that of Gontran and Childebert Wiser in so doing than those of Limousin who having opposed a Referendaire or Lord Chancellor so named in those times who was going to settle the Taxes or Duties in that Country and Year of our Lord 579 having burnt his Registers left themselves exposed to the Sanguinary Avarice of an Intendant or Judge whom Chilperic sent thither to chastise their Sedition Year of our Lord 597 This year Sampson eldest Son of Fredegonda died the following year Chilperic was tormented with a long and continual Fever as he was upon Recovery two Year of our Lord 580 other Sons whom he had by that Woman were afflicted with a Dissentery which was rife all over France and affected Children most generally Fredegonda believed this Sickness of her Children was inflicted by Heaven who thus avenged the Sufferings of the oppressed People she was stricken to the heart and wrought so far upon her Husband by her arguments and intreaties that he threw the Lists of all the Tax-gatherers into the Fire and recalled those that were sent abroad to collect them Year of our Lord 580 But this forced Repentance did not save the life of her two Sons as on the other hand these Afflictions laid upon her only made her the more wicked she was pierced with sorrow for the loss of all her Children and with jealousie that there was one of her Husbands yet alive begotten on Queen Audovere his name was Clavis This Prince seeing himself necessarily the Successor let fall some words of Resentment and Threatning imprudently By this she well foresaw what must become of her if he Reigned and resolved to prevent it she therefore accuses him to his Father for having poysoned her two Sons and pre-possessed him so far with this Calumny that he gave up his only Son to her Vengeance The wicked Woman causes his Throat to be cut and the Body to be cast into the River and afterwards the unfortunate Audovere to be Strangled though she wore the Sacred Vail and her Daughter Basina to be locked up in the Monastery of Poitiers after her Sattelites had deflowred her A Fisherman having found the Body of the young Prince and knowing it to be his by the long Hair buried it under a Monument of Turf from whence King Gontran afterwards transferr'd it to St. Vincents Church in Paris Two years before Chilperic had sent Ambassadors to the Emperor Tiberius to congratulate him as I believe upon his promotion to the Empire and make up some kind of League with him against the Lombards This year they brought him back all imaginable satisfaction and very rich Presents amongst others were Medals of Gold a pound in weight Year of our Lord 581 The Kingdom of Austrasia and Childebert's Person being under the Government of Queen Brunehaud the Lords of the Country despised the Commands of a Woman and lived in excessive Licentiousness Those that gave her the most trouble were Ranchin and Gontran-Boson Vrsion Bertefrey and Giles Bishop of Rheims who associated together and oppressed whom they pleased Loup Duke of Champagne a faithful Servant to his Prince and Master as Wise as Just was insufferable to them because of his good qualities they took up Arms to destroy him and he got his Friends together to defend himself The Queen had all the trouble imaginable to prevent their coming to blows even to the enduring outrageous words from Vrsion but after all she could not so well secure the Duke from their fury but he was forced to quit the Kingdom and take refuge with Gontran Year of our Lord 581 The most dangerous of these Factious Spirits was the Bishop of Rheims as he was secretly engaged and wedded to Chilperic of which he had given testimonies having formerly treacherously delivered up the City of Rheims and drawn Meroveus into the fatal snare he caused his Faction to act so powerfully that the Austrasian Lords to the prejudice of the Alliance their King had made with his Uncle Gontran obliged him to make a League with Chilperic against him The Lure was That Chilperic having at that time no Son promised the Succession to him This League being made Childebert sent to demand the half of Marseilles of his Uncle who very far from restoring it made himself Master of the other by the treachery of Dynamius Governor of Provence for Childebert After this feat Dynamius goes over to Gontran as in revenge the Patrician Mummole pushed at by some intrigues of Court ever satal to great Commanders forsakes Gontran to be of Childebert's side and sortifies himself in the City of Avignon which that King without doubt had put into his hands for his security and that from thence he might make incursions in the Enemies Country The business of Marseilles caused an absolute Rupture betwixt the two Kings Chilperic who desired this presently falls upon Gontran's Countries and the Duke Didier by his order invades Perigord and Agenois without much opposition Another of his Dukes by name Bladastes was not so fortunate against the Gascons Year of our Lord 581 or 82. For having undertaken to seek them out in their own Country to chastise them for the frequent Irruptions they made into the third Acquitaine he was hemm'd in and his Forces cut in pieces The Gascons then inhabited upon the Confines of Cantabria between the Countries of the Visigoths and the French and by their Excursions made themselves formidable both to the one and the other carrying away whatever they could meet withall and afterwards sheltring themselves again on their Mountains There was only Chilperic that made open War upon Gontran but the Patrician Mummole with the secret support of the Lords of Austrasia was contriving a dangerous Design against him There was a certain Person named Gondebaud who pretended to be the Son of King Clotaire and he might well be so considering the multitude of Wives that King had This Gondebaud not having been able to get Year of our Lord 583 his pretended Brothers the Kings to acknowledge him had retired himself to Constantinople Tiberius the Emperor then living It happened that Gontran-Boson made a Voyage into those parts it is not mentioned upon what account and he persuades this Man so much that the French wished for him and that Gontran and Chilperic having no Children he might safely come to the Succession that he resolved to return into France Tiberius having a prospect of what he might possibly attain to one day assisted him with great Sums of Money he comes ashore at Marseilles was received by the Bishop and afterwards Entertained at Avignon Year of our Lord 583 by Mummole But the same Gontran-Boson who had persuaded him to return having set himself now to persecute the Bishop and such as favoured him he wisely withdrew himself into an Island at the mouth of the Rhosne and then the Traitor seized on all his Moneys and took a Commission from King Gontran to besiege Mummole in Avignon Childebert being
the one lay the Body of a Man and in the other a Womans with a little Child The Inscription bearing the Name of Childeric and some Regal Ornaments which were therein discovered that they were the Tombs of this King and his Queen An Inter-regnum of some Months THis Tragical Death was followed with an Inter-regnum and universal Confusion Year of our Lord 673 and 74. in all three Kingdoms The Dukes that had haled St. Leger out oâ— Luxeu asked him pardon and conducted him to his City of Autun where the Burghers and the Lords of Burgundy made a League to defend him in case they should attempt upon his Life during this Inter-regnum It is credible that amidst these Divisions all the Austrasians or at least part of them by the perswasion of Queen Imnichilda Widow of King Sigebert II. and who had had credit in the Court of King Childeric desiring to have a King that they might not fall under the power of the Neustrians recalled her Son Dagobert whom Grimoald had shaven and banished into Ireland and acknowledged him for King of Austrasia where he Reigned many years Year of our Lord 674 The Lords of Neustria and Burgundy that they might not fall into an Anarchy went and drew forth Thierry from the Monastery of St. Denis where he had time to let his Royal Locks grow again and set him on the Throne giving him for Mayre of the Palace Leudesia or Liuteria the Son of that Erchinoald who had that Office under Clovis II. Thierry I. King XV. POPES ADEODAT S. three years and an half in this Reign DONUS Elected in No. 676. S. one year three months AGATHON Elected in 678. S. three years eight months and half LEO II. Elected in August 683. S. eleven months BENEDICTUS II. Elected in 684. S. eighteen months and half JOHN V. Elected in 685. S. one year CONON Elected in 685. S. one year SERGIUS Elected in Decemb. 687. S. thirteen years eight months and half whereof three years and an half under this Reign LEUDESIA then Ebroin Mayres THIERRY in Neustria and Burgundy Aged 22 or 23 years and DAGOBERT in Austrasia Aged about 15 years EBroin having quitted the Monastery of Luxeu after he had wandred a while with a small Band of Men grew so Confident as to throw off his Clerical Habit which was in those times esteemed a most horrid thing though a Man had even been compelled to put it on His design was to seize upon the Government again to this end he got together all such as were banished and such as were Enemies to Leger whose opposition he most feared and made a League with Wlfoad Mayer of Austrasia who mortally hated the Holy Bishop With this Crew of Rascally Villains and Austrasians he takes the Field and in Year of our Lord 674 an instant falls into Neustria to surprize Thierry and Leudesia his Mayre The first was passing his time at Nogent in the Country of Laonnois and the other was in a Palace on this side the Oise His Enterprize having failed him because they got away with all speed he applies himself to fraud and having under colour of an Accommodation engaged Leudesia to come to a Conference he laid an Ambuscade for him by the way where he was Assassinated All this notwithstanding did not restore him to the Office of Mayre King Thierry Year of our Lord 675 and 76. hating him the more it was not likely he would admit him He bethinks himself therefore when he was returned to Austrasia as he was advised by two evil Bishops who had been Deposed Didon-Desiree of Chaalons and Robon of Valence to spread the Report abroad that Thierry was dead and to impose a false or pretended Clovis whom he said was Son to Clotaire III. This Statue being set up he forces the People to take an Oath of Fidelity to him and ruines all those Countries that refused so to do But principally he Assaults Leger in Autun by Vaimer Duke of Champagne who Year of our Lord 676 was accompanied by the two wicked Bishops He believed with much reason that this was the most stout Opposer of his Tyranny and that having vanquish'd him he should easily overcome all the others The City being besieged and in danger to be forced this good Prelat could not be persuaded to betray that Faith he owed the King and on the other side would not expose his Flock for whom a good Shepherd ought to expose his Life He therefore went voluntarily out of Autun after he had broken all his Silver Plate to give to the Poor and delivers himself to Vaimer That wicked Man caused his Eyes to be plucked out and shut him up in a Monastery In Recompence for so good a piece of Service Ebroin instals him in the Bishoprick of Troyes by fraud and violence and Didon invaded that of Autun but both the one and the other perished soon after by the same Tyranny of which they were the Ministers Immediately after this the Grandees of Neustria and Burgundy as if they had left their hearts by the imprisonment of Leger who indeed was the greatest Genius of that Court accepted Ebroin for Mayre of Thierry 's Palace and then he having no more need of his false Clovis took off his Vizard and returned him to a private Condition Being in this high Power his Tyranny had no bounds he sacrificed all that had opposed him to his Revenge and to his Covetousness those that possessed fair Estates or great Employments but all under the pretence of some imputed Crime which deprived them of their Honour before he robb'd them of their Lives The most wary saved themselves in time some in Aquitain others in the utmost skirts of Austrasia Year of our Lord 678 That he might have a specious Pretence to extend his Cruelty as far as he pleased he set himself upon a discovery of all those that had any hand in the Death of Childeric for which it was well known he rejoyced more than the Actors themselves He failed not to bring in and involve Leger and the Count Guerin his Brother These two Lords being brought before him he caused the latter to be Stoned to death at a Stake and the other to have the Soles of his Feet torn out and his Lips cut off then put him into the Custody of one of his Sattelites who kept him near two years in the Monastery of Fescamp The most part of the Bishops flattered him in his Injustice because they either dreaded him or had some interest in it Dadon himself otherwise Ouin Bishop of Rouen and one that has a Place in the Kalender of Saints was his Friend and one of his principal Counsellors This Man clapt St. Filibert Abbot of Jemieges in Prison for having made some Remonstrances to the Tyrant And afterwards perceiving that such Violence was too odious in the Eyes of honest People he banished him to Aquitain under colour of building a Monastery in the Isle of Herio Indeed he
him after his deposition Louis King of Germany feeling some remorse or thinking to Aggrandize himself if he restored him Sollicited Lotaire to deliver him to which Pepin joyned his interest But Lotaire not being inclinable thereto and having transfer'd him thence to Compiegne and then to Saint Denis both of them brought their Forces into the Field and appointed a place to joyn together nigh Paris Lotaire observing they flocked thither from all parts amuses them for some days with the Prospect of a Peace then finding there was no safety for him he takes his way by Burgundy and retires to Vienne leaving his Father at Saint Denis The Debonnaire being at liberty would not immediately put on his Imperial Robes but first desired to be reconciled to the Church by the Bishops So that even in Saint Denis Church it self they returned the Crown and Military girdle to him with the deliberation and consent or Counsel of the French People Some time after a couple of Bishops brought his Wife and his Son Charles to him who were set at liberty by those that were to guard him Year of our Lord 834 Lotaire had placed some Counts in the Cities above the Loire amongst others Lambert at Nantes and Mainfroy at Orleans who undertook to preserve those Countries for him These Counts having with great advantage defeated those sent by the Emperor who went and unadvisedly Attaqued them did so importunately Sollicite their Master to return thither and pursue the Victory that he went to them immediately having forced and burnt the City of Chaalons upon the Soane Pepin was come to the assistance of his Father with considerable Forces So that they were much Superiour to him in strength Nevertheless he came and Encamped right over against them not far from the City of Blois promising himself to withdraw and get away his Men as formerly But finding that on the contrary he was in danger of being forsaken by his men and that he could not make his retreat without a hazardous Battel he resolved to come and beg pardon which he could never have obtained had he been taken with his Sword in Hand His Father received him Sitting on a Throne which was raised very high in the midst of his Tent where he would see him prostrate on his knees and condescended not to pardon him and his but upon condition he should come no more into France without his leave but should remain in Italy all the passages from which place he shut up after him with strong Garrisons Year of our Lord 834 The Princes party being thus abandoned and without support Ebon Arch-Bishop of Reims who had most contributed to the degradation of the Emperor being taken as he was flying away with the Churches Treasure was brought before the Year of our Lord 835 Parliament of Mets. And there the Emperor accused him personally after his own restauration had been signed by all the Grandees The unhappy Creature did not endeavour to make any defence but as a favour desired he might be judged in private by the Bishops and owned his Crimes in writing whereupon he was deposed and subscribed his own degradation After this Ignominy he retired into Italy to Lotaire whither many others had already saved themselves Year of our Lord 835. And 836. It had been much better for the quiet of France that Lotaire had never repassed the Mountains But the Empress Judith desiring to have a support for her Son Charles after the death of the old Emperor who was very Sickly and Infirm endeavoured to reconcile them and caused word to be sent that he should come to Court To which notwithstanding he durst not trust so soon And besides he could not have come being at that time fallen ill of an Epidemical distemper which brought him to extremity and almost all the French Lords who went thither with him to their Graves It carried off Valac esteemed the best Head-piece and the most powerful Genius of his Court as it had been of Charlemains and so many other of the most considerable Lords that it was said it had left France naked both of Counsel and Strength Year of our Lord 836 In the year 836. the Emperor had a design to go and visit the Sepulchres of the Holy-Apostles in Rome But the Rumour of the Normands falling upon Frisia where they burnt Dorstat and Antwerp detained him in France where he called general Assemblies as was usual Year of our Lord 837 Towards Easter-day there appeared a Comet in the Heavens in the Sign Virgo which having in 25 days passed thorough the Signs of Leo Cancer and Gemini came and lost its Train and Globe of Fire right against the Head of Taurus under the Feet of the great Bear The Emperor who was a great Astronomer did first discover it There had been another Visible the preceding year on the 11th of April in the Sign Libra which shewed its self but three days only The principal cause of the trouble and Rebellions of Debonnaires Children was the frequent alteration he made in the partitions and division of the Portions of his Sons The Empress who feared Lotaire and desired to gain him persuaded her Husband to send for him and to propound to him the division of his whole Estate in two parts Aquitaine and Bavaria not comprehended whereof the Emperor should chuse one or else that he should divide it and Lotaire should take his choice Lotaire referr'd the division to him and that being done he took the Eastern France from the Meuse upward and left the Western to Charles his youngest Brother obliging himself by Oath to defend him and not to undertake any thing against the will of his Father Year of our Lord 838 The Normands ceased not from pillaging the Coasts of Flanders They had gained a great Battel in the Island Walcheren which makes part of Zeland where the Count of that Country was slian and having afterwards Fortified themselves in that Post made great Ravage till the French Army beat them from thence Year of our Lord 838 From the First of January a Comet appeared in the Sign Scorpio a little after the Sun-set Some fancied it presaged the Death of Pepin King of Aquitaine which followed in the Month of November after He was Aged some 35 years and had Reigned Twenty one They buried him at Sainte Croix of Poitiers He left by his Wife Engeltrude Daughter of Thiebert Earl of Matrie two Sons Pepin and Charles whose adventures we shall relate in due place and one Daughter named Matilda who Married Giraud Count of Poitiers To have done as Charlemain when a King had allotted his Children their division and that one hapned to dye if this left any Sons it depended on the People to Elect one in his stead or to let his share be given amongst the rest of the Brothers After the decease of Pepin there were two Parties in Aquitain One whereof a Lord named Emenon was Chief would have the eldest Son Pepin to
joyned with those of the County and together made Count Sance Duke of Gascogny To whom some years after succeeded Arnold Son of Emenon or Immon Count of Perigord In the year 841. whilst the Kings were in the Field to destroy each other Hochery or Oger one of the most Famous Commanders of the Normands who commanded a Fleet of 150 Ships Burnt the City of Rouen the 14 th of May and the Abbey of Gemiege some days afterwards and for Fifteen or Sixteen years together continued his Barbarities upon Neustria and more particularly upon Bretagne and Aquitain They had also taken their course by Bretagne to make a descent The revolt of that Province opening a gap for them Louis the Debonnaire had given the Government to Neomenes descended from the Ancient Kings of those Countries and younger Brother of Rivalon Father of Salomon Now Neomene having acquired some reputation for having made head against the Normans An. 836. began to think himself worthy of the Crown belonging to his Ancestors however his design did not appear till after the Battel of Fontenay when being incited thereto by Count Lambert he openly declared himself Soveraign and drove all the French out of Bretagne unless those in Rennes and in Nantes who held out This Lambert enraged because King Charles had refused him the County of Nantes which he desired and demanded as a reward for having fought valiantly for him at the Battel of Fontenay renounced his Service and Leagued himself with Neomene with whose assistance having beaten and slain Reynold Count of Poitiers to whom the King had given Nantes he remained Master of the City But being in a short time driven thence in a contest hapning between Neomene and himself he mischievously went and fetched the Normans and brought them up the River before Nantes which they took by Escalado on Saint Johns Festival cut the Throats of most of the Inhabitants who were gotten into Saint Peter's Church Year of our Lord 844 and Massacred the Bishop at the High-Altar while he was saying Mass carried away all that were left alive and from thence went and Burnt the Monastery of the Islands which was Noir Moustier Thus Lambert became Count of a ruined City and endeavoured to maintain himself there wavering betwixt the King and Neomene unfaithful to both and beloved by neither After the division made by the Kings Bretagne being a pretended Member of West France which fell to the lot of Charles the Bald that Prince having now no enemies at home turned his Sword that way thiuking to bring Neomene to obedience But he confidently comes towards him and meeting him on his March in the Road from Chartres to Mans charged him so smartly that he put his Army to the Rout and forced him to fly to Chartres on Horse-back This advantage redoubled the Bretons Forces who made inroads upon Maine Anjou and Poitou It seems nevertheless there was some Truce since upon King Charles's intreaty Neomene drove Count Lambert out of Nantes who went and Nestled himselfin the Lower Anjou and there Built the Castle of Oudon At the same time that Charles was defeated by Neomene a Civil-War infesting Denmark the Lords of those Countries who found themselves strong at Sea amongst others Hasteng and Bier Iron-sides fell upon West France and haing forced the Guards that defended the Mouth of the Seine went up that River with their Barks They Sacked all on the right and left Shoar and Year of our Lord 845 being unable to take Paris they destroy'd all that lay without the Island Plundred the Abbey of Saint Germain des Prez and Ruined the City of Melun When they were pretty well laden with spoil they were soon tempted with Presents made them by Charles to withdraw themselves but as they returned they ravaged Picardy Flanders and Friseland and took the City of Hamburgh however observing all Germany was rising up to expel them from thence they quitted it The Priests and all Religious Orders fled before them from place to place seeking out places of safety or at least hiding places to conceal and keep the Churches Treasure in as also their Holy-Relicks towards which their devotion did so much ✚ increase when that furious Storm was over that it occasioned sometimes bloody contests between the Citizens and Nobility when the one would have them restored and the other would detain them Year of our Lord 843 Whilst Lotaire had denuded Italy of all it's Forces to lead them into France the Dukes Radelchise of Benevent and Sigenulfe of Capoua quarrelling with each other without regarding young Louis his Son called the one the Saracens of Spain to his assistance the other those of Sardinia for those Barbarians had invaded that Island and gave them entrance into Italy where having Fortified themselves â—in many places they exercised their fury for twenty years together And An. 847. pillaged the Burrough of Saint Peter and the Church of that Prince of the Apostles Which obliged Pope Leo the IV. to enclose it with a wall and quarter the Corsicans there whom the Saracens had driven from their Island Year of our Lord 846 The Nobility respected their Kings so little that Connt Gisabert dared to Steal away the Daughter of the Emperor Lotharius and convey'd her into the Dominions of Charles to marry her which gave great cause of complaint to Lotaire and much trouble to Louis of Germany to appease his resentment In Guyenne the great ones raised Forces for their private quarrels and fought in despite of Pepin In Italy in the year 844. the Clergy and Citizens of Rome had the considence to elect Sergius II. Pope without the Emperors permission who nevertheless having sent Twenty Bishops and with them some Soldiers forced the Pope to render his devoir and to acknowledge him for his Soveraign It is a Fable that this Pope first changed his Name and that before his Election he was called Swines-snowt for it was Sergius IV. had that filthy Name and he whom we here mention was called Sergius as was his Father It is held by some that it was one Octavian introduced this mysterious change who would needs be named John He was the 12th of that name Year of our Lord 846 The French being entred into Bretagne intangled themselves unadvisedly in Boggs and Fenny-grounds where they received a second blow Year of our Lord 847 While Charles was preparing for a Third expedition against that Country the terror of the Normans obliged him to agree to a peace with Neomene which nevertheless did not hold long for he began immediately again to make his inroads Year of our Lord 847. And 848. upon France For which Charles taking revenge by Fire and Sword in Bretagne Neomene did the like to all the adjacent Countries and the Territory of Rennes which did not then belong to his petty Kingdom Hitherto he had not taken the Title of King or at least had not put on the Crown The custom of those times were
Kingdoms of Aquitain and Burgundy At their first accession they meet with the displeasure of seeing two Kingdoms belonging to their Father dismembred from the Succession which were Lorrein as we have observed and Burgundy As for this last it was lopp'd off by Boson That Lord had been in such high favour with Charles the Bald that he had given him Provence if not in Soveraignty at least to perpetuity and his Neece Hermengarde to Wife Having these advantages he was encouraged by that ambitious Princess to make himself King So that having gained the Lords and Prelats of those Countries he was Crowned King of Burgundy in the Royal Castle of Mantale in Dauphine by the hands of the Arch-Bishop of Lyons This attempt went near the hearts of the two Brother Kings but besides him they had two Enemies more to deal withal their Cousin Louis and the Normans They gained a Battel against the last night the River of Vienne the first day of November After which leaving their victory imperfect they turned head against Louis who by the instigation of the Abbot Gauzelin was advanced even to their Frontiers Having intelligence they were coming towards him he durst not march forward but demanded to parley with them at Gondouville where they saw each other In his retreat he defeated in Hanault a crew of eight or ten thosuand Normans but lost his Bastard Son in that Bustle Those Pyrats had burnt Saint Omers Teroüenne Arras Tournay Saint Riquier Saint Valery and all the Countries of Hainault Flanders and Boulonois Four Burghers of Tournay who fled to Noyon rebuilt the City and let houses at easy Rents Arras was deserted thirty years the Inhabitants having forsaken it for Beauvais The four Kings to compose their contests had assigned a general Assembly at Gondoul a Town near Mets. Louis of Germany sent to excuse himself because he was fallen into a sit of sickness but Charles his Brother came there and conferr'd with Louis and Carloman touching their common interest and affairs They found it necessary to enter into a league together for the destruction of their Enemies Louis the Germanick with Louis and Carloman against Hugh the Son of Year of our Lord 881 Valdrade who sacked all the open Countries of Lorrein And Charles the Fatt also with his two Brothers to pull down Boson's pride As for the first the Forces of Louis the German and the two Brothers having encountred the Army belonging to Hugh commanded by Tybault his Brother in Law they put it to the rout and made a great slaughter Then Charles the Fatt and his two Brothers marching joyntly against Boson defeated him in Battel and afterwards besieged Vienne where that Rebel had left his wife retreating himself to the Mountains We shall not find this siege at an end till about two years hence Charles was come thither upon the request of his Cousins and had left the affairs of Italy whither had he made one Voyage already and in some Months time had secured to himself all Lombardy whereof he was Crowned King by the Arch-Bishop of Milan And being impatient to return again he took leave of them and having repassed the Mountains went directly to Rome accompanied by the Patriarch of Aquilea At this time the Pope who hesitated on whom he should bestow the Imperial Crown could not deny a Prince so powerfully Armed and therefore set it on his Head upon Christmass Day in the year 881. Year of our Lord 881 In the mean while a Fleet of Normans entring by the Vaal or Waal fortified themselves at leasure in the Palace of Nimeghen So that Louis not being able to force them only obliged them to quit the Kingdom They went away indeed with all their men but took all their Plunder with them likewise Another very strong Fleet going up the Somme forced the rich Abbey of Corbie Year of our Lord 881 and the City of Amiens then spread themselves at large over the neighbouring Countries The mischief was very great therefore Louis leaving his Brother Carloman at the siege of Vienne hastned into Picardy fell upon the Normans near Amiens and laid nine thousand of them dead on the place Nevertheless whether it were that he expected some other greater Body of them was marching towards him or was Seized with a Pannique fear he returned home and the remainder of those Barbarians fell a plundring as before A third Body of them came to the place called Haslou nigh the Meuse and having fortified themselves there set the City of Liege on Fire and likewise burned Tongres which had otherwhile been ruined by the Vandals then set fire to Colen Bonne Nuis the Palace of Aix la Chapelle and Triers and Mēts and having Year of our Lord 881 gained a victory over the Bishops of those two Cities where the Bishop of Mets was slain made a horrible slaughter amongst the poor Peasants who were in Arms for them Year of our Lord 882 Whilst Louis the German was getting his Forces together to oppose them he died at Francfort the 20 th of January in the strength of his Age having Reigned but six years His Corps was conveyed to St. Nazaire the Abbey-Church of Loreshein where his Fathers lay He was the only Brother of three that married his wife was called Luidgarde daughter of Ludolfe Duke of Saxony and Sister to Otho Father of Henry L'Oiseleur or Bird-catcher He had but one Son who in An. 880. playing in a Window fell down and bruised himself so that he died Charles the Fatt Emperour King of Italy Germany or East-France Bavaria and Lorrain Louis and Carloman of East-France Aquitain and part of Burgundy The Succession of the German Kingdom and likewise the necessity of affairs called Year of our Lord 882 Charles the Fatt into France where the Normans posted at Haston plaid the Devils assisting and being reciprocally assisted by Hugh the Bastard of Valdrade who invited and animated those Barbarians and kindled factions amongst the Lords to revenge himself at least if he could not settle himself Charles therefore comes over the Mountains confirmed the donation of Carinthia to Arnold his Bastard Nephew and gave him the command of his Army and after he had held a Parliament at Wormes Arnold having joyned him he marched towards Haston His Van-guard at first made the Normans retreat And had it not been for the intelligence and correspondence between some of his Chief Officers in favour without doubt of Hugh and those Barbarians he might have forced them upon this first disorder The Emperor afterwards blocked them up with his whole Army But a most dreadful Tempest and furious Plague infesting his Army were once more favourable to them So that after ten days Siege they were quit upon condition to leave the Kingdom whence they carried infinite riches Year of our Lord 882 They had two Kings or Generals Sigefroy and Godfrey The first Embarked with above 40000 men The other whether for Interest or Devotion
Holy Fathers After this Council and in the same place he made XXIX Capitulary's as was the Custom upon the like occasions The year following 817. he assembled the Abbots and their Monks in the same place who made XC Chapters or Rules for Monastick Discipline After which Bennet Abbot of Aniane laboured in the reformation of the Order of St. Bennet which was much uâ—settled and shatter'd The Laity were much given to abuse and often murther the Clergy And for this reason he called a Council at Thionville An. 821. where the Bishops ordained long and tedious penances for such as should commit those crimes The next year he convocated another at Atigny and there in imitation of the Example of the Great Theodosius he would needs voluntarily undergo publick Penance for the Death of Bernard and those violences he had committed against some other of his Kindred He also made several Capitulary's for the Government of Church and State To the same end and to find out some way to appease the wrath of God which appeared visibly in the frequent Incursions of the Normans he gave order An. 828. for the Assembling of four Councils the year following in four several parts of the Kingdom at Ments Paris Lyons and Thoulouze and framed Articles of what they were to consult about He confirmed the Decrees of all those four in one at Wormes which was held the same year in presence of some Legats sent by Pope Gregory IV. We have the Acts of that held at Paris which is the VI. of that name They are very judicious and divided into three Books He called another Assembly An. 832. in the Abbey of St. Denis to re-establish the Monastick Orders and Authorised this Reformation by a Declaration We must not amongst these Holy Assemblies place that of Compiegne where this good Prince was degraded and condemned to wear the Habit of a Penitent That of St. Denis in the year 834. reconciled him to the Church and restored him to the Communion The Council of Thionville did the same thing and besides that degraded Ebbon Arch-Bishop of Reims who had been the Principal Author of that attempt To shew his thankfulness to God as well by his works as his Prayers and Devotion he caused one to be held at Aix An. 836. where some excellent Decrees were made which the Father 's sent to Pepin of Aquitain thereby to admonish him of his Duty towards God and restrain him from treating the Churches so ill for the future as he had done These Decrees were Commented as one may say and Corroborated with Reasons and Arguments extracted from the Fathers which was frequently practised by the Councils of those Ages It would be too tedious to mention all those that were held during the Reign of Charles the Bald with all those Capitulary's which were framed for the same purpose of Reformation We have the Council of Lauriac in Anjou An. 843. that of Thionville and another at Vernon in An. 844. those of Beauvais and Meaux An. 845. that of Paris the year following to compleat the Regulations which could not be finished in that of Meaux One at Soissons in 853. and another at Verberie to digest all that had been Ordained at Soissons One at Touziack in the Bishoprick of Toul An. 860. composed of the Bishops of fourteen Provinces One at Soissons An. 866. One at Troyes the year after as it were for a supplement to that of Soissons all these being for the Reformation of Discipline and Manners Most of the others were for particular affairs and yet did often make Canons That of Ments in the year 848. where Rabanus Maurus the Arch-Bishop presided sent back Godeschale the Monk to Hinomar of Reims his Metropolitan who at the Council of Crecy on the Oise the same year caused him to be condemned This Monk was accused for preaching errors concerning the Doctrines of Predestination Free-will and the Redemption by the Blood of Jesus Christ These questions were debated again An. 853. in the third Council of Valence which met to prosecute the Bishop of that City for certain Crimes The Council of Paris of the year 847. was called for the business of Ebbon of Reims that of Tours met An. 849. about the enterprise of Neomene who had given the Bishops of Bretagne a Metropolitan and had thereby substracted them from the Arch-Bishoprick of Tours In that of Crescy An. 858. the Bishops deputed two of their Assembly to go and make remonstrances to Louis the Germanick upon his invading the Kingdom of his Brother Charles There was one at Savonieres the Suburbs of Toul An. 859. to make up that Breach Lotaire the Young convened two at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 860. about the business of the Marriage of Thietberge and Lotaire II. and there was likewise a third at Mets for the same Subject In that of Senlis An. 863. Hincmar caused Roüauld Bishop of Soissons to be degraded upon the accusation of a Priest whom Roüauld had deposed for being surprised with a Woman and Mutilated in those Parts or Members which are unuseful to a good Ecclesiastick Roüauld appealed to Rome Pope Nicholas sent word to Hincmar and the Bishops that they should order the Party accused to come to him that he might review his Process and upon the second Summons he interdicted their saying Mass till they did obey But Hincmar who had great Credit in the Gallican Church stood it out and caused Guards to be set upon Roüauld lest he should slip out of the Kingdom Nevertheless two years after he went to Rome and was restored to his Bishoprick by Pope Nicholas The same Holy Father ordered Herard Arch-Bishop of Tours to call a Council at Soissons An 866. which was the III to restore Wlfade and his Companions to their places of Clerks in the Church of Reims in case Hincmar who had displaced them refused to do so That of Troyes in 867. laboured in the same business There was a Council Verberie in 869. One at Atigny An. 870. and another at Douzy in 871. concerning the affair of the unfortunate Hincmar of Laon. In that of Atigny was likewise debated the division of the Kingdom of Lotaire I. and the Rebellion of Carloman Son to the Bald who was condemned to be kept Prisoner at Senlis Which was confirmed in another held at Senlis An. 873. The Council of Douzy II. An. 874. was against incestuous marriages and such as invaded any thing belonging to the Church That of Pontigon in 876 confirmed the Regulations framed in that of Pavia Pope John VIII having escaped out of the Captivity of Lambert Count of Spoleta and Albert Marquiss of Tuscany while he was in France called that of Troyes in 878. where he caused the Excommunication he had at Rome thrown upon those persecutors to be approved as also the Condemnation of Formosus Bishop of Porto and his Adherents The Bishops of Burgundy in that of Maintaille gave the Kingdom
