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
way of appealing to the Councils and notwithstanding goes on and reduces Sussex and all the Southern parts excepting Windsor and Dover The Ambassadors pleaded his Cause earnestly at Rome they shewed that John was justly degraded for his Tyrannies and because he had been condemned to death for the Murther of his Nephew Arthur by the Pairs of France and made it out that the Kingdom since he was Excluded belonged to his Neece the Wife of Prince Lewis Whilst they disputed their Masters Rights he successfully employs his Sword in Conquering Essex Suffolk and Norfolk Having reduc'd them he returns to besiege Dover his Father reproaching him for having imprudently left that place behind him The Pope offended at his Progress confirmed the Sentence of Excommunication against him and although Philip protested he gave him neither Assistance nor Advice prosering even if the Church did so ordain to Confiscate his Lands nevertheless he commanded the Bishop of Sens to denounce him Excommunicate likewise and to put France under an Interdiction but the Prelats assembled at Melun declared they would not submit to that Sentence till they were more fully informed of the Popes Intentions Mean while King John who wandred about the Country hating all his Subjects hapned to dye by Poyson which as it was believ'd a Monk had given him He left three Sons very young Henry Richard and Edmond The hatred of the Englishmen towards him expired with his Life and their Affection for his Son Henry revived being their Natural Lord and one whose Innocence and Tender Age called for their Compassion so that the young Kings Affairs began to prosper and Lewis's to decline He perceiving the English forsook him one after another and his own People afrighted with the thundring Excommunications from Rome inclined to make a Truce with Henry for some Months Year of our Lord 1216 During this Suspension he returns into France to Consult with the King his Father but he fearing to exasperate the Pope refuses to see his Son and would not Confer with him but by the interposition of others Lewis upon his return into England found his Enemies Party were the stronger his Army was afterwards defeated near Lincoln and he besieged in London after that rout Wherefore to free himself from farther danger and retire with Bag and Baggage he was forc'd to Treat with Henry promising amongst other Conditions to surrender all the places he held in England to submit his Pretensions to the Judgment of the Church to use his utmost endeavour to oblige his Father to restore all what he had taken from King John in France and if he could not prevail to do it then himself when he came to the Crown Which was to promise more then he would or could perform Year of our Lord 1216 Henry Emperor of Constantinople and Brother to Baldwin who had been so likewise died Anno 1216. having Reigned Eleven years Peter de Courtenay Earl of Auxerre who Married his Sister Yolant went this year from France to take that Crown Passing thorough Italy he was Crowned at Rome with his Wife took Shipping eight days after and arriv'd in Greece but as he was crossing Thessalie having Pass-ports from Theodorus Comnenus he was made Prisoner by that perfidious Man who slew most part of those Lords that went with them and having detained him three or four years caused him cruelly to be Murthered Yolant a Heroick Woman govern'd the Empire two years after his death in which time the Lords sent to profer the Empire to Philip Earl of Nevers his eldest Son but he refused to accept it and yielded up willingly that perilous Honour to Robert his younger Brother Year of our Lord 1217 When young King Henry was fully setled in his Throne his Council sent Ambassadors into France to challenge Lewis of his Promise and re-demand the Dutchy of Normandy and other Countries taken from his Father They were answer'd with the Confiscation that had been ordered by the Judgment of his Pairs Year of our Lord 1217 18. Whilst the Eari of Montfort in vain besieged the City of Beaucaire Count Raimond brought some Forces from Arragon whither he was retir'd with which he regained several of his places and especially Toulouze which he presently fortifi'd with Intrenchments and Pallisado's Montfort went and laid Siege to it but after he had held it besieged seven whole Months he was slain in a Sally He had three Sons Year of our Lord 1218 Amaulry who succeeded him in the Rights of his Conquests Guy who was Married to Petronella Heiress to the Count of Bigorre as being Daughter of Estiennete the Daughter and Heiress of Count Centulle and Simon Earl of Leicester in England by the Grandmother Year of our Lord 1219 Amaulry was not strong enough to maintain his Conquests the King assisted him first with Six hundred Men then with Ten thousand