in favour of the Rebellious provided they deserv'd it by returning to their Duty But the Prince of Conde being withdrawn into the Territories of the Catholick King marched his Army before Rhetel of which he made himself Master as also of Chasteau Porcien St. Menehon and de Barr. During these Troubles in Paris the Spaniards knowing that Marshal de Grancy was absent from Gravelin besieged the Place and carried it before it could be relieved Guien being all out of Order by Reason of the Princes Party sent for the Royal-Army Commanded by the Count of Harcourt who retook Barbeseux Poudesat and La Reole although the Baron of Vatteville was come as far as the River of Bourdeaux sent by the Catholick King to the Succor of the Princes who taking hold of the present opportunities sent Don John of Austria before Barcellona which was by him easily mastered Nevertheless this Loss was in some measure repaired by the surrender of Montrond the Fortifications whereof the Marshal de Pallaux who Commanded at the Siege had Order to slight All this heap of misfortunes arrived to that height that at the end of the Campaign we found the Cities of Dunkirk and Casal both reduced the first by the Spaniard the second by the Duke of Mantua The Cardinal of Retz Coadjutor of Paris having been Arrested in the Loure by the Sieur de Villequier was carried to Bois de Vincennes where after he had been detained a long time he was removed by the Marshal de Meilleraye to the Castle of Nantes from whence he made his escape in the day time got to Belle-Isle and so to Rome The Year 1633. began to signalize it self in Burgundy by the Siege of Bellgarde which having been besieged by the Duke of Espernon Governour of the Province was constrained to yield to the Arms of his Majesty notwithstanding the Resistance of the Marquess of Bouteville who commanded within for the Prince of Conde Rhetel Mouzon and St. Menehon followed the same Fortune soon after but the taking of Rocroy by the Prince lessened our rejoycings for the rest of our good success These successes were attended with the reducing of Bourdeaux and all other Towns of Guien who had taken Arms in the Rebellion as also with the accommodation made with the Prince of Conde and the Dutchess of Longueville who took hold of the benefit of the Act of Oblivion The Princess of Conde refusing to accept of it retired into Flanders together with the Duke of Anguien her son The King according to the example of his Predecessors resolving upon his Coronation set forward for Reimes where the Bishops of Soissons with five other Prelates received him and at that great Ceremony performed the Duty of the Archbishop of that place At the same time the City of Stenay being besieged was constrained to return to its first obedience although the Prince of Conde did all he could to relieve it Perceiving therefore that there was no avoiding the loss he marched all the Spanish Army with great expedition and sate down before Arras with thirty thousand Men before our Generals could put any considerable Succor into the Town so that he had leisure to make a Circumsallation that seemed to defy all the Forces in the World Nevertheless the Terrible Lines of which it consisted were so vigorously attacked by the Army which was sent to succor that place that the Enemy was forced to quit his Works which were sufficient to have daunted any other Nation but the French who by the shameful flight of the Spaniard which happened upon St. Lewis's day 1654. gained sixty pieces of Cannon and all the Besiegers Baggage who 't is very probable had all left their Bodies in their Trenches if the Prince after he was forsaken by the Arch-Duke and the rest of the Spanish Generals had not bestirred himself after an extraordinary Manner to make the best of such a rash Retreat The Marshal de la Ferte Senneterre resolving to end the Campaign with some honourable Action as he had begun and continued it all the year lead the Body which he commanded before Clermont which he Besiged and took while our other Captains watched the motion of the scattered Spanish Troops who did nothing all the Winter but threaten Quesnoy which was so abundantly revictual'd by the Marquiss of Chastelnan assisted by the Marquiss of Montpouillan and the Chevalier de Manpeon that that place was in a Condition not to fear the Enemy The beginning of the year 1655. was remarkable for the decease of Pope Innocent the Xth. upon the 7th of January After whose Death Cardinal Chigi supplyed the Chair who called himself Alexander the seventh About the same time the Duke of Guise returned from Naples and the Court sent into Portugal to purchase a good number of Vessels for the Kings Service The Enemy being at a loss in Italy how to disingage himself from the Duke of Modena in whose Territories the Governor of Milan was engaged with an Army of six thousand Men and from whence he could hardly Retreat after he had lost his Nephew his Cousin and above 1500 Soldiers were at the same time much perplexed how to preserve themselves against the Genoeses who were