958. not without suspition of poyson and thus left his Conquest imperfect Year of our Lord 958 Now the complaints of the Lords and Prelats and the earnest entreaty of the Pope pressing King Otho he resolved to go himself after he had Crowned his Son Otho II. at Aix la Chapelle though he were but seven years of Age. Upon his Arrival in Italy Berenger his Son and his Wife abandoned the Cities and Country and retired each of them into a strong Fort. Otho was there received with universal applause recovered Pavia was Crowned King of Lombardy at Milan by the Arch-Bishop and thence marched to Rome where he received the Imperial Crown upon Christmass-day by the hands of John XII who had been put into the Holy Chair by the Credit and Money of his Father Alberic before Year of our Lord 960. 961. 962. the Age of 18 years This Alberic was the Son of Marosia who had chaced King Hugh from Rome after which he had changed the Government there and made himself Consul that he might command in Chief with a Prefect and some Tribuns Year of our Lord 963 Now the young Pope who had earnestly desired Otho to come quickly changed his mind and recalled Berenger to Rome as soon as Otho was gone from thence to reduce the rest of those places which that Tyrant still held Otho being informed of this odd fantastical news did not give over his Conquests then when he thought it seasonable to return to Rome he led his Army thither The young Pope being fled with Berenger and the Treasure of the Church he caused his Process to be made not for his Intrusion but for Murther Sacriledge Adultery Incest Simony and other enormous crimes For this end he Assembled a Council John was cited before them in due form and not appearing they deposed him and in his place put Leo who was the VIII of that name Year of our Lord 963 This Pope to avoid the trouble the Cabals caused in Elections gave the Emperor Otho the power thenceforward to Elect the Popes and Bishops and to give him Investiture The Ecclesiastical History does likewise observe that this John XII was called Octavian before his Election and that he was the first Pope that changed his name Whilst Otho was passing the Christmass Holy-days at Rome with the new Pope having quartred his Army out of the City the Faction and money of John the deposed Pope made the Romans rise to Attaque him Treacherously he had notice of it time enough to prevent surprize put himself in the head of his Army Year of our Lord 965 and came boldly to them They were afraid and coming to a composition with him gave several Hostages He delivered them up again some few days after upon the entreaties of Leo but no sooner was he gone to besiege Camerin but they revolted drove out Leo and received John in their City where he exercised most revengeful cruelty upon Leo's Friends He had continued it to the end had he not been killed in the very act of enjoying a Woman After his death the Romans persisting in their Rebellion Elected the Arch Deacon Bennet Immediately Otho returns again reduces Rome to a Famine compels Bennet to ask pardon in the Synod of Bishops and causing him to be degraded of his Priest-hood sent him Prisoner into Germany where about a year after he died at Hamburgh Some months thence believing Italy might remain in Peace because he had taken Berenger and confined him to Bamberg in Germany he returned home and marched his Army with him After his departure some Lombard Counts revolted having Adelbert and Guy the Sons of Berenger at their head But Duke Burchard whom he sent back overthrew them in a great Battel which was fought on the Banks of the Po. Guy the most mischievous of them all was left dead upon the place and Adelbert escaped with much ado This last having gathered some Forces together hazards another Battel An. 968 ☞ which loosing he died with grief And thus with him ended the second Kingdom of Italy or if you will it passed over the German Princes who let it moulder away and come to nothing After Pope Leo VIII was dead and that John XIII had been set in the Chair with the consent of Otho on whom Leo had bestowed the power of Confirming the Election of Popes the Prefect Consuls Tribuns and other Magistrates of the City of Rome displeased that Otho had greatly limited their power which before led all Italy as they pleased they put this Pope in Prison then turned him out of Rome calling to their aid Rofroy Count of Campania The Pope retires to Pandolfus Prince of Capoua who restored him and John his Brother slew Rofroy In recompence the Pope erects an Arch-Bishoprick at Capoua Year of our Lord 966 and bestowed it on the murtherer of his Enemy But Otho desiring to remedy things once for all by suppressing these Rebellions returns to Italy where he setled his Authority by severe punishments by rewarding Year of our Lord 966. and 967. of friends by creating new Counts by good and wholesome Laws and in fine by the conquest of Calabria and Puglia which he wrested from the Grecian Empire who had kept them hitherto Year of our Lord 968 And to compleat all he Crowned his Son Otho at Milan by the hands of the Pope and joyned him in the Empire This young Prince three years after that is to say in An. 971. Married Teophania or Tifaine Daughter of the Emperor Nicephorus who was then dead Thus Otho but little inferior to Charlemaine raised the Western Empire the ☞ Title thereof ever since that time remaining as it were annexed to Germany with pretences much more great and extensive then their Forces We shall henceforth speak no more of the affairs of Italy and little of Germany unless where things do joyntly relate to the French Year of our Lord 962 During these Transactions in Italy divers quarrels were troublesome to France the two greatest were that about the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims and the hatred of the Counts Thibauld de Chartres and Arnold of Flanders against the Normans The first might have been ended by restoring Hugh of Vermandois to his Dignity in Reims Artold the Arch-Bishop being dead An. 962. if the Queen could have suffer'd it But far from giving her assent she so brought it about that the Council of Soissons refer'd it to the Pope who declared him Excommunicated Year of our Lord 963 The Brethren of this Hugh furiously Animated against Guibuin Bishop of Chaalons who in that Assembly had proved thechief obstacle against his restoration Burnt the City Year of our Lord 964. and 65. The Earl of Chartres was supported by the King against the Normans because he was joyned both by alliance and affection to the Interest of the Sons of Hugh the Great He lost a Battel in Normandy for which he received satisfaction by the conquest of Evreux which the King put
they held as what they produced how situated or some particularities of their Castles or such Office they bore Some there were that chose such things as preserved the memory of their brave Feats of Arms or some singular Adventure which had hapued to them or theirs and others in fine would have such as betokened their inclination not to mention those that would needs have their Coats out of a meer fantastical Humour and without any design These glorious Marks and Badges belonged otherwhile only to the Nobility and was not the least illustrious part of the Succession of their Noble Families Now at this time every one hath them the meanest villains are the most curious herein they have not only brought the ✚ Rebus's of the little Citizens Merchants Cyphers Shop-keepers Signs and Artists tools and implements into their Coats under the shadow of Crowns Helmets and Supporters but likewise by a confidence not to be endured they have made choice of the most illustrious things and given occasion to observe that there are no better Coats then the Arms of a Villain or Plebeian Year of our Lord 1096 97 98 and 99. From the first Croisade William Rufus King of England taking the opportunity of his Brothey Roberts absenc had seized on the Dutchy of Normandy Swoln with this increase of Power he promised himself to invade France because he saw the Excommunicated King languishing in the Arms of his Concubine who besides had but one lawful Son of 15 or 16 years of age and was destitute both of Money and Friends Nevertheless this young Prince surpassing his age did by his Courage and Virtue defend himself so well three years together that Rufus was forced to leave him in Peace and retired again into England In that Countrey letting himself loose to all sorts of infamous pleasures tiranny Year of our Lord 1100 and execrable wickedness both towards God and Man he perished in a tragical manner being as he was Hunting shot with an Arrow either designedly aimed at ☞ him or by chance which pierced his very Heart Henry his younger Brother got into the Throne during the absence of Duke Robert who was still in the Holy-Land Notwithstanding the Popes Excommunications the King had renewed society with Bertrade by the consent even of Foulk her Husband being so infinitely enchanted with that Woman that he was often seen at her Feet there to receive all her Year of our Lord 1098 99 and 1100. Commands as if he had been a Slave Some of the Belgick Bishops honour'd the Kings Adultery with the name of Marriage and on their great Feasts according to ancient custom placed the Crown upon her Head to shew or signifie they did not hold her to be Excommunicated but the Popes Legats denied to communicate with him and conven'd a Council at Poitiers in July where he was Excommunicated once more William Duke of Aquitain who feared the like Treatment having committed the like fault for he entertained a Concubine and had forsaken his lawful Wife affronted and abused the Prelats greatly and perhaps his Sorrow and Repentance for it afterwards prompted him to go to the Holy Land as we have observed The King constant in his Affections solicited the Popes Favour so earnestly that he sent some Legats to re-view the Cause Year of our Lord 1101 They assembled a Council at Baugency The King and Bertrade promised to abstain from each other till the Popes Dispensation and thus the Council broke up Year of our Lord 1102 without giving any Judgment The King continued with the recommendation of the Bishops to endeavour the obtaining a Dispensation in the Court of Rome in the end he had it he was Absolved in the City of Paris and his Marriage confirmed so officacious is constancy even in things not commendable The opposition of the Bishops served only to authorize the use of Dispensations from Rome which since have been very common in all matters and occasions Young Lewis whom they named the Prince of the Kingdom and was designed King by his Father it is not specified in what year took the Government of Affairs Year of our Lord 1102 3. and the following PHILIP LEWIS Surnamed the Gross designed King aged 19 or 20 years In those times the Rights of the French were such that they could not legally arrest the Lords nor punish them with death unless it were for Treason but only deprive them of their Lands I mean those they held of the King they called them Honours This was it that gave them Licence to arme to oppress the weaker to rob and plunder and above all usurp the Goods of the Church Year of our Lord 1100 Lewis had to do first with Bouchard Lord of Montmorency against whom he embraced the Cause of the Monks of St. Denis whose Lands that Lord had pillaged and having appeared according to an assignation in the Kings Court of Justice refused to obey the Sentence or Judgment given against him therein He forced him by destroying and burning all his Villages and his Castle it self to submit to Reason In like manner he chastifed Droco or Dreux de Mouchy and Lionnet de Meun who tyrannized this over the Churches of Orleans the other over those of Beauvais Also he humbled Matthew Count of Beaumont upon Oise Son-in-law to Hugh Earl of Clermont in Beauvoisis who having half of the Lands of Luzarches in Dowry had seized upon all and had devested the good Man his Father-in-law Year of our Lord 1103 He durst or would not intermeddle with the quarrel between the two Norman Brothers Robert and Henry The First upon his return from the Holy Land demanded the Kingdom of England of his younger Brother who had usurped it after the death of William Rufus The business after three years Negotiation and War was determined in this manner Robert An. 1107. having lost a Battle at Tinchâ—bray in Normandy was made prisoner by his cruel Brother who deprived him of Sight by placing a burning Bason of Brass before his Eyes whereof he dyed in Prison Thus the whole Succession of William the Conquerer remained in Henry the youngest of his three Sons Year of our Lord 1103 In the year 1103. Lewis passed into England to King Henry I cannot tell upon what design Bertrade his Mother-in-law who could willingly have sent him out of the World sollicited Henry to make him away and this Artifice failing she caused poison to be given him at his return into France which put him in great hazard of his Life Year of our Lord 1104 The King to rid himself of the trouble brought upon him by the Family of Montlehery agreed upon a Marriage with Guy Troussel betwixt Philip his Son and bertrade to whom he gave the Earldom of Mantes on condition that Guy should deliver him the Castle of Montlehery which he did Year of our Lord 1104 At the same time or a little after Guy Lord of Rochefort Uncle of Troussel entirely possessing the Kings
he brought most of them to their Duty one after another Eudes being dead during these Transactions he Treated with Hugh de Puiset who was to inherit that Earldom and making him resign his Right provided he would give him his liberty put himself in possession of that place of great importance at that juncture Year of our Lord 1112 c. Some time after Hugh having re-fortisied le Puiset and committing a thousand Insolencies upon the Neighbouring Countries he besieged him in that place but the Champenois having the rest that were in League together for him failed not to come to relieve it Two great Battles were fought one to the Kings disadvantage the other to his advantage after that they talked of an Accommodation and Hugh obtained his Pardon Milon Vicount de Troyes whom the King had re-setled in Montlehery had withdrawn himself from the rest of the Leagued Party Crescy not being able to draw him in again surprized him by Treachery and after he had led him about to divers Castles bound and setter'd not knowing where to secure him so but the King would deliver him nor how to let him go but he would take his Revenge he caused him to be Strangled in the night and thrown out of a Window at the Castle of Gumet He would have had it believ'd that he had broken his Neck endeavouring to make his escape but the Crime was discover'd and the King with great diligence besieged the Castle of Gumet The wretched Murtherer being condemned to justifie himself by Duel in the Court of Amaulry de Montfort had not the courage to expose himself to that hazard and therefore finding himself Convicted he came and cast himself at the Kings Feet gave up his Lands to him and put on the Habit of a Monk as his Pennance Year of our Lord 1116 Hugh du Puiset being Revolted the third time the King again besieged that Castle razed it and then turned that Rebel out of all his Estate This unfortunate Man having in a Sally killed Anseau de Garlande Grand Seneschal and Favourite to the King and not daring to remain any longer in the Country went a while after to the Holy Land which in those times was the Refuge of Banish'd and Condemned People as it was likewise of true Penitents Year of our Lord 1116 Thomas de Marle Lord of Coucy had been Excommunicated and Degraded of his Nobility Anno 1114. by the Popes Legat in the Council of Beauvais for the Sacriledge and Robberies he committed upon the Churches and the People belonging to the Bishopricks of Reims Laon and Amiens That Sentence had inflamed his Rage to do yet worse even to the setting Fire to the City of Laon and the Noble Church of Nostre-Dame I believe it was that of Liesse to Massacre the Bishop Galderic and cut off that Finger whereon he wore the Episcopal Ring The King who flew about every where with incredible Celerity ran that way before this Robber had seized the Tower of Laon forced and razed his Castles of Crecy and Nogent and brought him to Reason Year of our Lord 1116 17. He quelled likewise another puny Tyrannet named Adam that ravaged all the Neighbourhood of Amiens He had gotten possession of the City Tower which was very strong and gave a great deal of trouble but the King having begirt it for two years gained it and razed it About Ten or Eleven years afterwards Thomas draws the King again upon him by the like Deportment so that he went and besieged his Castle of Coucy It hapned that making their approaches Rodolph Count de Vermandois met him wounded him and took him Prisoner He was carried to Laon where he died miserably of his Wounds Henry King of England was the Boute-feu and Support of all these Revolts Year of our Lord 1117 King Lewis in Retaliation had stirred up against him his Nephew William Son of the Deceased Duke Robert whom he admitted to do Hommage for the Dukedom of Year of our Lord 1117 Normandy and gave him the Castle and City of Gisors the first occasion of the Quarrel This Nephew being thus supported put his Uncle to so much trouble that he was fain to make a Peace with Lewis promising to leave all the Rebels to his Mercy Year of our Lord 1118 Archambaud Lord of Bourbon being dead Hemon his Brother surnamed Vaire-Vache under pretence of claiming his Share detained the whole Possession to the prejudice of the Son and Treated his Subjects especially the Clergy very Tyrannically The King assigns him to plead his Right before the Parliament Upon his refusal to appear he went in Person to compel him and besieged his Castle of Germigny Hemon dreading his Wroth came and craved his Pardon he received him to Mercy and took both him and his Nephew along with him to bring them to an agreement of all their Disputes The Quarrel between the Emperor and Pope concerning the right of Investitures being burst out anew with more heat then ever Pascal II. being Pope the Emperor Henry V. had seized both upon him and all his Cardinals and constrained him to allow him the priviledge of nominating two Bishopricks Afterwards that Pope being at liberty annull'd that Treaty in the Council of Latran and Excommunicated the Emperor Year of our Lord 1118 In this year 1118. Galasius was elected in the room of Pascal or Paschalis but he sought not the approbation of the Emperor who being displeased at that neglect or contempt caused one Maurice Burdin to be chosen a Limosin by Birth and Archbishop of Braga in Portugal to whom they gave the name of Gregory Year of our Lord 1119 Gelasius being then driven from Rome took his way into France to hold a Council there as he did in the City of Vienne but he died the same year in the Abby of Clugny Year of our Lord 1119 The Cardinals that had followed him elected Guy Archbishop of Vienne who took the name of Calixtus II. He was the Brother of Stephen Earl of Burgundy and Uncle of Adele or Alix Queen of France who was the Daughter of his Sister and of Humbert Earl of Morienne and this consideration did fortisie the Holy See with great Alliances against the Emperor Year of our Lord 1119 The whole Kingdom of France having taken his part he came from Vienne to Toulouze where he held a Council Thence he went to Reims where he called another in which divers Canons were made to take away Simony the Investiture of Benefices from Laicks Concubines from Priests and the selling of Sacraments The King was present the Emperor Henry would not be there and having refused to part with the right of Investitures was Excommunicated There was almost the same contest and difference betwixt the Popes and the Kings of France These pretending the Election and Provisions of the Popes were not sufficient without their consent So that it had begot great troubles in the Churches of Bourges Reims Beauvais and
and garb being attir'd in Cloth of Gold and his Hair pleated or wove with strings of the same those that follow'd him were so bewitch'd that they drank his Urine kept some as Treasures and Relicks and took it as a particular favour that he would in their presence abuse their Wives and Daughters At the same time another Innovator wandred through Provence Gascongne and Languedoc named Peter de Bruys Preaching that Baptisme was ineffectual before the age of Puberty that they ought to pull down the Churches such places not being necessary for Christians to worship in That the sacrifice of the Mass was nothing That the Prayers of the Living did not avail the Dead and above all things he pretended we ought to have the Cross in abomination because our Lord had been most ignominiously nailed to it Himself burnt a large heap upon Good-Friday and with that Fire boiled several pots with Meat of which he made a publique Meal and invited the people to eat with him But Peter de Clugny going into that Countrey to hunt him thence the people seized on his Person and burnt him alive in the City of St. Giles His Sect was not blown away with the Wind like his Ashes one of his Disciples named Henry made himself their head this was a Monk that had mew'd his Frock who becoming a vagabond because his Apostacy had left him no place of security set himself to preach up these Heresies from place to place to which he added some others of his own invention Peter de Clugny refuted him in an excellent Treatise St. Bernard in a journey he made into that Countrey confounded him by his sound Doctrine and moving Sermons justified with many miracles informed the poor People he had seduc'd and follow'd him so close that at length he was taken and deliver'd up to the Bishop bound Hands and Feet An. 1147. They called these Innovators Petrobrusians and Henricians the names of their two principal Doctors The same St. Bernard had likewise to deal with another sort of Hereticks who gave themselves the name of Apostoliques bragging they were the only people that followed exactly the Doctrine of the Apostles and were the true mistical Body of Jesus Christ none other Christians having the true Belief like them They held many of the extravagancies as those who since have been called by the name of the Illuminated or Enlightned We may well reckon amongst the Heresies those over-bold and too subtil propositions broached by Peter Abailard touching the Trinity since they were condemned as such in the year 1140. at the Council of Sens which was confirmed by the Pope though it appears to some that if there were too much presumption on his part there was also a little too much heat and some want of understanding on theirs However it were his Humility repaired his fault for having appeal'd to the Holy See he was easily perswaded to stop at Clugny by Peter the Venerable and there spent the rest of his days His Wife Heloise had also put on the Holy Vail The History of their Lives and their Loves is well enough known this is not a place to mention it in The Preachings of a certain Monk named Rodolph were something worse then Heresies I find that in the times of the Croisado or Crusado in the year 1146. having assembled I know not how many thousand Men to go into the Holy-Land he preached that they ought before they went to kill all the Jews who were much greater enemies to JESVS CHRIST then the Mahometans St. Bernard had much ado to save those miserable creatures from the fury of the common people who are never so easie to be moved as when some act of cruelty is propounded and ☜ to get the Monk to return into his Covent The Popes were persecuted by other Heretiques whom we might call Politiques because they would not allow the Church-men should have any dominion nor jurisdiction in Temporals The Romans stirred up as we have related by Arnauld de Bresse designed amongst themselves to take it from the Pope in their City and leave him only the Spiritual So that Eugenius III. flying from their persecution was forced to retire into France An. 1147. whilst he was there he called a Council at Reims where they examined the propositions of Gilbert Poret or Poree Bishop of Poitiers who having for Thirty years together profest Philosophy in the chief Cities of the Kingdom spake of God and the persons of the Trinity rather according to the Topicks of Aristotle then conformably to the language of the Holy Scripture He said the Divine Essence was not God that the proprieties of the Three Persons were not the persons that the Divine nature had not been incarnate that there was no merit but that of JESVS CHRIST and that none were truly Baptized unless he were to be saved His Arch-Deacons themselves moved with Zeal or Enmity became his Accusers St. Bernard stoutly Seconds them the business was debated in two conferences the one at Auxerre and the other at Paris and at last determined in a Third which was held after the Council of Rheims the Pope being unwilling before so great an Assembly to censure a Bishop of so much Learning and who besides protested he would submit to what his Holiness should think fit to judge of it His propositions were condemned he received this judgment with all possible submission but some of his Disciples were still so confident as to maintain them That we may know how prone our humane nature is to be deluded and led into the most extravagant novelties we need but consider and mention a wretched fanatical Dotard who was presented to the Pope in the beginning of this Council His name was Eon de l'Estoile a Gentleman of Bretagne he was so ignorant that having heard them Sing at Church Per Eum qui venturns est judicare vivos mortuos he fancied to himself and affirmed to others that it was he should judge both the quick and the dead It is almost incredible how many people were infatuated with this ridiculous extravagancy they follow'd him as a great Prophet sometimes he marched with a stately Train sometimes he hid himself then he appear'd again more Glorious then before They said he was a Magician and made sumptuous Feasts to allure the World but that it was but illusion and that the Meats they eat at his Table and the Presents he bestowed were only charms that alienated the Mind The Arch-Bishop of Rheims having taken him presented him to the Council and to his Holiness His Answers full of frantick Conceits and Whimseys made them look upon him as a mad-Man or rather a Fool but yet they clapt them into close imprisonment where he died shortly after Many of his Disciples more senceless yet then he chose rather to be burnt to death then renounce him There was certainly some remainders left of that Leaven of the Petrobrusians and Henricians which infecting many people
let them see by that Equipage to what a vile Condition those holy Assemblies were reduc'd Most of those held in France during this Age were called either by the Popes themselves or by their Legats The Popes were Personally present in Six Paschal II. in that of Troyes Anno 1107. and there the Simoniacks and the Laicks that conferr'd Benefices were Excommunicated Gelasius held one at Vienne in the year 1119. where he thundred his Anathema against the Emperor Henry V. and 〈◊〉 Anti-Pope Calistus II. his Successor Guy Archbishop of Vienne did the same thing in that of Rheims the following year which had been denounced by Gelasius Those that made sale of things Sacred and took Money for burying the dead for the Crisome and Baptism were likewise Excommunicated Innocent II. held one at Clermont in Anno 1130. and another at Rheims in Anno 1131. where he fulminated the Anti-Pope Anacletus and his Adherents Eugenius III. did Celebrate one at Rheims in the year 1137. where divers excellent Regulations were decreed And Alexander III. one at Tours in Anno 1163. where he gave an acount of his Election and proved the nullity of Octavian's his Rival These are a good part of those called by the Legats One at Troyes in Anno 1104. in which the Bishop of Senlis was accused of Simony by some ill designing People but the Bishops rejected them as no good Evidence He desired nevertheless to purge himself from that suspicion by Oath before the Legat to which he was admitted Two Cardinal Legats assembled one at Poitiers in Anno 1109. to reform the Manners and Habits of the Clergy They were forbidden to take any Benefice from the hands of the Laity The Abbots to use Gloves Sandals or the Ring Monks to Exercise Parochial Function as to Baptise or to Preach which nevertheless was allowed to the Regular Canons There was one at Vienne Anno 1112. where Godfrey Bishop of Amiens was President in Quality of Legat because the Archbishop Guy had no very fluent Tongue The Emperor Henry V. was Excommunicated there As were also those guilty of Simony and such of the Laity as gave the Investiture of Benefices There were three in the year 1114. one at Soissons one at Beauvais and another at Rheims to Excommunicate Henry V. and Burdin his Anti-Pope One at Toulouze in Anno 1124. which condemned certain false Brothers or counterfeit Monks who declaimed against the Temporal Riches and Incomes of the Church and against the Sacraments One at Troyes Anno 1127. where the Order of the Templers was confirmed The Abbots Stephen de Cisteaux and Bernard de Clervaux were assistant there and the latter drew up the Rules of that Order of Knights Templers There was one Assembled at Estampes in the year 1130. to condemn the Anti-Pope Anacletus One likewise at Jouars the same year to avenge by Canonical Punishments the Murther of the B. Thomas Prior of St. Victors Another at Soissons Anno 1136. which condemned the Errors of P. Abailard One at Sens four years after for the same business King Lewis the Young was present there Another at Vezelay in Burgundy in the year 1145. for the Expeditioin to the Holy Land That of Paris in the year 1147. confuted the Opinions of Gilbert Poree Bishop of Poictiers who REcanted before Pope Eugenius at Rheims after the Council was dissolved which had been held in that City That of Fleury in the year 1151. was to annul the Marriage of King Lewis VII and Alienor of Aquitain In that of Auranches in Normandy Anno 1173. the Legats gave for the second time the Absolution for the Murther of St. Thomas of Canterbury to Henry II. King of England That of Alby which was in Anno 1176. condemned the Heresie of the Albigensis In that of Dijon which was held about Michaelmas in the year 1197. the Legat from Pope Innocent III. put the whole Kingdom of France under an Interdiction to comple Philip Augustus to quit Agnes de Merania whom he had Espoused in prejudice of Isemburge his Lawful Wife In that of Sens which was held in the year 1198. the Abbot of St. Martins of Nevers and the Dean of the great Church of the same City being present were convicted of the Heresies of the Popelicans the Abbot deposed the Dean suspended and both of them sent to Rome We hardly find above three or four that were called by the Kings order and the Authority of the Bishops of France Amongst others one at Rheims Anno 1109. one at Estampes Anno 1130. and two at Paris the first in the Year 1186. the other in 1188. Both of them were called by King Philip to consider of the best means to relieve the Holy-Land and in the last they agreed to raise the Tenths which was called the Saladine Tythe That of Estampes was called by King Lewis VII to judge whether of the two Popes they were to own either Innocent or Victor That of Rheims was by the proper motion of the Bishops of that Province to do right to Godfrey Bishop of Amiens against the Monks of St. Valery He had made discovery that certain Letters of Exemption by them obtained of the Holy See were false their Cause was worth nothing in France they transferr'd it to Rome and found such Advocates there as obtained a Sentence to their advantage The Bishops complained to the Assembly We find in the LX VIII Epistle of Peter de Blois that sometimes the like counterfeit Letters were discovered These were declared such by the Council Thus it is related by Nicholas Moine of Soissons who has written the Life of this holy Bishop A modern Author hath endeavour'd to invalidate this Narrative by contradicting of the Dates of times assigned his proofs may be examined Monastick Discipline was in its vigour in the newly Establisht Orders but some of the ancient Monasteries as well of Men as Virgins and the old Canons were greatly in disorder having run into much irregularity Sometimes there were Bishops that took care to reform them by gentle means but when the Debaucheries were too great they put Regular Canons or some new Monks in those places There were time out of mind some Canons in the Church St. Genevieve du Mont which was called the Chapter St. Peter and who upon the Recommendation of King Robert had been exempted from dependance on the Bishop and immediately subject to the Holy See it hapued that Pope Eugenius being lodged in their House a Quarrel arose between them and his Officers these would needs take away a rich Silk Carpet which the King had made a Present of to his Holiness to cover the place he kneeled on at Prayers the others pretending it ought to be left to their Church From words they came to blows the Canons fell upon the Popes Officers so rudely that several of them were hurt the King himself had like to have been so while he was endeavouring to prevent the Scuffle For punishment of this
Council of Vienne coming on the Pope to hinder the obstinate pursute of the Kings people against the memory of Boniface gave all the Bulls they could desire for the justification both of the King and his Officers Nay even for fear lest Nogaret should blow up the flame anew he granted him Absolution but upon condition he should go on certain pilgrimages and also travel into the Holy-Land Year of our Lord 1310 The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem were retired to the Island of Cyprus after the loss of Ptolemais but finding themselves ill Treated by the King of that Island they sought another Habitation and gained themselves one by the taking of the Island of Rhodes and five other neighbouring Islands they gained it from the Turks after two years Siege the Turks had taken it from the Saracens and the Saracens from the Grecian Empire Year of our Lord 1311 A year afterwards the Turks made great attempts to recover it but the Knights maintained it bravely by the assistance of the generous Earl of Savoy named Ame V. who got the Surname of Great by it and preserved it as well as he had gained it by many other generous actions To this might well be applied the Simbol or Devise FERT which his Successors retain to this day and the four Letters might be thus made to say Fortitudo Ejus Rhodum Tenuit but it is certain the Princes of this House bear it a long time before Year of our Lord 1311 The General Council was open'd at Vienne the First day of October in the year 1311. the Pope declaring it was for the Process of the Templars for the recovery of the Holy-Land for the reformation of Manners and Discipline and for the extirpation of Heresie Philip came thither the year following about Mid-Lent with a stately Train of Princes and Lords assisted at the opening of the Second Session and took his Seat at the right Hand of the Pope but on a lower Chair The Order Year of our Lord 1312 of the Knights-Templars was there condemned and extinguish'd their Goods left to the disposal of his Holiness who bestow'd part of it upon the Knights of St. John That of the Begards and Begardes was likewise abolished they were a sort of Monks and Religious People that made profession of Poverty but not of Abstinence nor Celibacy and who besides were acccused of many errors As for the most important point which was the Process against the memory of Boniface the King though there present had no satisfaction in it For it was declared that Pope Boniface had always been a good Catholique the other crimes were not mention'd Three famous Doctors one in Theology another of the Civil-Law and the Third of the Canon Law made it out to the King by several reasons and particulars and there were two Catalonian Gentlemen that offer'd to justfy it by combat throwing down their Gantlets which no man there would take up However the Pope and Cardinals made a Decree importing that the King should never be hereafter reproached for all or any thing that he had done against Boniface Year of our Lord 1312 The City of Lyons had for a long time held of the Kings of Arles who had given the Temporal Lordship thereof to the Arch-Bishop but since the Kings of France taking advantage of the weakness and the distance of the Emperours who were Kings of Arles had by little and little drawn to themselves the Sovereignty of this Kingdom and the City of Lyons had began to hold of them Now during the War between Savoy and Dauphiné the Citizens fearing they might be plundred had recourse to Philip who gave them a Warden who coming within the City contrary to what had been agreed upon the Arch-Bishop stirred up the People against him Prince Lewis Hutin going thither with an Army brought the Bishop away prisoner and he could never get cleer but by yielding up the Temporal Jurisdiction to the King for which the Pope helped him to some recompence But afterwards Philip the Long gave it to him again Year of our Lord 1310 The Emperour Henry who was gone into Italy from the year 1310. thinking to restore the dignity of the Empire there found so much opposition from the Guelphs the great Cities and Robert King of Naples that he perished there as well as his Predecessors He died the Four and twentieth day of August in the territory of Year of our Lord 1313 Sienne having been poysonn'd as it was reported with the Sacred Host by a Dominican Monk a Florentine Robert Earl of Flanders would needs have again his Cities of l'Isle Douay and Orchies affirming that he had paid down the redemption to Enguerrand de Marigny who governed absolutely both King and Kingdom The Flemmings refused also to Year of our Lord 1313 dismantle their Towns or to pay either the Principal or Interest of those Sums they owed the King They were therefore forced to begin another War To provide for the charges of it the King summoned the Notables of the People and from a Theatre raised high he shewed them his Necessities The Deputies had suffer'd themselves to be perswaded and granted him by the mouth of Stephen Barbete the Impost of Six Deniers in the Livre and other Subsidies more troublesome yet but the Cities of Picardy and Normandy opposed it highly and all the rest called for the justice of Heaven to fall upon the Head of Marigny the Author of all these galling and flaying extortions These moans and curses did not move him on the contrary he aggravated their misery by making new Coins of very bad Gold and Silver After all none but himself and the Exchequer-men or Receivers could get any profit by it The King having past over the River of Lys and the Armies in sight of each other Marigny who had done his own business took advantage of the interposing of the Popes Legats to bring the parties to an agreement and perswaded the King to an ignominious Truce Thus that great Army which ought to have conquer'd all Flanders vanished in smoak This disgrace of Philips was followed with one much greater All the Wives of his three Sons were accused of Adultery Margaret Jane and Blanch. The First the wife of Lewis Hutin and the Third the wife of Charles being convicted of that crime with Philip and Gautier de Launoy Brothers and Gentlemen of Normandy ✚ were by decree of Parliament the King being present confined to the Castle Gaillard of Andeley and their two Gallants slay'd alive dragg'd into the Field de Manbuisson which was newly Mow'd those parts cut off that had committed the Sin then beheaded and their Bodies hung up being fastned under their Arm-pits upon a Gibbet Margaret the most guilty of the three perish'd in prison Blanch was divorced seven years after upon pretence of Parentage As for Jane who was wife of Philip the Long after she had been confined almost a year her Husband was willing to
had been erected by Pope Nicholas IV. and by the Kings Letters Patents in the year 1289. The others of this Kingdom which are now Ten in number Anger 's Poitiers Bourges Bourdeaux Cahors Valence Caen Reims Nantes and Aix were instituted in the following ages and at several times Now the University of Paris which excepting that of Toulouze was as yet the only singular one in France drew thither or bred there all that were then Men of Parts and Learning Albert the Great Thomas Aquinas Vincent de Beauvais all three of the Order of the Preaching Friers John Gilles or Joannes Aegidius who was also of the same Order Rigord of the Order of St. Bennet and Chaplain to Philp Augustus and Richard of Oxford all three Philosophers and Physitians James de Vitry Cardinal John de Sacrobosco who excelled in the Mathematiques Roger Bacon an English man by birth and of the Order of St. Francis a very subtil Genius and thoroughly versed and accomplished in all manner of Learning particularly in Chymistry in whose Works is to be found the secret for making Gun-powder Michael Scot who to acquire the knowledge of these Arts more perfectly and that of Astronomy and the Mathematicks Learned the Oriental Languages Alexander de Halez Bonaventure his Disciple and a long time after him John Duns Scotus all three of the Order of the Friers Minors and great Scholastiques Scotus lived Ten years in the following age they called him the Subtil Doctor and he was so indeed He was excited to some Opinons opposite to those of St. Thomas as their two Orders were which produced in the Schools those two Sects the Thomists and the Scotists They also reckon amongst the Learned Guy le Gross and Gilles de Rome famous Lawyers the first had been Married and yet became Pope the other was an Augustine Monk then Arch-Bishop of Bourges he lived many years in the age following and wrote Anno 1302. in favour of Philip the Fair against Boniface demonstrating that the Popes Authority does not extend to Temporals Robert de Sorbonne a native of the Village of that Name near Sens William de St. Amour and Christian de Beauvais born in those places and rough adversaries of the Friers Preachers and Minors William III. and Stephen II. Bishops of Paris Henry de Grand a famous Doctor in Divinity Hugh the Cardinal William Arch-Bishop of Tyre and Chancellour to St. Lewis Many of these Learned persons joyned a Holiness of Life to their exquisite knowledge The Church implores the Suffrages of Albert the Great of Thomas Aquinas and of Bonaventure as likewise of Peter de Chasteau neuf of the Order de Cisteaux and Legate from the Pope Martyr'd by the Albigensis in the year 1208. Of Bertrand Bishop of Cominges who rebuilt that City to which the name of its Restorer hath been given Of William de Nevers who daily fed Two thousand Poor Of Stephen de Die in Dauphiné taken out of the Order of the Chartreux Of Gefroy de Meaux who renounced his Bishoprick and retired himself into the Monastery of St. Victor in Paris which then was as it is now at this day most flourishing in Doctrine and Piety Of William de Valence under whom the Bishopricks of Valence and Die were united in the year 1275. and of Robert de Puy This Man very Noble for his Birth and much more so for his Virtue being slain by a Gentleman whom he had Excommunicated for his Crimes the People in revenge razed all the Houses belonging to the Murtherer and the King banished both him and all his Race out of the Kingdom We ought to add to this immortal company Eleazar de Sabran a Gentleman of Provence Earl of Ariâ—n whose perpetual celibacy in Marriage made him the compagnon of Angels and his charitable liberalities the Father to the Poor Yves Priest Curate and Official of the Diocess of Treguier in Bretagnc a good Lawyer and who by a more noble interest then that of Money was ever the Advocate of the Indigent and the Orphan The Men of that Calling own him for their Patron but imitate him seldom He died in the year 1303. Amongst those that wear the Crown of Glory in Heaven the great King Saint Lewis who wore the Royal Crown here below and his Nephew of the same name the Son of Charles II. King of Sicilia are of the highest rank This last buried the Grandeurs of this World in the Sack-cloath of his pennance turning Monk of the Order of St. Francis from whence he was drawn out againsth is Will to be made Bishop of Toulouze He died in the year 1298. Lewis X. called Hutin King XLVI Aged XXV or XXVI years Vacancy which began at the end of the Reign of Philip the Fair and lasted in all Two years Three Months and a halfe AS soon as Philip was dead his eldest Son Lewis succeeded him but he could not get to be Crowned at Reims till the Third day of August in the following year as well because he waited for his new Spouse Clemence Daughter of Charles Martel King of Hungary as because all the Kingdom was in combustion for the vexation of Imposts and the alteration of Moneys Year of our Lord 1314. and 15. Though he were in his majority and had been employ'd in Affairs for divers years nevertheless Charles de Valois his Uncle put himself in possession of the Authority displaced many Officers to advance his own Creatures and there being no Money to be found for the expences of the Coronation he upon that score took occasion to inquire into and examine the Officers of the Treasury especially Enguerrand de Marigny with whom he before had some rude bustlings Enguerrand sent for before the King to give an account of the Treasury had the impudence to tell him who was his Masters Uncle that he had had the greatest part and even to return him the Lie That Princes Sword had punished him at the same time if Heaven had not reserved him for a more infamous chastisement He was therefore seized upon some weeks after as he was coming to the Council this was on the Tenth of March put in prison in the Tower of the Louvre and from thence transferr'd into that of the Temple The prosecution being slow it was discover'd that his Wife abused by some Enchanters sought to bewitch or charm the King and make him languish to death by means of some waxen Images Those rascals being taken the King gives him up to the Law There were four chief Heads of accusation against him his having alter'd the Coins loaden the people with Taxes stollen several great sums and degraded the Kings Forrests His Process was made in the Bois de Vincennes by the Lords Pairs and Barons of the Kingdom who condemned him to the Gallows the Saturday before the Festival of the Ascension The Saturday following he was transferr'd from the Temple to the Chastelet and from thence they carried him to Montfaucon Where