Foot who not being yet enough to compass that business Prince Lewis upon the Popes earnest Request undertakes that Expedition the second time He happily succeeded in the taking of Marmanda on the Garonne and some other places in Angenois but not in the Siege of Toulouze because his Father recalled him fearing the Troubles that were begun in Bretagne might be created by the English on purpose to set France in a greater flame Year of our Lord 1218 19 and 20. The business was that the Earls Salomon and Conan whom Duke Peter had unjustly thrown out of their Estates being retir'd into the Forests ravaged and wasted his Country with some Bandits they had got together and at the same time the Barons revolted against him because he would arrogate to himself the Guardianship or Wardnoble of Gentlemens Orphan-Sons till they had attained to Twenty years of Age. They had Combined in a League and with Amaulry Lord de Craon very potent in Friends and Alliance who had declared War against him about a certain Castle that Duke had usurped from him This Quarrel complicated with several Interests lasted above two years and ended not but by a great Battle fought near Chastean-briand where the Duke much the weaker in numbers of Men gained the Year of our Lord 1220 Victory and made Amaulry Prisoner The Barons were not brought so low by this bloody loss but they continued the War for some Months but that was only to obtain the better Conditions Year of our Lord 1220 21 and 22. The Truce with the English being prolong'd France enjoy'd a Calm for three or four years during which Philip employ'd himself about the Walling Enlarging Fortifying building Bridges making Causeys and the like conveniencies in all the Cities that were of his Demeasns or belonging to the Crown which Expences though for the publick good was out of his own proper Fund not raised or exacted upon his Subjects but paying very justly for all those Grounds and Houses belonging to private Persons which were necessary for him to have towards carrying on these Publick Works Year of our Lord 1222
three Counties and in the mean time the King declared all the Vassals in those Countries acquit and discharged from their Oathes to him from all Faith and Homage and enjoyned them to serve the King upon the Penalty of Forfeiture of their Fiefs and to be Proclaimed Rebels whereof publication to be made upon the Frontiers The Heraulds went therefore to Summon Charles by posting up Papers and making Proclamation He replied fuming with rage that since they recalled him into France he would return thither with such powerful Justifications as would Year of our Lord 1537 make the Treaties to be duely observed and in the mean while for Comparition Adrian de Crouy Count de Roeux having drawn together the Commons of the Low-Countries came and ransacked the Frontiers of Picardy This proceeding of the Kings was variously spoken of but none could approve of the Alliance he made with Solyman the Enemy of Christendom as well to defend himself against the Emperor as in hatred to the Venetians with whom he was extreamly offended for having despised his Amity and the offer he made to share Milanois with them One might nevertheless in some Measure excuse this League of a Christian King with an Infidel not only by the example of the Kings of Spain Grand-Fathers of this Emperor who had contracted the like with Mahometan Kings but even by that of the Emperor himself who had endeavour'd earnestly to do the same with Solyman so that he was no less guilty in that particular but less prevalent or skilful or less fortunate then Francis The Kings attempts did not answer this grand Arrest or Decree of his Parliament He took only Hesdin and Saint Paul and having spent his first Fire returned in the beginning of May to Paris leaving his Army with the Count de Saint Paul and order to Fortifie the City of the same name where they put three Thousand Men in Garrison So soon as he was retired the Enemies being Assembled forced that City and received that of Monstreuil upon Composition but they could gain nothing at Terouenne the Dauphin and Montmorency having got their Troops together timely enough to Relieve it as they did During this Siege a Conference was held at the Village of Bommy at the solicitation of the two Queens Eleonora of France and Mary of Hungary where the Deputies agreed upon a Cessation of all hostilities for three Months in the Low-Countries that they might endeavour to bring about a Peace Some believed the King accepted of it to Transport all his Forces into Italy pursuant to the Treaty made with the Turks who at the same time were to fall upon the Kingdom of Naples In effect the Emperor Solyman did himself lead an Army of One Hundred Thousand Men into Albania from whence he sent Lusti-Bacha and Barbarossa to Cruise upon those Coasts