become weary of the pride of that Nation which together with their slackness of payment of the vast sums owing to that Republick was the Reason that they sent an Embassador into France who received all the satisfaction imaginable from his Majesty to whom the Nuncio sometime after delivered a Letter from the Pope wherein he returned thanks to the King for his kind inclinations and satisfaction which he shewed for his being exalted to the See and withal exhorted his Majesty to a good and sound Peace At that time the Conclusion of the Treaty which Cromwel and the Common-wealth of England was a thing that brought no small advantage to the affairs of France In the year 1658. the Siege of Valenciennes was raised by Marshal La Ferte whom the Enemie had put into some disorder But Viscount Turenne with his Brigade disputed with them the Ground they had got and took La Capelle while they were hastning to its Relief with a powerful Army In Italy the Duke of Merceur besieged Valencia the Count de Broile was slain in the Approaches and the Infantrie of Modena quite defeated by Troiti Nevertheless the Duke with the remainder that was left never forsook his Trenches till he had taken the place The arrival of Queen Christina from Sweden and her Reception quite thorow France shewed the esteem which the King had both of her Person and her Dignity The loss of Saint Guillain was recompensed by the taking of Montmedy and the defeat of the succors with the Affront which the Enemy received at Calais which they would have surpriz'd St. Venant Bourbourgh and Mardike were reduced by Marshal Turenne who also relieved Ardres The Forces of France being joyned with those of England vanquished the Enemy at the Battel
where Marshal Shomburgh having constrained the Spaniards to Retreat from the Siege of Flix took in the City of Tortosa after he had lain before it some Months But in Flanders Fortunegiving some kind of check to Balance the prosperity of the Kings Forces made us loose Courtray to give Ipre into our possession After which success the Spaniards believing us too weak to oppose them by reason of our losses sustained in the last Siege forced us to give them Battel near to Lens wherein they were wholly defeated with the loss of eight thousand Men though their Army exceeded ours a third part in number This Victory which could not choose but be the Subject of the General joy of France was the occasion of a World of Misery whereto she was afterwards reduced While they were returning thanks to God for this Victory in the Cathedral Church of Paris in another place they were providing Prisons for the Sieurs de Broussel Counsellor in the Grand Chamber Blanc-Menel Charton Presidents of the Parliament The Confinement of these three persons caused most horrid disorders in Paris where you might have seen in a moment the Chains fastened the Barricados put up and all the People in Arms which nevertheless they soon laid down after that the Queen at the Prayer of the Parliament had wisely granted them the Liberty of those three Senators The Calm lasted till the Kings leaving the City who was carried out of Paris upon the fifth or sixth at Night which put the Burgesses to take Arms again But the Parliament apprehensive of the Mischiefs that might happen by reason of these misunderstandings sent a considerable part of their Members to St. Germans where his Majesty lay who put forth the Declaration of the Month of March by which the Souldiers being remanded from Paris to the Frontiers where the Spaniards were taking their advantages of their regaining Ipre the Face of things began to alter so that there was great hopes of a new repose and quiet upon the Return of the King But all our hopes were quite dashed when we beheld the Princes of Conde and Longuevile in Bois de of Vincennes Guien and Provence all in an uproare because of their Governors whose behaviour and management was insupportable to the people of those two Provinces The Kings presence was requisite to reduce Bourdeaux to obedience Therefore his Majesty marched thither and having forced his entrance after some Resistance he constrained the Heads of the adverse Party to retire All the Conquests of Arch-Duke Leopold during these Divisions in France were bounded by the taking of Mouzon and Rethel of which last place he was not long Master as being afterwards regained in the Month of December by our Army wherein was Cardinal Mazarine in person The Parliament judging that the Liberty of the Princes might be a means to restore tranquility to the Kingdom as well as the retirement of Cardinal Mazarine went in a Body to Petition the King for the Liberty of those Illustrious Prisoners and sometime after made their humble Remonstrances to his Majesty for the Removal of the Cardinal from the Management of Publick Affairs to take away all pretence and Colour of a Civil-War Some few days after the Cardinal was retired the Princes being set at Liberty arrived at Paris where they were received with a most incredible Joy out of a hope which all Men had conceived that