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
intreaty he came to the Palace of Ruel and held the young Clotaire her Son at the Font for his Baptism in the Church of St. Genevieue of Nanterre which gave great Umbrage and cause of Complaint to Childebert his other Nephew Year of our Lord 593 The following year or according to others two years after this Prince being at Chaalons where he kept his ordinary Residence and had caused the Church and Abby of St. Marcel to be built he fell Sick and died the 28th of March being in the One and thirtieth or two and thirtieth of his Reign and above the Sixty eighth of his Age. Of several Children he had had by several Wives but one survived him which was a Daughter named Clotilda who was vailed It appears he left all his Lands to Childebert and little or nothing to Clotair though he were his God-father He was beyond comparison the best of the four Brothers pious Charitable a lover of Justice and of publick good respectful to the Church and Prelates taking a particular care the Canons should be observed but Inconstant Timorous Suspicious and easie to be caught by Flatteries and transported with Choler which but too frequently gave him cause to repent CHILDBERT in Austrasia Burgundy and part of Neustria and CLOTAIR in Neustria at Paris Childebert Valiant powerfully Armed and enriched by the Succession to Gontran whereof he went immediately to take Possession thought to have an easy task of Clotair a young Child and his Mother Fredegonda who was hated by all the French but this Woman Subtil and Courageous sparing neither Flatteries nor Money nor Promises regained the most alienated Minds and tied them to her Service She appeared every where carried her Son about with her and holding him up sometimes in her Arms shewed him to the Soldiers and crouds of People and did animate them with compassion of his innocence Thus with their faithful assistance and with the Conduct of her Landry Mayre of the Palace she obstructed the progress of the Enemy having surprized and defeated his Army by stratagem in a place of Soâ—ssonnois which they called Truec The Dukes Gondouand and Wintrion Commanded it There was slain 3000 Men on their Year of our Lord 593 side which did not a little confirm the Crown to Clotair but could not however prevent Childebert from tearing away some Towns at the further part of his Kingdom The Warnes Garues or Guerins were a People of Germany whose first Habitation had been in that Countrey where is at this day the Duthcy of Mecklenburgh where there is a River which they yet call Warne which passes by Rostoc From thence they issuing out with the English the Saxons and the Heruli were come to Lodge in Friesland and in Batavia on the North of those Countreys the French held beyond the Rhine and there had setled a little Kingdom but I believe they had been conquered by Theodebert or by Clotaire I. and subjected to the Kingdom of Year of our Lord 554 Austrasia Now having Rebelled this year 594. against Childebert they were utterly extirpated either by the Sword or led away into Captivity insomuch as since that time the name of them hath never been heard of Year of our Lord 595 About the Month of October in Anno 595. Childebert and his Wife were both snatched out of the World by Sickness near the same time perhaps it was by poison from Fredegonda's Shop or of Brunehauds preparation Fredegonda being their avowed Enemy and Brunehaud put beside her Authority by her Sons age which she might possibly endeavour to recover in the minority of her Children Childebert dyed in the 25th of his age and the 20th of his Reign I know there are some Chronologists that allow him three years more as also 33 years Reign to Gontran but let us leave them to handle these Bryers and Thorns He had two Sons Theodebert and Thierry who succeeded him Theodebert had Austrasia Thierry had Burgundy and the Kingdom of Orleans CLOTAIRE II. In Neustria aged Eight years under FREDEGOND his Mother THEODEBERT King of Austrasia aged Nine or Ten years and THIERRY King of Burgundy aged Eight or Nine years  BROTHERS Vnder Brunehaud their Grandmother Year of our Lord 595 Thus in all the Kingdoms of France they were but Children that had at this time the Titles of Kings and which was worse two Women versed in all manner of crimes held the reins of Government Brunehaud ruled those of her Grand-Children by her self and by her Confidents she resided in Austrasia with Theodebert whose Seat was at Mets as Thierry 's was at Chaalons on the Soane Year of our Lord 595 Fredegond more Fortunate and also more Active then she betook her to the Field to regain Paris and the Cities on the Seine which Childebert had taken from her The Austrasians came to meet her and there were the three little Kings to be seen of whom the eldest was but Eight years at the Head of their Armies The Victory fell to Clotaire with the Cities for which he fought Year of our Lord 596 Soon after Fredegond Victorious and Triumphant but more Illustrious yet for her Crimes then by her good success dyed aged 50 or 55 years with this advantage that she left her Sons affairs in a condition to defend themselves alone Year of our Lord 596 This year or the following the Huns made inroads upon Turingia passing thorough the Behemans or Bohemians Countrey a Sclavonian People who were their Subjects Brunehaud durst hazard nothing against them but removed them by force of Money This Princess was not less cruel and vindicative then Fredegond and besides that very covetous and who making her Revenge ever tend towards the filling of her Year of our Lord 597 Purse took away the Lives of the Richest to get their Wealth Amongst others she caused the Duke Wintrion to be killed who had great Treasures he was Father of that Glosina who much against his Will did shut her self up in a Monastery at Mets where she is to this day venerated as a Saint Year of our Lord 598 This Conduct of Brunehauds became so insupportable to the Austrasians that they haled her by force out of the Royal Palace and led her even to the Frontiers of the Kingdom where they left her all alone cloathed only in Rags nigh the Castle d'Arcies upon the River Aube which parted the Kingdoms of her two Grandsons A poor Man knowing whom she was conducted her to Chaalons upon the Soane to her Son Thierry who received her both with joy and indignation at once Her Conductor for his reward had the Bishoprick of Auxerre The two young Brothers could not forget the loss of Paris and other Cities about the Seine which Clotaire had forced from them their Grand-Mother provoked Year of our Lord 599 them to call him to account and invade his Kingdom Knowing their design he comes boldly to meet them even near the Frontiers of Burgundy The two Armies fought nigh the Banks
Lotaire Those Lords that accompany'd Charles observing these Artifices believed the best way was to breake thorow them all with a brave resolution and advised he would march directly to him Thus the two Armies were found to be within Six Leagues of each other the City of Orleans lying between them Then the Lords on either part endeavoured to bring them to an accord as was the usual custom of the French Those of Charles's party finding themselves by much the weaker yielded to an agreement very disadvantagious whereby was left to him only by provision Aquitain Languedoc and Province with some Counties between the Loire and the Seine and it was said they should meet at the Parliament to be holden at Atigny to compose all their differences but they added this Clause that in the interim Lotaire should attempt nothing upon Charles nor Louis otherwise they should be quit of their Oathes and promises Year of our Lord 841 This Treaty finished Charles marched towards Bretagne to quell the motions of some Lords of that Country From thence he returns on his way to be at the Parliament of Atigny Lotharius had in the mean while endeavoured to shut up the passages against him broken down all the Bridges over the Seine and ordered Forces on either Shoar who coasted along incessantly Which did him no good because Charles having information that there were several Vessels at Roüen Seized them with great diligence and wafted over his Army with them His enemies betook themselves to Flight upon the first appearance of his Standard At the same time Lotharius by the advice of Albert Earl of Mets his chief incendiary and Othbert Bishop of Ments were dealing with the French Austrasians and knowing that Louis of Germany was upon his march to joyn with Charles caused some Troops to pass over the Rhine to meet him and did entice away a part of his men so that he was councell'd fearing he might lose the rest to retreat into Bavaria where it had been easy for Lotaire to have crushed him had he but pursued it Year of our Lord 841 Charles marching up along the River Seine makes his Prayers in the Church of St. Denis joynes some Troops which two or three of his Counts brought him near Montereau on Yonne beats two of the Counts that Lotaire had sent to oppose him in his March goes on to Troyes where he celebrated the Feast of Easter From thence he went to Atigny to let them know he would not neglect to meet at the conference appointed between him and Lotaire After his having remained there some days he Marched towards Chaalons and there finds his Mother the Empress Judith and those Forces she brought him out of Aquitain He had intelligence at the same time that his Brother Louis having gained a Battel against Albert Count of Mets made all possible hast to joyn with him Wherefore he goes that way to meet him Lotaire gave out a report that he fled and pursues him Mean time Louis arrives and thus the two young Brothers being united were found to be the strongest Lotaire therefore gains some days time by his feigned negotiations till Pepin who was upon the March could joyn with him When he had this re-inforcement he talked of nothing but bringing them to obedience and having a Monarchical Soveraignty All the tenders they could proffer did but confirm his resolution of having all So that they were constrained to send him word they would give him Battel the next morning about the second hour of the day which was the 25 th of June Year of our Lord 841 The two Armies being encamped against one another near the Burrough of Fontenay by Auxerre The whole Power of France all the bravest Officers and most of the Grandees and Nobility were about the Four Kings who were to be both the Witnesses and rewarders of their Actions Since the Beginning of the French Monarchy to the very day I write these Lines there hath not been so much French Blood spilt in any Battel whatever A Hundred Thousand men perished there a horrible wound and which weakned the Carlovinian-House so greatly that it could never well recover it self again The victory fell to the younger Brothers share They used it with all humility and would not give the Emperor chace for fear of spilling more blood They likewise caused his men to be buried and took care to dress the wounded as their own proclaiming a general pardon to all those that would accept thereof Year of our Lord 841 The most part of those Officers that had been with these Princes being gone away they could not reap all the Fruits might have accrued upon so notable an advantage Louis repassed the Rhine and Charles took his way towards Aquitain to drive Pepin entirely from thence But some dissention hapning in his Councels so that he acted not vigorously enough Pepin who had been brought very low and would certainly have submitted re-assumed his courage On the other hand Lotaire having gathered up his scatter'd men and raised new ones appeared soon after in Neustria where he had a great many abetters His Army and Charles's drew near each other about St. Denis the River betwixt them Charles's being the weakest saved themselves in the Forrests of Perche Lotaire pursued them but not able to compel them to a Battel he sent back Pepin whom he had called thither with his Forces of Aquitain Year of our Lord 842 The two young Brothers at their parting had appointed to meet again at soonest As soon as Charles found the way open and clear he went to the banks of the Rhine to his Brother and both of them being met the 22 th of February in the City of Strasburgh made a new League and Alliance of Friendship promising by Solemn Oath never to forsake each other This Treaty was framed and written in two Languages viz. Romance the Original of the present French and the Tudesque It mentioned that if either of the two Brothers contravened their Subjects should be no longer obliged to serve them Which was in truth to leave a gap open for them to change their Soveraign when they pleased Year of our Lord 842 This union having reassured their Subjects brought back those whom Lotaire had inveigled and encreased their Forces they sought for him to give him battel but he left the Country in so much hast that he made no stop till he was gotten to Lyons and by his slight abandoned all Austrasia to them and part of the Kingdom of Burgundy Year of our Lord 842 When they were come back to Aix the Bishops by them Assembled pronounced a Solemn Judgment whereby they deprived Lotharius of all his Portion of Lands on this side the Mountains and yet they would not admit the two Brothers till they first were assured by them that they would govern according to the Commandments of God To which having answered that they desired so the Bishops told them And we by
Vassals judging him uncapable to succeed from the imbecillity of his understanding a defect very ordinary in the Carolovinian Race Henry left all his Three Sons under the Guardianship of Baldwin Earl of Flanders who had Married his Sister and likewise entrusted him with the Regency of the Kingdom Queen Anne his Widdow retired to Senlis where she was building a Church in Honour of the Martyr St. Vincent Her Solitude was not so Austere but she could listen to the Addresses of Rodolph Earl of Grespy who was of that neighborhood She made no difficulty to Marry him and this Second Flame had like to have kindled a Civil War not for the difference in their Qualities for the Grandees went almost equal with their Kings but because Rodolph was of Kin to the First Husband for which reason the Bishops Excommunicated that Lord but nothing could make him let go his hold of her save death which untied him from his Princess Ann. 1066. Being a Widow and destitute of support she returned to end her days in her own Countrey Philip I. King XXXVIII Aged Seven or Eight years POPES Vacancy of Three Months Alex. II. Elect 1 Octob. 1061. S. Eleven years and neer Seven Months Gregory VII Son of a Carpenter Elect in April 21. 1073. S. Twelve years One Month. Victor III. Elect in May 1086. S. about One year Four Months Vacancy Five Months Urban II. Elect in March 1088. S. Eleven years and Four Months Paschal II. Elect 12. August 1099. S. Eighteen years and Five Months Year of our Lord 1060 61 and 62. ALL quietly gave Obedience to the Regency of Baldwin the Gascons only refused to submit themselves apprehending said they lest by that Title he should destroy his Pupil to invade the Crown upon pretension that he was Married to the Daughter of King Henry He wisely dissembled this injury but two years after marched an Army towards the Pyreneans giving out it was to make War upon the Saracens in Spain and when he had passed the Garonne he stopp'd in the Rebels Countrey and brought them to their Duty without striking a blow Year of our Lord 1062 Guy Gefroy-William Duke of Aquitain believed that Gefroy Martel Earl of Anjou being dead without Children his Nephews Sons of his Sister had no right to Xaintongne He would therefore seize it and besieged Xaintes his Army was defeated by the two Brothers neer Chef-Boutonne but the following year he got another Army and took the Town from them Year of our Lord 1062 and 63. The two Brothers minded not the relieving it they were at mortal feud amongst themselves Foulk le Rechin the younger of the two gained the Lords of Touraine and Anjou who betraid his Brother Gefroy and unfortunately deliver'd him up with the City of Anger 's In the mean while the Duke of Aquitain having re-conquered Saintongne led his victorious into Spain where he forced the City of Barbastre at that time very rich and renowned The Zeal of Religion did often lead the Princes and Lords of Aquitain and Languedoc into Spain to succour the Christians against the Saracens and their assistance raised and very much supported the petty Spanish Kings Year of our Lord 1064 Edward King of England whose Christian Virtues have placed him in the number of Saints dying without Children left his Kingdom by Will and Testament to William the Bastard Duke of Normandy in consideration of the good Reception and Treatment he found in the House of Robert his Father when he was driven out Year of our Lord 1064 of his own Countrey as likewise because he was neer of Kin. But the English not affecting the Government of a Stranger gave the Crown to Harold Son of Godwin one of the great Lords of the Kingdom The Bastard on his side sought from all parts the assistance of his Friends and Allies to get himself into possession of his Right insomuch as having got by his large promises a powerful Army of Normans French Flemmings and others together he landed in England gave Battle to Harold the 14th of October who was slain in the Fight with his chief Commanders and left England to the discretion of the Conquerour A Revolution thought to be presaged by a terrible Comet which for Fifteen days blazed with three great Rays over-spreading almost all the Southern parts of the Heavens Before William past the Sea hapned the death of Conan Duke of Bretagne it was said he caused him to be poysonn'd because he claimed the Dutchy of Normandy as belonging to him by his Mother Daughter of Duke Robert Hoel who was Married to his Sister succeeded him Year of our Lord 1067. and the following The English ill-Treated by Williams Lieutenants and Officers Revolted the following years and called in the Danes to their aid but that only increased their misery and yoak for he took from them almost all their Lands and even their antient Laws introducing and imposing those of his own Countrey as he did that Language in all Courts of Justice and instruments of Law withal putting such Lords as follow'd him in possession of English Mens Estates the greatest part of them being punished or slain Thus ended the Reign of the English in that Island which hath notwithstanding retained their Name but in effect hath ever since been sway'd and is still by the Norman Blood their Kings and the greatest of the Countrey being descended and holding their Rights of this William the Bastard to whom was given the Surname of Conquerour Year of our Lord 1067 Baldwin Regent of the Kingdom of France and Earl of Flanders ended his days An. 1067. He had Two Sons Baldwin called of Monts who was Earl of Flanders and Robert who was Surnamed the Frison as being Lord of that Countrey of Friesland Year of our Lord 1069 It is observed that in the year 1069. Arnold Lord of Selne began to build the City of Ardres upon the ruines of his Castle of Selne A War did soon break out between Baldwins two Sons the Eldest thinking to devest the Younger was by him beaten and slain in the field of Battle leaving two Sons Arnold and Baldwin very young The Guardianship of these begot a bloody contest between Robert their Uncle and Richilda their Mother This Princess supported by Gefroy Crook-Back Duke of the lower Lorrain defeated Roberts Army and thrust him out of a part of his Countreys This happy success made her so haughty Year of our Lord 1068 towards her Subjects that the Flemmings Flammengant forsook her and she had none left but the Walloons and the Hennuyars The King would have made himself Judge and Arbitrator between both parties but Richilda coming to Paris with great Presents gained his Counsel and engaged him openly to take her quarrel Year of our Lord 1070 The King inflamed with the heat of Youth would needs go in person to make his first Essay in War and Arms. It proved not very successful for he was beaten and pursued Richilda taken and carried
Lord 1197 Amongst all the events of this War which amounted only to Burnings and Plunderings is to be observed what hapned to Philip de Dreux Bishop of Beauvais Cousin german to the King This Bishop being taken in the War Armed and Fighting by some of Richard's Soldiers was detained a long time in an uneasie prison The Pope would interpose his recommendation to Richard for his deliverance and in his Letters he call'd this Bishop His most dear Son But Richard having sent word back in what posture and manner he was taken and having sent his coat of Maille all Bloody with order to him that carry'd it to ask him Behold Holy Father whether this be the Coat of your Son The Pope had nothing to reply but that the Treatment they shewed to that Prelat was just since he had quitted the Militia of Jesus Christ to follow that of the World Death of the Emperour Henry As he had manifested himself as rude an enemy to the Popes as his Predecessors and besides was very odious for his cruelties Innocent III. strongly opposed the Election of Philip his Brother excommunicating all his Adherents and stood up for Otho Son of the Duke of Saxouy and a Sister of Richards who was Crowned at Aix la Chapelle so that there was a Schism in that Empire which had often occasioned one in the Church The King of England the Earl of Flanders and the Arch-Bishop of Colen supported Otho and King Philip on Year of our Lord 1197 the contrary made a League with his Rival The same year died in the City of Acre or Acon the generous Henry Earl of Champagne Titular King of Jerusalem his Nephew Thibauld or Theobald III. of that Name Earl of Blois inherited those Lands he had in France in prejudice of his Year of our Lord 1197 Uncles two Daughters The eldest was named Alix and was Queen of Cyprus and by her was born a Daughter of the same Name whom we shall find making War against Thibauld IV. The Second was called Philippa who was Married to Erard de Brienne Year of our Lord 1198 These bloody and obstinate Wars the particulars whereof cannot be brought within the compass of an Abridgement caused much mischief in France but the greatest was that Philip grew extreamly covetous and became too greedy in heaping up Treasure under pretence of the necessity of raising and maintaining great numbers of standing Forces which are truly very proper to make Conquests and new Acquisitions but some times become oppressive to the Subjects and destructive to the Laws of the Land As he was the First of the Kings of France that kept Men in pay and would have Soldiers always ready to employ them in what he pleased he set himself likewise upon making great exactions upon the People ransoming or taxing the Churches and recalling the Jews who were the introducers of Usury and Imposts But however he was very frugal and retrencht himself as much as possible knowing and considering ☜ that a King who hath great designs ought not to consume the substance of his Subjects in vain and pompous expences Year of our Lord 1199 At the end of two years War the Pope by his intercession procured a Five years truce between the two Kings during which Richard as covetous of Money as he was proud having intelligence that a Gentleman of Limosin had found a vast Treasure and carried it into the Castle of Chalus he went presently and besieged him he was wounded there with a Cross-bow and his debauchery having envenom'd his wound he died of it the Eleventh day of April in this year 1199. He had introduc'd the use of Cross-bows in France before that time Sword-men were so generous and brave that they would not owe their Victory but to their Lances or Swords they abhorr'd those treacherous weapons wherewith a coward sheltred or conceal'd may kill a valiant Man at a distance and thorough a hole Year of our Lord 1199 He had no Children therefore the Kingdom of England and the Dutchy of Normandy belonged of right to young Arthur Duke of Bretagne as being the Son of Gefroy his Brother elder then John without Land but John having seized the Money gained Richards Forces and stept into the Throne In the mean while the Earl of Flanders with his Allies regained the Cities of Aire and St. Omers It hapned that the Kings party took his Brother Philip Earl of Namur and Peter Bishop Elect of Cambray The King refusing to release this last the Popes Legat puts the Kingdom of France under a prohibition so that after three Months time he was constrained to set him free Year of our Lord 1200 The day of the Ascension in the year 1200. Peace was concluded at a solemn Conference between the two Kings between Vernon and Andeley It was warranted by Twelve Barons on either part who made oath to take up Arms against him that should break it and moreover confirmed by the Marriage of Blanche Daughter of Alfonso VIII King of Castille and Alienor Sister to King John with Lewis the eldest Son of Philip to whom King John in favour of this Alliance yielded up all the Lands and Places which the French had taken from him Each had a care to secure his Partisans John was oblig'd to receive his Nephew Arthur into favour who did hommage to him for his Dutchy of Bretagne but yet remained with Philip. Reciprocally Philip pardon'd Renauld Earl of Boulogne and some while after Treated the Marriage between his Son of his own name whom he had by his Queen Agnes and that Earls Daughter Since the repudiation of 1semburge of Denmark King Philip had kept her in a Convent at Soissons and at three years end that is Anno 1196 he had espoused Mary-Agnes Daughter of Bertold Duke of Merania and Dalmatia Pope Celestine III. upon the complaints of King Canut Brother of the Divorc'd Lady had Commissioned in the year 1198. two Legats to take cognisance of this Affair who had assembled a grand Council at Paris of the Bishops and Abbots of the Kingdom but all those Prelats being partly terrify'd and some corrupted durst give no Sentence and the Legats were suspected to favour the Cause of Agnes Afterwards the Holy Father more importunately desired to do justice had sent two more One of them in the month of Decemb in the year 1199. having called the Prelats of France to Dijon notwithstanding the Appeal interjected by Philip to the Pope pronounced Sentence of prohibiton upon all the Kingdom in presence and by consent of all the Bishops and nevertheless that he might have leasure enough to get away into some place of safety he was willing it should not be publish'd till twenty days after Christmass He had reason to fear Philips anger In effect it burst out with furty against all his Subjects against the Ecclesiasticks first whom he believ'd to be all accomplices in this injury for he drove the Bishops from their Sees cast the
1325. The Council of England found it necessary that Queen Isabella who was Sister to Charles the Fair should pass over into France with Edward his eldest Son to Negociate the Peace She managed the business with a great deal of Skill and finished the Treaty contriving it so that her Son Edward was invested in the Dutchy of Guyenne and the Earldom of Pontieu for which he did Homage to the King The King of England had too near him the two Hugh Spensers Father and Son the last having been bred with him in an unbecoming familiarity had an absolute empire over him and made him do what ever he desired The English Lords having made some Conspiracy and taken up Arms against this Favourite he drew them to a Parly where he caused them also to be seized against the Publick Faith and afterwards chopt off the Heads of Two and Twenty Barons amongst whom was Thomas Earl of Lancaster Son of Prince Edmond who when living was Brother to King Edward Pursuring his design he kept Queen Isabella and the Earl of Kent the Kings Brother at distance from the Court and likewise did privately seek to destroy them whether for that they had been in the Conspiracy with the Lords or that he apprehended their Credid or Interest and this was the chief ground for their coming into France Year of our Lord 1325 King Charles received his Sister with all the tenderness of a good Brother kept her a great while in his Court Treating and Honouring her according to her Quality and promised her assistance both of Money and Men as much as he well could without breaking with the English to Chastise that insolent favourite who continued to take off all those Heads that stood in the way which his Ambition led him to Unhappy Flanders was hardly ever without Troubles The Flemmings had but little affection to their Earl because he was too much French by inclination and resided but little in that Country He had a long and bloody Contest with the Citizens of Bruges Robert de Cassel supported them because he would have had him been kill'd They made John Earl of Namur his Uncle Prisoner and a while after they also did detain himself But when the Pope had laid an Interdict upon the Country when those Mutineers had been beaten by the Ghentois and they found the King was sending Forces to his relief they were forced to bend the Knee and humble themselves before him He Chastised them by great Fines the loss of their fairest Priviledges and by the banishment of a great number of the hottest Spirits Year of our Lord 1325 It was above a year that Charles Earl of Valois languished with a Distemper which was very odd and yet more painful Who knows whether it were not the effect of some cruel Poyson The Physicians not knowing either how to find out the true cause of the Malady nor any Remedies the poor Prince falls into an imagination that it was a Divine Punishment for the too eager and severe pusute he had made against Enguerrand de Marigny They have not forgot to mention his Penitence and to enumerate the satisfactions he offer'd to his Memory but perhaps these proceeded from a Mind as sick and as much out of tune as his Body After all if God so severely Chastised a Prince for persecuting a publick Robber and bringing him to Justice by unjust Methods and with an ill intent what did not that Robber deserve who for so long a time had tormented Millions of innocent Souls Year of our Lord 1325 and 26. The Spensers dreading the Storm which threatned them from the Coast of France obliged Edward earnestly to re-demand his Wife and they made use of so many Arts and scattered so much Money in King Charles his Court and even in the Popes to make him bestir himself for them that at length Charles won by their Presents or frighted with the fears of a Rupture not only retracted those Promises he had made his Sister but likewise upon pain of Banishment forbid all Knights to assist her and Commanded her to go out of his Countries Year of our Lord 1326 One Roger de Mortimer a Gentleman of Normandy was very much in the favour and good opinion of this fair Princess the Spensers had taken occasion to raise some Jealousie in the King her Husband and detain this Roger in the Tower of London but having sound means to escape he was come over into France and perhaps this was none of the least Arguments for which King Charles who was an Enemy to that unclean Folly would endure her no longer and so abandon'd her Year of our Lord 1326 At her leaving the Court of France she retired disconsolate into the County of of Pontien then into Hainault where she was so happy that John Brother of William the Earl declared himself her Knight-Errant caused her to be well and kindly received in his Brothers Court and having mustred Three hundred Knights more he carried her back into England No sooner was the news of her being landed known but Henry Earl of Lancaster the Brother of Thomas came to her the Earls Barons and Knights flock'd thither from all parts She besieged the King and both the Spensers in Bristol Spenser the Father and the Earl of Arundel Son-in-Law to the younger Spenser were taken in the City and beheaded The King and Spenser the Son who were retired into the Castle and from thence thought to make their escape in a Bark were taken at Sea The Favourite according to his Sentence given by the Barons was drawn on a Hurdle thorough the Streets of Hereford then led to the top of a Ladder where the Executioner cut off those parts that had transgress'd and plucked out his Heart then threw it into the Fire and quarter'd his Body Year of our Lord 1326 As for the King the Lords made his Process degraded him of his Royalty and condemned him to perpetual Imprisonment to put his Son Edward III. in his stead Afterwards the Friends to this unfortunate Prince by practising several means to save him compleated his ruine It was resolved to dispatch him out of the World and that after a most cruel manner They thrust a red hot Iron up into his Fundament through a Pipe of Horn fearing the burning should be discovered His Wife in her turn was punished by her own Son in the same horrible manner of revenge Year of our Lord 1326 In the mean time young King Edward Married Philippa the second of the four Daughters which the Earl of Hainault had by Jane Daughter of Charles Earl of Valois Divers Bands of Gascon Adventurers whom they called the Bastards perhaps because their Chiefs were such ravaged Guyenne They went into Saintonge where they seized upon the City of Xaintes but perceiving that the Captains whom King Charles had sent thither were resolved to give them Battle they withdrew in the night having set Fire to the City Year of our
all France was left exposed to the plundrings of the licentious Soldiers as well French as English Now at the very hour that Paris was reduced to the extreamest want and it was in the power of the Navarrois and only depended upon him alone to give the mortal blow to France his heart was changed in a moment without any apparent cause but an extraordinary favour of Heaven towards this Kingdom Insomuch as he made his agreement with the Dauphin and referr'd almost all his pretensions to his own free Will in despite of all the arguments and oppositions of his Brother who quitted him and retired to the English at Saint Sauveur le Vicomte Year of our Lord 1359 This Peace saved the City of Paris but did not ease the neighbouring Provinces * for those Garrisonn'd places that had held for the King of Navarre declared for the English that they might still have opportunities to plunder The Lord Auberticour a Hennuger ravaged Champagne by means of certain Castles he held upon the Marne and the Seine Broquard de Fennestranges a Knight of Lorrain drawn into the Service of France with Five hundred adventurers whom he had under his Pay delivered the Countrey of him having defeated and taken him prisoner in a great Fight near Nogent upon the River Seine but himself became a more severe scourge burning and laying all waste till the Dauphin could give him the Arrears due to his Soldiers During all these Wars with the English until Charles VIII had driven them out of France there were many of these Captains whereof some paid their Men out of their own pockets and then hired them out to those that would bid most and others maintained theirs with the plunder they took indifferently on either side These last were called Robbers those that Commanded them were meer Soldiers of Fortune when they were snapt they found no quarter Year of our Lord 1359 There were Propositions of Peace perpetually on foot between the two Crowns King John though he had all manner of liberty even for Hunting and all pastimes and gallantries was very weary of his imprisonment nevertheless he referr'd those conditions the English propounded for his Release to the Estates of his Kingdom They being assembled at Paris for this purpose it was in the Month of May found them so hard that all with one voice chose rather to have War and offer'd very great sums to carry it on but these could not be levied so soon The King of England netled with their Reply raised a formidable Army there were Eleven hundred Vessels and near an hundred thousand fighting Men landed at Calais with his four Sons who began to march although the Season was very far spent They let him keep the Field at his own pleasure the Towns were so well provided that he could not take one neither St. Omers nor Amiens nor Reims where he thought to have been Crowned King of France nor Chaalons Burgundy redeemed themselves from plundering for Two hundred thousand Florins and some Provisions for his Camp Nivernois compounded likewise Brie and Gastinois were ransacked About the latter end of Lent he came and encamped within Seven Leagues of Paris between Chartres and Montlehery and finding they made no one step towards the satisfying his demands he plants himself just before the City Gates with design to oblige the French to Speak or to Fight Year of our Lord 1360 After he had tarry'd there some time without being able to gain either the one or the other he turns back towards Beauss resolved to refresh his Men along the River Loire and in case of misfortune retreat into Bretagne Cardinal Simon de Langres the Popes Legat and the Dauphins Deputies always follow'd his Camp and sollicited him eternally for a Peace One day he being encamped in the Chartrain Countrey there arose a dreadful Storm with so much Lightning and Thunder and such a shower of great Hail that it grievously maim'd a great many of his Men and killed above a thousand of his Horses He took this prodigy as a warning and command from Heaven and turning himself towards our Lady's Church of Chartres which was to be seen about five or six Leagues off made a promise before the Almighty of concluding the Peace besides the Duke of Lancaster with other English Lords pressed him earnestly because his Army was much shatter'd and he had brought over almost all the force of England Year of our Lord 1360 The Deputies on either part met the First of May at the village called Brotigny within a mile of Chartres In this place Treating in the name of the two Kings eldest Sons they concluded upon all the Articles in eight days time On the one side they gave the English King besides what he had already all Poitou Saintongne Rochel and the Countrey of Aulnis Angoumois Perigord Limosin Quercy Agenois and la Bigorre in full Sovereigaty besides Calais the Counties of Oye Guisnes and Pontieu and three Millions in Gold for the Ransom payable at three several Terms of King John who should be brought to Calais and set at liberty after the restitution of those places force-mentioned and upon giving up as Hostages his Three youngest Sons his Brother Philip and other Princes of the Blood and besides all these Thirty more as well Earls as Illustrious Knights and two Deputies of each of the Nineteen Cities whose Names were expresly mention'd On the other hand the King of England renounced the Title of King of France and generally all his other pretensions Year of our Lord 1360 And till the two Kings could ratify the Treaty a Truce was agreed upon for a year In the Month of July King John was brought over to Calais where he was immediately visited by his Children and staid there till the Five and Twentieth of October when King Edward coming thither both of them swore to the agreement of Peace very solemnly That between the King of England and the Earl of Flanders and another between the King of Navarre and King John were made up in the same place and Year of our Lord 1360 this last sworn by the two Philips Brothers of those two Kings the Treaties were confirmed by the Holy Father under the penalty of Ecclesiastical censures against those as should first contravene King John being freed from Captivity the Four and twentieth of October which he had now undergone four years and one Month went to give Thanks to God at the Church of St. Denis in France There he received the King of Navarre into Favour who came and Saluted him The Thirteenth of December he made his entrance into Paris and the City testified their joy by a Present of Plate of a Thousand Marks Year of our Lord 1361 The extream necessity he was in for Money to pay his Ransom made his generous courage stoop to a weakness judged to be more prejudicial to the Honour of the Noble House of France then even the Treaty of Britigny it self
would leave it to them two He failed not to take his advantage of these inconsiderate words He would not have his Brother be so near a Neighbour to the Burgundian his Interest was to place him at the other end of the Kingdom to break off their Communication That young Prince Weak Year of our Lord 1468. and 69. and Inconstant of mind was Governed by Oder-Daydie Lord of Lescun a Gascon and vain who would needs be a Prophet in his own Country by his means he was persuaded to renounce Champagne and accept of Guienne with the City of Rochel This change was the loss of that young Prince The Cardinal de la Ballue in whose hands the Treaty of Peronne had been Sworn with much regret suffered it to be altered whether out of love to Monsieur or that he would have had the King still in some perplexity This good Prelat and William de Hoeraucoux holding Intelligence with the Burgundian wrote to Monsieur to dissuade him and represented many things to him for his advantage but contrary to the Kings intentions Their Letters having been intercepted and they Seized they ingenuously confessed their practices The King sent the information to his Brother who suffering to be overcome by his Carasses accepted of Guyenne and came to meet him at Tours The Bishop was shut up in an Iron Cage a punishment he well deserved since he was the first inventor of it The Cardinal was convey'd to the Bastille where he remained twelve years the Pope demanding him as liable only to his Justice and the King pressing the Pope to let him have Judges assigned him within the Kingdom to hear his cause Year of our Lord 1469 The good correspondence between the two Brothers seemed to be perfected and the King to gain or wean Monsieurs Heart from the Countries on this side allured him with a great Match in Spain Henry King of Castille had a Daughter named Jeane but whom the Castillians held for a Bastard because he was esteemed impotent in so much as they had constrained him to declare the Infanta Isabella who was his Sister his Heiress The King sent the Cardinal of Arras to demand this Isabella for Monsieur But the Lords of the Country having stollen her away and married her to Ferdinand Infant of Arragon he seeks to have Jane which Henry agreed to A Matter for a long War if Charles had lived The first day of August the King being at his Castle of Amboise instituted an Order of Knighthood in honour of St. Michael and limited the number of Knights to 36 yet was it never filled up in all his Reign The French particularly Honoured St. Michael as the Tutelary Angel of that Monarchy And a better could not be pitched upon to tread down the Pride of the English who carr'd Dragons in their Ensigns then that Prince of they Celestial Militia who is painted with a Dragon under his feet And indeed it had been reported that he was seen at the head of our Army 's sighting against them for the French He imagined by means or vertue of this Collar that he should have drawn all the Grandees of the Kingdom within his clutclies when he held this Chapter And therefore the Duke of Bretagne refused it and the Duke of Burgundy doing yet worse received the Order of the Garter and wore it to his Death The Breton had in his service one Peter Landays his Treasurer a man of Low Birth but very knowing and able to countermine all the Artisices of Lewis XI It was he that led him to all these evasions and emboldned his Master to withstand all his devices and his threats Thus what ever endeavours he could use though he were on his Frontiers with an Army he could never disunite him from the Burgundian but only obliged him by a Treaty made at Saumur to renounce all offensive Leagues against the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1470 In the year 1470. John the Natural Son of Lewis Duke of Orleance left this world aged 70 years having divers years before left the Court because of his almost continual pain of the Gout which the hardships in the Wars had brought upon him This Prince valued in all things says Comines having made himself as able a Counsellor as he was a Captain was one of the principal instruments God made use of to drive the English out of France Therefore the Princes of his Family gave him the County of Dunois King Charles that of Longue-ville the Office of Great Chamberlain and the Lieutenancy General of his Army's and strong Forts A power of so great extent that it hath been communicated to none but himself in the third Race Year of our Lord 1470 The renunciation which the King caused the Breton to make had most respect to Edward of York King of England and Brother in Law to the Burgundian of whom it was hourly reported that he was coming to Land at Calais He was wholly prevented by the Earl of Warwick who in revenge of some injuries received from him set himself to carry on the interests of the House of Lancaster and had even Debauched the Duke of Clarence his Brother He had the foregoing year defeated his Army and afterwards took him Prisoner Then Edward having escaped beat him in his turn So that he was forced to save himself in France about the end of the Month of May this year From thence returning into England with the Succours the King leâ—t him he changed the Scene a second time For all slocked to him according to the Genius of that Country which loves change and Year of our Lord 1471 Edward wholly forfaken fled into Flanders to the Duke of Burgundy his Brother in Law Then King Henry who was in the Tower of London was set at Liberty and Warwick and Clarence took upon them the Government of the Kingdom Though the King still resented in his Heart the affront received at Peronne nevertheless being of a fearful Spirit and the length of any enterprize putting him out of patience if the success were not as swift as his desires he would have lived in peace if the Constable and those that were about him had not excited his resentment to draw him to a rupture They feared and the Constable most of all that a Peace making them appear useless the King might think of retrenching their great allowances and his stirring mind if it were not employ'd abroad might put him upon great alterations at home in his Court. Besides these motives there was also an Intrigue of the Bretons and the Constables in favour of Monsieur As they desired to strengthen him against the King they had inspired him with a desire of marrying the only Daughter of the Burgundian And because they knew the Father would not easily consent to it they believed they should sooner bring it about by force then by friendship and therefore they resolved to engage the King to make a War upon him The Bias they took
tax which he had ordered for their maintenance Being returned to Tours he fell into the like Fitts of fainting as before His Servants having vowed him to Saint Claude he went thither on Pilgrimage and left the General Lieutenancy of the Kingdom to Peter de Bourbon Lord of Beaujeu his Brother Never was such a Pilgrim seen the Countries he passed felt his Devotions he marched accompanied with six thousand Soldiers and did always some terrible thing or other in his way In this he seized Philibert Duke of Savoy and brought him into France that young Prince dying the next year in the City of Lyons and his brother Charles succeeding him he declared himself his Guardian For since the decease of Duke Ame IX their Father he had alwayes had a great hand in the affairs of Savoy upon pretence that these young Princes were his Sisters Children Year of our Lord 148 Happily for Italy Mahomet being on the point to begin again the Siege of Rhodes and to send a new Army to Otranto dyed at Nicomedia the third of May. Now whilst his two Sons Bajazeth and Zizim were contending for the Empire between themselves the Pope and King Ferdinand took the courage to besiege Otranto and the Turks whilst the division betwixt their Princes lasted expecting no succours surrendred upon composition A short while after Zizim having been defeated twice fled to Rhodes where expecting to find an Asylum he fell into captivity For the Knights for a Pension of 50000 Crowns which Bajazeth promised to pay them yearly detained him Prisoner and with the Kings permission sent him to the Castle of Bourgneuf in Auvergne where he remained some years treated honourably enough Year of our Lord 1489 Year of our Lord 1481 Every thing gave apprehensions to King Lewis he still kept his wife at distance from him and these last years he continued her in Savoy he bred his Son like a Captive at Amboise amongst Servants lest he should grow too high-spirited and alwayes took along with him the first Prince of the blood Lewis Duke of Orleance not suffering any to cultivate his mind by any Education He married him this year to one of his daughters named Jane a most wise Princess but ugly and Lame and one whom the Physitians assured uncapable of bearing any Children Perhaps themselves had taken a course for that purpose Year of our Lord 1481 A little while after his return from Saint Claude he fell again for the third time into his fits of Swooning He caused himself to be carry'd to Clery where he had built a Church to his good Our Lady And there he received some relief but which lasted not long Year of our Lord 1481 The 10th of December Charles d'Anjou Count du Mayne being sick at Marseilles whereof he dyed the next day by his Testament instituted King Lewis his universal Heir in all his lands to enjoy the same he and all the Kings of France his Successors recommending most earnestly to him to mantain Provence in it's liberty 's Perogatives Customs Rene Duke of Lorraine Son of Yoland d'Anjou reclaimed against this institution maintaining that it could not be made to his prejudice the King on the contrary justified it to be good because Provence is a Country ruled by written Law according to which any person may dispose of his own in favour of whom he pleaseth besides the Counts of Provence had always called the Males to their Succession to the prejudice of the daughters Palamedes de Fourbin Sieur de Souliers who managed the Mind of Charles made him find these reasons to be good and for this he in recompence had the Government or to say better the Soveraignty of Provence during his whole life Year of our Lord 1482 When the Affairs of Mary of Burgundy began to be setled that Princess going ahunting fell from her horse and died of it at Gaunt the 25th of May with the fruit wherewith her womb was pregnant In four years she had borne three children Philip Margret and another that had but a short life The death of Mary brought trouble and disorders afresh amongst the Flemmings Her Husband had so little Authority because of his Covetous Poverty amongst those people who were wont to have Princes extreamly Liberal and Magnificent that he was forced to suffer that the Children he had by her should remain under the guard of the Gauntois After a great famine which had afflicted France during the year 1481. there followed an Epidemical Sickness altogether extraordinary which seized upon the Great as well as the Little ones It was a continual and violent Feaver which set the Head on fire whereby the most part fell into Phrensies and died as it were Mad. Year of our Lord 1482 William de la Mark called the wild Boar of Ardenne incited and assisted by the King Massacred most inhumanely Lewis de Bourbon Bishop of Liege either in an Ambuscade or after he had defeated him in Battle and soon after himself being taken by the Lord de Horne brother to the Bishop successor to Lewis had his head cut off at Mastrict Desquerdes had even the last year made himself Master of the Town of Air at the price of 50000 Crowns bestowed on the Governour From this advantagious Post which bridled the Flemmings he made them incline as well by cunning too as force to treat of the Marriage of Margret Daughter of their deceased Princess with the Dauphin Charles though she were hardly two years old and Charles almost twelve The Gauntois Ambassadors having seen the King at Clery made report to their Council of the Kings intentions He demanded for her dowry only the County of Artois and they would needs add to it those of Burgundy of Masconnois Auxerois and Charolois thereby to weaken their Prince so much that he might never be able to bring them under his Yoke Year of our Lord 1482 The King was in so ill a condition that hardly could he suffer them to see him to present so advantagious a Treaty The Daughter was to be put into his Hands about the end of this Year but there remaining yet some difficulties to be determined they brought her not into France till the April following and the Wedding was celebrated at Amboise at the end of July Year of our Lord 1483 Then Edward King of England who upon the faith of the Treaty of Pequigny had ever flattered himself that the Dauphin should Marry his Daughter and held himself so well assured that he made her be called the Dauphiness seeing himself bafled by the French and scoffed by his own Subjects as one fouly imposed upon was so moved with shame and grief that he died the 4th of April delivering France from the apprehension of many mischiefs he might have done them during the Minority of Charles VIII He had two Sons Edward and Richard and five daughters Marry'd to Noblemen of that Country He had also had two Brothers George Duke of Clarence