and discover the Country resolved to follow them as soon as they had gained any Port but when he found that the King was making War in Flanders he returned with great Indignation that he should break his word with him As for Barbarossa having no certain News of the King he was fallen upon the Island of Corfu belonging to the Venetians where finding the Places too well provided he ruined the open Country and carried Sixteen Thousand Souls into Captivity The same Summer King Ferdinand received two great Foiles by the Turks the one at Belgrade in Hungary the other before a City in Dalmatia where his two Armies besieging those two places were shamefully defeated In the Interim it hapned in Piedmont as well by the little esteem the Soldiers had of Humieres as the particular quarrels amongst the other Officers and the Mutinies of the Lansquenets the French Forces were dissipated Humieres was retired into Pignerol to wait for Supplies from France and had quitted the Field to Du Guast who had retaken several Towns and almost the whole Country of Salusses The Marquess whom we told you had so unworthily forsaken the French Party was kill'd with a Cannon Bullet at the Siege of Carmagnoles His death so enflamed the fury of the Soldiers that they forced the Place and Du Guast to revenge his death hanged the Captain The Love of Liberty could not be so soon effaced out of the hearts of the Florentines One that was of Kin to the new Duke Alexander named Laurence de Medicis slew him in his own Chamber whither he had allured him with the hopes of meeting a certain Lady for whom he had a great passion but flying as soon as the blow was given the Cardinal Innocent Cibo Son of a Sister to Leo X. who was then at Florence and Alexander Vitelli Captain of the City Guards set up a young man of the House of the Medicis in the place of Alexander where he maintain'd himself in spite of Strossy and other Zealots for their Liberties His name was Cosmo and descended of one Laurent Brother of the Grand Cosmo To gain the People he promised them at first that he would have from the City but Twelve Thousand Crowns for his Maintenance but when he was well establisht he raised it to Twelve Hundred Thousand As for Laurence de Medicis after he had wandred in divers places because Cosmo had Year of our Lord 1537 set a price upon his head he was at last stabbed at Venice by two Assasins Christierne III. King of Denmark introduced Lutheranisme into his Kingdom and turned out the Bishops but kept the Canons that he might have the bestowing of Prebends He did the same in Norway which he had Conquer'd Some years before King Gustavus Erecson had made a like change in Sweden The King being informed that his Affairs went on very ill in those Countries that du Guast besieged Humieres in Pignerol and that before the years end he would drive the French quite out of Piedmont resolved to prevent it and in some measure satisfie Solyman to go thither in Person At Lyons being fallen sick of a slight Feaver he gave order to the Daufin and to the Mareschal de Montmorency to march before-hand with the Army At first coming they forced the Pass of Sufa guarded by ten thousand men a famous exploit in War drove Du Guast to Quiers and got several advantages which drew the King himself thither with great hopes of recovering Milanois His Army was found to be above Forty Thousand Men the French were in good Heart the Enemy affrighted and their Places ill provided but it was the end of October he apprehended the inconveniences of the Season the length of some Siege the Irruption of the Flemmings and the uncertainty of accidents so fatally experimented before Pavia So that making a specious pretence of the having given his word to the Queen of Hungary that he would not do any thing that should obstruct the Peace he upon the mediation of the Pope and the Venetians granted a Truce of three Months for those Countries beyond the Mountains and prolonged that with the Low-Countries
of Marrying him endeavour'd likewise to inspire him with love but entertain'd in her own Breast so great a passion for him as made her purchase her own satisfaction at the Price of her Lands at Valery which she bestowed upon him The Admiral observing that these Debaucheries in the head of the Party decryed even all the Party it self and fearing withal left there should some new beauty appear whose perswasive Eloquence might prove more powerful then his Preaching Ministers made him such earnest Remonstrances that he obliged him to break all those Bonds and Fetters of idle and pernicious wandring loves by tying a second time the sacred conjugal Knot taking to his lawful Bed Frances Sister of Leonor Duke of Longueville Every thing was in a readiness for the recovering of Havre by force for it was a plain case that Queen Elizabeth intended to keep it