stickled for her but the Grandees of the Kingdom and the Pairs assembled in Parliament towards the Feast of the Purification confirmed the Right of the Males and gave Judgment in favour of Philip. Who well attended went to be Crowned at Reims the Ninth day of January the Gates of the City being shut fearing some might have come to make opposition The Bishop of Beauvais though only a Count-Pair carried the Precedency from him of Langres who hath the Title of Duke The Estates being Assembled at Paris where were present most part of the Lords the Deputies of Corporations and Cities and above all the Burghers and the University of Paris gave their Oaths to the Chancellor Peter d'Arablay afterwards Cardinal not to acknowledge any other King but Philip and his Heirs Male to the Exclusion of Females Robert II. Earl of Artois had had a Sister named Mahaut and a Son named Philip. Mahaut was Married with Othelin Earl of Burgundy and from that Marriage were issued two Daughters whom the Fair gave unto two of his Sons Now Philip died in the War of Flanders before his Father but he left a Son who was named Robert as his Grandfathers name The Earldom of Artois ought to have belonged to this same however the Fair had adjudged it to Mahaut upon this pretence that it was not a Fief Masculine and that according to the Custom of those Countries Representation did not take place Robert Armed himself during the Regency of the Long and got himself into the possession by force but the business being examined the Lands were sequestred into the hands of the King and at last adjudged to Mahaut whose Daughter Philip the Long had Married This partial or interested Judgment caused a world of mischief Year of our Lord 1318 c. For three several times in less then Eighteen Months they began a War against the Flemmings and three several times it ended in a Truce Eudes Duke of Burgundy could not forbear mentioning the wrong they did to young Jane by detaining the Kingdom of Navarre and the Earldoms of Brie and Champagne from her The Long desiring to appease him gave him his Daughter also named Jane in Marriage with the Earldom of Burgundy Year of our Lord 1318 Notwithstanding this tie Eudes insisted so highly for his Neece that the King was obliged to Marry her to Philip the Son of Lewis Earl d'Euvreux this Lewis was Paternal Uncle to the King with the Rights she could have to the Kingdom of Navarre and the Earldoms of Brie and Champagne The great Peril France was in after the death of Hutin about the doubt of Succession and the cruel War that had afflicted Scotland for a business almost of the same nature after the decease of Alexander IV. was cause that upon the renewing the Alliance which was made between the two Crowns they added this Condition That if ever there hapned any difference for the Succession of one of those two Kingdoms he of those two Kings that should survive should not suffer any other to step into the Throne but him that should have the Judgment of the Estates for him that he should come in Person to defent it and should oppose whomsoever would contend for the Crown against him Year of our Lord 1319 The Countess Mahaut was so obstinately bent to change the Customs of the Country of Artois that the Lords and Commonalties revolted against her and nevertheless they got nothing by it being subdued by the Assistance the King and the French Princes lent her Year of our Lord 1319 The Citizens of Verdun molested by Thomas de Blamont their Bishop put themselves under protection of the King A fourth time Robert de Bethune Earl of Flanders broke the Truce but Ghent and the other Cities in his Country who in all these Wars had gotten a Power that counterbalanced his being risen up in Arms against him he was fain to consent that the Popes Legat who was a Cardinal and had been chosen Arbitrator should come to Paris the following Spring Year of our Lord 1320 The Peace was then concluded the Twentieth of May. The Cities of Douay L'Isle and Orchies remained to the King The Flemmings obliged themselves to pay Thirty thousand Florins of Gold and gave Oath not to assist their Earl in case he contraven'd to this Agreement The King promised his Daughter Margares to Lewis Earl of Nevers and Retel Son of another Lewis eldest Son of Earl Robert upon condition he should succeed his Grandfather in the Earldom of Flanders though his Father should die before his Grandfather Year of our Lord 1319 20. The Gibbelins growing powerful in Italy Pope John XXII solicited the King so earnestly that he sent thither his Son Philip Earl of Valois who was afterwards King to relieve Vercel whom the Sons of Matthew Viscount Lord of Milan held besieged He had but Fifteen hundred Horse but the Pope Robert King of Sicilia the Florentines and other Guelphs were to send him Forces to make up a great Army while he was at Mortara Matthews eldest Son had so wrought upon his Lieutenant by Money and upon himself by submission and fair words that he persuaded him to return into France without once drawing his Sword after he had made I know not what kind of Treaty which plaistered up a reconciliation between the two Factions in Lombardy Year of our Lord 1320 A like Frenzy to that we have already seen in the time of St. Lewis seized the Peasants and Pastorels for the recovery of the Holy Land upon the instigation of a renounced Monk and a Priest put out from his Cure They made their Muster in the Pre an Clerks at Paris marched into Aquitain from thence to Languedoc Massacring the Jews every where and Plundering their Magazines The Earl de Foix gave them Chase so smartly that he dispersed them all Robert de Cassel second Son of the Earl of Flanders having accused Lewis his elder Brother that he would have poysoned his Father Lewis was made Prisoner his Servants and Confesser put to Torture but not being able to make out any proof he was set at liberty but upon condition however that he should never enter into the Country of Flanders By this means Robert would chalk out his way to the Succession to the prejudice of his elder Brother History has not thought it unworthy its Remarks that in this year 1320. the Prevost of Paris named Henry Capperel for having caused an innocent but poor Fellow to be Hanged in the stead of a Rich Man condemned for great Crimes was by a Sentence of Parliament tied up to the same Gibbet We every day see his parallels save the rich Man that is guilty and punish his innocent Purse The Lepers did not give only a horror to all the World but envy likewise because they enjoy'd great Wealth and that loathsom Distemper did not render them uncapable of enjoying their pleasures add that they paid no Subsidies wherewith
Heresies already sowed in France For Anno 1492. the Morrow after Corpus-Christi Day a Priest who was hearing Mass at Nostre Dame snatched away the Host from the Celebrator after the Consecration and cast it on the ground to trample it under foot And in Anno 1502. a Picard Scholar Native of Abbeville committed the like Fact on Saint Lewis's Day in the Holy Chappel Both were seized immediately and some days after burnt alive in the Market aux Cochons without any signs of Repentance the first having his Tongue torn out the second his Hand cut off upon the very place where they brake the holy Wafer King Lewis XII having a great contest with Pope Julius II. demanded a general Council to reform the Church both in its Head and in its Members and caused one to be assembled at Pisa by the Suggestion and with the assistance of certain Cardinals dissatisfied with that Pope The said Council was soon driven from thence and retired to Milan from whence they were likewise forced to remove and came to end their days at Lyons That whole Affair was very ill managed the Pope opposed him with another Council which he assembled at Lateran and this being grown the more powerful did in the end constrain Lewis XII to renounce his and those Cardinals and Bishops that had been the Promoters of it to humble themselves before his Holiness to obtain Absolution The Officers of the Parliament of Provence having been all excommunicated by the Pope in this Council because they had hindred the execution of his Orders if they had not approved of the others and because they acted daily several things which in those times were taken to be designs The King desired they might submit and that Lewis de Souliers his Ambassadour to the Council having their special Procuration should in their Name formally disown all they had done against the Liberties of the Church against the respect due to the Holy See promise that for the future they would be more circumspect that they should ratifie this Submission within four Months and that he should desire their Absolution which was granted them The same Council had likewise cited the Prelates of France to come and shew the reasons why they still justified and maintained the Pragmatique It is probable they would to his Decrees have opposed or alledged the Liberties of the Gallican Church but Francis I. very far from supporting them did himself abandon that which his Predecessors had defended with so much resolution and firmness and passed or agreed to the Concordat with Leo X. of which we have made mention in the year 1516. The smart of so great and desperate a wound made the Clergy the Parliament and the University cry out in vain those two great Powers being now joyned together valued not their Complaints The Clergy had protested to take all Opportunities for the making of Remonstrances to the King for the Re-establishment of Elections this they pursued very well four or five times under King Henry III. and Henry IV. but at length they grew weary whether believing they were no longer obliged to labour to no end or that several of the Bishops gave it over in Charity to themselves as ☜ knowing they should never have attained the Preferments they enjoy'd if the right of Elections had been restored The Authors of the Novel Opinions spared no pains to convey and plant their Doctrines in the remotest Provinces Printing was a great help to bring their Works to light and make them spread the Zealots were at the charge of Printing and Dispersing them and the Country Pedlers whom they paid very well had always some of these new-fashion Wares in their Packs which they shewed for great Rarities to the curious and inquisitive Their Disciples crept into the Universities where under colour of teaching the Law or Greek or Hebrew they instilled their Doctrine into the hearts of the younger fry Others more polite and more dexterous insinuated into the Society of Women and studied to gain their favour that they might gain their belief Thus they gained an Absolute Power over Anne de Pisseleu Dutchess d'Estampes Mistriss of Francis I. over Margaret Queen of Navarre and over Renée of France Daughter of good King Lewis XII There were others who endeavour'd to get into the Houses of such Bishops as they believed to be most susceptible of their fancies James le Fevre Native of Estaples a little Town in Boulonois who was not Doctor in Divinity at Paris as many will have it at least he is not to be found in the Registry of that Faculty William Farel a Daufinois Arnold and Gerard Roussel Picards fell in about the year 1523. with William Briconnet Bishop of Meaux and entangled his Mind so with those dangerous Opinions that he began to own and Preach them There was the same year in that City a Wool-Comber by Name John le Clere who had the Impudence to say That the Pope was the Anti-Christ he was Whipped for it by the hands of the Hang-man and Banished the Kingdom This Punishment corrected him not he went to Mets to vend his Wares and was there Burnt for having broken down some Images Lewis Berquin Artesian by Birth a powerful Genius according to the Sentiment of Erasmus suffer'd a like Death at Paris the One and twentieth of April in Anno 1528. Now the Bishop of Meaux being charged with the Crime of Heresie retracted upon the first Admonition having before-hand sent away his Doctors amongst whom Arnold was so terribly scared that he continued a good Catholick ever after Gerard made his escape to Luther Farel went to Zuinglius at Zurich and le Fevre to Nerac to Queen Margaret The two others came also thither some time after and there began to form a new Church wherein they used no Mass nor observed the Canonical hours for Prayer but communicated by taking Bread and Wine and giving it to all that were present in the same manner said they as Jesus Christ and the Apostles had practised Before and after they made Sermons wherein they explained the Word of God They called it Preaching and their way of taking the Eucharist Manducation The Queen went amongst them and sometimes led her Husband thither who was very submissive to her Will and no less Zealous against the Authority of the Pope because that had furnished the Spaniard with a fair pretence to Invade the Kingdom of Navarre In the mean time Anthony Duprat Archbishop of Sens Cardinal and Legate Year of our Lord 1528 employ'd the whole Authority both of the Church and King to restrain this licentiousness he assembled a Provincial Council in the City of Paris Anno 1528. where appeared Six of his Suffragants and a Delegate from the Seventh They there propounded the Catholick Doctrines and condemned Luther's they Prohibited all Nocturnal Assemblies and the Reading of any Heretical Books with Excommunication against them their Abettors and Adherers On their part
they sought by all manner of ways to make some impression upon the Mind of King Francis I. A Curate of the Parish of Saint Eustache named le-Cog Preached one day before him and speaking of the Mystery of the Eucharist told them that they must lift up the heart towards Heaven where Jesus Christ sat at the right hand of God his Father not bow down to the Altar and for this reason said he does the Church sing Sursum Corda those Doctors that were present would not let the Proposition pass so but obliged him to retract That King had a mighty tenderness for his Sister Margaret and was no less fond of good Learning when he met with it amongst the Ingenuous and the Beaux Esprits the Novators employ'd both the one and the other to draw him over to them At that very time which was in the year 1533. Philip Melancthon a man of as rare a Genius as any of that Age propounded to compose all the Disputes and Differences in Religion and did condescend to many Points in favour of the Catholicks in so much that if things of that Nature could have admitted of a Division he would have shared the Differences to have reconciled the Parties The King who had some interest to make himself considerable amongst the German Princes and to whom it would have gained Immortal Honour to have become the Arbitrator of Christendom wrote to him by William du Bellay Langey whom he sent into that Country That he Passionately desired to see him that he should be most extremely Welcom if he would come and confer with his Divines for the Reconciliation and Re-union of the Church and the Re-establishment of the ancient Polity which he desired to embrace with all Affection But the Cardinal de Tournon and the Divines of Paris apprehending the Consequences of this enterview to be like the opening of a Gap in the Sheep-cote to one whom they looked upon as a Ravenous Woolf made such frequent and such pressing Remonstrances to the King that he gave Melancthon notice he did excuse him from taking so great a trouble upon him They likewise hindred him from reading the Book of Calvin's Institutions which the Author had dedicated to him in Anno 1535. and withal engaged him to send for his Sister Margeret and her Doctors to come to Court They were brought thither together with her by Charles de Coucy-Buric the King's Lieutenant in Guyenne imbued with the same Sentiments as that Princess He privately gave her fraternal Correction and Admonition and sent her Doctors to Prison but so soon as they retracted he released them upon condition they should never dare again to approach the said Princess Notwithstanding he restored her Roussel to her whom she had provided with the Bishoprick of Oleron and the Abbey of Clairac with which he passed the remainder of his days in an apparent exercise of the Catholick Religion and a most exemplary Holiness of Life and Conversation if his inside were equal to his outward deportment and his heart as sincere as his tongue seemed Pious As for the Queen she protested to her Brother never to depart more from the Catholick Religion and shewed her self much an Enemy to those that opposed it nevertheless towards the end of her days which was in Anno 1549. she seemed to repent of her Repentance and desired Calvin by Letters to come both to instruct and to comfort her but he did not judge there would be any security for him in the Journey and ever chusing rather to expose his Counsel than his Person in case of danger he would not stir out of Geneva which was his main Fortress We have formerly told you who this Calvin was his Birth his Beginnings and his Progress It is worthy our Observation that in Anno 1534. he held his first Synod at Poitiers in a Garden and from thence sent his Disciples forth to other Cities to plant his new Gospel Those that have seen him write that his Speech his Gestures and his Presence were but little taking in the Pulpit but his Books manifest that no man in his time had so Eloquent a Pen as his His manners were much more regular than Luther's he appeared sober frugal continent setled edifying both by his Discourse and his Example notwithstanding he was by Nature surly violent jealous injurious and implacable towards any that opposed him In the year 1535. the Citizens of Geneva having withdrawn themselves from the dominion of their Bishop who was also their Temporal Lord and then from that of the Roman Church called in Calvin and Farel to be their Pastors Scarce had they been nestled there two years and a half when some difference arose between them and the Magistrates of the City who drove them out this was in the year 1538. but absent as they were they still maintain'd their Cabal and their Party was so strong they were recalled again in Anno Year of our Lord From the year 1535. 1541. After than Calvin never left it more having as it were established his Pontifical seat in that place from whence he governed his whole Party as well in Temporals as Spirituals Farel could not long comply with him and retired into Switzerland As Calvins temperament was very severe and an Enemy to all divertisements that besides he must needs have observed how the Lutherans instead of having retrenched their Luxury Debaucheries and Oppressions had rather increased them he thought it would be much better to use more strictness in reforming those irregularities so to gain Proselytes by the specious appearance of Austerity He therefore forbad all Oaths which then were grown very horrible and very frequent not permitting his to affirm otherwise then by the word verily he prohibited Dancing Cabarets Gaming-houses and Usury he punished Fornication and Adultery with death and recommended modesty of Habits Frugality and Temperance that so those of his Sect might appear to be really reformed and the Catholicks by opposition much more irregular and much more dissolute The number of his followers encreased daily they held their Assemblies by night in Cellars or in solitary places and had Advertisers who went from house to house to give them notice of the place and time Francis I. a very merciful Prince was not over rigorous to them till in the year 1535. when they lost all respect to him as well as to things Holy and Sacred Some over Zealous amongst them being angry because he would not hear Melancton nor read the works of their Calvin posted up certain very scandalous placards against him and against his Religion and scatterd'd divers very injurious Libels even upon his Table and on his very Bed nay there were those that cut off the Arms and heads of some Images So that being exasperated to the highest degree by this audacious Saerilege he quitted Blois where he then was and came to Paris where after he had given order to seize upon a good many of
the Disputes of the Donatists in Africk There was one at Colen in 346. which condemned Euphratas the Bishop of that City who denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ One at Arles in 353. One at Beziers in 356. One at Paris An. 362. All three for the business of the Arians The two first were favourable to them against S. Athanasius the Third condemned them One at Valence in the year 374. about Discipline One at Bourdeaux in 385. to whom Priscllians Cause having been referr'd by the Emperor Gratian that Heretick perceiving cleerly he was going to be condemned appealed to the Tyrant Maximus but it was to his great misfortune One at Treves the year following where Bishop Itacus was accused for having contrary to the Spirit of the Church prosecuted Priscillian and his Abettors to the death his Party or Cabal caused his bloody proceedings to be approved which notwithstanding were condemned by the most Conscientious Bishops One at Turin An. 397. Upon the desires of the Gallican Bishops to compose the differences about Proculus de Marseille and that of the Bishop of Arles and Vienne Proculus pretended to Ordain Bishops in some of the Churches in Provence which had been dismembred from his or himself had instituted they allowed him that Honour for himself only the Bishops of Arles and Vienna disputed the Right of Metropolitain it was divided between them by provision This Cause having been transferred to the Holy Chair and judged variously by three or four several Popes was determined by Symmachus Ann. 513. who conformably to the Sentence of Leo adjudged to Vienne only the Bishopricks of Valence Tarentaise Geneva and Grenoble and all the rest to Arles Our Margent not allowing room enough to set down all the Popes without incumbrance it was thought necessary to place them in the Page with the Kings in the same Reigns wherein they sate in the Holy Chair Though for those of this Fourth Age it seems more fit to range them here to the time of Pharamond Silvester I. therefore held the Chair from the 1 of February An. 314. till the last of December in the year 336. In the time of his Pope-ship Constantine the Great was Converted to the Faith and the Holy Nicean Council was Assembled An. 324. Marcus Governed from the 16th of January following to the 7th of October of the same year Julius the I. from the 27th of the same Month to the 13th of April of the year 352. Liberius from the 8th of May to the 3 of September in the year 367. Damasius from the 15th of that Month to the 11th of December An. 384. In 381. was the Council of Constantinople Siricius was Pope from the 12th of January to the 24th of February An. 398. Anastasius from the 14th of March of the same year till about the end of April An. 402. Innocent I. from the 14th of May to the 28th of July in the year 417. And Zosimus from the 18th of August to the 26th of December An. 418. The First Race Pharamond King I. POPES BONIFACE in December 418. S. almost Five years CELESTINE I. The 3 of Nov. 423. S. 8 years 5 Months whereof Five years in this Reign Year of our Lord 412 DURING the great Revolt of the Armoricâ—e or Maritime People who were those of the coast of Flanders Picardy Normandy and Bretagne which hapned towards the end of the year 412 The French King being joyned with them occupied that part of Germania Secunda named Ripuaria and the People Ripuarians or Ribarols The Romans by Treaty or otherwise left them the free Possession thereof and it was a little after this that Pharamond began to Reign We find in the Historians of those times that the French had had several Kings before him I do not speak of those of the Monk Hunibaud they being as Fabulous as the Author But we find towards the year 288. Genebaud and Atec who came to Treves to Demand a Peace of Maximian An. 307. Ascaric and Rhadagâ—ise whom Constantine took in War and whom he exposed to wild Beasts as a punishment for that having given their Faith to Constantius his Father they had nevertheless taken up Arms again In the year 374. one Mellobaudes who being Grand Master of the Militia and Count of the Palace to the Emperour Gratian flew and vanquished Macrian King of the Almans and did the Empire many other Services About the year 378. one Richemer who had the like Office under Gratian as Mellobaudes An. 382. One Priam or Priarius whom some will have to be the Father or Grandfather of Pharamond In the year 397. Marcomir and Sunnon Brothers the first of which Stilicon banished into Tuscany and caused the other to be Massacred by his own People when he attempted to stir to Revenge the exile of his Brother And An. 414 or 415. One Theodemer Son of Richemer who was Beheaded with his Mother Ascila for having attempted against the Empire Nevertheless common Opinion hath ever begun to reckon the Kings of France from Pharamond whether because the preceding ones had never had any fixed abode in Gaul or because he re-established the Royalty amongst the French In effect it seems the Romans had in some manner subjugated this Nation and after the Treatment they had shewn to Marcomir and Sunnon and Theodemer they would no longer suffer them to have any Kings Year of our Lord 1418 He began to Reign not in 424. which is the common opinion but in the year 418. very remarkable for a great Eclipse of the Sun It may be doubted whether Pharamond be a proper Name or whether it be only an Epithet which signifies that he was as it were the Father and the Stock of the French Nation For Pharamond in the German Language imports Mouth of Generations For the manner of the inauguration of the French Kings the Lords or Chief Heads having Elected them or at least approving them set them up on a great Shield or Target and caused them to be carried into the Field where the People were Assembled in Arms who confirmed this choice with acclamations and applause The same Ceremony was practised for Emperours and Gothish Kings The Scottish Historians begin the Kingdom of Scotland An. 422. with King Fergus from whom they derive the succession of their Kings though withal they will have us believe that he only restored it and that it was first begun or formed 330 years before the Nativity of JESUS CHRIST from which time it lasted till the days of the Tyrant Maximus who ruined it about the year 378. Year of our Lord 427 The Vandals who had passed out of Gaul into Spain were from thence called into Africk by Count Boniface Revolted against the Empress Placidia They went over to the number of 80000 only under the Conduct of their King Genseric and within seven or eight years drove the Romans totally from thence and setled their own Kingdom there Year of our Lord 428 The Romans drive the French beyond
That the Saint Ampoulle i. e. Holy Oyl was conveyed at his Baptism by a Celestial Dove That the Shield Semé with Flower-de-Luces and the Standard Royal de l'Oriflamme were by an Angel deposited in the hands of a good Hermit living in the solitudes of Joyenval near St. Germans en Laye That he had the Gift of Healing the Evil and made proof of it upon Lanicet his Favourite But God made him a more extraordinary and more excellent Present than all those when he bestowed upon him the Heavenly Knowledge of the Orthodox Faith there being amongst all the Princes upon Earth none but himself that did not live either in Error or Idolatry This Conversion did him no little Service towards keeping the Gauls who were all Christians in Obedience and to allure others who were Subjects to the Gothick and the Burgundian Princes whose Government was odious to them because they would compel them to follow the Opinion of Arrius The zeal of Christianity did not allay his Warlike heats Gondesigilus having promised if he would assist him in suppressing his Brother Gondebaud to share the spoil with him he fell with his Army upon the Burgundians Countrey Gondesigilus Year of our Lord 500 pretending he was mightily scared sent to pray his Brother to come to his assistance Gondebaud failed not but when it came to the Battle which was fought on the borders of the River L'Ouche near Dijon Gondesigilus went over to the French and began to Assault him Gondebaud finding it was a thing designed betwixt them fled to Avignon Clovis pursues and besieges him there The Sage Aredius Principal Counsellor to Gondebaud cunningly contrives to do his Master Service upon this occasion the Siege spinning out to some length he pretends to desert him and renders himself to Clovis with whom he manages Affairs so wisely as that King agrees to a Composition and Gondebaud becomes his Tributary Year of our Lord 500 and 501. When Clovis was out of that Countrey and perhaps employ'd in other business Gondebaud scorning to pay him the Tribute assembles his Forces together and besieges Gondesigilus in Vienne One Fontenier whom they had thrust out amongst the useless People discovered to him the mouth of an Aqueduct by which way he sent in some Men who surprized the City his Brother having sheltred himself in a Church belonging to the Arrians was there slain together with a Bishop of the same Belief Thus Gondebaud remained sole King of all Burgundy Year of our Lord Towards 502 or 503. It is my opinion during these years that the French as Procopius tells us not having been able to subdue the Armoricae betwixt the Seinè and the Loire did incorporate with them by a mutual Confederacy which of two made them bat one People The Roman Garrisons not being strong enough either to Retreat or to Defend themselves restored their Towns to them but did not quit the Countrey where they for a long time afterwards retained their Laws their Discipline and Habits The Citizens of Verdun being Revolted it is not said for what reason Clovit being ready to force them the Prayers of Euspice Arch-Deacon of that City a Man of a very Holy Life allayed his Wrath and obtained their Pardon I cannot tell precisely in what year hapned that which Procopius relates how Clovis and Theodoric King of the Ostrogoths having made an agreement together to conquer Burgundy and divide it upon condition that if either of the two Armies did not meet at a certain time appointed they should pay a certain Sum to the other the Visigoths made no great haste but left the French to bear all the brunt then coming when the hottest work was over and the Countrey subdued took their share of the Conquest paying the Sum as had been stipulated Year of our Lord 503 or 504. Neither the one nor the other held those Countreys long but restored them entire to Gondebaud who afterwards made a strict Alliance with Clovis against the Visigoths There is great likelyhood that it was in these peaceable days that Clovis laboured to reform the Salique Law which having been made by the French when Pagans might contain many things contrary to the manners and Laws of Christianity This Law was only for the French in his own Kingdom for those of Colen had another which we find to this day by the name of the Law of the Ripuarians conformable notwithstanding in many particulars to the Salique Law Year of our Lord 506. And the following Two Kings powerful and young as were Clovis and Alaric could not be long Neighbours and good Friends Divers petty differences set them at variance by the secret practises of the Bishops of Aquitain who being troubled they should obey Alaric an Arrian Prince pushed on Clovis to a Rupture The Two Kings had an Enterview and discoursed each other in the Island D'Or nigh Amboise between the City of Tours which belonged to the Visigoths and that of Orleance appertaining to the French This Meeting salved up their quarrel for a time and Theodoric King of the Ostrogoths Father-in-law to Alaric and Brother-in-law to Clovis undertook to make them agree but as great a Polititian as he was he could not restrain the Ardour of Clovis This Conquerour knowing the Visigoths were softned or effeminated by a long Peace and having made sure of Gondebaud by a League contracted betwixt them resolved to Attaque Alaric under the specious pretence of Religion the French followed him with great cheerfulness those of Aquitain invited Year of our Lord 507. 507 and him Heaven conducted him by visible Signs and Miracles Immediately the City of Tours surrenders to him Alaric who was getting his Forces together at Poitiers le ts him pass along to Vienne then imprudently resolves to give him Battle it was in the Plains of Vouglay Ten miles from Poitiers Clovis having exhorted his Soldiers Armed them with the Sign of the Cross and for the Word gave them the Name of the Lord. Alaric's Army was defeated and he slain in the Fight by Clovis's his own hand The vanquisher divided his Army in two Bodies with the one his Son Thierry makes himself Master of Albigeois of Rouergne of Quercy and of Auvergue and himself with the other of Poitou of Saintonge all Bourdelois and Burdeaux it self where he passed the Winter then in the Spring of Thoulouse wherein was the Treasure Year of our Lord 508 of the Visigoths At his return he took the City of Angoulesme the Walls whereof sell down before him in fine of all the Three Aquitains the Catholicks casting themselves into his Arms to be freed from the yoak of the Arrians At the same time Gondebaud pursuant to the Treaty made with Clovis Conquered the two Narbonnoises and the City of Narbona from whence he drove Gesali◠Year of our Lord 508 so was called the Bastard Son of Alaric who had seized on the Kingdom of the Visigoths because Almaric the Legitimate Son born of
and from whence came about Eighteen or Twenty good Friars who spread themselves in several Countreys where they are all at present prayed to as Saints nor the good Hermit Severin whom Clovis being long sick of a Fever caused to come from the Monastery d'Agaune that he might be healed by his Prayers Nor that other named Maixan who had his little Cell in that part of Poitou whereon there is built an Abby and at length a Town of his Name Clovis resetled the Bishopricks in Belgica bestowed great Possessions on the Church and built many The French who were Converted imitated his Pious Examples I do not know whether before his Reign there were many Parish Churches in the Countrey but since his time we find great numbers and likewise many Oratories in which the Sacraments were not administred We need not tell you that the Titles of Pope of Father of the Church of Beatitude and of Beatissimus of Holiness of Sovereign-Priest of Servant of the Servants of God of Apostolique were common to all the Bishops nor that almost every one of them erected Monasteries in their Episcopal Cities They often elected Widowers and Married Men provided they had been so but once and to a Maiden The Vote of the People passed in these things for a Call from God they were bound to obey and to live with their Wives as with their Sisters if they had any Children or Nephews that were Wise and Learned they often succeeded them Their Election was made by the Clergy of their Church and by the People the Confirmation by the comprovincial Bishops principally by the Metropolitan and never without him They were to have regard only to Merit oftentimes they considered his Birth and even in those early days there were some wicked enough to make use of Bribes and Corruption Simony is the most antient or first and will be the last of Heresies In all Ages it hath stuck like Rust on the Church the others did not make any great mischief in Gall during this age That of Eutyches did not extend so far but the Condemnation of him by the Council of Chalcedon was sent by Pope Leo I. who before had demanded the Suffrages of the Bishops the more to authorize that celebrated Letter which he wrote to the Council The Monk and Priest Leporius hatched an Heresie almost the same as that which Nestorius maintained since but having been for that reason expelled from his Church at Marseilles he retracted in Writing Anno 425. That of Pelagius a Monk of Great Britain who began to dogmatize towards the year 412. was first discovered by two of the Gallican Bishops named Heros and Lazarus who prosecuted his condemnation first in Palestine afterwards in Africa After St. Augustin had trampled that proud Heresie in the Dirt which made the Salvation of Man depend upon his own strength no body in France durst openly embrace it But in Provence there were Priests and Monks who framed a middle Opinion between that Error and the Doctrine of this great Bishop they were called Semipelagians As for Councils they were often held by Order from the Emperours and Kings Sometimes the desire of the Pope the request of a Metropolitan that of a single Bishop or the least occasion caused them to assemble It is not known in what place that was held which Anno 429. sent St. German and St. Lupus into England to oppugne the Errors of the Pelagians nor that which Anno 444. deposed Chelidonius Bishop of Besancon because he had been married to a Widow and had been assisting in Judgment of matters criminal but it is well known that the Council at Riez was held in 439. The first at Orange in 441. That of Vaison in 442. That of Angiers in 443. The second of Axles towards the year 452. The third of the same place Anno 455. That of Tours 461. That of Vannes 465. The fourth of Arles 475. That of Agde Anno 506. and that of Orleans the first that was celebrated under a French King Anno 511. All these Councils were composed only of the Bishops of the Province where they were held excepting that of Agde and that of Orleance whereof the first comprehended the three Aquitanes and the two Narbonnoises as yet subject to Alaric King of the Visigoths and the other of the three Aquitanes newly conquered by the French and the second third and fourth Lyonnoises for the first belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy At the third of Arles that Error was condemned which they call the Predestinati and there was another called at Lyon for the same purpose but both by the pursuit of Faustus de Riez who was a Semipelagian At the fourth of Arles was Treated concerning the difference of Foustus Abbot of Lerins with the Bishop Theodorus and there they made for the first time a notable breach upon the Authority of the Bishops in limiting their power over Monasteries they had ever had it entire even to that degree that they had the power of placing Abbots and to chuse them out of any of the Clergy In these Councils several Canons were made for Ordinations to prevent the encroachments the Bishops made upon one another to preserve the Rights the Priviledges and the Goods belonging to the Church To regulate the Functions of the Clergy hinder them from Pleading before Secular Judges Repress Usury and the liberty of running out of their Diocess To preserve the Chastity of Virgins and Widows touching Homicides and false Witnesses touching Penances and the Penitents touching the Holiness and Celibacy which the Priests and Deacons ought to observe To the same end tended the Epistles of the Popes Innocent Zozimus Boniface Celestin Leons Simplicius Felix Gelasius Anastasius Symmachus which they generally directed to the Bishop of Arles as their Vicar to be sent to the other Gallican Bishops As there were no great Bishopricks in Gaul the Gallican Church was much more submissive and subjected to those Bishops of Rome then the Eastern ones or those of Africk but yet much less then the Italians There was often recourse had to them upon the greatest occasions they were consulted withal touching the usages and meaning of the Canons and afterwards when they found that their Answers were held for Decisions they Ordained what they thought good even before they were consulted withal They made themselves immediate Judges of all Disputes between Bishops before the Cause had been brought to the Metropolitan intermedled in bounding their Territories and Jurisdictions deposed those that were not well Ordained or were Criminal and compelled them to trudge to Rome to prosecute their business before them The Power they had by the Primacy of their See to cause the Canons to be duly observed advanced them to this great Authority but the Bishops took great care they should not be infringed and themselves acknowledged they were obliged to walk by them Childebert I. King VI. POPES Year of our Lord 512 HORMISDA The 26 th of July 414. S.
