to obtain the King's or the Grandees favour and protection having begun to make them Euloges or Presents this Custom grew into a necessary Right and Duty which was afterwards exacted from them when they failed to do it voluntarily Dagobert I. King XI POPE HONORIUS I. Who S. nine years and an half during this Reign DAGOBERT I. Aged Twenty six years in Neustria Austrasia and Burgundy ARIBERT Aged Thirteen or fourteen years in part of Aquitain Year of our Lord 629 PRince Aribert being with King Clotaire when he died it might be thought that in the absence of his Brother Dagobert who was in Austrasia he might with his Fathers Treasure have raised Men and Friends enough to have seized on the Kingdom but as he was young and perhaps his Father had bequeathed him no part in the Kingdom by his last Testament it was in vain that Brunolph his Mothers Brother endeavoured to stir up the Neustrians in his behalf Dagobert used such diligence that he made himself secure of the Kingdoms of Neustria and Burgundy so that Aribert with his Uncle were constrained to go and meet him and to submit It was in the beginning of the Seventh year of his Reign in Austrasia Year of our Lord 629 Nevertheless as it were out of pity and according to the counsel of the French Lords he gave him Saintonge Perigord Agenois Thoulousam and all the third Aquitain Aribert setled his Royal Throne at Thoulouse As soon as he was acknowledged in Neustria he went to visit Burgundy which in many years had not beheld a King but was governed by Mayers neither had they had any Mayer since the death of Varnaquier Being at St. John de Laone he heard the complaints of his People rendred Justice to all his Subjects took a care to compose all their Disputes but it seems all these fair appearances were but to cover a Villanous Murther for which purpose perhaps he had undertaken this Journey For one Morning going into a Bath he commanded three Lords of the Court to kill Brunolph who had followed him though he were guilty of nothing unless being affectionate to the Interest of his Nephew Aribert they might apprehend he would be again stirring and acting something for him It seems the Neustrian and the Austrasian Lords did each of them struggle who should possess the King The first carried it from the others by taking him on the blind side and flattering him in his Passions The Queen Gomatrude was an Austrasian of Kin to Cunibert and Pepin who were present at her Wedding the Neustrians who knew the amorous inclination of their Prince persuaded him to repudiate her upon the pretence of Barrenness to Marry Nantilda one that served him By this means Ega Mayer of the Neustrian Palace got the highest place in the young Kings favour who presently dismissed Cumbert but retained Pepin still at Court not to make use any more of his Counsel but for fear he might cause the Kingdom of Austrasia to revolt his Office of Mayer of the Palace and his Vertues giving him too great a power Nantilda was soon deprived of the Affection of her Husband by another Woman Being gone into Austrasia and delighting to shew himself in his Royal Habit to those Provinces with great Pomp and a splendid Court he in her room took a very beautiful Virgin named Ragnetrude Sometime after he Married two more Women Wlfegunde and Bertechilde for Kings thought they had this Priviledge of having several and took as many Mistresses as the desire and gust of change could wish for which is infinite After he had thrown off his two prudent Governours who kept him within compass he let himself loose to all the heats of his Youth and the violence of his Soveraign Authority The first cast him into all sorts of Pleasures The second made him heap up Money and lay his griping Hand upon his Subjects Treasure as if all had been his own It
whom as afterwards with Childeric II. his Son she had great Interest and Power This done Grimoald confidently sets up his Son upon the Throne there are proofs of some Royal Acts he did but this attempt lost him all the veneration the Austrasians had for the memory of Pepin and gave them such horror for their Mayre and his Son that having taken them in some Ambuscades laid for them they led Grimoald to Paris to King Clovis who caused him to be put to death or as others will have it confined him to perpetual imprisonment however there was Year of our Lord 652 no more heard of him It is not said what became of his Son nor whether the Austrasians elected another Mayre Perhaps Erchinoald executed that Office in all the three Kingdoms for since the Decease of Floacat the Burgundians had created none CLOVIS II. Solus Year of our Lord 653. c. In these Minorities there being no Authority great enough to curb the Grandees they audaciously undertook to do any thing what pleased them best and most commonly deciding their quarrels by the Sword they put all the Kingdom into a combustion The Authors of those times accuse Clovis with giving himself up to the Debauchery or pleasures of the Mouth and Women and make a mighty noise for his having plucked off an Arm from the Body of St. Denis to place it in his Oratory They say he immediately fell into a fit of Madness as if he had been smote from Heaven Year of our Lord 655 and attribute to this attempt which at the worst was but an indiscreet Zeal all the mischiefs that afflicted the Kingdom of Franee during the Reigns of his Successors The same year this King aged only 21 or 22 years but having his Brain much shaken Year of our Lord 655 with frequent Convulsions dries up at the Root and dies in the spring of his age He did not Reign Seventeen years if we leave out that whole year wherein Dagobert dyed as the Authors of these times usually do but if we account from the very day he succeeded him he was entring into the Eighteenth he was interred at St. Denis His Mayre Erchinoald had amongst his Domestiques a young English Maid named Batilda of a rare Beauty but whom he had bought out of the hands of Pyrats who had stollen her away amongst some other Captives for in those days they brought great numbers from those parts he bestowed her upon this young Prince for a Wife about the year 548 or 49. and of his Slave made her the Wife of his Year of our Lord 548 King It was given out that she was of the Blood of the Saxon Princes who Reigned in England By this Batilda Clovis had three Sons Clotaire Childeric and Thierry Clotaire was saluted King of Neustria and Burgundy under the Government of his Mother and Erchinoald and Childeric made King of Austrasia whither he was Conducted and left he and his Kingdom under the management of Vlfoad Mayre of that Kingdom Thierry had no share perhaps because he was but yet in his Cradle Clotaire III. King XIII POPES VITALIANUS Elected in August 655. S. Thirteen years three Months EBROIN Mayre CLOTAIRE III. King in Neustria and Burgundy aged at most but Five years CHILDERIC King of Australia aged Three or Four years Year of our Lord 655 THe Government of the Mayre Erchinoald ended with his Life which hapned in a few Months after the death of Clovis the II or as others say a short time before Some with probability enough make him the prime stock of the House of Alsatia whence is issued that of Lorrain of these days which for Nobility yields to none in Chistendom unless that of France The French bestowed that Office upon Ebroin a man active valiant and who being greatly in friendship with the most Holy Men of those times and Founder of some Churches was held a good Man and he lived in that Reputation many years Year of our Lord 655 c. Queen Batilda Governed with as much Goodness Prudence and Justice as any wiâ—e King could have done And indeed for Ten years together there hapned no Trouble in her Sons Reign Before her time the Gauls as well those Infants that lay in their Cradles as their Fathers paid a great Tribute by Poll which restrained many from Marrying or obliged them to expose their Children the good Queen discharged them from it and forbid those Jews that used to buy such poor innocent Children and send them into Forreign Countreys to deal any longer in so inhumane a Trade Nay she bought several that those Infidels had already purchased and likewise such as had been stollen away by Thieves and sold for that purpose but she exhorted them to put themselves into Monasteries which she very greatly desired might be well Peopled She had a very particular care for all that concerned the Church For some time past the Princes had taken Money for Spiritual Promotions and the Bishops sold by Retail what they bought in the Lump She forbad that Sacrilegious Traffick Year of our Lord 656. 57 c. Besides she enriched divers Monasteries with Possessions and precious Ornaments obtained immunities for them and exemptions from Tribute built two famous Monasteries one for Women at Chelles the other for Men at Corbie on the Somme and invited many Holy persons to Court but to tell truth she gave too much access to the Bishops either for the good of the Church or her own Reputation Year of our Lord 664 or 65. Amongst the rest there were two in very great credit and esteem Leger whom she had made Bishop of Autun and Sigebrand we cannot tell of what place This last extreamly proud of the Queens Favour which gave occasion of much jealousie and ill report amongst the envious did so highly distaste the great ones that they put him to death without any form of Process or Trial. After this attempt whether they apprehended the Resentments of that Princess or had slandered and bespattered her on purpose to make her uncapable to Govern they besought her so importunately to retire that she was obliged to condescend Even those whom she had most gratified with her Goodness were of the party Some of the Grandees conducted her to her Monastery of Chelles where of a Queen she became only a simple Nun and yet was more Illustrious in her Humility then she had been in her exalted Greatness She lived till the year 686. Year of our Lord 665. c. It is to be believed that Ebroin the Mayre had managed all this contrivance that he might be left sole Governour for when the Reyns were off his Pride his Avarice his Cruelty and Treachery began to appear bare-faced He seized the Goods he took away the Offices he hunted away the Greatest that were about the Court and forbid any others to come in there without his leave Above all he hated Leger the Bishop of Autun because he was a Creature of
ready to march in he was obliged to recall it because of the Death of Childebert The last of this Kings days was the 15th of April Anno 711. He was Aged about Year of our Lord 711 Twenty eight years and had enjoyed the Title of King Sixteen or seventeen years He was buried at the Church of St. Stephens at Coucy Though he had not the opportunity of doing any Act himself being as it were Tethered by the Authority of Pepin nevertheless they gave him the name of Just rather to distinguish him from the other Childebert then because he deserved it Some give him two Sons Dagobert and Childeric The first Reigned the other was bred up to Learning or clerkship and surnamed Daniel There are those that will make him to be the Son of Thierry the First The Piety of Gontran the Mildness and Justice of Clotaire and the Tranquillity of his Reign after the death of Brunehaud turned the genious of the French already very Devout to be highly Religious and inclined them more generally to Reverence holy things and such as they believed to have a more frequent Communication with Heaven The Kings and Grandees outvied each other who should bestow most Gifts upon the Churches They deposited in those sacred Treasuries even to their very Girdles their Belts their Precious Vessels their Apparel when they were rich and set with precious Stones or Embroidered their Houshold Furniture and any other Rarities which were more for Ornament then use It was then who should build most Churches and Hospitals and who should found the noblest Monasteries The Kings strove to exempt such as they founded from all Temporal Jurisdiction and Charges and to ascertain the full and free Possession of all what they bestowed And therefore because of the assumed power the Bishops had to lay hands on all those Goods and that they disposed of the Donations and Offerings which were made to any of the Churches within their Diocess and for that besides they took some certain Duties for Blessing the Chrisome for the Consecration of Altars for their Visiting and sometimes for Ordinations they obliged them to free them from all such Impositions and even not to meddle with any Monastery but to leave the Correction and Government of the Monks to the Abbot excepting in case he had not power enough to compel Obedience and withall to confer the Sacred Orders to such Monks as should be presented without exacting any thing The Princes on their part did likewise freely bestow many the like Immanities which exempted them as well from Contribution for their Lands and from all Imposts on their Goods as from New-years-Gifts Lodging and Expence of Judges which they claimed from all other People wherever they went to hold their Courts Now these Exemptions were agreed to by the Diocesan but with the consent of his Brethren of the Clergy That of St. Denis the oldest now remaining was conceded by Landry of Paris upon the intreaty of King Clovis II. Anno 659. in the Assembly of Clichy it containeth many more things then the Protocole or Deed of Marculfe That of Corbie was given by Bertefoy of Amiens Anno 664. at the request of Queen Batilda It makes mention that there had been the like heretofore granted to the Monasteries of Agaune and Lerins and Leuxeu Pope Adeodat in the year 672. confirmed that which had been granted to St. Martins at Tours saying That divers others in France had obtained the like without which he would not have given his consent it being contrary to the Canons There was the like granted to Fontenels by Ansbert of Rouen in a Council which he called for that purpose in that City 682. In fine there were few great Abbies that did not obtain the like and ever the last gained something more and enlarged themselves as I may say to the prejudice and cost of the Hierarchy who lent them her Authority to destroy her self and them likewise since the Perfection of a good and holy Monk consists in Obedience and Humility I hardly find any Age wherein the heat for a Monastick Life reigned so greatly as in this Such as were prompted with that Spirit went from one Country to another wandring in every corner to seek out Forests and Mountains which were the more and sooner peopled by how much they were the more solitary and melancholly Ireland Scotland and England sent great numbers of these good Monks into France Colombanus the most renowned of all Irish by Birth having been very well received by King Gontran then by Childebert built the famous Monastery of Luxeu in the Mountain of Vosge His Reputation spreading over the three Nations drew thither a vast number of People and the Sentence of the Council of Mascon in the year 627. who undertook the defence of this Institute against the Monk Agrestin who would oppose him gave him such a Vogue that it spread all over France going an equal pace with St. Bennets and producing most eminent Servants to God as Emery Deile Eustasius and Gal Disciples of Colombanus Eustasius was Abbot of Luxeu and Gal who was likewise an Irishman went and built a Monastery in the Country of the Swissers about which was afterwards raised the City of St. Gall. St. Vandrille built one in the Diocess of Rouen at that place called Fontenelle St. Riquier one in Vimieu St. Vallery and St. Josse two others in the Diocess of Amiens upon the Sea-coast This St. Josse was younger Brother of Judicael King of Bretagne and had for Brother Vinok and two more who all chose to lead the same Life St. Ghislain one in Haynault Romaric one for Nuns in the Vosge in the place where stood his Castle of Romberg St. Tron one in the Country of Liege St. Bavon one at Ghent St. Goar one on the River Woker near the Rhine All these Monasteries to this very day bear the names of these Saints The Princes or Grandees gave them Ground whereon to build them together with the assistance of devout People and sometimes some of them did build at their own Charge and Expence Sigebert King of Austrasia erected twelve A Lord named Bobelen four in the neighbourhood of Bourges Clovis II. or rather an Archdeacon of Paris St. Maur des Fossez The Queen Batilda two very famous ones viz. Corbie for Men and Chelles for Women King Thierry St. Vaast of Arras as an Expiation for having consented to the death of St Leger St. Ouin or Owen filled his Diocess with a great number the most illustrious of them are Fontenelle Fescamp and Gemieges This last as likewise that of Noir-moustier in an Island of Poitou was the work or production of the care of that Philebert whom we have mentioned St. Eloy amongst many others built one at Solongnac in Limousin and one for Virgins at Paris of which St. Aura was the Abbess At this time it is the Church of St. Eloy before the Palace inhabited
by the Barnabites Nor was there ever in France such prodigious multitudes and swarms of Monks who lived a most admirable Life in the Eye of all the World For besides those I have mentioned there was likewise Ame whom Colombanus had brought from the solitude of Agaune Bertin who made a Monastery at Sitieu 'T is there where at present is the City of St. Omers Germier who has given his name to a small City within twelve Leagues of Lyons Foursy a Scotchman who erected a Monastery at Lagny Landelin who began that of Lobe upon the Sambre St. Sor a Hermit in Perigord and divers others whose Memories the Church does Celebrate with Veneration We must acknowledge that these Flocks of Penitents were very useful to France yea beneficial to the Temporal Advantage For the frequent and long incursions of the Barbarians having destroy'd and laid it waste and desolate it was yet in many parts over-run with Thickets and Woods and in the low Grounds drowned and Boggy These good Monks who had not devoted themselves to God to live an idle life wrought with their hands to clear and drain and Plant and build not so much for themselves who liv'd in great frugality as to maintain the Poor so that of Barren Woody overflown drowned Desarts that were frightful to look upon they made fruitful and delightful places the Heavens with its sweetest influences favouring those places that were cultivated by such pure and disinterressed Hands I shall not mention how that all what is remaining of the History of those Ages has been preserved by them also and derived to us The weaker Sex had not less strength and resolution to lead this Penitent Life then the Men. The noblest Virgins sought for Husbands in the Cloister and Widdows found their greatest Comforts there Princesses built some expressly for their own Retirement Queen Batilda or Baudour made one at Chelles in Brie Fare or Burgundofare Sister to the Bishop St. Faron another in the same Country which is called Fare-monstier Gertrude a Virgin and â—egge her Sister Widdow of Ansegise Son of St. Arnold both Daughters of Pepin retired to that of Nivelle which their Mother Ita had founded Aldegouda and her Sister Vaâ—ltrude erected one at Maubeuge on the Sambre And Saleberge another in the Town of Laon. In all these Ages which we shall observe once for all a great many of the Bishops were taken out of Monasteries or made their retreat thither after they had served the Church some years Amongst those holy Pastors who most enlightned the Church by their Life and Doctrine we find in this Romain of Rouen who is said to have quelled and overcome a prodigious Dragon in memory whereof his Shrine hath yet the priviledge to save every year one Murtherer from Execution Faron de Meaux Magloire de Dol Archard de Noyon two Didiers one of Vienne Martyr'd by Brunehaud the other of Cahors promoted to that Bishoprick by Dagobert I. whose Grand-Treasurer he was Arnold of Metz Cunibert de Cologne Oudrille de Bourges Amand the Bishop of Tongres or Liege Audoen surnamed Dadon vulgarly St. Owen Successor to Romain before-mentioned and Eloy de Noyon after Archard These two were illustrious in the Court of Clotair II. the one for his rare Goldsmiths Works the other in the Office of Chancellor or Referendary and for his Counsel both these were Consecrated on the same day in the Reign of Clovis II. and this Character gave them the greater Authority with the King At the same time lived Landry of Paris Paul de Verdun Leger d'Autun Prey or Priet de Clermont who was not much his Friend no more then Owen or Ouin Omer de Terrouenne Sulpitious the Pious after Oudrille About the end of this Age or Century Robert first Bishop of Salzburgh in Bavaria Remacle Bishop of Tongres who was a Monk both before and afterwards and Wilbrod who took the name of Clement an English Priest in whose favour was first Established the Arch-Episcopal See at Vtrecht Anno 697. Amongst all these I observe four that made most generous Remonstrances to their Princes against their excess Amaud to King Dagobert Didier to Brunehaud Leger to Childeric and Lambert to Duke Pepin These three last sealed the Christian Truths with their Blood The Kings favour having the greatest influence in all Elections we must not wonder if those that attained to a Bishoprick by that means were either People of the Court or became so and if by the advantage of Study and Learning they had a little more knowledge and insight then others the Princes would keep them there to serve in their Councils But we may observe that the Court Air was no less dangerous to them then contrary to the Duty of their Residence since Arnold himself retired from thence to do Pennance and that those who passed for the most holy as Owen and Leger had their Interests their Cabals and their Passions there What can we believe of others who were less Vertuous but they committed all sorts of Irregularities which sometimes led them into the most enormous Crimes of which they were the Instruments and many times the Actors and Executioners For proof of this we need but call to mind that wicked Bishop who undertook to suborn Queen Beretrude those two Flatterers of Ebroin who forswore themselves upon the empty Cases or Shrines to bring Martin to Butchery and those two false Councils whereof the one condemned Didier of Vienne the other St. Leger d'Autun without ever endeavouring afterwards to interpose by Petitions and Prayers for saving their Lives which those Kings never refused them Because of these Disorders and those the Civil Wars produced which much troubled France the Councils were much less frequent then in the foregoing Age. We have already mentioned the Fifth of Paris There was one assembled at Mascon in 627. which approved the Rule of St. Colomban much opposed by the Monk Agrestin revolted against him Anno 630. there was one at Reims concerning Discipline one at Chaalons Anno 650. and one at Autun called by St. Leger Anno 670. for the same purpose In that of Chaalons Agapius and Bobon who as I believe were Concurrents were deposed There was one at Orleance in the year 645. which confuted a Greek Monothelite Heretick and drove him most shamefully out of France We have the Canons of that of Paris of Reims and of Chaalons and some of that of Autun which are most of them no other then a Confirmation of such as had been made by the foregoing Councils France had no share in the Controversy of the Monothelites who mightily disturbed the Eastern Church The shame that Grecian met with in the Council of Orleance who thought to have introduced that Heresie hindred others as I suppose from coming to Preach or cry it up and the French from being infected with it Which without doubt encouraged Pope Martin not to be daunted with the Threatnings of
needs then have been very aged but it appears rather that she was Sister to Odillon Duke of Bavaria and Widow of some Lord of that Countrey as yet very beautiful since Martel would take the trouble of bringing her unless it were some affection he had for the Neece whom indeed he was Married unto some while after After divers Wars against the People beyond the Rhine of which we have no particulars Year of our Lord 730 hapned that against Aquitain Duke Eudes had broken the Treaty made with Charles and made a League with the Sarrazin Munuza giving him for pledge of this Union his Daughter Lampagia one of the most beautiful Princesses of those times This Munuza was Governour of the Spanish Countreys on this side the Hebrus but was revolted from Iscam who was Caliph Charles who was ever on Horseback having had intelligence that Eudes moved falls immediately into Aquitain and having sacked it all as far as the Garonne severely chastised him for his breach But he was not quit for all this for at the same time as Charles went out Abdiracman or Abderame Lieutenant-General of the Caliph Iscam in Spain being entred Year of our Lord 731 in another way after he had vanquished and taken Munuza prisoner in Cerdagne with his new Spouse traversed Aquitania Tertia perhaps not without fighting the Gascons who held it and forced and sacked the City of Burdeaux In this manner it was that Eudes drew the Sarracens into France which hath given occasion to some to write that they were called in Now he durst not wait for them beyond the Rivers but was retreated on this side the Dordogne and there being reconciled with Martel he assembled his Forces staying for him to come and joyn him with his French Men. Abderame would not allow him the time but pressing still forwards passed the River to attaque him in his Camp Year of our Lord 732 The Duke stood his ground and fought him as bravely as could be but in the end was overcome with inestimable loss of People However some small portions of this great wrack were left him with which he made his Retreat and came and joyned Martel's Army which had passed the Loire and were Encamped some say near Tours upon the River of Cher others a little on this side of Poitiers Abderame following his blow after he had sacked the City of Poitiers marched Year of our Lord 732 directly to Tours to plunder the Sepulchre of St. Martin in his way he meets with Martel who puts him to a full stop The two Armys having looked with threatning countenance upon each other seven days beginning first with several skirmishes at length came to a general Battle which was given upon a Saturday in the month of October The Saracens being light and nimble charged with much briskness but being ill Armed broke themselves against the great Battallions of the French who were sheltred under their Bucklers There were great numbers slain but not 375000 as hath been said for in their whole Army there were but 80 or 100000 Men. Abderame himself the General perished there The night parted the fray and favoured the Infidels who not daring to abide another days Engagement Retreated by long Marches into Septimania the French perceived very late that their Camp was forsaken but fearing some stratagem and withal being busie in getting together and sharing the Plunder which was very rich they did not endeavour to pursue them Year of our Lord 733 This great Victory secured Christendom which would have become a prey to the Barbarians if they had gained France which was its only Bulwark but it seems Charles did not make good use of this great advantage no more then of all those others that Heaven bestowed upon him when he gained his ends he set himself upon persecuting every thing that cast but the least shaddow upon his Grandeur even the very Prelats whom he banished and imprisoned taking away not only the Treasures and Revenues of the Churches to pay his Captains but likewise bestowing on them Abby's and Bishopricks for their reward so that there were many without Pastors and Monasteries were filled more with Soldiers then with Monks The Churches of Lyons of Vienne of Auxerre were destitute of their Bishops and dispoiled of their Goods which he had given to his Martial Officers as if they had been a Prize taken from the Enemy Upon his return from Aquitain he banished Eucher bishop of Orleans with some of his Kindred First to Colen then into the Countrey of Hesbain because he defended the Rights and Possessions of the Church with too much courage Five years before he had also banished Rigobert Bishoy of Reims who had refused him his Gates when he marched against Rainfroy Year of our Lord 733 The Kingdom of Burgundy did not as yet own his Commands perhaps Arnold the Son of Grimoald whom some believe was their Duke thought to hold the Sovereignty When he had conquered the Saracens he marches directly to them and brings all the Countrey into subjection Year of our Lord 734 With the like expedition he vanquished the Frisons killed their Duke Popon who succeeded Ratbod in a great Battle subjugated afterwards the Ostergow and the Westergow these are two Countreys in West Frisia pulled down all their Temples their Sacred Groves and their Idols and covered all the Land with slaughter and destruction and the rubbish of their Ruines Year of our Lord 735 The year following a new War was kindled betwixt him and the Duke of Aquitain this Duke having been compelled to make a very disadvantageons Treaty with Charles to procure assistance against the Saracens as soon as the danger was over scorned to keep his word Therefore Martel marches a third time into his Countrey and having followed him at the very heels with his drawn Sword from place to place without being able to catch him returned home loaden with spoil The same year Death ended the misfortunes of that Duke but not those of Aquitain He had two Sons Hunoud and Hatton some add Remistang who to others appears rather to be his Wives Brother He bestowed upon Hatton the County of Poitiers for his Portion Hunoud had all the rest of the First and Second Aquitain of which he took possession as if it had been an Hereditary and Independant Estate Charles who would have no other partaker soon returned again with his Army and marching quite thorough to the Garonne seized upon Blaye and some other places so that Hunoud was constrained to submit to his Will and receive the Dutchy from him as he had before from his Father giving his Oath both to him and to his Son Pepin Year of our Lord 737 His Celerity and his Valour did let nothing escape the same year he beat the Aquitain Forces and went and setled the Governours that had disturbed the City of Lyons and a part of Burgundy and proceeding forward made sure of Provence and put Governours into Arles and
Piety For he left but one Fourth part of his Treasure and Goods to be divided amongst all his Children and gave the rest to the Poor and to the Metropolitan Churches of his Kingdoms He was buryed in the Church of Aix la Chapelle which he had erected He caused all the Laws and Customs of the several Nations under his Empire to be digested in writing contrived several Capitulary's or Ordinances he Collected all the ancient Poetry that contained the brave Acts of the French to serve as Memoirs for a History thereof which he did intend to Compose He understood Theology so well that he wrote himself against the Heresy of Felix Vrgel and about the controversy of Images He made Speeches in their great Assembly's and took as much care to make his Eloquence triumphant as his Arms. In the clearest Nights he pleased himself in the Observations of the Spheres and Planets whereof there are many curious things in his Annals which it is believed were made by himself To illustrate his Language which was the Dutch he brought it under Rules and made the Grammer and assigned names for all the Months in that Tongue as likewise for every Wind such as for the most part are retained to this very day In fine hitherto no King of France hath had a life and Reign so long and so Illustrious nor a Kingdom of so large extent as he His Fame would be without blemish as it is beyond parallel had he not been too much given up to Women and too indulgent towards his Mistresses and his Daughters in their carriage He had at least Three lawful Wives Hermengard Daughter of Didier King of the Lombards whom he repudiated the second year Hildegard Daughter of Childebrand Duke of Suabia and Fastrade Daughter of one Count Rodolph The last brought him no Children but Hildegard had Nine Four Sons and Five Daughters The Sons were Charles Pepin Lewis and Lotaire these two last were Twynns Lotaire dyed young Charles and Pepin fell in the strength of their Age. Louis reaped alone the whole Succession of his Father The Daughters were named Rotrude who was promised to the young Emperor Constantine Son of Leo the III. and Irene she dyed when Marriageable Berte who espoused Count Angilbert afterwards Abbot of St. Riquier Gisele who became a Nun and Hildegard and Adelelaid who dyed in infancy Neither the number or names of his Mistresses are set down who were not few but amongst his Bastards there is mentioned Pepin the Crook-back Hugo Duke of Burgundy called the Great Abbot Dreux Bishop of Mets and amongst Seven or Eight Daughters Tetrade Abbess of Argentuil Euphrasia Abbess of Saint Laurence of Bourges and Hildetrude who became scandalous in her Fathers House by her actions The Gallican Church had never yet been in so great disorder as towards the latter end of the Seventh Age or Century and to the middle of the Eighth and indeed they were above Sixty Years without any Council Nevertheless they had happily enough preserved their Temporal Estates under Pepin the young who was a liberal and religious Prince but Charles Martel his Son had not the same countenance nor shewed the same respect as he had done Many Prelates of Neustria and Burgundy having favoured Rainfroys Party gave him an occasion to squeeze them and the Wars he had against the Saracens furnished him with a pretence of taking away the riches of the Altars to defend them In some Countries he gave the Abbeys and Bishopricks to Lay-men who instead of keeping Clergy-men maintained Soldiers In others he took away their Lands and Tithes and distributed them amongst his Warriours The Priests and Monks that mixed with them laid down their Psalters to take up the Sword some out of pure licentiousness others to get a livelihood For the same reason the Bishops and Abbots turned Soldiers and were made Captains The whole Clergy was in extreme disorder the most of them had Concubines there were some Deacons known to have at least Four or Five in keeping The least debauched married Wives and proceeded even to second Marriages The Nuns neither kept their Cloisters nor their Vows In fine there was no rule no obedience of Inferiours towards their Superiours little Divine Service no Study and great ignorance in things of Religion and the Holy Canons This disorder gave opportunity to Boniface a Man very Illustrious in those days as well for his exemplary Life as his Activity and Zeal to strengthen himself with the Authority of the Pope that he might apply some Remedy He was an Englishman by birth who by a particular inspiration and emulation of divers holy men of the same Robe had gone from his Monastery to sow the Seed of the Gospel amongst the barbarous Nations in Germany especially the Frisiae the Turingi and the Catti and had devoted his Service to the Pope so strictly and intirely as to change his English name which was Vinfred or Winifred to that of Boniface he had been first made Bishop by Gregory the II then Archbishop by Gregory the III and by him not only honoured with the Pall but also with the Title of his Vicar In this quality he divided Bavaria where there was but one Bishoprick into Four Diocesses This was in the Year 739. The following Year he established Three in Germany one at Wirtsburgh another at Buraburgh and the third at Herpsford These two last held not this honour long But the Pope together with the Title of Vicar had given him power to call Councils and to make Bishops in those Countries which he had Converted to the Faith with Letters of Recommendation to those People and to Charles Martel praying him to take him into his protection which he did as likewise an Order to the Bishops of Bavaria and Germany to assemble together when he should call them as being his Vicar Now Prince Carloman having declared he would restore the Ecclesiastical Discipline Boniface embraced that work with much willingness and as he was active and indefatigable he advanced apace but not indeed without somewhat diminishing the Liberty and the Dignity of the Gallican Church to the advantage of the Popes At his instance Carloman held a Council in Germany the place is not mentioned where he assisted with the Grandees of his Kingdom and the Year after another at the Royal Palace of Leptines or Estines just against Bincks in Hanault which confirmed the Acts of the former Pepin likewise Convocated one at Soissons An. 754. and subscribed it with three of the Great Men of his Country's perhaps there might be one belonging to Neustria one to Burgundy and one to Aquitain In all these Councils Boniface presided in quality of Legate from the Holy Chair And in the first the Clergy Signed a Profession in writing which obliged them not only to keep the Catholique Faith but likewise to remain in Unity subject and obedient to the Roman Church and Saint Peters Vicar which being carried to Rome
Six at Arles at Ments at Reims at Towrs and at Chaalons on the Soan of all which the Canons are still to be found Thus the Church of France could not miss the being reformed and Pope Adrian would needs contribute towards it by giving several Reglements to Charlemain drawn from the Councils of the Greek and Latine Churches and the Papal degrees which he sent to him in the Year 789 by Ingilram Bishop of Mets. The Ecclesiastiques had their particular Judges for their Lands where the Kings Judges had no inspection neither for things Civil nor Criminal and as for their persons they were judged by none but of their own Body Now it was almost impossible to Convict them for mean and reproachful people were not admitted to accuse them and there were to be Seventy and Two Witnesses to Convict a Bishop Forty for a Priest Thirty Seven for a Deacon and Seven for others of inferiour degree all without exceptions and if they were of the Laity only such as had Wife and Children This last condition was required in all sorts of Testimonies at least in matters Criminal Charlemain excessively encreased the power of the Bishops by renewing in all his Dominions the Law of Constantine the Great quoted in the Sixteenth Book of the Theodosian Code which allows of one of the parties pleading before a Secular Judge to bring the Cause before the Bishops and leave it to their Arbitration without Appeal though the other party doth not consent thereunto Which would have still continued perhaps had they not corrupted the effects of so holy a Law by infinite deceits and by appeals to the Metropolitan and from thence to the Court of Rome against the express terms of it It was in the Eight Century that the Metropolitans commonly took up the Title of Arch-Bishops for there are none mentioned in the foregoing Those that subscribed the Council of Chaalons and to the immunity of the Abby of Saint Denis had not this Title as yet Towards the end of the same Age or about the beginning of the Ninth began the Devotion and Pilgrimages to Saint Jacques or James the Great in Gallieia This Apostle suffered Martyrdom at Jerusalem however his body was immediately carried into Spain and being hid in the times of the Pagan Persecution was not found out again till about that time by the Bishop of Iria near Compostella where King Alphonsus built him a Church at the recommendation of Charlemain Pope Leo transferr'd thither the Episcopal See of Iria and Two Hundred years afterwards Pope Calistus II. the Metropolis of Merida We find by the Ecclesiastical Capitulary's of Charlemain that there were besides some Chorevesques and although they were only the Successors of the Seventy Disciples they pretended nevertheless to do all Functions of Bishops who were Successors to the Apostles There were indeavours for Five or Six Hundred Years together used to bring them to the just bounds they ought to have kept it were difficult to describe it and in the end it was found much more easie to abolish then to regulate them The ignorance amongst the Bishops was amazing since they were enjoyned even to learn to understand the Lords-Prayer and Charlemain after so great a reformation had much ado to bring them only to make some little kind of exhortations to the Peple To dissipate these Clouds of Darkness it was ordained there should be Schools in the Bishopricks and the Abbeys but they only taught the Psalter Musick to Compose and Grammer I find one Capitulary that enjoyns them to send their Children to study Physick it does not mention at what place Under so ignorant a Prelacy the People could not but be blockish unpolished and very illiterate all their Religion was turned into Superstition and there were a great many Soothsayers Enchanters Tempestaries and other such infamous Sorcerers who were very wicked because they thought themselves such or would have others believe so We must not wonder if amidst such gross Ignorance even the very Women would needs Usurp a Power in the Church There were some Abbesses so vain without doubt because many of them were of great Families as to give their blessing to people with the sign of the Cross and Vail some Virgins with the Sacerdotal Authority Likewise the better to reform the Clergy it was ordained that they should live by Rules and in common The superiours of those Communities were called Abbots and they Chanons which is to say Regulars In those very times there were found to be certain Amphibies if I may so say Who put on the habit of the Religious and yet would neither be Monks nor Priests It was said they should be compelled to one of the two Professions it being fit they should make their choice to be either one or other The Covetousness of the Clergy was not less apparent then their ignorance all the Councils from the Fifth Century and all the Capitulary's are full of Rules and Orders to Tye them up from Selling of Holy Things They took Money for Ordinations for Visits for the Crisme for Baptising for Preaching for Confirmation and for every thing People of servile condition were not admitted to Orders which we should have noted before If such had been admitted their Masters had power to disband and turn them out of that sacred Militia and bring them back to the Slavery and Chains of their former mean condition Even the Free-men could not be admitted to enter into Orders or into a Monastery without Letters from the King because many were otherwise apt to creep in either out of base Cowardise as afraid to serve in the Wars or for want of understanding being seduced thereto by such as had a mind to get their Wealth and Estates from them Because the Arch-Deacons managed the Almes and Offerings the Laity would needs get that preferment and this abuse had been introduced in the former Ages Whatever Orders Pepin could make they still held the most part of the Abbeys and Bishopricks and enjoyed the Revenue allowing but a small portion thereof to the Bishops and Abbots Charlemain did almost quite root out this abuse and restored the liberty of Elections at least his Capitularies bear it however History makes mention that he often named and recommended people to Benefices Tithes were become obligatory so that such were excommunicated who did refuse to pay them after three admonitions and it was even exacted upon the encrease of Cattle Pious Donatives were not restrained unless by one Law which prohibited the Church from receiving any which disinherited Children and the next of Kin. Charlemain had a very great care of the poor Of every thing that was bestowed upon the Church there was Two Thirds alloted for them the other third only being for the Clergy unless in some places where they were richest they shared them equally afterwards they made the Division in Four parts one for the Bishop one for the Clerks one for the Poor and
