that he left all his Warlike Engines behind and part of his Men who were kill'd or drowned upon the Retreat Never after durst he shew his head in any place where he knew Lewis could come and abandoned all Anjou to him and his new Fortifications of Anger 's which were presently demolish'd Year of our Lord 1214 Before the Month was expir'd after Lewis's Victory King Philip his Father gained a much more signal one nigh the Village of Bouvines which is between L'Isle and Tournay against the Emperor Otho and his Confederates They had an Army of 150000 fighting Men his was weaker by one half but strengthned with the flower of the Nobility and many Princes of the Blood viz. Eudes Duke of Burgundy Robert de Courtenay Robert Earl of Dreux and his Brother Philip Bishop of Beauvais The Battle was fought the 25th of July and lasted from Noon till Night Guerin Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and a little before elected Bishop of Senlis to whom the King left all things drew up the Army in Battalia Matthew Baron of Montmorency William des Barres Seneschal to the King Henry Earl of Bar Bartholomy de Roye Gaucher Count de Saint Pol and Adam Vicount de Melun had the greatest shares in the Danger and in the Victory Guerin fought not with his hands because of his Quality of Bishop nor did Philip Bishop of Beauvais smite with the Sword but a Wooden Club believing that to beat out Peoples Brains was not shedding of Blood The King ran a great hazard in his own Person having been beaten down trod under the Horses Feet and wounded in the Throat but in fine his Enemies were worsted every where Otho put to flight his great Standard being a Dragon with an Imperial Eagle over it and the Chariot which bore it broken all to pieces and five Earls amongst whom were Ferrand and Renauld with two and twenty Lords that carried Banners taken Prisoners The Fortune-tellers had assured the old Countess of Flanders Ferrands Aunt that there should happen a great Battle that the King should be overthrown Horses tread over him and that Ferrand should enter in Triumph into Paris The first part of this Prediction held good without Equivocation the second was likewise true but after another manner then they imagined for indeed they carried him into Paris in Triumph but in quality of a Captive loaden with Chains and linked fast in a Chariot drawn by Ferrand Horses that is according to the Language then used of an Iron-grey-Colour The Parisians made the King a most pompous Entrance and Celebrated his Victory with Solemn Joy for eight days together Ferrand was shut up in the Tower of the Louvre without the City Walls and Renauld in the new Tower of Peronne with Shackles on his Legs and a Chain that fastned him to a great piece of Timber Philip had made a Vow in the midst of his Joy for this most happy success to build an Abby in honour of God and of the Blesled Virgin his Son Lewis performed it by founding that of Nostre-Dame de la Victoire near Sanlis The Lords of Poitou that had favour'd the English finding that Lewis was Victorious sent to tender him all manner of Submission He would not trust to their words but went into the Country with his Army to bring things to a full period The Vicount de Touars the most considerable of them all obtained the Kings Pardon without much ado by the intercession of Peter Duke of Bretagne the rest were utterly lost and King John who was then in Partenay could not have avoided being taken if he had not bethought himself of interposing the Popes Legat to demand a Truce That power was so formidable that the King durst not deny him and agreed to it for five years Year of our Lord 1215 When that was done Prince Louis or Lewis whether out of devotion or jealousie of the Power of Count de Montfort took up the Cross on him against the Albigeois and made a Voyage to Languedoc Montfort came to Vienne to meet him and the Legat to Valence Montfort who accompanied him received Bulls from the Pope Year of our Lord 1215 which in Consequence of the Decree of the Council of Montpellier held some Months before gave him the Tolosian Territories in guard or keeping and all those other that had been Conquer'd by the Adventurers of the Cross upon Condition to receive Investiture of the King and render him Feodal Duty So that we may say ☜ the Pope named and the King Confer'd upon his Nomination From thence Lewis was at Montpellier then at Beziers where he gave order the Walls of Narbonne and Tolose should be demolish'd Mean while the Lateran Council notwithstanding the pitiful Remonstrances of the Count de Tolose who was there in Person with his Son adjudged the propriety of his Lands to Montfort reserving only those he had in Provence for his Son and four hundred Marks of Silver yearly for his Subsistance to be understood if they shew'd themselves obedient to the Holy See From that time Montfort took on him the Quality of Earl of Toulouze and came to receive Investiture from the King in the City of Melun While Lewis was yet in those Countries the English Lords sent to offer him the Crown of England and demand Assistance against the Tyrannies of John who was Excommunicated by the Pope and who had robb'd them of their Liberties and Priviledges for which cause they had taken up Arms to Dethrone him They had the City of London and some other places for them nevertheless their design did not go on well and their dispair forc'd them to seek their safety by some Foreign Assistance Year of our Lord 1215 16. The Tyrant seeing his loss infallible stuck not to abase the Dignity of his Crown to gain the Popes Protection He satisfies him therefore and becomes his Vassal and Tributary of a thousand Mark of Silver but this abasement added scorn to the execration his Subjects had for him Now the Holy Father resolv'd highly to protect his new Vassal Excommunicated the English and sent a Legat into France to divert Lewis from that Enterprize and desired King Philip to put a stop to it Philip makes protestation of all Respect and Obedience to the Holy See but said he could not impose upon his Son that necessity not to pursue the Rights of his Wife who was Neece to King John So that Lewis accepted the Crown of England and landed with a great Equipage in the Isle of Thanet thence went to London where he was solemnly Crowned John being excluded from his Capital City retired to Winchester and by his flight gave him full leisure to receive the Hommage of all the Nobility and secure all about London The Legat not being able to put a stop to Lewis by any Arguments or Persuasions Excommunicated him and all his Adherents but he appeal'd to the Pope they had not yet found out the