of the Treaty they reveng'd it by the Massacre of the whole Garrison These cruel Inâ—idelities were much used during this whole War At this very time Dandelot having a little refreshed the Huguenot Forces who were yet near Four Thousand Horse besides their Foot made an incursion by Poiton as far as Clisson At his return he was seized with a Pestilential Feaver whereof he died at Saintes The Princes gave the Command of Collonel of the Foot to James de Crussol Daceir the King did the like to Philip de Strossy Son of Peter who had been Mareschal of France and was near of kinn to the Queen Mother The last day of February the Duke of Deux-Ponts parted from Savarna and had taken his March by Alsatia and Lorrain he had Seven Thousand Five Hundred Reistres and Six Thousand Lansquenets William of Nassaw Prince of Orange whom the Duke of Alva had thrust out of Flanders and Lewis his Brother came and joyned him with some Troops of Horse and Fifteen or Twenty French Captains of Daufiné with Six Hundred Horse and Eight Hundred Vrquebusiers they had pick'd up about Strasburgh The Duke d'Aumale finding he was unable to make head against him followed him in the Rear almost as far as Cisteaux When they had pass'd the Saone at Montier he left them that he might get before them and wait their passage over the Loire where he was to joyn the Duke of Anjou's Army which lay at Gien But the Duke des Deux ponts passed it at a Foord near Pouilly and also took the Town de la Charité a place very weak in those dayes but of great Importance upon the same River As soon as the Admiral knew he had passed the River he drew out a Party of his Forces to go and meet him having left the care of all Affairs in Guyenne to la Noüe and sent Montgommery into Gascongne as well to reconcile the Vicounts whom the ambition of Command had set at variance as to stop the Progress Montluc and Terride were making in Bearn The Queen of Navarre had inveigled all that Country to be of the New Religion She pretended to be absolute Soveraign there and yet many of the Nobility adhered rather to the King than to her The Duke of Anjou in the mean time advanced to Limoges and placed Guards upon all the Passages of Vienne but the Forlorn of the Duke de Deux-ponts Marched over the Bellies of them Thus after a three months March this Army of Strangers Arrived in Safety but the Duke des Deux-ponts who was very corpulent and labouring under the reliques of a Quartan-Ague died at Nessun Year of our Lord 1569 within three Leagues of Limoges the Eighteenth day of June By his Will he left the Conduct of his Forces to Volrad Mansfeld and within four dayes after they were joyned in a body with the Admirals The two Armies being near that of the Princes about Saint Yrier the Duke of Anjou's at Roche-labelle they had so great a Skirmish as had almost engaged them to a general Battel On the Royalists side Strossy was taken Prisoner Roquelaure and Saint Leu two valiant Captains were kill'd with four Hundred of their Men. After which the Duke of Anjou put his Army into Garrisons and discharged the Nobility with Orders to return again about Mid August During all which time there hapned nothing Remarkable but the Siege of Niort by the Count de Lude Governor of Poitou and of la Charité by Sansac where neither of them gained any thing but blows but Teligny seized upon Chasteleraud and forced the Castle of Luzignan no less Famous for the Fables of Mellusine then for the reputation it had of being impregnable month June c. During this time Montgomery was sent into Bearn to recover it for the Queen of Navarre for the Count de Terride had very near subdued it all Having therefore gotten some Forces together in Languedoc passed the Garonne and Ariege surprised the City of Tarbes in Bigorre he entred that part of the Country where Terride at that time Besieged Navarrins At the Noise of his approach Terride makes up his Bundle and retires to Ortez Montgomery besieges him there and forces him to Surrender He had four Barons of that Country with him Saincte Colombe Pordeac Goas and Favas who were comprised in the Capitulation but Montgommery caused them all to be Poniarded having more regard to the Orders Queen Jane had given him to use them as Traytors than to his own Honour and Faith But for the discord which was between Terride and Montluc and between the latter and Danville Governor of Languedoc he had not entred so easily into that Country or at least had never got out again However Montluc not to remain idle borrowed some Companies of Danville with which together with those la Valette had Raised he forced the City of Mont de Marsan where another Favas Commanded a Native of S. Macaire Whilst this Captain was Treating with him he caused the Castle to be stormed on the back part and put all to the Edge of the Sword in revenge for the death of the Four Barons After the taking of Luzignan which was followed by that of S. Maxian and Mirebeau the Admirals thoughts were to seize upon Saumur which he would fortifie to have that convenient passage on the Loire and carry the War the fourth time to the Gates of Paris Unfortunately for him he changed his design and besieged Poitiers a great City above two Leagues in circumference The young Duke of Guise whom the Duke of Anjou had sent to succour Luzignan puts himself into it with the Marquiss de Mayenne his Brother and great numbers of the Nobility and gained to himself no less Glory than his Father had done formerly by defending the City of Mets. The Count de Lude Governor of Poitu was likewise gotten in with six thousand Soldiers but there were very little Stores and Provisions for so many Mouths The Siege began the five and twentieth of July the Attaques the Besiegers made upon them did not give them so much trouble as the want of Food Forrage and Mills did put them to In the mean time Montluc having drawn his Forces together laid Siege to Chastelleraud to make a diversion The Admiral was glad of such a fair pretence to raise his Siege from before Poitiers where he lost both his time and reputation He decamped the seventh day of September and approaching near Chastelleraud put in four hundred Arquebusiers who entred by the Bridge conducted thither and cover'd by the Cavalry of his Van-Guard Upon his Arrival the Catholicks drew off their Cannon and afterwards their Men with so much diligence that their Army was lodged at la Celle which is six Leagues from thence and on the other side la Creuse before he knew they moved he follow'd with a resolution to attaque them but finding them in a Lodgment where he could not bring up his
the Rhine and take away the Lands they had bestowed on them in Gaul or at least a good part of it It is not certain whether this hapned in the last year of the Reign of Pharamond or the First of that of Clodion Year of our Lord 428 In this year they date the death of Pharamond who by that account had Reigned Ten years They know not his Acts the place of his Burial the Name of his Wife nor of his Children excepting Clodion who succeeded him An antient Chronicle gives him the Glory of setling the Salique Law by Four antient Lords and says they laboured in it for three Malles or Assizes It is called Salique from the Name of the Saliens the Noblest of the French People Clodion the Hairy OR Long Locks King II. POPES CELESTINE I. Three years SIXTUS III. The 26th of April 432. S. Eight years Year of our Lord 428 HE was Surnamed the Hairy or Long Locks because in my opinion he first brought in a custom that Kings and those of their Blood should wear Long Hair well Combed and Curled not only on the top of their Heads as all the Princes of this Nation had done before him but likewise on the hinder part The rest of the French had all their Hair cut round a little beneath their Ears Year of our Lord 431 It is not known whether there were yet left them any Land in Gaul It is certain that Clodion in the beginning of his Reign Inhabited beyond the Rhine and that he marched over it in the year 431. to make an irruption but he was beaten and driven back by Aetius He contained himself some years without undertaking any thing making his Residence at the Castle of Disparg on the other side of the Rhine but being informed by his Spies that there were no Garrisons in the Towns of Belgica Secunda he went thither in great diligence with his People and keeping his March private by the Forest Charbonniere which is Haynault made himself Master of Bavay and Cambray and some other adjacent places The English Saxons subdue Great Britain They had been called in by the natural Inhabitants who being forsaken by the Romans had set up Kings of their own Nation and those Kings did not find themselves strong enough to oppose the Picts and the Scots which were People inhabiting the Mountainous Countreys now called Scotland The English gave the name of England to their Conquest and set up seven Principalities of little Kingdoms which in the end were Vnited into one The Britains or Inhabitants of Great Britain being tormented with these Barbarians got together in great numbers and passed into Gallia Armorica It was then the Romans who suffered them to settle in the Countrey of Vennes and Cornualles and having in process of time extended themselves to the Bishoprick of Treguier and Leon and even to the Loire and the Confines of Anjou they gave the Name of Bretagne to that Province which it retains to this day Year of our Lord 133 The Burgundians a People of Germany or Scythia for there were of them both in the one and the other after they had remained a long time on the borders of the Rhine in Germania Prima obtained the Countrey adjoyning to Geneva of the Romans and there multiplied so much in a short time that they seized on the Province of Vienne on that of the Sequani and of the First Lyonnoise They had received the Christian Faith in Ann. 430. by the Preaching of St. Sever Bishop of Treves but some years after they fell into the Arian Heresie There were then Five several Dominations in Gaul the Romans the French the Visigoths the Burgundians and the Bretons Clodion pursuing his Conquests during the extream confusion of the affairs of the â—mpire received a great check by the valour of Aetius in the Countrey of Artois near to Vicus Helena perhaps it is Lens Nevertheless Aetius having Year of our Lord Towards 444. too much to do elsewhere did not wholly destroy him so that recovering Breath he made himself Master of Artois and enlarged his Dominion as far as the Soame having taken the City of Amiens which was his Royal Seat and of Meroveus also He likewise sent saith a Modern Author his eldest Son to besiege the City of Soissons where that Prince having lost his Life the Father was so touched that he died for Grief after he had Reigned Twenty years It was about the end of the year 447. having before constituted Meroveus Tutor to his Sons Year of our Lord 447 It is certain he left two and I find they were named Clodebaud and Clodomir Some of the Moderns give him Three whom they call Renaud Auberon and Ragnacaire and from Auberon they make Ansbert the Senator to be descended and from Male to Male Pepin First King of the Second Race But for Ansbert others have proved that he was issued of the Family of Tonnance Ferreole Prefect of the Gauls Pretorian Meroveus or Merovee King III. From whom the Kings of the First Race have taken the Name of Merovignians POPE LEO I. The 10th of May 440. S. 21 years 3. in the following Reign Year of our Lord 448 ACCording to most Authors who were nearest to these times he was not Son to Clodion but only of his Kindred It is said that his Mother bathing her self on the Sea-side a Sea-Bull came out of the Water and made her Pregnant with this Prince This Fable seems to be grounded upon the Name because Mer-veich signifies a Sea-Calfe Now whether he were only Tutor to Clodions Children or otherwise the French Elected him for their King or General Commander This was in the City of Amiens The Children of Clodion having been deprived of the paternal Succession their Mother carried them beyond the Rhine where it seems they disputed amongst themselves about that part of their Succession but in time that came likewise to Meroveus we know not how After Attilla King of the Huns who caused himself to be named the Scourge of GOD had pillaged all the Provinces of the Empire in the East and had killed his Brother Bleda to invade his Kingdom he would likewise needs plunder those of the West He crossed the Panonias and Germany entred into Gaule with 500000 Combatants under pretence of going to attaque the Visigoths in Aquitain and after he had sacked and burnt Mets Triers Tongres Arras and all those Cities that lay in his March he passed along by Paris and came and besieged Orleans The Town had already capitulated and part of his Forces were entred when Aetius General of the Romans Meroveus King of the French and Theodoric King of the Visigoths having joyned their Armies together charged them unawares and drove them thence paving all the Streets with their slain Year of our Lord 448 A little while afterwards they gave him Battle in Campis Catalaunicis which is interpreted the Plain of Chaalons in Champagne but some imagine with probability that it
the Daughter of Theodoric was yet in his insancy The Fame of Clovis his Valour spread even to the East The Emperour Anastasius thereby to engage him the closer to the Empire sent him Consulary Honorary Letters and the Imperial Ornaments viz. The Purple Robe the Mantle and the Diadem Clovis having put them on in St. Martins Church Mounted on Horseback in the Portall and bestowed a Largess on the People after that day he was ever Treated with the Title of Consul and August which were not altogether useless to him towards the bringing the Gauls to better Obedience by those Titles for which they had still some reverence Theodoric King of the Ostrogoths jealous of his success takes in hand the Defence Year of our Lord 508 and 509. of his Grand-Son and sends a great Army on this side the Mountains made up of Goths and of Gepide and Commanded in Chief by the Count Ibba The French held then the City of Carcassonne besieged and the Burgundians that of Arles the first quitted their Siege and joyned the others at Arles to hinder him from passing the Rhosne There hapned many Combats and at last a bloody Battle the Count gained it having killed 30000 French and Burgundians and afterwards wrested from them all Year of our Lord 510 they had conquer'd in Provence and in Languedoc excepting Thoulouse and Vzez After this advantage Theoderic remained King of the Visigoths and having taken away the Crown and Life of Gesilac joyned what they held in Gaul and in Spain to his Kingdom of Italy till his Grandson Amalaric should be come of age Clovis fretted at these losses distemper'd with a long Fever and having the Spirit Year of our Lord 510 and 511. of a Conqueror that is to say Unjust and Sanguinary lays snares for the other petty Kings of the French who were his Kindred and rids himself of them by methods full of Cruelty and Treachery He incited Chloderic Son of Sigebâ—rt King of Colen to kill his Father and caused him afterwards to be Massacred by his own Domestiques He compelled Cararic and his Son we know not in what Countrey they Reigned perhaps it was at Triers or Arras to enter into Holy Orders and being informed that the Son expressed some threatnings he sent and caused the Throats of both to be cut He cleft in two the Heads of Ragnacaire King of Cambray and Riquier his Brother with a Battle-axe they being both delivered into his hands by their own Subjects and his Satellites assassinated Rignomer King of Mans in his own City He dyes himself at Paris the 26 th of November in the year 511. and is interred Year of our Lord 511 in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul which he Built and where St. Genewiefue had been buried the same year his Reign was 30 years and his Age 45. Some have made him parallel with Constantine the Great and find great resemblance betwixt them both for Good and Evil. He had four Sons living Thierry Clodomir Childebert and Clotaire the first by a Concubine the other three by Clotilda and by the same also a Daughter named Clota or Clotilda who Sixteen years afterwards married Amalaric Ring of the Visigoths in Spain Under his Reign the French wholly freed themselves from the Roman Empire and became their Allies on equal terms till then as I believe they had been stipendaries or tributary to them That part of Gall which reaches from the Rhine to the Loire was called France The French measured those Lands and took the third or fourth part which they shared amongst themselves There were but two sorts of People or Conditions amongst them the Free-men and the Slaves all the Free-men bore Arms. Gall which was almost a Desert began to be re-peopled and to rebuild their Towns The Galls paid a Tribute to the French but the natural French paid hardly any thing but their personal Service These lived according to the Salique Law the Galls Conformed to the Roman Institutions These were called Romans all the other Nations which flocked thither from beyond the limits of the Empire were named Barbarians They were bred to the exercise of War from their greenest years of a good shape and stature enured to Labour strong and so nimble that they were upon the Enemy almost as soon as the Dart they had thrown against them They had left off the use of Arrows and employ'd in their stead for offensive weapons the Sword the Angon which was a Dart of moderate length having an Iron bearded Head and cheeks of Iron and the two-edged Axe which they called Francisque This might be darted as well as the Angon but neerer at hand For defensive Aâ—ms unless it were their Commanders they had only the Buckler which they managed very dextrously to shelter and Tortoise-like cover themselves when they went to make a Charge or an Assault Their whole Armies were Infantry or if there were some few Horse they served only to attend the General and carry his Orders They retained a good part of the establishment made by the Romans as the manner of raising Imposts but much lesser of providing Magazines for the subsistance of their Forces of maintaing Horses and Carriages for Travellers on the great Roads of publick Sports Horse-racing and combats of wild Beasts and their Kings believed themselves as absolute as Emperours created Dukes Counts and great Masters of their Militia nay even Patricians and perhaps the Mayers of the Palace held the Office of Praefecti Praetorii In the Fifth and Sixth age the Gallican Church received few into the Church for Bishops but Saints or such as they made so They were for the most part the greatest Lords of the Countrey who to secure themselves from the suspicions and Year of our Lord 400. unto 500. or thereabouts jealousies the Visigoths and French might have against them cast themselves into the Church as a safe Harbor or Asylum They reckon amongst the most Holy Honorat d'Arles being of the Monastery of the Isle of Lerins which bears his Name to this day Hilary his Successor and Eueheres of Lyons coming from the same place German d'Auxerre and Loup de Troyes Palladius or Palais de Bourges Brice de Tours Agnan d'Orleans Simplicius de Vienne and Mamertus his Successor This was he who instituted or rather revived those Processions or Litanies we call Rogations which all the Church hath received All these did not survive the one half of this Age unless Loup or Lupus who lived a long while after In the Second lived Apollinaris-Sidonius of Clermont Alcimus Avitus the Successor to Mamert Eleutherius of Tournay Remy de Reims the true Apostle of the French and Vaast of Arras these three survived a long time after Clovis We should not omit the illustrious Virgin Geneviefve who even in her life time was the Patroness of Paris and remaineth so still nor St. Maximin or Mesmin Abbot of Micy near Orleans which Place now bears his Name
but very vain Nuns Berte was Married to Ethelbert King of Canterbury in England and the most potent of all the English Kings She was bestowed upon him on condition she should have the free Exercise of the Christian Religion and to this end she took a Bishop along with her She was a very Beautiful and yet a more virtuous Princess who wrought upon the mind of her Husband to embrace Christianity and who insinuated Civility and Politeness amongst the English who were very barbarous till then Chilperic King IX GONTRAN in Neustria and Burgundy at Chaalons SIGEBERT in Austrasia at Mets. CHILPERIC in Neustria at Paris CHerebert's three Brothers immediately re-divided the Kingdom amongst Year of our Lord 570 them and even the City of Paris and put in this Condition which they confirmed by Oath upon the Relicks or at the shrine of some Martyr That neither of the Three should go in thither without the consent of the other two and he that should offer it was to forfeit his share in that City and in the Kingdom that was Chereberts Chilperic notwithstanding his solemn Oaths soon joyned again with his Fredegonde Year of our Lord 571 and that he might have liberty to Marry her he caused Gelasuinta to be strangled in her Bed His Brothers conceived a horror for this Crime and made War upon him Sigebert more hotly then the other being incited by his Wife Brunehaud to whom he was forced to give up for reparation of this Murther the Countreys of Bourdelois Lymosin Quercy Bearn and Bigorre which he had given to his Sister for a Marriage Portion and which he had seized on afterwards The Avarois broke the Treaty and made a Second irruption into Turingia Sigebert presenting himself to give them Battle upon the nick of the On-sett instead of Weapons they made use of Diabolical Enchantments and caused hideous Fantasmes or Spirits to appear most dreadful to the French mens Sight perhaps they had ugly Vizards on or had blacked their Faces Whatever it were it dismaied them so much that it put them to the rout and drove them into a corner where they hemmed them in on all sides Sigebert could not get out from this extremity but by the power of Money and by furnishing them with Provisions which they had great need of Going from hence he made War against Gontran to get from him the City of Arles Year of our Lord 573 and joyn it with those of Aix Avignon and Marseilles which he held in Provence Firmin Count d'Auvergne and Audover drawing near with some Forces the Burghers easily surrendred to them and then drove them out again with more ease For as soon as Celse the Patrician of Arles appeared on the behalf of Gontran they perswaded them to go forth and Fight him assuring them that whether Victors or Vanquished they would receive them again into the Town but when Celse had repulsed them and they desired to be let in they kept the Gates fast shut against them Thus their Men were all cut off or drowned in the Rhosne and they made prisoners Sigebert having Year of our Lord 574 missed his Design agreed the more easily with Gontran Anno 574. Alboinus King of the Lombards was poisoned by Rosamond his Second Wife cruelly enraged for that he had constrained her at a Feast to drink out of the Skull of Cunimond King of the Gepides her Father Clepbus having succeeded him and a while after he being also assassinated by one of his own People the Lombards would have no more Kings and committed the Government to Thirty Dukes each of them having a City Three of the most potent undertook to Conquer upon the score of conveniency that part of Gaui which lies between the Alpes and the Rhosne and entred upon it with three several Bodies of Soldiers But the Patrician Mummole beat them in several Rencounters and drove them out all three Upon the dividing the Kingdom of Cherebert Touraine and Poiton fell to Sigebert Chilperic burned with a desire to accommodate himself therewith at what price soever Year of our Lord 574. and the following This unjust desire caused a cruel War the desolation of many Provinces and in fine the death of Sigebert King Gontran their Elder endeavoured all he possibly could to prevent them and when he could not he sometimes went along with the strongest After two or three Ruptures and two or three Agreements Chilperic who would not let fall his design allured Gontran to his Party took up Arms again and fell into Champagne whilst on the other side his Son Theodebert entred into Poiton Sigebert hearing of it took a positive Resolution to pursue him to the death Having therefore drawn together all those fierce People from beyond the Rhine he penetrated without opposition even to the Banks of the Seine At the same instant he sent Gontran-Boson and Gondesigilus to Poitou to drive out Theodebert thence That young Prince being forsaken by his Men would nevertheless Fight but he was Taken Slain and Stript by Order of Gontran-Boson who afterwards being afraid of Chilperic's wrath took Sanctuary in St. Martins at Tours Year of our Lord 575 With the lamentable news of the death of his Son Chilperic received notice likewise of the agreement between Gontran and Sigebert The same hour overwhelmed with grief and astonishment he went from Rouen whither he had retired himself and shut himself up together with his Wife and Children in Tournay Every thing surrendred to Sigebert Paris opened her Gates to him and his Wife Brunehaud animated by revenge came presently thither with her Children to establish her Throne and push forward her Husbands resentment against Chilperic For this purpose he dispatches away a part of his Army which besieged him in Tournay and he with the other Body encamped at Vitry where he took the Oaths of the Neustrian Lords who having abjured his Brother acknowledged him for their King and lifted him up on their Target or Shield or set him on the Throne Nothing was left for Chilperic but the determinate Courage of Ferdegonde this was enough to save him She by her flattery and caresses knew so well how to Enchant a couple of Citizens of Terouenne Men robust and bruitish that they coming to Sigebert under pretence of entertaining him with some affair of great consequence did stab him in his Tent where they were soon cut in pieces by his Soldiers as she wished Sigebert was very near the 44 th year of his age and about the end of the 14 th of his Reign He had a Son but four years and eight Months old named Childebert and two Daughters Ingond and Clodosuinde the first was Married to Hermenigildus the Son of Leuvigildus King of the Visigoths the Second betrothed only to Recaredus elder Brother to Hermenigildus His Body was interred in St. Mards at Soissons near his Father by whose Order he had finished that Church GONTRAN King of Burgundy at Soissons CHILPERIC King
Marseilles From thence he turned upon the Saxons beyond the Rhine and brought them so low that they did not afterwards make any attempt for divers years As Martel was an Usurper every Governour thought he had reason enough to disobey Year of our Lord 737 and 38. him and acted like Soveraigns Maurontus Governour of Marseilles that he might make himself Independent craved the assistance of the Saracens and delivered the City of Avignon up to them whence they spread themselves over Dauphine Lyonnois and if credible even as far as Sens with a horrible desolation of all those Countreys The Barbarians did not hold Avignon long Charles sent thither his Brother Childebrand who having made them quit the Field besieged them in that City Soon after he came thither himself with the gross of his Army gave an Assault by Scalado and forced them part of the City was burnt and all the Infidels that were within it put to the Sword This done he crosses over Septimania and goes to besiege Narbonne resolved to have it what ever it cost thereby to shut up that passage into Gall. Athim Governour of the City and perhaps of all that Countrey for the Saracens was gotten into the Town Those in Spain informed of the danger the place was in made great Levies of Soldiers and put them aboard some Vessels to relieve it There is a Lake between Narbonne and Ville-Salse at whose Mouth the little River of Bere discharges it self into the Sea it is called the Lake Oliviere there it was their Boats came into Land those Forces they had brought Amoroz Governor of Terragonne was their General Martel leaving his Brother with part of the Army to maintain the Siege went thither to them and gave them Battle nigh Sigeac It was very obstinate but in the conclusion Amoroz was overthrown upon huge heaps of his slain Men and most of the rest that fled into their Boats Drowned or put to the Sword Athim's courage increased by this ill success and he defended himself so bravely that Charles left him there and turning his Forces towards more easy Conquests made himself master of Besiers Agde Maguelonna and of Nismes all which he dismantled Year of our Lord 738 About the year 738. hapned the death of Thierry of Chelles about the 23 year of his age and the 17th of his imaginary Reign Now Charles Martel having perhaps the design of taking up the Title of King as he had the Authority put no other in his stead nor his Sons neither till a year after his death so that there hapned an Interregnum of Five years Interregnum Charles Martel Maire and Duc of the French A Second time Maurontus calls the Saracens into Provence Jusep Governour Year of our Lord 739 of Narbonne Besieged and Took the Town of Arles and from thence ove-ran and ransacked all Provence Charles summons Luitprand King of the Lombards to joyn with him against this Enemy Luitprand who did not desire to have them so near Italy and who besides was a friend to Martel presently marches to joyn him the Infidels dare not stay for them but retreat to Narbonne without striking a blow Maurontus likewise forsakes Marseilles and retires amongst the Rocks so that Provence remained peaceably in the hands of the French Year of our Lord 738 The power of the Saracens which threatned to overwhelm all Christendom being as it were upon its ebb the Spanish Princes recovered themselves by little and little again especially with the assistance of the French and yet nevertheless they were above Seven hundred years in regaining what they lost in three years time This year Charles Martel sent them a considerable assistance which helped them more then a little towards the setling their affairs In Spain they called the Saracens Moors because indeed they were come from Mauritania which they had conquer'd and because most of their Forces were composed of Men from that Countrey The dispute about the worship of Images caused a pernicious and bloody Schisme in the Church The Emperour Leon upon the reproaches the Saracens and Mahometans had made him that it was Idolatry to adore Stone and Wood would needs pull chem out of the Churches the Popes at the same time contending to keep them there Gregory II. stood up stoutly in this Cause the Dispute went so far that An. 726. not looking upon Leon as his Sovereign he wrote him Letters that were very haughty and full of new Maxims stop'd the Moneys he was raising in Italy and turned the People from that Obedience they owed to him Gregory III. his Successor went yet farther and Excommunicated him On the other hand the Emperour turned every stone to revenge it but all his endeavours proved fruitless and a shame to himself in the end Whilst affairs were in such a condition that the Pope could hope for no assistance of the Emperour in his occasions it hapned that he offended Luitprand King of the Lombards by giving Retreat to Trasimond Duke of Spoleta and making League with Godescal who had invaded the Dutchy of Beneuent That King pressing upon him with his Army and having seized some Towns within the Dutchy of Rome he had recourse to the protection of Martel and wrote two or three very moving Letters to him in Year of our Lord 740 the Titles whereof he called him his most excellent Son and gave him the Title of Year of our Lord 741 Sub-King or Vice-Roy Charles was a little hard to be moved the Letters having operated no great matter Year of our Lord 741 he sent him a most remarkable Embassy which carried as a Present the Keys of the Sepulchre of St. Peter and the Bonds wherewith that Apostle had been tied and after that came another which bestowed and conferred upon him the Sovereignty of Rome and the Title of Patrician He was not now any more in a condition for great enterprizes a troublesome and lingring distemper which undermined him by little and little forwarned him to think of his Death and the settlement of his Family He had three Children Legitimate Carloman Pepin called the Breif and Griffon the two first by Cbrotrude and the other by Sonichilde and besides these three Bastards Remy or Remede Hierosme and Bernard Remy was Bishop of Rouen Hierosme and Bernard Married The First had a Son named Fulrad Abbot of St. Quintins which he built The Second had three Sons and two Daughters the two eldest Sons were Adelard and Vala both Counts at Court then successively Abbots of Corbie and the Third named Bernier was likewise a Monk The two Daughters Gondrade and Theodrade vowed themselves to God in a Religious Life the first in her Virgin State the other in her Widdow-hood Now Prince Charles dividing the Estate between his three Legitimate Children as if he had been the lawful Sovereign gave to Carloman who was the eldest Austrasia Souaube and Turingia Bavaria had its Dukes Frista and Saxony were Revolted to Pepin Neustria Burgundy Septimania
and Provence and to Griffon a Portion betwixt his two Brothers made up of some parcels of the three Kingdoms The Son of the Duke Eudes held Aquitania Prima Secunda and the Duke of the Year of our Lord 741 Gascons the other Shortly after on the 20th of October he ended his Life in the Castle of Carissy upon the Oyse within three Leagues of Noyon He had ruled about three years in Austrasia and 28 in this Kingdom and in Neustria The Martial Courage and Spirit which inclined him to have always his Sword in hand to smite his Enemies acquired him the name of Martel in History and an immortal Fame But the Ecclesiasticks whom he had rudely handled fullied his Memory and would not forgive him in the other World For they affirmed according to a Revelation of St. Eucher Bishop of Orleans that he burned both Body and Soul in Eternal Flames and that his Tomb having been opened there was nothing to be found in it but a huge Serpent and a stinking Blackness the marks of the ill condition of his State or Salvation CARLOMAN in Austrasia and PEPIN in Neustria Burgundy Dukes and Princes of the French HOw little soever the share was which Griffon had his two Brothers could not endure it they Besieged him in the City of Laon shut him up in Chasteauneuf in Ardenna and having seized on his Mother Soxichilde allotted him the Abby of Chelles for his Subsistence and his Prison At the same time Theodebald Son of Grimoald whom Martel had left in Peace after he had strip'd him was taken out of the World perhaps because he had some intrigues with Sonichilde All those People whom Martel had brought to their Duty by the power of the Sword imagined that after his death it would be easie for them to cast off the yoak Particularly Thibaud Son of Godefroy Duke of the Almans and Hunoud Duke of Aquitain This last being the most dangerous the two Brothers joyned their Force against him They handled him so roughly having driven him beyond Poitiers and forced the Castle of Loches that he desired a Peace the conditions are not specified Before the two Brothers left Aquitain they shared the Kingdom betwixt them or rather what they had taken from Hunoud which they did at the place called The Old Poitiers between the Clain and the Vienne near Chastellerand Besides these two Expeditions the year was remarkable for the Birth of Charles Year of our Lord 742 called the Great or Charlemain the Son of Pepin and Berte his Wife who was born into the World in the Palace of Ingelheim upon the Rhine this year 742. The same year Carloman passed the Rhine marched into the Almans Countrey Year of our Lord 742 as far as the River Lee which separates them from the Bavarians and brought them so low that their Duke Thibaud Son of Godefroy gave him up Hostages for pledge of his Faith and the tribute he was to have from him It seems to have been in this year or at least the next that the two Brothers bethought Year of our Lord 743 themselves of filling the Royal Throne in appearance which had been vacant five years and putting Childeric in it who was surnamed the Witless or Senseless as being either really such or so represented to the People Some make him to be the Brother of Thierry de Chelles others of Clotaire III. and if so he must have been at least â—7 or 18 years of age but many think him the Son of Thierry and then he could be but 10 or 12 at most Childeric III. called the WITLESS King XXI Aged Eighteen years POPE Zachary Elect in Dec. 741. S. Ten years Three Months whereof above Nine Months in this Reign CARLOMAN in Austrasia and PEPIN in Neustria Dukes and Princes of the French Year of our Lord 743 THose Princes that had Revolted in the time of Martel obeying his Children but unwillingly made a powerful League to break and throw off the Bonds of their subjection Odillon Duke of Bavaria was the Head instigated no doubt by his Wife Chiltrude Daughter of Martel and Sonichilde who two years before having stollen away from her Brothers went into that Countrey and was Married to him The Saxons and Almans assisted him with Men and at the same time while the two Brothers were on their way thither Hunoud Duke of Aquitain falls upon Neustria and descends as far as Chartres which he forced and buried almost under its own Ruines Odillon was encamped with his Army on the brink of the River Lecq which he had Palisadoed with strong Timbers The two Brothers having staid Fifteen days right over against him without attempting to pass one fair night a kind of impatient Spirit prompting the French they forced their way over with the loss of many of their Men who were drowned and brought a terror to his whole Camp All his Men betook themselves to flight and left their Baggage and the two Brothers their full and free liberty to range over the whole Countrey of Bavaria for two Months together Year of our Lord 741 From thence Carloman marched against the Saxons gained the Castle of Hochsburgh upon Composition and Theoderic Duke of that Countrey who solemnly gave his Faith to him and yet he nevertheless broke it again presently and obliged Carloman to return thither the very next year to the very great damage of his Countrey But it was not till after the two Brothers having ravaged Aquitain had constrained Hunoud to crave their pardon the third time and redeem his fault with the price of many great Presents made to them Year of our Lord 745 He had the courage of a Woman quarrelsome and weak and consequently suspicious and cruel His Brother Hatton being come to see him upon the security of his Word he put him to death and a short while afterwards either upon some Motions of Repentance or lightness and giddiness of Brain he made himself a Monk in a Monastery in the Isle of Rhe having left his Dutchy to his Son Gaifre about the age of 18 or 20 years Prince Carloman after he had struck his last blow against the Almans whose pride Year of our Lord 746 he had abated by the blood of a great many of the most mutinous which was in the year 746. resolved likewise to quit the World either by a powerful and efficacious inspiration of God or the terror of those most dismal Stories they spread of his Fathers Damnation The Fifth year of his Principality having given up his Estate and his Son Drogon or Dreux into the hands of Pepin he went to pay his Devotions at St. Peters in Rome from thence he went to take the Habit of St. Bennet at Mount Soraâ—ie or Mount St. Sil and some while after because he was too much importuned by Visiters he retired to Mount Cassin Pepin allowed no share of his Dominion to his Nephew Dreux nor his Brothers other Children but the same year
and perhaps at his request he set their youngest Year of our Lord 747 Brother Griffon at liberty Treated him Honourably in his Court and gave him some Counties for his allowance The ambition of this young Prince not being tamed by a Prison could Year of our Lord 748 not be so by kindness he made his escape and went and stirred up the Saxons in his quarrel Pepin followed him close the Sorabe Sclavonians who were divided from the Turingians by the River of Sal the Abrodites and other Sclavonians who were spread all along the Frontiers of France brought him 10000 Fighting Men. Insomuch as the Saxons Nordsqaues overwhelmed with his numbers submitted to his pleasure and received Baptisme Griffon with the other Saxons was Encamped and Intrenched on the other side of the River Ovacre fear seized upon them they deserted their Post in the night time and their Countrey remained exposed to the mercy of the French so that not finding himself any longer in safety there he leaves them to make their Peace and retired to Bavaria where he seized on that Dutchy usurping it from the young Tasillon aged but 6 or 7 years who was the Son of his Sister Chiltrude and Odillon This Countrey no more then that of Saxony could not protect him from the pursuit of Pepin who joyning Gold and his Favours with his Sword and Threats soon unhinged his Party The Bavarois made their agreement Landfroy Duke of the Almans and Suidgard Earl of Hirsberg did the same and he finding himself alone was compelled to follow their Dance and come to his Brother He receiv'd him most kindly and assigned him the City of Mans and Twelve Counties in Neustria but the very self same year he made a third escape and cast himself into the Arms of Year of our Lord 749 Gaifre Duke of Aquitain Pepin having gained the better over all his enemies had no more left him to do Year of our Lord 750 but to sit down in the Throne a thing his Father durst not undertake He saw all the power in his own hands with the Treasures of the Kingdom and the Affections of the French and there was no other Prince of the Merovignian Race remaining but one young stupid and witless Man He therefore assembled a Parliament which being wholly Devoted to him were very willing to confer the Title of King on him but he was glad that he might be disengaged from his Oath of Fidelity to consult with the Pope who had great authority over the Galican Church and whose Answers passed for Oracles though not for Laws He who sate then in the Holy Chair was Zachary a most intimate friend of Pepins who wanted his assistance against the Lombards and who could well apprehend that what was desired of him was a most favourable prejudgment for the Popes Year of our Lord 750 against the Emperours Besides it seemed reasonable and just that France after so many Idols and Shadows should now have a King in reality and therefore he could not but answer favourably to the point that Pepin propounded and consulted him about and his Reply was certainly of great weight It is in this sence according to my opinion that we must understand some Authors of those times who tells us that Boniface set him upon the Throne by the Command of Zachary Otherwise we should say the French did not truly understand their own Right and that this Pope attributed to himself what did not belong to him Upon this Answer the French having called another Parliament at Soissons degraded Year of our Lord 751 Childeric and elected Pepin There is some likelyhood that this was done in the general Assembly which was held in the month of March The Bishops were there in great numbers Boniface Arch-Bishop of Ments being in the head of them who declared to them the validity of the Popes Answer and indeed this King and his Successors as if they had some obligation to the Clergy for their Royalty gave them a great share in the Government By the same Decree Childeric was shaved and made a Monk at Sitieu There are some affirm that from thence he was removed to the Monastery of St. Himeran at Ratisbonne and his Wife being vailed to that of Conchiliac But others believe he was not Married though he were of an age ripe enough for it Thus endeth the First Race of the Kings of France who if we reckon from the year 418. to the year 751. had Reigned 333 years and had 21 Kings only accounting those of Paris but Thirty six if we take in all those that had the Title as well in Austrasia where there was but one that resided at Mets as in Neustria while sometimes three of them at the same time had their Seats at Orleans at Soissons and at Paris The first Four of these Kings were Idolaters and all the rest Christians But their Baptisme did not quite purge away their Barbarity they were Savage and Bloody till Clotaire II. Those that followed were more Benigne Merciful and Religious excepting Childeric II. But all being either shallow-Brain'd or Minors they fell necessarily under the Government of others End of the First Race The Second Race OF KINGS Which have Reigned in FRANCE And are Named CARLIANS OR Carolovinians THIS Second Race is commonly called the Carlian or Carolovinian Race We know not whether it took that denomination from Charles Martel or Charles the Great After it had been raised to a great height by the Vertue of its Five first Princes to wit the two Pepins Charles Martel Charlemain and Lewis the Godly and had extended their Empire much beyond the Bounds of the First It began to decline under the Children of that Lewis and in the end was reduced to so narrow a compass all the Lords having made themselves Masters in their Governments that their last Kings had nothing left which was properly their own but the Cities of Laon and that of Reims It is observed That they had much resemblance with the First Race in that they had a very fair beginning and an unhappy end That Charles of Lorraine their last Male was deprived of the Crown as Childeric had been and that they had several stupid and senceless Princes amongst them But this held one Advantage above the other That they Reign to this day in all Europe by the Males in the House of France and by the Women in that of the other greatest Princes Insomuch that the Carlovinian Blood is held for the most Noble in all the Earth whereas there is not any remaining of that of Meroveus PEPIN named the Breif OR The Little King XXII Aged XXXVI or XXXVIII Years POPES ZACHARY One Year during this Reign STEPHANUS II. in 752. S. 2. Years 3. days STEPHANUS III. The same Year S. 5. Years 20 Days PAUL I. Elect in May 717. S. Ten Years one Month. CONSTANTINE and PHILIP False Popes in 767. STEPHANUS IV. In August 768. S. 3. Years 5 Months
some other Barbarians In the time of the Emperour Justin they were even then so potent that they over-awed the Avari and other Neighbouring people The Emperour Heraclius made use of them against Cosroes and they made a mighty diversion being entred into Persia a great part whereof paid them Tribute divers Years afterwards But in the Year 763. they fell upon Armenia and so spread themselves very far into Asia where they subdued even the Kingdom of Persia An. 1048. Nevertheless they had no Soveraign nor Chief General but only many Colonels till the first Croisado of the Christians in 1196. at which time they made choice of one to be the better united for their own defence and preservation CHARLES I. CALLED The Great OR CHARLEMAINE King XXIII Aged XXIX Or XXX Years POPES STEPHANUS III. S. Three Tears and Three Months ADRIAN I. Elected in Feb. 772. S. neer 24. Years LEO III. Elected in Decem. 795. S. Twenty Years Five Months of which Eighteen under this Reign Charles in Neustria and Burgundy Aged 29. or 30. Years Carloman in Austria Aged 22 Years Year of our Lord 769 DUring the Discord between the Two Brothers which lasted some Months Old Hunoud the Father of Gaifre who had put himself into a Monastery throwes down his holy Frock to take up the Title of Duke of Aquitaine and endeavoured to make that Province Revolt by the assistance of his Friends and a League he made with Loup Duke of Gascongny Charles to whose share this Province fell intreated his Brother to help him in quenching this Flame of Rebellion Carloman joyns Forces with him but in the mid-way either of himself or by the suggestions of some busy-bodies he conceives a Jealousie against his Eldest Brother and leaves him there Charles however continues on his March Year of our Lord 770 Upon the noise of his approach Hunoud flies and goes to hide himself in the farthest parts of Gascongny where he thought to find an Asylum But there is none against too great a Power The Duke of Gascongny fearing the Threatnings of Charles proved no more a Faithful Ally then he had been a Faithful Vassal but comes to meet Charles submits intirely to him and delivers up that Unfortunate Man to his disposal who notwithstanding a short while after having made his Escape got into Sanctuary at Didiers King of the Lombards Thus ended the Dutchy of Aquitaine which about Eleven years afterwards was Erected to a Kingdom by Charlemaine for Lewis the youngest of his Sons In this Expedition he built Franciac which is to say the Castle of the French upon the River Dordogne It is now called Fronsac Pepin in his Life-time had married his two Sons it is not mentioned to whom perhaps they were only betroathed but if they were compleatly married we must say they afterwards were divorced for their Mother obliged them to take other Wives Carloman espoused Berthe or Bertrade whom the old Annals make to be the Daughter of Didier King of the Lombards Charles likewise was married to Hildegard another of that King's Daughters notwithstanding the great opposition the Pope made even so far as to represent to him how the Lombards stunk and were infected with the Leprosie Carloman his Brother was of an odd humorous spirit which gave him a great deal of trouble But death happily delivered him in the Month of November of this Year 770. having cut the thrid of his Life in the Palace of Montsugeon nigh Year of our Lord 770 Langres at the beginning of the Third year of his Reign and the 28th of his Age. His Brother caused his Corps to be conveyed to the Abbey of St. Remy of Reims which he had greatly endowed He had one Wife named Berthe and two Sons While Charles held a General Assembly at Carbonnac most part of the Lords and Austrasian Prelats came thither to acknowledg him for their King They might do so and it must be granted that if he had not had that right he had been an Usurper The Widow of Carloman apprehending they might proceed further Year of our Lord 771 took her Children and went her way to Tassillon Duke of Bavaria Some Spanish Chroniclers to whom I know not what faith we are to give have written that besides Gaifre and Hatton Eudes Duke of Aquitaine had a Son named Aznar who considering the misfortune of his Brother passed the Hebre and having in Battle slain four petty Kings or Saracen Generals became the First Earl of Arragon It was at that time but a small Territory between two Rivers of that name whereof the City of Jacque was the Capital Charlemaine alone in all the Kingdom ONe cannot hear the Name of this Prince without conceiving some great Idea He was of a tall and becoming stature seven foot in height well shap'd in all his Limbs unless his Neck which was somewhat too thick and short and his Belly strutting out a little too much His gate was grave and firm his voice of the shrillest His Eyes were large and sparkling his Nose high and long his Countenance Gay and Serene his Complexion fresh and lively nothing of effeminate in his gesture and carriage his humour sweet facile and jovial his conversation easy and familiar He was humane courteous and liberal active vigilant laborious and very sober although fasting were prejudicial to him an enemy to Flatterers and vanity who hated huffing and new modes that were strange cloathing himself very modestly unless it were on some publique Ceremonies where the Majesty of the Kingdom ought to appear in their Soveraign At his Meals he made some read to him the History of the Kings his Predecessors or some Works of St. Augustine's took two or three hours repose after Dinner interrupted his sleep in the Night rising three or four times heard all Complaints did Justice at all Seasons even at his time of dressing himself The Spring and Summer time he spent in War part of Autumn in Hunting the Winter in Counsels and the Management of his Government Some certain hours both of the day and night in the Study of Learning as Grammer Astronomy and Theology And in truth he was one of the most Learned and most Eloquent of that Age the Works he left behind him to posterity are undeniable proofs of it With all this clement merciful charitable who maintained the Poor even in Syria Egypt and in Africa who employ'd his Treasure in rewarding Soldiers and Schollars in building publique Structures Churches and Palaces repairing of Bridges Cause-ways and great Roads making Rivers Navigable silling Sea-Ports with good Vessels civilizing Barbarous Nations and carrying the Honour of the French Nation with much Credit and Lustre into the remotest Kingdoms And who above all other things had the greatest care to regulate his People with good and wholesome Laws and bent all his Actions and Endeavours to the Welfare of his Subjects and the advancement of the Christian Religion Amongst the rest he had four very Potent Enemies to