one for Repairs The practice of publick Pennance and Absolutions was almost the same as in the Former Ages I mean the third and fourth as well as that of Baptisme which was performed by dipping or plunging not by throwing on or sprinkling of the Bishop or the Priest and this was only done at Easter and Whitsuntide unless upon urgent occasions The prayers for the dead were very frequent Singing made up a great part of their Study and Employment not only amongst the Clergy but the Nobility also that were very devout The French had brought this Passion towards Musick from Rome Bells grew also mighty common but they did not make any very great ones The Churches as well as most of their other Buildings were almost all of Wood. It was ordained that the Altars should be made of Stone The Bishops and Abbesses had their Vidames the Abbots their Advoyers or Advocates some Cities likewise had the same They were as their Proctors or Administrators in whose names all things were transacted and who Treated and Pleaded every where for them Every Bishop Abbot and Count had his Notary Excommunications were so frequent as they even became an abuse The person Excommunicated was Treated with great rigour no body would keep any Commerce or Conversation with them The Gallican Church had not extended the degrees prohibited in Marriage but to the Fourth in which Case it self they did not separate them being satisfied with imposing a Pennance on both the Parties but the Popes extended it to the Seventh and Gregory the II desired it might reach as far as any thing of parentage or kindred could be made out between the parties But if so it being notorious to Christians that all Mankind are of Kin in Adam to whom should they marry They likewise established the degrees of Spiritual Affinity between the Godfather and Godmother and between the Godson and his Godmother as well in Baptism as at Confirmation Notwithstanding the Corruptions we have noted the Church was not without her great Lights and Ornaments I mean a good number of Holy Men and some that were not Ignorant Amongst the Bishops Sylvin de Toulouze Wlfrain de Sens who renounced the Miter to go and Preach the Faith in Frisiae where he Converted Ratbod the II Son of that King of the same name who was so obstinate a defender of Idolatry Rigobert de Reims who was driven from his Seat by Martel Gregory of Vtrecht who was the Apostle of the Turingians and the Countries adjacent to Dorestat Corbinien Native of Chastres under Montlehery near Paris who was the first Bishop of Frisinghen in Bavaria as Suidbert the first of Verden Immeran of Ratisbon who was a Poitevin by birth Eucher d'Orleans who was banished by Martel and lived a good while after him as appears by the revelation he had how it fared with Martel after his death as hath been observed in the life of Martel if that were true Gombert held the Bishoprick of Sens and then retired to the solitude of the Vosge Lohier that of Sees and after him Godegrand doubly remarkable both for his own Vertue and for his Sisters Saint Opportune who took upon her the Vows of Virginity and listed many more into her Muster-Roll of whom she had the Gonduct But above all Boniface of Ments was eminent whom we have mentioned he suffered Martyrdom An. 754. amongst the Frisons He was Founder of the Great Abbey of Fulda in the Forrest of Buken the most Noble of all that are in Germany In the monasterial retirements we observe two Fulrads or Volrads the one Abbot of Saint Denis however a little too much taken up with Court Affairs and Negociations for one that is dedicated entirely to God the other Cousin to King Charlemain and Abbot of Saint Quentin Adelard of the same degree of parentage to the same King who withdrew from Court for the reasons we have before noted and was Abbot of Corbie and from thence recalled into the Kings Council Angilbert who exchanged the favour of Charlemain one of whose natural Daughters he had married for the austerity of the Monastery and was Abbot of Centule Pirmin who is said to have quitted the Bishoprick of Meaux and who having retired himself into a solitary place in Germany built there that Celebrated Abbey of Riche-Nowe Augia Dives and Nine or Ten other Monasteries in those parts and in Alsatia and the learned Alcuin to whom Charlemain gave the Abbey of Tours in recompence of those inestimable Treasures of Learning and Science he brought into France with Claud and John the Scotsman A great part of the Manners and Customes we described under the First Race were preserved under the Second All the great Offices of the Kings House were still the same unless the Maire of the Palace in whose place it seems the grand Seneschal or Dapifer succeeded but with much less authority and different Functions Hincmar sets down an Apocrisiaire a Count of the Palace a great Camerier or Chamberlain three Ministerial Officers to wit the Seneschal the Butler and the Count of the Stable one Mansionary that is grand Mareschal of the House Four Huntsmen and one Faulc'ner The King had ever a Council of State in his Train consisting of men chosen out of the Clergy and Nobility The Apocrisiary assisted in it when he pleased the other great Officers never went but as they were sent for Those of the Clergy had a place apart to meet in where they treated of Ecclesiastical Affairs as the Nobility treated of matters purely Temporal and when there was any thing of a mixt nature they joyned all together to determine it In the Militia and Courts of Justice we hardly meet now with any Dukes but only Earls some of whom were called Marquesses when the Care and Guarding of the Marches was committed to them which ordinarily was in the new Conquered Countries others were called Abbots either because they possessed the Revenue of the Abbeys or because they commanded some certain Company 's near the King and taught them their Discipline and Exercise the Grandees were called Princes and we have light enough even in those dark times to see that it was not in the power of the King to disseize them nor put them to death but by certain Forms and Rules and the Judgment of their Peers and Equals where he presided or in their general Assemblies I find three sorts of great Assemblies the general Pleas of the Provinces the May-Assembly whither came the Seniores Majores natu of the French people there they chiefly consulted about Warlike Affairs and the Conventus Colloquia Parliaments where met together the Bishops Abbots Counts and other Grandees consider of Laws and Rules for their Policy Justice and the Treasury as well as the Discipline of the Militia both sacred and prophane The two last kinds of Assembles were after confounded in one The Kings had ever made use of Envoyez or Intendan
of Justice But Charlenain made them ordinary and I observe that there were Intendances fixed and prpetual but no Intendants that were so Neither do I find that they hadany iâ— Aquitain nor in Lombardy He most commonly joyned in such Commissions 〈◊〉 Count and a Bishop Seldom do we find two of either of these qualities joynd in the same Commission they were called Missi Dominici and their Jurisdicton Missaticum The People found them Lodging and a certain quantity of Proision They took care chiefly to publish the Kings Orders and put them in Excution to hear the Peoples Complaints and do them right to punish the Cont or Bishop if they were faulty to reform and reverse unjust Judgments and coâ—pel the refractory to obey And if they wanted strength or power to effect it hey gave notice to the King They likewise drew up into Writings and Dâ—ds such Grants of Lands as the King and the Church bestowed in Benefice They roe their Circuits Four times a Year in January April July and October They coâ—d not keep Courts but in those Months and in Four different places if they thâ—ght fit They summoned the Counts and were forced to let them hold alâ—the rest They Elected Sheriffs with the consent of the people as also Aâ—oyers and Notary's The Sheriffs were if I mistake not the Assessours of the Câ—nts â—hose that were Free-men were only obliged to be at Four Assizes or Pleadings a â—ar This was a most Christian Method that the cause of the Poor was the firâ—of all determined the Kings business next then what belonged to the Church and last of all that which concerned the People in general The Centenier had not power of Condemning to death The King gave Audience one day in every Week before whom were brought only such Causes as concerned the Grandees who had no other Judge but himself or such whom the Commissioners or Counts had refused to do Justice to or had adjudged contrary to Law The licentiousness in times of War had made most part of the Frenchmen turn Thieves and Robbers and some of them false Coyners The greatest difficulties the Judges met withal were to suppress these disorders Those that made counterfeit Money had their hand cut off the other accomplices escap'd only with a Whipping They were forced to reduce all their Money to one sort of species and to punish such as harboured a Thief with the same severity as the Thief himself and that was the loss of an Eye for the first fault the loss of the Nose for the second and the third cost them their life Even in those days drunkenness was very frequent particularly in the Armies since they were fain to punish such as forced another to drink and he that made himself drunk was Excommunicated and Condemned to the Pennance of drinking Water only for a certain time The Law permitting every one to take his own satisfaction or revenge for an affront or injury unless he chose rather to accept of a certain Sum of Money Taxed by Law Murthers were very frequent Charlemain Commanded the Judges to be very careful in agreeing such as had any thing of a quarrel and if any appeared too obstinate to bring them before him There was three sorts of restraint the one was imprisonment another was a Guard set upon them the third was bail or caution who obliged themselves to answer for the Parties Homicide committed on a Clergy-man cost them much dearer then upon any other of equal condition for they were to pay 800 Sols of Gold for killing a Bishop 600 for murthering a Priest 400 for a Deacon and as much for a Monk Year of our Lord 814 The Method of making War and arming themselves was much changed since the Reign of Clovis They had as much Cavalry as Infantry almost and they used great Launces which they darted or retained in their hands after they had struck their blow They were Armed Cap a Pie their very Horse were barded so that a Squadron seemed to be all of Iron The Infantry had no Cuirasses on Armour but cover'd themselves admirably well with their Bucklers They also began to learn the use of Engins in some Sieges Whoever deserted the Army without leave incurred Capital Punishment Every one was obliged to carry Three Months Provision and Arms and Cloatâ—s for Six to be reckoned from the time they went beyond the Marches or Limâ—ts of their own Country This when they came from Aquitain hitherward wa the Loire to those that went thence into Spain it was the Pyrrenean to thoâ—e of Neustria when they made War on Germany it was the Rhine and to thoâ—e in the Provinces beyond that River when they were to march far into Germany it was the Elbe which were thus set as their Limits or Frontiers The Solders were allowed to take nothing but in an Enemies Countrey Those Lords tat led them were responsable for their pilfering and they were disbanded presenly in the Field if they did not justly punish them When the Captains cameo Court they were presented with some Gifts or Regalia and it was the Queenâ—d the care and charge of such distributions or in her absence the grand Chambriar â— Chamberlain Though the Demeasnes of the King and those of the Church were inalierble they had been necessitated either to reward such as had served them or to â—tain such as could do them mischief to bestow upon several but it was â—ly for life and by title of gratification wherefore they were called Benefiâ— which term remains only in the Church Which had of two sorts the onef such Goods as are effected to such as deserve which at the present we call a Beâ—fice and the other certain Lands which they gave to Seculars to hold of 〈◊〉 during Life There were even in those times Arts and crafty ways to confound the demeasnes of the Crown with the Lands of particular People and this substraction was accounted for a Crime since it was punished with Banishment and Confiscation of Goods There were besides another sort of Lands which were called Dominicates appropriated to Dominus which was the King but which were Rented by particular Men at about the Ninth of the Profits These were ordinarily only some little Farmes or petty Portions of Lands perhaps lopp'd off from the greater ones belonging to the Crown which could not all be set to the most advantage The Levying of Moneys was of three sorts either by Poll or upon the fruits and growth of the Earth or Merchandize and Goods for Traffique But of the last kind the Carlovinian Princes took none but of the Trading Merchants For every one besides sent his Goods up and down in Carts or any other ways for his own Families use without paying the least Toll no more then those that supplyed the Kings Household or even those that went to the Wars We may again in some other place according as occasion requires take a summary Notice of certain Laws and
Usages practised in the time of the Carlovinian Race Year of our Lord 814 LOUIS I. CALLED Debonnaire or Pious King XXIV POPES LEO III. S. 2. Tears 4 Months under this Reign STEPHANUS V. Elect. in June 816. S. 7 Months PASCAL I. elect January 817. S. 7 Tears 3. Months and a half EUGENIUS II. Elect. in 824. S. 3. Tears 3 Months VALENTINE Eect in 827. S. 40 Dayes GREGORY IV. Elect. in September 827. S. 16 Tears whereof 13 under this Reign Lewis I. Called the Debonnaire Emperour and King of France Aged about 35 Years Bernard his Nephew King of Italy Aged 16 Years Year of our Lord 814 As the Court of that Prince whose Reign is at end is ever an Enemy to that which is to succeed it was to be feared there might be some Faction in that of Charlemain which would oppose the advancement of Lewis He particularly dreaded Walla an undertaking person who being a Prince of the Blood and one that had a great hand in the management of his Fathers Affairs might have aspired to the Succession or have called in Bernard King of Italy who was the Elder Brothers Son and he might likewise have been incited thereto by the Daughters and Mistresses of Charlemain who were confederated against Lewis because he would reform their disorders The Forces he brought from Aquitain and which he gathered up in his way dispersed the whole Faction if any such were Walla comes to him upon his Summons with an intire submission and all the French Nobility made haste to go and meet him He had a very great mind to purge the Court from Scandal and to that end had Commanded Count Garnier to seize upon two Lords Odille and Tulle who lived too familiarly with his Sisters The first of these had the impudence to find out Garnier and murther him but he was cut in pieces on the place and the Emperor inraged at his insolence caused the eyes of Tulle to be put out After he had celebrated the Funeral of his Father and divided the Goods with his Brothers and Sisters he thrust out of the Court all those Women who were there only upon pleasure and sent his Sisters to remain in those Abbeys which Charlemain had bestow'd upon them Year of our Lord 814 The Ambassadors which his Father had sent to Constantinople returned home in Company with some who came from the Emperor Leo and brought with them a Treaty of Peace betwixt the two Emperors He sent Lothaire the eldest of his Three Sons into Bavaria and Pepin into Aquitain but retained Pepin at Court with himself because he was as yet too young Year of our Lord 814 Grimoald Duke of Benevent surrendred his Dutchy into his hands that he might receive it again and hold it from him upon condition of a yearly Tribute of Seven Thousand Crowns of Gold Bernard King of Italy in obedience to his Command came to wait on him acknowledged himself his Vassal and gave him Oath of Fidelity He could not require this in quality of Emperor nor as the first of the Family It must be in my opinion that Charlemain had given it to Bernard upon condition that he should hold it of his Uncle Year of our Lord 814 The Sons of Godfrey who had sheltred themselves in Sweden being returned to Denmark with their Friends had given Battel to Heriold and Reginfâ—oy where the last was slain but the others obtained the Victory Heriold driven out of his Country came to Louis to implore his Assistance and became his Vassal The French Counts who Commanded in Saxony with the Abrodites had orders to restore him again They passed the River Egid with a potent Army The Sons of Godfrey raised one more numerous and withal a Fleet of Two Hundred Sail but keeping themselves at Sea near an Island about Three Leagues from the Shore the French could do no other mischief but only scowre and plunder the Country Year of our Lord 4 The same Year a Peace was made with Abulaz King of the Moors or Saracens in Spain but that Prince being dead and the Moors still pillaging the Coasts of Italy and its Islands the Deputies of Calara in Sardinia obliged the Emperor to break it Year of our Lord 815 The Romans having Conspired against Pope Leo he put some to death by his own Authority The Emperor took those proceedings very ill as being contrary to his natural Clemency and his Soveraignty over the City of Rome He ordered Bernard King of Italy to go thither and inform himself of the full truth and particulars which he did the Pope on his part sent his Legates into France to cleer himself there but the Romans were so dissatisfied at that cruelty that Leo being fallen sick they did not only seize upon those Lands he had Usurped from them but likewise ransack'd his Castles in the Country Bernard was forced to send Vinigise Duke of Spoleta with an Army to appease the Tumult He took some of the most active and leading Mutineers and sent them into France Year of our Lord 816 The Sorabes having rebelled were reduced after the taking their best Hold by an Army of Austrasian French and Saxons The Gascons a giddy People had also taken the Field because their Count named Seguin was taken from them who had shewed himself disobedient to the Emperor They were punished for their insolence by the loss of two Battels and compelled to renounce him whom they had Elected in the room of Seguin We must observe that Gasconâ—ne was divided into a County and a Dutchy and that the County held of the Dutchy and comprehended the Country from the Pyreneâ—ns to the River of Adour so that Dags was part of it Pope Leo being dead the 23 d of May Stephen the Deacon was put in his place by Election of the Clergy He waited not for the Emperors confirmation to be Installed to whom nevertheless he made the Romans swear fidelity and afterwards came himself to him at Reims to tender his Devoirs The Emperor gave order to his Nephew Bernard to accompany him as far as the Alpes where divers Lords attended to receive him on his behalf and when he was gotten farther into the Country he found his Arch-Chaplain and Two or Three Bishops The Emperor staid for him at Reims received him upon his allighting off his Horse accompany'd him to the Abbey Church of Saint Remy which when they entred he took him by the hand to help him The French Clergy sung the Te Deum and the Romans made loud acclamations in the Emperors praise The Pope and the Emperor eat and drank some consecrated Bread and Wine together then the Emperor retired to the City and left him to lodge in the Abbey They entertained each other with Feasting and gave mutual Presents the Emperor began and the Sunday following the Pope Crowned both him and the Empress Hermengarde having purposely brought with him two gold Crowns that for the Emperor was set all
Party the strongest by the help and addition of the Eastern French he obliged his Son Lotaire to come and submit to him in his Tent and give up the principals of the Confederates into his hands All the Lawyers and his Sons themselves Judged them worthy of Death He Pardoned them notwithstanding and did only command the Laity to be shorn and the Church-men to be shut up in Monasteries When he was got back to Aix he recalled his Wife and her Brothers who Year of our Lord 830 had been shaved at the beginning of the Commotion but he would not admit her till she had cleared her self according to the usual manner of every thing laid to her charge In the Easter-Holy-days he was so merciful that in Honour of him who with his own Blood had Redeemed all Mankind and obtained Pardon for Sinners He released and recalled likewise all those whom he had caused to be shorne and restored them to their Estates and Lands but he sent his three Sons into their own Kingdoms Bernard was admitted to purge himself by combat and there appearing no accuser to oppose him he purged himself by Oath Year of our Lord 832 After these broils neither of his three Sons shewed him a perfect obedience Pepin and Louis though he had enlarged their shares did not leave vexing him And Lotaire their elder did under-hand contrive all their practices Pepin being sent for to a general Assembly at Automne came not till they were broke up which made his Father keep him with him At the same time almost Louis was making ready to come and visit him with too great an Attendance But the Father going forth to meet him made him retire and pursued him as far as Augsburgh From thence he summoned him to be present at the Assembly of Franefort to which he obey'd Year of our Lord 832 When he had done with one another began anew He had intelligence that Pepin was again Arming himself he went therefore as far as the Palace of Iogontiac in Limosin where he Assembled the Estates of Aquitain The rebellious Son was forced to appear there And his Case having been discussed he was kept Prisoner As they were conveying him to Triers he escaped and assoon as his Father was out of Aquitain he got in again with the same evil Spirit In fine having been Summoned to appear at the general Assembly of Saint Martins he not obeying his Father punished his Rebellion by taking the Kingdom of Aquitain from him Year of our Lord 832 It was said that Gombaud the Monk enraged because Pepin hindred him from Governing the Emperor in recompence of his good Services stirred up his Fathers wrath against him and Judith with her Artifices compleating the Project pushed the young Prince on to these extreams that she might have his spoil for her own Son Charles as in effect the Emperor did bestow it on him and caused him to be acknowledged by the Lords of the Country to the great displeasure of the other two Sons who feared the like Treatment Year of our Lord 833 They therefore conspired all those afresh against him and the two youngest leave the management of it all to Lotaire who brings Pope Gregory along with him the better to Authorize him They take the Field with a numerous Army The Father on his side gets his Forces together at Wormes for they were arrived nigh Basle The Ambassadors he sent to his Sons and the Pope finding they urged the Pope to Excommunicate him declared before his face that if he came for that purpose he might return Excommunicated himself since he trangressed the Holy-Canons The two Armies remained encamped between Basle and Strasburgh Five or Six days during which time the Emperor and the Pope had some conference about a Peace But under the pretence of Treating his men were debauched and persuaded to forsake him and went to the service of his Sons In so much that himself was likewise compell'd to go over to them having before Stipulated that his Wife nor his Son Charles should either of them forfeit Life or Limbs They immediately confin'd young Charles to the Monastery of Prom but did not shave him and banished the Mother to Tortona in Italy maintaining that her Marriage was Null because she was of Kin to their Father within the degree prohibited which was truth And that in those days was accounted a crime so great by the Church that they punished it with the utmost rigour Add that the Prelats were mightily offended with her for that she had caused Frederic Bishop of Vtrecht a man reputed to be of Holy-life to be Massacred because he had dared to reprove the Emperor publickly as he was eating at his own Table The Debonnaire being thus detained Pepin returned to Aquitaine and Louis to Bavaria Lotaire assigned a general Assembly at Compiegne to be on the first of October leaving his Father under a strong Guard in the Monastery of Saint Medard Year of our Lord 833 of Soissons During the Assembly the French beginning to be touched with compassion towards their ancient Emperor some Lords with some of the Bishops who feared they should be punished if ever he were again restored contrived wholly to exclude him by degrading and condemning him to do publick Pennance Ebon Arch-Bishop of Reims his Foster-brother and his School fellow but Son of a Slave was the principal Author and Promoter of this Counsel The Ceremony of this Degradation was as follows The Bishops having remonstrated his Scandalous faults to him he sent for his Son Lotaire and his Princes and made his reconciliation with him Then they led him into St. Medards Church where prostrated before the Altar upon a Sack-cloth he confessed he had been the cause of great mischiefs and troubles to France and the Bishops exhorting him to name his Crimes openly he repeated them according to a writing they had given him containing amongst other things that he had committed Sacriledge Parricide and Homicide in that he had violated the Solemn Oath made to his Father in the Church and Presence of the Bishops consented to the Death of his Nephew and done violence to his Relations That he had broken the agreement made betwixt his Children for the Peace of the Kingdom and compelled his Subjects to take new Oathes which was Perjury from whence proceeded all manner of mischiefs in the Government That after so many disorders and infinite damages and losses to his People he had again brought them together to destroy each other For which he desired pardon of God Then he presented a Paper to the Bishops who laid it upon the Altar After this they took off his Military Girdle which was laid there likewise And lastly they disrobed him of his secular Habit and cloathed him with a Penitential one which was never to be quitted when once they had put it on The People that is say to the Soldiery who would dave trampled him under foot before he was depes'd now pittied
him after his deposition Louis King of Germany feeling some remorse or thinking to Aggrandize himself if he restored him Sollicited Lotaire to deliver him to which Pepin joyned his interest But Lotaire not being inclinable thereto and having transfer'd him thence to Compiegne and then to Saint Denis both of them brought their Forces into the Field and appointed a place to joyn together nigh Paris Lotaire observing they flocked thither from all parts amuses them for some days with the Prospect of a Peace then finding there was no safety for him he takes his way by Burgundy and retires to Vienne leaving his Father at Saint Denis The Debonnaire being at liberty would not immediately put on his Imperial Robes but first desired to be reconciled to the Church by the Bishops So that even in Saint Denis Church it self they returned the Crown and Military girdle to him with the deliberation and consent or Counsel of the French People Some time after a couple of Bishops brought his Wife and his Son Charles to him who were set at liberty by those that were to guard him Year of our Lord 834 Lotaire had placed some Counts in the Cities above the Loire amongst others Lambert at Nantes and Mainfroy at Orleans who undertook to preserve those Countries for him These Counts having with great advantage defeated those sent by the Emperor who went and unadvisedly Attaqued them did so importunately Sollicite their Master to return thither and pursue the Victory that he went to them immediately having forced and burnt the City of Chaalons upon the Soane Pepin was come to the assistance of his Father with considerable Forces So that they were much Superiour to him in strength Nevertheless he came and Encamped right over against them not far from the City of Blois promising himself to withdraw and get away his Men as formerly But finding that on the contrary he was in danger of being forsaken by his men and that he could not make his retreat without a hazardous Battel he resolved to come and beg pardon which he could never have obtained had he been taken with his Sword in Hand His Father received him Sitting on a Throne which was raised very high in the midst of his Tent where he would see him prostrate on his knees and condescended not to pardon him and his but upon condition he should come no more into France without his leave but should remain in Italy all the passages from which place he shut up after him with strong Garrisons Year of our Lord 834 The Princes party being thus abandoned and without support Ebon Arch-Bishop of Reims who had most contributed to the degradation of the Emperor being taken as he was flying away with the Churches Treasure was brought before the Year of our Lord 835 Parliament of Mets. And there the Emperor accused him personally after his own restauration had been signed by all the Grandees The unhappy Creature did not endeavour to make any defence but as a favour desired he might be judged in private by the Bishops and owned his Crimes in writing whereupon he was deposed and subscribed his own degradation After this Ignominy he retired into Italy to Lotaire whither many others had already saved themselves Year of our Lord 835. And 836. It had been much better for the quiet of France that Lotaire had never repassed the Mountains But the Empress Judith desiring to have a support for her Son Charles after the death of the old Emperor who was very Sickly and Infirm endeavoured to reconcile them and caused word to be sent that he should come to Court To which notwithstanding he durst not trust so soon And besides he could not have come being at that time fallen ill of an Epidemical distemper which brought him to extremity and almost all the French Lords who went thither with him to their Graves It carried off Valac esteemed the best Head-piece and the most powerful Genius of his Court as it had been of Charlemains and so many other of the most considerable Lords that it was said it had left France naked both of Counsel and Strength Year of our Lord 836 In the year 836. the Emperor had a design to go and visit the Sepulchres of the Holy-Apostles in Rome But the Rumour of the Normands falling upon Frisia where they burnt Dorstat and Antwerp detained him in France where he called general Assemblies as was usual Year of our Lord 837 Towards Easter-day there appeared a Comet in the Heavens in the Sign Virgo which having in 25 days passed thorough the Signs of Leo Cancer and Gemini came and lost its Train and Globe of Fire right against the Head of Taurus under the Feet of the great Bear The Emperor who was a great Astronomer did first discover it There had been another Visible the preceding year on the 11th of April in the Sign Libra which shewed its self but three days only The principal cause of the trouble and Rebellions of Debonnaires Children was the frequent alteration he made in the partitions and division of the Portions of his Sons The Empress who feared Lotaire and desired to gain him persuaded her Husband to send for him and to propound to him the division of his whole Estate in two parts Aquitaine and Bavaria not comprehended whereof the Emperor should chuse one or else that he should divide it and Lotaire should take his choice Lotaire referr'd the division to him and that being done he took the Eastern France from the Meuse upward and left the Western to Charles his youngest Brother obliging himself by Oath to defend him and not to undertake any thing against the will of his Father Year of our Lord 838 The Normands ceased not from pillaging the Coasts of Flanders They had gained a great Battel in the Island Walcheren which makes part of Zeland where the Count of that Country was slian and having afterwards Fortified themselves in that Post made great Ravage till the French Army beat them from thence Year of our Lord 838 From the First of January a Comet appeared in the Sign Scorpio a little after the Sun-set Some fancied it presaged the Death of Pepin King of Aquitaine which followed in the Month of November after He was Aged some 35 years and had Reigned Twenty one They buried him at Sainte Croix of Poitiers He left by his Wife Engeltrude Daughter of Thiebert Earl of Matrie two Sons Pepin and Charles whose adventures we shall relate in due place and one Daughter named Matilda who Married Giraud Count of Poitiers To have done as Charlemain when a King had allotted his Children their division and that one hapned to dye if this left any Sons it depended on the People to Elect one in his stead or to let his share be given amongst the rest of the Brothers After the decease of Pepin there were two Parties in Aquitain One whereof a Lord named Emenon was Chief would have the eldest Son Pepin to
excommunicate and wrote very harsh Letters Year of our Lord 856 to young Lotaire threatning to deprive him of his Kingdom There is no craft nor submissions which this Prince did not put in practice to elude that Sentence But the Pope not valuing all those Arts sent a Legat into France named Arsenius who addressing himself to the German Louis called a Synod Year of our Lord 866 and taking upon him a Supream Authority declared to Lotaire that he must take his Wife again or remain excommunicated with all his Adherents The Kings his Uncles maintained this Sentence in such sort that for the time he was forced to obey But so soon as the Legat was departed France he began afresh to mis-use his Wife to threaten to make process against her for Adultery and prove that crime by combat The accused retires to the protection of Charles the Pope takes her business much to heart and excommunicates Valdrade and Duke Huebert Brother Year of our Lord 867 of this Queen rebelling against Lotaire plunders his Country kills his people and exercised all manner of cruelty till he was slain himself by Count Conrard Father of that Rodolph who was the First King of Burgundy beyond the Jour or Transjurain Salomon had fancied that the Kingdom of Bretagne though Neomene had obtained it rather by conquest then succession belonged to him because he was the Son Year of our Lord 867 of Rivalon eldest Brother to that King Thus having forgotten he was carefully and tenderly bred under his tuition he contrives a conspiracy against Herispoux his Son assaults him in the Fields then kills him in the Church to which he fled for safety and so puts the Crown all bloody upon his own head Neomene and he intitled themselves Kings of Bretagne and a great part of Gaule because in effect they possessed the Countries of Mayne and with that the lower Anjou which they had wrested from the French For this cause was Anjou divided in two Counties the one containing what is beyond the River Maine and held by these Breton Kings the other what lies on this side and remained to the French At the same time the Normans entring into Neustria by the Loire spread themselves all over Nantois Poitou Anjou and Tourraine Ranulfe Duke of Aquitain and Duke Robert the strong who was so called because he guarded those Marches against these Barbarians and the Bretons having attaqued them in a Post which they had fortified near the River were by misfortune both slain in the combat So that their Army wanting a Head though they got the advantage let those robbers get away from them Robert had two Sons very young Eudes and Robert whom we shall find to have reigned hereafter The Saracens tormented Italy no less Lotaire went thither with his Forces not only to assist the Emperor Louis his Brother but moreover by this means to deserve and gain the Favour of the Pope which was Adrian successor to Nicholas hoping in time to obtain the dissolution of his Marriage with Thietberge The Holy-Father received him very well because he assured him he had punctually obey'd to all that was enjoyned him but when both he and his came to receive the Holy Communion from his hands he obliged them all to swear it was true that he had quitted Valdrade Now it hapned shortly after that the most part of these Lords died of sickness or otherwise in such numbers and so suddenly as if they had been cut down by the Sword of an exterminating Angel and Lotaire himself was Seized with a Feaver at Luca which he drag'd along to Piacenza where he gave up the Ghost the 6 th of August Which some interpreted a divine Vengeance for the false and Sacrilegious Oath he and his Courtiers had made The Body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament being a destroying Sword to the wicked and unworthy Communicant Year of our Lord 868 His youngest Brother Charles King of Provence endeavoured to reap his succession and was Crowned at Mets by the Bishop Adventius But he survived not long after and died without Issue He was Interred in the Church of St. Peter's at Lyons LOUIS in Bavaria and Germany CHARLES in West-France Burgundy and Lorrain LOUIS II Emperour in Italy Year of our Lord 868. And 69. Charles who then held a Parliament at Poissy informed of the death of Lotaire went and Seized on the Kingdom of Lorraine neither minding the Emperor Louis Brother of the two last Kings to whom it should have belonged nor the Mediation of the Pope who desired him by an express Legation to do his Nephew Justice The Bishops of that Kingdom being Assembled at Mets gave him the Crown And Hincmar the Arch-Bishop chief promoter of that Decree put it on his Head with the usual Ceremonies Lotaire had one Son and two Daughters by Valdrade The two Daughters were Berte and Gisele Berte was first wife to Count Thibauld Father of Hugh Count and Marquess of Provence and by her second Marriage to Adelbert Marquess of Tuscany Father of Guy and Lambert Gisele was Wedded to Godfrey the Dane who Reigned in Friseland the Son was named Hugh who when he came to Age contended for the Kingdom of Lorrain Hermentrude Wife to Charles the Bald dying at St. Denis the 16 th of October Year of our Lord 869 he married for the second time Richende or Richilda his Mistriss Daughter of Earl Buvin or Boves and the Sister to Thietberge Widdow of King Lotaire III. It was with some justice but without legal power that the Pope should take Year of our Lord 870 any cognisance of the difference about Lotaire He dispatched a second Embassy to Charles the Bald to exhort him to surrender it to the Emperor Louis otherwise he would Excommunicate him And he wrote to the Bishops that they should forbear all Communion with that King unless they would be cut off from the Church of Rome Charles reply'd modestly enough to the Legats but the French Bishops went a higher Note and the Arch-Bishop Hincmar wrote very smart Letters to Adrian His Nephew of the same name Bishop of Laon was of an other opinion and with much heat maintained all those Orders brought from the Pope He had Excommunicated a Norman Lord because he detained some Lands belonging to his Church whereof the King had given him the Benefice His proceedings were blamed and condemned by the Bishops at the Synod of Verberie he appealed to the Pope for which cause his Uncle having cited him before the Council of Attigny which consisted of the Bishops of twelve Provinces he caused his Equipage to be Plundred by the way and when he came to the Assembly forced him to renounce Year of our Lord 870 his Appeal The Pope made grievous complaint of it and would have brought the Process and the two Hincmars to Rome but the Arch-Bishop reply'd with force and hindred him This dispute went so far that the Bishop of Laon was deposed and clapt in Prison
sometimes for his Rival The well meaning French tyred with these discords during which the Normans took their opportunity to return contrived I know not what kind of Truce between the two Kings It seems Burgundy and Aquitain Champagne and Picardy were to belong to Eudes all the rest was Charles's It troubled Arnold very much that contrary to the custom of France such Princes who were of Charlemain's Blood but only by the Female side should dismember the best Portions of his Succession He goes down therefore into Italy drives Guy de Spoleta out of all Lombardy and forces him to retire to Spoleta But he satisfied himself with that advantage only and went back into Germany Now this Guy labouring to gather an Army about Spoleta died of a bloody Flux say some though others make him to live a great while longer How-ever it were Arnold gained nothing by his Death for as he was at distance the Lords conferred the Kingdom upon Lambert his Son before Berenger his Competitor who thought to restore his own Title had time to take his measures This Lambert was Crowned Emperor and bare the Title as long as he lived In the mean time Arnold attaqued Rodolph in Burgundy beyond the Jour or Trans-jourane and put him to a great deal of trouble however he could not force Year of our Lord 895 him quite out of those Mountains Year of our Lord 895 The year following he held a Council at the Palace of Tribur which is betwixt Ottenhin and Ments on the other side of the Rhine and after that a Parliament at Wormes where King Eudes was present and upon his return Plundred the Baggage belonging to the Ambassadors whom Charles the Simple was sending to Arnold In this Assembly Arnoid with the consent of the Lords which he had very much ado to obtain got Zuentibold his Bastard Son to be accepted for King of Lorrain This young Prince embracing Charles's Party besieged the City of Laon then esteemed very important because of its advantageous situation upon a Hill But when he found Eudes returned out of Aquitain with his Army he raised the Siege and turned his back to him The Normans began again their Incursions on that unhappy Kingdom with so much the more assurance and facility as they found Eudes backward and careless to suppress them who indeed was only able to do it but left them to go on to revenge the inconstancy of the French who having made him King would not obey him as he expected and required This year Rollo or Rol one of the most considerable Leaders of those Pyrats after he found he could do nothing in England where he had tried to Land being also advertised by a Dream or divine Vision steered his course towards France and puts in at the Mouth of the Seine Perhaps he might be called in by Charles who turned every Stone to ruin his Rival As for the Empire of Italy Arnold being invited by Pope Formosus who would revenge himself for the outrages received from the Romans forced the City of Rome and having chastised them was Crowned Emperor But soon after as he was besieging the Widdow of Guy in the Castle of Fermo one of his Valets de chambre whom that subtil woman had corrupted gave him a Drink which laid him asleep for three whole days and brought him to be Paralytick for a while Year of our Lord 897 There hap'ned this year a horrible scandal in the Roman Church Formosus Bishop of Porto otherwhile degraded and condemned by Pope Nicholas was elected Pope after Stephanus VI. This was the first example in the Church and of most pernicious consequence as we find it now every day that without any necessity a Bishop is transferr'd to another See and as one may say does quit and forsake his first wife to marry another But after his death Pope Stephen VII his Successor caused him to be taken out of his Grave and having placed him in the Papal Chair dressed up in his Pontifical Ornaments reproved and told him that Year of our Lord 897 thorough his ambition he had violated the orders of the Church then condemned him as if he had been living disrobed him of his Ornaments cut off those three fingers with which he gave his Benediction and caused him to be thrown into the River Tiber with a stone about his neck Year of our Lord 898 The enterprises surprises and ren-counters between Charles and Eudes ended by the death of the latter which hapned the 3 d. of January An. 898. about the end of the 36 th of his Age and the 8 th of his Reign At his death he very earnestly desired and enjoyned his Brother Robert and the other Lords to own and acknowledge King Charles whom he hoped they should find a Prince as much deserving for his Vertues as his Birth to Rule over them He left but one Son by his Queen Theodorade named Arnold who took the Title of King of Aquitain But death soon snatcht the Crown from him before he was married or as I believe of Age enough to be so Arnold Emperor in Germany Charles alone in France Zuendibold in Lorraine Louis in Provence Rodolph in Burgundy Lambert in Italy Year of our Lord 898 The loss of the Kingdom of Lorrain did much displease the French wherefore Charles to gain their esteem endeavoured to recover it The rebellion of Duke Reinier who had been the Favourite of Zuendibold and whom that Prince had driven out of his Country did facilitate the means he therefore passed the Meuse with a great deal of company Zuendibold betakes himself to flight but soon after all his Lords coming to him he pursues him in his turn and there had been a Battel if the Lords on either Part had not procured a Truce between them Soon after an Assembly was held in the Abbey of Gorze nigh Mets which confirmed a Peace between Charles Arnold and Zuendibold Towards the end of the year Arnold died having Reigned twelve years since the Death of his Father Charles the Fatt And held the Empire only two years Year of our Lord 899 and a half He had divers Children by three several women amongst others Zuentibold and Arnold the Bad by two Concubines and Louis by a lawful Wife This last was but eight years old when his Father died Charles the Simple in France Zuentibold in Lorraine Louis in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Transjurane Lambert and Berenger in Italy The German Princes immediately Crowned Louis and committed his person to the care and Guardian-ship of Otho Duke of Saxony who was married to his Sister and Arch-Bishop Haton as they did the conduct of his Army to Lutpold or Leopold Duke of the Eastern Frontiers of Bavaria From whom some make the House Year of our Lord 900 of Bavaria to be derived The Dominions of Louis were soon enlarged by the death of Zuentibold who behaving himself with much irregularity and little justice and making his chief exercise