their return would prevent all those misfortunes which seemed to threaten us But so far we were from beholding that good Fortune with which we flattered our selves and which the Majority of the King the solemnities of which were performed with an extraordinary Pomp was in all probability most likely to settle that we were sensible of new miseries apprehensive of renewing Calamities For the Prince of Conde out of his distrust not finding it requisite to close with the Court retired to his New Government of Guien whither being pursued by the Army and more then that by the presence of the Kings person he treated with Spain makes a powerful party in Gasconie and from thence as Cardinal Mazarine was reentred France he return'd to Paris where the Duke of Orleans joyned with him against the Cardinal their Common Enemy In the mean time the King besieges Estampes wherein the Army of the Princes was enclosed but the event did not prove so advantagious to the King who was oblig'd to retire with his Army and to surround Paris where during the whole remainder of the Campaign several Skirmishes happened on both sides upon the Arrival of the Lorrainers who shunned however as much as in them lay a general Battel yet could not avoid a smart encounter in the Suburbs of St. Anthony where were slain on both sides above a thousand Men upon the place and where the Prince of Conde shewed all the Conduct and Bravery that could be expected from a valiant Captain and yet if Madamoiselle had not caused the Gate of the City to be opened and discharged some pieces of Canon from the Bastille the Princes Army had been utterly Routed But two days after the disorder happened to be so great in Paris that the People were forced to weare Straw to shew the aversion which they had against the Cardinal which occasioned soon after the burning of the Gate of the City Common-Hall where to unite the City with the Parliament three hundred noted Burgesses were Assembled of whom the Mutineers out of a Design to destroy them all Murdered the Sieur Le Grat Master of the Requests de Janvry Counsellor in Parliament Myron Master of the Accompts and several others as they came out of the Assembly The Sieur Doujat Counseller of the great Chamber and some other Persons of quality had run the same Fortune had they not found a way by disguising themselves to Slip unknown through the Mutineers by the favour of the Night who at length came to that Degree of Insolence as to force the Priestly and Religious Orders the Women and Children to provide themselves with straw to preserve themselves from their Fury In the midst of these Heats the People of this great City weary of War began to distast the Government of the Princes and for that Reason sent several of their Burgesses to Pontoise where the King was to beseech his Majesty to honour his good City of Paris with his Return which caused the Duke of Orleans to retire and the Prince of Conde to Retreat who with the Forces which he took along with him and some of the Spanish Succors took Rhetel and St. Menehon Soon after the King returning to the City attended by the Marshal of the Hospital who was Governor the Provosts of Merchants and the Sheriffs who had been constrained to absent themselves was received with all the submission imaginable After that the King went to the Parliament which he united with that which he had before established at Pontoise and in the same place was published an Act of Oblivion
and the Progress of the Kings Arms engaged those Republicans to forget the many Benefits which they had received from France and to labour their own Ruine with two much heat and passion To which purpose they sollicited all the Soveraign Princes to joyn with them in Leagues and Treaties against France The Vertue and Merit of the Bishop Duke of Laon advanced him to the Cardinal Dignity The Ministers of Spain opposed his advancement and the Nomination of the Queen of Portugal which his most Christian Majesty very stifly defended And indeed this Promotion was very honourable for France especially done to favour a Queen whose interest is much more profitable to the Kingdom The second Mariage of his Royal-Highness with the Daughter of the Elector Palatine was concluded and the Articles signed the 6th of November 1671. and the Marshall du Plessis had the charge of the Procuration for the Ceremony of the Espousals at Mets the 16th of the same Month. France and England by the succors which they gave the United Provinces made of that Rebellious People a Puissant Democracie But at last the two Kings disdaining their ingratitude joyned their Forces to chastize their Crime The forbidding of Commerce and the Injunctions laid upon their Subjects to exercise all Acts of Hostility against them was published the 7th of April and the King at the Head of an hundred and fifty thousand men caused them to tremble He presently took from them Orsoy Wesel Burie and Rhineberg Rets Emmerick and Groll The Count of Guiche passed the Rhine Swimming with two thousand Horse To which danger the Chevalier of