deal with the Saxons the Huns the Lombards and the Saracens The Saxons a most Warlike and as yet Idolatrous Nation compounded of several People and such as had been invincible had they acted by a mutual agreement and consent gave him work and exercise enough for above Thirty Years during which time he made divers Expeditions against them always with advantage He never denyed them Peace and they broke again as soon as he was out of their sight But his Piety constant as their Malice was never wearied in forgiving them not so much out of a desire to allure them to his obedience as to bring them under the Yoak of Christ Jesus The highest part of his Care having no other end but the propagation of Religion He entred into Saxony therefore this Year and would try to terrify those Rebels by Fire and Sword but they were not afraid to bid him Battle somewhat neer Osnabrug Their Confidence was punished by a huge Slaughter of their men those that remained made their escape beyond the Veser He pursuing his Victory took in the Castle of Eresburgh demolished the Famous Temple of the false God Irmensul and broke his Idol It is supposed to have been the God Mars whence Mers-purg took it's name He afterwards pass'd the Veser compelled the Saxons to give him some Hostages and having rebuilt Fresburgh put a French Garrison into it Year of our Lord From the Year 767 to 771. King Didier not able or willing to give over the Design his Predecessors had formed to abate the Power of the Popes to make himself thereby Master of all Italy sowed a Schisme in the Church of Rome whereby to discompose and weaken them Pope Paul being dead Anno 767. Toton Duke of Nepet at his instigation enters into Rome and forced the Clergy to Elect his Brother Constantine who was not in Orders The following Year another Cabal Enemies to this Violence of Constantine's sets a Priest in the holy Chair named Philip But Crestofle Primicera this was the highest Dignity in the City next to the Prefect constrained both the one and the other to renounce the Popeship and caused Stephanus to be duly elected a Priest of St. Cecil's who was the fourth of that name Didier bethinks him of another method in the Year 770. he goes to Rome upon pretence of Devotion and by force of Presents gained Paul Afiarte Duke or Soveraign Judge in Rome to cause this Crestofle to be put to death and to banish or imprison for colourable reasons all such Roman Citizens as he knew to be most able and disposed to thwart his attempts Afiarte did according to his desire but Adrian who was chosen after Stephen stopt those unjust proceedings and not only eluded all the vain essays of the Lombard but was likewise the cause of his utter destruction After all other Experiments Didier employs Force seizes on several Cities of the Exarchat ravaged the Neighbourhood of Rome and the Year after to turmoil the Pope advances towards him upon pretence of Visiting the Sepulchre of the holy Apostles carrying along with him the Sons of the late King Carloman to oblige him to Crown them The Holy Father flatly refuses him and failed not to make use of this Motive to exasperate Charlemaine the more against the Lombards Year of our Lord 773 Betwixt these two Kings there were already some other causes of Enmity For in the Year 771. Charles had repudiated Hildegard the Sister of Didier saying she was infirm A pretence that did not please a great many good people particularly Adelard the King's Cousin who for this reason retired from the Court into a Monastery And Didier on his side had given a reception to Carloman's Widow and promised her his assistance and support to restore her Sons to the Inheritance or Kingdom of their Father These offences having inclined Charles's Mind to hearken to the Pope's Intreaties he was the more easily induced to pass over the Mountains but with so great and numerous Forces that it was evident it was not meant so much to assist him as to conquer Lombardy Having therefore Rendevouz'd his Army at Geneva he divided it in two Bodies his Uncle Bernard with one took his way by the Mount Jou and himself led the other by Mount Cenis Didier had fortified the Passages and in case they should be worsted himself was advanced with all his Forces neer Turin and in Year of our Lord 773 the Valley of Aost to observe and oppose the French even to the hazard of a Battle but some of their Army having stollen by him very silently and charging them in the Rear he was so much afraid of being hemm'd in that he cast himself into Pavia and Adalgise his Son whom he had made Partner of his Crown into Verona Those of Spoletta and Rietta had already forsaken him to joyn with the Pope When his Retreat was known all the Marca Anconitana and many other Cities followed their Example Charles with a part of his Army encamped before Pavia and sent the remainder before Verona And to demonstrate he did not intend to go thence till he had them in his power he ordered his new Wife Hildegard Daughter of Childebrand Duke of Suevia to come to his Camp and passed the Winter there even till Christmass at which time he goes to Verona to press that Siege forwards Adalgise apprehending to fall into his hands abandoned that City and fled to the Emperour of Greece The Veronese soon after yielded Year of our Lord 774 and gave up Carloman's Children and Widow they were carried into France what afterwards became of them is not mentioned that I know of Nothing remained but Pavia The Siege spinning out in length Charles had a desire to go and pay his Devotions at Rome at the good time of Easter The Pope made him a magnificent Entrance such as was accustomed to be made for the Exarchs He in return confirms all the Grants made by his Father and besides say some added that of Soveraign Justice and absolute Power in all those Countries So that to speak properly the Popes before this time held what they had from the French Kings from whom it must be owned they derive the best portion of their temporal Grandeur In length of time Pavia became so straightned not by any Attaques but by Famine and the people so ill disposed Hunoud the Fire-brand of this War having been knock'd on the head by the Women that Didier surrenders himself with his Wife and Children to Charles He was conveyed into France Cloister'd and Shaved and died soon after Thus was the Kingdom of Lombardy in Italy Extinguished after it had lasted some 204 Years Before his return into France Charles made a second Voyage to Rome where the Pope with 150 Bishops whom he had summoned to honour his Reception and likewise the Roman People conferred upon him the Title of Patrician which was the Degree the nearest to the Empire It belonged to the Emperours only
fit we observe that at the Coronations of Kings they forgot not their own Interests nor failed to make them promise solemnly to maintain the Rights of the Church But we do not find them always so careful and zealous for the good of the People and the Prerogative of the Nobility Of those that appeared with most Splendor some were such as were noted for Intrigues and Factions and of them were a great number Ebbon of Reims Agobard of Lyons and Bernard de Vienne active in the degrading of Louis the Debonnaire Ebroin of Poictiers for disposing Aquitain to surrender themselves into the hands of that Emperor who would bestow it upon Charles his beloved Son Thietgaud de Colen and Gontier de Ments touching the marriage of Valdrade And Hincmar of Reims for his resisting the Pope and intermedling with all affairs both of Church and State wherein he acted with as much heat as judgment during the Reign of Charles the Bald. The others were illustrious for their Learning as the same Agobard Theodulfe and Jonas his Successor Rabanus Maurus of St. Bennets Order and Arch-Bishop of Mentz Hincmar of Reims who had been Abbot of St. Denis and the other Hincmar his Nephew Remy de Lyons Adon de Vienne Hilduin Abbot of St. Denis Loup Abbot of Ferrieres in Gastinois Henry Monk of St. Germain d'Auxerre Valafride Strabon Abbot of Richenoue Florus Master of the Church of Lyons that is a Divine and John Scot or Scotus surnamed Erigena This last was a great Philosopher and for the Beauty and Delicacy of his wit highly cherished by Charles the Bald even to the lying in his Chamber But in Theology he passed for one of a raving Brain whose sentiments were not right and sound As for Hincmar de Reims we have his works whereof every one may judge The other Hincmar his nephew very zealons for the Popes authority collected their Decretal Letters and was the first that durst put down the names of some Ancient Popes who till that time had none but which Isâ—dore Mercator had already gathered together Other Canonists followed his error till at length the more judicious found they were but fictitious Adon de Vienne composed a Matyrology which is yet in being Hilduin wrote the life of St. Denis the Areopagite by command of Louis the Debonnaire from the Memoires of Methodius Patriarch of Constantinople who to flatter the French endeavour'd to have two things believed which the Criticks pretend to condemn of false-hood The one that this Saint Denis had been Bishop of Paris the other that those Writings which go under his name were his own We have the Epistles of Loup de Ferrieres which give a great light in the affairs of those times And the Monk Henry wrote the Life of Saint Germain de Auxerre in more Elegant Verse then the roughness of that Age could promise I shall observe en passant that Latin Poetry began to rouze its self under Charles the Bald and amongst other Poets that flatter'd him there was one that made a Piece containing three hundred Hexameters in praise of the Bald where every word began with the Letter C. Some for their good lives deserved to be placed in the Catalogue of Saints as Anscher taken out of the Order of St. Bennet by Louis the Debonnaire to be the first Arch-Bishop of Hamburgh Established by that Emperor and to Preach to the Danes and Swedes the same Rabanus whom we have mentioned Two Audrâ—'s one of Sens the other of Mans Ayos de Bourges Prudence de Troyes Hildeman de Beauvais Foulquin and Hunfroy de Teroüanne Amant de Rodez and Bernard de Vienne This last had Adon above-named for Successor both in his Sanctity and his See But he had very few in that good Christian Maxim so often in his Mouth and ever in his Soul That the Riches and Goods of the Church are the Patrimony of the Poor and that a Clergy-man hath no right to them but for his necessities Nor did he keep any more Domestique Servants but one Priest and one Lay-man Proclaiming to all Prelats by this noble example That he who is great in himself hath no need of other Equipage or Train of Servants to make him appear so LOUIS IV. Surnamed TRANSMARINE King XXXII Aged XIX or XX Years POPES LEO VII in 936. S. 3 years 6 Months STEPHEN IX Elect. in 939. S. 3 years 4 Months MARTIN II. Elect. 943. S. 3 years 6 Months and one half AGAPET II. Elect. 946. S. 9 years 7 Months Louis IV. surnam'd Transmarine in France Otho I. in Germany Rodolph II. in Burgundy Transjurane HUGH and Lotaire his Son in Italy Year of our Lord 936 OF all the French Lords Hugh le Blanc Earl of Paris and Orleans Duke of France and Brother in Law to the late King had the greatest Authority in the Kingdom He durst not however take the Crown because Hebert Earl of Vermandois and Giselbert Duke of Lorraine two very potent Enemies would have broke his Measures He found it therefore more safe to make a King of the Blood of Charlemaine who should be wholy obliged to him for his Crown To this purpose he dispatched a Famous Deputation of Prelats and Lords whereof William Arch-Bishop of Sens was the Chief into England to beseech Ogina the Widdow of Charles the Simple to bring back her Son Louis whom the French desired to own for their King She granted their request but not without great opposition of King Aldestan her Brother He apprehended his Nephew might be destroy'd by some treachery as his Father had been and therefore would not be satisfied with only their Oaths but took Hostages besides Hugh and the other Lords came to receive their King at his Landing at Bullogne tender'd their Hommage on the Strand and thence conducted him to Laon where he was Anointed by Arnold Arch-Bishop of Reims the 20 th day of June Year of our Lord 936 Immediately after his Coronation Hugh who still retained the Administration of the Kingdom carried him into the Dutchy of Burgundy for his own ends for there were some pretences but how grounded we do not well know And Hugh le Noir appropriated it to himself as Heir of the Deceased Rodolph his Brother who had it from Richard his Father on whom Boson had bestowed it when he was made King of Burgundy Le Noir or the Black had therefore Seized on the City of Langres after the Decease of King Rodolph but the new King and Hugh thrust him cut again without striking one blow and engaged him to yeild up one half of the Dutchy to Hugh le Blanc or the White An. 937. King Rodolph died having Reigned 25 years in Burgundy Transjurane and only five in the Kingdom of Arles He left three Children Conrade who Succeeded him but whom Otho Seized upon and detained fourteen years Burchard Bishop of Lausanne and Adeleis a most Illustrious Princess who by her first marriage was Wife to Lotaire King of
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
which came on obliged him to retire and Lotaire and Hugh Capet having drawn their Forces together cut off all his Reare-Guard at his passage over the River of Aisne which was overflown and pursued him fighting to the Ardennes The Almain Monks of those days as it is the Genius of men to pretend Miracles in great danger write that St. Udalric Bishop of Ausburgh who accompanted that Emperor in this War went over the River Aisne dry-fout leading the way before him and his whole Army who followed the over-following Stream miraculously growing hard and firm under them the River becoming a Bridge to it's self In this retreat the Earl of Anjou did let the Germans know that the quarrel being between the two Kings it would be better according to common right for them to decide it singly hand to hand then to spill the Blood of so many innocent people But the Germans reply'd that although they did not doubt the courage of their ☞ King nevertheless they would not consent that he should expose his person singly Confessing tacitely thereby that they did not think him so brave as the King of France Year of our Lord 978 Otho thus roughly handled sought an accommodation with the French Lotaire and he conferring together in the City of Reims concluded a Peace upon condition that Lotaire should yeild him Lorrain to be held in Feif of the Crown of France say our Authors for which the French Lords shewed a great deal of discontent Year of our Lord 978 Thus the Soveraignty of that Kingdom remained in Lotaire the Dutchy of the Lower Lorrain which two years before had been bestowed upon Charles his Brother by Otho reverted to his disposal but as he must give some part to Charles he agreed he should enjoy that also Which was consented to at an enter-view between that King and Otho upon the River of Kar the German Prince having desired that conference before he undertook this expedition into Italy against the Saracens Year of our Lord 978 Charles imagining his Brother had yeilded him that Dutchy but by compulsion was so ill advised that he might have some body to support him in it as to render Hommage for it to Otho instead of holding the Soveraignty himself as he might have done Year of our Lord 981 Two years after Otho to oblige hm the more gave him likewise the Country all about Mets Toul Verdon and Nancy and other Lands between the Meuse and the Rhine Now this submission tendred by Charles to a Stranger sounded very ill amongst the French and the Augmentation of his power certainly shock'd the designs of Hugh Capet who was preparing his way to the Throne For we must consider that Charles was the only obstacle Lotaire having but one Son weak both in Age and understanding and of very small hopes Besides the long abode of that Prince in those Countries without coming into France the too great affection he shewed for the Germans who at that time were the Capital Enemies of France as likewise some ren-counters with the King his Brother one amongst the rest about the City of Cambray which he defended against that King who would have plundred the Churches as he had done those of Arras gave his Enemies occasion to decry him amongst the French Year of our Lord 982 The Emperor Otho II. Died in the year 982. having before declared his Son of the same name Successor of his Estates LOTAIRE and LOUIS his Son in France OTHO III. Emperor and King of Germany and Lorraine Aged 17 years CONRAD in Burgundy Upon the News of his Death Lotaire believed that Germany was going to be all in confusion and combustion by reason of the contests about the Guardianship of young Otho who was then but seven years old wherefore he entred Lorraine An. 983. to regain it and took 〈◊〉 with Godfrey Earl thereof but when he understood Otho was Crowned by thâ— content of all the Grandees he engaged no Year of our Lord 982 farther but returned home to Franâ—â— Year of our Lord 985 Two years after he rendred up the City of Verdun gave Godfrey his liberty and caused his Son Louis to be Crowned to Reign with him He had already married him to a Princess of Aquitain named Blanche And yet was at most not above 18 or 19. years of Age. It is not well known of which Aquitain she was for in that Age and the next following the French comprehended Languedoc and Provence likewise under that name Year of our Lord 986 This couple were ill-matched the Woman couragious and gallant the Husband wanting vigour of mind and perhaps of Body in so much that she despised him and carrying him into her own Country under colour that she could procure the conquest of it by the assistance and interest of her Kindred and Allies she planted him there and the King his Father was forced to go and fetch him thence again This was a great misfortune in the Royal Family and a greater yet that Lotaire Died the 12 th Day of March in the following year of some desperate morsel given Year of our Lord 987 him by his own wife He was a Warlike Prince active careful of his affairs and worthy in fine to have commanded better Subjects He survived little more then the 45 th year of his Age and the 33 th of his Reign LOUIS THE Lazy or Sloathful King XXXIV Aged about XX Years POPES JOHN XV. Elected towards the end of An. 985. S. 10 years 4 Months and a half whereof 16 Months under this Reign LOUIS the Do-Nothing in France OTHO III. CONRAD IT was divulged that at his Death he left the Guardianship of his Son to Hugh Capet who in effect was his Cousin German How-ever it were Emina Year of our Lord 986 not relying too much upon him as it seems had resolved to carry him in the Month of June to his Grand-mother Adeleida Widdow of Otho I. and Tutoress of Otho III. A Heroick Princess who was called the Mother of Kings But they did not give her the time for the 22 th of the same month the Poor Prince ended his Life in the same manner as his Father and by the crime of Blanche of Aquitain his wife He lieth at St. Corneille of Compiegne An Author of those times sayes that he gave his Kingdom to Hugh Capet another that he bequeathed it to his wife upon condition he should marry her He Reigned in all about three years Eighteen or Twenty Months with his Father and sixteen Months alone With his Reign ended that of the Carlian or Carlovingnian Line after it had lasted 236 years and had a Succession of Eleven Kings taking only those of West-France for if we reckon all the others we shall find above thirty without speaking of all those Princes who dismembred this Kingdom as being issued of this August blood descended by Women There were sprung up three Branches of this Race one in Italy by
Lotaire I. Emperor another in Germany by Lewis his Brother named the Germanick and a third in West-France by Charles the Bald. All three ended their Reigns with a Louis that of Italy by Louis II. great Grand-Son of Lotaire that of Germany by Louis Son of Arnold and that of France by this Lewis the Faineant The Princes of this Race at their Coronation received the Sacred Unction They were almost ever on Horse-back and in the Field and had their wives with Year of our Lord 987 them Charles Martel and Pepin when they were at rest and peace held their residence at Paris and thereabout Charlemain at Aix-la-Chapelle the Debonnaire in the same place or at Thionville Charles the Bald at Soissons and at Compiegne Eudes at Paris Charles the Simple at Reims Lewis Transmarine at Laon. If we consider the causes of the ruine of this Race or Line we shall meet with five or six principal ones 1. The division of the main Body of the Estate into divers Kingdoms which was necessarily followed by Discords and Civil-Warrs between the Brothers 2. The irregular Love the Debonnaire had for his too dear Son Charles the Bald. 3. The imbecillity of most part of these Princes there not having been amongst all of them above five or six who were furnished with Sence and Courage together 4. The ravages and inroads of the Normans who ransacked France for Four-score years together and favoured the attempts of the great Lords 5. The multitude of Bastard Children which Charlemaine had who plaid the Soveraigns in those Countries allotted them for their subsistance 6. And if we will believe the Clergy the Curse of God which fell upon those Princes because they gave the Churches goods to their Lay-officers and their Soldiers of Fortune 7. One may add that this Tree bearing no more good Fruit God would pluck it up to plant another in its place infinitely more fair and more fertile whose duration shall be extended to the end of time and it's renown and glory to the ends of all the Earth End of the Second Race or Line THE THIRD RACE OR LINE Of the KINGS of FRANCE Called the Capetine Race or of the Capets First Part. Hugh Capet King XXXV POPES JOHN XV. S. Eight years and an half during this Reign GREGORY V. Elected in June 996. S. Two years eight months whereof some months under this Reign HUGH CAPET Aged Forty four or Forty five years Year of our Lord 987 THere was none of the Carolovinian Race remaining but Charles Duke of Lorrain This Prince was absent of little Merit and very ill in the minds of the French Hugh Capet on the contrary was in the heart of the Kingdom Powerful and Esteemed He held the Dutchy of Burgundy by Henry his Brother that of Normandy by Duke Richard his Nephew and that of France with the Counties of Paris and Orleance in his own hands Besides he had a Party made so that having Assembled the Lords in the City of Noyon he prevailed to be Elected and Proclaimed King about the end of the month of May. From thence he went to Reims to receive the Unction and the Crown from the hands of the Archbishop Adalberon who invested him the Third of July Not one of all those that were present at Noyon and at that Ceremony claiming for Charles but on the contrary all giving their Oaths in Writing as well as by Word of Mouth to his Enemy One might say that this poor Prince had destituted or deprived himself by rendring himself a Stranger and that this Estate could not suffer or admit a Head that was Vassal to another King Hugh might also make use of the Testament which King Lewis made in his favour but his best Right and Title was the general consent of the French People Year of our Lord 987 c. After his being first Crowned he never put the Crown more upon his Head during his whole life time because it having been predicted to him by Divine Revelation That his Race should hold the Kingdom for seven Generations he thought to prolong that Honour one Degree more by not wearing himself the Regal Ornaments that so he might not be reckoned one of the seven He did not know the number seven in Sacred Language signifies an extent to all Ages You must observe that from about the time of Charles the Simple under the name of the Kingdom of France were comprehended that of Neustria that of Aquitain and that of Burgundy at least that part of it which lies on this side the Saon and therefore when those Kings would be Crowned they were fain to call together the Lords of all these three For this reason perhaps it was that the first Capetine Kings having joyned them all under one Title took likewise upon them the Quality of Emperors unless we should say they did so not to seem inferior to the German Kings but either by some Treaty or upon some other Condition to us unknown they quitted it and contented themselves with that of King Year of our Lord 987 The same year Geofrey called Grise-Gonelle Earl of Anjou ended his days His Son Fulk surnamed Nerra was his Successor Hugh Capet six months after his Coronation desiring to have an Assistant obtained in an Assembly of French Lords which was held at Orleance that his Son named Robert should be Associated in the Throne with him He was Crowned in the same Year of our Lord 988 City the first day of January in the year 988. HUGH CAPET and ROBERT his Son Aged about Sixteen years IT is to be presumed that Prince Charles did not omit to present himself to have or demand the Crown but being come too late he was rejected by the French so that he betook himself to Arms to resume his pretended Right Amongst all the Lords of the Kingdom there were only Arnold Earl of Flanders and Hebert Earl of Champagne his Wives Father that assisted him but the first died this year having been ill handled by Capet and Hebert durst not proceed to act any farther for his Son-in-Law but under-hand Mean time the young King Robert Married Lutgarde the Widow of the Earl of Year of our Lord 988 Flanders though she were already very aged and he not yet above Seventeen years old Duke Charles had a Bastard Brother named Arnold who was a Clerk in the Church of Loan by his means he seized upon that City and upon the Archbishop Ancelin-Auberon This Ancelin was a very subtil Man but without Faith who to regain his liberty pretended to be come wholly his Friend and wrought so upon his Mind that he made him the first of his Council Year of our Lord 988 The new King knowing that Charles was in Laon came presently to besiege him reâ—olved to take it by Famine In the length of the Siege his Men not standing carefully upon their Guard Charles made a stout Sally put them to the rout burnt their Lodgments and forced
he gave Robert the Cities of Chaumont and Pontoise and the French Vexin Year of our Lord 1033 It was then likewise he yielded the Dukedom of Burgundy to his Brother Robert From whom issued the First Race of the Dukes of Burgundy of the Blood Royal. The Earl of Champagn did not hold himself vanquish'd by the defeat of the Party to make him lay down his Sword the King was forced to beat his Army twice and Year of our Lord 1033 and the following the third time put him to a rout and made him fly away half naked and hide himself before he could compel him to shake hands About the year 1032. or 33. Geofrey surnamed Martel made a cruel War upon William V. called the Gross Duke of Guyenne and Earl of Poitou whose Mother-in-Law or his own Fathers second Wife he had Married She was named Agnes Daughter of the Earl of Burgundy The Subject of the Quarrel was the Earldom of Saintonge and the Country of Aulnis which he disputed for The Authors do not tell us plainly by what Title he claimed but that he vanquish'd the Duke in a great Battle near Monstrenil-Bellay took him Prisoner and did not release him till three years end after he had yielded up Saintonge and paid a lusty Ransom Year of our Lord 1033 Rodolph or Rouel King of Burgundy beyond the Jour and of Arles dying in the year 1033. instituted his Heir Conrad the Emperor who had Married Gisâ—lle his youngest Sister and had by her a Son named Henry and made no account of Eudes Earl of Champagne the Husband of Berthe his eldest Sister because while he was living he would have forced him to acknowledge him for King and had bred Factions and Stirs in his Country By this Institution the Kingdom of Burgundy and Arles passing over to German Princes was by them as it were united and joyned to the Germanick Kingdom and the Empire who being at too great a distance have insensibly let it slip through their Fingers and after they had lost the Possession have likewise lost the very Title to it In these days lived Humbert Surnamed White-hands Earl of Maurienne and Savoy Stem of the Royal House of Savoy which at this day holds a great Rank amongst Christian Soveraigns the Off-spring of this Humbert having by Marriages Successions Conquests and other means assembled and joyned all the several pieces whereof that State is composed Some Historians make this Prince to be descended from Boson King of Provence others from Hugh King of Italy and some from the ancient Counts of Mascon but Tradition and which appears most probable makes him the Son of one Berald of Saxony who descended from Vitekind by the same Branch as the three Otho's Emperors or by some other Year of our Lord 1033 34 The Earl of Champagn not able to endure that Conrade should allow him no part of a Patrimony of which the best share ought to be his took his time when that Prince was employ'd in Hungary and with his own Forces and those of his Friends made himself Master of a great part of the Kingdom Year of our Lord 1035 But Conrad at his return having led his Army into those Countries drove Eudes Garrisons forth of all the Places he had taken put in his own and received Hommage Year of our Lord 1034 of all the Lords In fine he handled him so roughly that all help failing and perhaps an apprehension getting into his thoughts that the King of France who hated him might agree with the Emperor to strip him he went and surrendred upon Mercy and humbled himself before him Year of our Lord 1035 Robert Duke of Normandy by force of Arms constrains the Bretons to do him Hommage Year of our Lord 1036 He dies the year after at Nicea in Bithynia upon his return from a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem At his departure he had instituted an only Son of his but a Bastard named William to be his Heir begotten on a Citizens Daughter of Falaise leaving him at Paris in the guard and protection of King Henry who had very great Obligations to him and giving the Regency of the Country to Alain Duke of Bretagne Year of our Lord 1036 William had two Paternal Uncles Mauger Archbishop of Rouen who was Married and had Children and William Earl of Argues to whom the Nobility of the Country would much rather have obey'd then to a Bastard This was the occasion of great Troubles and would have ruined Normandy had the French King's Forces been but as great as his desire to regain it Year of our Lord 1003 and the following About this time the name of the Normands began to grow famous and potent in Italy especially in Puglia and Calabria In the year 1003. forty Adventurers of that Nation upon the quitting the Holy Land having acted some things there almost incredible against the Saracens in favour of Gaimar Duke of Salerna who was hugely tormented by them being returned into Normandy loaden with Honour and Presents had excited other brave Men of their Country to go seek their Fortunes beyond the Mountains The first that try'd was a Gentleman named Drengot-Osmond who being forced to quit the Country for killing one William Repostel in the presence of his Prince having vapoured that he had abused his Daughter went with four more Brothers and some others of his Kindred to offer his Service to Mello Duke of Bary and Pandolphus Prince of Capoua who were Revolted against the Greeks They received them with open Arms and gave them a City and some Lands to maintain themselves Then after these were setled not without many hazards Combats and Adventures six of the Sons of Tancrede d'Auterville a Gentleman of the Bishoprick of Constance who had twelve all of them brave and courageous arrived there and carried their same to a higher pitch then the former Year of our Lord 1036 Normandy was all in Fire and Blood by the particular Feuds of some Lords upheld by the Uncles of the young Duke Alain III. Duke of Bretagne his Guardian being come to appease them could not avoid a Mortal Poyson given him by the Factious Antagonists Conan II. his Son but then in his Cradle succeeded him Year of our Lord 1037 About these times William the Gross Duke of Aquitain was delivered out of Prison and died the same year Otho or Eudes his second Brother succeeded him Two years after he inherited the Dukedom of Gascongne taking possession thereof in the Church of St. Severin at Burdeaux according to the Custom He had this Lordship in Right of his Mother Brisce who was the Daughter of Duke Sance Thus the House of Gascongne resolved or dissolved into that of Poitiers or Aquitain Year of our Lord 1037 The Pretensions of Eudes Earl of Champagne to the Kingdom of Burgundy not being wholly stifled he fell with an Army into the Kingdom of Lorrain which belonged to the Emperor and took the City of Commercy but as he
to St. Omers But as he was retreating towards Monstreuil Eustace Earl of Boulogne who had a great Body of Reserves took Robert and carried him to St Omers He that Commanded the place surrendred it to deliver Richilda for which the King was enraged that he sacked and burnt the City Year of our Lord 1071 The same year Richilda though still assisted by the French lost another Battle in which Eustace Earl of Boulogne being made prisoner his Brother Chancellor of France and Bishop of Paris to obtain his freedom obliged the King to intermedle no more in that dispute Nay which was more he made him Marry Bertha the Daughter of Florent I. Earl of Holland and Gertrude of Saxony who had taken Robert for her second Husband By this means he was engaged to maintain the Cause for his Father-in-law who by his assistance defeated Richilda's Army the Fourth time and so remained Master Year of our Lord 1071 of Flanders Roger Brother of Robert Guischard Duke of the Normans in Puglia was by his Brother sent into Sicilia which was possessed by the Saracens he conquerd d the City of Panormus and Messina which opened him a way to become Master of the whole Island Year of our Lord 1073. and 4. After the death of Baldwin the Regent King Philip being arrived to the age of Adolescency ran into many disorders and vexations with his Subjects Whereupon Pope Gregory VII who sought but the occasion to constitute himself the Judge and Reformer of Princes wrote to William Duke of Aquitain that together with the Lords he should make him some Remonstrances and Declare that if he did not amend he would Excommunicate both him and all the Subjects that obey'd him and would place the Excommunication upon St. Peters Altar to re-aggravate it every day Year of our Lord 1076 The death of Robert I. Duke of Burgundy his Son being deceased before him had left two Sons Hugh and Otho the first of these succeeded his Grandfather Year of our Lord 1077 After William the Conquerour had entirely subdued England suppressed the Rebellion of his Son Robert and quelled the Manceaux he went into Bretagne to reduce them to his Obedience and laid Siege to Dol. The Duke or Earl Hoel implored the Kings help who marching in person to his assistance made them raise their Siege A Peace immediately follow'd but was broken almost as soon again upon another Year of our Lord 1076 score which was for that the Conquerour in the Kings Presence having given the Dutchy of Normandy to his Son Robert before he went to invade England Robert would take possession of it the Father hindred him and the King justified the Son in his demands This was the subject of a new War The Father besieges his rebellious Son in the Castle of Gerbroy near Beauvais In a Sally the Son wounds him and turned him off from his Saddle with his Lance but Year of our Lord 1077. 78. and the following coming to know who it was by his voice he helped him up again with Tears in his eyes and the Father at length overcome by the sentiments of nature and the intreaty of his Wife and Barons gave him his pardon and quitted the Dutchy to him then returned into England Gozelon Duke of the Lower Lorrain who in favour of Baldwin Earl of Monts Year of our Lord 1077. and 78. the Son of Richilda had fought and defeated Robert the Frison being a while after this Victory assassinated in Antwerp the Emperour detained the Dutchy of the lower Lorrain and gave only the Marquisate of Antwerp to Godfrey Duke of Bouillon the Son of Adde Sister of Gozelon and Eustace Earl of Boulongne but Twelve years after for his great Services he gave him the said Lorrain Year of our Lord 1080 The Lords of Touraine and of Maine extreamly pressing Foulk Rechin by force of Arms to set Gefroy his Brother at liberty this barbarous Man rather then release him chose sooner to give the County of Gastinois to King Philp that he might maintain him in his unjustice Some time after his own Son named Gefroy likewise and surnamed Martel moved Year of our Lord 1080 with the miseries of his Uncle forced his Father to set him free but whether it were the Melancholy he had contracted or some Drink they had given him he could never relish the sweetness of his liberty The famous Robert Guischard Prince of the Normans in Puglia after he had gained Year of our Lord 1085 two Naval Victories one over the Venetians and the other over the Greeks died this year 1085. He had two Sons Boemond and Roger the eldest being then upon the coasts of Dalmatia with a Navy his younger Brother seized on the Dutchies of Pouille and Calabria for which the Brothers were contending till the time of the first Croisado or Holy War when the French Lords passing that way to the Holy Land brought them to an agreement Their Uncle Roger held Sicily with the Title only of Earl Year of our Lord 1085 Upon complaints about the vexations and ill Treatment Duke Robert shewed to his Norman Subjects his Father the Conquerour comes over out of England to chastise him but his paternal tenderness did easily admit of a reconciliation The death of Guy-Gefroy-William his Son William VIII aged but 25 years succeeded him Year of our Lord 1086 King Philip a very voluptuous Prince being disgusted with Berthe his Wise made use of the pretence of Parentage which was between them and having proved it according to the course then in use caused his Marriage to be dissolved by authority of the Church though he had a Son by her named Lewis about Five years old and a Daughter named Constance He banished his Divorced Wife to Monstreuil upon the Sea-side where she lived a long time poorly enough Year of our Lord 1087 This Divorce according to Rule and a judicial Sentence being made he demanded the Daughter of Roger Earl of Sicilia named Emma who was conducted as far as the coasts of Provence however he did not Marry her the reason is not given Year of our Lord 1088 William the Conquerour become crazy was under a strict regiment of Dyet at Rouen to pull down his over-grown fatness which did much incommode him The King rallied at him and asked when he would be up again after his Lying in the Duke sent him word that at his Uprising he would go and visit him with 10000 Lances instead of Candles and indeed as soon as he could he got on Horseback he destroy'd all the French Vexin and forced and burnt Mantes But he over-heated himself so much in the assaulting of that place that it set his own Blood and Body on fire and brought a fit of Sickness so that he returned to Rouen where he dyed in a few days By his Will he gave the Kingdom of England to William called Rufus who was bat his Second Son Normandy to Robert who was
Widow had Thessaly for his Year of our Lord 1204 share with the Title of a Kingdom upon which condition he gave up the Island of Candia to the Venetians The Grecian Princes preserved Asia to themselves where they established divers Sovereignties Theodorus Lascaris attired himself with Imperial Robes at Nicea in Bithynia and had the largest Dominion for extent Of the Family of the Comnenes Michael had part of Epirus David Heraclea Ponticus and Paphlagonia and Alexis his Brother the City of Trebisond on the Pontus-Euxinus There was the Empire of Trebisond formed which still remained separate and distinct from that of Constantinople till the Turks devoured both the one and the other Baldwin enjoy'd not the Empire two years for going to besiege Adrianople Joannitz or Calojan King of Bulgaria coming to assist the Greeks drew him into an Ambuscade made him prisoner and having carried him into Bulgaria cut off his Arms Year of our Lord 1205 and Legs and cast him into a Precipice where he languisht for three days It was thus given out but many are of opinion that he escaped from that imprisonment However it were his Brother Henry succeeded him in the Empire He left two Daughters the eldest Married Ferrand Brother of Sancho King of Portugal who by this means was Earl of Flanders the youngest had Children by Bouchard d'Auesnes Year of our Lord 1205 King John not attributing his misfortunes to his crime his cowardize or sloth but to the ill-will of his English Subjects particularly the Clergy who had not assisted him in his necessities sets himself upon molesting and vexing them by all Year of our Lord 1206 manner of exactions Guy de Touars who Govern'd Bretagne being Husband to the Dutchess Constance had turned to Philips party and assisted him not a little in his late Conquests He had likewise brought over to him the Vicount Touars his Brother but this year both of them were at variance with him Guy would Cantonnize himself in Bretagne the King begirts him in Nantes and compels him to return again to his Service how-ever the Vicount remained for the English Interest That King having Levied vast sums of Money and a powerful Army in England comes and Lands at Rochel the Vicount Savary de Maulcon and some other Lords joyn with him Philip finding himself too weak contents himself only with providing and strengthening his Towns in Poitou with all speed and then retires to Paris John marches into Anjou takes Anger 's dismantles it and presently after remembring that it was his Ancestors native City causes the Walls to be rebuilt At the same time there were some Bretons who seizing upon the Promontary de Garplic built a Fort there to favour the approaches of the English upon those Shallows These were all the Effects of the great Prowess of King John for being soon tir'd he caused a Truce to be propounded by the interposition of the Pope who threatned Excommunication in case of refusal Philip agrees it for two years against the opinion of the French Lords who proffer'd him all assistance and engaged not to forsake him although the Pope should proceed against him by censures Year of our Lord 1208 The two contenders for the German Empire Otho and Philip had agreed An. 1207. in such sort that Otho who had the approbation of the Pope but was the weaker should leave the Empire to Philip whom if he hapned to die without Children Otho should succeed him and in the interim Marry his Daughter Now this year Philip being Murthered in his Sick Bed by Otho Palatine of Vitelspack the Empire fell to his Competitor who the following year went into Italy and was Crowned at Rome Immediately after he had a quarrel with the Pope about some Enterprize upon the Lands belonging to the Church and those belonging to Frederick King of Sicily Feodary to the Holy See for which he was Excommunicated An. 1210. Innocent III. was then Pope a Prelat of great courage rare merit and who being in the strength of his age was stirring in every place and concern'd himself in every thing driving all things to the height where he met with a weak or divided party England made an unhappy Experiment King John being absolutely resolv'd not to accept of Cardinal Stephen Lanctbon for Arch-Bishop of Canterbury whom the White Friers had Elected to the Popes liking but without the Kings consent and the Pope standing stifly up to maintain and justify this Election the contest grew so hot that the Pope sends to three of the English Bishops a Sentence of Interdiction to be laid upon the whole Kingdom John was so enrag'd that he confiscated the Estates of all the Clergy and resolv'd utterly to abolish Episcopacy in the Nation Commanding them immediately to depart and to secure himself against any personal effects of the Excommunication wherewith he was threatned he took Hostages of the Towns and Nobility The Pope not being able to reduce the Hereticks of Languedoc who had almost gained the whole Province fals upon Raimond Earl of Toulouze because he was their chief promoter and encourager and had caused one of his Legats to be massacred it was Peter de C hastean-neuf a Monk de Cisteaux or White Fryer and the First that exercised the Inquisition He Excommunicated that Earl Absolv'd his Subjects of their Oath of Fidelity and gave his Lands to the first Occupier but without prejudice to the right of the King of France his Sovereignty Such an apprehension seized on the Earl that being come to Milon the Popes Legat at Valence he intirely submitted gave up eight places of strength to the Roman Church to perpetuity as a pawn of his Conversion and the following year to obtain Absolution suffred himself to be scourged with Rods at the Gate of St. Giles's Church where Peter de Chasteau-neuf lay buried and thence dragg'd to that Friers Tomb by the Legat who put the Stole about his Neck in presence of Twenty Arch-Bishops and an infinite multitude of People After which he likewise crossed himself or put on the badge of the Cross and joyned the next year with those that took his and the Towns of his Allies Year of our Lord 1208 It was not his penitence that humbled him to undergo so horrible a shame it was the fear he had of a dreadful storm just ready to break and fall upon his Head For the Pope having turned that sorvent Zeal which animated the People so much to go in defence of tho Holy-Land had this very year order'd a Croisade to be Preached against the Albigenses and many Lords Prelats and great numbers of common People had listed themselves in this Militia the King himself set out Fifteen thousand Men that were to be maintain'd at his own charge These bore the Cross upon their Breast to distinguish them from such as went to the Holy-Land who wore that badge upon their Shoulder Amongst these Heretiques there were some whom they called the Poor
decamp till he brought the Besieged to Reason in so much that on the Assumption-day they were reduced to a Capitulation They gave up two hundred Hostages their Walls were pull'd down their Moats and Grafts fill'd up and three hundred Houses with Turrets demolish'd These were Inns belonging to Gentlemen who had the like at Toulouze and other great Cities in those Provinces Going thence the King went into Provence and all the Towns surrender'd to him within four Leagues of Toulouze The Season growing bad and he somewhat tender of Constitution he takes his way back towards France leaving the Conduct of his Forces and the Government of those Countries in the hands of Imbert de Beau-jeu Year of our Lord 1226 Upon his return one of the Grandees of the Kingdom whom History has not dar'd to name caused some Poyson to be given him whereof he died at the Castle of Montpencier in Auvergne upon a Sunday being the Octave of All-Saints He had Year of our Lord 1226 lived Thirty nine years and had Reigned three and about four Months He is buried at St. Denis by his Father The Clergy because of his Piety and his Chastity reported that his Sickness proceeded from his too great Continence for his Wife did not go with him and that he chose rather to dye then make use of an unlawful Remedy they presented him for Cure As he foresaw things in a posture that threatned great troubles after his death he took the Oaths and Seals of Twelve Lords that were about him that they should cause his eldest Son to be Crowned and if he failed they should put the Second in his stead By his Wife Blanche de Castille he had nine Sons and two Daughters there were but five Sons alive Lewis Robert Alphonso Charles and John According to his Will and Testament Lewis Reigned Robert had the County of Artois and propagated the branch of that name Alphonso had that of Poitou and Charles that of Anjou From him sprung the first Branch of Anjou John dyed at the age of 14 years Of the two Daughters only Isabella was left who having been promised to divers Princes and grown to be an old Maid took on the Holy vail and shut her self up the year 1260. in the Monastery of Longchamp between Paris and St. Cloud which the King her Brother founded for her Saint Lewis King XLIII Aged Eleven years six Months POPES HONORIUS III. Five Months GREG. IX Elect in April 1227. S. Fourteen years Five Months CELESTINE IV. Elect in Sept. 1241. S. Eighteen days Vacancy of Twenty Months INNOCENT IV. Elect in June 1243. S. Eleven years Five Months and a half ALEXANDER IV. Elect in Decemb. 1254. S. Six years Five Months URBAN IV. Son of a Cobler of Troyes Elected about the end of August 1261. S. Three years Thirty four days CLEMENT IV. Elected in Feb. 1265. S. Three years and about Ten Months Vacancy of Thirty five Months from Dec. in the year 1268. the Cardinals not agreeing amongst themselves in the Conclave about the Election THis is the Third Minority in the Capetine Race and the First wherein a Year of our Lord 1226. in Novembre Woman had the Regency Blanche de Castille a stranger but courageous and able undertook it and carried it being assisted by the Counsels of Romain the Cardinal Legat who had great power with her and grounded upon the Certificates of some Lords who attested that her Husband being on his Death-bed had ordered that he would have his eldest Son with the Kingdom and all his other Brothers be left to her Guardianship and Government Immediately before the Lords had time to contrive any obstacles to her Regency Year of our Lord 1226 she drew all the Forces she possibly could together and with them went and caused her eldest Son Lewis to be Crowned in the City of Rheims The Episcopal See being vacant the Bishop of Soissons who is the Suffragant performed the Ceremony It was on the First day of December The Lords of the Kingdom had been invited thither by Letters but the greatest part refused to come amongst others Peter Duke of Bretagne Henry Earl of Bar his Brother-in-law Hugh de Luzignan Earl de la Marche Thibauld Earl of Champagne Hugh de Chastillon Count de St. Pol and divers others They were framing a League amongst them demanding that the Regent who was a Stranger should give security for her good Administration that whatever had been taken from the Lords during the two last Reigns should be restored to them and such as were prisoners should be released especially Ferrand Earl of Flanders Year of our Lord 1226 After her departure from Rheims notwithstanding the severity of the Winter she marched towards Bretagne where lay the strength of the League The Confederates being not yet ready avoided what mischief they could by a Retreat but she followed so close at their heels that the Earl of Champagne fell off from the party then the others entred into a Treaty and promised to appear in full Parliament which was to be held at Chinon and which at their request was removed to Tours then to Vendosme Year of our Lord 1227 In that Parliament which was held in the Month of March a Peace was patched up between the Regent and the Lords but the same year they being assembled at Corbeil plotted to surprize the King as he was coming from Chastres to Paris their design had infallibly succeeded if the Queen Regent had not been informed and cast her self with the King into Montlehery The Citizens of Paris having taken up Arms went thither to guard him and brought him back with joyful acclamations to their City The Earl of Champagne was the man that had given this private intelligence to the Queen This young Prince had a pretence of Love or Gallantry for her rather out of some Court-like vanity then for the power of her charms she being a Woman of above Forty years of age she knew how to make her own advantage of his folly and wished him to continue amongst those discontented People that he might betray all their intrigues to her Year of our Lord 1227 The King of England would needs concern himself in this quarrel and promised them his assistance and the Earl of Toulouze taking his opportunity during these Brouilleries and Stirs had got possession again of all his Places The Queen Regent fearing this Flame might be blown too high renew'd a Treaty with the Princes of this League whom by that means she kept from farther proceeding all this year and in the mean while she confirm'd the Alliance with the Emperour Frederick made a Truce with the English for a Twelve-month and came to an agreement with the Duke of Bretagne who gave his Daughter to be Married to a Son of hers named John Thus the Earl of Toulouze was left alone Imert de Beau-jeu having received a notable re-inforcement bethought himself instead of taking the Castles one by one it would do