Holy Fathers After this Council and in the same place he made XXIX Capitulary's as was the Custom upon the like occasions The year following 817. he assembled the Abbots and their Monks in the same place who made XC Chapters or Rules for Monastick Discipline After which Bennet Abbot of Aniane laboured in the reformation of the Order of St. Bennet which was much uâ—settled and shatter'd The Laity were much given to abuse and often murther the Clergy And for this reason he called a Council at Thionville An. 821. where the Bishops ordained long and tedious penances for such as should commit those crimes The next year he convocated another at Atigny and there in imitation of the Example of the Great Theodosius he would needs voluntarily undergo publick Penance for the Death of Bernard and those violences he had committed against some other of his Kindred He also made several Capitulary's for the Government of Church and State To the same end and to find out some way to appease the wrath of God which appeared visibly in the frequent Incursions of the Normans he gave order An. 828. for the Assembling of four Councils the year following in four several parts of the Kingdom at Ments Paris Lyons and Thoulouze and framed Articles of what they were to consult about He confirmed the Decrees of all those four in one at Wormes which was held the same year in presence of some Legats sent by Pope Gregory IV. We have the Acts of that held at Paris which is the VI. of that name They are very judicious and divided into three Books He called another Assembly An. 832. in the Abbey of St. Denis to re-establish the Monastick Orders and Authorised this Reformation by a Declaration We must not amongst these Holy Assemblies place that of Compiegne where this good Prince was degraded and condemned to wear the Habit of a Penitent That of St. Denis in the year 834. reconciled him to the Church and restored him to the Communion The Council of Thionville did the same thing and besides that degraded Ebbon Arch-Bishop of Reims who had been the Principal Author of that attempt To shew his thankfulness to God as well by his works as his Prayers and Devotion he caused one to be held at Aix An. 836. where some excellent Decrees were made which the Father 's sent to Pepin of Aquitain thereby to admonish him of his Duty towards God and restrain him from treating the Churches so ill for the future as he had done These Decrees were Commented as one may say and Corroborated with Reasons and Arguments extracted from the Fathers which was frequently practised by the Councils of those Ages It would be too tedious to mention all those that were held during the Reign of Charles the Bald with all those Capitulary's which were framed for the same purpose of Reformation We have the Council of Lauriac in Anjou An. 843. that of Thionville and another at Vernon in An. 844. those of Beauvais and Meaux An. 845. that of Paris the year following to compleat the Regulations which could not be finished in that of Meaux One at Soissons in 853. and another at Verberie to digest all that had been Ordained at Soissons One at Touziack in the Bishoprick of Toul An. 860. composed of the Bishops of fourteen Provinces One at Soissons An. 866. One at Troyes the year after as it were for a supplement to that of Soissons all these being for the Reformation of Discipline and Manners Most of the others were for particular affairs and yet did often make Canons That of Ments in the year 848. where Rabanus Maurus the Arch-Bishop presided sent back Godeschale the Monk to Hinomar of Reims his Metropolitan who at the Council of Crecy on the Oise the same year caused him to be condemned This Monk was accused for preaching errors concerning the Doctrines of Predestination Free-will and the Redemption by the Blood of Jesus Christ These questions were debated again An. 853. in the third Council of Valence which met to prosecute the Bishop of that City for certain Crimes The Council of Paris of the year 847. was called for the business of Ebbon of Reims that of Tours met An. 849. about the enterprise of Neomene who had given the Bishops of Bretagne a Metropolitan and had thereby substracted them from the Arch-Bishoprick of Tours In that of Crescy An. 858. the Bishops deputed two of their Assembly to go and make remonstrances to Louis the Germanick upon his invading the Kingdom of his Brother Charles There was one at Savonieres the Suburbs of Toul An. 859. to make up that Breach Lotaire the Young convened two at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 860. about the business of the Marriage of Thietberge and Lotaire II. and there was likewise a third at Mets for the same Subject In that of Senlis An. 863. Hincmar caused Roüauld Bishop of Soissons to be degraded upon the accusation of a Priest whom Roüauld had deposed for being surprised with a Woman and Mutilated in those Parts or Members which are unuseful to a good Ecclesiastick Roüauld appealed to Rome Pope Nicholas sent word to Hincmar and the Bishops that they should order the Party accused to come to him that he might review his Process and upon the second Summons he interdicted their saying Mass till they did obey But Hincmar who had great Credit in the Gallican Church stood it out and caused Guards to be set upon Roüauld lest he should slip out of the Kingdom Nevertheless two years after he went to Rome and was restored to his Bishoprick by Pope Nicholas The same Holy Father ordered Herard Arch-Bishop of Tours to call a Council at Soissons An 866. which was the III to restore Wlfade and his Companions to their places of Clerks in the Church of Reims in case Hincmar who had displaced them refused to do so That of Troyes in 867. laboured in the same business There was a Council Verberie in 869. One at Atigny An. 870. and another at Douzy in 871. concerning the affair of the unfortunate Hincmar of Laon. In that of Atigny was likewise debated the division of the Kingdom of Lotaire I. and the Rebellion of Carloman Son to the Bald who was condemned to be kept Prisoner at Senlis Which was confirmed in another held at Senlis An. 873. The Council of Douzy II. An. 874. was against incestuous marriages and such as invaded any thing belonging to the Church That of Pontigon in 876 confirmed the Regulations framed in that of Pavia Pope John VIII having escaped out of the Captivity of Lambert Count of Spoleta and Albert Marquiss of Tuscany while he was in France called that of Troyes in 878. where he caused the Excommunication he had at Rome thrown upon those persecutors to be approved as also the Condemnation of Formosus Bishop of Porto and his Adherents The Bishops of Burgundy in that of Maintaille gave the Kingdom
to Boson An. 879. There was one at Fimes in Champagne in 881. amongst whose Acts we find an exhortation and advice to King Louis Son of Louis the Stammerer to Govern well King Arnold had one held at Mets An. 888. That of Valence in Daulphine An. 890. gave the Kingdom of Burgundy Cis-jurane or Arles to Louis the Son of Boson In the same Kingdom there was one at Vienne two years after of which some Canons are remaining The same year that of Reims where Foulks Successor to Hincmar presided which ordered comminatory Letters to Baudouin or Baidwin Earl of Flanders who Invaded the Propriety belonging to the Churches The question about the Worshipping of Images and that touching Predestination had like to have divided the Gallican Church For the first it is certain there were no Bishops in all France that would have broken them or rejected the Intercession of Saints unless Claude de Turin who was so pelted on all hands that he could not stand his ground But many and those of the most Learned amongst others Jonas of Orleans and Agobard of Lyons could not consent or yeild that Images should be adored In so much that the Emperors Theophilus and Michael having sent Ambassadors into France An. 825. to consult with the Debonnaire about the means to take away that Schism which divided the Greek Church from the Roman the Bishops who were Assembled at Paris to confer about it examined the Sayings of the Fathers with their reasons and opinions on that Subject whence they did infer that the Worshipping of Images was not to be permitted They also wrote Letters conformable thereunto to be sent unto the Pope on this occasion as well in their own as in the Emperors name and others likewise for his Holyness to send to the Eastern Emperors But we do not find that these resolutions had any effect the Gallican Church hath allowed and received the Worshipping of Images and hold those of a contrary opinion to be Heretiques For the question of Predestination that made more noise yâ—t It was Godeschale the Monk a Native of Germany but who had taken his Frock in the Abbey of Orbais in the Diocess of Soissons who gave occasion for these Disputes On his return from a Pilgrimage to Rome passing by Ments he made out some propositions upon this Subject which seemed to be hard and Scandalous he was accused for Teaching that God destined or Predestinated unchangeably the reprobated to be damned as the Elect to be glorified and therefore as he was the Author of good Actions so he was likewise the Author of Sin Those on the other side for him maintained that he held no other then the Doctrine of St. Augustine St. Gregory St. Fulgentius and in fine the whole Church which is that God prepares Eternal punishments for those whom he foresees will dye in Sin without Predestinating or Inclining them to Sin However it were Rabanus Maurus Arch-Bishop of Ments adjudged him guilty of the Error whereof he was accused but because in condemning him he seemed to contradict that Proposition in General that God Predestinates to Death not knowing it was the opinion of St. Fulgentius and authorised by many of the Fathers Godeschale reproached him that his was contrary to their Sentiments There is some likely-hood this Monk did not express himself with all that respect and submission he ought to so great a Prelat and indeed being cited before the Council of Ments he presented a Petition containing an accusation against him The Arch-Bishop call'd him Make-bate and Insolent and sent him back to Hincmar his Arch-Bishop to give judgment against him Hincmar who of himself had but little mercy and was besides'something evilly disposed against the Monk because of his too confident proceedings used great severity towards him For in the Council of Crecy he caused him to be condemned for his Incorrigible obstinacy and for his having been the cause of trouble to be deposed from the Order of Priesthood whipped till he should throw his Writings into a Fire which was kindled near him then shut up in close imprisonment where he died at ten or twelve years end He persisted however in his opinions to the last and Hincmar treating him like one excommunicated deny'd him the Sacraments even at the time of his dissolution and Christian Burial after his death Now as in the Council of Crecy that the Arch-Bishop had composed four Chapters wherein he seemed to refute that Proposition of St. Fulgentius and examine and oppose some others of St. Augustin's the greatest men of those Times withstood the enterprise Amongst others St. Prudence Bishop of Troyes Servais Loup a Priest of Ments Loup Abbot of Ferrieres Ratramne a Monk of Corbie Nay even the Church of Lyons to whose judgments Hincmar referr'd himselftogether with all those of the Kingdom of Arles and his Pastor St. Remy who for his Doctrine and Ecclesiastical capacity was to be compared with the ancient Fathers Divers Councils were held and many things written on either side especially by John Scot for Hincmar and by Florus for the Church of Lyons By which say the Learned it appears they were all for St. Augustine but did not well understand themselves or explain their own meaning clearly so that the Errors they charged each other withal lay only in the different Interpretations and Sence of either Party And indeed the Councils before whom these Controversies were brought wisely suppressed them declaring that they were to be considered in a more ample manner and sober discussion Which certainly they would never have done if there had appeared any positive or notorious errors in either Party All the mischief of this Storm fell upon two Priests Godeschale and John Scotus who suffer'd because they had reflected on the Bishops The first was handled as is above-mentioned the other having been mightily baffled and despised was compelled in the end to forsake the Court and Kingdom And even after his death was condemned as the Precursor of Berenger and the Sacramentarians Rabanus and Amalarius Deacon of Treves were likewise censured or blamed in their life time for holding that villainous or filthy opinion of the Stercoranists which is not to be explained without trespassing on that respect which is due to the most Sacred of all Mysteries The Authority especially was excessively encreased ever since Pepin made use of their interest to obtain the Crown and Charlemain after the Pattern of the Visi-Goth Kings would have affairs both Civil and Ecclesiastical debated in the same Assemblies where those Bishops being the Principals often times carried things so as best pleased and served themselves But the Rebellion of Louis the Debonnair's Children against their Father and afterwards the Civil Dissentions ensuing raised their power to a higher pitch yet and put them into such a Capacity that they seemed to pretend a Right of Electing Kings like the Pope who disposed of the Empire as if it had been a Benefice depending on him It is
be in their own power He therefore took this Business mightily to heart and dispatched the Abbot Leon to France with an order to the Prelates to Assemble in Council about that Affair and to Seguin Archbishop of Sens to Represent his Person amongst them Year of our Lord 994 Hugh complained opposed it and held good some time against this Enterprize But a new born Royalty could not but comply and yield at last to those Orders for fear of being quickly tumbled down again The Council which was held at Reims deposed Gerbert and restored Arnold to his See after three years imprisonment Gerbert withdrew himself to his Disciple King Otho who bestowed upon him the Archbishoprick of Ranonna from whence some years after he was raised to the Holy Chair Year of our Lord 994 In the year 994. the unhappy Charles died in Prison at Orleance It is not said what became of his Wife but he two Sons Otho and Lewis and two Daughters Gerberge and Hermengarde All these Children went to the Emperor Otho III. The eldest enjoyed the Dutchy of the lower Lorrain some years and died without Heirs The other is not mentioned Hereafter we shall take notice to whom his Daughters were Married Year of our Lord 994 and the following King Hugh as well as Pepin and all such Princes as set up by a new Title amongst People that are not perfectly Barbarians was truly Religious Devout and a lover of the Church and Church-men gave up all the Abbies he held and surrendred the Right of Election to the Clergy and Monks By his Example those Lords that possessed Church-Lands as their own Patrimony not only restored them but for Restitution of their unjust Enjoyment and Detention founded divers Monasteries which they peopled with reformed Monks who certainly were much less good and more interested then the former had been Year of our Lord 996 He ended his Life Anno 996. the 29th of August or according to others the 22th of November aged about Fifty five years having Reigned nine years and some months He was buried at St. Denis If he Married Blanche the Widow of Lewis last Carolovinian King he had no Children by her but by his first Wife Adeleide Daughter according to some of William II. Duke of Aquitain he had a Son named Robert and three Daughters Haduige or Avoye Wise of Renier IV. Earl of Monts and of Haynault Adelais Wife to Renand I. Earl of Nevers and Gisle who Wedded Hugh I. Earl of Pontieu to whom she brought the City of Abbeville in Marriage Year of our Lord 996 The same year 996. Richard surnamed Sans Peur or without Fear Duke of Normandy ended his days in his Palace of Fâ—scamp aged Sixty four years of which he had Reigned nine and was Interred before the Portal of the Church there His Son Richard II. succeeded him About these times that Sacred Fire which they named the Burning Sickness and had otherwhile made great destruction broke out and kindled again cruelly tormenting France especially for two Ages It seized again on a suddain and burnt the Intrails or some other part of the Body which fell off piece-meal Happy were those that escaped with the loss of a Leg or an Arm. This caused many great Donatives to be given to those Saints whose help they believed they had received in the midst of their dreadful Torments as likewise the frequent sounding of Hospitals for such as were infected with this Distemper The Calamity which Anno 994. destroyed in Aquitain Angoumois Perigord and Limosin above 40000 Persons in a few days time wrought at least this good that the Grandees who had troubled this Province by their private Feuds fearing the Wrath of God made a Solemn Oath amongst themselves to do Justice to their Subjects and for this end formed a Holy League which drew other Provinces by their Example to do the like It was likewise in this Age that Pilgrimages to the Holy Land grew very Frequent I mean amongst the Seculars for the Monks and Clergy-men travelled to those Holy Places from the time of King Clovis If the Tenth have deserved the name of the Iron Age which is commonly bestow'd upon it must have been for the continual and very Bloody Wars between the Western Princes and for the terrible Devastations of the Normans the Hungarians and the Saracens but if they called it so for the ignorance and irregularity of their Manners it was rather in respect to the Church of Rome where in truth there were horrible Disorders and Crimes then those of France and Germany It is certain that the Bishops and Abbots notwithstanding the Prohibitions of Princes and Councils bore Arms and went to the Wars a Custom which passed into a Law and Obligation and lasted a long time in the third Race That several were plunged into Vanity Luxury and Dissolution and lived rather like Princes of this World then Apostles of Jesus Christ That those Wars which scourged them made them yet but more worthy of Chastisement for the Disorders and Licentiousness they fell into That their Manners run to ruine with their Buildings and that as there hardly remained any Monastery or Church entire so there was scarce any Discipline left not even amongst the very Monks That in fine many Churches were without a Pastor for example there was but one Bishop in all the Country of Gascongny who enjoyed the Revenue of six or seven Bishopricks But after all these Ruines they began before the middle of this Century to gather up the broken pieces or fragments and reform the behaviour of the Clergy as well as rebuild their Churches William Duke of Aquitain and Auvergne having founded the Monastery of Clugny in the year 910. and St. Mayeule having raised as it were a Nursery of Religious good Men they took some Plants from thence to stock and furnish those Abbys which the Princes re-edifi'd This Abbot and Odillon his Successor furnished at least twenty or thirty who remained still in submission to their common Mother and formed the Congregation of Clugny As much did William Abbot of St. Benigne at Dijon as likewise Abbon de Fleury to some others about Aquitain Subordinations which may procure much good and perhaps much greater evils St. Gerard of the Blood of the Dukes of Lorrain having embraced a Monastick Life reformed Eighteen or twenty Adalberon Bishop of Metz Brother to Frederic first Earlo Bar made a Regulation in those of his Bishoprick amongst others in that of Gorze and at St. Arnold from whence he expelled the Canons who were grown disorderly to place Monks in their stead Abbon de Fleury going to settle his Reformation in the Monasteries of Squirs upon the Garonne which therefore was called the Rule and in the Language of that Country La Reovle and near to which was built a City of that name was knock'd down by a Sedition which the Gascon Monks of that place and the Women had raised against him Amongst the Bishops there
were divers that were noted for their famous Intriguing and Disorders In the Wars between the Kings Henry the Bird-catcher and Charles the Simple Hilduin falsifying his Faith which he owed to Charles who had given him the Bishoprick of Liege went and acknowledged Henry and forced away the Treasures of the Church which he distributed to that Prince and his Courtiers to maintain him but the face of Affairs being changed Charles would not suffer him to hold that Bishoprick but bestowed it upon the Abbot Richer which was confirmed by the Pope King Henry recompenced Hilduin with the Bishoprick of Milan Herve de Reims otherwise a very learned Prelate was likewise unfaithful to Charles the Simple whose Chancellor he was and Crowned Robert Brother to Eudes but he died within three days after as if he had been smitten by the avenging hand of God Seulfe Hugh and Artold his Successors did all cause many troubles for more then Twenty five years The Traytor Adalberon de Laon delivered up Prince Charles who had made him his prime Minister and Arnold de Reims was contented to owe the Obligation of that Archbishoprick to his Brothers mortal Enemy and then broke his Faith with him It will be difficult to cull out any so excelling in Christian Vertues as to merit the Titles of Saints unless we place in this Rank Erembert of Toulouze Gambert of Cahors and Turpion of Limoges I do not speak of those of Germany amongst them this Age produced a sufficient number whose Apostolical Labours and Endeavours converted the Danes Sclavonians Hungarians and other Infidel Nations But amongst the Monks we find in Burgundy five Abbots Bennon Odon Mayeule Odillon and William the four first of Clugity the last of St. Benigne and in Lorrain Gerard who are respected by the Church Books were become mighty scarce the Wars had almost destroy'd them all by burning tearing and other such like barbarities and as there were none but Monks who Transcribed the Copies and that Monasteries were much deserted the numbers of Learned Men were very small However Herve of Reims about the beginning of this Age Ruthier de Liege about the middle and Arnold d'Orleans towards the latter end made it appear they were not ignorant in the knowledge of Holy Scripture and the Canons and Usages of the Church Aymoin a Monk of Fleury Frodoard Abbot of St. Bemy of Reims and Dudon Dean of St. Quentin wrote of History and Gerbert passed for a Prodigy of Science He had been bred young in the Monastery of Orillac and going into Spain he was by the Recommendation of Borel Count of Barcellonna instructed in the Mathematicks either by Bishop Hutton or by some Arabian Doctors He was afterwards Rector or School master in the City of Reims and perhaps he was the first that taught it in France where for Scholars he had Prince Robert Son of Hugh Capet Leoterick Archbishop of Sens and Fulbert Bishop of Chartres After which he had also the honour to teach Otho III. We know how he was raised to the See of the Church of Reims by Hugh Capet then to that of Ravenna by Otho and at length to that of Rome by the name of Silvester II. As for the Councils of the Gallican Church the first that I find in this Century is that of Trosly Anno 909. Trosly is in the Diocess of Soissons and pretty near that City Herve Archbishop of Reims was President There are fifteen Chapters which are as so many warm Exhortations and excellent Sermons against all the Abuses and enormous Crimes that had over-whelmed France where the weak were become a prey to the stronger where the Laws were made a snare and burthen by the violence of particular powers for which reason God had to the plague of War added that oâ— Barrenness and Famine caused by a most horrible Drought Anno 921. King Charles the Simple Convoked one or Sixteen Bishops for the business of Hilduin whom he had thrust out of the Bishoprick of Liege I neither find the Place nor the Acts. There were three more at Trosly one in 921. where Erleband Earl of Castrice who had been Excommunicated by the Archbishop Herve for invading what belonged to the Church of Reims was absolved after his death upon the intreaty of King Charles by the same Archbishop Another Anno 924. wherein Isaac Earl of Cambray having given satisfaction for some wrongs to Stephen his Bishop was absolved and reconciled to him The third Anno 927. of six Bishops called by Count Hebert of Vermandois Mangre King Rodolph where Herluin Earl of Monstreuil was admitted to Pennance for having Married a second Wife his first being yet alive In the year 923. there was one in the Diocess of Reims the place is not named which ordained those that had born Arms in the Wars betwixt King Charles and King Robert to do Peunance for three whole Lents three several years consecutively and also fifteen days before the Feast of St. John and fifteen days after it fasting all the Mondays Wednesdays and Saturdays during that space of time and besides all the Saturdays throughout the whole year with Bread and Water only unless they bought it off The first time of this Pennance in Lent they were to stay out of the Church and at the last to be reconciled upon Holy-Thursday The Council of Duisburgh Anno 928. Excommunicated the Factious Party of Mets who had put out the Eyes of their Bishop Bennon after which King Henry the Bird-catcher severely Revenged that villanous act of theirs and made it fall upon their own heads That at the Abby of Cherlien in 926. and that of Fimes in 935. endeavoured to repair the Desolations of the Holy Places ruined by Robbers and other such wicked People The Debate for the Archbishoprick of Reims between Artold and Hugh the Son of Hebert Earl of Vermandois was an occasion of calling divers Councils Hugh having been advanced to that See too young and against the Canons was deposed and Artold placed in his stead But Anno 940. Artold had renounced and made Solemn Oath not to intermeddle any more in the government of that Church Thereupon a Council called at Soissons in the year 941. by Hugh and Hebert destituted him and re-establisht Hugh On the contrary that of Verdun Anno 947. restored him That of Mouson in 948. confirmed him and that of Ingelbeim the same year where the Kings Lewis Transmarine and Otho l. were present Excommunicated the Bishop Hugh of Vermandois and resolved to Treat Count Hugh in the same manner who being a Rebel to his Prince had held him Prisoner a year if he did not come and give satisfaction The same year that of Treues where Marin the Popes Legat presided confirmed the Sentence against the two Hughes and thundred against the Bishops irregularly Ordained by Hugh of Vermandois Artold being dead Anno 961. some Bishops Assembled together near Meaux the year following to contrive
eldest and some Rents and Moneys to Henry the youngest of the three Year of our Lord 1089 An. 1089. hapned the death of Robert called the Frison Earl of Flanders His Son of the same name succeeded in his Earldom Some time after he was Surnamed of Jerusalem because he was present at the Siege of that City An. 1099. Year of our Lord 1093 Foulk le Rechin extreamly incontinent and changeable towards Women but yet fuller of desire then ability after he had turned away two under colour of Proximity had in An. 1089. Married Bertrade the Daughter of Simon de Montfort The appetite of this Woman Young Beautiful and Gay did not sute with the age of her Husband she forsook him at three years end to cast her self into the Arms of King Philip who was a lover of Ladies and had not passed his 35th year There hapned to be a Bishop it was Eudes of Bayeux who undertoo to Marry them together upon condition he might have the Revenue of some Churches which the King bestowed upon him Year of our Lord 1094 Bertrade was of Parentage to the King in the Fifth or Sixth Degree and le Rechin her Husband in the Third or Fourth these were therefore two obstacles besides if Philip were free as he pretended he was Bertrade was not because her former Marriage had not been dissolved wherefore upon the hot pursuit of Ives Bishop of Chartres who shewed himself a zealous Defender of the Discipline of the Canons he was threatned with Excommunication at the Council d'Autun though the Pope suspended the effect or execution till the following year that he thundred it himself Year of our Lord 1095 in the Council of Clermont Year of our Lord 1095 The famous quarrel between the Pope and the Emperours which has caused so much mischief to Christendom was grown very hot it began betwixt Gregory VII and Henry VI. The First very imperious and undertaking the latter wicked cruel and irregular to the highest degree The Pope pretended to take away from the Emperour the investiture of Benefices as an unjust and sacrilegious thing but his true motive was a desire of the Empire of Italy and to subject all Princes to his Pontifical Power which seemed very feasible and easie because all Europe being divided into a Hundred and a Hundred several Dominions the Princes were but weak and the greatest number of them either out of Devotion or to avoid the Sovereignty of the more potent submitted and even devoted themselves to the Holy Chair and paid him Tribute so that had there been but three or four successive Popes crafty enough to have cloaked this design with at least an appearance of Sanctity and would have taken fit opportunities of relieving the people against their Oppressors they had made themselves sole Monarchs as well in Temporals as in Spirituals There was not that little Lord that did not Brave King Philip rocked asleep within the Arms of his Bertrade Miles Lord of Montlehery and Guy Troussel his Son made him sweat for anguish with their Castle of Montlehery and four or five others which they held in those parts with which they domineer'd over all the Country and interrupted the Trade betwixt Paris and Orleans though Guy Lord of Rochefort Brother of Miles was greatly in favour with Philip. Year of our Lord 1095 This year Vrban II. being come into France the refuge of persecuted Popes that he might be owned the true Head of the Church for the Emperour had dethroned him and caused another to be Elected Assembled a Council at Clermont in Auvergne in the Octave of St. Martins wherein he made a great many Canons for the reformation of the Clergy and especially to root out Simony and prohibit the Marriage of Priests and afterwards he Excommunicated King Philip and Bertrade his Concubine In the same Council upon the application and instances made by the Emperour Alexis to have some assistance against the Turks and upon the Remonstrances of Peter the Hermit a Gentleman of Picardy neer Amiens who having made a voyage into the Holy Land had been witness of the cruelties those Insidels did exercise upon the Christians the Pope by a warm discourse animated all the Prelats then present to incline the Faithful to take up Arms for the defence of Christendom and go into the East His Exhortations were so moving that they made impression on all their minds and this Zeal in a short time was spread all over Europe an infinite number of all qualities of all ages and of all Sexes Listed and Enroul'd themselves in this Sacred Militia The Signal was a Red Cross sowed upon the left Shoulder and the word Dieu le Veut The Turks after divers irruptions being called and taken into Pay by Machmet King of Persia who was a Saracen and had War with the Caliph of Babilon a Mahometan turned their Swords against himself and made themselves Masters of part of his Countrey in An. 1048. then of Mesopotamia Syria Judea and almost all Asia and had formed five or six Kingdoms one in Persia one in Bithynia one in Cilicia one in Damas whereon Jerusalem depended and one in Antioch Now subduing the Persian they had taken up their Religion which was the Mahometan This Reason joyned with their natural Barbarity inclined them to treat those Christians that inhabited Judea with all manner of cruelties and besides they threatned to invade the rest of Asia and destroy the whole Eastern Empire These Croisado's and beyond-sea Voyages the heat whereof lasted for above two hundred years was the ruine of the Great Lords and multitudes of the common people But the Popes and Kings found great advantages towards the making themselves absolute Those because they had the Command of these Expeditions whereof they were the Heads took into their protection the Persons and Estates of such as adventured made the use of Indulgences and Dispensations more common and current then formerly their Legats collected and managed the Alms and charitable Contributions that were given for the carrying on these Wars and it was even made a fair pretence to raise the Tenths upon the Clergy The Kings found their reckoning likewise because all the brave active and hottest Spirits going into these forreign Provinces left them a cleerer stage and more easie Government with less opposition to attain their chiefest ends The Lords and Grandees sold them their Estates or Engaged and Mortgaged them to raise Moneys or at their death they fell to Minors or Women from whose hands they were easie to be wrested And in fine France which swarmed with prodigious numbers of Men being evacuated by these great and frequent Phlebotomies became more gentle and submissive and their Wills less dependant on the Laws and antient Orders of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1096 In the first Expedition there adventured above 300000 Men which were divided in several bodies Some took their way by Germany and Hungaria others by Sclavonia others again by
mentioned and Hugh both Abbots of Clugny who being favoured by Heaven were in great credit with the Princes of this world of Thierry Bishop of Orleans Burchard de Vienne Bruno de Toul all three in the beginning of this Century and in the latter part of it Austinde d'Auch Hugh de Grenoble Arnold de Soissons and Maurille de Rouen Add to these Prelats Brune who was Institutor of that most austere Order of the Chartreux and Robert Abbot of Molesme who was Institutor or Founder of the Cisteaux For Robert d'Arbresel he is not yet in the Catalogue of Saints France was not exempted from Heresies In the year 1000 there started up a Phanatiqee Peasant named Leutard in the Burrough de Vertus within the Bishoprick of Chaalons who broke down the Images Preached that they ought not to pay Tithes and maintained that the Prophets had not always spoke those things that were good he was followed by an innumerable multitude of the Populace who believed him to be inspired of God his Bishop it was Guibin having easily convinced him and afterwards disabused those ignorant people the unhappy wretch in despair to see himself forsaken cast himself into a Well his Head foremost Some years afterwards came from Italy I know not what Woman infected with the dotage of the Manicheans which she inspired into a couple of the most Noble and most Learned Clergy-men of Orleans and those into several other people of several conditions King Robert who made his Residence in that City being informed hereof assembled a Council An. 1017. to convince them but not able to dis-infatuate them they kindled a fire in a neighbouring Field to burn them if they persisted in those Follies These obstinate Zealots far from dreading those Flames ran to them Thirteen were burnt Ten whereof were Canons of St. Croix The same severity was practised towards all of that Sect that could be discovered in any place especially at Toulouze An. 1022. But the remainders or Seeds of those ashes or as some say the frequent Commerce the French who travelled to the Levant had with the Bulgarians who were Manicheans soon after raised up this Phrensie again in Languedoc and Gascongne The error of the Sacramentaries was more subtil and therefore did not make so great a progress Joh. Scot. Erigene and other half Learned and too subtil Wits disputing about the incomprehensible Mistery of the Holy Sacrament according to the notions and terms of humane Philosophy had raised doubts and difficulties in the minds of Men touching the real presence of the Body of JESVS CHRIST in the Holy Eucharist We may believe that even in the Tenth age some scruples had been made by people contending herein since there were miracles wrought to prove it But the First that durst openly say contrary to the belief of all former ages that the Holy Sacrament was but the Figure of the Body of our Lord was Berenger Arch-Deacon of Anger 's Treasurer and Super-intendant of St. Martin de Tours As he was one of the most Learned Men of his time and had such charms in his Discourse and Entertainment that he was followed by vast numbers of Disciples for which reason his adversaries said he was a Magician he drew to his party Brâ—â—o Bishop of Anger 's and very many others who spread his Doctrine thorough France Italy and Germany Durandus Bishop of Liege and Adelman his Rector afterwards Bishop of Bresse stopt the current of it by their Writings and King Henry by his Authority so that he kept close and quiet for some years At the end whereof moving the question afresh Pope Leo IX condemned it in the Council of Rome and in that of Vercel both in An. 1050. In the last they ordered Scots Book to be burned which was the Well from whence he had drawn his error Five years afterwards Hildebrand Legat from Pope Victor II. being sent into France to reform the Clergy convened a Council at Tours where he compell'd him to abjure his Error and subscribe his Retractation For all this he desisted not from his former ways they were fain to cite him before the Council which was held at Rome An. 1059. where he was ordered to burn Scotus his Book with his own hand and Sign to a Confession of Faith composed by Cardinal Humbert but as soon as he was at liberty he renews the Dispute which lasted till the year 1079. when Gregory VII having summon'd him before another Council in Rome managed this turbulent Spirit so well that he owned and confessed both from his Heart and Tongue the substantial Conversion of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of JESVS CHRIST Being returned into France he took up the Habit of St. Bennet for his pennance and retired into the Priory of St. Cosmo which is in an Island of the Loire about two Leagues from Tours whither he drew several Cannons of St. Martins who were enchanted with the sweetness of his Conversation He passed the rest of his days there with great austerity and died very Religiously An. 1091. aged above Fourscore years What care soever was used to reform the disorders and take away the Weeds and Darnel out of the Church yet they could never pluck up the most spreading and fruitful root of Simony I shall give you a little taste of it In a Council which the Legat Hildebrand held at Lions An. 1055. there were 45 Bishops and 23 other Prelats who without any other accusation but their own Consciences publickly avowed this crime and renounced their Benefices An example very common as to the fault but singular for the repentance I do not know any times wherein so many Churches and Abbeys were built as in these days King Robert himself founded above 20. There was not one Lord but ✚ valued himself in so doing The most wicked affected the Title of Founders whilst they ruined the Churches on the one hand they built on the other and made their Sacrilegious Offrings to God of those things they had ravisht from the poor and needy The fancy that reigned in Mens minds at the beginning of this Century is most remarkable which was to pull down old Churches to build new nay even the fairest and noblest to erect others after their own mode This change of material Walls seemed to be a sign of that change was made in those times in the whole Face and if we may say so the Body of the Gallican Church From the Eighth Century the Popes had found out means to diminish the Authority of Metropolitans obliging them by a Decree in Council held at Ments by St. Boniface necessarily to receive the Pall at Rome and subject themselves Canonically to obey the Roman Church in all points A Profession since changed into an Oath of Fidelity under Gregory VII They had likewise attributed to themselves exclusively to all others the Right of Separating or Dissolving the Spiritual Marriage which a Bishop contracteth with his Church
and to give him the liberty of Marrying with another they had enlarged their Patriarchal Jurisdiction over all the West by necessitating the Bishops to have confirmation from them for which they paid certain rates which in time were converted into what they call Annates in admitting the appellations of Priests and in taking cognisance of things that belong only to Bishops Nay much more they had as it were annihilated the Provincial Councils in taking away their Soveraignty by a cassation of their Judgments insomuch as those Assemblies were in the end laid aside as useless yielding no other satisfaction to such as resorted thither but the displeasure of having their Sentences oftentimes reversed at Rome without any proofs or any reasons brought before them Gregory II. made it a Rule of common Right That none should be so bold as to condemn any that appealed to the Holy See But they never made a greater breach in the liberties of the Gallican Church then when they introduced the Belief that no Councils could be called without their Authority and after they had made divers attempts to set up perpetual Vicars in Gall found out the way to have their Legats admitted and received To this purpose they first made use of a Canon of the Council of Sardique which gave them power to send Legats into the Provinces to review any Process of the Deposition of Bishops where complaint was made After they had accustoned the French Prelats to suffer the Legats in such Cases they gained by little and little another Point during the weakness of their Princes which was to send a Legat whether there were any such Process or Appeal or not and finally when they had received the Yoak Alexandre II. setled it for a maxime that the Pope ought to have the whole Government of all the Churches Of these Legats some of them had the whole Kingdom under their jurisdiction others a part only They came with Authority to Depose Bishops or the Metropolitan himself when they pleased to Assemble Councils in their District to preside with the Metropolitan and precede him to make Canons to send to the Pope the decision of such things to which the Bishops would not consent as likewise all Acts of the Council which he disposed of at his Will and it is to be observed that their Suffrage counterpoised those of all the Bishops and often by their sole Authority they judged of the Elections of Bishops of Benefices of the Excommunications of Laics and other such like so that those Assemblies formerly so Holy and Sovereign for the Discipline having now no more power were to speak properly rather Councils to assert the Will of the Pope then lawful and free Councils Now after Alexandre II. had ordained that the Bishops of those Provinces whether the Legation extended should be at the charges for their subsistence and defray their expences and that Gregory VII had added to the Oath the Bishops take when they receive the Pall that they would Treat them Honourably at their going and upon their return and would furnish them with all necessaries the profit of those imployments was not less great then the Honour and Dignity So that the desire of gain made them court these imployments with great earnestness and the Popes bestowed them as rewards upon their creatures There was nothing but going and coming of Legats and as soon as one had cramm'd his Purse immediately another came in his place Insomuch as the Bishops and Clergy extreamly tired and impoverished by these perpetual exhaustings did not look upon these Legations any longer as a remedy but as a disease In effect it became so importunate and vexatious that at length they were forced to consider of some moderation and not to receive any more Legats but upon very important occasions We should never have done if we quoted all the Councils that were assembled in this Century We find a great number in the Epistles of Yves de Chartres Gregory VII and Gefroy de Vendosme I will likewise set down some An. 1003. The Bishops of France approved the Marriage of King Robert with Berthe and the year after being constrained by the Anathema's from Rome they revoked their Sentence and Excommunicated the King Glaber relates that many were celebrated in Italy and in Gall about certain usages of no great importance as to consider whether they should Fast on the days between the Ascension and Pentecost permit the Benedictines to Sing the Te Deum on the Lent Sundays and celebrate the Feast of the Anunciation the 25th of March or else the 18th of December as the Spaniards did according to the Decree of their Tenth Council of Toledo The decisions were That those Fasts should be all abolished excepting upon Whitsuntide Eve the Benedictines maintained in their Singing the Te Deum in Lent and the Festival of the Annunciation be observed in March King Robert convened several Councils particularly one about the year 1017. at Orleans to extirpate the Heresy of the Manicheans which sprung up apace in that City another in the same place An. 1029. for the Dedication oâ— St. Agnes Church which he had built there The same year was held one at Limoges Gauzlin de Bourges presiding about the contest started Whether they must give St. Martial the Bishop of Limoges the Title of Apostle as the Limosins would have it or only that of Confessor as some others maintained These frivolous questions proceeded from the ambition of the Prelats who to gain precedency from others did all of them attribute the Foundations of their Churches to the Apostles or Disciples of Jesus Christ and to that end invented Fables and perverted all History This Council had not power enough to determine this question it was again debated with great contention in that of Bourges An. 1033 in the second of Limoges and that of Beauvais which were held in the year 1034. and withal they consulted the Holy Chair herein where it was decided that St. Martial ought to be revered as an Apoâ—â—le In this second Council of Limoges complaint being made concerning Absolutions granted to such as being Excommunitated addressed themselves to the Pope it was said That none could receive Pennance or Absolution from the Pope if he were not sent thither by his Bishop The same Glaber writes that the same year 1034. there were divers Councils in the Provinces of France particularly in Guyenne for the reformation of Manners which all people most earnestly desired thereby to appease the wrath of God who had sorely afflicted France with Famine Amongst divers Decrees there was one which Ordained upon pain of Excommunication abstinence from Wine upon Fridays and Flesh upon Saturdays unless Sickness or some great Festival hapned upon those days Gerard the Bishop of Cambray rejected this Decree as a Novelty contrary to the Orders and Rules of the Church and which had no Foundation but I know not what Revelation These Assemblies labour'd likewise to secure what