and give battle to the Ravens who in their Flocks had Rooks and Choughs the Storks gained the Victory In the Countrey of Liege in like manner some Crows or Ravens having insulted over a Faulcon breaking the Eggs in its Airy the next day were to be seen in that very place a vast quantity of Birds of both those kinds who fought most obstinately till the Crows betook themselves to flight after a very great slaughter of their Forces It was wisely Counsell'd whereby to lay asleep all discords to employ all the Forces of France in a War upon the English under that specious pretence of revenging the death of King Richard II. The Nobless went about it with much resolution but the envy which other Princes had against the greatness of the Burgundian who sate at the Helme broke off this design Year of our Lord 1410 At the end of August the Dukes of Berry and Bourbon having made a League at Gyen with the House of Orleans and with the Duke of Bretagne the Earls of Alenson Clermont and Armagnac who were all his friends or picqued against the Burgundian sent to make their demands of the King Every one armed himself the King might command them to lay down their Arms but it was in vain for they went on with their Levies The Burgundian having to little purpose proffer'd them Peace made use of the Kings Authority to summon the Arriere-ban puts Ten thousand Men into Paris The Duke of Berry and the Princes lodged themselves at the Castle of Wicestre and began to make the War The neighbouring parts round that City were eaten up by Two hundred thousand hungry Soldiers About the end of November when all the Provisions were consumed necessity compell'd both parties to come to an agreement It was Articled that the Duke of Burgundy should go out of Paris and that the Duke of Berry should not go in That those two Princes should name some Lords that should take care for them of the Government and the Dauphin's Person That the King sho u l d chu Council of Twelve Persons not suspected whose Names he should communicate to them That all the Princes should withdraw with their Forces and that none of them should return near the King unless he were commanded by Letters under the Great Seal and written in Council Year of our Lord 1411 The Burgundian obey'd with sincerity and retir'd forthwith but the Duke of Orleans with those of his party began immediately to make new Levies The Queen and the Duke of 〈◊〉 appeared as Neuters and offer'd to be Mediators The King spake 〈◊〉 Master and Commanded them to disarm the Burgundian lay quiet and remained in Obedience but the Orleannois with his Sword in hand demanded Justice for the death of his Father After many Letters and fruitless Negotiations he sent a very biting Cartel to the Burgundian who answered in the same stile Their Challenges were in the month of August Year of our Lord 1411 The King had ordained the Queen and the Duke of Berry who were at Melun to labour for a Peace and sent thither Persons that were Notables of the Clergy the Nobility the Parliament and the University the better to Authorize what they should conclude therein but their design was only to pillage Paris and deliver themselves to the Orleannois The Parisians having timely notice demanded the Count de St. Pol might be their Governour It was agreed to but instead of strengthening himself with good honest Citizens he furnishes himself with Rascals and raises a Company of Five hundred Butchers Commanded by the Goix the Kings Butchers who committing a thousand insolencies obliged a great many good Citizens to retire elsewhere France then divided her self in two Factions the one the Orleannois vulgarly named Armagnac's from the Count of Armagnac one of their principal Chiefs they carried a White Bend and a Cross with Right Angles and the other the Burgundians who bare the St. Andrew's Cross The best of the Citizens of Paris inclined towards the First the Populace towards the Second From thence proceeded so many Murthers plunderings and Proscriptions according as the success varied on either side Year of our Lord 1412 The Burgundian party was then the strongest having the King the Dauphin Duke of Guyenne and the City of Paris on that side so that they displaced the Prevost des Marchands and imprisoned and banished divers of the contrary party In the mean time the Forces under the Duke of Orleans plundered Picardy and he seized upon Montlehery Upon this they perswaded the Duke of Guyenne to oblige the King to recall the Burgundian to his assistance This Duke embraced the opportunity enters into Picardy with Sixty thousand Men besieged and forced Ham but he could go no further The contest about the plunder of that City begot a mortal dissention between the Picards and the Flemmings wherewith his Army was made up insomuch as the Duke of Orleans approaching with his the Picards forsook him the Flemmings withdrew and he though much against his Will with them The greediness with which the party Orleannois gaped for the plunder and spoil of Paris hindred them from pursuing and destroying the Burgundian They marched immediately to block up this great City made themselves Masters of St. Denis by a Siege of the Tower of St Cloud by the Treachery of him that Commanded it and fired the Houses of such Citizens as were not of their Faction In retribution the Company of Butchers went and burnt the Castle of Wicestre which belonged to the Duke of Berry Year of our Lord 1412 The Orleannois thought themselves so very sure of the taking of Paris that they had already agreed upon their shares in the spoil But now the Burgundian returns with a relief of English pierces thorough the midst of their Forces and the Thirtieth of October is received into the City as the deliverer of the Kingdom Then their party declines St. Cloud is forced out of their hands with the loss of above Nine hundred Gentlemen they raise their Blockade and having drawn all their Men together at St. Denis retreat in disorder over the Bridges they had laid upon the Seine Year of our Lord 1412 All the misfortunes that attend a routed party fell upon these The victorious Burgundian causes them to be excommunicate and proscribed gives them chace every where puts their Goods to sale by out-cry imprisons all their Friends and Servants displaces the Constable Albret John de Hangest Hugueville Grand Master of the Cross-Bow-Men and the Sire de Rieux Mareschal to give their places to the Count de St. Pol the Lord de Rambures and Lewis de Longny his partisans All the neighbouring Cities about Paris enter into the same interests Orleans alone remains of the side of her Princes The other places and of such as followed them are forced to abandon them even Guyenne and Languedoc submit and renounce the Government of the Duke of Berry Year of our