as a recompence for the loss of Calais After she had therefore refused to surrender it a War was declared against her by a Herauld and the King being at Gaillion Brisac began the Siege the Constable and his Son the Mareschal came thither fifteen days after The French went about it with much resolution the Huguenots with more forwardness yet then the Catholicks to take away that reproach laid at their doors of having introduced those Forraigners into the Kingdom Ambrose Earl of Warwick was Governor there with a Garrison of Four Thousand Men. The assailants press'd hard upon them from without and the Plague made so rude a War and such havock amongst them within as kill'd forty or fifty of them every day and had cast down above two thousand on the Bed of Sickness and of sorrow for being now useless but that which amazed Year of our Lord 1563. in July them more then all this was to find that even the Huguenots whom their Queen had so much assisted were become their roughest Enemies These considerations forced them to surrender the place the twenty seventh of July with all the Artillery and Ammunitions belonging to the King and all the Ships and Goods belonging to the French The next day there appeared a Supply of Eighteen Hundred Men within sight of the Port which in few days had been seconded with a Navy of Threescore great Ships Commanded by Admiral Clinton but finding the Capitulation concluded he returned again ☞ The English revenged themselves for this loss upon the Merchants Ships That was all they could do as being unable to commit further mischief upon France after the loss of Calais but only to turn Pirates They continued this War at Sea for some Months after which they consented to a Truce which was converted into a Treaty of Peace the ninth of April in the year 1564. wherein it was said that either of them should preserve their rights and pretensions This was to be understood with respect to the English as to the City of Calais which King Henry II. by a Treaty made in Anno 1559. was obliged to restore within eight years during which time nothing was to be attempted on either part Now the French pretended the English had violated this condition and had therefore forfeited their right as to the recovery of Calais During this Siege King Charles entred upon his fourteenth year The Declaration of King Charles the wise which perhaps was never well understood will that the King be declared in Majority at fourteen years and it was the Queens intent to do it at the soonest thereby to arrogate to her self the whole authority under the name of the King and exclude the Prince and the Constable Now by common right the age of majorities ought to be full and compleat The Chancellor de l'Hospital the Queens only Council in these matters perswaded her there was no necessity to wait the plenitude of fourteen years and said that in a favourable account the year commenced was reck'ned compleat but whether he suspected the Parliament of Paris would not be of that sentiment because they might justly doubt whether it would be favourable or prejudicial to Year of our Lord 1563 the Kingdom or apprehended that Senate would set up a Council for this King as they had done for Charles VI. he was of opinion they should carry him to the Parliament of Rouen to pass this Act. month September The King sitting therefore in his Seat of Justice was there declared Major the Fourteenth of the Month of August and at the same time he caused them to pass an Edict which was after verified in all the other Parliaments ordaining that the Edict he had made for Liberty of Conscience should be observed till such time as the Questions should be decided by a Council or else by him should otherwise be ordained That whosoever should violate the same should be Treated as a Rebel That all Persons should lay down their Arms and renounce all Leagues and Communication with Strangers The Edict of the Kings Majority was not Registred in the Parliament of Paris but with great difficulty They sent to make great Remonstrances to the King by their First President accompanied by two more of their Members He represented it was contrary to the Custome of the Kingdom to carry any Edict to another Parliament before it was passed in that of Paris which represented the Estates General which is the Court of Paris the most August Throne of their Kings the true Parliament of the Kingdom whereof the rest are all but little Sprouts The King whose countenance and voice they had composed to a studied Severity answer'd them that they were to obey that they should meddle no more with publick Affairs and that they should lay aside that old and vulgar Error That they were the Tutors or Guardians of their Kings defenders of the Kingdome and keepers of the City of Paris The Deputies having made their Report to the Court they