belonged to the Church from the Rapine and Thefts of some Lords and restore the Discipline for which some Canons were made in the Second of Limoges That of Beauvais was held Fifteen days after that of Bourges Pope Leo IX being come into France Convened one at Reims towards Autumne An. 1049. Victor II. One at Toulouze An. ✚ 1056. To extirpate abuses and especially Simony which is more difficult to be taken from the Church then their Riches which is the cause of it King Henry desiring to have his Son Philip Crowned Assembled the Prelats and Lords of the Kingdom at Paris An. 1059 or 60. Amat Bishop of Oleron Legat from Rome in Aquitania Tertia and Narbounensis held divers Two in Gascongne One wherein he Excommunicated such as detained any Goods belonging to the Church another wherein he Dissolved the Marriage of Centulle Vicount of Bearn and another also at the Burrough of Deols in Berry with Hugh Legat and Arch-Bishop of Lyons about the affairs of that Abby The same having the Popes Legation in the lesser Bretagne Convened one An. 1079. in that Province to take some course against the abuses of false pennances that is to say their ☞ imposing of slight pennances for great crimes About the end of the year 1080. there were three One at Lyons where Hugh de Die the Popes Legat caused the Sentence to be confirmed whereby Manasses Arch-Bishop of Reims had been deposed One at Avignon where he consecrated another Hugh Bishop of Grenoble and the Third at Meaux in which Vrsion de Soissons was deposed and Arnold a Monk of St. Medard installed in his place The year following the same Hugh and Richard Abbot of Marseille Cardinals called one at Poitiers Amat d'Oleron Legat in Aquitain came likewise thither They provisionally ordained a Divorce of William Earl of Poitiers from his Wife because of their consanguinity That of Toulouze in An. 1090. was Convened by the Legats of Vrban II. Some Rules were there made concerning Causes Ecclesiastical and the Bishop of that City purged himself of certain things imposed upon him The most famous of all was the Council of Clermont An. 1095. where the same Pope with great zeal Preached up the First Croisade and to obtain the assistance of the Holy Virgin towards those that should undertake the Expedition ordained the Clergy to recite the Office or Heures of our Lady which the Chartreux and Hermits instituted by Peter Damianus had already received amongst them There was one more at Tours the year following to prepare them to that expeditition of the Holy Land The last year of this Century they had one likewise at Poitiers whereat John and Benedict Cardinal Legats presided King Philip was here struck with an Anathema for having retaken Bertrade and the Kingdom of France put under an interdiction The precedent year there had been one held at Autun and the following there was also one at Baugency for the same business The prohibition of Marriages even to the seventh Degree extreamly embarrass'd the Eleventh and Twelfth Century and as that rigour was excessive the Princes broke thorough without much scruple and afterwards became obstinate against Excommunications with so much the more Reason and Pretence as having the opinions of many great Lawyers who reckoned these Degrees after another manner then the Church-men so that it served for little else but a specious colour for such as were distasted with their Wives to procure their Divorce The custom practised in the Church of Jerusalem where because of the too great confluence the Laity communicated only under the species of Bread introduced it self by little and little into the Western Church and there is some appearance that the Canon of the Council of Clermont was favourable to it ordaining That those that communicated should take the two species separately this was to avoid that abuse of the Greeks who soaked or dipped the Bread in the Wine Vnless in case of necessity or by PRECAVTION That is to say if there were danger of spilling the Challice as when the multitude and throng of Communicants was too great There was like a change in the Government of some Churches the Sees of Gascongny which had been vacant above two ages were filled the Bishopricks of Arras and Cambray both which had been Governed by one Pastor since Saint Vaast began each to have their own after the death of Gerard II. who held them both and Manasses was the first Bishop of Cambray An. 1095. The same thing was attempted for Noyon and Tournay which had been joyned since St. Medard but King Philip opposing they remained so united till the year 1146. When Simon the Son of Hugh the Great being Bishop thereof they were divided Anselme a Monk of Soissons and Abbot of St. Vincent de Laon was the first that held the See of Tournay An. 1179 Gregory VII by his Bulls gave or as others say confirmed to the Arch-Bishop of Lyons the Primacy of the four Lyonnoises only being perhaps perswaded as some others that Lyons was in antient times the capital City and first Church of the Galls The Arch-Bishop of Tours was the first who submitted but those of Sens and Rouen opposed it with all their might and although this establishment had been maintained in the Council of Clermont and since by judgment contradictory which was given in the Court of Rome Anno 1099. they had much ado to submit themselves and it was as I believe during this Contest that he of Rouen began out of emulation to take up the Title of Primate of Normandy The Abbot Odillon being excited by divers Revelations to ease the Souls that were in Torments after Death ordained the Monks of his Congregation of Clugny to make a Commemoration every year the day after All-Saints in their Prayers and Divine Service which the Universal Church received soon after About the end of his Age three famous Religious Orders had their Birth That of the Chartreax Anno 1086. by Bruno Canon o◠Reims and St. Hugh Bishop of Grenoble who were the first that retired into the horrid Solitude of the Chartreuse in Dauphine which gave name to this Order That of St. Anthony at Vienne in the same Country by a Gentleman named Gaston who devoted his Person and Estate to the assistance of those that were seized with the Distemper called St. Anthony's Fire and came to implore the intercession of that Saint at Vienne where they had his Corps brought thither from Constantinople by Jocelin Count d'Albon in the time of King Lotaire Son of Louis Transmarine This Gaston got together some Companions who at first were of the Laity but soon after they became Friars under the Rules of St. Augustin and planted their Congregation in several Provinces In the year 1098. Robert Abbot of Molesme Instituted the Order of the Cisteaux being as it were a younger Sprig of that of St. Bennet and became so Potent that for more then Twenty years
did again inspire them with new and dangerous Questions and Propositions but besides all these another sort of poysoners came out of Italy into France bringing along with them the most pernicious venom of the Manicheans and these were they in my opinion who first infected the Diocess of Alby for which reason those Heretiques were named Albigensis They were convinced at a Conference in that City at the Bishops who was chosen Arbitrator by both parties in presence of many Lords Prelats and Constance the Wife of Raimond Earl of Toulouze and Sister to the King of France Gozelin the Bishop of Lodeve refuting their errors by arguments and proofs drawn out of the New Testament This Conquest could not wholly destroy these unwholsom Seeds they multiplied every day more and more and soon mastered Toulouze the capital City of Languedoc The Kings of France and England were almost resolved to make use of Fire and Sword to destroy them however they thought fit to send some Preachers first amongst them to labour and endeavour to convert them or confound them and to cut them off from all communion with the faithful that they might corrupt no more of them The Popes Legat went thither in Anno 1178. accompanied with Four or Five Bishops and several other Clergy-men they discover'd many of these people in Toulouze amongst the rest the oldest and the richest and as I may say the cock of all the others who let them have his Towers to Meet and Preach in They forced him to submit to a publique pennance pull'd down his Towers or Turrets and excommunicated and banished several of those Heretiques who retired into Albigeois that was as it were their Fort or Cittadel because Roger Earl of Alby favour'd them and made use of them to keep the Bishop of his City a prisoner These Countries of Languedoc and Gascongny as well because of their distance as their situation and likewise the fiery warlike disposition of their people were filled with another sort of wild Beasts and such as delighted in Blood I mean Troops or Herds of Bandits who hir'd themselves to any one that wanted them to take revenge upon their Enemies or else roved all about to seek prey for themselves They sought not only after Money and Goods but took their Persons or their Lives away sparing neither condition nor age nor sex They were of no Religion but help'd the Heretiques thereby to have some pretence to rob Churches and Church-men some of them were called Brabanders Arragonians Navarrois and Basques as coming from those Countreys Others Cottereaux and Triaverdins a Nick-name whose original I do not know and their Horse-men Routiers from the German name Reuter The General Council of Lateran which was held in Anno 1179. Excommunicated both the one and the other forbid the burying them in Holy Ground and exhorted all Catholiques to fall upon them seize upon their Goods and bring their Persons into slavery allowing all those that took up Arms against them Indulgences and Relaxations of pennance proportionable to their Services and at the discretion of the Bishops Amongst these Heretiques there were some that were called Popelicans who held a great many strong Castles in Gascongny where they had cantoniz'd themselves and made up a body ever since they were cut off from the Church Henry who from being Abbot de Clervaux had been made Bishop of Albe having in quality of Legat gathered a good force together by his Preachings and Exhortations went to visit them with a strong hand in Anno 1181. They feigned to avoid this storm they would abjure their errors but the danger being over they lived as before This contagion spread it self in many Provinces both on this and the other side of the Loire one of these false Apostles by name Terric who had kept himself conceal'd a long time in a Grott at Corbigny in the Diocess of Nevers was taken and burnt Divers others suffer'd the same death in several places particularly two horrible old Women in the City of Troyes to one of whom as it was said they had given the name of Holy-Church and to the other that of St. Mary that so when they were examin'd by the Judges they might swear by St. Mary they believed no other then what was the belief of Holy Church These Popelicans amongst other things did openly repugne the reality of the Body of Our S. J. C. in the Sacrament for which cause there were divers miracles wrought in those times to confirm people in the faith of that mistery They were condemned in the Council of Sens of the year 1198. as were likewise the Vandois the Patarins and the Cathares The name of Patarins came from the Glory they took in suffering for the Truth patiently that of Cathares because though falsly they professed great purity of Life These last were called in Flanders Pifles and in France Weavers because the most part of them lived by the labour of their hands which they employed in that Trade It would require a whole Treatise to enumerate and particularize all these Sects their several Names and their Opinions which agreed in some points and were quite different in others but in my judgment they may be all reduced to two that is Albigeois and Vaudois and these two held almost or very near the same Opinions as those we call in our days Calvinists There arose if not an Heresie at least some great doubts touching the resurrection of the Body in the time of Maurice Bishop of Paris by reason whereof to testify what his Faith was concerning this Article he ordain'd they should engrave upon his Tomb the first Response which we find in the Office for the deceased After his example many other Ecclesiastiques gave Order before their death that these words should be affixed upon their Breasts in writing and put into the Graves with them These Schismes and Errors thwarting the power of the Pope and the Clergy confirmed and increased it the more For First the Popes gained the whole advantage upon the Emperours concerning those Disputes about Investitures Then when they had gotten that liberty of Elections they would needs extend it likewise to the persons and Goods of the Ecclesiastiques they said the Church owed no Contribution but to her own Head who is the Vicar of JESVS CHRIST on Earth and that the Clergy could not be corrected but by their Superiours which they founded upon that Maxim That the less Noble or Worthy ought not to command the more Noble or Worthy nor the inferior be judge of him that is above him However this point striking at and diminishing the Authority of all other Temporal Princes as well as the Emperours could not pass for current but in the Countreys of those that were weak and on the other side of the Mountains The third subject of the differences they had with the Emperours was they pretended it belonged to them to dispose of or give
Military or even from Marriage that it might be the more humble and perfect S. Leo the Pope had only advised it his Successors made it a Law and the Councils of Toledo reduced it into practise towards their very Kings witness Vamba one of the most illustrious and most renowned of their Monarchs who being ordained Pennance while he was in the agonies of death not with his consent for he was deprived of all understanding but according to the custome of those times was yet obliged upon his recovery to renounce his Kingly Office Observe if you please that these Councils of Spain furnished the Popes with great advantages and presidents to bring other Sovereigns under their Command and Disposal For the Visigoth Kings being elective the Bishops had a great share in their Election and their Councils were as so many Assemblies where the Grandees and the Kings themselves were present There they corrected all the disorders of the Crown and imposed Laws upon them under the penalty of Anathema or Deposition if they infringed them The Bishops of France undertook the same thing by deposing Louis the Debonnaire and though it were a perfect Faction that Prince however did not resume the Crown but by the authority of another Assembly of Bishops Foulk Arch-Bishop of Rheims threatned Charles the Simple he would withdraw his Subjects from their Obedience if he made any Alliance with the Normans who were then Barbarians and Unbelievers Now the Popes believed it as an Article of Faith that their power was much greater then that of all the Bishops and that it had no other limitation then was express'd in the Canons of the Councils and the Decrees of the Apostolique See which never had forbid them to Depose Kings because it cannot be imagined the thoughts of such a thing could ever enter into their brains Gregory II. in Anno 730. having thundered his Anathema against Leo Isaurian suspended at least the payment of all Tribute and Obedience of his Subjects or perhaps wholly Absolved them as some pretended Moreover taking upon them as they did the Authority of creating Kings which was allowed by the ambition of such as desired that Title they imagined they might well take away the Crown from those that were unworthy since they could bestow one upon such as did deserve it There were besides all this many occasions which served not a little to confirm this opinion Amongst others the Prohibition of contracting Marriage between Kindred even to the Seventh Degree and betwixt Allies to the fourth and fifth The cognisance they took of all great Causes not only amongst the Ecclesiasticks but Temporal Princes and the Croisado's For as to the first they could easily find enough of Parentage or Alliance to dissolve a Princes Marriage and by this means made themselves formidable And for the second they were not less considerable for the power they had to judge of all Causes because all Parties have naturally a fear and a respect for their Judges and they having by this incredible affluence of Business an opportunity to employ great numbers of People it drew to their Court all those that had an ambition to be made use of by them or such as had the curiosity to be fashion'd or instructed in that most famous School of the whole Universe In effect all the greatest Wits of Europe flock'd thither to gain Employments and as we have still an Affection for those by whom we are advanced when they went from thence after they had done their Business or made their Fortune they proclaimed the Grandeur of the Popes in every Country with an ardent desire to set up their Maxims The Crusado's or Holy War made them likewise very powerful For in all the Expeditions to the Holy-Land they enjoyned Princes to list themselves they held the Soveraign Command of those Armies by their Legats and in a manner made themselves Lords of all those Adventurers not only because they exacted obedience from them but which was more because they took them under their Protection till their return which was as it were an Order of State to stop all Proceedings both Civil and Criminal In other Crusado's which were undertaken against Schismaticks and Hereticks they made it a Law That whoever were convicted of those Crimes should forfeit all their Goods Honours and Dignities In pursuance whereof they deprived those that were guilty or caused them to be deprived by Councils assembled by their Legats then gave the Spoil to such as had served well in those Expeditions without consulting the Soveraign Lords of whom they held those Estates because they durst not refuse Investiture to those whom so holy a Power had provided in that manner for But their greatest Power or Force consisted in that of the Clergy and Religious Orders Those great Bodies being in those times very firmly united for the maintenance of his Franchises and Liberties which they positively believed to be Jure Divino looking upon the Pope as a Chief Head and Potentate that would never fail them at need Indeed his absolute Authority lay heavily upon the Bishops Shoulders but when it pressed too hard they had recourse to that of the Prince as Protector of the Goods and Liberties of the Clergy Reciprocally they made use of the Power of the Pope to shield them from the Attempts of their Princes and governing themselves thus between the Power of both they endeavoured to moderate and qualifie the one by the other However they had cause to complain that the Popes took from them a good part of that Authority belonging to them as Successors to the Apostles as by drawing immediately to their Tribunal the Cognisance of all Causes not leaving them any thing almost to judge of Primarily or Originally By obliging them to give them their Oaths according to a certain Form to which Gregory VII had added some Terms which amounted to Fealty and Hommage By imposing the necessity for their going to Rome By arrogating to themselves the Right of Consecrating Metropolitans By granting Dispensations for not observing the holy Canons as if the whole Ecclesiastical Discipline depended only upon their absolute Authority By allowing Exemptions to Inferiors to withdraw them from their Obedience to their Superiors They complained moreover of their having reserved to themselves alone the power of receiving Caodjutories and that of dissolving the Spiritual Marriages of Bishops that is of separating them or putting them away from their Churches by Cession or Translation or Deposition and their taking upon themselves the disposing of most Benefices Let us say something more particular upon the chiefest of these points The differences between particular People were handled only in the Court of Rome in the Twelfth Age however when the Cause was very important or concerned the whole Church or a whole Kingdom they referr'd it to the Judgment of a Council Thus Gregory VII when the Quarrel betwixt him and the Emperor Henry V. came to be renew'd promised he would
assign a Council in a place of safety where every one might come Friend or Foe as well those of the Clergy as the Laity to judge whether he or the Emperor had broke the Peace and to consider of some means to restore it again Gelasius II. said the same thing and that he would acquiesce in the Judgment of his Brothers the Bishops whom God had Constituted Judges in his Church and without whom a Cause of that Nature could not be determined Innocent III. wrote word That he durst not decide any thing concerning the Marriage of King Philip II. without the determination of a General Council and that if he should do it he might run the hazard of his Order and of his Office very remarkable words for that they seem to insinuate that a Pope may be deposed not only for Heresie but likewise for abusing his Power In those times they were likewise obliged to govern the Church by Advice of the Cardinals whose Power was raised to such a height since the year One thousand that they were the Collaterals and Coadjutors of the Pope saith St. Bernard that their Priviledges or Rights were greater then those of the Patriarchs and the Primates and that they had the Power of giving Authentick Censures against the Popes themselves The assistance and ability of so many great Men chosen out of all the Western Churches as fill'd this sacred Colledge did not a little help the Popes in bearing the great burthen of Affairs and maintaining and encreasing their Authority in the remotest Countries But when they were once become great enough by their assistance they freed themselves from their dependance and now they only ask them their opinions and do not think themselves at all obliged to follow what they Advise or Councel As for the disposing of Benefices they had gotten the greatest into their own power as the Archbishopricks Bishopricks and Abbies by making themselves Masters of the Elections under pretence of judging those Differences that hapned betwixt opposite Parties and the lesser as the Dignitaries and Canons of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches by their recommendations to the Chapters in favour of those Clergy-Men that follow'd their Court. When having often obtained the thing desired they at length turned such Recommendation into an absolute Command by the instigation of Flatterers and interessed People and then that was follow'd with Reservations and after with Expectatives the abuse whereof went on increasing still notwithstanding the Pragmatick of St. Louis and the Remedies Philip le Bel or the Faire would have applied and lasted till the time of the great Schism when King Charles VI. and after him Charles VII set roundly upon it and brought back all Elections Collations and Presentations to the same method and order as had been Decreed by General Councils without any regard or respect to those pretences and claims the Court of Rome had taken up and exercised In the Fifth Age not only the Bishops but almost all the Church-men on this side the Mountains had taken up that pious Custom of going to Rome to visit the Sepulchres of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul as it were to pay their Hommage and testifie they held the same Faith which those Apostles had preached At the same time they paid their Respects to their Holy Fathers who in length of time converted this Voluntary Devotion into an indispensable Obligation in so much as they highly reproached such as omitted it Dispensations were utterly unknown in the first Ages and when they did begin to give them it was not to allow them to infringe the Canons but rather to absolve those that had infringed them After the Eleventh Age the use grew very frequent I observe four or five causes The continual Wars between private Persons as well as between Princes The multiplicity of Decrees which were so numerous it was difficult to avoid breaking some or other of them The corruption of Manners and the little regard they had for Ecclesiastical Orders or Rules insomuch as they obliged to obviate that scorn by granting Dispensations and they thought to hide or conceal the Transgression by permitting it The Popes however did not dispense in things against our Faith nor against good Manners but in those that were only forbidden or permitted by positive Law As for the Divine Law they did not directly dispense with that but by Interpretation and by Declaration As for the Exemptions of Monasteries we have observed in the Sixth Age how they began by the concessions of the Bishops and how all the Grandees affected to obtain them for such as they founded The first we find that were allowed them was only to free the Monks from Temporal Payments and Duties Afterwards they obtained some kind of Priviledges to be added amongst others That they should chuse their own Abbots That they should be Masters of their own Discipline and that the Bishops should Ordain Priests for them at their Request In fine they found out means to extend them to the Spiritual Jurisdiction and free themselves from any dependance upon Bishops to which three things were required the Bishops Consent the Authority of the Holy Chair and the Pragmatick Sanction of the King The number of these Exemptions encreasing day by day the Pope arrogates to himself the power of giving them and of submitting the Monasteries to the Holy See maugre the Bishops Diocesans He did the very same in relation to some Bishops and some Chapters substracting these from their Bishops and the Bishops from their Metropolitans Vertuous Men could not held their Tongues upon these Disorders their Writings mention it yet St. Bâ—ruard though a Monk and very ✚ zealous for the Holy Chair highly condemned them For to exempt the Abbots from the Jurisdiction of the Bishops what was it else said that great Saint but to command them to Felony and Rebellion and was it not as monstrous a deformity in the Body of the Church to unite an Abby or a Chapter immediately to the Holy Chair as in a Human Body to joyn and fasten a Finger to the Head These favours were not bestow'd gratis at Rome the Abbots and Monks stript their Monasteries to purchase this independance and made them oft-times Tributary to the Holy See of many Silver Marks which they paid yearly The Abbots notwithstanding these Exemptions were still obliged after their Election to render Obedience to their Bishops and by a Writing but the most part refused it so that the Council of Rheims was forc'd to make a Decree to compel them and yet they did over-much care to submit to it which Disobedience was so far carried into a common Right that Henry II. King of England made bitter complaints to Pope Innocent II. for that Hugh Archbishop of Rouen exacted this said Duty of the Abbots of Normandy The Pope perceiving with what heat the King wrote to him sent to the Archbishop that he should for a time forbear to ask that Right too
he could not be absolved but upon very hard Conditions and by doing Publick Pennance the Mortification whereof is more cruel then Death it self to such who have much more concern for the shame of this World then fear of God before their Eyes And indeed the Clergy reveng'd their Injuries how great soever no other ways then by the Spiritual Sword and were so jealous of their Sentences that if a Secular Judge would according to the Laws of his Prince have Chastised an Excommunicated Person for killing an Ecclesiastick they would have oppos'd it as an attempt upon their Jurisdiction And therefore the Murtherer of a Layman was punished with Death and of a Priest nay even a Prelat had oftentimes no other Punishment but Excommunication The most part of the Bishops were taken out of Monasteries for as it went by Election and those Houses were taken for Schools of Piety and Wisdom such as aspired to this Dignity or that of an Abbot which was not so honourable but much more convenient thrust themselves into the bottom of a Cloister and affected a ☜ very severe Vertue and profound Humility falling thus low that they might be raised and hiding themselves that they might be sought out Then when their Hypocrisie had dazled the Eyes of those silly Folks till they were chosen they laid aside that mask of austerity and made much of themselves But often times those good Prelats who were not zealous for a Bishoprick out of any other Motive then the call from God when they found their strength decay and grow too weak for that great Office quitted the Bishoprick and made their retreat into some Monastery to recollect and prepare themselves to render an account of their Administration to their Soveraign Judge They had yet the power of declaring to the People whom they might Honour and Pray to as Saints which is that they call Canonizing This was ordinarily done in a Council or in an Assembly of the Fraternity The Bishop in whose Diocess the Party died that merited this Honour gave account of the great Vertues had made his Life illustrious and the Miracles that were wrought on his Grave according to publick Fame and the evidence of many particular People and thereupon the Assembly giving their Judgment by Acclamations rather then in Writing they all went to take up the Holy Body put it into a Shrine exposed it to the Devotions of the People and ordered his Festival should be Celebrated It had been a very ancient and abusive Custom in the Eastern Churches that Clerks should rob and plunder the Bishops Goods as soon as ever Death had clos'd his Eyes In France from the year One thousand at least for as much as I can observe the Laity took the same Licence as well towards Bishops as all other that were Beneficed grounding their so doing upon the Consideration perhaps that the Goods of the Church belong to and are the Portion of the Poor and therefore they might justly take them again when the Pastor to whom they were given for that purpose had kept it so long from them However it were this abuse continued notwithstanding all what the Popes and Councils could do to prevent it Now the Soveraign's who think that all Rights of their Subjects are eminently theirs because they are head of them made a Right of this Custom to themselves and in a short time made it extend to the whole Revenue of vacant Bishopricks and afterwards to the collation of Canons and all other Benefices depending thereon excepting such as have the cure of Souls This Right is called Regalia This Custom was before the Reign of Philip Augustus though in his time it were not approved of by all the World Yves de Chartres redeemed it of King Philip I. for his Bishoprick and Lewis VII permitted Peter Archbishop of Bourges to dispose of the Fruits of that Church by Will when he died The Custom of the Kingdom which obliged the Bishops to follow the Kings because of their Fiess was not much unplesant to such amongst them as delighted more in the Court then in the Church Nevertheless those that desired rather to have the reputation of good Pastors then great Statesmen retir'd from Court but sometimes the Kings interpreted such retreat a want of Duty We find that Louis the Gross was distasted with the Archbishop of Sens and the Bishop of Paris and that Philip Augustus caused the Goods of the Bishops of Paris and Auxerre to be seized because they came not to his Army In the end the good and vertuous Bishops gained this point of the Kings that they dispenced with their Personal Attendance in the Wars provided they sent those number of Men to which they were obliged by their Fiefs The Parochial Churches of Borroughs and Villages had for a long time been served by Canonical Priests whom the Bishops sent thither and recalled again when he pleased to his Cathedral The Lords having erected Chappels in the Country for the conveniency of their Dove-coats and Peasants appropriated to them the Oblations First-Fruits and Collections for they had not then the Tythe of the Fruits of the Earth and increase of Cattle but the Lords themselves took those 'T is a great question by what Title I think they were part of their Demeasns and that it was a Duty they levied upon their Tenants in most places the Tenths in others the Elevenths the Fifteenth and the Twentieth part However it were when once they had suffer'd themselves to be persuaded that of Divine Right they belonged to the Ministers of the Church and that they were bound to restore them They gave a good part to the Benedictine Friars who in those days did the Chruch very great Service and gained the love of the Nobility their Monasteries being like open Inns for Gentlemen and other Travellers and Free-Schools to instruct their Children Upon condition of these Grants they ordered some Priests of theirs to serve in those Chappels and finding such Funds and Incomes very sweet as accruing to them without labour they hooked in as much as possibly they could The Regular Canons obtained likewise some In so much as there remained very little for the Secular Priests Now these Benedictine Monks thus dispersed through all the Country Villages wandring from the strictness of their Rules and growing corrupt out of their Monasteries as the Fish perishes out of the Water The Council of Clermont in the year 1095. ordained that they should quit those Employments and leave them to the Secular Priests This Decree was not altogether observed no more then that of the Council of Poictiers in the year 1109. which prohibited them all Parochial Functions they held these Cures till Anno 1115. the Latran Council took them all wholly away from them by a general Constitution However they left them a right of Presentation and the Tythes likewise unless it were some small or moderate proportion for the Curate that Officiats in those Churches
By this Constitution the Regular Canons were excepted upon condition they should have a Companion to converse always with them that they might not turn absolute Brutes by daily frequenting of rude Peasants worse then solitude it self This Companion was but his second and by consequence the other who Officiated was first in respect of him for which reason they called him Prior and hence comes it that those Benefices were named Priories though in effect they are but simple Cures no more then those held by the Secular Priests There are several proofs in the Acts of the Councils and elsewhere that Pluralities were forbidden an Abuse that must be for ever condemned by true Church-men who look upon their Benefice as a Charge of Souls but ever practised by such as consider them only as a Revenue The Princes of those times did easily give way to great Revenge and run into extream Violence but when the first heat of their fury was spent they were easily persuaded to Repentance as well by the Sentiments of Christianity imprinted in their Hearts their Religion not being only meer Policy but true Faith as by the good Instructions and Arguments of their Bishops and others of the Clergy For those godly Pastors not knowing how to sooth and flatter Vice in any one much less give way to Crimes in Ruling Potentates and Grandees that ought to be Exemplary to inferiors boldly reproved them for their faults which otherwise they knew themselves must answer for at the Tribunal of the King of Kings They first made use of Admonitions which they did by word of Mouth if there were opportunity of access or else by Writing If afterwards they found the Vice incurable the Scandal continue and increase they added reprehensions and those sometimes publick and in the end let loose the Censures of the Church upon them By this Evangelical liberty assisted with the Holy Spirit they often mollified the hardest hearts and gained respect by their Apostolick constancy whilst others were but slighted and contemn'd as not having the courage to open their Mouths against the greatest Sinners When any Church was wronged in her Liberty or Goods the Priests took down the Shrines and Images of their Saints and set them on the ground either to turn the hearts of their Persecutors and bring them to Repentance or to inflame the indignation of the People against them Those that did not believe the reality of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament were Hereticks but the too curious started several Questions touching the manner and the circumstances of that incomprehensible Mystery Some not being able to conceive what could become of the Sacred Body of Our Lord after they had eaten it said it passed with the rest of our Digestion Rupert Abbot de Tuit was of that opinion that the Bread and the Wine remained with the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ And it appears that Peter de Blois believed that the Cup could not be Consecrated without Water and that it was no Sacrament without the Chalice because it is a Mystical Repast and in a Supper there must be somewhat to drink as well as to eat In those times they yet Communicated in both the Species but divers and amongst others the Monks of Clugny to prevent the Profanation in case the Cup should happen to be spilt or some small drop should remain sticking on the Beard of the Communicant administred the Bread dipt in the Wine and that Bread was round and about the thickness of a Crown Now this method not seeming conformable to the institution of the Sacrament by our Saviour was often reproved and condemned by the Popes themselves who at length not being able to rectifie this abuse took the Cup wholly from the Laity Such as impugne the real Presence however are mistaken in saying that the word Transubstantiate was introduced by the Council of Latran which was held in Anno 1215 for we find it in Peter de Blois who wrote some years before but it is true that that Council authorized that Term of Transubstantiation The use of publick Pennance was yet very common the Penitents could not come into the Church nor Communicate nor receive the Blessing or the Salutation of Peace nor Shave his Beard nor cut his Hair nor put on any Linnen nor Christen a Child they eat nothing but Bread and drank only Water on Mundays Wednesdays and Saturdays in each Week But this severity was much abated by the Indulgences or Relaxations of Punishments allowed by the Canons The Popes freely bestowed these Indulgences on such as took the Cross to go into the Holy Land or against Hereticks and Schismaticks The Bishops likewise when they Consecrated any Church were not sparing to such as would come to visit them upon condition they would come the day before and give their Alms or Contribution towards the upholding and maintaining of the Fabrick They had then a particular fancy to build Subterraneal Chappels I have observed that at the building their Churches they would in the Foundations often times bury Vessels full of Silver that so when either Time or other accidents should come to destroy them they might find wherewith to rebuild them anew Also when any happen'd to fall to ruine they brought the Relicks of that Saint that was most honour'd by all the Neighbouring Countries to invite People out of Devotion to contribute largely towards another Edifice It was impossible but they should be rich for there was no one died that did not leave them some Legacy I shall observe by the way that by their Wills they ever affranchised some certain number of Slaves according to their Qualities and we may reckon this amongst others for one main cause which hath by little and little abolish'd Slavery or Servitude in France Those Persons that had committed great Sins though they were not such whom the Canons ordained to do publick Pennance yet they omitted not especially being at the point of Death to make a publick Confession and divers great Princes would needs die flat upon the Ground lying upon a Cross of Daft and Ashes some even with a Rope about their Necks others in the Habit of a Monk or Friars holy Frock and Cowle believing that Sacred Livery would shelter them against the Torments in the other World Auricular Confession had ever been practis'd in the Church Gratian examining in the second part of the Decree whether it were of absolute necessity or not after he hath mustred the Reasons on either side according to his Method seems to leave every one his Judgment free assuring us that Persons both very Devout and Pious were many for it and many against it But the Church hath determin'd it in the affirmative The Monks did not Administer the Sacraments to the Laity nor did they hear Confessions unless it were from those of their own Coat it being forbidden them by the Councils to exercise any Curial Function A certain Abbot of