better to spoil and ruine the whole Countrey about Toulouze pull down the Houses root up the Vineyards and burn the Corn which so disheartned the Toulousains that both they and their Earl were forced to submit to what conditions he pleased Year of our Lord 1228 The Treaty was chalked out at Meaux and compleated at Paris the Earl and Deputies of Toulouze being present The Earl was deprived of all his Lands excepting some little fragments they for meer pity left him It was order'd they should all devolve to his Daughter Jane who should be Married to Alphonso the Kings Brother into whose custody she was put forthwith That the Earl should pay Seventeen thousand Marks of Silver part to the King some to the Monks de Cisteaux and the rest for a Foundation of Doctors in Divinity at Toulouze That the Walls of that City and of Thirty more should be demolish'd for performance whereof he should give Hostages and in the mean time remain prisoner That there should be an exact search after Heretiques at his charge and that for pennance he should go and make war five years against the Saracens These Articles Signed he and those of his company that had been Excommunicated were at Nostre-dames of Paris upon Good-Friday bare-footed in their Shirts to receive Absolution of the Popes Legat. That done the Earl returned prisoner to the Tower of the Louvre till he had given his Hostages About the Feast of Pentecost the King gave him the Order of Knighthood and sent him into his own Countrey The Legat went with him and setled the Inquisition which exercised great severities and was again the cause of many troubles and Massacres Year of our Lord 1228 The Male-contented could not disgest that the Government should be in the hands of two Strangers a Spanish Woman and an Italian Cardinal they therefore took up Arms again drew to their party Robert Earl of Dreux elder Brother to the Duke of Bretagne and Philip Earl of Boulogne the Kings paternal Uncle to whom they promised the Crown so that the King feared a second time to be involved by this conspiracy and had been surprized if the Earl of Champagne had not run seasonably to him with 300 * Horse-men to bring him off In Spring the Conspirators turned all their Force against the Earl of Champagne and Brie They demanded those Counties of him for Alix Queen of Cyprus Daughter of his Uncle Henry who died in the Levant and more then that called him Traytor and accused him of having poysonned the deceased King proffering to convict him by Duel a reproach that made him so black and loathsome amongst his Vassals that they joyned in League with his Enemies against him The Count finding so heavy a burthen on his Shoulders and his City of Troyes besieged implores the assistance of the Queen Regent who caused the King to march to his relief and commanded them if they had any thing to say against the Earl they should come and require justice upon him in her Court But they who would not acknowledge her Regency as if the Kingdom had been vacant elected in a private Assembly or Cabal the Lord de Coucy for King who was in great reputation for his Wisdom and Justice The Queen Regent having got intelligence gave immediate notice of it to Philip Earl of Boulogne whom they had made believe they would give the Crown to by this means she took him off from them then by divers politique contrivances made all their designs vanish but not their ill intentions Year of our Lord 1228 For a few days afterwards the Duke of Bretagne by their assistance and Councils took up Arms again and called the King of England to his aid who landed in Bretague with considerable Forces but when he saw the King conducted by the Queen Regent had taken the Castle de Belesme au Perche from the Duke which was held impregnable he Shipp'd himself again The Duke thus abandonned was constrained to betake himself to an agreement Year of our Lord 1229 The very next year he broke it but not without punishment the King having taken all his Holds and Places and gained all his Vassals and Friends shuts him up in his City of Nantes so that to get out of the Briars and make the best of a bad bargain he was forced to render him hommage of Allegiance for the Dutchy The Bretons who pretended they owed but ouly single Homage named him because of his so doing Mau-clerc as who should say Witless or wanting Judgment and Understanding Thibauld Earl of Champagne was ill rewarded for the good services he had done the Queen Regent She took in hand the cause of her Cousin Alix and condemned him to pay her Forty thousand Marks of Silver and sell to the King to raise that Money the Counties of Blois Chartres Sancerre and the Vicount of Chasteaudun Year of our Lord 1230 After all these disorders there was a calm and peace for four years which was only a little disturbed by some tumults caused by the remainders of the Albigensis and the hurly-burlies of the Scholars belonging to the University of Paris It was then the fairest Ornament of the Kingdom and the innumerable numbers of Scholars that flocked thither from all parts of Europe brought great riches to that City which in a manner made all the other Universities in Christendom submit to it Now some of them having been ill handled in some scuffle with the Citizens and not obtaining such satisfaction as they desired they all resolved to quit Paris not without having first published a great many Songs and Licentious Poems which fullied the reputation of the Queen Regent and Cardinal Romain the Popes Legat who swayed her The Duke of Bretagne and the King of England proffer'd to receive them into their Countries and to grant them great priviledges but the Kings Council fearing that capital City might be deprived of so great an advantage and benefit found means to allay their heats and keep them there Year of our Lord 1231. and the following The Inhabitants of Marseilles and the adjacent Countreys being revolted against Raimond Berenger Earl of Provence called in Raimond Earl of Toulouze to Command them because he was next Heir For we must know that Gilbert Earl of Provence and Nice had had two Daughters Faidide who Married Alphonso Great Great Great Grandfather of Raimond de Toulouze and Douce that had married Raimond Berenger Earl of Bacelonna from whom was descended the Earl of Provence now mentioned He therefore accepted of their Homage and acted as their Lord whence follow'd a War that lasted four years between those two Cousins This Earl of Provence having been harrass'd by divers Revolts and other misfortunes was at the end of his days made compleatly happy by the Marriage of four Daughters he had by his Wife Beatrix of Savoy a most Virtuous Princess For all four of them had the honour to be Married to Kings Margret who was
November the pious King parted from Damiata and marched against the Saracens who had drawn all their Forces about the City of Massoura He encamped on an arm of the Nilus formerly called Canopus and in those times the Raschit which was not foordable whilst this was doing their Sultan named Melidin hapned to dye and till his Son could come they gave the Command to the most valiant of his Emirs or Satrapes who was Farchardin Year of our Lord 1250 In sine the French having passed over the Raschit gained in two several days two Battles against the Insidels wherein St. Lewis animated with a Sampson-like Spirit and Zeal did prodigious acts of Valour but in the first which was fought in February his Brother Robert was slain pursuing too inconsiderately the flying enemy thorough the City of Massoura Year of our Lord 1250 The Christians Army being Encamped near to Pharamia to refresh themselves Melec-Sala the Son of Meledin arrives with another Army which he had obtained of the several Sultans of his Religion wherewith he so beset the Christians stopping up all passages by which they were to receive Provisions that hunger and the distemper now call'd the Scurvy or Scorbut reduc'd them to a miserable condition In this extremity it was resolv'd to lead them back to Damiata but it proved too late the Army was utterly defeated in their march and the King taken prisoner with his other two Brothers Alphonso and Charles and almost all the Officers there were but very few of his who escaped from captivity or death This misfortune hapned the 5th day of April To this grief of the good King 's the Barbarian Conquerours added an outrage which touched him yet more sensibly than either the loss of his Army or his Liberty They scourged a Crucifix before him defiled it with spitting upon it and dragg'd it thorough the Mire However the Sultan Melec-Sala took a particular care of his person so that he restor'd him to his health again He also agreed a ten years Truce with him but thereupon being murther'd by his Emirs the King was likewise in great danger of perishing in the same storm of rage notwithstanding him whom they elected for Sultan he was named Turquemir preserved him and confirm'd the Treaty By those Articles they gave both him and all the Christian Captives their liberty with leave to carry away with them all their equipage they agreed to a Truce for Ten years and left them all they held beside in the Holy Land upon condition they Year of our Lord 1250 surrendred Damiata and should set free the Saracen Slaves and give them 400000. Liures ready Money It is remarkable that this generous King not enduring they should set a price upon his Person would needs have that sum to be the ransom for the rest and the City of Damiata for his and having notice that upon payment of the said Moneys the Saracens had mis-told and taken less then was agreed by a great deal he sent them the remainder immediately It is a Fable that he should give a consecrated Host to those Barbarians for security of his Word He would have exposed himself a thousand times to death rather then have deliver'd uphis God to those impious enemies It is true indeed that they afterwards coined Moneys with a Pix stamped upon it and the Sacred Host over it and that the same Figures were wrought in some pieces of their Tapistries and to this day there are the Figures of some Chalices Graved or Carved about the Walls of Damascus or Damas perhaps they meant to let the World know by these means and preserve the memory of it to future ages what Victories they had obtained against the Christians and how they had led their God in Triumph Year of our Lord 1250 The Sum paid and Damiata restored the King and Princes were deliver'd and embarquing upon some Galleys belonging to Genoua landed at the Port of Acon but for the rest of the prisoners such as were sick being in great numbers were knock'd at head and the remainders constrain'd to pay a new Ransom or to renounce It hath been said that the Barbarians put out the Eyes of Three hundred Gentlemen and that in memory of those Noble Martyrs that St. Lewis some years afterwards Founded the Hospital des Quinze-vingsts at Paris but this is no whit mentioned in the Grant or Writings for this Foundation and I find far before this time that a Norman Duke built one of the very same sort at Rouen only it was for maintenance but of One hundred blind People Of above 30000 Fighting Men who follow'd him in this Expedition there were hardly Six thousand remaining too scanty a number for any Enterprize Notwithstanding upon the Christians carnest intreaties who belonged to those Countreys and because he knew those Barbarians would break the Truce as soon as ever he were gone he resolv'd to stay some time and in the interim sent his Brothers Alphonso and Charles home into France Year of our Lord 1250 Whilst the Emperour Frederic was again drawing his Sword to be revenged on the Pope he died at Firenzuole the 13th of December perhaps stifled or poison'd by Mainfroy one of his Bastard Sons He left the Empire and Germany to his eldest Son Conrad to Frederic his Grandson issue of his eldest Son Henry the Dukedom of Austria and to the above-named Mainfroy the Principality of Tarentum But all that Race was extinct in a few years for having say some opposed the Holy See Year of our Lord 1251 When Pope Innocent had heard of the death of Frederic he went from Lyons where he had staid Six years and a half to return again to Rome Year of our Lord 1251 Upon the news of the pious Kings imprisonment a certain Apostate Monk by name Master Hungary pretending and affirming he had a particular Mission from God went picking up all the young Countrey fellows over the whole Kingdom to go said they and deliver their Prince and the Holy Land These new Brothers of the Cross were called Pastoureaux i. e. Shepherds or Graziers The Bandits Robbers Heretiques and all manner of wicked rascally people listed themselves in this crew who took the liberty to commit all manner of disorders especially against the Clergy and against the Jews The Inhabitants of Berry with the Nobility fell upon them and routed them some of them were hanged afterwards this rabble was dispers'd and vanish'd to nothing Year of our Lord 1252 Queen Blanch afflicted for the absence of the good King her dear Son and for the sickness of her other Son Alphonso who seemed incurable ended her days at Melun the Six and twentieth of November aged above Sixty and five years Her Son having sounded the Monastery of Maubuisson of the Order des Cisteaux for her She was conveyed thither in great pomp upon the Shoulders of the chief Nobility of the Court sitting in a Golden Chair her Face bare being cloathed in her
came to the Crown Three hundred years after by King Henry the Fourth surnamed the Great The Daughters were named Isabella Blanch Margaret and Agnes Isabella was Married to Thibauld the II. King of Navarre and died without Off-spring Blanch a little before this Voyage to Africk Married Ferdinand called De la Cerde eldest Son of Alphonso X. King of Castille and had two Sons who were unjustly deprived of the Kingdom by their Grandfather because their Father had preceded him and Representation had no place Margaret was Affianced to Henry Duke of Brabant and Limbourg then that Prince turning Monk Married to John his Brother and Successor They had no Children Agnes Espoused Robert Duke of Burgundy and brought him many Philip III. King XLIV POPES A Vacancy GREGORY X. Elected the 1st of September 1271. S. Four years four Months ten days INNOCENT V. Elected in January 1276. S. Seven Months JOHN XXI Elected in July 1276. S. Eight Months NICHOLAS III. Elected in November 1277. S. Two years nine Months Vacancy of Two Months Martin IV. Elected Feb. 21. 1281. S. Four years one Month seven days HONORIUS IV. Elected in April 1285. S. Two years one Month whereof six Months in this Reign PHILIP III. Surnamed the Hardy King XLIV Aged Twenty five years four Months Year of our Lord 1270 THE Christian Army wholly disconsolate for the death of their King and ready to sink under their Toils and Dangers resumed courage and received refreshments upon the arrival of Charles King of Sicily who with his Naval Forces landed at the very time the King his Brother was giving up the Ghost Being come ashoar he came and paid him his last Duty and caused his Flesh to be all taken from his Bones as it was then the Custom when any died in Foreign Countries He carried the said Flesh to Sicily with him and buried it in the Abby of Montreal near Palermo and King Philip kept the Bones which he deposited in St. Denis in France The Funeral being over they continued the Siege Charles having the Command of the whole Army because Philip being fallen Sick could not act At the end of three Months the taking of the place being most infallibly certain though not till the Winter was over King Philip's impatience who much desired to Year of our Lord 1270 go and take possession of his Kingdom and yet more the interest of his Uncle Charles who cared for nothing but to get Money and oblige the King of Tunis to pay him Tribute were the Motives that made them give Ear to Propositions of Peace with that Barbarian King Year of our Lord 1270 They allowed him a Truce for Ten years provided he would defray the whole Expences of that Expedition and that he would pay to Charles as much Tribute as he paid to the Pope Annualy That he would deliver up all the Christians he then held in Slavery That he would grant free liberty of Trade and exemption of Imposts to all their Merchants and would permit them to dwell in Tunis and have the Exercise of the Christian Religion At the end of the Siege Prince Edward of England arrived there with his Forces hoping that after the taking of that place the two Kings would go into the Holy-Land as they had promised but they thought it fitter to return to their own homes and left him to pursue his Voyage Year of our Lord 1270 Heaven seemed to be angry at their return all manner of misfortunes followed them Part of the Vessels wherein Philip was Embarked arrived happily enough at the Port of Trapani or Trapos in Sicily but the others that had King Charles and his on board were overtaken with a moit furious Tempest which destroy'd most of them with the loss of Four thousand Men all their Equipage and the Treasure that was in them Besides all this Thibauld King of Navarre being taken Sick ended his days at Trapani about the end of December his Brother Henry the Fat succeeded him Isabella of Arragon Queen of France being great with Child hurt her self by a fall from her Horse and died in the City of Cosenza Alphonso Brother of St. Lewis was taken off with a Pestilential Fever at Siena and his Wife Isabella de Toulouze died in the same place about twelve days after him So that King Philip cloathed in Mourning Weeds for the Death of his Father his Wife and his nearest Relations after so much Expence and Toil brought nothing back into France but empty Chests and Coffins full of the Bones of the dead Year of our Lord 1271 He staid in Sicily about two Months departed towards the end of February crossed Italy and arrived at Paris in the beginning of Summer He was Crowned at Rheims the Fifteenth day of August or as others say the thirteenth by the Bishop of Soissons the Archbishops See being vacant Of the ancient Pairs of the Laity there was none assisted at this time but the Duke of Burgundy and the Earl of Flanders Robert Earl of Artois bore the Sword of Charlemaine they name it Joyeuse At their going thence he intreated the King to go and visit his Country and received him in his City of Aâ—ras with such Welcom and Expressions of Joy as hitherto had not been heard of in France This King passing thorough Rome paid his Devotions on the Tomb of the Apostles At Viterbo finding the Cardinals had been there Assembled for two years together without coming to any agreement concerning the Election of a â—ope he exhorted them to make some end that the Church might be no longer without a Head His good Advice did not take effect till Eight Months afterwards upon their electing of Thibauld de Piacenza Archdeacon of Liege who went Legat into Syria with Prince Edward he took the name of Gregory X. Year of our Lord 1271 The Earldom of Toulouze was vacant by the decease of Jane the Daughter of Raimond and Wise of Alphonso Philip put himself into possession pursuant to the Terms of the Treaty made with Raimond in the year 1228. but it was King John that annexed it to the Crown Year of our Lord 1271 This year died Richard pretended King of the Romans The year after his Brother Henry III. King of England followed him and his Son Edward I. of that name who was in the Holy Land succeeded Year of our Lord 1272 Year of our Lord 1272 In a Bloody Quarrel the Earl of Armagnac had against Gerard Lord of Casaubon his Vassal it hapned that Roger Earl de Foix whom the Earl of Armagnac had called to his aid pursued Gerard and besieged him in a Castle belonging to the King whither he was fled and had put himself under his Protection The King angry for the little Respect these Earls had for him marched into those Countries with an Army capable of striking a terrour to the very heart of Spain He besieged Roger in his Castle de Foix and being resolved to level a Mountain wich hindred his approach
Nations when the accidental Quarrel of an English Mariner with a Mariner of Normandy upon the Coast of Guyenne where they had landed to take in fresh Water set them against one another First Ship and Ship endeavour'd to plunder or take what they could singly on each side then they brought Fleet against Fleet. The English had the worst their King Edward demanded restitution of such Merchants Goods as had been made Prize in these Scuffles Philip on the contrary Summons him to appear in his Court of Parliament as his Vassal Edward sent his Brother Edmund but Philip not satisfied with that caused him to be declared Contumacious and ordered his Lands should be seized Year of our Lord 1292. 1293. In Execution of this Decree the year following the Constable Rodolph de Nesle seized several Cities in Guyenne and even that of Bourdeaux which was the Capital Thus a Riot between Private Men blew their little Sparks of Contention into a flame of War which one may say proved very fatal to France since it gave way to the overthrowing of her ancient Laws and Liberties and the introducing and establishment of divers Charges and Subsidies on the People The increase and burthen whereof is ordinarily followed with Revolutions and Seditions as it fell out this year by a great Commotion hapning at Rouen but which had the same end and event as all the like Enterprizes generally come to that is to say the Hanging of the most froward and hottest and the Banishment or Ruine of the rest Year of our Lord 1294 The King of England vexed at the loss of those places in Guyenne sollicited all Princes against France particularly the Emperor Adolph with great Sums of Money and Guy de Dampierre Earl of Flanders with the hopes oâ— the Marriage of his Son Prince of Wales with Philippetta that Earls Daughter Adolph sent to defie the King in haughty language but they gave him no other answer but a Sheet of white Paper For which he shewed no other Resentment but by Threats and so turned his Arms against some German Rebels Year of our Lord 1294 As for Guy having been allured to Paris with his Wife and Daughter by Letters from the King fraught with Expressions of Kindness he was much amazed to find himself made a Prisoner there It is true that about a Twelve month after himself and his Wife were set at liberty but his Daughter they kept still to break the Measures of that Match too pernicious to the French Year of our Lord 1294 In the year 1294 the Cardinal Benedict Cajetan by intrigues or by deceit and fourbery obliged Pope Celestin to resign the Popedom and by the same Methods got himself to be elected he was named Boniface VIII His Ancesters were Originally Catalonians and had taken the name of Cajetan because they first dwelt near Cajeta before they transplanted themselves to the City of Anagnia where he was born Year of our Lord 1294 At his advancement to that Dignity he endeavours to mediate a Peace between all Christian Princes He could not procure it between France and England but he setled that between Arragon and France King Alphonso was dead and James his Brother succeeded him It was agreed that Charles Earl of Valois should renounce the Kingdom of Arragon wherein he had been invested by Pope Martin V. upon which Condition the Arragonian repudiating Isabella de Castille for being too nigh of Kin should Marry his Laughter set the three Sons of Charles the Lame and other Hostages at liberty and surrender Sicily and what he had Conquer'd in Abruzza but Frederic his younger Brother to whom Alphonso had by his last Testament will'd that Kingdom got himself to be named King by the Sicilians Since then that which we call the Kingdom of Sicilia was dismembred in two that beyond the Fare which was the Island and that on this side which they called the Kingdom of Naples They were again re-joyned in Anno 1503. and are to this day in the same hands Year of our Lord 1295 The Sons of Charles the Lame being set at liberty the eldest named Charles entred into the Order of the Friers Minors The following year he was by the Pope promoted to the Archbishoprick of Thoulouze which he accepted not of till after he had made his Vows The King of Englands heart was much set upon two things the one to Subject the Kingdom of Scotland and the other to recover the Tows in Guyenne He thought the first was pretty well advanc'd having obliged Baliol to render him Homage and to compass the second he prepared a mighty Fleet and had strengthned himself with Friends and Alliances But Philip to prevent his designs induced the King of Scotland already threatned by his Subjects who scorned to subject themselves to the English to break the Treaty he had made with Edward and Allie himself with France and for security of this new Bond of Alliance he promised to give the eldest Daughter of the Earl of Valois to his eldest Son whose name was Edward At the same time he caused the People of Wales also to rise who out of a wild and untamed humour for Liberty were easily heated and drawn into the Field The great devastations and spoil they made this time in Pembrook-shire and thereabout broke all the King of England's Measures He was forced to go in Person that way to stop their progress and lay aside the business of Guyenne till he had quell'd those hot and stubborn old Enemies as he did having overmaster'd almost all of them in four Months time About this time the Principality of Milan and Neighbouring Cities was fixed and perpetuated in the Family of the Vicounts to which Otho Vicount Archbishop of Milan contributed not a little Matthew his Brothers Son was created the first Year of our Lord 1295 Duke this year 1295. and took the Investiture of the Emperor Adolph who likewise gave him the Vicarship or Vicegerency of the Empire in Lombardy Year of our Lord 1295 In Pistoya a City in Tuscany as then powerful enough it hapned that the rich and numerous Family of the Cancellary were divided in two Factions the one of the White the other of the Black The first joyned themselves with the Guelphes the second with the Ghibelins and that fury and madness spread over all Italy and caused insinite Seditions and Murthers Year of our Lord 1295 Pope Boniface was Proud Haughty Imperious and Undertaking he thought all the Princes of the Earth must bow to his Commands but he found a Philip of France at the head of them a young Prince of no very patient Humour more Potent then any one of his Predecessors and who had a Council consiting of People that were Year of our Lord 1295 stout and impetuous So that Boniface who ardently pursued the Design he aimed at to oblige all Kings to the Holy War having sent to tell both him and the King of England that they must make
the rest were so overloaden It was perhaps for these reasons they were accused for having by a Compact made with the Jews these had been restored in the Reign of Lewis Hutin and Intelligence with the Turks cast some of their Ordures or some Bags of Poyson into the Wells and Fountains thereby to infect all those that were in Health with their fowl Leprosie or else to poyson them They were besides guilty of several Crimes against nature so that great numbers were condemned to the Fire the rest shut up very close within their Lazar-Hospitals As for the Jews the Populace did justice upon those themselves and burned a great many The King drove the whole Nation of them out of the Realm Year of our Lord 1321 His Council had resolved to settle over all France the same Weights the same Measures and the same Coyns but as under the pretence of some Expence and Charges they would be at they would likewise take the Fifth part of the Subjects Goods The Princes and Prelates who had a right of Coyning Money would not suffer the Kings Commissaries to go on in this Reformation they appealed to the Estates and Leagued themselves with the Cities so that the Impost being not raised the Reglement was let alone Year of our Lord 1322 During these Disturbances Philip loaden with the Curses of his People and hated of the Clergy because of his too frequent exaction of the Tenths fell sick of a Quartan Ague wherewith he langushed five whole Months and in the end died at Bois de Vincennes the Third day of January He lived One and thirty years and Reigned Five years and six weeks His Corps was conveyed with Ceremony to St. Denis his Heart to the Cordeliers at Paris his Bowels to the Jacobins Ever Year of our Lord 1322 since St. Lewis these good Fathers claim it as a special Right to have some part of the Entrails of our Kings which were not given them without Foundations He Married but one Wife to wit Jane who was Daughter of Othenine Earl of Burgundy and was also his only Heirese her Sister Blanch having been forced to Encloister her self to expiate her Crime By this Jane he had Three Daughters Jane Countess of Burgundy and Artois who Married Eudes IV. Duke of Burgundy and brought him these two Earldoms Margaret who had for Husband Lewis Earl of Flanders Nevers and Rhetel and Isabella who first Married Guignes Dauphin of Viennois and afterwards John Baron de Fanlcongmey in Franche-Comte Charles IV. King XLVIII POPE JOHN XXII During all this Reign CHARLES IV. Called the Fair King of France XLVIII and enjoying the Kingdom of Navarre Aged Twenty eight years Year of our Lord 1322 THe Succession of the Males being well setled Charles came to the Throne and was Crowned at Reims the Eleventh of February without any opposition all the Pairs assisting thereat excepting the King of England and the Earl of Flanders The named Gerard de la Guerre Native of Clermont in Auvergne and of mean Parentage had held the Soveraign management of the Treasury under Philip the Long and had been the grand Projector of the Imposts In the beginning of this Reign being sought for and taken for his Depredations he was put to the Wrack and Examined which they did so rudely that he died in the midst of those Torments This prevented not the dragging his Body thorough the Streets and hanging him on the Gallows at Paris There was afterwards a general search made for all the Farmers and such as were any ways concerned in the Revenues who were for the most part Lombards and Italians horrible Usurers and Exacters Their Goods were all Consiscate and they sent back into their own Country as beggerly as they came thence The King had been indulgent enough in not putting his Wife Blanch to Death who had been condemned for Adultery When he came to the Crown the desire of having Children prompted him to repudiate her under pretence of Parentage and after she had taken on the Vail at Maubuisson he Espoused Mary Daughter of the Emperor Henry of Luxembourg Who dying in the year 1324. in her first Child-bed and the Infant some few days after he Married for the thrid time Jane Daughter of Lewis Earl of Evreux his Uncle having to that end obtained a Dispensation from the Pope After the death of Lewis de Nevers Earl of Rhetel which hapned at Paris for he had retir'd himself into the Court of France and also the death of Robert de Bethune his Father Earl of Flanders which followed soon after the eldest Son of Lewis bearing his Fathers name enjoy'd all those three Earldoms But Robert de Cassel his Uncle pretending to be the nearest by one degree because he was the Son of Robert whereas Lewis was but Grandson presented himself to the King demanding the Investiture of that of Flanders In the mean while Lewis went immediately to take possession without rendring him that Devoir Which so irritated the King that although this young Prince were his Nephew he caused him to be summoned before the Parliament and kept him Prisoner The Parliament taking this weighty Affair into their Cognisance pronounced in favour of Lewis who being set at liberty did Homage to the King and gave Oath never to re-demand the Cities of Lisle Douay and Orchies The King confirmed the Appennage given by the Father to Robert de Cassel He likewise made an Agreement between William Earl of Haynault and Holland with Lewis who desisted from disputing with him for the Islands of Walcheren One Jordain Lord of the Island in Aquitain had committed many enormous Crimes and Murthered an Usher of the Kings with his own Mace as he was summoning him to appear in Parliament He was notwithstanding so much a fool as to come to Paris trusting to his great Alliances and upon his having Married the Neece of Pope John XXII But for all those Considerations he was committed Prisoner to the Chaâ—tellet and by Sentence dragg'd at a Horses Tail and hung up on the Gallows at Paris Year of our Lord 1323 and 24. The King had cause to compalin of Edward because he had not assisted at his Coronation and that his Seneschal of Bourdelois had placed a Garison in a Castle which the Lord de Montpesat had built in a place which was Land belonging to France Wherefore after some Negotiations in which the English seemed not to proceed fairly he sent Charles de Valois his Uncle into Guyenne who set so close upon the Skirts of Edmond Earl of Kent Brother to King Edward in the City de la Reoule that he obliged him to Capitulate and then pass immediately over into England to persuade his Brother to give the King satisfaction promising that if he could not obtain it to return as his Prisoner In the mean time the Earl of Valois made an end of the Conquest of Guyenne excepting only Bourdeaux St. Sever and Bayonne Year of our Lord 1324 and
Windore Charles Prince of Duras who was likewise of the blood of the Kings of Sicilia and had espoused Mary the Sister of Jane was Counsellor and Author of this infamous act Jane was not innocent well might she lament and sigh her cries and tears signified less towards her justification then her subsequent Marriage with Lewis her Cousin-German a lovely Prince and according to her desires made for her conviction Lewis the Great King of Hungary being come into Italy to revenge the death of his Brother Andrew and to get the Kingdom Treated Charles de Duras in the same manner as they had used King Andrew He would have done the like to the Princess and her fair Husband had they fallen into his hands for which reason she fled away in good time to her County of Provence and her Husband soon after her The Pope shewed her great respect but taking advantage of the extreme necessity she was reduced unto he got from her the City and County of Avignon for which he was to give but Fourscore thousand Gold Florins of Florence but over and besides this bargain he approved her Marriage with Prince Lewis who in requital ratified this sale It belongs to the Lawyers to judge whether the minority of this Queen and the Edicts she afterwards made to declare null all alienations of the Lands in Provence which had been made as well in the Reign of Robert as by her self whilst she was yet a Minor do not make this Contract void and null but the Emperour Charles IV. confirmed it and wholly freed this County from the subjection of the Empire of whom it held as being an Under-Fief of the Kingdom of Arles We ought to know that when the Earls Alphonso de Toulouze and Raimond Berenger of Barcelona married the two Daughters of Gilbert â—arl of Provence and parted his Succession between them whereof Alphonso had all from the Durance to the Lisere with the Title of a Marquisate and Raimond what is from the Durance to the Sea with that of an Earldom they likewise divided the City of Avignon betwixt them and that the Kings of France as Successors to Alphonso de Poitiers Brother of St. Lewis who married the Heyress of Toulouze had enjoy'd the one moity till the year 1290. When Charles the Fair gave it to Charles II. King of Sicilia upon the Marriage of Charles de Valois his Brother with Margaret the Daughter of that King The Lords of Montmorency de Charny and others who commanded the French Forces in Artois and Picardy thinking it might not be amiss to recover Calais during the Truce held some intelligence with Aymery of Pavia a Lombard Captain in that City but the double-hearted Traitor gave ear to them only to surprize them he gave notice of it to Edward who desiring to be of the party passed the Sea with â—ight hundred Men at Arms that this great draught might not break out of the Net so that when it came to be put in execution they found themselves unfortunately caught in the toyl with the Twenty thousand Crown bargain and a thousand select Men whereof One hundred of them who had engaged themselves in a Tower belonging to the Castle and the rest who waited for entrance were charged and cut in pieces after a brave defence In the Month of August of the year 1348. there appeared on the side of Paris a kind of Comet or Star extraordinary Luminous the Sun being not then Set it appeared as not very far distant from the Earth the following night it was thought to be much greater and divided in several Rayes but soon after it disappeared Year of our Lord 1348 France was miserably tormented all manner of ways it had undergone a horrible Famine Anno 1338. and after that the spoil the Soldiers made had caused every thing to be held excessive dear and kept the whole Kingdom in great scarcity This year 1348. A cruel Plague made all the Provinces desolate the Exactions worse then all these Plagues together ruined the People utterly and by I know not what curse the more the Taxes were increased the more indigent was the King Year of our Lord 1348 There never had been any Plague more furious and destructive then that in Ann. 1348. It was universal over all our Hemisphere there was neither City nor Village nor House but was infected It began in the Kingdom of Cathay Anno 1346. by a vapour that was most horrible stinking which breaking out of the Earth like a king of subterraneal Fire consumed and devoured above Two hundred Leagues of that Countrey even to the very Trees and Stones and infected the Air in such manner that there fell down millions of young Serpents and other venemous Infects From Cathay it passed into Asia and Greece thence into Africk afterwards into Europe which it ransacked throughout to the very utmost bounds of the North. The venome was so contagious that it infected by the very sight It was observed to last Five Months in its full force and rage where once it had got footing Those that suffered least by the Sword of this exterminating Angel could hardly save one Third of the Inhabitants but in many places it did not leave above the Fifteenth or the Twentieth person alive Year of our Lord 1348 Money was wanting they set upon squeezing the Officers of the Treasury amongst others Peter des Essards the Kings Treasurer was condemned to the sum of a hundred thousand Gold Florins which was moderated to the half Afterwards to stop the peoples Mouths and daily complaints they chose out for the management of the Treasury two Bishops two Abbots and four Knights and they expelled all the Italian Usurers called Lombards out of the Kingdom The principal Lottery-Money they had lent was taken and confiscated to the King this was but about Four hundred thousand Livres but their Use-Money which was two Millions was remitted to the Owners Year of our Lord 1348 Queen Jane Daughter of Robert Duke of Burgundy being dead in the year 1349 King Philip though he were yet in mourning weeds took fire for Blanch Daughter of Philip King of Navarre He had sent for her to be Married to his Son but he liked her best for himself and did wed her Year of our Lord 1349 There had been for many years a mortal War between the Earls of Savoy and the Dauphins de Viennois The Dauphin Humbert feeble in Body and Courage not able to endure the continual Attaques of Amé VI called the Earl Verd and besides being very melancholy for the loss of his only Son withal over Head and Ears in debt and having no love for his kindred bethought himself of giving up his Countrey to some great potentate who might plague and put the Savoyard to as much trouble as he had put him His inclination was to make an accommodation with the Pope the People could have wished to be under the Government of the Savoyard that they might
came about twice as many from such as held places in Normandy and Mayne which they sold to go and joyn with him The four bravest Captains he had about him were the above-named Caurelee Eustace d'Auberticour a Hennuyer John Chandois Seneschal of Poitou Thomas Piercy Seneschal of Rochel and Robert Knolles all English To the last of these four he gave the Command of his Forces To the force of Arms the Wise King joyned the power of Religion and Eloquence which can do all things on the hearts of the People He ordered Fasts and Processions to be made over all his Kingdom and sometimes he went himself bare-footed with the rest When at the same time the Preachers made out his Right and Title with the justice of his Cause and the injustice of the English Which had two ends the one to bring back again those French Provinces which had been yielded by the Treaty of Bretigny the other to make those that were under him willing to suffer the Contributions and all other inconveniencies of War The Archbishop of Toulouze alone by his Persuasions and Intrigues regained above fifty Cities or Castles in Guyenne amongst others that of Cabors The King of England would have practised the same methods on his part and sent an Amnesty or general Pardon to the Gascons with an Oath upon the Sacred Body of Jesus Christ to raise no more new Imposts but all this could not reclaim those minds that had bent themselves another way Divers incursions were made by the French into Guyenne and Poitou and by the English into the Neighbouring Countries and in one of them these last took Isabella de Valois the Widow Dutchess of Bourbon and Mother to the Queen of France at her Castle of Bellepeche in Bourbonnois She was afterwards exchanged for the Prince of Wales his Knight The Earls of Cambridge and Pembrook marched even to Anjou and there took the strong Castle de la Roche-sur-Yon from whence they scowred all the Country as they likewise did that of Berry having gained the City of St. Severe which is situate in Limosin upon that Frontier But on their side they suffer'd more loss by far then all this came to the most considerable being that of Chandois who was unfortunately slain in a Rencounter near the Bridge of Lensac in Poitou Besides the ordinary Troops which they called Companies the Lords and Gentlemen often came together and of their own accord drew themselves into a Body for some great Enterprize or else to make Incursion then after such a Riding so they then called it they returned back to their own homes again King Charles had undertaken to raise an Army that should land some Forces in England his Brother Philip was to Command it and they were to take Shipping at Harsleur When he was ready to go on board the Vessels the news was brought him that John Duke of Lancaster King Edwards third Son was landed at Calais and made inroads upon the French Country He was advised to quit his design and turn his force that way Lancaster seeing him in the Field posted himself upon the Hill de Tournehan between Ardres and Guisnes Philip encamps right against him as either to attaque or surround him but before he had been long there grew weary and disbanded his Men. Thus Lancaster had leisure and opportunity to over-run the Country of Caux even to Harfleur and at his return the Country of Pontieu where he took Prisoner Hugh de Chastillon Master of the Cross-bow-men who had seized upon that Country in the name of the King At the same time the Dukes of Guelders and Juliers moved by the Charms of English Sterling Coyn sent to defie the King who soon set up the Duke of Brabant and the Count de Saint Pol to coap with them as taking fire upon some particular Interest There hapned a furious Battle between both Parties at Baeswilder betwixt the Rhine and the Meuse which brought those Princes very low On the one side the Duke of Juliers was slain on the other the Duke of Brabant was taken Prisoner The Emperor his Brother released him and made up the Quarrel Year of our Lord 1369 The Estates being Assembled the Seventh of December granted to the King an Imposition of a Sol or Penny per Liver upon Salt of four Livers upon every Chimney in the Cities and thirty Sols in the Country as likewise upon the sale of Wine in the Country the 13th in Gross and the 4th upon Retail and upon entry at Paris fifteen Sols for every Pipe of French Wine and twenty four per Pipe for Burgundy Wine To which the Cities joyfully consented as knowing these Levies would be well managed and cease again with the War Year of our Lord 1369 The same year 1369. Hugh Aubriot Prevost des Merchands caused the Towers of the Bastille to be built near the Gate St. Antoine the same as we find them at this day Year of our Lord 1370 The first years War had not produced any very considerable event the two Kings prepared themselves with all their might to perform greater matters the second All the four Brothers of France having held Counsel together resolved that the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Berry should attaque Guyenne that the former should enter about Toulouze in that part that lieth betwixt the two Seas the other about Berry in Limosin and that they should both joyn at Limeges to besiege the Prince of Wales there Year of our Lord 1370 To this effect they thought fit to recal du Guesclin out of Spain where King Henry had bestow'd upon him the Earldom of Molines and the Lands of Soria He came upon the Kings first commands and having joyned the Duke of Anjou took as he was upon his march the Towns of Moissac Tonneins Aiguillon and other Castles less considerable along the Garonne On his part the Duke of Berry made himself Master of Limoges more by his Intelligence with the Citizens and the Bishop who betrayed the Prince of Wales though his Gossip and very good Friend then by his Sword After this the two Brothers knowing that the Prince too Politick to suffer himself to be cooped up had taken the Field discharged their Soldiers Year of our Lord 1370 The King of England on his part had sent the Duke of Lancaster with some Companies of Men at Arms and Archers into Guyenne and given the Command of all his Army about Picardy to Robert Knolls It consisted of above Thirty thousand Men. His march struck a terror through all France even to the Loire for they sacaged Vermandois Champagne and la Brie burnt all round about Paris made the sound of their Trumpets eccho in the very Gates of the Louvre while neither the smoak of those Incendiaries nor the noise of their Martial Musick could move the wise King to hazard any thing nor let one Soldier go out to the Enemy Year of our Lord 1370 Du Guesclin
Flowers upon their Heads and taking Hands with one another went into the Streets and Churches Dancing Singing and running round with so much violence that they fell down for want of breath This agitation made them swell so prodigiously they would have burst had not great pains and care been taken to swathe them with bands about their Bellies immediately such as looked on them too attentively were often infected with the same distemper Some believed it an operation of the Devil and that Exorcisms did much help them The vulgar named it The Dance of St. JOHN Year of our Lord 1375 Upon the instant and continual exhortations of the Pope the two Kings entred into a Negotiation to compose their differences For this an Assembly was held at Bruges in Flanders whither they sent their nearest Princes of their Blood and the most illustrious Lords of their Kingdoms It lasted almost two years incredible expence There was first a Truce made for a year to commence in the month of May of this year 1375. which being concluded the Duke of Lancaster and the Duke of Bretagne passed into England Bretagne not being comprehended their Duke returns with an Army of English and partly by force partly by correspondence regained St. Mahé St. Brieue and seven or eight other places whilst John d'Evreux Brother to the King of Navarre made great spoil and waste all about Kemperlay He had built a Fort thereabouts for his retreat from whence he very much incommoded that City Clisson Roban Beaumanoir and other Lords of Bretagne besieged him in it The Duke hastned thither to deliver him they quickly marched off he pursues them and besieged them in Kemperlay Now when they were just ready to be exposed to his mercy he would have shewed but little to those whom he proclaimed Traitors and Rebels a second Truce wherein they comprized him drew them most fortunately out of his hands Year of our Lord 1375 The minority of the King of France if I do not deceive my self lasted to the age of Twenty years and during all that time all Command all Orders and all Acts were made under the name of the Regent The wise King considered that an Authority so absolute might force or snatch the Crown from his Son if he left him a Minor That the people were it error or custom did not willingly acknowledge a Prince for their King till he was Crowned and that it might be feared lest the Duke of Anjou should make them believe by some former examples or presidents that they ought to chuse one that was in Majority and capable to Govern For these reasons or for others we are ignorant of he made his memorable Ordonnance by the advice of the Princes Lords Prelates University and other notable persons which imports That the eldest Sons of France as soon as they have attained to the age of Fourteen years should be held for Majors and capable of being Crowned and that they should receive the Homage and Oaths of sidelity from their Subjects This was made at the Bois de Vincennes in the month of August 1374. and verified in Parliament the Twentieth of May of the following year We must not however imagine that he believed as much King as he was that he could advance the course of Nature and give his Son the Sence and Wit that age alone can bestow since the same Year and the same Month he made a Declaration which mention'd that in case he died before his Son should have attained to the age of Fourteen years he left the Guardianship and Government of him and of his other Children as also the Government and Defence of the Kingdom to the Queen Mother she was then living and joyned with her the Dukes of Burgundy and of Bourbon with a necessary and sufficient Council of near Forty persons Year of our Lord 1376 The Popes Legats remained still constantly at Bruges and kept the Ambassadors of both Crowns there with them to labour for a Peace But the Propositions on either side being at too great a distance to be brought to a meane they obtained at least a prolongation of the Truce to the Month of April in the year 1377. In Gascongne the Earl of Armagnac thinking to take revenge upon the Earl de Foix who had beaten him increased both his shame and loss He had taken the little City of Caseres and put himself into the place without providing it with Ammunition the Earl de Foix besieges him and without striking a blow reduces him to the extreamest want but he would not agree to give him and his their Lives but upon condition that they should creep out thorough a hole made purposely in the Year of our Lord 1376 Wall which they could not do but by crawling with their Bellies upon the ground nor were they quit for all this affront the Earl of Armagnac and twenty more of the principal paid great ransoms before they could be released The King of Navarre pass'd his word for that of the Sire d'Albret Year of our Lord 1377 During the long absence of the Popes Italy had accustom'd it self to disregard and disown them The People of Rome set up themselves as several petty Tyrants to preserve some Image of their Liberty and by the same Spirit the Cities belonging to the Ecclesiastical State at the sollicitation and with the aid of the Florentines had shaken off the yoak and turned out his Apostolical Legats Gregony IX thinking to redress these disorders and besides being earnestly pressed by St. Bridget of Sweden and by St. Catherine of Sienna two persons who were thought to have a very frequent Commerce with Heaven resolved to transfer the Holy See back to Rome from whence it had been removed Seventy two years He departed from Avignon the three and twentieth of September embarqued at Marseilles and after very great dangers on the Sea Signes of the agitations that change had wrought in the Church he arrived at Rome the Twenty seventh of January following Year of our Lord 1377 King Edward in the mean while had lost the brave Prince of Wales his eldest Son who had left a Son named Richard very young and for two years past found himself much broken and his Brain decay'd with weight of continual business and contention though he were but 65 years of age This was it made him desire to have a Peace and made him willing to relinquish many Articles of the Treaty of Bretigny But death prevented the effects of that disposition and took him out of the World the 21 of June His Grandson Richard II. Surnamed of Bourdeaux succeeded him He had seven Sons whereof five only lived to Mens Estate and were Married those were Edward Lyonel John Edmond and Thomas Edward was the brave Prince of Wales for the other four the First was Duke of Clarence the Second of Lancaster both of them by the Heiresses of those two Houses and the Third Earl of Cambridge then Duke of York the Fourth