were equally divided Peter Signier President in the Grand Chambre and Dormy President aux Enquestes carried their Division to the King who ordered that the Edict should be Published and Registred without delay and that all the Presidents and Councellours should be present upon pain of Interdiction The King would not return to Paris till the Parliament had obey'd The Mother the Widdow and the Children of the Duke of Guise with a great train of Mourners came to him at the same time to demand Justice upon the Authors of the cruel Murther of that Prince It was well enough known they pointed at the Admiral Some time before the Prince of Condé and the Mareschal de Montmorency had declared they would maintain his Innocency with and against all and because he had some suspition of the Parliament of Paris the King had taken the business upon himself and then referr'd it to the Grand Council whence he had withdrawn it again to bring it before the Parliament It was not possible to go thorough with it without raising a Civil War again and therefore they found it expedient to suspend the
them with his Alliance by Marrying them to his Wives two Sisters promising to each four hundred thousand Crowns in Dowry In effect Joyâ—use did Marry one and his Wedding was kept with such profusion that it cost the King near four Millions To repair these idle Expences they were forced to have recourse to new Edicts He made no fewer then nine or ten all at once there were even two and twenty in less then two Months time themselves finding the reasons for the same and confidently assigning their Merchants and their Tailors upon thosâ— Funds Wherefore the Parliament thinking it behooved them to prevent the throwing thus away the poor Subjects Money strenuously opposed the Verification of them and Christopher de Thou first President had once the courage to answer them That by the Laws of the Land which is the publick safety such things could not nor ought not to be done The States of the Vnited Provinces found themselves in great perplexities their chief Cities were all in combustion through the diversity of Religion their Armies without Commanders and their Soldiers without pay During this confusion the Year of our Lord 1581 Duke of Parma took the City of Breda which belonged to the Prince of Orange after month July and August which he promised himself to be able to block all the Avenues up against the French Which was â—easible enough for having Artois Hainault and the City of Dunkirk there was nothing left to do it but the gaining of Cambray and to that end he had besieged it The first exploit of the Duke of Anjou was therefore to endeavour the delivery of that place Upon the rumour of this Enterprize which his friends had spread abroad for his advantage great numbers of Volunteers fifteen or twenty Lords of note divers Captains with their Adventurers nay even established compleat Companies came to him he had four thousand French Horse and ten thousand Foot The Duke of Parma drew all his Forces together and stood six hours in Batalia to make him believe he was resolved to keep his ground yet when he perceived month August they marched directly to him he retired to Vatâ—nciennes Thus the Town was freed the Duke received in Cambray as chief Soveraign of the Castle and Protector of the Liberties of the Country giving his Oath to them upon the Altar of Noâ—tre-Dame and afterwards in the Town-Hall He then drove the Enemies out of Slâ—ce and Arleux and batter'd the Walls of Cateaâ—-Cambresis with so much fury that he forced it to surrender at discretion And this was all the effect of that blustering Expedition after these Exploits the heat of his Volunteers began to cool and his Army consisting of independent Parcels there soon grew as many quarrels as there were several Captains So that finding it too perilous to engage himself further or joyn with the States Army who month September were on their way to meet him and too dishonourable to return again so soon he was advised to make a second step into England to wait upon the Queen his Mistress between whom the Articles of Marriage were almost agreed upon The Courtship went so far that the Queen bestowed a Ring upon him as a pledge of her faith but the Caballers against this Alliance and her Women who knew the month October and November danger she must fall into if ever she had a Child made so much noise and fill'd her Ears with so great clamour that she demanded it of him again It hapned at the same time that some English Priests and Religious People bred in the Seminaries of Doâ—ay and Reims founded the one by the King of Spain and the other by the Guises contrived divers Conspiracies against that Queen in execution of the Popes Bull who Anno 1570. had Excommunicated and deprived her of her Year of our Lord 1581 Crown for which reason