Vendosme was the only Prince that exposed himself besides his General He so behaved himself that at his first setting foot in the Betau he gained an Ensign and a Standard which he presented to the King and flew with the Prince to the Skirmish wherein the Duke of Longueville was killed The passage over this River caused the Prince of Orange to quit the Banks of the Issel at which time Vicount Turenne caused a detachment of six hundred Men to be made by the Duke of Vendosme which has always served at the Head of his Regiment and particularly to open the Trenches of Arnheime They would have also shewed their Valour at Nimmeghen but that great General stopped their Fury and besought the King to retain them about his person The Forts of Schenk Doesburgh Zutphen and many other Ramparts of Holland were taken in so small a time that there were reckoned up near fifty in two Months Vtreck refused Relief on purpose to surrender it self to the King Creveceur Coarden Grave and Bomel were taken and the Campaign ended with the taking of Bodengrave Survanmerdam and Niverberg To requite these Losses the Prince of Orange with six thousand Spaniards sent him by Montery under the Conduct of Marcin besieged Charleroy but the Count of Montal having got into the Town made him retreat with shame not only to himself but the Spaniards In the year 1675. The Hollanders having drawn to their side the House of Austria and the most part of the Princes of Germany proposed strange Chimera's to themselves But Vicount Turenne constrained the Marquiss of Brandenburgh to fly and took from him the County of Mark with several places Whereupon Cologne was chosen for the place of Treaty The King having caused Maestricht to be Invested the Trenches were opened by Night the 18th of June And that place of such importance so well fortified so well defended was forced to surrender at the end of the Month a thing almost incredible In short the United Provinces were so roughly handled both by Sea and Land that they acknowledg it to this hour confessing that the Arms of Kings are long and ponderous and that it was ill done to draw upon them the Indignation of two great Monarchs of which their Allies are not a little sensible their Countries still suffering for it At the beginning of the Winter Vicount Turenne marched into Alsatia there to fight the Enemy The Princes of Vendosme took Post to be in the Action but the Knight of Vendosme near to Mets broke his Arm by the fall of his Horse that stumbled under him The Campaign began betimes in Burgundy 1674 Gray Wesoul and several other Losses began a second time the Conquest of that Country That which hastned his Majesties March was the surprizal of the Prince of Fustenburgh the Elector of Cologne's Plenipotentiary An attempt in time of Peace contrary to the publick Faith For the committing of which Action in regard the Emperor gave Order against the Right of Nations it will be an Eternal Reproach both to him and his The King therefore compleated the Conquest of Franche Conte by the taking the City and Citadel of Bezanson Dole Salins and all the rest of the Country which he subdued to his Obedience and is a safeguard to six Provinces of his Kingdom The Duke of Lorrain and Count Caprara in vain attempted to Relieve it For Vicount Turenne with a far lesser strength gave them a stop beyond the Rhine where that great Captain did wonders during the whole Campaign having fought and won several Battels and performed famous exploits in War The Knight of Vendosme was always near him and still so desperately engaged the Enemy that he brake and disordered the Duke of Lorrain at the Battel of Seiren All this while in Holland the Prince of Conde sustained the Forces of the Empire Spain and the Low Countries That Powerful Army thought to have carried all things before them and to have taken up their Winter Quarters in Picardie and Champaigne and there to have quaffed the good Wines of Rhetmes But the Battel of Seneff which he won from so many Enemies was the most remarkable exploit of that exquisite Captain He thought to have vanquished them at Oudenard but they shamefully quitted the Siege The Duke of Vendosme who had signaliz'd himself in Burgundy took post to be an Eye-witness of so great an Action 1675. The Embassies of Marshall d' Estrees were very honourable and very bold That of the Duke his Son was maintained with the same Vigour He knew well how to let the Pope understand that he was obliged not only to give audience to the Ministers of his most Christian Majesty but also to hear their just Complaints which is a prerogative that his Holiness cannot refuse to the first King in the World The most important Cities of the Enemy were apprehensive of being besieged at what time the King attacked Limburgh and made himself Master of that Dutchie which is one of the seventeen Provinces of the Low-Countries which was adjoyned to the Government of Marshal d' Estrades After this Conquest his Majesty delivered up the Charge of the Army to Monsieur the Prince who endeavoured all he could to