at one another the Burgundian breaks off the Treaty and thinks of nothing now but to accommodate Affairs with the Dauphin They conferred therefore in the open Field near Povilly le Fort within two Leagues of Melun between the two Armies each of them attended by half a score Horsemen and there they made a Treaty in which they sware to love and assist each other like Brothers submitting themselves in case of any failure to the Soveraign Judgment of the Holy See After which they agreed to meet upon the Bridge de Year of our Lord 1419 Montereau Faut-yonne the Eighteenth of August each accompanied with ten Men armed to determine all their disputes in a most amicable manner The Servants belonging to the deceased Lewis Duke of Orleans particularly Taneguy du Chastel and John Louvet President of Provence procured these Interviews for no other end but to find an opportunity to revenge the death of their late Master upon him that was the Author of it They durst not attempt it at Pouilly but they put things in better order at Montereau by the contrivance of certain Barriers which being made in appearance for the mutual safety of them both served as a snare or trap to that unfortunate Prince The day being come the Dauphin arrives at Montereau the Duke made him wait almost fifteen days His friends forewarning and advice his own pressentiment all humane prudence and reasonning forbid his going thither the power of his ill destiny dragg'd him along by the horrid treachery of a second Dalila I mean the Lady de Gyac his Mistress or perhaps it was the hand of Divine Justice for the Blood of his own Cousin and so many thousands of Men as had been spilt in that Quarrel To allure him the better they delivered up to him the Castle of Montereau but wholly unfurnish'd of Provisions or Artillery From thence he descended to the Bridge with his ten Men and placed a guard at the end While he was kneeling before the Dauphin Taneguy du Chastel and some others leaping over the Barriers Massacred him by several wounds his People making but a slight defence only Nouailles Brother of Captal de Buch who was kill'd with him We must believe this act was done without the Dauphins order for he was not above Seventeen years of age and Heaven would never have permitted a Prince designed to wear the Year of our Lord 1419 Crown of France should have perpetrated so horrible and base a piece of treachery However it were the event made it appear how much those wounds did blemish his Honour and not only proved hurtful to him but almost mortal to the whole Kingdom For Philip the only Son of the deceased although a very good Prince highly undertakes to revenge his Fathers death and wanted not for means to do it All that were friends to that House all those that were discontented came and tendred their service to him compassion and horror for this Murther renewed and heated the affections even of such as were grown coldest the Parisians sent to assure him of their Services and he to gain the love of the People obtained a Truce of the English to the exclusion of the Dauphins People who were come to Rouen to desire the same thing for which they made great profers From this time the French the English and the Burgundians began to mix and live together as if they had all been but one Nation but the difference of their humours and interests would suffer no long unity amongst them Year of our Lord 1419 On the other hand the Dauphin gathered up all his Friends in the Provinces of Poitou Orleannois Berry Auvergne Lyonnois Dauphine Provence and above all thought to secure himself of Languedoc He took away that Government from the Earl of Foix and gave it to Charles Count de Clermont eldest Son of the Duke of Bourbon From these Provinces it was that he drew his Succours that maintained him Besides the Kings of Castille and of Scotland with the Duke of Milan suppli'd him in his necessities with some of their Forces Year of our Lord 1420 According to what had been agreed upon the King of England and Philp Duke of Burgundy met at Troyes where the King and Queen were and there the Peace was Treated together with the Marriage of Catharine of France with King Henry Which was first sworn to by all the Lords there present and then by all the good Cities that were of their party The Marriage was compleated the Second day of June This Treaty amongst other things contained That King Charles named and owned Henry for his Heir to the Crown of France That however Henry should not take the Title of King of France during the life of Charles but that he should have the quality of Regent and the government of Affairs That the two Kingdoms of France and England should be united and held by the same hand viz. by Henry and his Heirs but that they should not depend upon one another and should be governed according to their Laws That all Priviledges and Rights should be preserved to all Estates and to every particular Person That no Treaty of Accommodation should be made with the Dauphin without the consent of both the Kings the Duke of Burgundy and the three Estates of both the Kingdoms The two Kings afterwards with the Burgundian having taken Sens and Montereau journyed towards Paris Melun made the King of England know how much all France might cost him he was four Months before it and not able to force it Famine only did what his Sword could not The Besieged surrendred upon composition but contrary to the faith given they were all detained Prisoners At their departure from thence the two Kings made their entrance into Paris the first Sunday of Advent and the next day the two Queens The Duke of Burgundy having tender'd his complaint before them and their Councils in the Hostel St. Pol the Dauphin was summon'd to the Table de Marbre with the usual formalities and afterwards as attainted and convict of Murther was declared unworthy of all Succession namely of that to the Crown of France and banished the Kingdom to perpetuity From this Sentence given by incompetent Judges against all Right and contrary to the Laws of the Kingdom he appealed to God and his Sword and transferr'd the Parliament and University to Poitiers at which place the most illustrious Members of those two Companies did not fail to appear Thus almost every thing was double in the Kingdom there were two Kings two Regents two Parliaments two Constables two Chancellors two Admirals and so of most of the great Officers not to mention the multitude of Mareschals of France whereof each Party made seven or eight Year of our Lord 1420 This year 1420. the Portugal Navigators defray'd and encouraged by Henry Duke of Visen Son of John King of Portugal sailing at large in the Ocean found in their midway between Lisbonne and