she was constrained by the out-cries of her Ministers to put some of them to death amongst others Father Edmond Campian a Jesuit The Duke of Anjou express'd a great deal of discontent that before his Eyes they should draw those Catholick Priests to Execution and the Queen her self was in great pain and trouble so that amidst all this hurry no mention was made of the Marriage and yet either of them being willing it might be believed abroad in the World spent almost two Months in Mirth and noble Entertainments which at a distance was guesâ—ed to be their Wedding Festivals When he left the Low Countries above the one half of his Army being dispersed the remainder marched into the County of Flanders by way of Calais and joyned with that of the States The Duke of Parma not being able to hinder this conjunction besieged Tournay The Princess of Espinoy in the absence of her Husband giving out Orders Captain like and fighting like a brave Soldier defended it for two Months space and had perhaps saved the place if the Citizens enchanted with the Spanish Catholicon had not obliged her to capitulate The Prince of Orange and the States pressing the Duke by several Messages to return he took leave of Queen Elizabeth who conducted him as far as Canterbury and would have the Earl oâ— Leicester and her Admiral Howard and an hundred Gentlemen accompany him to Flanders He took Shipping at Dover the Tenth of February and in two days he arrived at Flessingâ—e where the Prince of Orange and d'Espinoy waited for him the next day he went to Middelburgh and was transported by Boats to Antwerp on the River Scheld The States who were there assembled made him a most stately Entrance and first inaugurated him Duke of Brabant the Prince of Orange putting on the Ducal Hat and Mantle which was of Crimson Velvet lined with Ermins then declared him Marquiss of the holy Empire the Consul of Antwerp putting a Gold Key into hâ—s Hand which he immediately returned From that time he began to Govern but with little satisfaction as having heard amongst the Articles of his joyful entrance which were read to him at his Coronation That he was to Rule them not according to Year of our Lord 1582 his own will and pleasure but according to Justice and their Priviledges ☜ In the mean while having also to do with Enemies who thought all ways they could put in practise lawful he ran two great hazards The Eighteenth of March month March the Prince of Orange was wounded with a Pistol Shot in his own House as he rose from Table by Jaregâ—y a Servant belonging to a broken Banker who was said to Year of our Lord 1582 have poysoned Don Juan of Austria He recover'd of his Wounds but the revenge was like to have fallen upon the Duke of Anjou The Flemmings fancied he had a design of establishing his new Dominion by a general Massacre and grounded their suspicion upon this that those Frenchmen who Dined that day with the Prince of Orange presently kill'd the Assassine as if by taking away his life they would prevent
Circumvalation which retarded the Siege near three weeks The Mareschal de Biron was slain in the approaches by a Cannon Shot which took off his Head He had been Chief Commander in seven Battles or great Combats in each of which he had received some Wound A Man very considerable in the Cabinet Council as well as the Campagne who would be ignorant of nothing had a hand in every thing and fenced with the Quil as dexterously as with the Sword As soon as the Battery had made a breach the Besieged Capitulated Provins Year of our Lord 1592 did the same upon the third day Meaux being much stronger the King did not month May. attaque it but to cut off those Provisions the Parisians drew from thence by the Marne he built a Fort in the Island of Gournay which lies upon that River within four Leagues of Paris and gave the Government thereof to Odet de la Noue whose incorruptible fidelity answer'd his favour with most exactly guarding the said Passage Upon the Frontiers of Bretagne the Princes of Conty and of Dombes being joyned received a very Signal loss they had besieged the City of Craon situate upon the River of Oudon the Duke of Mercoeur came to its relief assisted by Bois-Dausin month May. who brought the Nobility of Mayne and by the Marquiss de Belle-Isle Son of the Mareschal de Rais. Now the Princes for want of good Intelligence had let the Duke pass the River and get into a very advantageous place for Battle whilst they chose a very bad one for themselves then not able to resolve to fight they made their retreat in the open day and committed many other oversights which occasioned their defeat This hapned the Five and twentieth of May. They lost twelve hundred Men all their Cannon which was left by the way for want of Harness and afterwards the Cities of Chasteau-Gontier Mayenne and Laval The Mareschal