Fight the Enemy But the Intentions of the Spaniards did not correspond with the Designs of the Princes of Conde and Orange Montecuculi with all the Force of the Empire promised to himself that he would pass the Rhine which he did over the Bridg of Spire But Marshal Turenne marching to meet him he repass'd it the Imperialists being very much surprised to see him so near them The French were eager to give them Battel although encamped among Rivers and Woods which caused them to follow the retreating Enemy who to secure his March planted two pieces of Cannon upon a Hill to favour his Retreat And from thence it was that the Marshal-General going to take a View of the Enemies encampment was killed with a great Shot He had designed the Chevalier of Vendosme to command the Cavalrie However the young Duke of Beaufort was the person at that time who commanded fifteen thousand Horse and was present at the retaking of Corbi That young Prince after six Campaigns has been so unfortunate that he could never find an opportunity to fight with Honour and serve the King with Renown Upon the difference between the Count d' L' Orge and the Marquiss de Vaubrun the Army desired to be Commanded by the Duke of Vendosme But the two Generals being reconciled they retreated through Wilstelt to Althnem where was fought a famous and memorable Battel Upon the Intelligence which Montecuculi received that our Baggage marched into Alsatia he pretended to send certain Troops thorow Strasburgh to Plunder it but the Marquiss de Vaubrun passed the Rhine with seven Battalions and twenty-two Squadrons And indeed he had been lost without this Stratagem He flattered himself that not having to do with any more than one Brigade it would be easie for him to be cut in pieces with a powerful Army They fought there near ten hours The Duke of Vendosme at the Head of his Battalion which appeared weak because it was not so numerous as the rest was more exposed to the Attacks yet as vigorusly sustained the force of the Enemy The Enemy understood not that there was a Prince at the head of it with the Officers of the Guards and that it was the Regiment of Vendosme which has ever been Victorious That young Mars outdid himself in a time and upon an occasion of so much danger and hazard He received a slight wound cross the Thigh which did not at all hinder his Fighting nor his winning of Honour The Prince of Conde had Orders to take Charge of that Army and leave his own to the Duke of Luxemburgh So that although Montecuculi besieged Lovern and Haguenau that great General constrained him to quit the Sieges and repass the Rhine The defeat of Marshal Crequi was the occasion of the Loss of Treves the first City which the Franks took from the Gauls The City of Conde and Bouchain were taken by the King the 4th and 12th of May 1676. The King agreed to the Mediation of England for Peace and made suitable returns for the Zeal which his Majesty of Britain had shewen for the Repose of Christendome Thereupon Pasports were agreed and sent where they were required and the Duke of Vitry and the Embassadors Colbert and d' Avaux were ordered Plenipotentiaries for France and sent for Nimeghen in Order to that Affair which was the conclusion of Peace so important and earnestly desired FINIS
Choice Remarks On the most Observable ACTIONS Performed by Lewis the XIV PRESENT KING IN FRANCE LONDON Printed for Richard Janeway in Queens-Head-Ally in Pater-Noster Row In the Year 1681. Choice Remarks On the most observable Actions performed by Lewis the XIV Present King in France LEwis the 13th by his last Will and Testament ordained that the Queen his Wife should have the Government and Charge of the Person of King Lewis the 14th his Son during his Minority and the Regency of the Kingdom This young Prince was not much advanced in the fifth year of his Age ere he began to triumph over his Enemies through the successful Conduct of the Duke D'Anguien at the memorable Battel of Rocroy and the gaining of Thionvillle after a Siege of twenty-two days The Duke of Orleans the Kings Uncle Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom added to his Victories the taking of Graveline where Marshal de Gassion gave most signal Proofs of his Vallor Thus Luxemburgh being taught that an Infant King might be Victorious Germany was now to learn the same Lesson The Duke of Anguien advances to the Banks of the Rhine Attacks the Bavarian Army and three times defeats them He surrounds and takes Philipsburgh for which reason Wormes would not dispute with him any longer for her Liberty no more then Mayence besides a great number of other Cities that gloried in opening their Gates to the Conquerer The retaking of Lerida in some measure counterballanc'd so many great advantages But the next year we continued the Progress of our Conquests in Lorraine by the taking La Mothe where the Sieur Magalotti who commanded for the King received his deaths wound and in Catalogna under the conduct of the Count of Harcourt who was received into Barcellona with applause and Acclamation He