of Soissons and Paris in Neustria CHILDEBERT II. called the Young aged Five years in Austrasia Year of our Lord 575 The death of Sigebert was followed with a suddain and general Revolution the Austrasians raised the Siege of Tournay and having joyned with those who were at Vitry they retired in confusion the Neustrians returned to the Obedience of Chilperic and Brunehaud found her self surrounded and cooped up in Paris where she then was with her Children and knew not how to get thence But the wisdom of the Duke Gombaud the greatest Lord of Austrasia found out a way to save the Pupil Childebert having let him down over the Walls in a Basket and put him into the hands of a faithful Person who himself carried him into the City of Mets. Already some of the Austrasians had made their Composition with Chilperic but the rest being assembled together in great numbers according to their custom set the young Prince upon the Royal Seat on New-years-day and put him under the protection of Gontran so that Chilperic lost his hopes of invading that Kingdom but he seized upon that of Paris and banished Brunehaud to Rouen and her two Daughters to Meaux Year of our Lord 576 He had sent Meroveus his eldest Son by Queen Audovere to seize upon Poitou which belonged to the Kingdom of Childebert Meroveus instead of putting this design in execution went to Tours and from thence to Rouen where he suffered himself to be so much surprized with the charms of Brunehaud as then aged at least 28 years that he Married her Pretextat Bishop of Rouen God-father to the young Prince making the Marriage The Father hastens thither and having by deceitful words drawn those so newly Wedded out of a Church where they had taken shelter he set a Guard upon Brunehaud and carried his Son away with him Mean time the Austrasian Lords who were come to submit to him returned again to Childebert Godin amongst others who to carry somewhat with him that might bid him welcom armed the Champanois and made himself Master of Soissons where he wanted but little of surprizing Fredegonda Chilperic was quickly there vanquishes him and re-takes the Town but Fredegonda believing that Godin had not undertaken so bold an enterprize without the participation of Meroveus and Brunehaud obliged her Husband to confine that young Prince and a while after to force him to turn Priest and send him to the Monastery of Aunisse which is called now St. Calas the name of its first Abbot The Austrasians demand their Queen Brunehaud with so much earnestness that Year of our Lord 576 he sent her to them and yet he could not forbear to invade the Lands of Childebert His Son Clovis took the Town of Saintes but the Duke Didier going to besiege that of Limoges met in his way the Patrician Mummole whom Gontran sent to Year of our Lord 577 defend the Country belonging to his Pupil the Fight was so obstinate that there were slain Thirty thousand on both sides three parts of them were Didier's who saved himself with much ado About the same time Meroveus escaped from the Monastery and secured himself in the Church called St. Martins of Tours prompted thereto by Gailen his most intimate Confident who was come to visit him and drawn by Gontran-Boson who had sheltred himself in that place as we have related The Step-Mother Ferdegonda favoured this Boson for the same reason that Chilperic would put him to death and maintained a private Commerce with him that he might destroy Meroveus as he had made his Brother Theodebert to perish The young Prince having notice that Fredegonda sought by all means to take away his life did not find himself there in security He goes out from thence accompanied with this Boson whose treachery he knew not of and would go to find out Brunehaud but the Austrasians refused to admit him he remained then some time concealed and a Vagabond in Champagne After which this Boson and Giles Bishop of Rheims upon the pretence of delivering up the City of Teroüenne to him made him fall into their Ambuscades surrounding and taking him Prisoner in a Village of which they gave immediate notice to Chilperic he went thither with Year of our Lord 577 all diligence but found that his unfortunate Son was dead he had been Poynarded by the order of Fredegonda who made him believe that apprehending he should be put to tortures he had borrowed the helping hand of Gailen his favourite to dispatch him A while before the Bishop Pretextat his Godfather was accused before the Bishops assembled in Councel at Paris where no proofs appearing strong enough against him touching what was alledged he suffers himself to be induced by two false Brothers upon an assurance the King would pardon him to confess more than they could desire for which he was banished to an Island near Coustances but with hopes of returning because he pretended he had not been degraded though they had placed Melantius in his See Death having snatched away the two Sons which Gontran had by Austrigilda his second Wife although he were not above the age of getting Children not being above Fifty he desired the Austrasians to bring his Nephew Childebert to him and Adopted him having placed him in his Royal Seat These two Princes being thus allied sent to Chilperic to demand their part of the Kingdom of Paris and declared War against him Chilperic did but scoff at them diverting himself in building of Cirques or places for publick Spectacles at Paris and at Soissons where he would have entertained the People with Chariot-races could he have found Charioteers that had skill enough The Bretons about the year 441. had possessed themselves of Vannes afterwards Year of our Lord 578 Clovis had taken that place again and likewise the Cities of Nants and Rennes at that time governed by Roman Captains This year 578. Waroc or Guerec a Count of Bretagne had the boldness to seize again upon Vannes which appertained to the Kingdom of Chilperic and march up to the French who were encamped on the Banks of the River Vilain They had some Companies of Saxons or Sesnes-Bessins in their Army one night he passes the River and beat up their Quarter but three days afterwards finding himself too weak for so potent an Enemy he desires Peace swore fealty to the King and renders up the City of Vannes upon condition he should remain Governor A short while after he again seizes it and so long as he lived put the French to a great deal of trouble Chilperic and his wicked Wife Fredegonda over-burthened the People with Imposts they had taxed an Amphore of Wine upon every half Acre of Vineyard several other Charges upon things of another kind and a Tribute upon the head of every Slave and indeed a kind of Poll-money for every Freeman insomuch that their Subjects ran away out of the Kingdom as a place of Torment and peopled
informed of it sent one of his Dukes who quashed that Design The Provinces suffered most horribly by the cruel Discord of these Kings the Soldiers who marched every where plunder'd burnt and put all to the Sword There was no Discipline but so uncontroul'd a License that the Soldiers would fly in the faces of their own Officers if they did but question or forbid them as soon as on the meanest fellow With this cruel Desolation Heavens sent a cruel Epidemical Disease which raged over all France but most fiercely over Paris and that Vicinage it was called Lues Inquinaria because it appeared in those parts it burnt those that were tainted with it with great pain and made an Escar in a short time like a Cautery the most part died howling and shreiking most horribly and there was no cure found but in the Churches and especially that of our Ladies Chilperic had besieged Melun and commanded three of his Dukes to attaque Year of our Lord 583 Bourges the Berryvians came forth to meet them and gave them Battle which was very bloody to both Parties Gontran who went in his own Person to fight Chilperic having met with a Body of his Men who had left the rest to get Plunder cut them all off Chilperic much cooled with this Rebuke caused some Propositions to be made towards an Accommodation and Gontran who was of a mild and peaceable Temper receives them with joy Chilperic thought with himself that now he should get him to joyn to oppress Childebert in whose Kingdom he had great intelligence by the means of the Bishop of Rheims but maugre all the intrigues of those Factious Spirits Gontran and Childebert were reconciled the Uncle restored that part of Marseilles which began the breach to his Nephew again and they formed a League together to recover at their joynt Charges and Expence those Cities belonging to Chereberts Kingdom which Chilperic had gotten from it Upon the point when Childebert was preparing himself to assault Chilperic the Emperor Mauritius for the Sum of 50000 Crowns of Gold ready Money obliges him to carry his Forces into Italy against the Lombards who held the City of Rome besieged The young Prince but Fourteen years of Age went in Person Their King Autaris did not oppose Force with Force but putting his Men into several places let the Torrent run on and that it might for ever be turned another way he yielded up his Kingdom to the French and became their Tributary It is fit we understand that in the year 584. the Lombards perceiving that the Emperor Mauritius would needs endeavour by all means to root them out of Italy they thought the best way to preserve themselves was to restore their State to a Monarchy again and made Autaris the Son of Clephus King But nevertheless their thirty Dukes kept as their Propriety and as Hereditary the Titles to those Cities they then held but so that they should be obliged in certain Services to him particularly to obey and follow him in time of War This is perhaps the true Original of that Knights Service or Fee so much searched after by the Curious at least it is said they were setled or establish'd according to the Custom of the Lombards Year of our Lord 584 After many Wars Chilperic thinking to enjoy some rest was Assassinated in the Court of his Palace of Chelles in Brie which hapned towards the end of September One Evening in the twilight as he was alighting from his Horse being come from Hunting accompanied with but few a Murtherer gave him two Stabs with a Knife one under his Arm-pit the other into his Belly An Author attributes this unhappy blow to Brunehaud but others accuses his Wife Fredegonda who was obliged say they to prevent him because he had discover'd her Adultery with a Lord named Landry History describes this King to us Proud Inhumane Malicious Dissembling and a great Projector of Imposts but Crafty Patient Magnificent and instructed with good Learning In our days have been found it was Anno 1643. a couple of Tombs just by one another under ground at the entrance into the Church of St. Germain des Prez the name of Chilperic which was written upon one of the two hath made it to be conjectured that it was his and the other his Wife 's however it be that other Tomb in the same Church whereon we see his Statue is a Cenotaph which hath been placed there in these last Ages Of so many Sons as he had gotten on divers Women there remained but one who was but four months old and had as yet no name he caused him to be Nursed at the Burrough of Vitry near Tournay for fear they should destroy him by Poyson or Witchcraft as he believed they had done the others He had likewise a Daughter by Fredegonda she was named Rigunta who was then on her way into Spain to meet with Ricarede the King eldest Son to Leuvigildus to whom she was betrothed When she was gotten to Thoulousa the news came of her Fathers Death Didier Duke of that Country rifled all her Equipage so that she went no farther but returned to her Mother to whom she gave a great deal of trouble being much like her in Humour and ill Qualities Clotair II. King X. POPES PELAGIUS II. S. Five years during this Reign St. GREGORY I. Called the Great chosen Sept. 590. S. thirteen years six months SABINIANUS In Sept. 604. S. five months nineteen days BONIFACE III. Chosen in Sep. 606. S. nine months BONIFACE IV. Chosen 607. S. six years eight months DEUS-DEDIT Elected in 614. S. three years BONIFACE V. Chosen in 617. S. nine years HONORIUS I. Elected 13 May 626. S. twelve years five months of which six years in this Reign Vncle Cousin Germans GONTRAN in Burgundy and part of Neustria CHILDEBERT in Austrasia CLOTAIR II. Aged four or five months in Neustria Year of our Lord 584 THe Conscience of the Crime and the fear of Childebert who was at that time at Meaux terrified Fredegonda so much that leaving part of her Treasure at Chelles she flies to Paris and thrusts her self for Sanctuary in the Church of Nostre-Dame under the Protection of the Bishop Gontran having heard of the death of his Brother came presently with great Company Childebert was set forward likewise to have gotten in but finding the place was possessed he retires to Meaux and sends Ambassadors to him to demand part of the Kingdom of Paris and then again some others to pray him to deliver up Fredegonda to him to punish her for the Murther of her Husband and of Meroveus and Clovis To the first he Replied That all the Kingdom of Paris belonged to him because his Brothers Sigebert and Chilperic had forfeited their shares by violating the Treaty of Agreement made between them three and as for the other he would refer it to an Assembly of the Estates which was to be held on a day appointed He remained two months at
Paris in which time Fredegonda knew so well how to sooth him that he took her and her Son into his Protection and ordered the Lords of Chilperic's Kingdom to repair to Vitry and acknowledge that Son for their King and to name him Clotaire however he appropriated most of the Kingdom of Paris to himself only the City of Paris excepted which he left to the young Child He afterwards employed himself in doing Justice to those that made complaints of the several violences of the deceased Chilperic and of all the Grandees belonging to that Kings Court who being unjust and griping to the utmost extremity had suffered all manner of Robberies and Spoil in them In fine believing himself Master of all France during the Minority of his Nephews he took possession of their Lands in Neustria as he pleased but in Austrasia his Power was not owned The hatred they had against Fredegonda did not diminish she durst not come out of her Asylum of Nostre-Dame wherefore he sent her to Van de Rueil near Rouen Being there in more security she began afresh to make use of Poyson and Poyniard they did several times apprehend and discover some Assassines which she was sending to Murther King Childebert and Brunehaud That Queen having detected one especially amongst the rest it was a Clerk after he had been put to many Tortures sent him back again to her in derision and she for shame and madness caused the Feet and Hands of this miserable Wretch to be cut off Two years after the beforementioned Gondebaud who was come from Constantinople Year of our Lord 535 had kept himself close and concealed in an Island at the mouth of the Rhosne Gontran-Boson the Patrician Mummole Didier Duke of Thoulouse Bladaste who had been beaten by the Gascons and some other Factious Heads sworn Enemies to King Gontran had persuaded him to take the Title of King listing him up upon the Target at Brine la Gaillarde The Lords of Childebert's Court several Bishops of Aquitain Brunehaud her self who desired him for her Husband favoured him openly enough and all the Country beyond the Garonne obeyed him The thing did particularly concern King Gontran he seared his Nephew Childebert might assist this Conspiracy which aimed at no less than to strip him it was by this Motive that he desired he would come to him and that he confirmed the Adoption before made putting his Javelin into his Hand At the same time he caused an Army to march into Aquitain under the Conduct of Leudegisile and the Patrician Egila Gondebaud knowing they approached shuts himself up with good store of Ammunitions in the strong City of Lyons de Cominges he was there besieged a while after The Fifteenth day of the Siege Mummole ever perfidious and the other Lords delivers him to the Besiegers thinking to purchase their Lives with the price of his In effect he was kill'd upon the place but they fared never the better for that Mummole was treated in the same manner as well as Bishop Sagittary as soon as they had orders from the King The City was sacked and destroy'd and remained buried in its Ruines till about the year 1005. when Bishop St. Bertrand whose name it bears Rebuilt it in the very same place but of a far less Circumference than before Year of our Lord 585 That War ended Gontran came to Paris to hold the little Clotair at the Font which was not performed this time Fredegonda keeping the Child at a distance and fearing that he desired to see it only to seize upon it and to shave it for he could not believe it was his Brothers Son so that to cure him of this doubt she sent him three Bishops and three hundred Notables who affirmed upon Oath that this little Prince was Legitimate Year of our Lord 584 and 85. The Prince Hermenigilda second Son of King Leuvigilda had Married Ingonde Daughter to King Sigebert The young Princess having Converted him to the Catholick Religion Goisuinte her Mother in Law used her outrageously Hermenigild her Husband had taken Arms against King Leuvigild his Father and being Leagued with the Sueves and the Greeks had trusted his Wife in the hands of these last Now not being able to resist his Father he had surrendred to his Mercy and the Father kept him miserably confined in close Imprisonment The Greeks seeing him detained retained his Wife also and Embarqued her to transport her to Constantinople Her Brother Childebert that he might obtain her Release of the Emperor sent a puissant Army to make War upon the Lombards but it being made up half of French and half Almains the Discord betwixt those two Nations made them trudge back again as they went without so much as seeing the Enemy Year of our Lord 585 Immediately after this it was known that Ingonde was dead in Affriâ—k and that Leuvigildus had caused her Husband to be Strangled King Gontran animated with a just Resentment against those Arrian Barbarians undertook to drive them out of Languedoc His Forces of the Kingdom of Burgundy besieged Nismes and those of Aquitain Carcassonne but there was so little Order and so much Licentiousness in both these Armies that they reaped nothing but shame nor did they make any feel the effects of War but their own fellow Subjects plundering and killing all the poor Peasants and indeed at their return the lower Countries being utterly destroy'd and the Bridges broken down some of them perished for Hunger others in passing over the Rivers nay above five thousand by their own Swords in the Contests one Company had against another almost every hour Year of our Lord 586 Leuvigildns broken with Age spared not either Prayers or Presents to obtain a Peace with Gontran but that King would never hearken to it he could not so soon forget the ill Treatment they had shewed to his Nephew nor the Affront he had received the year before from Recarede who had made Inroads and taken some Places in Provence Year of our Lord 587 Some while after this Leuvigildus dies but had before renounced Arrianism and his Recared or Richard professed the Catholick Religion and Established it amongst his People Year of our Lord 587 Before his Death he had practised some Intelligence with Fredegonde to rid themselves of their common Enemies he meant Childebert and Gontran who at that time were firmly united For Gontran having again declared Childebert his only Heir without making any rockoning of Clotair whom he counted a Bastard or one foisted in Fredegonda mortally hated them both and sought to thrust them out of the World Two Clerks were apprehended whom she had sent to assassinate Childebert with Poysoned Knives they were put to death by Torments their Noses Hands and Ears being cut off Year of our Lord 586 Every hour were such like Plots found out contrived by that wicked Woman Pretextat had been restored to his Bishoprick of Roüen by King Gontran she could not behold him without
execute upon her CLOTAIRE II. called the GREAT remains sole King Aged 32 or 33 years Year of our Lord 614 Thus for the Second time were all the parts of France restored to one hand but Clotaire himself Governed only Neustria for Austrasia and Burgundy would needs retain the Title of a Kingdom and their distinct Officers Varnaquier was Mayer of Burgundy Radom of Austrasia and they Ruled as Vice-Roys He had given the Office of Patrician or Governour in the Dutchy Transjurane to Duke Herpin a very good Man to settle things with Order and Justice The Grandees of the Countrey fearing the Reformation might extend to them caused him to be slain by the People Clotaire going expresly into Alsatia punished that crime by the death of many that were guilty The Patrician Aletea had tampered in it with Count Herpin and Lendemond Bishop of Sion beside he grew so impudent as to send to tempt the Queen by that wicked Bishop to throw her self into his Arms with all the Kings Treasure endeavouring to make her believe the King would dye that year infallibly and that he being of the Royal Blood of the Burgundians would recover the Kingdom of Burgundy The Queen sad and allarmed having related this feigned Prophesie to her Husband the Bishop made his escape into the Monastery of Luxeu He had the good fortune to obtain his Pardon by the intercession of the Abbot Eustaise but Aletea being Commanded to Court to give an account of his actions could not justify himself and paid down his Head for it Year of our Lord 614 15 and the following Clotaire heving no more Enemies made it all his business to regulate his Kingdom and establish Law and Justice All those that had unjustly been thrust out of their Estates he restored again he abolished all Imposts that had been made without the consent of the French People by Brunehaud and Thierry revok'd all excessive Grants and resumed all that had been Usurped or Alienated from the Demesnes of the Crown enlarging the Fountain of his Revenues at the same time when he eased his Subjects â—or he had learned by Brunehaud's example that those people can easily forsake that Prince who oppresses them Year of our Lord 619 And likewise that he might keep Peace abroad he released the Lombards of the 12000 Crowns of Gold which they owed him for Tribute provided they paid him down in hand what was due for three years only Year of our Lord 620 Queen Bertrude a very good and most amiable Princess being dead Anno 620. he espoused Sichilda of whom he became so jealous that he caused a Lord named Boson to be killed who he imagined held too great a correspondence with her His eldest Son whether by Bertrude or by some other was then about Twelve years old He placed him under the Tuition of Arnulphus or Arnold Bishop of Mets to instruct him in good Literature and Virtue Year of our Lord 622 and 623. The Book of the Gests of Dagobert relates how one day this young Prince Hunting a Buck and that Beast taking Covert in the place where as then were the Reliques of St. Denis and his Companions a Divine power with-held the Dogs so that they could never break into the place That Dagobert some while afterwards having incurred the indignation of his Father because he had chastised the insolencies committed against him by Sadragisile Duke of Aquitain who was made his Governour or Tutor and remembring this Miracle put himself for security into the same place and that he found the same effect against those Men the King his Father sent to take him thence In acknowledgment of which miraculous protection he took the Holy Bodies out of that little Chappel which was then but ill adorned and much neglected and built them a magnificent Church and a fair Abby This Narrative to say no more is much suspected of falsity Year of our Lord 623 Austrasia more exposed to the Barbarian Nations then the other parts of France needed to have a King upon the place Clotaire gave this Kingdom to Dagobert under the Regiment of Pepin the Old who was Mayre of the Palace the Moderns call him Pepin de Landen and Arnold Bishop of Mets but reserved to himself all the Ardennes and the Vosge with the Cities of Aquitain which the Kings of Austrasia had possessed CLOTAIRE II. in Neustria and Burgundy DAGOBERT his Son in part of Austrasia aged 15 years Dagobert was 15 or 16 years of age when he began to Reign whilst he followed the wise Counsels of Pâ—pin and Arnold and afterwards of Cunibert Bishop of Colen his Life was an exemplar of Wisdom of Continency and of Justice Year of our Lord 624 The Nation of the Vencdes and Sclavonians inhabited originally that part of the European Sarmatia which is at this day called Prussia from whence in process of time they spread from the Scythian Sea even as far as the Elbe and from the Elbe as far as Bavaria and Hungary nay even into Greece and occupied Dalmatia and Liburnia which from their Name have to this day the appellation of Sclavonia There were above Thirty people Sclavonians those who possessed Carinthia Carniola and the other Countreys along the Danube were under the Dominion of the Avarois who were gotten into the Lands which the Lombards had forsaken when they passed over the Alpes The places near Italy obey'd the Lombards there were some of them free those that were under the subjection of the Avarois finding it heavy and tyrannical cast off the yoak and chose for their King one named Samon a French Merchant Native of the Bishoprick of Sens who Traded into their Countrey and appeared to them to be a Man of a good Head-piece It is believed be resided in Carinthia and that from thence he extended his Kingdom to the Elbe and at length to the confines of Turingia Year of our Lord 626 The fourth year of his Reign Dagobert is sent for by his Father who Marries him with Gomatrude Sister of Sicbilda his Wife The Nuptials were kept at the Palace de Clichy where his Festival ended in a quarrel between the Father and Son The last would have what his Father reserved to himself of that which belonged to the Kings of Austrasia The business put to a reference of Twelve French Lords the Son gained what he demanded except the Cities of Aquitain St. Arnold quits the Court and his Bishoprick to retire into Solitude where he passed the remainder of his most happy Life Cunibert Bishop of Colen a Prelate of great Merit took his place in the Councils of Dagobert and the friendship of Pepin Varnaquier was Deceased and his Son Godin killed by the Kings Command upon an accusation of the crime de Lâ—sae Majestatis brought against him by his Fathers Wife whom he had Married but was forced to part withal because such Incest was punishable with death Clâ—taire assembles the Estates of Burgundy at Troyes and asked whether
in the Kings House or in the Houses of great Officers and Trained up to all noble Exercises more honourably then Pages are in these days The Kings Revenues consisted in Lands or Demeasns and in Imposts which were taken only of the Gauls for it was thought odious to take any of the French Some of them were levied in Moneys others in Goods When they made the Division of Lands into Acres or Furlongs the Kings for their shares had much of the best especially about and near the greatest Cities They made their Residence and built them Palaces in the most pleasant places and especially near some great Forests for they delighted in Hunting and made a general one every Autumn In all those places which they called Villae Fiscales they had Officers or Servants who were named Fiscalins and he that commanded them Dom stick There they laid in Stores of Provision as Wines Wheat Forage Meat especially Venison and Pork Amongst the Lords they always chose out some to eat at their Table and that was one step towards the highest Employments They only took the Quality of Illustrious which was common to all the Grandees of the Kingdom Sometimes the Title of Dominus was given them which was likewise ordinary to all that were any way considerable also of most Glorious most Pious most Clement and Precellentissime The Kings wrote their names under that of the Bishops when they wrote to them On the contrary Pope Gregory I. and the Emperor Mauritius preposed theirs before that of any Kings Gregory II. did not do so The Popes and Councils stiled them sometimes their Sons and sometimes the Sons of the Catholick-Church Their Male-Children in their young age were named Damoiseaux and at their Birth they gave some Fiscalins their Freedom in all the Lands and Houses belonging to the King their Father They oft took Wives of mean Birth and servile Condition on whom they did not bestow the Title of Queen till after they had born Children nor always then neither The Daughter of a King had that Title as soon as they were Married They had their Dower in Lands some Possessions in proper which their Kindred inherited their share of the Houshold Goods and great Officers just the same as the Kings had Oft times the Sons of France before they came to Reign were called Kings and the Daughters Queens There were but two Conditions of Men the Free or Ingenuous and the Slaves Amongst the Free there were Nobles who were so by Blood and by Antiquity not by Exemptions and amongst the Nobles the Grandees optimates I believe that those they called Majores were the Noble and the Minores those that were not so One knew not then what People of the Gown or Robe meant all the French made profession of bearing Arms Justice was rendred by People Armed their Battle-ax and Buckler hung upon a Pillar in the midst of the Malle In the Kings House it was the Count of the Palace that administred it sometimes the King himself took the Seat together with the Bishops and the Grandees and having heard Causes of highest concern pronounced Sentence himself In Villages the Centeniers in Cities the Counts and Dukes that gave Judgment without any thing of Pleadings or Writings They were called in general terms Judges and Seniors The Kings gave them these Offices for time and frequently continued them for Money Sometimes it was left to the People to chuse them and perhaps it was their Right There were no Degrees of Jurisdiction all judged without appeal because they took Cognisance of nothing but what was proportionable to their Degree It is true the Parties had a way of carrying their Complaints to the King if they believed they had not been judged according to Law but if the Complaint were not made good they were condemned is * Persons of Quality to a pecuniary Mulct the other to be Whipp'd The Counts and Dukes had Viguiers or Lieutenant-Generals who did Justice in their absence and several petty Viguiers which administred it in the Country They had Assessors whom they called Rachinbourgs they sat on every eighth or every fifteenth day according to the multiplicity of Affairs But the Dukes held the Grand Assizes from time to time where the Bishops of the Province were bound to be present There were likewise a kind of Commissary's or Envoys some for the King others for the Dukes who went about to visit the Provinces In their Proceedings and Publick Acts they counted their Terms by Nights As the Galls governed themselves according to the Roman Rules and Laws they were forced to have Judges that understood them and the French might perhaps imitate and follow them in many of their Contracts for the Salick Law was not extensive enough to comprehend and regulate every particular case The same Counts and Dukes as judged the French led them to the Wars There were no other Soldiers but the Militia They commanded those of the nearest Provinces or of any Province as they thought fit those that failed were put to a Fine they gave Letters of Dispensation to such as were grown over-aged in the Service In all the Provinces and particularly on the Frontiers they had Magazines of Provisions and Forage but as I believe they had no pay but their Plunder which was brought together and so shared always equally amongst them They put those into the condition of Slaves or Servants whom they took Prisoners of War as likewise such as were sent them for Hostages if they broke their Faith The great ones that were accused of any Crime were judged Militarily by their Equals the Execution was performed with a Sword or Battle-Ax sometimes by Dukes and Counts themselves Often times their Kings would not wait till Judgment was given their Wrath or Covetousness made Death go before any Sentence As for the People of a meaner Stamp they were extended on a Stake and were either Strangled or Whipp'd In some places they were Hanged on a Gallows or they were branched upon a Tree For lesser Crimes they were condemned to grind like Mill-Horses to dig Vineyards to work in Quarries and sometimes they were Branded with a hot Iron When a Man was accused for a Crime of State they tore off his Military Girdle and his Clothes and dressed him all in Rags Between Private Persons they might seek their satisfaction with their Swords and do themselves justice whence proceeded infinite Murthers if the King did not prevent it Murtherers bought their Lives with their Money and the punishment of most Crimes unless they were Crimes of State were pecuniary and determined by the Law The whole Kindred were liable to the payment if the guilty Person were insufficient When the Parties wanted Evidence to prove the Fact they came to a Combat either in Person or by those Champions they could procure This they said was to determine a Cause by the Judgment of God Almighty The Ordeal-Trial by red hot Irons
or Brass that by boiling Water or cold Water and another likewise by presenting themselves before the Cross were in use also by the approbation of the Bishops Such as had any Quarrels and Contests gave their Oaths for caution and security in publick which were made upon the Shrines of Saints or on their Tombs This was also the way to purge or clear themselves of any Crime when accused in a Court of Justice and the Accused in certain cases as Adultery and the like when it could not be fully proved was allowed to bring several of their Friends to make publick Oath either Men or Women according to their Sex As for Marriages they took the liberty to repudiate or cast off their Wives when they could not endure them Their Kings had sometimes several at the same time and the Proximity of Blood or Degrees of Parentage never hindred them from satisfying their Desires When it pleased them the Children of their Mistresses succeeded them as well as the Legitimate They made Money of the Gold they found in their own Country and Coyned it more fine and of a much higher value than the Visigoth Kings a Mark of the Excellency of their Royalty above all others Payments were made as much with Gold and Silver not Coined as Coined But we shall elsewhere more amply Discourse and Explicate the Manners and Customs of this Nation and all the Orders they observed in their Judicatories their Wars and in their Government The natural Language of the French was the Teutonick or German the Austrasians at least those nearest to the Rhine kept to it ever and use it still but much changed or corrupted Those the most distant on this side and the Neustrians left it by little and little for that of the Galls which was the Romanick or Romanciere otherwise called the Rustick Latin engendred of the Rust and the Corruption of the Roman or Latin wrested and turned according to the genius of the Nation and the Idioms of the several Provinces as well for the inflexion and signification of Words as the Air Accent and Phrase Notwithstanding the Conversion of Clovis and all the care of the Prelates who by Authority of the Kings pulled down the Temples there were yet a world of Pagans especially amongst the French and those of the most Principal and as for those that were converted they had much ado to wean them from their ancient Superstitions they bore a Reverence still to the places where the Gentiles had Worshipped and Adored and still retained some remainders of their Ceremonies their Festivals Augures and the Witchcrafts of Paganism which they mingled with the Exercises of the Christian Religion Since the Baptism of Clovis the Gallican Church not only enjoyed in all liberty the Gifts the Galls had bestow'd upon her but likewise acquired much greater ones by the liberality of the French Her excessive Riches begot envy in the Ambitious and the Covetous To enjoy them they Courted and Caball'd for Bishopricks which they would not have desired if there had been nothing but Study and Labour The Grandees of the Court renounced the noblest Employments for a Miter where they met with Honour Authority Riches and assurance against Disgrace There was no need of forbidding them to chuse Lay-men against their Wills but rather not elect them when they used underhand dealings to obtain it There were few chosen but of noble Race and the Elections were ever made with the Kings leave never against his Will Oft times he forced them by his absolute Commands or prevented them by Recommendations which were all one as a Command The Bishops knew well enought this was to violate the Canons but the fear of bringing things to greater disorder Interest and Complaisance shut up their Mouths and tied their Tongues The only Man Leontius of Bourdeaux had the courage or boldness to call a Councel at Saintes to thrust out one Emerius a young Youth who had been named for Bishop of that Church by Clotair I but King Cherebert his Son received him but very scurvily that was put in his place and caused him to be carried into Exile in a Chariot full of Thorns These unworthy Elections and Intrusions bred most infinite Disorders publick Simony which spread it self from the Head even over all the Members the Non-Residence of Bishops their servile and perpetual adherence to the Court a disgust to Christian Vertues and the Functions of their Ministry the love of Vanity and the things of this World which led them into all manner of Pleasures and Secular Employments as Feastings sumptuous Cloaths Hunting and the use of Arms. From hence arose the scorn of the People towards these false Pastors who were crept in at the Windows and in the Civil Wars a wonderful desire and itch to invade the Wealth and Goods of the Church as esteeming it only the taking from such as were wholly unworthy of enjoying them thereby to correct their excess by paring away what was superfluous It cannot be denied but there were some extreamly irregular as Salonius d'Ambrun and Sagittarius de Gap who should rather be termed Bandits then Bishops Giles de Rheims a perfidious and factious Firebrand of Civil Wars Saffarac Bishop of Paris and Contumeliosus of Riez both of them as I think guilty of Uncleanness and Deposed for that Crime and that Cautin of Tours of whom Gregory recounts most horrible wicked things But in Recompence there were a great many who having edified their Flocks by a most Religious Conduct have left their Names and Memory in great veneration amongst all the Faithful In the beginning of this Age flourished Remy de Reims and Vaast d'Arras whom I have mentioned in the last but were still in being Gildard of Rouen Aquilin d'Eureux Contest de Bayeux Melaine de Rennes Avite de Vienne Cesarius d'Arles Venne de Verdun a little after Ageric or Agroy of the same City Lubin de Chartres Firmin d'Vzez and Macutus or Malo first Bishop of Quidalet This City having been ruined the Bishoprick was transferr'd to another which was raised out of its Ruines and bears the name of this holy Prelate About the middle of the same Age were Nicetius de Treues Paul de Leon in Bretagne Felix de Nantes Aubin d'Angers Lauto or L de Coutances Medard de Noyon Saulge d'Alby Germain de Paris This last died Anno 579. and was Interred in the Church of St. Vincent which was likewise called St. Croix and is at this day St. Germain des Prez And about the latter end lived Gregory de Tours who hath written the History of the French till within a year or two of the time of his Death it hapned as I believe Anno 595. Sulpicious de Bourges whom they surnamed the Severe to distinguish him from the Affable who since fat in the same Bishoprick St. Gall de Clermont Milleard or Millard de Sees Arigla de Nevers and Sanson de Dol. Amongst those most holy