de Rais after the death of Henry III. not seeing clearly into the depth of Affairs nor knowing which Party to side with was retired to Florence and had advised his Son to joyn with the strongest which made him take part with the Duke of Mercoeur to secure the great Estate he had in Bretagne though others imagined it was a fancy he had for the Dutchess that engaged him to it month June The Fourth of June Henry Prince of Dombes lost his Father Francis Duke of Montpensier Aged Fifty years he inherited his Name his vast Estate and the Government of Normandy which the King bestow'd on him as he did that of Bretagne on the Mareschal d'Aumont This last regained the City of Mayenne after a fifteen days Siege but lay two Months before Rechefort with the loss of a great many Men and not able to take it the inconveniencies of the Winter and the Duke of Mercoeur coming to the relief of the place Rochefort was a Castle upon a Rock of Slat on the bank of the River Loire five Leagues beneath Anger 's right against the Rock de Gausie a place remarkable in former days and ruined during the War with the English Two Brothers Surnamed de Hurtaud who held it for the King put it and themselves into the Party for the League that they might be justified for making Sardiny a rich Partisan their Prisoner and screwing a Ransom of Ten thousand Crowns from him though he were a Royâ—â—â—st It was about the same time that Rene de Rieux Sourdeac being invested in Brest by the Nobility and Commonalty of the Country after a four or five Months blocade beat them so in several Sallies partly by stratagems partly by courage as forced them to dislodge and even to buy a Truce which he sold them at the rate of Eight Year of our Lord 1592 thousand Crowns per Annum Within a Month after he gained a Victory at Sea month June over seven Ships of Normandy which were come from Fescamp to seize upon the Harbour of Cameret from whence they would have annoyed that of Brest These advantages did hugely contribute to the keeping that Country under obedience of the King All Guyenne was so excepting that Emanuel Desprez Marquiss of Villars Son of the Duke of Mayenne's Wife and Henry Lord of Montpâ—sat Brother of Emanuel held some small places in Perigord in Limosin and in Agenois Agen Villeneuve and Marmande These Brothers the foregoing year had been beaten near the Abby de Roquemadour in Quercy by Anne de Levis Ventadour and Ponts de Losieres Temines this Governor of Quercy the other of Limosin who slew them seven hundred of the four and twenty hundred they had got together and took their Cannon and month June July c. Bagage The Mareschal de Matignon commanded in this Province when there hapned a dangerous division by means of Paul d'Esparbez Lussan This Gentleman had purchased Blaye of Guy de Sainct Gelais Lansac a great Waster of his Estate The Mareschal said it was with his Money and that Lussan was but his Agent therein but when he would have come in Lussan flatly denied him entrance and offer'd to repay him his Money The Mareschal not able to bring him to Reason renders him suspected of holding Correspondence with the League and retrenched his pay Lussan did not much value that but begins to raise Contribution upon the River with four great Vessels which he made Men of War Whereupon the Mareschal having excited the Complaints of the whole Province against him obtained an Order from the King to drive him thence by force and laid Siege to Blaye Lussan withstood it three Months after which finding himself hard beset he calls in the Spaniards to his aid and with their help defended himself so well that he kept possession of the place They missed but little of getting some footing in the Province by Bayon upon an Enterprize they had contrived against that City by means of a Merchant of the Franche-Compte named Chastean-Martin who inhabited there and a Physician named Rossius It was very near succeeding when la Hilliere who was Governor of the place discover'd it luckily surprizing an ill instructed Footman who brought Letters from Fontarabia The Merchant and the Doctor were Hanged Amidst the confusion of three or four Parties in Provence that for the King began to be predominant especially when the Duke of Savoy was defeated at Vinon After that la Valete pursued him roundly to the very Gates of Aix and destroy'd all the Farms round about it Then to draw him out into the Field he laid Siege to Roquebrune month February a filthy place and no way considerable unless for streightning the City of Frejus which lies within a League Now as he was ordering the repair of some Year of our Lord 1592 Buttress of a Battery he was kill'd by a random Shot in his Forehead the Eleventh day of February a great loss both for his singular Virtues and the Affairs of the King That part of the Parliament who were retired to