mean time were forced to dissemble till they could have fit opportunity to declare the Truth and to write Letters to all Princes that his Election was Canonical however they gave notice to the King of France that he should give no faith to their Letters till they were out of danger But when upon pretence of avoiding the extream heats in Rome they were retired to Anagnia being moreover offended at the proud deportment of Bartholomew they made the Truth of the matter of Fact known to all Princes admonished Bartholomew three several times to desist from pretending to the Papacy since he well knew they had no intention to elect him and afterwards they proceeded judicially against him and declared him an intruder That done they retired to Fundy under protection of the Earl of that place and there elected one of the six Cardinals Year of our Lord 1379 that had remained in France This was Robert Brother of Peter Earl of Geneva whose Courage was as high as his Birth He took the Name of Clement VII France after several Assemblies had been held of the most Learned of the Clergy and the most judicious Prelats and Nobility adhered to Clement the Kings of Castille and of Scotland who were his Allies did the same the Earl of Savoy and Jane Queen of Naples also although in the beginning she had protected his Competitor But all the rest of Christendom owned Vrban the Navarrois the English and the Flemmings out of spite to France the Italians to preserve the Papacy in their Year of our Lord 1378 and 79. Nation the Emperour in acknowledgment because that Pope before he was ever required had made haste to confirm the election of Wenceslaus his Son the King of Hungary that he might have a pretence to dispoliate the Queen of Naples and the rest for divers interests Peter King of Arragon remained Neutre At first Clement was well armed and in a condition to over-top his adversary having in his service one Sylvester Bude a Captain of Bretagne with Two thousand old Adventurers of that Nation who took the Castle St. Angelo defeated the Romans in Rome it self and made themselves Masters of the City But after another famous Captain who was an Englishman and was named Hacket otherwhile Head of the ✚ Bands of the Tard-Venus and now in the service of Vrban had vanquished and taken him prisoner Clements Affairs went on so ill that he was driven out of Italy and retiring himself to Avignon left his Rival sole Master of Rome This Schisme lasted Forty years either party having great Persons Saints Miracles and Revelations as they said and even such strong Arguments and Reasons on his side that the dispute could never be decided but by way of Cession that is by obliging the two Contenders to abdicate the Papacy so that it is great boldness to call those Anti-Popes who during this Schisme held the See at Avignon Year of our Lord 1379 The death of the Emperour Charles IV. fell out upon the Nine and twentieth of November in the year 1378. in the City of Prague the 63 year of his age Wenceslaus his Son who was elected King of the Romans in the year 1376. succeeded him in the Empire and the Kingdom of Bohemia a Prince deformed both in Body and Soul Year of our Lord 1379 It was a kind of Rebellion in the Earl of Flanders to own any other Pope then his King had done and indeed he shewed him ill will for it and more yet towards the Breton who encouraged him in his obstinacy Besides it had so fortuned that the Flemming by the Counsel of that Duke had caused one of his Envoyes to be staid who was passing thorow his Countrey on his way to Scotland to incite Robert Stewart to break the Truce with the English The King made complaint to the Flemming and Commanded him to drive the Breton out of his Countreys but the Flemming having taken advice of his People who assured him of Two hundred thousand Combatants in case he were attaqued refused to give him that satisfaction The Breton nevertheless went out of Flanders and took refuge in England The place of his retreat aggravated his crime the King orders him to be summoned to appear in Parliament to be judged by his Pairs Not presenting himself he was declar'd by Sentence of the Ninth of December attainted of the crime of Felony and all his Lands as well in Bretagne as all others he held in the Kingdom consiscated for having defied the King his Sovereign Lord and for having entred the Countrey in Arms with the enemies of the Kingdom That which in appearance seemed likeliest to ruine this Duke raised him The Bretons who for a thousand years past had so generously fought for the liberty of their Countrey having discover'd that the King designed more against the Dutchy it self then the Duke alone and that he would take it away from the guilty only to apply it to himself began to complain to withdraw from their affection to the French to re-unite amongst themselves and to make divers Leagues and Associations between the Cities and the Nobless Even the Widow of Charles de Blois by Counsel of the friends of her House sent to protest against that Decree and alledged that Bretagne was not subject or liable to consiscation because it was not a Fief and that if the Dukes had submitted their persons by obliging themselves to certain Service it was not their power to subject their Countrey This year a most cruel War was kindled in Flanders which lasted Seven years The interior cause of this inflammation was the Luxury of the Nobility and the dissolute and excessive expences of the Earl the occasion was a quarrel that rose between one called John Lyon and the Matthews who were six Brothers both the one and the other were very powerful amongst the Navigators or Mariners and between the Cities of Ghent and Bruges for a certain Canal or River which those of Bruges would needs make The Earl took part with these and was cause that John Year of our Lord 1379 Lyon formed against him a faction of White Hats in the City of Ghent He sets up the Matthews to oppose and countermine them John Lyon was found to be the stronger and pushed the contest on to the utmost extremity The Duke of Anjou was mighty greedy of Money and a great exactor his People by his Order or upon their own Authority having laid some new Imposts upon the City of Montpellier which was under his Government but of the Propriety of the King of Navarre the People mutined and killed Fourscore of them amongst which number were his Chancellour and the Governour The Duke hastned thither with some Forces and caused a most horrible Sentence to be given for punishment of that crime but it was moderated almost in every point by the intercession of his Holiness excepting against the Authors of that Sedition who paid down their Heads for it
his Wife inflamed his covetoufness as his birth and quality inspired him with pomp and magnificence So that being possessed with two contrary passions of getting and spending he succeeded his Uncle the Duke of Anjou and even exceeded him in the unjust desire of pillaging the Kingdom and snatching away the Goods of other People Year of our Lord 1389 Upon the Popes intreaty the King made a journey to Avignon where he was present at the Coronation of Lewis of Anjou by the Popes hands From thence he went into Languedoc where he took information of the Duke of Berry's exactions of which he heard daily complaints They punished this Prince in his Ministers by casting out several of the worst Officers and making the Process of John Betisac principal Counsellor and Minister of his violence He was burnt alive for a crime against nature and this was a Bon-fire to the People whom he had most horribly vexed and abused From Toulouze the King went into the Countrey of Foix. Gaston Phebus received him magnificently and having rendred him homage for his Countrey intreated him that he would be his Heir which was to deprive Matthew Vicount de Castelbon his Cousin-german by the Father of his Succession and get some share of it to fall upon his natural Son At his return he took away the Government of Languedoc from the Duke of Berry and bestow'd it upon the Lord de Chevreuse but five years after he restored it again to him as he was going to make War upon the Duke of Bretagne A Second time the Duke of Bourbon upon a request the Genoese made to the King for his assistance against the Barbarians of Tunis who by their continual Piracies interrupted all manner of Trade fitted out a Fleet wherein were Five hundred Men at Arms all Knights or Esquires and a great number of Cross-bow Men. Philip de Artois Earl of Eu the Count de Harcour the Admiral John de Vienne Charles Sire d'Abret were Voluntiers the Earl of Derby Son to the Duke of Lancaster would needs be amongst them with some Forces made up of his own Countrey-men Being joyned with the Genoese they laid Siege to the City of Carthage at that time the Bulwark of the Kingdom of Tunis The enterprize was greater then their Forces at six weeks end they found themselves so disordered through the heats of the Climate Labour and Wounds that although they had gained a great Battle yet they lost either their hopes or courage and re-embarqu'd again the Genoese only had the craft to take advantage of the King of Tunis by a private Treaty for liberty to Traffique Year of our Lord 1390 To continue the abatement of Imposts they ought to have retrench'd their expences at Court and the cupidity of the Ministers but both of these rather increasing then diminishing their exactions were renewed An honest Hermit the preceding year came to the King commanding him in the name of God not to oppress his Subjects The words and admonitions of this poor Man contemptible in the eyes of the Court having wrought no effect Heaven it self would make use of a more powerful voice and express'd it self in wrath About the midst of July while the Council were assembled at St. Germansen Laye to settle some new Impositions the King and Queen being the same instant at Mass on a suddain there arose such a dreadful strom of Wind Hail and Thunder as almost beat the Castle about the ears of those evil Counsellors and so terrify'd them they durst not go forward with their projects The Turks made mighty progress in Europe Sultan Amurat gained a bloody Battle in the Plains of Cosow against the Kings of Servia Bosina and Bulgaria but he perished there Bajazet his Son Surnamed the Thunder-bolt succeeded him About the same time Themir-lanc King of the Tartars raised himself to great power Year of our Lord 1391 Lewis the Kings Brother buys the County of Blois and that of Dunois or Chasteaudun with some other Lands of Earl Guy who had no Children He likewise got of the King the Dutchy of Orleans notwithstanding all the Remonstrances the Burghers of that City made by the mouth of their Bishop The chief ground of the mortal feud between the Houses of Orleans and Burgundy was their disputes for the Government Having been raked up now for a while this year it began to break forth anew The Duke of Orleans pretended to the administration as being nearest related and arrived at the age of Twenty years but the Estates being assembled at Paris gave their opinion for the Duke of Burgundy Gaston Phebus Earl of Foix who bare the name and devise of the Sun and who was so renowned for his Victories his Generosity his Buildings his Magnificence and his Train and Equipage equal to that of a King died suddenly as they were filling Water for him to wash his Hands before Supper after his return from Hunting He had made a Gift of his County to the King who not desiring to be beneath him in generosity returned it to his Bastard-Son From whence soe're it came or whose fault soe're it was the Treaty between the Duke of Bretagne and Clisson was broken The Duke was infinitely troubled that France should support his Subject against him and make a private Gentleman equal with him The King sent for both of them to Court the Duke far from coming thither renewed his antient Alliances with England Upon this day they dispatch Year of our Lord 1391 the Duke of Berry Peter de Navarre and divers other Lords to him to complain of the correspondence he held with strangers his Coyning of Moneys and making his Subjects give their Oaths to him and against all others He imagined this stately Embassy was only to stir up his People and was upon the point to seize on all of them as a pawn for his better security His Wife having some hint of it though she were great with Child and at that time half undress'd took up her Children in her Arms found him out and by the powerful influence and rhetorique of her Prayers and Tears made him change his mind and resolution She farther prevailed with him to go to Tours where the King was but he came with Six hundred Gentlemen and under the protection of the Duke of Burgundy his good Cousin The King Treated him very civilly and desired nothing more of him but only that he would pay the remainder of the hundred thousand Franc's to the Constable and give up some places to the Earl of Pontieure John Galeazo Viscount had usurped the Seigneury of Milan upon Bernard his Uncle whom he put to death in prison and had deprived his Son Charles and a Daughter married to Bernard Brother to the Earl of Armagnac of his Succession This Earl for his Brothers sake and upon the intreaty of the Florentines and Bolognians whom Galeaze oppressed marched into Lombardy to make War upon him Being more courageous then he he
to be carried in Bennets Artifice and his Money had gained some of the Grandees who contrived this for him Year of our Lord 1398 The Earl of Perigord Archambauld Taleyrand tormenting the Countrey with the help of the English to whom he had ally'd himself and especially the City of Perigueux which belonged to the King was forced in his Castle of Montagnac brought to the Parliament and condemned to death The King gave him pardon for his life but bestowed his forfeited Estate upon the Duke of Orleans Archambauld de Grailly Captal de Buch having a Right to the Earldom of Foix as having married the Sister of Earl Matthew dead without Children got into possession of it by the Sword The King would not endure this because he was a Vassal Year of our Lord 1399 to the English and from Father to Son very affectionate to that party He therefore sent the Mareschal de Sancerre who pursued him so close that he was compell'd to desire a Cessation during which he came to the King and submitted himself to the judgment of the Parliament giving up in the mean time his two Sons in Hostage The Parliament declared in his favour conditionally he would relinquish the English and the King put him in possession This was in the year 1400. Year of our Lord 1399 Constantinople was invested by the Turks and in the greatest danger Pera which is as the Suburbs to it and from whence they fetched all their Provisions was very likely to be taken It belonged to the Seignory of Genoa the Mareschal de Boucicaut going thither with only Twelve hundred Men secured it and by consequence the City After he had disengaged all the parts round about and made the Turks retire whom he worsted in several Rencounters his Pay and Soldiers failing him he came into France to sollicite for a greater reinforcement bringing the Emperour along with him leaving the Lord de Chasteaumoran in Constantinople to defend it The discords in the Court of England caused by the ill Government of Richard and the ambition of his Uncles ended in a most Tragical Catastrophe Henry Earl of Derby became Duke of Lancaster by the death of his Father puts King Richard prisoner in the Tower of London Deposed him by the Authority and Consent of Parliament who degraded and condemned him to a perpetual imprisonment Then he took the Crown the Eighteenth day of October and was anointed with a Holy Oyl which some English say was brought by the Virgin Mary to St. Thomas of Canterbury whilst he took refuge in France This Ampoulle or Bottle that contains the Oyl is of Lapis and on the top stands a Golden Eagle enriched with Pearls and Diamonds Notwithstanding this Unction some while afterwards he gives way to the out-cries of the People who demanded that the unfortunate King might be strangled The London Citizens held Richard in execration because he had deliver'd up Brest and Cherbourg to the French The Duke of Bretagne who enjoy'd some repose after the many traverses which Year of our Lord 1399 had disturbed him from his Infancy died the First day of November in the Castle of Nantes He left his Children to the custody not of his Wife Jean of Navarre but of the Duke of Burgundy and Oliver de Clisson who alone were able to trouble them He had three John Arthur and Giles In the Month of November of this year 1399. a Comet was seen of an extraordinary brightness and darting its train towards the West It appeared only for one weeks time and was by Prognosticators held as a sign of those great Revolutions Year of our Lord 1399 that hapned all Chistendom over especially in the Kingdom of Naples and the Empire Lewis of Anjou had peaceably enough enjoy'd the better part of the Kingdom of Year of our Lord 1399 Sicilia when Thomas de Sanseverin Duke de Venousia offended for that he did not conclude upon the Marriage of his Brother Charles Earl of Mayne with his Daughter made him odious to the Neopolitans and introduced Lancelot and his Mother into the City where he was Crowned King and invested by the Pope of Rome So that Lewis having only some Castles left returned into France to crave assistance The Electors could no longer endure the Vices and brutish drunkenness of Year of our Lord 1400 Wenceslaus they degraded him and in his stead elected Henry Duke of Brunswic a generous Prince and great Captain and this Henry being basely assassinated upon his return from the Diet by the Count of Waldeck they substituted Robert Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine who was of the Electoral Colledge The Duke of Milan fearing left he might dispossess him shout up all the passages and hindred him from going to take the Imperial Crown at Rome and Sigismund King of Bohemia having procured himself to be chosen Guardian to Wenceslaus his Brother under this Title made many of the German Princes of his party who adhered to the House of Luxemburgh or rather made this a colourable pretence to avoid the owning any Sovereign Year of our Lord 1400 This year 1400. the Court of France received Emanuel II. Emperour of Greece who came to give the King thanks for his assistance and to crave more help of him He met with all manner of good Entertainment but nothing else unless it were an annual Pension for his subsistence He remained almost two years in France at the and whereof news being brought of the defeat and taking of Bajazeth by Themir-Lanc the King lent him the Lord of Chasteaumorand with two hundred Men at Arms and gave him a sum of Moneyto re-conduct him to Constantinople There was not any thing of advantage presented it self which the Duke of Orleans did not embrace with passion he undertook the quarrel of degraded Wenceslaus Year of our Lord 1401 and raised a good force to restore him but being informed of the ruine of his whole party he came back again The desire to Rule and ambition for Government grew hotter every day betwixt him and the Duke of Burgundy Twice had they displaced each other from that advantageous Post and besides the Burgundian resented it highly that the Duke of Orleans would have the Duke of Bretagne to be thrust out of all who was his Wives Cousin-german and his own surest friend The frequent punctillo's between their Wives exasperated them more than their own true interests the Duke of Burgundy's being the elder Heiress of a vast Estate and sprung from very Noble Blood despising the other who in truth had been much beneath her had she not been considered as Wife of the Kings only Brother Year of our Lord 1401. and 2. The Duke of Orleans had then the upper hand and was seized of the management of Affairs the Burgundian could not quit his part both the one and the other got their friends together and Paris was surrounded with Soldiers The Orleannois had called in the Duke of Guelders with Five hundred
the Fortunate Islands a little Island which they named Madera because it was full of Wood or Materials fit for building From thence steering along the exteriour coasts of Africa they there discover'd several large Countries and in time sailed to the East-Indies which till then were unknown at least those parts towards the Sea Pope Martin and after him his Successors bestowed upon the Portugals all those Lands by them discover'd or to be discover'd from the Cape which lies at the end of Mount Atlas to the Indies When the King of England had sojourned some weeks at Paris he laid Siege to the City of Meaux the only place the Dauphin had left upon the Rivers of Seine and Year of our Lord 1420 Marne After a three Months brave defence the Besieged capitulated the ninth of May the Inhabitants had their lives and liberties but all the Soldiers were sent Prisoners to divers places where they let them cruelly perish for hunger The Bailiff named Lewis de Gas had his Head cut off in the Halles at Paris The City taken King Henry went into England to draw over a new supply of Men and Money So great was the fondness of the French for the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples that Lewis Duke of Anjou forgetting those disasters of his Father and Grandfather and abandoning his own Country to the mercy of the English suffers himself to be cajolled by the promises of the Pope and Sforza who called him to dispossess Queen Jane a Princess lost in her Reputation by her continual Galantries Year of our Lord 1421 or Amours The Affairs of Lewis being in a pretty good posture in that Country Alphonso King of Arragon who held the Island of Sicilia undertakes the protection of Jane she having adopted him her Son Sforza does reconcile himself to her and in a word there was nothing left for the poor Angevin but the way to walk home again Year of our Lord 1421 One of the first seeds of division between the English and the Duke of Burgundy was about Jacqueline Countess of Hainault Holland Zealand and Friseland After the death of John Dauphin of France they had Married her to John Duke of Brabant Son of Anthony and Cousin German to Duke Philip but the young Gossip not being satisfied with her second Husband a Man of little merit prosecuted for a Divorce and consederated with some Captains to carry her away as it were by force into England where she Married Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Brother of King Henry This undertaking turned much to the contempt of Philip who besides observed that the English began to treat him with more pride and endeavour'd so to settle their affairs as they might have no further need of him Year of our Lord 1421 The War was very hot in every Province on this side the Loire particularly in Champagne Picardy and in the Countries of Perche Maine and Anjou The Duke of Clarence Brother to King Henry having got together eight or ten thousand Men went and besieged Bauge in Anjou John Earl of Bouchain a Scot and the Mareschal de la Fayette marched to its relief gave him battle and won it He was slain upon the place with two thousand of his Men the rest escaped through the Country of Mayne into Normandy This Earl of Bouchain had brought three or four thousand Men from his own Country to the Dauphins service in recompence he gave him the Constables Sword Year of our Lord 1421 The Field being clearly left to the French the Dauphin accompanied with his new Constable and the Duke of Alenson regained some places in the Countries of Perche and the Chartrain In the mean time Henry being come back from England with a great reinforcement and in a rage and fury for the defeat and death of his Brother did endeavour all that was possible to meet with the Dauphin He marched by Chartres and Chasteaudun lodged in the Suburbs of Orleans and not meeting him in the Field but a violent Dysentery that took off three thousand of his Men he falls upon the City of Dreux which being surrendred upon Composition he goes to rest himself at Paris and sends over his Queen who was great with Child to be deliver'd in England Year of our Lord 1421 Whilst he lay at the Siege of Dreux an honest Hermit unknown to him came and told him the great evils he brought upon Christendom by his unjust ambition who usurped the Kingdom of France against all manner of right and contrary to the will of God wherefore in his holy name he threatned him with a severe and suddain punishment if he desisted not from his Enterprise Henry took this exhortation either for an idle whimsey or a suggestion of the Dauphinois and was but the more confirmed in his design Year of our Lord 1422 But the blow soon followed the threatning for within some few Months after he was smitten in the Fundament with a strange and incurable Disease the acuteness of its pain made him go to Senlis to seek for cure The Queen his Wife was a while before this returned out of England having brought forth a Son to whom they gave the same name as his Fathers Both she and her Husband made their entry with great splendour into Paris and kept open Court at the Louvre upon the Feast of Pentecost each Crowned with their Royal Diadems but the People that went to see the Ceremony had cause to regret regret the liberalities of their ancient Kings and detest the niggardliness or pride of the English who gave them none of their good Cheer nor did vouchsafe to profer them one Glass of Wine The Dauphin in the mean time had besieged the City of Cosne on the Loire and the place had capitulated to surrender if they were not relieved by a prefixed day with an Army able to give them battle The Duke of Burgundy got a great number of Men to go thither the Dauphin being informed of his march did not think fit to stay for him but raised his Siege Year of our Lord 1422 The King of England though already indisposed was gotten into his Litter that he might be present at this memorable Action While he was at Melun his distemper encreased so much that he could proceed no further but made them bring him back to Vincennes where he died the eight and twentieth day of August He had only one Son who was named Henry he left him to the education of the Cardinal of Winchester his Uncle who bred him in England gave the Government of that Kingdom to the Duke of Gloucester and the Regency of the Kingdom of France to John Duke of Bedford to whom he recommended above all things to give content to the Duke of Burgundy never to make any Peace with the Dauphin unless Normandy were yielded to be left in full Soveraignty to the English and not to release those Prisoners that were taken at the Battle of Azincour till his Son were
Salisbury having brought new Forces out of England began it upon the Twelfth of October of the year 1428. and made several Bastilles or Forts as well on the side towards la Beausse as that towards Soulogne having before cleared all the places in la Beauasse and all others for twelve or fifteen Leagues both above and beneath the Town along the River of Loire Year of our Lord 1428 All the year 1428. the Duke of Burgundy was busied in the Low-Countries in pursute of Jacqueline of Bavaria He followed her so close that having besieged her in the City of Ghent he compell'd her to declare him Heir to all her Lands so that to Flanders and Artois he joyned Hainault Holland Zealand and Frise and again the same year the Earldoms of Namur and Zutphen after the death of Count Theodoric who sold them to him only reserving the possession to himself during his life time Two years after in Anno 1430. there likewise fell to him the Dutchies of Lothier Brabant and Linbourgh the Marquissate of the Holy Empire and the Lordship of Antwerp by the decease of his Cousin Philip of Burgundy the second Son of Anthony who had succeeded to Duke John his elder Brother Husband of Jaqueline who died in the year 1426. In the beginning of this year he went to Paris to the Duke of Bedford whither came also some Ambassadors from King Charles and Deputies from Orleans to intreat him that he would suffer the said City to be sequestred into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy They remonstrated that the Princes of the House of Orleans who were Prisoners in England could have acted nothing for which they ought to be dispoiled of their Towns and that it would he sufficient to put them under Sequestration as a security for what they should do when they were set at liberty The English believing this important City was now as good as their own scoffed at the request they would not lose the time and Money they had expended in the Siege Besides Bedford granted but very little of those things which the Burgundian demanded However that he might not be exposed between two Enemies without any Party to support him he put on the masque of an apparent satisfaction upon the face of his discontent Their attaques at Orleans were very brave and the defence of the Besieged much braver yet the Earl of Salisbury lost his life by a Cannon shot but the French having been beaten near Rouvroy at their falling upon a Convoy of Herrings which was going to the Camp it was in Lent and the Constable being retired Malecontent into Bretagne the place was just going to fall and the courage of all the French with it The King was already diposing himself to retire into Dauphine When a most extraordinary thing pulled down the English pride and raised up the hopes of France About the end of February the Lord de Baudricourt Governor of Vaucouleurs in Champagne sent a Maiden to the King about the age of Eighteen or twenty years who affirmed that she had an express Commission from God to relieve Orleans and cause him to be Crowned at Reims being sollicited thereto by the frequent apparitions of Angels and Saints She was named Joan or Jane was Native of the Village of Damremy upon the Meuse Daughter of James of Ave and Isabella Gautier and bred to keep Sheep in the Country Her Vocation was confirmed by miraculous proofs for she knew the King though meanly habited amidst the throng from all his Courtiers The Doctors of Divinity and those that were of the Parliament who examined her declared that there was somewhat of Supernatural in her behaviour She sent for a Sword that lay in the Tomb of a Knight behind the high Altar in the Church of St. Catharine de Fierbois upon the Blade whereof were several Crosses and Flower-de-Luces graved and the King openly affirmed that she had devined a very great secret not known to any but himself They gave her therefore a suitable Equipage and some Forces yet did they not trust the conduct of this relief to her management but gave it to the Mareschal de Rieux and the Bastard of Orleans followed by many other brave Knights who understood the Trade When she had display'd her Banner whereon there were two Images one a Crucifix the other the Annunciation with the Sacred Names of Jesus-Maria she wrote to the English in the name of God That they should leave the Kingdom to the Lawful Heir if not then she would make them go perforce But they kept her Herauld Prisoner He was found in Fetters when the City was relieved and it was discover'd that they intended to have burnt him as a Confederate of hers whom they called a Witch Year of our Lord 1429 The success made good her threatnings From that very day all their Affairs declined When she had thrown Provisions into Orleans and soon after entred the City in Person the Besieged believing her to be sent from Heaven resumed courage made divers Salleys where she fought valiantly and in two or three days took their chief Bastilles and constrained them to decamp for good and all the Twelfth day of May. The French ran up and down every where with this Heroine as to a certain Victory the English fled before her as from a Thunder-Bolt and durst not stand her approach They were chaced from Jargeau from Beaugency beaten at Patay in Beausse upon a retreat and in fine dislodged from all the places in those Countries Year of our Lord 1429 Touching the second point of her Commission she over-ruled it in the Council that the King should go to Reims to be Crowned though that City and all Champagne were yet in the Enemies power In their passage Auxerre Troyes and Chaalons surrendred to the King then the City of Reims it self as soon as ever those Lords that held it for the Duke of Burgundy were gone forth to fetch some assistance from Burgundy he was Crowned upon a Sunday being the Seventh day of July by Renauld de Chartres Archbishop of that City and their Chancellor Year of our Lord 1429 In recompence of these so important Services the King Ennobled the Pucelle her Father and her three Brothers and all their Descendants even by the Females changed the name of their Race which was of Arc into that of de-Luce or Lily and for their Coat of Arms gave them a Field Azure with a Sword placed in Pal the Cross and Pumel Or accosted with two Flowers-de-Luce and sustaining a Crown of the same upon its point Year of our Lord 1429 Upon his return they gave him up Laon Soissons Beauvais Compiegne Crespy and all the Cities even to Paris The Duke of Bedford came and presented him Battle in the Plain of Montepilloy the Armies were in sight but parted after some Skirmishes From thence he went to assault St. Denis and made an attempt upon Paris his Men were repulsed with loss and
out of that Laudible zeal he hath transmitted to all his posterity to procure the publick good There were more Propositions made no doubt then they intended to practise and fine studied speeches This is what they call in France de Belles actions brave actions Year of our Lord 1466 The excessive heats of the Summer bred many contagious Maladies which in the City of Paris alone swept away above forty Thousand People and frighted away a much greater number In so much as the King desiring to re-people it by an Edict called in all sorts of Nations and People even such as were banished or Criminals to whom besides the Abolition he gave Priviledges and Franchises Year of our Lord 1467 The Pragmatique subsisted yet Pope Paul II. sent as Legat to the King John Joffridi Cardinal Bishop d'Alby to get the revocation verified who employed John Balue Cardinal Bishop of Angiers to carry the Letters from the King to the Chastelet and the Parliament They passed at the Chastelet without opposition but in the Parliament he found John de Sainct Romain Attorney General who opposed him to his face and the University went to the Legat to signify their Appeal to the next Council and after entred it into the Register at the Chasteler Paris being as it were the Kings Bulwark against the Grandees that loved him not he ordained that all the Inhabitants even the Ecclesiasticks should enroll themselves under the Banners of their Principals and Sub-Principals that is to say of Colonels and Captains and should provide themselves with good Arms. At one Muster which was made the 4 th of September there were found to be between 70 and 80000 men between the ages of 16 and 60 years In another which was made the following year they counted 84000. Year of our Lord 1467 The 15 th of July in the year 1467. Philip Duke of Burgundy called le Bon i. e. the Good ended his days at Brussels in the 72 th year of his Age and the 45 th of his Domination He yielded not in power or riches to any King but the French but had not his like in Goodness and Magnisicence And indeed he was adored by his people respected by all the Princes of Christendom and dreaded even by the Infidels The Count de Charolois Succeeded in his great Dominions not at all in his Goodness and Wisdom He was Rash Presumptuous Quarrelsome and Bloody But withal Valiant Undaunted and Indefatigable in War and who within himself observed exact justice and right towards his own Subjects Year of our Lord 1467 At his first coming to this Estate he was engaged against the Liegois whom the King had wrought to break the Truce and he assisted them yet notwithstanding he offered to forsake them if the Duke would forsake the Breton whom the King held already as it were by the Throat being entred into his Country with thirty Thousand Men. The Duke would do nothing of this but hastned to make an end of the War with Liege Now the Liegois having lost a Battel when they came to relieve the City of St. Tron did submit themselves to any conditions he would require excepting firing and plundring He caused the Heads of 20 or 30 of the most guilty to fly together with the Towers and Walls of the City of Liege changed the Magistrates and the Laws and drained them of great Sums of Money for his expences This was in the Month of November The people of Flanders especially the Gantois who had mutined after the Death of his Father humbled themselves likewise before their victorious Prince and sent him all their Banners to Bruges In the Month of October the King received advice that the Duke of Alenson who made one in every discontented Party was joyned in that of Monsieur and the Duke of Bretagne and had given them up all his places by means of which and of those that yet remained in their possession amongst others Auranches Bayeux and Caen they held almost all the lower Normandy The King willing to tread him down first in his way to the others did presently cause his Army to march into the Countreys of Perche and of Mayn and arrived at Mans himself Year of our Lord 1467 One of the causes which had most stirred up the Cities especially Paris against the King in the League for the publick good had been the mutation of Officers For this reason before his march against the Leagued Princes he made this celebrated Ordinance of the 21th of October which bears That considering that in his Officers consists under his Authority the direction whereby are Policed and managed the publick affairs of the Kingdom and that thereof they are Essential Ministers as members of that Body whereof of he is the Head he would therefore free them from all doubts they had of falling into the ineonveniences mutation and destitution and provide for their security And therefore he Ordained that thenceforward there should be no Office disposed of unless it were vacant by Death or by voluntary resignation or by forfeiture judged and declared Judicially by a competent Judge His Army lay all the rest of Autumn without doing much for as subtil as he was he suffer'd himself to be amused by the Breton with the hopes of an accommodation Nevertheless he did not wholly lose his time Towards the end of the year he Debauched Rene Count du Perche Son of John Duke of Alenson who betraying his own Father delivered the Castle of Alenson up to him which in those days was reckoned for a very good place The Breton forsook the Town And sinding Monsieur and the Duke of Bretagne astonished at so unexpected an accident he employ'd the Popes Legat to let them know that he would refer all his Deputies to the judgment of the General Estates And for that purpose summoned them together at Tours the first day of April Year of our Lord 1468 All the Deputies proved to be so much at his Devotion that they ordained nothing but what was conformable to his desires That Normandy being united to the Crown could not be dismembred to be given to his Brother That that young Prince should be exhorted to be satisfied with twelve thousand Livers yearly Rent in Lands for his Appenage and 60000 Livers Annual Pension but this not to be a President for the futureSons of France That the Breton should surrender the places in Normandy and if he would not obey this Ordinance they should make War upon him with all their Forces and to do this they proffered their Lives and Fortunes He caused this to be immediately made known to his Brother and to the Breton and at the same time his Army led by his Admiral entred Bretagne took Chantoce and Ancenis and penetrated a great way into the Country whilst himself after he had visited his good City of Paris was gone towards the Frontiers of Picardy to make use of some Engines to endeavour to disjoyn the Duke of Burgundy
for this was to assure him that they had Infallible Intelligence how to surprize the Dukes Towns and make his Subjects revolt in the very Heart of Flanders Upon the hopes of these great advantages he sent an Usher of the Parliament to Summon him even in the very City of Ghent to give satisfaction to the Count d'Eu from whom he detained some Lands belonging to the County of Pontieu In stead of appearing upon the Summons he levy'd Soldiers at half Pay but having been at this charge three Months seeing no Body moved he thought it was only a huffe and dismissed them The House of Burgundy spared their People so much that they kept up no Militia nor Garrisons in their Towns they thought that by Treating their Subjects well they were Guard good enough However when he had laid down all his Arms he received divers informations that all was ready to overwhelm him John de Chaalons Prince of Orange and some of his Domestick Servants for sook him Baldwin one of his Bastard Brothers he had eight Plotted to poyson him the Breton renounced his alliance and the Constable Seized upon the City of Saint Quentin Then he that had feared nothing began to apprehend every thing He got together with much ado three hundred Horse with which he advanced to cover his other Cities on the Somme But upon sight of him those of Amiens turned their backs and received the Kings Forces Abbeville would have done as much if Desquerdes had not hinderd it He retired therefore to Arras with more hast then he went forth and sent a private messenger to the Constable to pray him not to push things forward to extremity He received for answer that unless Monsieur would declare for him he could not be served in it But that he was ready to embrace his defence if he would give his Daughter in Mrrriage to him A Note from Monsieur conveyed to him in a piece of Wax assured him the same thing and the Breton gave him intelligence that all his Towns even Bruges and Ghent were upon the point of revolting and that the King was resolved to besiege him whithersoever he went But the more they will force him the more he stands out against them Not being followed so closely as he might have been by the King he resumes his Courage gathers up Men takes the Field and having gained Pequiny presents himself before Amiens and Fired his Guns at the Town to invite the Constable to give him Battel But finding the great numbers of men coming which the King got together at Beauvais he retreated back and wrote a very Submissive Letter to him which in gross discovered the Artifices of those that Animated the King against him The King who found he was as little secure as the Duke amongst such double dealing People agreed to a Truce for a year the 12 th Day of May. St. Quintin remained the Constables and was at last the cause of his ruine The Treaty Signed the King went into Touraine Monsieur to his Apennage of Guyenne and the Burgundian to Flanders During this War Edward of York with a Moderate assistance which the Burgundian and secretly furnished him withal for he apprehended to offend the Earl of Warwick had by the favour of the Duke of Clarence his Brother whom he had regained by the intrigues of a Woman re-enters England gained two Battels one against Warwick who was killed on the spot the other against young Edward Son of King Henry and the Queen his Mother in which that Prince was slain The Queen became a Prisoner to the Conqueror whom afterwards King Lewis redeemed by a ransom of 6000 Crowns Thus Edward re-establisht himself in his Throne and maintained it till his Death Year of our Lord 1471 Sigismond Duke of Austria having need of Money which that House hath ever been in great scarcity of till the time of the Emperor Charles V. engaged his County of Ferreie for a Notable Sum to the Duke of Burgundy The Duke puts ☜ in a very courteous Governor he was called Hagembach who laying great exactions was the first cause of the Germans hatred towards his Master Year of our Lord 1471 Pope Sixtus the IV. this was Francis de la Rovere Elected in the Room of Paul II. to follow the example of his Predecessors Sollicited the Christian Princes to unite themselves against the Turks For this purpose he sent the Cardinal Bessarion a Greek by Birth and a person of great merit to the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy The Cardinal having seen the Duke first the King was so much offended at it that he made him wait a long time before he would admit him to his presence and giving him Audience he rallied with him and treated him as a Grecian Beard The Truce displeased the Duke who had made it by compulsion neither was it to the good liking of Monsieur nor the Breton nor the Constable thus all four sought to re-unite themselves rogether The marriage of Monsieur was the only tye that could be secure the Burgundian promised it though he had no mind to it and upon this foot they renewed their League The Constables solliciting the other Princes to enter into it the Duke of Bourbon gave notice of his practices to the King who wisely dissembled it contriving to be quit with them by the same method For he every day pared away somewhat of his Brothers Apennage threw one rub one day and another the next Debauched his Friends from him corrupted his Servants and got them to reveal all their Masters secrets By the Treaty of Constans John Court of Armagnac had been restored to his Lands the King had caused them to be again Seized on in the year 1468. And had given them to Monsieur with the Government of Guyenne Monsieur being discontented had caused that Count to return put him into possession of his Estate and by his means and with the assistance of the Counts de Foix and the Lord de Albret he raised Men either that he might not be Surprized or to undertake something Year of our Lord 1471 Whatever his designs were they were blasted by a detestable and cruel remedy He loved a Lady Daughter of the Lord Monsereau and Widdow of Lewis d'Amboise and had for Confessor a certain Benedictine Monk Abbot of St. John d'Angely named John Favre Versois This wicked Monk poyson'd a very fair Peach and gave it to that Lady who at a Collation put it to steep in Wine presented one half of it to the Prince and eat the other her self She being tender died in a short time the Prince more robust sustained for some while the assaults of the Venome but how-ever could not Conquer it and in the end yielded his Life to it Year of our Lord 1471 Such as adjust all the Phenomena's of the Heavens to the accidents here below might have applied to this same a Comet of extraordinary Magnitude which was visible four score days