for a Monastick Life we find Queen Radegonda Institutrice of the Monastery at Poitiers and Glodesina or Glosina of that which bears her name at Metz she was Daughter of Duke Guintrion Maur the Disciple of St. Bennet came to dwell in France about Anno 540. and brought his Order which in time increased so much that it abolished if we may call it so all the others Cloud or Clodoald lived in the Diocess of Paris Leufroy in that of Eureux Calais in that of Mans Cibard in Perigord Leonard in Limousin the Hermit Victor at the Diocess of Troyes Celerin in that of Sees and Senoc in Poitou The Church of Rome had in Gaul as in divers other Countries a certain Revenue in Lands which she called her Patrimony and the Popes had a Vicar who failed not to set a value on his Power to make this Commission of the higher value It was the Bishop of Arles from whom they had taken almost all the Rights and all the Authority he pretended to as well for the Antiquity of his Church Established by St. Trophime Disciple of the Apostles as from the preheminence of his City which the Emperor Honorius had made the capital of seven Provinces they pitched upon for fear he should make his too great a See to be their Vicar in Gaul and so he held two during pleasure which he might have held in chief and that Superiority which his Bishoprick gave him over the seven Provinces was absorbed by that which they gave him over the whole seventeen Moreover they favourably received all those that appealed to Rome Leo X. restored Chilidonius of Besanson deposed by Hilary of Arles his Vicar and Agapet restored Contumeliosus whom John II. his Predecessor had judged very Criminal As they had a right to see the Canons observed and the ancient Customs when any one desired any Prerogative or any License they applied to them so that by little and little it brought them to allow some small favour even in things of little weight but at length even to dispence with the Canons Pope Gregory I. amongst others gave it to several Churches which induced others to desire it also and sometimes pretend that his Predecessors had before granted them the like The question concerning Images made a noise in France even in the days of that Pope For he reproved Serein Bishop of Marselles for having broken them down but however applauded his Zeal from having hindred the People from adoring them because they might be used as Books to instruct the ignorant but not as the Objects of Divine Adoration We observe in this Age near forty Councils I shall quote those of whom we have any Canons or Acts. The first of Orleans which we mentioned before was assembled in 511. in the Reign of Clovis The second in 533. to abolish the remainders of Idolatry The third five years after The fourth in 541. and the fifth in 549. These four in the Reign and by the Authority of Childebert who likewise called another at Arles which was the fifth Anno 554. There were two held in the Reign of Sigismund King of Burgundy that of Epaon Anno 517. and the first of Lyons in the same year This last upon the account of Estienne his Intendant who had Married Palladia his Cousin-German and was upheld in it by that Prince There were two Convocated at Arles to wit that which is reckoned the fourth in Anno 524. by the consent of Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths to whom the Province at that time obeyed and the fifth above-mentioned in the Reign of Childebert Three met in the Countries of Atalaric King of Italy that of Carpentras in 527. of which there is but one Canon remaining the second of Orange two years a terwards and the third of Vaâ—son in the same year There were two in the City d'Avergne that is Clermont the first with the consent of King Theodebert in 535. and the second of his Son Theodebald in 549. Four at Paris viz. the second Anno 555. the third Anno 557. the fourth Anno 573. and the fifth Anno 615. The second and third were by order of King Childebert and the first of these two to review the Process against the Bishop Saâ—â—aracus who had been condemned and deposed the Sentence was confirmed the other to confirm some Canons touching the Discipline The fourth was held by the consent of Chilperic I. to suppress the attempt of Giles Metropolitan of Rheims who had ordained one Promotus Bishop in the City of Cbasteaudun though it depended on the Bishoprick of Chartres and had never been made an Episcopal See The fifth was summoned by order of Clotair II. for Reformation of Abuses I do not speak of that in the year 577. where Pretextat of Rouen was condemned having suffered himself by a credulous and weak condescention to be induced to confess such Crimes which he had not committed no more then that of Valence Anno 584. which confirmed all the Grants King Gontran his Wife and his Daughters had bestowed on the Church There were three at Lyons the first under Sigismond before noted the second in 567. and the third in 583. Two at Mascon the first Anno 581. the second four years afterwards all these four by the Authority of King Gontran One at Tours Anno 567. in the Reign of Cherebert which ordained many things and confirmed the Religious Congregation of Virgins instituted by St. Radegond One at Auxerre Anno 578. where none met but the Bishop of the Place his name was Aunaquaire with his Abbots and Priests King Recarede called one at Narbona Anno 589. Clotaire II. one at Metz Anno 590. and one at Paris which was the fifth Anno 619. as we have already hinted In that of Metz Giles Bishop of Rheims was condemned for the Crime of Treason deposed and banished to Strasburgh Of all these Councils there was only that of Orange that medled with Controversies having fully discussed the points of Grace according to the Judgment of St. Augustin and of the Holy Chair The rest spent their time to compose Quarrels and Disputes or about Discipline and especially such particulars as we have already mentioned This History not allowing us to quote more than some necessary Articles In the reading of these Councils one may observe that there were great multitudes of Lepers and of Jews in France perhaps the Jews had brought in and spread abroad that Leprosy That the Bishop took care to relieve the first and prohibited all manner of Communication with the other The Church had a particular care or the Poor of Widdows and Orphans the first being made as it were of the Family the rest under their Protection insomuch that they espoused their Cause in Courts of Judicature and the Judges never gave Sentence in any Cause of theirs but he first acquainted the Bishop thereof In her Judicature she followed that Order Established by the Roman or Written Law The Canons
concerning Degrees prohibited were different according to the different Countries In the beginning in some Churches they hardly prohibited the Marrying with two Sisters or two Brothers But the Council of Agde the third of Orleance and other following Councils extended it to a Niece to the Aunt to the Brothers Widdow and the Uncles to the Wives Sister to Cousins and Cousin-Germans There were Sanctuaries in the most famous Churches which the Bishops made good to the utmost of their power Their intercession often times obtained Pardon for the greatest Criminals and whatever failings themselves did fall into they most commonly came off only with Degradation or Banishment their Brethren most times persuading the Kings to spare their Lives St. Augustin had began to persuade the Faithful to give the Tithe of their Goods for the relief and support of the Poor grounded upon this Principle That Christians were obliged to a greater Perfection then the Jews who had allowed it to the Levites The Prelates of the second Council of Tours exhorted the People to pay them to God according to the example of the Patriarch Abraham The second of Mascon ordained it as being a Right and Duty Established in the Old Testament and which they affirmed had been of a very long time observed by the Christians The Temporal Lords to whom they primarily belonged bestowed much upon the Monasteries little on the Bishops and Curats to whom notwithstanding in case they were of Divine Right they ought to belong There were â—ew Festivals observed as Holy in all Churches except Christmas Easter and Whitsuntide The noblest of the Diocess were obliged to keep them in the Episcopal City the Country Curates the same as likewise to meet as the Synod which was yearly held at a time certain The King solemnised these Holy-days in what City he pleased and the Bishops ambitiously courted and strove who should have that honour in his own Church Since that Method being altered and the Charms of the World being stronger to allure the Bishops to Court then the Duties of Christianity were to draw the Court to the Church the Kings celebrated those Festivals in their Palaces and the Bishops forsaking their Flocks went thither in greater Crowds then was desired New Cells or Hermitages were not suffered to be made nor new Congregations of Monks without the Bishops allowance An Abbot durst not run forth nor absent himself from his Monastery when he fell into any fault the Bishop might displace him and give him a Successor and if he were rebellious he was not admitted to the Communion Shame alone could not confine and keep those in their Monasteries who had Vowed and Dedicated themselves to God but the Church compell'd them to continue by all the Penalties that were in her power No Tribute or Tax was raised upon any thing belonging to the Church neither upon their Foundations their Goods nor their Persons and neither the Judges nor the Kings Receivers could exercise any Power or Jurisdiction on their Lands But those Bishops and Abbots who desired to obtain the King's or the Grandees favour and protection having begun to make them Euloges or Presents this Custom grew into a necessary Right and Duty which was afterwards exacted from them when they failed to do it voluntarily Dagobert I. King XI POPE HONORIUS I. Who S. nine years and an half during this Reign DAGOBERT I. Aged Twenty six years in Neustria Austrasia and Burgundy ARIBERT Aged Thirteen or fourteen years in part of Aquitain Year of our Lord 629 PRince Aribert being with King Clotaire when he died it might be thought that in the absence of his Brother Dagobert who was in Austrasia he might with his Fathers Treasure have raised Men and Friends enough to have seized on the Kingdom but as he was young and perhaps his Father had bequeathed him no part in the Kingdom by his last Testament it was in vain that Brunolph his Mothers Brother endeavoured to stir up the Neustrians in his behalf Dagobert used such diligence that he made himself secure of the Kingdoms of Neustria and Burgundy so that Aribert with his Uncle were constrained to go and meet him and to submit It was in the beginning of the Seventh year of his Reign in Austrasia Year of our Lord 629 Nevertheless as it were out of pity and according to the counsel of the French Lords he gave him Saintonge Perigord Agenois Thoulousam and all the third Aquitain Aribert setled his Royal Throne at Thoulouse As soon as he was acknowledged in Neustria he went to visit Burgundy which in many years had not beheld a King but was governed by Mayers neither had they had any Mayer since the death of Varnaquier Being at St. John de Laone he heard the complaints of his People rendred Justice to all his Subjects took a care to compose all their Disputes but it seems all these fair appearances were but to cover a Villanous Murther for which purpose perhaps he had undertaken this Journey For one Morning going into a Bath he commanded three Lords of the Court to kill Brunolph who had followed him though he were guilty of nothing unless being affectionate to the Interest of his Nephew Aribert they might apprehend he would be again stirring and acting something for him It seems the Neustrian and the Austrasian Lords did each of them struggle who should possess the King The first carried it from the others by taking him on the blind side and flattering him in his Passions The Queen Gomatrude was an Austrasian of Kin to Cunibert and Pepin who were present at her Wedding the Neustrians who knew the amorous inclination of their Prince persuaded him to repudiate her upon the pretence of Barrenness to Marry Nantilda one that served him By this means Ega Mayer of the Neustrian Palace got the highest place in the young Kings favour who presently dismissed Cumbert but retained Pepin still at Court not to make use any more of his Counsel but for fear he might cause the Kingdom of Austrasia to revolt his Office of Mayer of the Palace and his Vertues giving him too great a power Nantilda was soon deprived of the Affection of her Husband by another Woman Being gone into Austrasia and delighting to shew himself in his Royal Habit to those Provinces with great Pomp and a splendid Court he in her room took a very beautiful Virgin named Ragnetrude Sometime after he Married two more Women Wlfegunde and Bertechilde for Kings thought they had this Priviledge of having several and took as many Mistresses as the desire and gust of change could wish for which is infinite After he had thrown off his two prudent Governours who kept him within compass he let himself loose to all the heats of his Youth and the violence of his Soveraign Authority The first cast him into all sorts of Pleasures The second made him heap up Money and lay his griping Hand upon his Subjects Treasure as if all had been his own It
Militia of Burgundy and several Counts without Dukes to bring them to their Duty They fallied forth out of their Rocks and their Fastnesses and set upon the French with wonderful alacrity but after all they found it better to make use of their agility to save themselves then to Fight They were pursued without stop or stay and Fire and Sword flew after them even into their strongest Retreats till there being no other security left them but the Mercy of their Prince they promised to sall down at his Feet and submit to all his Commands I know not where some Authors have found how Aquitania Secunda was concerned in their Revolt and that Dagobert having gone thither in Person razed the City of Poitiers and sowed it with Salt in token of its Desolation If this were true it must have been because of the too heavy Imposts upon Salt that the Poitovins Rebelled Year of our Lord 635 The lucre of Plunder had likewise incited the Bretons to run upon the French Territories Eloy who was since Bishop of Noyon went and demanded Reparation of their King Judicael or Giquel Son and Successor of Jukel He found it no difficult thing to persuade that Prince that he were better come and wait on the King then have his Country over-run and plundred by the Forces that were returning Victorious out of Gascongne he brought him to the Palace of Clichy where he humbly craved pardon of Dagobert promised him for the future to prevent the like Disorders and submitted both himself and Kingdom to his disposal Year of our Lord 636 The Gascon Lords with their Duke Aighina came to the same place as they had promised the foregoing year to surrender themselves up to the mercy of Dagobert and because they dreaded his wrath they had recourse to the intercession of St. Denis and put themselves into Sanctuary in his Church The King in honour to that Saint gave them their Lives and Fortunes and they in acknowledgment laying their hands up on his Altar swore an eternal Fidelity to him to his Sons and to all his Successors Kings of France Year of our Lord 636 The whole Kingdom was in peace both within and without at this time Dagobert did not enjoy this Repose very long for the Second year he was taken with a Dysentery at Espinay which was one of his Royal Houses upon the Seine a little below St. Denis His Sickness increasing he made them carry him to that Abby where he dyed the 17th of January in the year 638. being very neer 38 years of age He Reigned in all but 16 years as I think that is Six in his Fathers life time and Ten after his death At his dying he earnestly recommended his Wife Nantilda and his Son Clovis to Ega Mayre of the Palace of Neustria and to such Grandees as were then present The great Donations he made to the most famous Churches of France deserve the unparallell'd Encomiums of the Clergy who have allowed him all the qualities of as Virtuous as Wise as Valiant and as much accomplish'd a Prince either for Peace or War as any that ever Reigned over the French The Chronology begins to be very confused and uncertain in this Reign for some will have it that he dyed An. 639. others that it was in 643. Some reckon the Sixteen years of his Reign from the death of his Father others from the year that he made him King of Austrasia I am of the opinion of the latter Gold and Silver had been very scarce and rare in France in the Reign of Clovis and his Children but since then the Expeditions they made into Italy the Pensions they drew from the Emperours of the East and as it is credible the Commerce they setled with the Nations in the Levant brought great quantities of those precious Mettles as likewise precious Stones and rich Vasa's and Ornaments insomuch that the Bravery and Luxury of the Court of France was not inferiour to the Emperours Clovis II. King XII POPES SEVERIAN Elect in 639. S. some Months JOHN IV. Elect in Decemb. 639. S. One year nine Months THEODORE Elect in Novemb 641. S. Seven years and half MARTIN I. Elect in July 649 S. Six years three Months EUGENIUS I. Elected in August 654 S. One year PEPIN and then GRIMOALD Maire SIGEBERT in Austrasia aged 8 or 9 years CLOVIS II. in Neustria aged 4 years EGA then ERCHINOALD Maire Year of our Lord 638 WE shall now henceforward behold the Royal Power in the hands of the Mayres of the Palace and all the affairs of State governed according to their capricious Fancies and their Interests Pepin delivered by the death of Dagobert who had always kept him near himself upon some Honourable pretence got again into the administration of his Office of Mayre of Austrasia Dagobert having committed the Government of that Kingdom to Duke Aldagise that Lord gave it up to him either willingly or by compulsion and he gave notice thereof to Cunibert the Bishop his old friend who was Governour to Sigebert It was perhaps for his sake that he transferr'd the Court and Royal Seat of Austrasia from the City of Mets to that of Colen Year of our Lord 638 At the instance of the Governours of Austrasia who required that the Fathers Treasures should be divided betwixt the two young Kings the Grandees both of the one and the other Kingdoms assembled at Compiegne to make the estimate and to share it Year of our Lord 639 A year after Pepins return into Austrasia he fell sick and dyed having held the Office of Mayre Seventeen years a Man as great for Honesty as Policy being one according to the Heart of God and Man By his Wife Itta whom some do name Juberge he had three Children a Son named Grimoald and two Daughters Begghe and Gertrude The First Married Ansegise the Son of St. Arnold and Father of young Pepin and being a Widow Devoted her self to God in the Monastery of Nivelle with her Mother who built it and her Sister Gertrude Grimoald with the assistance of Cunibert got himself into possession of the Office of Mayre of the Palace but Otho who was Bail or Fosterer of the young Prince and for that reason very powerful in the Kings House disputed it with him for three years In fine Grimoald to enjoy it quietly caused him to be slain by Leutaire Duke of the Almains This is the First time that Office descended from Father to Son hereafter we shall sind it Hereditary Year of our Lord 640 During this Discord and the minority of Sigebert Radulfe or Raoul Duke of Turingia sets up for Sovereign having allied himself with the Sclavonians and made a League with Fare who would needs revenge the death of Chrodoald his Father whom King Dagobert had caused to dye for his Crimes The Austrasian Lords led the Forces of their Kingdom and the King himself thither to chastise their Rebellion At first Fare having dared to come and meet
with a powerful Army ruined all the Countries of the most Factious and Stubborn and gave quarter only to those that besought his Pardon From thence finding he was so far on his way he pushes on to Pampeluna where he made some stay to assure himself of the fidelity of the Inhabitants of that Country which was very uncertain Before he Filed off his men thorow the passages of those Mountains he would needs be precautioned against the Robberies of those Gascon Mountaineers some of them being already in Ambuscade by seizing on their Women and Children and hanging one of their Spies who came on purpose to observe them and give his Companions notice of their motion Year of our Lord 810 Being returned into Aquitain he mightily laboured to reform that Kingdom and especially the Ecclesiastical Order which was so much deformed the Prelates and Priests being all turned Sword-men that there were no footsteps of any Discipline remaining He not only restored it by his exemplary devout life and by his good Rules and Orders but also by the great care he took to repair or build Monasteries which were as the Seminaries of good Church-men The Author who wrote his life reckons no less then Five and Twenty or Thirty Year of our Lord 810 Pepin not able any longer to endure the double dealing of Maurice and John Dukes of the Venetians who favoured the Greeks and desiring to restore Obelier and Beat who were expelled goes out of Chiassi which is the Port of Ravenna with his Fleet and enters the Lake of Venice In the beginning he took all the little Towns which were upon the Shore then turned towards the Island of Malamauca the Dukes Seat which he found quite forsaken Maurice and John his Son having withdrawn themselves into that of Rialto and Oliuolo The Venetian Authors relate that commanding his men to Attaque those Islands with floats of Boards or Timber and the Army of the Dukes defending them it hapned that wanting knowledge of the Channels and Depths his Fleet received a notable repulse That a great number of the French were slain and stifled in the Mud and that he himself who staid in the Island Malamauca with the least part of his Forces Retreated to Ravenna carrying Obelier and Valentine who had very unluckily engaged him in this enterprise along with him In this Island of Rialto was soon after built a Palace for the Duke and in that of Oliuolo another for the Bishop and in time they joyned all those little Islands near one another by Bridges so that all these together have made the City of Venice so renowned for its wonderful situation and more for the wisdom of its conduct In the mean time Godfrey with a Fleet of Two Hundred Sail lands in Frisia pillaged the Country and exacted Tribute He bragg'd also that he would give the Emperor Battel who was encamped near the place where the Rivers Alare and Veser joyn together but instead of coming forwards he retreats back into his own Country where he was killed by a certain Son of his in revenge for having repudiated his Mother Heming his Brothers Son who succeeded him Treated a Peace with the French Year of our Lord 810 France had not their revenge for the affront received in the Gulph of Venice because Pepin a Son worthy of his Father dyed at the age of 33 Years the 29 th of his Raign in Italy He left only one Bastard-Son named Bernard who succeeded him in that Kingdom a young Prince not above Twelve or Thirteen Years old at most About the end of the following Year Charles the Eldest Son of the Emperor dyed likewise who left no Children But the preceding Spring his Father concluded a Peace with the Dane and sent Three Armies one against the Sclavonick Year of our Lord 811 Hedinons beyond the Elbe the second into Pannonia to make head against the Sclavonians for they molested the Huns very much who were Subjects to the Year of our Lord 812 French and the third against the Bretons who renouncing that obedience they had sworn to him had chosen themselves a King named Coenulph Machon The Year of our Lord 812 two first returned home loaden with Spoil and the last with the honour of having vanquished the Bretons and their new King Year of our Lord 812 Charlemain being already broken with Age and Labour the loss of his two Sons made him more inclinable to have a Peace with the Saracens in Spain with the Greeks and with the Danes Which was the more easie to be compassed for that Mahumed King of the Saracens in Spain being in War with Abdella his Brother was the year following forced to let him have a share in the Kingdom in Greece Year of our Lord 812 the Emperor Nicephorus was slain in a Battel against the Bulgarians and Heming King of Denmark being dead there was a Civil-War about the Succession between Sigifroy and Amulon or Hamildon this Nephew to Hericold and the other to Godfrey They fought a bloody Battel where both of them were slain together with Ten or Eleven Thousand men but Amulon's Party remaining Victorious Secured the Kingdom to Heriold and Rainfroy his Brothers Amidst the Multitude of Affairs which Charlemain had in all the three several parts of the World he did not forget what concerned Religion Upon the intreaty of Biorn King of Sweeden he sent some Priests thither to instruct those People in the knowledge of the Gospel Ebon a Man of a holy life established a Bishoprick there in the City of Lincopen Year of our Lord 813 Finding himself grow weaker day by day he caused his Son Lewis to come to the Parliament of Aix where he had called together the Bishops Abbots Dukes and Counts he asked them all one by one whether they would be pleased that he should give him the Title of Emperor To which all having replied yes he declared him his Partner in the Empire commanded him to go and take the Crown which was upon the Altar and put it himself upon his own head In the same Parliament he likewise declared Bernard the Son of his Son Pepin King of Italy whither he had already sent him under the Conduct of Vala or Galon Son of Bernard his paternal Uncle The death of this mighty Prince was preceded with all sorts of prodigies both in the Heavens and upon the Earth enough to astonish even those that have but little faith in such presages and give least Credit to them Whilst he was studiously employed in the Reading and the Correcting some Copies or Manuscripts of the holy Bible in his Palace at Aix a Feaver seized him and carried him out of this World the 28 th of January the Two and Seventieth year of his Age at the beginning of the 14 th of his Empire and the 48 th of his Raign His Will and Year of our Lord 814 Testament which is yet to be seen is one of the greatest Tokens of his
one for Repairs The practice of publick Pennance and Absolutions was almost the same as in the Former Ages I mean the third and fourth as well as that of Baptisme which was performed by dipping or plunging not by throwing on or sprinkling of the Bishop or the Priest and this was only done at Easter and Whitsuntide unless upon urgent occasions The prayers for the dead were very frequent Singing made up a great part of their Study and Employment not only amongst the Clergy but the Nobility also that were very devout The French had brought this Passion towards Musick from Rome Bells grew also mighty common but they did not make any very great ones The Churches as well as most of their other Buildings were almost all of Wood. It was ordained that the Altars should be made of Stone The Bishops and Abbesses had their Vidames the Abbots their Advoyers or Advocates some Cities likewise had the same They were as their Proctors or Administrators in whose names all things were transacted and who Treated and Pleaded every where for them Every Bishop Abbot and Count had his Notary Excommunications were so frequent as they even became an abuse The person Excommunicated was Treated with great rigour no body would keep any Commerce or Conversation with them The Gallican Church had not extended the degrees prohibited in Marriage but to the Fourth in which Case it self they did not separate them being satisfied with imposing a Pennance on both the Parties but the Popes extended it to the Seventh and Gregory the II desired it might reach as far as any thing of parentage or kindred could be made out between the parties But if so it being notorious to Christians that all Mankind are of Kin in Adam to whom should they marry They likewise established the degrees of Spiritual Affinity between the Godfather and Godmother and between the Godson and his Godmother as well in Baptism as at Confirmation Notwithstanding the Corruptions we have noted the Church was not without her great Lights and Ornaments I mean a good number of Holy Men and some that were not Ignorant Amongst the Bishops Sylvin de Toulouze Wlfrain de Sens who renounced the Miter to go and Preach the Faith in Frisiae where he Converted Ratbod the II Son of that King of the same name who was so obstinate a defender of Idolatry Rigobert de Reims who was driven from his Seat by Martel Gregory of Vtrecht who was the Apostle of the Turingians and the Countries adjacent to Dorestat Corbinien Native of Chastres under Montlehery near Paris who was the first Bishop of Frisinghen in Bavaria as Suidbert the first of Verden Immeran of Ratisbon who was a Poitevin by birth Eucher d'Orleans who was banished by Martel and lived a good while after him as appears by the revelation he had how it fared with Martel after his death as hath been observed in the life of Martel if that were true Gombert held the Bishoprick of Sens and then retired to the solitude of the Vosge Lohier that of Sees and after him Godegrand doubly remarkable both for his own Vertue and for his Sisters Saint Opportune who took upon her the Vows of Virginity and listed many more into her Muster-Roll of whom she had the Gonduct But above all Boniface of Ments was eminent whom we have mentioned he suffered Martyrdom An. 754. amongst the Frisons He was Founder of the Great Abbey of Fulda in the Forrest of Buken the most Noble of all that are in Germany In the monasterial retirements we observe two Fulrads or Volrads the one Abbot of Saint Denis however a little too much taken up with Court Affairs and Negociations for one that is dedicated entirely to God the other Cousin to King Charlemain and Abbot of Saint Quentin Adelard of the same degree of parentage to the same King who withdrew from Court for the reasons we have before noted and was Abbot of Corbie and from thence recalled into the Kings Council Angilbert who exchanged the favour of Charlemain one of whose natural Daughters he had married for the austerity of the Monastery and was Abbot of Centule Pirmin who is said to have quitted the Bishoprick of Meaux and who having retired himself into a solitary place in Germany built there that Celebrated Abbey of Riche-Nowe Augia Dives and Nine or Ten other Monasteries in those parts and in Alsatia and the learned Alcuin to whom Charlemain gave the Abbey of Tours in recompence of those inestimable Treasures of Learning and Science he brought into France with Claud and John the Scotsman A great part of the Manners and Customes we described under the First Race were preserved under the Second All the great Offices of the Kings House were still the same unless the Maire of the Palace in whose place it seems the grand Seneschal or Dapifer succeeded but with much less authority and different Functions Hincmar sets down an Apocrisiaire a Count of the Palace a great Camerier or Chamberlain three Ministerial Officers to wit the Seneschal the Butler and the Count of the Stable one Mansionary that is grand Mareschal of the House Four Huntsmen and one Faulc'ner The King had ever a Council of State in his Train consisting of men chosen out of the Clergy and Nobility The Apocrisiary assisted in it when he pleased the other great Officers never went but as they were sent for Those of the Clergy had a place apart to meet in where they treated of Ecclesiastical Affairs as the Nobility treated of matters purely Temporal and when there was any thing of a mixt nature they joyned all together to determine it In the Militia and Courts of Justice we hardly meet now with any Dukes but only Earls some of whom were called Marquesses when the Care and Guarding of the Marches was committed to them which ordinarily was in the new Conquered Countries others were called Abbots either because they possessed the Revenue of the Abbeys or because they commanded some certain Company 's near the King and taught them their Discipline and Exercise the Grandees were called Princes and we have light enough even in those dark times to see that it was not in the power of the King to disseize them nor put them to death but by certain Forms and Rules and the Judgment of their Peers and Equals where he presided or in their general Assemblies I find three sorts of great Assemblies the general Pleas of the Provinces the May-Assembly whither came the Seniores Majores natu of the French people there they chiefly consulted about Warlike Affairs and the Conventus Colloquia Parliaments where met together the Bishops Abbots Counts and other Grandees consider of Laws and Rules for their Policy Justice and the Treasury as well as the Discipline of the Militia both sacred and prophane The two last kinds of Assembles were after confounded in one The Kings had ever made use of Envoyez or Intendan
that the People did not believe a Prince wore it Legally if it were not put on by the hand of one Bishop and the consent of all Now those of Bretagne having for the most part been nominated by Louis the Debonnaire would not give their Ministery nor their approbation to this Usurper He contrived therefore an accusation of Simony against them by the means of an Abbot named Connoyon esteemed as a Saint by the People The assembly sends them before the Pope to justify themselves the Abbot follows them to Rome and Neomene causes him to be accompanied with a stately Embassy with a Present of a Gold Crown for the Pope and an order to desire of him the Restoration of the extinguished Royalty in Bretagne The whole House of France opposed this so strongly that he obtained nothing of the Holy-Father but some Relicks and verbal Reprimands for the accusation against the Bishops But at their return he frighted them so with the fear of Death as made them confess those crimes and thereupon caused them to be deposed Year of our Lord 848. And 849. Presently after he put men of his own Faction in their rooms made three more Bishopricks that is of Dole Treguier and St. Brieuc and Ordained the Bishop of Dole for Metropolitan The Popes had bestowed the Pall on those Prelats in the sixth Century All this tended towards his Crowning and Anointing after the Mode of the French Kings Which was performed in the City of Dole where he had assembled the Estates of his petty Kingdom All his Bishops assisted except Actard of Nantes who for that reason being turned out of his See retired to the Arch-Bishop of Tours his true Metropolitan who having called together the Bishops of his Province and those adjoyning caused some Remonstrances to be made to Neomene but to no purpose Year of our Lord 848 Two other Enemies perhaps leagued together young Pepin and the Normans drew Charles's Army into Aquitain In the Month of March he took some of those Pirats Ships in the Dordogne and compelled Pepin to leave the Field to him But when he was gone from that Province the Normands surprised Burdeaux by the treachery of the Jewes that were in it and took William Duke of the Gascons Prisoner and such others as their covetousness prompted them to spare alive after their fury had been glutted with blood The French were so feeble and weak as to let them make that place their Store-house and Armory for several years Year of our Lord 849 The two Kings Lotaire and Charles had an interview in the Palace of Peronne and by Oaths renewed again their affection and league for mutual Security Charles Brother to Pepin of Aquitain relying too much upon these seeming demonstrations was so imprudent when he returned from Lotaire's Court of whose protection he made no doubt as to pass by West France Count Vivian observing his steps stop'd him and carried him to Charles the Bald who at the Assembly of Chartres caused him to be shaved and sent him to the Monastery of Corbie About four years afterwards Louis the Germanick his Uncle made him Arch-Bishop of Ments Year of our Lord 850 King Pepin his Brother had many very ill qualities he was a Drunkard filthyly Debauched and Violent vexing and grieving his Subjects and Authorizing the unjustice and robberies committed by his Officers A good part of the Grandees of Aquitain having conceived a kind of scorn and hatred for him invited and called in Charles the Bald whom they received with great applause at Limoges and attended him to the Siege of Tolouse which surrendred on composition But as soon as he had left Aquitain they reconciled themselves to Pepin Year of our Lord 850 The Voyage which Charles the Bald made into Bretagne to put a reinforcement into Rennes did not prevent Neomene from Besieging that Town and taking Prisoners all the Chief Officers of that Garrison Year of our Lord 850 The same year the Traytor Lambert having turned his Coat seized Count Amaulry and divers other French Lords who were gotten into Nantes without doubt to defend that place Year of our Lord 851 The following year Neomene attaquing the French Territories by Anjou and destroying their Churches with as much Barbarity almost as the Normans was smitten as it is believed by the hand of God whereof he died in few hours space His Son Herispoux succeeded him There was a general Assembly held of all the Kingdoms of the French Monarchy on the banks of the Meuse where the three Brothers met and swore Amity and mutual Assistance At their departure from thence Charles goes into Bretagne to attaque Herispoux whom he guessed to be as yet unsettled Their Armies engaged on the Confines of Anjou If we credit the Bretons Charles's was but ill handled However it were he agreed to a Peace with the Breton to take possession of Aquitain which was a thing of more importance and also to oppose the Normans The same year the Pyrate Hachery coming out of Burdeaux with his Fleet destroyed the Abbey of Fontenelle to the very Foundations then going up the Seine with his small Boats he plundred all the Country for a great way on either side and burnt divers Cities amongst others that of Beaurais Year of our Lord 852 Pepins ill conduct had so highly offended the Lords of his Kingdom that in fine they seized on his Person and delivered him up to Charles who caused him to be shorn and confined to the Monastery of Saint Mard. Whence making his escape he roved a while and took part with the Normans which made him only the more odious So that being retaken he was close shut up in the Castle of Senlis Year of our Lord 852 The same year Lotaire associated his eldest Son Louis in the Empire He had three living this Louis Lotaire and Charles Lotaire and Louis his Son associate in the Empire Louis King of East-France Bavaria Charles of West-France and Aquitaine There would be no end if we should set down all the exploits and ravages of Year of our Lord 852. And 853. the Normans In An. 852 and 853. other multitudes went up the Seine again and this latter year some went up the Loire plundred the City of Tours and set Fire to the Churches particularly to that of the Grand Saint Martins Ebon had setled himself again in the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims when Lotaire invaded Year of our Lord 852 the Territories of Charles the Bald Afterwards that King expelled him and in his stead caused Hincmar to be Elected who after many contests was this year confirmed in that Arch-Bishoprick by the Synod of Soâ—ssons Year of our Lord 852 Whether it were by necessity or evil counsel the Bald treated the Aquitains very rudely He caused several of the principal Heads to fly amongst others that of a Count named Gosbert which begot so much aversion in them towards their new Soveraign that under pretence that he took no care to
received Holy Baptism and had the Emperor for his God-Father who gave him a natural Daughter of King Lotaires II. in Marriage named Gisile and two thousand and fourscore Livers in Gold with the Dutchy of Frisia Year of our Lord 882 About the same time Louis King of West-France going to meet some Breton Princes who were bringing him an Army to march against the Normans fell sick at Tours whence being brought back in a Litter he died at Saint Denis in France the of August having Reigned somewhat more then three years Paul Emilius says that spurring his Horse to run after a pretty Maiden that fled from him into a House he broke his back riding in at the door which was too low and thereof died Carolus Crassus or Charles the Fatt Emperor King of Germany Carloman King of West-France Aquitaine and Burgundy Year of our Lord 882 His Brother Carloman immediately went from the Siege of Vienne leaving the prosecution thereof to Earl Richard to secure his Succession and head that Army which was marching against the Normans Upon his arrival at Autan he had information that those Robbers being afraid were fled out of the River Loire and a few days after he sees Richard come to him who having taken Vienne brought thither both the wife and daughter of Boson Prisoners From thence he marches against another Body of Normans who having gotten in by the Mouth of the Somme ran up as far as Laon and Reimes he charged them vigorously and one part of them were defeated the rest made their escape in their Barks by the River Aisne At this time the grand Hincmar Arch-Bishop of Reims worn out with age and pierced with grief to see his Country thus Plundred and wasted himself being forced to fly from his City threatned by those Barbarians as they were conveying him in his Litter he died at Espernay leaving the Gallican Church almost quite destitute of any Prelate that understood her Rights or took care of her discipline After the example of the Emperor Charles the Fatt Carloman his Cousin treated with the Normans to go out of his Countries compounding with them for twelve thousand Marks of Silver to do so Year of our Lord 884 Shortly after being a-hunting in the Forrest d'Iveline near Montfort a days journy from Paris he was mortally wounded by a wild Boar or as others say by a Gentleman of his Train who thought to dart the Boar. He lieth buried at Saint Denis In all he Reigned five years that is three joyntly with his Brother and two alone His Father had contracted him to Boson's daughter An. 878. But it is most likely he never did marry her Nor do we find that he had any Children For that Louis le Faineant or Do-nothing which some would bestow upon him is a pure Chimera Year of our Lord 884 As soon as the Normans had the news that he was dead they entred upon the Kingdom again subtilly interpreting according to their Genius and their own interest that the Treaty expired with his life Hugh the Abbot fought them and made so terrible a slaughter that they left France in quiet for some time CHARLES III. Surnamed Crassus or The Fatt King XXVIII Aged about L. Years POPES ADRIAN III. Nine Months under this Reign STEPHEN IV. Elect. in May 885. S. five Years and some Months whereof 2 Years 8 Months under this Reign Charles the Fatt Emperor in Italy and Germany Charles the Simple aged 7 years a Minor under the Tutelage of Hugues the Abbot in France Year of our Lord 884 IT need not be thought strange if the Western-French standing in need of a King in his Majority to command their Armies did not confer the Crown upon Charles the Posthumus Son of Lewis the Stammerer who was but seven years of Age but gave their Oaths of Fidelity to Charles the Fatt who was very potent and was not as yet observed to be weak Spirited and inclining to be distracted Year of our Lord 884 How-ever it cannot be said that they excluded the Pupil since they entrusted the Abbot Hugh the Great with his Guardianship and Education who held in Fief the Earldom of Paris and the Dutchy of France that is to say all that lies within the Seine the Loire and the Sea excepting only the Bishopricks Year of our Lord 885 Valdrade's Bastard had not quitted his pretention to Lorraine And Godfrey the Norman Duke of Frisia his Brother in Law were creating some quarrel that they might have an opportunity to restore him to the possession of that Kingdom The Emperor Charles ridd himself both of the one and the other but by unhandsome means according to the contrivance of Henry Duke of Saxony For this Henry and Guillebert or Gilbert Arch-Bishop of Colen having drawn Godfrey to a Conference at an Island in the Rhine there massacred him and all the Normans that attended And at the same time Hugh who came upon his promise of Faith and security to Ioinville was Seized an d his Eyes put out then confined to the Abbey of St. Gal. Year of our Lord 886 The fury of the Normans which began to be allayed burst out again upon this bloody Treachery and made most horrible work under the conduct of Sigefroy They entred the River Seine with 700 Barks and so great a number of other Vessels that the stream was cover'd with them for above two Leagues in length the City of Paris seated on an Island and having Bridges on either branch of the River put a stop to this formidable Fleet. The Barbarians who would needs have the passage thorough this River free held it besieged three years Year of our Lord 886 87 and 88. During all that time they tried their utmost endeavours to accomplish their ends But the Bishop named Gosslin the Abbot Ebon his Nephew the Earl Eudes whom we shall hereafter find to be King with a great many valiant Knights and the Parisians whose courage was then greater than their City defended it better then it was attaqued The besiegers did from time to time make attempts and assaulted the Towers of the two Gates from whence being repulsed would make incursions upon the adjacent Provinces still keeping the City block'd up with Forts which they had built very nigh the place Twice did the Emperor Charles send thither Henry Duke of Saxony upon the carnest intreaties of the French who deputed Count Eudes to go and implore assistance from him The first time he forced the Danish Camp and put some relief into the City which done he returned but the second riding headlong imprudently into a ditch cover'd with straw and some small branches a Stratagem often used in those times he fell into the snare and was instantly slain and stripp'd His Army finding themselves a Body without a Head returned into Germany Year of our Lord 887 At last the Emperor came in person with numerous Forces and encamped at Montmartre Yet through some discontent which hapned between