This was a plausible pretence for Pepin to quarrel by demanding restitution of the Poors Patrimony He expected that Gaifre would refuse to do right thereupon he gets his Militia together and marches into Aquitain to the place they call Theodad where was an Ancient Palace of their Kings Gaifre who was not prepared for so sudden an Expedition was so much astonished that he promised him full satisfaction and gave him up some Hostages It was to be feared that the Saracens in Spain would bring assistance to this Duke and that he might be persuaded to deliver some places into their hands for Security and Retreat which would have given them footing in France Pepin provides against this by pretending to desire the Alliance of their Caliph to whom he sent a splendid Embassy The Caliph looked on this proposition as very honorable coming from so great a Prince agreed to all what was desired and sent back the Embassadors loaden with rich Presents whose Voyage thither and home again took up three Years time Year of our Lord 761 Instead of performing his promise Gaifre sent out his Forces who ravaged all about Chaalons upon the Soane Pepin extraordinarily offended at this Infidelity resolves to make a perpetual War upon him till he were quite ruin'd This Year he conquered Bourbon Chantelle Clermont and divers Places in Auvergne and from thence descends into Limosin and took Limoges having defeated and slain in a great Battle Chilping Count d'Auvergne and Amingue Count de Poitiers who would have hindred him His Eldest Son Charles began his first Apprentiship of Warr in this Expedition Year of our Lord 762 The following Year after he had held the General Assembly at Carisy or Crecy upon the Oyse he entred for the third time into Aquitain and by force took the City of Bourges and the Castle of Tours Year of our Lord 763 At his Fourth Expedition which was after the Sitting of the Parliament of Neuers he pierced as far as Cahors But the Duke Tasillon his Nephew whom he carried along with him having made his Escape and got into Bavaria he feared that Young Prince might have some League with the Saxons and with Didier King of Lombardy whose Daughter he had married Year of our Lord 764 Therefore returning again into France he let slip one Year without taking the Field during which time nothing was done but sending and receiving Messengers from Bavaria and Lombardy concerning Treaties with Didier and Tassillon Year of our Lord 765 When he had made sure of them by some agreement he undertakes afresh his design of Warr upon Aquitain Gaifre had dismantled most of his Towns as not having Numbers sufficient to maintain them Pepin Repairs them and places good Garrisons then made himself Master of Angoulesme Saintes and Agen. Year of our Lord 766 The Year after he fortifies Argenton in Berry and according to some Chroniclers took the Town of Limoges which by this reckoning must have been taken twice Year of our Lord 767 Anno 767. After the General Assembly of Orleans was over he enters into Septimania and gained the Cities of Nismes Maguelonne Beziers Thoulouse Albi and the Country of Givaudan We cannot find by what Title these Cities could belong to Gaifre and if it be said They were in the hands of the Visigoths what reason had Pepin to take them from those People He must of necessity have made all this long March in the Winter time since he kept his Easter Festival at Vienne held the Field-meeting of May at Bourges and in the Month of August descended from thence as far as the Borders of the Garonne clearing all the Country of such of Gaifres Garrison Soldiers as skulked amongst the Rocks and in the Caves of Auvergne and Perigord After the Celebration of the Christmass Festival at Bourges he crossed Aquitain Year of our Lord 768 as far as Saintes In his way he took Remistang Brother or Uncle by the Mothers side to Gaifre whom he caused to be hanged for having broken his faith to him Three Years before and while he was at Saintes they presented to him the Mother a Sister and a Niece of the same Dukes This Unfortunate Man fled still before him sometimes into one Town then into another In fine the King after he had kept his Easter at Selles in Berry divided his Forces in two Bodies that he might be hemm'd in So that Gaifre being put to a full stop neer Perigueux was constrained to stake his last Fortune in a Battle but he lost it and his Life soon after being slain either by the French or even by his own men who were willing to put an end to their Troubles and the desolation of their Country Thus all Aquitain was entirely subdued saving only they permitted the Gascons to have a Duke Pepin had but life enough just to finish this Conquest for being come back to Saintes he fell sick of an Hydropisia As they were conveying him to Paris he paid his Devotions and made his Offerings on the Tomb of St. Martin de Tours and being brought to perform the same duty at St. Denis Year of our Lord 768 in France he resigned up his Soul the 24 th of September in the Year 768. Aged 52. or 54. Years of which he had reigned Seventeen and a half if we reckon from the day of his Election supposing that was made in the Field of Mars Anno 751. He married but one Wife who survived him which was Bertha whom the Historians have surnamed Great Foot Daughter of Caribert Count of Laon by whom he had four Sons Carloman Charles Pepin and Gilles and three Daughters Rotaide Adelaide and Giselle Of his Sons the Youngest was thrust very young into the Religious Monastery of Mount Soracte Pepin dyed when three years old The Kingdom was left to the other two who were Crowned in the Month of October following Carloman at Soissons and Charles at Noyon As for the Daughters the two Eldest Rotaida and Adelaida dyed young Griselle married to a Cloister and was an Abbess Some Genealogists bestow five or six Sons more upon him and as many Daughters of which say they Berte was married to Milon Count of Angiers and Father of the invulnerable Orlando and Chiltrude to René Count of Genoa who was the Father of Oger the Dane Year of our Lord 768 The two Brothers being in dispute about their partition the Lords interposed to bring them to an agreement and obliged them till all should be determined by way of provision to take Charles all Neustria and Carloman Austrasia In the Reign of Pepin God began to make Christendom feel the stroakes of the severest scourge that was ever laid upon them I mean the insulting Turks which to this day threatens to overwhelm us They were not unknown in Pliny's time who reckons them amongst those who inhabited along the Palus Meotides There may have been some likewise amongst the Messagetes and elsewhere as we have observed of