let them see by that Equipage to what a vile Condition those holy Assemblies were reduc'd Most of those held in France during this Age were called either by the Popes themselves or by their Legats The Popes were Personally present in Six Paschal II. in that of Troyes Anno 1107. and there the Simoniacks and the Laicks that conferr'd Benefices were Excommunicated Gelasius held one at Vienne in the year 1119. where he thundred his Anathema against the Emperor Henry V. and 〈◊〉 Anti-Pope Calistus II. his Successor Guy Archbishop of Vienne did the same thing in that of Rheims the following year which had been denounced by Gelasius Those that made sale of things Sacred and took Money for burying the dead for the Crisome and Baptism were likewise Excommunicated Innocent II. held one at Clermont in Anno 1130. and another at Rheims in Anno 1131. where he fulminated the Anti-Pope Anacletus and his Adherents Eugenius III. did Celebrate one at Rheims in the year 1137. where divers excellent Regulations were decreed And Alexander III. one at Tours in Anno 1163. where he gave an acount of his Election and proved the nullity of Octavian's his Rival These are a good part of those called by the Legats One at Troyes in Anno 1104. in which the Bishop of Senlis was accused of Simony by some ill designing People but the Bishops rejected them as no good Evidence He desired nevertheless to purge himself from that suspicion by Oath before the Legat to which he was admitted Two Cardinal Legats assembled one at Poitiers in Anno 1109. to reform the Manners and Habits of the Clergy They were forbidden to take any Benefice from the hands of the Laity The Abbots to use Gloves Sandals or the Ring Monks to Exercise Parochial Function as to Baptise or to Preach which nevertheless was allowed to the Regular Canons There was one at Vienne Anno 1112. where Godfrey Bishop of Amiens was President in Quality of Legat because the Archbishop Guy had no very fluent Tongue The Emperor Henry V. was Excommunicated there As were also those guilty of Simony and such of the Laity as gave the Investiture of Benefices There were three in the year 1114. one at Soissons one at Beauvais and another at Rheims to Excommunicate Henry V. and Burdin his Anti-Pope One at Toulouze in Anno 1124. which condemned certain false Brothers or counterfeit Monks who declaimed against the Temporal Riches and Incomes of the Church and against the Sacraments One at Troyes Anno 1127. where the Order of the Templers was confirmed The Abbots Stephen de Cisteaux and Bernard de Clervaux were assistant there and the latter drew up the Rules of that Order of Knights Templers There was one Assembled at Estampes in the year 1130. to condemn the Anti-Pope Anacletus One likewise at Jouars the same year to avenge by Canonical Punishments the Murther of the B. Thomas Prior of St. Victors Another at Soissons Anno 1136. which condemned the Errors of P. Abailard One at Sens four years after for the same business King Lewis the Young was present there Another at Vezelay in Burgundy in the year 1145. for the Expeditioin to the Holy Land That of Paris in the year 1147. confuted the Opinions of Gilbert Poree Bishop of Poictiers who REcanted before Pope Eugenius at Rheims after the Council was dissolved which had been held in that City That of Fleury in the year 1151. was to annul the Marriage of King Lewis VII and Alienor of Aquitain In that of Auranches in Normandy Anno 1173. the Legats gave for the second time the Absolution for the Murther of St. Thomas of Canterbury to Henry II. King of England That of Alby which was in Anno 1176. condemned the Heresie of the Albigensis In that of Dijon which was held about Michaelmas in the year 1197. the Legat from Pope Innocent III. put the whole Kingdom of France under an Interdiction to comple Philip Augustus to quit Agnes de Merania whom he had Espoused in prejudice of Isemburge his Lawful Wife In that of Sens which was held in the year 1198. the Abbot of St. Martins of Nevers and the Dean of the great Church of the same City being present were convicted of the Heresies of the Popelicans the Abbot deposed the Dean suspended and both of them sent to Rome We hardly find above three or four that were called by the Kings order and the Authority of the Bishops of France Amongst others one at Rheims Anno 1109. one at Estampes Anno 1130. and two at Paris the first in the Year 1186. the other in 1188. Both of them were called by King Philip to consider of the best means to relieve the Holy-Land and in the last they agreed to raise the Tenths which was called the Saladine Tythe That of Estampes was called by King Lewis VII to judge whether of the two Popes they were to own either Innocent or Victor That of Rheims was by the proper motion of the Bishops of that Province to do right to Godfrey Bishop of Amiens against the Monks of St. Valery He had made discovery that certain Letters of Exemption by them obtained of the Holy See were false their Cause was worth nothing in France they transferr'd it to Rome and found such Advocates there as obtained a Sentence to their advantage The Bishops complained to the Assembly We find in the LX VIII Epistle of Peter de Blois that sometimes the like counterfeit Letters were discovered These were declared such by the Council Thus it is related by Nicholas Moine of Soissons who has written the Life of this holy Bishop A modern Author hath endeavour'd to invalidate this Narrative by contradicting of the Dates of times assigned his proofs may be examined Monastick Discipline was in its vigour in the newly Establisht Orders but some of the ancient Monasteries as well of Men as Virgins and the old Canons were greatly in disorder having run into much irregularity Sometimes there were Bishops that took care to reform them by gentle means but when the Debaucheries were too great they put Regular Canons or some new Monks in those places There were time out of mind some Canons in the Church St. Genevieve du Mont which was called the Chapter St. Peter and who upon the Recommendation of King Robert had been exempted from dependance on the Bishop and immediately subject to the Holy See it hapued that Pope Eugenius being lodged in their House a Quarrel arose between them and his Officers these would needs take away a rich Silk Carpet which the King had made a Present of to his Holiness to cover the place he kneeled on at Prayers the others pretending it ought to be left to their Church From words they came to blows the Canons fell upon the Popes Officers so rudely that several of them were hurt the King himself had like to have been so while he was endeavouring to prevent the Scuffle For punishment of this
Insolence upon the Popes complaint the King resolv'd to expel them from that House and gave it in charge to Suger Abbot of St. Denis who placed twelve Canons Regulars there whom he took from St. Victors Thus of a Chapter they made an Abby the first Abbot they had was named Odon As for that of St. Victor it was built in Anno 1113. or rather amplified by Lewis the Gross for before that time it was the Habitation of a Recluse a famous Doctor named Thomas de Champeaux who taught Divinity at Nostre-Dame having taken on him the Habit of that Order was Commissioned for the Government and Conduct of the new Institution and transferr'd the Divinity Schools to that place where he read till he was called thence to the Bishoprick of Chaalons Geduin his Pupil succeeded him and bare the Title of Abbot We may say in praise of this House that they never withdrew themselves from their Obedience to their Bishop but that they ever allow'd and received his Visitation and his Correction whereby they have fared so well that in Five hundred and fifty years for so long they have been there they never fell into any so great disorder as hath required a Reformation of the whole as all the rest have done who did shake off that Yoke of Lawful Authority The Order of Fontevraud of which we made mention about the end of the last Age was confirmed by Pope Paschal II. in the year 1117. The following year some Gentlemen zealous for the defence of holy Places amongst others Hugh de Paganis and Gefroy de Saint Ademar to that end Instituted an Order of Religious Kinghts who were named the Poor Knights of the Holy City then the Templers because they had their first Lodging or Quarters near the Temple of Jerusalem and for the same reason they likewise called those Houses they had in France Temples and so in other Countries Their Order received its Confirmation Rules and Habit at the Council of Troyes in the year 1127. Their Rules were contrived by St. Bernard and their Habit was to be white for the Knights and black or grey for the Servants Their number was then but small but it increased in a while to three hundred I mean of Knights alone for the Servitors were almost innumerable The Order de Premonstre was instituted in Anno 1120. by Norbert who was afterwards promoted to the Archbishoprick of Magdebourg That of the Carmelites did not begin till the year 1181. as you shall find in the other Age. The Orders of the Chartreux de Grandmont de Cisteaux were instituted in the preceding Age as we have observed They were all in great Veneration because of their austerity the two first were so still for their horrid solitariness indeed both of them were reckon'd amongst the Hermits and besides they consider'd that of Grandmont for their rigorous Poverty The Friers Converts of this last they were named the Bearded because they wore great Beards having the management of their Temporal Goods would have the Government of the Order and bring the Priests under their Ferula or Lash but in the end they lost their Cause The Chartreux have to this day preserved their Cloister and their Discipline having ever avoided all Intrigues of the World Conversation with Women and the ✚ ambition of attaining to Prelacy Three Rocks which ever have and will be fatal to other Orders These good Fathers had so much respect for the holy Sacrifice of the Mass that within their Walls they never celebrated it but upon Sundays and Holidays nevertheless they sometimes allowed those that had an earnest desire to it to say Mass every day to such as were indeed devout We must not wonder at this practise which would appear strange in these days St. Francis in his Letters which are called his Testament ordains his Brothers that but one Mass be said each day in the places where they lived according to the custom of the Church of Rome Masses were not then the best part of the Revenue and Subsistence of the Convents and poor Priests The Congregation of Clugny had been an hundred years in very high Reputation but her Monks had made themselves a litle too dainty taking too much delight in being Clothed in the finest Stuffs providing against the Heat and Cold avoiding all Labour and the open Air and seeking the Shades and Rest They heaped up Riches with both Hands got all the Cures to themselves to have the Offerings and Tythes and obliged the Chapters and Bishops to bestow the Prebendaries of their Churches upon them In so much that when the Reformation of the Citeaux appeared and those new Friers were observed to follow St. Bennets Rule literally without omitting one single point labouring with their hands refusing to acept of any Tythes and behaving themselves with great submission towards their Prelats the Reverence and Devotion of the People turned to them Thus they acquired much Wealth as well by Gifts presented to them as by their assiduous Labour there being in some of their Houses two or three hundred Friers that clear'd the Lands of the Woods and other Lets to Tillage drained the Fens and Bogs digged and planted and withall lived with great Frugality Being very poor in their beginning Pope Innocent would have them exempted from paying Tythes for their Lands a favour that was allowed to some Abbies the Lazar-Houses Canons Regulars and the Kinghts Templers and Hospitallers Now as their great Thriftiness and Gifts of Pious People did furnish them wherewith to make new Purchases the Prelats made great complaint of this Covetousness which did with-hold from them what they believed to be justly theirs by Divine Right The Monks of Clugny who were much perjudic'd or impair'd by them because they had the Tythes in divers places made loud complaints and a great stir wherever they could come to be heard so that in fine the Council of Latran which was held in the year 1115. restraining that Priviledge to the acquisitions they had already made This Difference joyn'd with the jealousie of growing too powerful prompted these two Congregations to decry each other Both of them were very Potent the Popes and Kings took their Counsels gave them notice of their good or ill success recommended themselves to their Prayers in all their great Undertakings and made them large Gifts and Presents to be Associates and Partakers of the Merits of their Societies That of Clugny had acquir'd much Renown by the desert and reputation of four or five of her first Abbots but lost a little by the irregularity of Ponce who squandred away a great part of the Wealth of that rich Abby on the contrary the Cisteaux encreased so much in Credit by the Reputation of her St. Bernard that those Monks were the Agents or the Organs of all the weighty Affairs of those times I must tell you here if I have not mentioned it already that the Will of the Parents made the
a Truce upon pain of Excommunication he made Reply That he took no Rule or Law from any one in the Government of his Kingdom and that the Pope had in this case no right but to Exhort and Advise not to Command This was the first occasion of Enmity betwixt these two great Powers Year of our Lord 1296 There were two more almost at the same time The one that Boniface received the Complaints of the Earl of Flanders who implored his Justice because Philip denied to restore his Daughter to him The other for that he erected the Abby of St. Antonine de Pamiez to a Bishoprick and put the Abbot of St. Antonine into it Observe en passant that this City was other while called Fredalas King Philip was offended at this Erection and more yet with the choice of the Bishop his name was Bernard Saisset because he believed him a Factious Man and too much devoted to Boniface Nor would he suffer him to take possession and therefore Lewis Bishop of Toulouze administred in that Church for two whole years together Year of our Lord 1295 and 96. The War was still carried on in Guyenne by the Earl of Valois and the Constable de Nesle and then by Robert Earl of Artois The English had for Commanders there John Earl of Richmond and Edmond the Kings Brother To what purpose would it be to relate the taking of many petty places and the divers small Skirmishes The French say they won two Signal Victories one of them was gained by the Earl of Valois and the other by the Earl of Artois It is certain that Edmond being beaten by the first near Bayonne was forced to retire into that City where he died and the Earl of Lincoln who commanded that English Army afterwards having lost many of his Men before Daqs durst not stay for Robert d'Artois and retreated Year of our Lord 1296 In the mean while a most dangerous Storm was forming against France A League was made at Cambray by the Interest of the King of England whereinto he entred with the Duke of Brabant the Earls of Holland Juliers Luxemburgh Guelders and Bar Albert Duke of Austria the Emperor Adolphus and the Flemming himself all which sent their several Cartels of Defiance to King Philip but none of them vexed him so much as the Challenge from the Earl of Flanders because he was his Vassal The Earl of Bar began the Attaque by ravaging Champagne but he retir'd when he heard how Gaultier de Crecy Lieutenant of the Kings Army burnt and plundred his Country Soon after the Queen being advanced that way to defend her Country of Champagne he was so saint-hearted as to surrendet himself to her without making any desence They sent him Prisoner to Paris from whence he could get no Release but upon very hard Conditions For he did Homage to the King for his Earldom which he ever had pretended to hold in Franc Alleud or Free-Tenure and moreover he was condemned by a Decree of Parliament to go and bear Arms in the Holy Land till the King were pleased to recall him Year of our Lord 1297 As for Florent Earl of Holland he was kill'd by a Gentleman whose Wife he had Dishonour'd His Son John died soon after him by eating of some ill-Morsel John d' Avesnes Earl of Haynault their Cousin and nearest Relation inherited Holland and Frisland Year of our Lord 1297 The greatest burthen of the War fell upon Flanders King Philip marched into the Country with a vast Army to whom the Queen joyned her Forces after she had subdued the Earl of Bar. He took L'Isle by a three Months Siege and Courtray and Douay without much difficulty whilst on the other hand Robert Earl of Artois gained the Battle of Furnes where the Earl of Juliers was so ill handled that he died of his Wounds Year of our Lord 1297 Adolphus detained in Germany by the private Troubles the French started amongst them or the Sums of Money Philip gave him under-hand did not bring the Flemming that Relief which he expected Withall they found a way by the all-powerfulinfluence of Money to debauch Albertus Duke of Austria from the Party who brought over with him the Duke of Brabant and the Earls of Luxembourg Guelders and Beaumont As for the King of England who was there in Person and had his Navy at Damm and his Land Forces in the Country Towns he brought more inconvenience then assistance to the Flemming Besides we may add that the greatest Cities in Flanders as Ghent and Bruges had been against the making of this War and amongst them a Faction had declared for the French who called themselves the Portes-Lys or the Flower-de-Luce-Bearers Now the King being retired to Ghent with the Earl of Flanders could find no other way to Charm the Swords of the French in those Countries but by a Truce The intercession of the Earl of Savoy and Charles King of Sicilia obtained it with difficulty for them from the Tenth of October till Twelfth-day for Guyenne and to S. Andrews Holy-day for Flanders only Edward knew how to employ that time to good purpose Having passed the Sea he went against the Scots who had shaken off the Yoke and not only forced their King John and his Barons to do Homage to him a second time of which a Charter written in French was Signed and Sealed and to renounce the Alliance with France but likewise kept him Prisoner a while with some of those Lords confining them in the Tower of London resolving not to release him till he had made an end of his Disputes with the French Year of our Lord 1298 The Truce being expir'd he made ready to return into Guyenne by the Month of March in the year 1298. Nevertheless as either of these Kings had partly what they desired that is the King of France the Towns in Flanders and the King of England the Kingdom of Scotland it was not difficult for their Ambassadors who met about it at Monstreuil on the Sea Coast to prolong the Truce to the end of the year It was agreed That the Allies of both Kings should be Comprised by consequence John Balâ—ol ought to have been so but they could never obtain his liberty and that all the places Conquer'd in Flanders should be in the hands of Philip during that Truce The King of England had obliged himself by Oath to the Flemming not to make a Peace till they were restor'd but in the mean time he agreed his Marriage with Margaret the Sister to Philip and that of his Son Edward with Isabella the Daughter of that King Year of our Lord 1298 The Money that Adolphus had received on both hands from the Kings of France and England was the cause of his Ruine and on the contrary what Albertus had taken for the same end served to raise his Fortune For this last having made use of some of it to corrupt the Princes of Germany who were displeased
had been erected by Pope Nicholas IV. and by the Kings Letters Patents in the year 1289. The others of this Kingdom which are now Ten in number Anger 's Poitiers Bourges Bourdeaux Cahors Valence Caen Reims Nantes and Aix were instituted in the following ages and at several times Now the University of Paris which excepting that of Toulouze was as yet the only singular one in France drew thither or bred there all that were then Men of Parts and Learning Albert the Great Thomas Aquinas Vincent de Beauvais all three of the Order of the Preaching Friers John Gilles or Joannes Aegidius who was also of the same Order Rigord of the Order of St. Bennet and Chaplain to Philp Augustus and Richard of Oxford all three Philosophers and Physitians James de Vitry Cardinal John de Sacrobosco who excelled in the Mathematiques Roger Bacon an English man by birth and of the Order of St. Francis a very subtil Genius and thoroughly versed and accomplished in all manner of Learning particularly in Chymistry in whose Works is to be found the secret for making Gun-powder Michael Scot who to acquire the knowledge of these Arts more perfectly and that of Astronomy and the Mathematicks Learned the Oriental Languages Alexander de Halez Bonaventure his Disciple and a long time after him John Duns Scotus all three of the Order of the Friers Minors and great Scholastiques Scotus lived Ten years in the following age they called him the Subtil Doctor and he was so indeed He was excited to some Opinons opposite to those of St. Thomas as their two Orders were which produced in the Schools those two Sects the Thomists and the Scotists They also reckon amongst the Learned Guy le Gross and Gilles de Rome famous Lawyers the first had been Married and yet became Pope the other was an Augustine Monk then Arch-Bishop of Bourges he lived many years in the age following and wrote Anno 1302. in favour of Philip the Fair against Boniface demonstrating that the Popes Authority does not extend to Temporals Robert de Sorbonne a native of the Village of that Name near Sens William de St. Amour and Christian de Beauvais born in those places and rough adversaries of the Friers Preachers and Minors William III. and Stephen II. Bishops of Paris Henry de Grand a famous Doctor in Divinity Hugh the Cardinal William Arch-Bishop of Tyre and Chancellour to St. Lewis Many of these Learned persons joyned a Holiness of Life to their exquisite knowledge The Church implores the Suffrages of Albert the Great of Thomas Aquinas and of Bonaventure as likewise of Peter de Chasteau neuf of the Order de Cisteaux and Legate from the Pope Martyr'd by the Albigensis in the year 1208. Of Bertrand Bishop of Cominges who rebuilt that City to which the name of its Restorer hath been given Of William de Nevers who daily fed Two thousand Poor Of Stephen de Die in Dauphiné taken out of the Order of the Chartreux Of Gefroy de Meaux who renounced his Bishoprick and retired himself into the Monastery of St. Victor in Paris which then was as it is now at this day most flourishing in Doctrine and Piety Of William de Valence under whom the Bishopricks of Valence and Die were united in the year 1275. and of Robert de Puy This Man very Noble for his Birth and much more so for his Virtue being slain by a Gentleman whom he had Excommunicated for his Crimes the People in revenge razed all the Houses belonging to the Murtherer and the King banished both him and all his Race out of the Kingdom We ought to add to this immortal company Eleazar de Sabran a Gentleman of Provence Earl of Ariâ—n whose perpetual celibacy in Marriage made him the compagnon of Angels and his charitable liberalities the Father to the Poor Yves Priest Curate and Official of the Diocess of Treguier in Bretagnc a good Lawyer and who by a more noble interest then that of Money was ever the Advocate of the Indigent and the Orphan The Men of that Calling own him for their Patron but imitate him seldom He died in the year 1303. Amongst those that wear the Crown of Glory in Heaven the great King Saint Lewis who wore the Royal Crown here below and his Nephew of the same name the Son of Charles II. King of Sicilia are of the highest rank This last buried the Grandeurs of this World in the Sack-cloath of his pennance turning Monk of the Order of St. Francis from whence he was drawn out againsth is Will to be made Bishop of Toulouze He died in the year 1298. Lewis X. called Hutin King XLVI Aged XXV or XXVI years Vacancy which began at the end of the Reign of Philip the Fair and lasted in all Two years Three Months and a halfe AS soon as Philip was dead his eldest Son Lewis succeeded him but he could not get to be Crowned at Reims till the Third day of August in the following year as well because he waited for his new Spouse Clemence Daughter of Charles Martel King of Hungary as because all the Kingdom was in combustion for the vexation of Imposts and the alteration of Moneys Year of our Lord 1314. and 15. Though he were in his majority and had been employ'd in Affairs for divers years nevertheless Charles de Valois his Uncle put himself in possession of the Authority displaced many Officers to advance his own Creatures and there being no Money to be found for the expences of the Coronation he upon that score took occasion to inquire into and examine the Officers of the Treasury especially Enguerrand de Marigny with whom he before had some rude bustlings Enguerrand sent for before the King to give an account of the Treasury had the impudence to tell him who was his Masters Uncle that he had had the greatest part and even to return him the Lie That Princes Sword had punished him at the same time if Heaven had not reserved him for a more infamous chastisement He was therefore seized upon some weeks after as he was coming to the Council this was on the Tenth of March put in prison in the Tower of the Louvre and from thence transferr'd into that of the Temple The prosecution being slow it was discover'd that his Wife abused by some Enchanters sought to bewitch or charm the King and make him languish to death by means of some waxen Images Those rascals being taken the King gives him up to the Law There were four chief Heads of accusation against him his having alter'd the Coins loaden the people with Taxes stollen several great sums and degraded the Kings Forrests His Process was made in the Bois de Vincennes by the Lords Pairs and Barons of the Kingdom who condemned him to the Gallows the Saturday before the Festival of the Ascension The Saturday following he was transferr'd from the Temple to the Chastelet and from thence they carried him to Montfaucon Where
he even left them there two Months without joyning them as he had promised They were fain to go and find him out at Vennes He was mightily perplexed for the Breton Lords even those who were the most affectionate being tired with suffering under strangers and the miseries of War and withal revolted from him by the intrigues of Clisson and the credit of Beaumanoir would peremptorily have him agree with France in effect they compell'd him to make a Peace with the King to dismiss the English and renounce their Alliance and also gave such cautions as obliged him to make good this Treaty They did not breed up the young King conformable to the good instructions of his Father but according to the inclinations of his age and airy Nature to Hunting Dancing and running about here and there One day when he was Hunting in the Forest of Senlis a large Stag was rowzed which he would not pursue with his Dogs but took him a Toil They found about his Neck a Copper Coller Gilt with an Inscription in Latine which imported * that Casar had given him it The young King because of this or for that in a Dream he had been carried up into the ✚ Air by a Stagg that had wings took two Staggs Volant for Supporters to the Arms of France Before him our Kings had Flowers-de-Luce Sans number in their Scutcheon he reduced them to three we do not know wherefore Year of our Lord 1381 The Children of the Navarrois to wit his Eldest and his Second Son and one Daughter who had been taken in one of his places of Normandy being yet prisoner the wicked King hired an Englishman to poison the Dukes of Berry and Burgundy in revenge for that they hindred their being set at liberty This wretched fellow was discover'd and quarter'd alive Nevertheless John King of Castille the Son of Henry importun'd by the continual sollicitations of his Sister who Married the Infant of Navarre interceded so effectually with the Kings Uncles that they released those innocent Children of a very wicked Father Year of our Lord 1381 The meanness and condescentions of the two Popes towards those Princes of their parties to attain their ends was a most lamentable thing nor can it without indignation be express'd what exaction and violence they committed on the Clergy and those Churches of their dependance The six and thirty Cardinals of Avignon were so many Tyrants to whom Clement gave all sorts of Licence They had Proctors every where with Grants of Reversions who snapp'd up all the Benesices the Claustral Offices the Commandery's retained the best of them and sold the rest or gave them upon pension or rather Farmed them out Clement himself besides his seizing upon all that any Bishop or Abbot left after his death besides his taking a years Revenue of each Benesice upon every change whether it hapned by vacancy or by resignation or by permutation ravaged the Gallican Church by infinite Concussions and extraordinary Taxes Good People bewailed these disorders there were none but Purloiners that wished they might be continued and nothing but the particular Interests of Princes kept this Schisme still on foot Clement allowed the Duke of Anjou the Levying of the Tenths and the Duke allowed of all his pilserings and violently reproved all those that durst complain This unjust proceeding rather then the Justice of Vrbans party was the cause why many of the principal Doctors of the Faculty put themselves under the Obedience of that Pope and also made the University begin to desire and demand a Council as the Sovereign remedy for all these mischiefs Year of our Lord 1381 The Duke of Berry angry that he had no part in the Affairs his Father-in-law the Earl of Armagnac perswades him to demand the Government of Languedoc as then in the hands of his Enemy the Count de Foix. The Council consents to his demand but the Count armed to maintain himself and the Province where he was as much beloved for his Justice and his Generosity as the Duke of Berry was hated for his Thievery stuck close to him The Duke with an Army to take possession by force the Count beat him foundly near the City of Rabasteins but after he had let him know he was able to keep his Government he yielded it up to him that he might not be the ruine of those that defended him Year of our Lord 1381 John Lyon chief of the White Hats had so blown up the troubles in Flanders that his death could not extinguish the Flame Most part of good Towns in that Countrey had joyned themselves to the Ghentois the Peace the Duke of Burgundy had made betwixt them and the Earl his Father-in-law lasted but a very short time the Earl goes secretly out of Ghent and the Gentry combine against the Cities Ghent had all manner of ill success but neither their being thrice let Blood which cost above Fifteen thousand Lives nor Waste nor Famine nor being fortaken by the other Cities nor yet the miseries of two Sieges could quell those stubborn obstinate lovers of their liberty After the loss of most of their stoutest Leaders they chose one named Peter du Bois and upon his perswasions another also to wit Philip d'Artevelle Son of that James formerly mentioned much richer then his Father but less crafty and much prouder This last took the upper-hand and pretended to all the Functions of a Sovereign Year of our Lord 1384 Although they had promised the People to take off the Imposts the Regent nor the Treasurers who Governed him could not resolve upon 't The great Cities took up Arms to oppose it Peter de Villiers and John de Marais Persons venerable with the People and also very much regarded by the Regent somewhat appeased the commotion at Paris but could by no means perswade them to suffer those new Levies The Burghers took Arms set Guards at the Gates created Diseniers Cinquanteniers Centeniers and made some Companies to keep the Avenues and Passages to the City free Year of our Lord 1381 The Duke of Anjou was therefore forced to dissemble for the present but he had not resolved to let go the thing thus and intended only to wait till their heats were grown colder to go on as before It hapned the following year that having published the Farming of those at the Chastellet one of the Officers belonging to the Farmers demanding a Denier of an Herb-Woman for a bundle of Cresles the Rabble gathered together upon the noise this Woman made grew into fury went and broke open the Town-Hall to get Arms and took out three or four thousand iron Maillets or Hammers for which cause this seditious crew were named the Malletiers After this they massacred all that were concerned to gather it plundred their Houses and razed them open'd the Prisons and took out all the Criminals amongst others Hugh Aubriot Prevost of Paris whom they made their Captain but
drift being to keep them from agreeing all together upon one method or expedient Year of our Lord 1396 The Gallican Church did not allow of Confessors to such as were condemned to suffer death by the Law in this particular she followed the usage of the antient Canons which did not admit to the Communion those that were branded with enormous crimes The Monk of St. Denis observes in this year that Charles the VI. was the first that granted them this favour and says the honour of obtaining it was attributed to Peter de Craon because he set up a Cross of Stone nigh Montfaucon where those poor wretches use to make a stop to be confessed In those times they did not hang any criminal within their Cities they would have been thought too much polluted ✚ by that infamous execution but they cut off their Heads In many places they led the condemned persons on foot to the Gallows and that before break of day Year of our Lord 1396 The Seigneury of Genoa rather then submit to the command of John Galeazo Viscount of Milan put themselves under obedience of the King and transferr'd all the right of propriety they had to him The Kings Commissioners left the Government to the Doge or Duke after he had first resigned his Power and Dignity into their hands but in a little time they gave that Command to Boucicaut The Factions in that Seigneury had very near destroyed and brought it to nought The City was filled only with Robbers and Murtherers the Noblest were banished thence Merchants durst not open their Bank those most in power made War upon each other from street to street and had raised Towers at each corner of their Palaces to defend themselves The Mareschal desiring to settle some Order and his own Authority amongst them commanded they should bring all their Arms into his Palace forbad all Assemblies cut off the Head of Boccanegra and a dozen or fifteen more of the most Factious made strict inquiry after such as had committed notorious crimes raised and entertained several Companies that kept Guards in all the Markets and publique places and built two Castles which had communication with each other the one named the Darse at the mouth of the Port the other in the City called the Chastelet Year of our Lord 1396 The Twenty seventh of October was appointed for the stately and magnificent enterview of the two Kings upon the confines of their Territories between Ardres and Calais where they confirmed the Truce The King of England espoused the Daughter of France and rendred up Brest to the Duke of Bretagne and Cherbourgh to the King of Navarre who three years afterwards sold it to the King France having granted succors to the King of Hungary against Bajazeth the Duke of Burgundy gave them John Earl of Nevers his Son to be their Leader He had in his Army Two thousand Gentlemen of quality besides the Earl of Eu Constable Admiral John de Nienne John le Maingre-Boucicaut Mareschal of France Henry and Philip Sons of the Duke of Bar Guy de la Trimouille his Fathers Favourite and other Lords Year of our Lord 1396 At first they performed such valiant acts as are almost incredible but their follies and dissolute lives did after render them ridiculous to the very Turks Besides their presumption swoln by success engaged them with the Hungarians in the Siege of Nicopolis and then in a Battle the Twenty eighth of September where the Hungarians not caring to second them as they ought they were all cut off or taken prisoners Bajazeth caused above Six hundred to be hewed in pieces in presence of the Earl of Nevers and having made him dye almost as often with his threats and terrors he reserved him with Fifteen more of the great Lords for whose Ransom he obliged himself to pay Two hundred thousand Ducats That sum being made good to them five Months afterwards they were all set at liberty The Earl of Nevers arrived in France about the end of March following It is said that Bajazeth was so far from taking any Oath that he should never make War again upon the Turks that he exhorted him to take his revenge and promised he should ever find him in the Field ready to give him any satisfaction Year of our Lord 1397 The King was seized with the Fourth Fit of his Malady more severely then all the former had been He recover'd it again but was ever after troubled with it at least three or four times each year The Earl of Eu dying in his imprisonment amongst the Turks the Earl de Sancerre who was a Marescal of France was honoured with the Office of Constable Year of our Lord 1397 We must observe the better to understand what we shall relate hereafter that this year King Richard for some conspiracy whether real or pretended put his Uncle the Duke of Gloucester to death as also the Earl of Arundel and divers other Lords and banished the Earl of Derby Son to the Duke of Lancaster who sheltred himself in France and began to Reign very tyrannically The Emperour Wenceslaus King of Bohemia took a fancy for what reason I know not to visit the Court of France the King went to meet him as far as the City of Rheims this was in the Month of March and received him with as much magnificence as affection That Prince shewed his brutality the very second day the King had invited him to Dinner and when the Dukes of Berry and Bourbon went to fetch him from his own Lodgings they found he was already drunk and taking his Nap to refresh himself and digest his load of Wine Next day the King Treated him the Entertainment and Mirth had lasted longer if the King had not found a Fit coming upon him which brought him back to Paris He left the Duke of Orleance with him to keep him company and confer with him about the means of putting an end to the Schism Year of our Lord 1398 The Kings Council being weary of Bennets playing fast and loose and daily disappointments did decree according as they were advised by a great Assembly of Bishops Abbots and Deputies of the Universities that the whole Kingdom should be subtracted from his Obedience till he would condescend to the Session propounded and that in the mean while the Gallican Church conformable to her antient liberty should be governed by her Ordinaries according to the Holy Canons Bennets Cardinals approved of this substraction and forsook him retiring themselves to the new Town of Avignon but he stood it out and having gotten some Arragonian Soldiers to serve him for a Guard shut himself in the Palace of Avignon The Mareschal Boucicaut had order from the King to besiege him there he acquitted himself faithfully and pent him up so close that in a few days he would have been reduced to want of Provisions when order came to him from Court to change the Siege into a Blockade and suffer refreshments
come to his majority Year of our Lord 1422 The one and twentieth of October following King Charles VI. the weakness of whose Brain stupified with so many relapses made him a prey to every one that could but come to deal with him ended his Life and his unhappy Reign in his Hostel of St. Pol at Paris attended only by his first Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber his Confessor and his Almoner His Funeral was at St. Denis no Prince of the Blood went to it not even the Duke of Burgundy who was ashamed to give place to the Duke of Bedford This last as soon as the Ceremony was over caused young Henry his Nephew to be proclaimed King of France Charles VI. Reigned two and forty years and five and thirty days and lived fifty two He had by Isabella of Bavaria six Sons the three first of them died in their infancy the other three Lewis John and Charles appeared on the Theater and the last survived him and Reigned He had the same number of Daughters Isabella Jane Mary a second Jane Michel and Catharine The first was Married to Richard II. King of England then to Charles Duke of Orleans the second died in her Cradle the third devoted her self to God in the Convent at Poissy the fourth Married John VI. Duke of Bretagne the fifth Philip who was Duke of Burgundy and the last Henry V. King of England Before him the Kings of France were wont at all Ceremonies to appear with all their Regal Ornaments and wear some marks about them every day as their Robes lined with Ermines and a Crown upon their Hoods or their Hats In the Army a Coat of Armour Sem'd with Flower-de-Luces and a Hoop with Flowers pretty high upon their Helmets This King neglected all these Ornaments and did not distinguish himself at all from other People so that he seemed to have degraded himself of all Royalty That Quarrel which Pope Boniface had with King Philip the Fair was the Rock whereon the Papal Power both Spiritual and Temporal was split and shipwrack'd which till then had Master'd had Lorded it over the Emperors and other Western Princes The translation of the Holy See to Avignon brought them lower yet by removing them out of their natural place and laying open their defects which exposed the Court of Rome to the great contempt and scorn of all that did but make the least observation on their ill Conduct But to say the truth France that thought to aggrandise it self by this Spiritual Power of the Popes Court gained nothing but their Vices with the plague of Litigious Disputes and the Maletost or extraordinary Taxes But if the multitude of Cardinals were an advantage to the State France might have vaunted that she alone had as great a number as all the other parts of Christendom besides We have seen how Clement V. promoted to the Papacy by a method not strictly Canonical extinguished the Order of the Templers who were found to be all guilty in France but innocent in divers other Countries John XXII was the first who made it a fixt and permanent right to reserve the Fruits of vacant Benefices for the Holy See He bestowed the same Honour on the Bishoprick of Toulouze but thinking it too rich and of too great extent he divided it into five whereof Toulouze is one Montauban Lavaur Rieux and Lombers are the other four which he would have to be its Suffragants as also Mirepoix and Lavaur created new by him Moreover he restored the Bishoprick of Pamiez to that of Toulouze which had been taken away and brought under Narbonne by Boniface VIII when he erected it To recompence Narbonne in some manner he made two more in the same Territory these were Alet whose See was first at Limoux and St. Pont de Tomieres He likewise made four for that of Bourges Castres of a portion of that of Alby St. Flour of part of Clermont Vabres of part of Rodez and Tulles of part of Limoges He likewise erected four for the Archbishoprick of Bourdeaux which had been dismembred Condon from the Territory of Agen Sarlat from that of Perigueux Maillezais and Lucon from that of Poitiers Most of these sixteen Churches were Abbies changed into Bishopricks and their Abbots converted to Bishops The Popes return to Rome was attended with a Schism of forty years which troubled all Christendom but afflicted France particularly overthrew the Discipline of Elections and of Collations filled all the Churches with Mercinary Pastors nay hungry Wolves and absorded all her Revenues not only by ordinary Taxes upon each of them by Annats and Rights of Provision but by extraordinary Taxes and Tenths The Princes first the Duke of Anjou then the Duke of Berry and after him the Duke of Orleans favoured the cupidity of the Popes of Avignon that they might share in the prey the Cardinals gorged themselves the Prelats either for want of courage or in hopes of getting into fatter Benefices gave their consent the lesser ones were so much under the pawes of the Wolf they durst not so much as open their mouths The University of Paris alone opposed these disorders and notwithstanding the Princes menaces the corruptions of the Court of Avignon the tricks and artifices of the Popes that were Competitors they saved the Temporals of the Gallican Church and restored the Universal Churches Peace by extinguishing the Schism And truly this great work is in the first place due to their zeal and labour and in the second place to the care and perseverance of the Emperor Sigismund who called and maintained the Council of Constance and who made divers Voyages into Italy France and Arragon to establish Unity and Peace There was not in all the Kingdom so powerful a Body as the University as well for the multitude of her Scholers which sometimes exceeded the number of thirty thousand as because she was the Nursing Mother of all the Clergy of France The remonstrances she took the liberty to make to the Princes the care she had to procure the reformation of the State during the troubles and that which hapned to Savoisy are very strong proofs of it But we will add two more The one that in the year 1304. the Prevost of Paris having caused a Scholer that was a Clerk to be hanged they carried their complaints to the King and left off their Exercises till they had satisfaction He was fain to go to the Pope for his absolution The other was thus in the year 1408. William de Tignonville who was at that time in the same Office having likewise sent a couple of Scholers to the Gallows who well deserved it but were Clarks was forced together with his Lieutenant to go and unhang them to kiss their Feet and cause them to be brought with great ceremony to the Matburins where yet their Epitaph is to be seen We find by the Letters of Pope John XXII that the Oriental Languages the Greek the Arabian the