feared an absolute re-union between the King and his Subjects or whether the Tears of his Daughter Gerberge and compassion to behold a King so ill treated by his means moved his heart he roughly refused Hugh who sought his amity and Year of our Lord 946 profer'd Louis his assistance to revenge himself Year of our Lord 946 Lewis accepted it and soon after he was out of his imprisonment went to Otho at Cambresis where Arnold Earl of Flanders had joyned Forces with him So that they had together above thirty Legions And which is remarkable all these combatants except the Abbot of Corbie in Saxony had all Straw-hats without doubt to defend their heads from blows or from the cold Year of our Lord 946 One would imagine such a prodigious Army must overwhelm Hugh and all his Allies but after they had tried Laon driven away Arch-Bishop Hugh from Reims and restored Artold to his See having shewed themselves before the Gates of Senlis and the Suburbs of Paris they ran themselves on ground and Shipwrackt against Rouen The death of Otho's Nephew and a great number of Saxons who were slain there the autumnal Rains the approaching Winter Arnolds desertion who withdrew in the night time with his Forces apprehending to be delivered up to the Normans constrained Otho to raise his Siege and retire Year of our Lord 947 Afterwards Hugh besieged Reims and King Lewis Monstreuil held by Rotgar Son of Count Herluin but both without success In August the two Kings Louis and Otho conferred together on the Kar or the Cher concerning their affairs This River which coming from the Country of Luxemburgh falls into the Meuse between Sedan and Mouson hath ever since made the bounds or separation of the Kingdoms of France and Lorrain as it did heretofore of Neustria and Austrasia Year of our Lord 947 Anno 947. Italy suffer'd a New change Auscare and Berenger one Brother and the other Son of Adelbert Marquiss of Ivrea having ingratefully conspired against King Hugh that Prince put Auscaire to Death and Berenger escaped to Herman Duke of Suabia Now this man having good information that Hugh had rendred himself very odious to the Italians having sounded their affections repassed the Alpes He was received in Verona and in Milan and seemed welcom to most part of the Nobility Nevertheless the People moved with pity towards Lotaire the Son of Hugh a handsom young Prince not above 14 or 15 years old would have the Title of King to be preserved for him And Berenger consented for that time the more willingly because all the Authority was in him The agreement made Hugh returned into Provence with his Treasure where he died the same year Lewis in France Conrad in Transjurane and Arles Otho in Germany Lorraine LOTAIRE and Berenger in Italy The dispute for the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims between Hugh of Vermandois and Artold was a mighty business It was first treated of at Douzy by some Prelats Year of our Lord 948 who having not power to determine it referr'd it to a Synodical Assembly of Gallican and German Bishops which was held at Verdun in the middle of November Robert Arch-Bishop of Triers presided there Hugh appeared not but having sent thither certain Surreptitious Letters from the Pope which they little valued the enjoyment of the Arch-Bishoprick was awarded to Artold and Hugh was excluded for his contumacy till he should appear before the General Council in the Month of August following and had purged himself of the crimes imputed to him Hugh makes complaint to the Pope who sent a Legat to Otho to injoyn him to Year of our Lord 948 call a general Council of the Gallicans and Germans to determine this difference as also to decide the quarrel between King Lewis and Hugh le Blanc He convocated them at his Royal Palace of Ingelheim he and King Lewis assisting there and sitting on the same Bench. The Council heard the Kings complaint and then Artold's Petition The King declared all the mischiefs Hugh had done him even ☞ to the detaining him a Prisoner a whole year and offered if any one could reproach him that the troubles and calamities of the Kingdom were by any fault of his to justify himself in such manner as the Council should advise even by personal proof in the Field of Battel Upon these complaints they wrote Letters to Hugh le Blanc and his adherents to admonish them to return to their duty under pain of an Anathema and doing justice upon the Petition of Artold they confirmed the Arch-Bishoprick to him and excommunicated Hugh his competitor till he duly repented With this Otho assisted Lewis with good Forces the Lorrain Bishops his Vassals took Mouson and razed it excommunicated Thibault who maintained the City of Laon for Hugh and caused Hugh himself by vertue of the Legats letters to be cited to appear before the Council of Triers to give satisfaction for the damage he had done the King and the Church Who not appearing was excommunicated Year of our Lord 949 The War was not abated by this and divers Castles were taken by the two rivals for the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims as well as by the Kings Forces and those that belonged to Hugh This year hapned the death of Fulk the Good Earl of Anjou a mighty Religious Prince and a lover of Learning who being one day informed that the King scoffed at his going so often to Sing in the Quire wrote only these words to him Know Sir that a Prince without Learning is a Crowned Ass Year of our Lord 949 The Hungarians being fallen An. 949. upon Lombardy Berenger compounded with them for eight Bushels of Silver and upon pretence of raising that money committed violent extortions About that time Lotaire either out of grief to find himself despised or by some poyson fell into a Phrensie and died without Children towards the end of the same year Berenger immediately caused himself to be proclaimed King and was Crowned together with his eldest Son Adelbert Year of our Lord 950 Otho very glad of the disturbances in France gave slight assistance to Louis who in the necessity of his affairs relied much upon him and often went to him or sent his wife Gerberge He also made cessations from time to time In one of which he and Hugh meeting by consent at the Marne the River between them Year of our Lord 950 they patched up I know not what Peace upon which Hugh was to surrender up to him a great Tower which he held in the City of Laon. Peace being made on this side Lewis takes his progress towards Aquitain to secure himself of the Fidelity of the Lords of that Country For during these revolutions the Subjects faith was grown so wavering that often in less then a years time they swore obedience and fealty to three or four several Kings Which was indeed because they would have had none had it been in their power This year 951. Ogina Mother to
for the Militia as to do Justice which the Kings could bestow or take away So there was a Duke for Lorrain which was Bruno Arch-Bishop of Colen King Otho's Brother One for France one for Aquitain and one for Burgundy and Hugh was such in all those three Kingdoms by consequence he was as the Kings Lieutenant General and in that quality might be set aside if his great alliance and the Cities in his possession had not rendred him indestituable Year of our Lord 953 France was quiet enough three years together only Hugh An. 955 led the King into Poitou to make William Earl of that Country and Duke of Aquitain become obedient and laid Siege to Poitiers Scarcity of provisions and the terror of a Thunder-clap which tore his Tent in two forced him to raise it and yet the Count presuming to pursue the French upon their retreat they turned head and put him to the rout with great slaughter of his Nobility The following year Hugh who without a Scepter had Reigned more then 20 years being the Son of a King Father of a King Uncle to a King and Brother in Law to three Kings died in his City of Paris full of years glory and riches He was surnamed the White * from his skin the Great from his power or perhaps his bulk and the Abbot because he held the Abbeys of St. Denis St. Germain des Prez and St. Martin's of Tours At his death he intreated Richard Duke of Normandy his Son in Law to be the Protector of his Children and Vassals He had three wives Rotilda Sister of Lewis the Stammerer Ethild Daughter of Edward King of England whose two Sisters were married to Charles the Simple and Otho and Avida or Avoye Sister of the same Otho and Queen Gerberge There came no Children by the first two but by the third he had Hugues or Hugh surnamed Capet who was Earl of Paris and Orleance then also Duke of France Otho who was Duke of Burgundy after the Death of Gilbert his Father in Law Eudes or Odon who succeeded him and Henry who likewise enjoyed it after them Year of our Lord 956. 57. and 58. These four Sons not being yet in a capacity to make any noise the eldest not above 16 years of Age Gerberge governed peaceably enough excepting some petty quarrels about the Castles belonging to the Arch-Bishoprick of Reims and some private contests The worst of it was that it seemed most of the affairs were managed according to the pleasure and will of King Otho and Bruno his Brother Arch-Bishop of Colen and Duke or Governor of Lorrain so that they became as it were the Moderators and Arbitrators of France Year of our Lord 959 The Queen being at difference with the Children of Hugh and the Widdow Avoye her Sister for some Castles which King Lotaire had taken from them in Burgundy Bruno came into France and brought them to an agreement in a Parliament held at Compiegne After which the Queen and her Son Lataire went to keep Easter at Colen with Bruno who entertained them splendidly and sent them back furnished with very brave Presents A while after being called to their assistance against Robert Earl of Troyes and Count of Chaalons by his wife who had surprized Dijon he returned into France with his Lorrainers and regained that place At the same time he sent some Saxon Forces to Troyes to restore the Bishop whom that Robert had thrust out thence But Renard Earl of Sens and Rimbauld Arch-Bishop of the same City friends to Robert gave them Battel and defeated them The same year died Alain surnamed Barbe-torte Duke of Bretagne and Son of Earl Matueda who left two Bastards Hoel and Guerec and one Legitimate Child named Drogon then in his Cradle whom he declared Heir Thibauld Earl of Chartres Grand-Father by the Mother to this Child had the Tuition and the Mother the care of his person Now marrying again with Fulk Earl of Anjou this Year of our Lord 959 wicked woman unhappily killed him by causing scalding water to be thrown down upon the Infants head The Succession begot a bloody debate in Bretagne which lasted 34 years The two Bastards of Alain disputed it with one Conan who was descended by a Daughter from King Salomon he made them both perish Hoel by the hands of a Souldier who assassinated him and Guerec by a poysoned Lancet wherewith a Chyrurgeon let him Blood But himself perished at length in a Battel he lost An. 992. against Fulk Earl of Anjou a Capital Enemy of the Bretons Geofrey the eldest of the four Sons he left succeeded him The Children of the Defunct Hugh the White thorough the persuasion of Arch-Bishop Bruno tendred hommage for their Lands to King Lotaire who in retribution declared the Eldest Duke of France as his Father had been and bestowed Poitou upon him you must understand if he could conquer it for it was possessed by another very potent Earl This is a conjecture that the Kings had not yet given entirely away their power of bestowing Dutchy's and Earldoms and that if they were Hereditary it was only by Usurpation not as yet by Concession All the new Principalities and Seigniories or Lordships which were started up in the Kingdom did not trouble the King so much as that of the Normans who being strangers and the Issue of those Fathers that had plagued and plundred France 80 years together should yet enjoy so rich a Province Wherefore Bruno who governed the affairs of the Kingdom being excited by the persuasions of Arnold Earl of Flanders Baldwin his Son Thibauld Earl of Chartres and Geofrey Earl of Anjou combined to ruine Duke Richard For this purpose he sent for him to come to the Royal Parliament or General Assembly of Estates at Amiens putting him in hopes if he came thither they would give him the Administration of the Kingdom But it was with design to Sieze and send him Prisoner into Germany Richard who was on his journey being informed of this Combination by two unknown Cavaliers returned whence he came and stood more upon his Guard Year of our Lord 959 He avoided likewise another Snare the King had laid for him near the River of Epte to which place sending for him to come and do him hommage he meant to lay hold on him The Duke had already passed the Epte when the Scouts he had sent forth to discover what the King was doing brought him word that all his Enemies were about the King and were making ready to set upon him By this he understood the meaning of the French and withdrew in time Year of our Lord 957 Since Berenger and Adelbert had been restored to the Kingdom of Italy by Otho they never ceased to conspire against him and withal cruelly vexing their Subjects so that he had sent his Son Luitolf to chastise them This young Prince had almost hunted them quite out of the Kingdom when he was surprised by Death An.
into his hands having obtained it by intelligence Richard followed him close at the heels and getting into the Country almost as soon as himself made terrible havock The Earl of Chartres had his revenge the very same year carrying Fire and Sword to the very Gates of Rouen but was rudely repulsed and lost his Son in the Retreat Year of our Lord 965 Arnold surnamed the Old the Fair and the Great Earl of Flanders died in the year 965. The Son of Baldwin his Son named Arnold the Young Succeeded him under the Guardianship of Matilda of Saxony his Mother This was that Arnold who being come to Age began to Fortify the Port of Petressa or Scalas which then belonged to the Abbey of St. Berthin It is now named Calais Neighbour to Portus Iccius in these days as it is believed called Blanc Nez and very Famous in the Romans times who from thence passed over into Great Britain He thought to make good use of it against the Normand Pyrats and because he could not always be on those Coasts he gave the County of Guisnes to Adolph Son of Siffroy who had married the Daughter of Hernieulle Earl of Boulogne King Lotaire having heard of the Death of Arnold the Old went immediately into the Country to receive Hommage of the Lords and took Arras and Doway As on the other side William Earl of Pontieu took from that Minor Boulogne and Terouenne and two of his Sons were Earls each of one of those Cities Year of our Lord 966 The same year Arch-Bishop Bruno being come into France to determine some difference between his Sister Gerberge and King Lotaire with the Children and Widdow of Hugh was Siezed with a Feaver at Compiegne which he carried to Reims with him and there Died. Some Authors give him the Title of Arch-Duke of Lorraine because he commanded all the Dukes and Earls of that Kingdom And this is the first time that I find that Title in any Authors There was before this time a Marquiss and Duke of the higher or Mosellanick Lorrain which was Gerard from whom it is held the Lorrain Princes of our days are descended Some Genealogists derive it from Erchinoald Mayre of the Palace and from the same stock they make the Austrian Habspurgh-House to spring with that of Zeringhen from whence is issued the Princes of Baden The King marry's Emme or Emina Daughter of that Lotaire King of Italy Poysoned by Berenger II. and the Queen Adeleida whom the Emperor Otho made his Year of our Lord 966 Second Wife which strengthned the good correspondence between the two Monarchs of France and Germany There hapned nothing very observable during these two years unless it were that in An. 967. King Lotaire gave his Sister Matilda in marriage to Conrad King Year of our Lord 967. and 68. of Burgundy and for her Dowre bestowed the City and County of Lyons The Earl Thibauld supported by the King went and encamped before Rouen from whence he could not be forced but by the help of the Infidel Normans which the King of Denmark of Kin to Richard sent thither who having made him retreat ran Year of our Lord 969 to the very Gates of Paris The ignorance of those times was extream which is the reason that for want of Historians we scarcely find any thing and must sometimes slip over whole years without mention of any occurrences In the year 973. Died the Emperor Otho very justly surnamed the Great founder of the Germain Empire Subduer of the Hungarians and Sclavonians and who found out the Method to Quell the Italians Pride and Chain up their persidious mutability LOTAIRE in France OTHO II. Emperor of Italy and Germany Aged 21 or 22 years CONRAD in Burgundy The Reign of his Son Otho II. was neither so steady nor so happy as his own Giselbert the Husband of Gerberge afterwards Queen had a Brother named Regnier Long-neck Earl of Mons in Haynault and Valenciennes who having been taken in that City by Arch-Bishop Bruno had been confined to the Country of the Venedes and some time after two Counts named Garnier and Raginald or Renold who were in my opinion of his Kindred were invested in his Lands But his Sons Regnier II. Year of our Lord 973 and Lambert after the Death of Otho Armed themselves with the Aid of the French to be restored This begot a Bloody and most obstinate War The two Brothers defeated and slew in a Battel fought at a Village of Peronne near Binns the Counts Garnier and Renold But Otho II. immediately substituted Renauld and Godfrey two Lorrain Lords whom he invested with the Earldoms of Hainault and Valenciennes Now Year of our Lord 975 after various events the two Brothers assisted by Charles Brother to King Lotaire and Hugh Capet whose Daughters they afterwards Married got possession again of those Counties But it was at soonest not till An. 983. Year of our Lord 977 The Emperor was highly displeased that these two Sons of a Rebel should possess such large and great Feoss in his Kingdom of Lorrain in despite of him however he dissembled it having other affairs which would not allow him time to break with King Lotaire Year of our Lord 977 Which is more whether out of design to oblige him or rather to put a Barr in his way he Created Charles his Brother Duke of Lorrain a young Prince about the Age of 23 or 24 years The French had not forgot the remembrance of their Ancient right to Lorrain And the King as Son of Gerberge who of her own held very many great possessions in Capite expected that Otho his Cousin German would restore some part to him especially seeing he had given such sweet Morsels to the Bishops of Liege and Colen But not doing so Lotaire undertakes to compel him He gets unexpectedly into the Country with an Army takes the Oaths of the Lorrainers in the City of Mets and from thence marches directly to Aix-la-Chapelle Otho was diverting himself there very securely with his Family it wanted not above half an hours time to have surprised him He could do no other but only just get on Horseback and fly for his safety leaving his Dinner at the Table and all his precious Year of our Lord 978 Houshold Furniture in the Palace which Lotaire plunder'd and then scowred thorough all the whole Country In revenge of this Exploit the very same year Otho made a great irruption in France with Three-score Thousand men sacked all Champagne and that which is called the Isle of France even to Paris sending word to Hugh Capet who being Count of that City had put himself in there that he would have an Alleluya sung upon Montmartre by so many Clerks it should be heard at Nostre-Dame Those Rodomontado's were not justified by the effects His Nephew going in a Bravado to plant his Lance in one of the Gates of Paris was slain by Gefrey Grisegonnelle Earl of Anjou Winter
were divers that were noted for their famous Intriguing and Disorders In the Wars between the Kings Henry the Bird-catcher and Charles the Simple Hilduin falsifying his Faith which he owed to Charles who had given him the Bishoprick of Liege went and acknowledged Henry and forced away the Treasures of the Church which he distributed to that Prince and his Courtiers to maintain him but the face of Affairs being changed Charles would not suffer him to hold that Bishoprick but bestowed it upon the Abbot Richer which was confirmed by the Pope King Henry recompenced Hilduin with the Bishoprick of Milan Herve de Reims otherwise a very learned Prelate was likewise unfaithful to Charles the Simple whose Chancellor he was and Crowned Robert Brother to Eudes but he died within three days after as if he had been smitten by the avenging hand of God Seulfe Hugh and Artold his Successors did all cause many troubles for more then Twenty five years The Traytor Adalberon de Laon delivered up Prince Charles who had made him his prime Minister and Arnold de Reims was contented to owe the Obligation of that Archbishoprick to his Brothers mortal Enemy and then broke his Faith with him It will be difficult to cull out any so excelling in Christian Vertues as to merit the Titles of Saints unless we place in this Rank Erembert of Toulouze Gambert of Cahors and Turpion of Limoges I do not speak of those of Germany amongst them this Age produced a sufficient number whose Apostolical Labours and Endeavours converted the Danes Sclavonians Hungarians and other Infidel Nations But amongst the Monks we find in Burgundy five Abbots Bennon Odon Mayeule Odillon and William the four first of Clugity the last of St. Benigne and in Lorrain Gerard who are respected by the Church Books were become mighty scarce the Wars had almost destroy'd them all by burning tearing and other such like barbarities and as there were none but Monks who Transcribed the Copies and that Monasteries were much deserted the numbers of Learned Men were very small However Herve of Reims about the beginning of this Age Ruthier de Liege about the middle and Arnold d'Orleans towards the latter end made it appear they were not ignorant in the knowledge of Holy Scripture and the Canons and Usages of the Church Aymoin a Monk of Fleury Frodoard Abbot of St. Bemy of Reims and Dudon Dean of St. Quentin wrote of History and Gerbert passed for a Prodigy of Science He had been bred young in the Monastery of Orillac and going into Spain he was by the Recommendation of Borel Count of Barcellonna instructed in the Mathematicks either by Bishop Hutton or by some Arabian Doctors He was afterwards Rector or School master in the City of Reims and perhaps he was the first that taught it in France where for Scholars he had Prince Robert Son of Hugh Capet Leoterick Archbishop of Sens and Fulbert Bishop of Chartres After which he had also the honour to teach Otho III. We know how he was raised to the See of the Church of Reims by Hugh Capet then to that of Ravenna by Otho and at length to that of Rome by the name of Silvester II. As for the Councils of the Gallican Church the first that I find in this Century is that of Trosly Anno 909. Trosly is in the Diocess of Soissons and pretty near that City Herve Archbishop of Reims was President There are fifteen Chapters which are as so many warm Exhortations and excellent Sermons against all the Abuses and enormous Crimes that had over-whelmed France where the weak were become a prey to the stronger where the Laws were made a snare and burthen by the violence of particular powers for which reason God had to the plague of War added that oâ— Barrenness and Famine caused by a most horrible Drought Anno 921. King Charles the Simple Convoked one or Sixteen Bishops for the business of Hilduin whom he had thrust out of the Bishoprick of Liege I neither find the Place nor the Acts. There were three more at Trosly one in 921. where Erleband Earl of Castrice who had been Excommunicated by the Archbishop Herve for invading what belonged to the Church of Reims was absolved after his death upon the intreaty of King Charles by the same Archbishop Another Anno 924. wherein Isaac Earl of Cambray having given satisfaction for some wrongs to Stephen his Bishop was absolved and reconciled to him The third Anno 927. of six Bishops called by Count Hebert of Vermandois Mangre King Rodolph where Herluin Earl of Monstreuil was admitted to Pennance for having Married a second Wife his first being yet alive In the year 923. there was one in the Diocess of Reims the place is not named which ordained those that had born Arms in the Wars betwixt King Charles and King Robert to do Peunance for three whole Lents three several years consecutively and also fifteen days before the Feast of St. John and fifteen days after it fasting all the Mondays Wednesdays and Saturdays during that space of time and besides all the Saturdays throughout the whole year with Bread and Water only unless they bought it off The first time of this Pennance in Lent they were to stay out of the Church and at the last to be reconciled upon Holy-Thursday The Council of Duisburgh Anno 928. Excommunicated the Factious Party of Mets who had put out the Eyes of their Bishop Bennon after which King Henry the Bird-catcher severely Revenged that villanous act of theirs and made it fall upon their own heads That at the Abby of Cherlien in 926. and that of Fimes in 935. endeavoured to repair the Desolations of the Holy Places ruined by Robbers and other such wicked People The Debate for the Archbishoprick of Reims between Artold and Hugh the Son of Hebert Earl of Vermandois was an occasion of calling divers Councils Hugh having been advanced to that See too young and against the Canons was deposed and Artold placed in his stead But Anno 940. Artold had renounced and made Solemn Oath not to intermeddle any more in the government of that Church Thereupon a Council called at Soissons in the year 941. by Hugh and Hebert destituted him and re-establisht Hugh On the contrary that of Verdun Anno 947. restored him That of Mouson in 948. confirmed him and that of Ingelbeim the same year where the Kings Lewis Transmarine and Otho l. were present Excommunicated the Bishop Hugh of Vermandois and resolved to Treat Count Hugh in the same manner who being a Rebel to his Prince had held him Prisoner a year if he did not come and give satisfaction The same year that of Treues where Marin the Popes Legat presided confirmed the Sentence against the two Hughes and thundred against the Bishops irregularly Ordained by Hugh of Vermandois Artold being dead Anno 961. some Bishops Assembled together near Meaux the year following to contrive
belonged to the Church from the Rapine and Thefts of some Lords and restore the Discipline for which some Canons were made in the Second of Limoges That of Beauvais was held Fifteen days after that of Bourges Pope Leo IX being come into France Convened one at Reims towards Autumne An. 1049. Victor II. One at Toulouze An. ✚ 1056. To extirpate abuses and especially Simony which is more difficult to be taken from the Church then their Riches which is the cause of it King Henry desiring to have his Son Philip Crowned Assembled the Prelats and Lords of the Kingdom at Paris An. 1059 or 60. Amat Bishop of Oleron Legat from Rome in Aquitania Tertia and Narbounensis held divers Two in Gascongne One wherein he Excommunicated such as detained any Goods belonging to the Church another wherein he Dissolved the Marriage of Centulle Vicount of Bearn and another also at the Burrough of Deols in Berry with Hugh Legat and Arch-Bishop of Lyons about the affairs of that Abby The same having the Popes Legation in the lesser Bretagne Convened one An. 1079. in that Province to take some course against the abuses of false pennances that is to say their ☞ imposing of slight pennances for great crimes About the end of the year 1080. there were three One at Lyons where Hugh de Die the Popes Legat caused the Sentence to be confirmed whereby Manasses Arch-Bishop of Reims had been deposed One at Avignon where he consecrated another Hugh Bishop of Grenoble and the Third at Meaux in which Vrsion de Soissons was deposed and Arnold a Monk of St. Medard installed in his place The year following the same Hugh and Richard Abbot of Marseille Cardinals called one at Poitiers Amat d'Oleron Legat in Aquitain came likewise thither They provisionally ordained a Divorce of William Earl of Poitiers from his Wife because of their consanguinity That of Toulouze in An. 1090. was Convened by the Legats of Vrban II. Some Rules were there made concerning Causes Ecclesiastical and the Bishop of that City purged himself of certain things imposed upon him The most famous of all was the Council of Clermont An. 1095. where the same Pope with great zeal Preached up the First Croisade and to obtain the assistance of the Holy Virgin towards those that should undertake the Expedition ordained the Clergy to recite the Office or Heures of our Lady which the Chartreux and Hermits instituted by Peter Damianus had already received amongst them There was one more at Tours the year following to prepare them to that expeditition of the Holy Land The last year of this Century they had one likewise at Poitiers whereat John and Benedict Cardinal Legats presided King Philip was here struck with an Anathema for having retaken Bertrade and the Kingdom of France put under an interdiction The precedent year there had been one held at Autun and the following there was also one at Baugency for the same business The prohibition of Marriages even to the seventh Degree extreamly embarrass'd the Eleventh and Twelfth Century and as that rigour was excessive the Princes broke thorough without much scruple and afterwards became obstinate against Excommunications with so much the more Reason and Pretence as having the opinions of many great Lawyers who reckoned these Degrees after another manner then the Church-men so that it served for little else but a specious colour for such as were distasted with their Wives to procure their Divorce The custom practised in the Church of Jerusalem where because of the too great confluence the Laity communicated only under the species of Bread introduced it self by little and little into the Western Church and there is some appearance that the Canon of the Council of Clermont was favourable to it ordaining That those that communicated should take the two species separately this was to avoid that abuse of the Greeks who soaked or dipped the Bread in the Wine Vnless in case of necessity or by PRECAVTION That is to say if there were danger of spilling the Challice as when the multitude and throng of Communicants was too great There was like a change in the Government of some Churches the Sees of Gascongny which had been vacant above two ages were filled the Bishopricks of Arras and Cambray both which had been Governed by one Pastor since Saint Vaast began each to have their own after the death of Gerard II. who held them both and Manasses was the first Bishop of Cambray An. 1095. The same thing was attempted for Noyon and Tournay which had been joyned since St. Medard but King Philip opposing they remained so united till the year 1146. When Simon the Son of Hugh the Great being Bishop thereof they were divided Anselme a Monk of Soissons and Abbot of St. Vincent de Laon was the first that held the See of Tournay An. 1179 Gregory VII by his Bulls gave or as others say confirmed to the Arch-Bishop of Lyons the Primacy of the four Lyonnoises only being perhaps perswaded as some others that Lyons was in antient times the capital City and first Church of the Galls The Arch-Bishop of Tours was the first who submitted but those of Sens and Rouen opposed it with all their might and although this establishment had been maintained in the Council of Clermont and since by judgment contradictory which was given in the Court of Rome Anno 1099. they had much ado to submit themselves and it was as I believe during this Contest that he of Rouen began out of emulation to take up the Title of Primate of Normandy The Abbot Odillon being excited by divers Revelations to ease the Souls that were in Torments after Death ordained the Monks of his Congregation of Clugny to make a Commemoration every year the day after All-Saints in their Prayers and Divine Service which the Universal Church received soon after About the end of his Age three famous Religious Orders had their Birth That of the Chartreax Anno 1086. by Bruno Canon o◠Reims and St. Hugh Bishop of Grenoble who were the first that retired into the horrid Solitude of the Chartreuse in Dauphine which gave name to this Order That of St. Anthony at Vienne in the same Country by a Gentleman named Gaston who devoted his Person and Estate to the assistance of those that were seized with the Distemper called St. Anthony's Fire and came to implore the intercession of that Saint at Vienne where they had his Corps brought thither from Constantinople by Jocelin Count d'Albon in the time of King Lotaire Son of Louis Transmarine This Gaston got together some Companions who at first were of the Laity but soon after they became Friars under the Rules of St. Augustin and planted their Congregation in several Provinces In the year 1098. Robert Abbot of Molesme Instituted the Order of the Cisteaux being as it were a younger Sprig of that of St. Bennet and became so Potent that for more then Twenty years
others who named themselves the Humbled The First made profession of an Evangelical poverty the Second undertook to Preach wherever they came To contradict or countermine these two Religious Orders were instituted viz. The Friers Mineurs or Cordeliers and the Preaching Friers or Jacobins The First Foundation of that was laid in Italy by St. Francis d'Assise of the other in Languedoc by St. Dominique of the Noble Family of the Guzmans in Spain and Cannon of Osma who came into this Province with a Bishop to Convert the Albigenses Year of our Lord 1208 King Philip would have been himself in this Expedition or would have sent his Son for these Sectaries had committed some Hostilities in his Territory acknowledging his Enemy King John had he not feared a Landing of the English in Bretagne under favour of the Fort du Garplie He went not therefore beyond the Loire but Commanded the Nobility that held of him to arm themselves and take that Fort as in truth they did this year The Bishops of Orleans and Auxerre who had been sent thither with their Vassals upon this Expedition being return'd again without leave pretending not to be oblig'd to march with the Army but when the King was there in Person the King commanded their Regalia to be seized that is to say what they held in Fief of him not their Tithes Offerings and other dues necessarily belonging to People of that Function They made complaint by their Envoys to Pope Innocent III. then went themselves The Pope having examined the matter found they had failed and transgressed against the Customs and Laws of the Kingdom so that they were fain to pay a Mulct to the King to re-enter upon their Temporals Year of our Lord 1209 The number of these New-Crossed Soldiers were not less then 500000 Men not all Combatans as I believe amongst whom there were five or six Bishops the Duke of Burgundy the Earls of Nevers St. Poll and de Montfort The general Rendezvous was at Lyons about the Feast of St. John Thence going into Languedoc they assault the City of Beziers one of the strongest held by the Albigenses forced it and put all to the edge of the Sword there being slain above threescore thousand Persons Those in Carcassonne terrified with this horrible Slaughter surrendred upon Discretion thinking themselves very happy to escape naked or only in their Shirts Year of our Lord 1209 The Lords in this Army having called a Council elected Simon Earl of Montfort chief Commander in this War and to govern the Conquests they had and should make upon those Hereticks That done the Earl of Nevers returned with a great Party of those Soldiers and soon after the Duke of Burgundy with another so that Simon was left ill attended yet he maintained himself by a more then Heroick Valour and Conquer'd Mire-pâ—ix Pamiers and Alby In so much as in a little time he made himself Master of the Albigois the Counties of Beziers and Carcassonne and above an hundred Castles Year of our Lord 1209 In these times the School at Paris flourish'd more then ever They gave it the name of University because all sorts of Sciences were universally taught there although in effect the desire to Study or Learn and the affluence of Scholars were much greater then their Doctrine A certain Priest of the Diocess of Chartres named Almaric beginning to Preach up some Novelties had been forced to recant for which he died of grief Several after his Death following his Opinions were discover'd and condemn'd to the Fire he Excommunicated by the Council of Paris his Body taken out of the Grave and his Ashes cast on the Dunghil And because they believ'd the Books of Aristotles Metaphysicks lately brought them from Constantinople had fill'd their heads with these Heretical Subtilties the same Council prohibited either the keeping or reading them upon pain of Excommunication Year of our Lord 1209 Guy Count d'Auvergne for the violence and injustice he committed against the Clergy particularly the Bishop of Clermont whom he had imprison'd was deprived of his County by King Philip and could never be restor'd again Year of our Lord 1210 The Emperor Otho grew stubborn in the defence of the Rights of the Empire and prepared to go into Italy wholly to subdue it with a mighty Army which he raised with the Money his Nephew King John had sent him upon condition that from thence he should fall upon France Thereupon he was thunder-struck with Excommunication by Pope Innocent and a little after a great part of the German Princes elected Roger-Frederick II. Son of the Emperor Henry VI. about the Age of Seventeen years and who in his Fathers Life-time had already been named King of the Romans The Pope consented to this Election and the following year Frederic who was then in his Kingdom of Sicily passed into Germany Every other while there came new Bands of Soldiers of the Cross to the Earl de Montfort even from Flanders and Germany but slipt away again within six weeks or two Months With these Recruits he carried all the Places and Castles not only of the Hereticks but likewise of other Lords The King of Arragon of whom divers in those Countries held their Lands in Under-Fiefs because of some Lordships he was possessed of wrote to the Pope about it and the Earl of Toulouze went even to Rome to make his Complaints where his Holiness receiv'd him well enough and promis'd him Justice Year of our Lord 1210 But at his return they propounded an Agreement with Montfort if he would let him have all he had already taken He could never consent to it and Milon the Popes Legat Excommunicated him in the Council of Avignon because he levied certain new Tolls upon his Lands The King of Arragon came in Person to another Council which was held at St. Gilles to endeavour to accommodate Affairs and restore the Earl of Foix and the Vicount de Bearn who were dispossess'd as favourers of Hereticks but he could not obtain any thing Year of our Lord 1211 The Toulouzain after so many mean and ruinous Submissions takes the Bit in his Teeth and puts himself in a posture to defend his own Then is he openly Excommunicated and his Lands exposed to any that could Conquer them Montfort besieges Toulouze but the grand Recruits that were come with him stealing away in a little time he is forced to raise the Siege The Earls of Toulouze and de Foix with their Confederates pursue him and besiege him in Chasteauneuf a thing incredible above 50000 Men could not overpower or force three hundred are beaten and shamefully retreat Year of our Lord 1211 The young Princes Frederick II. and Lewis eldest Son of King Philip delegated by his Father Confer at Vaucouleurs upon the Frontiers of Champagne to renew the Alliance between France and the Empire and to unite themselves more closely against Otho and against King John his Uncle two irreconcilable Enemies Renauld Earl of