defeated the Spaniards at the Battel of Liorens in which the Enemy lost between five and six thousand Men. After that he took the City of Balagnier some Months after that the Count of Plessis-Praslin had also in Roussillon reduced Roses to his Majesties obedience During so many brave exploits the Duke of Orleans was was not idle in Flanders where he took by force the Cities of Pourbourk Links Lans Bethune Liters St. Venant Arenantieres Menene and other places in that Province Nor was the Duked Anguien less prosperous in Germany where that young Prince gave Battel to the Imperialists and Bavarians whom he defeated near to Nortlingen with the loss of their General Mercy who was killed with a Musket shot and their General Gleen who was taken Prisoner the all afterwards exchanged for Marshal Grammont who fell into the Enemies hands at the beginning of the Fight Insomuch that by that Victory the Imperialists and Bavarians were very much weakened and constrained to retreat out of our way for their Oecurity which gave us opportunity to take Treves and settle the Elector of that place 1645. This year concluded happily with the Marriage of Vladislaus King of Poland with the Princess Louise Maria de Gonzaga of Mantua Daughter of Charles Duke of Gonzaga Cleves Mantua and Nevers deceased So many glorious successes happening to our Nation begat in the minds of the Spaniard that Stomackful despight which was the occasion of much Division at Rome For as that City is the place where the Animosity between the French and Spaniard most publickly appears it soon fell out that a difference arose between Prince Cardinal d' Este Protector of France and the Admiral of Castile Embassador of Obedience from the most Catholick-King in that Court and this the more easily in regard that the Spanish-Faction believed it self to be the strongest both in Number and by reason of the Vicinity of Naples But the Spaniards forgat that it never was the Custome of the French to number their Enemies however that they always bring their Designs to pass when they find the Honour of their Prince concern'd So that this Dispute was gloriously decided for the French in regard the unlucky dishonour redounded to the Spaniards to have made a great noise vast preparations but to have given very little proof of their Courage 1646. This year produced Prodigies in Flanders such as were the taking of Lancy Courtroy Bergues and Mardike the retaking of which was not a little fatal to France through the loss of so many brave Gentlemen The Count of Fois was one of those Hero's that encountered the Danger being the first that entered the Trench where nothing could resist his Courage at length wearied as he was while he was Charging the Enemy a second time he was shot in the side with a Musket-Bullet of which Wound he dyed soon after Nevertheless this Consolation rested with that Generous Prince in his Misfortune that he had followed the steps of the most Illustrious of his Predecessors ending his days with a Death like that of the Famous Gaston de Fois whose Illustrious Actions he had so strictly imitated The Duke of Nemours in that Assault received a Wound in the Knee the Prince of Marcellac in the Shoulder But the Count of Rocheguion and the Chevalier de Fiesque were so unfortunate as to loose their Lives upon the spot The taking of Dunkirk recomforted the Duke of Anguien for them is fortune of his most intimate Confidents After which he understood with no small Joy that the defeat of the Garrison of Bassee was the Act of the Marshal de Melleray who was ordered by his Majesty to pass into Piedmont to joyn with the Marshal de Pressis-Praslin Those two Generals after they had recruited our Naval-Forces took soon after Piombino and Porto Longone and by such noble Exploits they made us easily forget the misfortune of the Siege of Orbitello We were also thereby the less sensible of the loss of Armentier and Landrecies of which Arch-Duke Leopold made himself Master in the year 1647. Which was a year remarkable for variety of Accidents The Spanish Navy was defeated by the French upon the Sea of Genoa in sight of Naples and the Duke of Breze who commanded the Fleet was killed with a Cannon-Shot The Duke of Anguien now Prince of Conde by the decease of Lewis of Bourbon his Father was constrained to raise the Siege of Lerida The Marshal de Gassion was slain before the City of Lens But the revolt of the Kingdom of Naples was a more then ordinary Prank of Fortune Nevertheless the Duke of Guese did not meet with those advantages there with which he flattered himself by reason that through the Treachery of certain Neapolitans he fell unforrtunately into the hands of the Spaniayds If at the beginning of the year 1648. the French as well as the Sweads had all the advantages they could desire in Germany by reason of the defeat of the Imperialists and Bavarians of which there were slain and taken Prisoners about nine or ten thousand of which number also was their General Melander our affairs went on with no less successful prosperity in Catalogna