Chaldean and Hebrew were taught in the year 1325. There sprung up if we may so say a vast quantity of excellent Plants in this fertil Nursery I cannot tell whether I ought to reckon the Scholasticks in the number since they have brought forth more Thorns and Prickles then either Flowers or Fruit that is wholesom Henry of Ghent John of Paris John Duns the Scot all lived in the beginning of this Age which was the Fourteenth Century but perhaps some would rather have them placed at the latter end of the Age foregoing the two first were Secular Doctors the third a Cordelier Of the same Order were Aureolus Mayrons Okam and de Lyra. Peter Aureolus amongst other Works composed a short and pithy Commentary upon the Bible The Criticks may examine whether we must distinguish him from another of the same name and of the same Order a Native of Verberie upon the Oyse who was a Cardinal Francis de Mayrons having been rejected at the Sorbonne would needs to shew his ability maintain an Act where without having any President without eating or drinking without rising from his Seat he answer'd from five a Clock in the morning till seven at night Since that the other Batchelors pretend to imitate him And from hence came the Act which they name the Grand Sarbonnique William Okam by birth an English Man wrote of the power of the Popes and Emperors against John XXII Nicholas de Lyra a Native of the Diocess of Evreux in Normandy whom they say was Originally an Hebrew compiled a Commentary or Postil upon the Bible of which great use is yet made From the Order of the Dominicans came Bernard de Guy Inquisitor of the Faith against the Albigensis Bishop of Lodeve of whom we have divers Volumes as well of Holy History as Profane Durand de Saint Pourcain Bishop of Meaux William de Rance Bishop of Sees Confessor to King John Herve Noel by birth a Breton General of the Order and Contemporary with Durand Peter de la Palud a Burgundian Patriarch of Jerusalem Amongst the Seculars we find William Durand Bishop of Mandes called the Speclator who composed the Book Entitled Speculum Juris it was he made likewise the Rationale Divinorm Officiorum He lived in the beginning of this Age about twelve or fifteen years before the other Durandus Bishop of Meaux The Cardinal Bertrand Bishop of Autun Nicholas Oresme Grand Master of the Colledge of Navarre Dean of the Church of Roâ—en and Tutor to King Charles V. who made him Bishop of Lisieux who amongst other Works translated the Bible into French which was perhaps the first Translation that ever was seen in our Language that is to say in French Romance for there had been one in French Tuâ—esque even in the time of the second Race King Charles the Wise will not disdain to be placed in the number of the Learned since he is beholding for his Wisdom in some measure to the Writings of Learned Men whose Eloquence and Politiques drawn from examples in History did both animate and instruct his Captains May not France also reckon amongst her Learned Men the famous Petrarque since he spent so great a part of his Life here though he were Originally a Flore tine and was both born and buried beyond the Mountains This great Genius having in his youth exercised his Pen for his Mistress Laura repented a terwards his having trifled away so much time and imploy'd it afterwards in works that were more Philosophical and more Christian-like We must own that in this Age as in the last the Jacobins and the Cordeliers furnished the Roman Church with a great number of Bishops and Cardinals and that they were so powerful that if they had but wisely managed their prosperity the favour of the Grandees and the affection of the People they might have made themselves Masters both of the Church and State But they retarded their progress by their own faults and if 〈◊〉 say it hung Clogs upon their own Feet which hindred their higher flight the Jacobins in being so stiff to maintain their old opinion about the Conception of the Virgin and the Cordeliers in commenting with too much severity upon the observation of St. Francis's Rules and Philosophising too Metaphisically touching propriety of Goods which are consumed by the use of them John Duns the Scot had taken up the Cudgels against St. Thomas In all which Controversies he came short of the solidity of that Angelique Doctor though he had great advantage in the point of the Conception of the Holy Virgin maintaining that it was perfectly and entirely Immaclate wherein he varied from the Master of Sentences This opinion appearing more to the honour of the Mother of God and more suitable to the zeal of devout Souls was embraced by most Christians The Jacobins having stumbled at it lost themselves mightily in the esteem of the World however the Question was never fully debated till about the latter end of this Age. The Cordeliers had their time of suffering likewise for in a few years after they were brought so low they came almost to nothing even as the Templers beâ—ore them A pretence for the strict observation of the Rules given by St. Francis without admitting those interpretations of the Popes Nicholas III. and Clement V. had possessed divers Monks of that Order with such crude and ambitious imaginations as caused them to be divided into Parties who rambling from one Country to another confounded them almost with the Bisoches and the Frerots who were Hereticks indeed John XXII endeavoured to cure them of this obstinacy but not prevailing with them he threatned Excommunication They far from obeying him retired into Sicilia where they prescribed amongst themselves Rules very strict but withal very ridiculous made choice of a General Provincials and Guardians and began to live as independent from the Holy See Their fancies carried them yet further for they had the confidence to affirm that there was a Carnal Church over-grown with Riches and Vice of which Church the Pope and Bishops were the Prelats and likewise a Spiritual one girded with Poverty adorned with Vertue which consisted only of them and such as were like them in whom was all Authority as well as Sanctity That the Rule of St. Francis was the same thing as the Gospel and nothing therefore that was contained therein could possibly be changed But the Pope pursued them so close that by burning whipping and shutting them up between four bare Walls he made an end of them Others at the same time debated the Question concerning Property with as much heat and contention Nicholas IV. had declared by his Bull that they were to have only the use of those things that were given them and that the propriety belonged to the Roman Church Now it hapned that a Begard whom in Anno 1322. they had brought to the Inquisition at Toulouze having reply'd that neither our Lord Jesus Christ nor his
Nicholas d'Outrecour was forced to retract from sixty Articles which he had framed upon divers Heads of Philosophy and Divinity owning them to be false and Heretical and the Books wherein they were contained were ordered to be torn and thrown into the Fire The year 1369. a Frier Minor named Denis Soulechat had taught some errors concerning the renouncing of Temporal Goods and about Charity and the perfection of Love which being condemned by the Faculty of Divinity he appealed to the Pope who confirmed their Judgment and sent him back to Paris to retract them in the presence of John de Dormans Cardinal Bishop of Beauvais The great Plague which reigned over the whole Earth about the middle of this Age begot a Spiritual one which was the Sect of Flagellants which taking birth in Hungary spread it self in short time over Poland Germany France and England They carried a Cross in their Hands and wore a Capouch on their Heads were naked to their Wast scourged themselves twice a day and once in the night with knotted Cords stuck with sharp pointed Rowels prostrating themselves upon the ground in form of a Cross crying out for Mercy Each Band had their Chief These Pious beginnings degenerated into Heresie by their own pride and their herding with the Begards Rascals and all sorts of idle People They affirmed that their Blood was united in such manner to the Blood of Christ that it had the same vertue and that after thirty days scourging all their Sins were remitted both as to the guilt and punishment so that they did not care for the Sacraments This phrensy lasted a great while in the subsequent Age and neither the Censures of the Church nor the Writings of Learned Doctors nor the Edicts of their Princes could purge the Brain of these melancholy Zealots There started up another sort of Hereticks that were more pleasant but more infamous withall in Dauphine and Savoy they were called Turlupins These lived without any shame like the Cynick Philosophers prayed not but with their hearts and believed that Men who were perfect ought to have a liberty of Spirit not subject to any Law That Opinion which Pope John XXII endeavoured to set up touching the state of the Soul till the day of Judgment had it seems been very common in the foregoing Ages but the World had examined and consider'd it better so that for a long while it had passed for an error The University therefore corrected the Holy Father in that point and he not only desisted from it himself but likewise gave a publick Act of his Retraction whether upon King Philip de Valois his threats who sent a Message to him in these very words That if he did not retract he would have him burnt or rather his being better satisfied in the Point The grand Assemblies being formidable to all such as govern by absolute Authority rather then by Law there were very few Councils in this Age. I have told you to what end that of Vienne was held Anno 1311. some will have it a General one because Pope Clement V. presided there and it consisted of a great number of Bishops and Prelats In the year 1318. Robert de Courtenay Archbishop of Reims convened one at Seulis where his eleven Suffragants were in Person or by their Proxies They there pronounced Excommunication against all those that were Usurpers or Detainers of the Churches Goods The Eighteenth of June of the year 1326. the Archbishops of Arles Aix and Embrun assembled the Prelats of their Provinces in the Abby of St. Ruf near Avignon to labour for the reformation of Manners the establishment of Discipline the preservation of Ecclesiastical Immunities and the Hierarchial Authority over the Regulars Anno 1337. there was another at the same place and from the same Provinces which treated about the same things Pope Bennet XII presided there That of Lavaur in the year 1368. composed of three Provinces Narbona Toulouze and Ausch and convened by the Authority of Pope Vrban V. had for their chief aim the reformation of Manners We must not omit that in the year 1377. King Charles V. used his intercession to Pope Gregory XI to order it so that the Bishoprick of Paris might be no longer subject to the Metropolis of Sens and that it might be honoured with the Pall like the other Bishopricks in France His Holiness excused himself as to the first point as a thing too prejudicial to the Church of Sens whereof Clement VI. his Uncle had been Archbishop and where himself had held one of the highest Dignities but for the second he willingly granted it However we do not find that the Bishops of Paris ever thought of making use of it Charles VII King LIII POPES MARTIN V. Eight years five Months under this Reign EUGENIUS IV. Elected the 15th of March 1431. S. sixteen years NICOLAUS V. Elected the 12th of March 1447. S. eight years wanting twelve days CALIXTUS III. Elected in April 1455. S. three years three Months PIUS II. Aeneas Silvius Elected the 19th of August 1458. S. six years whereof four under this Reign CHARLES VII Called the Vctorious King LIII Aged Twenty years eight Months Year of our Lord 1422 THE Dauphin was at the Castle of Espailly near du Puy in Auvergne when he received the news of the death of his Father The first day he put himself into Mourning the second he Cloathed himself in Scarlet and after he had heard Mass in the same Chappel made them set up the Banner of France upon sight whereof all those Lords that were then present with Pennons of their Arms cried out Vive le Roy The English and the Burgundian held the best Provinces of France they had Normandy entirely and all that is between the Scheld even to the Loire and the Saosne excepting some few places which Charles had yet here and there As for his part he had only all that lies beyond the Loire excepting Guyenne but then he had all the Princes of the Blood on his side the Burgundian excepted the best Captains and the bravest Adventurers or Volunteers as the Bastard of Orleans Taneguy du Chastel James and John de Harcour Lewis de Culan Lewis de Gaucour the Mareschals de la Fayete de Rieux de Severac de Boussac Poton de la Hire Stephen de Vignoles-Saintrailles Ambrose de Lore William de Barbasan called the Knight without reproach and a great many others and indeed he purchased them at a dear rate for he was constrained to engage his Castles and the best part of his Demeasnes in pawn for them Now because during his first years he commonly resided in Berry his Enemies nick-named him in raillery the King of Bourges Year of our Lord 1422 In the beginning of November he was Crowned at Poitiers whither he had transfer'd his Parliament The accident that hapned to him at Rochel some days before was a kind of presage that he should fall into extream dangers but yet
the Pucelle wounded at the foot of the Wall She was willing to have returned to her own Village after she had executed the two points of her Mission but was overpersuaded by the Soldiery to stay with them which succeeded not so well for her Heaven being not obliged to assist her in what it had not commanded her to undertake That attempt failing the King takes his march towards Berry En passant he recovered Lagny upon the Marne Soon after he made his approach near Burgundy thinking to conclude an Agreement which was Negociating at Auxerre with the Duke but the business was not ripe But his good fortune was put to some kind of stand by the differences at Court which lasted almost a year concerning the Vicounty of Touars which the Lord de la Trimouille had usurped and held Lewis d'Amboise in Prison whose Cause the Constable had taken in hand as being of his Kindred La Trimouille had so prepossessed the Kings mind that he made him turn his Sword against his Constable and by this means gave the English time to breath The raising the Siege of Orleans had not much troubled the Duke of Burgundy if he had not found the Kings success go on with greater speed then he desired He was little less amazed at this suddain revolution then the Duke of Bedford He who had lately scorned his intercession in the Affair of Orleans began to seek and court him with submission and earnest application On the other hand the Kings Agents offer'd him an Accommodation and granted him a Pass-port to come to Paris upon some hopes they had that he would reduce them to the obedience of the King But when he had conferr'd with the Duke of Bedford he found it better to renew with the English who gave him a Blanc and together with that the Countries of Champagne and Brie only the Homage reserved Year of our Lord 1429 and 30. The Duke of Savoy and Lewis de Chalon Prince of Orange and Partisans of the Duke of Burgundy had promised to themselves to share the Country of Dauphine betwixt them Grenoble and the Mountains were to have been the Dukes and Viennois for the Prince Lewis de Gaucour Governor of that Country for the King soon spoiled the Market He gained a great Battle between Colombiez and Anton against the Prince slew and took eight hundred Gentlemen and afterwards seized upon all the places he held in those Countries It is related that in the rout the Prince chose rather to leap into the Rhosne on Horseback Armed and venture to swim over then fall into the Enemies hands Year of our Lord 1429 Towards the end of this year 1429. the City of Sens was reduced to the obedience of King Charles Melun recover'd themselves by shutting their Gates against the Garrison who had been making inroads in Gastinois The Kings kindness to such Cities as returned to him was a great bait for others to do the same Year of our Lord 1430 At his departure from Paris the Burgundian returned to the Low-Country where on the Tenth of January he Wedded in second Marriage Isabella Daughter of John I. King of Portugal Then was it that to grace the Solemnity at Bruges he instituted the most illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece composed only of thirty Compagnions or Knights nor did he quite fill up that number making then but twenty four The King of Spain as Heir to the House of Burgundy holds it an honour to be their Chief and maintains it in all its splendour not only by the great dignity of those on whom he bestows it but likewise by not making it cheap by too great a multitude Year of our Lord 1430 Amongst the many Sieges in every Province that of Compeigne was the most remarkable for the disgrace the Burgundians met with as being forced to raise it and much more yet by the Pucelles misfortune who was there taken Prisoner the Four and twentieth day of May upon their retreat after a Salley made the misfortune hapning to her by the imprudence or else the malice of William de Flavy Governor of the place who shut her out of the Barricado She fell into the hands of a Gentleman of Picardy who sold her to John de Luxemburgh one of the Generals he sold her again to the English for the Sum of Ten thousand Livers ready Money and five hundred Livers yearly pension Year of our Lord 1430 The wonders of this Shepherdess having succeeded so well at Orleans as we have mentioned Renaud de Chartres Chancellor of France the Mareschal de Boussiac and Poton de Saintrailles resolved to go to Rouen upon the faith of a simple Shepherd who told them that God had sent him to lead them into that place but the English having notice of it way-laid and fought them in their march defeated part of them and took Poton Prisoner Year of our Lord 1431 An Arragonian Captain named Francis de Surienne who was in the English Service surprized the City of Montargis after this manner Having made himself familiar with a Damsel who was in Love with the Governors Barber he promised her great Sums of Money and a Contract of Marriage if she would introduce his Men into the place thorough her House which was adjoyning to the Wall The Damsel gained the Barber with the temptation of Money without mention of the other part concerning her Marriage Both of them assisted the English in setting up their Ladders and getting in but the place being once taken they were turned out for fear they might play the same trick again by some bargain for the French and got nothing but scoffs and reproaches for reward Year of our Lord 1431 In exchange the French surprized the City of Chartres by the contrivance of a Fellow that carried Goods in a Wheele-barrow Whilst he pester'd the Draw-bridge with his load of Merchandize a hundred Men running out of a Cellar hard by where they had lain hid that night and upon a Signal by them given the Bastard of Orleans and Gaucour who were within a League hastned thither with three thousand Men. The Garrison without striking a blow sled to Evreux by another Gate Some Burghers made resistance by the example of their Bishop John de Fritigny a zealous Burgundian but he was slain with his Weapon in hand upon the steps of the great Church The Pucelle was a Prisoner of War and they could use her no otherwise without violating the common right of all People But the English too much enraged for their being beaten by a Maiden could not endure her glory who caused their shame They thought to repair their honour by branding her with infamy so that having obliged that remnant of an University which yet remained at Paris to make a Request to their King desiring Justice might pass upon her they carried her to Rouen and accused her in the Ecclesiastical Court for a Witch a Seducer an Heretick and one that had forfeited her
a long time in this Age and retired to Lyons where he Died in Anno 1419. The Cardinal Dailly Peter de Versailles Bishop of Meaux Thomas de Courcelles Canon of Amiens a powerful and most admirable man for his Doctrine but yet more valuable for his modesty who drew divers of the Decrees of the Council of Basil William Forteon and Stephen de Bruslefer of the Order of St. Francis John Siret Prior General of the Carmelites Martin Magistri Doctor of Sorbonne and William Chartier Bishop of Paris who was maintained in the Schools by Charles VII And was a Good and Holy Man and a great Clerk Amongst the Curious in humane Learning I find Alain Chartier Brother of William out of whose mouth proceeded so many good Sayings and grave Sentences that Margaret Stuard Lewis the Dauphins Wife finding him one Day fast asleep in a Hall where she was passing thorow with her Train would needs do him the Honour to bestow a kiss upon him I find one Charles Ferdinand who being Born blind gave himself nevertheless so much to Study that he acquired a great deal of Reputation for his knowledge in Humane Learning in Philosophy and in Divinity He took on him the Habit of St. Bennet in the Abbey de la Couture at Manse There was likewise Judocus Badius Famous for many of his Commentaries John Bouteiller advocat in Parliament Author of the Somme Rurale Robert Gaguin General of the Order of the Mathurins Library-keeper to Charles VII and after sent on divers Embassies John de Rely Bishop of Anger 's who was Confessor to Charles VIII and harangued at the Estates of Tours for the three Orders Octavian de Saint Gelais of the illustrious Family of Lusignan who was Bishop of Angoulesme and began somewhat to Purge and Beautify our French Poetry I may add Peter Reuclin and Picus Mirandolus without borrowing any thing from Germany or Italy since themselves in their Writings own they had drank in that Fountain of all Arts and Sciences our University Trithemius relates that in the year 1456. there came a young Spaniard thither named Ferrand de Cordule Doctor in Divinity who astonished the whole University by his prodigious Learning for he knew all Aristotle by rote together with all the Law-Books also Hippocrates Gallen the principal Commentators on all those Authors the Greek the Latin the Hebrew the Arabian and the Caldean Languages Judicial Astrology much sought into and Studied but very little understood was in vogue and had great access in the Closets of King Charles VII and Lewis the XI Seven or Eight of their Prognosticks are to be seen concerning each of those Kings and 't is affirmed but perhaps not till after the events that they did foretel several particulars that came to pass The most Famous of them was Angelo Catto a Native of the Dutchy of Tarentum whom Lewis XI made Arch-Bishop of Vienne The Author of the Memoirs of his Life writes that going to King Lewis XI who was then hearing Mass at Tours he foretold the defeat and Death of Charles Duke of Burgundy the very day it happened at Nancy But if that had been true Philip de Comines who Dedicates his Memoirs to him would never have omitted it Printing was brought to Paris about the year 1470. by three Germans Martin Vlric and Michael very able men in that new Art In the beginning they used Characters that imitated writing Hand then Square or Roman Letters and some time after the Gothique or Lombard Letters and at last they came to the Italick and Roman Character Physick was likewise Cultivated with more success then formerly The Doctors of that Faculty knowing that an Archer of Bagnolet very much subject to the Gravel was condemned to Death for some Crime Petitioned the King that he might be put into their hands to try an experiment whether they could cut him and draw forth the Stone or Calculuos matter Their operation Succeeded very happily and the Archer survived a long time after in good and perfect Health During this whole Age France did not furnish the Church with any one Canonised Saint but there were many Illustrious Prelats The most remarkable of those that wore the Sacred Purple were Peter Dailly Grand Maistre of the Colledge of Navarre then Bishop of Cambray John de Roquetaillade Cardinal Arch-Bishop of Rouen Vice-Chancellor to the Pope and his Legat at Boulogne Renold de Chartres Arch-Bishop of Reims William d'Estouteville who was Legat in France and reformed the University Peter de Foix Arch-Bishop of Arles who had been of the Order of St. Francis Lewis d'Albret Bishop of Cahors who was named the delight of the'Sacred Colledge John Joffredy Bishop of Arras then of Alby John de Balue Bishop of Euvreux and William Briconnet Bishop of St. Malo's who all signalized themselves in the greatest affairs the six first being of noble Parentage and rare Learning Joffredi and la Balue of mean Birth that Son of a Peasant and this of a Taylor in Saintonge the former considerable however for his Erudition but la Balue only by his Intreagues and his Fourberies The Cardinal de Foix was he that founded the Famous Colledge bearing his name at Thoulouse with five and twenty Bourses to maintain Scholars We have had a very Learned Prelat from thence whose name will be sufficiently made known to all posterity without expressing it here Amongst the Bishops we may observe James and John des Vrsins Brothers and Successively Arch-Bishops of Reims Martin Gouge Son of an Inhabitant of Bourges who was Bishop of Clermont and to ennoble himself assumed the name de Charpagnes These three lived in the time of Charles VII whose affairs Martin administred and held the Seals till the time of his Death which happened in Anno 1444. Andrew Espinay Arch-Bishop of Bourdeaux had great Credit and Employments under Lewis XI Lewis d'Amboise Bishop of Alby John de Rely of Anger 's and Octavian de Saint Gelais of Angoulesme heretofore mentioned were considerable to Charles VIII The Clergy were but little vexed with Tenths during this fifteenth Age as well for the great respect which Charles VII had for the Church as because things were as yet so uncertain that the Pope who had ever raised them at discretion could no longer do it without the Kings consent nor the King without the Popes permission or allowance which neither of them did willingly grant to each other However in time they found out an expedient to share the Dole between them and strick the Ball very regularly each in his turn LEWIS XII Surnamed The JUST AND THE Father of the People King LVI Aged XXXVI Years compleat POPES ALEXANDER 5 years during this Reign PIUS III. Elected the 22th of September 1503. S. 26 Days JULIUS II. Elected the last day of October in the year 1503. S. 9 years and 4 Months LEO X. Elected the 11th of March 1513. S. 8 years and near 9 Months whereof one year and
Italian Princes because he had oppressed the City of Florence which was the place of his Nativity could not be induced to grant it but replyed in general terms he must Communicate the thing first to the other Princes of Christendom As to the second he gave his consent and made a League for some Year of our Lord 1533 Months For the third he excused himself because he had hopes of Marrying his Niece with the Kings second Son a party much more Advantageous then Sforza could be The Cardinal de Tournon and de Gramont were then upon the Negociation with him about this Alliance The Emperor could not believe the King would so much Debase and Vilifie the Noblest Bloud in the World He was much amazed when the two Cardinals shewed him the Powers they had for it Then went he away very ill satisfied with his Holiness though to appease him he promised to give him content in what he demanded against the King of England and Embarquing at Genoa about the end of February he passed into Spain Henry made most Vehement instances to Francis that he would Impetrate of the Pope he might have Judges appointed on the Place The two Cardinals whom we have mentioned being arrived at Bologna the fourth of January in the year 1533 obtained of his Holiness that he would defer the Judgement of that business till the King and he should had seen one another at the place appointed for that Meeting They had agreed upon the City of Nice but the Duke of Savoy making too many Difficulties the Pope consented not without much Repugnance that it should be at Marseilles and that they should come there in the Month of October The Amorous Impatience of Henry could not attend till then he caused his Marriage with Catherine to be Dissolved by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Espoused Anne Bullen in the presence of four or five Witnesses only He was Emboldned thereto by the three Thomases who governed him these were Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Cromwel Lord Chamberlain and Privy-Seal and Audley Lord High Chancellour The thing being done he gave notice of it to King Francis intreating his assistance for what he demanded of the Pope and to keep the business Secret It could not be kept so Private but that in one Months time both the Pope and the Emperor were made acquainted with it Both of them were Netled and Incensed to the greatest Extremity in-so-much as the Pope Pronounced the Sentence of Excommunication against Henry and nevertheless he refrained from Publishing it upon the Kings request who on the one hand being obliged to Henry and on the other desiring to be firmly united to the Pope sought out some way for an Accommodation However he promised nothing to King Henry saving that he would do him all the good Offices he could without prejudice either to his Religion or his Conscience And indeed the Pope desired that he would not press him in that concern beyond his Duty and the rules of Justice Year of our Lord 1533 In the mean time Anne Bullen was deliver'd of a Daughter who was named Elizabeth This was in the Month of September of this year 1533. The tenth of October the Pope arrived at Marseilles in the Kings Galleys who took him in at the Port of Pisa Some days before John Stuard Duke of Albany had brought thither Catherine de Medicis whose Maternal Aunt he had Married John de Bellay Bishop of Paris and afterwards Cardinal Harangued his Holiness in most Elegant Latin The next day after he had made his Entrance into the City the King made his with his Queen The Nuptials between Henry and Catherine were Celebrated the seven and twentieth of the Month with as great Joy as Magnificence The Pope and the King spent several days together being Lodged in two Houses just opposit the Street betwixt them but joyned by a Timber Gallery so that they went to each other unseen and could treat of their Affairs with the greatest Privacy Upon this occasion the King did not forget his usual Magnificence but rather Surpassed it very much He Loaded with exquisite Presents and great Pensions all those Cardinals that were with his Holiness But he made the Beauty of his mind and Eloquence out-shine the luster of his Gifts and that whole Court was satisfied that if there were a richer Prince in the World yet there could not be any one that made a more generous use of his Riches nor that accompanied his favours with so much wit and so much kindness as he The two and twentieth of November the Pope and he parted very well pleased with all their Negociations excepting that the King had extorted from the Pope four Cardinals Hats for four Relations of his Favorites these were John le Veneur Bishop of Lisieux Grand Almoner of France Claude de Giury Paternal Uncle to the Wife of de Brion Odet de Coligny but thirteen years of Age Son of Montmorency's Sister and Philip de la Chambre Brother by the Mother to John Duke of Albany This last took the name of Cardinal of Boulogne he being descended from that House by his Mother As to the rest there was no new League made between the Pope and the King contrary to the expectation of the whole World The Pope promised only to do all he could in favour of Prince Henry his second Son to obtain the Dutchy of Milan of the Emperor for him And as to the business of the King of England the King could not prevail with the Pope to revoke the Excommunication but only that he would not Publish it till he had first tryed by all manner of perswasions to bring that Prince again to reason To this intent he forthwith dispatched John du Bellay Bishop of Paris into England to exhort him not to depart from the Communion of the Roman Church This wise and able Prelate having obliged King Henry to promise him that point provided the Pope on his part would forbear publishing the Excommunication went Post to Rome to carry this good News and demand time to reclaim and fix that inconstant and stubborn Spirit The Imperialists could not prevent him from procuring it but they caused it to be limited to a much shorter space then was requisite Du Bellay therefore sent back a Courier into England with order to return by such a certain time Now the day being come but not the Courier the Imperialists pressed the business so hotly that although he represented that the Frosts and Snows and other Inconveniencies of the Season and Way might hinder and retard him and desired another respite only for six days Yet the Pope refused it and doing in one Meeting what he ought not to have done but in three he Pronounced the Sentence and caused it to be affixed in the usual places Two days after the Courier arrived bringing very ample Powers by which King Henry Submitted himself to the Judgement of the Holy See provided certain Cardinals whom
Title of Conservator of the Country In the mean while the Coligny's observing they were looked upon with a very evil Eye at Court withdrew themselves and the Queen order'd the Admiral to go and quiet those Commotions that were beginning in Normandy and to enquire and search out the real causes that he might make report thereof to her The horror of this Conspiracy and so much blood as had been spilt in punishing it so deeply wounded the Heart of Francis Olivier who had a tender and most humane Soul that he fell sick upon it and died The Cardinal de Lorraine had cast his Eye upon John de Morvilliers Bishop of Orleans but the Queen prevented him and desired the King to give that Office to Michael de l'Hospital at least she made some body tell him that he owed that favour to her although the Cardinal would needs perswade him it came by his means l'Hospital did afterwards make it plainly appear the Obligation was from the Queen by his so closely sticking to her Interest The Cognisance of all matters and Crimes relating to Heresies had hitherto belonged to the Parliaments who five years before had contended mightily to preserve the same Now as there were many Councellors and of the most Learned who were imbued with those Novelties the Cardinal de Lorraine got all such causes to be transmitted to the Bishops by an Edict of the Month of May at Ramorantin in Berry To which the new Chancellor consented to prevent a greater evil the Inquisition which that Cardinal and the Court of Rome endeavour'd to introduce in France with the same power it hath in Spain In France they had hitherto called those that professed the new Religion Lutherans though in many points they did not follow the Doctrines of Luther Some did more properly name them Sacramentaries because they denied the Reality of the Body of our Lord in the Holy Sacrament This year they applied the name of Huguenots to them which sticks upon them still The Origine of it is uncertain there are those that say it took its birth at Tours and they derive it from the name of Hugon because those Novators made their Mid-night Assemblies at the Gate Hugon or because they went abroad only during the darkness like Goblins or Spirits by them called King Hugon and which according to the fabulous reports of those People stalked about the Streets of that Town in the Night time For my own part I think I have good Proof that it comes from a Swiss word which signifies League but corrupted by those of Geneva and from thence it Travelled into France with the Religionaries themselves who were so called in those Countries After Queen Catherine had Fortified her self by the Councils of the Chancellor de l'Hospital she was precautioned as well against the Guises as against the Princes of the Blood And as she would always keep to that Maxime of her House as a Rule to walk by Divide and Reign she studied to continue the troubles that she might still find a Party to rely upon and make them balance one another And if either side grew too ponderous she put more weight into the other Scale to bring them to an equalibrity Thus observing the absence of the two first Princes of the Blood and the Coligny's who were gone to their own homes left the Guises in too great Credit she began to lend a more favourable ear to the Huguenots and even to read some Writings they address'd to her for their justification With the same prospect or to dive into the designs and interests of the Grandees she Summoned them all to Fountainbleau upon the twentieth of August under colour of taking their advice upon the present State of affairs as it was otherwhile Year of our Lord 1560 the Ancient and necessary Custom and Method of the Kingdom of France The Constable the Admiral and Dandelot went thither with a Train of Eight or Nine Hundred Gentlemen The Assembly lasted only four Sessions They were held in the Queen Mothers Closset the King being present The first day the King and then the Queen his Mother having in few words declared the occasion of their being called which was to find out some remedy for the Troubles caused by differences in Religion and to root out those abuses that sprung up so fast in all the Orders conjured those that were present to give their opinions and speak their thoughts without passion or interest The Chancellor did more at large lay open what the distempers and disorders were and the Remedies they might apply When he had ended the Admiral advanced and falling on his knees before the King presented him some Petitions not signed by any one but which he said he had received in Normandy which implored the Kings mercy and begged he would put some stop to the prosecutions against the Reformed and allow them some Churches and the free exercise of their Faith Thereupon John de Montluc Bishop of Valence being desired to give his advice spoke with more freedom then any Enemy of the Church of Rome durst have done of the abuses and vices of the Clergy particularly the Bishops Forty of them having been seen at one time together at Paris wasting their precious time in sloathful idleness or forbidden pleasures praised the devotion in singing of Psalmes and Hymnes in French rather then wanton Ayres and Songs Blamed the severity Inflicted upon People guilty of no other Crime but a perswasion of what they believed to be really good and concluded it best to refer the decision of those Controversies to a National Council there being little hopes of a General one and the reformation of the disorders in the State to an Assembly of the Estates General Marillac Archbishop of Vienne spake to the same purpose and added several things too picquant against the Guises The Cardinal de Lorraine a Prelate of a sublime Eloquence took the Counterpart against these two Bishops and by weighty reasons shewed there was no need of any Council and that the Prosecution ought to be carried on against the Sectaries As to the other point he was of opinion to call the Estates together He also gave an account in gross of the Administration of the Treasury as his Brother the Duke of Guise of his Conduct in the Government justifying himself against the Calumnies imputed to him especially his having Armed the King against his Subjects by setting up a Guard for him as he had done for which he laid all the blame on those that were the Authors of the late attempts and disturbances The result of all was an Edict the Four and Twentieth of August which Summoned the Estates of the Kingdom to meet in the City of Melun upon the Tenth day of December and ordained the Bishops to come to the King the Tenth of January to such place as the King should prescribe to consult of a fit time and place to hold a National Council in case the Pope by
Funeral Of so many Lords and so many Bishops as were then at Orleans there were none but Sansac and la Brosse who had been his Governors and Lewis Guillard Bishop of Senlis who was blind that conducted his Corps to Saint Denis His Heart was left to the Church named Saincte Croix at Orleans The Guises excused their not attending it upon the necessity there was for them to stay with their Niece to comfort her But they were not exempted from reproach such as had more sence of Honour then Ambition much blamed them for not paying that little devoir to him from whom they had received so much honour And indeed some body tack'd a Paper upon the Pall that cover'd his Coffin wherein were these words Taneguy du Chastel where art thou This Taneguy as was well known tho banished from Court during the Reign of Charles VII his Master came generously back again thither to make a Funeral for that King at his own charges shewing his gratitude thereby and making it appear to all the World that his thankfulness for the favours he had received were above his fear of the resentments of Lewis XI a mortal Enemy to the memory and Servants of his own Father The Constable who had been sent for several times but crept along slowly by little Journeys having heard the tydings of the Kings death doubled his pace and Arrived the Eight of the Month of December at Orleans Entring into Year of our Lord 1560 the City he made use of the power belonging to his Office and commanded away the Guards that were at the Gates threatning to send them to the Gallows if he found them any more besieging or investing the King in that manner in a time of Peace and in the very heart of his Kingdom As for the Prince though he had free liberty as soon as ever the King expir'd nevertheless he refused to go out of Prison till he knew who were the prosecutors against him and who his accusers There were none durst undertake to play so desperate a Game and the Guises replied that all had been done by express Command of the King but did not produce any Order by vertue whereof he had been so prosecuted So that Thirteen dayes afterwards he came forth and went to Ham in Picardy attended with Honour and respect by those very men that had served as Guards upon him in his Confinement CHARLES IX King LX. POPES PIUS IV. Five Years under this Reign PIUS V. Elected the 7 January 1566. S. 6 Years 3 Months and 24 dayes GREGORY XIII Elected the 13. of May 1572. S. 13. Years wanting one Month whereof two years under this Reign Year of our Lord 1560. in December THose hopes many had conceived that King Francis II. being near the time of his compleat Majority might possibly extinguish all the Factions were now by his death changed into a just fear of finding them rather more enflamed and heightned from a Sedition to a Bloody War wherefore the Tumults increasing every day they made hast to Assemble the Estates from whom the silly vulgar expect a redress of all their grievances and troubles The first Session was held the Thirteenth of December in a great Timber Hall expresly built in the place called l'Estape The Chancellor begun it with a Speech becoming his gravity He blamed the violent proceedings in matters of Religion told them the only means to reclaim such as went astray was a good exemplary Life and sound Doctrine exhorted them earnestly to lay aside the injurious names of Lutherans Huguenots Papists and desired every one to forbear all hatred and own no passion but for the publick good in which consists the benefit of all particular Persons There was nothing else done at this first meeting only the three Orders were sent to confer together about their Papers and Instructions Some who were inspired with a bolder zeal had a mind to confer the Regency upon the King of Navarre but withal to leave the Education of the young King to his Mother to set bounds to the Government and make choice of a good Council for the management of all Affairs of State The Queen Mother took the Allarm caused the Kings Council to make a Decree which forbad the Deputies to intermeddle with the Government and made use of so many intrigues that the Navarrois a Prince very inconstant and irresolute was perswaded to confirm what he had promised her during the Imprisonment of his Brother Year of our Lord 1561 The second of January was the second Sessions of the Estates The three Orders made their Harangues John de Lange Advocate of Bourdeaux spake for the Third Estate James de Silly Earl of Rochefort for the Nobility and John Quintin a Canon of Autun and Doctor en Decret for the Clergy The two first laid great stress and weight upon the Vices of the Ecclesiasticks the cause of all the disorders The last endeavour'd to defend them retorted all upon the new Sectaries and reflected particularly upon the Admiral who demanded reparation Year of our Lord 1561 Quintin was obliged to do it in a set Speech at the closing up of the Estates Whatever accord there could be between the Navarrois and the Regent yet there was danger that the Estates if they consider'd their power might put some Fetters upon this Woman who was a stranger and besides they began to perceive that the Princes were forming parties and tryed to foist in certain propositions for their own interests or concerning their private quarrels Amongst others the King of Navarre put them upon calling for an account of the Finances and a particular of all the Gifts bestowed in the Reign of Henry II. himself proffering to surrender all that were given him This touched the Constable and the Mareschal de Saint André more then the Guises as having expended more in the Kings Service then they had gained The Regent soon perceived where it pinched and joyning them to her self upon this consideration easily adjourned the Estates to the Month of May and the City of Pontoise and ordained that she might be at less Charge and trouble to bribe them that there should come but two Deputies from each Government In the Month of February the King being come to Fountainbleau the Prince of Condé appeared there with a slender attendance that he might give them no jealousie The next day being admitted to the Privy-Council and having spoken of his innocency he asked the Chancellor whether there were any proofs against him the Chancellor answered No and all the Princes and Lords having testified that they were satisfied of his innocency the King commanded him to take his Seat The Council did after make a Decree which declared him wholly innocent and sent him back to the Parliament of Paris to get a more Authentique one as he did in a few days afterwards The courage of the Guises did not sink upon the rise of their enemies they were supported by the Catholick Party and