deal with the Saxons the Huns the Lombards and the Saracens The Saxons a most Warlike and as yet Idolatrous Nation compounded of several People and such as had been invincible had they acted by a mutual agreement and consent gave him work and exercise enough for above Thirty Years during which time he made divers Expeditions against them always with advantage He never denyed them Peace and they broke again as soon as he was out of their sight But his Piety constant as their Malice was never wearied in forgiving them not so much out of a desire to allure them to his obedience as to bring them under the Yoak of Christ Jesus The highest part of his Care having no other end but the propagation of Religion He entred into Saxony therefore this Year and would try to terrify those Rebels by Fire and Sword but they were not afraid to bid him Battle somewhat neer Osnabrug Their Confidence was punished by a huge Slaughter of their men those that remained made their escape beyond the Veser He pursuing his Victory took in the Castle of Eresburgh demolished the Famous Temple of the false God Irmensul and broke his Idol It is supposed to have been the God Mars whence Mers-purg took it's name He afterwards pass'd the Veser compelled the Saxons to give him some Hostages and having rebuilt Fresburgh put a French Garrison into it Year of our Lord From the Year 767 to 771. King Didier not able or willing to give over the Design his Predecessors had formed to abate the Power of the Popes to make himself thereby Master of all Italy sowed a Schisme in the Church of Rome whereby to discompose and weaken them Pope Paul being dead Anno 767. Toton Duke of Nepet at his instigation enters into Rome and forced the Clergy to Elect his Brother Constantine who was not in Orders The following Year another Cabal Enemies to this Violence of Constantine's sets a Priest in the holy Chair named Philip But Crestofle Primicera this was the highest Dignity in the City next to the Prefect constrained both the one and the other to renounce the Popeship and caused Stephanus to be duly elected a Priest of St. Cecil's who was the fourth of that name Didier bethinks him of another method in the Year 770. he goes to Rome upon pretence of Devotion and by force of Presents gained Paul Afiarte Duke or Soveraign Judge in Rome to cause this Crestofle to be put to death and to banish or imprison for colourable reasons all such Roman Citizens as he knew to be most able and disposed to thwart his attempts Afiarte did according to his desire but Adrian who was chosen after Stephen stopt those unjust proceedings and not only eluded all the vain essays of the Lombard but was likewise the cause of his utter destruction After all other Experiments Didier employs Force seizes on several Cities of the Exarchat ravaged the Neighbourhood of Rome and the Year after to turmoil the Pope advances towards him upon pretence of Visiting the Sepulchre of the holy Apostles carrying along with him the Sons of the late King Carloman to oblige him to Crown them The Holy Father flatly refuses him and failed not to make use of this Motive to exasperate Charlemaine the more against the Lombards Year of our Lord 773 Betwixt these two Kings there were already some other causes of Enmity For in the Year 771. Charles had repudiated Hildegard the Sister of Didier saying she was infirm A pretence that did not please a great many good people particularly Adelard the King's Cousin who for this reason retired from the Court into a Monastery And Didier on his side had given a reception to Carloman's Widow and promised her his assistance and support to restore her Sons to the Inheritance or Kingdom of their Father These offences having inclined Charles's Mind to hearken to the Pope's Intreaties he was the more easily induced to pass over the Mountains but with so great and numerous Forces that it was evident it was not meant so much to assist him as to conquer Lombardy Having therefore Rendevouz'd his Army at Geneva he divided it in two Bodies his Uncle Bernard with one took his way by the Mount Jou and himself led the other by Mount Cenis Didier had fortified the Passages and in case they should be worsted himself was advanced with all his Forces neer Turin and in Year of our Lord 773 the Valley of Aost to observe and oppose the French even to the hazard of a Battle but some of their Army having stollen by him very silently and charging them in the Rear he was so much afraid of being hemm'd in that he cast himself into Pavia and Adalgise his Son whom he had made Partner of his Crown into Verona Those of Spoletta and Rietta had already forsaken him to joyn with the Pope When his Retreat was known all the Marca Anconitana and many other Cities followed their Example Charles with a part of his Army encamped before Pavia and sent the remainder before Verona And to demonstrate he did not intend to go thence till he had them in his power he ordered his new Wife Hildegard Daughter of Childebrand Duke of Suevia to come to his Camp and passed the Winter there even till Christmass at which time he goes to Verona to press that Siege forwards Adalgise apprehending to fall into his hands abandoned that City and fled to the Emperour of Greece The Veronese soon after yielded Year of our Lord 774 and gave up Carloman's Children and Widow they were carried into France what afterwards became of them is not mentioned that I know of Nothing remained but Pavia The Siege spinning out in length Charles had a desire to go and pay his Devotions at Rome at the good time of Easter The Pope made him a magnificent Entrance such as was accustomed to be made for the Exarchs He in return confirms all the Grants made by his Father and besides say some added that of Soveraign Justice and absolute Power in all those Countries So that to speak properly the Popes before this time held what they had from the French Kings from whom it must be owned they derive the best portion of their temporal Grandeur In length of time Pavia became so straightned not by any Attaques but by Famine and the people so ill disposed Hunoud the Fire-brand of this War having been knock'd on the head by the Women that Didier surrenders himself with his Wife and Children to Charles He was conveyed into France Cloister'd and Shaved and died soon after Thus was the Kingdom of Lombardy in Italy Extinguished after it had lasted some 204 Years Before his return into France Charles made a second Voyage to Rome where the Pope with 150 Bishops whom he had summoned to honour his Reception and likewise the Roman People conferred upon him the Title of Patrician which was the Degree the nearest to the Empire It belonged to the Emperours only