did again inspire them with new and dangerous Questions and Propositions but besides all these another sort of poysoners came out of Italy into France bringing along with them the most pernicious venom of the Manicheans and these were they in my opinion who first infected the Diocess of Alby for which reason those Heretiques were named Albigensis They were convinced at a Conference in that City at the Bishops who was chosen Arbitrator by both parties in presence of many Lords Prelats and Constance the Wife of Raimond Earl of Toulouze and Sister to the King of France Gozelin the Bishop of Lodeve refuting their errors by arguments and proofs drawn out of the New Testament This Conquest could not wholly destroy these unwholsom Seeds they multiplied every day more and more and soon mastered Toulouze the capital City of Languedoc The Kings of France and England were almost resolved to make use of Fire and Sword to destroy them however they thought fit to send some Preachers first amongst them to labour and endeavour to convert them or confound them and to cut them off from all communion with the faithful that they might corrupt no more of them The Popes Legat went thither in Anno 1178. accompanied with Four or Five Bishops and several other Clergy-men they discover'd many of these people in Toulouze amongst the rest the oldest and the richest and as I may say the cock of all the others who let them have his Towers to Meet and Preach in They forced him to submit to a publique pennance pull'd down his Towers or Turrets and excommunicated and banished several of those Heretiques who retired into Albigeois that was as it were their Fort or Cittadel because Roger Earl of Alby favour'd them and made use of them to keep the Bishop of his City a prisoner These Countries of Languedoc and Gascongny as well because of their distance as their situation and likewise the fiery warlike disposition of their people were filled with another sort of wild Beasts and such as delighted in Blood I mean Troops or Herds of Bandits who hir'd themselves to any one that wanted them to take revenge upon their Enemies or else roved all about to seek prey for themselves They sought not only after Money and Goods but took their Persons or their Lives away sparing neither condition nor age nor sex They were of no Religion but help'd the Heretiques thereby to have some pretence to rob Churches and Church-men some of them were called Brabanders Arragonians Navarrois and Basques as coming from those Countreys Others Cottereaux and Triaverdins a Nick-name whose original I do not know and their Horse-men Routiers from the German name Reuter The General Council of Lateran which was held in Anno 1179. Excommunicated both the one and the other forbid the burying them in Holy Ground and exhorted all Catholiques to fall upon them seize upon their Goods and bring their Persons into slavery allowing all those that took up Arms against them Indulgences and Relaxations of pennance proportionable to their Services and at the discretion of the Bishops Amongst these Heretiques there were some that were called Popelicans who held a great many strong Castles in Gascongny where they had cantoniz'd themselves and made up a body ever since they were cut off from the Church Henry who from being Abbot de Clervaux had been made Bishop of Albe having in quality of Legat gathered a good force together by his Preachings and Exhortations went to visit them with a strong hand in Anno 1181. They feigned to avoid this storm they would abjure their errors but the danger being over they lived as before This contagion spread it self in many Provinces both on this and the other side of the Loire one of these false Apostles by name Terric who had kept himself conceal'd a long time in a Grott at Corbigny in the Diocess of Nevers was taken and burnt Divers others suffer'd the same death in several places particularly two horrible old Women in the City of Troyes to one of whom as it was said they had given the name of Holy-Church and to the other that of St. Mary that so when they were examin'd by the Judges they might swear by St. Mary they believed no other then what was the belief of Holy Church These Popelicans amongst other things did openly repugne the reality of the Body of Our S. J. C. in the Sacrament for which cause there were divers miracles wrought in those times to confirm people in the faith of that mistery They were condemned in the Council of Sens of the year 1198. as were likewise the Vandois the Patarins and the Cathares The name of Patarins came from the Glory they took in suffering for the Truth patiently that of Cathares because though falsly they professed great purity of Life These last were called in Flanders Pifles and in France Weavers because the most part of them lived by the labour of their hands which they employed in that Trade It would require a whole Treatise to enumerate and particularize all these Sects their several Names and their Opinions which agreed in some points and were quite different in others but in my judgment they may be all reduced to two that is Albigeois and Vaudois and these two held almost or very near the same Opinions as those we call in our days Calvinists There arose if not an Heresie at least some great doubts touching the resurrection of the Body in the time of Maurice Bishop of Paris by reason whereof to testify what his Faith was concerning this Article he ordain'd they should engrave upon his Tomb the first Response which we find in the Office for the deceased After his example many other Ecclesiastiques gave Order before their death that these words should be affixed upon their Breasts in writing and put into the Graves with them These Schismes and Errors thwarting the power of the Pope and the Clergy confirmed and increased it the more For First the Popes gained the whole advantage upon the Emperours concerning those Disputes about Investitures Then when they had gotten that liberty of Elections they would needs extend it likewise to the persons and Goods of the Ecclesiastiques they said the Church owed no Contribution but to her own Head who is the Vicar of JESVS CHRIST on Earth and that the Clergy could not be corrected but by their Superiours which they founded upon that Maxim That the less Noble or Worthy ought not to command the more Noble or Worthy nor the inferior be judge of him that is above him However this point striking at and diminishing the Authority of all other Temporal Princes as well as the Emperours could not pass for current but in the Countreys of those that were weak and on the other side of the Mountains The third subject of the differences they had with the Emperours was they pretended it belonged to them to dispose of or give
John of Salisbury who governed the Church of Chartres the first in the beginning of this Century and the last towards the end Godfrey d'Amiens of whom we shall speak hereafter Peter of Poitiers who courageously opposed William VIII Duke of Aquitain who would force him to absolve him of the Excommunication wherewith he was fetter'd Gilbert Poree who held the same See as Peter but Twenty five years after Arnoulf Bishop of Lisieux Robert de Beauvais he was the Son of Hugh Duke of Burgundy John surnamed de la Grille who transferr'd the Bishoprick of Quidalet to that place now called St. Malo's Simon de Noyon and Guerin de Senlis In the time of Simon whilst he was at Jerusalem with King Louis VII in the year 1146. the Church of Tournay was cut off from that of Noyon to which it had been joyned in the days of St. Medard and had for their first Bishop Anselme who was Abbot of St. Viucent of Laon Guerin de Senlis was very great in the Reign of Philp II. and of Louis VIII Keeper of the Seals under the first Chancellor under the second I shall conclude with four Bishops of Paris whose Memory ought to be dear to that great City and the whole Gallican Church Stephen de Garlande Peter Lombard Maurice and Odon These two last bare the name of Sully Maurice because he was a Native of that place but of very poor Parents Odon because he was of that illustrious House Issue of the Earls of Champagne Stephen had been Chancellor of France under Louis VI. Peter Lombard was called the Master of Sentences from that Book so well known through all Christendom and which was the Foundation of all School-Divinity Maurice had a noble Soul liberal and magnanimous He founded the Abbies de Herivaux and de Hemieres as likewise two Monasteries for Virgins Gif and Hieres and laid the Foundation of the Church Nostre-Dame one of the greatest Buildings to be seen in France Odon his Successor finisht it and founded a Monastery for Women of the Order de Cisteaux at Port Royal being assisted in that Pious Work by the Liberality of Matilda Daughter of William de Garland He laboured also to root out an ancient but ridiculous Custom which had been suffer'd in the Church of Paris and in divers others of the Kingdom It was the Holy-day or Feast of Fools in some places they called it the Festival of Innocents It was observ'd at Paris principally upon the day of the Circumcision the Priests and Clerks went in Masquerade to Church where they committed a thousand Insolencies and from thence rode about the Streets in Chariots mounted upon Theaters or Stages singing the most filthy Songs and acting all the tricks and postures the most impudent Buffoons are wont to shew to divert the Rascally and Sottish Populace Odo or Odon endeavour'd to put down this detestable Mummery having to that effect obtain'd an order of the Popes Legat who made his Visitation there but we may well believe that his desire had not its full accomplishment that Custom lasting Two hundred and fifty years afterwards for we find that in the year 1444. the Masters of the Faculties of Divinity at the request of some Bishops wrote a Letter to all the Prelats and Chapters to damn and utterly abolish it and the Council of Sens which was held in Anno 1460. does yet speak of it as an Abuse which ought to be Retrencht The Bishops labour'd assiduously to edifie and instruct the Faithful by their Works and Doctrine most part of them have left their Writings whereof many have been published the rest as yet lie hid in several Libraries And truly as this Age was not ingrateful to Persons of Merit the liberty of Elections giving them opportunities to reward them there were more Men of worth and parts to be found then had been heard of in a long time who improved the Sciences with good success and drew an incredible number of Students to learn Philosophy and Divinity at Paris Human Learning or Les belles Lettres made some Attempts and Essays to raise it self which were not altogether in vain It appears in the Writings of Hildebert of John of Salisbury and Stephen de Tournay Peter Comester or the Eater Dean of the Church of Troyes and afterwards a Monk of St. Victors compiled the Ecclesiastical History and he was called the Master of it and Elinand Native of Beauvais a Monk of Froidmont wrote the Universal History to the year 1212. in Forty eight Books We have three Latin Poets or Versisicators who are not to be despised Galternus William le Breton and Leonius The first made a Poem of Alexanders famous Exploits which he Intitled Alexandreides Le Broton in imitation composed the Philippides containing the History of Philip Augustus and Leonius made himself known by several Copies which though not very long are gentile and full of Wit He was Canon of St. Victor I shall not set down all those whom in this Age the Church put into her number of Saints but only the two Bernards the one being the first Abbot de Tiron of St. Bennet's Order and the other Abbot of Clervaux whose Wit and clear Judgment his Zeal and Piety his Conduct and Capacity in business of the greatest weight made him appear with more luster then any other in his time Three Institutors of new Religious Orders Robert Abbot de Molesme that of the Cisteaux Stephen that of Grandmont and Norbert that de Premonstre Five Bishops Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury whom I place amongst the French though he were a Native of the Valley d'Aost because he Studied in France and was Abbot du Bec Peter Abbot de la Celle then Bishop of Troyes another Peter Bishop of Poictiers Aldebert de Brabant Bishop of Liege and Godfrey Bishop of Amiens They relate an action of this last which our times would sooner wonder at then imitate It was the Mode then for such as would be Gallants to wear long Hair curled and tressed this courageous Prelat one time refuses to admit any to the holy Table who came tricked up in that fashion and that refusal put them to such shame and confusion that they all cut it off themselves chusing rather to lose that vain Ornament of their Heads then the Comfort of eating the holy Bread of Angels When he found them so well disposed he admitted those as Men and Christians whom he before had turned away as dissolute Women or Men wholly effeminated About the year 1180. the People Reverenced a certain Maiden as a Saint whose name was Elpide or Alpaida dwelling in the Village du Cudot in the Diocess of Sens who for Ten years together would swallow nothing but the Sacred Host and though a simple Country Girl had great light and knowledge of things Natural and Divine This debility hapned after a severe fit of Sickness which had turned all her Body into a corrupt and stinking purulent Matter extreamly infected I
and confirmed by Pope Alexander IV. Anno 1257. The people because of their Habit called them White Mantles and the Convent given to them at Paris retains that name still it was bestowed on them in 1268. the Benedictins have the House at present All these Orders particularly the Mendicants applied themselves much for the stirring up peoples Devotion towards the Sacrament and the Virgin Mary Saint Dominique instituted the Rosary which is composed of a certain number of Ave Maria's and Pater-nosters which are repeated and whereof as one may say they make a Hatband or Coronet of Flowers to put upon the Head of that Queen of Angels The Carmelites not to come behind them in their Zeal to the Holy Mother of God established the Devotion of the Scapular to which they attribute great Virtue particularly to redeem them from the pains of Purgatory and not to die without Confession They affirm that Saint Simon Stoe their General instituted it upon a Vision he had of the Holy Virgin The peoples Devotion towards the Reliques of Saints was still very warm and zealous Charles the Lame King of Sicilia and Earl of Provence at his coming out of his imprisonment being perswaded by the Revelation of two Friers whereof one was his Confessor caused a certain place named Ville-late in the Diocess of Aix to be digged where they found a Corps believed to be St. Mary Magdelins said to be buried by Saint Maximin and afterwards removed and hid in another place not far from the first in the time of the Saracens incursions Charles caused it to be taken out with great ceremony and built a fair Convent in the same place for the Preaching Friers the resort of people by succession of time hath added a Town to it which bears the name of St. Maximin The Benedictine Monks of Vezelay in Burgundy were notwithstanding able to aver they had the full possession of this Holy Corps which had been brought to them from Aix or as others say from Jerusalem by the care of Gerard de Rousillon Founder of that Abbey about the year 882. The universal concourse of the whole Nation the Bulls of divers Popes even after this invention of Ville-late the Authority of two Kings Lewis VII and Lewis IX who had paid their Devotions in this place made this believed to be a Truth above contradiction amongst the French But that of the Greeks destroy'd equally both the pretences of the Monks of Vezelay and of the Jacobins For we find in some of their Writers of the Seventh age that the Body of Magdeline was at Ephesus and their Historians relate how the Emperour Leo the Philosopher who began not to Reign till the year 886. transferr'd it from that City to Constantinople as also the Corps of Lazarus from the Island of Cyprus However it were after this new discovery at Ville-late they told how this Holy Woman flying from the persecution of the Jews had made her escape by Sea into Provence with Lazarus her Brother her Sister Martha Marcella servant to Martha and Saint Maximin one of Seventy two Disciples of our Lord. That Maximin was the first Bishop of Aix and Lazarus of Marseilles That Martha preached the Faith in the Diocess of Aix and that she vanquished the Dragon whom they called the Tarasque which hath given name to the City of Tarascon where the Den of that Monster was That Magdeline retired into a Baulme or Grotto where after Twenty years solitude and mortification the Angels carried her Soul up to the Region of the Blessed and many other things unknown in the former ages The Sciences flourish'd with great luster in the University of Paris Theology the study of the Civil and Canon Law Physick and Philosophy with the Arts but not being accompanied or joyned with humane and polite Learning and Eloquence which came not into play or use till a long while after they expressed themselves but in barbarous terms and learned more Sophistry and shuffling then solid Truths All the substitutes of the University being Ecclesiastiques the skill and knowledge of the Law and Physick was in their hands and the Pope was owned for Head of that Body and of all the Men of Learning As for Physick they taught little more then the Theory under the name of Physick leaving the practical part of Medicines to the Laity For the Law the Popes would willingly have reduced it all to the Canons and their own Decretals from which we must ackowledge that France hath taken most of her Forms and judicial Orders that so all Christendom making use of the same Laws both in Temporals and Spirituals might accustom themselves to own but one Head to wit him who hath all the Laws both Divine and Humane in his own Breast It was for this in my opinion that Honorius III. by his Bull of the year 1219. did forbid upon pain of Excommunication to Teach the Civil Law at Paris and all other Citis in France and Gregory IX renewed it as to Paris Some are apt to believe those two Popes did it upon the request of the two Kings Philip Augustus and St. Lewis In effect the Letters of King Philip the Fair for the Institution of the University of Orleans speak the same but some doubt of the truth of their exposition and believe the prohibitions of Honorius and of Gregory was only intended to have respect to the Ecclesiastiques whom they would fain have weaned from that too great affection they had to the study of a thing which being very gainful made them lay aside and desert their Divinity Now whether one or other of these Opinions be the Truth it is certain that since they forbore not to Teach the Civil Law in the University of Paris till in the year 1579. that advantage was taken away from them by virtue of an Article found in the Ordonnance of Blois but truly it did not slourish there so much as in those of Toulouze and of Orleance The University of Toulouze was instituted in Anno 1230. by Saint Lewis that of Orleance was not till the year 1312. by King Philip the Fair. It is true that above One hundred years before there was in this last City as also in Toulouze Anger 's and divers others a famous School but which had no Seal nor the power of making Graduats and other marks of a Company formed and approved by the Prince Clement V. in acknowledgment of his having studied there gave several Bulls all in the year 1303. to make it an University The Scholars thinking to have the benefit in the year 1309. before they were approved of by the King the Burghers opposed them with Sword in hand and those troubles were not quieted till the King in 1312. had given a Being to that Body by his lawful Authority That of Montpellier otherwhile very famous for the Art of Physick because of the commerce and correspondence they had with the Arabian Physitians that were in Africa
tawny speaking in a particular Canting Language of their own and using a Slight of Hand in Picking Pockets while they pretended to tell Fortunes They were called Tartars and Zigens These were the same in my own opinion as those the French at present call Bohemians and the English Gypsy's Year of our Lord 1417 We find in the Acts of the Council of Constance how the memory of Wicklef was Anathematiz'd and John Huss who treading his steps had sowed new Doctrines in Bohemia was burnt alive Anno 1415. notwithstanding he had a safe Conduct of the Emperor and how Jerome of Pragne his Associate but more cautious then he chose rather to be condemned absent then present In the same Council Bennet having been declared Contumacious and intruded into the Papacy the Cardinals of all Parties joyning together elected Otho Colomna who took the name of Martin as being promoted on the Eve of that Saints day Year of our Lord 1418 He immediately employs his Care and Paternal Authority to endeavour the making a Peace in France To this end he sent two Cardinal Legats upon whose sollicitation an Assembly was held at Montereau Faut-yonne where the Deputies on either side agreed upon the Seventeenth of May that all hatred being laid aside the Dauphin and Duke of Burgundy should have the Government of the State during the Kings Life But the Constable the Chancellor and those that had the greatest share in the management of Affairs fearing they should be pack'd away or apprehending the Burgundian's Resentment formally opposed it and the Chancellor did absolutely refuse to Seal the Treaty he who was said to have Sealed so many Instruments to the Peoples ruine and for his own private Interest Paris being sick of the War this was an excellent Theme to be preached to the People and stir up their hatred against them and also to rowze the Burgundian Faction who had still remained quiet had not the Populace been drawn to side with them upon this ill management In fine those of his Party holding themselves assured of his Affection introduced into their City Philip de Villiers L'Isle Adauâ— Governor of Pontoise by St. Germains Gate He entred by night upon the Twenty eight of May with Eight hundred Horse crying out Peace and Burgundy The People did not stir till they were come into Year of our Lord 1418 the Streets of St. Denis and St. Honore then they came out on all hands and joyned with them Tanneguy du Chastel Provost of Paris hearing the noise ran and took the Dauphin out of his Bed and wrapping him up in his Night-Gown convey'd him to the Bastille and from thence to Melun The King who was in his Hostel remained in the power of the Burgundians From thence spreading themselves over the whole Town they fell upon the Houses of the Armagnac's and searched from the very tops of the Garrets to the bottoms of the Cellers Some plundered the Household Stuff and carried away the Money but were most eager to seize upon their Persons and those were least unhappy that were coop'd up in private places till they had paid their Ransoms Most of them were haled to Prisons whither a great many fled voluntarily to avoid other mischiefs The Chancellor was taken the very same day and imprisoned in the Palace The next day the Constable was dragged to the same place He had concealed himself in a Masons House but Proclamation being made to discover all the Armagnac's upon pain of death his Hoste produced him Year of our Lord 1418 The Banished being return'd from divers parts with indignation and revenge in their Hearts made the most cruel Mutiny that ever was heard of this was upon the Two and twentieth of June They began with the Palace whence they drew forth the Constable and Chancellor Murther'd them and exposed their Bodies upon the Table de Marbre From thence they went to the Prisons Massacred the Bishops of Senlis and de Coutances in the Petit Chastelet and made the rest leap from the tops of the Towers receiving them below upon the points of their Swords and Javelines There was no part of the City which was not stained with the Blood they spilt Near two thousand Men were killed whose Carcasses were drawn into the Fields with deep Incisions made upon their Backs in form of a Bend or Scarfe which was the Signal that Party had marked themselves withal for distinction Such as were found with them were held to be worse then Hereticks the Priests denied them Burial and Baptism to their Children Whether it were Policy or not the Duke of Burgundy would not come to Paris till a month after L'Isle Adam had made himself Master of it The Queen and he made their entrance the fourteenth day of July as Triumphantly as if they were returned Year of our Lord 1418 from the Conquest of some new Empire There was nothing heard in the Streets but the soft Musick of Voices and Instrumens and yet their presence did not stop the bloody hands of Murtherers Whoever had Money or an Enemy an Office or a Benefice was an Armagnac The vilest and the most wicked had made themselves the Chiefs of that Blood-thirsty Militia The very Hangman was one of them and he had so much impudence as to shake the Duke by the Hand who knew not what he was The One and twentieth of August they made another great Commotion that infamous Villain being their Captain in which they killed above two hundred Persons and amongst others even some of those that dwelt in the Dukes Hostel and perhaps they would have carried it home to himself had he not been provided against that Scum of the Rabble He bethought himself of a wyle which was to send six thousand of that common Herd to besiege Montleberry and when they were gone he ordered the Hangmans Head to be chopt off and several of the most deserving to be Hanged or cast into the River Year of our Lord 1418 It seemed that Heaven would revenge those horrible Murthers with its severest Rod About the Month of June Paris began to be infected with the Plague which raged extreamly to the end of October carried off above forty thousand most of them being the meanest of the People and such as had dipt their Hands in Blood After the Dauphin was gone from Paris his Partisans made War in his Name Those Frenchmen that were disinteressed and impartial found themselves much perplexed between the Kings Commands whom the Burgundian made to speak as pleased himself and the Commands of the Presumptive Heir to the Crown which side soever they could take they were sure to be treated as Rebels and Traitors Year of our Lord 1418 The Duke of Bretagne labour'd so much that he made up the breach a second time All the Articles were agreed upon at St. Maurdes Fossez but those that had influence over the Dauphin kept him from Ratifying them so that there was only a Truce for three weeks After he
Italian Princes because he had oppressed the City of Florence which was the place of his Nativity could not be induced to grant it but replyed in general terms he must Communicate the thing first to the other Princes of Christendom As to the second he gave his consent and made a League for some Year of our Lord 1533 Months For the third he excused himself because he had hopes of Marrying his Niece with the Kings second Son a party much more Advantageous then Sforza could be The Cardinal de Tournon and de Gramont were then upon the Negociation with him about this Alliance The Emperor could not believe the King would so much Debase and Vilifie the Noblest Bloud in the World He was much amazed when the two Cardinals shewed him the Powers they had for it Then went he away very ill satisfied with his Holiness though to appease him he promised to give him content in what he demanded against the King of England and Embarquing at Genoa about the end of February he passed into Spain Henry made most Vehement instances to Francis that he would Impetrate of the Pope he might have Judges appointed on the Place The two Cardinals whom we have mentioned being arrived at Bologna the fourth of January in the year 1533 obtained of his Holiness that he would defer the Judgement of that business till the King and he should had seen one another at the place appointed for that Meeting They had agreed upon the City of Nice but the Duke of Savoy making too many Difficulties the Pope consented not without much Repugnance that it should be at Marseilles and that they should come there in the Month of October The Amorous Impatience of Henry could not attend till then he caused his Marriage with Catherine to be Dissolved by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Espoused Anne Bullen in the presence of four or five Witnesses only He was Emboldned thereto by the three Thomases who governed him these were Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Cromwel Lord Chamberlain and Privy-Seal and Audley Lord High Chancellour The thing being done he gave notice of it to King Francis intreating his assistance for what he demanded of the Pope and to keep the business Secret It could not be kept so Private but that in one Months time both the Pope and the Emperor were made acquainted with it Both of them were Netled and Incensed to the greatest Extremity in-so-much as the Pope Pronounced the Sentence of Excommunication against Henry and nevertheless he refrained from Publishing it upon the Kings request who on the one hand being obliged to Henry and on the other desiring to be firmly united to the Pope sought out some way for an Accommodation However he promised nothing to King Henry saving that he would do him all the good Offices he could without prejudice either to his Religion or his Conscience And indeed the Pope desired that he would not press him in that concern beyond his Duty and the rules of Justice Year of our Lord 1533 In the mean time Anne Bullen was deliver'd of a Daughter who was named Elizabeth This was in the Month of September of this year 1533. The tenth of October the Pope arrived at Marseilles in the Kings Galleys who took him in at the Port of Pisa Some days before John Stuard Duke of Albany had brought thither Catherine de Medicis whose Maternal Aunt he had Married John de Bellay Bishop of Paris and afterwards Cardinal Harangued his Holiness in most Elegant Latin The next day after he had made his Entrance into the City the King made his with his Queen The Nuptials between Henry and Catherine were Celebrated the seven and twentieth of the Month with as great Joy as Magnificence The Pope and the King spent several days together being Lodged in two Houses just opposit the Street betwixt them but joyned by a Timber Gallery so that they went to each other unseen and could treat of their Affairs with the greatest Privacy Upon this occasion the King did not forget his usual Magnificence but rather Surpassed it very much He Loaded with exquisite Presents and great Pensions all those Cardinals that were with his Holiness But he made the Beauty of his mind and Eloquence out-shine the luster of his Gifts and that whole Court was satisfied that if there were a richer Prince in the World yet there could not be any one that made a more generous use of his Riches nor that accompanied his favours with so much wit and so much kindness as he The two and twentieth of November the Pope and he parted very well pleased with all their Negociations excepting that the King had extorted from the Pope four Cardinals Hats for four Relations of his Favorites these were John le Veneur Bishop of Lisieux Grand Almoner of France Claude de Giury Paternal Uncle to the Wife of de Brion Odet de Coligny but thirteen years of Age Son of Montmorency's Sister and Philip de la Chambre Brother by the Mother to John Duke of Albany This last took the name of Cardinal of Boulogne he being descended from that House by his Mother As to the rest there was no new League made between the Pope and the King contrary to the expectation of the whole World The Pope promised only to do all he could in favour of Prince Henry his second Son to obtain the Dutchy of Milan of the Emperor for him And as to the business of the King of England the King could not prevail with the Pope to revoke the Excommunication but only that he would not Publish it till he had first tryed by all manner of perswasions to bring that Prince again to reason To this intent he forthwith dispatched John du Bellay Bishop of Paris into England to exhort him not to depart from the Communion of the Roman Church This wise and able Prelate having obliged King Henry to promise him that point provided the Pope on his part would forbear publishing the Excommunication went Post to Rome to carry this good News and demand time to reclaim and fix that inconstant and stubborn Spirit The Imperialists could not prevent him from procuring it but they caused it to be limited to a much shorter space then was requisite Du Bellay therefore sent back a Courier into England with order to return by such a certain time Now the day being come but not the Courier the Imperialists pressed the business so hotly that although he represented that the Frosts and Snows and other Inconveniencies of the Season and Way might hinder and retard him and desired another respite only for six days Yet the Pope refused it and doing in one Meeting what he ought not to have done but in three he Pronounced the Sentence and caused it to be affixed in the usual places Two days after the Courier arrived bringing very ample Powers by which King Henry Submitted himself to the Judgement of the Holy See provided certain Cardinals whom
extremity of Famine But whilst they resolved obstinately to Perish rather then yield he was let into the Town by one of that Mock-Monarchs Camerades took him and the chief Ministers of his fury and having led them some time about the Neighbouring Countries as objects of Derision put them to death with exquisite Torments Year of our Lord 1535 About the end of the year 1534. The Sacramentarians published some Libels and posted up Papers against the Divine Mystery of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar King Francis in the beginning of the Year 1535. for reparation of these Injuries caused a general Procession to be made at Paris whereat he assisted with great Devotion holding a Torch in his hand together with the Queen and his Children afterwards making diligent search for the Authors of that Scandal he committed half a dozen to the Flames who were burnt in several places but for every one he put to death there sprang up hundreds of others out of their Ashes These proceedings could not be pleasing to the Protestant Princes his good Friends Wherefore the Emperor failed not to stir them up to a resentment against him to accuse him of Cruelty for burning their Brethren and impiety since at the same time he thus severely handled those that professed a new Reformation of Christianity he had Turkish Ambassadors in his Court. And indeed he had much adoe to justifie himself towards them and in all this whole year could obtain nothing from them The Death of Merveille was either a pretence or a real cause for a War against Sforza that he might get footing once more in Milanois Charles Duke of Savoy denying him passage thorough his Country drew that Tempest upon his own head unless it were perhaps the Kings design first to attaque him for he had many other causes of resentment against him He complained that Beatrix of Portugal his Wife and Sister to the Emperor inclined him to consider the Emperor his Brother in Law more then him who was his Nephew That he had dar'd to take the Investiture of the County of Ast from that Prince which was the Patrimony of the House of Orleans That for pledge of his Faith he had given him Lewis Prince of Piedmont his Eldest Son and in the mean time had refused to accept his Nephew of him the Order of Saint Michael and an establisht Company with Twelve Thousand Crowns Pension As likewise to let the Pope have the use of the City of Nice for the enterview that was at Marseille That he had possessed some Lands of the Marquisate of Sallusses which were a Fief mouvant of Daufine That he refused him the Homage of Foucigny That he rejoyced in his Letters to the Emperor at his being taken Prisoner at Pavia That he had lent the Duke of Bourbon Money since his revolt But above all these there was the right of Convenience which led the King to seize upon those Territories to facilitate his Conquest of Milan and to prevent his exchanging them with the Emperor for others higher up in Italy For the Dukes Enemies reported that the bargain was in hand And therefore he underhand Year of our Lord 1535 demanded the giving up his Places of Montmeillan Veilland Chivas and Vercel for which he offer'd Lands in France and to compleat the Marriage of his Daughter Margarite with Lewis Eldest Son of the Duke accordingly as they had agreed eight years before Now though all these were great occasions of Offence to the King yet he took no other to quarrel with him but that which he would have taken formerly in the Year 1518. which was that he should do him Justice concerning the Succession of Louisa his Mother who was Sister of that Duke and the late Philibert his Predecessor During the Life of that Princess he pursued this business by no other wayes but by Treaty and it may well be believed he would have it sleep still if the reasons we have hinted had not engag'd him to awaken it now again He therefore sent William Poyet President of the Parliament of Paris to the Duke to make his demand for a free Passage and his Rights As for the Passage the Duke at lest in outward appearance shewed himself very ready to grant it and to furnish him with Provisions paying for them And for the other point he proffer'd to make an amicable Agreement and to leave the Kings and his own Pretensions to Arbitrators Which the King taking for a denyal declared War against him in the Month of February of the year 1535. He had already begun to make him feel his Indignation by giving Orders underhand to the Officers and Magistrates of Daufine to make Incursions upon his Countries by obliging the Holy Father to Suppress the Bishoprick of Bourg which had been newly Established in his Favour and by assisting those of Geneva against him The Inhabitants of that City pretending to hold of the Empire had a long time sought to free themselves from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop and for this purpose had twice or thrice helped themselves by the Protection of the Cantons of Bearne and Friburgh who had made them their fellow Citizens In fine they absolutely Revolted and Expell'd their Bishop his name was Peter de la Baulme The Duke having besieged them the King sent several small Supplyes but who were all defeated and yet the apprehension he had of the Beranois made him raise the Siege Immediately the City chiefly at the Instigation of two Sacramentarian Ministers i. e. Farel and Viret changed their Religion and Government and put themselves into the same State almost as they remain in to this day The Bishop transported his See to Anecy After these Flashes of Lightning the mighty Thunder-clap broke forth The Admirable Brion entered his Countries with the Army raised to fall upon Milan At the very report and Noise of his March all the Places of Bress and those of Savoy on this side Mount Cenis opened their Gates to the French without any opposition The Duke was wholly un-provided of Forces he could do no other till the return of the Emperor but only temporise and in the mean time defend himself by Submissions and Respects which are but feeble Arms against a Potent and an Angry Prince when he intends to make Advantage of his Wrath. Year of our Lord 1535 The eight of July of this year 1535. Anthony Duprat Cardinal Arch-Bishop of Lens Legate in France and Chancellour died in his Castle of Nantouillet Much Tormented with Remorse of Conscience as his Sighs and Speeches made manifest for having observed no other Guide or Law he that was himself so great a Lawyer but his own Interest and the Passion of his Soveraign It was he that took away the Elections to Benefices and the Priviledges of many Churches that Introduced the Sale of Offices in Courts of Judicature that taught them boldly to lay all sorts of Impositions in France that divided and distinguished the Kings Interest
from the good of the Subjects and who Establisht this Maxime so false and so contrary to Natural Liberty Qu'il nest point de terre Sans Seigneur i. e. That there is no Land without its Lord. The Office of Chancellour was given to Antony du Bourg who was likewise a Native of Auvergne and President in Parliament As to the Emperor he having foreseen that Clouds and Storms were gathering together from all Quarters against him by the King the King of England the Princes of Italy and those of Germany that he might have some pretence to Arm himself Powerfully he gave out that he was going to make War upon the Famous Year of our Lord 1535 Chairadin Surnamed Barbarossa who Infested all the Coasts of his Kingdoms of Naples and Sicilia That Pyrate was a Native of Metelin he had a Brother named Horue their Father a Christian Renegade and Poor From their Youth these two Bothers had used Piracy having but one Brigantine between them both then Increasing in Vessels in Men and Money they passed into Mauritania where engaging themselves in a War that was made betwixt two Brothers for the Kingdom of Algiers under pretence of Assisting the one they made themselves Masters of both the City and Country Horue being the Eldest bore the Title of King and Conquered Circella and Bugia likewise and Dispossessed the King of Tremisen but in the conclusion he was Vanquished and Slain in the Rout by the People of that Country joyned with the Spaniards with whom that King was allied Chairadin Barbarossa his Brother Succeeded him and became very formidable in the Levant Seas in-so-much that Sultan Solyman gave him the Command of his Naval Forces There were two Brothers at Tunis Sons of King Mahomet who disputed for the Crown Araxide and Muley-Assan this last although the younger had taken the Scepter by his Fathers appointment the other to avoid his Cruelty fled to Constantinople and Implored the Protection of the Grand Seignor Barbarossa taking advantage of this occasion appears before Tunis pretending he had brought him back to restore him though indeed he left him in Prison at Constantinople By this wile he so deceived the People that he was received into the City and drove Muley-Assan thence This man had recourse to the protection of Charles V. who undertook to re-establish him Charles landed therefore in Africk with an Army of above Fifty Thousand Men took the Fort of Goletta which he kept for himself setled Muley-Assan in Tunis beat Barbarossa at Land gave him chace by Sea and delivered Twenty Thousand Christian Slaves then upon the fourteenth of August he Weighed Anchor and set Sail for Sicily where in few days he Arrived Having so journed there neer three Months he passed to Naples about the end of November Year of our Lord 1536 From thence he wrote to his Brother-in-Law the Duke of Savoy to comfort him for the losses he had sustained by the French and of his eldest Son Lewis who died in Spain These words were but a weak support against those evils which encreased upon him every day For the Bernois having declared War in January 1536. drove out the Bishop of Lausanne Seized upon that City the Country of Vund Gex Genevois and Chablais as far as the Drance the Valesans on their side Invaded the rest of Chablais from that River all above Those of Friburgh got Possession of the County of Romont and the French Army Marched at the same time to enter into Piedmont John de Medequin Captain of the Castle of Muz afterwards Marquess of Marignan and some other of the Emperors Commanders whom the Duke had sent to Guard the Pass of Suze came there too late Antonio de Leva having visited Turin and found it was not yet Tenable was not of opinion that the Duke should venture to wait for the French there He went out therefore on the twenty seventh of March with his Wife and his Son and having Embarqued his richest Goods and Artillery â—n the Po retired to Vercel Turin Surrendred the third of April Whilst the Emperor was yet in Sicily he had News of the death of Duke Francis Sforza which hap'ned in the Month of October not leaving any Children by his Wife who was the Daughter of Elizabeth his Sister and Christierne II. King of Denmark Now the Dutchy of Milan being under the Power of the Emperor knowing the great Passion the King had for so excellent a Dutchy he made use of it as a Lure to amuse and lead him in a Slip if we may so express it all the rest of his Life Gravelle his Chancellour had told Vely the Kings Ambassadour that his Master would not dispose of that Dutchy till he had received Information from him how he intended to demean himself in these three particulars the first was in the War against the Turk the second the reduction of all the Christian Princes to the Catholick Religion and the third the setling of a Firm Peace throughout all Christendom He added that the Emperors desire was rather to bestow that Dutchy upon the Kings third then upon his second Son and demanded that the second might accompany him to the Siege of Algiers These two last Conditions did not please the King Upon the other three Heads he made such Replies as ought to have Satisfied the Emperor He demanded the Dutchy for Henry Duke of Orleans his second Son and offer'd to give four hundred thousand Crowns of Gold for the Investiture On this Foot he Year of our Lord 1536 sent to Vely that he should press the Emperors Resolution But that Prince gave only general Words and in the mean time put his Affairs in good Order for he made the Marriage between his Bastard and Alexander de Medicis who was one likewise and Confirmed him in the Government of Florence He made a new Confederation with the Venetians induced thereto by the Fame of his Victories in Africa and by the perswasions of the Duke of Vrbin General of their Armies He sent to his Sister Mary Widow Queen of Hungary to whom he had given the Government of the Low-Countries after the death of Margaret Widow of Savoy his Aunt as likewise to those with whom he had left that of Spain to make the greatest Levys of Men and Moneys they possibly could and himself on his part labour'd to get store of Money in Sicily and Naples and to encrease those Forces he brought out of Africa Now with promising hopes he led on Vely and the Kings Envoys even to Rome In the Month of April he made his Triumphant entrance and Sojourned there thirteen days There it was they Discovered his ill intentions and inclinations towards the King for after the Pope and he had conferred together about their Affairs he prayed him to Assemble his Cardinals and before them with Hat in hand he made a long harangue full of Invectives Complaints and Menaces against King Francis and would needs give them an account of all