each for himself the Duke of Mayenne for his eldest Son and sometimes when he found any difficulty he thought of proposing the Cardinal de Bourbon then after divers agitations of mind he found there could be no better Resolution taken then that which in effect was worst of all and that was to take none at all Whilst he floated amidst these Uncertainties the Parliament of Paris being Assembled upon the Rumour then on wing of the Election of the Infanta made it appear they are infallible when concerned for the Fundamental Laws of the Monarchy of which they have ever had a tender and useful care For they made a grand Decree Ordaining that Remonstrances should be made to the Duke of Mayenne that he would look to the maintaining of those Laws and hinder the Crown from being transferr'd to Strangers and declared null and illegal all Treaties that had already been or might hereafter be made for that purpose as being contrary to the Salique Law Conformably to this Decree John le Maistre who held the place of First President went and deliver'd the Message boldly and shewed him how the Government of Women in France even that of Regents had never produced any thing but ✚ Seditions and Civil Wars whereof he instanced in ten or twelve examples most remarkable amongst which he did not omit Blanche de Castille and that of Catharine de Medicis the principal and almost the only cause of these last Troubles During these Transactions the King causes Dreux to be besieged he took the Year of our Lord 1593 Town upon the first Assault and the Castle afterwards upon Composition but not month June and July without much trouble and time The Spaniards finding by the Decree of Parliament and the loss of this City that the Affairs of the League were beginning to decline did the more press them for the Election of a King and at last in a Council they held with the Duke of Mayenne named the Duke of Guise Never was any Mans astonishment like to that of the Duke of Mayennes the trouble of his Soul appeared thorough all the coverings of dissimulation His Wives indignation was greater yet then his she would have overturned all rather then obey that meer Boy as she called the Duke of Guise In this pressing occasion when he knew not what to reply Bassompierre found out an Expedient for him which putting the business off for a while did in the end dash it utterly in pieces and that was to demand eight days time to give notice of it to the Duke of Lorrain his Master During this delay the Duke of Mayenne set all his Engines at work sometimes with the Duke of Guise to dissuade him from accepting this nomination as a thing ruinous both to him and all the House of Lorrain sometimes with the Spaniards to let them know it was not yet the Season for it and in fine with the Estates to incline them to his Sentiments His attempts proved altogether ineffectual upon the two first especially the Spaniards of whom it was reported they had endeavour'd to persuade the Duke of Guise his Nephew to kill him as being the only Remora to his Advancement But as to the Estates he plaid his part so successfully amongst them that they consented to the drawing up an Answer the Twentieth day of July By which the Duke and the Lorrain Princes most humbly thanked the Catholick King for the honour he did their House protesting they would ever persevere in their acknowledgments and a willingness to serve him and declared they were ready to promise before the Legat to persuade the Estates of the Kingdom to approve the said Election when there should be Forces sufficient to maintain it and when they should have agreed to such Conditions as were reasonable to be secured to the Chiefs of the Party Hereupon great Contests arose between the Partisans of the Duke and those of Spain these requiring they should go on with the Election the others that it should be deferr'd The Spaniards heard all without once opening their Mouths in the end finding their Votaries were fewer by a third part then the other they let go their hold And which was more the Duke without any regard to their Requests concluded month July to Treat for a Truce with the King and named his Deputies for that purpose Many Prelats some Doctors and even three Curats of Paris of whom one was he of St. Eustache named Rene Benoist being sent for to St. Denis the Two and twentieth of July the King came thither the next day and entred into Conference with them to satisfie himself as it were of certain scruples yet remaining touching Year of our Lord 1593 month July some points of Religion He was soon convinced but the Cardinal de Bourbon was not so that any other Bishop besides the Pope had right to give him Absolution the contrary notwithstanding was allowed maugre his under-hand dealings and vehement Remonstrances The formulary of his Confession of Faith was drawn up and the day appointed to make it the following Sunday Some Prelats out of an ignorant Zeal had thrust in certain trifling things which were not very necessary the King whose judgment was solid could not relish such trash wherefore they pared away all that was not essential to Faith and yet they sent it as it was first drawn up to the Pope the better to persuade his Holiness of his entire Conversion The Ceremony was performed in St. Denis Church by the Archbishop of Bourges as may be seen in the Memoirs of those times seven or eight Bishops being present and all the Grandees of his Court even Gabriela d'Estree who had not a little contributed to the Conversion of the King having already conceived great hopes he would Marry her The same night all the Fields from Montmartre whither he went after Vespers to visit the Church of the Holy Martyrs to Pontoise were enlightned by great numbers of Bon-fires which was soon after imitated by the Cities of the Royal Party and accompanied with Feastings Dancings and all other Tokens and Expressions of publick Rejoycing From that very day the People of Paris shewed plainly it was purely their aversion to Huguenotisin had engaged them to reject this Prince for they ran forth in multitudes to this Ceremony notwithstanding the prohibition of the Duke of Mayenne and on a suddain changing that hatred they had for him into a real affection began to call him their King and not the Bearnois as they had hitherto done scoffing at all the declamations of their Preachers who strove to make them persevere in their former Sentiments The Duke of Mayenne rejoycing also or pretending to rejoyce at his Conversion Treated with him about a Truce for three Months and both of them agreed to send to the Pope to get his Absolution without which the Duke would by no means hearken to a Peace His intentions an◠interests as he protested being no other but to preserve the
the future That whomsoever the Chapter should nominate to lift or take up the said Shrine should be bound to take out Letters of Pardon under the Great Seal that so this favour might be derived indeed from the Prince and proceed in a judicial order We shall pass by these things and many others the like to observe the management of two very important Affairs without doors wherein the Kings Authority and Prudence had the best share I mean the difference between the Pope and the Seigneory of Venice and the Truce between the Spaniards and the States of the United-Provinces As to the first His Holiness complained for that the Seigneory Year of our Lord From 1605 to 1606. had put a certain Canon to death convicted of ravishing a Girl of Eleven years old and then cutting her Throat for that they detained two other Ecclesiastiques in Prison a Canon and an Abbot the first for having inchiostré that is to say besmear'd a door belonging to a Kinswoman of his with Ink which is the highest affront in those Countries because she had refused to consent to his infamous desires The second because he was Accused of incest with his own Sister of Assassinates Poysonings Robbery on the High-ways Magick and of many other Crimes He was offended yet more at three or four Decrees made by them against the honour and the liberty of the Church By one in 1602. they had excluded the Lords Spiritual under what title or pretence soever from the right of emphyteutique prelation By a second of the year 1603. they had forbidden the building of any Church Convent or Hospital without permission of the Senate upon pain of banishment for such as transgress'd and confiscation of the Ground and Edifice By a third of the year 1605. they extended that Decree made first only for the City of Venice in the year 1536. to all the Cities and Territories under their obedience viz. That no Ecclesiastique should be allowed to leave bequeath or engage any Goods to the Church and if it were found that they possessed any of that sort the said Goods should be distrained and the value restored to whom it should belong To which was added That henceforward none should give any Estate in Lands to the Clergy nor to the Religious Orders without the consent of the Senate who would allow of it upon good consideration still keeping and observing the same solemnities as are observed upon the alienation of the publick demeasnes The two first Decrees were made in the time of Clement VIII the third was renew'd during the vacancy of the Holy See Paul V. declared to the Ambassador of the Seigneory That he would have this last to be abolished The Ambassador having Year of our Lord 1605 written thereof to the Senate received for answer to his Holiness That the said Decree contained nothing that was contrary to the Ecclesiastical Liberty that it respected only Year of our Lord 1606 the Seculars over whom the Republick had a Sovereign Power That it was not just that such Lands as maintained the Subjects of the State and was to bear the Charges should fall into Mortmain and that the Senate had ordained nothing therein but Year of our Lord 1607 what the Emperors Valentinian and Charlemain the Kings of France from Saint Lewis even to Henry III. Edward III. King of England the Emperor Charles V. and several others most Christian Princes had ordained in the like matters But the Pope very far from taking these reasons for currant payment demanded moreover that they should deliver up the Prisoners to him and sent two Briefs to his Nuncio for Martin Grimani Duke of the Seigneory which ordained him to do both the one and the other under pain of Excommunication and interdiction When these Briefs arrived at Venice the Duke was in his agony so that they deferr'd the opening of them till the Election of a new one who was Leonard Donati Vnder the Authority of this Duke the Senate made answer to the Pope That they could find nothing in the Decree nor in their own conduct that did any way deviate from the respect they owed to the Holy See or which was not of the rights of their Soveraignty in temporals At the same time they nominated Duodi Ambassador Extraordinary to go and declare the reasons for their so doing to his Holiness In the mean time he from France it was Fresne Canaye and the Cardinal Delfini made use of all their skill to allay the Popes indignation but on the one side the Cardinals of the Spanish Faction and on the other the Catholick Kings Ambassador Ferdinand Paceco Duke d'Ascalona puff't him up and heated him with specious motives of Religion and Honour The Cardinals did this to cast the good man into some Embarass hoping the troubles of such a perplexed business would shorten his days As for the Duke of Ascalona he sought to revenge himself for some resentment he had against the Venetians and thought hereby to give his Master an opportunity that might signalize his power in Italy The extraordinary Ambassador from the Seigniory coming too late sound all things in a flame and notwithstanding all the respects he could tender to the Cardinals and all the Arguments and Reasons he could urge he saw some time after a Bull posted up in the publick places of Rome declaring that the Duke and the Senate had by their undertakings against the Authority of the Holy See the rights of the Church and the priviledges of the Ecclesiastiques incurred those Censures contained in the Holy Canons the Councils and the Constitutions of the Popes ordained them to deliver up the Prisoners into the hands of his Nuncio declared their Decrees null and invalid enjoyned they should revoke them raze and tear them out of their Archives and Registries and cause it to be proclaimed throughout all their Territories that they had abolished them and this within four and twenty days which he allowed as the utmost time And in case they obeyed not he declared Excommunicate them their Abettors Counsellors and Adherents And if after the four and twenty days prefixed they did abide the Excommunication with stubbornness then he aggravated the Sentence and subjected the City and State of Venice to interdiction This made Duodi retire from thence without taking his leave of the Pope bringing along with him Nani the Ambassador in Ordinary from the Seigneory month May c. This thundring Bull was sent to all the Bishops within the Territories of the Seigneory to publish it the number of those that obey'd was the lesser the Senate had taken such good order there that this great flash of Lightning could set no part on fire divine Service went on still in the open Churches and the Sacraments were administred as before The Ancient Religious Orders stood firm but most of the new ones quitted that Country particularly the Capucins and the Jesuits both very strictly tyed to his Holiness interest the latter having
they sought by all manner of ways to make some impression upon the Mind of King Francis I. A Curate of the Parish of Saint Eustache named le-Cog Preached one day before him and speaking of the Mystery of the Eucharist told them that they must lift up the heart towards Heaven where Jesus Christ sat at the right hand of God his Father not bow down to the Altar and for this reason said he does the Church sing Sursum Corda those Doctors that were present would not let the Proposition pass so but obliged him to retract That King had a mighty tenderness for his Sister Margaret and was no less fond of good Learning when he met with it amongst the Ingenuous and the Beaux Esprits the Novators employ'd both the one and the other to draw him over to them At that very time which was in the year 1533. Philip Melancthon a man of as rare a Genius as any of that Age propounded to compose all the Disputes and Differences in Religion and did condescend to many Points in favour of the Catholicks in so much that if things of that Nature could have admitted of a Division he would have shared the Differences to have reconciled the Parties The King who had some interest to make himself considerable amongst the German Princes and to whom it would have gained Immortal Honour to have become the Arbitrator of Christendom wrote to him by William du Bellay Langey whom he sent into that Country That he Passionately desired to see him that he should be most extremely Welcom if he would come and confer with his Divines for the Reconciliation and Re-union of the Church and the Re-establishment of the ancient Polity which he desired to embrace with all Affection But the Cardinal de Tournon and the Divines of Paris apprehending the Consequences of this enterview to be like the opening of a Gap in the Sheep-cote to one whom they looked upon as a Ravenous Woolf made such frequent and such pressing Remonstrances to the King that he gave Melancthon notice he did excuse him from taking so great a trouble upon him They likewise hindred him from reading the Book of Calvin's Institutions which the Author had dedicated to him in Anno 1535. and withal engaged him to send for his Sister Margeret and her Doctors to come to Court They were brought thither together with her by Charles de Coucy-Buric the King's Lieutenant in Guyenne imbued with the same Sentiments as that Princess He privately gave her fraternal Correction and Admonition and sent her Doctors to Prison but so soon as they retracted he released them upon condition they should never dare again to approach the said Princess Notwithstanding he restored her Roussel to her whom she had provided with the Bishoprick of Oleron and the Abbey of Clairac with which he passed the remainder of his days in an apparent exercise of the Catholick Religion and a most exemplary Holiness of Life and Conversation if his inside were equal to his outward deportment and his heart as sincere as his tongue seemed Pious As for the Queen she protested to her Brother never to depart more from the Catholick Religion and shewed her self much an Enemy to those that opposed it nevertheless towards the end of her days which was in Anno 1549. she seemed to repent of her Repentance and desired Calvin by Letters to come both to instruct and to comfort her but he did not judge there would be any security for him in the Journey and ever chusing rather to expose his Counsel than his Person in case of danger he would not stir out of Geneva which was his main Fortress We have formerly told you who this Calvin was his Birth his Beginnings and his Progress It is worthy our Observation that in Anno 1534. he held his first Synod at Poitiers in a Garden and from thence sent his Disciples forth to other Cities to plant his new Gospel Those that have seen him write that his Speech his Gestures and his Presence were but little taking in the Pulpit but his Books manifest that no man in his time had so Eloquent a Pen as his His manners were much more regular than Luther's he appeared sober frugal continent setled edifying both by his Discourse and his Example notwithstanding he was by Nature surly violent jealous injurious and implacable towards any that opposed him In the year 1535. the Citizens of Geneva having withdrawn themselves from the dominion of their Bishop who was also their Temporal Lord and then from that of the Roman Church called in Calvin and Farel to be their Pastors Scarce had they been nestled there two years and a half when some difference arose between them and the Magistrates of the City who drove them out this was in the year 1538. but absent as they were they still maintain'd their Cabal and their Party was so strong they were recalled again in Anno Year of our Lord From the year 1535. 1541. After than Calvin never left it more having as it were established his Pontifical seat in that place from whence he governed his whole Party as well in Temporals as Spirituals Farel could not long comply with him and retired into Switzerland As Calvins temperament was very severe and an Enemy to all divertisements that besides he must needs have observed how the Lutherans instead of having retrenched their Luxury Debaucheries and Oppressions had rather increased them he thought it would be much better to use more strictness in reforming those irregularities so to gain Proselytes by the specious appearance of Austerity He therefore forbad all Oaths which then were grown very horrible and very frequent not permitting his to affirm otherwise then by the word verily he prohibited Dancing Cabarets Gaming-houses and Usury he punished Fornication and Adultery with death and recommended modesty of Habits Frugality and Temperance that so those of his Sect might appear to be really reformed and the Catholicks by opposition much more irregular and much more dissolute The number of his followers encreased daily they held their Assemblies by night in Cellars or in solitary places and had Advertisers who went from house to house to give them notice of the place and time Francis I. a very merciful Prince was not over rigorous to them till in the year 1535. when they lost all respect to him as well as to things Holy and Sacred Some over Zealous amongst them being angry because he would not hear Melancton nor read the works of their Calvin posted up certain very scandalous placards against him and against his Religion and scatterd'd divers very injurious Libels even upon his Table and on his very Bed nay there were those that cut off the Arms and heads of some Images So that being exasperated to the highest degree by this audacious Saerilege he quitted Blois where he then was and came to Paris where after he had given order to seize upon a good many of
Pope resumed the Purple and assisted cloathed in that manner at the Act of the Majority of the King in the Parliament of Rouen whereat the Pope was so incensed that he publickly pronounced the Sentence and caused it to be affixed in the Markets of Rome and afterwards dispersed all over Europe But as for the Queen of Navarre the Kings Council considering the consequences of suffering a Princess to be dispoyled who was related to the King and that her Husband died fighting in defence of the Catholick Religion that her Case would be a prejudgment against all Crowned Heads and that this Chastisement would turn less to the advantage of Religion then to the profit of the King of Spain who from thence would take an opportunity to invade her Countrey made such effectual Remonstrances to the Pope by the mout h of Henry Clutin-Doysel his Ambassador that the Citation given against this Queen was revoked As for the Bishops the Cardinal de Lorrain having likewise informed the Pope that it was against the Rights and usage of the Gallican Church to suffer their Process to be made at first instance at Rome it stop'd that business for th e present but five years after Pius V. taking advantage of the weakness of the Kingdom to extend his own Authority pronounced a like Sentence against them as that which had been thundred against the Cardinal de Chastillon and caused it to be published in France The Rebellion of the Huguenots produced the Faction of the League the example of their Confederations with Forreign Princes authorised also the measures these took with Spain The proceedings of both Parties were almost the same at first they affected a strict Discipline then after a little while they fell into all manner of Licentiousness Their Pulpiteers and their Libellers were equally insolent and Factious they employed the same Maxims and used the same Language and Arguments against Soveraign Authority which they attacked and for the Liberty of the Subjects and of Conscience to those whom they Debauched In like manner both the one and the other when they found they were in such extremities they could not possibly extricate themselves by ordinary means suborned Assassines to help them out but all who made use of those cursed means perished by a like fate For as Poltrot murther'd Francis Duke of Guise so the Son of that Duke kill'd the Admiral the Quarante-cinq Massacred this Prince at Blois and those whose hands were stained in his Blood did most of them come to a Bloody end the wrath of Heaven punishing the first by the second and these by a third who were so too by others Which had gone on to infinity if the Clemency of King Henry IV. had not put a stop to those Murthers which necessarily trod upon the heels of one another The first Lineaments of the League were traced in Guyenne and in Languedoc during the first Civil War when there was danger lest the Huguenots should make themselves absolute Masters of those two large Provinces In the year 1585. Humieres with the Nobless in his Government of Vermandois formed one at Peronne and Lewis de la Trimouille another in Poitoü The House of Guise labour'd hard to collect and joyn them all together especially after the Death of the Duke of Anjou Not perhaps that those Princes were then pushed on with the ambition of usurping the Crown as they have been accused but because they were so by the Natural desire of self-preservation For the Physicians assuring them that Henry III. could not live long they justly feared when he should be no more to be crushed either by his Favourites betwixt whom he had a mind to share his Kingdom or by the Huguenots whose hatred against their Family could not be satiated with less then the blood of all those Princes therefore it was they so provided and Fore-Arm'd themselves lest they should remain exposed to the Mercy both of the one and the other It is probable the Forces they afterwards got into their hands by the Confluence of such potent Party 's both from within and without the Kingdom might inspire them with thoughts that were both more high and more Criminal though it would be yet a much more easie task to find credible Conjectures then an certai n or convincing Proofs of it The Pope the Sorbonne the Jesuits and almost all the new Religious Orders contributed with all their might to form the League But yet their Credit would never have been sufficient to maintain it if the People had not been so very ill used as they then were and if the burthen of the Imposts the Insolence of the Favourites the Weaknesses and scandalous Manners of Henry III. had not given them both an aversion and contempt for the Government The Duke of Nevers began it out of zeal and then disowned it out of jealousie Father Claude Matthieu a Jesuite was the first Courier for them Gregory XIII fomented it Sixtus V. approved and protected it Some will needs have that the former contributed to the Conspiracy of Salcede as the latter excommunicated the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé Anno 1585. After the Barricades he wrote to the Duke of Guise comparing him to the Machabees and gave him notice he had Created a Legat a Latere this was John Francis Morosini to whom the Cardinal de Bourbon and himself should communicate all their designs The Death of this Prince murther'd at Blois gave him much Year of our Lord 1588 grief that of the Cardinal de Guise and the detention of the Arch-Bishop of Lyons furnished him with a pretext of revenging it with the Anathemaes of the Church His Monitory against King Henry III. was published the four and twentieth of May affixed in the usual places at Rome the same Day and on the Gates of the Cathedral Churches of Meaux and Chartres the three and twentieth of June If the Relations we have of those times are true this Pope was even transported with joy upon the news he received of the Assassination of the said Prince and highly applauded the act of Jacques Clement in the Consistory comparing it to the most glorious Mysteries of Christianity and to the generosity of the most glorious and Illustrious Martyrs He thought after this change he was bound openly to take in hand the defence of Religion and to hinder Henry IV. from getting into the Throne so long as he remained out of the Church He therefore sent the Cardinal Caetan Legate a Latere to the Duke of Mayenne Upon this occasion the Members of Parliament who were remaining still at Paris and those that had withdrawn themselves to Tours being directly opposite acted after a quite different manner but with alike heat the one for the Pope the others for the King The Sorbon refused nothing to the intreaties of the League and the desires of his Holiness in an Affair that concerned Religion It is not unknown what Year of
Church resumed their secular Habits as they did during this Age in many other Cathedrals The desire of a Reformation made him lean too much towards the Party of the pretended Reformed Lewis Moulinet his Nephew was his Successor It is observed of him a rare example of a true Pastor that during his holding that See for Twenty seven years together he was never but one Six Months absent from his Bishoprick or Diocess shewing by this example that a good Bishop takes delight in his residence as the evil one both esteems and finds it his Pain and Punishment ☞ There were none that signalized themselves more during the League than Peter d'Espinac and Reinold de Beaulne the first Archbishop of Lyons and the second of Bourges both Men of great Eloquence and far greater intrigue Espinac of the Party for the League and Beaulne of that for the King they both lived a good while in the Reign of Henry IV. Under whom neither must we forget Alfonso d'Elbene Bishop of Alby nor Arnold de Pontac and Nicholas l'Angelier generous Defenders of the Rights and the Liberty of the Church this being Bishop of Saint Brieuc the other of Bazas nor René Benoist who being Curate of Saint Eustache at Paris greatly contributed to the Conversion of King Henry IV. and the bringing him into the pale and bosom of the Church without staying for any Orders from Rome The said Prince chose him for his Confessor and named him to the Bishoprick of Troyes It is true he could not obtain the Bulls for it but we may boldly say he deserved them were it but only for those very reasons for which they were denied him We ought not to give the Name of Bishops to those who fell into the Errors of the Sectaries and whom by the Pope were excommunicated for the same as we have before mentioned Yet was there but one of those Ten that embraced Calvinisme namely John Caracciol Son of John Prince of Malfy Bishop of Troyes who Anno 1565. abandoned his Bishoprick to take a Wife It is true that about Six years before viz. in the year 1559. James Spifame had quitted his Episcopal See of Nevers to Marry and retire to Geneva but if his example did shew the way to Caracciol certainly his unfortunate end ought as much again to have deter'd him for upon I know not what suspition they had of him in that City he was accused of Adultery and they caused his Head to be cut off for that pretended Crime Even from the Fourteenth Age Learning did begin to re-flourish and as we may say to emit some Infant yet lively beams principally in Italy In proportion as they discover'd its beauty and lustre it inflamed the Love and Curiosity of the Ingenious who being nauseated with the Barbarity of the Schools and the Fopperies and Ergotismes wherewith the Authors of those times were stuffed applied themselves to search after the Greek and Latin Authors of the more polite Ages in the select and best furnished Libraries and rescuing them out of the rubbish and dust wherein they had been so long Buried made them more Publick and communicable to the World by the help of Printing They then studied to speak Greek and Latin as exquisitely as in the times of the Republick of Athens and the Empire of Augustus Those that were inclined to the Study of Holy Writ endeavour'd likewise to attain some Knowledge and Perfection in the Hebrew Tongue without which it is almost impossible thorowly to understand the Books of the Old Testament and at the same time the curiosity of such as travelled into the Countries of the Levant brought back with them an itch or desire of learning the Oriental Languages especially the Arabian of which the Turkish is an Idiom True it is that these Learned Men though able to attain to the greatest purity of Foreign Tongues could not give it to the French on the contrary they made it more harsh and more obscure than it was before perplexing it with a multitude of tedious Allegations false Phrases Transpositions and broken Latin from all which Sophistication the Age we now live in hath had much ado to Purge and to refine it King Charles VIII loved all the Noble Arts but had not time to Cultivate and to improve them Lewis XII favour'd them had an esteem for and generosity towards the Learned and caused search to be made after the Manuscripts of ancient Authors whereof he gathered and made up a curious Library Francis I. surpass'd him very much in that noble Passion as he surpassed all the Princes of his time in Magnificence and in liberality His Reign to say all in a word was the Reign of Men of Learning he had an incredible multitude of them and those truly accomplished and Skilful in the Tongues in the Knowledge of Antiquity in the Law in Philosophy and Physick as also in the Mathematicks and Astrology And indeed that great Prince did so generously favour them with his Gratifications with the noblest Employments in all his Affairs and his personal familiarity that it seemed as he would share his State and Grandeur with them A Volume would not suffice to contain but the names only and almost all of them were so excelling each in his way that whosoever should undertake to select some particular ones out of those Miriads must run the hazard both of doing wrong to his own Judgment and to the Merits of those whose Names he should omit I shall observe only that the Universities abounded with very learned Professors in Philosophy in Humanity That as much may be said of the Facult Medicina which till then had but an imperfect knowledge of the Doctrines of the Divine Hippocrates That that of Theology had more learned Doctors than ever before though not perhaps so clear and so enlightned for the Positive as we find now in our dayes That all the grand Magistracies were supplied and filled with Persons both profound in Science and most of them of singular Virtues and that there never was more of Jurisprudence in the Parliaments and at the Bar nor greater Capacity and solid Reasonings amongst the Advocates I shall only add that the French Poesie which till this time was almost nothing but a gross gingling paltry way of Rhiming without either much of Art or Fancy began to be stripp'd of its Pyed-Coat and to deck it self with the real Ornaments of Antiquity But yet even those who labour'd to restore it to that Harmonious Composition invented for no other end but to elevate the Mind and Thoughts to things Noble and Sublime did most unhappily pervert the same by the ill use they made thereof For studying by a Criminal complaisance to flatter the Vanity and lascivious Passions of the Court they Metamorphosed if I may so speak the Muses into Sirenes and debased that Noble Off-spring of Heaven to somewhat of more shameful and sordid than either Mendicity or Slavery FINIS A
the French and the Venetians joyned together 262 Returns from the hands of the Latins into that of the Greeks 309 Constantius Count and Patrician in Gall. 3 Crimes how punished amongst the ancient French Divers means to purge themselves thereof 49 Crimes they justified themselves by Combat Croisades and beyond-Sea Expeditions advantageous to Popes and Kings but disadvantageous to the great Lords and the People 224 First Croisade and their happy Exploits 224 25 Croisade preached over all Christendom 223 Croisade for the recovery of the Holy Land 260 Croisade against the Albigeois 264 Croisades affirming the Popes Authority 262 Croisade new of French Lords for the Holy Land 301 Croisade new by St. Lewis for succouring the Christians in the Levant 312 Croisades during the Thirteenth Age. 336 Cunibert Bishop of Colen 56 D. Dagobert Son of Clotaire the miraculous protection of his Person 45 Builds the Abby of St. Denis ib. His Father gives him the Kingdom of Austrasia 46 His Marriage quarrel between the Father and the Son ib. Dagobert I. of that name King of Neustria Austrasia and Burgundy 54 He gives part of Aquitain to his Brother Aribert 54 Too much licence in his Marriage ib. Remains sole King after the death of his Brother Aribert 55 Establishes his Son Sigebert King of Austrasia 56 Disposes of Neustria and Burgundy in favour of his Son Clovis ib. Subdues the Gascons and brings them to reason 57 His death ib. Dagobert Son of Sigebert King of Austrasia shaved and banish'd 60 Is recalled and acknowledged King of Austrasia 66 His death 68 Dagobert II. King of France 77 The Danes and Normands infest the Coasts of France 106 Continue their Piracies 211 St. Denis Areopagite his Corps found intire in the Monastery of St. Denis in France 233 Devotion and Piety admirable in our ancient Kings of France 73 St. Didier Bishop of Lyons suffers Martyrdom 43 Didier King of the Lombards conceives the design of abating the power of the Popes and making himself Master of Italy excites Troubles and Schisms in the Church of Rome 98 Causes of particular enmity between him and Charlemain 98 Is dispossest of his Estate 99 His death ib. Didier is elected King of the Romans after the death of Astolphus Anno 755. Differences between Hugh de Vermandois and Artold for the Archbishoprick of Reims 180 Difference between King Lotair and the Children of Hugh the Great 184 Dispensations their beginning 182 Dissentry horrible in France 34 Divorce of a Marriage the cause of great Troubles 243 Dol in Bretagne made a Metropolitan 134 Brought again under that of Tours 274 Dominion Example of an enraged passion for Dominion 296 Dominicans their Institution and Establishment 339 Dreux Bishop of Mets. 127 Drogo or Dreux Son of Pepin 72 Drogon Duke of Bretagne his death 184 Dutchy of Lorrain given to Godfrey Earl of Verdin Bouillon and Verdun 209 Dutchies of two sorts in France 183 Duel proposed to the King by his Subjects 235 E. Ebles Count of Auvergne and Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine 170 Ebles Baron de Roucy a famous Warrier humbled and brought to reason 227 Ebon Bishop of Reims deposed and degraded 128 Ebroin Maire of the Palace perfidious and wicked 62 69 Is shaved and confined to the Monastery of Luxieu 64 Quits the Monastery to take up Arms. 67 His retreat into Austrasia he there supposes a false Clovis in the place of King Thierry whom he feigns to be dead 67 Causes St. Leger to attaqu'd in his City of Autun puts his Eyes out and shuts him up in a Monastery ib. Is received Maire of Thierries Palace 68 Great Tyranny his death 69 Eclipse of the Sun 213 Ecclesiasticks go to Rome to visit the Holy Places 269 Edmund Brother of Edward King of England his death 326 Edward eldest Son of the King of England goes to make War in the Holy Land 312 Edward Son and Successor of Henry King of England 315 At his return from the Holy Land passes thorough France ib. Passes by Sea and comes to the City of Amiens 319 His Voyage to Burdeaux by France 322 Employs himself to accommodate the differences betwixt the Kingdoms of Arragon and Sicilia 323 A Riot between some particular People makes him break the Peace with France 324 325 Makes a powerful League against France 326 Attaques the Scots and brings them under his Laws 327 Marries with Margaret of France 330 Makes Peace with the King of France 331 His death 334 Edward Son of King Edward Marries Isabella of France 327 Edward II. King of England 332 His Contest with Charles the Fair King of France 351 Odious to his People by reason of his Favourites his unfortunate end 352 Ega Maire of the Palace of Neustria his death 58 Election and the Investiture of the Popes in the power of the Emperor Otho 186 Election of Popes 3â—6 Elections to Benefices 285 Emma Queen of France 168 Emma or Emina Wife of King Lothaire 198 Empire Rome when it ended 13 Empire troubled about the Election of an Emperor after the death of Henry VI. 259 Empire of Greece difference between Michael and Baldwin determined 318 Empire ruined by its dis-union Engelberge Wife of the Emperor Lew's of Italy 156 Enguerrand de Marigny his unhappy end 336 Enterprise of the Pope upon the Bishops of France 203 Enterview of the three Kings of France of Germany and of Burgundy 170 Enterview between Lewis Transmarine and Otho of Lorraine 180 Enterview of the Emperor Henry and King Robert 211 Enterview and Enterparlance of the Emperor Henry III. and Henry King of France 217 Enterview of the King of France Lewis the Young and the Emperor Federic 247 Enterview of the Kings of France and Arragon 308 Enterview of the two Kings of France and England in the City of Amiens 319 Enterview of the Kings of France and Castille at Bayonne 323 Enterview of the King of France and the Emperor at Vaucouleurs 328 Eon de L'Estoille His ignorance passes for a great Prophet is apprehended his death 291 Erchinoald Maire of the Palace 61 Era or manner of accompting of the times by the Mahometans 47 Estate of the Gallican Church after the Conversion of Lewis or Clovis the Great 50 The Fourth Age. 4 During the Fifth and Sixth Ages 17 The Seventh 73 The Eighth 112 The Ninth 170 The Tenth 205 The Eleventh Age or Century 228 Eudes Duke of Aquitaine 80 Makes a League with the Sarecens of Spain and draws them into France 81 c. His death 82 Eudes Count of Paris and Duke of France succeeds in the Estates of Hugh the Great his Brother 155 Is raised to his Dignity and declared King of West France 156 Defeats and cuts the Normans in pieces 157 Quarrel betwixt him and Charles the Simple 159 His death 160 Eudes first Earl of Champagne 203 Eudes Count de Pontieure 211 Eudes Son of King Robert Earl of Champagne disputes the Crown with Henry his Brother 214 Reduced to reason 215 Undertakes
Wife and Marries Bertrade 223 Is Excommunicated because of this new Marriage by the Bishops by the Pope and by a Council at Poitiers ib. Braved by the Lord de Montlehery ib. In fine obtains a dispensation in the Court of Rome is absolved and his Marriage is confirmed 226 His death his Wives and Children 227 Philip Brother of King Lewis the Gross sides with the discontented Party 2â—5 Philip Augustus King of France his Birth 249 His Coronation 250 His Marriage with Isabella Alix 251 He begins his Reign and Government with Piety and Justice 252 He withdraws Vermandois from the hands of the Earl of Flanders 252 He sends succours to the Holy Land and causes the Croisade to be preached 253 Difference between him and the King of England 254 Takes the Cross on him with the King of England for the recovery of the Holy Land 255 Gives chace to the King of England who was entred upon France ib. His Voyage to the Holy Land Order for the Regency of his Son and Kingdom during his absence ib. Difference intervened between him and Richard King of England 256 Takes the City of Acre or Ptolemais ib. Falls sick and returns into France 257 Withdraws the County of Artois from the hands of the Earl of Flanders ib. Declares War against the King of England 258 Repudiates Isemberge his Wife then takes her again ib. Reconciles himself with John King of England 259 Endeavours to accustom the Ecclesiasticks to furnish him with Subsidies 261 Conquers all the Territories of King John which held of the Crown 261 c. Philip the Fair King of France Marries the Queen of Navarre 320 Is Crowned at Reims 322 Accommodates and makes Peace with the Castillian 323 Causes search to be made amongst the Banquers 324 Opposes the designs of the King of England for the subjecting of Scotland and recovering the Cities in Guyenne 325 Is offended with Pope Boniface 326 A great Conspiracy against him 326 Makes War in Flanders his progress 327 c. Confers with the Emperor Albertus 328 Enters into a quarrel with the Pope and hinders the French Prelats from going to Rome whither the Pope sent for them 329 Is Excommunicated by the Pope ib. Takes up Arms to chastize the Rebellion of the Flemings 330 Treats a Peace with the English ib. Makes a Voyage into Guyenne and Languedoc 331 Fore-arms himself against the Bâ—lls of Bâ—niface ib. Assists at the Coronation of Pope Clement at Lyons 332 Appears at the General Council of Vienne in Daufine ib. Undertakes War against the Flemings His three Sons Wives accused of Adultery His death his Wives and Children 336 Philip of Alsace Earl of Flanders his death 257 Philip of Dreux Bishop of Beauvais is held Prisoner 258 Philip Earl of Boulogne 299 Philip Emperor assassinated 264 Philip the Hardy King of France 314 Returns from Afric into France ib. He Arms against the King of Castille in favour of the Princes of Navarre his Nephews 316 Takes up Arms and passes the Pyrenean Mountains against the King of Arragon 320 His death his Wives and his Children 321 Philip the Long espouses Jane of Burgundy 324 Philip d'Euvreux 348 Philip the Long King of France 347 His Wife accused of Adultery 336 Brouilleries in the State 348 His death his Children 349 Philip de Valois passes into Italy against the Gibbelins 348 Philippa Daughter of the Earl of Hainault 352 Peter Son of King Lewis the Gross chief of the House of Courtenay 241 Peter Duke of Bretagne takes Arms against the King 296 Surnamed Mauclerc or Illiterate or Witless 300 His death 301 Peter Earl of Alencon 312 Peter Earl of Arragon Crowned King of Sicilia 317 A villanous and shameful slight 320 Is Excommunicated and degraded by the Pope ib. His death 321 Peter Abbot of Cane refuses the Miter 270 Planet Mars not visible in a whole year 105 Plectrude Widow of Pepin intrudes into the whole Government of France 78 She is constrained to quit the Government to Charles Martel 79 Poissy Gerard Financier 254 Politicks Hereticks 276 Poland honour'd with the Title of a Kingdom 209 Ponce Abbot of Clugny by his Debauches loses the Reputation of his Order 279 Papeliâ—ans Hereticks their Forces and Erâ—ors 276 Popes of the Fourth Age. 5 Popes when they began to change names at their creation 136 Memorable example of their Soveraign power and of an extream severity 209 Of their Elections 247 Have a right to exhort not to command the Kings of France 326 Acts of Temporal Soveraignty they assumed on all occasions during the Thirteenth Age. 337 They would raise themselves above all Soveraigns 293 Gilbert Porct Bishop of Poitiers condemned 289 Port-Royal its foundation 83 Portugal of a Dutchy made a Kingdom 243 Pragmatick of St. Lewis 312 Pretextat Archbishop of Rouen 32 Restored to his See and assassinated 38 Prior of the Monastery of Gristan his History 288 Primacy of the Church of Lyons over the four Lyonnoises 232 Prince that oppresses his Subjects is easily abandonned by them 45 Prince dispoiled of his Estate because of his ill Conduct 161 Priviledges of Monks 282 Bring a Scandal to the Church Buy it off dearly at Rome ib. Prodigy unheard of of Snakes and other Serpents who fought most obstinately 2â—8 Protade Maire of the Palace 43 Provenceaux rise against their Earl and Lord. 301 Provisions of the Pope 236 Petro Brusians Hereticks 276 Puisset Hugh 235 Q. Quarrel between Thierry and Boson 146 Quarrel for the Archbishoprick of Reims 177 c. Quarrel and hatred of the â—arls of Charâ—res and Flanders against the Normans 186 Quarrel famous between the Pope and the Emperors 223 Quarrel between Robert Duke of Normandy and Henry his younger Brother for the Kingdom of England 226 Quarrel of the Popes with the Emperor Henry IV. 227 c. Quarrel between the Bishops and the Monks for the Tenths 228 Quarrel between the Emperor and the Pope for the investiture of Bishopricks 236 Quarrel between the Secular Doctors of Theology and the Orders of Religious Mendicants 307 Quarrel of the Count d'Armagnac and the Lord de Casaubon 315 Quarrel bloody and long for the Succession of the Crown of Scotland 323 Quarrels Little particular Riots do often produce very great Quarrels 325 Qâ—iâ—alet Bishoprick transfer'd to St. Malo's Church of the Twelfth Century R. Rabanus Maurus Archbishop of Ments 173 Race Carolovinian and the end of it Causes of its ruine 198 199 Rachis King of the Lombards turns Monk 91 Leaves his Monastery whither he is forced to return again Radbod King of the Frisians 72 Radegonda Sainct 22 Raillery that cost very dear 222 Raimond Earl of Tolose principal Favourer of the Hereticks in Languedoc is Excommunicated 264 Reconciles himself to the Church 295 Is brought to reason 299 Raimond Earl of Toloze pretends to be Lord of the Marsellois c. 300 Raimond Prince of Antioch Rainfroy Maire of the Neustrians 79 His death 81 Rambold of Orange 224 Ranulf Duke of Aquitaine