them to retire Then made himself Master of Reims and Soissons But suffering this heat of good success to grow cool few People declared for him and even the Archbishop of Reims whom he importuned to Crown him told him that he could not do it of his own head and that it was a publick Business that is to say it required the Consent of the Lords of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 989 It was greatly Hugh's interest to gain Arnold Bastard Brother of Duke Charles to his Party To this end he gives him the Archbishoprick of Reims which was vacant by the death of Aldaberon having first taken an Oath from him in Writing but six months after his being in that Town Charles his Brother was introduced there and made himself Master by means of a Priest named Aldager and in Confederacy as was thought with the Archbishop who notwithstanding ever denied it and remained Prisoner in the hands of Charles either really or at least pretended Year of our Lord 990 At the same time William III. Earl of Poictou and Duke of Aquitain refused to acknowledge the two Kings Capet and Robert though he were Uncle to Robert by the Mother openly accusing the French of Perfidiousness and their having abandoned the Line and Blood of Charlemaine Both the Kings marched that way to bring him to Obedience and besieged Poitiers He repulsed them smartly pursues them to the Loire and there happens a bloody Engagement but the conclusion was to the Advantage of the French Year of our Lord 991 The year ensuing this Duke made War upon the Count of Anjou for Mirebalais and Loudunois and did so roughly handle him that in the end he was constrained to acknowledge him and hold them in Fief of him Year of our Lord 991 Charles living in too great security at Laon and with too much confidence in Ancelin King Hugh gained that Traitor who like another Judas upon Holy-Thursday-night opened the Gates and delivered the poor Prince and his Wife up to him He sent them away Prisoners to Senlis and from thence to Orleance where they were shut up in a Tower Year of our Lord 992 The Archbishop Arnold his Brother was taken with him The Bishops of France Assembled in Council at Reims made his Process as one that was guilty of Perjury and who had broken his Faith to King Hugh and therefore degraded him of his Prelature after which the King sent him Prisoner to Orleance to keep his Brother company Gerbert a Benedictine Monk who had been Tutor to the Emperor Otho III. and to King Robert was chosen in his place He was so Learned for those times particularly in the Mathematicks that it gave him the Reputation of a Magician amongst the ignorant Year of our Lord 993 Anno 993. William III. Duke of Aquitain made Peace with the King and owned to hold his Lands of him But another William Duke of Gascongne kept himself still independent He it was who having gained a memorable Battle against a Fleet of Normands landed in Gascongny towards the end of this Century and believing he obtained that Advantage by the intercession of St. Sever who was said to have appeared that day on a white Horse with glittering Arms fighting against the Barbarians put his Dukedom under the protection of that glorious Martyr and Erected a Church and Abby over his Tomb round about which Edifice is built that City called St. Sever Cape of Gascongny Many believe but without any certain proofs that Hugh Capet confirmed the Inheritance of all the great Estates Dutchies and Earldoms to those Lords that had usurped them and it is probable that they themselves had first given such as depended upon them to their own Vassals thereby to engage them to maintain and justifie them in their Usurpations It is certain he annexed to the Crown which had scarce any thing left in Propriety the Earldom of Paris the Dukedom of France containing all that is between the Loire and Seine and the Earldom of Orleance Amongst a very great number of Lords who enjoy'd of the Regal Rights the Eight most considerable were the Dukes of Burgundy Normandy Aquitain and Gascongne Bretagne then held of Normandy the Earls of Flanders of Champagne and Thoulouze This last was likewise Duke of Septimania and Marquiss of Gothia the Earl of Barcelonna in the Marches of Spain and the Earl of Anjou on the Frontiers of Bretagne this held of the Dutchy of France All these Lords had a great many more besides who took upon them to be Soveraigns I do not speak of the Estates that were set up in the Kingdom of Lorrain amongst others the two Dutchy's that bare that name to wit the higher or Mosellanick which retains it to this day and the lower which is Brabant Nor of those that were framed out of the Ruines of the Kingdom of Arles and that of Transjurane as the Earldom of Burgundy those of Viennois Provence and Savoy Daufine the Dukedoms of Zeringhen and Alman and divers others because those Countries were not of France but held of the Emperors of Germany who were Titularies of those two Kingdoms The Grandees of the Kingdom thought that Capet ought to suffer all from them because they had set the Crown upon his Head His Patience and Courage which he exercised diversly according as occasion required kept them from running to extremity and maintained him in his Throne One Adelbert Count de la Marche and Perigord was one of the most unruly and concerned himself in all their Quarrels Fulk Nerra had some Pretensions to the City of Tours he besieged it in his behalf The King sent and commanded him to desist Adelbert would do nothing and asking him Who was it that made you a Count He insolently replied Those same that made you a King continued the Siege and took the Town Year of our Lord 993 This year was memorable for the death of Conrad King of Burgundy William III. Duke of Aquitain and Hebert Count of Meaux and Troyes Conrad left his Estate to his Son Roldolph called the Faineant or Do-nothing William left his likewise to his Son of his own name but surnamed Fierabras and the third dying without Children to Eudes his Brother Earl of Chartres and Tours who was the first that intitled himself Earl of Champagne William IV. of that name Earl of Toulouse and of Arles turned Monk and his Son William V. succeeded him After the death of the Count of Poitou his Son being yet but young found his Country in Combustion by the Rebellion of many of his Vassals especially Adelbert who besieged Poitiers and made divers other Enterprizes but in the end he met with that fate which attends the Factious being slain at the Siege of a small Castle Boson his Fathers Brother succeeded in his Dominions Year of our Lord 994 95. The Pope could not suffer their having Deposed the Archbishop Arnold without his Authority which the Bishops of France believed to