to his own cost try'd the Valour of the besieged he agreed they should hold the place a Month at the end whereof they were to Surrender if not relieved In expectation of the day for this Surrender Leva would needs try but in vain to attempt Roques-Parvieres Chasteau-daufin Some dayes before this the Emperor Arrived at Savillan where the Marquess having quite thrown off his Masque went and waited upon him he made him his Lieutenant on the other side the Mountains There it was that the Emperor of his own head and contrary to the Advice of his Eldest Officers amongst others Antonio de Leva who fell down upon his knees before him to disswade him from it resolved to enter into Provence He had little less then Ten Thousand Horse and above Forty Thousand Foot of the best Soldiers of those times The Five and Twentieth of July the Feast of Saint Year of our Lord 1536 James the Apostle Patron of Spain and the same day of the year whereon he Landed at Tunis this great Army passed over the River of War which divides France from Savoy and lodg'd at Saint Laurence's the first Burrough of Provence A short while after it was followed by a Fleet commanded by Andreas Doria which furnished them with Ammunition and Provisions The Emperor Vaunted he was the Legitimate Lord of Provence as well by the Cession he said he had of Charles de Bourbon as by other Rights and Titles He thought to find some Correspondents there at least he pretended he had the People amazed and surprized and places so weak that he should easily make himself Master of them or oblige the King if he appeared to defend them to give him battle But the King would by no means hazard that in his own Country he fortified those places which were capable to resist as Arles Marseilles Tarascon and Beaucaire drew the Inhabitants out of those places that were defenceless as out of Aix and Antibes caused all things to be spoiled thorough the whole Country burnt the Mills beat down the Ovens and spoiled the Corn Wine and such Forrage as they could not carry off That done he divided his Army in two Bodies The one he lodged within a Camp well intrenched and which within Fifteen dayes was made defensible The Scituation was chosen near Cavaillon in a large Meadow between the Rhosne and the Durance and the general Command thereof he gave to the Mareschal de Montmorency With the other Body himself lodged at Valence above Avignon to second the first and give a second Battle if there were occasion After the Emperor had sacked the City of Aix it was in his Council resolved to Attaque Marseille The Siege was begun the Twenty Fifth of August His Van-guard Marching thither met near Brignoles a Party of Five or Six Hundred Men who m Montejan and Boissy Knights of the Order had caused to advance somewhat too desperately thinking to surprize the Enemy They were all cut off and their two Chiefs made Prisoners This was all the exploits that vast Army did excepting the forcing a few Countrey Fellows in a Tower who were hanged The News of this Accident carried to the King at Valence was followed with another which was worse I mean the loss of Guise of which we shall soon make mention but the sorrow both for the one and the other was Stiffled by a third incomparably more sensible which was the death of Francis his Eldest Son a brave and generous Prince Nineteen Years of Age who falling sick at Valence and yet making them Convey him by Water to his Father died at Tournon the 12 th day of August The Count Sebastian de Montecuculy a Ferrarese was accused for having given him Poison in a Cup of fresh-water as he was playing at Tennis in Valence This Italian being taken upon suspition and put to the wrack confest the Crime and declared whether convinced by his Conscience or forced by the extremity of Torture that Antonio de Leva and Ferdinand de Gonzague had wrought upon him to commit it not without reflection upon the Emperor himself indirectly but the Imperialists with great indignation retorted this so base an action upon Catherine de Medicis saying she would needs have this Eldest Son to be removed out of the World before her Husband that she might be Queen of France However it were the King being at Lyons caused Process to be made against Montecuculi who was drawn in pieces by four wild Horses Henry his second Son took the Title of Daufin and left that of Duke of Orleans to his other Brother Charles who before was Duke of Angoulesme There were Seven Thousand Men in Marseilles and thirteen Galleys in that Port who made the Emperor sensible upon two or three Attempts that there was nothing to be expected but blows In like manner Arles was found to be well Fortified in those places where his Maps had represented it weakest Mean while Provisions failed him the Peasants and Mountainiers fell upon all such as stray'd never so little from the Camp the King sent out Parties that cut off their Forrage and took those Convoys of bread and biscuit which they sent him from Toulon his Germans surfeited and burst themselves with Grapes and other Fruits so that want turmoiles and sickness diminished them above one third in a Months time and laid Antonio de Leva the bravest Commander they had in his Grave who died languishing thorough Grief On the contrary the Kings Year of our Lord 1536 encreased every day there being come to him above Twenty Thousand Swiss and Six Thousand Germans At the same time that he entred into Provence the Count de Nassaw entred Picardy with an Army of Thirty Thousand Men. The City of Guise was carried by Assault the Castle that might have held tamely Surrendred for which the Commanders were branded with infamy But Peronne besieged the Tenth of August maintained very furious Assaults and dreadful Batteries by the Valour of the Mareschal de Florenges the Count de Dammartin and a great number of the Neighbouring Gentry When it was ready to fall the Duke of Guise supplied them with Men and Ammunition which he convey'd to them over the Marshes After this the Besiegers having again made two Furious Assaults in which they left their Scaling Ladders and a great many of their bravest Men in the Ditches retired the Tenth day of September which was the very same or the next day after the Emperor pack'd up his Bag and Baggage and marched out of Provence The Siege of Peronne the taking whereof seemed near at hand did strangely Allarme the Bourgeois of Paris The great care and courage of the Cardinal du Bellay their Bishop and to whom the King had given the Title of Lieutenant-General of their City and the Isle of France dispell'd the apprehensions they had both of the Enemies and a Famine For he caused all the Corn and Wine within Six Leagues round to be brought thither which
from Rome he resolved to go thither himself to negociate this Affair with the Pope imagining that the splendour of his favour and the gallant propositions he would offer for the exaltation of the Pontifical Authority would obtain all he desired He was magnificently received at Rome Lewis Cardinal d'Est presented him to his Holiness he respected him as the Favourite of a very potent Monarch but for the rest did not comply with any of his demands except a Cardinals Hat for the Archbishop of Narbonne his younger Brother The King stiling him his Brother in his Letters of Recommendation the Venetians upon his return rendred him as much honour as if he had been a Son of France the Dukes of Ferrara and Mantoua treated him in the same manner and all the Cities of France where he passed made him their Compliments as they were ordered to do nevertheless the vexation of mind he brought home with him for the Popes denial or as some others will have it an unfortunate trick of youth cast him into a long fit of Sickness which made him so lean and so ill-favour'd that it was some time ere he durst appear before the King with whom during this interval his Rival had gained so much advantage that he might easily have quite supplanted him had he not feared Year of our Lord 1583 some other might come into his place whose more auspicious favour might perhaps have thrust him out likewise Queen Margaret was then at Court where she could not forbear making feuds and practising her wonted malice A Courier whom the King sent to Joyeuse in Italy month July being kill'd upon his Journey and his Letters rifled the King suspected it was by her contrivance and resolved to be revenged by defaming her as she endeavour'd to vilifie him He reproached her publickly of her familiarity with James de Harlay Chanvallon said she kept certain Ladies about her that were her Confidents whom he called precious Vermine then some few days after commanded her to go to her Husband and upon the Road sent a Captain of his Guards who searched her very Litter pull'd her Masque off her Face and seized upon two or three of her Domestick Servants and brought them before the King with two of her Dames He examined them each apart concerning the manner of Life and Conversation of his Sister then sent them to the Bastille The King of Navarre could easily not resolve to receive his Wife thus defam'd he pressed the King to chastise her himself if she deserved to suffer such Indignities if not to clear her of those Scandals the King without offering to make out any month August c. thing repeated his absolute Commands and the Mareschal de Matignon having invested him in Nerac by privately conveying Garrisons into all the places thereabout forced him to receive her The Expences of the Favourites were excessive and the depredations of the Finances even by those very Men that managed the Treasury much greater yet This ill Husbandry begot such an extream scarcity of Money that often times there was not enough to furnish the Kings Table and if we may so say the Pottage-Pot stood often topsey-turvey His Flatterers pretended the People loved him so infinitely that whenever he did but signifie his wants all 〈◊〉 untie their Purse Strings to assist him It was for this purpose but under 〈◊〉 â—our of redressing the present Disorders that he the precedent year had sent to visit the provinces by Persons of Credit and Probity who with smooth and fine Harangues concluded always with a touch upon that String but to very little purpose Year of our Lord 1583 When he found that Project would hot take he called an Assembly of Notables to St. Germain en Laye thinking thereby to gain the good will of the People and let them know that if he had sent Commissioners it was not so much for his own Interests as to hear their Complaints and do them Justice month Septemb. c. The Assembly was divided into three Chambers each of them having a Prince of the Blood for President The Affairs were all distributed which they reduced to certain Heads as well for the Reformation of the Clergy the Nobility and the Judges as for the Administration of the Government and regulation or dispensation of the Finances There were very excellent Propositions tendred as to set aside all sale of Offices and Employments to assign punishments for all such as should invent any new Imposts or Creations to purge the Kings Council of those that had any Combination with the Parties belonging to the Finances and to prevent all under-hand villanous dealing therein Chiverny had introduced that fraudulent practise amongst them ever since he had had the Seals endeavouring thereby to procure both Employment and Authority to himself as not having so much 〈◊〉 he desired in Affairs of State The Clergy were not forgetful in demanding the re-establishment of Elections and the publication of the Council of Trent as to the first point all those that thought it much easier to acquire favour and interest then merit and learning stood up against it and for the second the Chapters Parliaments and the Kings Council made Head and opposed it so that they obtained neither the one nor the other As for the rest the King established four Councils i. e. the Council for Foreign Affairs the Council of State the Council de Finances or the Treasury and the Privy-Council They were composed of Men of the Sword of the Church and of the long Robe to whom he prescribed even the fashion of their Garments both for Winter and Summer and assigned them two thousand Livers per Annum Wages The remaining part of the year was spent in setling these Regulations and divers ☞ other Orders the multiplication whereof in France hath never had any other effect but the multiplying of Abuses and Grievances In the mean while the Three and twentieth month November of November died the Cardinal Rene de Birague aged Seventy four years who said of himself That he was A Cardinal without a Title a Priest without a Benefice and a Chancellor without the Seals for in the year 1578. he had given them up to Chiverny One might have added A Judge without knowledge in the Law and a Magistrate without any Authority because in truth he had no learning and bowed his Head like a tall Reed to every blast of Court wind having more respect for a Valet in favour then to all the Laws of the Kingdom A famous Ingenier named Louis de Foix Native of Paris but Originally of the Country whose name he bare began this year to build the Phare at the mouth of the Year of our Lord 1583 River of Bourdeaux near the ruines of another Tower which was named the Tower of Cordouan Two years before he had done great service towards the Trade of Bayonne The Sea had brought such vast quantities of Sand into the old Boucaud of the
Party but only Chaalons for the Inhabitants having received information of the death of Guise before the Governor had any notice which was Rosne assembled together and turned him out From thence he went to Sens where his presence was requisite to fortisie his Friends then to Orleans where he found the Citadel surrendred to his Party afterwards to Chartres who received him with extraordinary month February joy and lastly to Paris where he arrived the Tenth day of February That vast number of People were yet so furiously enchanted with the memory of the Duke of Guise that they would needs bestow the Title of King upon this Brother but he did not find himself sufficiently bottom'd to accept of so high a Dignity He consider'd that besides the divisions it would necessarily have begot betwixt him and the other Chiefs who were content to be his Companions but not his Subjects the Spirits of the Authors of that grand Revolution tended rather to establish a Democracy then a Monarchy Wherefore he presently labour'd to diminish their Power encreased the Council of Forty with fourteen more wholly at his own devotion and admitted not only all the Princes of the League but likewise the Presidents the Kings Attorneys and Sollicitors in Parliament the Prevost des Merchands and Eschevins that he might carry things by Multitude upon occasion Then not able to endure this curb by any means breaks it quite the following year when he was going to give the Battle of Yury Year of our Lord 1589 Notwithstanding it was that Council had confer'd upon him the command of month March the Armies and the Quality of Lieutenant General of the State and Crown of France but he gave them little thanks for it because they limited his Power to the meeting of the General Estates which was to be upon the Fifteenth of July His Commission was verified in Parliament the Seventh of March and he took the Oath before the President de Brisson They caused new Seals to be made a great one for Council Affairs and a little one for the Chanceries and Parliaments either of them had on one side the Flower-de-Luce as was usual but on the other an Empty Throne with these words about it The Seal of the Kingdom of France Now to make a real Union of this Party as they had the name and to link all the Cities to them that had declar'd already and intended to declare he made an excellent Reglement which being sent into the Provinces brought others into him Especially Laon where John Bodin the Kings Attorney in that Court prevailed so by his Interest and Eloquence that it was accepted having made it clear that the joyning of so many Cities ought not to be called Rebellion but Revolution that this was a just one against an Hypocrite and Tyrant King that Heaven it self seemed to authorize it because States have their periods as well as Men and the Reign of Henry III. ought to be the Climacterical to France he being the LXI King since Pharaemond who according to the Vulgar Account was the first King of the French To this pretended Order succeeded a general Disorder an universal Robbery thorough the whole Kingdom seizures of Goods sales by outcry Imprisonments Ransoms and Reprizals The Offices Benesices and Governments were divided into two or three private Families were even divided within themselves the Father bandying against the Sons Brothers against Brothers Nephews against their Uncles Nothing was to be gained but by those that had nothing to lose those that had wherewithal were obliged to spend it but the Thieves gained on both hands They nestled themselves in old Castles or in small Towns from whence they bolted out to pillage the Neighbouring Countries took up the Kings Rents made private Persons compound for theirs enjoy'd the Churches Revenues and thus enriched themselves with great ease and little danger month March In the beginning of March the King not finding himself secure at Blois retired to Tours He first took out his Prisoners from the Castle of Amboise sent the Cardinal de Bourbon to Chinon whereof Chavigny an ancient Gentleman was Governor the Prince of Joinville who from henceforward was and called himself Duke of Guise to Tours and the Duke d'Elbaeuf to Loches The Duke of Mayennes Affairs as we may say did do of themselves For even in the Month of February the Cities of Aix Arles and Marseilles offended at the Kings restoring la Valete to that Government took the Oath for the League but he in the mean while passed his time at Year of our Lord 1589 Paris where he and his Officers consumed in fruitless Expences the Moneys assessed month March upon the Country with the Confiscations and Sequestrations of the Politicks and Huguenots Estates While that Duke was in the greatest hurry of his Affairs it hapned that four or five of his Friends and Intimates being in debauch with some Ladies of Pleasure in the Hostel de Carnavalet one of them seeing him pass by ran after him and haled him in almost by force he did not stay above half an hour with this Company yet made a shift to get and carry that away with him that forced him to keep his Chamber several weeks after but being in haste he had time to take only palliative Remedies So that the venom remaining still in his Blood rendred him more slow lumpish and melancholy and in his Person stupified the activity of his whole Party In the Month of March John Lewis de la Rochefoucaut Count de Randan debauched Rion and part of Auvergne whereof he was Governor he had drawn the whole Country after him if some Lords as Rostignac Saint-Herem Allegre Fleurat Canillac and Oradour amongst whom d'Effiat having the Kings particular Orders had acquired great credit had not opposed their courage and skill against his Interest and Faction The Duke of Mercoeur having balanced a while debauched likewise all Bretagne excepting only Vitre the Nobility of the Country were cantonized there against him and whilst he besieged it Renes escaped from him Gefroy de Saint Belin Bishop of Poitiers and the Mayor and some other Leaguers stirred up that Town which however did not yet declare for the League Limoges remained under obedience of the King Pichery retained the City of Anger 's in despite of Brissac who had put them upon rising and reduced them by means of the Castle where he commanded Matignons prudence defeated the Conspiracy of the Leaguers who were beginning to Barricade themselves at Bourdeaux but he durst not search it to the quick the Combination being too general and so thought it sufficient to hang two or three of the most Zealous Since the King of Navarres return to Rochel he had taken Maran and then Niort by Escalado Some few days after hapned the Murther at Blois but that made no alteration in the conduct of his Affairs neither did it oblige him to discontinue his War The Cities of Loudun Thouars Monstreuil L'Isle
upon the Besiegers the first charge was but with little success but at the second when they had gotten some Cannon and a Reinforcement of a thousand Men sent them by Rochepot Governor of Anger 's they broke thorough their Barricado's pierced even into the Bass-court of the Castle and followed them so close as they betook themselves to their Heels but not breaking down the Bridge the greatest part were kill'd or taken Prisoners In Languedoc Montmorency armed slowly thinking by such coldness to make them send him the Constables Sword which other considerations with-held Albigny and Lesdiguieres made War in Daufine by taking and re-taking several Forts from each other The latter being the stronger marched sometimes towards Lyons to assist Maugiron who held one of the Castles of Vienne for the King and had St. Chaumont for Antagonist He likewise went frequently towards Provence to help la Valete Montmorency also passed the Rhosne divers times but that was to endeavour to lay hands on some places to enlarge his Dominion Provence was miserably rent and distracted by three or four Factions not reckoning the Royalists The Duke of Savoy had his the Countess de Sault and the Count de Carees each theirs That of the Duke seem'd to be the most predominant and to draw the two others to his Interests but the the Countess it was Christierne d'Aguâ—rre Widow of Lewis d'Agout Count de Sault a Woman of great courage and of a high spirit would not introduce him into the Province but to make her Year of our Lord 1590 self the stronger and the Count de Carces likewise not being able to stand upon his own Legs gave that Duke footing only that he might be enabled to make head against la Valete For he imagined that being prime Lord of the Country and Lieutenant of the Forces by Authority of Parliament all the Authority there ought to devolve on him The Parliament was also mightily divided between these three Factions and moreover some of the Officers belonging to them had left them to follow the Kings Party and that of la Valete his Governor These had withdrawn themselves to Manosque where they affirm'd they were the true Parliament During the first heat of these Commotions the Dukes Money and Practises gave month January c. him the advantage the Magistrates of the chief Cities amongst others Marseilles and Aix being all for him A great Assembly of the Clergy and Nobility which was held at Aix in the Month of January resolved to put the Province under his Protection and deputed a Bishop and the eldest Consul of the City to him and after that the Parliament Ordained likewise that he should be called in to defend it To which they added that the Estates of the Bigarrats so they named the Royalists should be confiscate As to the rest it were folly to engage in a Relation of all the several Intrigues and Exploits of so many Parties who changing every moment both their Designs and the management of them did not well know themselves what they would have or do I shall therefore not mention them no more then those of several other Provinces Only of Bretagne let me say that the Prince de Dombes rudely repulsed the Duke de Mercoeur took Hennebon Montcontour and Lambale but could not engage him to a Battle I shall likewise take notice of the great change at St. Malo's because it was a place of great importance Honorat de Bueil des Fontaines Governor of the Town lodged in the Castle which month March lies upon the Harbour and had there stowed all the Riches he had scraped together in the time of his being in favour with King Charles IX The Malouins being persuaded that he had plotted to introduce a strong Garison into their City and set the wealthiest Merchants at Ransom conspired to rid their hands of him Having therefore corrupted a Valet de Chambre of his they scaled the Castle on the Fourteenth of March in the night and it so hapned that he was kill'd with a Carbine Shot at a Window whether by chance or designedly I know not After which they plundred his Goods then got the Duke of Mercoeur to justifie them and fell in with the League yet they warily refused to admit of any Soldiers but kept the Castle themselves The Affections of considering Men as well as fortune and success began to dispose their minds by little and little to favour the King Pope Sixtus better informed Year of our Lord 1590. July of the condition of both Parties and comparing the qualities and the manner of that Princes acting with the Duke of Mayennes did well foresee that he would have the better and indeed he received into Rome then to his Audience the Duke de Piney deputed from the Catholick Nobility notwithstanding the threats and protestarions of the Spanish Ambassador and had sent Order to his Legat in France that he should make no use of Excommunication but try all ways of prudence and gentleness to bring back the King The People began likewise to be made sensible of the real goodness of this Prince as he had already taught them to dread his courage And the Duke of Nevers who had hitherto remained as it were Neuter in his own Town after his having consider'd of all the methods likely to convert him judged none could be either more certain or more Conscious then wisely to thrust himself between the Huguenots and him to divide him from them and so draw him mildly towards the Catholick Church With this design he came about the beginning of July and brought in great numbers of the Gentry by his Interest and Example It was about the same time the King recalled the Chancellor de Chiverny and restored the Seals to him Montholon had discharg'd himself of them after the death of Henry III. fearing he might be engaged to Seal some thing in favour of the Huguenots though he still remained of the Kings Party in which he this year died honoured by good Men with the Surname of the French Aristides After his demission the Seals had been managed by the Cardinal de Vendosme then put into the custody of Ruse Secretary of State but without any power of using them save by Order of the Mareschal Biron who had a hand in every thing About the time of his return the City of St. Denis surrendred and a design the Leaguers had contrived upon Senlis miscarried St. Denis having consumed all their Stores wherewith it was as little provided for as Paris made their Composition which was advantageous enough because the King desired to lodge there As to Senlis Bouteville who was Lieutenant to his Cousin Tore there walking one night upon the Rampart overheard some People beneath in the Fosse who spake very low and perceived they planted a Ladder against the Wall he rouls down a huge Stone from the Parapet which beat the Ladder in pieces and broke the Thigh-bone of one of them this
who dyed before Duke John William but had left Sons and the last Charles of Austria Marquiss of Burgaw of whom there were no Children Of Mary-Eleonora and Albert were produced many Sons who died young and four Daughters the eldest of whom named Anne espoused John Sigismund of Brandenburgh who was Elector and Duke of Prussia The fourth was wife of John Georges Brother of Christian II. Elector of Saxony We have nothing to do with the other two Brandenburg pretended intirely to this Succession for his Son George William who was Issue of Anne Daughter of Mary-Eleonora the Eldest of the four Sisters But the Duke of Saxony demanded all these Principalities likewise founding his right upon the donation of the Emperors Frederic and Maximilian which he maintained to be good since the said Fiefs were Masculine and urged that the following Emperors could not otherwise dispose of them to the prejudice of the Laws and Customs of the Empire and contrary to the nature of those Lands The same Duke had two more claims besides this the one for John George his Brother who had Married the fourth Daughter of Mary-Eleonora the other was for the Princes of the Branch of Weymar and that of Koburg Issue of John Frederic Elector of Saxony dispoliate by Charles V. and of Sibylla Sister of William II. Duke of Cleves and Juliers Father of John William I speak not of the pretensions of the Duke de Nevers and of Henry de la Mark Count de Maulevrier whereof the first said he was Heir of the House of Cleves the other of the House de la Mark for they did not pursue it with much vigour Volfgang Eldest Son of the Duke of Newburgh entred the first into the Country Year of our Lord 1609 to make demand of the rights of Anne his Mother Immediately afterwards month May and June Brandenburgh sent his Brother earnest thither for those of his Son These two Princes not able to come to an agreement made a transaction by the mediation of the Landgrave of Hesse by which they promised to end their differences amicably to employ their Forces joyntly against any who to their prejudice should offer to seize upon those Lands and to administer them per individuum and without prejudice to the rights of the Empire and the other pretenders Soon after an Assembly of the States of that Country being held at Dusseldorp the King of France sent to desire them to approve of this Treaty and declared himself openly enough for those two Princes But the Emperor in case of litigation taking himself to be the Natural and Sovereign Judge between Parties contending for Fiefs holding of the Empire maintain'd that the Sequestration belonged to him till a definitive sentence therefore he caused them all to be Assigned before him by an Act of the four and twentieth of May and gave Commission to the Arch-Duke Leopoldus Bishop of Strasburgh and Passau to take those Territories into his hands The City of Juliers received him having been surprized by their Seneschal who Year of our Lord 1609 slipt away from the Estates of Dusseldorp but most of the other places gave month May c. themselves up to the two Princes Then the Acts of Hostility began between them and Leopold with several Mandates from the Emperor Manifesto's and Apologies which both the one and the other sent into all parts of Christendom The Interests of all the German Princes were very much perplexed and incertain in this Affair on the one side they all equally apprehended as well the Catholick as the Protestants lest the Emperor under pretence of Sequestration should make himself Master of those Countries and aggrandize his own house by it On the other side the Catholicks feared that the Protestant Princes if they remained in possession would become the strongest and oppress them Upon this consideration they contrived a League Defensive among themselves the Duke of Bavaria made himself the Head and drew in the Electors of Year of our Lord 1609 Mentz and Triers altogether sent away dispatches to Rome and to Spain to have month November and Decemb. the Assistance of his Holiness and of the Catholick King and when they had obtained a favourable Answer they held an Assembly at Wirtsburg where Leopold was present A month after the Catholick Electors and the Princes of the House of Austria went to the Emperor at Prague with design to Elect a King of the Romans whilst the Emperor was yet living for fear lest after his death the Protestants should make one of their own Religion There were some so confident as to propound the Duke of Bavaria and the Jesuits who were very powerful in that party were not much averse to it because they hoped to Govern that Prince as they pleased nevertheless that very consideration and the great interest of the House of Austria turned most of the Votes for Ferdinand Arch-Duke of Graits Cousin to Rodolphus The Protestants at the same time assembled at Hall in Suabia where there appeared fourteen Princes of that Religion above twenty qualified Lords and Deputies from all the great Protestant Cities Amongst those Princes was the Elector of Brandenburg Frederic-Ludovic Duke of Newburg and Christian Prince of Anhalt This last being sent by the two others into France brought word back that the King highly embraced their defence and that in the Spring he would March in person to their Assistance For proof whereof he brought with him an Ambassador from the King he was named Boissise The States of month January the United-Provinces promised likewise to aid the two Princes but not openly till they were certain the King had sent four thousand Foot and a thousand Horse to those Frontiers What they Treated at Hall was kept very secret the Princes writing down their resolutions with their own hands not trusting to their Secretaries It was said that they had agreed and resolved to consider of the means to retrieve the City of Donaverd out of the power of the Duke of Bavaria who had taken it upon pretence it was under the Imperial Ban for some Violencies Committed against the Catholicks to satisfie the Duke of Saxony for the succession of Juliers to Elect a King of the Romans and to make a Counter-League in case the Pope and the House of Austria formed any to oppress them It would be difficult to judge how intrigues so perplexed as these could have month February and March been disintangled to the content of the Protestants and satisfaction of the Catholicks The King pretended to say and had even openly declared to the former that he did not mean there should be any thing changed as to the Religion of the Countries of Cleves and Juliers and had assured the Popes Nuncio that if he assisted them it was principally to oblige them by his good Offices to Treat the Catholicks kindly in their Territories and perhaps to make them to become so themselves This Declaration gave some ombrage to the
the cause felt in himself the Symptomes of that unhappiness which threatned him One would have said he had the Dagger already in his bosom He was often heard to send forth doleful sighs and words of ill presage the Heavens and Earth if we may give faith to such things did also afford him some very sinister ones It was observed that some days before the May which had been Planted in the Court-Yard of the Louvre was faln down of it self A Star appeared visibly at Noon-day in the Year 1609. the year preceding that a great Comet had been seen and the Loire over-flow'd most furiously as it had done a while before the violent deaths of the two Kings Henry II. and Henry III. The same year likewise the Inhabitants of Angoulmois both Gentry and Peasants affirmed they had beheld a frightful prodigy it was a fantastique Army which seemed to consist of about eight or ten thousand Men with Ensigns party-colour'd of blew and red Drummers ready to beat and a Commander of great appearance at the head of them who having Marched upon the Earth for above a League together lost himself in a Wood. It was about two years past that a Priest found upon an Altar at Montargis a Ticket which gave notice the King would be Assassinated And about the same time two Gentlemen of Gascogny of different places and of different Religions came expresly to Court to advertise him of the doleful and pressing Visions they affirmed to have had upon the same subject Of three or four of his Horoscopes terminated his life in his fifty seventh year Divers Prognosticators amongst others he who had otherwhile foretold the Duke of Mayenne the Murther of the Duke of Guise his Brother and the loss of the Battel of Ivry advertis'd him of an approaching and very sudden danger There was one so bold as to tell the Queen that Festival would conclude in Mourning and in Tears and that Princess starting one night out of her sleep weeping told the King she dreamt they were stabbing him with a Knife Himself was not ignorant that the number of the years of his Reign according as a Magician had computed to Queen Catherine de Medicis were even almost accomplished and he had some kind of confused knowledge of divers Conspiracies which were hatching against his person He in his life time had discovered above fifty many contrived or fomented by Church-men or some of the religious Orders such pernicious effects does indiscreet zeal produce but he could not avoid this last his hour was come and it seems all the former warnings which Heaven gave him were not so much to save him from the fatal blow as to make men certainly see and understand that there is a Soveraign Power ☜ which disposes of futurity Since it so certainly knows and fore-tells it month May. It had been a long time this execrable Monster named Francis Ravaillac had formed this resolution to Murther him He was a Native of Angoulesme Aged about two and thirty years Son of a Man belonging to the Law living at that time In the beginning he had follow'd the Trade of his Father then ran into a Convent of the Fueillans and was a Novice there but they thrust him out Year of our Lord 1610 for his extravagant whimsies Some while after he was imprisoned for a Murther of which notwithstanding he was never convicted being freed from thence he began anew to sollicite Law-Suits of which he had lost one in his own name for an Estate and Succession insomuch as he was reduced to turn Pedant and teach the poor peoples Children in the City of Angoulesme The austerity of the Cloister the obscurity of his Prison the loss of his process and the extreme necessity whereunto he was reduced confounded his judgment and irritated more and more his atrabilary humour From his early youth the Frenzies of the League their Libels and the Factious Sermons of their Ignivomous and Sanguinary Pulpiteers had imprinted in his mind a very great aversion for the King with this belief That it was lawful to kill those who brought the Catholick Religion into danger or made a War upon the Pope He was so very hot in these matters that he could not so much as hear any body pronounce the name of Huguenot but he fell into a fury Those that had premeditated to ridd themselves of the King finding this instrument so proper to act their Design knew very well how to confirm him in his Sentiments they had people at their beck who haunted him eternally though he knew not their intents who caused him to be instructed by their Doctors and enchanted him with supposed Visions and the other the like diabolical Arts. There are proofs that they carried him as far as Naples where in an Assembly at the Vice-Roy's Palace he met with many others who had all devoted themselves to the same end They made him come from Angoulesme to Paris two or three times in fine they managed and guided him so well to their liking and purpose that by his sacrilegious hand they perpetrated the detestable resolutions of their own wicked and accursed hearts The day after that of the Queens entrance the King was to have made the Marriage of Mademoiselle de Vandosme the eldest of his natural Daughters and the following day the Feast then the next Morning to mount on Horse-back and go to his Army But on the Evening of the Day of Entrance which was a Friday a little before four of the Clock as he was going to the Arsenal without Guards to confer with the Duke of Sully an Embarrass of certain Carts having stopt his Coach in the midst of the Street de la Feronerie and his Valets or Foot-men passing under the Channels of Sainct Innocents this Devil incarnate stept upon a spoak of one of the hind Wheels and advancing his Body into the Coach gave him two stabbs in the Breast with a Knife the first glanced along the fifth and sixth Ribb and did not enter his Body but the second cut the Arterial Vein above the Ventricle of the heart so that the Blood bursting forth with impetuosity choacked him in a moment he not being able to utter one word It had been foretold him he should die in a Coach so that upon the least jolt he would cry out as if he beheld the Grave open'd ready to swallow him But yet imagin'd he had escaped the effect of that prediction after two great hazards he run thorow the one at his going to visit the Dutchess of Beaufort the other in the Ferry-boat of Nully whereof we have made mention So strange an amazement and terror seized upon those who were present at this Tragical Accident that if Ravaillac had but dropt his Knife they could not then have discover'd him but being taken holding it yet in his hand he owned the Fact as boldly as if he had performed some Heroique Action There were two things then observed