228 c. Saint Amour William great quarrel with the Orders of the Friers Mendicants 307 Saintonge the subject of a great War 208 Saladin King of Egypt tears the holy City of Jerusalem out of the hands of the Christians 254 Saliens ancient People of the French 7 Salomon seizes on the Kingdom of Bretagne 140 His unhappy end 144 Sanc first of the Hereditary Dukes of Gascongne 137 Sanche Duke of Castille makes a Peace with the King of France 323 Saracens become Mahometans 59 Saracens of Africa become the Masters of Spain 77 Saracens pass from Spain into France and make some Conquests there 80 They enter into Languedoc and destroy all that Country 83 Wherefore called Moors 83 They over-run all Provence and lay it waste ib. Torment Italy 146 Savari de Mauleon General for the English in Guyenne 296 The Saxons revolt 52 Throw off the Yoak of the French Dominion 79 Divided into several People ib. Made Tributary to the French 91 Entirely subdued become Christians 108 Schism in the Church caused by the dispute concerning the Worshipping of Images 84 Sclavonians have a quarrel with the French Austrasians 55 Make inroads upon Turingia 56 Sergius II. elected Pope without permission of the Emperor 136 He was not the first who changed his name but Sergius IV. ib. St. Ademar Institutor of the Order of the Templers 290 Sicilia a Kingdom its beginning and extent 242 243 By what means Sicilia fell under the Dominion of the Kings of Arragon 310 Dismembred in two 326 Siege and taking of Angens 144 Sigebert King of Austrasia chastises the Avari out of Turingia 29 Marries Brunehaud 30 Unfortunate taking upon the City of Arles 31 War with Chilperic his Brother 31 Assassinated and slain 32 Sigebert Bishop 62 Sigeric King of the Visigoths 4 Sigismund King of Burgundy abjures Arianism and receives the Orthodox Faith 20 Causes his Son Sigeric to be Strangled his retreat into a Monastery 21 His unhappy end ib. Silingi a barbarous People 4 Silvester II. Pope Example of extream severity 209 Simon de Montfort does Cross himself to go into the Holy Land 260 Simon Count de Nesles Regent of the Kingdom in the absence of St. Lewis the King 312 Of Simony 18 Bishops of Bretagne accused and convicted of that Crime 136 Prelats in France who voluntarily renounced their Benefices for this cause 229 Simplicity too great in a Prince 167 Sobrarve a little Territory in the Kingdom of Arragon 125 Sorabes reduced to reason 121 Spencers Hugh Father and Son Favourites of the King of England 351 c. Their unhappy end 352 Stilicon Massacred 4 Succession of Males to the Crown by preference to the Females 346 Suedes embrace the Christian Religion 110 Suevi over-run and ravage Gaul and then pass into Spain 270 Swiss Their generous Conspiracy against the oppressions of the Lieutenants of the House of Austria 334 T. Tanchelin his errors Church of the Twelfth Age. Tancred Son of Rebert Guischard 224 Tancred causes great discord between the Kings of France and England 256 Tartars make their irruptions their Original 302 Tassilon Duke of Bavaria and his Son Theudon shaved and confined to a Monastery 103 Te Deum Sung by the Benedictins in time of Lent 231 Templers their Institution and Confirmation Church of the Twelfth Age. Are utterly exterminated and their Order abolished throughout all Christendom 333 Thassilon Duke of Bavaria gives an Oath of Fidelity to King Pepin 93 Theodad King of the Ostrogoths his death 23 Theodald Maire of the Neustrians Theodald Son of Grimoald his death 78 Theodebald King of Mets. 25 His death 26 Theodebert Son of Thierry makes War in Languedoc then named Septimania 24 Theodebert Son of Thierry succeeds to the Crown of his Father and makes War against Clotair his Uncle 24 25 Carries his Arms into Italy his death his Children 24 Theodebert Son of Chilperic his death 32 Theodebert King of Austrasia vanquished in Battle and exterminated with his whole Race 43 Theoderic King of the Visigoths joyns with the Romans against Attila his death 10 11 Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths establishes the Kingdom of Italy 14 Theoderic King of Italy passes into Gall and comes to relieve the Visigoths against the French and the Burgundians and becomes King of the Visigoths 16 His death 21 Theudis King of the Visigoths in Spain his death 25 Thibauld Earl of Chartres and Tours 216 Thibauld Earl of Chartres declares War against the King 235 Thibauld Earl of Champagne falls into the Kings disgrace and is severely handled 243 Thibauld Earl of Blois and Chartres 245 Thibauld Earl of Champagne his death 246 Thibauld Earl of Champagne 260 Thibauld Earl of Champagne difference about Alix Queen of Cyprus his Cousin 299 Thibauld Earl of Champagne becomes King of Navarre 301 Thibauld Earl of Champagne becomes Chief of a new Croisade His death ib. Thibaud King of Navarre 312 His death 315 Thierry King of Austrasia otherwise of Mets treacherously abandons Clodomir his Brother 20 c. Makes himself Master of Turingia 21 Chastises the Auvergnats who had revolted against him ib. His death ib. Thierry King of Neustria and of Burgundy 64 He is shaved and confined to the Monastery of St. Denis ib. Recalled and resetled in his Royal Throne 6 Fights unfortunately against Ebroin Maire of the Palace and falls into his hands His death his Wife and his Children 70 Thierry called de Chelles King of France 81 His death 83 Thierry Earl of Alsatia disputes the Earldom of Flanders and remains sole Master and Possessor 168 Thierry of Alsatia Earl of Flanders he passes into the Holy Land 243 Thierry first Earl of Holland 146 Thierry Earl of Alsatia and Flanders his death 249 Thibauld III. Earl of Blois 259 Thibauld Earl of Champagne 296 A Conspiracy against him 299 Tietgaud Archbishop of Triers deposed and Excommunicated 140 St. Thomas Aquinas his death 316 Thomas Prior of St. Victor assassinated in the Arms of a Bishop Church of the Twelfth Age. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury undertakes the defence of the Church is assassinated in his Cathedral ib. Thuringia falls under the Dominion of the French 22 Title of King of Jerusalem annexed to that of Sicilia 319 Treason divinely punished 178 Translation of a Bishop from one See to another condemned 160 Trebisond Kingdom its beginning 263 Truce between the French and the Saracens of Spain broken 123 Truce or Peace of God established in France to prevent Factions Murthers and Robberies 253 Truce with the English and the Fleming 327 Truce with the English 299 Truce granted to the Flemings 330 Trincavel Son of the Earl of Beziers comes hostily upon the Kings Territories 301 Toloze County subject of a War 138 Subject of a great quarrel between the Kings of France and the Kings of England 248 Totila King of the Ostrogoths his death 26 Touars Guy Duke of Bretagne 263 Tournay erected to a Bishoprick Church of the Twelfth Age. Troubles and Factions in Normandy
763 Send Deputies to King Henry III. to proffer him the Government of the Country 769 d'Estree beloved of Henry IV. goes to the Siege of Amiens the murmurings of the whole Army obliges her to quit the Camp 859 Sollicites the King to marry her 869 Her death 871 Europe began to be more enlightned in the 16th Age. Chu 16 th Age. F FAbian Son of Blaise de Montluc assists his Brother Bertrand in his Design for the East-Indies 701 Famagusta the Capital City of Cyprus gainedby the Turks 713 Federick Marquiss of Baden assists the King against the Huguenots 710 Ferdinand Emperour Brother of Charles V. 692 His death ib. Flemmings cannot endure the Inquisition 695 Final taken by the Spaniards 893 Florida whence the Name 700 Florence Duke assists the Duke of Nevers to seize upon Marseilles 769 la Force Massacred at the Saint Bartholomews 720 His Son Escapes ib. Fort Charles in Florida built by the Spaniards and taken by Dowinique de Gourgues 701 Fra Paolo otherwise Pol Soaue writes for the Republique of Venice against the Pope 926 Is like to be Murthered 928 France in Civil War for Religion 679 Hath always the preference before Spain 685 Afflicted with two most cruel Maladies 757 Their King essentially most Christian 798 Francis I. settles the Art of making Silk in Poitou 904 Was not severe against the Huguenots Church 16 th Age. Recalls his Legats from the Councel of Trent ib. Francis II. King of France 657 Falls Sick 670 His Death and Burial 671 Franche-Comte attaqued by the French 842 Promised to Biron with a Daughter of Spain 884 Given to Isabella Clara Eugenia Infanta of Spain 869 Conditions of that Donation ib. Frisia gives all Power to the Prince of Orange 751 Fuentes Governor of the Low-Countries 843 Besieges Cambray 847 Gains a Victory upon the French 847 Obliges Prince Maurice to raise the Siege of Grol 848 Takes Cambray and does not make an ill use of his Victory over the French ibid. Personal Enemy of Henry IV. 878 Fulgentius writes for the Venetians against the Pope 926 G GAbriella d'Estreé beloved of Henry IV. assists at the Ceremony of his Conversion 832 Gantois hate the French and the Roman Religion 762 Gascons in Dispute with the Provenceaux 825 Gaspard Bishop of Modena Nuncio in France 871 Delegated to take cognisance of the Nullity of Marriage of Henry IV. and Margaret of Valois 871 Geneva the Duke of Savoy endeavours to seize it 802 Withdraw from their Obedience to the Bishop Church 16 th Age. Call in Calvin and Farel to be their Pastors ib. Is as it were the Pontifical seat of Calvinisme ib. Gerard Balthazar a Franc-Comtois Emissary of the Spaniards Kills the Prince of Orange with a Pistol 767 Gondi the Cardinal confers with Biron 806 Golf of Venice the Ceremonies used there at the Reception of Henry III. 733 Gregory XIII Pope regulates the Calender 761 Gregory XIV declared an Enemy of the Peace and Union of the Church Enemy of the King and of the State 815 His death 818 Grisons renew the Alliance with Henry IV. 892 Quit the Roman Religion Chur. 16 th Age. Guiche the Countess beloved by the King of Navarre 773 Angry at the King 's forsaking her she endeavours to debauch his Sister 814 Guienne acknowledges Henry IV. 824 Guises make themselves Masters at Court under Francis II. 657 c. Duke of Guise possesses the whole favour of Francis II. 660 The Huguenots would ceaze him to make his Process 665 Fortifies himself with the Name of the King 669 Causes the Prince to be apprehended and prosecuted 670 Gains the Battle of Dreux 686 And makes the Prince Prisoner ib. His Courtesie and Gallantry ib. Lays Siege to Orleans 887 Is assassinated by Paltrot ib. Justifies himself of the Murther at Vassy 887 His Praises ib. Guise Duke returns into France with his Uncle the Cardinal of Lorrain 692 Defends Poitiers bravely and acquires much reputation 706 Is the Principal Author of the Saint Bartholomew 717 Is made the Chief to execute that Massacre 718 Declares for the League and seizes on the Cardinal of Bourbon 768 The Pope compares him to the Machabees 784 Has several Advertisements given him of his Danger 786 Is assassinated by the Order of Henry III. at the Estates of Blois ib. His Body is burnt by Richelieu 787 Guise the Cardinal bears the Cross in a Procession 764 Would make himself Master of Normandy 781 Is hindred by the Duke of Espernon ib. Guise Duke before Prince of Joinville made Prisoner at the Death of his Father 787 Escapes out of Prison 817 Is attaqu'd near Abbeville by King Henry IV. 821 Aspires to the Crown 832 Kills Saint Pol Governor of Reims and makes his accommodation with Henry IV. 841 Reduces Marseilles to obedience of the King 852 Gustavus Ericson introduces the Confession of Ausburgh in Sweden 913 H. HAinaut suffers scarcity 760 Hampton-Court the place in England where the Treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Huguenots was concluded 683 Havre de Grace deliver'd to the English ibid. Besieged by the French Surrendred 689 Henry d'Angoulesme Bastard Brother to Charles IX has Order from the King to kill the Duke of Guise 712 Henry of Navarre Espouses Margaret of Valois 717 Generosity of that Prince who refuses to kill the Sole Heir of the Kingdom 740 Hates his Wife who hath as little Love for him 750 Henry III. is kill'd on the same day and at the same place where he advised the Massacre of St. Bartholomew 795 Henry Cardinal Archbishop of Evora King of Portugal after the death of Sebastian 752 Henry grand Prior of France Bastard Brother to the King 753 Henry III. King of France and of Poland 737 Leaves Poland 732 Makes his Entrance into Paris 739 Hates the House of Guise 745 Loves the Princess of Condé 757 Forms the design of putting the Duke of Guise to death 780 Besieges Paris reduces it to extremity and is kill'd at Sainct Cloud 795 Heemskerk Admiral for the States of the United Provinces attaques the Spanish Flota is slain his death glorious 790 Henry IV. his coming to the Crown 797 Gains the Battle of Ivry 705 Besieges Rouen 821 820 Beats up the Duke of Guise's Quarters at Abbeville 821 Opposes at Fontaine-Francoise and bears the brunt of the whole Spanish Army and gives proofs of his Heroick Courage 845 Receives his absolution from Rome 849 His consternation upon the loss of Amiens 858 Regains that Town in Sight of the Arch-Duke 862 Demands of the Duke of Savoy the Restitution of the Marquisate of Salusses 876 His Marriage with Mary de Medicis 885 Does what he can possibly to save Biron and in fine leaves him to the Law 895 Loves the Princess of Condé and is ready almost to declare War against the Arch-Duke upon her occasion 936 c. Forms the Design to pull down the House of Austria 938 His Wife Mary de Medicis Crowned 941 Is Murthered 942 Predictions of his death 941
LVII * Pairies * His name was after changed to Henry and he was King Perugia * The Huguenots followed the Doctrines of Zuinglius and Calvin Beginning of the War for Religion Their own Authors blame them for it and say that by this furious zeal they drew upon them the Peoples hate and Massacres * By this word is meant the Duke of Guise the Constable and the Mareschal de Saint André and by Confederates they and the King of Navarre * They were Sons of Brother and Sister Half a League from Orleans * Or Jurisdiction Emperor Solyman and Maximilian II. R. 22 years and 3 Months * He was 13. years old * She was called Peace because she was Married to King Phil. 1559. as a pawn for the Peace Emperor Maximilian II and Selim. II Son of Solyman Reigned 8 years 2 Months * Or distinct Courts of Judicature * Artic. 48. * Artic. 54. * Artic. 57. * Or Beggars a nick name given the reformed * Boucicaut Montclar Paulin Serignan Caumont Rapin and Montaigue * Or Field Marshal * The Lame Peace * Angels of Gold * Duke of Zwee-Brughen or Two-Bridges * He was afterwards Duke * Not mistake him for the Count de Montrevel whose sirname is la Baume * Vide beforâ— in March 1568. * Or Light Galleys * â—lluzzali * Acquittances for Money due but never paid c. 1574. December Emp. Amurat II. Son of Selim. II. Dead the 13 th of Decemb R. Twenty years and One Month. And Maximilian II. * Vulgarly Senetaire * Because he razed or shaved them to the quick by his exactions * German Horse * Or Courtâ— Half Protestants half Catholiques like our party Juries * In despite of their Teeth Emp. Rodolph II. Son of Maximilian who died in October R. Thirty five years Three Months And Selsin II. * Why did he meddle with them * This was called the Pacification of Ghent * Revenue or Treasury * For his Purse * Chap 5. of the year 1142. * L'Ordre du Sainct Fsprit * The Country word for the Mouth of the River Vide The Memoirs of Sully Vol. 1. Fol. 79. * Quarente-cinq 'T is the proper term * His name was Robert * The Barrâ—cado's * This Castle is distinct from the Citadel * Forty-five * Forty-five * Viâ—â— in March preceding * Or Suburbs St. James It is now the Hostel de Conde * A Measure about Twelve Bushels * In the Marca of Ancona * Tiers Party * Or Ordinary Judge * It was said of the Parisians they knew better how to fast then fight * Anroux Emonot Ameline Louchard * It was called Pillebadand * The death of the Duke of Guise was that of Henry III. * Or advised too late * Or Gluttons c. Emperor Rodolph II. and Mahomet III. Son of Amurath after he had caused twenty of his Brothers to be drowned he Reigned ten years * Or Wand * Cateâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Capelle D 〈◊〉 lens 〈◊〉 Calais and Ardres * Or Bills * Vulgarly called Aâ—aâ—tel * Or True good Frenchmen * Or a Camp Massacre * The Duke of Savoy called him so * It is now called Bellagarde End of the League and the War * Or Priaepisme * Mattins in Lent in the 〈◊〉 C. Churches * A Nose-gay given from one to another which appoints who shall Treat next * Afternoon Sittings c. * These are the Pieces of 27 Sols now * A Priviledgâ— elsewhere Related * They called him Pater Ney * Son of la Blanche first President in the Court des aiides Massacred at the St. Bartholâ— mews * Or Telescopes * East and West-Indies * Or Luee-Brughen * Or Wolfgang * He was not very old but very much broken * Imagination contributes much towards the shaping of these Figures Church * Monsieur de Marca Archbishop of Toulouze and afterwards of Paris Church * E'in-rauch in High-Dutch and Capnos in Greek signifie Smoak Church Causes of the Progress of Lutheranism Other Causes which obstructed it * Therefore He treated them as Hereticks all his life time Church * La Vaupute Fraissiniere Pragela Argentiere c. Church * Pigge Market Beginning of the new Opinions in France and the cause of their Progress Church Church * Vide in the Year 1534. How the Novators were treated in France Church Causes of the Progress of Calvinisme in Fr. Church Council of Trent Church Church Church Church Church * Forty five Church Church Councils of the Gallican Church * Town-Hall Disorders in the Church * They were called Custodines Church Religious Orders * Some had worn them before Church * or John of God 〈◊〉 Regulars Church Religious Orders of Women * Or Penitent Whores * At present the Hostel de Soissions Church Military Orders Illustrious Prelates Church * He was Nephew to the Dutchess d'Estampes Bishops Church * Or Robertus Cenalis * Or Saint Faiths Church Bishops who fell into heresit Church
Lord 1197 Amongst all the events of this War which amounted only to Burnings and Plunderings is to be observed what hapned to Philip de Dreux Bishop of Beauvais Cousin german to the King This Bishop being taken in the War Armed and Fighting by some of Richard's Soldiers was detained a long time in an uneasie prison The Pope would interpose his recommendation to Richard for his deliverance and in his Letters he call'd this Bishop His most dear Son But Richard having sent word back in what posture and manner he was taken and having sent his coat of Maille all Bloody with order to him that carry'd it to ask him Behold Holy Father whether this be the Coat of your Son The Pope had nothing to reply but that the Treatment they shewed to that Prelat was just since he had quitted the Militia of Jesus Christ to follow that of the World Death of the Emperour Henry As he had manifested himself as rude an enemy to the Popes as his Predecessors and besides was very odious for his cruelties Innocent III. strongly opposed the Election of Philip his Brother excommunicating all his Adherents and stood up for Otho Son of the Duke of Saxouy and a Sister of Richards who was Crowned at Aix la Chapelle so that there was a Schism in that Empire which had often occasioned one in the Church The King of England the Earl of Flanders and the Arch-Bishop of Colen supported Otho and King Philip on Year of our Lord 1197 the contrary made a League with his Rival The same year died in the City of Acre or Acon the generous Henry Earl of Champagne Titular King of Jerusalem his Nephew Thibauld or Theobald III. of that Name Earl of Blois inherited those Lands he had in France in prejudice of his Year of our Lord 1197 Uncles two Daughters The eldest was named Alix and was Queen of Cyprus and by her was born a Daughter of the same Name whom we shall find making War against Thibauld IV. The Second was called Philippa who was Married to Erard de Brienne Year of our Lord 1198 These bloody and obstinate Wars the particulars whereof cannot be brought within the compass of an Abridgement caused much mischief in France but the greatest was that Philip grew extreamly covetous and became too greedy in heaping up Treasure under pretence of the necessity of raising and maintaining great numbers of standing Forces which are truly very proper to make Conquests and new Acquisitions but some times become oppressive to the Subjects and destructive to the Laws of the Land As he was the First of the Kings of France that kept Men in pay and would have Soldiers always ready to employ them in what he pleased he set himself likewise upon making great exactions upon the People ransoming or taxing the Churches and recalling the Jews who were the introducers of Usury and Imposts But however he was very frugal and retrencht himself as much as possible knowing and considering ☜ that a King who hath great designs ought not to consume the substance of his Subjects in vain and pompous expences Year of our Lord 1199 At the end of two years War the Pope by his intercession procured a Five years truce between the two Kings during which Richard as covetous of Money as he was proud having intelligence that a Gentleman of Limosin had found a vast Treasure and carried it into the Castle of Chalus he went presently and besieged him he was wounded there with a Cross-bow and his debauchery having envenom'd his wound he died of it the Eleventh day of April in this year 1199. He had introduc'd the use of Cross-bows in France before that time Sword-men were so generous and brave that they would not owe their Victory but to their Lances or Swords they abhorr'd those treacherous weapons wherewith a coward sheltred or conceal'd may kill a valiant Man at a distance and thorough a hole Year of our Lord 1199 He had no Children therefore the Kingdom of England and the Dutchy of Normandy belonged of right to young Arthur Duke of Bretagne as being the Son of Gefroy his Brother elder then John without Land but John having seized the Money gained Richards Forces and stept into the Throne In the mean while the Earl of Flanders with his Allies regained the Cities of Aire and St. Omers It hapned that the Kings party took his Brother Philip Earl of Namur and Peter Bishop Elect of Cambray The King refusing to release this last the Popes Legat puts the Kingdom of France under a prohibition so that after three Months time he was constrained to set him free Year of our Lord 1200 The day of the Ascension in the year 1200. Peace was concluded at a solemn Conference between the two Kings between Vernon and Andeley It was warranted by Twelve Barons on either part who made oath to take up Arms against him that should break it and moreover confirmed by the Marriage of Blanche Daughter of Alfonso VIII King of Castille and Alienor Sister to King John with Lewis the eldest Son of Philip to whom King John in favour of this Alliance yielded up all the Lands and Places which the French had taken from him Each had a care to secure his Partisans John was oblig'd to receive his Nephew Arthur into favour who did hommage to him for his Dutchy of Bretagne but yet remained with Philip. Reciprocally Philip pardon'd Renauld Earl of Boulogne and some while after Treated the Marriage between his Son of his own name whom he had by his Queen Agnes and that Earls Daughter Since the repudiation of 1semburge of Denmark King Philip had kept her in a Convent at Soissons and at three years end that is Anno 1196 he had espoused Mary-Agnes Daughter of Bertold Duke of Merania and Dalmatia Pope Celestine III. upon the complaints of King Canut Brother of the Divorc'd Lady had Commissioned in the year 1198. two Legats to take cognisance of this Affair who had assembled a grand Council at Paris of the Bishops and Abbots of the Kingdom but all those Prelats being partly terrify'd and some corrupted durst give no Sentence and the Legats were suspected to favour the Cause of Agnes Afterwards the Holy Father more importunately desired to do justice had sent two more One of them in the month of Decemb in the year 1199. having called the Prelats of France to Dijon notwithstanding the Appeal interjected by Philip to the Pope pronounced Sentence of prohibiton upon all the Kingdom in presence and by consent of all the Bishops and nevertheless that he might have leasure enough to get away into some place of safety he was willing it should not be publish'd till twenty days after Christmass He had reason to fear Philips anger In effect it burst out with furty against all his Subjects against the Ecclesiasticks first whom he believ'd to be all accomplices in this injury for he drove the Bishops from their Sees cast the
Canons out of their Churches put the Curats from their Parishes and consiscated and plundred all their Goods Then against the Laity vexing and loading the Citizens with new Imposts and unheard of Exactions tiercing or thirding the Gentry that was taking away Thirds of their Revenues and of all their Goods which had never been heard of in France The Interdiction lasted Seven Months during this time Philip sollicited the Pope so earnestly that he gave order to his Legats to take it off upon condition he should take Isemburge again and in six Months six Weeks six Days and six Hours he would have the Case of her Divorce decided by his two Legats and the Prelats of the Year of our Lord 1200 Kingdom the Friends and Relations of that Princess being assigned to defend her The Assembly was held at Soissons by Isemburges choice King Canut sent the ablest people in his Kingdom to sollicite and plead her Cause After twelve days jugling and proceeding Philip had intimation that Judgment would be against him he goes one fair Morning to fetch Isemburge from her House and setting her up on Horse-back behind him carries her thence having order'd notice to be given to the Legat not to give himself so much trouble about examining whether the Divorce he had Decreed were good or not since he owned it and would have her for his Wife Nevertheless he used her but little better then before nor did shew any more kindness besides some little Civilities to her Year of our Lord 1200 Besore the years end Agnes her Rival died having been five years with the King She had two Children by him One Son and One Daughter whom Pope Innocent III. Legitimated Died likewise Thibauld Earl of Champagne who had then only One Daughter a Minor The King would have the Guardianship-Noble but soon after the death of Thibauld his Wife was brought to bed of a Post-humus Son who had his Fathers Name and the Surname of Great The Daughter lived not long after the birth of the Posthume In those times Usury and Uncleanness Reigned bare-faced in France God raised up two great and virtuous Men Fulk Curate of Neuilly in Brie and Peter de Roucy a Priest in the Diocess of Paris to Preach against these Vices with so much power and efficacy that they reclaimed a great many Souls from those Sins and Follies Now it hapned that a few Months before the death of Thibauld Fulk who had this gift of perswading People to what he approved by his earnest Exhortations knowing there was to be a great meeting of Princes Lords and Gentlemen at a Year of our Lord 1120 Turnament or Justs at the Castle d'Ecris between Braye and Corbie went thither and exhorted them so earnestly effectually to undertake the voyage to the Holy Land that the Earls Baldwin of Flanders Henry d'Anguien his Brother Thibauld de Champagne Lovis de Blois his Brother Simon de Montfort Gautier or Gualtier de Brienne Matthew de Montmorency Stephen du Perche and several other Lords Crossed themselves nevertheless they could not set forwards till two years afterwards The reconcilation between the two Kings seemed perfect and sincere This year they conferr'd at Andeley Nay Philip had the the King of England with him Year of our Lord 1201 to his City of Paris and Treated him with all the magnificence and all the demonstrations of friendship he could desire But John had begun to contrive his own unhappiness by casting off his Wife Avice or Avoise Daughter of the Earl of Glocestre to Marry Isabel only Daughter of Aymar Earl of Angoulesme and Alix of Courtenay whom he ravished from Hugh le Brun Earl de la Marche to whom she was affianced From that time the said Lord sought all manner of ways to revenge himself for that injury He began to hold private intelligence with Philip he endeavour'd to make an insurrection in Poitou and Rodolph his Brother Earl of Eu began to commit Hostilities on the skirts of Normandy John chastised them for their Rebellion bydepriving them of their Lands especially some Castles in the County d'Eu They make address to the King of France their Sovereign Lord and demand Justice of him Upon this difference the two Kings saw one another near Gaillon where Philip who had laid his design spake high and summon'd John to appear in his Court that right might be done not only upon the complaint of Hugh but likewise of Prince Arthur who demanded Maine Anjou and Touraine Year of our Lord 1201 The Earl of Flanders and the other Lords that had taken the Cross departed for the Holy Land and as in those times there were but few Vessels upon the coasts of Provence they had taken their way by Venice where they hop'd to find a great many well fitted and there Thomas I. Earl of Savoy and Boniface Marquis of Montferrat joyned them But the Venetians would not furnish them with Vessels till they had first employ'd their Arms to recover the Cities of Sclavonia especially that of Zara for the Republique from whom they had withdrawn themselves to own the King of Hungary which retarded them above a year in those parts Year of our Lord 1201 In the year 1195. Isaac Angelus Emperour of the East had been deprived of his Empire his Sight and his Liberty by his own Brother Alexis And the Son of that Isaac likewise named Alexis had made his escape into Germany flying to Philip of Snevia pretended Emperour who had Married his Sister This young Prince having notice that there was an Army of the Crossed at Venice went thither to implore their assistance Several difficulties hindred them from going into the Holy-Land besides the Venetians hoped to find it better for their purpose to make a War in Greece because the spoil and plunder promised more gain and seemed more certain to them and more-over all the Latine Christians were ravish'd to meet with this occasion and opportunity to revenge the Treachery and Outrages the Greeks had practised since the beginning of the Holy-War They concluded therefore to turn their Arms that way upon condition the young Alexis would defray the charges of their expedition allow them great rewards and submit the Greek Church to the Obedience of the Pope To provide for the expences of his War King Philip endeavour'd to accustom the Clergy to furnish him with Subsidies and they excused themselves upon their Liberties and for that it was not lawful to employ the Moneys belonging to the Poor in prosane uses they only promis'd to assist him with their Prayers to God Now it hapned that the Lords de Coucy de Retel de Rosey and several others went and pillag'd and invaded their Lands they fly to the King for protection who in their own coin assisted them with Prayers to those Lords but as they understood one another they proceeded to worse dealing Then the Prelats redoubled their intreaties and besought him to employ his Forces
Monk as well as his own choice The Father might put his Children into the Monastery without acquainting the Mother and even against her will He had that power over them till they were Ten years of Age afterwards that Term was enlarged to Thirteen says Yves de Charâ—res and then to Fourteen as we find it in Gratian. When the Father had resolv'd and destined his Son to Monachism he offer'd him to God in the Church belonging to the Convent wrapped all over or sometimes only the Arm in the Altar Cloth and by that Devotion obliged him so fully that he could not gainsay it But Clement III. and Calistus III. changed that too unnatural Right and Power and declared That those Children ought not to be compell'd to Monastick Life unless they did by their own free choice oblige themselves when they had attained to years of Discretion The Dignity of Cardinals was in great lustre their Colledge was numerous and their Vertue and Birth most eminent France had as great a share at least in this Advantage as Italy Duchesne who has written their Lives very exactly hath noted in this Twelfth Age above Fifty that were Frenchmen the greatest part of them having been bred in Monasteries particularly in the Congregation of Clugny and Order de Cisteaux These last were almost all of them the intimate Friends or Disciples of St. Bernard Galon Disciple of Yves de Chartres Bishop of Beauvais then of Paris Guy Brother of Stephen Earl of Buâ—gundy Archbishop of Vienne and afterwards Soveraign Prelat by the name of Calistus II. Pontius de Melgueil Abbot of Clugny Stephen Son of Thierry Earl of Montbelliard William de Champagne successively Archbishop of Sens and of Rheims Uncle to King Philip Augustus and very powerful in the Government of the Kingdom Rodolph de Nesle Henry de Sully and Albert Brother of the Duke of Brabant were all of illustrious Birth and withall of extraordinary Vertue excepting Ponce or Pontius who was singular for the Disorders of his Life which were scandalous after his re-entry perforce into the Abby which he had once renounced that going to Rome whither he was cited by the Pope he was confin'd to a perpetual imprisonment where a Month after he died And nevertheless a certain Martyrologist quoted by Duchesne does call him Saint The end of Albert was also Tragical but the Cause being brave his Memory is the more glorious He had been Elected Bishop of Liege upon the Sollicitation of Henry Duke of Brabant his Brother The Emperor Henry VI. who hated both of them would not give his consent to this Election The Pope however confirms him and Albert comes to Rheims to be Consecrated which was then the Metropolis of Liege The Emperor took this for an outrageous affront and slighting and dispatches some German Cavaliers after him to take his Revenge These Ruffians having craftily insinuated themselves into a familiarity with the Bishop who then sojourned at Rheims found an opportunity one day to get him out of Town to take the Air and walk and Murther'd him with Nineteen Wounds then made their escape to Verdun and from thence into Germany to the Emperor Four hundred and twenty years after that is in the year 1612. the Arch-Duke Albertus of Austria and his spouse the Infanta Clara Eugenia obtained leave of the Most Christian King Lewis XIII to take his Corps up out of the Cathedral Church at Rheims where it had been deposited till that time and caused it to be convey'd to Brussels in great Pomp. Paul V. compleated his Crown of Honour by Canonizing him as a Martyr for the liberty of the Church which is the Spouse of Jesus Christ I observe Eight or ten other Cardinals who had no other Nobility but what their Vertue acquir'd as one Robert de Paris who with some others so pressed Pope Paschal that he had made him break the Treaty by which he had yielded up the Investitures to the Emperor Henry V. Foulcher de Chartres Matthew de Rheims and Alberic de Beauvais the first of whom had been Secretary to Godfrey de Buillon in his Expedition to the Holy Land the second Prior of St. Martins des Champs or in the Fields and the third a Monk of Clugny and Abbot of Vezelay Stephen de Chaalons Bernard de Rennes these two had likewise been Monks Rowland d'Auranches and Matthew d'Angers all which took their names from the places of their Nativity according to the Mode of Men of Learning who were of mean Extraction There were divers others besides whose Parents are unknown to us as one Yves a Canon of St. Victor raised by his Learning to that Dignity and one Martin who came from the Abby de Citeaux and was Bishop of Ostia a Prelat of an Apostolick Continence and Fragality It is related that he being sent as Legat into Denmark for the Conversion of those Infidels he came back so poor that he Travel'd on Foot as far as Florence herein much more like the humble Apostles of Jesus Christ then the other Legats of those times who comming very beggerlike into those Provinces whither the Popes sent them went thence again loaden with Spoil as from a Country Conquer'd by them and returned back to Rome with an Equipage sit for a King The Bishop of Florence seeing this good Man on foot made him a Present of a Horse not out of generosity but hopes to oblige him to be his Friend in a Process he had at Rome ready to be determined but when it came to Judgment and this good Man to deliver his opinion he Addresses himself to him and said freely he did not know he was to have been his Judge and therefore pray'd him to go to the Stable and take his Horse again that his Vote might be without partiality Neither did France want for Bishops whose Learning Merits Zeal and Piety acquir'd the Titles of Great Men and of Saints Not to mention again that Galon Guy of Burgundy William de Champagne and Albert de Brabant whom we lately ranged amongst the Cardinals France had amongst others seven great Archbishops Hildebert de Tours Peter de Bourges who was of the Family de la Chastre Odvard de Cambray Arnold Amaulry de Narbonne Henry de Rheims Rotrou de Rouen and Hugh de Vienne Arnold had been Abbot of Clerveaux and was the first Inquisitor to root out the Heresie of the Albigensis Rotrou was Son of the Earl of Warwick near of Kindred to the King of England as Henry was to the King of France Louis the Gross but both of them more eminent for their Christian Humility then high Birth Hugh endured rather to be expell'd from his See by the Emperor Frederic I. then to renounce Alexander III. whom he believed to be the true and Legitimate Pope I should never come to an end if I undertook to give an account of all the Bishops of this Age who deserve Immortality and Renown But can we forget Yves and
of Luxembourg which was Philip Bishop of Mans one of the House of Longueville i. e. John Bishop of Orleans one of the House of Albret which was Amanjeu Bishop of Lascar one of the House of Gramont who was Bishop of Poitiers then Arch-Bishop of Toulouze named Gabriel one of the House of Strozzi he was called Lawrence Bishop of Beziers one of the House of Joyeuse this was Francis Arch-Bishop of Toulouze he lived in the Reigns of Henry III. and Henry IV. and Strozzi in the time of Charles IX Almost all the rest to the number of near twenty were likewise persons of Quality and attained to this eminent dignity some though but very few by their merit only as John du Bellay Bishop of Paris and George d'Armagnac Son of Peter Baron of Caussade Bastard of Charles last Earl of Armagnac the most part by knowing how to make their Court or because allied to those in favour as Philip de la Chambre Adrian de Goussier Boissy Brother of Arthur Grand Maistre of the Kings Houshold John le Veneur Bishop of Lisieux and Grand Almoner of France James d'Annebault Brother to the Admiral of that name Claude de Longvic Givry Bishop of Poitiers Anthony Sanguin whom they called the Cardinal de Meudon Odet de Chastillon Nephew of the Connestable de Montmorency and George de Amboise second of that name likewise Arch-Bishop of Rouen as his Uncle was As for Peter de Gondy Son of the Mareschal de Rais and Bishop of Paris he was Created Cardinal upon the recommendation of Queen Catherine as also René de Birague a Gentleman of Milan who together with this dignity he had the Office of Chancellor of France There were some others of meaner Birth who arrived at this dignity by means of their employments in the Finances or in the Law as Anthony Duprat John Bertrandi and Philip Babou la Bourdaisiere But it was neither Blood nor favour that cloathed Arnold Dossat and Jacques Davy du Perron with the sacred Purple it was the recompence of their services of their great capacity and of their rare erudition Dossat was but the Son of a Peasant in the Diocess of Auch and du Perron of a Huguenot Minister of the lower Normandy but a Gentleman We have known a Natural Son of the first who died Curate of Mesnil-Aubry within four Leagues of Paris There was likewise a great number of Illustrious Bishops concerning whose promotion one may say the same things as have been hinted of that of the Cardinals I observe at Sisteron Lawrence Bureau an excellent Preacher for those times he had been a Religious Carmelite and Confessor to King Charles VIII and Lewis XII At Treguier John du Calloüet a famous Doctor in the Civil and Canon-Law he died Anno 1504. At Lucon Peter de Sacierge whom Lewis XII made Chancellor and President of Milan At Marceilles Claude de Seissel a Savoyard by Birth whose Writings are very well worthy to be read being every ☜ where inter-spersed with those wholesome Maxims which only can procure immortal Fame to Princes and felicity to their Subjects he was afterwards Arch-Bishop of Turin At Renes Bernard Bochetel who served as Secretary to the Kings Lewis XII and Francis I. but in fine touched with some remorse of Conscience or by some other motive he quitted his Bishoprick whose functions in effect are ☞ not altogether compatible with the employments at Court. In the days of these said Kings I find at Paris then at Sens Stephen Poncher a Tourengeau by Birth who had been President in Parliament Chancellor of Milan and of the Kings Order and Keeper of the Seals of France Under Francis I. at Riez then at Vence and afterwards at Aurenches Robert Cenault at Mascon Peter Castellan Great Almoner of France And at Maguelone William Pelicier These three were raised upon the consideration of their Learning Castellan was he who with Budeus put the brave King Francis upon the design of instituting the Regis Professors at Paris and who chose the first whereof Pelicier was one In the time of Henry II. I find at Lavaur Peter Danez whom Francis I. had called from the University of Bourges where he professed the Greek Tongue to make him Tutor to his Daufin And at Vienne Charles de Marillac who died in the year 1560. for the great fear he had leâ—t the House of Guise against whom he had let his Tongue ramble too freely should draw him within the Noose and Guilt of Heresie or Accuse him of some Conspiracy In the time of Charles IX and Henry III. there was at Mans Charles de Angennes ☞ Ramboüillet in whose praise it is said that during his Nine and twenty years holding that See he never gave one Cure but upon the score of Merit and Integrity having for that purpose made a Register of all those whom he thought most deserving and capable At Nevers Arnold Sorbin who was Surnamed de Sainte Foy because he had been Curate of a Parish so named he passed for a great Divine and a very Eloquent Preacher At Orleans John de Morvillier Native of the City of Blois Queen Catherine made him one of the King's Council where he was ever opposed to the Chancellour de l'Hospital because he aspired to get the Seals as in effect he did At Auxerre James Amiot Native of Melun of very mean Extraction but a man of exquisite Literature Henry II. made him Preceptor to his Children and Abbot of Bellosane afterwards Charles IX one of his Disciples gave him the Bishoprick of Auxerre At Valence John de Montluc who was too wavering in the Faith though very Learned and withal a very dexterous Negociator At Tours Simon de Maille a profound Theologer and well read in the Fathers who was taken out of the Order of the Cistertians where he was Abbot to be promoted to an Archbishoprick At Air Francis de Foix Candale Uncle of the Duke d'Espernon's Wife thorowly versed in Humane Learning in the Philosophy of Trismegistus and of Plato and in Chymistry At Chaalons Pontus de Thiard both Poet and Mathematician a singular Talent who died Aged Fourscore and four years At Evreux Claude de Saintes a vehement Preacher and a Divine of great Reputation and at Senlis William Rose who had likewise made himself very famous by his Sermons These two were Passionate Leaguers Saintes was taken in Louviers with the City by the Royalists Anno 1591. and carried to Caen where he died in Prison having ran great hazard of making his Exit on a Scaffold for his Writing and Preaching against Henry III. Rose had many shocks to undergo likewise after the Decadence of the League but he at length did fortunately extricate himself and exchanged his Bishoprick with him of Auxerre At Clermont was Bishop Anthony de Saint Nectaire who employ'd himself much in the intrigues of Catherine de Medicis And at Sees Peter du Val in whose time the Chanons of his