in one of his Houses The Bishops were set at Liberty at two years end by the intercession of the Legat. At the same time the Earl of Angoulesme and the Lord de Ponts made Guyenne to rise where Odet-Daydie Brother of Odet Earl of Cominges held Saintes Fronsac la Reoule Dags and Bayonne and the Duke of Orleans Levied Forces in Bretagne The Towns in Guyenne surrendred at the first sight and naming of the King the Lord d'Albret had got some Men together to assist them but he durst not appear The King having made his entrance into Bourdeaux the Seventh of March returned to Poitiers Partenay capitulated as soon as they were Summon'd That done he divided his Army into four who fell upon Bretagne in as many several Quarters and himself in the mean time remained at Laval to see what progress they could make Year of our Lord 1487 Upon the arrival of these Forces three times more numerous then was agreed to by the Treaty the Duke withdrew into the Center of his Country During this astonishment of the People and the division amongst the Nobility they took from him Ploetmel Vannes and Dinan and then it was that the Lords too late perceived the error they had committed in bringing them into their Country After this they laid Siege to Nantes The Duke was in the place with all the Soldiers he had left him and had dispatched the Count de Dunois to the King of England to crave assistance This Count being twice or thrice forced back by tempestuous weather Armed the common People of the Lower Bretagne the number of them amounting to above Sixty Thousand Men and was so fortunate that with this confused multitude he terrified the French and put a Relief into the Town which afterwards valued not the Siege about six Weeks after they were wholly delivered from them The Lord d'Albret had likewise raised three or four Thousand men to aid the Breton whose eldest Daughter they had promised him But the Lords of the Royal Party block'd him up so closely in his Castle of Nontron upon the confines of Limosin that he was fain to capitulate and Disband his Forces The King conceiving he had absolutely gained him to his Service gave him a Company of an hundred Lances Year of our Lord 1487 During these Transactions Desquerdes by correspondence surprized the Cities of St. Omer and Terouenne and defeated the Forces of Philip de Cleves Ravestein whom they had drawn thither by a pretended bargain for the City of Bethune the Duke of Cleves and the Count de Nassaw fighting on Foot were taken Prisoners In the foregoing Month of March the Lord de Montigny Brother of Count Horn the bravest of his Captains thinking to take Guise by assault was wounded with a Pike in the Suburbs of which he Died in a few days Year of our Lord 1487 The City of Ghent had declared themselves Capital Enemies to Maximilian because he had taken his Son from them and removed him to Malines By their example Bruges and most of the Towns in Flanders rose up against him because he burthened them too frequently with his exactions Year of our Lord 1487 In the Month of July of this year 1487. Charlota Queen of Cyprus Widdow of Lewis of Savoy who was Son of Lewis and Brother of Ame IX Dukes of Savoy ended her miseries with her Life at Rome where she had subsisted twelve years on the Bounty of the Popes She was Daughter and Heiress of John II. King of Cyprus after whose Death her Husband and her self enjoy'd that Kingdom three years but his Bastard James drove them out thence with the help of Melec-Ella Sultan of Egypt to whom this Crown was Tributary All the endeavours they could use to regain it proved vain and unsuccessful Lewis Died the first in the year 1482. Charlota retired to Rome After her Death the right to that Crown fell to Charles II. Duke of Savoy her Cousin and so passed to all his descendants not only because she Adopted him and made him a Donation of her Kingdom but because he also was her next of Kindred and Heir being the Son of Anne of Cyprus Daughter of King Janus or John I. But Catharine Cornaro a Venetian Widdow of the Bastard who Died in the year 1473. had given and resigned that Kingdom by what Tittle I do not know to the Seigneury of Venice The Great Turk wrested it out of their possession in the year 1557. Year of our Lord 1488 The disorders were so great in Flanders that on the second of February Maximilian being at Bruges the Inhabitants ran to their Arms made him Prisoner and put divers of his Creatures to Death The Pope Excommunicated the mutineers but the Kings Attorney General stood up against it maintaining that the Flemmings had no other Soveraign but the King who owned them in what they had done Neither the threats nor Forces of the Emperor Frederic did avail for the delivery of his Son they had resolved to give him up to the King of France when they were just upon the point to do it this poor Princes Tears and the Solemn Oaths himself made to them and which were confirmed by several Lords that he would forget all their injuries did at last subdue the fury of the Brugois so that they set him at Liberty When he was out of their hands he retired into Germany to his Father and left the Government of his Son Philip and his Lands to Albert Duke of Saxony The Emperor Frederic desiring to render him more fit to take in second marriage one of the Daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella who had interceeded for his Liberty at Bruges dignified Austria with the Title of Arch-Dutchy which till then was a Stranger and unknown in the Western parts Year of our Lord 1488 Besides the Force of Arms they proceeded by way of Justice against the Princes that were Leagued with the Breton In the Month of February the King sitting in Parliament ordered a Summons for the Duke of Bretagne and the Duke of Orleans to appear at the Table to Marbre Which was sent by the Provost of Paris accompany'd with a Counsellor of that Court and the Prime Usher and all advantages of defaults were taken against them The Mareschal de Rieux and some Barons of Bretagne finding he went much farther then the terms of the Treaty did allow Petitioned him not to go on and profer'd to send the Duke of Orleans out of the Country together with all the French belonging to him who in effect shewed themselves willing to lay down their Arms and retire to their own dwellings provided they might be left in Peace The Dame thinking she was now above all danger imprudently replied that the King would have no Rival or Equal that he would not stop there but proceed to the end of his enterprize This discourse laying his intentions clearly open they took another resolution and reconciled themselves with their Duke who gave them an
troublesome Master diverted him from all these laudable Exercises and Employments before he had persevered in them one Year and made him plunge anew in the delights of Fopperies and Women Year of our Lord 1492 The Marriage being made with the Dutchess of Bretagne they were to consider of sending back Marguerite of Austria Maximilian cruelly affended at this double Affront cried out Treachery and accused Charles of having forfaken his own Wife to ravish the Wife of his Father in Law Henry King of England jealous of the growth of the French Manarchy and perceiving too late the Fault he had committed in suffering Bretagne to be lost leagned himself with him and both agreed to joyn their Forces that they might fall upon Picardy Year of our Lord 1492 The English failed not to land at Calais at the Time prefixt and laid siege to Boulogne but finding his endeavors signified little that Maximilian came not to joyn his Forces as was promised and withal heard the Rumors of a dangerous Faction in England he found it safest to retire again and took an hundred and fifty thousand Crowns for the Charges of his Army and for some Monies he had lent to Francis II. Duke of Bretagne Father of the new Queen Maximilian in the mean time not having sufficient Forces made use of Craft he Surprized the Cities of Arras and Saint Omers by intelligence and by Night entred into Amiens from whence he was vigorously repulsed His Anger being a little evaporated he consented they should get a Truce of the King for a Twelve-month in the Name of his Son Philip but he would neither be comprised nor named in it The Kingdom of Granada after a War of eight Years successively was entirely conquer'd by the taking of her Capital City Boabdila the last of their Kings having sustained a Siege of eight Months surrendred it to Ferdinand and Isabella the second Year of our Lord 1492 Day of January of this Year 1492. Thus ended the Dominion of the Moors in Spain where it had lasted neer eight hundred Years but not their Nation nor their Mahometan impiety which the Severities of their Inquisition and their repeated Proscriptions could not wholly extirpate but with much difficulty Now as if every thing had contributed to Fill and Crown the House of Spain with Honor and Riches that they might transfer it to the House of Austria it hapned almost at the same time when they finisht this War thae Christopher Colombus discover'd the new World or that Hemisphear opposite to ours That great Sea-Captain a Year of our Lord 1492. And 1493. Genoese by Nation having found by a Relation in Manuscript of a certain Marriner and by Arguments drawn from the disposition of the World and roundness of the Globe composed of the Sea and Land that there were habitable Countries in those Parts opposite to these which we inhabit after he had in vain apply'd himself to divers Princes obtained with much ado three Vessels of Ferdinand and Isabella to go and seek out that which he did imagine might be found He loosed from Cadix in the Month of August of the Year 1492. And sailed so far that he discovered the Islands of Florida from whence he returned into Spain in the following March bringing back with him convincing Marks and Tokens of his discovery and the infinite Riches of those Countries The Spaniards were pleased to name them the West-Indies An hundred Years before this two Venetian Captains named Zeni had found out the Northern Estotiland Year of our Lord 1493 Two Months after his return into Spain Pope Alexander VI. who was by birth an Arrogonian gave to Ferdinand and Isabella and to all their Successors Kings of Castille all the Lands discover'd and to be discover'd beyond a Line that was to be drawn from the Arctick to be Antarctick Pole distant from the Azores about a hundred Leagues towards the West and by South upon condition he should send some honest and learned Men thither to instruct those People in the Christian Religion Saint Bennet's Order had the Honor of the first Mission One named Dom N. Bueil a Catalon was sent thither with twelve Priests and sowed the first Seeds of Faith there Year of our Lord 1492 That nothing might be wanting to the Happiness of Spain the young King Charles VIII did of his own good Will surrender the Counties of Rousillon and Cerdagne to Ferdinand without requiring the three hundred thousand Crowns for which Sum they were engaged but only a Promise that he should be a friend to France The World was amazed and scandalized at this suddain and unexpected Generosity Common Fame laid the blame of it upon a Cordelier Frier by Name Oliver Maillard a famous Preacher in those days and Confessor to the young King It was reported that being suborned by Ferdinand who sent him Barrels of Silver in stead of Wine and having associated himself with John Mauleon another Monk of the same Order to help carry on this Intrigue this last being Confessor to the Dutchess of Bourbon they publickly affirmed that King Lewis XI being on his Death-Bed had given Order for the restitution of these Counties and that his Soul would have no rest till it were performed That with this Theme and by these Suggestions the two honest Fathers some add a third Man Saint Francis de Paulo cast so much terrour into the Soul of that Lady and of Lewis d'Amboise Bishop of Alby who had been Tutor to the King that they perswaded and engaged him to make this fine Restitution Year of our Lord 1493 The German Princes and the Swisse becoming Mediators concerning the differences between France and the House of Austria a Conference was agreed upon to be held at Senlis where the Deputies from the Emperor Frederic from Maximilian his Son and the Arch Duke Philip his Grandson concluded with the King's Deputies to put an end to all Disputes That the King should send Year of our Lord 1493 Marguerit back to the Arch Duke her Brother that together with her he should render up the Counties of Artois and Burgundy but that he should retain the Castles belonging to the four Cities in Artois till four Years were expired and that then Philip being in majority should come and swear and ratify the Peace Ever since the Year 1492. there had been some discourse set on foot of the Rights and Title the King had to the Kingdom of Naples and Arguments used to enflame that young Prince with the Love and Desire of so fair a Conquest Year of our Lord 1492. 1493. And 1494. The Earl of Salerno and those Gentlemen that were banished from Naples having taken Sanctuary in France made the first propositions Afterwards Ludovic Sforza was the principal Agent and brought the King to a determinate resolution for this Enterprize which cost Italy it's liberty and a vast deal of Money Blood and Trouble to France The whole thrid of this design which he spun
with incredible Artifice tended to no more but to make him possessor of the Dutchy of Milan To bring this to pass he had Married his Sister to Maximilian King of the Romans and had secretly taken the investiture of that Dutchy as vacant by default of Hommage and other Duties not tendred but this he must wrest from John Galeas Son of his eldest Brother who held it by a just Title This was a young Man of little Courage whom he already kept as his Captive having chaced away his Mother Bonne de Savoy Sister to the Kings mother who had forfeited her Reputation by her Gallantries in her Widdow-hood but he had married a Wife as Couragious as Beautiful who being Daughter of Alphonso Duke of Calabria Son of Ferdinand King of Naples was able with the assistance of her Brother to retard the Execution of his malitious designs This was the motive which obliged Ludovic to stir up the King to the Conquest of Naples to ruin or at least to Embarrass that House which was alone able to prevent him He had the City of Genoa under his subjection which nevertheless held of the Crown of France the Kings Favourites having obtained the investiture for him for eight Thousand Crowns in his Alliance Hercules d'Est Duke of Ferrara his Father in Law Bentivoglio Lord of Bologna and some other Lords In those Days there were five great Governments or Powers in Italy two Republicks Venice and Florence this holding more of a Democracy or Popular State the other an Aristocracy or Government by Nobles the Church or Pope the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan Venice was Governed by their Senate none of her Citizens daring to raise themselves above the rest At Florence the Medici had usurped all the Authority after they had extirpated the Passi Peter the Head of the Family behaved himself with unsufferable haughtiness Lewis Sforza as we have told ye Governed the Milanois a Man that was perfidious sanguinary crafty and very aptly Surnamed the Moor not only because his Skin was tawny but likewise because he exceeded the Africans in Treacheries and Disloyalty In the Holy See was then sitting or rather intruded Alexander VI. who disposed of all things at his pleasure and to say truth he had paid for the tripple Crown It will suffice to give you his just Character to say in a word that never any Mahometan Prince was more Impious more Vicious or more Faithless than he and if any one did ever surpass him in his abominations it was Caesar Borgia his Bastard Son At Naples Reigned Ferdinand Bastard of Alphonso King of Arragon He had two Sons Alphonso and Frederic And Alphonso had a Son named Ferdinand as was his Grandfather Aged twenty or two and twenty years This last seemed to be of a good disposition and gained the Love of the Nobility and People but his Father and Grandfather were held in execration amongst all their Subjects for their Taxes Monopolies and bloody Cruelties the son exceeding the Father as much in wickedness as the Father exceeded all other Princes Besides all these Potentates had no Religion but by their Actions and in their Discourse professed a most Villainous and Brutish Atheism but withal pretended to great Wisdom and the finest Politicks Year of our Lord 1492. 93. 94. There were two men that wholly Governed the Kings mind Stephen de Vers his Chamberlain and Seneschal of Beaucare and William Briconnet his Treasurer General and Bishop of St. Malo By their means this War was undertaken but Briconnet having afterwards more thorowly considered and weighed it be-became of a quite contrary opinion Two years was it absolutely resolved upon then laid aside then again under consideration and debate There was not Wisdom enough in the Kings Council no money in his Coffers no assurance of his Allies for in Italy he had none for him but the Traitor and perfidious Ludovic in whom no prudent man would put any confidence but under-hand there were against him the wise Venctians and openly or barefac'd Pope Alexander and Peter de Medicis Upon the rumour of this War Ferdinand King of Naples sent to the King to Year of our Lord 1494 offer him Hommage and pay him an Annual Tritute of fifty Thousand Crowns These proffers having been rejected such grief and fear Seized upon him that his last day was the five and twentieth of January in the year 1494. being aged Seventy two His Son Alphonso more wicked then himself and more unfortunate took the Scepter After many delays the King pressed by the continual Sollicitations of Ludovic to which were likewise joyned those of the Cardinal of Saint Peters c. an irreconciliable Enemy to Pope Alexander left Paris in the Month of July having given the Regency to Peter Duke of Bourbon during the time he should be out of France He remained a while at Lyons in great uncertainty what he should do then again at Vienne from thence he passed to the City of Ast where he sojourned near a Month whilst they drew his Cannon over the Mountains with much difficulty In that place he was like to die of the Smal-Pox For two Years past had the Princes of Italy those great Men in War and Politicks so much vaunted by their Historians taken notice how this Design was forming which could not but prove fatal hereafter to the liberty of their Country and for the present invade their Peace and Power and yet they had not Skill or Prudence enough to divert a Prince who was but young and guided by a Council without Brains nor Courage enough to meet and fight his Forces which were but inconsiderable So that there is reason to believe that God had sealed their Eyes tied their Hands behind them and raised up this young King to chastize them Indeed Hierosme Savanarola a Dominican had a long time before filled all Italy with predictions of his coming and affirmed that he had a Commission from Heaven to Dethrone the Tyrants For this great Enterprize he had belonging to himself but sixteen hundred Gents-Darmes each with his two Archers on Horse-back his two hundred Gentlemen three or four hundred Horse lightly arm'd twelve thousand Foot half Swisse and half French but withal a great number of young Lords and Nobility who went Volunteers all very fit and useful for a Day of Battle but not any wise proper in Affairs that required length of time as not able to undergo Hardship nor be under Command Alphonso was resolved to carry the War into Ludovic's Country to this effect he had sent an Army into Romagnia commanded by young Frederic his Son and another by his Brother Frederic towards the Coasts of Genoa Frederic goes on Shoar at Rapalo thinking thereby to make the Genoese rise by the intelligence of those that were Banished but the Duke of Orleans who commanded the French Fleet beat the others in the Post which they had fortified and Daubigny having with some Forces outmarched
Italy and rendred those places to Frederic which they held in Calabria the Arch-Duke by the Treaty recover'd his Towns of Artois upon condition he should do Homage to the King for that County and for that of Flanders and of Charolois And this he really did at Arras bare-headed and un-girt in the hands of Guy de Rochefort Chancellour of France who was cover'd and sitting in a Chair Year of our Lord 1499 There was more difficulty how to agree with Maximilian because he was engaged with Sforza for which he had received great Sums of Money and had also sent an Army to enter the Dutchy of Burgundy but the Count de Foix having easily repulsed them And Ludovic not having a stock of Riches large enough to satisfie his covetous indigence he was soon persuaded to make a Truce for some Months The Florentines in the mean while and the Venetians composed their differences by means of the Duke of Ferrara whom they chose for Arbitrator but Ludovic embroiled himself so much with the Venetians that they made a League with the King to pluck his Feathers They were to have for their share of the Milanois all the Towns without the River Addo and they imagined that they should soon have the French Kings part likewise who would sell it or suffer it to be lost by ill Government and their Divisions as they had done the Kingdom of Naples But they were mistaken in the account and found soon afterwards that as to the matter of Princes and Estates the next Neighbour being ever an enemy ☞ the most potent is the most dangerous This wretched Ludovic with all his Crast and Fineness in Politiques had not one friend no not so much as the Duke of Ferrara his Father in Law he was fain to have recourse to Maximilian and to the Sultan Bajazeth the ones assistance was slow very costly and not very certain that of the other was infamous and odious Year of our Lord 1499 In the Month of July the Kings Forces entered into the Milanois on the one hand and those belonging to the Venetians on the other In Fifteen days Ludovic lost all his Countrey the Venetians took all beyond the Addo the French went no less swiftly on Novarre and Alexandria defended themselves but ill and were sacked Mortara capitulated Pavia sent their Keys The City of Genoa followed the Dance the Adornes and the Fregoses being at Daggers draw who should deliver it up first In fine none kept their faith to Ludovic neither the People nor Commanders nor Cities In this revolution he sent his Treasures and his Children into Germany to the Emperor Maximilian thither he retired also himself having first well provided the Castle of Milan After his departure the City received the French with joy Bernardin Curtio whom he believed to be the faithfullest of his Creatures took Money of the King and sold the Castle to him which was held inexpugnable A Treachery which appeared ugly yea even horrible to the very Purchasers and which loaded and cloathed the seller with so much shame that he dyed with it about Ten or Twelve days afterwards The King who was then at Lyons went immediately to Milan He made his entrance in a Ducal Habit and Sojourned about three Months in that Country He presently took off a fourth part of their Imposts allowed liberty of Hunting to the Nobles which they had not before and thinking to make them more affectionate to his Service distributed a considerable part of his demeasnes amongst them particularly to Trivulcio on whom he likewise bestowed the Government of all the Dutchy Year of our Lord 1499 All the Princes of Italy excepting Frederic Congratulated his good Success and the Florentines engaged to assist him in the Conquest of Naples upon condition he would help them to recover Pisa again for them Year of our Lord 1499 After this he was obliged to make good his word to Caesar Borgiae he lent him Forces with which he regained the Cities of Imola and Forli In which last was Cathrine Sforza Mother and Tutoress of the Riari whom he led away Prisoner to Rome Year of our Lord 1500. in January The change which happened at the same time in Milanois retarded his progress Ludovic lay in wait to re-enter there were few French in the Towns the Nobility were offended at the Pride of Trivulcio their equal at his too great passion for the Party of the Guelphs and that upon some hubbub he had killed some with his own hand in the open Market place And the people were Scandalized at the Liberty the French took with their wives Ludovic well informed of all these particulars and having regained the affections of the Milanois returns with fifteen Hundred men at Arms who were all Burgundians and twelve Thousand Swisse whom he had raised with his Money not being able to obtain any Aid of Maximilian Upon his Arrival the People receive him with open Arms the City of Coma having chaced out the French Trivulcio perceiving so sudden a change leaves Milan in the night time and very humbly retires to Mortara with his Cavalry All places surrender themselves to Ludovic excepting the Castle of Milan and some of those which the Venetians held This Ebb notwithstanding did not run very low Lewis de la Trimoville whom the King sent with a very good Army meets him near Novarre which had newly Surrendred The Swisse which this unfortunate man had in his Service being gained by those that were in the French Army refused to give Battel and retired Year of our Lord 1500 into Novarre he was forced to follow them All that he gain'd of them was that they promised to Guard him to some place of safety But next day the eighth of April he was discover'd disguised like a private Soldier in the midst of them perhaps themselves made signs to know him by and sent to the King at Lyons He caused him to be removed from thence to Loches where he was shut up till his Death ten whole years with a severity so unusual and contrary to the mercy of that good Prince that it was thought to be a Visible punishment from Heaven The Cardinal Ascagne his Brother was also delivered into the hands of the French by the Venetians who happened to light upon him The Swiss upon their return home Siezed upon the City of Bellinzonne which shuts up the passage to the Mountains on that side so that holding this place they could fall into Milan when ever they pleased At first they would have parted with it for a very small matter of Money but after they had found of what importance it was no proffer could be so considerable as to make them let it go out of their hands Year of our Lord 1500 This revolt cost the City of Milan the Heads of ten or twelve of their Chiefs and a Sum of two hundred thousand Crowns Upon Holy Friday a day of Mercy the Cardinal d'Amboise received the Amende
Earl of Valois had hitherto desired it The Swisse denied Francis their Intercession with the Electors the Pope pretended to favor him but he was not either for one or other Year of our Lord 1519 of these two Princes because they were too Potent and if he recommended Francis it was to get the Suffrages from Charles and by this Intrigue to turn their Eyes and Thoughts toward some other German Prince The Electors for the same reason were in suspence a good while at the beginning the Palatine Triers and Brandenburgh seemed to be for Francis and the latter promised to gain the Archbishop of Ments his Brother likewise But when he had singer'd his Money and it came to give their Votes Ments pleaded stoutly for Charles and Brandenburgh seconded him Triers kept his Word The reputation of his Victories in Italy spake advantageously for the King and the War the Turks threatned Germany withal ought to have made him more considerable then Charles who had as yet done nothing and promised but little more But he was not of the German Nation besides the more he seemed to merit the more they feared he would reduce the German Princes to a low condition as his Predecessors had reduced those of France and if there were apprehensions of oppression on either Hand it did not appear so visibly on Charles's side nor seem to be so neer in likelihood from him who was five years younger then the other and of no very promising Genius In fine upon all these considerations and with three hundred thousand Crowns brought even a year before into Germany and not distributed but to good purpose Charles carried it and was elected at Francfort the twentieth of June being at that instant in Spain whither he was gone almost two years before Though King Francis set a good face upon it yet this refusal went to his Heart and he could not but imagine that Charles being Master of so many great Estates would revenge the Injuries done to his Grand-father and those of the House of Burgundy For this reason he applied himself with more care to gain the friendship of the Pope and the King of England but the Pope followed Fortune and invested Charles with the Kingdom of Naples notwithstanding the constitution of his Predecessors which forbid that the said Kingdom and the Empire should be in the same Hand Year of our Lord 1520 The election of Charles of Austria hastned the enterview of the King and Henry of England This was done in the Month of June between Ardres and Guines The two Kings equally Pompous and Vain made their magnificence appear to the highest profusion Francis expended more there then the Emperor did at his Coronation and put his Nobless to great inconveniences who ever imitate their Princes but more readily in their Excess then in their Wisdom This enter-view was called the Camp of Cloath of Gold After they had saluted each other on Horse-back they went into a Pavilion erected expresly with two or three Ministers of State belonging to either King and there talked a few Moments about their Affairs That done they left the care thereof to them and spent ten or twelve days together in Feastings and Turnaments at Nights Francis returned to Ardres and Henry to Guines Before they parted they confirmed their Treaty by solemn Oath upon the the Holy Communion which they received together But soon after Francis who too credulous built already on the Amity of the English might plainly perceive what stress he was to lay upon so jealous and so inconstant a Foundation Charles V. coming from Spain by Sea to the Low-Countries that from thence he might go to Aix to take the Crown passed first over into England and saw Henry with less splendor and perhaps more Fruit then he For the King of England promis'd him that in case any Difference hapned between him and Francis he would be Arbitrator and declare himself Enemy to him that would not stand to his Award or Judgment His Intention was not to joyn with either the one or the other but to keep himself in the midst and be sought to by them both giving them to understand that he could make the Ballance sway to that side he turned to As he seemed to point out to King Francis at their late enter-view at Ardres where over his Tent Door he had caused the Figure of an Archer to be placed with these Words He that accompanies or joyns with him is Master This was the Method he used all his Life The two and twentieth of October Charles was crowned at Aix la Chapelle and assigned a Diet at Wormes for the Month of January following In the mean time not staying for the Judgment of of the Assembly being at Colen he condemned Year of our Lord 1520 Year of our Lord 1520 Luther's Books to the Fire as Heretical but this so hasty proceeding he made more Friends and Defenders then Enemies In revenge Luther without respect either for Pope or Emperor was so confident as to burn the Book of the Decretals which he asserted to be contrary to the Word of God in several Passages he had extracted from them Year of our Lord 1520. 21. The Spaniards grew angry that their King had left them to go into Germany andbesides they could not endure the Government of the Flemmish for after the Death of that memorable Cardinal Ximene he left the Administration of Affairs to the Lord de Chevres They complained that those Strangers heaped up all their fairest Pieces of Gold and that they took into their Hands or sold the greatest Offices and the richest Benefices amongst others the Archbishoprick of Toledo wherewith the Lord de Chevres had provided his Brother Some Grandees of that Country who thought to do their business in the absence of a Prince whom they esteemed of little Courage kindled the Fire and made a League which they called la Sancta Junta Toledo and the greatest Cities came into it and the Chief Officers that commanded their Forces were John de Padillia and Antonio d'Acugno Bishop of Zamora They had a Design of giving the Kingdom of Arragon to Ferdinand Son of that Frederic that died in France and to make him come in with some Colour would marry him to Jane the Frantick Mother of Charles V. whom they siezed upon but whether he doubted the event or stood upon the Honor of keeping his Faith he rejected the proposition and would not stir out of the Castle where Charles V. had left him In the mean while the Vice-Rois of Castille and Arragon with the rest of the King's Servants having armed themselves against the Rebels lopp'd off by little and little the Branches of that Party and then fell'd it almost quite down by the defeat of their united Forces and the deaths of Padillia and the Bishop both slain in that Battle Now whilst the Vice-Rois had drained the Garrisons of most of the Places in Navarre to defend
from the Court set Guards upon them then some while after he released them and caused them to be conducted to Bayonne The King treated his Ambassador in the same manner he confin'd him to the Prison of the Chastelet and let him out a few days afterwards Now the Emperour in his reply to the Kings Herauld amongst other things said the King had broke his Faith and besides he bragged how two years before Year of our Lord 1527 and 28. he told the French Ambassador that it were more expedient and brave to decide their quarrels man to man in single combat then to trouble all Christendom and Spill the Bloud of so many poor Innocents not concerned in their disputes The ☞ Herauld having acquainted him thereof he would justifie and clear himself of these two reproaches of Perfidie and Cowardice by a publick Act and such a one as should appear most eminently to the eyes of all Europe He caused therefore a Scaffold to be set up in the great Hall of the Palace where sitting in his Royal Robes attended by his Princes and in presence of all those Ambassadors that were then about his Court he sent for him that belonged to Spain this was Nicholas Perrenot de Granvelle a Native of mean extract in Franche Comie but a man of Brain and caused a Cartel or challenge to be read before him which gave the Emperour the Lie and demanded he should assign the place for Combat and that he would bring the Weapons thither The Ambassador excusing himself from carrying this Challenge he sent a Herald to acquaint the Emperour with it and the King of England at the same time sent him the like defiance by a Messenger of his own Some while after the Emperour sent back a Herauld to the King with his answer The King placed himself in the same posture to receive it but being informed he would appoint no place till after the King should have diengaged his word and his Children he commanded him not to speak And thus all those challenges proved nothing but fine Theatrical Shows It had been agreed between the Kings of France and England that this latter should attaque the Emperour in the Low-Countries But his Subjects having an aversion for a War against the Flemmings because it destroyed their Commerce he rather chose to lend the King thirty thousand Crowns per Month and treated a Truce for all Merchants trading between the Low-Countries France and England to have free liberty for a year Upon the News of Lautrec's marching into Italy the Emperour had sent an Order to set the Pope at Liberty but first to endeavour the tying him to strict and harsh Conditions The Treaty for his freedom being concluded with Moncado whom the Emperour had by provision made Vice-Roy of Naples in the room of Lanoy who was lately dead he would not trust himself there till the next day but that very night slipt away disguised like a Merchant having before caused his Hostages to evade who would have run a great risque Lautrec had regained almost the whole Milanois and might in a short time have mastered Milan if the Kings express orders had not enjoyned him to give up all the Places to Sforza and to go to Rome to deliver the Holy Father When he was entring upon Romagnia he heard that he was escaped and that the Imperial Army upon the report of his March had quitted Rome to go and defend the Kingdom of Naples The Plague had devoured above two thirds of that Sacrilegious Army and it was observed that within the compass of one year there were not two hundred reamining but which in divers manners had felt the refentments of Divine Vengeance He pursued these Robbers by long Marches and having overtaken them at Abbruzzo presented Battle to them They dislodged in the night with great disorder and retired into Naples It was believed that if he had followed them in at their heels he might have expected good success from their Fears but he amused himself in taking of other Places and then when he had missed of so fair an opportunity he laid Siege to Naples Year of our Lord 1528 The Confederates at the same time when he entred that Kingdom were to have fallen upon Sicilia with their Fleet which was got together at Leghorn But they were disabled by a Tempest which so grievously shattered the twelve Galleys equipped by the Venetians that they were forced to put in at Corsu to Refit Rance de Cere and Andrea Doria with the Kings Ships made a descent at Sardinia put the Vice-Roy of that Island to a rout though he had double their Number and entred Pell-mell with him into the City of Sassary which they Plundred This S uccess was the occasion of great Misfortunes For the Souldiers over-glutted with Eating died most part of the Disenterie The King Plunged over Head and Ears in Pleasures became more negligent in sending Supplyes to Lautrec And Andrea Doria having some disputes with Rance de Cere it hap'ned that this last finding more favour then the other at Court the thoughts thereof Aggravated all those other little discontents he had formerly met with from the French Year of our Lord 1528 He had in his mind as it appeared afterwards a great desire of restoring his Country to its Liberty To this end he offered the King two hundred thousand Gold Crowns to let him have the Government of it not to hold it but that he might make a Regulation and he made earnest Applications that the French should give up the City of Savonna to that State because that being the better Port would ruin Genoa and make the City become Desert But the King absolutely denyed him both the one and the other Being therefore Malecontented in his Soul at this refusal and for their not paying him the Prince of Orange's Ransom he carried his Galleys back to Genoa under colour of having been so weather-beaten that they stood in need of reparations The French Army lay Encamped before Naples from mid April Lautrec thinking to have it by Famine and for that purpose was so pressing with Andrea Doria that he sent him the Kings eight Galleys and eight more which were his own all under the Command of his Brother Philippine Upon their Arrival they took three great Vessels laden with Corn which they were conveying into City It was believed that if the Venetian Forces had come in time and had not employed themselves as they did to recover some Cities in the Golf for their Seigneury which they had lost in the time of Lewis XII Philippine and they together might have so effectually blocked up the Port that no Provisions should have been carried in to Naples which began to feel some want The Spaniards did not however get much by the bargain in making such hast to engage Philippine before the Venetians came to joyn him Hugh de Moncado had put a thousand Select Arquebusiers on Board their Fleet thinking
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
three Counties and in the mean time the King declared all the Vassals in those Countries acquit and discharged from their Oathes to him from all Faith and Homage and enjoyned them to serve the King upon the Penalty of Forfeiture of their Fiefs and to be Proclaimed Rebels whereof publication to be made upon the Frontiers The Heraulds went therefore to Summon Charles by posting up Papers and making Proclamation He replied fuming with rage that since they recalled him into France he would return thither with such powerful Justifications as would Year of our Lord 1537 make the Treaties to be duely observed and in the mean while for Comparition Adrian de Crouy Count de Roeux having drawn together the Commons of the Low-Countries came and ransacked the Frontiers of Picardy This proceeding of the Kings was variously spoken of but none could approve of the Alliance he made with Solyman the Enemy of Christendom as well to defend himself against the Emperor as in hatred to the Venetians with whom he was extreamly offended for having despised his Amity and the offer he made to share Milanois with them One might nevertheless in some Measure excuse this League of a Christian King with an Infidel not only by the example of the Kings of Spain Grand-Fathers of this Emperor who had contracted the like with Mahometan Kings but even by that of the Emperor himself who had endeavour'd earnestly to do the same with Solyman so that he was no less guilty in that particular but less prevalent or skilful or less fortunate then Francis The Kings attempts did not answer this grand Arrest or Decree of his Parliament He took only Hesdin and Saint Paul and having spent his first Fire returned in the beginning of May to Paris leaving his Army with the Count de Saint Paul and order to Fortifie the City of the same name where they put three Thousand Men in Garrison So soon as he was retired the Enemies being Assembled forced that City and received that of Monstreuil upon Composition but they could gain nothing at Terouenne the Dauphin and Montmorency having got their Troops together timely enough to Relieve it as they did During this Siege a Conference was held at the Village of Bommy at the solicitation of the two Queens Eleonora of France and Mary of Hungary where the Deputies agreed upon a Cessation of all hostilities for three Months in the Low-Countries that they might endeavour to bring about a Peace Some believed the King accepted of it to Transport all his Forces into Italy pursuant to the Treaty made with the Turks who at the same time were to fall upon the Kingdom of Naples In effect the Emperor Solyman did himself lead an Army of One Hundred Thousand Men into Albania from whence he sent Lusti-Bacha and Barbarossa to Cruise upon those Coasts and discover the Country resolved to follow them as soon as they had gained any Port but when he found that the King was making War in Flanders he returned with great Indignation that he should break his word with him As for Barbarossa having no certain News of the King he was fallen upon the Island of Corfu belonging to the Venetians where finding the Places too well provided he ruined the open Country and carried Sixteen Thousand Souls into Captivity The same Summer King Ferdinand received two great Foiles by the Turks the one at Belgrade in Hungary the other before a City in Dalmatia where his two Armies besieging those two places were shamefully defeated In the Interim it hapned in Piedmont as well by the little esteem the Soldiers had of Humieres as the particular quarrels amongst the other Officers and the Mutinies of the Lansquenets the French Forces were dissipated Humieres was retired into Pignerol to wait for Supplies from France and had quitted the Field to Du Guast who had retaken several Towns and almost the whole Country of Salusses The Marquess whom we told you had so unworthily forsaken the French Party was kill'd with a Cannon Bullet at the Siege of Carmagnoles His death so enflamed the fury of the Soldiers that they forced the Place and Du Guast to revenge his death hanged the Captain The Love of Liberty could not be so soon effaced out of the hearts of the Florentines One that was of Kin to the new Duke Alexander named Laurence de Medicis slew him in his own Chamber whither he had allured him with the hopes of meeting a certain Lady for whom he had a great passion but flying as soon as the blow was given the Cardinal Innocent Cibo Son of a Sister to Leo X. who was then at Florence and Alexander Vitelli Captain of the City Guards set up a young man of the House of the Medicis in the place of Alexander where he maintain'd himself in spite of Strossy and other Zealots for their Liberties His name was Cosmo and descended of one Laurent Brother of the Grand Cosmo To gain the People he promised them at first that he would have from the City but Twelve Thousand Crowns for his Maintenance but when he was well establisht he raised it to Twelve Hundred Thousand As for Laurence de Medicis after he had wandred in divers places because Cosmo had Year of our Lord 1537 set a price upon his head he was at last stabbed at Venice by two Assasins Christierne III. King of Denmark introduced Lutheranisme into his Kingdom and turned out the Bishops but kept the Canons that he might have the bestowing of Prebends He did the same in Norway which he had Conquer'd Some years before King Gustavus Erecson had made a like change in Sweden The King being informed that his Affairs went on very ill in those Countries that du Guast besieged Humieres in Pignerol and that before the years end he would drive the French quite out of Piedmont resolved to prevent it and in some measure satisfie Solyman to go thither in Person At Lyons being fallen sick of a slight Feaver he gave order to the Daufin and to the Mareschal de Montmorency to march before-hand with the Army At first coming they forced the Pass of Sufa guarded by ten thousand men a famous exploit in War drove Du Guast to Quiers and got several advantages which drew the King himself thither with great hopes of recovering Milanois His Army was found to be above Forty Thousand Men the French were in good Heart the Enemy affrighted and their Places ill provided but it was the end of October he apprehended the inconveniences of the Season the length of some Siege the Irruption of the Flemmings and the uncertainty of accidents so fatally experimented before Pavia So that making a specious pretence of the having given his word to the Queen of Hungary that he would not do any thing that should obstruct the Peace he upon the mediation of the Pope and the Venetians granted a Truce of three Months for those Countries beyond the Mountains and prolonged that with the Low-Countries
of great advantage to him Upon this followed a sharp Fight which was on the thirteenth of August between the Villages of Marque and Fauquemberg where the conduct and courage of the Duke of Guise who was engaged in it did signalize it self above all the other Chiefs The Emperor having the worst of it was advised to sound a retreat Some pieces of his Canon and Two Thousand of his Men remained in the Field of Battel However the King for want of Provisions raised the Siege and after he had sent once more to defie the Emperor discharged a part of his Army and returned to Paris giving what Souldiers were left to the Duke of Vendosmes Charge This Prince had no little task to cover the Frontiers for the Enemy who were thought to be gone into Winter Quarters took the Field again and made a shew of Besieging Dourlens then Abbeville ransacked the Country as far as Saint Riquier from thence went up along the River of Autie and feigning to have their Eye upon Monstreville set themselves upon fortifying the Village of Mesnil which lies in a Marsh upon the little River of Canche a little beneath old Hesdin which they had demolished the year before The Duke of Savoy would have it called Hesdin-Fert adding to the name of the place the Devise of his House to make known that he was the Founder of it This Campagne ended the exploits of the Emperor He was too much wasted and weakned by continual defluxions to be any longer capable of undergoing those fatigues and make head against a youthful King whom he always found on Horseback Besides the mis-understanding that was between him and his Brother gave him much more trouble then his distemper and corporal pain This younger Brother besides that he was not contented with his share but demanded some augmentation was in great wrath that he had mow'd the Grass under the Feet of his Son Maximilian King of Bohemia in the design he had to get Mary Queen of England for the Emperor had pretended to aid him and in the mean time got her for his own Son Philip. This wrangling went so far that Maximilian's Nephew had like to have made War upon him He sought the Alliance of the German Princes for this very purpose and hearkned to the Kings Envoyez who proffer'd him his However the mediation of their common friends appeased that Domestique Quarrel The same night the Battel of Renty was fought came news to the Camp of the Battel at Mercian in Siennois which much allayes the Emperors trouble and grief and the joy of the French Now before we speak of this Event we must in gross relate the success of that War At the beginning the Duke of Florence who equally feared the Imperialists and the French and would prevent the ruine of his Year of our Lord 1554 Country had sought to find a Medium to compose the difference which was out that Sienne should remain free in its dependance on the Empire and amity with France But the Pope whose Interest he made use of did not act cordially The Holy Fathers aim was to bring that Estate under the power of the Emperor because he made him or at least left him room to believe and hope that he would invest Fabian Son of his Brother Baldwine with it therefore of his own head he added one condition to those of the Duke of Florence which she well knew the Siennois would never accept which was that a Cardinal to be named by him should be put into the City to serve as Chief for that Republique with a Garrison of Twelve Hundred Men. The Emperor on his part was not sorry this Negotiation broke off that he might have an employment for Peter de Toledo and remove him from being Vice-Roy of Naples where his ill Conduct had caused most dangerous Tumults about the business of the Inquisition This Lord had not been a Month in Tuscany but he died Garsias his Son took the Command of the Imperial Army Duke Cosmo having refused it Paul de Termes Commanded then in that Country for the King The Imperialists having Twenty Thousand Foot in that Mountainous Region gained most of the places as well along the Sea-shore as the Valley of Chiana but they got nothing but Blows at Montalcini Thereupon they had notice the Turks Fleet was at Sea and that on the other hand Brissac had gained great advantages in Piedmont this news obliged them to send back the best part of their Forces to the Kingdom of Naples and into Milanois Cosmo was much astonished he saw himself forsaken by the Imperialists after he had broken with the King It was believed he would then willingly have complied had they known how to press him in that juncture but they gave him time to recover himself of his first fears and resolve to stand it out come what would In which he was the more confirmed for that the great Turkish Fleet Commanded by Dragut and joyned with the French Galleys of whom the Baron de la Garde was General having made a descent upon the Coasts and in the Island of Elbe took only some little places and durst not attaque either Piombino which is on the Terra-firma nor the Fortress of Porto-Ferrario which he had built in the Island From thence that Armada passed to Corsica carrying thither Termes and the greatest part of the French Commanders and Nobility who quitted Sienna imagining there was no further danger These passages hap'ned in the Year 1553. but in 1554. the King sent thither Peter Strozzi newly made Mareschal upon the Death of Annebaut to Command his Forces in the place of Paul de Termes This employment was procured him by the Queen to whom he was related but by obliging her Cousin she ruined the Kings Affairs For as Strozzi was a mortal Enemy to the Medicis Cosmo fancied he had expresly made choise of him to renew the intrigues for the liberty of the Florentines and to encourage them to shake off their Yoke so that being exasperated to the highest degree he observed no measures but openly declared against the French and against Sienna The Cardinal of Ferrare who had the intendance General of the Government for the King at Sienna took likewise some umbrage and Jealousie at this Mareschals Arrival who notwithstanding endeavour'd to condescend to him in all things insomuch that from that Minute he grew very careless neglected to carry on those practices and negotiations France then had as well at Rome as with the other Princes of Italy and let slip all those means and opportunities wherewith they might have kept things still in very good order and condition Cosmo had chosen for General of his Forces John Jacques Medequin Marquiss of Marignan who embraced this opportunity to make the World believe he was of the House of the Medicis though he were but the Son of a Maltostier or Tax-gatherer Having invested Sienna by the taking of several small places round about