of Allemans or Almans because this Prince being Duke of the Almans had ever both in his Train and in all Offices more of those People then of any other Country The Italians even in those days called then Tudesâ—hi as they do still Death ravisht from the King his two ablest Councellors which were Suger Abbot of St. Denis the Fifteenth of January and Rodolph Earl of Vermandois the last Prince of the second Royal Branch of that name He having no Children and his Sister being Married to Philip Son of Thierry Earl of Flanders the King who cherished this Philip left him the possession of Vermandois the Subject of a Quarrel in the Reign following Year of our Lord 1152 Whether it were jealousie or scruple of Conscience the King eagerly pursued the Separation from his Wife and obtain'd it by Sentence of the Prelats of his Kingdom whom he had called together at Baugency Immediately proceeding with integrity he withdrew his Garrisons from Aquitain to leave her that Country in freedom and gave her liberty to go whether she pleased keeping the two little Daughters he had by her with him This Woman burning with Love and Ambition Married some Months after Henry Duke of Normandy and Presumptive King of England a Prince both young hot and Red-Haired very able to satisfie her Desires As soon as Alienor was Divorced Lewis sent to demand Constance-Elizabeth Year of our Lord 1152 Daughter of Alfonso King of Castile by Hugh Archbishop of Sens who performed the Ceremony of that Marriage at Orleans and there Crowned the new Queen the Archbishop of Reims protesting in vain that this Right belonged to him only Lewis not able to endure his Vassal should go equal with him nor Henry who had so many great Lordships suffer a Soveraign above him it was imposible they should continue good Friends This last being assigned to appear in Parliament refused to come Lewis to punish him besieged and took the City of Vernon but Henry submitting out of some apprehension he yet had of King Stephen the Lords reconciled him with Lewis who restored the place to him Year of our Lord 1152 King Stephen the Usurper of the English Crown being dead Henry gets into possession of that Kingdom according to the former agreement betwixt them It was not permitted the Kings of France says Yves de Chartres to Wed any Bastards Now there went a report that Constance was such wherefore King Lewis two years after his Marriage would satisfie himself herein and under the pretence of going on Pilgrimage to St. Jago in Galicia took her Fathers Court in his way the most magnificent Prince of those times who received and entertained him Year of our Lord 1154 most Royally at Burgos and took away that suspicion he had conceived Year of our Lord 1154 Divers do in this year 1154. reckon the Death of Roger I. King of Sicily one of the most Warlike and Potent Princes of this Age. He raised the reputation and fame of the Normans to its highest pitch in so much as after him it did ever decline He had a Son named William and a Daughter called Constance the Son Reigned but with so much Injustice Avarice and Tyranny that he deserved the surname of Wicked or Bad. He prided himself most in filling his Coffers and draining his Subjects to the very last Penny Constance being an old Maid Married the Emperor Henry VI. in the year 1186. Year of our Lord 1155 Gefroy Earl of Gien on the Loire knowing himself too weak to oppose William Earl of Nevers who made a rude War upon him allied himself with Stephen de Champagne Count of Sancerre and gave his Daughter to him and for Dowry his Earldom to the Exclusion of his Son Herve The Son thus disinherited by his Father without any fault committed implored the Kings Justice who goes in Person and besieges Gien takes it upon Composition and settles him there Year of our Lord 1159 When Henry was possess'd of England Gefroy his Brother demands Anjou Touraine and Maine according to their Fathers Will but far from giving these he takes Loudun Chinon and Mirebeau from him so that he had been left without any thing had it not been his good Fortune to be chosen by the Nantois for their Earl who having forsaken Hoel stood in need of a Prince to defend them against the Assaults of Conan Year of our Lord 1158 The Enmities between King Lewis and Henry being ready to break forth the Lords found out a way to prevent it yet a while by the Alliance of Henry's eldest Son of the same name with Margaret Daughter of Lewis by his second Wife though both of them were Children and had scarce left off their Bibs The Girl was put into the Father-in-Law's hands and Lewis promis'd to bestow in Dowre with her Gisors and other places in the Normand Vexin which in the interim were trusted to the keeping of the Grand Master of the Knights-Templars to be deliver'd up to Henry when the Marriage should be Consummate The Emperor Frederick composed the Difference between Bertold of Zeringhen and Renauld about the Earldom of Burgundy in such a manner that he dismembred or cut off from it the little Country of Nuctland which is beyond Mount-Jou and the Cities of Geneva Lausanna and Sion to give them to Bertold leaving the remainder to Renauld whose Daughter and Heiress named Beatrix he Married After which keeping open Court with great Pomp at Besancon he received Hommage of all the Lords and Prelats belonging to the Earldom of Burgundy and the Kingdom of Arles who notwithstanding regarded not his Soveraignty but only to obtain a better Title to their Usurpations Those that were common Friends to both endeavour'd to procure an Enterview between him and the King of France and agreed upon the time and place but the King stung with Jealousie at the Grandeur of that young Prince or having some suspicion he would design upon his Person would go attended with a great number Year of our Lord 1159 of Soldiers which caused Frederick to withdraw very much dissatisfied Gefroy Earl of Nantes being dead without Children Conan Earl of Renes or of Little Bretagne seized on the City of Nantes King Henry Brother of Gefroy pretending it belonged to him by Succession undertakes to recover it by force of Arms. Year of our Lord 1160 Conan being hardly press'd buys his Peace by giving him his Daughter and Heiress named Constance for his Third Son by name Gefroy the same as his Uncle deceased After the Death of Pope Adrian the greater number of the Cardinals elected the Cardinal Rowland a Siennois who was named Alexander III. But the Roman People and two Cardinals only gave their Votes for Cardinal Octavian a Roman who took the name of Victor The Right of either side was dubious for on the one hand the Decrees of some Popes had referr'd the Election to the Cardinals only and on the other the Roman