Nephews which is to create quarrels with every one that hath but any Lands that lie conveniently for them that they may dispossess them and get into their Seats they attaqu'd the one and the other It then hap'ned that the Count de Sancta-Fiore Chief of the House of the Sforza's seeing Sienna was surrendred and the power of the French much enfeebled on that side the Hills drew two of his Brothers out of the French Service Charles one of the two by a notorious piece of Treachery had caused three of the Kings Galleys to be brought to Civita-Vecchia and his Brother Alexander pretending he had bought them of him seized them and convey'd them to Naples having gotten them out from thence by the invention of the Cardinal Sforza his Brother who surprized a Letter from the Count de Montorio to the Governour of the City containing an order that they should suffer them to go forth His Holiness thought himself extremely offended at this Violence committed in one of his own Ports and at the same time the Cardinal Caraffa shew'd him undeniable Evidence whether such as he had really discovered or whether he had contrived them himself to engage them to a quarrel of a horrible Conspiracy framed by the Spaniards against his Holiness which much encreased the old Gentlemans choller The Cardinal Caraffa having buzzed this in his Brain caused Camilla Colonna to be put in Prison accused for having tamper'd in this damnable Design open'd the Pacquets of the Duke d'Alva where he attested he had found good proofs of it stopt an Envoy of Philip King of Spain's raised Soldiers and by fore seized upon Palliana and Neptuna places which belonged to the Colonnas In this juncture a favourable opportunity presented for the recovery of Siena the scarcity of Provision was such that the people were raving mad for hunger and whatever care the Duke of Florence could take to send Wheat thither they could hardly get enough for fifteen days So that if the Pope had but lent his Forces to the French and those had joyned with such as they had in Garrisons and that Octavio Farnese who Commanded some Forces for the King in Tuscany would but have gone heartily about it they might infallibly have regained that City by only carrying of bread to those unfortunate inhabitants But Mendoza who at that time acted a Vice-Roy of Naples expecting the Arrival of the Duke of Alva approaching the Frontiers of the Church with Ten Thousand Men the Pope was so much frighted that he chose some Cardinals to endeavour to make a Peace between the two Crowns and in the mean time commanded Octavio to dismiss the Forces he had at Castro and Petigliana which caused Octavio who was retired to Parma to quit the service of the French make a Treaty with the Emperor by the mediation of the Duke of Alva and send the Collar of the Order back to the King The Holy Father would perhaps have rested there if the Cardinal Nephew by force of Arguments representing those outrages the Spaniards had offer'd and perswading him that both his own person and all his House were in danger to be destroy'd by the cruel Treacheries of those Renegado Apostates had not made him take a resolution of Excommunicating and declaring War against them though he had neither Soldiers nor Friends nor Money and at most but two or three years of life without either Strength or Vigour And thus it is the Popes are sometimes the Victimes of their Nephews and for their sakes sacrifice their quiet the Treasures of the Church and the Peace of Italy nay sometimes even of all Christendom France was his only refuge the Potentates of Italy are wont to flatter the French to get their help for the Executing their Vengeance or to make their own advantages then turn their backs upon them when they have gained their ends or if they find themselves in the least danger they slip aside with the earliest ✚ and leave the French behind plung'd in the Bogg and expos'd alone to all the peril When the Pope therefore sent to the King to demand his assistance and in requital promised his towards the Conquering the Kingdom of Naples the wisest were not of opinion that he should give ear to those Propositions They consider'd besides that France was drained of Money that they had work enough to defend themselves against the powers of Spain Germany and the Low-Countries with whom they should speedily find England joyned that it would be a hard task to preserve Piedmont and therefore not fit to undertake a Forraign Year of our Lord 1555 War upon the faith of people unfaithful variable and deceitful and the assurance of an old Man who had one foot in the Grave and no other weapons but the spiritual Sword of very little use or effect in a temporal War They consider'd these things very well but there were none so bold as to remonstrate them to the King They would not oppose the Cardinal de Lorrain who embraced this business that the Duke of Guise might have the Command of the Army in Italy The Constable himself was content not to approve of it without opposing it He was well enough pleased that those Princes who stood in his way should go and embarass themselves in an enterprize which would carry them out of the King's sight and which could not but succeed ill and turn to their own shame but he did not foresee that it should prove more unfortunate yet to him then to them Thus was it that all the King's Ministers some by a cursed Court-craft or Policy others out of an irregular ambition engaged this Prince to that doleful Alliance It was rough-drawn at Paris and finished at Rome by the Cardinal de Lorrain The King sent him thither expresly and he desired the Cardinal de Tournon might be joyned with him whom he took along as he passed thorough Lyons though he were of a quite contrary opinion and publickly protested that it was against his will they made use of him in so ruinous a business These Cardinals being arrived at Rome in the Month of October Signed the League Defensive and Offensive between the King the Pope and the Holy See in all the Estates of Italy excepting Piedmont It was therein agreed that towards the expences of the War the two Princes should deposite Five Hundred Thousand Crowns at Venice the King Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand and the Pope one Hundred and Fifty Thousand That they should begin it either in the Kingdom of Naples or in Tuscany as should be judged most convenient That the King should send Twelve Thousand Foot into Italy Five Hundred Men at Arms and as many Light-horse which should be Commanded by a Prince That the Pope should furnish Ten Thousand Foot and a Thousand Horse that he should bestow the investiture of Naples upon a Son of France provided it were not the Daufin but he retained a good Portion for himself and much Lands
when they could find a person of quality to head them such as was Dandelot or the Admiral his Brother This year that question was decided at Venice which the Spaniards had moved to the French concerning precedence or rank Doctor Francis Vargas had been there in the quality and with the Function of Ambassador for Charles V. Emperor and King of Spain After the abdication of the Emperor and about the end of the year 1556. Philip recalled him giving notice however to the Seigneory that he would send him again suddenly During his absence Loyola whom he had left in his stead pretended to hold the place of Ambassador for the Emperor the French Ambassador this was Dominique Bishop of Lodeve would have no such thing allowed and bestirred himself so that Loyola durst never appear at any Ceremonies In the year 1557. Vargas being return'd again pretended to keep the same station he had before saying he had never been revoked but he of France maintained he had since he had had his Audience of Congé and received the Present given to Ambassadors that moreover Charles V. had absolutely devested himself of the Empire without reserving to himself one inch of its Lands and that therefore he had now nothing to negociate or trouble his Brain withal but the looking after and managing his Clocks The business was off and on for almost a whole year then hap'ned the shock at Saint Quentin which much startled the minds and turned the thoughts and cares of the Ministers of France to things of a more important and pressing nature The Venetians grounded their doubts upon Charles V. being still Emperor but when that pretence came once to be remov'd by the Election of Ferdinand which was in the year 1558. they had no apparent reason to hesitate They knew well enough the King had most reason on his side but they durst not own it and would very fain have referr'd it to the decision of the Pope saying it belonged not to them to make themselves Judges between two such great Princes The pretensions of Philip was not as yet to gain the upper hand of France but only to hang up the dispute upon the hedge and stand on equal termes The Venetians had made a Decree in the Councel des Pregadi that the Ambassadors of both Kings should be present at none of their Ceremonies till the controversie were first judged at Rome so greatly did they apprehend to offend Philip Nevertheless when they observed the Kings Affairs began to look with a promising face again and Novailles Bishop of Dacqs the Ambassador from France pressed them without intermission and by strong Arguments and Reasons and threatnings to be gone they at length revoked the Decree and ordained that he of France should hold the first rank according to ancient custom and usage They sent for him therefore to assist at the Ceremony they made upon the day of the Visitation being the second of July This was eight dayes before the death of the King The Peace being made all relented and grew soft and slack in France the Constable was already more then Septuaginary besides ever unfortunate in War the Mareschal de Saint André brave in his Person but softned by luxury and voluptuousness the King if we may so say dared by the Hawk and baffled as who had beheld his Kingdom in extream danger the Guises loaden with Honour and glad there was no occasion to keep them at too great a distance from the Court where they were omnipotent especially since the Marriage of their Niece with the Daufin Some have reproached them perhaps without any reason that from that time they began to entertain secret Correspondencies with the Spaniard or at least to have a great deal of Complaisance for him that they might out-do the Constable in this very point too who seemed to have relinquished much of the Interests of France for his own Whatever it were the Government at this time changed their Maximes in two points whereof one was touching the Affaires of Italy the other the Alliance with the Turks For they resolved as to the first not to intermeddle with it any more And for the other to renounce it wholly likewise as a thing very prejudicial to Christendom of little benefit and very scandalous to France and which hindred the Princes of Germany from reposing an intimate confidence and joyning in a strickt tye with them Year of our Lord 1559 So that under pretence of gaining their Amity they obliged him to send Ambassadors to the Diet of Ausburg to assure them he never had any real Alliance with the Turks and that he was resolved to renounce it Totally The Agents of the House of Austria endeavour'd to make good advantage of this Compliment at the Port Solyman could believe nothing till he had received certain News of the Peace between the two Crowns Then he released Ferdinands Ambassador whom he held in Prison and immediately made a Peace with his Master and yet to make it appear he had still some concern for France he obliged that Prince to be a Friend to his Friends and Enemy to his Enemies The five and twentieth of January the Pope displeased with the ill-behaviour of the Caraffa's his Nephews and principally because they attempted to hold him in Captivity after he had declaimed against them with all his might in a Consistory stript them of all their Offices and Dignities and expell'd them from Rome which furnished Pius IV. his Successor with a pre-judgment to make Process against them though he were indebted to them for his Pope-dome which he gained by their contrivance The Cardinal Caraffa was strangled in the Castle Saint Angelo John Count de Montebel his Brother and the Count d'Alifan Brother of the Wife to that John had their Heads cut off A lesson ☜ written in Letters of Blood to teach their Fellows if they would reflect on it to use that power with more moderation which is so frail and tottering There was neither City nor Province nor Profession where the novel opinions had not got footing men of the Gown men of Learning and the Ecclesiasticks themselves against their own Interest suffer'd themselves to be charmed with them punishments did but make them scatter and encrease and enflame their Zeal the more So that several of the Parliament some out of a more tender and merciful nature others because they had embraced them were of the mind to moderate those to severe prosecutions The King knowing this sent for Giles le Maistre first President and two others with the Procureur or Solicitor General and commanded them to execute his Edict of Chasteau-Briand with the utmost severity Le Maistre makes report to the whole Company of the Kings Commands as they were arguing upon that Subject and most voices inclined towards a mitigation the business being in good forwardness behold the King having notice as it was presumed from Le Maistre comes into the Parliament this was on the
affected delayes did continue to defeat their hopes of the General one so often promised Moreover the Governors were enjoyned to watch there might be no factious Meetings and to su spend their pursuits for matters of Religion if no other Crime were complicated with it This was to begin a Toleration Things being thus regulated every one had order to retire home Great was the Alarm at Rome when they heard mention made of holding a National Council in France Pius IV. omitted nothing to disswade the King from it He represented to him as a great grievance that the Gallican Church would re-establish the Pragmatique and by consequence the Elections whereby the Royal dignity and prerogative would be much eclipsed and diminished He intreated the King of Spain to interpose his Interest and Credit with him to prevent a mischief he reckoned so prejudicial to his Pontifical Authority And all these Engines proving too weak to obtain a revocation of those resolutions taken in Council he could find no other expedient to avoid it but by a General Council He was a while in suspence whether to call one wholly new or whether he should continue the same his Predecessors Paul III. and Julius III. had Prorogued All considered the advice for continuation seemed best And he caused publication to be made that the Council should re-commence on Easter-day the following year Year of our Lord 1560 The two Brothers Anthony and Lewis de Bourbon did not appear at the Assembly of Melun for two Months before Anthony was retired to Gascogne and his Brother was gone to visit him Being there in much greater security they settled their Affairs and projected the means and methods to make themselves the stronger and set aside the Guises These having many faithful and trusty Servants Spies well paid and all rewards and punishments in their own hands quickly discover'd their Stratagems and blasted them before they could be ripe for Execution The Princes made use of one named la Sague an Imprudent man who Communicated his Secrets to a Camerade of his with whom he had born Arms in Piedmont This Fellow whispers it to the Mareschal de Brissac who tells it to the Duke of Guise So that as la Sague was returning into Gascogne he was Seized with a great many Letters Fear of the Rack or hopes of reward unty'd his Tongue Himself put them in the way how to read some of them by wetting the Paper where before there was no Footsteps of any Writing appear'd The most Criminal were those from Francis de Vendosme Vidame of Chartres an Enemy to the Duke of Guise so he was laid hold on and shut up in the Bastille Some time after he was transfer'd from thence but under a strong Guard to his own House where he Died of grief if not by the Debauchery of his Youth Bouchard who was Chancellor to Anthony without any other instigation but his own faint-heartedness did likewise reveal all the practises of the Prince of Condé and the means he made use of to engage his Brother He thought hereby to secure himself but they Seized upon him and put him in Prison at Saint John d'Angely where he was kept very close that they might have his Evidence when time Served There appeared in the mean time divers Commotions in the Provinces which shewed that the whole Body of the Religionaries were on the point of making a general rising for in Normandy whither the Admiral had been dispatched they met and Preached Publickly The two Brothers Anthony and Paul Richend Mouvans endeavoured to make themselves Masters of Valence of Montelimard of Romans in Dauphiné and of the Cities of Aix and Arles in Provence but the Lord de Maugeron made them fail in their enterprize Anthony was slain in a tumult at Draguignan Paul made his escape into Swisserland In like manner Charles du Puy Montbrun making use of the Religionaries in his dispute for the Government of Dauphiné at la Mothe Gondrin was routed by his Adversary and ran away stark naked yet got safe to the Swiss Country Maligny of the House de Ferriere who belonged to the King of Navarre attempted also to Seize upon Lyons causing his Soldiers to Ship in man by man and he had compleated his work if N. Dapchon Abbot de Savigny who was Governor in the absence of the Mareschal de Saint André his maternal Uncle had not discover'd his Plot and put the Bourgeois in Arms. Maligny was glad to make his escape and the Abbot apprehending some worse Event set open the Gates that he might be gone quietly The Mareschal de Saint André going thither to search into the bottom of the design caused above fifty of those rash undertakers to be executed The Princes promised themselves a much stronger Cabal in the Assembly of Estates then the Guises nevertheless their Friends were of Opinion they ought not to rely upon that but come so well Armed to Court as to be in a Condition either to drive them thence or make them perish there To this purpose they had given orders on all hands but their Letters and practises having taken Air the Guises made use of the Kings Name to fortify themselves sent for all the Established Company 's and put forth a Declaration to all Governors of Provinces commanding them to punish the disturbers of the publick Peace according to the utmost severity of the Edict with power to Suspend and displace such Officers as had conniv'd or shew'd any indulgence towards the Factious Besides all this they sent to command the Princes to come to Court only attended with their Houshold Servants to justify themselves of such matters wherewith they were charged so that to speak truly they left them but a very ill-boding passage to enter much more like a Prison Door then a Gate of the Louvre They resolved however to come The Cardinal de Bourbon their Brother being deceived first was an Instrument to deceive them withal the Dignity of their Birth seemed an inviolable safe-conduct to them So that the King of Navarre refused seven hundred Gentlemen of Poitou who offer'd to attend him and above Year of our Lord 1560 fifteen hundred Soldiers who were in a readiness in several Provinces telling them his innocency was his sufficient security and he would give them no cause to suspect he came with any design to offer violence to the King or to the Estates In his Journey he received notice from several hands that the Guises having scared the King and the Queen Mother with the pretended Conspiracy revealed by la Sague were more Masters at Court then ever and had put them upon the extreamest resolutions However he went forward not duely weighing the wise Councils of Marillac Archbishop of Vienne who having endeavour'd all that was possible to diswade him died with Grief and the fear he justly had conceived lest the Guises whom he had already highly offended should revenge themselves upon him The Sixteenth of October the King
When he had consider'd therefore that it was a foolish enterprize to take Paris for Corbeil he decamped the 12th day of December and took his March towards Normandy to joyn with the English who were at Havre and receive some English Money to pay his Germans ready to Mutiny The Triumviri followed him so close that at his seventh or eighth halt the two Armies found themselves engaged to give Battel near the City of Dreux the twentieth of December In the beginning the Huguenots had some advantage they defeated the main Battel of the Catholicks took part of their Cannon and even the Constable being wounded with a Pistol Bullet in the Face but they afterwards falling upon the Baggage and their gross of Reserve which consisted of twelve hundred Reistres disbanding likewise to get their share the Catholicks had their full revenge The Duke of Guise in appearance commanded only his Company of Gentdarmes and a Body made up of some friends of his who were Voluntiers and yet his desert and quality made his advice and counsel pass for Orders The Mareschal de Saint André led the Van-Guard the Duke who stood on a rising Ground and reserv'd himself for the Crowning of that Day beholding the Enemies scatter'd and scarce keeping any order detached some parties from that Body to charge the Infantry who were defrauded of their Cavalry then Marching himself turned upon their Horse and put them to the rout The Prince of Condé who never gave Ground was taken Prisoner by Danville the Constables second Son the Reisters trotted away into a Neighbouring Wood the Admiral joyned them with Four Hundred Horse whom he had rallied and with these was resolved if the Germans had but had so much courage to have begun the Charge afresh the next day They Counted Eight Thousand dead upon the place as many almost of the one party as of the other The Field of Battel remained to the Duke of Guise who did not judge it fitting to pursue the Admiral but left him to make his retreat towards Orleans whither they caused the Constable immediately to be carried fearing he might be rescued from them In the Fight the Mareschal de Saint André being by a great Body of Horse made Prisoner of War while he pursued the Victory too eagerly was kill'd with a Pistol-shot by a Cavalier named Bobigny-Meziere Son of a Register belonging to Paris whom he had used too ruggedly in some Ren-contre The Duke of Guise rendred all imaginable honour to the Prince of Condé they supped and lay together with so many demonstrations of amity that one would have guessed they had laid aside and forgotten all their quarrels to live together like Cousin-Germains as they were in intire confidence as they had before done under the Reign of Henry II. When the main Battel of the Royal Army was first defeated there were some run-aways that rode Whip and Spur even to Paris Proclaiming that all was lost Of these was d'Ossun who had acquir'd the name of brave in the Wars of Italy and indeed the rage he fell into afterwards when he found his mistake had so betray'd his courage as to blemish the Lustre of all his former Actions himself condemned himself to death and underwent the execution of his own Sentence by an obstinate resolution never to eat or drink more Upon the first news the Dutchess of Guise who had a numerous Court about her found her self abandoned in a moment and as for the Queen without being overmuch moved or concerned She only said well we must then pray to God in French began highly to caress those that were friends to the Prince and the Novel Opinions But next day the contrary being certified by a Cloud of Eye-Witnesses Letters from the principal Officers the crowd about the Dutchess of Guise was greater Year of our Lord 1562 then ever the Huguenot Cabal play'd the Diver the Catholick one took the upper-hand and clapp'd their wings and crowed the Queen ordered Bon-fires to be made though with some reluctance and gave with all the apparent willingness she could counterfeit the command of the Army to the Duke of Guise on whom the Army themselves had already conferr'd it Year of our Lord 1563. January In like manner the Princes Army intreated the Admiral to accept of the Office of General When he had refreshed himself for some days at Paray he descended into Vendosmois and crossing the Loire at Baugency lodged his Men in the Countries of Soulogne and in Berry where he knew the Duke of Guise would have Lodged his in order to the Siege of Orleans which was resolved upon Having left his Brother Dandelot in the City with Two Thousand Soldiers as many Inhabitants well arm'd and a great number of Nobility he repassed the Loire at Gergeau and takes his way towards Normandy In that Country he ransomed divers little Towns for Sums to entertain his Men received the Money from England and Muster'd his Forces Being invited by the Huguenots of Caen he besieged the Castle wherein was the Duke of Elboeuf Brother of the Duke of Guise and N. de Bailleul Renouard whom he had taken at discretion had not the important news from Orleans obliged him to return that way Year of our Lord 1563. February and March The Duke of Guise had laid Siege to it the sixth day of February 1563. The Queen was at Bangency and had shut up the Prinâ—e whom she still lugg'd along with her in the Castle of Onzain Already the Suburbs were lost with â—ight hundred of the besieged already the Bridge-Tower was gained and the Huguenots in such consternation they could expect no help but some sudden blow from Heaven or from Hell when a Gentleman named John Poltrot Meré prompted by a fatal and detestable Zeal for the defence of his Religion watching his opportunity when the Duke of Guise who had been to meet his Wife returned to the Siege mounted upon a Mule and slenderly attended shot him with a Pistol into the shoulder whereof he died six days after In so much reputation even amongst his Enemies as to be allowed the most generous Prince of his time and the best head in Christendom endued with all the heroick vertues and scarce tainted with any vice either as Prince or Courtier The Murtherer after he had rid hard all night thinking he was far enough from thence found himself by day-break at the Bridg d'Olivet his Horse being tyred he went into a House to repose himself where the same Morning he was taken by one of that Dukes Secretaries Interrogated what were the Motives who the Instigators made him commit that Crime he said as to the first his zeal for Religion had push'd him on to destroy him whom he judg'd to be their Persecutor touching the other point he varied much accusing sometimes one sometimes another but in all his Answers and Confessions and at his very death he taxed the Admiral That Lord to little purpose purged
accused him in Parliament of dangerous opinions and sentiments concerning matters of Faith got him confined to a Prison but the King by a Decree of Council set him at Liberty with an injunction to write no more without his express Order and Permission and forbid the Parliament to take any Cognisance of this matter The Five and Twentieth of July the Feast day of the Apostle Saint James the great the Emperor Ferdinand I. Brother of Charles V. died at Vienne of a lingring Feaver attended with a Dropsie He had lived Sixty one years and governed the Empire Seven yeaers Maximilian his Eldest Son who was already King of the Romans succeeded him month July The whole Kingdom was full of Factions and Tumults from all quarters complaints were brought to the King of the one and the other Party The Queen Mother desiring to know the Strength of the Huguenots and the different dispositions of Mens minds or having some more secret design under deck thought good to take a Progress with the whole Court to every City in the Kingdome taking along with her the King Alexander Monsieur the Elder of his Brothers and leaving Hercules the youngest at Bois de Vincennes The Prince of Condé had retired himself to his House de Valery Year of our Lord 1564. and 65. The Court began their promenade about the end of Winter visited Champagne Barrois Bourgongne Lyonnois Provence Languedoc Guyenne making solemn Entries in all the great Cities and arrived at Bayonne the Tenth day of June of the following year 1565. Year of our Lord 1565 During the Kings absence a controversie between the Cardinal de Lorraine and the Mareschal de Montmorency Governor of Paris and the Isle of France was very near breaking out into another War The King had forbid all his Subjects wearing of any Arms the Cardinal notwithstanding had a Licence under the Great Seal to have a Guard that might bear them The Mareschal knew it well enough but he expected the Cardinal should send to Compliment him upon it and the Cardinal pretended that it belonged to the Mareschal to pay him that Civility Now when upon his return from the Council of Trent the Cardinal would have passed thorough Paris with the Duke of Aumale his Brother and the Duke of Guise his Nephew the Mareschal de Montmorency knowing he drew near the City sent to Command him by a Prevost des Mareschaux to make his men give up their Arms the Cardinal went on the Mareschal well Accompanied goes to meet him charged him in the Street Saint Denis The Duke d'Aumale was gone by Saint Martins Gate The Cardinals People were scatter'd here and there and he escaped into a Shop with his Nephew At Night they went all to the Hostel de Clugny which was the Cardinals House The next day the Mareschal passed and repassed in a bravado before his Door The City of Paris being just on the point to rise the Prevost des Marchands on behalf of the Parliament endeavour'd to find out some means for an Accommodation between them He prevail'd with the Cardinal to go out of Town and with the Mareschal to permit that Princes Guard to wear their Arms according to the Kings Licence a Copy whereof he shewed The Duke d'Aumale nevertheless hovering about Paris with a numerous Train of Friends whom he had called to him the Admiral was likewise sent for by the Mareschal his Cousin and brought a Thousand or Twelve Hundred Gentlemen along with him and thus both Parties being in Armes it was feared every Moment they would charge each other but the King having heard the Complaints of both sides sent a Command they should lay down their Armes to which they obey'd The Queen Mother being so nigh the Frontiers of Spain desired to see her Daughter Isabella de la Paix Wife of King Philip II. The King sent his Brother the Duke of Anjou to meet her who being attended with the Flower of the French Court passed over the River Marquere which is beyond Saint John de Pied de Port and parts the two Kingdomes met the Queen at Arvanis and accompanied her to Saint Sebastians where Ferdinand Alvara de Toledo Duke d' Year of our Lord 1565 Alva came and waited on her with a great Attendance He brought the Order of the Golden Fleece for the King who went to receive his Sister at the Banks of the River Bidasso and there gave his hand to help her out of the Boat The Queen Mother had past over the River whether so agreed upon or impatient to embrace her Daughter whom they set upon a Palfrey Monsieur and the Cardinal de Bourbon walking on each side and so led her to Bayonne where she remained about Three weeks with her Mother During that time all what the Luxury and Pomp of the Court of France which surpasses all others in those profusions could invent and contrive for Balets Feastings Carousels and Bravery were employed to let them see theirs was as stately and proud and much more ingenious then that of Spain The Queen Mother would have had it thought this residence of the Court at Bayonne was only to divert her Daughter but her design was quite another thing For under pretence of going to visit her by means of a close Gallery purposely built from one House to the other she every Night held Communication with the Duke of Alva and the event did afterwards plainly discover that all those Conferences tended to make a secret Alliance between the two Kings to extirpate the Protestants month July c. The Huguenots who had piercing Eyes and quick Ears imagined the Duke of Alva had advised the Queen to draw them all together to some great Assembly and dispatch them without Mercy They said likewise that he let these words fall That the Head of one Salmon is worth more then all the Frogs in a Marsh and they believed that even at the Assembly of Moulins the Queen had then given the fatal blow if all things necessary thereto had concurred as she desired Now whether these things were true or imaginary it is certain they lost all that little Credit and Confidence there had been between them so that they could never afterwards take any measures with her and thus the Spaniard attained the end he aimed at and so greatly desired which was to maintain an irreconciliable Division in France The Court at their departure from Bayonne passed by Nerac where they restored the Exercise of the Catholick Religion which Queen Jane d'Albret had banisht thence visited afterwards Agenois Perigord Angoumois Poitou and Anjou and from thence going up the River of Loire came and concluded the year in the City of Blois and assigned an Assembly of the Grandees of the Kingdom and the first Presidents of the Parliaments in the City of Moulïns for the Month of January in the following year 1566. This was Memorable for the Famous Siege of Malta which was fiercely Attaqued by the Turks four
they treated them after that manner not as French-Men but as Lutherans Laudonniere having pick'd up as many as he could with the Boats he had ordered to creep along the Shoar set Sail for France Year of our Lord 1568 The King's Council who were half Spanish not minding to take any Revenge for this Massacre a private Person by Name Dominique de Gourgues Native of Mont de Marsan in Gascongne a man of Heart and great Resolution offended for that the Spaniards having otherwhile taken him Prisoner in the Wars of Italy had put him in their Galleys undertook to avenge both his own Injury and that of France With part of his Estate which he sold and what his Brother President of the Generality of Guyenne lent him he equipp'd some Vessels with Two Hundred Soldiers and a Hundred Sea-men went and Landed in Florida and joyning with the Barbarians of the Country who mourned and groaned under the Oppression of the Spaniards attaqu'd and by Storm took the Fort Charles and two more which they had raised in two places at some distance In them were above Eight Hundred men The Barbarians beat out the Brains of such as thought to escape into the Woods and he caused all the rest to be hanged who Surrendred at discretion with this Writing Not as Spaniards but as Pirates Upon his return into France the Avenger of his Country and the Deliverer or Redeemer of Florida instead of Elogy's and Rewards met with Accusers and a mortal danger the Ambassador of Spain demanded his Head and the Council was ready to give it him so that he was forced to hide himself till after the Peace when the Admiral and his Friends brought him off from all trouble Peter Bertrand Son of Blaize de Montluc gained no less Honour in his Enterprize but had less a fortunate Success He had a design to build a place either by fair means or by force in such a post as he should find most convenient in the Kingdoms of Manicongo Mozambique or Melinda to serve as a Retreat for the French to carry on the Trade of Africa and the East-Indies as the Portuguese did For this purpose he fitted three great Vessels and some Barks with Twelve Hundred Soldiers His younger Brother Fabian and a Cadet of the House of Pampadour accompanied him A Tempest having cast him upon the Coasts of Madera his men would needs go on Shoar for fresh water the Portuguese received them with Cannot shot and made a Salley to cut them off Bertrand enraged that they should thus violate the common right of Mankind and the Alliance between the two Crowns of France and Portugal Lands Eight Hundred Men goes directly to them whilst his Brother cut off their Retreat and so Slew them all At the same time he Marched towards the City which bears the same Name as the Island puts his Cannon in Battery forced and sacked it but as he was Assaulting the great Church where part of the Garrison yet defended themselves he received a wound in his Thigh whereof he died in a few dayes after Thus was that Enterprize interrupted which would have been no less useful then glorious All those that went along with him ran great hazard of their Lives when they were come back into France They were fain to hide or keep out of the way a long time the Credit and Interest of Montluc nor the power of the Admiral who stood up stoutly for every thing wherein the Honour of the French was concerned had much adoe to secure them against the Complaints and Instances of the Portugal Ambassador who prosecuted them before the King's Council as Pirates The intention of those that made the Peace of Chartres was not to keep it but to take their advantage better than they had done before So that it could not last long The Huguenots contravening to the Treaty retained several places amongst others Sancerre Vezelay Montauban Castres Millaud and Rochel which they Fortified in all hast They manifestly had Intelligence with Queen Elizabeth and with the Princes of Germany and the Admiral had particular Correspondence with the Prince of Orange A Normand Gentleman Named Coqueville had raised Seven or Eight Hundred Men in the Country of Caux to carry to him but being charged and then invested by the Mareschal de Cossé in Saint Valery's they threw down their Armes and Coqueville was Beheaded month June c. On the other hand they did not let the Huguenots enjoy either Peace or their Liberty of Conscience they were more in danger than in the time of War In three Months time above Two Thousand of them were kill'd in divers Places either by their particular Enemies as René Lord de Cipierre Son of Claude de Savoye Count de Tende and Thirty Persons of his Train whom Gaspard de Villeneure Marquess d'Ars Massacred in Frejus as he returned from Nice whether he Year of our Lord 1568 went to see the Duke of Savoy his Kinsman or by popular Tumults as at Amiens near a Hundred People at Auxerre an Hundred and Fifty many at Blois at Bourges at Issoudun at Troyes and in twenty other Places But nothing seemed more cruel than what the People did at Ligny in Barrois where a Huguenot upon a Holy-day having refused to comply in some trivial Ceremony and committed some little Indecency was haled out of his House by the populace in the Magistrates presence and burnt upon a pile of Wood which they fetched from his own dwelling The Prince was then at Noyers in Burgundy a Castle of his Wives A Soldier was surprized measuring the Fosse and the Wall to Scale the place and that design being detected the Queen order'd those forces to go into Burgundy which were raised for the Besieging of Rochel and to take him by Force since they could not catch him by craft At the same time as they aimed at his Person as Head of the Party so they used all means imaginable to divide the Huguenots and unlink those from him who appeared most zealous to follow him On the contrary he endeavour'd to keep them United and make them all speak by his Mouth He sent Teligny then Jacqueline de Rohan his Wives Mother to Court to Supplicate the Queen Mother to maintain the Peace and the Edicts but that was what he ought never to have hoped for when he could not but observe that if any one were of his opinion he was called Libertine and Politician as much as to say one that had no true Love to Religion and that the Chancellour de l'Hospital who gave pacifick Counsels was discharged from Court and confined to his House at Vignan near Estampes as suspected to be a Huguenot and indeed his Wife his Daughter and his Son in Law were so The Seals were given to John de Morvillier Bishop of Orleans Hardly was the Princes Mother in Law gone from Court when he had News that some Forces by secret Order were drawn about Noyers to surround him
The Duke of Alenson out-braved by the Favourites had plotted to get away the King having notice of it causes both him and all those that were suspected to have given him such advice to be seized but the next day upon the Queen-Mothers intercession pardon'd him and to compleat the favour did likewise set the other prisoners at large That done as if he had nothing more to fear he gave himself wholly up to idleness passed the Night-time in Feasting and Balls the Morning in adjusting his Cloaths or placing his Furniture to the best advantage and invent new modes the Afternoon in divertisements amongst the Ladies and the Evening in Gaming While he lived in this great security the Duke his Brother deceives those that were commanded to watch him and slipping away one evening the Fifteenth of September reached the City of Dreux where Bussy who had forsaken the Court brought him a great deal of company At his going away he declared himself an enemy to the House of Guise and openly protested to revenge the death month Septemb. of the Admiral and of Molle his Favourite Amongst the Cloaths in his Wardrobe he kept a Doublet belonging to the last and had sworn he would wear it on a day of Battle If the Duke of Montpensier would have joyned with the Duke of Nevers or have lent him his Forces he might have hindred from passing the Loire and getting into Berry For all Montpensiers refusal he had a great mind to charge them and marched with great speed to intercept him but the Queen-Mother sent a Courier with an express Order under her own hand which commanded him not to pursue them any further she fearing her Son might perish in the Fight Upon the noise of the Duke of Alensons evasion great numbers of the Nobility flocked to him from all parts amongst others Ventadour Turenne and the wise La Noüe In the mean while the Prince of Condé had finished his Treaty with Casimir who raised him Eight thousand Reisters and Six thousand Swiss upon this conditition Year of our Lord 1575 amongst other things that they should make no Peace without his consent nor until they had obtained of the King the Government in chief of Mets Toul and Verdun for him Toré having contributed Fifty thousand Crowns towards these Levies they could not refuse to let him have Two thousand Reisters and Five hundred Foot to carry the Duke of Alenson by way of advance but the Duke of Guise Governour of Champagne charged and defeated them near Chasteau-Thierry He was there wounded in the left Cheek with a Musquet-shot the scar remained all his life-time a very Glorious mark of Honour to the Catholiques and very becoming in a Ladies Eyes also who believe that such as are brave in the Field of Mars are ever so in the Camp of Venus too Toré made his escape to the Duke of Alenson in Berry by the swiftness ☜ of his Horse and thither his Infantry got safely by a brave retreat of above Thirty Leagues It was suspected that the Duke of Alensons evasion was contrived by the Queen-Mother thereby to keep up two parties in the Kingdom and render her self necessary between both The Huguenots growing every day more suspicious imagined she had sent him amongst them to divide and so to ruine them However it were most of the great ones were very well pleased with it and she had employment enough cut out for her self as she desired She therefore presently hies after him taking along the Mareschals of Montmorency and Cosse whom she had released from their imprisonment to make use of that credit they had with him Montmorency prevailed so far by his interest as to bring the Duke to the Castle of Champigny belonging to the Duke of Montpensier where she cajoled him so finely that he consented to a truce of Six Months beginning from the Two and twentieh of November That done she returns to Court leaving the said Mareschal there to dispose him to a final accommodation It was agreed by this Truce that the King should give to the Duke by way of security the Cities of Angoulesme Niort Saumur Bourges and la Charite and to the Prince of Conde Mezieres The Governours of Bourges and Angoulesme having refused to be diseised of their places the Queen-Mother returns again to her Son month Decemb. and managed him so well that she obliged him to accept of Cognac and St. Jean d'Angely in exchange after which the Truce was published the Two and twentieth of December There was however nothing as yet that tended to a Peace the King made great Levies both of Men and Money but the City of Paris instead of furnishing him with the sums he desired paid him with Remonstrances which relished of reproaches and did but too evidently let him know the little esteem they had of his Government Some Bourgeois however paid Taxes not so much out of good Will as the fear they had of the Reisters and to exempt their Countrey-houses from quartering of Soldiers wherewith they were menaced month January The Negotiations for Peace continued still this stopt the Prince of Conde and Casimir in Lorrain all the month of January at the end whereof being tired with the variety and uncertainty of such Propositions as were made them they descended into Bassigny crossed over Burgundy within sight of Langres Dijon and Beaulne passed the Loir at Marsigny les Nonains and extended themselves between that River and the River of Allier having gained the Bridge de Vichy Auvergne avoided that month February inundation which would have destroy'd it by a Present of Fifty thousand Crowns and by ordering Markets to serve them with Provisions where-ever they passed The Duke of Mayenne who commanded the Royal Army durst not approach the Princes any nearer then within two days march When the King perceived they were resolved to come directly to Paris he recalled his own and quarter'd them about it but this remedy which he thought sit to provide against their fears excited the Parisians complaints they fall a crying out that they ought not thus pursue the only Brother of the King and that it was a high piece of cruelty to drive a Son out of the House To these out-cries were added the Duke of Montpensiers refusal to take upon him the Command of the Royal Army the little zeal the Grandees express'd to serve the King in this occasion and a much more surprising accident then all these which was the evasion of the King of Navarre about the end of February This Prince having a long while suffer'd himself to be flatter'd with the hopes of the General-Lieutenancy and the deluding charms of some Court Syrens escaped at last from Senlis whither he was gone under pretence of a Hunting-match and retired to Poissy from thence to Alenson afterwards to Vendosme Two hundred Gentlemen month February coming there to meet him he travelled by long journeys into Guyenne where his quality of Governour and
chosen a Council of Forty Persons They afterwards obliged them to receive the Petition of Catharine de Cleves Widow of the Duke of Guise who desired leave to take information concerning the death of her Husband and Commissioners to make Process against such as should be Convicted The Parliaments the Chambers Assembled having heard the Sollicitor General 's motion admitted and granted her Petition and named two Counsellors to manage and carry on the said Process The King against all these attempts opposed nothing but a little Parchment and Wax multitudes of Letters which he sent every way and several Declarations at first very soft and gentle then somewhat more vigorous One amongst others which commanded the Duke of Aumale to go out of Paris interdicted the Parliament and all other the Kings Judges to exercise any Jurisdiction then another which declared the Dukes of Mayenne and Aumale and all the revolted Cities guilty of the Crime de Lesae Majestatis in the highest degree and deprived them of all Offices Honours and Priviledges In pursuance whereof he made an Edict which transferr'd the Parliament and the Chambre des Comptes to Tours as he afterwards did that of Rouen to Caen and the University and the Presidial of Orleans to Beaugency It was thought that if he had but mounted on Horseback and appeared at the Gates of Orleans or Paris who lead the dance to all other Tumults he had stifled them with ease but he was grown so effeminate thorough idleness that he could neither perform any thing with vigor nor keep himself any competent time steady to the same resolution He stirred not from Blois but continued the Estates there whom he persuaded himself would suddenly find out some remedy for all the grievances and troubles in the Kingdom In the mean while the Leaguers and Friends of the deceased Duke drew after them almost all the People of the whole Nation already too much prepossessed with ill-favour'd sentiments against him Even those very Persons who ever had abhorr'd Faction and Rebellion finding he had caused a Cardinal to be Massacred imagined he struck at the Catholick Religion it self the manner and circumstances of those Murthers gave a horror to all the World even the King of Navarre though Year of our Lord 1589 it were realy very advantageous to him could not find in his heart to rejoyce and month January le Plessis Mornay hindred the Rochellers from any publick Expressions of it for fear they might be reproached for approving that ambiguous act by any solemnity It could never be certainly known whether the Queen Mother had any hand in it there being only conjectures both for and against it but it is certain the King did never afterwards communicate any affairs to her So that thinking Life a burthen without any Authority or Power being overwhelmed with Age for she was Seventy and two years old but much more with trouble and sorrow to see that fate maugre all the obstructions she had contrived brought her greatest Enemy so near the Crown and withal being pierced to the heart that the Cardinal de Bourbon when she would needs visit him upon his Bed of Sickness and languishment cast that bloody reproach in her teeth Ah Madam is it thus you have brought us all to the Butchery she fell sick and died of it the Fifth of January Her death was esteemed a thing very indifferent causing neither joy nor sorrow and her memory would have vanisht with her breath after all the noise and stirs she had made for thirty years together had she not brought down too many curses upon France to be so soon forgotten A second time the King made the Estates swear to the Edict of Union to shew he was a Zealous Catholick After this they presented their Papers to him which he began to examine for some days The Fifteenth and Sixteenth of the Month he heard their Harangues which were full of fine words sound Reasons wise Expedients but their Tongues and Hearts were very far asunder so that it was nothing but a Scene where each one acted a part quite different from what he was indeed Now they sending him notice from all parts of new Commotions and finding most of the Deputies retired without taking leave he dismiss'd them all upon the Twentieth day of the Month and that they might carry with them into the Provinces some Marks of his Bounty to the Nobility he gave Brissac and Bois-Daufin their liberty and to the Third Estate that of three or four Deputies whom Richelieu had seized on But all of them made him an ill requital reserving only the injury in memory but not the favour and pardon Moreover he granted and caused several Articles of their Instructions or Memorials to be proclaimed amongst others an abatement of the fourth part of their Tailles of which in truth there was above a third part of non-value and never could be raised From Blois he caused all his Prisoners to be transfer'd to the Castle of Amboise but the Duke of Nemours of a bold and active Spirit found the invention to escape disguised like a Kitchin Scullion and got to Paris without stop or stay The last day of the Month he had news that the Citadel of Orleans had surrendred to the Bourgeois He had hoped that the Duke of Nevers whom he recalled from Poitou would have relieved it but after the taking of la Ganache his Forces being all Year of our Lord 1589 Leaguers either dispersed or went over to his Enemies month Januaay He heard almost at the same time that Paris had drawn in all the Towns and Passages round about them excepting Melun That Dreux Crespy in Valois Senlis Clermont in Beauvoisis Pont Saincte Maixence Amiens Abbeville Rouen and all those of Normandy excepting the Pont de L'Arche Diepe and Caen had set up the Colours of the League That Bois-Daufin had stirred up all the Country of Mans That the Duke of Mayenne was Master of all Burgundy excepting Semur and Flavigny That Lyons had cast their Rider and chose for Governor the Duke of Genevois so they called the Duke of Nemours As to Bretagne the Duke of Mercoeur did not make them move as yet because the King his Brother in Law amused him with the hopes of giving him that Dutchy after his death Stephen Duranti First President of Toulouze and James Dafis Attorney General contained that City near a Month but at last Vrban de Sainct Gelais Lansac Bishop of Cominges a Man equally ambitious and violent made it revolt and put the Populace into such a fury that they inhumanely massacred those two Magistrates dragg'd their dead Bodies thorough the Streets with the Kings Effigies and hanged them on the Gallows The Parisians and the Dutchess of Montpensier who could not well agree with the Duke of Aumale invited the Duke of Mayenne to Paris as soon as he had setled Burgundy in good order he begins his Journey thither to satisfie them All Champagne was of his