in Soveraignty His Brother the Duke of Nemours was become very absolute in that Government having begirt and over-aw'd that great City by five or six places he held about it but by the same means and by reason of certain new Imposts which he laid by Advice of a Ferrarese a Fellow of a seared Conscience he became most odious to the People In so much that the Archbishop of Lyons sent thither by the Duke of Mayenne having underhand heightned their Discontents and blown the Coals carried it on so far that the Citizens took up Arms and seized on the Person of the Duke of Nemours confining him to Pierre-Encise but he got nothing by it for they afterwards stood Neuters not submitting to any Orders but their own till their entire Reduction although for form-sake they owned him as Lieutenant to the Duke of Mayenne People of honest Principles judged Nemours worthy to be so used for his having followed the cursed Policy of Machiavel which makes Princes become Tyrants and the People Miserable but all the Heads of the League perceiving by this President what usage they were to expect from the Duke of Mayenne did now study nothing but the best methods to secure their own Places and to surprize others to make the better Accommodation with the King month November He was then gone into Normandy to receive Bose-Rose who commanded the Fort of Fescamp to his obedience While he was at Diepe the Wife of John de Montluc Balagny Governor of Cambray came to him by night to demand a prolongation of the Truce till the Agreement with her Husband should be declared He Treated upon these Conditions That he and his should have Cambray and Cambresis in full Soveraignty That the King should take him into his Protection and should allow him certain Pensions and for this Balagny should acknowledge him only by kissing his Hand The joy this brought him was soon disturbed by those bloody Reproaches the Queen of England made him for his change of Religion When from Diepe he went to Calais thinking to find some Agents from that Queen to begin a Treaty he met nothing but Letters from her full of bitterness and found she would recal her Forces out of Bretagne He had much ado to pacifie her but much more to endure the presence and over-free Discourses of the Deputies from the pretended Reformed Churches whom he had allowed to hold a General Assembly at Mantes whither he returned at his departure from Calais He looked kindly upon them received their Memorial named Commissioners to examine it and offer'd them satisfaction upon some Articles such or very near as they had already had under Henry III. But they could not be contented with so little a Reward for so great Services as they had rendred him they demanded much more so that not to exasperate them by an absolute denial Year of our Lord 1593 he only dismiss'd them and permitted them to hold Provincial Assemblies and afterwards to Convocate a National Synod and Politick Assembly month December His Conversion undermined the League to the very Foundation It was now look'd upon if we may so express it only as a Castle in the Air supported but by one single Stone viz. the Popes denial to give him Absolution In effect his Holiness would not suffer the Duke of Nevers to enter into Rome which was in November month November December and January but in Quality of a Prince of Italy not of Ambassador and upon condition he should remain there but two days that he should receive no Visits nor make any to the Cardinals This Prince however contrived it so that the Term was prolonged and he had Audience twice of the Pope the first time in December the other in January but brought thence no satisfaction for the King though as to his own Person they gave him as much and more then he desired The Duke of Mayenne failed not to talk high upon this refusal of his Holiness However this was not a reason strong enough to with-hold such as were already inclining towards the King and falling off from the League Lewis de L'Hospital Vitry was discontented for that the said Duke detained four and twenty thousand Crowns due upon Musters to his Company of Gentsdarmes This Man was the first who return'd to his obedience as he had been the first that left the King after the death of Henry III. When he forsook that Party formerly he was Governor of Dourlens which place he left to them and made a shew as if he would have done the like by Meaux now to the League telling the Inhabitants whom he expressly called together that he freely left them to their own liberty only his Advice was they should follow his Example This said he went forth with his Troop of Horse but had so well disposed of Affairs before-hand that they deputed some to him the same day to desire he would come back put on their White Scarfs and turned away Five hundred Men much amazed whom the Duke of Mayenne had sent thither Vitry had Twenty thousand Crowns Reward of the King the Office of Bayliff and Governor of the City with the Reversion of both for his Son and the Bourgeois the confirmation of their Priviledges and an exemption from Tailles for nine years All other Governors bargain'd for more or less according to the importance of their Places or the quality of their Persons Most of the Cities got likewise several Advantages accordingly as those that directed them were Politick or Affectionate Year of our Lord 1593 but every one almost would have it inserted in their Treaties That there should be month December no Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion allowed within such a certain distance of their Territories Year of our Lord 1594 The design was laid and a great Party made to receive the King into Paris and to this purpose he came to St. Denis The Duke of Mayenne having got some hint of month January it took the Government from the Count de Belin and gave it to Brissac whom he believed the most faithful of all his Partisans The Parliament finding by this their Measures broken and apprehending the Duke would make the Spaniards Masters of the City spake warmly to him that they might keep Belin the Duke urged some Reasons to the contrary but those satisfied not and they continued their Assemblies The business grew hot to such a degree that the Duke made his Soldiers and Friends take up Arms whence would have followed most grievous Slaughter in the Streets and perhaps the utter loss of Paris to the King had not the wisest of that great Body temporised and persuaded the rest to give way yet for a while The Third day of the Month of January hapned the Reduction of the City of Aix The Duke of Mayenne did not think there had been any place more assured to his Party then this same because the Count de Carces had Married a Daughter of his Wives