and a half of Diepe between the two little Hillocks that shut up the Valley where runs the River of Betune of whose Mouth the Sea makes the Port of that City The Duke Lodged on the Hill at the right hand and attaqued the Suburb du Polet whence being repulsed he lay still three days together without attempting any thing The fourth he made a great effort to gain the Kings Retrenchment but having lost five hundred Men he retired and rested quiet two days more after which having decamped and taken a march of seven or eight Leagues he returns of a sudden to Polet and began to batter it but it was at Year of our Lord 1589. September a distance only and very coldly The tenth day he raised the Siege for good and all and retreated a great way into Picardy Besides his slowness and uncertainty there were other clogs no less heavy that hindred him from moving with that force and promptitude requisite in such great Enterprises his Germans and Swiss refused to fight unless he would first pay their Musters and they were hourly ready to fall together by the Ears with the French upon such picques as are ordinary betwixt different Nations Besides all the Commanders of his Army taking the Kings surrender or flight to be unavoidable â—ell already into disputes about the sharing of the Kingdom The Marquiss du Pont believed the Crown was his due the Duke of Nemours the Duke and the Chevalier d'Aumale scoffed at his Pretensions and being possessed against each other with the like jealousies as against him did narrowly watch each others motions This was ☜ it that upon this very first occasion betray'd the weakness of the Duke of Mayenne and the League and gave the Royal Party so mean an opinion of them and so good a one of themselves that after this very day they made no difficulty not only of standing their ground in any place but of following and seeking them with unequal Forces Before we enter any further into this confusion of Troubles it will be sit to note the disposition of France both within and without in respect of the two Parties Pope Sixtus had declared for the League because the first news he had after the death of Henry III. reported they were absolute Masters of the whole Kingdom and he believed that depending upon him they would let him make such a King as should entirely submit the Crown to the Crosier The King of Spain would not determine this grand Quarrel which he might very easily have done had he at first commanded the Duke of Parma to enter France and to joyn with the Duke of Mayenne but his interest was to ruine the Kingdom by their own Contentions and then snatch up some fragments for himself Upon this prospect he never sent but slender assistance to the Duke but with sair promises joyned to a great deal of ostentation And indeed the Duke never had any sincere amity for or strict tie with him but knowing as he thoroughly did his intentions the Forces they lent did often give him more fear and embarass then they did him service The Seigneury of Venice and the Duke of Florence had an interest that there should be a King in France to balance the overgrown power of the Spaniard who too much Year of our Lord 1589. September over-topp'd them Wherefore the Seigneury owned Henry IV. at first dash notwithstanding the oppositions of the Popes Nuncio and the Spanish Ambassador and the Florentine profer'd to lend him three hundred thousand Crowns provided he would make a Match for Mary de Medicis with one of the Princes of his Blood The Duke of Lorrain pretended to the Crown for his Son the Marquiss du Pont but in an Assembly of some Deputies of the Cities in Champagne at Chaumont in Bassigny where he made his demand of it not one gave him their Vote and his Son whom he sent into France with some Forces acquired so little reputation and had moreover such ill fortune amongst the Women that he carried back nothing as 't is said but the Crown of Venus The Duke of Savoy had no less pretensions then the said Marquiss he derived his Title from his Mother Daughter of the great King Francis and that supported with the Alliance of Spain However knowing himself too weak to carry the whole Kingdom he would only have laid his hands upon Provence and Daufine and to that effect sent to the Parliament of Grenoble whom he thought pretty well disposed to favour him by the care of Charles de Simiane d'Albigny to make out his right to them and incline them to own him But he met with no great satisfaction the Parliament replying that his demand concerned the whole Kingdom that therefore he ought to make it to the Estates General in whose determination they would absolutely acquiesce As for the Provinces the Duke of Mercoeur was Master of the better part of Bretagne Normandy Picardy and Champagne were almost all Leaguers Burgundy was kept quiet under the commands of the Duke of Mayenne excepting that in the following year the Count de Tavanes a Royalist took some Castles there from whence he made War upon the Vicount his Brother a passionate friend to the Duke of Mayenne The greater part of Guyenne obey'd the Kings commands there being none but the Cities of Agen Villeneure and Marmande as also some Castles in Agenois and in Quercy who were of the opposite Party The Duke of Mayenne had no doubt drawn all that Province after him had he bestowed the Government upon Biron and not on the Marquiss de Villars his Wives Son who by her importunities made him commit that gross mistake As to the rest the Mareschal de Matignon had retained Bourdeaux Anne de Levis Count de la Voute Limoges some others Perigord and Quercy and the Duke of Espernon Angoulmoâ—s Poitiers on the contrary remained scot-free The Country along the Loire was much embroil'd Berry and Orleannois as also Year of our Lord 1589. September Mayne Perche and Beausse held for the League Touraine and Blesois for the King Montmorency had secured for him that part of Languedoc whereof he was Master having sent him a promise of the Constables Sword but he would not break that Truce he had made with Joyeuse who held the Cities of Narbonne Carcassonne d'Alby Rodes and even that of Toulonze which is capital of the Province with some other lesser places In Provence the Parliament and la Valete made War against each other more out of private animosities then affection to either Party The Duke of Savoy concern'd himself for his own Interest but this year he was employ'd against the Swiss and in the pursute of a design he had conceived of taking the City of Geneva The Duke of Nemours held Lyons and Vienne and d'Albigny Grenoble and some petty Towns for the League Lesdiguieres Head of the Huguenots and Alfonso Dornano Head of the Catholick Royalists being allied
and Huguenots grew hotter and higher as did the jealousies between the Servants of the present King and those belonging to the former Court who ever kept a Cabal by themselves and did their utmost to discredit each other upon all occasions Thereupon the King called a Council to know what he must do amidst these Disorders He met with nothing but confused advice apprehension and disunion so that it was no time to take a resolution but a necessity to decamp He turned therefore towards Senlis passed the Oyse at Creil with more precipitation then should have been upon a good retreat and after an endeavour to compose them again by the taking of Clermont in Beauvoisis he puts a part of them into the Towns about Paris sent the rest with the Nobility into the Provinces and could not keep with himself above seven or eight hundred Horse When he had passed the Oyse the Dukes of Parma and Mayenne came out of their Intrenchments It is said the former had the curiosity to visit Paris incognito whither Vitry conducted him and observing the Fauxbourgs quite ruined the Shops empty and unfurnished most of the Streets deserted the People with dejected looks and meager Faces a melancholy silence in all parts in stead of the mirth and jollity Year of our Lord 1590. September he expected to find it begot more pity in him to behold their sorrow and miseries then joy for his having deliver'd them After this the two Dukes spread their Forces over the Country of Brie and regained all the little places They would willingly have open'd the Seine as they had unstop'd the Marne the Duke of Parma to that effect besieged Corbeil He thought it would be a work but of five or six days but wanting Powder and the Governors of the places for the League supplying him but unwillingly and in small Parcels it took him up a whole Month. In the mean time his Soldiers gorging themselves month October with unripe Grapes got the Dysentery whereof above three thousand died In fine he took the place by Storm the Sixteenth of October but that done he begins his march towards the Low-Countries not to be staid by the most earnest intreaties of the Duke of Mayenne He was much dissatisfied with his sloath and jealousie however he left him Eight thousand Men and promised to return the following year with greater Forces advising him to hazard nothing in his absence but to entertain the King all along with Treaties of Peace Before his departure he had the displeasure of seeing his Conquest of Corbeil lost in one night which had cost him so many Men and so much time Givry Governor of Brie with his Troops which were in Melun took it by Escalado The King having drawn his together followed him in his rear to the Arbre de Guise At his return being come to refresh himself at St. Quentin he there learn'd that Charles de Humieres his Lieutenant in Picardy had gained the City of Corbie by the Petard and Escalado kill'd the Governor and put the Garison to the edge of the Sword The Publick suffer'd there an irreparable loss by the destruction of the most part of the rare Manuscripts which were in the Library of St. Peters Abby month March c. In the Provinces the Duke of Lorrain conquer'd Villefranche upon the Frontiers of Champagne but raised his Siege most shamefully from before Saincte Menehoud As to Bretagne the Naval Force of Spain being entred into the Channel of Blavet put five thousand Men ashoar commanded by Juan d'Aquila who after he had razed a Fort built there by the Prince of Dombes and then in conjunction with the Duke of Mercoeur forced the City of Hennebond erected two great Forts at the chops of the Channel with design to maintain so important a Post Lesdiguieres became absolute in Daufine by the reduction of the City of Grenoble Year of our Lord 1590. March c. The Isere divides it in two parts which are joyned with a Bridge he gained that by Escalado which lies at the Foot of the Hill less then the other by two thirds but Albigny stopt him for three weeks at the end of the Bridge and might have hindred him from passing further if the People tired with the War had not forced him to Capitulate It was express'd in the Articles That he should have three Months time to choose his Party and that if he took the Kings he should hold his Government He waved the advantage and chose rather to keep to what his Religion and Promise engaged him to The King of Spain was satisfied that if he could but wrest Provence out of the hands of the French he should be Master of the Mediterraneum and break their Alliance with the Turk their Communication with Italy and their Trade into the Levant he therefore gave a Fleet of forty seven Galleys to the Duke of Savoy and allowed him to make Levies in Milanois and the Kingdom of Naples Whilst this Fleet was preparing the Duke raised a Land Army which he intended to be of Ten thousand Foot and two thousand Horse With these he entred into Provence being invited thereto by a famous Deputation of that Country who waited upon him at Nice When he arrived at Merargues he took Horse with seven more and rode post to Aix the next day The City made him a more solemn Reception then ever they had done to any Prince and some days after appearing in Parliament he by a solemn Decree had the Title given him of Governor and Lieutenant General of the Province under the Crown of France Both the Kings Party and that of the League were equally tormented with Discords and Factions In that of the League the Duke of Savoy the Duke of Mercoeur and the Duke of Joyeuse drew to themselves the one Provence the other Bretagne and the third Languedoc The Duke of Mayenne had conceived a cruel jealousie for the Reputation of the Duke de Nemours the affection the City of Paris bare to him and for that their common Mother supported and seemed willing to make this younger Brother become his equal Wherefore he flatly denied him the Government of Normandy and after this there never was any more real trust or confidence between them on the contrary these two half Brothers watch'd each other as they had been sworn Enemies and endeavour'd all they could to break one anothers measures On the other hand the Seize having it in their Heads to unite together all the great Cities of the Kingdom under a Republican form of Government and for that purpose relying upon the power of the Spaniard who notwithstanding had quite another aim then theirs fell into a hatred of the Duke of Mayenne as well because he opposed their design as because he had dissolved the Council of Forty and did not month October admit them in the management of Affairs Amongst the Royalists were more Factions yet not all so violent because every one had
in Soveraignty His Brother the Duke of Nemours was become very absolute in that Government having begirt and over-aw'd that great City by five or six places he held about it but by the same means and by reason of certain new Imposts which he laid by Advice of a Ferrarese a Fellow of a seared Conscience he became most odious to the People In so much that the Archbishop of Lyons sent thither by the Duke of Mayenne having underhand heightned their Discontents and blown the Coals carried it on so far that the Citizens took up Arms and seized on the Person of the Duke of Nemours confining him to Pierre-Encise but he got nothing by it for they afterwards stood Neuters not submitting to any Orders but their own till their entire Reduction although for form-sake they owned him as Lieutenant to the Duke of Mayenne People of honest Principles judged Nemours worthy to be so used for his having followed the cursed Policy of Machiavel which makes Princes become Tyrants and the People Miserable but all the Heads of the League perceiving by this President what usage they were to expect from the Duke of Mayenne did now study nothing but the best methods to secure their own Places and to surprize others to make the better Accommodation with the King month November He was then gone into Normandy to receive Bose-Rose who commanded the Fort of Fescamp to his obedience While he was at Diepe the Wife of John de Montluc Balagny Governor of Cambray came to him by night to demand a prolongation of the Truce till the Agreement with her Husband should be declared He Treated upon these Conditions That he and his should have Cambray and Cambresis in full Soveraignty That the King should take him into his Protection and should allow him certain Pensions and for this Balagny should acknowledge him only by kissing his Hand The joy this brought him was soon disturbed by those bloody Reproaches the Queen of England made him for his change of Religion When from Diepe he went to Calais thinking to find some Agents from that Queen to begin a Treaty he met nothing but Letters from her full of bitterness and found she would recal her Forces out of Bretagne He had much ado to pacifie her but much more to endure the presence and over-free Discourses of the Deputies from the pretended Reformed Churches whom he had allowed to hold a General Assembly at Mantes whither he returned at his departure from Calais He looked kindly upon them received their Memorial named Commissioners to examine it and offer'd them satisfaction upon some Articles such or very near as they had already had under Henry III. But they could not be contented with so little a Reward for so great Services as they had rendred him they demanded much more so that not to exasperate them by an absolute denial Year of our Lord 1593 he only dismiss'd them and permitted them to hold Provincial Assemblies and afterwards to Convocate a National Synod and Politick Assembly month December His Conversion undermined the League to the very Foundation It was now look'd upon if we may so express it only as a Castle in the Air supported but by one single Stone viz. the Popes denial to give him Absolution In effect his Holiness would not suffer the Duke of Nevers to enter into Rome which was in November month November December and January but in Quality of a Prince of Italy not of Ambassador and upon condition he should remain there but two days that he should receive no Visits nor make any to the Cardinals This Prince however contrived it so that the Term was prolonged and he had Audience twice of the Pope the first time in December the other in January but brought thence no satisfaction for the King though as to his own Person they gave him as much and more then he desired The Duke of Mayenne failed not to talk high upon this refusal of his Holiness However this was not a reason strong enough to with-hold such as were already inclining towards the King and falling off from the League Lewis de L'Hospital Vitry was discontented for that the said Duke detained four and twenty thousand Crowns due upon Musters to his Company of Gentsdarmes This Man was the first who return'd to his obedience as he had been the first that left the King after the death of Henry III. When he forsook that Party formerly he was Governor of Dourlens which place he left to them and made a shew as if he would have done the like by Meaux now to the League telling the Inhabitants whom he expressly called together that he freely left them to their own liberty only his Advice was they should follow his Example This said he went forth with his Troop of Horse but had so well disposed of Affairs before-hand that they deputed some to him the same day to desire he would come back put on their White Scarfs and turned away Five hundred Men much amazed whom the Duke of Mayenne had sent thither Vitry had Twenty thousand Crowns Reward of the King the Office of Bayliff and Governor of the City with the Reversion of both for his Son and the Bourgeois the confirmation of their Priviledges and an exemption from Tailles for nine years All other Governors bargain'd for more or less according to the importance of their Places or the quality of their Persons Most of the Cities got likewise several Advantages accordingly as those that directed them were Politick or Affectionate Year of our Lord 1593 but every one almost would have it inserted in their Treaties That there should be month December no Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion allowed within such a certain distance of their Territories Year of our Lord 1594 The design was laid and a great Party made to receive the King into Paris and to this purpose he came to St. Denis The Duke of Mayenne having got some hint of month January it took the Government from the Count de Belin and gave it to Brissac whom he believed the most faithful of all his Partisans The Parliament finding by this their Measures broken and apprehending the Duke would make the Spaniards Masters of the City spake warmly to him that they might keep Belin the Duke urged some Reasons to the contrary but those satisfied not and they continued their Assemblies The business grew hot to such a degree that the Duke made his Soldiers and Friends take up Arms whence would have followed most grievous Slaughter in the Streets and perhaps the utter loss of Paris to the King had not the wisest of that great Body temporised and persuaded the rest to give way yet for a while The Third day of the Month of January hapned the Reduction of the City of Aix The Duke of Mayenne did not think there had been any place more assured to his Party then this same because the Count de Carces had Married a Daughter of his Wives
of Balagny and had no less contempt then hatred for him after the check he received before Senlis Rhosne well acquainted with their discontent and having great intelligence in the City advised Fuentes to besiege it and that the French might not be able to bring relief in a Body to take in Dourlens first There were but few within the place notwithstanding Fifteen hundred Horse and Foot did make a shift to get in and at the same time the Count de Sainct Pol the Mareschal de Bouillon and the Admiral de Villars joyned together to succour it They had above four thousand Men and the Duke of Nevers was not above a days march distant with twelve hundred more but as there was no unity amongst those Chiefs and they disdained to obey that Duke they hastned to relieve the place before he joyned with them Fuentes encouraged by Rosne went to meet them at first the Mareschal made a very stout Charge but having the worst he falls to a retreat and the Admiral who staid behind to make another Charge engaged so far amongst the Enemies that they surrounded and took him Prisoner with fifteen or twenty Gentlemen of note and all his Foot were cut in pieces The Spaniards killed him and Sesseval in cold Blood for they are not wont to pardon any who having once been under their Pay shall take up Arms against them The King gave the Office of Admiral to Damville the Constables Brother and the Government of Havre to the Chevalier d'Oyse Brother of the deceased but restored the City of Rouen to perfect liberty having ordered the Fort St. Catharine to be demolished As the jealousie between Bouillon and Villars occasioned this loss that between the Duke of Nevers and Bouillon caused a more bloody one While Nevers excused himself Year of our Lord 1595 from undertaking the Command because they had reduced things into so ill-favoured month July a condition that he could reap no honour by medling with it and on the contrary Bouillon did all he could to thrust it upon him thinking thereby to shelter his Reputation under anothers name and amidst his fears and suspicions marched giddily about the place without attempting any thing it hapned eight days after the Battle that the Besieged who fought very well yet defended themselves but ill for want of Ingeniers unfortunately suffer'd the Enemies to force in upon them The Spaniards gained the Castle by a general assault upon a Bastion and made great slaughter of the Garison that was within it From thence they descended into the Town where finding no resistance they massacred all as well the defenceless Women and the Children as the Armed Men the raging Soldiers running thorough every Street and crying This is the Revenge for Ham. They gave no quarter but to seven or eight whereof Haraucour Governor of the City was one The Pavement was strewed with the Bodies of above three hundred Gentlemen who were gotten in and two thousand Persons more It is incredible how great the Spaniards joy was to find by this experiment it was possible for them to beat the French by fine force who till now were ever wont to beat them so but that which raised their hearts and spirits more yet was that at the very same time they had news from the Low-Countries that Mondragon who commanded their Army there in the absence of Fuentes had forced Prince Maurice to raise his Siege from before Groll in the Country of Overissel and having afterwards encamped near him boasted that he would hinder him from undertaking any thing all the rest of the Campagne So after they had setled Hernand Teillo Protocarerro Governor in Dourlens hover'd some days upon the Frontiers of Picardy and put a fresh Convoy into la Fere they marched towards Cambray full of the confidence of their taking it For consolation of these losses the King was informed his Affairs advanced very successfully at Rome After the Duke of Nevers was gone thence dissatisfied Pope Clement having notice that in France they had renewed the Proposition for making a Patriarch there relaxed somewhat of his severity and finding of late the King did not much sollicite him he began to apply himself to the King He wrote to the Cardinal de Gondy to renew that Negociation sent the Jesuit Possevinus to Lyons to confer about it with the Constable and with Bellievre and order'd the Cardinals Year of our Lord 1595 Protectors of the Chartreux Capucins and Minimes to command those Orders to month July mention and name the King in their Prayers which they had not hitherto done The Huguenots and even the Politicks were of opinion they ought to make him postulant in his turn and run after what he had rejected nevertheless considering the great Consequences the King resolved to send some Deputies of Rome and give them an express Procuration to Treat about the Conditions of his Absolution and to receive it in his name For this purpose he made choice of James David Du Perron and joyned Arnold d'Ossat with him as then but a simple Priest yet a Man of rare prudence and great merit who had before Negociated a long time in that Court It was said of the latter he had the talent to insinuate into the most Refractory and charm them to listen to him of the other that he left no room for reply if they would but hear him with attention so great was the rapidity and force of his Reason that he did not only persuade but he compel'd The multiplicity of Affairs that interven'd in the Kings Council having obstructed Du Perrons dispatch four Months together the Spanish Faction had a fair opportunity to make the Pope believe they scoffed at him and when this Agent did come contrary to their hopes they practis'd all their subtilties and laid what stress they could upon the ill success at Dourlens to hinder both him and d'Ossat from being admitted to Audience Then when they had been received which was about mid July and the Pope having taken advice of the Cardinals in private had declared month July in Consistory that two thirds of the Votes were for allowing Absolution to the King they were reduced to the starting of new difficulties about the manner endeavouring sometime to persuade it ought to be given at the Tribunal of the Inquisition then to crowd in some Expressions that wounded the King and at another time to propound some Formalities which should submit both him and his Kingdom to the Soveraignty of the Pope The Court of Rome was easily induced to lay hold of this last the bare prospect did so please them as they employ'd all their Arts and Engines to persuade the Kings month July and Aug. Agents to deposite his Crown in the hands of his Holiness who after the Absolution pronounced would have placed it upon one of their Heads again They got over this difficulty happily enough but three more rubs were thrown in their way the one that 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
of Austria Emperour comes from Spain into the Low-Countries is Crowned at Aix la Chapelle 564 His Cession and Renunciation of the Empire and his retreat into a Convent 645 Charlotta Queen of Cyprus her Death 512 Charles Bastard Brother to the King of Navarre 589 Charles Duke of Savoy not well looked upon by the King Francis I. 599 Besieges the City of Geneva without Success ib. His Death 636 Charles Duke of Lorraine Son of Francis is brought to the Court of France 646 Count Charolois out of favour with Lewis XI 481 482 483. Joyns with the other Princes and discontented Party and takes the Field 484 c. Makes an Alliance with the English by marrying his Sister Margaret 486 Goes against the Liegeois and chastises the insolence of those of Dinant 488 Chastillon made Prisoner by the English 388 389 Chaumont Governor of the Milanois chaces the Venetians from the Territories of Ferrara 547 Chastisement of Robels after a most noble and royal manner 612 613 Cherifs and the beginning of their Reign 551 Christiern III. King of Denmark 607 Christopher Columbus discovers the New World 516 517 Claude of France Marries Francis I. then Duke of Valois 555 Clement V. Pope 441 Clement VI. Pope 364 His Death 372 Clement VII his Election to the prejudice of Vrban VI. the Cause of a Schism in the Church 396 His Death Coligny Admiral of France 645 Combat of Birds in the Air the one against the other 513 Combat or Battle of Renty between the Emperour Charles V. and Henry II. 638 Combat Naval 642 Combat bloody betwixt Birds of all sorts of Species 426 Comets of an extraordinary magnitude 494 Comines quits the Duke of Burgundy ib. Is taken Prisoner 511 Cominges County United to the Church 458 County otherwhile preferred to that of Dutchy 434 Council of Trent assigned by Pope Paul III. who sends his Legates thither 613 Councel of Eighteen Persons established 485 Councel a Prince that will have sincere Advice ought to hide his own Sentiments 545 Constantinople taken by force by the Turks 465 Michael Corbier a Monk Antipope 359 Courtray Pillaged Burnt and Sacked by the French 406 Creation of a Chamber in each Parliament 357 Croisade in England against the Clementines 407 Crosses appear in the Air and on their Clothes 536 de Crouy Count de Reux ravages the Frontiers of Picardy 606 D Oliver DAin Barber to Lewis XI punished with Death 508 Dampierre Admiral his Death 433 Daufin of France Commands an Army in Roussillon 612 Daufine United and incorporated to the Crown of France 369 David King of Scotland driven from his Kingdom 360 His Death 391 Diepe Escalado'd by the French 455 Difference and Quarrel between the Pope and the Emperour 359 Difference between France and Austria 516 Difference quarrel between the French and the Arragonians for the Limits of the Partage of the Kingdom of Naples 537 Difference and quarrel raised at Venice between the French and Spaniards for Precedency 652 And Doria General of the French Galleys 587 Quits the King's Service and goes into the Emperour's 588 589 Chaces the French out of Genoa 590 Dragut a famous Corsaire or Pyrate gives chace to Andr. Doria's Galleys 634 Joyns the Galleys of France on the Coasts of Tuscany 639 Charles Prince of Duras 368 Most dexterously ruines the Duke of Anjou's Army and remains quietly in Possession of the Kingdom of Sicilia 408 Is Crowned King of Sicilia and Besieges Queen Jane in Naples Usurps Hungary his Death 409 E EClipses 616 Edict of Chasteau-Brian for a search after the Religionaries 631 Edward III. King of England Marries the Daughter of the Earl of Hainault 357 Renounces to the Crown of France ib. 380 Renders Homage to the King of France 358 Declares War against him 361 Recommences War with France 365 Lands in the Lower Normandy comes and defies King Philip de Valois to Fight him under the Walls of Paris and from thence retires to his County of Ponthieu 366 Defeats the French in the Battle of Crecy ibid. Besieges and takes Calais 367 Lands at Calais with a dreadful Army 379 Makes a Peace with France and with Flanders 380 Is defied by the King of France who denounces War against him 388 His Death and his Children 394 Edward Earl of Savoy his Death 358 Edward Son of John Baliol King of Scotland 360 Edward Duke of York Crowned King of England 467 Edward of York King of England utterly forsaken by the English flies into Flanders to the Duke of Burgundy 492 Returns into England and recovers the Throne 493 Lands at Calais 496 Accommodation with France 497 His Death 509 Eleonor Queen of France procures an Enterview between the Emperour and the King 608 Elizabeth Queen of England 651 Openly embraces the Protestant Religion ib. Emmanuel Emperour of Greece comes into France 419 Emmanuel Philibert Duke of Savoy Commands the Imperial Army in the Low-Countries 635 Empire of the East its end 465 C. d'Enguien gives Battle to the Imperialists and gloriously gains the Victory 616 Enterprise of the French upon Genoa very shameful 522 Enterview of the Kings of France and England Charles and Richard 413 Enterview of the King of France and Castille 482 Enterview of the Kings of Fr. Engl. 497 Enterview of the Kings of France and of Arragon 544 Eugenius IV. Pope 454 d'Eureux John in Bretagne 394 Expedition of the French and the Venetians against the Turks without Success 536 F FAction very pernicious in Paris 377 Famine and Plague 393 Federic utterly dispoiled of his Kingdom of Naples takes refuge in France 536 His Death 542 Felix lays down his Papacy in favour of Pope Nicholas 461 Ferdinand otherwise Ferrand Bastard of Alphonso of Arragon King of Naples 518 His Death ib. Ferdinand and Isabella conquer the Kingdom of Granada 516 League themselves with the Venetians and the Pope against the French 521 Surnamed in Raillery John Gipon makes Inroads upon the French 525 Usurps Navarre 551 Shares the Conquests of the Kingdom of Naples with the King of France 536 Drives out the French and makes himself Master of all 538 c. Makes a Peace with King Lewis XII 542 Receives from the Pope the investiture of the Kingdom of Naples 554 His Death 560 Ferdinand Son of Alphonso King of Naples abandons his Kingdom 520 Restored by means of the Italian Confederate Princes 521 His Death 525 Ferdinand Brother of Charles V. elected King of Hungary 584 Elected King of the Romans 593 Emperour 652 Ferdinand King of Hungary defeated of his Armies by the Turks 606 Flemmings abandon the French and acknowledge Edward of England for their King 362 Flanders over-run and ravaged by the English 397 In great Troubles split into divers Factions 403 Florence troubled by the two Factions of the Passy and the Medecis 501 Cast off the yoak of the Medicis and return to their popular State 586 Reduced under the Dominion of the Medicis 562 De Foix Gaston General of the King's
763 Send Deputies to King Henry III. to proffer him the Government of the Country 769 d'Estree beloved of Henry IV. goes to the Siege of Amiens the murmurings of the whole Army obliges her to quit the Camp 859 Sollicites the King to marry her 869 Her death 871 Europe began to be more enlightned in the 16th Age. Chu 16 th Age. F FAbian Son of Blaise de Montluc assists his Brother Bertrand in his Design for the East-Indies 701 Famagusta the Capital City of Cyprus gainedby the Turks 713 Federick Marquiss of Baden assists the King against the Huguenots 710 Ferdinand Emperour Brother of Charles V. 692 His death ib. Flemmings cannot endure the Inquisition 695 Final taken by the Spaniards 893 Florida whence the Name 700 Florence Duke assists the Duke of Nevers to seize upon Marseilles 769 la Force Massacred at the Saint Bartholomews 720 His Son Escapes ib. Fort Charles in Florida built by the Spaniards and taken by Dowinique de Gourgues 701 Fra Paolo otherwise Pol Soaue writes for the Republique of Venice against the Pope 926 Is like to be Murthered 928 France in Civil War for Religion 679 Hath always the preference before Spain 685 Afflicted with two most cruel Maladies 757 Their King essentially most Christian 798 Francis I. settles the Art of making Silk in Poitou 904 Was not severe against the Huguenots Church 16 th Age. Recalls his Legats from the Councel of Trent ib. Francis II. King of France 657 Falls Sick 670 His Death and Burial 671 Franche-Comte attaqued by the French 842 Promised to Biron with a Daughter of Spain 884 Given to Isabella Clara Eugenia Infanta of Spain 869 Conditions of that Donation ib. Frisia gives all Power to the Prince of Orange 751 Fuentes Governor of the Low-Countries 843 Besieges Cambray 847 Gains a Victory upon the French 847 Obliges Prince Maurice to raise the Siege of Grol 848 Takes Cambray and does not make an ill use of his Victory over the French ibid. Personal Enemy of Henry IV. 878 Fulgentius writes for the Venetians against the Pope 926 G GAbriella d'Estreé beloved of Henry IV. assists at the Ceremony of his Conversion 832 Gantois hate the French and the Roman Religion 762 Gascons in Dispute with the Provenceaux 825 Gaspard Bishop of Modena Nuncio in France 871 Delegated to take cognisance of the Nullity of Marriage of Henry IV. and Margaret of Valois 871 Geneva the Duke of Savoy endeavours to seize it 802 Withdraw from their Obedience to the Bishop Church 16 th Age. Call in Calvin and Farel to be their Pastors ib. Is as it were the Pontifical seat of Calvinisme ib. Gerard Balthazar a Franc-Comtois Emissary of the Spaniards Kills the Prince of Orange with a Pistol 767 Gondi the Cardinal confers with Biron 806 Golf of Venice the Ceremonies used there at the Reception of Henry III. 733 Gregory XIII Pope regulates the Calender 761 Gregory XIV declared an Enemy of the Peace and Union of the Church Enemy of the King and of the State 815 His death 818 Grisons renew the Alliance with Henry IV. 892 Quit the Roman Religion Chur. 16 th Age. Guiche the Countess beloved by the King of Navarre 773 Angry at the King 's forsaking her she endeavours to debauch his Sister 814 Guienne acknowledges Henry IV. 824 Guises make themselves Masters at Court under Francis II. 657 c. Duke of Guise possesses the whole favour of Francis II. 660 The Huguenots would ceaze him to make his Process 665 Fortifies himself with the Name of the King 669 Causes the Prince to be apprehended and prosecuted 670 Gains the Battle of Dreux 686 And makes the Prince Prisoner ib. His Courtesie and Gallantry ib. Lays Siege to Orleans 887 Is assassinated by Paltrot ib. Justifies himself of the Murther at Vassy 887 His Praises ib. Guise Duke returns into France with his Uncle the Cardinal of Lorrain 692 Defends Poitiers bravely and acquires much reputation 706 Is the Principal Author of the Saint Bartholomew 717 Is made the Chief to execute that Massacre 718 Declares for the League and seizes on the Cardinal of Bourbon 768 The Pope compares him to the Machabees 784 Has several Advertisements given him of his Danger 786 Is assassinated by the Order of Henry III. at the Estates of Blois ib. His Body is burnt by Richelieu 787 Guise the Cardinal bears the Cross in a Procession 764 Would make himself Master of Normandy 781 Is hindred by the Duke of Espernon ib. Guise Duke before Prince of Joinville made Prisoner at the Death of his Father 787 Escapes out of Prison 817 Is attaqu'd near Abbeville by King Henry IV. 821 Aspires to the Crown 832 Kills Saint Pol Governor of Reims and makes his accommodation with Henry IV. 841 Reduces Marseilles to obedience of the King 852 Gustavus Ericson introduces the Confession of Ausburgh in Sweden 913 H. HAinaut suffers scarcity 760 Hampton-Court the place in England where the Treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Huguenots was concluded 683 Havre de Grace deliver'd to the English ibid. Besieged by the French Surrendred 689 Henry d'Angoulesme Bastard Brother to Charles IX has Order from the King to kill the Duke of Guise 712 Henry of Navarre Espouses Margaret of Valois 717 Generosity of that Prince who refuses to kill the Sole Heir of the Kingdom 740 Hates his Wife who hath as little Love for him 750 Henry III. is kill'd on the same day and at the same place where he advised the Massacre of St. Bartholomew 795 Henry Cardinal Archbishop of Evora King of Portugal after the death of Sebastian 752 Henry grand Prior of France Bastard Brother to the King 753 Henry III. King of France and of Poland 737 Leaves Poland 732 Makes his Entrance into Paris 739 Hates the House of Guise 745 Loves the Princess of Condé 757 Forms the design of putting the Duke of Guise to death 780 Besieges Paris reduces it to extremity and is kill'd at Sainct Cloud 795 Heemskerk Admiral for the States of the United Provinces attaques the Spanish Flota is slain his death glorious 790 Henry IV. his coming to the Crown 797 Gains the Battle of Ivry 705 Besieges Rouen 821 820 Beats up the Duke of Guise's Quarters at Abbeville 821 Opposes at Fontaine-Francoise and bears the brunt of the whole Spanish Army and gives proofs of his Heroick Courage 845 Receives his absolution from Rome 849 His consternation upon the loss of Amiens 858 Regains that Town in Sight of the Arch-Duke 862 Demands of the Duke of Savoy the Restitution of the Marquisate of Salusses 876 His Marriage with Mary de Medicis 885 Does what he can possibly to save Biron and in fine leaves him to the Law 895 Loves the Princess of Condé and is ready almost to declare War against the Arch-Duke upon her occasion 936 c. Forms the Design to pull down the House of Austria 938 His Wife Mary de Medicis Crowned 941 Is Murthered 942 Predictions of his death 941
a little paltry Place situate upon a Hill in the Diocess of Valence He laid Siege to it about mid June and was forced to raise it again about a Month after month July Almost at the same time came forth two Manifesto's one by Danville whose irresolutions at last determined upon the Apprehensions of the Dangers and Ambuscades the Queen Mother was ever contriving against him to make an Union with the Huguenots the other by the Prince of Condé who being gotten to Heidelberg easily obtained of the Elector Palatin that Casimir his youngest Son should raise some Horse and Foot for him provided he would advance ready Money without which neither Vertue nor Religion nor Skill can do any thing in that Country The News of this being brought into France did marvellously encourage the Huguenots and made the Assembly of Millaud Elect him for their Chief General a Declaration whereof they sent him to Neuf-Chastel in Swisserland in which they did not forget to hint to him that he must be obliged to follow the reiglements of the Assembly and act nothing without the advice of a Council they would appoint for him La Noüe found to his cost that his Prudence had been over-reached by a too great desire of a Peace for during the Truce the Duke of Montpensier having recruited his Army which was much encreased by the Normandy Forces had like to over-whelm the Rochellers He took all the little Places in Poitou and after them the City of Fontenay it self even in a time of Conference about Capitulation This blow did very much astonish the Rochellers Fontenay being the Key of all the Commodities they fetched out of the Lower Poitou and yet it wrought no more than the Exhortations of la Noüe to rowze them up to do their utmost for their own Preservation so agreeably were they flatter'd by the Queen Mother with the vain hopes of Peace In the other Provinces they made a better defence In Languedoc they surprized the City of Castres and in Agenois though very weak they would not let Clairac nor Montâ—â—anquin be torn from them their Courage fortifying those places as the Divisions of Cossé and la Valete betwixt whom the Queen had shared the Government weakned the Catholicks Army The Couriers from the Queen Mother arrived in Poland the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth of June The King took his Bed the better to consult on what he was to do There were two things propounded the one to delude the Polanders and to get out of that Country at soonest according to the pressing desires month June of the Queen Mother the other to gain the good will and consent of the Senate for his departure The last was the most civil and becoming the first the more expedite and certain The King after he had secretly disposed of all things month June stole away in the Night between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth of June got to Peizna the first Town in Austria and from thence to Vienna His evasion being known the Polanders ran in multitudes to his Palace a Troop of Four hundred Horse spurred after but could not overtake him The French that were left behind at Cracovia ran the hazard of being knocked on the Head the Senate being assembled gave order to stop the chiefest of them Nevertheless Charles Danzay whom Henry had appointed for Ambassador to Denmark coming to them and giving some Reasons for his so sudden Departure allayed their first fury Then by the friendly Assistance of some Palatins whom the King had Charmed by his worthy Qualities he so well managed those fiery Spirits that they sent him back all his Equipage and Domestick Servants humbly intreating him to return again which he excused upon the Information he said he had received that the Prince of Condé was ready to enter upon France with an Army of Thirty thousand Germains He spent Six dayes at Vienna the Emperour entertain'd him with as great Affection as Magnificence Being glad he had quitted the Crown of Poland to which he aspired and that the House of France let go an advantage which made Year of our Lord 1574 them Powerful on that side It is said he propounded the Marriage of his Daughter Isabella Widow of Charles IX and advised him to let Peace enter with him into his Kingdom shewing him it would be the only means to obliterate the horrid Idea's of the Massacres out of the Minds of those People and to lay all the fault and load thereof upon the late King's Councellors The Emperour 's two Sons Rodolph King of the Romans and the Arch-Duke Ernestus conducted him to the Frontiers of Friuli He chose that Road to avoid all Attempts of the Elector Palatin and the reproaching sight of the other Protestant Princes All what Ingenuity and Magnificence could contrive that might appear curious or obliging was made use of by the Venetians to Honour the greatest King of all their Allies In every City belonging to them he was received as Soveraign Four Senators cloathed in Scarlet Velvet Robes received him at the side of the Gulf presented him as many Boats lined with the same and one for himself enriched with Gold and Azure and hung within-side with Cloath of Gold on a blew ground carrying him to the Island Moran famous for Glass-work where he lay that Night The next day they put him aboard the Bucentauro a Vessel never used but upon great Ceremonies about which flocked a world of Gondola's amongst the rest Two hundred not so much adorned by the riches of the Gold and Silver Ornaments about them as the Beauty of those fair Ladies that sate in them The Duke at his Landing in the City presented him the Canopy of State born by Six Procurators of Saint Mark and conducted him to the Palace they had prepared for him During Nine dayes he Sojourned at Venice the Dukes of Savoy Ferrara and Mantoüa who were come thither on purpose to honour him accompanied him every where The Seigneury defray'd both him and all his Train and caused a Hundred young Gentlemen to serve him all the while He went to the Senate to see the Method of their Balotting was placed above the Duke and perform'd all acts of Soveraignty After this he saw the Arsenal with much Admiration but the Ladies with more Pleasure and even the Curtesans whom he found as Divertising as they were Beautiful But some one amongst them was too Prodigal of a Favour which he repented all his life the having accepted it After those Nine dayes of Inchantments so he called them he took his farewel of the Senate and was accompanied by four Senators to Rodigino the last place of the Signoria From thence he was conducted to Ferrara by that Duke's Cavalry then having staid there Two dayes he Embarqued on the Po and went to Turin But first passed by Mantoüa at the intreaty of Duke William Brother to the Duke of Nevers Don Juan of Austria Governour of Milan paid him the same Honours in Cremona
and the other Cities of that Dutchy where he passed as if he had been King of Spain himself He remained at Turin Eight or Nine dayes The Dutchess Margaret his Aunt one of the wisest and most accomplish'd Princesses of her Age gave him the same Counsel the Emperor had done and the Duke presented Damville his Kinsman to him whom he had sent for expresly upon his Parol that he might restore him to his Favour That Affection the King had otherwhile had for this Lord revived again He made him lye in his own Chamber and willingly gave ear to his Advice for granting a Peace to the Huguenots to ruine them afterwards by such Projects as he propounded and to take all the Government of State Affairs into his own hands But the Queen Mother having some hint of it sent Chiverny and Fifes who soon destroy'd all he had been Building in the King's Mind and represented him so odly that the King would have had him seized The Dutchess finding this gave notice of it to the said Lord and the Duke sent a strong Convoy along with him to Nice whence his Galleys carried him into Languedoc When he found he was got clear he Vow'd he would never see the King more but in a Picture nor did he break his Vow The becoming Civilities of the Duke and kind Caresses of the Dutchess whose graceful Presence Wit and Royal Qualities had yet preserved some Empire over the French and even over her Nephews were not useless to them The King was pleased and being picqued with Generosity and Justice promised to render up Pigâ—orol Savigliani and Perugia to the Duke who made it appear plainly to him that he could not detain them any longer unless he chose rather Year of our Lord 1574 to be guided by what they call Maxims of State than the common Rights of Men and the Faith of Treaties The Duke having obtained this Favour gave him Four thousand Soldiers and a Thousand Horse to attend him to Lyons lest the Huguenots of Daufiné should interrupt his Journey He accompanied him in Person and staid there some dayes but was call'd away again before he had obtained the accomplishment of his Promises having word brought him of the Death of the Dutchess his Wife whom God called into the other World the Fourteenth of September Henry III. King LXI Aged XXIII years almost compleat POPES GREGORY XIII Ten years and Seven Months under this Reign SIXTUS V. Elected the 24th of April 1585. S. Five years Four Months Three days whereof Four years Twenty five days under this Reign Year of our Lord 1574. September IT was the Fifth of September when King Henry arrived at Pont de Beauvoisin the place which parts the Territories of France from Savoy The Queen his Mother went thither to meet him and presented the Duke of Alenson and the King of Navarre to him to be disposed of as he pleased He received them with extraordinary coldness though they saluted him with the greatest Humility Some hours afterwards he granted them Pardon and Liberty but it was only in appearance for he appointed Guards who secretly observed them and there were certain Ladies who ever held them in their amorous fetters and denied them nothing that they might dive into the secrets of their very Souls In the same place he made Bellegarde a Mareschal of France he had promised him this Office whilst he was in favour but now he was not so he could not keep that post above Fifteen days Du Gua had set him besides the Cushion and got into his place One might to speak properly call the Reign of Henry III. the Reign of Favorites The softness of his Soul and his carelesness left him wholly in the hands of those People who went on to enervate all that little virtue that was left in him and to dissolve him in voluptuousness So that they obscured the luster of all those brave actions had been attributed to him and would have put the whole World in doubt whether he had ever any real share in them had not some rayes of truly Royal qualities darted sometimes through all those mists and foggs and kept up his Reputation Quelus Maugiron and St. Maigrin were his first Minions Afterwards St. Luc Arques and the young la Valete then Termes since named Bellegarde and some others The Queen-Mother was ravish'd to see him in those hands because at first they gave her an exact account of his most secret Thoughts and whilst they amused him either in the Anti-chamber amongst the Ladies or in his Closet where he spent whole days in consultation about the trimming of a Suit of Cloaths or the fitting of a Ruff the retained almost all the Authority not foreseeing that by little and little they would draw the greatest part even from her together with the affection of her Son Now that they might the more entirely posses him they did perswade him not to communicate himself so frequently to his Subjects as his Predecessors had wont but to keep himself behind the skreen like the Eastern Monarchs and not be seen by Year of our Lord 1574 them but in great splendour and magnificence nor made known but by absolute Commands and above all to dis-accustom and wean the French from making Remonstrances to him and to make them understand that there was no other Law but his Will Thereupon they wrought him to have a high opinion of himself deafned and confounded him with their flatteries and puft him up with an opinion that he was the greatest Prince in the World that he infinitely surpassed all the preceding Kings that he had shew'd himself an absolute Master in Politiques even in his first Essay and Apprentiship and that the prudence of the most knowing and experienc'd Statesmen was but meer ignorance in comparison of his Inebriated with these flattering perswasions he establish'd new forms of Grandeur set on foot again the Regiment of Guards of Ten Companies Charles IX a little before his death had reduced them to three caused Banisters to be set round his Table went rarely abroad in publique and always shut up in a Litter or a Boat adorned with Gold and Painting in his Promenade upon the smooth-fac'd River of Soane and allowed the Grandees no more that credit of recommending the little ones to him no not themselves but by the credit and access of those Minions There wâ—re no Favours but for them they set all Offices and Governments at a high price to wrest them out of the hands of such Noble Persons who by the eminent Services of their Fathers or their own Merits had justly acquired them A great many of the best qualified finding they were but little regarded retired from Court male-contented and then the Favorites being at large introduced that pernicious invention of Acquits Comptants with which they have so often and with impunity pillag'd and wasted the Kings Exchequer The Agents from the Duke of Savoy did mightily press for performance of the